White Sox Acquire Tommy Kahnle From Rockies
The White Sox announced that they have acquired right-hander Tommy Kahnle from the Rockies in exchange for minor league right-hander Yency Almonte (Twitter link). Kahnle was designated for assignment by the Rockies last Friday in a series of moves to set the club’s roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
Kahnle, who turned 26 in August, came to the Rockies from the Yankees organization by way of the Rule 5 Draft in 2013. He’s totaled 102 innings for the Rox over the past two years — his lone MLB experience — and posted a 4.41 ERA while averaging exactly one strikeout per inning to go along with a strong 49.4 percent ground-ball rate. Kahnle’s problem, however, has been a lack of control. Though he’s averaged 95 mph on his fastball in the Majors (95.9 mph in 2015), he’s averaged 5.2 walks per nine innings pitched and issued an alarming 27 unintentional walks in 33 1/3 innings this past season.
The 21-year-old Almonte came to the Sox as the player to be named later in the 2014 deal that sent Gordon Beckham to the Angels. Almonte spent the 2015 campaign pitching for Class-A Kannapolis and Class-A Advanced Winston-Salem, posting a combined 3.41 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 137 1/3 innings (22 starts; 24 total appearances). He didn’t rank among Chicago’s Top 30 prospects, per MLB.com.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/23/15
Here are the day’s minor signings from around the league…
- Infielder Steve Tolleson is headed to the Orioles on a minor league deal, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. Tolleson will receive an invitation to major league camp. The 32-year-old owns a .245/.299/.372 slash in 363 career plate appearances in the bigs.
- Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee is joining the Giants on a minor league deal, Matt Eddy reported as part of a slew of signings. (See his Twitter feed for these and more.) Formerly a top prospect with the Rays, the 25-year-old suffered a serious knee injury and has not hit much since at the Triple-A level. Among other deals, San Francisco also brought back lefty Ricky Romero, per Eddy.
- The Diamondbacks have added righty Kyle Drabek on a minors deal, according to Eddy. He joins outfielder Kyle Jensen and third baseman Carlos Rivero as Arizona minor league free agent signees. Once one of the game’s best-regarded pitching prospects with the Blue Jays, the 27-year-old Drabek did not live up to his promise in Toronto. But he did toss a solid 137 1/3 innings last year at Triple-A for the White Sox, working to a 3.47 ERA with 5.5 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.
- The White Sox have signed righty Phillippe Aumont to a minor league pact, Josh Norris of Baseball America tweets. The former Phillies prospect lost his 40-man roster spot last year. He did put up a 3.14 ERA after moving back into the rotation at Triple-A, but continued to demonstrate serious control problems with 6.8 BB/9.
Earlier Transactions
- The Blue Jays have signed first baseman Casey Kotchman, second baseman David Adams and shortstop Jiovanni Mier to minor league contract with invitations to Major League Spring Training, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The 32-year-old Kotchman comes with far and away the most big league experience, having served as an everyday first baseman (or close to it) with the Angels, Braves, Red Sox, Mariners, Rays and Indians from 2007-12. However, Kotchman hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2013 and hasn’t experienced much in the way of success since his career year with the 2011 Rays. He’s a lifetime .260/.326/.385 hitter in the Majors. Adams, meanwhile, was once a promising second base prospect with the Yankees but never received a consistent chance in the Majors (in part, due to injuries). The now-28-year-old did receive 152 PAs in New York in 2013 but batted just .193/.252/.286 in that short stint. Mier, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick and top 100 prospect, but his bat has never really come around. He’s now 25 years of age and is a career .239/.333/.340 hitter in the minors.
Free Agent Starter Notes: Price, Zimmermann, Buehrle
Here are some items about some notable pitchers on the open market…
- David Price and Jordan Zimmermann have both been cited as Cubs targets this winter, and ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers looks at the pros and cons for signing each starter for the Northsiders.
- A reunion between Mark Buehrle and the White Sox is probably unlikely, MLB.com’s Scott Merkin writes as part of a reader mailbag, since adding Buehrle would give the Sox five left-handers in the rotation. It isn’t yet clear if Buehrle plans to pitch in 2016 but at least 10 teams have shown interest if he did come back for another season.
