Padres, Cardinals Swap Jedd Gyorko For Jon Jay
10:30am: There are still conflicting reports on the exact amount of money changing hands. $7.5MM will be heading from San Diego to St. Louis, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, with $2.5MM going in 2018 and $5MM in 2019. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports puts the amount at $7MM (Twitter link) and Scott Miller of Bleacher Report has it at $6.5MM (on Twitter).
9:20am: The Cardinals have officially acquired infielder Jedd Gyorko from the Padres in a deal that will see center fielder Jon Jay head to San Diego. St. Louis will also pick up an as-yet-unreported amount of cash in the trade as well.
Needless to say, that is a surprising development, as St. Louis already has Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong installed at Gyorko’s usual positions of second and third base. While Gyorko could factor as a platoon partner for the left-handed-hitting Wong, who struggled at times last year, and might conceivably also see time at first base, he’d make for a fairly costly super-utility player.
Gyorko is still owed $33MM under the extension he signed with the Pads early in the 2014 season. That covers four years of salary as well as a $1MM buyout on a $13MM club option for 2020.
While the 27-year-old has struggled at times since earning that deal with a strong rookie campaign, he did turn things around at the plate somewhat in the second half of 2015. Over his final 281 plate appearances on the season, Gyorko hit 13 home runs and slashed .259/.299/.440, a batting line that very nearly matches his 2013 output.
Jay, 30, is a left-handed hitter who is owed $6.225MM in 2016 before qualifying for free agency. He missed much of last season with wrist issues, but figures to see steady playing time for the Pads. What remains to be determined is whether he’ll slot in at a corner role or take up the larger part of a platoon with Melvin Upton in center.
While 2015 was more or less a lost season for Jay, he posted five consecutive seasons of average or better offensive production before it. All told, he carries a .287/.354/.384 career slash line in over 2,500 major league plate appearances. Defensively, Jay had a rough 2013 but has generally rated as an average or better option in center.
At his best, Jay is a 2.5 or 3-WAR player. And he fills a need for San Diego at a reasonable price. The team was obviously not only comfortable with, but somewhat interested in, moving on from Gyorko, given that cash will be involved. Presumably, Cory Spangenberg will step into the primary role at second base, though San Diego has several possibilities and may not be done tweaking its infield. Particularly with the future salaries of Gyorko and Craig Kimbrel now off the books (at least in large part) going forward, the club seems a viable threat to add Ian Desmond or another expensive option.
Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reported the trade on Twitter. ESPN.com’s Keith Law reported Jay’s involvement, also on Twitter. Joel Sherman tweeted that the deal was done.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rockies Sign Jason Motte, Chad Qualls To Two-Year Deals
The Rockies have agreed to terms with a pair of veteran relievers on two-year contracts, the club announced. Both Jason Motte and Chad Qualls are headed to Colorado.
Motte will receive a $10MM guarantee over his two years, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). That will be broken out into equal, $5MM salaries, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). And Qualls will take home a $6MM overall promise from Colorado, Rosenthal adds. He’ll receive a $1MM signing bonus and then annual payouts of $1.75MM and $3.25MM, according to a tweet from Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
Bringing in this veteran pen package will obviously do quite a bit to bolster the back of a bullpen that was obviously in need of reinforcement. Several of the team’s most-used late-inning options — including Adam Ottavino (Tommy John), John Axford (non-tender), and LaTroy Hawkins (trade/retirement) — won’t be opening the year in Colorado.
Motte, 33, handled 48 1/3 frames for the Cubs in 2015, working to a 3.91 ERA with 6.3 /9 against 2.0 BB/9. That was a fair cry from the more dominant numbers he posted as the Cardinals closer, but he had missed all of 2013 and a big chunk of 2014 with Tommy John surgery.
But Motte was at least able to show last year that he is still capable of handling a significant bullpen role. And he ran his average fastball up to 95 mph — not quite what it used to be, but still a big radar reading.
