Mark Polishuk | MLB Trade Rumors

Kole Calhoun Opts Out Of Minor League Deal With Mariners

By Mark Polishuk | March 26, 2023 at 10:16am CDT

Kole Calhoun has exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Mariners, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). Yesterday was the first designated opt-out deadline for Article XX(B) free agents on minor league deals, and since the Mariners weren’t planning to include Calhoun on their active roster, Calhoun instead chose free agency.

Even with Taylor Trammell and utilityman Dylan Moore projected to start the year on the injured list, there wasn’t room in Seattle’s outfield for Calhoun to win a job. The 35-year-old didn’t help his case with a lackluster .250/.314/.281 slash line over 35 plate appearances in Cactus League action.

It has been a tough couple of years for Calhoun, as he has batted only .208/.269/.343 over 606 PA since the start of the 2021 season. Injuries have factored into that lack of production, but Calhoun’s struggles cost him playing time with the Rangers in 2022 as Texas just preferred to give younger players more of a look against big-league pitching. The Rangers held a $5.5MM club option on Calhoun for 2023 that they declined last fall, leading to Calhoun’s last trip to the open market and his subsequent contract with Seattle.

Calhoun will now join the field of free agents, late-camp roster cuts, and fellow Article XX(B) opt-out players in trying to land another deal with a new team. Calhoun’s experience and pre-2021 track record figures to get him some looks from clubs looking to add outfield depth or perhaps fill a vacancy due to injury.

Orioles Notes: Givens, Tate, McCann

By Mark Polishuk | March 26, 2023 at 10:08am CDT

Mychal Givens’ status for Opening Day is uncertain, as the veteran reliever is battling knee soreness and hasn’t pitched since March 16. His readiness is perhaps even more doubtful after this morning’s throwing session, as Givens was working off a mound and throwing to batters before cutting the session short. According to reporters on the scene (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko), Givens threw only 10 pitches and then left the mound in visible anger, even throwing his glove to the ground.

A trip to the 15-day injured list is looking increasingly likely in the wake of today’s news, and it’s a tough setback considering that Givens seemed to be relatively close to returning. Givens played catch on flat ground on consecutive days, and told Kubatko and other reporters yesterday that “for me, just getting the reps in is what I need, even if it’s a back field game. If I can get a couple more outings just to get my feet to rhythm and body in rhythm….[I can] get back to being in game mode.”

In a relatively quiet Baltimore offseason, Givens was one of the team’s more high-profile additions, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $5MM in guaranteed money (there is also a mutual option for 2024). The 32-year-old was signed to bring some veteran experience to a pretty young Orioles bullpen, and Givens still has plenty to offer on the mound, after posting a 3.38 ERA over 61 1/3 innings with the Cubs and Mets in 2022.

Dillon Tate is another Orioles reliever facing an injury problem, as the righty is still recovering from a forearm/flexor strain suffered in November. Manager Brandon Hyde said that Tate is tentatively planned to return by the middle of May, so while Tate will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, the O’s haven’t considered placing him on the 60-day IL. It is possible that a 60-day placement might yet come if Tate hits any setbacks, but he has seemingly been making pretty steady process, including a mound session yesterday.

On the catching front, James McCann has been bothered by some soreness in his left side, and his Opening Day availability might also be in doubt. “We’ve got some big steps to overcome these next couple days to be sure,” McCann told MLB.com’s Jake Rill and other reporters, “but again, it’s one of those things, for me, better be safe than sorry.”

McCann is unfortunately no stranger to side injuries, as he missed just under a month of the 2022 due to a left oblique strain. While this current soreness is also on his left side, McCann said his current issue is in a different area, and “it’s only minor” compared to his strain.

The Orioles acquired McCann in a December trade with the Mets, as New York also included $19MM of the $24MM owed to the catcher over the 2023-24 seasons. McCann will give Baltimore some veteran catching depth behind Adley Rutschman, but the O’s will have to dig deeper down the depth chart if McCann ends up having to spend any time on the 10-day IL to fully recover. Anthony Bemboom and Mark Kolozsvary have some MLB experience and are currently slated for the Orioles’ Triple-A team, though neither backstop is on the 40-man roster.

NL West Notes: Gonsolin, Profar, Senzatela, Cron, Cobb, D’backs

By Mark Polishuk | March 26, 2023 at 8:10am CDT

Tony Gonsolin suffered an ankle sprain earlier this month, and the injury is already set to place the right-hander on the 15-day injured list to begin the season. The Dodgers have yet to share a more specific recovery timeline for Gonsolin, but The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya writes that late April probably represents the earliest we could see Gonsolin make his 2023 debut. On Friday, Gonsolin did some mound work for the first time since his ankle injury.

