Archives for December 2021

Latest On Mets’ Managerial Search

By Anthony Franco | December 3, 2021 at 10:04pm CDT

10:04 pm: Martino tweets that while Granderson’s name had come up in initial discussions, he is not expected to interview for the position.

9:49 pm: Robert Murray of FanSided reports (on Twitter) that longtime big league outfielder Curtis Granderson is also under consideration for the Mets. The 40-year-old announced his retirement from playing in 2020 following a 16-year big league career that included a trio of All-Star appearances and a Silver Slugger Award.

Granderson had emerged as a respected veteran presence in clubhouses over the course of his career. He currently serves as the president of the Players Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at increasing accessibility within the sport for Black athletes. Granderson played four seasons with the Mets during team president Sandy Alderson’s time as the club’s GM. Prior to that, he spent four years with the Yankees — a stint that overlapped with Eppler’s time in the club’s front office.

6:35 pm: The Mets declined an option to bring back skipper Luis Rojas shortly after the end of the 2021 season. Two months later, they remain without a manager. After spending a significant chunk of the early offseason in the search for a new GM that eventually landed Billy Eppler, the Mets turned their attention to the player market last week in advance of the lockout. With clubs barred from making major league transactions for the duration of the work stoppage, the Mets and the Athletics, the other team currently without a manager, figure to zero in on those respective searches in short order.

Andy Martino of SNY reports some preliminary candidates, naming Astros bench coach Joe Espada, Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and former MLB managers Buck Showalter and Brad Ausmus among those under early consideration. Martino cautions that’s not an exhaustive list, and it’s not clear whether everyone in that group will get an interview.

No one from that group registers as much of a surprise. None of Espada, Quatraro or Kelly has managed at the big league level, but they’ve all been rumored as part of searches elsewhere. Espada, 46, has been the bench coach in Houston for the past four seasons, working underneath both A.J. Hinch and Dusty Baker. He’s interviewed for a few different managerial openings in recent years and at one point even looked to be the favorite for the Giants job that eventually went to Gabe Kapler.

Quatraro’s name has come up a few times over the past couple offseasons. Kevin Cash’s top lieutenant over the last three years in Tampa Bay, the 48-year-old Quatraro has interviewed with the Giants, Pirates and Tigers in winters past and was reportedly a finalist for the Pittsburgh job that went to Derek Shelton. Kelly has worked underneath Shelton in the Steel City over the past two seasons. The 41-year-old interviewed with the Tigers and Red Sox last offseason and was reported to be among the top handful under consideration for the job that went to Alex Cora.

Showalter and Ausmus, meanwhile, come with significant managerial experience. The former has been one of the more accomplished skippers of the past couple decades. Showalter, now 65, landed his first big league managerial job with the Yankees in 1992. He spent four years in the Bronx, managed the D-Backs from 1998-2000, the Rangers from 2003-06 and the Orioles from 2010-18.

Over his career, Showalter won Manager of the Year Awards at three of those four stops. He’s overseen five playoff clubs (including three division winners), taking the 2014 Orioles to the AL Championship Series. Showalter hasn’t managed since being dismissed by Baltimore after the 2018 campaign, but he’s continued to express openness to a return to the dugout.

Ausmus, meanwhile, has managed at two separate stints. He spent the 2014-17 campaigns at the helm of the Tigers, then managed the Angels in 2019. That stint in Anaheim overlapped with Eppler’s tenure as Angels’ GM, fueling immediate speculation upon the latter’s hiring with the Mets that he could look to bring Ausmus to Queens.

Prior to that stint as skipper, Ausmus spent the 2018 season as a member of the Los Angeles front office. Eppler’s Angels fired Ausmus after just one season in the managerial chair, but it was reported at the time that call was made by owner Arte Moreno (perhaps not coincidentally just one day after it was announced Joe Maddon was leaving the Cubs).

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Grichuk, Cubs, Gausman, Matz, Pirates

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 2:25pm CDT

The Brewers had talks with the Blue Jays about a trade that would have seen Randal Grichuk head to Milwaukee in a straight-up exchange for Jackie Bradley Jr., The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports. This was one of multiple alternate Bradley-for-outfielder deals explored by the Brewers before finally acquiring Hunter Renfroe from the Red Sox on Wednesday.