Qualls is a 37-year-old right-hander who has bounced around a lot over his career, as is common for relievers who last as long as he does. He posted only a 4.38 ERA in 49 1/3 innings for the Astros last year, but did run up some impressive peripherals. Qualls racked up 8.4 K/9 against just 1.6 BB/9 to go with a 59.9% groundball rate.
That solid showing wasn’t enough to entice Houston to pick up a $3.5MM option to retain him for 2015, however. Qualls did show a fairly significant velocity drop-off last year, going from the 92 to 93 mph range down to an average 91.4 mph on his sinker. But it’s worth noting, too, that he carries sub-3.00 SIERA marks for each of the last three seasons, which he maintained in spite of the reduced pop on the gun.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Twins Seeking To Deal Ricky Nolasco
The Twins are seeking trade partners for righty Ricky Nolasco, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports on Twitter. Minnesota is “trying” to move what it can of Nolasco’s $25MM salary over the next two seasons, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press tweets.
Needless to say, finding a taker for Nolasco will require some creativity. He missed much of last season after undergoing ankle surgery, and owns an ugly 5.64 ERA over his 196 1/3 innings for Minnesota.
Soon to turn 33, Nolasco has performed better in the estimation of advanced metrics, which have generally valued him as around a 4.00 earned run-equivalent performer since he signed on with the Twins. And his average fastball velocity has held at just over 90 mph. Nolasco has been hurt by a high .359 BABIP and low 66.7% strand rate over the last two seasons.
It’s not hard to imagine other teams having interest in taking a shot at a rebound, then, particularly since Nolasco showed enough to warrant a four-year, $49MM commitment in the first place. The Padres represent at least a hypothetical match, per Cotillo. But it seems clear that he’s not worth the remainder of his contract, so the Twins would surely need either to take another bad contract in return or eat money in any trade scenario.
Marlins’ Michael Hill: Jose Fernandez “Not Available”
10:16pm: The Diamondbacks are “out” of any effort to pry Fernandez from Miami, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Miami was seeking two of Arizona’s “best” players as well as “top prospects,” per the report.
8:06pm: Despite Hill’s comments, Stark reports (Twitter link) that the Marlins “think they’re making progress” on a deal with an “unspecified team.” He adds that a trade still seems unlikely.
6:18pm: Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill told Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (Twitter links) that Fernandez is “not available.” Here’s the full quote: “He’s not available. We haven’t made him available. But, it doesn’t stop the phone calls from happening.”
5:56pm: A source tells ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that the odds of a Fernandez deal appear to have dramatically increased over the course of the day. (Twitter link.) What seemed like a negligible possibility at the outset of the Winter Meetings could now be nearing even odds, per Olney’s source.
5:25pm: The Yankees have joined the two other clubs in “digging” for information on Fernandez, Stark reports. That could indicate that those organizations are looking to size up what they’d be willing to offer, of course, though it hardly suggests that Miami’s understandably steep asking price will fall to a palatable level.
10:12am: The Marlins also spoke to the Diamondbacks about Fernandez, reports Rosenthal (via Twitter), but Miami asked for a return of Patrick Corbin plus other pieces. The chances of a deal between the two sides are “slim,” per Rosenthal, who says Arizona is likely to look at lesser pitchers in trades after these seemingly brief talks.
8:11am: Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets that the Marlins asked the Dodgers for both Julio Urias and Corey Seager in exchange for Fernandez, illustrating the fact that the Marlins aren’t shopping him but only looking to move him if they can receive an overwhelming return. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports asked one rival exec what he thought the Dodgers would need to part with in order to acquire Fernandez, and the exec said Urias, Seager and Scott Van Slyke — an even more sizable haul.
2:52am: The Dodgers and others have checked in on Fernandez but MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports (Twitter link) that “no serious talks” have taken place. Frisaro says Miami will listen to teams but he reiterates that a Fernandez trade isn’t likely to happen.
12:48am: Despite public protestations, the Marlins are holding trade discussions regarding prized righty Jose Fernandez, Jayson Stark of ESPN.com reports. Talks have been had with the Dodgers and at least two other teams, one of which appears to be the Diamondbacks, per the report.
