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Athletics Sign Joakim Soria

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Dec. 21: The Athletics have officially announced Soria’s two-year contract. Their 40-man roster is up to 38 players.

In addition to salaries of $6.5MM (2019) and $8.5MM (2020), Heyman tweets, Soria can earn $250K apiece upon finishing 35 and 40 games. He’ll also have a one-time, $750K assignment bonus in the event of a trade.

Dec. 20, 11:38pm: Soria’s deal will pay him exactly $15MM over two years, tweets Jon Heyman of Fancred.

11:05pm: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the two sides do indeed have an agreement, in principle. Soria’s contract will check in with a total value in the $15-15.5MM range, tweets Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.

10:51pm: The Athletics are closing in on a two-year contract with free-agent reliever Joakim Soria, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The right-hander still has to pass a physical, per Rosenthal, and there are still some final details to be ironed out before the deal comes to fruition. Soria is represented by Oscar Suarez.

Joakim Soria | Stacy Revere/Getty Images

The 34-year-old Soria just wrapped up a three-year, $25MM contract with the Royals — a pact which didn’t pan out well in year one of the deal but took a turn for the better in years two and three. This past season, Soria tossed 60 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball between the White Sox and Brewers, averaging 11.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 0.59 HR/9 along the way.

In many respects, in fact, the 2018 season was one of the best, if not the best of Soria’s impressive big league career. He averaged personal bests in swinging-strike rate (14.4 percent) and  opponents’ chase rate (34.3 percent), and his 2.44 FIP and 2.88 SIERA were among the best marks of his 12-year MLB career as well. Perhaps most impressively, the 83.6 mph average exit velocity that Soria allowed to opponents registered as the lowest of any pitcher in baseball (min. 150 batted ball events), per Statcast.

Much of the emphasis for the A’s this offseason has centered around the team’s rotation needs (with good reason), but adding Soria to the mix will give Oakland another quality reliever to join the likes of Blake Treinen, Yusmeiro Petit, Lou Trivino, Fernando Rodney and Ryan Buchter. That’s a solid collection of relievers, which figures to be more important for the A’s than most other clubs, assuming they plan to continue utilizing “the opener” tactic and piecing together the occasional game via “bullpenning.”

While Soria unequivocally improves the pitching staff as a whole, the A’s still have a clear, pressing need for some pitchers who can offer more innings than the aforementioned bunch. Oakland will be without Sean Manaea for the entire 2019 season due to shoulder surgery, while right-handers Jharel Cotton and Daniel Gossett will be on the mend from Tommy John surgery early in the season. The same is true of top pitching prospect A.J. Puk, and another rotation option, Andrew Triggs, will be recovering from thoracic outlet surgery.

At present, the Oakland rotation is a muddled mess, with the likes of Daniel Mengden, Frankie Montas, Paul Blackburn, Chris Bassitt, Aaron Brooks, Tanner Anderson and Grant Holmes among the options from which the organization can choose. The A’s, somewhat unthinkably, managed to win 97 games in a season where their most prominent starters beyond Manaea were Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Edwin Jackson and Mengden. That, however, seems highly unlikely to be a repeatable feat, and the A’s are expected to add some more experienced rotation pieces as the winter progresses.

A two-year commitment to Soria in the $15.5MM range is within reasonable proximity, albeit a bit shy, of the two-year, $18MM contract MLBTR estimated when ranking the game’s top 50 free agents in early November. Among participants in MLBTR’s Free Agent Prediction Contest, just 3.2 percent correctly pegged Soria to land in green and gold this winter.

Athletics Acquire Jurickson Profar In Three-Team Trade With Rangers, Rays

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11:45am: The Rangers are receiving $750K worth of international allotments in the trade, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

11:22am: The teams have formally announced the trade. The international bonus allotments that the Rangers are receiving are coming over from the Athletics; the amount was not specified, though international allotments must be traded in increments of at least $250K, per the collective bargaining agreement.

