Mets Notes: Showalter, Rotation, Infield
The Mets’ deal with incoming manager Buck Showalter was announced as a three-year contract, but while it was reported to be the most lucrative managerial deal in club history, terms weren’t reported at the time. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets some specifics now, however, reporting that Showalter will be guaranteed $11.75MM in total over the next three years in Queens. He’ll be paid $3.5MM this season before earning $3.75MM in 2023 and $4MM in 2024. The signing falls closely in line with the three-year, $12MM deal that Bob Melvin secured when joining the Padres as their new skipper earlier this winter.
A few more notes on the Mets as fans continue to await meaningful updates in CBA talks…
- The Mets haven’t been afraid to jump into the deep end of the free-agent market this winter, but despite some recent speculation about the possibility of Clayton Kershaw as a fit, SNY’s Andy Martino writes that the Mets didn’t have any contact with Kershaw’s camp prior to the lockout. As fun as it would be for Mets fans to dream on a rotation spearheaded by Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Kershaw, most expect Kershaw to either remain with the Dodgers or head to the Rangers, whose stadium is a short drive from Kershaw’s home. The Mets were linked to free agent Yusei Kikuchi prior to the lockout, while Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith — either of whom could conceivably be part of a deal to bring in some rotation depth — saw their names pop up on the rumor mill last month. Beyond Scherzer and deGrom, the Mets currently project to lean on Taijuan Walker, Carlos Carrasco and some combination of Tylor Megill and David Peterson at the back of the rotation.
- Matthew Roberson of the New York Daily News looks at the shortstop situation for both New York clubs, noting that Francisco Lindor‘s presence at shortstop and a growing number of upper-level infield prospects could point to an eventual trade for the Mets. Ronny Mauricio is still just 20 years of age but has already reached Double-A, while 22-year-olds Mark Vientos (Triple-A) and Brett Baty (Double-A) will impact the third base situation in the not-too-distant future. There is, of course, room for the entire group to contribute to the Mets simultaneously, depending on position changes and injuries. That said, the presence of three well regarded left-side infield prospects gives the front office plenty of firepower to make deals at some point down the road if newly minted GM Billy Eppler finds a deal to his liking. Both Baty and Mauricio ranked among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects last week, while Vientos landed on a list of 15 more who “just missed.” There’s no indication that the Mets have seriously entertained moving any of Mauricio, Baty or Vientos just yet, but their names will surely be popular as teams talk with the Mets post-lockout and again at the July trade deadline.
Gene Clines Passes Away
The Pirates announced this morning that former Major League outfielder and veteran big league coach Gene Clines has passed away at the age of 75.
“Gene was a speedy outfielder who was a key member of our 1971 World Series team,” Pirates president Travis Williams said in a press release. “He made a tremendous impact on the game, not only as a player after his career with the Pirates, but also as a long-time coach in the big leagues.
“It was an honor to have Gene back in Pittsburgh this past September to recognize him and his teammates from our 1971 World Series Championship team who took the field as part of Major League Baseball’s first all-minority lineup. It was a joy to talk to him about his deep passion for baseball, his love for his teammates and his appreciation for the city of Pittsburgh. Our hearts go out to his wife Joanne, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
Clines spent parts of 10 seasons in the Majors, debuting as a rookie with the 1970 Pirates and indeed playing a key role on that ’71 championship team, when he batted .308/.366/.392 through 300 plate appearances with the World Series-champion Bucs. He’d remain in Pittsburgh through 1974 before being traded to the Mets in advance of the ’75 season. New York flipped him to the Rangers a year later, and Clines eventually landed with the Cubs following a third trade.
All told, Clines played 870 big league games, batting a combined .277/.329/.341 through 2556 plate appearances. He hit just five homers at the MLB level but also notched 85 doubles, 24 triples and 71 stolen bases while logging considerable time at all three outfield positions. Clines may not have been known for his power, but the first postseason hit of his career was a solo homer in Game 2 of the ’71 NLCS that gave the Bucs some breathing room, pushing their lead over the Giants to 4-2. (Bob Robertson eventually tacked on his second and third homers of the day in what proved a 9-4 Pirates victory.)
