MLB Player News

The Mets have talked to Fernando Rodney, according to ESPN.

The team looked at reliever Grant Balfour, but lost out to the Rays. While closer Bobby Parnell has made nice progress after neck surgery, the team is still considering Rodney. The Mets have insisted that they have some money to add another player, though it's not expected to be a high figure. Rodney posted a 3.38 ERA in 66 2/3 innings.

With Matt Garza agreeing to a four-year, $52 million contract with the Brewers that doesn't bode well for some of the younger starting pitchers -- Tyler Thornburg, Johnny Hellweg, Jimmy Nelson and Will Smith -- who were competing for the final spot in the team's rotation.

"I know it stinks for one of the young guys who was going to be competing for that extra spot, but they’ll have their opportunities," Brewers starting pitcher Kyle Lohse said. "This helps out the rotation a lot, I think. It’s a good thing for us."

Cardinals pitcher Shelby Miller tried his best to explain his noticeable absence from the postseason. Miller, who made just one postseason relief appearance after making 31 regular-season starts in 2013, did call the experience "weird."

"I don’t really have a good answer for it, to be honest," Miller said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "The best answer I can give you is we had such a good thing going. I could see myself pitching outside of Pittsburgh. I knew I was going to get held back a little bit against them with the struggles I had against them later in the season. After that, we had such good starting pitching throughout that series and the bullpen, they all throw 98 in the bullpen and I don’t throw that hard. They had these dominant guys throughout the whole lineup, so it’s kind of hard to throw somebody in there who ... Maybe he felt like I hadn’t been around and just didn’t really have an opportunity to get in there. But we were winning games, so you can’t really complain."

The Dodgers and pitcher Kenley Jansen exchanged salary figures Friday, with Jansen seeking $5.05 million and the team offering $3.5 million, CBSSports.com baseball insider Jon Heyman reports.

Jansen is arbitration eligible for the first time after going 4-3 with a 1.88 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 111:18 K:BB ratio and 28 saves last season.

The Reds and pitcher Aroldis Chapman exchanged salary figures Friday, with Chapman seeking $5.4 million and the team offering $4.6 million, CBSSports.com baseball insider Jon Heyman reports.

Chapman signed a five-year deal as an amateur free agent in Jan. 2010, but a clause in the contract allowed him to convert a portion of the contract to a bonus and become arbitration eligible this offseason. He went 4-5 with a 2.54 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 112:29 K:BB ratio in 63 2/3 innings last season.

The Braves have exchanged salary arbitration figures with three players, CBSSports.com baseball insider Jon Heyman reports.

First baseman Freddie Freeman filed for $5.75 million, and the Braves offered $4.5 million. He is in his first year of arbitration eligibility after hitting .319/.396/.501 with 23 home runs and 109 RBI in 551 at-bats last season.

Outfielder Jason Heyward filed for $5.5 million, and the team offered $5.2 million. He is his second year of arbitration eligibility after making $3.65 million last season while hitting .254/.349/.427 with 14 home runs and 38 RBI in 382 at-bats.

Closer Craig Kimbrel filed for $9 million, and the team offered $6.55 million. He is in his first year of arbitration eligibility after leading the majors with 50 saves while posting a 1.21 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 98:20 K:BB ratio in 67 innings.

The Cubs and pitcher Pedro Strop have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a deal, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Strop was eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason and is set to make $1.325 million in 2014, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. He went 2-5 with a 4.55 ERA and one save for the Cubs and Orioles last season and is expected to compete for the closing job going into 2014.

The Braves still have a number of players who have not settled on a contract for 2014.

The club is in the process of exchanging arbitration numbers with the players, and both sides likely want to avoid an arbitration hearing. Much of the team's core is still unsettled, with Craig Kimbrel, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Mike Minor and Kris Medlen among the players still in need of a contract. All those players are still under team control, so there's no risk Atlanta will lose them. But they need to agree on a figure for next season. Arbitration hearing are scheduled to take place beginning in February, so the team still has a few weeks to figure out the issue.

A trade last season to the Cardinals appears to have saved the career of new Indians closer John Axford. Upon his arrival following his acquisition from the Brewers in August, the Cardinals' coaching staff sat the right-hander down and let him know he was tipping his pitches.

"I recall, sitting in that room when they told me that, a few different games running through my mind, including blown saves, and thinking, 'Maybe that’s why they didn’t swing at that slider that was just out of the zone,'" Axford told the National Post.

The advice paid huge dividends for Axford, who posted a 1.74 ERA in 13 regular-season appearances and a 1.59 ERA in six postseason outings following the trade. Axford, who had lost his closer's job with the Brewers, had a 4.67 ERA in 2012 and a 4.45 ERA last season before the trade.

"I obviously wouldn’t have been in the World Series, and I don’t think I would be in the position I’m in right now with the Cleveland Indians if I wasn’t traded [from Milwaukee]," he said. "[The St. Louis] coaching staff really helped me out, picking that up and helping me along the way for those two months. And pitching well, and pitching well in the playoffs -- I think that’s what really catapulted the opportunity for me to be a closer again."

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told MLB.com he would like to sign a veteran pitcher to a minor-league deal, with the intent of pitting him against Jenrry Mejia, Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom in the competition for the final spot in the team's rotation.

Bartolo Colon, Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler are expected to fill out the first four spots in the team's rotation.