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Seth Lugo Drawing Widespread Interest

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DECEMBER 7: The Angels, Nationals and Dodgers are also in the market, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic.

DECEMBER 6, 8:01pm: The Red Sox are also expressing interest in Lugo, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (on Twitter).

DECEMBER 6, 6:39pm: Right-hander Seth Lugo has been drawing interest as a starting pitcher and Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that working as a starter is Lugo’s preference as well, with the Padres one of several teams interested in him.

It’s been a while since Lugo has been tried out in a rotation role for more than a brief stretch. His career high for starts in a big league season is 18, which came back in 2017. Since that time, he’s been primarily working out of the bullpen, serving as an effective reliever for the Mets.

In 278 career games, only 38 of them have been starts, but Lugo has a career 3.48 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 44.1% ground ball rate. He’s fared much better out of the ’pen, as his ERA is 2.91 there while 4.35 as a starter, with more strikeouts as a reliever to match.

Despite that split, as mentioned, it’s been quite some time since Lugo’s been given an extended stretch in the rotation. That means most of those stats came from Lugo’s first two years in the big leagues, when he made 26 of those 38 career starts. It’s possible he’s capable of producing better results now that he has more experience. He also has a larger pitch mix than the average reliever, something that could help him move through a lineup a few times. Last year, he had four pitches that he threw at least 13.7% of the time, with his curveball leading the way at 33.5%, followed by his four-seamer at 29.3%, his sinker at 21.9% and his slider at 13.7%. He also has a changeup that he mixed in 1.6% of the time, though it’s been 7.1% for his career.

For the Padres, they lost a couple members of their rotation to free agency in Mike Clevinger and Sean Manaea, while also trading MacKenzie Gore to the Nationals. Nick Martinez opted out of his contract but was quickly re-signed and seems to have a chance of retaking a rotation spot himself, after getting bumped to the bullpen. They currently have Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell in the front three spots. It would be surprising to see them go into the season with the last two spots in their rotation dedicated to unproven options like Martinez and Lugo, especially when they just reportedly offered Trea Turner $342MM. But it’s possible they could also add a fourth starter and have those Martinez and Lugo battle for the fifth spot with one of them going to the bullpen if everyone is healthy. Though Lugo reportedly prefers to start, it’s unknown how he would value a non-guaranteed starting role on a contender like the Padres against a clearer path to starting on a less-competitive team.

San Diego’s payroll limits are an ongoing question. As mentioned, they just made a massive offer to Turner, but some reporting indicates they were willing to make an exception for him and won’t necessarily dedicate those resources to other players. As of right now, Roster Resource calculates their competitive balance tax figure at $230MM, just barely under the lowest CBT threshold of $233MM. With the club still seeking to upgrade in the rotation and elsewhere, going over the line seems inevitable. Lugo isn’t likely to break the bank as a back-end rotation candidate but every dollar over the line will count. Since the Padres are set to be a third-time payor, they will be subject to a 50% tax on all spending over the line and even higher penalties if they go over by $20MM or more.

Coaching Notes: Angels, Dodgers, Mets, Marlins

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The Angels are hiring Bill Haselman to be their new third base coach, per general manager Perry Minasian (relayed by Sam Blum of The Athletic). Haselman appeared for the Rangers, Red Sox, Mariners and Tigers during a 13 year big league career. In 589 games, the catcher put together a .259/.311/.409 line with 47 total home runs. After retiring in 2003, Haselman went straight into coaching, working for the Red Sox as a first base coach and then bullpen coach. He took a break from baseball coaching but returned in 2010, taking a managerial job at one of the Texas Rangers’ minor league affiliates.

He continued working with minor league affiliates of the Angels and Dodgers over the next few years, making it up to Triple-A where he took charge of Oklahoma City between 2016-18. He joined the Angels major league staff at the beginning of the year, succeeding Jose Molina as catching coach. Now he’ll take over third base coach duties on Phil Nevin’s staff.

