Thanks in part to the signing of catcher Alex Avila to a two-year, $8.25MM deal this week, the Diamondbacks are on track to run a franchise-record payroll in 2018 (upward of $120MM), as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic notes. They may not be done adding, either, as general manager Mike Hazen informed Piecoro that the Diamondbacks still have financial flexibility and are seeking another outfielder. “We’re still very much involved in both,” Hazen said of free agency and the trade market. “We have enough balls in the air, we could be a couple of yesses away from something getting done in any direction. We’re not close on anything just yet.” With A.J. Pollock being the only natural center fielder on the D-backs’ 40-man roster, they could pick up someone capable of handling that spot, Piecoro reports.
More from the NL:
- The Mets plan to continue with a timeshare at catcher consisting of Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki in 2018, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes. Although there may be an upgrade available in free agency (past Mets target Jonathan Lucroy, to be specific), GM Sandy Alderson is inclined to stick with with his in-house tandem. “At that position, I think it would be difficult for us to find a pair that we like appreciably better,” he said. “I think we’ve been generally happy with our catching play.” The 28-year-old d’Arnaud and Plawecki, 26, represent a pair of former top 100 prospects who haven’t delivered as hoped in the majors (injury woes are partly to blame in the former’s case), but they each posted passable offensive numbers a season ago. D’Arnaud also graded as one of the majors’ top pitch framers in 2017, per Baseball Prospectus (though StatCorner saw things differently).
- As he continues working back from February 2017 Tommy John surgery, Cardinals right-hander Alex Reyes is in Jupiter Fla., throwing off a mound and facing hitters in live batting practice sessions, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com relays. The Cardinals are hopeful Reyes will be able to return to game action by May 1, according to Langosch. The highly touted 23-year-old figures to fill a bullpen role upon coming back, but the Cards continue to regard him as a long-term starter, per Langosch.
- Former Mets manager Terry Collins is now working as a special assistant to Alderson, and he explained what some of his new role will entail to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. “I will be another set of eyes, and one of the things is to make sure the instruction at the minor league level is efficient,” revealed Collins, a former minor league manager. “We have to make sure, when they call up a player, he’s ready. I think I still have something to give to the game.” On whether he’d like to manage in the majors again, the 68-year-old Collins said, “I would, but I don’t think with the new era of stuff that would happen.”
That’s an interesting and quite the eyebrow raising quote Collins gave, “I would [manage again], but I don’t think with the new era of stuff that would happen.”
Reading between the lines, I am genuinely curious, what do you guys take from that??
I’m curious as to what he truly means by “the new era of stuff”…??
I think he means matchups, analytics, and being just a medium for the analytics teams in the front office.
He was forced to take out players who were pitching fine because of matchups and the analytical aspect of things. There were days where Edgin was noticeably enraged because he was taken out simply because of the analytics of the matchup in that situation.
Not sure but i think he means managing thru analytics. Maddon is constantly looking at charts and papers and appears all in on it. Not sure if Collins ever bought in to it or wants to now.
Teams are all in on analytics, plus they’re trending towards younger and younger hires for managers.
It means he knows teams are looking for young managers who can relate to players. Look at Cora in Boston
My main criticism with Alderson is the neglect of minor league contracts to make the minor league teams better and also to add 4th and 5th strings.
If a team is winning prospects tend to play better and that increases their value. So right now Gavin Cecchini’s stock has fallen because of his poor season at AAA but the main reason is the team was so bad.
To his credit he did add Lobaton this year but there’s still issues with depth.
I think it’s a good idea to add some incentives to a minor league contract to entice the top minor league free agents to sign in order to make winning minor league teams. Or just respectable minor league teams.
Then you have also the players like RA that you sometimes find on minor league contracts.
What? A prospects value isn’t tied to their AAA or AA or any team winning or losing. Obviously it’s better for your players to play in a playoff and get that bigger game experience
The Mariners would have one of the top farm systems if it was tied to winning minor league games.
It isnt that their value is tied to the teams record. Its that people perform better in positive environments. Players do better when a team is winning, which is a contributor to players having career years when teams make playoff runs.
Disagree. Teams win when they perform well, not the other way around. I don’t see any way that signing veteran MiLB FA would help to boost one’s farm system
The D-backs are running a record payroll after signing a free agent? Does that mean they didn’t get the collusion memo from the other owners? /sarcasm off
No it means they signed Greinke to a ridiculously stupid contract lol
For the tv deal they signed a few years ago, they should’ve been hitting this payroll for a while now.
