Minor MLB Transactions: 12/21/18
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Phillies have a host of new additions to the team’s list of MLB Spring Training participants. In addition to a few we’ve already featured here at MLBTR, the Philadelphia club has announced the signings of southpaw Jeremy Bleich, backstop Rob Brantly, righty Josh Martin, utilityman Matt McBride, and infielder Gregorio Petit. Every one of these players has seen MLB time except for Martin, who’ll be looking for his first crack at the bigs after compiling a seven-season minor-league stat line with the Indians organization that features a 3.33 ERA and 9.2 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.
- Likewise, the Padres have announced a haul of camp competitors. Allen Craig will come back for another go, as will Alex Dickerson. Otherwise, southpaws Ryan Bollinger and Dietrich Enns have inked with the San Diego org, along with righty Tyler Higgins. On the position-player side, infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Aderlin Rodriguez are joined by outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo. It’s the opposite situation from the one just discussed above, as all of the new additions excepting Enns — who’s compiled two MLB appearances — have yet to crack the majors.
- A handful of new free agents are heading to the Rangers, too, per a club announcement. Lefty Jack Leathersich has seen action in a pair of MLB campaigns, but won’t get a camp invite. Fellow southpaw Miguel Del Pozo, righties, Ariel Hernandez and Phillips Valdez, and infielder Nolan Fontana will open their tenure in Texas on the MLB side of Spring Training. Hernandez and Fontana each have minimal experience in the bigs. Valdez worked to a 2.73 ERA in 135 upper-minors innings with the Nationals organization last year, with 6.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9; Del Pozo has averaged ten strikeouts per nine in his minor-league career.
- The Red Sox have added another hurler on a minor-league pact, this time picking up righty Ryan Weber, per Michael Mayer of Metsmerizedonline.com (via Twitter). Now 28 years of age, Weber has thrown 73 2/3 innings of 5.01 ERA ball over the past four years, though the vast majority of those came in 2015 and 2016. He was rather effective last year at Triple-A in a swingman capacity, spinning 115 1/3 innings of 2.73 ERA ball with 6.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9.
Red Sox, Heath Hembree Avoid Arbitration
The Red Sox have avoided arbitration with right-handed reliever Heath Hembree, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. He’ll take home a $1,312,500 salary that checks in north of the $1.2MM projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Hembree is represented by the Ballengee Group.
Hembree, 30 next month, pitched to a 4.20 ERA with 11.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 1.50 HR/9 and a 39.4 percent ground-ball rate in 60 innings of relief. He also tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the postseason, albeit with five walks against three strikeouts in that time.
The 2018 season was Hembree’s least-effective year since establishing himself as a regular in the Boston bullpen, though his cumulative body of work over the past three seasons has been solid. In 173 innings he’s logged a 3.54 ERA and averaged 10 strikeouts and 3.2 walks per nine innings pitched. Hembree has taken on an increasingly high-leverage role over the years as well, tallying a career-high 20 holds this past season.
Hembree will return to a Boston bullpen that has already lost Joe Kelly and could very well lose fellow free agent Craig Kimbrel this offseason as well. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski still has a fair share of heavy lifting to do this offseason as he looks to piece the relief corps back together. At present, Hembree is slated to join Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, Brandon Workman and Brian Johnson in bullpen.
Relief Market Rumors: Kimbrel, Robertson, Britton, Smith, Watson, Giants
Though Craig Kimbrel was at one point said to be seeking a six-year contract worth as much as $100MM, Fancred’s Jon Heyman writes in his latest notes column that the asking price on Kimbrel has come down a bit. Kimbrel’s camp, however, is still eyeing a contract along the lines of the $86MM and $80MM contracts signed by Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen two offseasons ago. Given Kimbrel’s track record of elite performance, it’s not exactly surprising to see him aiming for a potentially record-setting deal, though it’s important to note that both Chapman and Jansen were younger than Kimbrel when signing those deals more than two years ago. Kimbrel is only three months younger than Chapman and eight months younger than Jansen, which will likely make it difficult for him to secure a contract of that length and total guarantee. The market for Kimbrel remains somewhat undefined, though the Red Sox have some degree of interest in retaining him; Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets that Boston is waiting to see what happens with Kimbrel before taking action on the relief market. Heyman, however, notes that the current asking price is still deemed too high by the Red Sox front office.
