Royals Will Not Make Qualifying Offer To Kendrys Morales
The Royals will not make a qualifying offer to DH Kendrys Morales, according to reports from Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter) and Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter). Likewise, the team won’t extend the QO to righty Edinson Volquez.
Morales, 33, will return to the free agent market without any draft pick compensation required to sign him. The slugging veteran hit his way into contention for the $17.2MM offer, but will not have to make a tough call whether to accept it after declining his end of a mutual option with the team. Instead, he’ll have a shot at securing another multi-year guarantee without having to take a hit to account for the loss of future value any team would’ve otherwise had to account for. (The QO played a major factor in harming Morales’s free agent case after the 2013 season.)
Morales didn’t end the year with the kind of numbers that he posted in 2015, his first of two campaigns in Kansas City, in which he slashed .290/.362/.485 and swatted 22 long balls. But the switch hitter did manage thirty total long balls and finished the 2016 on a lengthy run. Over his final 404 trips to the plate, Morales slashed a robust .302/.364/.547 and launched 24 round-trippers.
There’s plenty of competition in the DH market, which certainly reduces expectations for Morales’s earning capacity. But he commanded two years and a $17MM guarantee the last time he reached free agency, and has a much stronger platform to work from this time around. That he’s capable of hitting from both sides of the plate certainly helps his cause, though his inability to play much (if at all) in the field will constitute a demerit in the eyes of suitors. It seems quite clear that Morales is headed for an American League club after spending the entirety of his career to date in the AL.
Volquez’s own case was all the more clear, though there were rumblings at one point that K.C. would possibly make him a qualifying offer. The fellow 33-year-old, who also turned down his end of a mutual option, still has plenty of velocity. And remains a reliable innings-eater with reliable groundball results in the 50% range. But Volquez ended the 2016 campaign with a 5.37 ERA and just 6.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9, so he’ll likely be valued as a back-of-the-rotation option on the market.
Nationals Will Not Make Qualifying Offer To Wilson Ramos
The Nationals will not make a qualifying offer to catcher Wilson Ramos, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (via Twitter). That means that he’ll be able to enter the open market free of any requirement that a signing team part with a draft pick to add him.
Ramos certainly performed well enough to make the one-year, $17.2MM offer an easy decision for the Nats, but his late-year ACL tear drastically changed the calculus. The 29-year-old will likely not be available until the middle of the 2017 season, and may not be ready immediately for catching duties. For a National League team, especially, offering that amount for a half-season (or less) of Ramos was too great a risk to take. He’d have had a chance to lock in a big guarantee before re-entering the market next winter.
That Ramos may have been inclined to take such a sizable sum from the Nats does not mean he’ll be limited to one-year scenarios this winter. To the contrary, his representatives have given signals that they’ll be looking for a four or even five-year deal on the open market. While it’s still possible that some sort of pillow contract arrangement will ultimately make the most sense, there appears to be hope that some organization will take a shot at the upside in a lengthier pact.
After all, the catching market is quite shallow. And Ramos hit enough in 2016 to suggest he could provide value to an American League team as a DH even as he gets fully up to speed behind the dish. On the heels of a shaky 2015, Ramos underwent Lasik surgery and broke out with a .307/.354/.496 batting line and career-best 22 home runs over 523 plate appearances. The still-youthful receiver also showed well as a framer and displayed a big arm.
Clubs weighing a calculated gamble on Ramos will need to consider his checkered injury history and large frame in setting their price. This is the second time he has required ACL surgery, and he has previously dealt with hamstring issues. Ramos also missed a stretch in 2014 with a hamate break, though that was an acute injury and he obviously rebounded in the power department.
A.J. Pierzynski Expected To Pursue Free Agent Contract
Veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski will pursue a free agent deal this winter, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter links). There had been rumblings that the 39-year-old would hang up his spikes at season’s end.
It would seem there’s still a possibility that Pierzynski calls it quits if he can’t find an offer to his liking, but he won’t do so before testing interest. He will enter a market that features quite a few second catcher candidates, though of course that also reflects the fact that many teams will be sending receivers into free agency. With catching in high demand league-wide, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a club take a chance on the elder statesman.
Pierzynski will not be entering another run at the open market with the best of platform seasons. He slashed a meager .219/.243/.304 with two long balls in his 259 trips to the plate last year. Though he played in half of Atlanta’s total contests, even though his season ended early due to injury, Pierzynski failed to tally 100 games for the first time since way back in 2000 — ending a rather remarkable run.
