Twins, Derek Fisher Agree To Minor League Deal
The Twins have agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent outfielder Derek Fisher, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 SKOR North. The former Astros top prospect will presumably be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Fisher was eligible to sign a minor league deal amid the MLB lockout by virtue of the fact that he was not on a Major League roster or 60-day injured list at season’s end. (The Brewers outrighted him to Triple-A in June.)
Now 28 years old, Fisher was the No. 37 overall pick by the Astros back in 2014. MLB.com ranked him among the sport’s top 100 prospects heading into the 2017 season after he posted a .290/.347/.505 batting line in his Triple-A debut in 2016. He struggled in his MLB debut that year but posted even better numbers in subsequent stints at Triple-A in 2017 and 2018. Fisher still carried enough promise in 2018 that the Blue Jays acquired him as the centerpiece in the trade that sent Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini to Houston, but things didn’t pan out for Fisher in Toronto either.
Fisher has now seen action in parts of five MLB seasons with the Astros, Blue Jays and Brewers but managed only a .195/.285/.387 batting line. He has above-average power and excellent speed, evidenced by 35 extra-base hits (17 homers, 12 doubles, six triples) and 10 steals in just 466 plate appearances. He’s also drawn a walk in 10.7% of those plate appearances, but his overall production is weighed down by a sky-high 35.4% strikeout rate. When Fisher does make contact, it’s typically loud (91.2 mph average exit velocity, 42.3% hard-hit), but the punchouts have simply been too plentiful.
The Twins’ outfield is full after Byron Buxton signed a seven-year extension prior to the lockout. He’ll be flanked by right fielder Max Kepler and a combination of promising youngsters Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach — both of whom come with some uncertainty. Kirilloff, a former first-round pick and top-15 overall prospect in MLB, attempted to play through a torn tendon in his wrist for most of the his time on the active roster in 2021 before ultimately succumbing to season-ending surgery. Larnach, also a former first-rounder and a former top-50 prospect, had just 43 Double-A games under his belt when he was called up out of necessity. He hit the ground running in Minnesota, batting .262/.341/.455 through his first 50 games. However, he posted just a .442 OPS over his next 29 games before being sent back down, dropping his overall batting line to .223/.322/.350.
Like Kepler, Kirilloff and Larnach, Fisher is a left-handed hitter. He’s played all three outfield spots in the big leagues, albeit sparingly in center, with just 91 innings. Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating peg him as a quality left fielder, but scouting reports have never been enamored of his throwing arm, so he’s best-suited for reps in left field. Should the Twins wish to ease Kirilloff and/or Larnach back into the season in Triple-A, that’s where Fisher would project to spend time anyhow. If he doesn’t make the club, he’ll head to Triple-A St. Paul and give the Twins an experienced depth option.
Yankees, Ender Inciarte Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have a minor league deal in place with center fielder Ender Inciarte, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com (hat tip: Lindsey Adler of The Athletic, on Twitter). Their transaction log also indicates that right-hander Vinny Nittoli, outfielder Blake Perkins and infielder Wilkerman Garcia have signed minor league deals (or, in Garcia’s care, re-signed). Inciarte was able to sign a minor league deal because he did not finish the 2021 season on a team’s 40-man roster or 60-day injured list.
Inciarte is the most recognizable name of the bunch — a former All-Star center fielder and three-time Gold Glove winner with the Braves. Acquired by Atlanta alongside Dansby Swanson in the heist that sent Shelby Miller to the D-backs, Inciarte was outstanding in his first three seasons with the Braves, hitting at a .287/.342/.391 clip with elite defense and plus speed that provided plenty of value on the basepaths. His 2016 season was impressive enough that the Braves wasted little time in inking him to a five-year, $30.525MM contract extension that bought out all four of his arbitration years — Inciarte was a Super Two player — and one free-agent year, with an option for a second.
Unfortunately for both Inciarte and the Braves, by the midway point of the contract, things turned south — though not necessarily through any fault of Inciarte. While he largely replicated his 2016 production in 2017-18, Inciarte went down with a lumbar strain early in the 2019 season and missed more than two months while nursing that back injury. He returned from the IL in mid-July but was back on the shelf less than a month later, this time owing to a hamstring injury that kept him out for the final six weeks of the season.
Inciarte’s bat cratered in the 2020 season, and he didn’t rebound much in 2021 before another hamstring injury cropped up. Atlanta eventually designated him for assignment and released him this past summer, in what was the final year of that five-year extension. While Inciarte latched on with the Reds on a minor league pact, he didn’t return to the Majors last season. On the whole, since that strong run from 2016-18, Inciarte owns a meager .223/.306/.338 batting line through 450 trips to the plate at the MLB level.
