David Price Seeking Second Opinion Following Elbow MRI
March 3: Farrell said the Red Sox won’t get further word on Price’s elbow until at least the late afternoon today, tweets Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com.
March 2, 3:43pm: Price will receive opinions from both Andrews and ElAttrache in Indianapolis tomorrow, tweets Britton. (The renowned surgeons are both there for this week’s NFL combine.) Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets that Farrell said the initial MRI revealed some swelling and fluid buildup but offered “inconclusive” results overall. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets that Price himself is optimistic that the injury isn’t serious.
9:48am: There is “serious concern” that Price may require Tommy John surgery, Bowden tweets.
8:46am: The Red Sox are holding their breath after sending in key lefty David Price for an MRI, as Jim Bowden of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). For now, Price will just be held out of his next scheduled start while he heads for a second opinion.
The broader outlook is not known, but manager John Farrell says there is concern given the degree of soreness Price is experiencing. And while it’s far from clear whether there’s reason yet to believe he could be headed for surgery, the veteran lefty is already slated to see one or both of the game’s foremost Tommy John experts — Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Neal ElAttrache — for a second opinion, per Tim Britton of the Providence Journal (via Twitter).
Price, 31, signed a record-setting seven-year, $217MM with the Red Sox last winter. The agreement includes an opt-out opportunity after the 2018 campaign. He has earned only $30MM of the total thus far; needless to say, Boston has a lot riding on the lefty, both now and in the future.
While his first season with the Red Sox didn’t pan out quite as hoped, with Price recording only a 3.99 ERA, he still managed to throw a typically robust 230 frames. Boston has hoped that he and newly added starter Chris Sale would provide a historically excellent 1-2 lefty punch, with reigning AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello rounding out a top-flight front of the rotation.
If the worst case comes to pass for Price, then the club does have three arms to round out the staff — Eduardo Rodriguez, Drew Pomeranz, and Steven Wright (assuming all remain on track with their respective health issues) — but little in the way of certainty beyond that. Boston president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski previously shipped out veteran Clay Buchholz, but he has expressed confidence in the team’s remaining depth.
Jung Ho Kang Sentenced In DUI Case
March 3: Pirates president Frank Coonelly has issued a statement on Kang’s sentencing, via press release, which reads as follows:
“Now that Jung Ho’s legal case in Korea has concluded, we will continue to work with him and his representatives in an effort to secure his work visa so that he may resume his career as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. We look forward to meeting with Jung Ho as soon as he is able to travel to the United States and having a serious discussion with him on this issue and how he has and will change those behaviors that led to the very serious punishment that has been levied against him in Korea. We will withhold judgment on what Club discipline, if any, is appropriate until we have had an opportunity to have that discussion. We will also withhold from further comment until we have an opportunity to meet with Jung Ho. Regardless of our decision on the disciplinary issue, we will do everything that we can as an organization to assist Jung Ho as he works to change his behavior and grow into the man that we know he can be.”
March 2: Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang has been sentenced in the DUI case in which he admitted guilt, as Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News reports. Kang received an eight-month sentence, but it has been suspended for two years, clearing the way for him to return to Pirates’ camp.
Kang can avoid any jail time if he does not violate the terms of the suspended sentence. He has two prior DUI arrests in his native South Korea, though still managed to stay clear of a prison this time around. Whether or not he’ll face any discipline from Major League Baseball remains to be seen.
Clearly, there’s a broader issue of maturity at play here for Kang, who has endangered others with his poor decisionmaking. He has also been accused in the United States of sexual assault, though it’s not clear at present whether those allegations have any merit, and whether there’s any chance of prosecution.
On the baseball side of the ledger, there’s no doubting Kang’s importance to the Pirates. The 29-year-old has been a steady producer when healthy, providing Pittsburgh with a cumulative .273/.355/.483 batting line and 36 home runs over 837 plate appearances over the past two seasons. The Bucs guaranteed Kang just $11MM in total for his four-year deal, which also includes a $5.5MM club option for 2019.
No Timetable For David Wright To Resume Throwing
Mets third baseman David Wright was diagnosed with a shoulder impingement earlier this week, and he told reporters today that a second opinion confirmed the diagnosis of an impingement and instability in his right shoulder (via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). More troubling was the fact that Wright said there’s no time frame for his return to baseball activities. Per the New York Post’s Mike Puma (on Twitter), Wright says he is embarking on an “aggressive, time-consuming rehab” of the shoulder.
Originally, Wright was said to be shut down from throwing for at least the next two weeks, though today’s meeting with the media suggests a substantially lengthier absence. He can continue to hit in a batting cage as he rehabs his shoulder.
