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Archives for March 2020

Tigers Ownership Announces Fund For Part-Time Workers

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Ilitch Holdings, the entity that owns the Tigers and a host of other sports and entertainment ventures, has announced the creation of a $1MM fund to assist part-time employees, as Tony Paul of the Detroit News first reported. Precise details aren’t yet known, but Paul provides many key facets of the initial effort.

The fund will go to a wide range of workers employed by the Ilitch empire, not just those whose jobs relate to the staging of Tigers games. At least initially, the fund will cover cancelled Spring Training contests but not any games that had been scheduled at Comerica Park.

While there seems to be some room for this effort to expand, it is a welcome first step in the baseball world towards assisting those whose livelihood depends upon the staging of contests that have been postponed (and may end up being canceled in some part). As the Ilitch announcement notes, “reassurance” of this kind is important in such a “time of uncertainty.”

We have previously seen some efforts on the ownership and player levels in the NBA, which just suspended its regular season. MLB Opening Day had been scheduled to begin later in March, so the immediate impact was felt at Spring Training sites in Florida and Arizona.

Trey Mancini Undergoes Surgery To Remove Malignant Tumor

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March 13: General manager Mike Elias addressed Mancini’s surgery today (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Joe Trezza), telling Orioles reporters: “[Mancini is] at about as positive as possible in terms of his spirits and physical feeling right now.” Additional information and updates will be available in the days to come.

March 12: Trey Mancini left the Orioles’ spring camp last week in preparation for an undisclosed medical procedure that wasn’t related to baseball.  Today, details have emerged on the nature of Mancini’s issue, as the Orioles issued a press release saying that a malignant tumor was discovered in Mancini’s colon during a colonoscopy last week.  Mancini underwent surgery today to have the tumor removed, and as per the team’s statement, “lab results and the timetable for Trey’s recovery will not be known until next week.”

Mancini himself made a statement within the Orioles’ release, saying “The outpouring of love and support I have received has made an extremely tough week so much better. I have the best family, friends, fans, and teammates imaginable. I am also eternally thankful for the Orioles front office, our athletic trainers, and the entire medical staff for everything they have done to help me during this time. Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and kind words, which have furthered my excitement to get back to playing the game I love.”

Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said last week that Mancini would “miss some time” recovering, which seemed to imply that Mancini would miss some regular season action.  That is probably a moot point in light of Major League Baseball’s announcement that that Opening Day will be delayed by at least two weeks, though regardless, baseball concerns were already a far distant second to Mancini’s health and well-being.

In three full seasons in the majors, Mancini (who turns 28 later this week) has blossomed into the Orioles’ top hitter, batting .291/.364/.535 with 35 homers over 679 plate appearances in 2019.  Between this production and the fact that the O’s are in a rebuild, there was speculation that Mancini could be both an extension candidate and a trade candidate this offseason, though no news on either front emerged.

We at MLBTR wish Mancini all the best in his recovery, as he and his family and loved ones navigate this difficult situation.

Latest On Extension Talks Between Phillies, J.T. Realmuto

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Extension talks between the Phillies and star catcher J.T. Realmuto have been slow to progress. The 28-year-old (29 next week) lost an arbitration hearing against the Phils last month that set his 2020 salary at $10MM, although Realmuto made clear early in the arb process that he wouldn’t harbor any hard feelings regardless of the eventual hearing’s outcome.

If there’s a reason that talks have moved slowly, then, it could simply be the two-time All-Star’s asking price; MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported on the latest edition of the Big Time Baseball podcast that Realmuto’s camp has been seeking to top Buster Posey in terms of overall guarantee, adding that Paul Goldschmidt’s extension with the Cardinals has been another talking point (audio link, with Realmuto talk beginning around the 44-minute mark).

