Blue Jays Sign Greg Bird To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed first baseman Greg Bird to a minor league contract, tweets Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. It’s the second minor league pact of the morning for the Jays, who also inked right-hander Joe Biagini not long ago. Bird wasn’t on a 40-man roster last year and became a minor league free agent at season’s end, thus allowing him to sign a minor league contract even during the MLB lockout.
Now 29 years old, Bird at one point looked like a potential long-term option for the division-rival Yankees at first base. He burst onto the scene in 2015 with a .261/.343/.529 slash for the Yanks, swatting 11 homers and nine doubles in just 178 plate appearances. As a former fifth-round pick who’d posted consistently excellent offensive numbers throughout his minor league contract, Bird looked quite promising.
Injuries, however, completely derailed his time with the Yankees. A torn labrum in his shoulder required surgery that cost him the entire 2016 season. He again captured the intrigue of Yankees fans when he ripped eight home runs in during 2017 Spring Training, but Bird fouled a ball off his ankle at the end of camp and quite literally limped through the first month of the season before hitting the injured list and undergoing surgery. That procedure removed the “os trigonum” bone from his ailing ankle. He returned in late August and again hit well down the stretch (.253/.316/.579, eight homers in 98 plate appearances).
Bird and the Yankees hoped the injuries could be put behind him for the 2018 season, but by the end of Spring Training that year, it became clear that the ankle was still an issue. He underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from that same surgically repaired ankle — a third surgery in three years — and spent the first six weeks of the year on the injured list. When healthy, Bird didn’t resemble his once-productive form, posting just a .199/.286/.386 batting line in 311 plate appearances. His 2019 campaign didn’t go any better, as he developed plantar fasciitis in his other foot and ultimately missing the majority of the season. The Yankees cut him loose following that 2019 campaign.
Bird has since signed with the Rangers and Rockies organizations, most recently spending the 2021 season with Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate, where he posted a .267/.362/.532 batting line with 27 home runs in 461 plate appearances. That was “only” about 17 percent better than league average, after accounting for the hitter-friendly setting (117 wRC+), but it was encouraging to see Bird produce well and remain healthy enough to appear in 112 games.
The Jays are obviously set with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base, and their deep outfield mix means they don’t necessarily have a need for a regular designated hitter. They’ve also been at least loosely connected to Freddie Freeman, and while that’s a long-shot fit, it’d only further reduce Bird’s chances of breaking through to the big league roster. That said, Bird is a perfectly sensible player to stash in Triple-A in the event of an injury, and if he hits well enough in Buffalo, the Jays can perhaps find a way to work his left-handed bat onto the roster in a part-time role.
Blue Jays Sign Joe Biagini To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Joe Biagini to a minor league contract, tweets Jamie Campbell of Sportsnet. He’ll presumably be invited to big league camp whenever it can finally get underway.
It’ll be a reunion for the two parties, as Biagini made his big league debut with the 2016 Jays after being selected out of the Giants organization in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft. He turned in an outstanding rookie season in Toronto, tossing 67 2/3 innings of 3.06 ERA ball with an even better 2.95 FIP mark. A move to the rotation the following season proved to be a misstep, however, as Biagini was torched for a 5.73 ERA in 18 starts (as compared to a 4.16 mark in 31 2/3 innings of bullpen work that year). The experiment continued early in the 2018 season, but Biagini returned to the ‘pen after just four starts and struggled his way through the remainder of the season.
A return to the ‘pen as a full-time reliever in 2019 brought about much better results — albeit not quite to the extent of his excellent rookie campaign. In 50 innings of bullpen work with Toronto, the Biagini notched a 3.78 ERA with 50 strikeouts against 17 walks. The Jays, still in the final stages of a rebuilding effort, flipped Biagini to the Astros alongside righty Aaron Sanchez at the 2019 trade deadline — a deal that brought Derek Fisher back to Toronto.
That swap didn’t work out for either party, as Biagini wound up pitching just 19 innings for the ‘Stros over the next two seasons while serving up a staggering 22 runs. Sanchez quickly went down with a shoulder injury and only wound up pitching 18 2/3 frames in Houston himself. Fisher spent parts of two seasons in Toronto and batted just .177/.295/.395 before being cut loose.
