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Nelson Cruz Reportedly Seeking Two-Year Deal

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The Twins and Nelson Cruz have expressed mutual interest in extending their relationship, although it sounds as though that could require a multi-year offer out of Minnesota. LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that Cruz is “believed to be seeking a two-year deal” as he sits on the cusp of a return trip to the open market.

That the 40-year-old Cruz hopes to play another two years is notable in and of itself, although that doesn’t register as a huge surprise given his continued production at the plate. Cruz posted a superlative .303/.397/.595 slash with 16 home runs as the Twins’ DH in 2020 and has raked at a .308/.394/.626 clip overall since signing in Minnesota prior to the 2019 season. That contract was a one-year, $14.3MM deal with a club option for 2020. In total, he’s banked $26MM in his two years with the Twins.

At present, the uncertainty surrounding the universal DH keeps Cruz’s market fairly small. He’s played just nine games in the field since Opening Day 2017 and never played the outfield for the Twins. As such, Cruz would need an AL club with a win-now mindset, DH at-bats to spare and a willingness to spend. The Twins certainly fit that bill, as do the division-rival White Sox, and there’s an easy case that the Blue Jays could slot Cruz in at DH over Rowdy Tellez.

Looking around the rest of the league, most clubs either have an expensive name in their DH mix (Khris Davis, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez, Giancarlo Stanton), a younger option at DH (Yordan Alvarez) or are simply in a rebuilding phase. And with revenue losses from the absence of fans hitting all 30 clubs, some teams just won’t want to spend the type of money Cruz would command anyhow. On the surface there’s little reason to expect that he’d have to take a pay cut in terms of annual salary; his production with the Twins actually outpaced his final couple years in Seattle.

Of course, if the MLBPA and the league agree to implement a designated hitter in both leagues, Cruz’s market would expand immensely. Nearly any National League contender would be able to make space to install a bat this potent in its everyday lineup, and the two-year term would become much easier to envision. From that standpoint, one could argue that the Twins would be best-served to proactively move to keep Cruz in the fold. Alternatively, if they’re skeptical the universal DH will be implemented in 2021, perhaps they’d hold firm at one year to avoid the risk of locking themselves into what would be Cruz’s age-42 season in 2022.

Neal suggests that Cruz may simply wait to sign until some clarity on the DH front is gained, although at this point there’s still no indication as to when that will be. His situation is far from the only one impacted by that still-unknown outcome, however. We’ve already heard GMs in San Diego, San Francisco, Atlanta and other NL cities comment publicly on the difficulty of constructing a roster without knowing for certain whether they’ll have those DH at-bats available. Padres GM A.J. Preller indicated last week that the NL DH status could impact their decision on Mitch Moreland’s club option. Both Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi and Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos have referenced uncertainty regarding the DH as an offseason challenge in the past week as well.

Quick Hits: LeMahieu, Angels, Dombrowski, Pino, Crawford

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Don’t count on a reunion between DJ LeMahieu and the Rockies.  Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post recently contacted “those close to LeMahieu” to gauge the chances of the free agent returning to his former team, and “was told that while [LeMahieu is] keeping his options open, he doesn’t see the Rockies as a good fit for him.”  LeMahieu spent seven seasons with the Rox from 2012-18, a stretch that saw him make three All-Star appearances, win two Gold Gloves, and capture the 2016 NL batting title.

After leaving Coors Field to sign with the Yankees in the 2018-19 offseason, however, LeMahieu hit another level, posting MVP-type numbers over his two seasons in the Bronx.  It’s certainly possible that LeMahieu simply remains in New York, though several teams are bound to inquire about his services — that is to say, teams with more available payroll and perhaps closer to immediate contention than the Rockies.

As we await tomorrow’s Game 3 of the World Series, some more from around the baseball world…