With Wright on the shelf for an indeterminate amount of time, third base duties will fall to Jose Reyes. While the former shortstop has also been taking some reps in center field to enhance his versatility during Spring Training, he figures to land the majority of the work at the hot corner, with Wilmer Flores and perhaps T.J. Rivera also serving as options. Given the uncertainties across the diamond, where first baseman Lucas Duda has received cortisone injections in both hips after being slowed by pain early this spring, each of Reyes, Flores and Rivera could be in line for larger roles than initially expected. Jay Bruce has been getting a look at first base this spring as well.
[Related: New York Mets Depth Chart]
Wright said today that he still plans to return to the field this season, and per Newsday’s Marc Carig, he made no indication that he’s considering this latest injury the beginning of the end (Twitter link). Per Carig, right called the rehab process “well worth it.”
Once one of the game’s elite players, Wright batted a combined .302/.384/.505 with 208 homers, 177 steals, seven All-Star nods, two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers from 2005-13. His consistent excellence prompted the Mets to sign Wright to an eight-year, $138MM extension, spanning the 2013-20 seasons. However, since a terrific but injury-shortened 2013 season, Wright has batted a more pedestrian .266/.339/.396 in 924 plate appearances across three seasons. He’s averaged 70 games per year over the past three campaigns and battled through a series of injuries, most notably including spinal stenosis and a herniated disk in his neck that required surgical repair last year. He’s owed a total of $67MM over the remaining four seasons on his contract.
MLB, MLBPA Announce Rule Modifications For 2017 Regular Season
Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association jointly announced modifications to a series of rules today, all of which have been approved and will be implemented for the 2017 season (Twitter link). The most notable of the bunch include approval of an automatic intentional walk that does not require any pitches to be thrown, a 30-second limit for a manager to request a replay review, and a “conditional” two-minute guideline for officials to reach a determination on a review case. (The announcement notes that there are “various exceptions” but does not elaborate.) Additionally, Crew Chiefs can now invoke replay reviews of non-home-run calls even after a manager is out of challenges beginning in the eighth inning, as opposed to the seventh inning.
Over the course of the 2016-17 offseason, a number of potential rule changes have been floated — ranging from fairly mild in nature (e.g. today’s implementations) to extreme (e.g. Jeff Passan’s report of placing a runner on second base to open an inning at a certain point in extra innings and Jayson Stark’s report of potential strike zone alterations). While the elimination of the traditional four-pitch intentional walk has drawn its fair share of ire from fans and from some players, last season saw an intentional free pass issued just over once every third game during the regular season, so the change isn’t exactly radical. Then again, because of the infrequency of intentional walks, there’s also some merit to the argument that the change doesn’t impact the pace of play enough to merit implementation.
Beyond those two rules, there was also an amendment made in regard to the positioning of base coaches prior to the delivery of a pitch. (Effectively, they must be positioned at the intersection of the coaching box line that is closest to the plate and the line that runs parallel to the foul line when the pitch is delivered but are free to move to signal a player when a ball is in play). It is also now expressly forbidden to use any type of on-field markers that could serve as a reference for the positioning of defenders. And, the league made an addition to Rule 5.07, which seems to carry a direct correlation to Carter Capps‘ unorthodox and controversial delivery.
Per the league’s announcement, the rule now “stipulates that a player may not take a second step toward home plate with either foot or otherwise reset his pivot foot in his delivery of the pitch.” Doing so with the bases empty will result in an illegal pitch, while doing so with runners aboard will result in a balk.
As Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter links), Capps’ “hop-drag” delivery has been interpreted consistently by the league in recent years. Today’s rule change was a formalization of that interpretation. MLB.com’s A.J. Cassavell tweets that the team (and, based on Lin’s tweets, the league) interpret this to mean that Capps can legally drag his foot during his delivery so long as he does not pick the foot up and reset it.
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Nationals To Sign Joe Blanton
The Nationals have struck a one-year deal with reliever Joe Blanton, pending a physical, according to Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Blanton is slated to receive a $4MM guarantee with $1MM in available incentives, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.
$3MM of that salary will be deferred, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter) and Barry Svrluga of the Washingon Post (Twitter links) report, with $1MM payable in 2018 and the other $2MM kicked to 2019. Blanton will take home an additional $250K apiece upon reaching fifty and sixty innings, along with a nice $500K payout if he gets to seventy.
Though he’s coming off of a second consecutive season of steady bullpen production, the 36-year-old had languished on the market this offseason. When catcher Matt Wieters joined the Nats, Blanton was left as the last available name on MLBTR’s list of the top fifty free agents.
[RELATED: Updated Nationals Depth Chart]
It’s easy to see the fit in D.C., where the bullpen has remained somewhat in flux after the organization missed on closer targets Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon. While Blanton doesn’t seem likely to factor directly into the competition for the ninth inning job, he’ll deepen the team’s late-inning corps.
