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Padres Finalize Coaching Staff

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The Padres have promoted Damion Easley to hitting coach, the team announced. Additionally, Skip Schumaker will take over as the Padres’ associate manager and Rod Barajas will grab the reins as their catching and quality control coach.

Easley, a longtime major league infielder, served as the Padres’ assistant hitting coach/infield coach in 2019. It was the first season on a major league staff for the 50-year-old Easley.

Schumaker, an ex-major league utilityman, spent last season as the Padres’ first base coach. He then drew interest from the Mets as they sought a new manager this offseason, but they elected to hire Carlos Beltran instead. Now, with the Padres as another team with a rookie manager (Jayce Tingler), Schumaker has moved up in their pecking order to become an even more important assistant.

The Padres interviewed Barajas to take over as their next manager after they fired Andy Green, but he’s among several candidates who lost out to Tingler. Barajas, a former major league catcher, served in multiple roles for San Diego in 2019. He was the team’s bench coach before grabbing the reins as interim manager when it let go of Green toward the end of September.

Yankees Reportedly Prioritizing Gerrit Cole

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The Yankees have already met this offseason with the top free agent available, Cy Young-caliber right-hander Gerrit Cole. It sounds as if their powwow went well, as the Yankees have a Cole signing atop their list of offseason priorities, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. While the luxury tax has frequently been an issue for the Yankees since Hal Steinbrenner assumed ownership several years ago, it doesn’t look as if it’ll impede a potential Cole signing. The Yankees “have ownership-level approval to offer him a record-setting deal,” Passan writes.

Along with the Yankees, the Angels – who have been regarded as the favorite to sign Cole – as well as the Dodgers may be lining up for a Cole bidding war, suggests Passan. Offers haven’t come in yet, but the Yankees’ involvement could be an enormous boon for Cole. Even if he doesn’t sign with them, the financially powerful franchise has the money to further drive up bidding for Cole, who’s essentially a shoo-in to ink a contract worth far more than the record pact David Price signed with the Red Sox entering 2016 (seven years, $217MM).

The Yankees haven’t handed out a nine-figure contract in free agency since they added righty Masahiro Tanaka on a seven-year, $155MM payday going into 2014. However, the franchise clearly loves Cole, as it selected him in the first round of the 2008 draft (Cole went to UCLA instead, later becoming the No. 1 overall pick of the Pirates) and tried to trade for him a couple years ago. But the Astros outbid the Yankees for Cole before the 2018 season, and Houston eliminated New York from this fall’s ALCS with Cole’s help. The Yankees, however, have clearly seen enough of Cole dominating in other uniforms, and they look ready to strike now that he’s available in free agency.

The Yankees sent a notable contingent to meet with Cole and agent Scott Boras this week, per Passan, who names general manager Brian Cashman, skipper Aaron Boone, pitching coach Matt Blake and franchise icon Andy Pettitte as those who sat down with him. In the event the Yankees lose out on Cole, though, they haven’t ruled out going after longtime National and reigning World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg, the No. 2 starter on the market. The Yankees have also met with Strasburg, another Boras client.

Twins To Re-Sign Michael Pineda

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The Twins have re-signed right-hander Michael Pineda to a two-year deal, Pierre Noujaim of FOX 9 Minneapolis reports (Twitter link).  The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that Pineda will earn $20MM on the deal, which will become official after Pineda passes a physical.  Pineda is represented by ISE Baseball.

Pineda will exactly double the two-year, $10MM deal he originally signed with Minnesota in the 2017-18 season, a contract that was really a one-year pact given that Pineda had undergone Tommy John surgery and missed all of 2018.  This new contract also comes in the midst of some extenuating circumstances, as Pineda is still in the midst of a 60-game PED suspension and will miss the first 39 games of the 2020 season.  That 60-game absence was originally an 80-game suspension, reduced on appeal since Pineda (who turns 31 in January) was able to provide evidence that the hydrochlorothiazide found in his system wasn’t being used as a PED masking agent.

While this situation could have made some teams wary about Pineda’s 2019 performance, and perhaps paved the way for him to return the team that knew him best, there was ample interest in his services.  Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News reports that the Blue Jays, Giants, Rangers, Braves, and White Sox also looked at adding Pineda in free agency.  MLBTR ranked Pineda 17th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents, and his contract fell just shy of the $22MM we projected he would land on a two-year deal.

