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Market Notes: Wieters, Morneau, Twins, Freese, Astros

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Now that it’s November 7th, on the east coast at least, free agency has officially begun. Qualifying offers (twenty of them) and option decisions marked the final key elements to set up the market. Here are a few notable reports as business opens:

  • The Braves will not pursue catcher Matt Wieters, Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com tweets. Atlanta has appeared at least to be a plausible landing spot, depending perhaps on what they decide with youngster Christian Bethancourt, but Gammons’ sources certainly make that possibility seem unlikely. Wieters received a qualifying offer today, so a signing team would need to sacrifice a draft pick to add him, though Atlanta’s top choice is protected.
  • First baseman Justin Morneau is not entertaining thoughts of retiring and “definitely” wants to keep playing, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on Twitter. That had always seemed to be the case, since Morneau worked back from his latest head and neck issues just for a few weeks at the end of the year. The 34-year-old has looked good at the plate over the last two years and should draw plenty of interest — particularly from American League clubs.
  • We’ve also heard some chatter that Morneau and the Twins could have mutual interest in a reunion, though Joe Mauer is entrenched at first. Morneau could theoretically slot in as the DH, but the club needs to find a way to get Miguel Sano into the lineup and still has the solid Trevor Plouffe at third. It’s possible, Berardino writes, that Sano could begin spending some time in the outfield in winter ball in an effort to open the possibility of him getting action there next season. Of course, the team’s handling of Sano and Plouffe likely won’t be dictated by the veteran Morneau, but it’s obviously intriguing to consider the possibilities.
  • Though the Angels did not extend a qualifying offer to third baseman David Freese, new GM Billy Eppler said that the team will at least look into a return, as MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports. “We’ll engage him in the marketplace,” said Eppler. “We love what he brings on the field and in the clubhouse.”
  • While the Astros have proven willing to act boldly to improve their major league roster, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle writes that it could be a relatively quiet offseason for the club. “With the exception of lefthanded relievers, there’s nothing I’d say we absolutely have to do,” explained GM Jeff Luhnow. “There’s a lot we want to do,” he added, perhaps suggesting that the organization might pursue some creative opportunities without feeling much urgency.

David Freese Will Not Receive Qualifying Offer

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The Angels announced that they will not extend a qualifying offer to any of their free agents, meaning third baseman David Freese will hit the open market without the burden of draft pick compensation attached to his name. The Halos had reportedly been considering a QO for the 32-year-old Freese, who is eligible to hit the open market for the first time in his career this winter.

Freese batted .257/.323/.420 and certainly stands a chance at receiving a multi-year deal this winter — a chance that is, of course, now heightened by the lack of a QO. Freese will be the top free agent third baseman available, unless clubs consider Daniel Murphy an everyday option at the hot corner. While he’s neither an elite bat nor a standout defender at third base, he’s posted a batting line that is roughly league-average or better in each season of his big league career and grades out as a solid, albeit unspectacular defender at third per Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved.

MLBTR’s Jeff Todd and I discussed the possibility of a Freese QO on our qualifying-offer-themed podcast last week, noting that the team could conceivably go either way. In a vacuum, Freese at one year and $15.8MM isn’t too bad an outcome (in the event that he should accept), as he’s a reasonably good bet to check in worth somewhere around two wins above replacement (give or take a small fraction of a win) in a given season.

However, the tipping point could perhaps have been the team’s proximity to the luxury tax threshold. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register recently noted that the team is roughly $26MM south of that mark, and adding Freese at nearly $16MM would hamstring their flexibility to make further moves this offseason. That’s problematic, as the team has holes in left field, at third base, at second base and behind the plate. It’s possible that the Angels will be able to work out a two- or even three-year deal with Freese at an annual rate that is considerably lower than the $15.8MM value of the qualifying offer, with the AAV and the length of the deal being inversely proportional to one another.

Angels Decline Option On David DeJesus

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The Angels announced that they have declined their $5MM club option on outfielder David DeJesus. He’ll receive a $1MM buyout instead and hit the open market this winter in search of a new team.

DeJesus, 35, was one of three veteran corner outfielders acquired by Los Angeles at the trade deadline, all of whom are heading out onto the open market. Shane Victorino became a free agent with the expiration of his contract, and now both DeJesus and David Murphy have seen their options declined.

