Jeremy Affeldt To Retire At Season’s End
Giants left-hander Jeremy Affeldt will retire after the 2015 season, the team announced today via press release.
Affeldt, 36, has enjoyed a 14-year career at the Major League level, the past seven of which have come as a member of the Giants’ bullpen. He’s helped the team capture three World Series Championships in that time and recorded a 3.07 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 10 saves in 360 1/3 innings.
Originally selected in the third round of the 1997 draft by the Royals, Affeldt debuted with Kansas City in 2002 as a 23-year-old and spent the next three seasons splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen. He was traded to the Rockies at the deadline in 2006, and though he struggled to a 6.91 ERA in his first 27 1/3 innings with Colorado, Affeldt went on to enjoy very strong seasons there in 2007-08. In that time, he worked to a 3.41 ERA in 137 1/3 innings of relief despite pitching roughly half of his games in one of MLB’s most notorious hitters’ havens.
All told, Affeldt logged 924 2/3 innings as a Major Leaguer, posting a 43-46 record to go along with 28 saves, 141 holds, a 3.97 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 52.4 percent ground-ball rate. In addition to his solid regular-season numbers, Affeldt was a postseason hero for the Giants, allowing just three runs over the course of 30 1/3 playoff innings. He was credited as the winning pitcher of the decisive Game 7 in last year’s instant classic showdown with the Royals.
Affeldt signed three contracts with the Giants, the first of which was a two-year, $8MM pact. His strong performance under that deal led the Giants to sign him to a two-year, $9.25MM extension which contained a $5MM club option that was ultimately exercised. The last of his contracts, which he’s currently wrapping up, was a three-year, $18MM free-agent deal signed in the 2012-13 offseason. All told, Affeldt has earned more than $42MM in his playing career, per Baseball-Reference, a very nice sum for a relief pitcher that was never consistently a closer but was long a rock-solid setup man. MLBTR wishes Affeldt and his family the best of luck and continued happiness in his post-playing days.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Re-Signing Iwakuma A Priority For Mariners
Re-signing right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma will be a priority for the Mariners this offseason, new general manager Jerry Dipoto told Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.
Iwakuma, a 34-year-old client of the Wasserman Media Group, has pitched exclusively for the Mariners in his big league career since coming over from Japan in 2012. After signing an initial one-year, $1.5MM contract, he inked a two-year, $14MM extension with a $7MM club option that wound up vesting but would have been an easy call for the Mariners to exercise either way.
A strained lat muscle cost Iwakuma a bit more than two months of action this season and has limited him to 122 2/3 innings. He’s performed well in that time, however, demonstrating his typical brand of pinpoint control (1.5 BB/9 rate) and a strong ground-ball rate (50.6 percent) as well as a characteristically solid 7.6 K/9 rate.
Iwakuma will turn 35 next April, complicating his free agent stock to some extent. Age and injury status notwithstanding, Iwakuma has a strong case for a multi-year deal based on his excellent track record. He’s tallied a 3.19 ERA in 646 2/3 career innings, and his career strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates are all quite similar to his aforementioned 2015 rates.
Bringing back Iwakuma would keep the Mariners’ solid 1-2 punch of Felix Hernandez and Iwakuma intact, and the Mariners will of course be hoping for better health from both Taijuan Walker and James Paxton in 2016. Lefties Vidal Nuno and Roenis Elias also figure to be in the mix. As Bowden notes, building depth is Dipoto’s modus operandi, so the team will likely be better equipped to handle any rotation injuries that do arise in 2016.
Interest in Iwakuma should be fairly widespread, however. While he doesn’t fit into the top of the marketplace alongside David Price, Johnny Cueto and Zack Greinke, Iwakuma’s stable performance and the fact that he can likely be had on a shorter-term deal should make him appealing to a large number of teams in addition to just Seattle.
Greg Holland To Undergo Tommy John Surgery On Friday
Royals right-hander Greg Holland will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair what was said last week to be a “significant” tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter link).
The surgery may very well bring Holland’s Royals career to an end. The former closer eligible for arbitration for the final time this offseason and would be due a raise on this year’s $8.25MM salary. As he won’t pitch for most, if not all of the 2016 season, the Royals will most likely non-tender him, making him a free agent. Holland, of course, could sign some form of backloaded, two-year extension in the interim or return to the club on a restructured deal following his non-tender, but if it reaches that point, Kansas City will have to compete with the other 29 clubs to see which is willing to present him and newly hired agent Scott Boras with the best opportunity.
