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Archives for February 2016

Rafael Betancourt Retires

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Veteran reliever Rafael Betancourt has officially retired, Venezuelan blogger Gerardo Boscan tweets. With his MLB career behind him, Betancourt will consider the possibility of becoming a coach.

At last check, Betancourt had been open to pitching in 2016, but only if he received a guaranteed spot in the big leagues. It perhaps isn’t surprising that he evidently didn’t receive one — the 40-year-old Betancourt was one of the oldest players in the Majors in 2015, and he struggled, posting a 6.18 ERA, albeit with 9.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9, in 39 1/3 innings with the Rockies after missing the 2014 season due to elbow trouble.

Overall, though, Betancourt had a strong career with the Indians and Rockies despite pitching a significant percentage of his innings as a fly-ball pitcher in Coors Field — he finishes with a 3.36 ERA, 9.5 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 685 2/3 innings spanning 12 seasons. He also has 75 career saves, having served as the Rockies’ closer in parts of three seasons from 2011 through 2013. Via Baseball Reference, Betancourt made north of $24MM in his big-league career.

AL Notes: Encarnacion, Coghlan, Trout

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Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion reiterates that remains open to an extension, but is setting an Opening Day deadline so that talks do not become a distraction, according to various reporters (including MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm). Via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi (on Twitter), Encarnacion would like to finish his career in Toronto. “I love this team, I love this city,” he says. “But it (doesn’t) depend on me. It depends what they’re thinking.” It was reported earlier this month that the Blue Jays would explore extensions with Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, both of whom are eligible for free agency after the season. The 33-year-old Encarnacion has hit 34 or more homers in each of the last four years, and in response to a question about what figure he might have in mind for a new contract, he says (via Chisholm) the only number he’s thinking of right now is 40, for the number of dingers he’d like to hit this season. Here’s more from the American League.

  • GM David Forst says the Athletics see new acquisition Chris Coghlan as a “[Ben] Zobrist-type guy,” via a video from the Bay Area News Group’s John Hickey (on Twitter). Forst mentions that Coghlan has played second and third base in the past, along with left field and center field. Of course, Coghlan has mostly been a left fielder in his career, but it sounds like the Athletics could be preparing for him to take on a slightly different role this season. He did appear in 15 games at second base with the Cubs in 2015.
  • Angels star Mike Trout hopes to steal more bases in 2016, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times writes. “I gotta get my confidence back,” says Trout, referring to his base-stealing. Trout led the AL with 49 steals in 2012, but that number dropped to 11 (against seven caught stealings) in 2015. Trout is, obviously, plenty valuable whether he steals bases or not, and Moura notes that much of the Angels’ brain trust isn’t concerned about whether Trout racks up big base-stealing totals.

Cubs To Sign Shane Victorino To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have agreed to terms with outfielder Shane Victorino, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. Victorino will receive a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite, tweets Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. He will receive $1M plus a possible $1M in incentives if he makes the team, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Victorino is a client of John Boggs & Associates.

The news that the Cubs have added another outfielder comes as somewhat of a surprise given their recent signing of Dexter Fowler. Jon Heyman tweets, though, that Victorino’s pact was already in place before the Fowler signing, so the team honored the deal.

Victorino, now 35, had a second straight disappointing season in 2015, batting .230/.308/.292 in 204 plate appearances split between the Red Sox and Angels. With Fowler, Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler, Ben Zobrist, Javier Baez and others in the Cubs’ outfield mix, Victorino faces a difficult path to playing time.

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Reds, Bruce

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Nine Brewers players will compete for the center field job, as Adam McCalvy of MLB.com writes.  Newcomers Keon Broxton, Ramon Flores, Rymer Liriano, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Alex Presley, and Eric Young Jr. will vie for the opportunity alongside holdover such as Shane Peterson and top prospects Michael Reed and Brett Phillips over the course of Spring Training.

“It’s the center field job, and then it’s kind of the roster puzzle that you’re trying to figure out,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They’re related, certainly. There’s a number of players, and to go through all the scenarios now seems like a waste of time. You let it go, and it kind of narrows itself a little bit, and roster decisions become a little more clear, and the make-up of the roster starts to make sense. Other pieces might affect that. So, there’s a lot of moving parts on it. There’s a number of players who have an opportunity there.”

