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Injury Notes: Robertson, Benintendi, Means

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Phillies right-hander David Robertson threw a bullpen session yesterday and went through fielding drills, tweets Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. That’s the first baseball activity for the veteran closer since sustaining a calf strain while celebrating Bryce Harper’s home run during the team’s Wild Card win over the Cardinals. Robertson was left off the roster for the Phillies’ NLDS showdown with the Braves, but throwing off a mound and running through some fielding drills Monday at least opens the door for him to be reinstated for Philadelphia’s NLCS date with San Diego. The Phils will make a formal announcement on their NLCS roster by 10am PT this morning.

A few more injury items of note…

  • Yankees outfielder Andrew Benintendi received an injection in his wrist this week after experiencing continued pain in his ailing right wrist, tweets MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Benintendi underwent surgery in early September after suffering a hamate fracture in his wrist and has not appeared in a game since. There’s been hope that, if the Yankees advance beyond today’s ALDS Game 5 against the Guardians, that he could potentially return for the ALCS, though the latest update on him casts plenty of doubt on that possibility. If the Yankees were to advance, they’d have to announce an ALCS roster by 10am CT tomorrow. Benintendi hit .304/.373/.399 with five home runs in 521 plate appearances prior to his injury — including a .254/.331/.404 output in 131 plate appearances with the Yankees (following a trade from the Royals).
  • Orioles lefty John Means underwent Tommy John surgery back in late April, and just shy of six months later he’s resumed throwing. Means shared video his session yesterday, labeling it “day one” of his return to a throwing program. There’s still a long road back from this point, as Means isn’t throwing anywhere near 100% at this juncture and will have plenty of milestones to clear as he rehabs his new elbow ligament and eventually builds up strength to return to a Major League mound. An early summer return in 2023 would be a good outcome, though each pitcher’s recovery from Tommy John surgery varies. Means, who’s pitched to a 3.81 ERA in 356 2/3 innings since making his big league debut with the O’s, signed a two-year, $5.925MM deal covering the 2022 season and 2023 season but is under club control via arbitration through the 2024 campaign.

White Sox Appear Likely To Move On From Jose Abreu

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For the past nine seasons, Jose Abreu has been a White Sox mainstay, serving as their primary first baseman and displaying uncanny durability by appearing in 93.6% of the team’s possible games. With his three-year, $50MM contract now drawing to a close, however, it’s fair to wonder whether the 35-year-old (36 in January) has played his final game with the ChiSox. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote recently that the Sox plan to let Abreu move on in free agency this winter, and Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times offers a similar sentiment, writing that the Sox are planning to move Andrew Vaughn back to his natural position, first base.

Certainly, there’s room for both Vaughn and Abreu on the roster, but such an arrangement inherently pushes the Sox to divide first base, designated hitter and corner outfield duties between Abreu, Vaughn and slugger Eloy Jimenez. Both Vaughn and Jimenez are among the game’s worst-ranked defenders in the outfield. Jimenez has posted -15 Defensive Runs Saved and -16 Outs Above Average in 1957 career innings in the outfield. Vaughn effectively matched those totals (-14 DRS, -16 OAA) in 2022 alone, through just 645 innings. Moving on from Abreu would allow Vaughn to play his natural position with Jimenez seeing the lion’s share of playing time at designated hitter.

Also telling is Van Schouwen reporting that the Sox’ decision to re-sign Abreu the last time he reached free agency, following the 2019 season, was a decision directly from owner Jerry Reinsdorf. The front office “was not 100% behind” the idea of re-signing Abreu to a long-term deal, but Reinsdorf himself put forth the $50MM offer to Abreu after the slugger had accepted a one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer.

On the one hand, that ownership-driven decision saddled the team with some less-than-ideal defensive alignments for the next three seasons. Jimenez was already established at the time of the signing. Vaughn had already been drafted and was widely expected to be a fast riser through the system. There was no clear defensive fit on the roster for all three.

On the other, Abreu more than justified the expenditure, playing all but 15 of the White Sox’ games over that three-year term and posting a combined .289/.366/.489 slash (137 wRC+). He was the decisive first-place finisher in 2020 American League MVP voting and followed that with a 30-homer campaign in 2021. Even this past season, as Abreu’s power dipped, he topped a .300 batting average and struck out in a career-low 16.2% of his plate appearances.

