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East Notes: Moose, Jays, Donaldson, Braves, N. Walker, deGrom

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Mike Moustakas came off the market when he signed a surprisingly large contract (four years, $64MM) with the Reds in December. It turns out that the Blue Jays were among the runners-up for Moustakas, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who tweets that they made him a three-year, $30MM offer. The Reds obviously blew that proposal out of the water, however, and the Jays pivoted to a much cheaper corner infielder Travis Shaw (one year, $4MM). A third baseman for most of his career, Moustakas is set to handle second in Cincinnati. That position is spoken for in Toronto (Cavan Biggio), as is third (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), so it seems likely Moustakas would have worked at 1B extensively for the first time in his career had the club won the bidding for him. Instead, the Blue Jays will hope for a bounce-back season from Shaw, who was teammates with Moustakas in Milwaukee last year.

Let’s move over to the NL East…

  • The Braves lost their top free agent, Josh Donaldson, to the Twins’ four-year, $92MM offer over the winter. Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos acknowledged afterward that the team put forth an offer that came up short. Heyman has some details on it, reporting that the Braves were willing to go to four years in the range of $75MM to $90MM to retain Donaldson. That’s a wide gap, so it’s unknown just how much money Donaldson would have left on the table to re-sign with Atlanta. Regardless, the club now looks to be in much less impressive shape at third, where Austin Riley and Johan Camargo are competing for the starting role.
  • Infielder Neil Walker signed a minor league contract with the Phillies over the winter, but he has no plans to play below the MLB level. “I’m not going to concede to the notion of retiring as a 34-year-old who is in good shape,” Walker told Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription link). “But I’m not going to play in Triple A.” For now, Walker’s continuing to compete for a reserve role in Philadelphia, but if he’s unable to find a big league job with the Phillies or another team this season, it’s possible it’ll be the end of the line for the longtime second baseman. The switch-hitting Walker did still have something to offer at the plate last season, though, as he batted .261/.344/.395 (99 wRC+) in 381 trips.
  • As a back-to-back Cy Young winner, it doesn’t seem that Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom has to change anything. But the ace is now working on adding more curveballs into his repertoire, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News writes. According to FanGraphs, deGrom’s usage of the pitch ranged from 7.9 percent to 10.8 percent from 2014-18. The number dropped to 3 percent in 2019, when opposing hitters had their way with it to the tune of a .364 weighted on-base average. That was the only pitch deGrom threw last year that hitters could even muster a .300 mark against. He was dominant overall, notching a 2.43 ERA/2.67 FIP with 11.25 K/9 and 1.94 BB/9 over 204 innings.

Roster Notes: Felix, Mondesi, Mariners, Orioles

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Longtime Seattle ace Felix Hernandez looks to be leading the competition for a place in Atlanta’s Cole Hamels-less rotation, Mark Bowman of MLB.com relays. The 33-year-old King Felix has given himself the upper hand with 4 2/3 innings of one-run, six-strikeout ball this spring. Hernandez, who’s competing against Sean Newcomb, Kyle Wright and Touki Toussaint for one of two spots, is attempting to revive his career back-to-back trying seasons. The former AL Cy Young winner’s recent struggles forced him to settle for a minor league contract over the winter, and if he does make the Braves, he’ll earn a $1MM salary.

