Twins Have Explored Trades For Gerrit Cole, Jake Odorizzi
The Twins are known to be on the hunt for rotation upgrades and have already been linked to top free agents Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta, but they’re also poking around the trade market. Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Minnesota has spoken to the Pirates about Gerrit Cole and also engaged the Rays in discussions on Jake Odorizzi (Twitter links). Both righties come with two remaining years of team control.
It’s not at all clear that the Pirates intend to aggressively shop Cole this offseason, though as a low-payroll club Pittsburgh always has to willing to at least entertain offers for its top talents. Cole certainly falls into that category, though he had somewhat of a down season in 2017. The former No. 1 overall pick logged 203 innings with the Bucs, marking his second career 200-inning campaign, but he also posted a career-worst 4.26 ERA. That was largely attributable to to a massive spike in his homer-to-flyball ratio (15.9 percent), which led to a career-worst 1.37 HR/9 mark.
However, Cole’s 2017 season also came with cause for optimism. The 27-year-old saw both his strikeout and walk rates bounce back from 2016, as he averaged 8.7 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 while maintaining a solid ground-ball rate (45.8 percent) and averaging 96 mph on his fastball. Cole’s average exit velocity of 85.4 mph ranked in the top quarter of the league (100th out of 438 pitchers, min. 100 batted-ball events). MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pegs Cole for a $7.5MM salary next season.
As for Odorizzi, he’ll turn 28 in March and recently wrapped a season in which he tossed 143 1/3 innings with a 4.14 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a more troubling 1.88 HR/9. Odorizzi has seen his walk and home-run rates increase each year since 2015. He’s averaged 30 starts per year in the past four seasons but has also averaged just 167 innings per year in that time. He’s projected to earn 6.5MM next year. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk noted in previewing the Rays’ offseason, Tampa Bay has a pretty notable payroll crunch, which could lead to plenty of Odorizzi chatter this season given his projected salary and relatively limited club control.
Of course, the Twins have one of the largest figures that any team can offer Japanese star Shohei Ohtani ($3.245MM), and Berardino tweets that the team is indeed preparing its pitch for the potential ace. He also notes that Minnesota is focusing more on the rotation than the bullpen. Top-tier names like Wade Davis and Greg Holland aren’t likely to be on the Twins’ radar, he notes, though second-tier options will be in play as the offseason wears on.
Players Added To The 40-Man Roster
As detailed earlier this morning at MLBTR, the deadline for Major League clubs to add players to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft is tonight. Because of that, there will be literally dozens of moves between now and 8pm ET as teams make final determinations on who to protect and who to risk losing in next month’s Rule 5 draft. This process will lead to smaller-scale trades, waiver claims and DFAs, but for some clubs the only necessary moves will simply be to select the contracts of the prospects they wish to place on the 40-man roster. We’ll track those such moves in this post…
- Heading onto the Blue Jays‘ roster, per a club announcement, are righty Connor Greene, lefty Tom Pannone, first baseman Rowdy Tellez, and catchers Dan Jansen and Reese McGuire.
- The Rays have selected the contracts of righties Brent Honeywell, Diego Castillo, Yonny Chirinos, and Jose Mujica, lefty Ryan Yarbrough, first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers, and outfielder Justin Williams, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
- The Diamondbacks placed lefty Jared Miller on the MLB roster, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports on Twitter.
- A list of six players is heading onto the Reds‘ 40-man, per Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter): infielders Alex Blandino and Shed Long, outfielder Jose Siri, and righties Jose Lopez, Jesus Reyes, and Zack Weiss.
- The Padres and Brewers have joined the teams announcing their additions. For San Diego, lefties Jose Castillo and Brad Wieck are heading to the 40-man. Milwaukee has selected shortstop Mauricio Dubon, catcher Jacob Nottingham, and righties Marcos Diplan and Freddy Peralta.
- The Marlins and Yankees just struck a trade relating to their 40-man maneuvering, and each announced their selections shortly thereafter. Miami is placing outfielder Braxton Lee on the MLB roster along with righties Merandy Gonzalez, Pablo Lopez, and James Needy. New York, meanwhile, will select righties Albert Abreu, Domingo Acevedo, and Jonathan Loaisiga to the 40-man along with outfielder Billy McKinney and infielders Thairo Estrada and (last but not least) Gleyber Torres.
