NL Central Notes: Arb Cases, Kang, Bailey, Hammel, Cubs
Though the Brewers and righty Chase Anderson participated in an arbitration hearing on Monday, they’ll have to wait a while longer to learn the results. As the Associated Press reports (via USA Today), MLB and the player’s union agreed to request that all first-year arb-eligible starters have their cases heard (or otherwise reach agreement) before any decisions are issued. Other effected players and teams include Michael Wacha of the Cardinals, Collin McHugh of the Astros, Jake Odorizzi of the Rays, Marcus Stroman of the Blue Jays, and Taijuan Walker of the Diamondbacks. The filing gaps in these cases are relatively narrow — McHugh’s case has the most at stake ($3.85MM versus $3.35MM) — but the decision will ensure that one case isn’t able to influence the others. In Anderson’s case, the panel is deciding between his $2.85MM submission and Milwaukee’s $2.45MM counter. You can find all of the filing figures and settlement amounts for this year’s arb class right here.
Here’s the latest out of the NL Central…
- Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang will stand trial on DUI charges on February 22nd, Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap reports. That’s after the start of Pittsburgh’s spring camp, though it seems the trial itself won’t pose any major limitations on his availability. There are much broader concerns here, of course. Kang is obviously in need of a reevaluation of his decisionmaking — it’s his third such arrest — and it remains to be seen what kind of disciplinary and/or remedial action he might face from the court (if not also the commissioner’s office).
- The latest surgery for Reds righty Homer Bailey represents yet another setback, but won’t necessarily force the club to make a 40-man roster move, as Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Referencing the team’s group of young rotation candidates, president of baseball operations Dick Williams said that “there will be an opportunity for the guys who are coming to assert themselves.” At the same time, the Reds will likely “at least look around to see if there are some options” available to bolster their depth.
- The Cubs thought they were doing Jason Hammel a favor when they declined his $12MM option in November, thereby enabling him to reach free agency, but it ended up hurting the right-hander’s value, writes ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription required). Hammel agreed to a two-year, $16MM deal with the Royals on Sunday, though it took nearly three months for him to find a job despite being one of the most accomplished starters available in a weak class of free agents. Rival teams inferred from the Cubs’ decision that the Theo Epstein-led franchise didn’t think Hammel was good enough to crack their rotation going forward, Olney suggests, and late-season elbow tightness didn’t help matters. The 34-year-old Hammel didn’t pitch past Sept. 24 — when he allowed six earned runs in a 2 1/3-inning start — meaning he missed the Cubs’ run to the World Series.
- Meanwhile, Cubs senior VP of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod spoke recently about the state of the arms on the Chicago farm, as Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago reports. While the club lacks “impact starters at the upper levels,” he notes, there’s optimism more broadly. “We now feel really good, not just with the depth of the organization but having some major league starting impact guys who are at the the A-ball level and progressing toward Double-A now,” said McLeod, who also discussed the team’s hopes for just-acquired righty Eddie Butler.
Cubs Acquire Alec Mills, Designate David Rollins
The Cubs have acquired right-hander Alec Mills from the Royals in exchange for minor league outfielder Donnie Dewees, the team announced via press release. In order to clear a spot for Mills on the 40-man roster, left-hander David Rollins has once again been designated for assignment. The 25-year-old Mills was designated for assignment himself earlier this afternoon, suggesting that talks between the Cubs and Royals were either in the works prior to the DFA or came together very quickly.
The acquisition of Mills, for the Cubs, is not entirely dissimilar from the recent pickup of right-hander Eddie Butler from the Rockies. Both right-handers give the Cubs an optionable right-hander that can serve as a depth piece for the the back of the rotation or potentially work out of the bullpen. It seems likely that Mills and Butler will both be Triple-A-bound to start the season, but both could realistically emerge on the big league roster at various points throughout the 2017 season — especially if the Cubs do employ spot starters with regularity later in the offseason to keep their top arms fresh.
