Mets Sign Sean Manaea To Two-Year Deal
The Mets announced the signing of left-hander Sean Manaea to a two-year contract. It’s reportedly a $28MM guarantee for the Boras Corporation client, who can opt out following the 2024 season. Manaea will make $14.5MM next season, leaving him with a $13.5MM call on the ’25 option.
Manaea, 32 in February, was a first-round pick by the Royals back in 2013 and was swapped to the A’s alongside Aaron Brooks in the 2015 deal that brought Ben Zobrist to Kansas City. The southpaw made his big league debut in Oakland early in the 2016 season and fashioned a solid rookie year for himself with a 3.86 ERA and 4.08 FIP across 144 2/3 innings of work. Manaea continued to provide mid-to-back end of the rotation consistency for Oakland over the next few seasons, and he owned a career 3.94 ERA (105 ERA+) and 4.15 FIP in 464 innings by the end of the 2018 season. Unfortunately, the lefty’s success was interrupted by shoulder surgery late in the 2018 campaign and he missed nearly all of 2019.
Upon his return to action late in the 2019 season, Manaea more or less picked up right where he left off. In 48 starts from 2019-21, the left-hander posted a solid 3.73 ERA (111 ERA+) with a strong 3.64 FIP. During this stretch, Manaea saw his strikeout rate climb considerably. Though he entered the 2019 season with a rate of just 19.2% for his career, the lefty struck out 24.8% of batters faced over the next three seasons while walking just 5.2% and generating a 43.8% groundball rate that was a near match for his 44.1% figure in the first three seasons of his career. With just one year left before the lefty would hit free agency and the team going nowhere in 2022, the A’s shipped Manaea to San Diego as the Padres in a four-player deal, netting a pair of prospects for the left-hander’s services.
Unfortunately, Manaea began to struggle upon departing Oakland. The lefty’s lone season in San Diego was something of a disaster as he struggled to a 4.96 ERA, 24% worse than league average by ERA+, with a 4.53 FIP. Manaea’s strikeout rate dipped to 23.2%, his walk rate climbed to 7.5%, and he generated grounders at a career-worst 38.2% clip. While the southpaw mostly looked like himself in the first half of the season, with a 4.11 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 100 2/3 innings of work (17 starts), that production fell off a cliff down the stretch as he allowed a whopping 6.44 ERA over his final 13 contests. Those struggles led Manaea to sign a two-year, $25MM deal with the Giants last offseason that gave him the option to return to the free agent market this winter.
At first, Manaea’s time with the Giants saw similarly disastrous results as his final outings with the Padres the previous year. The lefty was booted from the club’s rotation in early May and by mid-June had put together a 5.84 ERA in 49 1/3 frames as opposing batters teed off to the tune of a hefty .474 slugging percentage. However, as MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald noted in a recent profile of Manaea, the lefty added a sweeper to his repertoire at the end of May and found massive success with it. Hitters struggled to a .140/.161/.163 slash line against the pitch, swinging and missing at it 35.1% of the times it was thrown.
After adding the sweeper, Manaea quickly found more success with the Giants. He pitched to a solid 3.78 ERA with a fantastic 3.26 FIP in his final 81 frames of the season, and excelled in a late-season return to the rotation with a 2.25 ERA and 3.21 FIP in four September starts. After adding the sweeper midseason, Manaea punched out 24.2% of batters faced while walking 6.6% and generating grounders at a 44% clip reminiscent of his days in Oakland. While the majority of that success came in multi-inning relief, the lefty nonetheless flashed the form that made him a successful mid-rotation arm earlier in his career.
The strong late-season results led Manaea to decline his $12.5MM player option with the Giants and return to the open market. The decision worked out well for the southpaw, as his $28MM pact with the Mets comes with an AAV of $14MM and the ability to return to opt out of the deal once again next winter should he choose to do so. Manaea slightly outperformed the two-year, $22MM prediction MLBTR offered when ranking him 35th on our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, earning an additional $3MM annually over the same term. The deal is mostly in line with the market for back-end starters this offseason, which has seen the likes of Nick Martinez ($26MM) and Kenta Maeda ($24MM) earn similar guarantees on two-year arrangements.
By adding Manaea, the club adds another veteran arm to a rotation mix that parted ways with both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the trade deadline last summer. The southpaw figures to return to starting full-time in joining the Mets, slotting into the middle of the club’s rotation behind incumbents Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana and ahead of fellow offseason additions Luis Severino and Adrian Houser. The addition of Manaea allows the club to utilize the likes of Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi and Jose Butto as depth options at the Triple-A level or in the club’s bullpen. The same figures to go for lefty David Peterson when he returns from offseason hip surgery sometime next summer.