Manager Ned Yost said at the time his injury became public knowledge last week that he believes the damage in Holland’s elbow to date all the way back to last August. The Royals are said to have asked Holland to get the elbow checked out on multiple occasions this season, but Holland’s preference was always to pitch through the discomfort. Ultimately, though, his September struggles became too significant, and with his fastball sitting in the high 80s (as opposed to its typical residence in the mid 90s), Holland underwent an MRI, bringing him to this outcome.
If the timeline of the injury is accurate, then Holland’s postseason efforts and first half of the 2015 season are nothing short of incredible. He pitched 11 innings of one-run ball in last year’s postseason, notching a 15-to-5 K/BB ratio in that time. In the first half of the 2015 season, Holland recorded a 2.70 ERA with 31 strikeouts (against an uncharacteristic and, in hindsight, ominous 15 walks) in 26 2/3 innings.
To this point in his career, the 29-year-old has a 2.42 ERA with 12.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and 145 saves in 319 2/3 innings. All of those innings came as a member of the Royals, who selected Holland in the 10th round of the 2007 draft.
Stephen Piscotty Leaves Game After Collision
TUESDAY: Piscotty has been released from the hospital, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told Casey Stern and Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link). The outfielder “had a couple of bruises but overall everything checked out very clean. He had a couple more tests today and things came back as positive as we could hope for, so that was very fortunate,” Matheny said.
MONDAY, 10:03pm: All tests Piscotty has undergone have been negative, the Cardinals have announced. He will stay at the hospital overnight.
8:45pm: Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty has left this evening’s game against the Pirates after appearing to get hit in the head in a nasty collision. Piscotty and Peter Bourjos were both chasing a fly ball hit to left center field when Piscotty dove and appeared to strike his head hard against Bourjos’ knee. Piscotty was on the ground for several minutes afterwards and was then removed on a stretcher. He gave a small wave to fans at PNC Park as he was carted off. Jon Jay replaced him in left field.
The details of Piscotty’s injury aren’t yet known — the Cardinals announced he was diagnosed with a “head contusion,” but that he would undergo further tests. It would be very surprising if he didn’t miss significant time. Piscotty was pressed into duty due this season to a series of injuries to other Cardinals’ outfielders, and he’s had a terrific rookie year, batting .313/.365/.507 in 249 plate appearances.
Angels Sign Mat Latos
The Angels have signed veteran starter Mat Latos, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. To clear space for Latos on their 40-man roster, they recalled catcher Rafael Lopez and placed him on the 60-day DL with fractured hand, tweets MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez. Latos will not be eligible for postseason play, but he can pitch for the Angels the rest of the regular season, after which he’ll become a free agent.
Latos began the 2015 season with the Marlins, who traded him to the Dodgers in July. The Dodgers designated him for assignment and then released him earlier this month. Latos is making $9.4MM this season, but most of what’s left of that deal will be paid by the Dodgers (and by the Marlins, who sent the Dodgers an undisclosed amount when they traded him, via Cot’s).
Latos has had an uneven year, posting a 4.95 ERA, 7.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 112 2/3 innings. From the Angels’ perspective, though, the precise quality of Latos’ play going forward is probably less important than the fact that he’s a veteran starting pitcher they could acquire quickly and cheaply. His acquisition appears to be merely a short-term move for an Angels team that needs an extra arm, either for its rotation or its bullpen. Jered Weaver has a shoulder injury, Matt Shoemaker has a forearm issue and won’t make his next start, and Huston Street and Joe Smith are dealing with injury as well.
Mariners Hire Jerry Dipoto As General Manager
Three months ago, Jerry Dipoto was a division-rival of the Mariners, but the former Angels GM is now atop their baseball operations pyramid. The Mariners announced today that Dipoto has been named their new executive vice president and general manager. He was rumored to be one of the final two candidates for the position, alongside Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler.
“Jerry impressed us at each step of the process,” said president Kevin Mather in a prepared statement. “He has a very unique skill set, having been a successful player in the Majors, then moving into front offices with steadily increasing responsibilities. Jerry has scouted, spent time in player development and has a track record as a very successful General Manager. During our conversations over the past few weeks, it became clear to me that he has a very solid understanding of our team and organization, both where we are and where we want to be. And he has a strategy to get us there. Few candidates bring the combination of playing the game, scouting, a solid understanding of statistical metrics and a plan for player development. I am looking forward to having Jerry lead our baseball operations for a long time.”