Some other notes on the market for relievers…
- Heyman notes that the Red Sox also have interest in David Robertson, though their preference would be to limit a Robertson signing to two years, while the veteran righty is believed to be aiming for a three-year pact. Robertson, 34 in April, is representing himself in free agency this winter and has been connected to both the Dodgers and Mets in recent weeks. Robertson, who has split his career between the Yankees and White Sox, has pitched at least 60 innings and made at least 60 appearances in each of the past nine seasons and is fresh off a 3.23 ERA with 11.8 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 69 2/3 innings in 2018.
- With Andrew Miller reportedly on the verge of a contract with the Cardinals, Matt Gelb of The Athletic tweets that the Phillies‘ search for a left-handed reliever in free agency could be down to “Zach Britton or bust,” noting that Britton has numerous teams with serious interest in his services. The Phils were in on both Miller and Britton, with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury reporting last week that the team was “strongly” in the mix for Miller. Britton is, of course, quite familiar to Phillies brass, as president Andy MacPhail, GM Matt Klentak and assistant GM Ned Rice were all in the Orioles’ front office when Britton was drafted and developed. The trade market could certainly present alternatives, though there’s no one with the track record of either Miller or Britton known to be available.
- Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets that Miller’s impending deal with the Cardinals will have ramifications for the Giants as well. San Francisco has been waiting for Miller, Britton and others to sign before marketing their own left-handed relievers (i.e. Will Smith, Tony Watson). There are numerous hopeful contenders in need of left-handed relief help, and both Smith and Watson are coming off strong 2018 showings. Smith, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.1MM in 2019, will be a free agent again next offseason. Watson, meanwhile, is signed to a guaranteed $3.5MM salary for the 2019 season and is owed at least a $500K buyout on a player option for the 2020 season. Of course, if Watson replicates his excellent 2018 production, he’ll surely turn down that option in favor of a return to free agency. And, if he struggles through a poor season or is injured, he’ll quite likely take that option for the 2020 campaign.
Red Sox, Erasmo Ramirez Nearing Minor League Deal
The Red Sox are nearing a minor league agreement with right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, per Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (Twitter link). If the deal is completed, the ISE Baseball client would head to Major League Spring Training and compete for a spot on Boston’s 2019 staff.
Ramirez, 28, should be a familiar name for Red Sox fans after spending parts of three seasons with the Rays and pitching to a combined 3.98 ERA in 323 1/3 innings with the Tampa Bay organization. Unfortunately for the right-hander, the 2018 campaign was effectively a nightmare. Shoulder troubles limited Ramirez to just 45 2/3 innings of work, and he was woefully ineffective in that time.
Ramirez, pitching in his second stint with the Mariners organization this past season, posted a 6.50 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, a staggering 2.76 HR/9 and a 39.6 percent ground-ball rate. The effects of the injury on Ramirez were evident when looking at his velocity; after sitting at 91.6 mph with his heater a year prior, his average fastball in 2018 checked in at just 89.8 mph. Those red flags prompted the Mariners to outright Ramirez rather than retain him through arbitration. He’d been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn a $4.4MM salary in his final trip through that process.
Certainly, the Red Sox will hope for a healthier version of Ramirez — the version who proved adept as both a starter and a multi-inning reliever prior to the 2018 season during a separate stint with the Mariners and a two-and-a-half year run in Tampa. From 2015-17, Ramirez logged a solid 3.97 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 1.21 HR/9 and a 47.3 percent grounder rate. Both his 10.3 percent swinging-strike rate and 32.9 percent opponents’ chase rate were solid marks that underscore his ability to keep hitters off balance when he’s at his best.
