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NL East Notes: Phillies, Bryant, Marlins, Reynolds, Marte, Jansen, Chafin, Mets

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The Phillies were often speculated as a suitor for Kris Bryant this winter, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the team did indeed have interest in the former NL MVP.  However, Bryant wanted as much long-term security as possible in the form of “at least a seven-year deal,” and he landed that desired contract with his seven-year, $182MM agreement with the Rockies.  Philadelphia’s offer topped out at five years, Nightengale writes.

Given the terms, one wonders if the Phillies’ offer to Bryant was somewhat similar to the five-year, $100MM deal the club ended up giving to Nick Castellanos.  Even that deal took some additional legwork, since as The Athletic’s Matt Gelb details, the front office first had to convince owner John Middleton that adding Castellanos was worth exceeding the luxury tax threshold for the first time in franchise history.  Middleton has long stated that he was willing to pay the tax for a difference-making type of acquisition, and the end result is that the Phillies are now projected to sit above the $230MM threshold with an estimated $236.46MM tax number.

More from the NL East…

  • While the Marlins have long coveted Pirates All-Star Bryan Reynolds, the Fish “weren’t planning on” dealing either Max Meyer or JJ Bleday in a trade package for the outfielder, Man On Second’s Joe Frisaro writes.  Bleday was the fourth overall pick of the 2019 draft and Meyer the third pick in 2020, with both youngsters considered among the top 100 prospects in baseball, let alone just in Miami’s farm system.  Pittsburgh is known to have a big asking price in any Reynolds trade, so it isn’t surprising that the Bucs are aiming high in their demands from the Marlins or other clubs.  The Marlins do have a lot of quality minor league depth, so a Reynolds deal can’t be entirely ruled out even if the Fish don’t move either Meyer or Bleday.  Frisaro notes that the Marlins are still looking at other center field options besides Reynolds, and the club is also looking for bullpen help either in trades or available free agents.
  • Starling Marte has been sidelined by injury for the last week, though both Marte and Mets manager Buck Showalter believe the veteran outfielder will be ready for Opening Day, according to Deesha Thosar of The New York Daily News and other reporters.  Marte’s injury is being described by the team as left oblique soreness, and Showalter said Marte underwent several tests to make sure there wasn’t any structural damage on Marte’s left side.  However, Marte said that an MRI revealed “something, not a broken rib, but something,” adding somewhat evasively that it was “something like” an intercostal muscle issue.
  • Kenley Jansen and Andrew Chafin each drew some interest from the Mets before signing elsewhere, SNY’s Andy Martino reports.  For all of the Mets’ moves this winter, they have been relatively quiet on the bullpen front, though Adam Ottavino was recently added on a one-year, $4MM pact.  However, quite a few notable veterans (i.e. Alex Claudio, Chasen Shreve, Felix Pena) have been added on minor league deals, and whatever younger arms aren’t in the rotation could also help out in the relief corps.

Mets No Longer Looking To Trade Smith, McNeil, Davis?

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Dominic Smith, Jeff McNeil, and J.D. Davis have all been mentioned as possible or even likely trade candidates due to the Mets’ new influx of position players, yet it now seems as though the club is leaning against a deal.  According to SNY’s Andy Martino, the trio are now “expected to stay” in New York, with a trade of Smith or McNeil in particular looking like a “long shot.”

Of course, there could be some gamesmanship at play here for the Mets.  Publicly, the club has always expressed an interest in keeping the players, with manager Buck Showalter saying earlier this week that he saw McNeil as the team’s regular second baseman.  Saying the same thing privately could simply be a way of trying to entice more of a trade return from interested teams, as one would imagine the Mets would indeed deal any of the three players if another club made a big enough offer.

On the face of it, however, it also makes sense why the Mets would want to retain any or all of the three.  Several members of New York’s veteran roster have battled injury problems either in past seasons or as recently as 2021, plus Robinson Cano is an x-factor in his return from a season-long PED suspension.  Having Davis, McNeil, and Smith on hand as depth would be a big help for the Mets in the event of more injury problems, and the introduction of the DH spot also provides more opportunity to rotate bats in and out of the lineup, so everyone can theoretically stay fresh.

