Cardinals Option Stephen Piscotty To Triple-A
The Cardinals announced on Monday that they’ve activated center fielder Dexter Fowler from the disabled list and optioned Stephen Piscotty to Triple-A Memphis to clear a spot on the roster.
[Related: Updated St. Louis Cardinals depth chart]
The move marks the third Opening Day regular to be optioned to the minors this season — both Randal Grichuk and Aledmys Diaz have been sent down in 2017 — and also makes this the second straight season in which St. Louis has optioned a recently extended player to the minors. In 2016, it was second baseman Kolten Wong that was sent down after struggling in the wake of signing a five-year, $25.5MM extension. Piscotty, 26, inked a six-year, $33.5MM pact prior to the 2017 season but has struggled to live up to the expectations that accompanied that deal thus far.
Piscotty batted .282/.348/.467 with 29 homers through his first 216 Major League games (905 plate appearances), prompting the Cards to make that show of faith just as the 2017 campaign got underway. However, he’s yet to find a groove at the plate this year and currently has just a .232/.340/.362 slash through 291 plate appearances. Piscotty has seen his walk rate spike to 12.7 percent this season, but his power has largely evaporated; he’s hit just six homers in 2017 and has an isolated power mark (.130) that is 54 points lower than his 2016 level (.184). He’s also missed time due to a hamstring strain and a groin strain through the season’s first four-plus months.
With Piscotty out of the picture for the time being, the Cards seem set to go with an outfield mix featuring Tommy Pham, Fowler and Grichuk. Jose Martinez, too, should factor prominently into the mix on the heels of his strong play in recent weeks. Some have even argued for Martinez to remain in the lineup on a regular basis, including Bernie Miklasz of ESPN 101, who made a lengthy pitch for the Cardinals to keep Martinez in the heart of the order earlier today.
NL Notes: Chatwood, Cardinals, Realmuto, Brewers
The Rockies announced yesterday that they’ve moved right-hander Tyler Chatwood to the bullpen, clearing way for rookie Antonio Senzatela to rejoin the starting rotation, as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. That’s a disappointing development for the 27-year-old Chatwood, who is slated to become a free agent for the first time following the 2017 season. The results for Chatwood haven’t been there in 2017, though, as he’s averaged 7.2 K/9, 5.0 BB/9 and 1.36 HR/9 en route to a 5.11 ERA through 112 2/3 innings. Chatwood does have a rather gaudy 57.4 percent ground-ball rate, though, and he’s pitched well away from Coors Field in each of the past two seasons. Both elements could help him look a bit more favorable on this winter’s open market, as will the fact that he’s rather young for a free-agent starter. Chatwood, as Saunders notes, voiced that his clear preference is to pitch as a starter, though he also stated that he’ll pitch in whatever role the Rox feel is best as the team looks to land an NL Wild Card spot.
More from the Senior Circuit…
- Cardinals lefty Kevin Siegrist landed on the 10-day disabled list due to forearm tendinitis, as Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Siegrist has been battling injuries “for a while,” per manager Mike Matheny, and his latest placement on the DL will give fellow lefty Tyler Lyons even more looks in higher-leverage spots. “We’ll be able to use him in big situations — lefty, righty, regardless,” said Matheny of Lyons. “…His stuff’s always been there. You could see him being effective in any role because the slider and curveball are that good. His changeup is really improved.” The 29-year-old Lyons is enjoying a career year with an 11.1 K/9 rate against 2.9 BB/9 and a 3.18 ERA through 34 innings in a short-relief role.
- The Marlins conducted a bit of a defensive experiment yesterday by starting catcher J.T. Realmuto at first, but Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that said arrangement isn’t likely to have a long-term impact on how much Realmuto catches. Miami still plans to start Realmuto behind the dish as often as possible, but the look at first base was meant to see how he’d fare there on a day he’d otherwise have received off entirely. Realmuto impressed, defensively, per manager Don Mattingly, and it stands to reason that if the Fish are comfortable with him there, it could be a means of getting Realmuto into a few more games next season. “He’s not going to be a guy over there three days a week, or anything like that,” said Mattingly. “He’s pretty much our catcher. But I think it is a way to get him off his legs. A day game like today.”
