Archives for 2023

Mets Place Brandon Nimmo On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 1:45pm CDT

Brandon Nimmo’s 2023 season is over, as the Mets placed the outfielder on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder sprain. The placement is retroactive to September 29, and catcher Michael Perez was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.

Manager Buck Showalter told MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (X links) and other reporters that Nimmo’s injury is related to his AC joint. An MRI didn’t reveal any damage to the rotator cuff, so it doesn’t appear to be a particularly serious issue or anything that would hamper Nimmo’s readiness for Spring Training. Nimmo even told the Athletic’s Tim Britton and other media that he would’ve kept playing if the Mets had still been in playoff contention, and that he should need only 10-14 days to recovery.

Injuries have often plagued Nimmo during his career, yet he followed up a career-best 151 games and 672 plate appearances in 2022 by narrowly topping both marks in 2023, playing 152 games and making 682 trips to the plate. Nimmo his .274/.363/.466 with a career-high 24 home runs this year, with a 130 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR.

While the Mets’ season as a whole was a disappointment, Nimmo was a bright spot, and his continued good health provides some extra relief given his long-term importance to the team. New York re-signed Nimmo to an eight-year, $162MM free agent deal last winter, which outpaced even the most optimistic projections for a player whose injury history (though not his production when healthy) was such a question mark. It’s obviously too early to call the signing a clear win just yet, but Nimmo’s continued strong play beyond his contract year is a good sign that he can be a big part of what the Mets hope will be an eventual return to contention.

Phillies Place Dylan Covey On 15-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 12:57pm CDT

The Phillies announced four roster moves today, including the news that right-hander Dylan Covey was placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to September 28) due to lower back pain. Infielder Rodolfo Castro was also optioned to the club’s Spring Training complex now that the minor league season is over, while right-hander Luis Ortiz and utilityman Weston Wilson were called up from Triple-A to fill the two open spots on the active roster.

Covey is now ineligible to return until at least October 12, so he wouldn’t be available for a playoff roster unless the Phillies reached the NLCS. Even in that best-case scenario, the Phillies might not prefer to activate a pitcher coming off an extended layoff, and Covey might have been something of a borderline candidate to make the postseason roster even if healthy.

Regardless of the unfortunate ending, 2023 has still been Covey’s most successful season in the big leagues. He posted a 6.57 ERA over 264 1/3 innings with the White Sox and Red Sox from 2017-20 before heading to the Chinese Professional Baseball League for two seasons with the Rakuten Monkeys. Covey pitched well enough to attract the attention of North America, and he inked a minor league deal with the Dodgers that resulted in a single MLB game in Dodger Blue.

Covey was designated for assignment after that lone game in May but quickly claimed off waivers by the Phillies. Powered by a 54.3% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact, Covey has a 3.69 ERA over 39 innings with Philadelphia, posting some quality bottom-line results despite a very modest 15.7% strikeout rate. Even his ERA is somewhat skewed by Covey’s lone start with the Phillies, as he lasted just two-thirds of an inning while allowing five earned runs. In 42 1/3 other innings as a reliever in 2023, Covey’s ERA is 2.76.

Orioles Designate Jorge Lopez For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 12:19pm CDT

The Orioles announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez was designated for assignment. Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was called up from Triple-A to take Lopez’s spot on the active roster.

Baltimore claimed Lopez off waivers from the Marlins at the start of September, and Lopez posted a 6.10 ERA over 10 1/3 innings of work in the orange-and-black. While Lopez had a 28% strikeout rate and a 4.0% walk rate over his brief time with the O’s, he also allowed four home runs, sending his ERA skyrocketing. Lopez was ineligible for postseason play since he was acquired after September 1, and since he was looking like a clear non-tender candidate anyway, the Orioles look to have started his path to free agency a little early. In all likelihood, Lopez will clear waivers and then be released, unless a team wants to take a quick evaluation before the offseason officially begins.

Lopez has a 5.53 ERA over 478 1/3 innings in the majors, appearing with five different teams over an eight-season career that began in 2015. The clear highlight of Lopez’s career came during his first stint with the Orioles, when his exceptional first-half performance earned him a spot on the 2022 All-Star team. The O’s were in postseason contention at last year’s trade deadline, but the team opted to sell high on Lopez by dealing him to the Twins for a four-player package that included Yennier Cano (an All-Star himself in 2023) and left-hander Cade Povich, arguably Baltimore’s top current pitching prospect.