10:15am: The Athletics, Rangers and Rays have reportedly come to an agreement on a three-team trade that will send infielder Jurickson Profar from Texas to Oakland. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan first broke the story. Right-handed reliever Emilio Pagan is headed from the A’s to the Rays in the swap, as is Oakland’s Competitive Balance Round A selection in next year’s draft (currently slotted in at No. 38 overall). The Rangers will send minor league right-hander Rollie Lacy to the Rays, as well.

Jurickson Profar | Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

In exchange for Profar and Lacy, the Rangers will receive minor league infielder Eli White from the A’s. Additionally, the Rays will send minor league left-handers Brock Burke and Kyle Bird and minor league right-hander Yoel Espinal to the Rangers. Texas will also receive international bonus allotments in the trade.

Presumably, the trade signals that Jed Lowrie’s time with the Athletics has come to a close. The Oakland infield is currently full with Matt Chapman at third base, Marcus Semien at shortstop and Matt Olson at first base, meaning Profar’s likeliest spot with the A’s will be second base. The addition of Profar also brings into question prospect Franklin Barreto’s immediate future with the organization, as he’d been the presumptive heir apparent at second base in the event that Lowrie signed elsewhere.

Profar, 26 in February, once rated as the game’s top overall prospect but saw is promising future put on hold when a pair of shoulder injuries cost him both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He struggled in his 2016 return and was a seldom used utility piece in 2017, but Profar finally enjoyed a full, productive season with the Rangers in 2018. Last year, the switch-hitter appeared n a career-high 146 games and tallied a career-high 594 plate appearances, hitting .254/.335/.458 with 20 homers, 35 doubles, six triples and 10 stolen bases along the way.

Because Texas optioned Profar to Triple-A for much of the 2017 season, his overall level of Major League service time was suppressed a bit. As such, he has just under five years of service time, meaning the Athletics will be able to control Profar for both the 2019 and 2020 seasons before he reaches free agency. Profar is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn just $3.4MM in 2019, so he’ll be an affordable means of filling the team’s second base need for the next two years — a key factor for the perennially cost-conscious A’s, who still need to address their rotation.

The only other Major League piece involved in the trade is the 27-year-old Pagan, who is joining his third organization in three years. He spent just one year in Oakland after being acquired in the trade that sent first baseman Ryon Healy to the Mariners in the 2017-18 offseason. Though he’s moved around a fair bit, Pagan has generally had useful big league results. In 112 1/3 innings a a Major Leaguer, he’s notched a 3.85 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9.

Though Pagan shows good control and is able to miss plenty of bats, however, he’s not without his red flags. The right-hander is among the game’s most extreme fly-ball pitchers and has yielded an average of 1.6 home runs per nine innings at the Major League level — neither of which figures to become any easier when moving to the American League East and its cavalcade of hitter-friendly parks (though Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field doesn’t necessarily fit that description). For the Rays, the fact that Pagan is well-versed in multi-inning appearances was likely appealing, though. Pagan’s 112 1/3 MLB frames have come across 89 total appearances, and the Rays aggressively lean on multi-inning relievers as part of the burgeoning “opener” strategy that worked quite well for them in 2018.

The 23-year-old Lacy will join the Tampa Bay organization after spending only a brief time with the Rangers. Texas acquired Lacy in the July trade that sent Cole Hamels to the Cubs, though his results with the Rangers dropped off a bit from the numbers he posted in the Cubs’ minor league system. Some of that surely coincides with a move from Class-A to Class-A Advanced, and it’s worth noting that Lacy only totaled 28 1/3 innings in the Rangers’ system before the season ended, so it’s also a small sample of data. On the season as a whole, the right-hander worked to a 2.97 ERA with 10.0 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate of nearly 60 percent through 109 innings between those two levels this season.

Looking to the Rangers’ return, Burke may well be the headliner in the deal. A third-round pick in the 2014 draft, the 22-year-old Burke was the Rays’ minor league pitcher of the year this past season and pitched to a 3.08 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 137 1/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A. The Rays protected Burke from the Rule 5 Draft last month by selecting him to the 40-man roster, and he’ll now be added to the Rangers’ 40-man in place of Profar.

