Dodgers Acquire J.P. Feyereisen
3:15pm: The Rays have officially announced the deal.
10:18am: The Rays are receiving minor league lefty Jeff Belge in the trade, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
10:10am: The Dodgers and Rays have agreed to a trade sending right-hander J.P. Feyereisen from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). The Rays will receive a minor league pitcher in exchange for Feyereisen, who underwent shoulder surgery last week and is expected to be sidelined into late August. The Rays designated Feyereisen for assignment yesterday to make roster space for newly signed Zach Eflin.
It’s a long-term play for the Dodgers, as Feyereisen is still controllable through the 2026 season via arbitration. The Rays would surely have loved to keep Feyereisen until this spring, when they could place him on the 60-day injured list and free up his 40-man roster spot. However, Tampa Bay also has righties Shane Baz and Andrew Kittredge recovering from Tommy John surgery and in need of 60-day IL spots when camp opens. As such, carrying all three until Spring Training would’ve effectively amounted to Tampa Bay operating with a 37-man roster instead of a 40-man roster for the balance of the offseason.
Feyereisen’s DFA raised plenty of eyebrows yesterday, as the right-hander rattled off 24 1/3 scoreless innings for the Rays in 2022 before being shelved by the shoulder injury that eventually led to the recent operation to repair both his right rotator cuff and labrum. A year prior, Feyereisen had turned in 56 innings of 2.73 ERA ball, albeit with a bloated 14.1% walk rate that created some skepticism about his ability to sustain that pace.
The now-29-year-old righty (30 in February) not only improved his command in 2022 but sent his walk rate plummeting to 5.8% — a mark that’s leaps and bounds better than league average. All told, Feyereisen has 89 2/3 innings of experience at the big league level and has pitched to a 2.31 ERA with a 23.8% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. However, if he can sustain any of the 2022 strides he made in terms of strikeout rate (29.1%) or walk rate, he has the potential to be a vital late-inning arm for the Dodgers for three-plus seasons. And, because he’s unlikely to pitch much this season, his first trip through the arbitration process next winter shouldn’t produce a particularly large salary.
Belge, 25, was the Dodgers’ 18th-round pick in 2019 and spent the 2022 season pitching for their High-A affiliate, where he logged a 3.66 ERA in 32 innings and fanned a whopping 36.7% of his opponents — albeit against a concerning 12.5% walk rate. Belge was older than the average competition in the Midwest League in 2022 — his second stint at that level — but has drawn praise from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen for a 96 mph heater and above-average slider.
The Dodgers have a trio of open spots on the 40-man roster, so it’s far easier for them to roster Feyereisen for the time being, even if he’ll now bump them up to 38. They’ll part ways with a hard-throwing lefty who has a penchant for missing bats and could begin the 2023 season in Double-A. By the time 2024 rolls around, it’s possible that both Feyereisen and Belge are ready for work in their respective teams’ big league bullpens, though Belge is far from a sure thing given his shaky command and a history of eye troubles dating back to a freak injury in his childhood days.
Rays Designate J.P. Feyereisen For Assignment, Expect To Trade Him
10:40am: At the press conference to introduce Eflin, general manager Peter Bendix said the Rays fully expect to find a trade partner for Feyereisen (Twitter link via Topkin).
9:58am: The Rays have designated right-hander J.P. Feyereisen for assignment in order to open a spot on then roster for right-hander Zach Eflin, whose previously reported three-year deal is now official.
While Feyereisen’s DFA might raise some eyebrows, given a sensational 2022 season in which he pitched 24 1/3 shutout innings for Tampa Bay with a 25-to-5 K/BB ratio, the decision comes less than a week after the right-hander required surgery to repair the labrum and rotator cuff in his ailing right shoulder. Feyereisen won’t throw a ball for at least four months and is expected to be shelved well into the 2023 season. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that Feyereisen isn’t expected back until late August.
