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Archives for October 2016

Braves, Jim Johnson Agree To Two-Year Extension

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TODAY: Johnson’s contract is worth $10MM in guaranteed money, The Associated Press reports.  He will be paid $4.5MM in 2017 and 2018, with a $1MM signing bonus.  The righty can earn up to $1.75MM in performance bonuses each season based on games finished.  Johnson earns $250K for finishing 30 games, and then another $250K for hitting each of the 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60-game thresholds.

OCTOBER 2: Braves reliever Jim Johnson could have hit free agency during the offseason, but the 33-year-old will instead continue his career in Atlanta. He and the Braves have agreed to a two-year contract extension, according to a team announcement. Financial details are not yet available, but the deal will keep the Moye Sports Associates client under Atlanta’s control through the 2018 season.

Jim Johnson

Johnson is amid his second stint as a Brave after signing a one-year, $2.5MM deal with the club last offseason. That ended up being a bargain for the rebuilding Braves, as Johnson has logged a 3.11 ERA, 9.33 K/9 and 2.83 BB/9 over 63 2/3 innings. Johnson has also kept up a career-long trend of inducing ground balls, having posted a 55 percent mark, and added 19 saves on 22 chances. Overall, 2016 has been a major bounce-back season for Johnson, who fared poorly with the Tigers, Athletics and Dodgers during the previous two campaigns.

Despite his struggles elsewhere, Johnson has clearly found a home in Atlanta. Previously, he recorded a 2.25 ERA over 48 innings with the team in 2015 before it traded him to Los Angeles in July. Part of the reason for Johnson’s success with the Braves is his strong relationship with pitching coach Roger McDowell, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). Going forward, the longtime Oriole – who has 153 career saves – said Sunday the plan is for him to remain as the Braves’ closer, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). That means Johnson will continue leading a bullpen cast that should include the likes of Ian Krol, Arodys Vizcaino and Mauricio Cabrera, among others, in 2017.

It’s unknown how much interest Johnson would have garnered as a free agent, of course, but playoff contenders were zeroing in on him as a trade target over the summer. In fact, a deal nearly came to fruition in late July, and the Blue Jays, Mets and Rangers were among the clubs that eyed Johnson in advance of the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline. An unidentified team also claimed Johnson on revocable waivers in August, but the Braves pulled him back after they and the other club weren’t able to agree on a trade. Now, after nearly joining his sixth major league team over the summer, he’s primed to stay in Atlanta for the next couple years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates Focusing On Run Prevention

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Fresh off their first non-playoff season since 2012, the Pirates will prioritize improving their run prevention over the winter, reports Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. In 2015, when the Pirates won 98 games, they finished third in the majors in runs surrendered (596). That figure skyrocketed during a 78-win 2016 campaign for the Bucs, who allowed opposing teams to cross home plate 758 times (22nd in the league).

The better your pitching, the better your chances of stopping rivals from scoring, but general manager Neal Huntington isn’t optimistic about ameliorating the team’s staff via free agency. As Sawchik notes, the average starting pitcher deal during free agency last offseason was worth $10.02MM. Now, with so few appealing options set to hit the market, “it will be worse this year,” Huntington told Sawchik. “It is a reminder of how important it is for us to develop our own starting pitching,” the GM added.

The Pirates have one of the league’s top soon-to-be free agent rotation pieces in right-hander Ivan Nova, whom they acquired from the Yankees at this year’s trade deadline. Nova was a revelation in Pittsburgh and now looks primed to land a richer deal than anyone would have expected before he joined the Pirates. The club is trying to re-sign him, but the likelihood is he’ll hit the market, according to Sawchik.

With Nova perhaps on the brink of departing, Huntington opened up about the difficulties of working with a low payroll, saying that “every significant contract is a risk. When you look at Francisco Liriano at $13 million, when he performed well it is an affordable contract. But it’s the equivalent of $30-$40 million (per year) for the Dodgers. Percent of payroll is real. It’s not an excuse. When a contract is 13 percent of your payroll versus 4 percent, the level of risk tolerance is so very different …. How far do you stretch? It is a case-by-case situation.”

Huntington’s spending limitations played into the Pirates’ inability to re-sign left-hander J.A. Happ and add fellow southpaw Rich Hill last year. The Pirates lost out by $500K on Hill, whom the Athletics signed for $6MM.