It wasn’t exactly a banner year for DeJesus, who ultimately slashed just .233/.297/.330 over 317 plate appearances. His production trailed off after his move out west, and he only received sixty turns with the bat while with the Halos.

Of course, DeJesus has been a rather productive player for the last decade or so, and managed a 115 OPS+ in 2014. He will certainly draw interest, though the market for sub-premium, left-handed-hitting outfielders also includes the above-noted Murphy as well as players such as Alejandro De Aza and Nori Aoki.

Mariners Claim Dan Robertson From Angels; Outright J.C. Ramirez

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The Mariners announced that they’ve claimed outfielder Dan Robertson off waivers from the Angels and outrighted right-hander J.C. Ramirez to Triple-A Tacoma.

Robertson, 30, totaled 80 plate appearances with the Halos last season and has logged 277 trips to the plate in parts of two big league seasons split between the Rangers and Angels. He’s a .274/.324/.325 hitters as a Major Leaguer and is capable of playing all three outfield spots. Robertson has a nice track record in the minor leagues as well, where he has authored a .288/.364/.385 batting line in parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level.

Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto is obviously quite familiar with Robertson, having acquired him from the Rangers while serving as general manager in Anaheim. This marks the second time that Dipoto has acquired Robertson, who fits the on-base percentage/athleticism mold which Dipoto has voiced a desire to add throughout the organization.

The 26-year-old Ramirez came to the Mariners from the Diamondbacks in a minor mid-season exchange, marking his second stint in Seattle. The Mariners were the team to initially sign Ramirez out of Nicaragua, but they traded him to Philadelphia along with Tyson Gillies and Phillippe Aumont in the now-lopsided Cliff Lee trade back in 2009. Ramirez has a 6.42 ERA in 47 2/3 Major League innings and a solid but unspectacular 3.80 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He can refuse the outright assignment and elect minor league free agency.

AL West Notes: Iwakuma, Mariners, Freese, Gallardo

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The Mariners are leaning toward a qualifying offer for right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns, but no final decision has been made. There’s mutual interest between the Mariners and the 34-year-old Iwakuma, but Johns notes that Seattle must decide if it wants to risk Iwakuma accepting the $15.8MM one-year offer, which would add a significant commitment to a payroll that has already guaranteed $77MM worth of 2015 salary to five players. From my vantage point, Iwakuma can easily double the amount of the qualifying offer on the open market this winter and could max out on a three-year deal in the $39-45MM range, making a QO a reasonable decision. Even if Iwakuma’s market collapses a bit and he has to take a two-year pact, I’d imagine annual salaries in the $13-15MM range would still be in play.

Here’s more from the AL West…

  • ESPN’s Buster Olney hears that Mariners’ early offseason focus is on improving the club’s on-base percentage (Twitter link). Most of general manager Jerry Dipoto’s activity to address that deficiency will come via trade as opposed to free agency, Olney adds. That lines up with an Inbox column from Johns, in which he says he doesn’t foresee Dipoto making a big free agent splash. Rather, his expectation is that Dipoto will seek to add a veteran catcher, bullpen help, a center fielder and a rotation option primarily by being creative on the trade market.
  • Regarding the Mariners and whether or not they’ll dive into free agency, I’ll add this: Seattle has the top unprotected pick in next year’s draft at No. 11, so it’d be pretty surprising to see them sign any player who rejects a qualifying offer. One free agent target that strikes me as a nice fit in Seattle would be Denard Span, assuming he doesn’t receive a QO.
  • Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register examines whether or not the Angels will make a qualifying offer to David Freese. As Fletcher notes, Freese looks to be the lone regular on the free agent market at this time — unless some teams consider Daniel Murphy an option there — which could line him up for something like $30MM over three years. Offering Freese about $16MM is risky for the Halos, who are only about $26MM under the luxury tax threshold by Fletcher’s calculations. If the Angels make the offer, they’ll do so with the hope that Freese rejects. According to Fletcher, the front office is currently mulling the possibility, which is one that MLBTR’s Jeff Todd and I discussed at length on last week’s QO-themed edition of the MLBTR Podcast.
  • Sticking with the qualifying offer theme that has been largely present throughout this post, Jeff Wilsont of the Forst Worth Star-Telegram spoke to Yovani Gallardo’s agent, Bobby Witt, about the possibility of the Rangers extending a qualifying offer to his client. “Deep down, I think they’re going to do it,” said Witt. “That’s the smart play by the Rangers.” Wilson examines the possibility of Gallardo being the first player to accept a qualifying offer, which, as Wilson points out, would mean that Gallardo receives a nice one-year deal to pitch in his home town and hit the open market in a move favorable position on next year’s thin crop of pitchers.

