Shelby Miller Demotion Expected To Delay Free Agency
The Diamondbacks have scheduled right-hander Shelby Miller for at least one more Triple-A start, which Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says will leave the 25-year-old unable to accrue enough days on the active roster this year to reach four full years of MLB service.
Miller is sitting at 3.133 on his service clock at present, says Piecoro. That means he would need to return to the major league roster by Thursday to reach 172 days and move from the 3+ to the 4+ arbitration class. Miller had been on track to qualify for free agency after the 2018 season. Now, it seems, the Diamondbacks will control him for 2019 as well.
The Snakes demoted Miller to Triple-A as he scuffled through an abysmal campaign. He has lasted just 69 1/3 frames in 14 big league starts and has been tagged with a 7.14 ERA on the year. That’s far from what the team expected when it traded a talented trio of players to add him over the winter.
Arizona will still need to tender Miller an arb contract this fall to retain him, of course. Miller is earning $4.35MM this year, his first season of eligibility. He won’t command much of a raise given his struggles, but will still earn a fairly significant salary.
Diamondbacks chief baseball officer Tony La Russa said that the team’s handling of Miller was not tied to service time. “I don’t know if it’s true or not,” La Russa said of the calculation of service days presented by Piecoro.
While Arizona obviously has ample cause to ask Miller to work things out at Triple-A, it is fair to note that he has been much better there. Over his 46 frames, Miller carries a 3.52 ERA and — more importantly — has recorded 10.0 K/9 against just 1.8 BB/9.
D-Backs Nearing Extension With CEO Derrick Hall; Stewart Decision Unlikely Before End Of Season
The Diamondbacks are nearing an eight-year contract extension with president and CEO Derrick Hall, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The new contract will replace Hall’s expiring contract and run through the 2024 season. Hall has been the club’s president since 2006 and CEO since 2008.
While Hall’s fate looks to be sorted out (with the result coming as little surprise), the same can’t be said of chief baseball officer Tony La Russa and GM Dave Stewart, both of whom are currently in limbo as their superiors (Hall included) evaluate what has been a wildly disappointing season for the D-backs. Stewart’s contract is reported to have an option that must be exercised by the end of the month of August, but Hall tells Piecoro that the team will push that decision back a ways. “We’ve decided we’ll go until the end of the season and then we’ll evaluate everything,” said Hall. “It was pretty successful last year, and we know there have been a lot of injuries, a lot of things haven’t gone our way. There’s a lot to think about here.”
In an effort to take some of the heat off of his baseball ops department, Hall stressed that while La Russa and Stewart may be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the club, he plays a role in those decisions by having a say on final approval as well. “I’m obviously just as guilty with approvals or disapprovals and all the meetings I’m a part of,” he said. “I think we all have to look in the mirror right now when it comes to baseball and really turn the page and start to produce.”
Piecoro also asked Hall about a weekend report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, which stated that Hall and owner Ken Kendrick stepped in and vetoed a trade of Shelby Miller to the Marlins and the dismissal of manager Chip Hale. Hall didn’t deny either report, and in reference to Miller said that he didn’t feel this was an instance of ownership being too involved in operations, explaining that about 95 percent of proposed deals receive approval, but there is also a “small percent that we challenge or push back.” Regarding Hale, Hall simply said that as was the case with Stewart, the team plans to see how the remainder of the season plays out before making any kind of final decision. Hale, like Stewart, has an option on his contract for the 2017 season.
The D-backs have limed to a 53-74 record that is currently tied with the Padres for the second-worst in all of Major League Baseball this season. Injuries to the likes of A.J. Pollock, David Peralta, Chris Owings, Zack Greinke and Rubby De La Rosa (among others) have certainly played a significant role in that lackluster performance but have also magnified the poor results from a number of the team’s other recent personnel moves, prompting speculation about the futures of La Russa and Stewart.
D-Backs To Activate A.J. Pollock From DL Later This Week
The Diamondbacks appear to be on the verge of some much-needed good news, as manager Chip Hale suggested today that center fielder A.J. Pollock will likely be activated from the DL later this week. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweeted Hale’s comments.
Pollock’s season debut will come too late to help reverse a forgettable 2016 campaign. But it’s an enormous step for the organization, which entered the year with exceedingly high hopes only to fall into last place in the NL West.
For all the attention that has been paid to some questionable offseason decisions by the Arizona front office, there’s no doubt that the organization was trying to push its chips in to create a winner. The view was that a talented young core was worthy of supplementation.
