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Drew Smyly

AL Notes: Tigers, Castellanos, Twins, Rangers

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Given that Tigers slugger and trade chip Nicholas Castellanos has drawn little interest this offseason, they’re unlikely to move him until the deadline approaches in the summer, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press suggests. While the Dodgers have been prominently connected to Castellanos this winter, they’ve never seriously pursued the outfielder, according to Fenech, and now appear completely out on him after signing A.J. Pollock this week. Signs are pointing to Castellanos staying in Detroit into the 2019 campaign, then, and general manager Al Avila will need to be convinced the return for him in an in-season trade outweighs the draft compensation the team would receive by keeping the soon-to-be 27-year-old and issuing him a qualifying offer next winter. With that said, Fenech wonders if the Tigers would even risk offering a pricey QO to Castellanos, who may well accept it because his well-documented defensive troubles figure to tamp down his value on the open market.

More from the American League…

  • Having signed Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop, Blake Parker and Martin Perez this offseason, the Twins may not make any more notable strikes in free agency. Regardless, the Twins are hopeful they’ll be able to lock up some of their in-house talent for the foreseeable future, GM Thad Levine revealed Sunday (via Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press). “Without getting into names, we’re actively having some of those conversations behind the scenes and we as a club would like nothing more than to be able to announce one, two, three of those types of extensions at some point here in spring training,” Levine said. Speculatively speaking, some of the Twins’ extension candidates may include Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios, Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi. Minnesota did try to lock up Buxton, Rosario, Kepler and Berrios a year ago, though the former went on to endure a nightmarish season that ended in contentious fashion.
  • Arm injuries kept Drew Smyly and Edinson Volquez from pitching at all in 2018 and limited Shelby Miller to just 16 innings. That trio’s now primed to occupy 60 percent of the Rangers’ rotation in 2019, though, and GM Jon Daniels issued encouraging updates on all three Sunday, TR Sullivan of MLB.com reports. “All have clean bills of health individually,” said Daniels, who did admit there’s risk in each case and Texas will need depth behind them in the event things go haywire. Smyly, a 2017 Tommy John surgery recipient whom the Rangers acquired from the Cubs this past November, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016; Volquez’s most recent big league outing came July 5, 2017, owing to TJ surgery; and Miller, who also underwent the procedure in 2017, dealt with further elbow problems last season. Additionally, none of those three have been world-beaters when they have been healthy enough to take the mound in recent years.

Cubs Exercise Cole Hamels’ Option, Trade Drew Smyly To Rangers

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11:30am: The Rangers have formally announced the acquisition of Smyly and a player to be named later in exchange for a different player to be named later. The Cubs have also announced the moves.

9:42am: The Cubs will exercise their $20MM club option on left-hander Cole Hamels today and also trade fellow left-hander Drew Smyly to the Rangers, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Late last night, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that a long-term deal between Hamels and the Cubs was unlikely and that the team could make a move to clear some salary before agreeing to pay Hamels at a $20MM rate for the 2019 season.

Cole Hamels | Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Hamels will step into the rotation spot that had been earmarked for Smyly when he signed a two-year, $10MM deal with Chicago last offseason. Rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time, Smyly inked a back-loaded, two-year contract that calls for a $7MM salary in 2019. However, Hamels’ eye-opening resurgence to nearly ace-level status with the Cubs presented Chicago with what it clearly deems a preferable alternative to Smyly.

The Cubs have been weighing all week whether to exercise Hamels’ option or opt for a $6MM buyout. The wrinkle in that scenario is that, under the terms of the trade that sent Hamels to Chicago, the Rangers would be on the hook for the buyout sum. That Texas would pay the $6MM buyout seemed little more than a formality at the time; there was little thought that Hamels would pitch well enough to merit a $20MM salary for the upcoming season.

In essence, then, the reportedly forthcoming trade is a somewhat creative means of the Cubs retaining Hamels while still receiving the benefit of the same level of financial compensation from the Texas organization — if not a bit more. The Rangers will absorb either all of Smyly’s $7MM salary or, speculatively speaking, could agree to pay $6MM of that sum with the Cubs eating $1MM in cost in order to keep the dollars at the same level they’d have been had Texas merely paid the buyout.

