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Quick Hits: Twins, Cubs, Rizzo, Strike Zone

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Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, and Hyun-Jin Ryu were named as three potential offseason targets for the Twins in MLBTR’s recent “Offseason Outlook” series, and that trio was also speculatively connected to the team in a piece from LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (link). Specifically, Neal takes a look at Minnesota’s extremely fluid rotation picture, which in 2019 featured four hurlers–Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Kyle Gibson, and Martin Perez–who project to enter free agency (assuming the club declines their option on Perez, as expected). The departures of those pitchers could create something of a vacuum in Minnesota, but payroll flexibility and a talented farm should position them well to address any openings, suggests Neal.

By the writer’s calculations, the club could have upwards of $50MM in payroll room this offseason, while youngsters like Brusdar Graterol and Randy Dobnak could step into the rotation for portions of time. That financial leeway could certainly put them in position for pitchers like Bumgarner or the rest of the post-Cole free agent pitching class, to say nothing of possible trade acquisitions.

More notes from around the baseball world…

  • After making a pair of option decisions on Saturday, the Cubs are expected to exercise first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s option imminently, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (link). 2019 saw Rizzo log his sixth consecutive season with a wRC+ north of 126 (his cumulative figure over that span is a whopping 141 wRC+), making him one of the easier club option decisions of the offseason. Rizzo carries a $14.5MM club option for 2020, with a soon-to-be-irrelevant $2MM buyout attached. Next offseason, Chicago holds an identical 2021 option over Rizzo, lining the slugger up for his first realistic shot at free agency in advance of the 2022 season. Rizzo will be 32 on Opening Day of that campaign.
  • MLB experimented with an electronic strike zone in the Arizona Fall League this season, and it proved rather unpopular with pitchers and hitters alike, writes Josh Norris of Baseball America. While players effused praise for the system’s proficiency on the corners, calls at the top and bottom of the zone were less well-received. Additionally, the delay between the system’s tracking the pitch and relaying of that decision to the home-plate umpire caused some awkward exchanges. Of course, growing pains are to be expected, and the electronic zone is at least consistent, Norris adds, so MLB figures to continue to test its viability in lower-stakes games before considering a rollout at the big league level.

Cubs Exercise Option On Jose Quintana, Decline Option On Derek Holland

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6:50 pm: The club has announced both transactions. Quintana will remain under club control for the 2020 season, while Holland has been bought out.

6:25 pm: As expected, the Cubs have exercised their 2020 team option on starter Jose Quintana, as first reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (link). The club declined its 2020 team option on hurler Derek Holland.

Quintana’s option for 2020 comes in at $10.5MM, while the club could have paid him a $1MM buyout if it preferred that he walk. The left-hander hasn’t been quite the same pitcher since changing Chicago sides midway through the 2017 season, but a $9.5MM proposition for a mid-to-back-rotation type is still a reasonably palatable option. Quintana’s 4.68 ERA in 2019 was his worst mark since breaking into the league back in 2012, but underlying metrics like FIP (3.80) and BABIP (.326) indicate that he may have been subject to more than his fair share of bad luck last year. Quintana carries a cumulative 4.23 ERA with the Cubs since being acquired from the White Sox in 2017 in exchange for a package headlined by Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease.

Holland carried a $7MM club option for 2020, but the club instead chose to buy him out for $500k. That likely represented an easy pass for Chicago management, as Holland was largely limited to relief in 2020 after a rocky start to the year for San Francisco (the lefty was designated in July and subsequently acquired by Chicago in a minor deal). While Holland has recorded sub-4.00 ERAs as a full-time starting pitcher in 2011, 2013, and 2018, he has pitched to an ERA exceeding 6.00 in two of his last three seasons. The sinkerballer posted a Hard Hit percentage of 42.1% last year according to Statcast, placing him in the bottom 8% of the sport in that category.

Latest On Angels’ Coaching Staff

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11:47pm: It’s “likely” the Angels will promote prior third base coach Mike Gallego to bench coach, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets.

11:26pm: Newly minted Angels manager Joe Maddon is poaching a couple members from his previous staff in Chicago, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score reports. Cubs third base coach Brian Butterfield will take on the same position with the Angels, while strength and conditioning coach Tim Buss will serve in a quality assurance role with the Halos. Buss had been with the Cubs since 2001, Levine notes.