Dipoto, 47, began his career in baseball when the Indians selected him in the third round of the 1989 draft out of Virginia Commonwealth University. He’d go on to enjoy an eight-year Major League career as a relief pitcher with the Indians, Mets and Rockies.
Following his playing career, Dipoto joined the Red Sox as a scout in 2003 and quickly rose to the position of scouting director with the Rockies. After joining the D-Backs in a similar capacity, he was eventually named interim general manager in Arizona, following the dismissal of Josh Byrnes, who, ironically, is a candidate to replace Dipoto at his former place of employment — the Angels. Dipoto was named GM of the Angels shortly after the 2011 season and served in that capacity until this summer, when he resigned abruptly due to a feud with skipper Mike Scioscia. The manager reportedly took umbrage to Dipoto’s attempts to provide him with analytical data for the purposes of aiding his in-game decision-making, and the dispute escalated to the point where Dipoto walked away from the organization. Many expected Dipoto, a well-regarded executive, to ultimately land another GM gig, and after a brief stop as a senior adviser with the Red Sox, it appears he’s done just that.
Dipoto’s log of transactions as a GM (which can be seen with the aid of MLBTR’s Transaction Tracker) is more brief than a number of his contemporaries due to his limited time serving in a GM role, but he’s made a number of quality trades to bolster the pitching staffs of the organizations he’s overseen. Dipoto received Patrick Corbin and Tyler Skaggs from the Angels in exchange for Dan Haren when he was Arizona’s interim GM, and he’d later reacquire Skaggs (along with Hector Santiago) in exchange for Mark Trumbo in a three-team trade with the D-Backs and White Sox. Dipoto also picked up Andrew Heaney this past offseason in the trade that sent impending free agent Howie Kendrick to the Dodgers. His pickup of Huston Street and Trevor Gott from the Padres in exchange for four prospects (R.J. Alvarez, Jose Rondon, Taylor Lindsey and Elliott Morris) has, to this point, delivered positive results as well. The decision to part with Randal Grichuk in the trade that netted the Halos David Freese and Fernando Salas could prove to be a misstep, however.
Free agent endeavors by the Angels under Dipoto’s tenure have been spottier, though the massive contracts for Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton have been reported to be more the doing of owner Arte Moreno than of Dipoto himself. Joe Smith has looked to be a nice add, but signings of Joe Blanton, Sean Burnett, Ryan Madson and Raul Ibanez didn’t pan out as hoped. C.J. Wilson has had mixed results over the life of his deal as well.
Mariners president Kevin Mather was said to prioritize a GM who has experience, though, and Dipoto unquestionably fits that bill. Based on Mather’s comments at the time Jack Zduriencik was dismissed from the Seattle GM chair, Mariners ownership will probably hope that Dipoto can use his blend of scouting and analytics to create a balanced gameplan that will help put a contender on the field in the near future.
Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM first reported that Dipoto was the Mariners would offer the position to Dipoto (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nationals Suspend Jonathan Papelbon For Remainder Of Season
The Nationals announced today that they have suspended Jonathan Papelbon, without pay, for four game’s following last night’s dugout altercation with Bryce Harper. That suspension, in addition to a three-game suspension for throwing at Manny Machado (Papelbon has dropped his appeal of that league-mandated suspension), will keep him out of games for the remainder of the year.
“The behavior exhibited by Papelbon yesterday is not acceptable,” GM/president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo said in a release announcing the move. “That is not at all in line with the way our players are expected to conduct themselves, and the Nationals organization will not tolerate it in any way.”
Papelbon’s outburst, in which he grabbed Harper by the throat after the two exchanged heated words following a Harper fly-out which he didn’t run out particularly quickly (video link), was the source of a good deal of controversy and a number of reactions/far-reaching implications last night. Papelbon’s suspensions — one league-issued and one team-issued — will cost him a total of just over $497K in salary.
From a big-picture standpoint, one can’t help but wonder what this means for Papelbon’s future in D.C. Already, there’s been speculation that Papelbon will be either traded or, more drastically, released. He’s owed $11MM in 2016 after restructuring his contract as incentive to waive his no-trade rights. Based strictly on his on-field performance, that sum may not be exorbitant, but when paired with a reputation that was already poor prior to this recent wave of drama, the Nats will be hard-pressed to find a taker for his services. That’s not to say it’s impossible, but I’d imagine that Rizzo will need to include a fair amount of cash to facilitate the move, making the entire acquisition look particularly regrettable.
