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Rays Re-Sign Mike Zunino

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3:01PM: The Rays have announced the move. The escalators within the 2022 club option are broken down by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, as Zunino can increase the option to $5MM if he appears in 80 games.  Ninety games played raises the price to $6MM, and it tops out at $7MM if Zunino appears in 100 games or if he gets traded.

12:26PM: The Rays have agreed to a new deal with catcher Mike Zunino, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link).  It is a one-year contract for the veteran backstop, with a club option for the 2022 season.  Zunino is represented by Jet Sports Management.

Zunino will get $3MM in guaranteed money, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets.  According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter), that $3MM breaks down as $2MM in salary and a $1MM buyout of the club option.  The exact value of that club option will vary based on Zunino’s playing time, but it will fall somewhere between $4MM-$7MM.

Tampa declined its $4.5MM club option on Zunino following the World Series, though there was mutual interest between the two sides in a new contract.  Zunino will now return for a third season with the Rays, and he’ll help fill a sizeable void behind the plate, as the AL champions also parted ways with Michael Perez and Kevan Smith.

It’s probably safe to assume that the Rays will continue to look for more catching help even with Zunino back, as his lack of offensive production over the last two seasons makes him an imperfect fit as a starting catcher.  Zunino has hit only .161/.233/.323 over 373 PA in a Rays uniform, though he did bolster that resume with a big performance in the 2020 ALCS to help Tampa Bay win the pennant.

Earlier in his career, it seemed as though Zunino would develop into an offense-first catcher if anything, as he slugged 90 homers with the Mariners from 2014-18.  Apart from an overall strong 2017 season, however, Zunino generally posted low batting averages and on-base totals, and detracted from his power with a lot of strikeouts.  Defensively, Zunino is well-respected as a game-caller and a handler of pitchers, but Statcast hasn’t been impressed with his declining framing ability over the last two seasons.

Zunino’s new deal removes another name from the list of free agent catchers.  The Rays were one of many contenders known to be looking for catching, and while Tampa obviously wasn’t shopping at the top of the backstop market (i.e. J.T. Realmuto or James McCann), removing Zunino from the next tier down further narrows out an already pretty thin collection of available talent for teams in need of a catcher upgrade.

MLB Designates Negro Leagues As An Official “Major League”

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Major League Baseball announced that “Major League” status has been officially conferred upon the Negro Leagues.  As per the league’s press release….

“During this year’s centennial celebration of the founding of the Negro Leagues, MLB is proud to highlight the contributions of the pioneers who played in these seven distinct leagues from 1920-1948.  With this action, MLB seeks to ensure that future generations will remember the approximately 3,400 players of the Negro Leagues during this time period as Major League-caliber ballplayers.  Accordingly, the statistics and records of these players will become a part of Major League Baseball’s history.”

The league’s decision is a welcome one, and as the press release itself stated, it corrects “a longtime oversight” within the sport’s official history.  Other leagues that weren’t part of what we recognize as Major League Baseball (such as 19th century leagues like the American Association or the Players’ League) have long been included within MLB’s official statistical record, and players in those leagues have been considered Major Leaguers. 

Now, that same distinction can be used to cover the thousands of players who took the field for the seven leagues in question — the Eastern Colored League, the American Negro League, the East-West League, the Negro Southern League, the Negro American League, and the two separate incarnations of the Negro National League.

“All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in the league statement.  “We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”

This means that such legendary figures as Oscar Charleston, Pop Lloyd, Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, and Josh Gibson can now properly be considered as Major League players, to go along with their status as Baseball Hall Of Famers and all-time greats of the sport.

Beyond the overdue moral justice of today’s announcement, the statistical element is also fascinating for lovers of baseball’s record book.  Researchers and historians have long worked to uncover and chronicle Negro League statistics from a variety of news sources from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, and according to the press release, “MLB and the Elias Sports Bureau have begun a review process to determine the full scope of this designation’s ramifications on statistics and records.”