Teams weighing a run at the salty veteran will no doubt be intrigued by his 2015 season, in which he provided the Braves with 436 plate appearances of .300/.339/.430 hitting. That showing earned him a $3MM contract to return in 2016. Over Pierzynski’s 19 major league campaigns, he has also appeared with the White Sox, Twins, Giants, Cardinals, and Rangers, compiling a lifetime .280/.319/.420 batting line and launching 188 home runs.
Rangers To Decline Derek Holland’s Option
NOVEMBER 7: Texas has not been able to find a trade partner and will officially decline Holland’s option today, per MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan (via Twitter).
OCTOBER 31, 8:45pm: Texas has informed Holland that his option won’t be picked up — at least, not to play with the Rangers, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. It isn’t clear at this point what kinds of scenarios the Rangers are weighing with regard to the southpaw.
Holland could conceivably be moved for another veteran with a reasonably hefty salary or instead be cashed in for some prospect value. It’s also possible that Texas could contribute cash to boost the return. While there isn’t an immense amount of surplus value in Holland’s contract, interested rivals will surely be intrigued at the possibility of getting him for a one-year commitment with another available option year rather than possibly being forced to promise more to woo him via free agency.
7:11pm: The Rangers are willing to trade left-hander Derek Holland, over whom they hold an $11MM club option with a $1.5MM buyout, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Heyman hears that Holland may have played his final game as a member of the Rangers, writing that they’d prefer to move him rather than keep him on the books. Furthermore, he tweets that a few teams are showing interest in Holland, and a trade would happen “soon” if it were to take place. The timing component of that followup isn’t much of a surprise, as teams have until five days after the conclusion of the World Series to decide on the options for their players, but it’s certainly notable that teams are expressing interest.
While Holland may not appear like a highly appealing trade candidate on the heels of a disappointing season, there are a few reasons to believe that clubs would be willing to take him on at $11MM next year. First and foremost, the free-agent market for starting pitching is a veritable wasteland this offseason, with the top names available including Rich Hill, Jeremy Hellickson and Ivan Nova. Sheer supply and demand should lead to interest in Holland, especially if the Rangers are willing to pick up a bit of the tab or to take on another fairly notable contract in return.
At 30 years old, Holland is still young enough to believe that there could be a rebound in his bottom-line results, which admittedly weren’t pretty in 2016. Holland had his healthiest season since 2013 this year — he’s missed time previously due to shoulder and knee injuries — but he pitched his way out of the rotation and ultimately finished the year with a 4.95 ERA in 107 1/3 innings. His average fastball velocity was 93.6 mph during a terrific 2013 season, but injuries and aging caused that mark to dip to 91.7 mph this past season. Accordingly, Holland’s K/9 rate has dipped from 8.0 to 5.6, and his ground-ball rate fell south of 40 percent this season as well.
None of that paints a very good picture, of course, but Holland’s unsightly ERA would be nearly a full run lower were it not for an 11-run drubbing that was handed out by the Blue Jays in Toronto back on May 5. He went on to post a 4.42 ERA from that point forth and at one point went through a stretch of 10 outings where he delivered seven quality starts and posted a 3.65 ERA. While the overall season was one to forget, there were glimpses of the pitcher that once looked to be developing into a Rangers rotation mainstay. It’s not uncommon for rebound candidates to get several million dollars in free agency anyway, and Holland’s contract comes with the upside of a club option for the 2018 season. If he’s able to rebound even to the point where he pitches like a solid fourth starter, Holland would prove to be a nice value with that extra year of club control.
The lack of quality hurlers on the market was one of the primary reasons that I recently examined a number of borderline club options for starting pitchers, including Holland, and opined that teams would be wise to exercise the options even if the ultimate outcome was that those arms would be traded. Based on Heyman’s report, it sounds like the Rangers could potentially move Holland even before that decision is due, and it’s certainly not out of the question that others such as Jaime Garcia and Clay Buchholz could find themselves in a similar boat. Certainly, teams with club options over borderline players are feeling out the trade market right now in similar fashion to the Rangers, as evidenced by Ken Rosenthal’s report from earlier today that the likes of Pat Neshek, Fernando Rodney and Carlos Ruiz are all available in trade talks.
Rockies Hire Bud Black As Manager
TODAY: Black received a three-year deal with at least one option (of indeterminate kind) included, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post (via Twitter).
YESTERDAY: The Rockies have hired Bud Black as their new manager, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. FanRag’s Tommy Stokke was first to report Colorado’s decision (Twitter links).
