At Least Six Teams Showing Interest In James McCann
Yadier Molina has drawn the most headlines among catchers early in free agency, in part due to the willingness of both him and his agent to go on-record to discuss the veteran’s market. However, James McCann is drawing interest from a similar collection of teams, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), with the Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, Angels and incumbent White Sox among the clubs to express some interest in the free-agent backstop. The Phillies would have interest in the event that J.T. Realmuto signs elsewhere, Heyman adds.
Given that each of these clubs, with the exception of the White Sox and Phillies, has already expressed interest in Molina, it’s not much of a surprise that they’d also at least gauge McCann’s asking price. There’s been speculation about the Yankees moving on from Gary Sanchez for months, while the Mets currently lack a starting-caliber backstop on their roster. The Angels got a big year out of Max Stassi in 2020, but that was obviously a rather limited sample and Stassi’s prior track record is less impressive.
The Cardinals may raise some eyebrows, given their interest in retaining Molina, but it’s only logical that with Molina exploring other options they’d do the same. Should Molina get the two-year deal he’s seeking from another club, the Cards could pivot to McCann or simply remain in-house and turn the keys over to 26-year-old Andrew Knizner.
As for the White Sox, their interest in keeping McCann is well known, but it’s unlikely to result in a deal. The ChiSox signed Yasmani Grandal to a franchise-record four-year, $73MM contract last winter, and with three years remaining on that arrangement there’s simply no room for McCann to get everyday at-bats. McCann spoke earlier this offseason about his free agency, telling NBC Sports Chicago’s Chuck Garfien that he feels he’s earned the opportunity to be a team’s starting catcher. The White Sox can’t offer that with Grandal under contract.
It’s hard to dispute McCann’s feelings after a pair of terrific seasons with the South Siders. While he was non-tendered by the Tigers after a dismal 2018 campaign, McCann has more than bounced back in Chicago; he’s taken his game to new heights. McCann was a bit shy of a league-average bat as Detroit’s primary catcher in 2017, but he’s broken out with a .276/.334/.474 batting line in 587 plate appearances with the White Sox (116 wRC+).
He’s made strides in terms of hard-hit rate and exit velocity, supporting that offensive breakout, and McCann also improved defensively quite a bit this past season. He’s always been adept at controlling runners (career 35.8 percent caught-stealing rate), but McCann prioritized improving his pitch-framing this past offseason, and the results were strong. Statcast reflects that McCann went from one of the worst catchers in the game at framing pitches on the bottom of the zone to one of the game’s best. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but it’d be a reach to suggest that McCann simply lucked his way from getting 44.8 percent of such pitches called all the way up to 61.8 percent.
The Phillies probably aren’t the only club who view McCann as a “Plan B” to Realmuto, but there also figure to be teams that know they cannot afford Realmuto and are thus willing to act more quickly. McCann and his agents will have to determine whether they’re better served taking one of those early offers or holding out until Realmuto is off the market. The latter route could lead to increased interest, but it’s also possible some teams that are willing to act now will have already filled their need at catcher or spent the majority of their offseason budget by that point.
Angels, Giants, Reds Among Teams Interested In Dan Straily
Right-hander Dan Straily dropped completely off the MLB radar following a dismal 2019 showing with the Orioles — a season that saw him surrender 52 earned runs in just 47 2/3 big league innings. Interest in the righty was tepid, and he opted to take a guaranteed $1MM deal with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization over a nonguaranteed deal with an MLB club.
That move could wind up paying dividends for Straily, who’ll turn 32 next Tuesday. Sportsgrid’s Craig Mish reports that the veteran righty is receiving interest from MLB and KBO clubs alike, with the Angels, Giants and Reds among the Major League teams to have reached out. Straily is aiming to decide between a return to the Majors and another season (or seasons) in South Korea as soon as next week, per the report.
