Rosenthal’s Latest: Rox, LeMahieu, Arenado, Dodgers, O’s, Ripken
The latest from FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (all video links):
- Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu is set to become a free agent at season’s end, and the club may have a successor on hand in prospect Brendan Rodgers. However, Rosenthal floats the idea of the Rockies re-signing LeMahieu – who’s one of their “glue” guys, he notes – and trading superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado in the offseason. Although Arenado’s obviously far superior to LeMahieu, the former only has another year of arbitration control remaining, during which he’ll rake in upward of $20MM. Thus, if the Rockies aren’t confident about extending Arenado, Rosenthal posits that it may make sense for them to move the NL MVP candidate for a package of players who’d “supplement” their roster. That would enable them to re-up LeMahieu and use Rodgers at third base, Rosenthal observes.
- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will reportedly return next year, though Rosenthal cautions that the skipper’s future is uncertain. While the 46-year-old Roberts has a club option for 2019, the Dodgers haven’t made a decision on it yet, and Rosenthal reports they’d like to hold off discussing his contract until after the season. But if the Dodgers don’t make a call on Roberts’ fate soon, they could put themselves at risk of losing him in the coming weeks, suggests Rosenthal, who says that “a large number” of managerial jobs might open up around the league. If so, Roberts could bolt for one of those positions or use any of them for leverage in order to get a better offer from the Dodgers. Roberts, who’s in his third year in LA, has helped the team to a 276-196 record with two division titles and an NL pennant.
- It’s unclear who will manage the Orioles next season, but it definitely won’t be franchise icon Cal Ripken Jr., according to Rosenthal. Ripken’s uninterested in managing, per Rosenthal, who doesn’t rule out the possibility of the Hall of Famer joining the team’s front office. The 58-year-old would prefer a club president-type role, Rosenthal relays. For now, the highest-ranking baseball official in the O’s front office is executive VP Dan Duquette. He’s not under contract beyond this season, though.
Mesa Brothers Declared Free Agents By MLB
12:09pm: The Mesas are planning on hosting a showcase for all 30 teams in the near future, Sanchez further reports. He lists the Orioles ($6.5MM), Marlins ($4.3MM), Rays ($3.6MM) and Dodgers ($2.78MM) as the teams with the most remaining money to spend.
Of course, as we saw last offseason in the case of Shohei Ohtani, that picture can quickly shift should those teams (or any other interested suitor) pursue additional international spending allotments on the trade market. The eight clubs that under the $300K limitation mentioned below would likely be particularly amenable to parting with some pool space in exchange for minor league talent.
11:19am: Cuban outfielder Victor Victor Mesa and his younger brother, Victor Mesa Jr., have been declared free agents by Major League Baseball and are now eligible to sign with a big league team, reports Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (via Twitter). The brothers left Cuba in pursuit of Major League contracts back in May. Neither player meets MLB’s minimum age (25) or professional experience (six years) requirement to be considered a professional. As such, they’ll each be subject to international bonus pools.
While both are prospects of note, the elder Mesa brother is widely considered to be the top talent on this year’s international class, offering elite speed, a plus arm and a generally strong performance in his limited time as a professional in the Cuban National Series. At 22 years of age, he could already be advanced enough for a placement in Class-A Advanced or Double-A, per Baseball America’s Ben Badler, who tabs him as an elite center field defender and potential top-of-the-order bat.
In his most recent full season of play in Cuba, Victor Victor batted a hefty .354/.399/.539 with seven homers, 40 steals, 17 walks and just 19 strikeouts in 290 plate appearances. Scouting information on the 17-year-old Mesa Jr. is considerably more sparse, though he’ll presumably have no shortage of interest around the league. The brothers are the sons of Victor Mesa, a baseball legend in Cuba who enjoyed a 19-year career and has also served as the manager of Team Cuba in the World Baseball Classic on multiple occasions.
To this point, the Orioles and Marlins have been the two teams most heavily connected to Victor Victor Mesa. That pair still boasts the largest remaining signing pools, with the Orioles said at last check to have the largest pool available. And while the Orioles have a long history of sitting out the international amateur market, that philosophy has changed in recent months. Longtime owner Peter Angelos has largely ceded oversight of the club to his sons, John and Lou, and general manager Dan Duquette plainly stated after trading Manny Machado that the organization intended to begin investing in international amateurs.
