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Phillies Sign Trevor Plouffe

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The Phillies have announced the signing of third baseman Trevor Plouffe to a minor-league deal. He’ll receive an invitation to Spring Training.

Plouffe had appeared briefly at the major-league level last year with the Phils, marking his ninth-straight season with some action in the majors. He only took a dozen plate appearances, though, marking the first time since his debut season of 2010 that he strode to the MLB plate less than three hundred times in a given campaign.

Once a solid regular with the Twins, Plouffe was non-tendered after an injury-marred 2016 campaign. He struggled badly in the ensuing campaign, leaving him to ink a minors deal last winter. Plouffe ultimately turned in solid power numbers at Triple-A in 2018, slashing .232/.357/.468 with 13 home runs in 291 plate appearances with the Phillies and Rangers organizations.

Now 32, Plouffe will certainly face an uphill task to crack the Phillies roster. But with the club falling short in the bidding on Manny Machado, there could be some opportunity available. Plouffe might conceivably push incumbent third bagger Maikel Franco in camp and could theoretically earn a MLB roster spot or a place on the depth chart at Triple-A.

Latest Bryce Harper Rumors

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If you’ve been away from the internet for the last 24 hours, you’ll want to catch up on the major free agent news that broke yesterday. If not, you can safely skip ahead to focusing on what’s next: the final stretch of bidding for Bryce Harper. Here’s the latest:

  • The Phillies’ “total focus” right now is on Harper, Heyman tweets. Another free agent, such as Dallas Keuchel and/or Craig Kimbrel could become a target once Harper signs (be it in Philadelphia or elsewhere), but at the moment, the organization’s efforts are zeroed in on landing Harper.
  • Todd Zolecki, Mark Feinsand and Jamal Collier of MLB.com write that the Phillies are wary of bidding against themselves and overpaying for Harper. Notably, the MLB.com trio cite multiple sources in reporting that the Nationals “have no plans to give Harper a mega-deal comparable to Machado’s 10-year, $300 million contract.” If that’s the case, then it’s not clear exactly who’d pose a threat to the Phillies at present, as the Giants’ interest in Harper has repeatedly been reported to be on a shorter term deal with a significant annual value. The report also cites two sources indicating that approximately $100MM of the Nationals’ initial 10-year, $300MM offer to Harper (issued back in September) would have been deferred. Certainly, ownership could still decide to step up and retain the face of the franchise, but the fact that the initial offer was well shy of $300MM in actual, present-day value because of those deferrals doesn’t bode well for the Nats now deciding to top $300MM. Machado’s deal reportedly contains no deferrals.
  • Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi didn’t speak with an increased urgency after the Padres landed Machado, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Specifically, Zaidi stated that he doesn’t think the Machado agreement “really changes how we’re viewing our team and what we might still do with it,” going on to emphasize the importance of making the “right decision” rather than acting “in a reactionary way.”

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Anthony Rendon Open To Extension Talks During Season

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Anthony Rendon said today that he isn’t putting any deadlines on extension talks with the Nationals, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com was among those to report.

Emphasizing that he’s the boss in his relationship with agent Scott Boras, Rendon said he’s ready to listen to offers at any time of the year. He doesn’t expect contract talks to become a distraction if they drag into the season, but says that “if it does become an issue, then I’ll address it.”

Surely the preference on all sides would be to wrap something up during camp, but it seems there’s still a gulf to be bridged in terms of price. Rendon has, not unjustifiably, staked out a high asking price. He declined to get into details, telling reporters he’d rather leave them guessing, but did acknowledge ongoing chatter. Said Rendon: “if both parties can be happy, then we’ll see.”

Rendon’s stance, then, generally echoes that of fellow star third baseman Nolan Arenado, who is exploring the possibility of a long-term deal with the Rockies. It’s interesting to wonder whether those parallel extension negotiations could influence one another, both because the players are similarly valuable on the field and because the presence or absence of one on next winter’s market could significantly impact the earning outlook for the other.

These players have surely taken note of Manny Machado’s recent payday in considering their own possible free agent futures. Of course, both Rendon and Arenado are on track to enter the market at significantly older (but still youthful) ages, but each has an argument to command an average salary in the range of Machado’s $30MM. We examined Rendon’s extension case at the outset of the offseason.

Indians To Sign Tyler Clippard

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The Indians have a deal in place with righty reliever Tyler Clippard, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). It’s a minor-league pact that would pay him $1.75MM in the majors with up to $1MM in incentives.

Clippard worked plenty of useful frames last year for the Blue Jays, compiling a 3.67 ERA in 68 2/3 innings. That’s well shy of his prime levels, when he was a late-inning stalwart for the Nationals, but still represents a productive campaign.

