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Francisco Liriano

Blue Jays Release Francisco Liriano

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The Blue Jays have granted left-hander Francisco Liriano his release, tweets Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, who notes that the veteran had an opt-out over the weekend.

This news means Liriano is unlikely to have a second tenure in the majors as a member of the Blue Jays, with whom he pitched from 2016-17. Liriano worked almost exclusively as a start then, but he spent this spring vying for a role in Toronto’s bullpen. The 37-year-old was highly effective, as he tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings of four-hit, three-walk ball with six strikeouts, but that wasn’t enough to earn a role in the Blue Jays’ season-opening relief corps. It appears they’ll go into the season with Tim Mayza and Ryan Borucki as the primary lefties in their bullpen.

Liriano, who signed a minors deal in the offseason, will head back to the free-agent market with a solid resume. While Liriano hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2019, he does own a lifetime 4.15 ERA in a combined 1,813 2/3 innings with several teams.

Latest On Blue Jays Roster Outlook

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Alejandro Kirk, Trent Thornton, Tim Mayza, and Rowdy Tellez were given good news today. The quartet made the Blue Jays opening day roster, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter).

With the increasingly-popular Kirk earning his roster spot, the Blue Jays have a decision looming on Reese McGuire. If the Blue Jays decide against carrying three catchers, they will have to expose McGuire to the waiver process. There is a possibility that Toronto keeps him on the roster, however, especially if George Springer starts the year on the injured list. With Joe Panik and Jonathan Davis also announced as members of the bench, there’s probably not room for McGuire if Springer is healthy enough to play. Infielder Breyvic Valera will also have to be designated for assignment should he not make the roster, as seems likely.

In terms of the bullpen, the final roster spot will go to either Julian Merryweather, Francisco Liriano, or Anthony Castro, notes Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star (via Twitter). A.J. Cole was in the running as well, but he is less likely to start the season with the big-league club. Merrweather has some multi-inning potential as a power arm, and he is slated to pitch once more before a final decision is made. He’s also the one of the four who is already on the 40-man roster.

Speaking of which, Panik needs to be added to the 40-man roster, as does Mayza. The 40-man roster is currently full, though since McGuire and Valera are both out of options, they could be DFA’ed to open the space needed. Ben Nicholson-Smith of sportsnet.ca provides a visual representation of the decisions ahead for Toronto.

Blue Jays Notes: Hatch, Liriano, Opt-Outs, Montoyo

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Right-hander Thomas Hatch made a worrying exit from today’s Spring Training outing, as Hatch immediately signaled for the trainer after throwing a fastball to Aaron Judge.  The Blue Jays’ official Twitter feed reported that Hatch left the game due to “right elbow/forearm discomfort.”

Acquired from the Cubs in a deadline trade for David Phelps in 2019, Hatch posted a 2.73 ERA over his first 26 1/3 Major League innings, though advanced metrics weren’t too keen on his performance.  Hatch worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen last season, and for 2021 was being viewed by the Jays as a possible reliever or depth starter, or perhaps a bit of both in a swingman or long-relief gig.  Unfortunately, those plans may now be up in the air given Hatch’s injury — while more will be known once Hatch is examined by trainers and doctors, it certainly looked like a potential long-term problem for the 26-year-old. [UPDATE: Hatch will undergo an MRI, Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets.]

More from Toronto…

  • A possible absence for Hatch adds another layer to an already-tricky set of forthcoming roster decisions for the Jays, as Nate Pearson is also looking at a season-opening IL stint due to a setback in his recovery from a groin strain.  Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi looks at some of the Jays’ possible options in shaping their roster, and at least one 40-man move will be necessary since Francisco Liriano is looking like a solid bet to make the team.  Liriano signed a minor league deal in February that will pay him $1.5MM in guaranteed salary if he makes the MLB roster, and a good Spring Training performance has the veteran in line to win a spot as left-handed depth in Toronto’s bullpen.
  • Both Liriano and Joe Panik have March 25 opt-out dates in their minors contracts if they aren’t added to the big league team, while Tommy Milone’s opt-out is on March 27 and A.J. Cole’s opt-out isn’t until May 15.  In terms of out-of-options players, Reese McGuire and Breyvic Valera can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers, which could give them some advantage in making the team.  “The Blue Jays would ideally love to stash a few of their minor-league contracts on the taxi squad, with the carrot of a quick call up if needed,” Davidi writes.
  • The Jays announced yesterday that they had exercised their club option on Charlie Montoyo for the 2022 season, giving the manager an additional guaranteed year on his contract.  In terms of a longer-term extension, Montoyo told told Mitchell and other reporters that such negotiations had yet to take.  Entering his third season as Toronto’s manager, Montoyo led the young Jays to a 32-28 record and a spot in the expanded 2020 postseason last year, and now more is expected of a team that made some big offseason investments.