Apart from star slugger Paul Goldschmidt, Pollock was the most important element in that assessment. He entered spring camp fresh off of a gem of a campaign in which he hit .315/.367/.498, popped twenty long balls and swiped 39 bags, and drew rave reviews with his glove in center. That not only made him one of the game’s best overall performers in 2015, but pushed his earning power up (resulting in a two-year, $10.25MM deal to buy out two of his three arbitration seasons) and created hopes of a sustained breakout for the season yet to come.
While the D-Backs’ chances at the postseason were more average than great to begin with, Pollock’s fractured elbow — which occurred just before the start of the season — dealt them a severe blow. Making things even worse, the team had dealt away its best remaining outfield defender (Ender Inciarte) in the deal to acquire Shelby Miller, stripping the team of a clear replacement up the middle.
The injury came with greater-than-usual long-term complications, too. Pollock previously missed an entire season of minor league action after fracturing his growth plate in the same elbow, and initial reports of his new injury suggested there was no known timeline for his return.
As it turns out, Pollock has seemingly fared somewhat better than might have been feared. He will be able to return for about five weeks of action and, so long as all goes well, enter spring at full speed. If his .433/.541/.733 slash line on his rehab assignment is any indication, Pollock will have no trouble picking up where he left off, though it remains to be seen whether the injury will have lasting effects.
Tony La Russa Defends Shelby Miller Trade
A necessary search for quality pitching drove the Diamondbacks’ offseason acquisition of right-hander Shelby Miller, club chief baseball officer Tony La Russa said in defending the swap in comments to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. While the Arizona front office has obviously discussed that highly-scrutinized deal before, its ongoing relevance is heightened by recent rumblings of change in the baseball operations department.
Amidst reports of embarrassing missteps, Arizona’s upper management hasn’t yet committed to retaining La Russa, GM Dave Stewart, or other top baseball ops personnel. And a more recent report says that the ownership group has nixed several significant would-be actions by La Russa and company in recent weeks, suggesting at least some lack of alignment in the organization’s baseball decisionmaking.
The Miller deal, which followed the team’s out-of-nowhere signing of Zack Greinke, is Exhibit A in the detractors’ case against La Russa and Stewart. It is a powerful piece of evidence, because Arizona not only gave up solid and controllable MLB regular — Ender Inciarte — but parted with a quality pitching prospect in Aaron Blair and the just-drafted top overall pick in Dansby Swanson. In return, the D-Backs received a pitcher who didn’t really seem worth that package at the time, and who has gone on to suffer through an unimaginably bad 2016 season.
Because a transaction of that magnitude could end up altering a franchise’s trajectory, its success or failure carries significant weight in assessing front office performance. In that context, La Russa and Stewart have recently defended the swap — among other moves — as pressure mounts. The D-Backs currently hold the second-worst record in the National League, leading only the Braves — who are, of course, the rebuilding organization that sent Miller to Arizona.
NL Notes: Braun, D’Backs, Marlins, Rodney
Here’s the latest from around the National League…
- In an interview with Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link), Brewers GM David Stearns said that his team will continue to listen to other teams about Ryan Braun. This doesn’t represent much of a change from Milwaukee’s pre-deadline stance, as the team wasn’t shopping their slugger though several teams were checking in on his availability. Even if the Brewers did want to actively move Braun, his 23-team no-trade clause is a major obstacle, especially given that Braun may have a particular desire to stay put since his family is expecting a new baby.
- The process behind the Diamondbacks‘ already-infamous trade for Shelby Miller is recapped by Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, as the Snakes were intent on adding another top-caliber arm to pair with Zack Greinke last offseason. Names such as the Marlins‘ Jose Fernandez and the Indians‘ Danny Salazar were discussed but GM Dave Stewart said those clubs were asking for more than the D’Backs eventually gave up to land Miller from the Braves; both teams wanted A.J. Pollock and Miami also wanted Patrick Corbin. Once the Braves moved off Pollock themselves and the D’Backs made it clear that pretty much anyone else (including first overall pick Dansby Swanson) could be had, the trade came together quickly.
- The value of Fernando Rodney’s 2017 team option has risen to $3.5MM due to Rodney reaching various incentive clauses for game played and games finished, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. Rodney’s appearance on Sunday was his 53rd of the season, so he is well on pace to earn another $500K bonus for hitting the 60-game plateau. Today was also his 35th game finished, and Rodney will also earn another $500K if he finishes 40 games and then $500K more for every five finishes thereafter. Though he got a save today, Rodney will likely return to his role as setup man for the Marlins now that A.J. Ramos is back off the DL. Jackson isn’t sure if the Fish will exercise Rodney’s option or buy him out for $400K.