As of early August, the Orioles’ max offering sat at a hefty $8.25MM following the acquisition of international funds in several summer trades, though they traded $750K of that sum away in a deal with the Phillies and have announced a handful of international prospect signings since that time as well. None of the prospects they signed were high-profile in nature, though, and the Marlins’ pool is lagging considerably behind at $4.35MM as of that Aug. 1 update.
Notably, there are eight teams — the Reds, A’s, Nationals, Braves, White Sox, Astros, Cardinals and Padres — that are in the international “penalty box” after shattering previous spending pools by more than 15 percent and are thus ineligible to sign a player for more than $300K. That, presumably, takes them out of the running in this picture.
It should also be noted that the 2017-21 CBA eliminated the possibility of exceeding the league-allotted bonus pool by any sum; teams are now hard-capped, though they can acquire up to 75 percent of their initial allotment in trades with other clubs. Full details on international signing rules can be seen in our most recent international prospect primer. To this point, the Blue Jays, Indians, Yankees and Mets have been among the more aggressive-spending teams on the 2018-19 international market, leaving them with relatively depleted pools.
AL East Notes: Orioles, Steinbrenner, Boone, Nunez, Blue Jays
Beyond the obvious rebuild with which they’re faced, the Orioles have numerous behind-the-scenes questions to answer this offseason, writes Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). Longtime owner Peter Angelos has ceded day-to-day operations of the club to sons John and Louis, but the league is still unclear who the new “control” person of the team is at this point. The O’s will also have to make a determination on whether to retain longtime general manager Dan Duquette and/or manager Buck Showalter, as each will see his contract expire at season’s end. Beyond that, the ongoing MASN television rights fee battle with the Nationals will likely have an arbitration hearing in front of a panel of fellow MLB owners in November.
More from the AL East…
- Despite the Yankees‘ recent struggles, owner Hal Steinbrenner voiced support for rookie manager Aaron Boone in a statement to George A. King III of the New York Post. “Aaron Boone has done a good job dealing with all these moving parts and certainly has the respect of the players,” Steinbrenner said in an email to King. He goes on to acknowledge that injuries have impacted the team significantly — Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius and Aroldis Chapman have all been on the disabled list — but emphasizes that the organization “has been happy with the choice” of Boone as the replacement for longtime skipper Joe Girardi.
- Red Sox infielder Eduardo Nunez exited Thursday’s game due to soreness in his right knee, per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo — the same knee that plagued him late in the 2017 season and into the American League Division Series, where he had to be helped off the field. Nunez recently told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford that the knee has been an ongoing issue for him in 2018 but was getting “close” to 100 percent. That doesn’t seem to be the case now, though Cotillo notes that skipper Alex Cora said the team doesn’t believe Nunez’s current injury to be serious. Nunez will be held out of tonight’s game and re-assessed this weekend. He’s struggled to a .262/.287/.387 batting line through 486 plate appearances this season and has a player option for the 2019 season that increased from $4MM to $5MM when he took his 400th plate appearance (as first reported by Bradford).
- Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi takes a thorough look at a crowded Blue Jays roster in previewing some of the decisions the Jays will have to make this offseason. They’ll only lose two players (Tyler Clippard and Marco Estrada) to free agency, and their 40-man spots will be filled by Troy Tulowitzki from the 60-day DL and eventual trade acquisition Julian Merryweather (the PTBNL in the Josh Donaldson trade). The Jays have an arbitration class of nine players without any real non-tender candidates, and there are numerous prospects who still need to be added to the 40-man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft. Davidi speculates that former prized prospect Dalton Pompey could be on the bubble, as he’s dealt with myriad injuries that have sapped his production and was also suspended this season due to an altercation with his manager in Triple-A.
