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Quick Hits: Cubs, Breslow, Orioles, Hitting Coaches, Guardians, Tito

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In an article at The Athletic, Sahadev Sharma makes five predictions for the 2022 Cubs, including one that Craig Breslow will emerge as a candidate for a future team president role. Breslow retired from pitching and joined the Cubs’ front office prior to the 2019 season as director of strategic initiatives and was promoted to assistant general manager after the 2020 campaign. Sharma points out that Breslow is from the same area of Connecticut as Mets’ owner Steve Cohen, which could have made him a nice fit for the lengthy front office search the Mets’ underwent in recent months, which concluded with the hiring of Billy Eppler as general manager. However, the Mets never actually reached out to Breslow, according to Sharma.

Some other notes from around the league…

  • The Orioles announced in November that they would be hiring two co-hitting coaches, Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller. Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun profiled both of them this week to discuss their respective journeys. Borgschulte spent some time at Southeast Missouri State, where he worked with Dillon Lawson. The two will now be division rivals in the MLB, as Lawson recently became the Yankees hitting coach. During their time there, the school’s program developed a reputation as being at the forefront of using technology to improve pitch recognition using occlusion training, “where video of a pitch is cut off after around 20 feet, forcing a hitter to use that early portion of the ball flight to decide what type of pitch it is and whether to swing,” as Meoli describes it. Fuller, meanwhile, has been largely focused on biomechanics and swing planes. He was hired by the Orioles prior to the 2020 season with the aim of being the hitting coach in Low-A. However, after the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues that year, he ended up at the Orioles’ alternate site, working with players who were on the cusp of the majors. Successful showings from players like Cedric Mullins, DJ Stewart, Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays helped Fuller’s approach take hold in the organization, leading to his new position working with the big league club. The ability to maximize the potential of their young hitters figures to be an important detail for the Orioles in the coming years. The club has had five straight losing seasons and is firmly in the basement of the AL East, with their four division mates having each won at least 91 games in 2021. However, their rebuilding process has led to stockpiling young talent, with Baseball America placing them second only to the Mariners in their most recent Organization Talent Rankings. Turning those prospects into productive major leaguers will be key to helping the club climb out of the AL East basement.
  •  Terry Francona stepped away from his managing duties for health reasons in July but seems to be on the path to return to the dugout to helm the Guardians in 2022. He recently spoke with Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe and provided some more details about his situation. “I had my hip replaced in August. That was a piece of cake. Four weeks later, they went in and redid my toe,” Francona said. “They put a rod in, two pieces of bone and eight screws. Technically, I’m still on crutches, but I haven’t been using my crutches for a while. I’m in a boot.” Tito then goes on to detail how he’s been managing this multitude of injuries since chasing down a fly ball as a 22-year-old and has since had over 40 surgeries in the subsequent 40 years.  “Twelve on each knee. That’s the majority,” he said. “I’ve had my toe done twice. Both hips. Both shoulders twice. Left elbow. Hernia. Neck. Back. Disk surgery. I’ve had four or five surgeries on my wrist and fingers, but they are just little ones. I don’t count those. Then I had the blood clot procedures. The last surgery, they put two stents in my legs and one in my stomach and I have better circulation now than I have in a long time.” Despite all of that, Tito played parts of 10 seasons as a player and has now managed parts of 21 seasons. And if all continues according to plan, he should be back for a 22nd.

Read The Transcript Of Our Chat With MLB Catcher Caleb Joseph

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Caleb Joseph is a seven-year MLB veteran catcher and current free agent.  He’s played in the Majors for the Orioles, Diamondbacks, and Blue Jays.  This year, he had minor league deals with the Mets and Mariners – the latter of which he attributes in part to an MLBTR post on his availability!

Drafted by the Orioles in the seventh round in 2008 out of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Caleb got the call to the Majors in 2014 when Matt Wieters went on the shelf.  His first big league hit would come several days later in the form of a single against the Tigers’ Drew Smyly.  Caleb has smoked 32 home runs in his big league career.

From 2014-18, Joseph was by far the Orioles’ leader in innings behind the dish.  He served as the Orioles’ starting catcher in three playoff games in 2014, including in the ALCS against the Royals.  In his 2014 rookie season, Joseph led all qualified AL catchers by throwing out 40.4% of attempted base-stealers.