- Colby Lewis underwent meniscus surgery after the season and will have a checkup on his progress around Thanksgiving, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reports. The Rangers are interested in re-signing Lewis but they’ll wait to see the results of the checkup before they revisit negotiations.
- The Rangers have been aggressive in checking out the trade and free agent markets for a pitching upgrade, but Sullivan notes that the most expensive pitchers (i.e. Price, Zack Greinke) aren’t being targeted. Beyond finding a new starter, the biggest help to the Texas rotation will be if Yu Darvish, Martin Perez, Derek Holland are all healthy next season.
Added To The 40-Man Roster: Friday
Tonight at 8:00pm ET is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster and thereby protect them from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. In other words: there will be a significant amount of 40-man roster moves made over the course of the next 13 or so hours. Six clubs already made moves to protect prospects from the Rule 5 yesterday, and each of the remaining 24 clubs should make moves today as well.
In brief: players drafted/signed at 18 years of age or younger must be added to the 40-man roster within five years of signing or be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Players drafted/signed at 19 or older must be added within four years. Those interested in all of the specifics can refer to articles from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Perhaps of greater interest is that Mayo lists all of the prospects from MLB.com’s Top 100 list and from their organizational Top 30 lists that much be protected in advance of tonight’s deadline, while Cooper provides brief write-ups on each player that has been protected (and will continue to do so as additions are made).
Here are today’s additions to the 40-man roster. You can check out Baseball America’s coverage to learn more about the individual players listed below …
- The last team to report is the Giants, who have added a host of names to their 40-man: pitchers Ty Blach, Clayton Blackburn, Kyle Crick, Ian Gardeck, Adalberto Mejia, Steven Okert, Jake Smith, and Chris Stratton. With the roster filled up with that many pre-MLB arms, it’s fair to wonder whether the team anticipates trading from among that group.
- In their second set of 40-man promotions today, the Astros have selected the contracts of outfielder Andrew Aplin and infielder Nolan Fontana.
- Moving onto the Marlins 40-man are lefty Jarlin Garcia and a trio of righties: Jacob Esch, Austin Brice, and Nick Wittgren.
- The Cubs have placed backstop Willson Contreras, righty Pierce Johnson, third baseman Jeimer Candelario, and first baseman Dan Vogelbach onto their 40-man, the team announced.
- The Phillies added outfielder Roman Quinn and righties Jimmy Cordero and Edubray Ramos.
- Joining the Royals‘ 40-man are pitchers Matthew Strahm, Alec Mills, and Kyle Zimmer, infielder Ramon Torres, and outfielders Brett Eibner and Bubba Starling, the club announced.
- The Rockies have selected the contracts of righties Carlos Estevez and Antonio Senzatela, infielder Trevor Story, and outfielder Raimel Tapia.
- The Rays will add righties Jacob Faria, Taylor Guerrieri, and German Marquez to the 40-man roster along with infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter and rising lefty prospect Blake Snell.
- The Pirates have added top prospects Tyler Glasnow and Josh Bell to the club’s 40-man, along with fellow youngsters Harold Ramirez (an outfielder) and Max Moroff (a middle infielder).
- Righty Victor Alcantara has been placed on the Angels‘ 40-man, the club announced. As MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez notes on Twitter, Alcantara is probably now the team’s single best prospect.
Earlier Updates
- Joining the big league side of the roster for the Yankees are righties Johnny Barbato and Rookie Davis along with outfielder Ben Gamel, the team announced.
- The Reds announced the additions of right-handers Robert Stephenson, Sal Romano, and Stephen Johnson to the 40-man roster to keep them from Rule 5 eligibility.
- Going onto the Rangers‘ 40-man roster are outfielder Nomar Mazara, lefty Yohander Mendez, and righties Jose Leclerc and Connor Sadzeck.
- The Dodgers brought righties Jharel Cotton and Ross Stripling onto their 40-man, per a team announcement.
- Infielder Marco Hernandez, righty Pat Light, and lefty Williams Jerez are the newest members of the Red Sox 40-man, the club announced.
- The White Sox have protected righties Brandon Brennan and J.B. Wendelken from the Rule 5 by giving them roster spots.
