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Quick Hits: Owens, Stroman, Wright, Beckham, Rookie

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Athletics assistant GM/director of player personnel Billy Owens has been rumored as “a strong candidate” to become the next Giants general manager, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ newly-hired president of baseball operations, knows Owens well from their time together in Oakland’s front office, and Zaidi is one of several voices in Slusser’s piece who praise Owens’ ability to scout and identify talent (not to mention describe that talent in legendarily elaborate scouting reports).  If there is one flaw in Owens’ resume, it could be his love of scouting prevents him from amassing the type of executive experience necessary to run a front office.  That said, Owens has been sought after by other organizations, and he interviewed for the Phillies’ GM job in 2015, leading to speculation that he could eventually leave Oakland for a higher-profile job — perhaps even reuniting with Zaidi in the Bay Area.

Here’s more from around the baseball world…

  • Marcus Stroman’s blunt comments about the Blue Jays’ offseason seem to hint at an eventual parting of the ways between the team and the right-hander, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi opines.  Stroman’s frankness probably didn’t help his chances at either a contract extension or a trade, though if he has a good first half and erases any question marks lingering from his mediocre 2018 season, Stroman will surely become an intriguing trade chip for the Jays at the deadline.
  • The Red Sox plan to use Steven Wright as a full-time reliever this season, MLB.com’s Ian Browne writes, with manager Alex Cora casting Wright as a potential multi-inning threat.  At first glance, a knuckleballer would seem like an unusually durable option to relegate to the bullpen, though Wright is just happy to be pitching in any capacity after two injury-plagued seasons.  There is also the possibility for higher-profile assignments within Boston’s pen, given the team’s lack of an established closer.
  • Gordon Beckham chose to sign the Tigers over some offers from other teams because they offered the best shot at regular Major League at-bats, the veteran infielder told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News and other reporters.  The idea of more time in the minors isn’t appealing to Beckham, to the point that “if it doesn’t work out here, I might be done” with his ten-year MLB career, though he also noted that better health and a revamped swing have him feeling optimistic about the coming season.
  • Right-hander Rookie Davis is close to a new minor league contract and Spring Training invite with an unknown team, The Athletic’s Emily Waldon reports (Twitter link), adding that the Pirates have been in touch with Davis.  Perhaps best known as one of the prospects sent by the Yankees to the Reds as part of the Aroldis Chapman trade in December 2015, Davis tossed 27 innings for Cincinnati in 2017 and then underwent hip surgery that October.  He pitched only 26 1/3 innings in the Reds’ farm system last season and became a free agent in November.

Athletics Sign Cliff Pennington To Minor League Deal

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The A’s announced Friday that they’ve signed infielder Cliff Pennington to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training. With this deal, the Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon client returns to the organization that originally drafted him and the team with which he made his Major League debut in 2008.

Pennington, 34, split the 2018 season between the Reds and Rangers organizations, appearing in 16 games with Cincinnati and tallying 34 plate appearances. The rest of his season was spent between the two clubs’ top minor league affiliates. Prior to that, Pennington had been playing with the Angels on a two-year contract, primarily serving as a utility infielder.

That utility role is one that Pennington has settled into over the course of an 11-year big league career. He’s shown plenty of versatility, with nearly 5000 innings at shortstop, 1600 innings at second base, 350 at third base and some brief work in the corner outfield. In that time, he’s drawn excellent reviews for his glovework at second base and solid marks for his defense at shortstop as well. A switch-hitter, Pennington is a lifetime .242/.309/.339 hitter in 3142 trips to the plate.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/14/19

