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Central Notes: Lindor, Tigers, Cards, Pirates

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We may be in for weeks of speculation centering on Indians superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor, who’s a potential trade candidate because he’s running out of team control and unlikely to sign an extension. For instance, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com runs down reasons to trade Lindor now that he’s down to his second-last year of arbitration eligibility, while Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com names potential in-house replacements for the long haul should the Indians deal the 26-year-old. The team is indeed “receiving a lot of trade calls” for Lindor, Jon Heyman of MLB.com tweets. As you’d expect, though, the Indians’ public stance is that Lindor is likely to stay put. “My expectation is Frankie will be the shortstop Opening Day next year,” president Chris Antonetti said.

Here’s more from the game’s Central divisions…

  • Tigers general manager Al Avila said this week that a “bat” – likely either an outfielder or a first baseman – as well as a backup catcher are on his shopping list, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com relays. It doesn’t seem that the Tigers will be adding a shortstop from outside, though. Rather, it looks as if utilityman Niko Goodrum is the favorite to land the job. Avila’s of the belief that young shortstop Willi Castro and catcher Jake Rogers, who made their major league debuts in 2019, need more seasoning at the Triple-A level.
  • Various injuries have prevented 25-year-old Cardinals right-hander Alex Reyes from realizing his vast potential, but it appears he’ll enjoy “a normal offseason progression” this winter, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Reyes, once among the game’s elite prospects, had an outstanding debut over 46 innings in 2016. He then missed all of 2017 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, threw 27 innings in 2018 (four in the majors) as a result of surgery to repair a tendon in his lat muscle and totaled just 40 1/3 frames this year (three at the MLB level) because of multiple health issues – including a strained pectoral.
  • Pirates infielder Erik Gonzalez underwent left foot surgery Wednesday and won’t resume baseball activities for 10 to 12 weeks, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets. It’s the second time Gonzalez has undergone surgery as a Pirate. The offseason acquisition from last winter underwent a procedure in April to repair a fractured left clavicle, which was one of multiple injuries that helped sideline him for the majority of the 2019 campaign. The 28-year-old posted woeful production over the 156 plate appearances he amassed, as he hit .254/.301/.317 with only one home run. He’s projected to earn $800K via arbitration in 2020.

GM/Coaching Notes: Pirates, Cubs, Mets, Tigers, ChiSox

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Blue Jays vice president of baseball operations Ben Cherington and Brewers assistant general manager Matt Arnold will get second interviews this week for the Pirates’ GM vacancy, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network and reporter Robert Murray. Cherington and Arnold are reportedly two of three finalists to take over in Pittsburgh. Pirates assistant GM Kevan Graves seems to be competing with them, as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets that he also appears likely to receive another interview. Meanwhile, even though the Pirates technically don’t have a GM right now, they’re also carrying on their search for a manager. Twins bench coach Derek Shelton has been particularly impressive to the club thus far, Heyman relays.

More staff news from around baseball…

  • Cubs first base coach Will Venable has been popular in managerial searches in recent weeks. The Cubs discussed their job with Venable prior to their David Ross hiring, and he also sat down with the Giants in regards to their position before they selected Gabe Kapler. Now that Venable’s not going to land a managerial job this offseason (unless Pittsburgh pursues him), the former major league outfielder will stay where he is. He’ll be one of the Cubs’ base coaches in 2020, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets. The Cubs have at least one opening for those positions, as third base coach Brian Butterfield left to take the same role with the Angels.
  • The Mets are closing in on a deal to retain hitting coach Chili Davis, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.  The former big league slugger is fresh off his first year with the Mets, whose offense made strides on his watch. Davis helped the club to the majors’ 13th-most runs and its seventh-highest wRC+ (104).
  • The Tigers have hired Josh Paul as their quality control coach, the team announced. Paul served as the the Angels’ bench coach over the previous three years, but the Halos fired him after this season. The 44-year-old Paul was previously a major league catcher and then a well-regarded assistant in the Yankees organization.
  • Nationals assistant hitting coach Joe Dillon is a legitimate candidate to become the Phillies’ hitting coach, Heyman suggests. Dillon has been working under Nats hitting coach Kevin Long, who’s a favorite of new Phillies manager Joe Girardi, as Heyman points out. Long was the Yankees’ hitting coach for part of Girardi’s tenure as their manager. Dillon, meanwhile, is an ex-major league infielder/outfielder who has two years’ experience as a coach at the game’s highest level.
  • Scott Coolbaugh is the White Sox’s new assistant hitting coach, the club announced. Coolbaugh was the Orioles’ hitting coach from 2015-18 and the Dodgers’ Triple-A hitting coach this season. He’ll team with White Sox new HC Frank Menechino in his new role.

