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Archives for September 2013

Cafardo On Girardi, Rockies, Gardenhire, Washington

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Agent Scott Boras wants to see the World Series elevated to the same level as the Super Bowl in terms of national buzz and corporate sponsorship and he believes he has a plan to make that happen, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.  Boras proposes having the first or first two games played at a neutral site to combat the "regionalized" feel of the Fall Classic.  “It would be a gathering place for all of baseball,” Boras said. “The team officials would have to show up for the awards and other business. It could be the start of the hot-stove season as it once was. It would bring baseball center stage. It would make the World Series an event, much like the All-Star Game, which is the best in sports. Why not take all of the metrics of that event and apply them to the World Series?”  Here's more from today's column..

  • One Yankees official thinks it’s “70-30” that Joe Girardi returns next season as manager.  Girardi would be intrigued by the Cubs' managerial job and Chicago is said to be contemplating Dale Sveum’s future with the team.  Girardi has done a remarkable job this season, but Cafardo wonders if he might want out as the Bombers rebuild.  
  • There’s increased talk that Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd could be on the hot seat after the Rockies fell short of expectations this season.  The Rockies have a two-headed monster at the executive level that might not be working as well as expected and O'Dowd could be the man to go.
  • The biggest issue on whether the Twins bring Ron Gardenhire back is whether they believe he’s been on the job too long and has lost touch with his players.  While Minnesota has one of the deepest farm systems in baseball, GM Terry Ryan and owner Jim Pohlad have to decide if Gardenhire is the guy to lead the resurgence.
  • Internally, people in the Rangers organization have no doubts regarding Ron Washington’s job status.  That lines up with comments from GM Jon Daniels last week when he said that the skipper's job isn't in jeopardy.
  • Longtime MLB exec Andy MacPhail has taken some time away from the game but he's now ready to get back into baseball.  It's not clear exactly what he wants to do, but he probably doesn't want to be a GM.  Cafardo suggests that he could return to run an organization and his ties to commissioner Bud Selig could help his candidacy.

Phillies Name Ryne Sandberg As Manager

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10:30am: The Phillies announced that Sandberg signed a three-year deal through 2016 with a club option for 2017.

10:19am: The Phillies will announce later today that they have removed the "interim" tag on Ryne Sandberg and that he will return as manager in 2014, according to a report from ESPN.com.  The presser is scheduled for 10:30am CST.

Sandberg took over as skipper on August 16th after firing longtime manager Charlie Manuel.  The Phillies lost 19 of 22 prior to Manuel's firing but they have gone 18-16 under Sandberg's watch.  Sandberg is the only Hall of Fame player currently managing in the major leagues and will be the first full-time manager who had a Hall of Fame playing career since Frank Robinson.

Sandberg's return has been said to be a "near certainty" but today's press conference will make everything official.  It's possible that the 54-year-old will alter his staff for next season as well and there is some speculation that he could bring Larry Bowa in as a supporting coach.

Free Agent Faceoff: Josh Johnson vs. Roy Halladay

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Heading into the offseason, we can be sure of seeing the usual collection of low-risk deals for formerly marquee free-agent starting pitchers. Last winter, the Pirates struck gold with a one-year, incentive-laden deal for Francisco Liriano, as he's generated 3.0 fWAR this season while making just $1MM. Though they'll require larger commitments, two starters hitting the free agent market this offseason, Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay, offer similar ace potential and are also likely to be had relatively cheaply. They're up next in our Free Agent Faceoff series.

When I asked last week in a poll, just 29 percent of you said the Blue Jays should extend Johnson a qualifying offer this offseason after an injury-marred 2013. This season was certainly a disappointing one for the right-hander, as his 6.20 ERA was the worst of his career if you ignore 2007, when he threw just 15 2/3 innings. However, I made the case that Johnson was among the most unlucky starters in baseball this season, as 18.5 percent of his fly balls went for home runs. That's likely to fall, as it's double his career mark of 8.2 percent.  When Johnson's healthy, he can be as dominant as any starter in baseball, as his lifetime 3.40 ERA attests to. He's just rarely healthy for a full season. Any acquiring team will hope that the 29-year-old can recapture some of his 2010 magic, when he managed an acceptable 183 2/3 innings and led the NL in ERA.

