CBA Notes: Arbitration, Waivers, Schedule, PED Testing, Minor League Salary
MLB and the MLBPA finally reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, ending a contentious lockout that spanned over three months. The major elements of the deal, such as the CBT levels and the bonus pool for arbitration-eligible players, were reported on as the negotiations transpired, but some of the minor details are still trickling out. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com revealed one such detail on Twitter, writing that, “Beginning after 2022, salary arbitration eligible players who settle with their teams on a salary for the subsequent season without going to a hearing will be eligible to receive full season termination pay, even if released prior to the start of the season.”
This is a small change that could potentially have significant ramifications. Under the previous CBA, arbitration contracts were not fully guaranteed until Opening Day, with players cut during Spring Training only earning a portion of the agreed-upon salary. If a team released a player more than 15 days prior to Opening Day, they only had to pay the player 30 days’ salary as termination pay. If the player was released less than 15 days before Opening Day, they would get 45 days’ pay.
This makes for an interesting tradeoff. On the one hand, this could be viewed as a gain for the players, as they now have access to greater security, knowing that the salary they accept will be locked in once they agree to it. But this also gives them incentive to accept terms without the hearing, perhaps leading to them accepting lower terms than they otherwise would have earned, thus benefiting the teams. It is well established that teams put a high priority on stifling salaries as much as possible. In 2019, it was revealed that MLB holds an annual symposium where the team that best succeeds at opposing the players in arbitration is awarded a wrestling-style championship belt, something that surely didn’t help with the animosity that’s lingered between the players and the league since the signing of the last CBA. This wrinkle in the new CBA could help the teams further those goals, but at least could give some borderline non-tender candidates the silver lining of greater financial security.
Elsewhere in the CBA, Jayson Stark of The Athletic provides an interesting nugget on Twitter. “If a team has already claimed a player once on waivers that season, it can’t claim him again until every other team has passed.” Stark aptly refers to this as the “Jacob Nottingham Rule,” in reference to the fact that Nottingham was the centerpiece of a game of hot potato between the Brewers and Mariners last year. Beginning the season with the Brewers, the catcher was put on waivers in April, claimed by the Mariners, who put him back on waivers on May. The Brewers brought him back on a waiver claim, only to send him back onto the waiver wire two weeks later. On May 2oth, Seattle claimed him again, before putting him back on the wire in early June, when he finally cleared. Waiver claim priority generally goes in reverse order of the current standings. (For the first 31 days of the season, the standings of the previous season are used.) In the case of Nottingham, there would have been some teams that never even had the ability to make a claim on him for most of that sequence last year, as he would have been scooped up before their turn. Going forward, they will have a greater chance to interrupt such a unique back-and-forth as occurred with Nottingham last year.
In a detailed column about the CBA, Stark adds some details about the schedule changes that will begin in 2023. While it had been previously reported that teams would play all 29 of the other squads in the league each year, with the number of divisional games being reduced, the details were not known at the time. Stark lays out the format that will begin next year, with each team playing its divisional rivals 14 times per season, down from 19, for a total of 56. Teams in the same league but not the same division will be played six times each, a total of 60. When it comes to interleague play, each team has a “rival” that they will play four times, with three games against the other 14 teams in the opposite league. That amounts to 46 total interleague games. All of those categories are evenly split between road and home, except for the final one. In the case of the 14 non-rival teams that are in the opposite league, the home team for the three-game series will alternate from year to year.
Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com has a couple of other details in his rundown of the CBA. In terms of PEDs, he says, “There will be an increase in the number of in-season urine tests for performance-enhancing substances and drugs of abuse, as well as adjustments to the scheduling of these tests to make them less predictable.” He then adds that, “the program will now utilize dried-blood spot-testing rather than venous blood draws for hGH testing, making Major League Baseball the first professional sport drug testing program to adopt this new technology.”
