Guardians Designate Mike Zunino For Assignment
The Guardians have designated catcher Mike Zunino for assignment, per a team announcement. Cleveland also optioned reliever Cody Morris to Triple-A Columbus while selecting right-hander Touki Toussaint onto the MLB roster.
A June DFA is surely not what the Guardians envisioned for their Opening Day catcher. Cleveland signed the veteran backstop to a one-year, $6MM free agent deal in December. It was a buy-low flier on a glove-first veteran. Zunino’s final season with the Rays had been ruined by thoracic outlet syndrome, but he was only a year removed from an All-Star appearance and a 20th-place finish in AL MVP voting.
The anticipated bounceback hasn’t materialized. Zunino has contributed very little offensively, hitting .177/.271/.306 over 140 trips to the plate. A lofty strikeout total is par for the course with Zunino, but this year’s 43.6% clip is high even by his standards. Including his .148/.195/.304 line in 36 games with the Rays before his ’22 campaign was cut short by TOS surgery, Zunino is a .163/.236/.305 hitter over his last 263 plate appearances.
A former third overall draft choice, Zunino has had a mercurial career offensively. He’s perennially near the top of the league in strikeout rate. At his best, however, he’s shown the ability to compensate for the whiffs with plenty of walks and huge power. Zunino blasted 33 homers with a .559 slugging percentage in only 109 games for Tampa Bay two seasons back. He’d also topped 20 longballs on three separate occasions early in his career with the Mariners.
When he’s not driving the ball out the yard, he’s among the sport’s worst offensive players. In just under 900 career games, he’s hitting .199 with a .271 on-base percentage. The swing-and-miss has become particularly problematic this season. Of the 336 batters with 100+ trips to the plate, none has whiffed more often than Zunino, who’s making contact on just 59% of his swings.
Offense isn’t the whole story, of course, particularly behind the plate. The Guardians tolerated well below-average hitting from Austin Hedges for years on account of his defensive acumen. Zunino comes with a similarly strong reputation for managing a pitching staff, but his public defensive marks this year have been poor.
Zunino has been charged with an MLB-worst five passed balls on the season. He’s been behind the dish for the fifth-most wild pitches. The pitching staff deserves some of the blame, but Statcast has estimated Zunino as allowing a league-high 10 more offerings than average to get behind him. He’s gotten average marks for his pitch framing this year and has thrown out a below-average 16.7% of attempted basestealers.
The struggles on both sides of the ball led the Cleveland front office to go in another direction. The Guardians were running with three catchers on the MLB roster, so the duo of Cam Gallagher and David Fry could be in for an uptick in playing time. Gallagher hasn’t hit in a backup role either, posting a .147/.177/.187 showing in 29 games. Bo Naylor has a strong .253/.393/.498 line through 60 games in Triple-A Columbus, and while the Guardians didn’t immediately call him up, there’s a strong argument for turning to the 23-year-old.
Whatever direction the Guards go behind the dish, they’ll be moving on from Zunino within the next few days. They have a week to trade him or put him on waivers. With a little over $3MM in salary still to be paid out, it’s likely he’ll clear waivers and hit free agency. At that point, another team could sign him for the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum.
Toussaint joined the organization on a minor league deal over the offseason. The former top prospect has appeared in parts of five big league campaigns between the Braves and Angels. He’s struggled to a 5.34 ERA over 170 1/3 MLB innings while working in a swing capacity.
He’s been pitching almost exclusively out of the bullpen with Columbus. Toussaint has worked to a 4.06 ERA in 37 2/3 frames over 20 outings. He has fanned over 30% of opponents with a quality 45.7% ground-ball percentage. He’s yet to solve longstanding control woes, though, as he’s walking nearly 15% of batters faced.
