While the Marlins are hoping to shed as much as $50MM in salary — reportedly by moving players such as Giancarlo Stanton, Martin Prado and Dee Gordon — the team still believes in its core more cost-efficient young bats, writes MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. In fact, Frisaro writes that the Fish are still hoping to improve their starting pitching this offseason even in the midst of shedding payroll, with a belief that the team can still contend in 2018. It’s not entirely clear how Miami intends to supplement what is presently an extremely thin rotation, though presumably they’ll seek to add some young arms in marketing both Stanton and Gordon. If enough payroll is shed, the club could theoretically look to add some affordable arms on the free-agent market, though it seems unlikely that they’d be in play for anything other than low-cost back-of-the-rotation arms or reclamation projects.
Marlins Rumors
Quick Hits: Marlins, Chief Wahoo, Cubs, Otani
The new Marlins ownership group apparently asked Hall of Famers Tony Perez and Andre Dawson to remain with the organization, but at a 75% pay cut amounting to a $25k annual salary. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports has the full scoop here. In a phone interview with FanRag, Perez said, “They say they wanted us in the organization. But we didn’t like the way they wanted us in the organization.” The debacle actually began with Marlins president David Samson calling Perez to tell him that the two were being let go. After a few subsequent events, Perez and Dawson were given the $25K offer and asked to spend their time with minor leaguers rather than the major leaguers they had developed a rapport with. Conflicting information came to the two Hall of Famers from Samson and Jeter over the course of a few days, leading Perez to describe the whole fiasco as “ridiculous”, adding that “it wasn’t right”. They’ve rejected their respective low-ball offers and will no longer be a part of the Marlins organization.
Some other items across major league baseball as the Astros and Dodgers prepare to face each other in Game 4…
- Yuli Gurriel’s use of a racial slur aimed at Yu Darvish has once again brought up the subject of the Indians’ Chief Wahoo logo. When asked about Chief Wahoo, Manfred said that he sees a difference between the logo and Gurriel’s slur, but that “both are problematic” (via Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times). Scott Miller of Bleacher Report adds in his own tweet that Manfred plans to deal with Chief Wahoo in the offseason.
- The Cubs might be willing to listen on big-name players in order to acquire young pitchers, Phil Rogers of MLB.com reports. He lists Chris Archer, Marcus Stroman, Sean Manaea, Aaron Nola and Michael Fulmer as potential targets, noting that only Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras are likely to be considered untouchable. The Cubs’ starting staff finished with a 4.05 combined ERA last season, but could see former Cy Young-winner Jake Arrieta leave in free agency (Rogers cites the Rangers as a team that could potentially sign him).
- Coveted Nippon-Ham Fighters ace Shohei Otani has been released from the hospital following successful ankle surgery, according to a report from the Japan Times. Otani’s recovery process will be one to watch, as he’s likely to be courted by all 30 MLB teams during the offseason as he attempts a move to the majors. Otani’s ankle injury can actually be traced all the way back to last October and has bothered him ever since, so fans in Japan and the US alike will hope that this surgery puts a firm end to any issues.
Quick Hits: Marlins, Nationals, Astros, Roberts/Hinch
Dan Greenlee will assume a role as Director of Player Personnel for the Marlins, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports points out that Greenlee is the second executive Derek Jeter has hired away from the Yankees in the past week; Gary Denbo was recently hired as the Vice President of Player Development and Scouting, and is widely credited with helping to turn around the Yankees’ farm system. Anderson also notes that Greenlee is an interesting baseball exec, having a background in law and journalism, and previously worked as a merger analyst for a media organization.
