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Jeurys Familia

Mets Activate Brandon Nimmo, Place David Peterson On Injured List

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The Mets announced a host of roster moves this afternoon. Outfielder Brandon Nimmo is back from the injured list, as are reliever Jeurys Familia and catcher Tomás Nido. Righty Marcus Stroman has been activated from the bereavement list. To clear four active roster spots, New York placed lefty David Peterson on the 10-day IL, retroactive to July 1, and optioned infielder Travis Blankenhorn, catcher Patrick Mazeika and southpaw Thomas Szapucki to Triple-A Syracuse.

Nimmo’s reinstatement is the most welcome of today’s developments for the Mets. The center fielder went on the IL on May 5 with a left index finger injury. It was initially termed a contusion, but further evaluation first suggested it was a nerve problem and eventually revealed a small ligament tear. Ultimately, the bothersome issue kept Nimmo out for nearly two full months.

The Mets are surely thrilled to have the 28-year-old back. Nimmo got off to a stellar .318/.430/.439 start through 80 plate appearances this season, a continuation of the fantastic production he’s put up over the past few years. He joins Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto as recent returnees from the IL for New York, who leads the National League East by two games.

Peterson’s IL placement isn’t wholly unexpected. He’s been dealing with discomfort in his right side in recent days and was already expected to miss his next start. With the All-Star Break just ten days away, it makes sense for New York to at least shut him down through then. It’s been a bit of a confounding season for Peterson, whose ERA has jumped from 3.44 to 5.54 since 2020 despite improvements in his strikeout and walk rates (from 19.5% to 24% and 11.7% to 10.1%, respectively).

East Notes: Turner, Familia, Nimmo, Sale, Moreno

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It was a banner day for Trea Turner, as the Nationals shortstop celebrated his 28th birthday and tied a Major League record with his third career cycle.  Turner joins Adrian Beltre, Babe Herman, Bob Meusel, and Long John Reilly as the only players since 1890 with three cycles on their resume, putting Turner in good position to claim sole possession of the record before his career is over.

Unfortunately, the achievement wasn’t without some pain for Turner, as he jammed his left middle finger while sliding into third base for the triple that completed the cycle.  Turner told reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) that his finger was “pretty sore,” and manager Davey Martinez said Turner is day-to-day for the time being.  Turner’s big day (which also included two stolen bases) only continues what has been a big season for the shortstop, who is now hitting .318/.367/.513 with 14 homers, 18 stolen bases, and an even 50 runs and 100 hits over 341 plate appearances.

Some more injury news from around the NL and AL East divisions…

  • Jeurys Familia is expected to be activated off the 10-day injured list this weekend, Mets manager Luis Rojas told reporters (including Mike Puma of the New York Post).  A right hip impingement sidelined Familia on June 21, so he’ll miss only slightly more than the 10-day minimum.  Despite an ungainly 14.3% walk rate, Familia has a solid 3.63 ERA/4.31 SIERA over 22 1/3 IP, with a 58.5% grounder rate and a lot of soft contact helping offset his lack of control.
  • Brandon Nimmo could also potentially be back on the Mets roster this weekend.  Nimmo hasn’t played since May 2 due to what was initially called a left index finger contusion, then re-diagnosed as a potential nerve problem, and then as a small ligament tear.  This confusion led to a couple of stops and starts in Nimmo’s rehab, and an initial thought that he would be activated off the IL yesterday was held off since the team wanted him to get a bit more prep work in the minors.  Given all the setbacks, it probably shouldn’t be considered a sure deal for Nimmo until he is actually back at Citi Field, but things look promising for the outfielder.
  • Chris Sale threw live batting practice today at Fenway Park, tossing two simulated innings and reaching the 94-95mph threshold with his fastball, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams and other reporters.  Sale is slated for another live BP session at the team’s Spring Training facility this weekend, and a rehab assignment could be the next step for the left-hander.  Sale underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2020 and has been projected to return by late July or early August, so he certainly seems to be on track with that timetable.  The Red Sox are leading the AL East despite some struggles within the rotation, and those issues could be greatly mitigated by a Sale who is healthy and anywhere close to his past superstar form.
  • The Blue Jays’ injury woes have extended to the minors, as GM Ross Atkins said that star catching prospect Gabriel Moreno suffered a “minor fracture” of his thumb after being hit by a pitch.  Atkins told Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that Moreno will “most likely” miss several weeks, and surgery hasn’t been ruled out.  Moreno has a whopping .373/.441/.651 slash line and eight homers in 145 PA at Double-A New Hampshire this season, and Baseball America ranks the catcher 32nd on their top-100 prospect list.  While this injury certainly hampers Moreno’s trade value, his development had seemingly made him more of a cornerstone piece for the Jays than a potential trade chip as Toronto approaches the deadline.  Any of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, Reese McGuire, or Riley Adams could be more likely than Moreno to be dealt as the Jays look for upgrades on the trade market.

