Latest On Red Sox, Alex Cora
One year after his ouster in Boston, former Red Sox manager Alex Cora continues to look like a serious candidate for their current opening in the dugout. Cora had an in-person meeting with Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and general manager Brian O’Halloran last Friday as they seek a replacement for fired manager Ron Roenicke, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. They met in Cora’s native Puerto Rico, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.
This could set up a second Red Sox stint for Cora, who managed the team from 2018-19 and led it to a World Series title (’18) and a 192-132 regular-season record. Despite the success the Red Sox had under Cora, the two sides parted ways last winter after Major League Baseball gave him a one-year suspension him for his role in Houston’s 2017 sign-stealing scandal (Cora was the Astros’ bench coach then). Cora’s now eligible to return.
Along with Cora, the Red Sox have narrowed their search to Marlins bench coach James Rowson, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza and Phillies player information coordinator Sam Fuld. Cora’s the only member of the group with major league managerial experience. Industry sources view him as the favorite for the Boston job, per Cotillo.
Red Sox Decline Option On Martin Perez
The Red Sox have declined their option on left-hander Martín Pérez, per various reporters (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). If exercised, the option would’ve paid Pérez $6.85MM, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive breaks down (via Twitter). Instead, he’ll receive a $500K buyout and hit free agency.
The 29-year-old becomes one of the younger starters on the market. Once viewed as a key long-term rotation piece in the Rangers’ organization, Pérez has seen his stock fall off in recent seasons. He continued to log unexciting production in 2020, pitching to a 4.50 ERA with subpar strikeout (17.6%) and walk (10.7%) rates.
To his credit, Pérez did reliably take the ball for the Sox every fifth day, as he did with the Twins in 2019. The southpaw has never posted great strikeout-to-walk ratios and has seen his ground-ball rate fall off over the years, but he continues to induce soft contact. Pérez’s 86.3 MPH opponents’ average exit velocity this year ranked in the 85th percentile, per Statcast.
Report: Five Likely Finalists In Red Sox Managerial Search
Of the many names interviewed for the Red Sox managerial vacancy, the field seems to have been narrowed to five. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link) reports that the likely list of finalists includes Red Sox manager Alex Cora, Marlins bench coach James Rowson, Pirates bench coach Don Kelly, Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza, and a new candidate to the race — former big league outfielder Sam Fuld, currently the Phillies’ director of integrative baseball performance.
Fuld has spent the last three years in Philadelphia’s front office, and he has often been mentioned as a future manager. Heyman’s report would suggest that Fuld has interviewed for the Boston job, which seems like an obvious step except for the fact that Fuld has declined multiple opportunities to interview for managerial positions in the past. Just last winter, for instance, Fuld passed on talking with the Pirates, Cubs, and Mets.
With baseball’s trend towards hiring younger managers who are only recently retired from their playing days, Fuld checks both boxes — he turns 39 later this month and officially retired in 2017. He doesn’t have any official coaching or managing experience, but Fuld does have something of a unique skillset in his role as a bridge between the Phils’ analytics department. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom also has a past relationship with Fuld, as Bloom was working in the Rays’ front office when Fuld played with Tampa Bay from 2011-13.
Reports from Saturday indicated that the Red Sox had interviewed both Kelly and Mendoza a second time, and of course there has been speculation over Cora’s potential return basically since the moment he was fired in January. Cora’s one-year suspension for his role in the Astros sign-stealing scandal was officially up after the World Series, and the Sox wasted little time in getting in touch with their former skipper.
J.D. Martinez Will Not Opt Out Of Red Sox Contract
As expected, J.D. Martinez will not enact the opt-out clause in his contract with the Red Sox, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Martinez’s five-year, $110MM deal signed in February 2018 contained opt-outs after both last season and this season, and with Martinez staying put, he is slated to earn $19.375MM in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Martinez already suggested near the end of the season that he wouldn’t be leaving his deal, so today’s news is no surprise. After six years as one of the sport’s better batters, Martinez struggled badly in 2020, hitting only .213/.291/.389 with seven home runs over 237 plate appearances. In an offseason with limited dollars to be spent anywhere around baseball, teams would have been far more focused on Martinez’s 2020 performance, his age (33), and his mostly DH-only status than his past track record, so it’s hard to imagine Martinez would have topped two years and $38.75MM in free agency.