  • Multiple reports linked Dave Dombrowski was a favorite to take over the Angels’ front office, though after almost a month, there hasn’t been much new information on that front.  In fact, in an appearance on Jon Heyman’s Big Time Baseball podcast (audio link), USA Today’s Bob Nightengale believes Dombrowski will “absolutely not” end up in Anaheim.  Both Heyman and Nightengale think Dombrowski might remain in Nashville, where he is part of a group vying to bring an expansion team to the Music City, with Nightengale opining that the Phillies could also potentially be a fit for Dombrowski as a win-now team.  As for the Angels’ job, Nightengale thinks their search is “wide open“at this point.  Earlier reports have suggested that the Angels are just beginning their search, and Nightengale thinks a new front office boss might not be in place until close to Thanksgiving.
  • 16-year-old Cuban outfielder Luis Pino worked out for scouts this week in the Dominican Republic, and ESPN.com’s Enrique Rojas (Spanish language link) reports that the Athletics and Rays are the favorites to land Pino when the international signing window opens on January 15.  The Giants, Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox and Padres have also shown interest in Pino, who seems likely to command a bonus of $1MM or more.
  • Longtime Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford enjoyed one of his best seasons in 2020, rebounding from a down year both offensively and defensively in 2019.  As NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic notes, Crawford’s return to form solidified the Giants’ shortstop situation, and the team can now be more confident that Crawford can still be a productive player as he heads into his age-34 campaign.  2021 will also be the final year of Crawford’s contract with San Francisco, however, and the Giants have a star shortstop prospect in Marco Luciano coming down the pipeline.  Luciano could potentially be ready for a regular role by 2022, so it remains to be seen if Crawford will only be a bridge to Luciano or if the veteran could potentially still land another deal to stay in the orange and black.

NL Central Notes: Betts, Brewers, Venable, Tigers, Pirates

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Could Mookie Betts have blossomed to stardom in a Brewers uniform?  It could have been a reality if former Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin had had his way, as he tried to acquire Betts from the Red Sox in 2013 in exchange for closer Francisco Rodriguez, according to MLB.com’s Adam Berry and Adam McCalvy.  As a fifth-round pick for Boston in the 2011 draft, “Mookie sort of went under the radar if you went by the so-called MLB Pipeline or whatever.  I don’t think at the time he was in their top 10-15 prospects,” Melvin said.  Both the Brewers’ analytics and scouting departments agreed on Betts’ potential, however, so the pitch was made to then-Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington, who wisely declined the offer.

Betts was already in the midst of a big season at the A-ball levels in 2013, and Cherington recalls that by season’s end, Betts’ “name was the first one” mentioned by other clubs in trade negotiations.  “Doug Melvin was the first to ask, so I always give Doug credit.  He was the first one to ask for him,” Cherington said.

While Milwaukee fans take a moment to sigh ruefully, let’s look at some other items from around the NL Central…

  • Cubs third base coach Will Venable spoke with the Tigers about their managerial vacancy, NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer reports.  Venable was first cited as a potential candidate for the Tigers job back in September, and Venable has also recently interviewed with the Red Sox about their managerial job.  Beyond the Red Sox and Tigers, “other clubs also have sought the Cubs’ permission to talk with Venable about other, non-managerial openings in their organizations,” Wittenmyer writes.  A veteran of nine MLB seasons, Venable has spent the last three years in Wrigleyville as a special assistant to Theo Epstein, as well as a first base and third base coach.  This is the second straight winter that Venable has been a popular candidate, as the Cubs considered him for their own manager’s job last offseason, and the Astros and Giants also interviewed him for their managerial openings.
  • The Pirates have 19 players eligible for arbitration this offseason, the most of any team in baseball.  At least some of those names won’t be back in Pittsburgh in 2021, as The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel thinks as many as six players could be non-tendered and several others are trade candidates.  Interestingly, Biertempfel cites Trevor Williams as a potential non-tender, on the heels of a season that saw Williams get off to a good start but then struggle to finish with a 6.18 ERA over 55 1/3 innings, with a league-high 15 homers allowed.  Williams received some trade interest from at least one team (the Blue Jays) back in August, so it’s possible Toronto or another club could have some talks with the Pirates before the non-tender deadline.  Williams had a pair of solid seasons in 2017-18 and is entering his age-29 season with two years of team control remaining.  MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Williams to earn between $3.2MM and $4.6MM through the arbitration process this winter.

Latest On White Sox, La Russa, Rotation

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TODAY: La Russa’s interview with the White Sox has taken place, 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine reports, as La Russa spoke with team executive VP Kenny Williams and GM Rick Hahn.  Levine adds that the White Sox hope to make a hire within the next 10-14 days, and that the club has spoken to other candidates besides just La Russa about the job.

OCTOBER 14: News came down on Wednesday night that the White Sox received permission from the Angels to interview Tony La Russa for their managerial opening. The 76-year-old looks more-and-more like a front-runner to land the job. For his own part, La Russa is reportedly excited about his upcoming conversations with the White Sox, per Bruce Levine of 670 the Score (via Twitter).

