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Latest On Mets’ Coaching Staff

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The Mets are making progress in their efforts to put together a staff under new skipper Carlos Beltran. In particular, the club has agreements in place with Chili Davis and Tom Slater to remain with the organization, per Andy Martino of SNY.tv (via Twitter).

Both Davis and Slater receive multi-year deals, per the report. They’ll continue to serve as hitting coach and assistant hitting coach, respectively, giving the New York org some continuity in that arena as Beltran takes over the dugout.

Beltran is still in need of a bench coach and that now seems to be the top priority. Longtime Giants coach Ron Wotus is under consideration for the gig, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (Twitter link). Wotus’s status in San Francisco is in flux now that Gabe Kapler has signed on there.

Jerry Narron and Fredi Gonzalez remain under consideration by the Mets as well, Jon Heyman of MLB Network notes on Twitter. It isn’t known whether that constitutes a final trio of candidates. Terry Collins has been mentioned previously as a speculative possibility, but he’s reportedly out of the mix.

Astros Intend To Add Veteran Starters

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Even as the Astros fend off yet another controversy, they’re working to tweak an exceptionally talented roster. And GM Jeff Luhnow says that a key focus for the winter is to buttress a rotation that stands to lose key pieces to free agency, as Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle writes.

That’s not exactly surprising; it was obvious that something would need to be done with ace Gerrit Cole and sturdy veteran Wade Miley departing, to say nothing of Collin McHugh and (likely) Aaron Sanchez. Even with Lance McCullers Jr. slated to return — with Brad Peacock, Jose Urquidy, and Josh James also options to join Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke — there’s a dearth of reliable innings on hand. But it was not entirely clear just how the ’Stros would go about filling in.

Luhnow made clear that the organization would like to come away from the hot stove season with multiple veteran additions to the rotation mix. “I’d prefer to have two because more options is better,” he said, “but it’s going to come down to what we can actually get done and what our value proposition is.”

It doesn’t sound as if the Astros necessarily feel a need to add a pair of surefire starters. Luhnow spoke of a “need to build that list” of “eight or nine guys competing for five spots.” And he noted that some additions could be promised a starting spot, while others might be brought into compete for one.

As Rome highlights, there’s an interesting question here for Luhnow — or, perhaps, for owner Jim Crane. The team has expressed a desire not to move past the luxury tax line, but that doesn’t leave much free payroll to work with. And Luhnow again emphasized a desire to avoid tying up too much future spending capacity, saying: “In general, the more flexibility we give ourselves in the future, the better off we’re going to be as an organization.”

There are numerous directions the Astros could take here. It’ll obviously depend upon the opportunities available — the “value proposition,” as Luhnow frames it — along with the team’s willingness to spend and decisions on investing in other areas of need. Landing the next Miley or Charlie Morton would surely be ideal, though that requires both the identification of an undervalued asset and the ability to reach agreement before another team swoops in. There are quite a few notable hurlers entering free agency this winter. It’ll be fascinating to see how the ’Stros end up engaging the rotation market.

Latest On Hensley Meulens

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WEDNESDAY: Heyman offers further clarification on the subject, via Twitter. Meulens had inked a letter of intent but not a full contract with the Marlins. The Miami club has allowed Meulens to pursue bench coach positions elsewhere. Whether or not he remains a candidate to land with the Fish remains to be seen.

TUESDAY: Meulens still hasn’t signed a contract with the Marlins, and while it’s possible he will, he could accept a bench coach job elsewhere instead, Heyman tweets.

MONDAY: Longtime Giants coach Hensley Meulens has accepted a position on the Marlins’ coaching staff, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported yesterday (Twitter link). He’ll join new bench coach and “offensive coordinator” James Rowson, recently hired away from the Twins, as another fairly high-profile coaching addition to the Miami staff. Exactly what role Meulens will fill in Miami isn’t yet clear, though SiriusXM’s Craig Mish suggested last week that Meulens could become the club’s hitting coach if hired.

Meulens, 52, has spent the past decade on the Giants’ coaching staff under the recently retired Bruce Bochy. He’s been bench coach for the past two year but previously served as the club’s hitting coach and was also responsible for outfield defense and positioning instruction. Meulens was the Giants’ hitting coach for each of their three World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Beyond his experience on the Giants’ MLB staff, Meulens has spent five seasons as a minor league hitting coach and served as the manager for Team Netherlands in both the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics. Able to speak five languages, the Curacao native has frequently been mentioned as a possible managerial candidate at the MLB level and has interviewed for positions in each of the past few offseasons (including with the Giants last month).

