Archives for February 2018

Latest Reactions to Slow-Moving Offseason

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 10:28am CDT

The offseason continues to move painfully slowly. With spring training on the horizon, there’s not much time left for the staring contest between teams and players to break. Indeed, the past week has yielded more news by way of shouting from players, agents and union reps than by way of actual major league signings. We’ve collected some of the reactions from around the baseball community…

As one might expect, the colorfully hyperbolic Scott Boras has offered his input on the subject (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports), comparing the market phenomenon to the act of murder. “The difference between an accident and murder is intent,” Boras says. “Teams are intentionally murdering seasons and fans are dying with it.” Boras also says that the biggest issue is competition, adding that losing is only acceptable if there is an actual effort to win.
“The list of available free agents could fill out a 25-man roster and contend for a playoff spot,” writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Dodd also includes quotes from Peter Moylan, which provide some interesting insight into the point of view of a lower-tier MLB free agent. Moylan describes his situation in terms of the uncertainty, telling Dodd that the only thing that is a “little frustrating” is the unknown. Moylan’s examples of the unknown include not knowing where he’ll be in two weeks, not knowing where he’ll be playing during the regular season, and the resulting inability to line up housing for either. The 39-year-old righty pitched to a 3.49 ERA across 59 1/3 innings last year for the Royals, and has publicly stated his desire to remain with the team.
The MLBPA is “laying the dynamite around itself” with its threats of spring training boycotts and accusations of collusion, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. Davidoff describes Brodie Van Wagenen’s recent statement as a “boiling point of sorts,” and wonders what can possibly be accomplished by all this “saber-rattling.” Davidoff seems to downplay the anger and threats from the union and player representatives, pointing out (by way of recent words from Brandon Moss) that they chose to sign a collective bargaining agreement that rewards tanking and penalizes clubs for spending too much.
Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated opines that the players “bargained for luxury, not labor” in his take on the subject. Verducci also highlights Moss’ words, describing the current CBA as “the deal that stiffened the soft cap created by a luxury tax threshold that hasn’t come close to keeping up with growth in revenues and payrolls.” He adds that the union celebrated something of a “Pyrrhic win” in its prevention of an international draft, which Verducci calls a bluff.
The mystery of the bizarre offseason before us can’t be solved by simply crying “collusion,” Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes, drawing attention to multiple factors in this offseason’s pace in a piece that’s definitely worth a full read. Some of those factors include a logjam at the top of the market (perhaps caused by CBA incentives for teams to tighten their purse strings), and the perceived value of youth in baseball.
For his part, Cubs GM Jed Hoyer is surprised that he’s headed to Arizona with so much offseason left to go. In an interview with Jesse Rogers of ESPN, Hoyer chalks the hot stove freeze up to something that seems quite simple on the surface: both players and teams feel justified in their positions. “Every team has their internal rankings,” he tells Rogers. “Every team has their evaluations which they will never reveal. Those rankings guide them through the market. Both sides of the market can always move or activate and free things up. To this point, we haven’t gotten there.”

East Notes: Marlins, Arroyo, E-Rod, Mets

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 9:03am CDT

A 2008 agreement between Miami-Dade county and Jeffrey Loria (and his partners) saw the county fund most of the $515 million government-owned Marlins stadium in Little Havana. In exchange, the county was promised the right to 5 percent of any profits Loria & co. earned if they sold the team within 10 years. Yet Loria’s lawyers have released documents telling the county not to expect any money at all from last year’s $1.2 billion sale of the Marlins, Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald writes. The reasoning from Loria’s camp is that his accountants claim the sale amounted to a net loss of $141MM. The breakdown they offer begins with a $625MM agreed-to underlying value of the franchise, $280MM in debt, circa $300MM in taxes tied to the sale and a write-off of the $30MM fee paid to financial advisors. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez says that the city may sue to collect the taxpayers’ fair share of that $1.2 billion. My message is that this community really allowed you to make a lot of money,” he said on Friday. “He should do the right thing. He made profits, and he made big profits. He should share that with the people who allowed him to do that.”

