Orioles Notes: Britton, Machado, Worley, Brach, Joseph
Here’s the latest from the Orioles’ FanFest event…
- Zach Britton and the Orioles haven’t been discussing an extension, though the ace closer tells MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli (Twitter link) and other reporters that there is mutual interest between the two sides on working out a new deal. Britton and the O’s avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $11.4MM contract for 2017, and Britton has one more arb year left before entering free agency.
- There also haven’t been any extension talks between Manny Machado and the O’s, the star third baseman told reporters, including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Machado reiterated that he hopes to remain with the Orioles and he understands if the club is focusing on other priorities right now rather than open talks. Needless to say, negotiating a Machado extension will be a major task given the huge amount of years and dollars (ten years and $300MM is a ballpark figure) it would take to prevent Machado from hitting free agency at age 26 following the 2018 season.
- The Orioles have made a contract offer to right-hander Vance Worley, executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette told reporters (including the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli). Worley was projected to earn $3.3MM in arbitration this winter and was non-tendered by the O’s last month. The righty posted a 3.53 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 48.1% grounder rate over 86 2/3 innings for Baltimore last season and has value as a long reliever and spot starter, even if the Orioles weren’t keen on meeting his projected price tag.
- Duquette also stated (to Eduardo A. Encina and other media) that the Orioles are planning to go to hearings to decide their three unsettled arbitration cases with Kevin Gausman, Brad Brach and Caleb Joseph. Brach and Joseph discussed their takes on the hearing process with MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, with Brach also talking about his name being mentioned in offseason trade rumors.
AL Notes: Napoli, Wieters, Lowrie, Rasmus
The Rangers‘ interest in first baseman Mike Napoli is real, but the pursuit hasn’t exactly been all-out, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. While there’s certainly a financial component to the current standoff, Wilson argues that the team’s mix of alternatives at first base and DH may also be an independent factor. It’s time the club finds out whether Ryan Rua, Jurickson Profar, and Joey Gallo can handle regular MLB roles, he suggests, and that may be holding the Rangers back from pushing to land Napoli.
Here’s more from the American League:
- While it seems as if the door is all but shut on a return of Matt Wieters to the Orioles, Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com wonders whether Baltimore ought to reconsider. If the price has fallen as far as it seems, Connolly reasons, Wieters would combine with Welington Castillo to form a strong backstop duo. Both could also spend some time at DH, perhaps along with a variety of other players that could rotate through that slot.
- It seems that the Athletics are set to utilize Jed Lowrie as their regular option at second, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter. Manager Bob Melvin says it’s Lowrie’s job so long as he’s healthy. Oakland has received positive indications on Lowrie’s recovery from foot surgery. The 32-year-old will also be looking to bounce back from a tepid year at the plate.
- The Rays haven’t yet announced the signing of outfielder Colby Rasmus, but that’s not due to any issues with his physical, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). It’s not immediately clear what the holdup is, though it could simply be that the team is waiting to sort out a roster move before making it official.
Braves Claim Adam Walker
The Braves have claimed outfielder Adam Walker off waivers from the Orioles, Baltimore announced. He’ll take the roster spot just vacated by catcher Tuffy Gosewisch, filling Atlanta’s 40-man.
Walker has moved around quite a bit already this winter. He started with the Twins, stopped off with the Brewers, and then landed in Baltimore before being designated for assignment.
[Related: Updated Atlanta Braves Depth Chart]
A free-swinging slugger, Walker belts plenty of long balls and also whiffs at an equally impressive rate. Over the past two years, he has been retired by strikeout in over one-third of his plate appearances. The 25-year-old ended with a .243/.305/.479 slash and 27 homers at Triple-A in 2016 and has launched a total of 58 homers in 265 games across the past two seasons.