Toussaint will start tonight’s game in Arizona. Triston McKenzie had been slated to take the ball, but Zack Meisel of the Athletic tweets that he’s been scratched after experiencing some elbow discomfort. Toussaint has been working in two to three inning stints with Columbus, so it’s likely to be a bullpen day. He’s out of minor league options, meaning his stay on the roster could be brief unless Cleveland is willing to give him a lasting bullpen spot.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Write For MLB Trade Rumors
We’re looking to add to the MLBTR writing team, in a part-time position that pays hourly. The criteria:
- Strong availability throughout the week, with extra hours expected in September and October 2023.
- Exceptional knowledge of all 30 baseball teams, no discernible bias. Knowledge of hot stove concepts like arbitration, the competitive balance tax, and new aspects of the latest collective bargaining agreement.
- A high school degree is required, and further education is preferred. Please include your highest completed level of education in your application.
- Writing experience is necessary, and online writing experience is preferred.
- Attention to detail and ability to follow the MLBTR style and tone.
- Ability to craft intelligent, well-written posts analyzing and contextualizing MLB hot stove news quickly and concisely.
- Ability to use Twitter, Tweetdeck, and WordPress. Experience with these is strongly preferred.
- Ability to incorporate feedback to improve performance.
- If you’re interested, email mlbtrhelp@gmail.com and explain how you stand out and qualify in a couple of short paragraphs. Please attach your resume to the email. We often receive several hundred applications, so unfortunately we will not be able to reply to each one.
At the end of your application, please fill in the blank: After the ____ season ends, assuming he does not sign a contract extension or go to the minors, Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan will become a free agent. Rather than give an explanation, simply write, “McClanahan question: [Year]” at the end.
Nevada Governor Signs A’s Stadium Bill
This afternoon, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo signed the bill proposing $380MM in public funding for the construction of a Las Vegas ballpark. Sean Golonka, Tabitha Mueller and Jacob Solis of the Nevada Independent and Steve Sebelius of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were among those to cover the news.
Lombardo’s signature was the final governmental hurdle for the A’s to clear before they can formally apply to MLB for relocation. Lombardo has been a strong proponent of the plan, so there was never any doubt he’d sign after the bill was passed by the Nevada legislature earlier in the week.
“I’m excited to officially sign SB1 this afternoon,” Lombardo said in a statement. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring the A’s to Nevada, and this legislation reflects months of negotiations between the team, the state, the county, and the league. Las Vegas’ position as a global sports destination is only growing, and Major League Baseball is another tremendous asset for the city.”
The plan calls for the construction of a 30,000 seat retractable roof facility on the Vegas Strip. The A’s will receive $180MM in state tax credits which they’re allowed to sell to other businesses for cash, around $120MM in county-issued bonds, and a $25MM county credit. According to the Nevada Independent, the A’s will still need to hammer out various contracts with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority to codify the organization’s community benefits and non-relocation commitments. They’ll also still need approval from the FAA since the stadium site is within close proximity to Harry Reid International Airport.
None of that is expected to present real obstacles to relocation, which now seems all but inevitable. The next step for the A’s is to put their proposal in front of MLB officials. Commissioner Rob Manfred has already stated he’d waive the organization’s relocation fee.
Manfred addressed the process at the end of this week’s owners meetings in New York (relayed by Evan Drellich of the Athletic). The league is expected to put together a relocation committee to review the A’s proposal once it’s filed. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link) the committee will be chaired by Brewers’ owner Mark Attansasio, who’ll be joined by two yet to be determined owners.
The commissioner declined to put a timetable on a potential relocation vote. Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggested this week a vote was likely to occur before the All-Star Break. If/when the league approves, the A’s can set in motion their construction efforts.
The A’s lease at Oakland Coliseum runs through the end of the 2024 season. Reports have suggested the A’s are targeting 2028 for the opening of the Vegas facility. A’s president Dave Kaval said in April the franchise hadn’t yet decided on its plans for the 2025-27 campaigns.
Kaval suggested the organization could look into a temporary lease extension at the Coliseum to bridge that gap, though the animosity between the franchise and Oakland leadership makes that appear unlikely. The A’s Triple-A affiliate, the Aviators, play in Las Vegas and could temporarily host the major league club. Manfred said today there’s been no final decision as to whether the A’s could attempt to get out of their lease early and play at the Triple-A ballpark as soon as next season.