In the end, the Rangers will receive a desperately needed rotation piece, while the Cubs will retain the former Phillies ace who immediately won the hearts of Cubs fans with an otherworldly run of success following the trade. Hamels allowed just five runs, total, through his first seven starts with the Cubs and finished out the season with a 2.36 ERA in 76 1/3 innings for the Cubs.

While his 82.3 percent strand rate isn’t sustainable and points to some degree of regression, Hamels nonetheless looked legitimately improved following the trade. He should slot comfortably into the middle of a Cubs rotation that’ll also feature Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and a hopefully healthier Yu Darvish in 2019. The Cubs also have Mike Montgomery on hand as a valuable safety net for the rotation as well as righty Tyler Chatwood, though his three-year contract has been a bust to this point. It seems likely that the Cubs could look for opportunities to unload the remaining $25.5MM on that ill-fated signing this offseason in order to further clear some salary.

That, perhaps, is the largest remaining question at play here. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has been vocal about his desire to improve an offense that, as he put it, “broke” late in the 2018 season and certainly in the team’s National League Wild Card loss to the Rockies. It’s seemed fair to assume that the Cubs would be prepared to spend aggressively as a means of doing so, either by investing in the free-agent market or looking at established bats on the trade market.

However, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted this morning that other teams have gotten the sense that the Cubs’ payroll flexibility is far more limited than one might think. If that’s the case, moving Chatwood or some other money could be something of a prerequisite for further additions. Even with Smyly off the books, Hamels’ salary will push the Cubs’ payroll north of the $200MM mark (when factoring in arbitration-eligible players and pre-arb players) — quite possibly close to the $206MM luxury tax barrier; Smyly’s contract came with a $5MM luxury tax hit, whereas Hamels’ deal after the option is exercised effectively becomes a seven-year, $158MM contract and would carry a $22.5MM luxury hit. The maximum capacity of the Chicago payroll remains unknown, but the Cubs have already pushed into record territory by exercising Hamels’ option, and the offseason has yet to truly begin in earnest.

Drew Smyly | Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images

As for the Rangers, while Smyly’s health is an unknown, he’s the type of arm they can dream on as they strive to cobble together a rotation after virtually everything possible went wrong on their starting staff in 2018. Mike Minor and Smyly are the only real locks for the Texas rotation next season, but Smyly brings significant upside to a team whose internal options beyond Minor were otherwise uninspiring.

General manager Jon Daniels will still need to add further established options and depth pieces to the starting staff, as the current best options after Minor and Smyly look to be Ariel Jurado, Yohander Mendez, Adrian Sampson and Austin Bibens-Dirkx. None of that quartet has found success at the big league level yet, and most of the bunch even struggled in the upper minors.

The further upshot for the Rangers is that as they enter a possible transitional or rebuilding phase, Smyly could very well emerge as a coveted trade asset on the summer market. Smyly hasn’t pitched since the 2016 season due to ongoing injury troubles — most notably the aforementioned Tommy John surgery — but he sports a career 3.74 ERA with 8.7 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 1.22 HR/9 and a 36.3 percent ground-ball rate in 570 1/3 innings. Smyly has shown flashes of brilliance at times and looked like a potential impact starter — perhaps never more so than when starring for Team USA in the most recent World Baseball Classic — though he’s yet to consistently tap into his talent while also struggling to stay on the field.

Drew Smyly Will Not Return In 2018

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The Cubs decided yesterday that lefty Drew Smyly will not make it back onto the MLB roster this season, as Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com was among those to report (Twitter links). Instead, he’ll focus on preparing himself for a full and healthy 2019 campaign.

Smyly, who is now 29 years of age, signed a two-year deal with the Chicago organization last winter after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June of 2017. It includes a $10MM guarantee with $6MM in available incentives for the 2019 campaign.

There had been some hope all along that Smyly could represent a notable late-season addition. Particularly with the problems surrounding many of the team’s other key offseason pitching additions, it’d be nice to have the southpaw available. High-priced righty Yu Darvish is done for the year, while fellow rotation addition Tyler Chatwood has not worked out. In the pen, closer Brandon Morrow is still trying to get back from injury and LOOGY Brian Duensing has endured a miserable campaign.

Surely, with the division race still very much in the air, the Cubs would have given Smyly a look if he was truly prepared. He was able to make a single rehab appearance, but evidently did not respond well enough to make it worthwhile to continue pressing for a 2018 return.

