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Diamondbacks Open To Adding Full-Time Designated Hitter

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4:20pm: Arizona executives have had internal discussions about potentially making a run at Martinez or Turner, tweets Jim Bowden of the Athletic. Martinez played the second half of the 2017 season in Arizona, while Turner has reportedly been on the organization’s radar in each of the last two offseasons.

2:27pm: The annual Winter Meetings are taking place in Nashville this week and Steve Gilbert of MLB.com was able to discuss the ongoing offseason with Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen.

The club is in a very different position than some other recent years. They missed the playoffs in five straight years from 2018 to 2022, including an especially rough 110-loss season in 2021, but were able to go all the way to the World Series in 2023. Though they ultimately lost to the Rangers, the momentum from that run and the extra revenue from those playoff games could perhaps lead to a different offseason approach this winter.

“We’re engaged in the market more aggressively,” Hazen said. “It’s not to say that something’s going to happen involving us there, but I think we’re probably in a little different spot than we have been in the past going into the Winter Meetings is how I would characterize it.” Hazen goes on to suggest they are unlikely to made a trade involving someone currently on their major league roster, meaning they are likely looking to free agency or perhaps trades of prospects.

One thing that is definitely on the wish list is another right-handed bat. The club already brought one aboard by trading for Eugenio Suárez a couple of weeks ago, but that still leaves them a bit behind last year’s team. Each of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Tommy Pham and Evan Longoria reached free agency at season’s end, subtracting three righty bats from the mix. The club could acquire a right-handed hitting outfielder, though Hazen says they are also open to bringing in a full-time designated hitter.

“I think a right-handed bat is [a need],” Hazen says. “I wouldn’t say a right-handed-hitting outfielder. A right-handed bat is somebody that would help fill out our lineup. There are options and various places to get that. Depending on who that was, where that landed, how that fit, I think we would have more flexibility for how the rest of it would come together.” The outfield market has some options for a right-handed bat, including re-signing Pham or Gurriel. Then there’s also Teoscar Hernández, Harrison Bader, Adam Duvall and others. But by being open to a player that would be limited to DH duties would give them some more options.

J.D. Martinez is coming off a strong 33-homer season but needs a DH slot, having played just 12 innings in the outfield this year and none at all in 2022. Jorge Soler had 36 home runs in 2023 and should be capable of a bit more work in the field than Martinez, with 32 games in right field in 2023. However, he’s generally considered a poor fielder and fits best on a club with an open DH spot. Justin Turner can play the infield corners, and even second base in a pinch, but is now 39 and best suited for a part-time defensive role. Catcher Mitch Garver has a potent bat but has seen injuries diminish his ability to squat behind the plate with regularity. First baseman Rhys Hoskins missed all of 2023 due to a torn ACL and should perhaps be signed by a club that can use the DH spot to give him a lighter workload next year. The club was speculatively connected to Martinez on the weekend and has had previous reported interest in Turner. On the trade market, Eloy Jiménez, Randy Arozarena, Tyler O’Neill, Nick Castellanos or Christopher Morel could perhaps fit the needs in Arizona.

That gives the D’Backs plenty of options to consider, none of whom should be strictly off the table financially, even though the club hasn’t been a huge spender. Roster Resource currently estimates next year’s payroll to be at $114MM right now. They have been as high as $132MM in the past, per the data at Cot’s Baseball Contracts. If their recent World Series run allows them to get back into that range or a bit beyond, then they have some money to work with. But the club needs to add some pitching and will have to balance those needs as the offseason continues to develop.

Astros, Diamondbacks Interested In Tucker Barnhart

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Veteran catcher Tucker Barnhart is drawing interest from teams in need of catching depth, per Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. Alexander adds that the Astros and Diamondbacks are among the teams with interest in Barnhart’s services.

