Phillies Sign Justin Williams, Four Others To Minor League Deals
The Phillies have signed former Cardinals outfielder Justin Williams to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The Roc Nation Sports client has been invited to big league camp, whenever Spring Training gets underway. He was eligible to sign during the lockout by virtue of going unclaimed on outright waivers and electing minor league free agency at the end of the 2021 season.
Also joining the organization are right-hander James Marvel, infielder Drew Maggi, catcher Karl Ellison and first baseman Joe Genord. There are no Major League Spring Training invites listed for that quartet, though Marvel, who has some limited MLB experience, and minor league veteran Maggi could still end up there down the line.
Williams, 26, is the most notable name of the bunch. The former second-round pick (D-backs, 2013) has been involved in a pair of notable trades in the past — first going from Arizona to Tampa Bay in exchange for Jeremy Hellickson and second going from Tampa to St. Louis as one of the headliners in the Tommy Pham deal. Williams was a well-regarded prospect at all three stops and has had plenty of minor league success, but he’s yet to put things together in the big leagues.
With the Rays, Williams received only one lone plate appearance in 2018, and it wasn’t until this past season in 2021, when he received any kind of real look in St. Louis. The Cards gave him 137 plate appearances over the course of 51 games in ’21, but Williams batted just .160/.270/.261 while fanning in a third of his plate appearances. Williams walked in 12.4% of those plate appearances, however, and when he did make contact, it was quite loud. His 92.1 mph average exit velocity is excellent, and 52.1% of his batted balls had at least a 95 mph exit velocity.
Williams hits the ball on the ground too often, but his penchant for hard contact has been interesting to scouts throughout his minor league tenure. The grounder-heavy output at the plate has limited him to a career-high 14 home runs, but he’s a career .294/.340/.438 hitter in the minors — including a .272/.330/.442 slash in parts of three Triple-A seasons. Defensively, he’s limited to the outfield corners and posted roughly average marks in 294 innings last year (+1 DRS, -0.5 UZR, -1 OAA).
Turning to the 28-year-old Marvel, he’s spent his entire pro career to date with the Pirates organization, who called him up to the big leagues and gave him four starts during the 2019 season. That brief cup of coffee didn’t go well, as Marvel was tagged for 16 runs in 17 1/3 innings while posting just a 9-to-6 K/BB ratio.
Marvel had a terrific minor league season in 2019, pitching to a combined 2.94 ERA in 162 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A, but he was nevertheless passed through waivers at the end of the season. He didn’t make the Pirates’ 60-man player pool in 2020, and he struggled in his return effort in Triple-A in 2021, logging a 5.26 ERA in 131 2/3 frames. Even with that rough ’21 campaign, Marvel has a career 4.45 ERA in Triple-A and a career 3.82 mark through the minors as a whole. He doesn’t throw particularly hard or miss many bats, but Marvel typically registers grounder rates around 50% with low walk rates.
The 32-year-old Maggi nearly made his MLB debut with the Twins last season. However, after selecting Maggi’s contract late in September, Minnesota surprisingly did not give the 11-year minor league veteran the opportunity to get into a game and make that long-awaited debut. It was an unfortunate footnote in a generally dismal Twins season. Maggi, who has ample experience at shortstop, third base and second base, is a career .263/.362/.401 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons and will hope to finally step into a big league game at some point with the Phils this season.
Genord, 25, was the Mets’ ninth-round pick as recently as 2019 but was released last August after hitting .203/.264/.353 in 227 plate appearances at the High-A level, where he was already older than the average competition he was facing. Ellison, 26, went undrafted out of college and has spent two seasons with the independent Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League. He hit .256/.303/.422 there last season.
Latest On Marlins’ Rotation
It’s been clear throughout the offseason that the Marlins are willing to deal from a deep stockpile of starting pitching that is perhaps unrivaled in terms of quantity. The Fish already moved righty Zach Thompson to the Pirates in the trade that netted them catcher Jacob Stallings, and they’re expected to continue pursuing offensive help after the lockout — be it on the trade market or in free agency. With an enviable stockpile of arms, there’s been plenty of speculation as to who might be on the move, and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald lists righty Elieser Hernandez as one possibility. Perhaps even more notably, Jackson adds that Miami isn’t particularly interested in moving any of its top three starters: Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rogers and Pablo Lopez.
