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NL Notes: Young, Honeycutt, Green, Phillies

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The Dodgers nearly signed pitcher Chris Young to a minor league deal last offseason, but he signed a $675K big-league deal with the Royals instead and is now set to start Game 4 of the World Series, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports notes. Young had an effective regular season and has been even better thus far in the playoffs. The extremely cheap signing has been a boon for the Royals and might have been one for the Dodgers as well, Morosi says, arguing that it’s strange the Royals were able to get him so cheaply after he pitched 165 innings with a 3.65 ERA in 2014. As Morosi notes, Young’s 86-MPH fastball likely had something to do with that. I’d add that Young’s unimpressive 2014 peripherals (5.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 22.3% ground ball rate) were also likely a factor. Here’s more from the National League.

  • The Dodgers are negotiating with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt on a multi-year contract to keep him with the team, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick writes. There’s a possibility Honeycutt could join departing Dodgers manager Don Mattingly with the Marlins, but Honeycutt has been with the Dodgers through several managerial changes, and keeping him would help the organization maintain “continuity” for the team as it chooses Mattingly’s successor.
  • The process of interviewing for a big-league managerial position is a grueling one, new Padres manager Andy Green tells Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “The first interview, I spent about 2 1/2 hours with one group, then about 2 1/2 hours with another group. They flew me back in, and I spent 14 hours, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. It was a relentless barrage of people,” says Green. “Then they flew in a couple days ago, A.J. [Preller] and Josh Stein, met my family. After my wife and kids went to bed, they fired off three more hours of questions. So they did their due diligence.” Green also shares his thoughts regarding dealing with expectations as a big-league manager, noting that building a winning team requires putting a process in place, and that having expectations in and of itself does little to help a team reach its goals.
  • The Mets’ rise is bad news for the Phillies, in that the Mets’ strong core of starting pitching is set to be around for awhile, Mike Sielski of the Inquirer writes. But the Phillies won’t have the same payroll restrictions the Mets have had, Sielski notes, so it shouldn’t take the Phillies as long as it took the Mets to turn what’s already a good Phillies collection of young talent into a winning team.

East Notes: Anthopoulos, Wieters, Nationals, Chen

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Blue Jays chairman Edward Rogers says the team made a serious effort to keep now-departed GM Alex Anthopoulos, and that Anthopoulos’ role with the team would not have been significantly different following the arrival of new president Mark Shapiro, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet writes. “[J]ust reading a lot of the press, there was a notion that in his renewal offer, somehow his job had changed. His job had not changed at all,” says Rogers. “His direct manager will change, but his breadth of scope and responsibility had not changed. We had full confidence in him.” Rogers notes that the Jays tried to reassure Anthopoulos about their change in leadership by offering him a long-term extension but allowing him to depart after a year if he wanted. “Our notion was let’s try it for a year and see if that would have worked,” Rogers says. Reporting earlier this week indicated that the Jays had promised to give Shapiro final decision-making authority in decisions about player acquisitions and departures. Here’s more from the East divisions.

  • The Nationals have been linked to free agent Matt Wieters, but a source tells MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko that the team is not interested in signing him. Incumbent Nats catcher Wilson Ramos is coming off a miserable .229/.258/.358 season, Wieters’ agent Scott Boras has plenty of Nationals clients, and the catching market is thin, but it sounds like the Nats could look elsewhere to address the position. Kubatko notes that the Braves are a more logical destination for Wieters, who has a residence in the Atlanta area.
  • It would make sense for the Orioles to pursue a reunion with free agent starter Wei-Yin Chen, but that doesn’t mean they’ll actually be able to re-sign him, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun writes. Chen has been effective, and the Orioles need pitching and likely won’t pursue the very top free agents. The 30-year-old Chen will likely get a five-year deal, however, and the O’s will likely be reluctant to make a commitment of that length. There’s a good chance Chen will end up with a West Coast team.

Week In Review: 10/24/15 – 10/30/15

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Here’s a look back at last week at MLBTR.

Key Moves

  • Twins outfielder Torii Hunter has retired.
  • The Padres hired Diamondbacks third base coach Andy Green to be their next manager.
  • The Marlins dismissed GM/manager Dan Jennings and intend to hire Don Mattingly as their next manager.
  • The Nationals will hire former Padres manager Bud Black to be their next skipper.
  • The Phillies named Matt Klentak their next GM.
  • GM Alex Anthopoulos left the Blue Jays.

