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Latest On Orioles’ Ownership

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Major League Baseball has approved Orioles executive vice president John Angelos as the franchise’s new “control person,” Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun reports. Angelos’ new title means he’ll officially take over as the Orioles’ primary owner, succeeding his father, Peter Angelos, who purchased the team for $173MM in 1993.

John Angelos required approval from 22 of the league’s other 29 owners to become the face of O’s ownership, though the league hasn’t disclosed how many votes he received, according to Barker. The 91-year-old Peter Angelos remains the Orioles’ majority owner, but his health is failing, which has led John and his brother Louis to take on bigger roles with the organization in recent years.

The question now is whether the Orioles will remain in the Angelos family for the long haul. The Baltimore Sun reported earlier this week that at least three people have considered forming bidding groups if the Angelos family decides to sell the team. As Barker writes, though, if Angelos’ sons do part with the franchise when their father is still alive, it would “subject the owner to steep capital gains taxes based on how much the club’s value has appreciated over the years.” However, if the team’s sold after Peter Angelos passes away, it would eliminate the capital gains tax.

It’s important to note that there is no indication the Orioles will end up on the block or leave Baltimore. John Angelos said in 2019 that the Orioles will stay in Baltimore for “as long as Fort McHenry is standing watch over the Inner Harbor.”

General manager Mike Elias echoed a similar sentiment in a letter to season-ticket holders this week, writing (via the Baltimore Sun), “There is nothing uncertain about the future of your Orioles in Baltimore.”

Orioles Name Chris Holt Pitching Coach

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2:55pm: Holmes has actually been promoted to assistant pitching coach, tweets Kubatko.

2:20pm: The Orioles are promoting Chris Holt to their vacant pitching coach position, general manager Mike Elias announced to reporters this afternoon (Twitter link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). He’ll take over for former big league righty Doug Brocail, who had held the post for the past two seasons but wasn’t retained for a third year on the job.

Holt initially came to the Baltimore organization from the Astros. He’d previously served as the Houston’s assistant director of pitching, where he worked with Elias when Elias as an assistant general manager. Holt’s first title with the O’s was minor league pitching coordinator, but he was promoted to director of pitching last offseason — a role in which he had a more direct connection with Brocail and the staff. Holt will retain that director of pitching title but will now see his duties expand into the big league dugout.

Holt has previously worked to develop individualized pitching plans for the Orioles’ pitchers at both the minor league and big league levels. MLB.com’s Joe Trezza wrote recently that Holt was the internal favorite to take over the pitching coach role and has drawn praise for his “fluency” in analytic principles and his ability to communicate that information to players who aren’t as familiar with the data. He worked closely with many of the club’s young arms at the alternate training site in 2020, Trezza notes, including Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer.

Elias added that bullpen coach Darren Holmes will return for a second season as the club’s bullpen coach and work with Holt to oversee the staff as a whole. The Orioles hired Holmes last December after a five-year stint as the Rockies’ bullpen coach.

Orioles Exercise Jose Iglesias’ Club Option

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The Orioles announced that they have exercised their $3.5MM club option on Jose Iglesias’ services for the 2021 season.  (MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko broke the news via Twitter earlier this morning.)  It was a $3MM decision for Baltimore, as the shortstop would have otherwise received a $500K buyout had the option been declined.

Iglesias signed a one-year contract last winter that paid him $3MM in guaranteed money (which became just shy of $926K due to the reduced schedule) for 2020, and included the option for 2021.  Traditionally a glove-first player and a strong defensive shortstop, Iglesias ended up contributing in a much different manner than the O’s probably expected, as Iglesias exploded to hit .373/.400/.556 over 150 plate appearances.  A whopping .407 BABIP was a big contributor to this performance, as Iglesias was only a .273/.315/.371 hitter in 2915 career PA prior to 2020.

While Iglesias still provided solid glovework, he played less shortstop than expected, as quad problems led to a short injured list stint and quite a bit of DH time.  Needless to say, the Orioles would love a continuation of Iglesias’ breakout at the plate, but even if a “normal” Iglesias season in 2021 is more probable, the $3MM decision still seemed like a pretty straight-forward call.

