Latest News, Notes On Minor League Pay
The manner in which teams are — or, in some cases, aren’t — continuing to pay their minor league players has drawn increased attention as the end of the month draws near. Major League teams agreed back in March to pay minor league players $400 per week through the end of May, but most minor league players now face ongoing financial uncertainty. The Dodgers have already committed to continue that $400 weekly stipend through the end of June, but veteran left-hander David Price is stepping up to add a helping hand, pledging $1,000 to each non-40-man Dodgers minor leaguer, according to a report from Francys Romero (Twitter link). That includes more than 220 minor leaguers, per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. It’s a similar gesture to the one Shin-Shoo Choo made with the Rangers back in April.
Of course, the very fact that veterans such as Choo and Price even feel it necessary to step up to help out minor leaguers speaks to the manner in which minor league players are under-compensated. While some clubs — the Marlins and Padres — are reportedly set to pay out that $400 weekly stipend through the end of the minor league season, the Athletics are cutting off the stipend at month’s end. Others have extended the stipend through June but have not committed further.
Here’s how a few other clubs are handling the matter…
- The Mets, Rays, Brewers, Cardinals, Giants and Indians are all extending the $400 weekly stipend through the month of June, per reports from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (tweet), the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak (tweet), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (tweet) and Kyle Glaser of Baseball America (tweet). “This money right now, especially for guys who aren’t as well off, this is a huge deal,” Rays minor league catcher Chris Betts tells Topkin. “…I’m beyond excited about it, and I’m honestly just more stoked and proud that the organization I play for took this route more than anything.”
- The Athletics have, unsurprisingly, drawn a wide array of harsh criticism for their wide-ranging furlough and the full cutoff of minor league payment, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Slusser notes that owner John Fisher repeatedly used the word “family” in his letter to fans explaining the cutbacks, but many impacted by the cuts don’t feel the effects of that word. “It’s very hard to preach family and then not act like it when times are difficult,” Class-A pitcher Aiden McIntyre tells Slusser. Triple-A outfielder Jason Krizan added: “…[I]t hurts to see the Marlins continue to pay their players when they made the least in baseball last year,” though he noted he’d rather remain an Athletic and receive benefits than otherwise. Other players, past and present, voiced similar criticisms to Slusser, as did a big league agent and an executive with another club. Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein writes that termination of the stipend saves the Athletics an approximate $1.3MM.
Mariners Release More Than 50 Minor Leaguers
May 29: Heyman now tweets that Gonzalez is not among the Mariners players who have been released. The Score’s Robert Murray adds, though, that the Seattle organization has released more than 50 minor league players.
May 28: The Mariners have released veteran outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. As a reminder, Major League transactions are still frozen, although we recently verified that minor league cuts are still permissible. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times had previously reported that the Mariners were releasing more than 30 minor league players. Divish adds that minor leaguers who remain with the Mariners will continue to receive the current $400 weekly stipend through the end of the 2020 season. Teams had previously only agreed to pay minor leaguers through May, and some have already cut their pay entirely or extended the stipend but only through the end of June.
Teams didn’t make many of their usual cuts late in Spring Training, so several of today’s releases might’ve already been cut lose already under normal circumstances anyhow. That’s certainly the case for the veteran Gonzalez, who was unlikely to make the club and had an April 1 opt-out date in his minor league deal. As Divish further points out, large-scale minor league releases are common prior to the amateur draft. This year’s five-round draft is vastly shorter than a standard 40-round draft, but other clubs (Orioles, White Sox) have begun to make similar waves of releases. With minor league contraction potentially on the horizon and uncertainty surrounding a minor league season being played at all in 2020, additional cuts seem likely throughout the league.
Turning to Gonzalez, the lone name known at this point, he was always a bit of a tough fit on a rebuilding Mariners club that was trying to give as many plate appearances as possible to young talent. Back in Spring Training, Divish suggested that the CarGo signing was something of a courtesy to a respected veteran — offering him a chance to pick up some spring at-bats. Surely in the event of multiple injuries, the depth would’ve become more useful for the M’s, but the April 1 opt-out in his deal was present to allow him to seek other opportunities if and when he found himself a ways down the depth chart.
Gonzalez, 34, went 6-for-22 with a double, three walks and five strikeouts in 25 spring plate appearances with Seattle. The three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger is coming off a brutal season split between the Indians and the Cubs — one in which he mustered only a .200/.289/.283 batting line in 166 plate appearances. He posted a respectable .276/.329/.467 slash (99 OPS+, 97 wRC+) with the Rockies a year prior, but CarGo hasn’t been a decidedly above-average hitter since 2016, when he batted .298/.350/.505 with Colorado.
While he’s no longer in the prime of his career, Gonzalez isn’t so far past that point that a resurgence is unforeseeable. And with the likely advent of the universal designated hitter for at least the 2020 season, perhaps some NL clubs with lackluster options will have interest in taking a flier on a player who batted .296/.353/.535 with an average of 26 homers per season during his peak from 2010-16.
Boras Urges Clients Not To “Bail Out” Owners
Never one to hold back his thoughts on the economic state of the game, agent Scott Boras recently penned an email to his clients urging them not to concede to further pay cuts — a concession he likens to a “bailout” for owners. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press has the bulk of the email.
