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Yankees Sign Justin Wilson

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11:45am: Wilson’s contractual terms are virtually identical to Gardner’s, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). He’ll be paid $2.85MM in 2021 with a $2.3MM player option for the 2022 season. If Wilson declines that option, the Yankees have a $7.15MM club option or $1.15MM buyout on him. The lone difference is that if Wilson exercises his player option for the 2022 season, the Yankees will pick up a 2023 club option worth the league minimum plus $500K. (The exact 2023 league minimum isn’t yet known due to the expiring collective bargaining agreement.)

As with Gardner, it’s quite unlikely that Wilson will exercise that player option, thus giving the Yankees a year of virtual league-minimum control over him — particularly when he’s guaranteed at least the $1.15MM buyout on the 2022 club option anyhow. But rather than a straight $4MM guarantee, this structure reduces the luxury hit to a more palatable $2.575MM.

Feb. 23, 10:40am: The Yankees have announced the signing of Wilson to a one-year deal. As with their signings of Brett Gardner and Darren O’Day, the contract contains a player option for Wilson and a club option for the Yankees that can be picked up if he declines. The player option structure will allow the team to artificially weigh down the luxury-tax hit on Wilson, as it’s considered guaranteed money for luxury purposes.

Feb. 15:  The Yankees and free-agent reliever Justin Wilson have reached a deal, pending a physical, Robert Murray of FanSided tweets. Sweeny Murti of WFAN first reported the pact. The Yankees were in discussions with Wilson over the weekend and looked to be progressing toward a deal then, so it isn’t a surprise that the ACES client is joining the team.

This will be the second Yankees stint for Wilson, who began his career with the Pirates from 2012-14 before moving on to the Bronx in a trade for catcher Francisco Cervelli. The left-handed Wilson was highly effective in 2015, but the Yankees nonetheless moved on from him after that season in a trade with the Tigers. The Yankees acquired right-handers Chad Green and Luis Cessa (who are still on their roster) for Wilson, who has continued to perform well dating back to that deal. Along with the Tigers, the 33-year-old Wilson has suited up for the Cubs and Mets since the Yankees first parted with him.

Wilson has been effective everywhere he has pitched, evidenced in part by his 3.27 ERA/3.54 SIERA and above-average strikeout percentage (26.7) over 429 1/3 innings. The hard-throwing Wilson has also surrendered comparable numbers versus lefty hitters (.291 weighted on-base average) and righties (.284), so regardless of handedness, the Yankees can be confident he’ll keep holding his own in 2021.

Along with the aforementioned Green, Wilson will join Zack Britton and fellow free-agent pickup Darren O’Day in giving the team another proven reliever in front of closer Aroldis Chapman.

Braves Sign Jake Lamb

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Feb. 23: The Braves announced their one-year deal with Lamb. While it is technically a Major League deal, it’s also a non-guaranteed deal, per the team. That means Lamb could yet be cut in Spring Training for only a portion of his salary. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that salary to be $1MM.

Feb. 21: The Braves are in agreement on a contract with corner infielder Jake Lamb, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’s expected to be a major league pact, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). The deal is pending a physical. Lamb is a client of CAA Sports.

Lamb once looked like a building block for the Diamondbacks, with whom he began his career. Between 2016-17, he hit .248/.345/.498 with 59 home runs, earning an All-Star berth in the latter season. Unfortunately, the left-handed slugger was plagued by a shoulder issue that eventually required surgery in 2018, knocking him off course. Over the past three seasons, Lamb has just a .205/.309/.351 line with 15 homers across 563 plate appearances. That led Arizona to release him last September.

To his credit, Lamb hooked on with the Athletics after being cut loose by the Diamondbacks and hit very well down the stretch. That production came over just thirteen games on the heels of two-plus seasons of subpar performance, though, so it seems unlikely he’s completely regained his footing at the plate.

