AL Notes: Ohtani, Angels, Vespi, Yoshida, Red Sox
Despite the busy Angels offseason, Shohei Ohtani‘s future remains the team’s biggest question in 2023, and Arte Moreno’s decision not to sell the Angels adds another layer of intrigue to Ohtani’s situation. Speaking with reporters (including the Associated Press), Halos GM Perry Minasian reiterated that the organization would love to keep Ohtani, and suggested that Moreno was willing to pay Ohtani the record-setting contract it might take to keep the two-way star in Anaheim. “[Moreno has] already invested in this club throughout his whole ownership. We’ve been top-10 in payroll for a long time,” Minasian said. “I don’t see that changing. Knowing [Moreno] and knowing how much he wants to win, I wouldn’t put anything out of the realm of possibility.”
Desire to win notwithstanding, Moreno’s ability to construct a winning team is the another factor, as the Angels are mired in a string of seven consecutive losing seasons. Unsurprisingly, Ohtani was openly disappointed by the Halos’ lackluster 2022 campaign, and any doubts he has about the Angels’ ability to compete might possibly result in Ohtani signing with a more proven contender next winter. Even if Moreno is willing to splurge on Ohtani and take the Angels into luxury tax territory, it might not be enough to sway Ohtani from a comparable offer from a winning team.
More from around the American League….
- Orioles left-hander Nick Vespi underwent hernia surgery in early January, and the reliever told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko that he is “cleared to throw, so I am starting to throw already and I’ll be ready for Opening Day.” There was some doubt as to whether or not Vespi’s recovery process might last into the early part of the season, and while it appears that might not be an issue, Vespi will miss pitching for Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Vespi made his MLB debut in 2022, posting a 4.10 ERA over 26 1/3 innings out of the Orioles’ bullpen. Cionel Perez and Keegan Akin are Baltimore’s top southpaw options in the relief corps, though Vespi may face further competition from any left-handed starting candidates who don’t make the rotation.
- The Red Sox signed Masataka Yoshida to a five-year, $90MM deal in December, an investment that surpassed all projections for Yoshida as he made the move from Nippon Professional Baseball to the majors. That said, the Sox also feel “other teams were prepared to bid more aggressively for Yoshida than has been widely reported,” the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes. The Blue Jays and Dodgers were reportedly the other finalists for Yoshida’s services, though it isn’t known what those two clubs were willing to pay. The $90MM guarantee is also a sign of just how much faith the Red Sox have in Yoshida’s ability to continue his production against Major League pitching, which is a belief born from heavy scouting and evaluation of Yoshida in Japan over the last three years.
Rays Notes: Adam, Peralta, Extensions
The Rays and right-hander Jason Adam have had some talks about a multi-year deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports, in advance of Adam’s upcoming arbitration hearing. Adam is one of seven Rays players who couldn’t reach an agreement with the team before the filing deadline, though three of those players (Yandy Diaz, Pete Fairbanks, and Jeffrey Springs) have since signed longer-term contract extensions. This leaves Harold Ramirez, Colin Poche, Ryan Thompson, and Adam still without deals for the 2023 season, until either the arbiter makes their decision or unless the Rays and any of the players avoid arbitration by working out a contract.
Adam is in his first year of arb eligibility, and there isn’t a huge gap between the two sides — the 31-year-old is seeking $1.775MM while the Rays countered with $1.55MM. After intriguing but inconsistent results in his first four MLB campaigns, Adam signed with the Rays last winter and enjoyed the best overall season of his career. The righty posted a 1.56 ERA over 63 1/3 innings in Tampa, with one of the best sets of Statcast metrics of any reliever in baseball.