While we wait to see how the competition plays out, here’s more out of the NL Central:

  • The Reds are being very cost conscious right now and GM Dick Williams says the motivation is to improve the team in the long run, as Mark Sheldon of MLB.com writes.  “We’re not saving to create a profit, we’re saving to invest in the future, for sure,” Williams said. “We’ve got the biggest amateur signing pool this year, when you combine domestic and international. We want to take full advantage of it. Obviously, there’s a lot of operational investments we’ll make as well. I talked about investing in the analytics and sports science. We’ll be investing in personnel, scouting personnel, new player development initiatives. I’ll be talking a lot about that over the course of this year as we roll things out, but we’ll put that money [to] work for sure.”
  • Williams says nothing is close on the Reds possibly trading Jay Bruce or signing Cuban shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, as John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Rodriguez had previously been reported to have agreed to a bonus-pool-shattering $6MM agreement with the Reds, but president of baseball ops Walt Jocketty shot down those rumors shortly after they broke, and there’s been little in terms of new developments between the Reds and Rodriguez’s camp over the past month.
  • After just one year in MLB, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang is already setting an example for Korean players making the transition to the states, as Adam Berry of MLB.com writes. Kang, a teammate of new Twins DH Byung Ho Park in Korea, has helped to forge a path for Park and countryman Hyun Soo Kim, Berry writes. Kim, a longtime friend of Kang, explained to Berry that Kang’s success has instilled a sense of responsibility in him, stating that he has to carry on the example set by Kang in 2015 to show that elite Korean players can succeed in Major League Baseball.

AL East Notes: Bautista, Gurriels, Bruce, Snell

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Blue Jays president of baseball operations Mark Shapiro spoke with the media for the first time since reports of Jose Bautista’s staggering asking price of move than five years and $150MM, and downplayed the story to some extent, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet writes. “Every spring training there are contractual situations that come up,” said Shapiro. “You manage them as effectively as possible, always maintaining the focus on what we’re out here to do as a team, and to win a championship.” Shapiro went on to explain that any comments he would have regarding Bautista’s contract would be made directly to Bautista himself or to Bautista’s representation. “For me, respecting the process and the player means you don’t comment on any of those things publicly,” the longtime executive continued. As Shapiro notes, difficult decisions on franchise players nearing the expiration of their contract aren’t exactly uncharted waters for him. In his time at the helm for the Indians, Shapiro dealt with similar situations with franchise legends like Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel, he points out.

Here’s more from the AL East…

  • The Red Sox will likely take a pass on Cuban brothers Yulieski Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., reports Sean McAdam of CSN New England. The Red Sox, of course, are barred from signing the younger Gurriel, Lourdes Jr., for more than $300K after shattering their bonus pool on Yoan Moncada last offseason, but even in the absence of spending restrictions, McAdam’s source indicates that Boston wouldn’t be much of a player. The Sox have expensive veterans in the infield (Dustin Pedroia and Pablo Sandoval) plus a large array of controllable talent at shortstop (Xander Bogaerts) and in the outfield (Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley and the well-compensated but unproven Rusney Castillo). As such, the team doesn’t have much room on the roster for any sort of additions in the short- or long-term at the brothers’ respective positions.
  • Dexter Fowler’s late demand of an opt-out clause from the Orioles and his subsequent decision to sign a one-year deal with the Cubs could end up being a break for the Reds, tweets Jon Heyman, as Baltimore’s focus could turn back to Jay Bruce, whose trade to the Blue Jays recently fell through due to one of the other players involved in the would-be swap.
  • How would an extension work between Blake Snell – a player without service time – and the Rays?  Craig Edwards of Fangraphs looked at the different possibilities.
  • On Thursday, Orioles exec Dan Duquette and agent Casey Close both commented on the Fowler situation.

Austin Jackson Rejected Offer From Angels

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The Angels made a run at Toronto’s Michael Saunders in the recently-collapsed three-team Jay Bruce trade talks, and MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports that they’ve also recently made a one-year offer to free-agent outfielder Austin Jackson. According to Gonzalez, the Halos offered Jackson a one-year deal worth $5-6MM, but Jackson’s camp has passed on the offer.

Per Gonzalez, Jackson’s agent, Scott Boras, sought more money in the deal, though I’d also note that Gonzalez said Jackson would’ve factored into a left field platoon. If that’s the case, Boras and Jackson may have been turned off by a possible lack of playing time; if Jackson is to settle for a one-year deal, he’d probably prefer one that comes with the promise of everyday at-bats in order to rebuild some stock in advance of next year’s open market.

Notably, even that modest commitment to Jackson would’ve put the Angels over the luxury tax threshold — a concept to which the Halos have previously been reported to be averse. The Angels currently sit about $2-3MM below the $189MM tax barrier, Gonzalez and others have noted, so any significant addition would put them over the top, barring subtraction from the payroll with a subsequent maneuver.

The Angels have taken a considerable amount of flak for their projected left field platoon of Craig Gentry and Daniel Nava; while each has strong career marks when holding the platoon advantage, each also suffered through a dismal 2015 campaign and will be looking for a rebound in Anaheim. Jackson has struggled somewhat, as well, since a trade to the Mariners and the pitcher-friendly Safeco Field, though he’s still delivered solid marks in the eyes of defensive metrics. Jackson’s .261/.310/.364 slash over the past two seasons doesn’t stand out as impressive, though it’s about nine to 10 percent below the league average when adjusted for park (per OPS+ and wRC+). The extent to which Jackson would’ve been an upgrade over the incumbent platoon is largely a moot point, however, as Gonzalez writes that the team now appears likely to head into the season with Nava and Gentry in left.

