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Newsstand

Qualifying Offer Value Set At $18.9 Million

By Anthony Franco | October 8, 2020 at 9:34am CDT

This offseason, Major League Baseball’s qualifying offer will be set at $18.9MM, reports Evan Drellich of the Athletic (via Twitter). The value, which is determined by taking the average of the game’s 125 highest-paid players, represents a $1.1MM raise over last offseason’s $17.8MM figure.

Any team wishing to receive draft compensation for the loss of a free agent will first have to make that free agent a one-year offer worth that $18.9MM value. Qualifying offer recipients will have 10 days to decide whether to accept or reject the offer and are free to talk with other clubs during that window as they get an early sense of their market value. If a player accepts, he’ll have signed at that rate for the 2021 season. Like other free-agent signings, that player would be ineligible to be traded, without his consent, prior to June 15 of the following season.

Only players who spent the entire 2020 season with the same organization are eligible to receive a qualifying offer; midseason trade acquisitions and signings cannot receive one. Additionally, the 2017-21 collective bargaining agreement also added the stipulation that players can only receive one qualifying offer in their career. Twins DH Nelson Cruz, for instance, will hit the open market unencumbered after receiving a qualifying offer from the Orioles in 2014. That also rules out Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna, who was tagged last year by the Cardinals, and Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, who received one in 2016.

In past offseasons, teams deployed the qualifying offer rather liberally. Doing so ensured the club would receive draft compensation if a player departed, and the player accepting the QO would only lock them in on a short term, albeit at a relatively lofty rate. With the pandemic-driven revenue losses that plagued MLB in 2020, it’s likely that teams will be more reluctant to put those large single-year salaries on the table for borderline players.

Turning to the upcoming free agent class, a few players stand out as obvious QO candidates despite the broad financial uncertainty. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto, Reds starter Trevor Bauer, Astros outfielder George Springer and Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu are all established players coming off strong to elite seasons. All four appear to be locks to receive and reject the QO.

More interesting are the potential borderline cases. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle points out (Twitter link), Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien would’ve been an obvious QO candidate in a typical offseason. Between the aforementioned revenue losses and Semien’s disappointing abbreviated season, that no longer appears to be likely. Starting pitchers Kevin Gausman and Marcus Stroman seem unlikely to receive offers from the Giants and Mets, respectively, but they’re plausible candidates. So too are Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons and Phillies infielder Didi Gregorius, among others.

As a reminder, the parameters for teams signing or losing qualified free agents are as follows:

For teams that signs a qualified free agent…

  • A team that received revenue sharing the previous season will forfeit its third-highest selection upon. Signing a second qualified would result in the loss of that team’s fourth-highest selection. Signing a third would result in the loss of its fifth-highest selection.
  • A team that did not receive revenue sharing and also did not pay any luxury tax penalties would lose its second-highest selection as well as $500K of the league’s allotted international bonus pool. Signing additional qualified free agents would result in forfeiting the third-highest selection and another $500K of international allotments.
  • A team that paid luxury tax penalties must forfeit both its second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2019 draft and forfeit $1MM of international funds. Signing a second would result in the loss of that team’s third- and sixth-highest picks, plus another $1MM in international funds.

For teams who lose qualified free agents…

  • A draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B will be awarded if the team losing the free agent did not receive revenue sharing or if the free agent in question signed a contract worth less than $50MM in guaranteed money.
  • A draft pick after Round 1 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent received revenue sharing and the free agent in question signed for more than $50MM.
  • A draft pick after Round 4 will be awarded if the team losing the free agent paid luxury tax penalties in the preceding season.
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KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes To Post Ha-Seong Kim This Offseason

By Steve Adams | October 8, 2020 at 9:04am CDT

The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization will post star shortstop Ha-Seong Kim for Major League clubs this winter, MLBTR has learned. He’d previously voiced a desire to be posted, and the team plans to honor those wishes this winter. All 30 Major League clubs will have the opportunity to bid on the infielder, who’ll turn just 25 years old next week.

