Niko Goodrum Elects Free Agency
The Tigers announced Friday that infielder Niko Goodrum went unclaimed on outright waivers and has elected free agency. Detroit also passed righty Nivaldo Rodriguez and outfielder Jacob Robson through waivers unclaimed, though they’ll both remain with the organization after being outrighted to Triple-A. (Unlike Goodrum, they did not have the service time needed to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.)
Additionally, the Tigers selected the contracts of righty Angel De Jesus and infielder Kody Clemens. Both are now on the 40-man roster and thus protected from this offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.
Goodrum, 29, looked like a minor league free-agent steal a few years ago when he signed in Detroit and hit .245/.315/.432 with 16 homers and a dozen steals while playing every position other than catcher, center field and pitcher. He matched those solid 2018 numbers in near-identical fashion in 2019, improving his glovework at shortstop in the process and looking like at least a useful utility piece — if not a possible everyday shortstop.
Unfortunately for both Goodrum and the Tigers, the switch-hitter’s bat tumbled in 2020 and wasn’t able to recover this past season. Over the past two years, Goodrum has managed just a .203/.282/.350 batting line, while his strikeout rate has skyrocketed from 28% to 34.9%. Goodrum can still play all over the diamond and still has a decent blend of power and speed, but his mounting issues making contact and a projected $2.9MM arbitration salary prompted Detroit to effectively non-tender him.
Joining the 40-man roster are the power-armed De Jesus and the 25-year-old Clemens — the son of seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens. De Jesus, 24, split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, compiling a 3.34 ERA with a big 29.1% strikeout rate in 64 innings (primarily out of the bullpen). De Jesus kept the ball on the ground at an above-average rate as well, though his 13.5% walk rate is obviously somewhat problematic.
Clemens is the more highly regarded of today’s additions, ranking between 18th and 26th among Tigers prospects at MLB.com, Baseball America and FanGraphs. He played in 97 games (413 plate appearances) and logged a .247/.312/.466 output with 18 homers, 15 doubles and six triples. He’s primarily been a second baseman, though some scouting reports peg him as more of an offensive-minded utility player — assuming he can continue to improve his contact skills.
The 24-year-old Rodriguez was claimed off waivers out of the Astros organization back in August, and while he fared well in 7 1/3 MLB frames, that wasn’t the case in Triple-A: 5.37 ERA, 44-to-28 K/BB ratio in 62 innings. Robson, 26, was an eighth-round pick by the Tigers in 2016. He went hitless in seven at-bats during his MLB debut this year and posted a .259/.385/.389 batting line in 78 Triple-A games.
A’s Select Nick Allen, Four Others
The Athletics announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of five players, including shortstop prospect Nick Allen. Also added to the 40-man roster were infielders Jonah Bride and Jordan Diaz, righty Jorge Juan, and outfielder Cody Thomas.
Allen, 23, was a third-round pick in 2017 and is regarded as an elite defensive prospect — ranking third among A’s farmhands at Baseball America andMLB.com, as well as fifth at FanGraphs. Listed at 5’8″ and 166 pounds, Allen’s slight frame has led to concerns about his eventual upside at the plate, though he looked just fine in 50 Double-A games this season, hitting .319/.374/.471 through 229 plate appearances.
Allen, who also won an Olympic Silver Medal with Team USA, did struggle in his first taste of Triple-A ball this past season, hitting .243/.302/.301. That was a sample of just 151 plate appearances, though, and Allen’s glove and speed alone would likely have led him to be selected in this year’s Rule 5 had he gone unprotected. With the A’s embarking on what looks to be a considerable step back, Allen ought to get a chance in the big leagues before too long — particularly if he produces more offense in his second run through Triple-A.
Diaz, a 21-year-old corner infielder, split his 2021 season between first base and third base while hitting .288/.337/.483 with 13 homers, 24 doubles and a triple in Class-A Advanced. He’s 11th among A’s prospects at MLB.com and 13th at Baseball America, drawing praise for his plate discipline and hit tool.
Listed at a towering 6’8″ and 250 pounds, the 22-year-old Juan has a fastball that can reach the upper 90s (and likely feels even faster given the extension he gets on that huge frame). He punched out 34.5% of his opponents between Class-A and Class-A Advanced this season, albeit in a small sample of 26 2/3 innings. As you’d expect for a young pitcher of this size, Juan has missed bats in droves but also struggled to command the ball (career 14.8% walk rate). He’s regarded among Oakland’s 25 or so best prospects, but there’s a good bit of risk with him as well.
Bride, 26 next month, is a 23rd-rounder from the 2018 draft who walked in more than 17% of his Double-A plate appearances this season. Splitting his time between third base, first base and second base, Bride slashed a combined .265/.407/.424 with as many walks as strikeouts (57).
