The Opener: Arbitration, Lefty Relief, Rays
With all pitchers and catchers for all 30 clubs set to report for Spring Training by the end of today, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:
1. Arbitration Hearings End Today
Arbitration hearings are set to come to a close today. Yesterday, Ji-Man Choi went to a hearing against the Pirates, according to the Associated Press. Choi’s hearing comes on the heels of decisions in favor of Luis Rengifo and Harold Ramirez, but against Ryan Helsley and Josh Rojas. Choi filed for a salary in 2023 of $5.4MM while Pittsburgh countered with $4.65MM. Choi is a free agent after the 2023 season, so the coming decision won’t have much impact on his future earnings beyond 2023. Choi joins four other players in waiting for a decision on their 2023 salary, while two final hearings are set to take place today for Cardinals lefty Genesis Cabrera and Mariners outfield Teoscar Hernandez.
2. What’s next for the lefty relief market?
Yesterday Matt Moore landed with the Angels on a one-year deal, just a few days after Andrew Chafin signed with the Diamondbacks. Even with the top two lefty relief free agents now off the board, though, there’s plenty of interesting options remaining for clubs seeking lefty relief help. Both Will Smith and Brad Hand have faced some struggles in recent years, though each still touts years of late-inning experience and encouraging recent performance. Hand enjoyed a bounce-back season with the Phillies last year following a difficult 2021 season, while Smith improved considerably down the stretch in 2022 following a trade to the Astros.
Zack Britton is another name of particular interest, given his legacy as one of the longest-standing best relievers in baseball, but injuries have held him back in recent years. Since Opening Day 2021, Britton has thrown just 19 innings with an ERA of 6.16 (72 ERA+). Britton held a January showcase for interested teams and then worked out for six specific clubs earlier this week. The teams in attendance were the Angels, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, and Rangers, though with the Angels landing Moore, it’s possible their interest has waned.
3. Rays FanFest Tomorrow
The Rays are hosting Rays FanFest at Tropicana Field tomorrow. The free fan event is set to run from 11am to 3pm local time, with Rays players in attendance, games, and a stage show. The FanFest comes at the end of what was a somewhat quiet offseason for the Rays, with Zach Eflin standing as their lone major addition. Meanwhile, longtime center fielder Kevin Kiermaier departed for the division rival Blue Jays, Choi was traded to the Pirates, and Ryan Yarbrough was non-tendered. Despite minimal roster turnover, the Rays did add a bright spot to their offseason in recent weeks by agreeing to extensions with Yandy Diaz, Jeffrey Springs, and Pete Fairbanks.
Phillies Extend Jose Alvarado
The Phillies have signed lefty reliever Jose Alvarado to a three year contract, per a team announcement. The deal keeps Alvarado in Philadelphia through at least the 2025 season, and includes a club option for 2026. Alvarado is represented by OL Baseball Group.
According to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase, Alvarado will earn $9MM in each of the 2024 and 2025 seasons, with a $50K signing bonus. The 2026 club option is for $9MM, with a $500k buyout. Alvarado and the club already agreed to a $3.45MM salary for 2023 to avoid arbitration, effectively making this three-year, $22MM contract a two-year, $18.55MM extension. Still, it’s a three-year contract for luxury tax purposes, meaning the Phillies will be taxed on a $7.33MM AAV for 2023, as opposed to the previous $3.45MM figure. On the other hand, this also lowers the tax figure for 2024 and 2025 seasons compared to the $9.275MM figure it would have been if structured as a two year deal.
Alvarado, 28 in May, is coming off a phenomenal 2022 season that saw him post a 3.18 ERA across 51 innings of work. While that figure is good for a solidly above-average ERA+ of 129, digging a little deeper reveals that Alvarado posted a dazzling 1.92 FIP last season, the fourth best in baseball, minimum 50 innings pitched. The discrepancy between Alvarado’s run prevention and his underlying metrics likely comes from an inflated .340 BABIP that stands well above his career .302 mark. The rare lefty who can touch triple digits with his fastball, Alvarado’s success came in large part from a 37.9% strikeout rate, which stood as 7th in baseball among those with at least 50 IP.
