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Offseason In Review: Oakland Athletics

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This is the latest post of MLBTR’s annual Offseason in Review series, in which we take stock of every team’s winter dealings.

After surprising their way to the the majors’ fourth-best record in 2018, the low-budget Athletics made a series of short-term commitments this past offseason.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

[Athletics Offseason Depth Chart | Athletics Payroll Information]

Needs Addressed

A spate of injuries devastated the A’s rotation in 2018 and forced them to rely heavily on inexpensive signings Trevor Cahill, Edwin Jackson and Brett Anderson – three veterans whose best days looked long gone when the club added them. As it turned out, though, the trio held up reasonably well over a combined 282 1/3 innings and helped the upstart A’s to a wild-card berth. Cahill, the most effective member of the group, parlayed his strong 2018 into a $9MM guarantee with the division-rival Angels over the winter. Oakland also waved goodbye to Jackson, who hasn’t landed a deal with anyone despite his resurgent season, though it did bring back Anderson. Injuries have been a consistent problem during the 31-year-old Anderson’s career, including during his 80 1/3-inning showing last season, yet the A’s decided to gamble on him again for a mere $1.5MM salary.

Accompanying Anderson in the A’s rotation are fellow free-agent signees Mike Fiers and Marco Estrada, who started the club’s season-opening losses to the Mariners in Japan. The 33-year-old Fiers first joined the A’s in a trade with the Tigers last August, after which he logged solid numbers across 53 frames. While Oakland then non-tendered Fiers in lieu of paying him a projected $9.7MM via arbitration, it quickly brought him back on what it regards as more team-friendly numbers (two years, $14.1MM).

Estrada took an even more palatable pact – a guaranteed $4MM – as he seeks a rebirth after a couple down seasons in Toronto. For a pitcher who posted an abysmal 5.64 ERA/5.44 FIP last season, Estrada looks like a shrewd signing for the Athletics, as his fly ball-heavy skill set should mesh with their cavernous home park. Among pitchers who threw at least 100 innings in 2018, no one managed a lower groundball percentage (24.0) than Estrada, who’s now shifting to a stadium that was death on fly balls last year. Plus, having generated truckloads of infield pop-ups in recent years, Estrada stands to benefit from the enormous foul territory at the Oakland Coliseum.

Estrada and the other members of the A’s revamped rotation will turn the ball over to a bullpen that was a premier unit in 2018, largely owing to elite closer Blake Treinen’s presence. In-season acquisitions Jeurys Familia and Shawn Kelley also helped the cause, and even though the A’s showed interest in re-signing both right-handers, they departed in free agency. Oakland still came away with a well-known bullpen prize on the open market, though, as its most expensive offseason deal went to longtime standout Joakim Soria. The 34-year-old looks as if he’ll be the primary setup man for the team, which also features other established choices in Ryan Buchter, Fernando Rodney, Yusmeiro Petit and Lou Trivino. Unsurprisingly, then, ZIPS projects the A’s to once again boast one of the majors’ most formidable bullpens this year.

On the position player side, a particularly notable offseason change came at second base, where the A’s bid adieu to Jed Lowrie in free agency but welcomed Jurickson Profar in a trade with the division-rival Rangers. Lowrie enjoyed an excellent pair of seasons in Oakland from 2017-18, though his age (34) and extensive injury history likely factored into the A’s decision to switch things up at the keystone. A few weeks after the Athletics landed Profar, Lowrie accepted a two-year, $20MM offer from the Mets, with whom he is already battling an injury. Profar is also under control for the next two seasons – albeit at a much lower rate ($3.6MM) in the wake of a somewhat disappointing Texas tenure. Although Profar has struggled for the majority of his career thus far, the light bulb may have gone on in 2018. To close out his time in Arlington, the switch-hitting Profar accounted for 2.9 fWAR over 594 plate appearances, hit .254/.335/.458 with 20 home runs and 10 steals, and struck out in just 14.8 percent of PAs.