Prior to the 2022 season, Feyereisen had enjoyed success in the upper minors but displayed more red flags in the big leagues. A 2.73 ERA in 56 innings between the Brewers and the Rays in 2021 was clearly encouraging, but Feyereisen walked a whopping 14.1% of his opponents that season, making that output appear unsustainable. The Rays, however, managed to sharpen his command in 2022, as he fanned 29.1% of hitters against a tidy 5.8% walk rate. His career walk rate of 12% is still concerning, particularly when coupled with the recent shoulder operation, but Feyereisen clearly has the makings of a solid late-game reliever if he can sustain his improved 2022 command.
The Rays, of course, could have opted to keep Feyereisen on the 40-man roster and place him on the 60-day injured list when Spring Training commences — there’s no injured list in the offseason — but they’re in somewhat of a bind, given that Feyereisen is just one of several players ticketed for the 60-day IL when camp begins. Both Shane Baz and Andrew Kittredge figure to require placement on the 60-day IL themselves, as each is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Waiting until Spring Training to make those moves would’ve effectively left the Rays working with a 37-man roster throughout the offseason.
Even with Feyereisen’s recent surgery, there’s a strong chance today’s DFA will spell the end of his time with the Rays. He has only two-plus years of MLB service time, meaning an acquiring team could control the 29-year-old righty for another four seasons. Even if he’ll miss a considerable portion of the 2023 season, there’s plenty of appeal in adding an arm of Feyereisen’s caliber, whether via a small trade or waiver claim, knowing he can be reasonably expected to be healthy for the 2024-26 seasons. The Rays clearly didn’t feel they had the luxury of rostering three immediate 60-day IL placements for the remainder of the offseason, but other clubs with greater flexibility won’t have such pressing concerns.
Three Possible Landing Spots For Christian Vázquez
Fresh off his second World Series title, long-time Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez is a free agent for the first time in his career. With Willson Contreras inking a five-year, $87.MM deal with the Cardinals, Vazquez is arguably the top free agent catcher left on the board, rivaled by Sean Murphy in the trade market. This position has left Vazquez with a lengthy list of suitors, including the Twins, Padres, D-Backs, Guardians, Diamondbacks, and Giants.
Vazquez, a career .261/.310/.386 hitter, had a two-sided 2022 season. In Boston, the righty hit .282/.327/.432 with eight homers and 20 doubles. However, after being traded to Houston, Vazquez struggled, hitting a weaker .250/.278/.308 while splitting time with Martin Maldonado. Nevertheless, from 2019-2022, the backstop hit a solid .271/.318/416 (95 wRC+). Additionally, Vazquez has been solid behind the plate, having thrown out 34% of runners since his debut in 2014, ranking in the 71st percentile pop time to second base during the 2022 season, and has drawn plus framing marks from publicly available metrics via Statcast, FanGraphs, and Baseball Prospectus. With this solid season and a strong overall career, MLBTR predicts that Vazquez will earn a contract in the three years, $27MM range.
As for Vazquez’s free agent preferences, the 32-year-old has told reporters that a starting role and contending are at the forefront when determining his next home. With those two factors in mind, along with his strong history, here are some potential landing spots for the veteran.
Beginning with one of the more active teams during this year’s free agent period: the Padres. San Diego primarily relied on a tandem of Austin Nola and Jorge Alfaro in 2022, with Friars’ backstops hitting a combined .249/.303/.350 with a middle-of-the-pack wRC+ (88). With the Padres opting to non-tender Alfaro, the club is currently projected to start the 2023 season with Nola and Luis Campusano behind the dish. Neither player should necessarily be a roadblock to surveying the market for a team as aggressively motivated to win now as San Diego.
More importantly, the Padres have not been afraid to open their wallet, most recently signing former Red Sox teammate Xander Bogaerts to a colossal 11-year, $280MM deal. San Diego also offered Aaron Judge $400MM and Trea Turner $342MM, before the two players signed with other clubs. A win-now team searching for a catching upgrade, the Padres appear a logical candidate to pique Vazquez’s interest while simultaneously outbidding competitors.