Straily’s return to the market this winter comes under vastly different circumstances. While he was coming off the worst season of his professional career a year ago, Straily recently wrapped an outstanding debut campaign in the KBO. In 31 starts, Straily totaled 194 frames and pitched to a 2.50 ERA and 2.97 FIP, averaging 9.5 strikeouts, 2.4 walks and 0.46 home runs per nine innings pitched. It was a remarkable turnaround for the well-traveled right-hander — one that seems to have restored some confidence in his ability to navigate a Major League lineup.
The 2019 season was such a struggle for Straily that it’s easy to forget he’s not far removed from being a perfectly serviceable rotation piece in the Majors. From 2016-18, Straily pitched in 90 games for the Reds and Marlins, working to a collective 4.03 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and 1.49 HR/9. Fielding-independent marks were less bullish on the righty (4.83 FIP, 4.89 xFIP) due in some part to a .261 average on balls in play that was well below the league average and a 77.9 percent strand rate that was well north of average. It’s fair to say that Straily probably did benefit from some good fortune, but extreme fly-ball pitchers like him are generally able to sustain lower BABIPs; his .261 mark over that three-year term is right in line with his career .267 mark.
Also working in Straily’s favor is the simple fact that he should be affordable if he opts to return from the KBO. It’s possible he could command a multi-year pact with a modest annual salary, but many teams are likely hoping to ink him on a one-year deal, perhaps with some incentives to help boost his annual value. He’d surely be able to generate multi-year interest in the KBO or perhaps in NPB at this point, though a successful big league return is the most lucrative potential path forward.
Yadier Molina Says Five Teams Have Shown Interest
Yadier Molina has long stated that he wants to remain with the Cardinals, and he reiterated that hope in an interview with Laura A. Bonnelly V. of Mas Que Pelota (hat tip to Deportivo Z 101’s Hector Gomez). However, Molina also revealed four other teams who have shown interest in his services — the Yankees, Mets, Padres, and Angels.
The two New York clubs had already been linked to Molina’s market, and the Cards have been in talks for seemingly close to a year about another contract to keep Molina in St. Louis. The Angels and Padres are new additions to the hunt, however, and each represents an interesting possible landing spot for the nine-time Gold Glover.
At first glance, San Diego already seems set at catcher, with Austin Nola behind the plate, former top prospect Francisco Mejia slated as the backup and star prospect Luis Campusano making his MLB debut this season. Signing Molina, however, would add immeasurably more experience and some veteran leadership to a team that plans to contend for a championship in 2021. While Nola’s ability to catch makes him a particularly valuable utility asset, he can also play several other positions around the diamond; the Padres could use Nola in a somewhat normal backup catcher role to spell Molina once a week, and then otherwise deploy him at other positions.
Molina has expressed interest in a two-year contract, but even if Molina were to land such a deal, that wouldn’t be much of a roadblock to Campusano as the Padres’ eventual catcher of the future. Mejia could be the odd man out if Molina joined the team, as Mejia has yet to show much over parts of four MLB seasons with the Indians and Padres. That said, Mejia has only 362 career plate appearances, only just turned 25, and was a consensus top-35 prospect as recently as the 2018-19 offseason, so he would still be an interesting trade chip if the Padres made him expendable.
There are some obvious family ties for Molina in Anaheim, as his brother Jose is the Angels’ catching coach, and his other brother Bengie spent his first eight MLB seasons in an Angels uniform. Yadier would also be reunited with his old Cardinals teammate Albert Pujols for the final season of Pujols’ ten-year, $240MM deal with the Halos.
Beyond the personal connections, Molina would also fill a need for Los Angeles since Max Stassi could miss the start of the season after undergoing hip surgery in October. Depending on how quickly Stassi recovers, the Angels could start Molina (and use Anthony Bemboom as the backup) until Stassi is ready, and then potentially move into something closer to a timeshare, though it’s probably safe to guess Molina might end up getting the bulk of the action.
