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NL Central Links: Cubs/Cards, Leake, Walden, Brewers

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The storied rivalry between the Cardinals and Cubs has the opportunity to capture the nation’s attention in 2016 as both clubs enter the year with lofty expectations on the heels of excellent 2015 campaigns, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Morosi opines that St. Louis vs. Chicago has added meaning this year with the Cubs prying Jason Heyward and John Lackey away from the Cardinals and the subsequent comments from Heyward and St. Louis skipper Mike Matheny adding to the feud. Morosi spoke to both Ryan Theriot and Mark DeRosa — two now-retired players that experienced both sides of the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry — about what matchups between the two teams were like from a player perspective and about what it would mean for a player to be on a team that finally succeeds in bringing a World Series victory to the Cubs for the first time since 1908.

Here’s more from the division…

  • Cardinals right-hander Mike Leake spoke to FOX’s Ken Rosenthal about his free-agent experience. As Rosenthal writes, stories about Leake wanting to sign with the D-backs were indeed true, although one significant detail of his motivation for that desire was kept out at the time. Leake’s father fell off a roof while constructing a cabin in Montana this past offseason, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, and playing in Arizona would have allowed Leake the opportunity to remain close to his father, Rosenthal writes. However, while both Leake and Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart tell Rosenthal that a deal was close at one point during the winter, Stewart said talks eventually “just broke down” between the two sides. Leake, too, discussed his talks with the D-backs. “It got close. It just never came to fruition,” the right-hander explained. “I felt like there were some that wanted it and some that didn’t in the organization.” Leake said the Cardinals were “quiet at first” before coming on “strong” in their pursuit that ultimately landed him in St. Louis. Leake’s parents both supported his decision to sign with the Cardinals even if it meant creating some distance.
  • Jordan Walden has thrown off a mound six times since completing a rigorous rehab process on his right shoulder and will do so again today, writes MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. Today’s session will mark the first time the Cardinals have seen Walden throw since his injury. Walden now admits, in hindsight, that he tried to rush back too quickly from his initial injury last summer, embarking on a rehab stint in July that was cut short due to shoulder problems that ultimately ended his season.
  • The Brewers have turned over half of their 40-man roster since the final day of the 2015 season, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. While GM David Stearns tells Haudricourt that he didn’t come into the offseason with a set number of transactions in mind but rather with a goal of accumulating as much controllable talent as possible. “We’re trying to aggregate as much young talent as we possibly can,” Stearns explains. “The 40-man roster is a way we can do that so we have tried to use that tool to add some talent. I don’t know if that exceeds my expectations but we’ve certainly been busy.” (Stearns was recently a guest on the MLBTR Podcast and offered more in-depth comments regarding that quest.) Manager Craig Counsell tells Haudricourt that center field is the most uncertain spot on the roster heading into Spring Training. Haudricourt notes that four of the new additions — Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Rymer Liriano, Keon Broxton and non-roster invitee Eric Young Jr. — have experience there.

D-Backs Exercise Chip Hale’s 2017 Option

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8:07pm: Arizona has exercised its option over Hale for 2017, Jon Heyman reports (Twitter links). As things stand, though, there’s no new contract.

3:06pm: The Diamondbacks and manager Chip Hale have agreed to a contract extension that will run through “at least” the 2017 season, reports Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Hale had been entering the final guaranteed season of a contract that included a club option for the 2017 season.

Hale, 51, initially signed a two-year deal with the Diamondbacks in what has been his first stint as a big league manager. Hale, a former utility infielder for the Twins and Dodgers from 1989-97, does have extensive experience on Major League coaching staffs, however, and had previously managed at the minor league level as well. Hale led the 2015 Diamondbacks to a 79-win season — a better outcome than many anticipated. The D-backs, in fact were within striking distance of the division lead as late into the season as Aug. 23, when the club sat five games out of first place.

