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Mets Sign Jerad Eickhoff

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The Mets have signed right-hander Jerad Eickhoff to a minor league contract, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Eickhoff will earn a $1.25MM salary if he makes the majors, and he could pull in another $700K in incentives.

This deal means Eickhoff could get another crack at the National League East, where he has pitched his entire major league career so far. As a member of the Phillies from 2015-19, Eickhoff combined for 440 innings of respectable 4.15 ERA/4.39 FIP ball with 8.1 K/9 and 2.58 BB/9. During his best full season, 2016, Eickhoff put together a 3.65 ERA/4.19 FIP and 7.62 K/9 against 1.62 BB/9 over a career-high 197 1/3 frames.

Unfortunately, injuries – including carpal tunnel syndrome – have hampered what once looked like a promising big league tenure. Eickhoff threw just 5 1/3 innings in 2018 and followed that with 58 1/3 frames in his most recent season, in which he struggled to a 5.71 ERA/6.51 FIP. The 30-year-old spent some time last year with the Padres and Rangers (who drafted him in 2011), but he didn’t return to the majors with either club.

Juan Soto, Walker Buehler, Max Fried Among Players Reaching Super Two Status

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Several notable players have surpassed the threshold for Super Two status, earning them an extra year of arbitration eligibility.  According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), the following players have all gained a fourth arbitration year: Walker Buehler, Clint Frazier, Max Fried, Dominic Smith, Mike Soroka, Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Luke Voit, and Brandon Woodruff.  Other players who should qualify include J.D. Davis (as Tim Britton of The Athletic notes via Twitter) and Austin Slater (as per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman).

The official Super Two cutoff point hasn’t yet been established.  The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler reported that Miguel Andujar (who has two years and 117 days of service time) fell five days short of Super Two status, though Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports that the Nationals’ Wander Suero “missed it by just a few days,” and Suero has two years, 123 days of service time.

Of the players mentioned, Frazier has the least amount of service time, with two years and 133 days.  For comparison’s sake, here are the Super Two cutoff points for the last 11 years….

  • 2019: 2.115
  • 2018: 2.134
  • 2017: 2.123
  • 2016: 2.131
  • 2015: 2.130
  • 2014: 2.133
  • 2013: 2.122
  • 2012: 2.140
  • 2011: 2.146
  • 2010: 2.122
  • 2009: 2.139

As a refresher, all players become eligible for arbitration after they amass three full seasons of Major League service time.  However, of the players who have between two and three seasons of service time, the top 22 percent of that group qualify as Super Twos, and thus they get become arbitration-eligible going into their third season, not after their third season.

Naturally, this means a lot of extra money in these players’ bank accounts, as they’ll get a significant raise on the minimum salary.  For the players who have already posted some big numbers, the ability to not just get an extra arbitration year but to establish a high salary benchmark in that first year provides the opportunity to bank several extra millions of dollars in escalating salaries through their arb years.  For instance, Soto has done nothing but mash at a Cooperstown level since joining the Nationals’ lineup, and is projected to earn between $4.5MM and $8.5MM in his first arb-eligible year.  Assuming Soto keeps producing at anything close to his current rate, he seems like a solid bet to reach $20MM in average annual salary by his fourth year of arbitration eligibility.

This offseason’s arbitration class is unusual, of course, since the shortened season will throw off some of the normal methods for calculating arb salaries.  In his annual arbitration projections for MLBTR, Matt Swartz provided three different methods (and often, three different projected salaries) for each player, depending on how arbiters view 2020 statistics.

Rangers Sign David Dahl

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TODAY: The Rangers have announced the signing. Dahl will earn $2.7MM in guaranteed money, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets, with another $300K available in salary incentives.

DECEMBER 11: The Rangers and free-agent outfielder David Dahl have agreed to a one-year deal worth approximately $3MM, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports.