Options

Trades

Top Prospect Promotions

Claims

Designated For Assignment

Outrights

Key Minor League Signings

Other

Hector Noesi Likely To Sign With Korean Team

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Righty Hector Noesi appears likely to sign with the KIA Tigers in Korea, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The 28-year-old Noesi is an ACES client.

Noesi posted a 6.89 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 32 2/3 innings with the White Sox in 2015 before being outrighted, after which he had more success with Triple-A Charlotte. In 2014, though, he was a regular in the White Sox’ rotation, pitching 166 innings with a 4.77 ERA. In addition to the White Sox, Noesi has pitched with the Yankees, Mariners and Rangers in his five-year big-league career, posting a 5.30 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 395 1/3 innings. As a fly ball pitcher, he gives up more than his fair share of homers, thus far preventing him from being more than a passable fifth starter in the big leagues.

Offseason Outlook: Oakland Athletics

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After an ugly 2015 season, the Athletics have plenty of flexibility, but also face plenty of uncertainty.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Billy Butler, DH: $20MM through 2017
  • Coco Crisp, OF: $11.75MM through 2016 (plus 2017 club/vesting option)
  • Sean Doolittle, P: $9MM through 2018 (plus 2019 and 2020 club options)

Arbitration Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections by MLB Trade Rumors)

Free Agents

After a season in which almost nothing went right, the Athletics will attempt to get back on track in 2016. How their ever-creative front office will accomplish that, though, is anyone’s guess. Now that they’ve lost a number of high-profile players (Josh Donaldson, Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija, Scott Kazmir, Brandon Moss, Derek Norris, Jed Lowrie, Jason Hammel, Luke Gregerson) from their 2014 playoff run and still others (Ben Zobrist, Tyler Clippard) once their 2015 season fell apart, it seems wise to begin with an assessment of what, exactly, they still have.

Ace Sonny Gray still has a year remaining before he’s eligible for arbitration, and he looks like one of the game’s most potent young starters after a terrific 2015. The team also has several other starting pitchers (Jesse Chavez, Jesse Hahn, Chris Bassitt) who helped to one degree or another. Offensively, the A’s have a few young veterans who had decent seasons (like Josh Reddick, Stephen Vogt and Danny Valencia, with Billy Beane’s August claim of Valencia looking like a big win so far), and the team was also able to find playing time last year for a number of relative youngsters (Billy Burns, Marcus Semien, Josh Phegley, Mark Canha) who held their own and look like cheap future role players. The A’s lost 94 games last season, so it’s no surprise that they don’t exactly appear to be loaded with talent.

Of course, Donaldson, for example, once looked like little more than a cheap future role player too, and plenty of analysts have underestimated Oakland rosters barely flashier than the one the A’s have now. The 2015 A’s were also the victims of poor luck — they weren’t a good team, but they scored only 35 fewer runs than they allowed and might well have ended up with far more than 68 wins.

Still, this offseason is going to be a tough one for Beane and new GM David Forst. A series of questionable trades have left the Athletics with a limited talent base. In particular, their decision to deal Donaldson to the Blue Jays makes even less sense now than it did when it was consummated — the Athletics traded an MVP-type player with four years of control remaining and received only one good prospect (Franklin Barreto) plus a disappointing infielder (Brett Lawrie) and a couple low-wattage arms.

That the trade was a disaster for the Athletics is well known at this point, but I mention it here because it’s part of a pattern. Small-payroll teams need inexpensive stars like Donaldson. Other than Gray, the Athletics really don’t have any, and they don’t appear to have many players who have that potential, either. When they traded for Samardzija, they gave up Addison Russell, who already seems to be blossoming in Chicago. Then, when they dealt Samardzija themselves, they got Bassitt, Semien and Phegley, who look like good, helpful players, but not future stars. Their trade of Samardzija was, in isolation, a decent one, and it looks better after Samardzija had a subpar season in 2015, but the net result of the two deals is that it appears the A’s gave up an impact talent and didn’t receive one in return.

So now that potentially game-changing players like Donaldson and Russell are gone, how do the A’s build something new in their absence? For a 68-win team, the Athletics certainly have their fair share of decent players, and it’s easy to see any one of at least a dozen of them becoming useful contributors on a top-quality team. What they don’t seem to have is enough elite players to rally around, and it’s not clear where they’ll get them.

