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Standing Up For Stripling

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Right-hander Ross Stripling has been a member of the Dodgers organization since going in the fifth round of the 2012 draft, but he came close to joining one of the majors’ other Southern California-based teams over the winter. Back in February, the Dodgers were on the cusp of a trade that would have sent Stripling to the Angels in a deal headlined by Joc Pederson (more on Pederson here). That plan fell through, however, and Stripling is still a member of the Dodgers. Frankly, that doesn’t look like a bad thing at all for the club.

Set to enter his age-30 season (that’s if we get one), Stripling has established himself as a valuable Swiss Army knife for the Dodgers’ pitching staff. Whether as a starter or a reliever, Stripling has gotten the job done since he debuted in the majors in 2016. He’s the owner of a 3.51 ERA with an almost identical 3.60 FIP across 387 career innings. He continued his sturdy pitching last season, a 90 2/3-inning effort in which he posted a matching 3.47 ERA/FIP across 32 appearances and 15 starts.

With 9.23 K/9 against 1.99 BB/9, Stripling finished 21st among all pitchers who threw at least 90 innings in K/BB ratio in 2019, sandwiching him between the Indians’ Mike Clevinger and teammate Clayton Kershaw. Stripling also induced grounders at a little better than a 50 percent clip, and despite well-below-average velocity (90.5 mph on his fastball), Statcast was generally a fan of his work. He limited hitters to a .294 weighted on-base average, essentially turning them into the 2019 version of light-hitting White Sox utilityman Leury Garcia, and managed an even better .278 expected wOBA. Stripling ranked in the majors’ 84th percentile in the xwOBA category, and that’s nothing new for a pitcher who has held batters to a nonthreatening .284 xwOBA during his time in the majors.

Assuming Stripling does remain a Dodger going forward, it’s unclear how many starts he’ll be in position to rack up. Some of Kershaw, Walker Buehler, David Price, Julio Urias, Dustin May, Alex Wood, Jimmy Nelson and Tony Gonsolin are locks to wind up in their 2020 rotation or, if there is no season, the ’21 version. Others are at least solid candidates to pick up starts. But one of the juggernaut Dodgers’ greatest strengths is their ability to build depth just about everywhere on the diamond. Stripling’s part of that, even if he doesn’t have a defined role, and the fact he’s under affordable control via arbitration for the next three seasons should only make him more appealing from the club’s perspective.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has made one shrewd move after another since he took the helm of the team’s front office after the 2014 season. It’s hard to second-guess him, so maybe he was on to something with his willingness to move on from Stripling. Based on what Stripling has done to date, though, keeping him has a chance to go down as a blessing for LA.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Alex Cora Issues Statement On Suspension; Red Sox Unlikely To Rehire Him

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It took months to announce a decision, but Major League Baseball finally handed down its punishment Wednesday for Boston’s sign-stealing violations in 2018. Former manager Alex Cora, whom the Red Sox parted with in January, received a suspension for the entire 2020 campaign. However, Cora’s ban came as a result of his wrongdoing as the Astros’ bench coach in 2017 – not anything he did in Boston.

We don’t even know if a season will occur because of the coronavirus pandemic, so Cora may not miss much this year. The onetime World Series-winning skipper reacted to the league’s decision after it came down, though, and the entire statement is available on Twitter by way of his agency, MDR Sports Management.

“I am relieved that these MLB investigations are concluded and that Commissioner Rob Manfred has released his finding that I did not violate any MLB rules as a member of the Red Sox organization in 2018 or 2019,” said Cora. He added that he takes “full responsibility” for his part in the Astros’ 2017 violations and called them “unacceptable.”

Cora won’t be eligible to manage again for another season, but he was rather successful in that role in his two years with the Red Sox. The team went 192-132 during that span and, as mentioned, won a championship. They’ve since committed to Cora’s former bench coach, Ron Roenicke, as their manager for at least a year. But would the Red Sox consider pivoting back to Cora when his suspension expires? That doesn’t seem likely.

