Justin Garza Elects Free Agency
TODAY: Garza has cleared waivers and elected free agency, per Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe.
Nov 2: The Red Sox have sent reliever Justin Garza through outright waivers, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). That clears a spot on the 40-man roster.
Boston claimed Garza off waivers from the Angels at the end of April. The right-hander made 17 appearances, tallying 18 1/3 innings. He allowed a 7.36 ERA with a modest 18.7% strikeout percentage while walking more than 13% of batters faced. Garza spent a bit more time at Triple-A Worcester, where he tossed 28 innings of 4.82 ERA ball.
The 29-year-old will have the ability to test minor league free agency. Garza owns a 3.98 ERA through 101 2/3 frames in parts of three seasons at Triple-A. He averaged around 95 MPH on his fastball and could find minor league interest as a depth option.
Yankees Select Carlos Narvaez
The Yankees announced today that the club has selected the contract of catcher Carlos Narvaez. In addition, outfielders Franchy Cordero and Billy McKinney as well as right-handers Domingo German, Jimmy Cordero, Matt Bowman, and Ryan Weber have all elected free agency after rejecting outright assignments from earlier this week.
It’s an early birthday present for Narvaez, who turns 25 in a few weeks. A right-handed hitter, he signed with the Yankees as an amateur from Venezuela before the 2016 season. The cousin of Mets catcher Omar Narvaez, Carlos has spent the past seven years in the Yankee system. He didn’t reach Low-A until 2021 but has posted respectable numbers over the past couple years — albeit with a three true outcomes approach.
Narvaez opened this year in Double-A but spent the bulk of the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He hit .240/.373/.387 with 10 home runs across 84 games for the RailRiders. Narvaez walked in a huge 15.3% of his plate appearances but struck out more than a quarter of the time. He has routinely posted strikeout rates approaching 30% in the minors, generally limiting his batting average.
The ability to draw free passes and bring some power from behind the plate is clearly still intriguing to the New York front office. Narvaez has spent parts of seven seasons in the minors, meaning he would have become a minor league free agent were he not added to the 40-man roster. He joins Kyle Higashioka, Jose Trevino, Ben Rortvedt and prospect Austin Wells in what has become a crowded catching mix. Narvaez can be sent to Triple-A for the foreseeable future, as he’ll be in his first of three minor league option years in 2024.
Nationals Designate Matt Cronin For Assignment
The Nationals announced today that they have activated right-handers Stephen Strasburg and Cade Cavalli, catcher Riley Adams, and outfielders Stone Garrett and Victor Robles from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, left-hander Matt Cronin was designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster stands at 40. The IL activations were required by today, as players cannot be on the 60-day IL during the offseason.
Cronin, 26, was the club’s fourth-round selection in the 2019 draft. From 2019-22, the left-hander put up solid numbers while advancing from Single-A all the way to Triple-A, capped off by a strong 2022 season where Cronin posted a 2.42 ERA with a 26.9% strikeout rate in 52 innings of work. That sort of dominance out of the bullpen figured to make Cronin an attractive potential bullpen piece for the rebuilding Nationals headed into 2023, particularly after the Nationals added him to the 40-man roster this past offseason in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things turned out this year. Cronin dealt with pain in his shoulder throughout the year that limited him to just 14 1/3 innings of work during which he struggled to a 5.02 ERA. Back in August, it was revealed that the issue causing the pain was a herniated disc in his back. Cronin underwent surgery to repair the issue and missed the remainder of the 2023 campaign. It’s not clear when Cronin is expected to be healthy enough to return to the mound at this point. Given Cronin’s youth (he only turned 26 back in September) combined with his previous success and status as one of the Nationals’ top 20 prospects (per Baseball America) entering this year, it would hardly be a surprise if a rival club with space on their 40-man roster decided to claim Cronin in the coming days, particularly if he figures to be able to return to the mound in 2024.
Cardinals Claim Jared Young From Cubs
The Cardinals announced that they have claimed infielder/outfielder Jared Young from the Cubs. They also announced their previously-reported deal for right-hander Riley O’Brien, who has had his contract selected. The 40-man roster is now full.
Young, 28, was drafted by the Cubs in the 15th round in 2017 out of Old Dominion University – his third college in three years. He was never a major prospect, garnering a 40 grade from Baseball America prior to the 2019 season. After the 2020 minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic, Young earned a promotion to Triple-A during the ’21 campaign.
Despite uninspiring hitting at Triple-A Iowa, Young received a brief Major League look with the Cubs in September 2022. Young cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Triple-A in November of that year. In June of this year, Young regained his spot on the Cubs’ 40-man roster and picked up 47 big league plate appearances in the bigs. The Cubs again outrighted Young on Thursday, leading to today’s claim by the Cardinals.
