East Notes: Wieters, Rays, Mets, Phillies, Orioles
The offer the Rays made to catcher Matt Wieters before he agreed to join the Nationals on Tuesday fell well short of Washington’s $21MM guaranteed proposal, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays were willing to hand Wieters $6MM in guarantees and give him a chance to exceed the $10MM mark via incentives on a one-year contract. While Tampa Bay would have been happy to reel in Wieters at that price, it’s not too broken up about losing out on his services, per Topkin. As the Rays await the return of injured free agent signing Wilson Ramos, they’ll be “very content” with Curt Casali, Luke Maile and Jesus Sucre as their top options at catcher, manager Kevin Cash said Tuesday.
More from the AL/NL East:
- Meanwhile, Wieters’ agreement bolstered the confidence of an NL East rival – Mets backstop Travis d’Arnaud – because it ended speculation that the former would end up in Queens, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “For them to back me up like that means a lot,” d’Arnaud said. “I definitely worked harder to prove them right, to show them that I do care about it. I want to be here, to help this team get to the World Series and win it all.” The Mets didn’t seriously pursue Wieters, according to DiComo, and manager Terry Collins explained Tuesday that there’s plenty of belief in d’Arnaud within the organization. “If you’re a player and your front office and your manager support you and believe in you, you’d better have a good feeling about yourself,” Collins stated. “When you talk to Travis, you say, ‘Hey look, when you first came here, everybody talked about potential, potential. We’ve seen it in action, so we know it’s in there. We’ve just got to get it back out.'” The 28-year-old d’Arnaud is a former high-end prospect who was terrific as recently as 2015, though he has an extensive injury history and is coming off a highly disappointing season.
- In the weeks between the opening of free agency in November and Andres Blanco‘s December re-signing with the Phillies, the utility infielder refused to entertain other teams’ advances, he told Matt Gelb of Philly.com. “Just wait. They will call,” Blanco advised his agent, referring to the Phillies. They finally did – with a $3MM offer – in part because Blanco’s a respected figure in the team’s clubhouse and a favorite of manager Pete Mackanin, per Gelb. It helps that the 32-year-old has also been quite productive in Philadelphia, having slashed .274/.337/.457 in 523 plate appearances since 2014.
- Orioles closer Zach Britton won’t pitch in Wednesday’s intrasquad game because he’s showing symptoms of an oblique injury, manager Buck Showalter told reporters, including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Showalter downplayed the severity of the ailment, saying the O’s are only holding out the star left-hander for precautionary reasons. While oblique injuries often lead to disabled list stints during the year, Showalter indicated that Britton would be able to pitch through this if it popped up in the regular season.
West Notes: Romo, Hahn, M’s, D-Backs
Newly minted Dodgers righty Sergio Romo discussed his interesting journey to joining his hometown team with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Personal trials and the strain of an increasingly high-profile role in the Giants bullpen put a strain on the veteran hurler, he tells Rosenthal. He credits several former teammates, including lefty Javier Lopez, with helping him to find his footing once again. Also of note, Rosenthal says that Romo “reject[ed] a higher offer from the Rays” to head to Los Angeles, due in part to the ability to live closer to his family.
Here’s more from out west:
- Righty Jesse Hahn is set to receive the Athletics‘ first start this spring, as Susan Slusser notes on Twitter. That’s a solid indication that he’s under serious consideration for the fifth starters’ role, she notes. The 27-year-old is looking to bounce back after a rough 2016 campaign in which he pitched to a 6.02 ERA with just 4.5 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in his 46 1/3 MLB innings. Hahn had generated quality results in his first two MLB campaigns, which occurred on both sides of a trade that sent him to Oakland from the Padres in exchange for catcher Derek Norris. But elbow troubles interrupted his 2015 campaign, and he has yet to get back on track.
- Mariners president Kevin Mather issued a statement to MLB.com in advance of the 2017 campaign, expressing high hopes for the organization. While any executive would express an intention to win a championship, his words seem to carry a certain set of expectations for the near term. “It is time to play October baseball in Seattle,” writes Mather. “Our fans deserve playoff baseball, and I’m not just talking about a Wild Card Game. Once in the playoffs, our goal is to win the World Series. Period. And having said that, we don’t want to win just one.”
