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Archives for February 2023

Manny Machado Set Feb 16 Deadline For Padres Extension Talks; Team Offered Further Five-Years, $105MM

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Manny Machado set the Padres a deadline of February 16 to offer him an extension that would’ve meant he avoided free agency at the end of the 2023 season, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. According to Acee, the Padres made just one offer to Machado two days prior to his deadline, offering to tack on an extra five-years and $105MM to his current deal. That would’ve taken their total commitment to Machado to 15-years, $405MM. Machado is planning to opt out of his contract at the end of the season, and combining the remaining value of Machado’s contract (five-years, $150MM from 2024-28) with this new offer would’ve equated to a ten-year, $255MM deal.

According to Acee’s report, Machado confirmed in a brief interview that in early December he set the Padres a deadline of February 16  because “I just wanted to focus on baseball. So once the season started, I didn’t want to really continue talking about contracts or the business side of things. I just want to focus on my team and the guys in here and what our goal is — to win a championship. So (Thursday) was our deadline, and after that it was just focus on baseball, going out there and winning.” Machado’s interview also confirmed that he received just the one offer from San Diego, but did not confirm the terms reported.

Machado’s current ten-year, $300MM deal runs through the 2028 season, but contains a player opt out at the end of 2023. Machado confirmed just yesterday his intentions to exercise that clause and opt out of the remaining five-years, $150MM on his deal. That should come as no surprise, as Machado has been one of the game’s best players in recent seasons and at 30 is both young enough and good enough to earn a long term deal far surpassing what was remaining on his current contract.

While his 2023 season will naturally play a significant part in Machado’s market next winter, there certainly seems a strong case for him to pick up a bigger deal than the ten-year, $255MM deal the Padres have effectively offered him here. Machado’s been worth 11.7 fWAR over the past two seasons and has four career 6+ fWAR seasons. Compare that to his new team mate Xander Bogaerts, who inked an 11-year, $280MM deal with San Diego this winter. Bogaerts is a fine player, but he’s been worth 10.5 fWAR over the past two seasons and 2022 was his lone 6+ fWAR season. Of course, fWAR is not the determining factor in contract negotiations, but it serves as a relevant data point to consider why Machado might see himself as worth more on the open market than ten-years, $255MM.

Machado’s resume to date is nothing short of stellar. An MVP runner up in 2022, Machado has six All Star appearances, five top-five MVP finishes, two Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger to his name thus far. He’s a threat on both sides of the ball, as evidenced by his career 124 wRC+ and 97 Defensive Runs Saved at third base.

With Machado’s deadline now passed, it appears likelier than ever that he’ll hit the open market at the end of the season. As the likely top free agent not named Shohei Ohtani next winter, Machado seems a good chance to become the first ever player to sign multiple $300MM contracts in his career.

Rangers Sign Dominic Leone To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have added right-hander Dominic Leone on a minor league deal, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Leone will receive an invite to spring training. Leone is represented by Frye McCann Sports.

The 31-year-old is coming off a season in which he pitched 49 1/3 innings for the Giants, working to a 4.01 ERA. That mark came with a 23.4% strikeout rate and a 10.8% walk rate.

Originally taken in the 16th round of the 2012 draft by the Mariners, Leone, like a lot of relievers, has had an up-and-down career, scattering in some quality seasons with a few poor ones as well. He burst onto the scene with Seattle in 2014, working to a 2.17 ERA over 66 1/3 frames, but followed that up with a combined 8.40 ERA for Seattle and Arizona in 2015. 2016 saw his ERA at 6.33 for the Diamondbacks, before he put in an elite 2.56 ERA over 70 1/3 innings for the Blue Jays.

That season with the Blue Jays was enough for the Cardinals to part with Randal Grichuk to acquire Leone and Connor Greene. Yet Leone’s struggles would return in St Louis, and he’d own a 5.15 ERA over three seasons there. He’d struggle in a subsequent season with the Guardians, before bouncing back with an excellent debut campaign with the Giants in 2021. That year, Leone would work to a 1.51 ERA over 53 2/3 innings.

All told, Leone owns a career 3.69 ERA over 356 innings across parts of nine big league seasons. There’s not a lot to be taken from his career average given the volatility of his performance, but it’s clear there’s also still a bit of upside there. In Texas, Leone will reunite with some familiar faces, having worked with pitching coach Mike Maddux in St Louis, as well as Chris Young in Seattle.