While the Sox won’t be counting on Ramirez for anything unless he proves capable of a show of faith in Spring Training, he can serve as a long option in the ‘pen or a depth piece in the rotation beyond Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez. Ramirez is just shy of six years of MLB service, so if he makes the roster, he’ll be a one-year option before reentering free agency next offseason.
Troy Tulowitzki Hosts Workout For MLB Clubs
At least 11 teams were on hand to watch Troy Tulowitzki work out earlier today, reports Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. The Giants, Angels, Red Sox, Cubs, Padres, White Sox, Orioles, Yankees, Phillies, Tigers and Pirates were all represented at the showcase, Brown reports (as were other, unnamed teams), with some clubs even sending their top executives to get a first-hand look at the former Rockies star. Angels GM Billy Eppler was in attendance, per Brown, as were new Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi and manager Bruce Bochy.
Since being released by the Blue Jays last week — with two years and $38MM remaining on his contract — Tulowitzki has been separately connected to a handful of teams including the Pirates, the Yankees, the Cubs and the Giants. His agent, Paul Cohen, recently told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that Tulowitzki is open to playing second base or third base with a new team. Brown, notably, writes that the biggest appeal for Tulowitzki will be the promise of regular at-bats at one positions (as opposed to moving between those three spots in a utility role).
It doesn’t seem as though there’s any early favorite to add Tulowitzki, who’ll cost his new team only the Major League minimum of $555K next season. (Toronto is on the hook for the remainder of his salary.) At that price, it’s justifiable for virtually any team to take a look at Tulowitzki and see if he can rediscover some of the form that once made him one of the game’s premier players. While few would expect him to return to his 2013-14 levels of output, that type of performance is hardly necessary from someone whose new team will pay him the league minimum. Tulowitzki’s bat was at least league-average in both 2015 and 2016, so if he’s healthy there’s plenty of reason to believe he can at least be fairly productive at the dish. How he adjusts defensively after undergoing surgery on both heels last year could be a more pressing question — particularly if he’s also adjusting to a new position after spending his entire pro career at shortstop.
Red Sox, Zach Putnam Agree To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Zach Putnam, tweets MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The right-hander missed the 2018 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Putnam, 31, was a regular in the White Sox’ bullpen from 2014-17 before going down with an arm injury that ultimately led to Tommy John surgery. Prior to that procedure, though, Putnam turned in 139 1/3 innings with a 2.71 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate. Putnam never lit up the radar gun, sitting at 90.4 mph with his fastball over that four-year stretch on the South Side, but he nonetheless posted a gaudy 16.1 percent swinging-strike rate in that time as well. Beyond that, Putnam excelled in terms of limiting hard contact, as evidenced by a 27.2 percent opponents’ hard-hit rate that ranked well below the league average.
Putnam joins the Red Sox organization with four-plus years of service time and will surpass the five-year mark if he logs any meaningful big league time in 2019. That means that if he’s able to return to the Majors and find success, the Red Sox will be able to control him through the 2020 season via the arbitration process.
Free Agent Rumors: Harrison, Kimbrel, Norris, Angels
The Nationals have had a pair of “brief” meetings with Josh Harrison‘s representatives at MSM Sports, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. While there’s mutual interest, Dougherty reports that Harrison’s camp is also looking “closely” at other landing spots as well. Whether that’s due to what the Nats would be willing to offer, how they’d plan to use Harrison or another factor remains to be seen. The Nats have some uncertainty at second base, where Wilmer Difo and Howie Kendrick (who missed most of 2018 due to a ruptured Achilles) currently sit atop the depth chart. Top prospect Carter Kieboom may not be far from the big leagues, but adding a stable short-term option still makes plenty of sense for Washington. The Nats have been connected to Harrison several times over the past couple of weeks, but the versatile 31-year-old surely has other teams interested in his services. He’s been tied to the Yankees and Reds at various points this winter.
