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Undrafted Free Agent Signings: 6/14/20

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With the amateur draft limited to five rounds this year, hundreds of youngsters who would normally have been selected in a 40-round draft are now available to be signed by any Major League team for a $20K maximum bonus.  Many of these players will end up continuing (or beginning) their college careers in the hopes of being drafted in 2021 or beyond, but many will also sign in the coming weeks and months.  Baseball America has a full list of all agreements, and we’ll be highlighting some of the most notable deals here:

  • The Royals signed catcher Kale Emshoff, D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reports (Twitter link).  Emshoff appeared on pre-draft prospect listings from MLB.com (146th) and Baseball America (174th), with BA’s scouting report citing his “plus-plus raw power.”  After missing all of the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery, Emshoff was off to a strong start in Arkansas-Little Rock’s first 17 games prior to the shutdown.

MLBPA Rejects Latest League Proposal For 2020 Season; No Counter-Proposal Planned

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10:46PM: Correcting an earlier report, USA Today Bob Nightengale tweets that there won’t be any counter-offer from the league to the players.

9:12PM: Major League Baseball has also released a statement in regards to today’s news…

We are disappointed that the MLBPA has chosen not to negotiate in good faith over resumption of play after MLB has made three successive proposals that would provide players, Clubs and our fans with an amicable resolution to a very difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The MLBPA understands that the agreement reached on March 26th was premised on the parties’ mutual understanding that the players would be paid their full salaries only if play resumed in front of fans, and that another negotiation was to take place if Clubs could not generate the billions of dollars of ticket revenue required to pay players.  The MLBPA’s position that players are entitled to virtually all the revenue from a 2020 season played without fans is not fair to the thousands of other baseball employees that Clubs and our office are supporting financially during this very difficult 2020 season.  We will evaluate the Union’s refusal to adhere to the terms of the March Agreement, and after consulting with ownership, determine the best course to bring baseball back to our fans.

6:23PM: As expected, the MLB Players Association has turned down the owners’ latest proposal for the 2020 season, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  No counter offer is coming, as MLBPA executive director Tony Clark indicated in a public statement that players will now turn their attention towards preparing for whatever type of regular season Commissioner Rob Manfred decides to impose.

The rest of Clark’s statement…

Players want to play.  It’s who we are and what we do.  Since March, the Association has made it clear that our No.1 focus is playing the fullest season possible, as soon as possible, as safely as possible.  Players agreed to billions in monetary concessions as a means to that end, and in the face of repeated media leaks and misdirection we made additional proposals to inject new revenues into the industry — proposals that would benefit the owners, players, broadcast partners, and fans alike.

“It’s now become apparent that these efforts have fallen upon deaf ears.  In recent days, owners have decried the supposed unprofitability of owning a baseball team and the Commissioner has repeatedly threatened to schedule a dramatically shortened season unless players agree to hundreds of millions in further concessions.  Our response has been consistent that such concessions are unwarranted, would be fundamentally unfair to players, and that our sport deserves the fullest 2020 season possible.  These remain our positions today, particularly in light of new reports regarding MLB’s national television rights — information we requested from the league weeks ago but were never provided.

As a result, it unfortunately appears that further dialogue with the league would be futile. It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where.

As definitive as Clark’s statement is, more last-second negotiations between the two sides can’t be entirely ruled out.  (After all, the owners allegedly weren’t planning to make any further counters after an earlier offer in June, though the two sides continued to swap proposals after that so-called final offer.)  Barring an eleventh-hour breakthrough, however, it appears as though there won’t be any agreement to begin the 2020 season under conditions that both the union and the league could at least tolerate, if not fully embrace.  As such, Manfred can now make a unilateral decision about the length of the 2020 regular season, as was decided back in March in the initial agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLBPA about how to proceed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league’s most recent proposal offered the players a 72-game regular season and 70 percent of their prorated salaries, with the prorated salary number jumping to 83 percent if the postseason was completed in its entirety.  While the offer contained several other details, it’s clear that the issue of prorated salary was the main sticking point, as the MLBPA has steadfastly maintained that they were owed their full share of prorated salaries, as per their interpretation of the now infamously vague March agreement.  Owners, by contrast, have insisted that paying these full prorated salaries would create too much of a financial burden (over $4 billion in losses, by the league’s calculations) given that these games are expected to be played without any fans in attendance.