“All the reasons that we parted ways with him there are still the case,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said Wednesday (via Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe).

Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said they “wish him well,” but “nothing’s changed“ in regards to why the club let go of Cora.

Still just 44 years old, Cora may well resurface as a major league manager, but it doesn’t appear that will happen in Boston.

The Sale Of An Elite Outfield

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Myriad issues have weighed down the Marlins during their 16-year playoff drought, but it wasn’t that long ago they at least boasted an elite outfield. Back in 2017, the trio of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna led the Marlins to a first-place ranking in fWAR in the grass (16.8). Stanton enjoyed an NL MVP-winning, 59-home run season; Yelich continued to post underrated production (he’s not underrated anymore); and Ozuna recorded a career year that he hasn’t replicated since. Of course, those players’ contributions weren’t enough to even get the Marlins to the .500 mark, and that season proved to be all three outfielders’ last hurrah in Miami.

Prior to the 2018 season, the non-contending Marlins and a new ownership group headed by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter went on a campaign designed to slash payroll they inherited from predecessor Jeffrey Loria and build up a bottom-of-the-barrel farm system. To achieve those goals, the Marlins decided all three of their star outfielders were expendable, and they moved each of them on the heels of their standout 2017 showings.

Stanton, then 28 years old, was the most accomplished member of the trio at the time. He was also the owner of a historic, franchise-record contract worth $325MM over 13 years that he signed in November 2014. Stanton still had $275MM left on the deal three years ago, making him ripe for a change of scenery from the Marlins’ perspective.

The Giants, Cardinals and Dodgers were among those that pursued Stanton when the Marlins put the slugger on the block. Both San Francisco and St. Louis reportedly agreed to acquire Stanton, but he used his full no-trade clause to block moves to those cities; meanwhile, his hometown Los Angeles club didn’t make a good enough offer for Miami’s liking. That created an opening for the Yankees, Jeter’s team for all of his Hall of Fame playing career, to swoop in and grab Stanton to pair with fellow hulking corner outfielder Aaron Judge.

Stanton and Judge had combined for 111 home runs during the prior season, and the Yankees no doubt had designs on them leading them to championships in the future. Thanks in part to injuries to both players, that hasn’t happened yet, and when healthy, Stanton hasn’t been the same player he was in 2017. While he has been good, the Yankees probably want more out of Stanton going forward with him still guaranteed an exorbitant amount of money through 2027.

As for the details of the trade, the Yankees took on the vast majority of Stanton’s money (the Marlins paid $30MM) in exchange for second baseman Starlin Castro and two prospects in right-hander Jorge Guzman and infielder Jose Devers. Castro had shown himself to be a roughly average regular with the Cubs and Yankees from 2010-17. The widely held belief was that the Marlins would end up flipping him and the $22MM left on his deal before he ever played in their uniform. As it turned out, though, Castro spent the last full two years on his pact in Miami, where he produced – you guessed it – roughly average production (3.6 fWAR in 1,323 plate appearances). He’s now a member of the NL East rival Nationals, who signed him in free agency last offseason.

The Marlins were never going to contend during the remainder of Castro’s contract, so the bigger motivation for them was getting as much of Stanton’s money as possible off the books and trying to bolster their system. Guzman and Devers have helped them do the latter to at least some degree. Now 24 years old, the hard-throwing Guzman ranks as the Marlins’ No. 19 prospect at MLB.com; he climbed to the Double-A level last season and registered a 3.50 ERA/4.37 FIP with 8.24 K/9 and 4.61 BB/9 over 138 2/3 innings. Devers, 20, checks in even higher than Guzman on MLB.com’s list (No. 11), though he failed to hit a homer in 138 plate appearances in High-A ball last season. FanGraphs then wrote that it only considers him “a lefty utility bench piece.”