There’s a fair bit to unpack there. Back in 2013, Posey signed an eight-year, $159MM extension that was tacked onto his existing one-year, $8MM deal with which he’d avoided arbitration. Somewhat notably, that deal was negotiated by CAA’s Jeff Berry, who also represents Realmuto. Last spring, Goldschmidt signed a five-year, $130MM contract extension, coming out to $26MM per year. A six-year deal at Goldschmidt’s annual rate would put Realmuto just shy of Posey’s guarantee. Topping Goldschmidt’s annual rate by any more than $500K  over a six-year term would take Realmuto past Posey in terms of overall guarantee.

Of course, Realmuto is at a different point in his career than either Posey or Goldschmidt was upon inking those respective deals. Posey was a relatively fresh-faced 26-year-old who was fresh off a National League batting title and MVP the prior year in 2012. He’d only just reached arbitration as a Super Two player, and the extension bought out his remaining three years of arb in addition to at least five free-agent years (plus an option for a sixth). Goldschmidt was, like Realmuto, on the cusp of free agency last spring when he signed his contract. However, he was headed into his age-31 season, while Realmuto will play the upcoming campaign at 29.

Realmuto is both closer to free agency than Posey was and younger than Goldschmidt was, so there’s some parallels there. Likening him to Goldschmidt is difficult, though, given that they play different positions and possess different skill sets. Realmuto derives a good bit of value from his elite defense behind the plate, and while he’s an above-average hitter, he’s never been close to the hitter that Goldschmidt has been in his peak seasons. From 2012-18, Goldschmidt posted a combined 146 wRC+ and OPS+. Realmuto, conversely, has a career-high of 126 in both metrics and has only reached that level once (2018).

Over the past four seasons, Realmuto has batted a combined .283/.335/.464 (114 OPS+, 113 wRC+). He also ranks among the game’s premier backstops in terms of pitch-framing, caught-stealing rate and blocking pitches in the dirt. In that time, Realmuto has been worth 15.1 rWAR and 17.1 fWAR.

Historically speaking, it’s tough to find an apt comparison for Realmuto. Russell Martin (five years, $82.5MM) and Brian McCann (five years, $80MM) signed similar contracts in free agency, but both are more than a half-decade old. It’s also arguable that Realmuto is better than both were when they signed. Certainly, he’s younger than Martin was when he signed in advance of his age-32 season. But Realmuto is also decidedly older than either Posey or Joe Mauer was when signing the two largest deals ever inked by a catcher. (Mauer received an eight-year, $184MM contract from the Twins in 2010.) Realmuto seems to lie somewhere between the Martin/McCann and Mauer/Posey levels.

As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes observed in the first installment of our 2020-21 Free Agent Power Rankings, Realmuto could very well become the first catcher to sign a $100MM+ deal in free agency if he’s unable to agree to terms on a deal. Whether he gets to that point will depend on whether he and the Phillies can find a middle ground and hammer out a new deal that’ll extend beyond his final season of club control.

Philadelphia’s comfort level in negotiations isn’t known, but a lack of progress would seem to indicate that the two sides aren’t that close at the moment. The Phils could certainly fit even a Goldschmidt-level annual value into the books long-term, though. They’re at $204MM in luxury obligations for the 2020 season but will see that number plummet to just under $119MM in 2021, when the luxury tax threshold rises to $210MM. An extension for Realmuto would largely be offset by the departure of Jake Arrieta, whose three-year, $75MM contract expires at season’s end.

Matt Harvey Tried Out For Blue Jays

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There hasn’t been much said about former ace Matt Harvey since the right-hander became a free agent after last season. But he did draw somewhat recent interest from the Blue Jays, with whom he tried out “several weeks” back, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network on this week’s Big Time Baseball podcast.  Although the Jays “seriously” considered signing the longtime starter as a reliever, per Heyman, they ultimately passed.

This is the first time Harvey, once an All-Star and a high-profile Met, has come up on MLBTR’s pages since last August. The Dark Knight is one of the most accomplished players left in free agency, but injuries have helped take a sledgehammer to what once looked like an amazing career in the making. Harvey posted sub-3.00 ERAs in each season from 2013-15, though he got off to a slow start in 2016 and then underwent the dreaded thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. He simply hasn’t been the same since that year.