A few more notes on the free-agent market…
- Craig Kimbrel‘s lofty asking price — a reported six years and $100MM — and the lack of big-market clubs currently willing to spend on a late-inning reliever could present the right-hander with a difficult market this winter, Buster Olney of ESPN.com writes. Olney likens the situation to last year’s tepid market for J.D. Martinez — a similarly elite player for his position (designated hitter) who lingered on the open market until landing in Boston in late February — a match that long seemed inevitable. The Red Sox may be the best bet for Kimbrel, too, Olney opines, especially given the plethora of more affordable options for smaller and mid-market clubs to pursue even if they do want to bolster the back end of their bullpens.
- The Marlins are one of several teams that has reached out to free-agent right-hander Bud Norris, tweets Craig Mish of SiriusXM. Miami has thinned out its bullpen this offseason by trading Kyle Barraclough (to Washington), and there’s a definitive lack of experienced arms at the back end of the organization’s bullpen. At present, Drew Steckenrider is the presumptive favorite to close games for skipper Don Mattingly, although the right-hander struggled down the stretch in 2019. Even as the Marlins rebuild the organization, there’s still an obvious opportunity to add some low-cost bullpen options to help take the stress off younger arms and, potentially, to be traded for further minor league talent down the line. The 33-year-old Norris has a 3.91 ERA with 10.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and 47 saves over the past two seasons — the most recent of which was spent with the Cardinals.
- The Angels‘ best offer to J.A. Happ topped out at two years and a total of $28MM, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). That checks in $6MM shy of the two-year total that Happ received to return to the Yankees, so it’s hardly surprising that Happ opted for the familiarity of an organization he already knew and a greater guarantee. Both offers contained vesting options, Fletcher notes. With Happ, Patrick Corbin, Nathan Eovaldi, Charlie Morton and Lance Lynn all off the board, the Halos have begun to see some of their free-agent options dwindle. Dallas Keuchel and Yusei Kikuchi are the top two starters from MLBTR’s Top 50 free agent list remaining, though as can be seen in our Free Agent Tracker, there are plenty of available options beyond that pairing. And, of course, the trade market will offer various options for the Angels, whose rejuvenated farm system should appeal to many clubs with pitching to spare.
Red Sox, Nationals Only Two Teams To Exceed 2018 Luxury Tax Threshold
TODAY: The final totals are in, as The Associated Press reports that the Red Sox will owe $11,951,091 in luxury tax payments, while the Nationals owe $2,386,097. Boston will also lose ten spots in draft position, dropping from its original 33rd overall spot in the first round.
NOVEMBER 4: As was widely expected, the Red Sox and Nationals were the only two clubs who exceeded the $197MM luxury tax threshold this season, as MLB.com’s Jon Morosi confirmed (Twitter link) earlier this week. The exact figures aren’t known, though as per the luxury tax calculations on Cot’s Baseball Contracts, Boston surpassed the threshold by slightly beyond $40.85MM, while Washington was just under $6.3MM beyond the tax line. As a reminder, a team’s normal payroll is just pure dollars spent on player salaries in a season, whereas the payroll as calculated for Competitive Balance Tax purposes consists of the average annual value of player contracts, bonuses, and other expenses.
This is the second straight year that the Nats passed the luxury tax threshold, so their tax bill will consist of 30 percent of every dollar spent in overage (so around $1.89MM). After exceeding the threshold in 2015 and 2016, the Red Sox ducked under the CBT line in the 2017-18 offseason to “reset their clock,” so they’ll be taxed at the first-timer rate of 20 percent of every dollar spent in overage. By Cot’s numbers, however, the Red Sox surpassed the threshold by more than $40MM, so they’ll face a 62.5 percent surcharge on the overage.
This would work out to roughly $25.53MM in luxury tax payments and, perhaps more importantly, Boston’s top pick in next year’s amateur draft (currently the 33rd overall selection) would drop by 10 spots. Since the Sox are so close to that $40MM figure, it’s possible there could be some other calculation or unknown payroll factor that got the club under the $237MM mark — we won’t know for certain about the draft pick or the final Competitive Balance Tax bill until the league makes an official announcement. Had Boston stayed within the $20MM-$40MM range for payroll overage, they would have faced only a 12 percent extra in tax on top of their 20 percent first-timer percentage, putting them on the hook for approximately $12.672MM in luxury tax payments.
