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Poll: Should The Red Sox Trade Kenley Jansen?

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The payroll has become a topic of conversation for the Red Sox. Despite chairman Tom Werner’s “full throttle” comments earlier in the offseason, CEO Sam Kennedy recently admitted that this year’s payroll will probably be lower than last year’s. It was reported last month by Chris Cotillo of MassLive that the club could look to shed some more payroll in order to improve their ability to pursue their free agent targets.

Per Roster Resource, the club’s payroll currently sits at $178MM. It hasn’t been that low in a full season since 2014, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, but it seems the pursestrings are getting tight nonetheless. The club has been connected to some big name free agents that are still available, such as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, but perhaps they need to free up a bit of cash before they can earnestly pursue any of those. More affordable options would include Mike Clevinger, Michael Lorenzen, Hyun Jin Ryu and others.

Cotillo’s report identifies Kenley Jansen as a possible candidate for such a salary-clearing deal, which is a logical fit. He signed a two-year, $32MM deal with the Sox last offseason, with even salaries of $16MM in each campaign. His first season in Boston was solid, though not spectacular. He recorded 29 saves in 33 chances, posting an earned run average of 3.63 on the year. His 27.7% strikeout rate was above league average but the lowest single-season mark in his career. The club has reportedly received trade interest in him.

With the Chris Sale deal, the club flipped the soon-to-be-35-year-old for a younger second baseman in Vaughn Grissom while effectively replacing Sale by signing Lucas Giolito. Perhaps the club is thinking of a similar path with the bullpen, as they have been connected to relievers like Jordan Hicks and Robert Stephenson, though those two have now signed with other clubs. With Jansen now 36 years old, they could perhaps exchange him for whatever the market will bear, then pivot to a younger arm to bolster the relief corps.

They could also consider replacing him internally with someone like Chris Martin, though there would also be some logic to consider trading him as well. He was signed to a two-year, $17.5MM deal last offseason, with $9MM of that still to be paid out. Per the Associated Press, he’ll make a $7.5MM salary this year and a $1.5MM payment of his $4MM signing bonus is scheduled for June.

Martin, 38 in June, is coming off a dominant season in a setup role. He posted an ERA of 1.05 in 55 appearances, racking up 23 holds in the process. He struck out 23.1% of opponents, walked just 4% of them and got grounders at a 51% clip. Martin’s never really been a closer in the majors, with just 12 career saves, though he did have a 21-save season while pitching in Japan in 2016.

Similar to the logic with Sale and Jansen, perhaps the club would consider making Martin available on the trade market and then replacing him with a younger free agent. Or perhaps they would like to trade one, keep one in the closer’s role and use the saved money to further address their rotation.

The relief pitching market has recently started to move, with many dominoes falling of late. In addition to Hicks and Stephenson, Josh Hader, Aroldis Chapman and Matt Moore have come off the board in the past little bit. That leaves David Robertson, Ryan Brasier, Phil Maton, Héctor Neris, Adam Ottavino, Wandy Peralta and Brad Hand as some of the best bullpen options still available. With the market getting thinner, perhaps the Sox can flip Jansen and/or Martin, then use the money saved to address their rotation.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow recently identified the club’s rotation locks as Giolito, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta, with Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, Josh Winckowski, Cooper Criswell and Max Castillo among the options for the back end and depth jobs.

What do you think? Should the Sox subtract from the bullpen in order to upgrade the club in other ways? If so, who should they move? Have your say in the poll below!

Tigers Sign Drew Anderson To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers have signed right-hander Drew Anderson to a minor league deal, reports Evan Woodbery of MLive. It’s unclear if the righty will be in major league camp with the Tigers.

Anderson, 30 in March, got scattered major league time from 2017 to 2021. He suited up for the Phillies, White Sox and Rangers, appearing in five straight seasons but never making more than nine appearances in any individual campaign. He threw a combined 44 1/3 innings in 19 games over that stretch, allowing 6.50 earned runs per nine frames. His 8.3% walk rate was around average but his 14.7% strikeout rate was well below.

After that run, he headed overseas to join Hiroshima Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Over the past two years, Anderson tossed 115 innings in 34 games for the Carp, with a 3.05 ERA in that time. He struck out 20.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.4% clip.

On the heels of those solid results in Japan, Anderson now returns to North America and will join the Tigers. He has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career and it’s unclear which role the Tigers have in mind for him, but he would seem to have a steep climb towards a starting role.