Kim’s youth sets him apart from most other players who have made the jump from the KBO (or Japan’s NPB) to the Major Leagues. Current rules in the KBO stipulate that a player cannot be posted until he has accrued seven years of service time. Unrestricted free agency is granted after nine years. Kim’s first full season in the KBO came at just 18 years of age, however, which has him on pace to become available to MLB clubs a few years sooner than most of his peers. He’ll still meet the minimum age (25) and experience (at least six years) requirements set by Major League Baseball in order to be considered a professional rather than an amateur, meaning he can sign a Major League deal of any length and any amount.

While Kim didn’t hit much in that aforementioned rookie season — not surprising given his age — he’s been an average or better bat each year since, by measure of wRC+. However, it’s been the past two years in which Kim has taken his game to a new level. Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser wrote back in early May that Kim would be a Top 100 prospect if he signed at that point, and that was before Kim built on his 2019 breakout with a .304/.396/.522 slash in his first 551 plate appearances in 2020.

Dating back to Opening Day 2019, Kim is a .306/.392/.505 hitter — good for a 141 wRC+. In 2020, Kim has slugged a career-high 27 homers, walked more often than he’s struck out (67 to 58) and gone a perfect 21-for-21 in stolen bases. Over the past two seasons, he’s swiped 64 bags in 68 tries. Kim has also won multiple Gold Glove Awards for his work at shortstop in Korea and has some experience at third base. Given his age and 2019-20 breakout, he should draw interest from a wide range of Major League teams.

For those who need a refresher or who are unfamiliar with the posting process, the latest set of rules agreed upon between MLB and the KBO stipulate that all 30 clubs will be able to negotiate with Kim. The posting fee paid to the Heroes will be tied directly to the size of the contract signed by Kim. It is a separate sum that is paid out to the Heroes as opposed to an amount that is subtracted from Kim’s eventual contract. A signing team would pay 20 percent of the contract’s first $25MM to the Heroes, plus 17.5 percent of the next $25MM and an additional 15 percent on any dollars guaranteed beyond $50MM.

With regard to contractual options and incentives, those clauses are also subject to subsequent fees. A Major League team would only be immediately responsible for posting/release fees on the guaranteed portion of the contract. But if Kim’s new team in the Majors exercised a club option for the 2025 or 2026 season, for instance, that team would owe a supplemental fee to the Heroes once that option is picked up.

Kim’s forthcoming addition to the 2020-21 class of free agent shortstops adds some youth to a group that is headlined by Didi Gregorius, Marcus Semien, Andrelton Simmons and Jonathan Villar. Of that bunch, only Gregorius enjoyed a quality year by his standards, while each of the other three will be hoping for rebounds (to varying extents).

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Korea Baseball Organization Newsstand Ha-Seong Kim

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Minors Officially Becomes Branch Of MLB

By TC Zencka | October 7, 2020 at 2:05pm CDT

As we know, changes have long been on the horizon for MLB and MiLB’s working partnership. The agreement between the two entities recently expired, and MLB now plans to bring the minor league system under their governance. MLB took a big step towards accomplishing their goals today.

MLB released a statement today announcing their plans to transplant the minor league offices to MLB’s headquarters in New York City, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). Shaikin also notes that MLB is now referring to minor league clubs as “licensed affiliates.” J.J. Cooper of Baseball America provides MLB’s full statement here.

By joining the offices to MLB headquarters, the minors are now a branch of MLB, notes Maury Brown of Forbes (via Twitter). Part of this process is the hiring of Peter Freund and Trinity Sports Consultants to help MLB and their new “licensed affiliates” transition. Freund owns minor league clubs at three levels, and he is a partner with the Yankees. His broader responsibilities will be in spearheading MLB’s efforts to build a cohesive minor league system and “implementing a modern approach to player development,” per MLB’s statement.

MLB has taken a lot of heat for their movement in this direction, specifically for insufficient minor league players salaries and the cutting of some 40 teams from the minor league system. Minor league ballplayers recently got a big win in the courts when the Supreme Court denied MLB’s appeal, thereby granting players class action status in their lawsuit against Major League Baseball. Basically any minor league player since 2009 can now join the suit in suing MLB for violation of minimum wage laws. This is one of the many issues that MLB hopes to address over the coming months.

To their credit, MLB has committed to maintaining a baseball presence in every market where minor-league baseball currently has a team. What exactly that amounts to is difficult to parse on a broad scale, but in many cases it will mean instructional leagues or camps, wooden-bat leagues – potentially for amateur participants – and youth programs. The goal, MLB insists, is not to eliminate those 40 cities who are losing their minor league teams from the baseball community – but to revamp and streamline the broader system to build a more comprehensive, efficient, and lucrative development pipeline.

