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Archives for February 2018

AL East Notes: Bautista, Rays, Orioles, Red Sox

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Although the Rays have picked up a pair of right-handed hitters in Carlos Gomez and C.J. Cron since last weekend, they could add another outfield-capable righty-swinger, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. One free agent who might draw their attention is Jose Bautista, who’s “keenly interested in playing for the Rays, presumably knowing it would be for a low salary,” Topkin writes. The 37-year-old Tampa Bay resident has long been a rival of the Rays, having played with the Blue Jays from 2009-17. While Bautista was a terror for opposing pitchers for the majority of that run, he’s now coming off his worst year in nearly a decade, which helps explain why he remains on the market. Bautista took 686 trips to the plate in 2017 and batted a subpar .203/.308/.366, albeit with 23 home runs.

More on Tampa Bay and two of its AL East rivals:

  • The Rays have recently parted with several notable veterans, including Evan Longoria, Steven Souza Jr., Corey Dickerson and Jake Odorizzi, but their front office insists they’re not tanking and never have, as Topkin details in a separate piece. Rather, according to general manager Erik Neander: “This is a season, as things stand now, where on paper we’re somewhere in that middle territory yet again. But what’s been building underneath is getting awfully close to colliding with what’s a middle-of-the-pack team. And when those things come together, you’ve got a chance for something special.” And even though the Rays finished under .500 in each season from 2014-17, Neander believes there was serious progress behind the scenes. “As our teams have been kind of treading water, there’s been that wave that’s really building, really coming together, probably even better than I think we expect it,” Neander said. “It’s about there.”
  • In-house issues prevented the Orioles from signing free agent infielders Ryan Flaherty and Ryan Goins during the offseason, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports. Flaherty was with the Orioles from 2012-17 and wanted to re-sign with the club, even showing a willingness to take less money than he did to join the Phillies. Philadelphia made Flaherty an offer with a three-week deadline to accept it, but he wanted to hear from the Orioles before taking it. The O’s then submitted a counteroffer, though it “didn’t get club-wide approval in time to meet the Phillies’ deadline,” Encina writes. As a result, he said yes to the Phillies’ minor league proposal. Given that Flaherty has a late-March opt-out in his deal, it’s possible he’ll hit the market again and rejoin the Orioles before the season, Encina notes. Like Flaherty, Goins also settled for a minor league pact (with the Royals). However, he actually was set to sign a major league contract with the Orioles beforehand, according to Encina. Orioles ownership didn’t approve it in time, though, leading the former Toronto utilityman to head to Kansas City.
  • Red Sox reliever Robby Scott has changed representation and is now a client of Meister Sports Management, Rob Bradford of WEEI tweets. The 28-year-old, who’s currently vying to open the season as Boston’s top left-handed bullpen option, tossed 35 innings of 3.79 ERA ball and notched 7.82 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and a 42.6 percent groundball rate in 2017. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2019 campaign.

AL Central Notes: Santiago, Merritt, Liriano, Aybar

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Hector Santiago, who came back to the White Sox this offseason on a minor-league deal, has come up with a strategy to combat the  fastball decline that often comes with aging, James Fegan of The Athletic writes. The southpaw plans to bring back the screwball he threw in his days as a rookie. “I have not gone a day this offseason or in spring training where I have not thrown a screwball,” he said. “I’ve thrown a screwball in both my BPs and my only bullpen. It’s almost taken over my changeup. Lot of people say it’s gone, but nah, I just substituted my changeup for my screwball and I throw a lot more screwballs than changeup.” Notably, his arm motion for the screwball is similar to that of his changeup, which could help with deception in his delivery as he uses both to play off his fastball. Fegan notes that Santiago could be at the “top of the heap” of the White Sox’ MiLB free agent arms, if he can return to health and effectiveness.