  • The Royals aren’t sure when Adalberto Mondesi will make his Cactus League debut, but they continue to expect the shortstop to be ready for the season opener, manager Mike Matheny stated over the weekend (via Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com). “It’s just about getting him enough reps to be ready by Opening Day. We should be good,” Matheny said of Mondesi, who’s working back from the left shoulder surgery he underwent last September. Before suffering that injury, the 24-year-old turned in his second straight productive season, totaling 2.4 fWAR with a .263/.291/.424 line and 43 stolen bases.
  • Turning to Hernandez’s ex-team, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times delves into the competition among infielder/outfielder Dylan Moore, outfielder Braden Bishop and infielder/outfielder Tim Lopes for the Mariners’ final two bench spots. The most major league experience of the three belongs to Moore, who took 282 trips to the plate for the Mariners last season and hit .206/.302/.389 with nine home runs and 11 steals. He saw action at every position on the diamond but catcher, even pitching an inning. Bishop’s a decently regarded prospect (Baseball America ranks him 19th in the team’s system), but injuries – including a lacerated spleen – have slowed him down. He made a brutal debut in the majors last season, batting .107/.153/.107 in 60 PA. Lopes hit well, on the other hand (.270/.359/.360 in 128 PA), and has continued to do so this spring.
  • Andrew Velazquez hasn’t been an Oriole for long, having joined the club via waivers two weeks ago, but he’s making a good early impression. Velazquez, who’s among those competing for a bench role with the Orioles, is “migrating toward the front of the line of utility candidates,” Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. The switch-hitting 25-year-old spent time in the majors with the Rays and Indians from 2018-19, though he only combined for 36 plate appearances with those teams. Most of his recent work has come in Triple-A ball, where he owns a .260/.316/.415 line in 648 PA.

NL Health Notes: Watson, A. Miller, Freeman, Dodgers

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Giants reliever Tony Watson has been dealing with shoulder tightness this spring, but the left-hander said Monday (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle), “It’s nothing I’m concerned about.” Watson, who threw his second bullpen session in three days on Monday, expects he’ll be set to go for the beginning of the regular season. However, it’s unknown when he’ll be ready to appear in a spring training game. The 34-year-old’s the elder statesman in a bullpen that has undergone significant changes since last season, when the normally reliable Watson turned in a career-worst campaign. Watson wound up with a 4.17 ERA/4.81 FIP and 6.83 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 over 54 innings, but the Giants still brought him back on a reasonably priced guarantee ($3MM).

Let’s check in on a few more health situations from around the National League…

  • Cardinals southpaw Andrew Miller is having difficulty “getting a feel for the ball,” Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Nothing “physically hurts,” according to Miller, but Goold writes that he’ll undergo a “battery of exams” to determine what’s troubling him. That’s not the type of news he or the Cardinals wanted entering the second season of a two-year, $25MM contract. The 34-year-old didn’t deliver as hoped in Year 1, as he posted a 4.45 ERA/5.19 FIP with 11.52 K/9, 4.45 BB/9 and a 37.2 percent grounder rate in 54 2/3 innings. Miller pitched in 73 games, and with 37 more appearances this year (110 from 2019-20), his $12MM vesting option for 2021 will become guaranteed.
  • Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman has battled some discomfort in his surgically repaired right elbow, but as expected, he appears to be fine. After sitting out of action last week, Freeman returned Monday, saying (per David O’Brien of The Athletic, via Instagram), “I feel great,” and added that he’s not facing any restrictions. That’s excellent for Atlanta, which will likely need yet another outstanding season from Freeman if it’s going to rule the National League East for the third year in a row.
  • The Dodgers have temporarily shut down infield prospect Omar Estevez as a result of soreness in his right (throwing) shoulder, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets. Estevez has been in camp this spring as a non-roster invitee. It’s unclear how much time he’ll miss, but it’s the latest injury for a player who sat out roughly two months last season with a hamstring strain. When healthy in 2019, though, Estevez put up nice production in his Double-A debut, batting .291/.352/.431 in 336 plate appearances. He now ranks as Baseball America’s 16th-best Dodgers prospect.

Still No Timetable For Cole Hamels

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It has now been nearly three weeks since news emerged that Braves starter Cole Hamels wouldn’t be ready to report to Spring Training on time due to some shoulder irritation. There’s still no timeline in place for him to get back to action, manager Brian Snitker said today, as David O’Brien of The Athletic reports (Twitter links).

