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AL East Notes: Angelos, Elias, Maybin

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In his first press conference since naming Mike Elias GM in November 2018, Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos — the eldest son of longtime O’s owner and Baltimore stalwart Peter Angelos — addressed several topics of note, including the ongoing lockout, the club’s confidence in Elias and manager Brandon Hyde, and the future of Oriole Park at Camden Yards (per Dan Connolly of The Athletic). The younger Angelos didn’t announce anything concrete at the conference (aside from plans to host Paul McCartney at Camden Yards in June, while the Orioles are on the road), but he did discuss ongoing negotiations with the Maryland Stadium Authority regarding a long-term lease on the stadium that would see it used more frequently as a concert venue. The club’s current lease on Camden Yards — long considered the jewel of the ’90s and ’00s “retro” ballpark era, as well as one of the most affordable for fans — runs through 2023.

Angelos, a known advocate for increased revenue sharing and a robust competitive balance tax, officially took over day-to-day operation of the club in 2019 (alongside his brother Louis) and assumed his current titles in 2020. He didn’t break any news with regard to CBA negotiations but did express optimism that the season would start on time; the Orioles are slated to host the Blue Jays on March 31st. He also gave a fairly direct vote of confidence to both Elias and Hyde, saying that “all news is good” as the team — which has one of the best farm systems in the game but one of the weakest big-league rosters — begins to emerge from a half-decade rebuild.

Other news from around the AL East:

  • Speaking after Angelos at the same press conference, Orioles GM Mike Elias expressed excitement to get the season started but declined to discuss roster plans, saying only that “we’ll get into talking about roster composition when the time is right” (via Roch Kubatko of MASN). He did acknowledge, however, that the club’s infield plans remain very much in flux, with only first base (where Trey Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle will likely share time, presuming Mancini isn’t traded) and perhaps second (the O’s signed Rougned Odor to a one-year deal just ahead of the lockout) settled at this point. Elias and manager Brandon Hyde will bring a slew of minor-league left-side infield options to camp (third baseman Gunnar Henderson headlines the bunch in a system that’s stacked at just about every position), though only Terrin Vavra and Jahmai Jones are likely to compete for an Opening Day roster spot; Joseph Ortiz and Cadyn Grenier could also see time in the bigs at some point in 2022. As things stand, Kelvin Gutierrez (acquired in a July trade with the Royals last year) is likely in pole position to open the season at the hot corner, with Jones and Ramon Urias (a 2020 waiver claim from the Cardinals) set to duke it out at short.
  • Highly regarded fifteen-year big-league veteran Cameron Maybin, the tenth overall pick by the Tigers in the 2005 draft, will join the YES Network in 2022, reports Jack Curry of YES. The well-traveled outfield stalwart is expected to join the Yankees booth for about 40 games, where he’ll serve as as an analyst for his 2019 club. Maybin, who headlined the deal that sent Miguel Cabrera to Detroit in December 2007, appeared in nine games for the Mets last year, logging an .036/.182/.036 line in 33 trips to the plate. For his career, he slashed a much more palatable .254/.323/.374 while providing steady glovework in the outfield, primarily in center. Maybin announced his retirement via tweet in January.

MLB: Spring Training Games Postponed Until At Least March 5

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Major League Baseball announced Friday that Spring Training games will not begin until at least March 5. A delay to the start of Spring Training was a foregone conclusion amid the ongoing labor strife between the league and the players association, but today’s announcement now makes the delayed schedule official.

“We regret that, without a collective bargaining agreement in place, we must postpone the start of Spring Training games until no earlier than Saturday, March 5th,” MLB said in a statement. “All 30 clubs are unified in their strong desire to bring players back to the field and fans back to the stands. The Clubs have adopted a uniform policy that provides an option for full refunds for fans who have purchased tickets from the Clubs to any Spring Training games that are not taking place.”

There’s no clear timetable for when the two parties might reach a resolution. Headway of any kind has been nonexistent to this point, with yesterday’s meeting between MLB and the MLBPA reportedly lasting just 15 minutes. The league confirmed in today’s statement, however, that the parties will be back at the table on Monday and expect to negotiate daily throughout the week.

