Reuters Adam LaRoche was holding out for three years and the Nationals were steadfast in sticking with a two-year offer. Today the free agent first baseman decided that was good enough, as Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that LaRoche has agreed to a two-year deal to return to Washington.
Having draft pick compensation attached to his free agency no doubt hurt LaRoche, who couldn’t secure a three-year deal and seemingly had trouble generating many two-year offers despite hitting .271 with 33 homers and an .853 OPS last season.
Now that LaRoche is back in the fold the Nationals are expected to shop Michael Morse, who had been slated to replace him at first base if needed. Instead with LaRoche at first base, Denard Span is center field, and Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth in the outfield corners there’s no room for Morse to play following a season in which he hit .291 with 18 homers and a .791 OPS in 102 games.
Morse is three years younger than LaRoche and out-played him in 2010 and 2011, but he’s also just one year from free agency and should have some decent trade value.
UPDATE: Amanda Comak of the Washington Times reports that LaRoche’s two-year deal is worth $24 million guaranteed, which includes a $2 million buyout of a third-year team option.
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Heath Bell watched Thursday’s Reds-Marlins game from the stands
May 18, 2013, 10:59 AM EDT
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It turns out that Diamondbacks reliever Heath Bell made his return to Marlins Park on Thursday night, not for last night’s series opener. According to Steve Gilbert of MLB.com, Bell said that he took in Thursday’s Reds-Marlins game from the stands. The D-backs arrived in Miami in the wee hours Thursday morning and Bell took…
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The Marlins signed veteran reliever Jon Rauch to a one-year, $1 million contract over the winter, but he has been designated for assignment after making just 15 appearances with the club. Duane Below has been called up from Triple-A New Orleans to replace him on the active roster. Rauch has really struggled in the early…
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AP
Ike Davis finally broke his 0-for-24 hitless streak yesterday with a single to center field in the sixth inning, but he’s still at risk for being sent to the minors. In fact, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York hears that discussion of a demotion has “only intensified” and that he might not be given much…
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AP
The Astros aren’t just losing a ton of ballgames, they are losing ugly. After Edgar Gonzalez pitched himself into a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth last night against the Pirates, he induced a fairly innocent looking pop-up to shallow right field which would have sent the game into extra…
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After tossing a one-hit shutout against the Angels in his last start on Sunday, Chris Sale got the best of them again last night. Sale struck out a season-high 12 over 7 2/3 scoreless innings as the White Sox topped the Angels 3-0 at Angel Stadium. The 24-year-old southpaw gave up just three hits and…
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MLB.com Twins beat writer Rhett Bollinger spoke to Twins assistant GM Rob Antony, asking how Rich Harden’s rehab was going. Antony replied, ”Slow. Not very well to be honest with you.” The Twins signed Harden to a one-year Minor League contract in December, agreeing to pay him $1 million if he made it to the Majors.…
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Jose Reyes is making progress on an ankle injury suffered on April 12 against the Royals. MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm reports the shortstop had a walking boot removed and talk part in stretching prior to tonight’s game against the Yankees. Another surprising piece of news: Reyes was expected to be out until the All-Star break, but…
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AP
You’re probably not going to see a prettier grand slam this season, folks. With his team down 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning against Dodgers reliever Paco Rodriguez, Braves left fielder Justin Upton crushed a 1-1 fastball deep to left field to give the Braves a 6-4 lead. ESPN Stats & Info reported…
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AP
Phillies third base coach Ryne Sandberg is expected to be the next Phillies manager if and when the Charlie Manuel era ends. Sandberg started his playing career with the Phillies but went to the Cubs in the infamous Ivan de Jesus trade in 1982, arguably one of the worst trades in baseball history. With the…
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AP
Recently, Padres third baseman Chase Headley said he won’t negotiate a contract extension with the team during the season. Headley is eligible for his fourth year of arbitration going into 2014, after which he would become eligible for free agency. Headley has, for a while, been one of the most bandied-about names in trade rumors,…
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At the end of March, the Diamondbacks unceremoniously signed first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to a five-year, $32 million contract extension. Just seven weeks later, that contract is looking like a steal. The 25-year-old entered tonight’s game with ten home runs and a 1.013 OPS, marks that not only put him near the top among first…
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Derek Albin at Pinstriped Bible looked at the numbers and concluded that Yankees right fielder Ichiro Suzuki isn’t likely to be much more productive than he has been thus far in 2013. The 39-year-old has a .239/.280/.328 line in 145 trips to the plate, putting him on pace for the worst season of his career…
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AP
The Pirates aren’t known as one of the more Sabermetrically-savvy teams like the Rays and Athletics, but they do have Dan Fox (formerly of Baseball Prospectus) as the director of baseball systems development. Thanks to Fox and others, the Pirates are able to use stat reports to prepare lineups and pitching match-ups with greater specificity. SB…
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Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times says that although the Rays haven’t announced anything officially, prospect Jake Odorizzi is likely to replace the injured David Price in the starting rotation. The Rays placed their defending AL Cy Young award winner on the disabled list yesterday with a strained left triceps muscle, an injury they…
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Athletics starter Brett Anderson has not pitched in a game since his April 29 start against the Angels due to ongoing problems with his right foot. In the time since, the A’s have had the lefty run and throw side sessions, and they even had him make a rehab start, but the injury never seemed…
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Reuters
Matt Harvey held the Cubs to two runs in 7.1 innings this afternoon and delivered the game-winning RBI single in a 3-2 Mets victory. Harvey is now 5-0 with a 1.55 ERA in nine starts this season, posting an awesome 68/14 K/BB ratio in 64 innings. And he’s a career .243 hitter. Harvey walked zero…
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This doesn’t narrow it down too much. Maybe it eliminates the idea of “skip a start and wait and see,” but it’s still unclear if Pettitte will take his next turn: The team hasn’t decided what to do with Andy Pettitte. Girardi said he would likely either make his next start or hit DL. —…
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Hail to the chief: Reid Ryan’s tenure as president of the Astros began Friday, when Houston announced that the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan would take over the role vacated by George Postolos … Ryan, previously the president and CEO of Ryan-Sanders Baseball, had been running the Triple-A Round Rock Express (Rangers) and…
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Jason Heyward is back from the disabled list after being out since April 21 following an emergency appendectomy. Heyward made it clear right away that he wasn’t going to rush back, targeting late-May, and ended up missing 23 games. Atlanta went 9-14 without Heyward after starting the season at 13-4, although considering he was hitting…
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Baseball’s head of replay and umpiring went on the Dan Patrick show and makes it clear: he doesn’t want the adequate to be the enemy of the low-end-of-mediocre. But he is for expanded replay because, he says, that it’s bad when people pay more attention to the missed calls than the game. Which is fine,…
