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NL Notes: Pirates, Nicasio, Harper, Giants

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The Pirates controversially parted with reliever Juan Nicasio in a money-saving move last month, but the now-Cardinal and impending free agent would be open to an offseason return to the Bucs, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. “Yes, I would consider it. I liked it there a lot,” said Nicasio, who joined Pittsburgh prior to the 2016 season. It’s unclear whether the Pirates will pursue Nicasio over the winter, but he has put himself in position to secure a nice deal from them or someone else with his output this year. In 69 innings divided among Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and St. Louis, the 31-year-old has posted a 2.74 ERA with 8.74 K/9, 2.35 BB/9 and a 45.9 percent groundball rate.

More from Pittsburgh and two other NL cities:

  • The Nationals plan to activate right fielder Bryce Harper for their series opener against the Phillies on Monday, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets. Harper left the Nats’ game against San Francisco on Aug. 12 after suffering a gruesome-looking knee injury, thus derailing an MVP-caliber campaign, but he’ll have a chance to be a major factor in October for the World Series hopefuls.
  • Giants right-hander Matt Cain sounded uncertain on Saturday when discussing whether he plans to continue his career in 2018, Chris Haft of MLB.com writes. What’s clear is that the Giants will buy out the former front-line starter’s $21MM club option in favor of a $7.5MM buyout in the offseason, ending a fruitful tenure in the Bay Area. While the 32-year-old Cain is in the midst of a fourth straight rough season, he has been outstanding for the majority of his career in San Francisco, where he has won three World Series and earned three All-Star nods since debuting in 2005.
  • Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang won’t need to come off the restricted list to participate in the Dominic Winter League, general manager Neal Huntington told Adam Berry of MLB.com and other reporters Sunday (Twitter link). Kang is already in the Dominican Republic and working out with his winter ball team, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Their season begins Oct. 20, and playing for them will represent his first game action since the 2016 major league season. Kang hasn’t been able to secure a U.S. work visa since earning his third DUI charge in his native South Korea last winter. The Pirates will set an offseason deadline to decide whether they can count on Kang for 2018, according to Huntington. “We’ll get to a point in time where, if we still don’t know, we’ll plan as if he’s not going to be here,” he said. “If he is able to secure a visa to get into the country, we’ll have an extra really good player.”

NL Central Notes: Nicasio, Baez, Cards’ Outfield

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The National League Central division race is the only one in baseball with at least three teams within five games of first place. As we watch to see how things shake out down the stretch, here’s the latest:

  • There are a few more details available on the strange circumstances that led to the Cardinals acquiring reliever Juan Nicasio from the Phillies earlier today– but without the ability to utilize him in the postseason. A team other than the Cards won the claim for Nicasio when the Pirates put him on trade waivers in August (only to pull him back when no deal was reached), per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). Rather, it may actually have been yet another NL Central rival — the Cubs — that had the highest-priority claim on Nicasio last month, per Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — which would mean the Cards bypassed a shot at adding him at that time. In any event, St. Louis did place a successful claim this time around, when the Phillies ran him through trade waivers after acquiring him via outright waivers on the last day of August, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets.
  • Javier Baez’s elevated play in the place of the injured Addison Russell has been a boon for the Cubs, writes ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers. Manager Joe Maddon feels that Baez’s status as a part-time player earlier in his career has been to his benefit. “If he had [played 30 games in a row] two years ago, he would have buried himself,” the skipper tells Rogers. “…I don’t think he would have made the same adjustments at the plate. You would have seen a lot more mistakes on defense. … You would not have seen the same baserunning.” Since taking over as the starting shortstop, Baez is hitting .292/.350/.522 with seven homers — albeit with a 28% strikeout rate (par for the course for the free-swinger) and a .366 BABIP (which isn’t entirely sustainable). Eventually, Chicago will have to sort out playing time for both Russell and Baez, though that likely falls into the “good problem to have” category for the Cubs.
  • Looking further out into the future for the Cardinals, the team faces a potentially interesting slate of questions — and possibilities — involving its outfield in the coming offseason. As Jesus Ortiz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, picking and choosing between the many existing options carries plenty of risk, but also perhaps could open some intriguing avenues to shoring up other needs. “The question is balancing future projection on performance relative to playing time,” says president of baseball operations John Mozeliak. “Clearly you’ve seen some exciting things from really everybody involved. But at some point we’re going to have to decide who we think our top three outfielders are.” While players such as Harrison Bader, Jose Martinez, and Magneuris Sierra don’t have much experience, all occupy 40-man spots and are arguably ready for a full shot at the majors. Tyler O’Neill is pushing for his own opportunity and will need to be added to the MLB roster. With high-priced free agent Dexter Fowler and breakout star Tommy Pham seemingly unlikely to go anywhere, that could leave the Cards considering deals involving still-youthful, former top prospects Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty.

