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AL East Notes: Morton, Zunino, Walker, Red Sox, Yolmer

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Charlie Morton “wasn’t surprised” that the Rays declined to exercise their $15MM club option on his services, but the veteran right-hander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that the team’s decision “doesn’t mean we won’t try to work something out.  If there’s mutual interest, the next step is gauging what that looks like.”  Rays GM Erik Neander indicated yesterday that the team indeed hoped to bring Morton back for a third season.  If an acceptable deal can’t be worked out with the Rays or another club, Morton reiterated to Topkin that he’ll gauge whether he wants to keep playing, weighing such “typical factors” as his health, playing for a contender, and “does it make sense financially and geographically?”

The Rays declined options on both Morton and (at $4.5MM) catcher Mike Zunino yesterday.  Jet Sports Management represents both players, and agent B.B. Abbott told Topkin in a separate piece that there aren’t any hard feelings about the contractual decisions.  “Their first choice was to be in Tampa, and it probably still is their first choice,” Abbott said, but now that Morton and Zunino are on the open market, “they owe it to themselves to see what’s out there.”

More from the AL East…

  • Taijuan Walker figures to get a lot of attention in free agency this winter, but there is mutual interest between Walker and the Blue Jays in a return to Toronto’s rotation, Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes.  Acquired in a trade from the Mariners in late August, Walker posted excellent numbers (1.37 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 2.27 K/BB rate) in his six starts in a Jays uniform.  Beyond the on-field results, Walker was also impressed by both the Jays’ long-term potential as contenders, and how the club treats its players.  “They have really good staff, coaches, training staff.  For me, it’s all about comfort and people,” Walker said.  “Being connected and having that family, and that’s what it felt like.”  Once one of baseball’s most highly-touted pitching prospects, injuries cost Walker virtually all of the 2018 and 2019 seasons but he has somewhat revived his stock after his solid 2020 performance.
  • While the Red Sox have interviewed several candidates to be their next manager, “the managerial search appears to be centered on determining if Chaim Bloom and Alex Cora can work well together,” the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham writes.  Of course, Cora was already Boston’s manager when Bloom was hired as the club’s chief baseball officer last October, though Cora’s firing and subsequent one-year suspension are undoubtedly considerations for Red Sox ownership and the front office in deciding whether or not to bring Cora back.  While Cora’s return has been widely speculated, Abraham isn’t sure a rehire “is automatic,” opining that Cora could potentially wait to see if another high-profile job (perhaps with the Mets) becomes available.
  • Now that Yolmer Sanchez has been claimed on waivers, the Orioles have some extra depth as they consider other infield moves, as MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski writes.  No decision has yet been made about Jose Iglesias’ $3.5MM club option, and with Sanchez now on hand as a second base candidate, the O’s could potentially non-tender Hanser Alberto, who is projected to earn between $2.3MM and $4.1MM in arbitration (depending on how arb salaries are calculated this winter).  Sanchez is himself eligible for arbitration, however, and his projected $6.2MM arb figure last winter was the chief reason why the White Sox non-tendered him last November.

Diamondbacks Release Kevin Cron

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The Diamondbacks have released first baseman Kevin Cron, according to MLB.com’s transactions page.  Cron’s rights have been sold to a team in Nippon Professional Baseball, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.

Cron appeared in eight games with Arizona this season, recording only one walk and zero hits over 20 plate appearances.  It was a disappointing output for a player who flashed some of his power potential over 78 PA in 2019, as Cron hit .211/.269/.521 with six homers in his rookie season.  Since it became apparent that he wasn’t in the Diamondbacks’ long-term plans, Cron will now head to Japan for a new chapter in his career.

Originally a 14th-round pick for the D’Backs in the 2014 draft, Cron hit .280/.348/.529 with 151 home runs over 2765 PA in the minor leagues.  Despite hitting at every level, Cron’s status as something of a traditional slugging, slow-footed first baseman (who was lacking in glovework) limited his prospect stock, not to mention the fact that Paul Goldschmidt was for years a big roadblock for any first base prospect in Arizona’s system.  Cron didn’t crack the big leagues until his age-26 season, and while the NL’s adoption of the designated hitter led MLBTR’s Steve Adams to wonder if Cron could blossom in a DH role, Cron didn’t produce or even receive much of an opportunity in 2020.

