Orioles, Mark Trumbo Meeting Again Today
DEC. 6: There’s still mutual interest between the two sides, so they’ll meet again today to try to get on the same page, tweets Olney.
DEC. 5, 2:55pm: Olney tweets the Orioles were comfortable in the four-year, $52-55MM range but backed off when Trumbo’s camp countered between $75-80MM. ESPN’s Jayson Stark hears a bit differently tweeting that the Orioles were only willing to offer three years and an option, however.
2:06pm: ESPN’s Buster Olney reports (on Twitter) that the Orioles don’t get the sense that they’re close in talks with Trumbo, and they could move on to other targets at this point.
12:54pm: The Orioles have extended a four-year offer to free-agent slugger Mark Trumbo, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter links). While the value of Baltimore’s offer isn’t known, the first baseman/outfielder is said to be seeking $80MM.
That price sounds like a non-starter for most organizations, and that likely includes the O’s. Per Kubatko, Trumbo’s side has already signaled a willingness to move down to the $70MM to $75MM range while also taking a backloaded salary structure. But that’s still arguably too much for the thirty-year-old slugger, who’s also said to be seeking a no-trade clause.
Kubatko notes that the O’s aren’t going to bite on the no-trade request, though it seems it’s still possible that the sides will work something out. It remains to be seen whether Baltimore will move up to Trumbo’s apparent asking price, or whether interest from other quarters will emerge at or near that level.
While Trumbo did lead all of baseball with 47 home runs in 2016, power is in abundant supply on this year’s free-agent market — particularly with Chris Carter now available. Carter, of course, was cut loose despite being arbitration-eligible at a projected $8.1MM arbitration salary. His .222/.321/.499 batting line wasn’t all that much less productive than Trumbo’s .256/.316/.533 slash, particularly once park effects are accounted for, and the two have rather similar lifetime numbers as well. It does seem that the O’s are at least somewhat comfortable playing Trumbo in the outfield, but it’s eminently arguable that neither player should be allowed to roam past the infield dirt.
Latest On Andrew McCutchen
2:20pm: Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (on Twitter) that the Pirates asked the Nationals for both Lucas Giolito and Victor Robles but were (unsurprisingly) rebuffed. The Nats do have some questions about McCutchen’s potential decline and also his leadership, according to Biertempfel.
Meanwhile, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets that the Rangers also find the asking price on McCutchen extremely high, as they’ve been asked for an established starting pitcher and additional prospect value in return.
12:39pm: The Rangers have been in “frequent” contact with the Pirates about McCutchen, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. A deal between the two sides is possible but not close at this time, he adds. Heyman adds that he’s heard it’s “not likely” that the Rangers would actually meet the Pirates’ asking price, though. Additionally, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweeted earlier today that the Dodgers have made a recent inquiry on McCutchen as well.
11:10am: There’s a “mystery team” pursuing Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Pittsburgh is said to be looking for a taker for its longtime star.
To this point, the Nationals have been tied most closely to the former MVP center fielder. The Dodgers, too, have been mentioned recently as having interest, while the Rangers and Mariners have also been connected. But the other possible suitor is a team that hasn’t yet been publicly associated with the Bucs’ stalwart, per the report.
That leaves 25 other organizations that could conceivably have interest. A variety of teams — potentially including the Orioles, Blue Jays, Giants, Phillies, Mets, and Cardinals — might make some degree of sense, and surely there are others that could become involved in the right circumstances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/3/16
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Free agent right-hander Parker Markel has agreed to terms with a team in Asia, reports Zach Links of Pro Football Rumors and MLBTR (Twitter link). The 26-year-old performed well in 2016 with a 2.52 ERA, 6.97 K/9 and 3.56 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings as a member of the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham. Between going to the Rays in the 39th round of the 2010 draft and heading to Asia, Markel posted a 3.99 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 across 197 minor league appearances (54 starts) and 466 1/3 frames.
- The Angels have added lefty John Lamb and catcher Tony Sanchez on minor-league deals, per Matt Eddy of Baseball America (via Twitter). A top prospect not long ago, Lamb has changed hands a few times this winter as he has continued to deal with injury issues. Sanchez also has quite a prospect pedigree, but has failed to gain traction in the upper minors.
- Recently acquired righty Ryan Weber was outrighted to Triple-A by the Mariners, per a club announcement. Added through a waiver claim from the Braves, the 26-year-old lost his 40-man spot when Seattle acquired two other former Atlanta hurlers. Weber’s quality upper-minors numbers have yet to translate to the majors, where he owns a 5.15 ERA over 64 2/3 innings over the past two seasons.
