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NL Notes: Castellanos, Cubs, Chatwood, Mills, Nats, Ross, Voth

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Nicholas Castellanos spoke eloquently about his experience dealing with the Cubs this offseason – which is to say, he experience not dealing with them. And yet, the Cincinnati Red appears to harbor no ill will towards the Cubs. Instead, he offered nuanced insight and thoughtful considerations about the challenges facing ownership, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. Said Castellanos, “I don’t know the intricacies of owning a team. The only thing I can speak on when it comes to the Cubs is what a tremendous and incredible soul that organization has when it has life. The only thing I would care about if I owned the Cubs would be to give it as much life as possible. It’s hard, I don’t know what it’s like to own a business.” Polite and diplomatic as he may be, Castellanos does offer an implicit criticism of a Cubs organization that has exhibited, shall we say, less “life” than in years past. Though Castellanos seems to understand and accept why the Cubs made no contact with him after his exit interview, he did wonder broadly about the lack of interest from teams league-wide. Let’s check in on some fifth starter races..

  • Cubs’ manager David Ross gives Tyler Chatwood the lead in the race for the Cubs’ fifth starter role, tweets MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. Alec Mills is also a contender for the role, though whoever wins the spot on opening day is likely to keep it until performance dictates otherwise. Ross has no interest in modernizing his approach to the fifth starter role, preferring to let players earn a role in spring training and enter the season thusly, per Bastian. Mills is out of options, but he’s a heavy favorite to land a bullpen spot if he can’t unseat Chatwood for the rotation.
  • Joe Ross has pole position to break camp as the fifth starter for the World Champion Washington Nationals, per MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Austin Voth has pitched well enough to provide a legitimate challenge, but given that both players are likely to make the team, Ross has the track record to give him an edge. He also has the gaudy bullpen ERA to suggest he’s best utilized in the rotation. It’s fair to question the significance of rotation/bullpen splits, but few can boast a Jekyll-and-Hyde routine like Ross’ 2019. The 26-year-old put up an 11.17 ERA over 19 1/3 innings as a reliever, only to counter with a 3.02 ERA in 44 2/3 innings as a starter during the second half. Voth, meanwhile, is more of a late-bloomer at age-27, and he has yet to be tested in a relief capacity. Since making his professional debut in 2013, he has just 3 minor league relief appearances to go with 3 major league appearances out of the pen. Since the right-hander is out of options (as is Ross), Voth is likely to get his first real taste of bullpen life in 2020.

NL Notes: Cubs, Bryant, Heyward, Reds, Mahle, Nationals, Castro

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The Cubs aren’t yet sure how David Ross’ style as a tactician will differ from his predecessor, but Ross’ decisions are starting to trickle in and lend some clarity to the Cubs’ 2020 season. For starters, Kris Bryant as the leadoff man does not feel like an experiment – it’s happening. Ross likes Bryant’s speed and baserunning ability, and to his credit, there’s really nothing to dislike about Bryant in the leadoff spot. It does create questions further down the order, but coming off a season in which their leadoff men were last in the league with a .294 OBP, that’s a tradeoff they’re willing to make, per Mark Gonzalez of the Chicago Tribune. The other major decision passed down today was that Jason Heyward would remain in right field as often as possible. Given Heyward’s tremendous defensive abilities and a wRC+ that’s been at league average over the last two years, and it makes some sense to profile Heyward as a centerfielder. He’s more comfortable in right, however, and his glove does play as a genuine asset there. Let’s check in on a couple other National League clubs…

  • Tyler Mahle will be more than okay coming out of the bullpen for the Reds if that means staying in the big leagues, per MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. In the rotation last year, Mahle went 3-12 with a 5.14 ERA/4.66 FIP across 129 2/3 innings in 25 starts. According to Mahle, his biggest problem was the lack of an effective put away breaking ball, something he’s working on by adding a slider. There might be something to Mahle’s analysis, as his curveball induced a 26.6 whiff%. More to the point might be his 7.11 ERA against left-handed hitters, though it’s part and parcel of the same issue, likely.
  • Starlin Castro is energized by the opportunity to play for a contender again, per Sam Fortier of the Washington Post. Between the changes that Castro made to his approach in the second half of last year, and his excitement over playing in games of consequence again, the Nationals are finding reasons to believe in Castro’s potential to make up for some of the offense lost in the wake of Anthony Rendon’s departure. Castro’s a difficult player to pin down in terms of ability, but he is a four-time All-Star entering his age-30 season, and before the terms of his current two-year deal run out, he may even cross the 2,000 hit threshold.

