Brewers Retain Pitching Coach Chris Hook On Multi-Year Extension
The Brewers are retaining pitching coach Chris Hook on a multi-year extension, the team announced this afternoon. He would otherwise have been out of contract on Thursday.
That’ll keep Hook around for a seventh season and beyond. The 56-year-old has been a member of the Milwaukee organization for nearly two decades. He worked through the minor league ranks to pitching coordinator before getting the nod on Craig Counsell’s staff during the 2018-19 offseason. Pat Murphy kept Hook in that role when he took the reins last offseason.
It’s easy to see why the Brewers are retaining him. Milwaukee’s success has generally been built around strong run prevention groups. Over the last six seasons, the Brewers are fifth in earned run average and trail only the Astros in strikeout rate. As is the case with any coach, it’s impossible to know from the outside how much of the credit Hook deserves for those results. Still, the Brewers have had one of the best pitching staffs in MLB for an extended stretch despite rarely making significant free agent moves.
That continued this past season under difficult circumstances. The Brewers traded Corbin Burnes and operated without Brandon Woodruff for the entire year. It was a patchwork rotation beyond Freddy Peralta, especially once Wade Miley and Jakob Junis went down with early injuries, but the Brewers managed a 3.65 ERA that ranked fifth in MLB. Journeyman righty Colin Rea had a career year, while 26-year-old Tobias Myers turned in 138 innings of 3.00 ERA ball after struggling in the upper minors. Milwaukee got serviceable results out of deadline acquisitions Aaron Civale and Frankie Montas (coinciding with a slight velocity bump in Montas’ case).
Milwaukee has made a couple changes to Murphy’s staff on the heels of another NL Central title. The Brewers announced last week that they were parting ways with co-hitting coach Ozzie Timmons and adding Al LeBoeuf and Eric Thiesen to the staff as hitting coaches.
White Sox Managerial Search Reportedly Down To Three Finalists
The White Sox are on the hunt for a new manager and might be getting closer to a decision. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today on X, the three finalists for the job are Rangers associate manager Will Venable, Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and former Angels manager Phil Nevin.
As noted by Nightengale, this could make for an interesting standoff. The Sox are one of two clubs on the hunt for a new manager, with the other being the Marlins. It was reported yesterday by Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald that Venable and Albernaz are the two finalists for the Marlins gig, so there’s plenty of overlap in the two searches.
Nevin, 53, appears to be the one name on the radar of the Sox but not the Marlins. Jon Heyman of The New York Post listed him as a candidate a few weeks ago and it seems Nevin is still in the running. He’s also the only one in the group with previous managerial experience. He was working as the Angels third base coach in 2022 when manager Joe Maddon was fired. The club gave Nevin the gig on an interim basis and eventually re-signed him for the 2023 campaign but didn’t extend his contract after that.
The club went 119-149 during his time there, but that might not say much about his abilities as a skipper. The club also posted poor results before he had the job and after he left, meaning the poor record is likely more a reflection of roster construction as opposed to a lack of dugout leadership.
After parting ways with the Angels, Nevin interviewed for the managerial vacancy in San Diego but that job went to Mike Shildt and Nevin didn’t land a gig elsewhere for the 2024 season. Prior to joining the Angels, he spent about a decade in the majors as a player before pivoting into coaching. He worked in indy ball and then in the minors with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. He then had major league coaching jobs with the Giants and Yankees before landing with the Angels.
Venable is also a former player with plenty of coaching experience. He was a base coach with the Cubs for the 2018-2020 seasons before becoming the bench coach with the Red Sox. He’s spent the past two years as associate manager for the Rangers under skipper Bruce Bochy.
He was listed as a candidate for managerial gigs last winter with the Guardians and Mets but reportedly declined to be interviewed as he was happy with the Rangers. Now it appears that he’s giving more consideration to a change. Heyman reported yesterday that Venable was in Miami to interview for that gig and a move to the South Side of Chicago seems to be feasible as well.
Albernaz never cracked the majors as a player, spending almost a decade in the minors from 2006 through 2014. After that, he started his coaching career in the minor league system of the Rays. Prior to the 2020 season, he was added to the major league staff of the Giants as bullpen and catching coach. A year ago, the Guardians hired him to be their bench coach, working under new manager Stephen Vogt.
It’s been speculated by some that Albernaz is the favorite for the Miami job, given his history with Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. When Albernaz was coaching for the Rays in the minors, Bendix was working for that club, eventually becoming general manager in December of 2021.
Pedro Grifol was fired as White Sox manager during the most recent season and replaced by Grady Sizemore on an interim basis. Sizemore had been identified as a candidate to take the job more permanently but Nightengale’s report suggests he’s behind this trio of Venable, Albernaz and Nevin.
