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Astros, A.J. Hinch Have Agreed To “Revised” Contract

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The Astros reached agreement with manager A.J. Hinch on a “revised” contract at some point earlier in the offseason, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports. His new agreement is said to increase his earnings and “put[] him in position to remain with the club longer.” All told, says Drellich, Hinch now appears to have a guaranteed term that runs through 2018.

Precise details remain hazy in large part because the exact terms of Hinch’s original contract were never entirely clear. Reports at the time pegged it at three years and an option, but he has suggested that may not have been the case.

Regardless of whether this deal is properly termed an extension, or whether it is just includes the exercise of an option year, it obviously reflects an enhanced commitment from the organization. Hinch impressed on all fronts last year, bringing a broad skillset to the job and drawing positive reviews from GM Jeff Luhnow and owner Jim Crane.

The proof was in the pudding, of course, as the new-look ’Stros surged to the post-season and very nearly took the AL West. With a host of exciting young players returning, and a few key additions plugged in over the winter, expectations are high in Houston for 2016. That doesn’t mean a repeat will be easy; the entire American League has hopes of contending, and the western division in particular seems wide open.

MLBTR Mailbag: Bruce, Royals, Top 50, Pre-Arb, Aybar, A’s

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Time for this week’s MLBTR Mailbag! Thanks for all the questions, and sorry if we couldn’t get to yours. (It was great to see many first-time submissions this week; we always enjoy hearing a little bit about your motivations to write in!) Remember that you can also chat with Steve Adams and myself on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, respectively, and tune in to MLBTR’s weekly podcast every Thursday.

On to the questions …

Will Jay Bruce be traded before the season starts? — Jason R.

Well, the Orioles now look to be out of the market after adding Pedro Alvarez, and barring a revival of talks with the Blue Jays that option may be gone. I don’t see the Angels taking on enough salary to make that a viable landing spot, and the same holds for the Indians. The White Sox might have made sense, but now they’ve got Austin Jackson.

Looking around the league, I’m not sure I see an immediate match. An injury could always change things, of course, but as it stands it looks like the Reds will need to hope that Bruce has a strong first half and see how the summer trade market develops.

The Royals have three AAA outfielders on their 40-man roster, who all delivered great offensive numbers last year: Brett Eibner, Reymond Fuentes and Jose Martinez. But nobody is talking about them as a potential RF for the Royals. Do they have any flaws? Or what is the problem? — Holger B.

Writing in from Germany is a sure way to get your question answered! Thanks for reading all the way over in Europe.

In a way, I have to disagree with the premise of the question, because I think that people following the club closely are well aware that these guys are in the mix with Jarrod Dyson going down. All are on the 40-man, which means the team has something invested and believes they have at least some near-term and/or potential future value to the organization. And let’s be honest: the competition should be wide open at this point. Travis Snider is the most established choice to platoon with Paulo Orlando, who played a big role last year, but neither is a surefire option.

Do Eibner, Fuentes, and Martinez have flaws? Well, sure. Any player does, and none of them even cracked the top 15 of Baseball America’s recently-released organizational prospect rankings — though Eibner and Martinez landed on the back half of the list. Both of those players hit from the right side and had impressive seasons last year at Triple-A, so they could presumably push Orlando for his role or challenge for a final bench spot. Fuentes, meanwhile, will be squared up against Snider. He’s a speedy player who swings from the left side, making him a closer match to Dyson’s skillset. 

Beyond that, you’d need to ask a prospect hound or team beat writer for more info. I think what’s most interesting here is that Kansas City could open the year with some of the names noted above in significant spots. While that seems sub-optimal from my perspective, I’ve learned not to question the Dayton Moore-Ned Yost magic. And if nothing else there are plenty of possibilities; second base still seems to me a bigger overall organizational question mark.

Now that most of the top 50 FAs have signed who do you feel is the best value for their respective team? — Jake

Okay, I think I’m ready to go on record here. Your question touches upon both value from a market perspective and organizational fit, so I’ll address it in that way. Thus, even if I were to believe that Ian Desmond represents a bargain at $8MM — which I do — I don’t think I’d choose him since he is obviously a bit of an experiment in the outfield.