Cardinals Acquire Juan Nicasio

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The Phillies announced that they have traded right-hander Juan Nicasio to the Cardinals in exchange for minor league infielder Eliezer Alvarez. Philadelphia had recently claimed Nicasio off outright waivers from the Pirates. Nicasio will give the Cardinals’ bullpen a boost, though since he’s been acquired after Aug. 31, he won’t be eligible for the postseason roster if St. Louis qualifies. Nicasio is a free agent after the season.

Juan Nicasio | Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY SportsNicasio’s time with the Phillies will last all of a week, bringing to a close one of the more puzzling sequences in recent August trade history. The Pirates were unable to pass Nicasio through revocable trade waivers last month, ultimately pulling him back off waivers and placing him on outright waivers and instead losing him to the Phillies, who had top waiver priority, for nothing other than salary relief that amounted to roughly $600K.

The move was confusing enough that Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington felt the need to explain the team’s rationale to the media. Per Huntington, Nicasio was claimed by a “playoff-caliber” team on trade waivers — it’s not clear if that Cardinals were that club, though it’d make sense — and the Bucs opted to place him on outright waivers in hopes of getting him to an AL contender rather than helping a “direct competitor.” (Trade waivers are league-specific, whereas outright waiver priority ignores league and is solely determined in reverse order of MLB standings.)

Nicasio will ultimately end up with a direct competitor of the Pirates anyhow, though he won’t be able to pitch in the postseason. Moreover, the Phillies will make out extremely well in this deal, as Alvarez entered the season ranked 10th on Baseball America’s list of the Cardinals’ top 30 prospects. He currently ranks 19th among St. Louis farmhands in the eyes of Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. In essence, the Phillies were able to claim a Cardinals prospect off waivers, which ultimately cost them about $138K in terms of salary (the pro-rated portion of Nicasio’s week-long tenure with the team).

For the Cardinals, Nicasio immediately becomes one of their best relievers. Through 61 1/3 innings, Nicasio has averaged 8.95 K/9, 2.64 BB/9 and a 46.9 percent ground-ball rate en route to an excellent 2.79 ERA. The 31-year-old has averaged a career-best 95.4 mph on his heater in 2017 and is sporting a 10.7 percent swinging-strike rate that would rank third among current St. Louis relievers (not including the injured Trevor Rosenthal, who led the team’s bullpen in that regard).

Alvarez, 23 next month, has spent the season with St. Louis’ Double-A affiliate, hitting .247/.321/.382 with four homers and eight steals (in 11 tries). Those numbers don’t immediately stand out, though it’s worth noting that Alvarez skipped Class-A Advanced entirely and was considerably younger than the league average in Double-A.

Callis and Mayo note in their free scouting report that Alvarez has a line-drive approach with a knack for making hard contact and could eventually grow into more power. He’s an above-average runner and could profile as a regular at second base down the line if everything breaks right for him. Alvarez was added to the Cardinals’ 40-man roster last winter to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, so he’ll go onto the Phillies’ 40-man roster and fill the spot that was vacated by trading Nicasio.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Neal Huntington On Juan Nicasio Decision

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In one of the more puzzling waiver placements in recent memory, the Pirates opted to place right-hander Juan Nicasio — the team’s second-best reliever behind Felipe Rivero — on outright waivers earlier this week. The Pirates have drawn heavy criticism for the decision, which looked to be largely about saving roughly $600K through season’s end — or slightly more than the league minimum salary for one player over the course of a full season ($535K).

Recognizing the general befuddlement over the move, Pirates GM Neal Huntington issued a statement to the media explaining his rationale with the transaction. (Via Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.) Huntington revealed that a “playoff-caliber” club claimed Nicasio off revocable trade waivers earlier in the month but did so with the intention of blocking others from obtaining Nicasio rather than adding the right-hander to its own roster.