Thomas, 27, came to the A’s alongside Adam Kolarek in the trade that sent Sheldon Neuse and Gus Varland to the Dodgers. While the Kolarek portion of Oakland’s return certainly didn’t go as hoped, Thomas utterly destroyed Triple-A pitching with a .289/.363/.665 batting line. In just 245 plate appearances, Thomas ripped 18 home runs, 20 doubles and four triples. Impressive as his lefty pop was, Thomas also fanned in 31.8% of his plate appearances, so there’s some obvious swing-and-miss concern with him. His 2021 season was cut short by an Achilles injury that kept him out of action beyond July 25.
Blue Jays Rumors: Ray, Matz, Gausman, Rotation, Biggio
The Blue Jays locked up one key rotation member for the long haul this week, signing Jose Berrios to a seven-year, $131MM contract extension, but they’re still hoping to retain a pair of key lefties who are now free agents. Both American League Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and fellow southpaw Steven Matz are “priorities” for Toronto, writes FanSided’s Robert Murray.
The Berrios extension shouldn’t be viewed as a deterrent in their efforts to sign another pitcher — far from it. Berrios is slated to earn $10MM next year in the first season of that deal — a slight bit less than he’d likely have earned by going through the arbitration process. And while Berrios adds another notable salary to the long-term ledger, southpaw Hyun Jin Ryu and his $20MM salary will be off the books after the 2023 season. Randal Grichuk is also off the books post-2023, so the 2023 season is really the only one in which the combination of the Berrios extension and a multi-year deal for another arm (e.g. Ray) would substantially impact the payroll.
Whether it’s Ray, Matz or another free-agent target, another rotation addition will fit nicely into the long-term payroll, as Springer and Berrios are now the only two players guaranteed anything in 2024 and beyond. That applies to Kevin Gausman as well, whom MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports to be another target for the Jays. The Jays were linked to Gausman in both the 2019-20 offseason and the 2020-21 offseason, so it’s hardly a surprise to see them in the mix again — although the righty’s price tag is now substantially higher than in either of the past two offseasons. The Jays, Morosi adds, have also spoken with the Marlins about their starting pitching surplus.
One player unlikely to change hands, even if the Jays do go the trade route to add to the rotation, is infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio. Although the 26-year-old hit just .224/.322/.356 in a 2021 season that was cut in half by neck and back injuries, GM Ross Atkins voiced confidence in Biggio’s ability to rebound during the GM Meetings (link via Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star). Atkins repeatedly talked Biggio up as an option either at second or third base — which spot depends on the rest of their offseason dealings — and as Chisholm notes, it seems unlikely Toronto would trade someone who was viewed as a key long-term piece prior to the 2021 season with his value at an all-time low.
The Jays have a wide-open slate of possibilities thanks to a cost-controlled young core, a relatively clean payroll outlook and a good bit of available financial resources. Ray said following this week’s Cy Young win that his camp is talking with the Toronto front office “on a daily basis” but also “testing the free-agent market” (link via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).
Given the accelerated nature of the starting pitching market so far, it’s possible the Jays’ pursuits of Ray and Matz will be resolved, one way or another, before they begin sorting through the infield needs. Regardless of the order in which it plays out, though, it seems likely they’ll come away from the offseason with at least one more starter and an addition to the infield — be it via free agency or trade.
Cardinals Sign Kyle Ryan To Minor League Deal
The Cardinals have signed veteran lefty Kyle Ryan to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. Ryan, represented by Frontline, will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
The Cards ought to be plenty familiar with Ryan, having watched the 30-year-old southpaw in the bullpen for the division-rival Cubs in each of the past three seasons. Ryan’s best year came back in 2019, when he logged a 3.54 ERA and 3.85 FIP with a 22.3% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and huge 58.2% grounder rate in 61 innings.
While Ryan has scuffled with a 5.90 ERA in 29 frames since that time, he’s continued to post high-end ground-ball rates, which no doubt appeals to a St. Louis club that boasts an all-world defensive infield. Each of Nolan Arenado, Paul DeJong, Tommy Edman and Paul Goldschmidt are among the game’s best at their respective positions, with each of Goldschmidt, Arenado and Edman winning a Gold Glove this past season.
Ryan’s fastball sits at just 89 mph, but he’s never logged a ground-ball rate lower than 46.9%. He’s allowed eight home runs over the past two seasons in those 29 innings, but even with that uncharacteristic spike in round-trippers, he’s still averaged just 0.99 HR/9 in his MLB career. In 218 innings between the Tigers and Cubs, Ryan owns a 4.05 ERA and 54.8% ground-ball rate.
The Cardinals kicked off the winter be re-signing left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland to a one-year contract, and southpaw Genesis Cabrera could very well have a bullpen spot locked down after a solid season of relief work. Well-traveled lefty Brandon Waddell is also on the 40-man roster, but he still has a minor league option remaining.
Nationals Select Donovan Casey, Evan Lee
The Nationals have selected the contracts of outfielder Donovan Casey and left-hander Evan Lee, per a team announcement. Both players will now be protected from this offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.
Casey, 26 in February, was one of the four players the Nats received from the Dodgers in the blockbuster deal that sent stars Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to Los Angeles. The 2017 20th-round pick split the 2021 season between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting at a combined .269/.329/.430 clip with 16 home runs, 26 doubles, two triples and 22 stolen bases (in 27 attempts). MLB.com ranks Casey, the a former two-way player at Boston College, as the organization’s No. 18 prospect and cites his strong arm, above-average speed and plus raw power as his best tools.