A few more notes from around Major League Baseball on the night of Game 3…
- The Nationals are likely to exceed the luxury tax threshold once again, says Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. Between guaranteed salaries to ten players, arbitration projections, Matt Wieters’ player option and at least $500K owed to Adam Lind in the form of a buyout on his mutual option, Washington’s guaranteed payroll for 2018 will already top $168MM. That in and of itself doesn’t seem too scary, considering the luxury tax threshold sits at $197MM for the upcoming season. But unfortunately for the Nationals, it isn’t quite that simple. The competitive balance tax takes into account the average annual value of player contracts, and the Nats have worked a lot of deferred money into deals in recent years. According to Cot’s, their payroll is around $193MM for luxury tax purposes. The Nationals, who will be expected to pursue another NL East pennant, will almost certainly spend more than $4MM in free agency.
- Jerry Crasnick of ESPN details the connection between Hurricane Harvey and the city’s passion for Astros baseball in 2017 in a very well-written editorial. The destruction Harvey left in its wake has had a direct correlation with the city’s inhabitants showing increased Houston pride. Indeed, residents have worn #HoustonStrong shirts to games and showed up to support their baseball team in droves. Crasnick details the efforts that the Astros organization made during the storm to give back to the city, including opening kitchens at Minute Maid Park and reaching out to little league teams whose equipment was destroyed by Harvey. The fans are paying the Astros back with incredible support during the postseason.
- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Astros skipper A.J. Hinch are focused on trying to lead their respective teams to a World Series title. But as Kyle Glaser of Baseball America points out, this isn’t the first time these two men have been on opposing teams. The rivalry between these two skippers goes all the way back to their college days in the PAC-10. Hinch caught a no-hitter against Roberts and the Bruins on May 8th, 1994. However, Roberts managed to steal a base off Hinch at his first opportunity in the majors, during an August 24th, 1999 game between the Indians and the Athletics. Roberts jokingly considers the World Series a “rubber match” between the two.
Jeff Conine Declines Offer To Return To Marlins Front Office
- Jeff Conine won’t be returning to the Marlins front office, according to Clark Spencer and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. A longtime fixture as both a player and special assistant in Miami, Conine and fellow assistants Andre Dawson, Jack McKeon, and Tony Perez were all fired by the team’s new ownership group but then, somewhat confusingly, were all approached by Derek Jeter about new roles with the club. Conine said he turned down a position that offered half of his old $100K salary and less responsibility than his old job. It isn’t clear if Conine will continue in his other role calling Marlins games for Fox Sports Florida, as he described that as a “totally separate deal” than his job with the organization.
Marlins To Meet With Stanton After World Series
Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton, who will enter the offseason as the most-watched trade candidate in baseball, said in an appearance last night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that he is slated to meet with the team’s new ownership group after the World Series ends. (Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald was among those to report on the comments.)
It’s a bit surprising to learn that Stanton hasn’t yet sat down with the incoming owners, who have been led publicly by surefire Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter. His no-trade protection, after all, gives him full veto authority over any trade, so Stanton’s own preferences will weigh heavily in dictating the Miami organization’s freedom of action this winter.
As I explored in discussing the Marlins’ offseason options just yesterday, the team’s reported intentions to drop payroll to the $90MM level seem to make a Stanton deal rather likely. Particularly given that the slugger is coming off of an excellent season that boosted his profile and marketability, Stanton will hold quite a lot of appeal to other organizations. But the Marlins can scarcely afford to hang onto him at that payroll level, and almost certainly can’t afford to do so while also seeking to acquire new MLB talent to boost a moribund pitching staff.
Stanton fielded some questions from Kimmel about possible destinations. While it’s possible to read something into the responses, it largely seems that Stanton ably handled them without giving away anything of substance. He did acknowledge he “grew up a Dodger fan” and hinted he’d have little trouble approving a deal to send him to the National League champs, though that’s hardly surprising. Stanton also said he’d be willing to spend some time as a DH when asked about the Red Sox as a landing spot, though again that was hardly a committed response. And the slugger quipped that he “like[s] beating up on the Mets” when asked about that (seemingly unlikely) destination, that hardly seems to dictate anything about his future.