Here’s some other coaching news from around the big leagues:

  • The Dodgers are promoting Aaron Bates to hitting coach, where he’ll work alongside Robert Van Scoyoc, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed (h/t Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). Bates had a brief stint in the majors in 2009, getting four hits in five games for the Red Sox. He bounced around the minor leagues plenty, but retired after the 2014 season with the Dodgers. While he played just 11 games that year, it was an entrance into the Dodgers organization that Bates hasn’t left. He held a series of jobs at their minor league affiliates before joining the big league team as assistant hitting coach in 2019. His promotion comes on the back of the departure of Brant Brown, who’s joined the Marlins.
  • The Mets have extended Glenn Sherlock’s contract through until 2024 as part of his shift from bench coach to catching instructor, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. Sherlock played seven years in the minor leagues back in the 1980s, making it as high as Triple-A. He’s held coaching positions with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Pirates. Sherlock initially joined the Mets in 2017, serving as their third base coach and catching instructor before departing for Pittsburgh in 2020. He returned at the start of this year as bench coach, but will make way for Eric Chavez in that position.
  • New Marlins manager Skip Schumaker is bringing in former Cardinals hitting coach John Mabry into his team as assistant hitting coach, according to Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Mabry spent eight years with the Cardinals as part of a 14 year big league career (that also included a stop at the Marlins) that ended in 2007. Mabry worked with the Cardinals between 2012-18 as a hitting coach, but left when then-manager Mike Matheny was fired. He’s since been working for the Royals. Schumaker and Mabry played together on the 2005 Cardinals team.

Angels Sign Carlos Estevez

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The Angels have continued their early-offseason activity, announcing the signing of reliever Carlos Estévez to a two-year, $13.5MM deal. The former Rockie receives $6.75MM in each of the next two seasons, the team disclosed.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic suggested earlier this afternoon the Halos were hoping to add to their late-inning mix. Within a few hours, they’ve finalized an agreement to add a power arm to Phil Nevin’s bullpen. Estévez is among the hardest throwers in the sport, and he’s coming off the best season of what has been an up-and-down MLB career.

Estévez began with a pair of seasons with an ERA north of 5.00. He took a step forward in 2019, working to a 3.75 ERA across 72 frames while striking out an above-average 26.3% of opponents. The native of the Dominican Republic looked like a potential high-leverage arm for the Rockies, but he stumbled to a 7.50 ERA during the abbreviated 2020 campaign thanks to massive home run issues.

The right-hander has gotten the longball in check over the past two seasons and performed at a generally solid level for skipper Bud Black. He worked to a 4.38 mark across 61 2/3 innings in 2021, then posted a career-low 3.47 ERA this past season. He’s struck out opponents at a roughly average clip in both seasons, although his swing-and-miss rate took a step back this year. Estévez generated swinging strikes on only 9% of his offerings in 2022, down almost two percentage points from the year prior and well below his 13.9% personal high in 2019.

Despite the dip in swinging strikes, the Halos will roll the dice on his high-octane arsenal. He averaged a blistering 97.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball, pushing into triple digits on occasion. Estévez has sat in the 97-98 MPH range every year of his major league career, and he’s relied heavily on that heater. He turned to his fastball just over 70% of the time, mixing in a changeup against left-handers and a slider to same-handed opponents.

That slider had excellent results in 2022, helping Estévez stifle right-handed hitters more generally. He held righties to a .204/.292/.306 line through 113 plate appearances. Left-handers only managed a .216/.287/.432 slash themselves, although that success was more built off an unsustainable .222 batting average on balls in play. Estévez had a below-average 19.7% strikeout rate against southpaws, but he punched out an impressive 26.5% of righties.

With his success against right-handers, Estévez should at least profile as a hard-throwing matchup option in the middle innings for Nevin. He’ll join Ryan Tepera and Jimmy Herget as the club’s top right-handed options, while Aaron Loup profiles as their best matchup southpaw. Tepera and Herget have more pedestrian velocity, and Estévez could take over the uncertain ninth inning mix in Orange County. Estévez only has 25 career saves, including just two this past season, but reports this offseason have suggested teams viewed him as a potential closer outside of the league’s most hitter-friendly home ballpark.