Coaching Notes: Maddux, Yankees, Gardenhire, Angels

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The Nationals announced yesterday that they’ve hired recently departed Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux to fill the same role in their organization under new manager Dusty Baker. (MLB.com’s Bill Ladson first tweeted that the hire was likely.) In luring Maddux to D.C., the Nationals landed one of the game’s more respected coaches of any discipline, and they paid accordingly. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Maddux will become the highest-paid pitching coach in baseball with the Nationals, adding that the team’s pursuit of Maddux began as soon as the Rangers provided him the opportunity to listen to offers from other teams. Washington’s pursuit lasted more than two weeks, and Nightengale hears that the Nationals’ plan was to hire Maddux as pitching coach regardless of who was eventually named manager.

A few more coaching notes from around the league…

  • The Yankees announced this week that 2015 assistant hitting coach Alan Cockrell has been promoted to hitting coach. Cockrell has previously served as Mariners’ hitting coach and was also the Rockies’ hitting coach during their 2007 World Series run. Meanwhile, recently retired Marcus Thames, who had a productive 2010 season as a part-time outfielder for the Yankees, has been named assistant hitting coach. Thames, still just 38, has spent the past three seasons as a hitting coach with three different Yankees’ minor league affiliates (Tampa, Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre).
  • Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres have offered the bench coach position to former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who finished runner up to Andy Green in the team’s managerial search. Multiple sources told Lin of the offer, he notes, while another source said the Padres also offered the position to Dodgers bench coach Tim Wallach. All of this seems to indicate that current bench coach Dave Roberts could indeed depart in 2016, though Lin hears that the organization isn’t shutting the door on keeping Roberts. Rather, they’d assign him a new coaching position if he were to return. Roberts has been interviewing for managerial gigs and is believed to be the favorite to land the Dodgers’ managerial position at this time. Gardenhire, for his part, was diplomatic and wouldn’t confirm the offer in a recent MLB Network Radio appearance, but he spoke highly of GM A.J. Preller (links to Twitter). “A.J. is a brilliant young man,” said Gardenhire. “He’s pretty cool, a baseball junkie, loves to go out and scout. I like those things.” Gardenhire called the San Diego group as a whole “unbelievable.”
  • The Rangers will hire the Astros’ Doug Brocail as their new pitching coach, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Brocail, a former big league right-hander, has served as Houston’s pitching coach previously and more recently been working in the team’s front office. As Grant notes, he’ll bring an analytic point of view to Texas, which will mesh with second-year manager Jeff Banister’s philosophies. Grant also reports that Triple-A pitching coach Brad Holman will be the Rangers’ bullpen coach in 2016.
  • The Angels announced this week that former D-Backs pitching coach Charles Nagy has been hired as the club’s new pitching coach. The 48-year-old Nagy enjoyed a 14-year Major League career spent almost entirely in Cleveland, and he served as a special assistant in the Cleveland front office this past season. He was Arizona’s pitching coach from 2011-13.
  • Additionally, the Angels announced that they’ve promoted Dave Hansen from assistant hitting coach to hitting coach and named Paul Sorrento assistant hitting coach. Each hitting instructor spent more than 10 years in the Majors. Hansen has previously been hitting coach for the Mariners and Dodgers, and he’s held his assistant role in Anaheim since 2014. Sorrento has been working in the Angels’ minor league system.
  • The Brewers this week formally announced the previously reported hires of Derek Johnson as pitching coach and Pat Murphy as bench coach. Murphy, of course, was the Padres’ interim manager from June through season’s end and has a close relationship with Milwaukee skipper Craig Counsell, whom he coached in college.