That said, merely writing off this year’s power outage would be an oversimplification. Abreu’s .304/.378/.466 batting line was still excellent (137 wRC+), but he turned in a career-high 47.9% ground-ball rate and elevated the ball with diminishing frequency as the summer wore on. He hit just four home runs after the All-Star break and only six from July 1 through season’s end. Two years removed from hitting 19 home runs in the truncated 60-game season and watching a Herculean 32.8% of his fly-balls leave the yard for home runs, Abreu hit just 15 homers through 157 games and saw that HR/FB ratio plummet to 9.6%.

Again, there’s little denying that Abreu’s end-of-the-day results in 2022 remained excellent, but they were buoyed by a .350 average on balls in play that a plodding slugger of his ilk will be hard-pressed to sustain, particularly if nearly half his batted balls are hit on the ground. Furthermore, the White Sox and any other potential suitors will be more concerned with what they project him to do moving forward. If there are doubts about his ability to elevate the ball and rediscover his power stroke, that’ll weigh on his earning power in free agency. However, if other clubs are confident in his ability to either repeat his 2022 output or, even better, reestablish himself as an annual 30-homer threat, then Nelson Cruz has proven that there could be healthy paydays even into a player’s early 40s.

The other element to consider in Abreu’s future with the Sox, or lack thereof, is the team’s already bloated payroll. Chicago has $121MM in guaranteed money on next year’s books, per Roster Resource, and that’s before exercising Tim Anderson’s $12.5MM club option and before outfielder AJ Pollock likely exercises a $10MM player option. Add in a projected $27.4MM in arbitration salaries (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), and the South Siders are at a payroll of roughly $170MM, not including pre-arbitration players to round out the 26-man roster.

This past season’s $193MM Opening Day payroll was a franchise record, and the Sox are within striking distance of that sum before even making a single move to address the 2023 roster. Viewed through that lens, it’s less surprising that the Sox appear poised to move on from their longtime first baseman, even if it won’t be an easy sell for fans who’ve grown to love Abreu during his nine years with the team.

Twins Likely To Explore Catching Market This Offseason

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Though the Twins’ top priority at the moment is likely ascertaining whether they have a real chance to extend Carlos Correa before he formally triggers his opt-out clause, they’ll head into the winter with a lengthy list of needs. Among the priorities will be looking for some help behind the plate. President of baseball ops Derek Falvey recently spoke of the “co-catcher” model — that is, two catchers splitting time more evenly rather than a conventional starter/backup committee (link via Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic). He implied that there’s “an opportunity to match up” right-handed-hitting Ryan Jeffers with a partner who can provide some more offense against right-handed pitching.

Falvey notably emphasized that Jeffers isn’t viewed as a strict platoon candidate, but there’s little denying that the 25-year-old has been vastly more productive in platoon matchups to this point in his career. Jeffers hit .306/.377/.532 in a small sample of 70 plate appearances against southpaws this season and carries a career .263/.344/.450 output against left-handers. Comparatively, he’s batted just .185/.256/.361 against right-handers. From a pure power standpoint, Jeffers’ .187 ISO against lefties and .176 mark versus righties are comparable, but Jeffers strikes out more often and walks less against same-handed opponents. He also makes far less hard contact against righties and pops up nearly four times as often in those matchups as he does against lefties.

While the pure offensive splits do speak to a potential platoon scenario being advantageous, it’s also worth pointing out that Jeffers is still young and any such numbers are coming in a small sample. Though he’s been a prominent factor in the Twins’ catching mix since late in the 2020 season, injuries have limited his availability. Most recently, spent more than two months on the injured list this season due to a fractured thumb. Considering that Jeffers hit .276/.362/.427 against righties in his final full minor league season (2019), the Twins may not want to completely cut off his avenue to at-bats against right-handed pitching; there’s still time for him to improve in that regard.

Beyond that, limiting Jeffers to a platoon setup inherently subtracts as quality defensive player from the lineup. True, Jeffers’ 19% caught-stealing rate is five percentage points below the league average during his three years in the Majors, but he regularly grades out as a strong framer and has long drawn praise for his receiving skills on the whole. In about a season’s worth of innings over the past two years, he’s been credited for eight Defensive Runs Saved.