Alvarado’s success came from more than just strikeouts, however. As a sinkerballer, Alvarado also managed to keep the ball on the ground at and impressive 56.1% clip. Only Jhoan Duran of the Twins had a higher groundball rate while striking out at least 30% of batters faced, while no pitcher who struck out batters at a higher clip than Alvarado induced grounders at a rate of even 50%. That mix of strikeouts and groundballs is a strong recipe for success, and by signing Alvarado long term, the Phillies are indicating confidence in his ability to continue his success past his 30th birthday.
Early in the offseason, the top end of the free agent market exploded, with Robert Suarez and Rafael Montero signing early for surprising guarantees in re-signing with their previous clubs. Suarez secured $46MM from the Padres, while Montero received $34.5MM from the Astros. Taylor Rogers, meanwhile, landed a $33MM guarantee in San Francisco. Those figures all outstrip Alvarado’s guarantee by a considerable amount, but the $18.55MM in new money surpasses the guarantees of free agent lefties who signed later this offseason such as Matt Strahm ($15MM), Andrew Chafin ($6.25MM), and Matt Moore, ($7.55MM). Given how Alvarado’s deal stacks up well against fellow relievers in his service bracket like Ryan Pressly, Huston Street, and Daniel Bard, taking this deal is an understandable decision for him. While there’s risk he continues to dominate as he did in 2022, the Phillies are risking that his struggles with injuries and command resurface from earlier in his career and limit his abilities going forward.
This is the second extension at the back of the Phillies’ bullpen in as many days, as the club agreed to a deal Seranthony Dominguez yesterday that could keep Dominguez in Philadelphia through the 2025 season. With these deals, the Phillies have locked up a pair of exciting, high-octane arms who can be penciled in for late inning duties alongside Strahm and Gregory Soto for the next few seasons. Having also also added Craig Kimbrel to their late inning mix for the 2023 season last month, the Phillies appear to have turned a bullpen that has long been considered an area of weakness for the club into a strength as they attempt to return to the World Series after last year’s surprise postseason run.
Phillies Extend Seranthony Dominguez
The Phillies and right-handed reliever Seranthony Dominguez are in agreement on a two-year contract to avoid arbitration, according to a team announcement. The deal includes a club option for the 2025 season, which extends Philadelphia’s window of club control on Dominguez by one year. The deal guarantees him $7.25MM, MLBTR has learned. He’ll be paid $2.5MM in 2023, $4.25MM in 2024 and has a $500K buyout on an $8MM club option for the 2025 season. Dominguez is represented by Epitome Sports Management.
The 28-year-old Dominguez and the Phillies had faced a relatively wide gap in the arbitration figures they exchanged, with the team submitting a $2.1MM figure to Dominguez’s $2.9MM submission. He’ll now have his salaries for the next two seasons locked in, gaining some financial security in exchange for control over what would’ve been his first arbitration season.
It’s an understandable trade to make in Dominguez’s case, given the electric right-hander’s lengthy injury history. Dominguez’s sheer talent has never been in doubt. He debuted as a 23-year-old back in 2018 and immediately thrust himself into the mix for leverage innings with the Phillies, pitching to a 2.95 ERA with a huge 32% strikeout rate against a 9.5% walk rate in 58 innings. Brandishing a four-seamer that averaged a whopping 97.8 mph (and a sinker that sat 98.3 mph), Dominguez dominated opposing lineups, yielding a woefully anemic .157/.251/.250 batting line during his rookie campaign.
However, an elbow strain in June of 2019 shelved Dominguez, eventually leading to the discovery of damage in his right elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament. After a visit to Dr. James Andrews, Dominguez followed the recommended treatment of a platelet-rich plasma injection and rehab. After all, given that his UCL injury occurred in the summer, he’d likely have missed the entire 2020 campaign (or close to it) whether he underwent surgery immediately or whether he first attempted to rehab.