“The owners’ current problem is a result of the money they borrowed when they purchased their franchises, renovated their stadiums or developed land around their ballparks,” Boras writes. “…Owners now want players to take additional pay cuts to help them pay these loans. They want a bailout.”
Boras notes that even amid record revenue increases, the average salary of players hasn’t risen in quite some time. Indeed, Blum reported earlier this month that the Opening Day average salary has remained constant at about $4.4MM since 2016 despite steady growth among league revenue and franchise valuations. Similarly, the value of the qualifying offer — determined based on the average of baseball’s 125 highest-paid players — slightly declined in 2019 for the first time since its inception (from $17.9MM to $17.8MM). It had previously risen every year, jumping from $13.2MM in 2012-13 to $17.9MM in the 2018-19 offseason.
To this point, the players’ general stance appears to align with that of Boras. Players are reportedly preparing a counter-proposal for the league that ostensibly ignores the sliding scale mechanism proposed by ownership and instead calls for the previously agreed upon prorated salaries but in a larger slate of games. Max Scherzer, one of eight players on the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, sounded off against the league’s proposal last night. Notably, Scherzer is one of three Boras clients on that eight-man committee (joined by Elvis Andrus and James Paxton).
While the players are broadly unified in their stance against the sliding scale proposal, they’re not all thrilled with the idea of Boras inserting himself into union matter. Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer, every bit as outspoken as Boras himself (if not more so), blasted the agent on Twitter last night, writing:
Hearing a LOT of rumors about a certain player agent meddling in MLBPA affairs. If true — and at this point, these are only rumors — I have one thing to say… Scott Boras, rep your clients however you want to, but keep your damn personal agenda out of union business.
On the surface, one would imagine that the goals of a prominent agent and a prominent player — particularly a free-agent-to-be such as Bauer — would be largely aligned as the union pushes back against further salary concessions. Bauer himself has made clear several times on Twitter that he, like other players, feels ownership has gone back on its end of the March agreement which stipulated prorated salaries in 2020. Ownership, of course, has contested that the agreement was contingent on fans being in attendance.
Latest On MLBPA’s Expected Counter-Proposal
The MLBPA’s counter-proposal to the league’s economic plan is expected to be sent this week and, according to multiple reports, it will wholly reject the sliding scale mechanism offered Tuesday by ownership. Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that the players will not budge on prorated salaries and will instead counter with a longer season — likely in the range of 100 games. Ken Davidoff and Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggest that the proposal will include more than 100 games, with Sherman tweeting separately that the union could seek to play as many as 110 games. Doing so would seemingly require pushing regular-season play into October.
It’s not clear at this point what compromises will be offered by the Players Association. Sherman and Davidoff indicate that “many” members of the union appear open to deferring salaries beyond 2020, though, which could help ownership to avoid an upfront hit. Rosenthal and Drellich detail some other potential compromises that have been “loosely” discussed.
League owners have contended that losses without fans in attendance could be so great that it’s not worth playing games if players are paid at prorated levels. A presentation was made to the MLBPA at one point in an effort to illustrate those claims, but the players’ side has remained skeptical. ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes that the union recently submitted another request for documentation providing transparency into local and national television revenue, sponsorship revenue and projections from teams. The union also did so back in March.
Clearly, the league has not accommodated that request. Max Scherzer, one of eight players constituting the MLBPA executive subcommittee, tweeted a firm aversion to even “engag[ing] with MLB in any further compensation reductions” and adding that “MLB’s economic strategy would completely change if all documentation were to become public information.”
While both sides are surely motivated to eventually resume play, both have put forth offers that will obviously be rejected by the other party. The players “essentially pledged to ignore the league’s proposal and instead offer one of their own,” Passan writes, illustrating the extent of the MLBPA’s dissatisfaction with the sliding scale. And if the league contends that prorated salaries without fans would require operating at a loss on a per-game basis, owners are likely to be equally dismissive of an expanded schedule without further salary reduction.
So, is there a middle ground to be reached at all?
The players feel that the league’s proposal effectively asks them to take an average 38 percent pay cut on top of the prorated salaries to which they’ve already agreed, as FiveThirtyEight’s Travis Sawchik recently outlined (Twitter thread). The hit would’ve been larger for baseball’s best-paid players, of course; the game’s highest-paid players would earn in the $$6-7MM range prior to postseason bonuses. League-minimum and pre-arbitration players would’ve taken a lesser hit but still received only about 46 percent of their full-season salary (92 percent of their prorated salary).
Sawchik suggests a 19 percent cut from prorated salaries would be a middle ground, so it’s perhaps no surprise that The Athletic report contains speculation about players taking an 81-game prorated salary but still playing 100 total games. That arrangement would amount to players taking a 19 percent hit on top of their prorated agreement.
The strong language from Scherzer last night casts some doubt upon whether the players will genuinely consider additional cuts, especially if the union plans to truly hold firm on its request to see additional documentation from ownership. As things currently stand, it’s hard to believe the league will consider the reported union counter any more than the union considered the owners’ sliding scale. Significant ground needs to be covered before an agreement is reached.
