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Heyman’s Latest: Offseason Spending, CarGo, Pirates, Kennedy, Gallardo

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In his latest notes column, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports begins by classifying the Angels, Giants, Tigers, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals and Dodgers as the expected “big spenders” of the offseason, breaking down some targets that each club could pursue. Heyman goes on to call the Orioles, Blue Jays, Yankees, D-Backs, Mets, Royals and Padres as “medium spenders,” noting that each has needs and could make one significant addition or a series of mid-range moves in order to address multiple areas around the roster. As he did with the big-spending clubs, Heyman examines a few plausible scenarios for each, noting that the Royals are still in the three- or four-year range on Alex Gordon, thereby casting some doubt on a potential reunion.

A few highlights from his column…

  • While Andrelton Simmons’ name has been a hot topic over the past 15 hours or so, there’s a “good chance” that the Braves will make Julio Teheran available at some point this winter. Teheran’s value isn’t as high as that of Simmons at the moment, I wouldn’t think, due to a down year for Teheran in 2015. Moving him would be selling low, which makes it more difficult to envision a deal, from my vantage point.
  • The White Sox were one of “many teams” to which agent Brodie Van Wagenen made a presentation regarding Yoenis Cespedes, though the greater needs for the ChiSox come at catcher, third base, second base and shortstop.
  • The Rockies have again made Carlos Gonzalez available in trades, as many expected would be the case following the summer trade of Troy Tulowitzki. CarGo dominated the National League from June through season’s end after struggling with injuries in 2014 and early 2015 and undoubtedly restored an exceptional amount of trade value. Heyman speculatively listed the Orioles as a potential match when discussing Baltimore in his intro section.
  • Pittsburgh has fielded offers on all seven of its players that are a year removed from free agency. That includes Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, Mark Melancon, Mike Morse, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli. However, the Pirates are also said to be considering an attempt at locking Cervelli up on a multi-year deal.
  • Ian Kennedy is planning to decline the Padres’ qualifying offer, per Heyman. Both Tim Dierkes and I have noted that there’s little sense in Kennedy accepting the offer. The right-hander is fourth in innings pitched in the NL over the past five seasons and has averaged 8.5 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in that time while posting a 3.89 ERA, 3.87 FIP and 3.78 xFIP. Homer struggles in 2015 aside, Kennedy finished strong and should get paid somewhere. It’s hard to envision a Scott Boras client being the first to accept a qualifying offer, and if all else fails, Kennedy can go the Ervin Santana route and sign a one-year deal near the value of the QO late in the offseason.
  • Similarly, Yovani Gallardo plans to turn down the Rangers’ QO. Heyman hears he’s expected to sign elsewhere despite being a Fort Worth area native. The Rangers will again attempt to re-sign Colby Lewis, he adds.

Mariners, Royals, Cubs Have Interest In Jackie Bradley

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11:30am: The Mariners, too, have interest in acquiring Bradley, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Bradley would certainly align GM Jerry Dipoto’s preference to add athleticism and defense to his outfield as well as his preference for trades over free agency.

8:30am: There’s a “growing sentiment” that Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski could break up his starting outfield trio of Jackie Bradley, Mookie Betts and Rusney Castillo, writes WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford. The likeliest piece of that group to be moved is seemingly Bradley, according to Bradford, who has already generated trade interest from both the Cubs and Royals.

While Bradley enjoyed a nice overall season with the Red Sox this past year, one general manager opined that the Sox would be selling high if they were to move him at this time. The 25-year-old Bradley (26 next April) posted a nice .249/.335/.489 bating line in 2015 and justified the considerable defensive hype that comes with his name, saving eight to 10 runs (based on his respective Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating marks) while logging a combined 608 innings across all three outfield spots.

Despite the strong cumulative numbers at the plate, however, Bradley didn’t hit much outside of a torrid month of August. A .451 BABIP that month helped propel Bradley to a .354/.429/.734 batting line — the power he showed does indicate that there was more to the surge than pure luck on balls put into play — but he didn’t post an OPS mark greater than .739 (just barely higher than his August slugging, alone) in any other month of the season.