The treatment appeared to work at first. Dominguez reported to camp in 2020 and was expected to be ready early in the season, if not by Opening Day. He suffered a setback early in camp, though, at which point a Tommy John procedure was recommended. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the timing of the procedure, pushing the surgery back into late July. He returned to throw just one inning late in the 2021 season.
By the time Dominguez took the mound in 2022, he was more than 18 months removed from surgery and nearly three calendar years removed his original elbow injury. The operation and the time off appeared to do wonders, as the flamethrowing righty looked like his 2018 self, pitching 51 innings of 3.00 ERA ball with a 29.5% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate while averaging 97.8 mph on his four-seamer and 98.4 mph on his sinker. Dominguez’s 14% swinging-strike rate wasn’t quite back to its 2018 levels (an outstanding 15.5%), but he induced chases on pitches off the plate more frequently (32.3% in 2022, 29.6% in 2018) and was nearly every bit as stingy when it came to surrendering home runs (0.71 HR/9).
Now a locked-in member of the Philadelphia relief corps for at least the next two seasons, Dominguez will have the peace of mind both of having pitched a full season since undergoing surgery and also having secured the first life-changing guarantee of his career. He’ll be in the mix for saves alongside lefty Jose Alvarado, free-agent signee Craig Kimbrel and trade acquisition Gregory Soto — a quartet that will give Philadelphia one of the hardest-throwing bullpens — if not the hardest-throwing bullpen — in the sport. And, with Alvardo entering his final season of club control and Kimbrel playing the 2023 season on a one-year deal, it’s possible that Dominguez could emerge as the go-to option in the ninth inning by the time 2024 rolls around.
Even if the Phillies pick up their club option on Dominguez, he’ll still reach free agency in advance of his age-31 season. That’d still put him on the market early enough to land a sizable multi-year deal in free agency, and he’d have that opportunity after already banking $14.75MM over the course of this current contract.
Dominguez’s two-year contract will carry a slightly larger luxury-tax hit than he’d have cost the club by just inking a one-year deal. The Phils are already into the second tier of luxury penalization, meaning they’re being taxed at a 45% clip for any dollars spent between the $253MM and $273MM endpoints on the luxury scale. The $3.625MM average annual value on Dominguez’s deal comes with a $1.63MM luxury hit, rather than the $1.125MM hit he’d have cost them had he inked a one-year deal at the $2.5MM midpoint between their exchanged figures. Nevertheless, the Phillies are nowhere close to the $273MM barrier for the third tier of penalization, which is the most onerous of the luxury tiers, as that’s the point at which a team sees its top pick in the following year’s draft dropped by 10 places.
Angels Sign Matt Moore
The Angels added veteran help to their bullpen Thursday, announcing the signing of left-hander Matt Moore to a one-year, $7.55MM contract. Right-hander Davis Daniel, who’s dealing with a shoulder strain, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Moore is represented by Apex Baseball.
Moore began his career in 2011 as a starting pitcher for the Rays and pitched effectively, even earning an All Star appearance and down-ballot Cy Young award votes in 2013. Unfortunately, Moore missed most of the 2014 season after receiving Tommy John surgery, and struggled to remain effective as a starter following the procedure. In 557 2/3 innings across the 2014-19 seasons, Moore struggled to a 5.08 ERA (83 ERA+) while spending time as a member of the Rays, Giants, Rangers, and Tigers.
These struggles led Moore to Japan, where he pitched well as a reliever during the 2020 season. In 2021, he returned to stateside ball, but struggled once again in a swing role for the Phillies, posting a 6.29 ERA (67 ERA+) in 73 innings. The following offseason, Moore had to settle for a minor league contract with the Rangers, who he had previously pitched for during the 2018 season. That minors deal proved to be a stroke of genius by the Rangers front office, as Moore posted an astonishing 1.95 ERA (203 ERA+) across 74 innings in 2022.
