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AL Notes: Kwan, Bieber, Varsho, Pearson

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After a sensational rookie season, Steven Kwan says he’s open to discussing a long-term contract extension with the Guardians, according to Zack Meisel of The Athletic.

Kwan finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting last year, after posting a .298/.373/.400 line with six home runs across 638 plate appearances. A lot of his value was in the defensive side of things, as Kwan amassed 21 Defensive Runs Saved and 10 Outs Above Average for his work in left field, contributing to a 4.4 fWAR rookie year. It was quite the rookie year for a player who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 draft and never featured on any top-100 prospect lists.

In any case, Kwan is now a nailed on starter for the Guardians and he says “it’s mind-blowing” to even be discussing a long-term extension. Kwan picked up a full year of service time for the Guardians last year, which means he has two more seasons of pre-arb control and then three years of arbitration before he likely hits free agency after the 2027 season. While it seems highly unlikely anytime soon, Kwan could technically be optioned to the minors still, in which case his scheduled free agency could be pushed back.

As for what a contract extension might look like, Ronald Acuna Jr.is the most obvious comp that immediately comes to mind after he signed an eight-year, $100MM contract with Atlanta after posting 4.1 fWAR in almost a full year of service time. Acuna was the consensus top prospect in all of baseball going into his rookie year, so there was a fair bit more hype and certainty around his future. On the flip side, that deal was widely considered to be extremely team-friendly at the time, given Acuna’s upside as an elite five-tool player. Regardless, it’s an interesting starting point to begin considering what a potential extension for Kwan may look like.

Here’s some more notes from around the American League:

  • Sticking with Cleveland, and one player who seems unlikely to be taking an extension is starting pitcher Shane Bieber. Cleveland’s ace told reporters he’d “love to entertain that, but right now, I’m going to focus on what I can control and that’s my work on the field.” Bieber has two remaining years of club control and is coming off a season in which he tossed 200 1/3 innings of 2.88 ERA ball, finishing seventh in AL Cy Young voting. What that means is that any extension for Bieber is going to be significant, and likely well above the biggest contract Cleveland’s ever given out, Jose Ramirez’ five-year, $124MM extension.
  • Shifting north of the border to Toronto, and headline trade acquisition Daulton Varsho is set to be a big part of the Blue Jays’ plans this season, but it seems he’ll be playing almost exclusively in left field. According to The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath, there are currently no plans for Varsho to catch any spring training games for the Blue Jays. Of course, Varsho could sporadically catch in the case of any emergency, but it’s unlikely he’d approach anything near the 55 games he caught for Arizona over the past two seasons. That’s not a huge surprise, given Toronto traded away Gabriel Moreno to get Varsho and have Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen slated to handle the catching duties this season. Varsho hit .235/.302/.443 with 27 home runs while earning 17 Outs Above Average for his outfield work in Arizona last year.
  • McGrath’s report also confirms that former top prospect Nate Pearson is being built up as a reliever this spring. While he won’t be starting, it does seem like he’ll be in more of a bulk role, rather than a one inning relief role, per McGrath. Pearson, once a top-ten prospect in all of baseball, has been restricted to just 33 largely unsuccessful big league innings since his debut in 2020, and didn’t pitch at all in 2022 as a lat strain restricted him to just 15 2/3 minor league innings. McGrath reports that Pearson was sitting at 96-97 mph, with a fastball that topped out at 100 mph.

Diamondbacks Re-Sign Jake Hager To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have re-signed infielder Jake Hager to a minor league deal, according to the MILB transaction log.

Hager, 30 in a week, slashed .240/.345/.280 for the Diamondbacks over 59 plate appearances last year. He spent the bulk of the year at Triple-A, where he picked up five home runs as part of a .261/.342/.391 line across 303 plate appearances. That was the second stint Hager had had with the Diamondbacks. After being claimed off waivers from the Mets, Arizona released him at the end of the 2021 season before bringing him back on a minor league deal.

Originally drafted 32nd overall by the Rays back in 2011, Hager toiled away in the minors for Tampa Bay, Milwaukee and Seattle before the Mets finally gave him his first taste of the majors in 2021. He didn’t hit much across a brief spell with the Mets and Diamondbacks in 2021, and all told Hager’s put together a .197/.307/.224 line across 89 career MLB plate appearances.