It wasn’t long ago that Blanton seemed like he might be headed for retirement. His last full season as a starter came in 2013, when he scuffled to a 6.04 ERA with the Angels, and he sat out the following campaign. But the righty reemerged with the Royals in 2015, and thrived yet more upon moving to the Pirates that year in a mid-season trade.
The surprising showing of the newly minted reliever led to a $4MM deal with the Dodgers last year. That signing paid big dividends for Los Angeles, as Blanton worked to a 2.48 ERA with 9.0 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9. He carried a sturdy 80-inning workload, allowing just 55 base hits in that span.
It would be unwise to expect Blanton to continue generating a meager .240 batting average on balls put in play against him, but his other peripherals portend continued success. Though he drew far less grounders than usual (32.5% against a career average of 43.9%), Blanton tamped down the long balls that plagued him in the second half of his time working from the rotation. And he generated swinging strikes at an excellent 14.2% clip, representing an increase over his already-strong 2015 numbers (13.0%).
Beyond the ability he displayed, Blanton showed he’s still capable of carrying a heavy burden for a reliever while retaining his arm speed deep into his career. He averaged a career-best 91 mph with his fastball last year, with his slider and curve also rating as above-average offerings. While his change wasn’t as productive in 2016, Blanton’s starter’s arsenal also gives him some added flexibility. Though he surrendered free passes more frequently to the 111 lefty batters he faced than the 204 righties that came to the plate against him, Blanton held southpaw hitters to an anemic .186/.288/.258 batting line.
That’s not to say that Blanton comes without questions. He did falter in the NLCS, though he was aces for the Dodgers in their thrilling divisional series against the Nats, when he provided five scoreless innings over which he allowed just a single base knock and compiled five strikeouts against one walk. Of greater concern is his ability to continue succeeding while giving up a fair amount of hard contact (34.3%) while permitting many more flyballs (45.6%) than grounders (32.5%). And he did that while generating far fewer harmless infield pop-ups than he had in 2015 (15.2% versus 5.3%). If a few more of those flies end up in the seats — which is always possible when Nats Park heats up over the summer — then there could be some regression in store.
Regardless, it’s a solid value for the Nationals, who will add Blanton to a righty setup mix that also includes Blake Treinen, Shawn Kelley, and youngster Koda Glover. One of those three seems likely to take the closer’s job, though lefty Sammy Solis could also enter that discussion. Veteran right-handers Joe Nathan and Matt Albers now seemingly face taller odds in their bids to crack the Opening Day roster. It’s still tempting to wonder whether the organization will pursue an experienced closer before camp breaks, though the addition of Blanton likely draws down the available resources and reduces the likelihood of another significant move.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cubs Extend Pedro Strop
The Cubs have agreed to a contract extension with right-hander Pedro Strop, per ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers. The new deal will run through the 2018 campaign and comes with a club option for the 2019 season. That buys out one year of free agency for Strop, who was set to hit the open market next winter, and gives Chicago an option over what would’ve been his second free-agent season.
Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets that Strop will be guaranteed $5.85MM in 2018, and the option season is valued at $6.25MM (with a $500K buyout). Paired with Strop’s $5.5MM salary for the upcoming 2017 campaign, the right-hander is now playing on a two-year, $11.85MM deal with a reasonable option for the 2019 campaign. Strop is represented by the Legacy Agency.
The 31-year-old Strop is the oft-unheralded second piece the Cubs received in the 2013 Jake Arrieta heist. But while he doesn’t generate the headlines and fanfare of his Cy Young teammate, Strop has nonetheless been an outstanding bullpen piece for the Cubs since being acquired from Baltimore.
Strop has never posted an ERA north of 3.00 in any of his four years with the Cubs, and he’s worked to an overall ERA of 2.68 in 211 1/3 innings in Chicago. Along the way, he’s averaged 10.8 strikeouts against 3.4 walks per nine innings pitched to go along with a 53.6 percent ground-ball rate and a fastball that has averaged 95.2 mph.
Given that level of excellence, it’s at least somewhat of a surprise to see Strop take a short-term extension when free agency was just around the corner. He’d have landed on the open market in advance of his age-33 season (he’ll turn 32 this June) and hasn’t worked extensively as a closer, so he wouldn’t have been in line for any of the record-setting mega-deals we saw earlier this offseason. However, the market for top-level relief help has become more robust in recent years, and Strop still could’ve had a chance at cashing in on a fairly significant multi-year deal in free agency.
