Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Athletics Rumors

AL Notes: Vogelbach, Rangers, Red Sox, A’s

By | at

With the 2019 MLB season officially wrapping up in a matter of hours, much of the league is fully turned toward the upcoming offseason. We’ll track some American League news here.

  • Daniel Vogelbach started 49 games at first base for the Mariners in 2019, but that’s not likely to happen again, reports Corey Brock of the Athletic. Never regarded as an especially strong defender, some in the Mariners’ organization believe Vogelbach’s offensive downturn in the season’s second half (71 wRC+, compared to a 136 wRC+ in the first half) was related to his playing the field more than was ideal. With Vogelbach looking like a pure DH, the Mariners could again turn first base over to Austin Nola, a 29 year-old rookie who slashed .269/.342/.454 in 267 plate appearances down the stretch. Nola’s capable of bouncing all around the diamond, including catching, and is probably best served as a multi-positional piece. Fortunately, top first base prospect Evan White is on the doorstep of the majors and has a chance to win the job early, perhaps even out of spring training, Brock adds.
  • The Red Sox could be facing payroll constraints and have a number of high-priced but effective starting pitchers. With that in mind, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News hears that the Rangers have internally kicked around the idea of pursuing one of those arms in trade. Texas is planning to increase payroll in 2020, after all. While much of that attention has focused on a potential pursuit of Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon in free agency, that flexibility can certainly be put to use in trade as well. Grant speculates that any of Chris Sale, David Price, or Nathan Eovaldi could be targets. Of course, given the caliber of players (particularly Sale and Price) and amount of money involved, any trade scenario would be extremely complex.
  • Speaking of the Red Sox, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe takes a fascinating look at the career of Brian O’Halloran. Part of the four-person interim front office crew (alongside Raquel Ferreira, Eddie Romero and Zack Scott) who ran baseball operations between the departure of Dave Dombrowski and the hiring of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, O’Halloran was promoted to general manager at the time of Bloom’s hiring. Speier’s piece, certainly worth reading in full, is rife with quotes from O’Halloran’s colleagues lauding his work ethic and aptitude and details his rise from volunteer to jack-of-all-trades within the organization.
  • The A’s have an uncertain mix at second base, and three young players have a chance to stake their claim to the job next spring, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Sheldon Neuse, Franklin Barreto and Jorge Mateo should all have a shot at earning the job, assuming none are traded in the coming months. Jurickson Profar may, too, Slusser notes, although it’s possible he’ll end up elsewhere following a disappointing season with a projected $5.8MM arbitration salary. Slusser doesn’t foreclose the possibility of an outside addition, something explored by MLBTR’s Connor Byrne in his A’s offseason outlook, but it’s nonetheless notable to hear the organization continues to have faith in its young infield options.

Offseason Outlook: Oakland Athletics

By | at

While this season represented another year in which the Athletics fell short of the ultimate goal, it would still be difficult to call it anything but a success. The low-budget franchise overcame multiple key injuries in its rotation to amass 97 wins for the second straight year and earn its second consecutive playoff berth. Unfortunately for Oakland, it once again couldn’t get past the wild-card game. The A’s will return the vast majority of their important contributors in 2020, however, and even though they’re probably in for a somewhat quiet winter, there’s a good chance they’ll remain among the AL’s most talented teams next year.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections via Matt Swartz)

Option Decisions

Free Agents

As was the case in 2018, this year’s Athletics overcame a rotation that wasn’t anywhere close to full strength to book a trip to the playoffs. Emergent ace Frankie Montas’ breakout year all but ended in late June because of an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs; Sean Manaea barely factored in after undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2018; and promising young starters Jesus Luzardo, A.J. Puk and Jharel Cotton missed most or all of the season with injuries. When Luzardo and Puk were healthy enough to pitch toward the end of the year, they worked exclusively out of the A’s bullpen.

