Click here to read the transcript of this morning’s baseball chat
Rays Sign Sean Gilmartin To Minors Deal
The Rays have signed left-hander Sean Gilmartin to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). Gilmartin’s deal contains an invitation to the Rays’ big league spring camp.
Gilmartin only pitched 2 1/3 MLB innings last season, completing his two-season tenure in Baltimore with a 4.30 ERA, 4.9 K/9, and 4.0 BB/9 over 29 1/3 total frames. After an impressive rookie season with the Mets in 2015, Gilmartin has only tossed 50 1/3 total innings at the Major League level, pitching for New York and Baltimore while also having a brief stint in the Cardinals’ farm system.
The 28th overall pick of the 2011 amateur draft, Gilmartin has yet to make much of an impact in the Show, though he has held left-handed batters to a .251/.312/.339 slash line over the small sample size of 200 plate appearances. The Rays can use Spring Training a chance to evaluate the 29-year-old and see if he might yet be a candidate for their bullpen, or at least be for Triple-A depth given how the Rays like to shuffle relievers up and down from the minors.
Details On Mets’ Pursuit Of Francisco Lindor In December
The Mets were one of several teams reported to have interest in Francisco Lindor back when the Indians are seemingly testing the market for the All-Star shortstop earlier this winter. Jeff McNeil was known to be one of Cleveland’s prime targets in talks with the Mets about Lindor, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) recently shed a bit more light on the “significant dialogue” between the Amazins and the Tribe.
“The Mets aggressively tried to acquire [Lindor] at the winter meetings,” Rosenthal writes, noting that it would “likely” have cost New York a three-player package consisting of Amed Rosario and two prospects. Both this proposal and Cleveland’s interest in McNeil were too much for the Mets, however, and beyond the cost in trade chips, Rosenthal has also heard from some corners that “finances played a significant role” in negotiations.
Lindor’s salary for the 2020 season hadn’t yet been finalized by early December, though MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected the shortstop for a $16.7MM payday in his second of three arbitration-eligible seasons. As it happened, Lindor topped this projected number by agreeing to a $17.5MM deal for 2020, an even healthier raise than expected over the $10.55MM salary he earned in 2019. Assuming Lindor has another outstanding year in the coming season, his arb number for 2021 now looks to fall in range of $23MM-$24MM.
Still, something in the neighborhood of $41MM over a two-year span is more than reasonable for a player of Lindor’s caliber. The Mets were known to be trying to move Jeurys Familia and/or Jed Lowrie in order to create payroll space, and the club hasn’t made any hugely expensive acquisitions this winter, signing Dellin Betances, Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha, and Brad Brach to one-year contracts for a combined $25.6MM in guaranteed money (a total that could rise significantly based on options and incentive clauses in the various deals).
Taking on both a big salary and parting ways with controllable talent like Rosario, McNeil, or prospects was too much for the Mets’ liking, which isn’t an unreasonable stance. McNeil, after all, has been outstanding in his two MLB seasons and Rosario is coming off the best of his three big league campaigns, with the 24-year-old starting to deliver on some of the potential that made him one of baseball’s best prospects. That said, the overall crux of Rosenthal’s piece examines how the Mets are still feeling the impact of last offseason’s blockbuster trade with the Mariners, as the added salaries of Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz (who both struggled badly in 2019) have limited payroll flexibility, while moving top prospects Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn both thinned out New York’s farm system and also made the team seemingly more wary about moving any more of its top minor leaguers.
Had the Mets not swung that deal with Seattle, who knows how the Amazins’ fate could have changed both during the 2019 season or into their business this offseason, as New York could have been more willing to take the jump on a swap for Lindor or another trade target in Starling Marte (though the Pirates also put a high asking price on Marte in talks with the Mets).
