Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

MLBTR Poll: George Springer’s Future

By | at

Longtime Astros outfielder George Springer entered free agency this winter as one of the most coveted players on the open market. Understandably so, as the 31-year-old hit an excellent .270/.361/.491 with 174 home runs in 3,567 plate appearances from 2014-20. Thanks to his tremendous output in Houston’s uniform, MLBTR ranked Springer as the third-best free agent available at the beginning of the offseason, projecting him for a five-year, $125MM contract.

Almost two months into free agency, the Astros, Mets and Blue Jays are the only teams with reported interest in Springer. It’s unclear, though, whether the Astros are willing to dole out another nine-figure contract, despite what Springer has meant to the club. The Mets, led by deep-pocketed rookie owner Steve Cohen, could turn to Springer as their new center fielder, though that might mean trading one of their other outfielders (Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith). Similarly, the Blue Jays have a decent outfield on paper with Randal Grichuk, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez. However, the team doesn’t appear content with Grichuk as its center fielder, so it could bring in Springer and let go of Grichuk or one of its other outfielders in a deal.

While Houston, New York and Toronto look like the front-runners to sign Springer, a “mystery team” could step in and steal the three-time All-Star. Which club do you expect to sign Springer? (Poll link for app users)

Free Agent Notes: LeMahieu, Realmuto, Arihara, Hand

By | at

The Mets “recently contacted” infielder DJ LeMahieu, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The fight for LeMahieu appeared to be between his previous team, the Yankees, as well as the Blue Jays, but it would be difficult to count the deep-pocketed Mets out of the mix. Signing LeMahieu would enable the Mets to send Jeff McNeil from second to third base, though it’s unclear what that would mean for J.D. Davis, who started the majority of Mets games at the hot corner in 2020.

  • New Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and Jeff Berry, the agent for free-agent catcher J.T. Realmuto, had a discussion Monday, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic relays. Negotiations did not occur during that talk, but Dombrowski made sure to mention that the Phillies want Realmuto back, per Montemurro. They have made Realmuto an offer, Heyman relays.
  • The Rangers are among the teams “believed” to have interest in right-hander Kohei Arihara, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets. The 28-year-old Arihara, whom the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball posted earlier this offseason, logged a 3.74 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 over 836 innings. MLB teams have until Dec. 26 to sign Arihara.
  • Minnesota native Brad Hand, one of the top relievers on the open market, told Darren Wolfson of SKOR North that he’d “love to play”  for the Twins in 2021. However, the southpaw isn’t sure if the Twins are interested in signing him. Hand reached free agency when the division-rival Indians declined his $10MM club option after last season, which came as a surprise considering the 30-year-old was one of baseball’s top relievers in 2020.

Red Sox Sign Stephen Gonsalves To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Red Sox have re-signed left-hander Stephen Gonsalves to a minor league pact, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. The team previously outrighted Gonsalves in late August. His new deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Gonsalves, now 26 years old, became a pro when the Twins used a fourth-round pick on him in 2013. He eventually became a top 100 prospect, though he didn’t see much major league time with the team or make a notable impact in Minnesota. Gonsalves concluded his Twins tenure with 24 2/3 innings of 6.57 ERA/5.72 FIP ball with ghastly strikeout and walk numbers (5.84 K/9, 8.03 BB/9). The 2018 season has been his lone big league experience to this point.

The Twins moved on from Gonsalves going into 2020, when the Mets added him via waivers. Gonsalves didn’t last long with the Mets, though, as the Red Sox picked him up as a waiver claim in July. He’ll continue trying to work his way back to the majors as a member of the Red Sox.