Hager came through the minors as a shortstop, but has bounced around the field in his short time in the majors, logging time at second, third and shortstop as well as both corner outfield spots. For the third-straight season, Hager will provide the Snakes with some infield depth in the upper minors.

Latest On Kyle Hendricks’ Recovery

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Veteran Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks is a little more than a month behind the rest of the pitchers in camp, and is hoping to make minor league rehab starts sometime in May, according to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic.

Hendricks stepped on a mound for the first time since a July 5 injury ended his season on Friday, tossing around ten pitches in a bullpen session. That was slightly ahead of schedule, as Hendricks hadn’t initially been slated to return to a mound until March 1 as he recovers from a capsular tear in his shoulder. That he’s one week ahead of his schedule is promising, but he’s still significantly behind the rest of the pitchers in camp, and that means the Cubs look set to be without Hendricks for a number of weeks to begin the season.

A return to rehab stints in May would put seemingly put Hendricks in a position to rejoin Chicago’s rotation sometime later in that month or in early June. The Cubs look reasonably well positioned to absorb the absence of Hendricks early in the season, with Marcus Stroman, Jameson Taillon, Justin Steele and Drew Smyly holding down four of the spots. It should mean Adrian Sampson will get the opportunity to build off his impressive 19-start run in 2022 and round out the Cubs’ opening day rotation. Sampson pitched to a 3.11 ERA last season, and has a 3.03 ERA over 139 2/3 innings for the Cubs between 2021-22. His previous 153 innings for Seattle and Texas between 2016-19 had resulted in a 5.71 ERA.

Hendricks will surely land on the injured list to start the season, but his progress over the next month should determine whether that’s a trip to the 60-day IL or not. Teams can put players on the 60-day IL again now, which would free up a spot on the 40-man roster, but the 60-day clock would only begin from March 30 (opening day), so a team would want to be certain a player is going to be unavailable until at least the end of May before making that move.

Hendricks is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract and is owed $14MM in 2023. There’s also a vesting $16MM option for 2024 that comes with a $1.5MM buyout. Hendricks, 33, has seen a bit of decline in recent years, working to a 4.78 ERA over 48 starts over the past two seasons. That came on the heels of a number of quality campaigns for the Cubs, as Hendricks owned a 3.12 ERA over 174 previous starts between 2014-20.

Padres, Manny Machado Still Discussing Extension

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The Padres and Manny Machado remain in discussions regarding a potential long-term contract extension, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic. There’s no indication an agreement is likely, through it comes as something of a surprise to hear conversations are still ongoing.

Machado implied last week he’d cut talks off when the sides hadn’t agreed to a deal by February 16, a self-imposed deadline representing the outset of Spring Training. At the time, the NL MVP runner-up said he “just wanted to focus on baseball” and “didn’t want to really continue talking about contracts or the business side of things” once exhibition play got underway.

The star third baseman wasn’t as firm when chatting with Lin about the situation today. “Deadlines are deadlines but they know where I stand,” Machado said. “The opportunity will arise if it comes to that. You know, nothing’s out of question. Obviously, they know how much San Diego means to me and what I want to be here. At the end of the day, they knew exactly where I was when that deadline was set. And we’ll see what happens. Our main focus right now is playing baseball. We’ll see.”

Machado is entering the fifth season of the ten-year free agent deal he signed over the 2018-19 offseason. The contract affords him the chance to opt out of the final five years and $150MM at the end of the 2023 campaign. Machado has already confirmed he’s planning to test the market at the end of the year. That declaration came as no surprise, as he’d be in position to handily beat a $150MM guarantee on the open market if he posted a season at similar levels to his last three years.

A new agreement with the Padres could make that a moot point. San Diego owner Peter Seidler told reporters this week re-signing Machado was his “top priority” (relayed by 97.3 FM The Fan). That obviously could take place after the season if/when Machado tests the market, but Lin’s report again raises the possibility of a deal coming together prior to Opening Day.

Financial terms presently under consideration aren’t known. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported last week the club had offered an additional $105MM over five seasons on top of his existing deal, which would’ve brought their outstanding commitment to $255MM between 2023-32.

