Proformance Changing Agency Commission Standards
The agency Proformance Baseball is attempting to change baseball’s agency commission model by charging their clients significantly less than the industry standard, Darren Heitner of Forbes.com writes. Usually, agency commissions cost 4-5% of the salaries of players with negotiated contracts worth more than the MLB minimum, but Proformance now says that it will take just 1.5%.
“We saw a fiercely competitive landscape where everybody looked the same,” says Proformance co-founder Jeff Beck. “The agents basically offer the same services, pretty much the same fee structure whether it is 4% or 5%, and I could literally hear the sound in my ear from a meeting a couple of years ago where a guy was saying, ‘You guys are all really the same.'”
Proformance’s services will be different from the typical agency’s, Beck says. Proformance will see its clients less frequently than a typical agent might, and instead will focus fairly straightforwardly on negotiating deals. There will be little “hand-holding,” as Beck puts it, and Proformance will turn its attention away from minor league players. Such a limited approach might serve a non-superstar veteran who earns a reasonable salary, Heitner notes. “We are taking the album and saying you can buy your two favorite tracks like iTunes,” Beck says.
Proformance has represented players such as Vladimir Guerrero, Billy Wagner, Jose Bautista and Ervin Santana. It recently lost Bautista and Santana when agent Jay Alou left the agency.
Cliff Lee Out For The Season
11:11pm: GM Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed to Zolecki that Lee is done for the year and added that the team’s hope is for Lee to begin a throwing program in October or November. Surgery won’t be required for Lee, who is on his way from New York (where he had an appointment with Dr. David Altchek) to Philadelphia, where he will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection. Lee will travel home to Arkansas for two weeks before rejoining the team next month.
AUG. 6, 8:26pm: Lee’s locker in the Phillies’ clubhouse has been completely cleaned out, and he is heading home to rest his injured elbow, according to Todd Zolecki and Austin Laymance of MLB.com. While there’s been no official announcement from the team, all signs point to his season being over.
AUG. 1: Lee has already been placed on the DL and says he “probably” will miss the rest of the year, as Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. He said that, as indicated last night, he likely suffered a recurrence of his previous injury.
JULY 31: Cliff Lee walked off the mound during his start against the Nationals today, indicating that he was dealing with elbow discomfort. The veteran has experienced the same injury that just cost him two months — a flexor pronator strain — according to a tweet from MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.
It seems likely that Lee is headed for another DL stint, and at this point it would not be surprising to learn that he will miss the rest of the season. Needless to say, barring a fortunate turn, it seems that Lee will not be an August trade target.
The bigger question for the Phillies, of course, is whether he can return to form for 2015. Lee is owed $25MM next year and his deal includes a $27.5MM club option for 2016 (with a substantial $12.5MM buyout).
Padres Hire A.J. Preller As GM
6:12pm: The Padres have formally announced Preller’s hiring, with his official title being “executive vice president/general manager.” Lead investor Peter Seidler offered the following statement: “Padres ownership is thrilled to welcome A.J. Preller to the Padres family. His balance of experience, knowledge and energy makes him the ideal person to lead our baseball operations as we work to build a consistent winner in San Diego.”
1:48pm: The deal is done, tweets MLB.com’s Corey Brock. San Diego says it will make an “organizational announcement” at Petco Park at 4pm PT.
12:54pm: Preller has agreed to a five-year pact with the Padres, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Final details are still being worked out, but the agreement is in place.
11:59am: Preller has accepted the job, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
THURSDAY, 10:56am: The sides are still negotiating the terms, with Preller yet to accept the position, reports ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). Nevertheless, a deal is likely to be struck today, says Crasnick.
WEDNESDAY, 9:48pm: Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune hears that the Padres will make an official announcement regarding Preller’s hiring tomorrow.
9:11pm: The Padres have decided to hire Rangers assistant general manager A.J. Preller to fill their GM vacancy, sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link).
Preller had been one of four finalists for the vacancy, along with Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen, Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler and MLB executive Kim Ng. Preller and Eppler were both rumored to be favorites for the job at different times, though the most recent reports had Eppler in the lead.
Instead, the Padres will go with Preller, who has been described as “eccentric” at time by peers, as Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune recently wrote. Krasovic also noted Preller’s aggressive nature when pursuing Latin American players on the amateur market. International scouting was said to be a priority for the Padres in their pursuit of a new GM, which led Peter Gammons to speculate that Preller could be the favorite. The Padres were said to prefer to hire an up-and-comer in the baseball operations world rather than someone with previous GM experience, and the 36-year-old Preller fits that bill.