Tigers Notes: Gardenhire, Wilson, Draft
A great deal of focus has been placed on the ongoing salary debate between MLB and the MLBPA, but the health and safety protocol is the other key question that needs to be addressed. That’s particularly true regarding several older coaches, including Tigers skipper Ron Gardenhire, who is at greater risk than a number of his peers. “I’m 62 years old,” Gardenhire said in an appearance on the Power Alley show on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link, with audio). “I’ve had cancer, I’ve had blood sugar stuff. I’m prime — and I don’t want to be prime.”
To be clear, Gardenhire wasn’t suggesting an aversion to returning in 2020 — he joked “give me a walkie talkie” if that’s what it takes for him to manage games — but rather emphasizing the need for proper safety protocols throughout the game. The well-being of Gardenhire and other older coaches with previous health issues is an important piece to the return plan. Gardenhire, who is three years removed from surgery to address a Feb. 2017 prostate cancer diagnosis, acknowledged that he has concerns about a return but also expressed a great deal of appreciation for the thoroughness of safety guideline discussions so far.
A couple more notes on the Tigers…
- Right-hander Alex Wilson, who’d returned to the Tigers on a minor league deal this winter, finds himself in a state of limbo with the league’s stoppage, writes Chris McCosky of the Detroit News. The 33-year-old has been working to reinvent himself with a sidearm delivery in hopes of extending his career after a dismal 2019 season with the Brewers organization. “Being 33, I don’t know if anybody is going to give me another job if we wait all the way to next year,” Wilson said of the the uncertainty regarding the 2020 season. Should the league resume, he’d be in strong position given expanded rosters, the need for pitching depth and his recent focus on building up to be able to pitch multiple innings. He’ll turn 34 next winter, and while that may not seem too old to get another shot, Wilson settled for a minor league deal with the Indians in Feb. 2019 despite having had a strong 2018 campaign. It’s understandable, then, that he’s a bit apprehensive about his free agency outlook and very much hoping for a chance to prove himself this year.
- With the draft drawing closer, Arizona State first baseman Spencer Torkelson seems like the odds-on favorite to go to the Tigers at No. 1. One high-ranking member of the organization, Tigers pitching director and former USC head coach Dan Hubbs, got an up-close look at Torkelson in college baseball and came away highly impressed, as Jason Beck of MLB.com writes. Hubbs told Beck that Torkelson is “a special player,” adding, “I think there’s no question he can play first base, and he has enough power to play first base, because there isn’t any part of the park that’s safe.”
MLBPA Plans To Counter League’s Economic Proposal In The Coming Days
10:55pm: The MLBPA does indeed plan to send its proposal to the league by week’s end, Passan tweets.
10:22pm: Nationals ace Max Scherzer, the team’s union representative and a member of the MLBPA executive council, issued a statement on Twitter, saying: “After discussing the latest developments with the rest of the players there’s no reason to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions. We have previously negotiated a pay cut in the version of prorated salaries, and there’s no justification to accept a 2nd pay cut based upon the current information the union has received. I’m glad to hear other players voicing the same viewpoint and believe MLB’s economic strategy would completely change if all documentation were to become public information.”
8:46pm: Some players held a call today and were “pretty galvanized” in their distaste for MLB’s proposal, Heyman tweets. It’s in question whether the players will even make a counteroffer, Heyman and Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com hear.
10:11am: Major League Baseball presented its long-awaited economic plan to the Players Association yesterday, and the union’s reaction was predictable: extreme disappointment. As reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers, the sliding scale proposed to players would see the game’s league-minimum players would be paid about $262K of their would-be $563,500 salaries — roughly 46 percent (owners surely prefer to portray it as 92 percent of their prorated salaries in an 82-game season). The game’s top stars would be earning just over 22 percent of their full-season salary (44 percent of their prorated salaries). Many see the scale as an effort to create a divide within the union (lesser-paid players versus well-compensated stars).
The MLBPA is expected to reject the league’s proposal and counter in the coming days, per Passan and Rogers, with one point of compromise being a longer season. Playing more games would increase revenue available to owners and thus provide the players with a larger portion of their salaries. Interestingly, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report (subscription required) that the league’s sliding-scale proposal did not include the expanded postseason format that many were anticipating.
Expanding to a 14-team postseason format in 2020 would create additional revenue, and the players have previously been said to be amenable to such a schedule. Opting not to include it is strange, as the 14-team format originated with the commissioner’s office; it’s hard not to wonder if the league’s omission was an effort to make the players’ side include a league initiative in its counter, then claim it as a compromise upon accepting. Regardless of the motives at play, the timing of a counteroffer from the union is unclear. There’s no meeting between the two sides today, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets, but agents, players and the union will discuss the proposal among themselves. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman writes that the two sides left yesterday’s meeting without a followup scheduled.
Players have had a wide range of reactions to the proposal, but they’re generally unified in rejecting the sliding scale structure — at least in its present form. Andrew Miller, one of eight players on the union’s executive subcommittee, told Rosenthal and Drellich that he’s “disappointed in where MLB is starting the discussion” but spoke with optimism about the possibility of finding a palatable middle ground. Mets righty Marcus Stroman tweeted yesterday, “This season is not looking promising,” while Brewers lefty Brett Anderson blasted the league for its efforts to make the game’s “best, most marketable players potentially look like the bad guys.”