Thus far, getting out from under Stanton’s onerous contract has been the biggest plus of that trade for the Marlins. Between his deal and his no-trade rights, it was obviously a challenge to find a trade partner for him. The team was in a better position with both Yelich and Ozuna, though.

Unlike Stanton, Yelich – on the cusp of his age-27 season, signed to a sweetheart contract and having combined for 10.0 fWAR from 2016-17 – should have commanded a king’s ransom in return. Yelich wanted out, so the Marlins were extra motivated to move him. Unsurprisingly, a significant number of teams – including the Padres, Cardinals, Rangers, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Athletics, Phillies, Blue Jays and Braves – were connected to him in the rumor mill. The Marlins aimed high in Yelich talks, reportedly asking the Jays for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Braves for Ronald Acuna Jr., but those teams predictably balked at those requests. Ultimately, the Marlins sent Yelich and the $43.25MM in guarantees he had left to the Brewers in January 2018 for a four-prospect package consisting of Lewis Brinson and Monte Harrison, infielder Isan Diaz, and righty Jordan Yamamoto.

Sure, the Marlins were letting go of an eminently valuable player, but they didn’t expect Yelich to turn into an all-world superstar as soon as he arrived in Milwaukee. But that’s what happened. He succeeded Stanton as the NL MVP in his first year as a Brewer, might have won it again last season if not for an injury, and is now the owner of by far the richest contract in Brewers history after inking an extension last month. His acquisition is one of the greatest the Brewers have ever made. The Marlins’ end hasn’t worked out nearly as well.

Brinson was the Marlins’ headlining pickup in the Yelich swap, among the absolute top prospects in baseball at the time, but hasn’t come close to living up to the hype so far. The 25-year-old managed a stunningly poor 25 wRC+ (.173/.236/.221) and failed to hit a homer in 248 trips to the plate as a Marlin last season. He has now accounted for minus-2.9 fWAR in 709 major league PA. Harrison’s still a solid prospect – FanGraphs ranks the 24-year-old No. 102 in the game – and has a chance to turn out as the best part of the return for the Marlins. Diaz, 23, hit well in Triple-A ball last year, but he was in over his head during his first MLB stint. And while it’s not saying much, Yamamoto has actually been the most valuable MLB contributor the Marlins have gotten from this trade to this point. After holding his own in the minors from 2017-19, the 23-year-old debuted in Miami last season and turned in 78 2/3 innings of 4.46 ERA/4.51 FIP ball while averaging better than a strikeout per frame.

Despite his unhappiness, tthe Marlins perhaps could have kept Yelich and tried to build around him. But they just about had to trade Ozuna, then a Scott Boras client who wasn’t going to sign an extension before his last two years of team control ran out. There was widespread interest in Ozuna, whom the Marlins wound up sending to the Cardinals for a quartet of young players – righties Sandy Alcantara and Zac Gallen, outfielder Magneuris Sierra and lefty Daniel Castano.

The Cardinals got two respectable years out of Ozuna before losing him to the Braves in free agency this past winter; because they gave him a qualifying offer beforehand, his departure netted the Redbirds a 2020 compensatory draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B. Perhaps that selection will morph into a valuable young player, as Alcantara and Gallen have at least shown themselves to be. Still just 24, Alcantara parlayed a 95 mph-plus fastball into an impressive MLB season last year, when he tossed 197 1/3 innings of 3.88 ERA/4.55 FIP ball. Gallen may have been able to join him as a long-term linchpin in Miami’s rotation, but the club instead flipped him to Arizona last July in a deal for shortstop prospect Jazz Chisholm.

While Gallen has already proven he can handle the majors – he made an eyebrow-raising 80-inning debut between the two teams in 2019 – Chisholm hasn’t gotten past Double-A ball yet. But the 22-year-old logged great production at that level after the trade and is generally regarded as a top 100 prospect. So, perhaps he’ll develop into a nice MLB consolation prize from the Marlins’ pre-2018 outfield fire sale. On the other hand, it seems less hopeful Sierra or Castano will amount to much. The light-hitting, speedy Sierra hasn’t posed a real threat in the minors. The 25-year-old Castano has prevented runs at a good clip since he joined the Marlins’ system, but he’s not regarded as a prospect of note.