Rangers Sign David Dahl

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TODAY: The Rangers have announced the signing. Dahl will earn $2.7MM in guaranteed money, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets, with another $300K available in salary incentives.

DECEMBER 11: The Rangers and free-agent outfielder David Dahl have agreed to a one-year deal worth approximately $3MM, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports.

Texas will be the second major league franchise for the 26-year-old Dahl, who spent the first several seasons of his professional career as a member of the Colorado organization. Dahl is a former No. 10 overall pick and top 100 prospect who was a successful hitter with the Rockies for most of his time there (which spanned from 2016-20), but after he recorded woeful production last season, the Rockies moved on at the non-tender deadline a week ago. Instead of paying Dahl a projected $2.5MM to $2.7MM for 2021, Colorado cut him loose.

Dahl was just a .183/.222/.247 hitter without a single home run in 99 plate appearances last year, though he entered the campaign with a far more respectable .297/.346/.521 line with 38 HRs over 921 PA. Dahl even earned an All-Star nod in 2019. Of course, there were plenty of health issues that helped stop Dahl from making an even greater impact in Colorado. Rib, foot, ankle and back injuries have limited Dahl to a mere 264 games to this point, including just 24 in 2020, and he has only appeared in at least 100 contests in one season.

While Dahl does come with question marks, this still looks like an interesting buy-low signing on the part of the Rangers. If it works out, they’ll be able to control Dahl via arbitration through 2023. In 2021, Dahl – who has experience at all three outfield positions – should get ample chances to revive his career. Aside from Joey Gallo and Willie Calhoun, who endured their own significant drop-offs in 2020, the Rangers’ 40-man roster is sorely lacking outfielders who have experienced any real major league success.

The Dahl addition makes for the third noteworthy move the Rangers have made since they hired Chris Young as their new general manager on Dec. 4. Young and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels traded right-hander Lance Lynn to the White Sox and acquired first baseman Nate Lowe from the Rays earlier this week.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign James McCann

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TODAY: The signing has been officially announced. It’s a $40.6MM deal that includes a $600K signing bonus, Tim Healey of Newsday tweets.

DECEMBER 12, 12:48pm: The deal is done pending McCann’s physical, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).  An official announcement from the Mets is expected to come today.

11:21am: The Mets and James McCann are in the “final stages” of completing a four-year deal that will pay McCann around $40MM, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  According to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan, the deal is worth “just a touch over” the $40MM threshold and there is a signing bonus involved.  The contract will be official once McCann passes a physical.  McCann is represented by the Ballengee Group.

After reports surfaced earlier this week that McCann and the Mets were on the verge of a deal, it seemingly took a few days more to reach an agreement.  While McCann was the second-best catcher on the free agent market after J.T. Realmuto, a four-year deal worth north of $40MM is more than double the two-year/$20MM pact that MLB Trade Rumors projected for McCann, making it a very nice score for the 30-year-old.

McCann produced fairly unremarkable numbers as the Tigers’ regular catcher from 2015-18, and was non-tendered following a rough 2018 season.  McCann then joined the White Sox and rather surprisingly broke out, hitting .276/.334/.474 with 25 homers over 587 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season.  McCann greatly improved both his amount of hard contact and the quality of that hard contact, though he did get some good fortune in 2020 — a .339 BABIP and a .372 wOBA that far outpaced his .329 xwOBA.  (McCann also had a .359 BABIP in 2019.)

McCann’s defense also took a step up, as recently outlined by MLBTR’s Steve Adams…

Behind the plate, McCann has long been adept at controlling the running game. Even with the Tigers, he nabbed 37 percent of those who attempted to take a base against him. One knock on McCann, however, was on his receiving ability — or lack thereof. McCann ranked well below average in terms of framing metrics for much of his time with the Tigers and even early in his White Sox tenure — a flaw that likely influenced the White Sox’ decision to sign Yasmani Grandal to a four-year pact last winter.