Interestingly, Clippard has become an even more extreme pitcher than he was in his heyday. The 34-year-old worked at a healthy 14.3% swinging-strike rate and carried 11.1 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9. He also carried a 19.2% groundball rate last year, the lowest rate in all of baseball. Clippard still knows how to get hitters to chase and whiff on his change-up. The question remains what happens with his high heaters.

In each of the past three seasons, more than 12 percent of the balls put in the air against Clippard have ended up leaving the yard, breaking a string of six-straight years with a HR/FB rate of less than ten percent. As a result, Clippard has surrendered 33 dingers over his past 192 innings — a boost in long ball frequency that maps to a reduction in his average four-seam velocity.

On the other hand, Clippard did still bounce back to a well-above-average 16.3% infield fly rate, allowing him to rack up easy outs. When he keeps the ball in the yard, Clippard remains awfully tough to touch. In fact, he allowed earned runs in only five contests last year in which he did not also surrender a home run.

All things considered, it seems like an easy risk for the Indians to take. Clippard wasn’t well-loved by FIP (4.24) and xFIP (4.28) last year, or in the prior few campaigns, but checked in with an appealing 3.42 SIERA number in 2018. He also fared well in the eyes of Statcast, which credited him with a .278 xwOBA (compared with a .309 wOBA). Clippard is also the game’s most durable reliever, easily topping the league in total innings over the past decade.

AL Central Notes: Abreu, Moncada, Zimmer, Cowart

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White Sox GM Rick Hahn addressed the situation of pending free agent first baseman Jose Abreu, as Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets. It seems the organization may not be optimistic of reaching a deal to keep Abreu from the open market. “Never say never,” says Hahn, “but we prefer to handle our business in the offseason.” Perhaps there’s still some room for talks in camp, but that comment certainly did not strike a tone that suggests it’s seen as a particularly likely outcome.

  • Key White Sox youngster Yoan Moncada, meanwhile, appears to be slated to move to third base, as Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Had the team landed a certain prominent free agent target, those plans might have changed, but it now seems reasonably likely that the club will work with its existing infield mix. Yolmer Sanchez is seemingly slated to shift back to second base, with Tim Anderson staying at shortstop. Moncada says he’s happy to move to the hot corner. “I like that position, and with more repetitions I will feel even better,” he said. “I’m just here to help the team in whatever capacity they give me.”
  • With an outfield mix that hardly inspires much confidence, the Indians could certainly stand to receive a comeback effort from former top prospect Bradley Zimmer. As Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports, the 26-year-old appears to be making solid progress in his efforts to return from shoulder surgery. Right now, he’s just starting to take cuts in the cage, so there’s still a ways to go. When last we checked in, Zimmer indicated he was hopeful of landing on the earlier side of the eight-to-twelve-month recovery timeframe he was originally given when he went under the knife last July. If he stays on an upward trajectory, perhaps a reasonably early-season return is possible. Of course, Zimmer will be looking not only to come back from the injury but also a less-than-productive start to his MLB career at the plate.
  • The Tigers intend to focus on getting Kaleb Cowart up to speed as a pitcher, skipper Ron Gardenhire told reporters including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. That would appear to mean a reduction in his infield reps, though as McCosky tweeted today, Cowart was taking part in drills this morning. However things shake out in camp, Gardenhire says, pitching is the “main reason we brought [Cowart] in.” It’s a bit difficult to imagine Cowart cracking the Opening Day roster as a hurler — as the article explains, unsurprisingly, there’s plenty of rust — but he could still emerge as an option if he’s able to find a groove.

10 Forgotten Free Agents

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The long-running but less-than-dynamic market situations of Manny Machado (now resolved!) and Bryce Harper (not so much) have captured much of the public attention this winter. But the evolution of free agency has most notably impacted mid-level veterans. We’ll wait to see how things settle out before attempting to make any conclusive market observations. Still, it’s interesting to see how many prominent players have thus far remained off the radar entirely.

Here’s a list of the ten most notable free agents who have yet to be connected to specific teams on MLBTR’s pages this winter:

