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White Sox Notes: Castillo, Abreu, Smith, Santiago, Davidson

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“I see as much young talent here as I’ve ever seen anywhere,” White Sox catcher Welington Castillo told Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times about his new team’s spring camp, and that includes Castillo’s previous stint on the north side of Chicago.  “In 2013, when I was with the Cubs, we weren’t even close to what we’ve got here,’’ Castillo said. ‘‘In 2014, [the Cubs] started changing; you started to see more about the big prospects.  But they still weren’t really coming to the big leagues.  The White Sox, our prospects are already here, and they’re building together.  This organization is still a step ahead of the Cubs [in 2014].”  It remains to be seen if the current Sox core can possibly match up with what the Cubs have accomplished over the last three seasons, though given the amount of top-tier young players the White Sox have acquired in their rebuild, there is no shortage of promise for a quick return to contention for the franchise. 

Here’s more from the White Sox camp…

  • Both Jose Abreu and Kevan Smith made early exits from today’s Cactus League game with the Rangers, as MLB.com’s Alyson Footer and others reported.  Left hamstring tightness forced Abreu out of the game after two innings, while Smith suffered a left ankle sprain in the fifth inning.  More will be known about both injuries tomorrow, though manager Rick Renteria doesn’t believe either issue is particularly serious.  X-rays on Smith’s ankle already came back negative, yet any missed time could hurt the catcher in his battle with Omar Narvaez for the backup catcher’s job behind Castillo.  Abreu’s roster spot obviously isn’t in question, though any type of injury to their best hitter is worrisome for the White Sox.
  • Renteria hinted that Hector Santiago may have won himself a 25-man roster spot, telling The Athletic’s James Fegan (Twitter link) and other reporters that he likes to use a left-hander (like Santiago) in relief of a right-handed starter, and noted Santiago’s ability to provide multiple innings out of the pen.  Chicago signed several veteran relievers to minor league deals this winter, though Santiago is standing out from the competition with excellent spring numbers, posting an 0.75 ERA over his first 12 innings.  Santiago’s minors contract with the White Sox will pay him $2MM should he crack the Major League roster.
  • Matt Davidson is “not paying attention to anything else other than really my contact rate” this spring, the third baseman tells James Fegan of The Athletic (subscription required).  Davidson hit 26 homers in 443 PA last season, but contributed little else besides that pure power, with an overall .220/.260/.452 slash line and a whopping 165 strikeouts against just 19 walks.  Davidson knows he has to become a more well-rounded player in order to stick with the Sox given the strong competition for jobs in camp and during the regular season.

AL East Notes: Marrero, Holt, Swihart, Machado, Morales

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Alex Cobb’s agreement with the Orioles is the day’s biggest news out of the AL East, but here are some more notable items from around the division…

  • The Red Sox seem to be inclined to carry the out-of-options Blake Swihart on the active roster to open the season, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reports.  While the club obviously feels it doesn’t want to lose out on his upside, that decision would also create some constraints elsewhere — perhaps forcing the Sox to make a move instead with one of their utility infielders.  Indeed, as Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal writes (subscription link), the Sox have begun putting out feelers with other organizations regarding Deven Marrero (who is also out of option) and Brock Holt. While it’s not clear that either has drawn significant interest, it seems the team is preparing to move one of them or another similar player as part of its roster-maintenance efforts at the tail end of camp.
  • Manny Machado’s move back to shortstop was inspired by his love for the position, the Orioles star tells ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick, not as a way to better position himself for free agency next winter.  “I think a lot of people are saying, ’He’s going over there because he wants more money or more value.’  It doesn’t come down to money or more value,” Machado said.  “I’ve already established myself as a player.  I’m worth what I’m worth already.  It doesn’t matter if I’m at short or third.  The transition over there is because that’s where my heart is.  That’s what I do.”  Machado’s preparation for the position switch included changes to his diet and offseason training regimen, and scouts have given promising early reviews about Machado’s defensive prowess at shortstop.
  • Kendrys Morales lost weight in the offseason and is hoping to adjust his swing so that he hits fewer grounders in 2018, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes.  Due to his lack of speed and opposing fielders playing the shift, Morales grounded into 22 double plays last season, which helped contributed to his below-average 97 wRC+ despite 28 homers and lots of hard contact.  The subpar offensive performance and Morales’ lack of defensive contributions made him a sub-replacement level (-0.6 fWAR) player in his first year with the Blue Jays.