Recognizing that shortcoming, McCann spent the bulk of his (2019-20) offseason working with catching guru Jerry Narron to improve his receiving and framing. The results paid off, as Statcast ranked McCann as much-improved in that regard, particularly with pitches at the bottom of the strike zone, which was where he’d struggled most. McCann went from garnering strike calls on just 44.1 percent of pitches at or slightly below the bottom of the zone to an excellent 61.8 percent. One can suggest that there’s some small-sample smoke and mirrors at play, but McCann’s improvement was pronounced enough that it can’t be entirely dismissed as small-sample noise. It would seem that the Mets agree.

A four-year contract for a 30-year-old catcher (McCann turns 31 in June) carries some risk, though making an aggressive play to address a clear roster weakness is the type of boldness Mets fans expected once Steve Cohen bought the team.  At least in the short term, the Mets have now strongly upgraded a position that was a major offseason question mark, and it also sets the table for further transactions.

For one, Realmuto is no longer in the picture, meaning that the Mets can now save their biggest spending splurge for another player….or even players.  As noted by Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Mets “stayed in touch with the Realmuto camp” if the McCann talks fell through, but with McCann now signed, a preferred major target like George Springer or Trevor Bauer could potentially be next.

Mariners To Acquire Rafael Montero

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The Mariners and Rangers have agreed to a trade that will sent right-hander Rafael Montero to Seattle, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  Texas will receive right-handed pitching prospect Jose Corniell in return, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports (Twitter links), with Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram adding that the Rangers will also get a second prospect.  That other minor leaguer is a player to be named later, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Relief pitching was a major offseason target for the Mariners, and GM Jerry Dipoto will now add a talented reliever from within the AL West.  Montero posted a 4.08 ERA, 3.17 K/BB rate, and 9.7 K/9 over 17 2/3 innings last season, with ERA predictors painting a pretty solid view of his work (3.70 FIP, 4.85 xFIP, 4.00 SIERA), as his very low 49.4% strand rate was at least somewhat balanced out by a .227 BABIP.

2020 marked Montero’s first full (or as full as could be, given the shortened schedule) season back after he missed all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Montero returned to toss 29 innings out of the Texas bullpen in 2019, looking very impressive in posting a 2.48 ERA.

Once a highly-touted prospect during his time in the Mets farm system, Montero never really clicked while pitching in parts of four (2014-17) seasons in New York.  Shoulder injuries, frequent shuttles up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues, and moving between both starting and relieving all contributed to Montero posting a 5.38 ERA over 192 1/3 innings in a Mets uniform.

The Amazins cut him loose following the 2018 season and Montero then inked a minor league deal with Texas, where he has gotten his career back on track.  The move to full-time relief work has unlocked some extra velocity for Montero even post-TJ surgery.  He has averaged 95.7mph on his fastball in 2019-20, after never topping the 93.7mph mark in his first four seasons.

Montero completed all eight of his save chances for Texas in 2020, and now looks to be the favorite to work as the closer in a Mariners bullpen that is lacking in ninth-inning answers.  Montero turned 30 in October, though while he isn’t all that young, he is still controllable for two more seasons, projected to earn between $1.4MM and $2.5MM in his second trip through the arbitration process.

The trade marks another step in the Rangers’ plan to get younger this winter, as the team embarks on a mini-rebuild.  (Moving Montero also clears a 40-man roster spot for the newly-signed David Dahl.)  Given the low cost involved in acquiring Montero, trading him for a couple of young prospects isn’t a bad return for Texas, especially considering the relative difficulty in offering bullpen help in trade talks given the large number of other relievers available in free agency.

Corniell is only 17 years old, and was brought aboard by the M’s when the 2019-20 international signing window opened.  He has yet to begin his pro career thanks to the minor league shutdown in 2020, but MLB.com ranks Corniell as the 24th-best prospect in Seattle’s farm system, touting a solid three-pitch arsenal of a changeup, a “power curve,” and a fastball that can hit the mid-90’s.

