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Top 5 NL Rookie Of The Year Candidates

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We ran down the leading American League Rookie of the Year candidates on Thursday. In this edition, we’ll examine the first-year standouts in the NL.

1.) Corey Seager, SS, Dodgers:

Corey Seager (vertical)

The 18th pick in the 2012 draft, Seager was a heralded minor leaguer whom Baseball America ranked as a top three prospect four years running. As was the case in 2015, Seager came into 2016 as BA’s No. 1-ranked prospect. For good reason, too, as the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder tore through Major League pitching during a 27-game cup of coffee with Los Angeles last season.

Seager has continued to toy with the league this year, crushing opponents with a .309/.362/.530 line and 58 extra-base hits (21 homers, 34 doubles and three triples) through 508 PAs. He’s had success hitting to all fields and virtually never pops up, as evidenced by a 1.8 percent infield fly rate.

While the 22-year-old has been a revelation offensively, the same is true in the eyes of multiple defensive metrics. UZR (11.6) and UZR/150 (17.7) regard Seager as a top 10 defender in the league, regardless of position, though DRS (+1) only places him 13th among shortstops. That disparity notwithstanding, both fWAR (5.9) and rWAR (4.9) portray Seager as one of the most valuable players, not just rookies, in the sport. Seager is the clear NL Rookie of the Year front-runner.

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Angels Expect Mike Scioscia To Manage In 2017

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Angels GM Billy Eppler and owner Arte Moreno both suggested today that the organization expects to retain manager Mike Scioscia for the 2017 season, with reporting via Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. (Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball also reported earlier this week that Scioscia’s job was safe.) Though neither made any firm statements in either direction, the pair of key figures expressed satisfaction with Scioscia’s work in the midst of a disappointing 2016 season.

Now in his 17th year in charge of the Halos dugout, Scioscia has overseen a team that currently owns the lowest winning percentage in any of his seasons as the skipper. The team did post a winning record last year, and ran up 98 wins two years ago, so it isn’t as if there hasn’t been recent success. And Scioscia owns an overall record of 1,467 wins against 1,246 losses.

“I have no reason to believe Mike wouldn’t be here managing our team next season,” said Eppler. “I think he’s done a great job. He’s dealt with multiple plates of adversity and handled them with energy and passion. He’s kept guys optimistic, driven, and I think that’s the mark of a good leader.”

Certainly, the poor results this year have deeper-seated roots than any errors in running the ballclub on a day-to-day basis. The organization’s farm system is stagnant and the team has a lot of unproductive money on its books — though it does employ the best player in baseball, Mike Trout, under favorable contract terms. Injuries have also played a major role in 2016, sapping the Angels of several top starters.

Moreno focused on those unavailable hurlers in his assessment, noting that “it’s pretty hard to win when you have no pitching.” He still seems confident in his long-time manager, who is still under contract for two more campaigns under his massive, ten-year extension.

“I’m not going to say anything [definitive] because I haven’t sat down with Billy [Eppler] or Mike, but I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be [back],” said Moreno. “… He has a contract. My expectation is he will be here, but I haven’t sat down with him.”

The Angels owner went on to say that he still thinks the current roster core is primed for contention in the near-term. “My belief is with a few moves, we can be highly competitive,” he said. Of course, the missing arms will need to come from somewhere, and Moreno observed that “there’s really not a lot of free agent pitching” to be had this winter. Whether or not Scioscia ultimately comes back for yet another campaign, Los Angeles obviously has its work cut out in revamping the roster this winter.

Diamondbacks Still Weighing Front Office Decisions

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With contract decisions fast approaching on chief baseball officer Tony La Russa, GM Dave Stewart, and VP of baseball operations DeJon Watson, the Diamondbacks have yet to make a final call on their front office moving forward, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports.

The contracts originally signed by the three top members of the organization’s baseball decisionmaking structure are all nearly due for a decision. La Russa’s runs out at the end of the year, while Stewart and Watson both have deals that include options which must be exercised

“Nothing’s been decided. It will be an evaluation,” said club president Derrick Hall. He did speak positively of the dedication and attitude of his top baseball executives, but had to admit that “it hasn’t gone well” this year for the Snakes.

