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Marlins Sign Sean Rodriguez

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TODAY: The Marlins have officially announced the signing.  Rodriguez’s minor league deal indeed contains an invitation to Miami’s big league Spring Training camp.

FEBRUARY 4: The Marlins have struck a minor-league deal with veteran utilityman Sean Rodriguez, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Other terms aren’t yet known.

Presumably, the 34-year-old will receive an invitation to participate in MLB camp. Rodriguez has seen action in each of the past dozen years in the big leagues, though he has failed to produce league-average offensive numbers over the past three seasons.

Rodriguez slashed a robust .270/.349/.510 in 342 plate appearances with the Pirates in 2016. That was an remains his best campaign at the plate. He inked a two-year contract with the Braves in the ensuing offseason, but was never really able to get going in Atlanta. Rodriguez and his family were victims in a major automobile accident before camp opened in 2017.

Given the severity of the injury and the depth of his ensuing struggles on the field, Rodriguez’s 2019 season was actually something of a rebound. He took 139 plate appearances last year with the Phillies, slashing .223/.348/.375.

MLB Hires Gregor Blanco, Nick Hundley As Senior Directors Of Baseball Operations

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Gregor Blanco and Nick Hundley have been hired by Major League Baseball as senior directors of baseball operations, as per a league press release.  The news would seemingly bring an end to the playing careers of the two veterans, who were teammates on the 2018 Giants, and have 22 years of Major League experience between them.

It was just yesterday that Hundley spoke of negotiations with a few teams and his desire to play in 2020, so while Hundley’s retirement is perhaps a bit of a surprise, the 36-year-old former catcher will hang up his mask and move into a new phase of his baseball career.  Originally a second-round pick for the Padres in the 2005 draft, Hundley spent 510 of his 974 career MLB games with San Diego, and also suited up for the Rockies, Giants, Orioles, and A’s over the course of his 12-year career.  Oakland was the last official stop for Hundley, as he appeared in 31 games for the A’s during an injury-marred 2019 season, then failed to crack the Phillies’ big league roster after signing a minors deal with Philadelphia last August.

Hundley hit .247/.299/.405 with 93 home runs over 3373 career plate appearances, with an 89 wRC+/91 OPS+ that grades out as pretty solid for a catcher, especially one who usually worked in a platoon or backup role.  As with many veteran catchers who have stuck around the sport, Hundley has a good reputation in the clubhouse, and for working well with pitchers and calling games, even mentioned as a potential future candidate to someday become a manager.

Blanco was also a popular figure with teammates and fans over six seasons in San Francisco, as the outfielder went from being an unheralded minor league free agent pickup in the 2011-12 offseason to a big contributor to the Giants’ World Series championship clubs in 2012 and 2014.  After three nondescript years with the Braves and Royals and then not even playing in a big league game in 2011, Blanco became a regular in the Giants’ outfield, capable of playing above-average defense at any of the three positions.  No discussion of Blanco’s glovework is complete, of course, without mention of his diving grab in the seventh inning of what became a perfect game for Matt Cain on June 13, 2012.

Over 1060 games and appearances in parts of ten Major League seasons, Blanco hit .255/.338/.348 (91 OPS+/93 wRC+) with 26 homers and 122 stolen bases in 3349 plate appearances with the Giants, Braves, Royals, and Diamondbacks.  Blanco didn’t play in a big league game in 2019, as he didn’t return to the Show after signing a minor league contract with the Mets last offseason.

The 36-year-old Blanco will now join Hundley within MLB’s organizational hierarchy.  As per the press release, Blanco and Hundley will work “as an MLB liaison to Major League Clubs, players and umpires” and “will aid in the administration of on-field discipline and will provide insights regarding on-field rules, initiatives, technology, instant replay and other topics.  Blanco and Hundley will participate in MLB’s youth baseball development initiatives in the United States and Latin America, will speak to amateur players at MLB events and will assist in the evaluation of prospective umpires.”

