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MLBTR Podcast: The Giants Sign Chapman, Zack Wheeler’s Extension, And Snell And Montgomery Remain

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The Giants sign Matt Chapman (2:50)
  • Why do the Giants and other clubs keep giving players these opt-out deals? (6:45)
  • What is the logic with Chapman and Cody Bellinger settling for these short-term deals? (10:20)
  • What’s next for the Giants? Will they trade J.D. Davis? Go after Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery? (13:50)
  • Why didn’t the Yankees or Mariners go after Chapman? (17:00)
  • Phillies sign Zack Wheeler to extension (18:30)
  • Should players focus more on guarantees or average annual values? (20:15)
  • Did Shohei Ohtani not push things forward enough for players? (22:15)
  • Was Wheeler not concerned about maximizing his guarantee? (25:10)
  • What does the future look like for the Phillies? (26:35)
  • What’s up with Snell and Montgomery now? Could the Orioles swoop in? (29:35)
  • Does the Lucas Giolito news spur the Red Sox to jump on Snell or Montgomery? (31:20)
  • What about other dark horses for Snell or Montgomery? (34:15)
  • The case for the Brewers being a dark horse (35:55)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Is the late signing by the Boras clients a result of just how the market played out or the strategy of holding out? How does Boras spin this? (39:15)
  • Are we seeing the end of the Scott Boras era? Especially with players more to their mid-30s. I’m not sure how you could objectively look at how the offseason has gone for his clients and think it was a win for them. (44:45)

Check out our past episodes!

  • How Cody Bellinger’s Deal Affects The Other Free Agents And Why The Offseason Played Out Like This – listen here
  • Finding Fits For The “Boras Four,” Which Teams Could Still Spend? And Rob Manfred In His Last Term – listen here
  • Jorge Soler, Veteran Catcher Signings and the Padres’ Payroll Crunch – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Will The Giants Trade J.D. Davis?

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Trade rumors regarding J.D. Davis have been prevalent throughout the offseason. The Giants were linked to Matt Chapman for nearly four months before getting a deal done last week. Now that Chapman has displaced Davis from the starting lineup, there’s again speculation about a subsequent trade.

The Giants signing Chapman doesn’t seem to have been conditional on a Davis trade, as the latter remains on the San Francisco roster five days later. Davis is probably overqualified for a bench role. He has played fairly regularly over the past five seasons between the Mets and Giants. Davis has turned in above-average offensive numbers in each of those seasons, although last year’s .248/.325/.413 slash line was his weakest since he established himself as a regular.

Davis has received some criticism for his glove. Public metrics had almost unanimously graded him as a below-average defender until last season. There was a split in his defensive grades in 2023. Defensive Runs Saved still considered him among the worst third basemen in the league, grading him 11 runs below average. Statcast, by contrast, viewed his work as four runs better than par. No one would consider Davis comparable to Chapman with the glove, but pairing average or better defense with his power potential would make him a good everyday player.

That alone doesn’t mean the Giants need to trade him. San Francisco could keep him on hand as a quality depth option for this season. It’s not an ideal roster fit. Beyond Chapman, the Giants have Wilmer Flores as a righty-hitting corner infielder and will use Jorge Soler at designated hitter.

While Davis would have the ability to pursue an everyday third base job in free agency next winter, he doesn’t have much recourse right now. He said over the weekend that he’s willing to do “whatever the team needs,” even as he called the signing “definitely surprising” and stated he was unaware the team was adding Chapman before it was reported publicly (comments relayed by John Shea and Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle).

Carrying Davis in a limited role is a suboptimal outcome for the Giants. He’s making $6.9MM after winning an arbitration hearing. That’s a lot to commit for a player used sparsely off the bench. Yet even if the Giants decide they’d prefer to offload Davis’ salary, Chapman’s late signing date could complicate those efforts.

A number of teams have publicly declared they’re near or at the level at which they’re willing to spend. Some clubs might view Davis as a slight upgrade over their in-house third basemen but not want to add a near-$7MM salary less than three weeks before Opening Day. Free agent spending on infielders was down all offseason and has gone particularly cold in recent weeks. Players like Tim Anderson ($5MM), Amed Rosario ($1.5MM) and Gio Urshela ($1.5MM) inked one-year pacts for salaries below what Davis will command. The Urshela contract, in particular, doesn’t point to a robust demand for third basemen.