The Braves’ outfield looks mostly full, with Matt Kemp, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis currently set to line up as starters. The Braves are lacking in options beyond that starting trio following the recent trade of Mallex Smith, so Walker could conceivably get a look in a reserve role. However, he’s limited to the outfield corners, and the Braves would likely prefer their fourth outfielder to be someone capable of stepping into center field.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/24/17
Here are the day’s notable minor moves, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted:
- The Angels announced today that right-hander Blake Parker has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster. Parker had been designated for assignment on Jan. 19 when the Halos claimed Juan Graterol off waivers. (Graterol has since already been lost on waivers to the Blue Jays.) Like Graterol, Parker has bounced around the league quite a bit this winter, moving from the Yankees, to the Angels, to the Brewers and back to the Angels. After losing his 40-man spot on four different occasions, Parker has cleared waivers. He’ll have the option to elect free agency but would also presumably be invited to big league camp with the Angels this spring. Last season, Parker tossed 17 1/3 innings with the Mariners and Yankees, logging a 4.67 ERA with a 15-to-9 K/BB ratio. The former Cubs righty has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors and owns a 3.87 ERA in 90 2/3 innings.
- The Orioles announced a list of non-roster invitations today, and while they’ve mostly been previously reported and noted here on MLBTR, their minor league pact with infielder/outfielder Alex Castellanos was a new announcement. Castellanos, 30, saw brief bits of action with the Dodgers in 2012-13 but hasn’t appeared in the Major since. While he’s struggled to a .171/.186/.390 batting line in his 43 big league PAs, Castellanos owns a career .292/.373/.517 line in parts of five Triple-A seasons. He has more than 2700 pro innings in right field plus another 1661 innings as a third baseman. He’s also logged 900+ innings at second base, 500+ innings in center and left as well as 155 innings at first base.
Earlier Updates
- Former big league righty Barry Enright is heading back to a MLB organization, taking a minors deal with the Padres, as Chris Jackson of MiLB.com reported on Twitter. Enright had been pitching for the Mexican League’s Tijuana Toros (and also spent time with the Hermosillo organization in 2015). He joined MLBTR’s podcast at the outset of that stint, and went on to turn in two productive seasons as a starter in Mexico. In 2016, Enright pitched to a 3.19 ERA with 5.2 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9 over 127 frames. Also signing on with San Diego, per Jackson, is outfielder Nick Buss. The 30-year-old appeared in 36 MLB games last year for the Angels, but hit just .198/.247/.346. He did have a productive year at Triple-A, however, slashing .290/.345/.462 in his 372 plate appearances.
- Right-hander Yohan Pino, who pitched most recently in Korea, will join the Twins on a minors deal. Pino, 33, didn’t perform well for the KT Wiz, coughing up 31 earned runs on 62 hits over his 39 innings. He has had greater success stateside, however. Pino spent time in the majors in 2014 and 2015 with the Twins and Royals, posting a 4.63 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in his 79 2/3 innings.
- The Diamondbacks have agreed to re-sign third baseman Carlos Rivero to a minor-league deal. Rivero, 28, spent all of 2016 at Arizona’s top affiliate, hitting .277/.316/.484 with 19 home runs over 446 plate appearances. Rivero represents a depth option at the hot corner. He has appeared in just four MLB games in his career; those came in 2014 with the Red Sox.
- Joining the Braves on a minors pact is outfielder Xavier Avery. The 27-year-old played with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016, slashing .248/.332/.363 over 347 plate appearances. He briefly cracked the majors back in 2012 with Baltimore, but hasn’t made his way back since.
AL East Notes: Orioles, Bautista, Yankees
The remaining offseason additions of the Orioles don’t figure to be too costly, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Kubatko again notes that GM Dan Duquette would like to add another left-handed-hitting outfielders with a good glove and some additional pitching depth before breaking down the Baltimore roster and a number of position battles for the final few spots on the 25-man roster. Rule 5 pick Anthony Santander is recovering from shoulder surgery and can be stashed on the DL early in the year, but fellow Rule 5 selection Aneury Tavarez could have a tough time making the roster. The door for a reunion with Vance Worley “remains open,” per Kubatko, and there are several in the organization that would advocate a return for right-hander Tommy Hunter as well. The Orioles possess a number of options for the final bench spot and the fringes of their pitching staff, and Kubatko’s column gives a nice, comprehensive overview as to how it could all shake out.
