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GM Trade History: Phillies’ Matt Klentak

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It’s not always fair to judge baseball operations leaders for free agent signings.  In many cases, the biggest contracts are negotiated to varying extents by ownership.  The same can hold true of major extensions.  It’s just tough to know from the outside.

There’s obviously involvement from above in trade scenarios as well.  But, when it comes to exchanging rights to some players for others, it stands to reason the role of the general manager is all the more clear.

In any event, for what it’s worth, it seemed an opportune moment to take a look back at the trade track records of some of the general managers around the game. We’ve already covered the Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen, former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, the Brewers’ David Stearns, the Angels’ Billy Eppler, the Rockies’ Jeff Bridich, the White Sox’ Rick Hahn, the Tigers’ Al Avila, the Braves’ Alex Anthopoulos, the Padres’ A.J. Preller, the Blue Jays’ Ross Atkins and the Mariners’ Jerry Dipoto. Let’s now head to Philadelphia to evaluate Matt Klentak, who has worked alongside president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail with the organization since 2015. (Deals are in chronological order and exclude minor moves; full details at transaction link).

2016 Season

2016-17 Offseason

2017 Season

2017-18 Offseason

2018 Season

2018-19 Offseason

2019 Season

2019-20 Offseason

  • None

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What are your thoughts on Klentak’s trades in Philly (Poll link for app users)

 

Transaction Retrospection: An Arizona-Seattle Blockbuster

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MLBTR’s Steve Adams just recapped the notable trades that Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto has made dating back to his hiring late in the 2015 season. That was an unenviable task when you consider the eye-popping amount of deals that Trader Jerry has swung since he arrived in Seattle. One of Dipoto’s most significant moves so far came on Nov. 23, 2016, when the Mariners and Diamondbacks made a trade that will likely impact both franchises for the foreseeable future.

The Mariners sent right-hander Taijuan Walker and middle infielder Ketel Marte to the Diamondbacks for middle infielder Jean Segura, outfielder Mitch Haniger and lefty Zac Curtis. The only member of the quintet who hasn’t established himself in the majors is Curtis, who pitched 38 innings in the bigs from 2016-18 but is now a free agent after the Rangers released him last July. On the other hand, Walker, Marte, Segura and Haniger have all enjoyed at least some success at the MLB level.

Walker, once a blue-chip prospect, hasn’t really lived up to the hype thus far. After a so-so run with the Mariners, he did well for Arizona in 2017, throwing 157 1/3 innings of 3.49 ERA/4.04 FIP ball. Unfortunately, injuries have cut down Walker since then. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2018, forcing him to miss almost all of that season, and then made just one appearance last season as he recovered from TJS and battled shoulder problems. The 27-year-old is now back with the Mariners on an inexpensive contract, so it’s clear that the acquisition didn’t work out as hoped for the Diamondbacks.

On the other side, the Marte pickup has gone swimmingly for Arizona. Marte was not the headliner in the deal at the time, but he’s a former top-100 prospect who has emerged as one of the majors’ stars during his short MLB career. The switch-hitting Marte, now 26, had his struggles in his first season as a D-back, but that didn’t stop GM Mike Hazen from extending him on a five-year, $24MM guarantee going into 2018. That decision has worked out beautifully for Arizona, which benefited from Marte’s 2.6-fWAR effort in 2018 and far more from his 7.1-fWAR showing last season. Marte divided his nearly MVP-caliber 2019 campaign between second base and center field – positions that were sore spots for the Mariners.

The Mariners miss Marte, but that doesn’t mean they came away empty-handed in this swap. As noted earlier, they got back Walker on a low-cost pact that may or may not pay dividends. Segura gave the team two productive seasons before it traded him to the Phillies in a deal for shortstop J.P. Crawford, who has a chance to end up as the M’s long-term answer at the position. And then there’s Haniger, who thrived from 2017-18 before a gruesome injury (a ruptured testicle) deprived him of 99 of 162 games in 2019. Haniger was not viewed as a can’t-miss prospect when the trade went down, but he ran roughshod over Triple-A pitching and has held his own in the majors when healthy. He’s under control through 2022, so a healthy version could either continue as an asset for the rebuilding Mariners or wind up as a valuable trade chip.