That being said, Stark emphasizes that the organization is putting such a huge asking price on the 23-year-old that it’s still considered “a long shot” that anything will get done. The Marlins are reportedly advising other teams that they’d need to a return that would make the team “better next season than they would be if they kept Fernandez,” while also improving the future outlook. That’s obviously a tall order.
Miami president of baseball operations Michael Hill said recently that there was no truth to rumors that the team was interested in considering a trade of the youthful ace. “Not sure where all of that came from,” Hill said. “He sits at the front of our rotation. We are not shopping Jose Fernandez. I don’t know what more I can say. He’s a good pitcher, one of the best in the league, so you’re going to get asked about him. But we are not shopping Jose Fernandez.”
To be fair, there’s a significant difference between “shopping” and “listening” in the baseball lexicon, and the Fish appear to be doing more of the latter than the former. But as Stark indicates, the discussions could suggest that Miami is more amenable to considering a deal than has previously been let on.
MLBTR projects Fernandez to earn just $2.2MM in his first of three arbitration-eligible seasons. That relatively meager sum is the result of his Tommy John surgery, which held him to just 116 1/3 frames over the past two seasons. While the elbow issue remains something of a concern, despite a strong comeback performance, in another sense it enhanced his value by tamping down his earning capacity.
Fernandez has been nothing short of dominant when on the hill, of course. All told, he’s thrown 289 innings of 2.40 ERA ball, with 10.5 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9. There’s little question that he’s one of the game’s most effective starters, with his low cost and youth making him one of the most intriguing assets in baseball.
Athletics To Sign Ryan Madson
MONDAY: Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports the breakdown: there’s a $500K signing bonus and Madson will earn $6.5MM in 2016 and $7.5MM a year over 2017-18. The deal also includes incentives up to $1.25MM a year based on games finished.
There’s also a one-time, $250K trade bonus, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.
SUNDAY: Reliever Ryan Madson and the Athletics have agreed to terms on a three-year, $22MM deal, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links). Madson can also receive up to $1.25MM per year in incentives based on the number of games he finishes. He is an All Bases Covered client.
That the 35-year-old Madson would receive a three-year deal over $20MM would have been unthinkable just a year ago. Madson did not pitch in 2012 through 2014 due to injury, then signed what at the time seemed to be an insignificant minor-league deal with the Royals last January. In 2015, though, he reemerged as something close to the dominant reliever he once was with the Phillies, posting a 2.13 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings in Kansas City. He also threw in the mid-90s, and his ground-ball rate (55.0%) was the highest of his career.
Madson figures to serve in a setup role in Oakland, although he has closing experience and could potentially move into the closer’s role in case Sean Doolittle, who missed much of 2015 with shoulder trouble, gets hurt again. Nonetheless, $22MM is a surprising risk for the Athletics to take with an aging reliever. MLBTR projected Madson would get three years, but at a more modest $15MM; Madson’s $22MM total eclipses that of, for example, former Athletic Luke Gregerson, who got $18.5MM from the Astros last offseason despite being five years younger than Madson is now and having a more robust recent track record. There’s also the question of whether the Athletics will contend in 2016 after winning 68 games last season, and if not, whether spending so heavily on a 35-year-old is the right strategy.
Perhaps, though, Madson’s deal is part of a broader strategy. Madson joins Rich Hill as the second 35-year-old pitcher this winter to have a comeback 2015 season and then agree to a big-league deal with the A’s. Hill had four dominant late-season starts with the Red Sox after pitching sparingly in the Majors in the previous three seasons, and Oakland signed him for $6MM. The Athletics might feel that skepticism about players in situations like Hill’s or Madson’s presents them with opportunities that they might not otherwise have to sign talented pitchers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins “Making Progress” In Extension Talks With Dee Gordon
The Marlins held extension discussions today with Dee Gordon‘s representatives at Beverly Hills Sports Council, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports on Twitter. The sides are “making progress,” per the report.
