2015-16 MLB Free Agent Tracker Now Available
We’ve been obsessing over MLB free agency for nearly a decade here at MLB Trade Rumors, and this offseason is going to be a good one. The market features unprecedented starting pitching, with David Price, Zack Greinke, Jordan Zimmermann, and Johnny Cueto. Sluggers Chris Davis, Yoenis Cespedes, and Justin Upton will be well-compensated, but Jason Heyward might top them all. Everything you need to track all of the signings can be found in MLBTR’s Free Agent Tracker for the 2015-16 offseason.
We’ll be updating the free agent tracker quickly after signings this winter, and you can filter by team, position, signing status, qualifying offer, contract years and amount, and handedness. Here’s the link again; let the roster-building begin!
By the way, you can catch all of the latest MLB news and rumors by following us on Twitter:
Blue Jays Claim Pat Venditte, Designate Darwin Barney
The Blue Jays announced today that they’ve claimed switch-pitcher Pat Venditte off waivers from the Athletics. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Darwin Barney has been designated for assignment. Venditte isn’t eligible to pitch in the postseason with Toronto.
As an ambidextrous pitcher, the 30-year-old Venditte grabbed quite a few headlines in Oakland when he made his big league debut earlier this season. Venditte logged 28 2/3 innings with the A’s in the Majors, totaling a 4.40 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a 32.9 percent ground-ball rate. Venditte was hit hard by right-handed hitters — particularly in the few instances where he had to face them as a left-handed pitcher. However, he excelled in lefty-lefty matchups, limiting opponents to a .116/.188/.256 batting line in such situations.
Formerly a 20th-round pick by the Yankees in 2008, Venditte also grinded his way through eight minor league seasons before emerging at the Major League level in Oakland this year. His minor league track record is exceptional, as he’s worked to a 2.39 ERA, averaging 10.0 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 along the way. Venditte doesn’t throw particularly hard, averaging just 84.6 mph and sitting in the mid-80s from each side. However, that hasn’t limited his effectiveness in the minors, and the Blue Jays will hope that he can be a contributor for him in future seasons. If nothing else, he’s a nice depth piece for a team that is currently slated to lose LaTroy Hawkins and Mark Lowe to free agency.
The 29-year-old Barney, a fixture in the Cubs’ infield from 2010-14, came to the Blue Jays by way of trade from the Dodgers in September. Toronto had a need at second base with Devon Travis again sidelined by injuries, and Barney was picked up to fill that role despite the fact that being acquired after Sept. 1 made him ineligible for the postseason. Barney spent most of the season in Triple-A with the Dodgers, where he batted .277/.325/.354. While those numbers don’t exactly leap off the page, Barney’s calling card has long been his defense at second base, where he won a Gold Glove in 2012. He also has experience at shortstop and third base.
Eddy Julio Martinez To Sign With Cubs
Cuban center fielder Eddy Julio Martinez‘s free agency has been surrounded by controversy, but the 20-year-old has officially signed with the Cubs, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy.
Expectations for Martinez were high heading into this year’s international free agency period, with some outlets estimating that he’d sign a $10MM+ bonus. Martinez rumors went quiet for an extended period of time, though, before it was reported that he’d hired new representation and is now represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council. Martinez agreed to a $2.5MM signing bonus with the Giants — an agreement which GM Bobby Evans publicly acknowledged — but it was soon reported that Martinez wouldn’t sign with the Giants and instead sought a $3MM bonus.
That bonus materialized shortly thereafter, as the Cubs swooped in and reached a reported agreement. However, it was soon revealed that that Major League Baseball was determining whether or not the Giants’ agreement was binding. At the heart of the issue was that Martinez had multiple agents negotiating on his behalf, with his BHSC reps striking the deal with the Giants via a series of texts and emails. Martinez was also employing multiple “buscones,” or street agents, who brokered the deal with the Cubs. Had the agreement with the Giants been ruled to be binding, it would have superseded Martinez’s larger agreement with the Cubs.