Cleveland is another potential landing spot for the veteran, with Austin Hedges reaching free agency and leaving the unproven Bryan Lavastida and Bo Naylor as the only backstops on the 40-man roster. Naylor is a highly-regarded prospect, but turning everyday reps behind the dish over to a 23-year-old could be too risky for a team looking to defend their AL Central title. The Guardians posted the second-lowest combined wRC+ for catchers last season (55), utilizing a soft-hitting duo of Austin Hedges and Luke Maile, although Hedges is regarded highly for his defensive work. Vazquez’s addition would improve offensive output while maintaining a high defensive level for the club.
The Guardians have already made one significant free agent addition this offseason, signing Josh Bell to a two-year, $33MM deal with an opt-out after the first season. The team also made an offer for first baseman Jose Abreu, but couldn’t reach the $60MM threshold that the Astros closed in on. A team known for their low budget, the Guardians are also heavily involved in the Murphy trade market but will likely remain a player for Vazquez’s services if his price is not out of their comfort zone.
A third potential (wildcard) team for the backstop is a former AL East rival, the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Bay primarily relied on Francisco Mejia, who was widely considered one of baseball’s top minor leaguers, ranked as high as fifth in Baseball Prospectus’ top-100 prospect ranking prior to the 2018 season, during the 2022 season. However, after a solid 2021 season (.260/.322/.417), Mejia struggled in 2022, hitting a meager .242/.264/.381. Poor performance and injuries led Tampa Bay to acquire Christian Bethancourt from Oakland in early July. Bethancourt would perform marginally better, hitting .255/.265/.436 in 151 plate appearances with the Rays.
As a team, Rays’ catchers hit a combined .224/.248/.373 with a below-average wRC+ (78). Vazquez represents an offensive upgrade to these two players, albeit with a higher price point than both Bethancourt and Mejia, who are both on their rookie deals. Nevertheless, Mejia still has one MiLB option remaining, and Vazquez and Bethancourt have experience, although limited, in the field with Bethancourt playing 249 innings at first base during the 2022 season. Admittedly, this landing spot is the least likely of the three.
While the Padres and Guardians present more logical landing spots for Vazquez, competitive teams, like the Rays, may look to shuffle their roster to add a proven veteran backstop talent. Minnesota recently offered Vazquez a contract, and there are sure to be many teams involved in free agent discussions with the catcher as the offseason continues.
Quick Hits: Kiermaier, Dodgers, Red Sox, Marlins, Bellinger, Bell, Rays, Diaz, Reds
Kevin Kiermaier is off the market after agreeing to a deal with the Blue Jays earlier today, and the former Gold Glover was drawing interest elsewhere on the market. The Dodgers “were in the running down to the end” on Kiermaier, according to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), as Kiermaier was presumably being eyed as the left-handed hitting, center field replacement for Cody Bellinger. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is no stranger to Kiermaier, as Friedman was the Rays’ general manager when Kiermaier began his career in Tampa Bay.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is also a former member of Tampa’s front office, but Kiermaier and the Sox had only “periphery discussions” about a possible contract, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Adding Kiermaier would’ve helped the Sox address their needs in the outfield, but the newly-signed Masataka Yoshida is Boston’s biggest swing in the outfield market to date. For now, the first-choice Red Sox starting outfield looks like Yoshida in left field, Enrique Hernandez in center, and Alex Verdugo in right.
More from around baseball…
- Speaking of past pursuits, Bellinger and Josh Bell were among the players “targeted” by the Marlins, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Both free agents are now off the market, after Bellinger signed with the Cubs and Bell joined the Guardians. Bellinger would’ve been a natural fit for the Marlins’ longstanding need in center field, and would’ve at least provided strong defense, even if it remains to be seen if his bat can return to anything close to his past MVP levels of production. Bell has provided solid (if not always consistent) offense over the last two seasons, and the Marlins naturally have a lot of familiarity with Bell from his days with the Nationals. Miami already parted ways with Lewin Diaz and Garrett Cooper has been a trade candidate in the past, so it would seem like first base could be a target position for the Marlins as they look to add some much-needed pop to their lineup.