While the Brew Crew had to surrender two prospects along with Bradley in that deal, Renfroe is both less expensive than Grichuk and has been a better player over the last three seasons — Renfroe had a 3.5 fWAR since the start of the 2019 campaign, while Grichuk has been worth 1.5 fWAR. The Brewers’ outfield mix now consists of Renfroe, Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain, and Tyrone Taylor, so barring any other transactions to shift some money around, Grichuk may no longer be on Milwaukee’s radar.

Padres To Hire Ryan Christenson As Bench Coach

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 1:26pm CDT

One of Bob Melvin’s trusted lieutenants will be joining the manager in San Diego, as The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (via Twitter) that the Padres will hire Ryan Christenson as their new bench coach. Christenson worked as Melvin’s bench coach with the Athletics for the last four seasons.

Christenson has longstanding ties to Oakland, working as a minor league manager from 2013-2017 and also playing for the A’s from 1998-2001 after being drafted by the club in 1995. The 47-year-old saw MLB action with four different teams during his six seasons in the Show, and while he played 60 games with the Rangers in 2003, this was just a year before Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller was initially hired to join the Texas organization.

The firing of manager Jayce Tingler following the season also led to an overhaul of the Padres’ coaching staff. Along with Christenson, Ruben Niebla is the new pitching coach, Michael Brdar the new hitting coach, and Francisco Cervelli was hired as a catching coach. According to Lin, the Padres will announce their full slate of coaches next week.

With Christenson now moving on, the A’s have one less internal option to consider as Melvin’s replacement. Christenson had been mentioned as a possible candidate as Oakland’s next skipper, and he also interviewed for the Pirates’ last managerial vacancy back in October 2019. There has been very little public buzz about the Athletics’ managerial search, but with all other baseball business on hold due to the lockout, the team has been expected to now turn its full attention to finding a new bench boss.

Marlins Interested In Ketel Marte

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 11:17am CDT

The Marlins have shown interest in the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. There isn’t any indication that a deal was close prior to the lockout, and it remains to be seen if Arizona would be even open to moving Marte at all.

As Rosenthal plainly puts it, the D’backs “would need a monster package to move Marte.” The former All-Star is entering his age-29 season and is controlled through the next three seasons — an $8MM salary in 2022, and then club options for both 2023 and 204 that would pay Marte a total of $22MM if both options were exercised.

Marte broke out with a huge 2019 season that saw him finish fourth in NL MVP voting. After a disappointing 2020 campaign, Marte rebounded to hit .318/.377/.532 with 14 home runs last season, though he was limited to only 90 games due to a pair of hamstring injuries. In both 2019 and 2021, Marte has enjoyed large BABIPs and wOBA totals that have outpaced his xwOBA, so there is some question about just how sustainable his elite production is, plus his speed and baserunning skills have been in decline. Still, Marte makes a lot of hard contact and rarely strikes out, and it is possible he could use a change of scenery given the Diamondbacks’ dismal results over the last two seasons.

Between Marte’s age, ability, and his very reasonable contract, Rosenthal points out that the D’backs would want more for Marte than they received in either the Paul Goldschmidt or Zack Greinke trades. To put it in perspective, Arizona received two MLB-ready younger players (Luke Weaver, Carson Kelly), one notable prospect (Andrew Young, who has since made his big league debut) and a Competitive Balance Round draft pick from the Cardinals for Goldschmidt back in the 2018-19 offseason. For dealing Greinke to the Astros at the 2019 trade deadline, the D’Backs got four prospects in return.

Miami could be a team well-suited to meet the Diamondbacks’ high asking price, given how the Marlins have been open to trading from their surplus of starting pitchers. The Fish have lots of young pitching depth in the minors and even some names from their current big league staff could be available, with Elieser Hernandez and Pablo Lopez considered to be available. (Sandy Alcantara can be safely removed from the list of trade candidates considering his recent five-year extension.)