Caleb hosted a live chat today with MLBTR readers.  He was generous with his time and gave tons of insightful and hilarious answers.  Check out the transcript here, and give him a follow on Twitter @YYZBackstop.

Aside from Caleb, we’ve held live chats recently with Chad Cordero, Dan Straily, and Christian Colon.  The player gets to decide which questions are published and answered, and all four have enjoyed the experience.  If you’re a current or former MLB player who’d like to chat with our readers, send us an email through our contact form or have your agent reach out to Tim Dierkes.

Orioles Notes: Bullpen, Catcher, Mancini

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As expected, it has been another fairly quiet offseason in Baltimore to this point. The Orioles have made a pair of low-cost big league deals, signing infielder Rougned Odor for the league minimum salary and agreeing to terms on a $7MM guarantee with starter Jordan Lyles. (The Lyles deal was agreed to in the waning hours before the lockout and wasn’t made official prior to the transactions freeze, but it’s expected to be finalized whenever the lockout ends).

The O’s are entering year four of what has been a massive rebuild. The big league roster is still a ways worse than the rest of those in the loaded American League East, and it never seemed likely Baltimore would make a major splash this winter. That said, there’s plenty of room for general manager Mike Elias and his staff to continue to make smaller additions in the Odor/Lyles mold — both to make the team more respectable and perhaps stumble upon a midseason trade chip if things break well.

Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes that Baltimore is likely to add at least one reliever to the big league club whenever transactions are again permitted. That could take the form of a free agent signee or the selection of a bullpen arm in the big league portion of the Rule 5 draft, which is expected to take place after the lockout.

There’s not a ton of sense for the rebuilding Orioles in signing a big-name closer like Kenley Jansen, yet the free agent market still offers plenty of lower-cost middle relief or reclamation candidates who may be of interest. It’s fairly common to see teams also take fliers on relievers in the Rule 5 draft. Baltimore added two bullpen arms — Mac Sceroler and Tyler Wells — in last year’s Rule 5. Sceroler didn’t stick with the O’s, but Wells looks likely to have a spot in the 2022 ’pen after tossing 57 innings of 4.11 ERA ball with a strong 29% strikeout rate as a rookie.

In addition to the search for bullpen help, Kubatko suggests the O’s are likely to continue to pursue catching depth. The O’s don’t have a single backstop on their 40-man roster. Top prospect Adley Rutschman figures to be in the majors relatively early next season, and he’d no doubt get the lion’s share of playing time whenever the organization brings him up. Yet the O’s will at least need somebody to back up Rutschman, and it’s possible they start their top farmhand in Triple-A (perhaps past the threshold for the 23-year-old to accrue a full year of MLB service).

If Rutschman returns to the Orioles’ top affiliate in Norfolk to open the season, they’ll need to select two other backstops to the big league roster. They’ve already signed Jacob Nottingham and Anthony Bemboom to minor league deals, and Kubatko writes that they’re hoping to add another backstop to the high levels of the system, either via minors pact or the Rule 5. Players who didn’t finish the season on a 40-man roster or MLB injured list are permitted to sign non-roster deals during the lockout, so it’s possible the Orioles bolster their catching depth even prior to the signing of a new CBA.

Even as they add around the margins, the Orioles seem open to offers on virtually anyone on the roster. Reports from earlier in the offseason indicated the O’s were willing to take calls on both star center fielder Cedric Mullins and top starter John Means, and Kubatko writes there’s still a “slim possibility” they move first baseman/DH Trey Mancini. Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball wrote last week that there’s not yet been any progress on a potential extension for Mancini, who’s entering his final year of arbitration control.

It’s an inopportune time for the Orioles to make a deal involving Mancini, though. The 29-year-old (30 in March) missed all of 2020 battling colon cancer. His return to the field this past season was heartwarming, and his advancement to the final round of the Home Run Derby made for one of the sport’s best stories. Trading Mancini would be a tough blow to a significant portion of the organization and fanbase.

