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Shildt: Merrill Traveling With Padres For Korea Series

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Over the past few weeks, it has become increasingly likely that top prospect Jackson Merrill would break camp with the Padres. While the team has yet to make that official, manager Mike Shildt implied this evening the 20-year-old was trending towards a spot on the Opening Day roster.

“Jackson Merrill is going to Korea,” Shildt told reporters, in reference to San Diego’s season-opening series in Seoul against the Dodgers next week (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com). “He’s earned his way on the plane. He’s earned what’s coming after the plane.”

That’s not quite a declaration that the Padres are calling him up. San Diego and Los Angeles are allowed to bring 31 players with them to Seoul, although only 26 will be on the active roster for games. That theoretically leaves open the possibility of Merrill traveling with the team and not being activated for the series. Yet Shildt’s not particularly subtle nod to “what’s coming after” the flight is all but a formal announcement that he will break camp. As Cassavell notes, the Padres would likely have had Merrill continue working in minor league camp this week if they weren’t planning to call him up.

A first-round pick out of a Maryland high school in 2021, Merrill is on track to be San Diego’s Opening Day center fielder. That’s a position he has never played in a minor league game. He made five starts in left field with Double-A San Antonio a year ago. Other than that, his entire professional experience had come on the infield. With San Diego having far more infield depth than outfielders, Merrill spent the offseason working as an outfielder. He has played on the grass in Spring Training and evidently impressed the organization enough defensively.

Merrill has limited experience facing upper level pitching. He has never played in Triple-A and only had 46 games of Double-A experience. Merrill put up a solid .273/.348/.444 line in 211 plate appearances in a pitcher-friendly setting at that level. He has impressed in Spring Training, punctuating a recent hot streak with an opposite-field homer off Zac Gallen this afternoon. Merrill is now up to a .343/.395/.600 slash with three walks and strikeouts apiece in exhibition play.

The Padres entered camp with only three outfielders on the 40-man roster: Fernando Tatis Jr., José Azocar and Jurickson Profar. San Diego would need to select Merrill’s contract but can do so without a corresponding move, as they only have 37 players on the 40-man roster.

Mets Among Teams Showing Interest In J.D. Davis

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The Mets are among the teams that have inquired about free agent third baseman J.D. Davis, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). Seven teams have shown interest since Davis was released by the Giants, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, who adds that the veteran infielder should sign in the next few days.

Davis’ late entry to the free agent market offers a low-cost opportunity for teams to bolster their third base depth before Opening Day. The 29 other clubs passed on the chance to assume a $6.9MM arbitration tab via waivers over the weekend. Davis is almost certainly going to sign for one year at a modest base salary, but he should find a major league deal and could get a starting job.

While his time in San Francisco ended on a contentious, unceremonious note, Davis is coming off a career-high workload. He appeared in 144 games and surpassed 500 plate appearances last season for the first time as a big leaguer. He connected on 18 homers and had a roughly league average .248/.325/.413 batting line. That’s well below the .276/.363/.457 slash which he compiled in more than 1200 trips to the plate between 2019-22.

Davis has 20-homer power and draws walks at a strong rate. He strikes out a little more often than the average hitter and has hit just under .250 in three of the last four seasons. He’s not a great defender, but public metrics were divided on his 915 2/3 innings at the hot corner last year. Defensive Runs Saved graded him well below par (-11 runs), while Statcast estimated he was four runs better than average.

Perhaps no team is more familiar with the 30-year-old than the Mets. Davis played in Queens between 2019 and the ’22 trade deadline, when New York swapped him to the Giants as part of a four-player package for Darin Ruf. The Mets haven’t gotten much out of the third base position since that point. Only the A’s had lesser offensive production there last season. Mets third basemen (primarily Brett Baty and the since-traded Eduardo Escobar) combined for a .212/.266/.324 showing.

New York’s only MLB infield acquisitions this winter have been a $2MM flier on utility player Joey Wendle and a waiver claim for Zack Short. They lost Ronny Mauricio, who might have been the starter at third, for the season when he tore his ACL in winter ball. Baty is expected to get the lion’s share of playing time as the Mets evaluate whether the former top prospect should be an everyday player in 2025 and beyond. New York is expected to take a similar look at Mark Vientos as the primary designated hitter, although he’ll also rotate through third base on occasion.

Signing Davis would raise the floor at either third base or DH and reduce the team’s reliance on both Baty and Vientos. The front office doesn’t seem to consider that an absolute must — they’ve proceeded deep into the spring without meaningfully addressing the position — but they’ve kept lines of communication open with veterans who could provide a short-term upgrade. That has been most apparent in their wait on J.D. Martinez, with whom they’re still in contact.

SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the Mets consider Davis a better fit for the roster than Martinez because of his ability to play defense. He’d also be a lot more affordable. He received a little over $1.1MM in termination pay from the Giants and seems likely to command just a few million dollars at this stage of spring. The Mets are paying a 110% tax on spending, so a hypothetical $3MM salary for Davis would cost them around $6.3MM overall. He has over five years of major league service, so he’d return to the open market next winter assuming he signs a one-year contract.

Justin Wilson Opts Out Of Minors Deal With Dodgers

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Left-hander Justin Wilson has opted out of his minor league deal with the Dodgers, per MLBTR’s Steve Adams. The ACES client is once again a free agent.

Wilson, 36, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers last month. Wilson’s official spring stat line currently includes nine strikeouts and two walks in four innings, allowing two earned runs.

Despite that fairly solid showing, he was likely going to find it tough to crack a strong bullpen for the Dodgers. Manager Dave Roberts said last week that righty Daniel Hudson, also on a minor league deal, would make the team. Hudson would join a bullpen that also consists of options like Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol, Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Ryan Yarbrough, J.P. Feyereisen and others. Graterol has some hip tightness and may miss the Seoul Series but doesn’t seem in line for a lengthy absence.

It seems Wilson felt he would be better off by returning to the open market and looking for opportunities elsewhere. It wasn’t previously reported that he had an opt-out in his deal but it seems there was one there for him to use. He can market himself based on his lengthy track record, though he is coming off two mostly lost seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2022, which limited him to just 3 2/3 innings that year. He signed with the Brewers for 2023 and was activated off the injured list at the end of July, but he suffered a lat strain before getting into a game and went right back on the shelf. He wasn’t able to return later in the year.

From 2012 to 2021, Wilson made 522 big league appearances with a 3.42 earned run average. He struck out 25.7% of batters faced, gave out walks at a 10.7% clip and kept 46.8% of balls in play on the ground. He racked up 18 saves and 132 holds in that time, pitching for the Pirates, Yankees, Tigers, Cubs, Mets and Reds.

Though he missed the last couple of years due to injury, he appears to be healthy now. Left-handed relief tends to always be in demand so Wilson will gauge the market and try to find the best opportunity for himself. He’ll join Brad Hand, Aaron Loup and Jarlín García as some of the southpaw relievers currently in free agency.

Angels, Mets Remain Engaged With J.D. Martinez

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Regular season baseball is just over the horizon but many free agents remain unsigned. Two of the most notable of those free agents are left-hander Blake Snell and designated hitter J.D. Martinez, both of whom are represented by the Boras Corporation. The Halos were connected to both of those players back in December and Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Halos are still talking about both of them. In a separate column, Heyman adds that the Mets also remain involved with Martinez, to whom they were connected last month.

It’s unclear if the Angels are making a serious push for a late signing or merely keeping tabs as the players linger on the open market into the middle of March, but they are one of the few clubs that make for a logical fit for a notable deal at this point. Many teams around the league have exhausted their respective budgets by this stage of the calendar, with some of them having concerns around luxury tax payments or uncertainty around TV revenue streams.

But the Angels are below their previous levels of spending, both in terms of pure payroll expenditures and competitive balance tax calculations. RosterResource currently lists their payroll at $174MM and their CBT number at $189MM for 2024. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Halos had an Opening Day payroll of $212MM last year, $38MM above where they are now. The base threshold of the CBT is $237MM this year, which gives the club $48MM of space if they want to stay below the tax, which is a line they hovered around last year.

Owner Arte Moreno has previously stated that the club is planning on operating with a lower payroll this year, but without specifics about exactly where they want to end up. Given the gaps between last year’s spending and this year’s, it’s possible to envision another signing coming together while still fulfilling his plan of reduced overall expenditures.

Many observers wondered if the club would look to mount a rebuild in the post-Shohei Ohtani era, but general manager Perry Minasian firmly stated at the start of the offseason that the club would not be doing that and was actually planning an aggressive offseason.

Thus far, the club has directed most of its efforts to the bullpen, signing Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Luis García, Adam Cimber and José Cisnero. On the position player side, their most notable addition was signing Aaron Hicks, who they will only have to pay the league minimum since the Yankees are still on the hook for his contract. Their most significant rotation addition was a $1MM signing of Zach Plesac, who has already been optioned to the minors.

Adding Martinez would be a clear upgrade to the club’s lineup, as he has a long track record of effective hitting and is coming off a 33-home run campaign with the Dodgers. The roster fit is a little awkward since Martinez is primarily a DH at this point, having only played 12 innings in the field over the last two years combined. The Angels technically have an open DH spot with Ohtani’s departure but may want to use that for their various aging or injury-prone players. Both Anthony Rendon and Mike Trout are the club’s two highest-paid players and each has missed significant time in the past few years as they have pushed into their 30s. Giving them occasional DH time and keeping them fresh might be preferable to locking up the DH spot with Martinez. Similar logic could apply to other players in their 30s like Brandon Drury or Hicks.