Biagini spent the 2021 season in the Cubs organization, where they again worked him primarily as a starting pitcher with their Triple-A affiliate. In 91 2/3 frames, the right-hander posted a 5.50 ERA. He appeared in one big league game late in the season as a Covid replacement player for the Cubs, picking up a win after pitching three scoreless innings of relief. He was removed from the 40-man roster thereafter and, as such, eligible to sign a minor league deal even amid the ongoing lockout.
All told, Biagini has a 5.03 ERA in 331 1/3 big league innings, though his struggles as a starter skew the numbers a bit. Biagini has a lifetime 6.08 ERA out of the rotation compared to a more palatable (albeit pedestrian) 4.53 ERA as a reliever. He’s been better than average in terms of limiting hard contact and barreled balls, per Statcast, and Biagini also possesses elite spin rate on a curveball that has been an effective pitch for him — alongside a similarly strong changeup. He’s tried out a four-seamer, sinker and cut fastball throughout his big league career, and all three (particularly the sinker) have been hit hard.
Right-hander Jordan Romano has emerged as the clear top reliever in the Toronto bullpen, and he’ll be joined by returning names such as Trevor Richards, Adam Cimber and Tim Mayza — as well as offseason signee Yimi Garcia. The Jays are expected to continue seeking bullpen help after the lockout, but Biagini’s experience and familiarity with the organization could eventually earn him an opportunity if he shows well either in camp or in Triple-A.
MLB Announces Postponement Of Opening Day Until At Least April 14
Major League Baseball announced it has postponed the start of the regular season for at least another week. A statement from Commissioner Rob Manfred reads:
“In a last-ditch effort to preserve a 162-game season, this week we have made good-faith proposals that address the specific concerns voiced by the MLBPA and would have allowed the players to return to the field immediately. The Clubs went to extraordinary lengths to meet the substantial demands of the MLBPA. On the key economic issues that have posed stumbling blocks, the Clubs proposed ways to bridge gaps to preserve a full schedule. Regrettably, after our second late-night bargaining session in a week, we remain without a deal.
Because of the logistical realities of the calendar, another two series are being removed from the schedule, meaning that Opening Day is postponed until April 14th. We worked hard to reach an agreement and offered a fair deal with significant improvements for the players and our fans. I am saddened by this situation’s continued impact on our game and all those who are a part of it, especially our loyal fans.
“We have the utmost respect for our players and hope they will ultimately choose to accept the fair agreement they have been offered.”
The MLBPA offered a statement of its own in response (via Twitter):
“The owners’ decision to cancel additional games is completely unnecessary. After making a set of comprehensive proposals to the league earlier this afternoon, and being told substantive responses were forthcoming, Players have yet to hear back. Players want to play, and we cannot wait to get back on the field for the best fans in the world. Our top priority remains the finalization of a fair contract for all Players, and we will continue negotiations toward that end.”
The league and union had seemingly closed the gap on core economics issues in an effort to hammer out a new CBA. However, the league’s efforts to tie the introduction of a draft for international amateurs to the elimination of the qualifying offer proved a sticking point in discussions. MLB had offered the union three proposals on the matter: 1) accept an international draft in exchange for the elimination of the QO, 2) leave both the QO and international signing period in place as they’d previously been or 3) agree to the elimination of the QO with the chance to reconsider the draft next offseason; taking the third route would’ve given the league the right to unilaterally reopen the CBA after the 2024 season if the union continued to object to the draft.
MLB tabled all discussions on other matters beyond that decision, presenting the MLBPA with an ultimatum — choose one of those courses of action or break off negotiations, which would result in another week’s worth of game cancelations. The MLBPA rejected the league’s proposals, instead putting forth a counteroffer. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports (Twitter link) the union proposed the elimination of the qualifying offer for next offseason with a November deadline for a final decision on the international draft. In the event the union rejected a draft at that point, the QO would return the following winter.
MLB declined to counter that proposal, maintaining that their three presented choices were the only scenarios on the table. The league then moved forward with another week of game cancelations. It’s not clear when the parties will reengage in negotiations, but future discussions now figure to be tinged with a whole host of new complications.
The league’s decision today appears to wipe out the possibility of playing a 162-game season. With the shortened schedule are likely to come debates regarding player pay and service time. Manfred has previously stated it’s the league’s position that players shouldn’t be paid for canceled games. MLBPA lead negotiator Bruce Meyer indicated the union would fight any efforts to prorate pay, noting that the game cancelations have been the sole decision of the league.