- Brewers general manager David Stearns spoke at length with Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about his team’s decision not to part with significant long-term pieces for big-name upgrades prior to the non-waiver deadline. As Stearns explains, there was simply a group of players — both on the Major League roster and in the minors — that the Brewers weren’t willing to discuss in trades, barring the emergence of an unexpected trade candidate on the market. Stearns rejected the narrative that the Cubs’ acquisition of Jose Quintana galvanized the clubhouse and sparked a winning streak. “I think the Cubs’ recent run has more to do with the overall quality of their roster than one individual player,” said the GM. Haudricourt’s column is rife with lengthy quotes from Stearns on his thoughts leading up to the deadline and into August trading season, so readers should definitely check it out in its entirety.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/7/17
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Angels have signed right-hander Branden Pinder, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy in his always-informative weekly Minor Transactions roundup (which includes dozens of moves). Pinder is a known commodity to Angels GM Billy Eppler, having spent his career to date in the Yankees organization, where Eppler was previously an assistant GM. Pinder had Tommy John surgery in 2016 but had worked back to throw 11 2/3 innings in the minors thus far in 2017. He showed promise in 27 2/3 frames with the 2015 Yankees (2.93 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.6 BB/9) and should have a better chance to work back to the Majors with the Halos than he’d have had in New York.
- In a pair of moves from the Dodgers, left-hander Tommy Layne has been released, while outfielder Peter O’Brien has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to Eddy. Layne spent less than a month in the Dodgers’ system after signing a minors pact in mid-July. He threw 5 2/3 frames with their Triple-A club but walked more batters (six) than he struck out (three). He does have a nice track record in the Majors (3.23 ERA in 136 1/3 innings from 2012-16) but was hit hard with the Yankees in 2017. As for O’Brien, he’s bounced around on the waiver wire this season but finally went unclaimed and will return to the Dodgers’ minor league ranks while no longer occupying a 40-man roster spot. O’Brien’s power generated plenty of intrigue a few years ago, but there have long been questions about his defense and plate discipline. He’s also posted a .666 OPS in the minors this season.
- Right-hander Esmil Rogers has signed on with the Nationals on a minor league pact, according to Eddy. Rogers last pitched in the Majors in 2015 and has since spent the second half of the 2015 season and the entire 2016 campaign pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s already made a pair of starts for Washington’s Triple-A affiliate and has thrown well. Rogers has 454 big league innings under his belt, but his success has been sporadic. He’ll give the Nats another veteran arm to potentially join the bullpen in September and could potentially act as a spot starter down the stretch if he continues to show well in Syracuse.
Cubs, Mike Freeman Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have agreed to a minor league pact with infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com.
Freeman, 30, was designated for assignment by the Dodgers when they acquired Yu Darvish in a last-minute deadline blockbuster and elected free agency later in the week. The versatile defender has appeared in 41 games between the Mariners, D-backs and Dodgers across the past two seasons, though he’s been more of a defensive replacement than a regular in the lineup. Freeman’s at-bats have been sporadic, and his 63 Major League plate appearances have resulted in just a .123/.206/.193 batting line.
His work in Triple-A has been substantially better. In parts of four seasons and a total of 1385 plate appearances at that level, Freeman has slashed an excellent .315/.379/.422 with nine homers and a near-perfect 35 steals in 36 attempts. He’s played all four infield positions and both outfield corners in the Majors, and he also has 686 innings of center field work under his belt in the minors.
Don Baylor Passes Away
Former American League MVP and National League Manager of the Year Don Baylor has passed away at the age of 68 due to a lengthy battle with multiple myeloma, Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman reports.
Revered by many for his charisma and kindness off the field, Baylor was also a force to be reckoned with at the plate in a terrific 19-year career as a player. A three-time winner of a Silver Slugger Award and an American League All-Star, Baylor hit .260/.342/.436 over the life of a career that was highlighted by Most Valuable Player honors as a member of the 1979 California Angels. That year, the slugger posted a superlative .296/.371/.530 batting line with 36 homers, 22 stolen bases, 120 runs scored and 139 runs batted in.
