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Players Avoiding Arbitration: American 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 American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
  • The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
  • The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
  • Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
  • Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
  • The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

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AL Notes: Pressly, Tanaka, Gallo

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Astros relief ace Ryan Pressly was removed from tonight’s Game Six action after apparently re-aggravating his balky right knee while fielding a ball in the third inning. It was enough surely to make the Houston faithful hold their collective breath, since Pressly missed several weeks after having that same knee surgically repaired in August. For the time being, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart relays that the righty is day-to-day with “right knee discomfort” (link).

With tonight’s game still hanging in the balance, it’s tough to know whether that “day-to-day” designation might be a moot point, as a win this evening would allow the reliever a few days to heal in advance of the World Series’ first game on Tuesday. Placement on the injured list, however, would likely force the team to turn to Wade Miley for their Fall Classic roster, who was left off the team’s ALCS roster after giving up two earned runs in a 2.2 IP appearance in the ALDS. The superlative Pressly pitched to a 2.32 ERA (2.66 FIP) in 54.1 innings in the 2019 regular season.

More notes from around the American League…

  • In other ALCS-related news, Yankees manager Aaron Boone indicated that Masahiro Tanaka should be available for a potential Game 7 scenario, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (link). Tanaka, much-hyped heading into Game 4 due to his impressive postseason resume to that point, ground through a five-inning, three-run performance on Thursday night.
  • How much is a home run worth, really? That’s a question that has become du jour in modern baseball, as the prevalence of longballs has seemed to diminish the on-field value–and off-field earning power–of power hitters like Joey Gallo of the Rangers. But, as Levi Weaver of The Athletic points out, Gallo is a player for whom it would be particularly difficult to draw up a contract extension. Gallo, the only player in MLB history to hit his 100th career homer before his 100th career single, presents a vexing extension case: he’s still young (26 on Opening Day 2020), unconventionally productive (recording a 144 wRC+ in 2019 despite a 38.4% strikeout rate), and he’s dealt with injury concerns (missing 92 games this past season with wrist issues). Perhaps, more than anything, Gallo’s meaty home run totals project to make him an expensive year-over-year arbitration case, further fueling the incentive to get a long-term deal done on the Rangers side of the negotiating table. In a courageous effort to pinpoint Gallo’s value, Weaver proposes a five-year, $85MM extension, perhaps with a sixth team option year valued at $25MM. For what it’s worth, the slugger is projected to earn $4.0MM in his first pass through arb this offseason, according to MLBTR’s projected arbitration models.

AL West Notes: Correa, McHugh, Gallo, Pence, La Stella

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Checking in on a few AL West clubs…

  • The Astros made shortstop Carlos Correa a late scratch for their game Tuesday after he complained of tightness in his lower back, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Considering how important Correa is to the World Series contenders’ cause, not to mention his history of back issues, it looked like a startling development for the club. Manager A.J. Hinch brushed off concerns about Correa’s status, though, saying: “It sounds a lot worse than what it seems like it is. But when you make a proactive move there’s going to be some sense of curiosity as to what it is. But it is very important for us to be smart this week.”
  • While Correa appears to be fine, teammate Collin McHugh continues to look as if he’s done for the season. The Astros halted the right-hander’s throwing program last week after a setback with his injured elbow, and he still hasn’t resumed throwing, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweets. With that in mind, we may have seen McHugh take the mound in a Houston uniform for the last time. The sixth-year Astro is set to become a free agent after the season. Overall, the year has been an injury-riddled disappointment for McHugh, but he has rebounded as a reliever after beginning 2019 in disastrous fashion as a starter.
  • It’s “fairly evident” Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo won’t play again this season, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. Gallo, who has been out since June 24 with a right hamate fracture, hasn’t swung a bat during the recovery process. With the season just about over for the eliminated Rangers, there’s no sense in rushing the star slugger back. Meanwhile, designated hitter Hunter Pence is definitely done for the year, Wilson relays. The Rangers have also had to go for a while without Pence, whom a back injury has shelved for just over a month. While the soon-to-be 37-year-old Pence wants to return to the Rangers in 2020, it’s unclear how motivated they’ll be to re-sign the pending free agent.
  • After an arduous recovery from the fractured right tibia he suffered July 2, it appears Angels infielder Tommy La Stella will make it back this season. Assuming La Stella gets through a base-running session unscathed on Wednesday, he could see time at DH during the Angels’ season-ending series against Houston, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports. La Stella’s devastating injury came shortly before what would have been the 30-year-old’s first All-Star appearance – an honor he earned thanks to a .300/.353/.495 line and a career-high 16 home runs in 312 plate appearances.