To say these negotiations haven’t gone smoothly is an understatement.  There has been quite the public war of words between players, owners, and league and union officials in the last several weeks, ranging from social media barbs to controversial interviews to increasingly pointed communiques between the two sides.  None of this back-and-forth has seemingly brought the league and players any closer to a deal, and has largely served only as a PR battle that has brought a ton of public criticism directed at both parties.

As per earlier offers from the league, Manfred could wind up imposing a regular season of roughly 50 games — reportedly all the owners can financially manage given the MLBPA’s insistence on full prorated salaries.  According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), the union wants to see the league’s plans for beginning the season by Monday, as per a letter from union negotiator Bruce Meyer to deputy commissioner Dan Halem.

Should the league’s plans indeed come so quickly, we could be on track for baseball’s return by roughly mid-July, factoring in time for players to ramp up their preparation in a “Spring Training 2.0” camp before beginning what will surely be the strangest season in baseball’s long history.  Even beyond such details as the formats of the regular season and postseason, roster construction, transactions, etc., there is also the looming spectre of COVID-19, and how the league will implement health and safety procedures to best protect players, coaches, staff, and other involved parties.

Player, Pitching Coach Test Positive For Coronavirus

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An unnamed Major League pitching coach and a player on a 40-man roster have both tested positive for COVID-19, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports.  As per Sherman’s sources, the player contracted the coronavirus relatively recently, but there is “belief that he has not infected anyone else involved in the game.”  As for the pitching coach, he is thankfully now recovered after contracting the virus “weeks ago.”

It’s quite possible we might never know the identity of either person, though given what we know about the spread of COVID-19, it’s safe to assume that far more team-affiliated personnel than just these two have gotten the disease.  Some people with COVID-19 can never experience any symptoms and thus don’t even know they have the coronavirus, which puts them at greater risk of unknowingly spreading the disease to others.  Since the league shutdown in March, teams have asked personnel to provide regular medical updates to staff, in order to best manage and treat any potential or confirmed COVID-19 cases.

As Sherman notes, these two positive cases only underline the difficulties faced by the league in figuring out how to keep all players, coaches, staffers, and other personnel as protected as possible during any games played in 2020, no matter how many health and safety procedures are enacted.  While there is no such way to ensure 100 percent safety, there is also the threat of a second wave of coronavirus cases later in the year or even before the summer is out, which could result in renewed wide-scale lockdowns and no baseball whatever.

Orioles Notes: Minor League Pay, Kjerstad, Draft

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The latest from Camden Yards…

  • On Friday, the Orioles announced that they will continue paying the $400 weekly stipend to their minor league players through the first week of September (or what would have been the end of the minor league season).  All 30 teams have publicly committed to paying their minor leaguers through at least the end of June, with clubs such as the Twins, Royals, Padres, Mariners, Reds, Astros, Red Sox, Marlins, and — after some controversy — Athletics all joining Baltimore in keeping the stipend going for the entire season.
  • The Orioles went against conventional wisdom when they selected Heston Kjerstad with the second overall pick of the amateur draft, as Kjerstad was generally projected to fall somewhere in the 9th-12th pick range.  As Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes, the Arkansas outfielder on the team’s radar for a while — area scout Ken Guthrie has known Kjerstad’s family for years and Guthrie took note of Kjerstad’s hitting potential when he was still a high schooler.  The Orioles continued to observe Kjerstad as he developed into a star at Arkansas, with both analytics and pure numbers revealing his improvement at the plate.  “It’s a really special bat in our opinion.  He took some steps forward this year,” GM Mike Elias said.  “I think had he been able to finish that season, he probably would have just continued to cement it.  I think if we hadn’t taken him, he was going to go pretty quick after us.”
  • Of course, signability also played a role in Baltimore’s choice, as Kjerstad might be willing to agree to take less than the second pick’s recommended $7,789,900 slot price.  As per Meoli, the Orioles “explored similar such deals” with other top prospects such as Nick Gonzales (who went seventh overall to the Pirates) and Zac Veen (ninth overall to the Rockies).