Several agents spoke to Drellich and Rosenthal about player reaction to the proposal, with one indicating the “collective response” was unprecedented and that players are “livid.” Another scoffed at the very notion that MLB would present a proposal it knew would be so immediately rejected, lamenting that “there is so much distrust on both sides that we can’t be pragmatic adults.”
That distrust seems to be the core of the issue. The MLBPA has repeatedly cast substantial doubt on the league’s persistent claims that revenue losses are so substantial that this level of pay reduction is effectively a necessity. At the same time, teams have seemingly yet to provide the player side with sufficiently transparent evidence of that claim. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweeted late last week that an internal memo sent by the union to its players expressed frustration over the fact that Major League Baseball has still not responded to a March 13 request for financial documentation outlining the extent of revenue losses without fans in attendance. There’s no indication that has changed.
On the one hand, it’s easy to imagine that there’s a degree of legitimacy to ownership claims that additional cuts are necessary to mitigate losses in a season without gate and concession revenue. Is this extent of additional reductions in their proposal truly reflective of their economic picture, though? That seems doubtful, and the MLBPA claims it has yet to see sufficient evidence in this arena. Teams’ reluctance to open the books isn’t surprising, particularly given the manner in which both sides habitually and strategically leak “private” documents. (We’re all following along with this ugly billionaires-versus-millionaires quarrel for a reason, after all.) Perhaps the reluctance stems from the simple fact that their claims won’t be substantiated; perhaps it’s a lack of good faith that nothing will become public. Both could be factors.
Whatever the reasons, the rampant distrust displayed by both parties is increasingly unbecoming to a fanbase that is desperately craving some piece of normalcy amid a global pandemic that has created an unprecedented upheaval of everyday life. With every day that goes by, the optics of the situation deteriorate, and we inch closer to further delays of what will already be a truncated season. Both sides continue to express optimism about playing games in 2020 — Brewers owner Mark Attanasio did so yesterday, as did Miller in his comments to The Athletic — but the public back-and-forth became tired long ago.
Latest On Furloughs, Pay Cuts Among MLB Clubs
6:09pm: The Rangers have committed to $400 a week for their minor leaguers through at least June, Levi Weaver of The Athletic was among those to report. The same goes for the Braves, per David O’Brien of The Athletic, as well as the Diamondbacks, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds.
12:59pm: The Padres will also pay their minor leaguers the $400 weekly stipend through the end of August, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets.
12:34pm: Most of MLB’s 30 organizations agreed a ways back to pay their employees through the end of May. There were instances of lengthier commitments, but May 31 was broadly used as an initial endpoint, at which time fiscal matters would be reassessed. Minor league players have been receiving $400 weekly stipends during this time, but that arrangement is also only promised through the end of May. As you’d expect, clubs have begun to inform employees (both on the business and baseball operations side) and minor leaguers of their next steps. And, as you’d expect, in some instances it’s not pretty.
Yesterday was a particularly dark day in the Athletics organization, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the team informed minor league players they will no longer be paid their stipend as of June 1. Robert Murray of The Score shares the email that was sent to Oakland minor leaguers — one which was signed by GM David Forst rather than managing partner John J. Fisher. (Forst, of course, is being asked to play the messenger in this instance and is not the one making the decisions.)
Minor league players are generally undercompensated as a whole, and the $400 weekly stipend they’ve received over the past two months will now seemingly go down as the only baseball-related compensation they’ll receive in the calendar year. Their contracts, which are in a state of suspension but not terminated, bar them from “perform[ing] services for any other Club” and also render them ineligible for unemployment benefits, per The Athletic’s Emily Waldon (Twitter link).
As for the operations side of the equation, Athletics front office personnel will be either furloughed or see their pay reduced effective June 1 and running through the end of October, The Athletic’s Alex Coffey reports (Twitter thread). She adds that the maximum cut is 33 percent, and those determinations are based on seniority. Scouts aren’t considered front-office personnel, but they’ll be hit hard as well; USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that A’s amateur and pro scouts alike will be furloughed from June 16 through Oct. 31. Fisher did write a letter to the club’s fanbase confirming the dramatic cuts (Twitter link via the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser), emphasizing the pain that went into the decisions and his “deep commitment to the long-term future of the A’s.”
Those cutbacks are similar to the substantial cuts the Angels put in place earlier this month, but other L.A. club isn’t taking such rash measures. The Dodgers have informed all employees earning more than $75K that they’ll be subject to pay reductions beginning June 1, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter thread). The extent of the reductions is dependent on overall salary — larger salaries get larger percentage cuts — and will be capped at 35 percent for the most part, although that they could be greater for the team’s very top executives. Those measures are being taken in an effort to avoid the type of large-scale furloughs being put in place in Oakland and Anaheim.
Across the country, the Nationals have implemented a series of partial furloughs both in baseball ops and business ops, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports (Twitter thread). The Nats are still covering full benefits and haven’t made any layoffs, but they’re implementing a sequence of 10 to 30 percent reductions in pay and total hours. The Brewers, meanwhile aren’t making any baseball ops furloughs but are furloughing some business operation employees, Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets.