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Minor League Baseball Newsstand Notes

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Reds President Of Baseball Operations Dick Williams Resigns

By Steve Adams | October 7, 2020 at 8:40am CDT

The Reds announced this morning that president of baseball operations Dick Williams has resigned from his post in order to “pursue personal interests outside baseball.” He’ll take on a role in his family’s company, North American Properties, per the team’s press release. Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Williams met with owner Bob Castellini in August and informed him that he planned to step away after the 2020 season. General manager Nick Krall will continue to serve in his current role.

Dick Williams | Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

The Williams family has been ingrained with the Reds franchise for decades. Williams’ father and uncle are currently minority shareholders with the club, and his grandfather was at one point a partial owner of the franchise as well. Williams joined the team as director of baseball operations back in 2006, when Castellini purchased a majority stake in the team, and he’s steadily climbed the ranks to his current post. Krall, previously an assistant GM, was elevated to GM status in May 2018. He’ll presumably now shift to head up the entire baseball operations department.

“Dick has been an integral part of the Reds’ success from our first days of ownership in 2006 through our Postseason appearance in 2020,” Castellini said in today’s release. “He took the lead on modernizing every aspect of our baseball operations. Dick was the mastermind behind our incredible facility in Goodyear, drove advances in our scouting and player development systems, expanded capacity for analytics and established our sports science departments, just to name a few. … Dick has an incredible baseball IQ, and his gift for innovation came at the right time in history. We are enormously proud of the contributions he has made to this franchise.”

Much of Williams’ tenure as team president was spent in a rebuilding process that was embarked upon as former GM Walt Jocketty transitioned to an advisory role with the team. The Reds’ path to this year’s postseason berth wasn’t exactly straightforward, and it’s fair to point out that some of the biggest trades made during the Williams-led rebuild didn’t bear much in the way of fruit. The Reds were left with little to nothing to show for their trades of Aroldis Chapman, Todd Frazier and Johnny Cueto, for instance, as none of the younger talent acquired in those swaps contributed to this year’s winning club.

At the same time, Williams struck gold in the trade that sent right-hander Dan Straily to Miami and netted the Reds Luis Castillo. Both his decision to buy low on Sonny Gray and the corresponding contract extension look nothing less than brilliant at this point. Despite likely being out of contention in July 2019, the Reds under Williams took a big swing with an eye on 2020 and acquired NL Cy Young candidate Trevor Bauer in a three-team trade with the Reds and Padres. He was also in charge of baseball operations over the winter when the Reds hired president of Driveline Baseball Kyle Boddy to further a strong push into data-driven innovations in the organization’s pitching program.

Recent success notwithstanding, Williams spoke in today’s press release about a desire to spend more time with a young family that he does not see nearly as often as he would like.

“In order todo this job right, you are at a ballpark, either in the major or minor leagues, every single day, night and weekend from mid-February until deep into the fall,” Williams said. “That was a lot to ask of my young family, and they supported m every step of the way. It is time to pour some of that energy back into them.”

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Cincinnati Reds Newsstand Dick Williams Nick Krall

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Starling Marte Out For NLDS

By TC Zencka | October 6, 2020 at 9:49am CDT

The Miami Marlins will begin today’s NLDS without starting centerfielder Starling Marte, per MLB Network contributor Craig Mish (via Twitter). Marte will not be on the roster for the series. He took a pitch off the hand in the first game of the Wild Card series against the Cubs, fracturing the fifth metacarpal on his left hand. He was said to have been available to pinch-hit in the second game, though he did not appear. It was the third time this season that Marte had been hit on the hand, including the final game of the season.

Losing Marte is a blow for the upstart Marlins, though if there’s a team prepared to weather the storms of adversity, these Marlins certainly top the list. They’ve already withstood a COVID-19 outbreak, the loss of veteran Jose Ureña on the final day of the season, the opt-out and subsequent opt-in plus injury of second baseman Isan Diaz, and the retirement of starting catcher Francisco Cervelli. They also outlasted supposedly better teams in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. (not to mention Chicago) to break a 17-year playoff drought. For most people outside of Miami, Marte’s injury won’t move the needle simply because they aren’t expected to beat the Atlanta Braves anyhow. For those in the Marlins’ clubhouse, add this setback to the fuel for their nobody-believes-in-us fire.