More from Tropicana Field…
- Also from Topkin’s piece, he writes that is still a “possibility” of a reunion between the Rays and David Peralta, as the club is still looking for a left-handed bat to add some balance to the lineup. Tampa Bay acquired Peralta in a trade with the Diamondbacks last July, and Peralta hit .255/.317/.355 over 47 games and 180 plate appearances with the Rays. This modest performance could have been injury-related, as Topkin reports that Peralta underwent a procedure this offseason to fix disc herniation in his lower back. The Rangers and Yankees have each been linked to Peralta this winter, though this injury situation might explain why the veteran outfielder’s free agent market has been relatively quiet. Prior to the trade, Peralta was enjoying a nice season with the D’Backs, hitting .248/.316/.460 with 12 homers in 310 PA for Arizona.
- The aforementioned spate of extensions allowed the Rays to cut down on their arbitration prep, while also having the obvious benefit of locking up players the club likes as part of a winning nucleus. “We’re always looking to keep players we really appreciate around longer, if we can….We think really highly of this group, and we believe in continuity when we can make it happen,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told MLB.com’s Adam Berry and other reporters. “It’s often been hard for us to make that happen here with the right mix of players. I think we’re in a really fortunate spot where we can do that right now. And more than anything, extending the chance for this group to play together a little longer is probably the greatest benefit.” Since Tampa Bay had a somewhat slow offseason, it also gave the team more payroll space to afford the extensions.
Quick Hits: Muñoz, Sadler, Vavra
Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke with the media this week, including Shannon Drayer of 710 ESPN, in advance of the start of Spring Training. During those talks, Dipoto provided an update on reliever Andrés Muñoz.
Muñoz, 24, had a tremendous breakout last year, posting a 2.49 earned run average over 64 appearances. That ERA probably shortchanges Munoz a bit, who struck out 38.7% of batters faced while walking just 6% of them and got ground balls at a 52.6% clip. ERA estimators all thought he actually deserved better, including a 2.04 FIP, 1.84 xERA and 1.74 SIERA. After the club was eliminated from the postseason in October, he underwent foot surgery, but he’s already out of a walking boot and began a throwing program two weeks ago.
The fireballer has emerged as a key piece of the club’s bullpen, something they seemingly anticipated when they extended him after the 2021 season. The righty had just returned from Tommy John surgery and made a single appearance that year, but the M’s had enough faith to sign him to a four-year, $7.5MM extension with three club options. That could keep him as a fixture of the club’s relief corps through the 2028 season, and his current health is surely a good sign for the club going into 2023.
Other notes from around the league…
- Dipoto also provided an update on another reliever in 32-year-old Casey Sadler, who is coming off a season lost to shoulder surgery but is going to be ready to go for Spring Training this year. In 2021, Sadler made 42 appearances for the M’s with a ridiculous 0.67 ERA. That level of run prevention was in no way sustainable, with Sadler benefitting from a .188 batting average on balls in play and 90.9% strand rate. But his 25.5% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 62.9% ground ball rate all point to an excellent campaign nonetheless, with Sadler pegged for a 2.48 FIP, 2.41 xERA and 3.06 SIERA. Unfortunately, he required the surgery on his shoulder in March of 2022, which kept him out for all of that year. The Mariners outrighted him off the roster in November but re-signed him to a minor league deal. “If we get that ’21 version of Casey Sadler with the bullpen group we currently have, that just takes us to a different level,” Dipoto said. Despite trading Erik Swanson to the Blue Jays in the Teoscar Hernández deal, the M’s bullpen is still pretty packed. Munoz should be joined by Paul Sewald, Diego Castillo, Matt Brash, Penn Murfee, Matt Festa and Trevor Gott, as well as Rule 5 draftee Chris Clarke. If the rotation is fully healthy, Chris Flexen should be in the bullpen as well as a long reliever. Sadler was so good in 2021 that he could force his way into the picture if he looks like he’s back on track. Despite the crowding, pitcher injuries are fairly inevitable and this pile of depth should serve Seattle well as the season progress.