Many 68-win teams can upgrade simply by identifying positions where they have massive deficiencies and addressing those, but the A’s actually have fewer gaping holes than most. One priority, though, could be adding another corner outfielder or first baseman. Canha profiles decently as a semi-regular either in left field or at first base, and Vogt figures to pick up at bats at first base when he’s not catching, but the Athletics can use a bit of help. They’re unlikely to be top players for free agents, but they could find a lefty outfielder to upgrade on Sam Fuld — someone like Gerardo Parra or David Murphy might make sense, particularly with Jake Smolinski available to bat against lefties. Coco Crisp, a switch-hitter who’s under contract for next season, might be able to help in that regard, although he’ll play next season at age 36 and suffered through a miserable 2015 due to a lingering neck injury.

Beyond first base, the Athletics appear fairly set in the infield. With Lawrie and Valencia in the fold, the A’s can give Semien another shot at shortstop, although Beane seems open to using him at other positions at some point in the future. The A’s could add an infield backup via free agency, though, particularly if they decide to non-tender Eric Sogard.

The Athletics could also use an upgrade at DH; the three-year deal to which they signed Billy Butler was perplexing at the time, and it doesn’t make any more sense now. It seems more likely, though, that they’ll hope Butler improves in 2016, since he’ll still be just 30, and they owe him an additional $20MM. A trade involving another bad contract also might be a possibility.

Then there’s the rotation. Gray ought to be back, along with Chavez, Bassitt and Hahn, health permitting. Jarrod Parker, who hasn’t thrown a pitch in the big leagues since 2013, was back to throwing at the end of the season after spending most of it recovering from an elbow fracture. The 26-year-old Parker got off to a great start to his big-league career in 2012 and 2013, but there’s no telling what the Athletics can expect from him, if anything, after multiple arm injuries and two full years on the shelf. Another talented young starter, A.J. Griffin, is in a similar boat — he was making his way back from Tommy John surgery last June when he got shut down again, this time with a shoulder problem. Now he hasn’t appeared in the big leagues in two full years, either.

Beyond that, the Athletics’ best options right now are back-of-the-rotation types like Kendall Graveman, Aaron Brooks and Sean Nolin, plus Drew Pomeranz, who could conceivably move to starting full-time. (Sean Manaea, who they acquired in the Zobrist trade, could be in the rotation picture by midseason.) It’s safe to say, then, that they could add another starter this offseason without causing a logjam.

Given the Athletics’ extremely limited future commitments, they could easily sign a free agent starter, although it’s doubtful they would want to be on the hook for a contract that would still be on the books, say, three years from now. A creative short-term addition like Doug Fister, Mat Latos, Rich Hill, or old friends Trevor Cahill or Bartolo Colon might make sense.

Then again, all this speculation assumes the A’s will look to stay competitive next year without sacrificing their ability to compete in the future, but Beane often forgoes the obvious path. One off-the-grid possibility might be spending heavily on righty relievers in an attempt to improve by building a good bullpen around Sean Doolittle, Fernando Rodriguez and Pomeranz. Relievers would require shorter-term commitments than starters or position players, allowing the A’s to spend a bit while still keeping their payroll relatively clear in 2018 or 2019, when they might have a better core than they do now.

Beane has also alluded to the possibility that the team could extend Reddick, who is eligible for free agency following the 2016 season. Reddick was already a very good all-around player before cutting his strikeout rate in half over the past three seasons. The change came at the expense of some of his home-run power, but his newfound strike-zone judgment increases the possibility that he’ll continue to be productive in the near future, particularly since he’s still just 28.

Other than that, who knows? The only constant with the Athletics is change. Would it really be a shock if, after previously emerging as the high bidder for top international talents like Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Ynoa, the Athletics suddenly entered the bidding for Korean first baseman Byung-Ho Park? Would it be impossible for Beane to sense an inefficiency in the market and pounce on, say, a three-year deal for a bigger-name player at an unexpected position, given that most of the team’s current options are passable but unspectacular? Would it be a surprise if, after previously trading their top prospect (Daniel Robertson) for Ben Zobrist in an offseason in which they looked to be re-tooling, they dealt someone like Barreto for a big win-now upgrade? After emphatically denying he would trade Gray, would it be out of the question for Beane to deal him anyway, a year after an anonymous A’s official emphatically denied that the team would trade Donaldson? Could the A’s trade Vogt, say, or Chavez, or even Reddick? With Beane and Forst, there’s no telling.

Phillies Name Matt Klentak GM

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OCT. 26: The Phillies have announced the hiring of Klentak as vice president and general manager, adding that, at 35 years of age, Klentak is the youngest GM in the club’s history.

