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MLB, MLBPA Reach Deal On Vesting Options, Roster Bonuses

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Major League Baseball and the MLBPA have finally come to a deal for 2020 centering on key contract issues such as vesting options and roster bonuses, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.

As MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored, this agreement will impact several notable veterans, including pitchers Jon Lester, J.A. Happ, Andrew Miller, Charlie Morton, Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee, catcher Stephen Vogt and infielder/outfielder Dee Gordon. All of those players have vesting options based on certain 162-game milestones baked into their contracts (for instance, Happ’s $17MM option for 2021 would have become guaranteed had he thrown 165 innings).

It had been unclear how the league was going to handle those options, but we now have the answer. According to Rosenthal, all 2021 vesting options will be worth their full amounts. The counting numbers that would’ve triggered those options in a 162-game season will now be prorated. As Rosenthal points out, that means Miller – who would have needed 37 appearances for his $12MM option to vest – will only need 14 this year.

Roster bonuses, meanwhile, will be prorated, whereas playoff bonuses will be paid out in full. Rosenthal uses the example of a $200K bonus for 200 innings over a 162-game regular schedule, noting it’ll now require 74 1/3 innings and will earn a player just under $75K in 60 games. In the event a player spends time on the COVID-19 injured list, those days will still count as roster days for bonus purposes.

Nationals Place Roenis Elias, Wander Suero On IL

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The Nationals have placed relievers Roenis Elias and Wander Suero on the injured list, per a club announcement. The team didn’t provide a reason for the moves, though the hope is that neither player is dealing with the coronavirus.

Elias and Suero have not taken part in any of the Nationals’ workouts in Summer Camp thus far. The 31-year-old Elias was one of the Nationals’ summer acquisitions last season, when they were trying to fix a then-struggling bullpen, but injuries limited the left-hander to just four appearances and two innings with the Nats after they got him from the Mariners. Elias didn’t pitch past Sept. 5, meaning he didn’t factor into Washington’s first-ever run to a World Series title.

Suero, meanwhile, was a rather durable member of the Nationals’ bullpen in 2019, easily leading all of their relievers in appearances (78) and innings (71 1/3). And while the right-handed Suero only mustered a 4.54 ERA during that stretch, that came with a far more palatable 3.07 FIP and 10.22 K/9 against 3.28 BB/9.

When healthy, Elias and Suero should be important members of Washington’s relief corps this year. For now, though, it appears the club will have to open 2020 without them.

Astros Place Yordan Alvarez, Jose Urquidy On Injured List

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4:22pm: James is back with the team, per Mark Berman of Fox 26. He was away from camp because he was awaiting the birth of his second child, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was among those to report.

3:27pm: The Astros have placed five players on the injured list, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports. 2019 Rookie of the Year Yordan Alvarez, right-handers Jose Urquidy, Shawn Dubin and Ralph Garza, and lefty Cionel Perez have all been shelved, though it’s not clear why in any of those cases. Rome tweets that Alvarez and Urquidy haven’t been present for the week-plus of Summer Camp to date, and manager Dusty Baker has attributed their absence to a “condition that prevents them from reporting to the field.”

Many teams throughout the league have had varying degrees of difficulty with regard to coronavirus testing delays, but it’s been a frequent issue for the Astros. Houston canceled last Monday’s workouts entirely, had no pitchers on hand yesterday and saw Alex Bregman miss a workout late last week due to delays in his test results.

As for Alvarez and Urquidy, their absence to date is especially troubling in its own right. That promising young pair’s health and well-being is of course the most important issue, but their importance to the club’s success can’t be understated, either. Alvarez immediately broke out as one of the league’s most feared bats last year when he hit .313/.412/.655 with 27 homers in just 369 plate appearances. Urquidy was all but assured a rotation spot behind Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke and Lance McCullers Jr., having pitched to a 3.95 ERA (3.68 FIP) with a 40-to-7 K/BB ratio in 41 innings last year.

The Astros were already thin in the rotation behind those top three names, and McCullers carries some uncertainty himself, as this will be his first action back after 2018 Tommy John surgery. Urquidy’s absence could further create openings for some combination of Brad Peacock, Austin Pruitt and Framber Valdez on the starting staff. Right-hander Josh James has not yet reported to Summer Camp.