Click to check in on other teams that have selected players to their 40-man rosters …
Quick Hits: Int’l Market, Twins, Vizquel, Chatwood, Nats
The Blue Jays are the favorites to sign 15-year-old Dominican shortstop Orelvis Martinez, who scouts expect will receive the highest bonus of any player signed in next year’s July 2 international signing market, Baseball America’s Ben Badler writes (BA subscription required and recommended). Badler recently attended an MLB showcase for Dominican players and provides brief scouting breakdowns on some of the talents involved, plus the teams already connected to them in signing rumors. Besides Toronto and Martinez, the Giants, Tigers, Mariners, Rays, Indians, Royals, and Cubs were also linked to the seven other prospects featured in Badler’s report.
- Extensions could be a major element of the Twins‘ offseason, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes that the club could look to gain cost certainty over one or more of their young players with a multi-year agreement. Derek Falvey and Thad Levine were often part of extension talks in their past jobs with the Indians and Rangers; Berardino gets some interesting quotes from Ian Kinsler about his dealings with Levine in working out his two extensions with Texas. for a lower-payroll team like Minnesota, though it’s worth noting that the Twins have no money at all on the books after the 2019 season. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, and Eddie Rosario are all a season away from arbitration eligibility, while Jose Berrios and other possible cornerstone players still have multiple pre-arb years remaining.
- The White Sox have hired Omar Vizquel as the manager of their A-ball affiliate in Winston-Salem, according to Venezuelan reporter Efrain Zavarace on Twitter (hat tip to MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery). This will be Vizquel’s first managerial assignment after four seasons as the Tigers’ first base coach and one year as an infield coach with the Angels. He has often been mentioned as a potential managerial candidate in the big leagues, and Vizquel interviewed for the Tigers’ dugout vacancy earlier this offseason.
- There is “widespread interest” in free agent right-hander Tyler Chatwood, Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets. As a result, it’s “probable” Chatwood will land a multi-year contract, a source informed Morosi. MLBTR forecasts a three-year, $20MM contract for Chatwood, who spent the previous five seasons with the Rockies organization. Chatwood combined for 60 appearances (52 starts) from 2016-17 and recorded a 4.27 ERA, with 6.98 K/9 against 4.33 BB/9, across 305 2/3 innings. His age (28 in December), high velocity and penchant for inducing grounders (57.6 percent over the prior two seasons) are surely helping his cause on the open market.
- After almost two years of trying, the Nationals aren’t close to selling the naming rights to Nationals Park, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports. If the Nats can eventually find a deal, it would create a short-term revenue bump for a club that has extensive short-term financial commitments and doesn’t seem any closer to resolving their ongoing TV rights dispute with the Orioles. (Janes also provides an update on the latest development between the Nats and O’s in that court case.)
Twins Void Contract Of International Signee Jelfry Marte
The Twins have voided their contract with young Dominican shortstop Jelfry Marte, according to a report from Ben Badler of Baseball America. The 16-year-old had agreed to a $3MM bonus.
Marte evidently did not pass his physical, with Badler citing a vision problem as the basis for the Twins’ action. The youngster is now a free agent and has begun once again showcasing for potential suitors.
Entering the most recent July 2 signing period, Marte was viewed as a “true shortstop,” as Badler phrased it. While Marte’s glovework and speed on the bases tantalized, there were some questions about his future at the plate. Those interested in reading more can check out Badler’s full and excellent coverage (subscription link).
Today’s news is fairly notable not only because it throws Marte back into the pool of open-market talent. It also leaves the Twins with a big chunk of international spending to work with even as other organizations are mostly tapped out.
With the refund, Minnesota is just one of three teams with over $3MM in capacity.* That leaves the club in a better position than most rivals as just about every team in baseball lines up to pursue Japanese star Shohei Ohtani. The Twins could utilize those funds to chase Ohtani, trade them to another organization that wishes to do so, or instead deploy them for some of the remaining international talent. (Badler cites a few intriguing possibilities, including Cuban outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez, who is attempting to make it to the majors.)
