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Mariners Notes: Castillo, Marlowe, Larsen

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The Mariners made one of the biggest splashes of last summer’s trade deadline when they brought in Luis Castillo from the Reds. The deal sent out four prospects, including two players generally regarded among the top 100 minor league talents in Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo. At the time, Castillo was in his penultimate season of arbitration eligibility, but the M’s foreclosed any chance of him departing anytime soon. In September, the righty signed a five-year, $108MM extension that runs through 2027.

Castillo recently looked back on the pair of transactions, telling Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer he’d initially hoped to sign a long-term deal to stay in Cincinnati. “I can’t really say anything because that’s obviously negotiations between the team and my agent,” he told Nightengale via interpreter. “Of course, I would’ve liked to stay. I had a family there and was there quite some time.” The two-time All-Star added he acclimated to Seattle more quickly than he’d anticipated, however, pointing to the presence of former Cincinnati teammates Eugenio Suárez and Jesse Winker on the Mariners roster.

The Reds and Castillo had discussed extension parameters before the trade, though general manager Nick Krall told reporters after the swap that the sides hadn’t been close. That wasn’t surprising, as Cincinnati has gone into a rebuild over the past couple seasons and shipped out a number of big leaguers for further off young talent. Seattle is firmly in win-now mode, with Castillo joining Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby in a strong front four.

In other situations out of Seattle:

  • Outfield prospect Cade Marlowe recently suffered a right oblique strain, he told reporters this afternoon (relayed by Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). The 25-year-old described the strain as very mild but will soon meet with training staff to determine a recovery plan. Even minor oblique strains can sideline players for multiple weeks, so the injury could delay Marlowe’s big league debut. A left-handed hitter, he raked at a .291/.380/.483 clip with 20 home runs and 36 stolen bases through 120 Double-A contests last season. Marlowe secured a late-season call to Triple-A and garnered some consideration for a depth role at the MLB level headed into the postseason. That never transpired, though Marlowe was added to the 40-man roster over the winter and figures to debut at some point during the upcoming campaign. Seattle has Julio Rodríguez and Teoscar Hernández locked into two outfield spots, with Jarred Kelenic and AJ Pollock presumably set for a platoon in the final position. The M’s will already be without Taylor Trammell well into the season after he underwent hand surgery last month.
  • There’s another injury further down the outfield depth chart. Divish tweets that non-roster outfielder Jack Larsen fractured a hamate bone in his hand and will undergo surgery. The 28-year-old Larsen spent most of last season in Double-A, where he hit .269/.371/.407 with an excellent 13.6% walk percentage across 528 plate appearances. He earned the briefest of big league promotions, appearing in one game and striking out in his only MLB at-bat. Seattle ran him through outright waivers in August, keeping him in the upper minors without a 40-man roster spot. Larsen wasn’t likely in consideration for an Opening Day role but he’d have served as a depth possibility if healthy. He’ll surely start the season on the minor league injured list now.

Brown: Astros Likelier To Explore Extension Talks With Altuve, Bregman Next Offseason

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Astros general manager Dana Brown has provided frequent updates throughout Spring Training regarding the club’s extension discussions with a number of players. After Houston got a deal done with Cristian Javier early in the spring, Brown expressed varying levels of optimism about the chances of productive talks with the likes of Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve.

Over the past few days, however, Brown has cast doubt on any short-term agreements with Tucker or Valdez. He pointed to yesterday afternoon as a loose target date for extensions with either player (though he clarified it wasn’t an official deadline before cutting talks). No deal has materialized, and Brown similarly indicated it’s unlikely there’ll be any forthcoming contracts with Bregman or Altuve.

Speaking with Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle, the first-year GM pointed to next offseason as a likelier target for deals with either player. “It’s probably going to be more like next year,” Brown said. “We made it clear that we want to keep them both around. This is part of getting through (2025), getting to (2026), some more time to replenish the system without overhauling the roster.”