Mariners’ GM Search Nearing Completion
11:58am: One source tells ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, “I think [the Mariners] have their guy.” Crasnick adds that the Mariners also interviewed former Dodgers GM Dan Evans — currently a Pacific Rim scout for the Blue Jays — but Evans is not considered to be a finalist (Twitter links).
8:04am: It’s been exactly one month since the Mariners dismissed Jack Zduriencik as general manager, and Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports that the search for his replacement is in its final stages. One source told Dutton that announcement could come as soon as Monday, with others indicating later in the week was more likely, barring any “snags” in contract negotiations.
Last Friday, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported that former Angels GM Jerry Dipoto and Yankees assistant general manager Billy Eppler were the two finalists, and Dutton hears the same from multiple sources. And, while Eppler has also been rumored to be one of the favorites to fill Dipoto’s role in Anaheim, Dutton notes that the Angels’ interest in Josh Byrnes could diminish Eppler’s chances in Anaheim.
Dipoto, of course, resigned from his post with the Angels this summer due to a now-well-documented rift with manager Mike Scioscia. He then took a short-term role with the Red Sox, where’s he’s serving as a senior adviser. Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said at the press conference to introduce new Boston GM Mike Hazen that he would love to keep Dipoto in a full-time capacity, but he first had to wait for resolution on any remaining jobs for which Dipoto had interviewed.
At the time that Zduriencik was released, Mariners president Kevin Mather said that he wanted to hire an experienced GM, as he didn’t want someone “learning on the job” while risking the production of Felix Hernandez, Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano dropping by the time a rookie GM was up to speed. However, reports since then have indicated that Mather and the rest of the decision-making contingent has softened on that stance and would consider candidates without GM experience. Notably, those reports came in conjunction with Eppler’s first interview, so it would seem that he impressed ownership. Heyman noted in last week’s report that both Dipoto and Eppler would interview for a second time, though the specific timing of those sit-downs was not indicated.
Red Sox To Appoint Sam Kennedy As President
The Red Sox announced that Chief Operating Officer Sam Kennedy will take over as club President on October 16th. Meanwhile, Larry Lucchino has been named President/CEO Emeritus. “Lucchino will be an active participant in the strategic direction of the franchise and will participate in various issues facing Major League Baseball,” according to the press release, and will remain a member of the Red Sox’s ownership group.
“Larry has helped write a new chapter in the storied history of this franchise,” said Principal Owner John W. Henry in the press release. “He has brought boldness, vision, and intensity each day to Fenway Park. He has also assembled an outstanding team around him, the hallmark of a great CEO.”
Of course, Kennedy will not be involved on the baseball side of things the same way that Lucchino was. Dave Dombrowski, hired as President of Baseball Operations over the summer, will have control over everything on the field while Kennedy is expected to deal more with business operations. In the press release, Henry notes that Kennedy has been the heir apparent to Lucchino’s title since 2012. Team chairman Tom Werner also offered a strong endorsement of Kennedy.
“I have known and worked with Sam for nearly 20 years. We have marveled at his growth and development as one of the top young executives in the sports industry. We could not be happier to entrust him with this position and look forward to working with him on the day-to-day operation of the club,” Werner said.
Carlos Martinez To Miss Rest Of Season
SATURDAY: Martinez has a shoulder strain and will miss the rest of the season, the Cardinals have announced. Martinez will also miss the postseason. He will not have surgery, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets.
FRIDAY: Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez left his start against the Brewers tonight after throwing just seven pitches. The team has announced that Martinez has right shoulder tightness and that his departure from the game was precautionary. He will receive an MRI tomorrow, manager Mike Matheny said.
Martinez was visibly in pain after that seventh pitch, turning his shoulder awkwardly and stepping off the mound. He then covered his face with his glove as he walked off the field. His average fastball velocity this year has been over 95 MPH, but none of his pitches tonight topped 93 MPH.
At this point in the season, losing Martinez for any significant period of time would be unfortunate for the Cardinals. Like most of the rest of the Cards’ starters, Martinez has been terrific this year. He has a 3.01 ERA, 9.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and an excellent 54.7% ground ball rate in 179 1/3 innings, and he’s emerged as one of the National League’s top young starters.