Strong words from Mike Trout and Justin Turner on the Astros scandal, the Brewers add yet another versatile player, and the Braves extend their GM and manager. MLBTR’s Jeff Todd has it all in our latest video:
Ryan Yarbrough Hires Excel Sports Management
Rays lefty Ryan Yarbrough has hired Excel Sports Management as his new representation, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. MLBTR’s Agency Database reflects the change.
The 28-year-old Yarbrough is likely on track to qualify for arbitration next season as a Super Two player. That would mean an early entry into the process and substantially enhanced career earning power.
Yarbrough could present a fascinating test case for an arbitration system that has twice (Josh Hader, Dellin Betances) recently reaffirmed the importance of saves even as teams reduce their reliance on old forms of pitching usage. In his case, Yarbrough has thrown nearly as many innings as a traditional starter — topping 140 in each of the past two seasons — but has often done so when taking the ball from an opener.
There’s no doubting that the 28-year-old hurler has been quite a useful player for the Tampa Bay organization. He carries a 4.02 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in his 289 career frames. It certainly ought to help his cause that he has racked up 27 wins despite formally making only twenty MLB starts to this point.
Miles Mikolas To Receive PRP Treatment
Cardinals righty Miles Mikolas is due to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection, skipper Mike Shildt tells reporters including Mark Saxon of The Athletic (via Twitter). That doesn’t come as a surprise, but does come with clear consequences for the defending NL Central champs.
Mikolas has been diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain. He previously underwent PRP treatment but evidently hasn’t responded quite as hoped.
In terms of a timeline, it’s still foggy. Mikolas is slated to be checked by doctors after three to four weeks of rest. Where things go from there remains to be seen. But even in the most optimistic scenario, that’d put him at least a month behind his teammates. It seems exceedingly likely he’ll miss at least that portion of the regular season.
Mikolas made a valiant return to the majors in 2018 and was rewarded with a big extension. He wasn’t as good last year but still contributed 184 solid frames, working to a 4.16 ERA. There’s little doubt that Mikolas is a key part of the Cards’ rotation in 2020 and beyond.
It’s not yet clear just how the Cards will sort things to account for the loss of Mikolas. The hope surely remains that he’ll recover as quickly as possible, but the team will obviously not be able to assume anything — particularly since the issue wasn’t resolved with the initial treatment. The return of Carlos Martinez to the rotation now seems all the more important. It’s also possible we’ll see incoming Korean hurler Kwang-hyun Kim get a look in camp. The only other healthy 40-man options with prior MLB experience are Austin Gomber and Genesis Cabrera.
Kendrick, Hall Discuss D-Backs
Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick and president Derrick Hall held court on several topics with the press yesterday. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported on the session; we’ll cover a few salient points here.
Kendrick had lofty praise for recently extended GM Mike Hazen, saying the top baseball ops decisionmaker has “done a remarkable job of transitioning from what he inherited to what we now have,” referring to the strides made in building out the farm system and compiling a competitive and cost-efficient MLB roster.
We’re accustomed to the notion of ownership setting payrolls that are never quite as robust as a baseball operations department might prefer. But Hazen has actually counseled against certain added cash outlays, Kendrick relays. “I’ve had a willingness to personally commit more money than [the front office] feels is the smart thing for us to do,” he says.
In the long run, Kendrick says, he anticipates that payroll will continue to rise along with the team’s revenue streams. It wasn’t quite clear whether he meant to suggest that his organization anticipates gaining ground relative to the rest of the league, though that’s certainly possible.
The D-Backs are, after all, still working on ways to make more cash from their stadium situation. Hall says the organization is focused at present on maximizing the opportunities at Chase Field, which the team gained added control over after sorting out some elements of a dispute regarding maintenance with municipal authorities.