- Orioles utility player Terrin Vavra, 26 in May, cracked the majors last year and managed fairly well by hitting .258/.340/.337 in his first 103 plate appearances. That production was just barely below league average, with his wRC+ coming in at 97, though he hit a much sturdier .324/.435/.451 in Triple-A. Between the two levels, he played second base, third base, shortstop, and all three outfield positions, making him a usefully versatile piece of the club’s roster. It seems he’s not satisfied with that level of versatility and has been working to add first base to his repertoire this offseason. “I don’t think until I really play a game over there, I’ll truly feel the most comfortable, but that’s what spring training’s for,” Vavra tells Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun. “I think I’ll get some opportunities to showcase that and showcase other talents and try and make my case. I want to be able to show that I can do that, and I want the coaching staff to be confident if they had to send me out there, Day 1 of spring training even.” The O’s have been looking to find left-handed bats to complement right-hander Ryan Mountcastle in the first base mix, acquiring Lewin Díaz and Ryan O’Hearn this offseason, as well as signing Franchy Cordero, Josh Lester and Nomar Mazara to minor league deals. But Vavra, who also hits left-handed, could have a leg up on that group since none of them are on the 40-man but Vavra is. On the other hand, Vavra has option years remaining and could be ticketed for some more time in the minors if he gets squeezed off the active roster.
Dodgers Notes: Valenzuela, Urias, Vargas, Muncy
Fernandomania will run wild again at Dodger Stadium this summer, as the Dodgers officially announced that Fernando Valenzuela‘s number #34 will be retired during the team’s series with the Rockies on August 11-13. While the #34 jersey hasn’t been issued to another Dodgers player since Valenzuela departed following the 1990 season, the number hadn’t been ceremonially taken out of circulation due to the club’s unofficial policy of only retiring the numbers of players who had been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Valenzuela’s 17-year Major League career began with 11 seasons with Los Angeles from 1980-90, and he posted a 3.31 ERA over his 2348 2/3 innings in Dodger Blue. After appearing in 10 games as a reliever in 1980, Valenzuela’s spectacular 1981 campaign made him the only player to ever win a Rookie of the Year Award and a Cy Young Award in the same season. The Mexico native was a fan favorite everywhere, but in particular became a hero amongst the Mexican-American population in Southern California. Valenzuela’s time in L.A. saw him achieve three more top-five finishes in NL Cy Young voting, make six All-Star appearances, and win two World Series titles in 1981 and 1988.
More from Chavez Ravine…
- From one Mexican-born star pitcher to another, as Julio Urias is “100% focused on the field” as he heads into his final season before free agency. Urias told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters that his “representatives and [the Dodgers] will have their chance to talk,” but at the moment, “we have the WBC and then we have the season and so those are two things I’m focused on right now.” Between Urias’ track record and age (he’ll be 27 on Opening Day 2024), he projects to be one of the top free agents on the market next winter, and in line for a gigantic contract. The Dodgers are no strangers to paying big for premium talent, though clients of Urias’ agent Scott Boras generally end up testing the open market rather than signing extensions, so it remains to be seen whether or not the Dodgers can offer a big enough number to keep Urias in the fold.
- Most of Miguel Vargas‘ experience in the minor leagues has come as a third baseman, but Los Angeles heads into the season planning to use Vargas mostly at second base, with Max Muncy instead manning the hot corner. The new rules limiting defensive shifts factored into the Dodgers’ decision, and GM Brandon Gomes also cited Vargas athleticism as a reason for his usage at this relatively (Vargas has played 28 games at second base in the minors) new position. “Vargas is our second- or third-fastest guy on the team, which is probably not appreciated at all,” Gomes told MLB.com’s Juan Toribio and other reporters. “So he’s also a good athlete. It’s more about getting him reps and getting his feel at second base. I think a combination of it all is really strong.” The Dodgers’ penchant for defensive flexibility means that Vargas and Muncy might change positions in some games, but Toribio writes that the team “rated Muncy very highly” as a third baseman last year. Public defensive metrics have traditionally been pretty split on Muncy’s work at either second or third base, though the new rules might indeed make third base the more logical spot for Muncy going forward.