Black, 59, will now manage his second National League West team, having previously served as the Padres’ skipper from 2007-15. The Padres went 649-713 under Black, who helped the club to an 89-win season in 2007 and a 90-victory campaign in 2010. Black earned NL Manager of the Year honors in the latter season, but that was the last time the talent-deprived Padres finished over .500 on his watch. San Diego fired Black midway through the 2015 season, and he caught on with the Angels last November as a special assistant to general manager Billy Eppler. That was Black’s second stint with the Angels, as he previously worked as their pitching coach from 2000-06.
A longtime major league pitcher, Black will now take the helm of a Rockies team that plays half its games each season at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Thanks in part to that, the majority of Colorado’s hurlers have struggled over the years, but the team’s rotation now seems to have long-term building blocks in Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson and Jeff Hoffman.
Despite 382 1/3 combined innings of quality pitching from Gray and Anderson, not to mention a position player group featuring Nolan Arenado, DJ LeMahieu, Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story and Carlos Gonzalez, the Rockies won just 75 games in 2016 and missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year. That led Rockies GM Jeff Bridich to part with Walt Weiss and replace him with Black, who beat out the likes of Don Wakamatsu, Tim Wallach, Dave Martinez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Glenallen Hill and Brad Mills for the job.
White Sox Claim Giovanni Soto
The White Sox claimed lefty Giovanni Soto off waivers from the Athletics, Oakland has announced. The A’s had only just added Soto when he became available from the Cubs during the World Series.
Soto, 25, has minimal big league experience. But he has shown the ability to generate some whiffs in the upper minors, and obviously has enough stuff to draw the attention of multiple major league organizations.
Though he has increasingly struggled to keep the ball in the zone, Soto has typically been tough to hit and score runs against. But the 2016 season wasn’t his best, as he allowed 5.7 walks per nine en route to a 5.14 ERA in 49 frames. On the positive side, he did strike out just over ten batters per nine and record a 56.6% groundball rate on the year while holding opposing lefties to a .254/.351/.343 batting line.
Indians Will Not Issue Qualifying Offer To Mike Napoli
The Indians will not make qualifying offers to any of the team’s pending free agents, including first baseman Mike Napoli, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer tweets.
There was at least some reason to believe that Napoli could be considered for the $17.2MM offer, with the team hoping he’d decline so that it could recoup a draft pick if he signed elsewhere. Alternatively, the tag also might’ve helped set up a cheaper, two-year arrangement between the sides.
While those possibilities held some appeal, Cleveland was evidently not willing to pay that much to Napoli in the event he accepted. Given that he just turned 35, and would’ve faced disadvantages had he carried draft compensation with him onto the free agent market, that certainly wouldn’t have been a surprising outcome.
Napoli had a productive year and seemingly played a major role in the clubhouse. That the Indians not only won the AL Central, but very nearly won the World Series, surely helps the case for a return. But if that’s to happen now, it’ll occur after Napoli first gauges the interest of the league’s remaining clubs — and the Indians, too, consider alternatives.
Though Napoli did have a strong year at the plate, his market is relatively constrained since he’s limited to first base or DH duties at this stage of his career. He ended with a .239/.335/.465 slash and 34 home runs over 645 plate appearances, solidly above-average hitting that represented a bounceback from a disappointing 2015. But Napoli’s hefty strikeout tallies remain a concern, and defensive metrics soured on his typically well-reviewed glovework at first.
All told, it seems that Napoli will be in a much better spot on the market this year than he was last, although there are quite a few other lumbering slugger types. Still, he figures to command a multi-year guarantee at an annual rate that handily tops the $7MM base salary he was promised in 2016.
Carlos Gomez Expected To Seek Multi-Year Deal
Oufielder Carlos Gomez is expected to seek a multi-year contract in free agency, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. In fact, per the report, Gomez may attempt to receive as many as five guaranteed years.
That length of contract would be a surprise for someone who’ll soon turn 31 years of age and hasn’t played at his typical levels over the past two seasons. But multiple years certainly seem achievable if that is what Gomez prefers.
The question was — and, perhaps, still is — whether Gomez will be able to secure enough guaranteed money to take a multi-year pact rather than accepting a one-year deal with hopes of boosting his value. Agent Scott Boras has pursued pillow contracts in the past (e.g., Edwin Jackson) rather than settling for disappointing offers, and even took a qualifying offer last year with Matt Wieters before fully testing his market value.