Baylor helped a team to the postseason on seven different occasions and, in the waning stages of his career, was traded from the Red Sox to the Twins for the stretch run in 1987. He’d go on to collect seven hits in 18 at-bats during the playoffs that season, including a game-tying two-run homer in Game 6 of the World Series. Minnesota would rally for six more runs following that key hit, and the Twins ultimately rode that momentum to a Game 7 victory and a World Series championship.
Following his playing days, Baylor became the first manager in Colorado Rockies history in their inaugural 1993 season. By the time the strike-shortened 1995 campaign rolled around, Baylor’s Rockies finished the season with a 77-67 record, leading to the first postseason appearance in franchise history as well as NL Manager of the Year honors for Baylor. That marked the first of three straight winning seasons for Baylor, who also later spent three years managing the Cubs (2000-02). Baylor’s time in the dugout would continue for more than a decade, as he also served as a bench coach for the Mets and a hitting coach for the Braves, Mariners, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Angels.
MLBTR joins those throughout the baseball world in mourning the loss of Baylor. Our condolences go out to his family and loved ones as well as the countless teammates, journalists and fans whose lives were bettered by Baylor’s presence both on and off the field.
No Progress In Verlander Talks Between Tigers, Astros
Aug. 7: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that recent talks between the Astros and Tigers weren’t productive. The Tigers are saying that they expect Verlander to remain with the team into the winter, Nightengale adds.
Aug. 6: The Tigers and Astros were in touch about a potential Justin Verlander trade this month, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets. It isn’t clear if these talks could be building towards a possible trade of the former Cy Young Award winner, or if the two clubs were just checking back in with each other out of due diligence, since Detroit and Houston also discussed Verlander prior to the trade deadline. Those talks involved Verlander and Justin Wilson both going to the Astros, though that scenario is no longer in play now that Wilson had been traded to the Cubs.
Verlander has cleared revocable waivers, so the Tigers are free to discuss him in trade talks even now that the July 31 deadline has passed. Of course, all of the same obstacles that likely prevented a Verlander trade from being consummated are still in place — Verlander’s age (34), large contract (around $63.25MM through the 2019 season), the Tigers’ reported willingness to pay relatively little of that remaining salary, his no-trade clause, and the fact that Verlander has been only a solid pitcher this season rather than the rotation-topping ace he has been in 2016 and past seasons.
It’s worth noting that Verlander has been pitching better as of late, posting a 2.31 ERA over his last six starts (including six shutout innings of the Astros themselves on July 31). Houston also left the deadline trade market relatively empty-handed, only acquiring Francisco Liriano from the Blue Jays as lefty bullpen relief after missing out on Zach Britton.
The Astros were also linked to several starting pitchers, and they continue to have a need for rotation help now that Lance McCullers is on the 10-day DL with back problems. Dallas Keuchel and a healthy McCullers sit firmly atop Houston’s rotation, with Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers, Brad Peacock and Charlie Morton all having delivered some good results when given the ball. Still, Verlander would be a much more proven addition to the Astros’ top three come the postseason, and he could be a difference-maker if he is able to recapture his old form.
12 Potential Free Agent Starters With Slipping Stock
Earlier this week, we examined eight impending free agent hitters who have endured difficult contract years in 2017. Today’s edition focuses on soon-to-be free agent starting pitchers who haven’t reached their past levels thus far, perhaps setting themselves up for disappointing trips to the open market in the offseason.
Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees | Salary: $22MM
Tanaka can stick with the Yankees beyond this season and make a guaranteed $67MM through 2020, so he’s in much better shape than most pitchers who entered 2017 vying for new deals. However, Tanaka came into the year looking like a shoo-in to opt out of his current contract over the winter, and now there’s at least a bit less certainty on that front.
With a 4.93 mark through 129 2/3 innings, the right-hander’s ERA has climbed nearly two runs since he posted a sterling 3.07 figure over 199 2/3 frames last year. Still, aside from a bloated home run-to-fly ball rate (22 percent, up from 12 percent in 2016) and a career-worst batting average on balls in play (.311, compared to .270 from 2014-16), there are reasons for optimism. Tanaka’s velocity looks fine, while his swinging-strike (15 percent) and contact (70.8 percent) rates easily rank as career highs. Further, at 20.2, he’s running the majors’ 13th-best strikeout-walk percentage among starters. All said, it’s dubious as to whether Tanaka’s stock actually is down to any significant extent. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old’s sudden homer and run prevention issues have clearly come at an inopportune time.