While Brown didn’t walk back any comments from earlier in exhibition play, it’s a departure from some of the enthusiasm he’d expressed a few weeks ago. He’d told reporters in mid-February the club was hoping to make both Altuve and Bregman career-long Astros. The GM indicated at the time that he’d said as much to agent Scott Boras, who represents both players.

Of course, putting talks on the back-burner doesn’t rule that out for either player. Both Altuve and Bregman have already signed early-career extensions (two, in the former’s case) and remain under contract for two more years. Altuve will make $26MM in each of the next couple seasons, while Bregman is due $28.5MM annually through 2024.

Altuve is trending towards the open market in advance of his age-35 season. He’s not yet shown any signs of slowing down, as he’s coming off one of the best years of his career. He hit .300/.387/.533 with 28 home runs, a career-best 10.9% walk rate and an excellent 14.4% strikeout percentage in 604 plate appearances. Outside of the 60-game schedule, Altuve has remained one of the sport’s top offensive players.

Bregman is slated to hit free agency headed into his age-31 campaign. His bat has taken a step back from its MVP-caliber level of 2018-19, but he’s remained a well above-average hitter. Bregman is coming off a .259/.366/.454 line with 23 longballs and more walks than strikeouts (13.3% versus 11.7%) through 656 trips to the dish. Few hitters can match that control of the strike zone, and Bregman generally pairs that consistently strong offense with plus defensive marks at third base.

The Astros head into the 2023 campaign with a luxury tax payroll calculated by Roster Resource around $218MM. That’s about $15MM shy of the base threshold. Houston has once paid the CBT, going narrowly above the mark in 2020. They have a little over $100MM in estimated CBT commitments by the 2025 campaign, when new deals for Altuve and/or Bregman would ostensibly begin.

Tucker and Valdez will each be in their final season of arbitration eligibility that year barring extensions. Brown and owner Jim Crane could be faced with some difficult decisions a year or two down the line, though the club is in very strong shape for the immediate future. Of the current roster, only veterans Michael Brantley and Martín Maldonado and relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek are headed towards free agency next winter.

Jesus Alou Passes Away

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Former big league outfielder Jesús Alou passed away today at age 80, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN. The Dominican Republic native played parts of 15 seasons in the majors during the 1960’s and 70’s.

Alou was a member of one of baseball history’s most famous families. The younger brother of All-Stars Felipe Alou and Matty Alou, Jesús signed with the Giants headed into 1959. After three-plus seasons in the minors, Alou reached the majors during his age-21 campaign in 1963. That was a 16-game cameo but made history when he joined his brothers in the San Francisco outfield during Jesús Alou’s rookie year. While Felipe would find himself traded to Milwaukee the following offseason, Jesús and Matty Alou spent the next few seasons as teammates in San Francisco.

Jesús Alou saw fairly significant action by his second season. He’d top 100 games every year from 1964-71. Alou played in San Francisco through 1968, hitting .279/.301/.348 in 633 games in a Giant uniform. During the 1968-69 offseason, he went to the Expos as part of the expansion draft. Alou would never play a game in Montreal, however. A couple months after selecting him, the Expos dealt Alou with right-hander Jack Billingham and lefty reliever Skip Guinn to Houston for All-Star outfielder Rusty Staub.

Alou played with the Astros until midway through the 1973 season, when Houston sold his contract to the Athletics. He was a role player for Oakland’s World Series winning clubs in 1973 and ’74. While he only got into 132 combined games in green and gold, he picked up a pair of championship rings. Alou signed with the Mets for the ’75 season and returned to Houston late in the decade in a minor role. He played professionally in Mexico before retiring after the 1980 campaign.

In 1380 career big league contests, Alou hit .280/.305/.353. Never much of a power threat, he only connected on 32 home runs but he tallied 1216 hits and topped the double-digit mark in doubles in eight consecutive seasons. While he never achieved the lofty heights his brothers reached as players, he spent a decade and a half as a major leaguer and won a pair of World Series.