Adding everything up, this counts as one of the most fascinating deals of the past few years. Both sides landed good players, but Marte has clearly been the most valuable piece to this point. The Marte addition is among the reasons D-backs GM Mike Hazen’s trade history has gone over so well.

Rebound Candidate: Lorenzo Cain

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Lorenzo Cain has unquestionably been one of Major League Baseball’s elite center fielders over the past several years. During his greatest stretch – a five-year run divided between the Royals and Brewers from 2014-18 – Cain racked up four seasons of better than 4.0 fWAR, ranked fifth among all outfielders in that statistic (22.7), fourth in Defensive Runs Saved (67) and fifth in Ultimate Zone Rating (43.7). He was also an indispensable piece for the Royals in 2014, an American League pennant-winning campaign, and even more productive the next season during a year in which the team won its first World Series since 1985.

The Royals haven’t been nearly as successful since they last took the crown, but Cain remained a quality contributor for the club over the next two years. His overall track record convinced the small-market Brewers to splurge on Cain entering 2018, handing him a five-year, $80MM contract.

The Cain gamble couldn’t have worked out much better in 2018 for the Brewers, who saw him slash .308/.395/.417 (good for a career-best 124 wRC+) with 10 home runs and 30 stolen bases across 620 plate appearances. And Cain continued to take hits away from opponents in the field, where he totaled 18 DRS, 8.7 UZR and 22 Outs Above Average (No. 1 among outfielders). The entire package was worth 5.7 fWAR. FanGraphs valued it at just over $45MM, more than half the total of his contract.

Cain helped lead the Brewers to an NL Central title in 2018, and while they did return to the playoffs last year, he wasn’t nearly as helpful to their cause. Owing in part to thumb, wrist and oblique problems, the 33-year-old turned in one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, hitting .260/.325/.372 (83 wRC+) over 623 PA.

Cain has never been much of a power hitter, so that wasn’t the culprit for his decline (in fact, he ended up with even more homers – 11 – than he did in the previous season). But Cain stole 12 fewer bases (18 on 26 attempts) and went from one of FanGraphs’ highest-graded base runners to merely mediocre. It didn’t help that Cain plummeted on the Sprint Speed leaderboard, going from a tie from 84th in the majors in 2018 to a tie for 185th last season. That’s an alarming one-year drop, though he did still rank in the game’s 72nd percentile in the Sprint Speed category.

It goes without saying that if you’re going to maximize your potential as a runner, you have to get on base first. Cain wasn’t able to do that nearly as much as usual last year, in part because of a walk rate that sunk by 3.5 percent from the prior season and a strikeout rate that climbed by almost 2 percent. More importantly, when Cain put the ball in play, his BABIP fell off to a noticeable extent. He put up a .357 BABIP during his excellent 2018, and his speed has helped him to a lifetime .339 mark, but he checked in at just .301 in 2019.

The good news is that there’s still enough data to suggest Cain can at least be a passable offensive player going forward. For one, his .330 expected weighted on-base average last season outdid his real wOBA (.302) by 28 points. He also upped his hard-hit rate by about 2 percent from ’18, ranking in the league’s 69th percentile, and ended in the 88th percentile in expected batting average (.290). Cain’s power wasn’t there, but again, that hasn’t been his bread and butter anyway.

Defensively, there was no let-up at all. Cain placed third among all outfielders in OAA (14), trailing the much younger Victor Robles and Kevin Kiermaier, fourth in DRS (22) and ninth in UZR (7.0). Despite his advanced age (relative to outfielders, that is), it’s hard to argue that Cain isn’t still a world-class defender at the very least.