Tigers Re-Sign Five Players To Minors Contracts

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The Tigers announced that left-hander Nick Ramirez, right-handers Tim Adleman and Anthony Castro, outfielder Jose Azocar, and first baseman Frank Schwindel have all been re-signed to minor league contracts.  Ramirez and Schwindel were the only members of this quintet to see MLB action in 2019, as both made their big league debuts.

The 30-year-old Ramirez made a fairly solid first accounting of himself in the big leagues, posting a 4.07 ERA, 2.11 K/BB rate, 46.2% grounder rate, and 8.4 K/9 over 79 2/3 relief innings.  He also held left-handed hitters to only a .644 OPS over 117 plate appearances, and while his numbers against right-handed batters weren’t as good (.801 OPS in 231 PA), the splits weren’t drastic enough to make Ramirez a non-viable option for 2020 given the new three-batter minimum rule being instituted.  Since Ramirez pitched beyond one inning in 28 of his 46 games, his durability and multi-inning usage make him an intriguing choice to return to the Tigers’ pen next season.

Schwindel signed with the Tigers in June after being released by the Royals the previous month.  Originally an 18th-round pick for Kansas City in the 2013 draft, Schwindel cracked the Show in his seventh pro season, appearing in six games for the Royals.  For his career, Schwindel has a .285/.318/.472 slash line and 118 home runs over 3222 minor league plate appearances.

Hanwha Eagles Re-Sign Warwick Saupold

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With apologies to Warwick Saupold fans, the time isn’t yet right for a stateside return. The Aussie hurler has agreed to another year with Korea’s Hanwha Eagles, as Yonhap news reports.

Saupold will take home $1.2MM in total earnings, with the possibility of another $100K in incentives. That’s a nice payday for the former Tigers right-hander, who received 82 MLB relief appearances over three seasons but never entrenched himself on the Detroit roster.

As we noted recently, Saupold was among the former big leaguers that found success in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2019. Though he carried a less-than-exciting combination of 6.3 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9, he was able to keep the long ball in check (8 home runs) and produce strong results all year long. Saupold spun 192 1/3 frames of 3.51 ERA ball for the Eagles.

Offseason Outlook: Detroit Tigers

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The Tigers found their low point in 2019 … or so they hope. It’s far too soon to envision this organization contending, but the Detroit front office has some payroll space to work with.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Free Agents

[Detroit Tigers depth chart | Detroit Tigers payroll outlook]

How rough was the 2019 campaign for the Tigers? They ran away with the rights to next year’s top overall draft pick by a whopping seven games, matching the ’18 Orioles with a 47-win effort. Not so hot, particularly given that the organization still opened the campaign with $115MM of payroll. Then again, it’ll be handy to have the 1-1 selection for the second time in three campaigns; no doubt the Tigers wish they had managed to secure the intervening top choice as well.

Last year’s hot stove session was more or less a complete bust. GM Al Avila and his charges spent $15.5MM on veteran additions but got little in contributions and nothing back via trade for that spend. Some of the specific moves were defensible on their own, but it’s nevertheless a disappointing outcome. Otherwise, the club did little to take chances on potentially interesting young talent. The Tigers picked up only a few marginal players in waiver claims and minor-league signings, not one of whom appears to be part of a contending future.

That’s not to cast a pall over the entire organization. It’s in large part a reflection of a typical rebuilding effort after an extended effort at contention. And there’s some legitimately interesting talent on the rise in the Detroit farm, some of it beginning to press toward the MLB level. But that fact only increases the urgency of making strides now, to install some pieces that complement the good young talent as it reaches the majors — thus helping the Tigers open a new window for winning as soon as possible, while Casey Mize and co. are at their most cost-efficient.

So, the Tigers organization needs to make greater progress this time around. How to do it? Frankly, there really aren’t many limitations on Avila and his charges. Having already scraped along the bottom of the league for the past several seasons, the pain of poor outcomes is by now familiar and accepted. The present roster is free of impediments; Cabrera will DH and play first and the front office can pretty much otherwise use its roster spots in whatever way it wishes.