It was a wise move on the Orioles’ part, as Lopez immediately started to regress in Minnesota. Those struggles deepened in 2023, as Lopez posted a 6.12 ERA over 57 1/3 combined innings with the Twins, Marlins, and Orioles. Minnesota dealt Lopez to Miami at the trade deadline for Dylan Floro in something of a mutual change-of-scenery deal for both relievers, though neither got on track on a new team. (By coincidence, the Twins just released Floro yesterday.)

Lopez earned $3.625MM in 2023, and would be in line for some kind of minimal raise in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility. The 30-year-old may have to settle for a minor league deal this winter, in the wake of such a disappointing season.

NL West Notes: Melvin, Haniger, Musgrove, Rojas

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 12:04pm CDT

With the Giants looking for a new manager and Bob Melvin’s future with the Padres perhaps in question, there has already been speculation that the two situations could be simultaneously resolved by Melvin leaving San Diego to take over the Giants’ dugout. Melvin is both from the Bay Area and is both a former Giants player (1986-88) and A’s manager (2011-21). It was during that stint in Oakland that Melvin worked with Farhan Zaidi, when the Giants’ current president of baseball operations was a member of the Athletics’ front office.

Melvin is under contract for the 2024 season, so the Padres would have to fire the skipper to allow him to change jobs. While there have been plenty of rumblings that Melvin might be replaced, the possibility that he might immediately join a division rival could complicate the situation for the Padres, and they might explore the possibility of some kind of trade if the Giants did have interest in hiring the veteran manager. A meeting of Padres officials is set to take place Monday, so some kind of resolution to Melvin’s status in San Diego could possibly be coming pretty quickly.

NL Central Notes: Wainwright, Azolay, Hoerner, Duarte

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 9:13am CDT

Adam Wainwright’s 200th career win (from seven innings of shutout ball against the Brewers on September 18) has been confirmed as the last pitching appearance of the right-hander’s outstanding career, but Wainwright stepped up to the plate one final time in yesterday’s 19-2 Cardinals loss to the Reds. With the game already out of hand by the sixth inning, Wainwright pinch-hit for DH Luken Baker, and grounded out to second to conclude the 847th plate appearance of his career.

There was a loose plan in place to give Wainwright at least one PA during the final series of his career, though with the Reds still alive in the playoff race, the Cardinals weren’t going to do anything to do impact the integrity of the game just for the sake of a ceremonial at-bat. However, the lopsided score Friday provided an opportunity for Wainwright to hit for what will likely be the final time, barring another blowout result in the next two games or if the Reds are officially eliminated from contention. Wainwright has a .194/.221/.293 slash line and 10 homers during his career.

Twins Release Dylan Floro

By Mark Polishuk | September 30, 2023 at 7:49am CDT

The Twins released right-hander Dylan Floro, according to the club’s official transactions page. Floro was designated for assignment earlier this week, and it isn’t yet known if the Twins just released Floro entirely, or if he rejected an outright assignment off Minnesota’s active roster.

Regardless, the outcome is the same for the veteran reliever, who will now hit free agency and look to turn the page on a disappointing 2023. Floro posted a 4.76 ERA over 56 2/3 innings with the Marlins and Twins, as a trade deadline move to Minnesota didn’t help the righty turn things around. Miami dealt Floro for another struggling pitcher in Jorge Lopez, and the Marlins have also since parted ways with their end of the trade, as Lopez was put on waivers and claimed by the Orioles at the start of September.

While Lopez’s overall numbers have been lackluster, Floro’s performance is harder to parse, as the 32-year-old has a case as one of the unluckier players of the 2023 season. Floro’s inflated ERA could simply be attributed to an enormous .401 BABIP, which is particularly lethal for a pitcher who relies so heavily on grounders — Floro has a 51.7% career groundball rate, including a 54.4% mark this year.

Playing for two lackluster defensive teams like Minnesota and Miami certainly didn’t help in this regard, and Floro’s defense-independent numbers (2.95 FIP, 3.29 xFIP, and a 3.34 SIERA) indicate that he deserved a much better fate. Floro’s 23.4% strikeout rate was middling, but his walk and hard-hit ball rates were both well above average, and his 2.9% barrel rate was one of the best of any pitcher in baseball. Floro only allowed three home runs over his 56 2/3 frames, continuing his career-long knack for keeping the ball in the park.

Between these metrics and the 2.96 ERA he posted over 252 2/3 innings from 2018-22, Floro will surely get plenty of looks in free agency, and he is one of the more intriguing bounce-back candidates on the open market. Since this obviously isn’t the platform season Floro wanted heading into free agency, it seems likely that he’ll aim for a one-year contract in the hopes of re-establishing himself for a bigger payday in the 2024-25 offseason. Floro’s relative lack of strikeouts might put something of a ceiling on his earning power even in the best of times, yet his solid track record (when he has even a modicum of batted-ball luck) is hard to ignore.