Health issues impacted each of Davis, McNeil, and Smith last season, resulting in only 73 games played for Davis, and both missed time and subpar performance for McNeil and Smith.  It’s safe to assume that these injuries factored into trade talks, as rival teams were likely unwilling to pay a premium for anyone coming off a checkered season, while the Mets likely aren’t keen on selling low on any of the three players.

In Smith’s case, the first baseman played virtually the entire season hurt, as he recently told SI.com’s Pat Ragazzo.  In trying to compensate for a wrist strain suffered in Spring Training, Smith then developed a partial tear in his right labrum in late May or early June.  Labrum surgery wasn’t required, but between the shoulder and wrist problems and a groin injury, Smith hit only .244/.304/.363 with 11 home runs over 493 plate appearances.

After a lot of offseason work to heal and rehab, Smith told Ragazzo that “Nothing hurts right now.  Trust me, if something hurts, everybody will know.  I won’t be out there playing if I’m hurt.  That’s something that’s going to change from the past.”  In regards to his shoulder, Smith felt it had healed but “it’s good enough to go” for the season.  “You still take some swings and feel stuff, and that’s just a part of it.  But….it’s a lot better than last year, I will say that.”

Martino reports that the Padres are one of the teams who have interest in McNeil and Smith, and that interest in Smith has continued even in the wake of San Diego’s acquisition of first baseman Luke Voit.  With Voit now adding to an already crowded first base/DH situation for the Padres, presumably any Smith deal would hinge on the Padres being able to fulfill their aim of trading Eric Hosmer, though Smith can also play left field.  The versatile McNeil could play second base, third base, or either corner outfield spot for San Diego, which would give the Padres some flexibility as they try to fill the void left by Fernando Tatis Jr.’s wrist surgery.

Michael Conforto Turned Down Nine-Figure Extension Prior To 2021 Season

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Outfielder Michael Conforto turned down an extension offer from the Mets one year ago, reports Andy Martino of SNY. Per Martino’s tweet, the contract offer was “in the $100 million range” and “would have gone to about $120MM.”

Conforto’s market this winter has been one of the more difficult to predict, given that he followed up a run of four consecutive seasons of excellent production with a bit of a down year right before free agency. One year ago, at the time of this reported offer, Conforto had just finished a 2017-2020 run wherein he launched 97 home runs and hit .265/.369/.495, wRC+ of 133.

Other than the vague approximation of the final value of the offer, there’s nothing publicly known about it, making it difficult to evaluate Conforto’s decision. For instance, that number could have been spread over enough years to make the average annual value a non-starter. But just looking at the final number, it wasn’t outlandish for Conforto to reject that contract at that time. Just as a comparison, Nick Castellanos hit 98 homers over his past four years and put up a wRC+ of 126. He just signed with the Phillies for $100MM over five years. Conforto is a year younger than Castellanos, hits from the left side and doesn’t have the same defensive liabilities. If he had yet another great year at the plate in 2021, he certainly could have topped that $100MM number.

Unfortunately, Conforto had an ill-timed swoon last year, just as he was headed into free agency. Despite lowering his strikeout rate, he only managed 14 homers in 125 games and slashed .232/.344/.384 overall, for a wRC+ of just 106. Based on that performance, MLBTR predicted that Conforto would reject the qualifying offer, not find deals to his liking and eventually settle for a one-year, $20MM deal, hoping for a bounceback campaign and a return to the free agent market without the QO and with a better platform. So far, it’s seems possible things are following that script, as Conforto did indeed reject the QO is now just one of three free agents from that Top 50 list that remain unsigned or retired. (Trevor Story and Jorge Soler are the others.)