For now, the question might be what the Red Sox can expect from Martinez going forward. The slugger has been vocal about how his regular routine (everything from offseason work to in-game preparations such as watching video) was altered by the pandemic and COVID-19 protocols. Since the 2021 season certainly looks like normal operations won’t revert back to a pre-2020 state, it will be up to Martinez to figure out new adjustments to get himself back on track at the plate.
Latest On Dustin Pedroia
7:58 pm: To be clear, there have been no firm discussions between the Red Sox and Pedroia or his agents. Discussions in the near-term are within the realm of possibility, but those talks have not happened as of yet, per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com (via Twitter). The two sides are prepared for a discussion, but decisions have not been made final, and those negotiations are not yet underway.
3:32pm: Dustin Pedroia is a Red Sox legend. Toeing the line between MLB superstar and postseason cult hero, the California-born second baseman played every game with grit and energy. The 5’9″ Pedroia could easily be mistaken for the “gutsy” brand of major-league glue guy, the overachiever who puts team first and whose motor never stops. Pedroia was exactly that, and though his blue-collar playing style could earn him the title of dirt dog, make no mistake about it: Pedroia was a superstar. A key player on two World Series winners, his accolades were numerous: 4-time All-Star, 4-time Gold Glove Award winner, a Silver Slugger award, the AL Rookie of the Year in 2007, and the AL MVP in 2008. He has accumulated 51.6 rWAR in his career, which includes 6 seasons of 5+ rWAR.
Unfortunately, knee injuries sidelined Pedroia in recent years. The 37-year-old appeared in just 9 games over the past three seasons. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe now hears that Pedroia and the Red Sox “are prepared to talk soon about a mutual understanding that would end his playing career.” Pedroia is owed $12.125MM in 2021 – the final year of his deal. Abraham notes that the benefit for the Red Sox would be in freeing up his 40-man roster spot before the business of the offseason begins in full. No official announcement is planned, but if Abraham’s sources are indeed correct, Pedroia could make a final decision about the potential end of his playing days soon.
Currently, Pedroia owns a .299/.365/.439 career line across 6,777 plate appearances with 1,805 hits, 922 runs, 140 home runs, 138 stolen bases, and 51.6 rWAR. If Pedroia never plays another major league game, he will have put together an impressive resume that will merit consideration for the Hall of Fame.
He was drafted the same year Boston ended their 85-year playoff drought, beginning his career in A-ball as a 20-year-old during what turned out to be a magical year in Boston. It could be seen as a disappointment to arrive just after a year as redemptive and memorable as 2004 was for the Red Sox, but Pedroia didn’t appear to fret over missing out on the curse-breaking fun. Instead, he made his legacy on the continuation of a dream, helping to turn Boston into a perennial contender and one of the premiere franchises in the game. From his rookie season in 2007 – in which he roasted opposing pitchers to the tune of .317/.380/.442 – Pedroia cemented his status by ensuring Boston fans wouldn’t endure another stretch of title-less baseball. Even on a star-studded Red Sox team, Pedroia shined bright. Alongside fellow youngsters Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jon Lester, Pedroia teamed with a veteran cast of proven playoff heroes like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, and Curt Schilling to sweep the Rockies and win the World Series for the second time in four seasons.
Pedroia would again play a key role for a title team in 2013 when he posted 6.1 rWAR and finished 7th in MVP voting. For his career, Pedroia appeared in 51 total playoff games. He played his entire career with the Red Sox organization, currently sitting 7th in rWAR on their all-time franchise leaderboard. He’s also 9th in at-bats, 8th in hits, 6th in doubles, and 2nd behind only Everett Scott in defensive rWAR.
AL East Notes: Morton, Zunino, Walker, Red Sox, Yolmer
Charlie Morton “wasn’t surprised” that the Rays declined to exercise their $15MM club option on his services, but the veteran right-hander told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that the team’s decision “doesn’t mean we won’t try to work something out. If there’s mutual interest, the next step is gauging what that looks like.” Rays GM Erik Neander indicated yesterday that the team indeed hoped to bring Morton back for a third season. If an acceptable deal can’t be worked out with the Rays or another club, Morton reiterated to Topkin that he’ll gauge whether he wants to keep playing, weighing such “typical factors” as his health, playing for a contender, and “does it make sense financially and geographically?”
