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Health Notes: Suarez, Piscotty, Archer, Clase/Civale

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Fortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of negative health news to this point of Spring Training. Let’s check in on a few issues that have arisen …

  • Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez is feeling both excitement and some trepidation as he nears readiness to test his recently tweaked shoulder, as Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Indication remains that Suarez could conceivably be ready to roll on Opening Day. He says he’s getting his timing down even as he avoids throwing or swinging full-bore. But there are also some nerves as he prepares to ramp up. “Just a little bit because I know I have something there,” Suarez said when asked whether he’s nervous. “I don’t want to get hurt again. I have to be careful. We’ll see what happens.”
  • After a disappointing 2019 season, the last thing Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty wants to deal with is another injury issue. Right now, the hope is that his oblique/rib cage problem isn’t going to represent a major limitation, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. But Piscotty might be down for another week and it’s beginning to look like Opening Day readiness could be in doubt. That’d be a disappointment, of course, but it’s surely better than rushing back and ending up with a bigger problem.
  • Neck tightness kept Pirates righty Chris Archer from making a scheduled outing today, as Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. There hasn’t been a substantial update just yet, but there’s no reason to believe that this is more than a minor blip.
  • It’s a similar situation in Indians’ camp, where righties Emmanuel Clase and Aaron Civale have been limited. As MLB.com’s Mandy Bell tweets, the former is dealing with lat discomfort and the latter a sore groin. While Clase is going to slow his build-up to let things calm down, Civale is preparing to throw a sim game.

The Athletics Have Placed Their Betts

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At first glance, the Athletics didn’t really do much of note this winter. The club retained southpaw Jake Diekman and picked up infielders Tony Kemp and … picked up a club option over Yusmeiro Petit and … umm …. signed Ryan Goins to a minor-league deal.

Viewed through another lens, though, the notoriously low-budget A’s had a blockbuster, all-in offseason. Which lens is that? The one through which Red Sox owner John Henry views the game of baseball.

After trading away homegrown superstar Mookie Betts, Henry conveyed his cherished memories of Stan The Man for brownie points with the Boston fanbase. Saying his young heart would’ve shattered had childhood hero Stan Musial “ever been traded — for any reason,” the now-grown Henry … well, gave some reasons why Betts was sent west by one of the richest teams in sports.

It wasn’t about getting under the Competitive Balance Tax threshold, Henry says. Rather, it’s just the sort of thing that is foisted upon MLB teams — even those “consistently among the highest-spending clubs in baseball” — by the collective bargaining agreement (a deal those same teams negotiated to their general advantage).

The Red Sox, per Henry, were forced to “make hard judgments about competing for the future as well as the present.” Their hands were tied by the fact that, “In today’s game there is a cost to losing a great player to free agency — one that cannot nearly be made up by the draft pick given.” Ultimately, Henry said of the organization’s leadership: “we could not sit on our hands and lose [Betts] next offseason without getting value in return to help us on our path forward.”

There are many ways to approach and discuss these comments. For our purposes here, we’re not even going to consider what they mean for the Red Sox or the game of baseball. There’s no need to call for pitchforks; that statement has already had its day in the news cycle anyway. The Boston club certainly has spent and put a winner on the field of late. And Henry at least fessed up to the fact that the team simply decided to punt near-term performance for future value, even if he didn’t want to acknowledge the rather obvious financial component of that calculus.

What’s most interesting to me about the comments is that … holy smokes, the Oakland Athletics really believe! If Henry is to be taken at his word, then the A’s are making one heckuva roll of the dice by keeping, rather than trading, their own pending free agent star: shortstop Marcus Semien.

True, Semien almost assuredly isn’t as good as Betts, but the former actually contributed a full fWAR more than the latter in 2019. Semien is only earning $13MM, just under half the $27MM Betts will receive. But it’s a much bigger portion of the Oakland payroll than Betts was to the Boston budget. (That’s true just based upon simple math, but that tends to undersell the impact. The A’s have to consider every dollar spent over league minimum, while the Red Sox have far greater operating leeway to shoehorn in cost-efficient but more-than-minimum players.)

