Astros Place Roberto Osuna On Outright Waivers
The Astros have placed right-hander Roberto Osuna on outright waivers, reports Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (Twitter link). The right-hander missed most of the 2020 season with an elbow injury and was initially recommended to undergo Tommy John surgery, although a second opinion caused him to attempt to rehab the injury without surgery. Osuna was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to repeat his $10MM salary in his final trip through arbitration, and his salary and injury have made an obvious non-tender candidate. That’s what this move effectively boils down to.
Given Osuna’s injury, projected salary and prior suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, it’s all but a lock that he’ll clear waivers and become a free agent.
Still just 25 years of age, Osuna pitched only 4 1/3 innings in 2020 before landing on the injured list with what proved to be a season-ending elbow ailment. He’s been consistently excellent every season he’s been on the mound — career 2.74 ERA, 9.9 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 — but Osuna also served 75-game suspension in 2018 after his girlfriend filed domestic violence charges against him. Osuna eventually agreed to a peace bond in Canada, which resulted in the charges being dropped.
Per the Canadian Department of Justice’s web site, peace bonds are generally used when “an individual (the defendant) appears likely to commit a criminal offence, but there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has actually been committed.” The Canadian Department of Justice further specifies that peace bonds are obtainable by “any person who fears that another person may injure them, their spouse or common-law partner, or a child, or may damage their property.”
All of that will be factored into any future negotiations between Osuna and a new team once he reaches the market, although Osuna’s own track record shows that teams will look past allegations of abuse and assault in order to acquire a productive Major Leaguer. The Astros embarrassingly walked back their own “zero tolerance” policy for domestic abuse in order to acquire Osuna at a lower cost in the middle of his suspension, and we’ve seen other teams pay premium prices to sign players who’ve served suspensions under the domestic violence policy (most notably the Yankees with Aroldis Chapman).
The most immediate determining factor in Osuna’s next destination will be the health of his right elbow (or lack thereof). He began a throwing program about a month after initially being shut down, but he’ll have a ways to go before he’s ready to rejoin a bullpen.
Marlins Exercise Club Option On Starling Marte
TODAY: The Marlins have officially exercised Marte’s option, according to The Associated Press.
OCTOBER 18: During a conference call with reporters (including Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald) to discuss the departure of president of baseball operations Michael Hill, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter noted that the club is planning to exercise its $12.5MM club option on outfielder Starling Marte for the 2021 season. The option contained a $1MM buyout.
Miami acquired Marte in a trade deadline blockbuster with the Diamondbacks that sent southpaw Caleb Smith, right-hander Humberto Mejia and minor league left-hander Julio Frias to Arizona. Given the substantial trade return, it always seemed pretty likely that the Marlins would pick up Marte’s option rather than see him only as a rental player for the rest of 2020.
Still, with all of the economic uncertainty around baseball, there are only a few contract options that could be seen as 100 percent sure things this winter. It is also noteworthy that the Marlins are the team making this decision, given their history of low payrolls. Marte immediately becomes their highest-paid player and a symbol that the rebuilding in Miami could be coming to an end, even though if it’s probably safe to assume that the Marlins won’t be going on a spending spree just yet.
Marte’s first month in a Marlins uniform had mixed results, as he only hit .245/.286/.415 in 112 regular-season plate appearances. The Fish did end up reaching the postseason, however, and Marte went 2-for-4 in the Marlins’ Game 1 victory over the Cubs in the wild card series. Unfortunately for Marte, he was also hit by a pitch and suffered a hand fracture, sidelining him for the rest of the postseason.
Assuming no long-term effects from the injured hand, Marte will be ready to roll as Miami’s everyday center fielder in 2021. The 32-year-old hit a combined .281/.340/.430 over 250 PA with the D’Backs and Marlins last season, and has been a consistently steady performer over his nine-year career, spent entirely in Pittsburgh prior to the 2020 campaign.