Angels Decline Option On David Murphy

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The Angels have declined their $7MM club option on outfielder David Murphy, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. Instead, he’ll receive a $500K buyout.

It’s not terribly surprising to see the move. Murphy, 34, remains a useful player, and the Angels have deep pockets, but that price tag always seemed a bit steep given the team’s needs and desire to stay below the luxury tax line.

Murphy came to Los Angeles at the trade deadline, as did fellow veteran outfielders Shane Victorino and David DeJesus. But Murphy saw more action than the others.

He ultimately slashed .283/.318/.421 in 391 plate appearances on the year, with ten home runs, but put up better numbers in the first half with the Indians. Murphy saw virtually no action against lefties last year and has rather severe career platoon splits.

Now that he’s set to return to the open market, Murphy will join a group of other left-handed-hitting, non-premium outfielders that includes Gerardo Parra and Alejandro De Aza. Los Angeles could still utilize some form of platoon arrangement in left, as it did down the stretch, but will surely be interested in testing the top of the market first. Indeed, it cleared the way for that possibility by passing on Murphy’s option.

List Of 2016 Super Two Qualifiers

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Presented below is the list of players who have qualified for Super Two status for arbitration purposes this year. (Service time in parentheses.) As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently tweeted, the service time cutoff is 2.130. You can find arbitration salary projections for these players right here.

Click here to read more about how the Super Two concept works. Note that, as the link shows, the originally projected service time cutoff moved down as things played out over the course of the season. That brought some notable names into early arbitration qualification — namely, Calhoun and Rendon — which could have a big impact on their earning power in potential extension scenarios.

It’s also important to bear in mind that several of the players listed above have already agreed to long-term extensions: Gyorko, Lagares, and Archer. Notably, the size of the guarantee provided by Archer’s contract is dependent upon his Super Two status. By reaching it (as had been expected), he keeps a $25.5MM overall guarantee. That total would have been reduced to $20MM otherwise.

That contract structure reflects the importance of reaching Super Two status. Doing so not only bumps a player’s salary a year early, but sets a higher floor for future paydays.

Front Office Notes: Jennings, Anthopoulos, Klentak, Cherington, Chavez

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The Marlins’ front office arrangement remains unresolved, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. Dan Jennings isn’t listed on the team’s official website and hasn’t been working as the team’s general manager, per the report. It’s not yet clear where things are headed, but as Morosi notes, Jennings is under contract for the next three years in Miami.

Here’s more from the NL East:

  • Meanwhile, the Blue Jays now face an increasingly interesting situation with their own general manager, Alex Anthopoulos, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. The crux of the matter isn’t money, says Davidi, who writes that Anthopoulos “is believed to have a strong extension offer on the table.” Instead, it’s a matter of resolving the authority structure between Anthopoulos and new president Mark Shapiro. Per Davidi, working that out is the key; if that can’t be done, a departure is “a real possibility.”
  • The Phillies finally installed a new baseball operations leader by hiring Matt Klentak, and the organization now seems largely set up to begin moving back toward contention in earnest. As MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes, the organization’s newly accessible leader, owner John Middleton, wants to make the team a consistent presence at the top of the standings. He acknowledged that the Phils “didn’t recognize early enough and act upon that recognition that the window had closed.” Now, the work to open a new window will start with a new philosophy. “The word that [president Andy MacPhail] has talked about and the word [Klentak] has talked about today is ’discipline,'” Middleton said. “So I think you’re right. I think you have to have a goal and you have to have a road map to achieve it, and you have to be disciplined to know where you are on that road and therefore use that to dictate your decisions and what you do. That’s what I think is going to be the key to success. The other part of this is being objective about yourself and your performances.”
  • Of course, the Phillies’ front office decisionmaking process is an important matter in and of itself, even after the hiring, and CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury lays out where things stand in that regard. MacPhail said that he will vest substantial authority in Klentak, even though his job is also baseball-focused, and both men emphasized that they are looking for balance in all regards (including, notably, between analytics and scouting in player assessment). Klentak also noted that he sees a big opportunity in the club’s worst-in-baseball finish last year. “There’s a really strong foundation of players in this organization, some of whom are in the big leagues and some of whom are coming,” he said. “I think that, coupled with the first pick in the draft, the largest international bonus pool this year, the first priority in the waiver period, the first pick in the Rule 5 draft, etc., creates some inherent advantages at least in the short term that are incredible. And I think if we do our jobs right, we will turn this into a winner and it’s going to be fun for a long time.”
  • Former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington has joined Columbia University’s Sports Management Program as an “executive in residence,” according to a press release. As Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes, the move isn’t as surprising as it might seem at first glance.
  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees tried to hire Cherington following his resignation from the division-rival Red Sox in August. “I reached out to him,” Cashman told Sherman. “I have a lot of respect for him, his integrity and how he did his job.” Sherman notes that Cherington could have conceivably become an assistant GM when Billy Eppler left to go become the Angels’ GM, but Eppler’s responsibilities go to top scout Tim Naehring, as has been previously reported. Cherington will eventually join a front office, but for the time being, his role at Columbia makes sense, as his wife and children were living in suburban New York even while he was Boston’s GM.
  • In another interesting GM transition, former Phils GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has taken the unusual step of moving to the Red Sox as their first base coach, and Tim Britton of the Providence Journal delves into the reasoning for the move. As manager John Farrell noted, both men have some similarities in having moved from the front office to the field, though obviously the skipper made that move much earlier in his post-playing career. “I guess it’s unusual but for me, I’ve always had an itch to be back on the field,” Amaro said. “It’s always been something I’ve thought about quite a bit, and I was afforded a wonderful opportunity…. Had it not been the Red Sox, frankly I probably would not be doing this.”
  • The Angels have added former big league third baseman Eric Chavez as a special assistant, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported earlier today in his latest notes column. Chavez had served in that capacity last year for the Yankees, working there with new Halos GM Billy Eppler. It sounds as if the 37-year-old will have wide-ranging job responsibilities, including working with the club’s younger players and performing various scouting-related functions.

Latest On Padres’ Managerial Search

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Pat Murphy won’t return as the Padres’ manager next season, meaning that San Diego is one of four possible destinations for managerial hopefuls (along with Los Angeles, D.C. and Miami). GM A.J. Preller has promised a wide-ranging search. While we haven’t heard much yet about possible candidates, information is starting to trickle out. Here’s the latest:

  • Preller says that the club is moving into the second round of its search, as MLB.com’s Corey Brock reports. “I feel good about the number of guys we had in the initial stage, and now we’ll be able to get that down to a smaller group,” Preller said. “We’re looking to push things forward.” As Brock writes, there could be some new names under consideration, as Preller indicated that the Pads have spoken with some candidates who “were involved in the postseason.”
  • Pirates third base coach Rick Sofield has had a second interview and “appears to be a finalist,” Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on Twitter.
  • Ron Gardenhire recently had a second interview with the team, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports.  It isn’t known which (if any) other candidates have also been interviewed a second time, though this return meeting would seem to hint that Gardenhire is a strong contender.

Earlier Updates

  • San Diego bench coach Dave Roberts has not interviewed for the Padres’ managerial gig, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, though he was a finalist for the Mariners’ job. The club has interviewed hitting coach Mark Kotsay, though he’s viewed as a “long shot.”
  • The Friars will interview long-time big leaguers Alex Cora and Phil Nevin, according to reports. That pair has been tied in at least some manner to every other team with a current opening, though it is worth noting that Nevin spent the most productive portion of his playing career in San Diego.
  • Also set for an interview with San Diego is former Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Gardenhire obviously comes into the offseason managerial search with plenty of experience, having piloted Minnesota for 13 years. It appears that the Padres are, as expected, looking at candidates with a variety of resumes.
  • Pirates third base coach Rick Sofield is also interviewing for the Padres’ opening, reports Peter Gammons (via Twitter). Sofield has more than a decade of head coaching experience at the college level and also has served as a minor league manager in the Pirates and Expos systems in addition to his time as a third base coach and first base coach in the Majors. A first-round pick of the Twins in 1975, Sofield saw big league action in parts of three seasons and also had a 10-year minor league career.
  • It has previously been reported that San Diego has interest in Diamondbacks third base coach Andy Green. The 38-year-old, a four-year MLB veteran infielder in his playing days, managed in the minors for several seasons before joining Arizona’s big league staff.
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