Plus, there ought to be some money to work with — even if we don’t yet know quite what payroll levels this organization will operate at now that ownership has passed from Mike to Christopher Ilitch. The Tigers have largely unwound the remnant obligations of their last contending stretch, though the misguided Miguel Cabrera extension will blot the books for a while longer. Jordan Zimmermann and Prince Fielder will be settled up fully after the coming season. The Tigers have yet to promise a dime to anyone else, so they’ll start their 2020 roster with $61MM in obligations and a modestly priced slate of remaining arbitration-eligible players (after parting with three such players after the end of the season).

Looking over the existing roster for needs feels somewhat beside the point. But there are some areas with greater opportunity available than others.

The pitching staff is relatively stable, particularly the rotation (as far as rebuilding clubs go). There were ups and downs last year for Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull, and Daniel Norris, but all threw well enough to warrant jobs in 2020. (Norris was particularly effective when transitioned to a three-inning “opener” role, so perhaps he’s best deployed with a piggyback option.) Tyler Alexander could also factor, with Zimmermann of course still on board if he’s healthy. Speaking of notable injury situations, this is shaping up to be a big season for Michael Fulmer, who’ll be working back from Tommy John surgery. He’s now about seven months out from the procedure, which took place just before the start of the ’19 season. Odds are the club will target a return early next summer.

There’s room for another veteran signing in the mold of last year’s additions of Tyson Ross and Matt Moore. Those didn’t pan out, but they were a sensible tandem to try out in hopes of unearthing an eventual July trade chip. Youthful, reasonably high-upside hurlers such as Michael Wacha or Alex Wood could be targets this time around if the Tigers want to try that same approach. There are loads of possibilities for veteran depth and wisdom, which would be nice to have on hand as the top prospects arrive.

The rotation need will increase dramatically if the Tigers gain traction on talks involving Boyd, who faded down the stretch after an eye-opening early showing last year. Yeah, he ended up with a middling earned run average and allowed a stunning 39 home runs. But Boyd is a durable, youthful, high-K starter who comes with three years of cost controlled campaigns. The trade market for starters doesn’t look to have much else of interest, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see analytically minded contenders poking around for a bargain. The Tigers shouldn’t accept just anything, but ought to explore the possibilities. If something gets done, the open rotation spot and salary capacity can be given to a bounceback target that could be utilized as a trade chip.

It doesn’t seem as if the Tigers need to go wild in the bullpen, either. No, this was not a top-tier unit — far from it. The Tigers relief corps landed in the bottom third of baseball last year by most measures and doesn’t seem especially likely to be much better in 2020. But that’s just not a core area to focus on for a team in this situation. The Detroit organization can afford to allow in-house such as Buck Farmer, Joe Jimenez and David McKay to continue to learn on the fly, even in higher-leverage spots, with some starting pitching depth perhaps also spilling into the relief unit.

Adding at least one veteran to the pen mix might be sensible, but the Tigers shouldn’t tie up relief roles on low-upside arms. Just look at the Marlins’ Nick Anderson bonanza: added in a minor swap in the 2018-19 offseason, the righty threw well enough in his debut season to become a major mid-season trade piece. It’s tough to score that kind of a player, but it’s easier to dig for gold in the relief arena than any other. The Tigers should utilize their reliever roster spots and MLB opportunities to chase ceiling.

There’s obviously work yet to be done on the pitching staff. But with a host of highly regarded arms moving toward the Majors, there’s help on the way. And the near-term problems pale in comparison to the issues on the other half of the roster. Outside of Cabrera and the departing Mercer, only Victor Reyes, Niko Goodrum, and JaCoby Jones posted offensive numbers in spitting distance of average for the Tigers.

Goodrum is capable of playing just about anywhere, which helps with flexibility. (Somewhat curiously, he graded out much better at shortstop than in left field.) Reyes and Jones can both play center, though the latter’s defensive grades strangely plummeted in 2019. While none of these players has shown a particular likelihood of turning into anything like a core piece, it’s nice to have such a reasonably flexible trio to work with.