The Yankees’ outfield mix is already rather crowded, with Joey Gallo, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton all locked into outfield/designated hitter time next season. It’s not certain whether Brett Gardner will return to the Bronx once again, but if he signs elsewhere or calls it a career, that’d greatly improve Inciarte’s odds of breaking camp with the Yankees and earning an Opening Day roster spot.
As for Nittoli, the 31-year-old righty made his MLB debut this past season after an eight-year odyssey that included stops in Seattle (where he was a 25th-round pick), the then-independent St. Paul Saints (now a Twins affiliate), the Blue Jays and the D-backs. Nittoli found his was back to the Mariners in minor league free agency last season, and while his call to the Majors was exceedingly brief — just one game and one inning — it nevertheless marked the type of feel-good story of hard work paying off that so many sports fans love to see.
Nittoli returned to the Saints after being cut loose by the Mariners, this time as a member of the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate rather than a team in the independent American Association. He did not, however, end up pitching in the big leagues with Minnesota. Nittoli was quite home run prone in 2021, leading to a bloated 5.05 ERA in Triple-A, but he also posted an outstanding 51-to-10 K/BB ratio in 41 innings. Overall, he carries a career 4.61 minor league ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate and a 7.3% walk rate.
Perkins, 25, was one of three players sent from the Nationals to the Royals in 2018’s Kelvin Gutierrez trade. The former second-round pick (2015) never really found his footing in the Royals organization and became a free agent after a 2021 season that saw him hit .202/.319/.332 in 280 Double-A plate appearances.
Garcia, 23, has spent his whole career in the Yankees organization and batted .234/.288/.318 in the low minors. He spent the 2021 season on the minor league 60-day injured list and hasn’t played in a game setting since 2019, when he spent the bulk of his time in Class-A Advanced.
Rays Promote Peter Bendix To General Manager
The Rays announced Thursday that they’ve promoted vice president of baseball development Peter Bendix to the title of general manager. President of baseball operations Erik Neander is still the team’s top-ranking baseball operations executive, but Bendix’s appointment as GM solidifies him as the No. 2 name on the Rays’ hierarchy.
Tampa Bay also named a trio of new vice presidents of baseball operations: Carlos Rodriguez (formerly VP of player development and international operations), Will Cousins (formerly director of baseball R&D), and Chanda Lawdermilk (formerly director of staff development and recruitment). Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times has more on these promotions as well as a host of other promotions on the business side of the organization.
Bendix’s promotion comes just over three months since the team promoted Neander from general manager to president of baseball operations and signed him to a five-year contract extension. With Neander now holding that title and Bendix cemented as the new GM, the Rays have adopted the president/GM hierarchy that continues to be popularized throughout the sport.
Bendix’s promotion to GM notably makes it more difficult for other clubs to lure him away; teams typically only allow executives to interview with other organizations if the position in question would represent a promotion. As such, the only way a rival club could try to pry Bendix from the Rays now would likely be to offer him the top spot on its own baseball hierarchy. (He was reportedly of interest to the Mets as they searched for a new baseball operations leader but remained with Tampa Bay.)
The Rays’ front office and coaching staff are routinely picked over every offseason, as rival clubs continue to be impressed by Tampa Bay’s success in the face of lower revenues and aggressive payroll restrictions from ownership. In the past few years alone, we’ve seen the Red Sox hire Chaim Bloom as chief baseball officer, the Astros hire James Click as GM, the Brewers hire Matt Arnold as assistant GM (later promoted to GM) and the Twins hire Josh Kalk as a senior analyst (later promoted to VP of baseball operations, strategy and innovation). Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, of course, also ran baseball ops for the Rays before being hired away by L.A. in 2014.
As general manager, Bendix will now carry have an “increased emphasis on major-league operations, such as player evaluation and procurement, roster management and the day-to-day functions of the major league club,” per the Rays. He joined the organization as an intern in 2009, working his way up to director of baseball development in 2015 and then vice president of baseball development in 2019.
Tampa Bay also announced that former big league infielder Cole Figueroa, who’d been their assistant director of hitting development, has been promoted to director of baseball operations — a notable progression in his post-playing journey. Figueroa had brief stints with the Rays, Yankees and Pirates from 2014-16, appearing in a total of 48 Major League games in addition to a nine-year minor league career.
Joel Hanrahan Departs Pirates Organization
Two-time All-Star reliever Joel Hanrahan, who has spent the past five years coaching in the Pirates organization, announced on Twitter today that he’s decided to step away from the organization. Said Hanrahan:
“After 5 years coaching with the Pirates I have decided to move on and look for other opportunities. Thank you to the Pirates for giving my first shot at coaching. I wish all the players, coaches and organization the best. I’m looking forward to a new challenge and opportunity.”