Mets Front Office Expected To Include President Of Baseball Ops, General Manager

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Now that Steve Cohen has officially taken over as the Mets’ new owner, we know that Sandy Alderson has already been lined up to return to the Mets as the team president.  According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets plan to have both a president of baseball operations and a general manager reporting to Alderson in what seems to be a fairly substantial front office power structure.

It was widely expected that a GM would handle day-to-day front office duties under Alderson, though since Alderson’s responsibilities also include overseeing the Mets’ business operations, having a president of baseball ops also on hand implies that Alderson may not quite be as directly hands-on with personnel moves as originally believed.  That said, Alderson will obviously still have the final word on any major transactions, and naturally will be looking to hire executives who share similar philosophies on roster construction.

The responsibilities of a “president of baseball operations” and “general manager” can vary from team to team, though the specific job titles factor into hiring possibilities.  Clubs generally don’t stand in the way of staffers being interviewed when another team offers a promotion, so in this case, the Mets could potentially try to lure a current GM to Citi Field if they have a president of baseball ops position available.  Adding two major front office hires beyond just Alderson would also be a way of adding even more baseball brainpower and fresh ideas into an organization that Cohen is planning to modernize from an analytics perspective.

Such names as Rays special assistant Bobby Heck or Athletics assistant GM Billy Owens have already been mentioned as potential candidates to join the Mets, and Puma wondered if J.P. Ricciardi could also be a candidate to return to New York given Ricciardi’s longstanding ties to Alderson.  Of course, the Mets have a current general manager in Brodie Van Wagenen, though it isn’t expected that he will retain his job under Cohen’s ownership.

Offseason Outlook: Baltimore Orioles

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The Orioles briefly flirted with Wild Card contention in this year’s greatly expanded playoff format, but the O’s ultimately finished out the year at 25-35 with a -20 run differential. GM Mike Elias will head into his third offseason on the job still squarely in a rebuild, which should make for a pretty quiet winter in Baltimore.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Note on arb-eligible players: this year’s arbitration projections are more volatile than ever, given the unprecedented revenue losses felt by clubs and the shortened 2020 schedule. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, who developed our arbitration projection model, used three different methods to calculate different projection numbers. You can see the full projections and an explanation of each if you click here, but for the purposes of our Outlook series, we’ll be using Matt’s 37-percent method — extrapolating what degree of raise a player’s 2020 rate of play would have earned him in a full 162-game slate and then awarding him 37 percent of that raise.

Option Decisions

Free Agents

Baltimore’s offseason kicks off with what looks to be a relatively straightforward decision on 30-year-old shortstop Jose Iglesias’ club option. Iglesias was hampered by a quadriceps injury that limited him to 160 innings of defense, but he also posted an outrageous .373/.400/.556 slash in 150 trips to the plate. Granted, it was fueled largely by a .407 BABIP that isn’t repeatable, but Iglesias did make some gains in exit velocity and hard-hit rate as well. Assuming the quad is healthy next year, this is an affordable price tag on a singles hitter who rarely strikes out and is typically an excellent defender.

The extent to which the Orioles will be active after that is tough to gauge, but major moves shouldn’t be expected. The Orioles, under Elias, have signed just three players to Major League deals: Iglesias, Nate Karns and Kohl Stewart. Both Karns and Stewart inked split contracts that did not come with full guarantees in the big leagues.

We’re entering the third year of the Elias rebuild, but the O’s are still staring up at a powerhouse Rays club, the perennially contending Yankees, an emerging young Blue Jays team and a Red Sox club that will get some crucial names back in 2021 (Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez among them). The O’s aren’t just a couple of savvy free-agent signings away from competing against this group.

Of course, the O’s hope to get an important piece back themselves in the form of slugger Trey Mancini. The 28-year-old was Baltimore’s best hitter and arguably best all-around player in 2019, but he missed the 2020 season after revealing back in March that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. Mancini underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor, but Elias said last month that the organization is hopeful he’ll be ready to rejoin the club in Spring Training. It’d be a boon for the clubhouse and lineup alike, as a Mancini return would start the season off on a feel-good note and give manager Brandon Hyde a heart-of-the-order hitter who raked at a .291/.364/.535 clip when last healthy.

