Rays Promote Taj Bradley, Place Zach Eflin On IL
The Rays have placed right-hander Zach Eflin on the 15-day injured list due to back tightness, per broadcaster Neil Solondz. Pitching prospect Taj Bradley has been recalled to take his place and will make his major league debut on Wednesday. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times previously reported that these moves were imminent. Eflin’s IL placement is backdated to April 8, per Topkin.
Bradley, 22, was selected by the club in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. Since that time, he has continued to impress on the farm, moving up the minor league ladder and prospect lists. He pitched in Rookie Ball in 2018 and 2019, but then saw the minor leagues canceled by the pandemic in 2020. He split the following season between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, throwing 103 1/3 innings with a 1.83 ERA, 31% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. Last year, he went through Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 133 1/3 frames with a 2.57 ERA, striking out 26.5% of batters faced while walking just 6.2%.
Bradley is currently considered the #42 prospect in the game by Baseball America, #18 by MLB Pipeline, #60 by ESPN, #52 by Keith Law of The Athletic and #37 by FanGraphs. He was eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December but the Rays made the easy decision to add him to their 40-man roster to prevent him from being selected. That means he already has a roster spot but he’ll be making his MLB debut tomorrow.
The Rays are off to an incredible 10-0 start here this season, with their pitching playing a large role in that. They’ve only allowed 18 runs in those 10 games, easily the fewest in baseball with the Brewers next on the list at 26. Tampa’s schedule has been on the weaker side thus far, with their first nine games coming against the Tigers, Nationals and A’s, three of the worst teams last year. Nonetheless, they’ve gotten great results from their rotation, even with Shane Baz recovering from Tommy John surgery and Tyler Glasnow on the IL with an oblique strain. Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen and Eflin have all been great so far this season. Josh Fleming got roughed up in his first start but tossed four scoreless innings behind an opener in his second appearance.
Bradley will now check into that group for Eflin, at least for the time being. Solondz relays that manager Kevin Cash and Eflin both expect the latter to have a minimal stay on the IL, which would mean he’d only miss a couple of starts. The righty hasn’t exactly been a paragon of health in his career, as recurring knee issues have limited his workload over the years. He’s only once thrown 130 innings in a season, which was the 163 1/3 frames he tossed in 2019. He tells Topkin that he’s dealt with this back issue in the past and isn’t too concerned.
If those expectations come to pass and Eflin returns in a couple weeks, then it’s possible Bradley gets sent back down to Triple-A. That will likely depend on his performance, as well as that of Fleming and the health of the entire crew. There’s also the return of Glasnow on the horizon, which seems to potentially be slated for mid-May.
If it ends up coming to pass that Bradley sticks with the big league club for the rest of the season, he will be able to earn a full year of service time, just barely. A major league season is 187 days long but a player needs only to spend 172 of those in the majors, or on the injured list, in order to earn a full “year” of service time. Bradley has missed 12 days of the season thus far, giving him just enough time to creep over the one-year line, though getting optioned later in the year will obviously impact that trajectory.
In the event he does get that full year, he will be eligible for the prospect promotion incentive. As part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement, if a player has less than 60 days of service time and is on two out of the three top 100 prospects lists from Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline then earns a full year of service as a rookie, they become PPI eligible. If they then win Rookie of the Year or finish in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting before reaching their arbitration years, they can net their club an extra draft pick. This already happened once when Julio Rodríguez won American League Rookie of the Year last year, getting the Mariners an extra draft pick after the first round. Bradley is on all three of those prospect lists and is therefore in the mix for earning PPI eligibility this year.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Ian Anderson To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
11:02am: Anderson will indeed undergo Tommy John surgery, Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN report (via Twitter). He’ll miss the remainder of the 2023 season.
Because Anderson was diagnosed with the injury after being optioned and making a start with Gwinnett, he’ll presumably head to the minor league injured list for now. However, if the Braves need to open a 40-man roster spot at any point, he can be recalled from Gwinnett and placed on the Major League 60-day IL.