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Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Athletics announced that they’ve signed lefty Tyler Alexander to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training. He’s been out of affiliated ball since the 2014 season, pitching on the independent circuit and in the Mexican League. Manager Bob Melvin spoke to Jane Lee of MLB.com and touted Alexander as someone who the A’s have kept an eye on for the past few years, specifically citing this winter’s strong showing in the Dominican Winter League — 2.68 ERA, 48-to-10 K/BB ratio in 50 1/3 innings — as a source of intrigue.
  • The Orioles announced that infielder Jack Reinheimer cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee, where he’ll compete with a variety of other players for a shot at some time in the Baltimore infield mix. The light-hitting 26-year-old hasn’t seen much MLB time but bounced around the waiver wire a bit this winter, indicating that teams see him at least as a plausible big-league depth piece.
  • Catcher Adam Moore has agreed to a minor league contract with the Rangers, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. He’d earn a $600K base salary at the Major League level. Moore, 34, has seen action in nine MLB seasons but played in double-digit games in only one of those. He spent most of 2018 at Triple-A, slashing .219/.260/.347 in 208 plate appearances.
  • In somewhat of a blast-from-the-past move, the Blue Jays have added lefty Ryan Feierabend on a minor league deal, per Baseball Toronto’s Keegan Matheson (Twitter link). Now 33 years old, Feierabend has just 7 1/3 MLB innings under his belt since the close of the 2008 season. However, he’s had some success pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization in recent seasons and is now utilizing a knuckleball — a rare pitch in today’s game that is all the more anomalous given that Feierabend is left-handed.

AL Injury Notes: Ellsbury, Angels, Salazar, Kaprielian

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman announced to the media Wednesday that outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury won’t be reporting to camp until next month, as he’s currently being slowed by a case of plantar fasciitis (link via Dan Martin of the New York Post). It’s not yet clear whether Ellsbury will be ready for Opening Day, nor is it clear how much playing time would be available to Ellsbury considering a Yankees outfield mix that features Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner and Giancarlo Stanton (with Clint Frazier also looming in the minors). Ellsbury seems poised for a bench role after missing the entire 2018 season due to injury (most notably including hip surgery).

The injury news didn’t stop there for the Yanks, either, as right-handed pitching prospect Mike King has been shut down for the next three weeks after an MRI revealed a stress reaction in his right elbow. He’ll be re-evaluated after that three-week down period. The 23-year-old King posted a ridiculous 1.79 ERA with 8.5 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9 in 161 1/3 innings across three levels last season, topping out with a brilliant six-start run in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Some more injury notes from around the American League (we checked in on some NL health statuses earlier today, as well)…

  • In what’s become all too familiar a theme for Angels fans, there’s some early trouble regarding right-handers Nick Tropeano and Alex Meyer. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that Tropeano has only just resumed “light” throwing after suffering a December setback in his rehab from the shoulder woes that derailed much of his 2018 season (Twitter links). Tropeano had three DL stints pertaining to his shoulder in ’18 and was eventually shut down after undergoing a platelet-rich plasma injection. He’s unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, per Fletcher. Meanwhile, Meyer had yet another surgery on his perennially problematic right shoulder — this time an arthroscopic procedure performed in November. He’s not yet been cleared to throw. The former top prospect was a long shot to factor into the pitching staff anyhow given his extremely lengthy injury history. He was cut loose by the Halos earlier this winter but returned on a minor league contract.
  • MLB.com’s Mandy Bell writes that Indians right-hander Danny Salazar is confident he’ll be able to begin throwing off a mound by the end of Spring Training. That doesn’t create much optimism for an early 2019 return, nor does the fact that Bell suggests Salazar could be able to return to the Major League roster “prior to the All-Star break.” Given Cleveland’s strong rotation and the fact that Salazar didn’t even pitch in 2018 due to shoulder troubles that necessitated surgery in July, he’ll be a part of the team’s bullpen picture whenever he does return. With the righty still only playing catch on flat ground, however, it’ll likely be awhile before a more definitive timeline takes shape.
  • An MRI performed on Athletics right-hander James Kaprielian revealed a strained lat muscle, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). He won’t throw for the next two to three weeks. Kaprielian, 25 next month, was once regarded as one of the game’s top pitching prospects and was a key piece acquired in the 2017 trade that sent Sonny Gray to the Bronx, but he hasn’t pitched since 2016 due to 2017 Tommy John surgery and a series of shoulder issues in 2018.

