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Nationals Decline Mutual Option Over Adam Lind

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The Nationals have announced that the mutual option between the team and first baseman Adam Lind has been declined. It was the team’s election to send Lind back to the open market after a single season in D.C., per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (via Twitter).

Entering the winter, team and player had to decide whether to continue their relationship at a $5MM rate for 2018. Because Washington chose to go in another direction, Lind will take home a $500K buyout on his way out the door.

Washington got everything it could have hoped for out of Lind, who earned only a $1MM salary in 2017 (plus $800K in achieved incentives). The 34-year-old mashed to the tune of a .303/.362/.513 batting line with 14 home runs over 301 plate appearances — the vast majority of them coming against right-handed pitching.

It seemed reasonable to think that Lind could be welcomed back in D.C. Though Ryan Zimmerman had a bounceback season of his own, Lind holds plenty of appeal as a reserve first baseman, bench bat, and occasional fill-in in the corner outfield. Still, the Nats already have a lot of payroll committed, leaving questions as to just how much room the team has to spend. And there are quite a few marginal defenders with power bats once again slated to hit the open market, so perhaps the club feels it can find better value elsewhere (or, perhaps, even in a new deal with Lind).

Rays Exercise Club Option Over Nathan Eovaldi

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The Rays have exercised their 2018 club option over righty Nathan Eovaldi, the team announced (h/t Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, on Twitter). He’ll earn $2MM for the coming season.

Eovaldi signed on with Tampa Bay in a contract that promised him $2MM last year just to rehab. The Rays, of course, hoped he’d show enough in working back from Tommy John and flexor tendon surgery that he could be retained for a cheap price for the season to come, and that’s just what is now going to take place.

All indications are that Eovaldi has shown signs of rounding back into form while building back arm strength this year. Indeed, there was even some suggestion he might try to return to action late in the 2017 season, though that did not come to pass.

Tampa Bay seems inclined to give Eovaldi a shot at earning a rotation spot. He has had success at times in that role previously, though never as much as his raw talent might suggest. Most recently, Eovaldi provided the Yankees with 124 2/3 innings of 4.76 ERA pitching in 2016. While homers were a big problem, he did manage career highs in fastball velocity (97 mph), swinging-strike rate (9.3%), and groundball rate (49.6%).

Red Sox Hire Tony La Russa As Vice President, Special Assistant

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NOV. 2: The Red Sox have formally announced the addition of La Russa to their baseball operations department. Per the team’s release, La Russa “will assist Dombrowski in all areas of baseball operations, including player development and consultation with the major and minor league coaching staffs.”

NOV. 1: The Red Sox are set to add Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa to their organization, according to a report from Chad Jennings and Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. La Russa just wrapped up a stint with the Diamondbacks, which he began as “chief baseball officer” and ended as “chief baseball analyst” after a front office shakeup.

We’ll likely know more soon, as the Herald reports an announcement could come tomorrow. What is clear is that La Russa will not be wearing a uniform. Jennings and Silverman say that he’s not slated to take a role on the staff of incoming skipper Alex Cora.

La Russa, who is now 73 years of age, instead seems slated to join a front office that’s helmed by Dave Dombrowski. (The two go way back, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag notes on Twitter.) It seems likely that La Russa will function in some kind of senior advisory capacity rather than taking up a spot with everyday duties in the chain of command, though that’s just speculation at this stage.

Boston has failed to make its way out of the divisional round in each of the past two postseasons, despite capturing consecutive AL East crowns. In the aftermath, skipper John Farrell lost his job and was ultimately replaced by Cora — who’ll be a rookie manager but is currently experiencing a deep run in his job as the Astros bench coach. It’s not entirely clear whether La Russa will have any role in helping to mentor Cora, but his vast experience will surely be drawn on as the organization looks both to repeat its divisional title and advance further into the playoffs.

Negotiation Impasse Could Jeopardize Shohei Otani Posting

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Despite a variety of roadblocks, it has become widely assumed that Japanese star Shohei Otani would transition to the majors over the coming offseason. That possibility could now be in jeopardy, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports, owing to a dispute regarding the nature of the transfer rules that would govern the transaction.