La Russa managed the White Sox from 1979 until 1986 – his first managerial role in the majors – so there’s certainly a nostalgic angle that makes sense here. He fits the bill as laid out by GM Rick Hahn as well: He’s a voice technically coming from outside the organization, and he hard-checks the championship experience box. La Russa has six times managed a team into the World Series, winning the ring in 1989 with Oakland and in 2006 and 2011 with St. Louis. He retired after winning the 2011 World Series with the Cardinals. He spent the past season as a special advisor to the Angels, and the White Sox’ opening is an appealing position, even without the circle-of-life angle.

For the White Sox part, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf has expressed regret in the past for allowing his GM-at-the-time Ken Harrelson to fire La Russa midway through 1986. What’s more, La Russa and Reinsdorf were often seen watching White Sox games together prior to 2020, writes the Athletic’s James Fegan. A committed La Russa must be a tantalizing possibility for ownership, but the White Sox are still early in their search process, per Fegan.

In the meantime, Hahn has his hands full trying to upgrade right field and the starting rotation. Though they have a lot of young pitching for whom they are closely tracking development (Reynaldo Lopez, Dane Dunning, Dylan Cease, Garrett Crochet, Jonathan Stiever, Michael Kopech, and others), Hahn doesn’t plan on just waiting for the kids to grab the reins, per this piece from Fegan. Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, and Dunning are slotted into the rotation, but they may explore outside the organization for back-end upgrades. The White Sox have no shortage of guys who could very capably fill out those last two rotation spots, but with the Twins and Indians set to compete again, their margin for error may again be slim.

Angels Have Early Interest In Didi Gregorius

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The Angels have done some “advance work” on shortstop Didi Gregorius, George A. King III of the New York Post writes.  Gregorius won’t officially hit free agency until five days after the completion of the World Series, of course, but it’s safe to assume the Halos and every other team in baseball are already preparing offseason shopping lists.

In the Angels’ case, shortstop will be a clear need since Andrelton Simmons is also headed for free agency.  While Simmons suffered through an injury-shortened season, Gregorius played in all 60 of the Phillies’ games and hit .284/.339/.488 with 10 home runs over 237 plate appearances.  It was a nice bounce-back season for Gregorius, who missed over two months of the 2019 campaign while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The left-handed hitting Gregorius would add some balance to a predominantly right-handed Angels lineup, and represents a hitting upgrade over Simmons, though not a big upgrade.  Since the start of the 2017 season, Gregorius has hit .270/.318/.477 with 78 homers over 1720 PA to Simmons’ 32 home runs and .281/.329/.401 slash line over 1798 PA.  On the flip side, Los Angeles would making a trade-off on defense — while Gregorius has wielded a generally solid glove over his career, he obviously isn’t in the league of Simmons, who is one of the more celebrated defensive shortstops of all time.

Despite his down year in 2019, Gregorius was still offered multi-year contracts last winter before opting to sign a one-year, $14MM deal with Philadelphia.  He should be in line for a multi-year deal this offseason, albeit with the uncertainty of the sport’s tighter financial picture hanging over the free market.  Gregorius’ free agent stock could also be impacted by qualifying offer compensation, should the Phillies choose to issue him a QO and if Gregorius turned down the one-year, $18.9MM offer.

The Angels would certainly find Gregorius more attractive if they didn’t have to give up a draft pick to sign him, though Gregorius isn’t the only shortstop available.  Marcus Semien is also a free agent, and some intriguing options (Francisco Lindor, anyone?) exist on the trade market.  Plus, Los Angeles could opt to just use David Fletcher at shortstop and instead turn its attention to second base additions.

Padres Notes: Strahm, Coaches, Front Office

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Reliever Matt Strahm will undergo surgery on his right knee next week, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter link), and the southpaw is expected to be recovered for by Spring Training.  Strahm is looking to fix his right patellar tendon, three years after undergoing a procedure on his left patellar tendon.  The right knee issues bothered Strahm throughout the season, Acee said, and led to an injured list stint in September.

