Marlins Pursuing Brandon Kintzler
TODAY: The Marlins “are working on a deal” with Kintzler, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets.
JANUARY 24: The Marlins are a reported finalist for righty Pedro Strop, but they’re also “very much in pursuit” of right-hander Brandon Kintzler, tweets Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio. The Miami organization is hoping to entrust ninth-inning duties to one of those two veteran late-inning arms.
Both Strop and Kintzler have spent the past couple seasons with the Cubs. But while Strop is out on the market in hopes of enjoying a rebound season in 2020, Kintzler has already enjoyed a strong rebound effort and is hoping to cash in on his 2019 showing.
In 2018, the now-35-year-old Kintzler limped to a 4.60 ERA (4.10 FIP, 4.50 xFIP) through 60 2/3 innings between the Nationals and Cubs. He’d been sharp in D.C. but immediately scuffled in Chicago, posting a 7.00 ERA in 18 innings. It wasn’t at all the showing for which the Cubs had hoped and Kintzler unsurprisingly exercised a $5MM player option.
That 2018 hiccup now looks like more of an outlier, though, as Kintlzer recorded a career-best 2.68 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate. As usual, Kintzler’s low-spin sinker — where, unlike with four-seam heaters, less spin is considered a positive — generated plenty of grounders. He also more than doubled the amount he used his changeup and enjoyed an uptick on his swinging-strike rate against that particular offering.
Kintzler now has an ERA of 3.15 or better in three of the past four seasons. Going back seven years to his first full season in the bigs, he’s posted an ERA of 3.24 or better on five occasions, with the lone exceptions coming in 2018 and in 2015, when a knee injury wiped out most of his season (seven MLB innings, 19 in the minors). All told, he has a career 3.37 earned run average in 424 1/3 innings. And while his lifetime 6.3 K/9 mark isn’t the gaudy total one expects to see from a closer, Kintzler is no stranger to late-inning pressures. He’s tallied 49 saves in his big league tenure, thriving thanks to a quality 2.3 BB/9 mark and his robust 56.1 percent grounder rate.
Jon Daniels Discusses Rangers’ Remaining Offseason Needs
Speaking at the Rangers’ “Peek At The Park” fan event on Saturday, GM Jon Daniels gave MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and other reporters a seeming hint about the club’s offseason direction, stating “I would think that if we do make any significant acquisition, a trade is more likely than a free agent….just the discussions we’ve had make me feel that way.”
Daniels’ comment would seem to diminish the chances of a deal between Texas and Nicholas Castellanos, the top free agent left on the board and a player who has already emerged as a Rangers target. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently detailed, a few teams are speculative fit for Castellanos at this point in the offseason, though all of these clubs seem to have at least one significant obstacle — a crowded outfield, lack of payroll space, etc. — standing in a way of a signing.
Texas arguably has the least-daunting of these positional obstacles, as Castellanos could be installed at first base or in right field, thus relegating either Ronald Guzman or Danny Santana to part-time duty (and Joey Gallo into a primary center field role). It’s possible, therefore, that money could be the holdup in talks. MLBTR projected Castellanos for a four-year, $58MM deal at the beginning of the offseason, though it could be that the Rangers or other teams aren’t willing to meet such a significant multi-year price given the narrowed market for Castellanos’ services. Marcell Ozuna, often considered Castellanos’ closest peer amongst free agent corner outfielders, recently had to settle for a one-year/$18MM pact with the Braves, though Ozuna was also impacted by draft pick compensation via the qualifying offer.
If a big free agent signing isn’t happening, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Rangers are set to make a splashy trade for the likes of a Nolan Arenado. While Texas has been linked to the Rockies third baseman on the rumor mill, Daniels called it “unlikely” that a deal would be worked out. Rockies GM Jeff Bridich seemingly put the Arenado rumors to rest earlier this week, only for speculation to re-escalate once Arenado went public with what he felt was “disrespectful” treatment from Bridich in particular and the Colorado organization as a whole.
Offense continues to be the Rangers’ primary target, with Daniels saying that he has had talks with almost every team in baseball about potential lineup acquisitions. Pitching is a lesser concern, as Daniels said that is more apt to add relievers on minor league deals than on multi-year Major League contracts. This might not bode well for the Rangers’ chances of signing Pedro Strop, though Strop wouldn’t necessarily require a multi-year deal.
Texas could also add veteran starters on minor league deals, though Daniels is pretty satisfied with his team’s in-house options, saying “I’d rather go to Kolby Allard than most of the guys who are available to us.” Daniels revealed that the Rangers had interest in signing Jerad Eickhoff before the righty inked a minor league pact with the Padres earlier this month. Eickhoff is a known quantity to Daniels, as the Rangers made Eickhoff a 15th-round draft pick in 2011 before sending him to the Phillies as part of the trade package for Cole Hamels in July 2015.