Quick Hits: Harris, Nationals, A’s Ballpark, Cardinals

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Nationals assistant general manager and VP of player personnel Doug Harris is back home and recovering after a recurrence of leukemia, the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga writes.  This is the fourth separate time Harris has fought the disease, with this latest incident resulting in a blood transplant, further rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and a 26-day stint in hospital.  This all came as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the medical system and put patients like Harris at an even more elevated risk.  “It was the lowest point in my life, without a doubt,” Harris said, as he had to endure this battle while his family was prohibited from visiting due to COVID-19 restrictions.  “I’m a very faithful person, but it’s tough to understand,” Harris said.  “And there’s people out there far worse off than me.  I never lose sight of that.  But, my goodness, four times?  Come on, man.  It tests your mettle.”

Thankfully, the transplant was a success (all three of Harris’ daughters volunteered blood, with doctors opting for the donation from his middle daughter Sydney) and Harris is now resting at home.  While his daily activities are understandably limited, Harris has been able to join other Nationals staffers in conference calls about how to approach and prepare for a potential 2020 season.  “This has been part of my life. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to overcome,” Harris said. “And there’s a great story that is not finished yet. Not even close.”  We at MLBTR are all looking forward to the next chapters of Harris’ story, and we join the rest of the baseball world in wishing him the best in his recovery.

More items….

  • Athletics president Dave Kaval provided the latest on the team’s efforts towards a new Oakland ballpark, telling Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that the A’s are still “moving forward with” the plan at the Howard Terminal site.  “Right now, we’re just focused on taking it quarter by quarter and seeing how much progress we can make.  We are not at the top of the list [for the city of Oakland] because there are more pressing issues, and we want to be respectful of that as we garner the necessary approvals to move forward,” Kaval said.  It isn’t yet known if the pandemic could result in the project being pushed back from the original target date of the 2023 season, as “the timing of those things aren’t known right now because everything is still in flux,” Kaval said.
  • As for the Athletics’ current ballpark, Kaval told Slusser that the team is in discussions with local officials about how to safely open and operate the Oakland Coliseum under advanced health guidelines.  The A’s already submitted a 67-page document outlining what health and safety procedures will be in place, and approval from Alameda County could come as early as Monday.  When or if this approval is granted, A’s players will be able to begin workouts at the ballpark.
  • The Cardinals have five selections within the first 93 picks of Wednesday’s amateur draft, and seven picks overall during the five-round event.  As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes the situation, “it’s a cluster of picks that allows for some gamesmanship. The Cardinals could use it as a reason to shuffle around bonus money and reach for a pick, to gamble on signability — or play it safe, target predictable picks, and try to get sure things from an unsure draft.”  Whether the club pursues any sort of overarching strategy at all might not be realistic, as assistant GM Randy Flores notes that “in reality, each pick is made in the context of that moment.”  The shortened nature of the draft will also be a big factor in the team’s decision-making, as Goold points out that the Cardinals have traditionally been very successful at finding future gems later in the draft.  On the current St. Louis roster alone, Matt Carpenter (13th round, 2009) and Tommy Edman (sixth round, 2016) were two homegrown products drafted after the fifth round.

From The 31st Round To Three Gold Gloves (And $53.5MM)

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It isn’t often that a 31st-round draft pick even makes it to the big leagues, let alone enjoys a very successful Major League career.  Jake Arrieta, Aaron Judge, Chris Chambliss, Cecil Fielder, Andrew Benintendi, Brad Ziegler, and Hunter Renfroe are some of the most prominent 31st-rounders chosen over the years….except none actually signed after being drafted with these picks, as the selecting teams were taking long-shot fliers to see if they could entice these prospects into starting their pro careers early.