We at MLB Trade Rumors wish Blanco and Hundley all the best in their efforts to help grow and develop the sport, and congratulate them on their fine playing careers.

Cardinals Claim Ricardo Sanchez

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The Cardinals have claimed left-hander Ricardo Sanchez off waivers from the Mariners, as announced by both teams.  Infielder Ramon Urias was designated for assignment by St. Louis to create a 40-man roster spot for Sanchez.

Sanchez hit the waiver wire last week, when he was DFA’ed by the Mariners to make roster room for Yoshihisa Hirano.  The southpaw has spent four of his six pro seasons in the Braves organization, sandwiched between his debut season with the Angels’ rookie ball affiliate in 2014 and a 2019 season spent with the Mariners’ Double-A club.

Sanchez has an unimpressive 4.52 ERA over 517 1/3 innings, though with some solid peripheral numbers (8.2 K/9, 2.25 K/BB rate) and youth still on his side, as he doesn’t turn 23 until April.  There isn’t much risk for the Cards in seeing what Sanchez can do in a new system, as at worst, he can be a depth rotation in the minors.  Sanchez has started 106 of 111 career games, so a turn to relief pitching could also be explored if Sanchez ultimately doesn’t develop as a starter.

Urias, a longtime veteran of the Mexican League, has spent the last two seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system.  The bulk of that time has been spent at the Triple-A level, where the 25-year-old hit .262/.347/.426 with 14 homers over 524 plate appearances.  Urias has played mostly as a second baseman while in the Cards’ organization, though he also has quite a bit of experience as a third baseman, and seen some time as a shortstop, first baseman, and left fielder over his nine professional seasons.

Dodgers Extend Max Muncy

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1:00pm: The Dodgers have announced Muncy’s contract extension.

11:20am: Muncy’s deal will be paid out in the form of a $4.5MM signing bonus and a $1MM salary in 2020, followed by salaries of $7.5MM in 2021 and $11.5MM in 2022, DiGiovanna tweets.

10:44am: The Dodgers and slugging infielder Max Muncy have agreed to a three-year, $26MM extension that contains a club option for a fourth season, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). The $26MM guarantee will cover all three of Muncy’s would-be arbitration seasons (2020-22), while the fourth-year option will give the Dodgers the chance to control a free-agent year for an additional $13MM or take a $1.5MM buyout, per Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times (Twitter link). Muncy is represented by Hub Sports Management.

Max Muncy | Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Muncy, 29, was eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter and had yet to settle on a salary for the upcoming season. His camp submitted a $4.675MM salary figure, while the Dodgers countered with a $4MM offer of their own (as shown in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker). Rather than go to a hearing, the two sides have instead agreed to a longer-term pact that’ll eliminate the need to ever deal with the arbitration process again while also prolonging the Dodgers’ control over the late-blooming slugger for an additional season.

Few took notice when Muncy was released by the Athletics at the end of Spring Training 2017 and quickly latched on with the Dodgers as a minor league free agent. But Muncy laid waste to Triple-A pitching in ’17 (.309/.414/.491) and found himself in the big leagues with the Dodgers early in 2018. Fast forward two seasons, and Muncy has turned in consecutive 35-homer campaigns while bashing big league pitching to the tune of a .256/.381/.545 slash with 70 home runs, 39 doubles and three triples in 1070 plate appearances (something to keep in mind when prepping the ever-clever “print the playoff tickets!” response to a minor league signing).

Not only has Muncy unexpectedly given the Dodgers a thunderous bat to add to the middle of an already deep and imposing lineup, he’s also proven to be at least a passable defender at each of first base, second base and third base, helping to give manager Dave Roberts some defensive versatility. And while he was initially used as more of a platoon player, the left-handed-hitting Muncy has seen increased opportunities against southpaws, crushing them at a .268/.365/.529 clip in 2019 and hitting a combined .263/.363/.529 in 259 plate appearances against same-handed opponents dating back to Opening Day 2018.