Halladay's 2013 mark of 6.71 ERA in 61 2/3 innings was one of several troubling statistics for the right-hander in 2013, a year that also saw his average two-seam fastball velocity fall to just 88.7 mph. That's a concerning figure for a 36-year-old who missed significant time with a shoulder injury. Halladay's 5.0 BB/9 rate and 1.8 HR/9 rate were also his highest since 2000, when he was in his early 20s. At this point in Halladay's career, we may just be seeing the decline of a pitcher whose right arm logged more than 1,400 innings over a six-year period from 2006-2011. However, there's also no ignoring the fact that he has two Cy Young Awards to his name. If Halladay can prove that he's healthy, that sterling resume is sure to loom large in the evaluation process for many clubs.

In Johnson and Halladay, we have two starters who succumbed to injuries in 2013 but are likely to draw significant interest as former top-of-the-rotation starters. Johnson has dominated in the past when healthy, and though he hasn't had the career Halladay has, he has youth on his side at age 29. Halladay is a much older 36, but he was also among the best pitchers in baseball over that 2006-2011 span. Who would you rather have?

Quick Hits: Rangers, Angels, Carter, Baker

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In an article for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark collects opinions from around baseball on the new wild card game. While the arrangement motivates teams to win their divisions, Braves catcher Brian McCann, a veteran of last year's NL wild card contest, tells Stark that the game doesn't have a playoff atmosphere. "I just feel like, you play 162 games, you win 90-plus, and all of a sudden, it's one game and you're home?" McCann said. Stark's article also covers suggestions on how to address complaints with the one-game format. Here's more links from around the majors:

  • For the Rangers, the season is increasingly looking like a troubling repeat of last year's collapse down the stretch. Looking ahead at possible free agent targets, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that the team could pursue one of the top international free agents — first baseman Jose Abreu and pitcher Masahiro Tanaka — but not both. Brian McCann will be the team's primary target, however, Grant predicts in another tweet.
  • The Angels' decision to give Friday's start to minor-leaguer Matt Shoemaker isn't an encouraging sign for Tommy Hanson or Joe Blanton, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times writes. Hanson was recalled from Triple-A on Monday, while Blanton has spent the last two months in the bullpen. Though manager Mike Scioscia indicated the club merely wanted to get a look at Shoemaker, DiGiovanna says there's a good chance that Blanton will be released before the 2014 season, while Hanson is a non-tender candidate.
  • The Astros' Chris Carter is aware of his high strikeout total this season, which currently sits at 202 and is the highest in the majors, Gene Duffey writes in an article for MLB.com. "Everybody's talking about it, but I just try to have good at-bats," Carter said. "I want to be around .290. I want to be a complete hitter. I've got to get the strikeouts down and the average up." While Carter's batted just .221 this season, he leads the Astros with 67 walks.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn addressed his team's long-term plans in an interview with Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Two of the most significant items in the Sox's budget will be spending in the draft and international market, Hahn says. "Spending to our max in those two areas is important to the long-term sustaining of our success that we are trying to build to," the GM said. "Those will be kind of the first two items, and [they will be] significantly more than the past."
  • Cubs righty Scott Baker says he'd like to return to the club next season, Manny Randhawa of MLB.com reports. "I think it's a wonderful place to play," Baker said. "I kind of feel like with these last few starts, there's less of a question mark about me next year than there was going into this year … Hopefully, whether it's the Cubs or other teams, [they] feel the same way." Baker made just three starts for the Cubs in 2013 after spending most of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

East Notes: Escobar, Phillies, Valdespin, Wheeler

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Let's have a look around MLB's eastern divisions…