It’s frankly baffling that the league and union ended up where they did, given how much ground they’d closed on issues like the competitive balance tax, minimum salary and (to a lesser extent) the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players. Those topics hadn’t been formally settled, but the gaps between the parties’ respective asks on each seemed manageable enough to close with further discussions. Despite the movement on core economics, the international draft and indirectly, the qualifying offer, proved a bizarre roadblock.
The MLBPA has continually maintained an unwillingness to implement an international draft, suggesting that players from Latin America are particularly opposed. However, the league’s offers to take the international draft off the table in exchange for the continued existence of the QO make clear that compensation for signing free agents was an equally important issue. The qualifying offer hasn’t garnered a ton of attention as a contentious problem throughout negotiations.
That’s in part because the league agreed early on to its removal before later tying that to the implementation of the draft. However, it’s also because the union has focused much of its attention on a desire to improve compensation for players earlier in their careers. The qualifying offer isn’t related to those efforts, as it only comes into play for around 10-20 free agents (all of whom are at least quality players with six-plus years of service time) each winter. The MLBPA’s decision to draw a line on the qualifying offer is odd, as is the league’s immediate refusal to continue negotiations and cancel more games after the union’s small modification.
The players’ offer to eliminate the QO for one winter and then reevaluate the international draft in November wasn’t all that different than the league’s proposal to maintain the status quo on both topics. Were the union to refuse the international draft and reimpose the QO in 2023-24, the only benefit beyond what the league had been offering would have been one year of free agency without compensation: a matter that would have affected around a dozen players.
Given how close the parties are, it makes both the union’s decision to introduce this counteroffer and the league’s call to end negotiations look like the creation of an avoidable problem. Now, they’ll have to deal with the new issues of player pay and service time on top of whatever gaps remained in the actual questions of substance on the CBA. How long today’s setback will linger can’t be known, but it’s another blow to fans who’d gotten their hopes up at reports of progress over the past two days.
Andy Martino of SNY first reported the upcoming cancelation of games before the league announcement.
Padres Sign Mitch Walding To Minor League Deal
The Padres have signed Mitch Walding to a minor league contract, as AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reported. The 29-year-old appeared in the majors with the Phillies in both 2018-19, although he only tallied 15 combined games.
Walding has spent the bulk of his career as an infielder, logging more than 7000 professional innings at third base. However, he tells Cassavell he’s agreed to convert to catching. “My goal was finding anything that could get me back to the big leagues,” the former fifth-round pick said of the position change. “I looked at that as an alternate route that could really do some good for my career. So I got to work.”
While Walding has scant big league experience, he’s a nine-year minor league veteran. The left-handed hitter owns a .241/.341/.392 mark over parts of nine seasons on the farm, including a .240/.367/.433 line in three years at Triple-A. He the 2021 campaign with the Angels’ top affiliate in Salt Lake, hitting .238/.326/.451 with six home runs in 138 plate appearances. Walding struck out at an insurmountable 47.1% clip there, though, and he missed a good chunk of the year on the injured list.
No matter which position he mans, Walding will need to make more contact to get back to the MLB level. The offensive bar to clear is far lower for catchers than it is for third basemen, so a transition to his new position could ease some of the demand he faces at the dish. Yet that requires a successful late-career acclimation to perhaps the toughest spot on the diamond. Walding was credited by Baseball America with a plus arm during his days in the Phillies farm system, but whether he’ll be able to handle the finer points of the position (game calling, receiving, etc.) is to be determined. The Padres already have a fair bit of catching depth on the 40-man roster, but they could view that surplus as an opportunity to upgrade elsewhere whenever the lockout comes to an end.
MLB, Players Association Continuing To Discuss International Draft/Qualifying Offer Tonight
Despite Major League Baseball’s announcement that Opening Day would not begin before April 14, the league and Players Association continue to discuss their roadblock on the international draft and qualifying offer (as first reported by Tim Healey of Newsday). Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic adds that the parties “(would) determine the number of games in the season” if a new deal is finalized.
The news that the two sides remain in contact could offer a modicum of hope for progress. They’d closed much of the gap on core economics issues, after all, before the league’s desire for an international draft and the union’s push for the elimination of the qualifying offer led to a stalemate.
