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Indians Exercise Kluber’s Option, Decline Options On Kipnis, Otero

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TODAY: The moves are now official, as per the Associated Press.  Kluber’s option was exercised, while the Indians bought out Kipnis and Otero.

OCTOBER 2: Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti announced at the beginning of today’s meeting with the media that the team intends to exercise its $17.5MM club option on right-hander Corey Kluber (Twitter link via Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal). The Indians are planning to decline their $16.5MM option on second baseman Jason Kipnis in favor of a $2.5MM buyout, however, and they’ll also decline righty Dan Otero’s $1.5MM option in favor of a $100K buyout.

Corey Kluber | Peter G. Aiken/USA TODAY Sports

Although the 2019 season was a disaster for Kluber, it was never plausible that the Indians would move on from the two-time AL Cy Young winner. Kluber’s 2019 season was truncated by a forearm fracture suffered when a comeback line-drive struck him back in May. He missed nearly three months of the season and, when he was nearing a return, sustained an oblique injury that ultimately ended his year.

Even when healthy, Kluber turned in an alarming 5.80 ERA in 35 2/3 innings. However, he was plagued by a lofty .370 average on balls in play and a low 63.8 percent strand rate (career 74.7 percent), both of which seemed due for regression. His average fastball velocity was down a bit from his 2018 totals, but a look at Kluber’s readings through the beginning of May in 2018 reveals a 91.7 mph average fastball that aligns with his 91.6 mph average in 2019. Put another way: there was minimal evidence to suggest that Kluber is suddenly on a decline of this magnitude just one year after his fourth Top 3 Cy Young finish in five seasons.

Perhaps if he’d been due to become a free agent after the 2020 season, the organization would’ve given slightly more consideration to moving on (doubtful), but Kluber’s contract contains an $18MM option for the 2021 season. The Indians have been working to pare back their payroll since the beginning of last offseason, but there’s no realistic scenario in which they shy away from a $16.5MM decision on Kluber — he’d have been owed a $1MM buyout regardless — that comes with a similarly priced option for an additional season.

Jason Kipnis | Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

In the case of Kipnis, the decision was similarly straightforward. Although he briefly ranked among the game’s best second baseman, the now-32-year-old Kipnis (33 on April 3) hasn’t had an above-average season at the plate since 2016. Over his past 1485 plate appearances, he’s managed just a .236/.305/.403 batting line (86 OPS+). Add in the fact that his season ended with a fractured hamate bone that required surgical repair, and Kipnis surely saw the writing on the wall.

Lewis tweets that the team is still open to a reunion with Kipnis at a lower price, but that will depend on the level of interest expressed by other teams. Given the number of second base alternatives both in free agency and on the trade market, it’s quite possible that Kipnis will eventually have to settle for a one-year deal, so perhaps a reunion shouldn’t be ruled out. Kipnis does have a bit of experience in the outfield, which could enhance his appeal to new clubs, but he’s graded out poorly in his limited work away from second base.

It’s similarly unsurprising to see the team move on from Otero, despite the affordable nature of his option. He’ll turn 35 this February and has seen a sharp decline of his own since a brilliant run in 2016-17. Otero gave the Indians 130 2/3 innings of 2.14 ERA ball with a 95-to-19 K/BB ratio and only eight homers allowed in that ’16-’17 peak, but he’s been rocked for a 5.09 ERA with 18 home runs in 88 1/3 innings since that time. Otero still possesses superlative control, as he’s averaged less than one walk per nine innings pitched over the past two seasons, but he’s also seen his sinker dip to an average if 89.5 mph.

As far as the coaching staff is concerned, manager Terry Francona announced that the team has dismissed bullpen coach Scott Atchison but will retain the rest of his staff for the 2020 season (Twitter link via Zack Meisel of The Athletic).

Dodgers Select Victor Gonzalez’s Contract

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The Dodgers have selected the contract of left-hander Victor Gonzalez from Triple-A Oklahoma City, the team announced.  The move puts Gonzalez on the 40-man roster and protects him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

The 23-year-old Gonzalez isn’t ranked within MLB.com’s ranking of the Dodgers’ top 30 prospects, and he only just cracked the Triple-A level this year, tossing 14 innings for Oklahoma City.  Nevertheless, the L.A. front office felt he was worth keeping given Gonzalez’s impressive numbers across three minor league levels in 2019.