This is hardly the first time that Preller was identified as a GM candidate. Back in 2011, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes interviewed Preller as part of MLBTR’s GM Candidate series, touching on topics such as the Rangers’ low-cost acquisitions of Colby Lewis and Nelson Cruz, the decision to move C.J. Wilson to the rotation and the challenges the team faced in trading former cornerstone Mark Teixeira to the Braves.
Dodgers Designate Chone Figgins For Assignment
The Dodgers have designated infielder Chone Figgins for assignment, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
The 36-year-old Figgins inked a minor league pact with the Dodgers this offseason and made the club out of Spring Training to the surprise of many. He spent a good deal of time on the disabled list this year due to a left quad injury. Figgins had been on a minor league rehab assignment, but his rehab window expired yesterday, and the Dodgers chose to DFA him rather than reinstate him on the 25-man roster.
When healthy this year, Figgins tallied 76 plate appearances and posted a .217/.373/.267 batting line while seeing time at second base, third base, shortstop and left field. Though he was once an incredible valuable and versatile infield option for the Angels, it’s been years since Figgins hit well enough to justify regular playing time.
Cubs Claim Jacob Turner Off Revocable Waivers
The Cubs have claimed Marlins righty Jacob Turner off revocable waivers, ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden was first to report (on Twitter). (Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com also reported the claim by the Cubs, on Twitter. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first tweeted that Turner had been claimed by a National League club.)
A deal is likely, of course, because Turner was designated for assignment and therefore would ultimately go back onto waivers if Miami were to pull him back. In that event, the same waiver priority order would apply. Only the Rockies (worst record in the National League) had a higher priority than the Cubs, meaning that Colorado passed on the chance to add the 23-year-old, once-hyped righty. That, seemingly, is a mystifying decision for an organization that has been clamoring for young pitching, especially given Turner’s increasing propensity for generating grounders.
Meanwhile, the Cubs seem likely to add yet another interesting young arm in need of a fresh start. In addition to showing a willingness to sign and flip veteran free agents, Chicago has targeted struggling-but-talented young pitchers through trade. After picking up Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop last year in the Scott Feldman deal, for instance, the Cubs recently took Felix Doubront off of the Red Sox’ hands.
From the Marlins’ perspective, this move comes at an odd time. Had the team decided to part with him just a week ago, it would have had a much stronger position from which to craft a trade. Instead, Miami’s only leverage against the Cubs would be the possibility that Colorado might not pass on Turner a second time if he were to reach outright waivers.
More Biogenesis-Related Suspensions Likely To Occur
TODAY: It may yet take a few weeks or months for the MLB players involved to be publicly disclosed, but Quinn says (Twitter links) it appears at least a few “fairly significant” but not “major” names could be linked to PEDs.
YESTERDAY: If you haven’t seen the news, a series of arrests were made today of figures involved in operating the Biogenesis clinic and facilitating its distribution of PEDs (which is alleged to include not only professional athletes, but also high school athletes in the Miami area). Among the arrested parties were Biogenesis founder Tony Bosch (who surrendered to the DEA on charges of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids) and the cousin of Alex Rodriguez — Yuri Sucart. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds that former ACES consultant Juan Carlos Nunez — who was behind Melky Cabrera‘s web site scandal –was also arrested. Thirteen MLB players were suspended last year, on today’s exact date, for using or possessing PEDs distributed by the Biogenesis clinic.
The federal investigation that brought about those arrests have “revealed previously unnamed MLB players,” ESPN.com’s T.J. Quinn reports on Twitter, which could well lead to another round of suspensions. (Quinn, whose Twitter timeline has quite a bit of additional coverage, says to “expect more suspensions.”) It can only be hoped that we will not see a repeat of last year’s seemingly endless saga. Nevertheless, the potential impact on baseball’s transactional side remains a realistic consideration.
Reports have not yet surfaced regarding the details of the newly-discovered information, such as what players might be involved and what sort of evidence arguably incriminates them. The bulk of the suspensions that came down last year were for fifty games apiece, and several notable players — including Nelson Cruz and Jhonny Peralta — ultimately missed the playoff push for contending clubs.
Yankees Release Jeff Francis
The Yankees have released left-hander Jeff Francis, according to the team’s official transactions page. The veteran southpaw had been designated for assignment by the Bombers last week, with outfielder Zoilo Almonte taking his roster spot.