Barnhart, 33 in January, was selected in the tenth round of the 2009 draft by the Reds and made his big league debut with the club back in 2014. A veteran of ten major league seasons, Barnhart has fashioned a lengthy major league career as a glove-first option behind the plate. Though he has never posted a wRC+ higher than 90 in his career and sports a career slash line of just .217/.289/.312, Barnhart emerged as one of the better defensive catchers in the league over his time in the majors. His +8 Fielding Run Value (per Statcast) in 2021 was tied for the third-best figure among all catchers that season, behind only Sean Murphy and Buster Posey. Combined with an 81 wRC+ in 2021 that was roughly average for a catcher that season, Barnhart had the look of a decent regular behind the plate when he was swapped from the Reds to the Tigers that offseason.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse for the veteran from there. Barnhart’s 2022 season was the worst offensive campaign he had delivered since his 21-game cup of coffee in the majors during the 2014 season. That said, Barnhart’s reputation as a quality defender behind the plate earned the veteran a two-year deal with the Cubs in free agency following the 2022 campaign despite his weak .221/.287/.267 slash line in 94 games with the Tigers.

That two-year pact proved to be a blunder on Chicago’s part, as Barnhart’s offense collapsed even further with a wRC+ of just 53 in 2023. Among players with at least as many major league plate appearances as Barnhart (123) in 2023, just 23 hitters posted a worse offensive season by that metric. Barnhart’s struggles and the emergence of youngster Miguel Amaya behind the plate in Chicago led the Cubs to designate Barnhart for assignment in mid-August. He caught on with the Dodgers on a minor league deal shortly thereafter but did not crack the club’s 40-man roster down the stretch, leaving him to return to free agency this winter.

While Barnhart appears to be a fringe option for even a backup role at this stage of his career, his decade of experience at the major league level and solid defensive reputation behind the plate could make him a worthwhile depth option for a club short on big league caliber catchers. Both Arizona and Houston fit that description, as each club has just two catchers on their 40-man roster with minimal depth in the upper minors. Barnhart is still owed $3.25MM from the Cubs in 2024 thanks to his aforementioned two-year pact with the club. That means that he could be a particularly valuable depth option for clubs as he would only need to be paid the pro-rated big league minimum for any time spent on the 40-man roster next year, allowing a payroll-conscious organization to cover for an injury to their primary catching tandem on the cheap.

NL Notes: Cease, Braves, Nationals, Hampson, D’Backs

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The Braves are known to have trade interest in Dylan Cease, and given the team’s penchant for signing players to long-term extensions, locking up a Georgia native like Cease would seem like a logical next step if a deal can be worked out to obtain the righty from the White Sox.  However, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal points out a possible obstacle — Cease is represented by Scott Boras, who traditionally advises his clients to test free agency rather than sign long-term extensions.

Enough high-profile Boras clients have signed extensions that this isn’t at all a hard-and-fast rule, since as Rosenthal notes, Boras will ultimately operate according to his client’s demands.  But it is perhaps noteworthy for this particular scenario, since Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos rarely acquires Boras Corporations clients, even though both Anthopoulos and Boras have denied any lack of communication or lack of connection between the two sides.  Trading for and extending Cease would be a way of putting this narrative to bed, though it remains to be seen if Atlanta will instead opt for another frontline pitcher besides Cease as the Braves continue to look for rotation help.

More from the National League…

  • Not much has changed in the Lerner family’s attempts to sell the Nationals, as the search is now approaching two full years since news first broke of the Lerners’ explorations about a sale.  The Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes provides something of an update on the situation, though Ted Leonsis remains the top suitor but still seems unwilling to meet the Lerners’ desired price of around $2.4 billion.  Leonsis’ last offer topped the $2 billion mark, but the Lerners don’t appear in any hurry to make a sale unless Leonsis or another bidder ups the ante.  The seemingly neverending dispute with the Orioles about MASN broadcasting revenues also still remains a sticking point in any ownership discussions.  In terms of how this translates to the on-field product, Janes notes that the Nationals’ low payroll has more to do with the team’s rebuild strategy than it does a concerted effort to cut costs in advance of a potential sale.
  • The Diamondbacks had some interest in Garrett Hampson before the utilityman signed with the Royals earlier this week, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.  The versatile Hampton would’ve been a backup at several positions off the bench, and in particularly been a right-handed hitting complement to Alek Thomas or Geraldo Perdomo at center field or shortstop, respectively.  Right-handed hitting is a priority for the D’Backs in general, and Piecoro suggests that J.D. Martinez might be a candidate for a return to Arizona, based off GM Mike Hazen’s recent comments about how the Diamondbacks could be open to a DH-centric player who swings from the right side.  Arizona has already landed one notable right-handed bat this offseason in acquiring Eugenio Suarez from the Mariners.
  • Sticking with the National League champs, the Diamondbacks named Shaun Larkin as their new director of player development earlier this week.  Larkin has spent the last three seasons as the Dodgers’ field coordinator as part of an eight-year tenure in L.A., and he previously had a long history as a minor league player, coach, and manager in Cleveland’s farm system.  Larkin’s hiring is the latest move in a D’Backs offseason that has seen quite a bit of turnover in the front office and coaching ranks, though as Hazen told Piecoro, “we 100 percent expected it.  This is what happens when you have a successful season….Bringing some outside perspectives into the organization in terms of what’s going on in scouting and player development around the game, I think is important.”