Nevada Senate, Assembly Approve A’s Stadium Plan
JUNE 14, 8:02pm: The Senate has concurred with the Assembly’s amendments, tweets Howard Stutz of the Nevada Independent. The bill is officially headed to Lombardo’s desk for ratification.
JUNE 14, 7:19pm: The State Assembly passed the proposal by a 25-15 vote after making a few minor amendments, Mueller relays (Twitter link). Those changes will have to be agreed upon by the State Senate, though that’s not expected to be an issue.
If/when the Senate concurs with the Assembly’s amendments, the bill can officially go to Lombardo for ratification. At that point, the A’s will be able to formally ask MLB for approval to relocate.
JUNE 13: On Tuesday afternoon, the Nevada State Senate voted 13-8 in favor of the A’s proposal for roughly $380MM in public funding to construct a stadium in Las Vegas. Jacob Solis, Sean Golonka and Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent were among those to cover the news.
It’s a notable hurdle cleared for A’s ownership. The bill will be put in front of the state assembly tomorrow afternoon. If approved by the assembly, it’d go to Governor Joe Lombardo’s office for ratification. Lombardo has been a strong supporter of the legislation and would be expected to ratify. At that point, the A’s could formally apply MLB for relocation.
MLB’s owners are conducting a quarterly meeting in New York this week. However, the A’s stadium situation has not been put on the docket. Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that no vote on relocation is likely to take place this week even if the bill clears the assembly and governor’s office within the next few days. Nightengale notes that such a vote would likely take place before next month’s All-Star Break, though.
There’s little question about the A’s finding support from Lombardo or MLB. Commissioner Rob Manfred has publicly backed the franchise’s efforts, agreeing to waive the relocation fee to facilitate the move. (As Joe Garofoli and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle write, a pair of Bay Area representatives announced the introduction of a bill this morning that would require a departing franchise to pay a decade’s worth of local and state taxes to their former location. However, there’s little expectation of that measure gaining legitimate traction in Congress.)
Assuming the A’s get approval from the Nevada assembly, it’s highly likely their relocation plan will be successful. Their efforts had slowed in the past few weeks, as their push for public funding hit an initial snag in the state senate. As Golonka, Mueller and Solis wrote this morning, the bill’s proponents made some alterations to the franchise’s community benefits agreement that evidently tipped enough voters in favor of the proposal.
Lance McCullers Jr. Undergoes Season-Ending Flexor Tendon Surgery
4:16PM: Brown spoke with reporters (including Danielle Lerner) today about McCullers’ injury, and didn’t give any more specifics on when in 2024 McCullers could return. The right-hander will begin throwing in November.
2:53PM: The Astros announced that Lance McCullers Jr. underwent forearm surgery on Tuesday, which will end the right-hander’s 2023 season. The procedure removed a bone spur and, more significantly, repaired McCullers’ damaged right flexor tendon.
McCullers has been rehabbing a muscle strain suffered early in Spring Training. Houston GM Dana Brown said last month that the team was looking at the All-Star break as a very rough estimate for when McCullers would be fully ready to return, but in the interim, McCullers suffered a pair of setbacks — he went from mound work to throwing off of flat ground, and was then shut down altogether due to continued soreness in his right arm. A subsequent MRI presumably revealed the flexor tendon damage, and thus McCullers will now close the books on his 2023 campaign without a single pitch thrown.
As Brown explained in a team press release, “each time [McCullers] built himself up to an increased pitch total off the mound, the pain would come back. It’s unfortunate, but we look forward to him being back on the mound next season.” Perhaps noteworthy is the fact that Brown and the release’s initial paragraph didn’t specify when McCullers could be back in 2024, which would seemingly hint that the righty won’t be ready for the start of Spring Training.