Among MLBTR’s top fifty free agents — all of whom have now signed except for David Freese and Justin Morneau — I’m going to pick …. well, I’m going to pick the city of Chicago. Getting Austin Jackson and Mat Latos for just $8MM in total, without sacrificing a draft pick, looks like a coup for the White Sox. The organization needed to add a lot of pieces, and managed to do it at a minimal cost through these signings and a couple of trades. Sure, there’s plenty of risk, but both look like outstanding values as younger players with plenty at stake. Meanwhile, the Cubs’ additions of Dexter Fowler and John Lackey are two other deals I quite liked, and I’m also fairly bullish on the more significant investments that the team made in Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist. Honorable mention: Matt Wieters to the Orioles, by way of qualifying offer acceptance.

Do you think with all the publicity about Gerrit Cole and Jacob deGrom’s salary for 2016, that we could see a change to pre-arbitration salaries in the new CBA? — Nicolas C.

I think we will, but not necessarily due to Cole and deGrom in particular. All of the rules governing player salaries, from the league minimum to the qualifying offer, function primarily to shift around the overall chunk of the game’s money that is allocated to players, and it’s been clear for some time now that the players in the pre-arb service classes are increasingly underpaid. The divide is all the more glaring given the huge contributions that young stars (and plenty of other quality players) have made not long after cracking the majors. It’s time for a bump, if not also some other modifications to the ways in which pre-arb salaries are arrived at.

Would Erick Aybar be a fit to fill in while Jhonny Peralta mends for the Redbirds? If so, what might the Braves get in return and would Coppy do it?

There’s little question that the Atlanta front office will listen to any interest in basically any of its players — they dealt Craig Kimbrel the day before the season started last year, after all — and I don’t doubt that this kind of scenario was contemplated when Aybar was added in the Andrelton Simmons deal. In the grand scheme of things, trading Aybar would hardly warrant outrage from the Braves fanbase with Kimbrel, Simmons, and so many others already gone. And it isn’t hard to see a plausible match from the Cardinals’ side, since Jedd Gyorko has no track record at short, the team is obviously set up to compete right now, and the NL Central may be out of reach with a slow start.

That being said, I wouldn’t expect a deal to come easy. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs suggested Aybar as a replacement, but rightly noted that the Braves probably aren’t as motivated to part with him right now as one might expect. The organization wants to begin moving in the right direction, and relying on options like Daniel Castro, Chase d’Arnaud, and Reid Brignac to open the year at short is probably not the best way to put a winning product on the field. And they’d obviously face the same barren open market situation as the Cards if they went looking for an alternative.

I’m not going to guess at precisely what St. Louis would need to offer up to get the Braves to bite, but I’m willing to bet that it won’t be terribly palatable. Atlanta would probably find it less painful to deal Aybar at the deadline, assuming the club isn’t firmly in contention, and would likely be looking for some legitimate upside in return to do a deal now. Steve Adams just ran down a whole host of possible options for the Cards to consider, and it looks to me as if one or more of the other names on his list will ultimately shake loose at a much lower price tag. If Peralta’s outlook for a return is fairly positive, the need might only be for a temporary stopgap, so the guess here is that St. Louis waits for someone else to become available. (And if all else fails, surely the Yankees would part with Pete Kozma?)

The A’s roster seems a little too full.  Is there a trade coming? — Isaac G.

Predicting the Oakland front office is a fool’s errand, but I’d be surprised if it felt the need to shed any depth. That’s not to say that you won’t see players depart, possibly by way of minor trades, especially if there aren’t any significant injuries. But that’s more likely to be driven by roster constraints — guys who are out of options, minor league free agents with opt-outs, etc. — than by any decision to cash in assets. It’s rare enough to see significant springtime deals as it is, and Oakland will surely prefer to maintain flexibility entering the year.

AL West Notes: Astros, Parker, A’s, Angels

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The Astros’ first-base situation is one of the more fluid among contenders league-wide, but Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle writes that the competition is off to a compelling start. Possible options such as A.J. Reed, Tyler White, Jon Singleton, and Matt Duffy are among the players who have begun making their case for major league jobs, and Drellich explains that it won’t be long before the team will begin to make its choices. “The at-bats are going to start to dry up with the competition,” said manager A.J. Hinch, who added that he’ll begin to give more playing time to the most likely candidates in the middle of March.