It is perhaps worth mentioned that Conforto is represented by the Boras Corporation. Superstar agent Scott Boras has often found creative ways to get his clients paid in a way that also ensures them future opportunities for further contracts. For instance, the aforementioned Castellanos signed a four-year deal with the Reds prior to the 2020 season, which came with opt-outs after each of the first two years of the deal. After a down year in 2020, he stayed put in Cincy and mashed through 2021, triggering his second opt-out and securing his $100MM deal this week. Carlos Rodon was also a candidate to settle for a one-year deal due to his excellent but injury-hampered season, but he ended up securing a two-year, $44MM deal that allows him to opt-out after the first year as long as he throws 110 innings. Carlos Correa went into the offseason looking for $330MM or more but couldn’t find a deal in that range. After switching his representation to Boras during the lockout, he just settled with the Twins for $105.3MM over three years, but with opt-outs after each season, allowing him to re-enter the market essentially at his will and take another shot at a mega payday.

Although it might initially seem like it was a mistake for Conforto to have turned down that $100MM, there’s still a chance he could come out ahead in the end. It’s entirely possible that he and Boras could find a similar deal to those examples, one that finds some middle ground between current financial security and future earning potential. He only turned 29 years of age a few weeks ago, meaning that it’s possible for Conforto to bank some money now and return to the open market going into his age-30 or age-31 season. All he has to do is put 2021 behind him and return to the form he showed in the previous four seasons.

Mets Sign Tzu-Wei Lin To Minor League Contract

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The Mets are in agreement with Tzu-Wei Lin on a minor league contract, reports Michael Mayer of Metsmerized (on Twitter). Presumably, the lefty-hitting utilityman will take part in big league Spring Training.

Lin appeared briefly in the majors with the Red Sox in each season from 2017-20. Over that stretch, he appeared in 101 games and tallied 218 plate appearances, hitting .223/.298/.316 with a home run and two stolen bases. He spent the bulk of his time defensively in the middle infield while picking up occasional stray starts at third base and at all three outfield spots.

Boston outrgithed Lin off their 40-man roster at the end of the 2020 season, at which point he elected minor league free agency. He hooked on with the Twins on a minors deal and made it to the majors for the fifth consecutive year in the briefest of fashions. Lin was selected to the big league club in late April and entered one game as a defensive replacement in left field. He was outrighted off the roster not long after and assigned to Triple-A St. Paul. He barely played for the Saints, however, spending all but seven games on the minor league injured list.

Lin again elected free agency at the end of the year, and now he’ll add some versatile non-roster depth to the Mets organization. The Taiwan native has a .268/.327/.385 line in parts of four Triple-A campaigns. He has basically never hit for any power but he’s posted strong contact numbers throughout his time in the minors and was regarded as a solid defensive infielder during his time as a prospect.

Mets Sign Travis Jankowski To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have signed outfielder Travis Jankowski to a minor league contract, per a club announcement. Jankowski would earn $1.25MM upon making the big league roster, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The team also formally announced its previously reported minor league deal with lefty Chasen Shreve.

Jankowski, 30, appeared in 76 games with the division-rival Phillies last season and posted a solid .252/.364/.351 batting line through 157 plate appearances. Jankowski seldom played in a full game last year but was regularly used as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner and as a late-game defensive upgrade for the Phils. It’s easy enough to see why, as he can play any of the three outfield slots and carries a career +15 Defensive Runs Saved and +8.5 Ultimate Zone Rating through 2356 innings of defensive work at the MLB level. Statcast pegged Jankowski’s average sprint speed in the 88th percentile of MLB players.

Originally a supplemental first-round pick of the Padres back in 2012 (No. 44 overall), Jankowski has seen Major League time in parts of seven big league seasons — five with the Padres, plus a brief 2020 look in Cincinnati and last year’s showing in Philadelphia. He’s a .239/.322/.318 hitter in 1151 plate appearances at the big league level and a .321/.411/.385 hitter in 619 Triple-A plate appearances.

Barring injuries and/or trades of current players, Jankowski won’t have an immediate path to a big league roster spot with the Mets. New York currently has Mark Canha, Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo penciled in as the starting trio, and bench players like J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith have ample experience in the outfield (as does second baseman Jeff McNeil). Younger players like Khalil Lee and Nick Plummer are ticketed for Triple-A and are already on the minor league roster.