Lee, meanwhile, was Washington’s 15th-round pick back in 2018. He’s yet to pitch above the Class-A Advanced level, where he had a fairly pedestrian 4.32 ERA through 77 innings this past season. However, Lee also fanned more than 31% of his opponents at that level while recording a strong 47.8% grounder rate. Another two-way player in college, Lee has improved his velocity since being drafted and has run his heater up to 96 mph. He’s ranked as the team’s No. 21 prospect at MLB.com.
With Casey and Lee now added, the Nationals’ 40-man roster contains 39 players.
Red Sox Notes: Baez, Rodriguez, Matz
The Red Sox are among the teams with some level of early interest in free-agent infielder Javier Baez, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported this week. Boston already has a high-end shortstop in place, but Xander Bogaerts can opt out of the remaining three years and $60MM of guaranteed money on his contract at the end of the 2022 season. Baez, 29 next month, is also a markedly better defender at shortstop, which could open the possibility of the Sox realigning their infield in some capacity.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has made it clear that his front office values defensive versatility since taking the reins in Boston — evidenced by the signings of Enrique Hernandez, Marwin Gonzalez and Danny Santana. Of course, Baez figures to be in an entirely different stratosphere from a salary standpoint, and the Sox also now have some additional needs on the pitching staff with Eduardo Rodriguez officially joining the Tigers on a five-year contract. The Red Sox already have about $173MM in projected 2022 payroll at this point, plus about $184MM of luxury-tax obligations, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez.
Bloom spoke this week about the difficulty of losing Rodriguez, candidly acknowledging that the left-hander’s market simply reached a point where the Sox were no longer certain that making the top offer “was the best use of our resources” (link via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo). That said, the decision did not come lightly for Bloom and his colleagues — some of whom have been with Rodriguez since he debuted in 2015.
“We were certainly fighting our emotions on that the whole way because of how highly we think of him and how much we enjoyed having him here,” said Bloom, who went on to add that the club was happy to see the market reward Rodriguez after a trying 2020 season lost to Covid-19 and myocarditis:
“There were points in time where we weren’t even sure if he was going to be able to play again, so to see him come back this year, do what he did, and now to have the market reward him for it, it’s a really great story.”
Nevertheless, with Rodriguez out the door, the Sox figure to explore other avenues to address a rotation that currently projects to include Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock. It’s an undeniably talented mix, but neither Houck nor Whitlock has actually produced for a full big league season while shouldering a starter’s workload. Sale, meanwhile, will be in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, while Eovaldi has a lengthy injury history of his own. The 28-year-old Pivetta (29 in February) was solid in 30 starts last year, but his career has been punctuated by inconsistency thus far.
With those questions in mind, southpaw Steven Matz is among the free agents with whom the Red Sox are in contact, tweets Cotillo. The 30-year-old Matz just wrapped up a strong season with the division-rival Jays, for whom he pitched to a 3.82 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate through 150 2/3 frames. Toronto declined to issue a qualifying offer to Matz, meaning he won’t come with any draft compensation for the Red Sox or any other interested parties. It’s been a robust market for starters so far, which bodes well for Matz and other arms remaining on the market — particularly with quite a few big-market clubs like Boston still on the hunt for arms.
Offseason Outlook: San Diego Padres
The Padres went from a veritable playoff lock to a sub-.500 record on the heels of a catastrophic second-half collapse. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller will go back to the drawing board amid greater expectations and even more pressure.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Fernando Tatis Jr., SS: $329MM through 2034
- Manny Machado, 3B: $210MM through 2028 (Machado can opt out of contract after 2023 season)
- Eric Hosmer, 1B: $59MM through 2025
- Yu Darvish, RHP: $37MM through 2023
- Blake Snell, LHP: $28.5MM through 2023
- Ha-Seong Kim, INF: $23MM through 2024 (includes $2MM buyout of $8MM mutual option for 2025)
- Wil Myers, OF: $21MM through 2022 (includes $1MM buyout of $20MM club option for 2023)
- Drew Pomeranz, LHP: $16MM through 2023
- Jurickson Profar, INF/OF: $15MM through 2023 (includes $1MM buyout of $10MM mutual option for 2024; Profar can opt out of contract after 2022 season)
- Mike Clevinger, RHP: $6.5MM through 2022
- Craig Stammen, RHP: $4MM through 2022
- Pierce Johnson, RHP: $3MM through 2022
- 2022 commitments: $140.5MM
- Total long-term commitments: $752MM
Projected Salaries for Arbitration-Eligible Players (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Adam Frazier – $7.2MM
- Matt Strahm – $2.1MM
- Joe Musgrove – $8.9MM
- Dinelson Lamet – $4.6MM
- Emilio Pagan – $2.3MM
- Victor Caratini – $2.1MM
- Jose Castillo – $700K
- Tim Hill – $1.4MM
- Trey Wingenter – $600K
- Austin Adams – $1.0MM
- Chris Paddack – $2.1MM
Non-tender candidates: Strahm, Castillo, Wingenter
Option Decisions
- Exercised $4MM club option on RHP Craig Stammen
- Exercised $3MM club option on RHP Pierce Johnson
- Declined $4MM club option on OF Jake Marisnick
- Declined $800K club option on RHP Keone Kela (Kela had Tommy John surgery in late May)
- RHP Mark Melancon declined $5MM mutual option (received $1MM buyout)
Free Agents
- Daniel Hudson, Mark Melancon, Jake Marisnick, Keone Kela, Ross Detwiler, Vince Velasquez, Tommy Pham
On the day of the 2021 trade deadline, the Padres were 61-45 — still third place in a dominant NL West division but only five games out of first and also holding a commanding five-and-a-half-game lead on the NL’s second Wild Card spot. A postseason berth seemed overwhelmingly likely. The Friars appeared poised for another aggressive deadline, reportedly making a push to acquire Max Scherzer from the Nationals while also exploring trades to shed Eric Hosmer’s contract and improve an inconsistent offense.