A few other small items out of the AL Central…

  • Much has been made of the fact that young Indians lefty (and 2016 postseason hero) Ryan Merritt is out of options and faces an uphill battle to make the club’s rotation out of spring training. But the 26-year-old isn’t focused on that right now, writes MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. “I’m really not going to get caught up in what’s going to happen a month from now,” he said. “I can control today. And, when I show up tomorrow, I can control what I do that day.” Merritt has a career 1.74 ERA (albeit in just 20 2/3 major league innings), but is most famous for starting Game 5 of the 2016 ALCS for the Indians, allowing zero runs across his 4 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays. Cleveland would go on to win that game, punching their ticket to the World Series.
  • New Tigers lefty Francisco Liriano will compete for a spot in the club’s rotation during spring training, GM Al Avila says (via Jason Beck of MLB.com). However, if he’s unable to make the club in that capacity, he’s willing to pitch out of the bullpen. It’s possible that the 34-year-old’s best days are behind him, as he’s posted consecutive seasons with an ERA north of 4.60. Even as a reliever with the Astros last season, he posted a 4.40 ERA down the stretch with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. Still, if he can show some flashes of his peak performance with the Pirates from 2013-2015, he’d represent a solid option for a Tigers club that is largely devoid of secure rotation options outside of Michael Fulmer.
  • Erick Aybar recently signed with the Twins, but Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets that the infielder had received interest from the Reds and Rangers as well. He reportedly chose the Twins because he liked their opportunity best. In a later tweet, Berardino reports that Aybar will make his spring training debut on Monday (though Aybar told manager Paul Molitor that he was ready to play in today’s matchup).

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/24/18

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Red Sox have signed left-hander Tommy Layne to a minors pact; he’d been playing in the MLBPA camp. Brian MacPherson (formerly of the Providence Journal) was first with the news; Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal has since confirmed the report. Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets that the deal does not include an invite to spring training. This’ll be the 33-year-old’s second stint with the Red Sox, for whom he pitched 95 1/3 innings and earned 20 holds from 2014-2016. He put up a 3.30 ERA during that span, but with an unsettling walk rate (4.63 BB/9). Originally a late-round pick by the Diamondbacks, Layne has also spent time with the Padres, Yankees and Dodgers organizations. He’ll compete for a spot on a Boston roster that has plenty of high-end lefty starters but little in the way of lefty relief options.

Poll: Still-Unemployed Top Ten Free Agents

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Spring training has begun, and while recent announcements by the Cubs and Padres of nine-figure deals (with Yu Darvish and Eric Hosmer, respectively) have quieted cries of collusion from the player’s union, the unemployment level of top free agents remains historic. Specifically, five of MLBTR’s top ten free agents (excluding Masahiro Tanaka, who never actually reached free agency) are still unsigned. The recent mega-contracts have overshadowed the urgency of the situation for these free agents, as they’ve got barely more than a month left to find jobs before Opening Day. As each day passes, it becomes more difficult to simply assume that Jake Arrieta, Mike Moustakas, Lance Lynn, Greg Holland and Alex Cobb will all agree to terms before that time comes.

The market on the above players isn’t totally cold as of now. On the contrary, there seems to be some buzz surrounding many of them. Here’s what we know at the moment…

Arrieta and his representatives were said to be “having dialogue” as recently as four days ago, and it’s believed that there’s real interest being explored. At the same time, though, there appears to be a gap between the two sides’ bargaining positions. There have also been multiple recent reports that the Phillies don’t want to lock themselves into a long-term deal to improve their rotation. While Darvish fell short of expectations with a $126MM guarantee, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports says Boras is attempting to convince front offices that Arrieta compares more favorably to David Price, Max Scherzer and Zack Greinke. The oft-vehement Boras apparently sees Darvish as an “analytics phenom”, but describes analytics as a “management excuse to keep salaries down.” He also says that Arrieta beats Darvish in something he calls “prestige” value. Heyman lists seven teams as potential landing spots for Arrieta, believing he’s most likely to land with the Nationals, Brewers or Phillies.

Moustakas seems to have little traction with any MLB club at this point. The Braves have engaged his camp, but there seems to be no evidence that a deal is likely to come together. The White Sox have also been loosely linked to him. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll return to Kansas City at this point, as the Royals would apparently rather give Cheslor Cuthbert a shot at third base as they begin to rebuild. Moose reportedly has plenty of one-year offers on the table, but it’s not clear whether he’ll receive any significant multi-year offers at this point in the offseason.

Lynn hasn’t been forced to dramatically lower his asking price, and last we heard, the Twins preferred him to the other options available on the market. Earlier reports suggest he’s received interest from seven or eight teams in recent weeks, including the Orioles, Brewers, Nationals, and Mets in addition to the aforementioned Twins. For his part, Lynn believes there’s “nothing really to worry about — at this moment.“

Holland has the coldest market on this list, at least publicly. The Wade Davis signing seemingly eliminated the possibility of a reunion with the Rockies, and in nearly two months since then, the only public mentions of Holland have been from the Nationals and the Cardinals. Both of those mentions were negative, with the former saying they weren’t very high on him and the latter expressing trepidation about giving a big contract to a closer. Of course, those teams could still be suitors if Holland’s asking price drops far enough, and so could the Indians. I also mentioned the Astros, Rangers, Cubs and Brewers as potential fits back in mid-January.

