D-Backs Introduce Mike Hazen, Address Tony La Russa’s Role
The Diamondbacks introduced new general manager Mike Hazen today, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. While there wasn’t much in the way of specifics on offer, the team’s top brass did talk through some general approaches and also addressed the still-undefined role of re-positioned executive Tony La Russa, Piecoro further reports.
Hazen enters the fold with a broad mandate as he takes the reins from the outgoing Dave Stewart. Though he was the last executive interviewed by the organization, things came together in a matter of days. “Clearly, in the case of Mike, everybody agrees he’s the right guy,” said president and CEO Derrick Hall. “So you have to let him do his job. That’s the goal.”
Hall and his boss, owner Ken Kendrick, expressed confidence in their new hire. Hall explained that Hazen will look to build a sustainable contender, with a “well-balanced” approach. The long-time Red Sox executive impressed with his breakdown of the organization, presenting a “vision” that the organization’s top leadership found compelling.
The incoming GM will take over final authority over the baseball decisionmaking for the organization, whereas Stewart had reported to La Russa. While the Hall of Fame skipper will stay in the organization — which was no sure thing after Stewart, VP DeJon Watson, and manager Chip Hale were all cut loose — he’ll do so in a diminished capacity.
La Russa was involved in the GM hiring process even after he was ordered to fire Stewart and was stripped of his title of chief baseball officer. But he’ll now work under the lesser title of chief baseball analyst and adviser, and will join Hazen in reporting to Hall, who says there’ll be “a dotted line” between the two men. “Mike needs to know everything that [La Russa is] doing and be comfortable with it,” Hall explained, adding that the relationship between La Russa and a new manager will also require “an understanding on both sides at what that role is.”
The precise nature of the relationship between Hazen and La Russa remains to be seen, but it seems that the former will attempt to embrace the latter’s experience. “I know that the game is moving in a particular direction with the buzzword of analytics,” Hazen explained. “(But) there’s no replacing the softer parts of the game, the knowledge of how to manage a human being. … “Those things I’m confident that Tony’s going to be able to help with and I look forward to hearing what he has to say on all those things.” La Russa struck a similar tone, saying: “I think there’s a real place in front offices for guys that have uniform experience, just so you can help balance the metrics (with) some of that baseball expertise that’s come along for 100 years.”
Indeed, though he has spent much of his time in a Boston organization that obviously values analytics, Hazen stressed his roots in scouting and player development. As for the team’s many upcoming offseason decisions, Hazen largely demurred. “I don’t have a defined view just yet,” he said. “It would be irresponsible for me at this point to sort of say exactly how we’re going to attack the roster.” That’s understandable enough, given that he hasn’t yet dug into his new job, and he did notethat offseason opportunities will have an impact on the organization’s direction. “We’ll have more concrete answers on that as we move through the offseason,” he said. “We’ll see what the landscape is in the marketplace.”
Dombrowski Prefers To Fill Red Sox GM Vacancy Internally
In a conference call with reporters, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said today that his preference is to hire a general manager that is already within the organization as opposed to conducting a search of external candidates (via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). The Red Sox, of course, are in the market for a new GM after Mike Hazen was hired as the executive vice president/general manager of the Diamondbacks over the weekend.
Whether the Red Sox remain internal or ultimately interview outside candidates to fill the void left by Hazen’s departure, the fact remains that Dombrowski will have final say when it comes to baseball operations decision-making. Boston ownership afforded him that autonomy when hiring Dombrowski as the team’s president of baseball operations last August, and while the title of general manager undoubtedly comes with plenty of allure for both internal candidates and external candidates with lower-ranking titles, there should be no confusion about the hierarchy within the Boston front office.
Indeed, as Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes, Hazen’s departure is a reminder that the Red Sox are now Dombrowski’s operation. That reality makes it less critical that the Sox find someone from within than it was a year ago when Dombrowski didn’t know the organization as well, but Dombrowski called an internal hire an “ideal” setting. The Sox will conduct formal interviews with internal candidates, but as MacPherson notes, Dombrowski said the benefit of sticking internal is that those candidates have, in some ways, been interviewing for this position since the day Dombrowski was hired.