To be fair, Rosenthal notes that as great a player as Lindor is, he “was a luxury item, not a must-have” for a Mets club that already had Rosario, plus top prospects Ronny Mauricio and Andres Gimenez coming up the pipeline at shortstop. There’s also the fact that the Indians may not have been “especially motivated to act” on a Lindor trade, as the big returns Cleveland reportedly wanted in any potential deal indicated that the Tribe would only move Lindor if presented with a special offer. The door now appears to be closed on the possibility of Lindor being dealt this winter, as Cleveland addressed their own payroll concerns by trading Corey Kluber to the Rangers.
Talks End Between Mets, Steve Cohen Over Ownership Bid
9:06PM: Cohen released a statement to reporters (including Kevin Draper of the New York Times) saying, “I’m very disappointed we couldn’t work out a deal, but as an eight percent holder I’m looking forward to a higher bid for the team. I want to thank the fans for their support and the respect they showed me and I want to thank Commissioner Manfred and MLB for their support through the process. I gave it my best shot.”
1:54PM: News broke earlier this week that hedge fund manager Steve Cohen was ending his bid to become the Mets’ majority owner, and those reports were confirmed today by no less a source than Rob Manfred. The commissioner told reporters (including the New York Times’ Kevin Draper and the Associated Press) today that “there is not going to be a transaction” between Cohen and the Mets’ current majority owners, the families of Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. As to whether new negotiations could arise between the two sides, Manfred didn’t sound overly optimistic, saying “my soothsaying isn’t great. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
As per Tuesday’s report from Thornton McEnery of the New York Post, the proposed ownership transfer (which would have seen Cohen fully take over an 80 percent controlling share of the Mets by the 2025 season) fell through due to some proposed changes to the deal made by the Wilpons late in negotiating period. McEnery went into further detail about these changes today in a new piece for the Post, writing that the role of team COO Jeff Wilpon going forward was under dispute. The Wilpon family wanted Jeff to remain in his current position “and then maintain a senior role within the organization even after Cohen took over.”
Whether this was actually the key breaking point in talks, however, remains unclear. An unnamed former Mets employee told McEnery it is hard to believe that Jeff Wilpon’s future role would have still been unsettled this late in the process, and McEnery also wrote that “one source familiar with the talks said that Cohen was trying to change the financial terms of the deal.”
Manfred also strongly spoke out in defense of the current Mets ownership group, saying “based on conversations with the buyer and the seller on an ongoing basis, the assertion that the transaction fell apart because of something the Wilpons did is completely and utterly unfair.”
Cohen is still involved with the Mets, as he purchased eight percent of the club back in 2012. There have yet to be any reports or even real speculation about whether or not he could look to divest himself of his share of the franchise entirely, or whether he will remain part of the ownership mix. Likewise, it isn’t known if the Wilpons will continue to pursue a sale of the team, though whatever the future holds, it indeed seems like a Wilpon-to-Cohen deal isn’t happening. As per McEnery, the Wilpons “are upset and angry with the death of this deal coming out in the press and that they are as ready to kill this deal as Cohen is.”
Latest On MLB’s Investigation Into Alleged Red Sox Sign-Stealing
Commissioner Rob Manfred provided an update on Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Red Sox alleged use of video equipment to steal opponents’ signs during the 2018 season, telling reporters (including Ken Davidoff of the New York Post) that he hoped to have a conclusion reached before Spring Training camps open next week. “I’d like to have this over. Investigations are funny. You think you know what the timeline is, but that’s a day-to-day prediction,” Manfred said.
The Red Sox already fired manager Alex Cora last month, a day after the league issued its report about the Astros’ 2017 electronic sign-stealing scandal and cited Cora (then Houston’s bench coach) as one of the primary architects of the now-infamous plan that involved Astros players banging trash cans and making other audible signals from the dugout to alert hitters about what pitches were coming. As per the original report from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal about Boston’s alleged sign-stealing strategies, “at least some players visited the video replay room during games to learn the sign sequence opponents were using,” though the Sox players then tried to simply relay their information after reaching base, rather than using auditory signals.