The Mets were already over the highest luxury tax threshold of $297MM prior to signing Manaea, That means his full $14MM is part of the Mets’ overage coming into 2024. Assuming they remain over the highest tax threshold all season, the club figures to pay $15.8MM in taxes on Manaea’s salary next season, meaning the club effectively figures to pay $29.8MM for the lefty’s services in 2024. Of course, that’s unlikely to be much of a concern for the Mets as the club paid over $100MM into the luxury tax this past season. With the club’s rotation mix now likely settled, the Mets figure to continue searching for help at third base, DH and in the bullpen going forward.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the Mets were signing Manaea to a two-year, $28MM guarantee with an opt-out. The Associated Press reported the salary breakdown.
Blue Jays Interested In Jorge Soler
The Blue Jays have shown interest in free agent slugger Jorge Soler, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports. Toronto joins the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Nationals, and Marlins as clubs linked to Soler’s market at various points this winter.
It isn’t any surprise that the Jays have joined the fray, as Toronto has reportedly been looking into numerous free agent and trade options on the position-player side. With Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto now off the board, the Blue Jays’ adds have been limited to more defense-oriented pickups like Kevin Kiermaier and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, rather than any clear upgrades to what was a middling lineup in 2023. Speaking with the media earlier this week, GM Ross Atkins said the Blue Jays might add perhaps just one more bat, “most likely be in the outfield or DH category.”
Soler fits that description, moreso as a designated hitter than as a viable regular in the outfield. Soler has made only 89 appearances in the outfield for the Marlins over the last two seasons, operating as a part-time left fielder in 2022 and then a part-time right fielder in 2023. Public defensive metrics have never liked Soler’s work in right field but he has been slightly closer to passable over his more limited experience of 875 career innings as a left fielder.
Since Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho are both left-handed hitters, a scenario exists where the right-handed hitting Soler could see some action in left field when a southpaw is on the mound, with one of Kiermaier/Varsho moving to the bench and the other playing in the center field. As much as the Jays have prioritized defense over the last year, if Soler could match his 2022 left field numbers (-1 Defensive Runs Saved, -2 Outs Above Average, -2.5 UZR/150) with his strong offensive numbers from 2023, that’s probably a tradeoff the Blue Jays would be happy to accept, especially since Soler would still be spending more of his time as a DH.
Soler hit .250/.341/.512 with 36 home runs over 580 plate appearances for Miami last season, translating to a 126 wRC+. It was a good enough year for Soler to exercise the opt-out clause in his deal, as he chose free agency and the promise of a larger contract over the one year and $13MM remaining on his Marlins contract. Soler originally signed a three-year, $36MM pact with the Fish in the 2021-22 offseason but stumbled to a 95 wRC+ during an injury-marred 2022 campaign.
Though better health was a logical reason for Soler’s bounceback year, it also continued the pattern of inconsistency that has marked Soler’s 10 Major League seasons. Breaking into the majors as a heavily-hyped prospect in the Cubs system, Soler has a 119 wRC+ over his career, bolstered by particularly strong offensive showings in 2018, 2019 (when he led the AL with 48 homers), and last season. However, between his defensive showcomings and several other seasons when he has provided closer to league-average offense, Soler has only 7.4 fWAR to show for his 870 career games in the Show.
Perhaps the 2021 season is the best summation of Soler’s roller-coaster nature and high ceiling, as he struggled with the Royals before being traded to the Braves at the 2021 deadline. The switch was suddenly flipped, as Soler went on a tear after joining the Braves and earned World Series MVP honors as Atlanta captured the championship. Soler isn’t exactly a sure thing at the plate as he enters his age-32 season, and MLB Trade Rumors’ projection of a three-year, $45MM deal (Soler ranked 16th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents) reflected this uncertainty about his offense, and his lack of defensive utility.
Still, at this relatively modest price tag, Soler might be something of a bargain if he keeps hitting as he did in 2023, and the move out of spacious loanDepot Park might also help Soler’s efforts. As per Statcast’s Park Factor metrics, however, Toronto’s Rogers Centre was only slightly more hitter-friendly than loanDepot Park in 2023, which could deflect any combination of the Blue Jays’ lack of hitting, their strong pitching and defense, or some effects of the new outfield dimensions created by the Jays’ renovations to their ballpark.
