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Optioned Players: 3/28/20

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Today is the last day in which teams can option players to the minors before the MLB roster freeze kicks in. We’ll keep track of the smaller-scale option decisions around the league.

  • The Padres optioned reliever Gerardo Reyes to Triple-A El Paso, the club announced. The righty logged 26 innings in 27 MLB appearances in 2019, his first big league action. Reyes’ 7.62 ERA was certainly not what he envisioned, but he struck out a very strong 32.5% of opposing hitters behind a 15.6% swinging strike rate. Reyes averaged 96.9 MPH with above-average spin on his fastball in his MLB work and looks like a solid relief prospect for the Friars.

Marlins Option Monte Harrison, Nick Neidert

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The Marlins have optioned a pair of prospects to Triple-A Wichita, per multiple reporters (including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). Outfielder Monte Harrison and right-hander Nick Neidert are headed to the Pacific Coast League.

Both Harrison, 24, and Neidert, 23, finished last season at the minors’ highest level, but each looked in need of a bit more seasoning. Harrison hit a passable .274/.357/.451 in 244 plate appearances with New Orleans (Miami’s previous Triple-A affiliate) last season. However, the former second-rounder’s longstanding strikeout troubles in the minors persisted.

Neidert, meanwhile, worked to a 5.05 ERA in nine Triple-A starts. That’s better than it seems on the surface given the hitter-friendly nature of the PCL. The control artist’s walk rate spiked dramatically in his 41 innings there, though, and his ground ball rate fell precipitously.

Both Harrison and Neidert still look to be solid, near-ready assets for the Marlins’ organization. They’re each among the club’s top 15 prospects, per Baseball America.

Today is the final day teams can option players before MLB’s roster freeze kicks in. As Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic points out, there’s a rationale behind teams’ recent spate of options around the league. By optioning players who didn’t figure to crack the Opening Day roster, the Marlins (and other teams who make similar moves) insulate themselves from paying an MLB salary if the players involved were to suffer a long-term injury while the sport is on hiatus. Upon the league’s resumption, such players would go on the minor-league injured list, where they would receive a minor-league salary and (presumably) not accrue MLB service time.

Breakout Candidate: Willie Calhoun

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Willie Calhoun was up and down between the majors and Triple-A quite a few times between 2017 and the first half of 2019. Last June, he got his long-awaited opportunity to play every day, emerging as the Rangers’ starting left fielder. He made the most of it at the plate, hitting .269/.323/.524 (110 wRC+) with 21 home runs in 337 plate appearances. Yet even those solid results seem to belie an impressive, exceedingly rare skillset. Very few players can match Calhoun’s combination of bat-to-ball skills and power.

Last year, Calhoun made contact on 85.4% of his swings; he swung and missed at just 7.2% of total pitches he saw, per Fangraphs. Both those marks are well better than the respective league averages of 76.2% and 11.1%. That places Calhoun among the top 30 or 40 contact hitters in the game- very good, if not quite exceptional. However, unlike many of the game’s bat control artists, Calhoun is also capable of doing damage. His 89.7 MPH average exit velocity would have placed him in the 63rd percentile leaguewide had he amassed enough plate appearances to qualify, per Statcast.

Combining elite bat-to-ball skills and above-average power on contact is tougher than one might expect. In 2019, only D.J. LeMahieu, Nick Markakis, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Justin Turner had both a lower swinging strike rate and higher average exit velocity than did Calhoun (minimum 300 plate appearances). That’s an eye-catching assortment of names. It’s not a guarantee that Calhoun’s about to emerge as one of the game’s best hitters; Markakis, for instance, was merely average last year. But it does at least confirm Calhoun has a pair of key traits in common with many of the game’s best bats.

Maybe it isn’t surprising Calhoun seems to have massive offensive upside. He raked throughout his minor-league career, and scouts have long lauded his potential at the plate. There’s a reason Calhoun, while a prospect, headlined Texas’ return package for prime Yu Darvish despite concerns about his defense (which have also ultimately proven true). He’s a LF/DH at this point, so he’ll have to rake to warrant continued playing time.