Indeed, managing general partner Ken Kendrick is understandably said to be rather unhappy with the way things have played out in 2016. It’s hard to see how he’d feel otherwise with the team buried in last place after an offseason in which it spent huge money on aging-but-excellent hurler Zack Greinke and parted with a major haul of young talent to acquire foundering righty Shelby Miller.

Though there are whispers (see here and here) that skipper Chip Hale could be in danger of losing his job, it seems hard to lay too much of the blame at his feet. That’s true to some extent of the front office personnel, too — the loss of A.J. Pollock crippled the team before the season even started, for instance — but the D-Backs’ roster construction efforts are ripe for second-guessing. Indeed, the underlying decisionmaking process has come under fire since the very inception of the La Russa/Stewart regime, with the chorus of criticism only growing louder of late.

Most notably, ESPN.com’s Keith Law recently offered a withering assessment of the front office’s work since taking charge. Among other things, he reports that the D-Backs were entirely unaware of the way the international signing rules work when they inked Yoan Lopez (while also mis-assessing his talent and market value). Other embarrassing episodes include an apparent attempt by Stewart to engineer a trade that wasn’t permissible under MLB rules and a glaring mismanagement of last year’s draft bonus pool allotment. You’ll want to read the entire piece for a full understanding of the wide-ranging critique.

Stewart has pushed back against the critics, telling Heyman that he thinks he has performed well in his two seasons at the helm. “We’ve done a pretty good job of putting players in our system,” says Stewart. “When we came in the major-league team was not very good and the minor-league system was not very good.” Even while defending his record, Stewart did insist that he isn’t focused at all on his own contract situation; to the contrary, he says he isn’t even aware of when the option is due to be decided upon.

That Stewart evidently isn’t concerned with the timeline for assessing his future may actually coincide with upper management’s own preferences for dealing with their baseball operations department. “Our preference is to wait until the end of the year, if we can,” Hall said of making a final call on whether to retain some or all of the trio. It’s not immediately clear how that would occur, but presumably Arizona could simply decline to pick up the options and then attempt to work out new contracts if the decision was made to retain Stewart and/or Watson.

Indians Outright Tyler Olson

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Here are today’s minor moves:

  • The Indians announced that lefty Tyler Olson has been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. Olson, 26, will go on the minor league DL with an undisclosed illness as he heads out of DFA limbo. The Indians are the third team he has played for this season. Olson received one appearance at the major league level with the Yankees but has pitched mostly at the highest level of the minors, also spending time in the Royals organization. Things haven’t gone terribly well there, as Olson owns a 5.27 ERA with 6.4 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 over 41 innings on the year.

Potential Landing Spots For Carlos Gomez

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The Astros requested release waivers on Carlos Gomez earlier today, and in doing so cut loose a candidate who entered the season ranked second on the Spring Training edition of MLBTR’s Free Agent Power Rankings. The fall for Gomez has been astounding, to say the least. While a poor second half last year led to some concern, a solid season at the plate and in the field after an offseason of rest would’ve given Gomez five straight seasons of average or better offense — substantially better, in the case of 2013-14 — and an elite center field glove. Instead, he’s likely to become a free agent on Sunday once he clears release waivers and will sign for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum through season’s end — assuming he can get a MLB deal. Then, he’ll likely be left seeking a one-year deal in the offseason with the hope of re-establishing himself in 2017.