Oakland also welcomed new faces at catcher, where it brought in Chris Herrmann on a big league deal and Nick Hundley on a minors pact, as well as in the outfield (Robbie Grossman, $2MM). Herrmann underwent knee surgery earlier this month, though, meaning he’ll open the season on the 60-day injured list. His absence paved the way for Hundley to earn a spot alongside holdover Josh Phegley. Now, the 35-year-old Hundley is filling the grizzled vet role Jonathan Lucroy took on last season. Lucroy joined Cahill in bolting for Anaheim in free agency, but the former’s production should be easier to replace. The respected Lucroy was a hit behind the scenes in Oakland, but the ex-star’s numbers on both ends left much to be desired. Of course, it’s up in the air whether the unexciting trio of Herrmann (when healthy), Hundley and Phegley will provide much of an upgrade over Lucroy.

Similarly, Grossman isn’t the most compelling addition. To the former Astro and Twin’s credit, however, he gets on base – a skill everyone knows the Athletics have long valued – which should make him an improvement over the 2018 version of the now-departed Matt Joyce. Grossman compiled a superb .371 OBP during his 1,310-PA stint with the Twins, thanks mostly to a 13.9 percent walk rate. But the switch-hitting 29-year-old brings minimal power to the table, which was especially true in 2018 (five home runs, .111 ISO in 465 PAs), and historically hasn’t provided much either in the field or on the bases. Despite his flaws, Grossman’s likely to play an important role in the A’s outfield – especially with Nick Martini recovering from a knee injury.

Questions Remaining

Concerns are plentiful in Oakland’s rotation, which will rely on a series of iffy options to begin the season. At this point, there’s nothing resembling a front-line starter among the quintet of Anderson, Fiers, Estrada, Frankie Montas and Chris Bassitt, though the 25-year-old Montas has at least provided reason for optimism this spring. More realistically, electrifying lefty Jesus Luzardo, 21, is the A’s best hope to conjure up an ace from within. However, in what has become an all-too-typical occurrence for the A’s, Luzardo’s on the shelf with an arm injury (a rotator cuff strain, to be exact).

If healthy, Luzardo could have cracked the A’s season-opening rotation, but he’ll instead miss at least the first several weeks of the campaign. Likewise, Sean Manaea, A.J. Puk, Jharel Cotton, James Kaprielian and Daniel Gossett will sit out some or all of 2019, leaving Oakland in a similar position to last year. The A’s still found a way to adapt and survive then, thanks in part to the decision to mimic the Rays’ opener strategy down the stretch. The role proved beneficial for veteran reliever Liam Hendriks, who came back from a demotion off the A’s 40-man roster late in the season to thrive (playoff loss to the Yankees notwithstanding). We could see more of Hendriks & Co. at the start of games in 2019 if Oakland’s not content with its collection of traditional starters.

As mentioned earlier, the A’s pitchers are slated to throw to a weak-looking mix of catchers. Relative to his position, Hundley has been fine at times with the bat, but his defensive numbers have been poor for the most part; Phegley has been one of the worst hitters in baseball since 2017 (59 wRC+); and Herrmann’s a journeyman who hasn’t offered much as either as a batter or a defender across 898 major league PAs. No matter, Oakland’s leaning on that behind-the-plate trio as it counts down to the arrival of 24-year-old prospect Sean Murphy – a player Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs believe could blossom into “an above-average regular” in the bigs. It’s possible Murphy’s forthcoming promotion prevented the A’s from making a splashier offseason pickup behind the plate. They did show interest in Wilson Ramos and Kurt Suzuki, but both signed affordable deals elsewhere. Meanwhile, even though Yasmani Grandal languished on the market before settling for a shockingly reasonable guarantee (one year, $18.25MM with Milwaukee), Oakland never pursued the former Padre and Dodger.

