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Angels, Jake Marisnick Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Jake Marisnick, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Presumably, the Equity Baseball client will be in camp on as a non-roster invite in spring training.

Marisnick, 33 in March, split the 2023 season between the White Sox, Tigers and Dodgers. Though he appeared in 46 games between the three teams, he was often used as a defensive replacement or pinch-runner, evidenced by the fact that he tallied just 83 big league plate appearances on the year. Marisnick slashed .237/.280/.408 in that tiny sample — numbers that roughly align with his career .228/.281/.385 batting line (2247 plate appearances).

While he’s never been much of a threat at the plate, the fleet-footed Marisnick is one of the most talented and underrated defenders of the current generation. He’s logged more than 400 innings in both outfield corners in his career and racked up nearly 4500 innings in center field, posting plus defensive grades at each spot. Marisnick has been credited with a massive 80 Defensive Runs Saved and 53 Outs Above Average across the outfield (including 54 DRS and 40 OAA in center field). Since making his MLB debut in 2013, Marisnick ranks eighth among all MLB outfielders in DRS and 12th in OAA, despite generally being used as a part-time player.

Marisnick’s 2023 sprint speed still ranked in the 87th percentile of MLB players, per Statcast, while his arm strength clocked into the 86th percentile. He clearly still has the tools to serve as a plus defender in the outfield, and with Mike Trout becoming increasingly susceptible to stints on the injured list in recent years, having an elite defensive fallback option makes some sense.

Between Trout, Taylor Ward, Mickey Moniak and the out-of-options Jo Adell, the Angels have at least  four outfield options ahead of Marisnick on the depth chart already. That might make it difficult for him to make the Opening Day roster, but Marisnick could step up in the event of an injury or trade of someone like Adell, and he has a decent enough track record against left-handed pitching (.237/.293/.417) to be a viable platoon partner for Moniak in a pinch.

Corbin Burnes Downplays Possibility Of Signing Extension

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Heading into the offseason, the trade market contained a handful of veteran starters who were a year from free agency and widely expected to be available — Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber and perhaps Corbin Burnes chief among them. Glasnow has already changed hands, going from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles and signing an extension — which the two parties agreed upon as a contingency of the trade becoming official. Bieber is still with the Guardians. But as earlier this month, like Glasnow, he was reportedly open to discussing a long-term deal following a trade.

Fans of rival clubs may be eyeing Burnes and envisioning a similar outcome, but the right-hander himself effectively quashed any such hopes in an appearance with Erik Kratz, A.J. Pierzynski and Hannah Keyser on Foul Territory (video link). Asked by Kratz about the possibility of taking the same path Glasnow did, Burnes replied:

“Being in my shoes, being a year away from [free agency], I think if a trade-and-extension type of deal came up — obviously, every guy that gets this close to free agency wants to test the market to see what your true dollar amount is, see what teams really are in on you. It would have to be something that would just absolutely blow you away to get you away from testing the free agent market and being able to choose where you want to go. I think that’s one thing every player in their career wants to get to. Once you get that six years of service time — which for a lot of guys takes seven, eight, sometimes nine years to get to — you get that chance to test the market and see what your top dollar is.”

Burnes, of course, is speaking in generalities. The majority of players ostensibly share his sentiment, but Glasnow has now twice signed an extension in lieu of reaching free agency, and we’ve seen plenty of players over the years hammer out a long-term deal when they’re less than a calendar year from reaching the market. It’s rarer, although hardly unprecedented, with an expected top-of-the-market free agent. Rafael Devers, Stephen Strasburg and Xander Bogaerts are just a few examples of prominent, All-Star-caliber talents signing an extension after reaching five years of big league service.

Still, Burnes’ comments seemingly align with most star-level players and shouldn’t be taken as a surprise. That’s particularly true given that he’s a client of the Boras Corporation, whose players tend to gravitate toward free agency. (Although, again, that’s a generality and perhaps even an overstated one; Strasburg, Bogaerts, Jose Altuve, Carlos Gonzalez and others have all signed extensions under Boras.)