D’Backs Ownership Stopped Shelby Miller Trade With Marlins, Hale Firing
The Diamondbacks and Marlins had worked out a trade that would have sent Shelby Miller to Miami in exchange for three starting pitchers, only for Arizona ownership to shoot down the deal, a Marlins executive tells USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The two sides had been linked in talks about Miller, with Miami right-handed pitching prospect Luis Castillo reportedly mentioned as a trade chip before Castillo was dealt to San Diego as part of the Marlins’ deal for Andrew Cashner.
As Nightengale writes (semi-facetiously), the reason given by D’Backs ownership was that such a trade “just wouldn’t look good,” considering the stunningly big trade package the Snakes gave up last winter to acquire Miller from the Braves. The same “wouldn’t look good” reasoning also impacted another ownership decision, as D’Backs chief baseball officer Tony La Russa and GM Dave Stewart were considering replacing manager Chip Hale with Triple-A skipper Phil Nevin before being told that a managerial change wouldn’t happen.
Nightengale uses these ownership interventions to argue that La Russa, Stewart and senior VP of baseball operations De Jon Watson shouldn’t be blamed for the Diamondbacks’ struggles this season, nor should the trio be fired after less than two years on the job. The fate of Arizona’s front office is yet to be decided, as 2017 options for Stewart and Watson are up on August 31 and La Russa’s option is up after the season. As Fan Rag Sports’ Jon Heyman noted earlier this week and Nightengale reiterates here, D’Backs upper management is hoping to let August 31 pass without a decision so they can delay their choice until after the season.
Without knowing what exactly the Marlins were offering for Miller, it’s hard to say that ownership necessarily made the wrong move in nixing the trade. Obviously, Miami’s offer wouldn’t have come close to matching Dansby Swanson/Ender Inciarte/Aaron Blair, though the feeling could have been that La Russa and Stewart were selling low on Miller. The three pitchers on Miami’s end of the deal would have almost certainly been prospects, and there wouldn’t have been any blue chip arms in the group given the Marlins’ low-rated farm system.
Hale’s name has been on the hot seat for weeks, and a managerial change would’ve been less surprising than the D’Backs cutting bait on Miller after less than a season. It’s unknown if La Russa and Stewart were specifically planning to fire Hale or if they were still discussing the idea. Hale has a 130-156 record as Arizona’s manager and is is under contract for the 2017 season.
Nick Ahmed To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery
Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed will undergo season-ending hip surgery, reports Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (Twitter link). Ahmed has been on the disabled list since July 23 with a hip impingement, an issue that sprung up in June.
The 26-year-old Ahmed, whom Atlanta chose in the second round of the 2011 draft, joined the Diamondbacks organization in a 2012 trade involving Justin Upton and has been a regular in the majors since last season. Ahmed has been a drain on Arizona’s offense during that time, though, with a .223/.271/.335 batting line in 767 plate appearances. Among hitters with at least 750 PAs dating back to 2015, Ahmed ranks last in the majors in wRC+ (57).
While Ahmed’s work at the dish has left much to be desired, his defense has been a completely different story. Advanced metrics have assigned him excellent marks over the past year-plus. He ranks 13th out of all major league position players this season in Defensive Runs Saved (12), 22nd in Ultimate Zone Rating (7.9) and 19th in UZR/150 (13.2). It was a similar situation last year for Ahmed, who was sixth, 11th and seventh in those three categories.
The D-backs’ current shortstop, Chris Owings, doesn’t bring Ahmed’s defensive chops to the table, but he has hovered around the league-average mark offensively in two of the past three seasons (though he wasn’t nearly as effective in 2015). Owings’ current line of .283/.331/.413 (he’s also 12 of 12 on stolen base attempts) makes him a significant offensive upgrade over Ahmed.
Diamondbacks Still Weighing Front Office Decisions
With contract decisions fast approaching on chief baseball officer Tony La Russa, GM Dave Stewart, and VP of baseball operations DeJon Watson, the Diamondbacks have yet to make a final call on their front office moving forward, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports.
