Kuzul

The Atlanta Braves announced Monday they have agreed to a one-year contract to bring back right-handed reliever Jim Johnson, who will earn $2.5 million in 2016, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman.

Johnson signed with the Braves nearly a year ago to the day and found a haven in Atlanta, with a 2.25 ERA and opposing slash line of .256/.311/.635 over 48 innings in 49 appearances before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the deadline.

His tenure in Atlanta was sandwiched between an abysmal 2014—in which he posted a 7.09 ERA and 1.950 WHIP, both career highs, with the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers—and a 10.13 ERA in 18.2 innings over 23 appearances with the Dodgers to finish 2015.

As Dave Brown of FanGraphs noted, the Braves were the benefactors in that exchange—a three-team, 13-player trade that also sent starter Alex Wood to L.A.:             

Despite claims to the contrary, the Braves are in the midst of a massive rebuild that has seen staples such as Andrelton Simmons, Craig Kimbrel and Jason Heyward traded in the past 12 months as the team continues to load up on prospects for a hopeful playoff run by the time it moves into its new stadium in 2017.

The Braves had the majors’ second-worst bullpen ERA last year (4.69) and have made revamping their relieving corps a priority, though Johnson’s fit remains to be seen. Arodys Vizcaino finished 2015 as the team’s closer, but perhaps a strong spring to follow a great run, albeit brief, a year ago will be enough for Johnson to contend for the job. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

All-time MLB home run champion Barry Bonds has reportedly received an offer to be an additional hitting coach for the Miami Marlins.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the offer, a day after Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com revealed Bonds was under “serious consideration” by the club.   

Heyman indicated incumbent hitting coach Frank Menechino is likely to return in 2016 and mentioned Juan Nieves as a top candidate to become Miami’s pitching coach. If it brings Bonds aboard, the club will simply have two hitting coaches.  

The Marlins could use some tutelage at the plate after ranking 29th in runs scored this past season. Few are better to learn from than Bonds, who swatted a record 762 home runs during his prolific playing career. Bleacher Report’s Zach Rymer makes a compelling case for Bonds, despite his obvious shortcomings: 

Bonds worked as an instructor for his former team, the San Francisco Giants, during the spring of 2014. He also trained New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez during the 2014-15 offseason. A-Rod was suspended from baseball in 2014 but came back to hit 33 home runs this year.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The St. Louis Cardinals announced Monday they signed free-agent catcher Brayan Pena to a two-year contract. According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Pena’s contract is worth $5 million.   

Pena saw the most extended action of his MLB career over the past two seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. He appeared in 108 games with the club in 2015 and batted .273 with 18 RBI and only 34 strikeouts in 333 official at-bats.        

Prior to his time in Cincinnati, the 33-year-old had stints with the Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Royals before spending the 2013 campaign with the Detroit Tigers.

Upon officially leaving his most recent club for a National League Central rival, Pena expressed his gratitude for his time with the Reds on Twitter.

“Reds fans, I want to thank you guys so much for all your love and respect for me and my family, my time there was AMAZING, thank you so much,” said Pena, adding, “To my teammates, coaches, trainers, front office people, everybody who works on and off the field for Reds Nation, THANK YOU SO MUCH.”

Monday’s acquisition is merely insurance for a Cardinals team that already has a seven-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove Award winner in Yadier Molina at Pena’s position. Molina still has three years remaining on a lucrative contract, per Spotrac.com, and he figures to continue being an elite player.

St. Louis now has a veteran backstop option to turn to and an upgrade to last year’s No. 2 catcher, Tony Cruz. Also helping Pena’s cause for playing time is the fact he’s a switch-hitter. He can be serviceable in spot duty with a loaded Cardinals lineup around him.

Manager Mike Matheny has a greater luxury to give Molina rest during a long season prior to what should be another playoff push for the club in 2016 after it finished the 2015 season with baseball’s best record at 100-62.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Few pitchers on this year’s free-agent market are more prized than Zack Greinke. After having his best season since winning the Cy Young Award in 2009, the veteran right-hander is about to cash in no matter where he eventually lands.