Hanrahan, 40, was the Pirates’ Triple-A pitching coach in 2021 and was expected to reprise that role for the 2022 season. He spoke with The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel less than two months ago about his ambitions of coaching in the Major Leagues with Pittsburgh. The Pirates clearly valued having Hanrahan in their system, naming him the organization’s coach of the year following the season. Hanrahan tells Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he now has another position lined up, although that specific role isn’t yet clear.
A second-round draft pick by the Dodgers back in 2000, Hanrahan pitched parts of seven seasons in the Major Leagues, working to a combined 3.85 ERA with an even 25% strikeout rate and exactly 100 saves over the course of 404 2/3 innings. He spent the bulk of his big league career with the Buccos, twice leading the team in saves (40 in 2011 and 36 in 2012), though Hanrahan originally debuted as a National and pitched his final game for the Red Sox.
Hanrahan was very much in his prime at the time Pittsburgh traded him to Boston in Dec. 2012, having just racked up those 76 saves and made consecutive All-Star teams with the Pirates. Unfortunately, his Red Sox tenure lasted just 7 1/3 innings, as he was diagnosed with a torn UCL early in the 2013 season and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Tigers as a free agent following that year but ultimately wound up requiring a second Tommy John surgery that proved to be a career-ender.
Let’s Find A Fit For Carlos Rodon
Carlos Rodon had one of the best seasons, on a per-inning basis, of any starter in recent memory. He also had one of the strangest, however, as his velocity and workload plummeted among shoulder concerns in a still-productive final two months of the season.
As late into the season as July 18, Rodon had to be considered the odds-on favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award — a remarkable turnaround for a former top prospect who’d had Tommy John surgery and shoulder surgery, been non-tendered and then returned to his original club on a one-year, $3MM “prove-it” deal.
Prove it, Rodon did — for much of the season. Rodon no-hit Cleveland in his second start of the season and, as of that aforementioned July 18 date, was sporting a ridiculous 2.14 ERA with a dominant 36.6% strikeout rate against an excellent 6.8% walk rate. The 96 mph he was averaging on his heater through that date was far and away the best mark of his career, and Rodon’s 15.5% swinging-strike rate placed him alongside the game’s elite starters. Simply put, he was dominant. Rodon at last looked like the No. 1 starter Sox for which Sox fans hoped when he was selected with the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2014.
A July 18 gem against a potent Astros lineup — seven shutout, one-hit innings with 10 punchouts and no walks — proved to be the last time he’d throw more than five innings in 2021, however. Rodon lasted just four frames and allowed four runs in each of his next two starts. He rebounded to overwhelm a stripped-down Cubs lineup that had traded away virtually every hitter of note, tossing five shutout innings with 11 strikeouts on Aug. 7.
Rodon then hit the injured list with shoulder fatigue, returned on Aug. 26, and went on to make only five starts over the regular season’s final 39 days. He reached 80 pitches in just one of those five starts, and his fastball sat at a greatly diminished 93.2 mph in that time. Rodon was still effective in that time (2.35 ERA in 23 innings), but his strikeout rate was down to 27.2% as well — still strong, but no longer elite.
Heading into the White Sox’ ALDS date with Houston, it was unclear whether Rodon would even be an option at all. There was some question as to whether he’d even be on the roster, but he was deemed good to go for what proved to be the decisive Game 4 of that series. Rodon came out with a revitalized fastball that was hitting the upper 90s, but he also last just 2 2/3 innings in a 56-pitch losing effort that ended Chicago’s year. Credit to Rodon for gutting it out if he was less than 100 percent, but it was obviously a suboptimal finish to what had looked to be a legitimate breakout campaign for the lefty.
As the offseason dawned, most expected the White Sox to extend a one-year qualifying offer to Rodon. That $18.4MM salary would’ve represented a massive jump from the $3MM he earned in 2021, but based on his performance, that rate of pay still represented a bargain. Instead, the Sox opted not to make the QO, allowing Rodon to become a free agent without the burden of draft compensation. That led to speculation about his health or a possible gentleman’s agreement with the front office; no one other than the Chicago front office, Rodon and agent Scott Boras can be 100 percent certain as to the reasons for the lack of a QO, but it now makes Rodon one of the most intriguing free agents on the market.
Rodon turned 29 just last week. He’s coming off a season that, even though it ended on a low note, saw him post a 2.37 ERA with a 34.6% strikeout rate and a 6.7% walk rate. Among pitchers with at least 100 innings thrown, only NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes had a higher strikeout percentage. Only Burnes and Max Scherzer posted larger strikeout-to-walk percentage differentials than Rodon’s 27.9%. Rodon also ranked among the 10 best pitchers in MLB with a 15% swinging-strike rate and a 70.3% opponents’ contact rate (again, min. 100 innings).