The Pirates had the option of dumping Nicasio’s contract on the team that claimed him, but that would’ve involved aiding a “direct competitor,” per Huntington. Rather, the Bucs placed Nicasio on outright waivers in hopes of getting him to the American League, as outright waiver priority is not league-specific like revocable trade waivers.

“We chose to take the chance to see if by placing Juan on outright waivers he would end up with a different playoff contender, preferably one in the American League,” the GM stated. The Pirates surely didn’t expect to see the Phillies, who possess MLB’s worst record, claim Nicasio. The right-hander is a free agent at season’s end, making it a surprise that any non-contending club would claim him. Huntington would go on to acknowledge the “minimal” cost savings the move created while also labeling the transaction a forward-looking move that would allow the team to evaluate longer-term pieces in high-leverage spots.

While the Pirates likely expected that the placement on outright waivers would allow Nicasio to fall to a team such as the Royals, Mariners or Rangers — each of whom would have claiming priority over NL contenders such as the Marlins and Cardinals — the move remains difficult to understand. For a club with a perennially low payroll, the effective dumping of their second-best reliever to a team with a worse record comes with significant public relations ramifications.

Even if the team’s intentions were primarily driven by a desire to get Nicasio onto a contending club, a frugal team such as the Pirates will be hard-pressed to sell the notion that the move was not motivated by cost-savings — especially just one year after having traded Francisco Liriano in a deal that was primarily viewed as a means of obtaining salary relief. Nicasio’s departure also seems unlikely to sit well with the remaining players in the clubhouse. Rivero, for instance, has already lamented the departure of his bullpen-mate on social media (Twitter link).

The decision looks all the more questionable when noting that the Bucs could have moved Nicasio prior to the non-waiver deadline as well. While the team surely hoped to contend for the NL Central at that point in the season — Pittsburgh was 5.5 games out of first place on July 31 — the Pirates still traded left-hander Tony Watson to the Dodgers just before the non-waiver deadline. And, a year ago, the Bucs flipped closer Mark Melancon to the Nationals in exchange for Rivero while still aiming to contend.

Observations such as these are always easy to make with the benefit of hindsight. It stands to reason that Pittsburgh was very likely reluctant to move two of its top three relievers at the deadline, when the postseason still seemed within reach. However, the end result of the process leaves the organization worse for the wear in more ways than one.

Phillies Claim Juan Nicasio, Designate Brock Stassi For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever Juan Nicasio off waivers from the Pirates. Philadelphia designated first baseman/outfielder Brock Stassi for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

Jun 20, 2017; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Juan Nicasio (12) throws a pitch during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a surprising move for the Phils: Nicasio is slated to reach free agency at season’s end; he’s owed another $600K or so through the end of the year; and Philadelphia clearly is not contending in 2017. It also seems unlikely Nicasio will be flipped via trade. (He was already claimed and pulled back from revocable trade waivers, and any deal would likely need to be struck by the end of the day — which represents the deadline for adding outside players with postseason eligibility.)

Perhaps the Phils simply are willing to pay for Nicasio to help win some close ballgames over the final month of the season, though at this point the team is in position to earn the top 2018 draft pick (with the worst record in baseball — which also gave them the top waiver position). It also won’t hurt to have a veteran in the bullpen with so many young pitchers on the rosters.

The cross-state rival Pirates, on the other hand, evidently saw an opportunity to save some payroll in what has turned into a lost season. GM Neal Huntington acknowledged as much, as Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (links to Twitter). Huntington also cited a desire not to “help a direct competitor” as well as to allow other hurlers a chance to pitch in the late innings.

There’s little doubt that many contenders would have liked a shot at adding Nicasio down the stretch. He has thrown sixty excellent innings this year, working to a 2.85 ERA with a 60:18 K/BB ratio. Odds are, Nicasio will step into a late-inning role for the Phillies. So long as he maintains something like his current trajectory, the 30-year-old will likely be in line for a strong, multi-year contract over the winter.