Athletics To Sign Robbie Grossman

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The Athletics have agreed to a one-year contract with outfielder Robbie Grossman, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a major-league deal that lands in the $2MM range and also comes with some incentives, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Grossman, a 29-year-old switch-hitter, was non-tendered by the Twins last fall after projecting to earn $4.0MM. He has turned in above-average offensive numbers for the Twins, though hasn’t replicated his breakout 2016 effort in the ensuing two campaigns.

The calling card here is on-base ability. Through over two thousand plate appearances, Grossman carries a .355 OBP. He has boosted that mark up to .371 over the past three years. While he delivers little in the way of power (.122 ISO), Grossman has walked at a 12.8% lifetime clip.

Grossman doesn’t shine as an outfield defender, earning mostly slightly below-average grades from advanced metrics. He doesn’t add value on the bases; in fact, he was panned for his efforts on foot in 2018 (-4.8 BsR).

Clearly, then, the interest here for the A’s is in picking up Grossman’s ability to get aboard. He’ll presumably function mostly as a reserve outfielder, with Khris Davis taking up the DH slot. Grossman has been particularly effective against left-handed pitching in his career.

Athletics Re-Sign Brett Anderson

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WEDNESDAY: The deal is now official.

TUESDAY: Anderson and the A’s do indeed have an agreement, pending a physical that is slated to take place today, Slusser writes in a full column. ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that if the medicals check out, Anderson will be guaranteed $1.5MM and can make another $1MM via incentives.

MONDAY: The Athletics are nearing a contract with lefty Brett Anderson, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). Anderson himself tweeted this evening (without divulging the team) that he’s preparing for a physical tomorrow, so that may be all that remains before the agreement is finalized.

It’ll be a MLB deal for Anderson, a client of The Legacy Agency. Financial terms remain unknown at this time.

There have been quite a few ups and downs over the years for the southpaw, who is now 31 years of age. Once a highly promising young hurler in Oakland, Anderson has often been effective on the mound but has dealt with countless injuries, particularly to his back. All told, he has made about half of the starts he might have over his decade in the majors.

Last year came with a typical blend of positives and setbacks. Anderson dominated at Triple-A to earn his way back to the A’s staff, missed some time with a shoulder injury, and ultimately turned in 80 1/3 innings of 4.48 ERA ball over 17 starts in the big leagues.

As usual, Anderson turned in underwhelming strikeout numbers, with just 5.3 per nine in 2018. He made up for that by drawing grounders on 55.6% of the balls opposing hitters put in play, his highest rate since his last full season of 2015, and by allowing a personal-low 1.5 walks per nine. Statcast actually felt Anderson was a bit unfortunate, as it valued him with a .338 wOBA-against but a .318 xwOBA-against. ERA estimators valued Anderson as a solid back-of-the-rotation performer (4.17 FIP, 3.91 xFIP, 4.13 SIERA).

There’s a lot to like about that profile on a low-cost, low-risk deal. Clearly, there isn’t much appetite around the game for promising multiple seasons to Anderson, given his health history. But for an Oakland org that is still looking to fill out a decent rotation on the cheap, it’s easy to see the appeal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL West Notes: Encarnacion, Ohtani, Athletics, Davidson

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Veteran slugger Edwin Encarnacion is expected to open camp with the Mariners after trade talks surrounding him failed to gain traction, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto is expected to continue exploring potential deals over the course of Spring Training as needs arise throughout the league, he notes. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times wrote over the weekend that interest in Encarnacion had faded. Encarnacion, among the game’s steadiest sluggers, has one year remaining on his three-year, $60MM contract and is almost certainly limited to American League clubs at this point of his career. An injury to a contender’s DH this spring could create some additional interest in Encarnacion, but a trade at this juncture doesn’t seem all that likely.