The Rays declined options on both Morton and (at $4.5MM) catcher Mike Zunino yesterday. Jet Sports Management represents both players, and agent B.B. Abbott told Topkin in a separate piece that there aren’t any hard feelings about the contractual decisions. “Their first choice was to be in Tampa, and it probably still is their first choice,” Abbott said, but now that Morton and Zunino are on the open market, “they owe it to themselves to see what’s out there.”
More from the AL East…
- Taijuan Walker figures to get a lot of attention in free agency this winter, but there is mutual interest between Walker and the Blue Jays in a return to Toronto’s rotation, Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes. Acquired in a trade from the Mariners in late August, Walker posted excellent numbers (1.37 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 2.27 K/BB rate) in his six starts in a Jays uniform. Beyond the on-field results, Walker was also impressed by both the Jays’ long-term potential as contenders, and how the club treats its players. “They have really good staff, coaches, training staff. For me, it’s all about comfort and people,” Walker said. “Being connected and having that family, and that’s what it felt like.” Once one of baseball’s most highly-touted pitching prospects, injuries cost Walker virtually all of the 2018 and 2019 seasons but he has somewhat revived his stock after his solid 2020 performance.
- While the Red Sox have interviewed several candidates to be their next manager, “the managerial search appears to be centered on determining if Chaim Bloom and Alex Cora can work well together,” the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham writes. Of course, Cora was already Boston’s manager when Bloom was hired as the club’s chief baseball officer last October, though Cora’s firing and subsequent one-year suspension are undoubtedly considerations for Red Sox ownership and the front office in deciding whether or not to bring Cora back. While Cora’s return has been widely speculated, Abraham isn’t sure a rehire “is automatic,” opining that Cora could potentially wait to see if another high-profile job (perhaps with the Mets) becomes available.
- Now that Yolmer Sanchez has been claimed on waivers, the Orioles have some extra depth as they consider other infield moves, as MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski writes. No decision has yet been made about Jose Iglesias‘ $3.5MM club option, and with Sanchez now on hand as a second base candidate, the O’s could potentially non-tender Hanser Alberto, who is projected to earn between $2.3MM and $4.1MM in arbitration (depending on how arb salaries are calculated this winter). Sanchez is himself eligible for arbitration, however, and his projected $6.2MM arb figure last winter was the chief reason why the White Sox non-tendered him last November.
Red Sox, Alex Cora Have Been In Contact
A reunion between the Red Sox and Alex Cora may be in the offing. After a year away from the team because of a suspension, their former manager is a candidate to return in the same role. The Red Sox have been in contact with Cora, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports.
The Red Sox have already interviewed seven other candidates, as shown on MLBTR’s Managerial Search Tracker. Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza have received second interviews, according to Speier, who adds that Cubs third base coach Will Venable and Twins bench coach Mike Bell are no longer under consideration. Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta is also out of the mix, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Among known candidates, that leaves Cora up against Kelly, Mendoza, Marlins bench coach James Rowson and Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker. However, Speier writes that there are other names under consideration.
No one from the Kelly-Mendoza-Rowson-Schumaker group has managed in the majors, so they certainly can’t match Cora’s accomplishments in the role. Cora managed the Red Sox to a 192-132 record from 2018-19, guiding the team to a World Series in the first of those seasons. But the Red Sox parted with Cora last offseason after Major League Baseball suspended him for a year because of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Cora was the Astros’ bench coach that season.
Red Sox Outright 3 Players
The Red Sox have outrighted utilityman Jose Peraza, outfielder Cesar Puello and right-hander Dylan Covey off their roster, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Peraza and Puello have elected free agency.
Peraza, the most notable member of the trio, was one of Boston’s only guaranteed signings during a quiet winter of acquisitions last offseason. But after the club inked the ex-Dodger/Red to a $3MM contract, Peraza could only manage a .225/.275/.342 line with one home run in 120 plate appearances. Defensively, the 26-year-old spent most of the season at second base, though he does have experience all over the diamond.
Meanwhile, neither Puello nor Covey received much playing time with the Red Sox in 2020. Puello totaled 11 plate appearances after signing a minors pact before the season, while Covey – whom the Red Sox acquired from the Rays in July – tossed 14 innings and surrendered 11 earned runs.
Red Sox Outright 5 Players
The Red Sox have outrighted infielder/outfielder Tzu-Wei Lin, right-handers Robinson Leyer, Zack Godley and Andrew Triggs, and lefty Mike Kickham, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic tweets. Godley, Triggs and Kickham have elected free agency.