To unlock the next gear offensively, the 25-year-old could stand to be a bit more selective. It seems reasonable to project that coming. After all, he’s only been an everyday big leaguer for half a season. He won’t ever be confused for Joey Votto, but given his other attributes, he needn’t be. Even a small progression in pitch selection could go a long way.

Calhoun should get every opportunity to cement himself as a middle-of-the-order force in Texas. While a scary hit-by-pitch fractured his jaw earlier this month, the most recent indication is that he’s recovering well.

Latest On MLB Plans For Team Employees

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We’ve been learning quite a bit about Major League Baseball’s coronavirus plans involving players, whose relationships with the league are conditioned upon a collective bargaining agreement. But teams also employ quite a few other personnel under rather different terms.

It has not been clear to this point just how the league would handle non-uniformed employees. But the MLB commissioner’s office has acted to secure coordinated action on this front, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.com and Evan Drellich of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Every team has agreed to continue employing all non-player personnel in the regular fashion through the end of April. That will ensure steady paychecks for a large number of employees, though it’s worth remembering that not all workers associated with a ballclub and ballpark — say, vendors — are necessarily employed by the team. (The league has previously promised at least $30MM to ballpark workers — $1MM per team.. The Red Sox have boosted that amount, as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets.)

The question remains: what’ll happen when the calendar flips to May? That isn’t known at present and will surely depend upon how the global coronavirus pandemic plays out. If baseball is ramping back up for play come that time, perhaps a broad loss of jobs can be forestalled altogether. Further coordination could take place at the league level, but it’s also possible teams will at some point be left to set their own courses.

Mets Still Pursuing Sale Efforts

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If you presumed the Mets had suspended their efforts to find a new owner, think again. Per Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic (subscription link), the club’s representatives are continuing to seek purchasers.

It’s hard to believe it was less than two months ago that the club broke off its anticipated deal with minority owner Steve Cohen. Under that arrangement, the current Wilpon ownership group would’ve retained operational control for a five-year period. The team is now offering an arrangement with no strings attached.

Suffice to say the economic picture for a baseball franchise is rather more complicated now than it was then. Still, it sounds as if the Mets are sticking to their $2.6B asking price and still pressing forward in an effort to find a taker.

As Kaplan writes, some initial leads have already dried up with the sudden economic downturn. Ongoing uncertainty, both generally and in the operation of a major-league organization, will surely give added pause.

Still, this represents quite a rare opportunity to take over a New York-based baseball club. If indeed the team is able to maintain traction on the sale effort, it could make for an interesting test of the value of franchises.

It’s often said that operating profit isn’t the true source of a team’s value; rather, like a piece of fine art, the investment lies in capital appreciation. That may well be. But teams have increasingly shown an appreciation for the end-of-year bottom line. Cash flow is a significant part of the picture when it comes to the game of baseball. In this case, the spigot seems sure to turn back on, but it’s possible it may sputter for a time and may not flow in quite the same way once it steadies.

MLB, MLBPA Reach Agreement On Service Time, Salaries, Draft

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MARCH 27, 8:30pm: Union chief Tony Clark says that competitive balance taxes would not be assessed in the event that the season is cancelled, as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter links). Generally, Clark indicated that the players are amenable to all manner of creative solutions to get in as much of the season as possible. It sounds as if both sides see merit in expanding rosters to facilitate that effort.

12:35pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter) and Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (Twitter links) provides further details. This year’s draft class will only be eligible to receive up to $100K of bonus money up front, with the remainder paid in two equal installments in 2021 and 2022. Draft selections and international slots may not be traded in the typical, limited manner. Suspensions will apply as usual for the upcoming season but will not carry further into the future if the 2020 season is cancelled.

11:29am: MLB owners have unanimously ratified the agreement, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

6:05am: In addition to the dramatically shortened draft, the players acquiesced on signing bonuses for draftees, Rosenthal further reports within a much more expansive piece on the deal between the two sides (subscription required).