Going forward, the A’s can likely expect Montas, Manaea, Luzardo and Puk to occupy four of five spots in their season-opening 2020 rotation. Cotton could vie for a spot, but he doesn’t seem to stand as strong a chance to win one. If healthy, though, he could be a solid depth piece for an Oakland staff that’ll also have Mike Fiers and Chris Bassitt among its main options. The sudden overflow of capable-looking starters means the A’s probably won’t pursue starters with much gusto over the winter. Brett Anderson and in-season additions Homer Bailey and Tanner Roark each helped spur the A’s most recent playoff season, though they all appear likely to walk in free agency. Even Anderson, a longtime and much-respected Athletic, seems to think his time with the franchise is done because of the copious amount of viable starters they have on hand.

Oakland seems to be facing a larger number of questions in its bullpen, where it’ll have to decide on a couple options before getting to other business. Rejecting lefty Jake Diekman’s $5.75MM option in favor of a $500K buyout seems as if it’ll happen; meantime, it appears to be a straightforward call to say yes to workhorse righty Yusmeiro Petit’s $5.5MM option. Assuming Petit sticks around, he’ll stay in a group that’ll also return the suddenly superb Liam Hendriks, Joakim Soria, Ryan Buchter and Lou Trivino. After that, the unit’s makeup doesn’t seem to be set in stone. Some member(s) from the A’s overflow of starters may be part of the group, as could J.B. Wendelken. Blake Treinen had an all-world season in 2018, but he fell off a cliff during an injury-limited ’19 and now looks like a strong non-tender candidate. All that said, adding to the bullpen (for what figures to be a low-cost, short-term contract) may be a priority this offseason for the A’s. Bear in mind that they have brought in at least one free-agent reliever on a guaranteed contract in each of the past few winters (Petit, Soria, Santiago Casilla, Ryan Madson and John Axford since 2016).

Meanwhile, the A’s position player alignment looks set for the most part. Third baseman Matt Chapman, first baseman Matt Olson and shortstop Marcus Semien are bedrock in the infield (the only question is whether any of them will land contract extensions). Designated hitter Khris Davis’ production plummeted during an injury-affected season, but the money left on his contract means he isn’t going to vacate his role. Underrated standouts Mark Canha and Ramon Laureano make for two-thirds of a starting outfield, though it’s not yet clear where they’ll mainly line up next season.

Either Canha or Laureano could be the A’s No. 1 center fielder or wind up starting in a corner in 2020. Stephen Piscotty (whom Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle has suggested may be a trade candidate), Robbie Grossman (potential non-tender), Chad Pinder (another possible non-tender), Seth Brown, Skye Bolt and Dustin Fowler might also be in the mix for spots. However, the A’s could go out of house for what they deem to be a more appealing choice. Slusser and Melissa Lockard of The Athletic have named lefty-hitting center fielder as a potential priority for the club, which may mean adding someone like Jarrod Dyson, Billy Hamilton or Jon Jay in free agency or even swinging a trade for Boston’s Jackie Bradley Jr. (though he might be too pricey for Oakland). In the corners, while free agents-to-be Marcell Ozuna and Nicholas Castellanos will likely be too rich for the A’s blood, though the team might be able to afford Yasiel Puig, Corey Dickerson, Kole Calhoun, Avisail Garcia or Brett Gardner. And let’s not forget ex-Athletic Ben Zobrist, who’d be able to help fill their 2B/OF needs in one fell swoop.

Whether they come away with Zobrist or someone else, second base does look like a position Oakland may choose to address from outside. Jurickson Profar’s probably on the outs, whether by trade or non-tender, after he fell flat in 2019. Free agency looks as if it’ll feature several affordable players who could prove to be upgrades over what the A’s got from Profar this year. Aside from Zobrist, Starlin Castro, Brian Dozier, Scooter Gennett, Brock Holt, Howie Kendrick, Jason Kipnis, Jonathan Schoop, former Athletic Eric Sogard and Neil Walker should all sign affordable short-term deals. Otherwise, if the A’s pass on that group (and if they don’t keep Profar or make a trade), they’ll have the option of handing the reins to some combination of Pinder, Sheldon Neuse, Franklin Barreto and Jorge Mateo.