Alou’s baseball career also went well beyond his playing days. He spent some time on the Houston coaching staff and eventually transitioned into scouting roles with the Expos and Red Sox. He’d worked for the Boston organization since 2002 and eventually spent more than six decades in the game. MLBTR sends our condolences to Alou’s family, loved ones, friends and colleagues throughout the sport.

AL Injury Notes: Alvarez, Moore, La Stella, Winder, Vierling

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Yordan Alvarez’s lingering hand soreness has continued to bother the Astros slugger this spring, yet Alvarez took a noteworthy step today when he hit the batting cage to take some soft-toss swings.  Alvarez emerged from the session with no problems, though manager Dusty Baker didn’t give reporters (including the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome) any hints about Alvarez’s next steps.  Neither Baker or Astros GM Dana Brown have seemed overly concerned about Alvarez’s injury, and in lieu of any other developments, it would appear as though the ALCS MVP will be in the Astros’ lineup come Opening Day.

More updates on other injury situations from around the American League…

  • Dylan Moore has yet to play this spring as he recovers from offseason core surgery, but the Mariners utilityman is “closing in on playing,” according to GM Jerry Dipoto.  In an interview on the Brock and Salk Show on Seattle Sports 710AM radio, Dipoto said Moore is on pace to be part of the Opening Day roster, and Moore is “now at full-go on the backfields and running, changing direction, and all those good things.”  Dipoto also feels Tommy La Stella will be set for the Mariners’ opener, though La Stella has been battling an elbow injury.  The team’s plan is to ease La Stella back into action as a DH, and then get him some fielding work in games early next week.
  • Josh Winder threw a bullpen session on Wednesday and is slated for another bullpen during the weekend, the Twins told reporters (including Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune).  Wednesday’s outing marked Winder’s first bullpen of the spring, as the right-hander has been bothered by a sore shoulder.  This particular injury is especially troublesome for Winder given that shoulder problems also hampered him in each of the last two seasons, though if he is able to get back into game action relatively soon, he can still be an option for the Twins’ season-opening bullpen.
  • A posterior knee muscle strain has sidelined Matt Vierling for the last few days, but the Tigers outfielder will be back to baseball-related activities as soon as this weekend, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press writes.  Acquired from the Phillies as part of the Gregory Soto trade in January, Vierling is projected for regular duty in Detroit’s outfield this season, after being mostly a part-time player in his first two MLB seasons in Philadelphia.

Tigers Notes: Nevin, Ibáñez, Rosenthal

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TODAY: Nevin has been diagnosed with a “mild” left oblique strain, the Tigers told Evan Petzold and other reporters, with no other details given about when Nevin might return to the field.

MARCH 8: The Tigers have a couple of injury situations to monitor, as relayed by Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Infielder Tyler Nevin removed himself from batting practice yesterday and reported feeling soreness in his oblique. Meanwhile, fellow infielder Andy Ibáñez sprained the fourth finger on his left hand while preparing for the World Baseball Classic.

In Nevin’s case, the severity of the issue isn’t yet known, but oblique issues are notoriously tricky to deal with. As Petzold points out, even a mild oblique strain can potentially lead to a month-long absence. Manager A.J. Hinch says that Nevin is headed for an MRI, which will determine the next steps. In the case of Ibáñez, the issue seems less concerning. Though his finger is swollen, it’s not broken. Ibáñez plans to sit out of WBC action for a few days and seems confident he’ll be recovered after that.

These two injuries could potentially have implications for the club’s plans, as both players are part of a competition for the open third base job. The club non-tendered Jeimer Candelario in the winter and has various players jockeying for the role of his replacement. At this point, it seems the most likely scenario involves the left-handed hitting Nick Maton taking the strong side of a platoon. Maton actually has reverse splits in his career so far, but in a small sample of 216 plate appearances.

Both Nevin and Ibáñez hit from the right side and could potentially take the small side of a platoon with Maton, though the injuries could delay that plan. If those two players have to miss any time, it perhaps increases the chances of Andre Lipcius, Ryan Kreidler, Zack Short or César Hernández seizing some playing time. Hernández is a switch-hitter with the other three all hitting right-handed.

