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Poll: A Major Change To Extra Innings

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Four of the majors’ 30 teams will open the regular season July 23, while the other 26 will begin on the 24th, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. As a 60-game campaign with various notable rule changes – including a universal designated hitter – as well as possibly no fans in the stands, it figures to go down as one of the strangest baseball seasons ever. Of course, those are far from the only aspects of the sport that will be drastically altered this year. Extra-innings games will also look far different, to name one example.

Every year features at least some marathon games, but it appears we’ll see far fewer this regular season. Once the 10th inning rolls around (and if games extend beyond then), the hitting team will have a distinct advantage because it will begin the frame with a runner on second. That player will be the one who made the last out in the previous inning, though clubs will be able to select a pinch runner if they wish. Should the runner who started the inning on second score, the pitcher would not be charged with an earned run. Notably, this change to extras will not extend into the playoffs, nor is it sure to stick around past this year.

There are at least a couple potential pros to this rule, which has been used in the minor leagues and in the World Baseball Classic in recent years. For one, it should help teams keep relievers’ workloads down. It will also undoubtedly help speed up games, as J.J. Cooper of Baseball America explains that 44 percent of minor league games from 2016-17 ended before the 11th inning. But since the minors placed a runner on second in 2018, 73 percent of extra-inning contests have concluded in the 10th. Additionally, there’s an argument it makes games more exciting, considering the level of drama’s turned up right at the start of extras.

On the flip side, there are lots of baseball fans who don’t mind the occasional extra-long game, not to mention plenty of purists who don’t want the game revised to such a significant extent. Astros manager Dusty Baker is one prominent example of someone who’s not thrilled with the rule, as he told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle, “This will be something new for us, but I hope it doesn’t go into next year or subsequent years.”

Are you in agreement with Baker, or are you hoping this new setup will have staying power? (Poll link for app users)

Do you like or dislike the 2020 extra-innings format?
Dislike 80.00% (8,602 votes)
Like 20.00% (2,151 votes)
Total Votes: 10,753

Tigers News & Notes: COVID, D. Cabrera, Fulmer, Taxi Squad

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The Tigers are the latest known major league team affected by the coronavirus. Speaking to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free-Press and other reporters Wednesday, general manager Al Avila revealed that two people in the organization – one player and one staff member – have tested positive for the illness. Neither individual has recovered yet, but the player was not working out at the team’s spring facility in Lakeland, Fla., when he contracted it. Meanwhile, as a prostate cancer survivor, manager Ron Gardenhire is at higher risk than most of coming down with COVID-19. Gardenhire admitted he’s “uneasy” about a season during a pandemic, but he’s confident MLB will do its best to keep everyone safe, per Fenech.

More out of Detroit…

  • The Tigers have signed supplemental second-round pick Daniel Cabrera for $1.2MM, above his slot value of $1,102,700, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. The former Louisiana State outfielder was the 62nd overall choice. His deal leaves slugger Spencer Torkelson, the first overall selection, as the only Detroit pick who hasn’t signed yet. The Tigers can pay Torkelson $7,775,700 without exceeding their $13,325,700 bonus pool and $8,441,985 without losing future picks, Callis notes. The slot value of the No. 1 pick is $8,415,300.
  • Right-hander Michael Fulmer has made enough progress in his recovery from March 2019 Tommy John surgery that he should be ready to return to the mound when spring training resumes, according to Avila (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). However, the Tigers aren’t going to rush the 27-year-old Fulmer back into game action. “Once we get there and we see him and see him and he starts working out we’ll just figure out what we can do and how we can do it,” Gardenhire said. “Game situations are so much different than practice.” The former American League Rookie of the Year (2016) was once among the most prized young hurlers in the game, but along with injuries, a decline in performance has damaged his stock over the past couple years. In 2018, the last time he pitched, Fulmer logged a career-worst 4.69 ERA/4.52 FIP over 132 1/3 innings.
  • Gardenhire confirmed that standout Tigers pitching prospects Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal and Alex Faedo will be on their 60-man taxi squad, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News relays. “They are going to be part of this,” said Gardenhire, but that doesn’t mean any will make his major league debut this year, as Avila acknowledged that ” it might be more difficult to get them that experience” during such a short season. Regardless, being on the 60-man roster will at least give those who may not yet be ready for the majors to play intrasquad games and continue to develop in a year that probably won’t have a minor league season.