Following his playing career, Clines remained deeply involved in the game. He spent several years as the Cubs’ first base coach before settling in as a highly respected hitting coach, working with the Astros, Mariners, Brewers and Giants in that capacity before finally returning to the Cubs for the 2003-06 seasons. Along the way, Clines coached some of the greatest hitters of the generation, working with a young Craig Biggio in Houston, a young Ken Griffey Jr. in Seattle and, eventually, Barry Bonds in San Francisco. In addition to that impressive collection of pupils, Clines also teamed (and at times shared an outfield) with all-time greats such as Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell while playing with the Pirates.
Between his 10 years as a player and 20 years as a coach, Clines amassed three decades in a Major League dugout, leaving his mark on multiple generations of the nation’s pastime. We at MLBTR extend our condolences to the friends, family, loved ones and former teammates of Clines, as well as the innumerable fans who are surely mourning his passing as well.
Trade Candidate: J.D. Davis
After being drafted by the Astros in 2014, J.D. Davis utterly mashed in the minors but couldn’t contribute much in his first couple of MLB seasons for Houston. From 2014 to 2018, Davis produced a wRC+ of at least 134 at each stop from Low-A up to Triple-A. Those tantalizing offensive skills were enough to get him a taste of MLB action in 2017 and 2018, playing 67 total games over those two seasons, but hitting just .194/.260/.321.
Prior to the 2019 season, the Mets took a chance on Davis, acquiring him from the Astros in the hope that his bat would eventually click in the Majors. The gamble paid off immediately, as Davis had an excellent year at the plate in 2019, hitting 22 home runs and slashing .307/.369/.527, producing a wRC+ of 137 and 2.4 fWAR over 140 games. He slipped a bit in the shortened 2020 campaign, tallying just six homers but still hitting above league average with a line of .247/.371/.389, wRC+ of 118. In 2021, he made multiple trips to the IL due to issues with his left hand, but still hit well when he was healthy, as he produced a line of .285/.384/.436 for a wRC+ of 130 in 73 games.
As the season was winding down and the Mets were clearly not going to be a factor in the postseason, Davis underwent surgery to address the hand issue, with the expectation that he would be ready to go for spring training. At the time, Davis was quoted as saying that he felt he only had a 50/50 chance of returning to the Mets in 2022. “I know there’s going to be plenty of changes up and down from the front office all the way down to here,” Davis said. “My gut feeling? I could be out of here. That’s what it’s kind of leaning towards. But there’s a possibility that I could come back. I love New York. I love the fans. I love the city. It’s a flip of the coin.”
Davis likely suspected his name to come up in trade talks due to the crowded infield situation in Queens. Robinson Cano sat out 2021 due to his PED suspension but will be returning for 2022. If Cano were to get significant playing time at second base, that could have meant Jeff McNeil or Luis Guillorme getting some time at third base with Davis. But then to complicate things further, the Mets went on a wild spending spree before the lockout, which included adding Eduardo Escobar into the second/third base jumble. If the National League were to implement the designated hitter for 2022, that could theoretically open up at-bats for someone in this group. However, the Mets also added Mark Canha and Starling Marte to their outfield, alongside Brandon Nimmo, which bumps Dominic Smith into the DH conversation, as Pete Alonso should have most of the playing time at first base. All of that would seemingly only increase the odds of Davis, or someone else, being squeezed out.
Davis has played a little bit of first base and left field in his big league career but is primarily a third baseman. Most metrics consider him a poor defender, even at his primary position, with all of DRS, UZR and OAA making heavy use of the minus sign in assessing his glovework. The addition of the DH to the NL, if it comes to fruition, should theoretically help the Mets find a taker for Davis, as it would increase the ability of some team to utilize his bat without exposing themselves to his weakness in the field.
