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Bullpen Rumors: Yankees, Brach, Dunn, Davis, Howell, Red Sox, Ziegler

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Virtually every team in baseball is looking for bullpen help, and here’s the latest in relief pitching buzz…

  • The Yankees are pursuing Aroldis Chapman and will “compete to a certain extent” for his services, GM Brian Cashman told media, including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter links).  The club is also talking to Kenley Jansen and looking at trade opportunities, so the Yankees are clearly flexible in their search for back-end relief help if Chapman’s bidding gets too high.
  • The Mets are interested in swinging a deal for Orioles right-hander Brad Brach, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney.  The Mets have been rumored to be seeking right-handed help in the ’pen but aren’t pursuing top-tier free agents.  Brach would represent an affordable setup option, but with two years of club control and a 2.39 ERA over his past 158 1/3 innings, Brach should come with a high asking price.  The Orioles have been linked to Mets outfielders Jay Bruce and Curtis Granderson (they’re said to prefer the latter), but neither of those outfielders would be enough to get the O’s to part with Brach.
  • The Mets haven’t ruled out Mike Dunn as a possible signing, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports via Twitter, but the club is “not so high” on the veteran left-hander.
  • The Cubs are one of the more serious early suitors for Royals closer Wade Davis, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (via Twitter).
  • The Giants are one of the teams who have asked about veteran lefty J.P. Howell, Olney tweets.  Howell is reportedly only looking for a one-year contract.  San Francisco has an open LOOGY role with Javier Lopez hitting the open market.  Howell posted a mediocre 4.09 ERA last year, and though his peripherals were in line with his prior years’ work, Howell was uncharacteristically vulnerable to lefty hitters (.302/.343/.417) in 2016.
  • Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including ESPN.com’s Scott Lauber) that the Sox “haven’t closed any doors” on re-signing Koji Uehara or Brad Ziegler.  Both pitchers fit Boston’s desire for a setup man with closing experience.
  • The Blue Jays are one of a number of organizations that have had contact with Ziegler, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets.  Toronto is presumably looking to add to to its setup corps in front of closer Roberto Osuna.
  • Ziegler has also drawn some attention from the Nationals, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The Nats are also considering fellow free agent Neftali Feliz as they look to bolster their bullpen. Of course, D.C.’s top priority in the relief ranks is surely in the ninth inning, and it is hard to imagine either of those players being trusted with the closing role.

Orioles Interested In Michael Saunders

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With a need to address in the outfield, the Orioles are showing interest in free agent Michael Saunders, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link).

Orioles general manager Dan Duquette said Sunday that he’s comfortable with a platoon of Hyun Soo Kim and Joey Rickard in left field. There’s no clear answer in right field, however, which is where Saunders could enter the equation. The 30-year-old has primarily manned left field in his career, including in 2016 as a member of the the Blue Jays – the team that knocked the Orioles out of the playoffs.

At the midway point of last season, Saunders looked as though he was playing his way to a qualifying offer and a lucrative multiyear pact. In 344 first-half plate appearances, the former Mariner batted an outstanding .298/.372/.551 with 16 home runs and a .252 ISO en route to his first All-Star appearance. Saunders’ production cratered thereafter – .178/.282/.357 with eight HRs and a .178 ISO in 214 PAs – which put a damper on his seemingly skyrocketing value and led the Blue Jays to elect against tendering him a qualifying offer. It also didn’t help that Saunders graded poorly in left, ranking toward the bottom of the majors in Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

While he comes with negatives, including a checkered injury history, Saunders would add some variety to a Baltimore lineup whose only current lefty-swinging everyday player is first baseman Chris Davis. He’s also not going to sign for a bank-breaking price, with MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes projecting a three-year, $33MM deal (from the Orioles, in fact). That’s the same contract the O’s nearly signed outfielder Dexter Fowler to last offseason.