  • Yunel Escobar has helped stabilize the Rays' defense, manager Joe Maddon says in an article by Sam Strong of MLB.com. Escobar is on track to break the Rays' team record for fielding percentage by a shortstop.
  • The Phillies clinched their first losing season since 2002 with Friday's loss to the Mets, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Marc Narducci notes. Though young players have gotten valuable experience this season, the Phils must address a number of question marks in their starting rotation as they reload for 2014, Narducci says.
  • The Mets have no plans to release Jordany Valdespin as he finishes up his Biogenesis suspension, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, as cited by MetsBlog. However, there's no guarantee that he'll suit up for the Mets after being reinstated. "It merely means they intend to carry him into the offseason while they have an available 40-man roster spot,” Rubin says.
  • The Mets have shut down Zack Wheeler for the season, Rubin reports in a separate article, after he felt stiffness in his pitching shoulder during a start on Tuesday. However, Wheeler says he won't require an MRI or doctor's exam. The righty has a 3.42 ERA in 100 innings across 17 starts this season.
  • While the 2013 season will be his last at the helm of the Nationals, Davey Johnson says it may not be his last as a manager. "I'll be managing probably somewhere, if somebody wants me," Johnson said. "I never worry about that. I'm not going to be looking for a job." The baseball lifer discussed his career and what's next for him in a wide-ranging interview with MLB.com.

Rosenthal On CarGo, Dodgers, Price, Mujica

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FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal has a new video up outlining potential hot stove moves this offseason. Let's take a look:

  • The Rockies' ownership doesn't have much interest in trading Carlos Gonzalez or Troy Tulowitzki, though Gonzalez would be more likely to be traded if the club does decide to make a move. The Rangers, with their stocks of young pitching and middle infielders, could be a partner. If on offer in such a deal, Jurickson Profar could handle second base for the Rockies, and could shift to shortstop if the team eventually moves Tulo off of the position. We heard last week that the Mets have interest in CarGo.
  • The Dodgers are expected to trade one of their "big four" – Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier or Yasiel Puig – according to rival executives speaking with Rosenthal. Puig is, of course, the least likely to be moved.
  • The Rays are expected to consider trading David Price over the winter, with Rosenthal again suggesting the Rangers as a team to keep an eye on, noting that Texas had two scouts on hand to watch a recent Price start in Minnesota. The Cubs could also be interested, though their farm system is stronger in position players than it is in pitchers.
  • One major league exec suggests that the pressures of impending free agency and closing for a contender have affected the Cardinals' Edward Mujica. A longtime setup man, Mujica was suddenly positioned on the verge of a "major payday" after taking on the Cards' closer role, Rosenthal says.

White Sox Acquire Frank De Los Santos

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The White Sox have acquired pitcher Frank De Los Santos from the Rays, according to Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune (on Twitter).  The Rays will receive cash considerations or a player to be named later in return.

De Los Santos, 25, had a 5.34 ERA in 32 innings pitched for the Rays' Triple-A affiliate this year. He has yet to appear in the majors. The left-hander has seven seasons on his minor league resume. His best may have been 2012, when he posted a 2.11 ERA in 81 innings across stops at Double-A and Triple-A.

The 6-foot Dominican didn't feature on Baseball America's Rays' top 10 prospects list over the winter.

Fred Claire On Dodgers’ Past And Present

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From 1969 until 1998, Fred Claire was a fixture in the Dodgers' front office and for the final eleven years of his time in L.A., Claire manned the club's baseball operations as General Manager.  An awful lot has changed in the 15 years since Claire and the team parted ways and the longtime exec took the time to talk to MLBTradeRumors about the current state of the club and his experience at the wheel of one of baseball's most storied franchises.

Of course, the majority of Claire's tenure with the team took place under the ownership of the O'Malley family.  He had a most unusual trip to the top of the blue ladder which began when he was covering the team as a beat writer in 1969.  When someone in the team's PR department was let go, Claire jumped at the opportunity to link up with the club and he was on his way to a rapid ascent up the ranks.