The Giants were right up against the $197MM line seemingly all season long, though by Cot’s calculations, they squeaked under the threshold by less than $1.6MM, thus avoiding their fourth straight year of tax payments. San Francisco was very careful in trying to stay under the $197MM payroll line after a busy offseason, as the team made a pure salary dump of a trade with the Rangers in July to unload Austin Jackson and Cory Gearrin‘s contracts, and also traded Andrew McCutchen to the Yankees on August 31 once they were fully out of contention.
The Competitive Balance Tax was a major subplot of the 2017-18 offseason, as one of the reasons behind the unprecedented lack of free agent activity was the fact that big spenders like the Giants, Yankees, and Dodgers all kept their spending in check (at least by their standards) in an effort to stay under the threshold. For New York, this marks the first time since the luxury tax system was instituted in 2003 that the team will avoid making payments — the Yankees paid a whopping $319.6MM in total luxury tax payments from 2003-17. The Dodgers have exceeded the threshold every season since 2013, as the Guggenheim Baseball Management ownership group made an initial big spending splash to bring the club back into relevance, though the Dodgers always stressed that they would eventually take a more measured approach to payroll.
The expectation was that, once these teams reset their spending clocks, it would open the floodgates for increased spending in a 2018-19 free agent market that has two players (Bryce Harper, Manny Machado) in line for record-setting contracts. Those two superstars plus many other available big names like Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, Yasmani Grandal, Craig Kimbrel, Josh Donaldson, Nathan Eovaldi, and many others makes this winter a particularly important time to have as much salary flexibility as possible.
Any team who exceeds the luxury tax threshold in three or more consecutive years must pay a 50 percent tax on the overage, so getting under the line carries some noteworthy savings. Plus, as per the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that came into play for the 2017 season, a team that surpasses the $40MM overage figure (as it appears Boston has done) faces as much as a 90 percent tax on the overage, plus that 10-slot drop for their top pick in the amateur draft.
Those stiffer penalties surely also contributed to the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants’ decisions, though it should be noted that the actual dollars paid in tax penalties aren’t overly pricey for such wealthy franchises. While big spending is certainly no guarantee of success on the field, it usually does provide some level of competitive advantage — for instance, nobody in Boston’s organization is sweating that tax payment in the wake of a World Series championship, no matter if the final bill ends up at $12.672MM or $25.53MM. (Even dropping from the 33rd to the 43rd overall pick is a pretty light penalty.) As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes has written in the past, some “large market teams are treating the CBT thresholds as lines they absolutely cannot cross,” perhaps as an overall excuse to curb spending. Only eight teams total have ever made tax payments, with two of those clubs — the 2004 Angels and 2016 Cubs — doing so only once. Teams will have even more room to spend in 2019, as the luxury tax threshold is jumping up to $206MM.
In paying the tax in 2018, the Red Sox and Nationals will each face added penalties for pursuing free agents who were issued qualifying offers, and will receive limited compensation if their own QO free agent (Kimbrel for the Sox, Harper for the Nats) leaves. If Boston or Washington signs a player who rejected the QO from his former team, the Sox/Nats would have to give up $1MM in international signing bonus pool money as well as their second-highest and fifth-highest picks in next year’s draft. Should Kimbrel and Harper reject their qualifying offers and sign elsewhere, the Sox and Nationals would only receive a compensatory pick after the fourth round of the draft.
AL News & Rumors: Dipoto, Yanks, A. Miller, Sonny, A’s, Lucroy, BoSox
We checked in on the American League earlier Thursday evening. Here’s even more from the Junior Circuit:
- Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto pulled off his latest blockbuster trade Thursday, though he did it from a hospital bed. It turns out Dipoto was dealing with “severe chest pains” stemming from blood clots in his lungs, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. Fortunately, Dipoto was released from a Las Vegas-area hospital Thursday afternoon and cleared to fly back to Seattle. “It was pretty scary and quite painful stuff,” Dipoto told Johns via text. “I’m thankful to know there’s an issue while we can manage it.” MLBTR joins those around the game in wishing the always entertaining Dipoto a speedy recovery.