Overall, these certainly aren’t the most inspiring results the Marlins could have hoped for when they sold off their top-notch outfield. The Yelich trade would still look particularly regrettable even if he hadn’t evolved into the superstar he has become since the deal. On the bright side, the Marlins have seen Yamamoto and Alcantara show well in the majors, and there’s also hope for some of the other players they received as products of these trades (especially Chisholm).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates Provide Updates On Injured Pitchers

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Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk provided reporters with an update on a trio of injured pitchers Wednesday, giving generally positive news on lefty Steven Brault and righties Jameson Taillon and Clay Holmes (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel).

Brault, who’ll turn 28 next week, is in the “advanced” stages of his rehab from a shoulder strain and should begin throwing in the next three to five days. The southpaw was shut down in Spring Training and was initially slated to be reevaluated two weeks after that date, but at last check he was three-plus weeks removed from the stoppage of his throwing program without much of an update. By the time he resumes throwing, Brault will have been sidelined for nearly two months. He’s functioned as both a starter and reliever for the Bucs over the past four seasons and should be an oft-used piece in both roles again if the 2020 season is able to get underway.

Taillon, meanwhile, resumed throwing after a “scheduled” break in his rehab process. The former No. 2 overall draft pick made good on his longstanding top prospect billing with a brilliant 2018 season (191 innings, 3.20 ERA, 3.46 FIP, 8.4 K/9, 2.2 BB/9) but struggled in 2019 before landing on the shelf and ultimately undergoing his second career Tommy John surgery. Taillon, who won’t pitch in 2020 regardless of the season’s structure, remains under Pirates control through the 2022 season.

As for Holmes, the fractured foot he sustained in Spring Training has now healed in full. He’s in the process of ramping his throwing program back up and is slated to throw on a slope before week’s end. The 27-year-old had a miserable season both in the big leagues and the minors in 2019, but his 2018 campaign in Triple-A featured 95 1/3 innings of 3.40 ERA ball with 9.4 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a whopping 60 percent ground-ball rate. Holmes is out of minor league options, so he’ll likely be a part of the roster whenever play picks back up, giving the club an option at the back of the rotation or perhaps in a long relief capacity.

Red Sox To Remove “Interim” Tag From Ron Roenicke’s Title

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The Red Sox will soon announce that they’re removing the “interim” tag from interim manager Ron Roenicke’s title, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. He’ll serve as the “permanent” manager for the 2020 season, assuming one is played.

It’s an expected move and one that’s largely a formality. At the time Roenicke was named Alex Cora’s replacement, multiple reports indicated that the organization would remove the “interim” qualifier if and when the league’s investigation cleared Roenicke of any wrongdoing in the 2018 sign-stealing allegations that had been brought for against the club. Today’s announcement from commissioner Rob Manfred, which punished only one current Red Sox employee, will now bring about that anticipated title modification.

[Related: MLB Announces Findings, Discipline Stemming From Red Sox Investigation]

Of course, Roenicke is still signed for only the 2020 season, and his future beyond that is unclear. He’d previously served as Cora’s bench coach, so if the organization opts to bring in a new skipper, it’s possible Roenicke could return to that role or move on altogether. Notably, there appears to be nothing (outside of what would figure to be enormously negative public relations pushback) standing in the way of the Red Sox simply re-hiring Cora for the 2021 season. His league-imposed ban only runs through the 2020 playoffs and Manfred made sure to emphasize that the punishment stemmed only from his wrongdoings while serving as the Astros’ bench coach in 2017 — not for anything he did with Boston.