With Iglesias now officially back in the fold, the Orioles can turn their attention to other potential infield moves, as possibly upgrading second and third base beyond Hanser Alberto and Rio Ruiz.  Former Gold Glover Yolmer Sanchez was claimed off waivers from the White Sox on Friday, leading to speculation that Alberto could be a non-tender candidate.

AL East Notes: Morton, Zunino, Walker, Red Sox, Yolmer

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Charlie Morton “wasn’t surprised” that the Rays declined to exercise their $15MM club option on his services, but the veteran right-hander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that the team’s decision “doesn’t mean we won’t try to work something out.  If there’s mutual interest, the next step is gauging what that looks like.”  Rays GM Erik Neander indicated yesterday that the team indeed hoped to bring Morton back for a third season.  If an acceptable deal can’t be worked out with the Rays or another club, Morton reiterated to Topkin that he’ll gauge whether he wants to keep playing, weighing such “typical factors” as his health, playing for a contender, and “does it make sense financially and geographically?”

The Rays declined options on both Morton and (at $4.5MM) catcher Mike Zunino yesterday.  Jet Sports Management represents both players, and agent B.B. Abbott told Topkin in a separate piece that there aren’t any hard feelings about the contractual decisions.  “Their first choice was to be in Tampa, and it probably still is their first choice,” Abbott said, but now that Morton and Zunino are on the open market, “they owe it to themselves to see what’s out there.”

More from the AL East…

  • Taijuan Walker figures to get a lot of attention in free agency this winter, but there is mutual interest between Walker and the Blue Jays in a return to Toronto’s rotation, Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes.  Acquired in a trade from the Mariners in late August, Walker posted excellent numbers (1.37 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 2.27 K/BB rate) in his six starts in a Jays uniform.  Beyond the on-field results, Walker was also impressed by both the Jays’ long-term potential as contenders, and how the club treats its players.  “They have really good staff, coaches, training staff.  For me, it’s all about comfort and people,” Walker said.  “Being connected and having that family, and that’s what it felt like.”  Once one of baseball’s most highly-touted pitching prospects, injuries cost Walker virtually all of the 2018 and 2019 seasons but he has somewhat revived his stock after his solid 2020 performance.
  • While the Red Sox have interviewed several candidates to be their next manager, “the managerial search appears to be centered on determining if Chaim Bloom and Alex Cora can work well together,” the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham writes.  Of course, Cora was already Boston’s manager when Bloom was hired as the club’s chief baseball officer last October, though Cora’s firing and subsequent one-year suspension are undoubtedly considerations for Red Sox ownership and the front office in deciding whether or not to bring Cora back.  While Cora’s return has been widely speculated, Abraham isn’t sure a rehire “is automatic,” opining that Cora could potentially wait to see if another high-profile job (perhaps with the Mets) becomes available.
  • Now that Yolmer Sanchez has been claimed on waivers, the Orioles have some extra depth as they consider other infield moves, as MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski writes.  No decision has yet been made about Jose Iglesias’ $3.5MM club option, and with Sanchez now on hand as a second base candidate, the O’s could potentially non-tender Hanser Alberto, who is projected to earn between $2.3MM and $4.1MM in arbitration (depending on how arb salaries are calculated this winter).  Sanchez is himself eligible for arbitration, however, and his projected $6.2MM arb figure last winter was the chief reason why the White Sox non-tendered him last November.

Offseason Outlook: Baltimore Orioles

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The Orioles briefly flirted with Wild Card contention in this year’s greatly expanded playoff format, but the O’s ultimately finished out the year at 25-35 with a -20 run differential. GM Mike Elias will head into his third offseason on the job still squarely in a rebuild, which should make for a pretty quiet winter in Baltimore.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Note on arb-eligible players: this year’s arbitration projections are more volatile than ever, given the unprecedented revenue losses felt by clubs and the shortened 2020 schedule. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, who developed our arbitration projection model, used three different methods to calculate different projection numbers. You can see the full projections and an explanation of each if you click here, but for the purposes of our Outlook series, we’ll be using Matt’s 37-percent method — extrapolating what degree of raise a player’s 2020 rate of play would have earned him in a full 162-game slate and then awarding him 37 percent of that raise.

