National League Non-Tenders: 11/30/21
We’ve now passed the deadline for teams to tender contracts to pre-arb and arbitration-eligible players. We’ll keep track of the more minor players non-tendered in the National League here. The American League non-tenders are available at this link.
As a reminder, you can view MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projected salaries for arbitration-eligible players here:
- The Cardinals announced they’ve non-tendered utilityman José Rondon. The right-handed hitting infielder tallied 90 plate appearances this past season while suiting up at a handful of position.
- The Giants announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Luis González, right-hander Sam Delaplane and southpaw Joe Palumbo. None of that trio was arbitration-eligible, and all three were recently acquired via minor transactions. It wouldn’t be a surprise if San Francisco attempts to work out minor league pacts with one or more of that group now that they’ve been removed from the 40-man roster.
- The Phillies have non-tendered southpaw Kyle Dohy and re-signed him to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll remain in the organization but no longer occupies a spot on the 40-man roster. Dohy made on major league appearance in 2021.
- The Padres announced they’ve non-tendered relievers José Castillo, Trey Wingenter, and Matt Strahm. Castillo and Wingenter haven’t pitched since 2019 because of arm injuries that necessitated Tommy John surgeries. Strahm was limited to just 6 2/3 frames in 2021 by health issues himself.
- The Cubs are non-tendering reliever Jason Adam, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The southpaw missed much of the season after suffering a gruesome ankle fracture in Triple-A in May, but he made a triumphant late-season return to the big leagues. Adam ultimately tossed 10 2/3 innings over 12 outings. Chicago also announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Michael Hermosillo, who made a late-season appearance on the big league roster.
- The Mets have non-tendered outfielder Mark Payton, per a club announcement. The left-handed hitter was acquired from the Reds midseason but never suited up for New York at the major league level.
- The Reds have non-tendered righty Brandon Bailey, per a team announcement. The 27-year-old made five appearances with the Astros in 2020. He missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, the second such procedure of his career. Bailey is re-signing on a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster, reports C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic.
- The Nationals announced three non-tenders: relievers Wander Suero and Ryne Harper and first baseman Mike Ford. Suero is the most notable of the group, having been an effective set-up option at times during his four-season run in D.C. He struggled to a 6.33 ERA across 42 2/3 innings in 2021, though.
- The Mets have non-tendered reliever Stephen Nogosek, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). The right-hander made just one three-inning appearance at the big league level in 2021. He worked 35 innings of 5.14 ERA ball with Triple-A Syracuse.
- The Diamondbacks are non-tendering reliever Taylor Clarke, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). The 28-year-old has pitched with the D-Backs in each of the past three seasons. The left-hander worked to a 4.98 ERA over 43 1/3 innings this past season, showing solid control but posting a 20.1% strikeout rate that was about four percentage points below the league average mark for bullpen arms.
- The Dodgers have non-tendered southpaw Andrew Vasquez, tweets Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Vasquez wasn’t eligible for arbitration, but Los Angeles decided to bump him off the 40-man roster without placing him on waivers. Acquired in a minor trade with the Twins, Vasquez made two appearances for the Dodgers in early September. The 28-year-old struck out a massive 37.4% of batters faced in Triple-A in 2021.
- The Pirates have non-tendered right-hander Chad Kuhl, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). A productive back-of-the-rotation arm at times, Kuhl has developed escalating control problems over the past couple seasons. The 29-year-old throws in the mid-90s and has posted decent strikeout numbers, but he’s coming off a 4.82 ERA/4.89 SIERA over 28 appearances (including 14 starts)
- The Mets have non-tendered reliever Robert Gsellman, reports Tim Healey of Newsday (on Twitter). The right-hander has appeared with New York in each of the past six seasons, moving to the bullpen full-time in 2018. While Gsellman showed quite a bit of promise over seven starts as a rookie, he’s yet to find much consistent success in the years since. The 28-year-old did manage a solid 3.77 ERA with a 49.5% ground-ball rate over 28 2/3 innings in 2021, but he also missed a couple months because of a lat strain and only punched out 14.3% of batters faced.
Reds Sign Aramis Garcia To Minor League Deal
The Reds have signed catcher Aramis Garcia to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, per a club announcement.