Finally, while the increase in the minimum salary for MLB players was reported throughout the negotiations, there is also a bump for some players in the minors. From Kubatko: “The minor league minimum salary for players signing a second major league contract or with prior big league service will increase from $93,000 in 2021 to $114,100 in 2022, $117,400 in 2023, $120,600 in 2024, $123,900 in 2025 and $127,100 in 2026.”
Cardinals Notes: Hicks, Reyes, Designated Hitter, Shortstop, DeJong,
The Cardinals have made one relatively minor move since the lockout was lifted, signing reliever Drew VerHagen to a two-year deal. He steps into a bullpen that also features Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Helsley and T.J. McFarland and seems as if it’ll include flamethrowing righties Alex Reyes and Jordan Hicks.
St. Louis brass has floated the idea of each of Reyes and Hicks lengthening out into rotation roles over the offseason. Yet president of baseball operations John Mozeliak cast some doubt on that possibility when speaking with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) yesterday.
“I do think getting Alex and Jordan stretched is going to be much more challenging than in a normal time,” Mozeliak said in reference to the ban on staff members from communicating with players on their 40-man rosters between December 2 and March 10. While he didn’t specifically rule a rotation conversion out, that prospect always seemed a bit of a reach — particularly with regards to Hicks. Hicks pitched only ten innings in 2021, as he went on the injured list in early May with elbow inflammation that proved season-ending. That came on the heels of a June 2019 Tommy John surgery that had wiped out his prior season and a half, so building him towards a starter’s workload would’ve been a challenge even had there not been a work stoppage.
Reyes logged a full season in 2021, tossing 72 1/3 frames over 69 appearances. That marks almost exactly the same amount of work Reyes took on at the major league level from 2016-20 combined, as he also required a Tommy John procedure (in February 2017, in his case). He struggled quite a bit in the second half, and his 16.4% walk rate was higher than that of any starting pitcher last year. Between those innings and strike-throwing concerns, Reyes might also have had trouble cracking a starting rotation that currently projects to include Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas.
Mozeliak also addressed the position player mix, suggesting the club might look externally for help in handling the designated hitter spot now available for National League teams (Jones link). He suggested that internal options like Lars Nootbaar or Juan Yepez could be considered for that role but noted there may be “short term solutions” available on the market. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported during the lockout that former Pirates infielder Colin Moran was of interest to the Cards, presumably as an option for such a role.
One position at which it doesn’t seem the Cardinals will consider outside help is shortstop. Speaking with Dani Wexelman of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this afternoon (Twitter link), Mozeliak downplayed the possibility of upgrading there. “I don’t think so,” he replied when asked if they’d acquire another shortstop. “We met with Paul (DeJong) prior to the lockout. We told him we thought he could be our shortstop. … Obviously, there’s going to be some competition in this camp with somebody like Edmundo Sosa, but in terms of going outside of that, I don’t think that makes a whole lot of sense for us.”
That’s not a surprise, as reports have increasingly suggested the Cardinals seem confident in DeJong’s ability to bounce back from a second straight down year at the plate. He rates highly in the eyes of public defensive metrics, and last year’s career-best barrel rate suggests he can continue to at least bring some power to the table offensively. St. Louis was mentioned earlier in the offseason as a speculative fit for star free agents like Carlos Correa or Trevor Story, but Mozeliak’s comments seem to close the book on the chances they make a run at either player.
Adam Conley To Retire
Former Marlins and Rays pitcher Adam Conley is retiring, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (Twitter link). The left-hander steps away from the game after an 11-year professional career that included parts of six big league seasons.
The then-Florida Marlins selected Conley out of Washington State University in the second round of the 2011 draft. Over the next few years, he was regarded as one of the better arms in the Marlins system, and he debuted in the majors in 2015. Conley immediately offered capable mid-rotation production, pitching to a 3.82 ERA and holding opponents to a .253/.335/.398 slash line in 200 1/3 combined innings over his first two seasons.
