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Twins Prospect Ryan Costello Passes Away

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Twins prospect Ryan Costello passed away over the weekend at just 23 years of age, the team announced Monday morning. Costello had been in Auckland, New Zealand and was slated to play third base for the Auckland Tuatara in the Australian Baseball League beginning this week.

“The Minnesota Twins are deeply saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Ryan Costello yesterday in New Zealand,” the team said in a press release this morning. “On behalf of the entire organization, the Twins send their most sincere condolences to Ryan’s family, friends, coaches and teammates.”

Preliminary indications suggest that Costello died of natural causes, writes Daren Smith of MiLB.com, citing a statement from the Tuatara. Costello was a 31st-round pick of the Mariners in 2017 and came to the Twins in the 2018 trade that sent lefty Zach Duke to Seattle. MLBTR extends its sympathies to the family, friends and teammates of Costello as well as the entire Twins organization.

Cubs, Diamondbacks Have Interest In Shogo Akiyama

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The Cubs have free-agent center fielder Shogo Akiyama “on their radar,” reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription required), and Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen acknowledged his own club’s interest in the 31-year-old at this week’s GM Meetings (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Repbulic).

Akiyama, a longtime Seibu Lions star, is hoping to make the jump to Major League Baseball this offseason. Unlike countryman Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, who was posted by the Yokohama BayStars earlier today, Akiyama has nine years of service time, making him a true free agent who isn’t subject to the MLB-NPB posting system.

Akiyama has topped 20 homers in each of the past three seasons and swiped 15-plus bags in each of the past five years. In all, since the 2015 season, he’s a .320/.398/.497 hitter. He’ll turn 32 next April, so in addition to the standard questions on the extent to which a player’s output in NPB can be approximated in MLB, Akiyama will also deal with teams wondering when he’ll begin to decline. Although he’s been clear about his desire to challenge himself by playing in the Major Leagues, that doesn’t guarantee that he’ll make the switch. Akiyama is a star in NPB, so he should be able to land a multi-year deal to remain in Japan if he doesn’t find offers from MLB clubs to be suitable.

It’s not terribly difficult to see why the Cubs would have interest in Akiyama. Albert Almora hasn’t developed into the quality regular they’d hoped when he was a highly regarded prospect, and Cubs center fielders posted a dismal .232/.305/.388 line on the season as a whole. Both Almora and Jason Heyward, who shifted to center field frequently in 2019 (largely due to Almora’s struggles), posted negative center-field marks in Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

The D-backs don’t have a glaring need in center, although that’s partially due to the flexibility that Ketel Marte affords the front office. Marte can capably handle either center field or second base, leaving Hazen and his staff free to explore a number of possibilities. Still, via Piecoro, Hazen specifically acknowledged that the Diamondbacks “think [Akiyama] is a good player.” The Diamondbacks, under Hazen, haven’t been shy about rolling the dice on players who’ve had success overseas; Arizona has signed right-handers Yoshihisa Hirano and Merrill Kelly to low-cost deals over the past two years.

Chicago and Arizona won’t be the only clubs that gives some consideration to Akiyama this winter. Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins has already acknowledged some interest, and the dearth of center-field options available in free agency only enhances the likelihood that he’ll garner additional MLB interest.

Rangers, Edinson Volquez Discussing Minor League Deal

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The Rangers are in talks with veteran right-hander Edinson Volquez about a minor league contract, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com (via Twitter). If a deal is reached, Volquez would head to Spring Training in hopes of winning a spot in the team’s bullpen.

It wasn’t long ago that an elbow injury prompted Volquez to strongly consider retirement. As recently as late July, Volquez had said he merely hoped to be able to return to a big league mound in September to go out on his own terms rather than be forced into retirement by injury. However, as the veteran righty progressed through his rehab and began to feel healthier, he expressed interest in returning to the Rangers for the 2020 season, and it seems the two sides are now working to make that reunion happen.

To his credit, Volquez, who feared early in the season that he might require another Tommy John surgery, did make it back to the mound in September. The 36-year-old was tagged for six runs in 8 1/3 innings, though seven of his nine outings were scoreless and four of the runs he yielded came in one appearance. Upon returning to the hill, his fastball averaged a hearty 95.4 mph.

