Latest On Jose Ramirez, Guardians
TODAY: Hoynes provides some more details on the negotiations, writing that the Guardians made an offer to Ramirez on Tuesday. Ramirez and his representatives made a counter-offer on Wednesday, and the team then halted talks the following day.
APRIL 1: The Guardians have had some extension discussions with star third baseman José Ramírez since the lockout was lifted. Those talks, which as of earlier in the week hadn’t yet progressed to an actual exchange of numbers, don’t appear to have gotten very far.
Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com reports that conversations between the Guardians and Ramírez about a long-term deal “have bogged down, if not ended.” Even if talks haven’t completely fizzled out, Hoynes adds that the organization has set an Opening Day deadline for an extension to be in place. If no deal is agreed upon by next Thursday, it seems the plan is to just carry the three-time All-Star into the season on the option the team exercised last November.
It doesn’t come as a huge surprise that negotiations between Cleveland and Ramírez haven’t seriously progressed. The Guardians have never guaranteed a player more than the $60MM they spent on free agent Edwin Encarnación over the 2016-17 offseason. Even with Ramírez two years from hitting free agency, a long-term deal with the three-time Silver Slugger Award winner would probably exceed twice that amount.
If there’s no deal in place by next week and the Guardians cut off talks, rival clubs figure to gauge his trade availability. There’d be no shortage of league-wide demand in Ramírez, one of the sport’s best overall players. The Blue Jays — where former Cleveland executives Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins have key front office roles — are the one team known to have checked in with Guardians brass about Ramírez this winter. There are surely other clubs who have inquired, but there’s no indication Cleveland has given much thought to trading him.
At the very least, it seems the Guardians will keep Ramírez for the first few months of the season. Cleveland has designs on contending, and dealing their best player would represent a major blow to the team’s chances. It’d also be a source of frustration for a fanbase that is only a year removed from seeing previous face of the franchise Francisco Lindor shipped off to the Mets as his potential free agency loomed.
If the Guardians haven’t locked Ramírez up beyond 2023, though, there’ll be plenty of pressure on the team to get off to a good start. If they fall out of playoff contention by July, the 29-year-old could be one of the most talked-about players in advance of the trade deadline. Even a year and a half of club control over Ramírez would be incredibly valuable if he keeps up his recent form, particularly given his affordability. He’s playing this season on a $12MM salary and can be brought back in 2023 via $14MM club option.
In other Guardians extension news, Hoynes writes that Cleveland is “deep in negotiations” with closer Emmanuel Clase. No deal has yet been finalized, but Hoynes relays that Clase’s reps at Nova Sports Agency are en route to the team’s Spring Training facility in Arizona to meet with the right-hander and team officials.
Guardians, Emmanuel Clase Agree To Extension
The Guardians have reportedly agreed to a five-year, $20MM extension with reliever Emmanuel Clase, per Mike Rodriguez of Univision (via Twitter). The deal is pending a physical. The possibility of an extension for Clase first broke yesterday.
The deal includes a $2MM signing bonus and two option years at $10MM apiece for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). There is a $2MM buyout for each season, while incentives can raise the sum of each year to $13MM per year. Those option years buy out Clase’s first two years of free agency.
Clase dominated batters to the tune of a 1.29 ERA, 67.6% grounder rate, 26.5% strikeout rate, and 5.7% walk rate over 69 2/3 innings for the Guardians in 2021. He finished in the upper echelon of basically every Statcast metric in the book, while also averaging 100.3 mph on his fastball. If that wasn’t enough, Clase complemented that great fastball with a devastating slider. That wicked combination was what made Clase a tantalizing return for Corey Kluber when their long-time ace was dealt to the Texas Rangers.
The 24-year-old figures to be the Guardians’ primary closer this season. Perhaps more to the point, the Guardians hope he will be at the center of their run prevention plans for the next seven seasons, the length of contract control the team now holds over Clase. He is the only player Cleveland with a guaranteed contract beyond 2023.