It was a true ace-level performance, but also a level that Rodon had never before reached. Between the one-off nature of this year’s dominance and the obvious concerns about his shoulder, workload and velocity late in the season, there’s some real risk with Rodon.
On our Top 50 free agent rankings, we suggested that Rodon would likely have to choose between a one-year deal with a large salary or maxing out on a multi-year deal that’s probably shorter than most top-tier starters would command — perhaps three years. Our ultimate prediction was a one-year deal at $25MM, though we also discussed three-year deals worth $20MM annually — perhaps even a bit more.
Boras has already made clear this winter that Rodon is seeking a multi-year deal, so while it’s possible he signs for one year after not finding any longer-term deals to his liking, the thought right now has to be that he’ll sign for two or three seasons. As is increasingly common among high-profile free agents, opt-out clauses could factor into the mix.
There are still plenty of teams that need rotation help, and the fact that Rodon isn’t likely to cross into that $100MM range that’s expected of other Cy Young-caliber peers ought to make him appealing to a wide portion of the league.
We obviously can’t know where Rodon will land until the ongoing lockout is lifted, but it’s still worth taking a look at his potential market based on the context we already have. The goal here will be to identify some of the best and most plausible fits for Rodon, and there’s at least a handful of teams we know we can eliminate right off the bat.
The Orioles and Pirates, for instance, are mired in lengthy rebuilding efforts and won’t spend at this level. Ditto the A’s, who are expected to cut payroll and trade away several core players. Neither the D-backs nor the Nats have publicly committed to a full rebuild, but it seems unlikely that Rodon will land in either spot as both are more focused on the long-term than improving in 2022.
A Miami homecoming is hard to picture, given the Marlins’ generally low payrolls, pitching-rich roster and stated needs in the outfield. The Brewers are already pushing a franchise-record payroll and have three ace-caliber arms atop the staff. The Reds have been cutting payroll and are open to trading their top starters away; a Rodon match doesn’t really align with that. The Guardians are built around affordable young pitching, have needs in the lineup and have never spent like this on a free-agent arm. Tampa Bay already signed Corey Kluber and has never committed more than $30MM to a free-agent pitcher.
A.J. Preller may make me rue not taking my usual “never say never” approach to the Padres, but San Diego is already deep in relatively pricey starters and is actively trying to shed some contracts (Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers) to address the lineup. Houston is at least seven deep in starters after re-signing Justin Verlander, and adding a pricey eighth option seems unlikely. The Cardinals already signed Steven Matz and now have a pretty established top five; further rotation additions seem likelier to be of the depth variety. The Phils have an established top four and have much larger needs in the outfield and infield.That’s a quick look at which clubs feel decidedly unlikely to sign Rodon, but let’s talk some teams that could at least plausibly make this work:
That’s a quick look at which clubs feel decidedly unlikely to sign Rodon, but let’s run through some more plausible clubs, team-by-team, before trying to pick out a few of the best possible fits for the lefty:
- Angels: Signing Noah Syndergaard and rolling the dice on Michael Lorenzen was a good start to bolstering the rotation, but the Angels could use another high-upside option, given the number of question marks up and down the current staff. You could argue that they need to focus on more certainty, but with enough high-risk upside plays, they could navigate a full season even as injuries arise. The Halos haven’t given multiple years to a free-agent starter since 2012, but if Rodon’s market tops out at three years, that’d be fewer seasons than they just committed to closer Raisel Iglesias.
- Blue Jays: Toronto lost both Robbie Ray and Steven Matz in free agency, and they’ve since signed Kevin Gausman. Adding another bat and some bullpen help seems likelier than another high-priced starter, but it’s hard not to be tempted by the thought of a rotation featuring Gausman, Rodon, Hyun Jin Ryu, Jose Berrios and Alek Manoah. The Jays could probably sign Rodon and still clock in south of their franchise-record $163MM payroll, but another starter may not be their top need.
- Braves: With Mike Soroka out until mid-2022, Atlanta could definitely use another starting pitcher — even after re-upping with Charlie Morton on a $20MM deal. Most of Atlanta’s post-lockout focus will be on re-signing Freddie Freeman. But Rodon fits the type of huge-upside, relatively short-term signings made in Atlanta under Alex Anthopoulos as well. If Freeman shocks everyone and leaves, Atlanta could make some big moves elsewhere on the roster.
- Cubs: It was somewhat surprising to see the Cubs add a pair of notable free agents in Marcus Stroman and Yan Gomes, and those moves at least give cause to stop and wonder whether another big splash might be coming. Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic both feel Rodon won’t be a priority for the Cubs, who entered the offseason hoping to add a pair of slam-dunk rotation options and have done that with Stroman and Wade Miley. Another big-name addition in the rotation doesn’t feel likely, per The Athletic duo, who suggest bullpen additions to be a likelier focus for the Cubs.