Losing a pitcher of Gonsolin’s caliber for at least a month isn’t news for the Dodgers, but the team is better equipped than most to withstand such a significant loss to the rotation. Los Angeles had a pair of promising young arms competing for the right to be Gonsolin’s replacement, with Ryan Pepiot getting the nod over Michael Grove. Pepiot will get a chance to build on the 36 1/3 innings he threw in his MLB debut season, and establish himself as the team’s top depth option in the event of future injuries.

Padres Injury Notes: Engel, Soto, Nola, Bogaerts, Musgrove

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 2:50pm CDT

Adam Engel suffered a hamstring injury during Thursday’s Cactus League game, putting his availability for the Padres’ Opening Day roster in severe jeopardy. “Hamstrings can be a little bit [tricky] so we’ll see how he progresses, but…I think it’d be tough for him to make another game here in Spring Training,” Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters, including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Engel’s progress was already slowed by a calf strain earlier in camp, and the outfielder has played in only six Spring Training games. Between this lack of ramp-up period and the time it’ll take for Engel to recover from his current hamstring issue, a stint on the 10-day injured list certainly looks probable for Engel at the beginning of the season.

The Padres signed Engel to a one-year deal this winter with an eye towards using the veteran as a fourth outfielder, given Engel’s strong track record as a defender. With Fernando Tatis Jr. still having to serve 20 games left on his PED suspension, Engel was tapped for a good amount of playing time in April, but it is now possible Tatis might get back onto the field before Engel does, depending on the severity of the hamstring issue.

In better news for San Diego’s outfield, Juan Soto might be able to avoid the IL in the wake of the mild oblique strain that sidelined him last weekend. The Padres have naturally been very careful with Soto, but he was making some light throws in the outfield and taking dry swings yesterday, in a positive step this early in his recovery process from any kind of oblique problem.

With some cautious optimism about Soto and now some doubt over Engel, it still seems as though the Padres will have at least one outfield job available on the Opening Day roster. Jose Azocar and Brandon Dixon are the internal choices, and perhaps more than one of David Dahl, Tim Lopes, and Rougned Odor could have their minor league contracts selected to the roster. To help his chances of making the team, Odor recently saw some action in left field, despite never playing in the outfield before during his pro career.

Like Soto, Austin Nola might also be in the Opening Day lineup despite an ominous late-spring setback, as Nola was hit in the face by a Michael Fulmer pitch on Sunday and suffered a fractured nose and three stitches. While that diagnosis isn’t exactly good, Nola was “so glad it’s what it is and not the eyes, a concussion or any of that stuff,” he told MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. The catcher might now even get back into game action before Spring Training is over, as Nola caught Seth Lugo’s bullpen session yesterday.

Xander Bogaerts received a cortisone shot in his left wrist, and isn’t expected to play again until Sunday. As Melvin told Sanders and company, “there’s no concern, [Bogaerts] has one of these a spring,” due to periodic soreness in his wrist. The prized signing of San Diego’s offseason, Bogaerts is in no danger of missing his first Opening Day in a Padres uniform.

One player guaranteed to miss some time is Joe Musgrove, who suffered an unfortunate fluke injury in late February when a weight-room accident resulted in a broken left big toe. The Padres ace’s recovery timeline has become more clear as he has been rehabbing the injury, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes (via Twitter) that Musgrove will hit another important checkpoint when he pitches in a minor league spring game on Monday.

The right-hander will miss relatively little time, as Acee notes that Musgrove is being tentatively scheduled to make his season debut on either April 11 or April 16. However, the Padres still face a rotation crunch with Musgrove sidelined and Yu Darvish still properly ramping up after his usual spring routine was interrupted by the World Baseball Classic. As a result, San Diego might deploy a six-man rotation to help manage arms during an unusually busy early schedule — the Padres play games on 24 of the first 25 days of the new season. Blake Snell, Nick Martinez, Michael Wacha, Jay Groome, Lugo, and Darvish would comprise the rotation until Musgrove’s return could shuffle things up.

Blue Jays Release Jay Jackson

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 1:32pm CDT

The Blue Jays released right-hander Jay Jackson from his minor league deal with the team, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports (Twitter link). Jackson’s deal included a clause requiring the Jays to release him today if he wasn’t going to make the Major League roster.

