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NL Notes: Brewers, Pirates, Diamondbacks

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Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun revealed Saturday that he made one change to his no-trade clause during the offseason, though he didn’t offer details, reports Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The only teams to which Braun couldn’t block a trade in 2016 were the Angels, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Marlins and Padres. He nearly ended up with the Dodgers last August, of course, but the Brewers haven’t engaged in serious talks regarding Braun with LA or any other club since, according to Haudricourt. If the Brewers don’t deal Braun by May 24, he’ll gain 10-and-5 rights and have the ability to prevent Milwaukee from sending him to any of the majors’ other 29 teams. Nevertheless, the Brewers feel no urgency to move the longtime franchise cornerstone anytime soon. “He’s signed for four more years, and a lot of these players have a chance to be here for the same period of time, so this group is going to be together and he’s going to be one of them,” declared manager Craig Counsell. The 33-year-old Braun is still due $76MM, including a $4MM buyout in 2021.

More from the National League:

  • The myriad trade rumors centering on Pirates right fielder Andrew McCutchen during the winter were “more smoke than fire,” general manager Neal Huntington informed Jayson Stark of ESPN.com. Even if that’s true, Stark is skeptical that the 30-year-old McCutchen will finish 2017 in a Pirates uniform. Huntington, though, hasn’t ruled out retaining the five-time All-Star until at least the expiration of his contract after the 2018 season. “Occasionally, we’ve traded a player like (Neil) Walker or (Mark) Melancon,” Huntington said. “So that’s become the narrative, that we’re always going to trade those players before their contract expires. But that’s just not the case.” McCutchen, for his part, felt “disrespected” at certain times during a down 2016, sources told Stark, but Huntington “would love him to be a Pirate for the rest of his life.” However, Huntington knows that finding “financial common ground” with the former center fielder will be challenging.
  • With a new front office in place, “there’s a sense of urgency” for the Diamondbacks to bounce back from a disastrous 2016 and break their five-year playoff drought, center fielder A.J. Pollock told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Pollock, who missed nearly all of 2016 after fracturing his right elbow April 1, has never reached the postseason and could be running out of chances to accomplish that feat with the D-backs. The 29-year-old is scheduled to become a free agent after the 2018 campaign, which would give him a max of two more seasons to get to the playoffs in Arizona if the team doesn’t re-sign him. He realizes, too, that GM Mike Hazen could decide to rebuild during that period if the club doesn’t show significant improvement this year. “You do think about it,” Pollock admitted. “A lot of guys – we’re talking about it. I think the best record I’ve been a part of on this team is 81-81. We really, really want to do well. We’ve got a lot of work to do, obviously.”
  • Jung Ho Kang’s legal troubles might affect how the Pirates deploy second baseman Josh Harrison this year, writes Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Harrison could go from the team’s top option at the keystone back to a utility role, which he had filled prior to last season, if Kang misses notable time on account of his third DUI arrest. Harrison is open to shifting around the diamond, telling Biertempfel: “Regardless of where I played last year, certain instances might call for me (to move). Who would I be to say, ‘No, I won’t go (to third)?'” Regarding Harrison, manager Clint Hurdle commented that there’s a “buy-in (to move) that’s real with him. I do think his versatility can help him.” Harrison batted a meager .283/.311/.388 last season, though the torn thumb ligament he suffered in 2015 may have contributed to his drop-off. “If it was cold or if I didn’t hit a ball right, just rolling over that joint sometimes would be painful enough to where I would know that it was still there,” said Harrison, who’s now healthy.

NL West Notes: Gonzalez, Hill, Arroyo, Morse, Hwang, Stewart

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Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is dealing with what he has described as a case of tennis elbow, as Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports. The veteran says that he suffered the malady due to an active offseason workout program. While he’s set to be shut down for about two weeks, Gonzalez says he expects to be back to full strength after some rest. Chase Utley is expected to see some time in camp at first, McCullough notes, as the team prepares in the event that Gonzalez does end up missing some time early.