Volquez, who has pitched in parts of 14 Major League seasons, was originally signed by the Texas organization as an international amateur back in October 2001. He was they key piece that went from Texas to Cincinnati in the 2007 Josh Hamilton trade and found himself in another notable swap when the Reds included him (along with Yasmani Grandal, Yonder Alonso and Brad Boxberger) in the deal that netted righty Mat Latos from the Padres. Volquez was a key member of the Royals’ rotation when they won the World Series in 2015 and owns a lifetime 4.45 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 0.93 HR/9 and a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate in 1540 2/3 Major League innings.

Marlins “Believed” To Have Interest In Castellanos, Ozuna

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TODAY: The Marlins are also “considering” a reunion with Marcell Ozuna, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets.  Since Ozuna rejected the Cardinals’ qualifying offer, however, FNTSY Radio’s Craig Mish doesn’t believe the Marlins would give up the required draft pick compensation to sign the outfielder.

MONDAY: The Marlins are looking to add a position player to their everyday lineup, as the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reported last week, and the team is “believed” to have interest in free agent right fielder Nicholas Castellanos, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro writes today.

Miami would presumably have to overpay in order to persuade a fairly notable free agent to sign a multi-year deal in the midst of a rebuild, but the fit makes sense for a few reasons. Beyond the sheer fact that the Marlins’ offense in 2019 was horrific, Castellanos is a Miami-area native. He attended high school a mere 25 miles from Marlins park, so signing in Miami would likely hold more appeal to him than to the standard free agent. He’s also an unusually young free agent at 27 years of age (28 in March), so he’d theoretically still be in his prime years when Miami seeks to emerge from its rebuild. Castellanos was ineligible to receive a qualifying offer, so he won’t cost the rebuilding Marlins any draft picks. (Although, notably, president of baseball ops Michael Hill suggested last week that a qualifying offer may not be the detriment most would expect.)

On the other side of the equation, Castellanos’ enthusiasm over being in a pennant race with the Cubs can’t be ignored. He’s spent most of his career on a cellar-dwelling Tigers club and was outspoken on multiple occasions about what it meant to him to play meaningful games in September. At least as far as the 2020 season goes, that’s not really a selling point the Marlins can include in their pitch (hence the previously mentioned need to overpay).

Signing Castellanos or any other corner outfielder — Avisail Garcia, Corey Dickerson and old friend Marcell Ozuna are among the alternatives — would likely mean keeping third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson on the infield. Anderson, 26, has emerged as a potential building block himself and is the team’s clear best position player at the moment. Teaming him and Castellanos up in the heart of the order would assuredly give the Marlins improved offensive output, and the Marlins can easily afford to pursue such an arrangement. Miami has a ridiculously low $26.75MM committed to the 2020 roster $22MM to Wei-Yin Chen and $4.75MM to Miguel Rojas) and just $5MM in 2021 (plus $3MM per year to the Yankees for Giancarlo Stanton).

In fact, Miami’s payroll is so low, they’ll likely feel pressured to spend some money in the offseason. The MLBPA raised concerns about the team’s use of its revenue-sharing profits two seasons ago when payroll was substantially higher, and they’re currently on pace to have a league-low $52.79MM payroll in 2020 (including three arbitration-eligible players, 21 pre-arbitration players and the Stanton payout). Miami’s $63MM Opening Day payroll in 2019 was already the lowest in the Majors, and a further reduction could once again call the team’s allocation of its revenue-sharing funds into question.

Castellanos split the 2019 season between the Tigers and the Cubs, hitting a combined .289/.337/.525 — including a ridiculous .321/.356/.646 following his trade to Chicago. His right-field defense is regarded as well below-average, though the 2019 season was only his second year at the position after moving there from third base (and his numbers improved dramatically from 2018 to 2019).

Jake Odorizzi To Accept Qualifying Offer

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Right-hander Jake Odorizzi will accept a qualifying offer from the Twins, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’ll now be signed for the 2020 season at a rate of $17.8MM.