*This post initially stated that the savings from Marte’s voided contract would add to the team’s previously reported $3MM+ in available spending capacity. As BA’s J.J. Cooper notes in a tweet, the contract rescission is actually what creates the bulk of that availability.
Torey Lovullo, Paul Molitor Win Manager Of The Year Awards
Torey Lovullo of the Diamondbacks and Paul Molitor of the Twins have been named Manager of the Year in their respective leagues, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced on Tuesday. As a reminder, voting was conducted prior to the postseason, so the results of the playoffs had no bearing on the award’s recipients.
Lovullo, 52, wins NL Manager of the Year honors in his first season as a big league manager. Lovullo inherited a club that went 69-93 in 2016 but was able to help the D-backs flip that record to 93 wins and 69 losses. Lovullo’s D-backs claimed the top Wild Card spot in the National League and remained competitive throughout the season, even as center fielder A.J. Pollock missed nearly two months on the disabled list and Shelby Miller missed nearly the entire season due to Tommy John surgery.
Lovullo received 18 first-place votes and 111 voting points in the BBWAA’s weighted voting system, topping runner-up Dave Roberts of the Dodgers (five first-place votes, 55 points) and third-place finisher Bud Black of the Rockies (three first-place votes, 43 points) in the voting. Brewers skipper Craig Counsell finished fourth and took three first-place votes, while recently dismissed Nationals manager Dusty Baker finished fifth and received one first-place vote. A full breakdown of the voting can be seen here.
Molitor’s Twins became the first club in Major League history to go from a 100-loss season to a playoff berth when they secured the second American League Wild Card spot. The Twins surprisingly led the American League Central for much of the first half before sliding into the middle of pack and looking to have largely fallen out of contention at the non-waiver trade deadline. Minnesota dealt closer Brandon Kintzler to the Nationals and left-hander Jaime Garcia to the Yankees after dropping six of seven games (while the red-hot Indians and Royals soared to the top of the division), but Molitor’s club proved to be resilient.
From Aug. 1 through season’s end, the Twins went 35-24 as a number of their young talents surged in the second half. Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario surged over the final couple of months, helping the Twins to fend off an Angels club that remained in contention for a Wild Card spot into the last week of the season.
Molitor landed 18 first-place votes and finished with 112 points in the BBWAA’s voting system, as can be seen in the full breakdown of the voting. Indians skipper Terry Francona finished a close second with 11 first-place votes and 90 total points in the balloting. Astros skipper A.J. Hinch picked up the 30th and final first-place vote, finishing third in the balloting with 56 points. Former Yankees manager Joe Girardi was a frequent recipient of second- and third-place votes, rounding out the ballot with 12 points and a fourth-place finish.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
GM Meetings Notes: The American League Central
Royals GM Dayton Moore did not strike a particularly optimistic tone yesterday with regard to the the organization’s major free agents, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports on Twitter. “We’ll see what the market dictates, we’ll stay engaged with our current free agents,” said Moore. “But I’m not sure if it’s at the levels that everyone’s talking about. It may be extra challenging for us.” The Kansas City organization will get a chance to begin figuring out just how much it’ll cost to keep Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas when it sits down today with agent Scott Boras, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports.
- Moore also discussed the fact that he’ll stay with the Royals after owner David Glass declined to allow him to interview with the Braves, as Dodd further writes. “I simply left that in Mr. Glass’s hands,” said Moore. “If he wanted to grant permission, then that would signal to me that he didn’t want me here. If he denied permission, that would tell me he wants me here.” That’s certainly an interesting perspective. Moore did emphasize, too, that he’s happy both to remain in charge of the Royals’ baseball ops and to put the speculation behind him. He is under contract in Kansas City through the 2020 campaign, Dodd further reports, and it seems as if there’s good cause to expect the relationship to continue for the foreseeable future.
