2016-17 American League Non-Tenders
The deadline to tender 2017 contracts to players is tonight at 8pm ET. We’ll keep track of the day’s non-tenders in the American League in this post (all referenced arbitration projections courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…
- Infielder Gregorio Petit and lefty Cody Ege were non-tendered by the Angels, per a club announcement.
- The Twins non-tendered pre-arb righty Yorman Landa, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press tweets.
- The Rays non-tendered infielder Ryan Brett, who wasn’t eligible for arbitration, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.
- The Yankees have non-tendered southpaw Jacob Lindgren, the club announced. His departure leaves the team with one open 40-man roster spot. The high-powered lefty has dealt with elbow issues in recent years.
- Righty Blake Smith will head to the open market after he wasn’t tendered by the White Sox. The 28-year-old debuted briefly in the majors last year, but spent most of the year at Triple-A. He showed well there, compiling a 3.53 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 over 71 1/3 innings. Smith compiled those frames in just 39 appearances, suggesting that Chicago liked the idea of utilizing him in a multi-inning role — which other organizations may consider, too.
- The Rangers announced that outfielder Jared Hoying will be non-tendered, making him a free agent. The 27-year-old made his major league debut last year, struggling through 49 plate appearances. He did have a solid run at Triple-A, though, slashing .269/.336/.474 with 78 strikeouts against 37 walks over 435 trips to the plate.
- The Indians have non-tendered righty Jeff Manship, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. The club’s remaining arb-eligible players will all be offered contracts. Manship projected at $1.2MM, but even that relatively minimal amount proved too great for Cleveland to take on. While the 31-year-old didn’t have sterling peripherals, he was solid last year for the Indians and posted a magical run for the team in 2015. All told, he contributed 82 2/3 innings of 2.07 ERA ball during his time in Cleveland, which ought to set him up for an opportunity with another organization.
- Righty Vance Worley has been non-tendered by the Orioles, per a team announcement. All of the team’s other eligible players have been tendered contracts. Worley had been projected to command $3.3MM in arbitration as a 4+ service-class player, but will instead hit the open market. The 29-year-old pitched to a 3.53 ERA in 86 2/3 innings last year with Baltimore, functioning mostly in a relief capacity. He has plenty of experience as a starter, however, and remains a possible swingman (or back-of-the-rotation) option for other organizations. Over his seven major league campaigns, Worley has posted a 3.75 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9.
- The Red Sox announced that they won’t tender a contract to veteran catcher Bryan Holaday. The 29-year-old batted .231/.281/.359 with a pair of homers and seven doubles in 129 PAs between Texas and Boston this past season. The right-handed-hitting Holaday will bring a career .628 OPS and 28 percent caught-stealing rate to the free agent market as he looks to latch on elsewhere, presumably in a backup capacity. He’d been projected to earn $900K in arbitration this winter and comes with three years of team control to any club that signs him. Boston tendered contracts to all of its remaining arb-eligible players, tweets the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. Boston’s 40-man roster is at 39 players.
Market Rumblings: Cutch, Nats, Melancon, Giants, Martinez, Bruce, Rangers, Chapman, Holland
While much of the trade chatter on Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen has focused on the Nationals, the Dodgers are also a plausible suitor, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. There’s interest from Los Angeles in the 30-year-old, not least of which because he’s controllable at a fairly reasonable salary and doesn’t come with a lengthy commitment.
- Despite the ongoing interest in McCutchen, the Nationals are also looking into other outfielders, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports. Among the free agent center fielders who have at least come up internally are Dexter Fowler, Carlos Gomez and former Nats shortstop Ian Desmond. The organization has also given some thought to Adam Eaton of the White Sox. That’s doubly interesting given that the Nats are reportedly still engaged on star Chicago southpaw Chris Sale.
- While the Nationals are trying to work out arrangements to land McCutchen (or an alternative) and/or Sale, they remain in on closer Mark Melancon, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). Melancon’s market is moving along well, says Crasnick, with expectations that he could land as much as $60MM over a four-year term. While Washington is clearly intrigued at a reunion, Crasnick adds that the Giants remain engaged and may even be better-situated for a strike on Melancon given that the Nats’ attention may lie elsewhere.