That said, it’s widely expected that the Mets will be open to moving either Davis or Smith in the coming days and weeks, which could lead to an opportunity for a speed- and defense-oriented role player to make the roster. Even if Jankowski winds up heading to Triple-A to begin the season, he’s a nice depth option to have on hand, as virtually no team in the league will get through the season without some injuries in the outfield.

Mets, Chasen Shreve Nearing Deal

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The Mets are close to signing free-agent lefty Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract, tweets MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. It’d be the second Mets stint for Shreve, who spent the 2020 campaign pitching in Queens as well.

Now 31, he has pitched in the past eight MLB seasons, seeing some time with the Braves, Yankees, Cardinals and Pirates, in addition to the Mets. He’s played 292 games in his career, logging 285 innings, with a 3.63 ERA. His 25.6% strikeout rate is a few ticks above average, but so is his 11.6% walk rate.

Spending last year with the Pirates, Shreve had an outlier season for him. His strikeout rate dropped to 19.1%, yet he still managed to get good results, as evidenced by his 3.20 ERA. That was largely driven by a .234 batting average on balls in play, leading advanced metrics to rank his work in less favorable light. (3.87 xERA, 4.73 FIP, 4.93 SIERA, 5.15 xFIP) However, looking at Shreve’s Statcast page, he threw his slider more at the expense of his fastball and did a good job at limiting hard contact, perhaps suggesting that it wasn’t just pure luck that kept his ERA low.

The Mets, despite a wild offseason, have a clear lack of lefties in the bullpen. There’s no one on the 40-man roster at the moment who’s likely to fill a regular relief role. However, they have signed Alex Claudio, Mike Montgomery and now Shreve to compete for a job, or perhaps jobs, as the southpaw element of the club’s relief corps. Shreve did fare better against lefties (.200/.288/.344) but wasn’t awful against righties (.221/.321/.398) last year.

Showalter: McNeil In Line To Start For Mets At Second Base

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The Mets have signed each of Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha to multi-year contracts this offseason. They’re also set to welcome Robinson Canó back from a performance-enhancing drug suspension that cost him his entire 2021 campaign. The influx of players who weren’t available to the Mets last year reshuffled the offensive group and led to plenty of speculation about the future of some in-house options.

Specifically, Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis have been oft-mentioned trade candidates. It’s still theoretically possible any of that trio finds themselves on the move, but first-year manager Buck Showalter told reporters this afternoon that he envisioned McNeil as the club’s primary second baseman this season.

Regarding whether he planned to divide second base duties between McNeil and Canó, Showalter said he viewed it as the former’s job. “I don’t think it will be split. Mac will get the majority [of playing time] there,” he said (via Tim Healey of Newsday). Asked about Canó’s role, Showalter replied “I think Robbie knows he’s not going to play second base for us as much as he wants to. But we hope he’s not a pure DH either. There’s the potential for him to play some first base if needed. I wouldn’t put him in the outfield.”

Obviously, the presence of Canó and Escobar would give the Mets options at second base were they to entertain trading McNeil over the coming weeks. Yet Showalter’s comments suggest it’s likelier he’ll remain in Queens and pick up the bulk of the playing time at the keystone. Projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for just a $2.8MM salary this season and controllable through 2024 via arbitration, the 29-year-old McNeil could remain in Flushing for a while if the Mets elect to keep him around.

McNeil didn’t debut in the majors until his age-26 season, but he hit the ground running. His excellent bat-to-ball skills translated to the game’s highest level, and he posted a .319/.383/.501 mark in a bit more than 1000 plate appearances over his first three MLB seasons. Yet while McNeil continued to make plenty of contact last season, his results on batted balls went backwards. The lefty hitter has never been a huge power threat, but last year’s .109 ISO (slugging minus batting average) was easily a career worst. His batting average on balls in play — which had been north of .330 in each of his first three seasons — fell to .280. As a result, McNeil posted below-average offensive numbers (.251/.319/.360 with seven homers in 426 plate appearances) for the first time in his career.