Follow Pro Football Rumors For The Latest News And Rumblings On Tomorrow’s NFL Draft

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The NFL Draft kicks off tomorrow night. If you’re a football fan, it’s already appointment television. If you’re more of a casual NFL fan, you may want to tune in anyway. (Save the second watch of Tiger King for next week.)

To start your draft prep today and stay tuned for every pick, trade, and rumbling – visit ProFootballRumors.com and follow PFR on Twitter, @pfrumors.

Quarterback Joe Burrow – who threw for 60 touchdowns last year at LSU – is a mortal lock for the Bengals at No. 1. Beyond that, everything is up for grabs. The Redskins are reportedly listening to calls for the No. 2 pick, so they could conceivably be tempted enough to pass on a potential generational talent in Ohio State’s Chase Young. The Lions (No. 3) and Giants (No. 4) are also answering the phone, so this year’s top rookies could all be up for grabs.

Meanwhile, Rob Gronkowski is headed to Tampa Bay to rekindle his bromance with Tom Brady. Seven-time Redskins Pro Bowler Trent Williams could be the next superstar on the move.

That’s just a snapshot of what’s going on in the NFL right now. For the full scope of things, stay tuned to ProFootballRumors.com and follow PFR on Twitter, @pfrumors.

MLB Announces Findings Of Investigation Into 2018 Sign-Stealing Allegations Against Red Sox

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Major League Baseball has concluded its investigation into 2018 sign-stealing allegations against the Red Sox and imposed the following disciplinary measures:

  • The Red Sox are stripped of their second-round pick in the 2020 amateur draft
  • Red Sox advance scout/replay coordinator J.T. Watkins has been suspended without pay for the 2020 season and is prohibited from holding his previous role for the 2021 season
  • Former manager Alex Cora, fired by the Red Sox earlier this year, has been banned through the 2020 postseason — although only for his role in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

Those penalties pale in comparison to what many felt was a light Astros punishment in response to their 2017 trash can scheme; Houston GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were both suspended one year (and subsequently fired by the team), while the organization was fined the maximum permissible $5MM and stripped of first- and second-round picks in each of the next two drafts.

Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy issued the following statement via press release:

As an organization, we strive for 100% compliance with the rules. MLB’s investigation concluded that in isolated instances during the 2018 regular season, sign sequences were decoded through the use of live game video rather than through permissible means. MLB acknowledged the front office’s extensive efforts to communicate and enforce the rules and concluded that Alex Cora, the coaching staff, and most of the players did not engage in, nor were they aware of, any violations. Regardless, these rule violations are unacceptable. We apologize to our fans and Major League Baseball, and accept the Commissioner’s ruling.

The league announced the findings of what it terms an “exhaustive investigation into allegations of improper use of the video replay room.” Within, commissioner Rob Manfred offered the following breakdown of his findings:

  • “I find that J.T. Watkins, the Red Sox video replay system operator, on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game.
  • I find that unlike the Houston Astros’ 2017 conduct, in which players communicated to the batter from the dugout area in real time the precise type of pitch about to be thrown, Watkins’s conduct, by its very nature, was far more limited in scope and impact. The information was only relevant when the Red Sox had a runner on second base (which was 19.7% of plate appearances league-wide in 2018), and Watkins communicated sign sequences in a manner that indicated that he had decoded them from the in-game feed in only a small percentage of those occurrences.
  • I do not find that then-Manager Alex Cora, the Red Sox coaching staff, the Red Sox front office, or most of the players on the 2018 Red Sox knew or should have known that Watkins was utilizing in-game video to update the information that he had learned from his pregame analysis. Communication of these violations was episodic and isolated to Watkins and a limited number of Red Sox players only.
  • I find that the Red Sox front office consistently communicated MLB’s sign-stealing rules to non-player staff and made commendable efforts toward instilling a culture of compliance in their organization.”