Meulens, nicknamed “Bam Bam,” enjoyed a seven-year Major League career and also played professionally in Korea, Japan and Mexico before retiring in the early 2000s. He spent 1989-93 seasons with the Yankees, meaning he and and recently extended Miami skipper Don Mattingly have a longstanding relationship dating back to their playing days.

The Giants have still yet to name a new manager — they did name a GM over the weekend — but will now be on the lookout for a new bench coach (at the very least) whenever the successor to Bruce Bochy is ultimately appointed.

Clint Hurdle Retires From Managing

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Nov. 13: Hurdle says he has indeed decided not to seek in-uniform positions, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. But that doesn’t mean he’s through with the game. Hurdle says he has spoken with organizations about front-office possibilities, so it seems likely he’ll remain engaged in some capacity.

Nov. 12: Longtime major league manager Clint Hurdle has decided to retire, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres interviewed Hurdle for their hitting coach vacancy, but he decided not to pursue the opportunity, per Acee.

The 62-year-old Hurdle’s just a few weeks removed from the end of a lengthy tenure as the Pirates’ manager. The team fired Hurdle in late September after a disastrous season in which it went 69-93. It was the fourth straight non-playoff season for the Hurdle-led Pirates, though they did have success earlier in his run. Pittsburgh went to the playoffs in each season under Hurdle from 2013-15, but it never won a playoff series. Hired prior to 2011, Hurdle oversaw Pirates teams that went a combined 735-720-1 – which is plenty respectable for a low-budget franchise that has largely struggled over the past few decades.

Before joining the Pirates, Hurdle managed the Rockies to a 534-625 mark from 2002-09. The Rockies only made the playoffs once in that span, in 2007, but they did win the NL pennant that year before falling to the Red Sox in the World Series.

Long before his managerial career started, Hurdle was an outfielder/infielder/catcher for the Royals, Reds, Mets and Cardinals from 1977-87. Hurdle hit a solid .259/.341/.403 across 1,596 plate appearances. Now, if Hurdle’s decades-long stay in the majors truly is up, MLBTR wishes him the best in retirement.

Padres Will Attempt To Extend Fernando Tatis Jr.

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The Padres will attempt to work out a long-term deal with budding superstar Fernando Tatis Jr., according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The timing of negotiations and the organization’s spending tolerances aren’t known, but it seems the club will make a real push to agree to terms before the start of the 2020 season.

Tatis is exceptionally youthful; he won’t celebrate his 21st birthday until the new year. And he’s exceptionally talented, as evidenced by a thrilling rookie campaign. The debut effort was cut short by injury, but not before Tatis turned in 372 innings of .317/.379/.590 hitting with 22 home runs and a boat load of highlight reel contributions. He could stand to smooth out his glovework and cut back on the strikeouts, but that showing was a full-blown success regardless.

At this time last year, you could’ve said many of the same things about precocious Braves slugger Ronald Acuna Jr., who ended up signing a stunning $100MM extension that gave the team control over ten seasons of likely superstardom. That pact entered an unprecedented realm for early-career contracts, but it was also arguably the easiest nine-figure deal ever signed by a professional baseball team.

Acee rightly notes the Acuna contract as a highly relevant comp in the case of Tatis. No doubt the team will try to frame it as a ceiling, or at worst a direct comp, while nudging Tatis back down toward the other major contracts inked by burgeoning young stars last winter — the $43MM deal between Eloy Jimenez and the White Sox and the $35MM agreement the Braves scored with Ozzie Albies.

But there’s no question Tatis belongs in the Acuna stratosphere as a player. And his reps at MVP Sports can make an argument that he ought to earn more — supposing his injury woes are just a blip, at least. First and foremost, the Acuna contract doesn’t need to function in any way to limit what Tatis can and should demand for his own services. If he’s interested in a deal, Tatis can do his own math on his future free agent earnings and whether and how he’s willing to discount them. It’s eminently arguable that Acuna is undercompensated for his immense ability; Tatis doesn’t need to make the same bargain.