Continue for updates.

Greinke Setting Price at $30 Million Annually

Monday, Nov. 30

According to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are among the teams showing serious interest in signing Greinke this offseason.

While $30 million isn’t an unreasonable salary for an ace in today’s game, Crasnick wondered how much Greinke’s age, 32, might impact any negotiations.

Greinke finished 2015 with a record of 19-3 and a 1.66 earned run average. According to FanGraphs, his FIP was a full run higher (2.76), but he still finished with the seventh-highest WAR (5.9) among all pitchers.

Even with his impressive record, you can understand why teams might balk at the idea of signing him to a five- or six-year deal, similar to Justin Verlander’s extension. The New York Yankees haven’t gotten a great return on CC Sabathia’s eight-year, $186 million extension, either.

Greinke might well receive something approaching the annual salary he’s initially asking, but he may have to compromise on the length of the contract.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

After reigniting his career with the New York Yankees in 2015, Chris Young has accepted a contract offer from their rivals, the Boston Red Sox. 

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported Monday that Young agreed to a multiyear contract with Boston, pending a physical. Rosenthal reported Tuesday that Young’s deal is for two years worth $13 million.

Young had a rough three-year stretch offensively from 2012 to 2014, ranking 82nd out of 97 qualified outfielders (minimum 1,000 at-bats) in FanGraphs’ offensive value. He turned things around with the Yankees last season, posting a .972 OPS against left-handed pitching. 

Moving forward, Young’s best role will be as a platoon outfielder, as he did nothing against right-handed pitchers last season to warrant starting against them. 

That may bug Young, who told Alex Putterman of Baseball Prospectus in August that he didn’t want to be pigeonholed into a specific role: “As a player, you never really label yourself in any kind of way. I don’t label myself as a guy who crushes lefties. At the same token I don’t label myself as a guy who can’t hit righties because I was a guy who played every day for quite a while as well. So I don’t label myself in any kind of way.”

MLB.com’s Mike Petriello was quick to weigh in on the news, stating, “Young is a very nice piece for [Boston], but he’s not really an everyday starter, and isn’t someone that forces a trade to happen.”

As long as he understands the situation he’s walking into, along with his new team having a left-handed hitter who can hit righties, this marriage has tremendous potential. Young isn’t a star anymore, but carving out a good niche shows how well he’s adjusted with age (he’s 32). 

Even though being a platoon player does limit Young’s ceiling, it still makes him incredibly valuable. Right-handed hitters with any kind of power are the greatest luxury in baseball right now because there aren’t as many as there used to be.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Move over, Jay Z, there is a new musician-turned-sports agent in town. Magnus Media, a company which singer Marc Anthony founded, announced Monday the signing of Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman as its first client under the new Magnus Sports umbrella.

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Magnus Sports will work in conjunction with Praver Shapiro Sports Management to represent athletes. Anthony’s company plans to specifically focus on marketing Latino players. 

“Baseball, like music, is an ingrained cultural passion for many Latinos throughout the world, and there’s no shortage of amazing stars of Hispanic origin,” Anthony said. “Despite that, until now there hasn’t been an enterprise specifically designed to meet their needs. With Magnus Sports, we are changing the existing dynamics and building a new kind of management company that understands the culture and knows how to build big media brands.”

Praver Shapiro already boasts Miami Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, Chicago Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler and Reds starter Raisel Iglesias among its Latino clients. The partnership will be similar to the one Roc Nation Sports had with CAA Sports at its inception. Roc Nation and CAA split earlier this year.

Bringing in Chapman, arguably baseball’s best closer, is a strong sign that Magnus Sports means business. The 27-year-old has compiled 145 saves over the past four seasons while emerging as one of the most prolific power arms in the sport. He has a career strikeout rate of 15.4 per nine innings and threw the 62 fastest pitches of the 2015 season.