Manfred goes on to emphasize that while he has previously granted players immunity in exchange for truthful testimony in both the Astros and Red Sox investigations, the findings of his Red Sox inquiry would not have led him to consider disciplining players anyhow (which surely would not have been the case with regard to the Astros). The loss of the draft pick, per the commissioner, stems from the fact that he still felt the organization should be held accountable for benefiting from data that was obtained improperly.

Manfred’s report on the investigation details that every player who spent time with the 2018 Red Sox was interviewed in some capacity and provided what were deemed truthful testimonies. A total of 65 witnesses were interviewed during the course of the investigation, and MLB’s department of investigations (DOI) reviewed “tens of thousands of emails, text messages, video clips and photographs,” per the report.

Watkins, the employee on whom the entirety of the wrongdoing is blamed by commissioner Manfred, was an advance scout tasked with using video to decode signs before and after Red Sox games — a permissible act that falls within MLB’s guidelines on the implementation of technology within the game. However, he was also the team’s replay reviewer, responsible during games for coordinating with Cora on whether to challenge a call or not. The report notes that other clubs had that same setup, but an investigation into the Red Sox found that Watkins would, at times, alter pre-game sign sequencing information in the middle of an active game. While most players who were interviewed said they had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Watkins, others acknowledged that they had suspicions after the data coming from Watkins changed over the course of a game.

Watkins, per Manfred, has “vehemently denied” any such practice, although clearly based on the punishment levied by the league, Manfred and the DOI felt sufficient evidence to the contrary was present. Moreover, the commissioner’s report highlights that Watkins was a “key participant” in the 2017 Apple Watch incident that led to a fine for the Red Sox and helped bring questions about improper use of technology to light on a national basis.

With regard to any potential postseason wrongdoing, Manfred adds that the commissioner’s office positioned “full-time, in-person monitors in replay rooms to prevent the improper use of video equipment.” Such measures were not in place throughout the regular season.

It’s not yet clear precisely why the investigation was so prolonged in the first place and perhaps never will be. Major League Baseball was initially planning to release its findings before the end of February. When the investigation lingered into March, the COVID-19 pandemic obviously and understandably took precedence, thus bringing about a delay of nearly two months that only seems to have heightened the general public reaction that the Boston organization escaped mostly unscathed. But the initial delay into March was never fully explained.

The loss of that second-round pick will give the Sox one less selection in an already shortened draft and dock $1,403,200 from Boston’s pool (the would-be value of that vacated second-rounder). Previously, they’d been slated to have a $6.514MM pool in the event of a five-round draft and a $7.482MM pool for a 10-round format. Put another way, they’ll lose anywhere from 18.8 percent to 21.6 percent of their 2020 draft budget due to the league’s ruling.

Unexplained within Manfred’s report is just why the punishment for Cora, who was called out as an architect of the trash-can-banging setup with the 2017 Astros, is lighter than those which were brought upon Luhnow and Hinch. Cora’s rank within the organization was lower, but his role in the team’s transgressions appears to have been much more integral. Yet Luhnow and Hinch were banned for one year, beginning Jan. 13, 2020 and running through Jan. 13 of 2021, while Cora is only barred through the end of postseason play in 2020. Technically, he could have a job in baseball again before the bans on Hinch and Luhnow have been lifted — despite a pivotal role in the Astros’ scandal and, if not a direct role in the Red Sox’ 2018 infractions, then some negligence or a lack of oversight that one would think should be deemed alarming.

Ultimately, the light punishment for the Sox boils down to the fact that Manfred and his charges are convinced that the wrongdoing was more limited in scope than that of the Astros and largely fell on the shoulders of one employee. Fans and onlookers will, of course, draw their own conclusions about the legitimacy of that finding the the pervasiveness (or lack thereof) of similar setups throughout the league. At this point, however, that’s all largely rendered moot; the commissioner’s punishment has been set, and the matter has been put to bed.