What of the odds of success in 2020, which is obviously a huge component of this decision? The Red Sox are well behind the Yankees on paper. But the A’s are chasing an uber-talented Astros team that remains mighty even without its crack signals operations unit. Both of these teams are unlikely to take their division, but each is a solid Wild Card contender. Fangraphs’ postseason odds aren’t gospel and obviously must be taken only as a guide to true roster capability (as they are intended) … but wait, how does this make sense? The Red Sox, sans Betts, project at about a coin flip of making the postseason. That tops the A’s, even with Semien! You might quibble with the projections and point to the upside on the Oakland roster. But don’t the Red Sox still have Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers?

So, even as the Red Sox determined they couldn’t “sit on [their] hands and lose” Betts without adequate compensation after the coming season, the Athletics decided to keep Semien in roughly analogous circumstances. Well, analogous from a roster talent and postseason odds perspective. The low-budget A’s are the sort of team that’s typically forced to take its Betts-type players off the table on the rationale set forth by Henry, even if it stings, in order to preserve a long-term flow of talent and keep up with deeper-pocketed rivals. Instead, they’re letting their version of Betts ride.

It’s quite the juxtaposition. Perhaps the A’s still have designs on a Semien extension, but it’s far from inevitable and we haven’t heard indication that a deal is particularly likely. And if one is to be struck, it’ll require convincing him to forego free agency … which will assuredly require the kind of price that makes the A’s squirm (even if they can now finally see a new ballpark on the horizon). A mid-summer trade fall-back is available but isn’t exactly plan A. All things considered, in relative terms, the situation is quite similar to that which would’ve faced the Red Sox on Betts.

Look, I don’t really have a Take here. I’m not here to call the Oakland front office reckless or label Henry’s explanation feckless. My point is only this: given those two teams’ divergent approaches, doesn’t Henry’s statement suggest that one or the other is true?

Camp Battles: Athletics’ Second Base Job

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The Athletics boast one of baseball’s best infield trios: third baseman Matt Chapman, shortstop Marcus Semien and first baseman Matt Olson are among the sport’s very best as their respective positions. It’s easy to argue that Oakland is 75 percent of the way to the best infield in the game — but it’s that remaining 25 percent that will be one of the key areas of focus for the organization this spring.

Oakland’s second base position is wide open, although that doesn’t mean that the club is short on candidates. Franklin Barreto, Jorge Mateo, Tony Kemp, Sheldon Neuse and Rule 5 pick Vimael Machin are among the candidates to join that all-world infield mix. If the Oakland organization isn’t content with the options already in house, they could look to a free-agent market that still includes veterans Brian Dozier, Scooter Gennett and Tim Beckham. The merits of further muddying an already crowded mix can be debated, but the A’s at least looked into Jason Kipnis before he signed with the Cubs, so perhaps a lefty bat like Gennett would be of some interest.

Complicating the matter for Oakland decision-makers is that four of the five incumbent possibilities are unable to be sent to the minors; each of Barreto, Mateo and Kemp is out of minor league options. Machin would have to be put on waivers and offered back to the Cubs upon clearing if he doesn’t win a spot on the roster. It’s a competition that’ll surely force the Athletics into some tough decisions, but that’s common this time of year.