In his latest notes column at The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal reports that Brewers owner Mark Attanasio is still uncertain about how to proceed with Burnes and is wary of creating a similar backlash to the 2022 trade deadline deal that sent Josh Hader to San Diego. That doesn’t preclude a trade from ultimately coming together, but it’s a starkly different tone from the circumstances surrounding Glasnow, where a trade felt like an inevitability as the offseason wore on.

If the Brewers opt to hold onto Burnes, they can head into the 2024 season with him, Freddy Peralta, the recently re-signed Wade Miley and Adrian Houser in the top four spots of the rotation. Colin Rea, free-agent signee Joe Ross and prospect Robert Gasser (acquired in the aforementioned Hader deal) are among the other in-house candidates for rotation spots, and further additions via free agency or trade can’t be squarely ruled out. The lineup would need clear augmentation, but Milwaukee’s pitching would again have the makings of a solid group with Burnes and Peralta leading the rotation and Devin Williams anchoring the bullpen.

Should Milwaukee hold onto Burnes and fail to contend even in a thin National League Central division, Burnes would obviously hold immense appeal at the trade deadline. And, if they ride out the year with Burnes atop a contending rotation, they could at least extend a qualifying offer and recoup a draft pick after the first round in 2025. It’s a relatively small consolation prize for a former Cy Young winner, but that compensation still factors in when listening to any trade offers that come their way.

Holding onto any impending free agent/trade candidate comes with the risk of said player incurring an injury that tanks their value. Burnes, however, is so talented that anything short of a major surgery that would jeopardize his 2025 availability makes a QO a no-brainer. Over the past four seasons, he’s pitched 622 1/3 innings with aa 2.86 ERA, 30.9% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate. Burnes has made three consecutive All-Star teams and won the National League Cy Young Award in 2021. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him to earn $15.1MM in 2024 before he becomes a free agent next winter.

Pirates Re-Sign Andrew McCutchen

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Andrew McCutchen said multiple times throughout the 2023 season that he didn’t intend to play anywhere other than Pittsburgh for the remainder of his career, and that’s exactly where he’ll be in 2024. The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve re-signed the franchise icon to a one-year deal contract for the upcoming season. McCutchen, a client of Aegis Sports Management, will reportedly be guaranteed $5MM. A corresponding move will be announced “at a later time,” the team said in this morning’s press release.

It’s a reunion that has long been expected, given not only McCutchen’s vocal stance on the matter but also comments from general manager Ben Cherington indicating the Pirates wanted McCutchen back and planned to discuss a new contract in the offseason. Since Cutch suffered a partial tear of his Achilles in September, the club appeared to want to see how his rehab progressed before making things official, but reporting from last week suggested the two sides were starting to accelerate talks.

McCutchen, 37, isn’t the MVP-caliber performer from earlier in his career but can still swing it. He signed a one-year, $5MM deal to rejoin the Pirates for 2023, hitting 12 home runs and drawing walks in 15.9% of his plate appearances. His .256/.378/.397 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 115, indicating he was 15% better than the league average hitter overall. He also still flashed a bit of baserunning prowess, stealing 11 bags in 14 tries.

Defensively, he was almost exclusively a designated hitter, spending just 64 2/3 innings in right field. He is likely to be in a similar role this year, having returned via the same $5MM deal that he signed a year ago. The Pirates will likely be delighted with a comparable performance but are surely also signing McCutchen for leadership and veteran presence, as well as being a treat for fans. Jack Suwinski and Bryan Reynolds will likely have two everyday spots in the outfield locked down. Edward Olivares, Joshua Palacios, Connor Joe and others should be battling for playing time in one corner, though McCutchen will perhaps jog out to the grass from time to time.