The 35-year-old Jackson is a veteran of four MLB seasons, as well as four seasons pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball. Since returning to North America during the 2020 season, Jackson has been a member of four different organizations, and seen time at the big league level with the Giants and Braves. After tossing 21 2/3 innings with San Francisco in 2021, Jackson appeared in just two games with Atlanta last year, mostly due to a lat strain that kept him on the injured list for almost half the season. It marked the second straight injury-riddled year for Jackson, as a hamstring tear kept him on the shelf for a big chunk of the 2021 campaign.

According to Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling, five other teams besides Toronto had interest in Jackson as a free agent last year, so it is quite possible he could land elsewhere in pretty quick fashion. Between his strong numbers in Japan and at the Triple-A level when healthy, Jackson would certainly seem to have something left to offer interested suitors, especially after a big Spring Training.

With a flawless 0.00 ERA in 9 1/3 innings and 13 strikeouts in 37 batters faced this spring, one would imagine the Jays would’ve been able to find room for Jackson had they not already had a bullpen full of pretty established relief options. Jackson took something of a different approach to his free agency this offseason, as he told Zwelling that he wants to pitch for a winning team, even if that means a more difficult route to winning a bullpen job.

Cubs Option Adrian Sampson, Name Hayden Wesneski As Fifth Starter

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 1:03pm CDT

The Cubs ended the competition to determine the team’s fifth starter, as manager David Ross told reporters that Hayden Wesneski would be joining the rotation. Adrian Sampson had been one of the other contenders for the job, but the right-hander was optioned to the minor leagues earlier today.

The news officially confirms what had become increasingly obvious during Spring Training, as Wesneski set himself apart with a 2.12 ERA over 17 innings of work, as well as a strong 31.43% strikeout rate and an 8.57% walk rate. By contrast, Sampson struggled to an 8.66 ERA over 17 2/3 innings, while Javier Assad pitched well (2.57 ERA) but tossed only seven innings due to his commitments with Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

Wesneski was a sixth-round pick for the Yankees in the 2019 draft, and he came to Chicago at last year’s trade deadline as the return for Scott Effross. That trade is suddenly looking like a pretty significant steal for the Cubs, considering that Effross threw 12 2/3 innings for New York before undergoing Tommy John surgery that will sideline him for the entire 2023 season.

Meanwhile, the Cubs now have a viable starting candidate in Wesneski, continuing his relatively quick career ascension considering that he didn’t pitch at all during the canceled 2020 minor league season. The 25-year-old had solid but not eye-popping numbers (3.68 ERA over 269 minor league innings) on the farm with the Yankees and Cubs, but he looked impressive in his first taste of MLB action last year, delivering a 2.18 ERA, 25% K%, and 5.3% walk rate over 33 innings for Chicago.

Wesneski slots in behind Marcus Stroman, new signing Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele, and Drew Smyly in the Cubbies’ rotation. Longtime Chicago veteran Kyle Hendricks is still recovering from a capsular tear in his shoulder, and Sampson and Assad project as further depth options in the minor leagues.

Mets To Select Tommy Hunter’s Contract

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 12:24pm CDT

The Mets have told Tommy Hunter that he will make the team’s Opening Day roster, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (Twitter link). The move will become official when the Mets select Hunter’s minor league contract prior to their Opening Day matchup with the Marlins on March 30, but a decision had to be made earlier since Hunter has an opt-out clause in his contract today.

Once Hunter appears in a game, it will mark his 16 Major League campaign and his third season with the Mets. His stint in Queens hasn’t resulted in much actual playing time, as injuries have limited Hunter to only 22 games and 30 1/3 innings in a Mets uniform. Brought back on another minors deal this winter, Hunter won himself a roster job on the strength of a spotless 0.00 ERA in eight Grapefruit League innings, with only four hits and a walk scattered across those eight frames. Hunter has also struck out nine of 30 batters faced this spring.

This kind of performance might well have earned Hunter a roster spot anyway, but the Mets’ string of bullpen injuries also created some more opportunity. Edwin Diaz’s season-threatening knee surgery was naturally the biggest of the injuries, but Sam Coonrod and Bryce Montes de Oca have also been sidelined. Brooks Raley suffered a hamstring strain that forced him out of the World Baseball Classic, but the Mets are hopeful that Raley can still be ready for Opening Day.

Though injuries have kept him off the field in the last few years, Hunter has quietly posted very strong numbers for the last decade. Since the start of the 2013 season, Hunter has a 3.14 ERA, 45.6% grounder rate, 20.8% strikeout rate, and 5.4% walk rate over 424 1/3 innings with six different teams. Never a big strikeout pitcher, Hunter has kept batters off-balance and not hurt himself by limiting free passes. While his 22 1/3 innings last season are an imperfect sample size, Hunter did display an increased use of his cutter, throwing the pitch 46.7% of the time.