That move, however, would entitle Anderson to big league service time. He started the year with two years and 46 days of MLB service, so if he spends 126 days or more on the MLB injured list, he’ll surpass three years of Major League service time, pushing up his path to free agency. If he spends fewer than 126 days on the big league injured list, he’d remain under club control for an additional four seasons.
10:56am: The Braves placed Ian Anderson on the minor league injured list due to an elbow issue last week, and while the team hasn’t formally announced a diagnosis or treatment plan, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that Tommy John surgery is a possibility for the right-hander. That’d of course point to a ligament issue for Anderson, though the extent and placement of any damage would impact the eventual course of treatment.
Regardless of the outcome, if surgery is indeed a consideration, that’s indicative of an absence of note for Anderson, a former No. 3 overall pick (2016) and Rookie of the Year candidate who has fallen out of Atlanta’s rotation picture in the wake of some 2022 struggles. Anderson, still just 24 years old, broke out with a combined 3.25 ERA in 160 2/3 innings between the 2020-21 seasons, grabbing hold of a rotation spot in Atlanta and staking a claim to a long-term place on the starting staff.
The 2022 season, however, marked a step back in just about every facet of Anderson’s game. The righty was tagged for an unsightly 5.00 ERA in 111 2/3 innings as his fastball velocity, strikeout rate, walk rate, ground-ball rate, exit velocity and hard-hit rate all trended in unfavorable directions. Anderson was also tagged for 13 earned runs in 21 2/3 Triple-A innings last season, and he followed a rocky 2023 spring training (five earned runs on five hits and eight walks in 7 1/3 innings) with a disastrous first outing with Triple-A Gwinnett. In his lone appearance of the 2023 season there, Anderson faced nine batters and yielded three home runs and two walks while also being charged with a pair of wild pitches.
If Anderson indeed needs surgery — be Tommy John surgery, an internal brace or any other type of elbow procedure — that’ll provide the Braves with a notable blow to their rotation depth. Atlanta has been without Kyle Wright thus far, though he’s slated to make his season debut today. Ace Max Fried is currently on the injured list owing to a hamstring strain. Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider have two starting spots spoken for, and Bryce Elder has delivered a pair of strong outings as well. Rookie southpaws Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd have both been hit hard in their MLB debuts (two starts apiece).
As things stand, the Braves can hope for a swift return from Fried, which would set the stage for a rotation of him, Strider, Wright, Morton and Elder, with Shuster and Dodd continuing to develop in Gwinnett. Oft-injured righty Michael Soroka is also hoping for a big league return and is in the Gwinnett rotation, but he’s building up his pitch count presently and threw just 38 innings between the minors and big leagues combined from 2020-22. Soroka is on the mound this morning and has already tossed two innings for Gwinnett as of this writing, but it remains to be seen when he’ll be considered for the Major League staff.
Adam Duvall Diagnosed With Fractured Wrist, Will Not Require Surgery
Red Sox center fielder Adam Duvall has been diagnosed with a distal radius fracture in his left wrist, manager Alex Cora announced to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Ian Browne of MLB.com). He’ll be placed on the 10-day injured list for now, with the expectation that he’ll miss several weeks of action. The team does not yet have an exact timetable for his expected recovery, though Cora told reporters that Duvall will not require surgery (via Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). Infielder Bobby Dalbec is up from Triple-A Worcester in place of Duvall, and utilityman Rob Refsnyder started tonight’s game in center field.
Duvall exited yesterday’s game after making a diving play in the outfield, appearing to injure the same left wrist on which he had season-ending surgery a year ago. He’s been not only the Red Sox’ hottest hitter but one of the hottest bats in all of baseball, opening the season with a .455/.514/1.030 batting line and four home runs in 37 trips to the plate.