Mills made his MLB debut in 2016 on the heels of a solid season split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. In 125 2/3 minor league innings, he worked to a 3.22 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 with roughly average ground-ball rates. While he’s not universally lauded as a prospect, he’s received some attention from Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen, Baseball Prospectus’ Jeffrey Paternostro and from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. Reviews on Mills range from solid relief prospect/occasional spot starter with useful sinker to a potential back-of-the-rotation starter.
The 23-year-old Dewees, meanwhile, fits the Royals’ profile of a speed- and contact-oriented hitter. The 2015 second-rounder hit .284/.338/.416 with five homers and 31 stolen bases across 577 plate appearances between the Class-A Midwest League and the Class-A Advanced Carolina League in 2016.
ESPN’s Keith Law recently rated Dewees 15th among Cubs farmhands (subscription required and strongly recommended), noting that he’s a 70-grade runner that can handle center field from a range standpoint but has a 20-grade arm that limits him to left field. Longenhagen ranked him 19th among Cubs prospects offering a similar take (albeit a 30-grade arm instead of 20), writing that without the power to profile as a left field regular, his best scenario is a Ben Revere type. B-Pro’s Steve Givarz was a bit more optimistic about his glovework but still pegs him as more of a fourth outfielder than a potential starter.
As for Rollins, this latest DFA continues one of the more remarkable offseasons in recent memory. Rollins opened the offseason on the Mariners’ 40-man roster but was claimed off waivers by the Cubs in mid-November. Since that time, he’s been claimed by the Rangers, who lost him to the Phillies on waivers not long after. Philadelphia designated him for assignment less than two weeks later and lost him back to Texas on waivers. That stay with the Rangers was even shorter than the first, as the Cubs claimed him once again just two days later.
Chicago will now once again try to slip Rollins through waivers, though given the number of times he’s been claimed this winter, one shouldn’t simply assume that he’ll make it through waivers. Teams that have lost out on left-handed relievers in free agency, for instance, could look at Rollins as a potential fallback option.
Rollins, 27, has a 7.60 ERA in 34 innings with the Mariners across the past two seasons and has averaged 7.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 with a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. A .379 BABIP in his big league career indicates that he’s had his fair share of misfortune on balls in play, though most ERA estimators peg him for an ERA in the mid-4.00s. Nonetheless, he’s been claimed off waivers five times by three different teams this winter, so there are obviously a fair amount of talent evaluators that believe he can provide some value to a big league team in 2017 and beyond.
Royals, Cubs, Nationals Among Teams At Seth Maness Workout
TUESDAY: The Brewers, Reds, Indians, Orioles, Astros and Twins also sent scouts to observe Maness’ workout, according to Goold.
MONDAY: Scouts from at least 16 Major League clubs were on-hand today to watch free agent right-hander Seth Maness work out, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Instagram). Per Goold, the Royals, Cubs and Nationals were all represented at Maness’ audition.
Maness’ showcase is especially intriguing due to the circumstances surrounding his injury. The 28-year-old suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament last summer and underwent surgery in August, but he elected to undergo an experimental “primary repair” surgery that, if successful, could represent a potential alternative to Tommy John surgery. Not every pitcher with a torn UCL can turn to the primary repair procedure as an alternative — the operation is dependent on the location and extent of the ligament tear — but certainly a return to health for Maness in seven and a half months would pique the interest of others with similar diagnoses around the league. (Those who are interested in the matter and missed Goold’s column on Maness last month should absolutely take the time to read through his breakdown of the operation itself and the larger-reaching potential implications of the surgery.)
The 28-year-old Maness was a fixture in the St. Louis bullpen from 2013-16, racking up 237 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a hefty 59.4 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Last season, however, he logged a 3.41 ERA with career worst K/9 and BB/9 rates of 4.6 and 2.3, respectively. Following the August operation, the Cardinals non-tendered him rather than pay him a projected $1.6MM via arbitration (projection via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
As an added bonus for any club that ultimately signs Maness, if he is indeed able to return and pitch at a high level, he’d remain under club control not just for the 2017 season but through the 2019 season. Maness wrapped up the 2016 campaign with three years and 154 days of Major League service time, so he’d be arbitration-eligible in each of the next two winters before hitting free agency in advance of his age-31 season.