Cubs’ Players, Personnel on the State of the Team

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The Cubs are one of two teams without a guaranteed signing this offseason, and there’s a good chance their caution continues. By all accounts, the Cubs will have a chance at returning to National League prominence in 2020 only if they make significant strides internally, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. On that front, there are definitely issues to address.

Star shortstop Javier Baez made the point clearly: “The biggest problem to fix? “I think everybody was being there for the team but at the same time for their own numbers.” Wittenmyer also provides a quote from new manager David Ross, who strikes a similar tone in saying, “I think we’ve got to let everybody talk about us like it use to be – not us talking about other people.”

Given the success of the Nationals’ last season, driven by a persistent narrative of clubhouse camaraderie, coupled with the clear morale questions at the heart of the Astros’ controversy heading into the season, soft skills are having a moment in MLB right now. The Cubs will give the 2020 season another test case. That is, if they can make the clubhouse adjustments the team has been talking about for two seasons now.

As has been the case for most of the offseason, however, the conversation never veers far from the grievance filed by Kris Bryant, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. The Cubs continue to wait for a resolution.

President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein answered questions about the open case – as he has all offseason – at the outset of the Cubs’ Convention. Said Epstein, “Our role was to show up when they told us to show up, answer questions truthfully, which we did, and sit back and wait for a decision. There were a lot of documents and a lot of arguments involved in the case. We respect the role of the arbitrator. He’s gotta work through everything methodically until he’s confident in his decision. Then, he can move forward. It’s out of our control; we’re not going to worry about it. Whenever it happens, it happens.”

A ruling would theoretically free the Cubs to take final offers on a Bryant trade and consummate a deal, if there’s one out there to Epstein’s liking. Moving Bryant would get the Cubs under the luxury tax, clearly a benchmark they’d like to clear prior to the 2020 season.

That said, don’t expect the financial floodgates to open. Removing Bryant’s contract ducks the tax, but not enough to create space to sign, say, Nicholas Castellanos. Other than Castellanos, who took a definite liking to Wrigley Field last season, there aren’t a lot of free agents that make sense for the Cubs at this time. Not anymore. There’s certainly nobody available that comes close to matching Bryant in talent. There are other ways the Cubs could sneak under the tax that would be less harmless to their on-field product in 2020, so moving Bryant only makes sense if the return satisfies Epstein’s asking price.

For now, the waiting game continues on the Northside, much to the chagrin of the fanbase. Their inactivity is well-documented, addressed yesterday by MLBTR’s Anthony Franco here, but it remains one of the stories of the offseason. The only imaginable impact move left for the Cubs is dealing Bryant for a young collection of  players that can help both now and in the future. Whether a team like the Braves or Diamondbacks pony up talent enough for Epstein to pull the trigger is the unknown variable that won’t come to light until after the resolution of the Bryant case.

Until then, as Epstein put it (per Sharma), “I think we’re realistic about it. It’s been a few years with some of these guys that we’ve tried to get something done. It hasn’t happened, but that doesn’t mean it can’t in the future. It’s really hard to predict the future. Sometimes you’re only one phone call away from signing a guy to a long-term contract. Sometimes you’re one phone call away from a deal. What’s most likely is the status quo.”

Quick Hits: Angels, Mallee, Padres, Cubs, Ross

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Hours after bringing Mickey Callaway into the fold as the club’s new pitching coach, it appears the Angels are interested in adding veteran hitting coach John Mallee to their staff, according to a tweet from Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM (link). Mallee was most recently a hitting coach with the Phillies before a team-wide slump saw him replaced by Charlie Manuel in mid-August of the 2019 season. Previously, the 50-year-old has worked as an MLB hitting coach with the Marlins, Astros, and Cubs, helping Joe Maddon’s Chicago outfit to their World Series title in 2016.