- The Orioles have added a trio of pitchers, per an announcement. Parker Bridwell and Andrew Triggs throw from the right side, while Chris Lee is a southpaw.
- Moving onto the 40-man for the Indians are righties Mike Clevinger, Shawn Morimando and Dylan Baker, as well as outfielders Tyler Naquin and James Ramsey, per the club.
- The Mets announced the additions of outfielder Brandon Nimmo and righties Seth Lugo, Jeff Walters, and Robert Gsellman to the club’s major league roster.
- Second baseman Joey Wendle and left-hander Jose Torres were added to the Athletics 40-man roster, per the club.
- The Mariners announced that they have purchased the contracts of infielder Patrick Kivlehan and outfielder Boog Powell, thereby adding them to the 40-man roster and protecting them from the Rule 5 Draft.
- The Astros announced the additions of catcher Alfredo Gonzalez and right-handers Jandel Gustave, Juan Minaya, Joe Musgrove and David Paulino to the 40-man roster. Notably, Gustave was a Rule 5 pick last year and found himself with both the Padres and Royals before ultimately being returned to Houston.
- The Tigers announced that they’ve added right-handers Michael Fulmer and Montreal Robertson as well as left-hander Jairo Labourt to the 40-man. Fulmer was the main piece picked up in Detroit’s trade of Yoenis Cespedes, while Labourt was one of three lefties acquired from Toronto in the David Price trade.
White Sox Taking Offers On Avisail Garcia
The White Sox have informed other teams that they are open to trading right fielder Avisail Garcia, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com reports. Moving Gracia is just one option the team is considering, per the report, but Chicago has been fielding offers over the course of November.
While the club insists that it continues to believe in Garcia’s upside, says Hayes, it is confident in relying on Trayce Thompson as a replacement option. Both players come with their share of risk and reward, of course, and both are just 24 years of age.
The impetus to consider a Garcia trade comes in large part from the fact that the Sox have multiple areas of need elsewhere. Hayes writes that the club could be focused, in particular, on improving the left side of the infield, and may find it necessary to utilize Garcia “to sweeten a deal to return major league talent.” That would imply, of course, that he could be packaged in a multi-player swap, rather than sold off for a prospect return.
Other clubs will certainly be intrigued by the possibility of rolling the dice on Garcia’s talent, as he’s a former top-100 talent who has at least shown the ability to produce at a league-average rate at a young age. While his defensive issues also limit his value, it’s possible to imagine that Garcia could be a useful part in the right trade. And Garcia comes with four seasons of control, though it won’t necessarily be cheap, as MLBTR projects that he’ll earn $2.3MM this year as a Super Two.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/19/2015
Time to catch up on some of the minor moves that have hit the books over the last several days …
- The White Sox have signed outfielder Scott Hairston to a minor league deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. Hairston, 35, sat out the 2015 season but figures to have a chance at cracking a Chicago roster that appears to be in need of several position players. The eleven-year MLB veteran owns a lifetime .242/.296/.442 slash with 106 home runs, with most of that damage coming against left-handed pitching.
- Righty Jim Miller signed a minor league pact with the Brewers, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports. He won’t receive an invite to major league camp, per McCalvy, but chose Milwaukee over three other interested teams because of his relationship with assistant GM Matt Arnold (who just came over from the Rays). The 33-year-old has never played in the big leagues with Tampa Bay, but put up good numbers at Triple-A for the organization last year. Miller has thrown 67 1/3 MLB innings over parts of five seasons, most of them coming in a productive 2012 with the Athletics.
- Infielder Hernan Perez has also signed on to return to the Brewers, per the MLB.com transactions page. The 24-year-old got an extended look with Milwaukee last year, slashing .270/.281/.365 over 238 plate appearances, but lost his roster spot and elected free agency earlier this fall.
- The Angels have inked lefty Lucas Luetge to a minor league deal with a spring invite, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports on Twitter. Luetge, 28, provides a potential southpaw pen piece for the Halos. He’s spent parts of each of the last four seasons in the majors, but his innings have dropped in every year. All told, Luetge owns a 4.35 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 4.8 BB/9 in the bigs.