Mike Minor Interested In Discussing Extension With Rangers
JANUARY 25: The Rangers have interest in keeping Minor but haven’t yet begun contract talks with either the left-hander or any other players, GM Jon Daniels told Sullivan and other reporters. “We haven’t had any extension discussions at this point. That’s more a February or March topic conversation with some guys we may hit on,” Daniels said.
JANUARY 24: Southpaw Mike Minor has already more than made good on his side of the three-year bargain he struck with the Rangers. With one more season left on that deal, he’s interested in working out a new pact to stay for more.
As Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) and MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (Twitter link) report, Minor says he would like to hold discussions with the Texas organizations. It doesn’t seem that deep talks (if any) have been held to date, but spring camp is generally prime time for internal dealmaking.
Minor has thus far rewarded the Rangers’ faith. After bouncing back from a two-year layoff in a strong 2017 season with the Royals, he secured a surprising three-year, $28MM deal — a contractual model the Texas club has now followed in two more offseasons. The 32-year-old has handily outperformed that earning level, contributing 365 1/3 innings of 3.84 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9.
Unfortunately, the Rangers have mostly struggled despite Minor’s contributions. But that isn’t a drawback so much as a motivating factor for the lefty.
“For sure,” Minor said when asked about his interest in sticking around. “I feel like I’ve endured the worst part of it. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want to be a part of it. I don’t want to jump ship now when it’s going to be good.”
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how talks proceed. The Rangers have spurned trade interest in Minor even through the losing campaigns, presumably holding out hope he’d be a part of the team’s desired 2020 resurgence. There’s little question they value the veteran quite highly.
Still, it stands to reason the team will be wary of committing too much money over too long a term. There are quite a few positives and demerits in Minor’s profile.
For one thing, there’s Minor’s worrisome history of shoulder ailments to consider. But it’s hard to deny he has turned the page after two full seasons. Age is an obvious factor, but Minor is throwing harder than he did in his youth and produces as much spin on his fastball as any pitcher in the game. He’s not a dominating strikeout pitcher by any means but Statcast readings make clear he’s quite proficient at avoiding hard contact.
Twins Notes: Cruz, Donaldson, Hill
Nelson Cruz hit .311/.392/.639 with 41 homers in his first season in Minnesota, making it an easy call for the Twins to exercise their $12MM club option on the veteran slugger for 2020. Cruz can be a free agent next winter, though GM Thad Levine told fans and reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) at this weekend’s TwinsFest fan event that “we are having ongoing conversations with [Cruz’s] agent to discuss mutual interest in the future.”
Though Cruz has continued to swing a mighty bat into his late 30’s, he signed with the Twins for just one guaranteed year (worth $14.3MM in guaranteed money) with the 2020 club option last winter, as his age and DH-only lineup deployment limited his market. It’s fair to assume that those same factors could impact Cruz again this coming offseason, even if he has another big season in 2020. Cruz turns 40 in July, so perhaps a modest one-year extension covering the 2021 season would be acceptable to both sides. The Twins would be making a minimal risk in an aging player who has shown no signs of falling off at the plate, while Cruz would get some extra reward and security, while sidestepping the free agent market to stay in a familiar environment with a contending team.
Here’s more from the Twin Cities….
- The Twins’ signing of Josh Donaldson is chronicled by The Athletic’s Dan Hayes (subscription required) in a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the courtship between the two sides. Most of the deal’s financial elements (four years and $92MM, plus a club option for 2024) were already put forward by the Twins as early as mid-December, though that left several weeks of uncertainty on both sides as Donaldson pondered his options and began to learn more about the Minnesota organization. “There were times we thought we had a zero percent chance of signing (Donaldson). There were times we thought we had something a lot better,” Levine said. The process was also somewhat complicated by Levine going on vacation in late December, as chief baseball officer Derek Falvey then stepped in to continue negotiations with Donaldson’s representatives.
- Rich Hill is still targeting early June for his return date to the majors, and the date of his debut in a Twins uniform. Hill told MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park and other reporters that he will begin baseball activities next week, as the veteran left-hander continues to recover from primary revision surgery in November. Though Hill pitched with a detached UCL for much of the 2019 season, the injury wasn’t serious enough to require Tommy John surgery, which is why he opted for the lesser-known primary revision procedure that offered a shorter recovery timeframe. “It’s only a six-year-old surgery, and it’s had a huge amount of success of people who have had it and come back. I think it’s above a 95 percent success rate, so it’s something that I’m extremely excited about,” Hill said. The Twins signed Hill to a one-year deal in December worth $3MM in guaranteed money, though Hill only needs to pitch as many as 25 innings to start unlocking the $9.5MM in extra incentive bonuses in the contract.