Moore’s extreme success last season wasn’t entirely supported by his peripherals. He allowed a BABIP of just .257, nearly 40 points below his career norms, and his FIP came in more than a full run higher than his ERA. That same FIP is still a strong 2.98, however, and many underlying metrics reveal plenty of reason for optimism about Moore’s future headed into his age-34 season. His fastball gained an average of 1.5 mph in velocity in 2022, which allowed Moore to rack up far more strikeouts than he had previously. In 2021, Moore struck out just 18.9% of batters faced, but 2022 saw that figure climb all the way to 27.3%.
In addition, his began to allow much weaker contact in 2022, with his hard contact rate dropping from 35.5% all the way to 22.5% while his soft contact rate leapt from 14.3% up to 22%. Striking out batters at a clip similar to that of Luis Castillo (27.2% strikeout rate) while generating nearly as much weak contact as Max Scherzer (22.7% soft contact rate) is certainly a recipe for success, so it’s easy to see why the Angels would want to add Moore to their mix at the back of a bullpen that currently features Carlos Estevez, Ryan Tepera, and Aaron Loup among its top options.
With that being said, the Halos are almost certainly hoping they can find a way to help their new reliever limit his walks. Moore’s walk rate of 12.5% was third worst in the majors among all pitchers with at least 70 innings pitched, ahead of just Yusei Kikuchi and Caleb Smith. Moore’s sensational 2022 proves that if you can strike batters out at an elevated clip while limiting hard contact it’s still possible to have success even when you walk too many batters, as does the success of pitchers like Jorge Lopez and Dylan Cease. Nonetheless, Moore’s penchant for allowing free passes puts more pressure on the rest of his skills to hold up at their current top-tier levels if he’s going to remain among the best relievers in the game, as he was in 2022.
Moore’s signing continues what has been a fairly aggressive offseason from the Angels. While the club didn’t sign a marquee free agent or swing a blockbuster trade, they’ve added much-needed depth to a roster that already had plenty of star power and made important upgrades to almost every position on the roster. Moore and fellow free-agent acquisition Estevez strengthen the bullpen, while the signing of Tyler Anderson improves the rotation. Meanwhile, the lineup is bolstered by the additions of Hunter Renfroe, Gio Urshela, and Brandon Drury.
The Halos still have an uphill battle in the AL West this year, as the 2022 World Series champion Astros don’t appear to be slowing down, the Mariners are still on the upswing, and the Rangers had a second straight offseason full of splashy additions. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Moore makes the Angels better, even in spite of his age, walk rate, and lacking track record prior to 2022. If he manages to have a season resembling the one he had last year again, it’s easy to see a world where Angels fans no longer miss old closer Raisel Iglesias, who was sent to Atlanta at last year’s trade deadline.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the Angels and Moore were nearing an agreement. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported it was a one-year contract.
The Opener: Arb Update, Pitchers And Catchers, Player Chat
After a very busy morning on the second day of Spring Training, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Arbitration Hearings Continue
Yesterday saw both Brewers ace Corbin Burnes and Royals right-hander Brady Singer lose to their clubs in arbitration hearings, giving clubs five wins over the players against three losses. Meanwhile, Angels infielder Gio Urshela, Diamondbacks infielder Josh Rojas, and Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley all had hearings yesterday, according to the Associated Press. That group joins a group of seven players waiting for a decision following their hearings, with four others still potentially waiting for a hearing ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for arbitration hearings.
Urshela filed at $10MM in his final trip through arbitration, while the Angels countered with $8.6MM. Helsley and Rojas, on the other hand, are both arbitration-eligible for the first time in 2023, meaning that despite facing smaller gaps with their respective teams, the outcome of their hearings will have a more significant impact on the duo’s future earnings than Urshela’s hearing will have on his future earnings. Helsely filed at $3MM to the Cardinals’ $2.15MM figure, while Rojas filed at $2.9MM against the D-backs’ $2.575MM.
2. Pitchers And Catchers Continue Reporting
Yesterday saw a little over half the league’s official reporting date for pitchers and catchers arrive, and after today, Spring Training will have begun for 29 of the 30 big league clubs. Guardians pitchers and catchers do not have their official reporting date until tomorrow. As players continue to filter into camp this spring, previously-unknown injury news, such as that of Frankie Montas and Taylor Trammell yesterday, is brought to light. Additionally, transfers to the 60-day injured list can begin, allowing clubs to temporarily free up space on their 40-man rosters, as the Red Sox did just this morning.