Mets’ Joey Lucchesi Diagnosed With UCL Tear

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10:23pm: Manager Luis Rojas acknowledged after tonight’s game that surgery is a possibility for Lucchesi but said the left-hander will receive a second opinion before making a final decision (Twitter link via Newsday’s Laura Albanese).

7:34pm: Mets left-hander Joey Lucchesi, who went on the injured list this weekend, underwent an MRI and was diagnosed with a “significant” tear in his left elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament, reports Steve Gelbs of SNY (Twitter link). The Mets haven’t formally announced an update, but any UCL tear obviously comes with the possibility of Tommy John surgery. He’ll seek a second opinion before making any decisions.

In further Mets injury news, the team announced prior to the second game of today’s doubleheader that Jeurys Familia has been placed on the injured list due to a right hip impingement. That injury comes just hours after the Mets placed righty Robert Gsellman on the 10-day injured list due to a lat strain that will reportedly sideline him for up to eight weeks. Right-hander Yennsy Diaz is up from Triple-A Syracuse to take Familia’s spot on the roster. The team has not yet provided a timeline on Familia’s injury.

Lucchesi, 28, has given the Mets 38 1/3 innings of 4.46 ERA ball with a 3.40 FIP, a 26.1 percent strikeout rate and a 7.0 percent walk rate. That’s solid production from any pitcher, let alone one who was viewed as a depth option and perhaps the sixth or seventh starting pitcher on the team’s depth chart when Spring Training commenced. That performance has certainly justified the Mets’ decision to part with catching prospect Endy Rodriguez to acquire Lucchesi from the Padres as part of the three-team, Joe Musgrove trade with the Pirates. Now, however, there are considerable doubts as to just when Lucchesi will throw his next pitch.

If Lucchesi indeed requires Tommy John surgery, the procedure is coming late enough in the 2021 season that it’ll jeopardize the majority, if not the entirety, of his 2022 season.. Tommy John procedures typically come with recovery periods in the range of 12 to 16 months, and as the Mets’ own Noah Syndergaard illustrates, a straightforward year-long recovery period is not necessarily a given.

A Tommy John procedure would put the Mets in a tough spot with Lucchesi. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter now that he’ll close out the current season on the 60-day injured list. Any raise will be suppressed by his current injury status, of course, but they’d still need to determine whether to dedicate a 40-man spot to him all winter and pay him a raise for the 2022 season despite the possibility that he won’t pitch at all. In that scenario, they’d again be faced with the decision of whether to again dedicate an offseason 40-man spot and likely match that salary in 2023 — most arb-eligible players who miss a whole season are re-upped at the same rate for the following year — or cut bait via a non-tender.

Obviously, the hope for the Mets, Lucchesi and their fans is that he’ll somehow be able to avoid surgery and return to the mound without going under the knife. However, the report of a “significant” tear indicates that even if surgery is avoided for now, Lucchesi is likely looking at a notable shutdown.

The loss of Lucchesi in the near-term is a blow to a Mets club that has been hit hard by injuries up and down the roster. Carlos Carrasco has still yet to pitch in 2021, owing to a hamstring tear a brief elbow issue in Spring Training, while Syndergaard’s return has been pushed back by at least six weeks due to inflammation in his surgically repaired elbow. Righty Jordan Yamamoto, meanwhile, is on the 60-day injured list due to shoulder woes.

With those injuries having taken their toll, the Mets turned to former Phillies righty Jerad Eickhoff to start the nightcap of today’s twin bill. Other options on the 40-man roster include recent waiver claim Nick Tropeano and 25-year-old prospect Thomas Szapucki, who has yet to make his MLB debut.