One notable factor is that Gomez is not eligible to be hit with a qualifying offer from the Rangers because he spent the first half of the season with another organization. That distinguishes him from Dexter Fowler and Ian Desmond, the other top center field-capable outfielders available, and could help open his market up to some teams that are loath to part with a draft pick.
It’s also fair to wonder whether Gomez has greater incentive to max out his earnings than would some other free agents. He previously took a three-year, $24MM extension with the Brewers — a healthy sum, no doubt, but also far less than he would have been able to command on the open market.
In the final analysis, teams and Gomez will be faced with some tough calls. At base, they’ll relate to the same question: is he still capable of providing significant value up the middle and at the plate? Or is he just a passable defensive outfielder who is no longer a big power or on-base threat?
Gomez has shown both sides of late, of course. In 126 games with the Astros, he managed only a .221/.277/.342 slash with nine home runs (but also 23 stolen bases). But he seemed to be rejuvenated after joining the Rangers, slashing .284/.362/.543 and hitting eight dingers over 130 plate appearances. And Boras suggests to Heyman that the team also helped him improve his vision — lending some credence to the idea that there was a real turnaround rather than a sample blip.
Cubs Decline Jason Hammel’s Option
TODAY: Chicago allowed Hammel to decide whether he’d be back for one more year or test the market, according to ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers. That was no doubt an easy call for him, at least financially.
YESTERDAY: The Cubs have declined right-hander Jason Hammel‘s $12MM option for 2017 in favor of a $2MM buyout, according to a team announcement. Hammel is now a free agent.
The World Series champions’ decision to cut the reasonably priced Hammel comes as a surprise, as he at least looked like a trade candidate prior to Sunday. However, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein announced that the team had no plans to pick up Hammel’s option just to shop him.
“The intent was never to exercise the option and then trade Jason, so we will not consider that path,” said Epstein. “Instead, Jason will have the opportunity to enter free agency coming off an outstanding season and the ability to choose his next club.”
Hammel, 34, contributed 166 2/3 innings of 3.83 ERA pitching to go with a 7.78 K/9, 2.86 BB/9 and 42.1 percent ground-ball rate in 2016. He experienced elbow tightness late in the regular season, though, and the club subsequently left him off its roster during playoff victories over the Giants, Dodgers and Indians.
This ends Hammel’s second stint with the Cubs, who signed him to a one-year contract entering the 2014 season and then sent him and Jeff Samardzija to Oakland in a July deal that brought shortstop Addison Russell to Chicago. Hammel subsequently returned to the Windy City in free agency the next winter, ultimately collecting $20MM from the team on what would have been a three-year, $30MM pact had the Cubs exercised his option.
For Hammel’s earning power, the Cubs’ move to buy him out comes at a fortuitous time. Given the weakness of this winter’s free agent class, he’ll return to the open market as one of the top starters available. Going back to 2014, Hammel has logged a 3.68 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 40 percent grounder mark over 513 2/3 innings.
Barring offseason acquisitions, the Cubs’ removal of Hammel from their roster will leave them with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, John Lackey and Mike Montgomery as their starting five entering 2017. That quintet should form one of the majors’ premier rotations next season if healthy, though the Cubs’ depth took an obvious hit with Hammel’s exit.
Donn Roach Signs With KBO’s KT Wiz
The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization announced on Monday that they’ve signed right-hander Donn Roach to a one-year deal that will pay him $850K (via Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News).
Roach, 26, has bounced all over the league in the past two seasons, spending time on the 40-man roster with the Padres, Cubs, Reds, Blue Jays, Mariners, Tigers and Athletics. He finished up the 2016 campaign with Oakland but was outrighted off the 40-man roster following the season and became a free agent.
Roach pitched just 5 1/3 innings in the Majors this year and 3 1/3 innings in the Majors in 2015 despite all of that activity on the transaction front. In total, he has 39 Major League innings under his belt and a 5.77 ERA with 4.6 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9. However, Roach has logged an enormous 67.1 percent ground-ball rate in his limited big league time, and that massive number is typical for the righty, who routinely racks up grounders at an elite clip in the minors as well. Though Roach has a 3.95 ERA in 357 2/3 innings at Triple-A and has averaged just 4.5 K/9, his control (2.3 BB/9) and ground-ball rate (61.6 percent) have been excellent at that level. Those two traits have made him appealing enough to appear on seven 40-man rosters since Opening Day 2014 despite a pedestrian strikeout rate and almost certainly played into his interest from Korea as well.