Instead, the division-rival Dodgers won the Scherzer bidding, and no deals involving Hosmer materialized. The Padres acquired second baseman/outfielder Adam Frazier despite having various options at both positions, and their other big deadline takeaway was reliever Daniel Hudson. That was hardly a pair of inconsequential acquisitions at the time, but Monday morning quarterbacking was in full effect as the Padres almost immediately performed a swan dive in the Wild Card standings. San Diego astonishingly went 18-38 to close out the season — not only losing a playoff spot but falling below .500 on the year.
Amid that catastrophic fall from grace were reports of tensions in the clubhouse. Second-year manager Jayce Tingler reportedly lost the locker room late in the year, and public-facing spats involving star players like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado only fanned the flames on that narrative.
It came as little surprise, then, to see the offseason begin with Tingler’s ousting. (He’s since joined the Twins as their new bench coach.) What was a surprise — to put things mildly — was the sudden hiring of longtime Athletics manager Bob Melvin, who agreed to a three-year deal to take the reins in San Diego. Melvin was under contract with the A’s through the 2022 season, but a cost-cutting A’s club let him interview and sign with the Padres on a reported three-year, $12MM contract — asking for no compensation in return.
It was a legitimate shocker and widely viewed as something of a coup for the Friars. While their 2021 season ended in disaster, the 2021-22 offseason kicked off on an immensely positive note. Those good feelings will only extend so long, however, and Preller & Co. must now look for ways to improve a roster that faceplanted in the season’s second half.
The first question, quite likely, is simply one of where to begin. The Padres have a remarkable 23 players either on guaranteed contracts or eligible for arbitration, presenting them with a nearly full active roster before even making a move. They’ll surely make some subtractions via non-tender and trade in the coming days, and it stands to reason that the team will again revisit some of those deadline-season trade endeavors.
The reported effort to move Hosmer, for instance, was surely fueled by a desire to improve upon his pedestrian offensive performance but was also borne out of a desire to curb a payroll that has increasingly soared to previously unseen levels in San Diego. Both Hosmer and Wil Myers are slightly above-average hitters with salaries north of $20MM on the books in 2022. The urgency to move Hosmer’s deal is only heightened by the fact that he’d gain 10-and-5 rights (10 years of MLB service, past five with the same team) at the end of the 2022 season — which would give him full veto power over any trade.
The Padres’ 2022 payroll is already projected by Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez at a staggering $192MM — with nearly $209MM of luxury-tax considerations. That $192MM mark is already nearly $20MM higher than the prior franchise-record. While ownership may be comfortable taking the overall budget to new heights — it’s doubtful they’d have signed Tatis and Machado to those mega-deals were that not the case — the budget surely isn’t limitless. And considering the fact that this Padres club ranked 14th in each of total runs scored, combined wRC+, ERA and FIP, it’s obvious that improvements are needed on both ends of the roster.
Looking for creative ways to shed the contracts of Hosmer or Myers figure to again be revisited this winter, and the Padres have no shortage of square pegs currently being asked to fill round holes. Acquiring Adam Frazier was something of a curious fit in the first place, given the presence of Machado, Tatis and All-Star second baseman Jake Cronenworth, but Frazier’s projected $7.2MM salary now looks even more questionable on the Padres’ roster. He’s obviously a fine player based on his track record in Pittsburgh, but perhaps the lack of a defined role in San Diego didn’t agree with him.
That same logic, to some extent, applies to infielder Ha-Seong Kim. The Padres signed the former KBO superstar to a four-year deal despite lacking obvious infield playing time for him, and Kim struggled to find his footing as he adjusted to big league pitching with inconsistent playing time across multiple positions. Kim was viewed as the equivalent of an MLB-ready, top 100 prospect at the time of his signing but hit just .202/.270/.352 while averaging fewer than three plate appearances over his 117 games.