Beginning the year in high-A ball and ending in Triple-A, Gonzalez posted a cumulative 2.31 ERA, 9.3 K/9, and 2.91 K/BB rate over 89 2/3 innings.  Though Gonzalez started 13 of his 38 total appearances this season, he worked exclusively as a reliever in 15 Triple-A outings, and bullpen work is probably Gonzalez’s likeliest path to a possible big league debut in 2020.

With Gonzalez added, the Dodgers now have 38 players on their 40-man roster.  Teams have until November 20 to finalize their 40-man rosters in advance of the Rule 5 draft, which takes place on December 12.

Latest On Giants’ Managerial Search

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The Giants may be nearing the final stages of their search for Bruce Bochy’s replacement, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports that either former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, Astros bench coach Joe Espada, or Royals quality control coach Pedro Grifol will be the next Giants manager.  Kapler, Espada, and Grifol are the only candidates known to be asked back for a second interview, thus seemingly confirming them as the top choices.

Among other known candidates, it’s worth noting that the Athletics announced their 2020 coaching staff today, with quality control coach Mark Kotsay listed as returning.  Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens has been busy managing the Netherlands’ team in the Premier 12 tournament (which doubles as a qualifying tournament for the 2020 Olympics), which perhaps served as an early hint that he wouldn’t be promoted to the top job in San Francisco’s dugout.

“Kapler has at points been the favorite in the process,” a source tells Pavlovic, due to the longstanding relationship between Kapler and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi due to their time together in the Dodgers’ front office.  However, “it’s unclear where the search stands currently,” as both Grifol and Espada have been asked back for secondary interviews.  It could be that the Giants are simply doing their due diligence in an important decision, or perhaps one of the other two candidates has started to garner more of the team’s attention.

MLBPA Rejects Proposal For Multiyear Contract Deadline

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One of the main criticisms of Major League Baseball’s recent free-agent periods is that star players have gone too long without signing contracts. Just last offseason, the game’s two premier free agents, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, didn’t ink deals until a few weeks before the regular campaign started. The same was true of Jake Arrieta, to name one prominent example, the prior winter. But MLB has shown interest in cutting down on big-name stragglers on the open market, Evan Drellich of The Athletic explains (subscription link). Earlier this month, the league sent a proposal to the MLBPA that would’ve placed a cutoff date on free agents signing multiyear contracts, but the union summarily shot it down, according to Drellich.

“After due consideration, we rejected their proposal as not being in the best interests of players,” MLBPA senior director of collective bargaining and legal Bruce Meyer said (via Drellich). “We asked if MLB was interested in discussing other, more direct and tangible ways of incentivizing early signings and they weren’t at this time.”

Had the union said yes to the league’s idea, there wouldn’t have been any contracts of more than one year doled out past the Dec. 8-12 winter meetings. MLB at least wanted to implement the plan on a one-year trial basis this winter, Drellich reports, but the union didn’t think it would benefit the players because it might have given too much leverage to the teams. In the MLBPA’s estimation, a multiyear signing deadline would have created a “take-it-or-leave-it” mentality among some free agents, who may have felt pressured to accept an offer before the drop-dead date, potentially decreasing their earning power.

Of course, there’s also an argument a deadline would’ve taken away quite a bit of offseason intrigue. In leagues like the NFL, NBA and NHL, free agency often opens with a mad rush of headline-worthy moves before becoming rather dull with most of the top players off the board. For better or worse (depending on your perspective), that hasn’t really been the case in baseball, nor does it look as if it will be this offseason with super-agent Scott Boras set to oversee negotiations for the likes of Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg and perhaps J.D. Martinez. Boras clients (including Harper and Arrieta) have shown a willingness to hang on the open market for months until the absolute best deal comes along.

The outspoken Boras shared his opinion on MLB’s rejected FA proposal with Drellich, saying in part: “They want to make the offseason more predictive as to when players sign, and the answer to do that is to provide incentive, not limitation, on the free-agent right. A player has six years, he should determine when he signs, that should be his choice, because he’s earned that right. Any restriction, any limitation on that timeframe would restrict the right. Because some clubs make decisions in February they wouldn’t make in December. And there’s obviously a strong history for that.”

