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Blue Jays Re-Sign Robbie Ray
The Blue Jays have announced that free agent left-hander Robbie Ray has been re-signed. ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link) was the first to report that the southpaw will receive a one-year contract worth $8MM.
It was a tough season overall for Ray, who posted a 6.62 ERA, 11.8 K/9, 2.3 HR/9, and a 7.8 BB/9 (highest of any pitcher in baseball with at least 50 innings pitched) over 51 2/3 combined innings for the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays. If there is a silver lining, Ray’s numbers over his 20 2/3 innings with the Jays were better than his numbers with the D’Backs, though even a 4.79 ERA, 6.1 BB/9, and 1.7 HR/9 with Toronto is nothing to write home about.
Still, the Jays clearly saw enough to welcome Ray back into the fold and line him up for a spot in Toronto’s rotation. Passan notes that the Blue Jays intend to use Ray as a starting pitcher, adding him to a rotation mix that includes Hyun Jin Ryu, Nate Pearson, Tanner Roark, and Ross Stripling. It’s safe to assume that the Jays aren’t done exploring the pitching market, given how Ray, Roark, and Stripling all didn’t pitch well in 2020 and Pearson also struggled (and had some injury problems) in his first MLB season.
Home runs have always been an issue for Ray over his seven-year career, though his control went from being a concern to a full-on problem in 2020. The one constant, however, has been strikeouts, as Ray has an 11.1 career K/9 and even led the league in that category in 2017 (12.1). That season was Ray’s peak, as he finished seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting and seemed to be blossoming as a front-of-the-rotation starter. However, Ray was more okay than spectacular in 2018-19, as his walk totals crept upwards, his ground-ball numbers declined, and batters began to generate more hard contact against his arsenal.
Ray’s fastball velocity also dropped by almost two miles an hour, from a 94.3mph average in 2017 to a 92.4 average in 2019. His velocity clicked back up to 93.7mph last season, and while there wasn’t much to like about Ray’s Statcast metrics in 2020, he still finished in the 80th percentile in fastball spin rate.
Ray is still only 29, and the one-year commitment gives the Blue Jays a chance to take a longer look at Ray without sacrificing any flexibility in future payrolls. Toronto is thought to be one of the few teams who has some spending capacity this offseason, and this early strike to re-sign Ray (when most clubs reportedly have yet to even figure out their 2021 budget situations) indicates that the Jays could be aggressive players as they look to build on their wild card berth from the past year. MLBTR ranked Ray 36th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents, correctly predicting him for a one-year contract but for only $6MM.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Tigers Make Three Hires To Coaching Staff
The Tigers have added three new coaches to A.J. Hinch’s staff, Cody Stavenhagen and Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic report (Twitter link). George Lombard will be the new bench coach, Chip Hale becomes third base coach, and Scott Coolbaugh becomes hitting coach.
This is the second link between Lombard and the Tigers this offseason, as the club interviewed the 45-year-old for the managerial position before deciding on Hinch. Lombard has worked as the Dodgers’ first base coach for the last five seasons, meaning he and Hinch were on opposite sides of the controversial 2017 World Series. Lombard previously worked in the Red Sox farm system as a manager and coach, as well as a roving outfield coordinator for both the Red Sox and Braves organizations.
Hale has also faced off against Hinch in a World Series, as Hale was the Nationals’ bench coach in 2019 when Washington defeated Houston. However, Hale previously worked as a coach under Hinch when Hinch was hired as the Diamondbacks’ manager in 2009. Best known for his own stint managing Arizona in 2015-16, Hale has a long track record as a big league coach with the D’Backs, Mets, Athletics, and Nationals. Hale spent three seasons as a bench coach and third base coach in D.C. before parting ways with the team in October.
Coolbaugh worked as the assistant hitting coach for the White Sox in 2020, and will now take full hitting coach duties for the third time with a big league team. Coolbaugh previously worked in the same role with the Rangers in 2011-12 and the Orioles from 2015-18.
The Tigers have now amassed most of Hinch’s staff, as the team announced yesterday that Chris Fetter and Juan Nieves had been hired as pitching coach and assistant pitching coach, respectively. These new faces join two holdovers from Ron Gardenhire’s staff — first base coach Ramon Santiago and quality control coach Josh Paul.