Between Kim, Frazier and Jurickson Profar, whose questionable three-year deal only looks even more dubious now, the Padres are set to pay upwards of $20MM to a trio of players who don’t even have a defined spot in the everyday lineup. Trading any of the three should be firmly on the table, as should the easier-said-than-done possibility of finally finding a partner in a Hosmer or Myers trade. From a purely speculative standpoint, the money remaining on the Hosmer and Aaron Hicks contracts are quite similar, and Hosmer’s contact-oriented lefty bat could be of some appeal to the Yankees if they don’t re-sign Anthony Rizzo.
If the Padres ultimately are able to shed some of the currently questionable fits for their lineup, they’ll look for ways to quickly reallocate any dollars saved and lineup spots that were vacated. With Tommy Pham reaching free agency and Myers standing as a viable trade candidate, a corner outfielder could be a sensible upgrade. The aforementioned Frazier can certainly handle left field, but alternatives on the market include the likes of Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Michael Conforto, Starling Marte, Avisail Garcia and NPB superstar Seiya Suzuki. At first base, the open market has Rizzo, while the trade market will include Matt Olson, Luke Voit and others.
If the designated hitter is indeed added to the National League, as is widely expected, it’s likely Preller will look to old friend Nelson Cruz. Preller has shown a clear affinity for former Rangers players in past iterations of the Padres’ roster, and he even explored the possibility of acquiring Cruz at the trade deadline and playing him at first base. The addition of a DH would also make it easier for San Diego (or any other NL club) to put forth a long-term offer for either of Castellanos or Schwarber, who boast imposing bats but come with sub-par defensive grades.
On the pitching side of things, the Padres have a pretty strong group on paper. The combination of Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, Mike Clevinger, Dinelson Lamet and Chris Paddack looks sound. The trio of MacKenzie Gore, Adrian Morejon (who had Tommy John surgery in May) and Ryan Weathers makes for an enticing and upside-laden series of depth options.
That said, the starting rotation was expected to be a strength in 2021 but turned into a glaring liability. Darvish melted down the stretch after a strong first several months, while the opposite was true of Snell. Lamet’s ongoing injury woes limited his innings and placed a large slate of red flags on him for the 2022 season. Clevinger, like Morejon, is coming back from Tommy John surgery and as we know, that’s hardly a lock. (Just look at Noah Syndergaard‘s 2021 season.) Paddack, meanwhile, struggled throughout the season and has yet to recapture his brilliant rookie form. Weathers was hit hard after a promising start, and most confounding of all, Gore barely pitched in the minors — instead spending much of the season working through mechanical issues at the Padres’ Arizona facility.
By late in the season, the Padres were giving starts to reclamation projects like Jake Arrieta and Vince Velasquez as they clung to faint postseason hopes. The end result was a rotation that finished 29th in the Majors in innings pitched (741 1/3) and 18th in ERA (4.54).
Further compounding matters for the Friars is that the rotation is a rather expensive group. Darvish, Snell, Musgrove, Clevinger, Paddack and Lamet will earn somewhere in the vicinity of $55MM combined, but only Musgrove showed any real consistency in 2021. San Diego will hope that swapping out former pitching coach Larry Rothschild — who was fired in August — for Ruben Niebla will help to improve the results. That said, if the Padres are again looking for ways to shake up the roster, it’s at least feasible that one of Darvish or Snell could be moved as a means of freeing up payroll and opening a spot for a different acquisition.
The uncertainty surrounding several promising young arms — Weathers, Gore, Morejon, and Lamet — also raises the possibility of moving anyone from that group in a trade of note. Preller is routinely involved in all of the big names on the market, and it’s easy to imagine Oakland’s Olson and perhaps one of their available starters piquing the Padres’ interest. A shot at a high-ceiling wild card like Minnesota’s Byron Buxton, or perhaps an aggressive pursuit of a Cincinnati starter like Sonny Gray or Luis Castillo could seemingly be in the cards, too. It’s easy to write off the Padres as a team that doesn’t definitively “need” another starter, but Preller showed last year in acquiring Darvish, Snell and Musgrove that he’s unafraid to stockpile pieces in areas where the big league roster does not have a dire need. (See also: the signing of Kim and acquisition of Frazier.)
As far as relief pitching is concerned, the Padres generally appear to have a strong group, but that shouldn’t squarely rule them out from making some notable additions. Mark Melancon led baseball in saves this past season and is now a free agent. He came to the Padres on a bargain deal after his market failed to materialize last winter, so it’s unlikely he’d be re-signed at a premium rate. Waiting out the market and pouncing on a veteran arm again this offseason makes sense, though, particularly with standout southpaw Drew Pomeranz on the mend from a torn flexor tendon.
As is the case in the rotation and the lineup, however, the Padres can’t be ruled out if a big-name reliever becomes available via trade. Don’t be surprised to see them linked to Josh Hader or Craig Kimbrel in the weeks and months to come.