Diamondbacks Sign Ricky Karcher To Minor League Deal

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The D-Backs have signed reliever Ricky Karcher to a minor league contract, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America. The Snakes also brought back Humberto Castellanos on a non-roster deal.

Karcher joins the second organization of his career. The Reds selected him in the 13th round of the 2017 draft. The 6’4″ righty moved to the bullpen full-time in 2021. He has shown the ability to miss plenty of bats in the minor leagues but also demonstrated significant control issues. In parts of six minor league seasons, he owns a 26.4% strikeout rate while walking a massive 20.4% of batters faced.

Despite the strike-throwing concerns, Cincinnati added Karcher to the 40-man roster last offseason. That kept him out of the Rule 5 draft. They called him up for the first time in early June. He pitched once, tossing a scoreless inning against the Royals. Karcher averaged just under 98 MPH with his fastball in that appearance, pointing to the power arsenal he has shown in the minors.

That wasn’t enough to hold his roster spot with the Reds. The 26-year-old had a rough season at Triple-A Louisville, where he walked almost a quarter of his opponents over 60 1/3 innings. He posted a 4.77 ERA in 51 outings there, with Cincinnati outrighting him from the 40-man around the All-Star Break. Karcher qualified for minor league free agency at season’s end.

Castellanos is a depth starter who logged 100 2/3 MLB innings with the Astros and D-Backs between 2020-22. A soft-tossing control specialist, he owns a 5.45 ERA with a modest 16.6% strikeout rate. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2022. Arizona ran him through waivers last offseason and he missed this year rehabbing. If he’s healthy next spring, he could head to Triple-A Reno as rotation or long relief insurance.

Diamondbacks Sign José Castillo To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have signed left-hander José Castillo to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training, reports Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors. The lefty is repped by the OL Baseball Group.

Castillo, 28 in January, has spent most of his career with the Padres. He had an encouraging debut season for that club back in 2018, making 37 relief appearances as a 22-year-old with a 3.29 earned run average. He struck out 34.7% of batters he faced while giving out walks at just an 8% clip.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build off that, having been injured for most of the past five years. He was limited to just one big league appearance in 2019 due to a torn ligament in his hand. He missed the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign due to a lat strain and then Tommy John surgery kept him out of action for all of 2021 and most of 2022.

He started 2023 on the IL due to a shoulder strain and eventually spent most of the season in the minors, making just one big league appearance. He was struggling badly in Triple-A as well, with an ERA of 9.82 in 22 appearances at that level when he was designated for assignment in July. He was then flipped to the Marlins for cash and made 14 more Triple-A appearances with a 5.59 ERA. He was passed through waivers in August and didn’t get his roster spot back by season’s end, leading to him hitting the open market.

For the Diamondbacks, there’s no harm in taking a flier on Castillo to see if he can finally get healthy and in a good groove. Despite their World Series run, pitching was a relative weakness for them in 2023, with a collective 4.48 ERA for the staff. Castillo is now out of options but he has just over four years of service time, meaning he could be retained beyond 2024 via arbitration if he is able to get back to that 2018 form.