His baseball knowhow and overall leadership ability put him in position to take over as GM for Al Campanis in 1987, but his time with the club came to an abrupt and bizarre end in 1998.  Without Claire's knowledge or consent, the team's new owners – NewsCorp and subsidiary FOX Television – decided to deal franchise cornerstone Mike Piazza and veteran Todd Zeile to the Marlins for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich, and Bobby Bonilla.  If the decision to trade a future Hall of Famer without considerable thought wasn't bad enough, the new owner's decision to cut one of the most experienced executives in the game out of the equation was a whole lot worse.

"It was damaging from the standpoint that the whole decision making process and the structure was so altered.  You need to know the responsible person and you need to have the foundation of the decision making process and here the trade was being made by someone who had no background in baseball itself.

"It was basically a trade being made over a TV deal and I thought that was totally unacceptable and that's why when I was called and told that trade needed to be announced I said there would be two announcements.  One would be the trade and then after that I would announce my resignation," Claire said.  

In an ironic twist, there would be no need for Claire to rush his resignation letter.  The "TV executive" who authored the Piazza deal wasn't aware of Sheffield's no-trade clause, which delayed the deal until later in the week.  As one might imagine, Claire says the outfielder's no-trade provision was known to everyone in baseball, except for the person who made the deal on L.A.'s behalf.

When Claire made it known to the press that he had nothing to do with trading the catcher to Florida, the Dodgers let him go.  Fifteen years later, the club has changed hands twice and is now backed by an ownership group with the biggest war chest in all of baseball.  Claire never got the opportunity to work with a seemingly bottomless bank account the way that current GM Ned Colletti is, but it's not something that keeps the soon-to-be 79-year-old up at night.  

Before the Guggenheim Group took control of the Dodgers, Claire joined forces with a different bunch – spearheaded by onetime Dodgers batboy Ben Hwang – looking to buy the club.  Ultimately, the group headed by another familiar L.A. face won out, but Claire is happy to see the club restored back to prominence after a rough stretch of time under the ownership of Frank McCourt.  While things seemed pretty bleak under the much maligned former Dodgers owner, Claire always had confidence that the team would bounce back. 

"I was in baseball long enough and saw the changes that can take place.  After all, in 1986 and 1987, before we won in '88, if you go back and look at that, we were 16 games under .500 in both of those seasons and next year won the world championship.  I always realize that in this game, you can break through..I never felt that I was troubled by what was happening by Frank's ownership in the later years when all the things came up about making payroll and the other things that were taking place.

"That was troubling because it was a very unsettling period for the Dodgers but certainly when the commitment was made by the Guggenheim Group and Magic and company, I never had any doubt that they would back up their words.  They paid an enormous sum for the Dodgers and I knew that they made this investment with the intent of backing it up in every way," said Claire.

Under current management, it's safe to say that the Dodgers won't have a hard time coming up with the checks every other week.  Some have panned the Dodgers for being a team of tremendous excess, but the team's former GM is quick to note that you can never have too much depth when talking about a 162-game season.

"When you have that type of payroll or that type of financial capability, as far as winning goes, it is clearly a significant advantage because you're able to overcome things that happen with your team.  The Dodgers had three pitchers that they planned on for this year in Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, and Ted Lilly who haven't been able to perform due to injury and that's a significant amount of payroll.  But, they still had the means to overcome that thanks to their total payroll."