Marte’s original six-year, $31MM extension with the Pirates signed in 2014 contained club options for both 2020 and 2021, so with both options exercised, that contract will end up as an eight-year, $53MM pact. Marte forfeited roughly $2.4MM of that sum during his 80-game suspension for a positive PED test in 2017, and the shortened 2020 season reduced Marte’s salary from $11.5MM to a little under $4.26MM.
Rob Manfred Discusses MLB’s Revenue Losses
Talk of revenue losses throughout the sport has been prominent since the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, but commissioner Rob Manfred put some more concrete numbers on the concept this week. In an interview with Barry M. Bloom for Sportico, Manfred claimed that the league’s 30 teams have amassed a collective $8.3 billion in debt and will post anywhere from $2.8 to $3.0 billion in combined operational losses.
Manfred’s comments come at a time when many clubs throughout the league have made sweeping layoffs to both business-side and baseball operations employees. The Athletic’s Alex Coffey reported last week that the A’s, for instance, are preparing to lay off upwards of 150 employees who were furloughed throughout much of the 2020 season. They’re far from the only club making such broad-ranging cuts, although Oakland certainly figures to be on the more extreme end of the spectrum.
Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote yesterday that a league official claimed Major League Baseball’s EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — showed a loss of $2.7 billion but also noted that with the league’s books closed, such numbers can’t be independently verified. A league official claimed to Drellich, perhaps more dubiously, that even under normal conditions the league would have expected $10 billion in revenue against $10.2 billion of expenses — a rather eye-opening and frankly questionable assertion when considering last year’s widely reported $10.7 billion of revenue for MLB.
In that sense, the claims put forth by Manfred and the unnamed league official(s) who spoke to Drellich on the condition of anonymity call back to the ugly standoff between MLB and the MLBPA during return-to-play negotiations, wherein the players repeatedly called for ownership to open its books and provide quantitative evidence of the extent of the damage they were facing. Detractors will surely question the veracity of the league’s figures, which Drellich notes do not account for “ancillary” revenue streams like stakes in regional sports networks.
Regardless, there’s no doubting that revenue losses felt by clubs in the absence of fans is enormous. The job cuts throughout the sport are but one way for ownership to soften the blow, but the most direct means of correcting course for owners is expected to be via club payroll. For months we’ve heard expectations of a bloated group of non-tendered players and a tepid market for free agents. To that end, Bloom notes that some club executives have already signaled that they won’t be able to commit salary to players this winter.
Some clubs will surely still spend money. The purported $2.8 to $3 billion in operating losses isn’t necessarily divided evenly among the league’s 30 clubs, and tolerance for loss varies from owner to owner (or ownership group to ownership group). Still, on a macro level it’s wise to anticipate large-scale reductions in team payrolls.
Most concerning for players, remaining club employees and the health of the sport is the potential for additional revenue losses in 2021. While the obvious hope is that fans will be back in the park for a full 162-game slate next season, that’s wholly dependent on the status of the coronavirus and the associated public health guidelines in place. To this point there’s no clear timeline on when a vaccine will be produced, approved, scaled and distributed such that clubs could expect business as usual. And while Manfred has previously taken an optimistic tone on that front, he struck a different chord in speaking with Bloom this week.
“[I]t’s going to be difficult for the industry to weather another year where we don’t have fans in the ballpark and have other limitations on how much we can’t play and how we can play,” Manfred told Bloom. “…It’s absolutely certain, I know, that we’re going to have to have conversations with the MLBPA about what 2021 is going to look like. It’s difficult to foresee a situation right now where everything’s just normal.”
Josh James Out 6-8 Months After Undergoing Hip Surgery
Astros reliever Josh James underwent surgery to repair a labral tear in his left hip, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). The recovery period for James is expected to be somewhere from 6 to 8 months, which means he is likely to miss the beginning of 2021.
The Astros have hoped James would take a step forward in his development for a couple of seasons now, but he struggled more than ever in 2020, particularly with his command. He remained a big piece of the bullpen into the postseason, however, when manager Dusty Baker called his number once in the ALDS and twice in the ALCS against the Rays. James managed two scoreless innings in the middle performance, but he was hit with a blown save in each of his other two outings. He gave up 4 earned runs on 5 hits (2 home runs) in 4 innings total.