However, as has become apparent throughout negotiations, there’s no reason to put the cart before the horse. Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets that in-person bargaining is finished for tonight; Robert Murray of FanSided adds they “plan to speak more tomorrow,” suggesting there’s little optimism about finalizing a CBA in the coming hours. Indeed, MLB and the Players Association have kept open lines of communication — even those that fall short of true “negotiations” — constantly in recent weeks.
It’s unclear how much talks will develop this evening. We’ve seen rapid changes in the tenor of negotiations a few times already. Progress towards an eventual endpoint has waxed and waned, particularly as the parties have met frequently over the past few weeks. There’s no indication at this point the league is considering backtracking on its announcement that the first four series of the regular season have been canceled. That was a unilateral MLB decision, though, and nothing bars them from putting those games back on the schedule if they and the union move towards an agreement in the coming days.
International Draft Remains Among The Biggest CBA Obstacles
4:45pm: If the union rejects all of the league’s proposals regarding the international draft/QO, MLB believes there’s nothing left to discuss today, tweets Rosenthal. Presumably, that’d end negotiations and result in the league announcing further game cancelations.
4:38pm: Under the league’s “reopener” option, the union would have to decide whether to agree to an international draft on November 15, 2022. If they agree, the draft would go into effect in 2024. If they refuse, MLB would have the right to unilaterally reopen the entire CBA after the 2024 campaign (via Drellich).
4:29pm: The league hasn’t presented the MLBPA with a full proposal. It’s instead waiting on the union’s decision regarding the qualifying offer/international draft before discussing other topics, tweets Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post.
4:05pm: Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet report the players are meeting internally to determine their next steps, including whether to put forth the owners’ latest proposal for a formal vote.
3:48pm: Rosenthal tweets that the players find the possibility of allowing the league to unilaterally reopen the CBA if no international draft is in place by 2024 unappealing.
3:20pm: Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports (Twitter thread) that MLB has offered the union some flexibility on the proposed international draft/qualifying offer. That tradeoff remains on the table, but if it’s truly a non-starter for the MLBPA, the league has put some other proposals forward.
According to Rogers, MLB is willing to take both the international draft and the elimination of draft pick compensation for free agents off the table. That’d leave both the existing international signing setup and the qualifying offer system for free agents as they’d been. Alternatively, MLB is willing to immediately eliminate the QO and push the international draft question back a couple seasons. If the MLBPA remains opposed to implementing the draft at some point down the line, the league would have the right to reopen the entire CBA.
The gap has also closed on the minimum salaries. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports (on Twitter) the latest union proposal would have a $710K league minimum in 2022. That’s just $10K north of the league’s proposed $700K figure. The league’s offered minimum would finish at $770K by the end of the CBA, while the union is seeking $780K by 2026. That gap shouldn’t be hard to close.
2:41pm: Evan Drellich of The Athletic tweets that the union’s proposal dropped its bonus pool proposal to $65MM, while their proposed CBT thresholds dropped a good bit further. After previously seeking year-to-year thresholds of $238MM, $244MM, $250MM, $256MM and $263MM, today’s proposal from the union offered thresholds of $232MM in 2022, $235MM in 2023, $240MM in 2024, $245MM in 2025 and $250MM in 2026.
Those new thresholds from the MLPBA represent respective gaps of $2MM, $3MM, $4MM, $5MM and $8MM from the league’s proposed thresholds. Their $65MM bonus pool checks in $25MM north of the league’s proposed $40MM (the equivalent of $833K per team).
2:30pm: Many Latin players consider the potential implementation of an international draft a “nonstarter,” tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The MLBPA’s counteroffer also still sought additional movement in CBT thresholds and the size of the pre-arbitration bonus pool. SNY’s Andy Martino adds that ownership has become pessimistic after the union yet again rejected the notion of an international draft, which the league has sought to exchange for the elimination of draft compensation (Twitter thread).
Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet repot (via Twitter) that the league is expected to present the union with its own counter in the near future. A player vote could be conducted following that next MLB counter. Each team’s union rep and the eight members of the MLBPA executive subcommittee would be involved in that vote, which would require a simple majority to pass.
1:24pm: The MLBPA’s contingent has left the league’s offices after presenting a counteroffer, tweets Yahoo’s Hannah Keyser.