Rockies Sign Charlie Blackmon To One-Year Extension

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

The Rockies announced they’ve signed Charlie Blackmon to a one-year contract extension. He’ll return for a 14th season with the club in 2024. The ACES client receives a $13MM guarantee that offers an additional $2MM in incentives. Blackmon would receive $500K apiece for tallying 425, 450, 475 and 500 trips to the plate.

Blackmon has spent his entire career in Colorado. A second-round pick in 2009, he debuted two years later. By 2014, he’d established himself as a very good everyday center fielder. That season, Blackmon secured his first of four career All-Star nods. His best campaign came in 2017, when he finished fifth in NL MVP balloting and won the NL batting title. Colorado signed him to a $108MM extension the following April — including player options running through 2023.

The two-time Silver Slugger winner remained a well above-average hitter through 2019. He still hit above .300 during the shortened 2020 season, albeit with diminished power. Blackmon slumped to a .267/.332/.415 line between 2021-22, raising the possibility that this would be his final year in Denver. He exercised a $15MM option for this season and was set to hit the free agent market for the first time in the coming weeks.

Blackmon rebounded from his down couple seasons. Still working largely out of the leadoff spot, the 37-year-old has turned in a .283/.370/.451 slash through an even 400 plate appearances entering play Friday. He’s still not hitting for much power, but only Nolan Jones has more consistently gotten on base among Rox’s batters. Blackmon is drawing walks at a personal-best 9.8% clip while striking out just 13.5% of the time. He’s still performing well against pitchers of either handedness.

As one would expect for a player in his late-30s, Blackmon hasn’t provided much on the other side of the ball. The Rox moved him off center field after the 2018 season. Since logging 134 starts in right field two seasons ago, the veteran has seen increasing action at designated hitter. Skipper Bud Black has penciled him into the outfield on just 26 occasions while turning to him at DH 60 times.

Blackmon will presumably continue working as Colorado’s primary DH for another season. Jones has had a strong rookie year to take over left field. Kris Bryant was the primary right fielder early on, although he’s been a first baseman or DH since returning from a finger fracture. Bryant could move back to the outfield next season, which would allow the Rox to keep Blackmon out of the field on most days. If the Rockies keep their $182MM signee at first base, they could look to add a corner outfielder in free agency or trade over the winter.

It’s the second late-season extension for Colorado. The club agreed on a two-year, $20MM pact with starter Germán Márquez three weeks ago. Márquez underwent Tommy John surgery in May, so that move is primarily about 2025. This deal ensures veteran continuity for a young roster while keeping around a fan favorite who’s still a productive hitter — albeit in more of a rotational role than an everyday capacity. Reliever Brent Suter and depth starters Chris Flexen and Chase Anderson are the club’s remaining free agents.

Colorado had just over $98MM in guaranteed commitments for the ’24 campaign before re-signing Blackmon. The extension brings their commitments to around $111MM before considering arbitration-eligible players. They opened this year with a player payroll around $172MM, as calculated by Cot’s Baseball Contracts, so there should still be a decent amount of breathing room headed into the offseason.

At the same time, it’s a surprisingly strong sum for the Rox to commit. They’ll likely need to add at least three starting pitchers this offseason. Bullpen and/or center field help could be targets as well. Blackmon’s status in franchise history surely played a part in the deal, though it’s still above market expectations for a non-elite veteran hitter limited to a part-time DH/corner outfield role.

It’s a bit above the $10MM and $12MM respectively secured by J.D. Martinez and Michael Brantley last winter. Martinez indicated he took less than was available to join the Dodgers, while Brantley was coming off a season-ending shoulder procedure. Yet both players have been more productive hitters over the last few seasons than Blackmon has been. The Rockies are willing to go beyond what the veteran likely would’ve received as a free agent in order to ensure he’ll be back at Coors Field for another season.

MLBTR’s Steve Adams first reported the contract details.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Reds Sign Nick Krall To Extension, Promote Him To President Of Baseball Operations

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2023 at 11:58pm CDT

The Reds have locked in their front office leadership. The club announced they’ve promoted Nick Krall from general manager to president of baseball operations. He also receives a contract extension of undisclosed length, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic. Meanwhile, Brad Meador has been promoted from assistant GM to general manager, solidifying him as the #2 person in the front office hierarchy.

“Nick has a great baseball mind and has shown exceptional leadership in advancing every aspect of our baseball operations,” CEO Bob Castellini said in a statement. “Nick and his staff have earned our confidence, and these moves help ensure the positive momentum will continue across the organization.”