That, clearly, was not the case though, as Eddy and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez have both reported today that Martinez will go to the Cubs. He’ll add to an impressive crop of international talent signed by the Cubs, who spent $8.65MM on July 2. That means they’ll be taxed at 100 percent on their $3MM signing of Martinez, meaning they effectively paid $6MM to secure his services.
Barry Zito Announces Retirement
Left-hander Barry Zito officially announced his retirement from baseball today in an honest, insightful column for the Players Tribune. The 37-year-old spent his entire 15-year Major League career in the Bay Area, suiting up only for the Athletics and Giants.
Zito debuted with Oakland as a 22-year-old in 2000 just barely one year after being selected ninth overall in the 1999 draft. His rookie season yielded 92 2/3 innings of a 2.72 ERA and a sixth-place finish in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. Over the next several seasons, Zito would use his signature curveball to establish himself as one of Oakland’s “Big Three” alongside fellow hurlers Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder — a formidable trio that kept Oakland in contention throughout much of the early 2000s. Zito took home AL Cy Young honors in 2002 with an excellent season that saw him post a 23-5 record to go along with a 2.75 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 229 1/3 innings of work. An absolute workhorse for the A’s throughout his tenure there, Zito started 34 or 35 games each year from 2001-06 and averaged 223 innings per regular season in that time.
Following the 2006 season, Zito signed what was, at the time, one of the largest contracts in baseball history — a seven-year, $126MM contract with the Giants. As he explains in the column announcing today’s decision, that move came with plenty of mixed emotions. Zito described his baseball career as being “full of euphoric highs and devastating lows,” and many of the lows came in a 2008 season that saw him post a 5.15 ERA in 180 innings while leading the NL with 17 losses. Writes Zito:
The year 2008 was the toughest of my life so far. I was being told by strangers in public places just how terrible I was — my own fans in San Francisco yelling obscenities to my face while I was in the dugout. I even found myself ringing my mother at times because I was literally losing my mind and needed five minutes of solace with someone who understood me. But that year taught me something: If there was still a reason to smile at certain points throughout those painful days, and if everything I thought had defined me as a person was crumbling down and yet I was still standing, then maybe what I thought defined me truly did not. I came to realize that I was defining myself through my achievements on the field and through the opinions of other people. In reality, that was just the surface of who I really was.
Zito’s tenure with the Giants was certainly less productive than his time with the A’s, but he still contributed to World Series Championships in both 2010 and 2012. While it wasn’t as the front-of-the-rotation type of arm he was early on in his career, Zito still delivered a 4.15 ERA in each season, logging 199 1/3 innings in 2010 and 184 2/3 innings in 2012. He also turned in a dominant effort with the Giants trailing the Cardinals 3-1 in the 2012 NLCS and, after San Francisco rallied back to take the series from St. Louis, he started Game 1 of the World Series. Zito took home a victory after 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, which helped set the tone for a decisive sweep of the American League champion Tigers.
Zito returned to baseball — signing a minor league deal with Oakland — in 2015 after taking a year off in 2014. Though he spent the majority of the season pitching with Triple-A Nashville, Zito received a late-September call-up where he was given the opportunity to make the start against the Giants and his former teammate and “Big Three” member Hudson. (Hudson has also stated his intention to retire following the season.) The excellent gesture from a pair of non-contending clubs made for an emotional scene, with Mulder appearing as well. All three received a thunderous ovation from the Bay Area faithful — a fitting tribute to a group of players that made an unforgettable impact on baseball in that region.
All told, Zito will retire with a 165-143 record, a 4.04 ERA and 1885 strikeouts in 2576 2/3 innings at the Major League level. Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs value his career at 33.5 and 30.5 wins above replacement, respectively, and he earned more than $137MM in his playing career.
As he explained further in his column, Zito is “very excited to be a ‘rookie’ all over again” in the field of songwriting, and he looks forward to a seeing where his music career will take him. We at MLBTR congratulate Barry on an excellent, memorable career and wish him the best of luck in his new career path and in his post-playing days.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Eddy Julio Martinez, Cubs, Giants
TODAY: MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports some additional details on the situation. San Francisco’s claim to a signing is based upon “a series of texts and emails” that were exchanged with BHSC. The Giants filed paperwork with the league, per the report, but it appears that Martinez has yet to sign anything with the club. Chicago, meanwhile, struck its deal with Martinez’s Dominican representatives.