NL Notes: Playoff Shares, D’Backs, Gibson, Price, Mets

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Championship rings carry much greater import than financial gain during a postseason run, but teams that reach the playoffs get extra revenue that is divvied up into shares.  The Associated Press reported the figures on the 2023 playoff pool earlier this week, and how the $107.8MM in playoff revenue was divided amongst the 12 playoff teams, with more money naturally going to the teams who advanced furthest.  According to numbers released by the league, the Rangers got $38.8MM (split into 64 full shares, 12.56 partial shares and $48,000 in cash awards) and the Diamondbacks got 71 full shares and 11.49 partial shares out of their bonus of $25.9MM.

How the shares are awarded within a clubhouse is determined by veteran players on each team.  Several players and managers automatically qualify for full shares, but the players must then vote on what other players (such as someone who was with the club for only part of the season) or uniformed personnel (coaches, trainers, support staff, etc.) will also get full or partial shares.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal shared some insight into the process, and how the D’Backs made their decisions in who and who didn’t get a $313.6K full share, but the team did its best to spread the wealth.  “I’m not rolling my eyes over a $300K check.  I’m just saying the impact that it has on me is not going to be as significant as on any of our younger players who have limited service time or our clubhouse attendants or our kitchen attendants,” Evan Longoria said.  “That impact is going to be much, much more for them….I want you guys to understand the perspective that I’m coming from when I say it’s life-changing for these people.”

More from around the National League…

  • The Cardinals’ signing of Kyle Gibson this week ended a very long pursuit, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that the team’s interest in the right-hander dated all the way back to Gibson’s 2009 draft year.  “Multiple times since, the Cardinals have attempted to sign or trade for Gibson” Goold wrote, before finally landing Gibson on a one-year, $12MM deal.  The local connection was obvious, as Gibson played his college ball at the University of Missouri and he already lives in the greater St. Louis area during the offseason.  The righty’s results have been up-and-down over his 11 MLB seasons, but Gibson’s ability to eat innings should be very valuable for a Cardinals team badly in need of rotation depth before Gibson and Lance Lynn were brought on board.
  • Newly-hired Giants pitching coach Bryan Price spoke with The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly this week about his decision to join the team, and end his three-year retirement from coaching.  Price had spent the last two years working as a a special advisor with the Padres and working with longtime friend and colleague Bob Melvin, so when Melvin left the Padres to become the Giants’ new skipper, Price couldn’t resist a reunion in his hometown of San Francisco.  Giants fans might also be interested in Price’s more old-school approach to pitching, coming off a 2023 season that saw the team use mostly bulk pitchers, openers, and piggyback starters to cover innings in patchwork fashion.  “I’m a simple person when it comes to my overview on pitching: The starters pitch the bulk of the innings and you utilize your bullpen as needed….So we can be creative but we’ve got to be responsibly creative in how we use the data and what we decide is usable information versus what takes us into a place where we’re constantly chasing greatness and it’s only taking us into mediocrity or failure,” Price said.
  • Before the Mets hired John Gibbons as their new bench coach, the New York Post’s Mike Puma reported that Phil Nevin was a candidate for the job.  Let go as the Angels’ manager after the season, Nevin has a long relationship with Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza from their days on the Yankees’ coaching staff.  There was some speculation that former Mets manager Willie Randolph might’ve been a candidate for the bench coach job given Mendoza’s praise of his former mentor, but Newsday’s Anthony Rieber suggests Randolph could still return to the Mets in another capacity.

D-backs Acquire Eugenio Suarez

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The D-backs and Mariners on Wednesday agreed to one of the first notable trades of the offseason, with Seattle sending third baseman Eugenio Suarez to Arizona in return for reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala. Both teams have announced the deal. The trade gives the Diamondbacks the power-hitting third baseman they were looking for while the M’s pick up a controllable power arm, a backup catcher option and shed some meaningful salary.