“I like the way he swings the bat, and he’s increasing his versatility, which is the point of camp for him,” Hinch said about Lipcius. “He’s doing what he’s always done.” Lipcius has primarily played third base in the minors, but has also seen some decent time at second and a very brief stint at first. He hit .277/.391/.435 between Double-A and Triple-A last year for a wRC+ of 128. He’s yet to make his major league debut but was added to the 40-man roster in November.

Elsewhere in Tigers’ camp, Trevor Rosenthal will be attempting to get back to the big leagues after signing a minor league deal with the club. He wasn’t able to appear in either of the past two seasons due to various setbacks, including thoracic outlet surgery, hip labrum surgery and a recurring hamstring injury. Though Rosenthal will be hoping for better health this year, it seems there’s still some work to do and his return isn’t imminent.

“There’s no need to have a sense for a timeline,” Hinch tells Petzold. “It does not matter when he’s ready as long as he’s healthy. We’re not going to push it. There is no artificial date. Opening Day is not something that’s feasible. We’re going to be very strict and diligent with our work with him.”

Rosenthal says the injuries are behind him now, but he’s on board with the plan the club has laid out for him. “I want to be intentional about taking the right steps and making sure I am ready, and really utilizing the time that’s left in camp,” Rosenthal says. “I think, in these three weeks, I’ll be able to get to where I want to be, but if not, I think they’re going to do a good job of taking care of me in that regard.”

He hasn’t been healthy much in the past few years, but he was very good earlier in his career and dominant for a brief spell in 2020. He made 23 appearances that year with a 1.90 ERA and struck out an incredible 41.8% of batters faced. However, the two years on either side of that season were were essentially lost due to the aforementioned injuries.

Offseason In Review: Kansas City Royals

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The Royals focused mostly on adding veteran pitching, while clearing some space on the position-player side for new younger talents to get a larger big-league opportunity.

Major League Signings

2023 spending: $23.75MM
Total spending: $32.25MM

Option Decisions

  • None

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

Heading into J.J. Picollo’s first winter as Kansas City’s general manager, the executive was pretty forthright about the team’s plans.  With an eye towards sticking to roughly the same $88MM payroll as last season, the Royals intended to add one or two veteran hitters (one of them a right-handed bat if possible), at least two starting pitchers, and some additional bullpen and rotation depth.

On the pitching end of that wishlist, it was mission accomplished.  All of the Royals’ guaranteed spending went towards the mound, as the club bolstered the rotation with free agents Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough, while also bringing back a franchise icon in Zack Greinke.  On the relief end, the Royals brought in one of the most accomplished closers of recent years by signing Aroldis Chapman for a late-game role, if not necessarily as the team’s next ninth-inning man.

Of course, there was a reason why Chapman was available for a modest one-year, $3.75MM deal.  Chapman is now entering his age-35 season, and his effectiveness has diminished over the last two seasons as his walk rates have skyrocketed.  While the southpaw’s control has long been inconsistent, Chapman’s 11.5% walk rate over his first 11 MLB seasons was substantially lower than the 16.4% walk rate he has posted in 2021-22.  His once-elite fastball has lost effectiveness and some velocity (down to “only” 97.7 mph in 2022), and batters also made far more hard contact against Chapman’s pitches in 2022 than at any other point in the 2015-22 Statcast era.

If that wasn’t enough, Chapman also spent close to nine weeks on the injured list last season due to an Achilles injury and an infection related to a recently-added tattoo.  After Chapman skipped a team workout prior to the start of the Yankees’ ALDS matchup with the Guardians, the writing was pretty clearly on the wall that his time in New York was through.

Ideally for the Royals, Chapman would regain his old form in a new environment, and help incumbent closer Scott Barlow solidify late-game leads (and perhaps even grab a few saves ahead of Barlow in certain situations).  That scenario would make Chapman an interesting trade chip heading into the deadline, assuming that K.C. isn’t in contention by midseason.