The Braves needn’t get his return to peak form for this to make for a worthwhile addition, though. Lamb won’t see much action at first base, thanks to the presence of reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman, but third base was a problem area last season. The combination of Austin Riley, Johan Camargo and the since-departed Adeiny Hechavarría struggled to varying degrees at the plate. Lamb isn’t a sure thing to produce himself, but he’ll bring a left-handed bat with some power to the mix, which could pair well with the right-handed hitting Riley. Non-roster invitees Jason Kipnis and Ehire Adrianza will try to work their way onto the roster during spring training, as well.

Athletics Sign Mitch Moreland

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The Athletics added some left-handed pop to their lineup, announcing on Tuesday that they’ve signed first baseman/designated hitter Mitch Moreland to a one-year deal. The Paragon Sports International client will reportedly be guaranteed $2.25MM on the deal and can earn another $250K worth of incentives.

Mitch Moreland | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Moreland may be 35 years old, but he’s turned in the best work of his career at the plate over the past two seasons. In 487 plate appearances between the Red Sox and Padres in that time, Moreland has slashed .256/.333/.521 with 29 home runs, 26 doubles and a triple. He’s also boosted his walk rate north of 10 percent in the past few years after previously sitting around seven percent for the bulk of his career, and the uptick in power and free passes hasn’t come with any discernible increase in strikeouts (21.8 percent).

At this point in his career, Moreland’s glovework likely isn’t as good as it was at its Gold Glove peak, but that’s not much of an issue in Oakland, where Matt Olson is among the game’s best defenders at the position. He’ll give them a veteran with a solid defensive track record in the event that Olson misses any time, but Moreland figures to see time as the primary designated hitter for the A’s now that Khris Davis has been traded to Texas in a trade that brought Elvis Andrus to Oakland.

Moreland has never hit left-handed pitching well and is typically shielded from facing southpaws too much, so he’ll likely be deployed in a platoon setting. The A’s don’t have an obvious right-handed-hitting platoon partner at the moment — Chad Pinder likely in a platoon at second base — so it’s possible they could yet look to the market to bring in an affordable righty bat or switch-hitter to pair with Moreland.

Moreland joins Trevor Rosenthal, Yusmeiro Petit and Sergio Romo as recent additions on one-year deals, bringing the Oakland payroll up to a still-modest $85MM in total. It had been a near-silent offseason for the A’s, but it seems their ability to shed the Davis contract and a flooded free-agent market still full of veterans seeking deals has pushed ownership to begin spending a bit.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the deal (via Twitter). Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com first reported the financials.

Yankees Re-Sign Brett Gardner

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Brett Gardner is back for a 14th season with the Yankees. The team announced this morning that Gardner has been re-signed to a one-year deal with a player option for the 2022 season. The Meister Sports client will reportedly be paid $2.85MM in 2021, with a $2.3MM player option for a second season. If Gardner declines his player option, the Yankees can pick up a $7.15MM club option or buy him out at $1.15MM. Luis Severino, who is recovering from 2020 Tommy John surgery, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open roster space.

Brett Gardner | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees declined Gardner’s $10MM option for 2021 in favor of a $2.5MM after last season, but the new agreement hardly comes as any kind of shock. After all, the 37-year-old has been a career-long member of the club since he debuted in 2008 and remains an asset despite his advanced age.

Gardner is still adept at handling both left and center field, and he posted yet another above-average offensive showing in 2020. While his batting average wasn’t good, his overall .223/.354/.392 line in 158 plate appearances was around 10 percent better than the league-average mark, according to both OPS+ and wRC+. He’s also an immensely respected member of the team’s clubhouse.

If Gardner does return to the Yankees in 2021, he would serve as a highly qualified fourth outfielder on a team that has Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier lined up to start in the grass, with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton also likely to cycle in at right field from time to time.

The Yankees are aiming to stay under the $210MM luxury-tax threshold this year, and their deal with Gardner is the latest example of that. The Yankees have used split player/club options as a means of weighing down their luxury obligations. Because Gardner is unlikely to pick up that $2.3MM player option when he’s guaranteed at least the $1.15MM buyout on the club option anyway, his contract effectively amounts to a one-year deal with a club option. However, because player options are technically considered guaranteed money, that lowers the average annual value of the contract to $2.575MM; a traditional one-year deal with the club option and the same guarantee would’ve clocked in at $4MM.

