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White Sox GM Rick Hahn Discusses Offseason Rebuild

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In our Q&A one year ago, GM Rick Hahn admitted that he considered a full rebuild for his Chicago White Sox. But with the encouragement of executive vice president Ken Williams and owner Jerry Reinsdorf, he reloaded the team in 2016 for one more run at a title. That effort got off to a scorching start, with the White Sox surging to a 23-10 record in early May that found them second only to the Cubs in all of baseball.

 From that point, things went downhill. From bizarre controversies like superstar lefty Chris Sale refusing to pitch in a throwback uni to underperformance from key acquisitions like catchers Alex Avila and Dioner Navarro, by midseason Hahn knew it was time to chart a different course.

The 45-year-old exec was the belle of the ball at the 2016 Winter Meetings, swapping Sale and breakout outfielder Adam Eaton in bang-bang deals that netted Chicago four players who dot Top 100 prospect lists from MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America and ESPN: uberinfielder Yoan Moncada and fireballer Michael Kopech from the Red Sox for Sale, and ace-caliber arms Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez from the Nationals for Eaton.

After those lauded swaps, the full rebuild was stopped in its tracks, as 29 other GMs decided to let Hahn’s hand cool at the trading table. With admittedly four deals that still need to be made in 2017, Hahn took his ear from the Batphone long enough to chat a bit about where the White Sox are, and where he hopes they’re heading.

In the first part of our conversation, Hahn addresses the decision to rebuild, and how important it is for him to “win” trades:

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After the 2015 season, a rebuild was on the table. But you and Ken, with Jerry’s backing, felt close enough to a title to add to the core. While the 2016 record didn’t show improvement, at season’s end the core was unchanged, and arguably strengthened by Todd Frazier and Tim Anderson. But this offseason you’ve traded your two top WAR players in Sale and Eaton, and the direction is decidedly different. Why?

While obviously this offseason we decided to take the club in a different direction, the decision was the result of the same analysis we do virtually every offseason. Each offseason we attempt to look at where we are as a franchise as objectively as possible.

This involves asking ourselves are we close, realistically, to winning a championship? What are the areas we need to improve upon in order to get to where we want to be, and how available are those pieces—either internally or externally? Based upon a series of these discussions, we felt taking a longer-term view would be more beneficial to the franchise overall than attempting once again to piecemeal the thing together with a shorter-term view.

While we certainly felt the same frustrations as any Sox fan with our recent attempts falling short, the decision to pivot now was based more on an objective evaluation than emotion.

Ken was renown as an all-in GM, and you spent your first four offseasons as GM in some form of win-now mode. Knowing how hard it has been to accept the reality of a rebuild, that to whatever degree it represents organizational failure, was it hard—even depressing—to arrive at this offseason’s rebuild?

As I talked about earlier this offseason regarding the congratulations we were receiving from other clubs at the Winter Meetings after the Sale trade, it’s actually a quite humbling feeling. The fact is that we were not able to win with Chris, among other talented players, heading up the top of our roster. We all regret that fact, and none of us relished the idea of moving him.

However, despite that regret, seeing the talent that is starting to come in the door is exciting. The idea of building something from the ground up energizes not only those of us in the front office, but our scouts and player development people, as well as employees in other departments throughout the club as well. There is a certain level of excitement that comes with new direction, and it’s something we look forward to building upon over the coming weeks and months.

The Cleveland Indians are tough and appear to have used this offseason to get a lot tougher. For a variety of reasons, the rest of the AL Central is wide open. When you see how the offseason has wrangled out, does any part of you want to say, “Uh, Dave Dombrowski, Mike Rizzo — want to flip Sale and Eaton back to Chicago?”

No. We’re trying to build a team that can contend for championships on an annual basis. As much as we want to put ourselves in that position as quickly as possible, last year’s club won 78 games, and to believe that the same group was suddenly going to morph into a perennial powerhouse without augmentation would require a level of wishcasting that we’re trying to avoid.

You’ve been cool at the poker table this offseason. Perhaps too cool, because it seems that while you still have a stack of chips, all the other GMs got a little jittery and left. The Sale and Eaton deals came quick, and then, crickets. You’ve admitted that you intended to continue turning over the roster, but so far, no dice. Ken is famed for his “we were five minutes from going another direction,” and you yourself handled at least one such deal where A.J. Pierzynski had essentially bought his bus ticket to L.A. before you ushered him back to the White Sox for 2011 with some cocktail-napkin negotiations. Were there some deals this winter that were one dropped signal or one email to spam from happening?

We’ve been clear throughout that if we had our druthers, we would knock out four more transactions that would advance the organization towards our goal as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for us, it’s not only our desire that drives the timing of these deals. My eagerness, or Kenny’s or Jerry’s, cannot be a factor in determining when to pull the trigger on a deal. It has to be based upon feeling like we are maximizing the value in a deal—not just forcing something home.

But, yes, we did have two deals—with different clubs, involving different players—die at the ownership approval stage when the other clubs decided in the end that the deal did not work for them. That’s unfortunate, but it happens. It’s also part of the reason that I never handicap the likelihood of a deal taking place when asked—nothing is completed until that final call is made. Far more deals fall apart for one reason or another than ultimately get consummated.

When you look back on these two blockbusters in years to come, what will it take for you to judge either trade a win?

We really aren’t looking to “win” deals. Instead, hopefully, all of our deals work out well for both sides. Given that we are at a different spot in our competitive cycle than the Red Sox and Nationals currently enjoy, there is certainly the chance of them to reap significant benefits now, and for us to do the same later.

In terms of judging deals from our own perspective, we try to look at the process and the decision as opposed to the result. That is, based upon everything we knew at the time, was it a good decision? Now, obviously, it’s pretty much impossible to ignore the performance after the fact, but ideally we use that performance to illustrate what we did right—or unfortunately, at times, wrong—in making the decision to move player X for player Y.