Slot values in the draft will be frozen at 2019 levels for the next two years as opposed to the roughly three percent year-over-year increase that has been standard. That decision will surely draw its share of criticism, though it’s clear that the players’ focus is on those currently within their union. Player representatives, in particular, figure to take umbrage with ownership’s push to reduce bonuses; Scott Boras calls it “unconscionable” that ownership would “use a pandemic situation in our country as a means to [reduce draftees’ bonuses].”

MARCH 26: With the coronavirus at least delaying the Major League Baseball season, MLB and the MLBPA reached an agreement on several key issues Thursday night, as Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported. Service time, players’ salaries, roster moves, the draft and the upcoming international signing period are all addressed in the deal, which owners will vote on Friday. If it’s ratified, a roster freeze will go into effect for an indeterminate period of time, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic.

A typical season would have featured 186 days overall, giving players up to 172 days of service time. We don’t know how many there will be this season, though, and that could have had lasting effects on players and teams had the two sides not hammered something out. Now, thanks to this agreement, all players who are active or on the injured list for the entirety of a shortened 2020 season will receive a full year of service time, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Players’ service time will be pro-rated in the event of a truncated campaign, Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds. So, if there’s a 100-day season and a player’s active for 50 of those days, he’ll get half a year of service. If no season happens at all, service time accrued will be based on the amount of days the player earned in 2019, per Rosenthal.

The service time portion of this pact is especially welcome news for many who are due to become free agents next winter. The likes of Mookie Betts, J.T. Realmuto and George Springer will all remain in position to reach free agency then even if a season does not take place. Meanwhile, pre-arbitration players (including names like Matt Chapman and Gleyber Torres) will stay on track to go through the arb process for the first time.

For now, those major leaguers and the rest around MLB will receive a $170MM advance (3 to 4 percent of their full salaries) spread over two months, Rosenthal reports. The union will distribute the money to four classes of players, but those with guaranteed contracts stand to rake in the largest total. The players’ salaries will be pro-rated based on how long the season lasts, and they won’t be able to sue for their full amounts, Rosenthal adds.

Looking ahead to the summer, this year’s amateur draft could go down to five rounds, per Passan, but MLB will have the ability to increase that total, Rosenthal relays, adding that the event won’t occur later than July. Players’ signing bonuses will be deferred, not given out up-front, and they’ll receive 10 percent now and 45 percent over the next two years. Meanwhile, undrafted free agents will be able to sign for up to $20K, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

In another decision that will have some effect on young talent from around the game, the upcoming international signing period could be delayed until as late as January 2021, Passan writes. It’s currently scheduled to run from July 2 of this year through June 15, 2021.

These are certainly noteworthy steps for baseball during a time of such uncertainty, though there are still more details to work out. For example, as Rosenthal notes, agreements on spring training and roster size have not come together to this point. Under normal circumstances, we’d have seen 26-man rosters this year, but it’s possible that number will increase for 2020 if a season does occur. According to Passan, there’s a possibility that if the regular season does happen, it will last from June through October and include more doubleheaders. The playoffs would bleed into November and perhaps include games at neutral sites.

Blaine Hardy Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Southpaw Blaine Hardy, who was in camp with the Twins on a minor-league deal, will now be sidelined until 2021. He underwent Tommy John surgery last Friday, according to Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. (Hardy’s wife notes on Twitter that elective procedures were fully permissible in Minnesota at the time it was performed.)

The 33-year-old Hardy has thrown plenty of innings against the Twins over his six seasons with the Tigers. His tenure in Detroit wrapped up after 289 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball.

While he has turned in solid overall results over the years, Hardy has had some ups and downs and never really wowed with the peripherals. All told, he has averaged 7.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and a 43.1% groundball rate.

Hardy managed to get outs despite averaging less than 90 mph with his heater. Perhaps the Twins had extra ideas for how to maximize Hardy’s typical four-pitch mix. He’ll now have to mount a comeback next spring.