Here are a few other tidbits from around the league’s Eastern teams…

Newly-acquired Rays infielder Christian Arroyo was working out at Tropicana Field on Friday morning, Bill Chastain of MLB.com writes. MLB Pipeline’s 81st overall prospect saw his 2017 season end due to a broken hand, but surgeon Donald Sheridan cleared him for baseball activities after a visit on January 9th. “The hand is great,” Arroyo said. “Right now, it’s about getting back into baseball shape.” The 22-year-old came to Tampa Bay in this winter’s trade that sent Evan Longoria to San Francisco. He hit .192/.244/.304 across 135 plate appearances with the Giants last year in his first taste of big-league action, and figures to be in the Rays’ infield mix for the coming season.
Speaking of young players returning from injury, Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez could potentially miss a few starts at the beginning of the season after undergoing right knee patellofemoral ligament reconstruction surgery, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. “[The injury] happened, like, three times already,” Rodriguez pointed out. “I was just trying to fight to pitch with a knee like that. And I did it. Sometimes there would be ups and downs. Now it’s time to get back to the guy I was before I got the surgery.” The 24-year-old southpaw’s had his share of ups and downs across parts of three seasons with the Red Sox. Last season, he put up 137 1/3 innings for the club while striking out 9.83 batters per nine and posting a 4.19 ERA overall.
Eduardo Nunez and Todd Frazier are currently the Mets’ leading choices in their search for an infielder, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports via Twitter. They’re apparently leery of getting “used” by Frazier (presumably for leverage) if he prefers the Yankees as his ultimate destination. In addition, the Mets are reportedly reluctant to bring back second baseman Neil Walker, and aren’t getting any traction in their efforts to acquire Josh Harrison from the Pirates. Lastly, Rosenthal adds that the team is interested in signing Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn out of free agency if their prices dip low enough.

AL Notes: Red Sox, O’s, Schoop, A’s, Maxwell, Twins

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 11:36pm CDT

With so many teams unwilling to spend big money this offseason, the Red Sox are an outlier, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston writes. The BoSox have no fear of blowing past the $197MM luxury tax threshold, which Drellich posits puts them in a powerful position. And if they land J.D. Martinez (as expected), he argues that it could finally begin to break up the logjam atop the free agent market. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski confirmed Friday that Boston’s still seeking both a power bat (Martinez fits that description) and a left-handed reliever, per Drellich. Dombrowski also acknowledged that this has been an “unusual” winter, one that hasn’t necessarily been ideal for the sport. “I don’t think it’s a good situation that we’re sitting here on Feb. 2, there’s 110 free agents. I don’t think that’s good for the game, necessarily,” he said. “Does a change of system make it happen? I don’t know, we just got a new basic agreement a year ago. So, both sides agreed to that and were willing to sign it. … I don’t think you can only look at this winter time, I think then you have to look at the future, then you can analyze that.”

A few more notes from the American League…

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop will have his arbitration hearing Feb. 8, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. After enjoying a career season in 2017, the 26-year-old requested a $9MM salary, while the Orioles offered $7.5MM. There has reportedly been some discord between the two sides in salary negotiations, which could bode poorly for the Orioles’ chances of keeping Schoop past 2019 – his final year of arb eligibility.
Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell has a Feb. 12 settlement conference in Phoenix stemming from his October arrest on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The fact there’s a conference opens the door for a plea deal with the state of Arizona, Slusser notes, and the expectation is that they will come to an agreement prior to spring training. If no deal is reached, Maxwell is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 9, which was pushed back from the original date of April 10, according to Slusser.
Minnesota’s unexpected return to the playoffs in 2017 helped the club land free agent reliever Zach Duke this winter, as the left-hander spurned other teams for the Twins’ $2MM deal (via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). “I had a couple offers out there, but after examining rosters, the way teams are put together, atmosphere, and talking to people I knew that had been in certain places, the Twins just made sense,” Duke explained. “This team is on the edge of being really good for a while and has the same type of feel as the Astros with a bunch of really good young position players, but maybe a pitcher or two away.” After undergoing Tommy John surgery as a member of the Cardinals in October 2016, Duke didn’t debut last season until July, and he only recorded 18 1/3 innings on the year. Heading into 2018, the soon-to-be 35-year-old is confident he’ll return to his pre-surgery effectiveness.

NL Notes: D-backs, Mets, Cards, A. Reyes

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 9:57pm CDT

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.

Rangers Notes: Andrus, Darvish, Choo, Outfield

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 8:46pm CDT

Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus will be able to opt out of his contract next offseason, which would mean leaving a guaranteed four years and $58MM on the table. The Rangers are bracing for that to happen, though general manager Jon Daniels has had brief talks regarding an opt-out-preventing deal with Andrus’ agent, Scott Boras, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. For his part, the 29-year-old Andrus told Wilson and other reporters that he doesn’t view the upcoming season “as a free-agent [year],” and that he’d like to stay with Texas for the rest of his career. Andrus has been a member of the Rangers organization since coming over in a blockbuster trade with the Braves in 2007. He’s currently fresh off arguably his top season, in which he posted a career-best 4.1 fWAR – thanks in part to a personal-high home run total (20; Andrus entered the year with just 35 from 2009-16).

Marlins’ J.T. Realmuto Still Hoping For Trade

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 6:56pm CDT

Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto requested a trade out of Miami in December, owing to a lack of desire to play for a franchise that’s in the midst of a monumental teardown. At the time, the Marlins had already traded three of their top players – Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon. Nearly two months later, Realmuto remains on the Marlins’ roster, though they parted with yet another star (Christian Yelich) last week. Unsurprisingly, then, Realmuto continues to hope for a trade prior to the season, his agent, Jeff Berry of CAA Baseball, told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

“No matter how his arbitration hearing turned out, J.T.’s preference remains the same,” said Berry. “He would like to be traded to another organization before spring training so he has an opportunity to compete for a championship.”

