Angels Sign Shohei Ohtani To Two-Year Extension, Avoid Arbitration
The Angels have announced a two-year, $8.5MM contract extension with pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani. The deal will keep the two sides from an arbitration hearing, after they failed to reach an agreement on Ohtani’s 2021 salary prior to the arb deadline. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link) reports that Ohtani will earn $3MM in 2021 and $5.5MM in 2022.
The agreement wraps up the Angels’ final outstanding arbitration-eligible case for the 2020-21 offseason, and also sidesteps that may have been one of the more unusual arb hearings of all time. Ohtani and his camp were looking for $3.3MM in his first trip through the arbitration process, while Los Angeles countered with a $2.5MM figure. Given Ohtani’s unique two-way status, the injuries that have limited him on the mound over the last two seasons, and his down year the plate in 2020, an arbiter would have had plenty to weigh in determining Ohtani’s salary considering the lack of precedent.
Teams using the “file and trial” approach to arbitration cases usually don’t negotiate past the initial deadline unless a multi-year deal is being discussed. The two-year contract will give the Angels some cost certainty while also giving Ohtani $8MM in guaranteed money, and an opportunity at another arbitration raise for his third and final year of arb eligibility in 2023. (Assuming, of course, that Ohtani and the Angels don’t work out a longer-term deal before then that would extend the Halos’ team control over his services.)
After arriving in Major League Baseball with great fanfare during the 2017-18 offseason, Ohtani is still something of a question mark through three seasons, but he has also shown signs of why he was such a sought-after player. He captured AL Rookie Of The Year honors after hitting .285/.361/.564 with 22 homers over 367 plate appearances while also posting a 3.31 ERA and an outstanding 29.9 strikeout percentage and 19.4K-BB% over 51 2/3 innings on the mound.
Since that incredible debut, however, Ohtani has pitched only 1 2/3 MLB innings. The right-hander didn’t pitch at all in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery, and then a flexor strain shut down his 2020 pitching endeavors after just two outings — Ohtani crushed for seven runs over those 1 2/3 frames. Ohtani was still able to serve as a DH in 2019 and hit a very solid .286/.343/.505 over 425 PA, but then struggled to a .190/.291/.366 slash line in 175 PA this past season.
Ohtani made no excuses for his 2020 performance, describing his play as “pathetic” during a Kyodo News interview back in November. He is expected to be healthy for Spring Training, however, and Ohtani is intent on re-establishing himself as a two-way threat. Help on either front would be eagerly welcomed by an Angels team that has designs on finally getting back into contention in 2021, but a rebound from Ohtani as a pitcher would be particularly helpful considering how Anaheim has long looked for a front-of-the-rotation ace. The Halos acquired Jose Quintana and Alex Cobb this offseason to help beef up a six-man pitching staff, as Ohtani is again expected to pitch only one day per week.
Angels Sign Juan Lagares To Minor-League Deal
11:56 am: Lagares’ deal would pay him $1.25MM if he makes the Angels’ major league roster, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link).
10:13 am: The Angels have signed outfielder Juan Lagares to a minor-league contract, as first reported by Rolando Fermín (Twitter link) and confirmed by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.
Lagares has appeared in parts of eight major league seasons, all as a member of the Mets. A high-end defender, Lagares had a run as New York’s primary center fielder between 2013-15 but has seen his playing time drop off a bit in recent seasons. Never a particularly strong hitter, Lagares slumped to a .213/.279/.326 slash line over 285 plate appearances in 2019. He signed with the Padres last offseason but elected free agency after failing to crack the big league roster out of spring training. Lagares then returned to the Mets, where he appeared in two games as a defensive replacement but didn’t take an at-bat.
The 31-year-old now looks to have a decent opportunity to play his way onto the Angels’ roster this spring. Young talents Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh might be ticketed for the minors to start the season. That would only leave Taylor Ward as a primary outfielder on Los Angeles’ 40-man roster beyond the projected starting group of Justin Upton, Mike Trout and Dexter Fowler. (Infielders Jared Walsh, Franklin Barreto and Matt Thaiss each have very limited MLB experience in the grass, as well). Fellow non-roster invitee Scott Schebler looks to be Lagares’ most direct competition for a bench spot at the moment, although it’d hardly be surprising to see the Angels bring in another outfielder or two on a minor-league deal before spring training gets underway.