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Part two of MLBTR’s Q&A with Rick Hahn will run tomorrow afternoon.

Follow Brett Ballantini on Twitter @PoetryinPros.

MLBTR Originals

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A recap of the original content featured at MLBTR over the past week:

  • Onetime major league left-hander Ryan Dennick returned to MLBTR with an in-depth piece detailing his first day in the bigs, which came as a member of the Reds in 2014. Ryan concluded an unforgettable day with a 1-2-3 inning in Baltimore.
  • Jeff Todd updated the 10 best free agents left on the board in a class that unsurprisingly continues thinning out as spring training approaches. Only three free agents remain from the top 50 list MLBTR founder Tim Dierkes assembled entering the offseason.
  • Charlie Wilmoth revisited several notable February trades that have occurred in Major League Baseball since 2012. Today happens to be the one-year anniversary of the Athletics acquiring 42-home run outfielder/designated hitter Khris Davis from the Brewers.
  • After the Twins designated first baseman/DH Byung Ho Park for assignment, I asked readers whether it would be worthwhile for someone else to pick up the flawed slugger. The vast majority of voters advocated for another club to take Park off the Twins’ hands, but he ultimately went through waivers unclaimed and will stay with the Twins organization.
  • Speaking of flawed sluggers, Charlie searched for a team for then-free agent first baseman Chris Carter, who agreed to a deal with the Yankees two days later. The Yankees hadn’t been connected to Carter at all until they reached an agreement with him Tuesday, so they weren’t listed as a poll choice. The plurality of voters actually predicted Carter would sign in Japan.

Travel Delays, Candy Bags And The Sixth Inning

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It’s been 342 professional appearances and nearly eight calendar years since Ryan Dennick was selected by the Royals out of Tennessee Technological University in 2009. We’re happy to welcome Ryan as the latest author to join our Player’s Perspective series here at MLBTR.

This latest post is a continuation of Ryan’s first on MLBTR, entitled “You Only Get One MLB Debut.” If you haven’t read that, check it out before reading the second part of his story.

Once the initial excitement and celebration of my call-up wore off, reality set in. We were set to play the Orioles that night, and I had a job to do. The morning of Sept. 2 began around 5:00am from me, and I was greeted by pouring rain. The torrential downpour led to not only a delayed flight to Chicago, but a missed connection to Baltimore for myself and fellow September call-ups J.J. Hoover, Tucker Barnhart, David Holmberg and Donald Lutz. J.J. got the last seat on a new flight to Baltimore, while the rest of us hopped a flight to Washington, D.C. — an hour drive from Camden Yards. All of our bags wound up in Baltimore with J.J. The traveling secretary arranged a car rental, and we met J.J. at the airport to collect our bags an hour later.

Finally, after all the travel mishaps, we arrived at Camden Yards. Pulling into the parking lot of the ballpark, the realness of the situation was in full effect. We entered on the first base side of the field. To my right, I saw the long, brown weathered building known as the B&O Warehouse. It was this building that Ken Griffey Jr. homered off in the 1993 Home Run Derby and where the team hung the numbers 2, 1, 3 and 1 in celebration of Cal Ripken Jr. becoming baseball’s Iron Man. Those were iconic moments in the history of Camden Yards, and I was about to be on the same field on which those legends had played.

Ryan Dennick | Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

We grabbed our equipment bags and headed toward the security gate by the service entrance. The three other guys all pulled out their player ID cards issued to them in Major League Spring Training. This card is required to be shown to security officers to be granted access to the stadium. I was in minor league camp so I didn’t have an ID card. Thankfully, the guard understood the situation and let me through without an ID. After a series of bad breaks throughout the day, it was a relief to catch a good one. Once past the security check point, the four of us made the long trek underneath the stadium around to the third base side where the visitors’ clubhouse is located.

“Get excited man, you’re here!” Tucker said in an attempt to pump me up. After 13 hours of travel, we had arrived in front of the visitors’ clubhouse doors. The security guard in front of our clubhouse swung the doors open, and I followed in behind the other three guys.

Inside was a lively environment full of players, staff and media moving every which way. Batting practice had ended about 10 minutes before we arrived. Players were beginning to go into their pre-game routines. The media was trying to get in some interviews to use for the night’s broadcast and the clubhouse staff was hard at work gathering up all the laundry that had to be done during the game. I managed to flag down one of the clubhouse attendants to ask him where my locker was located.

“What’s your name?” he asked with a load of laundry in his hands. “Dennick,” I said. “Yeah, I think you’re in the back corner.”

The visitors’ clubhouse in Baltimore is quite expansive. The travel roster for the Reds included over 30 players, the Major League coaching staff, a few members of the minor league coaching staff, the training staff, and the administrative staff. Even with all those people, there were still some open lockers.

I walked further into the clubhouse to see how much of an upgrade the Majors were over the minors. To my right, hitters were reviewing film on Bud Norris, the Orioles’ starting pitcher that night, with Reds hitting coach Don Long. A few monitors and laptops were set up and available to anyone who wanted to look up any at-bat on any pitcher or hitter right there in the clubhouse. Beyond that was the kitchen. A chef was employed to provide us with incredible food. Steak, chicken, all the sides. Anything you wanted, it was available. I moved toward the middle of the room, which was filled in with two leather sectional couches. In the middle of those was a wide coffee table where guys enjoyed playing card games before game time. The walls of the clubhouse were all lined with flat screen TVs playing the MLB Network. All the lockers had nice leather swivel chairs in front of them. There was plenty of space between lockers, something I wasn’t used to in the minors.

And then there it was, in the back corner of the clubhouse in front of the tunnel that led to the playing field. I saw my locker.