He’s also simply a difficult player for rival clubs to value. Mancini played in 147 games and tallied 616 plate appearances, impressive durability considering what’d he had to endure the year prior. His .255/.326/.432 slash line was a rather significant step back from 2019’s .291/.364/.535 mark though. It’s certainly understandable his production might suffer in the wake of a battle with cancer, and Mancini’s shown himself capable of putting up far better numbers in the past. It’s arguable the O’s may be better suited holding onto him into 2022 in the hope that he bounces back to peak form over the first few months. That’d allow the front office more time to determine whether to pursue a long-term deal or attempt to move Mancini in advance of next summer’s trade deadline.

Orioles Notes: Gonzalez, Coaching Staff, Analytics

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The Orioles officially announced their 2022 coaching staff earlier this week, which included newly hired hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller.  There weren’t any other new faces, but a pair of returning coaches will be shifting to new roles, including Jose Hernandez moving from assistant hitting coach to the broader role of Major League coach.

Fredi Gonzalez had been working as the club’s Major League coach for the last two seasons, and he will now move into the role of bench coach to manager Brandon Hyde.  As MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko explains, this amounts to little more than a title change for Gonzalez, as “he pretty much handled the responsibilities” of a bench coach in his previous role.  The former Marlins and Braves manager will now officially step in as Hyde’s chief lieutenant, and Gonzalez would also manage the O’s in the event that Hyde is ejected from a game.

Several other organizational changes were also announced, Kubatko details, with the Orioles making some new hirings and re-arranging some internal personnel.  The staffing changes address such departments as draft operations, strength and conditioning, and development analysts at both the MLB and minor league levels.

Baltimore’s analytics staff is also the subject of a recent interview between The Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli and Orioles VP and assistant GM Sig Mejdal, who oversees the department.  Mejdal and Orioles GM Mike Elias previously worked together with the Astros, and after Elias was hired to run the O’s front office in November 2018, Mejdal was almost immediately hired away from Houston and tasked with essentially building an analytics department from scratch.

Three-plus years later, Mejdal said the department has grown from a single employee to a dozen, with plans for more hirings and interns to join the staff this offseason.  Meoli’s piece is an insightful look at what Mejdal has already achieved in Baltimore and how he is constantly looking to refine the analytics process, particularly when it comes to disseminating and adjusting the statistical info to best fit the needs of the players and coaches.  This isn’t to say that the human element is being overlooked whatsoever, as Mejdal noted that “analytics are so well-spread that often the differentiators are the humans in the loop.  The importance we put on the coaches, the managers, the scouts is greater now than I’ve ever seen in baseball.”

Orioles Sign Anthony Bemboom To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles have signed catcher Anthony Bemboom to a minor league contract, the team informed reporters (including Dan Connolly of the Athletic). Bemboom was eligible to sign a minors pact during the lockout because he’d been passed through outright waivers by the Dodgers midseason and elected minor league free agency at the end of the year.

The 31-year-old backstop has appeared briefly in each of the last three MLB seasons, tallying 144 cumulative plate appearances between the Rays and Angels. He’s a .178/.241/.287 hitter with four home runs in that time. The left-handed hitter owns a more solid .250/.347/.398 line over parts of five seasons at Triple-A.

Bemboom adds some much-needed depth to the top of the Orioles’ farm system. Baltimore doesn’t have a single backstop on the 40-man roster. Top prospect Adley Rutschman looks likely to get the bulk of playing time next season after hitting his way up through Triple-A. It’s possible Rutschman begins the 2022 season back in Norfolk, particularly if service time continues to be relevant in determining a player’s free agency trajectory in the next collective bargaining agreement. Even were Rutschman to break camp, the O’s would need at least one 40-man addition to serve as a backup. Baltimore also added Jacob Nottingham on a minor league pact last week.

Roland Hemond Passes Away

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Longtime major league executive Roland Hemond passed away last night at age 92, the league announced. Hemond served as a big league general manager for more than two decades between 1970 and 1995, leading the White Sox’s and Orioles’ baseball operations departments over that time.

“Roland Hemond was one of the most respected executives that our game has ever known,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “He served the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles as general manager, was a staple of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ front office throughout their history, and also worked for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, the California Angels, the Commissioner’s Office and USA Baseball during his exemplary career.  Roland was a pivotal figure in the formation and growth of the Arizona Fall League.  Most importantly, he mentored countless people in our sport and found ways to make our game stronger.  Roland Hemond was a great gentleman whose contributions to our National Pastime will never be forgotten.”

