Padres Exercise Option On Benoit, Decline Barmes’ Option
7:42pm: Benoit’s option is actually for $7.5MM and carried a $1MM buyout as opposed to $8MM with a $1.5MM buyout, according to MLB.com’s Corey Brock. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets that the buyout on the option could’ve escalated based on games finished, but the acquisition of Craig Kimbrel, of course, kept that from happening.
6:17pm: The Padres announced (Twitter link) that they’ve exercised their $8MM club option on right-hander Joaquin Benoit and declined their $2MM club option on Clint Barmes. Benoit’s option came with a $1.5MM buyout, meaning the decision essentially boiled down to whether or not the club valued him on a one-year, $6.5MM contract. Barmes will be paid a $200K buyout instead of the $2MM value of his option. I explored both situations recently while previewing the Padres’ offseason, noting that these outcomes were likely.
Benoit, 38, posted a stellar 2.34 ERA with 8.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate in 65 1/3 innings for the Friars in 2015. Detractors will note that both his strikeout and walk rates trended in the wrong direction, and his velocity declined a bit, while ERA estimators like FIP, xFIP and SIERA all feel that Benoit’s ERA is due to rise into the mid-3.00s. However, Benoit’s been able to maintain better-than-average marks in BABIP and strand rate, helping him to continually outperform said metrics.
As I noted in the above-linked offseason outlook, by exercising Benoit’s option, the Padres are effectively raising their payroll north of their 2015 Opening Day mark despite the fact that they have quite a bit of work to do this winter. Between Benoit, Matt Kemp, James Shields, Jedd Gyorko, Melvin Upton and Alexi Amarista, the team already has $82.25MM committed to the 2016 payroll. That doesn’t include significant arbitration raises to Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, Yonder Alonso, Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks and league-minimum players to round out the roster, which could bring the total to as much as $112MM.
Barmes, on the other hand, batted .232/.281/.353 in 224 plate appearances with the Padres in 2015. Of course, offense has never been Barmes’ calling card; he’s been best-known for his defensive prowess at shortstop for much of his career. Defensive metrics such as Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating indicated that the 36-year-old’s glovework took a step backward this year, but his strong track record in that regard should lead to some interest on the free agent market this winter as Barmes prepares for his age-37 season.
Phillies Decline Club Option On Cliff Lee
As had been expected, the Phillies have declined their club option on lefty Cliff Lee, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran will receive a $12.5MM buyout on the option, which was valued at $27.5MM.
At one point, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Lee’s option would be exercised, both because of its unusually robust buyout price and his consistent excellence. But Lee has experienced significant left elbow issues, with a tear in his flexor tendon keeping him out of action all year. He decided against surgery in favor of a rehab route, though it’s been a while since we’ve heard an update on his progress.
All in all, there’s little question that the $15MM spread on the option was too steep a price for Philadelphia to pay. It’s not even entirely clear whether Lee will look to return, as there have been suggestions that he’ll instead retire.
In the event that Lee does look for a new contract, he’ll represent an intriguing free agent. After all, there’s good reason to believe a healthy Lee could still be a force, even at 37 years of age.
The 37-year-old southpaw put up 666 1/3 innings of 2.80 ERA pitching in the first three years of his deal with Philly. He did drop back to a 3.65 earned run average over the 81 1/3 frames that he managed in 2014. But ERA estimators were still just as enamored of his work, he maintained an excellent 6.00 K:BB rate, and a .358 BABIP-against could explain the run prevention numbers.
Nexen Heroes Post Byung-ho Park
NOVEMBER 3: Nexen indeed posted Park yesterday, as expected, Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap reports. As explained further below, bids are due this Friday.
By timing the move as they did, Nexen has moved Park up into the front of the free agent period. By comparison, the Kang posting and signing process took place in late December. While that strategy may carry some risk, as teams pursuing significant free agents may prefer not to be bound, it could reflect a hope or expectation that MLB teams will view Park as a major addition around whom their offseason plans could be structured.
OCTOBER 28: The Nexen Heroes have announced that they will post first baseman Byung-ho Park on Monday, November 2nd, as So-jung Park of the Yonhap News Agency reports (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net).
The Korean star is a former teammate of Pirates infielder Jung-ho Kang. Both put up gaudy numbers in the hitter-friendly KBO, but Park has actually been a more consistently stratospheric offensive performer.
In each of the last three seasons, the 29-year-old has registered a 1.000+ OPS. And he’s continued to improve: last season, Park posted career-best numbers in each of the triple-slash categories (.343/.436/.714) and blasted 53 home runs in 622 plate appearances (one year after swatting 52 long balls). There will be questions asked of his strikeouts, though, as Park went down on strikes in about a quarter of his plate appearances in each of the last two seasons.
