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East Notes: Ellsbury, Encarnacion, Ortiz, Mets, Morales

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Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury’s $153MM deal could turn out to be one of the worst in the history of the Yankees franchise, ESPN’s Andrew Marchand writes. At the time the deal was signed, it looked like the team’s best chance to get value was for Ellsbury to be very productive at the front end of the deal, but that hasn’t really proven to be the case. He produced a solid .271/.328/.419 season in 2014, but last year he hit just .257/.318/.345 while dealing with knee issues, with his isolated power dropping from .148 to .088. He’s off to a 4-for-18 start this season. Here’s more from the East divisions.

  • Red Sox legend David Ortiz thinks Edwin Encarnacion should replace him as the Sox’ DH after he retires, WEEI’s Rob Bradford writes. “Hell, yeah. He’s a perfect replacement,” Ortiz says. “Because of everything, but mostly because he can hit.” Encarnacion says he still wants to play first base as well as DH, but he’s already talked to Ortiz about the possibility of playing DH full-time in the future (although not for the Red Sox specifically). Encarnacion batted .277/.372/.557 last season in Toronto. It now appears extension talks with the Blue Jays are dead. He’s set to become a free agent after the season.
  • Mets manager Terry Collins says that he will utilize a full-blown left field platoon of Michael Conforto and Juan Lagares, Marc Carig of Newsday reports (Twitter links). “We’re in a situation where we’re trying to win games,” said Collins. “This is not a time to develop players.” The Mets skipper added that it wasn’t just a matter of getting Lagares in for his glove, noting that he likes his bat against lefties.
  • Blue Jays lefty Franklin Morales says he felt “weakness” in his shoulder upon completing his first warm-up pitch yesterday, Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling tweets. Also via Zwelling (on Twitter), Jays manager John Gibbons says today that Morales’ situation isn’t serious and that Morales simply couldn’t loosen up last night. The Jays had planned to use Morales in the sixth inning yesterday, but he didn’t end up pitching. The Jays signed Morales to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal last week after the Brewers released him.

East Notes: Smith, Castillo, Howard, Gomez, Chacin

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Red Sox righty Carson Smith will return to the mound for work on Sunday, MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports. Smith, who is on the DL with a strained flexor mass muscle, seems to be on track to avoid a lengthy absence. Manager John Farrell said that Smith has had an “encouraging” week and is “progressing at a good rate right now.” The club plans to handle Smith’s build-up with care, as you’d expect with a young pitcher who is both an important future and near-term asset, but his return will be important for the Red Sox relief corps.

Here’s more from the eastern divisions:

  • Though he’s not in line for much playing time at present, Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo will remain with the major league club for the time being, Farrell tells Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. “I won’t rule out that it might come up in conversation as we go forward,” said Farrell, “but we’re not there yet.” The Boston manager acknowledged that it’s “a tough spot” for the 28-year-old, who lost a chance to seize upon a significant role this spring. At some point, if he’s stuck to the bench, the Sox will presumably need to consider a minor league assignment to give Castillo some consistent plate appearances.
  • Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is staying positive despite his own part-time role, Ryan Lawrence of the Philly Voice writes. The veteran slugger says that he understands the team’s position, explaining that “the only thing you can do is stay positive and take advantage of your opportunities when you get them.” Manager Pete Mackanin says that the club will open the year with a traditional platoon of the left-handed-hitting Howard and righty Darin Ruf, but plans to remain flexible in allowing performance to dictate things as the season progresses.
  • Though it’s early, the Phillies are already moving through the line of possible closers, with Jeanmar Gomez likely next up for a chance, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports. Dalier Hinojosa and David Hernandez have both failed to hold late-inning leads in the early action, leaving Gomez as the next man up — at least for now. “We’re auditioning,” Mackanin said. “We’ve got to find out. It’s a daily question. Why not Gomez? Let’s see what he can do.”
  • The Braves plan to add righty Jhoulys Chacin to the active and 40-man roster in time to make a start on Tuesday, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. As expected, Atlanta had been carrying an extra reliever while waiting for the fifth starter’s spot to come due.

Betts, Schoop, Ray, Others Move To The Legacy Agency

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Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts has changed agencies, staying with his representative — Steve Veltman — as he moved to The Legacy Agency, as Robert Murray of Baseball Essential was first to report (via Twitter). He’s not alone, as players including Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles and Robbie Ray of the Diamondbacks are also making the move, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports, with player rep Ed Cerulo accompanying Veltman to a new home.