This will mark the second lost season for McCullers in the last five years, as he also missed all of the 2019 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. A flexor tendon strain suffered during the 2021 playoffs also limited McCullers to 47 2/3 innings last season, though he did return in time to make some starts down the stretch and throughout the postseason during the Astros’ World Series championship run. The press release noted that the Spring Training injury represented a re-aggravation of that same 2021 injury, so hopefully the surgery will finally correct the issue that has plagued McCullers for the better part of two years.
Between McCullers’ procedure and Luis Garcia‘s Tommy John surgery, the Astros have lost two members of their projected starting five to season-ending injuries. Jose Urquidy has also been on the 15-day IL since the start of May due to shoulder inflammation, and while an MRI came back clean, Urquidy isn’t expected back until perhaps the All-Star break. (On the plus side, Urquidy did tell Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle that he is hoping to throw a bullpen session in about a week’s time.) If these injuries weren’t enough, former top prospect Forrest Whitley might also miss the rest of the season due to a lat strain.
Somewhat remarkably, Houston’s makeshift group of starters has still been one of the better rotations in baseball, in the latest testament to the organization’s minor league depth. Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier have led the way as more experienced arms, but rookies Hunter Brown and J.P. France and swingman Brandon Bielak have all pitched well. The latest edition of the MLBTR Podcast addressed what the Astros might do at the deadline in regards to adding starting pitching, including whether or not they might prioritize hitting over pitching in the wake of Yordan Alvarez‘s oblique strain.
Between McCullers’ abbreviated 2022 season and now his lost 2023 season, it has been an unwelcome start to the five-year, $85MM extension the right-hander inked in March 2021. McCullers is still owed $51MM between 2024-26, and if he is able to put his flexor problems behind him, there is plenty of time to better make good on the Astros’ investment. Of course, it is also yet to be seen exactly how much of the 2024 season McCullers could miss, or whether or not he’ll be able to fully stay healthy given all the accumulated wear and tear on his arm in recent years.
Mitch Haniger To Undergo Forearm Surgery
TODAY: The Giants announced that Haniger will undergo forearm surgery tomorrow, and a more specific timeline on his recovery will be provided on Friday. Davis will miss the next 3-10 days with a Grade 1 ankle sprain, so while an IL stint will be necessary, the infielder looks to have avoided a more serious issue.
JUNE 13: Giants outfielder Mitch Haniger fractured his right forearm during tonight’s game against the Cardinals, the club informed reporters (including Maria Guardado of MLB.com). Third baseman J.D. Davis was also diagnosed with a right ankle sprain.
Haniger was hit by a Jack Flaherty pitch on a check swing in the third inning. He immediately departed with Blake Sabol taking his spot in left field. Unfortunately, x-rays quickly revealed the fracture, which is sure to result in another lengthy stint on the injured list.
It’s horrible luck for the veteran outfielder. Haniger has had plenty of injury concerns over his career, including some fluke issues that have kept him out for extended runs. A 2019 testicular rupture sustained when he fouled a ball off himself ended up necessitating multiple core surgeries that cost him all of 2020. He returned for a full season in 2021 but missed a large chunk of last year with a high ankle sprain in his right leg.
The Giants rolled the dice on Haniger’s power upside despite his injury history. San Francisco inked him to a three-year, $43.5MM free agent guarantee with a post-2024 opt-out clause. The first season of the deal hasn’t gone as planned. Haniger opened the year on the IL after suffering a Spring Training oblique strain. He returned in late April but started slowly, hitting .230/.281/.372 over 160 trips to the plate with his new club.
Haniger is now headed back to the IL, leaving the Giants with a gap to plug in the outfield. While they could turn to Sabol or Austin Slater more frequently alongside Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski, it seems they’re considering bringing up one of their top prospects instead. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted (on Twitter), Luis Matos was pulled from tonight’s game with Triple-A Sacramento. The 21-year-old outfielder, who’s already on the Giants’ 40-man roster, is hitting .348/.415/.548 between the top two minor league levels.
Haniger’s injury isn’t the only concern from tonight’s game for San Francisco. Davis sprained his ankle while sliding into third base. He attempted to walk the injury off but moved rather gingerly and was taken out of the game. Casey Schmitt came in to replace him at the hot corner.