2:08am: The Players Association “requested to speak to its board again early tomorrow before coming back with a proposal,” an MLB official told Evan Drellich of The Athletic and other reporters. No games have been canceled yet. “Significant gaps remain between the sides,” a source tells SNY’s Andy Martino.
12:42am: There is hope for a collective bargaining agreement today between MLB and the Players Association. Both sides continued to work in their respective New York City offices as Tuesday bled into Wednesday. On Tuesday, MLB made an offer to the players that moved toward them in several key areas, including the competitive balance tax, the minimum salary, and the size of the new pre-arbitration bonus pool. The MLBPA has tendered a counteroffer, the details of which are unknown at this time.
Aside from the remaining financial gaps, MLB’s offer came with a few sticking points. One is the concept of a new, fourth competitive balance tax tier. In the previous CBA, the levels were named the Base Tax Threshold, First Surcharge Threshold, and Second Surcharge Threshold. The owners would like to add a Third Surcharge Threshold. Using the owners’ latest offer, the 2022 thresholds would be set at $230MM, $250MM, $270MM, and $290MM, with increasing tax rates for each tier. That new Third Surcharge Threshold would always sit $60MM above the Base Tax Threshold.
The owners are also insisting on the institution of an international draft. The last known details on this come from Anthony Castrovince’s article for MLB.com on March 5, but keep in mind that “lead negotiators Bruce Meyer & Dan Halem [are] believed to be discussing that topic actively,” as per an 11:36pm March 8 tweet from Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. Furthermore, MLB is said to be tying its offer to eliminate free agent draft pick forfeiture to the international draft.
It’s also worth noting that MLB’s last known offer was for a $40MM pre-arbitration bonus pool that did not increase throughout the five-year CBA. The MLBPA’s last known proposal came in at $80MM in 2022 with growth to $100MM in ’26. Nicholson-Smith has noted that “players have indicated a willingness” to move to a $70MM starting point growing to $90MM. That would still mark a sizable gap.
As you can see in my post summing up the latest known positions of each side, the once-cavernous gaps are narrowing with the prospect of a 162-game season hanging in the balance. The new draft lottery concept seems set to include the first six picks, although other details such as penalties for teams finishing near the bottom of the standings in consecutive seasons may yet need to be hashed out. Both sides have been in agreement on the universal designated hitter for a while now. The sides seem to be coming together on reducing the amount of notice MLB needs to make on-field rule changes. And perhaps most importantly, there seems to be consensus that the playoffs will be expanded to 12 teams in a potential new CBA.
On Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote that MLB suggested “that if a deal comes down Tuesday, players can be in spring training camps by Friday, and lost games could be made up on off days and with doubleheaders.” Tuesday came and went without an agreement, but USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted last night, “The new deadline is now Wednesday afternoon for the two sides to reach an agreement before MLB cancels another week of games.” It’s fair to question the necessity of MLB’s ever-changing deadlines, but it’s clear that today is pivotal as we wait to see if the league’s lockout will end on its 98th day.
Latest On Potential International Draft
1:00pm: Alden Gonzalez and Jeff Passan of ESPN add some further details (Twitter links). The top pick’s slot value is actually a slight bit higher than previously reported, landing at $5.5125MM. That’s due to MLB upping the size of each slot value from the weekend by a matter of five percent. Gonzalez notes that MLB is “flexible” on the $20K cap for undrafted free agents, though the extent to which the league is willing to bend isn’t totally clear.
Passan writes that rather than set the draft order based on record, teams would be broken up into “pods” which would rotate every year. Castrovince suggested a similar setup this weekend, writing that pods of six clubs would rotate through the draft order each year; in other words, Pod A would have selections one through six in a given year, then seven through twelve the following season, etc. Passan posits “pod” sizes of seven or eight teams rather than six (thus giving teams a crack at the top of the draft every fourth year rather than every fifth), but the general concept remains the same.
11:50am: Newsday’s Tim Healey tweets that under MLB’s proposal, the international draft would not go into effect until 2024. That’s surely vital for Latin American players, as some prominent figures have stressed that if implemented, the finer details should not be rushed.