Brewers Option Five Players

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The Brewers have answered the last call for optional assignments, sending down a handful of players to their top affiliates. Jim Goulart of Brewerfan.net tweeted the news.

Catcher Jacob Nottingham is on his way down, indicating he’s not expected to crack an eventual Opening Day roster. Soon to turn 25, Nottingham has seen brief MLB action in each of the past two seasons but faced an uphill battle to earn a job with Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina locked in behind the plate.

Also sent out on options were four hurlers: southpaw Angel Perdomo and righties Bobby Wahl, Eric Yardley, and J.P. Feyereisen. Only Perdomo has ever actually appeared in regular-season action with a Milwaukee affiliate. He worked to a 4.28 ERA with a hefty 13.9 K/9 but equally voluminous 6.0 BB/9 in 69 1/3 upper-minors innings last year.

Yardley received his first ten MLB appearances last year with the Padres. The Brewers claimed him off waivers in the offseason. Wahl also has seen the majors, receiving brief looks with the A’s and Mets. He came to Milwaukee in the Keon Broxton swap but ended up missing the 2019 season due to a torn ACL. As for Feyereisen, he landed with the Brewers in a rare September swap with the Yankees, who obviously didn’t expect to have room for him on the 40-man roster in advance of the 2019 Rule 5 draft.

Extension Talks Halted During Roster Freeze

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We just wrapped up a series of posts regarding potential extension candidates, with part of the premise being that the ongoing MLB pause could afford opportunities for negotiations. But that won’t be possible under the terms of the Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter.

It turns out that contract talks between teams and their own players will not be permitted while MLB rosters are frozen. Once a second Spring Training resumes, then further negotiations can take place.

In theory, there’s no impact to the likelihood of deals being struck. But in practice, this could make quite a difference. Added time and space without other business on the calendar might’ve helped. Perhaps the uncertainty of the global pandemic would’ve made some players more inclined to seek the safety of guaranteed salary — a factor that may have led the union to agree that talks shouldn’t be allowed.

Now that teams are precluded from further exploring deals, it may actually make it tougher to move past the finish line in situations where talks had already advanced during spring camp. After all, there will be myriad complex matters to sort out and innumerable distractions once the go-ahead is finally given for a ramp-up to the season. And there’ll be ample uncertainty of different kinds, creating a potential wrench for any talks.

Indication was, prior to the shutdown, that quite a few younger players had been targeted. But at this point, it’s tough to guess how many deals will end up being made.

It’s worth noting also that, per Nightengale, optional assignments can still occur until Saturday. In concert with yesterday’s flurry of options, it’s worth wondering just what the impact is. That will presumably be answered once the full details of the coronavirus adjustment agreement are known.

Generally, a player injured while on optional assignment will not earn service time while he is sidelined; whether that would have an impact in this case isn’t entirely clear. Likewise, the modifications to the collective bargaining agreement provide different payments to different classes of players, though it isn’t quite evident whether a late-breaking decision to option a player would change his earnings in the event the season isn’t played.

Extension Candidates: AL Central

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It’s now official: MLB rosters are frozen. We won’t see any players coming and going for some times. And it’s unlikely that any new long-term extensions will be announced. But that doesn’t mean such deals won’t be explored. Some may already have advanced nearly to completion before the global pandemic intervened.

While we may have to wait to learn who the targets are and see what deals get done, there’s a silver lining: more time for rampant speculation! Okay, we’re not going to speculate here; rather, we’ll tick through some interesting possibilities on paper. Remember, we’ve seen an increasing prevalence of deals with less-experienced players (even some without any MLB service) and with new player types (early-career relievers and utilitymen).

In the present MLB environment, value is king and the old forms are fading. We’ve already checked in on the NL East, NL Central, NL West, AL East, and AL West. To round things out, here are some possible extension candidates from the AL Central …

Indians

Francisco Lindor is the big story. Unfortunately, that ship seems to have sailed: he informed the team he’d like to halt talks since the sides weren’t making progress. Unless there’s a change of heart and another attempt during the current pause, Lindor is not going to sign onto a long-term deal (at least, before he has reached his final season of arbitration eligibility later in 2020).