In addition to his time in Chicago and Baltimore, Hemond worked in various scouting and advisory capacities throughout his career. He began his front office time with the Braves in 1951, collecting a World Series ring five years later for his role as the team’s assistant scouting director. He held that role in Milwaukee (where the Braves played from 1953-66) through 1960, then spent the next decade as the Angels’ scouting director.

By 1970, Hemond was leading the charge with the White Sox, a stint that partially overlapped with Tony La Russa’s first run as Chicago manager. His clubs won one division title over that stretch, a 1983 season that saw Chicago win 99 games but drop a four-game AL Championship Series against the Orioles. In 1986, Hemond made the jump to the commissioner’s office, a position he held for a bit more than a year before taking over baseball ops in Baltimore.

Hemond ran the O’s from 1988-95. Baltimore didn’t make a postseason appearance during Hemond’s tenure, but a few players whom his front office group had acquired (i.e. Rafael Palmeiro, Brady Anderson and Mike Mussina) played key roles on the ’96 squad that went to the ALCS. Hemond spent 1996-2000 as an executive with the D-Backs, then spent the better part of the next two decades in advisory capacities with the White Sox and Arizona before retiring in 2017.

In 2011, the Baseball Hall of Fame presented Hemond with the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s one of five all time honorees (joining O’Neil himself, Joe Garagiola, Rachel Robinson and David Montgomery). Hemond was twice named the league’s Executive of the Year, winning the award in 1972 and 1989. Unsurprisingly, given his decades of experience in high-level front office positions, Hemond had personal ties to many key front office execs and coaches who continue to hold influence today — including La Russa and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who got his start in professional baseball with the White Sox during Hemond’s tenure as Chicago GM.

MLBTR joins countless others around the game in expressing our condolences to Hemond’s family, friends and loved ones.

Orioles Sign Five International Free Agents

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  • The Orioles signed five pitchers to minor league deals, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Bryan Bautista, 17, Raynel Duran, 18, Wilton Rondon, 19, Darwin Caballero, 21, and Noelin Cuevas, 19, will start the 2022 season in the Orioles’ organization. The Orioles continue to be one of the most pitching-needy organizations in the game, so while adding a handful of minor league free agents hardly qualifies as a game-changer, it’s a positive data point nonetheless. These five were all international free agents who will join the lowest level of Baltimore’s system, notes Kubatko.

Orioles Sign Jacob Nottingham To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles have signed catcher Jacob Nottingham to a minor league deal, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Nottingham spent some of 2021 in the big leagues with the Brewers and Mariners but was outrighted in June, thus making him eligible to sign a minor league deal during the ongoing lockout.

Although it’s a minor league deal, it’s noteworthy for the Orioles given their catching situation. They don’t currently have any catchers on their 40-man roster. In 2021, most of the time behind the dish went to Pedro Severino, who was outrighted at the end of the season and has since signed with the Brewers. Chance Sisco got some playing time in the first half of the year but was claimed on waivers by the Mets in June. Austin Wynns and Nick Ciuffo, who were also in the mix, were both outrighted off the roster at the end of the season.

The club has the consensus top prospect in baseball, Adley Rutschman, set to debut at some point in 2022 after he finished this year in Triple-A. However, they will need some other catching options on hand to cover the position until his call-up, or to act as backup to Rutschman later in the year. That means Nottingham has a decent path to some playing time in the big leagues next year.

Nottingham, 26, was selected by the Astros in the sixth round of the 2013 draft. In 2015, he was shipped to the Athletics as part of the trade that sent Scott Kazmir to Houston. A few months later, Oakland sent him to Milwaukee as part of the Khris Davis deal. He made his MLB debut in 2018 and spent three years as a frequently-optioned depth catcher, appearing in 38 total games over the 2018-2020 campaigns.

2021 saw Nottingham be the centerpiece of a game of hot potato between the Brewers and Mariners. Having exhausted his option years, he was designated for assignment by the Brewers in April. He was claimed by the Mariners and then designated for assignment again a few days later. Seattle traded him back to Milwaukee, who designated him yet again after less than two weeks. He was claimed by the Mariners a second time and then, just over week later, designated yet again. In the middle of June, he finally cleared waivers and was outrighted.

