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AL East Notes: Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tulo, Rays, Drury

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With J.D. Martinez heading to Boston, the Red Sox are facing somewhat of a roster crunch, writes Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston. It is not, however, at first base as many have suggested. Manager Alex Cora suggested Tuesday that he views Hanley Ramirez as his No. 3 hitter and primary first baseman, even though the team re-upped Mitch Moreland on a two-year deal this winter. As Drellich points out, though, each of Moreland, Ramirez and Martinez have dealt with injury issues in recent years, so Moreland still figures to get his share of at-bats.

Rather, Drellich observes, the bigger crunch will be on the bench. Sandy Leon is the favorite to serve as the backup catcher, and one of Moreland or Ramirez will be on the bench most days. The Sox have two out-of-options players in Deven Marrero and Blake Swihart that are current bench options, but they also have Brock Holt who agreed to a $2.2MM arbitration salary earlier this winter. That deal, like the vast majority of arb deals, is non-guaranteed, but Holt’s versatility has been valuable for the Sox in recent seasons and he seems unlikely to be cut loose. Holt does have minor league options remaining, though obviously paying him to play in Triple-A is suboptimal as well.

A bit more on the Sox and their division…

  • The Red Sox are unlikely to trade Jackie Bradley after signing J.D. Martinez this week, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. That’s not much of a surprise, as Bradley’s name hasn’t come up on the rumor circuit much in recent months, and the trio of Bradley, Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts should be among the best defensive outfield units in all of baseball.
  • The Blue Jays are still seeking upgrades after last week’s signing of lefty Jaime Garcia to round out the rotation, and GM Ross Atkins suggested to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet that there’s a strong likelihood that they’ll make a move before Opening Day (Twitter links). Atkins somewhat candidly said he felt there’s about a 90 percent chance the Jays have another addition in store, citing a reliever as the likeliest pickup. Notably, Atkins added that improving at backup catcher, where light-hitting Luke Maile projects as the reserve behind Russell Martin, “is less likely at this point.”
  • Troy Tulowitzki is making progress from last year’s ankle injury, which included torn ligaments in his foot as well as a compression factor, writes Nicholson-Smith in a full column. However, he has yet to begin running this spring. Tulowitzki’s goal is to be ready for Opening Day, though the 33-year-old veteran said he’s not putting any timelines on his recovery and won’t risk a setback by pushing himself too far. He fielded grounders thrown to him by the coaching staff today, though the drills “weren’t designed to test his range too much” just yet, per Nicholson-Smith. Even if Tulo isn’t ready for Opening Day, the Blue Jays are much better prepared from a depth vantage point up the middle, where they’ll have offseason trade acquisitions Yangervis Solarte and Aledmys Diaz backing up Tulowitzki and Devon Travis.
  • Following the trade of Jake Odorizzi to the Twins, the Rays plan to use a four-man rotation of Chris Archer, Nathan Eovaldi, Jake Faria and Blake Snell for the first six weeks of the season or so, manager Kevin Cash tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The increased amount of off-days in the schedule this year due to the season’s earlier start will allow the club to use fifth starter Matt Andriese as a multi-inning reliever. The Rays, unsurprisingly, plan to keep top prospects like Brent Honeywell in the minors to begin the season, which will allow them to gain extra control and avoid Super Two status for arbitration purposes.
  • The most likely scenario for the Yankees and newly acquired Brandon Drury is that Drury opens the season as the team’s starting third baseman, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. That’d allow the Yankees to go with either Ronald Torreyes or veteran Danny Espinosa at second base and avoid rushing prospects Miguel Andujar or Gleyber Torres early in the season. Interestingly, despite the fact that Torres missed half the 2017 season with Tommy John surgery (in his non-throwing arm), the Yankees view Torres as closer to the Majors, per Sherman. Andujar is nearly two years older than Torres and has twice the Triple-A experience, though neither has even appeared in 60 games at the top minor league level yet.

Pirates Acquire Bryce Brentz

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The Pirates have acquired outfielder Bryce Brentz from the Red Sox, according to an announcement from the Boston organization. Cash considerations will make up the return.

Brentz, 29, is a former first-round pick who has seen only minimal MLB action in his professional career. He seemed unlikely to hold down a roster spot through camp with the Red Sox working to finalize a deal with free agent J.D. Martinez. In all likelihood, Brentz’s 40-man spot will go to Martinez.

