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Rich Hill To Begin Season On Injured List

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Dodgers lefty Rich Hill will open the season on the injured list with what the team has described to the media as a medial collateral ligament strain in his left knee (Twitter links via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com). The team also revealed that lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu will start Opening Day, with right-hander Ross Stripling is lined up to start the second game of the season.

Hill will join fellow southpaw Clayton Kershaw on the IL to open the season. Kershaw estimated Wedmesday that he’ll need 20 days to build up to game readiness after his latest throwing session (via Gurnick), while Hill will be out for at least a “couple weeks,” though the team hasn’t put forth a more specific timeline than that.

With Kershaw and Hill both out for the start of the season, the Dodgers will look to Ryu, Stripling, Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda to start games in the early-going. It doesn’t appear as though the Dodgers have definitively determined who’ll open the year as the fifth starter, although Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets that manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that Julio Urias might have to open the year as a starter rather than a reliever.

Orioles Release Eric Young Jr.

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The Orioles have released outfielder Eric Young Jr. from his minor league contract, Young himself revealed to reporters Friday (Twitter link via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). He’d been viewed as a legitimate candidate to break camp with the club but will now head back to the open market in search of another opportunity.

Young, now 33 years old, enjoyed a strong spring with the O’s, hitting .323/.462/.452 with a homer, a double and a pair of stolen bases. With Young no longer in the mix, the O’s will go with Trey Mancini in left field, Cedric Mullins in center and a combination of Joey Rickard and Dwight Smith Jr. in the outfield.

Young spent the 2017-18 seasons with the Angels but, after a solid run in 2017, saw his offensive output crater in 2018. Overall, he hit a combined .233/.293/.361 with five homers, nine doubles, a pair of triples and 17 steals through 242 plate appearances with the Halos. Young paced the National League with 46 stolen bases back in 2013 as a member of the Rockies, and he doesn’t look to have lost much of a step, as his sprint speed of 29.0 feet per second (via Statcast) still ranked in the 91st percentile of big leaguers last season.

White Sox Sign Alcides Escobar

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The White Sox have signed shortstop Alcides Escobar to a minor league contract, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via The Athletic’s James Fegan). He won’t, however, report to big league camp and is expected to open the season as infield depth in Triple-A.

Escobar, 32, is no stranger to the AL Central, having spent the past eight seasons with the Royals. He’s provided Kansas City with quality defense and baserunning but significantly below-average offense, as evidenced by his career .258/.293/.343 slash line in 5702 MLB plate appearance. His bat has actually trended down over the past couple of seasons, when he hit .242/.275/.338 in 1160 PAs.

The White Sox’ infield currently projects to have Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson and Yolmer Sanchez line up at third base, shortstop and second base, respectively, which are the three main positions Escobar can play. Jose Rondon is the primary utility infield option, though Leury Garcia typically sees a bit of time around the infield in addition to logging significant innings in the outfield.

White Sox Release Brandon Guyer

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The White Sox announced Friday that they have released outfielder Brandon Guyer. He’d been in camp on a minor league contract. The 33-year-old went 5-for-23 with a homer and a pair of walks (against eight strikeouts) in his brief time with the club this spring.

Guyer struggled in 2017-18 with the Indians, hitting at a .220/.312/.351 clip with nine homers in 413 plate appearances. He batted a combined .266/.356/.403 between Tampa Bay and Cleveland from 2014-16, however, and he’s generally been a solid platoon bat over the life of his MLB tenure. In 792 career plate appearances against lefties, Guyer has a .274/.376/.449 batting line. He’s more of an on-base threat than a power threat, in part because of the astonishing rate at which he’s hit by pitches.

Chicago has one corner-outfield slot earmarked for Eloy Jimenez, while playing time elsewhere in the outfield will be divided up between Jon Jay, Adam Engel, Leury Garcia and Daniel Palka. Guyer will have the opportunity to search for a bench role with another club — the Braves are reportedly considering alternatives to Adam Duvall — though the fact that he has just 356 career innings in center field don’t help his cause.

Cardinals To Select Matt Wieters, Designate Chasen Shreve

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Matt Wieters has officially made the Cardinals’ roster as the backup to Yadier Molina, tweets Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Wieters, who signed a minor league deal in February, will have his contract selected, and the Cardinals will designate left-hander Chasen Shreve for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Meanwhile, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com tweets that outfielder Tyler O’Neill and right-hander Mike Mayers have both been informed they’ve made the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster as well.