- The Brewers outrighted righties Steve Geltz and David Goforth, the team announced. Geltz had just been claimed off waivers, so perhaps Milwaukee will hope he clears and can be stashed. The 29-year-old struggled to a 5.74 ERA in his 26 2/3 major league frames in 2016, but was much better in prior years and also showed well at Triple-A. While Goforth had a solid debut year in 2015, he scuffled in both the majors and at Triple-A in his most recent campaign.
Jose Adolis Garcia Becomes Free Agent
DECEMBER 3: Garcia is now an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez tweets.
AUGUST 30: Cuban outfielder Jose Adolis Garcia has left his home nation in hopes of securing an opportunity with a major league organization, Ben Badler of Baseball America reports. The 24-year-old is the younger brother of Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia.
Given his age and experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, Garcia will be exempt from international bonus pools. Of course, he’ll still need to clear several hurdles before he is eligible to sign.
Badler explains that the younger Garcia brings an impressive set of tools — including a quick bat, 60-grade speed, and top-level arm strength. While he has lined up mostly in right field, Garcia is said to hold the promise of playing center.
Badler notes that Garcia’s strong recent production in Cuba may somewhat overstate his polish at the plate, though, as he needs significant refinement as a hitter. Indeed, he struggled in a recent stint in Japan’s second level of professional ball. As always, you’ll want to read Badler’s report for a full breakdown.
In the aggregate, it’ll likely be some time until Garcia has a real chance of appearing at the major league level. Badler suggests he’ll likely be ready for an initial assignment in the upper minors, but even the start of his professional career could take a year or more to get underway — unless, perhaps, further rule changes ease the transition for players coming out of Cuba.
MLB, MLBPA Agree To New Collective Bargaining Agreement
DEC. 3: Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets that, under the terms of the new CBA, each Rule 5 Draft pick will cost $100K, rather than $50K in the previous CBA.
DEC. 1, 8:10pm: Passan also reports (on Twitter) that the new CBA allows the league to issue extreme levels of punishment to teams that try to circumvent the international spending guidelines that are in place. Per Passan, MLB can penalize up to 50 percent of a team’s international bonus money through the 2021 season if it is found to be in violation of the new international signing rules.
12:39pm: Notably, teams can trade all of the new international bonus allotments, per Passan (Twitter links). Alternatively, they may boost their spending by adding up to 75% of their initial spending capacity.
Also, the top slot of the 2017 draft will fall to $7.4MM, though the overall spending availability in the domestic arena won’t change, Passan further tweets.
In another detail on the QO front, Rosenthal tweets that teams signing multiple qualifying offer-declining free agents would continue to sacrifice their next selection (or, in the case of a team over the luxury line, selections).
NOV. 30: Major League Baseball and the MLB Player’s Association have announced that they’ve tentatively settled on a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement. The sides are still hammering out the final deal, per the announcement.
With the new deal, the owners and union have averted any impairment of the offseason market and continued a strong record of labor peace. Fresh on the heels of a thrilling postseason, and with the game sporting rising profits, the stage is set for continued prosperity.
The expectation all along had been that a deal would be found in advance of the expiration of the prior CBA at midnight tonight. With huge amounts of money at stake for all involved, and general agreement on all but a few areas, it would have rated as a major surprise had things gone south. Still, there were rumblings of late that there could be a lockout, and it took until about three hours before the deadline to finally resolve all the deadlocks.
There will certainly be many details to parse out as the results of the negotiation are revealed. Here are some key areas that have been discussed in recent months:
Roster
In one notable realm, there will be no changes. The sides decided against modifying the active roster rules, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. Rosters will remain at 25 players, rather than moving to 26, and September roster expansion will not be curtailed.
There will, however, be a new league-minimum salary, per Ronald Blum and Stephen Hawkins of the Associated Press. It’ll be $535K next year, $545K in 2018, and $555K in 2019. Then, “cost-of-living increases” will provide further bumps in the final two years of the agreement. That seems to be a rather modest rise; certainly, it does nothing to fundamentally shift the balance of earning power to newer major leaguers. There are also some minor bumps in the MiLB minimum salary applicable to players making their second appearance on a 40-man roster.
The minimum DL stint will now be ten days, Blum further reports. By making the DL more readily utilized, the rule could also increase the amount of player movement — as well as the value of optionable 40-man assets.