Rangers Select Tim Federowicz, Transfer Joey Gallo To 60-Day IL

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The Rangers have selected the contract of catcher Tim Federowicz from Triple-A Nashville, the team announced (Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News was first to report the move). They transferred slugger Joey Gallo to the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster room for Federowicz. Gallo, on the IL since July 24 with a fractured right hamate bone, might be done for the season.

The 32-year-old Federowicz joined the Rangers in a June trade with the Indians. He then totaled 79 plate appearances and posted a subpar .169/.224/.366 line with four home runs in Texas before the team booted him from its 40-man roster on the last day of July. Federowicz wasn’t any better as a member of the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, with whom he batted .140/.190/.193 and hit a single homer in 63 attempts, but the well-traveled veteran did put up a playable line with the Indians’ top minor league club prior to the trade (.278/.353/.411, two HRs in 103 PA).

Joey Gallo Might Not Return In 2019

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While Rangers slugger Joey Gallo was eyeing a Sept. 20 return to the lineup, that’s no longer a realistic return date, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. The Rangers aren’t certain that Gallo will make it back to the team at all before season’s end, he adds. Gallo has been out for nearly two months since fracturing his hamate bone in late July. The initially projected timeline of roughly six weeks has come and gone, but Gallo is still experiencing discomfort in his hand and lacking in grip strength, per Grant.

If Gallo’s season has indeed come to a close, it’ll go down as a strong year even in spite of the lengthy injury absence. The 25-year-old launched 22 home runs in just 297 plate appearances this season while posting a career-best 17.5 percent walk rate. Gallo’s 38.4 percent strikeout rate is still among the highest in the league, and he’s unlikely to repeat the .368 average on balls in play that helped buoy his overall batting line to .253/.389/.598. Even with some regression in terms of his batting average (and, inherently, his on-base percentage), Gallo should still be an above-average offensive producer and among the league’s top power threats again in 2020.

Perhaps the most encouraging development for Gallo and the Rangers, though, came on the defensive side of the coin. Gallo spent the entire season not just in the outfield but in center field for a large portion of his time on the active roster (309 innings). He’s previously turned in sub-par defensive ratings in left field but drew plus marks both there and in center field from metrics such as Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating and Outs Above Average. If Gallo is able to hack it as even a passable defensive center fielder, the combination of average or better glovework at a premium position and his virtually unrivaled raw power would make him an extremely valuable all-around player — gaudy strikeout rate and potentially low-.200s average notwithstanding.

Gallo will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter and should be well served by the 110 home runs he’s already amassed in his young big league career. He’s under team control through the 2022 season, though Texas could certainly explore the idea of working out a longer-term contract with Gallo this coming winter. The two sides have talked extension in the past, but there’s been no indication of any 2019 talks to this point.

AL West Notes: Luzardo, Sanchez, Gallo, Santana

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Jesus Luzardo’s second Major League appearance resulted in his first career save, as the star Athletics rookie allowed a run on two hits and two walks over three innings of work in Oakland’s 6-1 win over the Rangers today.  Luzardo has tossed three innings in each of his two MLB games, both times coming directly after a starter (Brett Anderson on Wednesday after five innings, and Sean Manaea after six innings today).  Should the A’s reach the postseason, there’s certainly a case that Luzardo could serve as either a multi-inning reliever or even as a proper starter.  “That gives us a little pause for thought about how we potentially might do things down the road,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told reporters, including the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser.  “Obviously, we have to get there, a lot of work between then and now. But you definitely think of some options, especially with Luzardo coming out of the pen doing what he’s doing.”

More from around the AL West…

  • Aaron Sanchez was scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery last Friday, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said during his team’s pregame radio show today (hat tip to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).  Somewhat curiously, Luhnow had yet to be informed about any specifics on the procedure, or when Sanchez could potentially be back on the mound.  It was already known that Sanchez wouldn’t pitch again in 2019, though the lack of information regarding the severity of his shoulder issues tends to create some doubt that the right-hander will be ready for the start of the 2020 season.
  • Joey Gallo is aiming to return to the Rangers’ lineup on September 20, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes.  Gallo will spend his last few remaining days on the injured list playing in simulated games and instructional league action, and will be activated prior to the Rangers’ game against the A’s on Friday if all goes well.  Gallo hit .276/.421/.653 with 17 homers over his first 214 plate appearances before a variety of injuries waylaid his dream season.  He missed over three weeks with an oblique problem, and then struggled with wrist issues for the better part of a month before undergoing hamate bone surgery on July 25.
  • Another early-season star will also return to the field before the end of the season, as Domingo Santana is expected to be activated off the IL on Tuesday, MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes.  The Mariners outfielder was (retroactively) placed on the IL due to right elbow inflammation on August 19, after struggling with elbow problems for roughly a month beforehand.  Santana’s injury problems almost perfectly coincide with the All-Star break, as he hit .286/.354/.496 in 399 first-half plate appearances, but then only .131/.240/.250 in 97 PA in the second half.  That July slump was one of the reasons Santana wasn’t dealt at the trade deadline, despite interest from multiple teams.

