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Archives for 2023
The A’s Could Make A Left-Handed Power Bat Available In Trade
The A’s are firmly amidst a rebuild. They stripped the roster almost to its studs over the 2021-22 offseason, dismantling what had been a borderline playoff team to cut spending. Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt all departed last winter; Frankie Montas followed at the deadline, and Sean Murphy was the last big piece to move a few weeks ago.
With all their star players out the door, Oakland has mostly completed its sell-off. They’re now integrating a number of younger, pre-arbitration players onto a roster that again figures to be one of the worst in the American League in 2023. The A’s are looking a few years down the road, and it stands to reason they’d therefore be open to moving virtually any player on the roster with an established major league track record.
Ramón Laureano may be their highest-upside trade candidate, but he’s coming off a rough season that’s a year removed from a performance-enhancing drug suspension. It’s probably best to let him try to rebuild his stock with an eye towards a deadline deal. There’s another outfielder whom general manager David Forst could consider more of a sell-high possibility: Seth Brown.
A former 19th-round pick, Brown was never regarded as an especially notable prospect. He didn’t reach the majors until after his 27th birthday late in the 2019 season. Brown barely played at the MLB level his first couple years, not topping 26 MLB games in a season until 2021. He picked up 307 plate appearances that year, connecting on 20 home runs but only reaching base at a .274 clip.
Last season, the Lewis-Clark State College product got his first real run as an everyday player. He suited up 150 times and tallied 555 trips to the plate. Brown hit .230/.305/.444 with 25 homers. His on-base percentage, while a bit below the .312 league mark, wasn’t at the untenable clip of the previous season. He cut his strikeout rate from 29% to a more manageable 26.3% while boosting his walk percentage to a solid 9.2% clip. Brown still doesn’t have a great plate discipline profile, but those numbers are sufficient for a player with his power. His slugging mark was nearly .050 points above the league average despite playing half his games at Oakland’s spacious ballpark.
Virtually all of those gains came as part of a torrid second half. Brown carried a .216/.269/.396 line into the All-Star Break. After the Midsummer Classic, he posted a .249/.348/.507 showing over 250 plate appearances. He more than doubled his walk rate from 6.2% to 12.8% and collected 15 longballs in the second half. He finished tied for 11th in the majors in homers after the Break, while his 147 wRC+ during that time (indicating overall offensive production 47 percentage points above the league average) checked in 27th among those with at least 150 plate appearances.
As with any relatively small-sample performance of that nature, it’s probably fair to assume Brown won’t maintain that pace. He doesn’t need to be a top 30 hitter in the league to be valuable, though, and it’s clear he has legitimate power upside. He’s now picked up 45 homers in a bit less than 900 plate appearances over the past two seasons. In both years, he’s put up a hard contact rate north of 40% — around five points higher than the league mark.
Even with some likely regression from his late-season tear, Brown at least profiles as a quality power bat for the strong side of a platoon. For his career, the left-handed hitter owns a .239/.309/.482 line against right-handed pitching. He’s managed only a .172/.230/.297 mark against southpaws and would probably be shielded from looks against tough lefty arms if he were to land with a contender.
A decent runner, Brown also stole 11 bases in 13 attempts last season. The A’s even gave him some late-season work in center field, though he struggled significantly there. Public metrics suggest he’s a more viable defender in the corner outfield and at first base. The bat will have to carry the profile, but Brown has enough athleticism he could factor in at a few of the lower-value positions on the defensive spectrum.
There haven’t been any indications Brown’s name has come up in trade talks between Oakland and other clubs thus far. Unlike most of the players the A’s have shipped off in recent seasons, they have no payroll motivation to deal Brown. He’ll play this season for little more than the league minimum salary and is eligible for arbitration three more times after that. Trading him wouldn’t be about saving money but the opportunity to potentially recoup a mid-level prospect or two for a player whose trade value may be at its peak. While he’s controllable for the foreseeable future, Brown is already 30 and presumably not seen as a core long-term organizational piece for a rebuilding club.
A productive lefty platoon bat to rotate through the corner outfield and first base should have more appeal to an immediate contender, particularly since Brown’s affordability means he’d fit on the books anywhere. Teams like the Rays, Yankees, Rangers, Braves, Brewers and Dodgers all have some amount of uncertainty at either first base or in the outfield. Tampa Bay and New York stand out as particularly strong speculative fits considering their lineups tend to skew right-handed. Brown wouldn’t be a franchise-altering addition, but he should be of interest to a number of teams as they build out their roster depth with free agency mostly finished.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Yankees Appoint Brian Sabean Executive Advisor To Brian Cashman
The Yankees announced today that Brian Sabean has been appointed executive advisor to senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman.