Let’s take a look at the options…

  • Barreto: Brett Lawrie is out of baseball. Sean Nolin hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2015. Kendall Graveman? He’ll spent the 2020 season with the division-rival Mariners after being non-tendered two years ago following Tommy John surgery. Some might question what those names have to do with Barreto, but A’s fans know: he’s the last vestige of the franchise-altering trade that sent Josh Donaldson to Toronto in November 2014. Still not even 24 years old, Barreto ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects in four straight offseasons but has season his prospect/rookie status expire without establishing himself in the big leagues. He curbed some strikeout issues in Triple-A last year and posted a strong .295/.374/.552 slash in Triple-A. Manager Bob Melvin tells MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos that 2020 camp represents Barreto’s “best shot” to date with the organization. “[I]f he has the type of Spring that he has had before, it’s going to be tough not to have him be part of that dynamic, whether it’s a left-right dynamic or an everyday role,” says Melvin. Assistant hitting coach Eric Martins calls the job “absolutely [Mateo’s] to lose.”
  • Mateo: Another high-profile prospect at the time of acquisition (alongside Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian in the trade that sent Sonny Gray to the Yankees), Mateo has yet to play in the Majors. He brings elite speed — 80-grade, on some reports — that can’t be matched by the rest of the participants in this competition. Mateo hit .289/.330/.504 in 566 Triple-A plate appearances last year — a slash that incredibly, by measure of wRC+ (96), ranked just below league average in the offensively supercharged Triple-A environment. He’s a shortstop by trade and has also played center field, so he could make the club as a super-utility option even if he doesn’t win the second base job.
  • Kemp: The newest entrant into the Oakland second base derby, Kemp was acquired just last month in a trade that sent minor league infielder Alfonso Rivas to the Cubs. The 28-year-old Kemp has played in 283 games in the big leagues, mostly with the Astros, and put together a .233/.314/.367 slash through 749 plate appearances. His left-handed bat could theoretically pair well with the right-handed bats of Barreto, Kemp or Neuse, although he hasn’t displayed particularly significant platoon splits. He’s a .312/.373/.425 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons and brings some defensive versatility to the mix as well; Kemp has logged 1152 Major League innings in the outfield — including 321 frames in center.
  • Neuse: The fact that Neuse has all three minor league option years remaining will surely work against him, but he’ll have the chance to outplay his out-of-options brethren in Oakland camp. Like everyone else on this list, the 25-year-old Neuse was originally part of another organization; he joined the A’s along with Jesus Luzardo and Blake Treinen in the trade that sent Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle to the Nationals. The 2019 season was a big one for Neuse, who ripped through Triple-A pitching with a .317/.389/.550 slash en route to making his Major League debut. He’s still only totaled 61 plate appearances in the bigs, but the former second-round pick will surely add to that total in some capacity in 2020.
  • Machin: The 26-year-old Machin is — pardon the pun — an OBP machine who has walked nearly as often in his minor league career as he’s struck out (215 free passes to 258 punchouts). He’s fresh off a .295/.390/.412 slash between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019, and he’s hit at a .313/.345/.437 clip in winter ball this season. Machin has at least 650 plate appearances at all four infield positions but has spent the bulk of his minor league time at second base. His versatility, OBP skills and Rule 5 status could give him an opportunity to break camp as a utility option, and a strong early showing could net him larger looks as the season wears on.

Former Blue Jays and White Sox infielder Ryan Goins stands out as a notable non-roster option who’s in camp, although it’d certainly qualify as an upset if he beat out five 40-man players — including two out-of-options former top prospects who’ve yet to see an extended audition in the big leagues (Barreto, Mateo).

Regardless of the outcome, there’s some potential for a notable 40-man move or two here late in camp. It seems likeliest that the A’s will play things safe and keep both Barreto and Mateo on the roster, but they’ll be two of the more intriguing names to monitor on this year’s list of out-of-options players throughout Spring Training.

A’s Acquire Burch Smith

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The A’s have acquired reliever Burch Smith from the Giants for cash considerations, the club announced (h/t to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Smith was designated for assignment by San Francisco earlier this week. As the A’s noted, this is the first swap involving an MLB player between the Bay Area rivals since 1990.

Smith, 29, hasn’t found much success at the MLB level. In 99.1 innings with the Royals, Brewers and Giants over the past two seasons, Smith has just a 6.61 ERA with an underwhelming combination of strikeouts (20.9%) and walks (11.6%). He has continued to find 40-man roster spots around the league, though, suggesting teams are holding out hope for better results.

To create roster space for Smith, Daniel Mengden was placed on the 60-day injured list, tweets Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. Mengden underwent elbow surgery earlier this week.