Betts, still just 23, has emerged as one of the game’s most exciting young talents. He followed up a highly promising partial season in 2014 with an outstanding campaign last year in which he put up a .291/.341/.479 slash over 654 plate appearances with 18 home runs and 21 steals. Of course, Betts is also a high-quality and versatile fielder and excellent baserunner.

Boston has plenty of cheap control remaining, as Betts won’t even reach arbitration eligibility until 2018 and doesn’t stand to hit the open market until 2021. He certainly profiles as an extension candidate, though, and his new agency will quite possibly field interest from the Sox.

Other quality 1+ outfielders have signed lengthy deals — including, recently, Gregory Polanco ($35MM) and Christian Yelich ($49.57MM) — but it seems fair to expect that Betts would command a good bit more given the floor and ceiling he’s shown to this point. And the price will likely only rise, as his service clock continues to run and he pads the stat sheet.

Schoop and Ray also rate as promising young players, but have more to prove at this stage than Betts. Other big leaguers joining The Legacy Agency, per Rosenthal, include Cody Anderson and Rajai Davis (Indians), Trevor May (Twins), Kevin Siegrist (Cardinals), Carter Capps (Marlins), Jerad Eickhoff (Phillies), and Tony Wolters (Rockies). Several unnamed prospects are also changing agencies.

As always, you can find reported player representation in MLBTR’s Agency Database.

AL Notes: Doubront, Red Sox, Simmons, Twins

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Here’s the latest from around the junior circuit…

  • Athletics southpaw Felix Doubront left his final spring start today after one inning due to forearm tightness and underwent an MRI this evening.  (MLB.com’s Jane Lee has the details).  Doubront was projected to be Oakland’s fifth starter, at least until Henderson Alvarez makes his expected return from shoulder rehab in May.  Jesse Hahn would likely replace Doubront if a DL stint is required, though the A’s will hold off on making any final roster decisions until they know the results of Doubront’s MRI.  The lefty posted a 5.50 ERA, 2.15 K/BB rate and 6.7 K/9 over 75 1/3 innings with the A’s and Blue Jays last season.
  • Dave Dombrowski had a clear idea of the players he wanted to acquire in his first winter in charge of the Red Sox baseball ops department, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes in a detailed recap of how the Sox landed David Price, Craig Kimbrel and Chris Young.  The three players were, in fact, Boston’s top three targets heading into the offseason and all three will be wearing Red Sox jerseys on Opening Day.
  • Andrelton Simmons has gone through a lot in his path to the majors, though the one constant has always been spectacular defense, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times writes.  Moura’s profile of the Angels shortstop covers such topics as Simmons’ brief flirtation with quitting baseball for soccer, his well-regarded pitching arm (four teams with high selections in the 2010 draft considered taking him as a pitcher) and his efforts to improve his hitting.
  • Over the last decade, the Twins have struggled to find Major League starters at the top of the draft, 1500 ESPN Twin Cities’ Derek Wetmore writes.  Wetmore recaps the unimpressive list of arms selected by the club since 2006, though obviously the jury is still out on more recent picks like Tyler Jay.

NL West Notes: Dodgers, Pads, Panda, D-Backs

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While there had been some hope of a deal to resolve the Dodgers’ television dilemma, the issues will continue into 2016, as Meg James of the Los Angeles Times reports. Time Warner Cable had made renewed efforts to reach agreements on carriage fees with other cable companies, but the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA network remains available only to subscribers of certain cable companies. It’s certainly a disappointing result for all involved, and a path to resolution remains unclear.

Here’s more from the NL West:

  • The idea that the Padres could try to land Pablo Sandoval from the Red Sox has been “overblown,” sources suggest to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links). Lin suggests that Sandoval wouldn’t be a good fit on the San Diego roster, which currently features Yangervis Solarte as the top option at third. Of course, if the Pads place any value on Sandoval’s upside in a bounceback scenario, they could presumably make it work — either by including Solarte in the deal or by moving him into a different role (possibly including some kind of timeshare with Sandoval). At this stage, though, Boston would without doubt have to eat a huge portion of the money left on Sandoval’s deal in any kind of trade.
  • While the Padres were widely criticized for failing to strike any deals at last year’s trade deadline, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests that the club may have been justified given the offers it was receiving. Ian Kennedy apparently drew extremely limited interest, with the best offer being then-Cubs outfielder Junior Lake — who has bounced around quite a bit and doesn’t appear to be that appealing an asset. Upton might have brought back Michael Fulmer from the Mets, which was at least a substantial return, but the Pads were said to have questions about his ability to stick in the rotation in the long run. Those two veterans ended up netting draft picks, of course, and that was inarguably the better outcome in Kennedy’s case, at least. And though San Diego could’ve had exciting infield prospect Jorge Mateo from the Yankees for closer Craig Kimbrel, per Sherman, the Friars were ultimately able to land a deeper package from the Red Sox at the outset of the offseason. It’s an interesting look back from Sherman, who also looks at the organization’s questionable future.
  • Drew Pomeranz has won a rotation job for the Padres, the club announced. The southpaw came over in a winter deal with the Athletics, who received one-time top prospect Yonder Alonso and lefty specialist Mark Rzepczynzki. Now 27, and once a top prospect with the division-rival Rockies, Pomeranz has turned in two nice seasons in a swingman role with Oakland. San Diego will certainly hope he can lock down a starting role, as he’d represent a nice value with a $1.35MM arb salary and two more years of control remaining.
  • The Diamondbacks have offered a bit of clarity on their infield mix, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports (Twitter links). Jake Lamb will receive regular reps at third base, says skipper Chip Hale, while the team will “rotate” Jean Segura, Chris Owings, and Nick Ahmed up the middle. That doesn’t give much of an indication as to how the playing time will be divided among those three players, and it could be that the spring battle will simply continue into the regular season. Meanwhile, outfield prospect Socrates Brito still appears to have a chance at cracking the roster to open the year, if only to help the club reduce the burden on regular center fielder A.J. Pollock as he ramps up to a full workload.
  • With numerous arms on the shelf, the Dodgers will turn to Ross Stripling with the fifth starter role out of the gates, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. That represents a bit of a surprise, as Shaikin explains, as Stripling didn’t seem even to be on the radar when camp opened. The other two finalists — Carlos Frias and Zach Lee — will remain on hand as depth options in Triple-A.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/1/16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league:

  • The Mets have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Jim Henderson. The former Brewers closer will be back in the big leagues for the first time since 2014. Henderson has battled shoulder issues in recent seasons, but he got good results in Spring Training, whiffing 13 batters in 10 2/3 innings. The hard-throwing 33-year-old has a lifetime 3.44 ERA, 12.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in three big-league seasons.
  • The Red Sox have announced that they’ve signed outfielder Justin Maxwell to a minor-league deal, and he’ll report to Triple-A Pawtucket. The Marlins released Maxwell earlier this week. The 32-year-old hit .209/.275/.341 in 274 plate appearances with the Giants in 2015. Previously, he had played for the Nationals, Astros and Royals.
  • The Rockies have signed shortstop Jeff Bianchi to a minor-league deal, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Bianchi played briefly for Boston last year, spending most of the year at Triple-A, where he hit .262/.329/.315. He has a .531 OPS in 404 career big-league plate appearances spread over four years, most of them coming with the Brewers.
  • The Orioles have released 1B/OF Mike Carp and 3B/1B/OF Alex Liddi from minor-league camp, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. Carp, who’s played six seasons in the big leagues with the Mariners, Red Sox (with whom he won a World Series in 2013) and Rangers, played only briefly at the Triple-A level in the Dodgers organization in 2015. He’s a lifetime .254/.330/.414 hitter in the big leagues. Liddi played parts of three seasons for the Mariners from 2011 through 2013 and spent last season split between the Royals’ Double-A Northwest Arkansas affiliate and Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

Padres Have Had Internal Talks About Trading For Pablo Sandoval

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The Padres have had internal discussions about the possibility of dealing for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, Jon Heyman tweets. (Via WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Padres deny that there have been any substantive talks.) The Padres are not among the three teams to whom Sandoval can block a trade, Heyman adds. Sandoval is still owed $75MM through 2019, including a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option, so as Heyman notes, a deal to send Sandoval from the Padres to the Red Sox would likely include money to offset his contract.

The Red Sox recently named rookie Travis Shaw their starter at third base ahead of Sandoval, even though they’re only one year into Sandoval’s contract. The Padres, meanwhile, reportedly had a scout watching Sandoval, although it wasn’t clear how much interest they had in him or whether that scout might be watching someone else. The Padres had interest in Sandoval during their splashy 2014-15 offseason, reportedly offering Sandoval a nine-figure deal that exceeded the Red Sox’ offer in total value.