While Claire did not take another front office position after his lengthy run with the Dodgers, he has remained quite involved in the world of baseball.  Claire's current pet project is AriBall.com, an analytics site he launched with the site's namesake and longtime friend, Ari Kaplan.  With the site, Claire has stayed as engaged as ever with the game and its constant evolution.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays

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In case you missed it, yesterday was a big day in the AL East. The Red Sox clinched the division, even if that had already become a foregone conclusion. Meanwhile, the Rays and Orioles churned through a record twenty-one pitchers in an epic, 18-inning contest that left Tampa in the driver's seat of the Wild Card race. Here are some notes on the division:

  • The Red Sox' turnaround exceeded even the team's internal expectations, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com. While the Sox pegged the likeliest outcome as an 86-win campaign, with an outside shot at a low-90's figure, Boston has already notched 94 W's with seven left to go. "I think we're all in a bit of shock," said team chairman Tom Werner. 
  • Speier provides a detailed explanation of how the team effected its dramatic turnaround, ranging from the return to form of several regulars (especially in the rotation), development of an impressive bench (including the DFA'd Mike Carp), and improved focus and chemistry. As Speier notes, the front office "nailed one bull's-eye after another while turning over roughly a third of its roster."
  • Under GM Ben Cherington, Boston has transformed its organization and with it the product on the field, writes Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com. As with the Speier piece, you'll want to read the entire article, but the most interesting bits relate to the GM's philosophies. Approaching his post with a long-term focus, humble evaluative framework, and open mind, Gammons explains how Cherington has infused solid, hard-working pieces into the organization. 
  • Rotation stalwart Andy Pettitte's forthcoming retirement is yet another reminder that a Yankee era is ending, writes Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com. The team faces a wide array of roster challenges heading into 2013, says Knobler, with age and injury questions around the diamond, no attractive catching options, and a meager free agent market to play in. 
  • Of course, given the team's unequaled spending capacity, one is always loath to count out the Bronx Bombers. Indeed, GM Brian Cashman has navigated countless hurdles this season to deliver a contender, though the team is now highly likely to miss out on the postseason for just the second time in the last nineteen years. Looking ahead, the Yanks have relatively meager overall commitments in comparison to their historical $200MM+ payroll levels: $89MM in 2014 (six players, one buy-out); $68.1MM in 2015 (three players); $69.1MM in 2016 (three players); and $26MM in 2017 (one player, one buy-out). And that is before accounting for any dollars saved via the yet-to-be-finalized Alex Rodriguez suspension. Of course, those amounts do not account for a new deal for Robinson Cano, and it is looking increasingly likely that the team's long-term commitments may deliver little in on-field production.
  • The Blue Jays have long been the lone AL East team with nothing left to play for in 2013. The team's brass has already begun evaluating and planning for next year, reports Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star. Addressing a reader question, Griffin says that the team has little reason to waste its energy pursuing star second baseman Robinson Cano, but could instead take advantage of salary coming off the books after 2015 to make a back-loaded offer to a free agent pitcher. 
  • Looking forward, Toronto has a heavily front-loaded set of salary obligations after carrying a franchise-high $119.3MM payroll on opening day this year. The Jays have the league's fourth-highest contract commitments for both 2014 ($110.5MM) and 2015 ($91.2MM), but are locked into a below-average $27.6MM in 2016. To back-load money to a free agent this offseason, however, would mean giving out at least a three- or four-year deal, and there do not appear to be many starters on the market that would warrant that kind of commitment.

Minor Moves: Justin Miller, Blaine Hardy

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Let's catch up on some recent minor moves, courtesy of Baseball America's Matt Eddy:

  • The Tigers inked righty Justin Miller to a minor-league deal. Miller, 26, was released by the Rangers earlier this month, and will look to continue his comeback from Tommy John surgery in the Detroit organization.
  • Detroit also re-signed Blaine Hardy, who put up a 1.67 ERA over 91 2/3 innings in Double-A and Triple-A this year. Hardy will head to the Arizona Fall League, according to Bobby Nightengale and Jason Beck of MLB.com. MLBTR has also learned that the lefty is expected to get a big league invite to spring training. The 26-year-old has produced generally solid results in the upper minors over the last four years, most of them in the Royals organization, but has yet to get a call-up to the bigs. Hardy is represented by Mike Mosa.

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