Then there’s the fact that Tatis is a season ahead in the service-time game than Acuna was this time last year, owing to the Friars’ decision to put him on the Opening Day roster in 2020. That surprising decision by the San Diego organization last spring was a notable gambit that could factor heavily in this new contract push. It gave leverage to Tatis, who’s a full year closer to the open market than he would have been had the team waited a few weeks to call him up. But the risky ploy may also have been part of the team’s now-evident effort to do everything it can to ensconce Tatis as a franchise-defining star for the bulk of his career. The goodwill generated by the on-time promotion might help the team secure a monster contract that’s laden with value for the organization. The tens of millions more it could in theory cost to get the deal done? That’s secondary to the ability to complete such a pact with a player of this kind.

Offseason Outlook: Toronto Blue Jays

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MLBTR is publishing Offseason Outlooks for all 30 teams.  Click here to read the other entries in this series.

With many of their best young position players now in the majors, the Blue Jays will focus on augmenting that group with some pitching.

Guaranteed Contracts

Other Money Owed

  • Troy Tulowitzki, SS: $18MM through 2020 ($14MM salary, $4MM buyout of 2021 club option)

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via Matt Swartz)

Free Agents

The Blue Jays wasted little time in adding to the rotation this offseason, acquiring righty Chase Anderson from the Brewers and exercising the $8.5MM club option on Anderson’s services for the 2020 season.  The soon-to-be 32-year-old Anderson is also controllable via a $9.5MM club option for 2021, making him more than just a pure single-season pickup.

Anderson hasn’t been overly impressive over the last two seasons, totaling 1.5 total fWAR and a 105 ERA+ over 297 innings. He has worked mostly as a starter, though Milwaukee also tended to limit Anderson’s outings before he faced batters for a third time last season.  Still, he has been a relatively durable pitcher over those two years and there is some potential in a change of scenery, even to the tough AL East.

As a pitcher with some degree of success over six MLB seasons, however, Anderson still represents an upgrade for one of the league’s shakiest rotations in 2019.  Trent Thornton and Jacob Waguespack are also tentatively penciled into the 2020 starting five based on their generally average results from last season, while Ryan Borucki is an even bigger maybe given that he only pitched 6 2/3 Major League innings due to recurring elbow problems.  Matt Shoemaker is also looking to return from an injury-shortened year, though perhaps due to some unease about his projected $3.8MM arbitration salary and how Shoemaker will rebound from a torn ACL, the Jays haven’t gotten far in contract talks with the veteran righty.

Anthony Kay, T.J. Zeuch, Sean Reid-Foley, and Thomas Pannone will also be competing for spots in Spring Training.  Top prospect Nate Pearson is likely to debut sometime in 2020, if almost certainly not on the Opening Day roster (for both service-time reasons and because Pearson has only 18 IP at the Triple-A level).

Since 2020 will be another rebuilding season for the Jays, they will have time to evaluate these and probably many other young arms to see who could factor into the plans for 2021, the date that team president/CEO Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins have loosely (though far from officially) mentioned as the starting point for a new era of competitive baseball in Toronto.  The front office has been clear, however, that more new faces will be added to the pitching mix, and the Blue Jays will be willing to spend beyond the level of just veteran reclamation projects, i.e. their acquisitions of Clayton Richard or Clay Buchholz last offseason.

There’s certainly room in the budget, as Roster Resource projects the Jays for a payroll of just under $70.25MM, and even that number could drop by a few million if a few arbitration-eligible players are non-tendered.  Looking ahead to 2021, the Jays will have only Randal Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the books since Troy Tulowitzki’s contract will finally be up.

There isn’t any financial reason Toronto couldn’t make a notable signing now, perhaps in the spirit of the Nationals’ deal with Jayson Werth in the 2010-11 offseason, which served as an announcement that a rebuilding team was ready to turn the corner.  That being said, the Jays might have to severely overpay to convince a top-tier free agent (who surely would prefer to join a ready-made contender) to join a club that might not be ready to compete by 2021 at the earliest.

Yet while the likes of Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Zack Wheeler, or Hyun-Jin Ryu probably aren’t feasible, names such as Kyle Gibson, Julio Teheran, Tanner Roark, Wade Miley, Rick Porcello, or maybe even Dallas Keuchel (who the Jays reportedly had some interest in last winter) could be possible fits, perhaps in some cases just on one-year contracts.

Beyond free agency, the Anderson acquisition could hint at the Jays’ optimal strategy for using their payroll space.  The Blue Jays only gave up a minor prospect to take over the rights to Anderson’s option years from Milwaukee, and Toronto could similarly target other mid-range or better pitchers on teams that are looking to cut spending, whether it’s mid-market clubs like the Brewers or bigger-spending organizations who are looking to avoid the luxury tax.