Blue Jays, Francisco Liriano Agree To Deal

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10:00pm: Liriano will make a $1.5MM salary and could earn performance bonuses if he gets to the majors as a Jay, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets.

9:12pm: The Blue Jays have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with left-hander Francisco Liriano, as Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun first reported. He’ll get an invite to major league spring training.

Liriano previously pitched for the Blue Jays from 2016-17, but they sent him to the Astros in the latter season in a deal that delivered outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to Toronto. Hernandez has since enjoyed quite a bit of success as a Blue Jay, though Liriano has been inconsistent dating back to the trade. He did, however, log a solid 3.47 ERA with 50.3 percent groundball rate in 70 innings and 69 appearances as a Pittsburgh reliever in 2019. The 37-year-old opted out of last season because of concerns centering on COVID-19.

Since his career began in 2005, Liriano has pitched for six organizations and piled up 419 appearances and 300 starts. He has put up a 4.15 ERA/3.93 SIERA with above-average strikeout and walk rates of 23.3 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively, over 1,813 2/3 innings. Liriano will presumably compete for a role in Toronto’s bullpen this spring.

Transaction Retrospection: Teoscar Hernandez Trade

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Few players raised their stock more this past season than Teoscar Hernández. A competent but unspectacular hitter from 2018-19, Hernández had what looked like a breakout in 2020. Over 207 plate appearances, the Blue Jay outfielder hit .289/.340/.579 with 16 home runs. Along the way, he ranked in the 94th percentile or better in such Statcast metrics as average exit velocity, hard contact, expected weighted on-base average and barrel rate.

Hernández isn’t a flawless player. He’s a below-average defender. He has long had issues making contact, with a career 31.6% strikeout rate only marginally higher than last year’s 30.4%. Moving forward, the 28-year-old looks more like a solid regular than a star in the making. Regardless, Hernández is a valuable and important part of a Toronto roster coming off a berth in the expanded playoffs and looking on the verge of perennial postseason contention.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking back at the deal that landed Hernández with the Jays in the first place. Originally signed as an international amateur by the Astros, Hernández was flipped (alongside veteran outfielder Nori Aoki) to Toronto in advance of the 2017 trade deadline for left-hander Francisco Liriano. To that point, the veteran southpaw had posted just a 5.88 ERA as a starter for the Blue Jays. He had stifled opposing left-handed hitters, though, holding them to a .230/.254/.361 slash line.

The Houston front office thought a bullpen transition, where Liriano could be heavily leveraged against same-handed batters, could make him an asset. With George Springer, Josh Reddick, Derek Fisher and Jake Marisnick all on hand (and Kyle Tucker rapidly climbing the minor-league ladder), the Astros felt they could part with an MLB-ready outfield prospect to acquire a relief weapon. Unfortunately, Liriano continued to scuffle down the stretch, pitching to a 4.40 ERA with an 11:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 14.1 relief innings as an Astro.

Despite mediocre production from Liriano, the Astros went on to win the World Series. However one feels about the legitimacy of that title after subsequent revelations of Houston’s sign-stealing operation, the team probably wouldn’t undo any specific transaction related to the roster in retrospect. But from a pure value perspective, there’s no question Toronto came out ahead in the swap. Aoki barely played for the team, but Hernández looks to have emerged as a capable everyday performer as the Jays’ new contention window opens. He remains under club control through 2023.

Francisco Liriano Opts Out Of 2020 Season

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Free-agent LHP Francisco Liriano has opted out of the 2020 season, according to MLB insider Robert Murray. Per Murray, the 36-year-old left “multiple guaranteed offers” on the table.