The Padres might now see Sandoval as presenting an opportunity to buy low, although it’s not clear whether Sandoval is an upgrade over current Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte. Solarte hit .270/.320/.428 last season and projects to produce 1.6 fWAR, via ZiPS. Sandoval, meanwhile, batted .245/.292/.366 and projects to produce 0.9 fWAR (although another projection system, Steamer, rates him as being likely to produce half a win better than that). Sandoval would seem to be a curious addition for a Padres team that was badly burned by veteran additions two winters ago and now seems more focused on trading high-profile veterans rather than on adding them.

There’s been some speculative conversation about a trade that could send Sandoval to San Diego and James Shields to Boston, and a Sandoval/Shields framework might make some sense, at least on a purely financial level — the Padres still owe Shields $65MM on the deal he signed with them last offseason. While Shields’ home-run-heavy first year with the Padres was merely a relatively small disappointment, though, Sandoval’s first year with Boston was a disaster, so the two players’ current values seem somewhat different.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Rays, Kim

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At $17.6MM and $11.3MM, respectively, Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo will give the Red Sox two of the AL’s three most expensive bench players this season, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. (Those salary figures include portions of those players’ signing bonuses.) And in addition to Sandoval and Castillo, the Red Sox will also have Allen Craig, who has a $9MM salary, at Triple-A. The only more expensive reserve than Sandoval or Castillo will be Josh Hamilton, who will make about $26MM, most of it paid by the Angels. The Red Sox’ projected $48MM bench is almost four times more expensive than that of the average AL team. Of course, the Red Sox have enough money to have very expensive players, but the cases of Sandoval, Craig and perhaps Castillo are reminders of some of the organization’s past mistakes. Here’s more from the AL East.

  • In the Rays’ additions of Hank Conger, Corey Dickerson, Brad Miller, Logan Morrison and Steve Pearce and subtractions of Jake McGee, Nathan Karns, Rene Rivera and James Loney, the Rays might be straying from their pitching-and-defense-first philosophy, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman says the team has merely made a slight adjustment to take advantage of what was available — making itself better by finding better offensive players that are capable enough defensively. Chris Archer, at least, agrees with their new approach. “You have to have balance,” he says. “We learned for the last eight years that just being pitching heavy is probably not the way to do it. You’ve got to have defense. You’ve got to have pitching — the teams that win get high-level pitching, starting and relief. But you’ve got to have offense, too.”
  • The Orioles’ situation with Hyun Soo Kim is “a mess,” Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes. The two sides currently disagree about whether Kim is ready to play in the Majors, but Kim has the right to refuse a minor-league assignment. This isn’t the first time the O’s have run into had a hard time due to an interaction with a Korean player, Connolly notes — they had to release pitcher Suk-min Yoon last year when it became clear they had little use for him, allowing him to go back to the KIA Tigers in Korea. And they were briefly banned from scouting in Korea after offering a deal to amateur pitcher Seong-Min Kim.

Quick Hits: Shields, Sandoval, Cardinals, Astros, Twins

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On the notion of the Padres trading right-hander James Shields to the Red Sox for benched third baseman Pablo Sandoval, one scout told Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, “James Shields is not good in Fenway Park in his career. Some people think he’s a National League pitcher at this point of his career. But it’s one fewer year (on his contract) than Sandoval. I think Sandoval would be better off outside of Boston. I think he’s been eaten whole there. That trade actually would make some sense.” Both players are coming off down seasons, albeit Shields was easily the more valuable of the two in 2015. Shields, 34, exceeded the 200-inning barrier for the ninth straight year and set a career high with a 9.61 K/9, but he also logged personal worsts in BB/9 (3.6) and FIP (4.45) to accompany a mediocre 3.91 ERA. Sandoval is a half-decade younger (29), though that plus is offset by a well-known weight problem and the fact that he had the worst fWAR in baseball in 2015 (-2.0). Moreover, the two carry undesirable financial commitments. Shields is due $60MM over the next three years, though he can opt out and become a free agent after next season. That would mean leaving $44MM on the table, however. Sandoval, meanwhile, is owed $70MM through 2019. Both players’ deals have expensive club options at the end that their respective teams surely won’t exercise, which will lead to buyouts ($2MM for Shields in 2019, $5MM for Sandoval in 2020).

More from around the majors. . .