Here’s some more camp news out of the AL West:

  • Athletics righty Jarrod Parker is going to be limited to bullpen duty as he tries to work back from an elbow fracture (not to mention his two prior Tommy John procedures), Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The 27-year-old, who hasn’t seen MLB action since 2013, will likely trim his offerings down to a fastball-change combination. He’s currently building up his arm strength in bullpen sessions, and says that he’s just taking things one step at a time. “Expectations are not in my vocabulary anymore,” said Parker. “I just go day to day and try to be in tune, see how I feel, give what I’ve got that day and not try to reach.”
  • The Athletics have received good signs on the injury front from catcher Stephen Vogt and righty Jesse Hahn, as Slusser further reports. Vogt, who isn’t far removed from an elbow procedure, hit two home runs today and says he was glad to be able to “trust the elbow” and “take full swings and not feel any pain.” And Hahn, who was limited last year with a concerning forearm strain, looked good in his two innings and says he feels healthy. Likewise, outfielder Coco Crisp looks to be in good form after an injury-riddled 2015 season, manager Bob Melvin told reporters including John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter).
  • Over in Angels camp, the left field situation remains an interesting one to watch, and MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez writes that 24-year-old Rafael Ortega is a player who has impressed early. Of course, the organization still seems set to go with a platoon of Daniel Nava and Craig Gentry to open the season. As Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports, they have taken a long and winding road to this point.

AL East Notes: Sims, Stroman, Ramirez, Bogaerts, Rodriguez

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Spring training provides many opportunities for teams to interact with their fans, but it isn’t often that you hear about a club actually signing one. But the Yankees did just that for ten-year-old Landis Sims, an inspiring young man who miraculously has devised a way to play baseball despite being born without hands or lower legs. It’s a great story, courtesy of ESPN.com’s Andrew Marchand, and well worth a read. Congratulations to Landis on his opportunity in Yanks camp!

Here’s more from the AL East:

  • Budding Blue Jays staff ace Marcus Stroman has impressed plenty already, but Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes that he’s working on taking the next step by tinkering with a quick pitch to keep hitters off balance. More notable than the new offering itself, perhaps, is the process behind it. “I always like to pick hitters’ brains,” explains Stroman, “and the biggest thing sometimes hitters say that messes them up is when pitchers change their tempo, change their motion, change their delivery.” Generally, the soon-to-be 25-year-old righty says that he “feel[s] extremely strong out there on the mound” this spring.
  • While the focus on Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez has revolved around his transition in the field, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports that he’s also working to re-tool his swing. The surprising Travis Shaw is doing all he can to push Ramirez this spring, but Boston skipper John Farrell says he’s pleased with what he’s seen thus far at the plate from the veteran. His swing is “more compact,” says Farrell, “more of a line-drive approach.” Ramirez started strong last year offensively but faded to a substandard .249/.291/.426 overall batting line on the season.
  • As Rob Bradford of WEEI.com writes, Ramirez once wrestled with the decision whether to accept an early-career extension, ultimately accepting one with the Marlins. Now, current Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts could be facing a similar choice. While Bogaerts previously suggested that Boston had not initiated talks, his response was somewhat different when asked recently. “I would just say I’m working hard, and will keep working hard,” he said when asked about a possible long-term deal. “People who work hard get good rewards, so we’ll see what happens what happens with that in the end. I’m just trying to focus on the game now.” While it’s not yet clear whether serious talks are underway, or whether they will ultimately occur this winter, it is certainly interesting to consider whether Boston will make a real run at locking up the Scott Boras client, a former top prospect who broke out last year and still has four years of team control remaining.
  • The Red Sox have a limited window to get enticing young lefty Eduardo Rodriguez ready to open the season in the rotation, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports. He is staying off of the mound for the time being after recently suffering a tweak to his right kneecap. Boston is proceeding cautiously with a pitcher who is expected to be a key cog for years to come, and appears to feel good about leaning on its depth if that proves necessary. The 22-year-old contributed 121 2/3 innings of 3.85 ERA pitching last year, with 7.2 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9, and with 170 total frames (including his Triple-A output) he seems ready to take on a full season’s workload if he can return in time for a full ramp-up.