It’s the same approach the Yankees took in their contracts with both Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson. None of the individual deals is likely to save them more than a million-plus in luxury room, but taken in totality they’ve probably trimmed back $3-4MM of luxury breathing room by brokering a series of player options that are all unlikely to be exercised.

With Gardner back in the fold, the Yankees’ luxury obligations sit just shy of $204MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, although the specifics of Wilson’s deal aren’t yet known and will further push that sum toward the $210MM threshold. In all likelihood, the Yankees will leave themselves a few million dollars of breathing room to allow some in-season dealings as needs arise.

Ken Davidoff of the New York Post first reported that the two sides had agreed to a new deal, and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman added details on the contract’s structure. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the exact breakdown.

Giants To Sign Jake McGee

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FEB. 22: It’s a two-year, $5MM guarantee for McGee, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. McGee will earn a $2MM salary this year and $2.5MM in 2022, when he could also make $2MM in performance bonuses. There’s a $4.5MM club option or a $500K buyout for 2023.

FEB. 9: The Giants are signing free-agent reliever Jake McGee, Robert Murray of Fansided reports. It’s a two-year deal worth $7MM for the Wasserman client, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

San Francisco will be the third National League West stop for the left-handed McGee, a 34-year-old who divided the previous five seasons between the Rockies and Dodgers. McGee was not particularly successful in Colorado, which acquired the ex-Ray before 2016 and then re-signed him to a three-year, $27MM guarantee in the ensuing offseason. As a result of his struggles as a Rockie, McGee had to settle for a low-paying deal with the Dodgers last summer.

The McGee signing worked out brilliantly for the Dodgers, who ran roughshod over the competition during the regular season and then earned a World Series title. While McGee was hardly the most instrumental part of the team’s run, he did give Los Angeles an excellent 2.66 ERA/1.81 SIERA over 20 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers’ version of McGee went to an almost all-fastball approach and averaged 95 mph on his heater – his best since 2014 – while posting eye-popping strikeout and walk percentages of 41.8 and 3.8, respectively. His K-BB percentage (38.0) ranked second among relievers behind Brewers Rookie of the Year winner Devin Williams. McGee also finished toward the top of the majors in such Statcast categories as expected batting average against, expected weighted on-base average against and expected ERA. On the other hand, he was near the bottom in exit velocity and hard-hit rate.

Now that he’s heading to the division-rival Giants, McGee will be the most established southpaw in their bullpen. The team does have other options, however, including Jarlin Garcia (who, like McGee, kept runs off the board at a great clip in 2020) and Sam Selman.

Mariners CEO Kevin Mather Resigns

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FEB. 22, 3:02pm: Mather has resigned, Divish was among those to tweet.  As part of a statement regarding Mather’s resignation, Mariners chairman John Stanton said: “There is no excuse for what was said, and I won’t try to make one. I offer my sincere apology on behalf of the club and my partners to our players and fans. We must be, and do, better. We have a lot of work to do to make amends.” Stanton added that he’ll serve as acting president/CEO until the team finds a permanent replacement for Mather.

2:17pm: The MLB Players Association has released a statement about Mather: “The Club’s video presentation is a highly disturbing yet critically important window into how Players are genuinely viewed by management. Not just because of what was said, but also because it represents an unfiltered look into Club thinking. It is offensive, and it is not surprising that fans and others around the game are offended as well. Players remain committed to confronting these issues at the bargaining table and elsewhere.”

FEB. 21, 10:20PM: Mather issued a public apology, stating “I want to apologize to every member of the Seattle Mariners organization, especially our players and to our fans. There is no excuse for my behavior, and I take full responsibility for my terrible lapse in judgement.  My comments were my own. They do not reflect the views and strategy of the Mariners baseball leadership who are responsible for decisions about the development and status of the players at all levels of the organization.

“I’ve been on the phone most of the day today apologizing to the many people I have insulted, hurt, or disappointed in speaking at a recent online event.  I am committed to make amends for the things I said that were personally hurtful and I will do whatever it takes to repair the damage I have caused to the Seattle Mariners organization.”