There is some evidence of progress, it seems, but the update largely confirms that the Atlanta organization is going to endure a fairly lengthy stretch without the veteran southpaw. A recent medical exam — held, as promised, three weeks after the initial concern arose — revealed that Hamels’s shoulder has improved but that he’s still not ready to resume throwing.

There really isn’t much to go off of here in assessing the situation. The Braves haven’t given much indication of just what Hamels is dealing with, so there’s no context to work with. It isn’t clear when Hamels will go in for another check-up, either. Presumably, he won’t pick up a ball until he receives clearance.

What is clear is that Hamels is certain to miss the start of the season — and not just the minimum 15 days. (Yes, the 15-day IL is back for pitchers.) Even if Hamels is cleared to throw in a week’s time and doesn’t experience further issues, he’d be about a month behind the regular ramp-up schedule and wouldn’t have a chance to tune up in Spring Training competition.

The Braves can certainly weather the loss of Hamels. Sean Newcomb and Felix Hernandez are likely to round out the rotation to open the season, but there are a host of interesting young arms available to call upon depending upon how things progress. Snitker said today that Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson, and perhaps Touki Toussaint could still challenge for roles. Still, it’s obviously disappointing to lose the team’s major offseason rotation addition — particularly since Hamels was signed in large part to provide reliable innings.

Quick Hits: Camargo, Riley, LoMo, Melville, Russell

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Johan Camargo and Austin Riley are competing for not only the Braves’ starting third base job, but also potentially a spot on the 26-man roster altogether.  Manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including The Athletic’s David O’Brien) that he feels both Camargo and Riley are best served by everyday playing time, rather than splitting third base in a platoon or one player working in a backup role.  Sending one of the duo down to Triple-A is “not out of the question,” Snitker said.  “They’ve got (minor-league) options, and if long term, for the health of our ballclub that’s (what) we see fit, that could happen.”

Plans could change in case of an injury, of course, and both players have experience at other positions.  Riley played mostly left field in his rookie season and only four games at third base, as Atlanta had Josh Donaldson at the hot corner last year.  Camargo, meanwhile, has a lot of experience at shortstop, second base, and both corner outfield positions in addition to third base, though Snitker felt that bouncing Camargo around the diamond last season hurt his productivity at the plate.  After hitting .281/.343/.455 in 780 PA over his first two MLB seasons, Camargo struggled to a .233/.279/.384 slash line in 248 plate appearances in 2019.

More from around the baseball world…

  • After signing a minor league deal with the Brewers this winter, Logan Morrison has no intention of actually playing in the minors if he doesn’t crack Milwaukee’s roster, the veteran told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt and other media.  “Triple-A is not an option.  That’s not going to happen.  I have nothing to prove there.  If they try to send me down, I can get out,” Morrison said, referring to the opt-out clause in his contract as an Article XX(B) free agent.  Since Morrison has at least six years of MLB experience and finished last season on a 40-man roster (the Phillies’ roster) or 60-day injured list, he can ask to be released by the Brewers if they don’t put him on their 26-man roster or the injured list five days prior to Opening Day.  Morrison would also be in line for a $100K retention bonus if the Brewers didn’t put him on the roster but wanted to keep him in the minors, but clearly that isn’t on Morrison’s mind.  “I’m not worried about it because whatever happens, wherever I go, whatever they decide, I’ll be at peace with it,” he said.
  • Tim Melville is recovering from a broken rib and will be sidelined for at least three weeks, Kyle Newman of the Denver Post writes.  After pitching 33 1/3 innings for the Rockies last season, Melville signed a new minor league deal with Colorado earlier this month, though he thinks his rib injury might have taken place at the end of last season.  The discomfort didn’t resurface until Melville began throwing in camp.  The injury obviously lessens Melville’s shot at winning a roster spot, though the Rockies could place the right-hander on the IL and let him ramp up in the minors.
  • Royals pitching prospect Ashe Russell underwent Tommy John surgery last year and is still recovering, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports (Twitter links).  The exact date of Russell’s procedure isn’t known, though Flanagan said it took place “awhile” before last June.  That would put Russell roughly on pace to return to the mound sometime before the end of the season.  Russell has tossed only 38 1/3 professional innings since being selected 21st overall in the 2015 draft, and hasn’t pitched at all since the 2016 season.  Back in July 2017, we learned that Russell had taken a “mental break” from baseball, in the words of Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo.  Russell’s agent described the issue as somewhat more pitching-related in nature, saying Russell was “having trouble with his pitching mechanics” and “needed a change of scenery” from the Royals’ training facilities.  The 23-year-old righty is currently at the Royals’ Spring Training camp.

