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Mets, Pirates “Recently Reopened Starling Marte Trade Talks”

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The Mets and Pirates have reengaged about the possibility of a Starling Marte trade, per sources for Robert Murray (via Twitter).

It’s an interesting time for the Mets to launch into trade discussions. They’d certainly love for something with a positive tilt to share the spotlight with Carlos Beltran’s recent dismissal. Of course, to view a discussion about Marte as reactionary from the Mets perspective presumes a number of things, including that the Mets were the ones to engage the Pirates. What we know for sure, the Mets would like to add an impact centerfielder, and the Pirates have one they are willing to trade – all of which has been true for the majority of the winter. 

With most impact pieces off the board by now, Marte’s name has been curiously absent from the rumor mill of late, especially given the lack of league-wide depth in center. The Diamondbacks have previously been linked to Marte, as have the Cubs, though the latter remain on ice for the time being.

On the Pirates’ side, things have been pretty quiet thus far under Ben Cherington, who no doubt is taking some time to acclimate himself to the depth of the organization. That said, moving the 31-year-old Marte would be a natural place to start moving pieces around given his talent, contract, and age. 

Insofar as talent is concerned, Marte has posted back-to-back 3+ fWAR seasons and owns a career batting line of .287/.341/.452. He put up a 119 wRC+ in 2019, and for the traditionalists in the crowd, he also posted his second 20-20 season (23 HR, 25 SB). 

Defensively, he may have slipped a tick, but Statcast still has him near the middle of the pack with 2 Outs Above Average. His reaction time isn’t great, but he runs good routes and still tracks enough to remain viable in center. Fangraphs’ defensive metrics, however, were less kind (-9 DRS, -7.6 UZR). He’s due just $11.5MM this year with an exceptionally reasonable $12.5MM team option for 2021, so even a team like the Cubs ought to be able to work him into the payroll should they desire. There is the potential for slippage as he approaches his age-31 season, but again, at those contract rates, the risk is negligible. The only real holdup in trade discussions should be the Pirates asking price.

The Mets might seem like a peculiar fit. They already have a pseudo-centerfielder in Brandon Nimmo who handles the position adequately but without particular aplomb (which some might say describes Marte). And they have a fair amount of outfield depth, with Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis all capable of playing in the grass, though only Conforto is a natural outfielder. At the same time, they have their defensive option for center in Jake Marisnick, so a Marte addition would give whoever ends up managing the Mets a fair amount of options with which to mix-and-match based on handedness or situation. 

NL Notes: Cubs, Morrow, Nationals, Turner, D’Backs, Hazen, Bryant

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Cubs reliever Brandon Morrow is healthy, which has rarely been the case throughout his Cubs tenure. Morrow should be on schedule for the spring, though the Cubs are keeping open the possibility of bringing him along more slowly than the other pitchers in camp. A different schedule would be purely precautionary, however, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). Morrow arrived in Chicago as the heir apparent to Wade Davis, who had been the heir apparent to Aroldis Chapman before him. When healthy, Morrow has been nothing short of elite, but after just 35 appearances in 2018 followed by an entire season in absentia, Morrow enters 2020 in no better position than the many other arms the Cubs have collected on minor league deals.

  • The Nationals are entering another year of uncertainty in their lineup. Manager Dave Martinez is weighing a move for powerful leadoff man Trea Turner into the middle of the order, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Turner certainly has enough oomph to man the middle of the order. A full season of the .298/.353/.497 line he put up last year would ably fill the 3-hole recently vacated by his bromance partner Anthony Rendon. Adam Eaton remains a viable top-of-the-order presence after putting up a .365 OBP mostly out of the 2-hole, who could presumably move up a slot into the leadoff vacancy. Putting Turner’s speed directly in front of the ever-patient and fear-inducing cleanup presence of Juan Soto might not be the most natural pairing, however. Martinez will have some big decisions to make, largely dependent upon who wins the third base job and what kind of jump Victor Robles can make at the plate.
  • In an interview with The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan, Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen says he doesn’t envision the team making a blockbuster deal like trading for Kris Bryant this far into the offseason. Major roster decisions have largely been made, and it’s more the time for fine-tuning. Hazen left open the possibility of adding a bullpen arm or another body for the bench, but a blockbuster is less likely. That said, the Diamondbacks never found the centerfielder they were seeking, which would push Ketel Marte back into the outfield and open starter’s minutes somewhere in the infield. The Diamondbacks have already taken more big swings this offseason than Hazen anticipated, so one more – even at this stage – can’t be entirely ruled out.