Among those prominent voices is Red Sox icon David Ortiz, who spoke passionately in a message to his countrymen from the Dominican Republic today (Twitter thread via ESPN’s Jeff Passan). Ortiz stressed the importance of the league and players working together to get the specifics of the draft right. Ortiz adds:
“Baseball is such a big thing in the Dominican. Baseball keeps kids off the streets. We don’t want that to walk away from us. We want it to get better. That’s my focus. Nothing else. We have the youth. People wanting to be me, Pedro, Pujols. We can’t let that go away. At the end of the day, I don’t want those kids to be affected by it. I already played baseball. I had a career. I care about the kids being treated right. I understand MLB wants to have control over everything they do, but you’re not going to change the system overnight. Baseball is one of the secret weapons of the Dominican economy. If you talk about a draft here in the states, you have choices. You can do football, basketball. … Dominican has baseball to make your way out. That’s it. You have to be careful.”
11:00am: The potential implementation of an international draft has become a focal point in collective bargaining between MLB and the Players Association as gaps elsewhere in negotiations begin to close. Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reported last night that the international draft is one of the largest remaining obstacles in talks. The league, reportedly, is seeking to trade an elimination of the qualifying offer system for the draft — a concept they’d already proposed in prior packages. Of course, everything in these package proposals is dependent on other factors, so the league now using the QO elimination as a “give” in exchange for the international draft likely just reflects the manner in which other elements of the proposals have ebbed and flowed.
In some new developments on the topic of the proposed international draft, Maria Torres and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report this morning that MLB’s latest proposal included a slot value of $5.5MM for the No. 1 overall pick (Twitter thread). That’s up slightly from the league’s weekend proposal, wherein MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince reported that MLB was positing a potential $5.25MM slot value for the first pick of a 20-round draft. Slots would be hard-capped and picks could be traded, per Castrovince, as opposed to the soft-capped “recommended” slot values in the domestic draft, where picks cannot be traded (save for those awarded via the Competitive Balance Lottery). The newly proposed $5.5MM top overall slot value is still miles shy of the $8.415MM first overall slot value from this past summer’s domestic amateur draft; today’s $250K bump narrowly pushes the top international slot’s value past the No. 7 overall slot value from the 2021 amateur draft.
Major League Baseball’s pitch to the union is that the proposed slot values could generate as much as $23MM in additional spending on international amateurs in a given year, per Torres. She adds that the final 100 slots in the draft would be valued at a combined $3.3MM, whereas MLB has pointed out to the union that the bottom 100 bonuses in the past couple of signing periods have averaged about $1.78MM in total. Notably, that particular spin ignores that the “bottom 100 bonuses” in prior signing periods is not necessarily equivalent to the “bottom 100 slots” in an international draft where only a finite number of players (600) can be selected. Torres notes that undrafted international amateurs could still sign, but Rosenthal tweets that bonuses would be capped at $20K.
Regardless of specific permutations on the late rounds and undrafted amateurs, there’s still some considerable pushback against the concept from the players’ end of things — particularly among Latin American big leaguers. Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. has publicly pushed back, telling El Caribe (Twitter link):
“The International Draft is going to kill baseball in [Dominican Republic]. It’s going to affect us a lot, because there will be many young people who used to give them the opportunity to get a bonus and with the draft it will not be the same.”
ESPN’s Marly Rivera reports that many Latin American players share those concerns, adding that the general sentiment among Puerto Rican players is that their entry into the amateur draft has stunted the development of baseball on the whole. Astros catcher Martin Maldonado, originally drafted by the Angels out of Dr. Juan J. Nunez high school in Puerto Rico, tweeted this morning that he “agrees 100%” with the concerns raised by Tatis.
As Rivera further notes, MLB’s position on the international draft is that it will help to regulate some of the many improprieties that currently exist on the international market. It’s a poorly kept secret that verbal agreements between Major League teams and international amateurs are in place years before those players are eligible to sign on their 16th birthdays; Major League scouts are regularly evaluating players before they even reach their teenage years, and players can have verbal agreements with teams as early as 13 or 14 years of age. Additional concerns include steroid usage among baseball hopefuls during those critical formative years, as well as exploitative behavior from many “buscones” who arrange deals between teams and amateur players.
The pushback from the union, presumably, is that these improprieties can be corrected without the implementation of an amateur draft. Major League Baseball has rules and regulations in place that are intended to bar early agreements of this nature. However, with the exception of former Braves GM John Coppolella being banned for circumventing those rules, punishments have been few and far between. Even after Coppolella’s ouster, early deals have continued. As Mike Axisa of CBS Sports explored recently, MLB could crack down on corruption on the international market by simply choosing to enforce its own typically ignored rules and regulations.