A few more notes from the American League East…
- Jose Bautista is a polarizing figure among MLB fans and his peers around the league (to say the least), but many of his Blue Jays teammates are ecstatic to see him return, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Marcus Stroman and Ryan Goins were among those to emphatically praise Bautista when speaking to Nicholson-Smith. Stroman, in particular, explained that Bautista is a critical resource for him when he’s studying opposing hitters and trying to determine how to keep them off balance. “He’s the first guy I go to because I feel like he has the best strike zone judgment out of anyone in the big leagues,” Stroman tells Nicholson-Smith. (Bautista’s 16.3 percent walk rate since 2011 trails only Joey Votto in all of Major League Baseball.)
- Meanwhile, Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling writes that agent Jay Alou said at Bautista’s press conference that his client had larger offers elsewhere, though he declined to get into specifics. Certainly, there could be some semantics at play, as it’s not difficult to see a two-year offer at a considerably lower annual value offering less appeal than the hefty $18.5MM guarantee to which Bautista agreed. It’s unclear what type of other offers Bautista received (and probably will remain so), but a rebound at the plate would position him nicely in advance of the 2017-18 offseason, even if he’ll be 37 this coming October. Bautista added that he’s open to playing first base for the Jays next year as well, and if he proves serviceable, that’d also go a long ways toward boosting his stock (and would also offer the Jays a means of enhancing their 2017 outfield defense).
- The Yankees‘ system is flooded with well-regarded shortstop prospects (led by Gleyber Torres), and with Didi Gregorius continuing to elevate his game in the Majors, that gives the team plenty of options, writes ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand. GM Brian Cashman tells Marchand that he doesn’t think Gregorius has reached his ceiling yet and should continue to improve. If that’s the case, it’d be hard to displace Gregorius even when Torres is ready for the Majors, though Cashman didn’t sound the least bit concerned about eventually having a potential logjam. “If you have the physical ability to project to play shortstop at the major league level, that also means you have the skill set to play second, third, typically center, left or right because of your speed and the arm,” said the GM. “So, first and foremost, it provides a great deal of creativity and flexibility that you can have with that athlete.”
- One player that could eventually be impacted by the glut of up-the-middle talent in the Yankees‘ farm is Starlin Castro, though he tells Newsday’s Steven Marcus that he “[doesn’t] really think about” the possibility of being displaced or even traded. Castro notes a parallel between the Yankees’ current situation and the end of his Cubs tenure. “That’s the second time it happened to me,” he said of the Yankees’ upcoming wave of talent. “That happened my last year with the Cubs. All the younger guys coming to the team. Here, the same thing.”
AL East Notes: Yankees, Sale, Red Sox, Orioles
Given their impressive contingent of young talent, the retooling Yankees likely could have put together a package to acquire ace Chris Sale, who’s now with archrival Boston after the rebuilding White Sox traded him for a prospect haul last month. Noting that “all of a sudden, you’re tearing down when you start to build up,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman unsurprisingly expressed an unwillingness to give up potential superstar catcher Gary Sanchez for Sale (via Randy Miller of NJ.com). Regarding auxiliary pieces, Cashman said, “Is it (a touted pitching prospect such as James) Kaprielian or Chance Adams or Justus Sheffield? It would probably be (Luis) Severino right now. So those are the two primers just to get the ball rolling with the other two players yet to be named to try to match up for Sale.”
Elsewhere around the American League East…
- The Orioles’ Zach Britton has been a premier closer since 2014, but he only developed into a lights-out reliever after a difficult run as a starter. In 48 appearances (46 starts) from 2011-13, Britton flashed his signature ground-ball ability (55.5 percent), though he otherwise underwhelmed with a 4.77 ERA and 5.94 K/9 against 3.92 BB/9 across 254 2/3 frames. Britton “had flashes of brilliance” as a starter, ex-Orioles pitching coach Dave Wallace told David Laurila of FanGraphs, but Wallace doesn’t believe the 29-year-old would have evolved into a high-end rotation piece had he stayed in that role. “He doesn’t have the… I wouldn’t say mentality, but the wherewithal to navigate,” observed Wallace. “When you’re a starting pitcher, and you give up a run — give up something — you have to maintain your composure and still make pitches, knowing you have quite a bit of the game to go. A lot of guys can’t do that, and he was one of those guys.”