Minor MLB Transactions: 3/7/16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league, each courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise cited…

  • The Tigers have signed former Astros right-hander Lucas Harrell to a minor league contract, Eddy reports. Harrell reportedly threw for Detroit earlier in Spring Training, prior to the club’s deal with Bobby Parnell. While the Parnell deal was, at the time, believed to be the final move on the pitching side of the coin for the Tigers in Spring Training, Harrell will now be coming on board after all. Harrell, 30, spent the 2015 season pitching in Korea and logged a marginal 4.93 ERA in 171 2/3 innings with the LG Twins, though it should be noted that the KBO is a notoriously hitter-friendly league. Harrell’s 171 2/3 innings showed the durability that he’s displayed for much of his pro career. His best season came with Astros in 2012, when he tallied a 3.76 ERA in 193 2/3 innings (32 starts) out of the Houston rotation.
  • Also inking a minor league deal last week was right-hander Josh Roenicke, who inked such a pact with the Angels. The 32-year-old Roenicke (nephew of former Brewers manager and current Halos coach Ron Roenicke) last appeared in the Majors with the 2013 Twins, recording a 4.35 ERA across 62 innings of work. Though he was once a notable prospect in the Reds’ system, Roenicke never blossomed into a regular contributor in the rotation or bullpen at any of his big league stops. He’s spent the past two seasons with the Triple-A affiliates for the Rockies, Nationals and Brewers, recording a collective ERA north of 6.00.
  • The Cubs have signed outfielder Ryan Kalish to a minor league pact. Formerly a top prospect with the Red Sox, Kalish is quite familiar to Cubs executives Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod. The 27-year-old didn’t play in 2015 after a minor league deal with the Blue Jays reportedly fell through. Kalish saw his most recent professional action with the Cubs in 2014, when he logged 157 plate appearances with the big league club. He’s a lifetime .245/.293/.350 hitter in the Majors and a .257/.325/.405 hitter at the Triple-A level. He’ll serve as organizational depth with the Cubs, presumably, as the team already has a very crowded outfield picture at the big league level.
  • Shortstop Justin Sellers and first baseman Josh Satin have both signed with the Padres on minor league deals. The 30-year-old Sellers spent a bit of time with the Pirates and White Sox organizations last year but didn’t produce much in the minors. Sellers didn’t appear in the bigs last year, but he logged Major League time each year from 2011-14, hitting .198/.280/.294 across 287 plate appearances. Satin, meanwhile, spent parts of those same 2011-14 seasons with the Mets, batting .243/.346/.351. He spent last season with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, where he batted .247/.347/.357. Satin has typically been considerably more productive against left-handed pitching, making him a useful platoon option for the Padres’ system.

Speculative Jhonny Peralta Replacements For The Cardinals

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The Cardinals are still reeling from the loss of Jhonny Peralta, perhaps for as long as three months, due to what is believed to be a torn ligament in his left thumb. While the book isn’t closed on Peralta’s recovery timeline just yet — he’s still headed to St. Louis to receive a second opinion on the injured digit — it would appear that Jedd Gyorko will step into the vacancy. Acquired in an offseason swap with the Padres that was made in part to keep Peralta fresh and in part to subtract Jon Jay (and his remaining salary) from a crowded outfield picture, Gyorko is the favorite to absorb Peralta’s at-bats, with Greg Garcia and Aledmys Diaz also representing internal options.

The problem with that scenario, of course, is that Gyorko isn’t a shortstop. He played some short out of necessity for the Padres last year after their widely panned platoon of Alexi Amarista and Clint Barmes failed to yield dividends. Gyorko was about three to four runs below average in 220 innings at the position in the estimation of Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved, and UZR pro-rated his defensive contributions to -17.6 runs over a 150-game spell. Clearly, there’s danger in extrapolating a small sample of 220 innings in that manner and treating it as fact, but Gyorko wasn’t even perceived as a plus defender at his more natural positions of second and third base, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he graded out very poorly at the most difficult infield position on the defensive spectrum.

Over at Fangraphs, Dave Cameron provided a quick glimpse at the injury and listed Erick Aybar as perhaps the most logical stopgap the Cardinals could pursue in an effort to upgrade. Aybar is a free agent at season’s end on a rebuilding Braves club, so the fit certainly stands out as logical. Cameron also noted that the Mets have a potential infield surplus with both Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada slated to fill reserve roles (the latter of those two is rumored to be on the bubble when it comes to the 25-man roster, anyhow), though he aptly notes that the Mets may not want to help strengthen another National League contender.

As MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes, GM John Mozeliak acknowledged that, depending on the severity of the issue, the club could pursue outside help at the shortstop position. Each of the names suggested by Cameron is indeed a logical fit for the Cardinals. Here’s a look at a few names from around the league that could potentially be looked at if the Cardinals wish to address the unexpected void with a player from outside the organization…

Trade Possibilities

  • Erick Aybar, Braves: As noted above, Aybar is one year from free agency on a rebuilding club that has shown a willingness to trade virtually any veteran piece it has (Freddie Freeman excluded). Atlanta has internal options that it could consider long-term pieces (Dansby Swanson, Ozhaino Albies), and while they’re not particularly close to the Majors, the Braves could slot someone like Daniel Castro or a minor pickup of their own in at short in the event of an Aybar trade.
  • Ruben Tejada/Wilmer Flores, Mets: Tejada was recently awarded an extra day of service time, making him a free agent following the season. He’s said to be on the fringe of New York’s 25-man roster this spring, and Flores could serve as the club’s primary backup all over the infield even if Tejada were to be traded. It seems far less likely that the Mets would move Flores, who has a fairly productive season last year and offers more offense in a reserve capacity with multiple years of club control remaining, but the team was famously open to trading him last summer.
  • Nick Ahmed/Chris Owings, D-backs: As recently as last spring, this combination looked like a potential long-term alignment for the Diamondbacks, but that’s less the case this spring. For one, Arizona went out and acquired Jean Segura to field one of the spots — likely shortstop — thus displacing the defensively gifted Ahmed from an everyday role. Beyond that, Brandon Drury had a strong season and worked his way onto multiple top 100 prospect rankings, giving the D-backs another potential option at second. Drury could play third base as well, though Arizona has Jake Lamb as a big-league-ready option at third base — one that could handle the spot long-term. With Segura, Ahmed, Owings, Drury and Lamb, the Snakes seemingly have five infielders for three spots.
  • Eduardo Nunez/Danny Santana, Twins: While Nunez isn’t known for his glovework himself, he’s more experienced than Gyorko at the position and is coming off a solid season with the bat, having slashed .282/.327/.431 in 204 plate appearances with Minnesota. Santana is out options and has yet to proven himself in the field or at the plate. After a BABIP-fueled rookie season, Santana cratered in 2015 and now looks like a utility player for the Twins. Neither player is a definitive upgrade, but both would deepen the club’s infield mix and provide greater shortstop experience than the Cards’ incumbent options. Minnesota wouldn’t be anxious to shed either player, but doing so could create a utility role for top prospect Jorge Polanco. Their preference, though, could be to get him everyday at-bats in the minors.
  • Chris Taylor/Luis Sardinas, Mariners: Both infielders are competing for the right to back up Ketel Marte at shortstop. Taylor, a career .313/.394/.460 hitter at Triple-A, struggled badly in the Majors this past season but offers more offensive upside than Sardinas. On the other hand, Sardinas is probably a more sure-handed defensive option despite his own big league struggles at the plate and a more pedestrian .285/.315/.365 batting line in his Triple-A career.
  • Freddy Galvis, Phillies: Galvis doesn’t bring much to the table from an offensive standpoint, and the returns on his defensive work at shortstop are mixed. Ultimate Zone Rating feels that Galvis has been about average over the life of his 1567 career innings there, whereas Defensive Runs Saved feels he’s cost his team 10 runs there. If Cardinals scouts feel that Galvis is a passable shortstop, then perhaps they’ll overlook last year’s .263/.302/.343 batting line, which rated more than 20 percent worse than the league average after adjusting for his home park (76 wRC+, 77 OPS+). For what it’s worth, he did homer seven times and swipe 10 bases in his 603 plate appearances.
  • Nick Franklin, Rays: Considering how long Franklin’s name has been bounced around, it almost feels like he should be in his late 20s. That comes with the territory for a player who made his big league debut and played a whole season before he even turned 23 years old, though. Franklin only turned 25 last week, and while he hasn’t developed into the everyday infielder that he was projected to, he hit .266/.353/.500 in 221 PAs at Triple-A Durham last year. The presence of Brad Miller and Tim Beckham could effectively block Franklin in Tampa Bay.

Free Agents

  • Everth Cabrera: The former NL stolen base champ barely played in 2015, hitting .208/.250/.229 in 105 plate appearances with the Orioles. He wasn’t much better in the minors, batting just .230/.302/.259 in 150 PAs between the Orioles and Giants. Cabrera is nearly three years and a PED suspension removed from providing value at the Major League level, but the Cards could take a look on a minor league deal and hope to benefit from a resurgence.
  • Willie Bloomquist: At 38 years old with a .238/.262/.287 batting line across his previous two seasons in Seattle, Bloomquist probably isn’t on radars as anything more than a veteran on which to take a minor league flier with a utility role in mind.