Guardians, Emmanuel Clase Discussing Contract Extension
4:55PM: There isn’t an agreement in place, Clase’s agent tells Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, though the two sides have been discussing an extension. Like most players, Clase has set Opening Day as a deadline for talks, so he can focus on baseball once the season begins.
4:17PM: The Guardians have agreed to a contract extension with right-hander Emmanuel Clase, El Extra Base’s Daniel Alvarez-Montes reports (Twitter link). Clase is represented by Nova Sports Agency.
The Cleveland organization has long made a strategy of trying to lock up promising young players early in their careers, and the Clase deal represents another such move. Clase was already under team control through the 2026 season, and wasn’t scheduled for arbitration eligibility until the 2023-24 offseason. It can be assumed that the extension will give the Guardians some control over at least one of Clase’s free agent years, while also giving the team some cost certainty rather than face an escalating price tag through Clase’s arb-eligible seasons.
Considering how save totals often lead to big arbitration raises for closers, the Guardians could be making a canny move in extending Clase now, as the 24-year-old looks like one of the sport’s most promising young relievers. Pitching in his first full season in 2021, Clase dominated batters to the tune of a 1.29 ERA, 67.6% grounder rate, 26.5% strikeout rate, and 5.7% walk rate over 69 2/3 innings. Clase finished in the upper echelon of basically every Statcast metric in the book, while also averaging 100.3 mph on his fastball. If that wasn’t enough, Clase complemented that great fastball with a devastating slider.
The result was a fifth-place finish in AL Rookie Of The Year voting, and a nice bounce-back for Clase following a lost 2020 season. Clase and Delino DeShields were acquired from the Rangers for Corey Kluber in December 2019, with Clase seen as the cornerstone of the deal from Cleveland’s perspective and possibly a closer of the future. However, Clase didn’t pitch at all in 2020 due to a teres major muscle strain and then an 80-game PED suspension.
Those twin issues both sidelined Clase and cost him a year of service time, extending the Guardians’ control through 2026. It is possible that contributed to Clase’s decision to take the extension and lock in some guaranteed money now, giving Clase his first big professional payday.
Clase moved into the full-time closer role last season as James Karinchak began to struggle after a hot start, and Karinchak’s recent injury concerns (also with a teres major issue) removed any doubt about Clase continuing as the Guardians’ top choice for the ninth inning. Clase with now headline a bullpen that features veteran Bryan Shaw and converted outfielder Anthony Gose as the top set-up options until Karinchak is ready.
The extension also makes Clase the only long-term commitment on the Guards’ books, as not a single other player is guaranteed money beyond the 2022 season. While a lack of spending this winter has led to a lot of consternation amongst Cleveland fans, the Guardians have also been exploring an even bigger extension with star Jose Ramirez.
Sandy Leon Opts Out Of Minor League Deal With Guardians
Veteran catcher Sandy León has triggered an opt-out clause in his minor-league deal with the Guardians after being informed he would not make the Opening Day roster, tweets Zack Meisel of the Athletic. He’ll return to the open market.
It’s not uncommon to see non-roster veteran players either trigger opt-outs or request their release late in spring camp after being informed they won’t make the big league club. Most veterans of León’s ilk would prefer to scour the market to see if a more immediate big league opportunity awaits rather than head to Triple-A.
That said, León’s opt-out comes as a bit of a surprise — not that he didn’t accept a Triple-A assignment, but that he didn’t break camp with the major league team. The 33-year-old had seemed the favorite for the #2 catching job behind Austin Hedges to start the year. Luke Maile is expected to open the season on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring. That leaves 23-year-old Bryan Lavastida as the only other healthy backstop on the 40-man roster.