- New Diamondbacks exec Amiel Sawdaye — whose title is senior VP and assistant GM — spoke with David Laurila of Fangraphs about the organization’s new approach. Sawdaye is only one of several key figures in Arizona with deep ties to the Red Sox, so it’s not surprising to learn that Boston’s approach will be reflected. He describes the intended decisionmaking process as “more of a flat hierarchy.” Sawdaye emphasized, though, that the D-Backs had strong player development and scouting units, good young front office people, and a “decent infrastructure” for analytics already in place. There are several other topics covered in the interesting chat, including the Jean Segura trade and the team’s possibilities for 2017.
- Jorge De La Rosa is among the players competing for a role with the Diamondbacks this spring, and as MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert notes, he’s hoping to finally crack the big league roster there in his third stint with the organization. Of course, De La Rosa had only previously actually suited up for a few minor-league outings as an 18-year-old; his second run with Arizona only lasted a few days. Now 35, the veteran southpaw will be looking for a chance to pitch against his former club, the division-rival Rockies. “I have always liked this team, and I like the talent we have here,” says De La Rosa of the D-Backs. “I know we can do some really good things. That’s why I chose to be here.”
AL East Notes: Bautista, Rusney, Weeks, Rays
In the wake of Dellin Betances‘ unusually public war of words with Yankees ownership in the wake of Betances’ arbitration hearing, a seemingly far more civil salary disagreement between the Yankees and another star was settled on this day in 1935. Long before salary arbitration was instituted in MLB, Lou Gehrig agreed to a $30K contract from New York for the upcoming season. This hefty-for-the-era salary made Gehrig the highest-paid player on the club, though it was still $7K short of Gehrig’s original demand. The Iron Horse didn’t seem too put off by the smaller paycheck, however, as he went on to hit .329/.466/.583 with 30 homers and a league-best 125 runs scored in a season that was, incredibly, a significant dropoff by Gehrig’s standards. He “only” posted 8.7 fWAR in 1935, as compared to his 10.7 fWAR season in 1934…so *clearly* the Yankees made a shrewd move in withholding that extra $7K. Gehrig, undoubtedly embarrassed by his subpar 1935 performance, rebounded for a 9.7 fWAR year in 1936.
Here’s the latest from around the AL East…
- Jose Bautista was choosing “between five or six places” this offseason before ultimately deciding to return to the Blue Jays, the slugger told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and other reporters. There wasn’t too much buzz surrounding Bautista’s market this winter, as he was ultimately able to land only one guaranteed year on an $18.5MM salary, though another two years and $36.5MM could be available in option years. While the list of suitors was “not as many as I was expecting,” Bautista said he is happy to be returning to his first choice team.
- Bautista also expressed some regrets about his public salary comments during last year’s Spring Training camp as well as comments made in private to Jays management. “I think in retrospect – I believe I can speak for myself and not for them – but I feel like I definitely could have handled things differently and maybe things would have played out different….Not necessarily changing the things that I said, maybe voicing them in a different setting and in a different way that might not get misconstrued and misunderstood the way that they did,” Bautista said. A lack of familiarity between the two sides contributed to the situation, he added.
- Rusney Castillo is something of a forgotten man in the Red Sox camp, as ESPN.com’s Scott Lauber writes that the outfielder has no clear path to MLB playing time or even the 40-man roster. Castillo is still hopeful of making an impact, as he is retooling his swing and is enjoying more personal comfort now that his five-year-old son and other family members have been able to leave Cuba to join him in the United States. Castillo signed a seven-year, $72.5MM deal with Boston in August 2014 but has just a .679 OPS over 337 big league plate appearances.
- The Rays essentially made “a coin-flip decision” to draft Delmon Young over Rickie Weeks with the first pick of the 2003 draft, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Drafting Weeks would’ve obviously significantly changed not only the Rays’ franchise history, but likely a good chunk of baseball history over the last decade-plus, as Topkin chronicles the chain reaction of events that would’ve been altered had Young not gone first overall. Weeks, after all these years, has finally ended up in a Tampa uniform after signing a minor league contract with the Rays earlier this month.
Quick Hits: Betances, Pace Of Play, Rox, Schwarber, Rays
Ace reliever Dellin Betances had more to say Sunday regarding his arbitration-related dispute with Yankees president Randy Levine, telling reporters – including George A. King III of the New York Post – that he has no regrets over comments he made Saturday. Betances added that he isn’t going to seek out Levine to potentially clear the air between the two. “I don’t feel I need to speak to him, I don’t know how [the Yankees] feel,’’ Betances said. “I am just going to try and prepare for the season and help the team as much as I can.’’ Further, on the heels of MLBPA executive Rick Shapiro calling Levine’s remarks “totally unprecedented” Saturday, union chief Tony Clark weighed in Sunday and referred to them as “unprofessional” (Twitter link via Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan).