Luxury Tax & Revenue Sharing
Meanwhile, the luxury tax threshold will rise from $189MM to around $195MM in the 2017 season, Sherman further reports (links to Twitter). It’ll then reach $210MM over the five-year span. ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark provides the full schedule of the luxury tax line, via Twitter (as Rosenthal had previously suggested, also on Twitter). Between the $195MM starting point and $210MM max level, the tax will kick in for the intervening years at $197MM (2018), $206MM (2019), and $208MM (2020).
Additionally, the CBA imposes new penalties for spending over the tax line that figure to serve as a rather notable deterrent to big-market spending. Going past the threshold for the first time comes with a 20% tax, which increase to 30% for a second year and 50% for a third. There’s an additional 12% added on top when teams exceed the mark by between $20MM to $40MM, while going past $40MM triggers the maximum penalty — which can reach a 90% tax on overages. (That information comes via Bob Nightengale of USA Today, via Twitter; Sherman and Stark previously sketched the parameters.) Teams that go $40MM over the luxury tax line will see their top draft pick fall by ten spots, the AP adds.
The existing “performance factor” element of the revenue-sharing system will be removed, per Passan (Twitter links). That had functioned as what Passan terms a “revenue-sharing multiplier,” so its removal will likely mean that large-budget clubs are required to pay less into the pool.
Qualifying Offer
The qualifying offer system has been another area of some uncertainty, and it seems as if it will undergo some highly significant changes:
- Beginning next offseason, there will be three categories of teams in assessing the loss of a pick for signing players who turn down qualifying offers, per Blum and Hawkins. Revenue-sharing recipients would lose their third-highest selection (not necessarily a third-round choice). Revenue-sharing contributors would lose their second and fifth-highest selections and also sacrifice $1MM in international signing availability. And all other teams would stand to give up their second-highest pick along with $500K in international bonus funds.
- In terms of compensation, an organization which loses a QO-declining player who signs for $50MM or more will pick up a draft choice “after the first round.” If a QO-declining player inks for under $50MM with another organization, the draft compensation slides to “after competitive balance round B.” There’s a different set of rules for teams that are over the luxury tax line; any compensatory picks they receive will take place after the draft’s fourth round.
- Importantly, players will no longer be able to receive more than a single qualifying offer, Rosenthal reports (Twitter links). Players now will have ten days, instead of seven, to consider the offer, according to the AP duo.
All told, the above changes promise to represent a rather monumental shift in the function of the qualifying offer system. It will clearly hurt free agents less, and the reduced draft compensation will likely make it slightly more likely that veterans end up being traded in the season before they hit the open market. Whether less players will be tagged with QOs remains to be seen; though there’s less to be gained for teams, there’s also less of a disincentive for players to enter free agency.
Details also remain foggy regarding how the luxury tax assessment will be made, as regards the qualifying offer. Presumably, the league will look to the team’s ultimate Opening Day salary (or some other date certain), in which case the final draft order could shuffle depending upon an organization’s future roster decisions.
Amateur
There will indeed be a hard bonus cap for international signings, rather than a draft, Stark reports. It will only be about $5MM per team, he adds on Twitter, which seems likely to suppress international spending. There are currently some different numbers floating around on that score; presumably, it will vary over time. Here’s the latest:
- The bonus pool available will be dependent upon revenue, with the 15 smallest clubs entitled to $6MM and the 15 largest at $5MM, Nightengale suggests (Twitter links).
- The initial international bonus pool will actually be $4.75MM, according to the AP.
- There are three tiers in spending allotment, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Large-revenue clubs will have $4.75MM to spend, mid-tier teams can go up to $5.25MM, and the smallest organizations can tap $5.75MM.
Another critical element of the system is just who is subject to the spending caps, which could significantly influence top young talent and whether it flows to the majors. Cuban players who are at least 25 years of age and have six years of Serie Nacional experience will be exempt from these limitations, Morosi tweets. It’s not entirely clear whether players from other countries will continue to be exempt from these limitations, though. Nightengale suggests that the limitations will not apply to players coming over from Asia, though that element still seems a bit unclear. Passan, for example, tweets that the current rules would seemingly keep Japanese star Shohei Otani from moving to the majors for several years (he’s still just 22).
Meanwhile, in the domestic draft, there’ll be some changes in the spread of slot values, according to the AP. Details remain unknown, but it seems there’ll be a more gradual decline than the currently steep fall after the first few picks.
Other
- There will be some changes to the Joint Drug Agreement, including additional testing, per the AP. Notably, players will not be able to accrue service time during any period they are suspended, which serves as a fairly significant additional deterrent. Finally, there’ll now be “biomarker testing for HGH.”