- Though the Rays are also looking to add offense and particularly a left-handed hitting first base option, Bell “wasn’t high on their list,” Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. It’s a moot point anyway with Bell now in Cleveland, and the Rays can continue their search for a bat at just about any position. “Outside of maybe a shortstop, there probably aren’t too many other areas where we’d say, ‘No, we don’t have any interest in that’….We’re fortunate, because we have enough moving pieces and versatility with our players that there’s a lot of different players we could bring in and make it work,” Rays GM Peter Bendix told Topkin and other reporters.
- “Teams have checked” in with the Reds about Alexis Diaz, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. No trade seems close or particularly likely, given how the rookie right-hander looks more like a building block than a trade chip. In his first MLB season, Diaz finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting after posting a 1.84 ERA over 63 2/3 innings out of the Reds’ bullpen. Apart from a very high 12.9% walk rate, Diaz’s Statcast metrics were otherwise excellent, and he could be on his way to joining older brother Edwin as a star closer. Interestingly, the Mets explored a trade for the younger Diaz before the trade deadline, but while Cincinnati is in a rebuild phase, Nightengale figures it “would take an absolute haul to even pique the Reds’ interest” in a Diaz swap.
J.P. Feyereisen Undergoes Shoulder Surgery
Rays reliever J.P. Feyereisen underwent surgery to repair the rotator cuff and labrum in his shoulder yesterday, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll be shut down from throwing for at least four months, meaning he’s certain to begin the 2023 campaign on the injured list.
Shoulder issues have plagued Feyereisen dating back to the early summer. He landed on the IL in early June with what was initially diagnosed as an impingement, then battled renewed discomfort while attempting to rehab in early September. He was shut down for the 2022 season, and that unfortunately didn’t keep him from needing to go under the knife.
With a four-month shutdown coming out of surgery, Feyereisen will not have picked up a ball by the time the regular season gets underway. Even in the most optimistic scenario, he’ll need weeks from that point forward to gradually build back strength and work his way into game shape before he can head out on a minor league rehab assignment. He’s likely to miss multiple months, with Topkin suggesting the injury could keep him out of action until after the All-Star Break.
It’s a tough blow to the Rays’ bullpen, as Feyereisen has quietly been a dominant middle-innings arm for skipper Kevin Cash. Acquired from the Brewers alongside Drew Rasmussen in the 2021 blockbuster that landed Willy Adames in Milwaukee, the right-hander has provided 61 innings of 1.48 ERA ball in a Tampa Bay uniform. He didn’t allow a single earned run in 22 appearances totaling 24 1/3 frames this past season, and while he surely wouldn’t have maintained that pace over a full season, he posted excellent underlying marks. Feyereisen struck out 29.1% of opponents while walking a meager 5.8% of batters faced, generating swinging strikes on a massive 16.4% of his total pitches.
Feyereisen turns 30 in February. He has over two years of major league service time, and he won’t reach arbitration until the end of next season. He’ll collect service time and a salary around the MLB minimum while rehabbing. Feyereisen will remain on the Rays’ 40-man roster throughout the winter, but they can clear a spot at the start of Spring Training by placing him on the 60-day IL.
2022 Rule 5 Draft Results
The 2022 Rule 5 draft will begin at 4pm Central time today at the Winter Meetings in San Diego. This will be the first time since 2019 that the meetings will be held in person, as the 2020 edition was virtual because of the pandemic and the 2021 draft was cancelled entirely due to the lockout.
As a refresher, the Rule 5 draft is a way for players potentially talented enough for the big leagues but blocked by their current clubs to find opportunities elsewhere. Any players that were 18 and under at the time of their original signing and were signed in 2018 or earlier, and any players 19 or older and signed in 2019 or earlier, who are not on a club’s 40-man roster are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.