Dan Duquette, Agent Casey Close Comment On Dexter Fowler Situation

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Fans and media members alike were shocked this morning when the Cubs announced that they had re-signed Dexter Fowler to a one-year deal, just days after the Baltimore media and a number of national reporters broke the news of a three-year agreement between Fowler and the Orioles. Fowler’s agent, Casey Close of Excel Sports Management, vehemently denies that an agreement was ever in place, however, and even went so far as to say that the two sides were ever even nearing a deal. Close felt strongly enough about what he terms “irresponsible behavior” on the team’s behalf to issue a release with the following statement:

“In my 25 years in this business, never before have I witnessed such irresponsible behavior on so many fronts. Both the Orioles front office and members of the media were so busy recklessly spreading rumors that they forgot or simply chose not to concern themselves with the truth. The Orioles’ willful disregard of collectively bargained rules governing free agency and the media’ eager complicity in helping the Orioles violate those rules are reprehensible. Dexter Fowler never reached agreement with the Orioles and did not come close to signing with the club; any suggestion otherwise is only a continuation of an already disturbing trend.”

Close’s comments are among the most scathing public-facing remarks from an agent or executive that I can recall seeing, and his clear intent is to communicate that his agency in no way contributed to any reports of Fowler’s alleged agreement with Baltimore. That, then, would imply that the information (or, rather, misinformation) came from the team’s side of the equation, though executive vice president and general manager Dan Duquette said today at Yovani Gallardo’s introductory press conference that he was never under the impression that a deal was in place. Via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko:

“We made a very competitive offer,” Duquette explained. “There was not an agreement to terms because they kept insisting on an opt-out. I don’t see, club ownership doesn’t see the value in that type of arrangement to the Orioles. If we are going to guarantee a contract, it should be a contract.”

The Orioles have reportedly been staunchly against opt-out clauses throughout the duration of the offseason, and while initial reports of talks with both Gallardo and Fowler included mention of opt-out provisions, the ultimately reported agreements (and, in Gallardo’s case, announced agreement) did not include opt-out clauses. Notably, Kubtako writes that while the Orioles will not publicly acknowledge that they believed an agreement to be in place, “multiple sources within the organization” confirmed to him earlier this week that there was an agreement in place, and other reporters followed suit with confirmation of the agreement.

Beyond all of that, the arguable face of the Orioles’ franchise, Adam Jones, went on record with multiple reporters (including ESPN’s Jayson Stark and the Baltimore Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina) discussing his excitement over the addition of Fowler. Jones went so far as to say that he spoke to Fowler himself. “I spoke to him,” Jones told Stark. “He’s excited. He should be on his way here now.” Whatever belief that the Orioles had that an agreement with Fowler had been reached, it trickled down out of the front office. And, if Jones’ comments are accurate, it would seem that Fowler himself at least seemed optimistic about the possibility of a deal being consummated.

What isn’t clear, then, is what specifically led those who believed a deal had been struck to come to that conclusion. Duquette’s comments today signified that the opt-out clause was a persistent sticking point from Fowler’s camp, and it should be noted that Close/Excel are the leaders in the opt-out charge; Close represents Zack Greinke, Masahiro Tanaka, Clayton Kershaw and Jason Heyward — each of whom has secured an opt-out clause in recent contracts (multiple opt-outs, in Heyward’s case). As such, it seems reasonable to expect that an opt-out clause was indeed a longstanding request from Fowler’s camp. However, reports today characterized the insistence on an opt-out as a last-minute wrench thrown into talks, thus serving as the impetus for Fowler’s return to Chicago.

Clearly, there’s no benefit for either involved party to have word of a deal leak out when it isn’t true, but something appears to have either been lost in translation during negotiations or been altered late in the game. The definitive level of transparency required to know exactly what transpired — if that level of clarity even exists one way or the other — isn’t likely to ever be publicly available, however.

Latest On Aroldis Chapman

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Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman will receive a suspension in the coming days, reports Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Heyman doesn’t include the length of Chapman’s apparently looming discipline, but the left-hander “will get a ban,” per the report.

A suspension for Chapman, who allegedly choked his girlfriend and discharged a handgun eight times in his garage during an offseason incident, has been the expectation for quite some time despite the fact that criminal charges ultimately were not filed, and Chapman’s girlfriend, Cristina Barnea, delivered a significantly different recap of the events in the months that followed the incident itself. Barnea eventually told Broward County prosecutors that she only heard one gunshot and was not sure who fired the weapon. She also told prosecutors that she didn’t recall telling the police that Chapman had hit her, either. Witnesses from the birthday party at which the incident allegedly took place have not corroborated the initial allegations against Chapman.