Cardinals Win Arbitration Case Against Genesis Cabrera

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The Cardinals have won their arbitration case against Genesis Cabrera, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He’ll now take home $950K in 2023, rather than the $1.15MM he filed for.

The left-hander had a down year in 2022, working to a 4.63 ERA across 44 2/3 frames for St Louis. Cabrera saw his strikeout rate crater to just 16.5%, and his home run rate increase by 3.1 percentage points.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic, Cabrera first appeared in the big leagues in 2019, but it was the following season that he really showed his promise. That year, Cabrera tossed 22 1/3 innings of 2.42 ERA ball, combining an impressive 33.3% strikeout rate with a 16.7% walk rate. He fell back a little in 2021, but still posted a solid 3.73 ERA over 70 frame, picking up 28 holds in the process as the Cards afforded him more high leverage roles.

The 26-year-old throws a mid-90s fastball alongside a curveball and changeup. While the 2022 season was a step back for Cabrera, the Cardinals clearly believe in his arm enough to tender him a contract through arbitration. Another year like last may make that decision a little less likely next winter, but for now Cabrera figures to offer the Cardinals a valuable left-handed option out of the bullpen.

Rays Win Arbitration Cases Against Colin Poche, Ryan Thompson

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The Rays have won their arbitration cases against Colin Poche and Ryan Thompson, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links here and here). Poche will be paid $1.175MM rather than the $1.3MM he filed for, while Thompson will take home $1MM in 2023 instead of $1.2MM.

Poche, 29, put up a 3.99 ERA in 58 2/3 innings for Tampa Bay last season, his first major league action since the 2019 campaign. It’s worth noting here that his ERA was sitting a lot better at 3.39 prior to a four earned run in a third of an inning outing for the Rays towards the backend of the season, an outing which saw him suffer an oblique strain that ended his season. The left-hander’s 26.1% strikeout rate in 2022 was well done from the 34.8% mark he posted in 2019.

This is Poche’s first trip through arbitration, so the Rays will also control him through the 2024-25 seasons as well.

Thompson, 30, wound up with a 3.80 ERA over 42 2/3 frames of work for the Rays last year. That was a bit of a step back from the 2.80 ERA mark he posted in 2021, and Thompson saw his strikeout rate dip by six percentage points between 2021-22. In any case, he’s established himself as a dependable member of the Rays bullpen after being taken from the Astros in the Rule 5 Draft back in 2018.

He dealt with triceps inflammation in August last year, and wound up on the injured list for the remainder of the season. This is also Thompson’s first trip through arbitration, so he’ll reach free agency in advance of the 2026 season.

Both Poche and Thompson figure to again be valuable members of the Rays’ bullpen in 2023. Poche gives them a third left handed option alongside Jalen Beeks and Garrett Cleavinger, while Thompson’s drawn an increasing amount of high-leverage work in recent seasons, and will again given them a dependable option late in games.

Reds Re-Sign Hunter Strickland To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have announced they’ve re-signed right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland to a minor league deal.

Strickland, 34, was a mainstay in their bullpen last year, pitching to a 4.91 ERA across 62 1/3 innings. Those numbers came with a 21.1% strikeout rate and an 11.6% walk rate. While his strikeout numbers were pretty much in line with his career averages, that walk rate was the highest he’d posted in his nine-year big league career.

Originally drafted in the 18th round of the 2007 draft by the Red Sox, Strickland would eventually make his big league debut for the Giants during the 2014 season, pitching in the World Series that year as the Giants were crowned champions. He was a really effective member of San Francisco bullpen between 2014-17, working to a 2.64 ERA over 180 2/3 innings.

He experienced some decline in 2018 and was non-tendered by the Giants following that season. Since then, he’s bounced around the league a bit, appearing for the Mariners, Nationals, Mets, Rays, Brewers, Angels and Reds since 2019, and compiling a 4.18 ERA over 148 2/3 innings in that time.

Pitching Notes: Bello, Bautista, Severino, McCullers

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With pitchers and catchers having now reported to their respective spring training sites, there’s a fair bit of news around the health of a number of pitchers around the sport.

Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello will take the weekend off throwing, and hopes to be able to throw again Monday, per Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal. Bello apparently felt tightness in his forearm this week. Any time tightness and forearm are mentioned in the same sentence regarding a young pitcher there’s a fair bit of concern, but Bello says he believes it’s due to throwing a higher number of breaking balls of late.

In any case, he’ll be shutdown temporarily and the Red Sox and Bello will be hoping he’s good to go next week. Bello figures to compete for a spot in the Red Sox’ starting rotation this year. The 23-year-old made 11 solid starts (and two relief appearances) last season, working to a 4.71 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.1% walk rate.

Here’s a few other injury tidbits from around the sport:

  • Orioles closer Felix Bautista told reporters, including Jake Rill of MLB.com, that he expects to be ready for opening day. Bautista has spent the winter rehabbing left knee and right shoulder injuries, and has thrown four bullpen sessions since January. He’s believes he’ll be ready to get into spring matches around March 15, and will need four or five spring innings to get up to speed. Bautista was dominant for the Orioles during his rookie year last season, pitching to a 2.19 ERA across 65 2/3 innings, striking out batters at a quality 34.8% clip.
  • Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. has been shut down temporarily following him experiencing some soreness in his throwing arm (via Mark Berman of Fox 26). There’s always a bit of concern there particularly given McCullers’ injury history, but manager Dusty Baker gave reporters a promising outlook “he’s just getting treatment. He’s feeling pretty good. He’s feeling better.” McCullers is into his eighth season with the Astros. A forearm strain suffered in 2021 limited him to just eight starts in 2022, but he still worked to an impressive 2.27 ERA in those handful of appearances.
  • Yankees starter Luis Severino is entering his walk year, so naturally hoping for a strong, and healthy, campaign. After missing the bulk of three-straight seasons, Severino returned to make 19 starts last year, working to a 3.18 ERA. A lat strain sidelined him for two months of the season, but the Yankees were unsurprisingly happy to exercise the $15MM club option they held over the 28-year-old ahead of the 2023 season. While the significant injury history won’t help, a full season of ~30 starts of his typically excellent output could set Severino up for a big payday next winter. “Health is always the question with him. I feel like he’s done everything he needs to this offseason. He’s been around Tampa. He’s been at the complex. He’s getting his work in. Physically, he looks like he’s in a good spot. I think everything we’ve wanted out of him this offseason, he’s answered the bell. He’s ready to go this year. We feel good about the way he’s reported,” pitching coach Matt Blake told Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. The Yankees are depending even more so on a healthy season from Severino after the news that Frankie Montas will miss the majority of the year as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

Latest On The Astros’ Outfielders

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Roster battles are few and far between for the defending champion Astros this spring, but manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome) that there’ll be a bit of competition in center field between Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick over the next six weeks.

“There’s competition … We hope [Jake] Meyers bounces back from the injury. We’ll see how Chas [McCormick] looks. There’s room for everybody to play. As you know, I’ll play everybody,” Baker said.

McCormick would surely have the inside running to get the bulk of the center field reps this year. The 27-year-old slashed .245/.332/.407 with 14 home runs in his second big league season, while putting up 5 Outs Above Average in about 450 center field innings.

Meyers, on the other hand, hit just .227/.269/.313 with a single home run over 160 plate appearances last season. To be fair to Meyers, he did only return from a torn labrum in June and hit a much better .260/.323/.438 during his rookie season in 2021. Like McCormick, Meyers has put up strong numbers in center field, earning 7 Outs Above Average in around 400 innings at the position last year.

With Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez lined up to handle the work in the corner spots, center field is the only outfield spot with any sort of question mark around it. McCormick would have to be the favorite, but if a full, healthy off-season allows Meyers to regain some of his offensive numbers this spring it could give the Astros some positive selection headaches heading into the new season.

One other player that figures to feature in the outfield mix is veteran Michael Brantley. The Astros inked the 35-year-old to a one-year, $12MM deal this winter, bringing him back for his fifth season in Houston. Brantley’s always hit when he’s been on the field, as evidenced by his .306/.368/.464 line in four seasons with the Astros, but staying on the field has been a problem for the veteran. He went down in June and required season-ending shoulder surgery, limiting his contribution to just 64 games last year. Astros GM Dana Brown provided an update on Brantley’s recovery, and there seems no guarantee that he’s ready to go for opening day.