Estévez turns 30 later this month, so he was one of the younger free agent relief options available. He’ll strengthen a Halo bullpen that ranked 18th in ERA (3.97) and 22nd in strikeout percentage (22.2%) this past season. It’s certainly possible general manager Perry Minasian and his staff continue to look for ways to strengthen their late-inning mix. They’ve been active in an attempt to snap an eight-year postseason drought. They signed Tyler Anderson to a three-year, $39MM guarantee to bolster the rotation while swinging deals for Gio Urshela and Hunter Renfroe to strengthen the infield and outfield, respectively. Estévez becomes the latest in their pattern of acquisitions — a shorter-term investment for a notable but hardly overwhelming salary to build depth which their recent rosters have lacked.

MLBTR predicted a three-year, $21MM deal for Estévez at the start of the offseason. He lands a salary in that range annually, but the Halos keep their commitment to two seasons. Anaheim’s payroll now sits around $198MM, in the estimation of Roster Resource. That’s already above this past season’s $189MM Opening Day figure, which was a franchise-record outlay. Anaheim is also looking into ways to upgrade the middle infield, so it seems likely they’ll wind up above $200MM by the time the 2023 season rolls around. Their luxury tax commitments are now around $212MM, per Roster Resource, leaving approximately $21MM in breathing room before next year’s base tax threshold.

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported the Angels and Estévez were in agreement on a deal. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report it was a two-year guarantee worth around $14MM.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Angels Looking For Shortstop Upgrades, Back-End Reliever

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The Angels have been one of the more active teams this winter and still have some more moves planned. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that they are looking for upgrades at shortstop. However, he adds that the club’s immediate focus is a back-end reliever.

The club’s interest in shortstop upgrades is hardly surprising, as they’ve been looking for solutions at the position for a while now. Andrelton Simmons held down the spot from 2016 to 2020, largely providing offense near league average alongside his customary excellent defense. After Simmons reached free agency, the club tried José Iglesias at the position in 2021, which didn’t work out.

Going into 2022, they tried some more glove-first options by adding Tyler Wade and Andrew Velazquez to join David Fletcher as players in the mix. Fletcher missed most of the year with injuries, leading to Velazquez getting 100 starts at the position this year. His glovework was rated well, but he struggled at the plate, hitting just .196/.236/.304 for a wRC+ of 50. Even if Fletcher were healthy, it’s not guaranteed he would have been much better since he’s been in the league five years now with his only above-average season at the plate coming in the shortened 2020 campaign. Luis Rengifo had a nice year on offense in 2022 but is probably overmatched as an everyday shortstop in the field, better suited to play second base or a utility role.

Though it’s logical that the club would look for upgrades, they may not be a contender for the top free agents. This year’s crop of free agents features a group called the “big four” at the top of the market: Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson. However, Rosenthal reports that they are more likely to join more obvious contenders and that the Angels are wary of the soaring prices. Turner reportedly signed with the Phillies today for $300MM over 11 years. If the Angels are looking for options outside of the that group, the free agent market features Elvis Andrus and their old friend Iglesias, while players potentially available in trade include Amed Rosario and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Turning to the club’s bullpen, that’s another area where it’s sensible for them to look for upgrades. Angels’ relievers collectively posted a 3.97 ERA last year, placing them 18th out of the 30 clubs in the league. They also traded Raisel Iglesias to the Braves at the deadline, leaving them without a surefire lockdown closer. Rosenthal didn’t mention any specific targets, but Kenley Jansen is one of the few proven closers available in free agency. Since the Braves have Iglesias under contract for another three years and are getting near the luxury tax line, it’s possibly he will have greater employment opportunities elsewhere. It would make for a fitting endnote to the Iglesias trade if the Angels replaced him by grabbing Atlanta’s closer, but there are other options. Some of the other relievers who are available in free agency include Carlos Estévez, Adam Ottavino, Matt Moore and many more.

