East Notes: Cespedes, Hutchison, Parmelee
The Mets faced a tough last-minute decision on Yoenis Cespedes, as Tim Rohan of the New York Times details in an interesting story on the key deadline addition. GM Sandy Alderson decided to pull the trigger, parting with well-regarded young pitcher Michael Fulmer, after a somewhat nerve-wracking meeting with the organization’s key decisionmakers. You’ll want to give this one a full read if you’re interested in the subject. It also includes some discussion of the complicated matter of whether the team will make a real go at re-signing the streaking outfielder.
Here are a few more notes from the game’s eastern divisions:
- The Blue Jays will utilize righty Drew Hutchison out of the bullpen for the rest of the year, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets. He’ll be used as a one-inning reliever down the stretch. It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old will crack the postseason roster as a pen arm, but there’s not much time left for the year to be anything but a disappointment. Hutchison owns a 5.33 ERA in 147 innings, which won’t create quite the arbitration platform he might have hoped for heading into his first season of eligibility.
- Orioles outfielder/first baseman Chris Parmelee will need surgery to repair a broken left forearm that he suffered recently, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (Twitter links). Baltimore hopes to re-sign the 27-year-old, who saw relatively minimal time at the big league level but put up good numbers at Triple-A. He’ll be looking at another minor league deal, of course.
Central Notes: Cubs, Holland, Larkin
The Cubs and Pirates are squared off in a key double-header today at PNC Park as the teams jockey for position in the NL Central — and, quite possibly, the rights to host an all-or-nothing Wild Card game. Let’s check in on the latest notes from that division and its corresponding grouping from the American League side.
- Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein says he’s not worried about the possibility of losing front office talent to other organizations this winter, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. “I think we have a pretty tight-knit group, and this is a great time to be a Chicago Cub,” he explained, going on to add that, “but if we do [lose front office staff], I think we have a really deep organization, that there’s another layer ready to step up.” Epstein’s own contractual status is set to move towards the front of the burner for Chicago, of course. He says that he’s not giving any thought to the matter at present, and it’s hard to blame him: with organization’s baseball operations department firing on all cylinders, his leverage only seems to be on the rise.
- There is some real cause for concern with Royals closer Greg Holland, writes MLB.com’s Mike Petriello. His fastball velocity and spin rate have both fallen off a cliff of late, and a recent ten-day rest did not reverse the trend. That not only creates questions the rest of the way for the World Series-hopeful Royals, but adds to the offseason intrigue for the 29-year-old righty. Kansas City already has a ton of cash (relative to its overall payroll) committed to the pen, and Holland will line up for a raise on his $8.25MM salary in his final year of arbitration. He had seemed a plausible trade candidate, but will need to answer some questions over the final weeks of the season and the postseason before his offseason outlook can be assessed.
- Former Reds great Barry Larkin has seen his name mentioned frequently as a hypothetical candidate to take over in the Cincinnati dugout, though it’s not clear yet whether Bryan Price will be retained for 2016. Larkin said today on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link) that he interviewed for the Rays job last year and had preliminary discussions about the Tigers‘ most recent opening, which at least gives credence to the idea that the Hall-of-Famer has interest in such a position.
AL East Notes: Lovullo, Buchholz, Hill, Rodriguez
Let’s take a look in at the latest out of the AL East:
- Interim Red Sox skipper Torey Lovullo has acquitted himself nicely since taking over for John Farrell, who is battling cancer, as WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes. While it certainly isn’t an audition he’d have asked for, Lovullo has successfully guided the team to an 18-10 record under difficult circumstances. That performance certainly does not hurt as he looks ahead to another offseason of managerial vacancies. As Bradford notes, Lovullo has frequently had opportunities to interview with other teams, but has yet to be offered a permanent job to run a team’s dugout.
- The Red Sox‘ rotation has been a source of fascination all season long, and that has continued down the stretch. In addition to improved work from several key long-term pieces, there are other storylines worth watching. As Bradford writes, righty Clay Buchholz — whose club option for next year represents a key decision for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski — still has his sights set on returning late this year to pitch from the pen. And then there’s Rich Hill, the journeyman reliever who has suddenly morphed into an interesting swingman or rotation candidate on the upcoming free agent market (story also via Bradford).