NL East Rumors: Mets, Orioles, Chapman, Ross, Coppolella

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The Mets offered one of Curtis Granderson or Jay Bruce to the Orioles in exchange for “a high-end reliever,” ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin reports, though talks didn’t go anywhere.  Based on that description, one would think the Mets were asking about Brad Brach, Mychal Givens or maybe even ace closer Zach Britton.  While the O’s are indeed looking for right field help, it’s understandable why they didn’t accept that offer.  Here’s more from around the NL East…

  • The Marlins will make a strong push for Aroldis Chapman, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports (Twitter links).  Miami is also looking at Kenley Jansen (and is thought to be willing to make him a very big offer), though the team would prefer to keep the 14th overall pick in next year’s draft, whereas Chapman can be signed without draft compensation.  The Marlins are open to a number of bullpen options, though they’re prioritizing signing a reliever over trading for relief help.
  • Some in the Nationals organization question Joe Ross’ toughness, MASNsports.com’s Pete Kerzel writes, due to the amount of recovery time Ross needed to return from a shoulder injury last year.  Ross was posting strong numbers in the Nats rotation before inflammation in his throwing shoulder sidelined him from July 2 to September 18.  Ross also has his supporters in the front office and in general, the Nationals don’t want to trade him, though he is one of several potential trade chips who could be included as part of a package for one of Washington’s multiple high-end trade targets.
  • The Braves have been linked to the likes of Chris Sale and Chris Archer in trade rumors, though while GM John Coppolella admits to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “we want to add an ace,” this desire is “a want, not a need. So if a great opportunity comes along, we’ll be ready to strike. But we don’t need to force the issue.”  O’Brien speculates that Sale might be the only pitcher the Braves would be willing to give up a package of young players and prospects to land.  Atlanta has already bolstered its rotation by adding Jaime Garcia, Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey this winter, and the team is also looking to add another veteran on a minor league deal to compete with Mike Foltynewicz, Josh Collmenter and others for the fifth spot.
  • In other division news from earlier today on MLBTR, the Phillies are close to a deal with Joaquin Benoit and we collected more items from Citi Field in an edition of Mets Notes.

Dan Duquette On Trumbo, Machado, Britton

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The Orioles have “made a couple offers to” free agent slugger Mark Trumbo, Orioles executive VP of baseball operations Dan Duquette told reporters (including Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun and MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko), though despite ongoing talks, an agreement has yet to be reached.  “We’ve had several conversations with Mark Trumbo, but we haven’t been able to cinch a deal with him….We’ve had a dialogue going with them for several weeks,” Duquette said.

Though there was mutual interest in a continued relationship between the two sides prior to the end of the season, there hasn’t been much news about Trumbo and Orioles until now.  Duquette said during the GM Meetings that the club was looking to prioritize defense and add a left-handed hitting outfielder, neither of which describe what Trumbo brings to the table. Duquette cited outfield defense again today, though Trumbo could also fill Baltimore’s hole at designated hitter.  As I noted in my free agent profile of Trumbo, his value could greatly improve if a team uses him in a first base/DH role rather than as a corner outfielder.

Right field is the specific need for the O’s, as Duquette said Hyun Soo Kim and Joey Rickard could handle left field in a platoon and the team hasn’t put much thought into moving Chris Davis from first base into right.  As for other internal options, Duquette also cited youngster Trey Mancini as having the hitting potential to possibly handle regular DH duty.

Trumbo has received some interest from the Rockies this winter, though Colorado would have to give up a hefty draft pick price (the 11th overall selection in next year’s draft) to sign Trumbo, who rejected the Orioles’ qualifying offer.  That same QO status is a consideration for the O’s as well as they explore re-signing Trumbo, Duquette noted, as is the changing nature of the qualifying offer system in future years under the new collective bargaining agreement.

Aside from Trumbo, Duquette also discussed such topics as the team’s needs in right field, catcher (either as a starter or platoon partner with Caleb Joseph) and the potential use of the upcoming Rule 5 draft to procure more young talent.

Duquette also denied a rumor about an extension between Manny Machado and the Orioles, saying that the two sides hadn’t had any talks.  Most teams wait until after the bulk of the offseason work is complete before entering into extension negotiations, so we might not hear about anything with Machado until Spring Training at the earliest.  The superstar third baseman is projected by MLBTR to earn $11.2MM in arbitration next season, and the O’s control Machado through the 2018 campaign.  With Machado hitting the open market at age 26, the sky is the limit for the size of a potential extension — Baltimore would likely require something north of a $250MM guarantee.

In a radio appearance with Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link), the executive VP also commented on the attention being drawn by closer Zach Britton.  “There’s a lot of interest in Zach Britton. Personally, I like Zach Britton on our club, but there are teams interested,” Duquette said.  Britton is also due for a hefty arbitration payday ($11.4MM) in the wake of his excellent 2016 season, and there has been speculation that the O’s could sell high on Britton now given the large demand for relief pitching this offseason.  One would think it would take a pretty significant offer to pry Britton out of Baltimore, as Duquette has said both here and in prior interviews that he wants to keep the closer.