I stood there for a second to take in the view. Inside were two game jerseys, a batting practice top, two pairs of pants, hats, undershirts and sweatshirts. There was so much gear, I felt like I’d robbed the Reds’ team store. I reached in and grabbed one of my game jerseys. We were wearing the typical road grays that night. Red stitched lettering that spelled “Cincinnati” on the front, my last name and the number 41 stitched on the back. The Majestic Cool Base material was so much more breathable and lighter than any of the minor league jerseys I’d ever worn. Years of hard work was represented by what I held in my hands. I set the jersey back in my locker and placed my equipment bag at its base. Unpacking would have to wait — it was time to see the manager.

Whenever a player gets assigned to a new level, it’s an unwritten rule he should go see the manager before getting settled in. Most of the time it begins with a little small talk, like making sure your travel went OK, and then it transitions into baseball talk. It doesn’t take long, maybe 5-10 minutes at the most, but it’s a sign of respect for the manager to see him first.

I navigated my way back to the front of the busy clubhouse to Bryan Price’s office. As I said before, I wasn’t in Major League camp in spring training so this was the first time I had ever met him. I knocked on the open door and poked my head into his office.

“Hey Ryan, come on in!” he said. “I heard about how your travel went today. You good to go tonight?” I waited my whole life to get here, no chance I was saying I wasn’t ready. “Absolutely,” I told him. “Well, you had a great season in Triple-A and we are excited to have you here. So go get settled in and be ready to go.”

It was a little less than an hour before the start of the game so I had a little bit of time to decompress. I returned to my locker to find all my equipment hung up and placed neatly inside. A teammate I had in Louisville who had been called up a few months back came over to greet me.

“Hey Buddy! Good to see you here!” “Good to be here! Did the clubbie hang up all my stuff?” I responded. “Welcome to the big leagues, kid. Get used to it.” He went on to fill me in on the ins and outs of what to do and what not to do in a Major League clubhouse. Just like the law, ignorance isn’t an excuse for doing something wrong. If you do something you shouldn’t in a clubhouse, a veteran player is going to let you hear about it.

Players were beginning to make their way down the tunnel toward the playing field. I put on my uniform and got ready to do the same. Before I could leave the clubhouse, one of the veteran relievers stopped by my locker.

“Welcome to the team, you got the candy bag.”

It’s the duty of the rookie reliever with the least amount of service time to take care of the candy bag. Gum, seeds, energy bars and drinks, chewing tobacco and anything else anybody wanted in the bullpen to get ready to pitch. I had to make sure it was stocked full before every game and carry it down to the ‘pen. With a full candy bag ready to go, the rest of the relief corps and I emerged from the visitors’ dugout and made the walk across the outfield grass to the stacked bullpens in left center field.

I made the ascent up the stone stairs leading up to our bullpen. Mat Latos was just finishing up his warm-up pitches, as he was our starting pitcher on this night. The view from our ‘pen was incredible. You could see everything. From foul pole to foul pole, your vision was filled up with all Camden Yards had to offer. Perfectly manicured field below and the thousands of seats filled with people that stretched from the playing field all the way up to the upper deck. It’s what I thought baseball was always supposed to look like. After the national anthem was sung and warm-up pitches were done, it was game time. A few guys in the bullpen grabbed some chairs and set up shop in front of the railing that overlooked the Orioles bullpen to get a better view of the action.

The game wasn’t going well on our end. After two innings of play, we were already down 5-0. But it was about to get worse. The rain that delayed our flight out of Cincinnati had followed us. The heavens opened up, and the tarp was put on the field. We were in a rain delay. The day just kept getting longer and longer. I felt like a kicker in the NFL getting iced before attempting the game-winning field goal. Anticipation and nervousness were kicking in. The way the score currently stood, I had a pretty good chance to see some game action. Managers typically like to put guys in a lower leverage situation for their big league debut.

A little over two hours went by before the announcement was made that the grounds crew was pulling the tarp off the field. Normally for a rain delay that long, the starting pitcher will be taken out of the game, but Latos insisted on staying in the ballgame. Once the field was ready for play, the relievers and I made our way back out to the bullpen. While he had a relatively uneventful third and fourth inning, Latos ran into some trouble in the fifth. Back-to-back singles prompted a call down to the bullpen to get someone warming up.

“Denny, be ready for [Chris] Davis,” our bullpen coach hollered. Price wasn’t kidding when he said be ready. He was going to use me right away. However, two outs made on the basepaths by the Orioles allowed Latos to strike out Davis to end the inning without a run scoring. Still standing on the mound in the bullpen waiting for instructions, I heard the phone rang again.

“Denny, you got next inning.”

When the final out of the top of the sixth was recorded, I was in. I was overcome with a combination of excitement, focus, and nerves. It was like I drank a six-pack of Red Bull. I finished my warm-up pitches and headed toward the stone staircase leading to the field. I was walking down as carefully as I could. The last thing I needed was to catch a spike and trip coming down the stairs for my Major League debut.

One piece of advice given to me before I went into the game was to not look up when running in from the outfield. That would have been great advice — if I had listened. The bullpen gate swung open and I immediately looked up. The triple-decker stadium towered over me. I began to jog in from the left center field warning track to see the stadium grow larger and larger in my eyes. I’d be lying if I said my heart wasn’t beating a lot faster than any other time I’ve run in from the bullpen.

Once I reached the dirt and the cut of the infield grass, I slowed my jog into a walk. I was met on top of the pitcher’s mound by Devin Mesoraco. We had never worked together before so we had a brief discussion about my pitching repertoire. “One: Fast, Three: Slider, Wiggle: Change.” I said with my glove over my mouth. I’m not sure why I do that. I don’t know anyone who reads lips in baseball. Must just be habit.

“OK, let’s have some fun!” he said before heading back to his spot behind the plate. Once I completed my warm-up tosses, I took a lap around to the back of the pitcher’s mound where I routinely receive the ball back from the third baseman after it’s thrown around the horn.