Rays Reportedly Open To Blake Snell Trade
The reigning American League champion Rays could part with one of their most recognizable players. They have informed other teams that “they’re open to the idea of” dealing left-hander Blake Snell, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com writes, though the Rays aren’t “actively” looking to trade him.
It could be a game-changer if the Rays actually are willing to deal Snell, considering the lack of front-end starters on the open market after Trevor Bauer. Snell was an American League Cy Young winner in 2018, and though he hasn’t been as successful since then, any team would be happy to plug him into its starting staff. The 27-year-old posted a 3.24 ERA/4.25 FIP with 11.34 K/9, 3.24 BB/9, a career-best 49.2 percent groundball rate, and a 95.1 mph average fastball velocity over 50 innings in 2020.
The Rays signed Snell to a five-year, $50MM extension before 2019, but the low-budget team could now move on from him if it receives an enticing enough offer. Snell still has three years and $39MM left on that deal, but that should be a very appealing contract to clubs that need help in their rotation. Feinsand names the Braves, Angels and even the Mariners as clubs that are “believed to be interested in” Snell.
Angels Add Three To Front Office
New Angels GM Perry Minasian is bringing three of his former co-workers to his new team. Per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter), the Angels will hire Alex Tamin as an assistant GM, Dominic Chiti as a special assistant, and Rick Williams as a scout. All three were formerly employed by the Braves.
Tamin, Rosenthal notes, was also an assistant GM with the Braves, but his move to the Angels still qualifies as a promotion. Minasian, for example, ranked above Tamin with the Braves, despite the pair both holding the title of assistant GM. Minasian was the senior vice president of baseball operations and assistant GM, while Tamin held the sole title of assistant GM for major league operations. Tamin had previously been employed by the Dodgers as their director of baseball operations before moving to the Braves in December of 2017.He has a solid reputation for his work with analytics in player evaluation.
Chiti, meanwhile, was reassigned from his role as director of player development at the end of the 2019 season, the Athletic’s David O’Brien tweeted at the time. Last season, he served as a scouting special assistant, presumably a role similar to the one he’ll take on with the Angels.
Rick Williams was the Rays pitching coach from 1998 to 2000, at which point he joined the front office as a special assistant to the GM. He spent seven years as a scout for the Yankees and joined the Braves in 2014 as a special assistant for pitching development. Williams, Chiti, and Tamin represent the first three hires of Minasian as the new GM of the Angels.
Angels Sign Scott Schebler
The Angels have signed outfielder Scott Schebler to a minor league contract, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link). Schebler will earn $900K in guaranteed money if he reaches the team’s big-league roster.
Schebler is best known for his days as a regular for the Reds from 2016-18, as he hit .248/.323/.457 with 56 homers in 1243 plate appearances over that three-season stretch (including a 30-homer campaign in 2017). Shoulder problems and struggles at the plate limited Schebler to just 30 games in 2019, however, and Cincinnati cut ties after trading him to the Braves last July. Schebler’s 2020 season consisted of just one game and one plate appearance in an Atlanta uniform before he was outrighted off the 40-man roster and sent to the Braves’ alternate training site.
While Schebler has spent much of his time as a right fielder, he has experience at all three outfield positions and displayed some decent glovework. That could give him an advantage in breaking camp with Los Angeles next spring, as the Halos are thin on outfield depth behind their projected starting trio of Jo Adell, Mike Trout, and Justin Upton.
Given Adell’s inexperience and Upton’s very rough 2020 season, having a veteran like Schebler on hand could be of particular help — ideally, Schebler could somewhat replace Brian Goodwin, who the Angels dealt to the Reds last August. It’s probably safe to assume that the Angels will bring at least a couple more veterans on minors contracts into camp (if not a more prominent acquisition) to battle for outfield jobs, and top prospect Brandon Marsh will also be in the mix.
The signing marks the first notable move for newly-hired Angels GM Perry Minasian, and it perhaps isn’t surprising that Minasian turned to a known quantity. As Nightengale points out, Minasian worked as Atlanta’s assistant GM when the Braves picked up Schebler last summer.