Free Agent Profile: Mike Clevinger
The market for free agent starters has been fairly busy this offseason, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sonny Gray, and Aaron Nola having come off the board at the top of the market alongside a host of mid-level arms including Kenta Maeda and Seth Lugo. Even the back end of the market has been fairly active, with bounceback arms like Luis Severino and Lance Lynn finding new homes on one-year deals earlier this winter. For all the buzz surrounding the free agent pitching market, however, one name stands out as having not come up in the rumor mill at all to this point in the winter: veteran right-hander Mike Clevinger.
It’s something of a surprise that Clevinger’s market has involved such little fanfare, as the righty was one of the most dominant young arms in the league with Cleveland in the late 2010’s. From 2017 to 2019, Clevinger dominated across 447 2/3 innings of work with a 2.96 ERA that was a whopping 52% better than league average by measure of ERA+. The righty struck out 28.3% of batters faced against a 9.1% walk rate, good for a FIP of 3.32. Among pitchers with at least 400 innings of work across those three seasons, Clevinger’s ERA ranked sixth in the majors behind a quintet of multi-time Cy Young award winners: Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, and Corey Kluber.
Dominant as Clevinger was, the right-hander was shipped from Cleveland to San Diego at the 2020 trade deadline and wound up requiring Tommy John surgery just four starts into his tenure with the Padres. Rehab wiped out his entire 2021 season, and the right-hander returned in 2022 to post the worst season of his career. In 117 1/3 innings of work, Clevinger struggled to a 4.33 ERA with a 4.98 FIP, the first time he posted a ERA+ below the league average since becoming a full-time starter in 2017.
Clevinger’s peripherals also suffered considerably. Though the right-hander entered the 2022 campaign with a strong 27.3% career strikeout rate, he punched out just 18.8% of batters faced in his first year back from surgery. His batted ball metrics suffered as well: while he had generated grounders at a 40.3% clip during his peak years in Cleveland, that figure fell to just 35.2% with the Padres in 2022. The difficult season led Clevinger to sign a one-year, $12MM deal with the White Sox last offseason, and the righty made good on that deal by turning in a solid performance last year.
Clevinger’s time on the south side of Chicago got off to a rough start as he struggled to a 4.84 ERA across his first seven starts, but the right-hander settled in from there to bring his ERA down to just 3.88 by the time a wrist injury sent him to the injured list in mid-June. That success carried over when Clevinger returned to action six weeks later, and he entered the month of September with a sterling 2.45 ERA and solid 3.88 FIP in his last eleven starts. Clevinger mostly cruised through the month of September until his final appearance of the year, where he was torched for six runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work to leave him with a 3.77 ERA and 4.28 FIP on the season.
While Clevinger flashed his previous, dominant form at various points throughout the 2023 season and saw his average fastball velocity tick back up to 94.6, higher than his career average, it seems unlikely the veteran righty would be able to fully rediscover his previous form over a full season. After all, Clevinger’s groundball rate was at a career-worst 30.9% last season and while his strikeout rate did improve over 2022 it still sat at just 20%. That’s a far cry from the 33.9% clip Clevinger punched out batters at back in 2019 and pretty significantly below league average this past year.
Even so, the right-hander figures to be a quality, innings eating veteran who a club can comfortably place in the middle-to-back of their rotation in 2024. While Clevinger’s strikeout and groundball rates left something to be desired last year, he flashed strong command with a walk rate of just 7.3% while maintaining hard-hit and barrel rates significantly better than league average. Combined with his rediscovered velocity, it’s easy to see how the veteran right-hander could be an above average big league starter next season. If he can live up to that billing, the right-hander might prove to be a steal for the club that ultimately signs him this winter.
MLBTR projected Clevinger for a two-year, $26MM deal on our annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, where he placed 30th. That $13MM AAV would be something of a steal for a solid, mid-rotation arm this offseason given the pricey one-year deals arms like Frankie Montas ($16MM), and Jack Flaherty ($14MM) signed on the heels of seasons marred by injury and under performance. Meanwhile, the likes of Lucas Giolito ($19.3MM AAV) and Michael Wacha ($16MM AAV) managed to surpass those marks on multi-year guarantees. While Giolito is three-and-a-half years younger than Clevinger and Wacha has a stronger recent track record, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where Clevinger posts comparable numbers to either pitcher in 2024 at a lower price point.