Option Decisions

Free Agents

Baltimore’s offseason kicks off with what looks to be a relatively straightforward decision on 30-year-old shortstop Jose Iglesias’ club option. Iglesias was hampered by a quadriceps injury that limited him to 160 innings of defense, but he also posted an outrageous .373/.400/.556 slash in 150 trips to the plate. Granted, it was fueled largely by a .407 BABIP that isn’t repeatable, but Iglesias did make some gains in exit velocity and hard-hit rate as well. Assuming the quad is healthy next year, this is an affordable price tag on a singles hitter who rarely strikes out and is typically an excellent defender.

The extent to which the Orioles will be active after that is tough to gauge, but major moves shouldn’t be expected. The Orioles, under Elias, have signed just three players to Major League deals: Iglesias, Nate Karns and Kohl Stewart. Both Karns and Stewart inked split contracts that did not come with full guarantees in the big leagues.

We’re entering the third year of the Elias rebuild, but the O’s are still staring up at a powerhouse Rays club, the perennially contending Yankees, an emerging young Blue Jays team and a Red Sox club that will get some crucial names back in 2021 (Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez among them). The O’s aren’t just a couple of savvy free-agent signings away from competing against this group.

Of course, the O’s hope to get an important piece back themselves in the form of slugger Trey Mancini. The 28-year-old was Baltimore’s best hitter and arguably best all-around player in 2019, but he missed the 2020 season after revealing back in March that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer. Mancini underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor, but Elias said last month that the organization is hopeful he’ll be ready to rejoin the club in Spring Training. It’d be a boon for the clubhouse and lineup alike, as a Mancini return would start the season off on a feel-good note and give manager Brandon Hyde a heart-of-the-order hitter who raked at a .291/.364/.535 clip when last healthy.

Mancini would give the Orioles an option at first base, designated hitter or in either outfield corner, although he’s best-suited to play first (career -17 DRS in the outfield). That’d push Chris Davis — more on him later — to designated hitter but still leave the Orioles with some possible areas for addition around the diamond.

In 2020, the O’s relied primarily on Hanser Alberto and Rio Ruiz at second base and third base, respectively. Alberto was one of the club’s best hitters for much of the season before a disastrous final 15 games torpedoed his batting line. Ruiz, meanwhile, slugged nine homers but hit just .222 with a .286 on-base percentage. Both players look to lack ceiling at the plate; Alberto has hit for average in Baltimore but lacks power, while Ruiz has pop but minimal on-base skills.

It’s at least plausible that the Orioles would consider non-tendering Alberto — particularly given what should be a rather flooded second base market. Ruiz doesn’t seem like a sure thing to survive the winter on the 40-man roster, having given the O’s a .229/.299/.393 slash (82 wRC+) through 617 plate appearances over the past two seasons. The Orioles could give Renato Nunez another look at the hot corner, but he’s viewed as a poor defender.

Given that lackluster set of options at second and third base, it’s not particularly surprising that Elias has already spoken of a desire to bolster his infield depth. In his end-of-season chat with reporters, Elias noted a lack of infield depth in the organization when he took over, attributing it to the team’s prior aversion to signing international amateur free agents. While the GM said it’s been an area of focus since he took the reins and offered optimism that the pipeline is improving, he also called infield depth “one of those areas where everyone is always looking for more” (link  via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko).

The Orioles aren’t going to go wild and sign a top free agent like DJ LeMahieu, but there should be some solid veterans available on more affordable deals. They’ve already been there, done that with Jonathan Villar and Jonathan Schoop — not that a reunion is impossible — but someone like Cesar Hernandez, Jedd Gyorko, or Marwin Gonzalez (whom Elias knows from his Astros days) would give them some cover.