- Although the Red Sox are making an effort to bolster their depth with minor league signings, they’re having trouble attracting players, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski explained to Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. “We keep trying to sign minor-league guys to contracts with big league invites,” Dombrowski said. “We haven’t been very productive. Not for a lack of trying, but guys are still at the point where, first of all, they’re looking for major league contracts if they can. You can see this past week, they finally started to click where, they were accepting some (minor league) invites. But they’re going to other clubs rather than ours, because they don’t like the chances of making our major league club as much at this time.” While Dombrowski “wouldn’t mind” picking up extra pitching and outfield depth, he’s content with his third base possibilities and is “hopeful” Pablo Sandoval will rebound from a forgettable two-year stretch.
- As of earlier this month, Baltimore general manager Dan Duquette hadn’t ruled out signing the top starting pitcher available in free agency, one-time Oriole Jason Hammel. That was before the club re-signed pricey slugger Mark Trumbo, though, meaning it’s now more likely to add a cheaper starter, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Baltimore remains interested in re-upping swingman Vance Worley, per Kubatko, who hears that the right-hander’s price will have to drop for a reunion to happen. The Orioles non-tendered Worley last month in lieu of paying the 29-year-old a projected $3.3MM via arbitration in 2017. Worley managed to prevent runs at a respectable clip with the O’s last season in spite of a subpar K/BB ratio (1.6, well below the 2.53 league-average mark), as he pitched to a 3.53 ERA over 86 2/3 innings and 35 appearances (four starts).
Latest On Matt Wieters’ Market
Matt Wieters is still looking for a new team, and the catcher is short one more potential landing spot now that Braves have agreed to sign Kurt Suzuki. Atlanta had long been cited as a candidate to sign Georgia Tech alum Wieters; just under 30% of MLBTR readers predicted the Braves as Wieters’ next team in a poll last month.
ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick explored the Wieters market in a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, 4), including the news that there is some sentiment within the Orioles organization to re-sign Wieters to a one-year deal. Under this arrangement, Wieters would split time with Welington Castillo behind the plate while also getting some at-bats as a DH. While Wieters is popular with Baltimore’s on-field staff, however, Crasnick describes the O’s as “a long shot” for Wieters since the team’s analytics staff has reservations.
Wieters would certainly be an upgrade over current backup catcher Caleb Joseph, and a one-year deal would give the Orioles future flexibility at catcher — Castillo has a player option for 2018 and top prospect Chance Sisco is close to being ready for the big leagues. Wieters would still carry a not-insignificant price tag even on a one-year contract, and the Orioles might not be keen to spend that much on the catcher position when Joseph is still in the fold at a low price and could rebound from his dismal 2016 season.
A timeshare-esque situation in Baltimore also wouldn’t necessarily help Wieters’ chances at scoring his sought-after multi-year contract next winter, so he could prefer a clearer path to playing time. An MLB source with knowledge of the catching market tells Crasnick that the Angels, Rockies and perhaps the Reds seem to be the best fits for Wieters on a one-year deal. The Angels have reportedly had some internal talks about Wieters already, while the Rockies could use a more established catcher in lieu of their planned Tony Wolters/Tom Murphy platoon.
The Reds are a new name in the mix, and their interest in Wieters or any other established catcher hinges on Devin Mesoraco‘s health. Mesoraco underwent hip surgery last summer and was scheduled to begin catching drills around this point in January, so more should be known about his injury situation in the next few weeks. Since signing a four-year, $28MM extension after the 2014 season, Mesoraco has barely been able to get onto the field, playing just 39 games total in 2015-16 due to shoulder surgery and procedures on both his left and right hips. Tucker Barnhart handled most of the work last year in Mesoraco’s absence, hitting .257/.323/.379 in 420 PA and posting strong blocking numbers according to Baseball Prospectus, though both BP and StatCorner rank Barnhart as a below-average pitch framer. Rule 5 pick Stuart Turner is the only other catcher on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster.