Ultimately, all that’s really known about Stanton’s preferences, per Jackson, is that he does not wish to endure a rebuild. Even then, it’s all but impossible at this point to know whether the star would consider a move to a team that is just opening a competitive window. Given that he has yet even to discuss the situation with the team’s new top decisionmakers, it seems fair to say that the potential offseason drama has yet even to begin in earnest.
Offseason Outlook: Miami Marlins
MLBTR is publishing Offseason Outlooks for all 30 teams. Click here to read the other entries in this series.
The Marlins could hold the key to the offseasons of many other organizations, as new ownership (led by CEO Derek Jeter) will reassess the team’s direction after a disappointing 2017 campaign.
Guaranteed Contracts
- Giancarlo Stanton, OF: $295MM through 2027 (including buyout on 2028 option; contract includes opt-out after 2020)
- Wei-Yin Chen, SP: $52MM through 2020 (technically structured as player option)
- Christian Yelich, OF: $44.5MM through 2021 (including buyout on 2022 option)
- Dee Gordon, 2B: $38MM through 2020 (including buyout on 2021 option)
- Martin Prado, 3B: $28.5MM through 2019
- Edinson Volquez, SP: $13MM through 2018
- Brad Ziegler, RP: $9MM through 2018
- Junichi Tazawa, RP: $7MM through 2018
Contract Options
- Ichiro Suzuki, OF: $2MM club option
Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Marcell Ozuna (4.124) – $10.9MM
- Derek Dietrich (3.151) – $3.2MM
- Dan Straily (3.126) – $4.6MM
- Justin Bour (3.064) – $3.5MM
- Miguel Rojas (3.043) – $1.1MM
- J.T. Realmuto (3.038) – $4.2MM
Free Agents
[Marlins Depth Chart; Marlins Payroll Information]
Jeter seems to be tweaking, rather than overhauling, the team’s baseball operations department, which will still be led by Michael Hill. But with new decisionmakers at the top of the food chain and key new execs installed downstream (in particular, Gary Denbo), the Marlins seem ripe for at least a partial roster overhaul.
Financial pressures will surely weigh in. Though incoming ownership is surely hoping that an improved business and baseball approach can turn the club into an annually profitable undertaking, that won’t be the case right off the bat. There are continued whispers that the purchase price was high and that the ownership group isn’t quite as firm, financially speaking, as might have been hoped.
Whatever the precise cause, rumor has it that Jeter and his charges will be looking to significantly reduce the team’s payroll this winter, perhaps as far south as $90MM. That’s hardly unfamiliar territory; indeed, the organization has only twice cracked nine figures and has otherwise never gone over $75MM in Opening Day payroll. But after several investments drove last year’s franchise-record $115MM+ slate of salaries, it’s a big drop. Since the existing guarantees and projected arbitration payouts would alone push the team into the $130MM range, the reported target likely portends some major trades.
Much of the speculation thus far has focused on slugger Giancarlo Stanton — for good reason. He nearly reached 60 long balls last year, will just 28 years of age over the offseason, and is going to begin earning annual salaries in excess of $25MM in 2018. While the overall contractual guarantee remains daunting, perhaps it’s an approximately market rate of annual pay for a player of Stanton’s abilities. His appeal is unlikely to be higher than it is now, after he raised his national profile with his dinger barrage and turned in a productive and healthy overall season.
Though Stanton is an obvious trade candidate, his contract is hardly a straightforward asset to deal. From a PR standpoint, it’s hard to move a player of such prominence, though perhaps the ownership change also represents an opportune moment to turn a new leaf. Stanton enjoys full no-trade protection, but he has indicated he would rather not hang out in Miami for a rebuild. The post-2020 opt-out may perhaps give some other teams some pause if asked to give up significant young assets (quite apart from the lofty total contract price). Sufficient future payroll capacity will be an obvious prerequisite to acquiring Stanton. As of yet, the market situation is mostly undeveloped, but there’s been (in some cases speculative) mention of teams like the Phillies, Giants, and Red Sox as potential suitors.