Angels To Acquire Dexter Fowler
9:57pm: The Angels are receiving $12.75MM in the deal, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times tweets.
9:28pm: The Angels will acquire switch-hitting outfielder Dexter Fowler from the Cardinals, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Along with Fowler, they’re getting cash considerations from the Cardinals, per an announcement from the Halos. That makes it clear this is a salary dump on the Cards’ part. Fowler waived a no-trade clause to make this swap possible.
The Cardinals signed Fowler to a five-year, $82.5MM contract before the 2017 campaign, but the former Rockie, Astro and Cub hasn’t necessarily lived up to the deal so far. Fowler, who will turn 35 next month, batted .233/.334/.408 with 49 home runs and 21 stolen bases in 1,500 plate appearances as a Redbird. He’s owed another $14.5MM in 2021, the final year of his deal, but the Cardinals are moving on after acquiring former Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado‘s massive contract earlier this week. Harrison Bader, Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson look as if they’ll be the team’s starting outfielders in 2021.
Fowler should be a stopgap for the Angels, who have the preeminent player in the game in center fielder Mike Trout. Left fielder Justin Upton is also still in the fold, while high-end prospects Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh haven’t established themselves in the bigs yet. Fowler, who played under now-Angels manager Joe Maddon as a Cub, should keep the seat warm in right until one of those two are ready to take over for good.
“We think there’s a lot left in the tank,” Angels general manger Perry Minasian said of Fowler (via Nightengale).
Angels Claim Robel Garcia
The Angels announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder Robel Garcia off waivers from the Mets, who designated him for assignment Monday to clear roster space for trade acquisition Jordan Yamamoto. The Angels’ 40-man roster is now up to 39 players.
The 27-year-old Garcia took an unconventional route (to say the least) to his 2019 Major League debut with the Cubs. The former Indians farmhand was out of affiliated ball from 2014-18 before the Cubs caught a look at him playing for a professional team in Italy. They brought him in on a minor league pact, and Garcia hit the ground running in Double-A. He earned a promotion to Triple-A after just 92 plate appearances and showed off mammoth power between those two levels, slugging 27 long balls in just 388 trips to the plate.
It took Garcia all of 98 games between Double-A and Triple-A to earn a call to the big leagues. In the span of a calendar year, he went from playing in the Italian Baseball League to starting at second base for the Cubs.
The Cubs gave Garcia 80 plate appearances in 2019. He responded with a tepid .208 average and .275 on-base percentage but still slugged .500 thanks to five homers, two doubles and two triples in that short time. Garcia also punched out in 35 of those 80 plate appearances, so while the raw power he possesses is plain to see, there’s some obvious work to be done on his approach at the plate. He still has a minor league option remaining, so the Angels can shuttle him between Triple-A and the Majors if he makes it to the end of Spring Training still on the 40-man roster.
Angels Acquire Alex Cobb
FEB. 2: Both teams have announced the trade. The Angels will pay $5MM of Cobb’s $15MM, and some of that includes deferrals, Connolly tweets.
FEB. 1, 12:42pm: The Angels will send infield prospect Jahmai Jones to the Orioles as part of the discussed deal, Rosenthal and colleague Fabian Ardaya report (Twitter link). The Orioles are eating more than half of Cobb’s $15MM salary in order to facilitate the deal, according to Connolly.
It’s rather surprising to see Jones included in this swap. While his stock has tumbled in recent seasons, he’s a former second-round draft pick who at one point ranked among MLB’s top 100 prospects at Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. Baseball America ranked Jones 11th on the Halos’ 2020-21 list.
The 23-year-old Jones went 3-for-7 in a very brief MLB debut with the Angels in 2020, so he’s a departure from some of the Orioles’ other prospect acquisitions. He’s a near-MLB-ready piece that could be plugged into the big league mix as soon as this season. Jones has played second base and center field throughout his minor league career. His bat has stalled a bit in Double-A, where he’s batted .237/.315/.338 in a very pitcher-friendly environment.
9:54am: The two teams are indeed in talks on the trade, though MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets that it’s not yet close to completion. Talks still “seem to be trending in the right direction,” per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko.
9:20am: The Angels and Orioles are working out a trade to send right-hander Alex Cobb from Baltimore to Anaheim, Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report (via Twitter). Details are still being finalized, Connolly adds. The Orioles are surely including some cash to offset a portion of the $15MM that Cobb is owed under the final season of his four-year, $57MM contract with the O’s. That deal contains a 10-team no-trade clause, but the Angels either aren’t on it or Cobb is willing to waive it to move to a more competitive club.