Davis has been one of San Francisco’s best hitters. The righty-swinging infielder is sitting on a .286/.369/.476 line with nine homers and a robust 10.9% walk rate through 245 plate appearances. If the injury sends him to the IL, Schmitt figures to take over third base. The rookie cooled offensively after a blistering start and owns a .276/.286/.405 slash over his first 32 MLB games. He’s walked just once in 119 plate appearances. Schmitt is making contact and regarded as a plus defensive third baseman, though, so he’d be a high-upside fill-in.
Vinnie Pasquantino To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
The Royals announced Wednesday that first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will require surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He’s expected to miss the remainder of the 2023 season. “It’s tough,” Pasquantino told the Royals’ beat after the announcement (Twitter link via Anne Rogers of MLB.com). “But this is something where we can just go ahead and attack this now and be better come 2024.”
It’s an awful development for an already last-place Royals club that has won the fewest games in baseball (18) and has the sport’s second-worst run differential (-104). The 25-year-old Pasquantino has proven to be an 11th-round steal in the 2019 draft, mashing his way to top prospect status before making his MLB debut in 2022. Dating back to last year, he’s played in 133 games and tallied 558 plate appearances for the Royals, batting .272/.355/.444 with 19 homers and 27 doubles.
Through the season’s first two months, Pasquantino boasted a .267/.343/.471 slash, but when the calendar flipped to June his bat evaporated. The lefty had just one hit in 23 June plate appearances. Given that there wasn’t one specific play on which the injury is known to have occurred, it’s certainly possible that it was impacting him throughout that cold streak before he ultimately landed on the injured list.
With Pasquantino on the injured list, fellow homegrown first baseman Nick Pratto will likely be given the everyday reins at first base. Kansas City had already been getting Pratto’s promising bat in the lineup as often as possible, giving him DH and corner outfield work to maximize his exposure to big league pitching. The results have been good, with the former No. 14 overall draft pick batting .281/.367/.425 in 169 plate appearances. Pratto, however, is also punching out at an untenable 34.3% rate and currently boasts a sky-high .430 BABIP. There’s likely some regression in store, particularly if he can’t cut back on that alarming strikeout rate.
Pasquantino has been one of the Royals’ only good hitters so far in 2023. He, Pratto, Salvador Perez, utilityman Matt Duffy and outfielder Edward Olivares are the only Kansas City hitters with even average offensive output, by measure of wRC+. The Royals currently sit 26th in MLB in team batting average (.230), 26th in slugging percentage (.378), 28th in runs scored (251) and 30th in on-base percentage (.293). Subtracting Pasquantino from an already inept offense is a gut punch. The Royals likely didn’t have any delusions about their standing at the trade deadline, but losing their promising young first baseman for the season only further solidifies them as a surefire seller.
Pasquantino will eventually be placed on the 60-day injured list whenever the Royals need to open a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll continue to accrue Major League pay and service time while rehabbing, and he’ll finish out the 2023 season with exactly two years of MLB service time. That’ll keep him on track for arbitration eligibility following the 2024 season and free agency following 2027 season. An extension or a future optional assignment to the minors could change that outlook, of course.
Yordan Alvarez Out At Least Four Weeks
Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is likely to miss at least four weeks of action with his current oblique strain, general manager Dana Brown said in this morning’s appearance on the Sean Salisbury Show on SportsTalk 790 AM (audio link).
“It’s going to take at least two weeks for us to get a feel for how it’s healing,” said Brown. “You take those two weeks and then another week to figure out when he starts to have some activity, and OK, how’s his body responding? That’s three weeks right there. You’re looking at, once he’s starting to swing a bat, maybe it’s four weeks or so.”
Brown went on to note that the Astros will be cautious with Alvarez’s return, as they want to avoid a scenario where he rushes back and quickly requires another IL stint and an additional four weeks away from the lineup. Brown declined to put a specific timeline on the return, noting that the team won’t know exactly how quickly Alvarez can return until they see how his body responds to the current shutdown.
