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Phillies Outright Francisco Morales

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The Phillies announced that right-hander Francisco Morales has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He had been designated for assignment last week when the club signed Craig Kimbrel.

Morales, 23, was working in the lower levels of the Phillies’ system before the pandemic. His walks were on the high side but he showed plenty of promise down there nonetheless. Baseball America has considered him one of the top 30 Philly farmhands since back in 2018, and he even jumped up to the #4 slot in 2020.

The Phillies added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to protect him from selection in the Rule 5 draft. Unfortunately, his command issues have gotten worse in the upper levels of the minors. In 2021, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A but walked 15.5% of batters he faced and posted a 6.28 ERA. The club tried converting him to a full-time relief role last year but it didn’t help. He posted a 19.7% walk rate in the minors and also an incredible 28.6% rate in the majors. That latter number was in a small sample of just three appearances but still highlights the ongoing issue.

Morales will now stick in the system but without occupying a roster spot. Since this is his first outright and he has less than three years of MLB service time, he doesn’t have the ability to reject the assignment and become a free agent. He’ll start the year in the minors and try to better harness his stuff to get back onto the roster.

Trevor Kelley Elects Free Agency

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The Brewers announced that right-hander Trevor Kelley cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Kelley had been designated for assignment last week when the club acquired Bryse Wilson. Kelley has rejected the assignment and elected free agency, which was his right as a player with a previous career outright.

Kelley, 30, was drafted by the Red Sox in 2015 and worked his way up to the majors in 2019. He got into 10 games for Boston that year but posted an ERA of 8.64. The Sox put him on waivers and Kelley was claimed by the Phillies. He got another four appearances in 2020 but was shelled again with a 10.80 ERA in that short time and was outrighted at season’s end.

The Brewers signed him to a minors deal for 2022 and he was able to crack the club’s roster. He spent the season getting frequently optioned between the majors and minors. He posted a 2.36 ERA in 34 1/3 innings for Nashville with a 30% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 43.9% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, all those rate stats were a bit worse in his 23 2/3 major league innings, leading to a 6.08 ERA.

Kelley evidently didn’t find a club willing to give him a 40-man roster spot, but those solid results in Nashville could get him a minor league deal. Now that he’s a free agent, he can seek out the best opportunity for himself. If he eventually signs elsewhere and makes it back onto a roster someday, he’ll still have one option season and less than a year of MLB service time.

Orioles Acquire Darwinzon Hernandez, Designate Lewin Diaz

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The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired lefty Darwinzon Hernandez from the Red Sox in exchange for cash. First baseman Lewin Diaz was designated for assignment yet again in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 26-year-old Hernandez will give the O’s an arm capable of missing bats at an elite level, but he’s also been plagued by jarring command issues throughout his career. Hernandez has punched out a hefty 32.3% of his opponents in 85 1/3 Major league innings, but that’s accompanied by a disastrous 17.7% walk rate. He still managed a sharp-looking 3.17 ERA in 2020-21, but opponents shelled him for 16 runs in only 6 2/3 innings this past season, bringing his career ERA to an unsightly 5.06. Hernandez has a pair of minor league options remaining and averages better than 95 mph on his heater, however, so the Orioles will hope they can tame some of those command woes and unearth a quality bullpen arm.

For Diaz, this is incredibly his fifth DFA of the offseason. He first went from the Marlins to the Pirates by way of waivers, and the Orioles claimed him (for the first time) from the Buccos shortly thereafter. Baltimore traded Diaz to Atlanta, who designated him for assignment five days later. The O’s claimed him again on Jan. 5, but his latest stint on the Orioles’ 40-man roster will apparently last just five days.

It’s a dizzying whirlwind of transactions that have surely made for a chaotic and unsettling winter for Diaz — a 26-year-old former top prospect who’s yet to have much big league experience at the plate but is regarded as one of the sport’s best defensive first basemen. Diaz is just a .181/.227/.340 hitter in 343 trips to the plate as a big leaguer, but he’s .250/.325/.504 hitter in parts of two Triple-A seasons.

The Orioles have spent the winter trying to add some lefty-swinging depth at first base, hence their two claims of Diaz and their trade for former Royals slugger Ryan O’Hearn, whom they almost immediately designated for assignment. The goal, surely, is to be able to successfully pass players like Diaz and O’Hearn through waivers and retain them as non-roster depth options in the upper minors.