Bird, 26 in April, split the year between Double-A and Triple-A, where he pitched to a combined 2.39 ERA with 88 strikeouts against 35 walks in 75 1/3 innings of relief work. Like Burke, he was selected to the Rays’ 40-man roster last month, meaning he’ll join the Rangers’ 40-man and give the organization an immediate left-handed bullpen option for the upcoming season. Even if he doesn’t break camp with the club, it seems likely that Bird will get an opportunity at some point in 2019.

The 26-year-old Espinal spent the bulk of the ’18 season in Double-A Montgomery, where he boasted a huge strikeout rate but demonstrated his share of control issues as well. In 54 2/3 innings at the Double-A level, Espinal notched an impressive 1.98 ERA with 11.7 K/9 but 4.8 BB/9 and a below-average 32.2 percent ground-ball rate. He won’t be as immediate of an option as Burke or Bird, but with some Double-A experience already under his belt, he’s likely not that far off from MLB readiness.

White, meanwhile, is the lone piece headed from Oakland to Texas in the swap. An 11th-round pick by the A’s back in the 2016 draft, White took his already-strong OBP skills to new heights in at the Double-A level in 2018. In 578 plate appearances this past season, the second baseman/shortstop hit .306/.388/.450 with nine home runs, 30 doubles, eight triples and 18 steals.

Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported that Profar had been traded to Oakland and eventually followed up with all of the names and pieces involved in the deal (all Twitter links). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and the Dallas Morning News’ Evan Grant all added some details along the way (all Twitter links).

Matt Chapman Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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The Athletics announced today that third baseman Matt Chapman has undergone surgery on his left shoulder. Specifically, a “distal clavicle resection” was performed, per the club announcement.

Thankfully, the outlook isn’t as scary as that technical description. Chapman is said to be only six weeks away from resuming swinging, so long as all goes according to plan. He’s also recovering from a mid-October thumb procedure but seems on track to return from that as well.

Chapman’s thumb problem had arisen during the season, while the shoulder issue only came to light while he was doing winter workouts. In any event, all told, it seems A’s can breathe easy with regard to the 25-year-old star, who’ll be looking to follow up on an immense 2018 season in which he was one of the most valuable players in the American League.

AL News & Rumors: Dipoto, Yanks, A. Miller, Sonny, A’s, Lucroy, BoSox

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We checked in on the American League earlier Thursday evening. Here’s even more from the Junior Circuit:

  • Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto pulled off his latest blockbuster trade Thursday, though he did it from a hospital bed. It turns out Dipoto was dealing with “severe chest pains” stemming from blood clots in his lungs, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. Fortunately, Dipoto was released from a Las Vegas-area hospital Thursday afternoon and cleared to fly back to Seattle. “It was pretty scary and quite painful stuff,” Dipoto told Johns via text. “I’m thankful to know there’s an issue while we can manage it.” MLBTR joins those around the game in wishing the always entertaining Dipoto a speedy recovery.
  • Along with the previously reported Adam Ottavino, the Yankees met with free-agent reliever Andrew Miller’s camp during the Winter Meetings, according to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. In his previous trip to free agency, back in 2014, Miller signed with the Yankees on a four-year, $36MM contract. Miller then proceeded to dominate out of New York’s bullpen until the team traded him to Cleveland in July 2016. While Miller continued to post elite production through 2017, he looked like a mere mortal last season during an injury-shortened campaign. Still, MLBTR expects the 33-year-old to pull in another lofty payday this winter. Perhaps he’ll return to his old stomping grounds in the Bronx to get it.
  • The Athletics and free-agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy “appear to be at a salary impasse,” Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Lucroy spent last season in Oakland after inking a one-year, $6.5MM deal in mid-March, and though the former star drew rave reviews from his teammates, he didn’t acquit himself well statistically. The 32-year-old batted a career-worst .241/.291/.325 (70 wRC+) in 454 plate appearances and, among hitters with at least 450 PAs, recorded the majors’ fifth-lowest ISO (.084). The once-marvelous defender also struggled behind the plate.
  • Turning to the Athletics’ pursuit of rotation help, Slusser hears that they’re “bottom feeders” on the pitching market, though she points out that they’re known for exercising patience and finding diamonds in the rough. The team’s not averse to doling out multiyear deals for free-agent pitchers, per GM David Forst. On the trade front, Slusser casts doubt on a potential Sonny Gray-Athletics reunion, reporting that the Yankees’ asking price for him is currently too lofty for the A’s liking.
  • Reliever Joe Kelly agreed to a three-year, $25MM deal with the Dodgers on Thursday, but his previous employer in Boston didn’t make a particularly competitive offer to retain him, Rob Bradford of WEEI suggests. Not only did the Red Sox only propose a two-year contract, but the average annual value likely didn’t match what the Dodgers will give Kelly, according to Bradford. That jibes with a previous report suggesting the Red Sox are waiting for relievers’ prices to drop before committing to anyone.