Cobb reportedly had an offer from the Cubs earlier in the offseason that was said to be in three-year, $42MM range. His camp passed on it, and his market has little in the way of clarity at this point. The Twins showed interest at one point, while the Mets would reportedly explore signing him if his asking price drops far enough. That’s about the only direct link between him and an MLB club we’ve heard about in recent months, though. The Orioles seem to believe he’s too expensive, and the Cubs might not have a clear role for him following the Darvish pact.

A lot can happen in one month; the free agent action so far in February should serve as a prime indicator of that. But at this point it looks possible that one or more of the top ten free agents could hold out into the regular season in hopes of nailing down a guarantee to his liking. With that in mind, I’d like to ask the readers two questions. How many of these players do you think will still be unemployed when the first pitch is thrown on Opening Day, and who do you think is most likely to be unsigned by that point?

Poll link for app users

Poll link for app users

Quick Hits: Defense, Chargois, Adolfo

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How has the decrease in balls in play over the past few years affected defensive opportunities? Travis Sawchik of Fangraphs seeks to answer this question with an in-depth look at different positions on the diamond. Because of the trend of rising strikeout rates and home run totals among MLB hitters, there are fewer opportunities overall for defenders to make plays in the field. But it turns out the decrease in putout chances hasn’t spread evenly among the positions. While first basemen and third basemen on the whole have seen a similar number of opportunities, outfielders and middle infielders have seen theirs decrease significantly. Perhaps, then, this could lead to more focus on offense at these premium positions. Sawchik notes that the Indians weren’t shy about testing Jason Kipnis in center field at the end of last season, and reminds readers that the Reds are giving third base prospect Nick Senzel a test run at shortstop this spring. He also posits that there could be less of a concern with moving an “offensive-minded but large-framed” shortstop off of the position, citing Corey Seager and Carlos Correa as players of that type. Sawchik’s article provides helpful visuals that make the trends clear.

Other items from around the major leagues…

  • Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press takes a closer look at the Twins’ decision to place the once-promising J.T. Chargois on outright waivers. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted yesterday, Chargois was not long ago considered to be one of the club’s top relief prospects and perhaps a future closer. Twins GM Thad Levine says he isn’t surprised that Chargois was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers. “He’s got plus-plus stuff and he’s got an option remaining,” said Levine. “He’s got a lot of positive attributes. Probably, if anything, (I’m) maybe a little surprised he got that far in the process.” As the World Series runner-up, the Dodgers had the second to last waiver priority, meaning that 28 teams passed on Chargois before L.A. got its shot to claim him.
  • White Sox prospect Micker Adolfo will miss six weeks with an elbow injury, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago reports. The 21-year-old outfielder complained of soreness in his elbow recently, and the results of an MRI determined that he had both a UCL sprain and a flexor tendon strain in his right arm. “We do not yet have a plan for him moving forward,” said GM Rick Hahn on the injury. “In the coming days, we will. As we sit here now there is a decent chance that rehab will allow him an ample time to heal. If that does not work, surgery is an option at some point. We are not there yet.” Adolfo was rated as the White Sox’ 14th overall prospect by MLB.com headed into the season. He spent the 2017 season at Class-A Kannapolis, where he hit .264/.331/.453 across 473 plate appearances, though his .366 BABIP suggests that some luck was involved, while his 31.5% strikeout rate is further cause for concern.

Reds Sign Oliver Perez To Minor-League Deal

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11:17am: Sheldon tweets that Perez will earn $1.25MM if he makes the MLB roster, and has $500K available performance bonuses. He’ll be able to opt out of the contract at the end of camp if he isn’t added to the roster by then.

11:02am: The Reds have added left-hander Oliver Perez to their bullpen competition; he’ll receive a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training (hat tip to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com).

The 36-year-old veteran has spent parts of 15 seasons pitching in the major leagues (both as a starter and a reliever), and Cincinnati will be his eighth organization on that journey. Most recently, Perez completed a two-year, $7MM contract with the Nationals for whom he appeared in 114 games while pitching to a 4.81 ERA and 4.55 xFIP. His WPA was 0.46 during that time.