3. MLBTR Player Chat Today
Earlier this week, MLBTR hosted former Yankees pitcher Humberto Sanchez for a live chat with readers, the transcript of which you can find here. Today, MLBTR is excited to welcome former big league right-hander Deck McGuire, who will be hosting a live chat of his own with MLBTR readers later today. McGuire, the 11th overall pick in the 2011 draft, pitched for the Reds, Blue Jays, and Angels during his major league career, racking up 51 2/3 innings over the course of the 2017 and 2018 seasons with an ERA of 5.23. Since then, McGuire pitched in Asia from 2019-2021 before returning stateside for the 2022 season, during which he pitched in the minor leagues as well as the independent Atlantic League. Be sure to tune in at 10am CT today for McGuire’s chat!
The Opener: Spring Training, Burnes, Singer, MLBTR Chat
With spring training now officially underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Pitchers and catchers report:
Today marks the official beginning of spring training, with over half the league’s pitchers and catchers due to report today. Today is the official report date for each of the D-backs, Cubs, White Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Angels, A’s, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers, Mets, Pirates, Cardinals, Rays and Nationals. Every team’s pitchers and catchers will need to report by the end of the week, while the reporting date for position players is early next week, though many arrive early.
2. Burnes, Singer arbitration announcements
Brewers ace Corbin Burnes went to an arbitration hearing against his club yesterday, per the AP. Burnes filed at a salary of $10.75MM while the club countered with $10.01MM. Royals right-hander Brady Singer also went to arbitration with his club, filing at $3.325MM against the team’s $2.95MM. Decisions on both cases are expected to be handed down today, with arbitration hearings and decisions set to continue all throughout the week. Both players will go through arbitration in the future, meaning this decision will have an impact on their earnings beyond the 2023 season. Singer, in particular, is set to make three more trips through arbitration as a Super Two player in his first year of eligibility. Burnes will have one more trip through arbitration next winter before reaching free agency following the 2024 campaign.
3. MLBTR Chat
Yesterday, MLBTR’s Steve Adams fielded questions during a live chat (transcript here). If you still have unanswered questions about the direction of your favorite team as Spring Training begins, you’re in luck, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco will be hosting another chat today at 5pm CT. You can submit a question in advance here, and you can use the same link to check back in this evening and participate live once the chat begins.
Latest On Padres’ Outfield Plans
In comments to reporters (including Kevin Acee of the San Diego Post-Tribune), manager Bob Melvin confirmed his plans for the Padres’ outfield in 2023. After spending all of 2021 and 2022 in right field, superstar Juan Soto will be shifting back to left field, where he spent most of the 2018-20 seasons, for the upcoming campaign. Soto graded out well as a defender in right over the course of the 2021 season, but defensive metrics soured on his glovework in 2022, when he rated as the second-worst defender in all of baseball by Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric with an OAA of -16.
Elsewhere in the outfield, Fernando Tatis Jr. figures to be a regular starter once he has finished serving his suspension for PED usage. Tatis, of course, had primarily played shortstop to this point in his career, but Xander Bogaerts now figures to fill that position on the diamond following the Padres signing him to an 11-year deal earlier this offseason. With Tatis now displaced, he appears poised to get regular starts in right field once he’s eligible to return in late April.
While right field figures to be where Tatis finds most of his playing time, Acee notes the star slugger has his eye on another position: center field. While Tatis is certainly athletic enough to handle center field, having already logged 56 innings at the position in his career, it seems unlikely that he would displace incumbent center fielder Trent Grisham, who won a Gold Glove for his work up the middle in 2022. That being said, Grisham struggled at the plate in 2022, slashing a meager .184/.284/.341 (83 wRC+) in 524 plate appearances.