Cobb signed late in the 2017-18 offseason, inking his surprising four-year pact with the O’s on March 21, when Spring Training was nearing its completion. He didn’t make his team debut until April 14 that year, but even with some extra time to tune up, it appeared that the lack of a full Spring Training was tough on Cobb, who was tagged for 17 runs on 30 hits in his first three starts.
From that point forth, Cobb largely righted the ship, pitching to a respectable 4.22 ERA from May through season’s end. Cobb’s strikeout percentage was nowhere near what it’d been at his best in Tampa Bay, however, and that remains the case today. A back injury torpedoed Cobb’s 2019 season, but he returned in 2020 to make 10 starts with a 4.30 ERA (4.65 SIERA), a 16.8 percent strikeout rate and an eight percent walk rate.
Cobb’s recent strikeout rates are well south of the league average, and last year’s eight percent walk rate was his highest since his rookie year back in 2011. His Statcast profile doesn’t paint a particularly favorable picture, as his hard-hit rate and average opponents’ exit velocity were among the highest marks of any pitcher in the league. Cobb’s 54.5 percent ground-ball rate is encouraging, though — particularly when considering that he’d be playing in front of a strong infield defense in Anaheim (Anthony Rendon, Jose Iglesias, David Fletcher).
Certainly, Cobb isn’t the top-of-the-rotation starter that most believe the Angels need, but the cost of acquisition here is likely to be relatively small, and he’ll give the Halos another able-bodied arm to soak up some innings. Teams need far more than five starters to get through a 162-game season under normal circumstances, and that reality will be amplified exponentially in 2021 after last year’s shortened schedule truncated every Major League pitcher’s workload.
Cobb joins Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Jose Quintana, Shohei Ohtani, Jaime Barria and Patrick Sandoval as rotation options on the 40-man roster for the Angels. It’s likely that everyone from that bunch will get some starts, and it’s worth wondering whether the Angels will consider a six-man rotation given their bulk approach to their rotation composition. That will be determined by new general manager Perry Minasian and manager Joe Maddon, the latter of whom is plenty familiar with Cobb after managing the first several seasons of his career with the Rays.
For the Orioles, subtracting Cobb from an already suspect rotation thins out the depth and, more importantly in ownership’s eyes, scales back the payroll. Even with Cobb on the books, the Orioles’ payroll sat at just $64MM, but this deal could drop them below the $60MM mark, depending on how the financial details are sorted out.
If Cobb indeed departs, left-hander John Means would be the only lock for the Baltimore rotation. Younger options like Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer seem likely to be given the opportunity to earn Opening Day spots, and the Orioles have several potential rotation pieces on their 40-man roster: Bruce Zimmerman, Jorge Lopez, Michael Baumann, Zac Lowther, Alexander Wells.
General manager Mike Elias spoke recently about the possibility of signing a veteran starting pitcher, and the need for depth is only further underscored by the trade of the team’s most experienced starter. It’s likely that whoever the Orioles bring in will command less in terms of salary than whatever sum the Orioles are saving in the Cobb deal.
Last year, Elias filled out the rotation by signing Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone to non-guaranteed deals that eventually paid them less than $1MM apiece upon earning roster spots in Spring Training. It’s plausible, if not likely, that the Orioles will take a similar approach in the weeks ahead.
Angels Suspend Pitching Coach Mickey Callaway After Accusations Of Lewd Behavior
TODAY: The Angels announced that Callaway has been suspended. According to Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, Callaway “has denied any wrongdoing,” thus preventing him from being fired without an investigation.
FEB. 1: Five women in sports media have accused Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway of lewd behavior, Brittany Ghiroli and Katie Strang of The Athletic report. Callaway “aggressively pursued” these women over the span of at least a half-decade and was part of three different organizations during that time.
The 45-year-old Callaway is accused of sending three women inappropriate photographs and requesting naked photos in return from one of them, per Ghiroli and Strang. He’s also accused of making them uncomfortable in other ways, including thrusting his crotch in a reporter’s face while she interviewed him and telling another woman he’d provide information about the Mets if she got drunk with him.