The 61-year-old Butterfield, a major league assistant since 1994, spent the previous two seasons overseeing third base for the Cubs’ offense and serving as the team’s infield coach. But the Cubs parted with Maddon in favor of David Ross after the season, paving the way for Butterfield to follow Maddon to Anaheim.

Butterfield’s the third major coaching hire for Maddon since the Angels chose him Oct. 16. Maddon previously brought in John Mallee to be the club’s assistant hitting coach and Mickey Callaway to work as its pitching coach.

Yu Darvish Won’t Exercise Opt-Out Clause

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In a decision that won’t surprise anyone, right-hander Yu Darvish will not opt out of the remaining four years and $81MM on his contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. The 33-year-old had the right to re-enter the open market but will now remain with the Cubs for the final four seasons of that deal.

The first year of Darvish’s six-year, $126MM contract was an abject bust, as the former Rangers ace only pitched 40 innings while battling a series of injuries. Unsightly as the deal looked entering the season, though, Darvish did restore some credibility with a solid 3.98 ERA, 11.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over the life of 31 starts (178 2/3 innings). Digging a bit deeper, Darvish’s final 20 starts were downright vintage form; he averaged 6 1/3 innings per outing while working to a 3.35 ERA with 11.8 K/9 and the best control of his big league career (1.3 BB/9).

Encouraging as that season was — his final four months, in particular — no one expected that Darvish would again test the open market. He’d surely have fallen shy of that $81MM guarantee, and as the pitcher himself explained in September, he and his family enjoy living in Chicago.

Darvish will return to a Cubs rotation that also includes Jon Lester (in the final season of his seven-year, $161MM deal), Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana. Righty Kendall Graveman could factor into the fifth spot in the rotation, as could Tyler Chatwood, but the Cubs will likely be in the market to reshape their pitching staff to some extent this winter.

NL Notes: Cubs, Epstein, Cardinals, Lindor, Padres

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For those looking for an indication of the Cubs’ offseason spending strategy, this week’s comments from president Theo Epstein provided little satisfaction–even if Epstein has previously shown a willingness to lift the curtain on club plans. “As an organization, we’re not talking about payroll or luxury tax at all,” Epstein is quoted as saying in an article from Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. “I feel like every time we’ve been at all specific, or even allowed people to make inferences from things we’ve said, it just puts us in a hole strategically.”

While North Side fans would likely love for the club to pursue upper-echelon free agents like Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon, Bastian calculates that such a development is unlikely given the club’s current payroll commitments. Chicago is accountable for roughly $107MM toward eight contracts next season, before providing for team options on Anthony Rizzo ($16.5MM) and Jose Quintana ($10.5MM). The Cubs opened 2019 with a payroll in excess of $203MM, before finishing with a disappointing 84-78 record and missing the playoffs.

In more news from around the NL…

  • After the Dodgers were connected to Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor this week, is it possible the Cardinals could also take a run at Cleveland’s superstar infielder? That’s a question pondered by Mark Saxon in a reader mailbag for The Athletic–with Saxon venturing that such a pursuit could be manageable for St. Louis (link). While it’s important to underline that this is only the speculation of one writer, Saxon draws up a potential trade package headlined by prospect Nolan Gorman and one of Paul DeJong, Tommy Edman, or Kolten Wong. While such a hypothetical package has its merits (and it’s laudable for a writer to go out on a limb regarding trade scenarios), it is worth pointing out that Gorman, at 19, is likely two years away from being considered an MLB-ready contributor. MLBTR readers, of course, took their own crack at projecting Lindor’s future in a recent poll.
  • After a 2019 season that saw the Padres use eight different rookie pitchers in their starting rotation, writer AJ Cassavell of MLB.com notes that–strange though it may sound–the club is likely more focused on offense heading into the offseason (link). As Cassavell notes, pitching prospects MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino promise to aid a 2020 rotation mix that includes Chris Paddack, Garrett Richards, Dinelson Lamet, Joey Lucchesi, Eric Lauer, and Cal Quantrill, whereas the projected lineup of new manager Jayce Tingler provides a few more question marks. The veteran scribe underscores that, by virtue of wRC+, San Diego received worse-than-average production at every position save for shortstop in 2019. Although Cassavell offers second base, catcher, and outfield as areas in need of an upgrade, it might be added that San Diego ran out well-regarded rookies at those spots for much of 2019 in Luis Urias, Francisco Mejia, and Josh Naylor. It stands to reason that the club could simply look for sophomore improvements at those particular positions while moving to offset Eric Hosmer’s tremendous struggles against left-handed pitching (59 wRC+ against lefties in 2019) by way of a first base platoon addition.