Still, there’s some obvious cause to add not just catching option who can provide some clout against right-handed opponents, but one who can shoulder the workload in the event of any additional absences from Jeffers. This year’s injury was fluky in nature, but the Twins’ system is generally thin on catching prospects at the moment, so adding a veteran who can step up and take a bigger role, if needed, makes good sense.

Unfortunately, among this year’s group of free-agent catchers, the options in that regard are fairly limited. Certainly, the market’s top catcher, Willson Contreras, would provide some extra thump against right- and left-handed pitching alike (and bring more than enough bat to occasionally mix in at DH), but the competition for him figures to be strong. Some lefty-swinging backstops are available in the form of Omar Narvaez and switch-hitting Tucker Barnhart, but neither did much against righties or lefties in 2022. Both are coming off down seasons, though Narvaez in particular does carry a career .268/.345/.406 line against right-handers. The trade market will present everything from top-tier regularsi (Oakland’s Sean Murphy) to out-of-options rolls of the dice (the Angels’ Matt Thaiss).

The quintet of Jeffers, Gary Sanchez, Sandy Leon, Caleb Hamilton and Jose Godoy combined for a .197/.275/.355 batting line while catching in 2022, equating to an 81 wRC+ that ranked 17th in the Majors. Twins catchers were far from the sport’s least-productive unit, but that’s as much an indictment on the current production (or lack thereof) from catchers throughout the league as a testament to the Twins’ catching corps. Whichever route Falvey and his staff take, some form of complement to Jeffers feels inevitable. And, with only about $52.5MM on next year’s payroll (when factoring in Correa’s opt-out and the likely exercising of Sonny Gray’s club option), there’s plenty of room for upgrades up and down the roster.

Previewing The 2022-23 Free Agent Class: Shortstops

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With the offseason drawing nearer, MLBTR will be breaking down the free-agent class on a position-by-position basis. We’ve already run through this winter’s crop of catchers, first basemen, second basemen and third basemen. You can check out the full list of this offseason’s free agents here, but today we’ll dive into yet another deep class of star-caliber shortstops who are likely to become available.

The Big Four

While not technically a free agent yet, there’s no doubt that Bogaerts will opt out of the remaining three years and $60MM on his contract — if the two parties can’t first work out an extension. That’ll be the team’s focus for the next month, but failing a new long-term deal, Bogaerts will opt out, receive a qualifying offer, reject it and become a free agent for the first time in his career.

The 2022 season marked something of an odd year for the four-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner. Bogaerts’ power numbers (15 home runs, .149 ISO) dipped to their lowest point since 2017, but he also enjoyed the defensive season of his career by measure of virtually every publicly available metric (4 Defensive Runs Saved, 4.9 Ultimate Zone Rating, 5 Outs Above Average).

In seasons past, Bogaerts’ glove was seen as his primary flaw. He’s typically graded out as a below-average defender and been seen as a candidate for an eventual position change. This year’s performance will likely quiet that chatter for now, and while the drop in power is of some concern, power was down throughout the league and Bogaerts did regain some extra-base pop in the season’s final couple months.

Besides, his .307/.377/.456 batting line from 2022 was still excellent, and when looking at the past half-decade on the whole, Bogaerts owns a stout .300/.373/.507 slash with 105 homers, 177 doubles, a 9.9% walk rate and an 18.1% strikeout rate in 2737 plate appearances. He’ll play all of next season at 30 years old, and it’s reasonable to expect the market could produce at least a seven-year deal for him.

There was never much doubt, but last week, Correa publicly declared for the first time that he’ll opt out of the remaining two years and $70.2MM on his contract (barring an extension before his opt-out date, five days after the World Series). Correa will return to the open market having just turned 28 years old and on the heels of a strong .291/.366/.467 batting line in what could very well be his lone season as a Twin. He’s said all the right things about enjoying his time in Minnesota and hoping to ink a long-term deal in a setting that his young family has already grown to love, but an extension feels like a long shot.

The 2022 season wasn’t Correa’s best, but that’s only because of the lofty standards he’s previously established. Correa was 40% better than average with the bat, by measure of wRC+, but his previously Platinum Glove-winning defense fell to merely above-average, per DRS and UZR. (Notably, OAA pegged his glovework as actually slightly below average.) Twins brass has spent much of the year lauding Correa’s glovework, leadership and clubhouse presence. There’s surely some genuine interest in keeping him, but doing so would require eclipsing Joe Mauer’s $184MM guarantee for the largest contract in franchise history — likely by a rather large margin.