There are any number of fascinating scenarios that could be dreamed up regarding Stanton, depending upon the precise motivations of the teams involved. Will the new Miami leadership be willing to keep some of the money (or take on an underperforming veteran in the swap) to increase the prospect return? Or is the primary goal to realign the balance sheets? And might other veteran Marlins players even potentially enter trade talks as the various teams seek to structure mutually beneficial scenarios?
There are plenty of other conceivable trade candidates on Miami’s roster, especially on the position-player side. In all likelihood, the offseason changes will be driven more by trade interest from rivals than by any specific needs the Marlins wish to address. It’s possible that the club will move Stanton but mostly otherwise keep together its relatively affordable and youthful core. But it’s equally conceivable — and perhaps advisable — that the organization will rip the band-aid off all at once.
Other teams are no doubt eyeing swaths of Miami’s roster as players to consider pursuing over the offseason. Outfielders Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna will hold even more appeal than Stanton to many organizations, given Yelich’s eminently affordable contract and Ozuna’s reasonably priced projected salary. There are loads of sluggers that can be had for cheap, but first baseman Justin Bour still stands out as an ascendant and affordable hitter. Derek Dietrich could be a useful platoon piece for other clubs given the solid pop he brings along with defensive capacity (albeit not mastery) at the 3-4-5 spots in the infield as well as the corner outfield.
Miami’s best trade asset, though, could actually be catcher J.T. Realmuto. That’s due in large part to scarcity at the position; reliable everyday backstops are one of the game’s rarest assets. Realmuto, 26, is an above-average hitter and baserunner who comes with three more seasons of affordable control. He throws and blocks well. And while he once rated as a poor framer, there’s now a notable (and quite unusual) split: Stat Corner views him as a wreck at winning strikes, while Baseball Prospectus now sees Realmuto as an ace pitch sweetener.
Those players all carry excess value against their contractual commitments. In a wholesale sell-off scenario, the Fish could recoup serious young talent. Other players hold out more promise of freeing payroll space. Dee Gordon should draw some interest, though there are quite a few other second basemen available and his contract looks to be in range of his hypothetical open-market value. And though Martin Prado won’t be a hotly pursued commodity — he is coming off of an injury-plagued 2017 and turns 34 at the end of October — some clubs would surely take on some of his salary. The better bet, in Prado’s case, might be to hope that an early-season turnaround boosts his value at the trade deadline.
Any acquisitions on the position-player side will be dependent upon what happens with the long list of players just discussed. The Marlins could end up adding young MLB talent in trades. Or they could end up with some pretty distinct holes to be filled by seeking lower-priced veterans in free agency. Third baseman Brian Anderson is perhaps the best candidate to join JT Riddle as a new semi-regular. Otherwise, there isn’t much in the way of quality young talent pressing for MLB time from the upper minors, as most of the Marlins’ best prospects are pitchers and/or lower-level position players.
To the extent the Marlins really try to compete in 2018, the chief needs would be found in the pitching staff. And the team will need enough arms to make it through the season regardless, so odds are that it will at least pursue lower-cost and minor-league free agent candidates.
In the rotation, that could mean adding at least two or three arms. Another opening could be made if the Marlins decide to move righty Dan Straily. He turned in another solid season and offers surplus value to teams that want quality innings at a below-market rate. Straily’s projected $4.6MM salary would represent only represent a small fraction of the sum the Marlins reportedly hope to shed, but he could net some upper-level talent that could conceivably step onto the big league roster in the not-too-distant future. Affordable arms are always in demand, and Straily reportedly drew a fair bit of interest prior to the non-waiver deadline.
While the club would love to find a taker for its remaining obligations to lefty Wei-Yin Chen, that’s hard to imagine after he missed most of the season with a partial UCL tear that did not require surgery. Rather, he’ll be run out there if he’s healthy in hopes that he’ll give innings and perhaps regain his form. His ability to do so is no sure thing, though, as skipper Don Mattingly has questioned whether Chen will be able to pitch at all next season. It’s perhaps still theoretically possible that Edinson Volquez will make it back from Tommy John surgery late in 2018, but the Marlins can’t count on anything from him and aren’t likely to shed his $13MM commitment.