Dating back to 2017, Harvey has pitched to a 5.89 ERA/5.46 FIP with 6.94 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 over 307 1/3 innings. He enjoyed something of a bounce-back showing with the Reds after they acquired him from the Mets in 2018, earning an $11MM guarantee with the Angels going into the ensuing campaign. However, Harvey’s production was so poor as a member of the pitching-needy Halos that they cut the cord on him last July. Shortly after that, the soon-to-be 31-year-old Harvey joined the division-rival Athletics on a minor league contract, but he didn’t make it back to the majors with the organization.

Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

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The Pirates traded their best player (again) and appeared more intent on cutting payroll than giving the appearance of trying.

Guaranteed Contracts

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

The Pirates offseason kicked off in bizarre fashion, with former manager Clint Hurdle telling The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt that he’d received assurances that he’d be retained into 2020 — only to be fired days later. General manager Neal Huntington headed up the search for a new skipper … until owner Bob Nutting canned Huntington nearly a month into that effort. A month after the regular season ended, the Pirates had no manager or general manager and weren’t close to making a hire for either vacancy. They were represented by interim GM Kevan Graves at the annual General Managers Meetings and, shortly after that event’s conclusion, hired former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington to replace Huntington. Another 10 days later, Pittsburgh hired Twins bench coach Derek Shelton as their new manager.

By the time the Pirates had both their GM and manager in place, the likes of Yasmani Grandal, Travis d’Arnaud, Chris Martin, Will Smith and Kyle Gibson had each already signed as free agents. The Brewers had traded Chase Anderson to the Blue Jays and orchestrated an interesting four-player swap with the Padres. But getting a late start to the offseason ultimately didn’t impact the Bucs much, because as the winter wore on, it became clear that the team wasn’t planning on making any notable additions.

Rather, the largest move the Pirates made this winter was shipping their best player, Starling Marte, to the Diamondbacks in a trade that trimmed payroll and added some high-upside but very young talent to the farm ranks. Liover Peguero and Brennan Malone didn’t shoot to the top of the club’s prospect rankings but are both ranked inside the Pirates’ top 10 farmhands by FanGraphs, Baseball America, MLB.com and The Athletic.

Some fans felt that the Pirates didn’t get enough in return, but the market for Marte was a bit quieter than anticipated. The Phillies never appeared to get seriously involved — perhaps due to sitting narrowly south of the luxury tax threshold. The Indians had interest but were clearly more interested in cutting payroll than adding MLB talent themselves. The Padres were tied to Marte but more focused on Mookie Betts. Ultimately, the Bucs got a pair of quality prospects that wouldn’t have been guaranteed had they held Marte in hopes of extracting a greater return this summer.

Immediately after trading Marte, Cherington made clear that he hoped to bring in a serviceable replacement (of course, at a lower cost than Marte’s $11.5MM salary). The market for center fielders was thin to begin the winter and largely picked over by that point, but Pittsburgh wound up adding a trio of center-field-capable options at minimal costs. Jarrod Dyson ($2MM), Guillermo Heredia ($1MM) and JT Riddle ($850K) were all signed to one-year, Major League deals. Heredia projects as the club’s fourth outfielder and can be controlled via arbitration through the 2022 season if the organization sees fit. Riddle should be a backup infielder/outfielder and is controllable through 2023.

Dyson is a straight one-year pickup — a blistering runner with high-end glovework and, frankly, a pretty tidy bargain for the Pirates at a $2MM price point. He’s a nice value addition, but it’s worth noting that in going with Dyson, the Bucs apparently deemed even Kevin Pillar’s $4.25MM price tag with the Red Sox to be too expensive. It’s not as if Pillar spurned the Pirates to sign with a surefire contender, so either the front office believes Dyson to be a better asset — a defensible take but not a decisive fact by any means — or ownership simply didn’t want to spend the extra dollars to bring in the younger Pillar.