2020 Managerial Search Tracker

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Eight teams were looking for new skippers in October, and loads of potential candidates have been either rumored or directly connected to these job openings. We’ll do our best to keep things straight in this post….

Angels

Hired

  • Joe Maddon: former Cubs/Rays manager, former Angels bench coach/interim manager

Also Interviewed

  • John Farrell: former Red Sox/Blue Jays manager
  • Buck Showalter: former Orioles, Yankees, Rangers and Diamondbacks manager
  • Johnny Washington: Padres hitting coach

Reportedly Received Consideration

  • Joe Espada: Astros bench coach
  • Joe Girardi: Hired by Phillies
  • Eric Chavez: Angels special assistant

Cubs

       Hired

  • David Ross: former Cubs/Red Sox catcher, current ESPN analyst

Also Interviewed

  • Joe Espada: Astros bench coach
  • Joe Girardi: Hired by Phillies
  • Gabe Kapler: former Phillies manager, former Dodgers director of player development
  • Mark Loretta: Cubs bench coach
  • Will Venable: Cubs first base coach

Giants

       Hired

  • Gabe Kapler: former Phillies manager, former Dodgers director of player development

Also Interviewed

  • Joe Espada: Astros bench coach
  • Gabe Kapler: former Phillies manager, former Dodgers director of player development
  • Pedro Grifol: Royals quality control and catching coach
  • Mark Kotsay: Athletics quality control coach, former Padres hitting coach & baseball operations special assistant
  • Hensley Meulens: Giants bench coach
  • Matt Quatraro: Rays bench coach, former minor-league manager
  • Will Venable: Cubs first base coach
  • Ron Wotus: Giants third base coach

Reportedly Received Consideration

  • Raul Ibanez: Dodgers special assistant
  • Mike Matheny: former Cardinals manager

Mets

Interviewing Twice

  • Carlos Beltran: Special assistant to Yankees GM, former MLB outfielder
  • Tim Bogar: Nationals first base coach
  • Eduardo Perez: ESPN analyst, former Astros bench coach, former Puerto Rican Winter League Manager of the Year
  • Derek Shelton: Twins bench coach, former Rays hitting coach
  • Luis Rojas: Mets quality control coach
  • Pat Murphy: Brewers bench coach

Interviewed Once

  • Joe Girardi: Hired by Phillies
  • Skip Schumaker: Padres first base coach, former Padres baseball ops/player development assistant, former MLB utilityman
  • Mike Bell: Diamondbacks director of player development

Reportedly Under Consideration

  • Buck Showalter: former Orioles/Yankees manager
  • Mike Matheny: former Cardinals manager

Padres

Hired

Also Interviewed

  • Ron Washington: Braves third base coach, former Rangers manager
  • Brad Ausmus: former Angels/Tigers manager
  • Rod Barajas: Padres interim manager, former bench coach
  • Bob Henley: Nationals third base coach
  • Mark Loretta: Cubs bench coach

Reportedly Received Consideration

  • Joe Maddon: Hired by Angels
  • Mike Matheny: Former Cardinals manager

Pirates — Search “paused” while team searches for new GM

Interviewing

  • Ryan Christenson: Athletics bench coach, former minor-league manager
  • Derek Shelton: Twins bench coach, former minor-league manager
  • Stubby Clapp: Cardinals first base coach, former minor-league manager
  • Matt Quatraro: Rays bench coach, former minor-league manager
  • George Lombard: Dodgers first base coach, former minor-league manager

Reportedly Under Consideration

  • Jeff Banister: Pirates special assistant; former Rangers manager, Pirates bench coach
  • Mike Bell: Diamondbacks director of player development
  • Mark Kotsay: Athletics quality control coach, former Padres hitting coach & baseball operations special assistant
  • Joe Espada: Astros bench coach

Phillies

Hired

Also Interviewed

  • Buck Showalter: former Orioles, Yankees, Rangers and Diamondbacks manager
  • Dusty Baker: Special advisor to Giants; former Nationals/Reds/Cubs manager