Wieters, 32, has been beset by injuries in recent seasons as his offensive output has slowly deteriorated. The once-vaunted prospect and three-time All-Star most notably had Tommy John surgery in 2014 and also underwent hamstring surgery last season. He’s also missed time due to an oblique injury in recent years, and over the past three seasons he’s compiled a pedestrian .235/.303/.376 batting line.

Even that modest output from Wieters is worlds better than the Cards received from their backup catchers in 2018, however. Francisco Pena totaled 142 plate appearances but mustered a bleak .203/.239/.271 slash, while the since-traded Carson Kelly looked overmatched in a minuscule sample of 42 PAs as he hit .114/.205/.114. Pena also struggled with both framing and throwing out runners in 2018, so Wieters should present a definitive upgrade, even if he’s no longer a premier player at his position.

Shreve, 28, will ultimately pitch just 14 2/3 innings in a Cardinals uniform. The southpaw came to St. Louis in what now looks to be a remarkably regrettable trade with the Yankees, as Luke Voit burst onto the scene in New York late in the 2018 campaign and batted .333/.405/.689 with 14 home runs in 148 PAs down the stretch.

While some regression for Voit is inevitable, Shreve’s time with the Cardinals all but certain to end with today’s DFA. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment even if he clears waivers. The Cardinals and Shreve had agreed to a $900K salary earlier this winter, avoiding arbitration, and the team will now at least save the majority of that sum with today’s move; Shreve will be owed 45 days of his salary as termination pay — a sum of about $218K. (The Cardinals, it should be noted, do still have 27-year-old reliever Giovanny Gallegos on the 40-man roster as part of their return for Voit.)

Over the past four seasons, Shreve has posted a solid 3.85 ERA and missed bats (10.3 K/9), but he’s also been far too prone to walks (4.7 BB/9) and home runs (1.8 HR/9) for either the Yankees or Cardinals to deem him a reliable bullpen option. Furthermore, he’s not a candidate for a more specialized role, as left-handed opponents have been even more successful against Shreve (.248/.335/.444) than right-handed opponents have been (.222/.316/.430).

With Shreve no longer in consideration for a bullpen role, it appears likely that Tyler Webb will open the season as the second left-hander behind Andrew Miller in manager Mike Shildt’s bullpen. Brett Cecil is expected to open the 2019 season on the injured list.

The out-of-options Mayers needed to either make the Opening Day roster or be designated for assignment. O’Neill has minor league options remaining but will make the club as a bench option behind Marcell Ozuna, Harrison Bader and Dexter Fowler for the time being. It’s not difficult to envision the slugger eventually playing his way into a larger role, though Fowler (as with Cecil) seems likely to get a chance at redemption due to his sizable contract.

Extension Rumors: Cole, Verlander, Red Sox, Castellanos

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The Astros are currently discussing extensions with starters Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription required), though a deal with either seems unlikely. Rosenthal notes that the Astros may not be keen on paying market price for a multi-year extension with Verlander when that deal would begin in his age-37 season. Cole, meanwhile, is a Scott Boras client and thus likelier to test the free-agent market. Boras’ most recent extension for a starting pitcher was Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg, who (like Cole) was in his walk year when he signed a $175MM guarantee on a seven-year deal beginning in his age-28 season. Cole is in his age-28 season right now, so he’d be a year older than Strasburg at the time of a theoretical extension, but he’s also been more durable, reaching 200 innings in three of the past four seasons. Rosenthal makes a slightly less-aggressive comp than that, pointing out that Cole will reach free agency at the same age as Patrick Corbin and with better career stats. Corbin agreed to a six-year deal worth $140MM with the Nats this winter.