On Alcantara and Rogers, that’s wholly unsurprising. Miami just signed Alcantara to a five-year, $56MM extension shortly before the lockout, and the possibility of an Alcantara trade evaporated the moment the ink on that deal dried. Rogers, meanwhile, might’ve had a legitimate shot at National League Rookie of the Year had he not stepped away from baseball for a harrowing month of August, during which his mother was placed on a ventilator after contracting Covid-19 and both of his grandfathers passed away. Rogers, now 24, still made the All-Star team and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting after tossing 133 innings of 2.64 ERA ball.
As for Lopez, he seems more like a potential on-paper trade candidate given that he’s now into his arbitration years and the Marlins have so many up-and-coming arms who could potentially offset his loss. He’s more established than the arms behind him but seemingly a tier below Alcantara and Rogers; that ostensibly would make him valuable enough to help fetch a legitimate bat for the lineup but not necessarily irreplaceable to the extent of the organization’s top two rotation members.
That said, Lopez also missed more than two months with a strained rotator cuff, and the Marlins can hardly be blamed if they’re not open to selling low on the talented 26-year-old. Over his past 160 innings, Lopez has notched a 3.26 ERA with a 26.4% strikeout rate, a 6.7% walk rate and a 49% grounder rate — all very strong marks.
As for Hernandez, he’s also 26-year-old righty who, like Lopez, is now into his arbitration years and controlled another three seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him to earn just $1.4MM this coming season, making him overwhelmingly affordable for any team in need of starting pitching. Of course, Hernandez’s own injury troubles, which have suppressed his innings totals, are the reason that projected price tag is so low. Over the past two seasons, he’s missed time with a lat strain, a quad strain and biceps inflammation.
Selected out of the Astros’ organization in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft, Hernandez was clobbered in his first two seasons of big league action before beginning to find success in 2020. The aforementioned injuries have limited him to just 77 1/3 innings over the past two seasons, but he’s logged a tidy 3.84 ERA in that time while posting a sharp 26.3% strikeout rate and an outstanding 5.7% walk rate.
The problem for Hernandez, in addition to his difficulty staying on the field, has been a penchant for serving up the long ball. Hernandez has surrendered an average of 2.09 homers per nine frames — this in spite of the Marlins’ pitcher-friendly home setting. He averages just 91.2 mph on a four-seam fastball that opponents bashed at a .350/.394/.690 pace this past season. It’s a brutal line for plate appearances that culminate with Hernandez’s primary offering being thrown, but working in Hernandez’s favor is that his other two offerings have absolutely flummoxed opposing batters. In 2021, opponents batted .188/.241/.400 with a 30.6% strikeout rate in plate appearances that ended with Hernandez’s slider. They posted an even worse .167/.211/.333 slash against his changeup, going down in 18.2% of those plate appearances.
A team that believes itself capable of optimizing Hernandez’s fastball could feel there’s untapped potential. Given his heater’s lack of velocity and substandard spin rate, Hernandez will probably always be somewhat homer-prone, but even tamping that down to merely higher-than-average levels (as opposed to nearly the highest in the league) could go a long way toward a Hernandez breakout. Even if he simply continues on as a homer-prone fourth starter with injury concerns, his price tag in arbitration is so low that he’d provide surplus value in that capacity.
Looking past Hernandez, there are still other arms to at least consider. The Marlins don’t seem likely to sell low on Sixto Sanchez when his return from shoulder surgery is still unsettled, but he’s just one of many rotation candidates they have. Jesus Luzardo struggled immensely both in Oakland and Miami last year. Edward Cabrera is a touted top prospect himself but battled command issues in last year’s brief MLB debut. Further down the depth chart are fifth starter candidates like Nick Neidert, Braxton Garrett and Cody Poteet. Top prospects like Max Meyer, Jake Eder (recovering from Tommy John surgery) and Eury Perez would presumably only be in play if the Marlins were poised to land a major name on the trade market.
Just how the Marlins will look to fortify their roster after the lockout remains up in the air. Miami is known to be on the hunt for an additional bat to deepen the lineup — ideally one that can play in the outfield. A center fielder would be most prudent, but the club has previously indicated a willingness to play offseason signee Avisail Garcia in center if a prominent corner slugger can be acquired via trade or signed. If the former route is the path they choose to tread, Hernandez would be a sensible part of a package, but there are so many arms in the system that it’s easy to draw up various permutations of deals.