The Marlins would presumably deploy Marte in center field, with Jesus Sanchez and the newly-acquired Avisail Garcia flanking Marte in the corners. However, defensive metrics are mixed at best (-8 Outs Above Average and -12 Defensive Runs Saved, but a +2.3 UZR/150) on Marte’s glovework as an outfielder, and while his numbers as a second baseman are similarly unspectacular, Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen indicated that Arizona would likely keep Marte as something close to a full-time second baseman in 2022. Playing the infield could help keep Marte healthier, but the Marlins might also view Marte’s outfield defense as improvable if he is focused on playing only center field, whereas the D’Backs moved Marte around between center, second base, and shortstop.

In other trade talks between the two sides, Rosenthal writes that the Marlins also checked on Kelly’s availability. Presumably, Kelly is no longer on Miami’s radar now that the Marlins have acquired Jacob Stallings to fill their catching vacancy.

Yankees Add Dillon Lawson, Desi Druschel To Coaching Staff

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 10:37am CDT

The Yankees are making two in-house promotions to their big league coaching ranks, The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler reports. Dillon Lawson will become the team’s new hitting coach, after previously working as a minor league hitting coordinator. In addition, Desi Druschel will go from being the team’s minor league manager of pitch development to an assistant pitching coach role on Aaron Boone’s staff.

New York GM Brian Cashman said earlier this offseason that the club was planning to have three pitching and hitting coaches each in place for 2022, in order to better reflect how other teams have expanded and broadened coaching responsibilities beyond the traditional duties. Druschel joins Matt Blake and Mike Harkey on the pitching side, while Lawson will have two assistant hitting coaches that have yet to be hired. After the season, the Yankees didn’t retain former hitting coaches Marcus Thames or P.J. Pilittere.

Lawson worked as a hitting coach at the University Of Missouri and in the Astros’ farm system before he joined the Yankees three years ago. Since Lawson’s initial contract was up this winter, the promotion could be a way of keeping him in the fold, as Adler noted that there was some feeling other teams would try and hire Lawson away.

Despite all of the big names in New York’s lineup, the Bronx Bombers lacked some of their usual pop in 2021, finishing 17th of 30 teams in slugging percentage, 19th in runs scored, and 23rd in batting average. Only five teams had a worse collective strikeout rate than the Yankees’ collective 24.5% mark, as the team was often criticized for relying too much on a “three true outcomes” style. New York’s lineup also was, and still is, heavy on right-handed bats, making it somewhat easier for rival teams to construct gameplans. Aside from Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, pretty much the entire Yankee lineup underachieved last year, so Lawson and his assistants will have plenty of work to do in getting those hitters back on track.

Druschel joined the Yankees in 2019 after a long stint at the University Of Iowa. Druschel worked as Iowa’s director of baseball operations, and also worked three years as the team’s pitching coach.

Masahiro Tanaka Declines Opt-Out, Will Pitch For NPB’s Golden Eagles In 2022

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 9:48am CDT

Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka’s two-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles contained an opt-out clause this winter, but the team announced that Tanaka will return to the club in 2022 (hat tip to Yahoo Japan). Tanaka’s comeback season in NPB went well, as he posted a 3.01 ERA with a 20.19% strikeout rate and a 4.65% walk rate over 155 2/3 innings with the Eagles.

After his seven-year, $155MM contract with the Yankees expired last winter, Tanaka drew interest in the free agent market but it appeared as though his chief preferences were either to return to New York, or to head back to Japan. A reunion with the Yankees didn’t materialize, in part because the team was aiming to stay under the luxury tax threshold in 2021 and didn’t have the payroll space to fit a new Tanaka deal.

Even in his own personal announcement of his contract with the Eagles, Tanaka stated that he would be playing for the Eagles “for the 2021 season,” despite the two-year nature of his deal. With the opt-out clause in mind, there was quite a bit of speculation that Tanaka could explore a return to the majors in 2022 — with the Yankees now free of a repeated luxury tax penalty and theoretically more open to spending this winter, it again seemed plausible that Tanaka would be back pitching in the Bronx.