It’s not yet clear how every organization plans to handle the minor league pay dilemma, but Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser has heard from at least three clubs that plan to continue varying levels of compensation. The Phillies will keep paying their minor leaguers through at least June, but likely at less than the current $400 stipend. The White Sox are paying $400 per week through the end of June, and the Marlins have committed to paying their minor leaguers the full $400 per week through August — the would-be conclusion of the 2020 minor league season. The Marlins already informed players earlier this month that about 40 percent of the baseball ops department will be furloughed on June 1.
The Jays Turned A Free Agent Whiff Into An Elite Pitching Prospect
The 2016 season was a pivotal year for the Blue Jays. Fresh off an ALCS loss to the Royals in 2015, the Jays entered the year with reigning MVP Josh Donaldson set to play out his age-30 campaign and a series of notable free agents, headlined by Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. They’d surrendered two MLB-ready arms — Daniel Norris and Matthew Boyd — for a David Price rental the prior summer and parted with another top pitching prospect (Jeff Hoffman) to escape their commitment to the declining Jose Reyes and swap him out for Troy Tulowitzki. Some of the dreaded “closing window” narratives were surrounding the club, and the Jays were clearly in win-now mode.
Toronto again made the playoffs, again won a Division Series matchup over the Rangers … and again fell to an AL Central club in the League Championship Series — this time the Indians. The offseason came around, and Toronto made issued a pair of no-brainer qualifying offers to Bautista and Encarnacion, who were two of the top bats on that winter’s market.
From the begining, Encarnacion seemed to be the bigger target. Bautista had dropped some jaws in Spring 2016 when talking about his asking price on a long-term deal, but Encarnacion was younger and seemingly more affordable. Toronto was aggressive early in the winter, reportedly putting forth a four-year offer that carried in the vicinity of $80MM of guaranteed money. There were some expectations that winter that Encarnacion could best that mark — we at MLBTR pegged him for four years at a slightly higher annual rate — and his camp seemed to prefer to explore the market before taking that offer. That decision blew up in Encarnacion’s face, though, as Toronto pivoted almost instantly and signed Kendrys Morales to a three-year, $33MM deal. By Nov. 18, it appeared Encarnacion had been replaced.
There were still some rumors about a potential reunion even after Morales was signed, but it never seemed likely that the Jays would commit to Morales at DH and Encarnacion at first base — tying up long-term dollars in a pair of sluggers best suited for DH work. Encarnacion drew varying levels of interest from the Astros, Yankees, Red Sox and Rangers, but in the end, his market bizarrely came down to a bidding war between two of the game’s smaller-payroll clubs: the Athletics and the Indians.
Oakland likely saw a chance to add a premium bat at an affordable rate. Encarnacion’s market had collapsed to the point where he was reportedly mulling a shorter offer with a roughly $25MM annual value (presumably a two-year deal) with the A’s. The Indians, fresh off a World Series loss, were in go-for-it mode with extra cash thanks to that deep postseason run. Encarnacion signed a three-year, $60MM deal with Cleveland that contained a fourth-year option which would get him to the $80MM mark he’d previously passed up.
The Jays took some heat from the deal both among media pundits and their fans. Encarnacion was the clear better player and ultimately cost less than twice what Toronto gave Morales. And from an on-field perspective, those criticisms were 100 percent valid. Over the first two years of each player’s three-year pact, here’s how they performed:
- Morales: .249/.318/.442, 49 home runs, 40 doubles in 1079 plate appearances (103 OPS+, 102 wRC+; 0.8 bWAR, -0.4 fWAR)
- Encarnacion: .252/.358/.490, 70 home runs, 36 doubles, two triples in 1248 PAs (123 OPS+, 123 wRC+; 4.7 bWAR, 3.3 fWAR)
Neither one played out the third year of his contract with the team that signed him. Morales was traded to the Athletics on the eve of Opening Day 2019, and Encarnacion had been moved to the Mariners in a complex three-team deal that sent Carlos Santana back to Cleveland with Yandy Diaz and others landing in Tampa Bay.
Many onlookers will say that the Encarnacion camp misread the market after their initial talks with teams. Some would argue that it was the Jays who misread things when they pivoted to Morales so quickly. You can argue that both parties failed to properly evaluate the free-agent landscape.
Encarnacion got his $60MM and then signed for another $12MM with the White Sox this winter, so he ultimately didn’t fall much shy of that reported four-year, $80MM sum. With the benefit of hindsight, it looks like the Jays came away with the short end of the stick — at least until you consider the compensatory draft pick they netted when Cleveland inked Encarnacion. Because the guarantee was greater than $50MM, the Jays’ comp pick landed between Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A. That pick proved to be No. 28 overall, which Toronto used to select right-hander Nate Pearson.
Not only is Pearson now the runaway top Blue Jays’ prospect — he’s one of the best pitching prospects on the planet. The 23-year-old ranks among the 10 best prospects in baseball at Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs, drawing considerable praise for his blistering triple-digit heater and a deep arsenal of secondary pitches. When ranking Pearson as baseball’s No. 8 overall prospect this winter, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote that he’s personally seen Pearson’s slider climb as high as 95 mph, adding that the pitch generally sits in the low 90s. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com write that Pearson has “as high a ceiling as any pitching prospect in the game.”