While no one can be expected to continue on at that pace — Duvall is a career .233/.292/.472 hitter — there were still some encouraging gains in this season’s early showing. Duvall’s 25.6% chase rate on pitches of the plate is the lowest of his career and an improvement by 10 percentage points over his career mark, and his 85.5% contact rate dwarfs his career mark of 74.2%. Unsurprisingly, given the early improvements in his approach, Duvall’s 13.5% strikeout rate is less than half his career 28.3% mark.
With Duvall sidelined, it’ll likely fall to Refsnyder and Raimel Tapia to man things in center field. Refsnyder will get the first crack at that tonight, with the Sox facing left-hander Jalen Beeks in tonight’s date with the undefeated Rays. Moving forward, it’s reasonable to expect the left-handed-hitting Tapia to get the majority of looks on the larger half of what looks like a conventional platoon. If the Sox want to shift Enrique Hernandez from the infield back to the outfield, he’d be another option in center.
The injury is tough for Duvall not only because it’ll derail his hot start but also due to the nature of his contract. Duvall is a free agent after the season, having inked a one-year, $7MM contract over the winter and was hoping for a healthy, productive campaign to line him up for a multi-year deal next winter. His contract also contains up to $3MM worth of incentives based on plate appearances. Duvall earns $500K bonuses for reaching each of 350, 400, 450 and 500 plate appearances, as well as a $1MM bonus upon reaching 550 trips to the plate. Duvall’s broken wrist all but assures that he won’t reach the very top end of that bonus structure, though depending on how quickly he’s able to return, he could still have a chance to reach those first couple milestones.
Jake Odorizzi To Miss 2023 Season Due To Shoulder Procedure
Rangers right-hander Jake Odorizzi underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his shoulder and will miss the entire 2023 season, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
Needless to say, this is an awful development for both Odorizzi and the club. The Rangers went into the offseason looking to upgrade a rotation that posted a 4.63 ERA last year, which placed them 25th out of the 30 clubs in the league. They were also set to lose Martín Pérez, their most effective starter last year, to free agency. By the end of the offseason, they had re-signed Pérez, traded for Odorizzi and signed free agents Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney. Those five, along with incumbent Jon Gray, totally overhauled the rotation and allowed them to go into spring with six established big league starters.
Though that’s a strong group on paper, there were also injury concerns sprinkled throughout it, with Odorizzi being no exception. Though he made at least 28 starts in each season from 2014 to 2019, the last few years have seen a few health issues creep in. He only made four starts in 2020, going on the injured list due to an intercostal strain, chest contusion and right middle finger blister. In 2021, a right pronator muscle strain and right foot soreness each resulted in IL stints, limiting him to 104 2/3 innings. Last year, lower left leg discomfort kept him out of action about six weeks and he tallied just 106 1/3 innings.
Nonetheless, Odorizzi seemed like a solid pickup for the Rangers. Amid all those injuries, he still posted ERAs of 4.21 in 2021 and 4.40 last year. He also didn’t cost much, as Atlanta agreed to cover $10MM of his $12.5MM salary as part of the trade. The only piece the Rangers sent the other way was Kolby Allard, who had struggled to a 6.07 ERA in his big league career thus far.
Unfortunately, the Rangers will ultimately get nothing out of the deal, as Odorizzi will become a free agent after this lost season. He was slowed in camp by some arm fatigue and general manager Chris Young recently gave a vaguely ominous update that Odorizzi would likely be out “longer than shorter,” which was followed by the righty getting placed on the 60-day injured list for Opening Day. That ruled him out for the first couple of months of the season but this news now means he will miss his entire age-33 campaign.
Going into 2021, Odorizzi was signed by the Astros to a two-year, $23.5MM deal. That contract came with a $6.5MM player option for 2023 that had a $3.25MM buyout, though those two figures would jump to $12.5MM and $6.25MM if Odorizzi made 30 appearances over 2021 and 2022. He ended up making 46, easily pushing those numbers up. In August of last year, the Astros flipped Odorizzi to Atlanta for left-hander Will Smith. At season’s end, Odorizzi triggered that player option before getting flipped to Texas.