This strategy could also be used to land position players, though the Blue Jays hope they have most of their everyday core already in place.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be at third base, Bo Bichette at shortstop, Cavan Biggio at second base, and Gurriel in left field as the most promising cornerstones of the rebuild.  Catcher Danny Jansen, first baseman Rowdy Tellez, and outfielder/DH Teoscar Hernandez are the somewhat less settled members of the group, with Reese McGuire also perhaps vying for a timeshare with Jansen behind the plate.  Grichuk is the veteran member of the bunch with the long-term contract, though he’ll be looking to bounce back after a subpar 2019 season.

Justin Smoak’s free agency leaves a hole in the first base/DH mix, and the Jays have a vacancy in either center field or right field (whichever position isn’t filled by Grichuk).  Derek Fisher is the favorite for one outfield job, competing with other unproven candidates like Anthony Alford, Billy McKinney, or Jonathan Davis, while Brandon Drury is a utility option at multiple positions but has to rebound from a sub-replacement performance.

It’s possible Toronto could simply stick with all of these in-house options in a development year to see what they really have for the future.  For instance, the exact alignment and/or multi-positional ability of the current players may still be in question, as Atkins has suggested that Gurriel could potentially again be a candidate for second base work or Hernandez could even see some time at first or second base.  Biggio has also already bounced around a few different positions besides second base, and speculation persists that Guerrero could end up as a first baseman sooner rather than later.

The Jays might prefer to save any major acquisitions until the team knows what additions are specifically needed to be a contender.  Rather than splurging on a Nicholas Castellanos or Marcell Ozuna, the Blue Jays could look for players on one-year deals.  A veteran middle infielder (this year’s version of Freddy Galvis or Eric Sogard, essentially) would be useful, or a left-handed bat to balance out a mostly right-handed collection of outfielders.

Speaking speculatively, a reunion with Sogard would make sense.  Bringing back Smoak could also be a fit, while a bounce-back candidate like Travis Shaw might also be someone who gets a look for the first base position.  Free agent Jason Kipnis is a left-handed hitter who can play at second base and in the outfield, and has past ties to Shapiro and Atkins from their time in Cleveland.  Atkins has also said that the Jays have some interest in a trio of Japanese players (corner outfield slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, rangy center fielder Shogo Akiyama and glove-first infielder Ryosuke Kikuchi) who will be available via free agency or the posting system at what should be a relatively modest price.

It wouldn’t be out of the question to see Toronto clear some room by packaging one or two of their surplus players in a trade.  Jansen and McGuire have already drawn interest, and players like Hernandez, Tellez, or any of the less-established outfielders could be trade bait if the Blue Jays feel they could consolidate two players they feel okay about into one player they really like.

Speaking of trade chips, while Atkins hasn’t heard many trade rumblings yet about Ken Giles, the closer clearly seems like perhaps the least-likely Blue Jay to be with the team come Opening Day.  Giles quite probably would have been dealt already, had it not been for an ill-timed injury in the days leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.  Giles is coming off an outstanding season that will push his price tag to a projected $8.4MM in his final arbitration year, though there figures to be some solid interest given the long list of teams in need of bullpen reinforcements.

That list actually includes the Jays themselves, who will be in the market for extra relievers even before their eventual need to replace Giles at closer.  Toronto has made a habit of acquiring veteran relievers (i.e. Daniel Hudson, David Phelps, Seunghwan Oh, Joe Smith) to short-term deals and then flipping them at the trade deadline, so expect the team to again revisit this tactic this winter.  Left-handed relief is a priority, as since Tim Mayza will miss 2020 due to Tommy John surgery, the Blue Jays only have three southpaws (Borucki, Pannone, Kay) on their current 40-man roster.

The Jays have already added one veteran with upside in claiming right-hander Anthony Bass from the Mariners.  A reunion with Ryan Tepera could also be a possibility, even though Toronto outrighted him off the 40-man roster, leading Tepera to opt for free agency.

Though the Blue Jays had the fifth-worst record (67-95) in baseball last season, they find themselves in position for a much more intriguing offseason than some of the other lesser lights who are in earlier stages of rebuilds.  While there’s still a lot of uncertainty throughout the roster, the Jays have graduated their first wave of young players to the big leagues who can be reasonably counted on as building blocks, so there’s room for the club to be aggressive if it feels the end of the rebuild is near.  The types of pitching additions Toronto makes this winter could provide some interesting hints about where the Jays feel they are in their path back to contention.