Suarez, 32, has spent the past two seasons in Seattle after coming over from the Reds alongside Jesse Winker in the trade that sent Justin Dunn and Brandon Williamson to Cincinnati. While the trade was originally more about the Mariners absorbing the remainder of Suarez’s contract in order to acquire Winker on the heels of an excellent couple seasons at the plate, it was Suarez who rebounded and wound up providing the Mariners with the middle-of-the-order punch they’d been targeting.

Suarez clobbered 49 home runs back in 2019 — the second season of a seven-year, $66MM contract extension he’d signed with the Reds prior to the 2018 campaign. His bat tailed off considerably in 2020-21, however, and the Reds shopped him around as they looked to pare back payroll coming out of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, which was played without fans and came with substantial revenue losses for all 30 clubs.

Upon landing in Seattle, Suarez was largely back to form. While still quite strikeout prone, he popped 31 long balls in 2022 and posted an overall .236/.332/.459 batting line that was about 30% better than league average after adjusting for home park and league run-scoring environment (by measure of wRC+). His 2023 season wasn’t as successful. Suarez posted very similar batting average and OBP marks, but his power dropped off considerably. He complemented this past season’s .232/.323/.391 batting line and 22 homers with his best defensive showing in quite some time (at least in the estimation of Statcast, who credited him with 11 Outs Above Average).

Suarez’s overall approach at the plate, however, is a profile from which the Mariners have voiced a desire to move on. Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said earlier this month at the GM Meetings that he was looking to add high-contact hitters to his lineup — an understandable goal after his team’s 25.9% strikeout rate ranked second in all of Major League Baseball this season. Finding a trade partner for Suarez, in that specific regard at least, is addition by subtraction; Suarez fanned in 30.8% of his plate appearances in 2023 and 31.2% in 2022.

The 2024 season is the final guaranteed year on that $66MM contract for Suarez. He’s owed an $11MM salary plus at least a $2MM buyout on a $15MM option for the 2025 season. In all, the trade trims $13MM of guaranteed salary off the Mariners’ books. It also creates a notable hole at the hot corner, however. Recent trade acquisition Luis Urias is one potential option for the M’s, but he’s coming off a down season and was picked up in buy-low fashion. Presumably, a win-now club like the Mariners would want a more solid option at the position. Time will tell whether the Mariners find that player via free agency or, more likely (at least based on Dipoto’s track record), via trade.

As for the D-backs’ end of things, even Suarez’s slightly diminished 2023 production would be an improvement over their third basemen this past season. Arizona third basemen combined for a dismal .234/.303/.340 line in 2023. Suarez probably isn’t going to help out in terms of batting average, but he should bring more power to the position at a relatively reasonable price point of $13MM. Arizona now projects for about a $114MM payroll, per Roster Resource, which checks in $10MM shy of last year’s mark and about $18MM shy of their franchise-record level, established in 2018.

The trade fills at least one immediate need for the Mariners, who watched Tom Murphy become a free agent at season’s end. Zavala gives them an option to replace him as Cal Raleigh’s backup behind the plate.

The 30-year-old Zavala has tallied 514 plate appearances in the big leagues but mustered a tepid .210/.275/.347 slash in that output. While he’s shown above-average power at times in the minors — including a 20-homer showing in 82 games of Triple-A ball in 2019 — Zavala’s output at the plate has been undercut by his own prolific strikeout rates. He’s gone down on strikes in 35.8% of his Major League plate appearances to this point in his career. He won’t come to the plate nearly as often as Suarez, however, so even though Zavala has his own contact issues, the swap could still prove to bolster the team’s overall contact skills, as has ostensibly been one of their goals.

Furthermore, Zavala grades out as a strong defender behind the dish. Statcast rates him as above-average in terms of blocking balls in the dirt, and he’s regularly drawn plus framing grades both at FanGraphs and via Statcast. Zavala’s 14% caught-stealing rate this past season was well shy of the league-average 20%, as is his career 17% mark. He nabbed a roughly average 24% of would-be base thieves in 2022, however, and he’s hardly the only backstop who struggled to control the running game in 2023, when MLB’s new rules regarding pickoffs and slightly larger bases dramatically increased stolen bases throughout the league.

