TUESDAY: The Brewers, Reds, Indians, Orioles, Astros and Twins also sent scouts to observe Maness’ workout, according to Goold.
MONDAY: Scouts from at least 16 Major League clubs were on-hand today to watch free agent right-hander Seth Maness work out, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Instagram). Per Goold, the Royals, Cubs and Nationals were all represented at Maness’ audition.
Maness’ showcase is especially intriguing due to the circumstances surrounding his injury. The 28-year-old suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament last summer and underwent surgery in August, but he elected to undergo an experimental “primary repair” surgery that, if successful, could represent a potential alternative to Tommy John surgery. Not every pitcher with a torn UCL can turn to the primary repair procedure as an alternative — the operation is dependent on the location and extent of the ligament tear — but certainly a return to health for Maness in seven and a half months would pique the interest of others with similar diagnoses around the league. (Those who are interested in the matter and missed Goold’s column on Maness last month should absolutely take the time to read through his breakdown of the operation itself and the larger-reaching potential implications of the surgery.)
The 28-year-old Maness was a fixture in the St. Louis bullpen from 2013-16, racking up 237 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a hefty 59.4 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Last season, however, he logged a 3.41 ERA with career worst K/9 and BB/9 rates of 4.6 and 2.3, respectively. Following the August operation, the Cardinals non-tendered him rather than pay him a projected $1.6MM via arbitration (projection via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
As an added bonus for any club that ultimately signs Maness, if he is indeed able to return and pitch at a high level, he’d remain under club control not just for the 2017 season but through the 2019 season. Maness wrapped up the 2016 campaign with three years and 154 days of Major League service time, so he’d be arbitration-eligible in each of the next two winters before hitting free agency in advance of his age-31 season.
royals need bullpen help
Worley sat around on the market as a FA capable of going 2-3 innings because the Orioles didn’t want to pay him 2m in arbitration and he was healthy.. Why give an injured guy, with same numbers and only capable of going 1ip at best who is a NL guy all this attention?
NL guy doesn’t matter
As much, if at all really, for
Bullpen guys. They don’t get to face too many pitchers
Maness was Matheny’s go-to guy if he needed a double play from 2013-15. Guy is a ground ball specialist.
Maness is more bullpen liability. And not because the injury. The last two seasons out of the pen, he’s been a wreck in any sort of pressured situation.
No word on velocity or how the actual workout looked to scouts?
A couple of other reports on his workout said he threw about 40 pitches, all FB or changeup, and was mostly around 89-90 with a few pitches at 92-93. A little better than he threw in 2016, but right around his career numbers. That is really encouraging considering he had that surgery less than 6 months ago.
Good for Maness hope it all works out – could really use shorter recoup periods for these injuries
The guy is solid as a set-up man or maybe a righty specialist . I seem to remember the Cards primarily using him in situations where they wanted/needed a double-play grounder, usually bringing him in during innings instead of between them. He’ll help someone, if not now then soon enough.
Connfyoozed is not confused. Maness is a righty specialist that induces double plays at a much higher than average rate. He is not a traditional long reliever or set up man.
There seems to be a situation in each series where you really need a double play to get out of a jam, sometimes even if you surrender one run. If he can do this once a series while pitching “average” in other respects, he can be a valuable addition to complete and add versatility to a bullpen.
If a lefty specialist is a LOOGY, Lefty one out guy — then he is a TOOBGY, Two out one batter guy. We need a new baseball acronym for 2017. Here it is: TOOBGY (Tubeguy.). You heard it here first.
Reds could use bullpen help but the the contract may not be ideal to them
Can non-tendered FAs who sign elsewhere get their remaining years of Arbitration eligibility removed as part of their FA contract similar to how some international FAs can sign? I’m guessing in most cases, the players don’t have that type of leverage to force the issue, but technically, could it be done?
Yeah I was just wondering this same thing, I mean, if multiple teams want him then I guess he does have some leverage, but I’m just not sure if he can negotiate that. It’s either that or he basically is just choosing a place to pay and getting paid the same amount (roughly) through arbitration? Maybe a signing bonus? I hope one of the many bright commenters on here can help me here.
Pretty sure he is treated as a free agent, with any contract not spanning multiple years being used as a baseline for future arb salaries.
The only way he can have his arbitrary years removed is to sign a multi year deal. Otherwise he has two more years of arbitration.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the dude because that’ll give me a little more hope for my own return. Had basically the same surgery in November so I’m really looking forward to seeing others who’ve dealt with the same thing succeed.