The Diamondbacks and Nationals have both been linked to Wieters at various times this winter, though Crasnick echoes other recent reports in saying that the Nats don’t seem to have much interest in Wieters. After Washington acquired Derek Norris, there were rumors that the Nationals could sign Wieters and then flip Norris, though one would think that the Nats could’ve just signed Wieters rather than trade for Norris in the first place. It doesn’t seem like D.C. is a fit at the moment, though “you can never rule out the Nationals with Scott Boras clients,” Crasnick writes.
Orioles Re-Sign Mark Trumbo
11:20am: Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports that Trumbo will earn $11MM per season on the deal, and he’ll also receive annual payments of $1.5MM from 2020-22 in the three years immediately following the completion of his contract.
10:05am: Mark Trumbo had a fairly lengthy saga in free agency, but he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The Orioles announced on Friday that they’ve re-signed the 2016 MLB home run leader to a new three-year contract that will reportedly guarantee him $37.5MM (with some deferred money). Trumbo, a Wasserman client, also reportedly picks up a partial no-trade clause that will allow him to block deals to seven clubs.
By signing Trumbo, the O’s will lose a chance to recoup a draft pick, as he had declined a qualifying offer from the team at the outset of the offseason. It’s hardly a surprise to see the sides link up for a return, as Baltimore has long been seen as the most aggressive suitor for Trumbo, who just turned 31. Though earlier talks did not progress, Trumbo never seemingly gained much traction with other organizations, likely due to a market filled with power bats and to the rejected qualifying offer.
Baltimore acquired Trumbo last offseason from the Mariners in a deal that worked out excellently for the O’s. He ultimately provided the club with 667 plate appearances of .256/.316/.533 hitting and an MLB-best 47 home runs.
Though that represented a notable step forward in terms of the number of long balls that Trumbo launched — he was a 30-homer threat earlier in his career but had hit just 36 over the past two seasons — his overall output mostly fit within his career norms. Trumbo has long delivered well-above-average pop combined with anemic on-base numbers (.303 lifetime). In 2016, he struck out in 25.5 of his plate appearances while walking 7.6% of the time, right at his career norms.
In the aggregate, Trumbo is more an above-average offensive producer than a true force in the lineup. But there’s no doubt he’s a quality major league hitter, at least so long as he is able to continue squaring up enough balls to post .200+ isolated slugging marks.
The question, though, is just where Trumbo can play in the field. He has consistently rated as one of the game’s worst corner outfielders, no longer plays third, and is blocked at first in Baltimore by fellow slugger Chris Davis. With Hyun Soo Kim and Seth Smith providing left-handed-hitting options for the O’s, though, perhaps Trumbo will only be exposed to the outfield when southpaws take the hill for the opposition. If that’s the team’s approach, then Trumbo will presumably take most of his plate appearances in the DH slot.
Trumbo’s defensive limitations no doubt played a role in the relatively underwhelming interest he seemingly received on the open market. It also surely mattered that several other major power bats were (and are) floating around. Jose Bautista only just signed, receiving less than most expected. Chris Carter was non-tendered by the Brewers despite popping 41 homers in 2016, and is a rather comparable hitter to Trumbo. He has yet to sign; neither have Brandon Moss, Pedro Alvarez, Adam Lind, and Ryan Howard, all of whom hit at least twenty long balls in their most recent seasons.