“In Matt we found an executive with the keen ability to understand cutting-edge baseball analytics, coupled with superior scouting, player development and leadership skills,” said president Andy MacPhail in the press release that announced the move. “Additionally, his commitment and resolve to build the foundation for a championship-caliber team was evident every step of the way through the process. I trust Matt to lead the Phillies as we all rededicate ourselves to return championship baseball to Philadelphia.”

OCT. 24: The Phillies will name Angels assistant Matt Klentak as their next GM, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweets. Yesterday, it emerged that Klentak was a finalist for the job, along with Chaim Bloom of the Rays and Dan Kantrovitz of the Athletics. As MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki noted (via Twitter), all three candidates were in their 30s and had Ivy League and analytics backgrounds.

Klentak began working in the Rockies baseball operations department soon after graduating from Dartmouth with an economics degree. He then worked in labor relations for MLB for several seasons and helped shape the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement. He departed to become director of baseball operations for the Orioles, where he worked under current Phillies president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. Following the 2011 season, he headed to the Angels, where he specialized in working with contracts, arbitration and roster issues. He was recently a candidate for the Angels GM position that went to Billy Eppler. (While with the Angels, Klentak was also one of the first-ever guests on the MLBTR Podcast, appearing one year ago today.)

“Matt brings so much to the table,” said then-Angels GM Jerry Dipoto. “Matt understands the inner workings of baseball from the field to the finance. He understands baseball from the staff in the clubhouse to the players on the field to how to communicate back and forth with a finance department and ownership.”

MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez writes (Twitter links) that Klentak did much of the Angels’ GM work once Dipoto resigned (even though Bill Stoneman was officially the Angels’ interim GM). Klentak is analytically oriented, but is regarded as a good communicator.

The Phillies’ 2015 season was, of course, a miserable one, but the situation Klentak is entering is in many ways rather favorable. Thanks to what appears to be a solid series of recent top draft picks and the strong trade of Cole Hamels to the Rangers, the Phillies have a very good collection of young talent headed by J.P. Crawford, Maikel Franco, Aaron Nola, Jake Thompson, Nick Williams, Jorge Alfaro and Cornelius Randolph. The Phillies have also historically had relatively large payrolls, which could give Klentak the ability to add to that core once it matures.

Besides Klentak, Bloom and Kantrovitz, other interviewees for the Phillies’ position included former Marlins executive Larry Beinfest, MLB vice president of baseball operations Kim Ng, Indians vice president of player personnel Ross Atkins, Cardinals director of player personnel Matt Slater, Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo and former Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Klentak’s departure is the second significant one for Eppler and the Angels’ front office this week — the Mariners just hired Klentak’s fellow Angels assistant Scott Servais to be their manager.

Front Office Notes: Amaro, Benedict, Naehring

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UPDATE: Amaro is one of a small group of finalists for the position, tweets Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. However, a final decision has not been reached according to his sources.

Former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro seems to have found a new job — he’ll serve as the Red Sox’ first base coach, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweets. This is somewhat surprising news. Amaro played for eight years as an outfielder in the big leagues, but he’s never served as a coach, and the path from GM to first base coach is seldom traveled. (Amaro did briefly play with current Red Sox manager John Farrell on the 1995 Indians, which might partially explain why he’s now turning up on the Red Sox’ staff.) Amaro became an assistant GM for the Phillies right after his playing career ended, then advanced to become GM before being fired last month. His father, Ruben Amaro Sr., was once a first base coach with the Phillies. Here are a couple additional notes on front offices.

  • The loss of special assistant Jim Benedict to the Marlins is a significant one for the Pirates, Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. Benedict has been a key part of the Pirates’ very successful pitching program, and his ability to blend old-school scouting and new-school tools is rare. The Bucs’ ability to cheaply acquire struggling pitchers like Francisco Liriano, J.A. Happ and Edinson Volquez and help them improve has been key to the team’s recent success, and it remains to be seen how losing Benedict will affect them. Sawchik also notes that Benedict will take on an expanded role with the Marlins, helping with the draft and with evaluations of potential acquisitions as well as working with pitchers already in the organization.
  • With former assistant GM Billy Eppler taking over as GM of the Angels, the Yankees have promoted Tim Naehring to take over his role, although not his title, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. (Cafardo first tweeted that Naehring would receive a significant promotion.) Naehring had previously been a scout with the Yankees.

