Oct. 27: Rosenthal’s showcase seems to have gone well, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. The righty reportedly sat at around 98 MPH for much of the session and apparently touched 100 at least once. The event was “well attended” by front office personnel around the league.
Sept. 26: Rosenthal announced on Twitter that his showcase will be held October 3rd in Irvine, CA.
Aug. 14: Former Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal’s progress from Tommy John surgery appears to be progressing nicely, as the right-hander took to Twitter today to announce that he’s planning an October showcase for interested clubs. Rosenthal has tweeted a few clips of himself pitching over the past month and included another with today’s announcement.
Details of his showcase aren’t yet clear, but it stands to reason that virtually every team in the Majors will at least have a scout on hand to watch the former All-Star. By the time October rolls around, Rosenthal will be 13 months removed from the operation he underwent late last August — closer to 14 months if he waits until the end of the month. He’ll be a full 18 months removed from surgery by the time pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training next February.
Rosenthal had multiple options in free agency this past offseason. Some hurlers in similar situations of late have inked modest two-year deals, locking in some earnings but also leaving plenty of upside on the table. Instead, Rosenthal will pursue much the same route that fellow closer and fellow Scott Boras client Greg Holland took after having Tommy John surgery late in the 2015 season. Holland sat out the 2016 campaign entirely and signed a one-year, $7MM deal with heaps of incentives and a vesting player option.
Unlike Holland, who was 29 when he had his surgery and 31 by the time he signed with the Rockies, Rosenthal will have relative youth on his side. He underwent surgery at the age of 27 and won’t turn 29 until late next May, so he’ll be considerably younger than Holland was. Rosenthal was also on the upswing at the time he was hurt, whereas Holland had struggled and lost velocity while evidently pitching through injury.
Still, the Holland contract could serve as something of a barometer when trying to gauge Rosenthal’s earning power this offseason, and it’s likely encouraging for Rosenthal’s camp that in spite of last year’s free-agent freeze, relief pitchers as a group were generally still well-compensated. It seems likely to expect that, if all goes well at his showcase, he’ll be in position to command a big league deal with a fairly significant salary in addition to performance incentives. If Rosenthal shows the same stuff he did in 2017 — when he averaged 98.8 mph with his fastball and generated a 15.9% swinging-strike rate — then there could be a bidding war.
Rosenthal’s track record will obviously also be a factor. While his tenure with the Cardinals had its ups and downs, his collective body of work in St. Louis was unquestionably impressive. In 325 innings out of the Cardinals’ bullpen, Rosenthal pitched to a 2.99 ERA and racked up 121 saved. Along the way, he averaged 12.1 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 and 0.47 HR/9 with a 44.6 percent ground-ball rate. Rosenthal’s fastball averaged 97.4 mph in his time with the Cardinals, and he generated a healthy 13.1 percent swinging-strike rate and a 30.3 percent chase rate on pitches out of the strike zone.
Go get him back cards
According to another article, StL has interest in a reunion.
nice!
According to MLB Radio/TV, Rosenthal would jump at the opportunity to rejoin the Cardinals. I sure hope that report is accurate. The Cardinals would be a fool for not resigning him to a low salary which is loaded with incentives extension options which could bring him the big bucks and it would all be based on his performance. But…..Remember, the Cardinals have John Mozeliak as their head of baseball operations. He’s the one who can’t see or read actual talent. (I. E.) Cecil, Gregerson, Leone, Holland, etc. etc. Please remember….Mozeliak’s choice as closer this season was Luke Gregerson. Gregerson, Cecil, Leone, Tyler Lyons and Holland were to be Mozeliak’s knockout relief pitchers this season. Where are they now??? Another Mozeliak screw up! If the main owner of the Cardinals, Bill DeWitt, hadn’t marched Mozeliak down to Mathaney’s office to fire him, the Cards would still be playing .500 baseball.
Weird since he was also the one that brought in Reyes, Flaherty, Weaver, Gomber, Hudson, Hicks, Gant, Alcantara, Brebbia, Mikolas, Poncedeleon and that is just recently.
Fair weather fans always nit pick and show their true selves. Leone probably would have been much better if not getting hurt. How dare Mo trade for a player that could get hurt.
How would the Cards be fools for not getting a guy signed to a low-salary, incentive-laden deal, when he’s probably going to get guaranteed money offers?
“I want my Guys to get this guy really cheap, and if they don’t, they’re stupid”.
They guy who built a world championship team and kept the franchise in contention without tanking?
Shhhh dont bring facts to a bs statement.
Mozeliak has been playing poker with the chips that Luhnow brought to the table. Don’t kid yourself.
Wrong. There’s hardly anyone on this team that luhnow is responsible for. Don’t just throw out comments when you’re clearly a clueless moron
Oh shut up you dunce. Mo is one of the best GMs in baseball for a reason. Fake fan. I hate BFIBs
Good luck Rosy.
Good player. Will be an interesting case.
Go to the Fish finally.
The Padres closer in 2019. Calling it now.
Good luck! This one is worth 7,500 internet points, so I hope you win!
Ohhh man, 7,500 Internet points!?! I got to get in on this action for sure…I’m just drooling over the endless possibilities..Sooo many activities!!