Per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, manager Don Mattingly said this about leaving Marte off the roster: “Obviously a guy you don’t want to leave off your roster. But we weren’t comfortable with what he was going to be able to do.” The need to add an extra pitcher, as well as the presence of numerous options to mix-and-match in centerfield also played a part in moving Marte to the taxi squad. Given how difficult a decision this proved to be, one would think Marte could heal enough to return to the roster for the NLCS, should the Marlins outlast the Braves.

Magneuris Sierra will start in Marte’s place in Tuesday’s game, McPherson notes, as he did in the second game of the wild card round in Chicago. In that game, Sierra came up big with an RBI single to give the Marlins a much-needed 2-run cushion. Interestingly, Sierra gets the start in game one even against southpaw Max Fried. That’s in part because of the makeup of the roster, of course, as Lewis Brinson will start in right field instead of lefty Matt Joyce. The 24-year-old Sierra has tremendous speed and defensive potential, which should be an asset for Sandy Alcantara, Miami’s game one starter, who allowed 52.6% Fly Ball Percentage this season.

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Miami Marlins Newsstand Transactions Starling Marte

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Class Action Status Approved In Minimum Wage Case Against MLB

By TC Zencka | October 5, 2020 at 9:51pm CDT

Minor league ballplayers received a big win today when they were granted class action status in their suit against Major League Baseball, per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. The Supreme Court ruling on Monday denied MLB’s appeal to a previous ruling that granted class action status to a group of 29 players currently suing Major League Baseball for violation of minimum wage laws. Were MLB’s appeal granted, players would have had to individually bring their cases against MLB. For these players, most of whom were never able to reap the benefits of a full-scale major league salary, individual lawsuits simply wouldn’t be financially viable – certainly not against a financial giant like Major League Baseball.

Instead, the floodgates are open and we can expect a great number of players to join those currently named in the suit. Cooper suggests the number of parties could grow to include potentially every minor league player that participated in the system since February 7, 2009. Said Cooper, “It potentially includes almost every affiliated minor league baseball player of the past decade. With more than 6,000 players participating in minor league baseball in a normal year, the number of eligible players could be measured in tens of thousands.”

The case now expects to move forward sometime in 2021, writes The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. Drellich provides a quote from lead attorney – a former minor-leaguer himself – Garrett Broshuis, who explains the violation of minimum wage laws as viewed by the players: “…it’s important to keep in mind that these players are workers and just like all other workers across the country, they deserve to have the benefits of our minimum wage laws. And it’s important for players to be able to band together and pursue that collectively. And so this case is a recognition that the players have the right to do that, and hopefully sometime soon players will be treated with the respect that they deserve and will at some point finally be paid wages that will allow them to live at levels above the poverty level.”

The state of Minor League Baseball remains entirely in flux since the expiration of the agreement between MLB and MiLB last week. Major League Baseball is expected to bring minor league teams under the MLB umbrella, eliminating 40-some teams in the process. Monday’s ruling represents a significant point of negotiation as MLB works with those owners of minor league clubs to come to some kind of accord prior to next season. Owners are saddled with significant time sensitivity, since their stadiums are their greatest revenue assets, and without a minor-league schedule, their hands are tied in terms of seeking out alternative or supplemental revenue opportunities. Especially after a season lost due to the pandemic, those minor league owners are in a difficult negotiating position.

Both Cooper and Drellich provided this statement from Major League Baseball: “While Major League Baseball does not comment on ongoing litigation, MLB remains focused on modernizing its player development system to enhance the Minor League experience for players, including providing them with renovated facilities, reduced travel and improved daily working conditions. MLB has long planned to increase Minor League player salaries as part of our next agreement with Minor League clubs, and announced earlier this year that Minor League players would be receiving salary increases ranging from 38 percent to 72 percent for the 2021 season.”

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Minor League Baseball Newsstand

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Rhys Hoskins Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco | October 5, 2020 at 2:43pm CDT

The Phillies announced that first baseman Rhys Hoskins underwent a successful Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL in his left elbow last week. He’s expected to be sidelined for four to six months.