Johnny Cueto, Giants | Salary: $21MM
Cueto, like Tanaka, has a looming opt-out decision. The 31-year-old righty will have to choose between eschewing a guaranteed $89MM through 2022 and remaining in San Francisco after the season ends. There may be less certainty with Cueto’s situation than Tanaka’s, as the former is a few years older and has been the bigger disappointment this season. He’s also on the disabled list at the moment with a mild flexor strain, though there’s no ligament damage. Prior to landing on the shelf, Cueto registered a 4.59 ERA – a sizable increase over the seasonal ERAs he put up from 2010-16, when he never surpassed 3.64 during an individual campaign.
More walks, less velocity, fewer grounders and an uptick in homers allowed are among the reasons for the longtime ace’s newfound woes. Cueto averaged fewer than two free passes per nine in each of the previous two seasons, but he’s now up to his highest figure in that department since 2009 (3.19). At the same time, Cueto, who has exceeded a 50 percent grounder rate in three seasons (including 2016), is down to 39.2 percent in that area this year. That’s Cueto’s worst mark since 2008, and a lower frequency of wormburners has helped lead to a 15.4 percent homer-to-fly ball ratio. While that may not look catastrophically high, it’s alarming relative to Cueto’s rate from 2008-16 (9.9 percent) and for someone who calls the pitcher’s haven known as AT&T Park home.
Jeremy Hellickson, Orioles | Salary: $17.2MM
Hellickson was effective enough as a Phillie in 2016 to warrant a qualifying offer, which he surprisingly accepted last November in lieu of testing a weak free agent market. Unfortunately for Hellickson, the success the righty enjoyed last season hasn’t transferred to 2017, meaning he’s unlikely to rake in another substantial salary next year. Now an Oriole after the Phillies dealt him last week, the 30-year-old has teamed a subpar ERA (4.45) with personal-worst strikeout (5.13 K/9), ground-ball (34.7 percent) and swinging-strike (8.2 percent) rates through 119 1/3 innings.
Jake Arrieta, Cubs | Salary: $15.64MM
With a 3.88 ERA, 8.74 K/9 and 2.96 BB/9 in 127 2/3 innings, Arrieta certainly hasn’t had a poor year. That said, by no means has Arrieta matched his fantastic stretch from 2014-16, a period in which the righty won an NL Cy Young (2015) and combined for the majors’ second-best ERA (2.42) and sixth-best fWAR (16.1). Decreased velocity and a dip in grounders have contributed to Arrieta’s descent, though agent Scott Boras has still publicly lobbied for a $200MM-plus contract on his client’s behalf. On one hand, it’s often a fool’s errand to bet against Boras. On the other, neither Arrieta’s decline in production nor the fact that he’ll enter his age-32 season in 2018 will aid him on the open market.
Marco Estrada, Blue Jays | Salary: $14MM
Estrada unexpectedly managed premier results with the Blue Jays from 2015-16, with a 3.30 ERA that ranked 20th among starters and stemmed from his ability to induce weak contact. No starter over that two-year span outdid Estrada’s 14 percent infield fly rate, in fact, and he encouragingly continues to pace the majors in that category this season (15.4 percent). Nevertheless, the low-.200s BABIP that Estrada induced over the previous two seasons has skyrocketed to .309 in 2017, helping lead to a 5.12 ERA over 128 1/3 innings. It’s not all bleak, though: Estrada’s expected weighted on-base average against, .301, is 43 points better than his actual wOBA, according to Statcast (via Baseball Savant), and the righty’s 24 percent strikeout rate is his best since 2012. There’s hope for a revival, then, but the run prevention troubles and Estrada’s age (34) figure to work against him as he seeks his next deal.
