Yankees’ “Total Focus” On Gerrit Cole
The Yankees “total focus” remains on reeling in the winter’s big fish: ace starter Gerrit Cole, per MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman. That Cole is a priority for the Yankees is old news, though Heyman’s characterization certainly seems to stake a higher degree of urgency to the Yankees’ intent.
The nostalgic among us can take this opportunity to think fondly of the Yankees of yore, who routinely targeted their man in free agency with this kind of fervor. It’s been a few years since a free agent made this kind of impression on the Yanks, though they attacked the opportunity to trade for James Paxton last offseason with similar drive.
The urgency isn’t shocking coming off 2019, which proved an interesting campaign in New York. Injuries decimated the roster, but the offense never missed a beat no matter who stepped into the void (hello, Gio Urshela). They coasted to 103 wins and a division title, defeated the Minnesota Twins in the playoffs as they are wont to do, only to see the favor repaid in full by the new powerhouse of the day Houston Astros. The Yankees found themselves booted from the playoffs for the third time in the last five seasons by the Astros, making this pursuit of the ex-Astro Cole feel all the more crazy-eyed. That said, there is rarely a free agent with Cole’s pedigree, and if they’re going to channel the ghost of Steinbrenner and go all-in for a free agent, Cole is a worthy target.
Which is, of course, exactly why interest in the right-hander runs so rampant. As Heyman put it, the Yankees “don’t want to be denied” in their pursuit of Cole, but there is no shortage of contenders, including both LA teams, the Rangers, and the Phillies (who are a little crazy-eyed themselves these days). All five clubs have ample cause to pull out all the stops for Cole – on paper, they’re not alone.
White Sox, Blue Jays, Brewers, Twins Among Runners-Up For Jordan Lyles
Before Jordan Lyles signed his two-year, $16MM deal to join the Texas Rangers rotation, there was no shortage of interest in the big righty. Though we don’t know which (if any) of these teams made official offers, we do know that the White Sox, Blue Jays, Brewers and Twins were among the teams with interest, per MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Without financial specifics, it’s presumptuous to assume much in regards to the interest level of these four clubs, but the size of the contract inked by Lyles at least hints at a low-scale bidding war for the back-end rotation arm.
The Brewers interest is not surprising, given they acquired Lyles around the deadline in each of the past two seasons and he pitched to a 2.45 ERA (4.42 FIP) to close out 2019. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel points out that the Brewers have now lost the bidding on each of their free agent targets thus far (except Justin Grimm!), suggesting either limited payroll flexibility or disciplined judiciousness on the part of GM David Stearns. Of course, Lyles signed for more than most would have guessed, and Yasmani Grandal and Mike Moustakas signed for a combined 8-years, $137MM, a stratum the Brewers were hardly expected to reach. On the plus side, should the Rangers scuffle and Brewers stay in the race, we could see the rare baseball trade turkey, when a team successfully strikes for the same player at the deadline for three consecutive seasons.
The Twins and White Sox are two of the more eager starting pitching hunters this offseason, so their inclusion on this list is no surprise either. Both teams are likely to sign a couple of veteran free agents before the winter is out. As for the Blue Jays, they have less urgency given their timeline, though Lyles certainly fits the mold of the type of free agent they are likely to target.
Winter Meetings Preview: Rangers, Rockies
In advance of the winter meetings, let’s take a moment to quickly preview a couple teams out west…
- The Texas Rangers have their sights laser-focused on Anthony Rendon, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Recent additions have more-or-less locked their rotation class, with Kolby Allard, Joe Palumbo and Brock Burke looking like the 5 through 7 options behind Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles. Should prices drop on starters like Dallas Keuchel or Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Rangers could add further pitching in the right deal and potentially explore flipping Lynn or Minor, tweets Grant, though that’s less a strategy and more of the “open to anything” ethos employed by most front offices. Otherwise, the group of internal candidates, if expanded, would include Taylor Hearn and Tyler Phillips, plus any vets they are able to grab on minor league deals in the mold of Edinson Volquez (though Volquez himself is more likely ticketed for the pen if he makes the team). The Rangers reportedly offered Zack Wheeler a $100MM contract before he signed with Philadelphia, so the pursestrings have been loosed. For now, however, they’re stuck in traffic waiting to see if the “Adrian Beltre treatment” can sell Rendon on playing the latter half of his career in Arlington.