Under the preexisting rules regime, Otani would have been made available to any Major League Baseball team willing to pay the maximum $20MM transfer fee. While MLB’s restrictive new international spending rules severely limited his potential earning capacity, he appears to be at peace with taking less now rather than waiting until he is old enough not to have his bonus capped.

Trouble is, the posting deal between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball just expired, leading to negotiations on a new agreement. Per Sherman, the approach contemplated was to allow the NPB team to receive a payout tied to the value of the contract(something in the realm of 15 to 20 percent of the total guarantee).

In the case of Otani, of course, that would have meant a drastic reduction of the money flowing to his current club, the Nippon Ham Fighters. While MLB would be willing to allow Otani to sign under the preexisting rules, per Sherman, that attempt at a compromise has run afoul of the MLB player’s union.

While the MLBPA does not count Otani as a member, and wouldn’t even do so upon his signing (since it’ll be a minor-league deal), it does have a stake here since the issue is subject to collective bargaining. According to Sherman, the union is concerned with the possibility that Otani will end up taking home a bonus significantly less than the value paid to the Fighters.

Ultimately, it seems that there’s still room for talks to sort things out. Sherman does not suggest that the union is interested in spoiling the transfer, for example; to the contrary, he says it is attempting to work with Otani. (That effort, he notes, has been complicated by the fact that Otani is still utilizing a Japanese lawyer and has yet to choose a MLBPA-certified agent.)

Even if things eventually get sorted, the news is quite notable. With the World Series wrapping up tonight, the open market will be fired up tomorrow. Teams shopping for starting pitching will begin negotiating in earnest, unsure of whether Otani will actually come — and, if so, exactly what he’s looking for in choosing a team. All things considered, the Otani situation is about as big a wild card on the market as could be imagined.

Blue Jays Outright Bo Schultz, Cesar Valdez, Darrell Ceciliani

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The Blue Jays have announced some roster trimming moves. Right-handers Bo Schultz and Cesar Valdez were outrighted along with outfielder Darrell Ceciliani.

Schultz, 32, underwent Tommy John surgery late in camp, so he’s unlikely to be ready to participate fully in Spring Training. That said, he ought to have a chance of pitching for much of the 2018 season. Schultz, who owns a 4.54 ERA over 67 1/3 career MLB frames could either sign early or wait and put on a showcase once he’s ready.

Valdez, who’s also 32, has sparse MLB experience but has functioned as a depth swingman option. He has pitched well at Triple-A over the past two seasons since returning from a few years in the Mexican League.

As for Ceciliani, the 27-year-old has spent the past two seasons in the Toronto organization but hasn’t earned much time in the majors. A shoulder injury kept him out for much of the 2017 season, and Ceciliani struggled badly (.156/.198/.169) in the 81 plate appearances he was able to take at Triple-A.

Brewers Outright Carlos Torres, Quintin Berry

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The Brewers have announced the removal of two players from the team’s 40-man roster. Right-hander Carlos Torres and outfielder Quintin Berry have each been outrighted to Triple-A.

With the move, Milwaukee is effectively sending both into free agency. Torres has the right to refuse the assignment by virtue of his MLB service time. Berry does not, but will nevertheless qualify for minor-league free agency.

Torres, who recently turned 35, contributed 72 2/3 innings of 4.21 ERA ball in 2017. Despite the generally decent results, his strikeout and walk rates worsened from a productive 2016, in which Torres had provided Milwaukee with a 2.73 earned run average over 82 1/3 frames.

There’s some reason to believe that Torres can continue to succeed even at his relatively advanced age. Notably, he averaged a career-best 93.4 mph with his two-seamer. But the Brewers obviously did not feel it was worth staking a projected $3.3MM to retain Torres via arbitration, so he’ll seek another opportunity via free agency.

As for Berry, who’ll soon turn 33, he only briefly cracked the majors. Indeed, he has seen scant MLB action since a 94-game run with the Tigers back in 2012. The fleet-footed Berry will likely end up finding a minors deal to serve as Triple-A depth and provide a possible defense and baserunning option down the stretch.