Dombrowski’s longtime friend and longtime colleague Frank Wren, who currently holds the title of senior vice president of baseball operations, has been reported to be a “leading candidate” for Hazen’s vacated post. Other internal candidates include senior vice president of personnel Allard Baird, senior vice president/assistant general manager Brian O’Halloran, pro scouting director Gus Quattlebaum, vice president of international/amateur scouting Amiel Sawdaye and vice president of international scouting Eddie Romero, as the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier wrote yesterday.
It also remains possible that Hazen will bring one or more of his Boston colleagues to the D-backs front office to work alongside him in a greater role, although Hazen, according to Dombrowski, will be limited in the number of people he is able to enlist. Additionally, anyone who leaves the Sox to join the D-backs will have to be the recipient of a “direct promotion,” Mastrodonato writes, so there won’t be any lateral movement between the two organizations. Certainly it seems plausible, if not likely, that Hazen will pluck a lieutenant or two to join the ranks in Arizona, but Dombrowski suggested that the Boston front office will not lose a large number of resources as a result of Hazen’s hire.
One person the organization could potentially stand to lose isn’t in the front office at all, though. Bench coach Torey Lovullo has already been frequently speculated upon as a managerial candidate in Arizona, and Dombrowski said he’ll be surprised if the D-backs don’t interview Lovullo (via Mastrodonato). He went on to add that while the Sox think highly of Lovullo, Hazen does as well. “We won’t stand in his way,” Dombrowski said of Lovullo, referencing the possibility of the D-backs offering him their managerial vacancy.
There’s no set timeline for the Red Sox to determine a new general manager, though Dombrowski did state that he’d like to find a replacement as quickly as possible. The team does host its organizational meeting to prep for the offseason next week, so it stands to reason that Dombrowski would want to have a new executive in place sooner rather than later. Certainly conducting an outside search and determining a new hire with ownership in that time would be a lofty goal. That, paired with Dombrowski’s stated preference, seems to strongly indicate that Hazen’s successor is already within the organization.
Latest On Red Sox’s, Diamondbacks’ Front Offices
The Diamondbacks worked quickly in their hiring of new executive vice president and general manager Mike Hazen, details Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.
Once it decided to move on from ex-GM Dave Stewart at the end of the regular season, Arizona reached out to Boston for permission to speak with Hazen, who served under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski as the Red Sox’s GM. The BoSox didn’t allow Hazen to interview until after the Indians knocked them out of the ALDS last Monday. Hazen then met with the Diamondbacks on Friday and agreed to become the head of their baseball department Sunday morning.
In response to Hazen’s departure, Dombrowski released a congratulatory statement in which he revealed that “a search for a new general manager for the Boston Red Sox is underway.”
Reports already have senior vice president of baseball operations Frank Wren and pro scouting director Gus Quattlebaum as potential in-house successors to Hazen. If the Red Sox do want to promote Wren, it’s not a guarantee he’ll accept. Rob Bradford of WEEI notes that Wren – formerly the Braves’ GM – still lives in Atlanta, making it unclear if he’d be willing to move to Boston for a bigger role.
Other than Wren, Speier lists assistant GM Brian O’Halloran, VP of amateur and international scouting Amiel Sawdaye, senior VP Allard Baird and VP of international scouting Eddie Romero as other GM possibilities currently with the Red Sox. Speier also points out that Dombrowski interviewed Astros director of player development Quinton McCracken for the team’s GM job before he hired Hazen in 2015. The only member of the group with GM experience is Baird, who held that position with the Royals from 2000-06.
Of course, Hazen could lure certain front office members away from Boston to work with him and Tony La Russa in Arizona. La Russa is now an advisor, no longer the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer, but Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports (on Twitter) that the longtime manager still has power within the organization. La Russa seemingly had a hand in the hiring of Hazen, having sat in with owner Ken Kendrick during their interviews with GM candidates.
Hazen doesn’t intend to raid the Red Sox of their personnel, according to Speier, though Bradford writes that O’Halloran, Quattlebaum and Sawdaye are candidates to take jobs with the Diamondbacks.
Diamondbacks Hire Mike Hazen As Executive VP, General Manager
The Diamondbacks have announced the hiring of Mike Hazen as the team’s new general manager and executive vice president. Hazen’s contract with the club is for at least four years, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). He will be officially introduced at a press conference tomorrow at Chase Field.