The last spot we’ll address is the catcher position, which looks as if it’ll belong to Sean Murphy going forward. One of the majors’ highest-ranked prospects, the 25-year-old Murphy thrived at the Triple-A level in 2019 and did the same in the bigs after a September call-up. At least offensively, Murphy was far more productive than any catcher the A’s used regularly, including No. 1 choice Josh Phegley. The team’s now facing a decision on Phegley, whom it could non-tender now that Murphy – also a right-handed hitter – is in the fold. If Phegley does go, it would make sense for the A’s to pursue a lefty-swinging backup to pair with Murphy. There will be a few available in free agency in ex-A’s favorite Stephen Vogt, recent A’s target Matt Wieters and Alex Avila.

With Oakland already pushing up against this year’s $92MM-plus opening-day payroll, it doesn’t appear the club’s in for an especially active offseason. However, A’s executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane and general manager David Forst don’t necessarily need to oversee an aggressive winter. They’ve already built a quality roster that looks as if it’ll contend again in 2020.

AL Notes: Lindor, Oakland Stadium, Cash, Boone

By | at

In a lengthy piece for The Athletic, Zack Meisel charts the different courses the Indians could take with regard to the contract status of star shortstop Francisco Lindor (link). As Meisel takes pains to point out, Lindor has taken a chilly posture to the idea that he would offer his club a discount in potential extension talks. Besides speaking vocally in support of 2018 free agents Manny Machado and Bryce Harper securing “every single penny that they can get“, Lindor was blunt in stating during the 2019 preseason that Cleveland would need to pay him full value if the club is interested in preventing him from reaching free agency after the 2021 season. “Who knows?” Lindor replied to a gathering of reporters during Spring Training when asked if a longterm extension would interest him. “Can you afford to pay me? If you pay me, I’ll stay.” Noting that the Indians have never signed a contract north of $60MM (Edwin Encarnacion in 2016), Meisel wonders if the time may be ripe for the club to consider trade options involving the 25-year-old shortstop.

While the writer ultimately seems to lean toward the idea of keeping Lindor, allowing him to play out his last two arb years, and then living with the possibility that he leaves in 2022, it is tantalizing to imagine the interest Lindor’s name could stir up on the trade market. As a mid-20s, up-the-middle player with five consecutive seasons of four-plus fWAR valuations, Lindor remains one of the game’s steadiest producers and most marketable stars.

More notes from around the American League in advance of Game 2 of the World Series…

  • In an attempt to rid themselves of the current legal quagmire surrounding their new ballpark project, the Athletics have offered to either buy out the city of Oakland’s half share in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum site for $85 million or enter into a long-term lease, per Phil Matier of The San Francisco Chronicle (link). The team has offered a “community benefits package” to the city that includes affordable housing provisions and apprenticeship programs, with the expectation that the city drops its lawsuit against Alameda County in return. Alameda County, which holds the other half share of the Oakland Coliseum site, recently offered to sell its own half share to the A’s, but a city-initiated lawsuit has stalled that potential agreement. Work on the new Oakland Ballpark is expected to begin in the city’s Jack London Square area in 2021.
  • Rays manager Kevin Cash was honored as one of Sporting News’ several award recipients today, with the outlet naming Cash as American League Manager of the Year (link). Cash was tasked in 2019 with a roster chock-full of trade acquisitions and overlooked players, ultimately leading Tampa to a 96-win season and an ALDS berth. Cash also deserves credit for getting his guys to surmount injury trouble–just two Rays players appeared in over 140 games–although there was another manager in his division who was tasked with some truly Herculean challenges with regard to roster management in 2019. Yankees manager Aaron Boone could be seen as something of a snub for this honor (which is not to be confused with the BBWAA awards that receive far more coverage and recognition) after his Bombers sent an MLB-record 30 players to the injured list en route to an AL East title in 2019.

Pitchers Recently Electing Free Agency

By | at

Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

We already rounded up the position players. Now, here are the pitchers that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

Position Players Recently Electing Free Agency

By | at

Since the conclusion of the regular season, a number of players have elected free agency. That right accrues to certain players who are outrighted off of a 40-man roster during or after the season — namely, those that have at least three years of MLB service and/or have previously been outrighted. Such players that accepted outright assignments during the season have the right to elect free agency instead at season’s end, provided they aren’t added back to the 40-man in the meantime.