Jake Odorizzi | Ben Ludeman-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a bit of a surprise move but likely a welcome development for a Twins club that previously stood to see 80 percent of its starting rotation hit free agency. Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson, Michael Pineda and Martin Perez (whose $7.5MM club option was bought out) were all slated to hit the open market.

Instead, the 29-year-old Odorizzi will return on a one-year deal at a strong annual rate with an eye toward testing the market in earnest next season when he wont’t have a qualifying offer attached to his name. The collective bargaining agreement stipulates that a player can only receive one qualifying offer in his career, so Odorizzi won’t cost any teams any draft or international forfeitures when he hits free agency again next winter.

The 2019 season proved to be either a rebound or a breakout for Odorizzi, depending on how one views it. He looked like a pitcher on the rise from 2014-16 with the Rays before posting a pair of solid but unremarkable seasons with Tampa Bay and Minnesota in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Last winter, Odorizzi embarked on a new offseason training regimen with a focus on biomechaics and did similar work with newly hired Twins pitching coach during Spring Training, which led to an uptick in velocity and career-best marks in terms of K/9, overall strikeout percentage and swinging-strike rate. The results spoke for themselves, as Odorizzi turned in 159 innings of 3.51 ERA ball with 10.1 K/9 (a 27.1 percent overall strikeout rate), 3.0 BB/9, 0.91 HR/9 and a 35 percent ground-ball rate.

While most pegged Odorizzi as a candidate to secure a multi-year pact in free agency — he landed 10th on our ranking of the Top 50 free agents — he and his representatives at Excel Sports Management clearly weren’t enthused by their early talks with teams throughout the league. Once a player receives a qualifying offer, he has up to 10 days to accept or reject it, and he’s free to explore the open market during that time. Odorizzi’s decision largely came down to the wire, and he’ll now have another year to further build his case. If he can repeat his 2019 success next season and return to the open market in advance of his age-31 campaign, he’ll presumably fare quite well in free agency. Of course, as is always the case, he now runs the risk of damaging his stock with a poor performance or a notable injury.

For the Twins, Odorizzi’s return adds a notable salary to the books, but that’s of little concern given the enormous amount of payroll space the club has available. Even with Odorizzi back at $17.8MM, the Twins have a total of just $48.9MM in guaranteed contracts on the books, plus another $40.8MM worth of projected arbitration salaries. (That number could drop to $33.1MM if C.J. Cron is non-tendered.) That puts the Twins in the $82-89MM range, depending on Cron’s fate. Even after accounting for pre-arbitration players to round out the roster, Minnesota checks in under $100MM and vastly below the organization’s club-record payroll of $130MM from the 2018 season.

That’s good news for the Twins given the club’s need to address the rest of the rotation. While in-house candidates like Randy Dobnak, Devin Smeltzer, Brusdar Graterol and, eventually, prospect Jordan Balazovic all present intriguing 2020 options, the Twins still need to add at least one more proven arm — if not two proven arms to the mix. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine have been candid about the team’s plan to pursue “impact” starting pitching, making that remaining payroll capacity all the more pivotal. For now, however, Minnesota surely feels better about its rotation outlook, knowing that one major piece of the puzzle was filled in less than two weeks into the offseason.

Jon Gray Drawing Trade Interest

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Rockies right-hander Jon Gray was an oft-mentioned name at this week’s GM Meetings, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com, with the Padres among the clubs interested in acquiring the former No. 3 overall pick.

That Gray would emerge as a potential trade candidate isn’t really a surprise; as explored here at MLBTR a month ago, the Rockies are in a tough spot as a team that is projected to have a franchise-record payroll in 2020 before making a single addition to improve what was a 71-91 club in 2019. Gray and shortstop Trevor Story are the two members of the club that are relatively short-term assets (both controlled through 2021) and have performed well enough to have legitimate trade value. Owner Dick Monfort began the offseason by declaring a lack of payroll flexibility. As such, if the Rockies are to look to ways to improve, they may need to walk a fine line and move some quality big league pieces to simultaneously pare back spending and add more affordable (but less proven) near-MLB talent.