YESTERDAY: The controversy surrounding Cuban center fielder Eddy Julio Martinez is now in the hands of Major League Baseball officials, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. MLB is working to decide whether Martinez, 20, will become property of the Giants or Cubs and hopes to have a ruling by the end of the week, per Heyman.
One of the most sought-after prospects on this year’s international free agent market, Martinez agreed to a $2.5MM signing bonus with the Giants about two weeks ago. Giants general manager Bobby Evans publicly acknowledged the agreement, though the team never made an official announcement of the signing. Shortly after, ESPN’s Keith Law reported that Martinez would not be signing with the Giants and remained on the free agent market.
Following that unusual sequence of events, Martinez reportedly agreed to sign with the Cubs for a larger bonus of $3MM. However, since that time, Evans has come out and said that the Giants are still in the running for the highly touted Martinez.
According to Heyman, the heart of the issue here is that Martinez has multiple representatives negotiating on his behalf. While he is a client of MLBPA certified agents Rick Thurman and Rafael Nieves of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, Martinez also has multiple “buscones,” or “street agents” as Heyman terms them. Multiple people are laying claim to the role of agent for Martinez and, as such, there’s uncertainty regarding the validity of Martinez’s deal with the Giants.
It’s not known which parties negotiated which deal, but MLB is working to determine whether or not the agreement with the Giants was binding. That deal was struck before the agreement with the Cubs, and the Giants, according to Heyman, believed it to be binding at the time it was made.
Martinez, a right-handed hitting center fielder, draws praise for his power and speed, though some scouts believe his pop will only translate to doubles power in the end, and he’s more of a corner outfielder than a true center fielder. Those that are more bullish have likened his tools to those of Andruw Jones, though that’s a lofty comparison and obviously a best-case scenario as opposed to a likely outcome. Both the Giants and Cubs have already incurred the maximum penalty level for exceeding their allotted international bonus pools. That means that either would pay a 100 percent luxury tax on Martinez’s signing bonus, so he’d actually cost the Giants $5MM and the Cubs $6MM in total.
Chase Utley Appealing Two-Game NLDS Suspension
OCT. 12: MLB wants Utley’s appeal hearing to take place today, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, but the MLBPA would like more time than that to prepare. Rosenthal adds (also via Twitter) that a pair of sources expressed doubt that a hearing would take place today, so Utley could very well be available for tonight’s contest. Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times hears the same (Twitter link), with a source calling a Monday appeal hearing “highly unlikely.”
OCT. 11: Major League Baseball has suspended Dodgers infielder Chase Utley for Game Three and Game Four of the NLDS for what the league has deemed as an “illegal slide” during Saturday’s Game Two win over the Mets, according to a statement released today. Here is the full text from MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre:
“I recognize that there has been much commentary and many questions regarding the unfortunate play in last night’s game in which Ruben Tejada was injured. As I said after the game, the determination of whether a baserunner has intentionally interfered with a player attempting to turn a double play is left to the judgment of the Umpire on the field, and that judgment call is not subject to review. I should add that determining where to draw the line between an illegal slide and a legitimate hard play is an extremely difficult call for our Umpires.
“However, after thoroughly reviewing the play from all conceivable angles, I have concluded that Mr. Utley’s action warrants discipline. While I sincerely believe that Mr. Utley had no intention of injuring Ruben Tejada, and was attempting to help his Club in a critical situation, I believe his slide was in violation of Official Baseball Rule 5.09 (a)(13), which is designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base.
“We have been in discussions with the Players Association throughout the year regarding potential rule changes to better protect middle infielders, and we intend to continue those discussions this offseason.”
Utley is appealing the suspension, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports, and Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the league will try to have Utley’s hearing tomorrow so he could potentially play in Game Three that evening (both links to Twitter).