The Rangers still have that strong front five in deGrom, Eovaldi, Heaney, Pérez and Gray, but they will now proceed without their planned #6 starter. Right-hander Dane Dunning and left-hander Cole Ragans are probably the club’s top depth options now, though both are working in the big league bullpen in the early parts of this season.
Aaron Ashby To Undergo Arthroscopic Shoulder Surgery
Brewers left-hander Aaron Ashby will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder this week, manager Craig Counsell told reporters after this afternoon’s win over the Mets (relayed by Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Ashby will be out for “significant time,” in the words of the skipper, and might not return at all in 2023.
It’s a brutal development for one of the sport’s more promising young starters. Ashby, a fairly recent top prospect, threw 139 innings between 2021-22. The former fourth-rounder has only managed a 4.47 ERA but posted more intriguing underlying numbers. He’s punched out an above-average 27.1% of batters faced while keeping the ball on the ground on a huge 57.8% of batted balls. That rare combination of strikeouts and grounders led Milwaukee’s front office to invest in Ashby last summer.
The Brewers guaranteed him $20.5MM through 2027 on a deal that contained club options through ’29. While it’s still possible for that relatively modest deal to pan out, Ashby hasn’t been able to contribute because of shoulder issues. He made just three starts after the extension before landing on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. That ended his 2022 campaign early. The problems unfortunately cropped back up this spring, as he was diagnosed with a small labral tear in mid-February.
Ashby and the club initially downplayed the long-term severity of the injury. He was expected to miss the first six weeks of the season but his timeline now gets pushed back by another setback. The team hasn’t indicated whether Ashby suffered a more severe injury or if the initial issue simply hasn’t progressed as expected.
The Brewers will be able to transfer Ashby from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list whenever they have a need for a 40-man roster spot. Milwaukee still has a strong front five of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Eric Lauer and Wade Miley. Depth options Ashby, Jason Alexander and Adrian Houser are all on the IL, though, leaving Milwaukee fairly thin behind their top group.
It’s an obviously suboptimal development early in the season and at least raises some question about Ashby’s ability to cement himself in the rotation over the longer term. Miley is only guaranteed to be around this year, while Burnes and Woodruff are on track for free agency after the 2024 season. There’s surely still hope Ashby can join Peralta as longer-term impact starters but he’s now in danger of missing his entire age-25 campaign.
Orioles Expected To Promote Grayson Rodriguez
The Orioles may soon bring up one of the sport’s top pitching prospects. Grayson Rodriguez will join the team in Texas tomorrow and is under consideration to start their game against the Rangers. Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters after tonight’s game that Baltimore hasn’t yet named their starter for tomorrow (relayed by Dan Connolly of the Athletic). That’s not to say it won’t be Rodriguez, who is still expected to join the MLB team in Arlington, but that doesn’t seem official as of now.
Rodriguez, 23, competed for a spot in the club’s Opening Day rotation but struggled to a 7.04 ERA in 15 1/3 innings of work during camp, prompting the club to option him to Triple-A. However, right-hander Kyle Bradish left his start yesterday with a foot contusion in the second inning. That pushed Tyler Wells to pitch five innings in relief of Bradish rather than make his scheduled start tonight. With Kyle Gibson moving up to take the ball tonight in place of Wells, that left no one to start tomorrow’s game against Texas.
It appears Rodriguez will make that start. As Dan Connolly of the Athletic points out (on Twitter), recalling a pitcher who had been optioned within the past 15 days would require a corresponding injured list transaction. That’ll presumably result in Bradish landing on the 15-day IL, though Baltimore hasn’t finalized that decision yet. According to Connolly, Austin Voth would be the likeliest option to take the ball if Bradish doesn’t go on the IL.
Assuming Rodriguez is tabbed for the start, it’ll be his MLB debut. Once a consensus top five prospect in the sport, Rodriguez struggled with a lat strain for much of the 2022 season. That caused him to slip slightly down some prospect rankings, though he remains a top 20 prospect in the eyes of virtually every prospecting service, with a career 2.49 ERA in the minor leagues supported by an eye-popping 35.9% strikeout rate.