Plenty of other names have been connected to the job but many have reportedly been eliminated from the running, including former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, Cardinals bench coach Daniel Descalso, Tigers bench coach George Lombard, Rangers bench coach and offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough and Padres special assistant A.J. Ellis.
Teams are generally discouraged from announcing big news on days when a playoff game is taking place. Even if the White Sox make a final decision soon, it may not be publicly reported until the World Series is done or gets to Thursday’s off-day.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s live chat with MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald.
Carson Fulmer, Charles Leblanc Elect Free Agency
Right-handed pitcher Carson Fulmer and infielder Charles Leblanc elected free agency on Monday, according to the transaction log on MiLB.com. The Angels sent both players outright to Triple-A last week.
Fulmer won’t turn 31 until December but has already spent time with seven different organizations: the White Sox, Tigers, Orioles, Reds, Dodgers, Mariners, and Angels. Over eight major league seasons, he has largely worked as a low-leverage reliever and occasional spot starter, pitching to a 5.38 ERA and 4.92 SIERA in 227 1/3 innings. Needless to say, that’s not the kind of pitcher the White Sox were hoping for when they selected Fulmer with the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft. Nonetheless, teams always need arms to pitch innings, and Fulmer proved he could fill that role with the Angels in 2024. In his most productive season to date, he made 37 appearances (eight starts) and gave L.A. 86 2/3 innings with a 4.15 ERA and 4.39 SIERA. Outside of a brief stint on the injured list with elbow inflammation, he stuck with the club from the day he had his contract selected on April 8 to the end of the regular season. The promise and potential of the former first-round pick have long since evaporated, but there is value in a pitcher who can offer innings as both a starter and reliever, even if he doesn’t excel in any particular area. Fulmer shouldn’t have trouble finding a new team this offseason, although he might have to settle for another minor league deal.
Leblanc is not nearly as established a player, though he has played well in the brief opportunities he’s gotten at the major league level. Over 59 games split between the Marlins in 2022 and the Angels in 2024, he’s hit 10 doubles and six home runs, good for a .742 OPS and a 109 wRC+. A former shortstop, he now splits his time between all three bases. That versatility, along with his righty pop, are his primary selling points as a bench bat. The fact that he still has two minor league options years remaining could also make him attractive to potential suitors this winter. That being said, his mediocre Triple-A numbers over the past two seasons (.253/.381/.430, 108 wRC+) and his 31.5% strikeout rate in the majors explain why the 28-year-old hasn’t seen much playing time at the MLB level. He should be able to land somewhere on a new minor league deal, but he’ll have to earn his way back up if he’s going to get another shot in the big leagues.
The Opener: World Series, Marlins, MLBTR Chat
With the 2024 season nearing its conclusion, here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on today:
1. Dodgers go for the sweep:
Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium last night ended much the same as Games 1 and 2 did in L.A. over the weekend — with a Dodgers victory. In a game where struggling right-hander Walker Buehler delivered five scoreless innings for the Dodgers, the Yankees were unable to score until they already had two outs in the ninth inning. They now enter Game 4 in need of the first 0-3 World Series comeback in history to win their first World Series since 2009.
Today is scheduled to be a bullpen game for the Dodgers, a reality that theoretically could create an advantage for the Yankees as they send talented righty Luis Gil (3.50 ERA) to the mound. This will be only Gil’s second appearance in the postseason after he started against the Guardians and surrendered two runs in four innings while striking out three. The Yankees need a strong start from the rookie right-hander and/or a wake-up call for their dormant offense in order to stay alive and pass the ball back to Gerrit Cole in Game 5.
2. Marlins managerial search heating up?
After the weekend brought about some buzz regarding the managerial vacancy in the White Sox dugout, yesterday saw the rumor mill kick into gear with reports about the other ongoing managerial search being conducted in Miami. The Marlins are seemingly down to two finalists for the role: Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz and Rangers associate manager Will Venable. Both have received interest from the White Sox as well, with Venable having already interviewed for that position and seemingly remaining in the mix in Chicago. While it’s unlikely that Miami will formally announce anything while the World Series is ongoing, news regarding their decision appears to be on the horizon.
3. MLBTR Chat this afternoon:
With the World Series on the brink of an early conclusion, the 2024-25 offseason is now closer to getting underway than ever. If you have any questions about the upcoming winter, your team’s direction, or the ongoing World Series that could end as soon as tonight, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is holding a live chat with readers at 3pm CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Poll: The Diamondbacks’ Club Option On Eugenio Suárez
Once the World Series wraps up, teams and players will have five days to decide on options, opt-outs and qualifying offers. One of the more interesting cases is third baseman Eugenio Suárez. The Diamondbacks can retain him via a $15MM club option or go for a $2MM buyout instead.