During the regular season, James saw game action 13 times, including two starts, logging a 7.27 ERA/7.06 FIP across 17 1/3 innings with 10.9 K/9 to 8.8 BB/9. His four-seamer was down a tick to an average of 96.3 mph, though it wasn’t far enough off his career norms to cause concern for the 27-year-old.
Liam Hendriks, Devin Williams Win Reliever Of The Year Awards
Liam Hendriks of the Oakland Athletics and Devin Williams of the Milwaukee Brewers have won the Reliever of the Year Award in their respective leagues, per MLB.com (via Twitter).
Hendriks takes home the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever Of Year Award after saving 14 games in 24 appearances with a 1.78 ERA/1.14 FIP and 13.1 K/9 to 1.1 BB/9 across 25 1/3 innings. It was the second consecutive stellar campaign for the native Australian. He posted a 1.80 ERA/1.87 FIP in 75 games (85 innings) while notching 25 saves in 2019. In the postseason, he impressed with a scoreless 3-inning outing with the season on the line in game three of the ALDS against Houston. Unfortunately, it would be his final appearance of the year, as Oakland would bow out of the postseason tourney in the next game.
Hendriks becomes the first A’s player to win the award, which replaced the Rolaids Relief Award in 2014. It’s particularly good timing for Hendriks, as the 2019 All-Star heads into free agency this winter at the pinnacle of his career.
Williams takes the Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever Of The Year Award from his teammate Josh Hader, who won the previous two seasons. It’s quite the achievement for the unheralded rookie, who rode his trademark change-up to a 0.33 ERA/0.86 FIP in 27 innings across 22 games with an absurd 17.7 K/9 to 3.0 BB/9 in 2020. The 26-year-old unfortunately missed the playoffs due to right shoulder soreness. He’ll be one of the more interesting cases to track next season, assuming a return to the standard 162-game season.
Nationals Re-Sign Josh Harrison
The Nationals announced Thursday that they’ve re-signed infielder/outfielder Josh Harrison. It’s a one-year deal for the MSM Sports client. The deal starts with a $1MM base salary. Incentives beginning at 200 plate appearances could add as much as $250K to the total, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter).
Harrison was a two-time All-Star with the Pirates before entering this nomadic phase of his career, bouncing between the Tigers, Phillies, and Nats over the past two seasons. Harrison joined the Nats early in 2020 after the Phillies cut him loose before Opening Day. He quickly became a favorite of the coaching staff in DC for his versatility and clubhouse presence. Once Starlin Castro broke his wrist, Harrison’s responsibilities turned from veteran cheerleader to concrete on-field contributor. The 33-year-old slashed .278/.352/.418 across 91 plate appearances while splitting his time between second, third, and the outfield corners.
For the Nats, they secure someone that they view as a key piece of their bench in 2021 – a player with a skill set they highly value – at a very reasonable price. Harrison will provide security in backing up Castro, Luis Garcia, and Carter Kieboom between second and third, while also serving as a fifth outfielder of sorts. The Nats are potentially losing Asdrubal Cabrera from their infield mix and Adam Eaton from the outfield, and while they likely don’t want to promise those at-bats to Harrison, he does provide depth all around the diamond, which has been an area of need for the Nats in recent seasons.
Harrison fits the mold of a “Davey Martinez guy,” as a veteran with a positive attitude in the mold of Gerardo Parra, Kurt Suzuki, or Cabrera. Per MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato (via Twitter), Martinez said: “He’s fun to be around. He understands the game. He’s a true constant every single day. You never have to tell him to be ready. He’s always ready, no matter what. … For me, that’s what you want on this team. He fits in.”
Luis Perdomo Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
Padres right-hander Luis Perdomo underwent Tommy John surgery last week, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (via Twitter). As per the usual 12-15 month recovery timeline, Perdomo will almost certainly miss the entire 2021 season.