The Mets entered the season with a fairly impressive bit of pitching depth, but that depth has obviously been tested early and often. Given the news on Lucchesi, the setbacks in the recoveries of Syndergaard and Carrasco, and the minor injury troubles that Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker have faced, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see the Mets target rotation help on the summer trade market.

Turning to Familia, his injury places a temporary hold on what was shaping up to be a solid rebound effort. While the right-hander’s 14.3 percent walk rate has been far too high, Familiar has nevertheless pitched to a 3.63 ERA with a 23 percent strikeout rate in 22 1/3 frames. He’s also generated plenty of weak contact and induced grounders at a characteristically high 58.5 percent clip, which has helped to offset the penchant for free passes. It may not be the dominant form he displayed from 2014-18, but it’s nevertheless been a nice season for the righty.

The bullpen has been one area where the Mets haven’t been bitten too hard by the injury bug, but back-to-back losses of Gsellman and Familia now threaten to begin testing the depth on that side of the pitching staff as well. The Mets are undoubtedly thankful that deGrom was able to breeze through five innings today after his own recent injury scare, but it’s still been a rough day for the pitching staff as a whole — one that could very well accelerate the team’s efforts to add from outside the organization.

Mets Reportedly Looking To Move Bad Contracts

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The Mets entered the winter in a bit of a payroll predicament. Now, they’re searching for a creative way to resolve it, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription link).

While the New York payroll limit isn’t known publicly, the front office seemingly feels it may be best served moving money off of the books. The contracts of veterans Jeurys Familia and Jed Lowrie are each under water after brutal 2019 seasons, so that seems to be the place the club is targeting.

Of course, no other club is going to have interest in paying Familia ($22MM through 2021) and Lowrie ($13MM through 2020) what they’re still owed. But the Mets are floating a “concept,” per Rosenthal, by which they’d attach some of those unwanted payroll obligations to an otherwise positive-value player-asset. Say, Dominic Smith and his five remaining seasons of team control.

Just how likely this is to come to fruition isn’t clear. But it’s conceptually possible. The Mets picked up Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano last winter on this essential model (though that only makes it all the more frustrating to be pursuing this sort of pact in the opposite direction, involving other recently acquired players). And Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets that the team actually had a chance to pull off such a scenario at the trade deadline involving Familia and Zack Wheeler.

It’s hard to conceive just what a Familia-Wheeler swap might have looked like — it’s tough to imagine any team would have taken on a big piece of that salary to rent Wheeler for a few months — but it seems the pursuit gained some traction. Then again, Martino also asserts in another tweet that the Mets nearly pulled off a Wheeler-Noah Syndergaard blockbuster before backing out of talks with the Astros. It appears the Brodie Van Wagenen-led front office has explored a wide array of possibilities in recent months.

It will be interesting to see if the Mets can find a salary swapping partner that makes sense. While parting with talent to dump payroll isn’t always advisable, the New York club may be particularly well-situated to do it. Smith is a unique asset: young and affordable, with a solid recent track record and a prospect background, but also largely superfluous to the Mets. Perhaps J.D. Davis could be another candidate to function in a trade of this kind, though he could also still have a functional role on the roster. If there’s an opportunity to free capital to improve the roster in other ways, it makes sense to pursue. But it’s also possible to imagine Smith and/or Davis being cashed in for prospects instead, so it’s important to consider that opportunity cost in assessing the possibilities.

Mets Notes & Rumors: Vargas, Wheeler, Deadline, Familia

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Mets executives aren’t pleased with left-hander Jason Vargas following his recent threat to a reporter in the clubhouse, an unnamed Mets official tells Wallace Matthews of Yahoo Sports. “We’re all angry with him,” says the official before rhetorically asking, “Think he’ll be here next year?” The incident could very well push Vargas out the door before the trade deadline, Matthews writes, as both ownership and the front office are “incensed” that Vargas has not simply apologized — which led to the team fielding questions regarding the incident even during this week’s ceremony to honor Tom Seaver. Matthews cites a second official who was “at a loss to explain Vargas’ hostility,” and COO Jeff Wilpon again addressed the issue and expressed regret and apologies in speaking with Matthews. While the $10K fine issued to Vargas didn’t even qualify as a slap on the wrist, Matthews notes that a team cannot issue a larger fine without being subject to a grievance from the MLBPA. Vargas clearly hasn’t helped his standing with the Mets, but he’s at least pitched well of late; he has a 2.55 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 42 percent grounder rate over his last 11 starts (60 innings).