Of course, the contract was signed with full knowledge that there were good odds the first season would be a wash. The Cubs hoped, mostly, that they’d recoup their investment in the 2019 campaign. It’ll be interesting to see to what extent the front office relies upon Smyly in structuring the approaching offseason. At the very least, he’ll be seen as an important part of the depth picture, in the rotation and perhaps also the bullpen, but it’ll be hard to allocate too much faith until he gets on the mound in camp. With no small amount of uncertainty in the rotation mix, the organization figures to face some tough roster questions — beginning with a decision on the team’s option over resurgent veteran Cole Hamels.

Central Notes: Scooter, Encarnacion, Fulmer, Smyly

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Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett was pushing for a contract extension back in May, but no deal has come together since. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old – who’s only controllable for another season – told Bill Ladson of MLB.com this week that he remains hopeful he’ll continue his career in his hometown of Cincinnati. Asked whether he’d still like an extension, Gennett said: “Yeah. For me not to have an extension — I don’t think would make a whole lot of sense for it to not to happen at some point. What I’m willing to do for this team, for the fans in Cincinnati and being from Cincinnati, it’s kind of the perfect formula for me.” Gennett spoke more about his future Saturday, saying (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer):  “I just feel like we’re kind of reaching that point where we’re going to start having talks. But like I said, when we do, I’m not going to be sharing that information.” The Reds were skeptical of extending Gennett off a career-best 2017, according to the player, though he has done his best this season to show that performance wasn’t a fluke. Overall, since the Reds claimed Gennett off waivers from the division-rival Brewers prior to last season, he has slashed an excellent .304/.352/.512 with 44 home runs and 5.8 fWAR in 961 plate appearances.

Here’s more from baseball’s Central divisions:

  • Speaking with Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com and other reporters on Saturday, Indians manager Terry Francona revealed that designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion could be headed for the disabled list. Encarnacion, who’s dealing with an injured left biceps, had an MRI on Saturday and visited with a hand specialist, Hoynes writes. The 35-year-old has also battled a bone bruise in his right hand, which likely helps explain his so-so production to this point. One of the game’s biggest offensive threats from 2012-17, Encarnacion has only posted a .229/.317/.461 line (108 wRC+) this year, though he has continued to show off serious power with 25 home runs and a .232 ISO. [Update: The Indians have indeed placed Encarnacion on the DL, Hoynes tweets. The club’s recalling infielder Yandy Diaz from Triple-A Columbus in a corresponding move.]
  • Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer is closing in on a rehab assignment, per Jason Beck of MLB.com. Fulmer, out since July 20 with a left oblique strain, threw a 50-pitch bullpen session Saturday. Regardless of whether the 25-year-old returns in 2018, with the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline having passed, he no longer looks like a candidate to end up on the move this season. Fulmer had been popular in the rumor mill until hitting the DL, and if he comes back this year and performs well, he’ll surely be a target for teams over the winter.
  • Cubs left-hander Drew Smyly is holding out for a September return, Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com reports. Smyly, a former Tiger, Ray and Mariner whom the Cubs signed to a two-year, $10MM guarantee in December, continues to work back from the Tommy John procedure he underwent last June. The 29-year-old hasn’t taken a major league mound since Sept. 26, 2016.

Cubs Notes: Smyly, Bullpen, Deadline

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Left-hander Drew Smyly threw a 25-pitch live batting practice session over the weekend and feels that he’s getting close to the end of his rehab from Tommy John surgery, writes Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription link). General manager Jed Hoyer and president of baseball ops Theo Epstein watched the session, and Hoyer tells Mooney that Smyly looked “free and easy” in his first throwing session against live hitters. “He is going to be in the back of our mind as we think through the rest of our season and how we approach both deadlines in July and August,” says Hoyer of Smyly, who is coming up on the one-year anniversary of his TJ surgery later this month. Mooney speaks with both Hoyer and manager Joe Maddon about the struggles of Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood thus far. Both expressed optimism that the righties can turn things around, though Hoyer acknowledged the importance of eventually getting into “sustained turn-after-turn consistency” in the starting rotation in order to best position the team to win the division and embark on a deep playoff run.