It’s an unfortunate development for the 27-year-old. Recovery from this procedure isn’t as severe for a position player as it would be for a pitcher, but both player and team were surely hoping he wouldn’t need to go under the knife.

Before going down with the forearm injury that ended his season, Hoskins had a strong year at the plate. He hit .245/.384/.503 over 185 plate appearances, a marked improvement in the on-base and power departments over his 2019 campaign. He’s also in line for a substantial raise, as he’ll go through the arbitration process for the first time this winter. As a middle-of-the-order fixture, Hoskins should remain quite a bargain from a contractual standpoint.

The four-to-six month timetable opens up the possibility Hoskins won’t be available out of the gate next season. It’d take his coming in at the early end of that recovery timetable to have an uninterrupted spring training. As far as recent precedents go, Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks underwent the same procedure last October and would not have been ready to return until June. Notably, however, Hicks’ procedure was on his throwing arm (Hoskins’ is not) and initially called for a more significant eight-to-ten month recovery timeline.

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Newsstand Philadelphia Phillies Rhys Hoskins

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Francisco Cervelli Announces Retirement

By Anthony Franco | October 3, 2020 at 4:53pm CDT

Longtime MLB catcher Francisco Cervelli announced his retirement in an Instagram post today (h/t to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Daniel Álvarez Montes of Elextrabase (Twitter link) was first with the news of Cervelli’s forthcoming announcement.

Signed by the Yankees as an international amateur from Venezuela in 2003, Cervelli broke into the big leagues as a September call-up five years later. He would go on to see big league action for New York every year from 2008-14 but only eclipsed 200 plate appearances in a season once. Following a 2014 trade to the Pirates for reliever Justin Wilson, Cervelli finally got an opportunity as a team’s #1 catcher. He made the most of it. In 2015, Cervelli hit .295/.370/.401 (117 wRC+) in 510 plate appearances while rating as one of the league’s premier receiving catchers.

Unfortunately, a worrisome series of concussions kept Cervelli from matching that lofty workload in the following seasons. Nevertheless, he generally continued to produce when healthy over the rest of his five-year Pittsburgh tenure. A miserable 2019 season eventually led to Cervelli’s release from Pittsburgh, although he did latch on with the Braves for their playoff run last season.

Cervelli signed a one-year deal with the Marlins last offseason and was thrust into the lineup when presumptive starter Jorge Alfaro went on the injured list. Even at age 34, he acquitted himself well, hitting .245/.355/.453 in 16 games. Unfortunately, another concussion (at least the seventh of his career) sent him back to the injured list in August. It soon became apparent he wouldn’t factor into the Marlins’ playoff push. Miami had already placed Cervelli on the 60-day IL, so today’s news won’t affect their roster status in advance of next week’s NL Division Series with the Braves.

This surely isn’t the way Cervelli would’ve wanted his career to end, but he noted in his announcement that “for the first time in a long time, I know my health and wellness needs to be the leadoff.” Despite his various injuries, Cervelli ultimately compiled a 13-year MLB career. He hit .268/.358/.382 with 41 home runs over 2618 plate appearances, a bit better than the league average hitter overall. Baseball Reference estimates he was worth approximately 14 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs pegs his career as worth 18 WAR. MLBTR wishes Cervelli the best in retirement.

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Atlanta Braves Miami Marlins New York Yankees Newsstand Pittsburgh Pirates Francisco Cervelli

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Matt Klentak Steps Down As Phillies GM

By Anthony Franco | October 3, 2020 at 4:11pm CDT

4:11 pm: Team President Andy MacPhail, who was instrumental in Klentak’s initial hiring, will remain in that position, Middleton confirmed to reporters (including Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer). MacPhail will be involved in the search for the club’s next GM, the owner added.

3:03 pm: The Phillies announced that Matt Klentak has stepped down as the team’s general manager. He’ll remain in the organization in another position. Assistant general manager Ned Rice will take over on an interim basis while the club conducts a formal search for Klentak’s replacement.

“I have stated publicly that winning is what matters, not just in Philadelphia but in all cities and in all sports,” Phillies managing partner John Middleton said in the accompanying press release. “While Matt made many significant contributions to the organization, we did not accomplish our goal of playing baseball in October. Consequently, we have mutually agreed to allow new leadership to head Baseball Operations.”