Managerial/Coaching Notes: Cora, Rowson, Fuld
Alex Cora’s return as the Red Sox manager was widely predicted and even expected by some pundits, though the club’s managerial search “wasn’t a dog-and-pony show,” a source tells The Athletic’s Chad Jennings (subscription required). Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spoke to a wide range of candidates, and as Jennings writes, “the feeling within the organization was, if Bloom wanted someone else, ownership would support that choice.” There was even some sentiment that Cora was initially only included in the search as “a courtesy interview,” though Bloom increasingly became convinced that Cora was the best choice to lead the club going forward.
More coaching-related notes from around baseball…
- Marlins bench coach James Rowson was the third finalist for Boston’s managerial job, Jennings writes. It was already reported that Cora and Phillies director of integrative baseball performance Sam Fuld were the other two finalists (and perhaps the top two choices) for the position, though it wasn’t known whether Rowson or Pirates bench coach Don Kelly was the other candidate to make the final cut.
- Rowson’s future still looks bright, however, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that Marlins “officials are intrigued” by their bench coach as a potential manager of the future. Miami hired Rowson as their bench coach and something of an organizational hitting coordinator a year ago, following Rowson’s past stints as a hitting coach for the Twins and Cubs and multiple years working as a hitting instructor in the Yankees’ farm system. Of course, the Marlins already have a manager in Don Mattingly, though Mattingly’s contract is only guaranteed through the 2021 season (with a club option for 2022). It certainly doesn’t seem like Mattingly is in danger of being replaced any time soon, both due to Miami’s success last season and, as Rosenthal puts it, “it’s difficult to imagine them making a move with Mattingly and paying two managers at once.” However, Mattingly is one of the few holdovers remaining from Jeffrey Loria’s ownership, so Derek Jeter could want a hand-picked manager in charge if he feels the Marlins have fully turned the corner on their rebuild.
- Fuld may not have been the choice as Red Sox manager, but Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe wonders if the team’s interest in Fuld could make him a candidate to be the team’s next bench coach. Fuld has never worked as a coach or manager at either the MLB or minor league levels, as his post-playing career has been spent in his current role with the Phillies. If not Fuld as bench coach, the Sox could promote from within their current coaching staff, with Abraham suggesting Ramon Vazquez or Carlos Febles as potential candidates.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read the transcript of this morning’s live baseball chat.
Latest On The Universal DH
After the designated hitter was used in both leagues in 2020, it remains to be seen if the National League will again have a DH next season or if NL pitchers will get one more crack at the plate. Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said that all rule changes made for the 2020 season wouldn’t carry through to 2021, and such ideas like a universal DH would have to be settled with input from both the league and the players’ union.
There has been some level of discussion on this front, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan writes, with Major League Baseball offering the players implementation of the DH in both the National and American Leagues in exchange for the MLBPA signing off on an expanded playoff structure in 2021.
As Passan puts it, “understandably, the players don’t find that to be a particularly equitable trade.” Bringing the DH to both leagues would open up more employment opportunities and contract money for position players, as NL teams would need to address their lineup depth and veteran players with less defensive mobility would suddenly have more options. That said, the money available in an expanded DH market pales in comparison to the potential tens of millions in extra revenue the league would generate in TV revenue from extra playoff games. The format for this expanded postseason isn’t known; Manfred has floated the idea of a 14-team postseason in the past, rather than the 16-team format used in 2020.
It has long been assumed that the universal DH would eventually be implemented, perhaps as soon as the 2022 season since the current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the Players Association is up after the 2021 campaign. However, with those CBA talks looming, negotiating even a one-year issue like a DH for the 2021 season inevitably leads into the tangled web of bigger-picture talks, like an expanded postseason.
This being said, the league’s offer may have been something of an “aim high” initial attempt just to see if the players would bite. Some executives tell Passan that they think the NL will have the designated hitter next season, with the MLBPA agreeing to a concession that isn’t more playoff teams.
Phillies Acquire Rodolfo Sanchez From Rays
The Phillies and Rays have completed their August 18 trade that sent Edgar Garcia to Tampa Bay, as the Phillies announced the acquisition of player-to-be-named-later Rodolfo Sanchez.
A 20-year-old right-hander, Sanchez was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2016. While not seen as a top-30 prospect in Tampa’s farm system, Sanchez has some solid numbers thus far in this pro career, posting a 3.03 ERA, 3.28 K/BB rate, and 8.6 K/9 over 160 1/3 innings. 63 1/3 of those innings came at the lower A-ball level in 2019, as Sanchez was used exclusively as a starting pitcher for an entire season.