Royals

Interviewing

  • Vance Wilson: Royals bullpen coach

Reportedly Under Consideration

  • Pedro Grifol: Royals quality control and catching coach
  • Mike Matheny: Royals special advisor
  • Dale Sveum: Royals bench coach

Quick Hits: Angels, Mallee, Padres, Cubs, Ross

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Hours after bringing Mickey Callaway into the fold as the club’s new pitching coach, it appears the Angels are interested in adding veteran hitting coach John Mallee to their staff, according to a tweet from Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM (link). Mallee was most recently a hitting coach with the Phillies before a team-wide slump saw him replaced by Charlie Manuel in mid-August of the 2019 season. Previously, the 50-year-old has worked as an MLB hitting coach with the Marlins, Astros, and Cubs, helping Joe Maddon’s Chicago outfit to their World Series title in 2016.

  • With the hiring of a new manager cleared from his offseason checklist, Padres GM AJ Preller now must turn to an even more urgent matter–the acquisition of more winning players to the team’s big league roster. As Kevin Acee notes in his piece for the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres still have a long way to go if they want to truly compete with teams like the Dodgers and Nationals. Interestingly, even one of Preller’s own players understands that his team, as currently constructed, might not stack up as a 2020 contender. “We’re not close yet,” one Padre told Acee. Readers should check out Acee’s article for his own assessment of where San Diego stands, though it is worth noting that the Padres could theoretically stand to improve in a few areas simply by shifting playing time allotments. San Diego’s tepid offense could be improved via a more full time-share for catcher Francisco Mejia, for one; Mejia’s rookie output (96 wRC+ in 244 PA) was much more encouraging than what the club has received from Austin Hedges in recent years (62 career wRC+), even if the value of Hedges’ sterling defense can’t be discounted.
  • One of the chief challenges faced by new Cubs skipper David Ross will be, in the opinion of Steve Greenberg of The Chicago Sun-Times, how the former catcher handles tough decisions regarding some of his old teammates and good friends (link). Namely, Greenberg identifies Jon Lester and Jason Heyward as two players with whom Ross has a particularly deep relationship, as the new manager was the former’s personal catcher in Chicago and the latter’s mentor dating back to his time in Atlanta. Ross will be faced with being in the unique position of having to take the ball from Lester if–as he did at certain points in 2019–the pitcher struggles late in ballgames. Heyward’s own tendency to enter long Chicago slumps–to say nothing of his big contract–could also force Ross to endure some tough conversations in 2020.

NL Notes: Castellanos, Giants, Mets, Arrieta

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MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand takes advantage of the break in World Series action to profile six upcoming free agents whose free agent values are “tough to define” heading into the 2019-2020 offseason. Cubs outfielder Nicholas Castellanos kicks off his list, with Feinsand noting that Castellanos’ defensive limitations may limit his market. On the more optimistic end, however, one unnamed NL executive is quoted as saying that “parallels” can be drawn to the profile of J.D. Martinez. As a formerly maligned outfield defender who showed pronounced growth at the plate after a few ho-hum early years in Detroit, Martinez netted a five-year, $110MM deal with the Red Sox back in 2018. Ironically, Castellanos and Martinez could be in direct competition on the open market this winter if Martinez opts out of his Red Sox contract and takes another spin through free agency.

More notes from around the senior circuit…

  • Astros bench coach Joe Espada is using his day off between World Series games to travel to San Francisco for a meeting with Giants brass, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (link). Espada has already conducted a phone interview with San Francisco reps, so his decision to sandwich an in-person interview between Fall Classic contests could be viewed as a sign that interest between both parties is fairly serious.
  • Tim Bogar’s previously reported second interview with Mets leadership is also expected to go down today, according to a tweet from Jon Heyman of MLB Network (link). Bogar, a coach with the Nationals, will also apparently be using his off day with an eye on securing one of MLB’s four remaining open managerial seats. As Heyman notes, Carlos Beltran, Eduardo Perez, Twins coach Derek Shelton, Mets coach Luis Rojas, and an “unknown bombshell candidate” are still in play for the New York position, with tongue presumably planted firmly in cheek on that last item.
  • Heyman also relays that Phillies starter Jake Arrieta will not opt out of the last year of his contract (link). This is largely expected after the starter turned in a mediocre season marred by an arm injury that ultimately required surgery. As part of the three-year, $75MM deal agreed to prior to the 2018 season, Arrieta could have re-entered the free agency portal this offseason were he willing to forego the final year and $20MM slated for Philadelphia’s 2020 payroll. Instead, the 33-year-old will look to regain his form under the watch of new manager Phillies Joe Girardi. Arrieta pitched to a 4.64 ERA (4.89 FIP) in 24 starts and 135.2 innings in 2019.