Quick Hits: Narvaez, Gallo, Monfort, Tatis Jr., Mets
Omar Narvaez signed a one-year, $8MM deal (with a $7MM player option for 2024) with the Mets just before Christmas, and Will Sammon of The Athletic shed a little more light on the market for the veteran backstop before he eventually wound up in New York. Sammon notes that the Giants strongly considered a move for Narvaez while the Twins, Tigers and Reds all had varying levels of interest.
The Giants have since inked Roberto Perez, the Reds are set with the trio of Tyler Stephenson, Curt Casali and Luke Maile while the Twins signed Christian Vazquez to the position. The Tigers are an interesting one though, as they’ve only added Triple-A backstop Donny Sands in a trade with the Phillies. They’re set to use some combination of Eric Haase, Jake Rogers and Sands in 2023 but it’s interesting to hear they were at least interested in a higher profile addition there this winter. If they do still look to add an external catcher, Gary Sanchez, Robinson Chirinos and Kevin Plawecki are the remaining notable catchers on the market.
Here’s some more bits and pieces from around baseball:
- Joey Gallo could be set to see a bit of time at first base in 2023. As Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic noted in a recent mailbag, Gallo could well be the back up first baseman to Alex Kirilloff. That’s not to say Gallo will be on the bench, as the former Ranger, Yankee and Dodger will get plenty of reps in the outfield, but if Kirilloff’s struggles extend into 2023 the Twins could utilize Gallo a fair bit at the position. He rates well as a defender in the outfield, and has made just one appearance at first since 2018 but he’s also graded out solidly defensively at first in his time there.
- Rockies owner Dick Monfort made headlines recently when he boldly stated he thought the Rockies could play .500 ball this season. That’d be a big ask in a competitive NL West, and the Rockies have done little to improve on their 68-94 record in 2022. Whatever record they wind up with this year, Monfort – in an interview with Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post – said they wouldn’t go down the rebuilding path: “I guess the connotation on rebuilding is you just get rid of everybody. You try to draft low, which we’re not [going to do]. We’re not trying to get the first pick. We’re not going to tank. We never have, never will,” Monfort said.
- With the Padres adding Xander Bogaerts on a long-term deal and still having Manny Machado under contract for at least the next season, the left side of their infield appears set. Of course, that led to an expectation that Fernando Tatis Jr. would head to the outfield moving forward. That still looks to be the case, although the player didn’t commit to a position and said he’s been working out in both the infield and outfield this winter (via Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Tribune-Review). It’s been a challenging few seasons for Tatis, but he also added that he’s feeling “as close to 100%” as he’s been the past few seasons after dealing with wrist and shoulder injuries, and is expecting to be a full participant in spring training.
- Sammon’s report in The Athletic also includes details on the Mets plans for Tylor Megill and David Peterson. Both players figure to be in and around the team at some stage over the course of the season, but Sammon reports that the team’s ideal scenario would be to have both players go to Triple-A to start the season and work as starters there, rather than starting the season in the big league bullpen. Of course, injuries in the spring could force one or both of them into rotation spots to begin the season anyway, but it seems the Mets are hoping to avoid using them in relief roles to begin the season.
AL East Notes: Orioles, DL Hall, Red Sox
The Orioles took a major step forward last season, and now general manager Mike Elias has declared their rebuild over.
“I believe that our rebuild is behind us. We’ve got an incredible chance now to be a very, very competitive team for years,” Elias told reporters, including Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com.
That team will depend on the performance of it’s young core, led by Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and soon to include Grayson Rodriguez. Yet while the team is stocked with exciting young talent Orioles fans may have some reason to feel a little disappointed by the team’s modest acquisitions in the off-season thus far.
They’ve so far brought in starters Kyle Gibson and Cole Irvin, added reliever Mychal Givens, infielder Adam Frazier and catcher James McCann. While that group can all help the Orioles it’s not the splashy addition some might have been hoping for as the O’s look to compete in the tough AL East, yet Elias isn’t ruling out further additions by trade or in free agency.
“There are quality free agents remaining. We’re staying in touch in them. We’re still pursuing opportunities. There are some players on the free-agent market that interest us,” Elias said.