Despite his flaws, Davis has produced 4.5 fWAR over 269 games in the last three seasons, which should give him plenty of appeal around the league. He turns 29 in April and has between three and four years’ service time, meaning he is under club control through the 2024 season, unless the new CBA makes significant changes to the previous service time structure. He’s already gone through arbitration once, as he reached Super Two status prior to last year, and earned $2.1MM in 2021. Due to his injury-hampered season, he is projected to earn a modest raise to $2.7MM for 2022, in the estimation of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. With his ability to hit, that affordable salary and years of control, he could potentially be a useful piece for any team in the league, including the Mets.
Mets Announce Full Coaching Staff
The Mets have officially announced their 2022 coaching staff, with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner as the only returning member of the last year’s coaching corps. Many of the new hires had already been reported in recent weeks, with hitting coach Eric Chavez, first base coach Wayne Kirby, third base coach Joey Cora, and bench coach Glenn Sherlock all joining forces on Buck Showalter’s staff for the veteran manager’s first year in the Mets dugout.
Joining this group are two other coaches, one a newcomer to the Mets organization and the other a familiar face. Jeremy Barnes will become the assistant hitting coach, receiving a promotion from his previous role as New York’s director of player initiatives. Craig Bjornson will act as bullpen coach, coming to Queens after most recently working three seasons as the Red Sox bullpen coach.
Phillies fans may remember Barnes as a member of the Philadelphia farm system from 2009-12, after Barnes was selected in the 11th round of the 2009 draft. Barnes then moved on to play the next three seasons in independent baseball and in the Australian Baseball League, remaining in Australia for two more years to work for ACT Baseball after his playing career was over. From there, Barnes returned to North America and spent four years working in the Astros’ farm system as a hitting coach and as a minor league hitting coordinator.
Bjornson also has ties to the Astros, working as Houston’s bullpen coach in five of six seasons from 2012-17. Before his time with the Red Sox and Astros, Bjornson spent 13 seasons as a minor league pitching coach with four different organizations.
With Showalter’s staff now complete, the group represents an interesting mix of old-school experience and newer-school approaches. Bjornson, Kirby, Cora, and Sherlock are all seasoned big league coaches, while this will be Barnes’ first time on a Major League staff and Chavez’s first coaching gig of any kind. Even Hefner is still relatively new to the coaching world, as the 35-year-old has been the Mets’ pitching coach for the last two seasons and a Twins assistant pitching coach in 2019.
NL East Notes: Phillies, Zauzmer, Mets, Lefkowitz, Braves
Earlier this offseason, the Mets denied the Phillies‘ request to interview baseball analytics director Ben Zauzmer about Philadelphia’s assistant GM opening, SNY’s Andy Martino writes. The Phillies instead went with another young executive for the role, hiring 27-year-old Anirudh Kilambi away from the Rays.
Like Kilambi, Zauzmer is also young (29), has a background in analytics, and already has amassed an impressive resume early in his career in baseball. Zauzmer joined the Mets only last year after a six-year stint in the Dodgers’ analytics department, but quickly established himself as an important figure in New York’s front office. This resulted in Zauzmer getting an assistant GM job with the Mets themselves, as the team announced the promotion in late December.
More from around the NL East…
- Also from the Mets, Jason Lefkowitz had been a candidate for an assistant hitting coach position, but Joel Sherman of The New York Post tweets that the Mets are instead “going in another direction.” A former scout for the Mariners and Astros, Lefkowitz runs a high performance baseball training facility. Back in August, the NY Post’s Greg Joyce wrote about Lefkowitz’s work with Yankees prospect Anthony Volpe prior to the 2021 season, and Volpe delivered a huge year at A-ball that has put him in the conversation as one of baseball’s top prospects. The Mets are still in the process of finalizing Buck Showalter’s coaching staff, though the lead hitting coach role was filled by Eric Chavez earlier this month.