“Mike’s background is the perfect balance of scouting, player development and analytics, which will all play an important role going forward,” D’Backs president and CEO Derrick Hall said in a statement released by the club. “He’s a natural leader, who we feel fortunate to have been able to hire, and we welcome him and his family to Arizona.”
Hazen has spent just over one full year as the Red Sox general manager, serving as the point man under Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Hazen’s new job will put him in charge of Arizona’s baseball ops, as according to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter link), Hazen will report directly to Hall. Tony La Russa, formerly the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer, is still with the organization and will remain as an advisor, Gilbert reports.
Prior to becoming Boston’s GM, Hazen had worked with the Red Sox since 2006, first as the team’s director of player development and then as the assistant GM under Ben Cherington. Prior to joining the Sox, Hazen worked for five seasons in the Indians’ scouting and player development departments.
As noted by Hall, Hazen brings a wide range of executive, scouting, development and even on-the-field (he played two seasons in the Padres’ system in 1998-99) experience. At just 40 years of age, Hazen brings a decidedly new perspective to the D’Backs in the wake of the decidedly old-school methods of La Russa and former general manager Dave Stewart.
Counting the interim tenures of Bob Gebhard and Jerry Dipoto, Hazen will be the Diamondbacks’ seventh general manager since 2005. This revolving door and rumors of ownership interference with front office moves led some executives to wonder if Arizona would have trouble landing top-caliber talent to fill the position. Alex Anthopoulos and Chaim Bloom, VPs of baseball operations with the Dodgers and Rays respectively, both declined interviews. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that Anthopoulos and Jason McLeod, Cubs VP of player development and amateur scouting both had informal talks with the D’Backs, though not actual interviews.
That being said, the D’Backs ended up landing a highly-regarded baseball mind in Hazen, and also interviewed several other notable candidates during their hiring process. Other contenders for the job included incumbent D’Backs assistant GM Bryan Minniti, D’Backs farm director Mike Bell, former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, Royals’ assistant GM J.J. Piccolo, MLB executives Kim Ng and Peter Woodfork and Brewers VP of scouting Ray Montgomery.
Hazen takes over an organization that finished a very disappointing 69-93 in 2016, its eighth non-winning season in the last nine years. A.J. Pollock‘s near season-long stint on the DL, Zack Greinke‘s down year and Shelby Miller‘s disastrous season were the big headline issues, not to mention an overall lack of production from the rotation and bullpen. While the Major League roster certainly still has some impressive players on hand, Hazen’s big-picture challenge will be rebuilding a farm system thinned out by ill-advised trades (i.e. the Miller deal) and a lack of international talent. Arizona was limited to signings of $300K or less for the last two international signing periods following their pool-breaking signing of Yoan Lopez in January 2015, though they’ll be able to spend freely on international players come this July 2, barring any changes to the international spending system in the new CBA.
The first order of business for Hazen will be to hire a new manager to replace Chip Hale, and a familiar Boston name could be a top contender. Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo is a “strong candidate” to take the Arizona job, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter links), though the D’Backs also have an impressive internal candidate in Triple-A manager Phil Nevin.
Heyman’s Latest: Baez, Soler, Lackey, Tigers, D’Backs, Bruce, Yankees
Here’s a postseason-flavored set of notes from Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports…
- The Cubs‘ decision to keep Javier Baez has proven to be a wise one, and Heyman writes that the team kept Baez over Starlin Castro last offseason because the front office simply had more belief in Baez’s potential. Not only did Castro carry a much higher price tag than the pre-arb Baez, but the Cubs infielder is already looking like the more productive player — Baez posted 2.7 fWAR over 450 plate appearances, while Castro managed just 1.1 fWAR over 610 PA for the Yankees. Baez has shown great power and is cutting back on his strikeouts, though while he is still something of a work in progress at the plate, his defense has already drawn raves. One NL scout tells Heyman that he thinks Baez could win Gold Gloves at multiple positions in the future.
- Jorge Soler could again be trade bait as the Cubs will be juggling a crowded outfield situation. Kyle Schwarber will return to play left field, plus Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist would seem to be penciled in for center and right, respectively. That mix also doesn’t include highly-touted rookie Albert Almora, or if the Cubs were to re-sign Dexter Fowler for center field. Soler drew a lot of trade attention last winter and is signed through 2020, so though he hasn’t truly broken out as a big leaguer yet, he would surely be a big trade chip if the Cubs indeed explored moving him.