Suffice it to say, there aren’t any enticing options currently on the free agent market, though the Cardinals could find some options late in camp as veterans on minor league deals with out clauses begin to exercise those provisions.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s MLBTR Mailbag

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It’s Monday, which means we’re gearing up for another edition of the MLBTR Mailbag. In last week’s edition, Jeff Todd and I fielded questions on the Craig Kimbrel trade, Ian Desmond’s contract with the Rangers, a theoretical Manny Machado extension, the Royals’ right field situation and the Braves’ rotation.

If you have a question you’ve been mulling over and would like MLBTR’s take, let us know: mlbtrmailbag@gmail.com. We can’t get to every question, of course, but remember that you can also send questions our way on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in the weekly live chats hosted by myself and Jeff Todd, respectively. Also remember that Mailbag questions are welcome throughout the week, so feel free to send them at any time.

NL Notes: Cubs, Heyward, Pirates, Morton, Span

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The Cubs have several players, including Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, Dexter Fowler and Trevor Cahill that turned down more money elsewhere to sign in Chicago, tweets Jon Heyman. The Cardinals’ best offer is to Heyward is “thought to [have been]” $200MM over 10 years, while the Nationals, as previously reported, offered the outfielder $200MM+ over 10 years, albeit with significant deferrals, Heyman tweets. The three bids between the two teams were pretty much comparable (link), but Heyward simply preferred the Cubs over the other clubs. The outfielder, he adds, liked the team’s nucleus and, personally, he has a good history of playing at Wrigley. Heyman also notes that the other teams would have been willing to give him an opt-out as well.

A few more notes from around the NL…

  • Charlie Morton is hopeful that his groundball-inducing ways will translate to hitter-friendly Citzens Bank Park, PhillyVoice’s Ryan Lawrence writes. Morton produced a 4.81 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 pitching with the Pirates, although with an excellent 57.3% ground ball rate. “I had a theory about smaller parks, and the ground that outfielders have to cover, it’s minimized when you have a smaller park,” Morton says. “So if you can pitch to contact and pitch to weak contact, especially ground balls, I think you’ll do really well. Knock on wood, but I’ve had some success at Great American Ball Park, Great American Small Park. I think some of the reason why that is is because if I’m inducing weak contact or ground balls.” Morton has, indeed, posted a career 3.83 ERA in 54 innings at “Great American Small Park,” better than his career 4.54 ERA. That could merely be a sample-size issue, however. In any case, if Morton succeeds in the tight confines of Citizens Bank Park, he could perhaps, as Lawrence points out, fetch a prospect or two for the Phillies this summer.
  • Highly touted minor league right-handers Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow represent options this season should any pitcher in the Pirates’ rotation fall to injury or struggle significantly, GM Neal Huntington told Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. However, while the Pirates recognized that Taillon and Glasnow could factor into the club’s rotation in 2016, they didn’t bank on that fact. Pittsburgh added veterans Jon Niese (via trade with the Mets) and Ryan Vogelsong (via free agency) to round out the rotation. Huntington noted that Glasnow still needs to refine his changeup before making it to the Major Leagues, saying Glasnow is “still doing minor league hitters a favor” when he turns to his changeup over his electric fastball. Taillon is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery and will have his innings monitored this year.
  • Giants outfielder Denard Span talked with MLB Network Radio’s Cliff Floyd and Casey Stern about his free agency this winter and his goals for his first season with the Giants (audio link). “This team, they took a chance on me,” said Span. “A lot of other teams were shying away, but the Giants just showed how much they really wanted me, and so it made it an easy decision for me. … The fact that they pursued me and pursued a couple other guys — [Jeff] Samardzija and [Johnny] Cueto — it makes me feel good that they feel like, they didn’t go to the postseason last year, and I’m one of the missing pieces to help them get back there.” Among the other topics covered by Span are his first impressions of future Hall of Fame skipper Bruce Bochy and how he plans to work on outfield communication with the man he displaced in center field — Angel Pagan (who will now slide over to left field).