Evaluators credit Rodriguez with one of the best arsenals in minor league baseball. Baseball America gives him above-average or better grades for four pitches, highlighted by plus-plus reviews of his fastball and slider. Keith Law of the Athletic and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, by contrast, each pointed to his changeup as the headlining pitch in his arsenal.
While a few days of the season have already elapsed, there’s still enough time for Rodriguez to reach a full service year in 2023. Players are credited with a full year so long as they’re on a roster for 172 days. If Rodriguez is in the majors from here on out, he’d hit that mark. Accruing a full service year would put him on track to first reach arbitration after the 2025 season and qualify for free agency for the first time over the 2028-29 offseason.
The timing of the promotion may also be significant for the Orioles. Rodriguez is a consensus top prospect, appearing on Top 100 lists at all three of Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN. Teams that carry prospects who appear on at least two of those three lists for a full service year could recoup draft compensation as part of the collective bargaining agreement’s prospect promotion incentive. If Rodriguez logs a complete service year, the O’s would receive an extra pick in the amateur draft if he wins Rookie of the Year in 2023 or secures a top three finish in Cy Young or MVP balloting between 2023-25. Julio Rodriguez is the only player to net his team compensation under that provision so far, doing so as a result of his Rookie of the Year win in 2022.
Rodriguez is already on the 40-man roster, so the club won’t have to make a 40-man transaction. He has a full slate of minor league option years remaining, so it’s possible the O’s send him back to Triple-A Norfolk at some point if they feel he needs continued development time.
Geoff Pontes of Baseball America first reported Rodriguez was being promoted.
MLB, MLBPA Reach Agreement On Minor League CBA
April 3: The owners voted 30-0 in favor of the CBA and it is now official, per Passan.
March 31: The MLBPA announced that minor league players have ratified their new CBA with a vote of more than 99% in favor. The final step in making the agreement official is owner approval. Drellich tweets that could come as soon as Monday.
March 29: Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have tentatively reached a deal on a five-year collective bargaining agreement covering minor league players, as first reported by Evan Drellich of the Athletic. The deal has been approved by both union leadership and the league office, according to Drellich and Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). Official ratification is still pending approval from the full player body and the league’s ownership groups, though that’s largely a formality.
For the first time, players will be paid outside of the season. Passan notes that payment is nearly year-round, with a six-week gap during the winter. He provides specifics on the agreed upon minimum salaries (on Twitter):
- Complex leagues: $19,800 annually (up from $4,800)
- Low-A: $26,200 (up from $11,000)
- High-A: $27,300 (up from $11,000)
- Double-A: $30,250 (up from $13,800)
- Triple-A: $35,800 (up from $17,500)
Players will be paid during minor league Spring Training, with retroactive payments for this year’s exhibition play. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports the minimum salary is $625 per week for Spring Training work.
According to Drellich, the deal will contain medical and pension provisions and a 401(k) plan for players, as well as grievance procedures with the possibility of hearings in front of neutral arbitrators. Drellich also reports that the deal won’t involve the culling of any minor league teams for at least the next five years. However, Passan reports that the Domestic Reserve List — the maximum number of players per organization outside of Latin America during a season — will be reduced from 180 to 165, taking effect in the 2024 season.
Trimming the minor league roster size was a goal of MLB’s during last year’s major league collective bargaining talks; the union rejected the league’s proposals on that front during the lockout, but MLB was able to achieve that to some extent during these talks. The league had wanted the number below 150 players during last year’s negotiations. They don’t get that far under this agreement but have managed to reduce organizational roster sizes a bit.
Drellich reports one notable development for older signees (Twitter link). Players who sign with a club at age 19 or older will now be eligible for minor league free agency after parts of six seasons in the minors if they’re not added to the 40-man roster. Previously, all minor leaguers had to appear in parts of seven seasons before they could qualify for free agency.