Rays Made Offer To Freddie Freeman Pre-Lockout
Even as rumors regarding the possibility of Freddie Freeman leaving the Braves have increased since the beginning of the offseason, big-market clubs with deep pockets — Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays — have been viewed as the primary threats to lure him away. However, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that the Rays not only showed interest in Freeman but made him an offer prior to commissioner Rob Manfred’s implementation of the current lockout.
It’s surprising to hear of the Rays even making any degree of play for a free agent of Freeman’s caliber, and many fans will surely poke fun and suggest comically small numbers from Tampa Bay. However, it’s at least worth breaking down the possibility, because when looking ahead at the Rays’ long-term payroll ledger, a massive commitment to Freeman might not be as far-fetched as it sounds.
The 2022 Rays are currently projected by Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez for an $83MM payroll. They’re also expected to field offers for veterans like Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot, Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow, among others, following the lockout, which could drop that number back below the team’s $77MM Opening Day record. The mere mention of “franchise record payrolls” in the $77-83MM range serves to underscore just why fans would mock the notion of a Rays/Freeman match, but look ahead to the following season and it becomes easier to envision.
Beginning in 2023, the Rays only have three contracts on the books. Second baseman/outfielder Brandon Lowe will earn $5.25MM, lefty Brooks Raley is guaranteed $4.5MM, and burgeoning star Wander Franco is owed $2MM. The combined $11.75MM does not account for arbitration-eligible players, and the Rays do have their fair share of names who could elevate the total payroll.
Glasnow, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $5.8MM in 2021, will repeat that salary in 2022 if he doesn’t pitch this year while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Southpaw Ryan Yarbrough will be in line for a decent raise on top of this year’s $4.4MM projection. If he struggles in 2022, he’ll be a non-tender candidate. If he rebounds from an ugly 2021, he could emerge as a trade candidate, given the subsequent raise and the Rays’ considerable pitching depth. Meadows will be due a solid pay bump over this year’s $4.3MM projection, but again, he’s already seen as a trade candidate. Margot is a free agent after the 2022 season.
Beyond that group, the Rays’ arbitration commitments should generally be modest. Yonny Chirinos is projected at $1.2MM this season and will earn a raise depending on how well he rebounds from 2020 Tommy John surgery. Backup catcher Francisco Mejia will be owed a raise, but he’s only projected at $1.5MM himself this year. Ji-Man Choi will be in line for one final bump over this coming year’s $3.2MM salary, but he could very well be moved if the Rays pulled off a shocker and signed Freeman.
In other words: the Rays may have an enormous arbitration class in 2022, but that’s not likely to be the case in 2023. Trades, non-tenders and free agency will subtract from the current group, and the only players set to reach arbitration in ’23 are relievers Pete Fairbanks, Colin Poche, Ryan Thompson and JT Chargois. Notable names like Randy Arozarena, Drew Rasmussen and Luis Patino are on track to hit arbitration in 2024, but at that point the top end of the arb class will have thinned out.
The conventional wisdom behind a small-market club like Tampa Bay being unable to “afford” a mega-deal for someone of Freeman’s caliber is that it’d restrict them from making further additions. Tying up such a large percentage of team payroll in a single player can obviously be hazardous. However, the Rays’ next nucleus already appears more or less in place and isn’t likely to be expensive anytime soon. Franco signed an 11-year, $182MM contract extension and won’t see his salary reach peak levels until 2028 — seven years from now (and, one year shorter than the six years reportedly sought by Freeman).
The Rays’ rotation was something of a patchwork group in 2021, but looking ahead they’re hopeful that a combination of Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz and Patino can lead the charge. McClanahan and Baz won’t reach arbitration until 2025. Tampa Bay has several other high-end pitching prospects coming: Taj Bradley, Seth Johnson and Cole Wilcox among them. The organization likely still has high hopes for oft-injured former top pick Brendan McKay as well.
Looking up and down the lineup, Franco has shortstop locked down, and Brandon Lowe is on a team-friendly deal of his own at second base. Lowe is earning $4MM in 2022, $5.25MM in 2023 and $8.75MM in 2024. The Rays hold club options of $10.5MM and $11.5MM thereafter. If at any point the team believes Lowe’s contract to be unwieldy, he could be flipped in a trade, with top prospect Vidal Brujan stepping up at second base. Brujan could factor into the infield or outfield mix at other positions before then, and Taylor Walls gives Tampa Bay another solid, MLB-ready infield prospect to consider. Top outfield prospect Josh Lowe, meanwhile, seems likely to step into center field before long — perhaps even on Opening Day, if Kiermaier’s contract is moved post-lockout.