Where will that leave the Giants? Will whatever trade interest they receive in Davis over the next few weeks be strong enough that they deem it preferable to keeping him?

 

Royals’ Tyler Duffey Recently Underwent Procedure To Treat Melanoma

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Veteran reliever Tyler Duffey revealed today that he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mole from his left shoulder last week (link via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). Duffey fortunately said that testing after the surgery has come back negative, although he’ll continue to undergo periodic check-ups over the next few months. Bally Sports Kansas City provides video of his media session on X.

Duffey noted the skin spot to doctors when he reported for his intake physical as a non-roster invitee with the Royals. He underwent a biopsy that revealed it to be melanoma last Monday. Duffey nevertheless pitched a scoreless inning against the Cubs before going in for surgery to remove what remained of the cancerous tissue the following day. He hasn’t pitched since then but was cleared to begin light baseball activities today, Rogers writes. Duffey is hopeful of getting back into games before the conclusion of Spring Training.

An understandably emotional Duffey revealed that both his parents had had cancer. He told reporters that his decision to publicize his diagnosis is to encourage others to be vigilant. “We’re in the sun a lot. We’re outside always, often not even thinking about it, sitting in a bullpen. … It takes nothing to get checked, I guess that’s the biggest thing I’ve taken from it. It’s no effort other than showing up.”

A longtime division rival of the Royals, Duffey has spent the majority of his career with the Twins. He worked in a high-leverage role for Minnesota between 2019-21, combining for a 2.69 ERA in 144 appearances over that stretch. Duffey stumbled to a 4.91 mark in 2022. He spent most of last season in the minors, although he returned to the big leagues for a two-inning appearance with the Cubs in the final weekend of the year. Duffey inked a non-roster pact with Kansas City in December and is battling for a job in the relief corps this spring. MLBTR sends our best wishes.

White Sox Notes: Cease, Kopech, Colas

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Dylan Cease was among the likelier players to be traded over the offseason. The White Sox stuck firm to an asking price that teams haven’t been willing to meet, though, and it seems the hard-throwing righty will instead be a top deadline candidate. GM Chris Getz declared at the start of camp that the Sox anticipate Cease being on the Guaranteed Rate Field mound on Opening Day.

That remains the case, assistant general manager Josh Barfield tells Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. Barfield said that while opposing teams remain in contact with the Sox about Cease, there’s “nothing imminent” on the trade front. “We’re preparing him to be the Opening Day starter,” Barfield reiterated.

Barring a surprising acceleration in trade talks over the next three weeks, Cease will lead a rotation with a fair bit of uncertainty. KBO signee Erick Fedde is penciled into a spot. Getz has indicated the Sox prefer free agent pickup Chris Flexen as a starter, while trade acquisition Michael Soroka has a good chance at a rotation job. Returnees Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet are battling for spots in camp.

While Crochet is stretching out from relief work to this point in his MLB career, Kopech trailed only Cease in starts for the team last year. That makes it seem likely he’ll be in the season-opening five, but manager Pedro Grifol indicated that isn’t a guarantee. “He’s getting built up to be one of our starters,” Grifol said of Kopech (link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). “I know we want to talk about it, but I think in about another week, we’ll talk about it. Right now, everybody is just competing.”

Kopech indicated that while he prefers to occupy a rotation spot, he’s amenable to whatever role the team asks. The right-hander worked in relief in 2021, turning in a 3.50 ERA across 69 1/3 innings. He stretched out to the rotation two seasons ago. Kopech found success in his first season as a starter, outperforming middling strikeout and walk numbers to manage a 3.54 ERA in 25 appearances. His production fell off last year, as he allowed 5.43 earned runs per nine. No other pitcher with at least 100 innings walked batters more frequently. Kopech handed out free passes at an untenable 15.4% clip.

That was one of a number of disappointing performances for the Sox as they fell to a 101-loss season. On the position player side, rookie right fielder Oscar Colás had one of the more underwhelming showings. Viewed as one of the better prospects in a thin farm system, the lefty-hitting Colás managed only a .216/.257/.314 slash line over his first 75 games.  He was optioned to Triple-A midway through the season. Colás hit .272/.345/.465 over 54 games at the top minor league level.

Getz indicated that trade pickup Dominic Fletcher is in the driver’s seat for the right field job this spring. Colás has gotten some exhibition work at first base as he looks to expand his utility for a possible bench role. The Sox have used him exclusively in the outfield during regular season play in the majors and upper minors. Colás got scattered reps at first base early in his professional career in Cuba and Japan, so he’s not entirely unfamiliar with the position, but he conceded there’s an adjustment period as he tries to acclimate to the infield dirt.

