The Twins have hired former big league right-hander Jeremy Hefner as an advance scout, Hefner himself announced (Twitter link). Hefner, who was forced to retire due to myriad injuries (including a pair of Tommy John surgeries in 2013-14), notes that he’ll help formulate game plans and reports for the Major League club and adds that he’ll have some non-traditional duties with his new position as well. The 30-year-old Hefner last pitched in the Majors back in 2013 when he tossed 130 2/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball with 6.8 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 for the Mets.
More from the division…
- Despite a pause in their sell-off, the White Sox remain open for business, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Indeed, as GM Rick Hahn told MLBTR in February, the club would have preferred to have made four more deals at this point. But that doesn’t mean the team is ready to deal just to move salary, and some rival officials think the Sox are setting unrealistic price tags on their remaining veterans. “I think our asks are commensurate with what we are willing to give up,” Hahn tells Sherman, while noting the team is still open to deal. Sherman also looks at how Jerry Reinsdorf came around to the idea of selling, with the veteran owner finally agreeing that the organization’s best shot at capturing another title would come through a rebuild.
- While it’s still early in camp, the results from right-hander Anibal Sanchez haven’t been encouraging, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Sanchez, along with expensive veterans Mike Pelfrey and Mark Lowe, have all been knocked around thus far, and Fenech notes that it’s difficult to imagine a team with postseason aspirations breaking camp with all three on the roster. Sanchez, who has allowed 11 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings, is owed $16MM this coming season plus a $5MM buyout on his 2018 option. Pelfrey’s struggles have been similar (eight runs in six frames), and he’s set to earn $8MM in the second season of a two-year deal. Lowe is set to earn $5.5MM and has surrendered three runs in his 3 2/3 innings, albeit with a more encouraging 5-to-1 K/BB ratio. Obviously any spring stats — especially those accumulated through March 10 — should be taken with a large grain of salt, but none of that trio performed well in 2016, either.
- The Indians’ payroll will surpass $100MM for the first time this year, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who notes that the lack of holes on a roster with a still-limited payroll — Cleveland’s projected $124MM payroll will rank in the bottom half of the league — is fairly remarkable. Cleveland is trying to determine who will claim the final spot in the bullpen, who will serve as a utility infielder and who will claim the remaining reserve outfield role, but beyond that the roster is largely set. General manager Mike Chernoff noted to Sherman that his team typically wouldn’t be able to pursue a marquee name like Edwin Encarnacion, “…but having cost controllable guys allowed one big guy.”
- Michael Brantley will play in a five-inning simulated game — his third simulated contest of the week, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Indians still don’t know exactly what they can expect of Brantley, though Hoynes spoke to manager Terry Francona quite a bit about Brantley’s progress and the team’s hopes. As Francona observed to Hoynes, if Brantley is able to return to his former self — a big if — Cleveland will have effectively added two dynamic middle-of-the-order bats to an already imposing lineup.
Although risky, due to the possibility of injury, I think Hahn was right to put big price tags on Quintana and Robertson. The former becasue of his track record and contract. The later because of the possibility of a rebound and elevated deadline price for back-end of the ‘Pen guys.
Nate Jones was the Wild Card. Shocked there were 0 rumors on him.
The market just isn’t there for Frazier or Melky, yet.
I’ll be expecting FWJBT’s poo-pooing Quintana in 3,2,1…..
“I’ll be expecting FWJBT’s poo-pooing Quintana in 3,2,1…..”
So you’re ordering the Pu-Pu Platter?
No one is paying a premium for Jones yet, and the Sox have no reason to sell cheap on him, If he can get through this season healthy and post similar numbers to last year, that’ll change. Especially if he can take over the closer role at some point.
I like JQ just fine. I don’t like the price and I don’t think he’s a fit for the Pirates. Not sure why that offends you. I don’t think he’s as good or valuable as Sale. Not sure why that offends you.
Besides, I figured out a trade (framework) for JQ that I do like for both teams, let’s see what you think…
Rangers trade Darvish to a team looking for a rental. They flip the package and add some of their own prospects to the Sox for JQ.
The Rangers are looking more and more like pretenders as their pitching staff disintegrates and losing Darvish for nothing makes no sense. Emptying their farm for JQ makes no sense.
But if they can turn Darvish into prospects and then only add a few of their own, it’s essentially the same as trading just their own guys for JQ since they’d lose Darvish for nothing.
Then they’d have a few years of Hamels and JQ instead of just Hamels.
Teams tend to value the work they’ve put into their own guys, so the Sox best chance to get a large package would be such a scenario where a third team in involved.
NO.