“Sitting here now it’s easy to say we should have moved on J.A. Happ or Rich Hill,” commented Huntington. “We don’t have the benefit of hindsight.”

As for Liriano, the Pirates traded him to the Blue Jays at the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline. Liriano was outstanding with Pittsburgh in 2015, the first of a three-year, $39MM deal, but that wasn’t the case this season. As a result, the payroll-challenged Bucs dealt two prospects along with Liriano in exchange for $18MM in savings and right-hander Drew Hutchison.

With none of Happ, Liriano or Hill in the picture, the Pirates unsurprisingly have rotation questions going forward. Righties Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon are sure to fill two rotation spots for the club. Tyler Glasnow, Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault, Trevor Williams and Hutchison are among their other potential in-house rotation candidates. They’re not the most confidence-inspiring choices, which Huntington addressed.

“Some will continue to progress. The real world shows us some will regress,” he said.

If Huntington decides he’s not content with that group, he revealed that dealing position pitchers to “strengthen” his team’s rotation is a possibility. It’s unclear which players Huntington could part with, though center fielder Andrew McCutchen’s name has come up of late. While the longtime face of the franchise is a five-time All-Star and one-time NL MVP, his all-around performance drastically fell off last season and he especially hindered the Pirates’ ability to prevent runs. McCutchen’s minus-27 Defensive Runs Saved “catches your attention,” said Huntington, who attributes some of the 30-year-old’s fielding woes to the shallower alignment the team deployed this season. The Pirates are now evaluating how they’ll align their fielders in the future, per Sawchik. One thing that will remain is an emphasis on inducing ground balls.

“(The ground ball) is something that we’re going to keep as one of our cornerstones,” manager Clint Hurdle told Sawchik. “We’ve had a recipe for success and we want to follow it.”

Pittsburgh’s ground-ball percentage fell from 50.4 in 2015 to 46.9 this year, but the team still ranked third in the majors in that department. However, only nine clubs were worse at turning grounders into outs, StatCorner indicates . The Pirates ranked a far superior 12th at killing grounders the previous year, when they were a much better defensive team in general. Now, Huntington is trying to figure out how to restore the Pirates to their 2015 ways.

Free Agency Poll: Aroldis Chapman Or Kenley Jansen?

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This year’s NLCS between the Cubs and Dodgers is underway, and electrifying closers Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen figure to be among the series’ most important players. That was already the case for the two teams in the NLDS, when Chapman saved all three of the Cubs’ wins over the Giants – including two one-run affairs – and blew a save in Chicago’s only loss. Jansen had an ugly Game 2 showing against the Nationals, but he was otherwise tremendous, racking up saves in a pair of one-run contests before his all-important hold in a memorable Game 5. Jansen entered in the seventh inning Thursday and tossed 2 1/3 frames of 51-pitch, one-hit ball to preserve a 4-3 lead, which ace Clayton Kershaw closed out by retiring back-to-back hitters in the ninth.

One of Chapman or Jansen could very well secure the final out of this year’s World Series, after which the late-game aces are scheduled to become free agents. Given both their dominance and the ever-increasing importance of bullpens, Chapman and Jansen are in line to score the most valuable contracts ever awarded to relievers. The four-year, $50MM contract Jonathan Papelbon signed with the Phillies in 2011 is the record, but that deal’s days at the top are numbered. Now it’s a matter of figuring out whether Chapman or Jansen will land the richer pact.

The two will play their age-29 seasons in 2017, and their results have been similarly excellent since they debuted in 2011. In 377 combined innings with the Reds, Yankees and Cubs, Chapman has a 2.08 ERA, 15.18 K/9, 4.13 BB/9, 42.3 percent ground-ball rate, 12.8 infield pop-up percentage and 17.7 percent swinging strike mark. Across 408 2/3 frames with the Dodgers, Jansen has posted a 2.20 ERA, 13.92 K/9 and 2.62 BB/9 with a worse ground-ball and swinging strike percentages than Chapman (33.4 and 15.7), though he does have the superior infield fly rate (13.8). In terms of their ability to finish games, Chapman has a nearly 90 percent success rate (182 saves in 203 chances), while Jansen has converted more than 88 percent of his save chances (189 of 214).