Luke Maile is the only other player who inked a big league deal with the Bucs this winter, although he still has minor league options remaining and, as such, inked a split contract. He’s the presumptive backup to 30-year-old Jacob Stallings, who’ll be getting his first opportunity as a starting catcher in 2020. Light-hitting framing savant John Ryan Murphy was brought in on a minor league deal as a depth piece, but the catching corps in Pittsburgh is a collectively underwhelming unit, to put things mildly.

It’s a different story around the infield, for the most part. Josh Bell will look to shake off a second-half slump and build on a generally strong 2019 campaign, while Adam Frazier has settled in as a quality, underrated second baseman. Kevin Newman showed off plenty of upside in a strong rookie effort last year, and the Bucs have reportedly initiated talks on an extension with one of the game’s top third base prospects (and top overall prospects): Ke’Bryan Hayes. If Hayes agrees to a deal, he’d likely open the year in the Majors … whenever, exactly, Opening Day actually happens. In the outfield, sophomore Bryan Reynolds and longtime Bucco Gregory Polanco will flank the newly signed Dyson.

Turning to the pitching staff, the Pirates have had their fair share of misfortune recently. Jameson Taillon had Tommy John surgery last summer, and righty Chad Kuhl is still working back from his own Tommy John procedure at the end of the 2018 season. Lefty Steven Brault has been slowed by shoulder woes this spring. Closer Felipe Vazquez, of course, is out of the picture entirely after being arrested on a series of abhorrent statutory sexual assault charges.

The Pirates did little to bolster their waning pitching depth this winter, however, bringing Derek Holland, Robbie Erlin and Hector Noesi aboard on minor league deals but eschewing any big league additions. Holland appears the likely fifth starter behind Chris Archer, Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams and Mitch Keller.

Perhaps even more glaringly, Pittsburgh opted not to add a single reliever to the big league staff — with the possible exception of claiming lefty Sam Howard from the Rockies. Keone Kela should close down games in 2020, but he’s the only reliever with any real track record in the Pirates’ relief corps. There’s enough flotsam on the 40-man roster that the Pirates could’ve added some veteran arms or at least speculated on the waiver wire. Instead, they’ll rely on the same group of relievers that ranked 23rd in the Majors in ERA, 22nd in FIP and 20th in xFIP as a collective bunch in 2019 — and that was with Vazquez dominating for the first several months.

Not including Vazquez’s salary — he’ll be on the restricted list — the Pirates are set to open the season with under $54MM in payroll on the books. It’s an astonishingly low number in today’s game — one so small that no one should be surprised to see yet another grievance brought forth against the organization by the MLBPA. The collective bargaining agreement has rules in place about the manner in which a team must allocate its revenue-sharing funds, and it’s easy to understand why the union has questions about the Pirates’ claims that their use of said resources is compliant.

Cherington declined to use the word “rebuild” this offseason, instead claiming that the Pirates are merely “building.” Semantics aside, the Pirates’ roster is extraordinarily porous, and the front office effectively did nothing to stop the ship from taking on water. Pittsburgh didn’t even select a player in December’s Rule 5 Draft. If the Pirates weren’t even going to feign an attempt at improving, it’s surprising that they didn’t aggressively shop the likes of Kela, Bell, Frazier, Musgrove and basically anyone else who’s controlled for three or fewer seasons.

2020 Season Outlook

If the manner in which owner Bob Nutting bumbled through the first month of the offseason — allowing a GM to conduct a hunt for a manager before firing that GM and starting over a month into the process — didn’t illustrate the organization’s lack of a plan, the end result of their winter should spell it out. This roster isn’t any better than the one that lost 93 games in 2019. It’s very arguably worse. And yet the Pirates only made one future-oriented trade, did next to nothing to add short-term free agents who could emerge as trade chips, sat out the Rule 5 Draft and engaged in virtually no activity on the waiver wire.