- When the Braves signed Manny Pina in November to share catching duties with Travis d’Arnaud, it immediately created speculation that either William Contreras and Shea Langeliers could be used as trade chips. In the opinion of both The Athletic’s David O’Brien and an overwhelming 85.3% of respondents to a poll of Braves-related topics, Contreras seems the likelier of the two to be moved. Both catchers are 24 years old and Langeliers has yet to debut in the majors, though he is a higher-rated prospect, garnering top-100 attention in each of the last two seasons. Contreras has hit .225/.308/.405 in a small sample of 195 plate appearances at the big league level, though as O’Brien notes, defense is Contreras’ bigger issue. There is no guarantee, of course, that Atlanta might deal any of its catchers, as d’Arnaud’s long injury history would seemingly require the team to have a bit more extra depth behind the plate. The Contreras family are no strangers to trade buzz at this point, since William’s older brother Willson Contreras may also be available for teams in need of more established catching help.
Mets To Hire Glenn Sherlock As Bench Coach
The Mets have chosen Glenn Sherlock as their new bench coach, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Sherlock was a member of the Pirates coaching staff for the last two seasons, and also has ties to both the Mets and manager Buck Showalter.
The Showalter/Sherlock connection began with the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate in 1989, when Sherlock was playing and Showalter was managing. That was the final season of Sherlock’s seven-year pro career, and he moved on to become a manager and coach in the Yankees’ farm system himself, also working as a catching instructor in intermittent fashion with the big league club from 1992-95 (when Showalter was New York’s manager).
This led to Showalter hiring Sherlock for the inaugural Diamondbacks coaching staff in 1998, and while Arizona fired Showalter following the 2000 campaign, Sherlock became a fixture of the D’Backs staff. Sherlock spent 19 years in various coaching capacities with the Diamondbacks before spending three seasons (2017-19) with the Mets as their third base coach, first base coach, and catching instructor.
Sherlock is therefore a familiar face for both Showalter and for the Mets front office, making the 61-year-old a logical choice to serve as Showalter’s chief lieutenant. Interestingly, Sherlock doesn’t fit the model of the “younger, analytics-driven individual” that the Mets were reportedly looking to hire for the position, though the club did seek out several names that did fit that description. Reds planning/outfield coach Jeff Pickler, Padres quality control coach Ryan Flaherty, and Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey were all on the Mets’ radar, though the Padres and Giants denied permission for interviews, and Pickler removed his name from consideration.
As one might expect following a managerial change, the Mets’ coaching staff will have a fresh look in 2022. Sherlock, hitting coach Eric Chavez, first base coach Wayne Kirby, and third base coach Joey Cora are all new members of Showalter’s staff, and it is possible more hires may still be coming as the club figures out the exact size and composition of its coaching mix.
Mets Sign Alex Claudio, Stephen Nogosek To Minor League Contracts
The Mets recently signed left-hander Alex Claudio and right-hander Stephen Nogosek to minor league deals, Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America reports. The signings are allowed during the lockout since both players are minor league free agents.
Claudio was released by the Red Sox in late September after inking a minors deal with Boston in August. That deal with the Sox came on the heels of a 5.51 ERA over 32 2/3 innings with the Angels, as Claudio had some uncharacteristic struggles against left-handed batters and with his control (10.1% walk rate).
Known for his durability and his knack for inducing grounders, Claudio enjoyed some solid success with the Rangers and Brewers from 2014-20, even if his lack of a traditional high velo/high strikeout bullpen resume twice led Milwaukee to non-tender him. Claudio’s early-career numbers (a 2.66 ERA over 162 1/3 innings from 2014-17) were better than his more recent work (4.28 ERA in 149 1/3 IP in 2018-20), and he has also had trouble keeping the ball in the park in two of his last three seasons. In 2021, Claudio posted a 26.1% homer rate, allowing six home runs over his 32 2/3 frames with the Halos.
Only just entering his age-30 season, Claudio could be an interesting candidate for something of a rebound year, particularly since the defensively-challenged Angels weren’t a great fit for a groundball pitcher. The Mets can take a closer look at Claudio in spring camp, and he would seemingly have a good shot at winning a job in a New York bullpen thin on southpaws. David Peterson represents the only healthy left-handed pitcher on the Mets’ entire 40-man roster.