Previous reporting has suggested that Martinez turned down an offer of $14MM from the Giants while looking for either a two-year deal, a salary near $20MM or both. The Angels could accommodate that without reaching last year’s spending levels, though they would have to weigh the benefits of adding his bat to the lineup against the reduced ability to rest their other players, as well as the financial cost.

Snell would certainly cost more but it’s much easier to imagine him fitting onto the roster. The Halos have a rotation of Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth. Everyone in that group can still be optioned apart from Anderson, while Silseth has just 81 major league innings under his belt. At this late stage in the offseason, Snell would likely have to miss the opening of the schedule anyway and injuries may have popped up by the time he’s fully stretched out. Even if he can’t be expected to repeat last year’s Cy Young-winning season that finished with a 2.25 ERA, he’s one of the best pitchers in the league and would upgrade any rotation.

The lefty reportedly turned down an offer of $150MM over six years from the Yankees, average annual value of $25MM, with Snell looking for either a salary in the $30MM range or a longer pact. MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that Anderson’s three-year, $39MM is the largest the Angels have given to a starting pitcher since 2012, both in terms of years and guaranteed dollars.

Despite that apparent distaste to giving lengthy free agent pacts to pitchers, it’s possible to imagine the two sides coming together. Snell is reportedly open to a shorter pact with higher AAVs and opt-outs, similar to those signed by fellow Boras clients Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman. That type of deal is difficult for a club that has already spent a huge chunk of its budget or has tax bills to think about. The Yankees, for instance, would have to pay $33MM in taxes in order to give Snell a contract with a $30MM AAV this year. As mentioned above, the Halos have plenty of spending capacity before they even reach last year’s payroll or come close to the CBT line. Snell rejected a qualifying offer from the Padres so signing him would also cost the Angels their second-highest pick in this summer’s draft as well as $500K of their international bonus pool.

Until a deal comes together, the rotation will project to be that fivesome of Detmers, Sandoval, Anderson, Canning and Silseth. The club has been stretching out some other guys, such as Andrew Wantz and José Soriano, but they are apparently behind the front five. Manager Ron Washington tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that Wantz and Soriano will stay stretched out for now but won’t earn a rotation spot unless there’s an injury to one of the other five guys.

As for the Mets, they have been connected to Martinez previously, but with the caveat that they were leaning towards giving at-bats to younger players like Brett Baty or Mark Vientos. Those two could split the third base job and the DH slot, with Joey Wendle perhaps filling in at third on defense from time to time while DJ Stewart could perhaps take some plate appearances as the DH.

Both of Baty and Vientos are optionable and could therefore be sent to the minors, but it makes sense that the Mets would want to give them some run at the big league level. Vientos has hit just .205/.255 /.354 in the majors but has slashed .290/.369/.554 at Triple-A over the last two years. Similarly, Baty has hit .210/.272/.325 in the big leagues but .311/.405/.554 in the minors over the past two years.

Since neither of them have much left to prove on the farm and the Mets are planning a sort of bridge year in 2024, there’s logic to letting them face big league pitchers to see if either takes a step forward. Signing Martinez would also come with a hefty financial cost, as the Mets are set to be third-time payors of the CBT and are above the fourth tier of penalization. That means they face a 110% tax on any money they add to their books. Giving Martinez $15MM for this year, just as an example, would also involve paying $16.5MM in taxes and a total expense of $31.5MM.

If the club is willing to consider such an expenditure, it would lengthen the lineup as they walk a tightrope in 2024. They mostly limited themselves to one-year deals this offseason as they look to field a competitive team but without sacrificing too much of their future flexibility. Signing Martinez could lengthen their lineup here in 2024 but would also come with the opportunity cost of having less playing time for guys like Baty and Vientos, as well as the aforementioned financial elements.

In addition to the Angels, Snell has continued to garner interest from other clubs, with the Giants connected to him earlier this month. The Yankees may revisit their talks with Snell if they get bad news regarding Gerrit Cole’s MRI, though recent reporting has suggested they may be more likely to trade for Dylan Cease due to his lower salary and tax hit. Martinez was recently connected to the Marlins, in addition to the talks with the Mets and Angels.

Offseason In Review: Oakland Athletics

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The rebuilding A’s made only a few moves to address their big league roster, as much of the offseason news continued to focus on the club’s impending departure from Oakland.