AL Notes: A’s, Tulo, Lowrie, Astros, BoSox, O’s

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The latest on a few American League clubs…

  • The Athletics have come up as a speculative fit for free-agent shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, but the two sides haven’t spoken to this point, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. If signed, Tulowitzki could be a factor at the keystone for Oakland, which may see starting second baseman Jed Lowrie depart in free agency. As of now, it appears “unlikely” the Athletics will re-sign Lowrie, Jane Lee of MLB.com writes. Lowrie would be a tough loss for the A’s, considering he was one of the majors’ most valuable second basemen from 2017-18.
  • Meanwhile, despite potentially losing Tony Sipp in free agency, the division-rival Astros aren’t likely to shop at the top of the market for left-handed relievers, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (subscription required). Rather, the Astros seem “comfortable” with a pair of in-house southpaws – Framber Valdez and Cionel Perez – as well as a cast of righty relievers who are capable of getting lefty hitters out. It’s not clear whether Brad Peacock will remain among that group of righties in 2019, though, as Kaplan relays that he’ll enter spring training as a starter. Peacock made 21 starts two years ago, but that number plummeted to one in 2018, when he came out of the Astros’ bullpen 60 times.
  • The Red Sox lost Joe Kelly to the Dodgers in free agency and are also in danger of bidding adieu to Craig Kimbrel, but it doesn’t seem they’re urgently searching for relief help. Instead, the reigning World Series champions are planning to “wait out” the market until a reliever falls to them for a palatable cost, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reports. That makes it seem even less likely they’ll re-sign Kimbrel, whose reported asking price is exorbitant, though Drellich hasn’t closed the door on the two sides continuing their union.
  • Although they’re in a rebuild, the Orioles are “open to taking on a salary” in order to acquire outfield help, according to Joe Trezza of MLB.com. The O’s sought outfielders throughout the Winter Meetings, Trezza adds. With 0.1 fWAR, the team’s outfield finished 29th in the majors in that department last season, and its best regular – Adam Jones, who was below average in his own right – is now a free agent.

Athletics Notes: Davis, Murray, Martin, Rule 5 Draft

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Some items out of Oakland….

  • The A’s aren’t expected to revisit extension negotiations with Khris Davis until later in the offseason, though the two sides will surely talk prior to the January 11 deadline for exchanging arbitration figures.  Davis is projected to earn $18.1MM in 2019, his final year before free agency, though Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle points out that Oakland stands a decent chance of retaining Davis for 2020 via the qualifying offer.  A longer-term deal still could be attractive for the Athletics, however, as a way of saving themselves some money in overall average annual value.  A source tells Slusser that the length of an extension “is far more important to Davis than the annual value of the contract,” as Davis surely would like some long-term security given how the free agent market has somewhat harshly treated bat-first players over the last two years.
  • Heisman Trophy winner and A’s draft pick Kyler Murray pointed towards the Athletics as his future destination, telling reporters (including KFOR.com’s Dylan Buckingham) Wednesday that, “As of right now, I’m going to play baseball. That’s about it.”  Murray had given some recent indications that he could reconsider an NFL career in the wake of his star performance as Oklahoma’s quarterback this season, though yesterday’s statement would seem to indicate that he is ultimately preparing to join the Athletics’ farm system once his collegiate career is over.  Scott Boras, Murray’s agent, also more or less said as much when speaking to MLB.com’s Jane Lee and other media members Wednesday at the Winter Meetings.  “When you win the Heisman Trophy, you are going to have a lot of information come to you and be looked at,” Boras said. “All I know is Kyler has a tremendous opportunity to be a great baseball player. He knows that, and I think that opportunity is already in place. He has every intention to be in Spring Training and advance that interest.”  Murray was the ninth overall pick of the 2018 draft, and his A’s contract (which included a $4.66MM bonus) allowed him to play football for Oklahoma this season.
  • In a preview of today’s Rule 5 Draft, J.J. Cooper of Baseball America writes that A’s shortstop prospect Richie Martin is rumored as the Orioles’ choice as the draft’s first overall pick.  Oakland picked Martin 20th overall in the 2015 amateur draft, and after dealing with knee problems during his first three pro seasons, Martin broke out to hit .300/.368/.439 over 509 plate appearances for Double-A Midland in 2018.  The Athletics couldn’t find room for him on the 40-man roster, however, and now the team stands a good chance of losing Martin in the Rule 5 Draft, be it the Orioles or another interested club.  Any team that takes Murray must keep him on their Major League roster for the entire 2019 season, or else offer him back to the A’s for $50K.  Cooper’s piece is well worth a full read for a look at some of the intriguing young players who could be Rule 5 picks today at 11am CT.