Cain’s marvelous defense and his above-average speed will continue to give him a decent floor this year even if he’s unable to revisit his best form as a hitter. But if he can even go back to being a league-average offensive player in 2020, Cain should return to being a highly valuable member of Milwaukee’s roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

GM Trade History: Mariners’ Jerry Dipoto

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It seems we’ve reached the point in our GM Trade History series where someone at MLBTR has taken on the foolhardy, daunting task of re-chronicling the unyielding exploits of Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto — far and away the most active executive on MLB’s trade market. (What have I done?!) Commonly referred to as “Trader Jerry,” the seemingly tireless Dipoto has fueled hundreds of posts here at MLBTR (thanks, Jerry!) through a series of win-now moves, fringe roster tinkerings and, more recently, a “reimagining” of his organization.

Dipoto took the reins as the Mariners’ general manager at the conclusion of the 2015 campaign. Predecessor Jack Zduriencik had been unable to break the club’s mounting postseason drought, and ownership turned to a former division rival to try to turn things around. Dipoto held the GM post with the Angels from 2011-15 but saw a relatively publicized rift grow between himself and skipper Mike Scioscia over the manager’s unwillingness to utilize data from the club’s analytics department. The frustration boiled to the point where Dipoto resigned in early July despite reported attempts from owner Arte Moreno to persuade him to stay on board. Dipoto quickly landed an interim post in the Red Sox’ front office, and less than three months after walking away from the Angels, he was named the new GM in Seattle.

There’s a narrative that Dipoto’s constant activity rendered the Mariners’ farm bare early in his tenure, and while there’s probably some truth within that generalization, it’s equally important to note that he inherited a losing club with a relatively high payroll and an already-poor minor league system. That was four and a half years ago, though. How have things worked out for Dipoto since? Let’s take a (very long) look! Trades are in chronological order and exclude particularly minor swaps. (More details on each trade is available in the “acquired” link on each bullet.)

2015-16 Offseason

2016 Season

2016-17 Offseason

2017 Season

2017-18 Offseason

2018 Season

2018-19 Offseason

2019 Season

2019-20 Offseason

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How do MLBTR readers feel about Dipoto’s landslide of trade activity? (Link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users.)

Interested in how other GMs hold up under this exercise? We’ve covered Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, recently fired Astros president Jeff Luhnow, Brewers president of baseball ops David Stearns, Angels GM Billy Eppler, Rockies GM Jeff Bridich, Tigers GM Al Avila, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos and Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins as well.

Revisiting Yasiel Puig’s 2019

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Free agency in Major League Baseball opened way back in the beginning of November. At that point, nobody would have expected outfielder Yasiel Puig to remain without a job into April, but here we are. It’s going to stay that way for at least a little while longer, too, after MLB put a stop to transactions last week in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s hard to believe it has come to this for Puig, who has enjoyed an impressive career overall and who entered the offseason as MLBTR’s 37th-ranked free agent. We predicted Puig would land a one-year, $8MM contract, and he reportedly rejected a $10MM offer at some point during the winter, but it’s now difficult to envision him matching or eclipsing either figure on his next contract.

Why is Puig still a man without a team? Well, he didn’t do himself any favors with a middling 2019 performance divided between the Reds and Indians. Puig, a high-profile, oft-electrifying Dodger from 2013-18, entered Cincinnati as a .279/.353/.478 hitter (good for a 129 wRC+) with 108 home runs, 60 stolen bases and 19.7 fWAR in 2,765 plate appearances. Despite his generally above-average numbers, the Dodgers grew weary of the mercurial Puig even before they traded him, as they optioned him to the minors and placed him on revocable trade waivers during the 2016 season. That was one of the least productive seasons Puig has ever had, but he at least bounced back on offense from 2017-18.