In the wake of his TJ surgery, Pineda delivered arguably the best season of his career in 2019, posting a 4.01 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 5.00 K/BB rate over 146 innings.  It wasn’t an entirely smooth year, since he had two minimal injured list stints (for a triceps strain and knee tendinitis), and Pineda also had one of the game’s least-impressive spin rates.

Still, a 2.7 fWAR season coming off Tommy John surgery is certainly sturdy, and the Twins can expect even more from the righty once he returns in May.  While multiple injuries and issues with the home run ball have dimmed the profile of a player who was considered one of the sport’s top pitching prospects, Pineda looks like a very solid mid-rotation candidate in this next phase of his career.

Facing one of the more dire pitching situations of any contender heading into the offseason, the Twins have now brought back both Pineda and Jake Odorizzi, who accepted the club’s one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer.  Getting Odorizzi and Pineda back at reasonable prices before the Winter Meetings is already a nice result for Minnesota, who still have up to two more rotation spots to fill beyond ace Jose Berrios.  The next arm could come at a much higher price, as the Twins are making a push to sign Madison Bumgarner, and they also made Zack Wheeler an offer before Wheeler signed with the Phillies.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Seibu Lions Sign Cory Spangenberg, Sean Nolin

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The Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball have signed infielder Cory Spangenberg and left-hander Sean Nolin, as per a team announcement (hat tip to NPBTracker’s Patrick Newman).

Spangenberg elected free agency after being outrighted off the Brewers’ 40-man roster at the end of the season, and he’ll now look to become the latest player to pursue an opportunity in Japanese baseball rather than vie for a minor league deal in North America.  Never a big performer at the plate over his six MLB seasons with the Padres and Brewers, Spangenberg hit only .232/.277/.358 over 102 PA last season and provided little more than defensive cover at second base, third base, shortstop, and left field.  Spangenberg has a healthy .301/.362/.433 slash line over 2350 minor league plate appearances, but he didn’t hit much (.704 OPS) over 1380 PA at the big league level.

Nolin was also a touted prospect early in his career, and is perhaps best known as one of the four youngsters sent by the Blue Jays to the Athletics for Josh Donaldson back in the 2014-15 offseason.  His Major League resume consists of just 31 1/3 total innings from 2013-15, however, as injuries have plagued Nolin’s career, including a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2017 season.  Nolin has spent the last two seasons pitching in independent ball, the Mexican Winter Pro League, and in the minors with the White Sox, Mariners, and Rockies farm systems.

A’s Notes: Treinen, Middle INF, Barreto, Mateo

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Athletics general manager David Forst discussed the team’s offseason direction with multiple outlets Monday, including A’s Cast (hat tip to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com) and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Let’s take a look at a few of the highlights…

  • Although the A’s non-tendered right-hander Blake Treinen before Monday’s deadline, that doesn’t necessarily mean the two sides are headed for a divorce. The team still has interest in re-signing Treinen, a lights-out reliever a couple years ago who fell on hard times this past season. Treinen pitched to a dismal 4.91 ERA/5.14 FIP with 9.05 K/9, 5.68 BB/9 and a 42.8 percent groundball rate across 58 2/3 innings during the 2019 campaign, in which he lost his role as the A’s closer to Liam Hendriks. As a result, the 31-year-old Treinen probably won’t cost an exorbitant amount to re-sign, but if he does end up out of the A’s price range, they could still sign a “solid veteran” to a short-term contract, Slusser writes. Also, they have already addressed their bullpen in multiple other ways this offseason, having claimed left-hander T.J. McFarland off waivers from the Diamondbacks and re-signed fellow southpaw Jake Diekman. The A’s did cut ties with lefty Ryan Buchter, though it seems they did so because there were concerns on their part about the three-batter minimum rule that appears likely to take effect in 2020.
  • The A’s are on the hunt for a lefty-hitting middle infielder, though it’s “ideally someone who can play a number of positions,” according to Forst. That player would obviously seldom line up at shortstop, as MVP candidate Marcus Semien has that position locked down. But Oakland’s situation is far less certain at second base, where the club traded Jurickson Profar to the Padres this week. Speculatively speaking, in terms of the free-agent market, Cesar Hernandez, Brock Holt, Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Scooter Gennett, Brad Miller, Joe Panik, Neil Walker and ex-Athletics Ben Zobrist and Eric Sogard are some of the players the A’s could turn to for lefty-swinging middle infield aid.
  • Oakland’s next starting second baseman could come from within, as the team has every intention of giving former standout prospect Franklin Barreto an opportunity in 2020. It’s do-or-die time for Barreto, whom the Athletics acquired from the Blue Jays in the A’s widely panned Josh Donaldson trade in 2014 and who has no minor league options remaining. To this point, the 23-year-old Barreto has hit a horrid .189/.220/.378 with nine homers in 209 major league plate appearances.
  • Meantime, fellow young infielder Jorge Mateo – picked up as part of the return from the Yankees for Sonny Gray in 2017 – hasn’t even appeared in the bigs yet. He’s also out of options, but the A’s want to give him a chance to establish himself next season. Mateo, 24, spent all of 2019 at the Triple-A level and hit .289/.330/.504 with 19 home runs and 24 stolen bases over 566 PA. That production looks palatable on paper, but according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric, it checked in 4 percent below the league average.