Callaway’s alleged behavior has apparently been well-known in some corners of baseball, as one of the accusers told Ghiroli and Strang, “It was the worst-kept secret in sports.”
Callaway responded to The Athletic in an email, writing: “Rather than rush to respond to these general allegations of which I have just been made aware, I look forward to an opportunity to provide more specific responses. Any relationship in which I was engaged has been consensual, and my conduct was in no way intended to be disrespectful to any women involved. I am married and my wife has been made aware of these general allegations.”
The Angels issued their own response to the story.
“The behavior being reported violates the Angels Organization’s values and policies,” the team said. “We take this very seriously and will conduct a full investigation with MLB.”
Callaway is entering his second season as the Angels’ pitching coach, but he may not retain the position (the Mets fired GM Jared Porter last month after he was accused of sexual harassment). Before joining the Angels, Callaway served as the Indians’ pitching coach from 2013-17 and the Mets’ manager between 2018-19.
Latest On Twins’ Rotation Targets
Even after signing left-hander J.A. Happ to a one-year, $8MM contract late last month, the Twins may not be done addressing their rotation. They remain in touch with one of their own free agents, right-hander Jake Odorizzi, and were in attendance for righty Jake Arrieta‘s throwing session last Friday, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports. The Twins will stay in touch with Arrieta, according to Neal.
Odorizzi spent the previous three seasons with the Twins and combined for a 4.11 ERA/4.34 SIERA in 337 innings. In his best season, 2019, Odorizzi earned an All-Star nod and pitched to a 3.51 ERA/4.14 SIERA with a a career-best 27.1 percent strikeout rate and an 8.1 percent walk rate over 159 frames. The Twins then handed Odorizzi a $17.8MM qualifying offer, and he accepted it instead of trying his luck in free agency.
Minnesota was no doubt expecting another quality showing from Odorizzi when it gave him the QO, but it wasn’t to be in 2020. Injuries, including to his back, chest and right middle finger, limited him to 13 2/3 innings of 10-run ball. Odorizzi doesn’t seem to be a free agent at the ideal time, then, but considering his positive track record with the Royals, Rays and Twins, he could still land a solid multiyear payday this offseason. Other than the Twins, Jon Morosi of MLB.com lists the Angels, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Giants and perhaps the Mets as teams vying for the soon-to-be 31-year-old.
Either Odorizzi or Arrieta would fill out a Twins rotation that currently has Happ, Kenta Maeda, Jose Berrios, Michael Pineda and Randy Dobnak comprising its top five. Of course, unlike Odorizzi, Arrieta probably isn’t in line for better than a one-year contract. While Arrieta is a former NL Cy Young winner (2015) with the Cubs, he’s now on the market after a pair of disappointing seasons with the Phillies. Arrieta, 35 in March, put up his worst ERA since 2012 last year (5.08) in 44 1/3 innings. He also logged a meager 16.8 percent strikeout percentage – one of the worst of his career – though he did record an above-average walk rate of 8.4 percent and a 51.8 percent groundball rate.
Quick Hits: Indians, Payroll, Patton, Nationals, Catchers
The Indians did not budget enough money in 2021 to both re-sign Cesar Hernandez and add free agent Eddie Rosario. With those two completing the lineup, the Indians’ roster is more-or-less set with a payroll around $50MM, per Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. Take this for what it is, but the Indians exceeded payroll just to get there. Owner Paul Dolan made an extra concession to allow the addition of Rosario. To their credit, he represents a somewhat major addition given their inability to field above-average offensive outfielders. Over the last two seasons, Rosario slashed .271/.305/.494 with 45 home runs over 821 plate appearances, good for a modest 105 wRC+. That Nolan was willing to stretch the payroll speaks volumes about how the Indians value Rosario’s fit in the lineup.
- Spencer Patton is throwing an improved change-up with the hopes of bringing three viable pitches out of the bullpen, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The 32-year-old right-hander led Nippon Professional Baseball with 57 appearances last season, which is no small feat to MLB teams aware of the perils in ramping up pitcher workloads in 2021. Patton’s numbers from Japan won’t blow you away, however, with a 4.92 ERA, respectable 28.1 percent strikeout rate, and slightly-concerning 11.7 percent walk rate. Patton will throw for teams again on February 2nd, with the Braves, Rays, Angels, Royals, Rangers, and Giants being among the teams to have shown some interest thus far.
