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Mariners To Add Brant Brown To Coaching Staff

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The Mariners are hiring Brant Brown in an unspecified coaching role, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com (X link). Craig Mish of SportsGrid reported this afternoon that Brown was interviewing with Seattle.

Brown, 52, spent the 2023 season as hitting coach with the Marlins. He’d previously served as a hitting coach with the Dodgers before joining eventual NL Manager of the Year Skip Schumaker’s first staff in Miami. Brown has spent the past half-decade coaching major league hitters. Before joining Los Angeles, he had worked for the Mariners as a minor league coordinator.

Specifics of his new role in Seattle are unclear, although Mish indicates it’s a bigger role on the hitting staff than Brown had held in Miami. Considering he was already the hitting coach with the Fish, it’s possible he’ll take on something like an offensive coordinator role with Seattle.

The Marlins were a slightly below-average offensive team this past season. They finished 19th with a .316 on-base percentage and .405 slugging mark. Miami was only 26th in overall run scoring, although their pitcher-friendly ballpark surely plays a role in that. That’s also true of the roster, which was still built primarily around pitching. Miami’s 2023 numbers were improved on those from the preceding season; they finished 27th in OBP and 28th in slugging the year before Brown’s arrival.

Miami will look for a hitting coach for a second straight offseason. John Mabry and Jason Hart held assistant hitting coach roles this past season. Mabry has a fair amount of prior experience as a lead hitting voice. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald indeed floats him as a possibility to step into Brown’s place.

Gerrit Cole Wins American League Cy Young Award

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As expected, Gerrit Cole is the 2023 Cy Young winner in the American League. The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the Yankee star has won the award. Former Minnesota right-hander Sonny Gray was the runner-up, while Toronto’s Kevin Gausman took home third place.

There wasn’t a ton of intrigue, as Cole received all 30 first-place votes. While he’s a six-time All-Star and two-time ERA champion, this is his first career Cy Young. No AL pitcher topped Cole’s 209 innings, while he led Junior Circuit pitchers (minimum 150 innings) with a 2.63 ERA. He was sixth among that group with a 27% strikeout rate and trailed only Gausman and Pablo López with 222 punchouts overall.

That well-rounded dominance made Cole an easy call as the AL’s best pitcher in the eyes of voters. It’s his sixth top five finish and the third time he has been a finalist, as he’d twice before finished as runner-up. Having at least one Cy Young on his résumé could go a long way towards burnishing an eventual Hall of Fame case.

For now, the 33-year-old will look to replicate this year’s success in hopes of leading the Yankees back to the postseason. Despite Cole turning in one of the best seasons of his career, New York floundered midseason and finished barely above .500. Cole will be in the Bronx for at least one more year. He’s headed into year five of a nine-year, $324MM free agent contract. He has the ability to opt out after next season.

Gray received 20 second-place votes to earn the highest Cy Young finish of his career. It was well timed for the three-time All-Star, who hit free agency a couple weeks ago. Gausman secured seven second-place votes and was the most common selection for third. Stray second-place votes went to Luis Castillo and Zach Eflin, although Baltimore’s Kyle Bradish edged out that duo for fourth in overall balloting.

Others to receive at least one vote: López, George Kirby, Framber Valdez, Chris Bassitt, Félix Bautista and Chris Martin. The full results are available at the BBWAA website.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blake Snell Wins National League Cy Young Award

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Free agent left-hander Blake Snell has been named the National League Cy Young Award winner for 2023, per an announcement from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Logan Webb of the Giants finished second in the voting while Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks finished third.

Snell, 31 next month, has now earned a Cy Young award for the second time in his career. The first trophy was in the American League, with Snell winning as a member of the Rays in 2018. He is just the seventh pitcher to win the award in both leagues, joining Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, Max Scherzer, Gaylord Perry and Roy Halladay.