Mancini would give the Orioles an option at first base, designated hitter or in either outfield corner, although he’s best-suited to play first (career -17 DRS in the outfield). That’d push Chris Davis — more on him later — to designated hitter but still leave the Orioles with some possible areas for addition around the diamond.

In 2020, the O’s relied primarily on Hanser Alberto and Rio Ruiz at second base and third base, respectively. Alberto was one of the club’s best hitters for much of the season before a disastrous final 15 games torpedoed his batting line. Ruiz, meanwhile, slugged nine homers but hit just .222 with a .286 on-base percentage. Both players look to lack ceiling at the plate; Alberto has hit for average in Baltimore but lacks power, while Ruiz has pop but minimal on-base skills.

It’s at least plausible that the Orioles would consider non-tendering Alberto — particularly given what should be a rather flooded second base market. Ruiz doesn’t seem like a sure thing to survive the winter on the 40-man roster, having given the O’s a .229/.299/.393 slash (82 wRC+) through 617 plate appearances over the past two seasons. The Orioles could give Renato Nunez another look at the hot corner, but he’s viewed as a poor defender.

Given that lackluster set of options at second and third base, it’s not particularly surprising that Elias has already spoken of a desire to bolster his infield depth. In his end-of-season chat with reporters, Elias noted a lack of infield depth in the organization when he took over, attributing it to the team’s prior aversion to signing international amateur free agents. While the GM said it’s been an area of focus since he took the reins and offered optimism that the pipeline is improving, he also called infield depth “one of those areas where everyone is always looking for more” (link  via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko).

The Orioles aren’t going to go wild and sign a top free agent like DJ LeMahieu, but there should be some solid veterans available on more affordable deals. They’ve already been there, done that with Jonathan Villar and Jonathan Schoop — not that a reunion is impossible — but someone like Cesar Hernandez, Jedd Gyorko, or Marwin Gonzalez (whom Elias knows from his Astros days) would give them some cover.

It’s also at least worth pondering whether the Orioles will take a more significant plunge on a unique market entrant: Korean shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. The Kiwoom Heroes star will be posted for MLB clubs this winter, and he’ll play next season at just 25 years of age. Even when the O’s were inexplicably dormant on the Latin American market for international talent, they had a strong presence in both NPB and the KBO.

Bringing Kim into the mix would ostensibly align with the timeline of their rebuild, and he’s capable of playing each of shortstop, second base and third base. We’re expecting a pretty substantial contract for Kim — four to five years in length at something in the $7-9MM annual range — so it’d be a notable departure from the dearth of free-agent spending under Elias. That said, Kim’s age and versatility both match up with the Orioles’ long-term organizational needs. Signing Kim is akin to signing a Top 100 prospect who can be plugged directly onto the big league roster. Some contenders may prefer players who are proven against MLB pitching, but the Orioles could certainly withstand the risk that Kim faces a prolonged adjustment period.

Beyond the infield, the lineup should mostly be set. Ryan Mountcastle exploded onto the scene with a .333/.386/.492 showing through his first 140 MLB plate appearances. He’s locked down one corner outfield slot, with the other surely set aside for Anthony Santander, who hit .261/.315/.575 with 11 big flies, 13 doubles and a triple in 165 plate appearances. Austin Hays is the favorite in center field thanks to a .289/.344/.458 output dating back to 2019 (209 total plate appearances), and Cedric Mullins gives them a solid alternative.

Behind the plate, Chance Sisco and Pedro Severino form a respectable platoon, but they’re both placeholders for 2019 No. 1 overall pick Adley Rutschman. Sisco strikes out too much but draws plenty of walks and has shown some pop. Severino had a rough 43 plate appearances against lefties in 2020 but has generally handled them well in his career.

At designated hitter, the Orioles will be left to ponder what to do with the remaining portion of the aforementioned Davis and his contract. Nunez gives them another option there as well, having belted 43 homers dating back to 2019 but providing minimal defensive value at the infield corners. There’s been speculation about releasing Davis for years now, and perhaps that outcome is simply inevitable, but the O’s will likely wait to see how he looks in Spring Training and also to determine whether they’ll have Mancini available before making such a drastic move.