The clubs will draft in reverse order of the 2022 standings, with no club obligated to make a selection when it’s their turn. If they do make a pick, they will have to pay $100K to the team they select from. The selected players must stay on the active roster (or injured list) for the entire 2023 season or else be placed on waivers. If they clear waivers, they must be offered back to their original team. They cannot be optioned to the minors. The most recent edition in 2020 saw some notable names move around, such as Akil Baddoo going from the Twins to the Tigers while Garrett Whitlock went from the Yankees to the Red Sox.
This post will be updated with the results as they come in…
First Round
1. Nationals: RHP Thad Ward (Red Sox) (hat tip to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com)
2. A’s: 1B Ryan Noda (Dodgers)
3. Pirates: LHP Jose Hernandez (Dodgers)
4. Reds: OF Blake Sabol (Pirates); Reds later traded Sabol to Giants for cash or a player to be named later
5. Royals: pass
6. Tigers: RHP Mason Englert (Rangers)
7. Rangers: pass
8. Rockies: RHP Kevin Kelly (Guardians); Rockies later traded Kelly to Rays for cash considerations
9. Marlins: RHP Nic Enright (Guardians)
10. Angels: pass
11. D-backs: pass
12. Cubs: pass
13. Twins: pass
14. Red Sox: pass
15. White Sox: RHP Nick Avila (Giants)
16. Giants: pass
17. Orioles: RHP Andrew Politi (Red Sox)
18. Brewers: RHP Gus Varland (Dodgers)
19. Rays: pass
20. Phillies: RHP Noah Song (Red Sox)
21. Padres: LHP Jose Lopez (Rays)
22. Mariners: RHP Chris Clarke (Cubs)
23. Guardians: pass
24. Blue Jays: pass
25. Cardinals:RHP Wilking Rodriguez (Yankees)
26. Yankees: pass
27. Mets: RHP Zach Greene (Yankees)
27. Braves: pass
29. Astros: pass
30. Dodgers: pass
Second Round
- All teams passed
The minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft also occurred this afternoon. Those players will not go onto the selecting teams’ 40-man roster. A few former major leaguers changed uniforms. They include Hector Perez from Baltimore to the Rays, Josh Palacios from the Nationals to the Pirates, Jared Oliva from the Pirates to the Angels, Nick Burdi from the Padres to the Cubs, Peter Solomon from the Pirates to the D-Backs and Jonathan Arauz from the Orioles to the Mets.
Mets Acquire Brooks Raley
The Mets have acquired left-hander Brooks Raley from the Rays in exchange for left-hander Keyshawn Askew, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Both clubs subsequently announced the trade.
Raley, 35 in June, made his MLB debut with the Cubs back in 2012. After a few seasons of mediocre results, he went to Korea and pitched as a starter in the KBO from 2015 to 2019. He came back to MLB in 2020 and signed with the Reds but got designated for assignment after just four relief appearances.
The Reds then traded him to the Astros just before his career took off. He made 17 further appearances with Houston in 2020 and posted a 3.94 ERA in that time. In 2021, he threw 49 innings with a 4.78 ERA but strong peripherals. He struck out 31.7% of batters faced and walked just 7.8% of them, while also getting grounders on 45.3% of balls in play. His incredibly low strand rate of 59.7% surely contributed to that ERA, as he had much lower advanced metrics like a 3.27 FIP and 2.91 SIERA.
Going into 2022, the Rays signed him to a two-year, $10MM deal with a club option for 2024. Raley tossed 53 2/3 frames this year with a 2.68 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and 37.5% ground ball rate. He recorded six saves and 22 holds on the season.
For the Mets, they’re looking to rebuild almost an entire bullpen as Edwin Díaz, Adam Ottavino, Seth Lugo, Trevor Williams, Joely Rodriguez and Trevor May all reached free agency at the end of the most recent campaign. They’ve signed re-signed Díaz and made some other small moves but Raley immediately becomes the club’s top lefty in the bullpen. Like most southpaws, he is better against left-handed hitters, as they hit just .155/.200/.282 against him this year. Raley will add $4.5MM to the Mets’ payroll in 2023 and also has a $6.5MM club option for 2024 with a $1.25MM buyout.