That seven-year mark will still be in place for younger signees — primarily high school draftees and international amateurs — but will force teams to make a quicker decision on most players drafted out of college or who signed later than usual in the international market. Notably, that will only apply to players who enter pro ball from here forward; it is not retroactive.
Drellich reports a number of additional details as part of a piece that’s worth reading in full for those interested in the subject. Among the developments: adjustments to the housing program for players, a committee for feedback on rule changes which MLB tests in the minor leagues, and the creation of a joint drug agreement and domestic violence policy.
Minor league players voted to unionize last September. Their bargaining group was under the MLBPA umbrella, setting the stage for the Players Association and MLB to work on the first minor league CBA in history. Voting will be conducted amongst players on Thursday, with the agreement expected to be completed on Friday — the first days of the minor league season.
Games would have gone on even if a CBA hadn’t been agreed upon. The players had no attention of going on strike, nor was the league going to lock them out. Play would have continued under the previous conditions while the sides continued to negotiate. Nevertheless, the appeal of getting a deal done before the season starts is obvious. Players negotiate a significant bump in minimum salaries and other employment benefits. MLB had been backing legislation to exempt minor leaguers from state minimum wage protections in Florida. That’ll presumably no longer be a concern.
Coincidentally, there was a development on the non-CBA front regarding minor league pay earlier on Wednesday. A federal judge approved the $185MM settlement to which the league and a group of players had agreed to settle a class action lawsuit last June, as Drellich reported (Twitter link). Barring any appeals, that settlement can begin to be distributed to players 30 days from now.
Mariners Place Robbie Ray On 15-Day Injured List
5:44PM: Ray suffered a Grade 1 strain, Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). The team’s plan is to shut Ray down for two weeks and then re-evaluate after that period of daily treatment, with a rough timeline of 4-6 weeks until Ray’s eventual return from the IL. Ray told media that he began to develop some flexor pain during the second inning of yesterday’s game.
3:24PM: Left-hander Robbie Ray has been placed on the Mariners’ 15-day injured list due to a left flexor strain. Southpaw Gabe Speier was called up from Triple-A to take Ray’s spot on the active roster.
Ray made his season debut last night and only lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits and five walks. Even with Ray’s history of control issues, the five walks is probably the biggest indicator that something wasn’t quite right with Ray, and he threw 91 pitches over his 3 1/3 frames of work. The Mariners have yet to publicly comment on the severity of Ray’s injury or a possible return timeline, but it would certainly seem like he’ll miss more than the minimum 15 days just out of pure caution in dealing with injuries in the forearm or elbow area.
After Ray won the AL Cy Young Award as a member of the Blue Jays in 2021, Seattle inked him to a five-year, $115MM free agent contract in the following offseason. Ray’s first season as a Mariner wasn’t up to the level of his 2021 performance but it was still solid, as the southpaw posted a 3.71 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, and a slightly below-average 8% walk rate. Ray continued to allow a lot of hard contact, but that has been the norm throughout his MLB career.
Just three days into the 2023 season, the Mariners have already had to deal a notable rotation injury, after getting through 2022 with a remarkable run of health from its starters. While the M’s have four off-days between today and April 25, the construction of their schedule means they will need a fifth starter in Ray’s absence, though Seattle has a very qualified replacement in Chris Flexen. Trade rumors swirled around Flexen (and Marco Gonzales) for much of the offseason, though the Mariners’ decision to hang onto their starting depth is now looking wise in hindsight, especially if Ray is facing any kind of extended absence.
Speier is now set to make his first appearance in a Seattle uniform, after being claimed off waivers from the Royals last November. Speier is also the only left-handed pitcher in a bullpen stacked with right-handed relievers, so Speier’s inclusion will add some balance to the relief mix. A veteran of four MLB seasons, Speier has a 3.83 ERA over 40 career innings with the Royals, appearing in rather sporadic fashion for Kansas City since making his debut in the Show in 2019.
