Mets Sign Trevor May
DEC. 2: The deal is official. It’s a $15.5MM guarantee, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets. May could make another $250K in performance bonuses in each season.
DEC. 1, 4:07pm: May’s contract is worth around $15MM, Heyman tweets.
2:10pm: It’s a two-year deal for May, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).
1:37pm: The Mets have agreed to terms on a contract with free-agent reliever Trevor May, SNY’s Andy Martino reports (via Twitter). The contract is pending a physical. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reported earlier this afternoon that May and the Mets were “deep” in talks. May is represented by the VC Sports Group.
May, 31, becomes the first prominent reliever to come off the board. The longtime Twins righty bounced back from Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2017 season to become a reliable, late-inning power arm in Minnesota and one of the game’s foremost strikeout pitchers.
Since returning from that elbow operation, May has compiled 113 innings of 3.19 ERA and 3.56 FIP ball, averaging 12.2 strikeouts, 3.0 walks and 1.4 home runs per nine innings pitched. This past season was particularly impressive for May in terms of missing bats, as he whiffed an outstanding 39.6 percent of the hitters he faced.
May’s fastball averaged a career-high 96.4 mph in 2020, although the righty threw the pitch at a greatly reduced 52.1 percent clip. In place of the heaters, the right-hander ramped up the use of his slider to a career-high 32.2 percent and did so to great success; May generated a 14.6 percent swinging-strike rate on his slider, and plate appearances he finished with that pitch resulted in opponents putting up a pitiful .167/.167/.250 batting line.
Because he works at the top of the zone with his four-seamer, May has trouble with the long ball at times. However he also generated a ridiculous 20.6 percent swinging-strike rate on his fastball thanks to high-end velocity and spin on the pitch. Overall, Statcast pegged May in the 99th percentile of Major League pitchers in terms of swinging-strike rate and in the 98th percentile in terms of overall strikeout rate in 2020. For a Mets club that already boasts several power arms at the back of the bullpen, May only adds more firepower.
Of course, many of those arms are in need of a rebound. It’s arguable that if Jeurys Familia, Dellin Betances and others had all pitched to their capabilities in 2020, the Mets might not have felt as motivated to make a push for an “early” deal with May. Still, pairing May with Edwin Diaz, Familia, Betances, Miguel Castro, Brad Brach and potentially Seth Lugo — depending on which direction the organization goes with him — gives the Mets a deep and talented mix of late-inning weapons, even if they there’s some considerable inconsistency among the bunch.
May was no doubt highly recommended and perhaps even personally recruited by Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, who was the Twins’ bullpen coach prior to the 2020 season. Hefner, a former Mets pitcher, played a role in helping to coax a breakout from May and several other Twins relievers before being hired away by his former team.
The May signing is the first notable move of what most expect to be a highly active offseason for the Mets. While they’re still on the search for a new general manager, Sandy Alderson is back with the club under deep-pocketed new owner Steve Cohen and is calling the shots in baseball operations at the moment. With the game’s richest owner now in their corner, the Mets have already been linked to the majority of the top names on both the trade and free-agent markets.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: 12/1/20
With the non-tender deadline on the horizon tomorrow, expect quite a few players to agree to contracts for the 2021 season, avoiding arbitration in advance. In many (but not all) cases, these deals — referred to as “pre-tender” deals because they fall prior to the deadline — will fall shy of expectations and projections. Teams will sometimes present borderline non-tender candidates with a “take it or leave it” style offer which will be accepted for fear of being non-tendered and sent out into an uncertain market. Speculatively, such deals could increase in 2020 due to the economic uncertainty sweeping through the game, although there are also widespread expectations of record non-tender numbers.
You can track all of the arbitration and non-tender activity here, and we’ll also run through today’s smaller-scale pre-tender deals in this post. You can also check out Matt Swartz‘s arbitration salary projections here.
Latest Agreements
- Athletics second baseman Tony Kemp will get $1.05MM over one year, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays.
- The Rockies announced that they have re-signed righty Jairo Diaz to a one-year pact. It’s worth $1.1MM, Feinsand tweets.
- The Phillies and righty reliever Seranthony Dominguez have a one-year, $727,500 deal, according to Feinsand. Dominguez underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of June, so he might not pitch at all in 2021.
