The latest news and notes from the mound:
- Left-hander Drew Smyly came off the open market Monday when he and the Braves reached a one-year, $11MM agreement. That represents a nice raise for someone who signed a one-year, $4MM guarantee with San Francisco last winter, but the 31-year-old Smyly had his sights set even higher than the salary he’ll earn with the Braves. Smyly was requesting a contract in the three-year, $30MM neighborhood before inking his Braves pact, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. That’s an ambitious asking price for a hurler who has dealt with serious injuries throughout his career, and it’s worth noting Smyly struggled mightily as recently as 2019. To Smyly’s credit, though, he had a big-time bounce-back campaign this past season with a 3.42 ERA/2.01 FIP, 14.35 K/9 against 3.08 BB/9, and a 2.6 mph increase in average fastball velocity over 26 1/3 innings.
- With Smyly out of the picture for the Giants, Grant Brisbee of The Athletic takes a look at a few low-cost starters they could explore to replace him this winter. In Brisbee’s estimation, Chris Archer, Alex Wood, Matt Shoemaker and Anthony DeSclafani could make for intriguing reclamation projects for the Giants’ rotation. Nobody from that group looks especially exciting right now, but neither did Smyly at this time a year ago, and he proved to be a shrewd pickup for San Francisco.
- There are “several teams” that have shown interest in free-agent right-hander Chase Anderson, Robert Murray of Fansided writes. While Anderson has typically been a useful mid- to back-end starter since he debuted in 2014, the 32-year-old had a brutal 2020 in his lone season with the Blue Jays. Anderson concluded with 33 2/3 innings of 7.22 ERA/6.16 FIP ball, owing largely to a horrific 28.9 percent home run-to-fly ball ratio, though he did post impressive strikeout and walk numbers (10.16 K/9, 2.67 BB/9). Toronto had a $9.5MM option over Anderson for 2021, but it bought him out for $500K.
- As is the case with Anderson, there is more than one team interested in free-agent southpaw Martin Perez, according to Murray. Perez spent 2020 with the Red Sox and recorded a 4.50 ERA/4.88 FIP with 6.88 K/9 and 4.06 BB/9 across 62 frames. The Red Sox then bought out the 29-year-old for $500K in lieu of paying him a $6.85MM option for next season.
still waiting on seeing a revision to the actual contract…but dang!…Ten-run Tommy Milone and Cole Hamels got to verifying the votes and numbers too lol
Pitchers are going to get paid this winter. The teams probably were planning to out wait the players, but it’s the pitchers who hold out wait the teams. Someone like Tanaka should
…someone like Tanaka should wait until teams realize there are no league average or better pitchers available. Supply and demand. So many teams want starters and there so little inventory available.
Yeah, but never underestimate the ego of alot of managers and pitch iij ng coaches in MLB…If he holds out for too much, they will just sign someone like Wood or Descalifini (sp?) lol…And think they can rework their magic into getting the most out of them, instead of Tanaka..
Or a GM will play the numbers game, and just sign a couple talented, bounceback candidates rather than put all their eggs in one basket with Tanaka..
Personally, I would have much rather had Tanaka than Smyly, but I’m sure his along price was most likely alot higher as well..
I am curious to see if he will pass a physical. I think the big reason he never opted out of his Yankees contract was his elbow is still holding on by a thread..
That thread that’s holding Tanaka’s elbow has been a strong one. By now I’d say he’s no more prone to injury than any other pitcher.
Always injured Brett Anderson next in line. Although he was really good in 2019 for A’s. But has only approached 180 innings 3 times in his 12 year mlb career. Yet almost 60 mill in career earnings. Could probably extend his career even longer at some point if he becomes a reliever, lefties always in demand
I expect the Red Sox to start signing some of these lower-tiered SPs soon. They’ll add at least to starters and 3 BP arms this offseason.
I hope the Giants don’t ponder this four pack for very long. Rough bunch to hope for a reclamation project like Smyly or Gausman with maybe the exception of Shoemaker
I wouldn’t hate if the giants got Alex wood. Chris archer is a HELL NO imo, Shoemaker MAYBE could okay (and that’s a big maybe) I hope they get Odirizzi and maybe Kluber for 1 year on a cheap deal cuz if he’s healthy, he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball
I was hoping Perez would return, sadly.
Why? Even the Red Sox know they need much more than pitchers like Perez to hope to compete looking forward.
Bookend this guy with your Brockstar and move on.
BoSox aren’t looking to spend 11M on their 4/5 starter. If these are the prices, they may be shockingly quiet and wait for discounts later in the offseason
Dorothy.. If the Sox are bargain hunting on pitchers, they’ll likely wait until after December 2 when the non tenders become available.
I hope Atlanta is thinking of using him as a swing man. He isn’t a regular rotation guy on a championship contender. IMO
I think the idea is the small sample size of success he enjoyed in San Fransisco is a sign of bigger and better things to come. Similar to how Charlie Morton started to come on late with the Phillies before becoming excellent with the Astros and Rays.
Definitely not an upgrade to the front of the rotation, but with Soroka, Fried, and Anderson the Braves don’t really need to drop a lot of money or prospect capital for another big arm. If they can run it back as close as possible (I.e. resign Ozuna and Melancon) and add another back end guy (Lester/Wainwright/etc.) then they’re the on-paper favorite in the East again.