Obviously, not all of these players will turn into stars or even regulars, but for the next several seasons, the Rays can build their roster around the likes of McClanahan, Baz, Patino and Rasmussen on the pitching side and around Franco, Arozarena, both Lowes and perhaps Brujan on the position-player side. No one from that group will reach arbitration until at least 2024 (most not until 2025), and the Rays will probably succeed when it comes to persuading at least one or two of their pre-arbitration stars to sign a club-friendly extension. Tampa Bay doesn’t even have $15MM in guaranteed contracts on the books in any individual season from 2023-25 right now — a three-year span that would represent years two, three and four of a theoretical Freeman deal.
None of this is to say that a Freeman-to-the-Rays scenario is likely. Calling it a “long shot” possibility might be charitable, in fact. Tampa Bay will face steep competition from the incumbent Braves as well as a host of large-market teams looking to add a marquee bat to the lineup, and the Rays’ margin for error on a contract of this magnitude is infinitesimal compared to that of a team like the Dodgers, Yankees or even the Braves. But, when considering the Rays’ minimal long-term commitments and the wealth of MLB-ready, pre-arbitration talent they already have in the fold, it’s at least possible to squint and see how they could fit Freeman into the mix — even if he’s earning upwards of $30MM annually.
Fantasy Baseball Chat With Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson has been writing about fantasy baseball for more than a decade and has considerable experience in Roto, H2H, dynasty, DFS, and experimental formats. As an expert in the field, Brad participates in the Tout Wars Draft and Hold format and was crowned the league’s winner in 2020. Brad’s writing experience includes RotoGraphs, NBC SportsEDGE, and right here at MLB Trade Rumors. He’s also presented at the First Pitch Arizona fantasy baseball conference.
We’ll be hosting fantasy baseball-focused chats with Brad every other Monday at noon CT between now and the beginning of the regular season (whenever that is), so mark your calendars for those and feel free to drop him some questions on Twitter @BaseballATeam as well.
Max Muncy On Elbow Rehab, Freeman Rumors
Dodgers infielder Max Muncy missed the 2021 postseason after suffering a ligament tear in his left elbow at the end of the regular season, but the slugger tells David Vassegh of Dodger Talk on AM 570 that he expects to be ready to go whenever the 2022 season can finally begin (link includes audio of the full 13-minute interview). Muncy has already begun swinging a bat and says his rehab has been “progressing well.”
“I’m getting more time to get healthy,” says Muncy in reference to the ongoing MLB lockout, “but I’m not able to work with my guys on the [Dodgers’] staff. I can’t even talk to them, really. I’d probably be getting better treatment if I was getting worked on by them, but that’s just the unfortunate circumstances. It does give me a chance to get healthy, but I’m not getting the full extent of what I could be getting. I think even before the lockout, it was looking like I was going to be possibly ready for Opening Day. I think we’re still on that track right now.”
Although Muncy suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament, he adds that Tommy John was “never really on the table for me,” as every doctor who evaluated him agreed that surgery wasn’t necessary. Muncy notes that the injury was “really bad news, but it was the best bad news can get.”
A healthy Muncy is a vital piece to the Dodgers’ lineup — particularly now that Corey Seager has departed via free agency. The 31-year-old Muncy turned in a .249/.368/.527 batting line last season while notching new career-high marks in home runs (36), doubles (26) and plate appearances (592). With Seager now in Texas and Cody Bellinger in need of a rebound following a disastrous 2021 season, Muncy has become the Dodgers’ most reliable source of left-handed power.
Of course, the rumors connecting the Dodgers to Freddie Freeman have only increased throughout the offseason, and Muncy was more than happy to voice his support for that hypothetical match.
“Imagine how dangerous we’d be if we get him in that lineup,” said Muncy. “It makes me really excited. Maybe it’s not as much first base [for me], but I think I’ve told you several times I enjoy playing second base more. If we get the DH, that’s going to be a rotating position. We’re not going to have one set DH, so that’s a way we can utilize it — to get people off their feet and get them rest days without getting them out of the lineup. I don’t think we’ll have a set DH, but that just means we’ll be rotating all around the field, and that, to me, is when it’s really fun.”