7:25PM: In a video speech given to the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club on February 5, Mariners president/CEO Kevin Mather discussed a number of topics surrounding his team and the upcoming season at large.  The speech was posted to YouTube earlier today and later removed, though not before several outlets (including Grant Bronsdon and Kate Preusser of the Lookout Landing blog and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times) took note of several eyebrow-raising statements made by the Seattle executive.

Speaking with an unusual (and rather shocking) amount of openness, Mather made multiple comments that are sure to gain the attention of Mariners fans, players, and the players’ union.  The most problematic remarks concerned how star prospect Julio Rodriguez and former pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma reportedly have or had difficulties speaking English.  Asked to tell attendees about Rodriguez, Mather began with, “Julio Rodríguez has got a personality bigger than all of you combined. He is loud, his English is not tremendous.” Rodriguez has already responded to Mather’s comments with a pair of pointed tweets.

In response to a separate question, Mather went on a tangent about Iwakuma, saying:

“For instance, we just re-hired Iwakuma, he was a pitcher with us for a number of years. Wonderful human being, his English was terrible. He wanted to get back into the game, he came to us, we quite frankly want him as our Asian scout, interpreter, what’s going on with the Japanese league. He’s coming to spring training. And I’m going to say, I’m tired of paying his interpreter. When he was a player, we’d pay Iwakuma X, but we’d also have to pay $75,000 a year to have an interpreter with him. His English suddenly got better, his English got better when we told him that!”

While Mather also praised Rodriguez, Iwakuma, and other players during the speech, his overall breakdown of Seattle’s roster carried more than a few awkward moments.  For instance, Mather continually referred to catcher Luis Torrens as “Luis Torres,” and he described longtime third baseman Kyle Seager as “probably overpaid” while also citing Seager’s clubhouse leadership.

It’s quite possible league officials may also have a few words with Mather considering how he discussed such topics as prospect service time, noting that the Mariners didn’t intend to promote any of the top prospects working out at their alternate training camp last summer.

“There was no chance you were going to see these young players at T-Mobile Park,” Mather said.  “We weren’t going to put them on the 40-man roster, we weren’t going to start the service time clock.  There were all kinds of reasons that, if we had an injury problem or COVID outbreak, you might’ve seen my big tummy out there in left field.  You would not have seen our prospects playing in T-Mobile Park.”

It isn’t any surprise that the Mariners or any other team are looking to gain as much extra team control as possible over their young players, with this tactic most often manifesting itself in a prospect’s debut being delayed just long enough so the club can gain an extra year of control over the player, or delay their chances of reaching Super Two eligibility (and another year of arbitration).  Front office executives couch these decisions under a nebulous guise of saying that a prospect needs more seasoning in one aspect or another of his game, with the prospect suddenly being ready as soon as the service time threshold has been passed.  The MLBPA was already expected to pursue ways of addressing this loophole during the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations, and Mather’s comments figure to be the union’s clearest evidence yet that teams are engaging in service-time machinations.

This coming spring, Mather implied that both star outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic and pitching prospect Logan Gilbert would have their debuts delayed.  “We would like [Kelenic] to get a few more at-bats in the minor leagues,” Mather said.  “Probably Triple-A Tacoma for a month, and then he will likely be in left field at T-Mobile Park for the next six or seven years.”  As for Gilbert, “you won’t see him on April 1st, but by mid-April” he will be on Seattle’s active roster.

Kelenic was offered a contract extension of six years in length, Mather said, plus multiple years of club options.  This has been the standard model for most teams when making long-term deals with players who have yet to debut in the big leagues, and the Mariners reached such a deal themselves with Evan White back in November 2019.

Mather didn’t seem to have any hard feelings about Kelenic’s decision to reject the offer, and he also gave credit to White for taking an extension, saying the first baseman “took a lot of heat for signing that deal, the union really pushed back and said, ’don’t do it.’ ”  Mather added that the Mariners will continue to offer similar extensions “to…three or four more players…over the next two years,” saying “we’re eager to sign these players up [and] we’re willing to take that risk.  Some we’ll win on, some we’ll lose on.”