There was a time a few months ago when it seemed a lock that the Snakes would take the buyout and let Geno go. But after a torrid second half, it would now be surprising if they didn’t pick up the option.
Suárez has been a very streaky player in his career overall and his lopsided 2024 season was a microcosm of that. From 2017 to 2019, he hit .271/.364/.521 for a wRC+ of 127 with the Reds. That 2019 season saw him hit 49 long balls, but it’s now established that there was a juiced ball that season, making for some wonky home run totals around the league. His strikeout rate ticked up to 28.5% that year after being in the 23-25% range in prior seasons.
The strikeouts continued into subsequent seasons, leading to a rough patch for him. He struck out 29.6% of the time over 2020 and 2021, producing a .199/.293/.440 batting line and 89 wRC+. His was then flipped to the Mariners in a move that was largely viewed as the M’s taking on his salary as a way of acquiring Jesse Winker.
But Suárez went on to have a huge bounceback season in Seattle, hitting 31 home runs in 2022 and slashing .236/.332/.459 for a 132 wRC+. His home run total dipped to 22 last year but his .232/.323/.391 line still led to a 104 wRC+, a bit above average. He was striking out over 30% of the time but still proving to be useful overall. He also improved his glovework while with the Mariners. Defensive Runs Saved still viewed him as a subpar defender at third but his marks in 2022-23 were better than during time in Cincinnati. Outs Above Average had long viewed him around average but gave him a huge +12 grade in 2023.
It was then that the Diamondbacks acquired him, sending pitcher Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala to the Mariners in November of last year. At that time, Suárez had one guaranteed year left on his contract. He was going to make $11MM in 2024 with the aforementioned club option was there as well.
His ’24 campaign eventually mirrored the up-and-down nature of his career overall. He was brutal in the first half, to the point that there were rumors by early June of the club hoping for a trade. A few days later, manager Torey Lovullo admitted that Suárez was going to lose some playing time to infielder Blaze Alexander. At the end of June, Suárez was sitting on a line of .196/.279/.312, a 29.2% strikeout rate and 66 wRC+.
But the calendar flipped to July and Suárez caught fire, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco explored a month ago. In the final three months of the season, Suárez struck out at a 25.8% clip, still above league average but an improvement for him. He hit 24 home runs and slashed .312/.357/.617 for a 162 wRC+. He was one of the ten best qualified hitters in the majors in that stretch.
Though he’s done it with plenty of strikeouts and some rough patches, Suárez has managed to be a solid contributor for three straight seasons now. FanGraphs has credited him with between 3.5 and 4.3 wins above replacement in each of the three most recent campaigns. Despite his awful first half in 2024, he still got his fWAR total to 3.8 by season’s end.
A net $13MM decision on a player who can produce like that should be an easy call, but there’s at least an argument for the Diamondbacks going in a different direction. Given the up-and-down nature of Suárez’s career and most recent season, perhaps the Snakes would like to jump off the rollercoaster while they have a chance. Suárez is now 33 years old, turning 34 next July, and there will have to come a time where he can’t keep walking this tightrope.
The Diamondbacks could prefer to turn third base over to someone else within the organization. That someone was Alexander earlier this year but he slumped as Suárez surged and ended up with a .247/.321/.343 line and 88 wRC+ in 2024. He also struck out at a Suárezian 30.7% rate in 51 Triple-A games while producing league-average offense at that level, making him a risky bet as an everyday MLB third baseman next year.
There’s also Jordan Lawlar, who is considered one of the top prospects in the league. He has mostly played shortstop in his career but has dabbled at third base lately, perhaps due to the Snakes having Geraldo Perdomo at short. Lawlar has climbed the minor league ladder and accumulated a small amount of major league playing time, so perhaps they could let him take over the hot corner.
However, that was also the case a year ago. Lawlar reached the majors late in 2023 but struggled badly. He hit .129/.206/.129 in his first 14 big league games. The Diamondbacks clearly weren’t ready to hand him a major league job, which is why they went out and traded for Suárez.
In 2024, Lawlar could have perhaps earned the gig while Suárez was struggling but injuries got in the way. Lawlar ruptured the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb during spring training, requiring surgery. That kept him out of action until May, but then hamstring injuries held him back in the summer. He only played 23 minor league games this year around those injury issues and didn’t play in the majors.