To this point, however, no team has succeeded in getting Diaz through waivers. The allure of his glove and decent power production in the upper minors has continually piqued the interest of other clubs around the league. The Orioles hold the No. 17 waiver priority in the game (determined by last year’s standings), and Diaz has yet to make it past them on the waiver wire (he landed with Atlanta by way of trade, not waiver claim). Time will tell whether the O’s can finally succeed this time around, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Diaz again landed with another club via waivers or a small trade. His DFA will be resolved within a week’s time.

Tigers Claim Edwin Uceta

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The Tigers have claimed right-hander Edwin Uceta off waivers from the Diamondbacks, per a team announcement. Uceta was designated for assignment by Arizona as a corresponding move for the D-backs’ signing of veteran Evan Longoria.

Uceta, who turned 25 just two days ago, has spent time in the Majors in each of the past two seasons, tossing 20 1/3 innings for the Dodgers in 2021 and 17 innings for the D-backs in 2022. He’s struggled to a combined 6.27 ERA in that time, fanning 23% of his opponents against a more troublesome 11.5% walk rate. He’s generally done a decent job limiting hard contact — 88.4 mph average exit velocity, 37.4% hard-hit rate — but Uceta has struggles considerably with runners on base, as evidenced by a dismal 50% left-on-base percentage (roughly 23% lower than league average).

Indeed, when Uceta has had the benefit of pitching with the bases empty, he’s yielded an awful .189/.268/.216 to his opponents. With men on base, those numbers skyrocket to .288/.383/.591. Those glaring splits come in near-identical samples — 82 batters faced with the bases empty, 83 with men on base.

Uceta has roughly average velocity on his fastball (93.4 mph average), though he spins it at a well above-average clip. He complements that offering with a changeup and more seldom-used slider — the latter of which generated above-average spin this past season as well. He has a minor league option year remaining, and while his bottom-line results in Triple-A haven’t been particularly impressive (4.81 ERA in 78 2/3 innings), he’s fanned more than 30% of his opponents at that level. Walks have again been an issue in the upper minors, which is obviously a concern for a pitcher who’s struggled with runners on base.

That said, Uceta’s knack for avoiding hard contact, quality spin profile and ability to miss bats are all surely sources of intrigue for the Tigers. Detroit has thinned out its bullpen this winter, trading Gregory Soto to the Phillies and Joe Jimenez to the Braves while watching Andrew Chafin and Wily Peralta depart as free agents (though both Chafin and Peralta remain unsigned). That should create ample opportunity for Uceta to earn a look at some point, perhaps as early as Opening Day if he impresses during Spring Training.

Giants Notes: Sanchez, Marshall, Conforto

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The Giants didn’t succeed in landing the marquee free agent they sought when the offseason began, but they have added to their roster in a different way. They’ve spread their money around and given eight-figure guarantees to six different players in Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger, Sean Manaea, Joc Pederson, Ross Stripling, Taylor Rogers and Luke Jackson. But they still have their sights set on further upgrades, with Héctor Gómez of Z101 Digital reporting they have shown interest in catcher Gary Sánchez.

The level of interest the club has is not known, but it makes plenty of logical sense. The Giants only have a pair of catchers on their 40-man roster at the moment, as Austin Wynns was designated for assignment last week. The two remaining backstops are Blake Sabol, a Rule 5 draftee with no major league experience, and Joey Bart.

The latter was a second overall pick in 2018 who has been ranked as one of the better prospects in the game, but he’s yet to fully cement himself in the big leagues. Through 408 plate appearances over the past three seasons, he’s hit 11 home runs but struck out at a 38% rate. His batting line currently sits at .222/.294/.351 for a wRC+ of 84. He was also considered a subpar defender and framer last year, according to Defensive Runs Saved and FanGraphs. Even if the Giants still believe in Bart as their long-term solution behind the plate, it makes sense that they would consider a veteran alternative as a safety net for the short-term.