Bradley is unequivocally a dynamic defender, which makes it understandable that the Royals, who value glovework perhaps more than any other team in baseball, would have some interest in him. The Cubs’ interest isn’t a surprise, either, considering that president Theo Epstein was with the Red Sox when Bradley was drafted 40th overall in 2011. The question for Kansas City and Chicago — or any interested club — is whether Bradley’s 2015 batting line can be reproduced in a more consistent manner over the life of a full season. If so, that could make him one of the game’s most valuable all-around outfielders. If the end result of a full season of Bradley is closer to his lifetime .213/.290/.349 batting line, however, he looks more the part of an elite defensive fourth outfielder. That’s still a valuable piece to a Major League roster but, of course, would come with considerably less value than a premium defender whose bat was 15 to 20 percent above the league average (when adjusting for park).

The Red Sox would figure to have a lofty asking price on Bradley, whom they control through the 2020 season. Bradley’s service time (one year, 150 days) means he’ll be a Super Two player and qualify for arbitration four times instead of the standard three, assuming he is not demoted to the minor leagues again, but if he’s able to turn in comparable results to his 2015 production, a club certainly wouldn’t be bothered by that fact.

It’s worth noting in all of this that while a rival GM might’ve opined to Bradford that moving Bradley would be selling high, there’s no indication that the Red Sox are thinking in that manner at this time. Dombrowski recently labeled Bradley “one of the best defensive outfielders [he’s] ever seen.”

Crasnick On Price, Greinke, Heyward, Upton, Murphy, Starlin

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ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick conducted his annual Hot Stove survey, polling a number of front-office executives and scouts about some of the top names available both in free agency and on the trade market. Crasnick asked respondents to weigh in on David Price vs. Zack Greinke; Jason Heyward vs. Justin Upton; Chris Davis vs. Yoenis Cespedes; which of Colby Rasmus or Daniel Murphy would be able to sustain some of his postseason success; which of Jeff Samardzija or Ian Desmond is a better rebound candidate; which of Javier Baez or Starlin Castro is more likely to be traded; and which of Alex Gordon, Ben Zobrist or Johnny Cueto is likeliest to return to the Royals. Crasnick has full voting and plenty of quotes from execs/scouts for those who wish to read the piece in its entirety, but here are some particularly interesting highlights…

  • More respondents felt comfortable giving a nine-figure deal to Greinke than to Price, though the expectation is still that Price’s deal will top Greinke’s due to age. Crasnick quotes a pair of scouts that rave about Greinke’s delivery and how he can age well due to his intelligence and lack of reliance on pure velocity. One NL scout likened Greinke to Greg Maddux.
  • Heyward won the voting over Upton when asked which would perform better over the life of his next contract, though there was a reasonably even split, and many scouts quoted by Crasnick are concerned with Heyward’s reliance on defensive value and what one described to be a high-maintenance swing.
  • Murphy won the voting over Rasmus in their question, and one American League special assistant offered an interesting take to Crasnick: “If I was a team and I had a market for Murphy, I’d want him playing third base. I don’t like him at second. The ball finds him, like it did in the World Series. He got exposed there.” Murphy does have experience at third base, and we’ve mentioned him as a possible option for teams in need of help at the hot corner here at MLBTR, as the free-agent market presents little beyond Murphy and David Freese.
  • More respondents felt that Castro is likelier to be traded than Baez, even though as one scout put it, Baez would “fetch more of a haul.” An AL GM offered an interesting take on Castro’s contract, however, telling Crasnick: “Castro showed enough at two positions this year that his contract will seem like a fair deal once the free-agent class this year gets paid.” Castro, who is owed about $38MM over the next four seasons, certainly isn’t cheap and isn’t without his risks. He was a replacement-level player in 2013 and played that way for much of the 2015 season before his bat came to life late in the season following a switch to second base. Of course, Castro also sported an unsustainable .388 BABIP in September and October, which somewhat inflated his production.
  • Cespedes and Samardzija narrowly won the voting on their respective question, while Gordon was far and away the most popular answer in the Royals realm.