Expectations will be wildly different for Hale as he enters his second season at the helm in Arizona. While few pegged them to even sniff the .500 mark last season, Arizona’s high-octane offseason included the signings of Zack Greinke and Tyler Clippard as well as a blockbuster trade for Shelby Miller. With Greinke and Miller atop the rotation and a full year of Patrick Corbin, who missed the beginning of the 2015 season recovering from 2014 Tommy John surgery, Arizona’s front office has placed pressure on its field staff and player personnel to deliver not only a winning club, but one that can contend for a postseason berth in what should be a competitive NL West division.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/13/16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the game:

  • The Diamondbacks have outrighted lefty Will Locante, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. They designated Locante for assignment last week after he posted a 5.79 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 7.3 BB/9 in 42 rough innings of relief for Double-A Mobile last year.
  • The Indians have announced that they’ve signed 34-year-old catcher Guillermo Quiroz to a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. The light-hitting Quiroz has played parts of ten seasons in the Majors, but in the 2015 regular season he only appeared with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, where he hit .247/.303/.292 in 99 plate appearances.
  • The Angels have signed catcher Lou Marson and righties Josh Zeid and Cody Satterwhite to minor-league deals, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy tweets. Marson, the former Indians backup, has played sparingly in the last several seasons due to injury. He has a lifetime .219/.309/.299 line in parts of six big-league seasons. The 28-year-old Zeid is perhaps best known as one of the pieces the Phillies sent the Astros in the 2011 Hunter Pence deal. He spent the 2015 season in the Tigers’ Triple-A bullpen, posting a 4.46 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9. The 29-year-old Satterwhite pitched last season in a tough pitching environment at Triple-A Las Vegas, posting a 4.38 ERA, 8.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 72 innings of relief.
  • The Blue Jays have re-signed lefty reliever Colt Hynes to a minor-league deal, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Hynes pitched in five games for the Jays last season. He also pitched 47 1/3 innings combined at Double-A and Triple-A, posting a 3.47 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9.

NL West Notes: Sierra, Nomo, Rodney, Cashner, Clippard

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It’s been a month since the Dodgers reportedly struck an agreement with Cuban right-hander Yaisel Sierra, but the team has yet to announce the move. While Dodgers fans may be apprehensive about that silence, given what happened with Hisahshi Iwakuma earlier this offseason, Jon Heyman tweets that the Dodgers’ deal with Sierra remains “on track” with “only paperwork remaining.” Sierra was reportedly guaranteed between $30-35MM over a six-year term at the time of the agreement, and Heyman narrows the scope a bit, saying the final number will fall in the $30-31MM range.

Here’s more from the NL West…

  • The Padres announced yesterday that they’ve hired former Major League right-hander Hideo Nomo as an advisor to their baseball operations staff. “We are proud to welcome Hideo to the Padres organization,” general manager A.J. Preller said in a statement announcing the move. “His career as a Major League pitcher speaks for itself. His expertise and passion for baseball will be a significant asset to the Padres and I look forward to having his input going forward.” Nomo will assist in the club’s player development process but also in expanding the Padres’ reach in the Pacific Rim, per the release. Nomo joins Moises Alou, Trevor Hoffman and Mark Loretta as former big leaguers that are now working with the Friars’ baseball ops department in some capacity.
  • Padres ninth-inning hopeful Fernando Rodney has been dealing with a hamstring strain of late, but Preller believes that he’ll be a full go for Spring Training, tweets Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres gave Rodney a $2MM guarantee, and he’s perhaps the favorite to win their closer’s role following the trades of Craig Kimbrel and Joaquin Benoit, plus the move of Brandon Maurer back to the rotation.
  • Another somewhat minor but potentially impactful Padres note comes from MLB.com’s Corey Brock (on Twitter), who notes that new manager Andy Green has asked right-hander Andrew Cashner to make some mechanical fixes, which Cashner has embraced. The goal of the tweaks is to regain some sink on Cashner’s two-seam fastball, per Brock. Cashner still maintained a very solid ground-ball rate in 2015 (47.4 percent), but that number is down from the 52.5 percent mark he registered in 2013. How well Cashner incorporates those fixes will be worth keeping an eye on, as the 29-year-old stands to enter next year’s free agent class as one of the most appealing arms on the market.
  • Tyler Clippard told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro that he was somewhat surprised by the lack of interest he received on the free-agent market this offseason but is happy to have landed with the D-backs, whom he identified as a team on the rise earlier this offseason. “I felt like I would have gotten more offers,” Clippard said. “I thought there was going to be a little more activity early on in the offseason.” Clippard voiced excitement over joining a team that has “[taken] the steps in the direction of becoming a championship organization,” referencing the club’s additions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller.