Rumors: Dodgers, BoSox, Astros, O’s, Rockies, Nats

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Twins general manager Thad Levine revealed earlier this week that the team would have to be “really inspired” to trade second baseman Brian Dozier. It’s now possible the Dodgers will do enough to wow Minnesota into dealing Dozier, as Los Angeles is aggressively pursuing the slugger and has “piqued” the Twins’ interest, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The second base-needy Dodgers have been after Dozier throughout the offseason.

More rumblings with the winter meetings set to commence:

  • Backing up a recent report from Rob Bradford of WEEI, the Red Sox are unlikely to sign free agent first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, writes Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. Moreover, the Sox probably won’t make any major free agent splashes in general, adds Drellich, thanks in part to their reluctance to spend beyond the $195MM luxury-tax threshold accompanying the new collective bargaining agreement. Boston has exceeded the luxury-tax limit in each of the previous two seasons and will need to pay a 40 to 50 percent penalty if it surpasses the mark for a third straight year.
  • In addition to the previously reported Chris Sale, the Astros have interest in Rays ace Chris Archer, per Fanrag’s Jon Heyman. There’s skepticism around the game that the Rays would trade Archer, though. The right-hander is under team control through 2021 at eminently affordable rates.
  • A report earlier this week indicated that the Orioles had interest in free agent left-hander Rich Hill, but they haven’t pursued the 36-year-old, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Hill, who was with the O’s in 2009, is on the verge of re-signing with the Dodgers.
  • Free agent closer Mark Melancon reportedly has four-year offers worth $60MM-plus in hand from San Francisco, Washington and perhaps another team. In light of that, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets that the Rockies probably aren’t the mystery club; however, as a Colorado native, Melancon would be open to taking a bit less to join the Rockies, Saunders hears. General manager Jeff Bridich has reached out to Melancon’s representatives this offseason, but it’s nonetheless difficult to imagine the Rockies putting together a rich enough offer to land the 31-year-old.
  • While the Nationals may have shored up the catcher position in trading for Derek Norris and avoiding arbitration with Jose Lobaton earlier this week, they’re still interested in free agent backstop Matt Wieters, relays Kubatko. If the Nats were to sign Wieters, the “sense” across the industry is that they’d look to flip Norris elsewhere.

Orioles, Rays, Braves Among Teams Interested In Welington Castillo

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1:17pm: Add the Orioles to the list of teams interested in Castillo, as MASN’s Roch Kubatko tweets. The Orioles could lose Matt Wieters to free agency and have been interested in Castillo for some time, according to Kubatko.

11:03am: The Diamondbacks’ unexpected decision to non-tender Welington Castillo has added a new name to the free agent catching market, and Castillo is already receiving interest. The Rays are “expected to aggressively pursue” Castillo, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote last night. The Rays, who currently have Luke Maile and Curt Casali atop their depth chart at catcher, were already expected to look for catching help, so it’s easy to see why the surprise addition of a .264/.322/.423 hitter and longtime starter to the market would be intriguing for them.

Topkin also tweeted this morning, though, that Castillo was receiving a number of calls, and not just from the Rays. It’s possible one of those teams could be the Braves, who have “some interest,” as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets. Current Braves backstop Tyler Flowers hit fairly well last year and rates as a good framer, and he and fellow catchers Anthony Recker and Tuffy Gosewisch are all now under contract for 2017. Castillo could certainly still help the Braves, however, and it stands to reason that they’d have interest, since they’ve also shown at least some interest in free agent backstops like Matt Wieters and Jason Castro.

2016-17 American League Non-Tenders

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The deadline to tender 2017 contracts to players is tonight at 8pm ET. We’ll keep track of the day’s non-tenders in the American League in this post (all referenced arbitration projections courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…