AL Notes: Tucker, Gallo, Hicks

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Though Kyle Tucker was added to the Astros dugout prior to Monday’s matchup with Milwaukee, manager A.J. Hinch is making it clear that nothing will be handed to the well-regarded youngster. “We’ll make our assessment on where he can help us,” Hinch said to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (link). “But he’s going to be a complement player right now until he earns more at-bats.”

Considering the team’s 2019 success and the emergence of rookie Yordan Alvarez, it’s unsurprising to hear that the ’Stros aren’t looking to endanger their status quo simply to accommodate a look at a 22-year-old prospect like Tucker. Still, as noted in the report, Tucker could theoretically be in line for more at-bats should the struggles of fellow outfielder Josh Reddick continue. Considered to be one of the two best prospects in the Houston system (along with hurler Forrest Whitley), Tucker hit .266/.354/.555 with 34 home runs in 536 PCL plate appearances this year.

More rumblings from around the league…

  • Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo will be back to launching balls in batting practice this week, which will mark his first time in the cage since fracturing the hamate bone in his right hand on July 23rd. In a report from Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, Gallo admits that pain will still be a factor in determining whether or not the slugger should venture a 2019 return for an out-of-the-race club. “I don’t want to get on the field and not perform to capabilities and have to sit on that all winter,” Gallo said Monday. “We’re not in a playoff race, so I’m not worried about having to prove something.” Still, manager Chris Woodward projected that the club does expect Gallo to be good to go at some point in the next two weeks.
  • Nary a day goes by on this site without an update regarding an injured Yankees player, and this Labor Day evening should be no different. YES reporter Meredith Marakovits passes along that outfielder Aaron Hicks was engaged in throwing exercises today–the first time he’s done so since being placed on the injured list with a flexor strain on Aug. 4 (Twitter link). Like most injuries involving the Yankees this year, Hicks’ injury really only opened the door for another, lesser-known player to open eyes with a surprising fill-in performance, as outfielder Mike Tauchman did with his solid August at the plate (.274 BA and 5 home runs in 84 at-bats). When healthy in 2019, Hicks has himself recorded a .235/.325/.443 line (100wRC+) in 255 plate appearances.

AL Notes: Encarnacion, Gallo, Buxton

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The Yankees dropped a 2-1 decision to the Dodgers in L.A. on Saturday, but the game wasn’t without one historic highlight for New York fans. Aaron Judge’s solo home run in the fourth inning was the club’s 58th dinger in August–tying the record for most team home runs in a single month. Judge’s homer put the club even with the 1987 Orioles, who hit 58 home runs in 28 games, and the 1999 Mariners, who accomplished this feat in 27 games. The Yankees, of course, have only played 23 games so far this month and will have six more August games to carve out a singular place in the power-hitting record books.

Their chances of doing so would be much aided by the return of slugger Edwin Encarnacion, who has been out of action since fracturing his wrist on Aug. 3. As it turns out, Encarnacion has at least resumed some baseball activity, as James Wagner of the New York Times relays that the 1B/DH has begun taking ground balls and hitting off a tee (link). It’s obviously doubtful that Encarnacion will get back before September, but his return could just as well power another historic Bronx power binge in the season’s final month.

More from around the American League…

  • T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com has several updates on injured Rangers players (link). In summary: Jesse Chavez may need season-ending elbow surgery, outfielder Hunter Pence will be sidelined for a few days with a back ailment, and, most notably, outfielder Joey Gallo is swinging a bat again in recovery from surgery to repair a broken hamate bone. “This is a tolerance thing,” manager Chris Woodward said. “If the pain is causing his swing to be off, I’m not going to play him. But he needs to play and finish the season, more for him than for us.” Gallo was experiencing his best season in the bigs before being waylaid by injury, as he increased his BB% to an Olympian 17.5% rate in 2019 en route to a .253/.389/.598 batting line (145 wRC+) through 70 games.
  • Darren Wolfson of KSTP reports that Twins centerfielder Byron Buxton is set to head out on a rehab assignment, according to manager Rocco Baldelli (link). Buxton will report to the Cedar Rapids Kernels, a Midwest League affiliate with a strong case for the award for “Best Minor League Team Name”. There, Buxton will work to shake off rust resulting from his nearly month-long absence due to shoulder issues. At 77-51, the Twins sit 2.5 games up on the Indians for pole position in the AL Central, and the club would certainly benefit from the reintegration of both Buxton’s defense (10 DRS in 2019) and bat (110 wRC+ in 295 at-bats this year).