Gomez, though, can begin salvaging his stock with a strong performance over the season’s final six weeks, and his pursuit of that goal will likely begin on Sunday. He’s likely to sign with a contending club — non-contenders would rather evaluate younger options — and there are a number of potential fits. Let’s break them down…

Marlins: Miami is the one team that has been said to have interest in Gomez throughout his DFA process whose interest still looks legitimate. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reported just yesterday that the Marlins were still in on Gomez, and now that he can be had at a more affordable rate, he makes even more sense. Miami lost Giancarlo Stanton for the season when he suffered a Grade 3 groin strain last week, and Gomez can help to round out their outfield alongside Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro has been sensational this season, but he’s 42 and his production has waned since the All-Star break. Ozuna, too, has seen production diminish in recent weeks. Gomez, at the very least, could help keep the incumbent outfielders fresh, and he offers some pop and a great deal of speed off the bench even if he isn’t starting.

Giants: President of baseball operations Brian Sabean told Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News that the Giants are having internal discussions about Gomez earlier today, so there’s some degree of intrigue here. The Giants have an outfield alignment of Angel Pagan, Denard Span and Hunter Pence, with Gregor Blanco the primary reserve, but none of those starters are a shining beacon of health. Gomez could see time at any outfield spot and provide a nice bench piece down the stretch with some upside if he’s needed to step into a larger role.

Blue Jays: Toronto doesn’t stand out as an immediate fit for Gomez, but as MLBTR’s Jason Martinez noted when looking at the needs of American League playoff hopefuls earlier this morning, the outfield has become an issue for MLB’s lone Canadian club. Both Jose Bautista and Kevin Pillar are on the 15-day disabled list, and Michael Saunders has gone into the tank since the All-Star Break (.152/.275/.326 in 109 plate appearances). Toronto is currently starting Melvin Upton Jr. (who hasn’t hit whatsoever since being traded to the Jays) and journeyman Ezequiel Carrera in the outfield, making a Gomez gamble a potentially palatable course of action.

Tigers: Cameron Maybin is on the disabled list, leaving Tyler Collins and Alex Presley as Detroit’s primary options in center field. Detroit is scrambling a bit with Jose Iglesias and Nick Castellanos also on the DL — as evidenced by their acquisition of Erick Aybar — and bringing Gomez into the fold for scarcely more than $100K should have some appeal as they look to remain in the hunt for the AL Central or, at least, an American League Wild Card berth.

Rangers: Texas has lost Shin-Soo Choo for the season, and while they’re equipped to handle the loss, they could still look at Gomez and see a player with more upside than current bench options such as Drew Stubbs, Delino DeShields and Ryan Rua. Gomez hasn’t performed better than any of that trio this year, with the possible exception of DeShields, but his track record is considerably more impressive than any of the bunch.

Nationals: Washington will soon get Ryan Zimmerman back from the disabled list, which will likely push Daniel Murphy back to second base and Trea Turner to center field, thereby supplanting Ben Revere and his disappointing .211/.258/.297 batting line. As such, the need to roll the dice on a player like Gomez may not be as great as it would be with a longer-term injury to Zimmerman. However, Danny Espinosa’s bat has also completely cratered since July, and Turner could instead take regular at-bats at shortstop in his stead, or at least serve as part of a rotation between center field, second base and shortstop should the Nats decide to add Gomez.

Cardinals: ESPN’s Mark Saxon reported yesterday that there was “nothing doing” on the Gomez front, thanks in part to Randal Grichuk’s Herculean production in the week since he’s been recalled from Triple-A. The Cardinals, though, will still be without Matt Holliday for most of the remaining regular season, and Gomez would add a center-field capable player with plenty of upside that could deepen the roster both in September and in the postseason, even once Holliday returns.

Mets: Like the Cardinals, the Mets were initially linked to Gomez before later reports threw cold water on the concept. ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin said earlier this week that the Mets weren’t interested in trading for Gomez, but signing him as a free agent for the pro-rated league minimum could be another story. Yoenis Cespedes is on the disabled list, Juan Lagares is out for the year, and the Mets are struggling in virtually all facets of the game right now. It’s not uncommon to see fading teams shake things  up with a personnel change late in the season, and Gomez at the very least would allow manager Terry Collins to stop crossing his fingers and penciling corner outfielders into the center field slot on his lineup card.