Due to hit free agency next winter, Chapman will likely come close to or set the record for average annual salary for a closer. Having an elite agency to negotiate his contract and a burgeoning sports marketing firm at his back should ensure he is well taken care of.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The MLB offseason doesn’t generally kick into high gear until the calendar turns over to December and the winter meetings get underway, but we’ve had a busy month of November this year.

Jordan Zimmermann was the first marquee free agent to sign, while J.A. Happ, Rich Hill, Chris Iannetta, Alex Avila, A.J. Pierzynski and Franklin Gutierrez are also already off the market.

Meanwhile, the likes of Craig Kimbrel, Andrelton Simmons, Francisco Rodriguez, Joaquin Benoit, Erick Aybar, Nate Karns, Jed Lowrie, Cameron Maybin, Jesse Chavez, Liam Hendriks, Jeremy Hellickson, Leonys Martin, Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, Aaron Hicks and John Ryan Murphy have all moved via trade.

With so much roster shuffling going on already, now seems like the perfect time for the first offseason edition of our MLB power rankings.

The important thing to keep in mind with offseason rankings is that they are not meant to be a prediction for the year ahead.

Instead, they are a look at how teams would stack up with the rosters they currently have if the season were to start today.

Just something worth keeping in mind when considering where your favorite team falls in the following rankings.

The projected rosters at Roster Resource were used as a jumping off point for the projected rosters you’ll see in the following article, though some aspects were tweaked to reflect my own personal opinion.

Bolded players indicate a newcomer to the team, while an (R) indicates a player with rookie eligibility intact entering the 2016 season.

Begin Slideshow

The MLB hot stove is fully engulfed. Trades, free-agent moves and the rumors in between have been running rampant, and things are only going to get crazier as we approach the winter meetings.

Held in Nashville from Dec. 6-10, the winter meetings will see a massive amount of deals get done in short order. While 24/7 communication abilities make talking with fellow general managers easier than ever, the ease of everyone being all in one place remains the most conducive factor in making deals.

Until the important decision-makers actually make the trip to Nashville, however, it’s just a stream of rumors instead. The small rumblings about which players are available will help inform discussions that take place at the winter meetings, so they’re a good look at what to expect. 

With that in mind, here’s a look at the latest rumors around baseball.  

Yankees Willing to Talk Nova Trade

The 2015 season could have gone better for Ivan Nova. Returning from Tommy John surgery that limited him to four starts in 2014, Nova went 6-11 with a 5.07 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. He walked 3.16 batters per nine innings, his worst since 2010, and saw a marked drop-off in strikeout rate.

Things got so bad toward the end of the season that Nova was briefly pulled from the Yankees rotation. This isn’t exactly an ideal time to be putting him out on the trade market.

Yet, it appears that’s exactly what the Yankees are doing. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the club is open to trading Nova, provided he returns a young pitcher with years of team control remaining. Nova turns 29 in January and will hit free agency for the first time after the 2016 campaign.

The Yankees remain in cost-control mode, but their logic here is pretty obvious. They don’t necessarily want to pay Nova what he’d command in the open market next year and believe they can get a similarly skilled, cost-controlled player if they float him on the market. Nova is still only two years removed from his brilliant 2013 campaign, and he’s been a two-win player twice in his career, per FanGraphs.

Before needing Tommy John surgery, Nova’s career also appeared to be trending upward. He’d upped his strikeouts per nine to 7.49 and was a legit middle-of-the-rotation stud in 2013. We’ve seen too many Tommy John pitchers need more than a year to recover to think Nova should be written off.

Still, it’s hard to imagine any team giving the Yankees what they’re looking for.

Pedro Alvarez Wants a Trade

The Pittsburgh Pirates are understandably disappointed in the development of Pedro Alvarez. After moving to first base to lessen his defensive responsibility, Alvarez hit .243/.318/.469 with 27 home runs and 77 RBI last season. While an improvement from his downright bad 2013, Alvarez still hasn’t become the consistent masher the Pirates envisioned after his back-to-back 30-homer seasons in 2012 and 2013.