AL East Notes: Hays, Price, Yankees
Orioles outfield prospect Austin Hays is set to undergo surgery to repair an ankle fracture, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. Hays, who made his big league debut last September after an enormous minor league season sent him skyrocketing up national prospect rankings, was limited to 75 games in 2018 and batted just .235/.266/.410 in that time. Though he’s had a brief cup of coffee in the Majors, Hays has yet to even suit up for a Triple-A game; he hit .329/.365/.593 with 32 homers, 32 doubles and five triples between Class-A Advanced and Double-A last season and spent the bulk of 2018 in Double-A (when healthy). Hays had been slated to play in the Arizona Fall League, but it seems he’ll now forgo that to clean up the lingering ankle issue that has plagued his 2018 season. He only recently turned 23 and is still viewed as an important piece of the Orioles’ future, though the 2018 season looks to have gone down as something of a lost season for the 2016 third-rounder. Hays himself has also confirmed that he’ll have surgery tomorrow (Twitter link).
Elsewhere in the AL East…
- David Price has an opt-out clause in his seven-year, $217MM contract following the season, but the left-hander’s recent comments to Christopher Smith of MassLive.com strongly suggest he’ll remain with the Red Sox. Asked if he would consider opting out because of his recent stretch of dominance, Price bluntly replied: “Why would I leave here to go to a team that’s not as good as this team? I came here to win.” Of course, it’s never seemed likely that the 33-year-old Price would opt out of the remaining $127MM on his deal (as explored here last week), but those comments make that outcome seem all the more certain. Over his past 128 2/3 innings (including tonight’s start), Price has a 2.94 ERA with a 137-to-27 K/BB ratio. Nearly 20 percent of the 42 runs he’s allowed in that 21-start stretch came in one outing; excluding that hiccup, he’s been a brilliant complement to Chris Sale atop the Boston rotation, creating a formidable one-two punch for rookie manager Alex Cora.
- Aroldis Chapman could be activated from the disabled list sometime next week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone tells reporters (link via Newsday’s Erik Boland). Chapman, on the disabled list due to tendinitis, threw a side session Wednesday which Boone says “went really well.” The Yanks also announced prior to today’s game that righty Chance Adams has been recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He’s been working in a relief role in Triple-A since his last demotion, so he could give the Yanks some relief depth in the season’s final weeks. In four bullpen appearances in Triple-A, Adams allowed one run on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
Latest On The Mets’ GM Search
Since Sandy Alderson announced that he’d be stepping down as general manager of the Mets due to a recurrence of cancer symptoms, there’s been plenty of chatter as to which direction the Mets will head with their front office. Assistant GM John Ricco and veteran execs J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya have shared Alderson’s duties in the interim, but it seems increasingly likely that the Mets will hire a new permanent GM from outside the organization.
Here’s the latest on their search…
- Mike Puma of the New York Post writes that there’s a disconnect between owner Fred Wilpon and his son, COO Jeff Wilpon, as to what type of executive should be hired to lead the charge. Fred’s preference, according to Puma, would be to hire an experienced front office veteran with roots in scouting and player development, while the younger Wilpon feels the team needs a more analytically inclined mind atop its baseball ops hierarchy. Additionally, it seems that former Mets manager Terry Collins, currently a special assistant, could take on a larger role next season, though he won’t be considered for the actual GM vacancy.
- The Post’s Joel Sherman, meanwhile, wrote recently that the goal for the Mets is to have a list of 10 to 12 candidates by month’s end and to have a new GM in place by the time the annual GM Meetings begin on Nov. 4. Sherman runs through a host of potential names and references the same disconnect as Puma. Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro, former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington (a current Jays exec) and Cardinals director of player development Gary Larocque are a few of names prominently connected to the job. Sherman notes that whoever is ultimately named GM will be hired with the understanding that Minaya will maintain a fair bit of power in terms of player personnel decisions. That, along with the general dysfunction that is largely synonymous with the Wilpon name at this point, will complicate the hiring process.
- Shapiro, for what it’s worth, has downplayed reports connecting him to the Mets and expressed that he remains committed to the Blue Jays organization. SNY’s Andy Martino, though, wrote this morning that in spite of Shapiro’s comments, “people around the team continue to point to” Shapiro as a potential candidate. It’s worth noting that Sherman’s column makes mention of tension between Shapiro and Jays ownership at Rogers Communications, though he’d also be an expensive hire for the Mets. Martino, too, lists Cherington as a name to watch, and he also adds current Orioles GM Dan Duquette to the pile. Duquette, notably, is in the final season of his contract in Baltimore, and there’s been previous speculation as to whether he’ll remain with the club.