More than any team in Major League Baseball, the Padres have proven themselves difficult to predict. Preller’s “Rock Star GM” moniker, given to him by Matt Kemp after a dizzying flurry of transactions in his first offseason on the job, is often used in humorous fashion — but it’s also rooted in some truth. Preller has shown a repeated affinity to grab headlines with fearless trades, free-agent signings and extensions alike, often moving players who seemed unattainable or acquiring players despite a lack of obvious need. He is quite arguably the sport’s most aggressive baseball operations leader, and given the mounting expectations in San Diego and a shocking freefall from 2021 playoff contention, there’s more pressure than ever to find the right pieces.
Mets Name Billy Eppler General Manager
Nov. 18: The Mets have announced the hiring of Eppler on a four-year deal, as expected.
Nov. 17: The agreement being finalized is a four-year contract, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Newsday’s David Lennon tweets that the hiring will likely become official on Friday.
Nov. 15: After weeks of searching for a new baseball operations leader, the Mets are reportedly finalizing a contract and naming former Angels GM Billy Eppler their new general manager. Eppler’s hiring will give the Mets an experienced baseball operations leader to take over a department that has seen a staggering amount of turnover in the past year.
The Mets have effectively been without a general manager for more than a calendar year now, since incoming owner Steve Cohen dismissed former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen the day his sale of the team was finalized. New York sought to hire a high-profile executive to overtake the baseball operations department last year, but after struggling to obtain permission to interview several high-ranking officials with other clubs, Cohen and returning team president Sandy Alderson settled on naming D-backs assistant GM Jared Porter their new general manager.
The Porter hiring proved regrettable almost immediately, as he was fired just six weeks into his tenure following the revelation of repeated sexual harassment of a reporter years prior. Zack Scott, who’d been hired from the Red Sox as an assistant GM, was elevated to the title of “acting GM” and thought to be a candidate for permanent promotion to the GM post before he was arrested on a DWI charge over the summer. He’s since been cut from the organization himself.
Cohen and Alderson opened the 2021-22 offseason with a similar plan to last year, hoping to interview some of the biggest front-office names in the sport. A meeting between Theo Epstein and Cohen, however, ended with both sides reportedly agreeing there was not a fit. The Brewers denied permission to interview David Stearns for a second straight offseason, and longtime A’s baseball operations leader Billy Beane withdrew his name from the running before taking a meeting. Thus began a series of denials for the Mets — some when another team refused to grant permission to interview an executive and some when an executive with another club declined to interview at all.
After a dizzying sequence of candidates had come to light, the Mets turned to the agent world once again. Eppler, two months ago, had accepted a position with William Morris Endeavor — a well-known talent representation company in Hollywood that has recently branched out into baseball representation. Eppler was expected to help head up a fledgling baseball practice with WME, who a year ago landed star shortstop Carlos Correa as its highest-profile client. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Eppler had inked a five-year deal with WME but will instead quickly return to the other side of the negotiation table.
Eppler is no stranger to New York City after a decade-long run in the Yankees’ front office prior to his run with the Halos. The now-46-year-old broke into baseball as a scout with the Rockies in the early 2000s before joining the Yankees in that same role. He was eventually named the Yankees’ director of scouting and, in 2011, promoted to the title of assistant general manager — a role he’d hold until being hired to lead the Angels’ baseball operations staff following the 2015 season.
The Angels opted to move on from Eppler last offseason despite a year remaining on his contract, as he’d not yet produced a postseason team during that time. Of course, Eppler also inherited a barren farm system a payroll outlook that was bogged down by an ownership-driven signing of Albert Pujols, and a team that was in the “penalty box” in terms of international signing capabilities for the first couple years of his tenure there.
To Eppler’s credit, the Angels wooed Shohei Ohtani under his watch and also worked out a record extension with center fielder Mike Trout, likely keeping him in Anaheim for the duration of his career. It was also under Eppler that the Angels extended Justin Upton on an ill-fated five-year contract and signed Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245MM that did nothing to address the team’s rotation deficiencies — although as Maria Torres of the L.A. Times explored at the time of that 2019 signing, owner Arte Moreno’s fixation on acquiring Rendon pre-dated Eppler’s hiring as general manager.
Free-agent spending was generally limited for Eppler — not surprising given the mammoth outlays on the books — and often resulted in a series of one-year deals for high-risk players. Signings of Matt Harvey, Julio Teheran, Tim Lincecum, Cody Allen and Trevor Cahill didn’t prove fruitful, nor was a three-year deal for infielder Zack Cozart, which was the only free-agent deal other than Rendon that was priced at even $20MM during Eppler’s tenure. In addition to the struggles in free agency, many of the Angels’ homegrown arms were regularly injured and/or wildly inconsistent.
Free agency is only one piece of the puzzle for any baseball ops leader, though, and it should be noted that Eppler has a pretty solid track record on the trade front. The Angels’ initial acquisition of Upton was shrewd, prior to that regrettable extension, and several other notable trades under his watch panned out quite well for the Angels. Andrelton Simmons, Patrick Sandoval, Max Stassi, Tommy La Stella, Felix Pena and Dylan Bundy (who was excellent for the Halos in 2020) were all acquired at generally minimal cost. Eppler had a knack for finding waiver gems, too, as evidenced by the team’s success with Hansel Robles, Brian Goodwin, Blake Parker and Noe Ramirez.