- That being said, the Giants are also looking to add a power bat in the outfield, and they have continued to consider Tigers slugger J.D. Martinez, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). That interest has been known for some time, but it seems there’s still life to the possibility. Notably, GM Bobby Evans has signaled that San Francisco does not wish to take on a long-term obligation in the outfield, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. The same rationale that makes Martinez appealing — his one year of team control — could also make Mets outfielder Jay Bruce a possibility, Schulman notes.
- Another team in the outfield market is the Rangers, who hope to add a center fielder as well as another starter. GM Jon Daniels says that he’s currently paying more attention to the trade market than to free agency, as T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. Texas is drawing hits on relief pitching, Daniels added.
- The Yankees have their eye on four possibilities for a big bat, per Heyman (via Twitter): Edwin Encarnacion, Matt Holliday, Mike Napoli, and Carlos Beltran. Most of those free agents have been connected to New York in some form already, though Holliday has not been mentioned with much specificity. Of note, beyond the interest of the Yankees, is that Holliday is apparently looking for a two-year deal, while Beltran appears to be available for a single-season commitment.
- High-octane lefty Aroldis Chapman remains in excellent position to land a big new deal, but Heyman tweets that he’s not necessarily hunting for a nine-figure contract. While the bargaining could presumably still push the price tag toward (if not past) the $100MM mark, that’s not a “demand” of the free agent, per the report.
- As the Pirates weigh a number of pursuits, the organization remains engaged with lefty Derek Holland, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on Twitter. Bucs GM Neal Huntington is set to meet with Holland’s reps at the Winter Meetings early next week.
Trade Rumblings: Braves, Wilson, Martinez, Carter
The Braves are still looking at trading for an ace even after adding Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia to their rotation this winter and are specifically focused on White Sox lefty Chris Sale and Rays right-hander Chris Archer, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links). The Braves prefer Sale to Archer despite the potentially higher asking price and shorter amount of club control remaining on his contract, Crasnick adds. Atlanta is receiving quite a bit of interest in top prospect Ozzie Albies (in general and not specifically from the White Sox or Rays), Crasnick adds, but they’re expressing a good deal of reluctance to part with him. The Braves don’t seem especially enamored of Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray on the heels of a down season in 2016, according to Crasnick.
Some more trade chatter from around the league…
- The Tigers have been receiving plenty of calls about their veterans as they look to get younger and cut some payroll this winter, but MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets one name that has been drawing considerable interest without generating many headlines: lefty reliever Justin Wilson. Per Morosi, Detroit has “perhaps the largest number of inquiries” on Wilson as teams look to bolster their left-handed relief corps. The arbitration-eligible Wilson is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn just $2.7MM next season, so he wouldn’t trim much payroll of the Tigers’ books. But, he could certainly fetch a nice prospect or two, allowing the Tigers to get a bit younger in the process. Wilson, 29, posted excellent peripherals that suggest his marginal 4.14 ERA will improve in 2017 and beyond (10.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 54.9 percent ground-ball rate, 3.02 SIERA).
- Morosi also tweets that the Phillies are seeking a short-term outfield bat and have inquired with the Tigers about J.D. Martinez, but talks didn’t advance much, he notes. Martinez has been one of the most talked-about trade candidates of the offseason and seems to have a decent chance of landing elsewhere this winter, but the asking price on him is apparently quite high at the moment. Newsday’s Marc Carig reported yesterday that Michael Conforto‘s name came up in talks with the Mets before New York re-signed Yoenis Cespedes. (Unsurprisingly, talks died quickly once Detroit mentioned Conforto, per Carig.)
- The Brewers are trying to trade recently-designated-for-assignment slugger Chris Carter before tonight’s 8pm ET non-tender deadline tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The Orioles, who just claimed a player with a potentially similar skill set in Adam Walker, aren’t likely to make a play for Carter, per Heyman (whose tweet came prior to the Walker claim). Carter’s current scenario is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Mark Trumbo situation, as he’s a player with prodigious power that the league isn’t valuing at his arbitration number due to defensive concerns, high strikeout tendencies and a questionable on-base percentage. The Mariners were able to get a nominal return for Trumbo rather than non-tendering him, but MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that Milwaukee shopped Carter around for a month before designating him, so it seems unlikely that a trade will materialize in the next six hours.