The season-ending injury forced McCutchen to miss the last few weeks of the 2023 campaign, with his last appearance coming on September 4. That kept him from hitting his 300th career home run during the campaign, as he’s currently parked on 299. But he should have plenty of opportunities to hit that milestone next year, which will appropriately come in a Pirates’ uniform. From 2009 to 2017, McCutchen was a five-time All-Star, won a Gold Glove in 2012 and National League MVP in 2013.

The heyday of McCutchen coincided with the club’s last competitive window. They made the playoffs in three straight years from 2013 to 2015 but haven’t been back since. The 2023 campaign featured an encouraging record of 76-86, still below .500 but their best finish since 2018. If the club’s young core is able to take a step forward and return to the postseason, then McCutchen could be a nice throughline connecting the two eras of baseball in Pittsburgh.

Roster Resource now pegs the club’s 2024 payroll at $70MM, just a bit below last year’s Opening Day figure of $73MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. General manager Ben Cherington has suggested that the payroll could push upwards next year, though it’s unclear exactly how far they are willing to go. In the post from Mackey linked above, he hints that the club may be making an addition to its pitching staff soon, likely via trade.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the agreement and the terms.

The Opener: Yamamoto, Matsui, Pirates

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As MLB’s offseason continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Will Yamamoto get $300MM?

The top free agent remaining at this point in the offseason is right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The 25-year-old NPB ace has previously been reported as having seven “finalists” for his services: the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Giants, Red Sox, Phillies, and Blue Jays. Reporting has since indicated that Philadelphia and Toronto are likely on the periphery of the sweepstakes, while last night rumors surfaced that the Dodgers were considering making an offer to Yamamoto in the $250-300MM range.

An offer even on the smaller end of that range would make Yamamoto’s contract the second-largest in MLB history for a starting pitcher (ignoring two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani) behind only Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, edging out Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg’s $245MM guarantee from the 2019-20 offseason. The bidding process for Yamamoto’s services is expected to continue throughout the week, leaving the door open for other finalists’ offers to reach or even surpass the reported range L.A. is considering.

2. Is a Matsui deal on the horizon?

Yamamoto isn’t the only NPB pitcher getting buzz of late. As of yesterday, the Padres and left-handed reliever Yuki Matsui were reportedly close on a multi-year deal. Matsui, 28, has posted sub-2.00 ERAs out of the bullpen in Japan in each of the past three seasons, with a combined 1.42 ERA and a 36.4% strikeout rate across 152 innings during that time. That show of dominance overseas earned Matsui the No. 43 spot on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB free agents list. The Cardinals, Red Sox and Cubs are among the teams that have been connected to Matsui this offseason outside of San Diego, though with a deal seemingly on the verge of coming together, those teams may be forced to look elsewhere for bullpen help going forward.

3. Pirates facing roster crunch:

The Pirates have begun making moves to add to the club in recent days as they look to improve upon a 76-86 season during which the club showed flashes of success but ultimately finished fourth in the NL Central. Two recent moves made to improve the club’s standing were the addition of left-hander Martin Perez to the rotation and the club’s reported reunion with veteran DH Andrew McCutchen, who will don on a Pirates uniform for an 11th season in his 16-year MLB career. Before either deal can become official, however, the Pirates must clear space on their 40-man roster, which is currently full even without Perez and McCutchen having officially signed. Pittsburgh could look to make a minor trade or two in the coming days to clear space on the roster for their recent signings, or simply designate two players on the 40-man roster for assignment to make room.

Blue Jays Have Some Interest In Rhys Hoskins, Justin Turner

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The Blue Jays have some level of interest in Rhys Hoskins and Justin Turner as they evaluate their options at designated hitter, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. That’s part of a wide net being cast by the front office, as Nicholson-Smith reiterates previously reported ties to J.D. Martinez, Joc Pederson and Joey Votto as well.