Angels Release Luis Barrera, Nash Walters; Chris Devenski To Remain In Organization

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 11:49am CDT

The Angels announced that outfielder Luis Barrera and right-hander Nash Walters have been released from their minor league contracts. Chris Devenski had the ability to opt out of his own minors deal with the Angels, but the righty will instead pass on exercising his out clause and instead report to the Angels’ Triple-A club, as Devenski was told that he wasn’t making the big league roster.

Devenski’s status as an XX(B) free agent on a minor league deal allows him automatic opt-out dates on March 25, May 1, and June 1 if he hasn’t already been added to Los Angeles’ 26-man roster. (Some players can also negotiate different opt-out dates within their minor league contracts.) While it is possible Devenski might yet choose to leave his deal with Anaheim, for now he’ll head to Triple-A in order to wait for a potential call-up, or maybe audition himself for other teams in advance of his next decision on May 1.

Known best for his days as a workhorse in the Astros bullpen, Devenski has pitched only 25 2/3 total MLB innings since the start of the 2020 season. He required surgery to remove a bone chip from his elbow following the 2020 campaign, and a Tommy John surgery in June 2021 then sidelined him for almost all of the last two seasons. The righty did make it back onto the hill for 14 2/3 innings in 2022, tossing 10 2/3 frames with the Diamondbacks and four more innings with the Phillies.

Barrera has 38 Major Leagues games on his resume, all with the Athletics since the start of the 2021 season. The 27-year-old has hit .277/.337/.413 over 2481 career plate appearances in the minors, but is better known for his speed and ability to play all three outfield positions. Teams in need of outfield depth might take a look at Barrera amongst other available options as some roster shuffling takes place at the end of Spring Training.

Walters made his MLB debut in cup-of-coffee fashion in 2022, appearing in one game and tossing one-third of an inning for the Angels in the final game of the regular season. A longtime member of the Brewers organization, Walters was purchased by Anaheim at the start of September, then designated for assignment and non-tendered in November. Walters then re-signed with the Halos on a new minor league deal, but will now head back into free agency. Over 224 2/3 career innings in the minors, Walters has a 4.37 ERA and a respectable 25.76% strikeout rate, and he has to some extent corrected an extreme lack of control early in his pro career.

Phillies, Aaron Nola End Extension Negotiations Until After The Season

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 11:39am CDT

Last month, the Phillies and Aaron Nola’s representatives were reportedly exchanging figures about a possible long-term contract extension, creating some feeling that a new deal might be in the works. However, it doesn’t look like the two sides will reach agreement, as Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Alex Coffey (Twitter links) that the two sides have ended talks.

“We think the world of him, quality pitcher, quality human being, but sometimes you get to this point where you’re not able to consummate a deal that both sides feel comfortable,” Dombrowski said. “We’re very open minded to trying to sign him at the end of the season. We’re hopeful he’ll remain a Phillie for a long time.”

Joe Longo, Nola’s agent, also made a statement, telling Coffey that “we had good communication with the Phillies. We just couldn’t agree at this time. We’ll pick up the conversation again at the end of the season.”

Like most players, Nola indicated that he didn’t want negotiations to stretch beyond Opening Day, as he wanted to entirely focus on baseball once the season was underway. With that unofficial deadline still five days away, it’s possible that either Nola’s camp or the Phillies could restart contract talks with one phone call, yet the public declarations by both Dombrowski and Longo would seemingly indicate that the matter has been put on hold.

Nola signed a four-year, $45MM extension with Philadelphia in February 2019, and that deal became a five-year, $56.75MM pact last November when the Phillies exercised their $16MM club option on Nola for the 2023 season. There was no doubt that the option would be picked up, given how well Nola has pitched over his eight seasons for the reigning NL champions. The 2022 campaign saw Nola post a career-best 6.3 fWAR over 205 innings while posting a 3.25 ERA and a range of excellent secondary metrics.

Between Nola’s performance, durability, and age (he doesn’t turn 30 until June), he will be one of the top names in the 2023-24 free agent class, let alone one of the top pitchers. Shohei Ohtani is on his own level given his unique two-way status, but among regular pitchers, only Julio Urias might rival Nola for the top contract given to a hurler next winter.