Berry mentioned Realmuto’s arb hearing, which he lost. As a result, the 26-year-old will make $2.9MM this year instead of the $3.5MM he requested. That fairly negligible difference isn’t going to affect Realmuto’s value, however, as it’s an extremely small price to pay for one of baseball’s best backstops. Realmuto’s also under arbitration control through 2019 and ’20, so he figures to give either the Marlins or another team a reasonably priced solution behind the plate for the next three years.

To this point, one of Miami’s NL East rivals, Washington, has seemingly been the most aggressive pursuer of a Realmuto trade. Despite their glaring weakness at catcher, where Matt Wieters may have been the worst starter in the game in 2017, the Nationals don’t seem to be in Realmuto-or-bust mode. They’re reportedly unwilling to give up either of their top two prospects – outfielders Victor Robles and Juan Soto – in a Realmuto trade, and they did add accomplished veteran Miguel Montero on a minor league contract Friday. He could be a fallback starter in the event a Realmuto trade doesn’t materialize, or the Nats could venture to free agency, where Jonathan Lucroy remains available.

In talks with the Nationals and other clubs, the Marlins unsurprisingly “have been holding out for multiple high-end prospects,” Jackson writes. While slashing payroll has been a prime objective for the franchise this offseason, trading the cheap Realmuto would be more of a farm system-bolstering maneuver than anything. The Marlins, to their credit, have made headway in restocking the lower levels this offseason. Thanks to the trades they’ve made since December, they’ve climbed from 30th to 19th in Baseball America’s organizational rankings (subscription required and recommended). Miami still has plenty of work to do to turn its system into a strength, though, and moving Realmuto would further help the team achieve that.

Tony Clark, Agents On Slow-Moving Offseason

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 5:00pm CDT

Player agent Brodie Van Wagenen took aim at MLB owners on Friday regarding this year’s historically slow-moving open market. Reactions to the lack of free agent activity this winter have continued to pour in since, including from MLBPA executive director Tony Clark.

“For decades free agency has been the cornerstone of baseball’s economic system & has benefited Players and the game alike,” Clark said. “Each time it has been attacked, Players, their representatives & the Association have united to defend it. That will never change.”

Clark’s remarks come at a time of growing unrest from the players, many of whom have voiced their displeasure with the fact that owners aren’t opening their checkbooks for free agents this winter. One prominent example is Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who, despite signing a five-year, $80MM contract a winter ago, recently raised the idea of the players going on strike when the current collective bargaining agreement expires in December 2021. His teammate Rich Hill, who also received a big payday last offseason (three years, $48MM), told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe last week that “how the free agent market has been going has been disconcerting this offseason and a lot of players are concerned about it.” Hill called the situation “really bad” and noted that “players just want what’s fair.”

As FanGraphs’ Craig Edwards pointed out Friday, the majors’ cumulative payroll is almost sure to stagnate or decrease compared to 2017, even though all 30 owners received a $50MM payout this year from MLB’s sale of BAMTech to Disney. To this point of the offseason, only two of MLBTR’s top 10 free agents – the Brewers’ Lorenzo Cain (five years, $80MM) and the Rockies’ Wade Davis (three years, $52MM) – have found teams. Of MLBTR’s pre-offseason top 50 free agents, nearly half are currently unsigned, which is staggering given that the market opened three months ago and spring training is only a few weeks away.

Like their fellow agent Van Wagenen, Seth Levinson of ACES and Joshua Kusnick of Double Diamond Sports Management spoke out against the current state of affairs Friday. In a statement of his own (via Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic), Levinson offered:

“There is a bond that exists between Clubs and its fan base. The integrity of that time-honored relationship is predicated upon the good faith effort of the Club to compete to the best of its ability. The CBA which defines the relationship between Clubs and Players is a good faith effort to create and assure that there is a competitive balance among all Clubs so that the greater good and best interests of the game are served.

“There may be legitimate reasons for the problems that players have encountered in this market. That said, there is no Industry in this country where competing businesses act in virtually an identical manner. It is disconcerting, and disheartening for Clubs that are awash in revenue and or are fully capable of improving its product to choose to do otherwise. Jerry Dipoto so eloquently made the point that there may be more Clubs competing for the 1st pick in the June Amateur Draft than for the World Series.”

As Van Wagenen and Levinson did, Kusnick (via Twitter) suggested that collusion is at play, saying “it is impossible” for him to believe that all 30 teams are suddenly evaluating players the same. He went on to reveal that he has six major league free agents who are currently seeking minors deals, contending that the freeze at the top of the market is preventing teams from showing much interest in lesser FAs.