Cubs Sign Williams Perez To Minor League Contract
The Cubs have signed free agent right-hander Williams Perez to a minor league contract, tweets FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Perez had been available since the Braves released him Dec. 8.
[RELATED: Updated Cubs Depth Chart]
The 25-year-old Perez saw fairly extensive action the past two seasons in Atlanta, where he made 34 appearances (31 starts) and logged a 5.18 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 170 1/3 innings. All 11 of Perez’s appearances came via starts in 2016, and his results were unsightly (6.04 ERA) despite the fact that he paired a high ground-ball percentage (57.1) with a quality walk rate (2.52 per nine innings).
Perez’s new organization has one of the majors’ top rotations on paper with Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, John Lackey and either Mike Montgomery or Brett Anderson, though the need for more depth is obvious. The Cubs are cognizant of that, having added Perez, swingman Casey Kelly (another ex-Brave) and Eddie Butler in recent days.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/4/17
Here are the latest moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Cubs assigned Dylan Floro to Triple-A after the right-hander cleared waivers, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat reports (via Twitter). Floro was designated for assignment earlier this week when Chicago acquired Eddie Butler from Colorado. Muskat adds that Floro will be a non-roster invitee to the Cubs’ Spring Training camp. The 26-year-old Floro made his MLB debut last season, posting a 4.20 ERA, 8.4 K/9 and 2.8 K/BB rate over 15 relief innings for the Rays. He joined the Chicago organization in January after the Cubs claimed him off waivers.
Pitching Notes: Hammel, Jays, Royals, Blevins, Blanton, Braves
Let’s take a look in at the latest on the pitching market:
- MLB Network’s Peter Gammons tweets that one Cubs official to whom he recently spoke believes that many teams around the league assumed Jason Hammel was injured when Chicago surprisingly decided to decline his seemingly reasonable $12MM club option. That’s not the case, however, per Gammons, who notes that Hammel is in good health. It’s been a surprisingly slow market for the 34-year-old Hammel, who looks to be the top remaining starter on the open market. The 2016 season saw Hammel toss 166 2/3 innings with a 3.83 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 42.1 percent ground-ball rate. Over the past three seasons, Hammel sports a 3.68 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 40 percent grounder rate. Hammel did see his strikeout and walk rates trend in the wrong direction last year, which contributed to a 4.48 FIP, 4.34 xFIP and 4.28 SIERA that are among his worst marks since establishing himself as a big league starter.
- Despite adding lefty J.P. Howell, the Blue Jays are still looking for another pen arm, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). It doesn’t seem as if there’s a clear preference between a righty and a lefty, as the club is said to be exploring both varieties of pitchers.
- Likewise, Royals GM Dayton Moore says that his club still intends to add another arm, though it’s not clear specifically whether it’ll be for a starter or reliever, as Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com was among those to tweet. Either the trade or the free agent market could hold the missing piece, the GM noted.
- The Mets and left-hander Jerry Blevins “have been exchanging concepts” for some time now, writes ESPN’s Buster Olney, but the Mets have only proposed one-year scenarios to this point. Blevins is known to be seeking a multi-year pact and seemingly has a realistic shot of obtaining one. Payroll has reportedly been an issue for the Mets — their current projection of $146MM would be their second-highest Opening Day mark ever — though the New York Post reported yesterday that the Mets are open to pursuing a back-loaded deal, which could serve as a compromise of sorts.
- Similarly, Olney notes that the Dodgers were very pleased with Joe Blanton last summer but have limited interest at this time after spending a combined $192MM to retain the trio of Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and Rich Hill. Los Angeles is open to adding a reliever, but there have been rumors that they’re focused on one-year deals, and Olney’s mention of them does little to dispel that notion.
