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Nationals Hire Darnell Coles As Hitting Coach

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Oct. 18: The Nats have formally announced Coles as their new hitting coach.

“We are very excited to add Darnell Coles as our hitting coach,” manager Dave Martinez said in a statement within today’s press release. “We align on hitting philosophy, process and focusing on the here and now. He’s not only an outstanding hitting coach, but a great baseball man. Darnell has a great rapport with both veterans and young players and brings a thorough understanding of the analytics that we would like to incorporate.”

Oct. 15: The Nationals are planning to hire Darnell Coles to be their next hitting coach, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Should the two sides eventually finalize a contract, Coles would replace Kevin Long, who departed to become the Phillies’ hitting coach earlier this week.

Coles played in the big leagues from 1983-97 before moving into coaching. He spent some time in the Washington organization early in his coaching career, working as a roving hitting instructor and minor league coach for a few seasons in the late 2000’s. Coles made it to a big league coaching staff by 2014 and was hired by the Brewers as hitting coach entering the 2015 campaign.

After four years in Milwaukee, Coles stepped down to take on the same role in Arizona. He spent the next three-plus seasons with the D-Backs before being let go in early June amidst Arizona’s nightmarish season. It seems he’s now on track for an eighth consecutive season coaching hitters at the big league level, assuming talks with Washington get across the finish line.

The Nationals slumped to a last-place finish in the NL East after orchestrating a midseason sell-off. That wasn’t really the fault of the offense, though. Washington’s .266/.346/.433 team slash line (excluding pitchers) checked in seventh league-wide by measure of wRC+, the second-highest mark among non-playoff teams.

Brewers Deny Mets Permission To Interview David Stearns

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The Mets will not be permitted to interview Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns for their comparable position, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Sherman relays that Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio officially denied the request over the weekend, thus eliminating Stearns from the running for the job in New York.

Stearns has been with the Brewers over six years now, originally being hired as the general manager in September of 2015. He was signed to an extension and promoted to his current presidential position in January of 2019. It had been speculated by some that he might be a good fit for the Mets job on account of his Manhattan roots and because 2022 is the last year remaining on that extension. However, teams generally have to grant permission for other clubs to interview their front office employees, unless there’s a promotion involved. Since Stearns already possesses the president title being offered by the Mets, that’s not the case here. There was also a recent report that there is a vesting option in the contract for 2023, though that is unconfirmed and the conditions that would cause the option to vest are not known.

The Mets’ search will now continue with one more name off the list. The three most-cited names rumored to be in the running for the job over the past few months have been Stearns, Theo Epstein and Billy Beane, with the former two now both out of the running. The Mets could turn their attention to Beane, although it’s unclear if the Athletics’ executive vice-president is interested in the position, or if the club would allow him to be interviewed for it.

Angels Part Ways With Third Base Coach Brian Butterfield

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The Angels have “let go” Brian Butterfield, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

Butterfield came over to the Angels from the Cubs prior to the 2020 season, which coincided with Joe Maddon’s move from being the Cubs’ manager to being the Angels’ manager. Butterfield was a part of Maddon’s staff in Chicago for the 2018 and 2019 seasons, meaning this will conclude a four-year run as squad mates for the two. Maddon still has one year remaining on the three-year deal he signed with the Angels prior to the 2020 season.

The 63-year-old Butterfield has a coaching career that goes all the way back to 1994. Over the span, he has spent time with the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays and Red Sox, before his most recent jobs with the Cubs and Angels.

Ronald Acuna Jr. Discusses Injury Rehab

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It has now been over three months since Ronald Acuna Jr.’s season came to a tragic end. It was July 10th that the Atlanta superstar left the game after tearing his ACL while attempting to make a leaping catch on a Jazz Chisholm fly ball. Last night, Gabriel Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an interview with Acuna, the first time he has spoken to the media since that day. Through team interpreter Franco Garcia, Acuna spoke on various subjects related to the injury, the intervening months, as well as the future.

When asked about his current status, Acuna said he is “maybe 70%,” and then gave more details about the next steps. “I think the plan is to start jogging maybe around November and December. And you know, sort of just light activities like that, and then maybe around January or February start doing baseball activities. But that’s all (for) the trainers (to decide).”