Gray, who last week turned 28, has demonstrated front-of-the-rotation ability at times in his big league career but has yet to establish much in the way of consistency. He’s averaged better than a strikeout per inning in 641 1/3 MLB frames and has delivered sub-4.00 ERAs in two of the past three seasons despite pitching his home games at Coors Field. However, Gray also logged a mediocre 4.61 ERA in 2016 and a woeful 5.12 mark in 2018.

Inconsistency notwithstanding, Gray is a former No. 3 overall pick and vaunted top prospect who averages better than 96 mph on his heater and owns a career 11.4 percent swinging-strike rate. He’s not exactly the prototypical Statcast darling, as he has below-average spin on his fastball and slider, but he’s managed to consistently generate punchouts all the same. And, that low spin rate has helped Gray to post above-average ground-ball tendencies throughout his MLB tenure.

Gray has only made 30 starts in a big league season once, although his durability isn’t questionable in the same way that it would be for a pitcher with a history of arm troubles. Rather, Gray has twice suffered a fracture in his left foot, limiting him to 110 1/3 innings in 2017 and 150 innings this past season. Outside of those two injuries, the only issue that’s ever shelved Gray during his MLB career was an abdominal strain in 2016. He did have some shoulder fatigue late in the 2014 season — his first full year of pro ball — but Gray’s right arm has an otherwise clean bill of health.

There are at least some parallels between the Rockies’ current situation with Gray and the situation the Pirates faced with Gerrit Cole two offseasons ago. Both are flamethrowing former top picks/prospects. Gray has a 112 ERA+ over his past four seasons — the same mark that Cole posted from 2014-17 in Pittsburgh. And, as was the case with Cole, Gray has another two years of club control remaining and a decidedly non-prohibitive (for most clubs) projected arbitration salary at $5.6MM. (Cole had settled at $6.75MM at the time of his trade.)

That’s not to suggest that Gray will erupt with a new club in the same manner that Cole did, but rather to underscore that Gray is the type of pitcher teams will dream on when scouring the trade market. The fact that this winter’s trade market lacks a clearly available frontline starter should only lead to further intrigue surrounding Gray, although there’s no guarantee that the Rockies will ultimately part ways with the hard-throwing right-hander. The Colorado organization, by all accounts, is hopeful of a bouncing back as a collective unit in 2020, so moving Gray for down-the-pipeline prospect who won’t reach the Majors until 2021-22 doesn’t seem likely.

Astros Accused Of Illegal Use Of Technology To Steal Signs

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Nov. 14: Major League Baseball is planning to talk to Red Sox manager Alex Cora and newly minted Mets skipper Carlos Beltran about the issue, Rosenthal and Drellich further report (subscription required). Both were on the 2017 Astros — Cora as bench coach and Beltran in the final season of his playing career. Beltran firmly denied any knowledge of the system in a statement to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that the league has already interviewed former Astros bullpen coach Craig Bjornson, who joined Cora with the Red Sox. MLB is making its best effort to gather “tangible evidence,” Passan writes, and will “consider levying long suspensions” to those who are found to have lied during the interview process.

Nov. 12: The Astros have come under scrutiny once again, this time on the heels of an in-depth report by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic (subscription required), wherein four former employees, including right-hander Mike Fiers, detailed an extensive sign-stealing operation enacted by the team during the 2017 season. Stealing signs in a traditional sense — such as a runner on second base watching the catcher and attempting to discern the pitch that has been called — is generally accepted as part of the game. Utilizing technology to aid in that effort, however, is expressly forbidden by the league.

The Astros, per the report, would utilize a center-field camera fixated on the catcher and a television monitor placed in the clubhouse tunnel near the dugout steps to try to decode an opponent’s signs. An Astros employee or player would then at times signal the type of pitch that was coming with a loud sound — typically banging on a trash can to alert the hitter of an offspeed or breaking pitch. Fiers, who was non-tendered by Houston following the 2017 season, confirmed that setup when interviewed by The Athletic. He added that upon leaving the organization, he warned his future Tigers and Athletics teammates of the practice.