It’s also at least worth pondering whether the Orioles will take a more significant plunge on a unique market entrant: Korean shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. The Kiwoom Heroes star will be posted for MLB clubs this winter, and he’ll play next season at just 25 years of age. Even when the O’s were inexplicably dormant on the Latin American market for international talent, they had a strong presence in both NPB and the KBO.

Bringing Kim into the mix would ostensibly align with the timeline of their rebuild, and he’s capable of playing each of shortstop, second base and third base. We’re expecting a pretty substantial contract for Kim — four to five years in length at something in the $7-9MM annual range — so it’d be a notable departure from the dearth of free-agent spending under Elias. That said, Kim’s age and versatility both match up with the Orioles’ long-term organizational needs. Signing Kim is akin to signing a Top 100 prospect who can be plugged directly onto the big league roster. Some contenders may prefer players who are proven against MLB pitching, but the Orioles could certainly withstand the risk that Kim faces a prolonged adjustment period.

Beyond the infield, the lineup should mostly be set. Ryan Mountcastle exploded onto the scene with a .333/.386/.492 showing through his first 140 MLB plate appearances. He’s locked down one corner outfield slot, with the other surely set aside for Anthony Santander, who hit .261/.315/.575 with 11 big flies, 13 doubles and a triple in 165 plate appearances. Austin Hays is the favorite in center field thanks to a .289/.344/.458 output dating back to 2019 (209 total plate appearances), and Cedric Mullins gives them a solid alternative.

Behind the plate, Chance Sisco and Pedro Severino form a respectable platoon, but they’re both placeholders for 2019 No. 1 overall pick Adley Rutschman. Sisco strikes out too much but draws plenty of walks and has shown some pop. Severino had a rough 43 plate appearances against lefties in 2020 but has generally handled them well in his career.

At designated hitter, the Orioles will be left to ponder what to do with the remaining portion of the aforementioned Davis and his contract. Nunez gives them another option there as well, having belted 43 homers dating back to 2019 but providing minimal defensive value at the infield corners. There’s been speculation about releasing Davis for years now, and perhaps that outcome is simply inevitable, but the O’s will likely wait to see how he looks in Spring Training and also to determine whether they’ll have Mancini available before making such a drastic move.

It’s also not a lock that Nunez will be tendered a contract. For all the power he’s shown in the past two seasons, his overall .247/.314/.469 slash translates to a 104 wRC+ and 106 OPS+ due to his questionable on-base skills and the leaguewide home run boom. Paired with his defensive shortcomings, Nunez has been worth less than one WAR per both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference in 2019-20 combined.

On the pitching side of the equation, the Orioles have vacancies in both the rotation and bullpen, which should allow them to be opportunistic in signing some veteran free agents. They seemed to prioritize price over upside last winter when bringing in Tommy Milone and Wade LeBlanc on non-guaranteed deals, but it’s possible they’ll be able to get some arms with higher ceilings to concede to minor league pacts or low-base, incentive-laden one-year deals this time around. There’s something to be said for leaving the door open for in-house options to seize opportunities, but there are so many holes on this pitching staff that it’d be surprising if the front office didn’t bring in some fresh faces.

A potential trade involving Cobb would create another opening and also serve to pare back the payroll. No one is going to take Cobb’s entire $15MM salary, but he did bounce back from an injury-ruined 2019 season to make 10 starts of 4.30 ERA ball in 2020. Cobb looks mostly like an innings-eating fourth/fifth starter at this point, so there won’t be a long line to acquire him, but if the O’s were to absorb 75 percent of his salary or take on another undesirable contract in return, perhaps something could be worked out. At the very least, Cobb’s healthy showing and respectable results moved him off the borderline-untradeable status he held this time last year.