John Brebbia Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Cardinals right-handed reliever John Brebbia underwent Tommy John surgery June 3, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak revealed Wednesday (via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Mozeliak announced that Brebbia will begin the season on the injured list, but considering TJ recovery tends to take 12 to 15 months, he looks like a shoo-in to miss all of 2020 and at least some portion of next year. It’s awful news for Brebbia and the Cardinals, for whom he has offered strong production since making his major league debut a few seasons ago.

Now 30 years old, Brebbia has been a quality scrapheap pickup for the Cardinals, who took him from the Diamondbacks in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft. He broke into the majors in 2017 and has since logged a 3.14 ERA/3.39 FIP across 175 innings. Brebbia totaled a career-best 72 2/3 frames last season, when he survived a minuscule 26.9 percent groundball rate to record a 3.59 ERA/3.13 FIP with 10.78 K/9 and 3.34 BB/9.

While Brebbia’s on a near-minimum salary this year, he’s slated to go through the arbitration process for the first time next winter. The Cardinals can control him through 2023, but whether they’ll do so will depend in large part on if he’s able to bounce back from this procedure.

Phillies Sign First-Rounder Mick Abel

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The Phillies have signed their first-round pick, right-hander Mick Abel, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. As the 15th overall pick, Abel’s selection came with a recommended slot value of $3,885,800, but he’ll earn $4,075,000, according to Callis.

Abel played high school baseball in his native Oregon and committed to Oregon State before the Phillies signed him. While the coronavirus led to the cancellation of what would have been his final high school season, Abel was nonetheless the top prep pitcher available in this year’s draft, writes Callis. The 6-foot-5 hurler offers a “terrific” combination of stuff and polish, per Callis, as well as a 93 to 98 mph fastball and a promising slider-changeup combo.

With Abel under wraps, the Phillies have now signed four members of their five-player draft class. Third-round shortstop Casey Martin hasn’t officially signed, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia notes, though the two sides did reportedly reach an agreement earlier this month.

Braves Expect Cole Hamels To Be Ready For Season

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Left-hander Cole Hamels, one of the Braves’ key offseason acquisitions, dealt with shoulder irritation during the first version of spring training a few months ago. If not for the coronavirus forcing camp to shut down, and if the regular season would have started on schedule, Hamels would not have been ready to open 2020 in the Braves’ rotation. That’s no longer the case, though. With the season now on track to open in a month, Hamels should be part of Atlanta’s starting staff from the get-go, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said Wednesday (via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

The Braves inked Hamels to a one-year, $18MM contract over the winter in the hopes that he’d help fill the voids left by Dallas Keuchel and Julio Teheran, capable innings eaters who departed in free agency. Hamels, 36, does have a long and successful track record as a workhorse in his own right, having tossed at least 200 innings in eight different seasons. However, injuries slowed Hamels last year as a member of the Cubs, with whom he amassed 141 2/3 frames (the second-lowest figure of his career) and logged a 3.81 ERA/4.09 FIP with 9.08 K/9 and 3.56 BB/9.

While Hamels no longer seems to be the front-end starter he was during his prime, there’s nothing to suggest he won’t give the reigning NL East champions respectable production this year. Barring any injuries during spring training 2.0, he’ll join Mike Soroka, Max Fried and Mike Foltynewicz as locks in Atlanta’s staff. The fifth spot’s less certain, though Felix Hernandez, Kyle Wright and Sean Newcomb were all candidates for the role before the game’s abrupt halt.

Regardless of how the Braves’ season-opening rotation looks, Anthopoulos stated that he expects they’ll be conservative with their starters’ workloads for at least a couple turns, per Burns. That could mean appearances ranging from two to four innings at the outset of the campaign.