Here’s more out of the North Side of Chicago…

  • Offseason pickups Brandon Morrow and Steve Cishek have been outstanding for the Cubs, writes Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670 The Score, but the team will need to eventually receive more innings out of its rotation if it is to sustain its current pace. Cishek is on pace for 80 appearances, while the trio of Brian Duensing, Pedro Strop and Justin Wilson are all on pace for 72 to 75 games pitched. Levine speculates that both Kelvin Herrera and Brad Hand will be deadline targets for the Cubs, writing that Chicago tried to pry Hand away from the Padres last summer but balked when San Diego asked for Javier Baez in return. Levine chatted with an NL East scout to get an opinion on both Herrera and Hand, each of whom is off to a brilliant start in 2018.
  • Epstein spoke with Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times about his team’s approach to the 2018 trade deadline, noting that it’s still too early to assess just what type of players the Cubs will pursue. Epstein noted that in some seasons, it’s clear what areas of need a team will need to address for months in advance, but he doesn’t feel that to be the case with his 2018 club. “[A]s talented and as deep as we are in most areas, it’s more about observation and maintenance and trying to stay ahead of the depth areas,” said the Cubs president. Epstein noted that maintaining starting pitching depth is especially important but characterized that as more of a “contingency” than a need, adding that the team isn’t looking to supplant any of its starters. Wittenmyer writes that the Cubs plan to check in with the Orioles on Manny Machado once he’s more aggressively being shopped. However, the left side of the infield isn’t a need for the Cubs like it is for other teams, and Wittenmyer feels it’s “doubtful” that Chicago will be among the most aggressive suitors.

Cubs Sign Shae Simmons

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Feb. 16: The Cubs have formally announced the signing of Simmons to a one-year, split Major League contract. He’s been placed on the 40-man roster, with left-hander Drew Smyly (recovering from Tommy John surgery) moving to the 60-day DL to create a roster spot.

Feb. 14: The Cubs have signed righty Shae Simmons to a split contract, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter links).  The deal will pay Simmons $750K if he cracks Chicago’s Major League roster, and $120K if he remains in the minors.  The contract will be official once Simmons passes a physical, according to MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat.

That last detail is an important one given how Simmons has been plagued by injuries for the better part of three years.  Simmons looked good as a hard-throwing rookie with the Braves in 2014 but then underwent Tommy John surgery in February 2015.  Beyond just the usual 12-15 month recovery timeline for that procedure, Simmons’ return by halted by a variety of injury setbacks, and then further halted by a forearm strain that kept him out of action for a large chunk of the 2017 season.  Over the last two seasons, Simmons has tossed only 14 1/3 total innings.

The Mariners acquired Simmons and Mallex Smith for Luiz Gohara and lefty prospect Thomas Burrows in January 2017, though Simmons’ forearm problems kept him from developing into any sort of a real weapon out of Seattle’s bullpen.  The M’s non-tendered Simmons last December, ending his tenure with the team after just 7 2/3 innings and a 7.04 ERA.

Despite the injuries and the control problems that have plagued Simmons throughout his career, the Cubs have little to lose in taking a flier on the 27-year-old.  Simmons has shown flashes of dominance when healthy, including some dominant numbers (2.06 ERA, 12.6 K/9) over 131 1/3 career minor league frames.

Free Agent Rumors: Moustakas, Cahill, Mets, Dodgers, Hirano, Indians, Twins

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Like most free agents, Mike Moustakas has been met with an unexpectedly slow market this offseason, writes ESPN’s Buster Olney. Zack Cozart’s willingness to move from shortstop to third base and the potential presence of names like Manny Machado, Evan Longoria and Josh Donaldson on the trade market have all complicated matters for Moustakas, who entered the winter as the consensus top third baseman available in free agency. Olney writes that some MLB evaluators have questioned how well Moustakas’ body will hold up into his 30s, which represents another potential stalling point in his market. Olney speculates about the possibility of Moustakas ultimately settling for a one-year deal and reentering free agency next winter, noting that the Orioles, Yankees and Cardinals would all represent very logical landing spots on a short-term pact. Of course, it remains to be seen whether he’d be amenable to such an arrangement; the majority of top position players remain unsigned, after all, and agent Scott Boras has a history of lengthy trips through free agency for some of his clients.