Padres Decline Aaron Loup’s Option; Robbie Erlin Elects Free Agency

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It’s been a busy day transactional day for the Padres, and the team announced two more additional moves to clear space on the 40-man roster.  San Diego declined its $2MM club option on left-hander Aaron Loup, instead paying him $200K in a buyout.  The club also parted ways with left-hander Robbie Erlin, who cleared waivers and is now a free agent.

Loup came to San Diego on a one-year deal that paid him at least $1.4MM in guaranteed money (the $200K buyout and $1.2MM in salary for 2019).  Unfortunately for the veteran southpaw, his season was cut short after only four appearances, as he suffered a left forearm strain that sidelined him for the remainder of the year.  Loup also missed about a month in 2018 with a forearm strain, which creates even more durability questions for a pitcher who was a bullpen workhorse for the Blue Jays from 2013-17 (averaging 57 appearances per season).  It seems that Loup will almost surely have to settle for a minor league contract as he looks to rebound from his lost 2019.

Erlin will hit the open market after nine years in San Diego’s organization.  Long considered a potential staple of the Padres’ rotation, inconsistency and some notable injuries hampered Erlin’s progress.  He missed a good deal of 2014 due to elbow problems, and then virtually all of the 2016-17 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Since returning, he has pitched largely as a reliever and shown some promise, as his 5.37 ERA over 55 1/3 innings in 2019 was underscored by some much stronger ERA predictors (3.61 FIP, 4.14 xFIP, 4.07 SIERA), and could have been inflated by a .373 BABIP.  With a fastball that barely cracked the 90mph mark, Erlin isn’t a hard thrower, though his 8.46 K/9 in 2019 represents a new career best.

Erlin only just turned 29, and could draw some free agent interest in his new role as a multi-inning reliever.  He is projected to make $2MM this winter, in third and final year of arbitration eligibility.

Marlins To Decline Club Option On Starlin Castro

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As expected, the Marlins will decline their $16MM option on infielder Starlin Castro, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).  Castro will instead receive a $1MM buyout and head into the free agent market for the first time in his career.

Castro’s eventual departure from Miami has been more or less forecast ever since he was acquired from the Yankees as part of the Giancarlo Stanton blockbuster in December 2017.  Castro’s inclusion in the deal was largely due to help balance out the salaries involved in the trade, and the Marlins have spent much of the last two seasons exploring trades for Castro as part of the club’s efforts to pare down payroll and move veteran talent.

Castro didn’t entirely help his trade value by posting a pair of decent but unspectacular seasons in Miami.  2018 saw him hit .278/.329/.400 over 647 PA, with a 101 wRC+ and 102 OPS+ indicating slightly above-average offense and solid glovework upping his value to 2.3 fWAR.  He took a step back to 1.3 fWAR and a 91 wRC+/94 OPS+ in 2019 largely due to a horrific opening three months of the season, as Castro hit only .230/.258/.313 over his first 345 plate appearances.

His much improved hitting from July 1 onward will help Castro’s chances in free agency, and he also boosted his versatility by playing third base for the first time in his Major League career, appearing in 45 games at the hot corner last season.  Though a ten-year veteran, Castro still doesn’t turn 30 years old until March, making him both younger and with a lot more experience as an everyday performer than several of the other second-tier options on the second base/third base market.

The Marlins will move forward with prospect Isan Diaz penciled into second base, though since Diaz only had a .566 OPS over his first 201 Major League plate appearances, Miami is likely to look for a veteran backup or multi-position player who could step into second base duty if Diaz still needs more minor league seasoning.  Re-signing Castro is “not a priority early in free agency,” Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald hears from a source, though the Marlins haven’t totally closed the door on the possibility of a Castro return.

Mason Williams Elects Free Agency

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4:45pm: Williams has elected to become a free agent after being outrighted, as per a team announcement.

8:29am: This transaction is still “in the works” at the moment, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter), but it appears the result will indeed be an outright assignment of Williams.

6:41am: The Orioles have outrighted outfielder Mason Williams, according to the International League transactions page. That comes in addition to four other recently announced 40-man roster cuts.

Williams turned in a strong 2019 effort at Triple-A, where he slashed .308/.371/.477 (117 wRC+) over 494 plate appearances. The Orioles added him to the big-league roster late in the season, giving him a brief shot at stating his case for a role in 2020. But the 27-year-old didn’t do much damage in an eleven-game stint.