All that said, the draft system does figure to have some benefits for international amateurs. MLB’s current system is hard-capped, and while the draft wouldn’t change that, the simple fact that the combined value of the draft slots being proposed exceeds the combined value of the current international bonus pools means more money will go to those amateurs. Further, even though the league could likely cut down on corruption without implementing the draft, that does not change the fact that the draft ought to nevertheless curtail those early agreements. (Other forms of corruption, of course, will be more difficult to suppress.)
For the players, concerns surely remain about the potential stunting of baseball’s growth in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, Colombia and other markets. It’s also a clear negative for a player not to be able to choose his first team and to not be able to negotiate more openly. The draft could potentially lead to fewer high-dollar deals for the market’s very best prospects — depending on the exact distribution of slot values.
Ultimately, given the manner in which the two sides have begun to move closer to an agreement on other elements of the deal, it seems hard to imagine the finer points of an international draft truly scuttling a deal. It’s clear there’s still work to be done, though, and much of it will center around this topic.
Rockies Fire Scott Van Lenten
The Rockies have fired director of research and development Scott Van Lenten just six months after hiring him away from the Nationals, reports Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Saunders cites “major disagreements” between Van Lenten and the club regarding what his role would be moving forward. Thomas Harding of MLB.com adds that assistant GM Zack Rosenthal will currently oversee the Rockies’ R&D department while the club looks for a replacement. Remarkably, Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette reports that the Rockies’ R&D department now has only five employees — most of whom were hired by Van Lenten.
The Rockies championed Van Lenten as a pivotal hire who would be tasked with building out an analytics department that was sorely lacking and miles behind most teams throughout the league. His hiring, which came only a few months after owner Dick Monfort dismissed GM Jeff Bridich and promoted longtime scouting director Bill Schmidt to the post, was one of many steps that was framed as progress for the front office. Specifics on what prompted the relationship to go south so quickly haven’t yet come to light, but it’s worth pointing out that Van Lenten was sold on a very specific vision for his role at the time of his hiring.
“When the Rockies reached out and were interested in talking to me, I was excited but I wanted to make sure what I was getting into,” Van Lenten told Harding back in September. “I wanted to make sure they were going to provide the resources, make sure they were going to be supportive and have a real vision and are going to have the resources to do it the right way. They were very supportive.”
Apple, NBC Agree To Streaming Deals With Major League Baseball
March 9: In addition to their deal with Apple, MLB has also finalized a streaming rights deal with NBC Sports, reports Mike Ozanin of Forbes. NBC will purchase the rights to the Monday Night Baseball and Wednesday Night Baseball packages that ESPN did not include in its new deal with MLB. Those games will “mainly” be streamed on NBC’s Peacock streaming service, though specific broadcast details have not yet been announced by MLB or by NBC.
The pair of new streaming deals will pay MLB $115MM annually, Ozanin further reports. MLB’s deal with Apple is a seven-year contract that comes out to $85MM annually. The NBC/Peacock deal is shorter, clocking in at two years and $30MM in annual rights fees. It’s not yet expressly clear that the NBC deal will make those games exclusive to Peacock, but assuming that’s the case (as it is with Apple), the league would be subtracting somewhere around 100 total games (perhaps a bit more) from its MLB.tv package with this pair of new streaming deals.
Under MLB’s previous deals with ESPN, FOX and TBS, the league pulled in an average of $1.55 billion in annual television rights between the regular season and the playoffs. Their newest batch of contracts with those providers, plus the recent additions of Apple and NBC, give MLB a 26% increase in television and streaming revenue — up to an average of $1.96 billion each year, according to Ozanin. That comes out to about $65MM per club, before factoring in each team’s local/regional broadcast contracts.
March 8: Major League Baseball and Apple announced Tuesday that they have agreed to a streaming deal that will see two Friday night games streamed exclusively on Apple TV+ each week, beginning with the 2022 season. “Friday Night Baseball” will feature live pregame and postgame shows and will be available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Apple TV+ will also offer a program called “MLB Big Inning” to U.S. viewers, which the press release describes as a “live show featuring highlights and look-ins airing every weeknight during the regular season.”