In terms of “proper” 31st-rounders, as in players who actually did sign after being drafted, there are a few notable names in the game today: Brewers reliever Brent Suter, Mariners reliever Matt Magill, and Red Sox catcher Jett Bandy (still in Boston’s organization as a non-roster invitee).  Plus, there is the other noteworthy active 31st-rounder, one who is on pace to become the best 31st-round pick in baseball history.

If you will, the Mount Rushmore of 31st-round selections…

  • Jay Howell, who posted a 3.34 ERA over 844 2/3 innings from 1980-1994.  Howell was a stalwart closer and setup man for many teams, including the 1988 World Series champion Dodgers.
  • Pedro Feliciano, who posted a 3.33 ERA over 383 2/3 innings in parts of nine seasons from 2002-13, all with the Mets.  At his peak, Feliciano was a workhorse who led the league in appearances each year from 2008-10.
  • Travis Hafner, longtime Indians slugger.  “Pronk” hit a whopping .273/.376/.498 with 213 homers (132 wRC+, 134 OPS+) over 4782 career plate appearances from 2002-13, with all but 369 of those PA coming in a Cleveland uniform.

And finally, there’s Kevin Kiermaier.  Hafner and Kiermaier are easily the most accomplished position players to ever come out of the 31st round, with Hafner holding an edge in career fWAR (22 to 17.5) over the Rays outfielder, though Hafner also has the benefit of 583 more career games.  As such, there’s still time for Kiermaier to overtake Hafner as — cue fanfare — The Best 31st-Rounder In Baseball History, which was a wholly unlikely scenario when Tampa Bay selected Kiermaier out of Parkland College in the 2010 draft.

Kiermaier made pretty quick progress through the Rays’ farm system, reaching Triple-A Durham by 2012 (albeit for just a four-game cup of coffee) and then hitting .295/.362/.431 over 571 combined plate appearances at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2013.  That performance earned Kiermaier his first ticket to the majors, in somewhat unusual circumstances.  Kiermaier made his MLB debut as a defensive substitute in the ninth inning of in the 163rd game of the Rays’ 2013 season, a tiebreaker with the Rangers to determine a wild card berth.  Tampa Bay won that game and then the actual AL Wild Card game over Cleveland, with Kiermaier again making an appearance as a late-game placement.

For a Rays franchise that has long been creative in trying to find roster advantages, using a postseason roster spot on the untested Kiermaier was perfectly logical.  After all, who better to serve as a defensive sub than the best defensive player in the organization?  (An honor officially conferred on Kiermaier after the 2013 season.)  While Kiermaier’s minor league numbers were good if unspectacular, he quickly gained notice due to his glovework, which has continued to be the case throughout his MLB career.  He is a three-time Gold Glove winner, as well as the winner of both a Platinum Glove and Fielding Bible Award in 2015.

Since the start of the 2014 season and over 4966 2/3 innings in center field, Kiermaier has 112 Defensive Runs Saved and a 14.8 UZR/150.  Among all other players in baseball with at least 4500 innings at a single position, only Andrelton Simmons is ahead of Kiermaier in both stat categories, with Mookie Betts also leading all players in UZR/150.  Betts’ excellence has come in right field rather than the more demanding center field position, and while I’m not going to make a claim that the amazing Simmons isn’t anything less than the best defensive player of his era, Simmons did accumulate his 144 DRS with the benefit of more than 2000 more innings at shortstop than Kiermaier has played in center field.

Though Simmons had a head start by beginning his career during the 2012 season, that big innings gap underscores Kiermaier’s issues in staying on the field.  From 2016-18, Kiermaier played in only 291 of 486 games due to a fractured left hand, a hip fracture, and a torn right thumb ligament.  He also had a brief injured list stint last season due to a thumb sprain, but overall, 2019 was a pretty healthy season for Kiermaier, as he appeared in 129 games and made 480 plate appearances.