AL Notes: Chris Young, Royals, Forsythe, Profar, Red Sox

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The Red Sox are among the team’s expressing early interest in free agent outfielder Chris Young, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter. It remains to be seen what kind of fit he’d have in Boston, which features two right-handed bats in Mookie Betts and Rusney Castillo in the outfield. Presumably, Young would be pursued as a possible complimentary piece to the left-handed-hitting Jackie Bradley Jr. Of course, it’s still early, and Nightengale also mentions that several other clubs have already been in contact with Young, who had a nice 2015 season for the Yankees (.252/.320/.453 with 14 home runs in 356 plate appearances).

  • That’s not the only player by that name, of course, and the other Chris Young has also crafted an interesting free agent case for himself with a strong platform campaign. The Royals do have interest in bringing Young back, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star tweets, but only if his asking price drops. After drawing only marginal interest on the market the last two winters, Young is seeking “pay commensurate to his performance,” per McCullough. (The 36-year-old has contributed 288 1/3 innings of 3.40 ERA pitching over the past two seasons, which was obviously quite valuable.)
  • The Royals are giving indications that they see a reunion with Ben Zobrist as more likely than the re-signing of Alex Gordon or Johnny Cueto, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links). Zobrist not only makes for a nice fit, given his ability to play second or the corner outfield, but will presumably end up with a contract of a shorter duration than the other two players.
  • Another player coming off of a big season is Rays infielder Logan Forsythe, who broke out with a .281/.359/.444 slash line. Tampa Bay and the 28-year-old have mutual interest in discussing an extension of some kind, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. Forsythe has two years of control remaining, and MLBTR projects him to earn $3.3MM for the coming season. Given that the five-year veteran has never come close to his 2015 production in prior seasons, and bearing in mind the organization’s scant payroll, the likeliest scenario may be a deal that guarantees only two or three seasons while leaving the team with an option or two at the back end.
  • The Yankees are among the team’s that would have interest in Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar if he’s made available, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. But teams looking for a buy-low opportunity are likely barking up the wrong tree, per the report. “We are not looking to trade him,” said Rangers GM Jon Daniels. “We held onto him this long. We are pretty optimistic his shoulder is fit. The mindset is to wait and see where he is. We believe he will get back to his value, which was one of the best young players out there.”
  • Turning back to the Red Sox, the club not only has some acquisition work to do this winter, but will surely at least consider the idea of extensions, with Betts and Xander Bogaerts seemingly representing the two most likely targets. Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com discusses that possibility, noting that new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has reached significant extensions in the past. While he declined to discuss those two players’ situations, he did talk about his general approach. “I don’t really have any specific rule on it other than that you want to make sure you feel comfortable that when you give it to the player that you feel their abilities merit it, that you’re going to get the performance,” said Dombrowski. “It’s an exchange of they’re getting a long-term contract and you’re getting some end of it back yourself. Maybe you’re getting some free agency type years. But I don’t really have any set formula when to do that and I think every player is different.”

Bullpen Notes: Miller, O’Day, Soria, Madson

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The Yankees are reportedly open to nearly any scenario this winter, and according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, that includes trading Andrew Miller. While Heyman is careful to note that the scenario isn’t likely and the Yankees aren’t actively shopping their excellent closer, other clubs have said that Miller’s name is “out there a bit,” as Heyman puts it. Andy Martino of the New York Daily News applauds GM Brian Cashman’s open-mindedness (Twitter link). He speculates that the Yankees could flip Miller for immediate help and then trade prospects to acquire Craig Kimbrel from the Padres, leaving the 2016 club improved overall. The Yankees already have a dominant late-inning arm that could step into the ninth inning in place of Miller, of course, in Dellin Betances, though there’s certainly something to be said for having a pair of shutdown arms to handle the final two-plus innings of a game.