Giants Sign Gary Sanchez To Minor League Deal
April 1: The Giants have announced the signing.
March 31: The Giants have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent catcher Gary Sanchez, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Sanchez will make a salary of $4MM if he cracks the major league team, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The deal is pending a physical. Sanchez, a client of the MDR Sports Management, can opt out of his contract if he’s not in the big leagues by May 1. For now, he’ll head to the team’s spring facility to get some extra work in extended spring training.
Sanchez, 30, spent the 2022 season with the Twins after being traded to Minnesota alongside Gio Urshela in the deal that sent Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt to the Bronx. It was the first season Sanchez had ever spent with another organization, and while his oft-panned defensive ratings improved considerably with the Twins, his bat was nowhere near its peak levels.
In 471 plate appearances with Minnesota, Sanchez slashed .205/.282/.377 with 16 home runs and 24 doubles. His strikeout rate, while down from its peak level, was still a bloated 28.9%. Sanchez’s production against lefties, or lack thereof, was particularly problematic. In 126 plate appearances, he slashed just .165/.270/.284.
Sanchez’s peak seasons in 2016-17 and 2019 feel like a distant memory. Even with a lost 2018 season sandwiched in the middle of those three standout years, he batted a combined .247/.329/.518 over that stretch, averaging 26 homers per season (and 46 homers per 162 games played). In the three years since, he’s turned in a combined .195/.287/.394 batting line.
As previously noted, Sanchez’s glovework did appear to be on the upswing in Minnesota. Twins brass was regularly complementary of the work that he put in, and Defensive Runs Saved went from dinging him at a -10 clip in 2021 to crediting him at +1 in 2022. Sanchez also posted positive pitch-framing grades per both FanGraphs and Statcast, and his 28% caught-stealing rate was a few ticks higher than the league-average 25%. On the whole, it was arguably the best defensive showing of his career.
For the Giants, adding further depth behind the plate is sensible, given the general struggles of former No. 2 overall pick Joey Bart and the lack of clear alternatives behind him. Veteran Roberto Perez opens the season as the other backstop on the big league roster, along with Rule 5 catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol. San Francisco also has veteran Austin Wynns in Triple-A. Sanchez figures to eventually join him.
Bart, now 26 years old, was hailed as one of the sport’s top prospects from the moment he was drafted in 2018, but in parts of three MLB seasons he’s batted .222/.294/.351 with a sky-high 38% strikeout rate. He’s been vastly better in relatively limited Triple-A action, batting .293/.358/.464 in 310 plate appearances, but he’s yet to carry any of that production over to the big leagues.
The 2023 season will be a crucial one for Bart, who’s entering his final minor league option season. The extent to which he’s able to develop will have major long-term ramifications for the organization as a whole. Sanchez gives them another short-term alternative and a possible replacement in the event of an injury, but it’s unlikely he’ll supplant Bart behind the dish anytime soon, as the Giants likely feel they need to give Bart as much opportunity as possible before determining whether a long-term switch is merited.
Padres Sign Jake Cronenworth To Seven-Year Extension
April 1: The Padres have now announced the deal. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that it’ll be an $80MM pact over the seven year term. As previously reported, the deal doesn’t start until 2024 though so it won’t affect the Padres’ luxury tax calculation this year. Dennis Lin of The Athletic adds that it includes a limited, eight-team no trade clause.
March 31: The Padres have reached an agreement with infielder Jake Cronenworth on a seven-year extension, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic. According to Lin, the contract starts with the 2024 season. Lin notes that Cronenworth “has already passed his physical and the deal is expected to be announced on Saturday.” Cronenworth is represented by CAA Sports.
Cronenworth, 29, has proven capable of playing second base, first base, and shortstop in his big league career thus far. Though Cronenworth has by far played second base the most since coming up in 2020, the Padres’ signing of shortstop Xander Bogaerts in December pushes him to first base for 2023. Cronenworth’s new contract runs through 2030, adding further long-term stability to an infield that already has Bogaerts and third baseman Manny Machado signed through 2033. About a month ago, the Padres signed Machado to an extension, as the superstar was otherwise expected to deploy his opt-out clause after ’23.