“Right now, it’s just an adjustment. I can’t say I feel completely comfortable, but I’m working on feeling comfortable again there,” the 25-year-old told reporters via interpreter over the weekend (link via Merkin). “I’ll play wherever they want me to play. What I want is just to play baseball.” Colás isn’t going to be an everyday option there but could offer cover for Andrew Vaughn over the course of the season if the Sox trust him for regular season work.

Roberts: Daniel Hudson Will Be In Dodgers’ Bullpen

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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told members of the media, including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that reliever Daniel Hudson will be in the club’s bullpen. Hudson is in camp on a minor league deal and has a March 15 opt-out but Roberts says there’s no “hard date” for adding him to the roster. The club will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move whenever Hudson is added.

Hudson, who turns 37 on Saturday, signed with the Dodgers going into 2022. He and the club agreed to a one-year, $7MM deal with a club option for 2023. He was excellent for the first few months, posting a 2.22 earned run average over 25 relief appearances. He struck out 30.9% of batters faced, only gave out walks at a 5.2% clip and kept 53.4% of balls in play on the ground.

Unfortunately, he tore the ACL in his left knee in June of that year, prematurely ending his season. The Dodgers had enough faith in him that they agreed to an extension in September of that year, effectively triggering the 2023 option early and adding another option for 2024. But in the winter heading into 2023, he developed ankle tendinitis as well as patellar tendinitis in the knee. He was on the injured list until June and then made just three appearances before suffering a sprained MCL in his right knee, ending his season early yet again.

The club turned down their option on Hudson’s services for 2024 but brought him back via a minors pact, which comes with a $2MM base salary and $2MM worth of incentives. He’s been healthy enough to make four appearances already this spring and it seems the club plans to put him back on the roster at some point. The Dodgers are set to be a third-time payor of the competitive balance tax this year and are well beyond the fourth and final line of the tax. That means they are facing a 110% tax rate on any additional spending so they will effectively be paying $4.2MM to add Hudson’s salary onto their books.

Hudson is an Article XX(B) free agent, which is a player with at least six years of service time who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, any such player who signs a minor league deal more than 10 days prior to Opening Day can opt out of that deal at three points if they haven’t been added to the 40-man roster: five days before Opening Day, May 1 and June 1.

Most clubs open this season on March 28 but the Dodgers start early when they play the Padres in the Seoul Series March 20. It’s unclear whether Hudson’s March 15 opt-out is the “five days before Opening Day” opt-out that he is guaranteed or if it was a contractual stipulation and he will have another chance on March 23, five days before the wider Opening Day. Regardless, he will have two other opt-out chances and it seems as though he and the Dodgers have a good relationship anyway. With Roberts’ suggestion that there’s no “hard date,” perhaps Hudson and the club have some kind of understanding whereby he won’t feel compelled to trigger his early opt-out.

Adding Hudson will make the Dodger bullpen a bit crowded to start the year. Closer Evan Phillips is out of options while veterans like Hudson, Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen and Ryan Yarbrough can’t be optioned by virtue of having more than five years of service time. That group would account for six of the eight bullpen slots. Brusdar Graterol has options but would certainly have a spot with the big league club after posting a 1.20 ERA last year while racking up seven saves and 19 holds. Yarbrough is the only southpaw in that group and he’s a long relief guy, so the Dodgers will probably want a spot for Alex Vesia for when they need a situational lefty.

Unless Yarbrough winds up in the rotation or someone goes on the injured list, it’s possible that someone like J.P. Feyereisen gets squeezed out and optioned to the minors. The Dodgers acquired him from the Rays prior to 2023, knowing that he had undergone shoulder surgery and was facing a significant absence. He didn’t pitch at all last year but has a 2.31 ERA in his 89 2/3 innings pitched in his career.

Mike Zunino Announces Retirement

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Former big league catcher Mike Zunino announced his retirement today, via an Instagram post from his reps at Wasserman Baseball. Hat tip to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Mike Zunino | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports“With profound gratitude, I am announcing my retirement from Major League Baseball after 11 seasons,” Zunino says in the post. “As I reflect on my career, I am appreciative of the support of the baseball community and those who have guided me along the way.” He goes on to thank the Mariners, Rays and Guardians, their fans, the MLBPA, team staff and teammates, as well as his advisors, representatives and family members. “While my time on the field has concluded, my passion for baseball remains as strong as ever, and I eagerly anticipate exploring new avenues to contribute to the sport. I am excited to bring what I have learned in the game to the next generation of MLB players, and to give back to the game that has given so much to me.”