Park will now test his earning power through the traditional posting system that still governs the flow of players from the KBO to the majors. (A modified set of rules now applies to Japan’s NPB, where there is a $20MM cap on posting fees and the potential for multiple MLB clubs to negotiate with a player.) Major league organizations will participate in a blind bidding process in which the high bidder earns exclusive negotiating rights.
By posting Park on Monday, the bidding window will stay open until 5pm EST on Friday, November 6th. Then, Nexen says, the club will determine whether to take the top offer and announce its decision on Monday, November 9th. At that point, assuming the KBO club moves forward, the winning MLB team will have thirty days to reach agreement with Park (with the posting fee refunded if it cannot).
It’s always tough to predict the international market, but Kang’s huge year in Pittsburgh certainly seems likely to have elevated perceptions of Park’s ability to transition to the majors. (Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune explores that idea in more depth in an interesting piece.) To be fair, players like Eric Thames can look like Barry Bonds playing in Korea — he’s fresh off of a .381/.497/.790, 47 home run campaign — but that doesn’t mean the numbers are without any value. Acquired for just a $5MM posting fee and a four-year, $11MM contract, Kang proved an excellent value after moving to North America. While he obviously didn’t match his monster KBO stat line, he adapted quite well to the majors and put up an excellent .287/.355/.461 batting line.
Park will, of course, have quite a different market. Scouts will have opinions on how his bat will translate, and it will obviously matter that he appears to be limited to first base. But plenty of teams will be intrigued at the possibility of adding a reasonably youthful power hitter at a relatively affordable price. There will be several veteran first basemen available in free agency, but the only premier, younger talent on this year’s market is Chris Davis, who MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes predicts to land a six-year, $144MM contract.
Orioles Intend To Make Qualifying Offer To Matt Wieters
The Orioles intend to make a one-year, $15.8MM qualifying offer to catcher Matt Wieters, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). Olney further notes (Twitter link) that the Braves, on paper, seem to be a good fit with Wieters, given their protected first-round pick and lack of certainty behind the plate. Wieters, of course, played his college ball at Georgia Tech and saw longtime teammate Nick Markakis head from Baltimore to Atlanta on last year’s free agent market.
The Orioles, of course, will receive a compensatory draft pick between the first and second rounds of next year’s draft in the event that Wieters rejects the offer and signs with another team. A rival club would have to surrender its top unprotected draft pick (the first 10 picks in next year’s draft are protected) in order to sign Wieters. And, of course, the Orioles are free to pursue Wieters as a free agent even if rejects the offer.
Recent reports have indicated that the Orioles weren’t certain whether or not they’d make the offer to Wieters, but they’ve apparently now made up their minds. The thinking at MLBTR has long been that it’s a logical course of option for the O’s, as a prime-aged catcher that’s represented by one of the more outspoken critics of the QO system Scott Boras, never figured to be the first to accept such an offer. (And if he did, a healthier Wieters at $15.8MM on a one-year deal is probably a good value, anyway.) MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk explored the scenario in further detail in recent Offseason Outlook on the Orioles.
Wieters, 29, struggled to some extent in his first year back from Tommy John surgery. As MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes explained in Wieters’ free agent profile, elbow tendinitis kept him on the DL to open the season and delayed his season debut until June. Additionally, he only caught on back-to-back days four times this season as he re-acclimated himself to the rigors of the position. Nonetheless, Wieters’ 31 percent caught-stealing rate was right in line with his career norm and the surprisingly high league average in 2015 (both 32 percent).
At the plate, Wieters was solid, albeit unspectacular, slashing .267/.319/.422 with eight homers in 282 plate appearances. That batting line translates to a park-adjusted OPS of 100 — exactly league average — which is in line with Wieters’ career marks. (He was off to a much better start in 2014 before tearing the UCL in his throwing elbow.) While league-average production isn’t the most exciting concept in the world, it’s extremely valuable when coming from behind the plate; the league-average catcher in 2015, for instance, hit just .232/.295/.383, leaving them about 14 percent below league-average production.
While Boras and his team could theoretically eye something in the Brian McCann/Russell Martin mold for Wieters this winter, Tim predicted that Wieters can land a four-year commitment worth somewhere in the vicinity of $16MM on an annual basis in a weak market where he looks to be the only reasonably young starting option with a track record of success at the Major League level.