Correa had plenty of injuries earlier in his career and had a pair of brief IL stints in 2022 due to a minor finger injury and a spell on the Covid list. But he’s played in 89% of his team’s games over the past three seasons and logged a hefty 132 wRC+ in that span. Since 2018, his 50 DRS are tied for sixth-most in MLB, regardless of position. His 45 OAA places him seventh.

It’s hard to imagine Correa securing the reported $330MM+ he was reportedly seeking in free agency last winter. He’s a year older now and coming off a strong but lesser season than his career year in 2021. That said, he’s still squarely in his prime, is generally regarded as a plus contributor on both sides of the ball and in the clubhouse, and he finished out the season on a high note, ranking as one of the AL’s most productive bats over the final two months. He’s also the only one of this top-tier group that can’t receive a qualifying offer (by virtue of receiving one last year).

Traded by the Diamondbacks just six months after being selected with the No. 1 pick in 2015, Swanson made his big league debut barely one year after that top overall selection. After a few years of anywhere from lackluster to downright poor offensive output, Swanson turned a corner in 2019 and, since 2020, has been an above-average offensive player: .265/.324/.451, 62 home runs, 80 doubles, three triples, 32-for-42 in stolen bases.

Granted, by measure of wRC+, Swanson has “only” been nine percent better than league-average at the plate in that three-year span (though 16% in 2022 alone). But, for a player who provides plenty of baserunning value and has been considered anywhere from a plus to an elite defender at shortstop, that’s plenty of bat. Swanson’s 2022 season, in particular, has been sensational in the eyes of DRS (9) and OAA (20). Statcast has been particularly bullish on Swanson’s defense over the years, ranking him 13th among all big leaguers in OAA (38) and 15th in Runs Above Average (28) since the start of the 2018 season.

Swanson will receive and reject a qualifying offer from the Braves, subjecting him to draft pick compensation this winter. At 29 years old this February, he’s the second-youngest in this top tier. Swanson surely took note as both Javier Baez and Trevor Story — who also had a qualifying offer attached to him — landed six-year deals with $140MM guarantees last year at the same age last winter.

Quite arguably the best shortstop on the market this winter, Turner will reach free agency for the first time on the heels of a .298/.343/.466 slash (128 wRC+) in 160 games and 708 plate appearances. Turner’s 21 homers this year were down from last year’s career-best 28, and with “just” 27 steals (in 30 tries), he’s perhaps no longer the annual threat for 40-plus steals he was earlier in his career.

That said, Turner has hit .298 or better in each of the past four seasons and has never fanned at even a 20% clip in a full Major League season. He’s batted .311/.361/.509 (133 wRC+) over the past four seasons, played in 89.6% of possible games along the way (92% since 2018) and averaged 26.5 home runs and 35.1 steals per 162 games played. Turner graded as a standout defender at shortstop in 2018 but has been about average by measure of both DRS and OAA since that time. Even if he eventually moves off shortstop, Turner’s athleticism figures to make him adaptable to a new position; he posted plus defensive grades in two months as the Dodgers’ second baseman following the 2021 trade that sent him to L.A.

Turner, who’ll turn 30 next June, is younger than Bogaerts but 10 months older than Swanson and nearly two years older than Correa. Like Bogaerts and Swanson, he’s both eligible to receive and extraordinarily likely to reject a qualifying offer, which will subject him to draft-pick compensation this winter. With the market’s very top free agents, that’s often the cost of doing business and rarely something that will cause a big-market club to withhold interest entirely — but it’s a factor that’s at least worth noting.

The ten-year megadeals that 30-year-old free agents were once occasionally able to command (e.g. Robinson Cano, Albert Pujols) have generally fallen to the wayside, as teams tend to reserve lengths of ten or more years for players who are in their mid-20s. Position players reaching the market around Turner’s age have more recently been capped at signing through age-37, which would mean an eight-year deal in Turner’s case. Given his rare blend of power and speed, his durability and his general athleticism, Turner can also expect to command a salary near the top of the AAV scale for position players.