- While there’s some uncertainty as to which left-handers will be working out of the Braves‘ bullpen in 2017, Atlanta hasn’t expressed much interest in free agents such as Blevins, Javier Lopez, Boone Logan, Travis Wood and Chris Capuano, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Braves feel that those options are either too expensive or not definitive enough upgrades to sign. Ian Krol and Paco Rodriguez (if healthy) are likely to see significant work in the Atlanta relief corps this season, per O’Brien, who also runs down a number of other internal options.
- Right-hander David Aardsma is slated to throw for interested teams tomorrow in hopes of landing an invite to Major League Spring Training somewhere. The 35-year-old last pitched in the Majors back in 2015, tossing 30 2/3 innings with the Braves and registering a 4.70 ERA. Aardsma has added about 20 pounds while following an Olympic weightlifting program in hopes of boosting his velocity. He struggled through a brief showing with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate last season but turned in strong minor league results in 2014-15.
Cubs Acquire Eddie Butler, Designate Dylan Floro For Assignment
The Cubs announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Eddie Butler from the Rockies in exchange for minor league righty James Farris. Butler had been designated for assignment over the weekend.
The trade also includes the Cubs sending their top international bonus slot, No. 28 overall, to the Rockies in exchange for a lower slot — No. 74 overall. The swap of international slots adds an additional $255K to the Rockies’ international signing pool. To make room on the roster for Butler, the Cubs designated right-hander Dylan Floro for assignment.
Butler, who’ll turn 26 in March, once rated among the game’s top 50 prospects in the eyes of Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus, but the right-hander’s stock has tumbled substantially since that time. Butler has logged consistently impressive ground-ball rates as a professional but has never missed bats or been able to demonstrate exemplary command at any level. In parts of three big league seasons with the Rox, he’s struggled to a 6.50 ERA with 5.3 K/9, 4.0 BB/9 and a 48.6 percent ground-ball rate. His work in Triple-A (5.01 ERA, 4.3 BB/9, 3.1 BB/9 in 159 innings) doesn’t look much better on paper.
As recently as the 2014-15 offseason, though, Butler ranked as Baseball America’s No. 77 overall prospect, and prior to that he rated 24th overall. Butler’s career has been slowed by some shoulder troubles to date, but when his prospect status was at its best, BA’s scouting reports (subscription required/recommended) lauded his power sinker and “extraordinary” changeup while giving him credit for three plus pitches and a solid-average slider. His velocity has taken a step back since that time (perhaps due to the shoulder woes), but Butler does have a minor league option remaining. As such, he’s likely to open the season at Triple-A Iowa and look to get his career back on track, potentially serving as a depth piece for a Cubs team that will look to deploy a six-man rotation in the latter stages of the season. Chicago also lacks a defined fifth starter at this time, with lefties Mike Montgomery and Brett Anderson set to vie for that job in Spring Training.
This marks the second DFA of the winter for the 26-year-old Floro, who made his Major League debut with the Rays last season. In 15 innings with Tampa Bay, Floro posted a 4.20 ERA with 14 strikeouts and four unintentional walks to complement a strong 54.7 percent ground-ball rate. Floro also averaged a respectable 92.5 mph on his fastball and enjoyed a successful season at the Triple-A level, logging 50 innings with a 2.88 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 and a 56.5 percent ground-ball rate. He’s walked just 1.3 hitters per nine innings in his minor league career, so there’s definitely some appeal in his blend of strong control and ground-ball tendencies. Floro, though, fell all the way to Chicago on waivers just two weeks ago, so there’s a chance that the Cubs will be able to pass him through unclaimed this time around and retain him without dedicating a 40-man spot.