This is a homecoming for Sabean, as he began his career in Major League Baseball with the Yankees. He was hired as a scout back in 1985, later earning other titles such as director of scouting and vice president of player development/scouting. He was with the organization as they drafted and signed the young players that would later form the core of the club that won four championships from 1996 to 2000. In relaying today’s news, Joel Sherman of The New York Post recalls a statement Cashman made about the teams of the ’90s. “The underrated heroes of the dynasty are Bill Livesey and Brian Sabean,” Cashman said.
However, Sabean was no longer with the Yankees when those trophies were lifted. He joined the Giants in 1993 as assistant to the general manager and vice president of scouting/player personnel. He would later be promoted to general manager in 1996. The Giants finished 68-94 in that year but went on to post winning records in each season from 1997 to 2004. They dipped below .500 for a few years but later returned to success in a big way, winning the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
After that third title, Sabean was given the new title of executive vice president of baseball operations and seemed to move away from the day-to-day business of running the club. Bobby Evans took over as the general manager and stayed in that role through the 2018 season. At that point, he was reassigned and Farhan Zaidi was hired as president of baseball operations. As those transitions were taking place, Sabean seemed to have moved into an advisory/scouting role.
The Giants released a statement about Sabean’s hiring to reporters, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area among those to relay it on Twitter. “The San Francisco Giants would like to extend its deepest gratitude to Brian Sabean for his enormous contributions to our organization and wish him the best of luck in his new position with the New York Yankees.” The statement goes on to list the club’s aforementioned accomplishments during his tenure, before finishing thusly: “We truly believe he’s a Hall of Fame worthy executive in every sense of the word and wish him, his wife Amanda, and his entire family nothing but the best in the future. He will always be a Forever Giant.”
In the past few years, he has been connected to front office jobs with the Marlins and Mets that didn’t come to fruition, but he will now return to where his career began and rejoin the Yankees.
Red Sox, Rafael Devers Avoid Arbitration
12:30pm: The Red Sox formally announced that Devers has signed a one-year deal for the 2023 season.
11:37am: The Red Sox have agreed to a one-year, $17.5MM contract with third baseman Rafael Devers, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). That’ll avoid an arbitration hearing for Devers’ final season of eligibility but does not extend the team’s control over the All-Star slugger. He’ll be a free agent next offseason. Devers had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $16.9MM this coming season but will top that mark by $600K. Devers is a client of Rep 1 Baseball.
Devers, 26, has cemented himself as one of the American League’s top hitters over the past several years, hitting at a combined .292/.352/.532 clip with 108 plate appearances in 2228 homers dating back to 2019. Along the way, he’s been named to a pair of All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger Award.
A long-term extension with Devers has been a priority for Boston’s front office for some time, but a sizable gap between the two parties has remained — and that was before Devers watched several mid-20s free agents ink contracts of 11 or more years in length this offseason. One would imagine that the revitalized trend of contracts reaching or even exceeding ten years in length has only further prompted Devers to ponder what he might be able to earn in an open-market setting.
That said, there’s still ample time for the Red Sox to close the gap in negotiations. The fact that the two parties were able to amicably agree on a one-year compromise without needing to resort to a more contentious arbitration hearing bodes well for the status of talks, to an extent. It also frees the two parties to focus negotiations solely on Devers’ would-be free agent seasons.
Long-term deals of that nature are often left to be discussed in Spring Training, but given Devers’ importance to the Red Sox and the dwindling clock, it’s certainly behoove the front office to take every moment available in order to try to work something out. Boston ostensibly waited until last spring to discuss a long-term pact with Xander Bogaerts but only made an unrealistic one-year extension offer. They broadcast confidence in their ability to ultimately retain Bogaerts up until the final day that he agreed to terms with the Padres on an 11-year, $280MM contract. Certainly, one would imagine Sox brass hopes to avoid a similar sequence with Devers, who’s four years younger than Bogaerts and thus would be positioned all the more favorably in free agency.
However extension talks play out, there’s benefit to the Red Sox in securing this cost certainty on Devers sooner than later. With Devers’ salary locked in, the Sox are now projected for an Opening Day payroll just shy of $187MM, per Roster Resource. Their projected $212.6MM luxury-tax ledger sits more than $20MM shy of the $233MM first tier of penalization. Boston quite arguably still has needs behind the plate, in the rotation and on the bench, and knowing the exact price point on Devers helps chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and his staff gain a better picture of just how many resources are available before any concerns pertaining to the luxury tax — if they exist at all — need to be considered. Boston would be a second-time luxury offender upon exceeding the tax threshold in 2023.