For Nogosek, it marks a quick return to the organization after the Mets cut him loose at the November 30 non-tender deadline. Nogosek (who just turned 27 earlier this week) first came to the Mets from the Red Sox in July 2017 as part of the trade package for Addison Reed, and the righty has eight career MLB games on his resume. Between 6 2/3 innings over seven appearances in 2019 and a single three-inning appearance this past season, Nogosek has a 9.31 ERA in his brief big league career.
As a minor leaguer, Nogosek has a 3.55 ERA over 238 innings, working as a reliever for all but three of his 170 games. Nogosek can miss some bats (27.01% strikeout rate) but control has been an issue, with an above-average 11.91% walk rate in his time on the farm. He struggled to a 5.14 ERA over 35 innings with Triple-A Syracuse in 2021, and also spent about six weeks on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation.
Quick Hits: Elian Soto, Yankees, Hinske, Royals
While the next international signing period opens on January 15, teams are already lining up the next wave of int’l prospects for years in advance. Washington City Paper’s Byron Kerr writes that the Nationals have agreed to a deal with outfielder/third baseman Elian Soto, the younger brother of superstar Juan Soto, as the 15-year-old has decided to join the D.C. organization when the 2023 signing period opens roughly a year from now. Reports from Z101’s Hector Gomez earlier this week suggested that the younger Soto was preparing to head to the Mets, and Soto seemingly confirmed matters by posting an Instagram video of himself wearing Mets-branded attire. New York was reportedly set to give Soto a $50K bonus, and while Brittany Ghiroli and Maria Torres of The Athletic report that the Nationals topped that offer, it wasn’t with a huge dollar figure, as the younger Soto has intriguing potential but isn’t considered a true top-tier prospect.
Though it is common practice for teams and international prospects to agree to deals well in advance of their eligibility date, deals aren’t completely official until a prospect’s signing period opens, so the younger Soto wasn’t breaking any rules by backing out of his Mets agreement. It also remains to be seen if the 2023 international signing period even exists in its current form, as it has long been speculated that MLB might overhaul the signing process and perhaps institute an international draft as part of the next collective bargaining agreement. This would wipe out the handshake deals teams have made with scores of younger prospects like Soto, and subject these players to a draft with a harder slot value (and less financial flexibility) than the one used in the North American amateur draft.
More from around baseball…
- Eric Hinske is one of the names the Yankees are considering for their hitting coach vacancy, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). The 2002 AL Rookie Of The Year and a veteran of 12 big league seasons, Hinske would certainly fit the Yankees’ preference for an experienced former player to join their staff. Hinske also has an accomplished coaching resume, working as a first base coach, assistant hitting coach, and hitting coach over parts of seven seasons with the Cubs, Angels, and Diamondbacks. No stranger to the Bronx, Hinske played for the Yankees’ 2009 World Series team, and briefly worked as a scout for the Yankees before embarking on his coaching career.
- The Royals announced several promotions within their baseball operations department, with a pair of former big leaguers amongst those moving up the ladder. Paul Gibson is now the senior director of pitching, after the former southpaw worked in various scouting, special assistant, and pitching performance supervisory roles with the Royals since 2011. Former Kansas City outfielder and first base coach Mitch Maier is now the director of player development/field coordinator, following two seasons as the team’s director of baseball ops.
Coaching Notes: Blue Jays, Vieira, Mets, Stankiewicz, Nationals
The Blue Jays made a noteworthy addition to their coaching ranks Monday, hiring Jaime Vieira as a minor league hitting coach per Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi. Vieira, a former softball standout and coach, is no stranger to the Toronto organization after spending the past two seasons with the club in various roles. Most recently she occupied a baseball operations research and development role last year, assisting the club with its 2021 draft among other tasks. The bump up to hitting coach reflects success in Vieira’s previously held roles as well as the continuation of an encouraging industry trend to seek out talented personnel regardless of gender. While Vieira is set to serve as the first female coach in the Toronto organization, this news comes in the wake of several other firsts this past week, including Rachel Balkovec’s ascension to manager in the Yankees organization and Genevieve Beacom becoming Australia’s first professional female baseball player.