Commissioner Rob Manfred recently spoke with reporters, however, explaining that disciplinary measures under the newly implemented domestic violence policy could still be taken even in the absence of criminal charges. Manfred implied that the decisions of law enforcement wouldn’t make up his own mind, stating that there are “lots of reasons for non-prosecution”  and pointing out the differences between establishing proof in labor arbitration as opposed to establishing proof in criminal proceedings.

Chapman’s camp has said that he will appeal any disciplinary measures set forth by Major League Baseball, so the process could continue for quite some time even after an initial decision is announced by the Commissioner’s Office. It’s worth reminding that Chapman, who has five years, 34 days of Major League service times, is 138 days shy of reaching the requisite six years of big league service to qualify as a free agent. If he is suspended for longer than 45 days of the regular season (not games), he will be on track to fall shy of free agency. Of course, in light of a ban of that magnitude, one can imagine an adamant protest from Chapman’s representatives.

NL East Notes: Lazarito, Phillies, Lincecum, Wright, Colon

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The Phillies are not pursuing Lazaro Armenteros (aka Lazarito), writes Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. The club will begin the next international spending period with a little over $5.61MM of pool money – the largest bonus pool in the league. They can trade for an additional $2.8MM. Lazarito figures to sign for well over either maximum. Since the team is rebuilding and may have another large pool in the 2017-2018 period, Zolecki doesn’t believe the club is willing to incur spending prohibitions. However, the signing of Jhailyn Ortiz for $4MM last summer indicates the club will use it’s financial might on other highly talented names.

Here’s more from the NL East:

  • Phillies GM Matt Klentak is excited to see his prospects in live action, writes Jim Salisbury for Baseball America. Notable players who could reach the majors this season include J.P. Crawford, Nick Williams, Andrew Knapp, Jorge Alfaro, Jake Thompson, Mark Appel, and Zach Eflin. The Phillies have acquired enough major and minor league depth that these players can develop at their own pace. In other words, there’s no guarantee we’ll actually see any of them this year, or they could all reach the big show.
  • The Marlins are continuing to monitor the free agent and trade markets for pitchers, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. The club is happy with their current staff, but there is room to add more depth. Frisaro mentions Tim Lincecum by name, but the former Cy Young winner has yet to schedule a day to throw in front of scouts. Such an outing has been rumored to be in the works since January.
  • Mets third baseman David Wright elaborated on the plan for managing his spinal stenosis, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Previously, GM Sandy Alderson suggested Wright would play about 130 games. Now, Wright is saying “you can’t have a plan” for managing the injury. He’ll ease into Spring Training and see how his body responds. The important thing is that player, manager, and GM are all on the same page – even if that’s frustrating for fans. One unmentioned aspect of Wright’s injury – the club may want to consider another backup third baseman beyond Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada.
  • The $7.25MM contract Bartolo Colon signed with the Mets wasn’t the best offer he received, writes DiComo. Per Colon, “there were higher-money offers, but that’s not something that even interested me because this is my family here.” Colon is the elder statesman of a young, exciting pitching staff. It appears he signed for the always-rare “hometown discount.”
  • The Nationals are not negotiating an extension with Bryce Harper, GM Mike Rizzo tells reporters including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. The club has engaged in some basic conversations with agent Scott Boras to start the ball rolling. Harper is under contract for another three seasons. A highly marketable player, the Nationals and Harper have every reason to take their time proceeding.

White Sox Co-Owner Eddie Einhorn Passes Away

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White Sox co-owner Eddie Einhorn has passed away at age 80, reports Chris De Luca of the Chicago Sun-Times. MLBTR joins those around the league in celebrating Einhorn’s life and accomplishments. We offer our condolences to his family, friends, and fellow White Sox colleagues.

Einhorn was a forward-thinker in the sports television realm. He founded TVS Television Network which broadcast college basketball’s “Game of the Century” way back in 1968. Later, he had a key role in baseball’s first billion dollar TV deal.

While Jerry Reinsdorf has served as the public face of the White Sox ownership, Einhorn was active behind the scenes championing youth baseball programs which aired on MLB Network and MLB.com. According to Dan Evans (on Twitter), Einhorn helped to work on the original Wild Card concept too. Baseball America also dredged up a fun quote from 1984 regarding farm systems:

It’s an antiquated system we cannot afford. We’re taking 17-year-old kids with no real chance to make the majors just because we have to have them play catch with a few guys who do … we’re taking away their chances to go to college and get on with their lives. We’d be doing a social service by getting rid of the farm system as we know it. 

 

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