Charlie Blackmon Rejoins Rockies

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Outfielder Charlie Blackmon arrived at Coors Field on Monday for Summer Camp, Nick Groke of The Athletic tweets. It’s an especially notable and encouraging development after Blackmon tested positive for the coronavirus three weeks ago.

Blackmon, a four-time All-Star, explained how he’s doing and expressed hope that he’ll be in Colorado’s lineup when its season starts July 24, saying (via Thomas Harding of MLB.com): “I feel great. I have felt that way for at least a couple of weeks now. I had a day and a half of symptoms. After that I started feeling much better. I want to be ready for Opening Day. That’s a pretty short period of time.”

Of course, if the Rockies are going to pull off a surprise playoff run in 2020, it stands to reason they’ll need a healthy Blackmon. The 34-year-old turned in yet another quality offensive season in 2019, in which he slashed .314/.364/.576 (125 wRC+) with 32 home runs in 634 plate appearances to further cement himself as one of the Rockies’ most important contributors.

Aside from Matt Kemp, a recent minor league signing, Blackmon is by far the most proven outfield-capable player the Rockies have. David Dahl, Raimel Tapia, Sam Hilliard, Garrett Hampson and Yonathan Daza are also on their 40-man roster, but only the injury-plagued Dahl has fared well offensively over a large sample of major league plate appearances.

Indians Place Delino DeShields On IL

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The Indians announced that they have placed outfielder Delino DeShields on the 10-day injured list. The team didn’t give a reason for DeShields’ IL placement, but it’s worth noting he recently tested positive for COVID-19.

DeShields’ positive test forced him to sit out the beginning of Summer Camp, though he did fly to Cleveland last week after a negative test and take batting practice at Progressive Field on Saturday. However, the 27-year-old had not been cleared to rejoin the Indians for instrasquad workouts at that point, as Joe Noga of cleveland.com notes.

The hope is that DeShields will return to the field as soon as possible, but considering what he has gone through in recent weeks, it seems unlikely he’ll be ready to make his Indians debut when their regular season commences on July 24. The 27-year-old was a key offseason pickup by Cleveland, which acquired him from Texas in a trade for two-time American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber.

Even without DeShields, the Indians have no shortage of options in the outfield. Oscar Mercado, Jordan Luplow, Tyler Naquin, Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, Domingo Santana, Daniel Johnson and Bradley Zimmer are among the team’s other choices in the grass, but as is the case with the light-hitting DeShields, most or all of those players come with question marks.

Orioles’ Richie Martin, Ty Blach To Undergo Surgery

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Orioles shortstop Richie Martin and left-hander Ty Blach will both undergo surgery on Wednesday, manager Brandon Hyde announced to reporters Monday (Twitter links via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Martin will undergo wrist surgery after sustaining a fracture over the weekend, while Blach will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a ligament tear in his elbow. Martin is expected to be sidelined for two to three months, which all but eliminates him as an option for the team in 2020. Blach will likely be out until late next season at least, as recovery from Tommy John surgery typically takes between 12 and 14 months.

Martin, 25, was the top pick in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, and the Orioles carried the former Athletics first-rounder all season despite his struggles against MLB pitching. Martin saw action in 120 games but only logged 309 plate appearances, turning in an underwhelming .208/.260/.322 batting line against big league opponents. Martin had never played a game at the Triple-A level when Baltimore selected him, but he’d posted an encouraging .300/.368/.439 slash in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting in 2018.

The O’s had surely hoped to get him some time in Triple-A now that they could send him there after getting through his Rule 5 season, but the prolonged shutdown and cancellation of the 2020 minor league season made that impossible. Now, Martin won’t even get reps in at the MLB level or in alternate camp during this summer’s shortened season.

As for Blach, the former Giants southpaw had been hoping to crack the roster as a rotation or long relief candidate, but he may not ever throw another pitch as an Oriole now. Blach struggled in 20 2/3 frames with the O’s in 2019 and was removed from the roster, but Baltimore liked him enough to bring him back on a minor league pact. That deal will run out at season’s end, and Blach will search for a new club either next summer or in the 2021-22 offseason, depending on his recovery process.