Yankees Notes: Salazar, Darvish, Wade, Ellsbury, Machado

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Some items from the Bronx…

  • Indians right-hander Danny Salazar was one of several pitchers the Yankees considered as potential trade targets last winter, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes.  Salazar is controlled via arbitration through the 2020 season and he has shown excellent promise when healthy, posting a 3.82 ERA, 10.5 K/9, and 3.27 K/BB rate over 587 1/3 career innings with the Tribe.  Unfortunately, Salazar has also been bothered by shoulder and elbow problems over the last two years, and he looks to miss at least a bit of time at the start of the 2018 season due to rotator cuff inflammation.  Despite the health risks, Salazar has been a popular trade target for multiple teams, with the Cubs and Brewers both being linked to the righty this offseason.
  • Also from Sherman’s piece, he doesn’t blame the Yankees for jumping at the unique opportunity to land Giancarlo Stanton, though in terms of pure payroll allocation, rotation help was more of a need than another big bat.  Aside from re-signing C.C. Sabathia, the Yankees didn’t do much to address possible questions in the rotation, though they did explore trades for the likes of Salazar and Gerrit Cole.  New York was only on the periphery of the Yu Darvish hunt, with GM Brian Cashman telling Sherman that “We talked about Darvish with [his agent] Joel Wolfe, but it never got off the ground. We kept seeing if his market collapsed and it didn’t.”  Cashman also noted that “Darvish was never a choice for us, in terms of length [of contract request] with a pitcher,” which Sherman interprets as the Yankees no longer being comfortable handing out major long-term deals to pitchers in their 30’s and/or with notable injury histories.
  • Tyler Wade will be on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster, manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters.  Wade’s multi-positional versatility will help a New York team that is only planning to have a three-man bench for now, in order to deploy an eight-man bullpen.  Wade’s roster opportunity may come at the expense of Jacoby Ellsbury, who Boone said isn’t likely to be ready for the start of the season as the veteran outfielder continues to recover from an oblique injury.
  • The Yankees have long been considered a prime suitor for Manny Machado when the Orioles star hits free agency next winter, though Mike Axisa of the River Ave Blues blog questions whether the two sides are an ideal fit.  For one, New York has solid-to-very good shortstop and third base options both at the big league level (Didi Gregorius, Brandon Drury, Wade) and coming up in the minors (Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar), so even though Machado is an elite player, the Yankees might prefer to spend their money on pitching instead of the left side of the infield.  To that same end, Axisa wonders if the Yankees will, as rumored, once again far exceed the luxury tax level for big-money free agents like Machado, given Hal Steinbrenner’s desire to keep payroll relatively in check, at least by the Yankees’ standards.

Alex Dickerson To Undergo Tommy John Surgery, Miss 2018 Season

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Padres outfielder Alex Dickerson will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a sprained UCL in his throwing elbow, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (Twitter link).  Dickerson had been considering non-surgical options but instead he’ll go under the knife near the end of March, and be sidelined for the entire 2018 season.

Dickerson, 27, made a good impression as a rookie in 2016, hitting .257/.333/.455 with 10 homers over 285 plate appearances for San Diego.  He hasn’t played a big league game since, however, as back problems and eventual surgery sidelined him for all of 2017.  Dickerson was already facing a tough path to a 25-man roster spot due to the Padres’ crowded left field situation, and now he’ll lose another year of his career due to the Tommy John procedure.

A third-round pick for the Pirates in the 2011 draft, Dickerson came to the Padres in November 2013 in a trade for Jaff Decker and Miles Mikolas.  Dickerson has posted very strong minor league numbers, with a career .309/.367/.501 slash line over 2138 PA down on the farm.  Baseball America ranked him as San Diego’s 22nd-best prospect prior to the 2016 season.

Pirates Release Daniel Nava

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The Pirates have released outfielder Daniel Nava, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter).  The 35-year-old veteran signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh last month but his chances of winning a job dimmed after the Pirate acquired Corey Dickerson.  If the roster crunch wasn’t enough, Nava underwent back surgery in late February, sidelining him for a projected 10-to-12 weeks.

This might not be the end of Nava’s days in Pittsburgh, however, as Pirates GM Neal Huntington told reporters (including Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that he hopes to re-sign Nava to a new deal “to continue his rehab and hopefully help our Major League club later this summer.”  A reunion certainly seems possible, as Nava might prefer to take a new contract now rather than wait until he is healthy to explore options with other teams.

Whatever the scenario, the outfielder will surely draw some interest given his strong track record against right-handed pitching.  The switch-hitting Nava owns a .281/.374/.404 slash line in 1541 career plate appearances against righties, and he enjoyed a solid (albeit injury-shortened) season with the Phillies in 2017.  Nava hit .301/.393/.421 in 214 PA for the Phils, reviving his career after struggling through lackluster years in 2015-16.

Orioles Close To Agreement With Alex Cobb

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5:50PM: If completed, the deal would be a four-year pact, according to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko (Twitter link).

5:19PM: Rosenthal hears from a source that a deal is indeed close, though the three-year/$50MM terms from Rosenthal’s previous report are “not accurate.”