“We are committed to reaching an agreement that is fair to each side,” MLB’s statement reads. “On Monday, members of the owners’ bargaining committee will join an in-person meeting with the Players Association and remain every day next week to negotiate and work hard towards starting the season on time.”

Daily meetings between the two sides next week would be the closest thing to urgency displayed since the lockout was implemented on Dec. 2. Commissioner Rob Manfred described the lockout as a means of “jumpstarting” negotiations, but the league then waited more than six weeks to send a counteroffer to the union. In total, since the lockout was implemented more than 11 weeks ago, the two parties have had a reported six in-person meetings. Meeting on a daily basis next week nearly doubles that total.

Fans, of course, have rightly expressed considerable frustration with the lack of progress and, perhaps even more confounding, the lack of actual negotiating between the two parties. The delay to the beginning of the spring schedule is the clearest indicator yet of a legitimate possibility that regular-season games will be lost to the discord. Manfred last week called the potential for lost regular-season games a “disastrous outcome for the industry” before expressing optimism that Opening Day would take place on March 31, as scheduled.

Manfred added that the league would “ideally” like to get in a four-week Spring Training, though the chances of that appear slim. An agreement would likely need to be reached at some point next week, which would then give teams and players a week (or a bit more) to report to camp and gear up for games beginning on or around the March 5 date cited in today’s announcement. Even that would leave clubs with a bit shy of four weeks of exhibition games, but a March 5 kickoff for Cactus League and Grapefruit League play would ultimately “only” result in about a week’s worth of lost spring contests. Spring Training games had been scheduled to commence on Feb. 26. Pitchers and catchers were scheduled to begin reporting to camp this week.

The MLBPA issued the following statement in response to the league’s announcement:

“MLB announced today that it ’must’ postpone the start of spring training games. This is false. Nothing requires the league to delay the start of spring training, much like nothing required the league’s decision to implement the lockout in the first place. Despite these decisions by the league, Players remain committed to the negotiating process.”

Frank Herrmann Joins Blue Jays’ Front Office

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Former big league reliever Frank Herrmann recently joined the Blue Jays’ front office, as first reported by David Laurila of FanGraphs (on Twitter). He’ll split his time between the scouting, player development and baseball operations departments.

Herrmann, 37, appeared in parts of four big league seasons. He spent the 2010-12 campaigns with the Indians, where his time as a player overlapped with Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro’s and general manager Ross Atkins’ stints in the Cleveland front office. The right-hander spent the next couple seasons in Triple-A but returned to the bigs in 2016, making 14 appearances with the Phillies.

Over 135 1/3 MLB innings, Herrmann pitched to a 4.72 ERA. He only punched out 14.8% of batters faced but threw plenty of strikes (5.8% walk rate). After the 2016 campaign, Herrmann made the move to Japan. He signed with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball. He’d spend three years with the Eagles before catching on with the Chiba Lotte Marines, where he closed out his playing career with a final two seasons.

Herrmann was a productive reliever in NPB. Over his five seasons, he worked to a 3.02 ERA. That mark is inflated a bit by a 5.19 figure he posted last year, but Herrmann put up an ERA of 3.04 or lower in each of his first four seasons in Japan. A Harvard graduate, he’ll now transition to his post-playing days. Herrmann brings 16 years of professional playing experience to his role in Toronto’s baseball ops.

Showalter: Mets Not Ruling Out Possibility Of Adding To The Outfield

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The Mets were one of the league’s most active teams before the lockout, and a significant portion of their early-offseason work came in the outfield. Just hours after agreeing to terms with corner outfielder Mark Canha on a two-year deal, the Mets reached an accord with center fielder Starling Marte on a four-year pact.

Despite that ample activity, new manager Buck Showalter said he and general manager Billy Eppler haven’t ruled out the possibility of further additions. “[The outfield] is something we have talked about, where we are,” Showalter told reporters (including Mike Puma of the New York Post) at New York’s minor league camp this afternoon. “We are on the same page with everything where that is concerned. It’s a scenario that we are examining to see if we feel comfortable with it. We’re always going to look within first.”