More from the division…

  • Angels manager Brad Ausmus addressed the health of right-hander/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani today (Twitter link via Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group). While Ausmus didn’t want to get too specific in terms of providing a timeline for Ohtani’s return to the club following Tommy John surgery, the first-year Halos skipper indicated that the team expects Ohtani back at some point in May. He’ll be strictly limited to DH duties, of course, and it’s not yet clear exactly how often the Angels plan to get Ohtani’s bat into the lineup in the early stages of his recovery. One can imagine that the team will want to be particularly cautious, but the Angels will also want Ohtani in the lineup as often as possible after he hit .285/.361/.564 with 22 homers in just 367 plate appearances last season.
  • Matt Chapman underwent thumb and shoulder surgeries this offseason, but the budding Athletics star looks to be on track for the season, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Chapman took 50 swings in a batting cage Monday, and while he might be limited early in camp, the expectation is that he’ll be ready for the season opener. Perhaps more interesting, Slusser writes in another column that the organization has “no qualms” about putting top prospect Jesus Luzardo in the rotation on Opening Day if he’s deemed the best option. If that is indeed the organization’s stance, it’s a departure from the manner in which many clubs think. Luzardo, just 21, is considered to be among the game’s most elite pitching prospects, ranking inside the game’s 20 best all-around prospects on multiple publications. Last year, at just 20 years old, he skyrocketed from Class-A Advanced to Triple-A, working to a combined 2.88 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over the course of 109 1/3 innings. Presently, the A’s will have Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada and Brett Anderson (assuming he passes his physical) in the rotation, with a pair of spots up for grabs, barring further additions.
  • Infielder Matt Davidson chatted with MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan about his role with the Rangers this coming season. Davidson, signed as a corner infielder/reliever, indicated that he’s not expecting to be one of the team’s top seven or eight relievers. Rather, he’s aiming to be an option to pitch in the same capacity he did with the White Sox last year — as a mop-up reliever in blowout games. “I want to be the pitchers’ best friend,” said Davidson. “Nobody wants to go in when it is a 7-0 blowout. I want to be the guy that helps them out.” Davidson did toss three shutout innings last season, and it’s not out of the question entirely that he pitches more effectively than some would expect if given a few more opportunities. However, it sounds as if the early plan is for him to try to make the club as a bench piece and emergency option on the mound more than any type of regular bullpen piece.

Athletics Not Giving Up Hope Of Landing Kyler Murray

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The Athletics were hit with the news today that top 2018 draft choice Kyler Murray intends to pursue a career in the NFL. While that seemed to all but resolve the question of which sport he’d pursue, the Oakland organization may not be ready to concede the matter.

According to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link), the A’s still intend to engage with Murray’s camp as his NFL draft journey begins. As Rosenthal notes, the club still can beat any offer that a football team makes, at least in theory, by dangling a guaranteed MLB contract on top of the MLB draft bonus money that Murray presently stands to sacrifice.

Though the Heisman Trophy winner is now going to turn his full attention to football, his draft prospects remain up in the air. It’s certainly possible Murray will end up being taken lower than some pundits expect. Regardless where he goes, his earnings will be capped by the NFL draft slotting system, so the Oakland org will at least have a chance to submit a final, higher bid.

Realistically, there’s sure to be a limit as to how much cash the A’s will put up to keep Murray off the gridiron. The team clearly values his future, particularly since there’s no compensation for losing him, but Murray is also a long way from being a big league contributor. There’s risk in any prospect, but he’s seen a particularly boom-or-bust player given his relative lack of polish on the diamond.

It’ll certainly be fascinating, for a variety of reasons, to see how high the Oakland organization will ultimately bid for Murray, if it does indeed attempt to woo him back. Perhaps he won’t even entertain another baseball offer if he receives a good enough opportunity with the right NFL franchise. For the time being, there’s still some uncertainty to the matter — at least, that is, from the A’s perspective.