“It really does trickle down to A-ball, and I have never dealt with anything like this in 15 years,” continued Kusnick, who added that “ownership has historically attempted to subvert the players’ ability to earn the maximum amount of dollars for their services. And just because we have enjoyed an unprecedented stretch of labor peace that has benefited both sides does not mean the players are oblivious to the realities that this market has presented. The MLBPA and players have been tested before but have never broken. It will not happen this time either.”

Kusnick closed with “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” which could be a warning toward owners that players will strike again – as they most recently did in 1994-95 – if necessary. The game’s latest work stoppage resulted in the loss of an entire season two-plus decades ago, and we may be headed down a similar road within the next few years if the league and the union don’t start finding common ground by then. With commissioner Rob Manfred pushing to implement pace-of-play changes that most players are less than thrilled with, the relationship between the sides is seemingly on the verge of getting even worse.

J.T. Realmuto Loses Arbitration Case

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 2:55pm CDT

Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto has lost his arbitration case against the Marlins, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. Realmuto was seeking a $3.5MM salary for 2018, but he’ll earn $2.9MM instead. The CAA Sports client is the first player to lose an arb hearing this offseason, as teammate Justin Bour, Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts and Diamondbacks righty Shelby Miller won theirs earlier this week.

It’s unclear whether Realmuto will collect his 2018 salary from the Marlins or another club, given that the 26-year-old stands out as the rebuilding team’s most valuable trade chip. Realmuto has drawn significant interest this winter from the NL East rival Nationals, who have a glaring need behind the plate and a willingness to deal a couple of their top prospects to address it.

Regardless of which uniform he wears this year, Realmuto figures to continue as one of the game’s most valuable backstops. In 2017, his third season, he accumulated upward of 3.5 fWAR for the second straight campaign. Realmuto slashed a solid .278/.332/.451 with 17 home runs in a career-high 579 plate appearances, though his work behind the plate only drew mixed reviews. While Realmuto earned negative marks as a pitch framer from Baseball Prospectus between 2015-16, he was well above average in that department last year, according to BP. Conversely, StatCorner ranked him one of the game’s worst framers in 2017.

The validity of framing metrics may be somewhat up for debate, but it’s clear Realmuto is eminently valuable – particularly at such a low salary and with three years of control remaining. The fact that the arbitration cases for him and Bour are now settled leaves the Marlins with righty Dan Straily as their only arb-eligible player whose 2018 salary isn’t yet determined, as MLBTR’s Arb Tracker shows.

Justin Bour Wins Arbitration Case Over Marlins

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 2:52pm CDT

Marlins first baseman Justin Bour has won his arbitration case over the Marlins, according to his agent, Marc J. Kligman of Total Care Sports Management (Twitter link). Bour will earn $3.4MM in 2018, his first year of arbitration eligibility, beating out the $3MM salary the Marlins proposed. MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected a $3.5MM award for Bour at the outset of the offseason.

The victory for the 29-year-old Bour comes on the heels of a career season in which he slashed a robust .289/.366/.536 with 25 home runs and a .247 ISO in 429 plate appearances. While the lefty-swinging Bour struggled versus same-handed pitchers from 2014-16, he turned it around against them last year and established himself as an everyday first baseman.

Overall, Bour has been a significant offensive threat during parts of four major league seasons, having batted .273/.346/.489 across 1,279 PAs. However, he has never played more than 129 games in an individual campaign, and injuries helped limit him to a combined 198 contests from 2016-17 (108 last year).

Should Bour stay healthy in 2018, he’ll be one of the few consistent forces in a Miami lineup that, compared to prior years, looks depleted. The club has traded away its previous starting outfield – Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich – in cost-cutting moves this offseason, leaving Bour and catcher J.T. Realmuto as its offensive centerpieces. It’s possible Realmuto will also find himself in another uniform by the start of the season, given the plethora of trade rumors surrounding him this winter. Bour, on the other hand, seems likely to remain a Marlin.

AL East Notes: Betts, O’Day, Jays, Rays

By Steve Adams and Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 2:44pm CDT

While arbitration hearings can often be a contentious process, Red Sox president of baseball operations told reporters that the team’s relationship with Mookie Betts didn’t suffer as a result of this week’s hearing (link via MassLive.com’s Jen McCaffrey). “I called him and texted him back and forth,” said Dombrowski. “(Assistant general manager) Brian O’Halloran spoke to him. Mookie’s fine, he understands the process so we have a good relationship.” Dombrowski went on to say call Betts a player that the organization “loves” and hopes to keep for “years to come.” Betts was awarded a $10.5MM salary by an arbitration panel — the second-largest salary ever for a first-time arbitration player. (Kris Bryant set the record at $10.85MM last month.)

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