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Mariners To Sign Emerson Hancock

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The Mariners have agreed to terms with No. 6 overall pick Emerson Hancock, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (via Twitter). The University of Georgia righty will receive a $5.7MM signing bonus that closely aligns with his $5,742,900 slot value.

Regarded by many as the best right-handed pitcher in this year’s draft, the 6’4″, 213-pound Hancock has dominated SEC opposition since the beginning of his sophomore year with the Bulldogs in 2019. Dating back to last season, Hancock has pitched to a 2.31 ERA with averages of 10.3 strikeouts and 1.6 walks per nine innings pitched — including a gaudy 34-to-3 K/BB ratio in 24 innings prior to this year’s shutdown.

Hancock, 21, landed between fourth and seventh in this year’s class on the rankings of Baseball America, MLB.com, ESPN, FanGraphs and The Athletic. His obviously strong control of the strike zone is complemented by a fastball in the 93-97 mph range — Callis notes it can top out at 99 mph — and a changeup that he seldom used in college ball despite the fact that scouts consider it a potentially plus offering. Reviews on his slider are a bit more mixed, though most reports have it as an above-average offering as well.

The Mariners have drafted a college player with their first-round pick in each season under GM Jerry Dipoto, including three straight college right-handers. Hancock joins George Kirby and Logan Gilbert as another high-end, first-round arm to add to a growing stable of impressive pitching prospects in the Seattle system. Given his lofty draft status, Hancock could emerge as the best of the bunch, joining rotation hopefuls Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn as potentially controllable long-term cogs on the starting staff.

Both Baseball America (No. 56) and FanGraphs (No. 78) already rank Hancock within MLB’s 100 best prospects; Baseball America lists him third in the organization behind only Julio Rodriguez and Jarred Kelenic — and places him just two spots ahead of presumptive 2020 first baseman Evan White on the aforementioned top 100 list.

Playoff Field Remains Set At 10 Teams; MLBPA Still Open To Discussing Expanded Format

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After months of expectations that the shortened 2020 season would usher in an expanded playoff format, the inability of MLB and the MLBPA to come together on an agreement instead maintained the 10-team postseason status quo. The March agreement under which commissioner Rob Manfred implemented a 60-game season stipulated that playoffs could not be expanded unless negotiated with the Players Association. Expanded postseason play (and revenue) was the union’s main piece of leverage in talks, but when no agreement was reached, the playoff structure went unchanged.

Might the two sides still look to work out an agreement, though? Asked by Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark wouldn’t rule it out. The lines of communication between the league and the union “remain open,” Clark explained. “I would simply say that if there’s interest to discuss something, I’ll be available to discuss it,” Clark added.

Major League Baseball, per Blum, could yet make another attempt to negotiate an expanded postseason format. The main sticking point for the union had been length of schedule and prorated play. With a 60-game season now set and prorated play in place, the union would likely look to other concessions. Previous proposals exchanged between the two sides had temporary elimination of the qualifying offer system in place, for instance, although it’s easy to imagine teams forgoing QOs for all but the market’s most elite free agents this winter thanks to revenue losses.

There’s a wide range of other possibilities for the union to pursue. An expanded share of postseason revenue — players are currently only owed a share of gate revenue — future QO concessions, increased forgiveness of the $170MM advance payout of salaries from the March agreement and any number of other topics could be put on the table. With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in Dec. 2021, the union could even proactively look to some broader issues that figure to prove critical in what will surely be a contentious negotiation next year.

Players have agreed to begin reporting to summer training camp by July 1, so it seems unlikely that this will be a drawn-out process. Clark and Manfred weren’t able to agree on much of anything over more than a month of contentious negotiations, which doesn’t exactly bode well for a swift accord in this case. That said, Manfred spoke to Blum of a need for both the league and players to have “less-charged” conversations. “We owe it to our fans to be better than we’ve been the last three months,” said the commissioner.

If the MLBPA is still amenable to postseason alterations, it stands to reason that ownership would have interest in one final attempt at the dramatic revenue increase that would accompany a larger postseason field.