Since it’s officially “Extension Season” — as MLBTR’s Extension Tracker shows, there have been a virtually unprecedented 16 extension agreements during Spring Training — here’s more extension chatter from around the game…

  • Rob Bradford of WEEI spoke to J.D. Martinez about the opt-out clause in his contract with the Red Sox at the end of the season. Martinez, who can opt out of the remaining three years and $62.5MM on his current deal, said there haven’t been any discussions about an extension or a restructuring of the contract to this point. Unlike last summer, however, he at least left open a slight window for in-season talks in his most recent interview with Bradford. Martinez has an opt-out after the third year of his contract as well, at which point there’d be two years and $38.75MM remaining on the deal.
  • Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi was drafted five spot behind Alex Bregman and reached the Majors barely a week after the Astros’ third baseman, but Benintendi tells Bradford that his those similarities didn’t make him take particular note of Bregman’s $100MM extension. Rather, the 24-year-old Benintendi says it’s “fun to watch all these guys sign some deals” in a nod to the bevy of extensions throughout MLB. Benintendi and his reps have not discussed an extension with the Sox this winter, though he tells Bradford that he would “definitely” listen if the Sox initiated talks.
  • MLB Network’s Jon Heyman spoke to Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski about the team’s current slate of extension candidates (all links to Twitter). While it’s common for players to place Opening Day deadlines on extension talks, Dombrowski somewhat unusually took a similar stance. “We’re focused on winning this year,” he said. “…Unless something unexpected happens, we’re not going to do anything once the season starts.” Heyman notes that Xander Bogaerts, specifically, has stated an aversion to in-season negotiating. Regarding Martinez, Dombrowski merely stated that the Sox are “hopeful” he won’t opt out of his contract.
  • The Tigers “haven’t engaged in any kind of [extension] conversations” with Nicholas Castellanos this spring, GM Al Avila told MLB.com’s Jason Beck yesterday. There’s been no formal offer or even any formal discussions on the matter with Castellanos’ agent, according to Avila, though he said the possibility of a deal is “obviously… in our minds.” Castellanos has expressed a desire to remain in Detroit on a long-term deal, though the rebuilding Tigers will undoubtedly view him as a possible trade asset this summer as well. If the two sides can eventually find a common ground in terms of price, however, Avila said he wouldn’t rule out an in-season extension. “He hasn’t said anything to the contrary,” Avila said of Castellanos being willing to negotiate beyond Opening Day. “I think he would be open to it.”

Brewers Move Chase Anderson To Bullpen, Set Rotation

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The Brewers have settled on their Opening Day rotation, and they’ll be placing a good bit of faith in a young core of arms with limited big league experience, as Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. Veteran Jhoulys Chacin was named the Opening Day starter earlier in camp, and it’s now been confirmed by the team that he’ll be joined by right-handers Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta and Zach Davies. While the 26-year-old Davies has been a presence in the Milwaukee rotation for the past couple of seasons, this will mark the first time that Burnes, Woodruff and to a lesser extent Peralta are penciled in as long-term starters. (Peralta did start 14 games for the Brewers last year but finished the season with a pair of relief outings.)

The decision to sandwich that trio of young arms between Chacin and Davies means that 2018 Opening Day starter Chase Anderson will begin the year in a bullpen role. So, too, will right-hander Junior Guerra, who has started 60 games for the Brewers over the course of the past three seasons.

The decision on Anderson is of particular note given that he signed a two-year, $11.75MM contract in October 2017. He’ll earn $6.5MM this year under the terms of that pact, but the Brewers have a pair of club options on him valued at $8.5MM and $9.5MM, respectively. The shift to the bullpen seemingly makes it less likely that he’d be valued at that price point, though Anderson would remain under club control as an arbitration-eligible player even if next year’s option is bought out, as he won’t have six full seasons of MLB service time.

The Brewers drew some criticism for not doing enough to address their rotation last winter in an offseason that saw them sign both Chacin and Wade Miley (who signed as a free agent with the Astros earlier in the current offseason). This winter, they didn’t make a single big league addition to their rotation, knowing full well that the trio of Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta were now ready for big league roles.

It’s unconventional for a team with World Series aspirations to effectively begin the year auditioning three young starters, as promising as they may be, for long-term rotation roles. But, it’s also not difficult to see why the trio has earned the faith of the front office. Both Burnes and Woodruff have previously carried top 100 prospect billing and found some success in Triple-A despite playing their games there in an awful pitching environment (Colorado Springs). Both pitched well in relief roles at the MLB level last season, with Burnes in particular creating intrigue based on his spin rates (99th percentile in fastball, 89th in curveball) and velocity. Peralta, too, fared well in the hitter-friendly Colorado Springs in addition to turning in a 4.25 ERA (3.72 FIP) in his first 78 1/3 MLB frames.