  • With the hiring of a new manager cleared from his offseason checklist, Padres GM AJ Preller now must turn to an even more urgent matter–the acquisition of more winning players to the team’s big league roster. As Kevin Acee notes in his piece for the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres still have a long way to go if they want to truly compete with teams like the Dodgers and Nationals. Interestingly, even one of Preller’s own players understands that his team, as currently constructed, might not stack up as a 2020 contender. “We’re not close yet,” one Padre told Acee. Readers should check out Acee’s article for his own assessment of where San Diego stands, though it is worth noting that the Padres could theoretically stand to improve in a few areas simply by shifting playing time allotments. San Diego’s tepid offense could be improved via a more full time-share for catcher Francisco Mejia, for one; Mejia’s rookie output (96 wRC+ in 244 PA) was much more encouraging than what the club has received from Austin Hedges in recent years (62 career wRC+), even if the value of Hedges’ sterling defense can’t be discounted.
  • One of the chief challenges faced by new Cubs skipper David Ross will be, in the opinion of Steve Greenberg of The Chicago Sun-Times, how the former catcher handles tough decisions regarding some of his old teammates and good friends (link). Namely, Greenberg identifies Jon Lester and Jason Heyward as two players with whom Ross has a particularly deep relationship, as the new manager was the former’s personal catcher in Chicago and the latter’s mentor dating back to his time in Atlanta. Ross will be faced with being in the unique position of having to take the ball from Lester if–as he did at certain points in 2019–the pitcher struggles late in ballgames. Heyward’s own tendency to enter long Chicago slumps–to say nothing of his big contract–could also force Ross to endure some tough conversations in 2020.

Cubs Hire David Ross As Manager

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The Cubs have announced the signing of David Ross to a three-year managerial contract running through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023. Ross, a former hero of the club’s 2016 title run, will be formally introduced at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

The Cubs had previously been said to be in serious consideration of Astros coach Joe Espada for the opening, but it appears that they will turn instead to an in-house option in replacing the departed Joe Maddon. Ross has spent three seasons in the Cubs front office as a special assistant to baseball operations following a fifteen-year year playing career that saw him win World Series titles in both Boston and Chicago.

Though he does not have direct managerial experience to his name, Ross is a well-respected former catcher who has shared dugouts with some of the most revered names in the occupation’s history. As a player, Ross suited up for championship winners Maddon, Bobby Cox, Bruce Bochy, John Farrell, and Terry Francona.

At 42 years of age, Ross becomes the youngest Cubs manager since Jim Riggleman was hired to the post in 1995, and his hiring is in keeping with the wider trend of youthful managers being installed around the game (Ross will not even be the youngest manager hired this afternoon, as reports indicate the Padres have hired 38-year-old Jayce Tingler as their own newly minted skipper).

Following an 84-78 season that saw their postseason hopes crumble down the stretch, the Cubs and manager Joe Maddon parted ways at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Maddon, who helped the club break a 108-year World Series drought with their championship in ’16, has since found employment with the Angels.

Latest On David Ross

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Oct 24: The Cubs have officially announced Ross’ signing as the club’s new manager. The Chicago hero will receive a three-year contract through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023 (link).

Oct 23: Chicago settled on Ross yesterday afternoon, Kaplan adds (Twitter link). All other candidates have been informed of the decision, he adds, so it seems an announcement is just a formality at this point.

8:41 am: Ross is indeed likely to be hired as the Cubs’ manager this week, reports David Kaplan of NBC Sports (via Twitter). Kaplan adds that Ross’ agent has been negotiating a deal that is “almost done” with President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein.

12:21 am: Joe Espada and David Ross are reportedly the favorites in the Cubs’ search for their next manager, though it appears the latter has pulled ahead in the race. Ross could be announced as the Cubs’ new skipper as early as Thursday, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com suggested to “Waddle and Silvy” (Twitter link via Adam Abdalla of ESPN Chicago).

Ross is a revered figure for the Cubs, with whom the former major league catcher played the final two seasons of his career from 2015-16. In the last of those years, Ross helped the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908 with a strong regular-season performance and a postseason effort highlighted by a home run against the Indians in Game 7 of the World Series.