Despite the injury, Strahm still had some effective bottom-line stats over 20 2/3 relief innings, posting a 2.61 ERA and 3.75 K/BB rate.  With the caveat of a small sample size, the left-hander also posted a career-low (6.5 K/9) strikeout rate, and the lack of missed bats led to some unimpressive ERA predictors (4.93 FIP, 5.01 xFIP, 4.24 SIERA).  It’s possible that between these numbers and any uncertainty over his knee situation, the Padres could look to non-tender Strahm, who is projected to earn between $1.6MM-$1.9MM in his second trip through the arbitration process.  On the other hand, the Padres might prefer to retain a member of their bullpen considering Trevor Rosenthal and Kirby Yates could depart in free agency, and Luis Perdomo will miss 2021 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The latest from San Diego…

  • In another tweet from Acee, the Padres aren’t planning to make any changes to their coaching staff.  One potential exception could be Skip Schumaker, if Schumaker receives any consideration for any of the managerial openings around baseball.  Schumaker worked in San Diego’s front office for two seasons before becoming a first base coach in 2018-19 and then serving under skipper Jayce Tingler in an “associate manager” position.  Schumaker was a candidate for the Mets’ managerial job last winter prior to New York’s (short-lived) hiring of Carlos Beltran.
  • The Padres won’t be renewing the contracts of 25 employees in the baseball operations department, the club announced today.  Most of the 25 employees were offered severance packages.  According to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin (Twitter link), many of the employees let go were in player development roles related to the Padres’ farm system, indicating “continued uncertainty about the minor leagues.”  It isn’t yet known if there will be any sort of normal minor league season in 2021, and even if there is, several minor league franchises are expected to be contracted as part of a more uniform, MLB-operated farm system.

Jeff Luhnow On Suspension, Future

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TODAY: In a response to Luhnow’s interview, “people with knowledge of Major League Baseball’s findings during the Astros sign-stealing investigation” tell The Athletic’s Evan Drellich that “there was direct testimony” from Astros personnel interviewed during the league’s inquiries “that Luhnow was aware of the sign-stealing scheme.”

“Luhnow received emails that put him on notice of the activity, but claims he only read parts of the emails even though he responded to the emails,” a source tells Drellich.  “One witness clearly stated and provided evidence that Luhnow knew, and others identified facts indicating that Luhnow knew. The best interpretation of the evidence is that Luhnow either knew exactly what the video room was doing, or knew generally what they were doing and willfully chose to keep himself in the dark.”

TUESDAY: Former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow had a years-long run as one of baseball’s most respected executives, even building a World Series-winning team in 2017. However, the legitimacy of the team’s success under Luhnow has come into question over the past year because of the Astros’ well-documented sign-stealing scandal that became public last offseason. Major League Baseball suspended Luhnow and A.J. Hinch, then the Astros’ manager, for a year apiece in January as a result of the team’s misdeeds. Houston subsequently fired the pair.

In an extensive interview with Vanessa Richardson of KPRC, Luhnow continued to deny any wrongdoing. Consequently, Luhnow doesn’t believe Major League Baseball was right to issue him a one-year ban.

A report from last February indicated Luhnow was aware of “Codebreaker,” a video scheme the Astros utilized to steal signs, but Luhnow told Richardson: “I didn’t know we were cheating. I had no idea. I wasn’t involved. Major League Baseball’s report stated that I didn’t know anything about the trash can banging scheme. They stated I might have known something about the video decoding scheme and not paid it much attention. But there was really no credible evidence of that claim. I didn’t know. I didn’t know about either of them. And it felt like, on that day, that I was getting punished for something that I didn’t do. And it didn’t feel right.”

Luhnow claims he was adamant that the Astros followed the rules, that “personnel in the video room” were among the “Codebreaker” masterminds, and that he tried to crack down on sign-stealing from Houston and other teams. He’s even of the belief that some of the perpetrators are still part of the Astros organization.

“The people who were involved, that didn’t leave naturally to go to other teams, are all still employed by the Astros,” Luhnow said. “In fact, one of the people who was intimately involved, I had demoted from a position in the clubhouse to a position somewhere else, and after I was fired, he was promoted back into the clubhouse.”

While Luhnow did acknowledge that the Astros violated the rules during his reign, he’s nonetheless displeased that commissioner Rob Manfred suspended him. The executive said he requested a meeting with Manfred last offseason and presented him a roughly 150-page binder “with facts, with emails, with documents, with testimony, each and every single allegation that was in that charging document.” Luhnow even offered to take a polygraph test in an effort to prove his innocence, but Manfred turned him down.