Here’s more from the NL West:

  • The Giants may have the game’s most interesting aggregation of veterans competing for limited bench roles in camp, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News writes. “No promises, no guarantees,” GM Bobby Evans said of the signing of Aaron Hill. “Just creating competition. We’ll see how it plays out.” If there is a drawback to the large number of competitors, it’s probably the lack of reps available to young players — particularly top prospect Christian Arroyo. However, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area writes, GM Bobby Evans says that the organization already feels confident that Arroyo is capable of handling the bat at the major league level, suggesting that the club doesn’t need a long look this spring to determine his timeline.
  • As Baggarly notes, the right-handed-hitting Hill is competing to some extent not only with the array of infielders, but also players such as Michael Morse for a role as a righty bench bat. Morse returned to San Francisco after unexpectedly hammering out a deal at Hunter Pence’s wedding — an interesting story that also comes via Baggarly. Perhaps the single most intriguing player in camp, though, is Korean infielder Jae-gyun Hwang. As Baggarly also writes, agent Han Lee says that the KBO star is committed to pitting himself against MLB pitching. “A lot of people assume if he doesn’t make it, he’s just going to run back to Korea, but that’s not his mentality,” says Lee. “I’ve told him it’s very much possible he could start at Sacramento, and if that’s the case, he’ll just have to work his way up.”
  • Former Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart discussed his tenure in a recent appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (audio link). Stewart expressed disappointment with the fact that he wasn’t given a longer leash in Arizona, suggesting he hadn’t received a “true opportunity to do the job.” That said, he acknowledged the error behind one of the moves that perhaps helped spell the end of his time in Arizona — the infamous deal that sent Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte, and Aaron Blair to the Braves for Shelby Miller. “My gut that whole time said that I should not move Dansby Swanson,” he said, though he stressed that he still believes in Miller. “If anything, maybe substituting [him] with another player” would have been something he would like to “have a redo” on, said Stewart.

Diamondbacks Sign Kevin Jepsen To Minor League Deal

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FEB. 16: FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Jepsen’s deal comes with a $2.25MM base salary upon making the Major League roster.

FEB. 13: The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve signed veteran right-hander Kevin Jepsen to a minor league deal. Arizona also announced its previously reportedly minors deal with Brian Matusz this morning as well, giving them a pair of experienced arms to add to their Spring Training mix. Jepsen is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Now 32 years of age, Jepsen enjoyed a career year in 2015 with the Rays and Twins, but he split the 2016 season between the same two clubs and struggled through the worst full season of his career. Traded from the Angels to the Rays in the 2014-15 offseason, Jepsen opened the year with 41 2/3 innings of 2.81 ERA ball for Tampa Bay that season. The Twins, who were surprising contenders in 2015, traded a pair of minor league arms (Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia) to the Rays to get Jepsen at the deadline, and he pitched brilliantly in Minnesota down the stretch. In 28 inning for the Twins, Jepsen logged a pristine 1.61 ERA with a 25-to-7 K/BB ratio, and he ultimately picked up 10 saves after Glen Perkins was injured late in the year.

A second Perkins injury early in the 2016 season again put Jepsen back into the ninth inning in Minnesota, but he faltered the second time around. Jepsen saw his strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates all take significant steps in the wrong direction in 2016, and the Twins eventually released him after 30 2/3 innings of 6.16 ERA ball. Jepsen latched back on with the Rays but wasn’t able to right the ship, as he logged a 5.68 ERA in 19 innings during his second stint with the Rays.

While the 2016 campaign was obviously a disaster for Jepsen, he posted a combined 2.47 ERA in 134 2/3 innings from 2014-15 and a cumulative 2.93 ERA in 215 1/3 innings from 2012-15. Jepsen’s heated no longer averages the 95-96 mph that it did in its peak, and his average fastball velocity did dip to a career-low 92.8 mph with the Rays last season. He averaged 93.6 mph on the season as a whole, though, and his 94.4 mph average velocity in his excellent 2015 campaign suggests that he doesn’t need to regain all of his heat to experience success.

MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert first reported the deal (via Twitter).