The left-handed Snell hasn’t been the most consistent pitcher in his career, with both his health and performance wobbling over the years, but his two award-winning campaigns have been excellent. His first trophy came after posting an earned run average of 1.89 with the Rays and this second piece of hardware was earned by posting a 2.25 for the Padres this year. His most recent campaign saw him walk 13.3% of batters faced but he danced around those by striking out 31.5% of his opponents and keeping the ball on the ground at a 44.4% clip. He probably had some help from the baseball gods as his .256 batting average on balls in play and 86.7% strand rate were both on the lucky side of average, but his punchouts and grounders surely helped him somewhat as well.

Outside of those two campaigns, the results have been far more mixed. He got to 180 innings pitched in his award-winning campaigns but hasn’t reached 130 in any other season. He also hasn’t posted an ERA lower than 3.24 in any of them.

Of course, that doesn’t matter for the Cy Young voting. It’s a single-season award and his year-to-year consistency is not something for the voters to consider. Snell’s voting wasn’t quite unanimous but he got 28 of the 30 first-place votes. But his overall track record will be of concern to the clubs considering signing him as a free agent. Pitchers with multiple Cy Youngs don’t hit free agency every day but it’s also incredibly rare for a pitcher to put so many runners on base without allowing them to score. Regardless of those concerns, MLBTR predicted Snell to land a contract of $200MM over seven years and he’s already garnering plenty of interest.

Webb had a 3.25 ERA in 216 innings for the Giants this year, which got him one of the first-place votes and 17 for second. Gallen had a 3.47 ERA in his 210 innings, which led to one first-place vote and three for second. In the full voting, which can be seen here, votes also went to Spencer Strider, Justin Steele, Zack Wheeler, Kodai Senga and Corbin Burnes.

Royals GM J.J. Picollo Discusses Offseason Targets

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Royals general manager J.J. Picollo recently spoke to the media at the general manager meetings and Anne Rogers of MLB.com rounded up the pertinent quotes. The Royals will be looking to add to their rotation, lineup and bullpen this winter, though they are likely to take a by-committee approach to the closer role.

The fact that the club has a diverse set of targets for this offseason isn’t surprising, since very little went right for them in 2023. Their 56-106 record was second-worst in the majors, ahead of just the openly-tanking Athletics. Kansas City scored 676 runs, which was better than just seven clubs, while their 859 runs allowed was the third most. There is clearly room for upgrades all over the roster and Picollo will be looking to do just that.

“We’ve got to get depth with our pitching,” Picollo said. “One of our goals is to get starting pitching.” The starting staff in K.C. as a whole put up an earned run average of 5.12 in 2023, a mark better than just three clubs. It might have been even worse if it weren’t for a late-season charge by Cole Ragans. The lefty came over from the Rangers in the Aroldis Chapman deal and posted a 2.64 ERA in 12 starts for the Royals as the season was winding down.

That’s a small sample but it was nonetheless strong enough that he’s probably the ace of the staff right now, which says something about how shaky the rest of the group is. Brady Singer seemed to break out in 2022 when he put up a 3.23 ERA but that jumped up to 5.52 the year after, with his strikeout rate also dropping from 24.2% to 18.9%. Jordan Lyles was signed to a two-year deal but was roughed up in the first, finishing with a 6.28 ERA. Daniel Lynch IV got his ERA down to a career-best 4.64 in 2023 but that was despite his strikeout rate dropping from 20.3% to 15.2%. Kris Bubic began the year with three strong starts but then required Tommy John surgery, which will keep him out of action beyond the start of the 2024 campaign. Zack Greinke could come back to serve a veteran innings-eater role again but he is currently undecided on whether he wants to do that or not.

Given that those are the best in-house options at the moment, it’s understandable that Picollo would look for external upgrades, though it’s fair to wonder how much they are willing to spend. In the past six years, the club hasn’t given a free agent starting pitcher more than the two years and $18MM they gave to Mike Minor. Roster Resource estimates that their 2024 payroll is set to be just $70MM at the moment, but they have only been in the $90MM range in the past two seasons, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

The free agent market is topped by guys who will get nine-figure deals like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and others. But the Royals will likely be shopping in a different aisle, perhaps considering pitchers like Lucas Giolito, Marcus Stroman, Seth Lugo, Jack Flaherty, Michael Wacha, Mike Clevinger, Luis Severino, Frankie Montas and others who could perhaps be had on smaller deals.