During the seventh inning of last night’s game, Utley’s hard slide into second base not only broke up a double play and allowed the tying run to score, but Tejada also suffered a fractured fibula on the play. The Dodgers scored three more runs in the inning and went on to even the NLDS at 1-1 after their 5-2 victory in Game Two. As per the rule cited by Torre, since Utley’s slide was in violation, the batter (Howie Kendrick) should’ve also been called out and the inning should’ve been over.
Needless to say, the play has generated an immense amount of controversy over the last 24 hours over whether Utley’s slide was dirty pool or a hard-nosed attempt to break up a double play. Former big leaguer C.J. Nitkowski, writing for FOX Sports, polled 65 current and former players about Utley’s play, with the majority agreeing that it was legal but “legal and dirty.” Interestingly, 55 of the 65 players didn’t think Utley should be suspended for the slide, an opinion obviously not shared by the league. In his latest Insider-only post, ESPN’s Buster Olney believes that Utley’s play will lead to a rule change preventing runners from making contact with fielders, akin to the rule instituted a few years ago barring collisions at home plate.
Evans: Giants Still In Hunt For Eddy Julio Martinez
Despite multiple reports suggesting that free agent outfielder Eddy Julio Martinez had agreed to terms with the Cubs, Giants GM Bobby Evans indicated today that his team remains in the chase for the young Cuban. Evans made those comments in a podcast interview with Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News.
Martinez, of course, had initially been set to join the San Francisco organization — as Evans himself acknowledged — before that deal reportedly fell through. Reports suggested that Martinez was seeking a $3MM bonus, a $500K increase over what he had been said to be getting from the Giants. Just one day later, Martinez was said to have reached a contract with the Cubs at the higher amount.
“That’s probably going to be a great story here in the near future,” Evans said of the Martinez situation. He noted that he is still holding talks with the youngster’s agents at BHSC. When asked whether San Francisco still had a shot at landing Martinez, Evans responded: “I want to be careful not to be too presumptuous, but yeah, I think there’s still that chance.”
Needless to say, there’s an immense amount of uncertainty and a general lack of clarity regarding Martinez’s status. It remains unclear what kinds of motivations and factors are driving the unusual situation.
Dan Jennings To Return As Marlins’ GM
OCT. 9: Jennings will return to his previous role as general manager, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. An announcement could come anytime between Sunday and Tuesday of the coming week, he adds. Jennings is under contract with the Marlins for three more seasons.
OCT. 6: The Marlins have announced that Jennings will not return as the manager, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports (all links to Twitter).
Club president David Samson explained that Jennings is the general manager as he is a “signed member” of the front office. Though president of baseball ops Michael Hill seemingly indicated that Jennings had yet to decide whether to continue that arrangement, Samson said that “there’s no decision for him to make.”
OCt. 4, 8:28pm: A pair of tweets from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggests Jennings might return to the Marlins’ front office, but not in the GM position. The Marlins could make Berger GM, with Jeff McAvoy as assistant GM, Arnold as player personnel director and David Keller as pro scouting director. Jennings would then occupy some other position. Frisaro, meanwhile, writes (via Twitter) that the Marlins are planning to establish an analytics department and that Arnold could head it.
8:08pm: The Phillies have granted the Marlins permission to interview bench coach Larry Bowa for their manager position, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes. Bowa is expected to interview on Monday, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. Bo Porter and Manny Acta have already interviewed for the job. In addition, Frisaro reports that Dan Jennings, who posted a 55-69 record as the team’s manager following the firing of Mike Redmond earlier this season, is expected to return to the Marlins’ GM job.
As of yesterday, Jennings was still deciding whether to accept a return to the Marlins’ front office. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported that the team’s front office would undergo changes, with assistant GM Mike Berger taking over something resembling a GM position. The Marlins also recently interviewed Rays director of player personnel Matt Arnold about a front office position. It has lately appeared that Jennings’ power in the organization was somewhat diminished. If Jennings does return to the GM position, it’s not clear how the Marlins will manage their decision-making process given the presence Jennings, Berger and other front-office voices.