Tigers, Andrew Knapp Agree To Minor League Deal
The Tigers are in agreement on a minor league contract with Andrew Knapp, as first reported by Complete Baseball News. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press further reports that Knapp’s minor league deal contains an invite to Major League Spring Training. Knapp is repped by Apex Baseball.
The 2022 season was a rough one for Knapp, who posted just a .128/.239/.154 batting line while splitting time between the Pirates, Mariners and Giants. That came in a tiny sample of just 46 plate appearances, however, and his combined .245/.313/.486 output in 230 Triple-A plate appearances between the Mariners and Giants was far better. Current Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris was still with the Giants as their general manager when Knapp signed a minor league deal with San Francisco last July.
Knapp, a former second-round pick (Phillies, 2013), has racked up more than five years of big league service while spending parts of six seasons in the Majors. He’s a career .209/.310/.313 hitter in the big leagues and a .257/.328/.415 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Knapp has struggled with a 19% caught-stealing rate and sub-par framing metrics in the Majors, but he’s nabbed 31% of those who’ve attempted to steal against him in the minors — including a strong 8-for-18 showing (44%) in Triple-A Sacramento in 2022.
The Tigers currently have Eric Haase and Jake Rogers as their primary catching options, though Haase has struggled defensively himself and Rogers missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery. Detroit also picked up Mario Feliciano off waivers from the Brewers last month and is still hopeful that 2020 second-round pick Dillon Dingler can force his way into the picture eventually. Dingler hit .238/.333/.419 (107 wRC+) in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting in 2022.
Brewers, Alex Claudio Agree To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have agreed to a minor league contract with left-handed reliever Alex Claudio, tweets Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The MDR Sports Management client will be invited to Major League Spring Training.
It’s a reunion between the Brewers and Claudio, who spent the 2019-20 seasons pitching out of manager Craig Counsell’s bullpen. The now-30-year-old southpaw (31 later this month) pitched to a 4.11 ERA with a 17% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 54.9% ground-ball rate in 81 innings during that time but stumbled to a 5.51 ERA in 32 2/3 frames with the Angels in 2021. Claudio spent the 2022 season with the Mets, tossing 3 1/3 shutout innings at the MLB level but otherwise pitching the remainder of the season in Triple-A Syracuse. The veteran lefty was effective in that hitter-friendly setting, logging a 3.91 ERA in 48 1/3 innings.
Overall, Claudio has spent parts of nine seasons in the big leagues and tallied more than six years of MLB service time. He sports a lifetime 3.60 ERA in 347 2/3 innings, and while his 17% strikeout rate is well south of the league average, his 6.5% walk rate and, in particular, his 59.8% ground-ball rate are both demonstrably better than that of the average MLB hurler.
The three-batter minimum has hurt pitchers of Claudio’s ilk, as he carries pronounced platoon splits that make him an unpalatable option against right-handed opponents. Lefties have flailed away at just a .210/.255/.335 pace against Claudio over the years, but right-handed opponents have tattooed him to the tune of a .302/.357/.440 batting line.
As things stand, Hoby Milner is the only left-handed bullpen option on the Brewers’ 40-man roster — assuming prospect Ethan Small continues to work as a starting pitcher in the upper minors. Eric Lauer and Aaron Ashby, the only other two lefties on the roster, are both ticketed for rotation work next year. As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Brewers bring in some more veterans in this mold on non-roster deals between now and Spring Training. It’s also possible that Milwaukee could make a late play to add a more established southpaw to pair with Milner. Andrew Chafin, Matt Moore, Zack Britton and Brad Hand all remain unsigned in free agency, and the trade market of course presents further options.
Twins Have Shown Interest In Michael Wacha
The Twins have shown interest in free-agent righty Michael Wacha, per Dan Hayes and Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. There’s no indication talks between the two parties have been particularly serious to this point, but Wacha would give Minnesota a veteran arm to help stabilize the back of the rotation if a deal eventually came together.