The other players that had 2019 trials all turned in duds. Jeimer Candelario and Dawel Lugo scuffled at third base. Brandon Dixon launched 15 homers but did little else with the bat during his time at first base. Corner outfielders Christin Stewart, Travis Demeritte didn’t hit. Neither did middle infielders Willi Castro and Ronny Rodriguez or utilityman Harold Castro. Behind the dish, Jake Rogers holds promise but he and Grayson Greiner … you guessed it, didn’t hit in 2019.

These players are all still available to draw from. Some have greater promise than they’ve shown to this early stage of their MLB careers. And the Detroit farm has a few pieces that could pop up in 2020, including infielder Isaac Paredes and outfielder Daz Cameron. But it would frankly be difficult to say that the Tigers are remotely precluded from adding at any specific position except, perhaps, center field — which is just as well given the state of the market. The positional flexibility on hand only adds to the sense that the Tigers can and should explore upside opportunities wherever they can find them.

What the Tigers should probably not do is settle for another version of the Mercer-Harrison middle-infield combo (whether  there or anywhere else on the diamond). It is valuable to have some veteran leadership, to be sure, but you’d like to see it come from somewhat more youthful players that have some hope of delivering future value (via trade, future arbitration control, or otherwise). It’s one thing to add a solid part-time catcher or fourth outfielder, but tying up significant playing time with short-term, low-ceiling pieces is of dubious merit.

If the Tigers want the veteran presence and performance, then they’d be better served making a more significant investment in a more youthful, higher-end player. Didi Gregorius, Jonathan Schoop or Yasiel Puig are the sort of players that could plausibly be attracted by multi-year offers if they can’t get them elsewhere. The Tigers can also look at the trade market, which could conceivably feature personnel on the order of Nomar Mazara, Michael Taylor, Maikel Franco, and Albert Almora. We don’t yet know for sure what opportunities might arise and whether they’ll be worth the price. But the Tigers ought to be seeking situations that come with some real upside — both in terms of performance and control rights — even if it means taking on financial obligations that extend past the 2020 season.

Victor Alcantara, John Hicks Elect Free Agency

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Right-hander Victor Alcantara and first baseman John Hicks have elected to become free agents rather than accept outright assignments to Triple-A, the Tigers announced.  Left-handers Daniel Stumpf and Blaine Hardy also chose to test the open market, as reported earlier today.

Alcantara posted a 4.85 ERA over 42 2/3 innings for Detroit in 2019, with an impressive 53.6% grounder rate that was undermined by a lack of missed bats (5.06 K/9) and a difficulty in keeping the ball in the yard (17.8% HR/FB rate) when he did allow a fly ball.  Alcantara’s minor league numbers reveal more strikeouts and more walks allowed than he delivered at the MLB level, though his improved control seems to be resulting in more contact and more mistakes being taken out of the park.

Hicks seemed like an intriguing building block for the Tigers as a player who could at least split time between catching and first base, though while his bat played well for a catcher, a decrease in time behind the plate (Hicks played exclusively at first base in 2019) lessened his effectiveness.  Hicks only hit .210/.240/.379 over 333 plate appearances last season, a big step down from his more respectable .262/.317/.416 slash line over 502 PA in 2017-18.

MLBTR’s arbitration projections put Hicks in line for a $1.7MM salary in 2020, which the Tigers will now sidestep.  Between the projected costs for Hicks, Stumpf, and Hardy, Detroit’s projected arbitration costs have already dropped by a cumulative $4.3MM.

Blaine Hardy Elects Free Agency

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4:21PM: Hardy has indeed officially elected to become a free agent, as per a team announcement.

1:50PM: The Tigers have placed left-hander Blaine Hardy on outright waivers, as per MLB.com’s Jason Beck (Twitter link).  The move all but officially ends Hardy’s tenure in the Motor City, as he will become a free agent if he goes unclaimed on the waiver wire.  On his personal Twitter feed, Hardy bid his farewells to the Tigers organization, fans, and the city of Detroit after seven seasons in the fold.

Hardy posted a 4.47 ERA, 2.23 K/BB rate, 48.5% grounder rate and 5.9 K/9 over 44 1/3 relief innings in 2019, just about all the while battling left flexor tendinitis.  The elbow issues resulted in a two-week injured list stint early in the season, and then Hardy’s year came to a premature end after he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in mid-August.