For the Rays, they’re generally not shy about trading players coming off solid seasons, especially if they are making some notable salary. Raley’s contract wasn’t especially onerous but this is fairly standard operating procedure for the club, as they always look to keep a well-stocked farm system by selling high on major league talent. Without Raley, they still have Jalen Beeks, Garrett Cleavinger and Colin Poche as left-handed options for their bullpen.
Today, they’ve added Askew to their system, who was a 10th round selection of the Mets in 2021. He split 2022 between Single-A and High-A, throwing 66 1/3 innings with a 34.2% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate. He’ll turn 23 in January.
Willson Contreras Has Received Preliminary Multi-Year Offers From Cardinals, Astros
The market for the top free agent catcher continues to come into view. Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago reports that Willson Contreras has received preliminary multi-year offers from both the Cardinals and Astros at this week’s Winter Meetings. A third team has also put forth an offer, according to Wittenmyer, though the identity of that club is unknown (but is said to not be either Boston or Tampa Bay). Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch characterizes discussions more informally as the team also juggles trade possibilities but notes there has been talk about the possibility of a multi-year offer.
Both St. Louis and Houston have been tied to Contreras numerous times through the offseason, but it’s still notable those teams have put proposals on the table. John Denton of MLB.com reports (Twitter link) that a fourth year could be an obstacle in Contreras’ talks with St. Louis. According to Denton, the Cards are prepared to meet the three-time All-Star’s asking price on an annual basis but are reluctant to go past three seasons. Whether another team is putting a fourth year on the table isn’t clear, although Wittenmyer adds that no teams have thus far been willing to go five years.
St. Louis skipper Oliver Marmol confirmed reports the Cards would sit down with Contreras at the Winter Meetings. Goold has suggested the team’s preferred solution is to acquire A’s backstop Sean Murphy, although that’d require surrendering highly-regarded young talent — and the A’s are reportedly looking for MLB-ready players in return. It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat tweets there’s a growing sense the Cardinals could find their new catcher in free agency, and he characterizes Contreras as the target that’d be most likely in that scenario.
The Astros interest in Contreras dates back to the trade deadline, but owner Jim Crane nixed an agreed-upon swap that’d have brought him in from Chicago. It seems they’re less concerned about him acclimating to a new pitching staff with an offseason to prepare than they’d be if he were added in the midst of a pennant race, and the multi-year proposals on the table reflect that. Houston has Martín Maldonado as their top backstop at present, and Contreras would be expected to rotate between catcher, left field and designated hitter if they pulled off a deal.
At the end of the season, the 30-year-old declined a qualifying offer from the Cubs. He’d cost any signing team at least one draft pick, while the Cubs stand to receive draft compensation in the highly likely event he departs. MLBTR forecasted a four-year, $84MM contract for Contreras at the start of the offseason.
Dodgers, Rays Interested In Andrew McCutchen
The Dodgers and Rays are among the teams with interest in free agent outfielder/designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. As Olney points out, McCutchen could very well topple a couple of career milestones in 2023, as he’s 52 hits shy of 2000 and 13 long balls away from the 300 mark.
McCutchen, 36, spent the 2022 season with the Brewers, for whom he slashed at a .237/.316/.384 pace through 580 trips to the plate. It was an uneven season for the 2013 NL MVP, as he stumbled out of the gates with a poor two-month stretch before catching fire in June and ultimately wilting again in the season’s final seven to eight weeks.
McCutchen’s run early in the summer at least showed that there’s still life in his bat — inconsistent as the production may be. The endpoints here are arbitrary, and any player can look better when focusing only on his hottest stretch of the season, but for a period of 262 plate appearances beginning on June 5, McCutchen mashed at a .288/.370/.498 pace, slugging 11 homers and 15 doubles along the way. Of course, it’s only fair to also point out that said hot streak was preceded by an absolutely frigid spell in which he collected just one hit in a span of 39 trips to the plate.