Blach, 29, was a solid piece for the Giants from 2016-18, racking up 299 1/3 innings with a 4.36 ERA over the course of 85 appearances (39 of them starts). Blach doesn’t throw particularly hard (90.1 mph average fastball) or miss many bats (career 4.9 K/9), but he’s found success in the past due to strong control (2.7 BB/9 prior to ’19) and his ability to keep the ball on the ground (50.1 percent).

Mets Add Seven To 60-Man Player Pool

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The Mets announced Monday that they’ve added seven players to their 60-man player pool: right-handers Matt Blackham, Jordan Humphreys and Franklyn Kilome; left-handers Stephen Gonsalves and Thomas Szapucki; infielder Jake Hager; and catcher David Rodriguez. They’ve filled 58 of the 60 spots in their pool. MetsMerized’s Michael Mayer first reported that Blackham, Humphreys and Gonsalves would be added (Twitter links).

Of the new adds today, Szapucki is the most highly regarded of the team’s prospects, ranking seventh at both FanGraphs and MLB.com. A fifth-round pick in 2015, Szapucki returned from Tommy John surgery to log 61 2/3 innings of 2.63 ERA ball with 10.5 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 across three minor league levels in 2019. The 24-year-old topped out with four innings in Double-A, and while he wasn’t viewed as a candidate to log much time in the Majors this season, he’ll at the very least get in some developmental reps in the absence of a conventional minor league season.

Kilome, also 24, came over from the Phillies in the trade that sent Asdrubal Cabrera to Philadelphia back in 2017. He lands ninth on FanGraphs’ list and 12th at MLB.com on the heels of a 2019 season that he lost to his own Tommy John surgery. That procedure came back in October 2018, so Kilome should be largely back up to speed and ready to pick up after tossing 140 innings at Double-A that year. Kilome logged a 4.18 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. Kilome improved considerably upon being flipped to the Mets; in 38 innings with his new club his K/9 jumped from 7.3 to 10.0, and his BB/9 dropped from 4.5 to 2.4.

Among the other additions, the 26-year-old Gonsalves might be the most recognizable name. The former fourth-round pick was long a top prospect in the Twins organization and cracked multiple Top 100 lists as he rose through the minors, regularly drawing praise as a high-probability back-end starter. He never got much of a look in Minnesota, though (24 2/3 innings), and he’s been limited by arm troubles in recent years.

Humphreys, 24, is another arm on the mend from Tommy John surgery. He had a big 2017 season before surgery and will aim to work his way back into the team’s bullpen mix after pitching just 13 2/3 frames last year. Blackham posted sharp numbers last year, but he turned 27 in January and has only has 15 2/3 frames above Double-A to his credit. Hager and Rodriguez were minor league pickups this winter with limited offensive track records in the minors. Hager is a former first-round pick (Rays, 2011) who can play all over the infield, while Rodriguez brings some additional catching depth and a lifetime 39 percent caught-stealing rate to the table.

Mariners’ Gerson Bautista Out Indefinitely Due To Flexor Strain

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Mariners right-hander Gerson Bautista will be sidelined indefinitely due to a flexor mass strain in his right elbow, manager Scott Servais revealed to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). The flamethrowing bullpen hopeful was lifted from Saturday’s intrasquad game with the injury. While he won’t require surgery, the unspecified timeline and nature of the injury obviously cast some doubt on whether Bautista will be an option for the Mariners this year.

Bautista, 25, came to the Mariners from the Mets alongside Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz blockbuster. He was lit up for 11 runs in nine Major League innings last year and has yet to find success in the Majors, but he’s armed with a heater that averaged 97.7 mph in last year’s brief call to the big leagues and can reach as high as 101 mph. Bautista missed most of last season due to a significant pectoral strain but dominated in the Dominican Winter League this offseason (2.18 ERA, 14 hits allowed, 17-to-5 K/BB ratio in 20 2/3 innings of relief).

The absence of Bautista will only create further opportunity for others in a wide-open competition for bullpen jobs. Offseason signees Yoshihisa Hirano and Carl Edwards Jr. should be locks for spots, and holdovers Austin Adams and Matt Magill impressed after their midseason acquisitions in 2019. Righty Dan Altavilla is out of options, so he also has a leg up in securing a spot. Other than that, the Mariners could have four to five relief jobs up for grabs.