- Pitching has long been the focus for the Nationals organization, but at the same time, they’ve lagged behind in the catching department, writes MASNSports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. Pedro Severino is the most prolific homegrown catcher with 105 games played for the organization – though he didn’t break out until joining the Orioles. Raudy Read or Tres Barrera are next in line to have an opportunity, but the recent signing of Alex Avila suggests GM Mike Rizzo isn’t ready to give either one too long of a look out of the blocks. Both Barrera and Read have served PED suspensions in the past, however, and Welington Castillo will also be in camp as a non-roster invitee.
AL East Notes: Vazquez, Angels, Tanaka, Blue Jays, Taillon
The Angels signed Kurt Suzuki this offseason, and with a catching corps of Suzuki, Max Stassi, and Anthony Bemboom, adding an upper-tier backstop “would be a luxury and not a necessity” for the team, FanSided’s Robert Murray writes. However, the Halos have at least checked in on some prominent catchers, including Christian Vazquez of the Red Sox. No deal appears to be close, as the Sox naturally want quite a lot for Vazquez and “there are doubts whether the Red Sox will entertain trading him” whatsoever.
Vazquez is entering his final guaranteed year of the contract extension he signed in March 2018. He’ll earn $6.25MM in 2021, and the Red Sox hold a $7MM club option ($250K buyout) on his services for 2022. It’s a very affordable price for one of the game’s better defensive catchers, not to mention a catcher who has swung an increasingly dangerous bat — Vazquez has hit .278/.327/.472 with 30 homers in 710 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season. He does turn 31 in August, so the Sox could think about moving him at a high point in his trade value, but the Angels or any suitor would have to step up with a very big offer to get Boston’s attention.
More from the AL East…
- In a press conference announcing his return to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Masahiro Tanaka implied that he could return to Major League Baseball even before his two-year deal with the Eagles is up. “I feel I have unfinished business in America, and I haven’t given up on that, so they agreed on terms that would keep those options open,” Tanaka said. This could seem to hint at an opt-out clause after the 2021 season, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post notes, and quite possibly a return to the Yankees in 2022. With the Yankees intent on resetting their luxury tax penalty limit this winter, the team opted to spend its resources elsewhere rather than re-sign Tanaka at his desired asking price. Come next offseason, however, the Yankees might well be willing to exceed the tax threshold (and pay only a first-timer penalty fee) in order to acquire Tanaka and other roster upgrades.
- Also from Robert Murray, Blue Jays outfielders Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk are drawing trade interest. The addition of George Springer has created a surplus in Toronto’s outfield, with Grichuk seemingly relegated to fourth outfielder duty as Gurriel and Teoscar Hernandez are slated for the corners. It’s safe to guess that Gurriel is the more sought-after player, since Gurriel is over two years younger than Grichuk and has a less-expensive contract — Gurriel is owed $13.4MM through the 2023 season, while Grichuk is owed $29MM. One of the outfielders could be dangled a way of obtaining pitching, since the Jays continue to look for both rotation and bullpen help.
- The Rays were one of the other suitors trying to obtain Jameson Taillon from the Pirates, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Taillon ended up traded to the Yankees, and as Topkin points out, the Rays had interest in both Taillon and Corey Kluber, New York’s two main pitching acquisitions of the offseason.
Angels To Sign Junior Guerra To Minor-League Deal
The Angels are signing right-hander Junior Guerra to a minor-league contract, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Presumably, the deal will include an invitation to MLB spring training.
After four seasons as a highly-utilized swingman in Milwaukee, Guerra signed with the Diamondbacks before the 2020 season. He pitched 23.2 innings of 3.04 ERA ball with Arizona, but his underlying numbers suggest he was rather fortunate to manage that level of run prevention. Guerra struck out just 20.4% of opposing hitters, significantly below the league average mark (24.1%) for relievers. He also walked a career-high 14.6% of batters faced, the thirteenth-highest rate among the 323 pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched last year. Wary of those mediocre peripherals, Arizona released Guerra rather than pay him an arbitration salary projected in the $2.8MM range.
There’s no harm for the Angels in bringing Guerra in on a non-roster deal to bolster the pitching depth. To his credit, the 36-year-old did induce plenty of ground balls last season. He also has ample experience working multiple innings out of the pen (and starting, although he’s exclusively been a reliever the past two seasons). Over his big league career, Guerra owns a 3.77 ERA/4.55 SIERA.