Once a highly regarded prospect, Williams has yet to gain any traction at the game’s highest level. He has appeared in each of the past five campaigns but carries only a .286/.325/.382 slash in 234 trips to the plate. Having previously been outrighted, Williams can elect free agency.

Athletics Exercise Club Option On Yusmeiro Petit; Decline Jake Diekman’s Option

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The Athletics made their decisions on two outstanding club options today, announcing that right-hander Yusmeiro Petit’s club option will be exercised, thus guaranteeing the veteran reliever $5.5MM in 2020.  The A’s will decline their end of a mutual option on southpaw Jake Diekman, paying him a $500K buyout rather than a $5.75MM salary next season.

Today’s option decision will turn Petit’s original contract with the A’s from November 2017 into a three-year, $14.5MM commitment, and Oakland’s investment has paid off nicely in the first two years of the deal.  Petit has a 2.86 ERA, 7.5 K/9, and 5.25 K/BB rate over 176 relief innings and 154 games in 2018-19, and he led the league with 80 appearances this season.  Though Petit turns 35 in November, his pitching style seems built to age well — his excellent control and ability to induce soft contact belies his lack of strikeout ability and somewhat limits issues with the home run ball (1.2 HR/9 over the last two seasons).

Diekman was acquired in a late-July deal from the Royals, and posted a 4.43 ERA over 20 1/3 innings with the A’s that included more than a few nervous moments (Diekman issued 16 walks during his brief time in Oakland).  Overall, Diekman had a 4.65 ERA over 62 combined innings for the Royals and A’s, with a 2.15 K/BB rate and 12.2 K/9.

Those numbers are quite similar to Diekman’s statistics from his 2018 season split between the Rangers and Diamondbacks.  With back-to-back years of only okay performance, Oakland will decide to move on rather than spend the extra $5.25MM to retain Diekman’s services.  Left-handed relief does seem like it will be an offseason priority for the A’s, given that Ryan Buchter is currently the only southpaw reliever on Oakland’s 40-man roster.

Angels Acquire Parker Markel

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The Angels announced that right-hander Parker Markel has been acquired from the Pirates in exchange for cash considerations.

The 29-year-old Markel will change teams for the second time in 2019, after first going from the Mariners to the Pirates on a waiver claim back in July.  It made for a particularly busy first Major League season for Markel, who posted a 7.77 ERA over 22 combined innings for Seattle and Pittsburgh in his first taste of the Show.

It marked the culmination of a long road to the majors for Markel, who was originally a 39th-round draft pick for the Rays in 2010.  His ten-year pro career has included brief stints in independent ball and South Korea’s KBO League, as well as time away from the sport due to anxiety issues.  Through it all, Markel has managed some solid minor league stats, with a 3.81 ERA, 2.23 K/BB rate, and 8.0 K/9 over 508 innings, pitching almost exclusively as a reliever since 2014.

He’ll now join an Angels team that is looking for pitching depth.  While the Halos have a more glaring need in the rotation than in the bullpen, Markel and his 95.6 mph average fastball velocity could certainly become part of the conversation as the Angels consider their relief options come Spring Training.

Reds Acquire Travis Jankowski

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The Reds have acquired outfielder Travis Jankowski from the Padres, as announced on San Diego’s official team Twitter feed.  International bonus money will head back to San Diego in return.

2019 was essentially a lost year for Jankowski, who suffered a broken wrist in Spring Training and didn’t start playing until July, turning him into something of an afterthought in a crowded Padres outfield mix.  Jankowski ended up appearing in only 25 games and receiving just 24 plate appearances.  Given that abbreviated campaign, Jankowski wasn’t expected to receive much of an arbitration raise, as MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected the outfielder to receive only $1.2MM in his second of four arb years as a Super Two player.  (Jankowski earned $1.165MM in 2019.)

It’s a minor enough sum that, despite Jankowski’s struggles last year, he was still an interesting option for a Cincinnati club that is looking to add outfield depth.  Jankowski has displayed some solid glovework at all three outfield positions, making him a decent candidate for bench duty or perhaps as the left-handed hitting side of a platoon.

Between the Jankowski trade and other recent transactions, the Padres have now cleared four spots off their 40-man roster.  San Diego faces something of a 40-man roster crunch given the number of prospects that have to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, so we could perhaps see even more minor housecleaning moves from the team in the coming days.

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