Things went off the rails in 2017, though. Conley’s average fastball velocity dropped around two MPH (from 91.9 to 90) and his strikeout rate ticked down. He allowed a 6.14 ERA in 22 outings before hitting the injured list with finger tendinitis that August. The following season, the Fish moved Conley to the bullpen.
He rather remarkably added more than five ticks to his heater in relief, averaging north of 95 MPH in 2018. Conley pitched to a decent 4.09 ERA in 50 2/3 innings out of the ‘pen that season, but he struggled in 2019. He didn’t pitch at all in 2020, as he spent a month on the COVID-19 injured list before Miami designated him for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster. Conley signed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball last winter but returned stateside in May after Japan’s pandemic protocols prevented his family from joining him in Sendai.
The 31-year-old signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay last season and was selected onto the big league club in August. He worked 19 2/3 innings of 2.29 ERA ball down the stretch. The Rays nevertheless designated him for assignment after the season and he became a minor league free agent upon clearing waivers.
There’s little doubt Conley could’ve at least gotten another minors deal with an invitation to big league camp this spring had he wanted to keep pitching. He’s apparently decided to step away from the game instead, leaving with a 4.71 ERA over 434 MLB innings. Conley started 56 of his 191 appearances at the highest level. He struck out 374 batters and picked up 25 wins, five saves and 22 holds. MLBTR congratulates Conley on a fine career and wishes him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.
Latest On Seiya Suzuki’s Market
Star NPB outfielder Seiya Suzuki waited out the lockout in search of a deal with an MLB team this offseason. The league and Players Association agreed to freeze his posting window during the work stoppage. The official lifting of the lockout restarted the clock, giving teams twenty days to finalize an agreement.
Suzuki has reportedly drawn interest from upwards of a dozen teams this winter, and Jon Heyman of the MLB Network lists five (via Twitter) that have been prominent players: the Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox. That’s not necessarily a group of finalists, to be clear, but it seems those teams are among Suzuki’s top suitors.
Four of those clubs — Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston — have been known entrants in the bidding for some time. A report from Japan’s Nikkan Sports in January named the four clubs as among those likely to remain factors until he chooses a destination. The Dodgers, though, hadn’t been strongly linked to Suzuki until this point.
Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily have a need in the outfield. Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock make for a strong starting trio, and Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux could see some action on the grass as well. The Dodgers haven’t been shy about acquiring talent even in the absence of an obvious weakness on the roster, however. And Los Angeles is clearly open to further bolstering an already strong offense, as they’re reportedly making a run at Freddie Freeman. Manager Dave Roberts isn’t afraid to move even his best players around the diamond, and the implementation of the universal designated hitter could allow NL teams to cast a wider net in search of talent.
With a little under three weeks before Suzuki has to make a decision, there still seems to be a decent array of possible landing spots. Only 27 years old, Suzuki should appeal both to win-now clubs like the Dodgers and teams (the Cubs perhaps among them) that are eyeing 2023 and beyond as more realistic windows of contention. He’s coming off a monstrous .317/.433/.639 showing with the Hiroshima Carp, for whom he’s been a strong middle-of-the-order bat in recent years. Evaluators with whom MLBTR spoke earlier in the offseason generally suggested Suzuki could immediately be a solid everyday right fielder in MLB.
Whoever signs Suzuki will owe the Carp a posting fee on top of the guarantee that goes to the player himself. The fee is calculated as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter.
Dodgers Reportedly “Making Strong Push” For Freddie Freeman
8:08pm: Jon Heyman of the MLB Network tweets that the Dodgers and Braves are Freeman’s most likely landing spots. He hears that Atlanta’s offers have been in the five-year, $140MM range.
7:32pm: Morosi adds that Freeman is expected to make his decision within the next 24 hours and could do so as soon as this evening.