Veterans Coming Off Solid Seasons

At 34, Andrus isn’t the player he once was, but he still hit quite well after being released by the A’s and signing with the White Sox (.271/.309/.464, nine homers in 191 plate appearances). The 17 home runs Andrus hit this past season were his most since 2017. (It bears mentioning, too, that his release was less about his level of play than about ensuring that he didn’t receive the playing time to trigger a $15MM player option.)

A premier defender earlier in his career, Andrus now receives split grades from defensive metrics. Statcast still feels that he’s a plus defender, but DRS has given him negative marks for the past four years. If a team agrees that Andrus remains at least an above-average shortstop, this year’s rebound at the plate could net him a two-year deal. At the very least, Andrus should command a one-year, Major League contract to serve as a team’s primary shortstop.

Diaz has played at least 45 innings at five different positions this season: all four infield spots and left field. He was primarily a shortstop early in his career and still has more total innings there than at any position. He never graded well there, and as he enters his mid-30s, he’ll be viewed as more of a utility player. Diaz’s .255/.302/.427 line in 2022 is quite similar to the .259/.318/.433 slash he’s posted over four total seasons with the ’Stros. He’s a right-handed bat who’s shown a pretty noticeable platoon split over the past couple seasons, though early in his career he hit fellow righties better than lefties. He’s had just eight plate appearances with the Astros in the postseason thus far, going 1-for-7 and also getting hit by a pitch.

Like Andrus, Iglesias was once considered one of MLB’s top defensive shortstops but has seen his ratings plummet. He posted a staggering -22 DRS with the Angels and Red Sox in 2021, though he bounced most of the way back in 2022 and finished with a -4 mark. OAA has him as a scratch defender over the past few years.

At the plate, Iglesias continues to post solid or better batting averages thanks to excellent bat-to-ball skills, but he still has one of the worst walk rates in the game. He hit .292/.328/.380 with the Rockies in 2022. Iglesias will turn 33 in January and, after signing one-year deals in his last two trips to the open market, will find similar offers this winter.

Notable Rebound Hopefuls

It’s been a swift decline for Gregorius, who starred in the Bronx as the successor to Derek Jeter and looked strong in the first season of his post-Yankees career, hitting .284/.339/.488 for the Phillies while playing in all 60 games of the shortened 2020 campaign. In two seasons since, he’s flopped with a .210/.267/.345 batting line, leading to his release in August. He won’t turn 33 until February, so there’s time for him to bounce back, but the 2021-22 seasons were disastrous.

It’s hard to compare the defense of current players to those from prior generations, but Simmons has a legitimate case as one of the greatest defensive players ever. He’s the all-time leader in DRS, which dates back to 2002, and is fourth since the inception of UZR and OAA. He has four Gold Glove Awards and a Platinum Glove win, and Simmons would probably have more hardware were it not for a few injury-shortened seasons. Unfortunately, his bat has also cratered in recent years, with just a .216/.277/.261 slash between the Twins and Cubs in 2021-22. Among hitters with at least 500 plate appearances over the past two seasons, Simmons ranks third-worst with a 53 wRC+. The Cubs released him on Aug. 7.

Villar hit 24 homers and swiped 40 bags with the O’s in 2019, struggled through a dismal showing between Miami and Toronto in 2020, and rebounded nicely with the 2021 Mets. The pendulum swung back in the other direction this year, as he was released by both the Cubs and Angels while hitting a combined .208/.260/.302. At his best, Villar is a switch-hitter with some power and difference-making speed, but he’s been wildly inconsistent in a career that has featured more valleys than peaks.