Some more notes on the free-agent market…

  • Olney also reports that the Giants are among the clubs considering righty Trevor Cahill for a rotation spot (Twitter link). Cahill, 30 in March, was terrific early in the year before a shoulder injury torpedoed his season. Through his first 41 1/3 innings with the Padres, Cahill logged a 3.27 ERA with 11.1 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 0.65 HR/9 and a 60.2 percent ground-ball rate. Upon returning from that injury, however, he was rocked for a 6.54 ERA In 42 2/3 frames between the Padres and Royals. Cahill’s newfound ability to miss bats completely evaporated after being activated from the DL (7.6 K/9), and he was unable to find the strike zone with any consistency (5.9 BB/9).
  • The Mets have indeed “reached out” to Adrian Gonzalez, tweets Olney. (Olney and others had previously suggested the Mets were likely to explore the possibility.) New York’s level of interest isn’t known, but they have a considerably more intriguing option in-house in the form of Dominic Smith, and the market bears a number of considerably more appealing veterans (all of whom, albeit, are more expensive). The 35-year-old Gonzalez could be had for just the league minimum, as the Braves are on the hook for the remainder of his salary, but he’s coming off a season that was ruined by back injuries and saw him post an unsightly .242/.287/.355 slash line in 252 plate appearances.
  • The Dodgers have some interest in Japanes closer Yoshihisa Hirano, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweeted recently. The 33-year-old Hirano has starred for NPB’s Orix Buffaloes for quite some time, amassing 143 saves with a 2.62 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 through 271 1/3 innings from 2013-17. Hirano, who will turn 34 next spring, has enough professional experience that he’s exempt from the posting system and is able to sign a Major League deal without going through the posting system. He’s also been linked to the Cardinals and Tigers this winter.
  • ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that the Indians aren’t operating under the same capacity that they did last offseason when they surprised everyone by signing Edwin Encarnacion (Twitter links). Cleveland is looking at lower-profile first base options to replace Carlos Santana, with Crasnick listing the likes of Lucas Duda, Matt Adams, Logan Morrison and Yonder Alonso as possibilities rather than Eric Hosmer. (Speculatively, I’d imagine that even Morrison and Alonso could be beyond Cleveland’s comfort zone.) Dealing Jason Kipnis and the remaining $30.5MM on his contract (2018-19) would open up some additional funds for the team to reallocate to a first baseman or additional bullpen help, Crasnick notes.
  • Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN touched on a number of Twins-related issues in his most recent podcast (audio link, Twins talk beginning at the 3:30 mark). Minnesota was in on Drew Smyly until the end, per Wolfson, before Smyly chose to sign with the Cubs. Minnesota gave an identical two-year, $10MM guarantee to Michael Pineda instead, and they have some interest in working out a two-year agreement with injured reliever Trevor Rosenthal as well. Minnesota has shown no inclination to spent upwards of $9MM on multi-year deals for relievers and doesn’t love the idea of going to six years on Yu Darvish, though the team does maintain strong interest in the righty. Wolfson notes that the trade market could be an avenue for improving the ’pen and/or rotation.

Cubs Sign Drew Smyly

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8:46pm: The contract breaks down as a $3MM salary for Smyly in 2018, then $7MM in 2019, according to Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter).  The latter season contains $6MM in incentives based on Smyly being a starter, with the other bonuses coming if he works as a reliever.

8:01pm: The Cubs have signed left-hander Drew Smyly to a two-year deal, the team announced.  Financial terms weren’t released, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Smyly will earn $10MM in guaranteed money, with more than $7MM also available in incentives.  Smyly is represented by Frontline.

Smyly underwent Tommy John surgery last June, and is probably unlikely to pitch in 2018 given the procedure’s usual 12-15 month recovery timeframe.  This led the Mariners to non-tender Smyly rather than pay the southpaw a projected $6.85MM arbitration salary in 2018.  Smyly was entering his final year of arb-eligibility, so this deal with the Cubs will also cover his first free agent season.

The two-year commitment represents a lottery ticket for Chicago, who have the resources to take a flier on a still-promising 28-year-old in the hopes that Smyly can be healthy and ready to contribute in 2019.  Cubs manager Joe Maddon and pitching coach Jim Hickey are familiar faces for Smyly from his time with the Rays from 2014-16.