- The Tigers and Diamondbacks both “tried hard” to sign John Lackey last winter before the right-hander inked his two-year, $32MM deal with the Cubs. Lackey reportedly chose Chicago over two larger offers, though Heyman doesn’t know if the Tigers and D’Backs were the clubs behind those bigger deals. Arizona was known to have “at least checked in” on Lackey last winter, and while Detroit’s involvement in the Lackey market is new information, it isn’t a surprise given how the Tigers targeted starting pitching last offseason. Either team landing Lackey sets up several fascinating what-if scenarios, given that the D’Backs and Tigers made alternate pitching acquisitions that didn’t pan out in 2016. If the Diamondbacks signed Lackey, perhaps they then wouldn’t have made the franchise-altering decisions to sign Zack Greinke or trade for Shelby Miller. If the Tigers had gotten Lackey, perhaps they wouldn’t have spent $110MM on Jordan Zimmermann, or $16MM on Mike Pelfrey.
- There have already been reports that the Mets intend to exercise their $13MM club option on Jay Bruce for 2017, and a rival executive tells Heyman that retaining Bruce is a move New York has to make. Keeping Bruce would create some defensive issues within the Mets outfield, though the exec noted that “if they don’t want him, they could always trade him.” Bruce slumped badly after joining the Mets but he posted strong numbers in the season’s first four months, so he’d certainly draw interest on the trade market.
- Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield were the two headline prospects sent from Cleveland to New York in the Andrew Miller trade, and Heyman reports that some Indians staff believe Sheffield could be the bigger loss: “Sheffield is a lefty starter, which you can’t find, Frazier is a corner power bat, which you can.” It’ll be several years before we can access how that trade worked out for either the Yankees or the Tribe, though needless to say, nobody in Cleveland has any regrets right now, given Miller’s dominance.
Diamondbacks Interested In Eddie Perez For Managerial Job
The Diamondbacks have interest in Braves first base coach Eddie Perez for their managerial opening, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Perez interviewed for the Braves managerial job that ultimately went to Brian Snitker, and he’s reportedly also recently attracted interest from the Rockies.
Perez spent 11 seasons as a catcher in the big leagues, spending much of that time working as Greg Maddux’s personal catcher in Atlanta. He also played a season apiece for the Indians and Brewers. He has worked as a coach in the Braves organization since 2006, and has managed in the Venezuelan Winter League.
We haven’t heard much about who will replace Chip Hale as the Diamondbacks’ manager, and perhaps for good reason — departing along with Hale was general manager Dave Stewart, and the Snakes have yet to fill their GM job. One would think the Diamondbacks would hire a GM first before hiring a manager. Involving a new GM in a managerial hiring process would help ensure that the GM and manager are a good match for one another — a GM and manager who don’t work well together can cause problems, as we’ve seen lately with Jeff Bridich and Walt Weiss in Colorado, and before that with Jerry Dipoto and Mike Scioscia in Los Angeles. Hiring a manager before hiring a GM could make the GM opening less attractive for highly qualified candidates, which is potentially a serious issue for the Diamondbacks, who might already have a hard time attracting such candidates given how short their last two GMs’ tenures have been.
Of course, it’s possible the Diamondbacks’ search for a GM (or a head of baseball operations) is further along than has previously been reported. Arizona has already been connected to Nationals exec Mike Rizzo (although the Nationals have denied Rizzo is a serious candidate), Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo, former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, MLB senior VP Kim Ng and a variety of candidates with ties to the Diamondbacks organization. Former Blue Jays and Dodgers exec Alex Anthopoulos and Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom have already indicated they’re not interested.
Heyman’s Latest: Britton, Escobar, Desmond, Votto, Phillips, D-Backs
In addition to speaking with Orioles manager Buck Showalter about his decision not to deploy ace reliever Zach Britton in the Wild Card game, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag covers a number of notable topics in his most recent column. Among the highlights with a transactional component:
- Unsurprisingly, the Royals will exercise a club option over shortstop Alcides Escobar. It’s just $6.5MM (with a $500K buyout otherwise), and the club doesn’t seem willing yet to trust the job to prospect Raul Mondesi. Still the 29-year-old owns an anemic .259/.293/.335 batting line over the last two seasons; even with his typically strong defense and baserunning included, he has been a below-average regular. Escobar will have plenty to play for with free agency looming.