Nats Owner Lerner: “We Really Can Only Afford To Have One Of” Rendon Or Strasburg

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Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner expressed doubt about his franchise’s ability to re-sign both Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg this offseason, as Lerner told NBC Sports Washington’s Donald Dell. (Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington has early details about the interview, which will take air in full on Dell’s show on December 17.)

“We really can only afford to have one of those two guys,” Lerner said.  “They’re huge numbers. We already have a really large payroll to begin with….We’re pursuing them, we’re pursuing other free agents in case they decided to go elsewhere.  Again, it’s not up to us.  We can give them a great offer — which we’ve done to both of those players.  They’re great people.  We’d be delighted if they stay.  But it’s not up to us, it’s up to them.  That’s why they call it free agency.”

MLBTR’s ranking of the winter’s top 50 free agents (which, incidentally, predicted both Rendon and Strasburg would wind up back in D.C.) projected Rendon for a seven-year, $235MM deal and Strasburg for six years and $180MM.  That works out to a little more than $63.57MM in average annual value if the Nationals were to land both players at those projected prices, and since Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez estimates the Nats’ current luxury tax number at just under $135.32MM, that would bring the total to roughly $199MM.

This leaves Washington with some wiggle room under the $208MM luxury tax threshold to add more roster upgrades beyond only Rendon and Strasburg, though surpassing the tax threshold seemingly wouldn’t be a problem since the Nats were willing to pay the tax in both 2017 and 2018.  By ducking under the threshold last season, the Nationals would again be charged at the “first-timer” rate of a 20 percent tax on the overage of any payroll that falls between $208-$228MM.  Since Adam Eaton, Anibal Sanchez, Sean Doolittle, and Kurt Suzuki could all come off the books after the 2020 season, the Nationals could potentially even get back under the 2021 threshold ($210MM) or at worst pay another minimal penalty by staying within the $210-$230MM range.

Of course, the Nats would further shave more money off their payroll with other moves, or Rendon and Strasburg could also end up costing more money than our projected figures.  But, strictly speaking, there isn’t any real financial barrier preventing the club from re-signing both players.  Lerner’s declaration could be something of a tactic, Dybas writes, since it would be “poor negotiating” to “flatly state the organization is going to find a way to pay both….Being in between serves multiple needs: It keeps the door open on each player; it stirs the market without roiling it; it prepares fans for an outcome they don’t prefer.”

While the Nationals haven’t been afraid to spend big on free agents or player salaries in general, they face a unique situation in having two star players (both represented by the same agent, Scott Boras) hit the open market at the same time.  Several teams have already been linked to both players, including some of the game’s wealthiest franchises — the Dodgers have spoken to both, while the Rangers have interest in Rendon, and the Phillies and Yankees are known to be interested in Strasburg.  Since the bidding will be high for both players, the Nats could re-direct their resources towards one player in particular if the price tag for the other becomes truly untenable.

SK Wyverns Posts Lefty Kwang-hyun Kim

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TODAY: Kim’s official posting period begins tomorrow morning and ends at 4pm CT on January 5, as per Yoo’s latest report.  The delay in Kim’s posting was due to some extra medical documentation that the KBO had to submit to Major League Baseball.

NOV. 28: The KBO has officially asked MLB to post Kim, Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News tweets. After MLB notifies its clubs, Kim’s 30-day negotiating window will open at 8 a.m. ET the next day.

