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Red Sox To Hire Dave Bush As Pitching Coach

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The Red Sox are slated to name Dave Bush their new pitching coach. Bush, who has recently served as the club’s minor league pitching performance coordinator, was previously tabbed as the front runner for the pitching coach position in a Monday report from Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports (link) was first to report today that a final decision has been reached.

It appears that Bush beat out four other candidates for the post, among them former Reds manager Bryan Price (the names of three other candidates remain unreported).Bush’s familiarity with the organization likely worked in his favor, as the 39-year-old has been a coach in the Boston system since the beginning of the 2017 season. Previous pitching coach Dana LeVangie was reassigned to a pro scouting role with the organization earlier this month.

Of course, Bush is best known to readers as a longtime starter in the majors, logging 187 starts with the Blue Jays, Brewers, and Rangers in a nine-year big league career. That background will distinguish him from his predecessor, as LeVangie was noted for being a formidable scout despite having never pitched professionally.

Pedro Grifol To Receive Second Interview With Giants

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The Giants will provide a second interview to Royals quality control coach Pedro Grifol in their hiring search for a new manager, according to a tweet from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (link).

The 49-year-old Grifol played nine minor league seasons before garnering professional managerial experience with the Seattle organization from 2003-05 and in ’12. He has worked in the Kansas City organization in a variety of roles dating back to 2013. Grifol has also interviewed for the Royals’ managerial seat this offseason, although Mike Matheny has long been viewed as the likely successor to Ned Yost.

Grifol will join former Phillies manager Gabe Kapler and Astros bench coach Joe Espada as the only reported candidates in San Francisco’s process to receive a second interview. With the recent revelation that Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren received an interview for the Giants’ position, the club’s reported pool of initial interviewees stretched to nine candidates. Franchise icon Bruce Bochy bowed out this winter after 13 seasons, 1052 wins and three World Series titles in his time as the manager of the Giants.

Updates on the Giants’ search and the other ongoing (and recently completed) managerial searches throughout MLB can be followed here.

NL Notes: Cubs, Epstein, Cardinals, Lindor, Padres

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For those looking for an indication of the Cubs’ offseason spending strategy, this week’s comments from president Theo Epstein provided little satisfaction–even if Epstein has previously shown a willingness to lift the curtain on club plans. “As an organization, we’re not talking about payroll or luxury tax at all,” Epstein is quoted as saying in an article from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. “I feel like every time we’ve been at all specific, or even allowed people to make inferences from things we’ve said, it just puts us in a hole strategically.”

While North Side fans would likely love for the club to pursue upper-echelon free agents like Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon, Bastian calculates that such a development is unlikely given the club’s current payroll commitments. Chicago is accountable for roughly $107MM toward eight contracts next season, before providing for team options on Anthony Rizzo ($16.5MM) and Jose Quintana ($10.5MM). The Cubs opened 2019 with a payroll in excess of $203MM, before finishing with a disappointing 84-78 record and missing the playoffs.

In more news from around the NL…

  • After the Dodgers were connected to Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor this week, is it possible the Cardinals could also take a run at Cleveland’s superstar infielder? That’s a question pondered by Mark Saxon in a reader mailbag for The Athletic–with Saxon venturing that such a pursuit could be manageable for St. Louis (link). While it’s important to underline that this is only the speculation of one writer, Saxon draws up a potential trade package headlined by prospect Nolan Gorman and one of Paul DeJong, Tommy Edman, or Kolten Wong. While such a hypothetical package has its merits (and it’s laudable for a writer to go out on a limb regarding trade scenarios), it is worth pointing out that Gorman, at 19, is likely two years away from being considered an MLB-ready contributor. MLBTR readers, of course, took their own crack at projecting Lindor’s future in a recent poll.
  • After a 2019 season that saw the Padres use eight different rookie pitchers in their starting rotation, writer AJ Cassavell of MLB.com notes that–strange though it may sound–the club is likely more focused on offense heading into the offseason (link). As Cassavell notes, pitching prospects MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino promise to aid a 2020 rotation mix that includes Chris Paddack, Garrett Richards, Dinelson Lamet, Joey Lucchesi, Eric Lauer, and Cal Quantrill, whereas the projected lineup of new manager Jayce Tingler provides a few more question marks. The veteran scribe underscores that, by virtue of wRC+, San Diego received worse-than-average production at every position save for shortstop in 2019. Although Cassavell offers second base, catcher, and outfield as areas in need of an upgrade, it might be added that San Diego ran out well-regarded rookies at those spots for much of 2019 in Luis Urias, Francisco Mejia, and Josh Naylor. It stands to reason that the club could simply look for sophomore improvements at those particular positions while moving to offset Eric Hosmer’s tremendous struggles against left-handed pitching (59 wRC+ against lefties in 2019) by way of a first base platoon addition.