Then again, it has been a pretty quiet offseason for the Yankees thus far. While the Bronx Bombers have been linked to several notable free agents and trade candidates, the Yankees have yet to swing any major acquisitions. An argument could also be made that New York has plenty of rotation candidates already lined up (Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Nestor Cortes Jr., Luis Severino, Domingo German, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Deivi Garcia, and when healthy, Jameson Taillon), though even aside from the “you can never have too much pitching” mantra, there are enough question marks within that group that bringing in Tanaka or another established veteran makes sense.

Beyond the Yankees’ plans, however, maybe the simplest reason behind Tanaka’s decision is that he didn’t want to opt out just to enter a Major League free agent market that is currently in shutdown mode. Rather than face weeks or months of uncertainty, Tanaka will instead avoid the lockout entirely and remain a comfortable situation with the Eagles for at least one more year. 2023 will be Tanaka’s age-34 season, and if he continues to pitch like he did this past year, he should have plenty of opportunities available to him next winter in both Japan and North America.

Marlins Notes: Schwarber, Marte, Castellanos, Pina, Gomes, Stallings

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 8:46am CDT

The Marlins are known to be looking for more outfield help, with Kyle Schwarber already reported as one of the names on the team’s radar. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of The Miami Herald shed some more light on the Marlins’ pursuit, writing that Schwarber is looking for a three-year contract worth around $60MM.

Such a deal would top the Marlins’ four-year, $53MM pact with Avisail Garcia in dollars if not years, though it would also fall short of the four years and $70MM MLBTR projected Schwarber to land this winter. Three years and $60MM is still a healthy sum, particularly for a team with Miami’s traditionally limited payrolls, yet the Marlins have already shown a greater willingness to spend in order to upgrade their offense.

The Phillies are another team that has been linked to Schwarber, while the Red Sox and Nationals (the slugger’s two most recent clubs) have also expressed some level of interest in a reunion. Since several of the top free-agent bats have already landed new deals, Schwarber’s status as one of the top hitters available has only risen, so it’s fair to assume that other teams have already shown interest or will do so once the post-lockout dust settles. It remains to be seen whether Schwarber’s market will develop to the point where the Marlins or any other club eventually puts a four-year offer on the table.

Of other outfielders linked to the Marlins, Nick Castellanos “is viewed as too expensive,” while Eddie Rosario is another consideration if Schwarber is also ultimately deemed to be beyond Miami’s price range. Recent reports indicated that Castellanos is looking to score a seven- or eight-year contract, and even if that is an aim-high projection that could be lowered post-lockout, it would still seem like Castellanos might not be a fit for the Fish. Additionally, signing Castellanos have a further cost in the form of draft pick compensation, since he rejected the Reds’ qualifying offer.

The Marlins could possibly avoid the free agent route entirely by landing an outfielder in a trade, as before the lockout, Jackson and Mish note that Miami was in “ongoing discussions with one American League team.” The in-house fallback plan would be to have Brian Anderson play right field and the newly-acquired Joey Wendle take over as the everyday third baseman, but the Fish would prefer to have an established outfielder on the grass rather than Anderson, even if Anderson has looked at home as an outfielder. Anderson had a 7.9 UZR/150 and +6 Defensive Runs Saved over 1223 innings as a right fielder in 2018-19, but is also coming off an injury-plagued 2021 season.

Miami’s offseason pursuits led them to consider such players as Starling Marte, Manny Pina, and Yan Gomes, with the first two receiving contract offers. For Marte, the Marlins and two other teams made four-year offers worth roughly $60MM, and according to Jackson/Mish, Miami was prepared to spend a little more to bring Marte back to South Beach. Marte’s camp wanted something around a $70MM payday, however, and ended up topping that number handily with the $78MM over four years that Marte received from the Mets.

Pina was another player the Marlins lost to a division rival, as while the Fish offered Pina $4MM on a one-year deal, the Braves doubled that offer and signed Pina for two years and $8MM. However, the Marlins instead landed a longer-term target in Jacob Stallings, acquiring the backstop from the Pirates for a three-player trade package. Interestingly, Jackson/Mish write that the Red Sox came very close to trading for Stallings, which would have indicated the Sox were ready to move on from Christian Vazquez either next winter (2022 is Vazquez’s last year under contract) or perhaps this offseason if a trade partner could have been found.