When asked about whether he would be back in April or May, Acuna again deferred to the team’s medical staff. “If the trainers say May, then May. If the trainers say April, then April. So really, whatever the trainers and doctors and team medical staff say.”

A healthy Acuna would be great for baseball and the club next year, as he is one of the most talented players in the league. Before the injury, Acuna was in the midst of a fourth-consecutive excellent season that was on pace to be his best. Through 82 games, he hit 24 home runs and stole 17 bases, putting up a slash line of .283/.394/.596, for a wRC+ of 157 and 4.2 fWAR. As part of the extension he signed with the club in 2019, Acuna is under contract with Atlanta through 2026, with a pair of club options for 2027 and 2028.

After his injury, Atlanta made a series of trades to totally remake their outfield, acquiring Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall, Eddie Rosario and Jorge Soler. Those four helped the club surge to an NL East title and into the NLCS, where they currently hold a 2-0 series lead over the Dodgers. However, three out of those four are heading into free agency in a few weeks, with Duvall the only one still under team control for 2022, meaning that Acuna’s status is incredibly important for the team’s plans going forward. (Pederson has a mutual option, which rarely ends up being exercised by both parties. Duvall also has a mutual option but can be retained via arbitration if the option is not picked up.) If the outlook continues along the trajectory Acuna laid out, it bodes very well for both the club and the sport.

Padres Expected To Interview Mike Shildt; Not Planning To Interview Ron Washington

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10:16PM: The Padres do intend to speak with Shildt “are still investigating exactly why he was let go in St. Louis,” Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.  Acee also adds that San Diego isn’t planning to interview Braves third base coach Ron Washington, who was rumored to be on the Padres’ radar last week.

9:59PM: Mike Shildt might not be out of a job for long, as The Athletic’s Dennis Lin and Brittany Ghiroli (Twitter link) report that the Padres are looking to interview Shildt for their managerial vacancy.  After being fired by the Cardinals just three days ago, Shildt enters a market thin on dugout openings, as the Mets and Padres are currently the only other big league clubs looking for a new manager.

However, Shildt does fit the mold of what the Padres have reportedly been focusing on, as all of the names linked to the search thus far have been experienced Major League managers.  While team chairman Peter Seidler said the Padres wouldn’t necessarily only be looking at former managers, this seems to be the initial direction in what might still be the early days of their search.

Keeping an open mind about candidates is always a good idea since a team never knows what new candidates might suddenly emerge…including Shildt, who seemed as safe as any manager in baseball after leading the Cardinals to a 90-win season.  Since taking over from Mike Matheny in July 2018, Shildt posted a 252-199 record in his tenure in St. Louis, taking the Cards to the postseason in each of the last three years.  After reaching the NLCS in 2019, the Cardinals haven’t made it beyond the initial playoff round, falling to the Dodgers in the wild card game and losing to (ironically) the Padres in the expanded 2020 postseason’s 2020 wild card series.

Details still aren’t exactly clear on the “philosophical differences” (in the words of St. Louis president of baseball operations John Mozeliak) that led to Shildt’s dismissal, though it isn’t surprising that the Padres would want to speak with a manager with Shildt’s recent track record.  Since all of Shildt’s experience in pro baseball has come with the Cardinals, he doesn’t have any past connection with Padres president of baseball ops A.J. Preller, thought that also might not be a prerequisite for any hiring.  Considering how Preller’s close friendship with former manager Jayce Tingler may have played a role in San Diego’s reported clubhouse tension over the season’s final weeks, it could benefit the Padres to hire a manager perceived by the players as having some distance from the front office.

MLB To Require Teams To Provide Housing For Minor Leaguers

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Beginning in the 2022 season, Major League Baseball will require all 30 teams to provide housing for all minor league players, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports.  The owners agreed to the decision via unanimous vote last month, though details of the plan are still being worked out, such as whether the teams will have to directly provide the housing, or if players’ stipends will be increased with more money to be specifically directed towards renting or other accommodations.

Today’s news is both welcome and overdue, considering that the conditions faced by most minor league players has been a subject of controversy in recent years, especially since those conditions worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Several reporters (including ESPN’s Joon Lee, Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper, and The Athletic’s Sam Blum) and several past and present minor leaguers have illustrated the meager salaries paid to most players in the minors, which has subsequently forced many of those players into less-than-ideal living situations.  This has a snowball effect on a player’s diet, sleep, ability to properly train, and their mental health in general, leaving it difficult for many prospects to even live their lives normally, let alone focus on developing their baseball skills.