Quick Hits: Peralta, Brewers, Mariners, Wallace

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Happy birthday to Diamondbacks right-hander Stefan Crichton, who turns seven years…er, make that 28 years old on this Leap Day.  As you might expect, there haven’t been too many big leaguers born on February 29, though the date has produced a pair of very notable figures from baseball history.  Pepper Martin (born in 1904) was a four-time All-Star who won two World Series titles as a member of the Cardinals’ legendary Gashouse Gang teams of the 1930’s.  While the World Series MVP Award wasn’t instituted until 1955, it’s safe to consider Martin a retroactive winner for his performance in the 1931 Fall Classic, as he posted a 1.330 OPS over 26 plate appearances to lead St. Louis to victory.

Al Rosen (born in 1924) was also a four-time All-Star, as well as the American League’s MVP in 1953.  Rosen hit .285/.384/.495 over ten outstanding seasons with the Indians in a career cut short by injuries, though he got to the Show in time to earn a ring with the 1948 Tribe, the last Cleveland team to win a World Series.  After his playing career was over, Rosen served as the president/CEO of the Yankees (winning another Series in 1978), then president/general manager of the Astros (1980-85) and Giants (1985-92).

More from around baseball as we hit the last February 29 until 2024…

  • Freddy Peralta’s representatives “weren’t too happy” with the right-hander’s decision to sign a five-year extension with the Brewers, Peralta told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters.  Peralta is guaranteed $15.5MM over the next five seasons, plus as much as $14.5MM more if club options for 2025 and 2026 are both exercised.  The contract gives the Brewers a lot of control over a pitcher who only has slightly more than one year of service time to his name, and Peralta said his agents at Rep 1 Baseball “didn’t really want to take it.  At the end of the day, I know they wanted to wait a little longer.”  Still, Peralta was focused on locking in a life-changing amount of money, calling the contract “something I’ve been working for my whole life….It was a chance to help my family, to help myself, and be in a position where I can play relaxed.  My family can be a little more happy and relaxed.  It definitely changes my mind going into every season, knowing that I have a little bit of security.”
  • While Peralta could be leaving a lot of potential money on the table if he blossoms into a reliable pitcher, taking the extension could ultimately prove to be a wise choice considering that Peralta isn’t yet proven at the big league level.  These types of early-career extensions involve “a risk tolerance for both sides,” Brewers GM David Stearns told Haudricourt and company, and “in this case, there was a clear desire from the player and a clear desire from the club” to get a deal done.  Rather than specify a a specific starting or relieving job for Peralta, Stearns indicated “we think he could potentially have success in both roles, and as the game continues to evolve, as the use of pitching continues to evolve, there are probably going to be a whole bunch of pitchers who are asked to do both.  And it wouldn’t shock me if Freddy is one of those guys.“
  • The Mariners won’t use a set closer this season “unless somebody jumps up and grabs the position,” manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).  Barring a breakout performance from one of the many save candidates, the M’s will instead rotate between the likes of Yoshihisa Hirano, Carl Edwards Jr., Matt Magill, Dan Altavilla, Sam Tuivailala, and perhaps others in ninth-inning situations.
  • Special assistant Dave Wallace and the Braves have “mutually agreed to part ways” after three seasons, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  This was Wallace’s second stint in Atlanta’s organization, after working as a minor league pitching coordinator from 2010-13.  The 72-year-old Wallace is known for his many years as a pitching coach with five different teams, most recently working with Orioles pitchers from 2014-16.