- Unsurprisingly, GM Rick Hahn suggests the White Sox are open to trading their few established veteran hitters this winter, as ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick writes. With the club still “focused on the long-term,” says Hahn, it will entertain offers on first baseman Jose Abreu and outfielder Avisail Garcia. Hahn explained: “At some point, not necessarily this offseason, we have to make the decision: Are we best served by extending them through what we project to be the bulk of our (competitive) window, or are we better off making a move like some of the others we’ve made and trying to reinforce the future with prospects?'” It’ll be interesting to see what kinds of offers are dangled for both players and whether Chicago truly seeks to initiate extension talks to create an alternative path.
- The Tigers are diving right into talks on several players, GM Al Avila told reporters including Evan Woodberry of MLive.com (via Twitter). Avila said he has already discussed a few of the team’s players with rival organizations, including veteran second baseman Ian Kinsler. Detroit is also preparing to make some difficult 40-man roster decisions, Woodberry reports. Indeed, Avila says the process of whittling the players to protect from the Rule 5 draft has been “excruciating and painful.”
- The Twins front office duo of Derek Falvey and Thad Levine faces quite a different situation in their second offseason with the franchise, as Phil Miller of the Star Tribune writes. Indeed, the team’s reported interest in some of the best free agent pitching serves to highlight the opportunities and expectations facing the organization this winter.
Twins Looking At Top-Tier Free Agent Pitchers
The Twins are taking an aggressive stance to open free agency, according to a report from Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. It seems the Minnesota organization is slated to engage at the top echelon of the pitching market.
We’ve heard chatter previously about the Twins investing in an arm, but this news seemingly takes the interest to another level. Per Heyman, the front office is at least “looking at” top free-agent hurlers Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta, with a “slightly higher evaluation” of the former. Not only that, but the club is said to be “investigating” the best relievers available, including Wade Davis and Greg Holland.
Just how much cash the Twins will pour into the open market remains an open question. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explained, though, the organization not only seems ready to contend in a vulnerable AL Central, but has plenty of open future payroll space. That makes it plausible, albeit hardly certain, to imagine the Twins playing in a segment of free agency that is normally off limits.
It’s not difficult to see why these particular pitchers would be of interest. Minnesota is clearly in need of at least one more quality starter and has an obvious opening at the back of the bullpen. As ever, though, getting the players with the greatest pedigree could mean taking uncomfortable amounts of financial risk.
In this case, the expectation remains that Darvish and Arrieta will receive robust interest. MLBTR’s top 50 list features both among the top four players available, with $100MM or more in likely earnings. Meanwhile, Davis and Holland both warranted inclusion at the back of the top ten, with MLBTR predicting four-year deals for each (at $60MM and $50MM, respectively).
There’s always some possibility that markets won’t develop as anticipated, of course. And patience can pay off in free agency. It’ll be interesting to see, then, whether the Twins go chasing these top hurlers out of the gates or instead take a somewhat more opportunistic approach. The club does have interest in second-tier starters and relievers, Heyman notes. It seems possible that such hurlers could be targeted for value early or that the Twins could hold back and see if a particularly enticing opportunity arises over the course of the winter.
Twins Interested In Raisel Iglesias
The Twins have checked in with the Reds about a trade for closer Raisel Iglesias, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link). Iglesias is one of several relievers Minnesota is “performing due diligence on” as the club looks to upgrade its bullpen for next season.
Iglesias stands out as a logical target for any team in the market for saves, given that a closer is a luxury on a rebuilding team like Cincinnati. Working as a full-time reliever for the first time, Iglesias just completed the best of his three MLB seasons, posting a 2.49 ERA, 10.89 K/9 and 3.41 K/BB over 76 innings. Iglesias closed out 28-of-30 save opportunities while generating a career-high swinging strike rate (13.9%) on the strength of an excellent slider and a 96.4 mph fastball.
Iglesias, who turns 28 in January, brings value both as a strong closer now and as a long-term asset who isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2021 season. As per the terms of his original seven-year, $27MM deal with the Reds, Iglesias had the right to opt out of his guaranteed salary (with the Reds still retaining team control) in any offseason once he became eligible for arbitration, in order to chase a potentially larger payday through the arb process. MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projects Iglesias to earn $2.8MM through arbitration salary next season, so it is likely Iglesias will remain in his current deal for at least one winter, as his contract guarantees him $4.5MM in 2018.
