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New York Notes: ARod, Tex, Alderson, Wright

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In a list of 20 rookies to watch this season, Mets pitcher Steven Matz ranked fifth, writes Richard Justice of MLB.com. Matz is set to spend the season in the rotation, although the club has talked about having a sixth starter help to keep the young pitchers fresh. Across town, outfield prospect Aaron Judge is eighth on Justice’s list. He expects injuries to old vets to open an opportunity. Personally, I’m not entirely convinced Judge is major league ready after he hit .224/.308/.373 in 228 Triple-A plate appearances. The club has decent outfield depth too.

  • Speaking of potential Yankees injuries, fragility may define the 2016 Bombers, writes George A. King III of the NY Post. The rotation looks solid but thin. Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, and even Nathan Eovaldi have all had their run-ins with the trainer. Luis Severino is young and therefore uncertain (pitching is always uncertain). Among the position players, Greg Bird is already out for the year. Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira are all safe bets to need some time on the shelf.
  • Rodriguez and Teixeira may be key players in 2016, suggests Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. Their ability to once again tap into the fountain of youth is one of Feinsand’s five questions for the 2016 campaign. He also wonders if Aroldis Chapman will face suspension, if Sabathia’s new knee brace can help him rebound, and if the rest of the rotation can stay healthy.
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson continues to undergo chemotherapy for an undisclosed cancer, writes Adam Rubin of ESPN. He received the diagnosis shortly after the club clinched the NL East last season, giving the playoffs a bittersweet tinge. It has not affected his job.
  • Alderson figures David Wright should play a maximum of 130 games next season, writes Rubin. The club is keen to avoid overtaxing his back. He’ll rest against tough right-handed pitchers with Wilmer Flores likely to enter the lineup.
  • Alderson also answered a wide range of questions for Steve Serby of the NY Post. He touched upon his illness, virtually every position on the roster, and the farm system. When asked about the starting rotation, Alderson said, “you go that deep into the playoffs, there’s gonna be kind of a surcharge on their innings. So we’re gonna be careful with them. It doesn’t mean that we’re gonna manage their innings necessarily.“

Jenrry Mejia Gets Lifetime Ban After Third Positive PED Test

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Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia has been banned permanently from the majors after his third positive PED test, according to a league announcement. Remarkably, Mejia tested positive for the banned substance boldenone after earning two suspensions just last year.

Sep 15, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Jenrry Mejia (58) reacts walking to the dugout against the Miami Marlins during the eighth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a truly stunning result, made all the more surprising given that Mejia was on track to resume his career with New York. Indeed, he recently agreed to a $2.47MM salary to avoid arbitration. While he was already to sacrifice a good portion of that money to finish serving his second suspension — which was of the 162-game variety — he’ll lose the remainder after today’s news.

Mejia becomes the first player to receive a permanent ban under MLB’s “three strikes and you’re out” PED policy. There is a provision that will allow the 26-year-old righty to seek reinstatement, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com notes on Twitter. But even if successful, he’d have to wait one year to ask and serve a minimum two-year ban.

In a statement, the Mets said that the club is “deeply disappointed” in Mejia. He had seemed destined to return to a prominent place in the club’s pen after finishing out his second ban. While New York seemed primed to cut ties at one point, the upside in Mejia’s cheap contract and rested, youthful arm certainly justified the risk. But Mejia somehow proved unable to avoid PED usage even while subject to stepped-up testing as a prior offender.

After failing to hold down a rotation job in 2014, Mejia had shown real promise in a relief role. He ended that campaign as the team’s closer, posting 28 saves and working to a 2.72 ERA over 56 1/3 innings out of the pen. While he has since been supplanted in the ninth by Jeurys Familia, Mejia certainly seemed to have a plausible chance of winning back a set-up role later in the 2015 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jacob deGrom Open To Extension With Mets

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The following six to seven weeks figure to bear out plenty of extensions, and there figures to be a good bit of focus on the Mets’ young rotation in that time. Comments made by right-hander Jacob deGrom to the New York Post’s Kevin Kernan only figure to fuel that talk, as deGrom told Kernan that he’s open to exploring a long-term deal with the Mets and gave some details into his reasoning:

“I’m a little bit older so I might be more willing to do something like that. You just have to look at what is fair so both sides get a decent deal. It’s something I’d have to look into and make sure I agree with it. … I haven’t thought that much about it and I have to talk to my agents and stuff and look at the numbers and decide what was favorable.”

