Quick Hits: Keller, Straily, Lotte Giants, Neris, Red Sox
Brad Keller posted a 2.47 ERA, 2.06 K/BB rate, 5.76 K/9, and 52.8% grounder rate over 54 2/3 innings this season, as the 25-year-old continues to establish himself as a front-of-the-rotation option for the Royals. Keller was aided this season by an improved slider that essentially looked more like his fastball and moved like a curveball, as the right-hander told Fangraphs’ David Laurila. The first step was remaking a slider delivery that initially left Keller unable to “see the plate because my front arm was covering the catcher….I was constantly pulling off on everything, yanking my front side. I needed to clean that up and keep my shoulders more square.”
Working on advice from Royals pitching coach Cal Eldred during the league shutdown, Keller fixed his delivery and turned his slider into a prominent part of his arsenal. 38.2% of his pitches were sliders in 2020, well up from a 31.2% usage in 2019 and a 26.2% usage in 2018. As per Fangraphs’ pitch value and slider runs above average (wSL) metrics, Keller had the third-most effective slider of any pitcher in baseball, behind only Dinelson Lamet and Zach Plesac.
More from around baseball as the Dodgers sit a game away from a championship…
- Dan Straily‘s first season in Korea was a success, and the right-hander tells Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News that he has yet to make a decision about a potential second season with the KBO League’s Lotte Giants. Before anything, Straily wants to return to the United States to see his family for the first time in nine months, as COVID-19 travel restrictions kept him in South Korea. “I want to be with my wife when the decision starts coming up and my agent starts talking to the team about this,” Straily said. After inking a one-year, $1MM contract with the Lotte Giants last winter, Straily posted a 2.50 ERA with 205 strikeouts over 194 2/3 innings, becoming arguably the league’s top pitcher and a popular figure with fans. It was a solid rebound season after a tough 2019 for Straily that saw him allow 22 homers over only 47 2/3 innings with the Orioles, resulting in a 9.82 ERA.
- The Phillies hold a $7MM club option on Hector Neris for 2021, which the team could see as an acceptable price tag for a reliever who has been generally solid over parts of seven MLB seasons. However, in an offseason where the Phillies are dealing with revenue losses and trying to get under the luxury tax threshold, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman sees Neris as a possible extension candidate. Seidman floats the possibility of a two-year contract worth $9MM-$10MM, which seems like a good number from the Phils’ perspective, though it remains to be seen if Neris or his agents would accept such an offer. The team has some leverage in the sense that Neris probably wouldn’t like to test the very uncertain 2020-21 free agent market, yet Neris might also have confidence that the Phillies wouldn’t actually decline his option since the Phils are in such dire need of bullpen help.
- Chaim Bloom’s first year in charge of the Red Sox front office was a tumultuous one, and the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier looked beyond the unprecedented events (the pandemic’s effect on the season and the Mookie Betts trade) to examine patterns about how Bloom will shepherd the team going forward. The Sox mostly targeted controllable players, and the sheer volume of transactions was also different, as the 2020 club had the most roster turnover of any Red Sox team of the past decade. “It goes back to being more open-minded and willing to be more aggressive with the bottom end of our 40-man roster,” assistant GM Eddie Romero said. “The 40-man roster became more of a living document. It was a daily conversation. It required daily upkeep.”
Diamondbacks Release Artie Lewicki
TODAY: SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization are in negotiations with Lewicki, according to a report from MBC Plus (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net)
OCTOBER 24: The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Artie Lewicki, as per the MLB.com transactions page. According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, Lewicki will be signing with a team in Asia.
Lewicki appeared in two games for the D’Backs this season, making his return to the field after Tommy John surgery sidelined him for all of 2019. Lewicki posted a 5.14 ERA over 49 innings for Detroit in 2017-18 before the D’Backs claimed him off waivers following the 2018 campaign.
Originally an eighth-round pick for the Tigers in the 2014 draft, Lewicki had some solid numbers over 398 2/3 innings in the Detroit farm system. Starting 68 of 81 games, Lewicki had a 3.54 ERA, 3.54 K/BB, and 8.1 K/9 as a minor leaguer.