Aside from catcher, it appeared the A’s were going to enter the season without any massive concerns in their position player group. Unfortunately, that changed this week with the news that first baseman Matt Olson underwent right hand surgery, which will cost him at least the first month of the season. While manager Bob Melvin had the luxury of writing Olson’s name into his lineup 162 times last year, he’ll have to temporarily make do with a Profar-Mark Canha platoon at first, according to executive vice president Billy Beane. Profar’s the team’s No. 1 second baseman, though, which means it’ll turn to Chad Pinder or Franklin Barreto at the keystone when he has to occupy Olson’s spot. When Olson does come back, it’s anyone’s guess whether he’ll suffer any ill effects from his injury; if not, an infield consisting of him, Profar, superstar third baseman Matt Chapman and shortstop Marcus Semien looks enviable on paper. Meanwhile, although the Athletics lack a Chapman-type franchise player or a Khris Davis-esque masher among their main outfielders, Stephen Piscotty, Ramon Laureano, Canha, Pinder, Grossman, Barreto, Martini, Luis Barrera, Skye Bolt and Dustin Fowler do comprise a deep and respectable group of 40-man possibilities.

2019 Season Outlook

Oakland has somewhat frequently overcome the odds during the long-running Beane era, and it’ll have to do the same in 2019. Even before the Athletics lost Luzardo, Olson and the first two games of their season, they weren’t a popular pick to repeat their 2018 success. Indeed, on the heels of a modest offseason, PECOTA projects the A’s for just 78 victories – 19 fewer than last year’s total.

How would you grade the Athletics’ offseason moves? (Link for app users.)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Extension Talks Between Mets, Jacob deGrom

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There has been cavalcade of extensions across Major League Baseball this spring, but it doesn’t appear Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom will become the latest star to ink a new deal. Speaking about his future Saturday, deGrom told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Tim Healey of Newsday and other reporters that his optimism about signing before his self-imposed Opening Day deadline on March 28 is fading.

As recently as March 13, the reigning National League Cy Young winner seemed hopeful about landing a long-term pact by the opener. But deGrom said Saturday he’s “probably not as [optimistic]” an agreement between his camp and the Mets will materialize in time for the season. At that point, the 30-year-old will be more concerned about on-field matters.

“I don’t know where it’s going to end up,” deGrom said. “I’ve really not been trying to think about it. Yeah, I said I wanted to get something done, but it’s getting close to Opening Day and I think my focus is on that right now.”

While talks haven’t gone to his liking, they’re still ongoing, according to deGrom, who again noted he’d like to remain with the Mets. That being the case, it seems there’s still hope they’ll reach an 11th-hour deal. To this point, though, the Mets have reportedly been leery of committing a sizable payday to deGrom – who, despite the brilliance he has displayed since debuting in 2014, doesn’t have all the leverage here. After all, not only is deGrom on the wrong side of 30, but he’s a past Tommy John surgery recipient whom the Mets aren’t at risk of losing to free agency until after the 2020 campaign. Conversely, fellow veteran aces Chris Sale and Justin Verlander were only a year from free agency when they signed extensions this week, thereby increasing their teams’ urgency to lock them up.

Asked if he’s comparable to Sale, whom the Red Sox awarded a five-year, $145MM guarantee, deGrom said: “I don’t know. He’s a little bit closer to free agency. I’d have to sit down with my agents again and go over some things to really fully understand where we’d like to be.” 

Last July, as deGrom was amid a season for the ages, his former agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, implored the Mets to either trade the ace or extend him. The Mets didn’t oblige in either case, though they did make the outside-the-box decision in October to hire Van Wagenen as their general manager. Van Wagenen entered into the position with keen insight into deGrom’s circumstances, then, and as a former bigwig at CAA Sports, he’s familiar with the hurler’s new representatives, Jeff Berry and Matt Ricatto. Nevertheless, the parties haven’t been able to hammer anything out, and if deGrom’s deadline holds, they’ll either wait until next offseason to revisit contract talks or table them altogether. By then, deGrom could be heading into his final winter of arbitration eligibility. He and the Mets avoided the arbitration process this past January by agreeing to a record-setting $17MM salary for 2019.

Central Notes: Tribe, Cubs, Brewers, Royals

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Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor and second baseman Jason Kipnis will open the season on the 10-day injured list, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com. It’s disappointing but not surprising news for Lindor, who’s working back from the right calf strain he suffered in early February. Kipnis is also dealing with a right calf strain, one that has forced the Indians to shut him down for seven to 10 days. Lindor’s absence will leave shortstop to the unheralded Eric Stamets, a 27-year-old with no major league experience. while Max Moroff could fill in for Kipnis. However, the Indians are in the market for second base help, according to Hoynes, who names free agent Brad Miller as a possibility. Miller opted out of his contract with the Dodgers on Thursday.