The guaranteed portion of Muncy’s contract runs through his age-31 season, and assuming he maintains anything close to this level of productivity, the $13MM option on his age-32 campaign will also be picked up. That’d position him to reach the open market at the relatively late age of 33, but for a player who didn’t solidify himself as a big leaguer until he’d already turned 27, it’s hardly a surprise to see a willingness to delay his path to free agency in exchange for that first enormous payday.

From the Dodgers’ vantage point, they’ll lock up a key asset on a deal that hardly breaks the bank for them, but it’s still worth noting that the extension could more than double Muncy’s luxury-tax price point in the short term. Muncy would’ve counted for either $4MM or $4.675MM against the luxury tax had he agreed to a one-year deal at one of the two submitted figures, but the average annual value of his extension ($8.667MM) will now be the figure that counts against that tax line.

Depending on how the chips fall in the yet-to-be-finalized trades centering around Mookie Betts, David Price and Joc Pederson, this extension could very well put the Dodgers slightly over the $208MM barrier. Adding Muncy’s extension, adding Betts/Price but subtracting the portion of Price’s contract paid by the Red Sox and subtracting Pederson’s salary would still place the Dodgers a couple million over the line, per the projections of Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. Then again, the Dodgers would still have time to work to reduce that number if ownership’s goal is indeed to remain south of the tax ceiling. And, of course, as a first-time offender — the Dodgers didn’t exceed the tax threshold in 2019 — L.A.’s “penalty” would amount to a mere 20 percent slap on the wrist for every dollar north of $208MM.

Twins Win Arbitration Hearing Against Jose Berrios

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The Twins have won their arbitration hearing against right-hander Jose Berrios, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He’d filed for a $4.4MM salary but will now be paid at the $4.025MM figure submitted by Minnesota.

Berrios, 25, just wrapped up his first 200-inning season and turned in his third consecutive sub-4.00 ERA season, working to a career-best 3.68 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9. The former No. 32 overall pick has emerged as Minnesota’s most effective starter since cementing himself as a big league regular, pitching to a combined 3.80 ERA with a strikeout per frame through 538 1/3 innings and earning a pair of All-Star bids along the way.

Berrios’ relatively affordable salary for the upcoming season only serves to underscore the difficulty that first-time-arbitration-eligible starters have had in moving the needle forward. Dallas Keuchel is still the only first-time-eligible starting pitcher to topple the $4.35MM benchmark set by Dontrelle Willis way back in 2006, and it took Keuchel winning a Cy Young Award to do so. Others starters who have been in position to best that mark (e.g. Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, Aaron Nola) have instead opted for multi-year deals.

That there’s only one example of a pitcher besting Willis’ mark — and that it took extraordinary circumstances — emphatically drives home the reason that teams are willing to go to hearings over what appear to be such trivial sums. The Twins, like other clubs that have drawn a hard line in comparable situations, surely care less about immediate cost savings than they do about preserving the standards that allow arbitration salaries to remain so manageable.

If the Twins (and every other club) simply conceded and met the player in the middle, those contractual agreements would be used as data points in future arbitration negotiations. Were it not for teams continually drawing a hard line, the Twins and Berrios would’ve been arguing over figures much greater than the ones discussed in today’s hearing. That’s not to suggest that teams are in the right or wrong to take such firm stances — even against their best players — but rather to point out that their motivation for doing so is rather obvious when considering the full breadth of the arbitration mechanism.

As for Berrios, he doesn’t hold any hard feelings toward the Twins organization, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North Radio tweets. Berrios has made it clear in the past that he’s keenly aware of the business side of the equation. He said as much when revealing last spring that he turned down an extension overture from the Twins, and it’s surely no coincidence that the number he filed would’ve bested the aforementioned Willis benchmark — even if only by a narrow margin of $50,000. Again, every slight step forward would factor into future negotiations for other first-time-eligible pitchers.