It’s true that Pearson has yet to demonstrate the ability to make 30 starts in a season, although that’s due largely to a fractured forearm sustained when he was hit by a comeback line drive. Pitchers who throw this hard will always give some onlookers a red flag, and Pearson did have a screw put into his right elbow during high school. He was healthy in junior college, though, and the Jays diligently kept his innings count down in 2019 after he threw just 22 innings in 2018. Pearson reached 101 2/3 frames last year, spinning a dominant 2.30 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 0.70 HR/9 and a ground-ball rate near 40 percent. He also topped out at Triple-A in his first full, healthy pro season and is widely expected to make his MLB debut in 2020.
Not every draft pick is guaranteed to be a hit, as evidenced by the Jays’ actual, organic first-round pick in the same 2017 draft that produced Pearson. Shortstop Logan Warmoth, selected out of UNC six picks prior to Pearson, has managed a .255/.332/.346 batting line in 947 pro plate appearances. He was a high-end draft prospect but doesn’t currently rank inside Toronto’s top 30 farmhands at MLB.com or their Top 38 at FanGraphs. Not exactly ideal for a recent first-rounder.
Luckily for the Jays, Encarnacion’s decision not to take their four-year offer — which would’ve run through the 2020 season — both saved them some cash and gave them a second bite at the first-round apple in 2017. And thanks to their scouting department’s decision to take a chance on a towering, flamethrowing righty in spite of a high school elbow scare, the Jays have a potential ace in the making who is on the cusp of reaching the big leagues.
MLB Presents Economic Plan To MLBPA
6:01pm: Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com has more details on MLB’s proposed cuts, tweeting that a player on a $35MM salary would make roughly $7.8MM, someone at $10MM would earn in the $2.9MM vicinity and a $1MM player would pull in $434K. ESPN’s Jeff Passan has further info here.
5:00pm: “We made a proposal to the union that is completely consistent with the economic realities facing our sport. We look forward to a responsive proposal from the MLBPA,” MLB spokesman Pat Courtney stated (via Jon Heyman of MLB Network, on Twitter).
3:39pm: The MLBPA’s “very disappointed” with MLB’s proposal, Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report (on Twitter). While the league offered to share more playoff revenue, the players still don’t feel as if they’d do well in this situation. They believe they’d still have to make “massive” additional cuts, Drellich tweets. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link) adds that the two sides are also far apart on health and safety issues. The union higher-ups will hold further discussions with the players before deciding whether to continue with negotiations, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter).
1:58pm: Major League Baseball owners have agreed to a revised economic plan for a shortened 2020 season and will present the proposal to the MLB Players Association today. Per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, owners have scrapped the idea of a 50-50 revenue split and will instead suggest a sliding scale of pay reductions for players. Those with the largest guaranteed salaries would surrender the largest percentage of their salaries, while players with the smallest salaries would earn “most” of their guaranteed money, Nightengale adds.
Any league proposal figures to be met with some pushback from the players’ side. It’s hard to imagine that ownership will simply structure a reduction scale in such a fashion that players immediately accept. It’s notable in light of the early report on the proposal, too, that what constitutes “most” of a lesser-compensated player’s salary seems likely to be defined differently by owners and players.
Players, according to Travis Sawchick of FiveThirtyEight (Twitter links), have been amenable to the expanded 14-team postseason structure and are open to playing more games than in the floated 82-game schedule — both of which would create additional revenue for all parties. ESPN’s Jeff Passan suggested this morning that the MLBPA’s counter-proposal could indeed push for more than 82 games (Twitter link, with video). Deferred payments on 2020 salaries have been an oft-speculated point of compromise as well. Ownership is already deferring payouts of the signing bonuses in this year’s shortened MLB Draft.
It’s in everyone’s best interest to come to terms both on financials and health/safety guidelines as quickly as possible. The league’s longstanding hope has been for a mid-June reboot of training camps and an early-July start to the season — presumably over Independence Day weekend.
Had the initial March agreement between the two sides held up, that might well be more plausible, but that document confoundingly neglected to address what would happen should games be played in the absence of fans (or at least to address it in precise terms). As such, the MLBPA has been waiting on today’s forthcoming economic proposal for several weeks. The initial plan, the aforementioned revenue split, was rejected outright by MLBPA chief Tony Clark before the league could even formally present it.
Former MLB Players In NPB: Japan Pacific League
Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball is targeting a June 19 Opening Day. As is the case with the Korea Baseball Organization, the league has plenty of recognizable names for MLB fans to follow as we await the return of baseball in North America. NPB is larger than the KBO (12 teams vs. 10) and has slightly lesser restrictions on foreign players. As such, we’ll split the “names to watch” rundown into two posts — one covering the Japan Pacific League and another still to come on the Japan Central League.
Teams have been ordered based on 2019 records:
Saitama Seibu Lions (80-62-1):
- Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP: You read that right. Dice-K is still chugging along. The now-39-year-old veteran pitched just 5 1/3 innings for the Chunichi Dragons last year due to a shoulder injury that, according to the Japan Times, was caused by an excited fan grabbing/yanking his arm (seriously). Matsuzaka was NPB’s comeback player of the year in 2018 and is returning to the Lions, his original club, for the first time since 2006.