Report: MLB Looking To Delay 2021 Season Until At Least May

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Amidst the continued uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball is hoping to push the start of the 2021 season into May, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  This would mean a delayed start to Spring Training and a shorter season than the normal 162-game schedule.

“I don’t see any way spring training starts in February,” an American League owner said.  “Zero chance of that.  I don’t care if we play 140 games, 120 games or 80 games, we have to make sure everyone is safe to do this right.”

The league and the owners want players and all team personnel to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before arriving at spring camp, which doesn’t seem feasible by early-to-mid-February (the usual start date for Spring Training) given that coronavirus vaccines are still in the early stages of distribution.

“I think there will be significant pressure for players to get the vaccine first before they go to Spring Training, and if that has to be moved back to April and play 130 games, so be it,” an unnamed National League owner tells Nightengale.  “But to have 162 games, and start Spring Training at the normal time without players being vaccinated, that’s just crazy.  Does Arizona and Florida, with their cases spiking, really want teams with about 125 people in each organization coming to town without vaccines?”

Delaying the season would also allow for not only players, but fans to be vaccinated as the treatments become more widespread.  Another season of empty-stadium baseball isn’t at all palatable to the league or the owners, and while it doesn’t seem feasible that we’ll see full stadiums anytime soon, a downturn in COVID-19 numbers could result in at least some ballparks being permitted to sell tickets this summer, if under the types of social distancing guidelines we saw during the NLCS and World Series.

Any reduction in the season would have to be negotiated with the players union, and Nightengale says that the league and the MLBPA have yet to begin discussions about the season’s length (though the two sides have been talking about such issues as the implementation of the designated hitter in the National League).  As one might imagine, the players aren’t likely to accept the reduced salaries that would come with a lesser number of games, so fans could be in for another protracted set of public negotiations akin to what we saw in the lead-up to the 2020 season.

In the union’s view, as Nightengale writes, “it proved a year ago that teams can safely adapt to protocols,” so the MLBPA wants to play a 162-game schedule under the same health and safety guidelines as the 2020 season.  While a schedule delay isn’t out of the question, Nightengale hears from multiple players that “the ideal scenario…would be to delay the season for everyone to be vaccinated, but to extend it a month where a full season can be played with everyone still receiving their full salary.”  However, that idea won’t fly with the league, as “it would still result in massive revenue losses for teams with restricted or no fans,” plus there isn’t any desire on the league’s part to stretch the postseason into late November or December.

Royals Re-Sign Greg Holland

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The Royals have re-signed reliever Greg Holland, the team announced. It’s a one-year, $2.75MM deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The pact also contains a possible $1.5MM in incentives, reports Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (via Twitter).

Holland, 35, had a stellar rebound effort in Kansas City this past season after a pair of down years. Over 28.1 innings spanning 28 games, the right-hander worked to a 1.91 ERA/2.52 FIP. His 27.7% strikeout rate, while strong, wasn’t much different than it had been in prior seasons. Holland’s turnaround was more a reflection of a significant improvement in his strike-throwing. After walking over 15% of opposing hitters in each of the prior two seasons, the veteran sliced his walk rate to 6.3% in his return trip to Kansas City.

Always known for his slider, Holland leaned on the breaking stuff more than ever last season. Cutting his fastball rate from nearly half to less than two-fifths of his offerings, per Brooks Baseball, Holland generated whiffs on 13.1% of his pitches despite pedestrian velocity. Using the heater less often corresponded with an improvement in the pitch’s effectiveness. Presumably, that reflects opposing hitters’ expectations of seeing a breaking ball.

Even though the Royals weren’t contenders, Holland stayed in Kansas City past this year’s August 31 trade deadline. He’ll now return for another season at the back end of an intriguing bullpen. Kyle Zimmer, Josh Staumont, Jesse Hahn and Scott Barlow all join Holland in coming off strong seasons, making the relief corps a high-upside area of the roster for manager Mike Matheny.