A few more notes from the relief market as the GM Meetings get underway…

  • Preliminary interest in Darren O’Day is “steep,” tweets Heyman, who adds that the Tigers, Cubs, Nationals, Red Sox, Royals and Dodgers are all in at this stage. The 32-year-old O’Day is probably the top relief arm on the market, as he’s coming off a dominant stretch in which he posted a 1.92 ERA in 263 innings over a four-year stretch spanning 2012-15. O’Day landed 33rd on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agent list, with Tim Dierkes projecting a three-year deal worth about $22.5MM.
  • The Tigers will meet with the representatives for right-hander Joakim Soria at the GM Meetings this week, according to Tony Paul of the Detroit News (links to Twitter). The Tigers traded Soria to the Pirates at this summer’s non-waiver deadline, but that move was carried out by the since-departed Dave Dombrowski, and it stands to reason that new GM Al Avila, who is known to be seeking bullpen upgrades, could want Soria back in the ninth inning in Detroit. Paul adds that the Tigers’ preference between O’Day and Soria could come down to who is more willing to sign first, as the team will want to move onto other needs/targets relatively quickly.
  • Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star tweets that Ryan Madson, who picked up a World Series ring and emphatically re-established himself as a quality big league setup man with the Royals this season, is seeking a multi-year deal on the free agent market. That’s not a huge surprise given the lack of elite relief arms on the free agent market this season and the strong results he delivered in 2015. Madson tallied a 2.13 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings with Kansas City this season. He struggled in the ALDS and ALCS before turning in three very strong World Series innings. Tim pegged Madson for a three-year deal in the $15MM range in the aforementioned Top 50 list.

AL Central Notes: Soria, Indians, Cueto, Glass

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The Tigers have contacted Joakim Soria’s agent about a possible return to Detroit, MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports, though they’ll be one of several teams in the mix for his services.  The reliever-needy Tigers have a distinct need for a solid bullpen arm, but Aroldis Chapman probably isn’t a fit since Detroit aren’t keen on dealing from their just-rebuild farm system to match the Reds’ high asking price for the ace closer.  Here’s some more from around the AL Central…

  • Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (via Twitter) that he will look into trading a starting pitcher in order to improve elsewhere, though it’s not necessarily something that he’d like to do.  The Tribe received a lot of interest in their young starters last summer; Carlos Carrasco drew particular attention and Cleveland in fact almost dealt him to the Blue Jays.
  • While the Indians may not be able to spend big on free agents, what they can offer is playing time at third, first or in the outfield, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (Insider-only link).  This might be significant in helping the Tribe land a lower-tier free agent veteran; Olney suggests the likes of Juan Uribe, Justin Morneau, Mike Napoli and Will Venable as possible fits.
  • Johnny Cueto’s agent, Bryce Dixon, also Duquette and Bowden (Twitter links) to discuss his client’s free agency.  Dixon expressed confidence that teams will see that Cueto his healthy after viewing his medicals, and if Cueto had been hurt, he wouldn’t have been able to deliver such strong results for the Royals in two of his postseason outings.
  • Royals owner David Glass deserves credit for standing behind GM Dayton Moore during tough times, Tracy Ringolsby of MLB.com writes.  Moore’s tenure is the fourth longest among current general managers behind Brian Sabean of the Giants (now executive VP of baseball operations), Brian Cashman of the Yankees, and Jon Daniels of the Rangers.  Those executives, however, enjoyed either quick success or quicker returns on rebuilds than Moore, as the Royals didn’t even post a winning record until Moore’s seventh full season running the team.
  • Joe Mauer will be 36 when his current contract expires in three years, but the Twins first baseman tells Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he hasn’t given any thought about retirement at that time, only that he “probably” wants to play “as long as I can.”