It’s also not a lock that Nunez will be tendered a contract. For all the power he’s shown in the past two seasons, his overall .247/.314/.469 slash translates to a 104 wRC+ and 106 OPS+ due to his questionable on-base skills and the leaguewide home run boom. Paired with his defensive shortcomings, Nunez has been worth less than one WAR per both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference in 2019-20 combined.

On the pitching side of the equation, the Orioles have vacancies in both the rotation and bullpen, which should allow them to be opportunistic in signing some veteran free agents. They seemed to prioritize price over upside last winter when bringing in Tommy Milone and Wade LeBlanc on non-guaranteed deals, but it’s possible they’ll be able to get some arms with higher ceilings to concede to minor league pacts or low-base, incentive-laden one-year deals this time around. There’s something to be said for leaving the door open for in-house options to seize opportunities, but there are so many holes on this pitching staff that it’d be surprising if the front office didn’t bring in some fresh faces.

A potential trade involving Cobb would create another opening and also serve to pare back the payroll. No one is going to take Cobb’s entire $15MM salary, but he did bounce back from an injury-ruined 2019 season to make 10 starts of 4.30 ERA ball in 2020. Cobb looks mostly like an innings-eating fourth/fifth starter at this point, so there won’t be a long line to acquire him, but if the O’s were to absorb 75 percent of his salary or take on another undesirable contract in return, perhaps something could be worked out. At the very least, Cobb’s healthy showing and respectable results moved him off the borderline-untradeable status he held this time last year.

Overall, the Orioles simply aren’t in a position to spend much money or part with young players to add veteran upgrades to their roster. A player like Kim or a younger non-tender who still has some prime years and team control remaining would make sense as an upside play. One-year deals and minor league pacts for veterans with a bit of name value are likely on the docket, but the O’s lack both obvious trade candidates on the big league roster and motivation to make splashy moves for veteran players. The 2021 season will likely be another year dedicated to shaping a sustainable core of players with an eye toward better results in 2022-23.

KBO’s SK Wyverns Sign Wilmer Font, Artie Lewicki

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SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization announced the signings of right-handers Wilmer Font and Artie Lewicki to one-year contracts.  (Hat tip to Jeeho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency.)  Font’s deal will pay him $1MM, while Lewicki will earn $750K and can potentially land another $100K in incentives.

Font chose free agency after being outrighted off the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster at the end of the season.  The 30-year-old had a rough time over 16 1/3 innings in 2020, posting a 9.92 ERA and nine walks over that limited sample size.  Font has a 5.54 ERA in 144 2/3 innings since the start of the 2018 season, though some inconsistency was perhaps inevitable since Font suited up for five different organizations in 2018-19.

Over his various stops and in various usages as a reliever and starter, Font displayed some quality at times, such as a 3.66 ERA, 12.1 K/9, and 4.82 K/BB rate over 39 1/3 innings with the Jays in 2019.  While he has started 22 of his 96 career Major League games, most of Font’s “starts” in recent years have been as an opener, though it is possible the Wyverns could deploy him as a traditional starter in 2021.

Reports from last weekend suggested that Lewicki was closing in on a deal with SK Wyverns, and the 28-year-old will now head overseas after being released by the Diamondbacks.  Lewicki posted a 5.14 ERA over 49 innings with the Tigers in 2017-18 before missing all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery.  The D’Backs claimed him off waivers after the 2018 season and he returned to the mound to toss 3 1/3 frames of work for Arizona during the 2020 season.

In other SK Wyverns news, the team also announced that first baseman Jamie Romak has been re-signed to a one-year, $1.15MM deal.  Romak has excelled in his four seasons with the Wyverns, hitting .283/.383/.553 with 135 homers in 2199 plate appearances since joining the Incheon-based team in 2017.  A veteran of 18 seasons in pro ball, Romak’s career includes a one-season stint in Japan, 14 years in the minor leagues with seven different organizations, and 27 MLB games for the Dodgers and Diamondbacks in 2014-15.

Nick Castellanos Doesn’t Opt Out Of Reds Contract

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Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos did not tell the team that he will be exercising the opt-out clause in his contract, according to multiple reporters.  As such, Castellanos will remain in Cincinnati for at least one more season, before facing another opt-out decision following the 2021 campaign.