Garcia, 29 in January, is a former Giants prospect who once looked like a possible backup option to Buster Posey. He carries a solid .268/.333/.448 slash in 536 Triple-A plate appearances and turned in an impressive .286/.308/.492 debut as a rookie in 2018 — albeit through just 65 plate appearances. Garcia didn’t hit much in 46 plate appearances the following season, however, and he underwent major hip surgery in Feb. 2020 that kept him from playing that season.
Garcia spent the 2021 season with the A’s organization, hitting just .205/.239/.318 through 94 plate appearances in his first action since that labrum repair surgery in 2020. He did manage a more palatable .268/.323/.393 slash in 124 Triple-A plate appearances.
Bringing Garcia into the fold adds some depth to the organization after trading Tucker Barnhart to the Tigers earlier in the offseason. Tyler Stephenson is the clear starter behind the plate on the heels of an impressive rookie season that saw him hit .286/.366/.431 with 10 homers in 402 plate appearances. That production surely made it easier to move Barnhart, but it’s not clear at this point who’ll back him up.
Catching prospect and Team USA Silver Medalist Mark Kolozsvary was recently added to the 40-man roster and will compete for that spot, and utilityman Kyle Farmer has experience behind the dish as well. Farmer, however, saw extensive run at shortstop last season and fared well there on both sides of the game. He’s more likely an option in the infield than behind the plate, where he has just 90 career innings.
Angels Interested In Luis Castillo
The Angels and Reds have engaged in “preliminary trade talks” about right-hander Luis Castillo, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link). No deal seems close, however, as “the sides are far apart as of today.”
While the Reds are known to be listening on offers for Castillo, latest reports have indicated that Cincinnati isn’t keen to part with either Castillo and Tyler Mahle. As Morosi plainly puts it, the Reds’ “price remains very high” for Castillo’s services.
It costs the Angels nothing to just ask about Castillo, of course, and given how Los Angeles is scouring the free agent market for pitching, it isn’t surprising that the Halos are also exploring trade possibilities. Noah Syndergaard has already signed with Anaheim, but the Angels could surely use at least one more starter for what is planned as a six-man rotation. Right now, Syndergaard, Shohei Ohtani, Jose Suarez, Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, and Jaime Barria sit as the Angels’ top six choices.
Castillo is a good fit for the Angels for several reasons, starting with his obvious ability to be front-of-the-rotation type of arm. Castillo is also controllable and affordable for two more seasons via the arbitration system, with Castillo projected to earn $7.6MM this winter. Since the Angels have a longstanding aversion to long-term deals for starting pitchers, keeping Castillo on a short-term deal carries obvious appeal, especially since he would also cost much less than it would take to sign a top-tier free agent arm like Robbie Ray or Max Scherzer.
Of course, obtaining Castillo carries a different kind of steep cost. The Reds’ specific demands for Castillo aren’t known, but it’s easy to imagine the team wanting a big package of high-caliber young talent. Since Cincinnati isn’t pursuing an outright fire sale in its efforts to cut payroll, one would think the Reds might want at least one young player who can contribute in 2022, since the team is still hoping to contend in the NL Central.
Castillo has garnered interest all over the L.A. baseball scene, as the Dodgers have also reportedly had some talks with the Reds about a possible swap. While it is safe to guess that multiple teams have checked in on Castillo’s availability, the Twins are one of the teams who haven’t yet shown interest, according to SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson. Minnesota may have an even more severe need for veteran pitching than the Angels, yet it has been a quiet offseason overall for the Twins, with the exception of today’s contract extension with Byron Buxton.
Brian O’Grady Signs With NPB’s Seibu Lions
Former Padres, Rays and Reds first baseman/outfielder Brian O’Grady has signed with the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, per announcements from both the Lions and from O’Grady himself (Twitter link).
O’Grady, 29, became a free agent after being outrighted off San Diego’s roster at season’s end. The 2014 eighth-round pick (Reds) saw a career-high 61 plate appearances with the Friars in 2021, frequently operating as a pinch-hitter but also drawing a handful of starts in right field. O’Grady hit .157/.267/.333 with a pair of homers, three doubles and eight walks (13.1%).
The limited role wasn’t entirely new for O’Grady, who also saw action with the Reds in 2019 and Rays in 2020 without ever receiving an opportunity at consistent playing time. He’s a career .184/.283/.388 hitter in 114 Major League plate appearances — but those plate appearances have come over the course of 62 games.