The veteran righty has been something of a ghost on the rumor mill this offseason, with few if any clubs directly connected to the right-hander. With that being said, plenty of teams are known to be in the market for starting pitching this winter including the Red Sox, Orioles, Angels, Giants, Yankees, and Cubs. Any of those teams could benefit from adding Clevinger to their rotation mix, and he could prove to be an attractive backup option for teams that either can’t afford or fall short in the bidding for top-of-the-market arms like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, or who are unwilling to meet the asking prices for potential trade candidates like Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber.
AL Notes: Angels, Tigers, Yankees
According to Robert Murray of FanSided, the Angels had interest in center fielders Kevin Kiermaier and Harrison Bader before they signed with the Blue Jays and Mets, respectively. The news isn’t necessarily a surprise given the club’s reported interest in bolstering the club’s outfield mix with the likes of Michael A. Taylor and Adam Duvall. Taylor, in particular, fills a similar role to Bader and Kiermaier as a glove-first outfield option who offers a plus glove in center field and roughly league average offense.
That being said, both Bader and Kiermaier are elite defensive center fielders who have received at least semi-regular playing time throughout their careers. Given their status as regulars best suited for center field, the Angels’ interest in the duo is noteworthy even in spite of the fact that both players have already signed elsewhere, as it could indicate a willingness to move franchise face and future Hall of Famer Mike Trout out of center field. Trout, 32, has logged nearly 93% of his 12207 1/3 career innings on the outfield grass in center, and his glovework has continued to rate well even as he enters his 30s with +3 Outs Above Average in 82 games last year.
Despite his solid defense and lengthy track record at the position, rumors of the Angels moving Trout out of center field have been floated somewhat regularly in recent years, dating back to 2022 when former Angels skipper Joe Maddon told reporters that the club was considering playing Brandon Marsh as the club’s regular center fielder. Moving Trout to a corner or even DH isn’t without logic; after all, he’s seen his star fade somewhat in recent years due to a rash of injuries that left him to play just 237 games in the last three season, or less than half of the Angels’ contests in that time. While Trout appears as capable of handling the position as ever when on the field, it’s possible moving down the defensive spectrum could allow him to stay healthier and remain on the field for the Halos going forward.
More from around the American League…
- Longtime Tigers slugger J.D. Martinez is currently a free agent after a rebound season with the Dodgers where he crushed 33 home runs in just 113 games. Earlier in his career, Martinez spent three and a half seasons in Detroit and found great success with the club as he slashed .300/.361/.551 with 99 homers in 458 games during his tenure with the Tigers. With Detroit on the rise after finishing second in the AL Central last year, adding a power bat like Martinez to the club’s lineup could make some sense, and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand indicates that the club is “believed to have some interest” in a reunion with the veteran slugger. With that said, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press pumped the breaks on a rumored connection between Martinez and the Tigers today, saying the club has not expressed interest in the veteran’s services this offseason with Kerry Carpenter penciled in as the club’s everyday DH.
- The Yankees have hired Pat Roessler as their newest assistant hitting coach, according to a report from Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media. Roessler has previously served as hitting coach for both the Expos and the Mets, and his stay in Queens coincided with the club’s NL pennant-winning season back in 2015. Roessler’s most recent role was as assistant hitting coach for the Nationals, though the sides parted ways earlier this offseason as the Nats overhauled their coaching staff. Earlier this offseason, the Yankees added James Rowson as their hitting coach and tapped Brad Ausmus to replace new Mets manager Carlos Mendoza as the club’s bench coach.
Latest On Cardinals’ Pitching Pursuits
The Cardinals have spent their offseason focused on adding pitching, having already signed Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn to fill out the club’s rotation while trading for Andrew Kittredge, Nick Robertson and Victor Santos to bolster their bullpen depth. In a recent mailbag, The Athletic’s Katie Woo discussed St. Louis’s plans for the remainder of the offseason.
Regarding the bullpen, Woo notes that while the Cardinals have been active in the free agent relief market this offseason, the club doesn’t appear to be interested in a major addition like relief ace Josh Hader, instead preferring to shop in the lower tiers of the market. Woo relays that the club hopes to add another reliever to their bullpen with a contract in the range of around $5MM annually. She also notes that the club had interest in a reunion with right-hander Chris Stratton, who the club landed alongside Jose Quintana in a deal with the Pirates at the 2022 trade deadline before flipping him to the Rangers alongside Jordan Montgomery last summer, before the veteran inked a two-year, $8MM deal with the Royals.