The club has Tarik Skubal, Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty in the rotation, with Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Reese Olson and Sawyer Gipson-Long likely batting for the spots at the back end. Other options on the roster include Alex Faedo, Mason Englert, Joey Wentz and Keider Montero. Top prospects Wilmer Flores, Ty Madden and Jackson Jobe are getting close to their major league debuts, with Flores having already secured a spot on the 40-man.

Nonetheless, as the cliches say, you can never have enough pitching depth and there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. For Anderson, he will get a chance to show himself to MLB scouts after a couple of years abroad and try to get back to show.

Latest On Yankees’ Bullpen Targets

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The Yankees are primarily focused on bullpen additions at this stage of the offseason and have been tied to various free agents over the past few weeks. Right-hander Hector Neris has been among the most oft-cited potential targets for the Yanks, and while SNY’s Andy Martino writes that the team has indeed spoken to the 34-year-old Neris, he also has “serious” interest from teams outside New York. The YES Network’s Jack Curry, meanwhile, hears that Neris isn’t likely to land in the Bronx as of this moment (video link). Reunions with southpaw Wandy Peralta and/or righty Keynan Middleton seem likelier than signing Neris, according to Curry.

Neris, 34, has been an eyeing a one- or two-year deal worth $7-11MM annually, per Martino. For a Yankees club that’s well into the final tier of luxury tax penalties and is a third-time CBT offender, that’d mean effectively paying Neris between $14.7MM and $24.2MM in 2024; any additional free-agent spending at this point will come with a 110% luxury hit. As such, it’s not particularly surprising to see the Yankees looking at lower-cost alternatives.

The 32-year-old Peralta has been a fixture in the Yankees’ bullpen for the past three season. From 2021-23, he logged 153 innings of 2.82 ERA ball with a 21% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and huge 56.5% ground-ball rate. In addition to keeping the ball on the ground at a strong clip, Peralta manages hard contact quite well. He’s been in the 88th percentile or better in opponents’ average exit velocity in each of the past four seasons, per Statcast. The Mets have also spoken to Peralta in recent weeks, though they face the same CBT status and probably feel less urgency to get into any sort of bidding war, as they’re in more of a transitional state than the clearly win-now Yankees.

Middleton, 30, was a deadline pickup by the Yankees and pitched to a 1.88 ERA with a 30.4% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate in 14 1/3 innings down the stretch. Inflammation in his right shoulder cost him most of September, but he did make it back the mound for one final appearance on Sept. 29.

That nice showing with the Yankees capped a fine rebound season for the former Angels hurler. In 50 2/3 innings between the White Sox and Yankees, Middleton notched a 3.38 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and career-best 56.6% ground-ball rate that was 24 percentage points higher than the career mark he carried into the season. The right-hander threw his four-seamer at a career-low 26.3% clip and tossed his changeup at a 42.9% clip that was far and away the highest of his career, which likely accounts for the stark uptick in grounders. Middleton threw more changeups in 2023 (367) than he had in his entire career combined (237). Opponents beat the offering into the ground at a hefty 64.6% clip and managed only .209 average when putting it in play.

Krall: Reds “Don’t Plan To Bring [Votto] Back As Of Now”

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Joey Votto has spent his entire professional career with the Reds organization, dating back to his second-round selection in the 2002 MLB draft and his Major League debut in 2007. If he hopes to suit up for an 18th MLB campaign, however, it seems increasingly likely it’ll be with a new team. Cincinnati president of baseball operations Nick Krall all but confirmed as much when asked by season-ticket holders whether Votto would return (link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). “We don’t plan to bring him back as of now,” Krall candidly replied.

A crowded Reds infield mix has already pushed jack-of-all-trades Spencer Steer to left field. Cincinnati deepened its wealth of infield talent earlier in the winter, signing third baseman Jeimer Candelario to a three-year, $45MM pact. He joins Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte, Jonathan India and Christian Encarnacion-Strand as options around the infield (with Steer on-hand in the event that injuries necessitate a move back onto the dirt). That glut of names already made Votto a long shot to return, but it’s still uncommon for any executive to comment directly on an unsigned player’s fit with his or her club (or in this case, the lack thereof).