Sánchez, 30, earned a reputation as a bat-first catcher when he hit 53 home runs over 2016 and 2017. His batting line over that two-year stretch was .284/.354/.568 for a wRC+ of 143. He’s since cooled off at the plate, posting a 96 wRC+ in the five seasons since, including an 89 in 2022. Despite that tepid platform year at the plate, his previous production should still lead to some interest. It’s also possible he could get a boost from the upcoming defensive restrictions since he was shifted in more than 70% of his appearances last year, despite being right-handed. Sánchez has long been considered to be weaker on the defensive side of his game, but he was actually ranked above average by both DRS and FanGraphs’ framing metric last year.

The Giants have been quite active on the waiver wire in recent years, grabbing various catchers and cycling them through the roster throughout the year. Signing Sánchez would be a change in strategy but an understandable one since he’s arguably the top catcher still available in free agency.

The club also has interest in reliever Evan Marshall, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Marshall bounced around the league for a few years but seemed to have a breakout with the White Sox in 2019 and 2020. Over those two seasons, the right-hander made 78 appearances with a 2.45 ERA. His 10.3% walk rate was certainly on the high side but he struck out 23.5% of batters faced and got ground balls at a strong clip of 52.3%.

Unfortunately, things went sideways in 2021, with his ERA jumping to 5.60. He went to the injured list in June with an elbow injury and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery in October. The Sox outrighted him off the roster at season’s end and he missed the entire 2022 campaign.

The club’s interest in Marshall, who turns 33 in April, would be somewhat akin to their signing of Luke Jackson. The latter pitcher underwent Tommy John in April of last year and isn’t likely to be ready for Opening Day. Marshall is also coming back from TJS but should be further along since he went under the knife about six months earlier than Jackson, though that’s speculative and each injury rehab is unique. Regardless of his current status, it seems the Giants have some interest in seeing if he can get back to that strong form he showed a few years ago.

Elsewhere in Giant news, Conforto provided a health update to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The outfielder missed the entire 2022 season due to a shoulder injury but is now healthy enough that the Giants signed him to a two-year, $36MM guarantee. Conforto can opt out of the deal after the first season but only if he makes at least 350 plate appearances this year.

He tells Shea that he’s begun ramping up for 2023 and is already throwing from 200 feet. “It’s all going great, knock on wood,” Conforto says. “There haven’t been any setbacks. I got all my measurements today with the medical team, and they’re pleased with the way everything’s looking, strength-wise, swing-wise, running, everything.”

Twins Re-Sign Carlos Correa

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Jan. 11: The Twins have formally announced Correa’s return. A press conference is set for 11:30am CT.

Jan.  10: Carlos Correa’s unprecedented free-agent saga looks to finally be drawing to a close, and it turns out he won’t even have to look for a new place to live. The former Rookie of the Year and Platinum Glove winner has reportedly agreed to a new six-year, $200MM contract with the Twins, which comes with four additional vesting options that can take the value of the contract to $270MM over a decade-long term. The Boras Corporation client does not have any opt-outs in the contract, though he will receive a full no-trade clause. The deal is expected to be finalized on Wednesday.

Correa will receive an $8MM signing bonus (paid out between 2023 and 2024) and annual salaries of $32MM in 2023-24, $36MM in 2025, $31.5MM in 2026, $30.5MM in 2027 and $30MM in 2028. The vesting options are valued at $25MM (2029), $20MM (2030), $15MM (2031) and $10MM (2032). Correa would vest his 2029 option by reaching 575 plate appearances the previous season; that number drops to 550 in 2029 (in order to vest his 2030 option), 525 in 2030 (to vest his 2031 option) and 502 in 2031 (to vest his 2032 option). The options would also vest if Correa finishes top five in MVP balloting, wins a Silver Slugger or claims an LCS or World Series MVP in the prior season. The Twins can still choose to pick up any of the options if Correa doesn’t meet the prior year’s vesting threshold.

The new deal between the Twins and Correa marks the latest and likely final twist in perhaps the wildest free-agent saga that’s ever played out. Correa, a two-time All-Star, agreed to terms with three different teams on three contracts of $200MM or more this winter — the first two of which were scuttled by concerns over the aforementioned right leg/ankle. Originally, Correa came to terms with the Giants on a 13-year, $350MM deal that blew the runner-up Twins out of the water. However, the Giants postponed Correa’s introductory press conference after raising some eleventh-hour concerns regarding his physical. The Mets, who hadn’t previously been involved in the Correa bidding, swooped in and agreed to a new 12-year, $315MM deal with Correa just days later, but New York raised similar concerns on Dec. 24, following their own physical.