That leaves the Snakes in the same position with Lawlar as they were one year ago. He is surely still viewed as a key part of their future but hasn’t yet proven himself in the majors. One year ago, the club decided they needed a more established option at third and went with Suárez.
Perhaps they will decide to take the same approach in 2025, having Suárez at third as a placeholder for Lawlar’s eventual arrival. They could look to non-Suárez options for that job if they want, but the free agent market doesn’t have an answer for them. Of the available third basemen, Alex Bregman is the clear top option. After Bregman, the top options for the hot corner are more bench/utility types like Paul DeJong, Enrique Hernández and Gio Urshela. On the trade market, the Cardinals might make Nolan Arenado available in their reset year but he has a full no-trade clause, complicating that situation.
The Diamondbacks won’t be the most logical landing spot for Bregman if they view Lawlar as their future third baseman. Perhaps they want Lawlar to supplant Perdomo at short, with the latter moving to second base and bumping Ketel Marte into a fairly regular designated hitter. Even so, they don’t usually win the bidding on top free agents so it’s unlikely Bregman would be part of such a plan.
That weak market for third baseman could give Suárez extra appeal as a trade candidate, so perhaps the Snakes will consider making him available, either before or after picking up the option. Clubs with borderline options often look into making deals as the decision moment arrives. Last November, the Brewers traded Mark Canha to the Tigers a few days before his option decision was due, with Detroit picking up the option a few days after acquiring him.
Surely there will be some club that misses out on Bregman and looks for backup plans, which could lead to them fielding some calls on Suárez. But the tepid market cuts both ways, as the Diamondbacks would then be limited in what they could do to replace Suárez, meaning they would be putting a lot of faith in Lawlar or Alexander stepping up and taking the job.
There are arguments for each path. Suárez might be the most straightforward answer at third base for the next year, giving appeal to simply sticking with him. But on the other hand, cutting ties from a risky and streaky player who is entering his mid-30s also has appeal, as they were trying to trade him or bench him as of a few months ago and that money could be redirected to another part of the roster. Perhaps the trade market could help the club find an upgrade while also saving a few bucks for other moves.
What do you think the Snakes should do? Have your say in the poll below!
What should the Diamondback do with Eugenio Suárez?
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Pick up the club option and keep him. 60% (3,447)
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Decline the club option. 22% (1,243)
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Pick up the club option and trade him. 19% (1,068)
Total votes: 5,758
Joey Jay Passes Away
Former All-Star pitcher Joey Jay passed away last month at age 89, according to an obituary from a Florida funeral home. A 6’4″ right-hander, he pitched 13 seasons in the big leagues.
A native of Middletown, Connecticut, Jay signed with the Milwaukee Braves for a $20K bonus in 1953. Under the so-called “bonus baby” rules of the time, a player who signed for more than $4K could not be assigned to the minor leagues. Jay therefore jumped right to the majors as a 17-year-old for the 1953 season. He remarkably tossed 10 scoreless innings in an abbreviated stint. He only made 15 appearances the following year, struggling to a 6.50 ERA across 18 innings in his age-18 season.
After two seasons in the majors, Milwaukee was able to assign Jay to the minors. He wouldn’t make a permanent return to the big leagues until 1958, his age-22 campaign. Jay pitched well in a swing role over the next three years. His career really took off when he was dealt to the Reds as part of a package for Gold Glove shortstop Roy McMillan during the 1960-61 offseason.
Cincinnati plugged Jay into the rotation. He seized on his first permanent rotation spot, working to a 3.53 ERA over 247 1/3 innings covering 34 starts. He led the National League with 21 wins and four shutouts among his 14 complete games. Jay was selected to both All-Star teams in 1961 — MLB had multiple All-Star games for a few years during that time — and finished fifth in NL MVP balloting. Three of the four players above him (Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, Vada Pinson and Roberto Clemente) went onto Hall of Fame careers.
The Reds finished 93-61 that season to secure the NL pennant before the introduction of the Championship Series. Cincinnati met the Yankees in the World Series. Jay got the ball in Game 2 and tossed a two-run complete game to get the victory. That’d be the Reds’ only win of the set. Jay was hit hard in the Game 5 clincher, as the Yanks tagged him for four runs without allowing him to escape the first inning.
That season was the highlight of Jay’s career, but he had another productive season in 1962. He again won 21 games with a 3.76 ERA through a personal-high 273 innings. While his production tailed off from there, he remained a fixture of the Cincinnati rotation through ’65. The Reds dealt him back to the Braves, who were playing in Atlanta by that point, midway through 1966. He finished his career with nine appearances there before being released.