Injury Notes: Kluber, Gallo, Dietrich, Casali, Robinson

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After just one inning of work in a rehab start on Sunday, Corey Kluber was removed from the game due to left abdominal tightness.  (Cleveland.com’s Joe Noga was among those to report the news.)  Kluber is expected to receive further tests on Monday, though the early word is that Kluber was simply removed as a precaution.  While the Indians and their fans won’t fully exhale until those tests come back clean, it’s at least some measure of good news that Kluber didn’t have a setback involving his forearm, which was fractured back on May 1.  Sunday’s start could potentially have served as Kluber’s final rehab outing before being activated from the injured list, and now it seems as if he’ll likely have to get one more minor league start under his belt before the Tribe can be fully prepared to bring him back to the 25-man roster.

Some more on injury situations from around baseball…

  • Rangers slugger Joey Gallo is targeting a mid-September return from hamate bone surgery, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes.  The procedure back on July 25 was expected to keep Gallo out for four-to-six weeks, though since he only just started taking light swings off a tee, his recovery will be at the long end of that projected timeline.  “I don’t want any setbacks, but I think I’m going to be able to play before the season is over.  That’s the hope,” Gallo said.
  • Two injured Reds are working their way back to the club, as manager David Bell told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that Derek Dietrich will begin a Triple-A rehab assignment on Monday, while catcher Curt Casali starts a rehab assignment of his own on Tuesday.  Both players could be back in time for the Reds’ series against the Pirates that begins on Friday.  Dietrich hit the IL due to left shoulder inflammation on August 5, while this will actually be Casali’s second rehab stint since first being placed on the IL on July 18 with a right knee sprain.  Casali’s previous assignment was halted after two games due to soreness in his left hamstring.
  • Cardinals utilityman Drew Robinson recently underwent a season-ending, “progressive” version of Tommy John surgery on his left elbow, manager Mike Shildt told MLB.com’s Anne Rogers and other reporters.  The surgery was only a partial version of the normal Tommy John procedure and it was on Robinson’s non-throwing arm, so Shildt believes Robinson will be ready for Spring Training.  Acquired in the trade that sent Patrick Wisdom to the Rangers last December, Robinson appeared in five MLB games for the Cardinals and hit .265/.385/.423 over 234 PA for Triple-A Memphis this season before hitting the injured list on June 24.  Robinson has some very solid minor league numbers over his ten pro seasons, though he hasn’t hit much over 253 Major League plate appearances with Texas and St. Louis from 2016-18.

Joey Gallo To Miss At Least Four Weeks After Hamate Bone Surgery

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9:16pm:  Gallo is “likely” to miss six weeks, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes.

5:38PM: Gallo underwent the surgery today and is expected to be sidelined for at least four weeks, Rangers executive VP of communications John Blake tweets.  Willie Calhoun has been called up to replace Gallo on the 25-man roster.

2:07PM: Rangers outfielder Joey Gallo will undergo surgery to fix a broken hamate bone in his right hand, The Athletic’s Levi Weaver reports (Twitter link).  Reports yesterday suggested that Gallo would likely require an injured list stint to recover from a nagging wrist injury.

Judging from the timelines associated to most players who have undergone hamate procedures, Gallo should miss roughly four-to-six weeks of time, though there’s obviously quite a bit of variance involved given the nature of hand injuries.  If Gallo’s recovery time is on the longer end of that spectrum, the rest of his season could very well be in doubt, as the Rangers might ultimately opt to just shut Gallo down in September rather than bring him back for two or three weeks of what will likely be meaningless games.

Even if Gallo is able to return, his latest injury is the second major interruption in what began as a huge breakout season for the 25-year-old.  Gallo was hitting .276/.421/.653 with 17 homers over his first 214 plate appearances of the season before an oblique sent him to the IL on June 2.  After returning in late June, Gallo posted only a .197/.305/.465 slash line over his next 83 PA, as he had reportedly been battling wrist issues for several weeks in the leadup to his broken hamate diagnosis.

While always a big slugger in his two previous seasons, Gallo’s big steps forward as an all-around hitter (he had only a .203 career batting average and .317 career OBP prior to 2019) and his above-average defensive grades as a center fielder and left fielder have to make the Rangers feel like they’ve found a new face of the franchise.  Gallo’s huge numbers were a big part of the Rangers’ surprisingly competitive performance over the first few months, and it isn’t any shock that the team’s recent slump has coincided with Gallo’s lack of production.  With Gallo now on the IL, attention will turn to what names Texas is likely to deal away prior to the July 31 trade deadline.

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