This continues an active early portion of the offseason for Royals GM Dayton Moore and the front office. Moore suggested last month he expects the club to be competitive next season. Kansas City has since brought back Holland and added Carlos Santana and Mike Minor. The Royals still seem like something of a longshot to stick with the Twins, White Sox and Indians over a full season, but they’re markedly improved over the 2018-19 teams that each lost over 100 games.

Cleveland To Change Team Name

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DECEMBER 14: Owner Paul Dolan confirmed that the franchise plans to change the team name in an interview with Tom Withers of the Associated Press. Cleveland has also released a statement announcing the news. Unlike the NFL’s Washington organization, the club will continue to use the Indians moniker until a permanent replacement is determined. For at least the 2021 season, the franchise will remain known as the Indians. Dolan said the permanent team name will not reference Native American people or cultures in any way, specifically rejecting the possibility of the team being known as the Tribe.

DECEMBER 13: The Cleveland Indians have decided to change their team name, according to David Waldstein and Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times.  An announcement from the club could come at some point this week, though the team might retain the name throughout the 2021 season and then officially adopt a new nickname for 2022.  The club is also considering adopting a generic name (such as “The Cleveland Baseball Team”) in the interim.

The Cleveland organization announced it was considering a possible name change in a statement last July, not long after the NFL’s Washington franchise indicated it was weighing a move away from its former nickname — hence the creation of the “Washington Football Team” designation for the 2020-21 NFL campaign.  Even before July, however, there had been indications that the Cleveland team was slowly laying the groundwork for a name change, such as how the club’s old “Chief Wahoo” mascot was no longer prominently featured on uniforms, and the now-familiar “C” logo had become the primary choice on caps.

This won’t be the first name change for the franchise, as they were first known as the Grand Rapids Rustlers upon their original foundation in 1894 (when based in Grand Rapids, Michigan) and then became known as the Cleveland Lake Shores after moving to Ohio.  When the team joined the American League in 1901, the name changed twice in as many seasons, going from the Bluebirds (or Blues) in 1901 and then the Bronchos in 1902, before settling on becoming “the Cleveland Naps” from 1903-1914 in a nod to newly-acquired superstar Napoleon Lajoie.

A new name was obviously required after Lajoie was sold to the Philadelphia A’s following the 1914 season, and it then that Cleveland adopted its current nickname.  The proper origin of the “Indians” name has remained unknown, as the popular story that the nickname was chosen in honor of Louis Sockalexis (a Native American and fan favorite for the National League’s Cleveland Spiders in 1897-99) isn’t exactly true, as there are also several indications that Cleveland chose the name to capitalize on the popularity of the 1914 World Series champion Boston Braves.

Cleveland’s team name has remained the same for 106 years, throughout increasing criticism that the nickname and related imagery — such as Chief Wahoo and the alternate “Tribe” nickname — was offensive and stereotypical.  As noted by Waldstein and Schmidt, many colleges and high schools across North America that used to carry Native American-related nicknames and mascots have changed their branding in recent years, and the Washington Football Team’s decision was the first such step taken by one of the clubs in the four major team sports.  One would imagine that Cleveland’s decision will increase pressure on the Atlanta Braves, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, and the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, though none of those teams has indicated that a name change is under consideration.

The Cleveland franchise’s new name could be decided “in consultation with the public,” according to Waldstein/Schmidt, which could take the form of a public poll (of a shortlist of name choices selected by the organization) or potentially a more extensive approach such as the discussions that went into the naming of Seattle’s new NHL expansion franchise, the Seattle Kraken.  Fans have been floating potential alternate names for Cleveland’s team for years, with such throwback choices as the Spiders being a popular favorite, as well as some consideration that the team could go completely old-school and permanently become “the Cleveland Baseball Club.”  Certainly these and many more fanciful possibilities will be suggested in the coming months.