- Dodgers: A reasonably short-term, high-priced deal for Rodon feels like something right out of the Dodgers’ playbook. Rodon showed that his upside was as high as any free agent on the market, but the health concerns will tamp down the contract length into L.A.’s preferred range. The Dodgers lost Max Scherzer, they’re not sure what will happen with Trevor Bauer, and Clayton Kershaw ended the year with even greater physical question marks before reaching free agency. On paper, it’s a strong match for a Dodgers club that needs some arms behind Walker Buehler and Julio Urias.
- Giants: As with the Dodgers, a relatively short-term deal with an upside play like Rodon feels right up the Giants’ alley. San Francisco is reportedly believed to be averse to nine-figure free agents, and outside of the now-off-the-market Verlander, Rodon may have the best upside of any pitcher available for under $100MM. The Giants already added three stabilizing pieces to round out the rotation, so there’s plenty of sense to shooting for the moon on a fourth addition.
- Mariners: Seattle already signed the AL Cy Young winner, but we know they’ll still be looking for starting pitching after the lockout is resolved. The M’s have a solid foursome atop the rotation, but Rodon would give them another likely postseason starter as they look to return to the playoffs for the first time in two decades. Adding an impact bat could be higher on the list of priorities for president of baseball ops Jerry Dipoto, but Seattle’s projected payroll is so low that they could sign both Rodon and one of the top remaining bats on the market while still fitting tens of millions of dollars below a franchise-record level.
- Mets: New York already has its share of injury-prone arms, but it’s abundantly clear by now that owner Steve Cohen is pulling out all the stops as he looks to push the team toward a World Series run. Rodon, Scherzer and a healthy Jacob deGrom has the potential to be a comically dominant trio, and after the Mets topped a quarter-billion in spending prior to the lockout, we shouldn’t assume they’ll slow down when things resume.
- Rangers: Speaking of pre-lockout spending sprees, the Rangers topped a half-billion dollars in total commitments and still have minimal certainty in the rotation. Rodon doesn’t provide the bulk innings Texas could so sorely stand to add, but for a team that’s obviously hell-bent on improving in 2022 and returning to the playoffs before long, Rodon probably can’t be firmly ruled out. Incredibly, their 2022 payroll is still projected to come in nearly $40MM shy of its all-time high.
- Red Sox: This type of short-term upside play seems like one that’d sit well with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, but the Sox have also already added Rich Hill, Michael Wacha and James Paxton to the 2022 staff. The Boston rotation is teeming with upside and uncertainty alike, and Rodon would add to it on both fronts. The Sox are also over $200MM in luxury obligations, though, so Rodon could be deemed too pricey even if the luxury threshold increases under the new CBA.
- Rockies: Persuading any pitcher to play in Coors Field is difficult, but the Rockies have money to spend. Rodon’s decision to seek a multi-year deal suggests he’s looking to max out his earning power right now, so if Colorado offers an extra year over what the rest of the field is willing to commit, perhaps they could pull off a stunner.
- Royals: Kansas City’s estimated payroll is only around $86MM right now, so there’s obvious room to fit Rodon into the rotation as a means of taking some pressure off younger arms. They landed a pair of veteran free agents last year by going an extra year over most expectations on Mike Minor and Carlos Santana. Taking that approach with Rodon would be a vastly more expensive proposition, however. The Royals are trying to win now, but this feels like a reach even if they have the need and payroll space.
- Tigers: An on-the-rise team with gobs of payroll space, a deep collection of near-MLB top prospects, a pitcher-friendly home park and plenty of innings available — the Tigers check basically any box you could imagine for Rodon. They’ve already signed Javier Baez and Eduardo Rodriguez, and they’re still looking for another rotation addition. Rodon drastically raises their ceiling and takes pressure of some younger arms like Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize.
- Twins: Minnesota entered the offseason needing at least three starters, and so far they’ve…. rolled the dice on a Dylan Bundy rebound. It’s a fine move in a vacuum, but the Twins’ need for more pitching help is painstakingly obvious. Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported this week that last winter, the Twins tried to get Rodon on a minor league deal before he received that $3MM contract from the South Siders. That said, Hayes adds that Minnesota seems likelier to address its pitching needs via trade and may not be keen on taking a Rodon-sized risk with so many holes on the staff. It’s a good fit on paper, at the very least.
- White Sox: General manager Rick Hahn has said all the right things about wanting Rodon back, but it’s hard to take those statements at face value when Chicago didn’t make him a qualifying offer. The Pale Hose already have five to six starters — though they’d probably welcome the opportunity to shed Dallas Keuchel‘s final year — and had the chance to persuade Rodon with that one-year QO. The Daily Herald’s Scot Gregor suggested this week that Rodon isn’t likely to return to the Sox, who are still eyeing help in the outfield and at second base.