Latest On A's Catching Depth

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  • The Athletics brought a catcher to their Major League spring camp, though it was non-roster invite and former Oakland Double-A backstop Collin Theroux rather than one of the well-known veterans the club reportedly has under consideration.  “It probably looks like we go forward with the group we have right now,” manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser and other reporters, with Theroux joining Austin Allen, Jonah Heim, Carlos Perez, Ronnie Freeman, and presumptive starter Sean Murphy at Spring Training.  There isn’t much collective MLB experience in this group, which is why the A’s have looked into the likes of Russell Martin as a seasoned backup (and mentor) to Murphy, who the A’s see as their catcher of the future.

Ben Zobrist Reportedly Not Planning To Play In 2020

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Veteran utilityman Ben Zobrist is not planning to play in the current season, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). While nothing seems to have been set in stone, it now appears unlikely that the 38-year-old will resume his career.

This is hardly a surprising outcome given the course of the 2019 season. Zobrist took time away from the Cubs to deal with family matters, sacrificing some of his salary in the final season of his $64MM deal. When he was available, Zobrist generally struggled.

The switch-hitting, do-it-all performer didn’t lose his impeccable plate discipline last year, as he drew 23 walks against 24 strikeouts in 176 plate appearances. But his power all but disappeared, as he managed only six extra-base hits and a .313 slugging percentage to go with his .358 OBP.

If indeed this is the end of the line, Zobrist will finish with a .266/.357/.426 lifetime triple-slash — which works out to a 116 wRC+. He added big value with his multi-positional defensive acumen and quality baserunning, leaving him with a tally of 44.4 fWAR and 45.2 rWAR over his 14 campaigns in the majors.

Along the way, Zobrist played a pivotal role in redefining the way teams build their rosters. He was an everyday player in Tampa Bay, appearing in 153 games annually between 2009 and 2014 with the Rays, but he moved all over the field. That helped the creative organization find more ways to utilize platoons and achieve small advantages, a strategy that has since expanded, dovetailed with other trends, and turned into a rather normal occurrence around the game.

Of course, few if any super-utility types have anything approaching Zobrist’s ability with the bat and glove. In his best season, 2009, Zobrist ran up a monster 152 wRC+ and 8.7 fWAR. That sort of ability made his early-career extension one of the game’s most valuable contracts for a stretch. He was a hotly pursued trade commodity in advance of his final of team control, when he moved to the Athletics and then on to the Royals for the K.C. World Series run. And Zobrist drew interest from many clubs in the ensuing winter, ultimately landing with the Cubs on a four-year deal — a remarkable pact given that he was heading into his age-35 season.

It seems the Chicago stint will prove a finishing act for Zobrist. He struggled in 2017 and 2019, but was an All-Star for the third time in 2016. Zobrist not only helped the Cubbies reach the World Series, but took home the MVP award for his big role in helping the club end the curse. He was again a strong performer in 2018, easily justifying the club’s overall investment.

If this is it for Zobrist, then MLBTR offers a tip of the cap for an excellent career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Athletics To Sign Michael Ynoa

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The Athletics have agreed to a deal with righty Michael Ynoa, according to the Roster Roundup Twitter page. It’ll be a minor-league deal for the 28-year-old.

This represents a reunion of sorts for Ynoa, who started his pro career in the Oakland org and ended up being shipped to the White Sox in the Jeff Samardzija swap. Ynoa missed all of 2018 due to injury and was dropped early in 2019 by the Royals after 17 Triple-A appearances.

Ynoa has long struggled to rein in the walks — an issue that arose again last year. Through 59 MLB innings, he carries a 4.42 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9. He has thrown 16 2/3 intriguing innings in Dominican winter all action of late, racking up 28 strikeouts while allowing five earned runs on just four hits … along with a dozen free passes.

Athletics Considering Free-Agent Catchers

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The Athletics used a slew of catchers in 2019, but almost all of them are now out of the organization. Josh Phegley, Chris Herrmann, Nick Hundley, Beau Taylor and Dustin Garneau are gone. Sean Murphy’s the lone member of last season’s group still remaining, and the promising 25-year-old figures to get the most playing time among Athletics catchers in the upcoming campaign. There’s no battle-tested backup on the roster, but the A’s are monitoring the free-agent market for backstops, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

There’s at least some chance that Russell Martin, a longtime Dodger, will remain in California. Oakland “checked in with” him earlier in the offseason, Slusser writes. Should the team wind up signing Martin, the 36-year-old would make for quite a mentor for Murphy.