I love when fans decide what a appropriate payroll is for teams lol. Do you go into McDonald’s or tell your landscaper how much he should pay his employees just baffling
So basically wins and losses are meaningless to you and you think it’s only important that the team/owners make money?
Anyone else on the alex reyes hype train. Hope he is a starter when he comes back. Possibly next fulmer,syndergaard,severino,etc
You mean Carpenter or a Gibson there Alex?
Reyes has the potential to be a super star ace.. not a Fulmer..
Reyes talent looks to be incredible and I hope it comes to fruition some day. He will spend much of the first half of the year in the bullpen much like others with the same injury have done for the cardinals in the past. He could be great but could be a flop like many other cardinal pitching prospects of the past.
So in other words, just like any other pitcher that’s tried to make it in the bigs!
A young pitcher that averages 100 mph is not going to be a flop.
I doubt he’s in the bullpen to start the season. He’s coming back from Tommy John, and needs innings to get up to speed again. That will likely take place in Memphis.
The Cardinals added two relievers to the bullpen, and currently has 7 relievers penciled in (Leone, Gregerson, Lyons, Brebbia, Cecil, Tuivailala, Bowman). Obviously, things are volatile, but that early, the Cardinals have a good number of guys on the 40 man who’ll they likely throw at the bullpen before bringing up Reyes to fill a bullpen role..
reyes should start when he comes back. limit him to 5 innings. that’s all st. louis starters last anyway. last few years the coaches must tell the starters to give me 5 innings and 100 pitches and hit the showers.
Not just a stl issue dude. That’s all of baseball right there.
Don’t let slide fool you he is a St. Louis hater…
wrong
He will end up as the closer and start in 2019
Best idea I’ve heard for innings limit is start him out in bullpen and use him in high leverage situations as the stopper. If it’s 3rd, 4th, or 5th inning and starters in trouble, use him for 2-3 innings. That way he can stay somewhat stretched out and then in August push him for a little longer outings, so that he can potentially start in September. Next year if all goes well, he’s in rotation. He needs to be between 100-150 innings this year so he can be counted on for 150-200 next year. All this with the caveats that he’s healthy, starters are healthy and mostly perform well, and Maddux can get Matheny to not expect 6-7 innings out of his starters every time and leave them in too long. Closer spot is too unimportant and too few innings for Reyes to be there all year.
He will be used like Archie Bradley was used last season for the Stros. Except he will bounce back into a rotation spot as long as his control stays in checks.
Reliever doesn’t limit his innings. Relievers burn out faster than starters because of workload. It’s not the amount of innings per appearance or season, but the amount of appearances. Many reliever, especially those in high-leverage situations, appear in back-to-back games, throwing as hard as they can.
That’s not a conducive situation for a rehabbing starter.
Again with pitch framing being the first thing brought up when they mention catchers. At least this time they included a reference that there is NO CONSISTENCY in this metric. How can anyone take it seriously. Do you really believe that someone who was great at pitch framing last year suddenly just forgot how to receive a pitch?
Knowing and doing are very different things. It’s about the consistent execution, which is why the best hits still fail 2/3 times and even the top pitchers in the game can have dud games.
Framing data is prepared by different people. Its like the official scorer at a ballgame. one might rule it a hit and someone else could call it an error. Not sure how it started and it should not be taken seriously.
Like hits?
Framing data started with the advent of PITCHf/x, which is a tool that tracks all pitches thrown, and whether they are inside or out of the strike zone. Framing data is not compiled by different people. It’s based on a single database that everyone uses.
There are different kinds of framing statistics, and the methodology used is what you should be looking at. They’re still being developed, but that doesn’t mean you should dismiss them out of hand.
Why the Cards didn’t go after a cheap improvement like Morrison (who went to the Twins today) is real surprising. They have said many times they know that Ozuna will need protection in the lineup with a second thumper or opposing pitchers won’t give him much to hit. The Twins get him cheap for 1 or two years. 6.5MM on a short contract for a guy who hit 38HR’s last year seems like a team friendly deal.
Maybe the team is still hoping Carp will improve on defense, base running and get over his damaged oblique problem which has bothered him now for 2 years. The talk last month was he’s ok this time but when he showed up for ST he’s still hurting. If he can’t hit he’s got nothing to help the team. They have better guys on defense and base running on the team already that play 1B in J. Martinez and Voit. Both are better on offense too if Carp remains hurt.
Maybe DeWitt really does plan to sell and is just hoarding his cash. That’s about the only logical excuse for passing on guys like Longoria, Morrison who went cheap or arms like Arrieta, Holland etc. that they need badly to improve. Without some of these they will finish in 3rd again even farther behind the Brewers and Cubs …unless their farm rookies perform some miracles.