As a right-handed-hitting corner outfielder, Brentz will have to hit quite a bit to stick in the majors. He did manage just that feat last year at Triple-A, posting a .271/.334/.529 slash with 31 long balls over 494 plate appearances at Pawtucket, and showed well again in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

Brentz, who is out of options, will presumably now get a shot at impressing the Pittsburgh brass in camp. He’ll join a group of candidates trying to claim a share of the corner outfield mix, including Daniel Nava, Jordan Luplow, Jason Martin, and Todd Cunningham as well as top Bucs’ prospect Austin Meadows.

Red Sox, J.D. Martinez Nearing Deal

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The free-agent dam is slowly beginning to break, as Eric Hosmer, Andrew Cashner, Jason Vargas and Tony Watson have all agreed to multi-year deals in the past five days, while Eduardo Nunez, Jaime Garcia and Chris Tillman have all come off the board on one-year pacts. J.D. Martinez, though, remains available as the top bat on the market despite a lack of obvious suitors for his services outside of the Red Sox and D-backs. Here’s the latest chatter on the slugger…

  • Drellich tweets that he, too, hears a deal between the Sox and Martinez is near, adding that Dombrowski would not comment on the matter.. Piecoro tweets that the D-backs are also under the impression that Martinez is going to the Red Sox, and they’ll need to find a replacement for him.
  • The Red Sox and Martinez are now “moving close to a deal,” tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. There’s nothing finalized yet, he adds, noting that details on the pact remain unclear at this time.

Earlier Updates

  • Martinez and the Red Sox are still negotiating as of this afternoon, reports Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston. Chairman Tom Werner deferred questions on the matter to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, Drellich writes, noting only that, “Obviously, there’s no news,” at this time. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, meanwhile, tweets that the door for a deal between Boston and Martinez remains open but adds that the team’s interest isn’t going to be indefinite. The Red Sox, according to Abraham, are “prepared to move on entirely or to another player” if they reach the point where they feel there’s no compromise possible with Martinez. Logan Morrison has been reported to be a possible fallback option for the Red Sox if they move on or if Martinez signs elsewhere.
  • “I don’t think we’re done by any means right now,” D-backs CEO Derrick Hall told reporters on Monday (via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Hall said he’d be “surprised” if his team’s roster didn’t change before Opening Day, noting that GM Mike Hazen is looking both at free agency and the trade market. Hall said he entered the offseason hopeful of having an “outside chance” at retaining Martinez — a nod to an expected level of demand for his bat that never seems to have fully materialized. The D-backs’ new television deal, increased revenue from a playoff season and the $50MM BAMTech payout are all cited by Hall as reasons that ownership has taken the 2018 payroll to new heights. It’s not clear based on his comments, though, how strongly he believes Martinez can be fit into the mix. Hall did cite a history of getting “creative” when it comes to retaining/acquiring players about whom they feel strongly. “It’s time to finalize that roster one way or the other, if we are going to improve, which I believe we are,” said Hall.

Red Sox Re-Sign Eduardo Nunez, Designate Ben Taylor

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Veteran infielder Eduardo Nunez is headed back to the Red Sox, the team announced Sunday. Nunez has agreed to a one-year deal with a player option — essentially, then, a two-year guaranteed contract with opt-out — and will reportedly be guaranteed $8MM on the deal. Right-hander Ben Taylor was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, per the team.

Eduardo Nunez

The 30-year-old Nunez will be guaranteed $4MM in each season of the deal and can reportedly boost his 2019 base salary by $250K for each of his 250th, 300th, 350th and 400th plate appearance in 2018. He can further boost his 2019 salary by $250K by reaching each of those plate-appearance-based incentives again in the 2019 campaign. The 2019 player option comes with a $2MM buyout, so Nunez can earn up to $6MM this season if he re-enters the market next winter.

Nunez has long been mentioned as a target for the Sox, who could use the depth in the infield and are especially interested in finding a fill-in for the still-recovering Dustin Pedroia. While there’s some optimism that the team’s long-time second baseman won’t miss an extended period to open the year, he has been banged up a fair amount in recent seasons. Plus, the organization is also preparing to rely on the relatively unproven (but plenty talented) Rafael Devers at third.

Though Nunez has spent most of his career elsewhere, he made an impression during his stint in Boston after arriving in a trade deadline swap from the Giants. Nunez posted a robust .321/.353/.539 batting line with eight home runs in 173 plate appearances after the deal.

Unfortunately, Nunez was limited by a knee injury that ended up requiring a lengthy rehab period. Indications are, though, that he’s back to full strength as Spring Training gets underway.