With positive initial returns on efforts to take care of the facility and put it to non-baseball uses, Hall says “there’s not such an urgency to figure out that next step.” Indeed, things went so well last year that the organization sees some spillover onto the baseball side. “It does provide us with new resources from a revenue standpoint that we can invest back into the team,” Hall explains.
It does seem there’s still an inclination to pursue a new ballpark — or, perhaps, a major revamp of the existing facility. Kendrick posited a rather confusing analogy of Chase Field to a “classic automobile;” in both, he says, one might like some of what’s outwardly visible but might also “find things sometimes you wouldn’t wish to find.” Kendrick seemingly suggested that maintaining the facility might ultimately not be feasible, thus requiring a new one altogether. It seems odd that a ballpark that opened in 1998 would have been constructed in such a manner. While it’s understandable enough that the team is desirous of maximizing its earning opportunities — particularly after seeing a few peer organizations pull off fancy multi-use, publicly-funded projects to replace perfectly useful existing structures — building new ballparks every quarter-century really isn’t a reasonable overall strategy.
Angels’ Arte Moreno On Joc Trade, Rotation, Eppler
The trade that would have sent Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to the Angels for infielder Luis Rengifo and outfield prospect Andy Pages appears to be dead. A report last week indicated Angels owner Arte Moreno was the one who put the kibosh on it. Moreno confirmed Monday that he did shoot down the LA-LA trade, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, though he wasn’t willing to say why.
“It wasn’t all impatience. There were other things,” Moreno said of the causes for the failed swap, which fell through as the Dodgers waited to acquire Mookie Betts and David Price from the Red Sox (that ended up happening). Now, according to Moreno, the Angels have “moved on.”
Had the Angels gotten Stripling, he’d have looked like one of their most talented starters on paper. The club entered the offseason needing rotation help, and it has added a couple durable veterans in Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy. It looks as if the the Angels continue to need front-end aid, though, especially with Shohei Ohtani set to stay off the mound for at least the first month and a half of the season.
The Halos did make a legitimate attempt to sign the No. 1 free agent available, right-handed ace Gerrit Cole, as they offered him $300MM over eight years back in December. But the Southern California native instead accepted the Yankees’ record-setting offer of nine years and $324MM. Moreno discussed the Angels’ Cole pursuit, indicating they simply couldn’t match the Yankees’ aggressiveness. “Walking in there and you knew, no matter what I bid, we’re going to get outbid,” he said. “We had a pretty big number out there.”
With the season getting closer, it may now be too late for the Angels to land an impact starter. However, if all goes well into the summer and the Angels are contending, Moreno’s hopeful they’ll find one via trade. The team has “the financial flexibility” for such an addition, according to Moreno, who noted it’s seeking someone “who can substantially help us, not a No. 4 or No. 5.”
General manager Billy Eppler may be tasked with finding that type of starter in a few months, but his future’s uncertain beyond 2020. The Angels exercised his option for this season late last year, though they haven’t made the playoffs since hiring Eppler before 2016, so he could be on shaky ground. It doesn’t seem they’re going to rush into an extension for him just yet. Rather, “As a group, we need to win,” said Moreno, who added, “I probably should fire myself” for the franchise’s recent performance.
This Date In Transactions History: Odo On The Move
It has been exactly two years since the Twins bolstered their roster with a trade that continues to benefit their rotation. On Feb. 17, 2018, the Twins acquired right-hander Jake Odorizzi from the Rays for shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios.
Odorizzi had two years of control left at the time of the deal and was entering a season in which he’d earn a reasonable $6.3MM via arbitration. The trade brought an end to months of rumors centering on Odorizzi, who garnered interest from a variety of clubs leading up to the Twins’ acquisition. It was already the third trade in Odorizzi’s career, as the 2008 second-round pick of the Brewers previously went from the Brew Crew to the Royals in a 2010 blockbuster and from Kansas City to Tampa Bay in another headline-grabber two years later.