Angels Notes: Happ, Ohtani
The latest from Anaheim…
- J.A. Happ is receiving consideration from the Angels and other teams, MLB Networks’ Jon Paul Morosi tweets. It stands to reason that the Angels are looking at just about every starting pitcher available as they try to upgrade their rotation, and given the team’s injury history with pitchers, a durable veteran arm like Happ would seem to be of particular interest. Happ posted a 3.47 ERA, 7.7 K/9, and 2.80 K/BB rate over 49 1/3 innings with the Yankees last season, and though advanced metrics weren’t as enamored with his work, Happ would still appear to have something to offer a team as he enters his age-38 season. Morosi notes that new Angels GM Perry Minasian was working in the Blue Jays front office when Toronto traded for Happ during the 2012 season and when the Jays signed Happ as a free agent in the 2015-16 offseason.
- “Pathetic” was how Shohei Ohtani bluntly described his 2020 season, during a revealing interview with Yuichi Matsushita of the Kyodo News. Ohtani struggled in both facets of his game, hitting just .190/.291/.366 over 175 PA and allowing seven runs over 1 2/3 innings pitched (37.80 ERA) before being shut down from mound duty due to a flexor strain. “More than thinking how (the team) couldn’t use me or how frustrating it was, the hardest part was thinking I couldn’t produce,” Ohtani said. “If I could, I would compile better numbers, get more playing time and wouldn’t feel useless. I was frustrated I couldn’t get it done, and that was the hardest….I’d pretty much never experienced the feeling of wanting to do something but being completely unable to do it.” Ohtani was returning to pitching after Tommy John surgery kept him off the mound in 2019, and he admitted to feeling “different” while pitching post-procedure, saying “I’ll think I want to do something a certain way, but sometimes I can’t.” The Angels are surely hoping Ohtani can get back to form with a more normal offseason that doesn’t include rehab or the stop-and-start nature of last year’s preseason training, as both his bat and his arm are sorely needed.
- In other recent Angels news, the team added top prospects Brandon Marsh and Chris Rodriguez to the 40-man roster — details on that decision here.
Angels Select Brandon Marsh, Chris Rodriguez
The Angels announced Friday that they’ve selected two of their top prospects to the 40-man roster: outfielder Brandon Marsh and righty Chris Rodriguez. Both would’ve otherwise been eligible for selection in next month’s Rule 5 Draft. The Angels’ roster is now up to 38 players.
Marsh, 22, has been considered the Angels’ best prospect behind Jo Adell for some time now. The 2016 second-rounder spent the 2019 season in Double-A, where he posted a hearty .300/.383/.428 clip in an overwhelmingly pitcher-friendly setting — good for a 137 wRC+. He entered the 2020 season as a consensus Top 100 prospect and still holds that designation, ranking 30th at FanGraphs, 38th at Baseball America and 73rd at MLB.com. He draws praise for plus speed, a plus arm and plenty of range to play center field, although he obviously won’t be manning that position for the Halos. Marsh also draws good marks for raw power that he’s yet to tap into, as well as an above-average hit tool. There was never any doubt that he’d be protected from Rule 5 status.
Rodriguez’s selection to the roster is similarly unsurprising. Although the 2016 fourth-rounder has barely pitched since 2017 due to a back injury that eventually required surgery, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen writes that when healthy, Rodriguez has better stuff than any pitcher in the Angels’ farm system. He’s pitched just 77 2/3 frames since being drafted and has a lackluster 4.75 ERA to show for it, but scouting reports on Rodriguez praise him for possessing a true four-pitch mix, including a plus heater and a pair of potentially plus breaking balls, as well as the command to locate that arsenal.