Some other personnel notes from baseball’s eastern divisions…
- The Mets search for a bench coach under new skipper Buck Showalter continues, as Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter) that the team “checked in on” but was ultimately rebuffed by Grand Canyon University head coach Andy Stankiewicz. Showalter and Stankiewicz have some history, as the latter served as a utility man for Showalter’s Yankees in 1992 and 1993. This cordial refusal is the latest in a string of recent rejections for the Mets organization, who were denied a chance to speak with San Francisco pitching coach Andrew Bailey for their bench coach vacancy earlier today.
- The Nationals have made a smattering of recent hires, per Brittany Ghiroli and Maria Torres of The Athletic. Joe Dillon has returned to the organization as a minor league hitting coordinator after a few years as the Phillies’ major league hitting coach. The club has also hired Michael Schatz away from the Reds to serve as the organization’s lead research and development analyst. Lastly, GM Mike Rizzo has also welcomed three new special assistants to his front office: Willie Fraser and Mike Pagliarulo, recently with the Marlins, and Greg Hunter, who last served as a scout for the Mariners.
Giants Deny Mets’ Request To Interview Andrew Bailey
Following a frustrating weekend that saw the Padres refuse an interview with quality control coach Ryan Flaherty and Reds planning and outfield coach Jeff Pickler remove himself from consideration, the Mets’ search for a bench coach hit another snag today. As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports, the Giants have denied the Mets’ request to interview pitching coach Andrew Bailey to be new manager Buck Showalter’s deputy.
Following his retirement ahead of the 2018 season, Mets GM Billy Eppler, then with the Angels, gave the 37-year-old Bailey — who pitched for the A’s, Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, and Angels in a career that spanned eight seasons and was named the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year while serving as Oakland’s closer — his first coaching job, hiring him as the Angels’ replay coordinator and coaching assistant in 2018 before promoting him to bullpen coach in 2019. The Giants then hired Bailey as their pitching coach ahead of the 2020 season. He led San Francisco’s staff to a 3.25 ERA in 2021 (second only to the Dodgers) en route to a 107-win season and an NL West title.
While teams customarily allow coaching and front office staff to interview with other clubs when they’re up for a promotion — which made the Flaherty news something of a surprise — it isn’t exactly clear that a move from pitching coach to bench coach would represent a ‘promotion’ as such (Rosenthal notes that executive opinion is mixed on the issue). Timing may have also played a role in the decision; big-league coaching staffs are usually filled out relatively early in the offseason, and Rosenthal previously reported that the Padres denied the Mets a chance to speak with Flaherty largely because they didn’t want to have to find a replacement at this stage in the offseason.
Of course, the Mets’ attempts to fill out their coaching staff were held back by delays at the top, with Eppler’s hiring coming on November 18 (less than two weeks ahead of the lockout) and Showalter’s on December 20. They’ve since hired three additional coaches — Wayne Kirby as first base coach, Joey Cora as third base coach, and Eric Chávez as hitting coach — but only Chávez had been tied to another organization (the Yankees let him interview for the job only a few weeks after hiring him as an assistant hitting coach). Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is the lone holdover from the 2021 staff.
Despite the chaos in putting together a coaching staff, Eppler has hit the ground running on the player side, inking Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Mark Canha, and Eduardo Escobar to free agent deals worth a combined $254.5MM in the days leading up to the lockout while Noah Syndergaard, Javier Baez, Marcus Stroman, and Steven Matz signed elsewhere. Indeed, having endured a second-half collapse and watching the division rival Braves ride a late-season surge to a World Series title, Mets fans will hope Eppler’s offseason isn’t finished regardless of the composition of the coaching staff. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco taps Kris Bryant, Carlos Rodón, and NPB star Seiya Suzuki as potential targets once a new CBA is reached.