NOV. 22, 5:32pm: Kim is getting hits from several MLB teams, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The Mets, Royals, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Cubs are all said to have shown some level of interest in the southpaw. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be seen as a rotation or bullpen candidate and what kind of salary terms teams will be amenable to offering.

1:38am: The SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization will post left-hander Kwang-hyun Kim, according to Naver Sports (via Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Kim has already made it known that he’d like to pursue a major league opportunity in 2020.

Under the rules of the agreement between MLB and the KBO, Kim will be free to negotiate with all 30 big league clubs upon his posting. The release fee the Wyverns would receive if Kim were to sign with a major league team would depend on the value of his contract.

This will be the second posting for Kim, who was available to major league teams back in 2014 but was unable to reach an agreement with the Padres after they won the bidding for him for $2MM. The Padres are reportedly among several teams who have shown much more recent interest in Kim, a longtime star in his homeland.

The 30-year-old Kim has pitched his entire career with the Wyverns since debuting in the KBO at the age of 18 in 2007, though he did miss all of 2017 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Kim has bounced back well from that procedure, however, and owns a sparkling 3.27 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 1,673 2/3 innings in what has typically been a hitter-friendly league. He logged an even better 2.51 ERA and recorded 8.5 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 across 190 1/3 frames in 2019.

Kim’s repertoire includes a low- to mid-90s, a major league-caliber slider, a curveball and a forkball, as Sung Min Kim of the KBO’s Lotte Giants tweeted in August. Although Kim boasts a well-rounded pitch mix, it’s unclear how aggressively MLB teams will pursue him. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote in their Top 50 free agent rankings that Kim’s slider is a “nasty, tilt-a-whirl” offering but that the rest of his pitches are average at best, calling him more of a fifth starter or swingman.

Teams will surely have their own ideas about how to coax some improvements out of the lefty, be it via a move to the bullpen or some alterations to his pitch selection and location. For now, though, he’ll at least add a bit more intrigue to a southpaw pitching market led by fellow Korea native Hyun-Jin Ryu, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels and Dallas Keuchel on the starting side and Drew Pomeranz on the relief side.

KBO’s Doosan Bears Post Kim Jae-Hwan

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TODAY: Kim’s negotiating period begins at 7am CT tomorrow, and ends at 4pm CT on January 5, as per Jee-Ho Yoo of Yonhap News.

YESTERDAY: The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization have posted outfielder Kim Jae-Hwan, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. As the agreement between MLB and the KBO dictates, Kim will have a 30-day window to negotiate with all 30 MLB clubs once he’s officially posted. Should he sign with a big league club, the release fee the Bears would receive would depend on the value of his contract.

“I don’t know which teams will show interest in me or how I am going to be evaluated, but I am just thankful for this opportunity,” Kim said (via the Korea Herald). “Every baseball player dreams of reaching the majors. I’d like to thank the Bears for allowing me to take on this challenge.”

Kim was one of the most prolific sluggers in Korea from 2016-18, a span in which he amassed 116 home runs and posted an OPS above 1.000 in each season. While Kim won KBO MVP honors in 2018, last season made for a somewhat disappointing follow-up. Kim totaled 15 homers and batted .283/.362/.434 across 574 plate appearances in a league where offensive production fell in general. Nevertheless, he’ll try his hand at landing a major league deal this winter.

Orioles Notes: Gonzalez, Adeiny, Infielders

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The latest from Baltimore….