The abbreviated campaign was expected to result in a non-tender for Hardy, who was projected to earn $1.8MM via the arbitration process this winter.  The early release will give the 32-year-old a bit of an early jump on the rest of the market as he looks for a new contract.  While Hardy’s tweet sounded like a pretty definitive end to his time in Detroit, a return (at a lower price) probably shouldn’t be entirely ruled out, given how the rebuilding Tigers will be looking for low-cost pitching answers in both the rotation and bullpen.

Hardy has a 3.73 ERA, 2.25 K/BB rate, and 7.1 K/9 over 289 2/3 career innings, all in a Tigers uniform.  He has worked as a reliever in all but 13 of his 233 career games, though all of those starts came in 2018, perhaps making him more attractive to a new team looking to add a swingman or a “featured pitcher” (behind an opener) to its 2020 pitching mix.

Tigers Designate Daniel Stumpf

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The Tigers have designated left-hander Daniel Stumpf for assignment, The Athletic’s Emily Waldon reports (Twitter link).  Stumpf has already cleared waivers, and MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports that Stumpf will opt for free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Tigers’ minor league system.

Originally a Rule 5 Draft pick in 2016, Stumpf posted a 4.37 ERA, 8.4 K/9, and 2.13 K/BB over 105 innings out of the Tigers’ bullpen over the last three seasons.  Stumpf’s 2019 performance (over 29 IP) came quite close to those numbers, putting him in line for a projected $800K salary for 2020 in his first trip through the arbitration process.

Despite that modest sum, the Tigers will still be moving on to create more room on their 40-man roster, Beck notes.  He also observes that the incoming three-batter minimum rule (that will be instituted for the 2020 season) is a notable factor in Stumpf’s future effectiveness, which could be a story we see repeated for a number of specialist pitchers over the course of the offseason.  While Stumpf hasn’t exactly been used solely as a lefty-only reliever over his career, he does have some wide career splits — left-handed batters have only a .687 OPS (in 229 PA) against Stumpf, while righty batters have crushed him to the tune of a .952 OPS (264 PA).

Quick Hits: Mets, Tigers, Kieboom, Bettis

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Yesterday, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo warned that the Mets were “not particularly close” to naming their next manager. The scribe noted that the club is still performing callback interviews in a hiring process that could stretch “well beyond this week” (link). That’s not an encouraging status report for a fanbase eager to see the club narrow a search field that at this point still includes six names in Joe Girardi, Eduardo Perez, Carlos Beltran, Mets quality control coach Luis Rojas, Nationals first base coach Tim Bogar and Twins bench coach Derek Shelton.

Though DiComo doesn’t have a dog in the fight, per se, Tuesday’s piece for MLB.com does give some support to the notion of Beltran getting behind the reins of a big league team (link). DiComo spoke with Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, who opined that Beltran will make an “amazing” manager after having the chance to work with Beltran when the latter was a player on Houston’s 2017 World Series team. “He’s going to help [a] club so much like he helped here in this clubhouse,” Correa told Beltran. “The atmosphere that he built and the chemistry in the clubhouse still lives on.”

  • Four players in the Tigers org were outrighted to the roster of the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, according to the International League transactions page. The new Hens, lefty Nick Ramirez, righty Eduardo Jimenez, righty Zac Reininger, and outfielder Dustin Peterson, are not exactly household names, but Ramirez did make 46 largely serviceable long-relief appearances (4.08 ERA in 79.2 innings) for Detroit in 2019, and Peterson was a top-30 prospect with the Braves as recently as 2018. Reininger, meanwhile, has struggled in parts of three Detroit seasons (8.08 ERA/7.44 FIP in 59 career MLB innings), while Jimenez was only slightly better for the Tigers in his 2019 rookie debut (5.91 ERA/4.34 FIP in 10.2 innings).
  • Agent Trevor Kieboom has joined the ACES agency, according to a tweet from MLB journalist Robert Murray (link). Kieboom, a former player with Georgia’s collegiate team, will bring with him his clients/brothers Spencer and Carter, both of the Nationals, as well as Rangers minor league hurler Alex Speas, Royals lefty Richard Lovelady, Mets minor league pitcher Kevin Smith, and Reds rookie ball infielder Ivan Johnson. In a separate tweet, Murray also shares that Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis, formerly represented by Sosnick, Cobbe, and Karon, is now under the representation of CAA baseball (link).

Pitchers Recently Electing Free Agency

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Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

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