Red Sox Sign Hunter Renfroe

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The Red Sox announced they’ve signed outfielder Hunter Renfroe to a one-year contract (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). He’ll be guaranteed a base salary of $3.1MM with an additional $600K available in incentives, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

Renfroe, 29 in January, became a free agent after he was outrighted by the Rays last month. Tampa Bay decided it wasn’t prepared to tender him an arbitration contract, projected in the $4MM range, on the heels of a disastrous 2020 season. The right-handed hitter managed just a .156/.252/.393 slash line with eight homers over 139 plate appearances in his lone season in Tampa Bay. That certainly wasn’t what the Rays had in mind when they acquired Renfroe as part of the deal that sent Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth to the Padres last offseason.

That the Rays were willing to part with talented players to bring Renfroe aboard in the first place, though, speaks to the decent player he’d become in San Diego. Between 2018-19, Renfroe hit .231/.295/.496 with 59 home runs (106 wRC+). That made him slightly better than the average hitter in aggregate, but the shape of that production was more variable. Over the course of his career, Renfroe has mashed (.258/.339/.573) against left-handed pitching, while posting subpar numbers (.216/.268/.449) against righties. That could point to a future as the short side of a platoon, but Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told reporters (including Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic) Renfroe could be an everyday option in the grass.

That’s a testament to his defensive aptitude. Despite his size, Renfroe has generally rated as a strong corner outfielder. Over the past three seasons, he’s racked up 23 defensive runs saved between left and right field. Much of that value comes from his plus arm, although Statcast’s range-based metric also pegs Renfroe at five outs above average in that time. That defensive prowess has helped differentiate the former first-rounder from other on-base deficient sluggers around the league. During his final two seasons in San Diego, Renfroe accrued a solid four to five wins above replacement, in the estimation of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.

If he can recapture that level of production, Renfroe could find a home in Boston for a few seasons. He remains controllable via arbitration through 2023. In the immediate future, he joins an outfield consisting of Alex Verdugo and Andrew Benintendi (as well as primary designated hitter J.D. Martinez).

Both Verdugo and Benintendi worked in the corner outfield last season in deference to Jackie Bradley Jr. Either could be capable of replacing Bradley, who has since hit free agency, if the Sox see Renfroe as an everyday player. Bloom told reporters (Cotillo link) that Verdugo would open the season in centerfield as things stand but didn’t rule out the possibility of future additions to the outfield.

Mets Hire Jared Porter As General Manager

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DECEMBER 13: The Mets have officially announced Porter’s hiring as general manager. He signed a four-year contract.

DECEMBER 12: The Mets have focused their search for a new general manager on Arizona Diamondbacks Assistant GM Jared Porter, per MLB Insider Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Porter has been talked about in conjunction with a number of front office openings, including the recent Angels’ opening, for which he was a finalist. Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirms that the Mets are now working to finalize a four-year agreement with Porter (Twitter links). The two sides are merely working out some final details, adds Heyman.

Porter’s background is in professional scouting, though he isn’t limited to any one area in his current role with the Diamondbacks. Prior to joining the Diamondbacks, he was the Director of Professional Scouting for the Cubs for two seasons, a title he held with the Red Sox from 2012 to 2015. Currently, he’s a Senior VP & Assistant GM to Mike Hazen in Arizona, a position he’s held for since just after winning the World Series with the Cubs. Hazen hired Porter in November of 2016.

Porter has contributed to four World Series winners, including a pair of “cursebreakers” in Boston and Chicago. Sherman offers this assessment of Porter: “Reputation as personable, hardworking, scout at heart who knows analytics, not afraid to make decisions. Theo Epstein disciple.” Porter will work closely now with Sandy Alderson to head up the Mets baseball operations department.

Back in 2017, Porter was kind enough to grant an interview to MLBTR, which can be found in two parts: here and here.

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