Overall, the Orioles simply aren’t in a position to spend much money or part with young players to add veteran upgrades to their roster. A player like Kim or a younger non-tender who still has some prime years and team control remaining would make sense as an upside play. One-year deals and minor league pacts for veterans with a bit of name value are likely on the docket, but the O’s lack both obvious trade candidates on the big league roster and motivation to make splashy moves for veteran players. The 2021 season will likely be another year dedicated to shaping a sustainable core of players with an eye toward better results in 2022-23.

Orioles Claim Yolmer Sanchez

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The Orioles announced they’ve claimed infielder Yolmer Sánchez off waivers from the White Sox. That brings Baltimore’s 40-man roster tally to 33 players.

The 28-year-old Sánchez was non-tendered by the Sox over the 2019 offseason despite winning the AL Gold Glove award at second base. That reflected his lackluster offensive production, as he hit just .252/.318/.321 in 555 plate appearances. After a minor-league deal with the Giants didn’t lead to a big league opportunity, though, Sánchez briefly found himself back on the South Side down the stretch in 2020. He is controllable through 2022.

Orioles Outright 4 Players

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The Orioles have outrighted three hurlers –  David Hess, Branden Kline and Kohl Stewart – as well as infielder/outfielder Andrew Velazquez to Triple-A Norfolk, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. The right-handed Hess is now a  free agent, per Kubatko. Kline and Stewart have also elected free agency, the team announced.

Hess, an Oriole since they chose him in the 2014 draft, reached the majors in 2018 and wound up combining for 183 1/3 big league innings between then and the next season. However, Hess struggled to a 5.84 ERA/6.44 FIP with 6.97 K/9, 3.29 BB/9 and a paltry 33.7 percent groundball rate during that 44-appearance, 33-start span. Hess was barely a factor for this year’s Orioles, with whom he tossed seven innings of five-run ball.

The hard-throwing, right-handed Kline was a second-rounder of the Orioles in 2012, though he has only logged 46 innings and a 5.48 ERA/5.47 FIP in the bigs so far.

Stewart, the fourth overall pick of the Twins in 2013, saw his time in Minnesota slowed by injuries. The righty did combine for 62 innings of 4.79 ERA/4.80 FIP pitching as a Twin from 2018-19, but he struck out fewer than five batters per nine along the way. Stewart signed with the O’s last winter, though the Type 1 diabetic opted out of pitching in 2020 because of concerns over the coronavirus.

Velazquez, the lone position player in this group, became an Oriole when they claimed him from the Indians on waivers during the offseason. Although Velazquez did receive 77 plate appearances with Baltimore, he only mustered a .159/.274/.206 line and failed to hit a home run.

Orioles To Re-Sign Stevie Wilkerson

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The Orioles are re-signing utilityman Stevie Wilkerson to a minor-league contract, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He’ll receive an invitation to spring training.

The 28-year-old (29 in January) saw rather extensive action for Baltimore between 2018-19. Across those two seasons, he took 410 plate appearances and put together a .219/.279/.365 line with ten home runs. Lackluster offensive showing aside, Wilkerson found his way into the lineup thanks to his defensive versatility. He logged the majority of his action in center field, but he also picked up multiple starts at second and third base and in the corner outfield. Wilkerson even pitched four times in mop-up duty.

Outrighted off the O’s 40-man roster last offseason, Wilkerson still received an invitation to Summer Camp. Unfortunately, he broke his left ring finger during workouts and didn’t get into a game. He’ll look to play his way back into the mix next spring.

Latest On Orioles, Mike Elias

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10:43PM: A league spokesperson released a statement to media (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) in regards to the Daily News story, saying “Major League Baseball is completely comfortable with the Orioles’ coaching designations for the 2020 season, which are not only consistent with the terms of the pension plan but were approved in advance by MLB and shared prior to the start of the season with representatives from the Major League Baseball Players Association.  The suggestion that there is an ongoing investigation that could result in discipline is simply false.”

9:32PM: The MLB Players Association is currently investigating a complaint involving Orioles general manager and executive vice-president Mike Elias and pitching director Chris Holt, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News reports.  The matter has to do with Holt’s inclusion on a list of Orioles coaches who qualify for the pension plan between the union and the league.