Major League Signings

2023 spending: $13MM
Total spending: $13MM

Option Decisions

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

A long and twisted series of events that leads to finding a green armadillo in Las Vegas might sound like the plot of another Hangover sequel, yet it could also describe the Athletics’ relocation efforts.  MLB owners gave unanimous approval in November to the franchise’s plan to relocate, and the team recently released some eye-popping renderings of their proposed “spherical armadillo” ballpark on the Strip, which is planned to open for the start of the 2028 season.

Much has yet to be settled until then, including the rather important detail of where exactly the A’s will be playing during the 2025-27 seasons.  Next year’s edition of the Offseason In Review could be devoted to the Salt Lake City Athletics or the Sacramento Athletics, as the Athletics have been exploring alternate cities as their short-term home.  Since NBC Sports California could opt out of its broadcast contract with the A’s if the club moves out of the Bay Area, the team’s first option is to extend its lease at the Coliseum beyond its current end date following the 2024 season, yet the city of Oakland is (unsurprisingly) not too enthused about continuing the relationship.  At least, not without possibly trying to negotiate a new expansion team out of the league in exchange for letting the Athletics temporarily stay put.

Even the Vegas end of the move isn’t exactly solidified.  The league is pushing so hard for the Athletics’ relocation that it doesn’t seem likely that the move would fall apart altogether, though questions remain — a Nevada teachers’ union has filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s funding law that earmarked $380MM in public money towards the ballpark, the overall uncertainty about the new stadium’s financing and construction plans, and the fact that Las Vegas citizens seem mixed at best about the A’s coming to town.

Between all these factors and the Oakland fans’ open disdain towards owner John Fisher, it seems like several more years of awkwardness are in store before things start to turn for the Athletics organization.  Finding a silver lining in the on-field product seems like a longshot, given how the A’s have gone 110-214 over the last two seasons and seem destined for another triple-digit showing in the loss column in 2024.

Given how the Athletics have already dealt most of their prominent (and most expensive) veterans, GM David Forst didn’t do much in the way of continuing the fire sale this winter.  Forst said during the Winter Meetings that Aledmys Diaz, Seth Brown, Paul Blackburn weren’t likely to be traded, and while it can be assumed that the A’s are always listening to trade offers, the team still needs players on the roster.  And, some stronger performances from any of these more experienced names in the first half of the 2024 campaign could well bolster their trade value heading into the deadline.  Blackburn might be a key name to watch in this regard, since he is a free agent after the 2025 season and teams are forever looking to add pitching.

The rotation was a need for the A’s themselves this winter, resulting in a couple of familiar Bay Area names joining the club.  Alex Wood signed in free agency after spending the last three years with the Giants, and the A’s also lined up with the Giants on a rare trade between the local rivals in order to bring Ross Stripling to Oakland.  These two moves represent the Athletics’ biggest expenditures of the offseason, as Wood will earn $8.5MM on a one-year deal, and the A’s are covering $9MM of the $12.5MM owed to Stripling on the final year of his contract.

Neither veteran was too pleased about their usage within the Giants’ patchwork pitching tactics, but Wood and Stripling will get plenty of opportunity to work as full-time starters in Oakland.  Wood started 12 of 29 games in 2023, working as a swingman, bulk pitcher behind an opener, or in a piggyback capacity while posting a 4.33 ERA over 97 2/3 innings.  Wood’s traditionally solid strikeout and walk rates both plummeted to well below the league average last year, though it could be argued that his ever-shifting roles (and five weeks missed due to a pair of stints on the injured list) might’ve contributed to these struggles.

Stripling had an even tougher time of things with a 5.36 ERA over 89 innings, and injuries and a hybrid rotation/bullpen deployment were also a story of his season.  The right-hander did pitch better as the season went on, however, which could hint that he might have a smoother time of things in a more stable capacity as a starting pitcher.

Returning to trade deadline possibilities, a return to form for either Wood or Stripling will surely make them prime candidates to change uniforms at midseason, which could open up rotation jobs for some of the Athletics’ younger arms.  Some of this group (Joe Boyle, Kyle Muller, and Rule 5 Draft pick Mitch Spence) are already competing for the fifth starter’s role, which is open since both Luis Medina and Ken Waldichuk will begin the season on the injured list.  It remains to be seen when exactly either hurler might be back on the mound, underscoring the Athletics’ reasoning for acquiring experienced arms like Wood and Stripling.