Depth Options

  • Johan Camargo (29): Camargo had a big 2018 season with the Braves and has never recreated it, hitting .219/.271/.348 over the past four seasons. He’s a utility option but did log 186 innings at shortstop for the Phillies this year.
  • Alcides Escobar (36): Escobar had a brief resurgence with the 2021 Nats, but that was the only time since 2014 his bat has been close to average. He hit .218/.262/.282 in 131 plate appearances with Washington this year.
  • Marwin Gonzalez (34): Gonzalez played only 94 innings at short from 2019-21, but the Yankees gave him 134 innings there in 2022. The veteran switch-hitter is primarily a utility option, though, and this year’s .185/.255/.321 slash in 207 plate appearances leaves plenty to be desired.
  • Dixon Machado (30): Machado hit .280/.359/.393 in 277 games in the Korea Baseball Organization from 2020-21 and posted similar Triple-A numbers between the Cubs and Giants this year. He’s never hit in the Majors, however, evidenced by a .226/.285/.292 batting line in 522 trips to the plate.
  • Deven Marrero (32): A former first-round pick and top prospect, Marrero is a .191/.246/.279 hitter in 373 Major League plate appearances across parts of seven seasons. He saw brief time with the Mets in 2022.
  • Richie Martin (28): The top pick by the Orioles in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, Martin survived his Rule 5 season in the Majors but never found his stride, perhaps in part due to injuries. He’s now a career .212/.261/.311 hitter in 447 MLB plate appearances and has just a .240/.336/.366 slash in parts of two Triple-A seasons.
  • JT Riddle (31): Riddle got some run with the Marlins in 2017-19 but has barely surfaced in the Majors since. He’s a .223/.261/.354 hitter in 797 MLB plate appearances.
  • Dee Strange-Gordon (34): The fact that the 2022 Nats gave Strange-Gordon 100 innings at shortstop for the first time since 2013 says more about the team than the player. The three-time NL steals champ hasn’t logged 100 plate appearances in a season since 2019. He hit .305 in 59 plate appearances this year but did so without a walk and with just two extra-base hits. Since 2018, he’s batted .268/.293/.343 in 1150 plate appearances.
  • Tyler Wade (28): Wade hit .264/.354/.328 in 145 plate appearances with the 2021 Yankees but has couldn’t duplicate it with the 2022 Angels. He’s a .214/.291/.298 hitter in the Majors but does have some defensive versatility to go along with a more palatable .279/.353/.408 slash in parts of four Triple-A seasons.

Fernando Tatis Jr. Undergoes Follow-up Procedure On Wrist

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Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. underwent a second procedure on the fractured left wrist which required surgery back in March, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. There was no setback in Tatis’ recovery from the first surgery, per the report. However, given that Tatis is also on the mend from September shoulder surgery, Padres medical staff and multiple specialists agreed that the second procedure, performed last week, could provide greater long-term stability. Padres president of baseball ops A.J. Preller tells Acee that the recovery timetable of this new surgery aligns with that of September’s shoulder operation. Tatis is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

Of course, Tatis won’t be a part of the Padres’ Opening Day roster, regardless. His nightmarish 2022 year has included not only three surgeries to address two injuries but also an 80-game PED suspension, which was handed down on Aug. 12. He cited a ringworm medication which, unbeknownst to him contained a banned substance, as the reason for his positive test and did not appeal the punishment.

The exact amount of time Tatis will miss early next season is dependent on the Padres’ performance over the next few weeks, as postseason games count toward the suspension. He was suspended for the final 48 games of the Padres’ regular season and was unpaid during that time.

Tatis, 23, originally injured his wrist during an offseason motorcycle accident that the team didn’t learn of until the lockout lifted. (Teams were barred from communicating with their players in any form during the 99-day lockout.) The shoulder issue, meanwhile, dates back to a pair of subluxations suffered during an otherwise stellar 2021 season — the first on a swing early in the season and second while sliding into second base in July. Despite the pair of shoulder injuries, Tatis not only avoided surgery but recorded a .282/.364/.611 batting line with 42 home runs and 25 steals in 130 games (546 plate appearances).

There are still 12 years remaining on the 14-year, $340MM contract extension Tatis signed following his second season in the Majors. He’ll be paid $7MM in 2023 (minus the prorated portion of that salary for any days still remaining on his suspension). He’s then owed salaries of $11MM in 2024, $20MM in 2025-26, $25MM in 2027-28 and $36MM annually from 2029-36. His contract affords him full no-trade protection through 2028 and limited no-trade protection (to 13 teams of his choosing) thereafter. If not traded in 2029-30, he’d gain 10-and-5 rights heading into the 2031 season and then once again be able to veto any trade.

Rays Name Jorge Moncada Bullpen Coach

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The Rays announced Monday that they’ve named Jorge Moncada their new bullpen coach, replacing the retiring Stan Boroski, who’d spent 11 years as Tampa Bay’s bullpen coach.