Young has primarily played first base in the minors, but he’s also put in time at third base, second base, and the outfield corners. As was the case with the Cubs, Young may have difficulty earning even a bench spot in St. Louis. He did conquer Triple-A pitching this year with a 147 wRC+, and he’ll have to hit his way into more MLB playing time.
Mets To Hire Carlos Mendoza As Manager
The Mets have settled on their next manager, reportedly tabbing Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza to lead the club in 2024. Reports yesterday indicated that the club was on the verge of deciding their next manager. It’ll reportedly be a three-year deal that pays around $4.5MM total, while the Mets hold an option for the 2027 season.
Mendoza, 43, spent 13 seasons as an infielder in the minor leagues with the Giants and Yankees before joining the Yankees’ minor league coaching staff in 2009. He last served as a manager at the minor league level in 2012, with the club’s Single-A affiliate in Charleston. From 2013 to 2017, Mendoza served as a roving defensive instructor in the Yankees’ organization before being promoted to the major league coaching staff prior to the 2018 season as an infield coach. He received his final promotion with the Yankees upon being named bench coach to manager Aaron Boone shortly after the 2019 season and has remained in that role for the past four years.
After 18 years with the Yankees organization, Mendoza now heads from the Bronx to Queens to take over for Buck Showalter as manager of the Mets. Mendoza will step into the role just as newly-minted president of baseball operations David Stearns steps into his own new role with the club after being hired for the role back in September.
The duo have inherited a Mets team coming off of a difficult season. After winning 101 games in 2022 and adding the likes of Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Kodai Senga, and Jose Quintana while committing more than $200MM to re-sign Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo, the club fell well below expectations in 2023. Verlander, Robertson, and Max Scherzer were all traded away at the deadline as the Mets were rumored to begin looking toward 2025 for their return to contention. Ultimately, the club posted a 75-87 record in 2023, leaving them a whopping 29 games back of the Braves in the NL East and nine games out of the final NL Wild Card spot.
Though Mendoza has now landed in Queens, the Mets were far from the only team interested in him as a potential managerial hire this offseason. The Guardians reportedly had Mendoza as a potential favorite to replace Terry Francona in Cleveland before ultimately giving the job to Stephen Vogt earlier today, while the Padres reportedly interviewed Mendoza to replace Bob Melvin in San Diego earlier this week.
Just as Mendoza had other opportunities potentially on the table outside of New York, he was hardly the only candidate for the managerial role with the Mets. The club reportedly spoke to the likes of A’s manager Mark Kotsay and Cubs bench coach Andy Green, but much of their attention this offseason has seemingly been directed towards longtime Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who was widely regarded as the club’s preferred candidate and a potential favorite for the position due to his long-standing relationship with Stearns before he ultimately decided on joining the Cubs in a surprise move this afternoon.
Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported Mendoza’s hiring. Andy Martino of SNY reported the salary terms.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Twins Select Jair Camargo, Yunior Severino
The Twins are selecting the contracts of catcher Jair Camargo and infielder Yunior Severino, per Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. Both players were scheduled to reach minor league free agency, though the Twins have prevented that outcome by adding them to the 40-man roster.
Camargo, 24, made his professional debut with the Dodgers back in 2016. After three seasons in the rookie leagues, he eventually made his full-season debut in 2019, slashing .236/.301/.342 in 316 plate appearances while splitting time between catcher and third base at the Single-A level. Camargo was then packaged alongside veteran right-hander Kenta Maeda and shipped to Minnesota in exchange for Brusdar Graterol, Luke Raley, and a 2020 draft pick during the 2019-20 offseason.
After scuffling to a .236/.279/.418 slash line at the High-A level during his first season with the Twins, Camargo broke out during his age-22 campaign by slashing .262/.310/.483 with 18 home runs in just 326 trips to the plate primarily between the High-A and Double-A levels.
Severino, 24, was originally signed by the Braves as an amateur but was declared a free agent when the league sanctioned the Atlanta organization in the wake of violations on the international free agent market. He subsequently signed in Minnesota and, after a few nondescript minor league campaigns, has elevated his stock and now played his way onto the 40-man roster.
The 2023 season saw Severino slash .272/.352/.546 with 35 homers, 17 doubles and three triples between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. That marked an impressive followup to 2022’s .278/.358/.530 output between High-A and Double-A. Severino has worked primarily as a third baseman in recent seasons but logged notable reps at first base and second base this past season as well. He adds to a wealth of infield depth in a Twins organization that currently has Jorge Polanco, Royce Lewis, Carlos Correa, Eduoard Julien and Alex Kirilloff at the MLB level, in addition to prospects like Brooks Lee and Austin Martin knocking on the door after impressive minor league campaigns.
Craig Counsell To Depart Brewers For Club With Existing Manager
Manager Craig Counsell is departing the Brewers but won’t be joining the Mets, as many had expected. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that he is joining an unidentified team that already has a manager in place.