As for Stassi, the 27-year-old struggled in his first taste of the majors this year. Over 90 trips to the plate, he hit just .167/.278/.295 with a pair of long balls. He has also fallen off in the upper minors after two consecutive productive campaigns.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pirates Place Juan Nicasio, Wade LeBlanc On Irrevocable Waivers

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6:34pm: Southpaw Wade LeBlanc is also on irrevocable waivers, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets. LeBlanc is earning just $750K this year and can be controlled next year via arbitration or a $1.25MM club option (with a $50K buyout).

The 33-year-old lefty has thrown 61 1/3 innings on the season, working to a 4.99 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. He has surrendered ten long balls in that span. As has been the case for most of his career, LeBlanc has posted reverse platoon splits, with lefty batters hammering him and righties managing only a .234/.288/.418 slash.

6:14pm: The Pirates have placed right-handed reliever Juan Nicasio on outright waivers, according to a report from Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Unlike revocable trade waivers, outright waivers cannot be rescinded — meaning that any team can simply claim Nicasio at this point.

That’s a surprising decision, at first glance. Nicasio, who’ll soon turn 31, has been nothing shy of outstanding this year. Over sixty frames, he owns a 2.85 ERA with sixty strikeouts against 18 walks. He’s also throwing harder than ever before, averaging 95.8 mph with his fastball while working in high-leverage spots.

On the other hand, the Bucs have now slipped so far in the standings — eight games out of a postseason spot entering action today — that there’s just no realistic hope for the team to contend. Nicasio is still set to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $600K, as Brink notes, after avoiding arbitration for $3.65MM last fall.

Surely, the club would prefer to get something for Nicasio via trade; MLBTR’s Steve Adams ranked him second among remaining August trade candidates a few days ago. But it could well be that Nicasio was claimed and then pulled back from revocable waivers earlier this month. In that event, it makes good sense for the club to simply hope to find a taker for the salary, though it’s somewhat curious that the team did not utilize irrevocable trade waivers (rather than outright waivers) in case he does clear.

It seems reasonable to expect multiple teams to place claims on Nicasio. Because Nicasio is on outright waivers, rather than irrevocable trade waivers, teams can claim him in order of record (worst to first) regardless of which league they are in. (Otherwise, he’d have been available first to N.L. clubs.)

Rosenthal’s Latest: Pirates, Astros, Gray, Darvish, Braves

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Thanks to a recent surge that has helped them climb over the .500 mark, the Pirates have ruled out trading either outfielder Andrew McCutchen or utilityman Josh Harrison prior to the deadline, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (video link). However, they’re not necessarily going into the deadline as full-blown buyers. Rather, the team could both buy and sell, as it did last year, and is willing to listen to offers for complementary players such as left-handed setup man Tony Watson, righty reliever Juan Nicasio, third baseman David Freese and first baseman/outfielder John Jaso. As for starter Gerrit Cole, the likelihood is that he’ll stay put, though the Pirates could still entertain offers for him, per Rosenthal.

More from Rosenthal:

  • The Astros appeared to be making a serious push for Athletics righty Sonny Gray at one point this week, but they’re not aggressively involved in the sweepstakes for the 27-year-old right now, according to Rosenthal (FanRag’s Jon Heyman issued a similar report Thursday). Given the recent success of starters Mike Fiers and Brad Peacock, Houston could pursue an elite reliever instead of another piece for its rotation, suggests Rosenthal, who adds that prospect Derek Fisher will likely take over in left field next month if the team doesn’t trade him. Baseball America’s 54th-ranked prospect, the 23-year-old has slashed .311/.380/.584 with 21 home runs and 16 steals across 375 Triple-A plate appearances this season. Fisher got his first taste of big league action last month and swatted two homers in just 21 trips to the plate.
  • As one would expect, the Rangers will have an “awfully high” asking price for ace Yu Darvish if they do market him, relays Rosenthal. Even though Darvish is an impending free agent on a team that doesn’t look likely to make the playoffs, trading him isn’t as obvious as it might seem, contends Rosenthal. Not only do the Rangers “have an unusually close relationship” with the 30-year-old and a desire to keep him for the long haul, but retaining Darvish for the stretch run will give them a better chance to make up a 4.5-game deficit in the wild-card race. Also, they’d lose the ability to make Darvish a qualifying offer after after the season, which Rosenthal regards as a formality. The Rangers will net a pick after the second round if they issue Darvish a QO and he rejects it.
  • If the Braves trade lefty Jaime Garcia, they might use the money they save by dealing him (up to $4.7MM) to acquire a controllable reliever, says Rosenthal, who lists the Orioles’ Brad Brach as a possibility. Brach may not be a realistic target, though, given that Orioles general manager Dan Duquette shot down the idea of trading veterans Saturday.