John Brebbia Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Cardinals right-handed reliever John Brebbia underwent Tommy John surgery June 3, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak revealed Wednesday (via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Mozeliak announced that Brebbia will begin the season on the injured list, but considering TJ recovery tends to take 12 to 15 months, he looks like a shoo-in to miss all of 2020 and at least some portion of next year. It’s awful news for Brebbia and the Cardinals, for whom he has offered strong production since making his major league debut a few seasons ago.

Now 30 years old, Brebbia has been a quality scrapheap pickup for the Cardinals, who took him from the Diamondbacks in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft. He broke into the majors in 2017 and has since logged a 3.14 ERA/3.39 FIP across 175 innings. Brebbia totaled a career-best 72 2/3 frames last season, when he survived a minuscule 26.9 percent groundball rate to record a 3.59 ERA/3.13 FIP with 10.78 K/9 and 3.34 BB/9.

While Brebbia’s on a near-minimum salary this year, he’s slated to go through the arbitration process for the first time next winter. The Cardinals can control him through 2023, but whether they’ll do so will depend in large part on if he’s able to bounce back from this procedure.

Nashville Sounds Exploring Possibility Of Hosting Free-Agent League

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The Nashville Sounds, Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, issued a statement announcing that they’ve discussed with Major League Baseball the possibility of hosting a league for unsigned big league players this year:

The Nashville Sounds Baseball Club has had discussions with Major League Baseball about the possibility of hosting games that would consist of free agents competing against each other at First Horizon Park this summer. We continue to have meaningful discussions with baseball officials and local health officials with hopes of baseball in Nashville in 2020.

Sounds general manager Adam Nuse tells Chris Harris of WSMV News 4 in Nashville that the hope is to host a 40-game season in compliance with Phase Four of the “Roadmap for Reopening Nashville.” Notably, unlike Major League Baseball, that would allow the Sounds to sell tickets and bring their stadium to 25 percent capacity. Phase Four of the city’s plan cannot commence until July 20 at the earliest. Under the scenario being discussed, the Sounds would hope to sign 40-plus players and field two teams that would play against each other. Players would report seven to ten days prior to the launch of Phase Four, hoping that the league would hit its target date for the launch of the next phase.

It’s an interesting concept — one that hearkens back to the unofficial Spring Training camp for free agents prior to the 2018 season. The list of unsigned players isn’t currently as widespread as it was in that frigid offseason when the MLBPA organized that setup, but as noted today when exploring the upcoming lift of the transaction freeze, there are still plenty of recognizable names without teams. Others could yet surface when the freeze lifts, as several veterans on minor league deals could opt out with their current clubs or simply be cut loose. The Sounds might not even end up being the only minor league club to take such measures. Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report that MLB is expecting other clubs to explore similar endeavors.

The plan bears some similarity to independent ball, although if the Sounds succeed in luring enough former big leaguers or out-of-work upper-minors players, the quality of competition could be superior to that on the indie circuit. And while the money for players wouldn’t be overly enticing — The Athletic’s Jayson Stark tweeted that they’d be paid $400 per week — the league could serve as an extended showcase to allow teamless players to eventually find their way back onto a big league roster. Injuries will still pop up throughout the MLB season, and struggling players will be cut loose and replaced by taxi-squad players. Those taxi-squad spots would need to be back-filled.

It’s unclear at this point where MLB stands on the concept, but the Sounds seem committed to the idea regardless. Nuse tell Harris that the team is hopeful of cooperating with Major League Baseball but is currently planning to stage the league with or without the league’s cooperation.

Universal DH Will Be Implemented For 2020

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After months of return-to-play discussions, a shortened 2020 season looks to be upon us — and with it comes the long-anticipated and highly divisive implementation of the universal designated hitter. National League fans and baseball traditionalists recoil at the idea, but both polls we’ve conducted on the universal DH have shown that fans are pretty evenly split on the notion. In our poll earlier this spring, some were open to the idea for 2020 alone if that was one of the health/safety conditions necessary to bring about a 2020 season of some form.