- Yankees: The Bombers, in recent years, have favored risky rotation plays for volatile but immensely talented starters in the Rodon mold. Their need at shortstop is the most heavily discussed roster deficiency in the Bronx, but the rotation after Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery is suspect. Domingo German finished horribly. Luis Severino has pitched a combined 18 innings in the past three years. Jameson Taillon had offseason ankle surgery. Prospects Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt struggled and/or missed significant time due to injury.
In the end, any of these teams feels like at least a good theoretical match, but most come with reasons to cast doubt on whether they’d actually sign Rodon. From my vantage point, the best blend of on-paper need, available payroll space and plausible willingness to take this type of risk lies with the Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Mariners, Tigers and Yankees.
Mets, Matt Reynolds Agree To Minor League Deal
Though the team did not formally announce it, the Mets agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Matt Reynolds earlier this month, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for the now-31-year-old Reynolds, a second-round pick of the Mets back in 2012. He spent parts of the 2016-17 seasons on the Mets’ big league roster and has since received very brief looks with the Nationals and Royals at the MLB level. In all, Reynolds is a .212/.282/.323 hitter through 251 plate appearances as a big leaguer.
Reynolds spent the 2021 season in the White Sox organization but hasn’t gotten a call to the big leagues since a that brief Kansas City audition in 2020. He played in 93 games for the ChiSox’ Triple-A affiliate last year, hitting at a solid .269/.373/.395 pace while splitting his time at the two middle-infield spots (in addition to a lone five-inning appearance in right field). In parts of seven Triple-A seasons, Reynolds is a .283/.363/.435 hitter.
Obviously, the infield is quite crowded in Queens, where the Mets have Robinson Cano, Francisco Lindor, Eduardo Escobar, J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme all slated for time on the big league roster. Reynolds will likely head to Triple-A Syracuse and see plenty of action at shortstop, though he also has experience at second, third and in all three outfield positions as well.
Giants Unlikely To Pursue Free Agents With Nine-Figure Asking Prices
Prior to the lockout, the Giants worked quickly to revamp a rotation that appeared poised to lose as many as four members to free agency. Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani returned on a three-year, $36MM contract and was joined by lefty Alex Wood, who inked a two-year deal worth $25MM. Right-hander Alex Cobb was add to the mix on a two-year, $20MM deal.
That gives San Francisco three veteran arms to slot in behind burgeoning ace Logan Webb, but the Giants also allowed top 2020-21 starter Kevin Gausman to depart, declining to match the five-year, $110MM contract he received from the Blue Jays. The decision to let Gausman walk is of extra note now, as ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reports in his latest look at what to expect throughout the league, post-lockout, that there’s a belief the Giants aren’t keen on pursuing any targets with nine-figure asking prices.
That serves as a potential explanation for why the team ultimately let Gausman leave, and it could also be instructive when forecasting what’s on the horizon for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, GM Scott Harris and the rest of the front office. Zaidi has already thrown some cold water on the idea of re-signing Kris Bryant, for instance, and if the Giants are indeed averse to $100MM+ commitments, his return would seem highly unlikely. San Francisco didn’t seem like a great match for most of the remaining free agents with that type of asking price in the first place (e.g. Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman, Trevor Story), though eschewing contracts of this magnitude could take them out of the running not only for Bryant but for Nick Castellanos, who has reportedly sought a seven- or even eight-year deal.
An aversion to lengthy deals of this magnitude would align with the approach employed by the archrival Dodgers during Zaidi’s time as general manager under L.A. president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. Like the Dodgers, the Giants are a major-market team with huge payroll capacity, but we’ve yet to see them dole out the type of long-term arrangements that were more common under the prior Giants front office regime. That’s not to say Zaidi’s Giants definitively won’t sign a $100MM+ deal at some point — they reportedly pursued Bryce Harper when he was a free agent — but thus far, indications point more toward the shorter-term, higher-annual-value deals that are increasingly popular as many teams seek to mitigate long-term risk.
Whenever the transaction freeze finally thaws, the Giants still have some work to do. In addition to another proven rotation piece, at least one outfield upgrade would make sense, and there’s always room for a contending club to bolster its bullpen. The Giants have about $126MM in 2022 commitments and about $135MM worth of luxury-tax obligations at the moment, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, which ought to leave ample room for spending. Michael Conforto, Kyle Schwarber and Seiya Suzuki are among the notable free-agent alternatives still on the outfield market, and the likely implementation of a DH in the National League would give the Giants further runway to explore creative options. As for the pitching needs, Carlos Rodon is seeking a multi-year deal but probably won’t command an especially lengthy deal after ending the season with shoulder concerns.