Pirates Notes: Closer, McCutchen, Hurdle, Rebuild, Rivero

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Right-hander Chris Leroux, who played 41 of his 65 career MLB games in a Pirates uniform, is moving into a very different endeavo(u)r as the new star of The Bachelor Canada.  Leroux, 33, posted a 6.03 ERA over 71 2/3 career innings in the bigs from 2009-14, pitching for the Marlins and Yankees as well as the Bucs.  The Montreal native pitched for Canada in this year’s World Baseball Classic before announcing his retirement in March.

Here’s more (on the field) news out of Pittsburgh…

  • The Pirates announced to reporters today that they’ve pulling left-hander Tony Watson from the closer’s role (Twitter link via Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). For the time being, Pittsburgh will rely on a combination of left-hander Felipe Rivero and right-hander Juan Nicasio in save situations. Both throw considerably harder than Watson and both have enjoyed a markedly better season than Watson, who has limped to a 4.44 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 41.4% ground-ball rate. Watson has been charged with two earned runs in four of his past seven appearances, and those struggles prompted the shift. The 32-year-old is a prime trade candidate, though his recent slump and deteriorating peripherals mean he’ll likely need a quick rebound if the Pirates are to receive much of value in exchange for their longtime reliever. To keep tabs on the ninth-inning situation for the Pirates and the other 29 teams, be sure to follow MLBTR’s affiliate Twitter site, @CloserNews.
  • MLB.com’s Bill Ladson recently spoke to Andrew McCutchen, Clint Hurdle and Josh Harrison in three separate interviews on the same episode of his Newsmakers podcast. Bucs fans will want to check out the interviews in their entirety (either at the provided link or here for a direct download), but here are a few quotes of note, including McCutchen on how he has tried to ignore persistent trade rumors.  “I just focus on my team, focus on the guys around me,” McCutchen said.  “The more I try to focus on, ’Where am I going to be? Am I going to be here? Am I going to stay here?’ the more I lose that time with my teammates — with my friends — the more I lose the present. … Of course this is where I want to be. This is what I have on me right now, and that’s all I’m focusing on.”
  • Speaking of those rumors, the outfielder chalked up the speculation to the need for hot stove chatter during a generally quiet Pirates offseason.  “The take was: ’People need news. People need something to talk about. People need that big name because that’s the only thing that’s going to draw peoples’ attention to click on a page.’ That’s the way I looked at it,” McCutchen said.  “People need something to talk about. So, in the midst of all of it, there was nothing that I could do. There may be some talks going on, but I’m a big name, and that’s about the only name that’s really big right now, at the time, so they talked about it. There could’ve been 10 other guys, 10 other big-name guys, that could’ve been in the same position in the news as myself, but since it was kind of a slow offseason, that’s the reason I think it was put out there. People need something to talk about. There’s nothing I can do about that. I can’t control that.”
  • The Pirates’ struggles both this year and in 2016 have led to whispers that the club could be considering a rebuild, though Hurdle denied this.  “Our focus is to win now, to win next year, win the year after,” Hurdle said.  “[General manager] Neal Huntington has echoed that statement ever since he’s been here.  Rebuilding… we reignite at times. We refuel at times. However, we don’t consider it rebuilding.”
  • Speaking of Rivero, his new part-time closer, Hurdle said that Huntington was “steadfast in wanting Rivero included…from the start” in the trade that brought the southpaw to Pittsburgh from the Nationals last year in exchange for Mark Melancon.  After two good seasons, Rivero has been flat-out dominant this season, posting an 0.58 ERA, 9.9 K/9 and 5.67 K/BB rate over 31 innings.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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Quite frankly, there were too many arbitration agreements today to reasonably stuff into one post. So here’s a rundown of the National League players that have avoided arbitration on smaller deals (American League deals here). You can see all of the arbitration “action” thus far in a sortable, filterable format by checking out MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker. All projections referenced in this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Wily Peralta and Carlos Torres have agreed to one-year deals, according to the team’s Twitter account. Peralta will earn $4.275MM (compared to $4.4MM projection), per Heyman. Torres was projected to make $2MM, but will get slightly more at $2.175MM, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter).
  • Reliever George Kontos gets $1.75MM from the Giants, Heyman tweets. He had projected at $1.7MM.
  • The Diamondbacks also reached agreement with lefty Patrick Corbin, righty Randall Delgado, and catcher Chris Herrmann, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (links to Twitter). Delgado gets $1.775MM and Herrmann receives $937,500. As for Corbin, he’ll take home $3.95MM, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter), which falls a bit shy of his $4.2MM projection.
  • Infielder Eduardo Nunez will receive $4.2MM from the Giants, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). San Francisco has also reached agreement with lefty Will Smith, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). He’ll receive $2.5MM, just over his $2.3MM projection, Heyman tweets.
  • The Phillies settled at $4.2MM with righty Jeanmar Gomez, per Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He falls just a big shy of his $4.6MM projection.
  • The Cardinals have announced arb deals with Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist. Rosenthal receives $6.4MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which is just $100K over his projection. Siegrist projected at $1.9MM, but his salary has yet to be reported.
  • Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom have each avoided arbitration with the Mets. Harvey gets $5.125MM in his second arb year, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Meanwhile, deGrom will receive $4.05MM in his first trip through the arb process, per ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin (via Twitter). New York has also agreed with lefty Josh Edgin, Rubin tweets, though terms remain unreported.