MLB, MLBPA Reach Deal On Health And Safety

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10:07pm: Any player or manager who comes within 6 feet of an umpire to argue a call could receive a suspension, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

8:27pm: The league issued a statement (via Mark Feinsand of MLB.com) saying it expects to start the regular season on July 23 or 24. Players will be able to opt out of the season, but only those who are at high risk of contracting the coronavirus (or living with a high-risk person or pregnant spouse) will be able to do so while earning full and service time, according to Nightengale, who reports the league will have the right to relocate teams to neutral sites during the regular season and playoffs for health and safety reasons. Also, Nightengale notes that the regular IL will be 10 days for all players. As was reported earlier, there will also be a COVID-19 IL with no specific length.

8:02pm: Teams will play 40 games against divisional opponents and 20 interleague contests versus geographic counterparts (East v. East, for example), Heyman reports. As expected, there will be a DH in the NL, Nightengale relays. Camp will begin July 3, but players will have to show up for spring training no later than July 1, Nightengale adds.

7:33pm: The league and union have reached a deal on health and safety, Karl Ravech of ESPN reports. Players will head to camp before July 1 in order to undergo coronavirus testing, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The next round of spring training will take place in teams’ home cities.

5:32pm: Even though they have made progress, the two sides aren’t guaranteed to reach a deal on health and safety tonight, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. But if they do come to an agreement, the league would “likely” lift its freeze on transactions five days before the players report, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.

4:45pm: Major League Baseball and the MLBPA are continuing to discuss health and safety protocols for a potential 2020 season, but it doesn’t appear the players will stand in the way of an agreement. The union has informed the league that the players intend to report to spring training 2.0 by July 1, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. A 60-game regular season would begin anywhere from July 24-26.

After months of squabbling between the league and the players, this is finally a welcome bit of good news for those hoping to see a baseball season this year. Because it was unable to reach an agreement on a season with the union, the league decided Monday to announce a 60-game season – which the game’s 30 owners unanimously approved. Meanwhile, the MLBPA stated: “While we had hoped to reach a revised back to work agreement with the league, the Players remain fully committed to proceeding under our current agreement and getting back on the field for the fans, for the game, and for each other.”

The hope is that will happen, though it’s unclear how a season could look. For instance, we don’t know whether some or all teams will play in their home ballparks (that appears especially unlikely for the Blue Jays) because of the coronavirus, which has victimized a slew of people around the sport over just the past few days. And if a season does occur, it looks as if there will be at least a few notable changes to the way things are typically done. The bottom line, though, is that signs continue to point to the start of the 2020 campaign in just a few weeks.

Charlie Blackmon, 2 Other Rockies Test Positive For Coronavirus

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Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon, left-hander Phillip Diehl and righty Ryan Castellani have tested positive for the coronavirus after recently working out at Coors Field, Kyle Newman of the Denver Post reports. Only one of the three showed symptoms, though his identity is unknown.

Aside from Blackmon, Diehl and Castellani, the other players who have been working out at the stadium tested negative. As a result of the positive tests, which Newman writes “came late last week,” the facility has been closed for the week.

Even though Major League Baseball and the players reached an agreement on health and safety protocols Tuesday, paving the way for a 60-game regular season, this is another reminder of how challenging it will be for all involved to get through the campaign unscathed.

Blackmon, a four-time All-Star, is the highest-profile major leaguer to date who we know has tested positive for COVID-19. However, Colorado certainly isn’t the only team that has been affected by it. Just in the past few days, the virus has also impacted the Phillies, Yankees, Angels, Astros, Giants and Blue Jays, not to mention at least a few unnamed clubs.