Wieters figures to be one of three Baltimore free agents to receive and reject a qualifying offer, with fellow Boras clients Chris Davis and Wei-Yin Chen serving as much more concrete cases. Other Orioles free agents such as Darren O’Day and Steve Pearce won’t receive the QO, while Gerardo Parra is ineligible to receive one after coming over via trade from the Brewers midseason (though he probably wouldn’t command one anyhow).
Nationals Decline Options On Casey Janssen, Nate McLouth
The Nationals announced that they’ve declined their 2016 options on right-hander Casey Janssen and outfielder Nate McLouth. Washington will pay a $1.5MM buyout on Janssen’s $7MM mutual option, whereas McLouth will receive a $750K buyout on his $6.5MM club option. James Wagner of the Washington Post first reported (via Twitter) that Janssen’s option would be bought out, though the move isn’t surprising on the heels of a disappointing year for the former Toronto closer.
Janssen, who turned 34 in September, signed a one-year, $5MM contract with the Nationals last winter that contained the $7MM mutual option which was bought ought today. The former closer opened the season on the disabled list due to tendinitis in his throwing shoulder, which subsequently limited him to 40 innings of work this year. In those 40 frames, Janssen tallied just a 4.95 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and a career-low 29.4 percent ground-ball rate. His fastball velocity, which registered between 91 and 92 mph at Janssen’s peak with the Jays, sat an average of just 88.5 mph this year.
Last season, Janssen struggled tremendously in the second half after coming down with a dreadful case of food poisoning that caused him to lose eight pounds in less than 12 hours. Matters weren’t helped by the fact that he spent two days on an IV to regain fluid in his body and then proceeded to pitch on five of the next eight days for Toronto. The hope was that an offseason of regular rest and workouts would get him back to the form he displayed from 2011-13 when he compiled a 2.46 ERA in 172 innings of work despite Toronto’s hitter-friendly home environs, but he instead was another piece to an underwhelming bullpen that served as one of a disappointing D.C. team’s greatest flaws.
As for McLouth, who turned 34 in late October, the 2015 season was a lost cause. He spent the year recovering from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder and didn’t appear in a game. That’s obviously not the way that the Nationals or McLouth hoped to see his two-year, $10.75MM contract end — especially considering the fact that shoulder woes limited him to a .173/.280/.237 batting line in just 162 plate appearances for the 2014 club. Given the injuries to Denard Span this season, a healthy McLouth would’ve served as a valuable depth piece for since-dismissed manager Matt Williams, but McLouth will instead likely be looking at a minor league deal this offseason as he hopes to make a roster in Spring Training and restore some value with a healthy 2016 season.
Cardinals Decline Jonathan Broxton’s Option, Outright Pete Kozma
The Cardinals announced on Monday that they have declined their $9MM club option on right-hander Jonathan Broxton. He’ll instead be paid a $2MM buyout and hit the open market, where he’s free to sign with any club. Additionally, the Cardinals announced that they have outrighted shortstop Pete Kozma off the 40-man roster along with catchers Ed Easley and Travis Tartamella.
Acquired from the division-rival Brewers in exchange for minor leaguer Malik Collymore at this year’s trade deadline, Broxton enjoyed an excellent turnaround in St. Louis after an ugly start in the Milwaukee ‘pen. Sporting a 5.89 ERA at the time of the trade, Broxton worked to a 2.66 ERA with a 26-to-12 K/BB ratio in 23 2/3 innings with the Cardinals. While his ERA, strikeout rate and ground-ball rates took a notable turn for the better following the trade, Broxton’s control was actually better with the Brewers. Overall, ERA estimators such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA all pegged him for an ERA in the mid- to low-3.00 range. (xFIP and SIERA, specifically, liked his work, giving him a pass on what looks to have been a fluky homer-to-flyball ratio that inflated his ERA and FIP.)
Kozma, 27, received 111 plate appearances for the Cardinals in 2015 but batted just .152/.236/.152. Known for his defensive wizardry, it’s been two seasons since Kozma was the team’s regular shortstop. That 2013 campaign proved to be the only in Kozma’s five-year career in which he’s received regular at-bats, to this point. The former first-round pick batted just .217/.275/.273 that season, which was weak enough for him to grade out as replacement level despite being one of the game’s better defenders at shortstop.
The 29-year-old Easley and 27-year-old Tartamella each made their big league debuts in 2015, though Easley went 0-for-6 and Tartamella just 1-for-2 in their brief cups of coffee. Easley is a lifetime .289/.360/.420 hitter in nearly 300 games at the Triple-A level and has enough minor league experience to qualify as a free agent. Tartamella, too, has the minor league service to become a free agent, though he doesn’t have the offensive track record that Easley carries. Tartamella is a .229/.276/.289 hitter in his Triple-A career, though he’s regarded as a solid defender behind the dish.