7:04pm: The Dodgers are “making a strong push” for star first baseman Freddie Freeman, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). Los Angeles has put a formal offer on the table, Morosi adds.
Freeman is among the top free agents on the market, and it’s generally been expected he’d sign quickly in the wake of the end of the lockout. The Dodgers are among the teams who have been linked to the 2020 NL MVP, as are the incumbent Braves, Yankees, Blue Jays and — most surprisingly — Rays.
Many have long expected that Freeman, a career-long Brave, will re-sign with Atlanta on a long-term deal. Calls for the Braves to keep him around particularly mounted after the club wrapped up a World Series title in November. Freeman, of course, played no small part in Atlanta’s first championship in 26 years; after hitting .300/.393/.503 during the regular season, he posted an OPS above .990 in all three playoff rounds.
However, the Braves have reportedly been unwilling to offer a sixth guaranteed year to the 32-year-old first baseman. Freeman didn’t agree to terms with anyone before the lockout, and rumors swirled throughout the work stoppage that he and the club may go in different directions. There’s been no shortage of interest in Freeman’s services, and the Braves have at least looked into the possibility of trading for A’s star Matt Olson or signing Anthony Rizzo as contingency plans.
Of course, it’s far from a lock that Freeman will wind up departing. That the Dodgers are making a serious run at the five-time All-Star is no surprise. Atlanta could yet look to make another push themselves, and there’s no indication an agreement between Freeman and Los Angeles is imminent.
The first base market figures to see quite a bit of action in the coming days and weeks. Freeman and Rizzo have yet to sign. It’s widely believed the A’s will move Olson before the start of the season as they reportedly embark on a payroll-cutting effort. The Yankees have been tied to first base upgrades this offseason, which might make 2020 home run champ Luke Voit a realistic trade candidate as well.
Blue Jays To Sign Andrew Vasquez To Major League Deal
The Blue Jays are signing reliever Andrew Vasquez to a major league contract, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (on Twitter). The southpaw has made twelve big league appearances spread across three seasons, including two outings with the Dodgers late last year.
It’s a bit of a surprise to see Vasquez land a guaranteed 40-man roster spot given his limited MLB track record. He’s tossed just 6 2/3 career innings at the highest level, five of them coming with the 2018 Twins. Yet the 28-year-old impressed a couple teams with a huge showing in Triple-A last season. Vasquez spent the bulk of the season with the Twins’ top affiliate in St. Paul, working to a 3.61 ERA over 42 2/3 innings. More importantly, he struck out an elite 37.4% of batters faced at that level.
The Dodgers were impressed enough with Vasquez’s form to acquire him late on the night of August 31. (Vasquez, who hadn’t been on the Twins’ 40-man roster all season, was eligible to be moved after the MLB trade deadline). That was just before the deadline for teams to add players to their organization in order for them to be eligible for the postseason roster, and L.A. quickly selected the UC Santa Barbara product onto their 40-man roster. They didn’t wind up activating him for any playoff contests, though, and Los Angeles non-tendered him last November.
In his two-game MLB cameo last season, Vasquez threw almost exclusively low-80s curveballs (26 curves, one sinker). He probably won’t continue with an approach quite so extreme over a larger body of work, but it seems the Jays’ front office is intrigued by that bread-and-butter offering. Tim Mayza, Ryan Borucki, Kirby Snead and Tayler Saucedo are among the left-handed bullpen options already on the Toronto 40-man roster. Vasquez still has a minor league option year remaining, though, so the Jays can shuttle him between Toronto and Triple-A Buffalo next season if he sticks on their 40-man all year.
Rangers, Brandon Workman Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers are signing reliever Brandon Workman to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Presumably, the 33-year-old will get a look in big league camp.
Workman, a UT-Austin product, has seven years of big league experience to his name. He worked in a swing capacity with the Red Sox from 2013-14, but he lost most of the following two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Upon returning from that procedure in 2017, Workman moved full-time into relief and found a fair amount of success.