Turning to the bullpen, it doesn’t seem like a significant acquisition is in the cards. “It’s going to be very difficult for us to acquire a guy that’s an established closer,” Picollo says. “So we’re probably looking at closer by committee and matchups. Who knows where the market will go, but the priority is going to be on the starting pitching, and then piece the bullpen together.”

Last year, the club took a bounceback flier on Chapman, which ended up working out. After a poor finish to his tenure with the Yankees, Chapman settled for a $4MM guarantee with bonuses on a one-year guarantee from the Royals. He got back on track with a 2.45 ERA for Kansas City before the aforementioned trade to the Rangers which netted Ragans, who is still controllable for another five seasons.

In addition to the Chapman trade, the club also moved José Cuas and Scott Barlow last year, leaving the back of the bullpen fairly wide open. Carlos Hernández struck out 25.7% of batters faced and could be in line for a significant role next year but his 5.27 ERA was still on the high side. James McArthur finished the season strong but still has just 18 major league appearances to his name. John McMillon looked impressive but in just four appearances before hitting the IL with a forearm strain.

There’s plenty of room for free agent signings but the comments from Picollo suggest they aren’t expecting to land a Josh Hader or even a Jordan Hicks or Reynaldo López. However, there are plenty of other arms available and the club will likely bolster their incumbent relievers somehow.

Turning to the lineup, it appears Picollo is fairly open-minded about additions there. “Our on-base wasn’t as high as we’d like it to be,” he said. “I think that’ll tick up as our guys get older and more experienced. But somebody who can get on base would be a priority. Power in our park has always been difficult to come by, but somebody who has more slug would be good. Somebody who can just give you a professional at-bat, get on base, drive the ball, hit anywhere from three to six or seven, and I think just to stretch our lineup would be a great fit.”

The club’s finances will play a role in who they target, but it will also depend on how they feel about the young players already on the roster. Bobby Witt Jr. is a lock at shortstop, as is Vinnie Pasquantino at first. Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin should share the catching duties and perhaps some of the designated hitter duties as well. Nelson Velázquez could be in an outfield corner or a DH slot. MJ Melendez had a rough first half in 2023 but finished strong and will likely return to left field.

But there are plenty of tougher decisions elsewhere. Maikel Garcia had an excellent defensive season at third but was subpar at the plate. It’s a fairly similar story for second baseman Michael Massey and center fielders Kyle Isbel and Drew Waters. The club could supplement those positions with free agents but they also might want to give some or all of those guys room to take a step forward in 2024.

Again, it’s probably fair to expect the club to opt for modest spending, given their limited payroll and steep path back to contention. But some bats that could perhaps be had without breaking the bank include Rhys Hoskins, Brandon Belt, Jorge Soler, Amed Rosario, Justin Turner, Jason Heyward or Adam Duvall.

Taking a 106-loss club and turning them into a contender is no easy feat. The Royals have one advantage in that the American League Central is arguably the weakest division in the sport and the Twins are cutting payroll. However, the Minnesota roster is still in decent shape and it wouldn’t be a shock if the Tigers and Guardians improved in 2024. The Royals have some holes to fill and probably not a lot of resources to work with, meaning Picollo has his work cut out for him this winter.

Padres, Dodgers, Giants Interested In Blake Snell

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The Padres, Dodgers and Giants are all interested in free-agent left-hander Blake Snell, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post in a discussion with Lauren Shehadi of MLB Network (video courtesy of MLB Network on X).

Snell, 31 next month, is fairly unique and will likely have wide variances in how he’s valued by clubs. On the positive side, he just finished 2023 with a 2.25 earned run average over his 32 starts. His 31.5% strikeout rate was second among qualified hurlers, trailing only Spencer Strider. He has a decent shot at winning a Cy Young award tonight, which would be the second of his career after winning it with the Rays in 2018.