Earlier Updates

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Quick Hits: Twins, Hughes, D’Arnaud, Aoki, Mariners

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Some items from around baseball as we head into a new week…

  • Brian Dozier is drawing interest from other teams but the Twins aren’t looking to tie Phil Hughes’ contract to Dozier in trade talks, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets.  Hughes still has three years and $39.6MM remaining on the extension he signed with the Twins prior to the 2015 season, and since inking that new deal, Hughes has struggled badly and battled injury problems.  The veteran righty underwent surgery to help alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome last summer, and Hughes believes he can regain his old form now that he’s healthy.
  • While Hughes may not be getting shopped, Berardino also notes (Twitter link) that the Twins aren’t looking to add payroll, even after freeing up some money by parting ways with Trevor Plouffe, Kurt Suzuki and Tommy Milone.  As one rival official puts it, “everyone knows they’re rebuilding.”
  • The Mets don’t seem to be looking for a big change at catcher, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports that the team told representatives of a free agent catcher that Travis d’Arnaud will be given every opportunity to succeed next season.  Since the Mets offered d’Arnaud as part of trade talks for Jonathan Lucroy over the summer, it’s notable that the team is reaffirming its commitment to the talented but oft-injured catcher, though it could be that New York was more enamored with Lucroy than it is with the options on free agent catching market.  Ackert does note that the Mets could look for a more reliable backup, given d’Arnaud’s injury history and the shared offensive struggles of Kevin Plawecki and Rene Rivera.
  • Though Nori Aoki has only been an Astro for less than three weeks, the veteran outfielder may now be a non-tender candidate, the Houston Chronicle’s Jake Kaplan writes.  If the Astros plan to use the newly-signed Josh Reddick in left field, Aoki will be a very highly-paid fourth outfielder (thanks to a projected $6.8MM arbitration salary) and possibly an expendable part.  If the Astros use Reddick in right and move George Springer to center field, Aoki will again have more of a clear role, platooning with Jake Marisnick in left.  Houston has also been linked to some first baseman in rumors, which could push Yulieski Gurriel to left field and again leave Aoki without regular playing time.
  • For the second straight offseason, Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto is acting quickly on lower-profile moves to elevate his team’s talent floor, ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield writes.  Additions like Danny Valencia, Richie Shaffer and Carlos Ruiz fill holes and add more valuable depth around the Mariners’ core players, the type of top-to-bottom roster management that former Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik was unable to achieve in his time with the club.
  • While several big-name relievers are dominating headlines this winter, MLB.com’s Mike Petriello cites Daniel Hudson, Juan Nicasio and Koji Uehara as relatively inexpensive arms who could provide major dividends in a bullpen next season, perhaps even as closers.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

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