Clearly, nobody will expect Nunez to continue producing like a middle-of-the-order slugger. But he has unquestionably raised expectations for the offensive side of his game after a tepid showing to start his career. Since the beginning of the 2015 season, Nunez owns a strong .296/.332/.443 slash.

The other elements of Nunez’s game are worth noting, too. He has also swiped 72 bags over the past three seasons and generally grades as a quality baserunner. And while he has never graded as a particularly good defender, he is capable of palatable handling of any infield position and has also spent some time in the corner outfield.

In his new deal with the Sox, then, Nunez can reliably be asked to handle second base early in the season while Pedroia is on the shelf before then returning to a utility role. That’s of additional importance given the yet-unproven presence of Devers at the hot corner; while the former top prospect impressed in his half-season debut in 2017, he’s yet to log a full season in the Majors and did cool after a hot start to his career. Nunez gives the Sox a plenty serviceable option at third base, should the need ever present itself.

The 26-year-old Taylor, meanwhile, was a seventh-round pick of the Red Sox in 2015. He saw his first major league action last season and tossed 17 1/3 innings of 5.19 ERA, notching 9.35 K/9, 4.67 BB/9 and a paltry 26.4 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Taylor was more successful in his Triple-A debut in 2017, albeit over an even smaller sample (13 1/3 frames), as he worked to a 2.70 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.38 BB/9 and a 45.5 percent grounder mark.

 An earlier version of this post mistakenly suggested that Nunez had undergone surgery on his knee.

MLB.com’s Ian Browne first reported that there was momentum toward a deal (via Twitter). Robert Murray of Fan Rag reported the agreement (also via Twitter). Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reported the structure of the deal and the incentives breakdown (Twitter links). FanRag’s Jon Heyman reported the specifics on his yearly salaries and opt out (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL East Notes: Tillman, Jays, Stroman, Betts

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Free-agent righty Chris Tillman is weighing offers and preparing to make a decision in short order, according to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun. The Orioles are joined by the Twins and two other organizations in the picture for Tillman’s services, per the report, which also suggests that Tillman is willing to take an incentive-laden contract as he looks to return to form after a miserable 2017 season. With the Minnesota organization also said to be involved on some other hurlers, its ongoing involvement is especially interesting to note — though it’s also fair to wonder whether the team’s reported agreement with another bounceback candidate (Anibal Sanchez) will dampen its interest. We’ve seen real movement on the starting pitching market of late; with Tillman also seemingly nearing a deal, it’ll be interesting to see whether the same holds for some other free agents.

Here’s more from the AL East:

  • The Blue Jays are still in the market for pitching after signing Jaime Garcia, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports (Twitter links). With the rotation set, though, the club is now looking at the bullpen, with GM Ross Atkins saying there are still some funds available to work with. Interestingly, per Atkins, the team does not seemingly intend to use Joe Biagini in a relief role. Instead, the provisional plan seems to be for him to work as a starter through camp and remain stretched out when the season opens, even if that means working at Triple-A.
  • Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman may not have enjoyed his arbitration experience, but that doesn’t mean he’s unhappy with the organization. As Nicholson-Smith writes, Stroman expressed today a keen interest in pursuing a long-term deal. Saying he loves everything about playing for Canada’s team, Stroman indicated that he’s “hoping to have talks soon” with the front office. It’s not immediately clear how likely it is that the 26-year-old will find common ground with the organization, but clearly he’s open to the idea. As a 3+ service-class pitcher who turned in a top-quality 2017 effort, Stroman could conceivably look to last winter’s Carlos Martinez contract as a comp.
  • The feeling is a bit different for Red Sox star Mookie Betts. Per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, via Twitter, Betts says he does not intend to discuss a contract between now and the end of the season. There’s no lingering discord over his own arbitration hearing, in which he came away with $3MM more than the team wanted to pay him. Still, Betts says he won’t consider a lengthier deal until 2018 is in the books — though indications are he might be willing to talk at that time. Of course, a big season could leave the 25-year-old with ample leverage. He’s already slated to earn $10.5MM for the coming season, setting him up for massive potential total arbitration earnings.

Andrew Benintendi Hires Excel Sports Management

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Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi has hired Excel Sports Management to represent him, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). Benintendi had been represented by Jason Wood before troubling allegations arose recently as to the agent’s conduct.

Benintendi, 23, was taken seventh overall in the 2015 draft and has handsomely rewarded the Sox to this point in his career. After an impressive debut effort late in 2016, he opened the 2017 campaign on the Opening Day roster and held down a regular job all season long.