That’s obviously well short of a declaration that the Mets definitely will add outfield help whenever the transactions freeze concludes. Yet it’s notable they’re at least keeping that door open despite plenty of in-house options. Canha seems the presumptive favorite for work in left field, while Marte looks likely to play center field. That’d push Brandon Nimmo to right, although the Mets incumbent center fielder doesn’t seem enamored with that alignment.

Speaking with Tim Healey of Newsday this week, Nimmo suggested he’d prefer to remain in center field. The 28-year-old pointed out that public metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average both graded him as a plus there last season. It was Nimmo’s best defensive performance in the estimation of those statistics, and a marked improvement over his -5 DRS and -4 OAA from 2020. Nimmo suggested that uptick is evidence that “if you give me information, if you allow me to make the adjustments, I will give it everything I got. I was very, very proud of the difference in the numbers from ’20 to ’21 and doing what they asked me to do and improving there.”

Nimmo, who is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility, also acknowledged to Healey that playing center field could be an added bonus as he’s on track to hit free agency next winter. The former first-round pick said he’d be open to discussing an extension with the Mets after the lockout but said the team and his representatives at the Boras Corporation hadn’t begun those discussions in the first stages of the offseason.

Whether the Mets will oblige Nimmo’s desire to stick in center, of course, remains an open question. He’d have little recourse other to play a corner outfield spot if the Mets penciled him into the lineup there, and he tells Healey he’s willing to do whatever the team asks anyhow. Yet it’s clear from his comments that Nimmo values the opportunity to continue playing up the middle, so Showalter and his staff will need to determine how they want to arrange that group on a regular basis. Marte was an excellent left fielder earlier in his career, but he’s not started a single game outside of center since 2017. There’s little doubt he could successfully readapt to a corner spot if necessary, but the Mets may prefer their defensive alignment with Marte up the middle and Nimmo in a corner.

As Showalter suggested today, there’s also the possibility of additional changes from a personnel perspective. New York could look into further free agent or trade pickups, although it seems likelier those would be of a depth variety given the moves they’ve already made. The Mets also have a trio of high-profile trade candidates with corner outfield experience. Each of Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith has played left or right field in years past. They’d presumably be options to see some time out there again, but the Mets could look to move one or more members of that group after the lockout.

Yankees Notes: Judge, LeMahieu, Bowman

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Aaron Judge is headed into his final year of arbitration eligibility, with the slugging outfielder on track to be one of next offseason’s top free agents. Judge, who’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $17.1MM salary, has expressed openness in the past to working out a long-term deal with the Yankees and avoiding the free market altogether.

Judge recently reiterated his willingness to sign an extension, although he didn’t sound as though he felt any pressure to get a deal done. In an appearance on Ryan Ruocco’s and C.C. Sabathia’s R2C2 podcast, the 29-year-old was asked about the possibility of signing a long-term deal. “If we get an extension done at some point before the season starts, that’d be great,” Judge replied. “I’d be completely honored to be able to wear pinstripes for a couple more years. But if it doesn’t happen and this is my last year, I had a lot of great memories. … It’s all in God’s hands. It’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to.”

Judge didn’t explicitly state he’d be unwilling to negotiate an extension in-season, although some fans may read his mention of “before the season starts” as an implication he’d prefer to avoid talks dragging into the regular campaign. In any event, it seems likely the Yankees front office will open talks with his representatives at PSI Sports Management at some point between the end of the lockout and Opening Day. Earlier this offseason, general manager Brian Cashman suggested the front office was interested in the possibility of keeping Judge from hitting the open market.