At 27 years old and with just one year, 139 days of Major League service time under his belt, deGrom is indeed a late bloomer and thus older than the typical extension candidate. His service time makes him a strong candidate to reach Super Two status next winter, giving the Mets good reason to look to lock him up now, as deGrom’s urgency to do so will decrease in each subsequent year as he gains continued financial security and moves closer to free agency. Also due to his relatively advanced age, the allure of eventually reaching free agency for deGrom might not be as tantalizing as it would for a pitcher that is set to hit free agency at a more typical age of 29 or 30. Under control through the 2020 season, deGrom wouldn’t hit the open market until the offseason preceding his age-33 season. While there’d still be plenty of money to be made if he can continue his current trajectory (especially when imagining how the market might progress over the next half-decade), his chances at landing the type of five- or six-year deal that top free-agent pitchers often command will be naturally curbed due to his age.

Madison Bumgarner still holds the contractual record for a starting pitcher with between one and two years of Major League service time at a guarantee of $35MM over five years (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker). That deal also contained a pair of club options that could push the contract’s value to a total of $57.5MM (or slightly greater, depending on his finishes in the Cy Young voting). That deal, though, is nearly four years old, and deGrom and his agents at CAA would seem to have a case to set a new precedent for pitchers in the one-plus service time class. Bumgarner, after all, had amassed a 3.10 ERA in 325 2/3 innings at the time of his extension, whereas deGrom has a 2.61 career ERA in 331 1/3 innings. The dramatically superior ERA and strikeout rates, in addition to the fact that deGrom has three more career wins and a slight edge in total innings pitched, would give him a superior bargaining platform in arbitration than the one that Bumgarner would have held. deGrom is also a likelier candidate to reach Super Two status than was Bumgarner (who would’ve had 2.127 year of service after the 2012 season).

Others in the Mets’ rotation, specifically Matt Harvey but also younger arms Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz, could theoretically be extension candidates as well. However, Harvey is already in agreement on a $4.35MM salary for the upcoming season and, as a Scott Boras client, seemingly less likely to broker a long-term commitment that buys out any of his highly valuable free-agent years at any type of discount rate. Syndergaard and Matz both have less than one year of Major League service time, so the team needn’t feel overly urgent to lock either starter down, and the pair may want to further establish themselves before committing to an extension with only brief (albeit impressive) track records in the Majors.

NL Notes: Belt, Lamb, Phillips, Hill, Plawecki

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The Giants and first baseman Brandon Belt have an arbitration hearing set for tomorrow, Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News tweeted last night. The two sides are facing a $2.2MM gap between Belt’s $7.5MM salary figure and the $5.3MM counter from the team (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker), and Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that with the hearing so close, the sides are focused on a one-year deal rather than a longer-term pact. Of course, long-term negotiations can always resume and carry on into Spring Training, so it does make some sense to focus efforts on avoiding the dreaded arbitration hearing for the time being.