Krall has led baseball operations for three seasons. The 45-year-old took the reigns when former president Dick Williams stepped away at the end of the 2020 campaign. Krall already held the GM title at that point, though as is the case with many front offices around the game, that came with the #2 role in the front office. Williams’ resignation pushed Krall to the top while he retained the GM title.

While he’s only been leading baseball operations for a few seasons, Krall has spent two decades with the organization. He began working as a scout in the early 2000’s and secured a front office position within a few years. The Reds promoted him to GM under Williams in May 2018.

Krall took control of the front office at an inflection point for the franchise. Cincinnati had targeted 2020 to emerge from their last rebuild. They went a little above .500 in the shortened season and were swept in the first round. They hovered around league average for the entire ’21 campaign, missing out on the playoffs after holding a Wild Card spot into September. At that point, the organization slashed payroll, kicking off another rebuild.

Cincinnati’s 2022 campaign was disastrous. The Reds lost 100 games for the second time in franchise history. After another quiet offseason, they entered this year with middling expectations. Cincinnati has surprisingly been one of the sport’s most improved teams. Barring a sweep this weekend at the hands of the Cardinals, they’ll finish with a winning record. They’re still in playoff contention in the season’s final few days, although they’d likely need to sweep St. Louis and get some help from both the Marlins and Cubs to qualify.

Much of that turnaround is attributable to a youth movement involving players acquired during their 2021-22 sell-off. Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand came over from the Twins in the Tyler Mahle deal at last summer’s deadline, arguably Krall’s best move to date. Noelvi Marte, the headliner of the Luis Castillo trade, is holding his own at the major league level as a 21-year-old. Brandon Williamson has turned in back-of-the-rotation results since being acquired in the Jesse Winker/Eugenio Suárez deal.

Matt McLain and Andrew Abbott — two of Cincinnati’s first four selections in the 2021 draft — are among the best rookie performers in the National League. Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo were selected while Williams was still leading the front office, though Krall was surely involved in those decisions as the #2 executive.

While there’s little question about the organization’s ability to stockpile young talent, it remains to be seen how effectively Krall and his staff can push the team to the next level. Cincinnati didn’t land the starting pitching they were seeking at this summer’s trade deadline. The likeliest outcome is that they’ll miss the playoffs for a third straight season. There’s plenty to like about the organization’s direction, making it unsurprising the Reds are committed to both Krall and fifth-year manager David Bell — who signed an extension running through 2026 in late July. They’ll no longer be a surprising upstart, however. Even if they fall shy of the postseason this year, next year’s club will have the highest expectations of Krall’s tenure atop baseball operations.

Meador, 48, has been atop the scouting and player development departments. He has been a member of the organization’s scouting group since 2009. Meador has surely played a key role in the selections of players like McLain, Abbott, Greene and Lodolo, as well as the signing of TJ Friedl as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

Promotions like this are fairly common in advance of the offseason. Teams typically grant employees permission to speak with other teams about job opportunities only if the other club is offering a higher position. By promoting Meador to GM, the Reds foreclose the possibility of losing him to another team that could’ve considered him as a candidate for the #2 job in their front office — presumably rewarding the longtime executive with a pay bump in the process.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN first reported the promotions.

Zaidi: Giants Hopeful Of New Managerial Hire By Start Of Free Agency

By Anthony Franco | September 29, 2023 at 10:14pm CDT

The Giants made a significant change this afternoon, firing skipper Gabe Kapler as his fourth season at the helm was coming to a close. Bench coach Kai Correa will serve as the interim manager for the final series against the Dodgers.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi spoke with reporters after Kapler’s dismissal. He indicated the front office’s preference is to have a new hire in place by the beginning of the free agent period (link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). That starts five days after the conclusion of the World Series.

“It’s a pretty universal trait that you want a manager who players want to play for, whether it’s young players and getting them motivated to get the most out of them or free agents who have heard your manager has a good reputation,” Zaidi told the S.F. beat. “I think that’s going to matter a lot.”

Zaidi did not indicate that Kapler’s presence as manager was harmful to the team’s free agent pursuits, to be clear. Yet he noted the club had decided to look for “new and different leadership in our clubhouse, a different dynamic there.” After making the call to move on from Kapler, it’s understandable they’d prefer to have a new manager in place as they try to sell the organization to upcoming free agent targets.

Over his five-year tenure leading baseball operations, Zaidi and his staff have come up short on multiple pursuits of top-of-the-market talents. They pursued Bryce Harper over the 2018-19 offseason but reportedly balked at the long-term offer he was seeking (and eventually found from Philadelphia). San Francisco made a run at Aaron Judge last winter but came up short when the defending MVP returned to the Yankees on a record-setting deal. They agreed to terms on a $350MM pact with Carlos Correa, only for that to fall through on the physical.