Some teams have already taken steps to improve the environments of their minor league players, whether it through increased stipends for food or lodging, improved minor league facilities, or (as the Astros implemented for their prospects this year) fully furnished housing arranged and paid for by the club.  The league-wide mandate, however, will put standards in place for all 30 teams to follow.

Injury Notes: Turner, Muncy, Garcia, Meyers

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Justin Turner isn’t in the starting lineup for Game 2 of the NLCS, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the third baseman is battling a neck stinger.  “He couldn’t turn his head to the right,” Roberts told MLB.com’s Juan Toribio and other reporters.  “Justin will do anything we ask, but I just don’t think it’s right to put him in that spot, and for us as a club, I think we have other options also.”  Chris Taylor will instead get the start at third base in Turner’s spot.

The injury first occurred during batting practice prior to Game 1, though Turner was well enough to play and went 1-for-4 in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Braves.  Roberts hopes Monday’s off-day will allow Turner to be ready for Game 3 on Tuesday, and Turner might only be used today in an emergency pinch-hit scenario.  Turner has yet to get going this postseason, as his hit in Game 1 was just his third of the playoffs; the veteran has only a .381 OPS through 30 plate appearances.

More injury notes from the postseason bracket…

  • Max Muncy updated reporters (including Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register) yesterday on the status of his dislocated left elbow.  While “the range of motion has actually been pretty decent the last couple days [and] we’re able to get more movement in it than we thought,” Muncy admitted that “it’s just one of those things where it’s not really close to normal and probably won’t be.  If we’re able to play, it’ll be essentially gutting through.”  Muncy said he has been participating in some unspecified rehab that may or may not be baseball activity-related, though he is also wearing a brace on his left arm at almost all times, even while sleeping.  The Dodgers didn’t include Muncy on their NLCS roster and it remains to be seen if he can be healthy enough to participate in the World Series, should Los Angeles get past the Braves.
  • Right knee discomfort forced Luis Garcia out of yesterday’s ALCS Game 2 in the second inning, though the Astros right-hander appears to have avoided serious injury.  Manager Dusty Baker told FOX 26’s Mark Berman (Twitter links) and other reporters that Garcia threw a bullpen session today, and the righty himself said “I feel really good, and I think whenever they say it’s time for me to get back on the mound I’ll be good to go.”  It isn’t known when Garcia might be able to pitch again, or if he’d be used in a starting or a relief capacity.  Garcia only threw 33 pitches in Game 2, but was also torched for five runs on three walks and two hits, including a J.D. Martinez grand slam.
  • Baker also told Berman and other media that Jake Meyers was throwing today, and the outfielder is doing better in the wake of his left shoulder injury from Game 4 of the ALDS.  Meyers collided with the outfield wall in pursuit of a Gavin Sheets home run and had to leave the field in the second inning.  The Astros included Meyers on their ALCS roster though he has yet to make an appearance against the Red Sox.

Details On The Cardinals’ Firing Of Mike Shildt

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The Cardinals surprised the baseball world when they parted ways with manager Mike Shildt on Thursday, and speculation has only grown about the situation in the subsequent days.  President of baseball operations John Mozeliak cited “philosophical differences” as the reason for the firing, declining to discuss specifics and instead telling reporters (including The Athletic’s Katie Woo) that “where we felt the team was going, we were struggling to get on the same page.  We just decided internally that it would just be best to separate now and then take a fresh look as we enter the new season.”

According to Woo, tensions began to grow between Mozeliak and Shildt around midseason, when the Cardinals were still hanging around the NL Central race but struggling to stay above .500.  Other factors contributing to the rift may have included the Cardinals’ lack of major moves at the trade deadline, the front office’s desire to incorporate more analytics into the team’s day-to-day operations, and “growing controversy between Shildt and his coaching staff over his leadership tactics and communication.”

Shildt will release his first public statement about his firing tomorrow, though he did send a text message to Woo discussing some of these reported issues.  There is “no merit” to the idea of discord with the coaches, Shildt said, though as for the other factors cited, “There is merit (to those factors) but not the entire picture.”