While Perez has experienced a wide variance in overall effectiveness throughout his major-league career, his reputation against left-handed hitters is solid. He’s faced them a total of 1,541 times and held them to just a .228/.318/.365 batting line. That skill has still managed to hold up as he’s aged, as evidenced by the .227/.301/.364 batting line of his lefty opponents in 2017.

The Reds’ bullpen was historically bad in 2016, and would’ve been below replacement level overall again last season if it hadn’t been for an excellent showing from closer Raisel Iglesias. That being said, Perez isn’t a lock to crack the club’s major-league roster. Fellow lefty Wandy Peralta is a solid incumbent who figures to be in the Reds’ bullpen come opening day, and Amir Garrett might also be in the mix if he doesn’t land a spot in the rotation. Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen are among the right-handers set to return, and the club also added Jared Hughes and David Hernandez on major-league deals to fill two more vacancies.

Twins Sign Erick Aybar

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Feb. 24th: The Twins have announced the signing.

Feb. 23rd: The Twins have agreed to a minor-league deal with infielder Erick Aybar, according to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. The contract includes a MLB invite. Aybar’s potential salary is $1.25MM and there are some plate appearance-based incentives, too, per Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link). The deal also includes an opt-out opportunity on March 27th.

Aybar signed on with the Padres last year in hopes of rebounding from a pair of tough seasons, but ended up struggling in San Diego. Over 370 plate appearances, Aybar slashed just .234/.300/.348 over 370 plate appearances and continued to post sub-par metrics at shortstop. The 34-year-old switch-hitter also missed time with a foot fracture.

Minnesota won’t be handing its regular shortstop job over to Aybar, of course, but it could allow him to compete for a bench spot. Ehire Adrianza currently seems like the favorite to function as a utility infielder, but Aybar will now join Gregorio Petit and Taylor Featherston as potential non-roster options in camp.

It has now been some time since Aybar was a quality regular, but he certainly was that and more earlier in his career with the Angels. In addition to being a quality defender, Aybar was a league-average hitter from 2009 through 2014.

NL West Notes: Barnes, Tomas, Giants

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When Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi isn’t working to get an edge on rival teams, he’s trying to out-maneuver those within the organization in fantasy football, as Andy McCullough writes in a fun piece for the Los Angeles Times. Dodgers players are regretting their decision to allow the executive into the team’s league, it seems, as he has run off three-straight championships. Among the many choice quotes are several from L.A. ace Clayton Kershaw, who calls Zaidi a “big loophole guy.” Opportunistic claims and creative roster-building tactics evidently play as well in fantasy football as they do in compiling a winning ballclub.

Here are a few notes out of the NL West:

  • Elbow health is a topic of attention in Dodgers camp, McCullough further reports, though perhaps fortunately the issue is to this point mostly centered on the position-player group. Star shortstop Corey Seager is being treated with care in camp, but there’s also a new concern with catcher/second baseman Austin Barnes. The 28-year-old, who turned in a breakout 2017 season, is working out but won’t be allowed to throw in a game for the first week of action after some elbow inflammation arose over the offseason. Barnes says he “probably threw too much” over the winter in an effort to improve at cutting down baserunners, but also insists he is capable of going at full speed. The Los Angeles organization has an admirable group of catchers and seems mostly to be acting out of caution, so for now this is just a situation to keep an eye on.
  • The Diamondbacks face an increasingly difficult challenge with regard to outfielder Yasmany Tomas, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes. It’s possible that the lumbering slugger could be optioned or outrighted rather than opening on the active roster, Piecoro suggests. Following an injury-limited season in which the 27-year-old Tomas limped to a .241/.294/.464 batting line, Arizona has made alternative plans in the outfield and doesn’t seem to have much use for one of its most highly-compensated players. With $10MM owed for 2018, there’s not much hope of finding another organization to take over his contract, particularly since he can opt to secure an additional $32.5MM over the ensuing two seasons. The post is a detailed look at a situation that doesn’t admit of easy answers.
  • ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick checks in on Giants camp, discussing the veteran-heavy unit that will try to engineer a dramatic turnaround following a moribund 2017 effort. Executive VP of baseball operations Brian Sabean discussed in broad terms the fact that the team’s offseason strategy involved bringing in established players whose best days are likely in the past. He suggests that many supremely talented players ought to be able to thrive even as they move out of their prime years. “I don’t think the industry gives itself enough credit with the initiatives we’ve taken with sports science, rest and recovery, nutrition, offseason conditioning, in-season conditioning, the new off days built into the schedule and the new ways to travel that are more elite and more first class,” explains Sabean. While moves for Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria, and others were surely made in part because they allowed the club to add proven performers while staying below the luxury tax line, it does seem the San Francisco organization believes that some of its competitors may be a bit too fixated on age. Some of the newly added and preexisting veterans echo that sentiment; there’s plenty more of interest to unpack in the article.