That short-term-asset mindset could apply to some of Kansas City’s other winter acquisitions, possibly any of their minor league signings who rebuild their value at the MLB level.  Greinke could potentially be flipped to a contender, but probably only if he approves such a move, assuming the Royals take the same approach with Greinke as they did prior to last year’s trade deadline.  While it wouldn’t be shocking if either Lyles or Yarbrough were also dealt for the right offer, the Royals at least obtained some extra control with those signings, since Yarbrough is arbitration-controlled through the 2024 season and Lyles was inked to a two-year guarantee.

In an era of pitching specialization, Lyles is a bit of a throwback as a classic innings-eater, tossing 359 frames with the Rangers and Orioles in 2021-22.  Between durability and an increasingly solid walk rate, Lyles brings some pluses to the K.C. rotation, and Lyles’ numbers over his career have unsurprisingly been generally better when he has played in more pitcher-friendly venues (which bodes well for a move to Kauffman Stadium).  With low strikeout totals and an unspectacular 4.76 ERA since the start of the 2019 season, Lyles isn’t a frontline starter, but the Royals are only asking for him to hold the fort.

Over five seasons with the Rays, Yarbrough was a more of a modern take on the “innings eater” model, working as both a bulk pitcher (behind an opener) and as a traditional starter.  New Royals manager Matt Quatraro is very familiar with Yarbrough from his past role as Tampa Bay’s bench coach, and he’ll now try to get the left-hander on track after Yarbrough posted a 4.90 ERA over 235 innings since the start of the 2021 season.  Despite elite soft-contact rates and solid-to-excellent walk rates, Yarbrough’s lack of strikeout ability and lack of velocity has started to catch up with him, and batters are teeing off on his once-solid cutter/changeup combination.

Yarbrough is ticketed to begin the season as a starter, but Greinke, Lyles, and Brady Singer are the only locks for a full-time rotation job.  Between Yarbrough’s ability to work as a reliever and the fact that Brad Keller lost his starting spot last year, the Royals have some flexibility in deciding what they want to do with the last two rotation slots.  With injuries, performance, or perhaps trades factoring into the Royals’ decision-making process, former top draft picks like Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, or Jackson Kowar could get some starts as the season develops.

These highly-touted young arms have yet to show much at the MLB level, which explains why Kansas City has had to target veteran fill-ins for the rotation.  To that end, the hirings of Brian Sweeney as pitching coach, Mitch Stetter as bullpen coach, and Zach Bove as an assistant pitching coach and director of Major League pitching strategy are perhaps more important than any roster move, since Picollo is overhauling the Royals’ approach in developing and managing pitchers.  It certainly seems as if K.C. will be putting a new focus on analytics, and Quatraro (Tampa Bay) and Sweeney (Cleveland) are both coming from teams with a strong track record of getting the most out of their pitchers.

If the fixes can take hold quickly, the Royals might see some significant improvement from their pitching side, which would be a huge step forward in their plans to finally break out of rebuild mode.  Naturally the club would also love to see development from its core of position players, and yet while the situation around the diamond didn’t need quite as much immediate help as the rotation, the Royals certainly put a lot more emphasis on adding pitching than hitting this winter.

Finances could’ve been a factor, given the rising prices for pitching throughout the sport.  The market allowed for Lyles to land a two-year deal, and for Greinke to land at least $8.5MM on a one-year contract, though Greinke’s deal has plenty of easily-reachable innings incentives that could boost the value to as much as $16MM.  This contract represented something of a middle ground between the $13MM guaranteed Greinke received last season, and the Royals’ desire for a more incentive-heavy deal with the 39-year-old this time around.

Without much leverage to boost the payroll, the Royals’ desire to upgrade the lineup didn’t really materialize, as the team is hoping to strike paydirt on at least one of its minor league signings.  Such veterans as Franmil Reyes, Jackie Bradley Jr., Matt Duffy, Jorge Bonifacio, Matt Beaty, and Johan Camargo are in camp as non-roster invitees, and Reyes probably represents the best chance for Kansas City to land that desired right-handed hitting upgrade.