Votto, 40, has already stated he hopes to continue his career. The six-time All-Star and former National League MVP spoke with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic earlier in the offseason and discussed his struggles while playing through a shoulder injury that required surgery in 2022 and continued to cause him trouble in 2023.  Votto opened the 2023 season on the injured list, had a productive 41-game stint upon being activated, but was placed back on the injured list in August and wilted upon his return to the roster.

It’s easy to look at Votto’s overall .202/.314/.433 slash and be underwhelmed, but a poor showing post-IL stint severely weighed down his production. Votto went hitless in 18 plate appearances before landing on the injured list, and he batted just .211/.362/.316 in 47 trips to the plate following his return. Overall, his season ended with a .164/.292/.236 swoon in 65 plate appearances.

Any team signing Votto will be hoping for better health. Doing so will require minimal financial risk in all likelihood, and Votto showed as recently as the 2021 season — his age-37 campaign — that he could produce far better than most hitters at this stage of their careers. That season saw him turn in an excellent .266/.375/.563 batting line and club 36 home runs, just one big fly shy of his career-high 37 set back in 2010. A rebound to that level of production at age 40 and with a recent shoulder surgery on his medical record might not be particularly feasible, but landing somewhere in the middle of his ’21 and his ’22-’23 output would still make Votto an above-average performer; when combining that 2021 production and his 2022-23 struggles, Votto still checks in with a .233/.344/.471 batting line (116 wRC+).

It’s been a quiet offseason with regard to Votto. The Blue Jays, as they have been for several years, have been tied to the Toronto native. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported recently that three teams were currently having some level of talks with the career .294/.409/.511 hitter.

There’s indeed a logical fit on the Jays, who saw Brandon Belt become a free agent at season’s end, have a heavily right-handed lineup. Votto could share time at first base with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and see plenty of time as the designated hitter, where the Blue Jays currently don’t have a clear regular option. Other teams known to be on the lookout for help at first base and/or designated hitter include the D-backs, Twins, Padres and Marlins (to name a few). Injuries and/or trades within the Reds’ current infield corps could potentially clear a path back to Great American Ball Park, but for now Krall made clear that such an arrangement isn’t in the cards.

Given the likely low cost of signing Votto, it’s easy enough to speculate on him as a fit with upwards of half the league. Interest figures to be quite a bit more limited than that, given his age and recent struggles, but he represents a relatively low-risk signing who’s still only a couple years removed from a standout showing at the plate.

Mets Interested In Ryne Stanek, Héctor Neris

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The Mets have interest in free agent right-hander Ryne Stanek, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. That would track with the club’s interest in making further bullpen moves, something that was confirmed by president of baseball operations David Stearns recently. Andy Martino of SNY relays that the club is willing to spend another $10MM or so this offseason, with perhaps more funds available at the deadline if they are contending. Martino adds that the club has spoken to the representatives for free agent righty Héctor Neris.

There has been a lot of turnover in the Mets’ bullpen relative to last year. David Robertson and Dominic Leone were traded at last year’s deadline, then Adam Ottavino opted out of his deal. Various other players were either non-tendered or outrighted.

Since then, the club has given one-year deals to Michael Tonkin, Jorge López and Austin Adams. That’s been in keeping with the club’s slate of short-term moves to bolster other parts of the roster. Sean Manaea got a two-year deal but with an opt-out after year one, while to Luis Severino Harrison Bader and Joey Wendle all inked one-year deals. The bullpen also got a new arm via trade when the Mets acquired Yohan Ramírez from the White Sox, and they’ve given minor league deals to journeymen like Cole Sulser, Yacksel Ríos and others.

It seems the club is still hoping to add another arm in there before Opening Day. Stanek, 32, has had a solid run for the Astros over the past three years. He’s made 186 appearances in that time with a 2.90 earned run average. He has struck out 27% of batters faced but also given out walks a a 12.2% clip. That strikeout rate fell to 23.9% in 2023, but he also cut his walk rate to 9.9%, a career low for him.

Neris, 35 in June, spent the past two years with Houston, with a 2.69 ERA over his 141 appearances. He paired a 29.1% strikeout rate with a 9% walk rate. His ERA dropped from 3.72 in 2022 to 1.71 last year, but that seems to have involved quite a bit of good fortune. His strikeout and walk rates actually worsened compared to the year prior, but his batting average on balls in play dropped by more than 70 points while his strand rate spiked from 63.4% to 90.5%. Neris’ 3.83 FIP and 3.89 SIERA in 2023 were each more than a full run higher than they were in 2022.