Unfortunately for Puig, he regressed to his 2016 form during his platform campaign, even posting a matching 101 wRC+. The 29-year-old did smack 24 home runs and steal 19 bases, but his .267/.327/.458 line across 611 plate appearances was essentially average, while the 1.2 fWAR he logged represents the worst of his career over a full season. That said, Puig’s output last year wasn’t entirely dissimilar from his 2018, during which his batting line was 23 percent better than the league mean, according to wRC+. He also batted .267 and recorded a .327 on-base percentage that year, but Puig’s slugging percentage (.494) was superior by 36 points; meanwhile, his isolated power number (.227) was better by 36.

For the most part, Puig’s hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity stayed static in 2019, but he went to the opposite field about 5 percent more than he had during his Dodgers day. That helps explain the drop in power from 2018, as does Puig’s ineptitude against offspeed pitches. After battering offspeed offerings for a .380 weighted on-base average in 2018, Puig sunk to .281 last year. That won’t necessarily stick, though – after all, Puig did put up an even worse .226 in the offspeed category in 2016 before raising his output by 100-some points from 2017-18.

Meantime, Puig was a mixed bag at best on the defensive front in 2019. Overall, Puig has been a plus defender in the majors, but he ended last season with zero Defensive Runs Saved (only the second season in which he wasn’t a plus in that category), zero Outs Above Average and a minus-0.7 Ultimate Zone Rating. Puig also ranked in the bottom sixth percentile on Statcast’s Outfielder Jump leaderboard, though he did wind up in the league’s top 79th percentile in Sprint Speed.

While last season was clearly a mediocre showing by Puig, that doesn’t mean he should still be without an employer – especially considering his track record. Of course, if Puig did indeed misread things enough to say no to a $10MM guarantee, it’s partially his fault that he remains the most prominent free agent on a market that has come to a temporary halt. If and when life gets back to normal this year, it’ll be interesting to see whether Puig signs. He still looks like a player who could benefit at least some teams, particularly rebuilding types that could take a short-term flier on him and then flip him around the trade deadline (that’s assuming a season and a deadline occur).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Griffin Canning Cleared To Begin Throwing Program

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Angels right-hander Griffin Canning has been cleared to begin a throwing program, general manager Billy Eppler announced to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). Barring setbacks, he could be ready to throw off a mound at month’s end.

Canning, 23, was shut down early in camp after an MRI revealed “chronic changes” to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in addition to “acute irritation” in the joint. However, while the initial diagnosis was ominous, Canning was eventually cleared of any tearing to his ligament and received a recommendation for a platelet-rich plasma injection to treat the issue. That step came after getting a second opinion from non-Angels personnel, and the injection was administered just under a month ago.

Angels fans have been witness to a calamitous array of injuries on the pitching staff in recent years, and many are holding their breath with regard to Canning — hoping for the best but fearing a major surgery is in the offing. For the time being, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards, and the indefinite suspension of play will give the talented young Canning some additional time to work back to health.

A second-round pick by the Angels in 2017, Canning entered the 2019 campaign ranked among baseball’s 100 best prospects and made his Major League debut on April 30 after breezing through three starts in Triple-A to open the season (one run with a 17-to-2 K/BB ratio in 16 innings). He’d stick in the big leagues for the long haul, tallying 90 1/3 innings over 18 appearances (17 starts) while compiling a 4.58 ERA with averages of 9.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 1.4 HR/9. It may not have been the dominant debut for which many fans had hoped, but Canning held his own in the most hitter-friendly season in recent history, and his 13.8 percent swinging-strike rate and 32 percent opponents’ chase rate are both encouraging signs moving forward.

The Angels, of course, never added the top-of-the-rotation arm they coveted in the 2019-20 offseason, which makes a step forward from a healthy Canning all the more crucial to the club if they can get it. He and Shohei Ohtani could now have time to work themselves into mound form before a theoretical new Opening Day, which would allow the Halos to pencil that duo in alongside Andrew Heaney and newcomers Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy in the 2020 rotation.

Shin-Soo Choo Donates $1K To Each Rangers Minor Leaguer

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Rangers designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo has decided to donate $1,000 to each of the club’s nearly 200 minor leaguers, per a report from Naver Sports in Choo’s native South Korea (link in Korean). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News confirms the story and has more on Choo’s donation.