- Royals assistant GM Scott Sharp has also had his name come up in numerous reports over the past week (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick). He’s been with the Royals for more than a decade and has some background in scouting, analytics and business, which could make him somewhat of a compromise between the Wilpons’ disparate preferences, though certainly other candidates would be able to bring a similar combination to the table for the Mets as well.
AL East Notes: Jones, Red Sox, Judge, Mujica
The Orioles recently benched Adam Jones for the entirety of a three-game series, and Eduardo A. Encina examines the awkward situation, writing that it’s becoming more apparent that the organization doesn’t have long-term plans for Jones. Encina notes that Jones “threw a wrench” into Baltimore’s plans when he vetoed a trade to the Phillies prior to the non-waiver trade deadline but opines that it’s nonetheless surprising to see the popular Jones sitting behind a cast of waiver claims and former Rule 5 picks (e.g. John Andreoli and Joey Rickard). Cedric Mullins is the only well-regarded prospect who’s been playing over Jones — the team did call up DJ Stewart earlier today — making Jones’ lack of playing time in his final weeks as an Oriole all the more curious. Jones’ benching did occur on the road, so perhaps the organization plans to give him more playing time for the team’s remaining home games, where fans can show their appreciation for the 11 seasons Jones has given them.
More from the division…
- Despite some questions in the Red Sox bullpen, the organization didn’t give much thought to calling up either Durbin Feltman or Travis Lakins in September, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. President of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski tells Bradford that despite a strong minor league showing for each right-hander, neither can be considered a clear upgrade over the relievers currently in the Boston ‘pen. A promotion of Feltman would’ve been extraordinarily aggressive, as he was selected in the third round of this year’s draft, though he was labeled a potential fast-track candidate and did pitch brilliantly across multiple Class-A levels. Bradford adds that Lakins’ injury history likely kept the 24-year-old down this year, as the team was wary about subjecting his arm to another two months of innings after he had a stress fracture in his elbow in 2017.
- Yankees slugger Aaron Judge took on-field batting practice for the first time since fracturing his wrist yesterday and is slated to do so once again today, writes Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. There’s no set timeline for him to face live pitching, however, and an eventual return date is even less clear. Judge said he felt “great,” though a day prior he’d acknowledged that the pain in his still-fractured wrist ranked at about a “four” on a scale of 10. Hoch noted recently that skipper Aaron Boone had previously said Judge wouldn’t resume swinging until his wrist had fully healed, but the lengthier-than-expected absence for Judge looks to have altered those plans.
- Rays pitching prospect Jose Mujica will miss the 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The promising young righty, still just 22 years of age, reached Triple-A earlier this season but spent a bit more than two months on the DL this summer and hadn’t pitched since Aug. 22. He’s previously ranked among the organization’s top 30 farmhands, though not since the 2015-16 offseason, in Baseball America’s estimation. That said, Mujica posted a 3.03 ERA in 154 1/3 innings of Double-A ball last year (albeit with just 5.0 K/9) and turned in a stellar 2.70 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and 0.25 HR/9 in 36 2/3 innings of Triple-A work earlier this season. He’ll be just 24 years of age when he returns in 2020, so youth is still on his side as he looks to claim a spot in the team’s plans moving forward. It’s been a tough season for Rays farmhands, as the organization has seen Brent Honeywell, Anthony Banda and Jose De Leon as Tommy John victims in 2018.
Orioles Promote DJ Stewart
The Orioles have announced that outfield prospect D.J. Stewart is heading onto the active roster. His contract was selected today.
A few corresponding moves were announced as well. Righty Cody Carroll and catcher Andrew Susac were both activated, while outfielder Mark Trumbo and righty Pedro Araujo were bumped to the 60-day DL.
Stewart, a former first-round pick, will make it to the bigs in advance of an offseason Rule 5 decision. Clearly, the O’s expect to carry him on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason.
Now 24 years of age, the FSU product has moved steadily through the Baltimore system. He wasn’t able to follow up on a strong 2017 season at the Double-A level, however, as he struggled a bit in his 490 plate appearances this year at the club’s top affiliate. He hit a dozen home runs, swiped 11 bags, and slashed .235/.329/.387 on the year.