Bowa, 69, was previously the manager of the Padres and Phillies. He led the Phillies to a 337-308 record from 2001 through 2004 and won the NL Manager of the Year award in 2001. He also served as a base coach for the Yankees and Dodgers and as an analyst for ESPN and the MLB Network before rejoining the Phillies organization in 2014.
Mariners Dismiss Lloyd McClendon, Make Significant Coaching Changes
11:45am: The Mariners have now formally announced that McClendon will not return in 2016. Additionally, pitching coach Rick Waits and coach Chris Prieto have been reassigned within the organization, while bench coach Trent Jewett, third base coach Rich Donnelly, outfield coach Andy Van Slyke and bullpen coach Mike Rojas have all been let go. Hitting coach Edgar Martinez and infield coach Chris Woodward were each invited back for their current roles in 2016.
“I have a great deal of respect for Lloyd, as a person and a manager,” Dipoto said in a statement. “It is a credit to his professionalism that the team continued to play hard through the final day of the season. However, after extensive conversations it became clear to me that our baseball philosophies were not closely aligned. On behalf of the Mariners I want to thank Lloyd and his staff for their hard work the past two seasons, and I wish him the best moving forward.”
10:25am: Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon won’t be back as the team’s manager in 2016, sources tell Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports had written just minutes earlier that McClendon was “likely” to be dismissed as the team’s skipper, adding that he’s still owed $1MM in 2016 — the final season of his contract with Seattle.
The Mariners will formally announce the decision today, per Divish, and the search for McClendon’s replacement will immediately get underway. While the team must go through an interview process, Divish hears that Angels special assistant Tim Bogar — the former bench coach and interim manager of the division-rival Rangers — is a favorite to take over in Seattle. Bogar worked with Dipoto in the Anaheim front office and is said to embrace analytics, which is something Dipoto is known to desire in a manager. Heyman noted last Friday that Bogar would be a prime candidate to replace McClendon should the incumbent Seattle skipper not be retained.
Heyman writes that the decision was carefully considered by Dipoto, in part because McClendon is quite popular with the current Mariners’ players. Robinson Cano is said to have such a close relationship with McClendon, Heyman adds, that Cano used his manager as part of his pitch in trying to lure Nelson Cruz to sign with the team when Cruz was a free agent last offseason.
McClendon was hired as the Mariners’ manager prior to the 2014 season after an eight-year hiatus from that role. After managing some dismal Pirates clubs in the early 2000s, McClendon experienced immediate success in Seattle, guiding the Mariners to a strong 87-75 record and finishing the year just one game shy of postseason play. That finish, along with the offseason additions of Nelson Cruz and Seth Smith as well as the emergence of Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, led to lofty expectations in Seattle this year. However, the Mariners’ rotation was hit hard by injuries to Walker, Paxton and Hisashi Iwakuma, and other offseason pickups such as Justin Ruggiano and Rickie Weeks failed to perform. The Mariner bullpen also took a significant step backwards in 2015, leading to a season that was largely spent out of contention, eventually resulting in the firing of GM Jack Zduriencik.
Cubs To Sign Eddy Julio Martinez
The Cubs have reached agreement with Cuban outfield prospect Eddy Julio Martinez, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports on Twitter. He’ll receive the $3MM bonus that he was reportedly seeking.
Martinez, 20, had been said to be in agreement with the Giants earlier in the week. The $2.5MM deal was said to be complete pending only a physical, with San Francisco GM Bobby Evans acknowledging it to the press. But things fell apart, apparently for financial reasons, as Sanchez reported that that the youngster was looking for a $3MM bonus.
Chicago swooped in to meet that asking price, adding him to an already-loaded class of international signings. The Cubs, like the Giants had previously committed to spending well past their overall pool allocation, meaning that they were already set to face a two-year ban on $300K+ signings. Adding Martinez did nothing to impact that, though the club will pay a 100% overage tax on his bonus.
We’ve heard some varying opinions on Martinez’s outlook over the last several months, but all agree that he is a legitimate prospect with a good hit tool and excellent speed. The questions are about his power potential and ability to handle center field in the long run. Read more on the BHSC client from Sanchez and Ben Badler of Baseball America (subscription required and recommended).