Beyond the free-agent market, the Giants (and other teams) have myriad trade opportunities to consider. The A’s and Reds are known to have starting pitchers available. The Mets’ recent wave of free-agent spending pushed some notable bats to the bench. Speculatively, San Francisco could swing for the fences and try to pry Ketel Marte from the D-backs or even Cedric Mullins from the Orioles. There’s no real limit to what paths the Giants could explore, particularly since the team’s farm system has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years (landing No. 5 among MLB clubs on Baseball America’s mid-August rankings).
Gregory Polanco Reportedly In Talks With NPB Club
Free agent outfielder Gregory Polanco is in talks with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Tenchy Rodriguez and Hector Gomez of Z101 Deportes report (Twitter links).
It’s been a swift decline for the now-30-year-old Polanco, who once ranked among the game’s elite prospects and was seen as a key building block in Pittsburgh. The longtime Pirates outfielder decimated Triple-A pitching while rising through the minor league ranks and eventually drawing praise as the No. 10 and No. 13 prospect in the entire game, respectively, on the 2014 rankings of Baseball America and MLB.com.
While Polanco did have a few solid seasons in the big leagues, including two with 20-plus homers and 10-plus steals (2016 and 2018), he only ever had one season where he was a decidedly well above-average offensive performer (2018). That year’s .254/.340/.499 slash (123 wRC+) feels like a distant memory, as Polanco has limped to a combined .203/.270/.364 batting line in 723 plate appearances since. His once minimal strikeout rate — he fanned at just a 14.6% clip in 2017 — has skyrocketed to 30.2% in the past three seasons.
In fairness to Polanco, injuries have undoubtedly taken their toll on his body and played a role in sapping his production. While he was mostly healthy through the 2017 season, save for a couple of minor hamstring strains, the 2018 campaign marked the beginning of more serious physical troubles. That September, while playing out the final weeks of the best year of his career, Polanco both dislocated his shoulder and sustained a significant bone bruise in his left knee on an awkward slide into second base while legging out a double.
The shoulder injury required surgery and came with a recovery timetable of up to seven months. Polanco missed the first three weeks of the 2019 season but clearly wasn’t right upon being activated. He appeared in just 42 games over the next seven weeks before returning to the injured list with inflammation in that surgically repaired shoulder, and he never made it back to the field that year.
Polanco continued to receive opportunities in Pittsburgh, due in no small part to both that prior prospect pedigree and the fact that he’d inked a five-year, $35MM extension early in the 2016 season. The Bucs had a pair of club options that would’ve covered the 2022 and 2023 seasons, so there was good reason to give Polanco every opportunity to recapture some of his pre-surgery form. That didn’t happen, and Pittsburgh finally released Polanco following a DFA late in the 2021 season. He signed a minor league deal with Toronto on Aug. 31 but didn’t end up playing in the Majors with the Jays; he did, however, post a huge .374/.436/.747 batting line in 101 plate appearances with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, perhaps lending some hope for more productive days ahead.
If Polanco does head to NPB and does manage to rebound, he’s still young enough that a Major League comeback is plenty viable. (He won’t turn 31 until Sept. 14 of next season.) A strong year in NPB could also simply open the door for a raise and/or multi-year deal to remain overseas. At the very least, signing in NPB would lock in a guaranteed 2022 salary for Polanco, which wasn’t likely to happen in Major League Baseball, where he’d presumably have been in line for a non-roster deal with an invite to Spring Training somewhere.
Angels, Dillon Thomas Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels and outfielder Dillon Thomas are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to Major League Spring Training, tweets Robert Murray of FanSided. Thomas wasn’t on a 40-man roster or Major League injured list at season’s end, making him eligible to sign a minor league deal even with the lockout/transaction freeze ongoing.
Thomas, 29, made his big league debut with the Mariners this past season, appearing in four games and going 1-for-9 with a single for his first MLB knock. He spent the rest of the season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, batting .269/.377/.448 with 13 homers, 19 doubles, a triple and a dozen steals (in 13 tries). Strikeouts were an issue both in the big leagues, where he fanned in seven of his nine plate appearances, and in Tacoma, where he whiffed at a 29.6% clip.
A fourth-round pick by the Rockies back in 2011, Thomas spent six seasons in the Colorado system (2011-17) and another two in the Brewers organization (2018-19) in addition to last year’s stint with the M’s. He’s a career .262/.332/.394 hitter in the minors overall, with last year’s solid run in Triple-A marking his only real experience at that level. (He also had three plate appearances with the Rockies’ Triple-A club in 2017.) He’s primarily a corner outfielder, having logged more than 2200 professional innings in both right and left field, and he also has 465 innings in center under his belt as well.