The Twins and Berrios can, of course, continue to discuss a long-term deal. Minnesota controls him through the 2022 season, leaving plenty of time to broker a deal. Given his previous quotes about the financial side of the game — “I have to manage my business, too. … We’re waiting for the best for both sides,” Berrios told Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune last spring — it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll be signing on for a team-friendly discount.

Joc Pederson’s Arbitration Hearing Taking Place Today

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As the baseball world — fans and the industry alike — await the resolution in the potential hangup on the Mookie Betts blockbuster and the finalization of the reported trade sending Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to the Angels, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets one possible holdup in the latter of those two deals: Pederson’s arbitration hearing is taking place this morning.

It’s an extremely atypical set of circumstances leading into Pederson’s hearing, as the Dodgers are reportedly in agreement on the framework of a deal that’d send him up to Anaheim at a time when they’re also set to argue his salary with an arbitration panel.

Had the two sides agreed to a swap involving Pederson earlier in the winter, the Angels could’ve prepped for a case in spite of the fact that Pederson has never played a game for them. That type of situation isn’t ideal for clubs but also isn’t unprecedented. As then-Angels-assistant-GM Matt Klentak told MLBTR several years ago in regard to Matt Joyce, whom they’d acquired in an offseason trade (and fortunately signed before heading to an arbitration hearing): “I still haven’t met Matt Joyce. I’ve negotiated his contract with his agent, we’ve traded for him, but I’ve never personally met him. … I’d really have hated for the first time I met this guy to be wearing a suit, sitting across a table, arguing over a million dollars.”

Viewed through that lens and considering the timing of the trade agreement, it’s only logical that the Angels wouldn’t be tasked with making the the case against Pederson’s camp on such short notice. They haven’t had time to prepare an argument for said hearing or even to try to come to terms on a middle ground between Pedesron’s $9.5MM filing figure and the $7.75MM figure submitted by the Dodgers.

Of course, the ultimate price point will in some ways impact how the two teams value Pederson. It’s highly unlikely that the outcome of the hearing will torpedo the trade, but it could determine which secondary pieces the Angels send to the Dodgers to finalize the arrangement. Given that additional layer of complexity, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets that an exec with another club “suspects” that MLB is having a third-party lawyer present the other side of Pederson’s case, thus entirely removing the Dodgers and Angels from the equation.

Between Pederson’s hearing and the reported medical snag in the Betts/Price/Maeda blockbuster, there are clearly numerous balls in the air that need to be accounted for prior to the completion of this series of significant transactions. A ruling on Pederson’s case should be known in the near future — arbitration results are typically known within a day of the hearing — which could bring some clarity to one of the many wrinkles in the Dodgers’ ongoing and extremely complex trade negotiations.

Reds GM Nick Krall: “Nothing On The Horizon”

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It has been an eventful offseason from start to finish for the Reds. GM Nick Krall indicated the club is likely finished with major additions, as C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic covers on Twitter.

“I would say that for right now, there’s nothing on the horizon,” Krall says. That obviously doesn’t rule anything out. And the executive also noted that the team will continue to keep seeking opportunities to improve. But it seems a fair indication that the Cincinnati outfit isn’t actively engaged in any significant pursuits.

Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams already made clear recently that the team doesn’t expect to make a move involving top young talent Nick Senzel, who is perhaps the organization’s most intriguing potential trade chip. Instead, the intention seems to be to take advantage of Senzel’s positional adaptability and hope he taps into his upside.

The question remains: is this the right stopping point? By some accounts, the Reds are now the team to beat in the NL Central. On paper, there’s good reason to believe they’ll at least be in the thick of things. But the competition remains stout and the Reds have  now dedicated enough resources that it arguably makes sense to push yet further to maximize the chances of winning in the next few seasons. It’s a quality roster, but shortstop and catcher remain areas susceptible of improvement.