Heyman’s Latest: Sale, Encarnacion, Astros, Martinez, Mets, Yankees, CarGo
The Nationals, Astros, Red Sox, Rangers and Braves are at the forefront of the Chris Sale market, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman in his latest notes column. However, an exec with one of those clubs that spoke to Heyman still said he’s not sure that Sale is moved at all due to the exorbitant nature of the White Sox‘ asking price. The Nationals, for instance, have been asked for Trea Turner as part of the package but have balked at the idea, Heyman notes, with one Washington source calling the budding star “too valuable” to part with. It’s similarly difficult to envision a player like Alex Bregman or Dansby Swanson being moved for Sale as well. The White Sox do like Dodgers prospect Cody Bellinger, writes Heyman, but L.A. has yet to show a significant inclination to pursue Sale, he adds. (And, from my vantage point, the Dodgers would need to add quite a bit more than Bellinger to a Sale package anyhow.)
A few more highlights…
- The Yankees, Astros and Blue Jays all remain in the mix for Edwin Encarnacion, but Heyman joins others in writing that Twitter reports of a deal between Houston and Encarnacion were premature. The Astros are being aggressive on Encarnacion, according to Heyman, though agent Paul Kinzer told him that there are “a couple” of other teams in the mix beyond this group as well. Perhaps signaling their desire to add an impact bat, the Astros made a legitimate run at Yoenis Cespedes both this offseason and last winter, Heyman adds, noting that last winter’s pursuit flew largely under the radar.
- One general manager who has spoken to the Tigers about a J.D. Martinez trade tells Heyman that he believes Martinez is “all but certain” to be traded. Detroit, Heyman points out, is now the somewhat surprising MLB payroll leader with several Dodgers hitting free agency and with the Yankees trading Brian McCann.
- The Mets would like to add not one but two left-handed relievers to their bullpen, Heyman writes. They’re interested in a reunion with southpaw Jerry Blevins, who spent the past two seasons in the organization, but other reports have indicated that Blevins is likely to receive a multi-year deal that will exceed the Mets’ comfort zone. The Mets might also consider adding catching help, though that’s not characterized as a priority in this report, which also notes that the team considers Michael Conforto to be close to untouchable in trade talks.
- The Yankees have spoken to other teams about third baseman Chase Headley and outfielder Brett Gardner but received minimal interest in that pair. Headley has $26MM in guaranteed money remaining on his deal and quietly rebounded from a disastrous start to post a solid overall season in the Bronx last year, while Gardner is owed a similar $25MM through 2018 and also has a club option for the 2019 season on his deal. Gardner would seem to have more trade value to me, and perhaps teams would show more interest later in the winter once some of the free-agent options in the outfield have come off the board.
- There’s been no formal extension offer made by the Rockies to Carlos Gonzalez, who said last week that the team has expressed interest in an extension. According to Heyman, that could be due to the fact that initial suggestions were deemed “too low” by Gonzalez’s camp to even merit an official offer. CarGo is just one year away from free agency and could be an appealing trade piece for the Rox this summer if the team doesn’t contend in 2017.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/1/2016
Here are some recent minor moves from around the league:
- The Orioles announced the signing of outfielder Logan Schafer to a minor-league deal. The six-year MLB veteran saw minimal time last year with the Twins. At Triple-A, he batted .272/.342/.382 with six homers and six stolen bases over 317 trips to the plate.
- The Athletics have added two more players on minors deals, each of which includes a spring camp invite, per MLB.com’s Jane Lee (via Twitter). Catcher Ryan Lavarnway and first baseman Chris Parmelee will join the Oakland organization. Lavarnway, a former top prospect, continues to bounce around. He hit .266/.351/.384 last year with at the highest level of the minors. The 28-year-old Parmelee has seen MLB action in each of the last six seasons, slashing .248/.313/.405. At Triple-A last year in the Yankees organization, he put up a .248/.335/.449 batting line.
- Outfielder Henry Ramos is headed to the Dodgers on a minor-league pact, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Ramos had spent his entire career in the Red Sox farm system, reaching its highest level last year. Over his 398 plate appearances in the upper minors in 2016, he slashed .263/.306/.402 with eight home runs.