Teams are permitted to place four coaches per year on the pension plan, “which includes lucrative medical benefits and life insurance,” as well as a players’ licensing check worth somewhere between $40K-$60K.  Madden says only full-time, uniformed coaches are eligible for inclusion, however, and Holt didn’t meet this criteria as the team’s pitching director.

Holt spent much of the 2020 season working at the Orioles’ alternate training site, as Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun notes that the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the team’s original plan for Holt’s role — a normal season would have seen Holt work throughout the organization with both big league and minor league pitchers.  The other three Baltimore coaches listed (third base coach Jose Flores, hitting coach Don Long, and field coordinator/catching instructor Tim Cossins) spent the season working with the Major League team.

Elias is involved in the matter since, as the Orioles’ GM, he was responsible for naming the four coaches to the pension plan.  The MLBPA’s pension committee is reviewing the complaint, and it is yet unclear what type of punishment could be levied.  At worst, Elias could face a charge of pension fraud, a lawyer with experience of the MLBPA pension plan tells Madden, if it is ruled that Elias included Holt on the four-coach list despite knowing Holt wasn’t eligible.

Holt and Elias previously worked together in the Astros organization when Elias was Houston’s assistant GM, and Holt was one of Elias’ earliest hires after becoming Baltimore’s general manager following the 2018 season.  Holt worked as the Orioles’ minor league pitching coordinator in 2019 before being promoted to his current role, and there has been speculation that Holt could become the team’s pitching coach for 2021.

AL Notes: Astros, Kiermaier, Orioles, Bannon, Rangers

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Some notes from the American League:

  • George Springer and Michael Brantley will be two of the top free agents on the market this offseason. Astros general manager James Click confirmed the organization will look into bringing both players back, but he also cautioned that the club has to “balance the present and the future” (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). Click pointed to the broad financial uncertainty throughout the sport thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, while expressing a more general desire to avoid “a series of short-sighted moves that (would) put us in a bad position for the long term.” If Springer and/or Brantley were to depart, the outfield would have to be addressed in some way, with Kyle Tucker the only in-house replacement locked into an everyday role. Houston will certainly make a qualifying offer to Springer, at least guaranteeing themselves draft compensation if the sides don’t agree on a deal. The QO decision on Brantley will be a tougher call.
  • There’s more certainty on the Astros’ coaching staff than there is in the outfield. Manager Dusty Baker confirmed to reporters (including Jake Kaplan of the Athletic) the entire staff is invited back for 2021. Baker himself is under contract next season by virtue of Houston’s exercising his club option in July. Bench coach Joe Espada, hitting coaches Álex Cintrón and Troy Snitker, and pitching coach Brent Strom headline Baker’s assistant group.
  • Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier suffered a wrist injury when he was hit by a pitch in Game 3 of the ALCS. He’ll be a full-go for the World Series, he told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). That’s not particularly surprising, since the 30-year-old returned to Tampa Bay’s starting lineup for Game 7 against Houston. The three-time Gold Glove winner has been an integral part of the Rays’ superlative team defense this postseason.
  • The Orioles will have to decide whether to add infielder Rylan Bannon to their 40-man roster in advance of this winter’s Rule 5 draft. In an effort to improve his chances of cracking the roster, Bannon is expanding his defensive repertoire, as Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball details. “I’m (at instructional league) to work on second base stuff, and kind of surprising, (Friday) was my second day of working on a little bit of catching stuff,” Bannon said. The 24-year-old started 37 minor-league games at the keystone in 2019, compared with 84 starts at third. He has never lined up behind the plate. Part of the five-player return from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado trade, Bannon combined for a .266/.345/.421 line between Double-A and Triple-A last season.
  • The Rangers hope to fill their pitching coach vacancy by the conclusion of the World Series, reports T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. That individual is expected to come from within the organization, Sullivan adds. Texas parted ways with former pitching coach Julio Rangel earlier this month.
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