Arte Moreno: Angels’ Payroll “Not Going Down” In 2021
During today’s media event to introduce new general manager Perry Minasian, Angels owner Arte Moreno responded to a question about the club’s 2021 payroll by saying “it’s not going down.” (J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group was among those to report the news.) The Angels’ payroll was projected at roughly $179.5MM heading into the 2020 season before the shortened season reduced that number to just under $65MM.
Many teams are expected to slightly to heavily decrease payroll this offseason, and the Angels already exhibited some financial restraint earlier this year when they made widespread furloughs of employee salaries throughout the organization. Moreno’s statement will therefore bring some relief to Angels fans who were perhaps worried that the team might take a step back to reload rather than push to end its streak of five consecutive losing seasons.
According to Roster Resource, the Angels have a projected payroll of just over $158.75MM in 2021. An 11-player arbitration class will see at least a few non-tenders and thus a few more million taken off the books, leaving Minasian with approximately $25MM to work with in his first offseason in Anaheim. That doesn’t factor, of course, the possibility that other salaries could be moved as part of trades.
A lot can be done with $25MM, especially in an offseason when team spending could be down and a depressed market could lead to some bargain signings. That helps an Angels team that has plenty of holes to fill in the middle infield (a replacement for free agent Andrelton Simmons), potentially at first base or catcher, and most of all, in the pitching staff.
What $25MM wouldn’t do, however, is accommodate a large average annual salary for an upper-tier free agent like J.T. Realmuto or Trevor Bauer, unless some other money was moved around elsewhere on the roster. The luxury tax threshold is also something of a concern, though with a current tax number of just over $174MM, the Halos should be able to stay under the $210MM threshold. While the Angels have maintained high payrolls under Moreno, they have paid a tax bill only once — 2004, Moreno’s first full season owning the team.
Notes From The Angels’ GM Search
The Angels concluded their search for a new general manager yesterday, announcing that former Braves assistant GM Perry Minasian had been signed to a four-year contract to run the Halos’ front office. At least 20 candidates reportedly interviewed for the position, and while several names had already been linked to the Angels, some other previously unknown executives were also on the Angels’ radar.
Dodgers assistant GM Jeff Kingston wasn’t just interviewed, but was also a finalist for the job, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (via Twitter). Previous reports cited Minasian and Mariners assistant GM Justin Hollander as the last two candidates under consideration, so it seems like Kingston may have one of the next group of finalists that also included Cubs senior VP of player personnel Jason McLeod and Diamondbacks assistant GMs Amiel Sawdaye and Jared Porter.
Perhaps best known for serving as the Mariners’ interim GM for the month between the Jack Zduriencik and Jerry Dipoto eras, Kingston is a familiar face in Southern California baseball. He began his career as an intern in the Padres’ front office and rose to the position to director of baseball operations over nine seasons in San Diego before joining the Mariners in 2009. Kingston remained in Seattle even after Dipoto took over as general manager, with Kingston receiving a promotion to assistant GM and vice president. Kingston has spent the last two years working for the Dodgers.
Kingston fit the mold of many of the Angels’ candidates — well-regarded younger executives who were looking for their first opportunity to run a front office. However, the Angels also explored making a big splash by poaching experienced names, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the Halos asked for permission to speak with Rays GM Erik Neander, Athletics GM David Forst, and Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti. The Rays declined the Angels’ request to talk to Neander, though it may have been a moot point since “Neander does not wish to leave the [Tampa] organization.”
Forst and Antonetti “had personal reasons for not wanting to pursue the Angels’ opening” and are also “happy in their current jobs,” though Rosenthal left open the possibility that either Forst or Antonetti could be receptive if either were approached by the Mets for their vacant president of baseball operations position. Former Marlins GM Michael Hill is the only known person to interview with the Mets thus far, but Forst, Antonetti, and a host of other candidates have been speculated as possibilities for what seems to be one of the most attractive job openings in baseball. As Rosenthal noted, Forst has ties with Mets president Sandy Alderson, who worked as a senior advisor in Oakland for the last two seasons.