Giants Designate Kyle Barraclough

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The Giants have designated righty reliever Kyle Barraclough for assignment, according to Kerry Crowley of Bay Area News Group (link). Barraclough’s DFA comes as the corresponding move to the club’s Wednesday waiver claim of pitcher Tyler Anderson from the Rockies.

This likely represented a tough decision for the San Francisco front office, as Barraclough is only a few seasons removed from seeming like a potential bullpen stalwart. Between 2015 and 2018, the now-29-year-old righty logged a 3.21 ERA with an 11.5 K/9 across 218.1 innings out of the Miami pen. The Nationals acquired Barraclough from the Marlins in exchange for $1MM of international bonus availability in October of ’18, but, like most Washington relievers in the first few months of the 2019 season, Barraclough struggled mightily in late-game situations. Barraclough pitched to a 6.66 ERA (6.57 FIP) in 25.2 D.C. innings before the Nationals exposed him to waivers in August.

Following a claim by San Francisco, Barraclough looked to get back into something approaching vintage form in a small performance sample with the Giants. Though he began his time in the organization with Triple-A Sacramento, Barraclough came up to the big club in September to log a 2.25 ERA in 8.0 IP–although it’s worth noting that his historical troubles with control continued to undermine his bottom-line results (10/9 K/BB ratio).

Rockies Outright Chad Bettis, Tim Melville

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The Rockies announced they have outrighted right-handers Chad Bettis and Tim Melville. They join a trio of players- Tyler Anderson, Sam Howard, and Pat Valaika– who were all lost on waivers this afternoon. Bettis has already elected free agency, the team announced, and Melville figures to do the same.

Bettis is the longer-tenured Rockie of the two, having been in the organization since 2010. At times, he was a key member of the starting rotation, particularly in 2016, when he logged 186 innings with a 4.79 ERA that is better than appears at first glance given the hitter-friendly environment which he called home. Unfortunately, Bettis was diagnosed with testicular cancer the following March. He made a heartwarming return to the mound that August and was a cog in the Rockies’ rotation as recently as 2018.

This season, however, was a nightmare in terms of on-field results. While Bettis was mostly healthy, save for a 10-day IL stint for a hip impingement in August, he was ineffective. Working mostly in long relief, Bettis pitched to a 6.08 ERA with a mediocre 14.6% strikeout rate. With a projected arbitration salary of $3.8MM, it is hardly surprising to see the Rockies part ways with the 30-year-old. He’ll surely attract some interest from teams looking for starting and relief depth, although he may have to settle for a minor-league pact and earn his way onto a 40-man roster.

Melville, also 30, started seven games for Colorado this season with underwhelming results. He struggled somewhat with home runs in the PCL launchpad over his 96.1 innings for Triple-A Albuquerque. Like Bettis, he’s capable of working as a swing depth piece.

Pirates Claim Sam Howard

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The Pirates have claimed left-handed reliever Sam Howard off waivers from the Rockies, per an announcement from Colorado. Howard, 26, had spent his whole career with the Rockies after they selected him in the third round in 2014.

A slider specialist, Howard made his MLB debut in 2018 but got his first significant big league action in 2019. He tossed 19 innings in 20 relief appearances with a strong 25.3% strikeout rate, but problems with walks and home runs contributed to a 6.63 ERA. Howard showed better in 42 relief appearances in Triple-A Albuquerque, working out of the bullpen full-time for the first time in his minor-league career.