Liriano is the 19th player (not including Nick Markakis, who chose to return to play after initially opting out) to spend this season on the sidelines. He is one of several players to have made such a decision in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 outbreaks within the Marlins and Cardinals organizations.

Liriano, of course, wasn’t on an MLB roster and so won’t change his current status, but as stated by Murray, the veteran southpaw may have been poised to ink a deal with a team in the near future.

Instead, he’ll have to wait until the winter to do so, assuming there’s still interest when a new crop of free agents hit the market. Notably, teams won’t be able to deploy Liriano as a typical lefty specialist given new MLB rules. However, that shouldn’t hurt Liriano too much, owing to his background as a starter; he average more than an inning per appearance last year.

His 2019 season, spent with the Pirates, was the first time in Liriano’s 14-year career he was deployed exclusively as a reliever, and it was a relatively successful transition for the former All-Star. In 69 games for Pittsburgh, he worked 70 innings and finished with a 3.47 ERA, striking out 63 batters. As has long been the case for the southpaw, he was prone to walking batters, surrendering a base on balls every two innings, on average.

He still boasts two deadly offerings, with a stellar slider and a changeup that allows him to compete with right-handed batters. Contrary to what you might expect of a 36-year-old veteran, his velocity hasn’t declined significantly from his Twins days, though the changeup-slider combination is still the bread and butter of his repertoire. He threw the changeup more often than ever last year, and the pitch yielded a swing-and-miss on 43.4% of offerings, which, coupled with a slider with a comparable 42.1% whiff rate, should make Liriano a viable lefty for plenty of teams next year.

Phillies Release Logan Forsythe, Francisco Liriano; Neil Walker To Make Opening Day Roster

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The Phillies announced a series of roster moves, including the news that left-hander Francisco Liriano and infielder Logan Forsythe have been granted releases.  Infielder Neil Walker, meanwhile, has been told he will be on Philadelphia’s Opening Day roster, so the team will be officially selecting his minor league contract at some point between now and the first game.  In other moves, catcher Henri Lartigue has been removed from the Summer Camp player pool and righty Victor Arano was optioned to Triple-A.

Liriano and Forsythe both had opt-out decisions coming this week, and it seems as if the club gave them an early start on the open market since neither were in the Phillies’ plans.  Walker, by contrast, also had an opt-out clause but will now receive the prorated sum of his original (non-specified) guarantee for making the big league team.

Forsythe and Walker were among several veteran infielders added by the Phillies this winter, as Josh Harrison, Ronald Torreyes, and Phil Gosselin were also signed to minor league deals.  The latter trio is still in camp, though it remains to be seen how many other roster spots will be available.  Scott Kingery is back after recovering from COVID-19 though it isn’t yet known if he’ll be ready for Opening Day, while star prospect Alec Bohm figures to arrive at some point in 2020, perhaps once service time considerations are no longer a factor.

Walker, 34, hit .261/.344/.395 with eight homers over 381 PA with Miami last season, delivering roughly league-average (98 OPS+, 99 wRC+) offensive production.  The switch-hitting Walker did much of his damage from the left side of the plate last season, as has been the norm for much of his career.

It seemed as if Forsythe was having a comeback season for the first two months of his tenure with the Rangers last season, but a hot start quickly turned, and the 33-year-old ended up with only a .227/.325/.353 slash line from 367 PA.  Forsythe will now look to catch on with his fifth different organization within the last two years.

There was some doubt as to whether or not Liriano would play at all during the 2020 season, as the southpaw reportedly considered sitting out due to COVID-19 concerns before eventually showing up at Philadelphia’s camp.  2019 saw Liriano work exclusively as a reliever for the first time in his long career, and he delivered a 3.47 ERA, 1.80 K/BB rate, 50.3% grounder rate, and 8.1 K/9 over 70 innings out of the Pirates’ bullpen.  As you would expect, Liriano performed better against left-handed batters (holding them to a .659 OPS) but also held righty swingers to a respectable .730 OPS.

Beyond these numbers, however, Liriano also allowed a lot of hard contract, so there is some uncertainty as to whether he’d be able to replicate his solid 2019 statistics again.  Given teams’ ever-present need for left-handed pitching, one would think Liriano will be able to find another minor league deal elsewhere.