4:39PM: Right-hander Alex Cobb’s long stay in the free agent market could be nearing an end, as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link) “there’s a strong belief that” Cobb is closing in on a new contract.  The Orioles are considered by most to be the favorites to sign the 30-year-old, according to Passan, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter) reports that the deal between the two sides is expected to be at least a three-year pact.  Rosenthal adds that the O’s and Cobb had been discussing contracts in the range of three years and $50MM.

Cobb and the O’s have been linked for much of the offseason, as the righty was a natural fit for a Baltimore team that entered the winter with a dire need for pitching.  The Orioles have already turned to free agency to sign Andrew Cashner and re-sign Chris Tillman, with those two veterans slotting in behind Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy in the rotation.  Cobb would not only be a decided upgrade over current fifth starter candidates Mike Wright, Nestor Cortes Jr., and Miguel Castro, but the argument could be made that Cobb would be the best starter on Baltimore’s entire staff.

As Passan noted, Cobb has been holding out for a multi-year deal, as opposed to the one-year contracts that several notable players (i.e. Lance Lynn, Mike Moustakas, Carlos Gonzalez, Jonathan Lucroy, Logan Morrison, Neil Walker) have been forced to settle for in recent weeks due to the unprecedented lack of activity in the free agent market.  Given this environment, a deal in the $50MM neighborhood would be a particularly nice result for Cobb and his representatives at the Beverly Hills Sports Council.  That would actually be higher than the $48MM MLB Trade Rumors predicted Cobb would receive when we ranked him 11th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents, though we projected that $48MM to come over a four-year contract.

NL East Notes: Robles, Walker, Swanson

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Some items from around the NL East…

  • The Nationals optioned outfielder Victor Robles to Triple-A today, a move that came as little surprise given that the club didn’t want to keep Robles on the big league bench rather than gaining valuable everyday experience in the minors.  Robles, a consensus top-six prospect in baseball, bypassed Triple-A entirely last season when he was called up by the Nats for 13 September games (plus a spot on the NLDS roster).  Washington is already set in the outfield with Bryce Harper, Michael Taylor, and Adam Eaton, leaving Robles without a clear path to playing time.  He’ll begin 2018 getting his first taste of Triple-A ball and one would expect he’ll again return to the Nats roster this season, though the exact timing could be in question depending on if the Nationals want to manage Robles’ service time.
  • Neil Walker kept the idea of a return to the Mets open until the team signed Todd Frazier, Walker tells Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media.  The infielder and the Mets “just kept in touch about interest levels, so on and so forth,” Walker said.  “They were just checking in to see if I was willing to come back and things like that. I certainly was.  But, really, when Frazier came in, we kind of felt like it wasn’t a possibility.”  The Mets were known to be exploring a wide range of options at second and third base, ranging from everyday players to utility options, and they eventually struck on both fronts by re-signing Jose Reyes for a backup role and signing Frazier for more or less everyday duties at the hot corner.  Walker ended up signing with New York’s other team, inking a one-year $4MM deal with the Yankees
  • Dansby Swanson’s first full MLB season didn’t go as planned, as the Braves shortstop and former first overall pick struggled to a .232/.312/.324 slash line over 551 and was even briefly demoted back to Triple-A.  Despite the lack of results, Swanson told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that he is looking at his 2017 as a learning opportunity.  “Just because last year didn’t go as planned, it doesn’t mean that this year won’t,” Swanson said.  “We all struggle at points in our lives.  I’m grateful it happened early, because you can build off that and learn your lessons and move forward.  I don’t even look at it as failure.  I look at it as growth.”  Still just 24 years old, Swanson has been working on his fielding and has adopted a new positioning of his hands on the bat as he looks to break out as Atlanta’s everyday shortstop.

Braves Return Rule 5 Pick Anyelo Gomez To Yankees

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The Braves have returned Rule 5 draft pick Anyelo Gomez to the Yankees, as announced by New York’s official Twitter feed.  The 25-year-old right-hander has been assigned to the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.  Atlanta had originally selected Gomez out of the Yankees’ farm system with the eighth overall pick of last December’s Rule 5 Draft.

Gomez owns a 3.24 ERA, 9.3 K/9, and 2.58 K/BB rate over 269 1/3 career innings in the minors.  Most of that experience is in the lower levels, though he impressed enough in 2017 to earn a promotion to Double-A (36 2/3 IP over 17 games) and even a brief two-inning cup of coffee at the Triple-A level.  Gomez started just one of his 38 games last season, and the move to the bullpen resulted in a 1.92 ERA in 70 1/3 innings across all levels.  With an abundance of strong arms in the minors, Gomez’s return only further reinforces the Yankees’ depth, though he is probably behind several other pitchers in terms of getting a big league promotion some time this season.