While it was a rather circuitous route to get here, the Mets’ ultimate GM hire in many ways resembles the candidates they began seeking out of the gate this offseason. Recent Mets targets have generally been the second or third in command of opposing teams’ baseball operations hierarchies, but Eppler is an experienced baseball ops leader who is familiar with big markets and comes with some name recognition. That falls more in line with the Mets’ early pursuits of Epstein, Stearns and Beane than with recent interest in a slew of assistant GMs.
Once Eppler is formally installed and announced as the new general manager, he could get the opportunity to operate with a bit more latitude than was afforded to him under the Halos and Moreno. His first order of business will be to name a manager to replace Luis Rojas, and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman suggests that former Angels skipper Brad Ausmus could be high on Eppler’s list. That wouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that Eppler hired Ausmus to lead his staff in Anaheim, but the Mets figure to embark on a full-fledged managerial search and interview a number of candidates before making any final decisions on that front.
SNY’s Andy Martino reported earlier today that Eppler had gained traction as a leading candidate in the Mets’ search. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported that the Mets had made an offer to Eppler (Twitter link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported that Eppler and Cohen had met face-to-face over the weekend and that a contract was in the works (Twitter links). MLB Network’s Jon Heyman added that talks were in the final stages.
D-backs Hire Brent Strom As Pitching Coach
Nov. 18: The Diamondbacks have officially announced they’ve hired Strom as their pitching coach.
11:52am: Strom confirms to Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston that he has accepted an offer to be the next pitching coach of the Diamondbacks. “It’s an exciting time for me,” says Strom. “It’s a challenging job obviously. They’re much better than what their record showed.”
Strom also confirms the change of scenery to Rosenthal (Twitter links): “Me leaving the Astros had nothing to do with any disagreements or anything like that. Just a gut feeling on my part that eight years was long enough. It’s really in good shape with the people they have now.” He also heaps praise on Astros skipper Dusty Baker, calling him “as good a human being as I’ve ever been around in my life.”
11:43am: The Diamondbacks are set to hire Brent Strom as their new pitching coach, per Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough of The Athletic (Twitter link). The hire comes just nine days after Strom announced that he would not return as the Astros’ pitching coach.
Strom didn’t commit to retirement at the time of his departure from the Houston organization, suggesting such a route could be on the table but also squarely leaving the door open for further coaching opportunities in the Majors. As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale points out, Strom resides in Tucson, Ariz., so the move to the D-backs brings him much closer to home.
It’s a notable get for the D-backs, who had one of the worst pitching staffs in Major League Baseball this past season and will soon welcome a bevy of interesting young arms to the big league ranks. Strom spent eight seasons as the pitching coach for the Astros, helping to develop a number of quality young arms and also turn around the careers of some previously unheralded journeymen. While a pitching coach alone isn’t solely responsible for the successes of a staff — certainly not in the era of advance scouting and mounting data provided from analytics staffs — it’d be foolish not to credit Strom as a significant factor in the success of the Astros’ pitching staff over the years.
Young arms like Corbin Martin, Ryne Nelson, and Bryce Jarvis are all expected to begin next year in Double-A or higher, making them relatively near-term options for the big league club in Arizona. Strom ought to have the opportunity to work with them and with several of the D-backs younger arms in camp this spring, too — a group that includes names like Slade Cecconi and Blake Walston.
Of course, beyond the up-and-coming prospects, the D-backs will look to Strom to help right the ship for a club that posted the second-worst team ERA (5.15) and FIP (4.88) in all of Major League Baseball. Still-developing arms like Zac Gallen, Luke Weaver, Tyler Gilbert and J.B. Bukauskas will hope for better results and/or better health, and even an elder statesman such as Madison Bumgarner will surely welcome new ideas under Strom.
More than ever, it takes a village to field a competitive pitching staff (or, more broadly, a competitive roster), but there are few hires the D-backs could have made who would’ve commanded as much respect from the pitchers he’ll now oversee and from his peers on manager Torey Lovullo’s staff.
Rays Have Reportedly Made Record Extension Offer To Wander Franco
Wander Franco‘s big league career spans just 70 games and 104 days, but Yancen Pujols of El Caribe, a news outlet in Franco’s native Dominican Republic, reports that the Rays have put forth what would be a record-setting contract offer to the 20-year-old shortstop (Twitter thread). Exact terms aren’t known, but Pujols indicates that the offer is at least ten years in length and would land somewhere in the $150-200MM range. That’d go well beyond the eight-year, $100MM contract Ronald Acuna Jr. signed in Atlanta — the current record for a player with under a year of Major League service time.
The Rays are among the many teams who regularly show interest in early-career extensions. That’s largely a necessity for them to retain homegrown stars, given the payroll restrictions ownership places on the front office. That said, while Tampa Bay has had some success in this regard in the past — Brandon Lowe, Evan Longoria, Matt Moore and Chris Archer all signed team-friendly extensions with under one year of MLB service time — the reported terms here would dwarf any contract ever handed out by the franchise, regardless of service time. (Longoria’s second extension — a six-year, $100MM pact — is the current franchise record.)