The new service will allow fans to watch “marquee” games each Friday which will be “free from local broadcast restrictions.” Fans who are frustrated by the blackout issues that have served as a persistent source of consternation for MLB.tv users will surely welcome an alternative — particularly those who are already subscribe to Apple TV+.
However, the Friday Night Baseball deal now removes two games per week from that same MLB.tv package, given that today’s press release from Apple emphasizes the exclusivity of those Friday night broadcasts. That’s sure to raise the ire of MLB.tv users who do not have an active Apple TV+ subscription, as they’ll now be required to sign up for an additional monthly service if they wish to catch those Friday night contests. Today’s press release indicates that “for a limited time,” Friday Night Baseball will be accessible without a subscription but offers no further detail.
Of course, it’s only natural to see Major League Baseball continue to push into the streaming space, as they’ve done in recent years with live-game broadcasts on YouTube and Facebook. Other such deals will surely follow, particularly given how prominent this model is becoming throughout all of professional sports. Amazon Prime began streaming Thursday Night Football games in recent years, for instance, while other services like Peacock, Hulu and Paramount+ have increasingly begun to offer exclusive live sports streams as part of their models. There’s considerable profit to be gained by expanding streaming partnerships in this fashion, even if it comes at the expense of MLB watering down its longstanding MLB.tv offerings.
“Apple is the ideal partner to bring ‘Friday Night Baseball’ to fans around the world,” MLB chief revenue officer Noah Garden said in a statement within today’s press release. “Following milestones like the launch of At Bat on day one of the App Store in 2008 to the integration of Apple technology in ballparks across the country, this robust new game package is the perfect next collaboration in our long history of offering quality and innovative content to our fans. With national availability and international reach, MLB on Apple TV+ offers an exciting new platform to fans that allows a wider audience to connect with the game.”
Phillies To Sign Aaron Barrett, John Andreoli To Minor League Deals
The Phillies are expected to finalize minor league contracts with righty Aaron Barrett and outfielder John Andreoli in the near future, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki (Twitter link). Neither deal has been formally announced just yet, though the Barrett indicated on Twitter that he has indeed reached a deal with the Phils.
Barrett, 34, has spent his entire professional career in the Nationals organization prior to inking this deal. The former ninth-round pick was well on his way to solidifying himself as a quality big league reliever in 2014-15, pitching 70 innings of 3.47 ERA ball with a 28.3% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk rate out of the Nats’ bullpen over that pair of seasons. That’s a strong strikeout rate even by today’s standards, but it was all the more impressive in 2014-15,when the leaguewide rate was about three percentage points lower than present levels.
The 2016 season was a lost one for Barrett, however, as he missed the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery (and having bone spurs removed from his elbow as well). After nearly a year of rehabbing the injury, Barrett suffered a far more gruesome injury in 2017, when he broke the humerus bone in his right arm in a rehab appearance with the Nats’ Triple-A club. Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post detailed the scene and the surgery required to repair that injury, which renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews likened to a traumatic injury more akin to one sustained in a severe car crash.
Barrett missed the 2018 season recovering from that surgery but never gave up on his goal of returning to the big leagues. The emotional video of Double-A manager Matt LeCroy informing Barrett that he was going back to the Majors in 2019 went viral (and is still a must-watch for baseball fans who did not see at the time), and Barrett’s similarly emotional return to the mound (video link) was one of the better moments along the way during Washington’s Cinderella run to the 2019 World Series title.
While he’s still only pitched four big league innings since making it back to the show in 2019, Barrett had a strong 2021 season in the minors with the Nats. He again spent considerable time on the injured list but posted a 2.13 ERA through 38 innings across three levels when healthy.
As for the 31-year-old Andreoli, he’s appeared in two big league seasons, seeing time with the Orioles and Mariners in 2018 before a brief seven-game stint with the Padres in 2021. He only has 74 big league plate appearances, during which he’s batted .224/.284/.269. Those have come in scattered and inconsistent fashion, however, and Andreoli has a track record of posting big on-base percentages in the upper minors, as evidenced by a career .258/.373/.414 slash in more than 2600 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s walked in 14.8% of his plate appearances in Triple-A — albeit against a 26% strikeout rate. Andreoli has more than 2000 innings of professional experience at all three outfield positions: 3127 in left field, 2546 in center and 2130 in right.