Seidler has signed off a rapid spending hike over the past few seasons. The Friars trail only the Mets and Yankees in projected 2023 payroll. They signed Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280MM free agent pact this offseason and have already worked out a five-year extension with right-hander Yu Darvish this spring. Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., Darvish and Joe Musgrove are all counting for more than $15MM annually for the foreseeable future.

That hasn’t deterred Seidler, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, and their staff from continuing to pursue star talent. The Friars took swings at Trea Turner and Aaron Judge before landing Bogaerts and clearly are hopeful of retaining Machado. They’re also down to two years of arbitration control with Juan Soto, who could be in position for one of the largest deals in MLB history when he hits free agency over the 2024-25 offseason.

Machado owns a .280/.352/.504 line in just under 2200 plate appearances as a Padre. He’s coming off perhaps the best season of his career, one in which he posted a .298/.366/.531 slash with 32 home runs to earn his sixth All-Star nod. Machado typically pairs that middle-of-the-order offense with excellent defensive marks at third base. He’s headed into his age-30 season, so any new deal (either an extension or free agent contract) would figure to come into play for his age-31 campaign and beyond.

Ken Giles Works Out For Padres

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Free agent reliever Ken Giles threw a bullpen session in front of Padres officials at their Arizona complex today, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Whether that has resulted or will lead to an offer isn’t known, though Heyman adds that Giles plans to continue throwing twice a week until he lands with a club.

Now 32, Giles is a few years removed from his 2014-19 peak. He was one of the sport’s best late-inning weapons between the Phillies, Astros and Blue Jays. Over that six-year stretch, the hard-throwing righty combined for a 2.67 ERA while striking out a third of batters faced and limiting opponents to a .215/.276/.331 line. Giles remained at the top of his game for the Jays in 2019, tossing 53 frames of 1.87 ERA ball with a strikeout rate just under 40%.

Arm injuries have unfortunately intervened over the past few seasons. Giles was limited to just four outings during the shortened 2020 campaign. That season culminated in Tommy John surgery, from which he spent all of the following year recovering. Giles signed a two-year contract with the Mariners over the 2020-21 offseason. Seattle hoped he’d regain his excellent form in the second season of that deal but didn’t give him much of a look once he returned to health. The M’s released Giles after just five appearances.

While he caught on with the Giants on a minor league contract shortly thereafter, his stint with San Francisco proved exceedingly brief. Giles threw three times for their top minor league affiliate in a span of a week before being released. He didn’t sign elsewhere during the season. He’s returned to the mound this month, throwing for interested teams as he looks for a new landing spot.

Giles seems likely to be limited to minor league offers with Spring Training invitations at this stage of the offseason. He’s one of a handful of interesting relief fliers who remains available via free agency. Corey Knebel and Zack Britton are also former star relievers looking to rebound from recent injury issues.

Warner Bros. Discovery Planning To Leave RSN Business

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Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of AT&T SportsNet and a minority shareholder of Root Sports, has informed teams it’ll cease participating in the regional sports network business, according to reports from John Ourand of Sports Business Journal and Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal. WBD has local broadcasting agreements with a handful of teams in MLB, the NBA and the NHL.

The MLB teams affected are the Rockies, Astros and Pirates. The Mariners also have a relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery; Ourand writes the Mariners own 60% of their Root Sports Seattle venture, with WBD owning the other 40%. However, Flint reports the Seattle regional sports network is not part of WBD’s ongoing proceedings.

Ourand writes that the channel has informed teams they’ll have until March 31 to reach an agreement to reclaim their broadcasting rights from the RSN’s; if no deal is agreed upon, the networks are expected to liquidate via Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Flint quotes from WBD’s letter, which told clubs “the business will not have sufficient cash to pay the upcoming rights fees” and proposed for teams to retake ownership of broadcasting rights for no purchase price beyond a relinquishing of civil claims against the networks.

Colorado, Houston and Pittsburgh join the list of nearly half the teams facing some uncertainty about the potential bankruptcy of the Diamond Sports Group that operates the Bally networks. Diamond, which is responsible for broadcasts of 14 clubs, missed an interest payment to creditors last week and is evaluating whether it’ll be able to abide by its own broadcasting deals.