Mather also made some candid comments about Seattle’s pursuit of free agent pitching, as his speech took place before the team signed James Paxton.  The CEO mentioned that the Mariners were in talks with both Paxton and Taijuan Walker, noting that Walker “thinks he’s going to get a three-year deal.  I don’t think he’s going to get a three-year deal.”  As it turned out, Walker essentially did get a three-year contract from the Mets in the form of a two-year pact with a player option for 2023 that will pay Walker at least $20MM in guaranteed money and potentially as much as $25.5MM.

Speaking of the free agent market in general, Mather said that Major League Baseball “lost $2.9 billion last year, and we have taken the position that there are 180 free agents still out there on February 5 unsigned, and sooner or later, these players are going to turn their hat over and come with hat in hand, looking for a contract.”

In terms of the season itself, Mather said he was “embarrassed” that Spring Training was beginning as scheduled, and that the league and players couldn’t come to an agreement on delaying both spring camp and the season itself by a month.  “There is a high level of distrust between the union and the management currently, and I’m very worried about what’s coming in the future,” Mather said.  The Mariners are hoping to have a “small” number of fans in attendance to begin the season and then gradually increase to nearer to full capacity by September, but Mather said that the situation will all depend on local health officials and the state of the pandemic.

Athletics Sign Trevor Rosenthal

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TODAY: The A’s have officially announced the signing.

FEB. 18, 8:37pm: While it’s only a one-year pact, the Athletics will pay Trevor Rosenthal for three seasons, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. He’ll earn $3MM in both 2021 and ’22 and another $5MM in ’23.

8:59am: In a surprising move, the A’s have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent righty Trevor Rosenthal, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The Boras Corporation client will earn $11MM in 2021 and presumably slot in as Oakland’s primary closer before returning to the open market next winter.

Trevor Rosenthal | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a rather stunning development to see the Athletics of all clubs strike this pact. Oakland has spent the offseason in a veritable state of dormancy, only jumping into the free-agent market after first shedding a notable chunk of cash in the deal that shipped Khris Davis and his $16.75MM salary to Texas. Even then, the additions made by the club have been small-scale in nature: one-year deals with Yusmeiro Petit ($2.55MM), Sergio Romo ($2.25MM) and Mitch Moreland ($2.25MM).

The only indication to date that the A’s have been willing to spend near this level on a single player has been their $12.5MM offer to shortstop Marcus Semien, although The Athletic reported that offer came with as much as $10MM deferred over the course of an entire decade. The extent of deferrals in the Rosenthal deal isn’t yet known, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets that a portion of that $11MM is indeed deferred beyond the 2021 season. Passan adds that Rosenthal and agent Scott Boras initially set out seeking a four-year pact, but when the multi-year interest they received didn’t meet those lofty expectations, Rosenthal eventually opted for a higher-value one-year deal.

Rosenthal, 30, was among the game’s most dominant relievers in 2020 — a remarkable rebound from a 2018-19 downturn that had brought his very future in the game into question. From 2012-17, Rosenthal was one of the National League’s best relievers, tossing 325 innings of 2.99 ERA ball and punching out 31.2 percent of his opponents while closing down games in St. Louis. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, however, causing him to miss the entire 2018 season.

When he returned in 2019 with the Nationals, Rosenthal walked 15 of the 43 batters he faced and plunked another three while mixing in five wild pitches. He went to the Tigers and walked more than a quarter of his opponents there, too, before landing with the Yankees’ Triple-A club. Rosenthal faced five batters with the Yankees’ Scranton affiliate, walking three of them and hitting another.

The sudden case of the yips had many questioning whether he’d ever make it back from Tommy John surgery, but Rosenthal parlayed a minor league deal with the the Royals into the aforementioned dominant 2020 campaign that brought about this sizable one-year arrangement. Armed with a triple-digit heater and a rediscovered control of the strike zone, Rosenthal tossed 13 2/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball as Kansas City’s closer before being traded to the Padres, where he closed out the year with 10 shutout innings of relief. Overall, the flamethrowing righty posted a 1.90 ERA and 2.31 SIERA with a powerhouse 41.8 percent strikeout rate and a strong 8.8 percent walk rate.