O’Grady figures to be afforded far more opportunities in Japan, and given his career .284/.362/.551 batting line in 978 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, there’s good reason to believe he’ll find success overseas. Regardless of how he performs, he’ll quite likely be paid a guaranteed salary that handily eclipses what he’d have made in another season split between Triple-A and the big leagues. A strong season in Japan could either position O’Grady for a raise on a new contract in NPB or the KBO, and success in a foreign professional league could also prime him to return to MLB on a guaranteed contract at some point down the line.
Orioles Claim Cionel Perez
The Orioles have claimed lefty Cionel Perez off waivers from the Reds, per a team announcement. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is now full.
Perez, 25, was a prominent international signing out of Cuba by the Astros back in 2016, when current Orioles GM Mike Elias was an assistant GM in Houston. Cincinnati acquired him from Houston this past January, and he went on to tally 24 big league innings with a 6.38 ERA with a 22.5% strikeout rate, an 18.6% walk rate and a 51.5% ground-ball rate at the MLB level. In 50 2/3 innings between the Reds and the Astros, Perez has a 6.04 ERA.
While he’s worked exclusively as a reliever in the Majors, Perez has split his time between the rotation and the bullpen in the minors. He has a 4.46 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout rate and 11.7% walk rate in 82 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball, and although that walk rate is rather bloated, Perez’s 52% grounder rate in Triple-A is strong. He was particularly sharp in Triple-A Louisville this past season, notching a 3.26 ERA and 41-to-13 K/BB ratio in 30 1/3 innings of relief.
Perez is out of minor league options, so if he makes it through the offseason on Baltimore’s 40-man roster, have to either break camp with the Orioles or else be exposed to waivers a second time.
Reds Reportedly Open To Trading Sonny Gray
The Reds are open to trading right-handed starter Sonny Gray this offseason, reports Buster Olney of ESPN (Twitter link). However, Olney hears that Cincinnati isn’t amenable to moving either of Luis Castillo or Tyler Mahle.
No deal involving Gray appears to be close, but he’s seemingly the most likely Reds starter to wind up on the move at some point. That’s not especially surprising, since Gray’s also the most expensive of their top trio. Cincinnati has opened the offseason scaling back expenditures, and general manager Nick Krall has spoken about “aligning (the team’s) payroll to its resources.” Early reports suggested a Castillo deal could be part of those efforts, but Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported last week that it was doubtful any deal involving the 28-year-old would come to fruition.
Gray looks like a fairly straightforward trade candidate as he enters the final guaranteed year of his contract. He’s slated to earn around $10.67MM in 2022 and remains under club control for 2023 via $12.5MM club option. (Gray would also receive a $1MM assignment bonus in the event of a trade). That’s a reasonable sum for a pitcher of Gray’s caliber, but it also makes him Cincinnati’s fourth-highest paid player. And the three players set to earn loftier sums (Joey Votto, Mike Moustakas and Eugenio Suárez) wouldn’t be easy to move. Votto’s a franchise icon who has full no-trade protection; Moustakas and Suárez are coming off bad 2021 seasons and wouldn’t figure to hold much appeal to other clubs.
On the other hand, Gray offers a blend of fairly substantial but still team-friendly salary that could make a trade realistic. He’s coming off a season in which he posted a 4.19 ERA/3.85 SIERA across 135 1/3 innings. That’s decent mid-rotation production, and Gray was even better over his first couple seasons in Cincinnati. Despite pitching in one of the league’s more hitter-friendly home environments, the right-hander reeled off 231 1/3 innings of 3.07 ERA ball from 2019-20.
Gray has backed up those solid results with strong underlying numbers. While he typically runs walk rates a bit higher than the league average, he also generates an enviable combination of punchouts and grounders. Gray has posted above-average strikeout and ground-ball percentages in each of the past three seasons. His 27% and 47.2% marks in those categories in 2021 were his lowest since 2018, but even those were both markedly above the respective league averages (22.6% and 42.7%) for starting pitchers.
Installing Gray into the middle of a rotation should have plenty of appeal around the league. The Dodgers were already rumored to have interest in that possibility this offseason, and others would join them if the Reds’ front office began to discuss trade frameworks in earnest.