Seattle will use a six-man rotation to begin the season. They’ll be particularly cautious building up the workloads of promising youngsters Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn as well as veterans Kendall Graveman and Taijuan Walker, each of whom is coming back from injury. That should mean plenty of bullpen innings early in the year, giving players like Brandon Brennan, Erik Swanson, Nestor Cortes Jr., Taylor Guilbeau, Taylor Williams, Art Warren, Zac Grotz and several others the opportunity to demonstrate their long-term value to the organization.

Tigers Release Zack Godley

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The Tigers announced this morning that they’ve released right-hander Zack Godley. He’d been in Spring Training and Summer Camp as a non-roster player, though he seemed to have a reasonable chance of making the club. Godley’s initial deal was worth up to $3MM after incentives and allowed him to elect free agency at season’s end even though he’d normally have been arbitration-eligible. That was surely a notable incentive for the 30-year-old, but it seems the Tigers’ thought process has changed. MLB.com’s Jason Beck tweets that Godley had an opt-out prior to Opening Day anyhow, and the team wanted to give him some extra time to find a new club.

Godley has spent the vast majority of his career with the Diamondbacks, for whom he racked up 520 2/3 innings from 2015-19. His best season came back in 2017, when he spun 155 innings of 3.37 ERA ball with 9.6 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.87 HR/9 and a 55.3 percent ground-ball rate. He followed that up with a career-high 178 1/3 frames and a 4.74 ERA (3.82 FIP) in 2018.

Last season, however, Godley’s strikeout rate and ground-ball rate plummeted. His sinker sat at just 90 mph after averaging 91.9 mph in that strong 2017 season, and hitters were able to elevate the ball against him like never before (11.1 percent launch angle in ’19; 3.1 percent in ’17). The end result was an ERA north of 6.00 in 76 innings with the D-backs, although he did post better results upon landing with the Blue Jays (3.94 ERA in 16 innings).

All told, Godley has experience in parts of five Major League seasons, during which time he’s pitched to a 4.70 ERA (4.13 FIP, 4.07 xFIP) with averages of 8.6 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and 1.04 HR/9. His sinker didn’t have its usual effectiveness last year, but half the balls put into play against Godley since his MLB debut have been put on the ground. For a team in need of some rotation depth and/or a long relief option, Godley could certainly hold some appeal. With three-plus years of MLB service time, he’d be controllable through the 2022 season (barring a similar clause to the one he had with Detroit,  allowing him to hit free agency early).

From the Tigers’ vantage point, Godley seemed like a long shot to make the rotation after a long delay, as the extra down time gave righty Michael Fulmer time to recover from Tommy John surgery. Fulmer will join Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, Jordan Zimmermann and offseason signee Ivan Nova on Detroit’s starting staff, though Godley could’ve given them a sixth starter/long relief type of arm early in the year. His release could open the door for another option like Hector Santiago or Nick Ramirez. Eventually, the Tigers may call upon a top pitching prospect like Casey Mize, Matt Manning or Tarik Skubal to get an audition.

Giancarlo Stanton Aiming To Play On Opening Day

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After battling injuries for the better part of two years, Giancarlo Stanton feels he is on pace to be in the Yankees’ lineup on Opening Day.  Stanton suffered a calf injury back during Spring Training that would have landed him on the injured list had the season opened as scheduled, though “the progress back has been good,” Stanton told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters.

“I’m good again and getting everything I need to be ready….I’ve been [taking fly balls] in batting practice.  It’s better to be in a controlled setting right now, especially while pitchers are trying to get their work in.”

That batting practice work has been Stanton’s only action on the grass during Summer Camp, as he hasn’t played in the field during intrasquad games.  The Yankees intend to use Stanton only as a DH when the season begins, and then potentially get him back to outfield work depending on his health.

Biceps and knee injuries limited Stanton to just 18 games and 72 plate appearances in 2019, plus 18 more PA over five of New York’s postseason games.  While Stanton had been rather notoriously injury-plagued earlier in his career, it seemed like had turned a corner after playing in 317 of a possible 324 games for the Marlins and Yankees in 2017-18.  The peak, of course, was Stanton’s 59-homer performance that won him the 2017 NL MVP Award, though his first full season in the Bronx was also very productive, as Stanton slugged 38 homers and slashed .266/.343/.509 over a career-high 705 PA in 2018.  Even last year, Stanton was dangerous when he was in the lineup, posting an .894 OPS over his 72 PA.

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