If Rosenthal can replicate that success in 2021, he could hit the market as a 31-year-old on the heels of a similar resurgence to that of the man he’ll effectively replace in Oakland: Liam Hendriks. The Aussie buzzsaw went from clearing outright waivers in 2018 to breaking out as one of MLB’s most dominant relievers in 2019-20. Hendriks cashed in on a $54MM guarantee this winter, and it stands to reason that another dominant year will position Rosenthal for that type of commitment and the lengthy multi-year deal he coveted as well.

It’s been a remarkable week for the Oakland bullpen, which not long ago looked to be a collection of question marks anchored by veteran lefty Jake Diekman. In the past seven days, however, they’ve acquired ground-ball machine Adam Kolarek from the Dodgers, re-signed iron man Yusmeiro Petit and inked slider specialist Sergio Romo as well. The A’s bullpen now looks like a deep, formidable group with the highly underrated J.B. Wendelken and the talented-but-still-inconsistent Lou Trivino now sliding down the ladder into lower-leverage spots.

The Athletics’ payroll, meanwhile, will rise to nearly $85MM — a fraction of what many clubs will spend in 2021 but at least within striking distance of their 2019-20 levels of spending. It’s hard to praise ownership too much when this recent spending spree was preceded by a salary dump and an insulting offer to their longtime clubhouse leader, but it’s better late than never to act like the contenders they should be.

Oakland won the American League West in 2020 and captured Wild Card berths in both 2018 and 2019. However, they’ve yet to ride this talented core — anchored by Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Ramon Laureano and Semien — beyond the divisional round of postseason play. The core group is morphing a bit, with Semien now in Toronto and Jesus Luzardo perhaps emerging to lead the Oakland rotation, but the A’s still have control of Chapman, Olson and Laureano for multiple years. Adding Rosenthal, Petit, Romo, Moreland and Kolarek in a week’s time only supplements that core and gives the club a shot at its first full-season division crown since 2013.

Padres Extend Fernando Tatis Jr.

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FEB 22: The Padres have announced their mega-contract with Tatis (via Twitter). Tatis will make $1MM in 2021, $5MM in 2022, $7MM in 2023, $11MM in 2024, $20MM apiece in 2025 and 2026, $25MM in 2027 and 2028, and then $36MM yearly from 2029 through 2034, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).

FEB 17: The Padres have agreed to a historic 14-year deal with superstar Fernando Tatis Jr., according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). It is worth a guaranteed $340MM, Robert Murray of Fansided adds on Twitter. The deal provides Tatis with full no-trade rights, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets. There’s a $10MM signing bonus.

While the deal covers a staggering number of years, it’ll only take Tatis through his age-35 season. The young superstar only just celebrated his 22nd birthday.

This pact sets a record for pre-arbitration deals by a rather healthy margin. The great Mike Trout had held the record with a $144.5MM deal. In Trout’s case, of course, the contract covered only six seasons — until it was further extended a few years later. Tatis’s guarantee falls just shy of the $360MM of additional money Trout received in the second agreement. It’s such a monster deal, in fact, that it slots in as the third-largest of any kind in baseball history.

[The 20 Largest Contracts In MLB History]

While this deal won’t change the complexion of an increasingly loaded 2021 Friars roster, it makes for a bold statement of intent by the San Diego organization. The club could’ve sat back and enjoyed Tatis while waiting to see how its roster situation evolved. Instead, the Pads have effectively declared him the franchise cornerstone for the foreseeable future.

Tatis would have reached arbitration eligibility after the 2022 season, so he was still a full campaign away from securing serious earnings. The MVP Sports client had been slated to reach free agency after the 2024 season, at which time he’d have been marketing his age-26 and beyond years.

This deal represents the culmination of a fascinating series of developments involving Tatis. At the time the Padres acquired him — in what turned out to be an all-time heist of a deal — Tatis was noteworthy mostly because of his namesake father, former big leaguer Fernando Tatis. The younger Tatis quickly blossomed into one of the game’s most-hyped prospects, though some worried about his strikeout rate and ability to stick at shortstop.