Jeremy Hellickson On Offseason Trade

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As a part of the Diamondbacks’ efforts to remold themselves into a contender, they sent one of their starters off to a rebuilding club.  In November, the D-backs shipped Jeremy Hellickson to the Phillies in exchange for 20-year-old righty Sam McWilliams.  Hellickson, unlike McWilliams, comes with a lengthy track record at the big league level — something that could theoretically have appealed to the win-now Diamondbacks — but he’s struggled in recent seasons, logging a 4.73 ERA over the past three seasons after an outstanding start to his career.  The Diamondbacks decided to use his relatively sizable projected salary elsewhere.

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Leading up to the deal, Hellickson says that he didn’t get a phone call from anyone in the organization indicating that a move might be coming down.  However, he sensed that he could be traded at any moment.  “I didn’t have any indication [that a deal could happen], you just kind of get a feeling with the direction that they’re going in,” Hellickson said in Clearwater, Fla. late last week. “I didn’t know that they were going to sign guys for that much money after trading me, but I just got the feeling that was going to happen.”

After Hellickson’s departure, the Diamondbacks spent $206.5MM on Zack Greinke; paid a hefty premium in terms of player personnel to acquire Shelby Miller (Ender Inciarte, Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair); signed Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25MM deal; and acquired Jean Segura and righty Tyler Wagner from the Brewers for Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz and Aaron Hill.  Now, after winning 79 games in 2015, the D-backs could very well contend for the NL West crown.  Even though the Phillies seem more likely to wind up in the cellar of the NL East than at the top, Hellickson says that he isn’t bothering to concern himself with his former club’s dealings.

At the age of 28, Hellickson is one of the team’s “veteran” starters, along with 32-year-old Charlie Morton (a fellow offseason trade acquisition).  Hellickson admits that it’s an odd role to play for someone who is on the right side of 30.

“It is a little bit weird being one of the veteran guys on this rotation,” said Hellickson.  “It was kind of the same situation alst year [in Arizona] but the game is getting younger.  There are guys getting called up at 21 or 22 years old.  I don’t feel old at 28, but 28 is kind of old in this game right now.”

Hellickson and the Phillies avoided arbitration back in January with the right-hander getting $7MM instead of his projected $6.6MM salary.  After this season, the Scott Boras client is headed towards free agency.  Hellickson may or may not rack up wins this season, but the former American League Rookie of the Year could position himself for a nice payday with a rebound campaign in 2016.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

White Sox Notes: Jackson, Alexei, Latos

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The White Sox may finally have wrapped up an interesting offseason with today’s announcement of the signing of outfielder Austin Jackson to a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll join a series of other new faces on the MLB roster in Chicago, none of whom — including the trade acquisitions — are guaranteed or controlled for more than two years. The overall financial commitment is quite minimal, and the South Siders still look to have plenty of long-term flexibility.

Here’s the latest on a few of those additions, and one notable departure:

  • Jackson will indeed be Chicago’s primary center fielder, GM Rick Hahn told reporters including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin (Twitter link). That means that Adam Eaton, fresh off of a quality campaign in the first year of his extension, will line up primarily in the corner outfield. Clearly, the team’s overall glovework on the grass should be much improved, as the team’s preexisting alignment likely would’ve featured Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia on both corners.
  • As something of an added bonus, the Sox kept Jackson from the division-rival Indians, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (Twitter links). Cleveland felt it would have needed to go north of $5MM to add Jackson, who seemed to prefer to play in Chicago.
  • Padres shortstop Alexei Ramirez asked to go on a road trip to play the White Sox, his longtime club, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. Ramirez called it “really emotional” to suit up for the only MLB organization he’d ever played for previously, saying that he put in “eight years of defending, 100 percent energy, eight years of being the first to show up and work hard every day” in Chicago. Ramirez added that San Diego’s $4MM contract was the sole firm offer he received this winter.
  • Newly-signed White Sox righty Mat Latos says that he’s eager not just to show his form on the mound, but also to rebuild his image, as Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com reports. “Maybe I needed a wake-up call,” said the 28-year-old. “I’m very direct, and I’ve just got to pick and choose my battles and learn to just hold onto some things. If I had some issues with things that went on with Cincinnati, I needed to keep them to myself. That was just a slip-up on my part. That was me dummying up. Just a bad lapse of judgment.” In an email, GM Rick Hahn suggested that the organization wasn’t scared off by a player’s reputation, preferring instead to sit down with each individual and make an assessment. In the case of Latos, it isn’t hard to see how the organization might’ve believed he would be motivated to make good on a $3MM investment.

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