That proved to be the case. And while there was talk about implementing the DH in 2021 as well, that was only on the table in the jointly negotiated season proposals between MLB and the MLBPA. The 2021 universal DH went out the window when no agreement was reached and commissioner Rob Manfred implemented a 60-game season. The two sides could — and very likely will — revisit a 2021 implementation this winter. Most expect that the DH will be here to stay, although for the time being, it’s still a temporary quirk to the upcoming campaign.

The expected lifting of the transaction freeze on Friday could lead some clubs to add a new bat to this mix — Yasiel Puig remains unsigned, and trades will again be allowed — but here’s a high-level look at each club’s options (with links to more in-depth explorations)…

NL West

NL Central

NL East

MLB Transaction Freeze Lifts This Friday

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The Major League Baseball season now has a target date for players to report to “Summer” Training (July 1) and for a truncated 60-game season to at last begin on July 23-24. Starved baseball fans finally have some dates to look forward to — and teams throughout the league suddenly have some work to do.

Major League Baseball rosters have been frozen since late March, but that freeze will come to an end this Friday at noon ET, and any club looking to bring in new players will want to give those players as much notice as possible. Plus, with a universal DH and with Opening Day rosters expanding to 30 players (and shrinking to 28 and 26, respectively, 15 and 29 days into the season), it’ll be all the more critical for teams to have depth.

What can we expect? The trade deadline is Aug. 31, and there’s no indication that there are any restrictions on making swaps prior to the season. Perhaps that’ll prove to be the case, but to this point it seems that player movement can come back in full force in just over 48 hours. And, between some lingering names from the offseason market and the sweeping releases made by teams in the past several weeks, there are some recognizable names out there.

Still Unsigned From 2019-20 Offseason

Yasiel Puig is the big name to watch, of course. The longtime Dodgers slugger recently drew interest from a KBO team but told their GM he preferred to take another shot at latching on with an MLB team in 2020. Just last night, Puig tweeted: “Baseball is back and God knows I’m ready #letthewildhorseloose”.

Puig isn’t the only one though. Among the notable names: Russell Martin, Scooter Gennett, Melky Cabrera, Jacoby Ellsbury, Hanley Ramirez, Mark Trumbo, Clay Buchholz, Andrew Cashner, Marco Estrada, Matt Harvey, Danny Salazar, Aaron Sanchez, Jason Vargas, Matt Albers, Pat Neshek, Fernando Rodney, Arodys Vizcaino, Tony Cingrani, Zach Duke, Tony Sipp and Jonny Venters.

Released in Recent Weeks

Many teams throughout the league cut more than 30 minor leaguers beginning in late March, and while most were lower-level names that have no big league experience, there were some recognizable names among the bunch. Teams in need of depth could take a look at the likes of: Edwin Jackson, Shane Carle, Tim Melville, Carlos Asuaje, David Huff, Brock Stewart, Deck McGuire, Brooks Pounders, T.J. Rivera, Aaron Blair, Dalton Pompey, Jake Elmore, Travis Snider and others.

Spring Opt-Outs/Releases

Just prior to the shutdown, veteran righty Jared Hughes opted out of his deal with the Astros, making him available to sign anywhere as well. Among players who were cut loose or opted out prior to the shutdown, he may be the best of the bunch based on recent track record, but there are others. Veteran righties Hunter Strickland and David Hernandez were cut loose by the Nats but have both had their share of success in the big leagues. Right-hander Sam Tuivailala was released by the Mariners as well after some velocity red flags in camp, but he has youth on his side and was a promising young reliever before injuries sidetracked him for the past couple years.

Trade Scenarios to Consider

We don’t know precisely how teams will react to being able to exchange players with each other once again. Some clubs will likely look to unload salary early on after experiencing unprecedented revenue losses — but buyers could be reluctant for similar reasons. At the same time, might the shortened 60-game season embolden less-concrete contenders to make bold plays early on? Teams like the White Sox and Reds were among the most aggressive in free agency this winter; would they take their foot off the pedal now? That seems unlikely.

The opposite could hold true as well. Normally, a team getting out to a slow start wouldn’t be seen as a nail in the coffin — the 2019 World Champs say “hello!” — but three- or four-week slump to start the 2020 campaign could push clubs into “sell” mode early. A team that starts the season 8-13, for instance, would be through 35 percent of its games and could feel forced to begin mulling tough decisions.