Ross has served as a special assistant to baseball operations for the Cubs and an ESPN analyst since his playing days wrapped up, but he comes with no coaching experience. He’s something of a polar opposite in that regard to previous Cubs skipper Joe Maddon, a longtime coach whom the club hired after a long run as the Rays’ manager. Despite his lack of seasoning as a coach, though, Ross told Rob Bradford of WEEI that he believes he’s capable of melding the best qualities of the top managers he encountered during his career. Ross played under World Series-winning managers in Maddon, Terry Francona, John Farrell and Bobby Cox.

Maddon’s “old school to the core; he just uses the analytics in his favor for certain wacky situations where he may take the pitcher and put him in left field,” according to Ross. While Ross noted that Maddon’s methods with the Cubs came off as unconventional, “90 percent of the time, it worked out.”

Ross, if he becomes a manager, will attempt to mix the methods of Maddon and Cox – specifically the “freedom” they’ve given players – with Francona’s communication skills and Farrell’s ability to delegate. And as someone who played in the majors for a decade and a half, Ross thinks he learned what not to do from less successful managers. In his discussion with Bradford, Ross opined he’s well aware “what a bad manager looks like.”

Maddon was anything but “bad” during his time with the Cubs, of course, but the club nonetheless moved on after a disappointing 2019 season. It now appears they’ll hand the reins to the popular Ross in an effort to return to prominence next year.

Latest On Cubs’ Managerial Search

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Just hours after celebrating the Astros’ thrilling ALCS victory over the Yankees, Houston bench coach Joe Espada is headed to Chicago for a second interview with the Cubs, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link).  For now, Espada is the only one of the Cubs’ six managerial candidates to be brought back for a second interview, greatly elevating his chances of becoming the next dugout boss at Wrigley Field.  Indeed, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes, Espada and former Cubs catcher David Ross “are widely considered the top two candidates for the post.”

It should be noted that a formal second interview might not necessarily be required for three of the other known Cubs candidates, since they all currently work for the organization — bench coach Mark Loretta, first base coach Will Venable, and Ross, a special assistant to the baseball operations department.  As Bastian puts it, “the Cubs know what they have in-house in Ross.  A second interview with Espada will help the franchise get a better sense of what he brings to the table, too.”

Espada has been a popular managerial candidate this winter, as the Giants and Pirates have also shown interest in speaking with the 44-year-old about their own open manager positions.  There hasn’t yet been any indication that Espada has interviewed with either of those clubs, however, though obviously Espada hasn’t had a lot of free time for interviews in recent weeks given the Astros’ continued postseason run.

Moving into the “second interview” phase would seem to hint that the Cubs are approaching an end to their search, though a formal announcement about a hiring may not come until after the World Series, as the league prefers teams to wait until postseason off-days to announce major news in order to keep the focus of the baseball world entirely on the Fall Classic.  This isn’t to say that the Cubs couldn’t announce Espada’s hiring on a World Series off-day, of course, or that he could be hired before his Astros’ tenure is officially over.  In fact, Alex Cora (Espada’s predecessor as Houston’s bench coach) was hired by the Red Sox as their next manager in the days leading up to the Astros beginning play in the 2017 World Series.

Quick Hits: Mendoza, Ross, Martin, Zimmer

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Though broadcast entertainment politics usually fall far outside of the MLBTR purview, the current conversations surrounding ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” program could have minor implications for a few front offices around baseball. As explained by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, two analysts involved with that ESPN broadcast team–namely, Jessica Mendoza and David Ross–faced some conflict of interest issues this season due to their ties to MLB front offices (link). Mendoza, who is an adviser to Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, and Ross, who works with the Cubs, were barred from entering the Dodgers clubhouse during media availability before games in 2019. It is unclear if other clubs also denied the two clubhouse access.

ESPN is currently considering changes to its Sunday night booth, per Marchand. Though Alex Rodriguez is expected back, Mendoza and play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian are projected to have around a “70%” of returning to the weekly national broadcast for 2020. Whether or not Mendoza’s ties to the Mets are the cause of her current up-in-the-air status with the network is not clear, but it will be worth monitoring if she and Ross will be able to return to the program in a similar toe-the-line situation next year–or if the two will be forced to choose between their on-air or front office gigs.