Here’s more from the NL…

  • Reds left-hander John Lamb, who had been expected to compete for a spot in the team’s rotation this spring, had back surgery in December, reports MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. In an MLB Network appearance with Chris Russo today (video link), Cincinnati manager Bryan Price  revealed that Lamb will eventually be in the rotation mix but isn’t expected to be ready until mid-April. Per Price, right-handers Anthony DeSclafani and Raisel Iglesias are locked into rotation spots heading into Spring Training, but the remaining three spots will be up for grabs, with names like John Moscot, Cody Reed, Robert Stephenson and Brandon Finnegan all in the mix for one of the three spots until Homer Bailey returns, which the team expects will happen on May 1. Price went out of his way to state that despite some opinions that Finnegan is best-suited for the bullpen, the Reds like him as a starting pitcher.
  • From that same interview, Price said that he’s “not really surprised” that Brandon Phillips vetoed a trade that would have sent him to the Nationals despite the Reds’ rebuild. “Brandon, I think, just absolutely loves Cincinnati,” Price explained. “He loves the fans. He loves the team. He loves the ball park. I think he really values the fact that the Reds threw a lot of trust in him when they acquired him from Cleveland and gave him a chance to play.”
  • Tom Haudricout of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel spoke with Aaron Hill and Brewers manager Craig Counsell about the trade that sent the veteran Hill to Milwaukee. Hill explained to Haudricourt that being traded to a rebuilding team isn’t necessarily a bad thing, stressing that the emphasis on competition still exists and adding that he has a tremendous amount of respect for his new skipper. Of Hill, Counsell said that the Brewers look forward to Hill working with the team’s younger players and expect there to be “a lot of playing time” for Hill. “I do think his experience is valuable on this club with a lot of new faces and a lot of young faces, and a lot of players who are going to go through experiences in the big leagues for the first time,” said Counsell. Haudricourt notes that Hill will platoon with Scooter Gennett at second base and also receive some starts at third base against right-handed pitching.
  • Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki underwent offseason sinus surgery, he tells Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News. The operation, according to Plawecki, was performed with the goal of alleviating persistent bouts of dizziness. Plawecki says that his right sinus became completely blocked, preventing airflow through that side of his nose and leading to extreme dizzy spells that were aggravated each time the team would fly. “It was almost like a drunk feeling without having anything to drink, that’s the best description,” said Plawecki. The soon-to-be 25-year-old figures to serve as the primary backup to Travis d’Arnaud for the Mets this season and would step into a starting role in the event that d’Arnaud’s injury problems persist.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/8/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Mets announced the signing of outfielder Roger Bernadina to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to major league camp. He’ll earn $750K if he makes it to the MLB roster, Jon Heyman tweets, and receives a June 15 opt-out. Bernadina, 31, has accumulated nearly 1,500 MLB plate appearances, with the bulk of that action coming between 2010-13 with the Nationals. He’s also spent time with the Phillies, Reds, and Dodgers. Last year was his first without any action in the majors since he broke in with the Nats in 2008. Bernadina put up a .276/.383/.466 slash with 15 home runs and 20 steals in 447 plate appearances for the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate in 2015.
  • Infielder Danny Worth has caught on with the Astros, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. The 30-year-old owns a .230/.293/.295 slash in 292 big league plate appearances, all of which came with the Tigers between 2010-14. He played at Triple-A last year in the Diamondbacks organization, slashing a rather robust .314/.394/.469 in 399 trips to the plate.
  • The Dodgers brought back right-hander Chin-hui Tsao on a minor league pact, according to Eddy. Now 34, the Taiwanese reliever (and former top prospect) has seen 95 1/3 MLB innings spread between 2003 and 2015. He spent most of last year with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate, working to a 2.77 ERA in 39 frames with 9.7 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9.
  • Backstop Steven Lerud recently inked with the Mariners, per a club announcement. The 31-year-old has minimal MLB experience, but has been in the upper minors since 2008. Most recently, in 2015, he posted a .238/.320/.301 slash over 231 plate appearances at Triple-A Syracuse in the Nationals organization.

Sherman’s Latest: Cespedes, Ramirez, Castro, Sano

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Several teams are gambling on successful position changes for core players, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. While it’s not uncommon for a team to sign a player like Jason Heyward and shift him to a new position for a couple seasons, these transitions don’t always go swimmingly. Sherman examines some of the biggest names to watch this season, and we’ll touch upon a few of them here.

  • The Mets were wary about committing to Yoenis Cespedes in part because of his shaky history in center field. As Sherman writes, Cespedes’ top defensive attribute is his arm. However, in center, range tends to be more valuable than arm strength.
  • Last season, the Padres attempted to shift Wil Myers from an outfield corner to center. His experience could serve as a chilling example for Mets fans. When he wasn’t battling injury, Myers graded out as an atrocious center fielder. This season, San Diego plans to shift Myers to first base. It’s yet another position at which he has limited experience. Interestingly, Myers has moved all over the field in his professional career – he started out as a catching prospect, and he also has experience at third base.
  • Another failed outfielder moving to first base, Hanley Ramirez, will be critical to the Red Sox success this season. Ramirez was a disaster in left field, but there is hope he can be more focused and healthier in an infield role. David Ortiz occupies the designated hitter role. He’s expected to retire after the season, meaning Ramirez could be shifted to a bat-only role after 2016.
  • The Yankees are taking a gamble of their own on Starlin Castro. The former Cubs shortstop hit much better after a shift to second base, but his defense still graded out as below average. Unlike Cespedes, Myers, or Ramirez, Castro looked merely below average rather than nightmarish. The Yankees hope that more experience at the position and smoother actions can lead to defensive improvement in 2016.
  • In an attempt to manage their corner infield and designated hitter surplus, the Twins are going to try prospect slugger Miguel Sano in the outfield. Sano, a third baseman by trade, doesn’t have professional experience in the outfield. However, his shift will allow the club to start Sano, Joe Mauer, Byung-ho Park, and Trevor Plouffe. In my opinion, the Twins might have been smarter to move Plouffe into the outfield. He has experience as a utility man and an established bat. Sano will now need to learn a new position while adjusting to major league pitching.