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch adds another possible factor to the list, perhaps based around how “The Cardinal Way” has long been a backbone of the organization’s practices.  “Internally, there had been concern about the absence and ongoing leak of Cardinals-rooted presences,” Goold writes, with some internal dismay over what one source described as “losing tradition” to other clubs.

This stance does seem curious in regards to a managerial change, however, considering that Shildt was himself a longstanding member of the organization.  Shildt was first hired by the Cards as a scout in 2004, and he worked his way up the ladder with various minor league managerial and coaching roles before joining the big league coaching staff in 2017, and then becoming interim manager partway through the 2018 season.

As shocking as Thursday’s firing seemed, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweeted that rival officials had heard around the middle of August that Shildt’s job could be in jeopardy.  St. Louis was still only one game over .500 (69-68) as late as September 7, and though at that point, the Cardinals caught fire.  A team-record 17-game winning streak fueled a 21-4 run over the remainder of the regular season, earning the Cards a berth in the NL wild card game.  Late-season surges were a common theme in all of Shildt’s three-plus seasons as manager, beginning when the Cardinals went 41-28 after his hiring in 2018.

Coaches and veteran Cardinals players declined comment to Goold about the Shildt firing, though Yadier Molina did speak to reporters in Puerto Rico yesterday, saying the news “took me by surprise…We had very good communication.  We went to the playoffs three times in four years.  Maybe there was some problem between him and the management.  I can’t give you reasons, but from what I know inside the clubhouse, there wasn’t any kind of problem.”

Looking For The Next Marlins Catcher

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In a recent post, I looked at some potential landing spots for Willson Contreras, should the Cubs decide to move him. A few commenters expressed surprise that the Marlins weren’t on the list. While it’s true that Miami could use a new backstop, and has been rumored to have interest in Contreras in the past, my logic for leaving them off the list was that I expect they will target a catcher with more control than Contreras, who would be a pure rental. While it’s possible they could trade for Contreras and then sign him to an extension, that wouldn’t be cheap, especially for a club that has been stripping payroll down in recent years. It seems more likely that they will target a catcher that matches their current core.

With Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bryan De La Cruz, Jesus Sanchez, Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez, Jesus Luzardo and others, the club has a solid core of players that are between the ages of 23 and 27, and all come with at least three years of control. They also have five prospects on both the MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs Top 100, as well as six on Baseball America’s list. The club has everything in place to open a competitive window soon, but after going 67-95 in 2021, it’s probably too soon to be going after a win-now piece like Contreras.

In the first few months of 2021, most of Miami’s playing time behind the plate went to Jorge Alfaro, Sandy Leon and Chad Wallach. With none of those three locking down the job, the club acquired a couple of catchers at the trade deadline, trading Adam Duvall to Atlanta for Alex Jackson as well as sending John Curtiss to Milwaukee for Payton Henry. Down the stretch, Jackson was given 30 starts as a catcher and Henry got five, but neither did enough to secure the position. Nick Fortes played better than both of them, but in a small sample of just 14 games that doesn’t align with his minor league track record. The position still seems to be wide open with the club looking for outside upgrades, as manager Don Mattingly admitted when discussing the situation a few weeks ago. But since there’s a weak free agent class and the Marlins have about a dozen viable starting pitchers, there should be plenty of avenues for trade discussions this winter. Let’s dig into some options.

Blue Jays: The Canadian birds are loaded with young, cheap, controllable catchers, with varying degrees of appeal. Danny Jansen is entering his age-27 season, which will be his first of three arbitration years. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz recently projected his salary will be a modest $1.5MM. He dealt with various injuries in 2021 and only got into 70 games, but hit 11 home runs in that time and slashed .223/299/.473, producing a wRC of 105 and 1.4 fWAR. Reese McGuire got a lot of playing time when Jansen was hurt, getting into 78 games and hitting .253/.310/.343, for a wRC+ of 78 and 1.3 fWAR. He’ll turn 27 in March, has just over two years of service time and is therefore one season away from arbitration and four away from free agency. Alejandro Kirk also spent some time on the IL and only got into 60 games. He hit .242/.328/.436 for a wRC+ of 106 and 0.7 fWAR. He’ll turn 23 in November and has five years of team control remaining. On top of those three MLB-ready options, the club also has one of the best catching prospects in the majors in Gabriel Moreno. Baseball America lists him as the 8th overall prospect and the second-highest catcher, behind only Adley Rutschman. MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs both have him as the 32nd overall prospect. Though he hasn’t reached the big leagues yet, he finished 2021 at Triple-A and will be appearing in this year’s Arizona Fall League. With the Blue Jays losing Robbie Ray and Steven Matz to free agency, they could perhaps part with one of these catchers in exchange for one of the dozen or so starting pitchers that the Marlins have to offer.