- Cory Spangenberg, INF/OF: Primarily an infielder during his big league career, Spangenberg is listed as an outfielder by the Lions. The former No. 10 overall pick (Padres, 2011) hit .256/.318/.389 in six MLB campaigns before signing with the Lions back in December. He’ll make his NPB debut once play begins.
- Sean Nolin, LHP: Signed the same day as Spangenberg, the 30-year-old Nolin is also slated for his NPB debut. A once highly touted pitching prospect, he’s perhaps best known for being part of the Athletics’ disappointing return for Josh Donaldson. Nolin has a 6.89 ERA in 31 1/3 innings, a 3.61 mark in 231 2/3 Triple-A frames and a long injury history. Japan could be a fresh start for the lefty.
- Zach Neal, RHP: The 31-year-old Neal has a 4.94 ERA in 85 2/3 big league frames — one as a Dodger and the rest with the A’s. He logged 100 innings with the Lions last year and turned in a shiny 2.87 ERA, which his camp hoped would lead to MLB interest. Neal’s 4.6 K/9 in NPB didn’t turn many head, though, and whatever offers he received from MLB teams didn’t top the two-year, $4MM deal he signed to return to the Lions. He’ll be in NPB through the 2021 season, at the least.
- Reed Garrett, RHP: The longtime Rangers farmhand was the Tigers’ Rule 5 pick in the 2018-19 offseason. He tossed 15 1/3 shaky innings before being returned to the Texas org. The 27-year-old will hope to follow similar paths to those of Chris Martin, Joely Rodriguez and other relievers who’ve thrived overseas and returned to MLB on multi-year deals.
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (76-62-5):
- Tsuyoshi Wada, LHP: Wada, 39, signed with the Orioles back in 2011 but never pitched there due to injury. He latched on with the Cubs for the 2014-15 seasons, though, and tossed 101 2/3 innings of 3.36 ERA ball before returning to Japan. He was excellent in his 2016 return but has battled injuries since. He logged a 3.90 ERA in 57 2/3 frames when healthy last year.
- Matt Moore, LHP: Moore surprised quite a few people by signing in Japan this winter, but the $3.5MM guarantee and $2.5MM worth of incentives he secured may well have been more than a team would’ve paid him coming off a season lost to knee surgery. Heralded as a potential ace at his prospect peak, Moore impressed with the Rays from 2011-13 but never fully regained his form after 2014 Tommy John surgery.
- Rick van den Hurk, RHP: Now 35 years old, Van Den Hurk hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2012. That’s due largely to his emergence as a high-end starter in the KBO from 2012-13, and the success he enjoyed there led him to his current starring role with the Hawks. Over the past four years, the Dutch righty has a 3.50 ERA and nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings through 483 frames.
- Dennis Sarfate, RHP: It’s been more than a decade since Sarfate last pitched in the big leagues, but the righty hasn’t felt any inclination to return. He’s one of the all-time great relievers in NPB, having pitched to an immaculate 1.57 ERA with 234 saves, 11.9 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 since arriving in 2011. Not bad for a former ninth-rounder with a 4.53 ERA in 119 MLB innings!
- Wladimir Balentien, OF: Yes — the Hawks’ roster is a veritable who’s who of obscure, 2009-era big leaguers. Balentien last saw MLB action in ’09, and like Sarfate, he’s become a star in Asia. Balentien spent nine years mashing for the Yakult Swallows, as evidenced by a .273/.378/.558 slash and a whopping 288 home runs to date in NPB. The Hawks shelled out a two-year, $10MM deal — considerable money in Japan — to sign the 35-year-old.
- Alfredo Despaigne, OF and Carter Stewart. RHP*: Neither player has ever appeared in MLB, but both are known names. Despaigne is one of the most prolific sluggers in the history of the Cuban National Series, and the 33-year-old has continued to rake in Japan. Stewart was a first-round pick who opted not to sign with the Braves in 2018 after concerns arose in his physical. He instead signed a six-year, $6.2MM deal to head to Japan. He spent last year in the Hawks’ developmental/minor league but could make his NPB debut in 2020.
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (71-68-4):
- Kazuhisa Makita, RHP: The submariner’s two-year deal with the Padres didn’t pan out as hoped, and Makita is back in NPB for the 2020 season. He previously starred for the Lions, logging a 2.83 ERA in seven seasons of relief work, and could have another few good years in his NPB career at age 35.
- JT Chargois, RHP: A second-round pick by the Twins in 2012, Chargois dealt with injuries and never solidified himself either in Minnesota or with the Dodgers. He’s been lights out in his minor league career (1.90 ERA in Triple-A) but hasn’t come close to that in the Majors (4.58 in 76 2/3 innings). The 29-year-old will make his NPB debut in 2020.
- Alan Busenitz, RHP: Another former Twins reliever, Busenitz gave Minnesota 31 2/3 frames of 1.99 ERA ball as a rookie but posted some troubling peripheral marks. He indeed regressed the following season, when he was hammered for an ERA and FIP north of 7.00. Busenitz dominated for the Eagles last year, though, recording a 1.69 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9. He’s still only 29, so perhaps an eventual MLB return can’t be ruled out.