Blue Jays Notes: Giles, Japanese FAs, Gurriel, Hernandez

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While Blue Jays reliever Ken Giles looks like an obvious offseason trade candidate, general manager Ross Atkins indicated Tuesday it’s not a sure thing the team will deal him. “We’ve been really focused on acquiring players. We really haven’t engaged on trading players away much at all,” Atkins said in regards to Giles (per Jon Morosi of MLB.com). The flamethrowing Giles may have been out of Toronto by now had he been healthy at the July 31 deadline, but elbow issues helped prevent a trade from coming together. The 29-year-old was utterly brilliant in 2019, though, as he recorded a 1.87 ERA/2.27 FIP with 14.09 K/9, 2.89 BB/9 and 23 saves on 24 tries over 53 innings. Giles is now going into his final season of arbitration, in which he’s projected to make an affordable $8.4MM.

Here’s more on Toronto, all of which comes courtesy of Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3, 4)

  • The Blue Jays have interest in Japanese free agents (or soon-to-be free agents) Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Shogo Akiyama and Ryosuke Kikuchi, Atkins revealed. Tsutsugo’s a 27-year-old corner outfielder who has smacked 205 home runs in exactly 4,000 plate appearances in Nippon Professional Baseball. The Yokohama DeNA BayStars intend to post him by Dec. 5. Akiyama will try to parlay a strong nine-year run with the Seibu Lions of NPB into a major league contract. The 31-year-old center fielder, who won’t be subjected to the posting system, may have the highest upside of the three when it comes to earning power, as MLBTR projects he’ll rake in a two-year, $6MM guarantee this offseason. Kikuchi, a member of NPB’s Hiroshima Carp, will be posted after eight seasons with the club. The 29-year-old second baseman has not been an offensive standout in Japan, but he has thrived defensively.
  • Toronto’s at least considering using outfielders Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez in the infield next season, per Atkins. Gurriel began his career as a middle infielder, but he struggled enough there that the team shifted him to left field in 2019. That experiment paid off, though it’s reportedly possible Gurriel could be an offseason trade chip for the club. As for Hernandez, although the .230/.306/.472 line he put up in 464 plate appearances this year doesn’t look great, he did go on a second-half tear and finish with 26 home runs. But Hernandez had difficulty in center field, where he accounted for minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-7.7 Ultimate Zone Rating. Going forward, he might see time at first and/or second, Atkins suggested. Toronto looks to be in fine shape at the keystone, where Cavan Biggio enjoyed a terrific rookie season, though first is a question mark. Justin Smoak’s a free agent, and Rowdy Tellez didn’t have an especially successful year.

GM/Coaching Notes: Pirates, Cubs, Mets, Tigers, ChiSox

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Blue Jays vice president of baseball operations Ben Cherington and Brewers assistant general manager Matt Arnold will get second interviews this week for the Pirates’ GM vacancy, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network and reporter Robert Murray. Cherington and Arnold are reportedly two of three finalists to take over in Pittsburgh. Pirates assistant GM Kevan Graves seems to be competing with them, as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets that he also appears likely to receive another interview. Meanwhile, even though the Pirates technically don’t have a GM right now, they’re also carrying on their search for a manager. Twins bench coach Derek Shelton has been particularly impressive to the club thus far, Heyman relays.

More staff news from around baseball…

  • Cubs first base coach Will Venable has been popular in managerial searches in recent weeks. The Cubs discussed their job with Venable prior to their David Ross hiring, and he also sat down with the Giants in regards to their position before they selected Gabe Kapler. Now that Venable’s not going to land a managerial job this offseason (unless Pittsburgh pursues him), the former major league outfielder will stay where he is. He’ll be one of the Cubs’ base coaches in 2020, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets. The Cubs have at least one opening for those positions, as third base coach Brian Butterfield left to take the same role with the Angels.
  • The Mets are closing in on a deal to retain hitting coach Chili Davis, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.  The former big league slugger is fresh off his first year with the Mets, whose offense made strides on his watch. Davis helped the club to the majors’ 13th-most runs and its seventh-highest wRC+ (104).
  • The Tigers have hired Josh Paul as their quality control coach, the team announced. Paul served as the the Angels’ bench coach over the previous three years, but the Halos fired him after this season. The 44-year-old Paul was previously a major league catcher and then a well-regarded assistant in the Yankees organization.
  • Nationals assistant hitting coach Joe Dillon is a legitimate candidate to become the Phillies’ hitting coach, Heyman suggests. Dillon has been working under Nats hitting coach Kevin Long, who’s a favorite of new Phillies manager Joe Girardi, as Heyman points out. Long was the Yankees’ hitting coach for part of Girardi’s tenure as their manager. Dillon, meanwhile, is an ex-major league infielder/outfielder who has two years’ experience as a coach at the game’s highest level.
  • Scott Coolbaugh is the White Sox’s new assistant hitting coach, the club announced. Coolbaugh was the Orioles’ hitting coach from 2015-18 and the Dodgers’ Triple-A hitting coach this season. He’ll team with White Sox new HC Frank Menechino in his new role.