- It’s even less surprising to hear that the Rangers intend to make a qualifying offer to Ian Desmond, the shortstop-turned-center fielder. Texas remains very high on Desmond despite his fall-off down the stretch, says Heyman, and it seems plausible to imagine a reunion. The $17.2MM QO also appears to be the right move from a market perspective, as Desmond ought to be able to command a strong multi-year deal even after turning it down.
- We’ve heard chatter in the past about prior talks between the Blue Jays and Reds regarding first baseman Joey Votto, and Heyman discusses it further in a separate piece. There’s nothing brewing at present, but Toronto has made clear they’d like to be involved if Cincinnati undertakes any chatter on a player who may be the best hitter in the National League. Reds GM Dick Williams tells Heyman that he’s not looking to shop the superstar and also hasn’t been told that Votto (who possesses full no-trade rights) wants to depart. Even if there is mutual interest, of course, there’s the matter of sorting out the cash and prospects — which will likely be a tall order.
- Williams also tells Heyman that he believes the Reds took positive steps at the major league level in 2016, suggesting that the organization is happy to hang onto a highly popular and productive player despite his massive salary. The situation may be somewhat different with regard to second baseman Brandon Phillips, though, with Heyman writing that the team intends to find a way to get Jose Peraza into the lineup quite a bit. They’ll “make this clear” to Phillips, he says, though it isn’t known whether the veteran will be amenable to waiving his own no-trade protection after demanding an extension to do so in the past. The 35-year-old is down to the final year of his deal, though, after turning in a solid-but-unspectacular .291/.320/.416 batting line. Though metrics soured a bit on his glove, Phillips has a long history of strong defensive work. A $14MM tab on a one-year commitment is hardly unworkable, though hypothetically interested organizations may ask Cinci to kick in some cash.
- Heyman also tackled the Diamondbacks‘ front office search. Reported interest in Nationals president and GM Mike Rizzo seems likely to be a non-starter. “I don’t think there’s anything to it,” said Washington owner Mark Lerner, who called it “a totally fabricated story.” The floating of interest in Rizzo could hint that Arizona has its eyes on an exec with experience running a baseball operations department, Heyman suggests, with the team perhaps hoping to return immediately to competitiveness rather than undertaking a rebuild. A general manager with another team suggests that he thinks the D-Backs will need to guarantee a five-year term to draw a strong candidate, given the frequency of front-office turnover in Arizona.
Diamondbacks Expected To Seek Permission To Interview Mike Rizzo
The Diamonbacks intend to ask the Nationals for permission to speak with executive Mike Rizzo about their open front office position, according to ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden. Any request, it seems, would come after the Nats’ postseason run wraps up.
Arizona has Rizzo “at the top of their list” of candidates to run the team’s baseball operations department, per the report. It seems that he would be considered for a president of baseball operations title. The long-time Nationals GM, who spent seven years at the helm of the Snakes’ scouting department before going to DC, declined comment and said that he’s “focused on winning this series [against the Dodgers] and nothing else.”
It’s certainly difficult to imagine Washington having much interest in making their top baseball decisionmaker available just months after picking up an option to keep him around through 2018. Rizzo has overseen the organization’s rise to a perennial contender, with his rosters having taken NL East titles in three of the last five years — driven not only by strong draft results but also a series of heists on the trade market.
Rizzo, 55, has been in D.C. since 2006 and has held the GM seat since 2009. Importantly, also, he was named president of baseball operations back in 2013, so Arizona wouldn’t be in a position to give him a promotion. (The organization just gave president/CEO Derrick Hall a new long-term deal of his own.)
Given all the considerations noted above, perhaps the only way for Rizzo to end up in Arizona is if he and the Nationals’ top brass are more interested in parting ways than is known publicly. There have been whispers about Rizzo’s status in the past, and the organization was somewhat slow to pick up his option. Certainly, the club would be in position to demand a significant player asset in return if things were to progress. And Rizzo would no doubt have the leverage to command a big contract from the wayward D-Backs.