Experience was also the watchword for the Athletics’ bullpen additions.  Of the seven pitchers who made the most appearances for Oakland in 2023, only Lucas Erceg is still with the team, so some veteran help was needed for a relief corps that is thin on Major League innings.  Trevor Gott and Scott Alexander signed low-cost one-year deals and might have hidden-gem potential, since both righties outperformed their ERAs last season.  Gott had a 4.19 ERA over 58 innings with the Mariners and Mets while not receiving any BABIP (.343) luck, while Alexander’s 3.75 SIERA was well below his 4.66 ERA in 48 1/3 innings for San Francisco.  A .325 BABIP was particularly harmful to an extreme groundball pitcher like Alexander, whose numbers might normalize if he gets better fortune with balls in play.

Gott and Alexander figure to work in setup roles no matter who (if anyone) winds up as the Athletics’ full-time closer.  Top prospect Mason Miller is making a bid for the job with a very impressive Spring Training performance, as the A’s are keeping Miller in the bullpen this year as a way of easing him back to action after a long string of injuries.  Erceg or Dany Jimenez could also be in the ninth inning mix.

The A’s mostly stood pat on the position-player side, though Tony Kemp (who signed with the Reds) was a notable departure after four seasons in Oakland.  The newly-acquired Abraham Toro is something of a replacement for both Kemp and Kevin Smith, as Toro has experience at first base, second base, and third base, and can step into the corner outfield in a pinch.  Third base figures to be Toro’s most steady position, and Toro and Diaz figure to share the hot corner until prospect Darell Hernaiz makes his expected Major League debut this season.

Zack Gelof, Nick Allen, and Ryan Noda should form the rest of the starting infield, with Brent Rooker as the primary DH and one of Shea Langeliers or Tyler Soderstrom behind the plate.  Brown, JJ Bleday, and speedster Esteury Ruiz are the projected starting outfielders, with rookie Lawrence Butler looking for a larger role and former Athletic Stephen Piscotty back on a minor league deal and looking to get back to the majors after spending 2023 in the White Sox farm system.  Miguel Andujar is an interesting wild card on the roster, as the former Yankees star prospect is looking for a fresh start after being claimed off waivers from the Pirates, and he hit well after a September call-up with the Pirates last season.

It isn’t the most inspiring lineup on paper, which is why the A’s will be hard-pressed to avoid the AL West basement.  There is some talent here, however, as Noda, Rooker, and the rookie Gelof all delivered well above-average production in 2023.  Gelof’s 133 wRC+ (from a .267/.337/.504 slash line and 14 homers) came over just 300 plate appearances, though it was enough to make the second baseman look like a potential building block for an A’s team in desperate need of some true cornerstones.

A rebuilding team is only going to spend so much on veteran players anyway, yet the Athletics’ projected payroll is the lowest in baseball by a substantial margin.  As per RosterResource’s projections, the A’s currently have only $59.3MM on the books for 2024 — well behind the $82MM in slated spending for the Pirates, who rank 29th of the 30 teams.

Fisher has been adverse to spending even when the A’s were fielding contenders, yet even beyond the lack of available money, Forst’s attempts to add any reinforcements were naturally complicated by all of the negativity surrounding the Athletics’ forthcoming move.  For players who had leverage in determining their next team, there wasn’t much interest in joining a franchise entering a lame-duck season in front of a fanbase that is understandably hostile towards the organization.  It perhaps isn’t surprising that so many of the Athletics’ additions this winter have prior experience playing for the Giants if not the A’s themselves, so the new faces are at least familiar with the Bay Area and the unusual situation facing the Athletics this coming season.

If the Athletics’ 57th season in Oakland will indeed be their last, it is probably going to be an inauspicious ending to a history that includes the “Swingin’ A’s” powerhouse teams of the 1970s, Rickey Henderson and the Bash Brothers in the late ’80s, and the Moneyball underdogs of the last two decades.  The focus will be on letting the kids play and hopefully building some momentum in the rebuild towards 2025 and beyond, no matter where the team ends up playing.

Taj Bradley To Undergo MRI Due To Pectoral Tightness

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Right-hander Taj Bradley was scheduled to start today’s Grapefruit League contest for the Rays but was a late scratch. The righty is dealing with pectoral tightness and will get an MRI, per Kristie Ackert of the Tampa Bay Times (X links).

At this point, it’s unclear if the club considers the issue to be severe or if scratching Bradley was more precautionary, but the MRI suggests at least some level of concern. For the time being, it will likely be a source of worry for the club and its fans, especially with the precarious nature of the club’s rotation depth.

Last year, each of Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan underwent a UCL surgery of some kind. McClanahan is likely to miss the entire 2024 season while Rasmussen and Springs are likely looking at midseason returns. In addition to those injuries, the club also flipped Tyler Glasnow to the Dodgers in a cost-cutting move.