- The Athletics and utility player Chad Pinder reached a one-year, $2.275MM deal, per Nightengale. Pinder has two seasons of team control left.
- The Orioles and catcher Pedro Severino agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.825MM, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link). There was some speculation that Severino could be a non-tender candidate, though he has posted pretty decent numbers over two seasons as Baltimore’s primary catcher. Severino is controllable through the 2023 season.
- The Nationals and right-hander Joe Ross agreed to a one-year, $1.5MM contract, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. This is a match of the salary Ross and the Nats had agreed on for the 2020 season, but Ross decided to opt out back in June. This was Ross’ third year of arbitration eligibility, and is now expected to return and compete for a job in Washington’s rotation in 2021.
- The Royals agreed to one-year deals with righties Jesse Hahn and Jakob Junis and outfielder Franchy Cordero, according to Feinsand and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links). Hahn signed for $1.75MM in guaranteed money with another $350K available in incentives. Junis will rake in $1.7MM. Cordero will earn $800K in his first arbitration-eligible year.
Earlier Agreements
- The Athletics and righty Burch Smith agreed to a one-year deal worth $705K, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. The 30-year-old Smith allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 frames with the A’s in 2020. That was a solid showing for Smith to carry into his first trip through the arb process, though he carried a career 6.57 ERA in 135 1/3 frames into the 2020 season. The A’s can control Smith through 2023.
- The Rockies agreed to a one-year, $1.2MM deal with catcher Elias Diaz, per Nightengale (Twitter link). The contract contains another $300K in available incentives. The 30-year-old looked like a clear non-tender candidate after posting an ugly .235/.288/.353 slash with lackluster framing marks and just a 1-for-8 effort in throwing out base thieves, but the Rockies must remain hopeful he can return to his 2018 level of performance. Diaz is controllable through the 2022 season via arbitration.
- Right-hander Jacob Barnes and the Mets agreed to a one-year deal worth $750K, Nightengale tweets. Barnes, claimed off waivers back in October, was a quality reliever in Milwaukee from 2016-18 but has seen his results crater over the past two seasons. From 2019-20, he’s posted a 6.75 ERA over 50 2/3 innings. Barnes has averaged 10 strikeouts per nine frames in that time but also averaged 4.6 walks and 1.42 homers as well. Barnes is controllable through 2022.
Mets “Deep In Talks” With Trevor May
The Mets and right-hander Trevor May “are deep in talks” about a potential contract, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (Twitter link). “This is not a done deal, but there is smoke,” DiComo writes, indicating that the negotiations may be in a rather advanced stage. As noted by The Athletic’s Tim Britton, May and Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner have a good relationship, dating back to Hefner’s previous position as the Twins’ assistant pitching coach.
The 31-year-old May has quietly been one of the more effective relievers in baseball over the last three seasons, posting a 3.19 ERA, 4.03 K/BB rate, and 12.2 K/9 over 113 innings (in 113 games) for the Twins since the start of the 2018 season. This performance came on the heels of a Tommy John surgery that cost May all of the 2017 campaign, though his durability since his return would seem to answer any questions about his arm condition.
May’s hard-contact numbers trended upwards in 2020, and his 1.9 HR/9 was a career high. Those were more or less the only blemishes on another solid season for May, as ERA predictors (2.74 xFIP, 2.38 SIERA) drastically outperformed his actual 3.86 ERA. May’s 14.7 K/9 was also a career best, and he has continued to steadily increase fastball velocity. Since returning from Tommy John surgery, May has added over two miles of velocity to his average fastball, going from 94.1 mph in 2018 to 96.4mph last season.
Signing May would represent the first big free agent strike for the Mets under the Steve Cohen/Sandy Alderson regime, as the club has been linked in rumors to seemingly just about every big name on the market. May’s addition would be a boost to a Mets bullpen that was inconsistent through 2020, and May would seemingly slot right in as the primary setup man for closer Edwin Diaz.
Mets Rumors: Springer, McCann
Free-agent outfielder George Springer could be the No. 1 offseason target for the Mets, according to SNY’s Andy Martino, who writes that the longtime Astro “remains heavily in the mix.” Meanwhile, Martino hears that the Mets are more aggressively going after catcher James McCann than fellow backstop J.T. Realmuto.