The difficulties facing both conglomerates come in response to declining rates of cable ownership. Cord-cutting has increased significantly over the past few years and is expected to continue given the rise of streaming alternatives. Warner Bros. Discovery provided a generic statement to Ourand alluding to financial problems: “AT&T SportsNet is not immune to the well-known challenges that the entire RSN industry is facing. We will continue to engage in private conversations with our partners as we seek to identify reasonable and constructive solutions.”

The franchises’ next steps are unclear. Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters last week the league would be in position to take over in-market broadcasts, if necessary, from the Diamond-operated networks. That’s presumably also true of the three clubs affected by WBD’s decision. There’s no indication fans in those markets should be concerned about forthcoming blackouts because of the RSN collapse. Ourand reports that WBD informed clubs it’d allow them to use the same production staff/equipment of the current agreement if those teams agree to reclaim their broadcast rights.

Nevertheless, events of the past few weeks have highlighted questions about the long-term viability of the regional sports network setup. WBD’s withdrawal from RSN’s affects only one-tenth of MLB teams, but the ongoing Diamond uncertainty could put many more in a difficult position over the coming weeks.

Mets, Jaylin Davis Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets are signing outfielder Jaylin Davis to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client had elected free agency at the start of the offseason after being outrighted off the Red Sox’s 40-man roster.

Davis, 28, has reached the big league level in each of the past four seasons. He’s seen action with the Giants and Boston but always in a limited capacity. Davis has played in 38 MLB games and tallied 95 trips to the plate, hitting .207/.274/.299 with a 30.5% strikeout percentage.

Swing-and-miss has been an issue for Davis in the minor leagues as well. He fanned at a near-31% rate over 346 plate appearances with the Sox’s top affiliate in Worcester last season. The right-handed hitter paired that with a strong 12.4% walk percentage but still stumbled to a .203/.312/.334 line overall.

Davis has fared better in previous Triple-A stints, however. Over parts of three seasons at the top minor league level, he owns a .258/.348/.503 slash with a 29.2% strikeout percentage while walking at a 10.6% clip.

Davis has experience at all three outfield positions. He’s primarily worked in right field as a professional, logging over 3000 minor league innings there compared to fewer than 800 frames in both left and center. The Mets have Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham lined up for outfield work, with Darin Ruf an option for the corners. Davis joins Abraham Almonte, Tim Locastro, Khalil Lee and DJ Stewart among non-roster players in camp.

Sixto Sanchez Not Expected To Be Ready For Opening Day

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The Marlins have gone without prized young righty Sixto Sánchez for the past two seasons. Shoulder injuries have thrown off course his very promising career. As he works his way back from the layoff, Sánchez looks likely to be delayed for the upcoming campaign.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that the 24-year-old isn’t expected to be ready for MLB game action until some time in the summer. The timeline remains rather vague and seems tied to a desire to give Sánchez more runway for his conditioning rather than any kind of setback. He underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery last October.

Upon entering camp, Sánchez told reporters he’d lost almost 50 pounds during the offseason (via Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El ExtraBase). Heyman writes that he is still building back arm strength, an unsurprising development for a pitcher who is two and a half years removed from his last game action. Sánchez hasn’t thrown this spring but has been in big league camp. He went through a simulated throwing motion this morning, and manager Skip Schumaker indicated the club was hopeful he’d be able to throw off a mound at some point next week (via Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald).

While things seem to be trending up, Sánchez has a ways to go to get into game shape. The Marlins have little reason to rush him back. The centerpiece of the J.T. Realmuto trade, Sánchez has twice undergone shoulder surgery since his last MLB action. Before last fall’s arthroscopic procedure, he required a July 2021 operation to repair a tear in his posterior capsule. His first rehab process, in particular, was littered with stops and starts and delayed recovery timetables.

Miami also doesn’t have a pressing need for Sánchez at the major league level. The Fish already have six MLB-caliber starting pitchers. Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara is followed by Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers, Edward Cabrera, offseason signee Johnny Cueto and Braxton Garrett.