  • Fredi Gonzalez has been hired to join the Orioles’ coaching staff, the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli reports.  Gonzalez will work in the general role of Major League coach; as Meoli puts it, “González will influence several areas of the Orioles while sharing some responsibilities with major league field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins, who did those jobs last year while serving as [Brandon] Hyde’s de-facto bench coach.”  Best known for his time as the manager of the Marlins (2007-10) and Braves (2011-16), Gonzalez spent the last three seasons back in Miami as the Marlins’ third base coach.
  • The Orioles have “definite interest” in Adeiny Hechavarria, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports.  The veteran hit .241/.299/.443 over 221 combined plate appearances between the Mets and Braves in 2019, with the bulk of that offense (1.039 OPS over 70 PA) coming after Atlanta signed Hechavarria as extra depth during the late-season stretch run.  Of course, Hechavarria is far better known for his glovework than his bat, with +20 Defensive Runs Saved and a + 2.5 UZR/150 over 6761 career innings at shortstop.  The 30-year-old was available on a minor league contract for the Mets last winter, and could likely be signed for a similar non-guaranteed deal this offseason.
  • Hechavarria would help address Baltimore’s middle infield situation, which GM Mike Elias described (along with back-of-the-rotation pitching) as offseason “priorities” when talking to reporters earlier this week.  Since the rebuilding O’s aren’t going to break the bank for veteran help, Kubatko lists a few lower-cost veterans that might potentially fit what the team is looking for, though he notes that even moderately-priced options like free agent Brock Holt or the recently non-tendered Yolmer Sanchez could be too pricey for the Orioles.  Jose Iglesias doesn’t appear to be on the Orioles’ radar, as Kubatko writes that “a poor off-the-field reputation…persuaded the Orioles and some other teams to stay away” from the former Reds and Tigers shortstop in the past.  The O’s did make an infield signing earlier today by adding Dilson Herrera on a minors contract.

AL Central Notes: Tsutsugo, Lindblom, Royals, Indians

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Past reports have already linked the Blue Jays and Marlins to Yoshitomo Tsutsugo’s market, and now MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that three AL Central teams are also in the mix.  The White Sox, Tigers, and Twins all have some interest in the Japanese slugger, who has hit 185 homers for Yokohama since the start of the 2014 season.  Tsutsugo’s left-handed power would fit in any of the three teams’ lineups, though his limited defensive capability as a first baseman or outfielder could see him mostly play first base if he wound up in Minnesota, since Nelson Cruz is locked into DH duties.  Chicago could deploy Tsutsugo along with Jose Abreu in the first base/DH mix or play Tsutsugo in the outfield on days when Yasmani Grandal is getting a DH or first base day, while Tsutsugo would simply step right into an everyday role for the hitting-starved Tigers.

Any team that signs Tsutsugo will have to pay his former team, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, a release fee that will be determined by the size of Tsutsugo’s eventual MLB contract.  The 30-day posting window for Tsutsugo to find a contract in North America ends on December 19, so there is still lots of time for one of his five known suitors or perhaps other teams to strike a deal.

Here’s more from the AL Central….

  • Morosi reports on another potential Detroit target in another tweet, noting that the Tigers and Angels are two of the teams interested in Josh Lindblom.  The right-hander is looking to return to the majors on the heels of two outstanding seasons in South Korea’s KBO League, and some very impressive spin rate numbers on his four-seam fastball.  Morosi writes that Lindblom has already received multi-year offers from more than one team, which isn’t surprising given how Lindblom would be an inexpensive yet high-ceiling addition to a lot of pitching staffs (such as rebuilding teams like the Tigers or hopeful contenders like the Angels).
  • The Royals announced their 2020 coaching staff under new manager Mike Matheny, with a few new faces in the mix and some familiar faces returning in some different roles.  Pitching coach Cal Eldred and hitting coach Terry Bradshaw will remain in their positions, while Pedro Grifol moves to bench coach from his past quality control/catching coach job, and Vance Wilson goes from bullpen coach to third base coach.  Rusty Kuntz will become the Royals’ first base coach for the third time in his 12-year stint as a member of the K.C. organization, while Larry Carter will take over as bullpen coach after 22 years in various minor league roles for the club.  John Mabry joins the staff as a Major League coach, after working under Matheny as the Cardinals’ hitting coach when Matheny was the St. Louis manager.  Former coaches Dale Sveum and Mike Jirschele will remain with the Royals in as-yet-unassigned new roles.
  • The Indians’ homegrown pitching has been the backbone of the team’s success in recent years, and The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (subscription link) looks at how the organization has been able to turn the likes of Corey Kluber, Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and other relatively unheralded — none were drafted before the third round by the Tribe or other teams — arms into top-flight hurlers.  Ruben Niebla, formerly the minor league pitching coordinator and now the big league team’s assistant pitching coach, has been a key figure in the system of finding what works for each pitcher, getting the pitcher to buy into the strategy, and then tailoring that development through all levels of the pitcher’s trip up the organizational ladder.  “That communication is vitally important to us, that we make sure we have continuity and the same message as he goes through. There’s no confusion. It’s clear,” Niebla said.

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