Of course, it’s important to note that this report from Woo was published before the Cardinals and Rays got together on a trade to send veteran righty Andrew Kittredge to St. Louis yesterday afternoon. Kittredge is projected for a salary of just $2.3MM in 2024 by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz. Given the righty’s modest projected salary, it’s possible that his addition wouldn’t necessarily preclude the Cardinals from making another relief addition, whether by free agency or trade. At the same time, Woo indicates that the club is “high” on its internal relief corps and could look to make only one more addition, which the Kittredge deal would account for. If St. Louis does dip into the free agent relief market, Woo indicates that lefty Matt Moore and right-hander Phil Maton could be in the club’s price range this winter.
Each of Stratton, Moore, and Maton have been valuable bullpen pieces for contending clubs in recent years, though neither Stratton nor Maton have posted the sort of elite numbers that would make them clear back-end arms like Hader or former Cardinal Jordan Hicks; Maton has a 3.67 ERA since joining the Astros midway through the 2021 season, while Stratton has posted a 3.92 ERA over the past three seasons. Moore, by contrast, has posted a fantastic 2.20 ERA and respectable 3.29 FIP in 126 2/3 innings the past two seasons, making him one of the more effective set-up options on the market. With that being said, the lefty is entering his age-35 campaign in 2024 and seems unlikely to land a longer-term commitment from interested clubs. The Cardinals have also reportedly expressed interest in Ryan Brasier, who struggled badly (7.29 ERA) with the Red Sox earlier in the 2023 campaign before dominating (0.70 ERA) down the stretch with the Dodgers last season.
While it’s not entirely clear what the Cardinals’ bullpen plans are following the addition of Kittredge, Woo indicates that the club is likely done adding to its rotation this winter. She writes that a reunion with Montgomery or a deal for another top free agent starter like Shota Imanaga or Blake Snell is “incredibly unlikely” as the club doesn’t have interest in offering a nine-figure contract this winter, a benchmark each of the aforementioned southpaws appears likely to surpass. While Woo acknowledges that the club’s front office could explore trades for starting pitching, she describes the pursuits as “neither a high priority nor highly likely” to result in an addition this winter. Right-handers Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber have both been seen as likely trade candidates this offseason, while the likes of Corbin Burnes and Jesus Luzardo have occasionally seen their names floated in the rumor mill as well. The Cards have been loosely connected to Cease recently but otherwise haven’t come up often as a potential suitor for a starter in the rumor mill this winter.
It would be something of a surprise if Kittredge proved to be the club’s final pitching addition this winter. After all, the Cardinals noted that they planned to add “at least two” relievers this offseason in addition to their goal of adding three starters, which they completed by adding Gray, Gibson, and Lynn. By contrast, Kittredge is the only relief arm they’ve added to this point with a substantial track record in the majors. While the likes of Robertson, minor league signing Wilking Rodriguez and Rule 5 draftee Ryan Fernandez all provide depth, none of them figure to be the sort of reliable source of quality production the Cardinals lacked in 2023.
If the Cardinals do come up short in their goal of adding multiple relievers to their bullpen mix, it’s fair to wonder if they’ll have done enough to put themselves back into contention in the NL Central after finishing fifth in their division with a 91-loss campaign in 2023. While the club is surely hoping for rebound seasons from veteran stars Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt to lift the offense, the club’s pitching staff was primarily the cause of St. Louis’s difficult season last year. Cardinals starters posted a 5.08 ERA in the rotation last year that ranked fifth-worst in the majors, while their bullpen was the eighth-worst by that same metric.
The addition of Gray to the club’s rotation figures to provide a significant boost, but both Gibson and Lynn are coming off down seasons of their own while internal options like Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, and Matthew Liberatore all come with their own question marks, though internal youngsters like Sem Robberse could impact the club in 2024 and provide depth behind the established arms. As for the bullpen, both Kittredge and internal southpaw JoJo Romero have flashed tantalizing upside in the past but offer little certainty headed into 2024. That goes for most of the club’s relief corps with the exceptions of Ryan Helsley and Giovanny Gallegos, though even they dealt with injury and under-performance issues respectively last season. Signing an arm like Moore or Maton to bolster the bullpen could go a long way to helping St. Louis return to form next season, particularly given the relative inaction of the rest of the division aside from Cincinnati this winter.
Reds Re-Sign Alan Busenitz
The Reds and right-hander Alan Busenitz agreed on a minor league deal earlier this week, according to the transactions log on Busenitz’s MLB.com profile page. Busenitz hit minor league free agency earlier this winter but now is set to return to Cincinnati for a second season in the organization.