Castellanos signed a four-year, $64MM deal with the Reds last winter, and his original $16MM salary for 2020 was prorated down to roughly $5.925MM as a result of the shortened season.  He is scheduled to make $14MM in 2021 and then $16MM in both 2022 and 2023, and the Reds have a $20MM mutual option on his services for the 2024 season that can be bought out for $2MM.

There wasn’t much doubt that Castellanos would pass on his opt-out opportunity, as the offseason marketplace figures to be a tight one for all but the uppermost tier of free agents.  It would have been very unlikely that Castellanos would have been able to top the three years and $48MM he has left in his Cincinnati contract, particularly because Castellanos produced average numbers (particularly by his standards) in 2020.

It was very much a tale of two seasons for the 28-year-old, as Castellanos hit a scorching .272/.352/.691 over his first 91 plate appearances in a Reds uniform, but then only .197/.265/.365 over his final 151 PA.  The end result was a 102 wRC+ and OPS+ for Castellanos, his lowest total in either metric in the last five seasons.

If Castellanos rebounds in 2021 and league-wide revenues are at least somewhat back to normal, he could explore using his opt-out clause in a year’s time.  2022 would be Castellanos’ age-30 season so time would still somewhat be on his side, and finding more than two years/$34MM could be feasible if he has another big offensive season under his belt.  Castellanos’ future market would also be helped if the National League has adopted the DH by then, as his right field defense continues to be below average.

Quick Hits: Winter Meetings, Revenue Sharing, CBA Talks

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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact almost every facet of normal Major League Baseball business, both in the immediate future and looking ahead to what may be a tumultuous 2021 season.  The latest alterations include two expected changes to a pair of major offseason events, as both the Winter Meetings and the annual owners’ meetings have both been changed into virtual events rather than in-person gatherings.

The Winter Meetings have long been the focal point of the offseason calendar, often collecting just about every major power broker in baseball (owners, general managers, top free agents, player agents, media, etc.) under one roof for a four-day span.  While the rise of electronic communication over the last couple of decades has made it easier for teams to swing trades and signings at any point in the offseason, the Winter Meetings is still a major hub for winter business, whether it be completing transactions or laying groundwork during those four days that results in completed deals a few days or weeks later.

This year’s Winter Meetings were set for December 7-10 in Dallas.  The Rule 5 Draft has traditionally fallen on the final day of the Meetings, and while MLB’s press release made no specific reference to this event, it can be assumed that the Rule 5 Draft will be conducted in the same virtual manner as last summer’s amateur draft.

The owners’ meetings, which were set to be held November 17-19 in Arlington, aren’t as well-known to the casual fan, though naturally there is plenty of import whenever the sport’s owners gather in person.  Ironically, the owners and league officials have more to discuss this year than in any other offseason in recent memory, though the many discussions about how MLB will proceed under the threat of the coronavirus will undoubtedly continue throughout the coming months.

For one, revenue sharing between teams is likely to be eliminated again in 2021, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic.  Some form of revenue sharing plan between larger-market and smaller-market teams has been in place for the better part of 25 years before the shortened 2020 season halted the regular plan this year.  As one club executive noted to Drellich, this was a greater detriment to smaller-market teams than the pandemic: “The big markets have lost anywhere between $150 to 200 [million], middle markets about $100 [million], and the small markets really, haven’t lost anything.  They got crushed because they got no revenue sharing.”

Labor talks with the MLB Players Association also loom this winter, as the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in December 2021.  Drellich notes that there is a chance the league could explore an extension on the current CBA, delaying talks about a new deal for at least a year until baseball’s business looks at least somewhat more normal.  Working out a CBA extension would obviously be a huge undertaking unto itself, however, as the players’ union has long been eager to rework the terms of what it felt was an unfavorable contract in the last set of negotiations.

That said, Drellich writes that the players could have extra leverage in any CBA extension talks, if the league truly is eager to forestall any bigger-picture labor negotiations.  Any number of short-term concessions could be floated by the MLBPA as conditions for extending the CBA, though given the wide range of issues the players have with the current deal, an attempt to make wholesale changes might as well amount to unofficial CBA renegotiation already.

Indians To Replace Brad Mills As Bench Coach

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Brad Mills is being reassigned to another role within the Indians organization and won’t return as the club’s bench coach in 2021, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti announced on Friday.  Mills has been the bench coach since 2014, and a member of Cleveland’s coaching staff since 2012.