The Braves technically had two Rule 5 picks on their roster, as injury-plagued right-hander Dan Winkler’s Rule 5 status is still in effect despite missing much of the last three seasons due to injuries.  Winkler and the other intriguing arms in Atlanta’s system created a tough road for Gomez to find a spot on the 25-man roster, and he didn’t help his case with a rocky performance (10.80 ERA) over 8 1/3 Spring Training innings.

Mark Leiter Diagnosed With Mild Flexor Strain

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Phillies righty Mark Leiter has been diagnosed with a mild flexor strain, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (via Twitter). He will be shut down for two to three weeks before attempting to ramp back up.

That’s certainly disappointing news, though far from the worst-case scenario. Leiter underwent an MRI after reporting forearm tightness. With fellow starter Jerad Eickhoff also suffering an injury late in camp, the Phillies organization was surely holding its collective breath.

Leiter says he anticipates missing about a month of the season. Of course, the specific timeline will depend not only on how he responds to the injury, but also how long it takes him to build back up to full strength and what kind of precautions the club takes.

The pair of injuries leaves the Phillies’ rotation a bit under-staffed, though there are certainly options on hand. Roster Resource now predicts that Nick Pivetta and Ben Lively will occupy the last two spots in the starting staff to begin the season. Drew Hutchison, Jake Thompson, and Zach Eflin are the other starters with substantial MLB experience who could conceivably round out the unit or function as depth.

Of course, the loss of depth could also add some impetus to pursuit of an outside acquisition. It’s not really clear at this point, though, whether that’s a realistic consideration. The Phils have already spent some money on the pitching staff in the form of Jake Arrieta and a few relievers, while also adding Carlos Santana to their lineup.

If the club does turn to the open market, the top name is unquestionably Alex Cobb, though he would likely require a significant outlay. There are a few veteran hurlers still looking for work, too, including such notable names as John Lackey, Jake Peavy, Matt Garza, Scott Feldman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Locke, and — if he’s still at all interested in playing — R.A. Dickey. It’s also possible the Phillies could keep an eye on the waiver wire and look at released non-roster invitees as camps draw to a close.

Astros Extend Jose Altuve

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The Astros have officially struck a massive extension with star second baseman Jose Altuve. The deal, which includes a full no-trade clause, reportedly promises Altuve $151MM over five seasons.

Altuve is already under contract through 2019, a season the Astros control through a $6.5MM club option under the incredibly team-friendly deal the sides struck back in 2013. Of course, at the time, the second baseman was nowhere near the top-line performer he is today. Altuve has since changed representation, joining the Boras Corporation.

The new contract will begin at the conclusion of his existing deal, meaning the five-year term will begin with the 2020 campaign. This pact, then, will give Houston control over Altuve through the 2024 season, which will be his age-34 effort.

Altuve receives $21MM in the form of a signing bonus, with $1MM due upon final approval of the contract, $10MM later this season and $10MM in 2019. The contract provides a $26MM annual salary in each of the five seasons. That rate can escalate in the final three years of the contract depending upon his performance in the MVP voting, with a $3MM bump for a first-place finish, a $2MM bump for a second-place showing, and $1MM if he comes in third, allowing for maximum increases of $3MM, $6MM, and then $9MM in the 2022-24 campaigns.

Houston is wrapping up a historic season in which the organization broke through with a World Series title. Altuve was a central component of that undertaking. He qualified for his fourth-straight All-Star game, won his third batting title in four seasons, and capped things off by taking home honors as the Most Valuable Player in the American League.

Despite his diminutive stature, Altuve has developed into an offensive force. He put up high-quality campaigns in 2014 and 2015 before going to another level over the past two seasons. Since the start of 2016, Altuve carries a .341/.403/.539 batting line with 48 home runs. He doesn’t walk all that much and has traded just a bit of his impeccable contact ability for some additional pop, but Altuve still maintained a quality K/BB ratio (12.7% strikeout rate vs. 8.8% walk rate) in 2017.

That’s rare air for a middle infielder, making Altuve all the more valuable. While he has generally graded out as an average performer at second, there’s also value in his legs. He has already swipe 231 bags in his career and was credited with creating four runs on the bases in 2017 by Fangraphs’ BsR measure.

The new contract rewards one of the game’s best players with a significant new payday, and does so two full seasons before he’d have reached the open market. As McTaggart notes, this will easily be the largest deal ever struck in team history, handily topping the $100MM Carlos Lee contract.

Though the deal only covers five additional seasons, it does so at a top-level rate of pay. This contract is just the sixth in MLB history that includes an average annual value of over $30MM and is easily the largest extension for a second baseman cataloged in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker.

MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart first reported the agreement. Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted that the agreement was in place and reported the financial details in a series of tweets. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reported the no-trade clause on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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