Mariners Activate Steve Cishek, Option Dae-Ho Lee

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The Mariners announced a series of roster moves today, including the activation of reliever Steve Cishek from the 15-day DL. Fellow right-hander Joe Wieland was optioned to create active roster space.

Seattle also made a swap of right-handed power bats, optioning veteran Korean slugger and MLB rookie Dae-Ho Lee. He’ll be replaced by Stefen Romero, at least for the time being, though expanded rosters could spur a return.

[Related: Updated Mariners Depth Chart]

Cishek ended up needing only a brief stint on the disabled list for a hip issue that wasn’t as serious as it initially sounded. His return further bolsters a pen that has some rather compelling arms.

As for Lee, 34, the demotion serves as a chance to get back on track before the stretch run. Though it’s not typical for players of his age to be optionable, Lee only just came over to North America after spending his entire career playing in Korea and Japan.

Lee, who has been used mostly against left-handed pitching, owned an .850+ OPS as recently as July 15th. But he has fallen off since, leaving him with a .246/.308/.440 overall batting line with 13 total home runs over his first 253 MLB plate appearances.

The 27-year-old Romero will now get a shot at carving out his own role for the M’s. Though he has struggled in rather limited major league time over the last three seasons, Romero owns a .314/.371/.551 slash on the year at Triple-A, where he has launched 19 long balls in 418 plate appearances.

Brewers Designate Ramon Flores, Activate Domingo Santana

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The Brewers have designated outfielder Ramon Flores for assignment, per a team announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow outfielder Domingo Santana, who is finally ready to return from the DL.

Flores, who was out of options, came to Milwaukee over the winter in the deal that sent infielder Luis Sardinas to the Mariners. He made the Opening Day roster for the Brewers, but has largely struggled thus far in 2016.

Over 289 plate appearances on the season, the 24-year-old Flores carries an anemic .205/.294/.261 batting line. Though he has played in center some, Flores hasn’t graded well there, and his bat just hasn’t shown enough life to play in the corners.

Milwaukee obviously hoped for more for the former Yankees prospect. After all, he carries an excellent .282/.376/.449 batting line over his 655 career plate appearances at Triple-A. He not only hit 16 long balls in that span, but also recorded nearly as many walks (83) as strikeouts (94). In his brief time at the major league level, though Flores has been more solid than good in the K/BB department (with about a 2:1 ratio) and has shown no pop to speak of.

Top 5 AL Rookie Of The Year Candidates

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There are approximately 40 regular-season games remaining for all 30 Major League Baseball teams, which makes now a good time to examine which rookies have made the greatest impacts so far this year. There are dozens of first-year players who have impressed to certain degrees, but we’ll narrow it down to five spots in each league.

It’s a laborious process to go through all the candidates in full detail, so we’ll take each league in turn, beginning with the top contenders from the American League:

1.) Michael Fulmer, RHP, Tigers:

With the Tigers mired in mediocrity last summer, outgoing general manager Dave Dombrowski made the wise decision to sell off established veterans on expiring contracts in hopes of landing long-term building blocks. One of those deals, to send outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to the Mets, is paying massive dividends this year. As the centerpiece of their return for Cespedes, the Tigers received right-hander Michael Fulmer, whom Baseball America, ESPN’s Keith Law and MLB.com each rated as a top 50 prospect entering last season.

Michael Fulmer (vertical)

Fulmer, 23, debuted with the Tigers on April 29 and has since produced like one of the game’s elite starters, let alone rookies. Through his first 120 big league innings (19 starts), Fulmer has recorded an AL-leading 2.25 ERA, which he backs with an excellent ground-ball rate (50.6 percent) and a K-BB percentage (15.0) that’s above the AL average of 12.9. In his latest outing, Fulmer went on the road to throw a complete game shutout against the formidable Rangers, striking out nine and walking none. Earlier this summer, Fulmer ran up the second-longest scoreless streak by a rookie over the past 45 years. At 33 1/3 frames, Fulmer fell just shy of Fernando Valenzuela’s 35-inning record that has stood since 1981.