AL West Notes: Weaver, Chapman, A’s Ballpark, Rangers

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Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register has an interesting piece on Jered Weaver, the long-time Angels hurler who’s now enjoying retired life after an ill-fated stop with the Padres in 2017. The interview is well worth a read in its entirety, particularly for fans of the Halos or Weaver in particular. There is one notable bit of historical hot stove information regarding Weaver’s 2011 extension, which was widely viewed at the time as a relative bargain for the team. The 35-year-old says he got just what he wanted out of the deal, which was to sign a contract that bought out his remaining good years and allowed the organization to afford other improvements. “I would still have two more years left on my contract if I waited for free agency and signed a seven-year deal,” Weaver tells Fletcher. “There’s no way I could even pick up a ball and I’d be making like $30 million. I’m totally OK with where I’m at right now. I’m glad it unfolded the way it did. It all worked perfectly.”

Here are a few more notes from the AL West:

  • The Athletics received promising news on third baseman Matt Chapman, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee reports. Chapman underwent an MRI after experiencing hand soreness, but fortunately no structural concerns were identified. He’ll continue to rest and receive a cortisone shot, but hopes are that the issue will soon be behind him. The 24-year-old only played half of the year at the MLB level in 2017 but turned in exciting results, with outstanding glovework and above-average hitting. His lofty strikeout totals remain a concern, but the A’s clearly believe Chapman can be a mainstay at the hot corner for years to come.
  • Even as the A’s continue to try to develop a new core group of young players, the organization remains engaged in a complicated stadium building effort. Matier & Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle covered the latest developments recently, with club president Dave Kaval saying the team still hopes to line up a plan by the end of the year. The Athletics believed they were on track last fall before encountering a major roadblock. As the Chronicle report explains in full, another obstacle arose to a potential site at Oakland’s Howard Terminal — an option that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has endorsed (via the Chronicle’s John Shea) — with Kaval saying the possibility of building a new facility at the location of the O.co Coliseum is “probably now the front-runner,” at least in terms of timing and feasibility, though the organization still prefers to move downtown.
  • Because the Rangers intend to utilize a six-man rotation, their bullpen plans are also changing, as Jeff Wilson of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram writes. Texas is going to ask for mutiple innings from multiple relievers, skipper Jeff Banister suggests. And some members of the rotation my pop out to the pen at times to fill in the gaps. It certainly seems to be shaping up to be an interesting experiment.

Royals Sign Michael Saunders

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6:38pm: Saunders can earn $1.5MM on the MLB roster with as much as $500K in available incentives, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweets.

3:36pm: The Royals have announced the signing of outfielder Michael Saunders to a minor-league deal. It seems that the recent agreement between Saunders and the Pirates has been torn up.

When Saunders put pen to paper with Pittsburgh, he was slated to battle with Daniel Nava and others for a spot in the outfield mix. But the Bucs’ recent acquisition of Corey Dickerson left Saunders without much of a path to the MLB roster.

Saunders’s agent, Barry Meister, says the Pirates allowed his client to pursue other opportunities after the new development, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter links). Meister says the team “should be commended for their player-friendly, honest and transparent behavior.”

At the end of the day, then, Saunders will enter a different but perhaps even more promising situation in Kansas City. He’ll still need to earn his way onto the roster, but there’s a solid chance he can do so with a good performance this spring. Outside of Alex Gordon, the Royals are thin in terms of lefty outfield bats; Saunders will presumably compete with non-roster invitees Cody Asche and Tyler Collins in camp for a chance at a role in the majors.

Saunders is coming off of a miserable 2017 season and has a long history of injury troubles. But he has had some quality campaigns in the majors, including a 2016 effort with the Blue Jays in which he posted a .253/.338/.478 batting line over 558 plate appearances. At his best, he has also graded well in the field and on the bases, so it could be that the 31-year-old still has some productive seasons ahead of him.

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