Howard comes with another option season, so he’ll give the club a flexible lefty relief piece with swing-and-miss stuff so long as he sticks on the 40-man roster throughout the winter.

Giants Claim Tyler Anderson

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The Giants have claimed left-hander Tyler Anderson off waivers from the Rockies, per an announcement from the Colorado organization. It’s a disappointing end to the tenure of the former first-round draft pick.

Anderson landed with the Rox in 2011 as the 20th overall pick. He debuted in strong fashion in 2016, working to a 3.54 ERA over 19 starts. While Anderson’s earned run results stepped back in the ensuing two campaigns, he turned in 262 reasonably productive innings. Anderson carried 8.4 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 from 2017 through 2018, with xFIP (3.95, 4.21) and SIERA (4.14, 4.22) grading him as a strong back-of-the-rotation arm.

As with large swaths of the rest of the Rockies roster, Anderson seemed to hit a wall in 2019. He was tagged for eight home runs and 27 earned runs in just 20 2/3 innings over five outings to open the year. Anderson ended up requiring knee surgery in May and did not return to action thereafter.

The NL West-rival Giants are plenty familiar with Anderson; president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi saw him up close both with San Francisco and previously with the Dodgers. No doubt he’s intrigued by the lefty’s decent swing-and-miss ability (he managed about a 12% swinging-strike rate at his best).

The Giants have had success at tweaking the offerings and approaches of other hurlers; perhaps they have ideas in mind for Anderson to try out. First, he’ll need to show he’s at full health, but it’s not hard to imagine Anderson competing in camp for a bullpen or even rotation job with the Giants.

AL Notes: Vogelbach, Rangers, Red Sox, A’s

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With the 2019 MLB season officially wrapping up in a matter of hours, much of the league is fully turned toward the upcoming offseason. We’ll track some American League news here.

  • Daniel Vogelbach started 49 games at first base for the Mariners in 2019, but that’s not likely to happen again, reports Corey Brock of the Athletic. Never regarded as an especially strong defender, some in the Mariners’ organization believe Vogelbach’s offensive downturn in the season’s second half (71 wRC+, compared to a 136 wRC+ in the first half) was related to his playing the field more than was ideal. With Vogelbach looking like a pure DH, the Mariners could again turn first base over to Austin Nola, a 29 year-old rookie who slashed .269/.342/.454 in 267 plate appearances down the stretch. Nola’s capable of bouncing all around the diamond, including catching, and is probably best served as a multi-positional piece. Fortunately, top first base prospect Evan White is on the doorstep of the majors and has a chance to win the job early, perhaps even out of spring training, Brock adds.
  • The Red Sox could be facing payroll constraints and have a number of high-priced but effective starting pitchers. With that in mind, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News hears that the Rangers have internally kicked around the idea of pursuing one of those arms in trade. Texas is planning to increase payroll in 2020, after all. While much of that attention has focused on a potential pursuit of Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon in free agency, that flexibility can certainly be put to use in trade as well. Grant speculates that any of Chris Sale, David Price, or Nathan Eovaldi could be targets. Of course, given the caliber of players (particularly Sale and Price) and amount of money involved, any trade scenario would be extremely complex.
  • Speaking of the Red Sox, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe takes a fascinating look at the career of Brian O’Halloran. Part of the four-person interim front office crew (alongside Raquel Ferreira, Eddie Romero and Zack Scott) who ran baseball operations between the departure of Dave Dombrowski and the hiring of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, O’Halloran was promoted to general manager at the time of Bloom’s hiring. Speier’s piece, certainly worth reading in full, is rife with quotes from O’Halloran’s colleagues lauding his work ethic and aptitude and details his rise from volunteer to jack-of-all-trades within the organization.
  • The A’s have an uncertain mix at second base, and three young players have a chance to stake their claim to the job next spring, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Sheldon Neuse, Franklin Barreto and Jorge Mateo should all have a shot at earning the job, assuming none are traded in the coming months. Jurickson Profar may, too, Slusser notes, although it’s possible he’ll end up elsewhere following a disappointing season with a projected $5.8MM arbitration salary. Slusser doesn’t foreclose the possibility of an outside addition, something explored by MLBTR’s Connor Byrne in his A’s offseason outlook, but it’s nonetheless notable to hear the organization continues to have faith in its young infield options.