Given Grisham’s offensive struggles, it stands to reason that Tatis could still slide over to center on occasion, opening up right field for a player like Matt Carpenter, Jose Azocar, or Brandon Dixon. This would make particular sense against left-handed pitchers, over whom either Azocar or Dixon would hold a platoon advantage in contrast to Grisham’s same-handed bat.
For his part, Melvin was non-committal as to where Tatis will play once he can return from his suspension, noting the club has to get through not only Spring Training, but the first 20 games of the regular season before Tatis can play anywhere. That being said, he did admit he could see Tatis moving around the field to play multiple positions as necessary, leaving open the possibility Tatis could get some starts in center over the course of the 2023 season.
Angels Looking To Increase Workload For Top Starters
Angels manager Phil Nevin spoke with reporters (including The Athletic’s Sam Blum) about the club’s pitching plans this afternoon. The Halos have run with a six-man rotation for the past few seasons, and while they could adopt that as a loose framework in 2023, Nevin indicated the team wants to put an emphasis on allowing the pitchers at the top of the rotation- including two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani – to get more action on the mound. Rather than adhere to a rigid six-man staff every turn through, Nevin suggested the club would be flexible in deploying their nominal sixth starter as more of a swing option.
Headed into the 2022 season, the club had few surefire starting pitchers beyond Ohtani, as Patrick Sandoval had started just fourteen games in 2021 while the big pitching acquisition for the Halos that offseason was Noah Syndergaard, who was returning to the mound after pitching just two innings since the end of the 2019 season.
Fortunately, the 2022 season saw multiple impressive performances from Angels starters: in addition to Ohtani improving as a pitcher on his 2021 MVP campaign and placing fourth in Cy Young award voting, Sandoval impressed with a 2.91 ERA and 3.09 FIP in a career-high 148 2/3 innings while Reid Detmers showed flashes of the talent that made him the 10th overall pick in the 2020 draft. Jose Suarez proved to be a capable back-of-the-rotation starter over twenty starts. The Halos also improved their rotation externally with the addition of Tyler Anderson, a durable starter who broke out with the crosstown Dodgers in 2023 to the tune of a 2.57 ERA and 3.31 FIP across 178 2/3 innings.
With Sandoval having proved himself, Anderson under contract, and both Detmers and Suarez looking ready for a bigger challenge, it makes sense for the Angels to try and lean more on their top five in the rotation, especially if it means getting Ohtani on the mound more often. After years of carefully managing Ohtani’s workload in an attempt to keep him healthy, the Angels have allowed him to play more and more, with less firm restrictions in recent years. Considering a more traditional rotation appears to be the next logical step in that process.
Each of those five starting options appears likely to be a substantial improvement over the starts Anaheim’s internal options for a sixth starter can provide. Following his trade to the Angels last summer as part of the deal that sent closer Raisel Iglesias to the Braves, lefty Tucker Davidson struggled mightily in eight starts (36 2/3 innings): a ghastly 6.87 ERA and nearly matching 6.30 FIP was good for an ERA+ of just 60, or 40% worse than the league average pitcher.
Blum notes that right-hander Griffin Canning is fully healthy and partook in a normal offseason after missing the entire 2022 season with a back injury, so he could certainly factor into the sixth starter mix as well. That said, despite roughly league average results in his major league career to this point (an ERA+ of 96 in 209 1/3 innings spanning from 2019 to 2021), Canning has never reached 100 innings pitched in the majors and is coming off a long layoff, so it would be no surprise if the Angels planned on managing his workload carefully during his age-27 season.
Overall, given the relative strength of their starting five, the emphasis on letting Ohtani play without restriction in recent years, and the dearth of quality, reliable options for the sixth starter slot, Nevin’s plan to consider a more traditional rotation in 2023 makes sense. A reliable sixth starter would likely have to come externally, and those options are slim following Michael Wacha‘s signing with the Padres earlier today.