Given the dwindling options in free agency, it’s likely any signing would be more of a depth piece rather than an impact player. Baltimore was connected to free agent starter Michael Wacha throughout the off-season, but the addition of Irvin would seemingly make any more rotation additions unlikely. They’ve also been reported to be in the market for a defensive-minded outfielder.
Here’s a couple more notes from the AL East:
- Sticking with the Orioles to begin with, Elias says there are 12 players in the mix for the starting rotation come Opening Day. Gibson and Irvin are locks, while Elias has already said he expects top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez to make the team’s rotation out of camp, so that’d leave nine players competing for the final two spots. One of them will be prospect DL Hall, with Elias saying he’ll have a chance to compete for a rotation spot in the spring. Hall came in at 84th on Keith Law’s recently published top-100 prospect list. He did get a brief cup of coffee in the big leagues last year, but it’s possible the Orioles look to keep him at Triple-A at least to begin the season.
MLBTR’s Steve Adams took a deeper look at Baltimore’s rotation options recently, but other candidates include Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells, Austin Voth and Spenser Watkins. - The Red Sox won’t be aggressive in seeking further upgrades to their roster, but they are at least keeping the door open to making a move, particularly in the middle-infield, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said the team likes the group they’ve got, so it seems likely that further moves would be minor league deals or bench pieces. Enrique Hernandez and Adalberto Mondesi are slated to handle the bulk of the middle-infield reps in 2023, with Christian Arroyo the top option off the bench.
Mets Notes: Senga, DH, McNeil, Extensions
One of the bigger moves of the Mets’ active offseason was the signing of starter Kodai Senga to a five-year, $75MM guarantee. The 30-year-old righty is making the jump from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he posted a 2.59 ERA across 11 seasons. Senga was one of the highest-upside hurlers available in free agency, though there’s naturally some amount of performance risk until he translates his production against MLB competition.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports the Mets also expressed some concern about Senga’s medical evaluations before finalizing the contract in December. Further details aren’t clear, though Heyman notes Mets personnel have expressed confidence in Senga’s health prognosis for the upcoming season. That’s hardly surprising, as whatever concerns the organization had raised didn’t deter them from agreeing to the fourth-largest deal for a free agent pitcher this offseason. That contract also affords Senga an opportunity to opt out and retest the market after the 2025 season, though the Associated Press reports that’s contingent on the righty throwing a combined 400 innings over the next three years.
In other news out of Queens:
- The Mets never pursued a full-time designated hitter upgrade this offseason partially out of a desire to preserve a path to at-bats for their younger hitters, writes Andy Martino of SNY. Top prospects Francicso Álvarez and Brett Baty each reached the majors late in the 2022 season. Each is a polished hitter but faces questions about their defense at catcher and third base, respectively. That’s also true of corner infielder Mark Vientos, who’s not quite the same caliber of prospect as Álvarez or Baty but earned an MLB look with a .280/.358/.519 showing at Triple-A Syracuse. Martino suggests the Mets aren’t likely to give them early-season looks at DH in hopes of each continuing to show progress defensively, though there could be a path to bat-only reps later in the year — or for veteran Eduardo Escobar to slide to DH if Baty seized the third base job at some point. Lefty-swinging veteran Daniel Vogelbach earned the larger share of a DH platoon to open the year with an excellent .261/.382/.497 showing against righties anyhow. Offseason signee Tommy Pham or last summer’s deadline pickup Darin Ruf are righty bats who could shoulder the load against southpaws. Ruf’s second-half struggles give Pham the upper hand in that regard, but Martino writes the Mets are at least likely to carry Ruf on the roster into Spring Training.