Jay ended his playing days with 3.77 ERA in more than 1500 innings. He fell one win shy of the century mark and was one strikeout away from reaching 1000. Jay’s obituary notes that he went on to run companies in West Virginia and Florida during his post-playing days. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.
MLB Player Agency Updates
MLBTR maintains a database of players and their agencies, which is exclusive to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.
Today, we updated this database to contain only players who appeared in the Majors from 2022-24. The resulting database contains 2,117 players. We have the agency for about three-quarters of these players.
If you click below, there’s a list of 540 players for whom we do not have their agency. If your company represents these players and you would like to fill in some blanks or correct errors, that would be welcome! Please reach out through our contact form.
Here’s our list of players without known agencies:
Carlos Carrasco Plans To Continue Pitching
Carlos Carrasco was in attendance this evening as Venezuelan countryman Salvador Perez was honored as MLB’s Roberto Clemente Award winner. Carrasco told reporters that he has begun his offseason training regimen and hopes to pitch for two more seasons (X link via Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com).
The veteran right-hander turns 38 in March. Pitching two more seasons would take him near his 40th birthday. Carrasco elected minor league free agency after the Guardians were eliminated from the AL Championship Series. He’d have gotten to the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series anyhow since he has well over six years of MLB service.
Carrasco is almost certainly looking at a minor league deal for the second straight offseason. The longtime Cleveland hurler rejoined the organization on a non-roster contract in January. He broke camp and locked in a $2MM base salary. Carrasco held a rotation spot for the majority of the season, making 21 starts and tossing 103 2/3 innings. That was enough to land him third on the team in workload, though his results weren’t impressive. Carrasco allowed 5.64 earned runs per nine with a middling 19.9% strikeout percentage. The Guardians ran him through outright waivers in September.
That marks consecutive subpar showings for the 15-year veteran. Carrasco also scuffled during his third and final season as a member of the Mets. Opponents tagged him for a 6.80 ERA over 90 innings in 2023. He owns a 6.18 ERA across 41 starts over the last two seasons. Carrasco still throws strikes and gets ground-balls at decent rates, but declining velocity has cost him whiffs and led to trouble keeping the ball in the park.
Will Venable, Craig Albernaz Reportedly Finalists For Marlins Manager
Rangers associate manager Will Venable and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz are finalists for the Marlins’ managerial vacancy, report Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It seems the search will come down to one of those two. Mish notes in a separate post (on X) that he’s “not aware” of other finalists, though he leaves the door slightly open for the possibility of a mystery candidate emerging.
If it is indeed down to Venable and Albernaz, they’ll settle on Skip Schumaker’s replacement shortly. (An announcement may not come in the next few days, as MLB discourages teams from releasing significant news on days with a postseason game.) The Herald reports that both Albernaz and Venable are flying to Miami for in-person meetings with owner Bruce Sherman after conducting Zoom interviews for the first round. Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweets that Venable’s latest interview is occurring today.
Venable and Albernaz have been two of the hottest names in this year’s managerial cycle. They’ve both gotten consideration from the White Sox in their search. Venable has interviewed for the Chicago position. It’s not clear if Albernaz has had a formal sit-down with Sox brass or is simply on their list of potential hires.
Neither has major league managerial experience. Venable might have gotten an MLB job by now if he hadn’t taken himself out of consideration in previous offseasons. The former outfielder has a fair amount of experience as the #2 on a coaching staff. He spent two seasons as Alex Cora’s bench coach in Boston and has logged the last two years as an associate manager under Bruce Bochy in Arlington. The 42-year-old, a Princeton product, also logged three years on the Cubs’ staff after ending his playing career in 2016.
Albernaz, 41, did not reach the big leagues as a player. He has less experience than Venable in the coaching ranks as well. He joined the Giants as bullpen and catching coach during the 2019-20 offseason. After four seasons in San Francisco, he made the jump to bench coach for first-year skipper Stephen Vogt in Cleveland.
While Albernaz only has one year in a bench coach role, he’s a known commodity for Miami baseball operations president Peter Bendix and assistant GM Gabe Kapler. Albernaz was a minor league player and coach in the Rays’ organization while Bendix was Tampa Bay’s general manager. His four years with the Giants coincided with Kapler’s managerial tenure.
In other staffing news, MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola reports (on X) that Miami has hired Joe Migliaccio as director of hitting. Migliaccio, who had been with the Yankees as a hitting coordinator, will work in the player development department and oversee the team’s offensive performance at multiple levels. He is not going to be the MLB hitting coach. That role has yet to be filled and will probably wait until the managerial decision. Miami parted ways with Schumaker’s entire staff, including hitting coach John Mabry.