Central Notes: Morneau, Lenik, Bell

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Veteran first baseman Justin Morneau isn’t calling it quits yet, officially, but it sounds as if he has largely accepted that he likely won’t suit up again in the majors. In the course of a great chat on the podcast of Ben Nicholson-Smith and Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca (audio link), Morneau says it seemed at points last spring and even into the season that he might have a shot at joining an organization. Ultimately, though, things simply “didn’t line up” for the 36-year-old, who says he wasn’t really “willing to go down to Triple-A and ride the bus” at this stage, given his family obligations. A 14-year MLB veteran, Morneau long starred with the Twins and played most recently with the White Sox. Though he showed in 2016 that he can still hit major league pitching, he acknowledges that it “doesn’t look like there’s a lot of opportunities” out there for the coming season. (That’s a topic that’s covered further in the podcast, which is well worth a listen.)

Here are some notes from the central divisions:

  • The Royals face a variety of challenges this winter, with a need to bolster the bullpen likely among them. But the team does have an intriguing option on hand in indy ball find Kevin Lenik, writes Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. The 26-year-old is showing a big fastball and generated strong results upon reaching Triple-A, where he pitched to a 1.88 ERA with 24 strikeouts and eight walks over 24 frames in a dozen outings. Assistant GM J.J. Picollo suggests it’s likely (albeit still undecided) that Lenik will receive an invitation to MLB camp.
  • Buddy Bell has left the White Sox front office to join that of the Reds, as Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune reports. Bell had served as an assistant GM in Chicago and will now function as a senior advisor to top Reds baseball decisionmaker Dick Williams. A long-time big leaguer and former MLB skipper, Bell drew kind words from White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf on his way out the door. As Kuc notes, Bell has roots in Cincinnati and figures to make for a valuable addition to the organization’s front office.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/31/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • Righty Tim Dillard will be back where he belongs in 2018, as he’ll remain in the Brewers organization after agreeing to a minor-league pact. The 34-year-old, who was a contributor to MLBTR during the 2017 campaign, tweets that he has agreed to return for his 16th campaign with the club. Dillard has not pitched at the major league level since 2012, but has carved out a niche at Triple-A. Those unfamiliar with Dillard will want to follow the above links to learn more about one of the game’s most uniquely situated players.
  • Veteran middle infielder Ramon Santiago is officially retiring, as Danny Knobler reports. Now 38 years of age, the 13-year MLB veteran last suited up at the game’s highest level back in 2014 and had not played affiliated ball in the last two season. Santiago appeared in 920 total MLB contests — most of them with the Tigers — and posted a cumulative .243/.314/.330 batting line. There’s more information on Santiago’s career available at the above link. He’s presently focused on being with his family, it seems, but also hopes to get back in the game as a coach at some point.

West Notes: Healy, Maxwell, Rangers

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A rousing World Series hasn’t come without its controversies. On the field, questions have arisen about the baseballs themselves, as SI.com’s Tom Verducci discusses. The balls being used for the series are slicker than regular season ball, some players and coaches say, with some even feeling there have been differences through the postseason. This follows on a long-running debate over “juiced” balls in the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see whether and how the league addresses the subject over the winter.

Here are some notes from out west:

  • The Athletics may be putting out trade feelers on young power hitter Ryon Healy, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. As she notes, he mostly fits in a DH capacity on the current roster, but the team may prefer to bump Khris Davis into that slot. The 25-year-old Healy isn’t considered much of a defender, and only posted a .302 OBP last year, but has already blasted 38 home runs in 888 MLB plate appearances. Slusser suggests that the A’s might attempt to draw back some relief pitching in a hypothetical trade.
  • Slusser also has the latest on Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell. He was arrested for “allegedly waving a gun at a food delivery person” in a troubling incident that Slusser details. It’s not yet clear how the matter will impact Maxwell’s status with the team, but it seems he will be referred to MLB’s Joint Treatment Program, as Slusser notes. Maxwell, 26, is expected to play a significant role for the A’s next year as part of the club’s youth movement, but it seems he’ll have to address some other matters before the spring.
  • Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News takes a good look at the Rangers’ possibilities in left field, a position in quite some flux for the team. It may be that it ends up featuring a “cast of characters,” as Grant puts it. Slugger Joey Gallo and speedster Delino DeShields could see time in left if they aren’t used as primary options elsewhere. And top prospect Willie Calhoun, the main piece acquired in the Yu Darvish deal, could run with the position but may first need to iron out his glovework at Triple-A. What’s most interesting here, perhaps, is that the range of options seemingly leaves the club with some flexibility as it enters the offseason.

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