But Snell has somehow managed to accomplish all of that despite giving out many free passes. He has walked 10.9% of batters faced in his career and that figure was cranked up to 13.3% in 2023. For context, the major league average in the most recent season was 8.6%. The strikeouts surely helped him prevent many of those runners from scoring, but so did a strong 44.4% ground ball rate. But maintaining his .256 batting average on balls in play and 86.7% strand rate would be hard to do over an extended timeline, which is why his 3.44 FIP and 4.06 SIERA suggest his ERA was perhaps flattering him by more than a full run.

He’s also not exactly a workhorse, partly due to some injuries in his career but also due to those walks preventing him from pitching deep into games. He tossed 180 2/3 innings in 2018 and a flat 180 in 2023, with those two seasons being his highest such tallies. Each other season of his career has seen him come in under 130 frames.

Despite some concerning elements in his profile, free agents with multiple Cy Young trophies don’t grow on trees and Snell could be just that in a few hours’ time. Earlier this month, MLBTR’s list of the Top 50 Free Agents predicted Snell could get a contract of seven years and $200MM. That’s based on the fact that pitchers with the potential for dominance can still get paid, even if it’s not a volume proposition. Carlos Rodón got six years and $162MM with a longer injury track record than Snell and never once getting to the 180-inning mark.

That will likely limit Snell’s market to the clubs with deeper pockets, but it sounds like he is still plenty popular. A return to the Padres would make plenty of sense from a strict baseball perspective. The club obviously likes him since they acquired him three years ago, giving up four prospects in the process. The club also has significant rotation needs, with Snell’s free agency coinciding with that of Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and Nick Martinez. That leaves the Friars with Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish as the only locks for their 2024 rotation.

The financial fit would be a little harder to see, however. The club is reportedly set to cut payroll significantly for next year, going from the $250MM range to the $200MM range. Roster Resource currently pegs their payroll for next year at $198MM, leaving very little wiggle room. The club is reportedly shopping reliever Scott Barlow and has at least some openness to Juan Soto trades, but the budget is obviously tight. Moving Soto for major league-ready pieces and then signing Snell with the money saved would be one way to compete again in 2024, but there would be plenty of risk in that path.

Like the Padres, the Dodgers have a reduced starting staff. Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw and Lance Lynn are all now free agents. It’s unclear what the future holds for Urías given an ongoing domestic violence investigation, which could lead to his second such suspension of his career. Kershaw recently underwent shoulder surgery and has an uncertain path forward, perhaps having to miss the first half of 2024. Lynn’s home run troubles were pronounced enough that the Dodgers probably don’t want him back. Among guys still on the roster, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are both recovering from surgery and may miss all of 2024.

That leaves them with Walker Buehler, who missed all of 2023 due to his own surgery rehab, and then a batch of guys who were rookies coming into 2023: Bobby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone. There’s also Nick Frasso and Landon Knack, who were just added to the roster yesterday, but adding some proven MLB arms into the mix is a sensible path forward. Heyman lists them as one of many clubs that are looking for multiple starters this winter.

Their payroll situation is far more pleasant than that of the Padres, as Roster Resource has them at just $142MM right now, along with a CBT number of $159MM. Non-tendering Ryan Yarbrough and Yency Almonte would cut both of those figures by over $5MM. It’s unknown how high they want to take the budget in 2024 but they’ve been as high as $280MM in the past, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Even if they want to stay under the luxury tax in 2024, the base threshold is $237MM next year, meaning they have around $80MM in wiggle room.

However, they may end up using a big chunk of that on Shohei Ohtani, with many observers considering them the most likely landing spot for the two-way superstar. Signing a player like Snell would also go against their track record. Despite their big payrolls, they haven’t really spent wildly on long-term deals for pitchers. In the past decade, they gave an eight-year deal to Kenta Maeda, but with a minimal guarantee of just $25MM. Since the Zack Greinke signing way back in 2012, they haven’t given a free agent pitcher more than $50MM.