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There’s so much that’s unknown still about just how transactions will look. The league and players union may very well still be hammering out some of these specifics. We know that each club will submit a 60-name list of players who can participate in Spring Training by Sunday, but the very fact that trades and transactions are permitted suggests that there’s room for those lists and taxi squads to be adjusted throughout the season (just as would be the case with the 40-man roster under normal circumstances). However the specifics play out, fans can ready for some actual player movement beginning this weekend.

MLB, MLBPA Reach Deal On Health And Safety

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10:07pm: Any player or manager who comes within 6 feet of an umpire to argue a call could receive a suspension, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

8:27pm: The league issued a statement (via Mark Feinsand of MLB.com) saying it expects to start the regular season on July 23 or 24. Players will be able to opt out of the season, but only those who are at high risk of contracting the coronavirus (or living with a high-risk person or pregnant spouse) will be able to do so while earning full and service time, according to Nightengale, who reports the league will have the right to relocate teams to neutral sites during the regular season and playoffs for health and safety reasons. Also, Nightengale notes that the regular IL will be 10 days for all players. As was reported earlier, there will also be a COVID-19 IL with no specific length.

8:02pm: Teams will play 40 games against divisional opponents and 20 interleague contests versus geographic counterparts (East v. East, for example), Heyman reports. As expected, there will be a DH in the NL, Nightengale relays. Camp will begin July 3, but players will have to show up for spring training no later than July 1, Nightengale adds.

7:33pm: The league and union have reached a deal on health and safety, Karl Ravech of ESPN reports. Players will head to camp before July 1 in order to undergo coronavirus testing, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The next round of spring training will take place in teams’ home cities.

5:32pm: Even though they have made progress, the two sides aren’t guaranteed to reach a deal on health and safety tonight, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. But if they do come to an agreement, the league would “likely” lift its freeze on transactions five days before the players report, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.

4:45pm: Major League Baseball and the MLBPA are continuing to discuss health and safety protocols for a potential 2020 season, but it doesn’t appear the players will stand in the way of an agreement. The union has informed the league that the players intend to report to spring training 2.0 by July 1, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. A 60-game regular season would begin anywhere from July 24-26.

After months of squabbling between the league and the players, this is finally a welcome bit of good news for those hoping to see a baseball season this year. Because it was unable to reach an agreement on a season with the union, the league decided Monday to announce a 60-game season – which the game’s 30 owners unanimously approved. Meanwhile, the MLBPA stated: “While we had hoped to reach a revised back to work agreement with the league, the Players remain fully committed to proceeding under our current agreement and getting back on the field for the fans, for the game, and for each other.”

The hope is that will happen, though it’s unclear how a season could look. For instance, we don’t know whether some or all teams will play in their home ballparks (that appears especially unlikely for the Blue Jays) because of the coronavirus, which has victimized a slew of people around the sport over just the past few days. And if a season does occur, it looks as if there will be at least a few notable changes to the way things are typically done. The bottom line, though, is that signs continue to point to the start of the 2020 campaign in just a few weeks.

Charlie Blackmon, 2 Other Rockies Test Positive For Coronavirus

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Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon, left-hander Phillip Diehl and righty Ryan Castellani have tested positive for the coronavirus after recently working out at Coors Field, Kyle Newman of the Denver Post reports. Only one of the three showed symptoms, though his identity is unknown.

Aside from Blackmon, Diehl and Castellani, the other players who have been working out at the stadium tested negative. As a result of the positive tests, which Newman writes “came late last week,” the facility has been closed for the week.

Even though Major League Baseball and the players reached an agreement on health and safety protocols Tuesday, paving the way for a 60-game regular season, this is another reminder of how challenging it will be for all involved to get through the campaign unscathed.

Blackmon, a four-time All-Star, is the highest-profile major leaguer to date who we know has tested positive for COVID-19. However, Colorado certainly isn’t the only team that has been affected by it. Just in the past few days, the virus has also impacted the Phillies, Yankees, Angels, Astros, Giants and Blue Jays, not to mention at least a few unnamed clubs.