Otherwise, Jose Urena outperformed his peripherals but surely deserves a starting job. And the team’s aggressive promotion of Dillon Peters suggests a belief that he’s ready to shoulder a big load at the game’s highest level. He has typically shown excellent control, so he’ll no doubt pare back his 5.5 BB/9 debut walk rate, and there’s obvious promise in his 63.3% groundball rate. The team can also give more opportunities to southpaws Adam Conley, Justin Nicolino, Chris O’Grady and Jarlin Garcia (who may yet move from the ’pen back to the rotation) or dip further into the system, where Trevor Richards is one of the more interesting, near-term possibilities. Clearly, though, there’s cause for the front office to pursue some bounceback arms and perhaps make a selection in the Rule 5 Draft to pair with righty Odrisamer Despaigne as depth options.
The situation is rather similar in the bullpen, where there’s one interesting young potential trade candidate (Kyle Barraclough), two expensive veterans that did not quite live up to their salaries (Brad Ziegler and Junichi Tazawa), and a slate of inexperienced youngsters. The team could get something of interest back for Barraclough, who has four more years of team control and has averaged 12.1 K/9 with a sub-3.00 ERA in 163 big league innings. It’s also feasible that Miami could generate some interest in Ziegler following a strong finish to the season (especially if the Fish pay down some of his $9MM price tag), but that’d only mean opening yet more jobs at the MLB level. Regardless of what happens with the existing players, there’s an evident need to add plausible major-league arms, as Drew Steckenrider represents the only other young, controllable lock for a bullpen slot.
All things considered, the Marlins’ pitching staff is among the worst-positioned in baseball for near-term success. While there are some high-upside arms filtering northward, none seem likely to arrive soon, and recent top 10 overall picks Tyler Kolek (No. 2 in 2014) and Braxton Garrett (No. 7 in 2016) have both had Tommy John surgery. The organization has felt the pain of mortgaging the future already; for instance, while Straily worked out about as well as could have been hoped, he cost the team young flamethrower Luis Castillo, who has an exceedingly bright future and has already turned in 89 1/3 quality MLB innings for the Reds.
Fielding a competitive team would mean upgrading the pitching, which in turn would require some combination of: 1) weakening the position-player mix through trade; 2) spending more money; 3) parting with prospect capital; and 4) hitting on buy-low targets. With the Marlins looking to shave payroll and set the stage for a sustainable future, there’s little in the way of opportunity — let alone justification — for trying again to win with this basic roster mix.
Instead, it’s almost surely time for the organization to part with some of its best players in service of a new plan. How far they’ll go (along with how they’ll backfill) remains anyone’s guess — and also represents perhaps the most wide-reaching variable in the development of the overall player market this winter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins Face Payroll & Pitching Pressures
- Trimming payroll down to a reported $90MM obviously represents a big challenge for the Marlins. The challenge is made all the more difficult, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes, by the state of the team’s rotation. With some paring of veteran assets seemingly all but inevitable, it seems likely that the team will look to bring back some new arms if at all possible. Of course, the organization will surely still be looking to rely on internal options to fill out the staff. A team source had some rather harsh words for two such candidates, telling Jackson that promising youngster Dillon Peters “needs to lose weight” and charging that the struggling Adam Conley fails to accept instruction and “thinks he has all the answers.” Neither of those two southpaws produced appealing results in 2017, though the former drew a ton of groundballs in his first 31 1/3 MLB frames (and was also quite good at Double-A) while the latter had quite a lot of success in the prior two seasons.