Offseason Outlook: Texas Rangers

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The Rangers didn’t need a new ballpark, but they got one. They will have to improve in several parts of the roster if they’re to win in the first season at the just-built facility.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

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Free Agents

[Texas Rangers depth chart | Texas Rangers payroll outlook]

The Rangers have sat in an uncomfortable middle ground for the past three seasons, with a pair of 78-84 campaigns wrapped around a 67-95 dud. Payroll has moved south, but still topped $160MM by the end of the 2018 season and sat at $118MM on Opening Day in 2019.

Unsurprisingly, the roster construction efforts have mirrored the broader situation. The Rangers have spent some money and hit on a few free agents. Mike Minor and Lance Lynn succeeded beyond the wildest expectations on three-year deals while last year’s crop of low-cost talent delivered significant contributions from Hunter Pence, Danny Santana, and Logan Forsythe. But the club has also whiffed on others. Jeff Mathis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shawn Kelley, Shelby Miller, and Zach McAllister absorbed a decent amount of payroll without delivering much in return. While Joey Gallo has emerged as a star-level performer, the results haven’t been as promising for Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara.

It’s frankly difficult to see this club vaulting into serious contention in 2020 without some enormous strides from existing players and major additions from outside. The organization seems to have preferred a few years of fairly expensive mediocrity and foregone top draft picks as the price for avoiding a full-throated rebuild. There’s some honor in that. But it’s also time to get things moving forward.

There’s an argument to be made that president of baseball operations Jon Daniels ought to press ownership for a big payroll to launch the Rangers forward. The publicly funded stadium bonanza surely supports that concept. But it may not be wise to put the pedal all the way to the floor just yet, even accepting the premise that the organization can and should unleash the full potential of its pocketbook over the next several seasons. The Rangers have a whole host of needs and are separated by a yawning gap from the cross-state, division-rival Astros. Over-committing to too many veterans now, when the Rangers’ would-be core remains ill-defined, carries long-term roster-management risks. This winter demands careful navigation.

Gallo is a walking gap-filler on defense; he could slot in at any outfield spot or in the corner infield, though he hasn’t played third in some time and didn’t grade as well there. That flexibility will be important. The Rangers could move him around a la Cody Bellinger or let Gallo settle into whatever spot most needs it.

Otherwise, questions predominate. You could argue for a whole new outfield outside of Gallo. Shin-Soo probably should be limited all but exclusively to DH duties, where he’s a good-enough but hardly elite bat. Mazara hasn’t broken out of his league-average-ish hitting malaise; the Rangers will have to decide whether they can get him going or are better served letting another team have the shot. Delino DeShields Jr. runs like the wind but just hasn’t hit in the majors; he looks to be a reserve piece at most. And though Willie Calhoun has shown some promise with the bat, he’s anything but settled defensively.

Perhaps the Rangers would be best served shifting Calhoun in to first base rather than lining up Gallo on the dirt. The club may not be ready to give up entirely on Ronald Guzman, but it’d be awfully hard to hand over the first bagging duties to him after a .219/.308/.414 season. Across the way at the hot corner, the team still hasn’t settled on a permanent replacement for Adrian Beltre. Super-sub Danny Santana can help cover there, or just about anywhere else on the diamond, though it’s dubious whether he’ll repeat his high-BABIP, high-strikeout, power-surging 2019 success story. What of Nick Solak? The bat is intriguing, but there are questions surrounding the glove.