Slotting Freeman into the heart of the order would likely mean more multi-position work for the likes of Muncy, Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux. With the expected implementation of the universal designated hitter, any of those names could see some time at DH, as could third base stalwart Justin Turner. Muncy and Taylor both have a good bit of experience at the hot corner, and Lux notched one game there last year as well (in addition to getting his feet wet in the outfield). It’s all hypotheticals for now, although the general expectation is that whenever the lockout lifts, Freeman will act quickly in choosing his next destination.
Report: KBO’s SSG Landers Request Status Check On Kwang Hyun Kim
The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization have formally requested a status check on free-agent lefty Kwang Hyun Kim, tweets South Korean reporter Daniel Kim.
Teams from the Korea Baseball Organization and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball must formally submit requests for status checks to negotiate with Major League free agents, just as MLB teams must tender status checks on a KBO or NPB free agent if they plan to pursue contract negotiations. At this point, there’s little to indicate that serious negotiations have taken place, but the fact that there’s interest is of note. Kim spent parts of 12 seasons pitching with the Landers — then named the SK Wyverns — from 2007-19 before signing a two-year, $8MM contract with the Cardinals in advance of the 2020 season.
As detailed here recently, Kim stands out as a perhaps unheralded but nevertheless intriguing post-lockout option for big league teams in need of rotation help — if he remains unsigned by that point. Kim dealt with some relatively minor injury issues this past season but has been a solid option both in the St. Louis rotation and bullpen, pitching to a 2.97 ERA with a 17.2% strikeout rate, an 8.4% walk rate and a 48.1% ground-ball rate in 145 2/3 Major League innings.
The extent to which Kim is seriously contemplating a return to South Korea at this juncture isn’t clear. He’s been dead set on continuing his MLB run since the 2021 season ended, but it’d be somewhat understandable if the ongoing lockout and lack of progress in talks at least has him mulling the possibility of returning home. He’s certainly had an odd MLB tenure, as his debut came during the shortened 2020 season (and the strict Covid-19 protocols that were in place throughout that summer) and was followed by a 2021 campaign that still began with limited fan attendance and had plenty of protocols throughout the season.
From a purely financial standpoint, it’d be most prudent to grind out the remainder of the lockout. Major League teams will offer considerably larger sums than their KBO counterparts; players on the very top end of the KBO pay scale generally earn $2MM to $2.5MM annually. Back in December, outfielder Sung-bum Na signed a six-year deal worth roughly $12.6MM total, which marked the largest deal in KBO history. Based on the fact that Kim earned $4MM annually with the Cardinals before he’d had any success in the Majors, he ought to be able to command a decidedly larger sum this time around if he’s willing to wait things out.
It’s certainly possible that Kim could settle for a one-year deal in a familiar setting with his old teammates, then aim for a return effort next winter. However, he’d be 34 years old at that point, and he’d run the risk of an injury or downturn in performance against KBO lineups — either of which could considerably weigh down his earning power.
Central Notes: Bieber, Buxton, Franklin
Guardians ace Shane Bieber tweeted this week that his right shoulder, which caused him to miss nearly half the 2021 season, is back to 100 percent and “has been for awhile now.” He’s been quietly going through his offseason routine as he awaits the resolution of the ongoing lockout.
The 26-year-old Bieber returned to the mound in late September and made a pair of three-inning appearances, which perhaps gave Cleveland fans some relief, but it’s nevertheless encouraging for Guardians fans to hear that he’s been working through the offseason pain-free and with no setbacks. Bieber’s 2021 season was limited to 96 2/3 innings due to a strain in his right shoulder’s subscapularis muscle, but he was quite effective when on the field, pitching to a 3.17 ERA with a huge 33.1% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate. The 2020 AL Cy Young winner will head a Cleveland rotation that’s projected to also include Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $4.8MM salary for Bieber this year, and the Guardians control him through the 2024 season.