More from around the majors:
- In an attempt to shorten games, MLB is interested in placing a runner on second at the beginning of extra innings, but that’s not something the players are ever going to sign off on, Clark told the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner (Twitter link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Clark actually laughed at the idea while shooting it down, but he did note that players are open to changing the intentional walk (Twitter links via Passan).
- While Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon‘s name came up in trade rumors during the winter, GM Jeff Bridich didn’t show any interest in dealing him for anything but a massive return. Should a trade come together in the next two years, Blackmon’s final seasons of team control, it seems he’d understand. “I just think they value me pretty high, I guess, and that’s why nothing happened,” Blackmon told Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “I think that’s good. But it’s my opinion that if a deal had come along where they had gotten a deal worth more than what I was worth, then they would’ve made the deal. And I would expect that to happen.”
- Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber caught a bullpen session Friday for the first time since he tore multiple knee ligaments last April and informed Carrie Muskat of MLB.com on Sunday that he “loved it.” Schwarber realizes that he must “take it slow with the knee and the injury and everything like that,” though, and likely won’t do much catching this season with Willson Contreras and Miguel Montero on Chicago’s roster. “I’ve got to be ready at any time to come in late in the game from left field to maybe come catch and give those guys a blow,” Schwarber said. “It’s not like I’m going to be the everyday starter.”
- Although he emerged as the Rays’ best first base option last season, Brad Miller indicated Sunday that he’s on board with moving to second base this year to take over for the departed Logan Forsythe. “I’m not going to prepare for first at all this spring,” Miller told Bill Chastain of MLB.com. “Just try to get as many reps at second and short right now with the makeup of the team. Obviously, I know it’s a long year. I’ve been through changing positions before. So I understand.” After the Rays’ workout Sunday, manager Kevin Cash opined that Miller “looked outstanding” and was “really fundamentally sound.” The middle infield is nothing new for Miller, who has played 369 games at shortstop and 37 at the keystone. The results haven’t been pretty, however, as Miller has posted minus-27 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-12.3 Ultimate Zone Rating in nearly 3,300 combined innings at the two positions.
East Notes: Hardy, Swihart, Wilson, Johnson, Scherzer
Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy underwent an MRI yesterday and a CT scan today due to back spasms that have been troubling him since late January, Hardy himself told reporters (via Peter Schmuck and Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun). Hardy has had back spasms in the past but doesn’t seem overly concerned by the injury, stating that they feel “similar to everything I’ve had in the past.” At this juncture, there doesn’t sound to be cause for significant concern, but the situation is certainly worth keeping an eye on.
A few more notes out of the game’s eastern divisions …
- Spring Training is off to a rocky start for Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports. Though it’s obviously still early, Swihart has struggled badly with getting the ball back to the pitcher. As Drellich explains, that’s perhaps of particular concern here: Swihart is reacclimating to life behind the dish after a stint in the outfield (and then on the DL) in 2016 and has always faced questions about his defensive abilities.
- The Rays have some interest in newly knuckleballing righty Brian Wilson, according to Marc Topkin and Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times. Once a power late-inning reliever, Wilson has battled injuries and hasn’t pitched competitively since 2014. Tampa Bay has dedicated resources to finding and developing knucklers, and trying out the soon-to-be-35-year-old would at least represent a fun-to-follow experiment.
- Speaking of former closers, Jim Johnson will enter camp with a firm hold on the 9th inning for the Braves, as David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Atlanta extended the 33-year-old after his strong finish to the 2016 season, which included a run as the Braves’ closer. Johnson finished the year with 64 2/3 innings of 3.06 ERA ball on his ledger, supported by a surprising 9.5 K/9. A repeat of that strikeout rate seems unlikely, as Johnson’s 7.7% swinging-strike rate fell below the league average and right at his career mark, but he continues to induce plenty of groundballs.
- After telling reporters yesterday that he was still experiencing symptoms from his broken right ring finger, Nationals righty Max Scherzer took part in a seemingly productive long toss session today, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post was among those to tweet. While it still seems likely that he’ll be delayed, and may not quite be ready to take the ball on Opening Day, it’s encouraging that Scherzer is not being held back entirely from throwing. The reigning National League Cy Young winner had been expected to participate in the World Baseball Classic, but those plans were already iced when the news emerged that he had been diagnosed with the fractured digit.
