The Rays made the gutsy decision to bet on a bounceback from catcher Mike Zunino in 2020, opting to avoid arb with the former Gator via a $4.5MM deal while Travis d’Arnaud headed for richer pastures in Atlanta. Zunino has never been what one would call a complete hitter, but 2019 represented a personal low from a performance standpoint, with the former top draftee managing just a .165/.232/.312 (45 wRC+) output through 289 plate appearances. Now, the likelihood of a Zunino rebound at the plate may rest on the work of hitting coach Chad Mottola, suggests Josh Tolentino of The Athletic (link).
As Tolentino notes, Mottola was instrumental in helping d’Arnaud find offensive consistency and also helped pull shortstop Willy Adames out of an early-season funk in 2019. Zunino’s real value will likely always lie with the glove (he did record 8.3 Fielding Runs Above Average in limited work in 2019, per Baseball Prospectus), but a return to his 2017 levels (126 wRC+ and 25 homers in 124 games) would certainly be a welcome development. The Rays also hold a $4.5MM option on Zunino for the 2021 season.
More notes from around the American League…
- The Rangers’ decision to draft two third basemen, Josh Jung and Davis Wendzel, with their top two picks in the 2019 draft led many to believe that the future of that position was well in hand, but the toolsy Sherten Apostel should not be counted out as a long-term answer, opines Levi Weaver of The Athletic. Originally acquired alongside Taylor Hearn in a 2018 deadline deal that sent Keone Kela to Pittsburgh, Apostel is likely to start 2020 at High-A Down East alongside Jung. Despite his 6’4 frame, organizational observers are bullish about his ability to stick at the hot corner, and his prodigious raw power prompted Single-A Hickory manager Matt Hagen to credit the 20-year-old Curacao native with “man-child” strength. Apostel managed a .251/.339/.440 slash line and 19 home runs across 478 plate appearances between two levels last year. Of course, the position could be addressed via a long-term signing this offseason, with our writers settling on Texas as a realistic destination for free agent Josh Donaldson in early November.
- While much has been made of Gerrit Cole’s professional relationship with agent Scott Boras this offseason, observers should take note that Cole previously shown a tendency to direct his own fortunes, reminds Tracy Ringolsby of Baseball America. When Cole was a first-round draftee of the Yankees back in 2008, it was Cole and his father, according to Ringolsby, who made the ultimate decision to pursue a collegiate career at UCLA. Cole’s first-round signing bonus that year was expected to land around $4MM, but the Cole family apparently believed that the intangible value of an education–to say nothing of another chance of entering the draft at a higher slot–outweighed the benefits of an early payday. Obviously, it doesn’t register as news to be reminded that agents are entrusted to work for the best interests of their clients, but it may be worth considering, given their working history, that the former Astros ace and his representatives likely have more in mind this offseason than pure dollar value alone.
Just have to draft as many top persons as you can regardless of position and hope they stick.
Yep…take the best player (s) available…then sort it out down the road….
Davis Wendzel is GOOD. I watched him here at Baylor and man can he hit.
Used to be the case, prior to 2011. Several intelligent organizations which had extensive scouting staff’s did just that. Can name off Boston, KC, Pittsburgh and St. louis right away which would take high upside, high cost kids well down in the draft as potential signees and all those named teams would end up inking well above the amount the rest of the league by aggressive spending/scouting on the amateur ranks.
I’ll repeat again something have said numerous times.. There was nothing wrong with the rule 4 draft as it was prior to 2012. Cheap teams didn’t spend then.. The same ones that gripe now. All small market teams are not equal. KC and Pittsburgh are 2 great examples of teams that knew how to use the draft, Cardinals always have.. Nothing huge market in them. Yankees never went out and spent big on the draft this century and the LAD were in that same boat.
Salary slotting and capping all bonuses was a conformist plot (again) by the small handful of teams which never spend on anything and want handouts from everyone.
KC and Pittsburgh stunk the field up for about 2 decades. I wouldn’t say that’s the best piece of supporting evidence for your claim, Johnny.
2k and up, both KC and Pirates at least attempted to draft amateur talent and DID go down, take some risky kids that cost them so big dough. Taking these ppl is risky buisnes, they don’t always pan out if one knows anything at all about baseball, then if somebody only shows up to make useless wisecrack here, then crawl back to some perfectly cubed safe space and hide? Maybe they have know idea that 80% of kids drafted never make it to the bigs.
Josh Bell (UTA commit. $5mil bonus in 2nd rd) is a good example. He was an easy top 10 prospect in that draft.
I think that you have to separate the Pirates from the years of the last three GM’s.Bonifay and Littlefield were absoluly clueless and it was reflected in their drafts and the amount of money spent on them.Brian Bullinger at #1 in 2001 of the entire draft was an example.NH brought a substantially more intelligent approach to drafting,although admittedly anyone could have done that in comparison to his predecessors.
It does seem that the Pirates did not seem to be as talented in getting international players signed though.
La dodgers spend a lot on MLB drift pick and international. I am amazed at how many of the MLB are called up each year and hit well. It seems like every year they bring up 3 or 4 players and they all seem to hit really well. Does Lad Dodgers draft well or what they normal draft at bottom of first all rounds?
Players always tell agents what to do, silly how many people think Boras forces his clients to do what he wants.
Agree there!
Silly how you think an agent doesn’t tell the player what to do. Obviously the player can (and will) override them at any time, but an agent is hired to figure this stuff out. That’s how he gets paid.
Not surprised to see a Cubs fan think this way. Just know that when Bryant chooses to leave, it’s 100% his choice, not his agent’s.