- One of the best developments this year for the Red Sox has been the emergence of young lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, acquired at last year’s trade deadline from the Orioles for ace reliever Andrew Miller. As ESPNBoston.com’s Gordon Edes writes, Baltimore knew what it was parting with when it chose to go all-in for 2014, though that won’t necessarily make it easier to watch Rodriguez blossom with a division rival. Edes speaks to Calvin Maduro, one of the first Baltimore scouts to identify Rodriguez as a youngster, about his incredible development into a top-flight arm. Somewhat ironically, the inclusion of Rodriguez is reportedly what swayed Boston to divert Miller to Baltimore; otherwise, he’d have ended up with Dombrowski in Detroit.
Pirates Designate Radhames Liz, Recall Vance Worley
The Pirates have designated right-hander Radhames Liz for assignment, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported on Twitter. He’ll lose his roster spot to clear 40-man space for the return of fellow righty Vance Worley.
Liz was a surprising big-league signee this offseason, given that he’d last appeared in the majors in 2009. The 31-year-old has shown the ability to miss bats, with 10.4 K/9 on the year. But he has also struggled to keep hitters from reaching base, surrendering four and a half walks and ten hits per nine.
All told, Liz owns a 4.24 ERA in 23 1/3 innings at the major league level on the year, though he put up good results during a mid-season stint at Triple-A (much of it as a starter). Regardless whether he makes it back to the bigs this year, Liz has certainly shown enough — including a nearly 95 mph average fastball — to draw interest again this coming winter.
Worley, 27, had a bounce-back season last year for the Bucs. While he hasn’t been quite as good in 2015, at least in terms of bottom-line results, he’s been effective enough at the big league level with a 3.78 ERA over 69 innings. And he has been been quite effective against Triple-A hitters since being outrighted this summer.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Strasburg, Cespedes, Phils, Brewers, DePodesta
Here are the latest notes from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports:
- The Rangers and Nationals had trade talks involving Stephen Strasburg over the winter, per Rosenthal. Nothing ever came close to getting done in those “wide-ranging” talks, in which Steven Souza (later dealt to the Rays) and Jurickson Profar (later scratched for the season) also came up. It’s not clear from the report what kind of scenarios were considered. Looking forward, it remains to be seen whether there will be any consideration given this winter to a deal involving the 27-year-old righty. Strasburg’s value is down, due both to an inconsistent 2015 season and to the fact that he now has only one season left before hitting free agency, but it’s still hard to imagine the Nats letting him go unless the return was rather significant.
- The Braves could line up a pursuit of outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in free agency, a source tells Rosenthal. While it’s not hard to see the appeal — he’s a power bat at a position of need, and could line up with the team’s timetable for contention — such a move would still rate as a surprise. Atlanta only just got out from under the ill-fated Melvin Upton contract, which showed the risk of such a free agent signing given the team’s recent payroll restrictions, and Cespedes could well cost twice or more what Upton did ($75MM).
- Early returns on the summer trade hauls of the Phillies and Brewers have been positive. There is some nice buzz around Philadelphia’s system, especially with all the depth its added in recent months and the intriguing players that came over for Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman. Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s return for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers has looked rather compelling, with Domingo Santana raking in his early MLB action and the trio of other players finishing strong at Double-A. (Remember: the key player in that deal, Brett Phillips, joined the MLBTR Podcast just after being swapped, as did righty Zach Davies, who is now in the big leagues after being acquired for Gerardo Parra.)
- Mets VP of player development and scouting Paul DePodesta has been plugging away at that post for five years, and the fruits of his labors are now showing at the big league level. Rosenthal reports that the former Dodgers general manager “would consider returning to a GM’s role” with another organization, if the circumstances were right, though many still believe he’ll ultimately take over in New York for Sandy Alderson at some point.
September Rule 5 Roundup
This year’s Rule 5 draft class has shown that the Winter Meeting-capping selection process still has meaning. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper explained recently, a remarkably high-quality group of players swapped hands last December, and odds are that few of them will end up returning to their original teams.
For reference, here are the season’s leaderboards for the players who have accrued major league statistics, for both Rule 5 hitters and pitchers. Let’s have a look at where things stand with the season all but over (at least so far as Rule 5 roster considerations are concerned).
Keepers With Immediate Function
Far from clogging roster space, Odubel Herrera (Phillies), Delino DeShields Jr. (Rangers), and Mark Canha have all been heavily-used, productive contributors to their respective teams. Herrera, in particular, has been a revelation, tallying over three wins above replacement at 23 years of age.
On the pitching side of the equation, Mets selection Sean Gilmartin has been nothing short of excellent in his 45 2/3 frames with the club. The lefty has worked to a 2.56 ERA and seeming to be quite a useful asset moving forward.