Ron Gardenhire Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

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Diamondbacks bench coach Ron Gardenhire has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a team announcement. MLBTR joins all those around the game in wishing him the best of luck as he battles the condition.

Gardenhire, who joined Arizona’s overhauled field staff over the offseason, tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link) that he will undergo surgery in mid-April. He is expected to require up to a six-week leave of absence at that point, with expectations that he’ll return to the club at that point.

The former Twins skipper, a respected figure around the game, released a statement as part of the release. “I’m going to fight it and deal with it,” he said. “It’s a bump in the road and it’s not how I envisioned starting Spring Training with a brand new team but it’s part of life. With the backing of this ball club, we’ll get through it and I’ll get through it.”

Starting Pitcher Arbitration Decisions Released

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Arbitration decisions on several first-year arb-eligible starting pitchers have been released. According to prior reports, the outcomes of the pending cases were being held until all had been heard and decided, to avoid earlier results impacting later decisions.

Three starters won their cases:

  • Collin McHugh, Astros: With his victory, McHugh will earn $3.85MM rather than the $3.35MM that the team had argued for, as Brian McTaggart of MLB.com first reported on Twitter.
  • Jake Odorizzi, Rays: In another relatively high-dollar case, the right-hander will get his requested $4.1MM payday over the club’s $3.825MM submission, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
  • Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays: Stroman takes home $3.4MM in his Super Two year instead of the team’s $3.1MM proposal, also via Heyman.

Teams prevailed against three others:

  • Taijuan Walker, Diamondbacks: The new Arizona rotation member, who’s also a Super Two qualifier, will earn $2.25MM instead of his filing figure of $2.6MM, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
  • Chase Anderson, Brewers: Anderson, the final Super Two member of this bunch, will settle for the team’s $2.45MM proffer rather than the $2.85MM he sought, according to Heyman.
  • Michael Wacha, Cardinals: In his first year of eligibility, Wacha will take home $2.775MM, falling shy of his $3.2MM request, per Heyman.

D-Backs, Brian Matusz Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have agreed to a minor league contract with former Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Matusz is a client of Excel Sports.

The 30-year-old southpaw logged just nine innings in the Majors last season and allowed a troubling 14 runs on 17 hits and nine walks with three strikeouts. Most of his season was spent in minors with the Orioles and the Cubs, with the latter of those two teams briefly stretching Matusz back out as a starter. Matusz once ranked among the game’s top 10 prospects (per Baseball America) as a starting pitcher, but he found the greatest success of his big league career in the Orioles’ bullpen.

From 2013-15, Matusz made 186 relief appearances and tossed 151 2/3 innings with a 3.32 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in Baltimore. During that time, left-handed opponents batted just .190/.245/.320 against him. Arizona executives Mike Hazen, Amiel Sawdaye and Jared Porter have all seen Matusz pitch a great deal, dating back to their time with Matusz’s former division-rival Red Sox. Beyond that, the Snakes have just one experienced lefty in their bullpen in Andrew Chafin. Steve Hathaway is the only other southpaw reliever on the 40-man roster, so Matusz could have a chance to break camp with the team if he delivers a strong performance in Spring Training.

NL Notes: Diamondbacks, Phillips, Cards, Mets

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If the Diamondbacks endure another non-contending season and decide to enter a rebuild, they might have to consider trading their two best players – first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and center fielder A.J. Pollock – writes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Goldschmidt and Pollock are running out of team control (three and two years remaining, respectively), and it would behoove the Diamondbacks to somehow replenish a farm system that ESPN’s Keith Law ranks as the majors’ worst (subscription required/recommended). While moving the two bona fide stars would certainly help Arizona beef up its prospect pool, new general manager Mike Hazen unsurprisingly told Piecoro that such drastic measures aren’t under consideration at this point. “We’re not really there yet in terms of sort of long-term strategic thinking,” Hazen said. “We like this team. We’ll see where this team goes. If we have to make some adjustments, we will.”