Coming into 2024, the Tampa rotation projects as Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale, Zack Littell, Ryan Pepiot and Bradley, with plenty of question marks in that group. Eflin made 31 starts last year but has battled persistent knee issues in his career and 2023 was just his second time getting over 130 innings in a season. Civale has dealt with various ailments, including shoulder, forearm and wrist injuries, having never hit 125 frames in any big league season of his career. Littell has primarily been a reliever and was only moved to a rotation gig by the Rays last year. Pepiot, acquired in the Glasnow deal, has been a notable prospect but has less than 80 big league innings to his name. His 127 2/3 innings in 2022, between the majors and minors, are his personal high.

Bradley came into 2023 as one of the club’s better prospects but didn’t hit the ground running in the big leagues. He posted a 5.59 earned run average in 104 2/3 frames last year, despite strong strikeout and walk rates of 28% and 8.5%, respectively. He may have been hampered by a 67.7% strand rate but his 23 home runs allowed on the season also may have played a role in that. ERA estimators remained fairly bullish that he deserved better than his bottom line results, as he had a 4.79 FIP and 3.82 SIERA last year.

Regardless of how one interprets last year’s results, Bradley clearly came into camp as a key part of the rotation mix. With the absences of McClanahan, Rasmussen and Springs and the general uncertainty around the healthy options, Bradley was clearly going to be in the plans in Tampa.

If he ends up needing to miss any time, the club will have to dig even further into its starting depth. Shane Baz is on the roster but will be facing workload limitations this year after he missed all of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Japanese hurler Naoyuki Uwasawa is in camp on a minor league deal but there were concerns about his viability in the majors and he has allowed 13 earned runs in 5 2/3 spring innings thus far. Jacob Lopez is also on the 40-man but has just 12 1/3 innings of major league work thus far.

There’s a fair amount of precarity in that group overall and any further subtractions will only exacerbate the situation, so the club will surely be hoping that the MRI doesn’t find anything terribly concerning for Bradley’s health.

Zaidi, Hannaford Discuss J.D. Davis Release

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J.D. Davis’ time with the Giants ended in unceremonious fashion when the team placed him on release waivers yesterday. He’ll go unclaimed and become a free agent, at which point his camp will look for other opportunities before Opening Day.

It’s a financially motivated move for the Giants, who bumped Davis from the starting lineup when they signed Matt Chapman. Their incumbent third baseman had previously prevailed in an arbitration hearing and was slated for a $6.9MM salary. Barring a surprising successful grievance on Davis’ behalf, the release means he’ll receive a fraction of that from San Francisco. The collective bargaining agreement provides that arbitration-eligible players released more than 15 days before the start of the season “for failure to exhibit sufficient skill or competitive ability” are entitled to 30 days termination pay — slightly more than $1.1MM, in Davis’ case.

The most recent CBA introduced a new provision that arb-eligible players who settle without a hearing would be entitled to their full salary in the event they were released before Opening Day. That does not apply to players who go to a hearing — the provision incentivizes players on the fringe of rosters to settle — which makes Davis’ choice to proceed with a hearing consequential in retrospect.

Davis’ agent, Matt Hannaford of ALIGND Sports Management, criticized the team’s process leading up to the exchange of filing figures — implying that the team didn’t leave the player with much choice. “In my 22 years in the business, I’ve never seen a club in arbitration make their one and only offer less than an hour before the exchange deadline that ended up hundreds of thousands of dollars below their filing number,” Hannaford told reporters (link via John Shea and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle).

“The way the Giants negotiated gave J.D. no choice but to go to a hearing, which he did, and which we won. It’s unfortunate the club has handled things the way they have, but I’m confident in the player J.D. is and the value he will bring to his next team. I know he will end up in a better situation when all is said and done.”

The Giants’ official filing figure was $6.55MM. In response to Hannaford’s comments, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic and other reporters the team first offered “just slightly under $6.4MM.” Zaidi indicated the Giants did not consider that the team’s best and final offer and said that Davis’ camp replied that the number for a settlement “has to start with a 7.” Zaidi did not address the timing of the team’s offer but said ALIGND’s response came roughly 10 minutes before the time when teams and players are required to submit filing figures.

“They then filed at 6.9, and several hours after the deadline, called looking to engage in a settlement,” Zaidi said of Davis’ camp. “We said that out of fairness to our other negotiations and to maintain credibility with our policy going forward, we were not in a position to negotiate once the exchange deadline had passed.”

Nothing in the rules precludes teams and players from continuing to negotiate a settlement beyond the filing deadline. However, as a matter of policy, virtually every team declines to discuss one-year arbitration terms after the exchange date. Clubs view this as a way to deter players from anchoring future negotiations by submitting a filing figure that is higher than what they might expect to win at a hearing. (Teams sometimes get around their own “file-and-trial” policies by discussing multi-year deals, but that’s not always the case.)