Texas will be the second major league franchise for the 26-year-old Dahl, who spent the first several seasons of his professional career as a member of the Colorado organization. Dahl is a former No. 10 overall pick and top 100 prospect who was a successful hitter with the Rockies for most of his time there (which spanned from 2016-20), but after he recorded woeful production last season, the Rockies moved on at the non-tender deadline a week ago. Instead of paying Dahl a projected $2.5MM to $2.7MM for 2021, Colorado cut him loose.

Dahl was just a .183/.222/.247 hitter without a single home run in 99 plate appearances last year, though he entered the campaign with a far more respectable .297/.346/.521 line with 38 HRs over 921 PA. Dahl even earned an All-Star nod in 2019. Of course, there were plenty of health issues that helped stop Dahl from making an even greater impact in Colorado. Rib, foot, ankle and back injuries have limited Dahl to a mere 264 games to this point, including just 24 in 2020, and he has only appeared in at least 100 contests in one season.

While Dahl does come with question marks, this still looks like an interesting buy-low signing on the part of the Rangers. If it works out, they’ll be able to control Dahl via arbitration through 2023. In 2021, Dahl – who has experience at all three outfield positions – should get ample chances to revive his career. Aside from Joey Gallo and Willie Calhoun, who endured their own significant drop-offs in 2020, the Rangers’ 40-man roster is sorely lacking outfielders who have experienced any real major league success.

The Dahl addition makes for the third noteworthy move the Rangers have made since they hired Chris Young as their new general manager on Dec. 4. Young and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels traded right-hander Lance Lynn to the White Sox and acquired first baseman Nate Lowe from the Rays earlier this week.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign James McCann

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TODAY: The signing has been officially announced. It’s a $40.6MM deal that includes a $600K signing bonus, Tim Healey of Newsday tweets.

DECEMBER 12, 12:48pm: The deal is done pending McCann’s physical, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).  An official announcement from the Mets is expected to come today.

11:21am: The Mets and James McCann are in the “final stages” of completing a four-year deal that will pay McCann around $40MM, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  According to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan, the deal is worth “just a touch over” the $40MM threshold and there is a signing bonus involved.  The contract will be official once McCann passes a physical.  McCann is represented by the Ballengee Group.

After reports surfaced earlier this week that McCann and the Mets were on the verge of a deal, it seemingly took a few days more to reach an agreement.  While McCann was the second-best catcher on the free agent market after J.T. Realmuto, a four-year deal worth north of $40MM is more than double the two-year/$20MM pact that MLB Trade Rumors projected for McCann, making it a very nice score for the 30-year-old.

McCann produced fairly unremarkable numbers as the Tigers’ regular catcher from 2015-18, and was non-tendered following a rough 2018 season.  McCann then joined the White Sox and rather surprisingly broke out, hitting .276/.334/.474 with 25 homers over 587 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season.  McCann greatly improved both his amount of hard contact and the quality of that hard contact, though he did get some good fortune in 2020 — a .339 BABIP and a .372 wOBA that far outpaced his .329 xwOBA.  (McCann also had a .359 BABIP in 2019.)

McCann’s defense also took a step up, as recently outlined by MLBTR’s Steve Adams…

Behind the plate, McCann has long been adept at controlling the running game. Even with the Tigers, he nabbed 37 percent of those who attempted to take a base against him. One knock on McCann, however, was on his receiving ability — or lack thereof. McCann ranked well below average in terms of framing metrics for much of his time with the Tigers and even early in his White Sox tenure — a flaw that likely influenced the White Sox’ decision to sign Yasmani Grandal to a four-year pact last winter.

Recognizing that shortcoming, McCann spent the bulk of his (2019-20) offseason working with catching guru Jerry Narron to improve his receiving and framing. The results paid off, as Statcast ranked McCann as much-improved in that regard, particularly with pitches at the bottom of the strike zone, which was where he’d struggled most. McCann went from garnering strike calls on just 44.1 percent of pitches at or slightly below the bottom of the zone to an excellent 61.8 percent. One can suggest that there’s some small-sample smoke and mirrors at play, but McCann’s improvement was pronounced enough that it can’t be entirely dismissed as small-sample noise. It would seem that the Mets agree.