It had been reported in recent weeks that Counsell had been drawing widespread interest, as his contract with the Brewers just expired after the 2023 season. He interviewed with the Guardians and Mets and garnered interest from the Astros, though a return to the Brewers seemed to still be possible. However, today has brought a series of surprising twists, with the Guardians hiring Stephen Vogt, the Mets bringing aboard Carlos Mendoza and Counsell apparently departing for some mystery club that doesn’t even have a current vacancy.
Shortly after this post was published, the mystery team was revealed to be the Cubs. Find more details in this post.
Brewers Promote Matt Klentak, Three Others
The Brewers have promoted Will Hudgins, Matt Kleine and Karl Mueller to assistant general manager, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Meanwhile, Matt Klentak receives the title of executive advisor to the general manager.
Klentak served as the general manager of the Phillies from 2016 to 2020. The club was rebuilding for much of that period but it wasn’t proceeding as hoped and he stepped down after the shortened 2020 campaign. He stayed with the Phillies for a while in a lesser role but joined the Brewers prior to 2022 as special assistant to president of baseball operations David Stearns and general manager Matt Arnold.
The Brewers’ front office has had some transition in recent years. Stearns moved into an advisory role after 2022, with Arnold taking over as the primary baseball decision maker. Stearns then departed the organization entirely a couple of months ago to become the president of baseball operations for the Mets. That seems to have created some room for Arnold to promote from within the organization, tapping Klentak for a new title.
Per the Brewers’ staff directory on MLB.com, Hudgins previously held the title of vice president, baseball systems and high performance. Kleine was vice president, baseball operations. Mueller was senior vice president, player personnel.
Michael Conforto Exercises Player Option With Giants
Outfielder Michael Conforto has exercised his player option and will stay with the Giants for 2024, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Conforto could have opted out and become a free agent but will instead stay in San Francisco and make a salary of $18MM next year.
Conforto, 31 in June, signed a two-year, $36MM deal with the Giants coming into the 2023 season. He was allowed to opt out of the deal after the first season, so long as he took at least 350 trips to the plate in that initial campaign. He easily eclipsed that figure, getting to 470 PAs, but the quality of his work was only so-so. He hit 15 home runs on the year, well below his 30-per-year run from a few years ago. His .239/.334/.384 line amounted to a wRC+ of 100, indicating he was exactly league average.
The decision on whether or not to opt out was arguably borderline, despite the tepid season. This winter’s free agent market is considered to be light in terms of impact bats, which could have perhaps given Conforto a boost. He also demonstrated his health after missing the entire 2022 season, which was somewhat encouraging on its own. But on the other hand, there likely would not have been tons of momentum behind him if he decided to return to free agency.
Conforto had an incredibly strong run from 2017 to 2020, hitting 97 home runs in that time and slashing .265/.369/.495 for a wRC+ of 133. But his batting line dipped to .232/.344/.384 in 2021, with just 14 homers. That was an ill-timed down year, as it preceded Conforto’s free agency. He turned down a qualifying offer from the Mets in search of a more significant deal but ended up injuring his shoulder during that winter’s lockout. He eventually required surgery and missed the entire 2022 campaign.
The Giants took a shot on a post-surgery bounceback, though it didn’t quite work out. If he had returned to free agency, he would have had a hard time marketing himself. On the one hand, he has some very strong past results and is coming off a healthy campaign. But two of the past three years have featured fairly tepid offense, with a totally lost year in between. The shortened 2020 season obviously wasn’t his fault, but the fact remains that Conforto hasn’t been both healthy and clearly above average at the plate for a full season since 2019. Since he’s not considered an especially strong defender, that declining offense obviously hurts his earning power.
Conforto now slots into the outfield depth chart for the 2024 Giants, alongside Luis Matos, Mike Yastrzemski, Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater, with LaMonte Wade Jr., Heliot Ramos and Blake Sabol perhaps in the mix as well. The Giants are expected to be aggressive this winter, likely pursuing marquee free agents after missing out on players like Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa last winter. They have been speculatively tied to outfielders like Cody Bellinger and successfully pursuing such a player would further crowd this picture.
That could perhaps lead to Conforto or someone else being shopped around in trades. Conforto, Yastrzemski, Wade and Sabol all hit from the left side, as does Bellinger. For a platoon-loving club like the Giants, perhaps that’s too many lefties for one outfield, but it also depends on how the dominos fall this winter. Clubs would likely have some level of interest in taking a flier on Conforto given the market conditions, but the valuations from them might fluctuate based on whether they believe he’s capable of returning to his pre-2021 form.