Trading McNeil this winter might’ve been a sell-low move. It’d certainly behoove the win-now Mets if they held onto him and he regained his 2018-20 form. Escobar, who’s coming off a .253/.314/.472 showing between the Diamondbacks and Brewers, seems like he’ll primarily factor in at third base. That’d leave Canó bouncing between second base, first base and designated hitter, although he’s unlikely to be the top option at any of those positions.

Pete Alonso will obviously hold down first. If McNeil takes second with Escobar at third most days, that’d push both Davis and Smith into the corner outfield/DH mix. With a presumptive primary outfield of Canha, Marte and Brandon Nimmo, each of Davis, Smith and Canó could find themselves jostling for playing time if they’re all on the roster.

Davis and Smith would figure to have a decent amount of trade appeal, but it’s hard to envision New York finding a taker for Canó. He’s still due $48MM through 2023 ($24MM in each season). Releasing him wouldn’t save the Mets any money, though, so there’s little reason not to gauge the 39-year-old’s form if he’s willing to take on a bat-first role off the bench. It’s difficult to know whether he has anything left in the tank at his age and coming off a 162-game PED ban, but Canó didn’t show any signs of slowing down when last permitted to take the field. The eight-time All-Star hit .316/.352/.544 in 182 trips to the plate during the shortened 2020 season.

Unvaccinated Mets And Yankees Not Currently Allowed To Play Home Games

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Members of the Yankees and Mets that are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are not eligible to play baseball in New York City, per a report from Stefan Bondy and Dennis Young of the New York Daily News. As noted in the piece, the Yankees and Mets will be affected by the city’s private employer mandate in the same way as Kyrie Irving, whose unvaccinated status has left him ineligible to play home games for the Brooklyn Nets or games hosted by the New York Knicks. (For separate reasons, Irving is also ineligible to cross the Canadian border to play the Toronto Raptors.)

A New York City Hall spokesperson tells the reporters that, although the mandates could change along with the reality of the pandemic, there will not be special exemptions given out to the teams.

This could potentially have significant on-field ramifications for both clubs. As noted in the piece, it is believed that each club has, or perhaps had, some key members still not having received a vaccine. If any of them decide to follow in Irving’s footsteps and refuse to get the necessary shots, they could find themselves sitting out half of their team’s games, or more, when Toronto-based games are factored in.

The Yankees released comment to various reporters, including Lindsey Adler of The Athletic, which reads, “On behalf of the Yankees, [team president] Randy Levine is working with City Hall and all other appropriate officials on this matter. We will have no further comment.” Adler also relays a quote from Aaron Judge, who is rumored to be unvaccinated, on the matter:

“I’m so focused on getting to the first game of spring training. So I think we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. Right now, so many things could change. So I’m not really too worried about that right now.”

It was recently reported that the new CBA contained a detail that players who miss games in Toronto because of vaccination status will not be paid nor receive service time for those games. Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports that the same would apply here. It’s perhaps worth noting that Judge currently has five years and 51 days of MLB service time, meaning he needs 121 more days to reach six years and hit free agency. If he were to miss more than half the 186-day season for vaccine reasons and not accrue service time, he would come up short, thus delaying his free agency by another year.

Marly Rivera of ESPN adds some more information, (Twitter links) saying that this has been known for about 48 hours now, with the players’ union and team both working with the Mayor’s office. Both camps are confident the situation will be resolved before Opening Day. The Yankees are scheduled to play their first home game April 7th, while the Mets won’t be at home until April 15th.

Mets To Sign Mike Montgomery To Minor League Deal

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4:01 pm: If Montgomery cracks the big league team, he’ll earn a salary of $1.1MM, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

1:56 pm: Left-handed pitcher Mike Montgomery is signing a minor league deal with the Mets, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The deal is pending a physical and presumably comes with an invitation to big league camp.