The Guardians could roll with Lavastida as Hedges’ backup, but he has just 36 games of experience above A-ball in his professional career. Cleveland’s #16 prospect according to Baseball America, Lavastida is a fairly well-regarded young player, but he’d probably stand to benefit from a few more reps against high minors pitching. León’s release leaves just organizational veteran Mike Rivera and 22-year-old prospect Bo Naylor — both of whom are coming off rough minor league seasons — as non-roster invitees in MLB camp. The Guardians could still look to acquire another veteran backstop via waivers or minor trade in the next week, but it seems as though Lavastida is now the favorite to break camp behind Hedges.
León, meanwhile, heads back to free agency in search of a new landing spot. He’s offered very little at the plate in recent seasons, but he’s earned a big league look in ten straight years based on his acumen behind the dish. León is coming off a .183/.237/.267 showing in 220 plate appearances with the Marlins.
Guardians, Jose Ramirez Have Reportedly Had Informal Extension Discussions
Since the end of the lockout, the Guardians have had “on and off” discussions with the representatives for star third baseman José Ramírez, reports Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. Hoynes characterizes the talks as exchanging ideas about players who could be considered comparable to Ramírez as opposed to floating actual frameworks for a deal.
It’s not surprising to hear the Cleveland front office has gotten in touch with Ramírez’s reps. The three-time All-Star is controllable for two more seasons, but it stands to reason the Guardians would want some idea about the kind of money it’d take to keep him around for the long haul. Ramírez is, after all, one of the game’s best players. The switch-hitting third baseman broke out as a superstar in 2017, and he’s been among the most valuable players in the sport over the past half-decade.
Going back to the beginning of the 2017 campaign, only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts edge out Ramírez among position players by FanGraphs’ measure of Wins Above Replacement. Ramírez owns a .280/.365/.547 line in that time, offensive production that checks in checks in 39 percentage points above average by measure of wRC+. That’s the 15th-highest mark among qualifiers, and Ramírez pairs that offensive damage with excellent marks for both his baserunning and defense at the hot corner.
Cleveland signed Ramírez to an incredibly team-friendly deal just before he took his game to new heights. In March 2017, they inked him to a $26MM guarantee that extended their window of team control by three seasons. He’ll play this season on an $11MM salary and is controllable in 2023 via a $13MM club option that’s a lock to be exercised barring catastrophic injury.
That extension delayed Ramírez’s path to the open market, and he’s not slated to hit free agency (assuming next year’s option is picked up) until the advance of his age-31 campaign. Accordingly, he won’t command a decade-long commitment in the Corey Seager mold, but teams have still paid a fair amount for slightly older star position players in recent offseasons. George Springer landed a six-year, $150MM deal from the Blue Jays heading into his age-31 season last winter; Marcus Semien picked up $175MM over seven years from the Rangers this offseason at the same age.
If he keeps playing at his current form over the next couple years, Ramírez would quite likely beat those deals in free agency. His camp could justifiably argue he’s a better player than either Springer or Semien, and the overall market could be more robust as teams move further away from the lost revenues in 2020. Draft pick compensation for free agents, which applied to both Springer and Semien, could also be pulled from the collective bargaining agreement depending on the status of an international draft.
The Guardians wouldn’t pay an open market price for Ramírez two years in advance, but it’d still register as a surprise if they went to the level it’d take to keep him in Cleveland long-term. The franchise has never gone above $60MM in guarantees on any individual player. A Ramírez extension would probably cost more than double that amount. Cleveland has had a bottom five player payroll in each of the past two years, and they’re currently slated to head into 2022 with around a $56MM mark, in the calculation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource.
Owner Paul Dolan would probably have to greenlight more spending in the future to keep Ramírez around. The post-2023 payroll slate is wide open, but it’s tough to imagine the Guardians allocating 40-50% of their annual payroll to a single player. Hoynes writes that the front office is conferring with Dolan about the long-term spending plans and that no further negotiations with Ramírez have presently been scheduled. It stands to reason the front office will reengage with their star player once they have a better understanding about the kind of resources that’ll be at their disposal.