“I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they’re going in there not knowing,” Fiers explained to The Athletic. “Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It’s (B.S.) on that end. It’s ruining jobs for younger guys.”

Fiers may have been in the Houston dugout during that 2017 season, but opponents on the pitcher’s mound weren’t totally in the dark. Recently retired reliever Danny Farquhar detailed a late-2017 appearance during which he caught wind of what was taking place, telling The Athletic: “There was a banging from the dugout, almost like a bat hitting the bat rack every time a changeup signal got put down. After the third one, I stepped off. I was throwing some really good changeups and they were getting fouled off. After the third bang, I stepped off.”

As one might expect in 2019, it didn’t take long for someone to find video footage of the incident in question. Lucas Apostoleris of Baseball Prospectus quickly found the appearance referenced by Farquhar (Twitter link), and the sound of the banging detailed by Farquhar can be heard quite clearly in the included video link.

It’s worth emphasizing that electronic sign stealing is widely believed to extend beyond the walls of Houston’s Minute Maid Park. As Rosenthal and Drellich explore, concerns surrounding the potential stealing of signs via technology aren’t necessarily unique to the Houston organization. Teams are increasingly wary that other clubs are utilizing technology to gain a competitive edge and steal signs, with one anonymous MLB manager telling The Athletic that such habits “permeate” the league and that MLB has done a “very poor job” policing the issue.

The league did fine the Red Sox during the 2017 season for illegal use of an Apple Watch in their home dugout, though there have not been any other publicized instances of league-issued discipline regarding technology-driven sign stealing. The investigation that led to the sanction of the Red Sox stemmed from a complaint filed by the Yankees, which the Red Sox countered with their own complaint alleging that the Yankees had utilized a YES Network camera to steal signs from Boston. Distrust between other organizations is surely prevalent throughout the league.

After the Red Sox were fined in 2017, commissioner Rob Manfred intimated that stricter punishments would be levied for future violations of this nature (link via the Associated Press): “All 30 clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.”

This isn’t the first time that the Astros, specifically, have been accused of stealing signs; a man with ties to the Astros organization, Kyle McLaughlin, was caught taking pictures near the Indians and Red Sox dugouts during the 2018 postseason. At the time, the Astros claimed that they were trying to ensure that those clubs weren’t utilizing illegal and/or unethical measures to gain an advantage. They were cleared of any rule violations by the league. A year later, during the 2019 ALCS, Houston manager A.J. Hinch scoffed at the notion that their players were whistling to call out the Yankees’ signs, calling any such accusations “a joke.” General manager Jeff Lunnow, at the time, told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle:

“We haven’t done anything wrong. If people want to make their own conclusions based on what little evidence there is out there — really just rumors, speculations and accusations without any names behind it — that’s their prerogative. I’m not concerned because I know how we behave and how we act. We’re not doing anything wrong.”

Today, the Astros offered the following statement in reference to the report from Rosenthal and Drellich:

“Regarding the story posted by The Athletic earlier today, the Houston Astros organization has begun an investigation in cooperation with Major League Baseball. It would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time.”

Asked to personally comment on the matter today at the GM Meetings, Luhnow told a large contingent of reporters that the organization will cooperate with any investigations but declined further comment (Twitter link via Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune).

Hyun-Jin Ryu Hoping For Three- Or Four-Year Deal

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After accepting a one-year, $17.9MM qualifying offer last winter, lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu is slated to fully explore the open market for the first time in his career. The NL Cy Young runner-up won’t have the burden of draft-pick compensation attached to his name, as he would’ve had he rejected last year’s offer, and he told reporters in his native South Korea this week that he’s hoping to sign a three- or four-year deal wherever he lands (link via Jee-Ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency).