East Notes: Elway, DeShields, Castillo, Wheeler

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Legendary quarterback John Elway was nearly a Yankee, writes Tracy Ringolsby of MLB.com. Ringolsby sat down with scout and former executive Gary Hughes to talk about some of the multi-sport athletes he’s recommended over his lengthy career. The Yankees selected Elway in the second round of the 1981 draft. Elway told Hughes he would play baseball professionally if the Baltimore Colts didn’t trade him. Ultimately, they did, and he chose football. Hughes insists that Elway had special talent and would have had a successful career in baseball.

  • While working with the Expos, Hughes was instrumental in the signing of Delino DeShields. The second baseman was committed to attending Villanova on a basketball scholarship but changed his mind after playing in rookie ball. When asked why he decided to forego his basketball scholarship, DeShields said, “if I am going to be any good, I have to concentrate on baseball.” Not only did DeShields have a successful 13 season career, his son recently broke out for the Rangers as a Rule 5 pick.
  • Rusney Castillo has been worth a decent 1.3 WAR in 329 career plate appearances, writes August Fagerstrom of FanGraphs.com. That’s roughly a league average outfield over a full season, although most of the production has come on defense. The Red Sox undoubtedly hope to get more offense out of their $72.5MM investment. Fagerstrom digs deeper to examine Castillo’s profile at the plate. His high ground ball rate generates a disheartening list of comparables – Christian Yelich, Joey Butler, and Jose Tabata are the only better than average hitters of the bunch. Supposed adjustments to his swing path will need to click for him to morph into a serious offensive threat.
  • The Mets are targeting a July 1 return for rehabbing pitcher Zack Wheeler, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Wheeler underwent Tommy John surgery last March. The procedure typically has a 15 month recovery period, and it’s no coincidence his 15-month anniversary is June 25. While some pitchers in the past have recovered from the surgery faster than the 15 month timeline, players and teams now believe the slower recovery period is best for long term outcomes.

NL East Notes: Mets’ Payroll/Rotation, Nationals, Marlins

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Mets GM Sandy Alderson said at yesterday’s Yoenis Cespedes press conference that the significant signing illustrates that the team is working without payroll limitations, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes. Alderson was asked if it’s possible that he can retain his entire rotation for the long haul, and while the GM unsurprisingly didn’t want to commit to anything, he did note that the increased payroll flexibility creates the possibility for some long-term deals. “I don’t want to foreclose any possibility,” said Alderson. “…I think maybe if the Cespedes signing says anything, it’s that there are no possibilities that will be dismissed out of hand strictly for financial reasons.” Alderson said the team will get a better feel for any mutual interest in extensions over the next several weeks as Spring Training looms and eventually kicks off. Of the team’s excellent rotation core, Matt Harvey is the only one that has already reached arbitration eligibility, although as a Scott Boras client, he’s perhaps an unlikely candidate to sign long-term in the first place. Next winter will see Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler reach arbitration. (MLBTR’s Jeff Todd and I discussed extensions — and not just for the Mets’ rotation — at length on today’s MLBTR Podcast, for those interested in the matter.) Perhaps most notable of all of Alderson’s payroll comments, however, is the fact that he said he doesn’t anticipate returning to the club’s previous payroll levels even if Cespedes opts out after this season. New York’s payroll will be in the $140MM vicinity for the 2016 season.