Whether there was room for further negotiation before the filing exchange date, Zaidi didn’t deny Hannaford’s assertion that the team’s lone official offer was indeed below the rate at which they eventually filed. That makes it easy to understand why Davis declined that proposal.

One can debate whether his camp should have been more motivated to settle based on the possibility that the Giants may look to get out of the contract in Spring Training, but that’s far easier to say with the benefit of hindsight. While San Francisco had clearly viewed Chapman as a target all winter, they didn’t land him until well into Spring Training. The signing of Jorge Soler to a three-year deal to serve as designated hitter, blocking another path to playing time for Davis, also occurred after the filing exchange.

In any case, the chain of events seems likely to cost Davis some money. All 29 other teams passed on the opportunity to take his $6.9MM salary off outright waivers over the weekend. Zaidi said the Giants unsuccessfully looked for a trade partner between signing Chapman and cutting Davis loose. Hannaford tells Shea and Slusser that he’s hopeful that Davis will sign fairly quickly, but it’s not likely that he’ll make up the nearly $5.8MM difference at this stage of the offseason.

It’s possible his camp and the MLB Players Association will consider a grievance in an attempt to recoup some of that money, essentially arguing that Davis hadn’t failed to demonstrate sufficient skill. There’s no recent precedent for a successful grievance of that ilk, however. Davis’ release was not tied to a work-related injury, which would have been the basis for retaining his full salary.

Cases like this are rare, but it’s possible the Davis saga becomes a point of contention in the next round of CBA negotiations. Giants outfielder Austin Slater, a member of the MLBPA executive subcommittee, tells Shea and Slusser that fully guaranteeing arbitration salaries was a goal of the union’s the last time around.

“That was something we fought for, and we got. However, the league wasn’t willing to guarantee it if you went to a hearing. That remained the same. It was technically a win. Obviously, this is a very odd situation. And so there’s maybe more light brought onto it than previous years,” Slater told the Chronicle. “You never want to see something like that happen, but if there was a bright side out of it, it’s that guys are engaged and noticed that’s something that shouldn’t happen from a players’ union standpoint. Obviously, we love to have Chappy here. We’re thinking of J.D. as a person.“

Mariners’ Gregory Santos Suffers Lat Strain, Won’t Be Ready For Opening Day

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Mariners right-hander Gregory Santos sustained a “mild” lat strain while warming up yesterday and will not be ready for Opening Day, general manager Justin Hollander announced to reporters Tuesday (X link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com). A precise timetable isn’t available, but Santos is expected to be down for a matter of weeks, rather than months.

The health of Santos and fellow setup man Matt Brash (or rather, the lack thereof) has been a major storyline for the Mariners during spring training. Brash at one point was feared to have sustained a season-ending injury, but he’s since been diagnosed with only elbow inflammation and cleared to resume throwing. Santos felt some discomfort near his teres major muscle early in camp and was briefly shut down. He resumed throwing a couple weeks back but felt a “pinch” during yesterday’s long toss session and reported it to the team, Hollander explained. That prompted an MRI, which revealed the current strain.

Uncertainty in the Seattle bullpen only grew when one of their depth options, righty Jackson Kowar, experienced elbow pain and was diagnosed with a UCL tear. He’ll undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 season as a result.

The Mariners, suddenly facing the prospect of three injuries in the bullpen, pivoted and signed free agent right-hander Ryne Stanek to a one-year deal late last week. He’ll give them another experienced arm to add to the late-inning mix, though Stanek is coming off something of a down season and won’t necessarily be able to replicate the level of performance expected from Brash and Santos.

The Mariners acquired Santos from the White Sox in a late offseason trade sending a Competitive Balance (Round B) draft pick and prospects Zach DeLoach and Prelander Berroa to the White Sox. It was a fairly steep price to pay, but Santos broke out with 66 1/3 innings of 3.39 ERA ball for the South Siders in 2023. He fanned a roughly average 22.8% of his opponents, turned in an outstanding 5.9% walk rate and kept the ball on the ground at a very strong 52.5% clip — all while averaging 98.8 mph on his sinker. Add in that he’s controllable for another five seasons, and the appeal becomes all the more clear.

Thankfully for the Mariners, it appears Santos has avoided the type of significant lat strain that has caused various pitchers monthslong absences in recent years. If he’s able to return early in the season, as today’s update suggests, then the Mariners figure to have one of the game’s better bullpens. Brash and Santos are high-end setup options for one of the game’s premier relievers: closer Andres Munoz. Stanek is a veteran option with setup experience who can work in the middle innings. Last year’s unheralded acquisitions of Gabe Speier, Tayler Saucedo and Trent Thornton all yielded excellent results, and even if that trio sees some regression, it’s a deep and talented group if the M’s can get their top names healthy at the same time.