A 25th-round pick by the Angels in the 2013 draft, Busenitz made his MLB debut with the Twins back in 2017, pitching out of the club’s bullpen for two seasons with a 4.58 ERA and 5.49 FIP. After being granted his release by the Twins prior to the 2019 season, Busenitz landed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Busenitz’s first season in Japan was a dominant one, as he posted a sterling 1.69 ERA in 64 innings of work. Busenitz’s run prevention numbers regressed someone over the next two seasons, with a 3.51 ERA in 82 innings of work with a strikeout rate of just 18%, but he rebounded in 2022 to post a 2.14 ERA over 33 2/3 frames while punching out 21.1% of batters faced.
Busenitz’s strong 2022 campaign and generally solid NPB track record earned him a look from the Reds on a minor league deal last offseason. After posting a 2.83 ERA through 155 2/3 career innings overseas, the right-hander’s return to stateside ball saw him shuttled on and off the club’s 40-man roster throughout the season, though he ultimately posted a strong 2.57 ERA across his six appearances in the majors with five strikeouts against one walk in seven innings of work. His minor league numbers were also strong to start the season, as the righty posted a 2.48 ERA in 40 innings at the Triple-A level through mid-August. He struck out 25% of batters faced during that time, though his 12.8% walk rate stood out as a potential red flag.
The wheels came off for Busenitz after being sent to the minors for the final time in 2023 in late August. The right-hander struggled terrible to a 13.91 ERA in his final 11 minor league appearances last year, dragging his overall minor league numbers last season down to a mediocre 4.94 ERA in 51 innings. If Busenitz can avoid a late season slump in 2024, he could provide the Reds with a valuable depth arm in 2024 and help to support a relief corps that the club relied on for a whopping 652 1/3 frames last year, a figure that was second to only the Giants in the NL. Busenitz figures to compete with the likes of Fernando Cruz and Buck Farmer for a spot in the Reds bullpen this spring.
Three Yankees Eligible For Fourth Option Year In 2024
Yankees infielder Oswald Peraza and right-handers Luis Gil and Yoendrys Gomez are each eligible for a fourth option year in 2024, according to a report from Greg Joyce of the New York Post.
Typically, players have three option seasons with one used each season during which the player spends at least 20 days on optional assignment in the minor leagues. A player is considered to be on optional assignment when on a club’s 40-man roster but sent to the minor leagues while not on a rehab assignment. Both Peraza and Gomez were first added to the club’s 40-man roster back in November of 2020 and has been optioned to the minor leagues in each of the three seasons since, spending at least 20 days in the minor leagues each time. Under normal circumstances, that would leave them out of options headed into the 2024 season, meaning the Yankees would either have to expose either player to waivers before attempting to return him to the minor leagues.
Occasionally, teams are granted a fourth option year on certain players, typically due to the player missing significant time with injury. MLB.com explains that players with less than five full professional seasons (defined as at least 90 days on a major or minor league active roster) are eligible for a fourth option year. In Gomez’s case, the right-hander spend significant time on the injured list in both 2021 and 2022 due to a combination of COVID-19, shoulder issues and Tommy John surgery. That time spent rehabbing left him without full professional seasons in either year. Meanwhile, Peraza spent less than 90 days on active rosters in both 2018 and 2019, meaning the infielder has just four full professional seasons: in 2017, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Gil’s situation is somewhat different than that of Gomez and Peraza, as the 25-year-old was actually added to the 40-man roster back in late 2019 and optioned during the 2020, 2021, and 2022 campaigns. However, the right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2022 and did not return to a major or minor league active roster until September of 2023, meaning Gil did not participate in a full professional season in either of the past two years, making him eligible for a fourth option year as well.
The news provides the Yankees with additional roster flexibility regarding the three youngsters. Peraza, in particular, appeared headed into the 2024 season confined to a bench role backing up the club’s current infield mix of Anthony Volpe, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo. The additional option year will allow the club to get regular playing time in the minors for Peraza, who has excelled defensively but sports a slash line of just .216/.298/.306 in 70 career games at the major league level, as the 23-year-old looks to continue his development while blocked at the big league level.
Meanwhile, the option years afforded to Gil and Gomez will provide the Yankees with optionable depth in both the rotation and bullpen, a valuable resource the Yankees appeared to be running low on after sending a five-player package including 2023 depth starters Randy Vasquez and Jhony Brito to the Padres as the return for star outfielder Juan Soto. Gomez made his big league debut in 2023 with a single appearance where he struck out four while allowing a hit and hitting a batter across two scoreless innings. Gomez’s major league debut served as a capstone for a solid 2023 campaign where he pitched to a 3.58 ERA in 19 starts at the Double-A level. As for Gil, the righty last pitched a full season in 2021 but made six starts for the big league club that year, pitching to a 3.07 ERA with a 29.5% strikeout rate in 29 1/3 innings of work.