There’s something to be said, of course, for taking a risk-averse approach to financial security, and Strop had earned fewer than $10MM in his career prior to this deal. He did also miss nearly six weeks with a torn meniscus in his left knee last season, and any lingering effects from that injury could have negatively impacted his earning capacity. By signing the new contract, Strop assures himself of an additional $6.35MM while also remaining in an environment where he’s comfortable and knows he has a chance to win over the life of the deal. That last part seems to have been a key factor for the righty, who told reporters that he recognizes he could’ve potentially been viewed as a closer in free agency (Twitter links via Rogers and via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times). “I like to win better than roles,” Strop told the media.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nationals Sign Matt Wieters
Matt Wieters‘ lengthy stay on the free-agent market has formally come to a close, as the Nationals announced on Friday that they’ve signed the four-time American League All-Star. Wieters, a client of the Boras Corporation, receives a two-year guarantee that allows him to opt out of the contract after the first season. He’ll reportedly be guaranteed a total of $21MM, with $10.5MM coming in each year of the deal (though $5MM of that sum is reportedly deferred to 2021). To make room for Wieters on the 40-man roster, the Nationals placed minor league first baseman Jose Marmolejos on the 60-day disabled list with a left forearm strain.
Wieters is the top remaining player on MLBTR’s pre-offseason top fifty list; he checked in at 16th. Though the Nats are already well-stocked with catching options, the switch-hitting Wieters now stands to receive the bulk of the duties behind the dish. He joins Derek Norris — acquired earlier in the offseason — along with holdovers Jose Lobaton and Pedro Severino as catching options in a suddenly crowded mix.
It’s unclear exactly how things could play out for the Nats, but adding Wieters would hold out the promise of upgrading the catching situation while also opening some room for further transactions. Norris and Lobaton are both playing on non-guaranteed arbitration contracts, with the former set to earn $4.2MM in his second-to-last season of control and the latter entering his walk year with a $1.575MM salary. Conceivably, either of those catchers could be moved now that Wieters is on board, though multiple reports have indicated that Norris is the one the Nationals are looking to trade.
[RELATED: Updated Nationals Depth Chart]
The Nats could also consider dealing the younger Severino to address its needs at the back of the bullpen, though it’s far from clear how long Wieters will remain in place and the organization still faces long-term questions at the position. That said, the Nationals do have several other possibilities in the pipeline, including 40-man members Spencer Kieboom and Raudy Read as well as two other top-thirty organizational prospects in Tres Barrera and Jakson Reetz.
The White Sox are clearly willing to trade reliever David Robertson, of course, and could well be interested in a controllable backstop; per ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark, via Twitter, the Chicago organization has been waiting to see if the Nats would land Wieters to “rekindle” talks on Robertson. In addition to Severino, it’s also possible that the White Sox could have interest in Norris, though presumably they’d also be looking for young talent in such a scenario.
ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden tweeted not long before word of the deal broke that Wieters’s agent, Scott Boras, was “meeting with both GMs and owners” and making progress on a deal. The veteran agent has long had a strong connection with the Nats’ ownership and front office group, with the sides working out significant contracts over recent years for players including Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Jayson Werth. Young stars Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon are also repped by Boras, as are lefty Gio Gonzalez as well as recent signees Oliver Perez and Stephen Drew.
Soon to turn 31, Wieters finally returned to regular duties last year with the Orioles after two consecutive injury-plagued seasons highlighted by Tommy John surgery. But after receiving and accepting a qualifying offer last winter, Wieters was allowed to hit the open market following a disappointing season. Over 464 plate appearances, he slashed just .243/.302/.409, though he did swat 17 home runs. Though he has posted stronger offensive campaigns in the past, the veteran owns a league-average lifetime batting mark and has never quite developed into the top-level performer he once promised to be.
There are also some questions on the defensive side of the spectrum. While Boras has sought to push back against Wieters’s poor ratings in the eyes of pitch-framing metrics, his explanation isn’t entirely compelling on its face. That said, Wieters was able to cut down 35% of the runners that tried to swipe bags against him last year, helping to ease concerns over his elbow. And Baseball Prospectus credited him as a strong pitch blocker (subscription link), as it has in years past.
Of course, a fair bit of a catcher’s value lies in the nebulous world of handling a staff and calling pitches, and Wieters has drawn his share of praise in that department. (See, e.g., here.) He does face long-term questions with his sizable frame, though those risks are lessened on a short-term deal such as this. And whether he can return to being at least an average hitter remains to be seen.
All said, then, there’s some risk here, but also the promise of a steady veteran in a key position. None of the Nats’ in-house options, certainly, hold out quite as much hope. Norris has profiled alternatively as a quality hitter who isn’t polished behind the plate, and (more recently) as a power threat that can’t get on base but frames well. Lobaton, clearly, is best suited to reserve duties. And while Severino impressed in brief MLB action last year, and comes with a highly regarded defensive profile, he has yet to reach the .700 OPS barrier in a professional season.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links) and Heyman (via Twitter) added that Wieters would receive a two-year guarantee with a player option/opt-out clause. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the guaranteed money (via Twitter). Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post first reported the agreement and the deferred money (Twitter links). Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM added the annual breakdown (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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