At issue has been concern regarding the stability of Correa’s right leg and how well it will hold up over the life of a long-term deal. Correa sustained a significant fracture when sliding into third base as a 19-year-old prospect in the Astros’ system, which required surgery and the installation of a plate that is still in place to this day. While Correa has never been on the injured list due to the leg in the nine years since that injury, he did at least have a brief scare with it late in the 2022 season.

Correa was thrown out on a hard slide into second base and remained down on the field for several moments before leaving under his own power. After the game, he told reporters that he’d been hit on the plate in his leg and experienced brief numbness and vibration. Correa didn’t miss any time following that incident, however, and he went on to bat .346/.393/.481 with a homer and four doubles in 56 plate appearances from the day of that scare through season’s end.

The manner in which Correa’s leg and its hardware would hold up gave the Mets enough pause that they’re reported to have halved both the length and total guarantee of their original offer. The Mets still offered Correa the ability to match the original 12 years and $315MM they put on the table, but the back half of the contract was conditional and the team ostensibly would not budge from its stance on the matter. Unsurprisingly, Correa took the larger guarantee and considerably larger average annual value presented by the Twins on what is now the largest deal in franchise history.

The offseason leg drama surrounding Correa won’t do him any favors when it comes to shedding the “injury-prone” label that followed him early in his career, but it’s worth pointing out that over the past three seasons, Correa has appeared in 89.1% of his teams’ possible games. Eight of the missed contests in that time came early in the 2022 season with the Twins, when he spent a bit more than a week on the Covid-related injured list.

Nevertheless, all eyes will be on Correa’s leg for the foreseeable future. The uncertainty surrounding it was enough to drop Correa — a player the Twins adamantly maintained they never wanted to lose — back in Minnesota’s lap at a lesser rate than the ten-year, $285MM offer they put forth just one month ago, before he agreed to terms in San Francisco. It’s a stunning turn of events and a major narrative change for a Twins club that had been so focused on Correa in the offseason’s early stages that the majority of impact players were already off the board by the time it looked as though they’d been outbid by San Francisco.

With Correa now likely installed not only for the 2023 season but for the next six years, at the very least, the Twins’ short- and long-term outlooks are radically altered. Correa, who batted .291/.366/.467 with 22 home runs as a Twin this past season will be slotted back into the top third of a lineup that suddenly looks substantially deeper than it did just hours ago. He’ll follow leadoff man and reigning AL batting champ Luis Arraez, with Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Jose Miranda and offseason signee Joey Gallo among the names behind him in the order.

With Correa back in Minnesota, trade acquisition Kyle Farmer will shift back from starting shortstop to the utility role the Twins initially envisioned when acquiring him. Acquired from Cincinnati in November, Farmer is a former catcher who has seen time all over the infield in recent years. He can back up each of Correa, Polanco and Miranda while providing Minnesota with a potent bat against left-handed pitching. Correa’s return allows Farmer to be utilized in more advantageous platoon matchups, one year after the former Red slashed .309/.380/.568 against lefties (but just .235/.291/.320 against righties).

The return of Correa on a long-term arrangement also calls into question just where fellow shortstop and former No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis might fit into the equation once he’s back to full health. Lewis has been plagued by miserable luck on the health front, tearing the ACL in his right knee two times in just over one calendar year. He recovered from that first ACL tear and burst onto the scene in 2022 with a .300/.317/.550 batting line in his first dozen MLB games — only to suffer that ligament tear while playing in the outfield. The outfield could well end up Lewis’ long-term home, but he could also be considered an option at third base (with Miranda perhaps moving across the diamond) or at second base as an heir to Polanco, who is entering the final guaranteed season of his contract. (The Twins hold a pair of affordable club options on Polanco, however.)