- The White Sox have added catcher Roberto Pena on a minors deal, Cotillo also tweets. The 24-year-old has long been an Astros’ farmhand since being selected in the seventh round of the 2010 draft out of Puerto Rico. In the upper minors a season ago, he put up a .235/.273/.376 slash.
- Two pitchers are headed to the Pirates on minor-league contracts, per a club announcement. The Bucs will give a look to lefty Dan Runzler, who last appeared in the bigs in 2012 and put up a 5.82 ERA in 21 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year with the Twins. Also joining the Pittsburgh organization is righty Jason Stoffel, a 28-year-old who has spent plenty of time in the upper minors in recent years but hasn’t cracked the bigs. He recorded an impressive 2.44 ERA with 11.9 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 over 59 frames in 2016 in the Orioles organization, splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A.
- Though we missed it at the time, it’s worth noting that the Angels reached agreement on a minor-league contract with righty Justin Miller, as Matt Eddy of Baseball America reported. The 29-year-old has thrown 88 1/3 innings over the past three seasons, with a 4.99 ERA that doesn’t inspire much hope. But he turned in a promising 2015 campaign and still managed 9.5 K/9 in his forty appearances last year with the Rockies.
Market Notes: CBA, Astros, Encarnacion, Napoli, Cubs-Sox, Puig, A’s, Greinke, Bucs
With the CBA now in place, teams and players that were waiting for clarity can move toward new agreements. While plenty of organizations have gone right ahead with their plans, others seemingly have waited. That includes the Yankees (per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag, on Twitter), Nationals (per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post, on Twitter), and perhaps also the Red Sox (via Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, in a tweet). Whether we’re in for a rush of moves remains to be seen, but the stage is set.
Here’s all the latest chatter on the market:
- The Astros continue to strive to add another bat, with the team confident it will land either Edwin Encarnacion or Carlos Beltran, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). Still, the Yankees, Blue Jays, and a “couple others” remain involved on Encarnacion, Heyman tweets. All three of those teams, along with the Red Sox, are in on Beltran, Nightengale adds on Twitter.
- Several former employers of first bagger Mike Napoli have interest in a reunion, per Heyman. The Red Sox, Indians, and Rangers are perhaps the three teams most heavily invested in his market. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Astros appear to be involved at the periphery at present.
- There have been some rumblings of late suggesting that the Cubs and White Sox likely won’t do business with one another this winter, at least not on any significant deals, and Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times rounds up the latest. Ultimately, it seems, there’s not much new to chew on here: both teams say they’re open working with one another, even if they acknowledge what GM Jed Hoyer suggests is an unsurprising reality that the clubs are unlikely to to match up on an impactful swap given their market competition.
- The Dodgers are still open to considering trades involving outfielder Yasiel Puig, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times recently noted on Twitter. Meanwhile, the Athletics continue to chase a center fielder after signing Matt Joyce, per GM David Forst (via MLB.com’s Jane Lee, on Twitter). It seems that Oakland is considering options via trade and free agency to fill the void up the middle.
- There’s “minimal trade interest” at present in Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. His massive contract remains an obvious impediment, though rival execs tells Rosenthal that they don’t believe Arizona can afford to carry that huge commitment. It’s certainly a notable dilemma for the team.
- The Pirates are looking into the trade market for relief help, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter). It’s possible that Pittsburgh could consider moving Tony Watson, who is in his final season of team control and comes with a projected $5.9MM salary. The team does have two other solid pen lefties; while Watson currently profiles as the closer, moreover, there are a variety of potential alternatives on the open market.
Olney’s Latest: Hamilton, Napoli, Sale, CBA
The Reds are listening to offers on all of their players, including Billy Hamilton, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (Insider subscription required and recommended). There is, of course, a distinction to be made between entertaining offers and shopping Hamilton around, but Cincinnati’s openness should pique the interest of a number of clubs looking for a center field upgrade. Hamilton had a breakout year in 2016, slashing .260/.321/.343 with three homers while delivering his third consecutive season with 55-plus stolen bases. Those rate stats are far from elite, but Hamilton is an elite defensive center fielder and far and away the best baserunner in Major League Baseball, so progressing from a sub-.300 OBP to even a roughly league-average mark is significant. Hamilton swiped 58 bags in just 460 plate appearances last year and was caught a mere eight times. He also drew a +15 mark from Defensive Runs Saved and +13 from Ultimate Zone Rating in just 119 games.