With their two years of club control, the Guardians don’t have to hammer out a deal with Ramírez in the coming weeks or months. So long as no extension is in place, however, chatter figures to mount about his future. That’s particularly true if the Guardians struggle early in the season.
Ramírez’s name was floated briefly in trade rumors this winter, with the Blue Jays among the teams to inquire about his availability, but it never seemed likely Cleveland would ship him out over the offseason. A rough first half for the team would probably result in increased speculation about a Ramírez trade as the deadline gets closer. Cleveland would surely prefer to avoid that situation — either by keeping him for the long haul or playing well enough in the season’s first couple months there’s no question about their direction come July.
AL Central Notes: Kelly, Melendez, Naylor, Guardians
The White Sox knew when they signed Joe Kelly that the righty likely wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season, and the reliever tells Daryl Van Schouwen of The Chicago Sun-Times that he is targeting late April for his Pale Hose debut. Biceps tightness sidelined Kelly while he was pitching with the Dodgers in the NLCS last October, and it has resulted in his now being a few weeks behind the other pitchers in terms of readiness for Opening Day.
Fortunately, Kelly reported that he isn’t feeling any pain, and “the ball is coming out good for where they expected it to be, the body is moving a lot quicker. We’re just making sure we stay with the game plan and don’t push it.” Chicago’s two-year, $17MM deal (with a club option for 2024) with Kelly added the veteran reliever to an already stacked bullpen, and the Sox look to have assembled one of baseball’s deepest relief corps, even if Craig Kimbrel is still a potential trade candidate.
More from around the AL Central…
- MJ Melendez is one of the game’s top catching prospects, yet the Royals youngster recently made his spring debut at third base and has also been working out as an outfielder. Since Salvador Perez has the Royals’ catching position on lockdown, the team is exploring ways to get Melendez into the lineup, given how he is already nearing his big league debut. “If he’s able to keep making those strides, how do we get him opportunities if any present themselves? It’s just trying to be a little creative and not making wholesale changes,” manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters. “Because he’s a good catcher. It’s just where’s the opportunity, and how do we make the most of the talent and opportunity combined?” Melendez hit .288/.386/.625 with 41 home runs over 531 combined plate appearances at the Double-A (347 PA) and Triple-A (184 PA) levels last season, and certainly doesn’t look like he has much left to prove in the minors. Cam Gallagher is slated to work as Perez’s backup, and if Melendez can at least handle other positions, it will only help him reach the Show sooner than later.
- Josh Naylor has been playing in Triple-A games this spring, a big milestone for the young Guardians slugger as he returns from major leg surgery last summer. “It was awesome to get back out there and do it again. It felt really real and I felt really controlled, which was the most important part,” Naylor told Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes. The 12th overall pick of the 2015 draft, Naylor has only shown glimpses of his potential at the MLB level, hitting just .250/.306/.389 over 633 career plate appearances in the majors. The lack of a 2020 minor league season and then his injury last year set back Naylor’s progress, and the Guardians are hopeful he can contribute to this year’s squad. Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said that there is some hope Naylor can break camp with the team, but “we want to make sure we’re doing what’s in Josh’s long-term interest and not just rushing to meet the artificial deadline of Opening Day.”
- Roster moves of any kind present some difficulty for a Guardians team that has an overload of prospects on its 40-man roster. As MLB.com’s Mandy Bell writes, the Guards added 11 minor leaguers to the 40-man in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, yet with the roster now full, Cleveland has little room to maneuver to deal with other needs. For instance, since it looks like Luke Maile and James Karinchak could both be starting the season on the injured list, the Guardians might have to make some tough decisions depending on how long either player is expected to be sidelined.
James Karinchak, Luke Maile Likely To Begin Season On Injured List
Two notable Guardians players are likely to start their 2022 season on the 10-day injured list. Reliever James Karinchak has a strain in his teres major muscle and will be shut down for 7-10 days, while Luke Maile has a left hamstring strain. (MLB.com’s Mandy Bell was among those to report the news.)
