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Minasian, Hollander Finalists For Angels GM Job

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11:29pm: Minasian is seen as the “front-runner,” Rosenthal tweets.

11:03pm: The Angels have narrowed their search for a new GM. They’ll choose between Braves assistant GM Perry Minasian and Mariners AGM Justin Hollander, according to Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Other serious candidates included Jason McLeod of the Cubs and Jared Porter of the Diamondbacks. Both were among the finalists recently removed from consideration, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). Another Arizona exec, Amiel Sawdaye, was also among the finalists, Rosenthal adds.

It seems we’ll soon know which of the remaining candidates will get the gig. The Halos will likely announce their choice tomorrow, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Registers reports on Twitter.

The top baseball operations position came open in late September, on the heels of another disappointing season. Owner Arte Moreno elected to cut bait on GM Billy Eppler despite recently extending his contract by one additional year.

Despite a five-year run of losing campaigns under Eppler, the Angels aren’t expected to present a rebuilding opportunity for a new front office leader. The club still features some premium talent, headlined by living legend Mike Trout, with the payroll commitments to match.

Though the Angels reportedly considered a wide array of potential hires, including some with previous experience in a GM seat, the team clearly homed in on a certain archetype as its search progressed. The five finalists are all relatively youthful, rising-star types who’ve yet to run their own department.

Tigers Interested In Taijuan Walker

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The Tigers have expressed interest in free agent righty Taijuan Walker, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). While the Detroit club has an array of young pitching on hand, Morosi says the intention is to ink at least one veteran hurler.

Walker’s career has been hampered by injury issues, but he was at full health for the partial 2020 campaign. He compiled 53 1/3 innings of 2.70 ERA pitching over 11 starts.

Alas, the results look a lot better than the underlying numbers. Opposing hitters registered only a .286 wOBA but produced contact quality suggesting a much more robust .325 xwOBA (though Walker did land in the 74th percentile in hard contact rate). Fielding-independent pitching measures weren’t terribly optimistic; Walker checked in with a 4.56 FIP, 4.82 xFIP, and 4.60 SIERA. He managed only a 7.8% swinging-strike rate last year.

Suffice to say, teams considering Walker will likely not be chasing upside so much as hoping for reasonably priced, solid innings. And there’s reason to think he can serve as a useful back-of-the-rotation starter. Walker was healthy enough in 2020 to average 93.5 mph with his fastball, not far off his career average, and he won’t turn 29 until August. MLBTR graded him the 23rd-best available free agent, predicting that he’d land a two-year, $16MM contract.

Mets Interview Michael Hill

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The Mets have interviewed Michael Hill for the role of president of baseball operations, Andy Martino of SNY.tv reports on Twitter. The chat occurred over the weekend.

It’s an especially interesting time to follow the rarely dull New York franchise. New owner Steve Cohen raised already lofty expectations for his first offseason at the helm in a recent talk with the media, but he’ll first need to add baseball operations leadership before attacking the player market.

Cohen brought back Sandy Alderson in the team president role, with intentions of overhauling the front office. Now Alderson is leading the search for someone to take over his former role atop the baseball ops hierarchy.

It wasn’t long ago that Hill and Alderson were doing battle in the NL East, with the former heading up the Marlins front office. Though Hill survived an ownership change in Miami and helped put together a successful 2020 roster, he ended up departing at season’s end.

No doubt the Mets are strongly considering other candidates as well as Hill, who has also been linked to the Angels. The full slate of candidates isn’t yet clear. It’s quite an appealing opportunity now that the deep-pocketed Cohen is aboard. Alderson has stated that he’ll delegate primary decisionmaking authority to the baseball operations president.

Dayton Moore Expects Royals To Be Competitive In 2021

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The Kansas City Royals last made the playoffs in 2015. That was a good year. Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Salvador Perez, and a transcendent bullpen won the AL pennant for the second consecutive season, and they finished it off with World Series victory.

That team is the most recent Royals squad to post a winning record. They went 81-81 in 2016, 80-82 in 2017, and then the bottom fell out. They lost 100+ games in each of the next two seasons before posting a 26-34 record in this year’s shortened season. That’s a 70-win pace for a full season, definitely an improvement over back-to-back season in which they failed to crack 60 wins.

Manager Mike Matheny will need to coax a more substantial improvement from his squad if they want to compete in 2021. That’s indeed the plan, however. General Manager Dayton Moore spoke with reporters during a Zoom call today, and he made no bones about his expectations for the Royals in 2021. Moore said, per Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star:

“We expect to win next year. What does that look like? Is it going to be enough wins to make the playoffs? We’ll find out. Our mindset is going to be to win every single pitch, every inning, win every game. That’s the only way that we’re ever going to win another championship, you’ve got to expect to win at all aspects.”

Don’t expect the Royals to be major players in free agency, however. The small market club figures to be judicious in adding from the open market. The primary pieces of the next Royals contender are going to be developed in-house, as has been the Royals preference. They’ve long believed in their current crop of players, even as the team as a whole has struggled. Interestingly, Moore did say that he doesn’t see finances getting in the way of improving the team, should the right opportunity come along.