Toronto has a vacancy at DH with Brandon Belt returning to the open market. Bringing in a left-handed bat to complement a lineup led by Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Danny Jansen would be ideal, but the interest in Martinez suggests they’re not limiting themselves solely to lefty hitters. GM Ross Atkins has alluded to the potential for multiple lineup additions, after all. The Jays could add a right-handed DH while bringing in a lefty bat in the outfield.

Hoskins lost the 2023 season after tearing the ACL in his left knee during Spring Training. He’d likely have made it back as a DH or pinch-hitting option had the Phillies made the World Series. While that didn’t happen, the 30-year-old (31 in March) projects as one of the better offensive players on the market. Hoskins has been a consistent middle-of-the-order presence throughout his career, compiling a .242/.353/.492 line. He has hit between 27 and 34 home runs in each of the four full seasons he’s played while running better than average walk rates on an annual basis.

Turner has been a consistently strong lineup presence as well. He hasn’t had a below-average offensive season since his 2014 breakout with the Dodgers. At age 39, he’s no longer suited for 140+ starts at third base. Yet Turner could serve as a primary DH while rotating in at the hot corner, where the Jays have a question with Matt Chapman still in free agency. Turner is still more than capable of handling a primary DH role. He’s coming off an impressive .276/.345/.455, 23-homer showing for the Red Sox.

It doesn’t seem either player is a priority target for the Toronto front office. Nicholson-Smith suggests the Jays could wait out the market for another few weeks to determine whether anyone in a broad group of hitters of interest presents strong value later in the offseason.

Hoskins has also drawn reported interest from the Cubs, Mariners and Nationals. Turner has been on the radar of the incumbent Red Sox, Mets and Diamondbacks. MLBTR predicted Hoskins to land a two-year, $36MM guarantee that allows him to opt out after next season, although a standard one-year pillow contract is also possible. Turner seems likelier to sign for one year given his age, but he could also command a salary in the $16-18MM range.

Dodgers Considering $250MM+ Offer To Yamamoto

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The Dodgers are considering presenting an offer in the $250-300MM range to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, reports Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. Reports from yesterday indicated that teams are likely to put forth contract proposals to the NPB star this week, with a decision perhaps coming by Monday.

Yamamoto’s landing spot and price point are perhaps the biggest remaining story of the offseason. The 25-year-old righty has emerged as the clear top free agent after Shohei Ohtani came off the board. It is believed the field has narrowed to seven teams: the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Giants, Red Sox, Phillies and Blue Jays.

This morning, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic indicated Philadelphia and Toronto are more on the outside of the market and could be longer shots. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith echoes that with regards to the Jays, reporting that Toronto is less likely to be one of the top finalists on Yamamoto than they were on Ohtani.

Meanwhile, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes that the pitcher’s visit to the East Coast last week only consisted of a stop in New York to chat with the Yankees and Mets. While the Red Sox and Phils conducted in-person interviews with Yamamoto, officials from both teams met with the pitcher and his representatives in Los Angeles.

In recent weeks, there has been increasing speculation the price tag could exceed $300MM. That’s particularly true when considering the accompanying posting fee that would be owed to his former team, the Orix Buffaloes. An MLB club would owe the Buffaloes 20% of the contract’s first $25MM ($5MM), 17.5% of the next $25MM ($4.375MM), and 15% of additional spending.

An offer of $250MM to Yamamoto, which seems a conservative estimate of his earning power at this point given the robust interest, would require a $39.375MM posting fee. That’d put the total commitment a little north of $289MM. If a team were to offer Yamamoto $300MM, that’d come with a $46.875MM posting sum that pushes their spending to nearly $347MM.

Of course, that’s even before getting to luxury tax implications — which would come into play for the known suitors aside from Boston and San Francisco. The Dodgers have a competitive balance tax projection around $256MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. That places them right on the border of the $257MM second threshold of penalization.

As a payor for the third straight year, they’d be taxed at a 62% rate for spending between $257MM and $277MM and at a 95% clip on money from $277MM to $297MM (with a 110% tax on any spending thereafter). Signing Yamamoto would push them past the $277MM threshold with ease, quite likely tacking on another $17MM or more in taxes in year one. To be clear, only the amount paid to Yamamoto would factor into the competitive balance tax calculation; the posting fee is not part of that calculus.