It should also be noted that this iteration of the rotation is hardly permanent. Top starter Jimmy Nelson is on the mend from 2017 shoulder surgery and is nearing a return to the active roster. It’s also possible that either Anderson or Guerra could work his way back into the fold in the event of an injury or some shaky performance from one of the team’s younger arms. Righties Adrian Houser and Aaron Wilkerson are also on hand as 40-man options in Triple-A. And, as ever, the summer trade market will bear numerous options whom the Brewers could consider should the rotation prove to be an area of definitive need.

Red Sox “Actively” Discussing Sandy Leon Trades

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The Red Sox are currently in “active” trade talks with other clubs regarding a potential Sandy Leon swap, Buster Olney and Marly Rivera of ESPN report (via Twitter).

As has long been anticipated, something will have to give with regard to Boston’s catching situation between now and Opening Day. The Sox are carrying three catchers at the moment in Leon, Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart.

While the Boston organization managed to hang onto those three players for the entirety of the 2018 season, doing so more or less meant punting a roster spot. Swihart was so seldom used early on that he tallied all of 48 plate appearances through the season’s first two months.

A repeat of that approach has never seemed desirable. The precise resolution, though, remains unclear. Vazquez is projected to be the starter in Boston, and both Leon and Swihart are out of minor league options, making a trade or even just a straight release of Leon both plausible outcomes.

Leon, 30, struggled through an awful season at the plate in 2018, hitting just .177/.232/.279 through 288 PAs. His bat has continually declined since what now looks like a clear outlier campaign in 2016, but he’s regarded as a terrific defender in terms of limiting the running game, framing pitches, and managing a staff.

Leon agreed to a $2.475MM salary to avoid arbitration this winter. That may represent a palatable sum for a trade partner seeking a defensive-minded backup catcher, though it’s just barely shy of the deal Martin Maldonado signed  few weeks back. Maldonado is also highly regarded behind the dish and is also a more accomplished (albeit still well-below-average) hitter.

Arbitration salaries aren’t fully guaranteed until Opening Day, though, so if the Sox were to move on, they’d only be on the hook for 45 days’ termination pay — a total of about $599K. To be clear, there’s no indication that the Sox have given serious thought to cutting Leon loose, but if they’re indeed planning on carrying just two catchers this winter (Vazquez and Swihart), that possibility would need to be considered if the trade route doesn’t bear fruit.

Rays To Extend Blake Snell

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2:00pm: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports the yearly breakdown (Twitter link). Snell will be paid a $3MM signing bonus and earn $1MM in 2019. He’ll then be paid salaries of $7MM, $10.5MM, $12.5MM and $16MM in the subsequent four seasons. That $16MM salary in 2023 can increase by up to $2MM based on his placement in the Cy Young race.

1:50pm: The Rays have formally announced the contract as well as the terms of the deal. Snell can earn an additional $2MM  via incentives, per the team.

1:43pm: The Rays have reached an agreement on a five-year, $50MM contract with reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports (on Twitter). There are no options included on the contract, which will buy out all of Snell’s arbitration seasons and what would have been his first free-agent year. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that Snell’s deal does not include a no-trade clause. Snell is represented by Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon.

Blake Snell | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Snell, 26, will receive the largest contract ever guaranteed to a pitcher with between two and three years of service time, breaking the previous record held by Gio Gonzalez, as can be seen in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker. (Miles Mikolas could technically be considered in that category, though as a player who had established himself overseas and would’ve otherwise been eligible for free agency, his extension was under wholly different circumstances.) Despite the fact that he has less service time and was not yet eligible for arbitration, Snell rode that Cy Young Award to a guarantee that tops the sums promised to both Luis Severino (four years, $40MM) and Aaron Nola (four years, $45MM) earlier this offseason.

Because Snell was still a year from arbitration, he was still a year from cashing in on his first seven-figure payday. Even if one were to aggressively forecast what he’d make in arbitration by suggesting he’d top Dallas Keuchel’s record $7.25MM first-time arbitration salary for a pitcher, Snell likely would’ve topped out around $35-40MM between now and the end of his arbitration eligibility. He’s possibly trading as much as $20MM in that would-be first year of free agency in exchange for the up-front payday, but that’s in a best-case scenario for his performance. A more realistic forecast of his future would need to account for the downside of injury and regression/decline.