Ryu’s decision to accept that qualifying offer looks to have paid off in spades, as the southpaw not only took home a rather hefty one-year salary in 2019 but also strengthened his open-market case with the finest season of his Major League career. In 29 starts and a total of 182 2/3 innings, Ryu worked to a pristine 2.32 ERA (3.10 FIP, 3.32 xFIP) with 8.0 K/9, 1.2 BB/9, 0.84 HR/9 and a 50.4 percent ground-ball rate. He may very well have won the NL Cy Young Award had it not been for a brief IL trip due to discomfort in his neck and some ensuing struggles in his return. Ryu yielded 21 runs (45 percent of his season total) in a span of 19 innings from Aug. 17 through Sept. 4 before rebounding with a trio of strong, seven-inning outings to close out the season.

At this point, Ryu says he’s entrusting agent Scott Boras to handle everything pertaining to his free agency, although Ryu did add that he doesn’t believe there have been many talks about a reunion with the Dodgers. That could change quickly, of course, and the Dodgers will surely gauge the asking price and market competition for Ryu — as they figure to do with virtually every free agent of note. Ryu also expressed gratitude in reference to recent comments made by countryman Shin-Soo Choo, who last week revealed that he’d pushed the Texas front office to look into signing Ryu. The 32-year-old Ryu (33 in March) said it would be “special” to play with a fellow Korean on the same big league club.

Whether a three- or four-year deal is possible will of course depend on the competition for Ryu’s services this winter. He ranks among the best available in terms of sheer talent, as evidenced by the otherworldly 2.21 ERA he’s notched in his past 265 big league innings dating back to Opening Day 2018. But Ryu’s next contract will begin with his age-33 campaign, and he carries with him an extensive injury history that’ll give plenty of teams pause.

Ryu had Tommy John surgery before he was even drafted in the Korea Baseball Organization, and he’s had a pair of surgeries since jumping to MLB as well: a shoulder operation to repair his labrum in 2015 and an elbow debridement procedure in 2016. Ryu pitched just 4 2/3 MLB innings from 2015-16 as a result of those two surgeries. He’s also had some hip troubles in the past, and in 2018 he was limited to 82 2/3 innings after suffering a gruesome injury when he tore a muscle in his groin clear off the bone.

Durability and age are the clearest red flags for Ryu as he and Boras look for a new contract this winter, but the lefty is one of the most impactful arms on the market. For a team that is reluctant to surrender draft picks by inking pitchers who received a qualifying offer, he’s the best available option. Ryu ranked ninth on MLBTR’s Top 50 free agent rankings earlier this month (wherein we predicted a three-year, $54MM deal with the Rangers).

Dodgers Pursuing High-End Third Baseman

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9:05pm: Along with Donaldson, the Dodgers seem to have interest in Rendon, who’s “on their radar,” Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Rendon, like Donaldson, has to decide whether to accept his team’s qualifying offer. But the longtime Nationals star is sure to reject it, as he appears to be in line to sign a contract worth more than $200MM prior to next season. It’s not the Dodgers’ M.O. to hand out that type of deal, but if they do win the bidding for Rendon or Donaldson, Turner would be open to changing positions. He has already offered to move off third if necessary.

2:03pm: Josh Donaldson technically still has a decision to make on the qualifying offer he received from the Braves, though rejecting that $17.8MM offer is all but a formality. The Phillies, Rangers, Nationals and Braves all have some level of interest in the the former AL MVP, and Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times reports that the Dodgers, too, are considering a pursuit of the slugger.

Third base has been Justin Turner’s domain in L.A. for the past six years, but the soon-to-be 35-year-old Turner is entering the final season of a four-year, $64MM contract in 2019. Defensive metrics soured on his once-excellently rated glovework in 2019, as he registered -7 Defensive Runs Saved and a -6.7 Ultimate Zone Rating. A move across the diamond to first base, or perhaps to second base, could open space for Donaldson and give the Dodgers a more palatable defensive alignment. Donaldson will turn 34 himself next month, but he rebounded from an injury-marred 2018 campaign to post a strong year on both sides of the ball in 2019 (+15 DRS, +2.4 UZR).