All of these injuries during what would have been prime years surely haven’t helped Kiermaier’s consistency at the plate.  Over 847 PA in 2018-19, Kiermaier was a decidedly below-average hitter, batting just .223/.280/.386 with 21 homers.  These recent struggles dropped Kiermaier to a 98 OPS+ over his career, after he had managed a 107 OPS+ through his first 1734 PA.

To be clear, if Kiermaier is able to hit at even a 98 OPS+ level while still maintaining his superb defense and strong baserunning, he is still a major asset to Tampa Bay’s team.  “Asset” always carries a different meaning to the Rays than to most teams, however, given how Tampa is consistently trying to manage one of the game’s lowest payrolls.  It is also particularly applicable to Kiermaier given his status as one of the few higher-paid players on the roster.

Prior to the 2017 season, Kiermaier signed a six-year extension worth $53.5MM in guaranteed money.  The deal covered Kiermaier’s four arbitration years (he was Super Two eligible) and his first two free agent seasons, plus the Rays have a club option on his services for 2023 that could add another $10.5MM to the deal.  It was a rare instance of the Rays making a sizeable long-term investment in a player; Kiermaier’s deal is still the second-largest contract in franchise history, behind only the Rays’ 2012 extension with Evan Longoria.

At the time of the Kiermaier extension, the Rays were betting that they were gaining cost certainty on a borderline five-tool talent, given the hitting promise Kiermaier showed over his first three seasons.  Fangraphs’ value metric calculates that Kiermaier has been worth $51.1MM from 2017-19, already almost matching the cost of his extension, though he wouldn’t have earned close to that amount via the normal arbitration process.  In a world where Kiermaier doesn’t sign that extension, it’s possible that the always cost-conscious Rays might have simply non-tendered or traded Kiermaier (especially given his injury history) at some point rather than pay his increasing arbitration salaries.

Kiermaier only just turned 30 years old in April, so he can truly get the injury bug behind him, there’s still plenty of time to build on what has already been a very impressive career.  Becoming an elite-level center field defender is an incredible accomplishment for any player — for a 31st-round pick, it is downright astounding.  Kiermaier’s success stands out all the more in a year that will see the amateur draft reduced to five rounds, as who knows how much potential talent could fall through the cracks among the hundreds of players that would have normally been drafted over 35 additional rounds.  While a Kiermaier-esque success story is quite rare, it’s unfortunate that a possible next Kiermaier (or a next Hafner, or next Feliciano, or next Howell) might not even get a chance to get their career underway.

Angels To Pay Minor Leaguers Through June

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The Angels will continue to pay their minor league players through the end of June, The Los Angeles Times’ Maria Torres reports.  No determination has been made beyond June 30, though for now, the Angels’ minor leaguers can count on receiving the $400 weekly stipend for at least the next few weeks.

The news means that all 30 Major League clubs have now committed to paying minor league players through at least June, with the Angels and Athletics being the last two teams on board.  The Athletics had planned to halt the $400 stipend at the end of May, but in the face of widespread public criticism, owner John Fisher said yesterday that the organization would be pay their farm system’s players through the end of what would have been the 2020 minor league season.  “We clearly got this decision wrong,” Fisher said of his team’s initial decision.

Given all of the bad press Oakland received, it isn’t surprising that the Angels also made the call (albeit a late one) to continue the minor league stipend through June.  The question could be why it took the Halos so long to make this choice, especially as several other organizations announced weeks ago that their minor leaguers would be paid through the end of either August or through early September.  The Angels have been more aggressive than most other clubs in cutting costs with the season on hold, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported in May that Los Angeles was making “sweeping reductions in every division of the franchise’s operation except the Major League coaching staff” by furloughing many employees, though these staffers are still receiving benefits through the end of the year and are eligible for grants through a team-sponsored employee assistance fund.