Springer would join an already loaded Mets outfield that includes Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith as potential options for 2021. Nimmo was the only member of that group to line up in center field last season, though he struggled to minus-five Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-4.1 Ultimate Zone Rating over 308 1/3 innings there. Conversely, Springer posted six DRS with a minus-0.4 UZR across 338 innings, and he has typically performed well at the position since he first debuted there in 2014.
Of course, anyone who signs Springer wouldn’t be doing so primarily because of his defense. Rather, that team would be adding him on account of the immense impact Springer has made with his bat. This past season was the latest tremendous offensive effort for the 31-year-old Springer, who slashed .265/.359/.540 (146 wRC+) with 14 home runs in 222 plate appearances.
The Mets seem to have a bigger need behind the plate than in their outfield, as Wilson Ramos and Robinson Chirinos are free agents. The most established catcher on their roster is Tomas Nido, who owns a woeful line of .197/.234/.319 (46 wRC+) in 270 MLB plate appearances. That suggests the team will upgrade from outside the organization in the coming months. McCann, who’s coming off an impressive season, should cost far less than Realmuto, but he won’t be easy to acquire for the Mets and deep-pocketed owner Steve Cohen. At least six teams have shown interest in McCann early this offseason, so there will be plenty of competition to sign him.
Hensley Meulens Out As Mets’ Bench Coach
The Mets will have a new bench coach in 2021, as the club informed Hensley Meulens that he will not return to their staff, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
It was a short stint with the Mets for Meulens, a longtime San Francisco assistant who spent just one year with his new club. Before his hiring as a bench coach last offseason, the Mets and the Red Sox interviewed Meulens for their managerial positions. The Mets ultimately chose Carlos Beltran before quickly replacing him with Luis Rojas, though, while the Red Sox went with Ron Roenicke.
While Meulens’ time on Rojas’ staff didn’t work out, it shouldn’t be too long before the 53-year-old finds another job. Meulens, after all, is a well-respected, three-time World Series-winning assistant who speaks five languages. It’s unclear whom the Mets will tap to replace him.
Chris Young Withdraws From Mets’ GM Search
Former big league pitcher Chris Young, who interviewed last week for the Mets’ GM vacancy, has now withdrawn his name from consideration, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. Sherman suggests that Young was indeed intrigued by the position but prefers not to move his family from Dallas to New York at this time.
Young, 41, called it quits in 2017 after a 13-year career on the mound and quickly went to work for Major League Baseball. He was first appointed as the league’s vice president of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy, wherein he oversaw “the application of playing rules and regulations, on-field standards and discipline, pace of play and other special projects.” When MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre moved into an advisory role in early 2020, Young added “senior” to his title and took on a larger slate of responsibilities within the same realm.
There’s little clarity about the Mets’ ongoing front office search at this point. Young and former Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill were the two known candidates to have interviewed prior to today’s report. However, it’s not clear whether Hill was interviewing for the GM post or for the president of baseball operations vacancy that will now not be filled. Incoming president Sandy Alderson, who is returning after two years away from the team, indicated last week that he’d shifted gears and would now focus on hiring only a GM, rather than a president of baseball ops. New owner Steve Cohen acknowledged last week that he’s had some difficulty getting candidates in the door, as other clubs have denied permission to interview candidates from within their organizational ranks.
At Least Six Teams Showing Interest In James McCann
Yadier Molina has drawn the most headlines among catchers early in free agency, in part due to the willingness of both him and his agent to go on-record to discuss the veteran’s market. However, James McCann is drawing interest from a similar collection of teams, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), with the Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, Angels and incumbent White Sox among the clubs to express some interest in the free-agent backstop. The Phillies would have interest in the event that J.T. Realmuto signs elsewhere, Heyman adds.
Given that each of these clubs, with the exception of the White Sox and Phillies, has already expressed interest in Molina, it’s not much of a surprise that they’d also at least gauge McCann’s asking price. There’s been speculation about the Yankees moving on from Gary Sanchez for months, while the Mets currently lack a starting-caliber backstop on their roster. The Angels got a big year out of Max Stassi in 2020, but that was obviously a rather limited sample and Stassi’s prior track record is less impressive.