Mills opted out of participating in the 2020 season, and with manager Terry Francona also missing much of the season due to health issues, first base coach Sandy Alomar took over the acting manager role while third base coach Mike Sarbaugh assumed bench coach duties.  With Francona and the rest of the Tribe’s coaching staff expected to return next season, the obvious move might be to move Alomar into the bench coach job, though it remains to be seen how the club will address the vacancy.

Perhaps best known for managing the Astros from 2010-12, Mills has long been a fixture on Francona’s coaching staffs.  He worked as the bench coach under Francona with the Red Sox from 2004-09, and also as a first base coach when Francona managed the Phillies from 1997-2000.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/30/20

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Rounding up some minor moves around the game:

  • Royals left-hander Mike Montgomery and right-hander Kevin McCarthy cleared outright waivers and have elected free agency, reports Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (Twitter link). Montgomery, 31, was limited to 5.1 innings in 2020 due to a lat injury, derailing his chance of cementing himself in the Kansas City rotation. McCarthy was an oft-used bullpen piece in 2019 but only got into five games last season. Additionally, Kansas City claimed righty Carlos Sanabria off waivers from the Astros, per Flanagan (Twitter link). The 23-year-old reliever performed well in the high minors in 2019 and made his MLB debut in this year.
  • The Twins claimed right-hander Ian Gibaut off waivers from the Rangers, per an announcement from Texas. The 26-year-old pitched to just a 6.57 ERA in 12.1 innings this year but was once a well-regarded relief prospect. He comes with one option year remaining. Fellow Texas righty Luke Farrell cleared outright waivers.
  • The Twins also claimed left-hander Brandon Waddell off waivers from the Pirates, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (Twitter link). Additionally, Pirates’ catchers John Ryan Murphy and Luke Maile, utilityman Kevin Kramer, right-hander Yacksel Rios and outfielder Jason Martin all cleared outright waivers, per an announcement from Pittsburgh.
  • The Mets claimed right-hander Nick Tropeano off waivers from the Pirates, per an announcement from Pittsburgh. The 30-year-old pitched in seven games with a 1.15 ERA for the Pirates in 2020. He’s projected for a salary just under $1MM in arbitration.
  • The Nationals announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Steven Fuentes. The 23-year-old pitched to a 2.69 ERA/2.24 FIP in 63.2 Double-A innings in 2019 and would’ve been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. Baseball America ranks Fuentes the #27 prospect in the Washington system.
  • The Cubs announced that they have claimed infielder Max Schrock via waivers from the rival Cardinals. Chicago also outrighted lefty Rex Brothers to Triple-A Iowa. Schrock picked up just 17 plate appearances for St. Louis in 2020 and collected three hits (two singles and a homer). Brothers, 32, threw only 3.1 innings with the Cubs and allowed three earned runs.
  • Speaking of the Cardinals, they announced outright assignments for righty Nabil Crismatt and lefty Ricardo Sanchez. Crismatt was successful for the Cardinals in 2020, notching 8.1 frames of three-run ball with eight strikeouts and one walk. Sanchez had some difficulty across 5.1 innings, though, as he gave up four earned runs and issued five walks.

Red Sox, Alex Cora Have Been In Contact

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A reunion between the Red Sox and Alex Cora may be in the offing. After a year away from the team because of a suspension, their former manager is a candidate to return in the same role. The Red Sox have been in contact with Cora, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports.

The Red Sox have already interviewed seven other candidates, as shown on MLBTR’s Managerial Search Tracker. Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza have received second interviews, according to Speier, who adds that Cubs third base coach Will Venable and Twins bench coach Mike Bell are no longer under consideration. Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta is also out of the mix, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Among known candidates, that leaves Cora up against Kelly, Mendoza, Marlins bench coach James Rowson and Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker. However, Speier writes that there are other names under consideration.

No one from the Kelly-Mendoza-Rowson-Schumaker group has managed in the majors, so they certainly can’t match Cora’s accomplishments in the role. Cora managed the Red Sox to a 192-132 record from 2018-19, guiding the team to a World Series in the first of those seasons. But the Red Sox parted with Cora last offseason after Major League Baseball suspended him for a year because of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Cora was the Astros’ bench coach that season.

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