Francis has pitched for the Reds, A’s and Yankees this season, posting a combined 5.85 ERA with 15 strikeouts against three free passes in 20 innings. Francis hasn’t posted a sub-5.00 ERA since he fired 183 innings of 4.82 ERA ball with the 2011 Royals, though ERA estimators such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA have consistently been a bigger fan of his work than his ERA. He’s been plagued by a below-average strand rate for the past several seasons, and his homer-to-flyball ratio has been considerably above his career norm over the past three seasons as well.
Teams in need of rotation depth could give the former No. 9 overall draft pick a look, be it in the rotation or in the bullpen. With the exception of his small 2014 sample, Francis has done a nice job of holding left-handers in check in recent years.
Padres To Name New GM Within 48 Hours; A.J. Hinch Resigns
The Padres’ GM search has been ongoing for more than a month (Josh Byrnes was dismissed on June 22), but it sounds as if the team is nearing the end of the process. In an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM earlier today, manager Bud Black told host Jim Duquette that the Friars expect to hire a new GM within the next 48 hours (Twitter link).
Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler has been rumored to be the favorite for the position, although Rangers assistant GM A.J. Preller, Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen and MLB executive Kim Ng have been said to be finalists for the position as well.
Interestingly, assistant GM A.J. Hinch — one of the executives tasked with decision-making for the GM-less Padres over the past five to six weeks — announced today that he is leaving the organization. Hinch, along with fellow AGM Fred Uhlman Jr. and senior vice president of baseball operations Omar Minaya, helped to oversee the team’s direction at the trade deadline. However, in a press release, Hinch issued the following statement:
“During my time in San Diego, I dedicated myself to do everything I could to help this team win, in the short-term and for the long-term. These last several weeks were no exception. I think the organization is ready for a transition and I’ve made a decision and told [executive chairman] Ron Fowler and [CEO] Mike Dee that now is the right time for me to move on. I’m proud to have always operated in the best interest of the organization and to have established long lasting relationships with people who work on and off the field in San Diego. I wish the Padres and the new GM well in the future and look forward to the next chapter of my baseball career.”
Hinch was not considered for the team’s GM vacancy, although that was due to the fact that he withdrew his name from consideration early in the process. According to the Padres’ press release, Hinch will pursue other opportunities within the game.
Hinch, Minaya and Uhlman Jr. were behind the trades of Huston Street, Chase Headley and Chris Denorfia this past month, which returned prospects Jose Rondon, Taylor Lindsey, R.J. Alvarez, Elliot Morris, Yangervis Solarte, Rafael De Paula, Abraham Almonte and Stephen Kohlscheen to the organization.
Alex Rios Placed On Revocable Waivers
With the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline behind us, Major League teams must place players on revocable trade waivers in order to deal them to another club. A player that clears waivers can be dealt to any team, while a player that is claimed on waivers can be dealt to that team only (within 48.5 hours) or simply pulled back off waivers. A player can be placed on waivers a second time after being pulled back, but the waivers are no longer revocable the second time.
Here are today’s notable players who have reportedly been placed on revocable waivers…
- The Rangers placed right fielder Alex Rios on waivers today, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. While the 33-year-old has seen a precipitous decline in his home run power this season — he’s gone deep just four times after clubbing 43 homers from 2012-13 — Rios has nonetheless been a solid bat. He’s hitting .296/.326/.417 with 22 doubles and eight triples. He’s owed $3.76MM through season’s end, plus a $1MM buyout on next year’s $13.5MM option (though the Rangers or another team could obviously elect to exercise that option). Rios drew interest from the Giants, Mariners, Royals, Reds and Indians prior to the deadline.
For a more complete explanation of how revocable trade waivers and August trades work, check out MLBTR’s August Trades primer.
Indians Release Nyjer Morgan
The Indians announced that they have released outfielder Nyjer Morgan. The 34-year-old has been on the shelf for nearly three months with a sprained PCL in his right knee. Manager Terry Francona told reporters, including MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (Twitter link), that it was a mutual decision for the two sides to cut the cord.
Morgan appeared in 15 games for the Indians earlier this season, hitting a healthy .341/.429/.439 with a homer and three stolen bases in 52 plate appearances. That marked his first big league action since 2012, as he spent the 2013 campaign playing overseas with the Yokohama Bay Stars of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, where he slashed .294/.361/.434 in 108 games.
For his career, the sometimes controversial Morgan — also known as “Tony Plush” — is a .282/.343/.366 hitter in 2206 plate appearances between the Pirates, Nationals, Brewers and Indians. Cleveland has seen its center field depth take multiple hits this season, with Morgan and Michael Bourn both having spent significant time on the disabled list.