“It’s still day-to-day. He’s hitting, fielding ground balls, moving well, not feeling much pain. He’s on course. I think it’s going to go down to the wire, but I think it’s going to be close,” Brown said (Twitter).

While that doesn’t rule him out of being available for the Astros first series of the season, it is a slight step back from January when the expectation was Brantley would be ready for opening day. Brantley spent about half of his 64 games in the outfield last year, and when fit he figures to give Houston a left field/DH option in addition to Alvarez and Tucker.

Manny Machado Planning To Exercise Opt-Out Following 2023 Season

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Padres superstar Manny Machado today confirmed to reporters, including Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post, that he plans on opting out of the remainder of his contract following the 2023 season. Machado signed his current 10-year, $300MM agreement with San Diego ahead of the 2019 season, and in opting out would leave five years, $150MM left on the table from his current contract.

This decision is no real surprise, as that $150MM figure appears to be one Machado should have no trouble beating on the open market next offseason, provided he remains healthy. After an offseason that saw top free agent Aaron Judge sign a $360MM deal that begins in his age 31 season, it seems like a reasonable bet that Machado, who would also be entering free agency ahead of his age 31 season, might become the first ever player to sign multiple $300MM contracts in his career, though he obviously would not be playing through the entirety of his first one.

Machado’s certainly performed at a level to this point in his career that would warrant such a contract. The runner-up for the NL MVP award in 2022, Machado has six All Star appearances, five top-5 MVP finishes, two Gold Gloves, and a Silver Slugger award under his belt. With a career 124 wRC+, strong defense at third base, and 46.4 fWAR already accrued in his career, Machado appears to be on a Hall of Fame trajectory, particularly considering the fact that his offensive game has taken a step up in recent seasons. Since the start of the 2018 season, Machado’s wRC+ is 133, and it jumps to 139 when examining the 2020-2022 seasons.

As Stephanie Apstein of Sports Illustrated notes, Machado is looking to sign for double-digit years, a mark Judge barely missed with his nine-year pact this offseason but shortstops Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts both managed to eclipse. This appears to be a reasonable ask, particularly given that Machado seems likely to be the consensus top free agent in the 2023-24 free agent class after two-way unicorn Shohei Ohtani. A 10-year deal for Machado would take him through his age-40 campaign, an age teams seem to be increasingly willing to sign players through this offseason than in years past.

The Padres, themselves, are at the forefront of this movement toward signing players to longer deals. They signed both Bogaerts and Yu Darvish to deals that will take them beyond their 40th birthdays this offseason, and made similar offers to both Turner and Judge as well. Despite Machado’s plans to opt-out following the 2023 campaign, there appears to be interest in an extension, with the Padres reportedly set to pursue a new deal with Machado this spring, it’s possible that San Diego’s comfort in signing players through their age-40 seasons would give them a leg up in negotiations.

On the other hand, the Padres are in a somewhat difficult payroll situation. They’re a lock to pay into the luxury tax in 2023, already have two long-term megadeals on the books in Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr., and on top of all that, Juan Soto’s free agency is looming following the 2024 season. It seems to be a reasonable question as to whether or not they can maintain their current payroll levels at all, much less add to them as they would need to in order to retain Machado and Soto.

Rene Rivera Announces Retirement

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Longtime big league catcher René Rivera took to Instagram to announce his retirement Friday morning. “In June 2001, I had the opportunity to make one of my dreams come true, to get signed as a professional baseball player,” Rivera wrote. “21 years later, I thank God for the career he has allowed me to have. Today I want to announce that I am retiring as a professional baseball player.”

The 39-year-old goes on to thank every organization for which he played. He also expressed gratitude to his family, coaches, representatives and fans before concluding he’s “ready for the next step of (his) career.”

Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, was selected by the Mariners in the second round of the ’01 draft. He was in the majors a little more than three years later, debuting as a September call-up in 2004 not long after his 21st birthday. Rivera spent a few seasons as a depth catcher for Seattle, combining to appear in 53 MLB games over his first three years.

After the 2006 campaign, Rivera kicked off a nomadic path that’d define his entire career. He was out of the majors entirely between 2007-10, bouncing between various organizations’ upper minors affiliates and spending some time in independent ball. Rivera returned to the bigs with the Twins in 2011 for a 45-game stint and played the following year in Triple-A.