Zunino was a trumpeted prospect over a decade ago. He was selected third overall by the Mariners in the 2012 draft, with only Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton going ahead of him. He secured a $4MM signing bonus and, just a few months later, Baseball America ranked him the #1 Mariners’ prospect and the #17 prospect in all of baseball going into 2013. He started that year at Triple-A but was up in the majors by June. He missed some time due to a broken hand and only got into 52 big league games, hitting just .214/.290/.329 in that time.

He got his first full season in the majors in 2014 and showed some of the mixed results that would go on to be trademarks of his career. One of the positives was his glovework, as he posted eight Defensive Runs Saved that year. FanGraphs also considered his framing to be really strong, one of the top five backstops in the majors for the season. On offense, he launched 22 home runs but also had some less-exciting elements. His batting average was just .199 and his on-base percentage only .254, thanks to a 3.6% walk rate. He was also struck out in 33.2% of his plate appearances. His 87 wRC+ indicates his offense was subpar overall but he nonetheless was considered to be worth 3.8 wins above replacement by FanGraphs, thanks largely to the defense.

Over the next couple of years, his struggles with strikeouts and low batting averages continued and he was optioned to the minors from time to time. He seemed to take a step forward in 2017, when he walked in 9% of his plate appearances and hit 25 home runs. But he still struck out at a 36.8% rate and his results dipped again in 2018.

Going into 2019, he had two years of club control remaining but was traded to the Rays as part of a five-player swap. His first season in Tampa didn’t go especially well, as a quad strain and an oblique strain limited him to just 90 games in which he hit .165/.232/.312. In the shortened 2020 season, he missed time due to another oblique strain and and struck out in 44% of his 84 plate appearances across 28 games.

Despite the offensive struggles, the Rays clearly valued his defense and work with a pitching staff as the club went all the way to the World Series in 2020. Zunino reached free agency after that but the club brought him back via a one-year, $3MM deal with a club option for 2022.

He would be in arguably the best form of his career in 2021. The Rays limited his workload to 109 games but he still managed to launch 33 home runs and make the American League All-Star team. His strikeout rate was still high at 35.2% but he also walked at a 9.1% clip. His .216/.301/.559 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 133 and he tallied 4.5 fWAR. That’s just behind the 4.6 fWAR he produced in 2017, though that was in a larger sample of 124 games.

The club option for 2022 came with a base value of $4MM but had escalators that could push it to $7MM if he got into 100 games, which he did. After that monster campaign, the Rays triggered the $7MM option to keep him around but 2022 turned out to be a frustrating year for him. He hit just .148/195/.304 through 36 before landing on the injured list and requiring surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.

The Guardians took a shot on a bounceback, signing Zunino to a one-year, $6MM deal for 2023. But Zunino struck out in 43.6% of his plate appearances and was hitting .177/.271/.306 when he was released in June. He didn’t sign elsewhere in the final months of the season.

Though he clearly had a lopsided profile, Zunino was incredibly skilled in certain areas. He retires with a .199 batting average and .271 on-base percentage, but he launched 149 home runs and racked up 18.3 fWAR thanks to 46 Defensive Runs Saved. He was often cited for his role as a clubhouse leader and could perhaps parlay that skill into future coaching opportunities. Based on his retirement statement, it sounds like he may pursue that line of work at some point. We at MLBTR salute Zunino on a fine playing career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.

Pirates’ Dauri Moreta To Miss Significant Time With Ligament Injury In Elbow

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March 6: Moreta is dealing with a ligament injury in his right elbow, Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk announced Wednesday (X link via Stumpf). The team is still gathering information and determining how to treat the injury, but Tomczyk acknowledged that Moreta will miss “an extended period of time.”

March 5: Pirates right-hander Dauri Moreta exited his most recent spring training appearance with an elbow issue, and while the team is still in the process of gathering information and opinions on the issue, GM Ben Cherington is expecting an absence of some note for Moreta, tweets Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. Stumpf noted Sunday that Moreta’s final fastball of the spring appearance in question clocked in at 89.9 mph; he averaged 95.3 mph on his heater in 2023.