At this point, of course, that’s all speculation. Arizona has been tied to a rather wide variety of potential executive candidates already. Rays AGM Chaim Bloom and Dodgers VP Alex Anthopoulos have reportedly declined requests for an interview. The Diamondbacks are also said to have interest in Royals AGM J.J. Piccolo, Dodgers senior adviser Ned Colletti, MLB senior VPs Kim Ng and Peter Woodfork, and Brewers VP of scouting Ray Montgomery, while also considering a promotion for current team executives Bryan Minniti and Mike Bell.
Royals’ J.J. Picollo Believed To Be Candidate For D’Backs GM Job; Rays’ Chaim Bloom Declines Interview
2:23pm: Bloom has turned down an opportunity to interview with the Diamondbacks, reports Piecoro. Dodgers executive Alex Anthopoulos did the same earlier this week, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman relayed Saturday.
9:58am: Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom and Royals’ assistant GM J.J. Picollo are believed to be candidates for the Diamondbacks’ general manager position, league sources tell Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The two executives join a lengthy list of names previously linked to the D’Backs job, including Ned Colletti, Kim Ng, Ray Montgomery, Peter Woodfork and internal candidates Bryan Minniti and Mike Bell.
Both Bloom and Picollo have been connected to multiple front office openings in recent years, even getting consideration for the same job on more than one occasion. Both were interviewed for the Twins GM job just last month, and both were contenders to become the Phillies’ new general manager last offseason before the team hired Matt Klentak. (Picollo was an early favorite for the Philadelphia job, though it was Bloom who ended up making the Phillies’ final three list of candidates for the position, along with Klentak and A’s assistant GM Dan Kantrovitz.) Bloom was also interviewed by the Brewers last offseason before they hired David Stearns as their new general manager.
Unlike the other known candidates, Bloom and Picollo don’t have any previous connection with the D’Backs themselves or other NL West teams, so they would bring a fresh perspective to Arizona’s baseball operations department. Bloom has spent his entire 11-year career in baseball with Tampa Bay, while Picollo has spent the last decade in the Royals’ front office and the previous seven years working for the Braves. Both are also younger executives (Picollo is 45 years old and Bloom is just 33) and thought to be more analytically-minded, which would also represent a change in direction for the D’Backs. The previous front office, led by Tony La Russa and since-fired GM Dave Stewart, was rather openly old-school in their approach, with an analytics department headed by a first-time baseball ops hire.
Dodgers Notes: Greinke, Payroll, Free Agents
Jon Heyman’s latest column for FanRag Sports takes a look at the Dodgers’ summer trade talks and how the club is positioning itself for the future…
- The Dodgers were known to have had brief talks with the Diamondbacks about a possible Zack Greinke trade this summer, and Heyman reports that the Dodgers offered to cover roughly $25MM of the $34.4MM average annual value owed to Greinke through the 2021 season. D’Backs ownership didn’t want to retain any of Greinke’s contract and rejected the offer, saying the Dodgers “had plenty of money” to afford all of the right-hander’s massive future salary commitments.
- While Los Angeles obviously hasn’t been shy on spending in recent years, Heyman notes that the club “might have stricter limits on term that you’d think.” For instance, the Dodgers were only willing to offer Greinke five years (for $155MM) in free agency last winter, and some in the organization even felt that was a “stretch.” The Dodgers even floated a two-year offer to Greinke with a very high AAV of close to $40MM per season.
- With the Dodgers’ concerns about term length in mind, there are some mixed signals about how far the team is willing to go to re-sign its top free agents this winter, such as Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner, Rich Hill and Josh Reddick. While L.A. will “at least try” to retain all of them, at least one or two of the players could sign elsewhere. One rival official believes the Dodgers might let all of their own free agents walk, though later reasoned that Jansen is perhaps too important to the Dodgers’ bullpen to let go.
- Speaking of Dodgers’ spending, some in the front office believe there’s a chance the team could manage to get below the $189MM luxury tax threshold in the near future. The Dodgers have so many impressive prospects on the horizon that an influx of cheap, controllable young talent would allow the club to eschew the higher-priced names that ballooned their payroll to over $300MM in recent years. Heyman notes, however, that the Dodgers have already trimmed spending (by their standards) from that record high, with a 2016 Opening Day payroll of just under $250MM. It’s also possible that the luxury tax limit will be raised from $189MM in the new collective bargaining agreement, so Los Angeles and other big-market teams would have a bit more spending flexibility. Needless to say, getting under the luxury tax limit just once would provide massive financial savings for the Dodgers.