Twins right-hander J.R. Graham, meanwhile, has exceeded Gilmartin in usage — he’s nearing sixty innings for a contending club — but hasn’t matched the results. Graham owns just a 5.09 ERA, though there are some signs of hope for the future. He has a respectable 7.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 to go with a 46.8% groundball rate, and SIERA values his contributions at a solid 3.76.
Needless to say, all of the above players will be retained by their new organizations. While many Rule 5ers who are successfully acquired end up back in the minors following their season of limbo, the odds seem good that all of these players will once again be significant pieces of their teams’ puzzles in 2016.
Little-Used, Future-Looking Assets
Of course, there are other Rule 5 selections who are now all but certain to be kept. But the road traveled by their teams involved much more difficult roster juggling. As with Adrian Nieto (White Sox) and Wei-Chung Wang (Brewers) last year, these players were not significant contributors at the major league level despite taking up active roster spots all season long.
25-year-old infielder Taylor Featherston has had at least some function given his valuable glove, but has slashed just .156/.210/.227 in only 141 plate appearances for the Angels. He makes for a nice analogue to Nieto, who similarly was considered a quality defender up the middle who wasn’t quite ready for MLB pitching, but managed to hold on all season long. Featherston could follow suit and return to the minors next year.
This year’s first overall Rule 5 pick Oscar Hernandez missed the beginning of the season for the Diamondbacks when he hit the DL with a broken hamate bone. He was activated in early July, just in time to spend the required ninety days on the active roster to complete a Rule 5 acquisition. He’s slashed just .107/.219/.143 in a meager 33 plate appearances since that time, so he’s all but certain to be sent down in 2016.
Orioles righty Jason Garcia has only thrown 27 innings, posting a 4.33 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9. Like Wang last year, a mid-season injury eased the active roster burden in his case. It’s not yet clear what will happen with Garcia next year, but it’s likely that he’ll go on optional assignment to develop as a starter.
Also set to be retained upon the conclusion of the 2015 season are lefties Andrew McKirahan (Braves) and David Rollins (Mariners). The two southpaws have had startlingly similar paths: PED suspensions that actually made it easier for their clubs to retain them, followed by fairly ugly earned run averages but reasonably promising peripherals in limited action. Both will cross the 90-day threshold this year, so they can be retained without requiring time on the roster to start 2016.
Still In Limbo
It is possible for a player to remain with a selecting team but still remain in limbo. That’s because of the aforementioned 90-day rule. Players that haven’t spent that much time on the active roster due to DL or suspension stints must first accrue the remainder in the following season before they can be permanently acquired. If and when they do reach that point, such players can be freely optioned to the minors by their new teams.
This year there is one such multi-year player: righty Daniel Winkler, was a Tommy John patient who was only just activated recently by the Braves after missing most of the year. Hhe’s yet to appear in competitive action for the Atlanta organization — in the minors or the majors — and had never seen big league action before the year. He’ll pick up just under a month of time on the active roster late this year, and will need to be on the club’s 25-man for about two months at the start of next season for his rights to be kept.
Already Returned
The ride was over months ago for a trio of hurlers: Jandel Gustave, Logan Verrett, and Andy Oliver. The first two were returned to their former teams, while Oliver hit free agency because he was a two-time Rule 5 pick. Interestingly, Verrett has played a reasonably significant role in the majors with his original team since being returned. He’s thrown 23 1/3 innings of 1.93 ERA ball, with 8.9 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9, for the soon-to-be NL East champs.
Submit Your Questions For The MLBTR Mailbag
We’ve revived the MLBTR Mailbag feature over the past couple of weeks, and it’ll be running every Monday from now on. Last week, the topics discussed included the KBO, next year’s Rangers rotation, the Reds’ needs, R.A. Dickey, and the American League rookie-of-the-year race. Later this afternoon, we’ll tackle another handful of questions.
If you have any questions you’d like to see addressed, you can email them here: mlbtrmailbag@gmail.com. Feel free to send emails throughout the week, of course, but also be mindful of the fact that we receive a sizable number of questions and cannot get to all of them. You can always ask other questions in the weekly live chat every Tuesday afternoon.
Poll: Minor League Deal Of The Year
Every winter, a host of players agree to minor league contracts with hopes of finding good opportunities to make it onto a big league roster at some point in the season. Some of these are reached early on, as teams target players they like but who lack the track record to warrant a major league deal. Others are made just before Spring Training by players who had been holding out hope for a guaranteed contract.