Of course, the deferrals in the Ohtani deal (along with lesser but still notable deferrals for Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman) lower their immediate raw payroll. Their actual salary commitments for next season are south of $200MM, well below the approximate $223MM mark they carried into 2023.

Los Angeles certainly isn’t the only team weighing an offer in this range for the three-time Sawamura Award winner. If Yamamoto signs elsewhere, Harris suggests that L.A. is likelier to turn to the trade market for pitching help as opposed to pivoting to another top free agent like Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. The Dodgers already struck for Tyler Glasnow on the trade front but remain on the hunt for starting pitching behind their top three of Glasnow, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller.

Cubs To Hire Darren Holmes As Bullpen Coach

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The Cubs are hiring Darren Holmes as bullpen coach and Mark Strittmatter to serve as catching coach, reports Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic. Those are expected to be the final two hires for Craig Counsell’s first staff in the Windy City.

Holmes joins the organization after four years in Baltimore. The Orioles initially hired him to work as bullpen coach going into the 2020 season. A winter later, he was promoted to assistant pitching coach. Holmes held that role under Chris Holt for three seasons before Baltimore changed its pitching voices this past October. Holt was moved back into an overhead role with the organization, while Holmes departed entirely.

The 57-year-old Holmes pitched parts of 13 seasons as a big league reliever. Before his time in Baltimore, he had spent five seasons as the bullpen coach in Colorado. He’ll bring plenty of experience to a relief corps led by Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr. Chicago relievers finished 13th in ERA (3.85) last season. They were fourth in strikeout rate (26%) but issued walks at an 11% clip that was lower only than the 12% mark posted by a rebuilding A’s club.

Strittmatter, 54, has worked with catchers in the Rockies organization for the better part of two decades. He had some experience on a big league staff before serving as minor league catching coordinator since 2013. Strittmatter briefly reached the majors as a player in 1998.

Sharma notes that the Cubs are expected to soon announce the entirety of the coaching staff. Holmes and Strittmatter will round out a group of previously-reported hirings including Ryan Flaherty as bench coach, returnee Dustin Kelly (hitting coach) and new addition John Mallee (assistant hitting coach) on the offensive side. Tommy Hottovy and Daniel Moskos are back as the lead and assistant pitching coaches, respectively. Mike Napoli and Willie Harris will return as the base coaches.

Amazon, Diamond Sports Discussing Potential Streaming Deal

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December 19: Evan Drellich of the Athletic reports that Diamond has streaming rights for five of the MLB teams whose broadcasting deals it covers: Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay. Even if an agreement between Amazon and Diamond is reached with regards to streaming, they would need to negotiate additional deals with MLB if they want to stream games for any of the other six clubs.

December 18: One of MLB’s bigger off-field stories of the past year has been the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group. The conglomerate’s struggles to meet its broadcasting deals has left teams contracted with Diamond — which operates the Bally Sports regional networks — in uncertain positions about the revenues they can expect from their local television contracts. That has been reflected in a few clubs (e.g. Padres, Rangers, Twins) cutting or plateauing spending.

As Diamond’s bankruptcy process continues, Lauren Thomas and Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal report that the corporation is engaged with Amazon about a potential multi-year streaming agreement. The discussions, which are not complete and would need to be approved by the bankruptcy court even if Diamond and Amazon reach an agreement, would see Amazon invest in Diamond with a goal of eventually acquiring streaming rights for teams on those broadcasts. Diamond would continue to operate its cable networks.

There has been a general expectation that Diamond’s reorganization will see the business abandon all of its broadcasting deals with MLB after the 2024 season. Evan Drellich of the Athletic wrote last week that Diamond and MLB were nearing agreement on a deal that would at least provide clarity on how which of its 11 contracts* it would honor for the ’24 campaign. The Athletic reported last month that the company was considering dropping its contracts with the Rangers and Guardians before next season.