There aren’t notable differences in their age or career outputs, though Chapman and Jansen do diverge in certain areas. Chapman is a left-hander and Jansen a righty, for starters. With the ability to occasionally hit 105 mph on the radar gun, Chapman is the hardest thrower in baseball, but Jansen can offer a lethal 98 mph cutter. Also of importance, there are no off-the-field red flags with Jansen. That isn’t true in Chapman’s case

Chapman was on track last offseason to join Jansen in the Dodgers’ bullpen, but a trade between them and the Reds fell through amid domestic violence claims. Chapman was alleged to have struck his girlfriend and discharged a firearm while alone in his garage last October. Criminal charges were never filed, so Chapman did not face a trial. Nevertheless, the league did suspend him for the first month of the season, and it’s conceivable that such a serious incident could damage Chapman’s earning power as a free agent. On the other hand, contenders lined up to acquire Chapman from the Yankees at this year’s trade deadline, and the Cubs eventually surrendered one of baseball’s top prospects – shortstop Gleyber Torres – in a package for him.

The fact that Chapman switched teams during the season means he’ll be ineligible to receive a qualifying offer, which will only boost his stock. The Dodgers will surely tender a QO to Jansen, meaning another club that signs him would have to give up a first-round pick in addition to the enormous contract it awards him. With other high-payroll teams like the Yankees, Giants and Nationals perhaps set to accompany the big-spending Cubs and Dodgers in the sweepstakes for Chapman and Jansen, they’re clearly going to earn sizable raises during the offseason. But which one will fare better on the open market?

(Poll link for Trade Rumors app users)

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Verlander, ALCS, Bucs, D-backs, Yanks

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This week in the baseball blogosphere…

Please send submissions to ZachBBWI @gmail.com

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/15/16

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • The Orioles have outrighted infielder Paul Janish, who has elected free agency, per a club announcement. Baltimore designated the 34-year-old defensive specialist for assignment last week after he logged 35 plate appearances with the club this season. Most of Janish’s time this year was spent at Triple-A Norfolk, where he hit .248/.333/.280 in 283 trips to the plate. In his 1,277-PA big league career, Janish – previously with the Reds and Braves – has batted .216/.284/.289.
  • Like Janish, Angels right-hander A.J. Achter and outfielder Nick Buss have also elected free agency in lieu of outright assignments. The Angels designated the pair for assignment on Oct. 5. Achter pitched to a terrific 3.11 ERA in 37 2/3 innings with the Angels this year, but he did so despite striking out just 14 batters and surrendering 43 hits. The 28-year-old, also a former Twin, has 62 big league frames on his resume with a 4.79 K/9, 3.05 BB/9 and 3.92 ERA. In his most extensive major league action since the Dodgers selected him in the eighth round of the 2008 draft, Buss collected 90 PAs with the Angels this season and hit a meager .198/.247/.346. The soon-to-be 30-year-old has slashed a solid .298/.358/.444 in 1,820 Triple-A plate appearances.

Quick Hits: Jaso, Yankees, Cubs, Athletics

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The Pirates want John Jaso to work out at third base and in the outfield this winter, MLB.com’s Adam Berry reports. Jaso was a catcher prior to the 2016 season, but moved to first base this year and had immediate success defensively, so it’s wouldn’t be that surprising if he were capable of handling third as well. The idea that Jaso could be used in a multi-positional role in 2017, though, suggests that the Pirates could have Josh Bell (a far worse defender than Jaso, but a younger player and a slightly better hitter, at least by 2016 statistics) take the bulk of the playing time at first base. The team already has David Freese available to back up Bell at first and Jung Ho Kang at third, so finding time for Jaso as a third baseman might be difficult. There might be a bit more space for Jaso in the outfield, with backups Matt Joyce and Sean Rodriguez eligible for free agency. Still, with another year remaining on his contract, Jaso could potentially be a trade candidate this winter or in Spring Training. Here’s more from around the league.