  • Jose Iglesias, SS: It’s a bit stunning that Iglesias has yet to draw publicly reported interest. He’s still just 29 and is one of the game’s premium defensive players. He’s also coming off of a good-enough season at the plate (.269/.310/.389; 90 wRC+) for a player with his immense talents with the glove. Over the past four seasons, Iglesias has reliably produced about 2 WAR annually while serving as a semi-regular player (480 plate appearances per season).
  • Ervin Santana, SP: While we have heard some discussion of the veteran righty, we’ve yet to see him connected via firm reporting to a single club. Sure, his 2018 season was a total disaster, as he struggled mightily after a nagging injury robbed him of much of the season. In the two prior campaigns, though, Santana spun 392 2/3 innings of 3.32 ERA ball. While his peripherals never suggested those sparkling results fully reflected his contributions, they still painted him as a quality rotation piece.
  • Denard Span, OF: The glovework just isn’t there anymore, but Span can still hit and run the bases. He turned in a .261/.341/.419 slash last year, good for a 112 wRC+, while grading as an above-average baserunner. It’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t at least make for an upgrade as a fourth outfielder for quite a few teams.
  • Logan Morrison, 1B: After settling for a one-year deal following his breakout 2017, Morrison’s injury-riddled 2018 effort represents Exhibit A as to why free agents generally seek to maximize contract length when they hit the open market. Now, Morrison is looking for a bounceback opportunity … and he seems like an interesting buy-low candidate. After all, his .196 BABIP is sure to rise, and he still managed a .182 isolated power mark and 15 home runs in his 359 plate appearances last year.
  • Carlos Gomez, OF: The 33-year-old looked like a possible bargain last year, but turned in a dud of a season for the Rays. But he was a quality performer just one season prior, slashing .255/.340/.462 and contributing 17 long balls and 13 steals over 426 plate appearances with the Rangers.
  • James Shields, SP: No, he’s not a very exciting pitcher anymore. But the 37-year-old is as durable as they come and would make for a respected member of any staff. He gutted out 204 2/3 innings of 4.53 ERA pitching last year, but might be somewhat more effective if utilized in a more limited capacity.
  • Hanley Ramirez, 1B: We all know the story here. HanRam was unceremoniously dumped by the Red Sox early last season and was never picked up thereafter. The 35-year-old wasn’t great in the season prior, either, and hasn’t always had the smoothest relationships with his teams. Still, he was a highly productive hitter in 2016 and for years before that. Ramirez also just turned in a productive showing in the Dominican Winter League.
  • Jose Bautista, OF/3B: While the power probably won’t fully return, Bautista still managed to walk at a 16.8% clip and turn in a .348 on-base percentage last year. He also popped 13 long balls in 399 plate appearances. Bautista is a limited player at this stage of his career, to be sure, but still does some worthwhile things on the ballfield.
  • Matt Holliday, OF/1B: It’s even harder to know what to make of Holliday, who sat out most of 2018 but returned with a bit of a vengeance late in the year with the Rockies. In 65 total plate appearances, Holliday slashed .254/.415/.434 with a pair of dingers. It’s hard to know what he’d look like over a full season, but there surely aren’t many guys sitting around out there that could reach base at that kind of clip after joining a team in the middle of the season at 38 years of age.
  • Tyler Clippard, RP: There are plenty of candidates for this last spot, but the 34-year-old Clippard takes it based upon his overall body of work in the majors. He has now topped sixty innings in ten-straight seasons, a remarkable run for any reliever, and was still capable of posting a 3.67 ERA with 11.1 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 last year. Clippard has lost some zip on his heater but still generated swings and misses at a 14.3% rate. He also continues to draw loads of infield flies (16.3% last year). While he’s now much more susceptible to dingers than he was in his prime, Clippard has remained a durable and useful reliever. SIERA, at least, is a believer, crediting him with a 3.42 ERA equivalent mark in 2018.

MLBTR Poll: The Manny Machado Signing

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We all knew it would happen at some point, yet somehow it came as a surprise when Manny Machado finally reached agreement on a monster free agent contract. After months of hand-wringing over how much he’d take down, Machado secured a hefty ten-year, $300MM commitment — albeit from a rather unexpected place.

Here at MLBTR, we actually predicted that Machado would secure an even lengthier deal at that $30MM AAV. The bidding frenzy we foresaw never quite developed, as several larger-market clubs stayed on the sideline, but there was still sufficient interest to produce the first-ever $300MM free agent contract.

First question (link for app users):

For the Padres, the move brings in a youthful superstar just ahead of the anticipated crest of a wave of internally developed talent. Machado will be on the books for at least five seasons — he’ll have an opt-out opportunity after his age-30 campaign — and could help open a lengthy contention window. Of course, there’s also risk aplenty in a signing of this magnitude, particularly for an organization that doesn’t have immense payroll capacity and has already placed two larger deals on its books (Wil Myers, Eric Hosmer).

Second question (link for app users):

As noted above, we anticipated entering the winter that a few more bidders would play major roles in the proceedings. Phillies GM Matt Klentak suggested that strict, emotion-less valuations kept his team from increasing its bid. The Yankees seemingly remained on the periphery, seemingly operating with an even tighter grip on their own payroll space. And that was about it … except for the White Sox. The South Siders were obviously all-in on Machado, pulling out all the stops to make an attractive landing spot and putting up a big offer that included more earning upside (but a smaller guarantee) than the one he ultimately took. In the wake of Machado’s decision, the club’s top execs expressed no small amount of disappointment yesterday at missing on him.

Third question (link for app users):

Carlos Martinez Shut Down For Two Weeks

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4:15pm: Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak offered some pointed words with regards to Martinez’s shoulder and offseason training (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Mark Saxon): “Obviously, there’s a history with Carlos’ shoulder and it would be probably in everybody’s best interest if he maintained a constant or perpetual approach to that program.” 