The Red Sox announced not long after Kennedy’s statement that they’ll host a conference call with reporters tonight at 7pm ET, at which point they’ll surely field additional questions on the investigation and its ramifications.

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic first reported the findings of commissioner Manfred’s investigation, minutes prior to the official announcement.

Athletics Notes: Ballpark, Coronavirus Impact

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There’s not much new to report on around the game, but there has been a bit of chatter relating to the Athletics, so we’ll round it up here …

  • In response to a reader question, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle provides an initial assessment of the potential impact of the pandemic on the Athletics’ plans for a new ballpark. As she explains, it’s still far too soon to know how the outlook will change. But there’s little doubt the ambitious project — which has advanced through multiple tough stages and finally seemed on track to being realized — will face new hurdles and potential for delay or modification.
  • The A’s are of the few teams that haven’t yet decided how to handle non-team employees during the MLB shutdown. Per Slusser, via Twitter, the Oakland org hasn’t yet promised salaries through the end of May but also hasn’t decided against that course. It’s unclear at this point whether the Athletics will follow the majority of ballclubs that have guaranteed ongoing paychecks at least to that point of the year.
  • Perhaps this helps explain why the Mets snapped up Tim Tebow under then-GM Sandy Alderson? It turns out that when Alderson was running the Athletics, he tried to pull off an even bigger cross-sport stunner. Alderson tells ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (audio link) that he tried to keep Michael Jordan from joining the White Sox when the NBA legend decided to try his hand at baseball. To woo Jordan west, Alderson was willing to put him directly onto the A’s active roster. That likely would not have turned out terribly well from a baseball perspective, but it sure would’ve made the MJ saga even more interesting to follow at the time.
  • Oh, and one more development: Mark Canha — who is hoping to build off of a breakout 2019 season — is trying not to obliterate private property with his MacGyver’ed batting practice setup.

What In The Sam Hill(iard) Do The Rockies Have In The Outfield?

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If the Rockies are to come anywhere near meeting the expectations of ownership, they’re going to need a lot of things to break right in the near term. More than anything, the club requires a few high-quality supplemental players to emerge (or, in the case of some expensive veterans, re-emerge) to supplement an enviable set of stars.

We reflexively think about concerns with pitching when it comes to the Colorado organization, but the team’s bats have been an even greater problem in recent years. The recent Rox outfield has consisted of Charlie Blackmon and a revolving cast of mostly replacement-level bandmates.

As Blackmon ages gracefully — he’s a continuing threat at the plate but has faded badly in the field and on the bases — there’s a glaring need for new talent. Actually, hold that: there has been some talent. The club paid big for Ian Desmond. It gave more chances to Carlos Gonzalez and even got one final ride with Matt Holliday. Some well-regarded prospects such as Garrett Hampson and Raimel Tapia have filtered up. And of course we’ve seen what David Dahl can do … when healthy. What this team needs is honest-to-goodness, consistent, real-live production from someone other than Blackmon.

The Rockies have allocated all their available payroll. They let Mike Tauchman go to the Yankees (not that it wasn’t plenty understandable at the time). They’re badly in need of an emergence from within.

That’s just what the team got late in 2019 from unheralded newcomer Sam Hilliard. His emergence largely flew under the radar as the Rockies limped to the end of a brutally disappointing campaign. While it’s always worth caution when it comes to a 27-game sample, Hilliard was a legitimately exciting performer down the stretch. Could the Rockies have something here?

Hilliard was known as a two-way player for most of his amateur career. He emerged as an interesting position-player target in advance of the 2015 draft, but the Rockies were able to wait until the 15th round to nab him. Hilliard is big, strong, and swift.

The results have been mixed since Hilliard hit the pro ranks. He put up strong homer and steal tallies on his way up the farm system, but always did a fair bit of swinging and missing. Hilliard hit a bit of a wall in 2018 at Double-A. And though his Triple-A output in the ensuing season looked big on paper — 35 long balls, 22 steals, .262/.335/.558 slash — it translated to a fairly modest 107 wRC+ since it occurred in an exceedingly offensive-friendly environment.