There’s no replacing a hitter of Alvarez’s caliber in any team’s lineup. The 25-year-old slugger is on the short list of MLB’s best hitters, batting .277/.388/.589 with 17 home runs this season and .293/.384/.590 with 115 home runs in just 1779 career plate appearances (an average of nearly 44 homers per 162 games played). The Astros currently rank 15th in the Majors both in runs scored (304) and in home runs (76). They’re hitting .246/.316/.401 as a team.
Brown also indicated that Michael Brantley is running, throwing and hitting without any pain at the moment. The 36-year-old veteran can’t replicate Alvarez’s production but could help soften the blow if he’s able to return from the injured list before Alvarez. Brantley hasn’t suited up for the Astros yet in 2023 as he continues to rehab from last year’s shoulder surgery, but he hit .288/.370/.416 with Houston last year and is a .306/.368/.464 hitter in his four prior seasons with the team.
Marlins Keeping An Eye On Catching Market
The Marlins have been monitoring the market for catching help with the trade deadline now under two months away, per Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. With the team currently sitting seven games above .500 — currently in possession of an NL Wild Card spot and just 3.5 games back of the division-leading Braves — they’re positioned to head into the 2023 deadline as a potential buyer.
Certainly, that stance could change in the coming weeks, depending on whether the team can sustain its hot start to the season. However, even if the Marlins approached the deadline from a seller’s standpoint, finding some long-term help behind the dish could still be a focus. The catcher position has been an area of need in Miami ever since J.T. Realmuto was traded. The team originally hoped that Jorge Alfaro, acquired in that Realmuto swap, could take the reins are the catcher of the future. That didn’t prove true, and a subsequent trade for defensive standout Jacob Stallings has proven similarly unsuccessful.
Stallings, 33, saw his vaunted defensive ratings plummet in his first year with Miami last season. They’ve rebounded to an extent so far in 2023, but the former Pirates backstop has seen his offensive production bottom out at career-worst levels. Stallings is hitting just .161/.238/.226 this season, and since Miami acquired him in the 2021-22 offseason he’s managed only a .210/.281/.278 slash. Paired with his surprisingly below-average defensive grades, the 2021 Gold Glove winner has played at a sub-replacement level since donning a Marlins jersey.
In light of this season’s struggles, Stallings has begun to cede playing time to 26-year-old Nick Fortes. While Fortes isn’t an offensive force himself, his .231/.280/.328 batting line outpaces what Stallings has been able to muster so far in 2023, and Fortes has drawn superior grades for his pitch blocking and pitch framing. Fortes, in fact, leads all big league catchers in Statcast’s new pitch blocking metric. (Stallings has been above-average as well.) Neither catcher has been able to control the running game at all; Fortes has just an 8% caught-stealing rate on the season, while Stallings is only marginally better at 12%. Stolen base success rate is up in general throughout the league with this year’s new rules, but the Fortes/Stallings tandem has allowed the sixth-most steals in MLB (63) and is tied for the fewest runners caught (seven).
Unfortunately for the Marlins — as is often the case, given the scarcity at the position — there doesn’t appear to be a particularly robust catching market on the horizon this summer. Veteran rentals like Yasmani Grandal and Tucker Barnhart (whose two-year deal has a 2024 player option) could become available, but neither is necessarily a major difference maker. Grandal is enjoying a somewhat resurgent .263/.328/.406 performance at the plate, but he’s earning $18.25MM this year and has the worst pop-time of any catcher in baseball (with a 15.5% caught-stealing rate himself). Barnhart hasn’t hit any better than Stallings has.
It’s feasible that some other veterans could hit the market once their respective clubs take a look at top prospects. The Guardians have Bo Naylor largely ready for a big league look but continue dedicating playing time to Mike Zunino. The Pirates have top prospects Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis both in Triple-A, and either could unseat Austin Hedges in the Majors before terribly long. However, neither Hedges nor Zunino would give the Fish a meaningful offensive upgrade.