Clay Buchholz, Phillies | Salary: $13.5MM
It was only two years ago that the longtime Boston whipping boy ranked fourth among starters (100-inning minimum) in FIP and 24th in ERA. That season is now a distant memory for Buchholz, who struggled in his final season with the Red Sox last year. The Sox traded the 32-year-old to the Phillies during the offseason, but Buchholz wasn’t able to use his platform campaign to revive his career. He took the mound just twice this season before undergoing surgery on a torn flexor pronator mass in his right forearm in April.
Francisco Liriano, Astros | Salary: $13MM
Like Buchholz, Liriano came into the year with depressed stock that has continued to worsen. Although Houston sent a decent outfield prospect, Teoscar Hernandez, to Toronto for Liriano prior to the July 31 trade deadline, the Astros are using the left-hander as a reliever. Liriano, 33, hasn’t impressed as a starter dating back to last season, and this year has been especially trying. Across 83 2/3 frames (20 appearances, 18 starts), the former front-of-the-rotation option has produced a 6.02 ERA and seen his strikeout, walk and ground-ball numbers trend in the wrong direction. Liriano’s K-BB percentage (7.9) is at its lowest since 2011, while his 43.9 percent grounder rate is the worst he has registered since 2012. He’s also down to a 9.7 percent swinging-strike rate, representing almost a 5 percent drop since 2015.
Chris Tillman, Orioles | Salary: $10.05MM
Tillman was someone the Orioles could count on for quality innings from 2012-16, a five-year stretch in which he threw no fewer than 172 frames four times and combined for a 3.81 ERA (4.27 FIP). Understandably, the Orioles showed interest in giving the steady righty a contract extension last winter, but they’re surely glad they held off at this point. Perhaps thanks in part to shoulder issues that cropped up last season, Tillman’s velocity has been down for most of this year, and he has logged ghastly numbers. After the 29-year-old Tillman paired an 8.10 ERA with a 4.59 BB/9 in 15 starts and 66 2/3 innings, the Orioles removed him from their rotation Saturday. Notably, all 194 of Tillman’s major league appearances have come as a starter, but he’ll next take the mound as a reliever in what has been a hellish contract year.
Andrew Cashner, Rangers | Salary: $10MM
Based on run prevention and ground-ball percentage, Cashner doesn’t belong here. After all, the 30-year-old righty is sporting an outstanding 3.36 ERA, which puts him in company with aces such as Stephen Strasburg and Jacob deGrom, and has induced grounders at a 50.4 percent clip through 107 innings. If you take a deeper dive, though, there are some notable red flags: Among the 89 starters who have amassed at least 100 innings this year, Cashner ranks 88th in K/9 (4.63), swinging-strike percentage (5.9) and contact rate (86.8 percent). Worse, he’s dead last in K/BB ratio (1.28). Additionally, Cashner’s velocity has fallen to career-worst levels this year.
Michael Pineda, Yankees | Salary: $7.4MM
It’s not really through any fault of Pineda’s that he made this list, but the torn ulnar collateral ligament he suffered in his right elbow last month erased any hope of a substantial offseason payday. Prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery, the 28-year-old mixed tantalizing performances with frustrating ones, as he’s wont to do, though he still would’ve been a candidate to land a healthy contract over the winter. Instead, Pineda will likely have to settle for the type of deal ex-teammate Nathan Eovaldi did last offseason, when the August 2016 Tommy John recipient joined the Rays on a pact featuring a couple million in guarantees for one year and a club option for the next.
Tyson Ross, Rangers | Salary: $6MM
Ross, 30, was a bona fide front-line starter before he suffered a shoulder injury on Opening Day 2016 that forced the then-Padre to sit out the season. The righty then underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last October, but he still drew vast interest as a free agent over the winter before managing to secure a solid amount of guaranteed money from Texas. While a return to form this season could have netted Ross a multiyear deal in free agency, a renaissance hasn’t been in the cards. Since debuting in June, Ross has registered a 7.52 ERA with 7.52 K/9 and 5.57 BB/9 across seven starts and 32 1/3 frames. If those numbers don’t look ugly enough, Ross’ ground-ball rate has plunged from a career 55.2 percent figure to 38.9 percent this year, and his velocity is easily the lowest it has ever been.