When he took to the majors late in the year, there wasn’t much cause for over-excitement. But the 26-year-old delivered well beyond expectations, sending seven balls over the fence in 87 plate appearances while turning in a .273/.356/.649 output. That, too, took place in an explosive setting for bats, but it worked out to a healthy 138 wRC+ output at the dish.

Here’s the thing about Hilliard: prospect watchers still have tempered expectations, despite the big debut. But there are some reasons to believe he could keep producing at an above-average rate in the majors, all while providing value in the field and on the bases. It seems promising that Hilliard actually reduced his upper-minors strikeout rate upon reaching the majors (to a palatable 26.4%) while walking in over ten percent of his MLB plate appearances (above league average).

The most recent Fangraphs assessment of Hilliard’s outlook notes that “his ability to identify pitches he can drive is impressive in context, but well-executed pitches can get him out.” Indeed, he took Noah Syndergaard deep twice in one game … then launched against high-grade lefties Hyun-Jin Ryu and Josh Hader. Perhaps Hilliard’s demonstrated capacity can be expanded more consistently. Given his former focus on pitching, it’s said he’s still maturing as a hitter.

The Rockies sure could use a pleasant surprise from Hilliard. They could also stand to see Dahl on the field for the entire season. That might give the team an all-lefty group of regulars, along with Blackmon, with Hampson and Desmond supplementing from the right side. There’s at least one other near-term player with potential, too. Yonathan Daza is already on the 40-man and is seen as a prospect of some note. His 2019 debut went in the opposite direction of Hilliard’s, with Daza turning in a .206/.257/.237 slash over 105 plate appearances. But Daza had a big showing at Triple-A and has hit well this spring.

It probably wouldn’t be wise for the Rockies or their fans to expect too much from Hilliard and the rest of the outfield unit in 2020 and beyond. But it seems they can at least hope for something more.

Majority Of MLB Teams Commit To Paying Non-Player Employees Through May

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APRIL 22: The Yankees have also committed to paying employees through the end of May, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.

APRIL 21: Three more teams have adopted a policy of payment through the end of May: the Angels (via Passan, on Twitter), Pirates (via Jon Heyman of MLB Network, on Twitter), and Rangers (per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, via Twitter).

Additionally, the Rockies have adopted a more open-ended policy akin to that of the Tigers, per Britt Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link).

APRIL 20:We’ve heard a trickle of information over recent weeks regarding MLB teams’ plans for non-player employees. That turned into a flood today, with news emerging on the plans of a majority of teams around the game.

While MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced previously that uniform employee contracts would be suspended at the start of the month of May, thus freeing teams to make their own decisions on retaining personnel, we had already begun to see several clubs promise employment through the end of May. It’s now clear that a majority of clubs will reach that commitment, with ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reporting the full list via Twitter.

These 17 teams will pay non-player employees through at least the end of May: the Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Giants, Mariners, Marlins, Phillies, Reds, Red Sox, Rockies, Royals, Twins, and White Sox. Beyond that, there are no known assurances.

At least one team — the Tigers — appears to be going beyond that measure. Detroit owner Chris Ilitch announced today that the club has “no plays for lay-offs or furloughs of its employees.” While the organization did reserve the right to notify employees “if things change,” he said it’s “taking a longer term view.” (Via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, on Twitter.)

The Padres have also announced plans that include longer-term assurances, albeit with some caveats, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Baseball operations staffers are promised jobs through the end of October, though those earning more than $60K annually will take progressive pay cuts. Employees on the business side have been promised paychecks through mid-May.

That leaves eleven other teams whose plans aren’t yet accounted for. But it’s not as if the failure to grant assurances by this point ensures the opposite outcome, so the absence of news should not be taken as an indication that layoffs are certain for those remaining organizations.

 

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