Right as the ball was getting thrown back to me, it was intercepted by Todd Frazier, who was playing first base for us that night. He turned into Roger Dorn straight out of the movie Major League. He looked me right in the eyes and said “I only have one thing to say to you: strike this [expletive] out!” It made me laugh. Any nerves I had before pitching were suddenly calmed. I was as ready as I would ever be.

From there, I went on autopilot. Whatever sign Devin put down, I threw. Whatever spot he wanted, I threw it there. It was one of those rare innings where you just knew you were going to get the batter out. Then, when the ball hit from the third batter of the inning settled into Billy Hamilton’s glove in center, it was over. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the moment came and went. 11 pitches, 9 for strikes. I had a 1-2-3 inning, including my first MLB strikeout. I returned to the dugout and was met by all my teammates and coaching staff to give me handshakes and high fives for a job well done in my debut. I took a seat on the bench to finally relax and reflect on the past 48 hours. Finally getting called up, travel issues, warming up in the pen. They all led up to a moment that lasted only a few minutes. But you only get one MLB debut. And mine was perfect in every way.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Top 10 Remaining Free Agents

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Last we looked, there were a fair number of players left from MLBTR’s pre-winter top 50 list. As might’ve been expected, though, the free-agent herd has thinned considerably. With about a week to go before the start of spring camp, these are the best remaining free agents (by order of MLBTR’s ranking, where applicable; “HM” refers to honorable mention, “NR” to players who weren’t mentioned in that list):

16. Matt Wieters. We’re mostly still hearing crickets on the market for Wieters, though some the chirping continues to hint ongoing interest from organizations like the Nationals, Rays, and perhaps the incumbent Orioles.

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24. Travis Wood. There’s plenty of chatter surrounding the next name on the list. With several clubs reportedly interested in Wood as a starter, and others valuing his swingman capabilities out of the pen, it seems there’s still some bidding taking place.

31. Joe Blanton. Clubs interested in righty setup men won’t find any who outperformed the aging but resurgent Blanton last year. He made good on his one-year pact with the Dodgers by turning in eighty frames of 2.48 ERA pitching in 2016.

49.  Chase Utley. Another steady veteran who most recently plied his trade in Los Angeles, Utley is said to be weighing multiple offers. It seems unlikely he’ll land an everyday second base job, but could provide plenty of value as a platoon player.

HM. Angel Pagan. Despite a solid bounceback season, the 35-year-old Pagan hasn’t generated much buzz this winter. As a switch hitter who has plenty of experience in center, though, he could add plenty of function to a variety of clubs.

HM. Pedro Alvarez. As the market for sluggers finally sorts itself out, there remain a few big lefty bats available. Alvarez remains a limited player — he’s best used as a DH against righty pitching — but only just turned thirty and hit a productive .249/.322/.504 last year.

HM. Adam Lind. Though he’s older (33) and wasn’t nearly as good as last year as Alvarez, Lind has a higher established ceiling as a hitter. From 2013 to 2015, he slashed an outstanding .291/.364/.478 in 1,411 plate appearances.

HM. Colby Lewis. At 37 years of age, Lewis doesn’t come with huge expectations. But he turned in a 3.71 ERA over 19 starts in 2016, showing he can still provide some sturdy innings even as he missed time with a lat injury.

NR. Michael Bourn. Something of a forgotten man entering the year, Bourn found a shot with the Diamondbacks and then thrived in a brief stint with the Orioles. Whether he can sustain the momentum from his 24-game run in Baltimore remains to be seen, but he might represent a useful speed-and-defense-oriented fourth outfielder for the right club.

NR. Doug Fister. A 2016 stint with the Astros didn’t represent the comeback that the 33-year-old Fister hoped for. But while he struggled to a 4.64 ERA, he did make all 32 starts while topping 180 innings for the first time since 2013. Teams in need of rotation depth will surely have interest.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

MLBTR Poll: Finding A Fit For Chris Carter

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As we head into February, Chris Carter’s winter continues to drag on. The slugger tied Nolan Arenado for the NL home run crown last season, but the Brewers non-tendered him, casting him into a market full of similar players, many of whom also still haven’t found new teams. Also, at least a couple recent signings (such as Mark Trumbo to the Orioles, Brandon Moss to the Royals and perhaps even Mark Reynolds to the Rockies) have seemingly foreclosed upon possible destinations for Carter. A variety of teams have been connected to Carter recently, and MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently listed some more speculative fits. Where do you think he might end up? Here are some possibilities, some admittedly more likely than others.

Rays. Tampa Bay recently came to terms with Logan Morrison, but is seemingly still interested in acquiring a right-handed bat. Carter would certainly qualify, although there are a number of other possibilities, including Mike Napoli, Franklin Gutierrez and Byung Ho Park.

Rangers. Texas has been strongly connected to Napoli, although no deal has been consummated yet, and Carter would seemingly work as a backup option. Scott Boras, meanwhile, is reportedly trying to sell the Rangers on signing another potential DH, Pedro Alvarez.

Marlins. Carter would give Miami a righty to pair with Justin Bour at first base, and the Marlins reportedly have had interest in Carter. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro, though, recently pointed out that the Marlins don’t figure to spend much more than their current $110MM payroll, and wrote that the possibility they would sign Carter was “extremely remote.”

White Sox. The White Sox are only a speculative possibility, as there’s been little or no reporting connecting them to Carter. But the team has a clear opening at DH, and Carter would be a fun fit at homer-happy Guaranteed Rate Field.

Mariners. This is another speculative fit, and perhaps a less likely one, since the team has Nelson Cruz at DH and righty Danny Valencia said upon being acquired earlier this offseason that he expected to play first base (where he’ll presumably complement lefty Dan Vogelbach). Given Valencia’s ability to play other positions, though, and given that the Mariners have preferred to allow Cruz to play the outfield once a series or so, perhaps the Mariners could see an opportunity here, although that seems like a stretch.