As far as some potentially more controllable options go, the Marlins could look to some yet-unproven backstops around the league. Ivan Herrera, once the ostensible successor to Yadier Molina in St. Louis, is now blocked by Willson Contreras but remains a top-100 prospect with everyday catching upside. The Giants recently optioned Joey Bart and will continue taking a look at Patrick Bailey as their primary catcher, perhaps setting Bart up for a potential change-of-scenery swap. Of course, learning a new staff on the fly midseason is a challenge, and that’s even more true for a young catcher who’s also trying to establish himself as a viable big leaguer — perhaps even in the midst of a playoff race.
Some Marlins fans might’ve gotten their hopes up for a potential run at Salvador Perez when his name recently popped up in a few rumors, but Kansas City general manager J.J. Picollo publicly stated yesterday that he has no intention of trading Perez (who has full veto power over any possible deals anyhow, as a player with 10-and-5 rights). The Mets looked into trades of Tomas Nido before passing him through outright waivers, but he’s another veteran option who’s no guarantee to be an offensive upgrade over the current in-house tandem. The last-place Rockies could speculatively look to sell high on Elias Diaz‘s solid start, but he’s a volatile performer on a year-to-year basis and the Rox tend to avoid selling off veterans even in losing seasons.
Miami figures to be just one of several teams poking around a limited catching market. Hopeful contenders in Cleveland, Houston and San Diego have also gotten negligible output from their catchers, and injury troubles elsewhere in the league could create other motivated buyers between now and Aug. 1. There aren’t likely to be too many plausible upgrade options on the market, leaving the Fish and other interested teams to get creative as they aim to address the need.
MLB Considering Limitations On Teams’ Off-Field Spending
Major League Baseball officials have discussed the possibility of capping teams’ spending in off-field areas such as technology, player development and scouting, report Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. MLB’s owners and league officials are convened in New York this week for a quarterly meeting, though they haven’t announced any changes to this point.
A league official downplayed the possibility of staff restrictions, telling Drellich and Rosenthal that MLB’s focus is on technology. “There is nothing happening on (the staffing) front,” the spokesperson told The Athletic. “What we are focused on is gathering information on vendor costs to find potential cost savings through efficiencies and to ensure equal access to all technology.”
Nevertheless, Drellich and Rosenthal hear that some high-ranking league personnel have indeed kicked around the idea of limits on spending for non-playing staff. That’d be a divisive provision that could impact job security for front office members were it to gain traction.
MLB could frame such a limitation as a competitive balance measure. Smaller-market clubs could argue that revenue disparities among organizations affords larger-market franchises more leeway in bolstering areas such as scouting, analytics and player development — all of which should have trickle-down effects in the on-field results. Limiting spending on non-playing personnel, one could argue, would prevent higher-revenue franchises from leveraging their financial might to gain those advantages.
However, there’s a reasonable case that capping non-playing spending actually reduces the ability for lower-revenue clubs to compete with bigger-payroll rivals. Investment in front office and player development staff generally costs a fraction of teams’ spending on players. For some smaller-market owners, unrestricted spending on non-playing talent can be a means of limiting the advantage for higher-revenue franchises with more leeway on player payroll.
A potential provision that’d force teams to cut costs in non-playing capacities is surely appealing to some on the league side. Each collective bargaining negotiation brings some chatter about MLB potentially pursuing a salary cap. The Players Association has steadfastly refused to entertain that, though. That’s not likely to make it out of collective bargaining anytime soon, but the MLBPA doesn’t represent an obstacle for the league in limiting non-player spending.
Most front office personnel aren’t unionized. As Rosenthal and Drellich point out, the Congressional antitrust exemption for MLB would likely be the basis for a potential limit on front office staff. Whether the league would consider possible litigation, increased scrutiny regarding the exemption, and/or adding an incentive for non-playing personnel to consider unionization efforts of their own — R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports examined that possibility in depth last month in a piece that’s worth a read for those interested in the topic — remains to be seen.