Correa’s $36MM salary (and half the payout on his $8MM signing bonus) bump the Twins’ payroll to roughly $157MM — a franchise record. The Twins have also added Gallo (one year, $11MM) and catcher Christian Vazquez (three years, $30MM) thus far in the offseason — a trio of moves that should upgrade the team’s defense at various key positions. While Correa didn’t match his 2021 Platinum Glove numbers in his first season with the Twins, he’s still generally regarded as a plus defender and ought to stabilize the position with quality glovework for years to come. If a move to another position is ultimately deemed necessary, he has the arm strength for a move to the hot corner, ranking 14th among all Major League infielders (min. 100 throws) in terms of arm strength in 2022, per Statcast.

The addition of Gallo has only made it seem likelier that Minnesota will eventually find a trade partner for Max Kepler, as the Twins are now flush with left-handed-hitting corner outfielders (Kepler, Gallo, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Matt Wallner). Kirilloff could see most of his time at first base, but even still, the Twins have as many as four viable corner outfielders for two spots — and that’s not even factoring in right-handed-hitting bench options like Kyle Garlick and Gilberto Celestino.

It all falls under the “good problem to have” cliche, as the Twins now have a bevy of options in the outfield corners and around the infield, freeing up the possibility to explore trades designed to augment the starting rotation and/or bullpen that might not otherwise have appeared quite so palatable.

Put more simply, while the jarring reunion with Correa will no doubt be regarded as the most substantial move of the offseason, it’s not likely to be the last. While the Twins might have erred toward gearing up for a transitional year in the wake of missing out on Correa, suddenly retaining him on the largest contract in franchise history figures to spur the front office into further activity.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement and the terms (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the vesting options and details surrounding the Mets’ reduced offer and surrounding Correa’s physical with the Twins (all Twitter links). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted that the contract did not contain opt-outs. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links) and Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reported details on the vesting options and salary structure. Heyman reported the vesting thresholds and the no-trade clause (Twitter links), while Dan Hayes of the Athletic reported the Twins’ ability to trigger the options even if Correa doesn’t meet the vesting mark (on Twitter). Nightengale tweeted the contract was likely to be announced on Wednesday.

Twins Designate Kyle Garlick For Assignment

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The Twins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Kyle Garlick for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to shortstop Carlos Correa, whose return on a six-year, $200MM contract (with four vesting/club options) has now been formally confirmed by the team.

Garlick, 31 later this month, has spent the past two seasons with the Twins, hitting a combined .233/.283/.446 in 269 trips to the plate. Those numbers don’t necessarily stand out on their own, but Garlick’s platoon splits tell the tale of a useful part-time/platoon outfielder. He’s been overmatched by fellow right-handers, evidenced by a .207/.258/.345 output. However, Garlick has consistently shown plus power against lefties, batting .256/.303/.534 with 10 home runs and seven doubles in just 145 plate appearances versus southpaws since joining the Twins.

Unfortunately, Garlick has also had difficulty staying on the field during his two seasons in Minnesota. Over the past two seasons, he’s had trips to the injured list for a sports hernia (which required surgery), a calf strain, a hamstring strain, a ribcage contusion and a wrist sprain — the latter of which ended his 2022 season. There’s little doubting that Garlick can hit left-handed pitching, but his lengthy list of injuries, combined with sub-par defensive ratings in the outfield corners, have limited his utility as well.

Garlick seemed to have a place on the Twins’ roster heading forward, as he’s a natural platoon partner for their veritable cavalcade of left-handed-hitting corner outfielders and had already agreed to a modest $750K salary for the upcoming season. That’s only $30K north of the league minimum at this point, though, so it’s not as though the Twins had locked Garlick in for a particularly weighty sum.

Any team wishing to claim Garlick would need to take on that mild salary but would also be able to control Garlick for another four seasons, if they choose. The Twins will have a week to trade Garlick or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s been outrighted once previously in his career, so if Garlick goes unclaimed, he’d have the ability to reject an assignment to Triple-A in favor of free agency.

Angels Notes: Adell, Moniak, Injuries, Ohtani

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The Angels made a small signing earlier this week, bringing Brett Phillips aboard with a $1.2MM deal to be the club’s fourth outfielder. With Mike Trout, Taylor Ward and Hunter Renfroe set to be the primary starters on the grass, it seems the outfield jobs are now spoken for. Barring injury, that doesn’t leave much opportunity for players like Jo Adell or Mickey Moniak.

