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Indians Discussing New Contract With Carlos Carrasco

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As rumors fly regarding the possibility of the Indians dealing one of their outstanding starting pitchers, there’s an interesting new wrinkle. The club is discussing a new contract with Carlos Carrasco, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links).

Details aren’t known, but the Indians obviously see an opportunity to achieve yet more value with Carrasco, a player who has contributed plenty to the organization over the years. He previously inked a four-year, $22MM pact that included two options and has worked out quite favorably for the club. Carrasco has turned in 722 innings of 3.40 ERA ball since putting pen to paper, with advanced metrics suggesting he has been even better than the results alone would indicate.

That contract still has two years left to go; he’ll earn just $9.75MM in 2019, while the club also possesses a 2020 option priced at $9.5MM (with the potential to rise by up to $4MM based upon Cy Young Award-driven escalators). Given that Carrasco is already 31 years of age, he obviously is not working from the strongest position of leverage in talks. Given that he’s discussing another long-term deal with the club, though, it also seems fair to presume that he truly wishes to remain with the only organization he has pitched for at the MLB level.

As this news confirms, but was already evident, the Indians aren’t in a full-blown selling stance. The club still profiles as a massive favorite in the American League Central and is no doubt hard at work thinking of ways to challenge the other top dogs in the AL. Rather, the Indians are trying to pull off a series of moves that will not only leave them in excellent shape for 2019, but will enhance their long-term sustainability.

If a new deal comes together, Carrasco would obviously not be marketed this winter. That’d leave Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer as potentially massive trade chips for the Indians to cash in for younger, controllable position players at an area of need. It’s not hard to see the appeal behind that concept, particularly given the still-impressive pitching depth in the organization. But doubling down on the existing investment in Carrasco is another intriguing avenue for achieving long-term value.

White Sox Non-Tender Avisail Garcia

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The White Sox have decided not to tender a contract to outfielder Avisail Garcia, GM Rick Hahn told reporters including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin (via Twitter). He was projected by MLBTR & Matt Swartz to earn $8.0MM in arbitration.

Meanwhile, the Chicago club has reached agreement to avoid arbitration with Leury Garcia, Hahn added. He’ll earn $1.55MM, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter), which lands well shy of the $1.9MM that was projected.

More to come …

Phillies Have Reportedly Shown Interest In Jean Segura

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As part of their talks with the Mariners regarding reliever Edwin Diaz, the Phillies have also shown interest in shortstop Jean Segura, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). While it seems Diaz is set to be sent elsewhere, there’s no reason that the clubs could not continue to discuss scenarios involving Segura.

The Phils entered the offseason with an obvious need at shortstop. While two oft-lauded prospects combined to see much of the action there in 2018, neither Scott Kingery nor J.P. Crawford has established himself as anything approaching a high-quality regular.

As the Mariners reposition their roster for the future, they seem to be moving rather swiftly down the line of major contracts and quality MLB assets. Segura comes with both, as he’s owed another $58MM through the 2022 campaign (including a buyout on a 2023 option) but has shown himself well worth that kind of coin. The 28-year-old has been a productive offensive player for each of the past three seasons and typically grades out as an average performer at short.

Speculation all along has been that the Phils were among the most sensible and likeliest suitors for Manny Machado. Interest in Segura doesn’t necessarily change that. The superstar free agent still surely remains under consideration in Philadelphia. Indeed, it’s not inconceivable that both players could be added, delivering a whole new left side of the infield.

Mets To Tender Travis d’Arnaud, Non-Tender Wilmer Flores

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The Mets are slated to tender a contract to catcher Travis d’Arnaud, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter links). Things are headed in the opposite direction, however, for infielder Wilmer Flores, who’ll be cut loose.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see d’Arnaud receive a deal, as he has dealt with a bevy of injuries in recent seasons, most recently Tommy John surgery that wiped out most of his 2018 season. He’s projected by MLBTR & Matt Swartz to earn $3.7MM.

Flores, meanwhile, has been durable and dependable, but he’s a limited player. While he has been a solidly above-average hitter over the past three years, he also does most of his damage against left-handed pitching and has increasingly been limited to the corner infield. Obviously, the Mets felt his salary (projected at $4.7MM) was just too steep to warrant the ongoing commitment.

White Sox To Non-Tender Matt Davidson

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The White Sox will non-tender infielder Matt Davidson, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Eligible for arbitration as a Super Two, the slugger was projected by MLBTR & Matt Swartz to earn $2.4MM.