  • Infielder Gregorio Petit and lefty Cody Ege were non-tendered by the Angels, per a club announcement.
  • The Twins non-tendered pre-arb righty Yorman Landa, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press tweets.
  • The Rays non-tendered infielder Ryan Brett, who wasn’t eligible for arbitration, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.
  • The Yankees have non-tendered southpaw Jacob Lindgren, the club announced. His departure leaves the team with one open 40-man roster spot. The high-powered lefty has dealt with elbow issues in recent years.
  • Righty Blake Smith will head to the open market after he wasn’t tendered by the White Sox. The 28-year-old debuted briefly in the majors last year, but spent most of the year at Triple-A. He showed well there, compiling a 3.53 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 over 71 1/3 innings. Smith compiled those frames in just 39 appearances, suggesting that Chicago liked the idea of utilizing him in a multi-inning role — which other organizations may consider, too.
  • The Rangers announced that outfielder Jared Hoying will be non-tendered, making him a free agent. The 27-year-old made his major league debut last year, struggling through 49 plate appearances. He did have a solid run at Triple-A, though, slashing .269/.336/.474 with 78 strikeouts against 37 walks over 435 trips to the plate.
  • The Indians have non-tendered righty Jeff Manship, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. The club’s remaining arb-eligible players will all be offered contracts. Manship projected at $1.2MM, but even that relatively minimal amount proved too great for Cleveland to take on. While the 31-year-old didn’t have sterling peripherals, he was solid last year for the Indians and posted a magical run for the team in 2015. All told, he contributed 82 2/3 innings of 2.07 ERA ball during his time in Cleveland, which ought to set him up for an opportunity with another organization.
  • Righty Vance Worley has been non-tendered by the Orioles, per a team announcement. All of the team’s other eligible players have been tendered contracts. Worley had been projected to command $3.3MM in arbitration as a 4+ service-class player, but will instead hit the open market. The 29-year-old pitched to a 3.53 ERA in 86 2/3 innings last year with Baltimore, functioning mostly in a relief capacity. He has plenty of experience as a starter, however, and remains a possible swingman (or back-of-the-rotation) option for other organizations. Over his seven major league campaigns, Worley has posted a 3.75 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9.
  • The Red Sox announced that they won’t tender a contract to veteran catcher Bryan Holaday.  The 29-year-old batted .231/.281/.359 with a pair of homers and seven doubles in 129 PAs between Texas and Boston this past season. The right-handed-hitting Holaday will bring a career .628 OPS and 28 percent caught-stealing rate to the free agent market as he looks to latch on elsewhere, presumably in a backup capacity. He’d been projected to earn $900K in arbitration this winter and comes with three years of team control to any club that signs him. Boston tendered contracts to all of its remaining arb-eligible players, tweets the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. Boston’s 40-man roster is at 39 players.

Trade Rumblings: Braves, Wilson, Martinez, Carter

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The Braves are still looking at trading for an ace even after adding Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia to their rotation this winter and are specifically focused on White Sox lefty Chris Sale and Rays right-hander Chris Archer, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links). The Braves prefer Sale to Archer despite the potentially higher asking price and shorter amount of club control remaining on his contract, Crasnick adds. Atlanta is receiving quite a bit of interest in top prospect Ozzie Albies (in general and not specifically from the White Sox or Rays), Crasnick adds, but they’re expressing a good deal of reluctance to part with him. The Braves don’t seem especially enamored of Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray on the heels of a down season in 2016, according to Crasnick.

Some more trade chatter from around the league…

  • The Tigers have been receiving plenty of calls about their veterans as they look to get younger and cut some payroll this winter, but MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets one name that has been drawing considerable interest without generating many headlines: lefty reliever Justin Wilson. Per Morosi, Detroit has “perhaps the largest number of inquiries” on Wilson as teams look to bolster their left-handed relief corps. The arbitration-eligible Wilson is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn just $2.7MM next season, so he wouldn’t trim much payroll of the Tigers’ books. But, he could certainly fetch a nice prospect or two, allowing the Tigers to get a bit younger in the process. Wilson, 29, posted excellent peripherals that suggest his marginal 4.14 ERA will improve in 2017 and beyond (10.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 54.9 percent ground-ball rate, 3.02 SIERA).
  • Morosi also tweets that the Phillies are seeking a short-term outfield bat and have inquired with the Tigers about J.D. Martinez, but talks didn’t advance much, he notes. Martinez has been one of the most talked-about trade candidates of the offseason and seems to have a decent chance of landing elsewhere this winter, but the asking price on him is apparently quite high at the moment. Newsday’s Marc Carig reported yesterday that Michael Conforto’s name came up in talks with the Mets before New York re-signed Yoenis Cespedes. (Unsurprisingly, talks died quickly once Detroit mentioned Conforto, per Carig.)
  • The Brewers are trying to trade recently-designated-for-assignment slugger Chris Carter before tonight’s 8pm ET non-tender deadline tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The Orioles, who just claimed a player with a potentially similar skill set in Adam Walker, aren’t likely to make a play for Carter, per Heyman (whose tweet came prior to the Walker claim). Carter’s current scenario is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Mark Trumbo situation, as he’s a player with prodigious power that the league isn’t valuing at his arbitration number due to defensive concerns, high strikeout tendencies and a questionable on-base percentage. The Mariners were able to get a nominal return for Trumbo rather than non-tendering him, but MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that Milwaukee shopped Carter around for a month before designating him, so it seems unlikely that a trade will materialize in the next six hours.