Zavala doesn’t have any minor league options remaining, so he’ll have to open the season on the Mariners’ active roster or else be traded or placed on outright waivers. It’s always possible they add another backup catcher to supplant him, but for now he stands as the clear favorite to back up Raleigh heading into next season.

The piece of the trade with larger appeal for Seattle could very well be the flamethrowing Vargas, who made his MLB debut with Arizona in 2023. Vargas pitched in just 4 2/3 innings (allowing three runs) and had suspect surface-level numbers in Triple-A Reno: 7.02 ERA, 17% strikeout rate, 15.1% walk rate. Grisly as those numbers may be at fist glance, however, there’s also a fair bit of intrigue around the young righty.

Vargas only just turned 24 last month, and in his brief time on the D-backs’ big league roster, he averaged 99.4 mph on his four-seamer and 98.8 mph on his sinker. Per Statcast, only seven of the 851 pitchers who tossed at least one inning last year averaged a better mark on their four-seamer and sinker. Vargas is one of the game’s hardest-throwing pitchers, and his sinker produced a massive 59% ground-ball rate in Triple-A.

When considering the substantial command issues that Vargas has shown not only in 2023 but throughout his professional career — he’s walked 11.5% of opponents in his overall minor league career — he’s clearly something of a project. That said, he’s also controllable for at least six seasons and still has a minor league option remaining for the 2024 campaign. The Mariners could see this as a similar bet to the one they made on Andres Munoz, who was a similarly live-armed but unproven young reliever with command issues when they picked him up from the Padres.

As it stands, the subtraction of Suarez still weakens the Seattle roster overall, so if there’s no subsequent move to add another third base option or at least to reallocate the $13MM in savings, this will still be widely viewed as a salary dump — even if there’s some legitimate long-term potential with Vargas. But the offseason is also quite young, and both the free-agent and trade markets have various options to consider at the hot corner or at second base, if Seattle is comfortable sliding another former Diamondback, Josh Rojas, over to third base.

A deal for Matt Chapman would be wildly uncharacteristic for Dipoto, who hasn’t signed a free-agent hitter to a multi-year deal since taking the reins in Seattle, but the market offers some more affordable options such as Gio Urshela and Justin Turner. The trade market is light on pure third basemen but has several shortstops, second basemen and/or multi-position names who could fit into the Seattle infield: Willy Adames, Jonathan India, Jorge Polanco, Kyle Farmer and perhaps Brendan Donovan among them.

Given the strong young core in Seattle and this past season’s narrow miss of the playoffs, there’s little reason to think the team is preparing for a notable step back. Dipoto has made a name for himself as perhaps the most active baseball operations leader in the game when it comes to the trade market, and is stands to reason that further moves will follow. With Suarez in Arizona, the M’s now project for a payroll around $133MM, per Roster Resource, which is about $7MM shy of last year’s total and about $25MM shy of their franchise record. There should be resources to further augment the roster in the days and weeks ahead.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first reported that the Mariners and D-backs had agreed to a trade involving Zavala and other players. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times broke the news that Suarez and Vargas were in the swap.

Angels Name Barry Enright Pitching Coach

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The Angels announced Tuesday that they’ve hired Barry Enright as their new pitching coach. The former big league righty has spent the past two seasons on the D-backs’ staff, working as an assistant pitching coach under Brent Strom.

Enright, 37, pitched in the Majors from 2010-13, splitting his time between the two teams for which he’s now coached. Arizona selected him in the second round of the 2007 draft and gave him his MLB debut in 2010. He spent two seasons there and also had briefer stints with the 2012-13 Halos. As Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times points out, Enright’s final year with the Halos overlapped with Mike Trout’s rookie year in Anaheim.

Overall, Enright pitched 148 2/3 innings in the Majors. While his career on the mound didn’t yield the best results, we’ve seen time and time again that a successful big league playing career is in no way a prerequisite for a successful run as a coach or manager. His time with the D-backs surely proved quite instructive, as Strom is regarded as one of the industry’s top pitching minds.