2023 figures to be a pivotal season for the franchise, as the team is reportedly for sale and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is entering his final season before free agency. The club has been busy so far this winter, signing Tyler Anderson to upgrade their rotation while adding Gio Urshela to the infield and Hunter Renfroe to the outfield. The middle infield and bullpen stand out as the most obvious areas to continue upgrading, and it seems that’s exactly where the club is looking to make their next moves.

Angels Sign Cesar Valdez To Minor League Contract

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The Angels have signed right-hander Cesar Valdez to a minor league deal, ESPN’s Enrique Rojas reports (Twitter link).  Valdez receives an invitation to the Angels’ big league Spring Training camp, and he will receive a guaranteed $950K if he makes the active roster.

The veteran righty is back in Anaheim after also signing a minors deal with the Halos last offseason.  Valdez only made a single appearance at the MLB level, and was then designated for assignment and subsequently outrighted off the 40-man roster.  Pitching much of the season at Triple-A Salt Lake, Valdez had a 3.94 ERA, 21% strikeout rate, and a very strong 3.8% walk rate over 146 1/3 innings, all as a starter.

Though Valdez just got onto that one game with the Angels, it was enough to make it five career MLB seasons for the 37-year-old.  He made his debut way back in 2010 with 20 innings for the Diamondbacks, next surfaced in the majors in 2017 with the A’s and Blue Jays, and then didn’t appear in the big leagues again until working out of the Orioles’ bullpen in 2020.

Valdez’s odd career arc (that also includes stops in the Mexican League and the Chinese Professional Baseball League) has seen him move back and forth several times between starter and relief roles, but it would appear he’ll head to the Angels’ camp as rotation depth.  Never much of a strikeout pitcher throughout his career, Valdez has relied on grounders to generate outs, and he has a 49.1% groundball rate over his 112 career innings at the Major League level.

Jason Castro Announces Retirement

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Catcher Jason Castro took to Twitter today to announce he is retiring from major league baseball. The veteran spent parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues with the Astros, Twins, Angels and Padres. “Over the last 15 years of pro ball, I have been blessed with many incredible opportunities and have met so many people along the way that helped me achieve more than I could have ever imagined,” Castro said, before going on to thank all of the people who supported him along the way.

Castro was selected by the Astros out of Stanford with the 10th overall pick in the 2008 draft. He was considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game by Baseball America in 2009 and 2010, making his MLB debut in the latter season. Prospect evaluations at that time spoke highly of his defense and approach at the plate but questioned whether he would provide much power in the big leagues. During Spring Training in 2011, he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a damaged meniscus, leading to him missing that entire season.

Once recovered, Castro got things back on track in 2012 and truly established himself in 2013, with that now seeming like the best season of his career. An All-Star that year, he hit 18 home runs, a number he was never able to match again. His final batting line on the year was .276/.350/.485, good enough for a wRC+ of 129, indicating he was 29% better than the league average hitter. When combined with his strong defensive work, he was worth 3.9 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs, the highest such total he ever managed.

In subsequent seasons, Castro settled in as a bit of a defensive specialist but one that wouldn’t be disastrous at the plate. From 2014 to 2017, his wRC+ fell between 80 and 94 in each campaign, fairly average for a backstop. When combined with his solid glovework, he was worth between 2.1 and 2.8 fWAR in each of those four seasons.

Between 2016 and 2017, Castro signed a three-year, $24.5MM contract with the Twins. As mentioned, the first year of that deal saw Castro continue as a solid glove-first backstop. However, injuries took a toll from there on out. In May of 2018, he was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee and had to undergo season-ending surgery. Though he continued to be a competent major leaguer, 2017 was the last season in which he played more than 80 games.