More specifically, Saxon notes that the organization would’ve preferred a greater emphasis on physical therapy than strength training. He emphasizes that the Cardinals organization does not question the level of work that Martinez put in over the winter.

9:25am: The Cardinals have shut down righty Carlos Martinez from throwing for two weeks, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch Twitter links). While there’s no concern of structural damage, the club believes that the hurler needs to build up shoulder strength.

Given the timing of the news, it seems reasonable to anticipate that Martinez will not be ready to join the rotation on Opening Day. There are indications the club may prefer to utilize him in a relief capacity, though even in that case it’d seem prudent to chart a conservative course. Beyond the immediate needs, the Cards have to protect their future investment in Martinez ($34.5MM over three years, plus two options).

Martinez, 27, has mostly been healthy and productive since joining the Cards’ rotation on a full-time basis in 2015. But he has dealt with some health issues in that time. Things came to a head last season, when shoulder troubles sidelined him for a stretch and forced him to return as a relief pitcher late in the season.

It’s hard to know just what to make of this latest news. Martinez could respond well to the strengthening program and jump right back into action. Then again, the shoulder is a complicated part of the body; uncertainty there is most unwelcome for any hurler. We’ll just have to see how Martinez progresses. For the Cards, the news represents an early test of the club’s pitching depth.

Scooter Gennett Frustrated By Lack Of Extension Talks

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Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett expressed frustration today with the lack of engagement by the organization regarding a long-term contract, as John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Saying that his side has “opened it up” in search of a dialogue this winter, Gennett says he has “heard absolutely nothing.” Previously, he and the club worked out a $9.775MM deal to cover his final season of arbitration eligibility. That’s a hefty sum, to be sure, but did fall shy of the $10.7MM that MLBTR projected.

Gennett made clear that his primary frustration isn’t the lack of a long-term deal so much as it is the club’s communication on the matter. “What I don’t like is when you’re told we’re going to have a talk and it doesn’t happen,” he said. GM Nick Krall declined to comment, citing club policy.

In the middle of the 2018 campaign, Gennett said he had reason to believe there was serious interest from the club in an extension. Things seemingly shifted this winter, though, for the Cincinnati native. President of baseball operations Dick Williams cast doubt on the possibility of a deal and Gennett even briefly popped up in trade rumors.

There’s still time for a change of course in camp, but there’s clearly no momentum toward an agreement at present. Gennett says he’s fine with the current arrangement from a financial perspective — “I’m only going to make more money going year-to-year than if I signed a long-term deal” — but would like to know what to anticipate from a personal perspective.

Looking at the subject from a roster-building perspective, it’s not too hard to see why the Reds might have hesitated. Gennett is still just 28 years of age and has now put up two-straight quality seasons, but he also has some platoon limitations and only lines up at second base defensively. While the plan is to put top prospect Nick Senzel at center field this spring, it’s also possible that he or another rising prospect could make for a compelling infield option in the relatively near term. With other needs already readily foreseeable next winter, locking into Gennett for significant money comes with some clear downside.

Don Newcombe Passes Away

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Dodgers legend Don Newcombe has died at 92 years of age, according to a team announcement. MLBTR extends its best wishes to his family and friends.

Newcombe was revered around the game as one of its greatest ambassadors. His connection with the Dodgers organization stretched back to his playing days alongside Jackie Robinson and other Brooklyn legends. It continued for decades thereafter, with Newcombe’s regal presence becoming a Dodger Stadium institution.

In his playing days, Newcombe exhibited immense talent and was at times among the very best players in the game. He was voted the National League Rookie of the Year in 1949 and received both the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards in 1956.

After emerging as a force on the mound, Newcombe lost two prime seasons to the Korean War and struggled a bit upon his return. But he rebounded to turn in his greatest-ever campaign in ’56, when he pitched to a 3.06 ERA in 268 innings. All told, Newcombe threw 2,154 2/3 innings of 3.56 ERA ball with the Dodgers, Reds, and Indians.

“Newk” was also an accomplished hitter, with a lifetime .271/.338/.367 batting line and 15 home runs in nearly a thousand MLB plate appearances. Remarkably, he even turned in part of a season as an outfielder/first baseman in Japan at the end of his career, slashing .262/.316/.473 and launching a dozen long balls in 301 plate appearances for the Chunichi Dragons.

Newcombe only spent a brief portion of his playing career in Los Angeles, as he was dealt to Cincinnati not long after the Dodgers completed their coast-to-coast move. After achieving sobriety, though, he returned to the L.A. organization, where he helped others battling substance abuse issues and — in the words of club president Stan Kasten — provided “endless advice and leadership” to Dodgers players.

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