NL West Notes: Dodgers, Pham, Harrison, Rockies, D’Backs
Tommy Pham could be one of Dodgers‘ targets as the team looks for a right-handed hitting outfielder, MLB.com’s Juan Toribio writes. The L.A. lineup is heavy on left-handed batters overall, and another righty bat might be needed in the outfield in particular with James Outman and Jason Heyward slated for the bulk of at-bats in center and right field. Chris Taylor and Manuel Margot (both righty swingers) will be in the mix for left field work and, in Margot’s case, more of a general backup role. Prospect Miguel Vargas will also get a look in left field, yet adding a more proven bat to this group would only enhance what is already a loaded Dodgers roster.
Pham has been on the Dodgers’ radar before, and would come at a lower cost than another rumored Los Angeles target in Teoscar Hernandez. Pham is coming off another productive season that saw him hit .256/.328/.446 with 16 homers over 481 combined plate appearances with the Mets and Diamondbacks, and he hit very well for Arizona in the NLDS and World Series.
More from the NL West…
- Top Giants prospect Kyle Harrison has been speculatively floated as a trade candidate, especially after reports surfaced last month that the club was considering dealing from its stock of young pitching. However, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi all but officially closed the door on a Harrison swap, telling The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami in a podcast interview that “I can’t imagine any plausible scenario where we would move Kyle. He kind of embodies everything we’re hoping to be the next few years. He’s a local guy, he’s a homegrown talent, drafted and developed in our organization….Is a great kid, great competitor, has All-Star, Cy Young potential in our mind. Works really hard. Those are the kinds of guys you want to build around.”
- It appears as though Major League Baseball could be handling Rockies broadcasts next season, according to The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders. An official announcement could come as early as this week, though it isn’t yet clear if the Rox or the league have found a local cable partner to carry games on actual television, as opposed to just online availability on MLB.tv. Colorado’s games used to be shown on the AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain regional sports network, though since that network is ceasing operations, the Rockies are in need of a new broadcasting partner for 2024 and beyond.
- The Diamondbacks are continuing to look for more hitting on both the trade and free agent markets, GM Mike Hazen told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters. “My gut tells me it’s going to come via the free agent route, but we have had some active conversations about trades and now that we’re through the new year I’m curious to see if that dialogue picks up and if there’s more opportunity in the trade market, too,” Hazen said. The general manager reiterated that the team is open to either right-handed or left-handed hitter, as the Diamondbacks’ initial need for right-handed bats has now been addressed by re-signing Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and trading for Eugenio Suarez.
Pirates Notes: Cherington, Payroll, Cruz, Keller
Several Pirates players and executives are in attendance at the team’s PiratesFest fan event in Pittsburgh this weekend, which acts as something of a midway point in the Bucs’ offseason. As such, GM Ben Cherington, team president Travis Williams, and manager Derek Shelton took part in a Q&A with fans today, and the group shared some tidbits on further winter plans with fans and media (including Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
Cherington made it clear that the Pirates’ offseason work is far from over, stating “We’re engaged on a number of fronts, and certainly my hope is that there’s going to be more happening between now and Spring Training.” Though Cherington naturally didn’t cite any specific players of interest, recent reports have linked the Pirates to such players as Carlos Santana, Michael A. Taylor, Adam Frazier, and a likely far more expensive target in Yariel Rodriguez.
With Martin Perez and Marco Gonzales already added to the rotation mix, Rodriguez would be the biggest boost yet to a starting staff that still has plenty of question marks, considering that Perez lost his spot in the Rangers rotation last year and Gonzales struggled through 50 innings in a injury-shortened season. Cherington made it clear that the Bucs are still looking for more pitching help, and that the team had offered some multi-year contracts to free agent arms.
This represents a bit more aggressiveness than usual for the Pirates, who haven’t signed any free agents to multi-year deals since 2016 — almost three full years before Cherington even took over the front office to oversee a major rebuild. Pittsburgh’s 76-86 record in 2023 represented the club’s highest win total since 2018, and between some burgeoning younger talent and the unsettled nature of the NL Central, there is some hope within the organization that it can fully turn the corner in 2024.
“Our goal was to play playoff games in October,” Shelton said bluntly. “Whether that’s winning the Central, which is definitely the goal, or being a playoff caliber team, that’s something we’re striving for. And I will be very clear in our first message in Bradenton [at Spring Training] in about a month that we should be thinking about that every day.”