Atlanta: Travis d’Arnaud recently signed an extension, agreeing to stay in Atlanta through at least 2023, with a club option for 2024. With d’Arnaud seemingly lined up to be the go-to catcher for the next few years, that could put a squeeze on some of the other options in the organization. William Contreras is still a few months away from his 24th birthday but has gotten into 56 big-league games already. In that time, he’s hit .225/.308/.405, for a wRC+ of 89. He has six years of team control remaining. Waiver claim Chadwick Tromp is on hand as a depth option. And then there’s Shea Langeliers, the club’s best catching prospect. Baseball America ranks him the 68th best overall prospect in baseball, MLB Pipeline has him 69th, and FanGraphs ranks him 52nd. He played most of this season at Double-A and even got into five Triple-A games. Despite already trading Alex Jackson to Miami a few months ago, they might be able to do line up on another deal.

Tigers: Eric Haase had a breakout campaign in 2021, his age-28 season. In 98 games, he bopped 22 homers and produced an overall line of .231/.286/.429, wRC+ of 100 and 1.0 fWAR. He has five years of team control remaining. Jake Rogers was enjoying a nice breakout before an injury shut him down, eventually leading to Tommy John surgery, which will keep him out for at least part of the 2022 campaign. In 38 games in 2021 before the injury, he hit .239/.306/.496, wRC+ of 115 and 1.0 fWAR. He also has five years of team control remaining. The club also has Dustin Garneau and Grayson Greiner on hand, who both made decent contributions in their limited action in 2021. There’s also the Dillon Dingler factor, as the prospect finished the season at Double-A. FanGraphs lists him as the 73rd-best prospect in baseball. Given all these competent options, they could subtract someone and still feel good about their situation behind the plate. Perhaps Miami would be willing to take on Rogers and give Alex Jackson a chance to prove himself until Rogers is healthy. Although they’ve been in rebuild mode for a few years, it seems like the Tigers will attempt to return to contention in 2022. They have lots of intriguing young arms but lost Wily Peralta to free agency and may not get anything from Spencer Turnbull or Matthew Boyd next year because of injuries. One of those Miami arms would make a great fit in Detroit.

Padres: The Friars have a couple of adequate catchers in the majors, Victor Caratini and Austin Nola. Caratini had a down year in 2021 but still has passable numbers of the past few campaigns. From 2019 to 2021, his overall line is .244/.327/.368, wRC+ of 86. 2022 will be his second of three arbitration years, with MLBTR projecting a salary of $2.1MM for the 28-year-old. Nola, on the other hand, is still a year away from arbitration and has four years of team control remaining. In 183 games over the past three seasons, his slash line is .271/.345/.435, for a wRC+ of 114 and 4.2 fWAR. And the picture gets crowded when we consider Luis Campusano. He’s ranked as the 32nd prospect in baseball by Baseball America, 37th by MLB Pipeline and 15th by FanGraphs. The 23-year-old has already had a cup of coffee at the majors, getting into 12 games for San Diego. Since they are running franchise-record payrolls of late, trading a catcher could be a way to upgrade their roster without breaking the bank.

Twins: Even with a terrible showing in the shortened 2020 campaign, Mitch Garver is still on a solid four-year run for the Twins. From 2018-2021, his line is .259/.344/.501, wRC+ of 125 and 6.3 fWAR. He has two seasons of team control remaining and is projected by MLBTR to earn $3.1MM in arbitration next year. Ryan Jeffers had a solid debut in 2020, but took a bit of a step backward in 2021. However, he’s still only 24 years old and comes with five years of control. His overall slash line between 2020 and 2021 is .221/.285/.407, producing a wRC+ of 88 and 1.1 fWAR in 111 games. They also have Ben Rortvedt on hand, who made his debut in 2021. He didn’t show much with the bat, but it was a small sample size of 39 games, and he has much better offensive numbers in the minors. He just turned 24 and has six years of team control remaining. He’s also left-handed, with Garver and Jeffers both being righties. 2021 was an awful campaign for the Twins but all indicators suggest they’re hoping to immediately return to competing in 2022. The rotation lost Jose Berrios to trade, Michael Pineda to free agency and Kenta Maeda to injury, leaving plenty of room for a new acquisition.