Padres, First-Rounder Robert Hassell III Agree To Deal

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On a day loaded with first-round signings, the Padres have become the latest team to reach a deal with their top pick. The Padres announced that they’ve come to terms with outfielder Robert Hassell III, the eighth overall selection in this year’s draft. Hassell will earn $4.3MM, down from the $5,176,900 slot value of his pick, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The 18-year-old Hassell committed to Vanderbilt before the draft, but the Padres managed to stop the Commodores from landing a highly promising prospect. MLB.com, FanGraphs, Baseball America, ESPN.com and The Athletic all ranked Hassell in the draft’s top 20 prospects entering the proceedings. Nobody was more bullish than ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, who ranked Hassell sixth of those available, wrote that he may “have the best hit tool in the prep class” and noted that he has drawn comparisons to high-end Braves outfield prospect Drew Waters.

2020 Trade Deadline Will Be Aug. 31; Latest On Other Rules Changes

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6:48pm: There’s expected to be a COVID-19 injured list for players “who test positive, have confirmed exposure or are exhibiting symptoms,” Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets. That list would not be limited to a specific number of days.

6:40pm: Jayson Stark of The Athletic passes along more information (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3, 4):

  • The league’s transactions freeze will end Friday at noon ET, though it’s still debating whether to let teams sign players to minor league contracts.
  • Teams must submit their 60-player pool by 3 ET on Sunday, and they’ll be able to take three taxi squad players on the road, though one has to be a catcher. All 60 of those players will be invited to spring training, but clubs will have the option of sending 20 to alternate sites.
  • Players have to be added to the big league roster by Sept. 15 to be eligible for the postseason.
  • Even though teams won’t have to invite all players on their 40-man rosters to spring training, they’ll still have to be paid.
  • MLB has been talking with Nashville about keeping two teams of unsigned players there as an emergency pool. Those players would make $400 per week, and teams would have to pay a fee to Nashville to sign any of them.

3:42pm: If there is a 2020 Major League Baseball season, everybody who follows the game knows it’s going to be unusual for myriad reasons. The regular season’s only going to last 60 games, for one, and that’s assuming the COVID-19 pandemic won’t stand in the way. There will also be quite a few changes to the rules, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com relays (Twitter links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7):

  • MLB plans to implement 30-man rosters, up from 26, to start the season. However, the 30-man total will shrink to 28 on the 15th day of the season. It will go down to 26 on Day 29 and stay there for good.
  • The trade deadline is normally July 31, but expectations are that it will move to Aug. 31 this year.
  • A runner starting on second base in extra innings would only apply in the regular season, not the playoffs. The batter who made the final out in the previous inning would start extras on second.
  • MLB may decide to suspend games that don’t last at least five innings due to weather. In other words, they’ll remain in limbo until the teams are able to finish them at a later date.
  • Both pitchers and position players would likely have a 10-day injured list. For players who are seriously hurt, the 60-day IL would be cut to 45 days.
  • Three days before the resumption of spring training, teams have to submit lists of 60 players who will be eligible to play for them during the season (40-man rosters plus taxi squads). All players would not show up to spring training at the same time. They’d report on a “staggered” basis, and they’d be at the ballpark at different times.

Tim Anderson Changes Agencies

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White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has hired Klutch Sports for representation, according to Robert Murray. Anderson, who’s celebrating his 27th birthday today, is now part of an agency that also counts the likes of Marcus Stroman, Keston Hiura and Kevin Gausman as clients. MLBTR has made note of his switch in our database.

It may be at least a couple years before Anderson’s new agency negotiates a deal for its latest client. After all, the White Sox could control Anderson for another half-decade. Shortly before the 2017 campaign, they signed Anderson to a six-year, $25MM guarantee with a $12.5MM club option for 2023 and a $14MM team option for the 2024 season.

The extension has worked out well for Chicago, which landed Anderson when it drafted him 17th overall in 2013. Anderson was a 2.0-fWAR player in two of his first three years from 2016-18, but he found another gear a season ago. Despite walking in a paltry 2.9 percent of plate appearances, Anderson slashed .335/.357/.508 (130 wRC+) with 18 home runs, 17 stolen bases and a personal-best 3.5 fWAR over 518 PA en route to an American League batting title.

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