More out of the Midwest…
- As part of the ongoing lockout, players are unable to communicate with team staff. But that isn’t slowing Byron Buxton at all. In fact, he may even be getting faster, as a profile from Dan Hayes of The Athletic reveals the Twins outfielder has been working with Appling County High track and field coach Sheldon Pearce. The workouts have multiple goals, as Buxton spent the early part of the offseason adding muscle and doesn’t want that to subtract from the speed part of his game. Furthermore, health has been an issue for Buxton to this point in his career, as he’s only been able to play more than 100 games once in his seven-year MLB career thus far. However, when healthy, he has shown the potential to be one of the best players in the game, as evidenced by his 2021 season, where he hit .306/.358/.647 for an incredible wRC+ of 169, along with nine steals and incredible defense. Although he was only able to play 61 games, he still managed an excellent 4.2 fWAR in that limited showing. Just before the lockout, he and the Twins agreed to a seven-year contract extension that reflected both his tremendous talent but also his unpredictable health outcomes, as it comes with a $100MM guarantee but also a number of incentives that could greatly increase his earning power if he stays healthy and productive over the life of the deal. Twins fans will be delighted to read that Buxton is determined to change the narrative by staying as healthy as he possibly can. “I’ve got a chance (to be in the Olympics) at about 38 if I ain’t playing baseball,” Buxton said. “Seriously, the way that some people run now. You see how old they are. If they can sustain that, I can sustain my speed playing baseball for that long, possibly, as long as you keep your body in the right shape. That’s exciting to me. Everybody said when you get older, you’re going to get slower. For me, I feel like I’ve gotten faster because I’m just now starting to understand how to use my speed correctly.”
- Cubs righty Kohl Franklin threw to hitters for the first time in over a year, per a tweet from Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Lee adds that Franklin hit 99 mph twice, which makes this doubly good news for Cubs fans, as that’s a notch above where he’d been before. Back in December, Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin of FanGraphs placed Franklin 34th on their list of Cubs’ prospects, noting that he “now sits in the low-90s and was up to 95 in 2019.” Unfortunately, the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020 and a combination of injuries wiped out his entire 2021. Despite that, the report from FanGraphs opines that the 22-year-old is “among the likelier rotation pieces in this system when healthy.” As the Cubs have recently transitioned from competing to rebuilding, the ability to develop pitching prospects will likely be a key component of their future, as it was largely absent from the club’s previous decade. The big league rotation, as currently constructed, is anchored by three veterans in Kyle Hendricks, Marcus Stroman and Wade Miley. However, Miley is a free agent after 2022 and Hendricks and Stroman could both be gone a year later. (Stroman’s deal goes through 2024 but he can opt out after 2023, while the Cubs have a club option on Hendricks for 2024.) That will leave plenty of room for Franklin or any other prospect in the system to find a new gear and take over a rotation spot.
Jeter’s Departure From Marlins Tied To Change In Plans For Post-Lockout Spending
TODAY: A Marlins source disputes the idea that Jeter left the organization over a change in future spending plans, The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports. There were several other “issues” between Jeter and majority owner Bruce Sherman, including Sherman’s displeasure at low attendance for home games. Sherman had decided against extending Jeter’s contract and thus the parting between the two sides “was more…Sherman’s decision than Jeter’s,” even if it was portrayed as a mutual decision since “Sherman had told an associate it would be difficult for him to publicly fire Jeter.”
FEBRUARY 28: Derek Jeter‘s abrupt departure from the Marlins organization earlier this morning stunned the baseball world. Jeter’s citing of a “vision for the future of the franchise is different than the one I signed up to lead” prompted plenty of speculation about the team’s spending moving forward, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that a change in spending plans indeed served as a tipping point for Jeter (Twitter link). Sherman suggests that Jeter believed there to be as much as $15MM to spend on the 2022 roster after the lockout, but that outlook “evaporated” over the course of the lockout.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that the Marlins were in serious talks with Miami native Nick Castellanos about a homecoming prior to the lockout. The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans tweets that he’d consistently heard the Marlins were the favorites to sign Castellanos. Those two reports, paired with Sherman’s report, seem to suggest that such a signing is no longer feasible for the Fish. (As an aside, many expect Castellanos to command more than $15MM annually, although the Marlins could have theoretically backloaded a deal to accommodate ownership’s 2022 budget.)
SportsGrid’s Craig Mish tweets that the Marlins are still expected to add to the roster after the lockout, but it seems that perhaps principal owner Bruce Sherman’s vision for the scope of those (and other) forthcoming additions has changed. Discord between Jeter and Sherman has been brewing for a good while longer than just these past couple of months, however, per ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link), who tweets that there was a “growing divide” dating back to last spring. The mounting differences between Jeter and Sherman, Olney adds, were a key reason that Jeter’s ownership stake in the team did not grow as it had been expected to.