The Halos already have numerous outfield options ticketed for the big league roster — Mike Trout, Brandon Marsh, Jo Adell, Justin Upton and utilitymen Tyler Wade and Andrew Velazquez — plus Taylor Ward also on the 40-man roster. Thomas will likely head to Triple-A Salt Lake and give the Angels some left-handed-hitting corner depth.
Could The Rockies Move An Outfielder When The Transaction Freeze Lifts?
The Rockies find themselves in something of an unenviable spot, coming off a 74-win season likely losing two of their most talented homegrown players — Trevor Story and Jon Gray — in free agency. Gray has already inked a four-year deal with the Rangers, and Story is widely expected to sign elsewhere, leaving the Rockies with a compensatory draft pick. They’re also staring up from fourth place at a pair of 100-plus win teams in San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as one of baseball’s most aggressive front offices (and largest payrolls) in San Diego.
Many clubs in this spot would rebuild, but the Rockies (despite a thin farm system) have signaled no intent to do so. Quite to the contrary, newly minted GM Bill Schmidt seems keen on attempting to put together a competitive club next year. The Rox already re-signed first baseman C.J. Cron and extended righty Antonio Senzatela and catcher Elias Diaz. They resisted trading not only Story and Gray but controllable pitchers like German Marquez and Kyle Freeland at the July 30 deadline. As recently as two weeks ago, they were reported to be among the teams with interest in signing Kris Bryant.
If the Rockies are going to contend, they’ll need upgrades at various spots on the roster, with shortstop, the outfield and the bullpen standing out as potential areas of need. Still, despite that outfield need, both Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post and Nick Groke of The Athletic have at least raised the possibility of trading an outfielder away when the current transaction freeze is lifted: Raimel Tapia.
The 27-year-old Tapia (28 in February) has taken the lion’s share of playing time in left field for the Rox over the past three seasons, hitting at a combined .282/.327/.394 batting line (solid on the surface but a 79 wRC+). Tapia has just 16 home runs through 1186 plate appearances in that time, but he’s swiped 37 bags (with a 77.1% success rate). His 6.3% walk rate over the past three seasons is well below the league average, but he also rarely strikes out (17.5%, including a career-best 13.1% in 2021).
Tapia has received solid marks in left field from metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (4), Ultimate Zone Rating (6.0) and Outs Above Average (7) since emerging as a regular in the lineup at Coors Field. He’s at least capable of playing center in a pinch, having logged 189 innings there in his career (15 this past season, none in 2020, 83 in 2019).
He’s not the star the Rox might’ve hoped for when he ranked among the sport’s 50 best prospects in the 2016-17 offseason, but Tapia is a solid defender with above-average speed and good bat-to-ball skills. With two years of club control remaining and a projected $3.9MM salary in 2022 (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), he’s also plenty affordable.
Perhaps that makes him something of an odd candidate to be moved, given the Rockies’ desire to compete, but it also wouldn’t be a surprise for the Rox to seek more punch in an outfield that was one of the least-productive in MLB last year. Rockies outfielders ranked 29th in MLB with an 82 wRC+, leading only the Royals (81). Only the D-backs (43) received fewer home runs from their outfielders as a group than Colorado (46, tied with Kansas City and Cleveland).
If the Rockies indeed secure an offensive upgrade in the outfield, it’s going to be tougher to find at-bats for Tapia. Charlie Blackmon, who’ll be paid $21MM next season, will remain a fixture in right field. Colorado has given Tapia all of 15 innings in center over the past two seasons even as Blackmon has moved off the position, suggesting that they prefer Tapia to remain in left. That’s where the vast majority of remaining free-agent outfielders would need to slot in, and if Colorado doesn’t want to play Tapia in center, he’d be left without a big role. He’s out of minor league options as well, so sending him down is out of the question.
The Rockies could always carry Tapia as a reserve outfielder, but they also have Sam Hilliard, Garrett Hampson, Yonathan Daza and Connor Joe as options. All four will earn less than Tapia in 2022, and Daza, like Tapia, out of minor league options. Carrying a pair out-of-options outfielders on the bench obviously wouldn’t be an optimal setup, and the right-handed-hitting Daza better complements lefties like Blackmon and Hilliard than Tapia, a fellow lefty hitter.
The return on Tapia wouldn’t figure to be enormous. He could net the Rox some secondary prospects or perhaps be swapped for an arm to slot directly into the big league bullpen. With many teams needing some help in the outfield — the Phillies, Guardians, White Sox, Marlins and Nationals, to name a few — it stands to reason that an affordable 28-year-old with two years of remaining club control would generate interest. Tapia isn’t a middle-of-the-order bat, but his blend of speed, defense, bat-to-ball skills and affordable club control ought to be enough for a few other teams to inquire on the former top prospect as they look to round out their own outfield mixes.