After turning in 658 plate appearances of .271/.352/.424 hitting, with an even twenty long balls, Benintendi earned a second-place finish in the American League Rookie of the Year vote. He also grades as a quality defender — he’s considered capable of handling center, though he has mostly played in left thus far in Boston — and swiped twenty bags in 2017.

Benintendi remains two full seasons removed from his first potential trip through arbitration eligibility. Of course, it’s also conceivable that he could be approached at some point about the possibility of a longer-term arrangement, though it has been quite some time since the Red Sox have reached an extension with a pre-arb player. As MLBTR’s Extension Tracker shows, the last such deal was struck with Clay Buchholz back in 2011. For a position player, you have to go back to the team’s 2008 pact with Dustin Pedroia.

As always, you can keep up with the latest representation information with MLBTR’s Agency Database.

Quick Hits: Peavy, Orioles, Healy, Dombrowski

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Jake Peavy is planning to return to baseball, and is aiming to throw in a scouting showcase around May 1, Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller writes.  The timing of the showcase is due to his son Jacob’s school schedule, an example of how Peavy’s family life took priority over his career last year in the wake of a tumultuous 2016.  Peavy dealt with the dual stresses of a divorce and losing $15MM-$20MM of his money to a financial advisor who faced a lawsuit from the the Securities and Exchange Commission for misappropriating funds from Peavy and other clients.  Peavy stepped away from the game in 2017 to deal with both matters and spend time with his four children, and he is now ready to attempt a comeback to wrap up his career on a happier note.

Here’s more from around baseball….

  • Now that the Orioles have avoided arbitration with Kevin Gausman, the team has settled all its offseason arbitration business, allowing Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun to calculate how much the O’s may have left to spend this offseason.  With roughly $121.2MM now on the books for 2018, the Orioles have over $43MM in available payroll space assuming they’re willing to spend as much as they did last season.  That, of course, is no given, since the team hasn’t gotten much in return from recent big expenditures, and have now gained some financial relief now that some big contracts (i.e. Ubaldo Jimenez, J.J. Hardy, Chris Tillman, Wade Miley) have expired.  Still, the O’s have some major needs that need to be addressed, most notably in the starting rotation.
  • Newly-acquired Mariners first baseman Ryon Healy has been bothered by an offseason hand injury and received further tests today, manager Scott Servais told the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other media.  The seriousness of the injury isn’t yet known, though rather the problem’s rather uncertain nature is certainly a concern to an M’s team that was positioning Healy as its first baseman of the future.  Dan Vogelbach and Mike Ford are internal options at the position, plus several free agent options are available if Healy was sidelined for a significant amount of time.
  • The Red Sox are continuing to monitor the market for outfielders, as Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne and NBCSports.com’s Evan Drellich), and they haven’t given any type of deadline to J.D. Martinez or other free agents for signing with the team.  Dombrowski admitted that the team intended to have more lineup options in place by this point (“From a positional player perspective, no, that wasn’t, per se, our plan“) but noted that even a normal offseason is hard to predict, and this winter’s free agent freeze has made things particularly unusual.  The lack of free agent activity has led to more trade talks, Dombrowski said, as teams are trying to prepare themselves if and when any of these free agents eventually come off the board.

Free Agent Rumors: Moustakas, Lincecum, Ichiro, Melky, Marlins

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The Yankees have kept an eye on free-agent third baseman Mike Moustakas, writes Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, though he also cites people close to the team in characterizing an ultimate match between the two sides as a long shot. The Yankees would only have interest on a short-term deal and are concerned both with the financial implications and the draft forfeitures that would come with signing Moustakas. It’s not at all clear what type of market exists for Moustakas at present, as few contending clubs are looking for upgrades at third base, and rebuilding clubs generally figure to be strongly against surrendering draft picks to plug Moustakas into a lineup that doesn’t expect to contend anyhow.