- There are five new non-roster invitees heading to Phillies camp, per a club announcement. Infielders Emmanuel Burriss and Ryan Jackson have both joined Philadelphia, as have righties Frank Herrmann, Chris Leroux, and Reinier Roibal. The infielders both come with MLB experience and could represent utility options for the rebuilding club. As for the pitchers, Herrmann and Leroux are both looking for a return to the bigs after having previously spent time in major league pens. And Roibal is a 26-year-old Cuban who put up good numbers — 1.64 ERA, 8.7 K/9 vs. 1.8 BB/9 — at the High-A and Double-A levels last year in the Phillies organization.
AL Central Notes: Indians’ Starters, Fister, Tigers, Sox, Soria
The Blue Jays, Dodgers and Yankees are among the teams that have reached out to the Indians and had “preliminary” trade talks about Cleveland’s starting pitching, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (links to Twitter). The still-very-early frameworks being discussed would each send a controllable starter away from Cleveland in exchange for an everyday outfielder, he continues. In an appearance on MLB Network (video link), Morosi noted that Brett Gardner‘s name has come up in talks with Cleveland. Of course, Gardner alone wouldn’t fetch Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar, given the outfielder’s poor second half (though that was said to be injury-driven) and the more general fact that it makes little sense for Cleveland to part ways with five affordable years of either pitcher in exchange for three to four years of a well-compensated veteran. Other young and very well-regarded pieces would be a necessity. Trevor Bauer could be a more intriguing candidate in that scenario, as the soon-to-be 25-year-old was impressive in bursts in 2015 but continued his longstanding battle with control issues for most of the season. Other very speculative fits from the listed clubs could include Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Kevin Pillar, Dalton Pompey and Aaron Judge. Of course, each of those suggestions comes with varying degrees of uncertainty.
Some more notes from the AL Central…
- The Tigers are among the teams with interest in free-agent right-hander Doug Fister, according to Buster Olney of ESPN (Twitter link). Fister is coming off a poor season in D.C. that saw his velocity dip to about 86 mph, causing him to lose his rotation spot. However, he enjoyed his best seasons in Detroit, and I can envision him being interested in a return on a make-good contract as he looks to rebuild his value, perhaps on a one-year deal in search of a larger contract among next year’s weak crop of free-agent starters.
- MLB.com’s Jason Beck breaks down the Tigers‘ options in their search for a left fielder. As Beck writes, fans should put to bed the notion of Jason Heyward, Justin Upton or a Yoenis Cespedes reunion, as all figure to be out of Detroit’s price range. Avila spoke highly of Tyler Collins recently, Beck notes, lending some credence to the possibility of simply acquiring a platoon partner for the left-handed-hitting 25-year-old. Beck lists Chris Young, former Tigers Ryan Raburn and Rajai Davis as possibilities. However, if the club feels an everyday left fielder would be an upgrade over a platoon of Collins and one of those righty bats, names like Nori Aoki and Gerardo Parra could come into play. Of course, it should be noted that Parra himself could benefit from a platoon partner, though he has a stronger defensive reputation than Collins (his surprising 2015 downturn in the view of defensive metrics not withstanding).
- White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin that the team hasn’t made a definitive decision as to which direction it will go this offseason (Twitter link). While that will probably induce a large amount of Chris Sale and Jose Quintana trade speculation from fans of pitching-hungry teams, it does seem difficult to envision the White Sox changing course after spending so heavily last winter. Chicago’s core of Sale, Quintana, Carlos Rodon, Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton and David Robertson is an excellent start to a contending club. Previous reports have indicated that the Sox believe 2015 was just the first of a multi-year window to contend. Nonetheless, that Williams didn’t take the opportunity to firmly denounce the possibility of some retooling is notable.
- The Twins have reached out to Joakim Soria‘s agent and received his medical records for review, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, though it’s not known whether the team is comfortable with a number anywhere near his reported $27MM asking price. (My guess: no.) In other Soria/AL Central news, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweeted today that while the Tigers were interested in Soria as recently as this past weekend, the two sides weren’t on the same page in contract talks. Detroit’s acquisition of Francisco Rodriguez seems likely to have diminished their interest in Soria anyhow.