Let’s pause here to consider the scale of the challenge — and the volume of possible solutions. The Rangers could justifiably add something like three or four high-quality players to the corner infield/outfield mix, particularly if they find a deal they like for Mazara. Doing quite that much seems like a stretch, but the Rangers have picked up quite a few lower-cost veterans in recent years and surely will do so again. Given their positive experience with Beltre, perhaps a late-career fling with Josh Donaldson would make sense. Texas native Anthony Rendon is a bit of a dream scenario, but it’s quite possible to imagine at least some level of pursuit. There are loads of lower-cost vets that can slot in at either corner infield slot, with Mike Moustakas and Todd Frazier among the more prominent names. It isn’t hard to imagine a first bagger such as Justin Smoak, Yonder Alonso, or old friend Mitch Moreland finding his way to Texas. Likewise, the corner outfield market is full of possibilities that probably won’t break the bank. Even Marcell Ozuna may struggle to get a monster deal given the relative lack of urgent demand around the game. Nicholas Castellanos, Avisail Garcia, and Corey Dickerson are all reasonably youthful options.

That’s not all the Rangers must consider, however, even on the position-player side of the coin. We touched briefly upon the center field situation. That could be solved by planting Gallo out there every day, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rangers prefer to ease the burden by also lining him up at first base. DeShields has historically been better against left-handed pitching, so perhaps he could handle center when southpaw starters oppose the Rangers. If Gallo is deployed elsewhere entirely, a center field platoon might include a veteran such as Jon Jay, Jarrod Dyson, or (another) old friend Leonys Martin. Should the club go looking for everyday options, it’ll need to get creative. Pirates star Starling Marte would obviously fit quite nicely, but that’ll take quite a bit of creativity for Daniels, especially with so many other teams likely to have interest in Marte given the meager open-market alternatives. More realistic, perhaps, is Japanese star Shogo Akiyama. He seems to have fixed his gaze on the majors; Daniels has always kept a close watch over the top Asian leagues. Perhaps they’ll make eye contact.

Oh, and it’s not as if the other up-the-middle spots are locked and loaded. Elvis Andrus is not going to opt out and it’d be tough to move enough of Odor’s contract to make it worth dealing him now, so the double-play combo is intact. But that underwhelming unit needs to step up big-time and the club can’t presume that’ll occur. At the same time, it’s hard to see how it can give up on the duo given their contracts. Santana and Solak factor here, though the former hasn’t been trusted much at short and the latter hasn’t played there at all. Having them to work in makes it less likely that the Rangers will spend on a sturdy veteran that can handle some time at second, though a move for a Forsythe type can’t be ruled out — particularly with a laundry list of useful names floating around free agency.

The catching situation is at least as big of an issue, albeit one that may not be susceptible of much near-term change. Mathis had an unfathomably bad season with the bat (.158/.209/.224) and understudy Jose Trevino hardly shined (.258/.272/.383 with just three walks in 126 plate appearances). It’s nice that Isiah Kiner-Falefa can play behind the dish or elsewhere on the diamond, but he also lacks promise with the bat. You can swallow some poor offensive output from defensively exceptional backstops, but it’s rough to have a black hole in the lineup.

What the Rangers can hope is that Mathis and Trevino will squeeze value out of a largely uninspiring pitching staff. Lynn and Minor were stunningly valuable in 2019 — they accounted for 11 of the club’s net 14.2 pitching fWAR — but it seems fair to presume at least a bit of regression for each. A group of youthful southpaws — Kolby Allard, Brock Burke, Joe Palumbo, and (if healthy) Taylor Hearn — will battle for opportunities despite poor results in their earliest MLB showings. There are a few other depth arms and rising prospects, but several of the team’s better-regarded farmhands are still a ways off. It’d be disappointing to see Ariel Jurado and Adrian Sampson occupy more than 120 frames apiece once again (unless the club can find a way to put one or both into another gear, at least). Pending supplementation, it’s tough to see this rotation mix as contention-worthy.

There’s some room for improvement in the bullpen. Jose Leclerc still has an electric arm. The Rangers will continue trying to help him find consistency and an appropriate role after dabbling with him as a closer and opener in 2019. It’ll be interesting to see fireballer Emmanuel Clase in his sophomore effort. Rafael Montero was a way-post-hype revelation and should occupy a prominent role. Jesse Chavez will try to bounce back and provide stability. Some of the aforementioned starter candidates could end up in the pen, while the Rangers may hope to get a worthwhile contribution from Ian Gibaut, Jeffrey Springs, or others.