It remains to be seen what (if anything) the Red Sox investigation will reveal, and if any potential penalties issued against the organization will come close to the punishments levied to the Astros — a $5MM fine, losses of their first two picks from each of the next two drafts, and one-year suspensions to manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow (who were both fired by the club shortly after MLB’s report was released). No Red Sox players, however, will face any sanctions, as Manfred said the players were granted immunity from any punishment in order to get them to speak freely about what may or may not have been going on within the clubhouse.
One other wrinkle from the Astros and Red Sox situations is the likelihood of changes to how teams can access video footage during games. “I think you should assume that before the season starts, we will have new guidelines with respect to the use of video equipment,” Manfred said, adding that “I think we have too much video available in real time right now.”
Giants Notes: Roster Adds, Sandoval, Anderson, Rotation
The latest from San Francisco….
- President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters (including Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle) that he would like to acquire a platoon player before Spring Training camp opens, though not anyone ticketed for something close to an everyday role. The Giants would prefer to give their young players more time rather than block them with a veteran regular, which Schulman feels lessens the chance of a new contract with Kevin Pillar. The team has been already added several veterans as depth pieces in recent days, such as Wilmer Flores (whose multi-year deal hasn’t yet been officially announced), Brandon Guyer, Yolmer Sanchez, and Pablo Sandoval.
- Speaking of the Panda, Zaidi said the 33-year-old is recovering well enough from Tommy John surgery that Sandoval could return to hitting action during Spring Training. It will still take “a month or two into the season” for Sandoval to be ready to throw, Zaidi said, but that would still represent a pretty quick recovery considering Sandoval went under the knife in early September.
- Zaidi also had positive health news about Tyler Anderson, as the left-hander might not begin the season on the 60-day injured list. Anderson underwent knee surgery last summer and was claimed off waivers from the Rockies at the end of October, only to be non-tendered and then quickly re-signed by the Giants in early December. The knee problems turned 2019 into a lost season for Anderson, who pitched only 20 2/3 innings for Colorado and posted an ugly 11.76.
- Manager Gabe Kapler discussed his rotation with the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea on the “Giants Splash” podcast, naming Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Kevin Gausman, and Drew Smyly as the projected top four heading into Spring Training. There was no doubt about the top two names, though Kapler’s confirmation about Gausman and Smyly leaves quite a battle for the fifth starter role among the many other starters (both young arms and more experienced names like Anderson) in camp. As Shea notes, things could very possibly change over the course of camp or the season, depending on injuries, trades, or various pitchers performing better or worse than expected. If the Giants look to deal some veterans at the trade deadline, Samardzija, Gausman, and Smyly all stand out as logical trade chips, as all three hurlers will be free agents after the 2020 season.
Quick Hits: Young, Torre, Int’l Prospects, Leon, Franco
Major League Baseball announced some changes within its baseball operations department, including the hirings of the newly-retired Gregor Blanco and Nick Hundley. Some other familiar names will be taking on new roles, as head of baseball operations Joe Torre will now be a special assistant to commissioner Rob Manfred. Taking over Torre’s former job as the head of the ops department is former right-hander Chris Young, whose new title is senior VP of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy. This portfolio covers, as per the league’s press release, “issues that affect play on the field, including oversight of umpiring, playing rules and regulations, on-field standards and discipline, pace of play and other special projects.” Young has worked for the league since May 2018, coming on the heels of a 17-year pro career that included 1297 2/3 innings pitched over parts of 13 MLB seasons.
More from around the baseball world….
- Some of the top outfield prospects in the 2020-21 international draft class are profiled by Baseball America’s Ben Badler, who also details which teams are expected to sign these players on July 2. The Reds, Pirates, Red Sox, and Rangers are all thought to have seven-figure bonuses lined up for four players from the Dominican Republic, though the Astros are reportedly ready to pay what may be the biggest bonus given to any player in the 2020-21 class — a deal in the neighborhood of $4MM to 21-year-old Cuban outfielder Pedro Leon. Because of his age, Leon is already eligible to sign, though he will wait until the opening of the next July 2 window because most teams have exhausted most or all of their funds from their 2019-20 international signing pools. The int’l market will take on added importance for the Astros over the next two years, as the club’s pipeline of top young talent will be limited after losing their top two picks in both the 2020 and 2021 amateur drafts as part of their punishment for the sign-stealing scandal.