NPB’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows Extend Jose Osuna

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2021 at 7:56am CDT

First baseman Jose Osuna has signed a three-year contract extension to remain with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to Yahoo Japan. Osuna will receive $5.1MM, as per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter), with salaries of $1.4MM in 2022, $1.7MM in 2023, and $2MM in 2024. Another $900K is available in incentives.

Osuna, who turns 29 later this month, hit .258/.293/.401 with 13 home runs over 495 plate appearances for the Swallows in 2021, serving as the team’s primary first baseman and also getting a bit of playing time at third base. Osuna also picked up some key hits for the Swallows during their postseason run, as the Tokyo squad captured the Japan Series championship.

While his numbers were modest, the Swallows clearly felt good enough about Osuna’s performance to make this long-term commitment. The $5.1MM also represents much more security that Osuna would’ve found in a contract with a big league team this winter, as he would likely have had to settle for a minor league deal (and could’ve now been in limbo due to the lockout).

A longtime member of the Pirates organization, Osuna hit .241/.280/.430 with 24 home runs over 705 career plate appearances in the majors, all with Pittsburgh from 2017-20. Osuna received a solid chunk of playing time in part-time and platoon roles with the Bucs, though the club opted to designate him for assignment last offseason rather than pay him a projected $1.1MM arbitration salary.

From that same Yahoo Japan report, the Swallows are also in talks with outfielder Domingo Santana about another contract. In his first Japanese season, Santana was one of the Swallows’ top bats, hitting .290/.366/.511 with 19 home runs over 418 PA.

The author of a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2017, Santana hit .255/.341/.446 with 77 home runs over parts of seven big league seasons from 2014-20 with Houston, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Cleveland. Santana’s subpar defense, however, made him a veritable bat-only player, so the Guardians declined their 2021 club option on his services following a mediocre 2020 campaign.

Rob Manfred, Tony Clark Discuss Start Of Lockout

By Anthony Franco | December 2, 2021 at 11:19pm CDT

Major League Baseball’s first work stoppage in more than a quarter-century went into effect last night, with the owners unanimously voting to lock the players out until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached. Each of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association director Tony Clark met with the media this morning.

Both Manfred and Clark suggested the other side was primarily to blame for the lack of progress to date. Manfred justified the call to lock out within minutes of the previous CBA’s expiration — a decision the owners weren’t legally bound to make — by indicating the MLBPA hadn’t previously been anxious to move talks along. “People need pressure sometimes to get to an agreement, but candidly we didn’t feel that sense of pressure on the other side during the course of this week,” Manfred told reporters (including John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle).”The only tool available to you under the act is to apply economic leverage.”

Unsurprisingly, Clark pushed back at the assertion the MLBPA had been dallying in negotiations. “From the outset, it seems as if the league has been more interested in the appearance of bargaining than bargaining itself,” Clark claimed (via James Wagner of the New York Times). He also took a swipe at the lengthy “letter to baseball fans” MLB penned in announcing the lockout last night, quipping that “it would have been beneficial to the process to have spent as much time negotiating in the room as it appeared was spent on the letter” (via Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post).

The game’s core economics structure has long been the biggest divide between the parties. Such issues as the service time structure, the number of playoff teams and the competitive balance tax threshold are the particularly strong concerns. Economic discussions have unsurprisingly been the focus of early negotiations, as Manfred said the parties haven’t yet begun to discuss potential on-field rules changes (via Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer).

It is generally expected that there’ll be some alterations to the on-field rules. Most around the industry anticipate the introduction of a designated hitter to the National League. Manfred has previously gone on record to voice support for the potential introduction of a pitch clock. Seven-inning doubleheaders and the extra-inning runner of the past two seasons — to date temporary measures — have been topics of debate for fans. It seems those are ancillary negotiation points MLB and the MLBPA will address at a later date, with the broader economic divide the more pressing matter.