Whether there’d been friction between Jeter and Sherman prior to early 2021 isn’t clear, but if that’s where the pair’s visions began to diverge, there’d be a pretty logical explanation for it. Shortly after Sherman and Jeter’s group purchased the Marlins, the Miami Herald obtained a copy of the team’s pitch to prospective investors, including future spending plans. Some payroll reductions were always in the offing, as evidenced by the quick dismantling of an All-Star outfield (Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna), but those moves were made with the intention of ramping payroll back up down the line.
The Marlins’ Opening Day payroll in 2018 sat just under $100MM, but that number dipped to $72MM in 2019 and was again at that $73MM level in 2020 (prior to prorating salaries) before dropping to $56MM in 2021. The revenue losses from that pandemic-impacted 2020 season changed the direction of many organizations (e.g. Reds, Guardians, D-backs), and it’s certainly feasible that Sherman’s own willingness to spend was impacted as well.
To be clear, the Marlins have spent this offseason. Avisail Garcia‘s four-year, $53.5MM deal is one of the largest free-agent contracts they’ve ever handed out, and the team doled out extensions to both Sandy Alcantara and Miguel Rojas while also acquiring Joey Wendle and Jacob Stallings. That said, Miami’s projected payroll for the forthcoming season is still under $70MM, and if ownership sought to curtail available resources for the 2022, as Sherman reports, it’s possible future seasons would also be impacted.
As ESPN’s Marly Rivera reminds (Twitter link), Jeter spoke favorably about his former organization’s front office, noting that the Yankees are always on the hunt to improve. “I’ve said it before, the Steinbrenner family, from the Boss to Hal, they’re always trying to get better, get better, get better, and they don’t hesitate to make big moves,” Jeter said at the time. Yankee fans may disagree in light of the team’s quiet pre-lockout period, but Jeter’s general tenor this past July does not sound like one that would align with a sudden tightening of the purse strings.
Across social media, players have taken Jeter’s departure as what they perceive as another example of the issues they’re fighting for in labor talks with the league. Astros catcher Jason Castro, one of the eight members on the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, tweeted a “Re2pect” message to Jeter and used the hashtag “#CompetitiveIntegrity” as well. As ESPN’s Alden Goznalez writes, players perceive a disconnect between ownership pushing for the status quo in revenue sharing, the luxury tax, etc. in the name of competitive balance and Jeter departing largely because of questions regarding the rest of ownership’s “financial commitment to the roster.”
Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas, the team’s clubhouse leader and unofficial captain, spoke to Jomboy’s Chris Rose today in the wake of Jeter’s sudden departure (Instagram video). “Derek Jeter was looking to win — looking to win this year,” said Rojas. “We all know that in order to be able to win, you need to put a better product on the field, which is what they were doing before the lockout started.”
Rojas praised the team for extending Alcantara but noted that last season, there were virtually no players other than himself on multi-year deals. (Reliever Anthony Bass was also on a small two-year contract.) Extending Rojas and signing Garcia were undoubtedly well-received among the players on the roster, but Rojas expressed questions, doubt and general sadness in speaking with Rose.
“I don’t know about the money situation,” Rojas said after being asked about the Post report that changes in payroll expectation led to Jeter’s departure. “I don’t know about promises of a better payroll or anything like that. I just heard something that they said — that this is the time to take the next step. It’s our time to take the next step in this ‘build’ that they promised. … It was time to make the move to get not just a better team, but better quality up and down the organization. I don’t know what happened.
“…At the end of the day, I have a lot of questions. There’s some things that have to be communicated after this thing’s over, because we as the players, we want to be respected and informed what’s going on. I know not everything is going to be shared with the players, but at the end of the day, you at least want to know where you’re going.”
Rangers Notes: Patton, Hernandez, Engler
Spencer Patton‘s successful return to the Majors in 2021 flew somewhat under the radar, but the 34-year-old righty emerged as a key reliever for the Rangers, pitching to a 3.83 ERA with a 27.9% strikeout rate, an 8.7% walk rate and a 41.3% ground-ball rate in 42 1/3 innings of work. That came on the heels of a strong four-year run with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan and marked Patton’s first big league action since a 2016 run with the Cubs. Prior to this past season, Patton carried a 6.26 ERA in 54 2/3 big league frames.