The club’s general manager Perry Minasian spoke about the situation yesterday, with Sam Blum of The Athletic and Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register each relaying some of his comments. “Those jobs are solidified,” Minasian said, implying that Adell and Moniak are likely to begin the season in the minors. “Those are obviously young players who are very talented that haven’t necessarily turned the corner yet that have been putting in a significant amount of work this offseason to do that,” Minasian said. “They’re both young. I think we forget about how young these two players are.”

The two players have followed similar trajectories thus far. Adell, 24 in April, was the first round draft pick of the Angels in 2017, selected 10th overall. Moniak, 25 in May, was selected first overall the year prior by the Phillies. He came over to the Angels in the Noah Syndergaard trade at last year’s deadline. Both players made quick charges through the minors to reach the majors in 2020, when Adell was just 21 and Moniak just 22. Since then, however, each player has struggled mightily. Adell currently has a batting line of .215/.259/.356 over 557 major league plate appearances. He’s also struck out in 34.8% of those trips to the plate. Moniak’s struggles have been even greater, as he’s struck out at a 39.5% rate while hitting .157/.218/.268.

There is an air of urgency around the Angels this year, with Shohei Ohtani slated for free agency at the end of the schedule. As such, the club isn’t relying on a breakout from Moniak or Adell, having acquired Renfroe and Phillips to push the younger players down the depth charts. Each of them has just one option year remaining, which perhaps makes this sort of a make-or-break year for them. Renfroe is set to reach free agency after 2023, which could provide an opportunity for one of the youngsters to find a future job if they succeed in turning a corner this year. However, they might have to be patient since the path has been blocked for now.

Minasian also provided some health updates on some other Angels, including Griffin Canning and Chris Rodriguez. Both of those pitchers missed the 2022 season entirely, with Rodriguez rehabbing from November 2021 shoulder surgery and Canning fighting lingering back issues. Both players have now begun throwing off a mound. “If both those guys are healthy entering spring training, they’ll be exciting to watch,” Minasian said. “Right now they are on schedule to be with us in spring training and we’ll see where they’re at.”

Canning posted a 3.99 ERA over 11 starts in the shortened 2020 season while striking out 23.5% of batters faced. However, he saw that balloon to 5.60 the following year while his strikeout rate dipped to 22.4%. Rodriguez was a starter in the minors but worked primarily out of the bullpen when he made his MLB debut in 2021. He registered a 3.64 ERA in his first 29 2/3 innings but has been dealing with the shoulder issue since then.

The Angels shouldn’t be reliant on either Canning or Rodriguez, at least to start 2023. They have a rotation consisting of Ohtani, Tyler Anderson, Patrick Sandoval, José Suarez and Reid Detmers. The club has ran out a six-man rotation in recent years to reduce the workload on Ohtani but have at least considered going to a five-man this season. If they want a sixth starter, they have some candidates for the final spot, such as Chase Silseth and Tucker Davidson. However, injuries and lackluster depth have been an achilles heel of the Angels in recent years, meaning the health of Canning and Rodriguez could be an important factor for them as the campaign goes along. That makes it at least somewhat encouraging that the players are on track for now.

The same goes on the position player side, as Minasian says that both first baseman Jared Walsh and shortstop Andrew Velazquez are on schedule for spring. Walsh was great in 2020 and 2021 but slumped badly last year and eventually required surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. He hit .215/.269/.374 last year after batting .280/.338/.531 over the two prior campaigns. Velazquez, known primarily for his glovework, was sidelined by knee surgery late last year. Both players could play key roles on the 2023 Angels club if they are healthy, but the club has taken measures to provide safety nets. They’ve added utility players Brandon Drury and Gio Urshela to their infield mix this winter, joining David Fletcher, Luis Rengifo and Anthony Rendon. Should Walsh or Velazquez not be available, the club will still have plenty of options to fill out the lineup, but it sounds like both players are on schedule to get back on track.

Minasian also addressed one other spot on the roster with Spring Training now just over a month away. Ohtani might not be with the team when camp opens, but not because of injury. He is going to be playing for Japan in this year’s World Baseball Classic, with that team playing their first game March 9. At this point, it’s still unclear if Ohtani will report to camp with the Angels before then or simply meet up with them after the WBC.