The Giants also have some money to spend and seem motivated to make a big splash. Roster Resource has their 2024 payroll at $147MM and their CBT calculation at $170MM. They’ve topped out at $200MM in past seasons, per Cot’s, but might be willing to push farther this winter. Recent attempts to land star players have fallen short, with the club just missing on guys like Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa. It is expected that they will be motivated to get something splashy done this time around and could be quite aggressive in trying to do so.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi already spoke about the club’s plans for adding to the rotation, which makes sense given the question marks behind Logan Webb, and Heyman says they are also one of the clubs looking for multiple starting this winter. They picked up their option on Alex Cobb for 2024 but he will be coming back from hip surgery. Anthony DeSclafani and Ross Stripling will each be coming off of disappointing seasons in 2023 while guys like Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn are fairly unproven.

Broadly speaking, the demand for starting pitching is high, with Heyman reporting that there are eight teams looking to add multiple pitchers this winter. Not all of them will have the money and/or the appetite for Snell but it seems like general the market conditions could be working in his favor.

Brewers Name Pat Murphy Manager

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November 15: The Brewers officially announced Murphy’s hiring today.

November 13: The Brewers appear to have settled on their new manager. Milwaukee is expected to promote longtime bench coach Pat Murphy, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Murphy will replace longtime manager Craig Counsell after his departure to the Cubs.

Milwaukee’s managerial search proved to be a short one, ultimately concluding just one week after Counsell officially departed for Chicago. In that time, the Brewers reportedly considered several candidates in addition to Murphy during the short process, including Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough, 14-year MLB veteran Rickie Weeks and Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker.

Their reported list of candidates also included a pair of names attached to the other managerial vacancies around the league at the time: Astros then-bench coach Joe Espada, who has since been promoted to the managerial gig in Houston, as well as Padres senior advisor Mike Shildt, who is considered a potential favorite to replace Bob Melvin in San Diego. Ultimately, the Brewers decided to go with Murphy, who many around the game had speculated could consider joining Counsell as bench coach in Chicago if not promoted in Milwaukee.

Murphy, 64, has never been formally hired for the manager’s role with a big league organization but has plenty of experience managing in baseball nonetheless. He ran the Padres for 96 games on an interim basis in 2015 after Bud Black was dismissed that June. Murphy also spent more than 20 years as a head coach in college baseball for Arizona State and Notre Dame. Now, he’ll get his first proper managerial opportunity in the major leagues, stepping into Counsell’s shoes in the Milwaukee dugout after the pair worked closely for eight seasons.

He’ll inherit a roster that figures to be in flux this offseason. Though the Brewers won 92 games and an NL Central crown in 2023 en route to their fifth playoff appearance in the past six seasons, Counsell’s departure combined with the impending free agencies of ace right-hander Corbin Burnes and shortstop Willy Adames have Milwaukee’s front office potentially contemplating major changes to the roster. Further complicating the club’s offseason plans is the status of Burnes’s fellow ace Brandon Woodruff, who underwent shoulder surgery earlier in the offseason and is expected to miss most or perhaps even all of the 2024 season, though he hopes to be back sometime next summer.

Tumultuous as the coming offseason might be, the outlook in Milwaukee isn’t entirely bleak. Outfielder Jackson Chourio is widely considered one of the top two prospects in the entire sport. The club’s farm system sports three other top 100 prospects per MLB Pipeline. Those prospects could help to supplement a core of quality players at the big league level that includes catcher William Contreras, right-hander Freddy Peralta, closer Devin Williams, and outfielders Christian Yelich and Garrett Mitchell, among others. Even if Burnes and Adames are dealt this offseason, the club has the pieces to remain competitive in a relatively weak NL Central division if they choose to supplement the roster rather than engage in a larger teardown.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

MLB Considering Reduction Of Pitch Clock With Runners On Base

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Major League Baseball’s competition committee is considering a reduction of the pitch clock with runners on base, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. In 2023, the clock was set at 20 seconds with runners on but the new proposal would see that reduced to 18 seconds next year. The 15-second clock with bases empty is not under consideration for a change. The committee is also considering a reduction in the number of mound visits each team is allowed per game, from five to four.