Some more Yankees tidbits:

  • DJ LeMahieu underwent sports hernia surgery shortly after the season, but it doesn’t seem that’ll have much of an effect in 2022. LeMahieu told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News that he rehabbed for a few weeks before returning to batting practice. The 2020 batting champ should be a full-go for Spring Training, whenever that begins. LeMahieu quipped to Ackert that he could be ready for the regular season within two days but more seriously opined that a four-week ramp-up period will be necessary. Whenever games get underway, LeMahieu will be looking to bounce back from an uncharacteristically ordinary showing. He hit just ten home runs across 679 plate appearances last year, with his .268/.349/.362 line checking in as exactly league average output by measure of wRC+. That’s far from the excellent .336/.386/.536 mark he put up from 2019-20, form he’ll obviously hope to recapture this year.
  • Minor league Spring Training is underway, with players not on teams’ 40-man rosters unaffected by the ongoing lockout. Former Cardinals and Reds reliever Matt Bowman isn’t currently a union member, as he’s in camp with the Yankees on a non-roster deal. Bowman, who underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2020, signed a two-year minors contract with the Yankees last offseason. After spending all of 2021 rehabbing, he’s fully recovered and in minor league camp, writes Dan Martin of the New York Post. Bowman logged 181 1/3 frames of relief between 2017-20, pitching to a 4.02 ERA/3.86 SIERA. Whenever the lockout concludes, the right-hander will try to carve out a middle innings job in the Yankees bullpen.

Mets Add Danny Barnes To Major League Coaching Staff

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The Mets have hired former Blue Jays right-hander Danny Barnes as an assistant coach on the Major League staff, manager Buck Showalter announced to reporters Friday (Twitter link via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Barnes, 32, will have a broad-reaching role in the newly created coaching position, Showalter added.

“He’s played in the big leagues, knows his way around the major league locker room,” Showalter said (link via Danny Abriano of SNY). “…We didn’t get too titled up. … He can do a little bit of everything.”

A 35th-round draft pick of the Blue Jays back in 2010, Barnes reached the Majors in 2016, tossing 13 2/3 innings while yielding six runs on 14 hits and five walks with 14 punchouts. He was a regular member of the Toronto the following season — his lone full year at the MLB level. Barnes racked up 66 innings of 3.55 ERA ball and finished off 13 games for the ’17 Jays, but the pendulum swung in the other direction in 2018. In 41 frames that season, Barnes was clobbered for a 5.71 ERA as his strikeout, walk and hard-contact rates all went in the wrong direction.

Barnes became a free agent following the 2019 season and had been set to join the Orioles for the 2020 campaign, but the pandemic-driven shutdown left him in limbo. Barnes wasn’t included in Baltimore’s 60-man player pool during the shortened season and became a free agent again last winter, at which point he signed on with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. Barnes tossed 16 1/3 solid frames for the Ducks in 2021, but it seems he’ll now transition into the next phase of his baseball career.

In parts of three big league seasons, Barnes logged 120 2/3 innings with a 4.33 ERA, and he managed a 2.69 ERA in 344 2/3 frames over the course of ten seasons in the minors. He’ll join a Mets coaching staff that already includes a handful of former big leaguers. Jeremy Hefner is slated to return as the team’s pitching coach in 2022 and the Mets tabbed Eric Chavez as their new hitting coach recently as well. Former infielder Joey Cora (third base coach) and outfielder Wayne Kirby (first base coach), both of whom last appeared in the bigs in 1998, were also both hired to the staff over the winter.

Oakland City Council Certifies Environmental Review Of A’s Stadium Plan

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The A’s took another positive step in their quest to build a new stadium in Oakland this week, as Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Oakland City Council voted (six to two) to certify a 3500-page environmental impact review of their Howard Terminal ballpark project.

“We’ve never been this far in terms of making our vision for the waterfront ballpark for the A’s a reality,” A’s president Dave Kaval said following the council vote. “There is still a lot of work to be done. This is an important accomplishment and an important milestone to reach.”

The ballpark’s construction is part of a broader-reaching, $12 billion mixed-use development plan that also includes the construction of ample housing, office space, retail space and hotels in the surrounding area. If eventually approved, the new stadium would give the A’s a waterfront home with a capacity to host roughly 35,000 fans on a nightly basis. It would also finally move the team from the Oakland Coliseum — the last vestige of the once-popular multi-sport facilities that have been phased out across not only Major League Baseball but the majority of North American professional sports.