Then entering his age-28 season, Odorizziwas coming off a successful four-year run when he arrived in Minnesota. From his first full season in 2014 through 2017, he registered 120 starts and 668 1/3 innings (30 and 167 per year, respectively) of 3.81 ERA ball. ERA indicators such as FIP (4.23) and xFIP (4.33) weren’t as favorable, but they still painted him as a quality big league starter.
Odorizzi helped his cause by logging 8.31 K/9 against 2.96 BB/9 in his four full years as a Ray, but he generated groundballs at a meager 33.9 percent clip. He still managed to dodge home runs as a member of Tampa Bay, with which he gave them up on just over 11 percent of fly balls. But Odorizzi yielded long balls more than ever in 2017, when he surrendered them a career-worst 15.5 percent of the time. He also posted a relatively bloated walk rate (3.83 per nine, compared to 7.97 K/9) en route to a 4.14 ERA with a far worse 5.43 FIP/5.10 xFIP over 143 1/3 frames.
Although Odorizzi’s last season as a Ray was mediocre, he has rebounded as a Twin. Minnesota’s version has worked to a 3.78 ERA/3.88 FIP across 62 starts and 323 1/3 innings. He still isn’t inducing grounders that often, having done so at a 31.5 percent rate, yet has recorded sub-9 percent HR-to-FB marks in both seasons with the club. Odorizzi was especially effective in 2019, which went down as his first All-Star campaign. He amassed 159 innings of 3.51 ERA/3.36 FIP ball to help the Twins rack up 101 wins and take home their first AL Central title since 2010. Along the way, Odorizzi set career highs in K/9 (10.08, against 3.00 BB/9) and swinging-strike percentage (12.7), thanks in part to a noticeable increase in velocity. His fastball sat in the 90-91 mph range in previous years, but the mean jumped to 92.9 last season.
Once his personal-best campaign ended, Odorizzi looked likely to parlay his success with the Twins into a lucrative multiyear deal. Instead, though, he decided to accept the Twins’ $17.8MM qualifying offer, setting him up to stay with the hopeful World Series contenders for at least one more season. The Twins, for their part, are now in line to get three years of an important rotation cog for the affordable sum of $33.6MM (including 2018-19; Odorizzi made $9.5MM last season).
On the other hand, the Rays haven’t made out as well in the trade. Owing in part to its innovative opener strategy, the team has carried on just fine without Odorizzi, having combined for 186 wins since parting with him. The Rays made the playoffs last year and look like strong bets to challenge for the postseason again in 2020. However, it’s highly questionable whether they’ll ever receive any contributions from Palacios.
Twenty-one years old at the time of the trade, Palacios ranked as one of the Twins’ 30 best prospects during his time with the franchise, though he simply hasn’t panned out in the minors with the Rays. Palacios has reached Double-A ball in each of his two seasons with the Tampa Bay organization, but he has combined for a meek .192/.255/.272 line with three homers in 320 plate appearances at that level.
Always willing to experiment, the Rays did dabble in using Palacios as a pitcher in the minors last season, and he did show encouraging velocity during that brief stint on the mound. Still, it’s anyone’s guess whether he’ll make it to the majors in any capacity. Meanwhile, the Twins will go forward content with landing one of their most valuable starters for a prospect who hasn’t found his niche to this point.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Miles Mikolas
Right-hander Miles Mikolas, one of the Cardinals’ top starters, is dealing with flexor issues at the outset of spring training. Mikolas underwent a platelet-rich plasma injection after last season, but it’s possible he’ll need another one, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Surgery doesn’t seem to be on the table at this point, though the Cardinals should make an announcement on Mikolas’ status in the “coming days,” Hummel writes.
This is no doubt a less-than-ideal start to the spring for Mikolas and the Cardinals, who made a significant investment in him a year ago. Then fresh off a great return season to majors after dominating in Japan from 2015-17, the Cardinals signed Mikolas to a four-year, $68MM extension in February 2019. That deal won’t take effect until this year, giving St. Louis all the more reason to hope he’ll get past his current injury troubles unscathed.