Both Castillo and Mahle could bring even greater returns, as they’re arguably superior pitchers who are more affordable. Like Gray, both righties are controllable for two more seasons, but they’re proceeding through arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Castillo for a $7.6MM salary in 2022; Mahle is projected to bring in around $5.6MM. Both pitchers would stand to earn a final raise in 2023, although it’s unlikely either would match or top the value of Gray’s $12.5MM option that year.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem the Reds are preparing to tear the roster down completely. Coming off an 83-win season with a strong core led by their talented rotation, it’s not implausible that Cincinnati could compete next season. A frugal offseason would certainly make building a strong roster more difficult for Krall and his front office, particularly with middle-of-the-order presence Nick Castellanos likely to sign elsewhere as a free agent. A returning group including Castillo, Mahle, Votto, Jesse Winker, Jonathan India and Tyler Stephenson certainly has promise, though. Speculatively speaking, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them target near-MLB players in potential discussions involving Gray to help thread that needle of remaining competitive while cutting costs.
Reds Select Hunter Greene, Four Others
The Reds selected the contract of top pitching prospect Hunter Greene, adding him to the 40-man roster, per a club announcement. Also selected to the 40-man roster were outfielder Allan Cerda and righties Alexis Diaz, Daniel Duarte and James Marinan. All five prospects are now protected from the Rule 5 Draft, and Cincinnati’s 40-man roster is now full.
Greene, 22, was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 draft as a shortstop/right-hander with a fastball that could run up to 102-103 mph. He’s undergone Tommy John surgery since that lofty selection but enjoyed a nice return campaign in 2021, tallying 106 1/3 innings of 3.30 ERA ball between Double-A and Triple-A. The 6’5″, 230-pound Greene fanned 31.7% of his opponents against an 8.9% walk rate and a 43.8% walk rate. Regarded as one of the 50 best prospects in the game, Greene should be in line to make his big league debut at some point in 2022 — particularly if the Reds part ways with a starter via trade this winter (e.g. Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle).
The 21-year-old Cerda is the only other one of today’s additions who ranks as a consensus top-30 farmhand in the Reds organization. Cerda hit .250/.361/.523 with 17 homers, 22 doubles, five triples and a pair of steals (albeit in a concerning 10 tries) through 363 plate appearances between two Class-A levels. A right-handed hitter with big raw power and above-average speed, Cerda can handle center field but also has questions about his hit tool.
Marinan, 23, was the Reds’ fourth-round pick in 2017 and logged a 4.31 ERA with a 22.3% strikeout rate but an alarming 14.4% walk rate in 64 2/3 innings this season — mostly spent as a starter. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen gives him credit for three potentially average (or better) offerings, but questions about the 6’5″ right-hander’s command drag his stock down.
Both Diaz and Duarte are relievers heading into their age-25 seasons. Diaz posted a 3.83 ERA with a huge 38.9% strikeout rate through 42 1/3 Double-A frames, but he also walked 11.1% of his opponents. Duarte began the 2021 season pitching in the Mexican League but impressed upon joining the Reds, posting a 31.4% strikeout rate in 23 2/3 frames across multiple levels. Like Diaz and Marinan, walks have been an issue.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/18/21
Some recent minor moves from around baseball:
- The Orioles are re-signing righty Marcos Diplán to a minor league contract, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). He’ll receive an invitation to big league Spring Training. Diplán made his first 23 big league appearances this past season, working 30 frames of relief. The 25-year-old managed a respectable 4.50 ERA, but that came with an unimpressive 19.5% strikeout rate and an elevated 12.2% walk percentage. The O’s outrighted Diplán off the 40-man roster after the season, but he’ll return to the organization and look to pitch his way back onto the big league club next spring.
- The Reds agreed to a minors pact with righty Connor Overton yesterday, according to a report from Robert Murray of FanSided (on Twitter). The 28-year-old made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays in August, then landed with the Pirates via waivers the following month. Between the two clubs, he tossed 15 1/3 innings of 4.70 ERA ball with roughly league average strikeout and walk numbers. Overton had a great showing with the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate, posting a 2.03 ERA in 57 2/3 frames — working mostly out of the bullpen.
- The Cubs reached agreement on a minor league deal earlier this week with catcher Tyler Payne, per a report from Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). Payne made his big league debut on the final day of the regular season, going hitless in two plate appearances. Chicago outrighted him off the 40-man roster after the season but they’ll bring the 29-year-old back to bolster their organizational depth behind the plate. The right-handed hitting Payne posted a .231/.291/.363 line over 234 plate appearances with Double-A Tennessee this year.