MLB Plans To Enforce Balk Rules More Strictly In 2023
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that MLB’s decision to introduce a pitch clock for the 2023 season will have an as of yet unexpected side effect: stricter enforcement of rules surrounding balks and illegal pitches. In addition, Bob Nightengale of USAToday writes that arguing pitch clock violations will result in an automatic ejection for managers. This decision follows recent decisions to make the “ghost runner” extra innings rule permanent and enforce limits on position players pitching.
This crackdown on illegal pitches is due to the fact that the clock, which allows a pitcher 15 seconds before pitching with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on base, is meant to be stopped at the beginning of a pitcher’s delivery. Passan writes that the league has informed umpires to call a balk (or an illegal pitch resulting in an automatic ball if no one is on base) if a pitcher takes more than one step to the back or side in his windup before moving towards home plate. Certain pitchers have previously used more complicated deliveries involving multiple toe-taps or sidesteps that’ll no longer be permissible.
It’s an increased emphasis that’ll come into play for pitchers working both out of the windup and from the stretch, although a balk call is obviously only relevant if there’s a runner on base. A windup violation with no one on base will lead to an automatic ball. Passan notes the clock stops running for a pitcher who works from the stretch once they lift their front leg.
The league already seemed likely to see an uptick in balks this year thanks to a different rule change: the limitation on pitcher disengagements from the mound. A pitcher is limited to two unsuccessful disengagements (pickoff attempts or simply stepping off the rubber) in an at-bat. If a pitcher steps off a third time and does not record a successful pick-off, the baserunner advances on a balk.
The rules changes will be in effect in Spring Training games, though they’re not implemented for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Any pitchers participating in the WBC will get less time than their peers to adjust and get used to these rule changes than they otherwise would, as the tournament runs during the final month of Spring Training. Pitch clocks have been in effect for years in the minor leagues, however, so a number of MLB pitchers have some experience with those restrictions.
The Opener: Profar, Arbitration, MLBTR Chat
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of those who are celebrating! With pitchers and catchers reporting for most of the baseball world tomorrow, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Profar stands alone.
With Michael Wacha agreeing to terms in San Diego this morning, Jurickson Profar is the last man standing from MLBTR’s Top 50 free agent list back in November. With pitchers and catchers formally reporting this week — and many others already down in their teams’ spring camps — there figures to be some increased urgency for the remaining names to find landing spots (hence recent deals for Wacha, Andrew Chafin, Michael Fulmer).
Of course, the opening of camps could create some new opportunities for the remaining free agents; it’s likely that teams will run into some unexpected health issues in the coming days and weeks. On the pitching side of things, we’ve already seen the Yankees’ rotation impacted by Nestor Cortes Jr.’s grade 2 hamstring strain and by Frankie Montas‘ shoulder injury. The Brewers announced last week that Aaron Ashby is dealing with shoulder fatigue and might not be ready for the start of the regular season. Reds reliever Tejay Antone is out for an extended period to begin the season after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection to address a flexor strain.
None of those pitching injuries will directly impact Profar’s market, but as position players begin to report to camp, go through intake physicals and begin ramping up for the season, new opportunities could come to light. Any corner outfield injuries that pop up in the weeks to come will be worth keeping a close eye on with regard to Profar.
2. Arbitration season continues:
The Angels went to arbitration against infielder Luis Rengifo yesterday, according to the AP. In his first trip through arbitration, Rengifo’s camp filed at $2.3MM while the Angels countered at $2MM. Due to Rengifo’s status as a first time arb-eligible player, this hearing is particularly crucial for his future earnings as arbitration salaries tend to use previous salaries as a baseline. Rengifo joins fellow Angel Hunter Renfroe and a trio of Rays (Colin Poche, Harold Ramirez, and Ryan Thompson) among players waiting on an announcement of the decision after their arbitration hearing earlier in the month. Per the AP, nine more players remain scheduled for hearings throughout the week.
3. MLBTR Chat Today
Do you have any questions regarding your favorite team or the larger baseball world as the 30 clubs gear up for Spring Training and make their last minute offseason moves? MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be fielding questions from readers today during a live chat at 11am CT. If you would like to ask questions in advance, you can do so here. That same link will also take you to the chat when it begins if you would like to participate live.