I totally agree with your thoughts. I don’t agree with their thoughts that Smyly has ‘turned a corner’. Only time will tell but I expect him in the bullpen by June.
Please don’t sign archer. PLEASE don’t sign him. He is a waste, and may not even make their rotation. I would rather Beede and Webb(I am a Giants fan)
Not really big on any of the mentioned pitchers. That being said, if they can get him for 2-3 million and he can help in the bullpen or as a spot starter, that’s not a bad deal. None of the players then mentioned should be getting bigger contracts than about that, but has been stated supply and demand drives prices not always talent.
struggle to understand how 26 good innings from Smyly got him the contract it did, way too small a sample to prove anything more than what we already knew he was capable of.
ammiel:
It’s not so much about what Smly did in 2020, as much as how he’s seen as having upside, and the lack of SPs on the market. He is a lefty which also increases his value.
Every SP’s price is inflated this season because a lot of teams are looking for pitching. It’s a seller’s market for SPs. Plus, it is a one-year deal and the AAV always goes up the shorter the contract.
Given Smly’s stats, and track record it is an overpay. But whoever signed him was going to have to overpay. And that’s true for probably every other starter on the market.
I guess upside is considered being able to throw a ball without your arm falling off these days in MLB.
i guess i am just dubious/curious as to teams paying at all let alone overpaying, hence the surprise, given the comments from many in the game, and the fact that unions/owners were fighting so hard and publically about $ during the covid shutdown. eg. no we wont let the players play 80 games due to the lack of profit/gate receipts but sure lets pay some dude who might be ok loads…
Agreed, 7 total games pitched, with 5 starts and 26 innings and his 2020 is talked about as a good “bounce back” season.
We all should be so lucky to score like him.
and this early in the FA process. It’s a mistake by Atlanta.
Lol I know right.
Article talking about how he had a nice bounce back campaign in 2020. How am I supposed to take that seriously?
Braves took it series 11 million times over
Keep dreaming Smyly!
How does Perez keep getting work!!!???
Mariners fan here- It’s been nearly 4 years yet I still find myself cringing when I read anything about Drew Smyly! I clearly still have some resentment issues to work through! I distinctly remember watching Smyly and Felix pitch really well in that Spring 2017 USA v Venezuela WBC game thinking to myself- if our pitching is going to be like this in 2017 it’s going to be a good year for the M’s!! Wrong! Funny, ATL might end up with both Smyly and Felix next year. I hope so, MLB is a better league with King Felix in it.
I like the way AA jumps into the market early, gets his business done and then watches everybody else fight it out. He’s finished while the rest of this bunch is still trying to decide if they can safely go eat Thanksgiving turkey with her families
Jumping the market again like he did with Will Smith. Hopefully he settles in with a full camp.in ’21.
There are no bad one year contracts, plus there is still the chance AA might sign one more SP. At least he has this one out of the way. I’d prefer they focus on the middle order bat and let Wright or Wilson will work the #5.
Cole Hamels certainly seemed to be a bad one year contract if you ask me.
Insurance should have paid most of that, I’d venture to guess. I don’t hold that against AA bc you can’t predict injuries.
In other words, the Braves way overpaid for Smyly.
Or, in some words the Braves paid exactly what the market suggests they should, in fact we might see that he was a steal for the cost of his contract. It will all come out in the wash this time next year.
Smyly was a good pitcher before injuries took him out of the picture as seen in the 2017 WBC USA v Venezuela game in a post above- check out some highlights of that Smyly v King Felix game. Smyly looked really sharp right before he broke the hearts of Mariners fans everywhere. I’m not suggesting that Smyly is as talented as DeGrom, Wainwright or Strasburg but each of those SP’s had post- injury success after TJ, there’s no reason Smyly can’t go on to be a valuable pitcher for the Braves organization.
There are few reasons to like this signing. 1yr deal + not only his 2020 but that was a continuation of his final month of 2019 and his velocity uptick in 2020. I am very surprised he couldn’t secure a multi-yr deal, then again let MLB teams get there finances in order in 2021 and bet on himself for his next deal for 2022.
Still, trying to decipher how ppl think AA is helping this team win a championship? Division titles? Sure but soon the Mets will be the Dodgers of the NL East.
The Braves under AA are reactive and not very proactive.
How about the Mets actually win something before we start crowning them future Champs. This story is getting a bit old.
Atlanta is better positioned for the NL East for the next decade than the Mutts are.
Grant Bisbee…can’t believe someone is paying him money to spew the obvious
In fairness, Grant has been very good at predicting who the Giants will pick up. He called Jason Vosler to the Giants. He’s pretty good.
But as I went back to the Vosler signing’s article, there’s your comment, right at the bottom: “Stop referencing Grant Bisbee lmao. He’s terrible.”
As I see it, you have some bizarre hate for the guy. Maybe give him a call, take him to lunch and air out your (very obvious) grievances. And maybe, just maybe, if you’re lucky, he’ll tell you how to get hired by perhaps the most reputable sports journalism site we’ve seen, and may ever see.
You don’t have to like Grant. But to deny he’s a talented writer makes you look quite petty.
Most likely the Braves let Ozuna walk ( unless the NL goes with a DH ) so overpaying Smyly was still not a budget breaker. Personally they should have offered Morton the 15 million and got a proven pitcher with a solid arm who might stay 2 years to be closer to his Florida home.