Mets, Eduardo Nunez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mets have agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent infielder Eduardo Nunez, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. It includes a non-roster invite to Major League Spring Training.
Nunez, 32, is coming off a dreadful year that ended in July with his release from the Red Sox, with whom he had played since mid-2017. Nunez played in just 60 games for the Sox last year, and yet he accumulated -1.5 WAR thanks largely to an unsightly .228/.243/.305 batting line.
Those numbers are hard to swallow, but Nunez really isn’t that far from removed from a couple of seasons in 2016 and 2017 in which he provided above-average offensive output to go with his signature aggressive baserunning. Splitting the 2017 season between San Francisco and Boston, he posted an .801 OPS to go with 24 stolen bases. He’s never received high marks as a defender, but he’s at least capable of playing second and third base.
He will join an already crowded Mets infield mix with a chance to compete for a roster spot in the spring. The starting infield looks pretty well solidified, but Nunez may have a shot at supplanting Luis Guillorme, who’s a more polished shortstop but also has a patchy offensive track record, for bench at-bats.
Astros Interviewed Bobby Evans For GM Job
The Astros have interviewed former Giants general manager Bobby Evans for their own vacant GM post, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Evans is the first name to have emerged in Houston’s hunt for its next top executive.
The Astros, of course, are in need of replacements for both deposed GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch. While we’ve had plenty of news to follow along with the managerial search, things have been mostly quiet on the GM front. It makes sense, given that spring training is just around the corner and, well, beginning the spring with no manager would be quite the bold move. However, hiring a manager before a GM is not an ideal scenario; it’s increasingly necessary that executives up and down the organization are on the same page. That’s created a tricky situation for owner Jim Crane, who placed himself in charge of the team’s baseball operations in the interim.
Evans worked in the Giants organization beginning in 1994, serving as the team’s vice president of baseball operations during the franchise’s dynastic run of success from 2010-2014. He earned a promotion to general manager prior to the 2015 season, a post that he held for nearly four seasons until he was fired in September of 2018. Interestingly, as the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome notes, Evans’ San Francisco tenure largely coincided with Dusty Baker’s stint as the Giants’ skipper from 1993-2002. Baker, of course, has been named as a candidate in the Astros’ managerial search.
That connection, if it’s anything meaningful, could serve to quell some of the tension that could arise between a manager who’s been hired before his GM. Of course, it has been nearly two decades since the two worked together, so that history may wind up being irrelevant anyway.
Diamondbacks Interested In Brian Dozier
The Diamondbacks are one of the teams with interest in free-agent second baseman Brian Dozier, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network. If there are other clubs looking at Dozier, their identities are unknown as of now.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything regarding Dozier, and this is the first time a specific team has been named. Still, with Heyman implying that there’s multiple teams pursuing the 32-year-old, it’s anyone’s guess when and where Dozier will sign his next deal. It looks like a return to Washington, with whom Dozier spent just one season, can be ruled out after the team has made a series of infield acquisitions.
There’s not necessarily a gaping hole in the Arizona infield either, but that doesn’t mean the veteran Dozier couldn’t carve out a role with the Diamondbacks. Eduardo Escobar looks like the best bet to start at second base on Opening Day, but he could slide over to third—where he played last year—and bump Jake Lamb into a part-time role at first base.
Dozier enjoyed a nice bounce-back year in 2019 after seeing his 2018 numbers dip to career-worst marks almost across the board. Last year, he managed a respectable .771 OPS while belting 20 home runs, ultimately contributing to a World Series-winning team. There’s no doubt that he’s lost a step since his Minnesota days, but there could still be some value here. Notably, Dozier has graded out as a below-average defender in each of the last three years by Defensive Runs Saved, while Statcast’s Outs Above Average has also observed a similarly steep falloff since 2017.
Financially, the Diamondbacks shouldn’t have any trouble making another addition like Dozier, who made an affordable $9MM in 2019 and should once again come at a reasonable price. Even after a relatively busy offseason, Roster Resource tabs their current payroll obligations at just about $114MM, which comes in a little shy of the $125MM they owed last year.
So while it’s been a quiet offseason for Dozier, we should expect to hear more about his free agency in the near future, with Spring Training approaching and teams looking to round out their rosters with depth acquisitions.