2021 Managerial Search Tracker
Three teams are currently on the hunt for new managers, and this post will keep track of the many names reported and rumored to be part of these searches. The latest…
Red Sox
Hired
- Alex Cora: former Red Sox manager (currently suspended until conclusion of the World Series)
Interviewed
- Mike Bell: Twins bench coach
- Sam Fuld: Phillies director of integrative baseball performance
- Don Kelly: Pirates bench coach
- Carlos Mendoza: Yankees bench coach
- James Rowson: Marlins bench coach
- Skip Schumaker: Padres associate manager
- Luis Urueta: Diamondbacks bench coach
- Will Venable: Cubs third base coach
Reportedly Under Consideration
- George Lombard: Dodgers first base coach
*****
Tigers
Hired
- A.J. Hinch: former Diamondbacks/Astros manager
Interviewed
- Dave Clark: Tigers first base coach
- Sal Fasano: Braves catching instructor
- Pedro Grifol: Royals bench coach
- Don Kelly: Pirates bench coach
- Mark Kotsay: Athletics quality control coach
- George Lombard: Dodgers first base coach
- Lloyd McClendon: current Tigers interim manager, former Pirates/Mariners manager
- Carlos Mendoza: Yankees bench coach
- Phil Nevin: Yankees third base coach
- Matt Quatraro: Rays bench coach
- Marcus Thames: Yankees hitting coach
- Will Venable: Cubs third base coach
Reportedly Under Consideration
- Alex Cora: former Red Sox manager (currently suspended until conclusion of the World Series)
- Fredi Gonzalez: Orioles bench coach, former Braves/Marlins manager
- Mike Redmond: Rockies bench coach
- Vance Wilson: Royals third base coach
*****
White Sox
Hired
- Tony La Russa: Hall-of-Famer, former Cardinals/Athletics/White Sox manager
Interviewed
- Willie Harris: Reds baserunning and outfield coordinator
Reportedly Drew Consideration
- A.J. Hinch: former Astros/Diamondbacks manager (currently suspended until conclusion of the World Series)
Red Sox, Tigers Interview Carlos Mendoza For Managerial Vacancies
Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza has emerged as a candidate for two different managerial openings, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. Both the Red Sox and Tigers have spoken with the 40-year-old Mendoza, who just completed his third season on New York’s big league coaching staff.
Mendoza is a long-time member of the Yankees’ organization, dating back to his time as a minor league player in the team’s farm system from 2006-09. That 2009 season saw Mendoza transition into a number of different coaching and managerial roles, including stints as manager of the Yankees’ rookie league team and their A-ball affiliate in Charleston. Mendoza was named to the Major League coaching staff as a quality control coach and infield instructor prior to the 2018 season, and was then promoted to bench coach last offseason.
As King notes, there is some speculation that Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch could be unofficial favorites to respectively manage the Red Sox and Tigers, though the clubs are prohibited from interviewing either manager until their one-year suspensions (for their roles in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal) are over. Both Cora and Hinch are under suspension until the conclusion of the World Series.
In the interim, both Boston and Detroit have been linked to several other candidates, whether out of due diligence or perhaps as a sign that Cora and Hinch aren’t necessarily the top choices. Mendoza joins Cubs third base coach Will Venable and Pirates bench coach Don Kelly as the only candidates known to have interviewed with both the Tigers and Red Sox.
Brett Phillips, The Rays’ Thrice-Traded Hero
Despite the new August 31 date and all the uncertainty about how player movement would be impacted by the circumstances of the pandemic-shortened season, the lead-up to the 2020 trade deadline went more or less the same as deadlines past. Some big names switched uniforms, non-contenders looked to dump salary and add prospects, and just about as always, one unheralded trade ended up paying big dividends in October.
On August 27, the Rays made a move to shore up their bench depth by acquiring Brett Phillips from the Royals in exchange for infield prospect Lucius Fox. It was one of several seemingly minor swaps Tampa Bay made prior to the August 31 deadline, and while the Rays were already coasting towards a postseason spot by that point, the argument could have been made that a bigger move was necessary to boost their chances at a championship.
Little did we know, the Phillips trade was that move. Phillips’ ninth-inning RBI single last night started a wild, game-deciding sequence and an 8-7 comeback victory for Tampa in Game 4 of the World Series. After entering the game as a pinch-runner in the previous inning, Phillips’ first plate appearance since October 7 resulted in his entry into instant legend status in Rays history.