Pitching Notes: Nats, Jays, White Sox, Athletics

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The Nationals already seemed like a possible ongoing pursuer of starting pitching before trading away Tanner Roark; now, it’s all but inevitable that the club will add another new arm. Veteran free agents Wade Miley and Anibal Sanchez are both on the Nats’ radar, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links), though it’s not clear whether either is particularly likely to land in D.C. Both hurlers turned in excellent results in 2018 after overcoming injuries, with the latter relying on his ability to induce groundballs and the latter finally overcoming his home run woes. Sustainability remains a question, of course, as each has had his share of struggles in seasons prior.

  • Whether the Nats will also be exploring higher-end pitching options isn’t yet fully clear, but president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo did say today that the club is performing “due diligence” on Japanese hurler Yusei Kikuchi, as Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com tweets. Given the wide interest that the 27-year-old has drawn to this point, it seems safe to assume the Nationals are at least open to making another significant rotation addition this winter.
  • It’s still far too soon to know how the market will develop for Kikuchi, but we keep hearing of teams that wish to be involved to some degree. The Blue Jays intend to sit down with the 27-year-old lefty, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter), adding another organization. Though the Toronto club in no way profiles as a 2019 contender — most of the talk has surrounded its possible marketing of its own pitching — it surely has designs on a fairly quick bounce back and may view Kikuchi as a nice target to provide some good innings both now and in the future.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn says he’s not likely to add a significant starter via free agency (via James Fegan of The Athletic, on Twitter), but that evidently won’t stop him from checking in at the top of the market for relievers. The Chicago organization has “shown interest” in veteran hurler Adam Ottavino, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports on Twitter. It’ll likely cost a pretty penny to reel in the talented right-hander, who is also a clear target for more obvious contenders, though perhaps the White Sox will plan to offer him and others a chance to work as the closer.
  • It seems the Athletics are contemplating another bullpen buildout after succeeding with that strategy in 2018. Rosenthal tweets that the organization is interested in a reunion with Jeurys Familia, who certainly also ought to draw quite a few hits from other teams, particularly since he only just turned 29. While the rotation is an obvious need in Oakland, Rosenthal says it’s one that’s likelier to be met at a later point in the offseason — with “inexpensive” arms. It sounds as if the A’s won’t be driving the market on any of their top free agent targets. The search for diamonds in the rough paid out handsomely last winter, but hitting it rich again will surely be a challenge.

Evening Trade Chatter: Realmuto, Profar, Reds, Dodgers, Rockies

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With rumors flying about Marlins backstop J.T. Realmuto, it’s still hard to guess where he’ll land. Miami president of baseball operations Mike Hill says that’s a result of the robust demand for Realmuto, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. While the Fish are working to home in on a narrower slate of suitors, per Hill, it’s hard at this point to do so.  The Rays are one of the teams to have “circle[d] back” on Realmuto, per Jon Heyman of Fancred (via Twitter), which lends credence to Hill’s statement. Though the Tampa Bay organization recently added Mike Zunino behind the dish, it seems another acquisition could still be contemplated. Both players could conceivably coexist on the same roster (perhaps, but not necessarily, in a three-catcher arrangement with Michael Perez), or the Rays could in theory flip Zunino.