Athletics. Incumbent A’s first baseman Yonder Alonso is coming off a very poor season, and the team could potentially use Carter at first and DH while also using Ryon Healy at those positions. The A’s tend to be opportunistic and haven’t been shy about making moves in February, although there’s been nothing specifically connecting them to Carter.

Japan. Carter’s agent, former Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart, recently said his client could consider offers from overseas, and Japanese teams would surely love to acquire a high-profile MLB hitter like Carter. And as MLBTR’s Adams pointed out, the Brewers were not able to find a trade partner for Carter when his projected arbitration salary was in the $8MM range, suggesting that he won’t be able to land much of a guaranteed MLB salary. Carter himself recently said his priority was to sign with an MLB team, however.

Other. There are, of course, more out-of-nowhere possibilities. Perhaps the Nationals could see a chance to upgrade at first, although one would think they’d have more interest in a left-handed hitter they could pair with Ryan Zimmerman, who’s controllable through 2020. Maybe the Mets could attempt to add Carter after Lucas Duda’s injury-plagued 2016 and Jay Bruce’s underwhelming stint with them, although it seems like quite a stretch to think that Duda or Carter would ever play the outfield, and the team could use Bruce or Michael Conforto at first if Duda’s back issues flare up again. Maybe the Blue Jays could see a chance to upgrade, although their acquisition of the lefty-mashing Steve Pearce complicates that possibility quite a bit. And perhaps Carter could even return to the Brewers, although that would have seemed far more likely had they traded Ryan Braun, whose departure could have bumped Eric Thames to the outfield. There’s also the possibility an injury could create an opportunity for Carter that we haven’t yet anticipated.

So where do you think Carter will go? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors app users)

Key Recent February Trades

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The month of February is upon us, and it’s typically a relatively quiet month for significant trades. Still, there have been a few big ones in the past five years. Here’s a look back at some of the key trades to take place in Februaries of the recent past.

2016

February 12: Athletics acquire OF Khris Davis from Brewers for C Jacob Nottingham and P Bubba Derby. The A’s acquired some power last February, grabbing Davis from a rebuilding Brewers club. Davis hit a solid .247/.307/.524 and tied for third in the AL with 42 homers in his first year in Oakland. Nottingham, meanwhile, hit a disappointing .234/.295/.347 with the Brewers’ Double-A affiliate, although he was young for the level; he currently ranks as the 16th-best prospect in the Brewers’ much-improved system, according to MLB.com. Derby struggled in Class A+.

February 25: Athletics acquire OF Chris Coghlan from Cubs for P Aaron Brooks. The Davis trade wasn’t the Athletics’ only outfielder acquisition last February, although their deal to pick up Coghlan didn’t go nearly as well as the Davis trade, even though Coghlan was coming off two straight productive seasons in Chicago. Coghlan batted a miserable .146/.215/.272 in 172 plate appearances in Oakland before the A’s shipped him back to the Cubs for Arismendy Alcantara in June. Brooks, meanwhile, missed the entire season due to a hip contusion; he’ll serve as depth for the Cubs in 2017.

2015: None

2014

February 13: Rays acquire P Nate Karns from Nationals for P Felipe Rivero, C Jose Lobaton and OF Drew Vettleson. This deal turned out to be more interesting than it looked at the time. Karns had spent the 2013 season as a 25-year-old pitching well but not spectacularly at the Double-A level. He spent most of 2014 at Triple-A, then quietly had a strong season with the Rays in 2015 before heading to Seattle in a six-player deal that netted the Rays Brad Miller, Danny Farquhar and Logan Morrison. For the Nationals, Lobaton, a backup catcher, looked like the centerpiece of their side of the deal at the time. He’s had a good run in Washington, hitting respectably and framing well, but it was Rivero who became the highest-value asset — he emerged as a flame-throwing lefty reliever, and the Nats eventually shipped him to Pittsburgh as the key piece in the Mark Melancon deal. Vettleson was a first-round pick in 2010, but he’s stalled in the Nationals system and was demoted to Class A+ last year.

2013

February 4: Athletics acquire SS Jed Lowrie and P Fernando Rodriguez from Astros for 1B Chris Carter, P Brad Peacock and C Max Stassi. Lowrie was coming off a solid .244/.331/.438 season in 2012 in Houston, and he was even better in 2013 in Oakland, batting .290/.344/.446. He was modestly productive in 2014 before heading back to the Astros as a free agent. Rodriguez, meanwhile, missed all of 2013 and much of 2014 after having Tommy John surgery but pitched fairly well for the A’s in 2015 and 2016, posting a 3.99 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 99 1/3 innings with the club before heading to the Cubs as a minor-league free agent this winter. The then-rebuilding Astros, meanwhile, received a package centered on Carter, then coming off an encouraging rookie season. Carter hit 90 home runs in three seasons in Houston but struck out 545 times over that period and was ultimately non-tendered. Peacock has provided the Astros with rotation depth, while Stassi has made only brief big-league appearances over the last four seasons, generally struggling at Triple-A.

February 13: Yankees acquire P Shawn Kelley from Mariners for OF Abraham Almonte. The Mariners had designated Kelley for assignment, and acquiring Almonte was a straightforward attempt on their part to get some value for him. Seattle’s initial decision to designate Kelley remains puzzling, however. He had just posted a good 3.25 ERA, 9.1 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 for them in 2012. He remained modestly productive in three seasons in New York and San Diego before landing a three-year, $15MM deal with the Nationals last winter. Almonte, meanwhile, struggled to get established with the Mariners, then the Padres and Indians.

February 22: White Sox acquire 3B Conor Gillaspie from Giants for P Jeff Soptic. This was another trade that looked relatively minor — Gillaspie was out of options, and with Pablo Sandoval then entrenched at third base, the Giants had limited use for him. He emerged as a decent regular in 2013 and 2014 with the White Sox (hitting .265/.322/.404 in that span) before struggling in 2015 and heading to the Angels in a minor trade. Soptic threw very hard but had persistent control problems and has spent the past four years at Class A+.