Cardinals Exercise Jaime Garcia’s Option
NOV. 2: The Cardinals announced that they have indeed exercised their option on Garcia (Twitter link).
NOV. 1: The Cardinals have informed Jaime Garcia‘s representatives that they will be picking up his $11.5MM option for 2016, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Had the Cardinals declined his option, Garcia would have received a modest $500K buyout.
Garcia’s option wasn’t a given to be picked up, but comments from GM John Mozeliak back in October seemed to hint that the club was leaning in that direction.
“You think back to Garcia, and the impact that he made on our roster was extremely positive,” said Mozeliak. “If we were having this conversation in February, I don’t think any of us would have thought he was going to contribute, especially the way he did.”
Garcia, 29, pitched to a 2.43 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 across 20 big league starts this season. Despite his rough outing in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, the left-hander gave the Cardinals solid pitching overall, no small feat considering that he began the year on the disabled list. As Strauss notes, Garcia’s talent has never really been in question, but his durability has been. Garcia has made more than 30 starts in a season only once (2011) and he took the hill only 16 times between 2013 and 2014.
Garcia’s deal is only guaranteed through 2016, though he could be brought back to St. Louis on a second option year in 2017. Next year, the Cardinals will have the option of retaining Garcia for $12MM or instead buying him out for $500K.
Blue Jays Name Tony LaCava Interim GM
1:15pm: Shapiro announced LaCava as the interim GM at today’s press conference and said there’s no timetable yet for finding a permanent solution for the position (links to Twitter via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson Smith).
12:24pm: The Blue Jays will name assistant general manager Tony LaCava the team’s interim general manager, Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun first reported this weekend. The Blue Jays are holding a press conference today to formally announce president Mark Shapiro today, so it seems likely that LaCava will be announced as the GM — at least on a temporary basis — today as well.
Toronto’s GM position was vacated last week when now-former GM Alex Anthopoulos turned down a new contract and resigned due to reported differences with incoming president Mark Shapiro. Blue Jays ownership also reportedly promised Shapiro full authority over player personnel decisions, meaning Anthopoulos’ extension essentially came along with a demotion in terms of his standing within the organization.
As Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi writes today, LaCava’s ties to Shapiro date back to 2002, when he served as a national cross-checker with Cleveland during Shapiro’s time as general manager there. LaCava joined the Blue Jays’ front office that October as a special assistant to then-GM J.P. Ricciardi. He was named assistant GM in 2007 and has since gained traction as a GM candidate around the league, interviewing for the Angels’ GM vacancy this summer. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Biertempfel reminds that LaCava, a Pittsburgh native, interviewed for the Pirates’ GM job in 2007 before Neal Huntington was hired (Twitter link).
The Jays face many questions this offseason, including whether or not to exercise R.A. Dickey‘s $12MM club option or pay him a $1MM buyout — they’re reportedly planning to exercise it — and whether or not to make a qualifying offer to Marco Estrada, as Davidi notes. However, the Blue Jays are also faced with the possibility of having to fill three rotation spots if Estrada and David Price depart and Mark Buehrle retires, as many expect. Both Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna, who came through the minors as starters, are options, but shifting one or both to the rotation will create holes in the ‘pen and raise 2016 innings concerns.
Marlins Announce Don Mattingly As Manager
The Marlins have formally announced the hiring of Don Mattingly as their new manager. Mattingly will receive a four-year contract, the club announced, although the new skipper said today at his introductory press conference that he hopes to manage in Miami for at least 10 years (via the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson).
Incredibly, the 54-year-old Mattingly becomes the Marlins’ eighth man to manager the Marlins since the 2010 season, although that does count bench coach Brandon Hyde, who managed just one game on on interim basis in 2011. Mattingly will replace GM-turned-skipper Dan Jennings, who bizarrely transitioned from the front office to the dugout in nearly unprecedented fashion earlier this year after Mike Redmond was fired as manager. (Jennings has since been dismissed from the Marlins after initially being asked to return to the front office.) The Marlins will pay Redmond through the 2017 season and only recently had Redmond’s predecessor, Ozzie Guillen, come off the books, as his four-year contract expired upon completion of the 2015 season despite the fact that he was fired three years ago.
Since word of the agreement broke, reports have indicated that Mattingly hopes to bring Dodgers bench coach Tim Wallach and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt with him to Miami. While it’s not clear whether either man will officially make the transition, Mattingly did say today that he thinks Wallach will join him as bench coach with the Marlins (via the Herald’s Clark Spencer, on Twitter).