  • With Mark Teixeira retiring, the Yankees will have a new regular first baseman next season for the first time since Teixeira’s arrival in 2009, Chad Jennings of Lohud.com writes. GM Brian Cashman says the Yankees’ default approach next season will be to go with younger options at first. “[W]ithout having advance notice on what becomes available and what gets presented to you in various concepts – I would that that would be the way that we like to approach this going into Spring Training of next year,” he says. “Let the kids get a shot at it.” Greg Bird, Tyler Austin and Rob Refsnyder could all get opportunities at the position. Bird is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League after having missed the 2016 season due to a shoulder injury. If he proves he’s healthy, one would think he would have the inside track on playing time after batting .261/.343/.529 in his first 178 big-league plate appearances in 2016.
  • Top Cubs executive Theo Epstein sees parallels between the organization he currently runs and the one he led while with the Red Sox, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. Epstein’s Cubs made their first playoff run last season but were ousted by the Mets in the NLCS. His first playoff team in Boston fell in the ALCS to the other New York franchise in 2003. The next year, of course, the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918. “I’ve had some flashbacks here and there. First few days of the offseason last year, after getting knocked out by the Mets, definitely felt like the same kind of galvanizing time that we had in Boston after Aaron Boone walked us off,” Epstein says. “Hopefully the same results: ’03 to ’04, ’15 to ’16.”
  • News that the Nevada Assembly has approved expenditures for a stadium designed to lure the Raiders from Oakland has no immediate impact on the Athletics, writes John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group. A’s owner Lew Wolff says he hasn’t heard anything about the possibility that the Raiders’ option to tell the A’s to find a new place to play should the Raiders find a home somewhere besides the Oakland Coliseum. “They were going to have to have a firm financial plan in place here if they were going to give us notice, and it doesn’t seem like that’s happening,” says Wolff. The A’s have been exploring other stadium options in Oakland, but for now, they don’t have any concrete plans to move.

Prospect Notes: Dodgers, Tebow, Skole

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Two of the best three prospects to graduate to the Majors this year are Dodgers products, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America writes. Shortstop Corey Seager and lefty Julio Urias rank Nos. 1 and 3 on BA’s list of the top ten graduated players, with only Trea Turner of the Nationals between them. Seager, of course, will almost certainly be the NL Rookie of the Year and is an NL MVP candidate after batting .308/.365/.512 while playing outstanding defense this season. Urias pitched just 77 innings for the Dodgers this season, but he only recently turned 20, and Glaser notes that his next step toward becoming a frontline starting pitcher is to build up his workload. Here are more quick notes on prospects.

  • The Mets’ signing of Tim Tebow to a minor league deal with a $100K bonus has received criticism lately, and it appears those criticisms could get louder, to judge from recent comments from a scout to NJ.com’s Randy Miller. “He’s pretty much a rookie ballplayer who’s 29. And I’m being nice,” said the scout, who watched Tebow in the Arizona Fall League. “He’s got a long ways to go. These guys are obviously way better than him.” The scout also criticized most elements of Tebow’s game, noting that Tebow struggled to hit fastballs and that Tebow might have to lose weight in order to play better defense. Tebow is currently hitting 0-for-9 with two walks in the AFL.
  • Former Rangers prospect and 2010 15th overall draft pick Jake Skole is on the opposite direction on Tebow’s path, heading from the diamond to the University of Georgia football program, according to Rusty Mansell of 247sports.com. Skole, who was born and raised in Georgia, will play a defensive position, although it’s unclear which one. As SportsDay’s Evan Grant notes, the Rangers released Skole in 2015, and he played in the Yankees organization this season. In parts of seven seasons in the minors, the former outfielder batted .227/.325/.330, topping out at Double-A and also receiving a 50-game PED suspension.

Diamondbacks Interested In Eddie Perez For Managerial Job

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The Diamondbacks have interest in Braves first base coach Eddie Perez for their managerial opening, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Perez interviewed for the Braves managerial job that ultimately went to Brian Snitker, and he’s reportedly also recently attracted interest from the Rockies.

Perez spent 11 seasons as a catcher in the big leagues, spending much of that time working as Greg Maddux’s personal catcher in Atlanta. He also played a season apiece for the Indians and Brewers. He has worked as a coach in the Braves organization since 2006, and has managed in the Venezuelan Winter League.

We haven’t heard much about who will replace Chip Hale as the Diamondbacks’ manager, and perhaps for good reason — departing along with Hale was general manager Dave Stewart, and the Snakes have yet to fill their GM job. One would think the Diamondbacks would hire a GM first before hiring a manager. Involving a new GM in a managerial hiring process would help ensure that the GM and manager are a good match for one another — a GM and manager who don’t work well together can cause problems, as we’ve seen lately with Jeff Bridich and Walt Weiss in Colorado, and before that with Jerry Dipoto and Mike Scioscia in Los Angeles. Hiring a manager before hiring a GM could make the GM opening less attractive for highly qualified candidates, which is potentially a serious issue for the Diamondbacks, who might already have a hard time attracting such candidates given how short their last two GMs’ tenures have been.