2012

February 6: Orioles acquire P Jason Hammel and P Matt Lindstrom from Rockies for P Jeremy Guthrie. Like many pitchers, Hammel struggled to establish himself in Colorado. But his career bloomed in Baltimore and then in Chicago. In five years since leaving Denver, he’s posted a 3.88 ERA, 8.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over 771 innings, and he currently rates as MLBTR’s top remaining free agent. Lindstrom pitched well for the Orioles before heading to Arizona in a midseason trade for Joe Saunders. Guthrie’s stint in Colorado went poorly, and he headed to Kansas City in another ill-fated Rockies trade; they received Jonathan Sanchez in return, and Sanchez made just three poor starts for them. Guthrie, meanwhile, reestablished himself as a good back-end rotation option in Kansas City.

February 19: Pirates acquire A.J. Burnett and cash from Yankees for P Diego Moreno and OF Exicardo Cayones. The Yankees were likely happy to be rid of Burnett and a portion of his remaining contract after he posted a 4.79, 7.9 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in parts of three seasons in New York. But he thrived in Pittsburgh, where he became one of the NL’s top ground-ball pitchers and served as a veteran leader for the 2013 Bucs as they had their first winning season in two decades. Moreno pitched briefly for the Yankees in 2015; Cayones never made it to Double-A.

Poll: Byung Ho Park’s Future

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Transactions across Major League Baseball have begun to pick up as the spring closes in, and no move has come as a bigger surprise this week than the Twins’ decision to designate first baseman/DH Byung Ho Park for assignment on Friday. After signing 36-year-old reliever Matt Belisle to a cheap contract, rebuilding Minnesota jettisoned Park from its 40-man roster just one year after doling out $24.85MM to land him. Before committing a four-year, $12MM deal to Park last winter, the Twins had to pay his previous team, the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, a $12.85MM posting fee to acquire his negotiating rights.

Byung Ho Park

Despite the low-payroll Twins’ investment in Park under previous general manager Terry Ryan, the club’s new front office – led by chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine – clearly isn’t enamored of the 30-year-old. It’s easy to see why, perhaps, as Park certainly failed to live up to the hype accompanying him in his first year in the States. Park hit an underwhelming .191/.275/.409 with a 32.8 percent strikeout rate in 244 plate appearances with the Twins before they optioned him to Triple-A Rochester on July 1. While he was significantly more productive after the demotion, largely thanks to a .526 slugging percentage, Park still hit an ugly .224 and posted a sub-.300 on-base rate in 128 PAs with Rochester.

In fairness to Park, a wrist injury – for which he underwent season-ending surgery in late August – may have stunted him in 2016. Plus, as FanGraphs’ Travis Sawchik pointed out earlier this week in a piece urging the Twins not to give up on Park (they designated him two days later), he did show encouraging signs as a rookie despite his less-than-gaudy triple slash. Evidenced somewhat by his 12 home runs and .219 ISO (league average was .162) in limited major league action, Park packed a wallop last season. Moreover, only one player with at least 75 batted-ball events (Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, who laid waste to the league as a rookie) posted a greater percentage of barrels than Park, while just nine registered higher exit velocities on fly balls and line drives. At 97.2 mph, Park was right in line with David Ortiz and Giancarlo Stanton.

So, there could be notable upside present with Park, and although he’s currently in seven-day DFA limbo, it’s arguable that his price tag shouldn’t serve as a deterrent if another club is interested in picking him up. The expectation is that Park will clear waivers, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reported Friday, but his remaining contract is rather insignificant to most major league teams.

As one of Sawchik’s FanGraphs colleagues, Dave Cameron, wrote Friday, Park could make sense for any of the Rangers, Athletics and White Sox. All three have questions at first base and/or DH, as do the frugal Rays, who have been on the lookout for a right-handed bat throughout the offseason and continue to search for one in the wake of re-signing lefty-swinging first baseman Logan Morrison. Of course, any of those teams could simply sign Chris Carter, who co-led the National League with 41 home runs last season, or even 34-homer man Mike Napoli if they’re willing to spend more. However, controlling Park through the 2019 season at an ultra-affordable $9.25MM might make him a more enticing option for someone hoping his tendency to hit the ball hard leads to a statistical breakout. If not, Park will head into spring training as one of the Twins’ non-roster invitees and try to get back on their 40-man at some point this year. Is that what ought to happen, though, or is Park currently worthy of a roster spot elsewhere?

(Poll link for Trade Rumors App users)

Should someone pick up Byung Ho Park?
Yes. His potential upside is worth the price tag. 69.59% (5,941 votes)
No. He doesn't merit a roster spot. 30.41% (2,596 votes)
Total Votes: 8,537

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

MLBTR Originals

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This past week’s original content from the MLBTR staff:

  • MLBTR contributor Dan Lumpkin spoke with Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte, Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera, former major league second baseman Dan Uggla and the agent for Royals reliever Joakim Soria regarding the Rule 5 draft. All four players improbably turned into successful major leaguers after being Rule 5 selections, and both Inciarte and Herrera – two past Phillies picks – signed lucrative extensions earlier this winter. With that in mind, Herrera is “very grateful and very humble for the Rule 5 draft.”
  • This year’s free agent class is dwindling as the spring approaches, though there are still some notable veterans available. That led Jeff Todd to ask readers which remaining free agent will sign the most lucrative contract this month. The plurality of voters expect that honor to go to catcher Matt Wieters.
  • The Rangers lack clear solutions at first base and designated hitter, so I polled readers on whether they’ll add someone like Mike Napoli or Chris Carter prior to the season. The majority of voters believe the club will pick up another hitter.