- The All-Star game will return to simply being a spectacle, rather than determining home-field advantage for the World Series, per the AP. Now, the World Series team with the better regular-season record will enjoy an added home game, which seems clearly a better approach.
- To accommodate additional off-days, meanwhile, the league will kick off the season in the middle of the week beginning in 2018, per Rosenthal (via Twitter). Some of those days could go toward international marketing efforts. MLB intends to put on regular season games abroad as soon as 2018, Morosi tweets, with London and Mexico the most likely targets. The CBA is expected to accommodate that new addition.
- The Athletics “will be phased out as a revenue-sharing recipient over the next four years,” Rosenthal adds (via Twitter). The A’s slice of revenue sharing will go to 75%, then 50%, then 25% over the next three years before disappearing, according to the AP.
- In other team-specific news, the Yankees seem likely to benefit under the new deal, per Rosenthal (Twitter links). Beyond the removal of the revenue-sharing multiplier previously reported, the organization will keep revenue-sharing offsets related to the fact that it paid for its new ballpark.
- The league will ban incoming MLB players from using smokeless tobacco, with existing players grandfathered in another wrinkle, per Sherman (on Twitter), .
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported agreement on a CBA (Twitter link), while Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports was first to tweet its duration.
Mariners Sign Marc Rzepczynski
SATURDAY: The deal is complete, Jon Heyman of FanRag sports tweets.
FRIDAY: Rzepczynski will receive a robust $11MM guarantee over two years when the deal is finalized, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweets.
THURSDAY: The Mariners are nearing a deal with free agent lefty Marc Rzepczynski, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). It’ll be a two-year contract, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network (Twitter link), assuming the final details are arranged and the physical doesn’t reveal any issues.
Rzepczynski, 31, has long been a popular LOOGY, though it’s perhaps a bit surprising that he was able to land a multi-year guarantee. The aptly nicknamed “Scrabble” has spent time in the majors with six organizations over the past eight seasons.
All told, he has held opposing lefties to a .222/.291/.298 batting line over his career, striking out 198 of the 738 hitters to step in on that side of the box. Right-handers, meanwhile, have had much greater success, posting a .277/.377/.431 slash against Rzepczynski. It is worth noting that he broke into the league as a starter, though, and he managed to hold down right-handed-hitters’ power numbers last year, though they did draw 23 walks against just 15 strikeouts in over 102 plate appearances against him.
As those figures would suggest, Rzepczynski handed out entirely too many free passes during his time with the A’s in 2016. But he righted the ship in his late-season run with the Nationals, allowing just two earned runs over 11 2/3 innings of work. Rzepczynski typically carries both double-digit swinging-strike rates and a hefty groundball rate (over 67% in each of the last two seasons).
Nationals, Pirates Still Discussing Andrew McCutchen Scenarios
The Nationals and Pirates re continuing to discuss “a lot of different angles” that would result in outfielder Andrew McCutchen landing in D.C., according to ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden (via Twitter). He notes that the information came from a source in the Pittsburgh organization.
There had been some suggestion that the Nats wanted to make a move on McCutchen before this evening’s non-tender deadline. The idea, it seems, was that the club would non-tender shortstop Danny Espinosa if it added McCutchen, which would free Trea Turner to move back into the infield.
As it turned out, nothing is yet done and Washington tendered Espinosa. That apparently isn’t posing much of an obstacle to continued exploration of a deal involving McCutchen. It’s worth bearing in mind that even tendered players aren’t guaranteed their full contracts until late in the spring. And Espinosa would likely be a plausible trade candidate if D.C. decided to part ways.
Regarding the fact that there are still many different scenarios at play, that’s perhaps not surprising. All indications are that the Bucs wish to obtain premium young talent in any trade involving McCutchen. We’ve heard top Nats prospect Victor Robles mentioned quite a bit, along with a variety of the club’s quality, youthful starting pitching. From the perspective of the Nationals, though, giving up even Robles seems like a big ask given McCutchen’s struggles in this past season. It seems possible that the organizations are working on ways to balance out the value — perhaps, even involving other teams — to facilitate a mutually agreeable swap, though it’s all guesswork at this point.
Padres Non-Tender Tyson Ross, Five Others
8:44pm: Ross is so early in his surgery rehab that his progress wasn’t a factor, GM A.J. Preller tells AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (links to Twitter). San Diego is open to a return, at a lower price. Obviously, a trade didn’t come together, but Preller says that discussions were explored.