Either pitcher could be a sensible option for the Mets. Astros general manager Dana Brown recently said that they have interest in bringing those pitchers back, though that was before they signed Josh Hader and launched themselves over the competitive balance tax threshold. Neris has also reportedly received interest from the Rangers, Yankees and Cardinals.

Despite heading into 2024 with a sort of retool in mind, the Mets have a CBT number of $318MM, per Roster Resource. That’s well over the fourth and final tier of the CBT, which is $297MM this year. As a third-time payor in that stratosphere, the Mets are subject to a 110% tax rate on any further spending, though it seems that won’t be an obstacle to them adding to their bullpen in the coming weeks.

Marlins, Trey Mancini Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Mancini, who’s represented by Frontline, will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Mancini is still technically playing under the two-year, $14MM deal he signed with the Cubs last offseason, so the Marlins will only owe Mancini the prorated league minimum for any time he spends on the active roster. Chicago released Mancini after the trade deadline. The Reds added him on a minor league deal later that month but didn’t call him to the Majors before cutting him loose themselves.

As one would expect for a player who was twice released the prior season, the 2023 campaign was not a good one for Mancini. The longtime Orioles slugger appeared in 79 games with the Cubs after signing that contract but scuffled at the plate throughout his Wrigley tenure, batting just .234/.299/.336 with four home runs and a career-worst 29.7% strikeout rate.

Mancini’s struggles date all the way back to the 2022 All-Star break, however. He was enjoying yet another productive season in Baltimore, hitting .285/.359/.429 through his first 351 trips to the plate, but Mancini scuffled following the Midsummer Classic and never rebounded following a trade to Houston, where he batted .176/.258/.364 in 51 games while receiving erratic playing time. Since that year’s All-Star break, Mancini has 499 plate appearances with only a .204/.280/.335 batting line to show for it.

Of course, at his best, Mancini rates anywhere from “clearly above average” to “bona fide heart-of-the-order presence.” His peak offensive performance came during 2019’s juiced ball season, when he hit .291/.364/.535 with a career-high 35 long balls. Even if that peak performance can be written off as anomalous in nature, Mancini entered the 2023 campaign as a lifetime .265/.330/.457 hitter who’d typically walk around 9% of the time against a strikeout rate that routinely sat between 21-23%. He’s not considered a strong defender in the outfield corners but can play a solid first base.

Beyond his on-field production over a long stint in Baltimore, Mancini became one of the easiest players to cheer on throughout all of MLB. Heading into the 2020 season, a then-28-year-old Mancini stunningly announced that he’d been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. He underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor and then embarked on a six-week regimen of chemotherapy. Mancini eventually received a clean bill of health, returned in 2021 and was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year after swatting 21 homers and 33 doubles while batting .255/.326/.436 in 147 games.

With the Marlins, Mancini will compete for a bench spot and perhaps for time at designated hitter. The Fish currently have Josh Bell at first base, with Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez likely ticketed for corner outfield work. Struggling veteran Avisail Garcia remains with the club due primarily to his contract status — two years, $29MM remaining — but Mancini could challenge him for a similar role as a righty-swinging option at DH and in the outfield corners. Garcia has batted just .215/.260/.316 since signing a four-year, $53MM contract prior to the 2022 season.

With catcher Christian Bethancourt and utilityman Vidal Brujan both out of minor league options, the Marlins effectively have two bench spots up for grabs. Mancini will compete with outfielder Peyton Burdick and infielders Xavier Edwards, Jordan Groshans and Jacob Amaya for one of those two spots. A third roster spot could conceivably open if the new-look Marlins front office opts to move on from Garcia this spring.

The Opener: Corner Market, Angels, Gonzalez

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With Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton officially headed for the Hall of Fame, here are three things around the baseball world we’ll be keeping an eye on throughout the day today:

1. The market for corner bats has begun to heat up:

In an offseason that started out with a relative dearth of offensive talent, a surprising amount of corner bats remain available with just three weeks until Spring Training. That’s begun to change, however, as a pair of deals from that side of the market came together yesterday: first baseman Rhys Hoskins is finalizing a two-year deal with the Brewers, while outfielder/first baseman Joey Gallo landed a one-year pact with the Nationals. Even with that pair of sluggers off the market, plenty of options remain for clubs looking to add a corner bat or DH this winter with Jorge Soler, J.D. Martinez, Justin Turner, and Joc Pederson among the best bats remaining. With teams like the Blue Jays, Padres, and Diamondbacks still in the hunt for a bat in this vein, will the recent signings spur further activity?