NL Notes: Braves, Acuna, Brewers, Urias, Nationals, Zimmerman, Payroll
Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker has no intention of moving Ronald Acuna Jr. to the cleanup spot, per The Athletic’s David O’Brien (via Twitter). Even before the Marcell Ozuna signing, Snitker wasn’t entertaining removing Acuna from leadoff, where he excelled last season after a short stint in the middle of the order. Acuna has 15 leadoff home runs across his two seasons with the Braves and an overall batting line of .297/.380/.565 out of the leadoff spot. Acuna hardly struggled elsewhere in the lineup, but he’s certainly a luxury at the top of the order for the two-time defending NL East champs. With Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna presumably behind him in the order, there’s no particular need to mess with success. Let’s check in elsewhere in the National League…
- Milwaukee Brewers infielder Luis Urias is returning stateside to have his left wrist examined, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links). Urias cut his winter ball season short upon experiencing soreness. The Brewers hope to have answers by the middle of next week, and surgery is a possibility. Though mention of surgery sets off alarm bells, the Brewers expect this to be a minor issue. Urias, of course, is looking to establish himself as a full-time big-leaguer in his first season with the Brewers. He put up 1.0 bWAR, but just 0.1 fWAR across 71 games of action as a rookie with the Padres in 2019.
- Now that franchise cornerstone Ryan Zimmerman is back on an exceedingly affordable $2MM deal, the Nationals have financial flexibility under the tax, writes MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Roster resource puts the Nats’ tax payroll at about $204MM, which doesn’t provide a ton of wiggle room under the $208MM tax line. Zuckerman figures it closer to $194MM, which is the number given by Cot’s Contracts, roughly $14MM under the tax line. Either way, the Nats have been a willing tax payer in the past, and after ducking under the line in 2019, they’re safe to exceed it again without extra penalty. Given the level of free agent available, however, the Nats are probable to enter the season – like their divisional mates in New York and Philadelphia – near the line with the ability to exceed it with midseason additions should they be close enough to push for the playoffs.
Blue Jays To Sign Rafael Dolis
JANUARY 25: Dolis will make $1MM plus incentives, while the option for 2021 has a base of $1.5MM with bonuses, per Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi. The Blue Jays can cut ties with Dolis before 2021 at no cost.
JANUARY 24: The Blue Jays have reached a one-year agreement with right-hander Rafael Dolis, Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets. The deal includes a club option for 2021. Dolis is a client of Moye Sports Associates.
The 32-year-old Dolis is now in position to return to the majors for the first time since 2013, when he threw a mere five innings for the Cubs in his third season with the club. Overall, he pitched to a 5.48 ERA/5.39 FIP with more walks (26) than strikeouts (25) in 44 1/3 frames for Chicago before seeing Triple-A action with the Giants and Tigers from 2014-15.
Dolis headed for Japan after his MLB chances dried up a few years ago, and it proved to be an excellent decision. The hard thrower posted a tremendous 2.49 ERA with 96 saves and 9.9 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 over 206 innings with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball from 2016-19. Dolis’ success in Asia put him back on the major league map, and he now looks primed to win a season-opening spot in Toronto’s bullpen.
Latest on Padres And Mookie Betts
The Padres continue to push for another star as they engage in trade discussions with the Red Sox for Mookie Betts and the Pirates for Starling Marte. The newest tidbit comes for MLB Network insider Jon Heyman who tweets that the Padres are more likely to move Luis Patino than MacKenzie Gore. To be clear, Heyman also notes that trading top prospects for one year of Betts doesn’t make intuitive sense for the Padres. They are – at the very least – interested and exploring the cost.
What we can really glean from Heyman’s tweet is more about the internal hierarchy with which the Padres view their system. Though the implication is that the Padres would consider moving Patino for Betts, that’s far from explicit and runs counter to most of the scuttlebutt coming out of San Diego.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, have expressed interest in catching prospect Luis Campusano, Baseball America’s #79 ranked prospect, tweets The Athletic’s Dennis Lin. That might be a more reasonable place to start, depending on the money changing hands in any potential deal. Campusano would be a solid get in any deal after putting together a .325/.396/.509 year as a 20-year-old in High-A.
As for Marte, reports over the last couple of days have been conflicting to an almost comical degree. News from the Mets and Padres – the two noted teams of interest – both evoked cooling interest due to asking price. Heyman, meanwhile, reported that the talks have “intensified,” which in trade parlance usually connotes positivity, though literally speaking, intensity doesn’t necessarily imply progress. Speculatively speaking, it appears there may be a little gamesmanship as one side or all three may be doing what they can to push negotiations in their direction.