7:18pm: The Padres have non-tendered righty Tyson Ross and five other players, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. Also cut loose were Alexi Amarista, Jon Edwards, Erik Johnson, Jose Pirela and Hector Sanchez.
Ross, 29, easily becomes the most prominent player to be non-tendered this year. Excellent as he has been when healthy, he missed virtually all of 2016 and is still working back from shoulder surgery.
Still, the wide assumption had been that San Diego would roll the dice on Ross returning to form, perhaps hoping he’d emerge as a trade candidate as soon as the spring — or, if not, by the mid-season market. After all, he compiled a 3.03 ERA over 391 2/3 innings in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, with a strong 9.4 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9.
Ross is typically a very strong groundball pitcher, with a lifetime 56.0% mark. But his velocity had been falling of late, and then the shoulder issues arose in full force. While it seemed at various times as if he’d make it back in 2016, after making just a single start (on Opening Day), he ultimately required thoracic outlet surgery in mid-October.
Given the risk — and, perhaps, the unknown medical reports the team has received — perhaps the move isn’t as surprising as it seems at first glance. MLBTR projected Ross to repeat his $9.6MM salary from a year ago, and that’s no small amount to stake on a single season. Still, organizations searching for upside on a thin market will no doubt take a long look at a pitcher who’s a top-of-the-rotation piece when healthy.
Among the other players, Amarista ($1.6MM projection) and Sanchez ($900K) were also eligible. They’ll also save the team money; San Diego already parted with Derek Norris and his projected $4.0MM salary earlier today via trade.
The others will mostly depart to open roster space. All came with questions. Edwards, a converted outfielder, has a big arm but threw just one competitive inning last year. Johnson, who came over in the James Shields trade, underwent Tommy John surgery in early October. And Pirela was once a highly regarded prospect, but hasn’t stayed healthy and didn’t hit much last year at Triple-A.
Blue Jays Outright Chris Colabello, Andy Burns
The Blue Jays have cleared two 40-man roster spots by outrighting first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello and infielder Andy Burns, the club announced. Both have cleared waivers, per the organization.
The writing was probably on the wall for Colabello when he was suspended last year for a positive PED test after a miserable start to the season. He continued to scuffle badly upon returning to the minors, putting his surprisingly excellent 2015 campaign further in the rearview mirror.
As for the 26-year-old Burns, he earned his first brief MLB stint last year. But he performed poorly at Triple-A, slashing just .230/.285/.352 with eight home runs over 454 trips to the plate.
2016-17 National League Non-Tenders
The deadline to tender 2017 contracts to players is tonight at 8pm ET. We’ll keep track of the day’s non-tenders in the National League in this post (all referenced arbitration projections courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…
- Departing the Rockies‘ 40-man are righty Matt Carasiti and infielder/outfielder Stephen Cardullo, the club announced. Neither was eligible for arbitration.
- The Braves non-tendered righty Chris Withrow, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.
- The Pirates non-tendered lefty Jeff Locke, as had been increasingly expected, as Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. Catcher Eric Fryer was also dropped; he was not eligible for arbitration.
- The Cubs non-tendered four pre-arb players to clear 40-man space, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat tweets. Lefty Gerardo Concepcion and righties Zac Rosscup, Conor Mullee, and Christian Villanueva were all taken off the roster.
- Righty Louis Coleman was not tendered a contract by the Dodgers, per a team announcement.
- The Reds have non-tendered three players, as C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Catcher Ramon Cabrera, righty Keyvius Sampson, and outfielder Gabriel Guerrero were all dropped from the roster.
- As expected, outfielder Ben Revere has been non-tendered by the Nationals. (The non-tender was first reported by the TalkNats blog on Twitter.) The club’s other eligible players — including shortstop Danny Espinosa — have been offered contracts. Revere projected to earn $6.3MM despite an abysmal 2016 campaign, his first in D.C. The 28-year-old still offers speed and defense, but will need to improve quite a bit upon his .217/.260/.300 slash. He has been a near-average bat in prior years, so there’s reason for some optimism, but at that rate it proved too costly.
- The Cardinals have cut ties with righty Seth Maness rather than tendering him a contract, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. St. Louis has tendered all its remaining players with arb eligibility. While Maness, 28, has been a steady pen presence for the Cards, he underwent surgery on his UCL in mid-August. He did manage to avoid a full ligament replacement, and comes with another year of control, but evidently the price was too high for the Cards to roll the dice. Maness had projected to receive a $1.6MM salary and would have commanded at least that again in 2018.