2023 was the first year with a pitch clock at the MLB level and it had the desired effect of reducing game times and speeding up the pace of play. Per a report from Ronald Blum of the Associated Press at the end of the regular season, the average game time was two hours and 40 minutes in the most recent season, a 24-minute decrease from the season before. However, Passan’s report today indicates that gradually crept up as the season went along and players adjusted to the new rules. The average game length was 2:37 in April but inched up to 2:44 by September. It seems the league hopes to stop that trend by reducing one of the two clocks.

This is likely to get push back from some players, many of whom wanted adjustments to the clock for the postseason out of concern for increased injury risk. However, it was reported in September that no such adjustments would be made. Passan reports that players have similar concerns about this new development, though they may not have much sway to stop it.

The players are outnumbered on the competition committee, as there are six members representing teams, four representing players and one umpire. This structure was agreed upon in the most recent collective bargaining agreement. That gives the league the power to implement rules even if players object, though doing so runs the risk of further souring relations that led to a lockout not too long ago. The players would reportedly be more open to the reduction if it also came with an increase to the bases-empty clock, but the league is apparently uninterested in that.

The committee can implement a change with 45 days’ notice. Since Spring Training starts in February, they would probably want to make a final decision before the calendar flips over to 2024. With the baseball world generally slowing down for the holidays in late December, it’s possible there’s some resolution on this matter in the next month or so.

Padres Claim Logan Gillaspie

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The Padres have claimed right-hander Logan Gillaspie off waivers from the Red Sox, per a team announcement out of Boston. The Padres have several open spots on their 40-man roster, so a corresponding move isn’t necessary. Boston’s 40-man roster count is now down to 38 players.

Gillaspie, 26, spent only a couple months in the Boston organization. The Sox picked him up from the division-rival Orioles via an early September waiver claim. He pitched 4 1/3 innings with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate but will now join his third organization of the year.

Baltimore signed Gillaspie as a minor league free agent prior to the 2021 season, and he was with the O’s from the time of that contract until Boston’s waiver claim. He’s missed plenty of bats in the upper minors, fanning just over a quarter of his opponents between Double-A and Triple-A. In 26 1/3 MLB innings, Gillaspie has a 4.10 ERA with a much lighter 15% strikeout rate. He’s limited free passes nicely (6.7% walk rate) and averaged better than 95 mph on his heater. He’ll give the Padres some depth in the bullpen, and he still has a minor league option remaining, which gives them some additional flexibility with their relief corps next year — if Gillaspie lasts that long on the 40-man roster, of course.

Adam Plutko Eyeing MLB Return

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Right-hander Adam Plutko is eyeing a return to the Major Leagues after a strong two-year stint in the Korea Baseball Organization, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The 32-year-old hurler landed with the 2023 KBO champion LG Twins after a largely nondescript five-year run between Cleveland and Baltimore and has found plenty of success pitching overseas.

In two seasons with the KBO’s Twins, Plutko has pitched to a 2.40 ERA in 285 1/3 innings. He’s still not a prolific strikeout arm, fanning just 21.7% of his opponents, but Plutko sports a sharp 6% walk rate and a solid 46% ground-ball rate during his time overseas. That’s a marked increase over his MLB numbers; from 2016-21 he logged 273 2/3 innings between the Indians and Orioles, recording a 5.39 ERA, 17% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 28.8% ground-ball rate — primarily working as a fifth/sixth starter with Cleveland.

Given his age, Plutko isn’t likely to command particularly long-term interest if MLB clubs are intrigued to roll the dice and see what he can bring to the table in a return affair. But he’s a year younger than Josh Lindblom was when he signed with the Brewers out of South Korea (three years, $9.125MM) and two years younger than Drew Rucinski was last year when he signed with the A’s following a successful KBO run of his own (one year, $3MM).

A low-cost deal for one or two years doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. Even if guaranteed rotation spots are tough to come by, Plutko could be targeted by clubs looking for an affordable swingman to serve as a sixth or seventh starter in the inevitable event that injuries thin out their more prominent rotation options. With 51 career relief outings in the Majors, Plutko is no stranger to being a long man in the bullpen.

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