After spending some time with the Angels and Padres, Castro returned to where it all began by signing a two-year deal with the Astros prior to 2021. In August of this year, he required season-ending knee surgery, meaning that he wasn’t active for the club’s World Series victory. Nonetheless, it was a nice finishing touch for Castro’s career. As he says at the end of his retirement announcement, “What a way to end it.”

Castro hangs up his spikes with 952 games played, 678 hits, 166 doubles, 9 triples, 97 home runs, 368 runs scored, 328 runs batted in and 15.2 fWAR. MLBTR commends him on a fine career and wishes him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Latest On Mitch Haniger’s Market

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Next week’s Winter Meetings are expected to open the floodgates for some hot stove activity, and among the free agents drawing substantial interest leading up to those meetings is longtime Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger. The 31-year-old (32 next month) has a “robust” market, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and colleague Buster Olney tweets that there’s a growing belief he’ll be able to secure a three-year contract — perhaps in the vicinity of $15MM per year.

Haniger has, to this point in the offseason, been linked to each of the Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Giants, Rangers and the Mariners, who are open to adding another outfielder even after acquiring Teoscar Hernandez from the Blue Jays last month. The Halos’ interest, it should be noted, was reported prior to their acquisition of Hunter Renfroe. It seems likely that move probably put an end to their pursuit of Haniger; the Angels also have Mike Trout and Taylor Ward locked into outfield spots and Shohei Ohtani at DH, of course.

Even presuming the Angels are out of the running, that’d leave at least five teams — and quite likely a few more — in the mix for Haniger, who missed substantial time this season due to a high ankle sprain but has generally been an above-average to excellent hitter when healthy enough to take the field. Dating back to 2017, Haniger boasts a .263/.337/.480 batting line — 24% better than league average by measure of wRC+, which weights for his pitcher-friendly home park. Haniger belted 39 home runs in a season as recently as 2021 and is one of the few outfielders on this offseason’s market who can be viewed as a viable 30-homer threat.

Of course, the knock on Haniger has been his ability to remain on the field — or rather, his lack thereof. Haniger’s 2019 season was cut short when he sustained a ruptured testicle after a poorly placed foul ball off his own bat. Just two months later, while rehabbing from the subsequent surgery, Haniger experienced back discomfort and learned that he’d torn an adductor muscle off the bone. The fallout from that second injury snowballed and ultimately saw Haniger require core muscle/hernia surgery and a microdiscectomy operation.

It was one of the more bizarre and also fluky sequences of injuries for any player in recent memory, but the end result was still a 22-month absence from the playing field for Haniger. He returned with that aforementioned 39-homer campaign, however, and has posted a combined .251/.316/.47o slash with 50 homers in 938 trips to the plate since coming back from that nightmarish run of health troubles. Haniger’s once-premium defensive ratings dipped in 2021, but he posted positive marks in both Defensive Runs Saved (3) and Outs Above Average (2) in this year’s small sample of 396 innings.

Heading into the offseason, MLBTR ranked Haniger 20th on our Top 50 Free Agent list, predicting a three-year contract at an annual rate of $13MM. Olney’s report suggests that Haniger’s market could be reaching if not pushing a bit beyond that level. If interest is indeed ramping up to that extent, it stands to reason that Haniger could be one of many free agents to come off the board during next week’s Winter Meetings or shortly thereafter.

Angels Sign Jonathan Holder To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have signed right-hander Jonathan Holder to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com (hat tip to Sam Blum of The Athletic.) Holder will presumably be invited to major league Spring Training, though no official announcement on that matter has been made. He’s been assigned to the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees for the time being.

Holder, 30 in June, saw major league action in five straight seasons from 2016 to 2020, all with the Yankees. He racked up 176 2/3 innings in that time, posting a 4.38 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 36.8% ground ball rate. He was non-tendered prior to 2021 and signed with the Cubs but a shoulder issue limited him to just two innings that year.

He settled on a minor league with the Cubs for 2022 but didn’t get into a game until late July. He ended up pitching 21 innings in the minors with an 8.57 ERA but better peripherals. He struck out 21.9% of batters while walking 11.4%, as a .424 batting average on balls in play and 58.3% strand rate surely made his ERA look much worse than he deserved. FIP pegged his season at 4.66, not super exciting but around half of his ERA.