Hope you recover fully
Red Sox could use another bullpen arm and DFA Hembree! ⚾️
Bro Hembree is not bad at all
Hembree was better than Kimbrel last year
Yet another injured or under-productive MLB pitcher that has piqued the Cubs interest this offseason. lol
You just won the World Series. Stop complaining.
Sorry, but I did not win the World Series. I would love for the Cubs to repeat and feel their offseason could have been much more fruitful with better choices for their 2017 pitching staff.
It would have started with the Cubs being a serious contender for a controllable and cheap top of the rotation pitcher like Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Chris Archer, Sonny Gray, etc…..
The Cubs did address their closer position but only for one season with Wade Davis. They might have better utilized Jorge Soler as part of a package that could have brought that SP to the North Side. They had other options in free agency to fill the spot without parting with an asset like Soler or simply could have let Hector Rondon resume the role.
I also was not fond of their decision to possibly move Mike Montgomery to the starting rotation. I feel he is best suited to be their late inning left-handed option, perhaps their version of Andrew Miller.
In lieu of any of the above, it would have been preferable to retain Jason Hammel by picking up his team option following last season and also show more interest in former 2016 pitchers who were free agents, like Travis Wood, Joe Smith and Trevor Cahill. Instead they have pursued or signed pitchers with significant injury issues or those who have failed in their brief MLB careers. For this I don’t blame Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer as much as I do ego-maniacal manager Joe Maddon who is a renowned bullpen killer and not quite the great communicator others have pegged him to be. Imo, they could have been just as successful the past two seasons by retaining Rick Renteria as manager instead of unfairly firing him. But “my” Cubs loss is also “my” White Sox’ gain. lol
Hammel was terrible last year. The Cubs did right by moving on.
You have a higher standard than I do. Personally, I’d settle for a 5th starter who can give me 30 starts, 166.2 innings pitched, a 15-1o W-L record, 3.83 ERA, 1.206 WHIP, a 7.8 SO/9 and 2.9 BB/9 ratio. I certainly wouldn’t expect anything better out of either Brett Anderson or Mike Montgomery in that role for 2017. Just saying…
I mean, I guess I have an issue with two of your assumptions. The first being that Edwards does not have the arsenal to be a closer. I look at Edwards from an outward prospective and that’s what I see him being groomed for. The second being that Soler had major trade value. He received what he received, because that’s his value. It’s not as though the royals were the only call concerning Soler. It’s hard to see him maximizing his value, because he’s just not going to play everyday. I think you also cut some teams off if he does play well, because he’s probably opting into arb therefore negating a major value which was his cheap control. So you have created a catch 22.
Concerning the other aspect, young controlled pitching of which you speak of has seemed to be set for the trade deadline to next offseason. The Cubs have many pieces, but I’m not sure there’s enough there to obtain a young controllable starter, with more than three years of control, unless they want to ding the MLB club and trade Jimenez, who they probably view as untouchable. That being said I could possibly see them making a run at Gray if healthy. But what will be telling is whether Theo’s knock of his inability to develop young SP in Boston carries to Chi. But hey he’s made some good trade to minimize that aspect. That being said it’s hard to criticize the Cubs and their offseason, because their wasn’t much that needed to be done.
If renteria was such a great manager why didn’t teams pick him up?Everyone wanted sandberg as manager too. Where is he now? I agree with the starting young pitchers you named . I’m sure Theo is trying to get a trade done but what young controllable arms are going for how much is too much?? Lester and Hendricks are only guarantees for next year. I’m hoping since quiet this offseason we are saving to sign Arrieta long term or go after darvish otani cueto Tanaka. They only cost money not prospects
Woah now. People have a right to speak their mind.
So can we start calling it Maness surgery? Tommy John shouldn’t be the only one getting credit for taking a risk.
I thought I heard on mlb network some refer to it as duct tape surgery.
I heard it called SethMan surgery
The surgery that Maness had has been around for a few years but it is still has a very low usage rate on major league arms or high level college arms. The early reports on the surgery have been very promising but most of the patients are younger high school kids that only have a minor tear in the UCL and not a complete tear. From what I understand they are wrapping the UCL in a synthetic material that the body absorbs the material and the ligament becomes whole again with the substance. My explanation of it is very basic and it entails a lot more. My understanding is that it is best for minor tears and tears nearest to the bone. The time line is a lot shorter and it doesn’t require a 2nd incision like TJ.
Still, since Seth is the first Major League player, I think it should be called Maness Surgery. I like Sethman too. Calling it duct tape surgery just doesn’t do it , or him, justice.