Quick Hits: Gore, Trout, Zobrist, Orioles
After spending parts of five seasons in the big leagues, Terrance Gore finally collected his first Major League hit, notching a single during the Cubs’ 10-3 loss to the Nationals yesterday in the first game of a double-header. Though Gore has appeared in 55 games since the start of the 2014 season, he has only 16 career plate appearances due to his exclusive usage as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive sub. Gore’s speed made him a valuable roster piece during the Royals’ two postseason runs in 2014 and 2015, and he’ll likely see similar work for the Cubs down the stretch this season and potentially into October.
Here’s more from around the baseball world…
- The Angels are expected to approach Mike Trout about an extension this winter, which The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (subscription required) feels could determine whether or not the team would ever consider trading the game’s best player. Management has been adamantly opposed to the thought of dealing Trout in the past, and the general feeling is that Arte Moreno wouldn’t okay a Trout trade as long as he owns the Angels. If Trout declines an extension or gives an indication that he’ll test free agency when his current contract is up after the 2020 season, however, Rosenthal feels that the Angels “would know where they stood” in counting the superstar outfielder as part of their long-term plans. The Halos could still just aim to build around Trout over the next two seasons or, conceivably, at least think about the possibility of a trade that could instantly add a lot of young talent to the Angels’ organization. “One of the best talents in the history of the game is rarely explored in the market. A team might be willing to do something absolutely insane to acquire him. We just don’t know,” one rival executive said about a potential Trout trade.
- As you might expect, Ben Zobrist has no regrets about signing with the Cubs in the 2015-16 offseason, the veteran super-utilityman tells The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. The decision has already led to one World Series ring for Zobrist, and unlike his other suitors that winter (a list that includes the Giants, Mets, and Nationals), the Cubs are still postseason contenders in 2018. Zobrist has strongly rebounded from a down year in 2017 to hit .313/.387/.458 over 443 PA for the Cubs this season, so it’s fair to say that the team is also quite satisfied in its decision giving Zobrist a four-year, $56MM deal that winter.
- The Orioles are lacking in multi-positional players, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes, giving the team yet another area to address as it enters a rebuild period. Not even any of the players acquired by the O’s in their deadline deals looks like a candidate for such a role in the future, though the team will be looking at what Jonathan Villar, Breyvic Valera, and Steve Wilkerson can do at multiple positions.
East Notes: G. Sanchez, Red Sox, Marlins, Pirates, Phillies, O’s
This season hasn’t gone according to plan for Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, leading Joel Sherman of the New York Post to wonder if the club could target Miami’s J.T. Realmuto or another starting-caliber backstop during the winter. It doesn’t seem that’s going to happen, though, as Yankees general manager Brian Cashman suggested to Sherman that he hasn’t lost any confidence in Sanchez. “If you are asking if [Sanchez] is a championship-caliber catcher moving forward, the answer is yes,” Cashman said. “Despite circumstances that have played out this year, we will stay with it and hopefully be rewarded for it.” After his bat helped propel him to elite catcher status from 2016-17, Sanchez has slashed an underwhelming .184/.280/.404 in 304 plate appearances this season. On the other side, the 25-year-old has drawn plenty of criticism for defensive miscues, including for his work in Oakland this past Wednesday. Still, it’s easy to see why Cashman remains bullish on Sanchez. With a .189 batting average on balls in play and a massive gap between his real wOBA (.298) and expected wOBA (.366), Sanchez has been one of the game’s unluckiest hitters in 2018, and he has still managed 15 home runs and a .221 ISO. Defensively, Sanchez’s issues may be a tad overblown, evidenced in part by the above-average marks he has earned from StatCorner.
More from the East Coast…
- Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes is out indefinitely with left hip inflammation, Christopher Smith of MassLive.com reports. With Boston all but locked into the top seed in the American League, Barnes’ loss isn’t much of a blow now. But it could be if the injury continues to linger into the playoffs, as Barnes leads Red Sox relievers in holds (25) and strikeouts per nine (14.19). He has also thrown the second-most innings (58 1/3) of anyone in Boston’s bullpen and logged an impressive 3.39 ERA/2.71 FIP.