- The Colorado Rockies need for starting pitching is clear, but they are highly unlikely to walk away from the winter meetings with a new arm atop their rotation, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Irrespective of the financial crunch – which is significant and detailed in MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook – the history of Coors Field continues to scare away free agent pitchers. Not to mention, the haunted past of big-ticket hurlers signed by past regimes in Colorado is no less an impediment to building through free agency. Denny Neagle, Mike Hampton, and Darryl Kile can all profess their tale of woe, but Kile’s case is particularly damning given the success he enjoyed in St. Louis once freed from Coors. Speculatively speaking, the Rockies aversion/inability to add frontline pitching via free agency could be a factor in their bearish resistance to trading Jon Gray. If internal development is the only path to roster improvement, trading a talent like Gray would be an even greater white-flag move than under most circumstances.
Quick Hits: Streaming Rights, Minor Leagues, KBO Changes
MLB is opening up the streaming market, per Thomas Barrabi of Fox Business. Each team will now be allowed to sell its streaming rights to local markets prior to the 2020 season. The change marks another point in the slow but inevitable shift from broadcast to digital. Teams are still beholden to contractual agreements with regional sports networks, but the change will eventually empower teams with a potentially impactful degree of agency. The return of digital rights to the franchises themselves also ought to help the sport expand its digital footprint and allow for streaming on further platforms such as Amazon and YouTube, who enjoyed a successful partnership with MLB last season.
- It may be the trade action that butters our bread here at MLB Trade Rumors, but for Major League Baseball itself, the Winter Meetings are an important venue for discussion of an array of league issues. Yesterday, for instance, MLB met with minor league reps for the first of many sessions negotiating the proposed new structure for the minor league system, per David Waldstein of the NY Times. The proposal on the table calls for large-scale retraction, which unsurprisingly does not sit well with minor league owners. There’s much progress to be made, and this will hardly be the last time these two sides meet to discuss this issue. MLB cannot force the retraction, but the current contract runs out in September, by which time the two sides hope to have a new agreement in place – though that’s hardly a sure thing.
- Changes are coming to the KBO, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net (via Twitter). The Korean Baseball Organization Players’ Association voted to shorten the amount of service time needed to reach free agency from nine years to eight years for players entering out of high school and from eight years to seven years for those entering from college, per Yonhap News Agency. Another change apropos to those free agents still looking for clubs, the KBO will now allow three foreign players to appear in the same game. Presently, teams can roster three foreign players, but only two were allowed to appear in the same game. The change could embolden teams to be more aggressive in their pursuit of foreign players, especially given the success of a player like Josh Lindblom, who plans to return stateside after an MVP-winning season in the KBO. Other changes include the raising of the minimum salary and the implementation of an injured list. The KBOPA differs from the MLBPA in that it is not a union, though clearly, the leagues struggle with many of the same sticking points in negotiations with players.
Dimensions For Globe Life Field
The Rangers have announced the dimensions for Globe Life Field via a press release posted to Twitter by Sam Blum of the Dallas Morning News. The 2020 season will mark the Rangers’ first in their new ballpark in Arlington after 26 seasons in the stadium original known, aptly, as the Ballpark In Arlington. Globe Life Field is set to open officially on March 23, 2020, just across the street from Globe Life Park.