MLBPA Makes 2020 Season Counter-Proposal To League

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This afternoon, the MLB Players Association presented the league with its counter-proposal about how to launch the 2020 season, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter links).  Details of the proposal included a 114-game regular season that would end on Halloween, an opt-out clause that would allow any player to sit out the season, and a potential deferral of 2020 salaries if the postseason was canceled.  Evan Drellich of The Athletic (Twitter links) has further updates, specifying that the 114-game season would begin on June 30, and that an expanded playoff structure would be in place for both the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Players would also receive a $100MM salary advance during whatever type of training camp takes place this summer, as some ramp-up time is inevitably required in advance of the season getting underway.  This $100MM payment is similar to the $170MM advance payment that players received this past March as an advance on their 2020 salaries.  As per the March agreement, that $170MM in salary would be all the players would receive in the event of a canceled 2020 season.  Since both payments are an advance, the total $270MM would be factored into salaries received during any 2020 regular-season games.

A separate total of $100MM in salary would deferred in the event of a canceled 2020 postseason, with that $100MM coming from player contracts worth more than $10MM (before being prorated).  This money would be deferred into two payments, scheduled for November 2021 and November 2022.  Players making less than $10MM wouldn’t defer any salary, so in a sense, this proposal from the players’ union has some very minor resemblance to the sliding-scale pay plan floated in the owners’ first proposal, in that the game’s higher-paid players would be taking more of a financial hit than lower-paid players.  Of course, that is where the faint similarity ends, as the owners’ plan proposed that every player would take some type of a pay cut, whereas the players are still set on receiving all of their prorated salaries, if not immediately this year.

Players who are considered “high risk” candidates for COVID-19 would be able to opt out of playing this season while still receiving their entire prorated salaries.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds that the “high risk” designation also extends to players who have spouses, children, or other live-in family members with pre-existing health conditions.  For players who don’t face a “high-risk” situation but still don’t want to play in 2020, they will receive service time but no salary.

The early response to this proposal is apparently not positive from Major League Baseball’s point of view, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman hears from an ownership source that the MLBPA’s offer is a “non-starter.”  The players similarly rejected the owners’ first proposal just as rapidly, so it isn’t a surprise that the league isn’t immediately jumping on board with the first counter-offer.

The two offers differ greatly enough that the only real common point of agreement is an expanded postseason.  The owners have been particularly keen on ensuring (and getting to) the playoffs as quickly as possible, due to the threat of a second COVID-19 wave and given how much of baseball’s national TV revenue is attached to postseason action.  The players’ offer to defer some money in the event of a canceled 2020 postseason is at least a nod to that possibility, though the league will surely balk at just pushing the financial burden into 2021 and 2022.

The players’ idea of extending the regular season through October also won’t be a welcome idea, as the playoffs wouldn’t be concluded until the end of November.  This also runs the risk of more of the baseball regular season and postseason conflicting with NFL games, which won’t bode well for Major League Baseball in terms of maximizing television ratings.  (Of course, this assumes the NFL season will also proceed as currently scheduled.)  One interesting wrinkle is that the players’ proposal includes a “willingness to consider” — as per Sherman — participation in such “revenue generator” events like the All-Star Game or a Home Run Derby, which could take place during the offseason or even the postseason.

As expected, the MLBPA is sticking to its stance that players should receive the prorated portions of their 2020 salaries over any sort of regular season.  With a 114-game plan on the table, that will mean more salary paid (roughly 70% of the original salaries) for more regular season games, which isn’t likely to sit well with owners who are already claiming to be facing $4 billion in losses if an 82-game season was played without fans in the stands.

The only nod towards salary reduction of any sort would be if a player opted to sit out for non-health related reasons, as that player then wouldn’t be paid.  While it stands to reason that most players want to get back on the field, it can’t be ruled out that a sizeable number of players might prefer to just remain at home.  Even if they or their loved ones aren’t facing any elevated risk of the coronavirus, it certainly doesn’t mean that no risk exists, especially since the simple act of gathering in any sort of larger group increases the chance of contracting the disease, no matter how many proposed health and safety protocols might be in place.

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