More from the majors’ Central divisions…

  • Having demoted Ian Happ to the minors on Saturday, the Cubs are looking for a center fielder via the trade and waiver markets, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports. Additionally, the Cubs remain in the market for depth at catcher, Levine relays (Twitter links). Happ had been the Cubs’ projected season-opening starter in center field, but that role could now go to Albert Almora Jr. Meanwhile, lacking an experienced backstop behind Willson Contreras and Victor Caratini, the Cubs have prioritized the position in recent months. They came up short in attempts to sign Brian McCann and Martin Maldonado dating back to the offseason.
  • More on the Cubs, who announced that they’ve assigned infielder Cristhian Adames to minor league camp. The recipient of a minors deal in January, Adames had been competing for a place on the Cubs’ bench prior to his demotion. He made a case for a roster spot by slashing a stellar .386/.440/.705 with three home runs in 44 exhibition at-bats, though the 27-year-old hasn’t been nearly as successful in meaningful major league action. Adames combined for 343 PAs as a Rockie from 2014-17 and hit an unsightly .206/.283/.278 with a pair of homers.
  • Righty Jimmy Nelson, still on the mend from a September 2017 surgery to repair both labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder, felt “some elbow soreness” after throwing in a side game Thursday, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. The club still believes Nelson will begin his AAA rehab stint on schedule, per McCalvy, but it’s nonetheless a concerning development for the one-time Brewer ace. Milwaukee set its early-season rotation yesterday, with the high-upside Corbin Burnes/Freddy Peralta/Brandon Woodruff trio bookended by the iffy combination of Jhoulys Chacin and Zach Davies, whom the club seem higher on.
  • Royals lefty Danny Duffy told Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com this week he’d “love” to shift to a relief role eventually. For now, though, Duffy remains a starter. “We’ve had discussions, but they haven’t gone further than that. As long as I’m helping the team in some capacity, that’s all I want and that’s all they want,” said Duffy, who’s likely to start the season on the IL because of shoulder tightness. Shoulder issues were also a problem last year for Duffy, who didn’t take the mound past Sept. 4. It was an underwhelming season before that for Duffy, as the 30-year-old only managed a 4.88 ERA/4.70 FIP with 8.19 K/9, 4.06 BB/9 and a 35.4 percent groundball rate over 155 innings. Still, given the success Duffy has had as a starter (which helped him net a five-year, $65MM extension in January 2017), it’s an eye-opener that he’s so willing to change roles. Duffy has thrived in 34 2/3 frames as a reliever, though, having registered a 2.08 ERA/2.02 FIP with 11/42 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9.

Bryan Holaday, Pedro Alvarez Opt Out Of Marlins Deals

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8:50pm: First baseman Pedro Alvarez has also opted out of his deal, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro, who adds that outfielder Harold Ramirez will not exercise his out clause. Both Holaday and Alvarez have 48 hours to decide whether to go to Triple-A New Orleans, Frisaro notes. Alvarez has raked this spring with a .324/.400/.647 line in 34 at-bats, but the former star prospect hasn’t been much better than a league-average hitter across 3,321 major league PAs with the Pirates and Orioles. The 32-year-old struggled mightily across 127 PAs in Baltimore last season, when he hit a meager .180/.283/.414.

5:17pm: The Marlins are releasing catcher Bryan Holaday, who exercised the opt-out in his minor league contract, per Craig Mish of SiriusXM.

Holaday spent the 2018 campaign in Miami serving as the primary backup to star J.T. Realmuto, whom the team traded to the Phillies in the offseason. With Realmuto out of the picture, Holaday has been competing with Chad Wallach to work as a reserve behind Jorge Alfaro this season. But it appears Wallach has won the battle over Holaday, who hit .276/.364/.310 in 29 at-bats during spring training. That was an improvement over the .205/.261/.258 line Holaday authored over 166 PAs last year with the Marlins.