More Mets chatter as their downward spiral continues…

  • Zack Wheeler has had an uneven season but still seems like an obvious trade candidate barring a miraculous turnaround for the Mets. The 29-year-old is a free agent at season’s end, and while he’s sitting on a 4.51 ERA, Wheeler’s 3.75 FIP and 3.88 xFIP are more encouraging. Throw out the first two ugly outings of the season, and Wheeler has a 3.95 ERA with a 106-to-23 K/BB ratio over a span of 98 innings. Wheeler addressed the writing that’s on the wall when speaking with Mike Puma of the New York Post. “It’s there,” said Wheeler. “The trade deadline is coming up and there is no way around it, we need to start winning some games or some guys are going to start getting traded out of here. … It’s tough, because this is where you want to win, it’s New York and these are my guys and this is the group I want to win with.”
  • While the Mets look like probable sellers, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets that the team might be a bit quieter than many would expect. Although the organization has little choice but to trade Wheeler, the other moves might not bring a great return. The club will likely try to move Vargas and Todd Frazier for some salary relief, but the returns on such deals would be limited even with Vargas throwing fairly well of late. As Puma writes in his aforementioned column, the Mets’ previous front office regime frequently had to settle for marginal returns on veteran players due to ownership’s unwillingness to pay down much of the salaries still owed to players such as Addison Reed and Jay Bruce, among several others.
  • Injured reliever Jeurys Familia is progressing toward a return, DiComo reports. The right-handed Familia, on the injured list with shoulder problems since June 18, was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Friday at the Single-A level. His rehab stint could last more than just a game or two, DiComo notes, as the Mets would like Familia to show some of his past form before returning to the majors. The Mets reunited with Familia last offseason on a three-year, $30MM contract, which has been a disastrous investment for the team three months into the campaign. The 29-year-old Familia has endured two IL stints because of shoulder troubles and notched a 7.81 ERA/6.11 FIP with 9.11 K/9 and 6.83 BB/9 during the 27 2/3 innings he has pitched.

Mets To Place Jeurys Familia On Injured List

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The Mets plan to place right-handed reliever Jeurys Familia on the injured list because of a shoulder issue, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweets.

Alarmingly for the Mets, this is the second time in 2019 that a shoulder problem has forced Familia to the IL. They previously put him on the shelf May 1. Familia fell well short of expectations before then and continued to struggle between IL stints. So far this season, the typically dependable reliever has notched a hideous 7.81 ERA/6.10 FIP with 9.11 K/9 and 6.83 BB/9 in 27 2/3 innings.

A Met and Athletic from 2012-18, Familia posted a 2.76 ERA/2.88 FIP with 9.45 K/9, 3.54 BB/9 and a 56.5 percent groundball rate over that 348 2/3-inning span. The success Familia enjoyed during the first several seasons of his career led the Mets to reunite with him this past winter on a three-year, $30MM contract. The move has been a disaster to this point, though, while fellow offseason relief acquisitions Edwin Diaz and Justin Wilson also haven’t lived up to expectations in 2019. Thanks in part to their woes, the Mets are four games under .500 and, for the second straight year, in possession of one of baseball’s worst bullpens.

Mets Place Justin Wilson On IL; Jeurys Familia Set To Return Sunday

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The Mets’ bullpen is set for a couple noteworthy changes this weekend, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. The team placed left-hander Justin Wilson on the 10-day injured list Saturday because of an elbow problem, while righty Jeurys Familia is expected to come off the IL on Sunday. In the meantime, the Mets recalled righty Eric Hanhold from Triple-A Syracuse.

Wilson’s IL placement is already the second of the season for the 31-year-old, who went down April 26 with elbow soreness and is now back on the shelf almost immediately after returning from that issue. Wilson came back May 6, gave up two earned runs on three hits in an inning of work and hasn’t pitched since.

