The Orioles opened contract extension talks with right-hander Chris Tillman‘s agent in December, though Tillman stated earlier this month that he hadn’t heard anything about a potential new deal. The 28-year-old again touched on his future Saturday, implying that the Orioles won’t have a large window to extend him if they make an earnest attempt. Tillman doesn’t expect contract discussions to begin until spring training, and he’d prefer not to engage in any once the season starts, he informed Rich Dubroff of PressBoxonline.com (Twitter link). In what could be his last year as an Oriole, Tillman is slated to rake in $10.05MM.
More from Baltimore and two other East Coast cities:
- One of Tillman’s teammates, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, said Saturday he wants “more speed” and “more athleticism” in the team’s outfield (via Paul Folkemer of BaltimoreBaseball.com). General manager Dan Duquette, meanwhile, acknowledged that “the outfield defense is an area where the club can improve” and talked up Rule 5 picks Aneury Tavarez and Anthony Santander as potential solutions. The Orioles had the worst defensive outfield in the majors by measure of both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating last year, but – Rule 5 choices aside – they haven’t done much to improve in that area. Seth Smith, who’s not exactly a defensive ace, has been the team’s only prominent outfield acquisition from outside, while it also brought back the bat-first Mark Trumbo. Jones spoke on the pair, saying, “They’re very good athletes, but they’re not top of the line defensive players first.”
- Kris Medlen, a two-time Tommy John recipient and the newest member of the Braves organization, may have retired if not for a biomechanics instructor helping to reinvigorate the 31-year-old, writes Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Medlen, who missed all of 2014 and ’15 and then threw just 24 1/3 frames with the Royals last season, will attempt to reestablish himself in Atlanta, where he produced terrific results from 2009-13. “We’re all excited about being part of the Braves’ family again,” said Medlen, who lives in Atlanta with his family.
- The Yankees‘ young pitching depth is lacking a clear-cut potential ace, scouts tell Bleacher Report’s Danny Knobler, though there’s still a lot of promising talent in the system. “There are not a lot of givens with their guys. They could end up with the best pitching on the planet, or they could have problems,” one NL scout said. Justus Sheffield, acquired as part of the Andrew Miller trade last summer, may be the most intriguing of the bunch. “A lot of people love [Sheffield]….When teams talk to the Yankees about trades, he’s the one they ask for,” an NL executive said.
- Righty Luis Severino is among the Yankees’ highest-upside pitchers, but the 22-year-old disappointed as a starter last season after a promising showing in 2015. Severino laid out why he posted a 8.50 ERA across 11 major league starts in 2016, telling Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media that he had release point issues with his fastball, changeup and slider. With the help of both Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild and the legendary Pedro Martinez, Severino has worked to fix those problems this offseason. “I’m doing very well,” Severino said. “I’ve been throwing my bullpen and my changeup is way better than last year. My fastball location is better, too. So hopefully in spring training it’ll be good.” Severino also “dropped like 10 pounds” at the insistence of the Yankees, who will continue to use him as a starter – whether in the bigs or the Triple-A level to begin 2017 – despite a superb 23 1/3-inning run as a reliever last year. Although Severino logged a pristine 0.39 ERA and held batters to a laughable .105/.209/.158 line out of the bullpen, he’d rather start. “(Brian Cashman) knows I’m going to be a good starter,” he said. “I’m happy with that. I want to start. That’s my goal.”
Tillman, you figure is gonna probably cost in the 70-80Mish range to extend. Don’t know if the Orioles want to continue to pump a ton of money into meh players (Gallardo, Hardy, Ubaldo) along with a bunch of money into guys likely to age poorly (Davis, ODay)
I agree and with extensions for Machado, Gausman, and Schoop on the horizon they will be hard pressed to squeeze in cash for Tilly. The thing for the Orioles is they might actually have some legit rotation talent in Gausman and Bundy with guys like Chris Lee, Sedlock, and Harvey all with the potential to be top of the rotation guys so it would be smart for them to lock down a veteran pitcher in Tillman to make sure that rotation continues its development. After Britton and Machado are gone the Orioles are going to rely heavily on the rotation if they want to remain competitive. I think they have made a huge mistake not already locking down a deal for Schoop or Gausman.
Hardy is pretty good and underpaid. Not sure how you lump him in with Gallardo and Ubaldo
Hes a below league average hitter for f4 of the last 5 seasons and is making 14M, hes meh.
J.J. Hardy aside from a year here or there is a terrible hitter.
You have got to be kidding me. Based on every single stat and eye test JJ Hardy is above league average hitter for a SS. This guy is a gold glover, hits for power, his OBP is inline with the top SS’s. He’s typically a 3-4 WAR player if that’s your stat of choice.
If you said he’s injury prone or can’t play more than 120 games anymore i could see your point but you’re just throwing out an opinion based on nothing. Terrible hitter, seriously?
JJ Hardy is second in baseball to Tulowitzky in HRs and RBI. He has hit over 20 hrs 5 seasons Last year he hit .269 with 29 doubles. He also had the 2nd highest fielding average at over ..987.
I’m not saying he’s a bad defender, but Fielding percentage isn’t a stat that shows if you’re good or not.
Well Hardy has been a little better than “a year here or there” hitter in his career, he’s been downright awful the last two years with the bat. Also, his OBP is consistently one of worst among shortstops, he’s no where near the top in that catagory.
His last above average season was 2011. He is not good
Offensive*
So Troy Tulowitzki has the highest fielding % of all time for shortstops….Yes all time. How is this stat not validating that he is a supreme defender at his position?
Tulo is a good defender, no one is arguing that. But Fielding% is a flawed stat that only looks at balls the player got to. Derek Jeter posted a good percentage for his career, but he’s one of the worst defensive SS of all time. That top 10 all-time list also includes the likes of Jhonny Peralta, Xander Bogaerts, Mike Bordic, and Tony Fernandez. Good/average defenders, but not great.
Can’t include Xander Bogaerts in best of all time due to small sample size as fielding gets worse as you age. Not to mention his -2.0 fielding WAR last year.
You shouldn’t have any list and leave off Ozzie Smith the all time defensive WAR leader at any position.
MLB Fielding WAR leaders 2016
Andrelton Simmons 16.3
Francisco Lindor 8.5
Brandon Crawford 5.7
Zach Cozhart 5.4
Addison Russell 4.6
J.J. Hardy 4.4
Hardy was 2.3 WAR player for 2016 which would make him paid about what he should be. For 2015 he was a 0.0 WAR player making him well overpaid.
I didn’t put Bogey on a “Top 10” list, he ranks in the top ten career fielding% leaders at the moment.
Pretty cool to see Pedro helping out Severino.
Hopefully severino absorbs all Pedro has to offer
Steroids?
How does steroids help you throw a great change up?
It makes your penis smaller and your chest gets more boob, allowing a pitcher to add more top heavy spin on the baseball, thus a greater change up.
I read that story too, you summed it up perfectly!
I doubt Pedro was on roids
Dumb troll?
Yankees have done something special in loading their farm with top tier talent. The hard part is having the patience to see this through and give the kids 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances at the ML level to refine their game and reach their potential. Severino is a prime example of this needed approach.