Cubs Hire David Ross As Manager

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The Cubs have announced the signing of David Ross to a three-year managerial contract running through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023. Ross, a former hero of the club’s 2016 title run, will be formally introduced at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

The Cubs had previously been said to be in serious consideration of Astros coach Joe Espada for the opening, but it appears that they will turn instead to an in-house option in replacing the departed Joe Maddon. Ross has spent three seasons in the Cubs front office as a special assistant to baseball operations following a fifteen-year year playing career that saw him win World Series titles in both Boston and Chicago.

Though he does not have direct managerial experience to his name, Ross is a well-respected former catcher who has shared dugouts with some of the most revered names in the occupation’s history. As a player, Ross suited up for championship winners Maddon, Bobby Cox, Bruce Bochy, John Farrell, and Terry Francona.

At 42 years of age, Ross becomes the youngest Cubs manager since Jim Riggleman was hired to the post in 1995, and his hiring is in keeping with the wider trend of youthful managers being installed around the game (Ross will not even be the youngest manager hired this afternoon, as reports indicate the Padres have hired 38-year-old Jayce Tingler as their own newly minted skipper).

Following an 84-78 season that saw their postseason hopes crumble down the stretch, the Cubs and manager Joe Maddon parted ways at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Maddon, who helped the club break a 108-year World Series drought with their championship in ’16, has since found employment with the Angels.

Latest On David Ross

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Oct 24: The Cubs have officially announced Ross’ signing as the club’s new manager. The Chicago hero will receive a three-year contract through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023 (link).

Oct 23: Chicago settled on Ross yesterday afternoon, Kaplan adds (Twitter link). All other candidates have been informed of the decision, he adds, so it seems an announcement is just a formality at this point.

8:41 am: Ross is indeed likely to be hired as the Cubs’ manager this week, reports David Kaplan of NBC Sports (via Twitter). Kaplan adds that Ross’ agent has been negotiating a deal that is “almost done” with President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein.

12:21 am: Joe Espada and David Ross are reportedly the favorites in the Cubs’ search for their next manager, though it appears the latter has pulled ahead in the race. Ross could be announced as the Cubs’ new skipper as early as Thursday, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com suggested to “Waddle and Silvy” (Twitter link via Adam Abdalla of ESPN Chicago).

Ross is a revered figure for the Cubs, with whom the former major league catcher played the final two seasons of his career from 2015-16. In the last of those years, Ross helped the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908 with a strong regular-season performance and a postseason effort highlighted by a home run against the Indians in Game 7 of the World Series.

Ross has served as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Cubs and an ESPN analyst since his playing days wrapped up, but he comes with no coaching experience. He’s something of a polar opposite in that regard to previous Cubs skipper Joe Maddon, a longtime coach whom the club hired after a long run as the Rays’ manager. Despite his lack of seasoning as a coach, though, Ross told Rob Bradford of WEEI that he believes he’s capable of melding the best qualities of the top managers he encountered during his career. Ross played under World Series-winning managers in Maddon, Terry Francona, John Farrell and Bobby Cox.

Maddon’s “old school to the core; he just uses the analytics in his favor for certain wacky situations where he may take the pitcher and put him in left field,” according to Ross. While Ross noted that Maddon’s methods with the Cubs came off as unconventional, “90 percent of the time, it worked out.”

Ross, if he becomes a manager, will attempt to mix the methods of Maddon and Cox – specifically the “freedom” they’ve given players – with Francona’s communication skills and Farrell’s ability to delegate. And as someone who played in the majors for a decade and a half, Ross thinks he learned what not to do from less successful managers. In his discussion with Bradford, Ross opined he’s well aware “what a bad manager looks like.”

Maddon was anything but “bad” during his time with the Cubs, of course, but the club nonetheless moved on after a disappointing 2019 season. It now appears they’ll hand the reins to the popular Ross in an effort to return to prominence next year.

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