The Rule 5 Opportunity

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This is an original MLBTR article produced by contributor Dan Lumpkin and the MLBTR staff. To read more recent MLBTR originals, click here.

Ender Inciarte and Odubel Herrera will long be linked due to their status as division-rival center fielders who inked extremely similar five-year extensions within two weeks of one another. They’re also linked, however, by the Rule 5 Draft altering their career trajectories.

Oddly enough, it was the Phillies who selected Inciarte out of the Diamondbacks organization back in 2012. Although he didn’t stick with the team all season and was eventually shipped back to the D-backs, Inciarte tells MLBTR he’s not sure he’d be playing in the Majors today were it not for the Phillies’ show of faith.

“You know, I could say I was very under-the-radar in Arizona,” the 2016 Gold Glove winner said. “Not underrated but very under-the radar.”

Inciarte was not seen as a prospect for his organization initially but was invited to play in Winter Ball during the 2012 offseason, and that’s where Phillies scouts got a good look at him and determined that Inciarte might be able to cut it in the big leagues.

“As soon as [the Phillies] picked me it took me by surprise, to be honest,” Inciarte said. “Then I realized what [the Rule 5 Draft] was and what it meant. It really worked great for me. It doesn’t work the same for everybody because some people don’t get to play and others get to play a lot.”

Inciarte played with the Phillies in his first big league Spring Training and did well despite the Phillies’ manager mistaking him for a clubhouse employee on his first day with the team.

“When I got there on the first day, I got there at like 5:00am, and Charlie Manuel didn’t even know who I was,” Inciarte recalled. “He asked me to go get something like his shoes or his hat and I told him, ‘I’m not a clubbie, I’m the Rule 5 kid.”

Inciarte found his way with the big league club, and many of the Phillies veterans saw his ability and encouraged him throughout Spring Training. This, Inciarte said, is what made him play with confidence.

“When I was there, I was playing with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, and Roy Halladay,” Inciarte said. “I could see all those guys up close. I felt like I was living a dream, right there. All those guys got to talk to me and said, ‘Hey man, you are part of this team. Don’t think because you are a Rule 5 it isn’t going to happen.’ It gave me a lot of confidence. I had a great time there.’”

Inciarte had a good Spring Training and actually made the Opening Day roster for the Phillies as a bench player. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t in the Opening Day lineup, which would prove to be his only chance to suit up for the Phillies that year. Following the first game of the season, the Phillies signed Ezequiel Carrera, and it was Inciarte who lost his roster spot in a corresponding move. Inciarte was returned to the Diamondbacks.

Though some players might consider it a demotion and a disappointment to just barely sniff the Major Leagues in that manner, Inciarte views his brief stay in the Phillies organization as a turning point.

“For me, it was great because a lot of teams got to see me play and when I got back to Arizona they sent me to Double-A when I was supposed to go to Single-A,” he explained. “Everyone started paying more attention to me. I got more chances to play and prove myself. It was for the best but I know it’s not the same for everybody. When I got back Kevin Towers went to go see me play in Mobile, Alabama. He didn’t know who I was (before the draft). After the Rule 5 is when they started paying more attention to me. If it weren’t for the Phillies, I probably would not even have a chance to play in the big leagues so I’m very grateful for what happened to me.”

Inciarte’s experience with the Rule 5 process is typical — especially for position players. While it’s not uncommon to see a relief pitcher survive a season as the seventh man in a big league bullpen, there are fewer spots to stash position players on a Major League roster. That reality makes Odubel Herrera’s accomplishment of not only sticking on the Phillies’ roster all season but thriving and becoming a key long-term cog all the more impressive.

Herrera split the 2014 season between the Rangers’ Class-A Advanced and Double-A affiliates and put together a strong season. In 545 plate appearances as a 22-year-old, he batted a combined .315/.383/.388 with two home runs and 21 stolen bases. But it wasn’t enough to land him on the Rangers’ 40-man roster, and the Phillies reaped the benefits. Though Herrera had spent nearly his entire career playing second base, the Phils plucked him in the Rule 5 and shifted him to center field.

“I feel very blessed that the Rangers didn’t protect me because I am now in the big leagues and I have a long-term deal with the Phillies,” said Herrera through an interpreter. “Once I found out that the Rangers didn’t protect me, I knew in my heart that another team would pick me up through the Rule 5. … I went to Spring Training feeling a little strange but as soon as I arrived in Clearwater, the manager gave me a lot of cheers and confidence from day one.”

While Herrera’s five-year deal with the Phillies may closely mirror Inciarte’s deal with the Braves, Herrera’s Rule 5 experience in many ways is more closely aligned with that of former Marlins/Braves slugger Dan Uggla. Like Herrera, Uggla was the rare position player to be selected in the Rule 5 and plugged immediately into his new team’s Opening Day lineup despite the fact that he (like Herrera) had never played a game above the Double-A level in his career.

“I was thinking about [the Rule 5 Draft] a lot, yeah,” said Uggla when asked about being left off the Diamondbacks’ roster back in 2005. “I had a good fall league and they left me off the 40 man, so that’s obviously what I was hoping for. I found out in the morning that I had been drafted by the Marlins and it was one of the coolest moments of my career. The coolest moment up to that point.”

That moment, of course, would soon be joined by a great many more exciting moments, as Uggla went on to appear in three All-Star Games and hit 235 home runs in parts of 10 big league seasons from 2006-15. But the rarity of the chance he was given by the Marlins is not lost on him to this day.

“They gave me the everyday starting second base job in the big leagues,” Uggla said. “For a guy in my position, that was unheard of. It involves an extreme amount of luck and timing. I could have gotten called up with any team and there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have got to play. Maybe a couple pinch hits or a spot-start against a really tough pitcher, maybe I would have gotten sent back down. But to be in that situation and to make the team and they just let you play everyday, that was pretty amazing.”