The 24-year-old Farris split the 2016 season between Chicago’s Class-A Advanced and Double-A affiliates, working to a combined 2.59 ERA with 10.1 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 47.1 percent ground-ball rate in 66 innings of relief. Farris also fired nine scoreless innings with an 11-to-2 K/BB ratio in the 2016 Arizona Fall League. Farris has never rated among the Cubs’ top prospects in recent years and didn’t make the cut on yesterday’s Cubs rankings from ESPN’s Keith Law, either. The former ninth-round pick averaged 91.7 mph on his fastball this season and 83 mph on his changeup, per PITCHf/x data at MLBfarm.com.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/28/17
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Cubs announced that left-hander Manny Parra has been signed to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to the team’s spring camp. This is the second straight offseason that has seen Parra sign a minor league contract with the Cubs, though he didn’t pitch at all in 2016. Originally a starter with the Brewers, the 34-year-old Parra posted a 3.91 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 2.9 K/BB rate over 115 relief innings for the Reds from 2013-15.
- The Cubs signed right-hander Casey Kelly to a minor league deal, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (Twitter link). Once considered one of the game’s better pitching prospects, Kelly has managed only a 6.39 ERA over 62 innings in the majors, though his career was interrupted by Tommy John surgery in 2013. As Eddy notes, the signing reunites Kelly with Theo Epstein (who was the Red Sox GM when Kelly was drafted 30th overall by Boston in 2008) and Jed Hoyer (who was the Padres GM when Kelly was part of the trade package acquired for Adrian Gonzalez in December 2010).
- Parra and Kelly were two of 24 non-roster invitees to the Cubs‘ Spring Training camp, as announced yesterday by the club. The list includes southpaw Gerardo Concepcion and righties Conor Mullee, Christian Villanueva and Zac Rosscup, who were all non-tendered by the Cubs in December to free up 40-man roster space.
- The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Leonel Campos has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. Campos was designated for assignment earlier this week when Toronto claimed Juan Graterol off waivers from the Angels. Campos was himself claimed off waivers back in November following a season that saw him post a 5.73 ERA, 9.8 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9 over 22 relief innings for the Padres. Control has been an issue for Campos throughout his entire pro career, as the righty also has a 5.0 BB/9 over 250 2/3 career minor league innings.
- The Diamondbacks signed outfielder Jake Goebbert and catcher Willians Astudillo to minor league deals, Matt Eddy reports (Twitter link). Goebbert has a solid .276/.363/.443 slash line over 3483 career minor league plate appearances, though he hasn’t been able to translate those results into much playing time in the bigs — his MLB resume consists of 115 PA with the Padres in 2014. Goebbert spent 2016 with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate and struggled to the tune of a .661 OPS in 364 PA. Astudillo, a 25-year-old catcher out of Venezuela, has hit .309/.348/.391 over 2026 minor league PA. He spent his first six pro seasons in the Phillies system before moving to the Braves in 2016 and reaching the Double-A level for the first time.
Cubs Sign Brett Anderson
4:10pm: FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Anderson will earn $500K for in his 11th start; $750K for his 14th and 17th starts; $1MM for starts 20, 23 and 26; and $1.5MM for reaching 29 starts.
3:50pm: The Cubs on Thursday formally added another arm to their rotation mix, announcing a one-year contract with left-hander Brett Anderson. The contract reportedly guarantees the oft-injured Anderson a relatively modest $3.5MM but has incentives that can boost its value to $10MM. Anderson is represented by the Legacy Agency.
Anderson, who’ll turn 29 on Feb. 1, made just four major league starts last year after missing the bulk of the season due to back surgery. He had accepted the Dodgers’ one-year, $15.8MM qualifying offer over the winter, but went down during Spring Training. Though it’s promising that Anderson was able to work back to the hill, he was roughed up in limited action.
That said, Chicago liked what it saw in a recent look at the southpaw per Rosenthal’s report, and perhaps can look to utilize him the same way they had intended with Tyson Ross — who was hotly pursued before signing with the Rangers. Both pitchers are looking to return to health and reestablish their trajectories.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Anderson seemed to have turned a corner. When he joined the Dodgers before the 2015 season, he hadn’t surpassed 100 innings in a single year since 2010. However, he went on to provide Los Angeles with 180 1/3 innings of 3.69 ERA ball with 5.8 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9, leading to the qualifying offer.