I’m thinking it ultimately comes down to the Cubs, Dodgers, and Phillies. Although, with that being said, I am going with Chicago for the W..
So yeah, let me be the first to vote Chicago..Book it JJB, and lock me in please good sir!!
I’ll toss my hat in and say the Braves get involved
Red Sox!
What’s the equivalent of 7,500 internet points in Skee-Ball prize tickets?
October? Isn’t that time for hibernation rather than showcasing if you are not on a playoff team?
It’s probably an attractive time considering so many non playoff teams will be looking to next season for improvements, Also aside from showing terribly which is the only way he can hurt his stock, it just proves he’s working out conditioning as such. I compare this to the holland situation where he was signed so late and missed spring training and never really was able to lock it down, this gives rosenthal ample time to show durability and stuff to clubs who will be more willing and flexible for multiple year chances on relievers.
By signing with a team when first eligible, Rosenthal then gets to use his new employer’s resources for training/conditioning/rehab going into 2019.
Technically, he could sign now with any team and be placed in their organization. I think that would be an interesting pickup now, signing him and getting him on the roster before September 1 so he would be playoff eligible, and see if he has anything right now for an inning at a time.
looks. dont know how it works do you?
I want the Cardinals to resign him if he shows well, drop someone like cecil or gregerson in his place.
That doesn’t make any sense. they’ll go after someone like Andrew Miller who probably will do fine but also has been used so much over the last three seasons that he’ll break down. The classic Mo signing.
Giants should go get him and then just get rid of Melancon. I’d rather pay for somebody with upside than waste a roster spot for a trash reliever. Maybe if we include a prospect we can get at most half of his contract off of our hands.
Giants need to keep their prospects at this point.
Melancon isn’t good but I would rather see him released than give up a prospect.
Luxury tax doesn’t matter for the Giants in 2019. They aren’t actually crippled much by the contract, even if it was an awful signing.
Yankees. Can replace Britton’s role for next year
Yankees will also need to replace Robertson as well.
Lets say hypothetically he was ready to come back mid september. Could he be signed then and pitch in the post season, or is it the same rules as if a trade were made then? Just wondering the rules.
He has to be in the organization on September 1st.
Who cares, the redbirds have the best manager in the league!!! Mike Shildt, although looking lethargic has brought a spark to st louis that hasnt been seen in years. As a cardinal fan i am totally stoked about the resegence!!! Watch out sabermetric geeks we’re playin ball old school!!!
Haven’t been watching but your comment on SL playing old school is encouraging. The only part of today’s game I like is the shift. Make batters hit the ball where you aren’t. Simple as that.
The shift has been used by baseball teams since the 1870s.
No kidding, finally someone else sees it too ! Quit swinging out your asses all the time and hit it where they ain’t!
where was shildt in september?
relief pitching is so fickle why would you pay more than a million or two for him. everyone throws 98 now
Yes, let’s use Holland as the example, because that worked out so well. St. Louis is probably going to be leery of signing him because if it blows up, it would likely be a GM changer.
A GM changer and a game changer.
Cardinals should give Rosenthal a contract filled with incentives!! He’s earned that by his dedication to the Cardinal organization. Didn’t sign with other teams in hopes of coming back in a Cardinal uniform!!!!!
For the life of me, I still don’t understand why they didn’t go after Hernandez and sign him? Instead they went after Johnson and all tge other retreads!
Good luck to him. That’s about a mile from my office although I have no reason or desire to attend.
Nice… he’s throwing 99+ in another clip:
link to twitter.com
Sounds like the dodgers next experiment
Just wait the 18 months dude! Nobody’s hiring you for the playoffs…..
Rosy and his agent will be looking for three things..
-cash…
-situation…
-opportunity…
-The money will be as much as he can get for as long as he can get.. At the end of the day, there will be small differences between interested properties w/r to $$$$
-Situation is a bit more ethereal. St Louis would be the most likely landing spot.. This is where Rosy grew up and ascended to the ML’s. The people there are the same people there… The Cardinals foster a culture of winning and have great fan support. A winning culture should appeal to Rosy and his agent and be the most likely destination…
-The opportunity to pitch in high leverage/back of the pen situations.. Most, not all, teams already have that spot covered.. Some don’t… Look for those that currently don’t or will be losing their back of the pen stalwarts.. (like the example above about Robertson & Britton)..
Thoughts?
A return to St. Louis makes sense for many of the reasons you mentioned.
Other possibilities could be like you eluded to, based off highest AAV/ opportunity to pitch in high leverage situations or to close.
Tampa makes sense if he wants to try to be an Eovoldi 2.0 I know early in Rosenthal’s career there were experiments back and forth with him as a Starter/Reliever. The opener has no pun interested “opened” new doors for guys that a tweezers like him.
The Padres could sell high on Yates after a career year and give Trevor an opportunity, so could the Angels, White Sox. He will have some good offers to consider I do believe.
Tweeners* like him.
Angels had to be there
Another closer? Go get him, Billy.
Angels bullpen could use all the help they can get! Hope they get him.
Giants have enough old guys – no.
He’s only 28 lol
This is teed up perfectly for a homecoming regarding TR & this kind of signing is right up Dayton Moore’s & the Royals alley…