Offensive issues have been the norm for the 31-year-old Holaday, a .234/.274/.320 hitter in 606 PAs, though he has held his own at times behind the plate. Just last year, Holaday threw out a league-leading 45 percent of would-be base stealers (17 of 38) and, per Baseball Prospectus, offered above-average marks as a pitch framer and blocker.

Roster Notes: Rox, Brewers, Phils, Nats, Reds, Marlins

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The latest on several teams’ rosters…

  • First baseman Mark Reynolds will make the Rockies’ roster, Nick Groke of The Athletic tweets. A Rockie from 2016-17, Reynolds rejoined the club on a minor league deal this past January after spending last season with the Nationals. In his return to Colorado, the 35-year-old Reynolds will back up the team’s headlining offseason acquisition, Daniel Murphy.
  • More from Groke, who reports catcher Brett Nicholas has requested and received his release from the Rockies. However, it’s possible the Rockies will try to keep Nicholas, Groke adds. An ex-Ranger, with whom he totaled 110 plate appearances from 2016-17, Nicholas signed a minors pact with the Rox in November. He has always faced an uphill battle to make the team, though, considering it has Chris Iannetta, Tony Wolters and Tom Murphy on its 40-man roster.
  • Catcher Erik Kratz won’t crack the Brewers’ roster, leaving him to await his trade/waiver fate, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This had been the expected outcome for Kratz, who’s stuck behind Yasmani Grandal and Manny Pina on Milwaukee’s depth chart.
  • Infielder Philip Gosselin won’t make the Phillies, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays. It seems the 30-year-old will remain on hand as minor league depth, however. The journeyman has accrued 579 major league PAs, though he didn’t play much at the MLB level from 2017-18, and batted .263/.314/.361.
  • The Nationals have informed left-hander Vidal Nuno he won’t make their roster, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Nuno now has six days to decide whether to opt out of the minor league deal he signed in January. The 31-year-old has logged solid results this spring, having allowed two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings while recording six strikeouts against one walk. Nuno was similarly effective across 33 innings with Tampa Bay last year, when he put up a 1.64 ERA (with a much less impressive 4.46 FIP) and 7.91 K/9 against 2.73 BB/9.
  • The Reds have sent right-hander Anthony Bass to minor league camp, according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Bass had been competing for a bullpen spot with the Reds after they signed him to a minors deal in December. He owns a 4.51 ERA/4.20 FIP with 6.07 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 and a 47.9 percent groundball rate in a combined 299 1/3 innings with the Padres, Astros, Rangers and Cubs.
  • The Marlins are “expected” to retain Rule 5 pick Riley Ferrell, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com reports. The club took the right-hander fourth overall from the Astros in December, and he has since pitched well over 6 2/3 spring innings (two earned runs allowed on five hits and five walks, with 10 strikeouts). Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs regard the 25-year-old Ferrell as “at least a big league-ready middle reliever with a chance to be a set-up man.”

Cubs Option Ian Happ

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In a surprise move, the Cubs have optioned outfielder/infielder Ian Happ to Triple-A Iowa, manager Joe Maddon announced Saturday (via Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic). Happ’s “not happy” about the demotion, Maddon revealed.

The decision comes in the wake of a miserable spring for the 24-year-old Happ, who batted an awful .135/.196/.192 in 52 at-bats during the exhibition season. Before that, Happ looked like a shoo-in to open the season in a prominent role in Chicago, where the former high-end prospect emerged following a mid-May promotion in 2017. Since then, the switch-hitting Happ has slashed .242/.341/.459 (109 wRC+) with 39 home runs in 875 plate appearances. Defensively, Happ has seen a significant amount of action in all three outfield spots and at third base with the Cubs.

Happ figured to start 2019 in the Cubs’ outfield, but he’ll have to wait before factoring into their lineup again. For now, the Cubs want Happ to work on cutting down his strikeouts in the minors, per Maddon (via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune). Strikeouts have indeed been a problem for Happ, who fanned in 33.8 percent of major league PAs from 2017-18 and went down another 14 times during the spring.