For now, that’s just another scenario to keep an eye on as the market develops. Here’s some more trade chatter from the Winter Meetings:

  • The Athletics have engaged the Rangers in trade talks regarding infielder Jurickson Profar, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). It seems the Oakland organization is scanning the market at second base, as the club is known to have interest in bringing back Jed Lowrie and has also been connected to Ian Kinsler (link) and DJ LeMahieu (link), with veteran Troy Tulowitzki perhaps representing a possibility as well. Rosenthal adds that handing the job to Franklin Barreto remains a possibility, as GM David Forst recently suggested, though it certainly appears that’s not the club’s preference. Profar, who seems to have been around forever but is just 25 years of age, turned in easily his most impressive season to date in 2018, slashing .254/.335/.458 with twenty long balls and ten steals over 594 plate appearances.
  • There has been a bevy of rumors surrounding the Reds, who seem to be knocking on quite a few doors at multiple positions. Pitching, though, remains the key. The Cincinnati ballclub is still “active in trade discussions” with the Yankees on Sonny Gray and the Blue Jays on Marcus Stroman, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’ll surprise few to hear that the Reds see those two hurlers as more reasonably achievable targets than Indians ace Corey Kluber, as Morosi adds. Both Gray and Stroman profile as bounceback targets, marking quite a distinction from Kluber, with the former clearly set to be dealt but the latter occupying a less-certain position on the trade market. With two years of control remaining, the Jays are said to be putting a high price on Stroman.
  • Speaking of Reds trade chatter, Rosenthal tweets that the club is still kicking around scenarios with the Dodgers. (We previously rounded up the rumors on that match here, here, and here.) It turns out that the clubs are discussing scenarios involving Matt Kemp, along with a host of other previously rumored players, in what are quite obviously wide-ranging talks. No deal is close, says Rosenthal, though it certainly appears as if both teams believe they match up well on paper on a deal that would, in conjunction with some other pieces, send an expensive outfielder to Cincinnati and deliver the hefty Homer Bailey contract out west. It’ll be fascinating to see whether something comes together in these talks — or, frankly, any of the many others being conducted by the Cincinnati and Los Angeles organizations.
  • We heard yesterday about the latest in the Rockies’ search for a big bat, and Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post updates the situation. Edwin Encarnacion of the Indians is a “legitimate target,” per the report, though GM Jeff Bridich has indicated that Wil Myers of the division-rival Padres is not. The Colorado organization is obviously looking to come away from the offseason with at least one significant offensive upgrade, though as yet it’s not clear whether the team has really narrowed its focus or is still canvassing the market in search of value.

Trade Rumors: Cubs, Hardy, A’s, Tigers, Holt, Yankees

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The Cubs have been linked to the reliever market, though they may wait until January before making any new acquisitions.  As one source speculates to the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales, the Cubs might first need to clear some payroll space before adding to their bullpen.  Rumors of a lack of a spending capacity have loomed over Chicago’s offseason, and the crunch could be tighter than anticipated if the team will have to move other salaries to afford even mid-tier relief pitching signings.  Gonzales runs through a few of the names on the Cubs roster that could possibly be dealt in salary-clearing moves, though he notes that several of these options don’t look too feasible, as players are either coming off down years (i.e. Brian Duensing, Brandon Kintzler) or they’re coming off good years (i.e. Jose Quintana, Ben Zobrist) and thus still have value to a Cubs team looking to contend in 2019.