Not bad for a player who was primarily seen as a defensive and pinch-running specialist at the time of his acquisition. In fact, it’s not bad for a 26-year-old player playing for his fourth different organization, which is perhaps why Phillips was such an unlikely candidate to deliver the Rays’ biggest hit.
Originally a sixth-round pick for the Astros in the 2012 draft, Phillips began to turn heads after a very impressive 2014 season at the A-ball and high-A levels. He continued to produce into 2015, and while this breakout might have made him into a building block for the rebuilding Astros if it had happened a bit earlier in Phillips’ career, by 2015 the Astros were looking to win. As such, Houston made a major trade deadline swap with the Brewers that sent Phillips, Josh Hader, Domingo Santana, and Adrian Houser to Milwaukee in exchange for Carlos Gomez, Mike Fiers, and $287,500 in international bonus pool money.
The Astros went on to reach the postseason that year, falling to the Royals in the ALDS, yet the aftershocks of this trade continue to reverberate around baseball. Gomez ended up being something of a disappointment for Houston that year, though Fiers went on to become a solid member of the Astros’ rotation through their 2017 World Series-winning season and then…well, you know the rest. On Milwaukee’s end of the deal, Hader developed into one of the game’s best relief aces, Hauser has emerged as an intriguing starter, and Santana delivered some solid production over 351 games for the Brew Crew before he was traded to the Mariners in the 2018-19 offseason.
The one weak link of the Brewers’ trade return, however, was Phillips. There was no doubt that Phillips had MLB-caliber speed and glovework, except after a promising .799 OPS over 98 plate appearances in 2017, he struggled badly the next season and found himself on the move again.
This time, Phillips was headed to Kansas City (along with right-hander Jorge Lopez) in another deadline deal, as Milwaukee picked up Mike Moustakas for the pennant race. The Moose was a key part of a Brewers team that came within a game of the 2018 NL pennant, and the Brew Crew reached the playoffs again in 2019 thanks in large part to Moustakas’ All-Star season. For Phillips, he found himself on another rebuilding team with another opportunity at a fresh start, yet he again couldn’t capitalize — Phillips hit .178/.256/.308 over 236 PA spanning three seasons with the Royals.
As a player who relied on doubles and triples rather than homers, Phillips wasn’t quite a “three true outcomes” player in the minors, though he used a keen batting eye to counter-act his strikeouts and generate a career .274/.362/.478 slash line over 3174 PA. The problem is, Major League pitchers have feasted on those holes in Phillips’ swing, as he has struck out 133 times in his 383 plate appearances at the big league level.
Phillips’ trade history is indicative of his declining prospect stock, as he went from a headline piece of a blockbuster deal to last August’s swap that didn’t generate many headlines. Not many headlines, that is, until last night. While Phillips’ first two trades carried so much import for other teams and players involved, it wasn’t until his third time changing uniforms that Phillips himself now stands as the most important part of a trade. Phillips is still only 26, and given the Rays’ penchant for finding hidden gems, perhaps last night’s heroics will only raise the curtain on a big second act of Phillips’ Major League career.
Orioles To Re-Sign Stevie Wilkerson
The Orioles are re-signing utilityman Stevie Wilkerson to a minor-league contract, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He’ll receive an invitation to spring training.
The 28-year-old (29 in January) saw rather extensive action for Baltimore between 2018-19. Across those two seasons, he took 410 plate appearances and put together a .219/.279/.365 line with ten home runs. Lackluster offensive showing aside, Wilkerson found his way into the lineup thanks to his defensive versatility. He logged the majority of his action in center field, but he also picked up multiple starts at second and third base and in the corner outfield. Wilkerson even pitched four times in mop-up duty.
Outrighted off the O’s 40-man roster last offseason, Wilkerson still received an invitation to Summer Camp. Unfortunately, he broke his left ring finger during workouts and didn’t get into a game. He’ll look to play his way back into the mix next spring.