While the Phillies aren’t shy about giving out big contracts, they would’ve had to pay handsomely in an extension in order to retain Nola so close to his first trip to the open market. The club still retains exclusive negotiating rights with Nola until free agency officially opens (five days after the end of the World Series), yet it isn’t very common to see an extension struck with a top-tier player within that small window between the end of the season and the opening of the free agent window, and the Phillies would likely have to pay even more of a premium to extend Nola at that even later date.

That said, a reunion between the two sides shouldn’t be ruled out, even if the Phillies do end up bidding against other suitors. The Phillies were able to re-sign J.T. Realmuto when the catcher entered the open market during the 2020-21 offseason, and spending in free agency hasn’t been an issue in general given how Philadelphia has landed the likes of Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber, Taijuan Walker, and Nick Castellanos to big multi-year deals. The Phillies exceeded the luxury tax in 2022 and are projected to exceed the second tier ($253MM+) of tax penalties in 2023.

With Walker just signed to bolster the rotation this winter, Philadelphia has Nola under control through 2023, Wheeler through 2024, Ranger Suarez through 2025 via arbitration, and Walker through 2026. Between this staggered list, Suarez’s relatively inexpensive price tag as an arb-eligible player, and the team’s hopes that younger arms like Bailey Falter, Andrew Painter, and Mick Abel can provide bargain production in the near future, it stands to reason that the Phillies might pursue re-signing Nola as a hedge against Wheeler’s possible departure following the 2024 campaign. Or, it is possible that by season’s end, the Phillies are confident enough in their young pitching depth to let Nola leave, and recoup a draft pick as compensation (though the placement of that pick will fall due to the Phils’ status as luxury tax payors).

Marlins Notes: Iglesias, Gurriel, Sanchez, De La Cruz, Cooper

By Mark Polishuk | March 25, 2023 at 10:52am CDT

The Marlins seem to be “leaning toward” only breaking camp with one of Yuli Gurriel or Jose Iglesias, according to Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. The two veterans recently signed minor league contracts and joined the Marlins’ spring camp as non-roster invitees, and perhaps due to that late start (both players signed on March 9), it isn’t unsurprising that neither Gurriel or Iglesias have hit well in their small sample size of Spring Training at-bats. A decision will have to be made soon, since both Gurriel and Iglesias can enact opt-out clauses in their minor league deals if Miami doesn’t let them know who or who isn’t making the Opening Day roster.

Gurriel was signed to either back up Garrett Cooper at first base or (perhaps ideally) join in at least a timeshare, if Cooper stays healthy and Gurriel rebounds to his pre-2022 levels of offense. Miami signed Iglesias to provide further depth at shortstop, since after Miguel Rojas was traded to the Dodgers, utilityman Joey Wendle is expected to handle the bulk of shortstop duty despite a relative lack of experience at the position.

Of the two, it would seem like Gurriel has the advantage, Jackson noted in a tweet today. Manager Skip Schumaker suggested that utilityman Jon Berti could be utilized at shortstop against left-handed pitching while Wendle faced righties, which might be a cleaner situation for the Marlins than including Iglesias on the roster and finding him playing time. In terms of other shortstop candidates, the Fish have also already selected the contract of another minor league signing in Garrett Hampson, plus Jordan Groshans and Jacob Amaya are at Triple-A.

The club’s decision on Gurriel or Iglesias is also influenced by the fact that both Jesus Sanchez and Bryan De La Cruz now seem like good bets to make the Opening Day roster. It already seemed like Sanchez (who is out of minor league options) would make the room, but De La Cruz’s status was a little more tenuous since he still has a minor league option remaining. This means that Miami might eventually send De La Cruz to Triple-A at some point in 2023, but using De La Cruz and Sanchez in a left field platoon seems like the team’s preferred opening heading into Opening Day. Having an extra outfielder on the roster is also helpful since Jorge Soler will mostly be a DH this season, and Jazz Chisholm’s ability to stick as the regular center fielder is still up in the air, given his lack of experience at the position.

Returning to the first base picture, the position remains a long-term question for the Marlins. Jackson and Mish report that the team hasn’t had any talks with Cooper about an extension, making it seem likely that Cooper will hit free agency as scheduled following the 2023 season. Given Cooper’s age (32), injury history, and his past linkage to some trade rumors, it isn’t surprising that Miami is perhaps looking to move onwards, though Cooper has been a quietly productive player when healthy. Before signing Gurriel, the Marlins explored some bigger-name first base options this offseason, including such free agents and trade targets as Jose Abreu, Josh Bell, and Triston Casas. Depending on how the Chisholm/center field experiment plays out, it is also possible that the Marlins might ultimately install Luis Arraez back at first base.

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