Chicago’s in position to temporarily say goodbye to Happ because of the depth in its outfield, where it has several experienced options. Jason Heyward, Albert Almora Jr. and Kyle Schwarber lead the way among the team’s primary outfielders, while Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant, David Bote, Daniel Descalso and Mark Zagunis also represent 40-man outfield possibilities on hand. Johnny Field, meanwhile, has held his own this spring after joining the Cubs via waivers from the Twins during the offseason.

Brewers Sign Alex Wilson

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MARCH 23: Wilson’s deal is now official, Murray tweets.

MARCH 22: 2:55pm: The deal includes a $750K base salary along with unspecified incentives, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).

12:44pm: Murray tweets that Wilson’s contract is a Major League deal. He’ll be added to the 40-man roster once he passes a physical, which is taking place today.

12:35pm: The Brewers are in agreement with free-agent right-hander Alex Wilson, per Robert Murray and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 32-year-old opted out of a minor league contract with the Indians earlier this week.

Wilson has been a steady member of the Tigers’ bullpen over the past four seasons, working to a combined 3.20 ERA with a below-average 5.8 K/9 mark but a quality average of 2.1 BB/9. He’s averaged 6.3 punchouts per nine innings pitched over the past two seasons and logged the second-best grounder rate of his career in 2018 (49.2 percent).

Milwaukee’s bullpen was one of its greatest strengths in 2018, but the relief corps is rapidly becoming more of a question mark with the revelation that Corey Knebel’s immediate future is clouded by a UCL injury. Jeremy Jeffress, meanwhile, is expected to open the season on the injured list due to shoulder weakness, although president of baseball ops David Stearns has suggested that Jeffress could return to the active roster by mid or late April. Beyond today’s addition of Wilson, the Brewers have been connected to a more dramatic upgrade — lingering free-agent closer Craig Kimbrel.

Blue Jays Release John Axford

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The Blue Jays have released reliever John Axford, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Additionally, reliever Bud Norris didn’t make the Jays’ roster, per Davidi, but they have given him a $100K retention bonus to stay in the fold.

Axford, whom the Blue Jays signed to a minor league contract in February, had been battling for a season-opening bullpen spot in spring training. But the 35-year-old Axford suffered a stress reaction in his pitching elbow this week, thus taking him out of the mix. It’s possible he’ll return to the Blue Jays in short order, though, as Davidi suggests they may have released Axford simply to rework his contract.

Toronto’s quite familiar with Axford, a native of Canada who spent the first few months of 2018 with the Blue Jays before they sent him to the Dodgers at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Between the two teams last year, Axford tossed 54 2/3 innings and posted an ugly 5.27 ERA with 8.89 K/9 and 3.62 BB/9. Most of the damage came during Axford’s short stint in LA, where he managed just 3 2/3 innings on account of a fractured fibula.

As an Article XX(B) free agent, the Jays had to place Norris on their 25-man roster, pay him $100K to stay on as a minor leaguer or send him back to the open market, where he languished until March 1. Surprisingly, Norris has to settle for a minors deal after performing well last year with the Cardinals, with whom he notched 57 2/3 innings and logged a 3.59 ERA with 10.46 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and 28 saves in 33 attempts. Norris looked like a good bet to win a roster spot with the Jays after signing with them, but forearm fatigue has slowed him of late. The 34-year-old won’t be in Toronto from the outset of the season, then, though it’s possible he’ll join its bullpen sometime in the coming weeks.

Astros Extend Justin Verlander

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The Astros have reached an agreement with right-hander Justin Verlander on a two-year, $66MM extension, Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston reports. The deal will keep Verlander, a client of ISE Baseball, in Houston through the 2021 season.

It has been a remarkable few seasons for Verlander, who’s set to complete the final season of a five-year, $140MM extension signed prior to the ’13 campaign. Lagging velocity and some health issues led to messy 2014 and 2015 seasons, but Verlander recovered admirably, finishing out his Tigers tenure in good form before being shipped to the ’Stros.