Quick Hits: Rockies, Pint, Mackanin, Sherriff
Some notes from around the league:
- One key decision for the Rockies this offseason is whether to add Riley Pint to the 40-man roster, observes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Selected fourth overall in the 2016 draft out of a Kansas high school, Pint must either be added to the 40-man or exposed to the Rule 5 draft this winter. The 22-year-old (23 in November) has been undone by strike-throwing issues ever since draft day. In parts of four minor-league seasons, none above Low-A, Pint has managed only a 5.71 ERA across 156 innings thanks to an alarming 7.2 BB/9. However, Rockies assistant GM Zach Wilson points out (via Saunders) that Pint still has the high-octane stuff that made him so well-regarded as an amateur and has made strides mentally and mechanically.
- The Phillies informed a handful of staffers their contracts weren’t being renewed in recent days, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among those let go was former Phils manager Pete Mackanin, who had been with the organization as a special assistant to general manager Matt Klentak (who himself stepped down from that position earlier this month). The 69-year-old Mackanin took over the managerial chair in Philadelphia in the middle of 2015, a title he’d hold until he was reassigned to the special assistant role after the 2017 season.
- Rays reliever Ryan Sherriff worked his way back from a 2018 Tommy John surgery to appear on Tampa Bay’s World Series roster. This season marked his first big league action since a 2017-18 stint with the Cardinals, as Sherriff discusses with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Released by St. Louis in August 2018, two months after undergoing surgery, Sherriff concedes he was frustrated with the way things ended. In light of his success with the Rays, Sherriff now considers his Cardinals release the “best thing that ever happened to me.” A grievance filed in 2018 against the St. Louis organization for back pay and MLB service time related to the date of Sherriff’s injury is still pending, Goold reports.
MLBTR Poll: Should The Astros Give Michael Brantley A Qualifying Offer?
The World Series will come to an end next week, meaning teams will soon have to decide whether to tag their impending free agents with the one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer. If a team makes a player a QO which that player rejects, the team will be entitled to some form of draft compensation if the player departs in free agency.
MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently ran down the qualifying offer outlook for both position players and pitchers. As is the case every year, some players are candidates to receive a QO but might plausibly accept if offered. One such player is Astros outfielder Michael Brantley.
One of the sport’s most consistently productive hitters over his tenure in Cleveland, Brantley reached free agency following the 2018 season. Surprisingly, the Indians elected not to make him a qualifying offer, forgoing the opportunity to receive compensation if he signed elsewhere. Brantley did just that, inking a two-year, $32MM contract with Houston.
Brantley continued to perform over the course of that deal. In 824 plate appearances as an Astro, he’s put up a robust .309/.370/.497 slash line (134 wRC+). He remains one of the league’s tougher batters to strike out and his all-fields approach has helped him sustain strong batting averages on balls in play. Brantley doesn’t put up eye-popping peak exit velocities, but he’s been remarkably adept at avoiding weak contact and mishits.
On the other hand, Brantley’s 33 years old (34 in May) and limited to left field and/or designated hitter. He’ll need to continue to hit at an extremely high level to remain a valuable player. The left-handed hitter holds his own against southpaws but is hardly elite in that regard (career .275/.331/.373 line against LHP). In a market rife with uncertainty (and perhaps flooded with alternatives from non-tenders), the earning power of players like Brantley could be limited.
The Astros’ payroll might be an issue, as well. Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke and José Altuve each have sizable contracts on the books already, and there are a few notable arbitration raises to consider. Potentially losing all of George Springer (who’s a slam dunk QO decision), Brantley and Josh Reddick to free agency, the Houston front office will have to address the outfield in some form this offseason. They just might choose to do so more cheaply than by making an $18.9MM offer to Brantley.
Turning it over to MLBTR readers, how should GM James Click proceed?
(poll link for app users)
Should The Astros Offer Michael Brantley A QO?
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Yes 60% (5,086)
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No 40% (3,386)
Total votes: 8,472
Rays To Start Blake Snell In World Series Game 6
Last night’s back-and-forth thriller ended with an 8-7 Rays win. That knotted the World Series at two games apiece, setting the stage for a Tyler Glasnow – Clayton Kershaw showdown in tonight’s crucial Game 5.