- The Royals didn’t waste time in their pursuit of Maikel Franco, as assistant GM Rene Francisco called Franco the day after the Phillies non-tendered the third baseman, Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star writes. Franco and the Royals agreed to a one-year, $2.95MM deal within a few weeks’ time of Francisco’s early expression of interest, and Franco has since been diligently working with Royals coaches to overhaul his approach at the plate. Rather than the grounder-heavy results that defined so much of his stint in Philadelphia, Franco is putting a particular focus on getting the ball in the air.
GM Ben Cherington: Pirates Planning To “Build,” Not “Rebuild”
There have been persistent rumblings that the Pirates could respond to their disastrous 2019 season by going into a rebuild phase, and that speculation only increased after the recent trade that sent Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks for two longer-term prospects. While changes are certainly afoot in Pittsburgh, a full-scale rebuild isn’t happening, or at least not by new general manager Ben Cherington’s definition of the term.
“If I think about the word rebuild, what comes to my mind is a team that has been doing well that you are taking apart to then rebuild it, and you’re in the process of doing that,” Cherington told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. As an example, Cherington (who most recently worked as Toronto’s senior VP of baseball operations) described the Blue Jays’ thought process following their consecutive ALCS appearances in 2015-16, as “we knew we were going to have to rebuild that roster” of increasingly aging and expensive players.
Just over three seasons later, not a single player from the 2016 Jays remains on the team’s current 40-man roster, yet Cherington said such a drastic overhaul isn’t necessary for the Pirates. “A good chunk of players who were on the team last year will be on the team this year, and they really do have a chance to be part of that next winning team. We’re just trying to build toward that,” the general manager said.
In fairness, Cherington admitted that fans may not share his specific view of what constitutes a “rebuild,” and knows that Pittsburgh supporters simply want to see a winning team back on the field. As we’ve seen in recent years from teams like the Astros, Cubs, and Phillies (or, presently, by the Orioles, Marlins, and Tigers), rebuilds have become most often defined as a strategy that involves a team deciding to overhaul its entire organization in a scorched-earth process that involves trading away all veteran talent and rebuilding around younger players, and subsequently asking fans to be patient through four or five years of losing baseball until the club is again competitive.
This type of total remake isn’t necessary in Pittsburgh, Cherington feels, as “we’re not tearing something down to start over. We are simply taking a team that wasn’t good enough or wasn’t as good as we wanted to be last year, but has a group of players with a chance to be much better, and we’re trying to build on that. If we had made four or five other trades [besides the Marte deal] involving more established Major League players who were on last year’s team, then maybe I’d think about it differently.”
These comments aren’t far removed from the recent statements from Pirates owner Bob Nutting, who said that one of the primary focuses of the new front office would be discovering how to better develop and get the best out of their current players. While adding more talent to the roster is also a chief priority, Cherington may not feel compelled to trade such notables as Josh Bell, Chris Archer, Gregory Polanco, or others if they feel these players haven’t yet reached their ceilings. Of course, payroll considerations will always factor into the club’s decisions, though even if more expensive players like Archer or Polanco are eventually moved, Cherington may prefer to wait and see if either can have bounce-back seasons under the new coaching staff rather than trade them now in what could turn out to be sell-low scenarios.
MLB Hires Gregor Blanco, Nick Hundley As Senior Directors Of Baseball Operations
Gregor Blanco and Nick Hundley have been hired by Major League Baseball as senior directors of baseball operations, as per a league press release. The news would seemingly bring an end to the playing careers of the two veterans, who were teammates on the 2018 Giants, and have 22 years of Major League experience between them.