Smyly has a 3.74 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 3.43 K/BB rate over 570 1/3 career innings with the Tigers and Rays.  He came to Tampa as part of the blockbuster deal that sent David Price to Detroit at the 2014 trade deadline, and Smyly was also involved in a notable trade last January, going to Seattle for a three-player package that included Mallex Smith.  Unfortunately for the M’s, Smyly ended up never throwing a pitch in their uniform, as he battled elbow problems all season long before finally succumbing to the TJ surgery.

Notable 2017 Non-Tenders

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The open market welcomed 26 additional free agents Friday when various major league teams chose not to tender contracts to certain arbitration-eligible players. While no one is going to confuse the new members of this winter’s unsigned class with any of the top free agents, there are at least a few who could boost teams’ chances in 2018 and beyond. As Tyler Flowers, Steve Cishek and Welington Castillo have shown over the past couple years, a non-tender doesn’t have to be a career death knell.

Here’s a look at the best of this year’s group:

  • Hector Rondon, RP: The hard-throwing, right-handed Rondon isn’t that far removed from a two-year showing in which he was among baseball’s premier relievers. The former closer pitched to a minuscule 2.03 ERA with 8.91 K/9, 2.03 BB/9 and a 50.8 percent groundball rate across 133 1/3 innings from 2014-15, during which he combined for 59 saves on 68 attempts. However, Rondon’s effectiveness began fading during the Cubs’ World Series-winning 2016 campaign – thanks in part to an arm injury, perhaps – and he’s now fresh off a year in which he posted a 4.24 ERA. But Rondon managed at least 50 innings (57, to be exact) for the fourth straight season in 2017, when he also continued his groundballing ways (48.3 percent) and logged a career-high swinging-strike rate (11.3 percent). Further, even during his disappointing 2016-17 stretch, he saw his K/9 rise to an impressive 10.55 (against 2.33 walks per nine). While neither the Cubs nor any other team thought Rondon would be worth a projected $6.2MM in 2018, the 29-year-old still figures to intrigue a host of clubs – some of which may not be in the mood to pay high prices for established relievers this winter.
  • Mike Fiers, RHP: An estimated $5.7MM for Fiers was too rich for the Astros and other teams, but it wouldn’t have been an unreasonable amount relative to what the 32-year-old has done during his career. Since debuting as a starter with the Brewers in 2012, Fiers has racked up 694 1/3 innings from the rotation and compiled a respectable 4.15 ERA, also notching 8.64 K/9 against 2.79 BB/9. Fiers was one of the few members of the World Series champion Astros who endured a miserable 2017 (5.22 ERA, 5.43 FIP in 153 1/3 frames), but if the personal-worst 19.5 percent home run-to-fly ball rate he put up more closely resembles his career mark of 13.6 going forward, he could return to being a decent innings eater.
  • Matt Adams, 1B: Lefty-swinging first basemen who struggle against same-handed pitchers aren’t exactly rare, so it wasn’t that surprising when the Braves jettisoned Adams in lieu of potentially paying him around $4.6MM in 2018. That said, Adams has been quite useful versus right-handed pitchers, having slashed .286/.333/.495 against them in 1,510 plate appearances, and has typically been adept at first base (14 Defensive Runs Saved, 8.3 Ultimate Zone Rating). Those skills should make the 29-year-old Adams a worthwhile pickup for someone, though he’s a small fish in a big free agent pond that includes other proven first base types in Eric Hosmer, Carlos Santana, Logan Morrison, Yonder Alonso and Adam Lind.
  • Jared Hughes, RP: As a groundball specialist who has generated excellent results despite a dearth of strikeouts, Hughes isn’t all that dissimilar to more hyped free agent Brandon Kintzler. But even though he has a good track record and was projected to earn a very reasonable $2.2MM in 2018, the 32-year-old Hughes is now on the unemployment line. Based on Hughes’ history, Milwaukee’s loss could be a big gain for another club. Since 2014, his first of four consecutive solid years, the ex-Pirates righty has thrown no fewer than 59 1/3 innings in any individual season and ridden a 62.1 percent grounder rate to a 2.55 ERA. Hughes ranks eighth among qualified relievers in GB rate and 18th in ERA over the past four seasons, despite having registered only 5.54 K/9 against 3.02 BB/9 during that span (notably, though, his K/9 rose to a career-high 7.24 in 2017).
  • Drew Smyly, LHP: With his estimated $6.85MM salary, Smyly was a non-tender waiting to happen the moment he underwent Tommy John surgery in June, officially ending a season in which he was unable to take the mound for Seattle. The Mariners acquired Smyly 10 months ago with the hope that he’d serve as a capable mid-rotation starter – something he had been at times with the Rays from 2014-16. Smyly combined for 395 innings of 3.94 ERA ball during those seasons and recorded 8.59 K/9 against 2.53 BB/9, and offset a paltry grounder rate (34.2 percent) with a league-best infield fly mark (15.3 percent). It’s anyone’s guess whether Smyly will resemble his old form when he returns (perhaps not until 2019), but he’s still just 28 and looks worthy of taking a flyer on at an affordable cost this offseason.