The right-hander worked at least 39 innings with an ERA below 3.30 in every season from 2017-19. He was an utterly dominant late-game option in 2019, when he pitched to a 1.88 ERA in 71 2/3 frames and saved 16 games. Few pitchers could match the combination of strikeouts (36.4%) and grounders (51.1%) Workman put up that season, although he did walk a fine line with his control (15.7% walk percentage).
Workman had been a capable strike-thrower for his career until 2019. But he’s continued to dole out plenty of free passes in recent seasons even as his strikeout and ground-ball numbers have fallen back to ordinary levels. Over the past two seasons, he’s suited up with three clubs (the Red Sox, Phillies and Cubs) and combined for 47 2/3 innings of 5.66 ERA ball. He’s been hit at a .330/.426/.522 clip, with a dramatically reduced 20.3% strikeout rate and an elevated 14.3% walk percentage.
Those past two years of struggles dictate that Workman will have to pitch his way back into the big leagues as a non-roster player. Still, it’s sensible for the Rangers to take a look at a reliever who’s not too far removed from finding major league success. Texas’ bullpen mix is almost entirely wide open, with Joe Barlow and Spencer Patton perhaps the only right-handed locks for season-opening spots.
NL West Notes: Weaver, Mets, Roberts, Dodgers, Giants, La Stella
The Mets “have done some background work on” Diamondbacks righty Luke Weaver as New York continues to explore trade possibilities, SNY’s Andy Martino reports (via Twitter). A right shoulder strain limited Weaver to only 65 2/3 innings last season, giving him two injury-plagued seasons sandwiched around a dismal 2020 campaign that saw him post a 6.58 ERA. Despite these recent issues, Weaver is still controlled via arbitration for the next two seasons (projected for $2.7MM in 2022) and has shown some signs of quality throughout his career in Arizona and St. Louis, so the D’Backs might still want to see if Weaver can get healthy and be an inexpensive rebound candidate at the back of their rotation.
For the Mets, Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco are penciled into the top four rotation spots, and Tylor Megill and David Peterson are the favorites for the fifth starter’s role. Weaver brings his own set of question marks, but he would add depth to a group that also has plenty of injury concerns. Given how aggressive the Mets will likely continue to be in their offseason endeavors, New York is likely to check in on just about any pitching option available, whether a bigger name in free agency or on the trade market, or perhaps a more modest acquisition like Weaver.
More from around the NL West…
- Dave Roberts and the Dodgers are “really close” on a contract extension, the manager told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) today. Reports surfaced last month that the team was looking into a new deal for the World Series-winning skipper, as Roberts is entering the last year of his current contract.
- Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters (including The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser) that his team was still looking to add some hitting, yet even though the Giants lineup is short on right-handed bats, Zaidi said that they are looking at options on both sides of the plate. “I don’t think we’re going to be totally fixated on that side. If there’s a left-handed bat that makes sense for us, I think we can find a way to fit that as well,” Zaidi said. “We obviously love versatility. Handedness isn’t as critical.”
- Also from Zaidi, he said that Tommy La Stella‘s recovery from left Achilles surgery is coming along well, though the infielder will be a little behind during the Giants‘ Spring Training camp. La Stella underwent the surgery at the end of October and had a rough timeline of four months, so it isn’t surprising that La Stella isn’t quite yet fully ready. There doesn’t yet seem to be concern, however, that La Stella might miss any time at the start of the season. La Stella battled several injuries during his first season in San Francisco, likely contributing to his underwhelming .250/.308/.405 slash line over 242 plate appearances. Due to the backloaded nature of his three-year, $18.75MM free agent contract, La Stella is still owed $16.75MM over the final two seasons of that deal.
MLB Gains Flexibility To Set Trade Deadline Between July 28-August 3
The traditional July 31 trade deadline may be no more under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, as outlined in the official release of the CBA today. As per the new rules, “The Office of the Commissioner shall have the flexibility to set the Major League Trade Deadline on a date between July 28th and August 3rd.”