“(I have no idea what the return would be, but) NO.”
OK.
“I know it doesn’t make sense for the Rangers.”
So, NO.
Why not? Quintana is one of the best pitchers in the league with a great contract, right?
Too many reasons to list.
If you can’t see it, I can’t help you.
I’m sorry, but this response doesn’t cut it. Whether you think Q is overrated or overvalued or whatever, he’s a very talented pitcher who hasn’t shown much to think he’ll regress. If you don’t like the Darvish situation, fine. But Q has an amazingly team friendly contract, so your “too many reasons to list” is nothing short of ridiculous.
And from my point of view, Hamels/Q tandem is close to the Sale/Q tandem that I enjoyed for several years.
I mean, it’d depend on what the other team was giving up… If it’s like a Chapman situation and the other team is giving up a prospect like Gleybar+, then sure, add a couple Texas prospects in there and I’m down. But I don’t see that happening.
You think a few months of Chapman are more valuable than a few months of Darvish? Could be, but I’m not sure about that.
I think that greatly depends on the team and their situation.
Also, I don’t see why a team would do that instead of just going after Quintana. If they get Darvish and just plan on using him as a rental, they’ll likely be in the market for pitching next year as well. Then they’ll have to either: 1) give someone arguably better than Quintana SIGNIFICANTLY more money, 2) settle for a cheap, crappy option, or 3) pay someone worse than Quintana more money than he’s making over the next 3 years…
There are a few teams that could acquire Darvish (a better pitcher if healthy) for a smaller package of prospects than it would take to land Quintana who also have the means to keep him….Cubs, Dodgers and the Mariners come to mind.
Now, the Rangers could also just extend him, but if they don’t….I’m not a fan of losing players for nothing.
Like I said, it depends what the other team would give up for Darvish. I don’t think the package would be THAT much smaller where it’d make sense to get him as a rental only compared to 4 cheap years of Quintana.
When healthy, I’d agree that he’s a little better than Quintana. But there lies a huge part of the problem. He has only pitched 245ish innings since the start of the 2014 season. That’s a huge concern. Would you be willing to give up top prospects (at least one very high end) for someone with an injury history like that? And then let him go after 1 year or try to resign him to a contract that’ll most likely be worth significantly more than Quintana’s? To me, that’s not worth the risk for a marginally better pitcher when healthy.
And yes, I know that every pitcher comes with injury concerns, but the ones that have already been significantly injured are much more likely to get injured again.
Also, keep in mind that Darvish will be signing his next contract going into his age 31 season, which makes it an even bigger risk. Quintana is about 2.5 years younger, which bodes we’ll for him/whoever gets him.
Well if anyone was waiting to see more Jose Quintana before making a deal, they just got quite the show. Looked damn good against basically an all-star caliber lineup tonight. I doubt it affects anything, but it was very nice to see.
Funny to see him get yet another no decision; it doesn’t matter who he plays for haha
FWJBT, if you don’t even know what the return would be don’t get upset when other people say “NO”
You proposed half a trade.
You don’t think Quintana fits with the Pirates? Haha, how does he not?? He fits perfectly. Same with the Astros.
Ha. Right?
a 27 yo lefty who throws 200 innings every year and annually finishes top 10 in War in an AL bandbox with terrible D behind him at 4 years for 34 mil fits everywhere. Esp the NL.
To paraphrase Jessica Rabbit — He’s every teams type.
Couldn’t have said it any better kidaplus. Every team would love to have Quintana.
Quintana is a phenomenal fit for the Pirates in every way by pitching tendencies and contract.
My greatest fear as a Tiger fan this spring is that Lowe, Pelfrey, and Sanchez stink AND the Tigers still keep them because of how much money they are owed.
Not early anymore. Sanchez and Pelfrey probably have 4 starts/appearances left in the spring. They need to start getting hitters out. So far, AA and AAA pitchers are lighting them up like a pin ball machine. They are virtually untradeable, so really no harm in letting them try to get it together in the next 3 weeks. I was OK with the Tigers standing pat. This is probably their last run with the current group, a rebuild will have to happen after this year anyways. But if you are going to take one last shot, then make it the best shot you’ve got. Hanging on to underperforming players due to a heavy contract is not taking your best shot..
Pssst, just so you know. Mike Pelfrey has always sucked. Your GM should have been fired for giving a 4.5+ ERA guy $15 Mill for two years.
Yep, Pelfrey is drek.
And Sanchez has been getting progressively worse since 2013. Time to cut bait.
Random Indians fan here
I think Detroit should try to move Anibal to the bullpen and try to transition him into a Long Reliever/Stopper. Last year at least he had some crazy stats focused around the amount of times he went through the order.