Though he’ll ultimately fall a fair sight shy of the four-year, $60MM deal that MLBTR predicted, we did note that his limitations as a player and the presence of the qualifying offer could drive his market downward. That’s just what happened here. While Trumbo reportedly turned down more money earlier in the winter from the O’s — reports have variously suggested that the team made a three or four-year offer of around $14MM per season — it’s not clear that he ever had a chance to make substantially more than he’ll end up with.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports was the first to report that the two sides had resumed negotiations and were nearing a deal. He also tweeted that a deal was “all but done,” and Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweeted that an agreement had been reached, pending a physical. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link) and Heyman (Twitter link) reported the terms of the agreement. Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM reported that Trumbo received a partial no-trade clause (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Orioles Designate Adam Walker For Assignment
The Orioles announced that they’ve designated minor league outfielder Adam Walker for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Mark Trumbo, whose new three-year deal to return to Baltimore is now official.
This marks the third DFA of the offseason for the powerful Walker, a longtime Twins farmhand who has bounced from Minnesota to Milwaukee to Baltimore. The former third-round pick is known for his massive power and alarming penchant for strikeouts. Though Walker has homered 58 times across the past two minor league seasons, he also punched out at a 38 percent clip in Triple-A this past season and struck out in 34.6 percent of his plate appearances in Double-A a year prior. Walker is still just 25 years of age, so there’s certainly time for him to make some adjustments, but it seems likely that strikeouts will always be an issue for him. Walker is limited to the outfield corners (though some have speculated on a move to first base) and batted .243/.305/.479 with 27 homers in his first run at Triple-A in 2016.
Orioles Notes: Britton, Mancini, Outfield
Orioles closer Zach Britton said again yesterday that he’s interested in working out a long-term deal with Baltimore, tweets MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Britton stated that he hopes to spend his “whole career” in an Orioles uniform. Of course, any long-term commitment to Britton figures to come at a staggering cost for the O’s. The 29-year-old has morphed into one of the best relievers in baseball, and arguably the single best reliever the game has to offer. Over the past three seasons, Britton has a comical 1.38 ERA with 9.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and an MLB-leading 77.9 percent ground-ball rate. He’s set a new Major League record for single-season ground-ball rate in each of the past two campaigns, including an unthinkable 80 percent mark in 2016. Both Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman landed $80MM+ contracts this winter, and one has to imagine that Britton could challenge those figures in free agency following the 2018 season, barring any sort of collapse. And, with an $11.4MM salary already agreed upon for the 2017 season, it’s not as if he hasn’t already earned quite a bit of financial security.
A few more notes on the Orioles…
- Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com takes a look at first base prospect Trey Mancini‘s future with the O’s now that Mark Trumbo has agreed to a new three-year deal. As Connolly writes, Mancini isn’t considered an outfielder, so he’s not likely to platoon with trade acquisition Seth Smith in right field. However, the Orioles still could add another outfielder to upgrade the team’s defense (and possibly platoon with Smith), which would likely cost Mancini his roster spot and send him back to Triple-A. Connolly argues against trading Mancini, noting that he’ll turn 25 in March and has yet to have a dominant season in Triple-A. Connolly suggests that while Mancini isn’t considered a top-tier prospect league-wide, some additional time to prove he’s mastered Triple-A pitching could bolster his value. A bench role is theoretically possible for Mancini, but as the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli observes, with a backup catcher (likely Caleb Joseph), outfielder Joey Rickard and infielder Ryan Flaherty all occupying spots, there’s only one place left, and the O’s may not be done adding pieces.
- GM Dan Duquette would still like a left-handed-hitting outfielder with a trustworthy glove, writes Kubtako, which keeps the Orioles alive as a possibility for someone like Michael Bourn (or, as Connolly suggests above, Angel Pagan). However, any new addition would be limited to a reserve role, as Adam Jones is entrenched in center while Smith and fellow lefty Hyun Soo Kim figure to get looks in the outfield against right-handed pitching. Kubatko notes that the Trumbo addition should put to rest any chance of the Orioles re-signing Pedro Alvarez or of the team serving as a landing spot for Chris Carter — another right-handed slugger to whom the O’s have been linked throughout the winter. Kubatko also adds that the Orioles aren’t going to move Chris Davis to right field, despite the fact that his glove there is passable, as his defense is considered too much of an asset at first base.