Marcell Ozuna Discusses Cardinals, Qualifying Offer Decision

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Marcell Ozuna signed a one-year, $18MM deal with the Braves in January, after an offseason that saw the outfielder connected to multiple teams, including a potential reunion with the Cardinals.  Though he turned down the Cards’ one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer, “if I knew before it was going to happen like this, I would have taken it,” Ozuna told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  “But I wanted to make sure I had a chance (at a contract) for my career.”

As it happened, such an acceptable long-term offer didn’t materialize over the early weeks of the offseason, leading Ozuna and his representatives to pivot to the idea of a one-year deal and a quick return to free agency next winter without the burden of the draft pick compensation attached to his services for rejecting the QO.  (Players cannot be issued more than one qualifying offer in their career.)  Before taking Atlanta’s one-year deal, Ozuna turned several multi-year offers that were reportedly on the table, including a three-year/$50MM offer from the Reds.

There’s some obvious risk in Ozuna’s decision, as injury or a down year would erase his chances at landing another major long-term contract, and he’ll be re-entering the market heading into his age-30 season.  But, the outfielder is choosing to bet on himself to deliver a better platform year than in 2019, when he hit a solid but unspectacular .241/.328/.472 with 29 homers over 549 PA for the Cardinals, and missed over a month recovering from a fractured finger.

Ozuna made no secret of his desire to return to St. Louis, and after extensions talks proved fruitless last season, he and his agency (MDR Sports Management) remained in contact with the Cardinals “every time something moved” in his market, Ozuna said.

“If they offer a good offer, I would get it.  But they didn’t do it….I thought the Cardinals were going to offer something (early), but they didn’t do that after I rejected the qualifying offer,” Ozuna told Goold.  “So, I got patient. And I waited.  And I talked to my agent a lot of the time.  We were waiting — and then Atlanta was the team that gave me the opportunity for the one year and a good deal.  I had to do that.”

There don’t appear to be any hard feelings between Ozuna and the Cardinals, as he is “not disappointed” with how the winter played out.  “I feel like they did not give me the opportunity, so I had to walk away.  It’s business,” Ozuna said.

It ended up being a pretty quiet offseason for the Cardinals overall, who re-signed Adam Wainwright and Matt Wieters, and signed Kwang-Hyun Kim and Brad Miller but otherwise didn’t pull the trigger on any major moves, despite constant rumors.  The club’s one notable trade was a multi-player deal with the Rays that saw the Cardinals actually subtract from their Major League roster, moving Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena to Tampa Bay.  At the time of that trade, there was some thought that St. Louis could be making room in its outfield to potentially accommodate Ozuna, but instead, the Cards were simply subtracting from an outfield picture that is still pretty crowded as we approach Opening Day.

It can certainly be argued that Ozuna represents a more proven MLB asset than any of Harrison Bader, Tommy Edman, Tyler O’Neill, Lane Thomas, Dylan Carlson, and Ozuna also seems like a better option at this point than veteran Dexter Fowler, who is entering his age-34 season and is coming three inconsistent years for the Cards.  However, with so many outfielders in the mix, the Cardinals were seemingly more comfortable with counting on some members of this group to emerge than they were in offering Ozuna even a one-year deal.

It’s interesting to speculate on how the shape of the offseason (for the Braves, Cardinals, and the free agent market as a whole) would have been altered had Ozuna indeed taken the Cards’ qualifying offer.  There was some thought last fall that he could be a candidate to take the $17.8MM deal, as two other notable would-be free agents — Jose Abreu (White Sox) and Jake Odorizzi (Twins) did with their respective teams.  However, given that the Cardinals’ interest in retaining Ozuna seemed lukewarm at best, it could be that St. Louis might not have issued the QO whatsoever if they thought there was a truly serious chance that Ozuna would accept.