Players like Reynolds, Newman and Hayes at least give fans some exciting young talent to watch, but this is a weak roster that the club barely tried to improve. It’ll be an upset if the Pirates don’t finish in last place, and fans can expect to see some combination of Archer, Mugrove, Kela, Frazier and Bell circulating the rumor mill this summer.

Cherington deserves some benefit of the doubt, given a track record of quality player development in Boston and Toronto. Perhaps the plan was to use 2020 as a year of pure evaluation for what was already in house, but it sure seems like the Pirates passed on countless opportunities to pursue upside deals, further stock the farm or at least give the fans some reason to care. It’s going to be a long year in Pittsburgh.

How would you grade the Pirates’ offseason? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users)

Yasiel Puig Rumors: Marlins, Giants

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Free agency is not at the forefront of baseball fans’ minds right now, but there’s still at least one rather talented player without a job. That’s 29-year-old outfielder Yasiel Puig, who – despite a mostly solid career of production – has encountered a tepid market since last season ended. Puig did reportedly turn down a one-year, $10MM offer from a National League team in recent months, but it’s unclear which club presented that proposal to Puig. The belief, however, is that the Marlins made him an offer at some point, Jon Heyman of MLB Network said on the latest edition of the Big Time Baseball Podcast.

While the Marlins may have tried to sign Puig during the winter, it appears they’re out on him now after adding fellow veteran OFer Corey Dickerson on a two-year, $17.5MM contract back in December. Nevertheless, all hope isn’t necessarily lost for Puig, whom some teams are still considering, Heyman says. The Giants are among the clubs on the list, reports Heyman, who expects Puig to sign somewhere this month (Heyman stated that before the coronavirus forced MLB to temporarily shut down operations Thursday, so it could affect Puig’s chances).

This is not the first time there has been a Puig-Giants connection since last season concluded. As of February, though, negotiations between the two sides had reportedly died down after the Giants brought back old pal Hunter Pence. He’s now set to team with Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson as the Giants’ top corner outfield choices, though those two can’t match Puig in overall track record, nor do they hit from the same side (Puig’s a righty, while Yastrzemski and Dickerson are lefties). Pence, also a righty, outhit Puig last year, but he may be more of a reserve now that he’s back in the DH-less National League.

Should an agreement between Puig and the Giants eventually come together, he’d reunite with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and new manager Gabe Kapler. Both Zaidi and Kapler were Dodgers employees during part of Puig’s run in Los Angeles from 2013-18. Puig was largely a productive (albeit polarizing) Dodger, though his output at the plate dropped off last year between the Reds and Indians, which is one reason he remains without a team as we approach the middle of March.

Offseason In Review: Oakland Athletics

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The Athletics won 97 games and earned a wild-card berth for the second straight year in 2019. They weren’t all that active over the winter, but with the AL West rival Astros engulfed in turmoil, the talented A’s may be in position to take over the division this season.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

For the second consecutive year, Oakland managed to weather a slew of injuries in its pitching staff and establish itself as one of the majors’ elite teams. The A’s received little to no contributions from Sean Manaea, A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo – three ultra-skilled southpaws who, if healthy, should be prominent parts of their rotation this year. Puk has been battling shoulder issues and didn’t seem likely to be ready for Opening Day as of earlier this week. However, with the coronavirus delaying the start of the season by at least two weeks, it’s possible Puk will be OK by Game 1. Should that be the case, he and the other two aforementioned lefties would probably be in line to join righties Frankie Montas and Mike Fiers in the A’s starting five. On paper, that’s a promising group – albeit one that lost three legit starters in Tanner Roark, Homer Bailey and Brett Anderson during free agency.

Oakland didn’t augment its starting staff during the offseason (maybe it didn’t need to), but it did spend on its bullpen. The club kept a couple of its 2019 relievers in lefty Jake Diekman and righty Yusmeiro Petit, who will cost a combined $13MM this season, and claimed southpaw T.J. McFarland from the Diamondbacks.