Now 31 years old, Mikolas didn’t thrive in 2019 to the same extent he did in the previous season. He performed well nevertheless, though, and was perhaps the Cardinals’ most effective starter after budding star Jack Flaherty. Mikolas turned in 184 innings of 4.16 ERA/4.27 FIP ball with 7.04 K/9, 1.57 BB/9 and a 47.4 percent groundball rate.
If healthy, Mikolas will again join Flaherty, Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson in the Cardinals’ rotation. Meanwhile, Carlos Martinez figures to head back to the rotation after a year spent as a reliever. That’s a strong quintet on paper, but if Mikolas or someone else ends up unavailable to open 2020, the recently signed Kwang-hyun Kim could have the inside track to begin as the No. 5 for the reigning NL Central champions.
AL Notes: C. Davis, Choo, Tigers
Then among the most threatening sluggers in baseball, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis re-signed with the team on a seven-year, $161MM contract prior to the 2016 campaign. Davis was coming off a 47-home run, 5.4-fWAR season at the time, but his output has tanked since he signed his contract. The lefty swinger was stunningly unproductive from 2018-19 – an 854-plate appearance run in which he hit .172/.256/.308 with 28 HRs. Davis easily ranked last in the majors in fWAR in the process, accounting for minus-4.5.
The 33-year-old Davis, cognizant of how far he has fallen with the Orioles, admitted Monday (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com) that he recently considered retiring. “I’d be lying if I told you that wasn’t at least talked about toward the end of the season last year and this offseason,” he said. “I know what I’m capable of. I know what I expect of myself and I don’t want to continue to just struggle and be a below-average, well below-average producer at the plate. And I don’t think that’s fair to these guys. And I don’t think, honestly, it’s fair to our fans, or to anybody that’s associated with Baltimore.”
For now, Davis is hanging around and hoping for a better showing in 2020. If that doesn’t occur, though, it’ll be interesting to see if he walks away or the Orioles cut him. The soon-to-be 34-year-old still has another $69MM left on his contract (including deferrals), so an early breakup wouldn’t be easy for either side.
- Speaking of uncertain futures, Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is going into the last season of his own lucrative the deal – the seven-year, $130MM contract he inked with the club before the 2014 campaign. It could prove to be the final season in the majors for the 37-year-old, who hasn’t decided whether to play in 2021, per Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram. If Choo does elect to play past this year, though, he’d like to remain a Ranger, according to Wilson. Overall, the gamble the Rangers took on Choo in free agency hasn’t necessarily worked out as planned, but he remains a solid offensive player and an on-base machine. Choo slashed .265/.371/.455 with 24 home runs and 15 stolen bases in 660 trips to the plate last season.
- Tigers left-hander Joey Wentz halted his live bullpen session Monday as a result of forearm soreness, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News writes. Wentz brushed it off as fatigue, though it could still be worth monitoring going forward. After all, Wentz is one of the most promising arms in the Tigers’ system. The 22-year-old joined the organization last July in a trade with the Braves centering on reliever Shane Greene. Wentz then finished the season in dominant fashion as a member of the Tigers’ Double-A team, with which he pitched to a 2.10 ERA and put up 13.0 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9 across 25 2/3 innings.
NL Notes: Senzel, Pirates, Cespedes, Cardinals
As of a few weeks ago, the Reds were reportedly “considering” trade scenarios centering on Nick Senzel. However, president of baseball operations Dick Williams then suggested the outfielder/second baseman isn’t going anywhere. That’s fine with Senzel, who said Monday (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer): “I’m happy to be here. I want to be here for my whole career. I want to play in Cincinnati for these fans and my teammates. Any time those talks come up or anything, there is literally nothing I can do about it. I have no control over it. The less I worry about it, the better.” Senzel then noted trade rumors are “part of the business, especially when top names are getting thrown around.” Indeed, it never seemed as if the Reds would move Senzel during the winter without getting back a star-caliber player in return.