- New York locked up one of their homegrown stars last Friday, signing Jeff McNeil to a four-year, $50MM extension to potentially buy out a trio of free agent years. General manager Billy Eppler addressed the deal earlier this week, expressing broad openness to negotiations with other important players who are early in their careers (link via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). First baseman Pete Alonso is the most logical candidate for those kinds of talks as he enters his penultimate season of arbitration control, though neither Eppler nor Alonso’s representatives at Apex Baseball have indicated publicly whether discussions might take place over the coming weeks. Discussions with McNeil, at least, were a long time running before culminating in a deal. Will Sammon of the Athletic reports Eppler and McNeil’s camp at Paragon Sports International first opened extension talks in November 2021, just before the lockout froze communications between teams and 40-man roster players until March.
Red Sox Notes: Barnes, Bleier, Paxton, Bello, Pivetta
The Red Sox made a change to their bullpen earlier this week, shipping out Matt Barnes to the Marlins for Richard Bleier. Boston reportedly paid down around $5.5MM to facilitate that deal, a testament to Barnes’ struggles since he signed a two-year, $18.75MM extension in July 2021.
That trade came a few days after the Sox had designated Barnes for assignment, a move that registered as a surprise even given the righty’s uneven past year and a half. The UCONN product had spent his entire career with the Red Sox since being drafted in the first round in 2011, and he indicated he was taken aback by the DFA.
“It was a complete blindside,” Barnes told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) about being taken off the 40-man roster. While he indicated he doesn’t have any animosity about his time in Boston, Barnes also intimated he wasn’t enamored with his usage last season. By the second week of May, he was deployed mostly in low-leverage situations. Between May 6 and 30, he was called upon ten times. Seven of those contests saw the Sox either trailing late or leading a blowout contest, with Barnes relegated to mop-up work.
“We got to a point in the season where we were either blowing people out or losing a game and unfortunately for me, those are the games I was throwing at that point,” he said. “My workload in the games increased along with the amount of work I was doing to get back to what was normal for me. That’s when my shoulder flared up.” Barnes hit the injured list retroactive to May 31 with shoulder inflammation, an injury that kept him out of action until early August.
Of course, the lack of high-leverage work was in response to Barnes’ struggles. He’d been tagged for an 8.65 ERA in 10 appearances through May 5. That was on the heels of a 6.48 showing in the second half of 2021 that led the Sox to leave him off the playoff roster. He actually fared quite well to close out the 2022 campaign, posting a 1.66 ERA in 23 games to finish out the year. That wasn’t enough to grab a lasting 40-man spot over the winter, perhaps due to a still diminished 21.7% strikeout rate in that stretch.
Red Sox’s chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom discussed the Barnes DFA and subsequent trade on the Fenway Rundown podcast with Cotillo yesterday. Bloom noted that trading Barnes to Miami was “not something that we knew was going to happen at the time of the DFA,” suggesting the opportunity to make the trade arose after the reliever lost his roster spot. He pointed to Bleier’s propensity for weak contact and previous success in the AL East as a member of the Yankees and Orioles as reasons he was an appealing target for the front office.
Bleier adds a second left-hander to the Boston relief corps, joining offseason signee Joely Rodríguez. The Sox had a decent amount of turnover in that regard, waiving Darwinzon Hernández, trading Josh Taylor for Adalberto Mondesi, and seeing Matt Strahm depart via free agency. Boston has starting pitching prospects like Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter who could theoretically factor into that mix after securing 40-man roster spots.
James Paxton is another southpaw on the roster. He’s pitched just six MLB games over the past three seasons due to arm injuries. That’s raised some speculation about the possibility of the veteran seeing action in relief as a means of building his innings gradually. Bloom didn’t rule that out entirely, though he cautioned that might not be prudent for a pitcher who has started all 137 of his career big league outings.
“At the stage of his career that he’s at and having been through as much medically as he’s been through, adding the variable of asking him to do something he hasn’t really done is something we would have to think long and hard before doing,” Bloom told Cotillo. “That doesn’t rule it out, but you do have to factor that in.”
The Boston baseball operations leader also pushed back against the possibility of using young righty Brayan Bello out of the bullpen, pointing to his “ceiling of being a really good starting pitcher.” Bloom did note that Boston could “creatively” manage workloads early in the season but made clear the team still views Bello’s future as a starter. Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic writes there’s similarly no consideration of moving Nick Pivetta to the bullpen. Between that trio, Chris Sale, offseason signee Corey Kluber and the rotation conversion for Garrett Whitlock, it seems things are trending towards Tanner Houck sticking in relief for the upcoming season.