More from the National League:

  • The Cincinnati-Atlanta trade that Brandon Phillips blocked in November would have resulted in a better return for the second baseman than the one the Reds have since received from the Braves, reports Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). Phillips finally agreed to waive his no-trade rights Sunday, largely because he’s going to get more playing time this year with the Braves than he would have with the rebuilding Reds, observes ESPN’s Buster Olney (subscription required/recommended).
  • Even though Jedd Gyorko led the Cardinals with 30 home runs last season, he’ll enter spring training as the underdog to Jhonny Peralta in the team’s third base competition, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Peralta was far less productive than Gyorko in 2016, when he batted .260/307/.408 with eight homers in 313 plate appearances, but a hand injury may have been a key reason for the normally steady contributor’s drop-off. “My hope is that he is 100 percent,” GM John Mozeliak said of Peralta, who’s going into a contract year. “My hope is that he has a little spring in his step. And my hope is that he can either give us a lot of flexibility in the infield or be our anchor at third. He’s one guy who has the ability to hit home runs and hit with power.” Ultimately, despite both Gyorko’s output last season and Mozeliak’s optimism regarding Peralta, Matt Carpenter could see more time at third than either of them if first baseman Matt Adams reemerges as a quality performer this year, posits Goold. For now, Carpenter is penciled in as the Cardinals’ starter at first.
  • The Mets “absolutely” believe in corner outfielder Michael Conforto, GM Sandy Alderson told Steve Serby of the New York Post, but the executive didn’t mention the 23-year-old when discussing the club’s outfield. “If Bruce is in right and [Curtis] Granderson and [Juan] Lagares in center, Cespedes in left — Cespedes is an excellent left fielder, Granderson did a nice job for us in center last year, Lagares is excellent, and Jay Bruce I would say he’s league average at least,” said Alderson. Given the amount of major league-caliber outfielders the Mets have, Conforto’s status is “something we’d have to work out in spring training,” Alderson acknowledged. “I don’t think that Michael is the kind of player that we want to be sitting on the bench.” Conforto has two minor league options remaining, so he could again go to Triple-A Las Vegas after embarrassing opposing pitchers there last year (.422/.483/.727 in 143 PAs). The Mets will give the left-handed-hitting Conforto some reps at first base and center field this spring, tweets Newsday’s Marc Carig, though they already have an established, lefty-swinging option manning first in Lucas Duda. And Granderson and Lagares will occupy center, as Alderson mentioned.

NL West Notes: Utley, Rockies, Pollock

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Chase Utley was one of many players this offseason — including Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner Rich Hill and Sergio Romo — to take less money to join or stay with the Dodgers, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register notes. The Dodgers already had players in Logan Forsythe and Turner who appear likely to take most of the at-bats at the positions Utley plays, but as Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman puts it, “You never say never with a guy like Chase,” who is well regarded in the clubhouse. Here’s more from the NL West.

  • Righty Jeff Hoffman, outfielder Gerardo Parra and catcher Tom Murphy top the list of Rockies who have much to prove in Spring Training, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. Hoffman is slated to compete with German Marquez for the Rockies’ fifth starter job and could provide the team with a jolt of upside if he lives up to the billing that made him one of the keys to the Troy Tulowitzki trade. Parra is coming off an extremely poor 2016 season in which he batted just .253/.271/.399 despite playing half his games in Coors Field; he’ll need to prove himself in the second year of the three-year, $27.5MM contract he signed with the team last January. And Murphy needs to show he can call a good game behind the dish so that he can Tony Wolters can make the Rockies’ catcher position an asset despite that duo’s lack of experience.
  • Diamondbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock is the game’s most underrated player, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs writes. The broken elbow Pollock suffered in Spring Training in 2016 cost him most of the season, and since then he’s been under the radar, making him again underrated, as he was prior to his brilliant 2015 campaign. When healthy, Pollock is as well-rounded as they come — he hits and runs the bases well and is a terrific defender in center field. And unlike someone like Michael Brantley, the injury that limited Pollock last season shouldn’t be a major concern going forward.