It was just yesterday that Hundley spoke of negotiations with a few teams and his desire to play in 2020, so while Hundley’s retirement is perhaps a bit of a surprise, the 36-year-old former catcher will hang up his mask and move into a new phase of his baseball career. Originally a second-round pick for the Padres in the 2005 draft, Hundley spent 510 of his 974 career MLB games with San Diego, and also suited up for the Rockies, Giants, Orioles, and A’s over the course of his 12-year career. Oakland was the last official stop for Hundley, as he appeared in 31 games for the A’s during an injury-marred 2019 season, then failed to crack the Phillies’ big league roster after signing a minors deal with Philadelphia last August.
Hundley hit .247/.299/.405 with 93 home runs over 3373 career plate appearances, with an 89 wRC+/91 OPS+ that grades out as pretty solid for a catcher, especially one who usually worked in a platoon or backup role. As with many veteran catchers who have stuck around the sport, Hundley has a good reputation in the clubhouse, and for working well with pitchers and calling games, even mentioned as a potential future candidate to someday become a manager.
Blanco was also a popular figure with teammates and fans over six seasons in San Francisco, as the outfielder went from being an unheralded minor league free agent pickup in the 2011-12 offseason to a big contributor to the Giants’ World Series championship clubs in 2012 and 2014. After three nondescript years with the Braves and Royals and then not even playing in a big league game in 2011, Blanco became a regular in the Giants’ outfield, capable of playing above-average defense at any of the three positions. No discussion of Blanco’s glovework is complete, of course, without mention of his diving grab in the seventh inning of what became a perfect game for Matt Cain on June 13, 2012.
Over 1060 games and appearances in parts of ten Major League seasons, Blanco hit .255/.338/.348 (91 OPS+/93 wRC+) with 26 homers and 122 stolen bases in 3349 plate appearances with the Giants, Braves, Royals, and Diamondbacks. Blanco didn’t play in a big league game in 2019, as he didn’t return to the Show after signing a minor league contract with the Mets last offseason.
The 36-year-old Blanco will now join Hundley within MLB’s organizational hierarchy. As per the press release, Blanco and Hundley will work “as an MLB liaison to Major League Clubs, players and umpires” and “will aid in the administration of on-field discipline and will provide insights regarding on-field rules, initiatives, technology, instant replay and other topics. Blanco and Hundley will participate in MLB’s youth baseball development initiatives in the United States and Latin America, will speak to amateur players at MLB events and will assist in the evaluation of prospective umpires.”
We at MLB Trade Rumors wish Blanco and Hundley all the best in their efforts to help grow and develop the sport, and congratulate them on their fine playing careers.
Cardinals Claim Ricardo Sanchez
The Cardinals have claimed left-hander Ricardo Sanchez off waivers from the Mariners, as announced by both teams. Infielder Ramon Urias was designated for assignment by St. Louis to create a 40-man roster spot for Sanchez.
Sanchez hit the waiver wire last week, when he was DFA’ed by the Mariners to make roster room for Yoshihisa Hirano. The southpaw has spent four of his six pro seasons in the Braves organization, sandwiched between his debut season with the Angels’ rookie ball affiliate in 2014 and a 2019 season spent with the Mariners’ Double-A club.
Sanchez has an unimpressive 4.52 ERA over 517 1/3 innings, though with some solid peripheral numbers (8.2 K/9, 2.25 K/BB rate) and youth still on his side, as he doesn’t turn 23 until April. There isn’t much risk for the Cards in seeing what Sanchez can do in a new system, as at worst, he can be a depth rotation in the minors. Sanchez has started 106 of 111 career games, so a turn to relief pitching could also be explored if Sanchez ultimately doesn’t develop as a starter.
Urias, a longtime veteran of the Mexican League, has spent the last two seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system. The bulk of that time has been spent at the Triple-A level, where the 25-year-old hit .262/.347/.426 with 14 homers over 524 plate appearances. Urias has played mostly as a second baseman while in the Cards’ organization, though he also has quite a bit of experience as a third baseman, and seen some time as a shortstop, first baseman, and left fielder over his nine professional seasons.