2. Angels making moves:

After being among the league’s quieter teams early in the offseason as they watched franchise face and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani depart for Chavez Ravine, the Angels have begun to show signs of life on the free agent market. After landing Robert Stephenson on a three-year deal last week, the club further bolstered their bullpen by reuniting with veteran southpaw Matt Moore on a one-year pact. Adding Stephenson and Moore to the late-inning mix alongside Carlos Estevez creates a strong back-end trio for the Halos, but the club still has plenty of work to do upgrading the starting rotation and lineup if the club hopes to be competitive in its first post-Ohtani season. Fortunately, the club has payroll space to work with. Roster Resource projects the club for a payroll of $172MM in 2024, more than $40MM below the figure they posted last year.

3. Gonzalez DFA resolution:

The Yankees designated outfielder Oscar Gonzalez for assignment last week in a move that cleared space on the 40-man roster for veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman. In doing so, they set off a one-week window to either trade Gonzalez, pass him through waivers or release him. That clock runs out today for Gonzalez, meaning a resolution will be announced shortly. Since waivers are a 48-hour process themselves and today is the final day of his window, it stands to reason that the Yankees placed him on waivers two days ago and will today learn whether he’ll be claimed or clear. Gonzalez slashed a strong .296/.327/.461 in 91 games during his rookie season in 2022 before limping to a paltry .214/.239/.312 line in 180 trips to the plate in 2023. Still, at just 26 years old and only one season removed from quality production, a team in need of help at the outfield corners could look to claim him. Gonzalez has not yet been outrighted during his career, so if he passes through waivers successfully, the Yankees will be able to stash him in the minors as non-roster depth without Gonzalez being able to reject the assignment in favor of free agency.

Angels To Sign Matt Moore

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The Angels are in agreement with reliever Matt Moore on a $9MM contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). Moore, a client of Apex Baseball, will sign with the Halos for a second straight offseason. He inked a one-year, $7.55MM deal with the Angels last winter.

The first run in Anaheim was a good one for the now 34-year-old Moore, who’s enjoying a nice second act of his career since moving to the bullpen. In 44 innings with the Angels during the 2023 season, the veteran southpaw notched an excellent 2.66 earned run average. Moore logged a strong 28% strikeout rate against a lower-than-average 6.9% walk rate.

The Halos wound up waiving Moore in August, but not due to his performance. Rather, the Angels made a last-ditch effort to get under the luxury tax threshold with a mass waiver purge just weeks after an aggressive, win-now trade deadline. Moore, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Hunter Renfroe, Randal Grichuk, Dominic Leone and Tyler Anderson all wound up on waivers in hopes that another club would take their contracts (not all were claimed).

Moore was quickly snapped up by the Guardians as they made their own last-minute push, claiming Giolito in addition to Moore. His stint with Cleveland only lasted 4 2/3 innings, as the Guards waived Moore themselves to save some cash after they, too, fell out of postseason contention. The Marlins scooped Moore up and enjoyed four shutout innings for him down the stretch.

Overall, Moore finished out a bizarre 2023 season with a 2.56 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate and vastly improved 6.9% walk rate in 52 2/3 innings between the three teams. That marked Moore’s second consecutive year of productive pitching following a move to the bullpen. He turned in a 1.95 ERA for the Rangers in 2022 after signing a minor league deal. When combining the two seasons, Moore touts a 2.20 ERA with five saves, 36 holds, a 27.4% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate in 126 2/3 innings.

It’s a strong second act for the southpaw, who’d struggled as a starter for the few seasons preceding his bullpen move. It has clearly impressed Halos GM Perry Minasian and his staff, who have added him on a notable one-year pact in consecutive years. That’s in line with a broad willingness to attack the relief corps on free agency.

Los Angeles has signed five relievers this winter. Their first three acquisitions — Luis Garcia, Adam Kolarek and Adam Cimber — were fairly modest one-year deals. In recent days, they’ve been more aggressive. The Angels finalized a three-year, $33MM pact with Robert Stephenson this afternoon. Moore adds a lefty option to a relief group that otherwise figures to lean heavily on righties Carlos Estevez, Stephenson, Garcia, Ben Joyce and Jose Soriano.