Cronenworth was drafted by the Rays in the seventh round in 2015 out of the University of Michigan, where he pitched and played infield. In December of 2019, the Rays traded Cronenworth and Tommy Pham to the Padres for Hunter Renfroe, Xavier Edwards, and Esteban Quiroz. After he won the International League batting crown in ’19, Baseball America rated the two-way Cronenworth as a 45-grade prospect. At the time they wrote, “Cronenworth is a heady player who gets the most out of his average tools.”
The Padres asked Cronenworth to hit pause on the pitching idea in 2020, and he made their Opening Day roster in July of that pandemic-shortened season. The left-handed-hitting Cronenworth ended up getting the bulk of the Padres’ innings at second base as a rookie that year, at a time when Eric Hosmer was their first baseman and Fernando Tatis Jr. their shortstop. Cronenworth and Alec Bohm tied for second in the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Devin Williams.
The Padres signed Ha-Seong Kim in December of 2020, and talked at the time about getting Cronenworth some reps in the outfield. That didn’t come to pass, but Cronenworth did spend time in ’21 filling in for Tatis at shortstop. He also earned his first All-Star nod, and posted a 116 wRC+ on the season.
Cronenworth settled in at second base for 2022, making another All-Star team though ultimately slipping a bit to a 109 wRC+. Cronenworth’s solid defense around the infield, above-average hitting, durability, and versatility led to 4.1 WAR in each of the ’21 and ’22 seasons. With exactly three years of service after ’22, Cronenworth inked a one-year arbitration deal for 2023 worth $4.225MM.
Cronenworth’s new seven-year deal, then, buys out his final two arbitration years plus another five of free agency. The seven-year term is perhaps the most surprising element, as it will carry Cronenworth through the age of 36. Back in January, the Mets signed second baseman Jeff McNeil to an extension that also bought out two arbitration years, but that contract bought out two free agent years with an option for a third. Another point of comparison is the Rockies’ March 2022 extension for Ryan McMahon, which bought out two arbitration years and four free agent seasons.
We’ve yet to see a dollar figure on Cronenworth’s extension, but surely the competitive balance tax played a significant role in the deal. As you know, a team’s CBT payroll is calculated using the average annual values of multiyear contracts. Unexpectedly long terms and therefore lower AAVs have been a theme throughout GM A.J. Preller’s offseason. Robert Suarez got five years, Bogaerts received 11, Yu Darvish had five years added, and Michael Wacha signed what is considered a four-year deal.
Cronenworth’s new extension doesn’t affect the Padres’ 2023 payroll, which at an estimated $276MM currently sits above the third tax tier of $273MM. Should the team end 2023 above $273MM, their top draft pick in 2024 will be pushed back ten spots – in addition to the tax penalties owed as a third-time payor.
Cronenworth joins Machado, Bogaerts, Darvish, Tatis, Suarez, and Joe Musgrove as Padres signed through at least 2027. Before accounting for Cronenworth, but including Nick Martinez and the aforementioned six players, the Padres’ 2025 CBT payroll exceeds $137MM. Kim, the Padres’ current second baseman, is signed through 2024.
A pair of big-name Padres are still on one-year arbitration deals: Juan Soto and Josh Hader. Regarding Soto, slated for free agency after 2024, Lin writes, “there have been no indications that the Padres have engaged the star outfielder in serious talks about a potentially record-setting extension.”
In a March article for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers, MLBTR’s Steve Adams laid out a Hader extension scenario that would reduce this year’s luxury tax hit, writing, “If the Padres want to keep threading the creative contract needle, offering Hader the longest (if not the largest) contract ever signed by a reliever would probably only qualify as the fourth- or fifth-craziest move they’ve made over the past calendar year.”