2017 Non-Tenders

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The deadline to tender 2018 contracts to players is tonight at 8pm EST. We’ll keep track of the day’s non-tenders in this post (all referenced arbitration projections courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) …

  • The Giants non-tendered righty Albert Suarez, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Suarez, 28, was not yet eligible for arbitration.
  • Righty Tom Koehler and infielder Ryan Goins are heading to the open market after being non-tendered by the Blue Jays, per a team announcement.
  • The Rays announced that lefty Xavier Cedeno has been non-tendered, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.
  • The Cubs non-tendered catcher Taylor Davis, per a team announcement. He was not yet eligible for arbitration.
  • Four Rangers players have not been tendered contracts, per a club announcement. Righties Chi Chi Gonzalez, A.J. Griffin, and Nick Martinez have been cut loose along with infielder Hanser Alberto. Griffin ($3.0MM projection) and Martinez ($2.0MM) were both noted as non-tender candidates by MLBTR. The other two players were not yet eligible for arbitration. Gonzalez was a former first-round pick who had struggled of late and underwent Tommy John surgery in July.
  • The Diamondbacks have also non-tendered lefty T.J. McFarland, who had projected at a $1.0MM salary.
  • The Reds non-tendered lefty Kyle Crockett, a pre-arb lefty who was only recently claimed on waivers, per a club announcement.
  • Per a club announcement, the Brewers have non-tendered veteran righty Jared Hughes. He will end up being the only 40-man player not to receive a contract from Milwaukee. Hughes had projected at a $2.2MM arbitration value. The 32-year-old is a master at inducing grounders and has turned in repeatedly excellent results. He also averaged a career-best 93.9 mph on his sinker in 2017.
  • The Mariners have non-tendered lefty Drew Smyly and righty Shae Simmons, per a club announcement. While the former was expected, due to Smyly’s Tommy John surgery, the latter rates as something of a surprise given his cheap $700K projection. Of course, it’s possible the club is not optimistic of his chances of bouncing back from arm troubles.
  • The White Sox will not tender a contract to reliever Jake Petricka, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). He had projected to take home $1.1MM in his second trip through the arb process. Also non-tendered, per a club announcement, were righties Zach Putnam and Al Alburquerque as well as infielder Alan Hanson.
  • It seems that righty Bruce Rondon will wind up his tenure with the Tigers, as the organization is set to non-tender him, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free-Press (via Twitter). Rondon was long viewed as a potential late-inning arm for the Tigers, but had some notable run-ins with the organization, struggled with control, and never consistently produced at the MLB level. Though he projected to earn just $1.2MM, Rondon will be allowed to find a new organization. He will turn 26 later this month.
  • The Diamondbacks will non-tender righty J.J. Hoover, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Hoover projected at just $1.6MM, but Arizona is watching every penny as it seeks to return to the postseason with a tight payroll situation. The 30-year-old turned in 41 1/3 innings of 3.92 ERA ball in 2017 with 11.8 K/9 but also 5.7 BB/9 on the year.
  • The Royals announced that they have non-tendered outfielder Terrance Gore. Though Gore was not eligible for arbitration, teams occasionally utilize today’s deadline to prune their 40-man rosters. Gore had quite an interesting run with Kansas City, scarcely playing at all during the regular season and then appearing as a speed-and-defense asset in the team’s two storied postseason runs. Now, though the fleet-footed 26-year-old is out of options. With an upper minors OPS that hovers just over .600, Gore just was not going to break camp with the club. It seems reasonable to think there’s a chance he’ll return to the organization on a minors deal, though Gore will also have a shot at exploring the broader market.

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