Quick Hits: Cubs, Royals, Rios

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The Cubs’ season is now over, but they enjoyed a strong season overall, and the successes of their young hitters can be a double-edged sword for players further down in the system, Cubs player development executive Jason McLeod tells Gordon Wittenmyer of Baseball America. “I said, ’You can look at it two ways: You can say, those guys aren’t much older than me. I have no chance. Or you can look at it and say look how they did it: If you perform they’re going to give you the opportunity,'” says McLeod. Wittenmyer notes that it might be tough for current Cubs prospects to endure the typically slow path through the minors to the big leagues now that they’ve seen players like Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber rocket to the Majors. “Kris and Kyle have warped even my sense of where (other prospects) should be sometimes, just with how fast they exploded through the system,” says McLeod. Here are more quick notes from around the big leagues.

  • The Royals’ recent run of success — which continued yesterday as they advanced to the World Series for the second consecutive year — has been powered in large part by their 2010 trade of Zack Greinke, the Associated Press writes. That deal brought back both Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, the last two ALCS MVPs. Also included in that trade was Jake Odorizzi, who helped bring back Wade Davis, who finished last night’s game.
  • Another Royal, outfielder Alex Rios, turned down a two-year deal with the Mariners last offseason to take a one-year deal with Kansas City, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. That’s interesting, because Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported last December that Rios had used his no-trade clause to nix a deal to the Royals the previous July after the Royals wouldn’t pick up his option as a condition of the deal. He ended up playing out the season with a non-contending Rangers team. Perhaps watching the Royals in the playoffs last season caused Rios to change his mind about what he wanted.

Managerial Notes: Gordon, Mattingly, Servais

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The Padres have interviewed former big-league reliever Tom Gordon for their open managerial position, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports. As Heyman notes, Gordon certainly would be an unusual candidate, since he has no managerial experience anywhere. He did, however, pitch 21 seasons in the big leagues. He is the father of Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon and top Twins shortstop prospect Nick Gordon. Here’s the rest of the latest on the Padres’ managerial search. And here are more notes on managers, all on the West divisions:

  • Don Mattingly’s separation from the Dodgers was amicable, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. The pressures of managing an expensive team with championship expectations weighted on Mattingly, as did whispers about whether he would be fired. When the two sides spoke on Monday, the Dodgers told him they were not interested in offering a long-term extension, which told him their commitment to him wasn’t strong. The new Dodgers front office would, evidently, prefer to hire its own manager, even though Mattingly was willing to work with the front office with its use of advanced metrics.
  • The Mariners are gambling that Scott Servais is the right hire for them despite his lack of managerial experience, John McGrath of the Tacoma News Tribune writes. As McGrath points out, gambles like this one are common nowadays: Mike Matheny of the Cardinals, Robin Ventura of the White Sox, Brad Ausmus of the Tigers, Walt Weiss of the Rockies, Craig Counsell of the Brewers and Kevin Cash of the Rays are, like Servais, all former players who lacked significant managerial experience before taking their current jobs.

NL East Notes: Benedict, Braves, Mets

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The Marlins have hired Pirates special assistant Jim Benedict to become their new vice president, pitching development, as MLB.com’s Adam Berry notes. The news is more significant than it might initially seem — Benedict and Bucs pitching coach Ray Searage have been widely credited with powering the pitching program that helped the Pirates get good results from a number of unknown or unappreciated hurlers in the last several season. Benedict is the Marlins’ second significant hire from the Bucs’ front office this fall — they previously tabbed another special assistant, Marc DelPiano, to serve as their farm director. Here’s more from the NL East.

  • The Braves face plenty of uncertainty in their bullpen and will likely pursue relief help this offseason, writes MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Arodys Vizcaino will pitch in the late innings, and Chris Withrow (elbow) will likely be ready as well. But Jason Grilli and Shae Simmons are both making their back from injury and will be question marks, while Mike Foltynewicz could wind up in the rotation. That means the Braves could be in the market for righties like Joakim Soria, Jonathan Broxton, Tyler Clippard and Darren O’Day, along with lefties like Tony Sipp.
  • The Mets turned their season around as their lineup began to come together in late July, ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes. Obviously, much of that was their trade for Yoenis Cespedes, but manager Terry Collins also points to their additions of Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, which happened a week earlier. “[T]hat, to me, is when we started turning things around,” Collins says. Uribe and Johnson helped somewhat, but it wasn’t just that — it was that it became clear within the clubhouse that the Mets’ front office was willing to supplement its team.

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