Perdomo spent some time on the injured list in September due to forearm inflammation, though he returned to pitch one more game for San Diego on September 16 before being sent to the team’s alternate training site for most of the remainder of the season, and he didn’t pitch during the Padres’ playoff run.
Acquired via the Rule 5 draft in December 2015, Perdomo has never pitched above the high-A ball level when he made his Major League debut in 2016, though he showed some hints of rotation-level durability and potential during his first two seasons with the Padres. Unfortunately for Perdomo, shoulder problems set him back in 2018, and he then re-emerged as more or less a full-time reliever in 2019. He didn’t quite fit the normal relief pitcher model given his knack for generating grounders (57.3% career ground ball rate) rather than strikeouts (career 6.7 K/9), but Perdomo posted a solid 4.00 ERA over 72 frames during the 2019 season. Between his forearm issue this season and being shuttled back and forth from the alternate training site, however, Perdomo became something of an afterthought for San Diego.
Perdomo will be eligible for arbitration for the second time this winter, and he already looked like a potential non-tender candidate even before his injury. MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected (depending on how arbiters view 2020 statistics) a salary range of $1.1MM / $1.2MM / $1.0MM for Perdomo through the arb process. It isn’t out of the question that the Padres could non-tender Perdomo and then re-sign him to a minor league deal as he rehabilitates, or it’s also possible that Perdomo might have to wait until the 2021-22 offseason before landing his next contract.
Nationals Hire Jim Hickey As Pitching Coach
The Washington Nationals have named Jim Hickey their next pitching coach, the club announced. Hickey, 59, spent the past two seasons as a special assistant for player development for the Dodgers.
The move does not come as a surprise, as manager Davey Martinez had been expected to bring in people from his past to join the coaching staff. Martinez, having recently been extended, has been granted the opportunity to hand-pick his coaching staff for the first time since taking over as Washington’s manager. He will also be selecting a new bench coach at some point this offseason.
Hickey and Martinez go all the way back to their days together on Joe Maddon’s staff in Tampa Bay. The pair worked together in Tampa for seven seasons from 2008 to 2014. Hickey, of course, comes with his own set of qualifications, having spent 15 years as a pitching coach – most recently with the Cubs in 2018.
Paul Menhart had been the Nationals pitching coach for the last year and a half, taking over midway through 2019. His ascension to the bench coincided with the Nats’ turnaround, and Menhart was credited with helping Stephen Strasburg make key adjustments during their World Series victory over the Astros. A long-time organizational coach, Menhart was informed recently that he would not be brought back.
Hickey has plenty of material to work with in Washington, who boast a three-headed monster at the top of their rotation in Strasburg, Max Scherzer, and Patrick Corbin. The back half of the rotation tells a different tale, however, as Joe Ross, Erick Fedde, and Austin Voth have been unable to fully claim rotation spots. Along with a bullpen that’s perpetually in question, Hickey will be tasked with steering their pitching corps back in the direction of the foundational unit it’s been for the franchise prior to 2020.
Reds Announce Nick Krall As Head Of Baseball Ops Department
The Cincinnati Reds officially announced Nick Krall as the head of their baseball operations department. Krall is the current VP and General Manager, but he now steps up to assume the duties as the Reds’ top baseball decision-maker.
Per the team release, the Reds wrote: “We are excited for Nick to assume the lead over our baseball operations. His hands-on approach as General Manager gives us the opportunity to reinstate that role as the top position in our baseball department and keep the years of hard work that happened under his purview producing stronger, more competitive teams.”
Previous Team President Dick Williams stepped down earlier this month to take on greater responsibility in his family business. Installing Krall in the top spot on the org chart maintains a strong sense of continuity, despite Williams’ departure. Krall and Williams worked together for 15 years in the Reds’ front office. Krall has been the GM for the past 3 seasons, helping to lead the charge in building a roster that returned the Reds to the postseason this year.
The Reds have a fair amount of money committed to their 2021 roster with Joey Votto, Mike Moustakas, Nicholas Castellanos, and Eugenio Suarez accounting for almost $64MM in 2021 payroll. The impending free agency of Trevor Bauer will be the first significant decision for the Reds under Krall’s leadership. Bauer went 5-4 with a 1.73 ERA/2.88 FIP to take home the NL ERA crown in 2020.