Rays Have Made Offer To Matt Wieters
The Rays’ interest in free-agent catcher Matt Wieters is serious enough that they’ve made a formal offer, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. However, the team’s offer is “likely for one year” and would be less lucrative than whatever figure Wieters and agent Scott Boras are still hoping to find in free agency. FanRag’s Jon Heyman first tweeted word of Tampa Bay’s offer to Wieters, though he cautioned that they may not be the front-runner to land his services.
Even a $10MM guarantee would be a fairly surprising sum for the Rays to offer, Topkin opines, though he notes that perhaps “creativity and incentives” could push the potential value of an offer beyond that threshold. Tampa Bay’s hope is that the switch-hitting Wieters will be enticed by the opportunity to work with a superior pitching staff and receive regular at-bats between catcher and, later in the year (when Wilson Ramos is healthy enough to take some of the time at catcher), designated hitter.
The question Wieters and Boras must now weigh is how long they’re willing to wait out the spring market. An injury to a contending club’s starting catcher would immediately create a new potential landing spot and could certainly lead to a larger offer (in terms of total dollars and/or years), but there’s certainly no guarantee of any such fit arising. Wieters’ camp could also look to drum up a bidding war between teams that are willing to sign him for one year; ESPN’s Jayson Stark tweeted yesterday that the Nationals still have interest in Wieters but wouldn’t be likely to offer anything more than a one-year pact. It’s not clear whether Boras and Wieters have dropped their asking price to the one-year range just yet, though I’d imagine that if they did, there’d be more clubs beyond the Rays and Nationals that were willing to try to make something work.
As it stands, the Rays will enter the season with Curt Casali and Luke Maile as their lead catchers on the 40-man roster, with veterans Michael McKenry and Jesus Sucre in camp as non-roster invitees. Ramos is reportedly eyeing a May return to the team, Topkin tweeted yesterday, but that’s an ambitious goal for a catcher who suffered his second career ACL tear late last September.
The 30-year-old Wieters is coming off a season in which he batted .243/.302/.409 with 17 home runs in 464 plate appearances. His at-bats were limited early on as he ramped back up to full durability after missing much of the 2014-15 seasons due to Tommy John surgery, but Wieters was catching a significant workload by September of last season. He routinely draws poor framing marks, however, and his market has seemingly been hampered by that fact this winter as teams place a continually growing emphasis on that ability when evaluating backstops.
Rangers Acquire Eddie Gamboa From Rays
The Rangers announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Eddie Gamboa from the Rays in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Both Prince Fielder and Jake Diekman have been placed on the 60-day disabled list, as well, per the Rangers’ announcement. That brings their current 40-man count to 39.
Gamboa was just designated for assignment by the Rays earlier this morning, though it didn’t take Tampa Bay long to find a team that was interested in the 32-year-old knuckleballer. A longtime Orioles farmhand, Gamboa finally cracked a big league roster with the Rays in 2016 after spending parts of nine seasons in the minors. He logged a pristine 1.35 ERA in 13 1/3 innings with the Rays, striking out 11 but also issuing a more troublesome eight walks in that time.
Gamboa has worked primarily as a starter in the minors and didn’t adopt his knuckleball until the 2013 season. He had a breakout campaign with the pitch last year in 2016, working to a stellar 2.68 ERA with 8.5 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 across 94 innings. He split his time in 2016 more evenly between the rotation and bullpen than in previous seasons (15 relief appearances, 12 starts), though it’s not entirely clear how the Rangers intend to utilize him this year. The Rangers noted in their press release that Gamboa was originally signed by former Orioles scout James Keller, who is now a special assistant to Rangers GM Jon Daniels, so Gamboa comes as somewhat of a known commodity to at least one Texas exec.
Starting Pitcher Arbitration Decisions Released
Arbitration decisions on several first-year arb-eligible starting pitchers have been released. According to prior reports, the outcomes of the pending cases were being held until all had been heard and decided, to avoid earlier results impacting later decisions.
Three starters won their cases:
- Collin McHugh, Astros: With his victory, McHugh will earn $3.85MM rather than the $3.35MM that the team had argued for, as Brian McTaggart of MLB.com first reported on Twitter.
- Jake Odorizzi, Rays: In another relatively high-dollar case, the right-hander will get his requested $4.1MM payday over the club’s $3.825MM submission, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
- Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays: Stroman takes home $3.4MM in his Super Two year instead of the team’s $3.1MM proposal, also via Heyman.