Free Agent Profile: Jeff Samardzija
After an offseason trade to the White Sox, Jeff Samardzija struggled through his worst season in four years as a starting pitcher. He’ll still likely aim for a sizable multiyear contract in free agency.
Strengths/Pros
Samardzija is, first and foremost, a workhorse. He tossed 647 1/3 regular season innings from 2013-15, sixth-most in baseball. David Price is the only free agent with more during that span, and he only had eight additional innings. Samardzija has never been on the disabled list and has never missed a start due to injury. The 6’5″, 225 lb. righty seems built to last.
Samardzija has lower mileage on his arm than most of his fellow free agents, mainly because he spent a portion of his big league career as a reliever. As a 31-year-old with no DL time, Samardzija has still only thrown 1502 pro innings. Yovani Gallardo, who is a year younger than Samardzija, has 1901 innings. Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir have mileage similar to Gallardo. Ian Kennedy has 1590 2/3 innings, a total held down by 2009 shoulder surgery. Jordan Zimmermann and Wei-Yin Chen have lower mileage than Samardzija, but both had Tommy John surgery. Mike Leake, who recently turned 28, has 1115 career innings.
Samardzija has shown the ability to pitch at the front end of a rotation. He was his team’s Opening Day starter in each of the past three seasons, and earned an All-Star nod in 2014. That season, Samardzija posted a 2.99 ERA in 219 2/3 innings. His 4.7 K/BB ratio ranked 14th among qualified starters. He also brings the heat. From 2012-15, Samardzija averaged 94.6 miles per hour on his fastball, second only to Stephen Strasburg among those with 600 innings.
Samardzija turned the corner with his control in 2014, walking only 1.8 batters per nine innings. His 1.9 mark from 2014-15 ranks 15th among qualified starters, and many of those ranked above him are soft-tossers. From 2012-14, Samardzija showed an elite combination of skills and durability, ranking eighth in MLB with a 3.35 SIERA for those with 600 or more innings. During those three years, Samardzija was firmly operating in Jordan Zimmermann/Jon Lester territory. That valuation was borne out when Samardzija (along with Jason Hammel) netted the Cubs Addison Russell and Billy McKinney in a trade with the Athletics.
Weaknesses/Cons
There’s no tiptoeing around the fact that 2015 was a very rough season for Samardzija. He allowed the most hits and earned runs of any MLB starter, and he tied for the most home runs allowed in the AL. In his four seasons as a starter, his 6.9 K/9 was easily a career worst, as were his 4.96 ERA, 1.22 HR/9, and 39% groundball rate. In his 32 starts, he allowed five or more earned runs in 11 of them. Samardzija had a stretch in August where he gave up 22 earned runs in three starts. Zack Greinke didn’t give up his 22nd earned run until his 21st start of the season. A childhood fan of the White Sox, Samardzija’s season on the south side of Chicago did not go as planned.
In four seasons as a starter, Samardzija has posted a 4.03 ERA over 822 innings, and his only campaign below 3.81 was 2014. In each of the 2012, ’13, and ’15 seasons, Samardzija’s SIERA was significantly below his ERA. What has caused the big righty to post higher-than-expected ERAs in three out of his four seasons as a starter? Batting average on balls in play, home run per flyball rate, and issues pitching out of the stretch have all manifested in those three seasons, but none consistently. His All-Star season, 2014, was the only one where all three of those factors were normal. I asked SIERA creator Matt Swartz about this, and he concluded, “You have to figure he’s more likely to underperform his SIERA than the average pitcher, but nothing jumps out as a persistent problem.”
With the White Sox, Samardzija reduced the usage of his two-seam fastball in favor of the cutter, perhaps unsurprisingly. That pitch change mix supports the narrative that Samardzija can be fixed. On the other hand, why couldn’t Samardzija right the ship during the 2015 season?
Samardzija received and turned down a qualifying offer from the White Sox, so signing him requires draft pick forfeiture. Teams with unprotected picks in the teens such as the Red Sox, Diamondbacks, and Orioles could shy away.