Martin, who debuted in 2006, has been one of the game’s most successful catchers in recent memory on the field and a well-regarded locker room presence off it. While Martin’s production has tailed off in the past couple seasons, he still turned in 1.2 fWAR with a .220/.337/.330 line in 249 plate appearances last year. Behind the plate, Martin threw out just 18 percent of would-be base stealers, though Baseball Prospectus did assign him above-average marks for his overall work as a defender.

Martin’s likely the most appealing catcher left in a free-agent market that has shrunk to almost nothing at his position. Fellow ex-star Jonathan Lucroy, a former Athletic, is also out there. He has engaged in “conversations with a few teams,” per Slusser, though it’s unclear if the A’s are among them.

Of course, Oakland could just decide to stick with in-house choices at catcher, where it has two options besides Murphy on its 40-man roster. The club acquired Austin Allen, who’s penciled in as its backup, from the Padres in December. The Athletics also have Jonah Heim, a 24-year-old who raked in Triple-A ball in 2019. Additionally, they picked up veteran Carlos Perez earlier this winter, though he’s not on their 40-man.

Athletics Showing Interest In Jason Kipnis

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The Athletics have shown some level of interest in veteran infielder Jason Kipnis, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com (via Twitter). It’s not yet clear whether a deal is likely and if so whether it’d include a 40-man roster spot.

It has been a quiet offseason thus far for Kipnis, who hit the open market for the first time when the Indians declined a club option. He has drawn interest from the Cubs, but it has otherwise been crickets.

The 32-year-old Kipnis is accustomed to regular playing time, having accrued nearly five thousand plate appearances over a nine-year run with the Cleveland organization. But clear-cut opportunities at his customary second base have been hard to come by this winter, with a bevy of other candidates also available.

It has been some time since Kipnis was a high-grade offensive threat. He’s a .236/.305/.403 hitter over the past three seasons. But Kipnis has always been much more effective against right-handed than left-handed pitching; unsurprisingly, Gallegos suggests the A’s would consider him in a platoon capacity.

UZR likes him in the field, though DRS and Statcast’s Outs Above Average do not. Kipnis has logged brief time in center field, so perhaps a new team could explore moving him around.

The Athletics already added a left-handed utility piece in Tony Kemp, though the team has committed little more than 40-man space to him at this point. It’s possible he and Kipnis could battle in camp for a role. Veteran lefty utilityman Ryan Goins is also on hand. Righty hitters Chad Pinder and Franklin Barreto factor in the potential mix at second base as well.

Daniel Mengden Undergoes Elbow Surgery

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Athletics right-hander Daniel Mengden underwent arthroscopic surgery on his pitching elbow Monday, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Mengden will miss at least two months as a result, making it likely he’ll begin the season on the 60-day injured list, according to Slusser.

The 26-year-old Mengden divided last season between the A’s and their Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, totaling 13 appearances for both teams. He started nine games for Oakland and pitched to a 4.83 ERA/4.69 FIP with ugly strikeout, walk and groundball rates over 59 2/3 innings. Mengden fanned 6.34 hitters per nine, walked 4.07 and induced grounders at a 36.3 percent clip. He was much better in those categories in the minors (8.58 K/9, 2.82 BB/9, 51.4 percent GB rate), but his run prevention was somewhat similar. Mengden wound up with a 4.22 ERA/4.55 FIP across 64 frames and 10 starts.

While Mengden has mostly been a starter in the majors since he came on the scene in 2016, he’d have been in line to compete for a bullpen spot this spring. The A’s, after all, have plenty of other rotation candidates or locks (Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea, Mike Fiers, Jesus Luzardo, Chris Bassitt and A.J. Puk are among them). It’s now up in the air whether Mengden will throw another pitch as a member of the organization, considering he’s out of minor league options. But if he does go on the 60-day IL, Oakland will save a 40-man roster spot and put that decision on hold.

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