Enright joins a revamped Halos coaching staff under incoming manager Ron Washington. Since the end of the season, the Angels have moved on from hitting coach Marcus Thames, pitching coach Matt Wise and catching coordinator Drew Butera. In their places, the Angels have hired Johnny Washington as hitting coach, Jerry Narron as catching coach and now Enright as pitching coach. The Angels have also added former big league infielder Ryan Goins as an infield coach and veteran coach/manager Bo Porter to be Washington’s first base coach.

Cardinals Name Daniel Descalso Bench Coach

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The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve hired former infielder Daniel Descalso as their new bench coach. Last year’s bench coach Joe McEwing will join the Cardinals’ front office as a special assistant to president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. The Cardinals still expect to make further additions to the coaching staff this winter, the team noted.

Descalso, 37, spent five years in a Cardinals uniform from 2010-14 and appeared in parts of 10 MLB seasons between St. Louis, Colorado, Arizona and Chicago (Cubs). He spent the 2023 season as a special assistant in the Diamondbacks’ baseball operations department. This will be his first professional coaching assignment.

It’s the third time in the past two offseasons the Cardinals have effectively installed one of their former players as manager Oli Marmol’s bench coach. The Cards briefly hired Matt Holliday in that role last November, but Holliday had a change of heart just months after being appointed to the post, citing a desire to spend more time with his family as the primary reason for his resignation. Holliday spent eight years playing for the Cards, of course. McEwing, meanwhile, played for the Cardinals in both 1998 and 1999. As with Descalso, Holliday was slated to be a first-time coach with the Cardinals. McEwing had spent more than a decade on the White Sox’ coaching staff.

In 1079 Major League games, Descalso tallied just shy of 2900 plate appearances and posted a .235/.320/.362 batting line. He played every position on the diamond other than catcher and center field, with the bulk of his time coming at second base, third base and shortstop (in that order).

National League Non-Tenders: 11/17/23

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm CT. Here’s a rundown of fairly minor players on National League teams who have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month.

All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency without being placed on waivers. They’ll be eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 teams. It’s not uncommon to see non-tendered players almost immediately return to their previous organization on a minor league deal.

The transactions:

Latest Moves

Earlier

  • The Reds have non-tendered relievers Derek Law and Reiver Sanmartin. Cincinnati also confirmed the previously reported non-tender of Nick Senzel.
  • In addition to Rowdy Tellez and Brandon Woodruff, the Brewers have non-tendered right-hander J.C. Mejía. He failed a PED test in September, the second such result of his career, and was suspended for 162 games.
  • Former Rookie of the Year winner Kyle Lewis was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks. He played in only 16 games after being acquired from the Mariners last offseason.
  • The Cubs non-tendered relievers Ethan Roberts, Brandon Hughes and Codi Heuer. All three are recovering from surgeries.
  • Right-hander Tommy Doyle was non-tendered by the Rockies. Colorado designated him for assignment when acquiring Cal Quantrill this morning.
  • The Cardinals have non-tendered catcher Andrew Knizner, first baseman Juan Yepez and starting pitchers Jake Woodford and Dakota Hudson. St. Louis reportedly tried to deal Hudson this afternoon but evidently did not find a taker.
  • The Mets have non-tendered relievers Jeff Brigham, Sam Coonrod and Trevor Gott. New York also cut loose infielder Luis Guillorme and confirmed the reported non-tender of Dan Vogelbach.
  • Left-hander Josh Fleming was non-tendered by the Phillies, the team announced. Philadelphia just snagged the southpaw off waivers from the Rays a few weeks ago.
  • The Marlins have non-tendered catcher Jacob Stallings and infielder Garrett Hampson, per a club announcement. Stallings spent two seasons as the primary catcher after being acquired from the Pirates at the 2021-22 offseason. Hampson signed a minor league deal with the Fish last season.
  • The Pirates non-tendered Osvaldo Bido and Hunter Stratton, tweets Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Neither had yet been eligible for arbitration. Both right-handers made their big league debuts in 2023; Mackey suggests the Bucs will try to bring them back on minor league pacts.
  • The Nationals announced they’ve non-tendered first baseman Dominic Smith and right-hander Cory Abbott. Both players were designated for assignment earlier in the week, making this an inevitability.
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