Personal
Jeff Samardzija was born and raised in Merrillville, a town in Northwest Indiana. Inspired by his older brother Sam, Jeff played football, baseball, and basketball at Valparaiso High School. Tragically, Jeff lost his mother Debora during that time to a rare lung disease. With his father and brother in mind, Jeff looked at colleges close to home and landed a football scholarship to Notre Dame. Jeff was a star wide receiver for the Irish, but quietly pitched for the college’s baseball team as well. A baseball teammate noted Jeff resembled the shark from Finding Nemo, giving him a nickname that stuck. Since most teams thought he was destined for the NFL, Samardzija fell to the fifth round in the MLB draft in 2006. Cubs GM Jim Hendry was a good friend of Samardzija’s baseball coach Paul Mainieri, who urged Hendry to draft the greatest athlete he’d ever coached. Jeff agreed to a $250K deal with the Cubs, provided he could return to Notre Dame for his senior season.
After making seven appearances for Cubs minor league affiliates in Boise and Peoria, Samardzija had to decide whether to commit to the Cubs or enter the 2007 NFL draft as a potential first-round pick. Samardzija surprised the Cubs by working out a five-year, $10MM deal to commit to baseball. Samardzija ascended through the Cubs’ minor league system more because of his contract than due to success. As an up-and-down reliever, Samardzija briefly kicked around a return to football in April 2010. However, he had a decent year out of the Cubs’ pen in 2011, and then Theo Epstein’s regime took over the team’s front office. Samardzija removed his distractions that offseason and told Epstein he wanted to be a starting pitcher. He was awarded the Cubs’ fifth starter job out of camp in 2012, and his MLB career took off.
Market
We see Samardzija in a tier with Wei-Yin Chen and Mike Leake, a notch below David Price, Zack Greinke, Jordan Zimmermann, and Johnny Cueto. Comparing Samardzija’s contract with Chen’s will offer an interesting data point on whether teams are really moving past ERA. ERA makes Chen look better than Samardzija, yet Samardzija has a better reputation with the team executives to whom we’ve spoken, as well as superior skill-based stats. For some teams, Samardzija offers a chance at a #2 type starter coming off a down year, resulting in a potential bargain. Samardzija is an innings guy at worst, with the same high floor as Leake. Leake, however, doesn’t offer the same ceiling.
Though the draft pick loss will be an issue for some, a potential list of suitors for Samardzija includes the Orioles, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers, Royals, Twins, Astros, Angels, Rangers, Marlins, Nationals, Cubs, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Padres, Dodgers, and Giants. He could be a top choice for a team like the Tigers, who intend to add multiple starters and therefore may sit out the $100MM+ market. Former Cubs GM Jim Hendry currently works for the Yankees (at least for now), so there’s an obvious connection with Shark.
Expected Contract
In June 2014, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reported Samardzija rejected a five-year extension offer from the Cubs worth slightly more than $85MM. A few months prior, Homer Bailey had signed an extension with the Reds for six years and $105MM, and that comparable may have compelled Samardzija to turn down the Cubs. The Cubs’ argument may have been that Bailey was younger than Samardzija, and that’s why he received a sixth year. That same question still exists: is there a team willing to sign Samardzija through 2020, his age 35 season? Given the list of teams above, as well as the pitcher’s durability, I think there will be enough suitors for Samardzija and his agents at Wasserman Media Group to get a fifth year on the open market. A slightly lower average annual value could bolster that case – Samardzija may cost $16-17MM per year, as opposed to $20MM+ salaries for guys like Rick Porcello and, presumably, Zimmermann. I’m predicting a five-year, $80MM deal for Samardzija.
Reactions To And Effects Of The Craig Kimbrel Trade
Here are a few notes on the Red Sox’ acquisition of Craig Kimbrel from the Padres last night for prospects Manuel Margot, Javier Guerra, Carlos Asuaje and Logan Allen.
- The trade is likely to represent the Red Sox’ biggest trade of the offseason, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski says (via Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal on Twitter).
- The Red Sox still need a front-of-the-rotation pitcher, but they’re likely to pursue that kind of player via the free agent market, Dombrowski tells reporters, including Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. “My thought process is most likely any acquisition we’d make in the starting pitching would first happen as far as the free-agent field is concerned,” Dombrowski. “You never know, but that would be my guess.” Lauber does note that the team has spoken with executives from other teams about potential trade acquisitions, but the Athletics don’t seem inclined to trade Sonny Gray, and ditto with the White Sox and Chris Sale. That could mean the Red Sox sign David Price, Johnny Cueto or Zack Greinke.