Brett Anderson, free agent | Salary: $3.5MM (Cubs)
Last winter, one year after the Dodgers deemed him worthy of a $15.8MM qualifying offer (which he accepted), Anderson inked a buy-low deal with the Cubs on the heels of a truncated 2016. It was understandable on the reigning World Series champions’ part to gamble on the injury-prone Anderson’s talent, but they ended up parting with the southpaw in late July after a stint in which he recorded miserable results on the mound and spent time on the DL. Anderson, 29, threw just 22 innings over six starts with Chicago and limped to an 8.18 ERA, 6.55 K/9 and 4.91 BB/9. Dating back to last season, when injuries limited the then-Dodger to a mere 11 1/3 frames, Anderson has surrendered 35 earned runs on 39 hits and 16 walks, with 21 strikeouts, in 33 1/3 innings.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Quick Hits: Daulton, Escobar, Montgomery, Dombrowski
Darren Daulton, the longtime former catcher for the Phillies, passed away tonight at the age of 55 after a five-year battle with brain cancer. Renowned as a clubhouse leader in Philadelphia, Daulton played 1109 games and parts of 14 seasons in a Phillies uniform, reaching three All-Star games, twice finishing in the top seven of NL MVP voting and winning a Silver Slugger Award in 1992. He played a particularly big role in the Phillies’ pennant-winning 1993 club, and he ended his career as a champion. After a July 1997 trade to the Marlins, Daulton’s final game was Game 7 of the ’97 World Series, going out on a high note as the Fish won their first title. We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Daulton’s family and loved ones.
Here are some news items from around the game…
- Yunel Escobar left today’s game due to a right intercostal strain, as per an Angels press announcement (Twitter link). The third baseman will undergo an MRI tomorrow to access the damage. Escobar has a .274/.333/.397 slash line and seven homers over 381 PA for the Halos this season, Escobar has already spent some time on the DL this season, missing around 2.5 weeks due to a hamstring strain in May, and he sat out of a couple of recent games due to a sore back.
- The Yankees optioned left-hander Jordan Montgomery to Triple-A after today’s game, as per a team announcement. With Luis Severino, C.C. Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka and new acquisitions Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia in the rotation mix, the rookie Montgomery was the obvious odd man out when the Yankees made the move back to a standard five-man starting staff. The 24-year-old southpaw posted a 4.05 ERA, 8.6 K/9 and 3.17 K/BB over 115 2/3 IP (21 starts) in his big taste of MLB action, making an excellent case for himself as a future rotation piece in 2018 and beyond.
- Dave Dombrowski has put together a strong record on trades in less than three years running the Red Sox front office, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. Breaking down the 15 trades under Dombrowski’s leadership, Mastrodonato calculates that the president of baseball operations has acquired quite a bit of “trade profit,” as observed by examining the salaries and fWARs of the players who came to Boston in those deals. The numbers are, of course, skewed by the fact that so many of the players dealt away in those trades were prospects who have barely or never played in the big leagues yet, though Chris Sale alone has more fWAR than every traded player combined since the time they were dealt.
Mets Notes: Syndergaard, Harvey, Collins, Bruce, D’Arnaud
Westeros is a long way from Citi Field, though that didn’t stop Noah Syndergaard from appearing in tonight’s episode of Game Of Thrones. The Mets right-hander was on set last November in Spain to work as an extra as part of a large battle scene. Without giving away spoilers, Syndergaard gets to show off his throwing motion in the form of tossing a spear, though he faces an even larger challenge than trying to get through the Nationals lineup.
Here’s some more news from King’s Landing Queens…
- The futures of Terry Collins and Matt Harvey are examined by ESPN.com’s Buster Olney in his latest subscriber-only column. Collins’ contract is up at the end of the season, and the manager hinted last fall that he could potentially step away from the game due to the increasingly tough grind of the 162-game schedule. Olney opines that the seeming lack of any extension talks could be a sign that the two sides could be close to parting ways, and that Collins and the Mets should figure out “a graceful resolution” in a nod to Collins’ success with the club.