Davidson, 28, made some positive strides with the White Sox last season, as he more than doubled his walk rate from 4.3 percent in 2017 to 10.5 percent in 2018. Davidson managed to cut back on the alarming 37.2 percent strikeout rate he posted in 2017 as well, though his 2018 rate of 33.3 percent was still far too high. Although the slugger’s overall offensive output improved from .220/.260/.452 to .228/.319/.419, his markedly improved on-base skills came with a noted downturn in his power production.

Defensively, Davidson played a respectable first base, per both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating, but he saw limited action at his original position, third base, and was primarily a designated hitter when in the lineup. A player with such limited defensive value and questionable contact skills was apparently a tough sell in the White Sox’ front office, but Davidson could hold some value as a corner-infield bat off the bench elsewhere. He did post impressive platoon numbers, clobbering lefties at a .289/.382/.500 clip. That, however, was accompanied by a corresponding .206/.296/.391 slash against righties.

Dodgers Avoid Arbitration With Tony Cingrani

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The Dodgers have struck a deal with lefty Tony Cingrani to avoid arbitration, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). It’ll include a guaranteed, $2.65MM salary, per the report.

Standard arbitration contracts are not fully guaranteed, so obviously something spurred the Dodgers to do so in this case. The salary does not fall far from the $2.7MM MLBTR projection, but his reps at the Bledsoe Agency may have been able to argue for more.

The 29-year-old Cingrani only managed to throw 22 2/3 MLB innings in 2018, and carried an unsightly 4.76 ERA. It sounds funny to say it, but he was otherwise quite impressive. Cingrani racked up 14.3 K/9 with just 2.4 BB/9 while drawing grounders on half of the balls put in play against him. And he drew swings and misses at a career-best 13.8% rate.

Cubs Tender Addison Russell Arbitration Contract

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The Cubs announced today that they have tendered a contract to embattled shortstop Addison Russell. Like any other standard arbitration situation, it’s a non-guaranteed deal.

Russell’s status with the Chicago organization was (and to some extent still is) in doubt. He is slated to sit out the first month of the 2019 campaign as he finishes serving a 40-game suspension under the MLB-MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence Policy. That punishment was handed down following allegations from Russell’s ex-wife, Melisa Reidy. (She spoke with ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers about the situation recently, for those unfamiliar with the details.)

Many wondered whether the Cubs would trade or non-tender Russell as a result of the troubling allegations, which involved conduct during his time with the organization. Instead, the club will take at least a partial step toward retaining the shortstop, though certainly he could still be cut loose or traded. Russell and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein each issued statements through the team’s Twitter feed. Russell is projected by MLBTR to earn $4.3MM via arbitration; his salary has yet to be determined, so far as is publicly known.

Reds Reportedly Have Serious Interest In Dallas Keuchel

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As they seek to bolster their questionable rotation, the Reds are “all over” free agent southpaw Dallas Keuchel, according to a report from Jon Heyman of Fancred. Cincinnati has also reached out to fellow open-market lefty J.A. Happ, per the report.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see if the Reds land one of these targets, but it’s notable enough just to hear of the interest. Keuchel, of course, is one of the top free agents on the market. MLBTR rated him fourth on its top fifty list, predicting a four-year, $82MM pact.

Though he’s plenty accomplished, Keuchel is also nearing his 31st birthday and was not at peak form in 2018. He still got solid results, and generated plenty of weak contact, but also saw big year-over-year drops in his swinging strike rate (10.9% to 8.3%) and groundball rate (66.8% to 53.7%).

At his best, Keuchel gets a few more strikeouts and quite a few more worm-burners. He also has at times been quite tough to take out of the yard; as Heyman notes, that’s an important consideration for a team playing in a bandbox.

The Reds no doubt like the fact that Keuchel and Happ have generally been durable and given a good number of innings over the past several seasons. Keuchel did have some shoulder and neck issues, but worked through them and topped 200 frames for the third time in 2018. Happ is already 36 years of age, but has averaged 155 frames annually dating back to 2011. Both come with risks, of course, but neither seems to have particular health concerns.

Whether either of these or other top free agent hurlers will requite the Reds’ interest remains to be seen. Certainly, the team’s willingness to match or beat the rest of the market will be a deciding factor. It seems, though, that we can generally expect the Reds at least to explore many of the best-available pitchers over the remainder of the winter.

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