Over the past four seasons, Nottingham has only gotten into 53 games at the big league level, hitting eight home runs and slashing .184/.277/.421 in that time, with a strikeout rate of 38.5%. In 2021, amidst all that traveling, he got 45 plate appearances over 15 games. He hit three homers and slashed .150/.222/.400, with a strikeout rate of 44.4% in that tiny sample size.

Orioles To Sign Jordan Lyles

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The Orioles are in agreement with right-hander Jordan Lyles on a one-year, $7MM guarantee with a 2023 club option, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). The deal is pending a physical, which is expected to take place after the work stoppage.  Lyles is represented by Ballengee Group.

If the Lyles deal is completed, it will mark the Orioles’ largest free agent expenditure since Mike Elias was hired as Executive Vice President and General Manager three years ago.  Elias’ previous largest free agency outlay had been a $3MM deal for Jose Iglesias.  Adding veteran Major League talent has not been a priority during Elias’ rebuild.  In 2022, Lyles and Trey Mancini figure to be the only Orioles to be paid as much as $7MM.  The Orioles have run a bottom-four payroll for the entirety of Elias’ tenure.

Drafted 38th overall by the Astros out of a South Carolina high school in 2008, Lyles peaked as a top 50 prospect prior to the 2011 season – around the time Elias moved from the Cardinals to the Astros with fellow executive Jeff Luhnow.  Luhnow ended up trading Lyles to the Rockies for Dexter Fowler in 2013.

Lyles, 31, posted a 5.15 ERA, 19 K%, 7.3 BB%, and 37.6% groundball rate in 180 innings for the Rangers this year.  There wasn’t much to like about Lyles’ season other than his taking the ball 30 times, which is a big need for an Orioles rotation with no reliable members after John Means.  After a decent 2019 season for the Pirates and Brewers, the Rangers gave Lyles a two-year, $16MM contract.  The righty struggled throughout his time in Texas.

Given that lack of success, Lyles’ contract is a bit higher than you might expect.  Perhaps that’s the cost of luring a pitcher to one of the game’s worst teams.  Lyles received more than Rich Hill or Dylan Bundy ($5MM), the same as Michael Wacha, and only $1MM less than Corey Kluber.  If the contract is completed, he’ll join Means and perhaps Bruce Zimmermann in the rotation with a cast of pitchers competing for remaining spots – unless Means is traded post-lockout.  Prize prospects Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall should debut at some point during 2022, having both reached Double-A in ’21.

Outrights: Scrubb, de Geus, Martin, Anderson

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As a busy evening of contract tendering (and non-tendering) draws to a close, some players find themselves in a new position of being outrighted off their team’s 40-man roster. The following players cleared waivers and remain with one of their organization’s minor league affiliates:

  • Right-handed Astros reliever Andre Scrubb has been outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land. Scrubb posted a shiny 1.90 ERA across 23 innings last season despite a huge 19.6% walk rate. His ERA regressed to 5.03 in a similar sample size of 19 innings, while his home run rate ballooned to nearly double the league average.
  • Arizona infielder Andrew Young and right-handed pitcher Brett de Geus  are ticketed for Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno, respectively. Young demonstrated strong power numbers in limited action but struck out an untenable 43.3% of the time. The 24-year-old de Geus was a Rule 5 pick who was thrown into the fire by both the Rangers and Diamondbacks this season, but will return to the minors for additional seasoning after recently being designated for assignment.
  • Baltimore shortstop Richie Martin is headed to Triple-A Norfolk following a sub-replacement level season as an Oriole. The 26-year-old Martin has shown some offensive prowess at Double-A in the past, but for now he’ll look to establish himself as a plus hitter at Triple-A for the first time.
  • Blue Jays right-hander Shaun Anderson is on his way to Triple-A Buffalo after a busy season that saw him pitch for three big league teams, only to be claimed by Toronto in mid-November. Anderson didn’t have much go right in his 23 innings this year, but has consistently been capable of 3-something ERAs in the minor leagues as a starter or reliever.
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