Wacha, 31, posted a sharp 3.32 ERA in 127 1/3 innings with the Red Sox in 2022, though he did so with a sub-par 20.2% strikeout rate and a 93.2 mph average fastball that tied his previous career-low. Wacha’s 6.0% walk rate was excellent, but he also rather clearly benefited both from some good fortune on balls in play (.260 BABIP) and a career-high 80.3% strand rate that topped his 72.9% career mark by more than seven percentage points. Fielding-independent metrics generally felt Wacha was solid but not to the extent that his baseline ERA might indicate (4.14 FIP, 4.07 SIERA).
That was Wacha’s first productive season since the 2018 campaign, however. The 2012 first-round pick was a steady contributor with the Cardinals, when healthy, from 2013-18 (741 innings, 3.77 ERA, 3.68 FIP, 4.07 SIERA). However, from 2019-21, Wacha was rocked for a 5.11 ERA in 285 1/3 innings, settling for a series of one-year contracts in free agency while dealing with previously unseen levels of susceptibility to home runs; Wacha averaged a whopping 1.83 home runs per nine innings pitched in that three-year span after previously surrendering just 0.86 long balls per nine frames from 2013-18.
The fit with the Twins is at least a bit muddled, if only due to the number of comparable options Minnesota has in its rotation already. The Twins’ starting staff currently projects to include Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle, Kenta Maeda and Bailey Ober, with depth options including prospects such as Louie Varland, Josh Winder, Simeon Woods Richardson and Matt Canterino (among others).
That said, each of Gray, Mahle, Maeda and Ober dealt with injury issues in 2022. Gray had multiple IL stints due to hamstring strains. Mahle twice landed on the injured list due to shoulder troubles. Ober, meanwhile, was out roughly half the season due to a groin strain. And Maeda, of course, didn’t pitch in 2022 as he recovered from 2021 Tommy John surgery. Given that protracted layoff and a complete lack of innings in ’22, Maeda figures to have his workload monitored in 2023.
Adding Wacha to the fold would provide some injury insurance, though Wacha himself comes with a lengthy injury history. He’s been on the injured list four times due to shoulder injuries in his decade-long MLB career, including an absence spanning more than a month just this past season. He’s also been sent to the injured list by oblique and intercostal strains, patellar tendinitis in his left knee and a hamstring strain. Most of the injuries were overcome in relatively short order, but a 2019 oblique strain and a stress reaction in his shoulder back in 2014 did result in stints on the 60-day IL.
A signing of Wacha or any other veteran starter would give the Twins another capable arm to help piece together the starting staff, but it could also further embolden the front office to pursue upgrades on the trade market. Much of Minnesota’s offseason hinged on its efforts to re-sign Carlos Correa, and while that ship perhaps hasn’t technically sailed just yet — Correa and the Mets have yet to announce a deal while working through concerns on the infielder’s physical — it’s decidedly unlikely he’ll return. In the meantime, the majority of the game’s top free agents signed elsewhere, leaving few alternatives for the Twins to pursue now that they’ve missed out on their top target.
The Twins have signed catcher Christian Vazquez and outfielder Joey Gallo, so they haven’t been completely dormant to this point in the winter. Still, there’s a need for further upgrades at various spots on the roster. Just as signing Gallo seemed to further create the possibility of a trading one of the organization’s many left-handed-hitting outfielders, an addition in the rotation could lead to the possibility of a trade involving some of that pitching depth.
As far as payroll is concerned, the Twins can afford virtually any free agent or trade target they like at this point. Byron Buxton, Gray, Gallo, Vazquez, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Maeda are guaranteed a combined $67.625MM in 2023, and the Minnesota’s projected arbitration salaries add up to just under $32MM. Suffice it to say, the Twins aren’t particularly close to the more than $140MM they spent on 2022 payroll.
It’s been a generally quiet offseason with regard to Wacha, as the Orioles have been the only other publicly linked team to the veteran righty. However, he’s one of the few remaining free-agent starters who’s coming off a solid season, joining Johnny Cueto, Zack Greinke and Zach Davies in that regard. At this point, Wacha is arguably the top free-agent starter remaining based on his combination of age and track record, so it’s easy to envision his market picking up some steam in the weeks ahead.
Mets Expected To Add Eric Hinske To Coaching Staff
The Mets are expected to hire Eric Hinske as their new assistant hitting coach, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). As Rosenthal points out, Mets GM Billy Eppler also hired Hinske to serve as the Angels’ hitting coach for the 2018 season, back when Eppler was the general manager in Anaheim (though Hinske was replaced after just one year in that role).