Sánchez would not have been in the Opening Day rotation anyhow. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. indicated this month the club had no intention of moving him to the bullpen. Once healthy, Sánchez looks likely to head to Triple-A Jacksonville to work out of the rotation there as he tries to build back toward peak form. He worked to a 3.46 ERA with an excellent 58% grounder rate over 39 innings during the shortened 2020 schedule, his only MLB action to date.

Twins Notes: First Base, Kirilloff, Henriquez, Rotation

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The Twins don’t plan on using a dedicated first baseman in 2023, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters this week (link via Dan Hayes of The Athletic). Minnesota will utilize a rotation of players through the position, giving looks to Alex Kirilloff, Jose Miranda, utilityman Nick Gordon and offseason signees Joey Gallo and Donovan Solano at the position. The Twins cycled through various DH options last season after three years with Nelson Cruz as the mainstay in that spot of the lineup, and it seems as though they’ll now go with a that rotational approach at both DH and first base.

Kirilloff told Hayes that he’s feeling “optimistic” about his twice-surgically repaired wrist, which is improving by the week. A healthy Kirilloff would be the favorite for work at first base. The former No. 15 overall draft pick climbed as high as the ninth-ranked prospect in all of baseball on MLB.com’s top-100 list prior to the 2019 season (and No. 15 at Baseball America), and the Twins thought highly enough of him to give him his MLB debut during the 2020 postseason.

Injuries have derailed both his 2021 and 2022 seasons, however, and after a hot start in 2021, his production began to slide. He currently has just a .251/.298/.398 batting line in 387 Major League plate appearances, but Kirilloff is also a .323/.378/.518 hitter in the minor leagues and comes with substantial upside at the plate. He could be an option in the outfield as well — he’s played all three spots in his career — but the Twins are deep in the outfield and clearly have more playing time for him at first base.

Of the options to split time at first base, the newly signed Solano could be a frequent one. Twins president of baseball ops Derek Falvey told reporters this week Solano will get a “good amount” of time at the position (link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Helfand writes that the Twins first reached out to Solano back in early January, though a deal obviously took quite a bit longer to formally come together. Solano adds that other clubs made him offers, but it seems some might’ve come from rebuilding teams, as he cited the Twins’ desire to compete in 2023 as a reason for signing in Minnesota.

Elsewhere in camp, pitching prospect Ronny Henriquez, who recently underwent an MRI after experiencing posterior elbow soreness, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (Twitter link). The right-hander received an injection and will be reevaluated in a week’s time.

The 22-year-old Henriquez, acquired alongside Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the trade that sent catcher Mitch Garver to the Rangers, made his big league debut in 2022 and tossed 11 2/3 innings of 2.31 ERA ball. He struggled to a 5.66 ERA in 95 1/3 Triple-A frames, thanks largely to an inflated 1.79 HR/9 mark, but his 25.7% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate were more encouraging. He currently ranks 23rd among Twins farmhands at Baseball America. A strong performance in camp and/or in Triple-A to begin the season could put him in the mix for a bullpen spot during the upcoming campaign.

Henriquez has been primarily a starter in the minors, but with a rotation consisting of Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda — plus Bailey Ober looming as a solid sixth option — it’d be an uphill battle to get into the starting mix. It’s a deep collection of starters for the Twins — one that Baldelli will likely treat differently than in 2022, when pitchers like Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy were deployed in short starts by design. Via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Baldelli said this week that he expects Twins starters to work deep into games this year.

“I expect more out of our starters this year,” Baldelli said. “…We have several guys that, what they probably take most pride in, is giving you a good, deep effort into a ballgame. Guys that are not satisfied giving you five good innings. They want more than that out of themselves.”

The now-26-year-old Ryan led all Twins pitchers with just 147 innings pitched in 2022. Part of that was due to rampant injuries up and down the roster, but part of it was also an ostensibly conscious effort to shield starters from facing a lineup three times in an outing. Twins starting pitchers averaged just 4.83 innings per outing in 2022. The group ranked as a middle-of-the-pack unit in terms of results, landing 20th in MLB with a 4.11 ERA. Archer, in particular, averaged just 4.11 innings per start. Lopez, acquired from the Marlins last month, averaged 5.63 innings per start and pitched at least six frames in 16 of his 32 starts.

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