[How Did The White Sox Trade Fernando Tatis Jr.?!]

At this point in the spring of 2019, the Padres appeared set to keep up a steady building process, with Tatis opening at the Triple-A level and trying to earn his way into the majors by mid-season. Instead, the club inked Manny Machado to a $300MM pact, then went on to promote Tatis to the MLB roster to open the season. That decision seemed to some a foolhardy gambit, as even a brief delay would’ve allowed the Friars to delay Tatis’s free agency by a full season.

Now that Tatis has joined Machado to form the most expensive left side of an infield in baseball history, it’s fair to wonder if the daring promotion helped set the stage. While Tatis’s agents gained added leverage in negotiations, the good will surely helped the small-market Pads convince Tatis to commit to the organization instead of holding out for a potential bonanza in free agency.

Though Tatis has logged just 143 MLB games to this point — the product of an injury and global pandemic — he has done nothing but impress. Through 629 plate appearances, he has produced at a healthy .301/.374/.582 clip (good for a 150 wRC+) with 39 home runs and 27 stolen bases. He not only improved his plate discipline but generated much greater defensive value in his sophomore season.

Padres GM A.J. Preller had already given fans of the organization ample reason for excitement — even if it’ll still take a herculean effort to take down the perennial favorite Dodgers. Now, the Friar faithful will have the chance not only to watch one of the game’s most entertaining players, but to do so knowing there’s a real chance he’ll be a lifetime franchise icon.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign Kevin Pillar

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TODAY: Pillar’s deal was officially announced by the team.

FEB. 15, 10:18pm: Pillar will earn $3.6MM this year. There is a $2.9MM player option with no buyout or a $6.4MM club option with a $1.4MM buyout for 2022, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

9:40pm: It’s a $5MM guarantee that could go to $10MM over two years, Heyman tweets.

7:57pm: It’s a one-year contract, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports.

7:38pm: The two sides have a deal, pending a physical, Andy Martino of SNY tweets. It’s expected to be a major league pact, Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds.

7:24pm: The Mets and free-agent outfielder Kevin Pillar “are in serious talks,” according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Pillar would be the second notable outfield addition in the past week for the Mets, who previously signed ex-Cub Albert Almora Jr.

Like Almora, Pillar would provide depth in a Mets outfield that, at least for now, is slated to start Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith in 2021. Of course that, could be subject to change if the Mets make another major acquisition by signing, say, Jackie Bradley Jr. – the top-ranked center fielder left in free agency – or swinging a trade for Cubs third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant. Mets fans would probably prefer a high-profile move like that, but it’s possible the team will simply go into the year with the cast it has and a lower-cost pickup such as Pillar.

Now 32 years old, Pillar is best known for his run in Toronto from 2013-19, during which he established himself as a world-class defender in center field. Pillar spent most of 2019 as a Giant after they acquired him from the Blue Jays, and he divided last season between the Red Sox and Rockies. Statistically, Pillar’s defense isn’t at peak form (he combined for minus-6 Defensive Runs Saved and a 2.0 Ultimate Zone Rating from 2019-20), but he does carry experience at all three outfield positions.

Pillar has never been a huge offensive threat, but a team could certainly do worse than him as a reserve option. He’s a lifetime .262/.299/.408 hitter with 82 home runs and 88 stolen bases over 3,486 plate appearances. Pillar recorded a personal-best 106 wRC+ last season, when he slashed .288/.336/.462, hit six homers and swiped five bags in 223 PA.

Giants Sign Aaron Sanchez

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FEBRUARY 21: The deal has been made official. The incentive structure breaks down as follows (per Maria Guardado of MLB.com): $250K apiece for reaching 16 and 18 starts, $500K each for starting 20, 22, 24 and 26 games.