Elected Free Agency: Siegrist, Edgin, Hutchison, Locke, Bolsinger, Van Slyke, Maness
The indispensable Matt Eddy of Baseball America provides an overview of a vast number of players electing free agency following the 2017 season in his latest Minor Transactions roundup. Eddy largely focuses on players with big league service time (significant service time, in some cases) that were outrighted off the roster that are now hitting the open market for the first time. (Players with three-plus years of service that are not on the 40-man roster at season’s end can elect free agency, as can any player that has been outrighted on multiple occasions in his career.)
While the vast majority of these players seem likely to sign minor league pacts this winter — they did, after all, go unclaimed by 29 other teams on waivers — a number of them are still intriguing with recent success in their past and/or multiple years of arbitration eligibility remaining. Eddy’s rundown also contains a number of re-signed minor leaguers and released minor leaguers without big league experience as well as Arizona Fall League assignments on a per-team basis, so it’s well worth a full look.
We’ve updated our list of 2017-18 MLB free agents accordingly, and here are some of the new names now checking in on the list…
Depth options in the rotation
Josh Collmenter, Asher Wojciechowski, Drew Hutchison, Jeff Locke, Kyle Kendrick, Mike Bolsinger, Christian Bergman, David Holmberg
Collmenter is just two seasons removed from being the D-backs Opening Day starter but hasn’t had much success of late. Hutchison had solid Triple-A numbers and once looked like a long-term rotation piece in Toronto before Tommy John surgery. He can be controlled for another three seasons in arbitration. Locke was injured for most of an ugly first (and likely only) season in Miami, and Kendrick made just two starts for the Red Sox.
Wojciechowski (6.50 ERA in 62 1/3 innings with the Reds), Bolsinger (6.31 ERA in 41 1/3 innings with the Jays), Bergman (5.00 ERA in 54 innings with the Mariners) and Holmberg (4.68 ERA in 57 2/3 innings with the White Sox) all soaked up innings for injury-plagued pitching staffs. Bolsinger has had the most MLB experience of the bunch.
Corner Bats
Scott Van Slyke, Tyler Moore, Cody Asche, Conor Gillaspie, Jaff Decker
Van Slyke has long been a solid bat against left-handed pitching but appeared in just 29 games with the Dodgers and didn’t hit well with their Triple-A affiliate or with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate. (He was included in the Tony Cingrani trade to balance out the financial side of the deal.) Moore, also a right-handed bat, showed power but struggled to get on base.
Once one of the Phillies’ top prospects, Asche hit well in Triple-A Charlotte but flopped in a brief stint with the ChiSox. Gillaspie was unable to replicate his 2016 rebound with the Giants, while Decker showed some on-base skills in the Majors and minors but didn’t hit much overall. (He can play center but hasn’t graded well there in the Majors.)
Utility Infielders
Ruben Tejada, Phil Gosselin, Dusty Coleman, Chase d’Arnaud
Each of the four can play all over the diamond, but none provided offensive value in 2017. Tejada has the most big league experience but hasn’t received much playing time since 2015 (and hasn’t performed well when he has gotten opportunities). Gosselin has a solid defensive reputation but a light bat through 551 MLB PAs. Coleman hit four homers in 71 PAs in his MLB debut this year but logged a .268 OBP. d’Arnaud saw his fair share of 2016 action with the Braves but has never produced much at the plate.
Bullpen options
Kevin Siegrist (L), Josh Edgin (L), Seth Maness, Kevin Quackenbush
Siegrist and Edgin are intriguing names for clubs in need of left-handed bullpen help. Both have recent success on their track records, though Edgin wasn’t as sharp in 2017 as he was prior to 2015 Tommy John surgery. Siegrist’s control eroded in 2017 as he missed time due to a back/spinal injury and tendinitis in his left forearm, but he was one of the Cardinals’ top setup options in both 2015 and 2016. Both lefties are controllable through 2019.