Padres Sign Nick Burdi, Nick Ramirez To Minor League Deals

By | at

The Padres have signed right-hander Nick Burdi and lefty Nick Ramirez to minor league contracts, according to Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The hard-throwing Burdi underwent his second Tommy John surgery in October, so the 27-year-old probably won’t be available to the Padres at all in 2021. A second-round pick of the Twins in 2014, Burdi appeared in the majors with the Pirates in each of the previous three seasons, though he only combined for 12 1/3 innings. He also has just five Triple-A innings under his belt, but Burdi has pitched to a 3.44 ERA with 12.2 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 115 minor league frames.

Ramirez, 31, debuted in 2019 and led the Tigers’ bullpen in innings (79 2/3) that year. He threw another 10 2/3 last season. Overall, Ramirez pitched to a 4.28 ERA/4.71 FIP with 8.47 K/9, 3.89 BB/9 and a 46.2 percent groundball rate in a Tigers uniform. Detroit outrighted him in October.

Brewers Claim Tim Lopes

By | at

The Brewers have claimed outfielder Tim Lopes off waivers from the Mariners, according to a Seattle press release.  Lopes was designated for assignment earlier this week to create roster space for the Mariners’ acquisition of Chris Flexen.

Lopes made his MLB debut in 2019 and saw quite a bit of action for the Mariners last season, appearing in 46 of 60 games as part of Seattle’s unsettled corner outfield mix.  Over 279 career plate appearances at the big league level, Lopes has hit .252/.315/.362, and he has also stolen 11 bases in 14 attempts.

The large majority of Lopes’ playing time at the Major League level has come as an outfielder, though unusually, he spent almost no time playing outfield in the minors, playing mostly as a second baseman with significant amounts of experience also at third base and shortstop.  As such, the 26-year-old Lopes can bring quite a bit of versatility to a Brewers roster that has a lot of unanswered questions around the diamond.  The Brewers have valued multi-positional bench types in the past, and Lopes could be seen as a potential super-utility candidate for Milwaukee’s bench.

Nationals Open To Moving Carter Kieboom In Trade Talks

By | at

As the Nationals continue to explore their offseason trade options, the team is “definitely open” to including former top prospect Carter Kieboom in negotiations, The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli reports (Twitter links).  Right-handed pitching prospects Cade Cavalli and Jackson Rutledge, however, are not available.

Washington went into the 2020 season hoping Kieboom could step in as the new everyday third baseman, after Anthony Rendon left for the Angels in free agency.  While nobody expected Kieboom to match Rendon’s All-Star level of production, the Nats surely hoped for more than the .202/.344/.212 slash line Kieboom delivered over 122 plate appearances.  The lack of hitting led the Nationals to demote Kieboom to their alternate training site for just shy of two weeks, and his season was also shortened by a wrist injury in the final week of play.

Aside from a respectable OBP, there wasn’t much to like about Kieboom’s first extended taste of Major League action, as he didn’t make much hard contact and next to no power — Kieboom had the lowest slugging percentage of any player in baseball with at least 120 PA.  However, Kieboom showed lots of pop in the minors, hitting .287/.378/.469 with 45 homers in 1462 PA in the Washington farm system after being drafted 28th overall in 2016.

Considering this prospect pedigree, Kieboom’s age (23) and the fact that the 2020 season was about the most difficult of possible circumstances for a younger player to acclimate himself to the big leagues, it is certainly very possible that Kieboom can break out in the near future.  As such, Ghiroli notes that the Nationals surely aren’t going to “give him away” in any trade, if they were to deal him whatsoever.  It’s probably safe to assume most teams also still see Kieboom as a valuable trade chip, so D.C. would only deal Kieboom as the centerpiece of a trade for an established MLB player — perhaps even at third base, to solidify that position.

Cavalli and Rutledge are widely seen as the top two prospects in a Washington farm system that is heavy on pitching, particularly right-handers.  The sheer amount of depth makes it possible that the Nationals might be willing to discuss one of those less highly-regarded prospects (say, in the 5-10 range of their top ten list) but it also makes sense that they’re not budging on moving Cavalli or Rutledge, both first-round picks in the last two drafts.