Even if Diamond meets most or all of its obligations for next season, those clubs won’t have clarity on how things will play out in 2025 and beyond. The potential for Amazon to support the company in exchange for streaming opportunities offers some optimism, but it remains very early in that process.

* The Angels, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Guardians, Marlins, Rangers, Rays, Reds, Royals and Tigers have existing contracts with Diamond. The company abandoned deals with the Padres and Diamondbacks during the 2023 season, while its contract with the Twins expired at the end of the year.

A’s, Trevor Gott Agree To Major League Deal

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December 19: The A’s have officially announced the signing of Gott to a one-year deal. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic relays the financials. Gott is guaranteed $1.5MM, with bonuses of $50K available for making 45 and 50 appearances. There’s a $100K bonus if he’s traded.

December 15: The A’s are in agreement with reliever Trevor Gott on a major league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (X link). Financial terms are not clear. The A’s have a full 40-man roster, meaning they’ll need to make a corresponding DFA once the contract is official. Gott is represented by Sports One Athlete Management.

Gott was non-tendered by the Mets. He’d been projected for a modest $2MM salary, but New York apparently didn’t envision him holding a middle innings spot all season. He should have that opportunity in Oakland, where he’s one of the most experienced pitchers in a bullpen full of uncertainty.

The 31-year-old righty has appeared in parts of eight MLB seasons, although he has between five and six years of service time overall. Gott has appeared with the Angels, Nationals, Giants, Brewers, Mariners and Mets over the course of his career. He turned in serviceable middle relief results between Seattle and New York this year, pitching to a 4.19 ERA through 58 innings.

Gott struck hitters out at an average 23.8% clip while walking fewer than 8% of opponents. He didn’t miss many bats on a per-pitch basis, generating swinging strikes on only 9.2% of his offerings. That came with a slight velocity dip. After averaging north of 95 MPH on his sinker and four-seam in 2022, he sat in the 93-94 MPH range last season.

Even in the absence of overpowering stuff, Gott posted better results than most Oakland relievers. Only the Rockies and Royals had a higher bullpen ERA than the 5.20 mark turned in by the A’s. Among the team’s relievers with 20+ frames, Austin Pruitt, Trevor May and Dany Jiménez worked to a sub-4.00 ERA. Pruitt was waived and elected free agency; May retired. Jiménez found his decent results in 22 1/3 innings with mediocre strikeout and walk rates.

Gott could therefore pick up some high-leverage work for skipper Mark Kotsay. He’ll return to free agency again next winter. As a decent veteran arm on what’s surely a low-cost guarantee, he could find himself on the move for a mid-level prospect at next summer’s trade deadline.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Red Sox Hire Dillon Lawson To Hitting Coordinator Role

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The Red Sox have hired Dillon Lawson to a hitting coordinator role, with Lawson himself relaying the news to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. Lawson will be working primarily with Boston’s upper-level minor leaguers.

Lawson was hired to work in the Yankees’ organization in 2018 and made the jump to that club’s major league hitting coach prior to the 2022 season. With the club later struggling in 2023, the Yanks made the surprising decision to fire Lawson in July, the first time they fired a coach mid-season since Brian Cashman became general manager in 1998.

Sean Casey took over for that job for the second half and didn’t really have much of an obvious impact. It’s always difficult to assign blame or credit when it comes to coaches and the players they work with, but the Yanks had a wRC+ of 96 before Lawson was fired this year and a 92 after. Casey decided not to come back for 2024, with the Yankees hiring James Rowson to take on the hitting coach job next year.

Per Kuty’s report, Lawson is already familiar with some employees of the Red Sox, including Jason Ochart, Peter Fatse, Ben Rosenthal and Luis Ortiz. “I’m excited to be joining a great team that’s already moving in the right direction,” Lawson said.

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