While Moreta isn’t exactly a household name, he stepped up and cemented himself as a solid middle relief arm in Pittsburgh last season. Acquired in Nov. 2022 from the division-rival Reds in a trade sending infielder Kevin Newman to Cincinnati, Moreta pitched 58 innings out of the Pittsburgh bullpen and logged a 3.72 earned run average. It was a solid mark that was generally supported by fielding-independent metrics (3.25 SIERA).

With the Pirates, Moreta largely scrapped his changeup, dropping his usage rate on that pitch from 21.2% as a Red in 2022 to just 6.4%. He also roughly halved the usage of his fastball, throwing it at only a 26.4% rate last year. Both drops in usage were accompanied by a massive increase in the usage of Moreta’s slider, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of his pitches thrown in 2023. Moreta saw a substantial jump from an 11.1% swinging-strike rate to 13.8% as a result; his overall strikeout rate also climbed from 24.4% in 2022 to 31.8% in 2023. Moreta’s command took a turn for the worse, with his walk rate climbing from 8.1% to 10%.

The Bucs used Moreta primarily in low-leverage spots last year, though he worked his way into slightly more critical situations late in the season. He picked up just one save and five holds, but Moreta’s blend of velocity and missed bats made him an intriguing option to take on a more prominent role in 2024. While details remain scarce, any ascension up the bullpen hierarchy could be on hold based on this new elbow ailment.

As it stands, the Pirates will again turn to All-Star and Pittsburgh native David Bednar to close out games. Newly signed Aroldis Chapman will be his primary setup man, with righties Colin Holderman and Carmen Mlodzinski also on hand to serve as setup options.

Even if Moreta is out for an extended period of time, he’ll likely remain in the Pirates’ plans long term. He’s under club control through the 2028 season and won’t even be arbitration eligible until the 2025-26 offseason at the earliest.

Pirates’ Trade Talks For Rotation Help Have Slowed

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Throughout the late stages of the offseason, the Pirates have reportedly been exploring the trade market for rotation help, with the Marlins (specifically, right-hander Edward Cabrera) being the team most frequently suggested as a potential trade partner. However, while the Bucs talked with the Fish and surely several other clubs about deals to bolster the rotation, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that talks have “lost steam” and that GM Ben Cherington now says he’s increasingly focused on the arms in house.

“If there are things we can do to make the team better, we’re gonna stay on that,” Cherington tells Mackey. “No guarantee those things happen. We’re mostly focused on the guys who are here.”

The Pirates have three slam-dunk members of their Opening Day rotation: Mitch Keller, Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales. Keller, who recently signed a five-year contract extension, will get the Opening Day nod. There are still a pair of open rotation jobs, however, and Cherington suggested there are six or seven options vying for those two opportunities.

The names currently competing include a mix of young prospects, rebound candidates coming off a down 2023 showing, and veterans hoping to win a spot. While the Pirates have already informed 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick Paul Skenes that he won’t make the Opening Day roster, fellow top prospect Jared Jones (No. 74 on Baseball America’s top 100 list) is firmly in the mix. Jones may not have the same ceiling as Skenes, but Skenes pitched just 6 2/3 innings last year following the draft. Jones, on the other hand, logged a combined 3.85 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 126 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A in ’23. He’s pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings in camp.

Jones, 22, was specifically called out by manager Derek Shelton as a candidate for a spot in the Opening Day rotation (X link via Alex Stumpf of MLB.com). He’d need to be added to the 40-man roster, which could potentially work against him. That’s not true of Roansy Contreras, Quinn Priester, Luis Ortiz, Bailey Falter and Kyle Nicolas, each of whom is on the 40-man roster. (Lefty Jackson Wolf is as well, but the Pirates already optioned him to Double-A in their first wave of spring cuts).

Contreras and Falter have the most experience of the bunch. Both are looking to rebound from ugly 2023 showings. Contreras looked like a potential rotation staple as recently as 2022, when he pitched 95 innings of 3.79 ERA ball with passable, if unspectacular, strikeout and walk rates (21.1%, 9.6%). However, he lost more than a mile off his heater in ’23 and took a step back in virtually every rate category of note. He’s still only 24 years old and is just two years removed from being a top-100 prospect himself, so there’s ample time for him to figure things out. He’s out of minor league options, meaning he’ll make the roster one way or another — be it in the rotation or in the bullpen. Pirates fans will want to check out Mackey’s piece in full, as it more fully details some of the gains Contreras has shown thus far in camp.