As Olney notes, Hamilton is controllable for three more years and may not have much control left by the time the Reds are good again. There’s certainly some logic behind trading him, though the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Zach Buchanan hears they’d need to be “really, really motivated by an offer” to part with Hamilton (Twitter link).
More from Olney…
- Mike Napoli is seeking a three-year contract in free agency, reports Olney later in the above-linked piece. The Indians, meanwhile, prefer to keep their offers to retain Napoli to one year in length. At 35 years of age and in a market stocked with first base/DH types — Mark Trumbo, Edwin Encarnacion, Brandon Moss, Steve Pearce, Mitch Moreland, Adam Lind, Logan Morrison, etc. — it’s tough to see Napoli landing three guaranteed years even after hitting 34 homers. Napoli’s .239/.335/.465 line was solid but not elite. and his baserunning and defense both rated poorly in 2016 as well.
- Also from Olney, execs with other teams tell him that they believe the White Sox “are serious about their intention to trade Chris Sale.” Chicago has told rival clubs they’re willing to trade anyone with fewer than four years of team control remaining, which would mean Jose Quintana, Carlos Rodon, Adam Eaton and Tim Anderson are off the table, but names like Sale, Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier, Melky Cabrera and David Robertson are all in play. Sale’s name figures to dominate next week’s Winter Meetings, and the wide range of options available to Chicago GM Rick Hahn should mean the White Sox will be connected to plenty of interesting trade scenarios.
- In a separate column (Insider subscription again required and once again highly recommended), Olney writes about the ongoing struggle in the collective bargaining negotiations, which have a 12:01am ET deadline on Thursday. Per Olney’s report, differing styles of negotiation between new MLBPA head Tony Clark and the team of Commissioner Rob Manfred and chief legal officer Dan Halem have led to a slower pace in talks. And, the owners’ recent concession of dropping the demand for an international draft hasn’t really accelerated talks in the manner they hoped it would. Olney adds even more to the CBA story through a series of three tweets, reporting that the competitive balance tax is the “last big hurdle” for MLB and the MLBPA to clear in negotiations, but there’s growing pessimism about a deal getting done. Agents to whom Olney has spoken are “perplexed” by the impasse and feel the Union needs to communicate to the players more effectively why there could be a work stoppage and how it’d impact them.
Anthony Ranaudo Signs With KBO’s Samsung Lions
Righty Anthony Ranaudo has signed a one-year deal with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Samsung Lions, the club announced (h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, on Twitter). The 27-year-old, who was released by the White Sox to pursue the opportunity, will earn a $1.05MM salary.
Once a top-100 prospect in the Red Sox organization, Ranaudo has seen action in each of the last three major league seasons. The results, though, haven’t been very promising. He owns a 7.01 ERA over 86 frames and has recorded both 44 strikeouts and walks.
Ranaudo spent most of the 2016 campaign in the White Sox organization after being acquired from the Rangers via trade in the middle of May. He ended up in Texas in the early 2015 swap that sent Robbie Ross Jr. to Boston.
While his struggles at the game’s highest level continued, Ranaudo was rather effective in 19 starts at Triple-A last year. He threw 110 innings of 3.19 ERA ball at the highest level of the minors, posting 6.8 K/9 against just 1.2 BB/9.
Yankees Notes: Tanaka, Chapman, Free Agents
Masahiro Tanaka‘s opt-out clause following the 2017 season looms large over any Yankees decisions on the pitching front this winter, writes ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand, as the team doesn’t have a reliable starter that is definitively under control beyond the current campaign. (Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia are free agents next offseason.) As Marchand notes, Tanaka’s situation illustrates the dangers that opt-out clauses present to teams; if Tanaka pitches well in 2017, he’ll have been a great four-year investment but will test the open market in search of a larger deal. If he performs poorly and/or gets injured, the Yankees will be stuck with the remaining three years and $64MM on the contract. And, of course, there’s no way to know which scenario will play out, thus making it more difficult to plan for the future as well. Marchand notes that the lack of arms locked in beyond 2017 could lead the Yankees to Rich Hill (though he comes with his own obvious uncertainties) but cautions that GM Brian Cashman is still not keen on using his newly bolstered farm to land someone like Chris Sale. Marchand also explores various bullpen scenarios that could play out for the Yankees this winter.