Maile is a lock to hit the IL, as he will be out of action for three to four weeks. Karinchak’s timetable isn’t yet known outside of his shutdown period, as if he returns after seven or even 10 days with no ill effects, he might only need a minimal 10-day IL stint at the start of the season to get fully ramped up.
It all depends on the severity of his strain, as teres major muscle issues can vary greatly in terms of necessary recovery time. Cleveland fans have become all too familiar with the teres major muscle in recent years, as Mike Clevinger, Emmanuel Clase, and (just yesterday) Cody Morris have all spent time on the IL due to similar injuries.
The Guardians surely hope Karinchak’s injury is just a matter of days or weeks rather than months, as the hard-throwing righty’s big strikeout numbers hint at his potential as a dominant bullpen arm. Karinchak has a huge 38% strikeout rate over his 87 2/3 career innings, as well as a 3.49 ERA. However, Karinchak also has a 13.4% walk rate, and both those control problems and the home run ball led to a dropoff in production last season after a strong start. Cleveland ended up optioning Karinchak to Triple-A for September, in an effort to try and get him sorted.
Maile only joined the team two weeks ago on a one-year, $900K free agent deal. The veteran backstop’s guaranteed deal gave him a leg up on minor league signing Sandy Leon in the battle to be Austin Hedges‘ backup, though Leon may now have the inside track on breaking camp. Depending on what other names become available as other teams make their spring cuts, the Guardians could possibly add another experienced catcher to add further depth, or as more competition for Leon.
Latest On Michael Conforto
Michael Conforto is the top free agent remaining on the market and the lone qualifying offer recipient who remains unsigned. We’re now less than two weeks from Opening Day, and it’s still difficult to glean just where Conforto might sign. And, as ESPN’s Buster Olney points out, Conforto will have a hard time following the path of some other QO recipients who waited things out and took a midseason deal. Dallas Keuchel, Kendrys Morales and Stephen Drew, for instance, all waited to sign until after the draft had passed, thus freeing them from the burden of draft-pick compensation. That tactic already caused a player to sit out two months of the season, but with the draft now pushed back to mid-July, it’s an even less palatable approach for Conforto to take.
There’s been some talk of a potential reunion with his old team, but Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reported yesterday evening that returning to the Mets is “extremely unlikely,” citing multiple sources close to the situation. With Starling Marte and Mark Canha joining Brandon Nimmo in the outfield, plus holdover infield/outfield bats like Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis still in the fold, at-bats for Conforto would be hard to come by — even with the designated hitter now in the National League.
Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, meanwhile, writes that the Blue Jays have “checked in” on Conforto, though perhaps only as a means of due diligence. The Jays have been looking for left-handed hitting to help balance a right-leaning lineup, and yesterday’s trade with the Rockies, swapping outfielders Randal Grichuk and Raimel Tapia, was a step toward that end. There’s arguably still a fit for Conforto in Toronto, as the Jays could cycle him, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez through the outfield and designated hitter spots in the lineup. However, GM Ross Atkins also threw some cold water on the idea of another big-ticket addition, telling reporters yesterday that it’s “getting harder for us to continue to add from a resource standpoint and from a flexibility standpoint” (Twitter link via TSN’s Scott Mitchell).
The Guardians have been an oft-cited fit for Conforto, due both to the team’s paltry $56MM payroll and a generally unproven mix of outfield options. General manager Mike Chernoff didn’t comment directly on Conforto or any other free agents this morning, but did say in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that the front office is prioritizing its young players (Twitter link, with audio).
“One of the big challenges for us has been, how do we make sure we’re creating opportunities for those guys and not taking opportunity?” said Chernoff. “Not just signing a veteran guy that’s going to eat into some of the playing time that allows these guys to get their feet underneath them in the big leagues.”