Hinske, 45, was the American League Rookie of the Year for the Blue Jays in 2002 when he batted .279/.365/.481 with 24 home runs, 38 doubles and a pair of triples. He went on to enjoy a 12-year career playing at the MLB level, splitting up that time among the Jays, Red Sox, Braves, Rays, D-backs, Pirates and Yankees. In 4310 career big league plate appearances, Hinske hit .249/.332/.430 with 137 home runs, 240 doubles, a 10.5% walk rate and a 22% strikeout rate while logging time at third base, first base and in both outfield corners.
Since retiring, Hinske has worked in a variety of coaching roles throughout the league. In addition to his stint as Angels’ hitting coach, he’s also been the assistant hitting coach for both the D-backs and the Cubs (including during their 2016 World Series win). Hinske also served as Chicago’s first base coach prior to his time as assistant hitting coach at Wrigley.
Hinske’s hiring comes on the heels of some other coaching maneuvering by the Mets earlier in the winter. Hitting coach Eric Chavez was promoted to bench coach under manager Buck Showalter back in November, and in a corresponding move, then-assistant hitting coach Jeremy Barnes was elevated to the title of hitting coach.
The Opener: SP Market, White Sox, MLBTR Chat
Three things for baseball fans to keep an eye out for as the New Year gets rolling…
1. Outside of Miami, which teams could plausibly trade a starter?
Fortunately for teams either unable or unwilling to meet the asking price on a member of the Marlins starting corps, there are other teams out there who could be willing to deal from their available starting options. The Mariners have expressed interest in dealing one of Chris Flexen or Marco Gonzales, either of whom could shore up the back of a contender’s rotation. The Mets, who have expressed a willingness to listen to offers on Carlos Carrasco, could also provide a back-end option to teams looking to add to the rotation. Teams looking for a little more upside could discuss Chris Sale with the Red Sox, though he comes with a hefty salary and a great deal of uncertainty following several injury-marred campaigns.
It’s also worth noting that other clubs with an excess of pitching options could move a starting-caliber player who’s been pushed out of the rotation by offseason additions or recent prospect graduations. For instance, neither Adrian Houser (Brewers) nor Adrian Sampson (Cubs) has a clear rotation spot right now. The Braves have multiple MLB-ready arms vying for one rotation spot (Mike Soroka, Ian Anderson, Bryce Elder). The Guardians were willing to listen on names like Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale prior to the trade deadline. Ultimately, there are options still available for teams looking to add starting pitching, though few (if any) with the combined certainty and upside of, for example, Miami’s Pablo Lopez.
2. What options remain for the White Sox at second base?
The White Sox currently project to run out Leury Garcia and Romy Gonzalez at second base, but neither of those options is particularly inspiring. Garcia posted an OPS of just .500 in 2022, and Gonzalez’s .609 mark is not much better. Free agency offers the potential for a reunion with either Josh Harrison or Elvis Andrus, but little else in the way of certainty, though bounceback candidates like Jonathan Villar do remain available. All told, it seems likely Rick Hahn’s front office will have to explore the trade market to find new talent to bring into the fold.
One team with a plethora of options at second base, as discussed yesterday by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco, is the Blue Jays. Toronto appears poised to mix and match between Whit Merrifield, Cavan Biggio, and Santiago Espinal, with Merrifield likely earning the lion’s share of playing time out the gate. Either Biggio or Espinal would represent an upgrade over in-house options for the White Sox, and both would come with some upside, as they’ve shown flashes of being above-average regulars in the past. The Padres, meanwhile, are reportedly willing to listen to offers on Ha-Seong Kim, but he’s also slated to play a regular role in their infield, so he won’t necessarily be easy to acquire. Miami’s Joey Wendle was pushed out of a starting role by the Marlins’ signing of Jean Segura. There’s been ample speculation about the Yankees moving Gleyber Torres throughout the offseason, and the Rockies at least discussed Brendan Rodgers in talks with the Marlins (albeit with Colorado seeking the type of controllable MLB pitching the White Sox don’t necessarily have to offer).
3. MLBTR Chat today at 1pm CT
MLBTR’s Steve Adams will host a chat with readers today at 1pm CT. You can submit a question in advance, and be sure to circle back to participate live this afternoon at 1:00!
Marlins Have Pursued Triston Casas In Trade Talks With Red Sox
The Red Sox and Marlins have been discussing trade scenarios, with recent reporting indicating the Sox have have some interest in veteran infielders Joey Wendle and Miguel Rojas. It seems that they have also discussed a much more significant trade as well, with the Fish attempting to acquire young first baseman Triston Casas, per a report from Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald.