Falter was acquired at the 2022 trade deadline in a swap sending utilityman Rodolfo Castro to the Phillies. The 26-year-old was never as touted a prospect as Contreras was, but the two followed relatively similar arcs otherwise: brief MLB debut in 2021, solid back-of-the-rotation results in 2022, poor showing in 2023. Falter tossed 84 innings with a 3.86 ERA as the Phillies’ fifth starter in ’22, fanning 21.2% of his opponents against an exceptional 4.9% walk rate. Like Contreras, he saw his strikeout, walk, swinging-strike and home run rates all back up in 2023 as he finished out the season with a 5.36 ERA in 80 2/3 frames. Also like Contreras, he’s out of minor league options and will need to make the roster or else be traded or exposed to waivers.

Priester, Ortiz and Nicolas all have minor league options remaining and have all made their big league debuts (in quite brief fashion, for Nicolas). They all ranked within the organization’s top 15 prospects at Baseball America as recently as 2023. Priester and Ortiz both drew top-100 fanfare prior to their debuts. None of the three has established himself on the roster, however. Priester has the best minor league numbers of the group but has been hit harder than Ortiz in the big leagues. Ortiz throws the hardest but has displayed shakier command than Priester. Nicolas still hasn’t had much success above Double-A, so he seems likely ticketed for Triple-A Indianapolis to begin the year, particularly since he’s already been hit hard in camp.

The Bucs also have a pair of veterans who could compete for a job. Lefty Josh Fleming is on the 40-man roster after signing a split deal late in the winter. He’s out of options and can’t be sent down, but he’s spent the bulk of his MLB career as a swingman with the Rays and could be headed for a similar spot in Pittsburgh. Righty Chase Anderson is in camp on a non-roster deal. The 36-year-old hasn’t posted a sub-5.00 ERA in the big leagues since being traded by the Brewers following the 2019 season but has shown decently in Triple-A while bouncing around the league since then.

Luis Medina Diagnosed With Grade 2 MCL Sprain; Freddy Tarnok Shut Down

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12:20pm: The A’s have also shut Tarnok down for the time being, tweets Gallegos. The 25-year-old experienced a “flare-up” in his surgically repaired right hip and isn’t throwing at the moment. Tarnok underwent surgery to repair the labrum and some cartilage in his hip last August.

With just over three weeks until Opening Day, this update likely takes Tarnok out of the mix for a rotation job. The former Braves farmhand, acquired as part of last offseason’s Sean Murphy trade, missed the first few months of the ’23 season with a shoulder strain and pitched only 36 1/3 innings between the minors and the big leagues last year. Baseball America ranked Tarnok 25th among Oakland prospects this season, noting that a lack of durability and sub-par command point more to a future in the bullpen than the rotation ceiling that looked viable earlier in the righty’s minor league tenure.

11:03am: Athletics righty Luis Medina will begin the season on the injured list after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee, manager Mark Kotsay announced this morning (X link via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Medina exited his most recent spring start with a knee sprain of unknown severity and was seen in the A’s clubhouse on crutches this morning. There’s no firm timetable for Medina’s return to the Oakland roster, but a Grade 2 sprain likely comes with an absence of some note.

Acquired alongside JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino from the A’s to the Yankees, Medina may have had the inside track on the Athletics’ fifth starter job this spring. Sears, Paul Blackburn and offseason pickups Alex Wood and Ross Stripling are locked into the top four spots, but Medina had more success in the majors than the remainder of the (non-Sears) pitchers the A’s have landed over the course of their current rebuild.

Looking strictly at last year’s 5.42 ERA in 109 2/3 innings, that might not seem to be the case, but Medina was shelled early in his debut campaign before finishing the year on a more solid stretch. Over his final 11 starts and four long-relief appearances, Medina pitched 70 2/3 frames with a 4.22 ERA, albeit with shakier secondary marks.

Medina averaged better than 96 mph on his heater and posted a quality 11.4% swinging-strike rate, but those positives were undercut by subpar command. The right-hander walked more than 11% of his opponents, and that lackluster command contributed to a below-average 21.6% strikeout rate that checks in lower than one would expect for a pitcher with Medina’s velocity and bat-missing ability.