It’s easy to see why the Rays are so bullish on Franco’s long-term outlook. The consensus No. 1 prospect in all of baseball for two years prior to his debut, Franco burst onto the scene at 20 years of age and slashed .288/.347/.463 with seven home runs, 18 doubles, five triples and a pair of stolen bases through 308 plate appearances. In spite of that youth, Franco looked like he belonged almost immediately — at one point reaching base in 43 consecutive games. That mind-boggling stretch, which spanned from July 25 to Sept. 29, saw Franco post a combined .329/.398/.545 batting line with more walks (9.1%) than strikeouts (8.1%). Franco went on to finish third place in AL Rookie of the Year voting despite appearing in just 70 games.
The Rays waited until late June to call Franco to the big leagues, all but ensuring that he’d avoid Super Two status under the current iteration of the arbitration system (which could change, depending on ongoing labor negotiations). As things currently stand, Franco wouldn’t even be arbitration-eligible until after the 2024 season, and he wouldn’t reach the open market until the completion of the 2027 campaign. A contract of 10-plus years in length would buy out all of Franco’s arbitration seasons and lock in at least four would-be free-agent years — plus any additional option years that could potentially be tacked on.
On the one hand, it’ll be jarring for some to consider the possibility of guaranteeing such a weighty sum to a player with such minimal big league experience. On the other, fans need only look to San Diego to see what waiting until a couple years can do to the price tag on a player of this caliber. Fernando Tatis Jr., who also debuted at age 20 with similarly excellent results, didn’t sign an extension until he had two full years of service time in the books — at which point he secured a record 14-year, $340MM contract from the Friars. It’s hard to imagine the low-payroll Rays ever doling out a guarantee of the magnitude, so it’s understandable that they’d look to act earlier in Franco’s promising career.
Even if the two sides ultimately come to terms on something in this general neighborhood, Franco would figure to be years from seeing his salary spike. He’s currently set to make under $1MM in each of the next three seasons as a pre-arbitration player, and the contract structuring would likely reflect that reality — perhaps promising him a signing bonus and some low seven-figure salaries prior to his arb years before slowly ramping into the would-be free-agent portion of his deal. That would give the Rays cost certainty in the long-term while maintaining the type of early flexibility they still stand to enjoy from MLB’s present-day salary structure.
From Franco’s side of things, it’s a rather fascinating scenario to consider. It’s unfathomable for most of us to ever turn down an overture that would guarantee $150MM or more — particularly at such a young age. Then again, looking to the current free-agent climate in MLB, Franco can see both Carlos Correa and Corey Seager vying for contracts that guarantee them $300MM or more. Talk of a potential extension for 23-year-old Juan Soto, who has three-plus years of service, has elicited suggestions of $400MM or even $500MM.
Franco’s early debut puts him on that same type of earning trajectory — assuming he can indeed live up to the considerable hype surrounding him. He’d reach six full years of service time heading into his age-27 season, the same position in which Correa finds himself now (with nearly $27MM in career salaries already banked). Six years ago, talk of contracts in the $300-400MM range might have seemed far-fetched, but that’s no longer the case. In fact, six years ago, the largest contract ever given to a player with under a year of service time was Archer’s six-year, $25.5MM deal. Suffice it to say, what players consider attainable can change quite a bit in a span of six years.
Of course, forgoing an extension structure of this magnitude could prove overwhelmingly regrettable. Any player comes with the risk of major injury, and as touted as Franco was as a prospect, whether he’ll reach that sky-high ceiling remains to be seen. If he settles in as a quality regular but something less than a superstar, this type of offer may not present itself in future years. It’s also at least possible that current CBA talks impact his earning power for the worse; ownership has already proposed an age-based free agent threshold of 29.5 years (although that was an obvious nonstarter for the MLBPA due to exactly this type of player being harmed). If nothing else, it all makes for a fascinating thought exercise.
To be clear, there’s no indication an agreement is nigh. Quite the opposite, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that nothing appears imminent at this time. Pujols, meanwhile, reports that Franco’s camp is currently studying the offer and is expected to make a counteroffer at some point.
Talk of any major contract issued by the Rays will inevitably lead to some cynical remarks about how soon the player can expect to be traded, and cliche as they may be, such jabs are also rooted in historic precedent. It’s commonplace for the Rays to trade stars away once these early-career extensions feel less like bargains (e.g. Blake Snell, Archer, Longoria), but it’s also important to note that the Rays do seem well-positioned to make such a proposal. Lowe’s contract is the only guaranteed money on the books beyond the 2022 season, and by the time the 2025 campaign rolls around, Tampa Bay doesn’t have a single guaranteed dollar on the ledger.
It could nevertheless be difficult for Tampa Bay to ever commit a hefty eight-figure salary to a player on an annual basis, but if there’s one player for whom the Rays would try to make such an arrangement work, it’s likely Franco.