Latest On Phillies & COVID-19

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1:07pm: Liriano has decided to report to camp, Robert Murray tweets.

12:24pm: The Phillies were hit with several coronavirus cases relating to their Florida facility late last month. GM Matt Klentak updated the team’s situation today in comments to reporters including Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer (links to Twitter).

It runs out that outfielder Adam Haseley never had any real COVID-19 concerns. He had been away from camp, but not due to a positive test or contact with a suspected infection. Rather, it turns out that a lab error held up the 24-year-old.

That’s good news for Haseley, who’s now ready to roll. It’s a bit of a gut-check to hear of a mistake in the handling of testing, though at least the error was made in the direction of caution.

Of the four Phillies players that had been placed on the coronavirus IL, at least two — Scott Kingery and Tommy Hunter — are said to have tested positive for coronavirus. Former top overall draft pick Mikie Mahtook also registered a COVID-19 infection, which will obviously also take him out of commission while he recovers.

It’s clear there’s an even greater need for the Phils to clamp down and exercise care than most other clubs. In addition to those players, there are three coaches that have tested positive: bench coach Rob Thomson, catching coach Greg Brodzkinski, and bullpen coach Jim Gott.

Thankfully, there’s no indication to this point that any of the affected individuals is suffering significant symptoms. But the concern is obvious. Indeed, veteran lefty Francisco Liriano — who’s with the org on a minor-league deal — is said to be considering whether or not to opt out of the season.

Phillies, J.T. Realmuto Pause Extension Talks

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Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto has been an obvious extension candidate for a while, but nothing has come together yet as he nears his final season of team control. With the coronavirus pushing back the start of the season for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t appear a new Realmuto pact will materialize in the near term. The Phillies and Realmuto have hit the pause button on negotiations for the time being, general manager Matt Klentak revealed Tuesday (via Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer).

As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd explained Tuesday, there isn’t a roster freeze or a moratorium on extensions, so teams and players aren’t prohibited from hammering out long-term agreements. On the other hand, with the start of the 2020 campaign off the table for a while, there’s a lot less urgency for the two sides to get something done. The Phillies had been prioritizing a preseason extension for Realmuto, though. Therefore, it stands to reason they’ll get back to work on one when there’s clarity regarding the date of Opening Day, if not sooner.

While Realmuto at least has a contract for this year, players from the Phillies and other teams who signed minor league deals containing opt-out clauses are facing quite a bit of uncertainty.

Klentak spoke on their statuses, saying: “We do not have clarity. There’s a possibility we will have to make some of those decisions this week.”

Philadelphia has a few established veterans who landed non-guaranteed pacts with opt-outs and were competing for big league roles before the postponement of spring training. As Lauber notes, infielders Neil Walker and Logan Forsythe and relievers Anthony Swarzak and Francisco Liriano may all exit their deals Thursday. Speculatively, however, MLB could push the deadlines back for players in those situations.

Phillies To Sign Francisco Liriano

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The Phillies have reached agreement on a deal with veteran lefty Francisco Liriano, per Robert Murray (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of MLB Network had tweeted that a deal was close.

It’s said to be a minor-league pact and will obviously include an invitation to MLB camp. Liriano can earn $1.5MM in the majors and double that through incentives.

The 36-year-old Liriano spent last year working exclusively as a reliever, but had previously functioned primarily as a starter. Odds are he’ll be looked at primarily as a pen candidate by the Philadelphia organization, but his wealth of experience in multi-inning situations surely doesn’t hurt.

While he pitched to a 3.47 ERA over seventy frames in 2019, it’s not hard to see why Liriano was forced to settle for a minor-league arrangement. He posted 8.1 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 along with a 50.3% groundball rate. Fielding-independent pitching metrics weren’t overly enthused (4.52 FIP; 4.92 xFIP; 4.76 SIERA) and Statcast indicates that Liriano gave up loads of hard contact.

Then again, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Liriano in the picture with the Phils. He was able to generate a 13.5% swinging-strike rate last year, his loftiest mark since 2015. And lefties that can handle right-handed batters are perhaps more in demand than ever before, given the onset of the 3-batter minimum rule.

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