A four-year contract for a 30-year-old catcher (McCann turns 31 in June) carries some risk, though making an aggressive play to address a clear roster weakness is the type of boldness Mets fans expected once Steve Cohen bought the team.  At least in the short term, the Mets have now strongly upgraded a position that was a major offseason question mark, and it also sets the table for further transactions.

For one, Realmuto is no longer in the picture, meaning that the Mets can now save their biggest spending splurge for another player….or even players.  As noted by Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, the Mets “stayed in touch with the Realmuto camp” if the McCann talks fell through, but with McCann now signed, a preferred major target like George Springer or Trevor Bauer could potentially be next.

Mariners To Acquire Rafael Montero

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The Mariners and Rangers have agreed to a trade that will sent right-hander Rafael Montero to Seattle, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  Texas will receive right-handed pitching prospect Jose Corniell in return, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports (Twitter links), with Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram adding that the Rangers will also get a second prospect.  That other minor leaguer is a player to be named later, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Relief pitching was a major offseason target for the Mariners, and GM Jerry Dipoto will now add a talented reliever from within the AL West.  Montero posted a 4.08 ERA, 3.17 K/BB rate, and 9.7 K/9 over 17 2/3 innings last season, with ERA predictors painting a pretty solid view of his work (3.70 FIP, 4.85 xFIP, 4.00 SIERA), as his very low 49.4% strand rate was at least somewhat balanced out by a .227 BABIP.

2020 marked Montero’s first full (or as full as could be, given the shortened schedule) season back after he missed all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Montero returned to toss 29 innings out of the Texas bullpen in 2019, looking very impressive in posting a 2.48 ERA.

Once a highly-touted prospect during his time in the Mets farm system, Montero never really clicked while pitching in parts of four (2014-17) seasons in New York.  Shoulder injuries, frequent shuttles up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues, and moving between both starting and relieving all contributed to Montero posting a 5.38 ERA over 192 1/3 innings in a Mets uniform.

The Amazins cut him loose following the 2018 season and Montero then inked a minor league deal with Texas, where he has gotten his career back on track.  The move to full-time relief work has unlocked some extra velocity for Montero even post-TJ surgery.  He has averaged 95.7mph on his fastball in 2019-20, after never topping the 93.7mph mark in his first four seasons.

Montero completed all eight of his save chances for Texas in 2020, and now looks to be the favorite to work as the closer in a Mariners bullpen that is lacking in ninth-inning answers.  Montero turned 30 in October, though while he isn’t all that young, he is still controllable for two more seasons, projected to earn between $1.4MM and $2.5MM in his second trip through the arbitration process.

The trade marks another step in the Rangers’ plan to get younger this winter, as the team embarks on a mini-rebuild.  (Moving Montero also clears a 40-man roster spot for the newly-signed David Dahl.)  Given the low cost involved in acquiring Montero, trading him for a couple of young prospects isn’t a bad return for Texas, especially considering the relative difficulty in offering bullpen help in trade talks given the large number of other relievers available in free agency.

Corniell is only 17 years old, and was brought aboard by the M’s when the 2019-20 international signing window opened.  He has yet to begin his pro career thanks to the minor league shutdown in 2020, but MLB.com ranks Corniell as the 24th-best prospect in Seattle’s farm system, touting a solid three-pitch arsenal of a changeup, a “power curve,” and a fastball that can hit the mid-90’s.

Mike Rizzo: Nationals Not Pursuing Kris Bryant Trade

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Reports last month mentioned Kris Bryant as a potential Nationals trade target, but Washington GM Mike Rizzo rather definitively ruled out a Bryant swap during a session with reporters (including ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers) this afternoon.

“We haven’t had a serious conversation about Kris Bryant in probably two years,” Rizzo said.  “He was not a big guy on our radar last year or this year.  He’s a great player but at this point and time of where we’re at, and what we have in our farm system, and where we’re going, we think we can allocate our dollars and prospect capital in another way.”