If they use him so hitters only see him once they could possibly reestablish his value. At this point I don’t think the Tigers have anything left to lose
I’m in agreement here. Sanchez and Pelfrey both should be in the pen with limited innings. Sanchez could actually be a CL with his SO/BB rate. The key is a field manager who can manage a bull pen during the game which the Tigers don’t have.
Worse yet, it appears all the Tiger pitchers are being lit up.
Sanchez, when he was in the pen, had difficulty warming up. He was too used to the Starters regiment of preparation. It made it almost impossible to use him. Pelfrey has been so poor he doesn’t even merit limited innings. Lowe has only had one poor outing this spring. His others were clean. If you look at which pitchers have been lit up, the ones expected to make the team have not been the problem. Anyone who had any of these three guaranteed to make the team going into Spring, wasn’t paying attention.
Honestly, it was foolish to sing Lowe. He had a lightning in a bottle type year in 2015 and I doubt he’ll ever be as good as he was again. The tigers are in a terrible position right now. They should have never signed Upton or Zimmerman. They need a rebuild, and probabaly should have traded Verlander or Cabrera or both this offseason. JVs trade value is at its highest it will probably ever be right now, as he’s not getting any younger. As for Miggy, he’s not getting younger either and I’m sure the someone would have paid a pretty penny and ate up a majority of his contract if he was moved this offseason.
I seem the only one intrigued by a retiring player carving a niche out in a front office. There’s so much about talent development that isn’t readily known yet.
I wish Hefner success in making talent more productive.
It’s to the point of cliche now isnt it?
The Dolan family is worth $4.8 Billion.. please poor Indians tell me again how you “typically aren’t able to pursue marquee names”…. Ill wait.
Because these teams are businesses, usually one of many, that these owners run, they cannot divert all of their money into it. Plus, you have to keep a profit margin to appease the people paying for these teams. If you spend $200MM dollars a year operating a team that only brings in $250MM a year in revenue that’s a pretty poor return on your investment.
Most businesses would kill to have that profit ratio. So many deal with markups in the less than 10% margin
Also, just because someone is worth $4.8 billion doesn’t mean they have $4.8 billion to spend. When taking about money, what your worth and what you have in the bank are two different concepts.
Also, that counting his brother and nephews money or just the Dolan family that owns the Indians?
You do realize the $60M doled out to Encarnacion would represent just 0.0125% for families worth $4.8B, right? As in, a one hundredth of a one hundredth of their worth…
Owners/teams/gms are lying to our faces when they say they dont have the money to spend.
Indians raked in $220M in revenue in 2015 against a payroll of $86M.. Yup, they definitely couldn’t afford to sign any marquee players back then!
In 2011 they were reported by Forbes as having the highest operating profit of any MLB team. Surely they went out to get some bigtime players to push them back over the top – right? I mean they went 80-82 the season before, they were ready to make a push.
Nope. Signed nobody (aside from resigning an already declining Sizemore at 1 yr $5M. Team went 64-98 in 2012 and still made $8M MORE IN YEARLY REVENUE THAN THE YEAR BEFORE!
You guys keep drinking the “we dont have any money to spend on big players” kool-aid if you want.
If you’re deluded to enough to think that the owners cost of operating a franchise begins and ends with player payroll you need to step outside the box and realize MLB franchises aren’t just here to give you the warm and fuzzies. They’ are legitimate businesses with very real and very expensive costs outside of the players on the field. I have no idea what the Indians revenue was last year, but if it was really $220MM I’m surprised they’re spending as much as they are. The Indians had just a shade under $115MM worth of player salaries on their books last year, what that doesn’t include is paying a front office staff, that’s over 100 people, salaries and benefits, minor league players and coaches, game day staff, rent on the ballpark, dues to MLB, travel costs, stadium/field/equipment upkeep, office equipment and furnishings, utilities, uniforms. You can keep drinking the “owners are wealthy scumbags who should poor their entire fortune into my favorite team because it makes me feel better” kool-aid if YOU want.
And for a second time, just because the Dolans are worth $4.8 billion doesn’t mean they have that cash laying around. A persons WORTH is the total value of all their assets; houses, cars, stock portfolios, bank accounts, business ventures, property. That $4.8 billon includes the Indians worth as well as the very large (and very expensive to operate) law firm Dolan started and still operates.
Sure….money to spend…then they recoup it by jacking ticket prices etc. Fans are the ones in the game that get screwed.
Funny, then why are players always ripped for trying to sign for what they are “worth” instead of taking a team friendly deal? Not saying you personally do this, but consensus fans and media portray this all the time.