The Royals saw plenty of Reyes during his time in Cleveland over the last four seasons, and it certainly looked as if Reyes had broken out as a fearsome power bat following a 37-homer season in 2021.  However, Reyes’ production completely cratered in 2022, to the point that the Guardians (a team themselves in sore need of power) designated him for assignment in August.

Reyes’ numbers only slightly improved after joining the Cubs on a waiver claim, and the 27-year-old now returns to the AL Central looking for a bounce-back season.  Kauffman Stadium isn’t exactly the ideal setting for a power-only player to rebound, yet since the Royals finished 26th of 30 teams in home runs in 2022, they’ll take whatever slugging potential they can get from Reyes as a DH and occasional outfielder.

The other minor league signings give K.C. some veteran depth behind their plan to let the kids play in 2023.  Duffy, Beaty, and Camargo will support the projected infield plan of Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop, Vinnie Pasquantino at first base, one of Michael Massey or Nicky Lopez at second base with the other in a backup role, and Hunter Dozier likely to get most of the third base work.  There’s some fluidity in this plan, as Dozier can play other positions and (more pointedly) hasn’t hit much in any of his last three seasons, so Nate Eaton or Maikel Garcia could eat into the playing time at the hot corner.

While non-roster players are a part of every team’s Spring Training, the Royals have a particular need after moving some position players over the offseason.  In keeping the payroll stable, spending a bit extra to sign pitching meant that some salary had to be cut elsewhere, which certainly factored into the club’s decisions to trade Michael A. Taylor (owed $4.5MM in 2023) to the Twins, Adalberto Mondesi ($3.045MM) to the Red Sox, and Ryan O’Hearn ($1.4MM) to the Orioles.

None of the three deals were a real surprise, since Taylor’s name had been floated in trade talks since last year’s deadline, and it was perhaps unexpected that Kansas City even tendered O’Hearn a contract.  Mondesi was once one of baseball’s elite prospects, yet as the years went by and Mondesi was sidelined by one injury after another, the Royals were ready to move on.

Josh Taylor (coming to K.C. in the Mondesi trade) is no stranger to the injured list himself, having missed all of 2022 due to back problems.  But, the left-hander also brings a live fastball, lots of strikeouts, and three years of team control to Kansas City’s bullpen, so Taylor might be a very nice addition if he can stay healthy.

Pasquantino and Nick Pratto had already reduced O’Hearn’s role as a first baseman, and Taylor became expendable since the Royals have Drew Waters as their projected new center fielder.  That plan is on hold for the moment, however, since an oblique strain will likely keep Waters on the injured list for the start of the season.  Waters’ injury opened the door for the Royals to sign Bradley as center field depth, with Kyle Isbel as the first option up the middle while Waters recovers.

With a few weeks to go before Opening Day, K.C. might not be done making lower-level moves, or maybe even more significant trades involving in-house veterans.  For instance, Lopez drew some attention from the White Sox in January, though that particular avenue might be closed since the Sox have since signed Elvis Andus to fill their need for second base help.  If the Royals are confident in Massey as the starting second baseman and feel that the likes of Garcia or Duffy can provide middle infield backup, Lopez might still get shopped — the Dodgers stand out as an obvious possibility, since Gavin Lux will miss the season after tearing his ACL.

Picollo openly said that the Royals weren’t going to be too aggressive with their spending or roster-building during the winter, since the club first needs needs to figure out what they have in so many players who are lacking in proven MLB production, or even playing time at the sport’s highest level.  Perhaps the most interesting development would be if the Royals were able to negotiate contract extensions with any of their more clear building blocks, like Witt or Singer.

How would you grade the Royals’ offseason? (Link to poll)

How would you grade the Royals' offseason?
C 43.63% (778 votes)
D 25.52% (455 votes)
B 18.62% (332 votes)
F 7.85% (140 votes)
A 4.37% (78 votes)
Total Votes: 1,783

Royals Sign Jorge Bonifacio To Minors Deal

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The Royals signed outfielder Jorge Bonifacio to a minor league contract last week, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reports (Twitter link).  Bonifacio has already started to appear in Spring Training games, but the signing flew under the radar.