A brief showing with the Padres in 2013 set the stage for Rivera to improbably break through as San Diego’s primary catcher at age 30 the next year. He connected on 11 home runs over a career-high 329 plate appearances during the ’14 season, hitting .252/.319/.432. The following offseason, San Diego sent him to the Rays in the three-team blockbuster that moved Wil Myers to Southern California, Steven Souza to Tampa Bay and then-prospect Trea Turner to Washington.

Rivera played in a personal-high 110 games with Tampa Bay but couldn’t recapture his prior year’s success at the plate. He hit .178/.213/.275 over 319 trips to the dish with the Rays and was released before the following season. He quickly signed with the Mets and would see a decent amount of action in Queens over the latter portion of his career. Rivera played in 65 games for the Mets in 2016 before logging 74 contests between New York and the Cubs the next year. He split the 2018 campaign with the Angels and Braves, then returned to the Mets as a depth catcher from 2019-20. Rivera’s final major league action came in 2021, when he got into 25 games between the Indians and Nationals.

While Rivera was rarely much of an offensive contributor, his strong defensive reputation earned him repeated opportunities. He ultimately logged parts of 13 MLB campaigns over a professional career that spanned two decades, suiting up at the MLB level for ten different teams. Rivera played in 542 big league contests, hitting .221/.273/.354 with 43 home runs across 1629 plate appearances. He spent nearly 4000 innings behind the plate, posting consistently strong marks from pitch framing metrics and cutting down a fantastic 36.5% of attempted basestealers.

MLBTR congratulates Rivera on his lengthy run in the professional ranks and wishes him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Dana Brown Discusses Astros’ Extension Targets

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First-year Astros general manager Dana Brown took control of the front office on the eve of Spring Training, an atypically late GM hire. With the club’s offseason business mostly taken care of, he immediately turned his attention toward keeping some key players who are already on the roster.

Houston already extended Cristian Javier through 2027. Brown has spoken about seeking out long-term deals for Kyle Tucker, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman in recent weeks. He added star southpaw Framber Valdez to the mix, telling reporters yesterday the club had been in touch with the representatives for both Valdez and Tucker (link via Associated Press). Meanwhile, Brown stated he’s frankly told agent Scott Boras, who represents both Altuve and Bregman, the duo “should be in Houston for life.”

It’s a fairly quick turn of events with regards to Valdez, in particular. The hurler’s agent Ulises Cabrera told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday he’d yet to have any conversations with the club. Brown predictably didn’t divulge specifics in negotiations and there’s nothing to suggest talks have made any notable progress within the first few days. Nevertheless, it’s unsurprising confirmation the team would like to keep Valdez around.

He’s already under club control through 2025 via arbitration. Valdez will make $6.8MM for the upcoming season and is likely to land a pair of solid raises if he goes annually through that process. The 29-year-old is coming off the best year of his career, one in which he secured a fifth-place finish in AL Cy Young balloting thanks to a 2.82 ERA and incredible 66.5% grounder percentage through 201 1/3 innings.

Altuve and Bregman, of course, have been career-long Astros. The former has twice signed long-term extensions with Houston, with the most recent of those deals coming during Spring Training in 2018. That $151MM contract runs through 2024, paying him $26MM annually over the next couple seasons. The deal runs through his age-34 season. Altuve hasn’t yet shown any signs of tailing off, as he’s coming off a .300/.387/.533 showing with 28 home runs.

Bregman inked a $100MM extension a year after Altuve signed his second deal. He’s making $28.5MM in both of the next two seasons and also tracking towards free agency during the 2024-25 offseason. The former second overall pick would reach the market in advance of his age-31 campaign if he doesn’t sign an intervening extension. Bregman played at an MVP-caliber level between 2018-19; he’s “merely” been excellent over the few years since then, including a .259/.366/.454 line with more walks than strikeouts last year.

With all of these players under guaranteed contract or arbitration control for at least two more years, Brown and his staff don’t need to get anything done in the next six weeks. Houston’s list of upcoming free agents is comparatively modest: catcher Martín Maldonado, outfielder Michael Brantley and relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek. Houston already has José Abreu, Lance McCullers Jr., Yordan Alvarez, Rafael Montero and Javier on eight-figure contracts for the 2025 season.

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