Uggla also credited timing as a significant factor in his opportunity to start playing in the Majors. During the offseason he was picked up, the Marlins were in the midst of a fire sale in which they traded several starting players to build up their farm system. This flurry of trades opened up the Marlins’ depth chart and created an opportunity for Uggla to prove himself against big league pitchers.

“They had just made a bunch of trades and started from scratch with a bunch of younger guys and rookies,” Uggla said. “It was cool. I got to walk in and be at the team meeting and I found my place on the team.”

Rebuilding clubs indeed have an easier time carrying a Rule 5 pick over a marathon regular season, and that was a large factor in Joakim Soria’s emergence in the Majors, as his agent, Oscar Suarez points out.

“As a pitcher, you go in with a second-tier team, like Joakim did with Kansas City at the time — they are no longer a second-tier team by any stretch of the imagination — but going in, they had no closer,” Suarez recalled. “Joakim was a starter, but they had no closer so they put him in the pen, and he beat everyone else out and before you know it, he was their closer. As an agent, yeah, you want any of your players to be Rule Fived, but you need to be realistic. What team are they going to go to? Like, if you are an infielder and you get Rule Fived by the Seattle Mariners, you say, ‘thank you for bringing me to your big league camp,’ but you know they aren’t going to keep you.”

That’s the reality that faces a handful of players each year following their selection in the Rule 5, but the opportunity with which they’re presented is one that is the envy of other players and agents throughout the game. This year, there were 18 players selected in the Rule 5 Draft, and if history is any indication, the vast majority of them will be returned to their original organization. A few may be picked up by other clubs along the way before being offered back, but it’s rare for a player to survive the season and even more rare for them to then emerge as regulars. For the select few who do, however, the Rule 5 Draft will always be looked at as a watershed moment in their career.

“It is a good thing for players like me that don’t get protected and because of that rule now, I’m a big leaguer,” said Herrera. “…I feel very grateful and very humble for the Rule 5 draft.”

Special thanks to Leo Nunez and Estefany Palacio for translation assistance.

Poll: Rangers’ First Base/DH Situation

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Nearly two months have passed since the Rangers lost longtime primary first baseman Mitch Moreland, who signed a cheap deal with the Red Sox in early December. Moreland was never particularly spectacular as a member of the Rangers, with whom he batted .254/.315/.438 in 2,762 plate appearances from 2010-16, but the three-time 20-home run hitter’s departure has left the club without an established option at first.

Mike Napoli[RELATED: Rangers Depth Chart]

Led by general manager Jon Daniels, the Rangers have been on the hunt for a first base/designated hitter type to help replace Moreland and Carlos Beltran, who signed with AL West rival Houston one day before Moreland went to Boston. Texas hasn’t reeled in anyone yet, though, largely because it hasn’t been willing to make multiyear commitments in free agency. The Rangers have signed three players – Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner and Carlos Gomez – to major league deals this offseason, and all received one-year contracts.

Texas, which would like to at least partially fix its first base/DH issues by signing yet another player to a single-year pact, has targeted two-time Ranger Mike Napoli. Having hit .239/.335/.465 with 34 home runs as an Indian last season, Napoli would be a capable replacement for Moreland. The 35-year-old has not been amenable to the Rangers’ one-year offer, however, and they don’t seem open to locking him up through 2018.

Fellow free agent slugger Chris Carter has also drawn the Rangers’ attention after co-leading the National League with 41 home runs in 2016. Carter’s blend of power and patience is enticing, but his low-contact, high-strikeout ways and negative defensive and baserunning value led the Brewers to non-tender him in December. Those flaws have also prevented him from landing anywhere else since. As is the case with Napoli, the Rangers are open to adding Carter, but only for one year (on an incentive-laden accord, no less).

With Brandon Moss now off the market, Pedro Alvarez is arguably the second- or third-best free agent first baseman/DH remaining (depending on your opinion of Carter). To this point, though, the Rangers haven’t been connected to him or other unsigned options like Mark Reynolds, Adam Lind, Logan Morrison or Ryan Howard.

If Texas doesn’t pick up a free agent to potentially slide in at first/DH, they could let in-house options sink or swim to at least begin the season. The Rangers have added multiple brand names – first baseman James Loney and former superstar outfielder Josh Hamilton – on minor league deals this month. The contact-oriented Loney didn’t hit with either the Rays or Mets during the past two seasons, which led to a dismal minus-1.5 fWAR over 744 plate appearances. Hamilton has no first base experience, meanwhile, and has played in only 50 games since 2015 (none last season) while dealing with major injury issues. Thus, the Rangers would be hard pressed to expect much from him or Loney in 2017. The same applies to Ryan Rua, a lifetime .255/.308/.404 hitter across 464 PAs.

Other than those three, the Rangers possess a pair of 23-year-olds, Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo, who used to be elite prospects and who could play significant roles during the upcoming season. The switch-hitting Profar is the front-runner to start the campaign at first for the Rangers, but his production (.235/.311/.341 in 648 PAs) hasn’t come close to matching the hype he garnered in his prospect days. The lefty-swinging Gallo could begin in the minors, and even if he doesn’t, his prodigious power comes with worrisome swing-and-miss tendencies. Gallo has struck out in just under 50 percent of his 153 trips to the plate in the majors, which would be less alarming if not for the lofty strikeout rates he has also posted in the minors.

As evidenced above, the Rangers have a high quantity of choices to fill two lineup spots, but there isn’t a single one who’s a good bet to succeed at the big league level in 2017. On the other hand, the track records of Napoli and Carter suggest they’ll fare well offensively next season, but will one of them (or another free agent) end up in Texas? Or will the reigning American League West champions go forward with what they have and perhaps reevaluate during the season?

(Poll link for Trade Rumors App users)

Will the Rangers add a proven 1B/DH before Opening Day?
Yes. 61.12% (3,666 votes)
No. They'll stay in-house. 38.88% (2,332 votes)
Total Votes: 5,998

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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