Mets Among Teams With Interest In Zack Britton

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The Mets are among the teams that have some interest in free-agent lefty Zack Britton, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Britton, of course, is plenty familiar with Mets skipper Buck Showalter from the pair’s days in Baltimore, and recently hired bullpen coach Dom Chiti was Britton’s bullpen coach for three years with the Orioles as well.

Britton would give the Mets at least two clear left-handers in the ’pen, joining trade acquisition Brooks Raley as a southpaw who’s seemingly guaranteed a spot. Displaced starter David Peterson could vie for a bullpen gig himself, though perhaps the Mets would prefer to keep him stretched out in the event that they need to tap into their minor league depth. Peterson does have a pair of minor league option years remaining. The Mets also have both Joey Lucchesi (returning this year from Tommy John surgery) and Tayler Saucedo as left-handed bullpen options on the 40-man roster.

The 35-year-old Britton has seen his star dim in recent seasons, due primarily to injuries. Britton underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone chip from his elbow in March 2021 — a procedure that sidelined him for the season’s first two months. He returned in June but pitched only briefly before a hamstring strain sent him back to the injured list. Britton’s return from that injury proved short-lived as well. He was put back on the IL with an elbow strain and went back under the knife for a second procedure to remove chips from his elbow Sept. 2021.

It was announced prior to the surgery that doctors would also be examining potential damage to his ulnar collateral ligament during the procedure. That ominous update was indeed a portent for a more severe injury, as the operation revealed that Britton required a reconstruction of said ligament; a Tommy John procedure wound up being performed as well.

Britton made a fairly improbable comeback when he was activated from the injured list in late September. However, he appeared in just three games with the Yankees and walked six of the nine men he faced before returning to the IL with what the team called shoulder fatigue. Britton’s 92.8 mph average sinker in those three appearances was nowhere close to either the 96.9 mph he averaged at his peak or the 94.9 mph he averaged during his last healthy season in 2020.

Given that recent run of health woes, Britton clearly comes with a good bit of injury risk. Due to the pair of surgeries and the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, he’s totaled just 38 innings since the conclusion of the 2019 season. Britton, to his credit, was excellent in 2020. However, he’s been rocked for a 6.16 ERA with more walks (20) than strikeouts (17) in 19 innings across the past two seasons.

Of course, at his peak, Britton was one of the game’s very best relievers. From 2014-20, the flamethrowing sinker specialist pitched to a combined 1.84 ERA in 367 1/3 innings with a 24% strikeout rate, a 9.2% walk rate and a 76.2% ground-ball rate that established him as the best ground-ball pitcher since batted-ball data began being tracked in 2002. Britton’s ground-ball rates in 2016 (80%), 2015 (79.1%) and 2019 (77.2%) are the three highest single-season marks from a qualified pitcher that have ever been tracked. Unsurprisingly, he suppressed home runs at an elite rate, averaging just 0.37 long balls per nine innings pitched during his seven-year peak.

Certainly, the Mets or any other team signing Britton will be hoping for a reliever closer to those levels than the ugly results he turned in during his injury-ruined 2021-22 seasons. It’s not realistic to expect Britton will return to his juggernaut 2015-16 form, but a healthy Britton is quite obviously still a talented, potential late-game option.

It’s at least worth noting that Heyman’s colleague, Mike Puma, tweets that although the Mets indeed have interest in Britton, it’s also possible their recent frustration following the Carlos Correa saga could impact any potential talks. Both Correa and Britton are represented by the Boras Corporation. Given the number of top-level free agents Boras represents each winter and the Mets’ penchant for chasing big-name stars, it’s overwhelmingly unlikely that the Mets would swear off dealing with the Boras Corporation entirely. That said, with the sting of that saga still fresh for all parties, some short-term frustration is feasible enough.

Red Sox Extend Rafael Devers

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Jan. 11: The Red Sox have formally announced the contract as a 10-year extension with Devers, spanning the 2024-33 seasons. As reported last night, that keeps his 2023 luxury tax hit at $17.5MM (the sum of the one-year deal he agreed to in order to avoid arbitration), while the $31.35MM luxury hit on his extension will go into effect in 2024.