Reds Rumors: Castillo, Bullpen, Garrett
It was only natural that after waiving Wade Miley and trading Tucker Barnhart within hours of the offseason opening, rumblings of the Reds being open to further cost-saving moves would emerge. However, despite early reports that Cincinnati will at least listen to offers on righty Luis Castillo, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that it’s “doubtful” the 28-year-old (29 next month) will ultimately change hands.
This marks the second straight offseason that Castillo’s name has surfaced in trade rumblings, which only makes sense given that it’s also the second straight winter punctuated by cost-cutting measures in Cincinnati. General manager Nick Krall has already stated that the Reds “must align our payroll to our resources.” While no specific number was provided, that certainly doesn’t bode well for Reds fans — particularly when taken in conjunction with the aforementioned Miley and Barnhart transactions.
Rosenthal’s report is likely reflective of what is surely a sky-high asking price for the talented Castillo, who racked up the eighth-most innings of any pitcher in MLB last season (187 2/3). While Castillo’s 3.98 ERA looks more solid than dominant, it’s skewed a bit by a rough start to the season from which he recovered rather emphatically.
Sporting an alarming and uncharacteristic 7.22 ERA through the end of May, Castillo looked on his way to a lost season. From June 1 through season’s end, however, Castillo rebounded with a masterful 2.73 ERA with a strong 26% strikeout rate, a 9.4% walk rate and a massive 59.9% ground-ball rate. That recovery salvaged Castillo’s 2021 season and brought his ERA over the past three campaigns to a sharp 3.61 mark through 448 1/3 frames.
Controlled through 2023 via arbitration, Castillo is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $7.6MM in 2022. He’d be due one more raise for the 2023 campaign, likely taking his salary into at least the $11-12MM range — still an eminently reasonable price to pay for a pitcher of this caliber.
The Reds and other clubs likely view Castillo as a pitcher capable of taking his game to yet another level. While his results over the past three seasons are quite strong already, the makings of a top-of-the-rotation starter are seemingly present. Castillo’s 97.3 mph average fastball trailed only Sandy Alcantara and Gerrit Cole among qualified starters this past season, while his 13.1% swinging-strike rate (a down mark, by his standards) ranked 10th. Castillo also sports an elite ground-ball rate, a well above-average strikeout rate and typically limits hard contact at a high level.
The extent to which owner Bob Castellini is seeking to reduce payroll will determine the urgency when it comes to moving Castillo, but even if Krall and his staff feel compelled to move him eventually, the return would be considerable. (As a loose comparison, recall that the Blue Jays traded 2020 No. 5 overall pick Austin Martin and well-regarded pitching prospect Simeon Woods Richardson to acquire what was then 1.5 seasons of Jose Berrios back at the trade deadline.) Even if teams feel it’s “doubtful” the Reds actually trade Castillo, they’ll surely still try to pry him away — just as they’ll likely do with righties Sonny Gray (guaranteed $10MM in 2022) and Tyler Mahle (like Castillo, controlled via arbitration through 2023).
Krall, however, didn’t focus on subtracting from the roster in his most recent public comments. To the contrary, the GM spoke with Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer this week about a need to “rebuild some of the bullpen” after seeing Mychal Givens and Michael Lorenzen reach free agency and losing Tejay Antone (Tommy John surgery) for the 2022 season.
Heading into the 2022 campaign, the most experienced arms in the Reds’ bullpen group will be Lucas Sims, Amir Garrett, Luis Cessa and lefty Justin Wilson, who exercised a $2.3MM player option at season’s end. Righty Art Warren, he of a 1.29 ERA and 34-to-8 K/BB ratio in 21 innings after being claimed from the Mariners, should have a spot locked down as well. Krall offered plenty of praise for Sims and Warren, also adding that righty Tony Santillan may be stretched out as a rotation candidate in Spring Training but could yet end up in the ‘pen.
Perhaps most interestingly among Krall’s comments — which Cincinnati fans, in particular, will want to read in full — was his rather noncommittal stance on Garrett. The 29-year-old southpaw was one of the Reds’ best relievers from 2019-20, pitching to a 3.03 ERA with a 33.3% strikeout rate (albeit against a 13.3% walk rate).