Donaldson fits the free-agent mold that has become typical under Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman: a high-end player who could conceivably had on a shorter-term deal with a premium annual salary. Donaldson’s age could limit him to three years — four seems like the largest commitment a team would make — meaning interested parties could potentially add an elite talent without assuming the long-term risk that inherently accompanies many premier free agents (e.g. Anthony Rendon). In 659 plate appearances this past season, Donaldson hit .259/.379/.521 with 37 homers and 33 doubles to go along with that strong defense.

From a payroll and luxury tax vantage point, there’s room for the Dodgers to fit Donaldson into the budget — particularly since the ever-active front office is likely to make some additional moves elsewhere on the roster. The Dodgers have $91.5MM committed to Clayton Kershaw, Turner, Kenley Jansen, A.J. Pollock, Joe Kelly and Kenta Maeda, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects an additional $53MM worth of arbitration salaries — headlined by Cody Bellinger ($11.6MM), Joc Pederson ($8.5MM) and Corey Seager ($7.1MM). Including those arb projections and a slate of pre-arb players to round out the roster (plus the dead money owed to Yaisel Sierra and Hector Olivera), the Dodgers will check in around $165MM in actual payroll commitments with about $184MM against the luxury tax (using the estimate from Jason Martinez over at Roster Resource).

There’s not a ton of space between that $184MM mark and this year’s luxury tax limit of $208MM. Donaldson himself could command enough money on an annual basis to bridge that gap and put the Dodgers into penalty territory. But, the Dodgers have ample resources from which to deal in an effort to lower that number. Pederson, for instance, seems like a logical trade candidate with a relatively hefty arbitration projection and only a year of club control remaining. That’s all the more true if the Dodgers make a move that would slide Turner across the diamond to first base, as doing so would lessen the need for Bellinger to ever play first base. Bellinger, Pollock, Alex Verdugo, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez give the Dodgers the outfield depth to explore such a move. (Hernandez or Taylor, too, could be conceivable trade assets.)

Whether Donaldson lands in L.A. or elsewhere, the Dodgers have enviable levels of defensive versatility and quite a few movable assets that are still affordable for most clubs. That should allow them to pursue value targets regardless of their defensive home, and it seemingly sets the stage for another active winter for Friedman and his staff.

Twins Interested In Retaining Sergio Romo

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The Twins are interested in a reunion with right-hander Sergio Romo, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. The veteran righty pitched well in Minnesota upon being acquired prior to the July trade deadline but became a free agent at season’s end.

Romo, 37 in March, was acquired alongside minor league righty Chris Vallimont in a trade that sent minor league first baseman Lewin Diaz to the Marlins. Romo had been throwing well in Miami (3.58 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 17 saves in 37 2/3 innings) but was even better in 22 2/3 frames as a Twin. Following the trade to Minnesota, Romo notched a 27-to-4 K/BB ratio with a 3.18 ERA as a high-leverage option for manager Rocco Baldelli.

Minnesota will likely be more focused on starting pitching than the bullpen — the Twins have an eye-opening four rotation vacancies — but there’s room to add a couple of relievers as well. Lefty closer Taylor Rogers enjoyed a breakout season in 2019, and the Twins saw the righty trio of Trevor May, Tyler Duffey and Zack Littell dominate over the season’s final two months. Rookie right-hander Cody Stashak, too, was impressive with a 3.24 ERA and a 25-to-1 K/BB ratio in 25 innings upon being promoted to the big leagues. A lefty could be a more sensible fit given the organization’s lack of a southpaw behind Rogers, but the free-agent market is light on quality options and Romo was terrific against left-handed opponents in 2019.

The 2018-19 offseason was a long one for Romo, who, despite a lengthy track record as a quality late-inning reliever, had to wait until Feb. 15 to sign a one-year, $2.5MM deal with the Marlins. He’s coming off a much better showing in 2019 than he had in 2018, however, and the early interest from the Twins would seem to bode well for a more fruitful trip through the free-agent process this time around. Age may limit Romo to a one-year deal again — although two years isn’t impossible to imagine — but he should be in line for a better guarantee this winter. Beyond his superior 2019 performance, this year’s free-agent market for relievers is thinner than last year’s crop and fewer teams are in pure tank/rebuild mode.

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