The peaks and valleys of McCutchen’s 2022 season resulted in a 98 wRC+ and 99 OPS+, suggesting that he was just barely shy of average at the plate for the season as a whole. Part of the downturn in production for McCutchen, who batted a combined .237/.343/.444 as a Phillie from 2019-21 (109 wRC+), was that his longstanding production against southpaws evaporated in 2022. McCutchen is career .300 hitter with a .936 OPS and 154 wRC+ against lefties, even including last year’s struggles, but this past season’s .221/.303/.434 slash when holding the platoon advantage was miles shy of his career standard.
On the defensive side of the coin, McCutchen played just 434 innings in the outfield, most coming in left — although the Brewers gave him 13 innings in center and 153 in right. Defensive Runs Saved (4), Ultimate Zone Rating (1.8) and Outs Above Average (0) all thought he was at least serviceable, if not a net positive in his limited work with the glove. However, McCutchen spent 82 games as Milwaukee’s designated hitter, too. It’s possible another team would view him as a viable option to log a larger workload in the outfield, but a return to his days of pllaying 1300-1400 innings in the outfield seems like a reach, given his age and recent usage.
In Los Angeles, McCutchen could give the Dodgers a right-handed complement to lefty-swinging 25-year-old James Outman, who had a huge season in the upper minors and also impressed in a tiny MLB debut (16 plate appearances). Tampa Bay is more set in the outfield but could still use McCutchen as a right-handed option off the bench, mixing him in for occasional work in the outfield corners and at designated hitter. It’s worth noting that McCutchen is a native of Fort Meade, Fla. and attended Fort Meade High School — about 75 miles from the Rays’ Tropicana Field.
McCutchen played the 2022 season on a one-year, $8.5MM contract, and it seems quite likely that he’ll be ticketed for another one-year deal wherever he lands — be it with the Dodgers, Rays or another team.
Bobby Dalbec Available In Trades, Rays Interested
The Red Sox are making Bobby Dalbec available in trade talks, according to Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal. McAdam adds that the Rays are one team that has expressed interest.
Dalbec, 27, is coming off a down year in Boston where he hit just .215/.283/.369 with 12 home runs and ultimately found himself optioned back to the minors in September. Dalbec struck out a whopping 33.4% of the time against an 8.2% walk rate. All told, that was good for a wRC+ of 80, or 20% worse than league average.
A former top-100 prospect, Dalbec burst onto the stage in the big leagues with an impressive, if short, sample in 2020. That year, he hit eight home runs in 23 games and amassed a 151 wRC+, although he did strike out in 42.4% of plate appearances. He came back to earth a bit in 2021, although still provided above-average production, slashing .240/.298/.494 with 25 home runs in 133 games.
Dalbec came through the minor leagues as a third baseman, but has spent most of his time in the big leagues at first. He did log some time at third, while also making a couple of short cameos at both middle infield positions. He was below average at first base, with Outs Above Average marking him at -1 and Defensive Runs Saved giving him -6 this year.
It’s not easy to see a path to much playing time in Boston for Dalbec, particularly coming off a poor season. Triston Casas made his debut in ’22 and looks set to get plenty of reps at first or DH, possibly splitting time with Eric Hosmer (if he stays on the roster). Over at third, Rafael Devers is locked in at third for next season at least so it makes some sense that the Red Sox might see what they can get for a former top prospect still young enough to turn things around.
Ever since trading Ji-Man Choi to the Pirates, the Rays have looked likely to be in the market for a first baseman. They’ve already been linked to the non-tendered Dominic Smith, and Dalbec would make sense for them as a buy-low, bounceback candidate. The right-handed hitter is still one year away from being arbitration eligible, so there’d be a decent amount of appeal there for smaller market teams in particular.
While the Rays make plenty of sense as a trade destination, it’s likely there’d be a few teams interested, perhaps some with a view to moving him back to third base. After all, Dalbec is only a year removed from a solid 106 wRC+ season and plenty of teams would surely take a chance on him as a cheap, power hitting bench bat with starter upside should he rebound.