Diamondbacks Sign Tom Wilhelmsen

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The Diamondbacks have announced a minor-league deal with righty Tom Wilhelmsen. He’ll receive an invitation to participate in MLB camp; salary provisions and other terms remain unreported.

[RELATED: Updated D-Backs Depth Chart]

Wilhelmsen, 33, represents an interesting bounceback candidate for an Arizona team that has some potential openings. He’ll surely need to earn a spot in camp, but figures to have a solid chance of cracking the Opening Day roster.

The 2016 season was a tough one for Wilhelmsen, who had been a solid late-inning option for the Mariners before being dealt last winter to the Rangers. He scuffled badly in Texas, coughing up 25 earned runs on 38 hits in his 21 1/3 innings before being cut loose.

Things did improve when Wilhelmsen landed back with the M’s. He provided 25 frames of 3.60 ERA ball with 6.1 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. Still, even those peripherals lagged his peak efforts. While Wilhelmsen still brought his fastball at a typical ~95 mph average velocity in 2016, he allowed far more contact on pitches in the zone (91.5%) than ever before (85.2% career average) and proved highly susceptible to the long ball (20.4% HR/FB rate and 2.14 HR/9).

Pirates Acquire Phil Gosselin, Designate Nefi Ogando For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve traded recently designated infielder Phil Gosselin to the Pirates in exchange for minor league righty Frank Duncan. Right-hander Nefi Ogando has been designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster, the Pirates announced. (Gosselin was designated for assignment earlier in the week when the D-backs signed Daniel Descalso to a one-year deal with a club option for 2018.)

The 28-year-old Gosselin originally came up with the Braves back in 2013, but he’s spent the majority of the past two seasons with the Diamondbacks. Primarily a second baseman, Gosselin batted .283/.338/.409 in 316 plate appearances with the D-backs over the past two seasons and is a .283/.331/.385 hitter in 501 Major League plate appearances.

Gosselin grades out as a fairly solid second baseman from a defensive standpoint, though despite the fact that it’s been his most frequent position in the Majors, he’s still logged only 487 innings there. He’s also spent some time at shortstop, third base, first base and in the outfield corners as a Major Leaguer.

Gosselin should get a chance to make the Pirates’ roster out of Spring Training, though he could vying for the same utility infield job as the out-of-options Alen Hanson. Hanson’s status could complicate matters for Gosselin, as he still has two minor league options remaining and wouldn’t need to be exposed to waivers in order to be sent down. Even if Gosselin isn’t a fixture on the roster in 2017, the Bucs have the ability to control him through at least the 2020 season, as he has just two years, 85 days of Major League service time to this point in his career.

Duncan, 25, reached Triple-A for the first time in 2016 and posted a combined 2.34 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 55.7 percent ground-ball rate between Double-A and Triple-A. Despite those gaudy numbers, Duncan drew a somewhat lukewarm review from Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen in his review of the Pirates’ farm system. Longenhagen noted that Duncan “fills the zone and eats innings, but his stuff (sinker in the upper-80s, fringe-average breaking ball, below-average changeup) is that of an up-and-down arm more than a big-league mainstay.”

Losing his spot on the roster as a result of this move is the 27-year-old Ogando, whom Pittsburgh claimed off waivers from the Marlins back on Dec. 23. There’s plenty to like about Ogando, who has averaged better than 95 mph on his fastball and induced grounders on 57.6 percent of the balls put into play against him in his brief MLB sample of work (19 2/3 innings, 3.66 ERA). However, despite Ogando’s ability to overpower hitters with his fastball, he’s fanned just 10 hitters in the Majors to go along with 10 walks.

A look at Ogando’s minor league production reveals a similar tale; though he throws in the mid- to upper-90s, he’s averaged 7.4 K/9 in his minor league career and just 7.0 per nine in Triple-A. Walks have been a persistent issue for him in the minors as well, as he’s consistently averaged between four and five walks per nine innings pitched. Ogando has changed hands on waivers three times in the past 14 months, going from Philadelphia to Miami to Pittsburgh, so it’s possible that another club will want to try its hand at harnessing his intriguing velocity.

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