Maness drew headlines for returning from a torn UCL in roughly seven months thanks to an experimental new “primary repair” procedure, but while he stayed healthy in 2017, the results weren’t great in the Majors and especially not in Triple-A (6.13 ERA in 47 innings). Quackenbush was excellent as a rookie in 2014 and solid in 2015-16 before imploding in 2017 (7.86 ERA in 26 1/3 innings). He was better but not great in Triple-A (3.90 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9). Maness could be controlled through 2019, while Quackenbush would have three more years of control.
Quick Hits: Ichiro, Yankees, D’Backs, Gardenhire
Happy birthday to Ichiro Suzuki, as the future Hall-of-Famer turns 44 years old today. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald takes a look at Ichiro’s offseason training regimen, though “offseason” may not be the correct term since the outfielder has continued to work out at Marlins Park almost every day since the season ended. Near-daily training has been a staple of almost every offseason for Suzuki — he took a month off in 2005 but tells Spencer via an interpreter that “my body just didn’t feel like my own body. My body was, like, sick.” Ichiro has long been known for his incredible fitness regime, and he doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon, as he has said that he hopes to keep playing into his 50s.
Here’s the latest from around baseball…
- With the Yankees making a deep postseason run this year, Joel Sherman of the New York Post has a few suggestions on what the club must now do to cement itself as a World Series contender. The list includes signing Shohei Otani, cutting down on strikeouts, re-signing CC Sabathia, reinforcing the bullpen by signing Mike Minor, and trading a high-paid veteran to ensure that the team gets under the $197MM luxury tax threshold. Sherman also floats the idea of shifting Gary Sanchez into a part-time DH role with Otani, which then necessitates signing a backup catcher capable of handling a workload of around 60 games.
- The Diamondbacks’ roster is broken down by Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, who looks at both 2018 salary (hat tip to Piecoro for citing MLBTR’s arbitration projections) and each player’s role on next year’s club. With payroll size still an issue for the D’Backs, players such as Patrick Corbin or even A.J. Pollock could come up in trade talks since both will be free agents in the 2018-19 offseason. Brandon Drury or Nick Ahmed are cheaper but could also potentially be shopped due to a logjam of other infield options. Piecoro predicts Arizona will exercise its $2MM club option on Daniel Descalso since the veteran “was a big part of the clubhouse culture.”
- The Tigers’ choice of Ron Gardenhire as the team’s next manager “was a solid hire. It was a safe one, too,” The Athletic’s Katie Strang writes (subscription required and recommended). Both Gardenhire and Tigers GM Al Avila are under contract through 2020, so there is no small sense that Avila’s own job security will be scrutinized as the Tigers undergo a lengthy rebuild. Strang also shares some details on the Tigers’ managerial search, which included a wide variety of candidates but seemed to wrap up quickly (before even a second round of interviews) once Gardenhire emerged as the top contender.
Marlins Rumors: Yelich, Ozuna, Stanton
If the payroll-cutting Marlins only trade one of center fielder Christian Yelich or left fielder Marcell Ozuna this offseason, it’s more likely to be the former, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Parting with Yelich instead of Ozuna would save the Marlins less money in the near term, but they value Ozuna’s on- and off-field contributions so much that they’re inclined to keep him, per Cafardo. Ozuna is a Scott Boras client with just two years of control remaining and a projected $10.9MM coming his way in 2018. Yelich, on the other hand, will make $7MM next year – the third season of a long-term deal that looks like one of the most team-friendly contracts in baseball. The soon-to-be 26-year-old is controllable for five more seasons, including a 2022 club option for $15MM, at a combined $58.25MM.
Of course, the highest-profile Marlins outfielder is Giancarlo Stanton, who also has the biggest contract ($295MM through 2028, unless he opts out after 2020). While Stanton will be popular in the rumor mill over the next several months, there was “buzz” late in the season that he’d use his full no-trade clause to reject a deal to the Phillies, who are interested in him and Yelich, Cafardo relays. Stanton has made it clear that he’s tired of losing, something the Phillies have done plenty of in recent years, though they’re seemingly trending upward and figure to return to their high-payroll ways in the near future.