The Angels have been one of the busier teams so far this offseason, signing Tyler Anderson to their rotation while trading for infielder Gio Urshela and outfielder Hunter Renfroe. They’ve also bolstered their bullpen depth with minor league deals for Jacob Webb and Chris Devenski in recent days, now adding Holder into the mix as well.

Angels, Chris Devenski Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Angels have reportedly agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Chris Devenski. The 32-year-old receives an invitation to major league Spring Training.

Devenski made 13 big league appearances this past season. He opened the year with the Diamondbacks and was selected onto the MLB roster in late July. That marked a culmination of a year-long rehab from a Tommy John procedure undergone in June 2021. The Cal State-Fullerton product made 10 appearances for the Snakes, allowing nine runs in 10 2/3 innings before being let go at the end of August.

The Phillies added Devenski on a minor league pact almost immediately thereafter, and he was selected onto the 40-man roster at the end of September. He pitched three times in a Philadelphia uniform, allowing five runs in four innings. While he was eligible for postseason play, he was left off the roster throughout Philadelphia’s pennant-winning stretch.

It has now been a few seasons since Devenski was an effective bullpen arm, but he’s gotten at least brief MLB looks in each of the last seven years. The former 25th-round draftee was one of the most valuable relievers in the game at his peak with the 2016-17 Astros. Over that two-year stretch, he combined for a 2.38 ERA through 189 innings. Since the beginning of the 2018 season, however, he owns a 5.45 mark in 145 frames split between three teams.

To his credit, Devenski managed a quality 20:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 16 Triple-A innings this year. The Halos will take a no-risk look to see if he can carry that production over in Spring Training and compete for a spot in the big league bullpen. Anaheim had a middle-of-the-pack relief corps in 2022, finishing 18th in ERA (3.97) and 22nd in strikeout rate (22.2%).

Jon Morosi of MLB.com first reported the Angels and Devenski had agreed on a contract. Sam Blum of the Athletic was first to report it was a minor league pact with an invitation to MLB Spring Training.

Angels Sign Jacob Webb To Minors Contract

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The Angels have agreed to sign right-hander Jacob Webb to a minor league contract, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (Twitter link).  Webb became a free agent after spending much of the 2022 season with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate.

Webb was an 18th-round pick for the Braves in the 2014 draft, and he has spent his entire career in Atlanta’s organization apart from a brief stint with the Diamondbacks last season.  The D’Backs claimed Webb off waivers in April, and he made six appearances at Triple-A and some time on the Major League roster (without appearing in a game) before the Braves re-acquired Webb back in a trade last June.

Injuries hampered Webb last season, and he had only a 6.06 ERA over 35 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level with the Braves’ and Diamondbacks’ top affiliates.  He didn’t pitch at all at the MLB level, after posting a 2.47 ERA in 76 2/3 frames for Atlanta in parts of the 2019-21 seasons, topping out at 34 1/3 frames in 2021.  Webb also pitched 1 2/3 innings during the NLCS, and earned a World Series ring for his role in Atlanta’s championship season.

Despite that 2.47 ERA, Webb’s 4.28 SIERA and modest 21.9% strikeout rate perhaps better reflect why the Braves first parted ways with him a year ago, and he also had a checkered injury history.  Still, there isn’t much risk for the Angels in taking a look at Webb in camp and seeing if he can compete for a bullpen job.  As Murray notes, Webb is a known quantity to Angels GM Perry Minasian, who worked in Atlanta’s front office from 2017-20 before being hired by Los Angeles.

Though Webb doesn’t record a ton of strikeouts, he does have some swing-and-miss in his game, with an impressive 13.8% swinging-strike rate over his brief MLB career.  If he can continue to miss bats, generate soft contact and (perhaps most importantly) stay healthy, Webb might end up being a nice under-the-radar pickup for the Angels.

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