Montgomery and the Mets also connected on a minor league deal a year ago, but he never cracked the roster. He opted out and ended up signing another minor league deal with the Yankees, which he also opted out of, before heading to Korea. He made 11 starts for the Samsung Lions, putting up an ERA of 5.37.

The southpaw spent the previous six seasons in the majors, appearing in 183 games from 2015 to 2020, making 70 starts and logging 541 innings with the Mariners, Cubs and Royals. His career ERA is 3.84, though it hovered around 5.00 in 2019 and 2020. His career strikeout rate is 18%, along with a walk rate of 8.8%. The highlight of that period, however, was Montgomery recording the final out of the 2016 World Series for the Cubs.

Now 32, Montgomery has worked both out of the rotation and bullpen in his career, meaning he could function as depth in either capacity for the Mets. The rotation is strong on paper but comes with loads of uncertainty. Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt and Carlos Carrasco figure to be the front four, though they all dealt with injuries last year to varying degrees. Taijuan Walker underwent knee surgery in January and may not be ready for Opening Day. If any of that core five need to miss time, the club could also turn to Tylor Megill, David Peterson, Jordan Yamamoto, Sean Reid-Foley or Yennsy Diaz, who are all on the 40-man roster.

The path to a job in the bullpen is much more open, however, as the club doesn’t really have a lefty on the roster projected to be part of the relief corps. Alex Claudio was signed to a minor league deal in January and would likely be Montgomery’s chief competition in that respect. The Mets could continue this wild offseason with another addition, though there aren’t many high profile lefties remaining on the free agent market, with Andrew Chafin and Tony Watson perhaps being the most notable.

Mets Sign Adam Ottavino

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The Mets announced Monday evening that they’re signed right-handed reliever Adam Ottavino. It’s reportedly a a one-year contract worth $4MM, plus $1MM of performance bonuses for the 36-year-old. Ottavino is represented by WME Sports.

Ottavino broke into the big leagues as a Cardinal but was claimed on waivers by the Rockies and ended up staying for seven seasons from 2012 to 2018. In that time, the righty got into 361 games, throwing 390 2/3 innings with an ERA of 3.41, strikeout rate of 27.6% and walk rate of 10.1%. His last season with the Rockies was especially noteworthy, as he had the best year of his career at the age of 32. In that campaign, he threw 77 2/3 innings with a 2.43 ERA. His 11.7% walk rate was a few ticks above league average, but he offset that with an incredible 36.2% strikeout rate.

Based on that tremendous late-career breakout, the Yankees signed Ottavino to a three-year, $27MM contract. In 2019, Ottavino largely made good on the faith the Yankees showed in him. In 66 1/3 innings, he lowered his ERA to 1.90, despite his strikeout rate falling to 31.1% and his walk rate jumping to 14.1%. In the shortened 2020 season, however, things took an ugly turn, as he put up an ERA of 5.89 over 18 1/3 innings, with his strikeout rate falling to 29.4%.

Prior to the 2021 campaign, the Yankees sent Ottavino to the Red Sox, mostly because they were nearing the luxury tax and wanted his salary off the books. In 62 innings for Boston last year, his ERA was 4.21, not as bad as the small sample from 2020, but definitely a notch below his 2018-19 stretch. His strikeout rate also dipped for a third straight season, coming in at 25.7%.

For the Mets, this is yet another move in what has been an extremely busy offseason for them. They upgraded their lineup by signing Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. They also improved their rotation by signing Max Scherzer before the lockout and trading for Chris Bassitt yesterday. Now they’ve added Ottavino to a bullpen that already features Edwin Diaz, Trevor May, Miguel Castro and Seth Lugo. Those are all right-handed options, meaning that the club could look to supplement that group with a lefty, if their wild roster revamp isn’t yet complete.

To create space on the 40-man roster, New York outrighted right-hander Antonio Santos, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets had claimed the 25-year-old off waivers from the Rockies in November, but he didn’t stick on the New York 40-man all winter. He doesn’t have the requisite service time to refuse an outright assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization as non-roster depth.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported the agreement and its terms.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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