Here’s more from the National League…
- To say this has been an offseason low on impact acquisitions for the Pirates would be an understatement. They’ve signed three major league free agents – catcher Luke Maile and a pair of outfielders Jarrod Dyson and Guillermo Heredia – all for modest prices. Thanks to its offseason decisions, including the trade of center fielder Starling Marte to Arizona, Pittsburgh’s projected to enter 2020 with a microscopic payroll of $60MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. It’s not an ideal way to build a team, but the Pirates are in a rebuild. Once (and if) the Pirates begin to turn things around, new general manager Ben Cherington expects to have more money at his disposal. “I’m confident [payroll] will increase over time as we get deeper into our team build, there’s opportunity and we get closer with those opportunities,” Cherington stated Sunday (via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). “I’m confident we’ll have the means to build a winning team and add pieces. We’re not putting any kind of date on when that could happen. We’re going to try and get there as soon as we can. That’s an every-day thing.” The Pirates have come under fire for a lack of spending, though Cherington added that he’s “really confident that the total investment in baseball operations is not just enough but really competitive within the industry,”
- It has been a trying couple years for Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, a former star. The 34-year-old missed a sizable chunk of time from 2017-18 and didn’t take the field at all last season as a result of various injuries, including one suffered during a run-in with a wild boar. The Mets then amended Cespedes’ contract back in December, dropping his 2020 salary from $29.5MM to $6MM. Cespedes is now working to return to form in the wake of a long layoff, but he wasn’t cooperative with the media Monday after the Mets’ first full-squad workout, as Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News relays. Asked if he’d discuss his offseason, his general health or the boar encounter, he offered, “Not today, not tomorrow, not at all this year.”
- With Jordan Hicks recovering from Tommy John surgery and Carlos Martinez on his way back to their rotation, the Cardinals will hold closer auditions all spring, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Andrew Miller, Ryan Helsley, John Gant, Giovanny Gallegos, John Brebbia, Alex Reyes and offseason signing Kwang-Hyun Kim could all be candidates to land the job, though the Cardinals may choose to fill the role by committee. “Having one guy who is a lock down guy is fine,” manager Mike Shildt told Goold. “If we don’t have that then clearly the multiple options are going to be necessary.”
Danny Santana Changes Representation
Rangers utilityman Danny Santana has changed representation and is now a client of Gene Mato of Mato Sports Management, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.
For the 29-year-old Santana, the agency switch comes on the heels of one of his most productive seasons. He burst on the scene as a member of the Twins in 2014, totaling 3.9 fWAR in his 430-plate appearance rookie campaign, but then struggled in the next four years. Between the Twins and the Braves from 2015-18, Santana batted a disastrous .219/.256/.319 line with six home runs over 735 plate appearances. Just three hitters managed a worse fWAR than Santana’s minus-2.3 during that span.
Thanks to his years-long stretch of posting subpar numbers, Santana had to settle for a minor league contract with the Rangers in December 2018. The signing has worked out swimmingly for both sides so far. The switch-hitting Santana wound up totaling 511 PA of .283/.324/.534 of offense at the big league level last season. He was one of seemingly countless MLB players to power up during a home run-happy season, bashing 28 HRs en route to a 20-20 year (he also had 21 stolen bases) and 1.9 fWAR. However, it was alarming that Santana struck out in just about 30 percent of trips to the plate while walking a little under 5 percent of the time.
While skepticism may be warranted in regards to Santana’s 2019 offensive outburst, he should at least continue to give the Rangers a versatile, affordable performer. He saw quite a bit of action at every infield position and all outfield spots last season, and remains someone Texas expects to lean heavily on heading into 2020. Santana’s due to make $3.6MM this year – his second-last season of arbitration eligibility.
Santana’s change in representation will be reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains agent info on thousands of Major League and Minor League players. If you see any errors or omissions within, please let us know: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