The contract for Snell comes just weeks after the left-hander took umbrage with the organization’s decision to renew his 2019 contract for $573,700 — a raise of just $15K over the preceding season (at a time when the league-minimum salary increased by $5K).

“The Rays have the right under the collective bargaining agreement to renew me at or near the league-minimum salary,” Snell told Topkin at the time. “They also have the ability to to more adequately compensate me, as other organizations have done with players who have similar achievements to mine. The Rays chose the former.” At this point, one would imagine that renewal amounts to little more than water under the bridge with a new record-setting extension locked into place.

Snell, the No. 52 overall pick by the Rays back in 2011 and a longtime top prospect, solidified himself as an MLB-caliber starter in 2017 season with 24 starts of 4.04 ERA ball. However, he thrust himself into the ranks of the game’s elite pitchers in 2018 when he overpowered opponents with a 1.89 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 31 starts. Snell’s 15.1 percent swinging-strike rate was the fourth-best mark among all qualified MLB starters, trailing only Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Carlos Carrasco while tying him with NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom. His 33.1 percent opponents’ chase rate on pitches out of the strike zone ranked 18th among MLB starters.

It’s the second extension of the week for the Rays, who also locked up promising young infielder/outfielder Brandon Lowe on a six-year, $24MM pact. Looking ahead, Snell joins Lowe and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier as the only players on the Rays’ roster to have a guaranteed contract beyond the 2020 season. Kiermaier’s deal will come off the books after the 2022 season, while Snell is controlled through 2023 and Lowe through 2024 (plus a pair of club options). That trio won’t combine for more than $34.2MM in any single season in which their contracts overlap, leaving even the cost-conscious Rays with a bit of flexibility.

Hunter Pence Makes Rangers’ Roster; Willie Calhoun Optioned To Triple-A

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The Rangers have informed veteran outfielder Hunter Pence that he’s made the Opening Day roster, tweets MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. Young outfielder Willie Calhoun, meanwhile, will be optioned to Triple-A Nashville. Sullivan also adds that Rule 5 pick Jordan Romano has been informed he will not make the roster.

While many fans may have hoped that Calhoun would seize the outfield opportunity in front of him and realize the offensive potential that long provided him with top prospect status, Pence emphatically outplayed him this spring. The pair leads the Rangers in spring at-bats, but while Pence has impressed with a .356/.431/.667 batting line, Calhoun has mustered just a .217/.296/.261 output.

Beyond the raw spring stats (which should always be taken with a grain of salt), the Rangers simply don’t have everyday at-bats for Calhoun in the big leagues right now. Joey Gallo, Delino DeShields Jr. and Nomar Mazara are lined up in the outfield, with Shin-So Choo slotted in for regular DH work. At this stage of their respective careers, Pence is better-suited for a bench role, as Texas surely still wants Calhoun to log regular plate appearances to continue his development.

Pence, who spent the offseason making significant alterations to his swing, will seek to reestablish himself as a credible big league outfielder on the heels of that excellent spring. The three-time All-Star finished up a five-year, $90MM contract with the Giants last season and managed just a .249/.297/.368 slash over the final two seasons of that contract.

The 24-year-old Calhoun, acquired as the centerpiece of the trade that sent Yu Darvish to the Dodgers in 2017, saw his bat take a step back both in Triple-A and in the Majors in 2018. After hitting a combined .300/.355/.572 between the Triple-A affiliates for Texas and L.A. in ’17, Calhoun hit a solid but diminished .294/.351/.431 in Triple-A with the Rangers this past season. In 108 big league plate appearances, he hit .222/.269/.333 with a pair of home runs. Calhoun’s glovework has been questioned in scouting reports over the years, but he’ll also look to get his swing back in track in his latest minor league assignment. He has an option remaining even beyond the current season, so the Rangers still have ample time to help him tap into his upside.

Romano, 26 in a month, was selected out of the Blue Jays’ organization in this year’s Rule 5 draft and pitched 9 1/3 innings with the Rangers this spring. He allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks with six strikeouts in that time. Romano logged a 4.11 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 142 1/3 innings last year (nearly all at the Double-A level). He’ll need to be placed on the waivers and offered back to the Blue Jays if he clears.

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