As Rogers noted, it’s something of an “unusual step” for a general manager to so publicly and specifically comment on trade negotiations.  It could be that this is some gamesmanship on Rizzo’s part if talks with the Cubs are actually still ongoing, though there’s no real reason to believe Rizzo is being anything but forthright in his comments.

Bryant is, after all, coming off the worst of his six MLB seasons, as he battled injuries throughout 2020 and hit only .206/.293/.351 over 147 plate appearances.  While it isn’t hard to imagine Bryant returning to his old form with better health next season and with a more measurable sample size of playing time, counting on such a rebound year might not be a risk that the Nats want to take — especially since Bryant is projected to earn an $18.6MM salary in 2021, his final year of arbitration eligibility.

It isn’t yet known if Washington can fully stretch its payroll this offseason, but there have been indications that the Nationals are able to spend some money, if not something in the neighborhood of $18.6MM to one player for one season.  The Nats were connected to Carlos Santana before he signed with the Royals, and the District has also showed interest in a former Bryant teammate in Kyle Schwarber.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/15/20

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The latest minor league moves from around the sport…

  • The Cardinals have signed infielder Max Moroff to a minors contract that contains an invitation to the Cards’ big league Spring Training camp, Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors reports (Twitter link).  A veteran of 104 Major League games with the Pirates and Indians from 2016-19, Moroff has a .183/.277/.319 slash line over 244 career plate appearances, though his ability to play second base, third base, and shortstop makes him a useful bench asset.  Moroff signed a minor league deal with the Mets last winter.
  • The Phillies signed utilityman Christian Bethancourt to a minor league deal, The Athletic’s Matt Gelb reports (via Twitter).  The contract has an invite to the Phillies’ Major League spring camp.  Bethancourt inked a minors deal with Philadelphia last offseason but didn’t see any action in any big league games or at the Phils’ alternate training site.  Bethancourt hit .222/.252/.316 over 489 PA with the Braves and Padres from 2013-17, and he has since played in the Brewers’ minor league system and in South Korea with the KBO League’s NC Dinos.  Though Bethancourt is known for his ability to play multiple positions around the diamond, he’ll likely be used primarily as a catcher by the Phillies, Gelb notes, since the team is lacking in catching depth.

Report: MLB Looking To Delay 2021 Season Until At Least May

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Amidst the continued uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, Major League Baseball is hoping to push the start of the 2021 season into May, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  This would mean a delayed start to Spring Training and a shorter season than the normal 162-game schedule.

“I don’t see any way spring training starts in February,” an American League owner said.  “Zero chance of that.  I don’t care if we play 140 games, 120 games or 80 games, we have to make sure everyone is safe to do this right.”

The league and the owners want players and all team personnel to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before arriving at spring camp, which doesn’t seem feasible by early-to-mid-February (the usual start date for Spring Training) given that coronavirus vaccines are still in the early stages of distribution.

“I think there will be significant pressure for players to get the vaccine first before they go to Spring Training, and if that has to be moved back to April and play 130 games, so be it,” an unnamed National League owner tells Nightengale.  “But to have 162 games, and start Spring Training at the normal time without players being vaccinated, that’s just crazy.  Does Arizona and Florida, with their cases spiking, really want teams with about 125 people in each organization coming to town without vaccines?”

Delaying the season would also allow for not only players, but fans to be vaccinated as the treatments become more widespread.  Another season of empty-stadium baseball isn’t at all palatable to the league or the owners, and while it doesn’t seem feasible that we’ll see full stadiums anytime soon, a downturn in COVID-19 numbers could result in at least some ballparks being permitted to sell tickets this summer, if under the types of social distancing guidelines we saw during the NLCS and World Series.

Any reduction in the season would have to be negotiated with the players union, and Nightengale says that the league and the MLBPA have yet to begin discussions about the season’s length (though the two sides have been talking about such issues as the implementation of the designated hitter in the National League).  As one might imagine, the players aren’t likely to accept the reduced salaries that would come with a lesser number of games, so fans could be in for another protracted set of public negotiations akin to what we saw in the lead-up to the 2020 season.