Here’s more from the NL East…

  • Every contract the Nationals offered to a free agent this winter contained significant deferrals due to uncertainty over the team’s MASN television dispute, writes Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. The issue came to light most prominently after the team’s failed pursuit of Cespedes. While the Nats technically offered $110MM over five years, Svrluga spoke to sources on both sides of the negotiation who felt the Mets’ offer was clearly better. As he notes, there’s perhaps no need to look further than the first year of the deal; Cespedes landed a $10MM signing bonus and a $17.5MM salary for the 2016 season — $27.5MM up front, with the possibility to max out at $75MM over three years — but would’ve received just $7MM in 2016 with the Nationals’ offer, which contained a decade’s worth of deferrals. One person that spoke to Svrluga called the team’s $200MM offer to Jason Heyward “the most complicated deferral” that person has ever encountered, noting that it contained 16 years worth of deferred monies. Even the players they’ve managed to sign over the past two years — Max Scherzer and Daniel Murphy — come with notable deferrals. Svrluga points out that Scherzer will be owed $15MM in the first year after his deal ends, and while delaying that payment drives down the value of those funds, Svrluga is correct to note that said line item on the team’s budget could interfere with the Nats’ ability to add some secondary pieces six years down the line.
  • The Marlins continue to search for veteran rotation options, but president of baseball operations Michael Hill has very little to work with remaining in the budget that was given to him by owner Jeffrey Loria, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. Jackson notes many of the same names that he and Jon Heyman connected to the Marlins a couple of weeks ago: Kyle Lohse, Tim Lincecum, Alfredo Simon and Cliff Lee (though based on the picture Jackson painted in referencing the tight budget, Lee seems somewhat unlikely).

Mets, Jeurys Familia Avoid Arbitration

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While the majority of the 156 players that filed for salary arbitration have agreed to terms with their teams, either on a one-year deal for 2016 or on an extension, the cases of 17 players remained unresolved as of Wednesday morning. You can track the status of each case using MLBTR’s 2016 Arbitration Tracker, and we’ll keep track of all of today’s smaller deals to avoid arbitration in this post (all referenced projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…

  • The Mets and closer Jeurys Familia have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $4.1MM, reports Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Familia blew past his $3.3MM projected salary and also came in north of the $4.05MM midpoint of his own $4.8MM submission and the team’s submission of $3.3MM. Familia, 26, opened the season expected to work in a setup role but found himself in the ninth inning when Jenrry Mejia was hit with a PED suspension. Over the course of a career-high 78 innings, Familia posted a brilliant 1.85 ERA with 9.9 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, a 58.3 percent ground-ball rate and 43 saves. With Familia’s case resolved, the Mets have successfully avoided an arbitration hearing with all nine of their eligible players.

Free Agent Notes: Buehrle, Thornton, Mets, Torres

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Today represents the forty-year anniversary of the advent of modern free agency, as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan explores. The piece includes some interesting quotes from some of those involved at the time.

As the market marches forward this winter, here’s the latest:

  • Free agent southpaw Mark Buehrle remains in a sort of holding pattern as he ponders retirement, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. The durable veteran is neither planning to sign for 2016 nor ruling out a “possible comeback down the road,” says Crasnick. That seems largely to confirm prior reports, but dangles the interesting possibility that Buehrle could take some time off and look to make a return in the future.
  • Lefty reliever Matt Thornton is among the solid players still looking for a deal, and he joined MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM to discuss his status (links to Twitter). The hard-throwing southpaw is getting on in years, but says he’s “not a typical 38-year-old” — a proposition that’s hard to dispute given that he still throws a 93.5 mph average heater (though that’s off a bit from recent years). Though Thornton said it’s been a “slow” market, he isn’t looking to settle. “I’m not taking an invite,” he said. “I’m getting a Major League deal or I need to look at myself and decide if I need to walk away.”
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson addressed reporters today at the press conference to re-introduce Yoenis Cespedes. He says the club is done with major league signings for the winter, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. That’s not too surprising, of course, as New York has already given out six MLB deals this winter.
  • One of those Mets signings left righty Carlos Torres without a roster spot, and he has drawn quite a lot of interest since he cleared waivers and hit the open market, NJ.com’s Brandon Kuty writes. The Yankees have reached out, as have several Asian clubs, per the report. Torres has been a sturdy pen presence in recent years despite tough results in 2015.
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