Cubs Claim Phillip Ervin

By | at

The Cubs claimed outfielder Phillip Ervin off waivers from the Mariners, as announced by both teams.  Seattle designated Ervin for assignment last week.

Ervin will return to the NL Central after spending four-plus seasons with the Reds, though his final act in Cincinnati wasn’t a pleasant one.  After a solid .262/.326/.438 slash line over 571 PA as a part-timer for the Reds from 2017-19, Ervin had only a .324 OPS over 42 PA for the Reds in 2020.  This led to a DFA in late August and a claim by the Mariners, as Ervin hit only somewhat better (.205/.340/.282) in 47 plate appearances for Seattle.

Ervin has experience at all three outfield positions, so he could be a useful bench piece for the Cubs as they figure out their new post-Kyle Schwarber outfield.  The right-handed hitting Ervin has good numbers against left-handed pitching over his career, so he could spell Jason Heyward or Ian Happ when a southpaw is on the mound.  Ervin could have an advantage in the battle for backup role since he is out of minor league options, so the Cubs would have to risk losing him on waivers if they wanted to send him down to Triple-A.

Indians Avoid Arbitration With Nick Wittgren

By | at

The Indians and right-hander Nick Wittgren have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2MM salary for the 2021 season, The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reports (Twitter link).

The 29-year-old Wittgren was making his second of three trips through the arbitration process this winter.  MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Wittgren to earn between $1.4MM-$2.2MM after the righty earned $1.125MM last offseason in another arb-avoiding deal.

Acquired in something of a steal of a trade from the Marlins in February 2019, Wittgren built off the promise he showed in Miami to become a key part of the Cleveland bullpen.  Over 80 games and 81 1/3 innings with the Tribe, Wittgren has a 2.99 ERA, 4.19 K/BB rate, and 9.7 K/9.  ERA predictors haven’t been quite as impressed (4.24 FIP, 4.02 xFIP, 3.56 SIERA) since Wittgren has gotten some good luck in the form of an 84% strand rate and a .254 BABIP, and Statcast also doesn’t love many of his peripheral numbers.  Wittgren is also a bit homer-prone, though he does do a good job of limiting walks.

The Tribe has been comfortable using Wittgren as a setup man, and it seems likely that he’ll continue in that role in 2021, albeit in front of a new closer now that Brad Hand was cut loose.  James Karinchak or Emmanuel Clase could be tabbed as the top ninth-inning options, and it’s possible Wittgren might also pick up the stray save opportunity.

Mets Avoid Arbitration With Noah Syndergaard

By | at

The Mets and right-hander Noah Syndergaard have agreed to a contract for the 2021 season and will avoid going to salary arbitration, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter).  Syndergaard will earn $9.7MM, which was also what he earned in 2020 when missing the entire season due to Tommy John surgery.

Since Syndergaard went under the knife last March, he isn’t likely to be back in action until May or June.  It isn’t yet clear how much game time Syndergaard will actually miss given the rumors about a possible delay to the start of the 2021 season, though regardless, the righty will have a somewhat limited amount of time to establish that he is both healthy and still somewhat close to his old ace-level self in advance of free agency in the 2021-22 offseason.  A Syndergaard who can check both of those boxes should still put himself in line for a substantial multi-year contract next winter, though his price ceiling will surely be impacted by his recent injury history.

Syndergaard’s status will also heavily impact the Mets’ plans for both this winter and the coming season, as an in-form Syndergaard will provide an enormous boost to the team’s starting rotation.  While the Mets have been linked to Trevor Bauer and other free agent hurlers this offseason, it’s possible the team could wait until the trade deadline in order to see what they have in Sydergaard before making any truly big-ticket pitching additions, which means the Mets could pursue lower-tier arms than Bauer this winter.

Even with Syndergaard’s deal now done, the Mets still have ten other arbitration-eligible players remaining.  Here are those projected salaries, as per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top