The city council’s certification of the Howard Terminal EIR was not without its detractors. Ravani writes that concerned citizens and the two councilmembers who voted against certification raised questions about the extent to which the review investigated affordable housing, the impact on port functions, traffic ramifications in the surrounding neighborhoods, the removal of toxic waste, and railroad safety regarding the nearby tracks.

It’s worth emphasizing that the EIR’s certification is just one step toward the project’s ultimate approval. The city will still need to approve the final terms of the project, and an exact timeline toward any such vote remains unclear. Annie Sciacca of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the City of Oakland and the Athletics still need to complete negotiations on key economic principals of the plan, including — among other critical elements — who will fund the infrastructure and how substantial a portion of the proposed housing units will be designated affordable housing. Those negotiations could take months, as could subsequent studies (e.g. a deeper dive into traffic management) that are now slated to follow the EIR. Nevertheless, the A’s and Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf — a proponent of the deal — have touted the EIR certification as a notable victory.

“Tonight’s vote by the City Council was a historic moment for Oakland’s future,” Schaaf said following the vote. “The companion resolution by Councilmembers Bas, Kaplan and Kalb ensures that all Oaklanders will benefit from the proposed waterfront ballpark district, and that a world-class development with 18 acres of new public parks, 3,000 units of housing – including new affordable housing – will get built with the most sustainable and highest environmental standards on our waterfront.

“Tonight’s action is more than a milestone – it’s a giant leap forward in our shared mission to create a regional destination that gives back our waterfront to the public, connects a new vibrant neighborhood to our downtown and provides tens of thousands good union jobs for our residents – and it does it all while keeping our beloved A’s rooted in Oakland.”

Nationals, Logan Verrett Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals are in agreement on a minor league contract with right-hander Logan Verrett, per the team’s official transactions log. He’ll add some additional depth both in the rotation and the bullpen this coming season.

Verrett, 31, has spent parts of three seasons in the Majors, appearing with the Rangers, Mets and Orioles between the 2015-17 seasons. He’s totaled 150 innings at the sport’s top level, working to a 4.62 ERA with a 17.7% strikeout rate, a 9.5% walk rate and a 43.7% ground-ball rate. He also spent the 2018 season with the KBO’s NC Dinos, where he made 29 starts but struggled with a 5.28 ERA in 155 frames.

Most recently, Verrett was with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in 2021, pitching 114 innings of 4.74 ERA ball while showing outstanding command (3.4% walk rate) and a below-average strikeout rate (18.6%). He’s had issues keeping the ball in the yard in the Majors (1.50 HR/9), and that was again an issue for Verrett in Tacoma last season (1.82 HR/9), but that standout walk rate was his lowest since 2012 — his first professional season after being taken by the Mets in the third round of that summer’s draft.

Verrett has appeared in parts of five Triple-A seasons and has a 4.51 ERA through 412 2/3 innings in what has typically been a very hitter-friendly setting. The Nats have plenty of need for some upper-level depth, as their current rotation is lacking in certainty. Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin give them a pair of high-priced, high-profile arms in need of a bounceback in 2022 (Strasburg health-wise, Corbin performance-wise).

Behind that duo is top prospect Josiah Gray, who was acquired in the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner blockbuster last summer. Right-hander Joe Ross is a solid option if healthy, but his 2021 season ended with a slight UCL tear in August (which did not require surgery). Swingmen Erick Fedde and Austin Voth, 2021 minor league signee Josh Rogers, 35-year-old journeyman Paolo Espino and prospect Joan Adon are among the next options up on the 40-man roster, while Jefry Rodriguez gives them another somewhat experienced non-roster invitee to camp. The Nats surely hope that 2020 first-rounder and top prospect Cade Cavalli will be ready sooner than later, but the 23-year-old struggled in six Triple-A starts late last year after breezing through Class-A Advanced and Double-A.