- Along with the previously reported Adam Ottavino, the Yankees met with free-agent reliever Andrew Miller‘s camp during the Winter Meetings, according to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. In his previous trip to free agency, back in 2014, Miller signed with the Yankees on a four-year, $36MM contract. Miller then proceeded to dominate out of New York’s bullpen until the team traded him to Cleveland in July 2016. While Miller continued to post elite production through 2017, he looked like a mere mortal last season during an injury-shortened campaign. Still, MLBTR expects the 33-year-old to pull in another lofty payday this winter. Perhaps he’ll return to his old stomping grounds in the Bronx to get it.
- The Athletics and free-agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy “appear to be at a salary impasse,” Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Lucroy spent last season in Oakland after inking a one-year, $6.5MM deal in mid-March, and though the former star drew rave reviews from his teammates, he didn’t acquit himself well statistically. The 32-year-old batted a career-worst .241/.291/.325 (70 wRC+) in 454 plate appearances and, among hitters with at least 450 PAs, recorded the majors’ fifth-lowest ISO (.084). The once-marvelous defender also struggled behind the plate.
- Turning to the Athletics’ pursuit of rotation help, Slusser hears that they’re “bottom feeders” on the pitching market, though she points out that they’re known for exercising patience and finding diamonds in the rough. The team’s not averse to doling out multiyear deals for free-agent pitchers, per GM David Forst. On the trade front, Slusser casts doubt on a potential Sonny Gray-Athletics reunion, reporting that the Yankees’ asking price for him is currently too lofty for the A’s liking.
- Reliever Joe Kelly agreed to a three-year, $25MM deal with the Dodgers on Thursday, but his previous employer in Boston didn’t make a particularly competitive offer to retain him, Rob Bradford of WEEI suggests. Not only did the Red Sox only propose a two-year contract, but the average annual value likely didn’t match what the Dodgers will give Kelly, according to Bradford. That jibes with a previous report suggesting the Red Sox are waiting for relievers’ prices to drop before committing to anyone.
AL Notes: A’s, Tulo, Lowrie, Astros, BoSox, O’s
The latest on a few American League clubs…
- The Athletics have come up as a speculative fit for free-agent shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, but the two sides haven’t spoken to this point, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. If signed, Tulowitzki could be a factor at the keystone for Oakland, which may see starting second baseman Jed Lowrie depart in free agency. As of now, it appears “unlikely” the Athletics will re-sign Lowrie, Jane Lee of MLB.com writes. Lowrie would be a tough loss for the A’s, considering he was one of the majors’ most valuable second basemen from 2017-18.
- Meanwhile, despite potentially losing Tony Sipp in free agency, the division-rival Astros aren’t likely to shop at the top of the market for left-handed relievers, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (subscription required). Rather, the Astros seem “comfortable” with a pair of in-house southpaws – Framber Valdez and Cionel Perez – as well as a cast of righty relievers who are capable of getting lefty hitters out. It’s not clear whether Brad Peacock will remain among that group of righties in 2019, though, as Kaplan relays that he’ll enter spring training as a starter. Peacock made 21 starts two years ago, but that number plummeted to one in 2018, when he came out of the Astros’ bullpen 60 times.
- The Red Sox lost Joe Kelly to the Dodgers in free agency and are also in danger of bidding adieu to Craig Kimbrel, but it doesn’t seem they’re urgently searching for relief help. Instead, the reigning World Series champions are planning to “wait out” the market until a reliever falls to them for a palatable cost, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reports. That makes it seem even less likely they’ll re-sign Kimbrel, whose reported asking price is exorbitant, though Drellich hasn’t closed the door on the two sides continuing their union.
- Although they’re in a rebuild, the Orioles are “open to taking on a salary” in order to acquire outfield help, according to Joe Trezza of MLB.com. The O’s sought outfielders throughout the Winter Meetings, Trezza adds. With 0.1 fWAR, the team’s outfield finished 29th in the majors in that department last season, and its best regular – Adam Jones, who was below average in his own right – is now a free agent.