Twins Notes: Lewis, Polanco, Kirilloff, Miranda
The Twins were leading the American League Central division for much of 2022. However, injuries mounted throughout the season and the Guardians surpassed them for good in September, eventually finishing 14 games ahead of Minnesota. Better health and depth will be key for the Twins if they are to have better results this year, and the club even went so far as to hire a new head athletic trainer, getting Nick Paparesta to jump over from the A’s. “I think he’s going to have a huge impact,” manager Rocco Baldelli told Dan Hayes of The Athletic recently. “I’m not just confident of it — I know he’s going to have a huge impact in what goes on inside those doors.”
One of the players whose health will be in focus in 2023 is Royce Lewis. The first overall selection in the 2017 draft, he’s long been considered one of the best prospects in the league. However, he struggled a bit in 2019 and then saw the minors wiped out by the pandemic in 2020. That was followed by a lost season in 2021 as he was diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in February, requiring season-ending surgery. He got things back on track nicely in 2022, hitting .313/.405/.534 in 34 Triple-A games and .300/.317/.550 in his first 12 major league games. Unfortunately, he tore the ACL in his right knee a second time in June, wiping out what remained of that season.
There were times this season that it seemed Carlos Correa would sign with the Giants and then Mets, leaving the future shortstop job open for Lewis to retake once healthy. However, Correa’s deals ended up getting scuttled by disagreements with those clubs about his physical and he wound up back with the Twins. His new deal comes with six guaranteed seasons and he could stick around for four more years via vesting options. While he might eventually move off shortstop at some point, it seems Lewis is blocked from that position for the foreseeable future. To help get into the lineup more last year, he played a little bit of outfield and third base in the minors, as well as some outfield in the majors. He tells Hayes that he would prefer to play on the infield but is open to time in the outfield again.
It likely won’t be an issue for a while, since his surgery was initially estimated to require a 12-month recovery period, meaning he likely won’t return until midway through the upcoming season. Though Lewis doesn’t have an update on his timeline, he did start hitting three weeks ago. Whenever he does return, he will be looking to crack an infield that should consist of Correa at short, Jorge Polanco at second, José Miranda at third and Alex Kirilloff at first.
There are some injury concerns elsewhere in that mix. Correa, of course, has a checkered injury past and the issues with the Giants and Mets raise questions about how his health will develop in the future. Polanco, meanwhile, was limited to 104 games last year by a pesky knee issue that eventually put him on the injured list for good in early September. He has declared himself to be healthy for the upcoming campaign, telling Hayes “I’m trying to really be out there playing, playing hard, letting the young guys know that I’m here to play hard. I want to set an example for them. I just want to be part of it.” Despite the nagging issue last year, he still hit 16 home runs and walked in 14.4% of his plate appearances for a batting line of .235/.346/.405 and a wRC+ of 119.
As for Kirilloff, the former first round draft pick has been dealing with persistent wrist issues, with each of his past two seasons ended by surgery. He’s back to swinging a bat now but is still sore. “They cut my bone so there’s definitely some aches and stuff to go along with that, but from a pain standpoint it feels good,” he says. “I think they’re expected to go away. I think anytime you break your bone it can take a lot longer than expected to heal. From my understanding, it gets to that certain point where it’s healed enough to do whatever you need to do and then it keeps healing for a while after that.”
He’s produced monster numbers in the minor leagues but the wrist issues have seemingly hampered him in the big leagues so far. Since starting 2019 in Double-A, Kirilloff has hit .305/.378/.484 in 574 minor league plate appearances for a wRC+ of 143. But in 387 major league appearances thus far, he’s slashed just .251/.295/.398 for a 91 wRC+. The club declined an option on Miguel Sanó and traded Luis Arraez to the Marlins, leaving the first base job wide open for Kirilloff if he’s healthy enough to take it.
