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Archives for October 2019

2019-20 Offseason Calendar

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Baseball’s offseason calendar largely flows from the end of the World Series. Last night’s thrilling game seven, in which the Nationals prevailed over the Astros, also served as a starting point for several key dates.

Today

  • Eligible players officially file for major or minor-league free agency

November 4

  • End of “quiet period” during which teams have exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents
  • Deadline to issue qualifying offers ($17.8MM) to eligible free agents
  • Deadline to exercise or decline options and opt-outs (unless sooner by operation of contract; Stephen Strasburg & Aroldis Chapman reportedly must decide by November 2)

November 11-14

  • General Manager Meetings (Scottsdale, AZ)

November 14

  • Deadline for qualifying offer recipients to accept or reject

November 20

  • Deadline for adding Rule 5-draft eligible players to 40-man roster

December 2

  • Non-tender deadline

[RELATED: MLBTR Arbitration Projections]

December 9-12

  • Winter Meetings (San Diego, CA)

December 12

  • Rule 5 Draft

January 10

  • Deadline to exchange arbitration filing figures if agreement has yet to be reached

February 3-21

  • Arbitration hearing period

Mid-February

  • Spring Training commences

March 26

  • Opening Day

Diamondbacks To Hire Matt Herges As Pitching Coach

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After running into some roadblocks with other candidates, the Diamondbacks have settled upon Matt Herges as their next pitching coach, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.

Herges will join the staff of skipper Torey Lovullo after a pair of seasons as the Giants’ bullpen coach. The former MLB hurler replaces Mike Butcher in guiding the Arizona pitching staff.

Phillies Claim Robert Stock

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The Phillies have claimed righty Robert Stock off waivers from the Padres. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported the move (Twitter link), which was first aired on Twitter by Tyler Poitras.

Stock, who is closing in on his 30th birthday, finished the season on the 60-day injured list due to a biceps injury. The San Diego club faces tough decisions on several players with a rather tight 40-man roster squeeze.

Though Stock failed to follow up on his strong 2018 debut in a tepid 2019 effort, he showed the same upper-nineties heat that made him so intriguing. He also managed to rack up forty strikeouts in 28 1/3 Triple-A innings. While he has struggled throughout his professional career to stay in the zone, Stock obviously has big-time stuff.

Padres Outright Brett Kennedy

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The Padres have outrighted righty Brett Kennedy, per the Pacific Coast League transactions page. That’ll clear another 40-man spot for the Friars to utilize in the coming months.

Now 25, Kennedy debuted in 2018 after a promising run through the San Diego farm system. He struggled in his initial MLB showing but seemingly had a good shot at a second chance and a useful big-league career.

That all may still come to pass, but Kennedy will first need to get back to health. He was sidelined early with lat/shoulder issues and ended up on the 60-day injured list. Kennedy attempted a rehab stint but made just one appearance.

Rather than adding Kennedy back to the 40-man, the Pads elected to run him through waivers. The club will still control the rights to the Fordham product.

Blue Jays Outright Brock Stewart, Buddy Boshers

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The Blue Jays have outrighted relief pitchers Brock Stewart and Buddy Boshers, per the International League transactions page. Fellow reliever Ryan Dull was also outrighted; he had been designated for assignment recently.

Stewart, 28, had spent his entire career with the Dodgers until he moved via waiver claim at the trade deadline. Utilized in a multi-inning capacity in Toronto, Stewart was tuned up for twenty earned runs (and nine homers) in 21 2/3 frames over ten appearances.

The 31-year-old Boshers took part in his fourth MLB campaign, with quite a different usage pattern. He threw twenty innings in 28 appearances, sporting a 26:10 K/BB ratio and 4.05 ERA but allowing a .257/.366/.486 batting line to opposing left-handed hitters.

As for what’s next, all three hurlers will be looking to bounce back and open a new opportunity at the game’s highest level. But where that’ll take place remains to be seen. Dull likely accrued just enough service time this year to pass three full seasons of MLB time, which would give him the right to reject the assignment, though that has not yet been officially tabulated. Boshers has the right to take to the open market since he has previously been outrighted. Stewart is in a different situation, as he cannot reject the assignment upon either of the above grounds. Neither will he qualify as a minor-league free agent. It seems, then, that he will remain in the Toronto organization unless the club decides to cut him loose.

Rays Outright Johnny Davis

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The Rays have outrighted outfielder Johnny Davis to Triple-A Durham, reports Juan Toribio of MLB.com (link). As a player with fewer than three seasons of major league service time who has never been outrighted, Davis does not have the ability to reject his assignment.

This marks the latest chapter in the baseball odyssey of Davis, whom Bob Nightengale of USA Today profiled in a biographical piece back in September (link). After growing up in hard circumstances in South Central Los Angeles, Davis embarked on a six-season minor league career beginning with his selection as a 22nd-round pick of the Brewers in 2013. The speedy outfielder spent portions of 2018 in independent ball and the Mexican league, before spending the majority of the 2019 campaign playing south of the border. The Rays picked up the switch-hitting Davis on Aug 29 of this season and quickly brought him up to the big league roster, largely utilizing him as a pinch-runner across eight games in their Wild Card stretch run.

Davis, 29, has recorded just 22 plate appearances above Double-A in his affiliated career, lining him up for some welcome seasoning at the game’s penultimate level in 2020. Davis’ removal from the 40-man roster gives the club some flexibility as it faces several offseason decisions regarding out-of-options players and prospects in need of protection from the Rule V draft.

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).

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