There are a few other interesting candidates. Top hurlers Mike Clevinger and Brad Hand would be of interest, but the Cleveland org may not be able to afford these high-end veterans. Perhaps a few others would be more achievable targets for the cost-efficient Indians. Outfielder Oscar Mercado has only 139 days of service under his belt, meaning he’s two full seasons away from likely Super Two arbitration qualification. Young starters Shane Bieber and Adam Plutko are each in the 1+ service class, so they shouldn’t cost all that much and could convey significant upside.

Royals

There are certainly some interesting questions for the K.C. organization to consider. Slugger Jorge Soler had an eye-popping 2019 … but is he going to keep it going and should the team lock into a player who profiles best as a DH? And how about exciting young shortstop Adalberto Mondesi? There’s no real limit to his ceiling but he had some struggles last year and is still working back from a shoulder injury.

The situation is equally uncertain on the pitching side. Righty Brad Keller has had success through two full MLB seasons but isn’t exactly a top-of-the-rotation arm. You could perhaps make a case for relievers Scott Barlow and Tim Hill, though there doesn’t seem to be a pressing reason to push for a deal with either.

Tigers

The Detroit MLB roster turned in a roundly awful 2019 season. But it still has a few potential targets. The versatile Niko Goodrum could be a part of quite a few rosters around the game, though there’s no particular need to lock into him for the long haul. There are more interesting candidates on the pitching side: starter Matthew Boyd and reliever Joe Jimenez. The former has a whole lot of upside and three more seasons of team control remaining; perhaps the club could take a bit of a gamble. As for Jimenez, 2020 is something of a boom or bust year — rack up a lot of saves and he’ll get a big first-time arbitration payday; stumble and he may not do very well at all. Perhaps he and the club could take share the risk over a longer term.

It’s probably a bit too soon to consider the top of the farm system for deals. But this time next winter, the Tigers could have a host of interesting candidates.

Twins

Both of last winter’s extensions turned out well; the team struck again more recently with Miguel Sano. Perhaps the most obvious remaining candidate is quality young righty Jose Berrios, who is entering his first season of arbitration eligibility. Now that he’s in line for bigger money, it’ll cost more to do a deal. The sides have struck out in previous talks. Byron Buxton is also a 3+ service-class player. There’s likely too much uncertainty in his outlook to structure a deal, but it’s not out of the question.

It’s tempting to stake out a case for a deal with breakout catcher Mitch Garver, but he’s already 29 years of age and still a full season away from arbitration eligibility. Outfielder Eddie Rosario is two seasons from the open market, but that also gives him greater leverage for a higher price tag. Would the Twins really want to commit?

How about a few wild cards? Infielder Luis Arraez should at least be a nice utility player for years to come. There might be upside in an early deal for the plate-discipline magician. And reliever Taylor Rogers is another interesting target. He’s still three seasons from free agency but gets more impressive with each successive campaign. The Twins will owe him a big raise on his $4.45MM salary if he keeps racking up saves; perhaps a deal could suit both sides.

White Sox

The South Siders have already extended a wide swath of their roster. You might wonder whether there are any candidates left. But the team is exceptionally aggressive in this arena and can’t be counted out on exploring deals with just about anyone of interest.

The most obvious candidate at this point is righty Lucas Giolito. We recently broke down his case for an extension. You could perhaps argue for fellow starters Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease, or even injury rehabbers Michael Kopech and Carlos Rodon, but there’s likely too much uncertainty in each of those situations for the sides to see eye to eye. The same is true of outfielder Nomar Mazara.

If you’re looking for a sleeper candidate … how about second baseman Nick Madrigal? The Sox haven’t been shy at all with pre-MLB extensions and the former fourth-overall pick is just about ready for a run at the game’s highest level.

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