Diamondbacks, A.J. Pollock Agree To Two-Year Extension

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TODAY: Pollock will receive annual salaries of $3.5MM and $6.75MM, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.

YESTERDAY: The Diamondbacks have struck a two-year deal to avoid arbitration with outfielder A.J. Pollock, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports on Twitter. He’ll receive $10.25MM in the contract, Buster Olney of ESPN adds (Twitter link).

Aug 27, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder <a rel=

Pollock filed at $3.9MM, with the team countering at $3.65MM — both of which fell below his $4.3MM projection — so there wasn’t much room for movement on his 2016 salary. But Arizona may have saved a bit of cash on next year’s bill in order to help ease a settlement on this season’s payday.

And for Pollock, he won’t have to worry about injury or a performance decline sapping his earning power for 2017. Certainly, the new deal builds in a substantial raise for the burgeoning star. He’ll be promised a $3.25MM bump for the added season covered in the pact.

As a 3+ service-time player, Pollock will still have one year of arb eligibility remaining after his new deal is up. A longer-term arrangement still seems plausible for the 28-year-old, who cemented himself as the D-Backs’ center fielder with an excellent 2015 campaign. If nothing else, the major raise baked into the deal suggests that the team doesn’t expect him to fall off in the coming year.

Pollock’s signing puts a cap on a banner evening for two-year, arb-only extensions for prominent players. Josh Donaldson reportedly struck his own such arrangement with the Blue Jays, while J.D. Martinez did the same with the Tigers. In some cases, that can suggest that the sides were unable to work out something larger and settled for agreeing to terms on salaries on years already controlled. Of course, Pollock is younger than Donaldson and further from free agency than Martinez, so he remains a fairly plausible candidate to sell some free agent seasons to his current club.

Pollock turned heads in an injury-shortened 2014 in which he emerged as a premium player both at the plate and in the field. But many were waiting to see if he could repeat in a full season of action, and he delivered.

All told, Pollock contributed a .315/.367/.498 slash with 20 home runs and 39 steals over his 673 plate appearances in 2015. And he rated as one of the game’s most productive center fielders, too, significantly adding to his value. By any measure, he was one of the game’s best all-around players, and his 7.4 rWAR and 6.6 fWAR attest.

The move continues a busy offseason for Arizona, which recently added reliever Tyler Clippard to a pitching staff that was already set to gain starters Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller. While this latest contract won’t impact the organization’s roster for the coming season, or any future campaigns, it does represent another significant commitment.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Diamondbacks Designate Will Locante

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The Diamondbacks have designated lefty Will Locante for assignment, per a team announcement. His 40-man spot will go to reliever Tyler Clippard.

Locante, 26, scuffled to a 5.79 ERA in 42 innings at the Double-A level last year. While he’s shown big strikeout ability in the low minors, he’s also struggled with his command, and that was never more true than in 2015. Locante ended the season with 8.1 K/9 against 7.3 BB/9.

D-Backs Sign Tyler Clippard

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The D-backs have officially signed right-hander Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25MM contract, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Clippard is represented by Excel Sports Management. Rosenthal further tweets that the deal is official (though the team has not announced the move just yet) and will give Clippard a $4MM signing bonus plus salaries of $4.1MM and $4.15MM in the next two seasons, respectively. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported earlier today that the two sides had made progress on a deal, and ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick later added that an agreement was close.

Tyler Clippard

Clippard, 31 on Sunday, will join Brad Ziegler, Daniel Hudson, Andrew Chafin, Randall Delgado and Josh Collmenter at the back of the Arizona bullpen, leaving the team with one unsettled spot. With Chafin representing the only lefty in that mix, it’s possible that Matt Reynolds or non-roster invitee Wesley Wright would have the inside track on that final spot, though GM Dave Stewart has mentioned several other relievers by name recently. Among those listed by Stewart were Silvino Bracho, Enrique Burgos, Jake Barrett, Cody Hall, Sam LeCure, Dominic Leone and Evan Marshall — each of whom is right-handed.