Orioles Claim Adam Walker From Brewers

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The Orioles announced today that they’ve claimed outfielder Adam Walker off waivers from the Brewers. Milwaukee claimed Walker off waivers from the Twins two weeks ago but designated him for assignment last week when they claimed right-hander Steve Geltz from the Rays.

The 25-year-old Walker fits a profile that has become somewhat of a trend in Baltimore, as he possesses enormous power but brings little defensive value to the table and strikes out in abundance. The former third-round pick has received 60 and 65 grades for his raw power (on the 20-80 scouting scale), and has homered 58 times across the past two minor league seasons. However, he punched out an incredible 202 times in 531 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this season (38 percent) and whiffed at a 34.8 percent clip at Double-A in 2015. He also lacks any true defensive position, as he’s played left field recently but is projected by most to ultimately function as a first baseman or DH if he ever breaks into the Majors. The addition of the right-handed-hitting Walker gives the Orioles 37 players on their 40-man roster.

NL East Notes: Mets, Volquez, Hammel, Marlins, Nationals

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The Braves have already grabbed headlines tonight by acquiring lefty Jaime Garcia from the Cardinals in a four-player trade, but here are a few other notes from around the division…

  • While domestic violence charges against Mets closer Jeurys Familia may soon be dropped, that doesn’t mean he won’t face league discipline. That possibility must be considered by the organization as it charts its offseason, GM Sandy Alderson says, as ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports. Of course, it still seems unlikely that the club will be motivated to spend big on a new late-inning arm, particularly with Addison Reed capable of filling in for the ninth inning after an excellent 2016 season. It’s possible that a reliever, or perhaps some array of young talent, could end up moving to New York if (or, more likely, when) the team deals one of its left-handed-hitting corner outfielders, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports. The Mets’ strong preference is still to trade Jay Bruce rather than Curtis Granderson; it seems that the latter player may be expected to share time in center with Juan Lagares.
  • Alderson also said in an appearance on MLB Network Radio today (Twitter link) that he’d be “surprised” if the Mets got involved with a top-level center fielder in free agency due not only to the draft pick they’d have to forfeit (referring to Dexter Fowler and Ian Desmond) and also due to the fact that the team has other needs on the roster. Following the re-signing of Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets are looking to move an outfielder, with reports indicating that Jay Bruce is the name they hope to shed. However, Curtis Granderson is reportedly drawing more interest, and FanRag’s Jon Heyman reports that the Orioles are among the teams with interest in Granderson (Twitter link). Baltimore doesn’t appear to have much interest in Bruce, however, he adds.
  • The Braves put in a strong pursuit of righty Edinson Volquez before he went to the Marlins, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted yesterday. The team’s interest in Volquez came after it had already landed both R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon, but the Braves have been said to be focused on acquiring short-term assets in the rotation or front-of-the-rotation arms that would require enormous trade packages. As such, it’s possible that Atlanta only had interest in Volquez on a one-year deal, but he received two years and $22MM from the Marlins. Atlanta acted quickly to grab another short-term rotation commodity with tonight’s Garcia trade.
  • The Marlins, too, still appear to be shopping for arms, as Heyman reports that they have potential interest in free-agent right-handers Jason Hammel and Doug Fister. The Fish are also looking for bullpen help, Heyman notes, which has been a priority in Miami for much of the offseason. Tim Healey of the Miami Sun-Sentinel writes that Miami is hoping to keep right-hander David Phelps in the bullpen following his dominance in that role in 2016. “Ideally, if we can keep a deep bullpen, we can keep him as that multi-inning effective bridge to the back-end guys,” said president of baseball ops Michael Hill to Healey. “He impacts more games for us that way. But we know he has the versatility if he has to move into the rotation to do that seamlessly and not miss a beat.”
  • The Nationals are still looking for a closer, tweets Heyman, but it’s likely that they consider Aroldis Chapman to be too expensive. The Nats are interested in a reunion with Mark Melancon, however, he notes, adding that Washington “loved” Melancon’s clubhouse presence in his short stint with the team following a trade-deadline rental this past summer.
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