This may not be as a major a change as it initially appears, given that it hasn’t been uncommon for the trade deadline date to be altered. Just this past July, in fact, the deadline was moved to July 30, whereas in 2016 the deadline was moved to August 1.
In both those situations, July 31 fell on a weekend day, when afternoon games were scheduled. While playing games on any deadline day throughout the week can lead to some awkward situations (i.e. a team suddenly having a shorthanded roster after dealing multiple players a few hours earlier), having the deadline on a weekend creates the possibility of even more chaos, with trades being consummated while actual games are taking place.
The new wrinkle to the CBA may simply formalize a process for deciding the deadline’s date. Notably, this coming July 31 is on a Sunday, so it seems likely that the deadline will be pushed ahead at least one day. Given the later start to the season, it seems plausible that August 3 might be this year’s deadline, just to give teams as much time as possible to plan. Looking ahead, this season is the only time during the 2022-26 campaigns (the length of the new CBA) that July 31 will fall on a Saturday or Sunday, so 2022 might well be the only time Commissioner Rob Manfred chooses to wield this particular bit of authority.
Cubs To Sign Andrelton Simmons
The Cubs and shortstop Andrelton Simmons have agreed to a one-year contract that will pay Simmons $4MM plus incentives, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link) was the first to report that the two sides were closing in on a deal. Simmons is represented by ISE Baseball.
One of the best defensive players of all time, ankle injuries led to an uncharacteristically mediocre season of glovework for Simmons in 2020, but he looked much more like his old self this past season with the Twins. Simmons posted a +16 Outs Above Average and +15 Defensive Runs Saved over 1091 2/3 innings at shortstop last year, though the UZR/150 metric (-1.1) took a dimmer view of his performance.
While Simmons’ age (32) and recent history of ankle problems are undoubtedly a concern, it would certainly seem like he should still be a defensive plus in the middle of the Cubs infield. Such quality defense will be particularly important since it has been three years since Simmons has been even a league-average hitter, with only a .250/.302/.323 slash line to show for his last 1002 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season.
Glovework has always been Simmons’ calling card, yet in the few seasons (2017 and 2018) where he has provided both a solid bat along with his excellent defense, Simmons looked like one of the game’s most valuable players. It remains to be seen if he can get back to that all-around form, yet the Cubs would be satisfied if he can merely provide his usual stellar work at shortstop.
Simmons will be filling the defensive void left behind by another Gold Glove-winning shortstop in Javier Baez, who was dealt to the Mets last summer as part of the Cubs’ trade deadline fire sale. As much as the Cubs tore things down pre-deadline, however, the team has been looking to build things back up to make at least some attempt at contending in 2022, adding Marcus Stroman, Wade Miley, and Yan Gomes prior to the lockout.
Of course, Chicago had been linked to another prominent shortstop in Carlos Correa, with the logic being that the Cubs could now afford Correa’s big asking price after clearing so much future salary off the books. The Simmons deal could quite possibly indicate that the Cubs have opted out of the Correa sweepstakes, and yet as journalist Sung Min Kim speculates, Simmons’ $4MM salary “is not necessarily starter money.” Theoretically, the Cubs could still sign Correa and then use the two players in a timeshare at shortstop, with the other perhaps moving to second base or third base.
This would allow the Cubs to juggle Nick Madrigal or Patrick Wisdom (the other incumbent infield starters) in and out of the lineup as the situation warrants, and the DH spot is also now available for Chicago to work with in 2022 and beyond. Madrigal’s health is also a bit of a question mark, as he underwent season-ending hamstring surgery last summer, though reports from January indicated that the young infielder was making good progress in his recovery. Nico Hoerner had been penciled into the starting shortstop job, but with Simmons now in the fold, the Cubs can continue experimenting with Hoerner as a multi-position player.