Marlins Part Ways With Michael Hill
10:31AM: In a conference call with Barry Jackson and Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter links) and other media members, Jeter said the club had talks with Hill about a new contract but eventually decided to part ways. The club will have a GM/president of baseball operations in place, though Jeter likes his front office’s collaborative way of decision-making. Marlins director of player personnel Dan Greenlee has also been promoted to assistant GM, Jeter said.
9:12AM: The Marlins have moved on from president of baseball operations Michael Hill, the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). The news ends an 18-year run for Hill in Miami’s front office.
The move isn’t a firing, as Hill’s contract with the club (an extension signed under previous owner Jeffrey Loria) was up at the end of the 2020 season. There hadn’t been any word about a new deal for Hill, yet today’s news still counts as a surprise, both because there hadn’t been any indication that Hill wouldn’t be staying on with the club, and because the Marlins are coming off their first playoff appearance since 2003.
Despite this recent success, however, it could be that majority owner Bruce Sherman and CEO Derek Jeter simply wish to cut ties with one of the few remaining faces from the Loria era. The Marlins organization underwent a pretty substantial makeover once Sherman bought the team in 2017, though Hill retained his job and helped oversee the Marlins’ latest roster overhaul.
Hill steadily moved up the chain of command over his long stint in Miami, moving from an assistant general manager to the GM job in 2007, and then the president of baseball operations role in 2013. It is a tenure that is difficult to properly evaluate, given the tumult that Hill often had to navigate amidst Loria’s controversial ownership of the Marlins. As noted by the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson (Twitter links), “Hill never had total authority” to run the front office under either Loria or Sherman. “Loria made all significant personnel decisions in prior regime,” while Hill was the public face of the front office under Jeter but was “part of what was essentially a committee of people who gave input to Jeter on personnel moves.”
One common thread throughout Hill’s time with the Marlins has been the team’s knack for drafting and developing young talent, though time after time, this pipeline was undercut by Loria ordering ill-advised trades and major signings. Compounding the problem was Loria’s tendency to immediately lose faith in his team after failing to experience immediate success, which led to the front office having to then figure out how to cut costs and start over with another rebuild. The fact that the Marlins were able to generate a good core group of young talent multiple times over (both under Loria and under Jeter) is perhaps a hint of what Hill could achieve if he was able to run a more normal front office environment.
Hill is only 49 years old, and given his respected reputation around baseball, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him emerge as a candidate for one of the open GM/president of baseball operations jobs this offseason. The most immediate speculation has focused on the Reds, as president of baseball ops Dick Williams resigned earlier this month and Hill is from Cincinnati. It stands to reason that the Phillies and Angels might also have interest in speaking to Hill about their front office vacancies.
Speaking of the Angels, former Halos GM Billy Eppler could potentially be a candidate to step into Hill’s old role in Miami, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets, as well as Yankees VP of baseball operations Tim Naehring. Both Eppler and Naehring were in the Yankees organization during Jeter’s time in New York, and Jeter has shown a propensity for hiring people with ties to the Bronx.
It also isn’t necessarily clear whether or not a new Marlins hire would enjoy any more autonomy than Hill did, since Jeter is ultimately making the baseball decisions. A new GM or president of baseball ops might simply be trusted with handling day-to-day duties and being a member of the aforementioned “committee” reporting to Jeter. Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes that Gary Denbo, the Marlins’ director of player development and scouting, is seen around baseball as being Jeter’s top front office advisor, so a new general manager might not even rank second in Miami’s front office pyramid.
Still, there is bound to be plenty of industry interest in being part of a Marlins organization that has signs of turning the corner. After ten losing seasons, the Fish went 31-29 to reach the postseason and then defeated the Cubs in the NL wild card series before being swept by the Braves in the NLDS. This success was in spite of a widespread COVID-19 outbreak within the clubhouse that impacted 18 players and coaches and put the Marlins’ season on hold for over a week.