Gordon played at an extremely high level for Miami last year after coming over in a Winter Meetings swap from the Dodgers. He led the league with 58 stolen bases and a .333 batting average. He put up an overall 114 OPS+ for the season and drew rave reviews for his defense, making him worth about four to five wins above replacement.
The Fish control Gordon through 2018 via arbitration. MLBTR projects him to earn $5.9MM through the arb process in 2016. We learned yesterday that the sides were expected to explore a deal in Nashville.
Fifteen Teams Have Expressed Interest In Cliff Lee
Free agent lefty Cliff Lee is drawing interest from no fewer than fifteen teams around the league, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. The long-time ace is reportedly preparing to return to the mound in 2016.
It’s certainly not surprising to hear that so many organizations are looking into the southpaw. While he’s 37 and will be looking to make his way back from a flexor tendon tear without surgery, Lee offers unmatched upside among the bounceback candidates on the free agent market.
It’s far from clear, of course, whether teams are willing at present to commit big dollars to Lee. Certainly, they’ll want to learn more about his progress and prognosis. But the report does make clear that there’ll be no shortage of teams lined up to pursue Lee if he shows promise of returning to the form that made him one of the game’s best pitchers well into his mid-30s.
Zobrist Hopes To Decide This Week; “Focused On” Mets, Nats, Giants
Few free agents have generated as much buzz as Ben Zobrist this offseason, and yesterday’s news suggests he could be close to a decision about his new team. Here’s the latest…
- A decision is expected within the next 48 hours, Morosi tweets.
- It “appears” that Zobrist would prefer to be installed at second base, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. That would appear to suggest that Washington and New York present better fits than do the Giants.
- Zobrist has expressed interest in holding down a somewhat regular job at one position, Mets AGM John Ricco told reporters, including Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter). New York could plug him in as the more-or-less everyday second baseman, of course. The club met with his agents again today in what could be the final meeting between the sides, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets.
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo also noted in his media session that he’d see Zobrist mostly as a second baseman in Washington, as Mark Zuckerman of CSNmidatlantic tweets. Rizzo did add that he also likes that Zobrist could contribute in the outfield and “spoke glowingly” of the free agent.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that Zobrist would like to make a decision by the time the Winter Meetings conclude on Thursday. Zobrist is currently focused on the Mets, Nationals and Giants, according to Rosenthal, who says it’d be difficult at this point for the Dodgers to pry him away from one of those clubs.
Earlier Updates
- The Dodgers are the mystery fourth team in the Zobrist race, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets. Los Angeles joins the Mets, Nationals and Giants as the teams who are apparently the deepest in pursuit of the veteran. All parties seem to understand it will require a four-year contract to land Zobrist at this point. Despite Zobrist’s versatility, there isn’t as obvious a position for him in L.A. as the other cities, Heyman notes, especially since Chase Utley just re-signed with the club to join the second base mix. Then again, Andrew Friedman knows all about how to creatively deploy Zobrist from their days together in Tampa Bay.
- The Braves were a somewhat surprising bidder for Zobrist’s services, though David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution outlines why the team feels the 34-year-old is a fit for a seemingly rebuilding club. Firstly, the Braves don’t intend to be in a rebuild stage for long, as they’re still targeting 2017 (and the opening of their new ballpark) for a return to contention. Moving Shelby Miller for a package of players could address enough needs that it would free up payroll room to ink Zobrist, possibly on a backloaded contract. While the Braves aren’t as close to contending as Zobrist’s other suitors, O’Brien points out that Atlanta is within four hours of Zobrist’s home in Tennessee.
Royals Re-Sign Chris Young
5:06pm: Kansas City has announced the signing. Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweets the annual breakdown of the contract, which promises Young $4.25MM in 2016, $5.75MM for the following year, and a $1.5MM buyout on a $8MM mutual option for 2018.
9:10am: Young will earn about $11.75MM over the life of the two-year deal, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star hears that it’s slightly less: an $11.5MM total over two years (Twitter link).