The Royals plan to pursue their own free agents before expanding to the open market, which would be very “Royals” of them, though returning any of Greg Holland, Ian Kennedy, Mike Montgomery, or even Trevor Rosenthal could help boost a bullpen that needs some work. The Royals have incrementally added young arms like Brad Keller, Kris Bubic, and Brady Singer to veteran Danny Duffy in the rotation. The bullpen remains a work in progress. They did, however, put forth a 3.84 ERA in 2020, a mark that ranked 8th in the majors. Losing Holland would create an opening, with first looks presumably going to Josh Staumont, Kyle Zimmer, Jesse Hahn, and Scott Barlow. That quartet present some intriguing options with which to move forward into 2021.

Otherwise, the Royals will continue to try to develop and build from within. Bobby Witt Jr., Khalil Lee, and Kyle Isbel received high praise from Moore as prospects that could turn into significant pieces. Witt was the #2 overall pick of the 2019 draft, and he has yet to play a full season in the minors.

Trevor Bauer Wins NL Cy Young Award

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Trevor Bauer of the Cincinnati Reds was awarded the Cy Young in the National League by the BBWAA tonight. Amazingly, Bauer becomes the first Cy Young award winner in Reds’ history.

Bauer made the most of his free agent season with a league-leading 1.73 ERA over 73 innings, including 2 complete game shutouts. Bauer showed up in the postseason for the Reds as well, going 7 2/3 innings allowing just 2 hits while striking out 12 and walking none. During the regular season, opponents hit just .159 against him, the best mark in the league.

That represents quite the platform for a freshly minted free agent. Teams will also have to consider Bauer’s frustrating 2019 campaign, though he was dealing with injuries for much of the year and his comeback left little to be desired. Bauer is one of the most entertaining, enigmatic, and opinionated personalities in the game, and now he’s heading into the open market as the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.

As close as the race seemed leading up to the event, Bauer ran away with it, taking 27 first-place votes and 201 total points. Yu Darvish finished 2nd with 3 first-place votes and 123 total point, and Jacob deGrom finished 3rd with 89 points. 12 different pitchers received at least one vote for the award.

Shane Bieber Wins AL Cy Young Award

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Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians was awarded the top pitching honor in the American League by the BBWAA tonight. It’s Bieber’s first Cy Young award. He finished 4th in Cy Young voting last season. Bieber was a unanimous winner, taking all 30 first place votes.

Bieber stood head and shoulders above the field in 2020, his age-25 season and third in the majors. Over 12 starts, he posted a 1.63 ERA/2.07 FIP with 14.2 K/9 to 2.4 BB/9, good for 3.3 rWAR and a 281 ERA+. He led the majors in wins, ERA, FIP, ERA+, strikeouts, and strikeout rate, while he led the American League with the fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.4 H/9). Simply, it was a remarkable season for Bieber.

Kenta Maeda of the Twins finished 2nd with 18 of 30 2nd-place votes and 92 total points. Hyun Jin Ryu of the Blue Jays finished 3rd with 51 total points, one ahead of the 4th-place finisher Gerrit Cole. There were 11 different pitchers to receive at least one vote. Bieber is the first unanimous winner in the AL since Justin Verlander in 2011.

George Springer, J.T. Realmuto Decline Qualifying Offers

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The final qualifying offer decisions are in, as both George Springer of the Astros and J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies have declined their qualifying offers, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). The Astros and Phillies will receive compensatory draft picks if/when they sign with another club. The final tally has four players declining (Springer, Realmuto, DJ LeMahieu, Trevor Bauer) and two accepting their qualifying offer (Marcus Stroman, Kevin Gausman).

Realmuto, 30 next season, will be the top catcher on the free agent market by a wide margin. His power and athleticism is unmatched behind the plate, and he’s faster than he looks. Realmuto has everything you look for in a catcher, but at 30-years-old, there are still some questions as far as how well he’ll fare in the current climate. Time will tell, but after slashing .273/.333/.492 with 36 home runs over 192 games in his Phillies’ tenure, Realmuto should have no shortage of suitors. The tastemakers here at MLBTR pegged him as 2nd on our list of Top-50 Free Agents in the market, naming the Mets, Reds, Nationals, Yankees, Blue Jays, Phillies, Cardinals, Astros, and Angels as potential suitors.

Springer, 31, has his own bugaboo that makes this foray into the free market an interesting one. There are few holes in his resume, but the part he played in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal will continue to be a line item on any story involving Springer. Still, with a 153 wRC+ since 2019, the ability to play center or left, and 5.0 rWAR per 650 plate appearances throughout his career, Springer will get some attention this winter.

Besides, not that we believe in this sort of thing anymore, but he’s nails in the postseason. He boasts a playoff triple slash of .269/.349/.546 over an absurd 63 career games with 19 home runs and 38 RBIs. That extrapolates out to 49 HRs and 98 RBIs over 162 games. He’s tied for 4th all-time in playoff home runs and currently ranks 5th in championship win probability added. We temper our expectations when it comes to sustainability in high-leverage situations, but we can still marvel at the success Springer has managed thus far in his career (with the now-usual caveat for his part in the sign-stealing).