MLBTR’s Zach Links also contributed to this post

Heyman’s Latest: Free Agents, O’Day, Gordon, Hunter

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CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman shares his predictions about where this offseason’s top 50 free agents will earn in their next contracts.  Be sure to check out MLBTR’s own top 50 free agents list, as Heyman and Tim Dierkes have a few interesting differences over some contract values and where some players are ranked within the top 50.  In other news from Heyman, his latest Inside Baseball column recaps several items that he and others have reported over the last few weeks, as well as some fresh hot stove tidbits…

  • The Dodgers, Nationals, Red Sox and Tigers are among the many teams who have already shown interest in Darren O’Day.  It’s no surprise that quartet has been particularly eager to check in with O’Day given how all four teams are known to be hunting for bullpen upgrades this winter.  The Orioles, the righty reliever’s former team, “are trailing at present.”
  • The Royals will look to re-sign Alex Gordon but are hoping to do so on a three- or four-year contract.  Given how Gordon’s well-rounded game makes him a fit on several teams, he’ll easily top the three-year plateau and even four might be a pipe dream for Kansas City unless the Royals inflate his average annual value.  MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes predicts Gordon will land a five-year contract worth $105MM.
  • We’ve already heard that the Twins were disappointed by Torii Hunter’s retirement, and beyond the loss of his clubhouse leadership, Heyman adds that the team will miss him from an on-field standpoint as well.  Hunter would’ve been an insurance policy since the Twins aren’t sure if former top prospect Byron Buxton is ready for an everyday job.  Buxton’s rookie season was a forgettable one, as he hit .209/.250/.326 over 138 plate appearances and also spent about seven weeks on the DL with a sprained thumb.

Royals Notes: Starters, Gordon, Holland

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Even though the Royals just won the World Series, they acknowledge they have flaws to address this offseason, including the need for their starters to pitch more innings, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports. “We have to address the issue of innings from our starters,” says GM Dayton Moore. “It’s important to get more innings out of our starters.” Royals starters pitched just 912 2/3 innings this season, last in the American League, and as Moore notes that can strain a bullpen, even a terrific one, over a full season. The Royals currently have Edinson Volquez, Yordano Ventura, Danny Duffy and Kris Medlen in the fold for next season, and they’ll be on the lookout for another starter this winter. Here’s more out of Kansas City.

  • Royals owner David Glass says the team is interested in Alex Gordon but doesn’t yet know what it will offer him, Flanagan writes (Twitter links). Somewhat ominously, perhaps, for Royals fans, Glass adds that’s he accepts the possibility that Gordon could sign elsewhere. “We want what is best for Alex,” he says. “If another team offers him a big contract that is out of our range, then he needs to do what is best.”
  • When the Royals non-tendered injured reliever Greg Holland, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported that the team would consider re-signing him to a two-year deal. Via Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star (on Twitter), Moore confirms exactly that — the team would like to keep Holland with the Royals on a deal lasting more than a year.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/7/15

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the game (including a number of roster additions that actually took place yesterday).

  • The Mets have outrighted catcher Anthony Recker and infielder Wilfredo Tovar, as ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin notes. Both players have become free agents. Recker was the Mets’ backup catcher in 2013 and 2014, but with Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki now at the big-league level, the Mets no longer had a spot for him. He’s hit .185/.260/.334 in parts of five seasons. The 24-year-old Tovar hit .283/.327/.356 in hitter-friendly Triple-A Las Vegas this season while playing shortstop, second and third. In 2013 and 2014, he collected a combined 22 plate appearances in the big leagues.
  • The Mets have added lefty Josh Smoker to their 40-man roster, Rubin tweets. Once a top draft pick of the rival Nationals, Smoker experienced a surprising rebound as a reliever in the New York system, reining in his command issues and putting up double-digit strikeout-per-nine numbers at the A, High-A, and Double-A levels. The Mets obviously feel he can contribute in 2016, and made today’s move to prevent him from qualifying for minor league free agency.
  • The Indians have announced that they’ve outrighted catcher Adam Moore and that Moore is now a free agent. They also activated pitchers T.J. House and Nick Hagadone from the 60-day DL. The 31-year-old Moore has appeared in all of the past seven seasons in the big leagues, although he’s collected only 45 total plate appearances in the past five. He spent most of the 2015 season with Triple-A Columbus, batting .282/.328/.397.
  • The Royals have added 27-year-old outfielder Jose Martinez to their 40-man roster, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star writes. The 6-foot-7 Martinez broke out in his ninth year in the minors, batting a ridiculous .384/.461/.563 in 396 plate appearances with Triple-A Omaha. (None of the numbers in that sentence are typos.) That .384 figure isn’t sustainable, surely, although Martinez does have a good record of hitting for contact in the minors, even as he struggled to establish himself in the White Sox and Braves systems. By adding him to their 40-man, the Royals have prevented him from seeking minor league free agency. McCullough notes that many scouts consider Martinez an organizational player. It’s easy to understand why the Royals protected him, however, given the absurd season he just had.
  • The Cardinals have announced that they’ve added outfielder Anthony Garcia to their 40-man roster. The move keeps the 23-year-old Garcia from becoming a minor league free agent after a season in which he hit a strong .283/.391/.477 in 410 plate appearances split between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis.
  • The Orioles have announced that they’ve selected the contract of 27-year-old lefty Chris Jones. Jones took a significant step forward in his ninth season in the minors in 2015, pitching 150 innings for Triple-A Norfolk with a 2.94 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