Diamondbacks Claim Pat Valaika

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Orioles and sent right-hander Jimmie Sherfy outrighted to Triple-A after he cleared waivers.  Sherfy was designated for assignment last week.  Arizona didn’t need to open a 40-man spot for Valaika, as their roster stood at 39 players following this week’s trade of Matt Andriese to the Angels.

This is the second waiver claim of the offseason for Valaika, as Baltimore grabbed him off the Rockies’ roster at the end of October.  Valaika was then designated for assignment earlier this week, when the Orioles took Richard Urena from the Blue Jays on another waiver claim.

Valaika is headed back to the NL West after spending his entire seven-year professional career in the Colorado organization.  A ninth-round pick for the Rox in 2013, Valaika appeared in 231 games for the team between 2016-19, hitting .214/.256/.400 over 433 plate appearances.  Over a quarter of those PA were in a pinch-hitting role, though Valaika has also been a versatile bench piece, playing all four infield positions and a handful of games in left field.

This defensive flexibility will help Valaika battle Ildemaro Vargas, Domingo Leyba, Josh Rojas, and Andy Young for utility duties in Arizona, as the D’Backs continue to sort out their infield mix.  With Ketel Marte increasingly likely to spend much of his time in center field, the Diamondbacks can go with Eduardo Escobar at second base and Jake Lamb at third, or move Escobar back to third to spell Lamb whenever a left-handed starter is on the mound.  Or, Lamb could be relegated to bench duty himself if he can’t get on track following a pair of subpar seasons, leaving one of second or third base (whichever Escobar isn’t playing) open for a platoon situation.

Sherfy was designated for assignment last week when the D’Backs signed Hector Rondon.  Sherfy showed some glimpses of promise over 27 innings in 2017-18, though his ERA ballooned to 5.89 over 18 1/3 frames last season.  Still looking for a longer stint at the big league level, Sherfy can offer some solid numbers in the minors, with a 3.59 ERA, 11.9 K/9, and 3.07 K/BB rate over 303 career relief innings in Arizona’s farm system.

Diamondbacks Sign Travis Snider To Minor League Deal

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Outfielder Travis Snider has agreed to a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, per a recent announcement from Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate, the Reno Aces. Snider will head to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee to big league camp.

At this point, it’s been close to a half decade since Snider, once one of the game’s elite prospects, appeared in the Majors. Now 31 years old, Snider was the No. 14 pick in the 2006 draft and was ranked among the game’s top 10 overall prospects by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus heading into the 2009 season. However, despite some encouraging results in partial seasons — often in a platoon role — Snider has amassed just a .244/.311/.399 slash on the whole in 1971 MLB plate appearances.

Snider has bounced between the Pirates, Royals, Mets, Rangers and D-backs systems since his last MLB appearance, most recently spending the 2019 campaign in Reno. He’ll return to the Aces for a second season after posting a huge .294/.402/.497 slash with 11 homers, 22 doubles, four triples and a gaudy 15.2 percent walk rate through 368 plate appearances in 2019. The Diamondbacks’ MLB outfield consists of David Peralta, Ketel Marte and Kole Calhoun, with fleet-footed Tim Locastro penciled in for fourth outfield duties at the moment.

There’s no immediate path back to The Show for Snider, but if he repeats his ’19 performance and the Snakes suffer some injuries to their starters, perhaps his four-year grind through the minors and the independent circuit will culminate in a big league return.

Angels Acquire Matt Andriese

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4:13pm: The Diamondbacks and Angels have announced the trade.