Kyler Murray Announces He Is “Firmly And Fully Committing” To NFL Career

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Outfielder/quarterback Kyler Murray, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner but also the No. 9 overall pick by the Athletics in the 2018 MLB draft, announced today that he will pursue a career in football rather than baseball (Twitter link). Murray’s statement reads as follows:

“Moving forward, I am firmly and fully committing my life to becoming an NFL quarterback. Football has been my love and passion my entire life. I was raised to play QB, and I very much look forward to dedicating 100% of myself to being the best QB possible and winning NFL championships. I have started an extensive training program to further prepare myself for upcoming NFL workouts and interviews. I eagerly await the opportunity to continue to prove to NFL decision makers that I am the franchise QB in this draft.”

The decision is a tough but not exactly unexpected one for the A’s. While the team had maintained some optimism that Murray might choose baseball, it was reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter at the time Murray declared for the NFL draft that his mind was largely made up.

Oakland paid Murray a $4.66MM signing bonus in last summer’s draft, and while they’ll reportedly recoup the vast majority of that sum, they won’t be given a compensatory pick in the 2019 draft to make up for Murray’s decision to choose an NFL career over MLB. More specifically, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets that Murray will return $1.29MM of the $1.5MM of his signing bonus that has been paid out to him so far. He’ll also forfeit the remaining $3.16MM that would have been paid to him on March 1.

Although baseball’s guaranteed contract structure is alluring for the select few players who reach arbitration and free agency, choosing the NFL offers Murray a more certain financial future. If he’s selected anywhere in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, he can expect to earn more than twice what he’d have earned with the Athletics’ signing bonus; last year’s No. 32 overall pick, Lamar Jackson, signed for nearly $9.5MM and will earn the entirety of that sum. Beyond that, Murray won’t have to spend the next few years playing in largely empty minor league parks, nor will he spend the first two to three seasons of his career earning roughly the league minimum, as he’d have done as a pre-arbitration MLB player.

In exchange for a more immediate payday and a quicker path to competing at his sport’s highest level, of course, Murray will play a much more physically demanding game that comes with a heightened risk of both short- and long-term injury. One can imagine that all of those factors were weighed heavily by Murray when making the decision to ultimately spurn the A’s in pursuit of football.

Technically, the Athletics will be able to retain the rights to Murray, in the event that he ever has a change of heart or is forced to alter his career path. Oakland will put him on the restricted list for the time being, though that move is purely a formality for now, given the emphatic nature of Murray’s announcement.

Athletics Sign Nick Hundley To Minor League Deal

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10:29am: Hundley would earn a $1.25MM base salary in the Majors, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

9:02am: The Athletics announced Monday morning that they’ve signed veteran catcher Nick Hundley to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training, where he’ll compete for a roster spot. Hundley is a client of Athletes First.

While much of Oakland’s focus this winter has been on the pitching staff, catching help is still a clear area of need for the A’s. Top prospect Sean Murphy may not be far from MLB readiness after a strong showing in Double-A in 2018, but the only two catchers on the 40-man roster at the moment are Josh Phegley and Chris Herrmann. Phegley hit just .204/.255/.344 last season, and while Herrmann was fairly productive in a small sample of work, he’s a career .205/.282/.351 hitter in the Majors.

Suffice it to say, Hundley has a very legitimate chance to crack the Opening Day roster with the A’s — perhaps with expectations for a decent workload if there’s no other catching addition made. The 35-year-old hit .241/.298/.408 with 10 homers in 305 plate appearances across the bay for the Giants in 2018 and posted a combined .243/.285/.413 slash with San Francisco in the two seasons he spent there. Clearly, Hundley comes with some on-base deficiencies, but he has a bit of pop in his bat and will bring plenty of experience to an Oakland staff consisting of numerous young arms.

Defensively speaking, Hundley is more of a mixed bag. His framing work last year graded out near the bottom of the league, but he was roughly average a year prior. Similarly, Hundley’s caught-stealing rate dipped to a below-average 21 percent in 2018, but he was a bit above the league mean at 29 percent in 2017. He’s generally drawn average or better marks in terms of blocking pitches in the dirt.

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