- The Red Sox’ decision to deal four good prospects for Kimbrel suggests a change in the team’s approach, John Tomase of WEEI.com writes. Former GM Ben Cherington built up talent in the Sox’ farm system but would probably have been reluctant to make such an aggressive trade. The Red Sox pursuing top free agent pitchers like Price, too, would have been unlikely under Cherington.
- Trading so many prospects so early in his tenure represents a risk for Dombrowski, MacPherson writes. MacPherson cites Cubs GM Jed Hoyer, who was new in town a few years back when his team sent a package that included DJ LeMahieu to Colorado for infielder Ian Stewart. “Those kind of mistakes happen when a regime comes in and they don’t know the guys as well,” says Hoyer. “They’re relying more on internal evaluations and scouting reports, third-hand information. Anytime you go to a new organization, those are your risks — and there are risks of being inactive because you’re worried about making mistakes, too.”
- The Kimbrel deal was exactly the kind of trade Dombrowski was hired to make, writes Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. Abraham notes that many commentators (like FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron and ESPN Insider’s Keith Law, for example) disliked the trade from the Red Sox’ perspective, but after two straight losing seasons, the Sox have tickets to sell, and Kimbrel will help sell them. For the Red Sox, prospects like Margot and Guerra were best viewed as trade chips.
Heyman’s Latest: Offseason Spending, CarGo, Pirates, Kennedy, Gallardo
In his latest notes column, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports begins by classifying the Angels, Giants, Tigers, Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals and Dodgers as the expected “big spenders” of the offseason, breaking down some targets that each club could pursue. Heyman goes on to call the Orioles, Blue Jays, Yankees, D-Backs, Mets, Royals and Padres as “medium spenders,” noting that each has needs and could make one significant addition or a series of mid-range moves in order to address multiple areas around the roster. As he did with the big-spending clubs, Heyman examines a few plausible scenarios for each, noting that the Royals are still in the three- or four-year range on Alex Gordon, thereby casting some doubt on a potential reunion.
A few highlights from his column…
- While Andrelton Simmons‘ name has been a hot topic over the past 15 hours or so, there’s a “good chance” that the Braves will make Julio Teheran available at some point this winter. Teheran’s value isn’t as high as that of Simmons at the moment, I wouldn’t think, due to a down year for Teheran in 2015. Moving him would be selling low, which makes it more difficult to envision a deal, from my vantage point.
- The White Sox were one of “many teams” to which agent Brodie Van Wagenen made a presentation regarding Yoenis Cespedes, though the greater needs for the ChiSox come at catcher, third base, second base and shortstop.
- The Rockies have again made Carlos Gonzalez available in trades, as many expected would be the case following the summer trade of Troy Tulowitzki. CarGo dominated the National League from June through season’s end after struggling with injuries in 2014 and early 2015 and undoubtedly restored an exceptional amount of trade value. Heyman speculatively listed the Orioles as a potential match when discussing Baltimore in his intro section.
- Pittsburgh has fielded offers on all seven of its players that are a year removed from free agency. That includes Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, Mark Melancon, Mike Morse, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli. However, the Pirates are also said to be considering an attempt at locking Cervelli up on a multi-year deal.
- Ian Kennedy is planning to decline the Padres‘ qualifying offer, per Heyman. Both Tim Dierkes and I have noted that there’s little sense in Kennedy accepting the offer. The right-hander is fourth in innings pitched in the NL over the past five seasons and has averaged 8.5 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in that time while posting a 3.89 ERA, 3.87 FIP and 3.78 xFIP. Homer struggles in 2015 aside, Kennedy finished strong and should get paid somewhere. It’s hard to envision a Scott Boras client being the first to accept a qualifying offer, and if all else fails, Kennedy can go the Ervin Santana route and sign a one-year deal near the value of the QO late in the offseason.
- Similarly, Yovani Gallardo plans to turn down the Rangers‘ QO. Heyman hears he’s expected to sign elsewhere despite being a Fort Worth area native. The Rangers will again attempt to re-sign Colby Lewis, he adds.