A few more notes out of the AL East…
- Aroldis Chapman tells NY Sports Day’s Ray Negron that he would “love to be a Yankee again,” expressing gratitude for the fact that the Yankees “took a chance” on him amid domestic abuse allegations. “The organization treated me first class, and the fans were like no other,” said Chapman of his time in New York. George A. King III of the New York Post reports that the Yankees have had multiple conversations with Chapman’s agent, Barry Praver, about a reunion, but to this point there’s been no formal offer extended by New York, nor has there been a proposal in terms of years and dollars from Chapman’s camp. It’s certainly possible that the Yankees — and many teams with serious interest in Chapman — are awaiting the results of the current wave of collective bargaining negotiations, which will reportedly bring a yet-unknown increase to the $189MM luxury tax barrier.
- The free agent market is presently flush with corner outfield/first base/designated hitter types, and the Yankees intend to closely monitor that market and take advantage, as the Orioles have done in the past, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. In recent years, we’ve seen the O’s wait out the first base/rightfield/DH market and land affordable contracts for players like Pedro Alvarez (one year, $5MM last winter) and Nelson Cruz (one year, $8MM prior to the 2014 season). With names like Carlos Beltran, Brandon Moss, Mike Napoli, Steve Pearce, Matt Holliday, Trevor Plouffe, Mitch Moreland, Adam Lind, Logan Morrison and Justin Morneau among the available corner names, is does indeed seem possible that the Yankees could end up with a bargain on their hands by exercising some patience. Olney tweeted last week after the Brian McCann trade that the Yankees’ focus was on pitching, though they would very much like to bring Beltran back to the Bronx.
Quick Hits: White Sox, Dodgers, Twins, Yankees, Orioles
The White Sox are willing to listen to offers for just about all of their players, and industry sources regard them and the Dodgers as perfect trading partners, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan (Twitter links). Ace Chris Sale, third baseman Todd Frazier and closer David Robertson are among the players Chicago could move, and all of them fit the Dodgers’ needs, notes Passan. Meanwhile, the White Sox like several Dodgers – outfielder Yasiel Puig and prospects Cody Bellinger, Alex Verdugo, Jose DeLeon and Willie Calhoun – so it seems the two sides could line up for some sort of deal this offseason.
Now for some American League notes:
- Former Twins reliever LaTroy Hawkins has joined the team’s revamped front office as a special assistant, reports Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. And longtime outfielder Torii Hunter, one of the greatest Twins ever, could be next. Hunter told Berardino he has had “several conversations about” taking on a role with the Twins, adding that he and the club “will talk here in the near future.” Hawkins and Hunter, both of whom retired after the 2015 campaign, spent a combined 21 major league seasons with the Twins. Minnesota chose Hawkins in Round 7 of the 1991 draft and Hunter in the first round in 1993.
- Although the Yankees are on the hunt for starting pitching, they could take advantage of a weak market and shop contract-year right-hander Michael Pineda, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests. Even if New York opts against that and only adds to its rotation, Sherman doesn’t see the team going to three years for free agency’s best option, onetime Yankee Rich Hill. New York has shown interest in Hill, Jason Hammel and Derek Holland this week.
- The Orioles did not add outfielder Mike Yastrzemski or catcher Audry Perez to their 40-man roster Friday, meaning both minor leaguers could end up leaving the organization in December’s Rule 5 draft. Baltimore is at least hoping to retain Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Mike Yastrzemski hit just .221/.312/.369 in 385 plate appearances at Triple-A Norfolk in 2016, though injuries negatively affected him. “He had a labrum problem and he also had a core injury that he had to have surgery on, so he’s got a little work to do to be ready for the spring,” said general manager Dan Duquette. Scouts regard Yastrzemski as a potential fourth outfielder in the majors and Garcia as a possible reserve backstop, and Kubatko expects someone to draft the latter.
- Along with the previously reported Roger McDowell and Frank Viola, Orioles Double-A pitching coach Alan Mills, Cardinals minor league pitching coordinator Tim Leveque and Rangers minor league pitching coordinator Danny Clark are vying to replace the departed Dave Wallace as Baltimore’s pitching coach, per Kubatko. The club is looking to make a hire soon, perhaps as early as this weekend.