Garcia ended up with a 10.80 ERA over 3 1/3 innings and four appearances with the Rays, getting touched for three runs in an inning’s worth of work against the Yankees on August 31. That marked his last MLB appearance of the season, as the Rays soon optioned Garcia down to their alternate training site.
Mariners Re-Sign Matt Magill, Gerson Bautista, Brady Lail
The Mariners have agreed to sign right-handers Matt Magill, Gerson Bautista, and Brady Lail to minor league contracts, The Athletic’s Corey Brock reports (Twitter link). All three pitchers were outrighted off Seattle’s 40-man roster following the season.
Magill entered the season as a candidate to become the Mariners’ closer, following a solid performance (3.94 ERA, 10.1 K/9, 2.79 K/BB rate) over 107 1/3 innings for the Twins and Mariners in 2018-19. As it happened, Magill’s only two save opportunities of 2020 resulted in blown saves, and the only two poor outings of his season — Magill tossed nine scoreless innings over nine of his appearances, and seven earned runs over 1 1/3 innings in those two blown saves, working out to a somewhat misleading 6.10 ERA for the season.
Shoulder surgery cut Magill’s season short in mid-September, and it’s quite possible that his injury played a role in those two blown saves, given that they both occurred within Magill’s final three games of 2020. Magill is expected to be healthy and ready in time for the start of Spring Training. He was eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, projected to earn somewhere between $700-$800K depending on how arb salaries are calculated this offseason.
Bautista didn’t pitch at all in 2020 due to a flexor strain in his elbow, and he also missed significant time due to a pec injury in 2019. The hard-throwing righty still has only 13 1/3 big league innings under his belt, all with the Mets and Mariners in 2018-19. Bautista is best known for being one of the five players acquired by the Mariners in the huge blockbuster trade in December 2018 that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to New York.
Claimed off waivers from the White Sox in August, Lail posted a 4.41 ERA, 1.71 K/BB rate, and 6.6 K/9 over 16 1/3 combined innings for Seattle and Chicago last season. Originally an 18th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2012 draft, Lail’s eight seasons in New York’s farm system resulted in one MLB appearance before he was let go after the 2019 season.
Ryon Healy Elects Free Agency
Brewers infielder Ryon Healy has rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A and has elected to become a free agent, the team announced. This is the second straight winter that Healy has made such a decision, opting to enter free agency last offseason when the Mariners outrighted him off their 40-man roster.
Healy signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee last December and ended up playing four big league games during the 2020 regular season, though Healy was also the Brewers’ starting designated hitter in Game 2 of their wild card series against the Dodgers. Injuries (most notably to Ryan Braun) and a lack of hitting depth on the Brewers’ roster led to Healy’s unexpected playoff duty, and he went 0-for-3 in what ended up being Milwaukee’s last game of 2020.
It wasn’t long ago that Healy was a potential building block piece by the Mariners, who acquired him from the A’s in the 2017-18 offseason. He couldn’t build on the promising numbers he posted in Oakland, however, and simply couldn’t consistently get on base against Major League pitching. Over 1606 career plate appearances in the big leagues, Healy has hit .261/.298/.450 with 69 home runs. He was also significantly hampered by injuries in 2019, undergoing hip surgery in August of that year.
Pirates Re-Sign Andrew Susac
The Pirates have signed catcher Andrew Susac to a new minor league deal, Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle reports. Susac initially signed a minors contract with the Bucs last January and was outrighted off Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster following the season.
Susac ended up appearing in a single game for the Pirates in 2020, marking his first big league action since the 2018 season (he spent 2019 with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate). In 304 plate appearances over parts of six MLB seasons, Susac has hit .219/.286/.371 with seven home runs.
With Susac back in the fold, the Pirates have retained some veteran catching depth as they go through that could be a semi-overhaul of their options behind the plate. Pittsburgh already claimed Michael Perez from the Rays earlier this week and the arbitration-eligible John Ryan Murphy and Luke Maile both look like non-tender candidates. Jacob Stallings (also eligible for arbitration for the first time) was the Pirates’ starting catcher in 2020 and looks like the favorite for regular duty next year.