In the union’s view, as Nightengale writes, “it proved a year ago that teams can safely adapt to protocols,” so the MLBPA wants to play a 162-game schedule under the same health and safety guidelines as the 2020 season.  While a schedule delay isn’t out of the question, Nightengale hears from multiple players that “the ideal scenario…would be to delay the season for everyone to be vaccinated, but to extend it a month where a full season can be played with everyone still receiving their full salary.”  However, that idea won’t fly with the league, as “it would still result in massive revenue losses for teams with restricted or no fans,” plus there isn’t any desire on the league’s part to stretch the postseason into late November or December.

Blue Jays Sign Tyler White, Forrest Wall To Minors Contracts

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The Blue Jays have signed first baseman Tyler White and outfielder Forrest Wall to minor league contracts, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (Twitter link).  Both players have been invited to Toronto’s big league Spring Training camp.

White returns to North American baseball after a brief stint with the KBO League’s SK Wyverns last season, as he appeared in only nine games and posted a .685 OPS over 30 plate appearances.  A well-regarded hitting prospect when coming up in the Astros’ farm system, White has a career .305/.404/.509 slash line over 2249 PA in the minors and certainly seemed on the verge of breaking through at the MLB level when he hit .277/.349/.531 for over 304 PA with Houston during the 2017-18 seasons.  However, after struggling badly in 2019 and being caught in something of a position crunch, White was dealt to the Dodgers in July 2019.

There isn’t much risk for the Jays in seeing if White can unlock any hitting potential at age 30.  Playing time may be hard to come by with Toronto since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez are slated for first base/DH duties, but White could find some at-bats spelling Tellez against southpaws (though Tellez has a higher career OPS against left-handed pitching than White).

Wall is back with the Jays after electing free agency following the season.  Picked 35th overall by the Rockies in the 2014 draft, Wall has yet to crack the big leagues, though he has hit a respectable .274/.353/.413 over 2329 PA in the Colorado and Toronto farm systems.  A strong Spring Training could give Wall a shot at unseating Jonathan Davis or Derek Fisher as the Blue Jays’ top backup outfield options.

Cubs, Phillies Interested In Jackie Bradley Jr.

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Jackie Bradley Jr.’s market continues to percolate, as MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi tweets that the Cubs and Phillies are the latest teams to be linked to the free agent outfielder.

Bradley is a known quantity to Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski from their time together with the Red Sox, and Bradley would address a big need for the Phils in center field.  The tandem of Roman Quinn and Adam Haseley are penciled into the center field job at the moment, but installing an everyday veteran like Bradley would both solidify the position and provide a big defensive upgrade.  Bradley’s left-handed bat would also be useful in a Philadelphia lineup that leans to the right.

Ian Happ provided both strong offense and some decently respectable (+1 Outs Above Average, -2 Defensive Runs Saved, -1.6 UZR/150) glovework as the Cubs’ regular center fielder in 2020, but Bradley obviously offers a lot more defensive value up the middle.  Now that Kyle Schwarber has been non-tendered, Happ could easily be shifted over to left field to accommodate Bradley in center.  Given the number of former Red Sox personnel within the Cubs organization, Bradley would also find a lot of familiar faces in Wrigleyville — to name two, manager David Ross and assistant general manager Craig Breslow were both former teammates in Boston.

Beyond Philadelphia and Chicago, four other clubs (the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Astros, and an unknown AL Central team) have also reportedly shown interest in Bradley’s services at various points in the offseason.  Toronto has also been heavily linked to George Springer, while the Astros haven’t yet ruled out a reunion with Springer, and the Red Sox and Phillies could also potentially be in the mix, though it isn’t yet clear how much money either of those teams are willing to spend this offseason.  Bradley could be seen as a “plan B” type of center field options for many Springer suitors, and he could be more of a primary target for a team like the Cubs that isn’t thought to have much payroll space available.  While not exactly an inexpensive sign, Bradley’s projected price tag could be as much as $100MM less than Springer’s next contract.

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