He’s not yet arbitration eligible, but the contract Patton signed upon returning from Japan calls for him to earn a $1.5MM salary in the Majors this year, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. It’s a split contract, so he’d earn at a different rate in the minors in the event Texas options him out. (Patton does have one minor league option remaining.) The Rangers may yet add to the bullpen after the lockout lifts, but Patton has likely solidified on the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, barring injury or something unforeseen in whatever iteration of Spring Training is pieced together. Patton, Joe Barlow, Brett Martin and Josh Sborz all look like they have the inside track on Opening Day bullpen jobs, and the Rangers will hope to get hard-throwing righties Jose Leclerc and Jonathan Hernandez back from Tommy John surgery before too long, as well.
Some more notes on the Rangers…
- Speaking of Hernandez, the right-hander tweeted last week that he’s begun throwing off a mound for the first time since undergoing that Tommy John procedure. Hernandez sustained what was described as a “low-grade” tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow early in 2021 Spring Training and was shut down for a four-week period of rest. Doctors seemingly didn’t see enough improvement following that shutdown, as he underwent surgery on April 12 of last year. The 25-year-old Hernandez had a big showing with Texas during the shortened 2020 season, pitching to a 2.90 ERA with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 45.7% grounder rate in 31 innings. Hernandez averaged 96.7 mph on his heater that summer and posted a strong 13.9% swinging-strike rate as well. He’s had trouble with command in the past, particularly in 2019 when he walked one of every six hitters he faced in his big league debut (16 2/3 innings). He pairs that power fastball with a plus slider, however, and if he can sustain the improved command he showed in 2020, he’d quickly emerge as a high-end bullpen piece for manager Chris Woodward.
- One name who might’ve emerged in the bullpen mix, Scott Engler, won’t be pitching at all in 2022, tweets Jeff Wilson. The 25-year-old righty underwent Tommy John surgery on Monday this week, ruling him out of the team’s immediate plans. A 16th-round pick in 2016, Engler split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching to a combined 3.71 ERA with a 28.2% strikeout rate, a 10.6% walk rate and a 48.5% ground-ball rate. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote last May that Engler has a plus splitter with so much drop that it can at times be mistaken for a curveball. The surgery figures to sideline Engler into the early stages of the 2023 season, but based on his upper-level experience and relative success, he could find himself in the bullpen mix next year.
Blue Jays Sign Eric Stamets To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed shortstop Eric Stamets to a minor league contract, per an announcement from his agents at MSM Sports (Twitter link). Stamets spent last season in the Rockies’ minor league system and became a minor league free agent at season’s end, which made him eligible to sign even during the ongoing lockout.
Stamets, 30, has 15 games of big league experience, all coming with Cleveland back in 2019, when he was their Opening Day shortstop. (Francisco Lindor was on the injured list due to a calf strain.) Stamets struggled through a prolonged 2-for-41 slump to begin the season, however, and was back in Triple-A Columbus by mid-April. Stamets hit .244/.312/.379 in Columbus over the remainder of that season and was eventually removed from the 40-man roster after the trade deadline had passed.
Stamets reached minor league free agency in the 2019-20 offseason and signed a minor league deal with the Rockies, who brought him back for a second season in 2021. He hit .168/.283/.319 in 139 plate appearances in Colorado’s system last year and is a career .223/.295/.371 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons overall.
While Stamets obviously doesn’t have a strong offensive track record, Baseball America twice rated him the fastest runner and the best defensive infielder in the Angels’ system early in his pro career. He’s been successful in 85.2% of his professional stolen base attempts and is generally regarded as an excellent defensive shortstop who can also handle second base and third base.
The Jays’ infield currently has Bo Bichette at shortstop, and Cavan Biggio is ticketed for regular reps at either second or third base (more likely the former). Santiago Espinal is the current favorite to see time at third base, while infielders Kevin Smith and Otto Lopez could both vie for bench jobs whenever the season gets underway.
Toronto is generally expected to look into additional help in the infield, as evidenced by their reported pursuit of Corey Seager (before he signed in Texas) and their rumored interest in A’s third baseman Matt Chapman (among other trade possibilities). Stamets is likely seen as some upper-level infield depth, but he’d give them plenty of speed and defense off the bench if he earns a bench spot at some point. Any further infield additions would likely push Espinal into a bench role.