Verlander has now reached his 36th birthday, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he pitched last year. Over 214 frames, he worked to a 2.52 ERA with 12.2 K/9 against just 1.6 BB/9. And it wasn’t just the work of a crafty veteran who somehow managed to squeeze out one last good season from what was left of his stuff. Verlander averaged over 95 mph with his dominating fastball and jumped to a 14.5% swinging-strike rate — easily the highest mark of his storied career.

There’s an argument to be made that Verlander was never better than in 2018. He didn’t tally the same volume of great innings that he did in the vintage seasons of his youth, but Verlander’s insane 30.4% K%-BB% was nearly twice his career average. That level of unadulterated dominance is typically reserved for elite late-inning relievers who mostly unleash their arsenal in one-inning bursts. Statcast actually felt that Verlander was unlucky to permit opposing batters a paltry .260 wOBA. The contact they made against him was so weak that the advanced system credited those hitters with a .236 xwOBA.

Locking up Verlander – the third in a series of late-spring Astros extensions – brings at least some degree of clarity to a future rotation mix that seemed hazy at best. With both Verlander and Gerrit Cole set to hit the market after the upcoming campaign, and emerging frontliner Lance McCullers Jr. on the shelf until at least Opening Day 2020, Houston’s level of concern vis-á-vis the top end of the rotation had reached urgent heights. Collin McHugh was lassoed back from the bullpen, but none of the club’s glut of emerging arms – Cionel Perez, Framber Valdez, Josh James, Forrest Whitley, Corbin Martin, and J.B. Bukauskas among them – would likely be prepared to lead a staff in the upcoming seasons, especially one with designs on another AL crown.

The club still has more to work to do, of course (old friend Dallas Keuchel is still out there), but with just $108MM on the 2020 books even with the extensions divvied to Verlander, Alex Bregman, and Ryan Pressly, there should be plenty of room with which to maneuver. A Cole deal seems further off, and riskier still given his third-starter track record in the two seasons prior to ’18, but the club’s tech-blazed path to improvement with so many of its hurlers, centered on bolstering spin rates with pitches both fast and slow, should certainly be a mark in its favor. Houston, under Jeff Luhnow, has always been loath to part from the cream of its crop, so a high-profile trade for a top-end arm wouldn’t seem to be in the cards.

Regardless, with ace now in tow, the Astros have widened their window considerably. In addition to Cole, only George Springer, among the team’s stars, is set to hit the open market between now and when Verlander’s contract expires at the end of 2021, and the team has its floodgates set wide open in hopes that another homegrown star or two will wash ashore.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand was the first to report the two sides were “moving toward” an extension (via Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was first with the proposed figures (Twitter link). Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Giants Acquire Michael Reed From Twins

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Per Dan Hayes of the Athletic, the Giants have acquired OF Michael Reed from Minnesota for OF John Andreoli and cash. Per Kerry Crowley of the Mercury News, lefty Steven Okert was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man.

Reed, 26, was in camp with the Twins after an outstanding AAA performance in the Atlanta system last year. A career .269/.382/.395 hitter in the minors, Reed took it up a notch last season, slashing a ridiculous .363/.459/.539 in 229 plate appearances for AAA-Gwinnett.  Scouts were never too bullish on the longtime Brewer – his highest ever rank in the Milwaukee system per Baseball America was 14th, following the 2014 season – but the recent performance has been too enticing to ignore.

Incredibly, Reed may slot in as the San Francisco’s top projected outfielder for the upcoming season – Steamer, at least, seems to agree. The Giants may not, but the righty-swinging Reed should see plenty of time at each outfield position in ’19, which he may well begin by serving as the weak-side platoon option in center field for lefty Steven Duggar.

Andreoli, 28, was brought in with a host of others to compete for a spot in the wide-open SF outfield, though his minor-league track record doesn’t glow nearly as brightly as Reed’s. The righty did put up an impressive .397 OBP at the AAA level last season, albeit in the much more hitter-friendly confines of the Pacific Coast League.

Okert, 27, has been decent in limited action for the Giants over the last three seasons, and had a banner (3.30 FIP, 12.22 K/9 vs. 2.27 BB/9) AAA season in 2018. Righties have always given the southpaw trouble, but he should have no issue latching on with a new franchise in the coming days.

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