Diekman wasn’t especially productive after he joined the A’s in a late-July trade, walking 16 hitters and yielding 11 earned runs in 20 1/3 innings with the club. But the A’s are banking on the hard thrower’s high-strikeout, high-groundball ways paying dividends over a full campaign. He and McFarland, who struggled mightily to prevent runs in four of the past five seasons, are the top lefties in a bullpen that said goodbye to Ryan Buchter over the winter. McFarland’s like Diekman in that he induces plenty of grounders. Conversely, he’s not much for velocity or strikeouts. And McFarland has typically experienced difficulty versus right-handed hitters, which isn’t going to fly in a league that’s now imposing a three-batter minimum rule.

The acquisition of McFarland isn’t the only change the A’s bullpen underwent in recent months. The team cut ties with righty Blake Treinen, formerly a lights-out closer who trudged through a dreadful 2019. For the most part, the A’s bullpen was a strength then, but Treinen’s unexpected drop-off certainly didn’t help matters. Based on his numbers from last season, Treinen won’t be missed. Moreover, the Treinen-less A’s still look fairly set from the right side with the durable and effective Petit, closer Liam Hendriks (who was just about untouchable last season), Joakim Soria and J.B. Wendelken comprising their go-to late-game options, and they’ll hope Lou Trivino can return to his 2018 ways after falling flat as a sophomore.

Meanwhile, the A’s position player cast went largely unchanged in the past few months. Their most notable move was to trade second baseman Jurickson Profar to the Padres in a deal for Austin Allen, who will back up the touted Sean Murphy at catcher. The Athletics had high hopes for Profar when they acquired him from the division-rival Rangers entering 2019, but his lone year in an A’s uniform was a failure.

The A’s could have replaced Profar with any number of affordable, well-known options via the open market (Starlin Castro, Brian Dozier, Cesar Hernandez, Wilmer Flores and Brock Holt are some who come to mind). They even had interest in a reunion with old friend and current Met Jed Lowrie, though it’s probably fortunate for the A’s that didn’t happen, considering Lowrie’s lofty salary and ongoing injury troubles. In the end, Oakland came away with Tony Kemp in a minor trade with the Cubs. It remains to be seen, though, whether Kemp will even crack the roster. He doesn’t possess much of a track record, has no minor league options and, before MLB’s spring training shutdown, was competing with three younger second basemen in Jorge Mateo, Franklin Barreto and Rule 5 pickup Vimael Machin. There’s no sending any of those three to the minors, either (at least, not without risking losing them), and they likely have higher upside than Kemp. However, the A’s could platoon the lefty-hitting Kemp or Machin with one of the other two.

Second base aside, there weren’t many A’s positions ripe for upgrade over the winter. Their hitters did, after all, rank fifth in the majors in fWAR, fifth in wRC+ and eighth in runs last season. Most of that unit’s back, including their three best players in third baseman Matt Chapman, shortstop Marcus Semien and first baseman Matt Olson. There has been talk of extensions for all three over the past couple years, but nothing has materialized to this point. Barring a change in the coming months, it could be the last season in Oakland for Semien, a free agent-to-be who – if he comes close to replicating his jaw-dropping 7.6-fWAR effort from 2019 – will be one of the most coveted players on the open market next winter.

Fortunately for Oakland, it’s not in immediate danger of losing Chapman or Olson, standouts who still have another season of pre-arbitration eligibility. They and Semien are supported by some strong complements in outfielders Ramon Laureano and Mark Canha. Designated hitter Khris Davis also deserves mention; that is, if he can revisit his usual form after an injury-marred 2019. But one of the A’s three outfield spots does look somewhat iffy. While Stephen Piscotty was terrific two years ago, he fought multiple health problems and didn’t perform well last season. He’s now battling another injury – an intercostal strain – though perhaps he’ll have enough time to recover by Opening Day if the game’s coronavirus-caused moratorium lasts long enough. If not, the A’s may turn to the switch-hitting Robbie Grossman, who’s adept at getting on base but doesn’t offer that much else. Of course, if Piscotty’s problem is serious enough, there’s a case Oakland should look to the No. 1 free agent left – outfielder Yasiel Puig – though that seems improbable.