Here are the position players that have recently taken to the open market, along with their now-former teams (via the International League and PCL transactions pages):

Athletics Announce Changes To Player Development Department

By | at

The Athletics announced on Thursday that Keith Lieppman will step down from his post as director of player development and transition to a role as a special adviser to the front office. He’ll be succeeded by Ed Sprague, who has been promoted after serving as Lieppman’s assistant director for the last year.

Lieppman, 70, has become something of a legend within the Athletics organization, which he has served for nearly five decades dating to the early 1970s when the team drafted him in the second round. Between his years as a player, minor league manager, and executive, Lieppman has had his hand in decades of great Athletics baseball. He requested to step away from his position in order to spend more time with his family, recommending Sprague to replace him.

Sprague has served in the player development department for the last four seasons, first as an instruction coordinator before earning the title of assistant director for the 2019 season. He has also worked as the organization’s coordinator of on-field analytics, integrating the team’s analytic systems into the player development process. A former Major League All-Star, Sprague also served as the head coach for the University of Pacific prior to joining the Athletics.

Organizational figures like Sprague and Lieppman, who operate largely behind the scenes, often go unnoticed and under-appreciated since it’s awfully hard to quantify their contributions. Still, it seems that the Athletics’ player development department has enjoyed quite a bit of success with Lieppman at the helm. The current roster boasts a wealth of homegrown talent, including stars Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, with A.J. Puk and others on the way. Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo, though they were drafted by other clubs, have spent the majority of their careers with Oakland. Of course, that’s only recently: the organization has also drafted and developed stars like Barry Zito, Eric Chavez, Nick Swisher, and more.

AL West Notes: Espada, Rendon, Athletics

By | at

Astros bench coach Joe Espada has been linked to another managerial opening, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link) that the Giants have asked the Astros for permission to speak to Espada.  This will mark the third team who has put Espada on their radar this offseason, as he has already interviewed with the Cubs and received some consideration from the Angels before Los Angeles hired Joe Maddon.  At least three more teams (the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Rangers) all considered Espada for managerial vacancies last offseason, as well.

As Heyman notes, San Francisco’s list of known candidates consists of “mostly younger guys” who have never managed at the Major League level before, like the 44-year-old Espada.  Gabe Kapler and Mike Matheny (who has to be interviewed for the job) are the only candidates who have been big league skippers, though Kapler is only 44 years old and Matheny is 49.  Longtime Giants coach Ron Wotus, at 58, is the oldest of the candidates.  It certainly seems as though Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi is looking to follow the league’s recent trend towards younger, more analytically-inclined dugout bosses, though Zaidi said earlier this month that he was going to embark on a rather extensive search, so more candidates could still emerge.

More from around the AL West…

  • Anthony Rendon in a Mariners uniform?  It isn’t like to happen via free agency this offseason, though it was almost a reality back in 2011 when the M’s heavily scouted Rendon as the second overall pick in the draft, The Athletic’s Corey Brock writes (subscription required).  “Going into the draft, [Rendon] was probably the player a lot of people thought we were going to take…and we did, too,” then-general manager Jack Zduriencik said.  The Mariners had other players on their radar, however, and as draft day approached, Danny Hultzen eventually emerged as the pick.  While selecting the highly-touted Hultzen was a perfectly respectable choice at the time, it ended up being a critical miss for Seattle —- Hultzen battled injuries throughout his career and only made his MLB debut this season, as a reliever for the Cubs.  Rendon, of course, has gone onto stardom, as have several other players from what now looks like a stacked draft class.  Rendon was the sixth overall pick, and Trevor Bauer (3rd), Francisco Lindor (8th), Javier Baez (9th), and George Springer (11th) also went in the top half of the first round.
  • The Athletics have promoted Ed Sprague to director of player development, as per a team press release (Twitter link).  Sprague will take over from Keith Lieppman, who has served in the role for the last 28 seasons as part of a 49-year run in the organization.  Lieppman will become a special advisor to the player development department.  Sprague, perhaps best known as a starting third baseman for the Blue Jays during his 11-year playing career, has worked in Oakland’s front office for the past four years.