Of course, it’s possible the Diamondbacks’ search for a GM (or a head of baseball operations) is further along than has previously been reported. Arizona has already been connected to Nationals exec Mike Rizzo (although the Nationals have denied Rizzo is a serious candidate), Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo, former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, MLB senior VP Kim Ng and a variety of candidates with ties to the Diamondbacks organization. Former Blue Jays and Dodgers exec Alex Anthopoulos and Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom have already indicated they’re not interested.

5 Key Stories: 10/8/16 – 10/14/16

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Here are five of the biggest stories this week at MLBTR.

Brian SnitkerBraves hire Brian Snitker as manager. The Braves dropped Brian Snitker’s interim tag, officially making him their full-time manager. They also hired former Rangers manager Ron Washington as their third base coach, and made third base coach Bo Porter a special assistant to GM John Coppolella. Washington left a coaching job with the Athletics in order to be closer to his family in New Orleans.

The 2017 qualifying offer will be $17.2MM. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported that the amount of the qualifying offer will increase to $17.2MM this offseason, and will be included in the next CBA, albeit with some adjustments. That’s a boost of $1.4MM over last year’s qualifying offer figure. Last week, MLBTR’s Steve Adams listed Neil Walker, Michael Saunders, Wilson Ramos, Kendrys Morales, Mike Napoli and Matt Wieters as players who might or might not receive a qualifying offer; perhaps the increase of the qualifying offer figure will affect some of them.

Super Two cutoff to be between 2.127 and 2.131 years of MLB service time. MLBTR projected the Super Two cutoff for this year’s crop of players approaching arbitration. Kevin Kiermaier could become eligible for arbitration as a Super Two, while Rougned Odor, David Peralta and Dan Straily seem likely to just miss the cut. MLBTR also projected arbitration salaries for the 2017 season.

Pitchers receive injury news. Cardinals reliever Zach Duke underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2017 season. Injured Padres righty Tyson Ross, meanwhile, had surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome, and could be ready for Spring Training. The news was better for Angels righty Garrett Richards, who made only six starts in 2016. He’s set to have a normal offseason after avoiding Tommy John surgery.

Carlos Beltran to play in 2017. Rangers DH/OF Carlos Beltran says he’ll be back in 2017 for his age-40 season. Beltran, who batted a strong .295/.337/.513 with 29 home runs in 2016, figures to be a solid option for AL teams in need of an extra bat.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Hernandez, Rockies, Hale

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The Dodgers left utilityman Enrique Hernandez off their roster for the NLDS, but they’ve added him for their upcoming series against the Cubs and will start him today against lefty Jon Lester, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. The idea, perhaps, is that the Dodgers’ group of position players is lefty-heavy, and the Cubs have plenty of lefty pitching (including Lester, Aroldis Chapman, Travis Wood, Mike Montgomery, and rookie reliever Rob Zastryzny, who the Cubs have announced has replaced infielder Tommy La Stella on their NLCS roster). Hernandez gives the Dodgers an extra right-handed bat. While he struggled overall this season, batting .190/.283/.324 in 244 plate appearances, Hernandez has a career .270/.362/.478 line against left-handed pitchers. Here’s more from the West divisions.

  • It’s time for the Rockies to start spending heavily in hopes of making a playoff push, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Saunders cites Olney, who notes the recent correlation between spending and winning, with the Indians being the only team with a below-median payroll to make the playoffs. Whether some of Saunders’ proposed moves would actually propel the Rockies to the postseason is debatable — he suggests, for example, that the Rockies ought to consider sending Charlie Blackmon to St. Louis for Matt Adams and Trevor Rosenthal, should such a deal be offered. Adams’ power would likely play well at Coors Field, but the Rockies would sorely miss Blackmon, who joined Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu as one of the team’s best players in 2016.
  • The Athletics are talking to former Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale about their third base coach position, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. The job opened when Ron Washington departed for the Braves. All the Athletics’ other coaches are expected to return next season. Hale was the Athletics’ bench coach for three seasons before heading to Arizona, and Slusser writes that he was popular with Athletics players.

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