The Giants have been active in the middle tiers of free agency but haven’t signed a guarantee larger than the $44MM Carlos Rodon deal under Zaidi. With roughly $110MM in guaranteed money on the books for next season, San Francisco could try again to land a top-of-the-market player. They’ll surely be among the teams courting Shohei Ohtani, while Cody Bellinger could be a fallback target if Ohtani heads elsewhere. San Francisco had interest in Bellinger — with whom Zaidi is familiar from their time with the Dodgers — before he signed with the Cubs on a $17.5MM bounceback deal last offseason. After an excellent rebound campaign, Bellinger seems in line to top $200MM on his next free agent trip.

Giants Fire Gabe Kapler

By Leo Morgenstern | September 29, 2023 at 10:12pm CDT

The Giants have fired manager Gabe Kapler, according to a club announcement.

“After making this recommendation to ownership and receiving their approval, I met with Gabe today to inform him of our decision,” reads a statement from president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. “In his tenure as Giants manager, Gabe led our team through an unprecedented pandemic in 2020 and a franchise-record 107 wins and postseason berth in 2021. He has been dedicated and passionate in his efforts to improve the on-field performance of the San Francisco Giants and I have tremendous respect for him as a colleague and friend. On behalf of the Giants organization, we wish Gabe the best of luck in his future endeavors and thank him for his contributions over the last four years.”

Kapler was three games away from completing his fourth season at the helm for San Francisco. During his tenure, the team has gone 295-248 (.543), although much of that success came during a single winning campaign. In 2021, the Giants shocked the baseball world, going 107-55 and briefly dethroning the Dodgers atop the NL West. Kapler was named NL Manager of the Year; he subsequently signed an extension running through the 2024 campaign.

However, the Giants have gone 159-162 (.495) since, failing to make playoffs in each of the past two seasons. This year has been especially disappointing, as the team was firmly entrenched in the Wild Card race until mid-September. They have now lost ten of their last 13 and were officially eliminated from contention late on Tuesday night. This marks the second time Kapler has lost his job amid similar circumstances. He was fired by the Phillies in October 2019 following two straight seasons in which Philadelphia failed to make the playoffs. In both years, the Phillies were in the Wild Card conversation until a disappointing September collapse knocked them out of the race.

Not long ago, Giants chairman Greg Johnson expressed in no uncertain terms that Zaidi and Kapler would both be back with the team in 2024. More recently, however, Zaidi made some comments on KNBR radio that suggested Kapler might be on the hot seat after all.

When asked about Kapler’s job status, the executive answered, “I think we all just have to look at how we can improve across the board. That’s the personnel on the roster, that’s our culture in the clubhouse. … When you’re in do-or-die games like those games in Arizona, you want them to feel different. And I think we’re really going to have to ask ourselves if we were prepared to sort of elevate our level of focus and play for those games that really mattered down the stretch.”

Evidently, the Giants do not feel as if Kapler’s managerial style is conducive to a winning clubhouse atmosphere. This lines up with some recent comments from Giants ace Logan Webb, who told reporters on Monday (including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News), “We have to make some big changes in here to create that winning culture.”

There is little point in speculating about clubhouse atmosphere from outside, but as for the team’s on-field results, Kapler cannot be held responsible for all the Giants’ problems. As spring training began, the PECOTA projection system from Baseball Prospectus had San Francisco pegged for an 82-win season. FanGraphs Depth Charts projected 83 wins for the Giants on Opening Day. As things currently stand, the team is on pace to finish with 79 or 80 wins, and they could still win as many as 81. That’s well within the margin of error for a projection system. Thus, while the team’s performance in September has been disappointing, it’s hard to say they massively underperformed all year.

In more concrete terms, it’s not as if Kapler had a star-studded roster to work with. After Webb and closer Camilo Doval, the Giants don’t have many impact players. LaMonte Wade Jr., Mike Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores, Joc Pederson, Thairo Estrada, and Michael Conforto are all solid contributors, but not exactly the players you picture at the heart of the order for a postseason club. Meanwhile, the rotation has been a sea of uncertainty behind Webb and Alex Cobb all year long.

Nevertheless, the Giants have decided to move on from Kapler, and they wasted no time in doing so. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests, the question of whether or not Kapler would keep his job might have become too distracting, to a point where the team saw no reason to wait until the end of the year to make a change.

Susan Slusser was the first to report that Kapler had been relieved of his duties.

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