The MLBTR soothsayers have Springer third on our Top-50 Free Agents list, with the White Sox, Blue Jays, Phillies, Nationals, Cardinals, and Mets as possible destinations. Even with the rejection of the qualifying offer, a return to Houston cannot be ruled out either.

Kevin Gausman Accepts Qualifying Offer

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There were six free agents this season to have their team extend a qualifying offer, but it only came down to the wire for one. As of early today, Kevin Gausman was weighing multiple multi-year offers against the one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer he could accept from the Giants. He will accept that offer this evening, per MLB Insider Jeff Passan (via Twitter). The two sides may continue working on a multi-year deal, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter), but either way he’ll be back in the Giants rotation in 2021.

Gausman’s had an up-and-down career to this point. He broke out as a solid rotation arm as a 25-year-old for the Orioles in 2016, beginning a three-year run of quality rWAR production of 3.9, 2.0, 3.9, the last of which he earned while splitting his time between Baltimore and Atlanta. Gausman struggled mightily through 16 starts with the Braves to open 2019 (3-7, 6.19 ERA, -0.9 rWAR), but righted the ship with a 4.03 ERA over 22 1/3 innings out of the Reds bullpen. It was enough to earn a one-year, $9MM offer with the Giants in the offseason. He parlayed that deal into a $18.9MM contract for 2021 via 59 2/3 innings with a 3.62 ERA/3.09 FIP. Gausman more than doubles his year-over-year salary by accepting the qualifying offer.

Looking ahead for the Giants, they now have Gausman, Johnny Cueto, and Logan Webb likely holding down spots in their rotation, with Tyler Anderson and Tyler Beede rehabbing from injury, and prospect Sean Hjelle looking to make a run for a spot, writes Pavlovic (via Twitter). That may not be a group set to take down the juggernaut Dodgers, but it’s certainly better with Gausman than without him. Besides, the offseason is just beginning. If the Giants struggle in 2021, Gausman on a one-year deal, at the very least, could turn into an attractive trade chip at the deadline.

As for the other qualifying offers, Trevor Bauer, DJ LeMahieu, George Springer, and J.T. Realmuto declined their qualifying offers, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter), though there was little doubt for any of the four. Marcus Stroman accepted his offer from the Mets today, choosing to take the large one-year contract to play out the beginning of the Steve Cohen tenure in New York.

If neither the Mets nor Giants work out longer-term deals for their hurlers, Gausman and Stroman would enter free agency without the extra burden of a qualifying offer at the end of next season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/11/20

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Here are Wednesday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • Left-hander Brian Gonzalez has signed a minor league deal with the Rockies, agent Gavin Kahn announced on Twitter. He’ll receive an invite to Major League Spring Training. Gonzalez, who turned 25 a couple of weeks ago, was a third-round pick of the Orioles back in 2014 but never advanced beyond the Double-A level in the Baltimore system. Gonzalez was hit hard at that level as a 22-year-old but fared better in 2019, when he logged a 4.32 ERA and 35-to-11 K/BB ratio in 41 2/3 frames there. He’s never been considered a particularly high-end prospect, but the Rockies have a clear need for some depth in the upper levels of a weak farm system.
  • The Athletics have signed right-hander Montana DuRapau to a minor league contract, according to DuRapau’s agents at Primetime Sports Group (Twitter link). The 28-year-old (29 in March) didn’t pitch in the big leagues this past season but logged 14 1/3 frames with the Pirates in 2019. That’s the only Major League experience DuRapau has on his track record, and it didn’t go particularly well, as he yielded 15 runs in that time. However, DuRapau carries a career 3.42 ERA in parts of three Triple-A seasons — including a sterling 2.14 mark with 11.1 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 46 1/3 innings during 2019’s wildly hitter-friendly, juiced-ball season.

Rays, Cubs Complete Jose Martinez Trade

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The Rays and Cubs have completed their Aug. 30 Jose Martinez trade, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). The Rays acquired cash rather than a player to be named later to round out the deal. The initial trade was announced as Martinez to the Cubs in exchange for minor league infielder Pedro Martinez and a PTBNL or cash.

The trade didn’t pan out as the Cubs had hoped, as Martinez appeared in 10 games for them and went 0-for-21 with a walk. A longtime division rival with the Cardinals, the 32-year-old Martinez struggled immensely in 2020, hitting just .182/.265/.295 in a combined 98 plate appearances between the two teams. The Cubs still control him through 2022 via arbitration, although his 2020 struggles make him a clear non-tender candidate.

As for the Rays, they picked up the younger, 19-year-old Martinez who now ranks as their No. 21 prospect at MLB.com and Baseball America as well as their No. 31 prospect at FanGraphs. The lack of a minor league season makes it impossible to really evaluate the younger Martinez’s 2020 season. That said, he posted a .311/.388/.437 slash through 233 plate appearances back in 2019 and adds some depth to the lower levels of one of MLB’s best farms.

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