Jan. 4: The Red Sox and third baseman Rafael Devers are in agreement on an extension that will keep him in Boston through the 2033 season. Though many outlets reported this as an 11-year extension worth $331MM, Devers and the Sox had already agreed to a $17.5MM salary for 2023. In terms of new money, then, he’s agreed to a ten-year, $313.5MM extension. There are no opt-outs in the deal and he won’t have a no-trade clause. The deal is pending a physical and is not yet official. Devers is represented by Rep 1 Baseball.

Devers, 26, was set to enter his final year of club control. He was slated to reach free agency after the upcoming campaign but will now stay in Boston for an extra decade, with this agreement set to take him through the 2033 campaign and his age-36 season. It’s easily the largest deal in franchise history, which was previously held by the $217MM deal for David Price. It will also be the 10th-largest guarantee in MLB history, while the $31.35MM average annual value will get him into the top 20 all-time.

Devers will now stick with the only organization he’s ever known and could well spend his entire career in Boston. The Sox signed him out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old in August of 2013, giving him a $1.5MM bonus. He worked his way through the minors and was seen by many as one of the top prospects in the sport. Baseball America ranked him in the top 20 on their top 100 list in both 2016 and 2017. In that latter season, Devers cracked the majors and debuted while just 20 years old. Despite that young age, he hit 10 home runs in just 58 games and produced a batting line of .284/.338/.482. That led to a wRC+ of 110, indicating he was 10% better than the league average hitter.

Devers endured a bit of a sophomore slump in 2018 but has put that behind him in a big way. Over the last four years, he’s hit 108 home runs and produced an overall batting line of .292/.352/.532. That production has been 32% better than league average by measure of wRC+, placing him among the top 25 hitters in the league for that time period.

For the Red Sox, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster time for the franchise over the past few years. They hoisted the World Series trophy in 2018 but then saw star right fielder Mookie Betts traded to the Dodgers alongside Price. Though the Sox got some interesting players in return, it was widely-viewed as a financially-motivated decision, a bitter pill for fans to swallow after a strong run of success that saw them win four titles from 2004 to 2018. The club slid to last place in the American League East in the shortened 2020 campaign.

Though 2021 saw the club surprise many onlookers by returning to the postseason, they had another disappointing campaign in 2022, finishing last in the division for the second time in three years. This offseason, another star player departed when shortstop Xander Bogaerts opted out of his contract. Though the Sox maintained that retaining Bogaerts was a top priority, he instead signed with the Padres for $280MM over 11 years while Boston came up well short, reportedly in the $160MM range.

With Betts and Bogaerts both leaving for California, the focus turned to Devers. With just one year until free agency, many wondered if the Fenway Faithful would have to endure a third superstar departure in a four-year span, or perhaps a three-year span if the club considered a trade. The reporting on the matter seemed dire as recently as a couple of months ago, indicating that the sides were not close in their extension talks with Boston offering something in the vicinity of $212MM. Instead, they have stepped up in a big way to ensure that Devers is the face of the franchise for years to come. In the long run, it’s possible that Devers may have to move from third base to first base, since his defense isn’t as highly regarded as his bat. But those will be conversations for later days, with another 11 years for the club to figure out how to set the lineup.

In the short term, this won’t change the makeup of the Red Sox on the field, since Devers was already going to be a part of the 2023 club. But it could have an impact on the financial ledger. Devers was previously set to have a $17.5MM count towards Boston’s luxury tax but that number will now jump to $30.09MM. The specific breakdown of the Devers deal isn’t known, but the competitive balance tax is calculated based on the average annual value of the deal, so the breakdown won’t change the CBT calculations. With that new figure in place, the club’s total CBT tally is now $224MM, according to the calculations at Roster Resource. That puts them within striking distance of the lowest luxury tax threshold, which will be $233MM this year. Any further additions, whether this offseason or as the season itself progresses, could potentially push them over the line. Since they paid the tax in 2022, they would be considered a second-time payor in 2023.

Former player Carlos Baerga first reported that the sides were in agreement on Instagram, but had the terms as 11 years and $332MM. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the $331MM figure and added the $20MM signing bonus. Jeff Passan of ESPN clarified that the deal included 2023 and would only add ten years beyond that. Jon Heyman of The New York Post first added the absence of a no-trade clause and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first had the lack of opt-outs.

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