Ziegler, who admirably stepped into the closer’s role last offseason when Addison Reed lost his handle on the ninth inning, will remain the D-backs’ closer, according to the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro (on Twitter). Clippard, then, will join Hudson (who has shown excellent velocity as a setup option since returning from his second Tommy John surgery) as a setup man at the back of the ’pen. Clippard does have 53 career saves and spent the early portion of the 2015 campaign as Oakland’s closer before being traded to the Mets, and it seems reasonable to expect that he’d be the first line of defense should Ziegler falter.

The addition of Clippard, in some ways, mirrors the D-backs’ previous acquisition of Reed in that both are notorious fly-ball pitchers. The Diamondbacks wound up trading Reed to the Mets in what amounted to a salary dump after Reed posted a 6.36 ERA at the homer-friendly Chase Field over the course of his 18 months with the club, making the decision to replace him with an even more extreme fly-ball pitcher puzzling. Clippard is coming off the second-highest fly-ball rate of his career and will be pitching in what is the most hitter-friendly environment he’s called home (with the exception of his brief call-up at Yankee Stadium in 2007). Last season, Clippard’s 60.6 percent fly-ball rate was easily the highest in baseball, and he also saw his strikeout and walk rates also trend backwards (8.1 K/9, 3.9 BB/9) while his velocity dipped for a third consecutive year.

All that said, Clippard again delivered outstanding bottom-line results between the Athletics and the Mets in 2015, totaling a 2.92 ERA in 71 innings. He also rattled off his sixth consecutive season with at least 70 innings pitched and continued his remarkable track record of durability in the bullpen. Dating back to the 2009 season, Clippard’s 464 1/3 innings are the most by any reliever in baseball by more than 50 innings, meaning he’s essentially thrown an extra season’s worth of innings than anyone else in that time. While there’s undoubtedly some concern that the workload has taken a toll on his arm and the effects began to manifest last season, his consistency and durability is virtually unparalleled by any of his peers in the league.

Stewart said just last Thursday that the team had “nothing going on” in terms of trade talk and free-agent pursuits just last Thursday, though he changed course less than 24 hours later and expressed an interest in reaching out to Clippard’s representatives. The Diamondbacks saved about $4MM in the trade that sent Aaron Hill, Chase Anderson and Isan Diaz to the Brewers in exchange for Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner, and that sum was essentially reallocated to function as Clippard’s signing bonus (or, if you prefer, his 2016 salary). By my calculation, the Clippard signing should put the D-backs around $95MM in terms of Opening Day payroll (including players at or near the league minimum), which is shy of their record $112MM Opening Day mark from 2014 but higher than the $86MM and $83MM marks from 2015 and 2013, respectively.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Diamondbacks Close To Deal With Tyler Clippard

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2:21pm: Clippard and the Diamondbacks are now close to a deal, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter).

10:42am: Stewart confirmed to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert that the D-backs are talking with Clippard and optimistic about a deal (Twitter link). “We’ve talked concepts,” the GM told Gilbert. “We’re hopeful we can get something done.”

10:28am: The D-backs and right-hander Tyler Clippard are making progress on a contract, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Piecoro’s source described the team as “hopeful” of reaching an agreement, and Piecoro adds that both one-year and multi-year deals have been discussed thus far in talks.

Just last Thursday, Arizona general manager Dave Stewart said that his team wasn’t active on the free-agent market or in trade pursuits. However, less than 24 hours later, Stewart told Piecoro that there was a “good possibility” that the D-backs would reach out to Clippard’s representatives, as they had yet to do so this offseason. Clippard is also reportedly drawing some interest from the Rays and Astros in the past week, although neither club’s pursuit hasn’t been characterized as serious to this point.

Clippard, who will turn 31 on Valentine’s Day, has been baseball’s most durable reliever over the past six seasons, working to a 2.67 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 464 1/3 innings. No reliever is within even 50 innings of Clippard in that time. He’s never been on the disabled list and has averaged 73 appearances and 77 innings per season in that six-year stretch. Of course, that durability could serve as a red flag as well. Clippard has seen his velocity drop in three consecutive seasons and saw his strikeout and walk rates trend in the wrong direction in 2015. He was also baseball’s most extreme fly-ball pitcher last year (and has a long history of being one of the more pronounced fly-ball pitchers in the game), which could be a poor fit with Arizona’s hitter-friendly home stadium.