The contracts originally signed by the three top members of the organization’s baseball decisionmaking structure are all nearly due for a decision. La Russa’s runs out at the end of the year, while Stewart and Watson both have deals that include options which must be exercised
“Nothing’s been decided. It will be an evaluation,” said club president Derrick Hall. He did speak positively of the dedication and attitude of his top baseball executives, but had to admit that “it hasn’t gone well” this year for the Snakes.
Indeed, managing general partner Ken Kendrick is understandably said to be rather unhappy with the way things have played out in 2016. It’s hard to see how he’d feel otherwise with the team buried in last place after an offseason in which it spent huge money on aging-but-excellent hurler Zack Greinke and parted with a major haul of young talent to acquire foundering righty Shelby Miller.
Though there are whispers (see here and here) that skipper Chip Hale could be in danger of losing his job, it seems hard to lay too much of the blame at his feet. That’s true to some extent of the front office personnel, too — the loss of A.J. Pollock crippled the team before the season even started, for instance — but the D-Backs’ roster construction efforts are ripe for second-guessing. Indeed, the underlying decisionmaking process has come under fire since the very inception of the La Russa/Stewart regime, with the chorus of criticism only growing louder of late.
Most notably, ESPN.com’s Keith Law recently offered a withering assessment of the front office’s work since taking charge. Among other things, he reports that the D-Backs were entirely unaware of the way the international signing rules work when they inked Yoan Lopez (while also mis-assessing his talent and market value). Other embarrassing episodes include an apparent attempt by Stewart to engineer a trade that wasn’t permissible under MLB rules and a glaring mismanagement of last year’s draft bonus pool allotment. You’ll want to read the entire piece for a full understanding of the wide-ranging critique.
Stewart has pushed back against the critics, telling Heyman that he thinks he has performed well in his two seasons at the helm. “We’ve done a pretty good job of putting players in our system,” says Stewart. “When we came in the major-league team was not very good and the minor-league system was not very good.” Even while defending his record, Stewart did insist that he isn’t focused at all on his own contract situation; to the contrary, he says he isn’t even aware of when the option is due to be decided upon.
That Stewart evidently isn’t concerned with the timeline for assessing his future may actually coincide with upper management’s own preferences for dealing with their baseball operations department. “Our preference is to wait until the end of the year, if we can,” Hall said of making a final call on whether to retain some or all of the trio. It’s not immediately clear how that would occur, but presumably Arizona could simply decline to pick up the options and then attempt to work out new contracts if the decision was made to retain Stewart and/or Watson.
Heyman’s Latest: Managers, White Sox, Yunel, Dodgers, Puig, Norris, Rangers
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports kicks off his weekly Inside Baseball column with a look at the job security of a number of managers, noting that Mets skipper Terry Collins, D-backs manager Chip Hale and White Sox manager Robin Ventura could all be on the hot seat, while Braves interim manager Brian Snitker doesn’t seem especially likely to shed the interim label and keep his post. Other names mentioned include Mike Scioscia (Angels), Brad Ausmus (Tigers), Kevin Cash (Rays), Paul Molitor (Twins), Bryan Price (Reds) and Walt Weiss (Rockies), but none from that group seems to be eminently in danger of losing his job even at season’s end, per Heyman.
Some highlights from the lengthy column…
- White Sox GM Rick Hahn was far more in favor of a deadline sale than owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Heyman writes, but the Sox ultimately held onto nearly all of their tradeable assets, with the exception of left-hander Zach Duke, suggesting that Hahn ultimately wasn’t given the go-ahead to operate as he might’ve wished. The Sox haven’t put Chris Sale on trade waivers yet, Heyman notes, though that decision is a moot point. He’d be claimed by the first team available — the Twins, as things currently stand — and pulled back off waivers. Chicago had interest in Gary Sanchez when the Yankees were looking at Sale, he adds, though that’s not much of a surprise. Catcher has long been a weak spot in Chicago, and Sanchez is among the more highly regarded prospects in all of baseball.
- There wasn’t much chatter pertaining to Yunel Escobar prior to the non-waiver trade deadline (and there’s been less in August), but Heyman writes that Escobar did draw interest in July. However, the Angels like what he’s been able to give to the club offensively, batting .316/.365/.397 in 474 plate appearances. I’m not sure I see the logic behind not being willing to move Escobar but trading a similarly priced and very arguably more valuable asset with the same amount of club control (Hector Santiago) for what amounted to an injured prospect, but perhaps the Halos simply didn’t receive an offer to their liking for Escobar.