The 29-year-old Bonifacio last appeared in the majors in 2021, playing in seven games with the Phillies.  2022 marked the first time since the 2016 season that Bonifacio didn’t appear in a big league game, as he spent the entire year with Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley, hitting .240/.336/.407 with 15 home runs over 444 plate appearances.

Bonifacio will now return to his original organization, as he first signed with the Royals as an international free agent back in 2009.  He made his MLB debut with Kansas City in 2017 and hit .247/.319/.408 with 21 homers over 713 PA during the 2017-19 seasons, but that stint was marred by an 80-game PED suspension during the 2018 campaign.  Bonifacio didn’t hit much after returning from the suspension, and the Royals ultimately released him after the 2019 season.

At the negligible cost of a minor league deal, the Royals can take another look at a familiar face, and Bonifacio’s signing continues a trend for K.C. this offseason.  The Royals spent their free-agent dollars to upgrade their pitching staff (re-signing Zack Greinke and signing Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough), but didn’t do much around the diamond, other than deal such former regulars as Michael A. Taylor, Adalberto Mondesi, and Ryan O’Hearn.  The club is counting on those gaps being filled primarily by in-house younger players, and Bonifacio now joins a lengthy list of MLB veterans in Kansas City’s camp as non-roster invitees.

Rockies Showing Interest In Jurickson Profar

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The Rockies, suddenly facing multiple outfield injuries, are showing “real interest” in free-agent outfielder Jurickson Profar, reports Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post (Twitter link). Over the past month, the Rockies have seen Randal Grichuk undergo surgery for a bilateral sports hernia and Sean Bouchard suffer a biceps rupture that’ll require potentially season-ending surgery.

Colorado’s outfield currently projects to include Kris Bryant, Yonathan Daza, Charlie Blackmon and perhaps younger options like Nolan Jones and Brenton Doyle. Prior to the injuries, however, the 36-year-old Blackmon (37 in July) was slated to serve primarily as a designated hitter in 2023. That could still be the case, as Grichuk is expected back relatively early in the season, but the depth in the outfield isn’t a strong point for the Rockies anyhow — particularly with Bouchard facing a lengthy absence.

Bryant, signed to a seven-year, $182MM contract last offseason, was limited to just 42 games last season by a series of back injuries and a bout with plantar fasciitis. Daza, entering his fourth big league season, has never topped 113 games during an MLB campaign. He missed time with a dislocated shoulder in 2022 and a fractured thumb in 2021. Blackmon tore the meniscus in his left knee late in the 2022 season, and Grichuk, as previously noted, is currently on the mend from surgery.

A deal with Profar, then, makes some sense. He’s typically been deployed as a left fielder in recent seasons, which could push Bryant over to right field, where he perhaps uncoincidentally has been seeing increased time this spring after spending all of his time in left field last year. Thomas Harding of MLB.com wrote last week that manager Bud Black approached Bryant about the idea of spending more time in the opposite corner early in spring training, and Bryant is open to the idea.

Profar was an infielder earlier in his career and, at one point, rated as the top prospect in all of baseball while rising through the Rangers’ system as a shortstop. He’s twice had shoulder surgery since that time, however, which eventually prompted a move to the other side of the second base bag. Following a trade to the A’s, Profar developed a case of the yips at second base and was eventually moved to left field, where he’s played almost exclusively with the Padres over the past couple seasons.

Profar hasn’t been a standout performer at the plate, but over the past three seasons he’s combined for a respectable .244/.333/.375 batting line with a 10.8% walk rate and just a 15.4% strikeout rate. He hasn’t hit for much power but has shown strong bat-to-ball skills with a keen eye at the plate. Defensively, his work in outfield has been slightly above-average, per Defensive Runs Saved, and a bit below average, per Statcast. It’s still a relatively new position for him, however, and it’s fair to think that a former plus defender at shortstop could continue to hone his skills in left and become a quality defender there.