MLB Suggests New CBA Would Need To Be In Place By End Of February To Begin Regular Season On Time; Parties Plan To Meet More Frequently

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Last weekend, Major League Baseball made its most recent collective bargaining proposal to the MLB Players Association. Evan Drellich of the Athletic tweeted at the time that MLB had informed the union of what it viewed as the latest possible date to work out an agreement for the regular season to begin on March 31 as scheduled. This afternoon, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that date as February 28. In the league’s view, if no collective bargaining agreement is in place by the end of February, the regular season start date will have to be pushed back.

It’s not clear whether the MLBPA agrees with that assertion. Perhaps the union thinks a deal could be worked out a few days into March without interruption to the beginning of the season. Yet simple math dictates that a new CBA would need be in place within around two weeks to avoid a delay. Opening Day is scheduled for exactly six weeks from now. Teams will need time to conduct the remainder of their offseasons while players will need some exhibition play to work back into game shape. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last week he viewed four weeks as an appropriate amount of time for Spring Training. Players had a three-week training period during 2020 Summer Camp, and Manfred suggested repeating that process would be insufficient.

MLB could also lift the lockout and allow the games to proceed in the absence of a new CBA. The league certainly isn’t going to take that course of action, though, leaving little time for an agreement if they’re to avoid delays. Manfred expressed optimism about that possibility last week, but the latest developments on the CBA front seem to leave little reason to believe there won’t be some form of delay.

In the week since Manfred met with the media, both MLB and the MLBPA have made one core economics proposal. Each party came away generally dissatisfied with the other’s offer, and the chances of them bridging the still-significant gaps within the next two weeks seem very slim.

With time dwindling, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports (on Twitter) that MLB and the MLBPA are planning to conduct multiple bargaining sessions next week, perhaps meeting every day beginning Monday. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet hears (Twitter link) that MLB has expressed some willingness to move towards the union’s demands on the competitive balance tax and efforts to get players paid earlier in their careers.

Notably, Nicholson-Smith adds in a second tweet that the union has informed the league they’d be unlikely to agree to playoff expansion in 2022 if the regular season were shortened. Expanding the postseason is a key objective for MLB, which would stand to benefit greatly from the ability to market extra games to television partners. The league has sought a 14-team playoff, while the union has expressed a willingness to go to 12 teams. However, Nicholson-Smith’s report indicates there’s some chance the MLBPA will refuse to go beyond 10 postseason teams this year if any regular season games are lost, thereby costing players game checks.

Rockies Sign Zach Neal, Dillon Overton To Minors Deals

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The Rockies have signed right-hander Zach Neal to a minor league contract, according to an announcement from his representatives at MSM (Twitter link). Colorado has also agreed to a minors deal with southpaw Dillon Overton, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com.

Coincidentally, both pitchers have logged their most significant MLB experience to date with the 2016 A’s. Neal tossed 70 innings over 24 appearances (including six starts) that year, working to a 4.24 ERA. That decent run prevention came with a complete dearth of strikeouts, though, as Neal fanned just 9.6% of batters faced. His lack of swing-and-miss caught up to him the following season, and the University of Oklahoma product worked 15 2/3 MLB frames between the A’s and Dodgers over the next two seasons.

Neal made the jump to Japan over the 2018-19 offseason, signing with the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s spent the past three seasons there, posting a cumulative 4.49 ERA in 272 1/3 innings. Neal’s strikeout rate in Japan was still low (12.4%), but he only walked 5.6% of opponents. Neal also demonstrated elite control in his big league time (2% walk rate) and owns a 4.25 ERA over parts of five seasons at Triple-A.

Overton has 47 2/3 big league innings under his belt, appearing with the A’s, Mariners and Padres from 2016-17. He’s been tagged for a 9.13 ERA over that stretch, but he owns a 4.58 mark in four Triple-A campaigns. Also an OU graduate, Overton has a similar profile to that of Neal. He’s only punched out 12.1% of big league opponents but has a minuscule 4.8% career walk rate. The southpaw spent the 2021 campaign with the Rakuten Monkeys of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, pitching to a 3.75 ERA in 57 2/3 innings there.

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