So, what’s the path to improving the pitching? After hitting on two against-the-grain pitching contracts — going to the third year to land Minor and Lynn — the club could seek another opportunity of that ilk. Michael Pineda might represent an under-the-radar candidate for a relatively longer, lower-AAV outlay. The Rangers could also look at the highest reaches of the market. Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg may or may not be legitimate targets, but the Texas org could certainly afford to spend in the next tiers (Zack Wheeler, Madison Bumgarner, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jake Odorizzi, Dallas Keuchel). And this year’s market has quite a few steady veteran types that ought to be available on cheaper, one-year deals. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rangers end up with Ivan Nova or Brett Anderson. The team could also roll the dice on Michael Wacha or Alex Wood.

Free agency also obviously offers some relief solutions. A big move for a closer feels unlikely, but there’s a typical smattering of useful veterans kicking around. If the Rangers prefer a hurler with some closing experience, they could look to someone on the order of Steve Cishek. Perhaps a reunion with the under-the-radar excellent Chris Martin — an Arlington native who the Rangers brought back from Japan — would make sense for all sides.

Needless to say, options abound. It’ll also be interesting to see whether the Rangers can gain any traction in trade talks involving pitching. This club isn’t exactly overburdened with top prospects knocking down the door to the majors and won’t be anxious to move its best farm pieces. But the Rangers do have an interesting asset to market in the form of Mazara’s contract rights. He could be of interest to a variety of teams that would like a crack at his upside; packaged with other young talent, Mazara might help deliver a useful arm back to Texas. It’s even possible that Minor or Lynn could still pop up in trade talks if there’s an avenue for the Rangers to improve their mid-term outlook by kicking the contention can down the road a bit further, though the fact that a deal hasn’t yet occurred is a good indication that the Texas org values those contracts quite a bit.

One way or another, we’re likely to see quite a few fresh names on the backs of Rangers jerseys in 2020. Daniels and co. will need to be clever to make strides in the standings while also setting the team up for a much-anticipated return to glory.

Orioles Claim Pat Valaika, Announce Four Outrights

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The Orioles announced they have claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Rockies. Additionally, the club outrighted four pitchers: right-handers Ryan Eades, Luis Ortiz, and Tayler Scott and left-hander Josh Rogers.

Valaika is the most notable name in today’s spate of transactions. The 27-year-old has taken 433 MLB plate appearances over four seasons in Colorado, starting games at all four infield positions (along with a handful of action in left field) in that time. All told, he’s only a .214/.256/.400 hitter, which translates to a dreadful 55 wRC+ when factoring in the run environment of Coors Field. He’s shown some ability to make hard, airborne contact, which surely attracts the Orioles’ front office, but his aggressive approach has not yet proven up to par at the big league level. Valaika will be out of options next season, meaning he needs to stick on the active roster next year or else again be exposed to waivers, assuming he remains on the 40-man roster the entire offseason.

The four pitchers have combined for fewer than 60 MLB innings. Eades, 27, worked to a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings in 2019, but his peripherals were far less rosy. Ortiz, still just 24, was once a well-regarded prospect but has fallen on hard times at the highest level of the minors. He started 14 games for Triple-A Norfolk in 2019 and pitched to a 6.38 ERA with unimpressive strikeout (15.4%) and walk (10.1%) rates, a trying season even in the explosive run environment in the International League.

Scott, like Eades, made his MLB debut this season at age-27. Split between Seattle and Baltimore, he worked 16.1 difficult innings, although he was quite good in the high minors. Rogers, meanwhile, was acquired as a secondary piece in the 2018 deal that sent Zack Britton to the Yankees. He started eleven games for Norfolk before going down with a season-ending left elbow sprain.

Because Rogers was on the 60-day injured list, today’s spate of transactions only clears two spots on Balitmore’s 40-man roster, which now sits at 38. The pending activation of Alex Cobb from the 60-day IL and free agency of Mark Trumbo will keep Baltimore’s roster at 38 entering the offseason, as Roch Kubatko of MASN tweets.

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