3:47pm: The Angels and Diamondbacks have agreed to a trade that will send right-hander Matt Andriese from Arizona to Anaheim, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Minor league righty Jeremy Beasley is headed to the D-backs in the swap, per Robert Murray (Twitter link). The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan tweets that it’ll be a one-for-one swap of the two right-handers. Beasley isn’t on the 40-man roster, so the trade will drop Arizona to 39 players on its 40-man.

Matt Andriese | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The 30-year-old Andriese pitched in 54 games for the D-backs in 2019, working to a 4.71 ERA with 10.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.02 HR/9 and a 50.3 percent ground-ball rate in 70 2/3 frames. Andriese’s 25.5 percent strikeout rate this past year was a career-high, and his 3.72 FIP, 3.88 xFIP and 3.82 SIERA all create some reason for optimism moving forward.

Andriese doesn’t throw especially hard, averaging 92.5 mph on his fastball this past season. But he does generate above-average spin rates on both his heater and his curveball, and opponents generally struggled to barrel the ball against him this past season (6.5 percent), which helped to limit his home run rate at a time when the rest of the league was serving up long balls at a record rate.

Although Andriese has experience as a starter with the Rays and even logged 127 1/3 innings for the Tampa Bay organization back in 2016, he’s been more heavily used as a reliever in recent seasons. However, Angels general manager Billy Eppler told reporters Tuesday that Andriese will be given a chance to win a rotation spot in Spring Training (link via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger).

If he doesn’t succeed, he’ll give the club a relatively affordable multi-inning relief option; Andriese settled on a $1.395MM salary for the upcoming season this past Friday. With four-plus years of Major League service time, he can be controlled through the 2021 season via arbitration.

The 24-year-old Beasley had a big season split across three levels in 2018, when he topped out at Double-A, but his 2019 was more of a struggle. In a combined 122 1/3 innings, he logged a 4.49 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.0 HR/9 and a 45 percent grounder rate between Double-A (108 2/3 innings) and Triple-A (13 2/3 innings). He ranked 18th among Halos farmhands over at MLB.com, where he’s described as a likely reliever who has at least opened some eyes in recent years with his perhaps unexpected success in a starting role.

Diamondbacks Notes: Marte, Second Base, Arbitration

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Ketel Marte is likely ticketed for heavy usage in centerfield this season, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The Diamondbacks stated preference for Marte is twofold: they’d like to return him to the infield, and they’d like not to bounce him between positions (in 2019, Marte appeared in 96 games in center, 83 at second, and 11 at shortstop). But unless they make a move on the trade market, GM Mike Hazen is unlikely to satisfy both criteria.  They could have their cake and eat it too by trading for the Pirates’ star centerfielder of the same surname. Speculatively speaking, Starling Marte and Jackie Bradley Jr. are both available, and there aren’t many options beyond those two to upgrade in center. A year after picking 8 times in the first 100 selections of the 2019 draft, the Diamondbacks have the prospect capital to make such a move if they want to cash in. If not…

  • …the organization is much better off in the second baseman department, with Eduardo Escobar, Andy Young, Ildemaro Vargas, Domingo Leyba and Josh Rojas all capable of winning the spot with a strong spring. Eduardo Escobar’s handling of the keystone only becomes likely if Jake Lamb stakes his claim to the hot corner with some authority. That’s not out of the question for the 29-year-old, though given last year’s .193/.323/.353 performance, Lamb would need a very strong spring to gird himself against any kind of early season slump. Otherwise, the Diamondbacks appear comfortable letting a host of options work their way through second base. Escobar is likelier to play third most of the time, as he did last year, with one of their younger options such as Rojas or Young chunking their time up the middle. With Kole Calhoun in right and Stephen Vogt brought in to back up at catcher, the centerfield/second base slot remains the last significant variable for the Diamondbacks to solve on offense before Opening Day. 
  • Regarding arbitration, the Diamondbacks reached one-year accords with four arb-eligible players yesterday: Robbie Ray, Andrew Chafin, Matt Andriese and Jake Lamb. The D-backs also locked up their left fielder David Peralta with a three-year, $22MM deal. Incumbent closer Archie Bradley and consecutive gold glove winner Nick Ahmed are the only two players headed for the arbitration panel as of right now. Figures for both players have been filed.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/10/20