In most cases, minor league signees provide depth and leadership in the upper minors. A good number of those players end up as solid role players on the major league roster, some more impactful than others. And every now and again, a high-end big league player emerges after inking a non-guaranteed contract. (E.g., J.D. Martinez, Justin Turner.)
This year’s MiLB free agent crop didn’t produce any controllable standouts in the mold of Martinez and Turner, but it was loaded with quality players who have delivered immense value to their teams. Who gets your vote as the best of the year?
(Teams listed are original signing clubs. Players ordered alphabetically by last name. Did I miss someone? Choose “Other” and discuss in the comments.)
Joe Blanton, Royals — After appearing in just two minor league games last year, the 34-year-old righty was surprising enough when putting up solid results for Kansas City. But he’s been even better for the Pirates, firing 26 frames from the pen with a 31:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and just four earned runs.
Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners — He hasn’t had much big league time, but the 32-year-old slashing a ridiculous .309/.358/.647 in 148 MLB plate appearances and was hitting quite well at Triple-A before that. He’ll be quite an interesting free agent to watch, though of course his .357 BABIP and (especially) 36.4% home run-to-flyball ratio are bound to fall.
Kelly Johnson, Braves — Johnson has been steady and productive since signing with Atlanta and moving to the Mets via trade. Filling in all over the diamond, Johnson has provided his clubs with flexibility and a .270/.319/.456 slash in 308 trips to the plate.
Mark Lowe, Mariners — A relatively undistinguished reliever for most of his career, Lowe transformed into a stud this year in Seattle. He hasn’t been quite as good since being shipped to the Jays, but still owns a 1.63 ERA with 10.3 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 over 49 2/3 frames.
Ryan Madson, Royals — Madson, 34, had not even pitched in the big leagues since 2011 when he came to K.C., yet he picked up right where he left off. All told, he’s contributed 54 2/3 innings with a 2.47 ERA and 8.4 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
Franklin Morales, Royals — Notice a theme here? Another bargain bin score for a bullpen that hardly needed any help, the southpaw Morales has tossed 58 innings of 2.79 ERA ball. He’s been particularly stingy against opposing lefties, but has also held righties to below-league-average batting results.
Clint Robinson, Nationals — Unlike the other players on this list, Robinson had virtually no track record in the big leagues coming into the year. While his outfield defense has been predictably poor, it’s not really his fault that the club was forced to use him out of position. Robinson has been a revelation on offense, slashing .272/.368/.423 over 277 plate appearances.
Geovany Soto, White Sox — It was somewhat surprising to see the veteran Soto fail to earn a big league contract, and he’s shown why in Chicago. With well-rated defense and a .237/.321/.444 slash over his 191 plate appearances, Soto has been worth about a win and a half above replacement despite limited duty — and that’s before factoring in his strong framing numbers.
Carlos Villanueva, Cardinals — Targeted by St. Louis because of his swingman capabilities, Villanueva has not been needed as a starter but has excelled in the pen. He sits with a sub-3.00 ERA over 57 1/3 innings, with 8.2 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9.
Minor League Free Agent Of The Year
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Kelly Johnson 23% (1,476)
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Ryan Madson 18% (1,164)
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Mark Lowe 13% (848)
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Franklin Gutierrez 11% (721)
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Joe Blanton 10% (617)
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Carlos Villanueva 9% (560)
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Clint Robinson 6% (358)
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Geovany Soto 4% (261)
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Franklin Morales 4% (236)
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Other 3% (217)
Total votes: 6,458
Quick Hits: Heaney, Blanco, Padres, Ross
Young Angels lefty Andrew Heaney has become the first professional baseball player to sell a piece of his future earnings through Fantex, a company which markets shares of that interest to individual investors, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Heaney, 24, will sacrifice ten percent of all his future “brand” earnings — including dollars earned through his MLB contracts as well as endorsements and appearance fees — in exchange for $3.34MM. (The agreement has been approved by the league and the union, but is still dependent upon financing.) We’ve seen an increasing willingness of players (and teams) to consider creative ways to lock in earnings over recent years. This could be a new frontier in that regard, though the model is obviously still in its infancy and other methods of locking in salary (such as insurance and early-career extensions) have greater traction at present. Heaney has shown plenty of promise in his first year with the Halos, throwing 84 1/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball with 6.6 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9, but he won’t achieve real earning capacity until he qualifies for arbitration in 2018. Free agency will have to wait until 2021, but he certainly has the potential to take down quite a bit of cash over his career — if he can maintain his performance trajectory and avoid injury, of course.