The question for the Rockies could come down to one of payroll. Roster Resource projects a $163MM payroll for the Rockies, which is already a franchise record. While Profar’s current asking price isn’t clear, he declined a $7.5MM player option with the Padres following the 2023 season, and The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty recently reported that he was at one point looking for $10MM per season. Whether his asking price has dipped and/or whether the Rockies would meet that level remain to be seen, but the mere fact that they’re showing legitimate interest is an indicator that owner Dick Monfort is at least willing to further boost the currently projected record payroll to at least some extent.

Andrew Painter Diagnosed With UCL Sprain; Ranger Suarez Dealing With Forearm Tightness

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Phillies top prospect Andrew Painter, who underwent imaging on his elbow over the weekend after reporting discomfort, has been diagnosed with a “right proximal ulnar collateral ligament sprain,” per the team. He sought a second opinion from surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who confirmed the diagnosis. Both the Phillies medical staff and Dr. ElAttrache recommended a four-week shutdown from throwing, after which Painter will begin a “light tossing progression.”

On the one hand, any injury to a pitcher’s UCL is a brutal and ominous blow. The ulnar collateral ligament is the ligament that is replaced during Tommy John surgery, and a sprain indicates some degree of stretching and/or tearing, by definition. That said, surgery for Painter shouldn’t be considered a foregone conclusion just yet. Dr. ElAttrache is one of the sport’s most prominent surgeons and orthopedic experts, and both he and the team apparently agree that the extent of the sprain is not severe enough to require immediate surgery. Time will tell whether Painter is able to avoid going under the knife, but it’s at least relatively good news that he hasn’t suffered a significant enough tear to wipe out his entire 2023 season just yet.

There are plenty of examples of pitchers avoiding surgery even after being diagnosed with UCL damage — Masahiro Tanaka, Ervin Santana, Anthony DeSclafani and Painter’s own teammate Aaron Nola among them. Of course, it’s only fair to point out that the majority of UCL sprains do ultimately lead to surgery, be it a Tommy John procedure (ligament replacement) or an internal brace of the current ligament, which comes with a shorter recovery time but is only possible for certain sprains (depending on the placement of the tear within the ligament and the severity of the tear).

For now, Painter’s shutdown takes him out of the running for the Phillies’ Opening Day rotation — a competition in which he was a prominent factor despite being just 19 years of age. Painter was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2021 draft and has soared through the Phillies’ system to the cusp of MLB readiness in less than two years’ time. He pitched across three levels in 2022 — Class-A, Class-A Advanced and Double-A — working to a combined 1.56 ERA with a massive 38.7% strikeout rate, a strong 6.2% walk rate and a tiny 0.43 HR/9 mark through 103 2/3 frames. Both Baseball America and MLB.com rank Painter as the game’s best pitching prospect and one of the top six overall prospects in the sport.

It’s not the only bad news on the Phillies’ rotation front, either. Left-hander Ranger Suarez, who’d been on Team Venezuela’s roster in the World Baseball Classic, has left the tournament and returned to the Phillies due to tightness in his left forearm, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki tweeted this morning. The Phillies believe the injury to be minor and merely exercising caution, but it’s still a notable situation that bears monitoring. He’ll undergo treatment with the club for the time being.

Suarez, 27, has solidified himself as a quality middle-of-the-rotation arm behind aces Nola and Zack Wheeler in recent seasons. He started 29 games for Philadelphia in 2022, pitching to a strong 3.65 ERA with a 19.5% strikeout rate, 8.8%  walk rate and 55.4% ground-ball rate.

With Painter sidelined, left-hander Bailey Falter becomes the clear front-runner for the fifth spot in the Philadelphia rotation behind Nola, Wheeler, Taijuan Walker and — assuming he’s healthy enough come Opening Day — Suarez. If Suarez and Painter are both sidelined to begin the season, the Phillies will likely choose among a group including Cristopher Sanchez, Michael Plassmeyer, James MacArthur and prospects Mick Abel and Griff McGarry. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco took a look at each pitcher earlier in camp when profiling the Phillies’ fifth starter candidates.

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