- The Dodgers “love” Rich Hill and were planning to pursue him last winter until Brett Anderson accepted the team’s qualifying offer, per Heyman. Those two don’t seem like they should’ve been mutually exclusive — the Dodgers went out and signed Kenta Maeda and Scott Kazmir following Anderson’s acceptance of the QO, after all — but perhaps the Dodgers either couldn’t guarantee a rotation spot or didn’t find the notion of two starters with such recent injury woes to be palatable. Either way, if the Dodgers are as fond of Hill as Heyman indicates, it seems likely that they’ll be in the mix to re-sign him come the offseason.
- One executive from a non-Dodgers club opined to Heyman that no team will claim Yasiel Puig if and when he’s placed on revocable waivers and added, “…if they do, they’re going to get him.” Furthermore, Heyman writes that it isn’t likely that Puig will rejoin the Dodgers at any point this season, as he has “turned off” many of his teammates. It seems difficult to fathom that the Dodgers wouldn’t bring him back in the month of September when rosters expand, but we’ll find out in just a few weeks — if Puig isn’t dealt first.
- The Padres have yet to put Derek Norris on trade waivers, and Heyman calls him a more likely offseason trade candidate. The Indians showed mild interest but ultimately decided that their internal options were preferable to Norris, who is once again struggling tremendously following a strong showing at the plate from May 1 through the All-Star break. Heyman also notes that the Padres are interested enough in Puig to at least be thinking about it and points out the connection between pro scouting director Logan White and Puig. White was the Dodgers VP of amateur scouting prior to his Padres gig and was one of the execs that recommended Puig to his colleagues.
- The Rangers weren’t able to swing a deal for any of the big-name starters they pursued, but that’s in part due to the asking prices they received. The Rays asked the Rangers for Jurickson Profar and other pieces in exchange for Matt Moore, while Rougned Odor‘s name was suggested by the Rays in Chris Archer talks and by the White Sox in talks for Chris Sale.
Diamondbacks Considering Welington Castillo Extension
The Diamondbacks have had internal discussions about approaching catcher Welington Castillo about a contract extension, Arizona GM Dave Stewart tells Jack Magruder of Fan Rag. It doesn’t appear as if talks have begun, however, as Stewart suggests that the team hasn’t yet decided on its course of action.
Castillo, 29, is playing out his second-to-last season of team control on a $3.7MM arbitration agreement. He’s arb-eligible a final time this winter, and will reach the open market after the 2017 campaign — unless a new deal can be struck. The sides will already be at the bargaining table to hammer out a new arbitration number, which could provide an opportune time at least to lay the groundwork for a broader agreement.
The backstop bounced around last year from the Cubs to the Mariners before landing in Arizona as part of the deal that sent Mark Trumbo to Seattle. That swap has worked out quite nicely for both the D-Backs and Castillo, as he turned things around immediately upon arriving in his new home.
Over his 625 plate appearances with the Snakes, Castillo owns a .260/.315/.468 batting line with 29 home runs. Though he did more damage at the plate last year than he has thus far in 2016, he carries far more punch than your average receiver and has been a very useful pick-up.
Notably, Castillo has made strides with his defensive work this year, according to Baseball Prospectus’s catcher ratings (subscription required and recommended). He has typically graded as a solid blocker while registering good marks with his arm. And Castillo has also improved greatly as a pitch framer; once one of the game’s least-regarded framers, he now registers as average to slightly below-average (with StatCorner valuing him higher than does BP) at winning strikes for his pitchers.
Skipper Chip Hale also adds that Castillo has worked hard at handling the Arizona staff. “Welington has been an unbelievable studier this whole year,” says Hale. “He’s improved every month. You watch him, he’s in there whether it’s with pitchers, with coaches, on his own.”
The D-Backs will obviously need to weigh organizational need in addition to valuing a player who would be entering his age-31 campaign in any new years of control that might hypothetically be added. Looking at the rest of the depth chart, though, it’s easy to see how Castillo could make for a longer-term fit.
Chris Herrmann has put together 161 surprisingly excellent plate appearances this year while playing catcher and a variety of other positions, but it would be hard to rely on that continuing. Tuffy Gosewisch still provides a depth option. And 2015 Rule 5 pick Oscar Hernandez is still in the organization, though he has struggled at the Double-A level after earning a promotion with a strong batting line in High-A action earlier this year. Otherwise, only one of Arizona’s top thirty prospects (as ranked by MLB.com) is a catcher, and Andy Yerzy is an 18-year-old who is struggling to hit in Rookie ball.