FanGraphs‘ WAR formula credited him with 0.2 wins, which is a 0.2-win improvement over his nonexistent WAR in 2013. The move to first base proved to be a disaster, with Alvarez ranking as far and away the worst defensive player at his position. Jose Abreu was closer to being an average first baseman than he was to matching Alvarez’s poor defensive grades.

The Pirates were rumored to be interested in Korean first baseman Byung-ho Park and have rising prospect Josh Bell sitting in the minors. It’s pretty obvious they do not view Alvarez as their first baseman of the future from an organizational perspective.

Likewise, it appears Alvarez would prefer plying his trade elsewhere. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported Alvarez is looking for a “change of scenery,” and the Pirates would be happy to oblige if the right deal was put on the table. This continues a trend from the regular season, during which Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the Pirates wanted to “get rid” of Alvarez.

It’s worth noting Alvarez still led this team in home runs, so he brings something to the table. But his defensive issues and upcoming free agency make it more likely than not he’ll wind up elsewhere sooner than later.

Lawrie to Be On Move

A year ago, Brett Lawrie was a centerpiece in the deal that sent Josh Donaldson to Toronto. Now, Donaldson is the American League’s reigning MVP, while the Athletics appear ready to move on from Lawrie.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported Oakland will move either Lawrie or third baseman Danny Valencia this offseason, with the former being far more likely. The move comes after Oakland reacquired Jed Lowrie, who spent the 2015 season with the Houston Astros. 

It’s clear Billy Beane and Co. are prioritizing defense with this move, but the Lawrie-Lowrie switch seems strange on paper. Lawrie is a talented 25-year-old who is coming off career highs in home runs (16) and RBI (60), and was an otherwise good defensive player before falling apart in 2015. Lowrie is 31 and basically who he’s going to be at this point: a perfectly fine, slightly above replacement level option who has had just two truly excellent offensive seasons.

The A’s are adding a player six years older than their current option for what appears to be a lateral move. Lawrie also doesn’t become a free agent until after the 2017 season, the same year Lowrie‘s three-year deal he signed in Houston runs out.

Beane always deserves the benefit of the doubt. There’s obviously something he sees in Lowrie‘s presence that the numbers aren’t showing. But he better hope a team offers a talented young player in exchange for Lawrie to make the deal worth it.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Following an active trade market last July, this MLB offseason has taken a while to get its footing and take off, resulting in a slow start to the free agent and trade markets as we enter December.

That could start changing this week in preparation for next week’s winter meetings, where things are always expected to shift into a higher gear. But as of now, only a couple of blockbuster trades have happened, with one major free-agent signing.

That is enough to dive into evaluations through the first month of the offseason. What team overpaid for what player, and what teams could end up with the steals of the market to this point?

We have seven significant trades and signings to dissect and conclude.

Begin Slideshow

The market for starting pitching has begun to move, with J.A. Happ signing with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and Jordan Zimmermann agreeing to a deal with the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

They’re significant deals for significant money, as Zimmermann‘s reported $110 million-for-five-years price tag caused Matt Ehalt of the Record to tweet:

Exactly. The Happ (for three years, $36 million) and Zimmermann signings made news for the teams that signed them and for others shopping in the midlevel pitching market. But it’s David Price, Zack Greinke and Johnny Cueto who will top the market and make a team a big winter winner.

Especially Price.

Winter winners often don’t become summer winners. But that won’t stop us from speculating right up until Price signs a contract that many are suggesting could approach or top the free-agent pitcher record $210 million the Washington Nationals gave Max Scherzer last January.

Scherzer was 30 years old and had one Cy Young and one fifth-place finish on his record. Price is 30 years old and has one Cy Young and two second-place finishes.

But this isn’t about Scherzer vs. Price, because Scherzer isn’t available on this winter’s market. Price is, and rather than guess at exactly how much money he’ll get—let’s just say it will be a whole lot—we’re going to try to guess where he might go.