- With righty Trevor Williams on a roll for the Pirates, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald revisits the 2015 trade in which the Marlins sent the hurler to Pittsburgh for fellow righty Richard Mitchell and the right to hire pitching guru Jim Benedict from the Bucs. Williams ranked among the Marlins’ top prospects at the time, making the deal look good for Pittsburgh. It looks even better now, given that the 26-year-old Williams has allowed a combined four earned runs over his past nine starts – a 54 2/3-inning span – to improve his ERA/FIP to 3.15/4.16 across 148 2/3 frames this season. Considering Williams’ current performance and his affordable team control through 2022, not to mention what the Marlins got in the trade, losing him looks rather regrettable for the Fish. Former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria expected Benedict to fix the Marlins’ pitching staff, per Spencer. It didn’t happen, however, and Benedict’s now with the Cubs. Mitchell, meanwhile, was a non-prospect who never threw a pitch with the Miami organization and hasn’t played professionally since the end of his Pirates tenure.
- Phillies outfielder Roman Quinn broke one of the toes on his right foot, but it’s an injury he can play through, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia was among those to report. Quinn suffered the injury on a hit by pitch on Wednesday and hasn’t played since, though manager Gabe Kapler said the Phillies “have every assurance that this injury is a tolerance issue and when he’s ready to play, he’s good to go.” Nevertheless, as Salisbury details, it adds to a laundry list of injuries for the 25-year-old Quinn – who has still recorded good numbers since debuting last season. Over 153 major league PAs, including 84 this year, Quinn has hit .307/.371/.455 (121 wRC+) with 12 stolen bases.
- The Orioles plan to re-sign pending free-agent catcher Martin Cervenka, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Cervenka joined the Orioles via the Giants in the minor league phase of last year’s Rule 5 draft, and has since amassed “lots of supporters” within the O’s organization, Kubatko writes. The 26-year-old may even debut in the majors’ next season, as Kubatko adds that Cervenka could have a shot to emerge as the Orioles’ backup catcher in 2019. In doing so, he’d become the first native of the Czech Republic to ever play in the majors. The highest level Cervenka has reached to this point is Double-A, where he put up a .258/.317/.457 line with 15 home runs in 375 PAs this season.
Heyman’s Latest: Harvey, Reds, Brewers, Royals, Smoak, Orioles
Even though the Reds are out of contention and right-hander Matt Harvey is a pending free agent, the club opted against trading him to the NL Central rival Brewers before last month’s waiver deadline. Milwaukee won the claim for Harvey, but it turns out the Brewers only offered “Triple-A non-prospects” for the 29-year-old, Jon Heyman of Fancred hears. Considering that, not to mention Reds owner Bob Castellini’s reported affinity for Harvey, Cincinnati kept the ex-Met and will likely try to prevent him from leaving via free agency. Pitching will be an area of focus in general for the Reds during the offseason, per Heyman, who adds they may also be on the lookout for one or two outfielders.
More rumblings from Heyman…
- Royals general manager Dayton Moore said back in April that the team wants skipper Ned Yost around beyond this season. At 46-94, the Royals have since endured a horrific campaign. Nevertheless, Yost remains in their plans, Heyman reports, adding that they plan to offer him a one-year extension. Whether Yost wants to keep the job for 2019, when he’ll turn 64 years old, isn’t yet clear. Yost is in his ninth season as the Royals’ manager, with the team’s World Series title in 2015 serving as the crowning achievement of his tenure.
- Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak cleared trade waivers last month, but “a couple teams” did check in on him and some of Toronto’s relievers, Heyman writes. That’s not surprising in Smoak’s case, as the switch-hitter’s amid a second straight strong offensive season and comes with another affordable year of team control in the form of an $8MM club option. Perhaps the clubs that have shown interest in him this season will circle back over the winter, then.
- Earlier this summer, Orioles vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette denied a report that the O’s had interviewed former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti for a front office position. However, an interview between one of Orioles owner Peter Angelos’ sons and Colletti did occur, according to Heyman. It’s still not known which position the two sides discussed, though, nor is it clear if Baltimore continues to have interest in Colletti. Notably, Duquette is about to reach the end of his contract – which could put the O’s in the market for a new baseball operations chief – but it’s not a lock he and the club will part ways, Heyman writes.