More items of note from around baseball…

  • Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun took a statistically inclined look at the 2019 season of Orioles Rule V pick Richie Martin (link). As you might expect for a Rule V pick, Martin’s full-season slash line was pretty unsightly at .208/.260/.322, but Meoli points to a few positives in his month-over-month progress. In particular, Martin cut his strikeout rate by nearly 14% from the first to the second half; the infielder also showed less of a reliance on pulling the ball following the All-Star break. Hitting coach Don Long and assistant hitting coach Howie Clark took pains to simplify Martin’s swing over the course of the year, which will, hopefully, lead to Martin finally capturing the potential that Oakland saw in him when it selected him 20th overall in the 2015 amateur draft.
  • Bradley Zimmer of the Indians was politely asked by management to pursue at-bats in winter ball this offseason, but, after grinding through a five-and-a-half month rehab process tied to shoulder surgery, the outfielder wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea. While the club was concerned that Zimmer, 26, had missed about a season-and-a-half due to various injuries, Zimmer felt an offseason spent at home would serve him better in preparation for 2020. This organization-player dialectic is profiled in a piece from Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com, who concludes that Zimmer will open next season in the minors in search of those lost at-bats (link). It’s an interesting look at the ways in which clubs and players often have to work together to manage and alter expectations due to injury, with the management of mental health and personal/family considerations also playing a factor. Then again, is it possible Zimmer is simply banking on forcing his way into the Cleveland lineup with a hot spring? Though it seems a lifetime ago that Zimmer burst onto the scene with a 1.6 fWAR output in just 332 plate appearances back in 2017, it stands to reason that a strong showing in March might spur the club to shuffle him into the deck above in-house options like Greg Allen or Jake Bauers.

 

Cubs Launch Managerial Interviews

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Oct. 8: Girardi will interview tomorrow, Gonzales further reports, with Ross slated to interview later in the week. Venable, meanwhile, interviewed for the position yesterday.

Oct. 4: The Cubs have begun formal interviews as they seek to identify their next manager, the team informed reporters including Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). First-round interviews will carry into next week, at least.

First up for a chat was Mark Loretta, who served as the club’s bench coach under departing skipper Joe Maddon. Loretta had his interview yesterday. As previously reported, first base coach Will Venable will also get a chance to petition for the job. He’s slated for a sit-down next week.

Another previously reported candidate for the position, David Ross, will also get his first formal managerial interview next week. The veteran backstop-turned-analyst has long been speculated as a candidate.

Ross is not far removed from being an in-uniform veteran presence, but has never held a coaching or managing position. Loretta and Venable each have coaching experience, but neither has ever managed.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Cubs will also look at more experienced candidates. President of baseball operations Theo Epstein has said he’d “have a greater comfort for someone handling the role before.”

Joe Girardi is about as experienced as any managerial candidate, having helmed the Marlins for one season before a decade-long stint with the Yankees. He’s also slated to chat with Epstein and company next week.

Indication has been that the Cubs will look far and wide for candidates. If so, it would stand to reason that other names will still pop up for first-round interviews. The existing slate, after all, isn’t exactly an exotic group in terms of background. Two are former Chicago catchers while the others were in Cubs uniforms in the just-completed campaign.

Latest On Cubs’ Managerial Opening

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The Cubs parted with manager Joe Maddon last weekend, but it’s possible they’ll turn to one of his former underlings to steer the ship in 2020. Bench coach Mark Loretta and first base coach Will Venable are officially candidates to become the team’s next manager, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. They join the previously confirmed David Ross as in-house possibilities to succeed Maddon.

President of baseball operations Theo Epstein suggested Monday that hiring someone with previous managerial experience would be a plus. However, nobody from the Loretta-Venable-Ross trio has managed in either the majors or minors up to now.

The 48-year-old Loretta, a two-time All-Star during his tenure as a major league infielder, is coming off his first season on Chicago’s coaching staff. Loretta previously worked as a special assistant with the Padres, who hired him upon his retirement in 2010.

Still just 36, Venable isn’t far removed from a respectable run as a major league outfielder with the Padres, Rangers and Dodgers. Venable retired to join the Chicago front office in September 2017, though the team changed his role to that of a coach a couple months later.

Loretta, Venable and Ross are among a seemingly large group of candidates to take over as the Cubs’ next manager. Epstein said Monday he and his front office cohorts are assembling a “broad list” of names as they work to recover from an awful finish to the 2019 season.

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