Some more notes on the open market…

  • More than 10 teams are set to attend Tim Lincecum’s showcase on Thursday, it seems. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com respectively report that the Tigers, Twins and Orioles will have scouts in attendance (all Twitter links). Heyman adds another handful of clubs, listing the Rangers, Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Brewers, Padres and Braves as attendees (links to Twitter for the last three), in addition to the previously reported Giants. If anything, it’s perhaps more notable which clubs have elected not to attend the showcase, as there’s no real downside to at least taking a look and the showcase is shaping up to be reasonably well-attended. To that end, the New York Post’s Kevin Kernan wrote over the weekend that the Mets aren’t planning to have a scout in attendance.
  • There was evidently some chatter in Japan that the Rockies have interest in Ichiro Suzuki, but it seems to have been misplaced, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. Ichiro is hoping to latch on with a big league club for a 17th Major League season, but interest has been scarce this offseason. He’s reported to have interest from teams back in Nippon Professional Baseball, so it’s possible that he’ll continue his legendary career even if he doesn’t land with a Major League organization.
  • The Marlins have spoken to both Melky Cabrera and Jon Jay as they look for some additional outfield certainty, tweets Craig Mish of SiriusXM. Cabrera, though, has told teams that he’s seeking a two-year contract, according to Mish, whereas the Marlins would only have interest in him at one year. It’s not the first time the Fish have been connected to either outfielder, though there’s been little to suggest to this point that Cabrera has been seeking multiple years. The 33-year-old switch-hitter logged a solid, if unspectacular .285/.324/.423 slash with 17 homers in 666 plate appearances last season, but he’s received dismal grades from defensive metrics in recent years and is no longer much of a threat on the basepaths.

J.D. Martinez Rumors: Tuesday

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As spring camps begin to open around the league, J.D. Martinez is among the prominent free agents who is still trying to work out his next contract. It has long been supposed that he and the Red Sox have been engaged in a staredown, with the team sitting on a five-year, $125MM offer and Martinez’s camp searching for more.

The latest reports indicate that is not quite an accurate picture …

  • The Red Sox’ current top offer to Martinez is “in the vicinity” of only $100MM, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. That’s quite a lot less than has generally been stated, and certainly paints a different picture of the present state of affairs for the market’s top slugger. While the Sox are still smitten with Martinez, Speier writes, the organization is also not particularly interested in running up its bid when demand from other teams is questionable. The article discusses the broader opportunity that Boston may have on a still-dragging market, given its willingness to move past the luxury tax line in a winter where others are declining to do so.
  • Of course, demand can have a way of forming to fill vacuums, and Martinez and his reps at the Boras Corporation are no doubt hoping that’ll occur over the coming weeks. The Diamondbacks are, notably, still working on creative means of bringing Martinez back into the fold, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. That could mean broaching the idea of a shorter deal with a big annual salary and opt-out opportunities, Heyman suggests, though the details of any offers to this point remain hazy. Such a pact might ameliorate concerns with locking into another massive, long-term entanglement, though it’d cut down on the upside for the team and would no doubt still require a big jump in payroll (or further creativity in the form of shedding other contracts). Whatever the details, though, Heyman says there’s some added optimism on the Arizona side that the team could have a real shot at pulling off a surprise deal.

Giants Negotiating With Tony Watson; Phillies & Red Sox Also In Mix

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11:33am: San Francisco isn’t the only team in the mix, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, who tweets that the Phillies, Red Sox, and unstated other teams are also still involved.

10:20am: The Giants are engaged in “serious contract talks” with southpaw reliever Tony Watson, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports (via Twitter). It is not clear at this time what sort of contractual terms the sides are contemplating, but Watson is clearly the best lefty pen piece still unsigned at this stage.

This is certainly an interesting bit of news, due largely to San Francisco’s closely watched effort to improve while staying shy of the competitive balance tax line. Recent tabulations have suggested the team is only $2MM or so beneath the $197MM threshold at present, leaving little room for a player of Watson’s anticipated price.

If the Giants were to accept the luxury tax for the 2018 season, it’s at least fair to wonder whether they’d plan to go further over the line to add other players. On the other hand, part of the team’s strategy could be to engineer a mid-season sell-off to get back below the line if things don’t go quite as hoped.

As things stand, the Giants’ depth chart features Steven Okert as the top southpaw on hand. Josh Osich and D.J. Snelten also represent 40-man options, with recent minor-league signee Derek Holland perhaps also factoring in the mix if he cannot earn a rotation slot. San Francisco will ultimately hope for a bounce back from Will Smith, who is looking to return from a Tommy John procedure that was performed just before the start of the 2017 season, but clearly there’s some room for improvement.

Entering the winter, Watson was tabbed as the 44th-best free agent in MLBTR’s ranking of the top 50 open-market players. We guessed the 32-year-old could command $12MM in total guaranteed money over two years. While he has plenty of general late-inning experience, our assessment was that he’d be pursued (and paid) more as a quality lefty specialist. Watson, after all, has long been much more effective against opposing lefties.

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