Oh really Priggs? Scott Boras who is Bryants agent is going to suggest signing an extension without going to free agency but Bryant will 100% override that you say? Hahaha laughing right at you
Bateman?
Bartman I meant.. is that you?
Jason Bateman? Is that you?
I think that the agent gives his recommendation and the player generally goes with it based on him previously telling the agent what his priorities are.The agent knows the general contract details and brings to the table his knowledge of the trends and of the GM’s.It is his job to bring up details that the player may not know or have access to.It should be a combined effort.If the player is not an aggressive sort of person I think is up to the agent to get as much money as he can for the player within the framework of the general going rates of the type of player that his client is.
But it is the player who signs the contract.
That’s wrong. The agent is paid to negotiate on behalf of the player/client. He doesn’t “tell the player what to do”.
Besides, there are variables besides getting the most money—do you think Cole would take $280M to play for the Dodgers, Angels, Astros, etc, or $330M to pitch for the Marlins? The $50M differential defines “more money”, but the offsetting factor would be the ability to win.
Fans tend to act like all negotiations are binary choices over most money, when they are often more complex than that.
Example: Pujols was offered more money by Marlins than by Angels, but he couldn’t get a NTC, and saw how the Marlins routinely dismantled teams and traded players away. Money was not the top concern in his decision.
But the Angels were still way up there and if I recall the Marlins weren’t much higher then 10/$240
Then there is Machado who said I’m taking the top dollar regardless where I land…
It should be a bilateral relationship. Most players, especially Boras ones, simply want the most money.
But if Cole wanted to be signed by Christmas, I’m sure Boras would speed things up.
I hate to say it but I think Seattle would benefit from having him behind the plate. We all know he is extremely inconsistent offensively, but his team player positive attitude makes up for it. With a decent offense already, as a back up or mentor and back up to Cal Raleigh, it’d be nice to see Zu back here if Navarro is actually traded. I bet he wins a world series, still, because he’s a former Mariners player, haha.
If Narvaez is traded, the reigns are handed to Murphy. Raleigh isn’t ready.
Gerrit Cole took off his Astros hat and put a Boras cap on his head.
Hasn’t been any clearer since Zack Greinke stated he was going for the most money and signed with the Diamondbacks when they gave it to him.
@ForestCobraAL
I haven’t seen that part of the video, just him wearing the Boras cap. What a weird thing to do. It’s not nothing. Why do that minutes after losing? It definitely sends a message. Maybe he made it known he wasn’t resigning to his teammates?
I have to imagine it was a heat of the moment thing. If they had won the World Series, he would’ve been celebrating with his team in his Astros gear. But the fact that they lost, and the fact that he wasn’t put in to close out the game (a decision that I’m 100% positive he didn’t agree with), was enough for him to switch to a Boras cap. Whether intentional or not, it sent a crystal clear message.
I thought it was made clear by Jim Crane that he wasn’t writing that kind of contract. Since then he has made a whimpering statement to try to make himself look better but Cole won’t be wearing an Astros uniform next year.
“Why do that minutes after losing?”
Because you are a tool.
A rich tool covered in pine tar.
Mostly.
Cole knew what he was doing.
He is not stupid.
It shows me that he was po’ed at the Astros just like he was with the Pirates previously.
I thought that it was childish,insensitive,and most of all stupid as if I was Astros management I would say sayonara and not take part in the inevitable subsequent bidding war.
His importance on the money and the negotiating process makes one wonder whether he will any longer have the incentive to continue his top of the line pitching with a long term guaranteed contract.
Amazing that Zunino managed to only have a -0.1 war when he was that bad offensively. That shows you how great his defense is
And yes I know he only played 90 games, but with those numbers you would think he would have a worse war than that
Well, I do agree, but you also have to consider that catchers pretty much hit at an all-time low last year. So, when compared to his counterparts, his offensive line isn’t as terrible as it truly seems…It is just slightly less terrible..lol
Regardless though, he still must have been the second coming of Pudge behind the plate to get that WAR to almost even out!! haha
*third coming of Pudge, said the 40-something Red Sox fan.
WAR includes a positional adjustment. I believe for catchers it’s +12.5. I’m not knocking Zunino’s defense at all, but the fact that his bat was so bad that he tipped into negative territory is telling.
Not sure “gutsy” is the correct word for the Zunino signing. Perhaps more simple recognition that they need a catcher and the other options have signed elsewhere.
Expecting a bounce back with the bat isn’t unreasonable, but all that means is moving from wretched to horrible. An OPS+ in the 40s isn’t exactly unknown for Zunino as he’s now done it twice in the past six seasons. He’s a career 83 OPS+ hitter even factoring in his extreme outlier season a few years back. He regressed in a year with a jackrabbit ball when everyone seemingly hit 20+ homers. Simply switching home parks from Seattle to Tampa should have helped too. Low walks, high K hitter from the start of his career. Frustrating to watch from someone originally expected to be an impact hitter. He’s made no progress.
He can catch, but overall this “gutsy” sign remains a disappointment.
Cole doesn’t want Boras to price him out of the market. Cole remembers Boras damaging Keuchel’s and Kimbrell’ s careers by pricing them out of the market and they had to sit out —-under NO CONTRACT—until after the all-Star game. Not signed for far less money. Keuchel is a free agent once more heading into 2020. Because of his 2019 half a year lay-off, Keuchel will receive far less on an extended contract—-If he signs at all because of a less than dominant second half. Boras’s bullheadedness shortened those once dominant pitchers and turned them into mediocrity.