Driving Fulmer’s success is his well-rounded repertoire, including a four-seam fastball that averages 95 mph and a pair of tremendous offspeed pitches. According to PitchFX, all have been among the highest-quality offerings of their kind this year. ERA estimators such as FIP (3.45), xFIP (3.69) and SIERA (3.84) call for a decline in run prevention for a pitcher with a .248 BABIP, but there’s little question that Fulmer has been the preeminent rookie in his league.

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Brian Sabean: Giants Have Discussed Adding Carlos Gomez

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The Giants have had internal discussions about pursuing newly-minted free agent outfielder Carlos Gomez, president of baseball operations Brian Sabean tells Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News. Sabean ultimately says he’s not sure whether San Francisco will put in an offer, but made clear that Gomez is “in play” as a target. Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted earlier that the Giants were a possible landing spot, though Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News notes on Twitter that the club is still “unconvinced” that Gomez would make for a useful acquisition.

Adding an outfielder doesn’t seem like a necessity for the Giants, who have numerous options on their depth chart. On the other hand, some cracks are showing as the club fades in the standings. Though Angel Pagan has found the fountain of youth, Hunter Pence has struggled since returning from the DL, Denard Span hasn’t hit as much as hoped, and Gregor Blanco is well off of his recent productivity. Kelby Tomlinson provides another option, and youngsters Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson have both shown promise, but the overall unit has lacked punch of late and Williamson is shelved with a shoulder issue.

That’s a fairly crowded mix, and Gomez wouldn’t offer a clear upgrade given the recent struggles that led to his release by the Astros. It’s certainly possible to imagine him sharing time in center with Span, though, as Gomez remains a useful up-the-middle defender despite his offensive fall-off. Plus, he won’t cost anything beyond the league minimum and the impending roster expansion would largely alleviate any pressures in that regard (apart from clearing a 40-man spot).

Whether or not Gomez is a viable option seemingly depends upon his own motivations as much as those of the Giants. Sabean noted that the team needs to know whether the veteran would be willing to possibly accept a part-time role. Presumably, San Francisco isn’t interested in promising regular playing time to a player who carries a sub-.600 OPS in his age-30 season. Still though, Gomez’s lofty established ceiling remains a tantalizing prospect for teams that may think they can help him find his groove.

Cubs Place John Lackey, Hector Rondon On 15-Day DL

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The Cubs have placed right-handers John Lackey and Hector Rondon on the disabled list for precautionary measures due to arm injuries, as MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reported. The Cubs have the luxury of placing both pitchers on the DL to avoid risk of worsening their minor injuries and will recall left-hander Rob Zastryzny and right-hander Felix Pena from Triple-A Iowa.

[Related: Updated Cubs Depth Chart]

Lackey, 37, is dealing with shoulder soreness, while the 28-year-old Rondon has a triceps issue. Neither is believed to be serious, with Chicago acting to add some fresh arms while taking a cautious approach with two of their better arms.

The veteran Lackey has been one of the offseason’s better free agent additions, as he has already run up 158 1/3 innings of 3.41 ERA pitching with 8.9 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9. That strikeout-per-nine rate represents a career-best mark for the 14-year big leaguer, which is no small feat given his age. His two-year, $32MM contract looked like a solid buy upon signing, and seems an even better bargain with nearly half of it already in the books.

As for Rondon, 2016 has been another stellar campaign. Though he was bumped from the closer’s role with the addition of Aroldis Chapman, that wasn’t due to any performance issues from the former Rule 5 pick. Far from it. Over his 43 2/3 frames this year, Rondon carries a 2.47 ERA. He has compiled that mark while racking up 10.5 K/9 versus just 1.2 BB/9 — improving upon his two excellent prior seasons in both regards.

If any team can weather the loss of two such significant hurlers, it is the Cubs. That’s not necessarily due to any kind of unique pitching depth as it is the team’s likely-insurmountable 13-game lead in the NL Central. Chicago is also in excellent shape in securing home field advantage, pacing the Nationals by six games for the National League’s top record.

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