- As for Harvey, it is widely expected around the game that the right-hander won’t return to the Mets after he becomes a free agent after the 2018 season. If this is the case, Olney wonders if the Mets should simply part ways with Harvey now if they don’t think he can be a solid contributor to next year’s team, whether due to continued health problems or off-the-field issues. Newsday’s Marc Carig reports that some teams have explored buy-low trade offers for Harvey, but the Mets aren’t interested. If the righty was shopped, it appears there would be some interest; Olney hears from agents and evaluators that Harvey would receive a deal in the neighborhood of $10MM with incentives if he were a free agent available on a one-year contract this offseason.
- The Mets received “zero bites” on Jay Bruce prior to the trade deadline, a team official tells Newsday’s Marc Carig. Only a few teams called about the veteran slugger at all, and Carig notes that the lack of interest may have been due to multiple reasons apart from Bruce’s actual performance (such as teams putting more value on prospects than on rental players, a lack of contenders looking for corner outfield or first base help, or the fact that Bruce’s power bat is no longer quite as special due to the explosion of home runs around the league). As Carig notes, this could be a bad sign for Bruce as he hits free agency this offseason, which could potentially lead to the outfielder re-signing with the Mets, if probably not accepting a qualifying offer should the Mets extend one.
- Also from Carig’s piece, he writes that Travis d’Arnaud is still part of the Mets’ future plans, as per a team source. The catcher has hit .240/.293/.421 with nine home runs over 239 PA this season and, perhaps most importantly, has stayed relatively healthy (apart from a few missed weeks in May due to a wrist bruise. D’Arnaud is under team control through the 2019 season, though his name did surface in trade talks last year as the Mets exploring upgrading behind the plate.
NL West Notes: CarGo, Chacin, Duplantier
The Rockies offered Carlos Gonzalez a new four-year deal during extension talks last spring, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports. The two sides explored an extension for the long-time Colorado outfielder during the offseason, though talks never seemed to get too far — this four-year proposal is the only known offer exchanged, apart from some “initial suggestions” from Rockies management that were rejected out of hand by Gonzalez’s representatives in early December. Gonzalez said that he and the team hadn’t engaged in serious talks as of last February 22, and negotiations were reportedly “on hold” as of early March. The dollar value of the offer isn’t known (Nightengale describes it as “lucrative”), though the fact that Colorado was willing to offer four years to a player who will be 32 next Opening Day is in itself significant, especially since the Rockies have several other interesting outfielders on their big league roster and in the minors. The lack of an extension looms large for Gonzalez in the wake of his disappointing 2017 season — he has suffered through two DL stints and is batting a career-worst .228/.299/.345 over 365 plate appearances.
(Apart from the Gonzalez item, Nightengale’s piece focuses on how several of baseball’s biggest names are dealing with the extra pressure facing them as they approach free agency. The piece includes quotes from Jake Arrieta, J.D. Martinez, John Lackey and more, and is well worth a full read.)
Here’s more from around the NL West…
- Jhoulys Chacin has expressed openness to re-signing with the Padres this winter, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Chacin has posted good results after signing a one-year, $1.75MM deal with the Padres last winter, and it isn’t surprising that the righty would like to stay at Petco Park — Chacin has a 1.86 ERA over 12 home starts (77.1 IP) this year, as opposed to a 7.35 ERA over 10 starts (49 IP) on the road. Those large splits were one reason, Lin notes, why the Padres may not have been able to move Chacin before the deadline, though Lin was surprised the team couldn’t have found at least one suitor willing to part with more than a token prospect.
- The Diamondbacks received some interest in minor league right-hander Jon Duplantier prior to the trade deadline, Fangraphs’ David Laurila reports. The 23-year-old Duplantier, a third-round pick for Arizona in the 2016 draft, has a 1.53 ERA, 10/1 K/9 and 4.25 K/BB rate over 106 combined innings at the high-A and A-ball levels this season. MLB.com ranks Duplantier as the second-best prospect in Arizona’s system, citing his “power curve,” solid changeup and fastball in the 91-96 mph range, though the righty has also already had some shoulder and elbow issues early in his career. A source with another club tells Laurila that the D’Backs put a high asking price on Duplantier in trade talks.