Despite being just 38 years of age, Moncada has been with the Rays as a minor league pitching coach or coordinator since 2006. He briefly pitched in the Astros’ system in the early 2000s before taking a position as the bullpen coach with Houston’s affiliate in the Venezuelan Summer League in 2005, Neil Solondz of Rays Radio writes. He was hired by the Rays in 2006 and has since spent seven years as the Rays’ VSL pitching coach, another two as a Class-A pitching coach and, eventually, a seven-year stint as the organization’s minor league pitching coordinator — a role he held until this promotion.

Swapping out Boroski for Moncada is the only coaching change the Rays presently expect to make, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The rest of Cash’s staff is expected to return for the 2023 season. That said, it’s possible that the Rays’ coaching ranks could be pillaged by other teams if they offer promotions. Bench coach Matt Quatraro has been seen as a manger-in-waiting for years and has already been linked to a few of the several managerial openings around the league, for instance. He’s interviewed for several positions in the past and was a finalist for the Mets’ job last offseason before Buck Showalter ultimately got the nod.

Eduard Bazardo Elects Free Agency

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The Red Sox announced this afternoon that right-hander Eduard Bazardo has gone unclaimed on outright waivers and elected free agency, as is his right with multiple career outright assignments. Boston had designated him for assignment last week upon claiming reliever Jake Reed off waivers from the Orioles.

Bazardo made 12 appearances for the Sox down the stretch after being selected to the majors at the start of September. He pitched to a 2.76 ERA over 16 1/3 innings, but he allowed four home runs while only striking out 16.9% of opposing hitters. The front office was clearly skeptical of his ability to continue to allow fewer than three earned runs per nine with those peripherals. He was bumped off the 40-man roster for the sidewinding Reed.

That late-season work was Bazardo’s longest stretch of play in the majors. His only previous big league experience was a two-game cameo in 2021, when he tossed three innings. The Venezuela native has otherwise spent his eight-year professional career climbing through the Boston farm system. He’s spent parts of the last two years at Triple-A Worcester, where he’s worked to a 4.33 ERA with an average 23.1% strikeout rate and a solid 7.7% walk percentage.

As he heads to the open market for the first time in his career, Bazardo represents an affordable option for teams seeking bullpen depth. He’s likely to receive a few minor league offers with big league Spring Training invitations.

The Orioles’ First Key Offseason Decision

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The Orioles enter the offseason fresh off their first winning season since 2016. Baltimore’s surprisingly competitive year wasn’t enough to earn them the longshot playoff bid with which they flirted for a couple months, but they did snap a streak of four consecutive last place finishes during 162-game seasons.

For the first time in a while, the O’s head into the winter looking to build out a promising big league roster. Much of that lifting figures to be on the pitching staff, as Baltimore has broken in a number of players on an increasingly strong position player core. The starting rotation is the big question mark, as it was comprised mainly of unproven hurlers. The Orioles finished 21st in rotation ERA (4.35), and while the group was better at preventing runs in the second half of the season, it never featured impact high-strikeout arms.

Orioles general manager Mike Elias and his front office will surely add to that group this offseason, and the expected arrival of top prospect Grayson Rodriguez early next year will add a high-octane internal arm to the mix. Before considering upgrades, however, the Orioles will have to decide whether to retain their 2022 innings leader. Baltimore holds an $11MM option over right-hander Jordan Lyles. That comes with a $1MM buyout, leaving Elias and his staff with a net $10MM decision.

Lyles agreed to terms on a $7MM guarantee with the O’s in the waning seconds before last offseason’s lockout, finalizing the contract after the work stoppage. It was a somewhat surprising move by Baltimore, with Lyles coming off successive ERA’s of 7.02 and 5.15 during his two seasons with the Rangers. The O’s clearly valued his capacity to soak up innings at the back of a rotation, however, and he stepped back into that role in Baltimore.

The right-hander took all 32 starts through the rotation at Camden Yards, the only pitcher on the team to start more than 23 games. He tossed 179 innings, ranking 29th in the majors in that category. Lyles’ rate stats still weren’t great, but they did mark an improvement over his work in Texas. He posted a 4.42 ERA, striking out a below-average 18.6% of batters faced but only walking 6.7% of opponents. Home run issues that had plagued him in Arlington weren’t nearly as problematic in Baltimore.