DEC. 7, 8:15am: Young does indeed have a deal with the Royals, pending a physical, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (via Twitter), who adds that Young is in Kansas City at the moment, presumably to take said physical examination.
DEC. 6: The Royals are close to re-signing pitcher Chris Young to a two-year deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. The deal is likely to be worth around $10MM to $11MM, and it’s likely to be completed by the close of the Winter Meetings. ESPN’s Buster Olney recently reported that it was just “a matter of timing” before Young and the Royals came to terms.
It appears that, as expected, Young’s new deal will be considerably more lucrative than the $675K contract to which he agreed before last season. In the last two seasons, Young has very effective, posting ERAs well below four and pitching a total of almost 300 innings split between the bullpen and the rotation in Seattle and Kansas City.
Young is now 36, and there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of his prospects for future success — he’s an extreme fly ball pitcher with mediocre peripherals and very little in the way of velocity. Those reasons existed before each of the last two seasons too, however, and Young succeeded despite them. Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron broke down Young’s success in a fascinating column earlier this year, noting that Young has demonstrated an ability to repeat a BABIP that is drastically better than the league average due to his extreme fly-ball tendencies and uncanny ability to induce weak contact.
If the Royals believe in his ability to continue to be useful and versatile, a salary of about $5MM per season does not seem like an unreasonable price to pay. And considering the fact that Kansas City plays in one of the American League’s most expansive ball parks and typically prioritizes outfield defense — Lorenzo Cain is among the game’s best, though they’ll have a significant defensive hole to fill if Alex Gordon leaves — Young’s skill set seems perfectly tailored to succeed with the Royals. It remains to be seen just how many innings Young can handle in a season — the 165 he threw for Seattle in 2014 were his most since 2007, and he’s never even reached 180 — but for the reported price, Young doesn’t need to log 200+ innings in order to more than justify his salary.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kris Bryant, Maikel Franco File Service Time Grievances
A pair of outstanding rookie third basemen, Kris Bryant of the Cubs and Maikel Franco of the Phillis, have filed grievances claiming that their service time was manipulated in an effort to delay their future entry onto the free agent market, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports.
No shortage of attention will be paid to these cases. Bryant, of course, won the National League’s Rookie of the Year award, while Franco might have staked his own claim to that title had he not been injured late in the year. In that regard, then, the stakes are high for the players and teams; if a panel were to award additional service time, both would stand to qualify one year earlier for free agency.
Most important of all, however is the heightened relevance of the matter with collective bargaining talks set to begin in earnest. The matter of whether, when, and why top young players are brought up to the majors — and thus begin accruing credit for time spent on an active MLB roster — has long seemed an area ripe for consideration (if not acrimony) between the league and the player’s association.
For those unfamiliar with how things work, teams have a powerful incentive to hold back talented young players — even those they believe to be ready for the majors — to slow their march towards free agency. A less powerful, but also relevant incentive exists to keep a player down long enough to prevent them from qualifying for “Super Two” arbitration status.
A player only accrues a full season of MLB service when he reaches 172 days on the active roster (that includes off days), and it takes six full seasons of service time to reach free agency. As a practical matter, then, teams can milk nearly seven years of control over players if they just keep them in the minors for a few weeks at the start of the year.
Indeed, that’s exactly what happened with Bryant and Franco, who accrued 171 and 170 days of service last year, respectively. While there were surely legitimate baseball reasons that also supported the decisions to start those players in the minors, it’s not hard to see what line of argument their agents will pursue.
Of course, many such matters are resolved before they get to a hearing, though in these cases it would seem a creative arrangement would be necessary. It will be most interesting to see how things proceed between the larger entities with stakes in the pair of disputes: MLB and the MLBPA. The sides have about a year to negotiate a new CBA, and the service-time issue presents not only a point of possible contention, but also rather a tricky problem to solve in practice even if agreement on a general direction can be found. While bargaining could certainly override any precedent struck in a hypothetical grievance, a victory in front of an arbitration panel would transfer leverage to one side or the other.