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman suggests a new suitor in his latest podcast (Conforto talk around the 41-minute mark), calling the Rangers perhaps the likeliest team to jump on Conforto. Texas has already forfeited a second-round and third-round selection in order to sign Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, meaning the draft-pick cost of signing Conforto would be down to a fourth-rounder for them. That, however, would still run counter to prior reports on the Rangers’ spending plans; Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported shortly after the lockout lifted that Texas viewed Matt Olson and Clayton Kershaw (both of whom they pursued but were unable to acquire) as special cases but otherwise did not plan to plan to spend significantly.
Guardians Re-Sign Bryan Shaw
March 25: The Guardians have formally announced the signing. In a corresponding roster move, right-hander Cody Morris has been placed on the 60-day injured list.
MLB.com’s Mandy Bell tweets that Morris recently underwent an MRI, which revealed a strained teres major muscle. He’s been shut down entirely and will be reevaluated after a period of four to six weeks without throwing. Given the length of that shutdown, Morris wasn’t likely to be ready early in the 2022 season anyhow.
March 24: It’s a one-year, $3MM deal that contains an option for the 2023 season, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
March 23: The Guardians have reached a deal to bring veteran right-hander Bryan Shaw back to Cleveland, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Shaw made a league-leading 81 appearances in 2021 for Cleveland — his second stint with the organization. Shaw is repped by CAA Baseball.
A staple in the Cleveland bullpen from 2013-17, Shaw thrice led the league in appearances during that stretch and pitched to an overall 3.11 ERA through 358 2/3 innings of relief work. He reached free agency as one of the most durable and effective names on the market in the 2017-18 offseason, but a three-year deal with the Rockies quickly went south. Shaw was clobbered for a 5.61 ERA in 126 2/3 frames with the Rox, who released him in July 2020. He latched on with the Mariners for the 2020 campaign but was rocked for a dozen runs in six frames with Seattle.
A return to Cleveland on a minor league deal this past year didn’t come with high expectations following that ugly three-year stint, but Shaw generally righted the ship. In 77 1/3 inning of bullpen work, he notched a solid 3.49 ERA, picking up 20 holds and a pair of saves along the way. Shaw’s success wasn’t without its red flags, as his 21.3% strikeout rate was down about four percentage points from its peak and his 11.4% walk rate was the highest full-season mark of his 11-year big league career. Still, Shaw limited hard contact, suppressed homers and picked up swinging strikes at his best rates since the 2017 season.
Assuming he’s on the big league roster, the 34-year-old Shaw will become the elder statesman of Guardians bullpen that is packed with power arms but light on experience. Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak and Anthony Gose can all pump 100mph fastballs with regularity, but Gose is the only member of the relief corps with even two years of MLB service time — and most of that came earlier in his career as an outfielder, before he made the switch to the mound.
Andrew Miller Announces Retirement
Veteran reliever Andrew Miller is retiring after 16 Major League seasons, Derrick Goold of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. In a text to Goold, Miller looked back on his career and gave to those who helped him along the way:
“The list of people who took me aside, put their arm around me, made me laugh when I needed to, or taught me something is endless. It’s safe to say I would have been faced with the next chapter much earlier on if it weren’t for them. As someone who thought their career was practically over in 2010, to be able to experience everything I did along the way is incredible. You shouldn’t ever hear complaints from me. It was a heck of a run.”
After being selected as the sixth overall pick of the 2006 draft, Miller was initially seen as a cornerstone piece of the Tigers’ future before he became part of one of the biggest trades in Detroit’s franchise history. Miller was one of six players dealt from the Tigers to the Marlins in exchange for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in December 2007, though after three injury-plagued seasons in South Beach, the Marlins also parted ways with the left-hander.