Finding the right balance is always tough. The Reds previously parted with significant young talent to get to this stage — including young big leaguer Shed Long (for Sonny Gray) and top-100 prospects Taylor Trammell (for Trevor Bauer), Jeter Downs & Josiah Gray (for Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, and Kyle Farmer). Entering this winter, Williams explained, the “preference all along was to spend money and add to the club without touching our prospects.”

Domonic Brown “Ready To Call It Quits”

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It’s always interesting to catch up on the developments of notable former big leaguers, particularly when things are going well. That seems to be the case for former Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown, who was tracked down by Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription link).

It turns out that Gelb didn’t have to go far. Brown is working in a Philadelphia-area baseball academy. At 32 years of age, he appears to have settled in there.

Brown tells Gelb he’s “ready to call it quits” — not because he’s out of playing opportunities, but “just because I’m having so much fun here.” Though Brown could perhaps be lured back into uniform in the right circumstances, he indicates that he’s leaning firmly towards retirement.

Once billed as a future superstar, Brown seemed to find his footing with an All-Star 2013 campaign at 25 years of age. He slashed .272/.324/.494 and launched 27 long balls in 540 plate appearances. But he collapsed at the plate in the ensuing season and never got it back. Brown last appeared in the majors in 2015 and in the affiliated ranks in 2017.

What most didn’t realize is that Brown has continued to play in the meantime. He took a star turn in the Mexican League last year, driving 25 homers in just 396 plate appearances and even drawing some interest from MLB organizations before breaking his hand in the middle of the season.

Along the way, Brown lost and found his swing — and, more importantly, seems to have grown quite a bit as a person. The full story is well worth your time.

AL Notes: Yankees, Angels, Indians, Twins, Rays

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The Yankees’ rotation took a serious shot Wednesday when it was announced that they’ll go without left-hander James Paxton for three to four months on account of back surgery. General manager Brian Cashman discussed the news with Joel Sherman of the New York Post, saying Paxton first complained of back discomfort in his final regular-season outing Sept. 27. That didn’t stop Paxton from making three playoff appearances, though, and Cashman noted surgery was a “last resort.” The timing of the procedure’s not ideal, but the Yankees didn’t want to rush into a decision, according to Cashman.

One of Paxton’s fellow Yankees lefties, J.A. Happ, was a trade candidate earlier this offseason, but Cashman revealed Paxton’s injury “certainly” played a part in the team’s decision to keep him. However, there was trade interest in Happ, Cashman told Sherman. “There was a lot of knocking on our door about it,” he said.

Here’s more from the American League…

  • Angels infielder Luis Rengifo appears to be on the verge of going to the Dodgers in a trade for outfielder Joc Pederson. It’s not the first time Rengifo’s name has come up in trade talks this offseason, though. Rengifo was part of the discussions between the Angels and Indians when the two teams were weighing a Corey Kluber swap back in December, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com. The two clubs couldn’t come to an agreement, and the Indians ended up trading Kluber to the Rangers a few days later.
  • Twins righty Jake Odorizzi decided to forgo free agency this offseason in favor of the team’s $17.8MM qualifying offer. Odorizzi may have done better on the open market – MLBTR predicted a three year, $51MM payday – but he doesn’t regret his choice to stick with Minnesota on a short-term deal. “Not a bit,” he told Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. “I made my decision based on the best knowledge we had at the time. Money started flying around pretty quick, and the market got pretty hot, but nobody predicted that.” Indeed, there has been far more money distributed in free agency than many anticipated when the offseason began. Odorizzi’s now left to hope the cash will continue flowing next winter if he gets to free agency, though Miller writes that he remains “open to” a long-term pact with the Twins.
  • Rays outfield prospect Josh Lowe underwent right shoulder debridement surgery in November and “likely” won’t return to action until late May, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. The 22-year-old Lowe, a 2016 first-round pick and the younger brother of Rays first baseman Nate Lowe, ranks as the team’s 11th overall prospect at MLB.com. Josh Lowe enjoyed a strong season at the Double-A level last year, when he slashed .252/.341/.442 with 18 home runs and 30 stolen bases in 519 plate appearances.

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