2020 Outlook

Clearly, it was not an exciting offseason for the low-budget Athletics, whose Opening Day payroll should check in south of the $100MM mark yet again. Despite the team’s lack of spending power, though, executive vice president Billy Beane and general manager David Forst have once again built a roster that looks as if it will contend. That appears all the more likely with the Astros – the back-to-back-to-back AL West champions – besieged by a sign-stealing scandal, a regime change, the loss of Gerrit Cole and an injury to Justin Verlander. Even with all of that adversity, the Astros still look talented enough to continue their reign in the division, but the A’s should at least nip at their heels and push for a third playoff berth in a row.

How would you grade the A’s offseason? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors app users)

NL West Notes: Buster, Pagan, Padres, Barfield

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“I don’t see myself playing for any other team.  Not that going to another team would diminish what you did.  But personally, as a fan, I like to see guys stay with the same team.  So no, I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else,” longtime Giants catcher Buster Posey told The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly (subscription required) about his baseball future.  Posey has two guaranteed years remaining on his contract, plus San Francisco has a $22MM club option ($3MM buyout) for the 2022 season that is e exercised — 2022 will be Posey’s age-35 season and his production has declined over the last two years as Posey has dealt with hip surgery and the subsequent recovery process.  That said, Posey was able to engage in a full offseason workout regiment this winter and was on a hitting tear during Spring Training, so there’s certainly some optimism that he could at least approach his old form.

With at least two years to go before any sort of decision needs to be made, it remains to be seen if Posey could seek out a contract with a new team, retire at the end of his current pact, or perhaps re-sign with the Giants.  This latter option could see Posey in a backup catcher/veteran mentor role at that stage of his career, particularly since San Francisco has one of the game’s best prospect (Joey Bart) in line as their catcher of the future.  Interestingly, a move to first base for Posey doesn’t seem be an option at the moment, as the Giants aren’t planning to use Posey as a first baseman this season, to the point that Posey hasn’t been taking any grounders at first this spring.

More from the NL West…

  • The Padres agreed to terms with 24 pre-arbitration players on contracts for the 2020 season, though Emilio Pagan’s deal was renewed after the newly-acquired reliever didn’t come to terms with the team, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes.  Pagan will earn $591K in 2020 before becoming reaching arbitration eligibility next winter.  Pagan becomes the latest notable player to have his contract renewed, a process Jeff Todd explored in a recent MLBTR YouTube video entry.
  • As part of a reader mailbag piece, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell looked at how the Padres could manage their 26-man roster, such as the increasing possibility that the team will carry only four outfielders.  Cassavell figures that Wil Myers, Trent Grisham, and Tommy Pham have the starting jobs spoken for, while Franchy Cordero, Josh Naylor, and Abraham Almonte are competing for the fourth outfielder role.  This would leave room for San Diego to use its 26th roster spot on a utility player.  For added outfield depth, the likes of Greg Garcia, Francisco Mejia, or Jurickson Profar could all handle such a fill-in role if necessary.  That wouldn’t necessarily be how the Padres would like to optimize Profar, since the club was already intent on using him at primarily at second base, though since Cassavell notes that the Padres’ second base competition could stretch into the season, Profar will need somewhere to find playing time if Brian Dozier or Garcia earn more looks at the keystone.
  • Josh Barfield was promoted to the role of farm director for the Diamondbacks this offseason, as The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan (subscription required) looks at how the former big league infielder has quickly climbed the ladder during his five-plus years in Arizona’s front office.  Hired as a scout by former D’Backs general manager Dave Stewart in the 2014-15 offseason, Barfield has moved from assistant director of pro scouting to assistant farm director to his current position.  Barfield’s rising star hasn’t gone unnoticed around baseball, as current GM Mike Hazen told Buchanan that other teams have tried to hire Barfield away.  A future position as a “manager or GM might not be far behind” for the 37-year-old Barfield, Buchanan writes.

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