The Diamondbacks’ bullpen projects to include Brad Ziegler, Daniel Hudson, Andrew Chafin, Randall Delgado and Josh Collmenter at this time, though the team has a significant number of intriguing younger arms as well. Last week, when downplaying the possibility of adding a bullpen arm, Stewart mentioned Silvino Bracho, Enrique Burgos, Jake Barrett, Cody Hall, Dominic Leone, Evan Marshall, Same LeCure and Wesley Wright as internal options that could fill in the final two spots in the bullpen. However, the D-backs did save about $4MM in the trade that sent Aaron Hill, Chase Anderson and Isan Diaz to the Brewers in exchange for Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner, and the team’s new $1.5 billion television contract does kick in this season, so there should be more than enough money to bring Clippard into the fold should he ultimately be deemed an upgrade.

NL Notes: Diamondbacks, Fowler, Dodgers

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The Diamondbacks are considering having left fielder David Peralta and right fielder Yasmany Tomas switch positions, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes. The idea is that, given the departure of Ender Inciarte in the Shelby Miller trade, the Diamondbacks stand to take a step back in right field, the corner outfield position those within the game generally consider to require a higher degree of skill. Peralta isn’t the defender that Inciarte is, but he’s better than Tomas. Tomas has said he’s more comfortable in right, but if the Diamondbacks do have him switch with Peralta, Tomas will get all of Spring Training to adjust to his new position. Here’s more from the National League.

  • The Cardinals are the best fit for Dexter Fowler, MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince writes. Fowler tops Castrovince’s list of this offseason’s top remaining free agents (which also includes names like Yovani Gallardo, Ian Desmond and Tyler Clippard). Randal Grichuk had sports hernia surgery in December, Castrovince points out, and the Cards can use a veteran outfielder to help compensate for the inexperience of players like Stephen Piscotty and Tommy Pham.
  • If the Dodgers can stay healthy, they won’t have many roster decisions to make in Spring Training, writes Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times. They will have to decide whether Hyun-jin Ryu, who’s returning from surgery, is healthy enough to take the ball every fifth day. There’s also the issue of how to handle Alex Guerrero, who lacks a defensive position, hit very poorly in the second half of the 2015 season and who can’t be optioned without his permission. In general, though, the Dodgers don’t figure to have many position battles.

Diamondbacks Looking At Free Agent Relievers, Including Tyler Clippard

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TODAY: The D’Backs have been in contact with Clippard’s representatives, Fanragsports.com’s Jack Magruder reports (Twitter link).

FRIDAY: Clippard sits “atop [the D-Backs’] wish list” for another late-inning arm, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).

THURSDAY: Despite saying just yesterday that his team doesn’t “have much going on” in the way of new player acquisitions, Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that the club will still look into the free-agent relief market.

After finding the cost too high to add another pen arm via trade, Stewart suggested that the Snakes may yet pull the trigger on an open-market addition. “We could look at what’s left on the free-agent market,” he said. “I keep getting pushed back to the same position: Trading three or four prospects for seventh-inning guys is probably not something I want to do.”

It isn’t entirely clear who might be targeted, but Stewart seemingly indicated that he’s interested in a reasonably significant addition. He certainly suggested that top remaining reliever Tyler Clippard is under some consideration. “We have not talked to his people, (but) that is a good name,” Stewart said of Clippard. “I know we talked about it internally, so I think there’s a pretty good possibility we will (reach out), at least just to see.”

Beyond Clippard, though, there don’t appear to be many fellow free-agent arms that will garner attention from Arizona. “I think there’s probably only going to be a few options that will fit,” said Stewart. “I don’t see there being a bunch.” 

The D-Backs did save some cash by shedding Aaron Hill’s contract via trade, and could conceivably deploy that $4MM or so on another arm. As explained in the above link regarding Stewart’s comments from last night, the club has a lot of names in the pen mix but could probably stand to add another, more established piece.

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