Here are some more notes to round out the evening:
- The Giants have shut down outfielder Gregor Blanco after he was diagnosed with a concussion, as Chris Haft of MLB.com tweets. Manager Bruce Bochy said today that the team may not receive any more contributions this year from Blanco, Nori Aoki, and Hunter Pence, as John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group adds on Twitter. It’s been that kind of year for the San Francisco outfield, with center fielder Angel Pagan also having dealt with a fairly significant injury lay-off. While the club won’t reach the postseason regardless, barring a miracle, that group of maladies represents one of several areas where the team will hope for better fortune in 2016.
- As the Padres look ahead to what could be another offseason of change, the club intends to take its time in addressing its managerial situation, GM A.J. Preller tells MLB.com’s Corey Brock. Interim manager Pat Murphy could get the permanent post, or the organization could look elsewhere, but the latter course would involve competition with a number of other teams that will be looking for new dugout leaders. “It’s an important decision for us,” said Preller. “We just want to make sure we make a good call and we don’t feel pressure from what’s going on in the industry or anything like that. We’ll get to a spot where we’re comfortable making a good decision and we will make a good hire.”
- Among the many other questions facing the Padres, deciding on a course with righty Tyson Ross could be among the most impactful. The 28-year-old has once again been excellent — in part, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes, due to the addition of a cutter to his arsenal. He had used the pitch previously, but relied almost entirely on a fastball-slider combination in the majors before this season. “I just think it’s a different look,” Ross said. “It’s movement (away from) the barrel, trying to get poor contact and just avoiding the hitters being able to sit on anything.” The successful re-introduction of that offering represents another feather in the cap of the sturdy hurler, who was in high demand at the trade deadline and would be again if marketed this winter. Since the start of the 2013 season, he’s thrown nearly 500 frames and carries a strong 3.05 ERA with 9.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 to go with a well-above-average groundball rate (61.5% this year). Ross can be controlled for two more seasons via arbitration after earning $5.25MM in his first trip through the process this year. It remains to be seen, of course, whether San Diego will have any real interest in moving him. If not, Ross could profile as an extension candidate.
Jocketty Wants To Remain Reds’ GM “Another Year Or So”
Reds general manager Walt Jocketty says that he intends to remain in his position for “another year or so,” as C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. The veteran executive says he’s not ready to follow the path of Doug Melvin, who’ll move into an advisory role with the Brewers after the season, though certainly his phrasing suggests that his time in the GM seat may be drawing to a close at some point in the relatively near future.
Of course, Jocketty’s own preferences are not the only ones that matters here, and his job security has been called into question — at least speculatively. The Reds are mired in last place in a highly competitive NL Central, which led the team to deal away several pending free agents at the deadline. And the club disappointed last year as well after reaching the post-season in three of the preceding four seasons.
It is worth noting, though, that Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reported earlier today that Jocketty was expected to be retained. He is still under contract through 2016 under a previous extension with the club.
Jocketty also discussed his recent trades with Rosecrans, saying that the recent deadline swaps of pending free agents were deals “we knew we had to make because of the free agents and injuries.” The sell-off of Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, and Marlon Byrd brought back a nice group of young arms. Cincinnati had already picked up some useful pieces in offseason trades of Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon.
The Cinci GM acknowledged that the club is rebuilding, saying that it is “an interesting process” and “kind of a fun process” to undertake. It remains to be seen whether the Reds will look to cash in other assets this winter, with players like Aroldis Chapman, Jay Bruce, and Brandon Phillips profiling as potential chips.
Jocketty emphasized that he sees plenty of promise in the talent already assembled at or near the big league level. “I think when we get three guys back like [Devin] Mesoraco, [Zach] Cozart, [Homer] Bailey, those guys will make a big difference,” he said. “We’ll still have the other guys under our control.”
As for areas to improve, he focused in on the relief corps. “Our big thing is to try to improve our bullpen and depth in our bullpen while we keep developing our young pitchers,” said Jocketty. “I think a couple of tweaks here and there and I think we’ll be very competitive next year.”
Indeed, the pen is an obvious area to improve based on its middling results in 2015. As I recently suggested in breaking down the team’s three primary needs, it could make sense to act there even though Cincinnati faces an uphill climb in a highly talented NL Central. While Jocketty did say that he thinks the club can compete next season, it still seems likely that the bulk of his focus will remain on setting up the organization for 2017 and beyond.