That sort of output likely represents the upside scenario for the Cubs, who have been looking to bolster their rotation depth. As things stand, Anderson and fellow lefty Mike Montgomery could battle it out for the fifth starter’s job, with the other perhaps heading to the pen for long relief and spot start duties.
The Cubs have also expressed interest in using a sixth starter more frequently as the season wears on, and that type of arrangement could help to keep Anderson healthy while also limiting the innings of fellow starters Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey, each of whom is coming off a significant workload thanks to the Cubs’ World Series run in 2016.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the agreement (Twitter links). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the terms of the deal (via Twitter). ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted that Anderson had passed his physical.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bullpen Rumors: Badenhop, Lefties, Indians, Breslow, Colome, Twins
Former big league reliever Burke Badenhop is joining the Diamondbacks in an interesting new baseball operations position, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. In his new role, Piecoro writes, Badenhop will perform “acquisition-based pitching analysis/sports science work.” That sounds like a great way to start a new career path for the veteran hurler, though unfortunately it’ll mean sacrificing the fame and riches associated with his gig as an MLBTR contributor.
In all seriousness, MLBTR wishes Burke the very best in his new pursuit; be sure to check out his excellent work in the Player’s Perspective Series. Here’s the latest from the relief market:
- In his latest MLB Roundup column, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes that a game of musical chairs appears poised to begin in the next couple of days as the market for left-handed relievers begins to sort itself out (ESPN Insider subscription required). Per Olney, the Indians, Mets, Blue Jays, Phillies, Giants and Marlins are the teams most aggressively seeking left-handed bullpen help. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal also tweeted this morning that the Mets are still seeking bullpen help, though Olney notes that the team doesn’t have the payroll capacity to retain Jerry Blevins at his current asking price. There are a number of free-agent southpaws remaining on the market, including Blevins, Travis Wood, Boone Logan, J.P. Howell, Charlie Furbush (recovering from August shoulder surgery), Chris Capuano, Javier Lopez and Craig Breslow. Olney notes that Wood’s deteriorating swinging-strike rate has been a cause of concern for some teams.
- While the Indians are indeed most interested in a southpaw, the club is not limiting itself to left-handed relief options, Rosenthal notes (Twitter links). Among other possibilities, Cleveland is said to be “doing background work” on veteran righty Joe Blanton, though Rosenthal notes that it’s far from clear whether the organization will even give out any more MLB deals (which Blanton surely will require).
- Following a workout that was reportedly attended by about half the league, Breslow is drawing some level of interest from the Indians, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Rockies, Mets, Cubs, Twins and Reds, according to WEEI’s Rob Bradford (Twitter links). The 36-year-old’s altered arm angle has piqued the interest of teams to the point where some consider him a viable fallback to Jerry Blevins and Boone Logan.
- The Rays are still receiving trade interest in closer Alex Colome, tweets Rosenthal, but they’re not in any rush to move him. The 28-year-old Colome dominated opponents after taking over the ninth inning for the injured Brad Boxberger, tossing 56 2/3 innings of 1.91 ERA ball with 11.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 47.1 percent ground-ball rate. Colome, though, is controllable for another four years and won’t even be arbitration-eligible until next winter, so the asking price on him would presumably be exceptionally high. While the Rays may not feel compelled to shop Colome, the team typically is willing to listen on nearly any player. I’d imagine any offer would need to include MLB-ready lineup help in addition to some prospect capital.
- The Twins are interested in Joe Smith, reports 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson in his latest podcast (audio link, with bullpen talk beginning around 1:02:55). (Wolfson also noted interest in Greg Holland, but he’s now heading elsewhere.) Minnesota is “slow-playing” its search on the free-agent market as it attempts to wait out the market to secure a late value pickup or two, and with plenty of quality names left on the market, they’re probably not the only ones employing that approach. The Twins have previously been connected to both relievers, though that interest was first reported months ago, so it wasn’t exactly clear if they’d changed course at all. New Twins chief baseball office Derek Falvey knows Smith quite well, as the side-armer spent the 2009-13 seasons with the Indians, where Falvey was previously an assistant general manager.