Pirates: Pittsburgh hopes that its catcher of the future is Henry Davis, which is why they selected him first overall in the 2021 MLB draft. Baseball America ranks him as the 44th best prospect in baseball, MLB Pipeline 22nd and FanGraphs 27th. He’s likely still a few years away from reaching the big leagues, but the Pirates aren’t expected to compete in the interim. They could easily subtract someone like Jacob Stallings and sign a cheap veteran to take his place. Stallings turns 32 in December and has three years of club control remaining. As a Super Two player, he’s already gone through arbitration once, making $1.3MM in 2021. MLBTR projects he will double that to $2.6MM for 2022. He generally hits just below league average but adds value with his excellent defense. For instance, his 2021 slash line was .246/.335/.369, for a wRC+ of 95. But because of his defensive contributions, he was worth 2.6 fWAR on the year, which was double his previous best. One of the worst teams in baseball this season, the Pirates will be looking to stockpile as much young talent as they can in order to return to contention.

White Sox: Yasmani Grandal is entrenched as the primary catcher for the Pale Hose as he still has two years left on his contract. Yermin Mercedes had a tantalizing showing with the bat at the start of the season, but got squeezed out of playing time and eventually optioned down to the minors. Even when Grandal was on the injured list, the playing time went primarily to Seby Zavala and Zack Collins. In 68 games at the big-league level this year, Mercedes hit .271/.328/.404, for a wRC+ of 102. In 59 Triple-A games, the production was similar, as he slashed .275/.318/.464, wRC+ of 106. There was some scuttlebutt that Mercedes was unhappy with the organization, and he even briefly retired in July, only to quickly return. Perhaps a change of scenery would be beneficial to all parties. Mercedes will turn 29 in February but has six years of team control remaining. The White Sox have a solid rotation but will be losing Carlos Rodon to free agency.

Diamondbacks: Similar to the Pirates, the Diamondbacks are coming off a terrible year and probably considering any veteran-for-prospect arrangement they can find. Carson Kelly is coming off his first of four arbitration seasons as a Super Two player, just like the aforementioned Jacob Stallings. However, Kelly is much younger, as he just turned 27 in July. He made $1.7MM in 2021 and is projected by MLBTR to make $3MM in 2022, with two years of team control after that. Over his three seasons in the desert, he’s hit .239/.333/.435, for a wRC+ of 99 and 3.8 fWAR.

Mariners: The Mariners have a bit of a crowd behind the plate. Tom Murphy is the most experienced of the bunch, as he has just over four years’ service time. Luis Torrens had a nice season in 2021, his age-25 campaign. He hit 15 homers and slashed .243/.299/.431 for a wRC+ of 101. He has four years of team control remaining. Cal Raleigh made his MLB debut in 2021. Although he didn’t hit much, he’s only 24 years old and has a better offensive track record in the minors. He’ll turn 25 in November and has six years of team control remaining. They also have Jose Godoy on hand as a depth option. The rotation will be without Tyler Anderson next year, as he heads to free agency. There’s also the giant unanswered question of Yusei Kikuchi, who had a great first half but slumped bad enough in the second half to lose his rotation spot. With famously trade-happy president like Jerry Dipoto, perhaps a catching-for-pitching swap could be discussed here.

Giants: Not so long ago, it didn’t seem there was any chance of the Giants picking up their $22MM club option on Buster Posey for 2022. But then 2021 happened. After sitting out the 2020 season, Posey showed didn’t show any rust. In fact, it seemed to rejuvenate him. His slash line on the season was .304/.390/.499, producing a wRC+ of 140, his highest such mark since 2014. Now it seems almost impossible for the club to turn that option down. That means that prospect Joey Bart is blocked for another year. He’s already seen his name floated in trade rumors before, and there was even a false report that he was part of the Kris Bryant trade. But he’s still in the Giants organization for now. Baseball America ranks him the 39th best prospect in baseball, MLB Pipeline 16th and FanGraphs 55th. He’s already gotten a cup of coffee at the majors and comes with six years of club control. He turns 25 years old in December.

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