Miller was dealt to the Red Sox in the 2010-11 offseason, and after more struggles in 2011, Miller became a full-time reliever in 2012 and essentially never looked back. The southpaw became one of baseball’s top relief pitchers, working in a variety of different roles depending on his team’s needs. Whether as a closer, set-up man, multi-inning workhorse, or lefty specialist, Miller became a valuable bullpen weapon in any capacity.
As flexible bullpens have become more and more prominent in recent years, it is also very easy to point to Miller as a trailblazer. As Cardinals teammate Adam Wainwright simply put it, Miller “changed the game and he kind of took that relief role back to when it first started, guys who could do two, three innings – and he was the guy who did it in the postseason.”
From 2013-17, Miller was next to unhittable, posting a 1.82 ERA, 41.1% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate over 291 2/3 innings with the Red Sox, Orioles, Yankees, and Indians. That tremendous stretch saw Miller named to two AL All-Star teams, and receive top-10 Cy Young placements in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Miller received a World Series ring for his contributions to Boston’s 2013 championship team, even if injuries kept him participating in the postseason. However, as Wainwright noted, Miller was at his best in baseball’s biggest spotlight. Miller retires with a tiny 0.93 ERA over 38 2/3 innings in the playoffs, even winning 2016 ALCS MVP honors with Cleveland in 2016. That particular season saw Miller help carry an injury-riddled Cleveland pitching staff to within an inch of a World Series, falling to the Cubs in extra innings in Game Seven.
“He kind of revolutionized all of it – your best pitcher doesn’t have to be your starter or your closer,” Cardinals pitching coach Mike Maddux said. “And he was the best pitcher on multiple staffs. What he did in the postseason to help his team was groundbreaking. I don’t think anybody really duplicated what he’s done – as far as throwing multiple innings in the hairy innings, whenever they are.”
Miller’s success was reflected in his free agent value, as he landed a four-year, $36MM deal from the Yankees in the 2014-15 offseason. Hitting the open market again following the 2018 campaign, Miller signed a two-year, $25MM contract with the Cardinals that became a three-year, $37MM pact when he pitched enough innings in 2020 to trigger a vesting option.
Injuries began to hamper Miller later in his career, and both his velocity and his overall performance took a step back over his three years in St. Louis. Miller had only a 4.34 ERA over 103 2/3 regular-season innings in a Cards uniform, but again remained effective come October. Over seven postseason games and 5 2/3 innings with the Cardinals, Miller didn’t allow a single run.
If anything, Miller drew even more respect from teammates and peers off the field, due to his work with the MLB Players Association. A longtime team union rep and a member of the MLBPA executive board, Miller was one of the most prominent and outspoken voices representing the players’ causes both during his career, and particularly this offseason during the lockout. While Miller will never himself play under the terms of the 2022-26 Collective Bargaining Agreement, it will stand as something of a legacy for his contributions to players both present and future.
“I have an appreciation for what he did for the entire game of baseball,” Wainwright said of Miller’s MLBPA work. “As many hours as that guy put in for the union over these past few years is kind of staggering. He may retire and that means this whole offseason he still spent 16 hours on the phone a day, for us, for who’s next – that means a lot.”
The 36-year-old Miller will retire with a career 4.03 ERA, 27.1% strikeout rate, 979 strikeouts, 10.6% walk rate, 63 saves, and 141 holds over his 829 innings with seven different Major League teams. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Miller on a great career, and we wish him all the best in retirement.
For the last word on Miller’s career, the lefty himself sums things up as part of his text message….
“I feel very fortunate that my career worked out the way that it did. Of course there were tough stretches, injuries, and times of doubt. I also won’t deny that I can find myself in moments of wondering what if this or that had happened differently, could it have somehow been better? I’m usually pretty quick to be able to step back though and see how lucky I have been. The hard times were necessary for me to grow and to be able to appreciate the highs along the way. Ultimately, I was able to play for many great franchises, wear historic uniforms, and play in some amazing ballparks. I made some of the best friends I will ever have in life through the game. I was able to work with the union and see the good it can do for players while learning so much about the game.”