The distances of the wall from home plate has been orchestrated with a rather inventive flourish to honor players whose numbers have been retired by the Rangers. The new park will be 329 feet down the left field line, to honor Adrian Beltre‘s #29, 407 feet to straight away centerfield, in honor of Ivan Rodriguez‘s #7, 410 feet to the deepest parts of the ballpark just to the left and right of dead center, in honor of Michael Young‘s #10, and 326 feet down the right field line, in honor of Johnny Oates‘ #26, who managed the club from 1995 to 2001.
Franchise history is also immortalized in the power alleys: 372 feet to the left field power alley to commemorate the team’s first year in Arlington (1972) and 374 feet to the right field power alley to commemorate The Turnaround Gang, the 1974 squad that went from 59 to 84 wins to record the first winning season in Rangers’ team history. The walls will be eight feel tall from foul pole to foul pole. Not to be forgotten, there will also be a distance marker 334 feet from home plate in left to honor Nolan Ryan‘s #34.
In a recent piece from the Dallas Morning News, Evan Grant quotes Rob Matwick, the Rangers’ VP of Business Operations, as saying, “We think the park is going to play fair. We have taken the design and done testing in wind tunnels. But in fairness, until we start playing games, we won’t really know.”
There is certainly the possibility that the park will play differently depending on if the dome is open or closed, as well. The 5.5 acre retractable roof was closed for the first time yesterday morning. Work will continue for the next few months in preparation for the official opening just before Opening Day.
NL Notes & Rumors: Cards, MadBum, Keuchel, Padres, Fish, Bucs
Even after re-signing Adam Wainwright earlier this offseason, the Cardinals are keeping an eye on the free-agent market for starting pitchers, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explains. The team has “had conversations” regarding left-handers Madison Bumgarner, Wade Miley, and Dallas Keuchel, according to Goold, who adds that St. Louis prefers to have right-hander Carlos Martinez return to a starting role after spending all of 2019 as a reliever. If that happens, the Cardinals may have a full complement of starters with Wainwright, Martinez, Jack Flaherty, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas. For now, Martinez is recovering nicely from the right shoulder procedure he underwent in October.
Here’s more from the National League….
- This has been an aggressive offseason for the Padres, who have signed or traded for Drew Pomeranz, Jurickson Profar, Trent Grisham and Tommy Pham over the past few weeks. The club’s not done yet, though, as it continues trying to find ways to break its long-running playoff drought next season. General manager A.J. Preller said (via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com) that the team’s still “actively involved in conversations” and “looking to improve our roster” as next week’s Winter Meetings approach. Could that mean signing one of the top starting pitchers available? Not necessarily, as Cassavell writes that the Padres “seem determined not to overpay for the current options on the market.” However, Cassavell suggests the Padres won’t stand pat when it comes to their starting staff.
- The Marlins are seeking relievers who can do a better job limiting walks than their bullpen cast in 2019 did, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com relays. Miami’s relief corps finished the year with the second-highest walk rate in the game (4.37 per nine), and as president of baseball operations said, “you can’t defend a walk.” Frisaro names longtime Yankees reliever Dellin Betances as a potential target for the club in free agency, though it’s unclear whether that’s anything more than speculation. Betances was often dominant before missing almost all of last season with multiple injuries, but control hasn’t necessarily been his forte. The 31-year-old walked more than 6.5 batters per nine as recently as 2017.
- Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic (subscription link) tackles the Pirates’ lack of spending in free agency, noting they’re last in the majors in that department since owner Bob Nutting took control in 2007. The Pirates have been loath to hand out multiyear contracts under Nutting, and while they have a new general manager in Ben Cherington, their lack of spending probably won’t change much. This is a new frontier for Cherington, whose previous GM gig came with the deep-pocketed Red Sox. But Cherington did fail on a couple big-money signings in Boston, as the Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval deals went down as regrettable for the club.