Teams prevailed against three others:
- Taijuan Walker, Diamondbacks: The new Arizona rotation member, who’s also a Super Two qualifier, will earn $2.25MM instead of his filing figure of $2.6MM, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
- Chase Anderson, Brewers: Anderson, the final Super Two member of this bunch, will settle for the team’s $2.45MM proffer rather than the $2.85MM he sought, according to Heyman.
- Michael Wacha, Cardinals: In his first year of eligibility, Wacha will take home $2.775MM, falling shy of his $3.2MM request, per Heyman.
Rays Designate Eddie Gamboa, Announce Nathan Eovaldi Signing
The Rays have designated righty Eddie Gamboa for assignment, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported (via Twitter). The move was made to clear roster space for fellow righty Nathan Eovaldi, whose signing was announced.
Though Eovaldi will not be available to the team, as he recovers from elbow surgery, his roster spot can be used again once he’s placed on the 60-day DL. It remains to be seen whether Gamboa will remain with the Rays. Assuming that he clears outright waivers, he could reject an assignment, as he has been outrighted previously.
Gamboa, a 32-year-old knuckleballer, finally made his big league debut last year in Tampa Bay, holding opposing hitters to two earned runs on nine base hits over 13 1/3 innings. He earned that brief look with a solid showing at Triple-A, where Gamboa spun 94 frames of 2.68 ERA ball with 8.5 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Swihart, Rays, Wieters
Though it’ll be a week or more before either Drew Pomeranz or Steven Wright is able to throw off a mound (as Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes), Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski stated that he feels the Sox are deeper in rotation options than the vast majority of clubs (Twitter link via Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal). Mastrodonato’s colleague, Evan Drellich, recently took a look at the team’s lack of established options beyond the top six of Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, Pomeranz and Wright, though, noting that each of Henry Owens, Roenis Elias and Brian Johnson comes with question marks. (The Sox also have Kyle Kendrick in camp on a non-roster invite.)
There’s a bit of a disconnect in the messaging being put forth by manager John Farrell and Dombrowski, as Farrell stated yesterday that Wright’s rehab has “certainly” taken longer than the team anticipated (via Mastrodonato’s column), while Dombrowski said today (Twitter link via the Globe’s Alex Speier) that the rehab of Wright and Pomeranz has progressed “as expected.” Speier adds in a second tweet that Dombrowski said there’s no room for additions on the MLB roster, but if the team adds any additional non-roster players, they’d likely be pitchers.
More on the Sox and the rest of the division…
- Also from Mastrodonato’s column, Farrell acknowledged that Blake Swihart‘s remaining minor league option could work against him in Spring Training. Both Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez are out of options, and the Red Sox won’t want to expose either to waivers at the end of camp, which seemingly signals a trip to Triple-A Pawtucket to open the season for Swihart. Certainly, injuries could change the plan for the Sox, but it’s tough to see all three fitting on the roster. “We’ve got three guys that are fully healthy, that’s No. 1, particularly with what Blake went through last year and the surgery in the offseason,” Farrell told Mastrodonato. “But with Sandy, Christian and Blake, yeah we feel really good about the core group that’s there. We’ll see how things unfold.”
- Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes that after the Rays passed on Franklin Gutierrez and Byung Ho Park, they’ll likely to see which right-handed bats emerge as potential additions over the course of Spring Training (unless Matt Wieters “falls to them,” he notes). Tampa Bay was tied to a number of right-handed bats, with Mike Napoli, Chris Carter and Mark Reynolds all linked to the Rays at one point (in addition to Gutierrez and Park). The Rays could add either a first baseman or second baseman to serve as a platoon partner for Logan Morrison and/or Brad Miller. Also of note, regarding the Rays, Topkin adds that past interest in right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter could suggest that he’d be a fit as a late pickup.
- As the Orioles began to report to Spring Training in Sarasota, Fla., GM Dan Duquette was asked by the Baltimore media once again today if there’s any chance of a reunion with Matt Wieters now that his market has seemingly been stagnant for so long. Via MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, Duquette replied that Orioles “made a choice” when they signed Welington Castillo to a two-year, $13MM deal (with a player option/opt-out clause after year one) back in December. Duquette did note that he’s still on the hunt for further pitching depth, even after acquiring young right-hander Gabriel Ynoa from the Mets last Friday.