Another player who could be in the mix at first is Miranda, though he seems to be ticketed for the third base job after Gio Urshela was traded to the Angels. Miranda made his debut last year and spent more time at first with Urshela across the diamond, but he can now go back to third, where he spent more time in the minors. His first season in the show went quite well, as he hit 15 home runs and batted .268/.325/.426 for a wRC+ of 117. He apparently felt worn down late last year and has been on a new workout program and diet, trying to eat more chicken and vegetables in lieu of sweets. “He looks sexy,” Correa said about Miranda. “You see that body? He looks sexy. He looks really good. He looks in shape, he looks ready to work.”
Nick Gordon and Kyle Farmer will be on hand to give the club some infield depth, though Lewis will also be trying to get back on the field and into the mix. His odds of helping the team here are probably better than their crowded outfield mix of Byron Buxton, Joey Gallo, Max Kepler, Michael A. Taylor, Trevor Larnach, Gilberto Celestino and Matt Wallner, with Gordon and Kirilloff potentially in the mix there as well. It’s possible that a trade thins out the outfield depth chart a bit, but it remains packed for now, with just two weeks to go until Spring Training.
NL Notes: Schuerholz, Braves, Astros, Mets, Dodgers
Before the Astros hired Dana Brown as their new general manager, the team also interviewed one of Brown’s co-workers from the Braves front office in special assistant of scouting operations Jonathan Schuerholz, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports. Schuerholz played six seasons in Atlanta’s minor league system (from 2002-07) before moving into a minor league instructor role for the next seven seasons, and then in front office since October 2014 in assistant director roles in the player development and scouting departments.
Houston’s search involved candidates with several differing levels of experience, ranging from at least one former MLB general manager in Bobby Evans to a former manager in Brad Ausmus, who has mostly worked in on-field roles apart from brief stints as a special assistant in the front office with the Angels and Padres. (Brown was the Braves’ VP of scouting, a role that won’t be filled since Nightengale writes that the team specifically tailored the job to Brown himself.) Schuerholz was one of the younger known candidates at age 42, though he comes from a noteworthy lineage — Schuerholz’s father John is a Hall-of-Fame executive known for his success in building World Series winners in Atlanta and Kansas City. The younger Schuerholz could well be a name to watch in future years as teams look to fill GM/president of baseball operations vacancies.
More from around the National League…
- With the Mets signing Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, and Jose Quintana to fill their rotation holes this winter, in-house names like David Peterson and Tylor Megill were pushed down the depth chart, and might not even be on New York’s active roster to begin the season. “If those guys start the year in Triple-A, we have two guys that probably deserve to be in the big leagues just from their past performance and their stuff,” Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner told Mike Puma of the New York Post. That said, Hefner noted the unlikelihood of the Mets’ top five starters getting through the season in perfect health, so the team will keep Peterson and Megill stretched out and “readily available” to step into the rotation if a need arises. If they are on the big league roster, Peterson and Megill could work out of the bullpen in the interim, and Hefner said the Mets haven’t yet decided on whether Joey Lucchesi will also be used as a reliever or might be stretched out in the minors as starter depth. Lucchesi underwent Tommy John surgery midway through the 2021 season and didn’t pitch at all last year as he continued to rehab.
- The Dodgers‘ multi-positional players give the club some flexibility, but president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in an interview today on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that he currently views the regular lineup with Max Muncy at third base, Gavin Lux at shortstop, Miguel Vargas at second base and Chris Taylor in the outfield. Miguel Rojas, acquired via trade from the Marlins earlier this month, is being thought of as more of a utility option, offering sound defense in reserve. Vargas made his MLB debut last season and didn’t actually see any action at second base over his first 18 big league games, plus he played far more third base than second base in the minors. Still, the Dodgers clearly think highly of the top prospect’s potential, and Vargas’ .304/.404/.511 slash line in 520 plate appearances at Triple-A indicate that he is ready for a longer look in the Show.