Garrett, however, was clobbered for a 6.04 ERA this past season as his strikeout and walk rates went in the wrong direction. Projected for a $2.2MM salary in 2022, Garrett looked like a possible non-tender candidate in the first place, and Krall’s assessment that he’s “in our bullpen at this point” wasn’t exactly an emphatic vote of confidence. The GM did go on to eventually call Garrett a “quality member of the bullpen that should be able to help,” but between his struggles and projected salary, Garrett doesn’t feel like a lock to return.
Lower-cost paths to improving the depth — Krall specifically mentioned waiver claims — seem a likely path for the Reds moving forward. It’s certainly possible they’ll add a veteran reliever on a big league deal if the asking price isn’t too lofty, and any additional trades could bring back some MLB-ready bullpen help as part of the return. At the very least, the Reds seem likely to bring in a couple of new arms to compete for bullpen jobs, but Krall’s offseason comments and actions to date don’t portend significant spending.
Jonathan India, Randy Arozarena Win Rookie Of The Year Awards
Reds second baseman Jonathan India and Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena have been voted the 2021 Rookie of the Year in the National League and American League, respectively, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Monday evening.
India, 24, won in near-unanimous fashion, securing 29 of 30 first-place votes. Marlins lefty Trevor Rogers took the lone other first-place vote, as well as 26 second-place votes. Arozarena, meanwhile, received 22 of 30 first-place votes, securing a decisive victory of his own.
The No. 5 overall draft pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, India had actually seen his prospect stock slide a bit coming into the 2021 season, as he’d dropped off the majority of Top 100 rankings of note. He apparently didn’t get that memo, however, as the former Florida Gators standout took the second base job in Cincinnati and ran with it.
The Reds deserve some credit for sticking with India early on, as he scuffled through a rough first month of the season, hitting just .239/.316/.358 in April. He improved those numbers across the board in May but still checked in below the league average in terms of overall offensive output. With a couple months of big league reps under his belt, however, India found his stride and never looked back.
India slashed .303/.425/.455 in the month of June and was considerably above the league average with the bat in each of the season’s three subsequent months. From June 1 through season’s end, India raked at a .281/.390/.493 pace with a huge 11.9% walk rate and a 22.5% strikeout rate. On the whole, he ended the year with a hearty .269/.376/.459 batting line, adding in 21 home runs, 34 doubles, two triples and a dozen steals (in 15 tries). With the glove, both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating pegged him as average at second base. Statcast’s Outs Above Average was much more bearish, grading him at minus-7, but both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs alike graded him out at 3.9 Wins Above Replacement. Cincinnati can now control India through 2026.
Arozarena, 26, burst onto the scene with one of the most impressive postseason showings in recent memory during the Rays’ 2020 World Series run and retained his rookie eligibility into 2021. While he didn’t dominate at quite those same levels this season, the former Cardinals farmhand turned in a robust .274/.356/.459 batting line with 20 home runs, 32 doubles, three triples and 20 steals (in 30 tries) through 604 plate appearances. Baseball-Reference valued him at 4.1 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs pegged him at 3.3.
Acquired alongside Jose Martinez in the trade that sent top pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore to St. Louis, Arozarena has cemented himself as an everyday outfielder and a building block in the Tampa Bay lineup for the next few seasons. In addition to his strong blend of power and speed at the plate, Arozarena drew positive defensive marks in both Defensive Runs Saved (3) and Outs Above Average (1). Like India, he can be controlled all the way through the 2026 season.
India, Rogers and Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson took home the overwhelming majority of votes in National League balloting. Also receiving some stray third-place votes were Cubs infielders Patrick Wisdom and Frank Schwindel; Braves right-hander Ian Anderson; Pirates closer David Bednar; and India’s teammates Tyler Stephenson and Vladimir Gutierrez.
In the American League, it was Astros right-hander Luis Garcia taking second place on the strength of two first-place votes and 15 second-place votes. Arozarena’s teammate, Wander Franco, finished third place and garnered a pair of first-place votes. Rangers center fielder Adolis Garcia received three first-place votes but landed fourth overall, while Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase received the other first-place vote. Ryan Mountcastle of the Orioles, Shane McClanahan of the Rays and Alek Manoah of the Blue Jays all landed some second- and/or third-place votes as well.
A full breakdown of the National League voting and full breakdown of American League voting are available at the BBWAA’s web site.