How much is enough? This is a question we should be asking team owners, not players – who are the ones actually entertaining fans on the field and giving us something to root for and putting their bodies through injuries.
Owners/GMs/Teams have all the money they want to spend. They choose not to and feed us fans the same BS over and over as to why they *cant* compete. Bogus.
Good on the Indians for going out and getting a player, but teams should be doing this habitually to be competitive.
And dont even get me started on the Astros. Jim Crane is worth $2Billion alone and Houston is the 4th largest city in the country! Oh, but those poor, small market Astros.. Could only afford to get 40 year old Carlos Beltran this offseason to finally try to get over the top..
Ridiculous. Astros fans and all baseball fans deserve better,
Josh reddick? Traded for an expensive McCann? 5 million for aoki? What are you talking about the Astros aren’t a good comparison
Saying teams should go and dole out fat contracts every year to stay competitive is asinine, that’s called diluting the market. You don’t throw insane money at people to get them to come work for you, that’s how you get stuck with guys who can’t produce anymore in their late 30’s making $20MM+ a year and putting a crappy product out on the field.
And literally no one is trying to get you started on the Astros. They’ve spent liberally in the past and have started to do so again with the young core reaching the majors.
Because Ilitch was the exception, not the rule.
They are running the Tribes the way the Cheapons run the Mets…Low Payroll, (hopefull) better than mediocre performance and then let the Dollars roll in…………….
Exactly! Fans need to wake up! All these teams have PLENTY of money to spend and they choose not to.
Attach a prospect with Lowe and I’d take him back if I were Toronto
That would make absolutely no sense for the Tigers unless they were looking to add payroll elsewhere….which would make absolutely no sense for the Tigers.
They can probably ride out Lowe for the year, but I’m sure they’d happily send Sanchez to San Diego with a prospect for some extra money.
Again, why? Lowe, Sanchez, & Pelfrey’s contracts are up at the end of the year. Tigers are below the tax and are approaching a rebuild/bridge phase. They’re not just purging prospects to save a few bucks, especially the type of prospect needed to get a team to willingly take on $17MM+a $5MM buyout. The Diamondbacks had to give up a top 100 prospect to get someone to take Arroyo’s $10MM and he wasn’t even someone that was going to take up a roster spot.
I guess they can outright them but like the article says it’s hard to imagine a team who wants to make the playoffs like Detroit carrying all three. With that division the way it is you can see them easily beating up on the white sox, twins and royals so a wild card and even division title isn’t out of the question. 16 million dollars gives them a lot of options if they are in the hunt or feel they can swing a trade right now
16MM would give them a lot of options, but with their thin farm, they really cant afford to move a prospect to dump the contract. They would be better off just eating the contract. The best option may be a bad contract for a bad contract trade.
Even with payroll constraints…the Indians are still my value pick to make it to the WS. I know that isn’t a stretch given they are one of the most complete teams, but a lot of people are pushing BOS as the early and strong favorite.
As for DET….that’s a dumpster fire. Paying Pelfrey $8m/yr for 2yr was a bad signing before the ink dried. It did however provide us with a very valuable metric: 1 PELF = $8m, which represents a back of the rotation starter who has just enough to stick around, but is hard to argue is actually worth $8m.
And fans continue to talk more about buying a PELF at below cost, instead of developing one through the system. For less money and more value.
What type of payroll constraints do the Indians have? They made $220M in 2015 against an $86M payroll. And that was with a .500 team. Imagine how much more they made last year with an AL champ team.
All of these team owners are billionaires with $$$ to spend. There are no constraints – they choose not to! Fans need to recognize this.
86m player payroll….plus all other expenses.
As a lifelong Indians fan, I’ll agree the Tribe has been somewhat cheap since their glory days in the 1990’s, but there’s a lot more involved than comparing player salaries to team profit. First of all, there are MANY other expenses in addition to player salaries:
Front office personnel
Coaches
Scouts
Trainers
Support personnel
Utilities
Mortgage payments
Many different types of insurance
Repairs
Maintenance
Advertising
Bats
Balls
Bases
Uniforms
Chalk
Promotional giveaways
Etc., etc., etc.
Secondly, not all years are equally profitable, so there’s fiscal responsibility that has to be adhered to, or the team could go bankrupt.
Lastly, at least for this exercise, it’s THEIR money, and they can spend it as they please.
The bottom line may suck for fans of small market teams, but such is life, because MLB doesn’t have a hard salary cap and floor, which would level the playing field.
That’s a notable addition to the Book of Lists, but all teams have those expenses. So what?