Normally a competent reliever, Wilson hasn’t yet given the Mets the type of production they were hoping for when they signed the ex-Pirate, Yankee, Tiger and Cub to a two-year, $10MM contract in free agency. Over 10 appearances and 9 1/3 innings, Wilson has yielded five earned runs on six hits – including two homers – and seen his strikeout rate drop precipitously.

As with the Wilson pickup, the Familia signing was one of a few headline-grabbing bullpen additions general manager Brodie Van Wagenen during his first winter on the job. Familia got an even richer pact, a three-year, $30MM deal, but has also fallen flat thus far. Now in his second stint with the Mets, the 29-year-old Familia logged a 6.26 ERA/5.98 FIP with 9.42 K/9, an untenable 8.16 BB/9 and a career-worst 18.2 percent HR-to-fly ball rate 14 1/3 innings before going to the IL. Familia’s velocity dropped at an alarming degree along the way, likely because he was trying to pitch through a Bennett lesion – which Thosar notes is “equivalent to a bone spur.”

While it’s unclear when Wilson will return to the Mets’ bullpen, they’ll need the vintage version of Familia immediately. New York’s relief corps looked like a strength coming into the season, but it has since stumbled to the majors’ seventh-worst walk rate and eighth-highest ERA amid the club’s uninspiring start.

Mets Place Jeurys Familia On Injured List, Select Ryan O’Rourke

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The Mets are placing right-hander Jeurys Familia on the 10-day injured list due to a shoulder injury, the team announced to reporters today (Twitter links via Anthony Rieber of Newsday and Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). Familia has already received an injection in his ailing shoulder. In his place on the active roster, the Mets will select the contract of left-handed reliever Ryan O’Rourke. New York has an open 40-man spot, so an additional corresponding move will not be necessary.

Per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (Twitter link), Familia alerted the Mets to the discomfort in his shoulder this morning. He subsequently underwent an MRI that revealed a Bennett lesion/bone spur.

There’s no clear timetable on his return to the club at present, though the ailment helps to explain the rough start to the season for the 29-year-old. In 14 1/3 innings, Familia has been tagged for 11 runs (10 earned) on 16 hits and a sky-high 13 walks against 15 strikeouts. His current 95.5 mph average fastball is a career-low and down 0.7 mph from last season, and the extreme difficulty throwing strikes is out of character for the righty as well; over the past half decade prior to 2019, Familia had averaged 3.4 walks per nine innings pitched.

Familia signed the second-largest contract of any reliever this offseason at three years and a total of $30MM, but he’s clearly not off to the start he’d envisioned. With him on the shelf for a yet-undetermined period of time, it stands to reason that Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman will be tasked with serving as the primary right-handed setup men to closer Edwin Diaz. Gsellman leads Mets relievers with 18 2/3 innings pitched, though the Mets’ rigid use of their relievers could shoehorn him into a more limited eighth-inning role.

The 31-year-old O’Rourke will be returning to the Majors for the first time since the 2016 season. The southpaw saw 47 innings worth of action with the Twins in 2015-16, but Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2017 season and much of his 2018 campaign. O’Rourke spent last year in the Orioles organization but was only able to toss 14 1/3 innings of rehab work in the minors by season’s end. He landed with the Mets on a minor league deal early in the offseason.

So far in Syracuse, O’Rourke has pitched to a 4.61 ERA with a 14-to-6 K/BB ratio in 13 2/3 innings of work. Lefties are just 3-for-16 with a pair of walks and nine strikeouts in 18 plate appearances against him (.188/.278/.188), and that type of performance against same-handed opponents is rather characteristic of the 6’3″, 230-pound O’Rourke. In his two seasons with Minnesota, he dominated left-handed batters, limiting them to an embarrassing .134/.244/.239 slash in 80 plate appearances. Right-handed hitters, however, fared much better against O’Rourke, hitting him at a .250/.350/.390 clip.

Mets Sign Jeurys Familia

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TODAY: The deal is now official. Familia will receive a $2MM signing bonus and $6MM salary in 2019, with $11MM salaries in the two ensuing seasons, per Rosenthal (Twitter link). $1MM apiece of the 2020 and 2021 salaries is deferred to 2022. Familia can add $500K if he reaches fifty games finished and would receive a $1MM assignment bonus if traded.