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Trevor Clifton to a minor league contract with an invitation to MLB spring training, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. Clifton, now 24, had been with the Cubs since they used a 12th-round pick on him in 2013. He was the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2016, when he dominated high-A ball with a 2.72 ERA/3.05 FIP and 9.76 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 over 119 innings, and then ranked as FanGraphs’ eighth-best Cubs prospect before the next season. Clifton’s stock has dropped since then, though, thanks in part to his struggles in Triple-A ball last year. He managed a less-than-stellar 5.18 ERA/6.57 FIP with 7.64 K/9 and 4.55 BB/9 through 99 innings in 2019.

2020 Arbitration Filing Numbers

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MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker is the place to go to see the arbitration contracts agreed upon thus far, as well as the figures exchanged between teams and players that were not able to reach agreement before today’s deadline to swap salary positions. Matt Swartz’s arbitration projections are available here.

After a busy day of dealmaking, 161 players (at last check) have reached agreement on arbitration salaries for the coming season. But 29 other tendered players have yet to reach reported agreements with their clubs. Of course, those players can still settle before their hearings (which will take place in early to mid-February). If the case goes to a hearing, the arbitrator must choose one side’s figures, rather than settling on a midpoint. It’s hardly an unusual number of unresolved cases at this stage, but there are quite a few high-dollar situations still at issue and teams have increasingly adopted a “file-and-trial” approach to the process in recent years. (That is, no negotiations on single-season salaries after the deadline to exchange figures.)

We’ve gathered the highest-stakes arbitration situations remaining in this post, but you can find them all in the tracker. We’ll update this list as the figures are reported:

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the National League’s settlements in this post and are maintaining a separate one for American League settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • The Rockies have an agreement in place with righty Jon Gray, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post (via Twitter). It’s a $5.6MM deal, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).
  • Outfielder Tommy Pham has struck a $7.9MM pact with the Padres, who acquired him at the outset of the offseason, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Other Friars striking deals, per an update from Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, include Zach Davies ($5.25MM) and Matt Strahm ($1.4MM).
  • The Nationals announced that they’ve avoided arbitration with Trea Turner. It’s a $7.45MM agreement, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter), right in range of the $7.5MM projection.
  • The Mets are in agreement with a laundry list of players. Right-handers Marcus Stroman ($12MM) and Noah Syndergaard ($9.7MM) were the top earners, per reports from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter) and MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (via Twitter). Both come in close to their projected values of $11.8M and $9.9MM, respectively. The Mets also have a $5.1MM deal with reliever Edwin Diaz, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports (Twitter links). He entered the offseason projected at the $7.0MM level but will fall well shy of that. Despite an outstanding overall track record, Diaz’s platform season was a dud and obviously created some risk in a hearing for his side. Outfielder Brandon Nimmo will play for $2.175MM in his first season of arb eligibility, landing well over the $1.7MM that the model projected. Southpaw Steven Matz, meanwhile, lands a $5MM deal, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). That’s $300K shy of his projected amount. Relievers Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo will earn $1.225MM and $2MM, respectively, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter links). Slugger Michael Conforto will earn $8.0MM, per SNY.tv’s Andy Martino (via Twitter), which is notably south of the $9.2MM that we projected. And fellow outfielder Jake Marisnick checks in a just over 10% north of his projection at $3,312,500, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
  • Star reliever Kirby Yates receiveds a $7,062,500 salary from the Padres, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He tops the $6.5MM that MLBTR projected by a solid margin, reflecting just how exceptional he was in 2019.
  • The Marlins will pay recently acquired infielder Jonathan Villar a $8.2MM salary, per MLB.com’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). That’s a far sight shy of the $10.4MM that the MLBTR system projected, perhaps reflecting a more difficult path to the bigger number through recent comparables. The club also had some added leverage here since Villar would likely not fare terribly well on the open market if cut loose at this stage or later. (Unless this is a guaranteed deal, Villar could still be jettisoned, with the club paying just a fraction of the settled amount.) The Fish also have also agreed to terms with lefty Adam Conley (for $1.525MM, per MLB Network Radio’s Craig Mish, via Twitter) and righty Jose Urena (for $3.75MM, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, on Twitter).
  • Righty Vince Velasquez will pitch for $3.6MM this year with the Phillies, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philly (via Twitter). Fellow hurler Jose Alvarez will earn $2.95MM, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter).
  • The Rockies have an agreement with lefty Kyle Freeland, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). He’ll earn $2.875MM. Outfielder David Dahl takes home $2.475MM, Heyman adds on Twitter. The former had projected at $2.4MM and the latter at $3.0MM.
  • Pirates hurler Joe Musgrove will receive $2.8MM, per Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter links). Fellow righty Keone Kela will earn a reported $3.725MM. Both players had projected at $3.4MM, but land well to either side of that number. Infielder Adam Frazier also has a deal at $2.8MM, per Mackey (via Twitter).
  • Righty Anthony DeSclafani will earn $5.9MM from the Reds, according to Robert Murray (via Twitter). He had projected at $5.2MM. Backstop Curt Casali will earn $1.4625MM, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). And reliever Matt Bowman takes down $865K, Murray adds on Twitter.
  • The Dodgers have worked out a non-typical deal with righty Ross Stripling, Heyman tweets. He’ll get an up-front signing bonus of $1.5MM, which he’ll receive in the next week, and then earn $600K for the campaign to come. Stripling had projected to earn $2.3MM on the year.
  • Cardinals righty John Gant will earn $1.3MM after settling with the club. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first tweeted that a deal was in place, while Murray had the number on Twitter. That comes in just under his $1.4MM projection.