Medina will join Waldichuk (flexor strain/UCL sprain) on the injured list to begin the season. That pair’s subtraction from the team’s Opening Day rotation mix creates some additional competition in camp. Oakland has already optioned rotation hopefuls Adrian Martinez, Hogan Harris and Osvaldo Bido to Triple-A. Righties Joe Boyle, Freddy Tarnok, Joey Estes and Royber Salinas are all still in camp and are all already on the 40-man roster, as is lefty Kyle Muller. Rule 5 right-hander Mitch Spence is also in the mix for a rotation spot.

Nationals To Sign Eddie Rosario

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11:20am: Rosario’s minor league deal contains a $2MM base salary and another $2MM of incentives, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’ll head to big league camp once he passes his physical.

9:10am: Rosario’s contract is a minor league deal, tweets Andrew Golden of the Washington Post.

8:54am: The Nationals and free agent outfielder Eddie Rosario are in agreement on a split contract that can pay the veteran up to $4MM after incentives, reports Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. The deal is still pending a physical. Rosario is represented by Rimas Sports.

Rosario, 32, is a veteran of nine big league seasons who’ll be joining his fourth MLB club after spending six seasons in Minnesota, half a year in Cleveland and two and a half seasons with Atlanta. He appeared in 142 games with the Braves last season, tallying 516 plate appearances and batting .255/.305/.450 with 21 home runs, 24 doubles, three triples, three steals, a 6.6% walk rate and a 23.6% strikeout rate.

From 2017-20 with the Twins, Rosario was a key presence in the middle of the lineup, popping a total of 96 home runs in 2002 plate appearances and hitting .281/.317/.493 — about 12% better than league average, by measure of wRC+. His bat has tailed off since that time, however. Rosario’s blistering run with the Braves following his acquisition at the 2021 trade deadline helped push Atlanta to the postseason, and his Herculean performance in that year’s NLCS won him MVP honors during that series. But on the whole, Rosario’s bat has been below average since departing Minnesota.

Over the past three seasons, Rosario has turned in a tepid .247/.295/.417 batting line (91 wRC+). He’s still shown some power, connecting on 40 homers and logging a .171 ISO (slugging minus batting average) in that time, but Rosario has become increasingly strikeout prone along the way.

During that peak four-year run with Minnesota, Rosario fanned in just 16.5% of his plate appearances. That mark has climbed to 24.2% over the past two seasons. Rosario has never walked much, but in the past, his plus bat-to-ball skills have helped to offset his anemic walk rates and justify his swing-at-everything approach. That’s no longer the case. In 2022-23, Rosario swung more often than all but 13 big league hitters (min. 500 plate appearances), but his contact rate ranked 265th of 318 in that same subset. The issue is magnified on pitches off the plate. Rosario has chased outside the strike zone more frequently than all but seven hitters in that span but ranks 173rd in contact rate on pitches off the plate.

Those traits underscore the free-swinging Rosario’s problematic approach at the plate, but the lefty-swinging veteran can still punish mistakes in the strike zone, particularly against right-handed pitching. His career batting average and OBP lack any telling platoon splits, but the vast majority of Rosario’s power comes when facing righties.

Defensively, Rosario has experience in all three outfield spots but is best deployed as a left fielder. His sprint speed (28 ft/sec, per Statcast) still ranks comfortably above league average, but he’s never displayed the range for center field and his once-elite arm has deteriorated over the past few seasons. As recently as 2020, Rosario averaged a huge 91.6 mph on his throws from the outfield, placing him in the 95th percentile of MLB outfielders. He was down to 85.1 mph in 2023, effectively placing him right at league average.

With the Nationals, Rosario can give manager Davey Martinez another veteran to compete for time in left field, joining fellow lefty hitter Jesse Winker in that regard. Center field figures to be manned by Victor Robles, with Lane Thomas slated for everyday reps in right field. Rosario and/or Winker could also contribute at designated hitter, but the Nats signed Joey Gallo to a big league deal last month and still have Joey Meneses as well.

That gives the Nats plenty of options at first base, designated hitter and left field. Assuming the physical goes well, Rosario will be among the favorites for playing time in left field, perhaps in a platoon setting with righty-hitting Stone Garrett. Rosario will also give Washington some depth to allow touted prospects and potential cornerstones Dylan Crews and James Wood to continue developing in the upper minors rather than rushing them to the big leagues. It’s a low-cost, minimal-risk deal for a team that has looked light on experienced outfield depth and on viable power threats in the middle of the order.

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