Quick Hits: Mets, Astros, Lindblom, Shaw, Twins, Lyles
There may be huge changes on the horizon for the Mets, as minority owner Steve Cohen is reportedly in talks to become the franchise’s control person by 2025. That could be good news for Mets fans, many of whom have been fed up with current majority owners Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon for years. David Waldstein, Kevin Draper and James Wagner of the New York Times just profiled the Wilpons, and if you’re a Mets fan who reads that, you’ll probably grow even happier that the team could change hands in the next several years. As part of a piece that seems to list one damning Wilpon tidbit after another, Waldstein, Draper and Wagner note that the Mets have lost $60MM-plus in each of the past two seasons. That helps put them “at the limit of debt allowed by Major League Baseball rules,” they write. It’s unclear what that will mean as far as making changes to the roster this offseason goes, but as MLBTR’s Jeff Todd explained back in October, there doesn’t appear to be much spending room.
- The Astros are one of the clubs “monitoring” free-agent right-hander Josh Lindblom‘s market, Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets. The 32-year-old struggled in the majors before heading to Korea and thriving there over the past couple seasons. Now that he’s on the open market, MLBTR predicted at the start of the offseason that the Astros would sign Lindblom, a spin rate darling. That’s something the Astros seem to value. Plus, with Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley currently unsigned, the Astros have openings in their starting staff.
- Almost half the league has shown some level of interest in free-agent infielder Travis Shaw since the Brewers non-tendered him Monday, as he told MLB Network Radio. The 29-year-old has gotten bites from “probably already 13 or 14 teams,” he said. There has been “significant interest,” though nobody has made an offer to this point. Shaw has primarily been a third baseman thus far, but he indicated that he’s glad he broadened his horizons by lining up at other positions (mostly second) over the past couple years. The newfound flexibility’s nice, but Shaw’s offensive issues in 2019 – during which he hit an ugly .157/.281/.270 in 270 plate appearances – will limit his earning power in free agency.
- Right-hander Jordan Lyles agreed to a surprising two-year, $16MM contract with the Rangers on Friday. The Twins were among those who inquired about Lyles before then, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Minnesota may have gotten more serious about Lyles had it not re-signed righty Michael Pineda to a two-year, $20MM accord on Thursday, Wolfson suggests. However, even with Pineda and Jake Odorizzi (who accepted the Twins’ qualifying offer) back in the fold, they still have a need for starting help. Pineda, Odorizzi and Jose Berrios are the only in-house shoo-ins to occupy rotation spots in 2020.
Sergio Romo Close To Deciding On Next Team
10:17pm: The Athletics are one of the teams with interest in Romo, Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets. Romo could return to the Bay Area, where he spent the first several years of his career as a member of the Giants. He won three championships in San Francisco.
8:27pm: Veteran reliever Sergio Romo appears to be cruising towards his next deal. Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter) says there’s momentum towards an agreement, with a decision anticipated during the Winter Meetings.
What’s not yet clear is where the 36-year-old hurler is headed. The California native has been all over the map in the past few campaigns, most recently thriving with the Twins late in 2019.
There are still three teams engaged on Romo, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link). Notably, that trio of leading contenders for his services — all unknown, at present — does not include the Minnesota organization. The Twins have maintained interest, per Wolfson, but not (at least to this point) to the same “level” as the other clubs involved.
Rangers To Sign Jordan Lyles
The Rangers have reached an agreement with free-agent right-hander Jordan Lyles, pending a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. It’ll be a two-year, $16MM contract for the Ballengee Group client, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. Lyles did not crack the top 50 of MLB’s best available free agents entering the offseason, making this significant payday all the more surprising.
This is the second major starting addition this offseason for the Rangers, who previously signed fellow righty Kyle Gibson to a three-year, $28MM deal. He and Lyles will presumably join high-end holdovers Mike Minor and Lance Lynn to comprise four-fifths of the Rangers’ rotation in 2020, while Kolby Allard figures to have the inside track on the last spot in their staff.