It’s not clear when the sides will get back to the table to discuss anything, though. After fairly brief discussions earlier this week seemingly didn’t make much progress, Manfred told reporters this morning no further meetings are currently scheduled (via Evan Drellich of the Athletic). The commissioner added that it was the league’s desire to “get back to the table as quickly as we can.”

The sides will no doubt reconvene at some point, and Manfred again expressed optimism a deal will be reached before the potential loss of any Spring Training or regular season games (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today). That’s a particularly important date for owners, who would first stand to lose revenue in the event of cancellation of games. Manfred has already drawn a clear distinction between an offseason work stoppage and one that threatens play, and we’re still months away from the specter of lost Spring Training revenue.

The players, however, are no doubt less thrilled with the freeze on free agency — and, to a lesser extent, their ability to access team facilities and personnel. While players aren’t in danger of losing salary until games start up, there’s some risk that a shortened transaction window on the eve of the season could leave some players in the cold. There was a flurry of activity before December 1, and the free agent market remained quite strong. Yet the MLBPA has always resisted the possibility of a formal offseason transaction deadline, fearing that teams would have increased leverage to wait players out until the very final stages of free agency in hopes of lowering asking prices.

While the MLBPA has expressed disappointment with the lockout, Clark pushed back against the notion they’ll need to acquiesce to end the transaction freeze quickly. “Players consider (the lockout) unnecessary and provocative,” he said today (Shea link). “The lockout won’t pressure or intimidate players into a deal they don’t believe is fair.“

Blue Jays Ready To Spend After Lockout

By Sean Bavazzano | December 2, 2021 at 11:15pm CDT

A recent report from Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith gives Toronto fans something to look forward to after MLB’s lockout draws to a close. In addition to having trade discussions prior to the league’s halt on transactions, the Jays reportedly also have money to spend on additional free agents. Nicholson-Smith identifies acquiring an infielder and additional pitching as remaining needs for the club.

It was already expected that the Blue Jays would raise their payroll coming off a highly encouraging 2021 season, but the offseason to date has offered mixed signals about how high the payroll can stretch. Despite handing out a big dollar contract to Kevin Gausman (and a smaller dollar contract to Yimi Garcia) the organization has already seen its three top free agents sign for rich contracts elsewhere.

The Jays ended the 2021 season with $154MM in payroll obligations, per Cot’s Contracts. Including arbitration projections, RosterResource currently places the Toronto payroll, for luxury tax purposes, at $161MM. Nicholson-Smith’s report, though, indicates that the $161MM mark can continue to be pushed further.

It’s also worth noting that the Jays most likely trade chips coming into the offseason were thought to be of the catcher variety. Numerous teams have now picked the catcher market clean, with the Yankees and perhaps the Guardians as the only remaining contenders with questions at the position. An intra-division trade seems unlikely and the Blue Jays certainly have non-catcher prospect capital to deal from, but a lack of demand for one of Toronto’s most abundant resources may drive them to upgrade via free agency.

Fortunately for the 91-win team, the free agent market still has options for a front office looking to upgrade its infield. Kris Bryant and, if he’s open to a position change, Trevor Story can be had at the right price to cover third base. If Toronto is aiming for a more modest expenditure, they can also target the lefty-batting Kyle Seager or reunite with switch-hitting Jonathan Villar to compliment Santiago Espinal at the hot corner. These latter two options would serve as insurance in case Espinal is unable to build on his strong 2021 performance or Cavan Biggio fails to bounce back.

The pitching market is less flush with options but continues to carry upside at various price points. Carlos Rodon and Kenley Jansen represent two players who, for a premium, can help anchor a rotation and bullpen, respectively. Looking into Danny Duffy or old friend Ryan Tepera would serve a similar function for a lower cost, should the Jays prefer to splash their funds around more evenly.

Of course, just yesterday it was reported that Toronto expressed interest in left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (courtesy of MLB Network’s Jon Heyman). For reference on how much the lefty may cost, MLBTR predicted a two-year $20MM contract for the starting pitcher. Yesterday’s report portrayed a competitive market for the lefty, however, with multiple three-year offers potentially shifting the projected amount it may take to sign Kikuchi. Regardless of who baseball’s best team north of the border pursues, it’s clear they will be active when they’re next able.

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