Latest On Mets’ Bench Coach Position

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11:21pm: Giants third base coach Ron Wotus has also interviewed for the Mets’ bench coach position, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets. Wotus remains in the running for the job, per Baggarly. San Francisco has been the lone stop for the 58-year-old Wotus since his MLB coaching career began in 1998, and the Giants did consider him for their managerial vacancy this fall. However, now that the Giants have hired Gabe Kapler as their manager, it’s unclear if Wotus will remain part of their staff.

7:30pm: The Mets have their new manager in former major league slugger Carlos Beltran, a first-time skipper who brings zero coaching experience to the table. The fact that Beltran’s a neophyte makes it all the more important for the Mets to find an experienced bench coach capable of helping him learn the ropes. They’ve got at least two names on their radar in Fredi Gonzalez and Jerry Narron, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.

The Mets have already spoken with Gonzalez, who’s likely to have a formal interview with the club after the GM meetings, according to Puma. The 55-year-old Gonzalez is a former major league manager who oversaw the Marlins from 2007-10 and the Braves from 2011-16. More recently, Gonzalez was the Marlins’ bench coach over the previous three seasons, but he stepped down from that post a month ago.

Narron, 63, left the Diamondbacks in late October after they chose to replace him as their bench coach. He served in that role for two-plus years before the D-backs decided to give the job to Luis Urueta, though their hope was that Narron would remain a part of their coaching staff. He’s now a free agent, however, and is well-known for managing the Rangers from 2001-02 and the Reds from 2005-07.

Cubs Interested In Re-Signing Brandon Morrow

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Injuries have victimized free-agent reliever Brandon Morrow over the past year and a half, which recently forced the Cubs to buy him out for $3MM in lieu of exercising a $12MM option for 2020. However, that doesn’t mean the Cubs are uninterested in keeping Morrow in the fold. On the contrary, the club’s considering trying to bring the right-handed Morrow back on a minor-league deal, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Morrow, for his part, seems open to returning to the Cubs. Agent Joel Wolfe told Wittenmyer that “Brandon feels a certain sense of loyalty and obligation back to the Cubs to stay with them if they want him on a minor-league contract or something like that. He signed with the Cubs because he thought they were the best organization out there for him, and he still believes that.”

Morrow, then fresh off a stellar season with the Dodgers, joined the Cubs on a two-year, $21MM guarantee entering 2018. The Cubs’ decision looked brilliant at first, as Morrow pumped high-90s heat and fired 30 2/3 innings of 1.47 ERA/2.97 FIP ball with 9.1 K/9, 2.64 BB/9 and a 51.9 percent groundball rate over the 2018 season’s initial few months. Unfortunately, though, Morrow hasn’t taken a major league mound since July 15 of that year because of various injuries.

Back, biceps and elbow issues have been the latest problems during an injury-laden career for Morrow, once a promising starter who reinvented himself as an effective reliever before health troubles reared their head again during his Cubs tenure. Morrow has undergone two elbow surgeries since last November, including one at the end of this season, though he has progressed well enough that he should be ready for spring training, according to Wolfe.

If Morrow does regain health by next year, he’ll have a chance to emerge as a low-cost steal for the Cubs or some other team. In the Cubs’ case, they could clearly use bullpen help – especially with Steve Cishek, Brandon Kintzler, Pedro Strop and David Phelps among their free agents. However, it’s up in the air how much money the luxury tax-minded Cubs plan on spending as they work to improve their relief corps (and their roster as a whole) after falling short of expectations in 2019. If they’re on the hunt for potential bargains, a reunion with Morrow would seemingly make sense.

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