Some more trade rumblings from around the Winter Meetings…

  • The Athletics have some interest in Tigers left-hander Blaine Hardy, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser reports.  Hardy started 13 of his 30 appearances in 2018 and posted some generally solid (3.56 ERA, 3.00 K/BB rate) numbers, though he didn’t miss many bats with a 6.9 K/9.  Hardy is only projected to earn $1.2MM next season and he is controllable through two more arbitration-eligible seasons beyond 2019, making him a particularly good fit for the budget-conscious A’s.  With a rotation still dotted with injury question marks, the A’s could use Hardy as a swingman again, deploying him as a starter on occasion or possibly coming in to pitch after an “opener” starts the game.  Despite this need for pitching, Oakland could be playing the waiting game on starting options, as Slusser notes that the club has yet to contact free agent arms like Derek Holland, Gio Gonzalez, or Lance Lynn.  Also from Slusser’s piece, he notes that the Athletics will still look to re-sign catcher Jonathan Lucroy even after acquiring Chris Herrmann yesterday.
  • There have been a number of names on the Red Sox roster (some surprising) mentioned as trade candidates within the last 24 hours, and the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo mentions that Brock Holt is another name that has received interest.  A deal seems unlikely, however, as the super-utilityman is slated to handle second base if Dustin Pedroia isn’t ready for the start of the season.  Holt rebounded from a poor 2017 campaign to hit .277/.362/.411 over 367 PA for the World Series champs last season, spending most of his time as a second baseman but also making starts at shortstop, third base, first base, and both corner outfield slots.
  • As usual, a ton of trade speculation has swirled around the Yankees, and GM Brian Cashman told reporters (including George A. King III of the New York Post) that he has been asked about virtually every player on his roster.  That list even includes James Paxton, as teams checked in to see if New York would consider flipping the star southpaw after acquiring him from the Mariners last month (needless to say, the Yankees declined).  Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were the only two players Cashman said he hadn’t yet been asked about.

FA/Trade Rumors: Kinsler, Jays, Yanks, Indians, Miller, Allen, Miley

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The Tigers, Brewers, Athletics and Nationals are among the teams interested in free-agent second baseman Ian Kinsler, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com. The Brewers have met with Kinsler at the Winter Meetings, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays. Detroit’s inclusion on the list is particularly interesting in light of the fact that Kinsler thrived there from 2014-17, before the team traded him to the Angels last offseason. The 36-year-old ended up dividing the season between Anaheim and Boston, where he combined to hit a less-than-stellar .240/.301/.380 (87 wRC+) in 534 plate appearances. But to Kinsler’s credit, he swatted 14 home runs, stole 16 bases and, for the 12th consecutive season, posted at least 2.0 fWAR (2.3).

More chatter from around the game…

  • Blue Jays right-handers Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez have been mentioned in trade rumors this offseason, though teams are finding it especially difficult to pry them loose. Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, interested clubs have found the Jays’ asking price for both pitchers to be “uncomfortably high.” Because Stroman and Sanchez each have two years of control left, Nicholson-Smith suggests the Jays are holding out for a return similar to the one the Mariners received from the Yankees for James Paxton. That doesn’t seem realistic on Toronto’s part, however, as both Stroman and Sanchez struggled through injury-limited seasons in 2018.
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman met with free-agent reliever Adam Ottavino’s representative Tuesday, though no real offers have been exchanged to this point, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.  Ottavino, 33, remains near the top of the Yankees’ free-agent wish list, Sherman notes. With free agents Zach Britton and David Robertson possibly on their way out of the Bronx, Ottavino – a New York City native – is a logical target for the club.
  • There’s “no chance” free-agent reliever Andrew Miller will re-sign with the Indians, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com writes. On the other hand, there’s still a possibility of fellow FA reliever Cody Allen returning to Cleveland, according to Hoynes, though he adds that it would be surprising. Although both Miller and Allen fell off in 2018, it still appears the two highly accomplished late-game arms will rake in sizable paydays on the open market.
  • Free-agent lefty Wade Miley’s camp is “confident” he’ll reel in a multiyear contract, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports. The 32-year-old Miley’s clearly in far better position than he was last offseason, when he had to settle for a minor league deal with Milwaukee. Miley went on to hold his own over 80 2/3 innings with the Brew Crew, pitching to a 2.57 ERA/3.59 FIP with a 52.8 percent groundball rate. At the same time, though, he recorded unappealing strikeout and walk numbers (5.58 K/9, 3.01 BB/9) and benefited from an ultra-low, likely unsustainable home run-to-fly ball rate of 5.2 percent.
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