Since Wendle and Rojas are both in their 30s and impending free agents, their trade value would be fairly modest. Casas, however, is turning 23 years old later this month, still has six remaining years of control and is generally considered one of the top 50 prospects in the game. If he were to be involved in any trade, it would surely go beyond a deal for Rojas or Wendle. The report from the Herald indicates Miami tried to pry Casas loose from Boston in discussions involving their starting pitchers.
There’s nothing to suggest that Boston is open to dealing Casas or ever gave serious consideration to the overtures coming from Miami. Still, it’s noteworthy that such a monumental deal has even been discussed. The Marlins have reportedly been trying to use their rotation surplus for a lineup boost for quite some time, but haven’t yet landed a deal to their liking. While ace Sandy Alcantara and top prospect Eury Pérez are reportedly off limits, the Fish seem to be willing to part with one of Pablo López, Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers or Edward Cabrera in a trade that would give them an impact bat and targeted Casas to be that guy.
The 26th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Casas mashed his way up the minor league ladder and reached the majors last year at the age of 22. He struck out in 24.2 percent of his trips to the plate, which was a bit above league average, but he also walked 20 percent of the time and launched five home runs in just 27 games. His lopsided .197/.358/.408 slash line resulted in a 120 wRC+, indicating he was 20 percent better than league average. That’s a very small sample size, but he’s also hit extremely well in the minors. In 72 Triple-A games last year, he hit .273/.382/.481 for a wRC+ of 127.
Though it makes sense that the Marlins would be interested in an exciting young player like that, it also makes sense that the Sox would want to hold onto him. Boston acquired Eric Hosmer from the Padres at last year’s deadline but then were seemingly impressed enough by the debut of Casas that they released Hosmer in December. To suddenly pivot and include Casas in a trade would be quite shocking.
The Marlins are also potentially interested in Ceddanne Rafaela, another highly-touted Boston prospect but one further away from the majors. The 22-year-old infielder/outfielder reached Double-A in 2022 and should be ready for exposure to Triple-A this year. He’s generally not ranked as highly as Casas but still has some hype, with Baseball America currently considering him the #78 prospect in all of baseball and MLB Pipeline placing him in the #96 slot. However, Jackson and Mish report that the Marlins are prioritizing improving the 2023 team, making Rafaela less interesting to them than the MLB-ready Casas.
The general framework of a trade isn’t totally inconceivable, in the sense that the Sox could surely use the starting pitching that the Marlins have to offer. Chris Sale and James Paxton have hardly pitched in the past three years while recent signee Corey Kluber is about to turn 37 and has injury question marks of his own. Garrett Whitlock has worked well in relief but seems to be headed for a move to the rotation despite just nine career MLB starts to this point in his career. Nick Pivetta is arguably the most reliable member of the bunch but he’s never posted an ERA below 4.53. Adding some more insurance into that group would make sense but it seems the acquisition costs being discussed with Miami are steep.
Though the Marlins have enough starting pitching to interest the Red Sox and many other teams around the league, these talks perhaps give us some insight as to why a deal still hasn’t come to fruition, given their high asking price. With those talks yet to bear fruit, the club has been limited to free agency in their pursuit of upgrading an offense that produced an 88 wRC+ in 2022, good enough for 25th place in the league.
The club had known interest in José Abreu, with Jackson and Mish reporting they offered a two-year deal in the $40MM range. Instead, Abreu joined the Astros on a three-year deal with a similar salary, amounting to a $58.5MM guarantee. The Marlins then pivoted to Justin Turner and offered him a one-year deal worth $15MM. He instead joined the Red Sox on a deal that pays him $15MM in 2023 but also has a player option for 2024 that would push his guarantee to $21.7MM over two years. The Fish also reportedly offered Brandon Drury $19MM over two years but he ended up taking a slightly smaller $17MM deal with the Angels. It had been recently reported by Sam Blum and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that Drury grew up an Angels fan and also had a pre-existing relationship with Angels’ manager Phil Nevin from when Nevin was managing the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A team that Drury was on in 2015 and 2016. After missing out on Abreu, Turner and Drury, the Marlins then got a deal done with Jean Segura.
While Segura is a solid addition, it seems the Marlins are still trying to complete a significant trade that will make an even larger impact on their lineup. It doesn’t seem likely that Casas will be the one, but it gives some sense of the type of impact player they have their eyes on. With about six weeks remaining until Spring Training, it will be very interesting to see what other players they pursue and if they can line up on a deal.