Roster Resource currently projects the Buccos to have a $70.37MM payroll in 2024, slightly less than their approximate $73.28MM Opening Day payroll from last season. Since Cherington is on record as saying that the Pirates will increase their payroll, it remains to be seen exactly how much the team is willing or able to spend for further upgrades. It does appear that the Pirates should exceed their 2023 figure in some way, especially since some clear roster holes needs to be addressed if Pittsburgh is to achieve its goal of being postseason contenders.
With broadcasting revenue such a major topic of conversation this offseason, the Pirates’ recent deal for a co-ownership stake in the SportsNet Pittsburgh network won’t be impacting the team’s ability to spend, Williams reiterated. “We’re not changing our plan, not changing our payroll. We’re committed to our plan, and we’re going to stick to it,” the team president said.
That said, Williams also seemed to stay away from any specifics about spending in general, and noted that “I’d say that payroll, while important, is not the most important factor in terms of how we get to building a championship-caliber team for our fans.” Williams claimed that the Pirates are one of baseball’s top five teams in terms of developmental spending, which Mackey notes is a difficult claim to verify or gauge with any accuracy, though it could be true given Cherington’s overhaul of the minor league pipeline.
“We’re putting all of our revenues back into the ball club,” Williams said. “We’re trying to get better every day and investing in areas where we’re gonna get better every day….We’re doing all the right things to win for Pittsburgh. We also want to make this work within the economics of baseball.”
A full and healthy season from Oneil Cruz would go a long way towards making the Pirates better in 2024, after the star prospect missed almost the entire season due to ankle surgery. Cruz told reporters (including Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) that he is now fully recovered following a summer setback in his rehab process. “Everything’s like it’s supposed to be….Now that I feel 100% again, just go out there like I do every year and give my 100% out there and be ready from Day 1,” Cruz said.
There had been some consideration given to Cruz participating in the Dominican Winter League in order to help him ramp up his readiness heading into Spring Training, but the Pirates have instead been limiting him to instructional league games in the Dominican Republic. Given how the Bucs already lost Endy Rodriguez to a torn UCL while playing DWL ball last month, it isn’t surprising that the team is being extra cautious with Cruz.
In other Pirates news, the team has yet to start any extension negotiations with Mitch Keller, as the right-hander himself told Mackey. This doesn’t mean that talks won’t eventually happen, and Keller feels a meeting “would probably be around Spring Training again like it was last year.”
Those earlier talks obviously didn’t lead anywhere, nor did some follow-up negotiations that reportedly took place during the season. In the interim, Keller delivered an All-Star season that saw him post a 4.21 ERA over 194 1/3 innings, though he was much more effective in the first half of the season. With this in mind, Keller is planning to make some adjustments to his preparation for next year, noting “maybe you need to change a little bit with recovery or mid-week lifts, bullpens and cut some out here and there, just so I’m feeling good toward the end or middle of the season. Just learning from how to handle a load like that.”
Keller is projected to earn a $6MM salary in 2024, his second year of arbitration eligibility. Since he is slated for free agency after the 2025 season, there is still a considerable amount of time left for the two sides to potentially reach an agreement on a long-term deal. Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds both finalized extensions with Pittsburgh in each of the last two Aprils, and locking up Keller would represent yet another core piece being added to what the Pirates hope is the nucleus of their next winning team.
Angels Outright Adam Kolarek
The Angels have outrighted left-hander Adam Kolarek off their 40-man roster, the team announced. The move creates a 40-man roster spot for Zach Plesac, whose one-year deal with the Halos is now official.
Kolarek is a recent signing in his own right, joining the Angels on a one-year deal worth $900K back in November. Because Kolarek has been previously outrighted in his career, he would have the right to reject this assignment and re-enter free agency, though he would also be walking away from that $900K salary. It seems like this transaction might be something of a paper move that gives Los Angeles some roster flexibility but won’t impede Kolarek’s path to competing for a bullpen job this coming spring.
The groundball specialist has a 3.62 ERA over his 149 1/3 innings in the majors, a tenure that includes a World Series ring with the 2020 Dodgers. Kolarek had a 3.07 ERA over 108 1/3 innings with the Rays and Dodgers from 2018-20, though some control problems have both limited his results and his time in the majors altogether, as he has posted a 4.68 ERA over 32 2/3 frames since the start of the 2021 season. Kolarek spent that time with the Athletics, another stint with the Dodgers, and a brief four-game stretch with the Mets last season, plus some time in the Braves farm system without a big league call-up.