For the Giants, keeping Conforto’s salary on the books means they are projected to have a payroll of $147MM, per Roster Resource. They have had payrolls around $200MM many times in the past and their competitive balance tax number is currently pegged at $170MM. The base threshold is going to be $237MM in 2024, giving them plenty of room before the luxury tax would become a concern.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Big Hype Prospects: Nett, Montgomery, Teodo, Triantos, Sabato
Our AFL coverage continues. The schedule is winding down. The Fall Stars game was played on Sunday. The two-game postseason will take place next Friday and Saturday. James Triantos and Jakob Marsee continue to battle for top batter status. Presently, Triantos has the edge. On the pitching side, Davis Daniel has the best claim to the top performance as a starter. Reliever Emiliano Teodo has 11 scoreless innings with 19 strikeouts with only three hits and four walks allowed.
Listed stats are from the AFL. To emphasize, this is AFL coverage.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Braden Nett, 21, SP, SDP
17.1 IP, 21 K, 13 BB, 4.67 ERA
Though he doesn’t have the shiniest stats, Nett posted an encouraging AFL as detailed by Baseball America. An undrafted pitcher, Nett has seen his velocity approach triple-digits as a starter, complemented by visually impressive secondary offerings. Command eludes Nett – an issue dating back to his pre-draft days. However, he showed strides in attacking the strike zone during this fall session. If he’s able to build upon his success next season, he’ll find his way into top prospect conversations. There’s considerable relief risk here if his command doesn’t continue on an upward trajectory.
Colson Montgomery, 21, SS, CWS
84 PA, 3 HR, .244/.302/.423
The second-best Montgomery in the AFL by the numbers, Colson is low-key divisive among evaluators. None that I’ve contacted doubt he has a Major League future. Most see as a blue-chip regular. Where the arguments begin is the type of regular. Some see him as a core performer. While they acknowledge the upside, they’re skeptical Montgomery will reach it. The doubters point to an impending move to third base where there will be more pressure on his bat. Advocates are confident he can support a move down the defensive spectrum. His exit velocities suggest he’s a small tweak or epiphany away from unlocking more extra-base outcomes.
Montgomery took home MVP honors in the Fall Stars game. He went 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI.
Emiliano Teodo, 22, P, TEX
11 IP, 19 K, 4 BB, 0.00 ERA
The Rangers have developed Teodo as a starter, but his future appears to be in the bullpen. Though listed at 6’ 1’’, one evaluator I contacted believes he’s several inches shorter. That’s backed by the FanGraphs crew – they describe him as “lilliputian.” His usage – and success – in the AFL points to an imminent role shift. As a starter, he touched upper-90s. He has the look of an on-meta power arm who relies on effectively wild heaters and hammer curves.
James Triantos, 20, 2B/3B, CHC
92 PA, 3 HR, 9 SB, .423/.505/.700
The hits, triples, and OPS leader of the AFL, Triantos has long appeared on scouts’ breakout lists. The results haven’t really stood out in full season leagues where he’s been more solid than exceptional. The Cubs are developing him as a super utility type including the odd game in center field. He focused on third base in 2022 and second base this year. He’ll spend 2024 in the upper minors where we all eagerly await to see if his power continues to develop. Triantos is a high-probability Major Leaguer. His future role remains open for debate.
Aaron Sabato, 24, 1B, MIN
74 PA, 7 HR, .215/.320/.585
A classic TTO slugger, Sabato has bashed his way to a share of the AFL home run lead along with fellow Twin Kala’i Rosario. Sabato works counts and routinely runs over-30 percent strikeout rates. In fact, he’s done so at every level. The reward for all those whiffs is some of the most impressive exit velocities in professional baseball. As a right-handed first baseman, the standards he needs to reach are rather high. He was a tad old for Double-A this season and produced an exactly league-average 100 wRC+. This is a profile that tends to late-bloom and early-fade. Sabato is Rule 5 eligible, and there’s a solid chance he’ll be left exposed.
Three More
Liam Hicks, TEX (24): While scouts are dismissive of Hicks for valid reasons – low exit velocities and sub-par defense – there’s no question he’s posted a dominant AFL season. He’s batting .455/.556/.530 in 81 plate appearances. His 15 walks nearly double his eight strikeouts. For Hicks to have big league relevance, he might need to channel his inner Luis Arraez. Or change his approach.
Wilmer Flores, DET (22): Flores’ AFL matches his scouting report to a “T.” He’s worked 18 innings with 22 strikeouts and only five walks. He also coughed up 25 hits and a 4.00 ERA. Flores has an attractive combination of high ground ball and swinging strike rates. Though Rule 5 eligible, he’s a lock to be added by the Tigers.
Sterlin Thompson, COL (22): Thompson has compiled a .950 OPS without hitting a home run in 93 plate appearances. A designated hitter, his bat nonetheless shows signs of carrying him to the Majors. He handles fastballs of all types well. Presently, he’s better at laying off breaking balls than he is at hitting them – a trait that will likely determine if he’s a Quad-A slugger or a future big leaguer.
Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.