FEBRUARY 17: The Giants have reached an agreement to sign righty Aaron Sanchez, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.  It’s a $4MM deal with another $2.5MM in incentives, adds Slusser.  Sanchez is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Sanchez, 28, was drafted 34th overall out of high school by the Blue Jays back in 2010 as a supplemental pick for the loss of free agent Marco Scutaro.  He was still a few weeks shy of his 18th birthday upon being drafted.  Sanchez’s path from Barstow, California to being drafted by the Jays was chronicled in this excellent read from Stephen Brunt of Sportsnet.ca a few years back.

Sanchez’s prospect status climbed as he ascended through the minors, with Baseball America praising his “premium velocity with an effortless delivery.”  The Blue Jays eased Sanchez into the Majors in 2014 via the bullpen, and he even picked up three saves in his 24 appearances that year.

Marcus Stroman’s unfortunate ACL tear paved the way for Sanchez to make the Jays’ rotation out of camp in 2015, but after a summer lat strain that year he returned to the ’pen.  The following year Sanchez again won the team’s fifth starter job out of spring training, and this time he ran with it.  2016 still stands as the best year of Sanchez’s career, as he posted a 3.00 ERA in 192 innings, making the All-Star team and finishing seventh in the AL Cy Young voting.  In a year where the average starting pitcher managed a 20.2 K% and 7.7 BB%, Sanchez fell right around those marks at a 20.4 K% and 8.0 BB%.  He did succeed in limiting exit velocity and keeping the ball on the ground.  Despite concerns about Sanchez’s workload, which wound up increasing more than 100 innings over the prior year, the Blue Jays couldn’t bring themselves to pull him from the rotation despite a yearlong flirtation with the idea.

Sanchez would be limited to just eight starts in 2017 due to a blister/split fingernail that required four separate IL stints.  Further finger issues held him to 20 starts in 2018, culminating in season-ending surgery.  Sanchez battled through similar issues in 2019, making 27 starts on the season but averaging fewer than five innings per turn.  Sanchez was not able to replicate his previous success, posting a 5.45 ERA, lackluster 18.6 K%, and unfortunate 11.7 BB% across 2018-19.  By the 2019 trade deadline, the Blue Jays had seen enough, trading Sanchez to the Astros with Joe Biagini and Cal Stevenson for Derek Fisher.  Fisher’s Jays story coincidentally came to an end this week with a trade to the Brewers.

While it was thought that the Astros might work magic with Sanchez’s curveball and its 91st percentile spin rate, especially after his debut for the club was the first six innings of a combined no-hitter, the righty quickly went down for shoulder surgery and was non-tendered after the 2019 season.  Sanchez wasn’t heard from again until October 2020, when he held a showcase for 20 teams in Miami.  Agent Scott Boras would go on to boast of a 2,700-2,800 RPM fastball, speaking of Sanchez’s intent to work as a starter in 2021.  Sanchez must have shown well at a second showcase held this month, given the $4MM contract with the Giants.  Indeed, Slusser notes that “the Giants have been paying attention to [Sanchez] all off season and took especial notice last week, when Sanchez hit 98 mph in a bullpen session.”  Here’s the proof of that from Sanchez’s Instagram.

After another reclamation project gone well, Kevin Gausman, accepted his $18.9MM qualifying offer, the Giants went to work on their rotation this winter by adding Anthony DeSclafani  for $6MM (a teammate of Sanchez’s on the 2012 Lansing Lugnuts) and Alex Wood at $3MM on one-year free agent contracts.  While Sanchez will presumably round out the team’s starting five, no team is getting by with five starters – not this year, and not with this group.  The club also added Nick Tropeano on a minor league deal today, and Logan Webb figures to be in the mix as well.  Tyler Beede is expected to become an option around May after recovering from Tommy John surgery.

With pitchers and catchers already starting to report to spring training, there are still several rotation-worthy starting pitchers on the free agent market, including Jake Odorizzi, Taijuan Walker, Rick Porcello, Cole Hamels, and Mike Leake.  It’s been an odd winter for starting pitching.  Aside from Trevor Bauer, who signed for three years and $102MM, no starting pitcher has landed as much as $20MM.  The last time fewer than three starting pitchers received a $20MM guarantee in an offseason was 2009-10,  when only John Lackey and Randy Wolf achieved it.

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