Tampa Bay’s win also guaranteed the series will go at least six games. Unsurprisingly, Blake Snell is set to take the ball for the Rays in the sixth contest on Tuesday night (via Juan Toribio of MLB.com). That’ll give the southpaw five days rest since his most recent start in Game 2, when he tossed 4.2 innings of two-run ball, striking out nine while allowing a pair of hits and four walks.
Snell was warming in the bullpen in the late innings last night, but manager Kevin Cash decided against bringing him into the game. How the Dodgers will deploy their pitching staff in Game 6 remains to be seen, but it’s easy to envision a potential Game 7 matchup between Charlie Morton and Walker Buehler.
MLBTR Poll: Will The National League Have The DH In 2021?
For the first time since 1972, both the American League and National League played a season under a uniform set of rules. The institution of the universal designated hitter was one of several concessions made to the unusual circumstances of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, as with pitchers already facing a heightened injury risk from a lack of normal preseason preparation time, the decision was made to spare the pitchers the extra stress of hitting. Both the league and the players’ union agreed that the DH would become a full-time feature of National League baseball for the first time ever.
What was the reaction? Well, it probably depended on how you felt about the DH in the first place. It didn’t quite stand out as much as other oddities of 2020 baseball (i.e. the automatic runner on second base in extra innings, or seven-inning games in doubleheaders) since the DH has been part of the game for almost 50 years, yet some fans of National League teams surely felt unusual watching games played in their favorite team’s ballpark without a pitcher coming to the plate. If you’re a fan of the Dodgers, Braves, or Padres, you probably learned to love the DH — having an extra lineup spot to house a big bat was a key reason why these three playoff-bound clubs scored the most runs of any team in baseball.
DH-free baseball has long been on the decline at many levels of the game, and the thought was that the universal designated hitter would eventually become part of Major League Baseball. With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring after the 2021 season, it has long been assumed that the universal DH would be one of the many issues to be debated between the owners and players. The 2020 implementation was considered to be a first step in that direction, and since the experiment seemed to work well, could the league and the MLBPA simply skip ahead and make the designated hitter permanent in National League baseball?
It won’t be quite so easy, of course. Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said that all rule changes applied only to the 2020 season, so any further changes like a universal DH would have to be settled after another round of negotiation between the league and the players. With the CBA talks looming and the contentious tone of the negotiations prior to the start of the shortened season still lingering, there may be no such thing as an “easy” decision between MLB and the MLBPA these days. It is quite likely that the league will try to gain some concessions from the union in exchange for the universal DH, and given how loathe the players have been to concede any ground to the owners, it may be difficult to find common ground on one relatively small issue without opening the larger can of worms that is the myriad of questions facing the sport in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Manfred’s statement about the DH and likelihood of a 2021 rules reset could also be a way of addressing the concerns of National League general managers. As the Padres’ A.J. Preller recently noted in regards to his team’s club option with Mitch Moreland, the Padres are a little unsure about how to proceed with deciding on Moreland or other roster matters until they know whether or not the designated hitter slot will be available. If the rules will revert to their pre-2020 state, Manfred was essentially telling Preller and company to prepare as if there won’t be a DH….until, maybe, there is?
As we get closer to Opening Day 2021, MLB will have a better idea of how (or if) the next season will proceed, whether that manifests in another shortened season, fans in the stands, or many other factors related to the state of the pandemic. It could be that the 2020 rules are re-implemented around, say, early March if it becomes apparent that a normal 162-game schedule isn’t feasible.
But, many player agents and MLBPA members are undoubtedly aware that the lack of a DH spot will mean fewer roster opportunities for players this offseason. Players like Moreland could have their options declined, defensively-challenged veterans will be less in demand, and even some of the bigger-name designated hitters will again see their markets limited to the American League. Like MLBTR’s Steve Adams observed in regards to Nelson Cruz, the slugger’s desire for a two-year contract would be much easier to find if all 30 teams were candidates (at least on paper) to sign Cruz this winter.
With all these factors in mind, do you think the league and the players will work out a deal for a universal DH in 2021, or will the National League get at least one more years of pitchers at the plate? (link to poll for Trade Rumors mobile app users)
Will The Universal DH Be Used In 2021?
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Yes 72% (9,119)
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No 28% (3,496)
Total votes: 12,615