The most established major leaguer of the bunch is the 30-year-old Godley, who had some success with the Diamondbacks from 2015-19. But Godley struggled in the last of those seasons and had another down year with the Red Sox in 2020. He wound up tossing 28 2/3 innings of 8.16 ERA/7.10 FIP ball with 8.79 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9, all while averaging a career-worst 89.7 mph on his fastball.
Triggs, 31, also didn’t prove to be part of the solution for Boston’s pitching staff. He ended the year with 8 1/3 innings and seven earned runs allowed, owing in part to the three homers he surrendered. Neither Leyer nor Kickham helped the club’s cause, either, combining for a whopping 23 earned runs given up over 18 2/3 frames.
Lin, the lone position player in the group, was a promising prospect in his younger days, but he hasn’t performed at the MLB level so far. Since he debuted in 2017, the 26-year-old has hit .223/.298/.316 with one homer in 218 plate appearances. He took 57 trips to the plate this year and batted a mere .154/.182/.173 with no HRs and a paltry .019 ISO.
Quick Hits: Keller, Straily, Lotte Giants, Neris, Red Sox
Brad Keller posted a 2.47 ERA, 2.06 K/BB rate, 5.76 K/9, and 52.8% grounder rate over 54 2/3 innings this season, as the 25-year-old continues to establish himself as a front-of-the-rotation option for the Royals. Keller was aided this season by an improved slider that essentially looked more like his fastball and moved like a curveball, as the right-hander told Fangraphs’ David Laurila. The first step was remaking a slider delivery that initially left Keller unable to “see the plate because my front arm was covering the catcher….I was constantly pulling off on everything, yanking my front side. I needed to clean that up and keep my shoulders more square.”
Working on advice from Royals pitching coach Cal Eldred during the league shutdown, Keller fixed his delivery and turned his slider into a prominent part of his arsenal. 38.2% of his pitches were sliders in 2020, well up from a 31.2% usage in 2019 and a 26.2% usage in 2018. As per Fangraphs’ pitch value and slider runs above average (wSL) metrics, Keller had the third-most effective slider of any pitcher in baseball, behind only Dinelson Lamet and Zach Plesac.
More from around baseball as the Dodgers sit a game away from a championship…
- Dan Straily‘s first season in Korea was a success, and the right-hander tells Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News that he has yet to make a decision about a potential second season with the KBO League’s Lotte Giants. Before anything, Straily wants to return to the United States to see his family for the first time in nine months, as COVID-19 travel restrictions kept him in South Korea. “I want to be with my wife when the decision starts coming up and my agent starts talking to the team about this,” Straily said. After inking a one-year, $1MM contract with the Lotte Giants last winter, Straily posted a 2.50 ERA with 205 strikeouts over 194 2/3 innings, becoming arguably the league’s top pitcher and a popular figure with fans. It was a solid rebound season after a tough 2019 for Straily that saw him allow 22 homers over only 47 2/3 innings with the Orioles, resulting in a 9.82 ERA.
- The Phillies hold a $7MM club option on Hector Neris for 2021, which the team could see as an acceptable price tag for a reliever who has been generally solid over parts of seven MLB seasons. However, in an offseason where the Phillies are dealing with revenue losses and trying to get under the luxury tax threshold, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman sees Neris as a possible extension candidate. Seidman floats the possibility of a two-year contract worth $9MM-$10MM, which seems like a good number from the Phils’ perspective, though it remains to be seen if Neris or his agents would accept such an offer. The team has some leverage in the sense that Neris probably wouldn’t like to test the very uncertain 2020-21 free agent market, yet Neris might also have confidence that the Phillies wouldn’t actually decline his option since the Phils are in such dire need of bullpen help.
- Chaim Bloom’s first year in charge of the Red Sox front office was a tumultuous one, and the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier looked beyond the unprecedented events (the pandemic’s effect on the season and the Mookie Betts trade) to examine patterns about how Bloom will shepherd the team going forward. The Sox mostly targeted controllable players, and the sheer volume of transactions was also different, as the 2020 club had the most roster turnover of any Red Sox team of the past decade. “It goes back to being more open-minded and willing to be more aggressive with the bottom end of our 40-man roster,” assistant GM Eddie Romero said. “The 40-man roster became more of a living document. It was a daily conversation. It required daily upkeep.”