As Grant explains, Choo has often spoken of his desire to help the game’s next generation of players — just as he was helped out by veterans as an up-and-comer in the Mariners’ system. Upon overhearing Rangers minor leaguer Eli White discuss the financial pressures of the Spring Training shutdown with a fellow minor leaguer, Choo decided to take action and lend a hand. The uneasiness facing so many minor leaguers — particularly those not on the 40-man roster — resonated with the veteran Choo, who tells Grant that as a minor leaguer himself, he’d skip meals on the road and use his meal money to purchase diapers for his son (Twitter link).

Major League Baseball recently announced a plan to pay minor leaguers a $400 weekly stipend through the end of May, but there’s no guarantee of any income after that point (just as there hadn’t been any prior baseball-related income for such players since last September). Choo’s gesture, White says within the Naver story, brought his wife to tears. Choo, according to the Naver piece, has also donated more than $161,000 (200 million Korean won) to South Korea’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latest On James Paxton, Yankees’ Rotation

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Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told reporters Wednesday that left-hander James Paxton is progressing well in his rehab from back surgery (Twitter links via Brendan Kuty of the New Jersey Star-Ledger). The left-hander went under the knife in early February, after which the Yankees announced a timetable of three to four months for his recovery. Paxton is throwing at his home in Wisconsin, and the club is optimistic about his recovery.

As notably, Blake revealed that right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga would’ve factored “heavily” into the team’s rotation picture had the season begun on time. Absent Paxton, Luis Severino and Domingo German, it was clear that left-hander Jordan Montgomery was the team’s fourth starter (behind Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ). Loaisiga was one of many candidates vying for the fifth spot — a race that also included Mike King, Deivi Garcia, Luis Cessa and perhaps non-roster invitees such as Chad Bettis and Nick Tropeano.

Loaisiga’s standing could be rendered moot with Opening Day pushed back indefinitely, as it appears increasingly likely that Paxton could be ready to suit up when (or if) the season does eventually commence. But it’s nevertheless telling that Loaisiga appears to have had a leg up on his competitors, as that could provide some insight into the organization’s contingency plans in the event of additional early-season injuries.

The 25-year-old Loaisiga has been plagued by durability issues himself, including last season, when a shoulder strain limited him to 80 2/3 innings between the minors and the big leagues. However, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus both ranked him among baseball’s 100 best prospects prior to the ’19 season. In a combined 88 2/3 minor league innings from 2017-18, he posted a 2.60 ERA with a 100-to-11 K/BB ratio.

GM Trade History: Blue Jays’ Ross Atkins

By | at

It’s not always fair to judge baseball operations leaders for free agent signings.  In many cases, the biggest contracts are negotiated to varying extents by ownership.  The same can hold true of major extensions.  It’s just tough to know from the outside.

There’s obviously involvement from above in trade scenarios as well.  But, when it comes to exchanging rights to some players for others, it stands to reason the role of the general manager is all the more clear.

In any event, for what it’s worth, it seemed an opportune moment to take a look back at the trade track records of some of the general managers around the game. We’ve already covered the Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen, former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, the Brewers’ David Stearns, the Angels’ Billy Eppler, the Rockies’ Jeff Bridich, the White Sox’ Rick Hahn, the Tigers’ Al Avila, the Braves’ Alex Anthopoulos, and the Padres’ A.J. Preller. We’ll now turn our focus to Ross Atkins of the Blue Jays, who followed Jays president Mark Shapiro in moving to the Toronto organization from Cleveland. (Deals are in chronological order and exclude minor moves; full details at transaction link).

2015-16 Offseason

2016 Season

2017 Season

2017-18 Offseason

2018 Season

2018-19 Offseason

2019 Season

2019-20 Offseason

—

How do you grade the overall work on the trade market? (Poll link for app users.)

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

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