“I don’t know how much of the 150-page binder he read, but none of it made its way into the final report, so frankly, he had his mind made up,” Luhnow said. “He was going to punish me. There was nowhere else to go. He was going to punish A.J. as well, and A.J. admitted that he knew.”

Manfred disputed Luhnow’s comments Tuesday, though, telling ESPN Radio (via ESPN.com) that “[Luhnow] damaged the game, and as a result, he was disciplined.”

As for Hinch, Luhnow revealed that the two continue to keep in touch. The Tigers and White Sox have shown interest in Hinch this month regarding their managerial vacancies, so he could get back in the game in a prominent role sometime soon. Luhnow also has interest in reviving his baseball career, but if he doesn’t return to the sport, he expects to land on his feet elsewhere.

Luhnow has taken “a hard look at the NFL, at the NBA, little bit at NHL, I didn’t grow up around hockey so that one’s a little tougher, E-Sports, soccer, both in our continent and in Europe,” because he believes his skill set would carry over into a different sport.

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Nationals Bring Back Kevin Long As Hitting Coach

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Contrary to a prior report, the Washington Nationals have agreed to bring back hitting coach Kevin Long on a one-year deal, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Long’s previous three-year contract just expired, and he had been one of the highest paid hitting coaches in the game, per The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli (via Twitter). The initial split seems to have been merely a failure to reach an agreement on a new deal. Though we don’t know the terms, the two sides have apparently struck a compromise on a one-year pact.

After being extended this past season, manager Dave Martinez was given some hiring power this offseason. He has had the opportunity to build out his coaching staff for the first time since taking over as manager. Thus far, the biggest change has been moving on from Paul Menhart as pitching coach. The longtime organizational pitching coach was replaced by Jim Hickey. Martinez and Hickey were on Joe Maddon’s staff together from 2008 to 2014 with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Martinez and the Nats also moved on from Chip Hale, who spent last season as the third base coach. Hale was hired as the bench coach, meant to help Martinez along as he got his feet wet in his first managerial position. He served in that role when the Nats won the World Series in 2019. In 2020, however, Martinez rotated some of his staff, moving Hale to third base, Bob Henley from third to first, and Tim Bogar from first base coach to the bench.

With Long re-installed as the hitting coach, Martinez needs only to fill Hale’s spot at third base to fill out his 2021 staff. Henry Blanco returns as the bullpen coach, and Pat Roessler will presumably return as the assistant hitting coach.

Gold Glove Nominees Announced

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The 2020 Rawlings Glove Glove Award finalists have been released, with the Cubs netting the most nominations with seven. The Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Brewers, Rays, and Red Sox were shut out.

The awards for defensive prowess will be handed out based on defensive metrics alone this year, since managers and coaches weren’t able to see players outside their regional bubble. Moving to a metrics-based system, even for a year, certainly make for interesting television, especially since these awards can make an impact on arbitration cases. Considering the uncertainty of a 60-game season, awards could carry greater weight than usual in those proceedings, thought that’s just speculation. Without further ado, here are this year’s nominees:

AL Pitcher

NL Pitcher

AL Catcher

NL Catcher

AL First Base

NL First Base

AL Second Base

NL Second Base

AL Third Base

NL Third Base

AL Shortstop

NL Shortstop

AL Left Field

NL Left Field

AL Centerfield

NL Centerfield

AL Right Field

NL Right Field

Nicky Lopez of the Royals was originally left off the list, but he is in fact a nominee at second base, one of four nominations at the keystone in the American League. It’s the only position with four nominations.

There are a few other interesting things of note. Perennial candidates like Andrelton Simmons and Matt Chapman did not make the list this year due to shortened seasons, nor did last season’s Outs Above Average leader Victor Robles. Both Gurriel brothers earned nominations this year, with the younger Lourdes (LF) joining perennial candidate Yuli (1B).

There are also a couple of largely part-time players that made the cut, like Hoerner of the Cubs and Mendick for the White Sox. Neither was the everyday second baseman, but they did reach the inning minimum of 265 total defensive innings. They qualified at second because that’s where they played the most innings. Mendick, for example, registered just 226 innings at second, but with 27 innings at third and 15 at shortstop, he ended the year with 268 total defensive innings played.

Catchers required a minimum of 29 games, which is how we got a pair of White Sox catchers making the top-3. Pitchers had to throw a minimum of 50 innings.

The winners will be selected using the SABR Defensive Index and announced on November 3rd, per sabr.org.

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