Players To Receive Qualifying Offers

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The deadline for players to extend qualifying offers to their free agents is 5pm ET today. The value of this year’s qualifying offer — which is equated by taking the average salary of the game’s 125 highest-paid players — is $15.8MM. Teams can extend the QO to free agents who spent the entire year with that club (i.e. were not midseason signings/trade acquisitions), giving the player one week to accept or decline the deal. Should the player accept — and to this point, no one has ever accepted a QO — he is immediately under contract for the following season at that $15.8MM salary and cannot be traded without his consent until the following June. If a player rejects and signs with a new club, his former team is awarded a compensatory draft pick at the end of the first round the following year. Any team that signs a player that has rejected a QO must forfeit its top unprotected draft pick. (The top 10 picks in next year’s draft are protected under the collective bargaining agreement.) Those wishing to drill down deeper into the specifics of the qualifying offer can check out MLBTR’s full explanation of the qualifying offer system.

The previous one-year record for number of player to receive a QO is 13, but with a deep crop of free-agent talent this offseason, a new record will absolutely be set. I see as many as 22 realistic QO candidates in this year’s free agent class, though some of those are admittedly borderline calls whose teams may decide not to make the risk. To this point, the Royals have already made the obvious decision to extend a QO to Alex Gordon (as they announced yesterday). That was the lone formal announcement prior to Friday.

All that said, here’s the list of formal qualifying offers to be extended (we’ll update accordingly throughout the day)…

  • The Orioles announced that they’ve issued qualifying offers to first baseman Chris Davis, lefty Wei-Yin Chen, and catcher Matt Wieters. Though reports at times questioned whether Baltimore would extend the $15.8MM offer to Wieters, it always seemed a near-lock that that the team would do so (with expectations that he’ll reject it and look for multiple years in free agency).
  • The White Sox have officially announced their qualifying offer to Jeff Samardzija, which was essentially a foregone conclusion. It’s been known that Samardzija will receive a qualifying offer and widely reported that he will reject said offer for quite some time.

Earlier Updates

  • Hisashi Iwakuma (Mariners), Dexter Fowler (Cubs) and Daniel Murphy (Mets) will all receive qualifying offers, writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Each of the moves was widely expected, although Heyman also hears that the Padres have made up their mind and will make a qualifying offer to Ian Kennedy. That situation was a bit more up in the air, though Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune said two nights ago that it was a “likely” outcome, and we at MLBTR have voiced the belief that the Padres should and would make the QO on multiple occasions.
  • The Blue Jays have now announced that Marco Estrada will receive a qualifying offer on the strength of his impressive 2015 regular season and playoff performance. (A full breakdown of Estrada’s qualifying offer can be read here.)
  • The Cardinals announced that they have extended the qualifying offer to both Jason Heyward and John Lackey. Each decision was widely anticipated, as they 26-year-old Heyward is poised to cash in on an enormous contract due to his youth, defensive prowess and solid contributions at the plate and on the bases. Lackey recently turned 37, but he’s completely rejuvenated his career over the past three seasons and is well-positioned to land a sizable multi-year deal this winter even with draft pick compensation attached to his name
  • As noted above, the Royals announced their qualifying offer to Alex Gordon on Thursday afternoon.
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