Earlier Settlements

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Diamondbacks To Extend David Peralta

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The Diamondbacks and outfielder David Peralta are in agreement on a three-year extension that’ll guarantee the ACES client a total of $22MM, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links). He can earn another $1.25MM annually via incentives. The contract will pay Peralta $7MM in 2020 and $7.5MM in each of the two subsequent seasons, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.

David Peralta | Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Peralta was arbitration-eligible for the final time and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $8.8MM. Instead, he’ll sign away a pair of free-agent years on a contract that spans his age-32 through age-34 seasons.

The deal looks to be a sound one for the D-backs, who owed Peralta a raise on last season’s $7MM salary. While the exact number he’d have secured can’t be known, even if he’d fallen shy of his $8.8MM projection, it still looks as though Peralta is signing away two free-agent years at a total of no more than $14MM. That falls a bit shy of what Corey Dickerson just received from the Marlins ($17.5MM), though it’s worth noting that Peralta is a bit older. All the same, Arizona looks to have carved out a nice value with the move.

Peralta, 32, hit .275/.343/.461 (107 wRC+) with a dozen homers, 29 doubles and three triples in 99 games/423 plate appearances with the Snakes in 2019. He endured three separate stints on the injured list due to an issue with the AC joint in his right shoulder, which limited his time on the field and likely helped to sap his production. A year prior, in 2018, Peralta put together then finest season of his career when he slashed .293/.352/.516 with 30 long balls.

Both Baseball-Reference (8.4) and FanGraphs (7.7) agree that Peralta has been worth in the vicinity of eight wins above replacement over the past three years. He’s consistently been an above-average bat and at least an average defender in the outfield corners, and his 2019 season rated particularly well according to most defensive metrics, as he took home a Gold Glove Award. While there’s always some risk of decline as he enters his mid-30s — particularly coming off a shoulder issue — it’s easy to see why the Diamondbacks preferred to keep him in the fold beyond his preexisting level of club control.

From a payroll standpoint, the deal actually helps to lower Arizona’s bottom line in 2020. Peralta’s salary for the coming season is the same as his 2019 salary and $1.8MM shy of where he’d been projected in arbitration, leaving the club with a roughly $114MM payroll (per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez). The D-backs had less than $60MM on the books in 2021 and less than $40MM in 2022 prior to brokering this multi-year arrangement, so fitting him onto the ledger for an additional two seasons was rather easy.

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