Iglesias is also slated to earn $5MM in both 2019 and 2020 if he doesn’t opt into arbitration, and then he’ll have one final arb-eligible year as a Super Two player in the 2020-21 offseason. So while Iglesias’ price tag could potentially grow if he continues to rack up the saves, he’ll still be a cost-effective acquisition for a mid-market team like the Twins, particularly since Minnesota has very little salary on the books past the 2018 season.
Brandon Kintzler and Matt Belisle handled most of the ninth-inning duties for the Twins last season, though Kintzler was traded at the deadline and Belisle is a free agent, leaving Minnesota in search of a new closer this winter. The Twins didn’t get strong relief pitching in general in 2017, so it isn’t surprising that they’re looking at Iglesias and other notable bullpen arms on the trade and free agent fronts. We’ve already heard that the Twins have checked in with Kintzler about possibly bringing the free agent righty back to Target Field.
The Reds were only interested in hearing big trade offers for Iglesias last summer, and that asking price almost certainly hasn’t changed. The Twins’ farm system is middle-of-the-pack in terms of prospects to offer (Minnesota was ranked 19th in Baseball America’s post-deadline organizational ranking) since they were a team that seemed to be headed into a rebuild themselves before their surprising AL wild card finish in 2017 changed their outlook. If comes down to a prospect bidding war for Iglesias’ services, Minnesota might not have the young talent to meet the Reds’ needs.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/11/17
The latest minor moves from around baseball:
- Former major league reliever Wesley Wright has ended his playing career to take a job as a pro scout with the Twins, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Wright, 32, combined for 307 innings with five teams – primarily the Astros – from 2008-15 and posted a 4.16 ERA, with 8.65 K/9 against 3.96 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent groundball rate. The left-hander held same-sided hitters to a weak .234/.313/.334 line along the way. Wright spent part of 2017 with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate and got his release in July after struggling to a 4.88 ERA over 31 1/3 frames.
AL Central Notes: Kinsler, Kintzler, White Sox
The results of this year’s Gold Glove Awards voting came in earlier this week, and in the American League it was Brian Dozier taking home his first career Gold Glove at second base. Dozier took home a standard $25K bonus for that distinction, but the more notable financial component of the award is that Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler did not take home the $1MM bonus he’d have received for capturing a second Gold Glove honor. Kinsler’s 2017 option vested based on plate appearances back in September, but his salary would’ve risen from $11MM to $12MM had he landed the extra hardware. The $1MM difference in his salary won’t have much of an impact on his overall trade stock, but it’s still of minor note for both the Tigers and interested parties as Detroit explores trade scenarios for its longtime second baseman this winter.
More from the AL Central…
- The Twins have already reached out to right-hander Brandon Kintzler about a possible reunion this winter, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Minnesota is one of a “handful” of teams to show early interest in the 33-year-old Kintzler, per Berardino, who also notes that the Nationals have interest in retaining the sinkerball specialist. Kintzler has turned in an ERA just over 3.00 in the past two seasons despite averaging scarcely better than five strikeouts per nine innings, thanks largely to his excellent control, lofty ground-ball rates and a dearth of hard contact allowed.
- Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times takes a look at the difficult decisions facing White Sox GM Rick Hahn and his staff this offseason as they determine what to do with Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia. Both are controlled through the 2019 season and are affordable for the Sox (who have extremely limited payroll commitments as they rebuild), but Van Schouwen notes that the team views 2020 as a more reasonable target date for a return to prominence in the AL Central. “Any player who isn’t controllable through the bulk of our window, we have to make an assessment,” Hahn tells Van Schouwen.
- Also of note, Van Schouwen writes that the Sox will likely field a payroll in the vicinity of $75MM next year. Including arbitration projections from MLBTR, the Sox are projected to pay roughly $50MM to a dozen players next season. They’ll need another 13 players at or near the league minimum to round out the roster, which would take them just north of $57MM. That’d leave around $18MM to add some reclamation projects and/or veteran stopgaps in the rotation or bullpen if the Sox find opportunities to their liking. A trade of Abreu (projected at $17.9MM) or Garcia ($6.7MM) would obviously alter their capacity for additions.