Latest On Oakland Stadium Dispute

By | at

Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle reports new details in the ongoing litigation taking place between Alameda County and the city of Oakland (link). To recap, Alameda County engaged in negotiations with both the city of Oakland and the Oakland A’s organization in an attempt to offload its share of the Oakland Coliseum and the Oakland Arena. With the stipulation that the city would pay upfront, Alameda County offered to sell its share of debt to Oakland for $78MM back in February–that offer was ignored on Oakland’s part.

Interestingly, though, the plot thickened from there: as Ravani characterizes it, that “snub” prompted Alameda officials to pivot to the Athletics, to whom they offered to sell their debt for $85MM. This time, however, the county would allow the A’s seven years to pay off the sum–with the very important caveat that the A’s would have to remain in Oakland. “The A’s were able to spread their terms out … whereas the county wanted us to pay it all up front,” Oakland Councilman Loren Taylor says in Ravani’s article, “From my perspective, we still need to have a conversation about the same terms that the A’s were given.”

The city and county are currently embroiled in a lawsuit intended to block the county from selling its stadium stake to the A’s, which has put something in a wrench in the team’s plans to develop a new stadium project. This state of affairs caused commissioner Rob Manfred to comment that he was “very concerned” at the litigation and the overall lack of “concrete progress” toward a new playing site for Oakland. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff later indicated to KTVU that Manfred has proposed the possibility of relocation to Las Vegas, with the Chronicle also relaying a similar suggestion on the part of Manfred.

Managerial/Coaching Notes: Mets, Giants, Bucs, Brewers

By | at

Let’s round up the latest managerial and coaching news from around the majors…

  • The Mets’ previously reported managerial interview with their quality control coach, Luis Rojas, has taken place, Tim Healey of Newsday tweets. They’ve now discussed (or will discuss) the position with at least six candidates, with Rojas, Mike Bell, Carlos Beltran, Joe Girardi, Eduardo Perez and Derek Shelton comprising the group of known possibilities. Meanwhile, although longtime manager Buck Showalter has expressed interest in the role, his chances have “stalled,” Mike Puma of the New York Post reports. The Mets have some concerns about the way Showalter interacted with front offices during his previous runs as a manager, according to Puma.
  • Add Cubs first base coach Will Venable to the list of managerial possibilities for the Giants, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. The Giants are interested in Venable, though it’s not clear whether they’ll interview him. A former major league outfielder, the 36-year-old Venable finished his career in 2016 as a member of the Dodgers, whose general manager was Farhan Zaidi. He’s now the president of baseball operations for the Giants.
  • The Pirates have reached out to Athletics quality control coach Mark Kotsay to gauge his interest in managing the Bucs, Nubyjas Wilborn of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette relays. The 43-year-old Kotsay was a major league outfielder/first baseman from 1997-2013 who has since worked in coaching and front office roles between San Diego and Oakland. He interviewed for San Francisco’s managerial opening last week.
  • The Brewers are parting with first base coach/infield coach Carlos Subero, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Subero, the lone member of manager Craig Counsell’s staff who won’t return in 2020, spent four seasons as a major league coach with the Brewers. He previously managed in the minors with the organization.

Matt Williams To Manage KBO’s KIA Tigers

By | at

While managerial rumors are flying around the majors, we haven’t yet seen a team land a new skipper. But the Korea Baseball Organization’s KIA Tigers have secured their next manager in the form of Matt Williams, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).

Williams is said to have struck a three-year deal to head to Korea. The long-time big-league slugger had served as the Athletics’ third base coach for the past three campaigns.

Of course, the most notable aspect of Williams’s post-playing days came with the Nationals. He became the D.C. skipper in advance of the 2014 after a coaching stint with the Diamondbacks.

Things went well in 2014, with Williams helping to guide the Nats to a division title. While the club was bounced in the divisional series, he earned manager of the year honors. But the club endured a highly disappointing 2015 campaign and fired Williams at season’s end.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top