The Angels are now up to roughly $172MM in payroll commitments for the upcoming season, as calculated by Roster Resource. That’s still well shy of last year’s $212MM Opening Day mark. Minasian and his staff very likely aren’t finished. They’ve been tied to various possibilities in both the lineup and the starting rotation. There’s still opportunity for the Angels to continue adding in the next few weeks.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Orioles Sign Daniel Johnson To Minor League Contract

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The Orioles have signed Daniel Johnson to a minor league deal, the team announced. The outfielder is represented by CAA Sports.

Johnson was once a fairly notable prospect in the Washington and Cleveland farm systems. The Nats dealt him to the Indians in 2018 for catcher Yan Gomes. Johnson made it to the big leagues during the shortened season and appeared in 30 games during the ’21 campaign. The New Mexico State product struggled to a .202/.245/.337 slash while striking out 32 times over 94 plate appearances.

Cleveland sent him off the 40-man roster at the end of the 2021 season. He split the 2022 campaign between the Nationals and Mets systems without reaching the majors. Johnson signed a minor league pact with the Padres last winter. He had a solid year between the top two minor league levels. The 28-year-old ran a .271/.348/.469 slash over 537 cumulative plate appearances.

Johnson has tallied a little more than 1000 plate appearances over parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s a .254/.326/.446 hitter at that level. Johnson can play all three outfield spots but has more experience in a corner, with his top-of-the-scale arm strength playing best in right field.

Pirates Showing Interest In Noah Syndergaard

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The Pirates are among multiple teams that have expressed interest in free agent righty Noah Syndergaard, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. According to Murray, both Syndergaard and right-hander Michael Lorenzen threw a bullpen session in front of teams today.

While it’s unclear which teams are involved in Lorenzen’s market, Pittsburgh is apparently considering Syndergaard as a rebound target. He’ll certainly settle for a one-year contract for a third straight offseason. After locking in a $21MM guarantee from the Angels in 2021-22 and a $13MM pact from the Dodgers last winter, he’s looking at a cheaper deal this time around.

That’s a reflection of Syndergaard’s trouble finding his form since he returned from Tommy John surgery. He underwent the elbow procedure in March 2020, essentially wiping out two seasons. During his first year back, he turned in a 3.94 ERA over 25 appearances for the Halos. While that’s decent run prevention, the righty wasn’t nearly as overpowering as he’d been before the surgery. He fanned just 16.8% of opposing hitters, nearly eight percentage points below his 2019 mark.

The Dodgers hoped that Syndergaard would rediscover that level in his second year after surgery. Instead, the lack of missed bats caught up to him. He was tagged for a 7.16 ERA over 12 starts in Los Angeles. The Dodgers placed him on the injured list and flipped him to the Guardians in a change-of-scenery swap that sent infielder Amed Rosario to Southern California.

Things didn’t get much better in Cleveland. Syndergaard returned from the IL to start six games. He pitched to a 5.40 ERA while allowing 10 home runs in 33 1/3 innings. The Guardians released him at the end of August. He didn’t sign elsewhere and finished his year with a 6.50 ERA across 88 2/3 frames. His 14.3% strikeout percentage and 8.2% swinging strike rate were each personal lows, while he allowed a career-worst 2.23 home runs per nine innings. Once one of the sport’s hardest throwers, the righty has lost a lot of velocity in recent seasons. His fastball was down around 92 MPH on average last year.

Syndergaard is still just 31 years old, so it stands to reason some clubs have optimism about helping him rediscover some of that lost arm speed. He has excellent control and has walked fewer than 6% of opposing hitters in each of the past two seasons. If he can even find the 93-94 MPH he brandished in 2022, he’d be a potential back-of-the-rotation starter.

The Pirates would benefit from that kind of production. Pittsburgh’s rotation is led by Mitch Keller. They’ve already targeted Martín Pérez and Marco Gonzales as rebound fliers, while players like Luis Ortiz, Bailey Falter, Roansy Contreras and Quinn Priester could vie for back-end jobs.

Pittsburgh’s signing of Aroldis Chapman pushes their projected player payroll to roughly $79MM, above last year’s $73MM Opening Day figure. It’s unclear how much budgetary room remains at the front office’s disposal.

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