Previously an assistant GM with the Angels, Klentak took over the Phillies’ baseball operations department in October 2015. He inherited an organization somewhat in flux. The club’s massive success at the tail end of the previous decade was squarely in the rearview mirror. Outgoing GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. had already kicked off a rebuild, but the organization was surely anticipating some growing pains coming off a 63-99 season.

That proved to be the case, as the Phillies’ revamped roster struggled through a pair of miserable years in 2016-17.  By 2018, though, the organization was ready for a push toward contention. Philadelphia brought in Gabe Kepler to manage that offseason and saw core young players like Rhys Hoskins and Scott Kingery cement themselves as everyday players. The club even added Jake Arrieta and Carlos Santana on three-year free agent deals, moves that proved ill-fated when Arrieta struggled and Hoskins proved incapable of adequately playing left field to open a spot for Santana at first base. Philadelphia didn’t make the playoffs that year, but their 80-82 record was a fourteen-win improvement over the prior season and seemingly positioned them on the verge of a breakthrough.

Clearly, the organization felt they were just a few players away from putting themselves over the top. The Phillies swapped out youngsters like J.P. Crawford and Sixto Sánchez for established everyday players Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto. To top it off, Philadelphia broke the bank for Bryce Harper, inking him to a record 13-year, $330MM free agent contract in February 2019.

Unfortunately, those offseason splashes didn’t translate into on-field improvement. Philadelphia plateaued at 81-81 last season, leading to Kapler’s ouster in favor of Joe Girardi. As Middleton noted, Klentak’s big ticket acquisitions generally performed well. Harper, Realmuto, Segura and fellow free agent addition Andrew McCutchen all turned in solid to very strong seasons, but the club never found answers in the rotation behind Aaron Nola.

To Klentak’s credit, he attempted to fix that deficiency over the offseason, signing Zack Wheeler to a five-year deal. Wheeler was highly productive in year one, while Zach Eflin locked himself in as a capable #3 starter. Yet again, though, the team as a whole fell flat. Weighed down by an atrocious bullpen, Philadelphia went just 28-32 in this year’s shortened season and missed the expanded playoff field, punctuated by a season-ending sweep at the hands of the Rays. Ultimately, the team’s lack of productivity despite plenty of high-priced acquisitions proved too much for Middleton to ignore.

Philadelphia is the second team to look for a new baseball operations leader this offseason. Angels’ GM Billy Eppler was let go last weekend. After the hiring of Kapler, a first-time manager, didn’t work out, the Phillies turned to the more experienced Girardi. Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link) anticipates the club will similarly target a long-tenured front office executive after Klentak’s first GM job came up shy of expectations. The Phillies should have plenty of interested suitors, given the club’s high-quality core and generally aggressive ownership.

First on the docket for any new baseball ops head could be a call with Realmuto’s camp. The All-Star headlines this year’s free agent class at catcher; the two sides have had extension talks in the past, and it stands to reason any incoming executive would similarly have interest in keeping Realmuto in the fold.

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Bob Gibson Passes Away

By Connor Byrne | October 2, 2020 at 10:10pm CDT

Baseball icon and longtime Cardinals ace Bob Gibson has died at the age of 84 after a battle with cancer, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

As Hummel notes, Gibson passed away on the 52nd anniversary of one of his greatest performances – a 17-strikeout effort against the Tigers in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. It was one of countless gems turned in by the right-handed Gibson during his Hall of Fame career, which spanned from 1959-75.

Always known as an incredibly fierce competitor and a seemingly inexhaustible workhorse, Gibson pitched to a brilliant 2.89 ERA, compiled a 251-147 record during the regular season and amassed 12 seasons with at least 200 innings – including a pair of years with upward of 300 frames. But Gibson was even more effective in the postseason, where he put up a 1.89 ERA and went 7-2 across 81 innings to help the Cardinals to two World Series titles. His playoff heroics will always be part of baseball lore.

Gibson went to nine All-Star Games and won nine Gold Gloves, two Cy Youngs and an MVP during his tremendous career. He’s undoubtedly one of the best pitchers in the history of the sport, and everyone in the baseball world is surely sad that he’s gone. We at MLBTR offer condolences to Gibson’s family, friends and the Cardinals organization.

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