Mattingly expressed great interest in taking on a different challenge with a smaller-payroll club: that of being forced to develop more talent than with a larger-market team. “That was the single biggest thing I was intrigued with coming to Miami is chance to develop, teach, help mold a young club,” said Mattingly (via Jackson’s piece above). “…This is a place we are going to have to develop through the minor league system, continuing to teach, develop at all time. … Also understanding the challenges of this market. It’s not a New York or L.A. where you can go endless finances. It’s a situation where you have to continue to build.”
The Marlins interviewed a wide variety of candidates, though reports throughout the interview process indicated that owner Jeffrey Loria would consider Mattingly the favorite were he to part ways with the Dodgers. That scenario came to fruition last week, when Mattingly and the Dodgers mutually parted ways. Mattingly is said to feel that the team didn’t want to commit to him for the long haul, though some form of extension was discussed prior to his departure. (Speculatively speaking, it seems plausible that the Dodgers only offered Mattingly a one-year extension of his contract, which would’ve extended it through the 2017 season.)
Though Loria is notoriously fickle with his managers — as evidenced by the fact that seven men have filled that role from 2010-15 — the New York native is said to be a huge fan of Mattingly dating back to Mattingly’s days as a six-time All-Star first baseman with the Yankees. Perhaps, then, that will buy Mattingly more leeway than was afforded to the men he is succeeding in his new role.
In five seasons as manager of the Dodgers, Mattingly posted a 446-363 record, guiding his club to the NL West Division title in each of the final three years of his term. While the team won only one postseason series in four attempts under Mattingly, he recorded a winning record in each of his five seasons and was generally well-regarded by his players. Notably, Mattingly managed in an extremely high-pressure market while juggling a large number of highly paid players on his roster, many of whom had been reduced to part-time roles. Managing the number of egos and dealing with the L.A. media undoubtedly took a toll on Mattingly, and he’s likely to encounter a more low-key environment in Miami.
Molly Knight of Vice Sports first reported the four-year agreement between the two sides.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The MLB Offseason Begins
Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals, who rode what has become a signature late-inning comeback in last night’s Game 5 at Citi Field to the end of a 30-year World Series drought. The Royals were masterful in late innings, as ESPN’s Buster Olney points out (Twitter link), scoring 40 runs in the eighth inning or later this postseason (no other team scored more than five). While many — myself included — were skeptical of Kansas City’s ability to make another World Series run, the Royals silenced critics and can bask in their victory all winter. That will be easier said than done for the team’s players than their front office, however, as like every other baseball operations department, Kansas City GM Dayton Moore and his staff now must turn their focus to the offseason.
Here’s a schedule of the most important dates facing front offices this winter…
- Nov. 2: First day of an exclusive five-day negotiation window which all teams have with their free-agent-eligible players.
- Nov. 6: Final day for teams to extend qualifying offers to free agents. Qualifying offers must be submitted by 5pm ET.
- Nov. 7: Players become eligible to sign with any team.
- Nov. 13: Deadline for players to accept or reject qualifying offers. Players must formally make their decision by 5pm ET.
- Nov. 9-12: GM Meetings are held in Florida. While not as active as December’s Winter Meetings, the groundwork for many trades and free-agent signings will take place here, and a few moves figure to be completed.
- Dec. 2: Deadline for teams to decide whether or not to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible players. The free agent market should expand to some degree on this day, albeit with relatively minor names.
- Dec. 7-10: Winter Meetings in Nashville. These four days are among the most chaotic of the year for those who follow trades and free agency — often even more so than the days leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. MLBTR will be providing 24-hour, around-the-clock coverage while the Winter Meetings are in effect. It should be noted that the Rule 5 Draft will be held on the final day of the Winter Meetings.
Of course, we’ve already begun our best effort to prepare for the offseason here at MLBTR. Our list of 2015-16 free agents has been up since last September and is up to date (though please let us know via the contact form if there are any omissions). MLBTR’s Free Agent Tracker launched in late October and will be updated throughout the winter as agreements are reached. Those wanting to get a head start on plotting out potential courses of action for their favorite teams will want to keep our Arbitration Projections (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) in mind and check out our 2015-16 Offseason Outlook series as well. We’ve also been breaking down the top names available and will continue to do so in our Free Agent Profile series.
A more comprehensive look at the top free agents will be available on Friday evening, after qualifying offer decisions have been made. At that point, we’ll launch our annual Top 50 free agent list and Free Agent Prediction contest. This year’s list will come fully equipped with not only team predictions for each player on the list but also contract predictions as well for the entire Top 50 as well.
This winter features one of the deepest classes of free agents in recent memory, which should make for a highly interesting offseason. We’re looking forward to the action and will cover it to the fullest extent. Happy offseason!