- Zelous Wheeler, INF: Wheeler had a quick cup of coffee with the 2014 Yankees and left for Japan the next year. He’s hit .262/.339/.459 in five seasons with the Eagles. He’s coming off a bit of a down year, having batted .243/.320/.418 last year.
- Jabari Blash, OF: Known for his light-tower power in the U.S., Blash never found his footing in the big leagues but looks like a potential star in Japan. He bashed 33 homers last year while hitting .261/.397/.540 in his NPB debut with the Eagles. He signed a one-year deal to return to them this past winter, but perhaps he’ll eventually consider an MLB return.
- Stefen Romero, OF: The former Mariner, 31, hit a combined .268/.332/.494 with the Orix Buffaloes from 2017-19 before signing with the Eagles this offseason. If he continues to produce in NPB, there’s a chance that Romero, like Blash, could stage a big league comeback.
Chiba Lotte Marines (69-70-4):
- Leonys Martin, OF: Among the most recognizable players on this list, the 32-year-old Martin hit .244/.301/.367 in nearly 2800 plate appearances spread across five teams. He joined NPB midway through the 2019 season, hitting .232/.342/.495 for the Marines. He re-upped in December and will spend his first full season in Japan this year.
- Frank Herrmann, RHP: A former Indians and Phillies hurler, the soon-to-be 36-year-old Herrmann has spent three seasons with the Eagles. He’s emerged as a key member of the bullpen, notching a tidy 2.59 ERA with better than a strikeout per inning in 145 2/3 frames. Herrmann also picked up 18 saves in 2018.
- Jay Jackson, RHP: Jackson, 32, starred for the Hiroshima Carp from 2016-18 before making a big league comeback with the Brewers in 2019. He tossed 30 2/3 frames and logged a 4.45 ERA with the Brewers last year, but is on his way back to NPB — presumably for a solid payday given his prior excellence there (176 innings, 2.10 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9).
- Brandon Laird, INF: Laird, 32, made the jump to Japan in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. His on-base numbers aren’t much to look at, but he’s a consistent power threat who spent four years with the Fighters and is entering his second with the Marines. In 2781 plate appearances in NPB, Laird has batted .241/.314/.480 with 163 long balls.
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (65-73-5):
- Nick Martinez, RHP: Things never really clicked for Martinez in four years with the Rangers’ big league club. He turned in a 3.51 ERA in 161 2/3 frames with the Fighters in his NPB debut in 2018, though, and returned on a $2.2MM deal for 2019. Injuries limited him to four innings last year, and the 29-year-old Martinez will again suit up for the Fighters on a one-year pact in 2020.
- Drew VerHagen, RHP: The big 6’6″ righty spent parts of six seasons with the Tigers and was with Detroit up through last season. VerHagen, 29, has a 5.11 ERA in 199 MLB innings but will look for better results overseas.
- Christian Villanueva, INF: Last year’s debut campaign didn’t go as Villanueva or his team, the Yomiuri Giants, hoped. The 28-year-old former Cubs prospect hit just .223/.325/.386 in 73 games. The league still had some faith, though, as Villanueva signed a new deal with the Fighters this winter. He does have a career .263/.328/.457 slash in Triple-A, so perhaps a second go-around in NPB will be more fruitful.
- Bryan Rodriguez, RHP and Po-Jung Wang, OF*: Neither has played in the Majors, but Rodriguez came into his own in Japan last year. The former Padres prospect posted a 3.25 ERA in 91 innings of relief — albeit with a lackluster 5.4 K/9 mark. Wang, meanwhile, was one of the best hitters in Tawain’s CPBL before inking a three-year, $3.554MM deal with the Fighters last year. The first year was a flop (.647 OPS), but if the 26-year-old can tap into his CPBL form (.386/.455/.646), he might be a name for MLB clubs to monitor.
Orix Buffaloes (61-75-7):
- Adam Jones, OF: Jones shocked baseball fans when he took a two-year, $8MM deal to join the Buffaloes last December. The 34-year-old is easily the most decorated big leaguer on this list, but he found last year’s trip through free agency rather disappointing, landing only a one-year, $3MM deal with the D-backs. Perhaps not wanting to languish for another season as MLB clubs viewed him as a part-time player, Jones took a nice payday overseas and will bring some legitimate star power to the last-place Buffaloes.
- Andrew Albers, LHP: Albers, 34, had a solid big league run from 2013-17, posting a 4.10 ERA in 120 MLB frames. He was outstanding with Orix in 2018 (3.08 ERA in 114 innings), which he parlayed into a two-year, $4.5MM extension. Year one of that deal didn’t go well (5.83 ERA in 63 innings), but he’ll look to bounce back in year two.
- Brandon Dickson, RHP: Dickson pitched 14 2/3 innings with the 2011-12 Cardinals but left for the Buffaloes in 2013. He’s become a staple on the pitching staff, logging a combined 3.32 ERA through 856 2/3 innings as a Buffalo.
- Steven Moya, OF: Once one of the Tigers’ best prospects, Moya had a nice debut with the Chunichi Dragons in 2018 (.301/.347/.441) but struggled with both the Dragons and the Buffaloes in 2019. Still just 28 years old, he’ll hope to bounce back in his third season overseas.