  • With president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski in charge, the Red Sox are a meritocracy when it comes to putting together a roster, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes. That was evident in the team’s decision to relegate Sandoval, whom it signed just a year ago, in favor of Travis Shaw at the hot corner. The Dombrowski-led Red Sox began the trend of valuing performance over contract when they elected last summer to end the short-lived, disastrous experiment of Hanley Ramirez in left field, Speier notes. “My focus is on the guys that are in uniform, not what’s attached to them or what their contract states,” manager John Farrell said. “We’re all about evaluating and what’s best for our team.”
  • The Astros have informed left-hander Wandy Rodriguez that he will not crack their Opening Day Roster, tweets Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle. Rodriguez, who inked a minor league accord with the Astros in the offseason, had been competing with James Hoyt and Michael Feliz for the final spot in the team’s bullpen. Rodriguez had an opt-out in his contract for last Saturday, per Evan Drellich of the Chronicle. With that deadline having passed, it’s unclear what the immediate future will hold for Rodriguez, but he could end up on the market and in search of a major league deal elsewhere. “Let me see what happens if somebody picks me (up),” he told Drellich.
  • The Cardinals aren’t looking for outside help at shortstop in the wake of Ruben Tejada’s injury, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Instead, the Redbirds will at least wait until they have a better understanding of Tejada’s status. He’ll start the season on the disabled list with a muscle strain in his left quadriceps, leaving Jedd Gyorko and Greg Garcia as the Cardinals’ options at the major league level. They also have Aledmys Diaz of Triple-A Memphis as a potential call-up.
  • Nick Burdi, the Twins’ best relief pitching prospect, is “out indefinitely” with right forearm tightness and will begin the season on the DL, reports LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. Of course, forearm injuries sometimes portend Tommy John surgery. Burdi, who’s capable of hitting 99 on the radar gun, threw three scoreless spring innings for the Twins. The 23-year-old tossed 63 2/3 innings at multiple minor league levels last season and pitched to a 3.82 ERA with an 11.7 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9.
  • Right-hander Roberto Hernandez is drawing interest from teams that want to sign him to a minor league contract, but he’s holding out for a major league deal, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. Hernandez, 35, opted out of his deal with Toronto earlier this week after the club didn’t add him to its active roster. In 84 2/3 innings last year with Houston, Hernandez worked to a 4.36 ERA with 4.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.
  • Lefty reliever Wesley Wright has garnered multiple Triple-A offers, per Cotillo (Twitter link). Wright, whom Arizona released Monday, has thrown 371 innings of 4.16 ERA ball to accompany an 8.6 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in his major league career. Those mediocre numbers belie his success versus left-handed batters, who have hit a paltry .234/.313/.334 against Wright.

Red Sox Name Travis Shaw As Starting Third Baseman, Pablo Sandoval To Bench

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Red Sox manager John Farrell informed media members today that Travis Shaw has won the starting third base job.  The move relegates Pablo Sandoval, still owed $75MM on his contract through the 2019 season, to a bench role.

While the Sox have openly stated all spring that roster spots will be determined by performance, it’s still eye-opening to see Sandoval go from vaunted offseason signing to backup in the span of just one year.  Sandoval struggled badly in his first season in Boston, hitting just .245/.292/.366 over 505 plate appearances and posting terrible defensive numbers (-21.9 UZR/150, minus-11 Defensive Runs Saved) at the hot corner.

Farrell noted (hat tip to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald) that Shaw’s defense clinched the decision, which makes sense given that both players hit well during Spring Training — Shaw has an .898 OPS over 58 spring PA, while Sandoval has an .848 OPS over 39 PA.  Sandoval also missed some dealing with a bad back, which looks like it cost him valuable playing time.

Though Sandoval was recently scouted by the Padres, there hasn’t been much trade chatter about the veteran third baseman, which isn’t exactly surprising given his big contract and poor season.  The Panda is just one of multiple payroll albatrosses on Boston’s payroll; between Sandoval, Rusney Castillo and Allen Craig, the Red Sox have almost $38MM tied up in players who aren’t expected to be everyday players (or, in Craig’s case, even in the majors).  That’s not counting Hanley Ramirez, who also heavily underachieved in his first year in Boston and is owed $66MM through 2018 with another $22MM available in a vesting option for 2019.  If the Red Sox were to trade Sandoval or any of these players, they would very likely have to eat more of the salary owed or take on another bad contract to facilitate a deal.

Shaw, meanwhile, is under team control through the 2021 season and has made a semi-out of nowhere ascent to a Major League starting lineup.  A ninth-round draft pick in 2011, Shaw was a decently well-regarded prospect (Baseball America ranked him as the 19th best prospect in the Red Sox system prior to 2015, and 26th prior to 2014) who made a large impression in his rookie season, hitting .270/.327/.487 over his first 248 PA in the bigs.  Shaw is a first baseman by trade but has appeared in 104 games at third in the minors and eight games at the position last season with the Sox.

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