The Cardinals may raise some eyebrows, given their interest in retaining Molina, but it’s only logical that with Molina exploring other options they’d do the same. Should Molina get the two-year deal he’s seeking from another club, the Cards could pivot to McCann or simply remain in-house and turn the keys over to 26-year-old Andrew Knizner.
As for the White Sox, their interest in keeping McCann is well known, but it’s unlikely to result in a deal. The ChiSox signed Yasmani Grandal to a franchise-record four-year, $73MM contract last winter, and with three years remaining on that arrangement there’s simply no room for McCann to get everyday at-bats. McCann spoke earlier this offseason about his free agency, telling NBC Sports Chicago’s Chuck Garfien that he feels he’s earned the opportunity to be a team’s starting catcher. The White Sox can’t offer that with Grandal under contract.
It’s hard to dispute McCann’s feelings after a pair of terrific seasons with the South Siders. While he was non-tendered by the Tigers after a dismal 2018 campaign, McCann has more than bounced back in Chicago; he’s taken his game to new heights. McCann was a bit shy of a league-average bat as Detroit’s primary catcher in 2017, but he’s broken out with a .276/.334/.474 batting line in 587 plate appearances with the White Sox (116 wRC+).
He’s made strides in terms of hard-hit rate and exit velocity, supporting that offensive breakout, and McCann also improved defensively quite a bit this past season. He’s always been adept at controlling runners (career 35.8 percent caught-stealing rate), but McCann prioritized improving his pitch-framing this past offseason, and the results were strong. Statcast reflects that McCann went from one of the worst catchers in the game at framing pitches on the bottom of the zone to one of the game’s best. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but it’d be a reach to suggest that McCann simply lucked his way from getting 44.8 percent of such pitches called all the way up to 61.8 percent.
The Phillies probably aren’t the only club who view McCann as a “Plan B” to Realmuto, but there also figure to be teams that know they cannot afford Realmuto and are thus willing to act more quickly. McCann and his agents will have to determine whether they’re better served taking one of those early offers or holding out until Realmuto is off the market. The latter route could lead to increased interest, but it’s also possible some teams that are willing to act now will have already filled their need at catcher or spent the majority of their offseason budget by that point.
Alderson: Mets Will Focus More On Free Agency Than Trades
Mets owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson have made it clear that the team is intent on being big players this offseason, though Alderson provided a bit more clarity about these winter plans in an interview with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (partial audio link).
“We expect to be somewhat active in the free agent market as opposed to the trade market. We don’t want to give up our young guys,” Alderson said, noting that the Mets plan to “recommit to our farm system and try to stay away from…our really prospects in significant trades.”
While Alderson stated that the organization’s lack of “patience…to allow these players to develop” dates back beyond just “the last couple of years,” the obvious implication is that the Cohen/Alderson Mets aren’t planning any of the blockbuster prospect-for-star trades that defined Brodie Van Wagenen’s tenure as the team’s general manager. (Namely the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz trade with the Mariners and the deal that landed Marcus Stroman from the Blue Jays.)
It could be that this strategy was also somewhat born out of necessity, as the Mets don’t have a ton of blue chip minor league talent. Baseball America ranked the Mets 20th in their August ranking of all 30 organizations, and MLB.com doesn’t have any Mets prospects ranked within the top half of the top-100 prospects list (though Ronny Mauricio, Francisco Alvarez, and Brett Baty all appear later in the list).
“There are only two currencies in baseball: players and money,” Alderson said. “Right now, especially in the upper levels of our system, we don’t have the players. We have some money at this point. So, we’re going to sort of balance those two things.”
This is surely music to the ears of free agents, as the Mets are expected to be bidders on multiple big names on the open market. Cohen’s financial resources could also play a big role in trades, however, given how many teams will be looking to cut costs this winter and might be open to moving some of their higher-salaried players. If the Mets are willing to eat a larger portion of those contracts, rival teams could give up some noteworthy talent for a relatively meager prospect return.
NL East Notes: Nats, Bryant, Cubs, Phillies, Matz
The Nationals‘ recent interest in Kris Bryant isn’t the first time Washington has explored trading for the former NL MVP, as the Nats and Cubs held some discussions just last offseason. Victor Robles was known to be of interest to Chicago in a potential Bryant trade, and Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post adds that held firm in keeping not only Robles, but also Juan Soto, Trea Turner, and pitching prospect Jackson Rutledge during negotiations with the Cubs.