It was presumably exactly the kind of performance the Orioles had hoped they’d receive when signing Lyles. The 4.42 ERA is his second-lowest mark over parts of 12 MLB seasons, while he just narrowly missed last year’s career high of 180 innings. A number of Baltimore’s younger pitchers raved throughout the season about Lyles’ clubhouse leadership. It’d have been hard for Elias and company to reasonably expect more from Lyles than what he seemingly provided both on the field and in the locker room.

Between those contributions and Baltimore’s need for rotation help, one can make a reasonable argument for keeping Lyles around. He’d be due a fairly modest raise over this year’s salary, but Elias has already indicated the Orioles plan to increase payroll. The GM pointed at an arbitration class that includes Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays as part of that spending hike, but there’ll still be a ton of room on next year’s books. Aside from the Lyles buyout, the only guaranteed commitment the O’s have for 2023 is a $2.975MM salary for John Means. Tendering contracts to all their arbitration-eligible players would add roughly $22.5MM, according to projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. That should still leave a lot of spending room for a team that, in Elias’ words, should “significantly escalate” payroll over this year’s roughly $44MM Opening Day mark.

Of course, one could argue for the O’s to use the extra $10MM to make a run at a more impactful starter than Lyles. Baltimore will enter next year with more realistic hopes at competing for a playoff spot than they did this past season. While Lyles did provide needed stability, his improved rate stats were still worse than average. The league average starter this year posted a 4.05 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout percentage, both a fair bit better than Lyles’ respective marks. He allowed hard contact at a higher-than-average clip for a fourth straight year.

Lyles also saw slight regression in his raw stuff. He lost a tick on his average fastball, which sat at 91.8 MPH after averaging 93 MPH last year. His breaking ball dipped over three ticks, from 83.3 MPH to 80 MPH. His swing-and-miss rates took a corresponding minor step back.

Free agency offers a number of mid-tier starting pitchers. Jameson Taillon, Mike Clevinger and Noah Syndergaard have all shown well in the past but didn’t post particularly impressive 2022 campaigns. Ross Stripling, José Quintana, Taijuan Walker (who’ll surely decline a $6MM player option with the Mets) and Michael Wacha fared well this year despite subpar strikeout rates, but each had an average or worse ’21 season. Johnny Cueto and Corey Kluber are former stars who each had productive seasons but will be limited to short-term deals based on their ages. There’d be various options for the Orioles to consider if they want to replace Lyles while signing a starter to a contract with an average annual value in the $10MM range, but most of that group would require a multi-year commitment. Whether to retain Lyles is the first major call Elias and his staff will have to make this winter, with option decisions required within five days of the end of the World Series.

Cardinals Sign GM Michael Girsch To Multi-Year Extension

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The Cardinals recently signed general manager Michael Girsch to a multi-year contract extension, president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Assistant GM/scouting director Randy Flores also just signed a new multi-year deal, Goold reports, keeping both in the organization beyond 2022.

Both Girsch and Flores had been on expiring deals, so it’s no surprise St. Louis struck to keep each in the fold at this time. Girsch has been in the organization since 2006, working up to AGM by 2011. The Cards promoted him to general manager in 2017, a move made in conjunction with bumping Mozeliak from GM to president of baseball ops. That promotion came with a new contract that kept Girsch in St. Louis through 2020, and he subsequently signed a two-year extension before today’s multi-year pact. It isn’t clear how long the current arrangement runs, but it’ll at least keep Girsch around through 2024.

Girsch has worked as Mozeliak’s top lieutenant for some time, and that arrangement will continue next year and beyond. Mozeliak has final say in baseball operations, but Girsch was sufficiently happy with his role in St. Louis he declined an opportunity to pursue the Mets’ front office vacancy (a position that would’ve come with a chance to lead baseball operations) last offseason. The Notre Dame graduate is clearly content to continue with underneath Mozeliak in the Cardinals’ front office hierarchy. He’ll try to help St. Louis to a fifth consecutive playoff berth this offseason.

Flores, a former big league reliever, was hired as amateur scouting director in August 2015. He began overseeing the team’s drafts the following season, a role he’s now held for seven years. Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan are among St. Louis draftees of the Flores era who played key roles on this year’s NL Central-winning club, and 2020 first-rounder Jordan Walker has blossomed into one of the top few minor league talents in the game. The 47-year-old Flores earned a bump to assistant GM (one of three individuals to hold that title within the Cards’ front office) over the 2018-19 offseason.

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