Braves Report Club-Record 2019 Revenue

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This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given the organization’s recent on-field success and intense ballpark development efforts, but the Braves have announced a new club record in 2019 revenue. As Erick Jackson of the Atlanta Business Chronicle writes, the team’s total revenue rose to $476MM last year — up from $442MM in 2018.

Why are we only covering this sort of information from the Braves? The Atlanta organization is the only team in baseball that is required legally to release its financials, by virtue of the fact that it’s owned by the publicly traded Liberty Media corporation.

The numbers reflect an eight percent rise in baseball-related revenue, with the team’s development-side earnings holding steady at $38MM. Increases at the gate and in television revenue were cited by the organization as driving the gains.

As the Braves attempt to defend their two-straight NL East titles in 2020, they’ll do so with a payroll increase on the books. The club did finish the 2019 season with just over $136MM in salary obligations, representing the third-straight increase in end-of-season spending, but had done so after opening with only a ~$115MM payroll. As things stand for 2020, there’s about $147.5MM on the books for the season to come. (All of these numbers reflect the cash accounting set forth by Cot’s on Contracts.)

Those increases in MLB roster spending will obviously impact the bottom line. Indeed, the club had already reported significant increases in its operating expenses in 2019. But as Jackson notes, that’s due to the ongoing efforts in and around the ballpark — the intention of which, clearly, is to support long-term revenue growth.

Alex Anthopoulos: No Concern On Freeman’s Elbow

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Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said today that Freddie Freeman’s surgically repaired elbow is “not a concern.” Freeman was scratched from his start yesterday after experiencing inflammation. (Video via 680 The Fan, on Twitter.)

The reassurances from the GM are nice, but the real key here is that Dr. David Altchek — who performed Freeman’s bone spur removal procedure over the offseason — is evidently not worried. Even consulting with the surgeon was considered an exceedingly cautious step, Anthopoulos suggested. Altchek indicated that this sort of swelling is just part of the long-term recovery process.

While Freeman would prefer to jump right back into action, Anthopoulos says the team will exercise continued caution. The plan is to let the slugger rest for the remainder of the week and “get him back in there next week.”

Going forward, the team doesn’t anticipate any special care. But it’ll be proactive in doling out rest since there’s so much time left before the start of the season. And Anthopoulos noted that Freeman will need to communicate any issues that do arise. Otherwise, says Anthopoulos, “if doctors aren’t concerned then we’re not.”

Latest On Freddie Freeman

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As of yesterday afternoon, the outlook was rather positive on Freddie Freeman’s troublesome right elbow. But he was scratched from his scheduled spring appearance today owing to inflammation in the joint.

It’s not time to panic if you’re a Braves fan. The club made clear it’s a precautionary move. And some amount of swelling in the elbow at some point was probably inevitable. Freeman, after all, required fairly extensive cleanup work over the offseason to address painful bone spurs.

The situation does certainly warrant close attention from the Atlanta training staff. Freeman is obviously a key cog in the Braves’ lineup. He gamely battled through the injury down the stretch last year, but produced a prolonged slump at the plate.

Manager Brian Snitker spoke on the subject, explaining that it’s not seen as cause for major alarm at the moment. (Video via 680 The Fan, on Twitter). The hope is that Freeman can take a few days off and then get back going. Unsurprisingly, the skipper evinced little worry that his star hitter would be capable of fully preparing for the season to come even if he’s delayed.

Stepping into the lineup today is Yonder Alonso, who’d also be the top insurance plan to help the club cope with any absence from its top-of-class first baseman. The Braves will hope instead that Alonso exits Spring Training as a bench bat and capable option to give Freeman some extra rest in the early going.

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