YESTERDAY: The Mets are turning to an old friend to reinforce their bullpen, as the club has reportedly agreed to a deal with free agent right-hander Jeurys Familia, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter).  The contract is pending a physical.  MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi reports that it will be a three-year pact, while The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Familia will earn $30MM over the course of the contract (all Twitter links).  Familia is represented by the ACES agency.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Mets in 2007, Familia spent his entire professional career with the organization before he was dealt to the A’s last July.  The right-hander posted a combined 3.13 ERA, 2.96 K/BB rate, and a career-high 10.4 K/9 over 72 innings for New York and Oakland, racking up a total of 18 saves along the way.

Familia had excellent numbers with the Mets from 2014-16, emerging as the team’s closer and recording 94 saves over those latter two seasons.  In a troubled 2017 season, he was suspended for the first 15 games under the league and players union’s joint domestic violence policy after being arrested on assault charges the previous fall.  Familia also spent over three months on the DL after undergoing surgery to fix an arterial clot in his throwing shoulder.

The 29-year-old had a brief DL stint due to shoulder soreness again in 2018, but overall looked healthy and more or less his old self on the mound.  Familia averaged 96.2 mph on his fastball (making him one of the harder-throwing relievers in the game), while posting a 14.1% swinging strike rate that topped his 13.6% career average.  The focus on strikeouts led to a drop to a 46.3% grounder rate, after Familia posted no worse than a 57.3% ground ball rate over his previous four seasons.

Familia will be returning to Citi Field as a setup man, now that the Mets have added Edwin Diaz to serve as their new closer.  The combination of Diaz and Familia gives the team an impressive combo for the eighth and ninth innings, and already provides a big upgrade to a bullpen that struggled with consistency in 2018.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see New York explore other moves to augment the relief corps, as Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman might be the only current relievers who could be considered locks for the Opening Day roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pitching Notes: Nats, Jays, White Sox, Athletics

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The Nationals already seemed like a possible ongoing pursuer of starting pitching before trading away Tanner Roark; now, it’s all but inevitable that the club will add another new arm. Veteran free agents Wade Miley and Anibal Sanchez are both on the Nats’ radar, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links), though it’s not clear whether either is particularly likely to land in D.C. Both hurlers turned in excellent results in 2018 after overcoming injuries, with the latter relying on his ability to induce groundballs and the latter finally overcoming his home run woes. Sustainability remains a question, of course, as each has had his share of struggles in seasons prior.

  • Whether the Nats will also be exploring higher-end pitching options isn’t yet fully clear, but president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo did say today that the club is performing “due diligence” on Japanese hurler Yusei Kikuchi, as Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com tweets. Given the wide interest that the 27-year-old has drawn to this point, it seems safe to assume the Nationals are at least open to making another significant rotation addition this winter.
  • It’s still far too soon to know how the market will develop for Kikuchi, but we keep hearing of teams that wish to be involved to some degree. The Blue Jays intend to sit down with the 27-year-old lefty, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter), adding another organization. Though the Toronto club in no way profiles as a 2019 contender — most of the talk has surrounded its possible marketing of its own pitching — it surely has designs on a fairly quick bounce back and may view Kikuchi as a nice target to provide some good innings both now and in the future.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn says he’s not likely to add a significant starter via free agency (via James Fegan of The Athletic, on Twitter), but that evidently won’t stop him from checking in at the top of the market for relievers. The Chicago organization has “shown interest” in veteran hurler Adam Ottavino, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports on Twitter. It’ll likely cost a pretty penny to reel in the talented right-hander, who is also a clear target for more obvious contenders, though perhaps the White Sox will plan to offer him and others a chance to work as the closer.
  • It seems the Athletics are contemplating another bullpen buildout after succeeding with that strategy in 2018. Rosenthal tweets that the organization is interested in a reunion with Jeurys Familia, who certainly also ought to draw quite a few hits from other teams, particularly since he only just turned 29. While the rotation is an obvious need in Oakland, Rosenthal says it’s one that’s likelier to be met at a later point in the offseason — with “inexpensive” arms. It sounds as if the A’s won’t be driving the market on any of their top free agent targets. The search for diamonds in the rough paid out handsomely last winter, but hitting it rich again will surely be a challenge.
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