Some of this is based on reports. Some of it is based on what we’ve heard. Some of it is just plain guesswork. If we’ve learned anything about free agency, it’s that some teams and some agents disguise their strategies so well that many reports and much of what we’ve heard turn out later not to be totally right.

So here goes, with the teams listed in order of which ones we give the best chance of landing the biggest free agent out there this winter:

1. Boston Red Sox: Back in August, shortly after Dave Dombrowski took over at Fenway, Bleacher Report asked me to put together his plan to rebuild the Red Sox. I know Dombrowski well, and I knew he wasn’t going to tell me or any other reporter his exact plans. But I also knew signing a high-profile starter would be high on his list.

“Dombrowski’s move to Boston should be great news for David Price,” I wrote then, and it’s no less true now. Whether Price actually ends up in Boston, the Red Sox are widely reported and expected to be preparing a bid that will top (and perhaps help set) the market for the left-hander Dombrowski once traded for when he was running the Detroit Tigers.

One National League general manager speculated to Peter Gammons that Dombrowski‘s bid will be $30 million-$40 million higher than anyone else’s. I can believe it because, in many ways, Price is the best possible ace Dombrowski could sign. He’s comfortable pitching in the American League East and comfortable leading a rotation.

While there’s been strong speculation the Red Sox will bid the most money, there’s also been lots of talk Price would prefer to sign elsewhere. He might, but I can’t see him being scared of Boston and I can see him going for the biggest money.

So the Red Sox are the top choice, although I wouldn’t put my own money on it.

2. Chicago Cubs: Back before everybody was rushing to predict Price will sign with the Red Sox, plenty were just as convinced he was headed to the Cubs. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports wrote just three weeks ago that two agents for other pitchers were calling Price to the Cubs and that one National League general manager told him Price prefers the Cubs.

All that’s happened since then is Cubs president Theo Epstein suggesting his offseason budget isn’t as big as everyone thinks and others suggesting (perhaps rightly) the Red Sox are willing to spend more money than anyone.

The Cubs could certainly use Price. But with Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester already topping their rotation, their need for him would seem to be a little less dire than the Red Sox’s need.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers: If the Dodgers really want Price, it’s hard to see them getting outbid by $30 million-$40 million—by the Red Sox or by anyone else. If Greinke signs elsewhere, you could argue the Dodgers should really want Price.

Dodgers boss Andrew Friedman is just as good as Dombrowski at hiding his real plans, but keeping Greinke might well be his preference. With little rotation certainty beyond Clayton Kershaw, and with the expectations that come with a $300 million payroll, it would seem Friedman had better get one of the big free agents.

4. St. Louis Cardinals: They fit geographically, since Price is from Nashville. They have a need, with Lance Lynn on the shelf for 2016. But are the Cardinals really ready to play with big money at the top of the market? We’ll see.

5. San Francisco Giants: The Giants would need to stretch their budget a little to sign either Price or Greinke, and the early suggestions had them preferring Greinke if they do stretch. But Greinke could stay with the Dodgers, and perhaps the Giants could be convinced to stretch for Price.

6. Washington Nationals: Zimmermann is already gone. Stephen Strasburg can be a free agent after 2016. The Nationals have some strong young arms, but they also have an owner with lots of money and a desire to win soon. Still, could they really pay out the top two free-agent pitching contracts?

7. Los Angeles Angels: I’m not going to be surprised again if Arte Moreno decides he wants a top free agent. His Angels already have two $20 million starters in their 2016 rotation, but both C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver can be free agents after that.

8. New York Yankees: Should the Yankees really be this low on the list? Yes, only because Hal Steinbrenner has been so open and so consistent with his desire to stay away from the biggest free agents. Finally, we believe him—but not enough to leave the Yankees off the list entirely.

9. The field: The Blue Jays and Tigers would seem to be out. The Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles don’t seem to have room in their budget. The Seattle Mariners need hitters. The Texas Rangers just traded for Cole Hamels. Free agency often comes with surprises, and maybe the chase for Price will include another one.

Or maybe the Red Sox really will just outbid everyone else.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com