This type of deal for Lyles would have been unthinkable just a couple months ago. The 29-year-old struggled through the first half of 2019 as a member of the Pirates, with whom he posted a dismal 5.36 ERA across 82 1/3 innings. But Lyles turned his season (and maybe his career) around after the Brewers acquired him from the Pirates before the July 31 trade deadline. The Milwaukee version of Lyles put up a stellar 2.45 ERA over 58 2/3 innings, though the rest of his numbers weren’t really all that impressive. Lyles logged 9.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 4.79 FIP as a Pirate, and he recorded 8.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 4.42 FIP after heading to the Brewers.
Lyles will have to keep proving he’s for real, but his pact with the Rangers continues a nomadic career. A first-round pick of the rival Astros in 2008, Lyles pitched for five different major league clubs before agreeing to sign with the Rangers. As that fact suggests, Lyles hasn’t been particularly effective in the majors, but the Rangers are prepared to bank on him as a solid mid- to back-end starter over the next couple years. And the Lyles pickup further indicates the Rangers are hoping to break their three-year playoff drought in 2020, when they’ll open a new stadium. He and Gibson are now in tow, and Texas has shown interest in top free agents such as third basemen Anthony Rendon and Josh Donaldson. They were also part of the sweepstakes for Zack Wheeler, Cole Hamels and Howie Kendrick before they signed elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Market Chatter: Rangers/Rendon, Nats Spending, Betts, Hill, Maldonado
The Rangers feel like they’re in solid position on star third baseman Anthony Rendon, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes. It appears as if the possibility of a shorter deal at a premium AAV might hold some appeal to the Rangers as well as Rendon. But it’s tough to gauge the likelihood that he’ll land in Texas. Per Sullivan, the sides have yet to launch “serious negotiations” on the price tag. You can be sure that Scott Boras will not rush into a signing if he feels competition can drive the price up yet further, so there’s likely some market development yet to come.
More recent chatter …
- Agent Scott Boras expressed skepticism regarding the Nationals‘ recent declaration that they can’t afford both Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. The super-agent tells Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link) that he sees ample capacity for the D.C. organization, which has done quite a lot of business with Boras over the years (to mutual satisfaction, for the most part). Britt Ghiroli provides further assessment of the situation in another Athletic piece, proffering a sensible distinction between what the club can do and what it prefers. As she points out, too, it’s also possible that owner Mark Lerner made the comments to buttress his bargaining position. And it’s probably fair to add that the Nats have generally not shied from carrying big payrolls and making large commitments in the recent past.
- Also skeptical? Rival executives, regarding the likelihood of the Red Sox trading Mookie Betts, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). That’s really not surprising to hear, though the reasoning offered by Nightengale’s sources is a bit confounding. The issue, he says, is that rival clubs won’t offer all that much for the outstanding outfielder. They “can simply wait until he’s a free agent next winter” rather than taking on a big salary and giving up valuable prospects. That seems to miss the point in large part, as a team acquiring Betts now would be doing so specifically to pick up his highly valuable age-27 season. Renting one of the game’s best players would obviously alter a team’s outlook for the coming season rather drastically; it stands to reason it’d cost something to do so.
- Lefty Rich Hill has not only drawn wide interest despite major elbow surgery … it seems he’s open to considering offers from all teams, so long as they have hopes of winning in 2020. In an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link), Hill says he’s not focused solely on his two preferred landing spots (the Dodgers and Red Sox). While it seems that he’d still rather end up in one of those two places, the veteran says that they “might not work out.” He’s open to considering other contenders. And Hill left no doubt that he anticipates playing a big role in the 2020 season, saying he hopes to be ready to roll by June.
- The Angels are planning to sit down with backstop Martin Maldonado at the Winter Meetings, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). That’s not especially portentous news, as Fletcher points out, as teams hold many such meetings this time of year. Still, it’s a notable connection, particularly since the catching market has developed on a relatively rapid timetable. The 33-year-old Maldonado spent on the Halos roster in 2017 and 2018, so the organization is plenty familiar with him.