Latest On Yasiel Puig

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8:25pm: The Giants expect to be contenders to sign Puig when the league lifts its transaction freeze Friday, Jim Bowden of The Athletic tweets. They were connected to Puig on multiple occasions over the winter.

11:01am: Prior to their deal with former Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization spoke to outfielder Yasiel Puig about a potential deal for the 2020 season, Heroes GM Kim Chi-hyun tells Jee-ho of the Yonhap News Agency (Twitter link). Ultimately, Puig’s preference was to take another shot at latching on with a Major League team once play resumes.

As entertaining as it might’ve been to see what type of numbers Puig could post in the KBO (to say nothing of the bat flips he might unleash), it’s not much of a surprise that he prefers to wait to see what type of interest he might garner on a big league deal at this point. Puig doesn’t appear to have been thrilled with the offers he received over the winter and surely won’t find a better deal now amid enormous revenue losses throughout MLB, but there’s plenty of reason to think he might yet find his way onto a roster.

Not only are teams are expected to expand active rosters to 30 players — plus a taxi squad of up to perhaps 20 players — but the universal DH is expected to be implemented for the 2020 season. That’s not to say that Puig is a poor fielder or prime DH candidate. To the contrary, he graded out as an average right fielder in 2019 and has a track record of above average performances. But the added bat to each lineup of the 15 NL clubs still makes it easier for any of them to justify signing him, whether to serve as a primary DH, to push a lesser defensive outfielder into a DH role or simply to add him to a corner outfield/DH rotation. The truncated 60-game schedule might give some clubs hope of fielding a competitive club under an “anything can happen” mentality.

Financially speaking, Puig it doesn’t seem likely that Puig would field particularly lucrative offers once the transaction freeze is lifted. That said, he might still stand to earn more than he would’ve in the KBO, where the maximum salary for a first-year foreign player is $1MM (and where he’d be playing on a prorated deal  as well, since the season is already underway). Plus, in order to sign with the Heroes or any other KBO team, he’d have had to complete a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arriving in South Korea. At this point, assuming MLB is actually able to begin play on July 24-26 as hoped, the timeline for Puig to get into an MLB game and the timeline to get into a KBO game might not be all that different.

Royals Sign Asa Lacy & Rest Of Draft Class

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7:09pm: Lacy signed for $6.67MM, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets.

2:13pm: The Royals announced Tuesday that they’ve officially signed left-hander Asa Lacy. The former Texas A&M ace was the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft after compiling a career 2.07 ERA with 13.3 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 152 total innings of college ball (21 starts, 21 relief appearances). He’s the highest pick to come to terms so far, and while his bonus figure wasn’t announced by the club, the No. 4 slot comes with a $6.664MM value.

The Kansas City organization didn’t stop there. It also added shortstop Nick Loftin on a $3MM bonus, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports on Twitter. That’s a far sight higher than the $2,257,300 allocation that came with the competitive balance round A selection with which he was chosen. Loftin decided to go pro rather than returning for another year at Baylor.

Righty Ben Hernandez, an Illinois high-schooler chosen in the second round, agreed to a $1.45MM bonus. (Via Callis; Twitter links.) That freed up nearly $400K to help cover the amount due to Loftin. The Royals also saved a bit on third-rounder Tyler Gentry, an outfielder out of the University of Alabama, who inked for $750K ($818,200 slot value). The Royals also agreed to as-yet-unreported bonuses with Christian Chamberlain, LHP, Oregon State (4th round) and Will Klein, RHP, Eastern Illinois (5th round).

The Royals also announced seven undrafted player signings, rounding out a widely heralded incoming class of amateur talent:

While there’s plenty of promise from multiple new prospects, Lacy remains the crown jewel. He was the consensus top pitcher available, which made it rather surprising to see him fall to the Royals at the fourth selection. Virtually all draft pundits graded him as one of the three best prospects up for grabs in 2020.

The Royals will be especially excited with Lacy because of the team’s long-stated intention to engineer a quick rebuild. Having gone heavy on advanced college pitching prospects in recent drafts, with promising early returns, the K.C. club can now look forward to another fast-rising youngster. Lacy possesses and commands an impressive four-pitch arsenal and has already proven himself against top college competition.

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