Report: Yankees Make New Offer For Dylan Cease

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The Yankees are still in the process of gathering information on Gerrit Cole’s elbow after he reported difficulty recovering between starts and underwent an MRI on Monday. In the meantime, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that they’ve made a new offer to the White Sox regarding right-hander Dylan Cease. Prior reporting on the talks between the two teams have indicated that the Yankees have refused to include outfield prospect Spencer Jones in any package for Cease, and Nightengale notes that Jones once again is not included in the new offer.

Trade talk surrounding Cease has died down in the latter stages of the offseason. White Sox GM Chris Getz has steadfastly held his asking price in negotiations throughout the offseason — an ask that other teams have deemed exorbitant.

If the Yankees indeed go outside the organization to bolster their staff, there’s some sense to preferring a trade to, say, signing a free agent like Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. Snell and Montgomery would come with huge annual salaries that are magnified by the 110% luxury tax the Yankees would pay for any additions at this point, given the current state of their payroll. Snell, in particular, would cost the Yankees their second-highest draft pick and $1MM of space from next year’s international amateur free agency pool, as he rejected a qualifying offer from the Padres. Cease has also been in camp with the White Sox, pitching in spring training games and building up for the season. Snell and Montgomery are surely working out on their own in preparation for the season, but that’s not necessarily the same as working in game settings. Cease wouldn’t come with any questions about whether he’d be ready for Opening Day, whereas a free-agent pickup at this point in the offseason calendar very much could.

Cease, the 2022 American League Cy Young runner-up, is earning $8MM this season and is controllable through the 2025 season via arbitration. He’s coming off a down year, having posted a pedestrian 4.58 earned run average in 177 frames with somewhat diminished averaged fastball velocity (96.9 mph in ’22, 95.8 mph in ’23). But Cease maintained strong strikeout numbers, missed bats at a plus level and was to some extent hampered by a .330 average on balls in play that was 46 points higher than his career mark entering the season. Other teams clearly view him as a playoff-caliber starter — evidenced by the widespread demand for him this winter — and the White Sox don’t seem likely to lower their asking price substantially, knowing they can also extract a substantial trade return for Cease this summer as long as he remains healthy.

Holding Cease with an eye toward the deadline presents the Sox with an obvious risk, as pitcher attrition in the sport is an inevitability. That’s underscored by the very reason the Yankees have apparently reengaged the White Sox on Cease. Cole and Cease have been the game’s two most durable starters for the past four years. Since 2020 (Cease’s first full season in MLB), Cease leads all big league pitchers with 109 starts. Cole’s 108 rank second, tying him with Aaron Nola and Jose Berrios. Even the most durable pitchers eventually break down, and if Cease incurs any kind of notable injury in the season’s first half, holding him will go down as a major setback in the White Sox’ rebuilding efforts.

Risk notwithstanding, the Sox have held firm in their asking price and seem prepared to wait until July if that price is not met. With regard to the Yankees, that includes Jones, a towering 6’6″ outfielder who’s drawn comparisons to Aaron Judge due to his physical size and his immense raw power. It’s unfair to expect any hitter to develop to Judge’s level, but the pure physical traits are similar. Baseball America credits Jones with plus power (60 on the 20-80 scale), while FanGraphs gives him a plus-plus rating (70-grade) in that department. Jones, who hit .267/.336/.444 between High-A and Double-A in his age-22 season last year, currently ranks 15th among all prospects at FanGraphs, 33rd at Baseball Prospectus, 46th at BA, 56th at ESPN and 84th at MLB.com.

Even if the Yankees remain unwilling to include Jones in an offer for Cease, the farm system is stacked with top-100 talents and with quality names behind that high-end contingent. Each of outfielder Jasson Dominguez, outfielder Everson Pereira, catcher Austin Wells, righty Chase Hampton, righty Will Warren and shortstop Roderick Arias has drawn top-100 fanfare on multiple lists. The overall depth of the system is considered strong as well, ranking sixth at ESPN, seventh at The Athletic, ninth at Baseball America and 11th at MLB.com.

The White Sox, who fired longtime baseball operations leaders Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams last summer, have been working to reshape the organization since shaking up the top end of the front office. Getz flatly stated that he “didn’t like our team” at the beginning of the offseason. Since taking the GM reins, he’d traded relievers Aaron Bummer and Gregory Santos, moved on from shortstop Tim Anderson and made a series of acquisitions to improve the club’s pitching depth and defense — two longstanding issues. Trading Cease would be his most significant transaction to date.

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