Needless to say, there was zero chance Soto, Turner, or probably even Robles were being moved for Bryant last offseason, and this quartet will continue to be off the table in any trade talks this winter. Rutledge (the 17th overall pick of the 2019 draft and ranked by MLB.com as Washington’s top prospect) could have made some sense as a trade chip when Bryant was coming off an impressive 2019 campaign and had two years of team control remaining. Now, however, Bryant is just a year away from free agency and is looking to rebound from an injury-plagued 2020 season. As Dougherty notes, the Nationals or any other team might not have to give up much or any major prospect capital to land Bryant, if the Cubs’ chief intent is just to get Bryant’s projected $18.6MM salary off their books.
More from the NL East…
- The Phillies lost $145MM during the 2020 season, a source tells The Associated Press. It’s safe to assume that every team took a sizeable hit, though the exact numbers for almost every team will likely never be fully known. (The Braves, as part of the publicly-traded Liberty Media Corporation, are an exception.) Phillies managing partner John Middleton has stated that the revenue losses will have some impact on the team’s offseason plans, but it remains to be seen if that means the Phillies simply won’t splurge as they have in recent offseasons, or if it could mean a much quieter winter. The latter option would make things very difficult for a Phillies roster that has a lot of needs to address.
- After a tough 2020 season, Mets left-hander Steven Matz has been mentioned as a possible non-tender candidate, as New York might prefer to seek out other rotation options rather than pay Matz a projected $5.1MM arbitration salary. However, Newsday’s Tim Healey (Twitter links) doesn’t think the team’s decision is that hard, as Healey would “be surprised if [Matz] doesn’t get tendered a contract.” Matz posted solid numbers as a starter in three of the previous four seasons heading into 2020, but he lost his rotation job during an injury-shortened season that saw him post an ugly 9.68 ERA and surrender 14 home runs over only 30 2/3 innings. Retaining Matz would give New York some added rotation depth while they wait for Noah Syndergaard to return from Tommy John surgery, though the Mets are expected to be active in seeking out free agents, including pitchers. The rotation already got a boost when Marcus Stroman accepted the Mets’ one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer.
Quick Hits: Colon, Fresno Grizzlies, MiLB
The story hasn’t changed for 47-year-old hurler Bartolo Colon. Though he hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2018, he desires to return and finish his career with the Mets, tweets MLB Insider Héctor Gómez. Colon felt the same way last May, however. It’s hard to imagine that his chances of suiting up again in New York have increased since then. A veteran of 21 seasons, the hugely-popular Colon turns 48-years-old in May. “Big Sexy” last appeared in the Majors with 146 1/3 innings for the Rangers in 2018. He posted a 5.78 ERA/5.47 FIP with 5.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 that season. With that, let’s check on the latest updates from minor league baseball…
- The Fresno Grizzlies are facing a tough decision: accept relegation from Triple-A to Single-A, or leave the Major League system entirely, according to J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. News of MLB’s ultimatum to the Grizzlies first came from Brianna Calix of the Fresno Bee, who obtained a letter emailed from deputy commissioner and chief legal officer for MLB Daniel R. Halem to high-ranking government officials in Fresno. In the letter, per Calix, Halem writes: “Because communications with the (Fresno) Grizzlies and City of Fresno have indicated they have no interest in operating a Single-A affiliate, we do not currently intend to offer any affiliation to the Grizzlies or Fresno.”
- The Grizzlies remain committed in their stance to stay in Triple-A. The difference in league amounts to more home games, a higher profile, and likely more revenue. Fresno Mayor Lee Brand and Mayor-elect Jerry Dyer issued a statement in response to MLB, posted here on Twitter by Marek Warszawski of the Fresno Bee. It’s certainly easy to understand their desire to remain in Triple-A, but for MLB’s part, they’re trying to execute a restructuring plan that they think will bring more revenue to the game overall.
- For a reminder on how the Grizzlies and other clubs got to this point, Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper walks through the timeline of negotiations between MLB and MiLB from December of 2018 to the present day. Cooper includes the latest development from last week when he reported on the changing dynamics for clubhouse managers.