Latest On Mets’ Coaching Staff
The Mets will be interviewing Jeremy Hefner for their pitching coach vacancy on Monday, the Athletic’s Marc Carig reports (subscription required). Hefner, currently the Twins’ assistant pitching coach, is a familiar name to Mets fans, as the right-hander tossed 224 1/3 innings for New York in 2012-13.
This 50-game stint comprised Hefner’s entire Major League tenure, as his career was derailed by a pair of Tommy John surgeries. After pitching in the Cardinals’ minor league system in 2016, he decided to hang up his cleats and pursue a post-playing career as an advance scout for Minnesota. After two years in that role, he became an assistant pitching coach for the Twins in 2019.
Hefner is only 33 years old, almost 49 full years younger than Phil Regan, who worked as the Mets’ interim pitching coach after Dave Eiland was fired in mid-June. Hefner’s youth and knowledge of analytics make him a “conduit” of a coach, in Carig’s words, able to relate to players as a virtual peer in terms of age and recent playing experience, which helps in presenting analytical information in an easily digestible fashion.
One veteran voice who won’t be in the Mets dugout is Terry Collins, as Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that the former manager isn’t a candidate to be the club’s new bench coach. There was speculation last week that Collins could serve as an experienced right hand to first-time manager Carlos Beltran, though Collins will instead remain in his current role as a special assistant within the Mets organization.
Blue Jays’ Catchers Drawing Trade Interest
Pitching is the Blue Jays’ top priority this winter, and Toronto has already made one notable move on that front with its acquisition of Chase Anderson from the Brewers. It remains to be seen whether the Jays will look to free agency or further trades to upgrade its staff, though in regards to the latter option, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports that Toronto’s “catchers have also been drawing interest from other clubs” in preliminary trade discussions.
Danny Jansen handled the bulk of the work behind the plate for the Jays last season, hitting only .207/.279/.360 over 384 plate appearances but displaying some excellent defensive prowess in his first full MLB campaign. Both StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus cited Jansen as one of the league’s best pitch-framers, with BP also highly praising Jansen’s blocking skills. The 24-year-old held his own at throwing out baserunners, stopped 19 of 61 stolen base attempts.
It was quite a performance for a player who was more touted for his offensive skill coming up through the farm system, and if Jansen can improve to even average production with the bat, he’ll be a very valuable catcher going forward. This could also make him an interesting trade chip, though since Jansen is controlled through the 2024 season, the Jays would certainly want a solid return for his services. It could ultimately make for a tough negotiation since a rival team could rightly argue that Jansen hasn’t yet shown much hitting skill at the big league level.
Ultimately, there’s probably more evidence that the Jays still see Jansen less as a trade chip and more as their catcher of the future, so that could make Reese McGuire more expendable. An oblique injury sent Luke Maile to the injured list in July and limited him to just three games for the remainder of the season, as McGuire went on a hot streak and more or less entered into a timeshare with Jansen down the stretch.
Selected 14th overall by the Pirates in the 2013 draft, McGuire was rather surprisingly traded to Toronto in a 2016 deadline deal, packaged with fellow prospect Harold Ramirez and veteran lefty Francisco Liriano for right-hander Drew Hutchison. The trade was mostly about unloading Liriano’s $18MM in remaining salary for the Bucs, leaving the Jays to potentially reap the benefits from a catcher who has hit very well (.297/.343/.539 with seven homers in 138 PA) in his brief Major League career. McGuire also has above-average blocking and framing grades — something of the opposite of Jansen, McGuire was considered more of a glove-first catcher during his time in the minors.
This leaves Maile looking like a potential non-tender candidate unless the Jays can find a trade partner. The veteran is projected to earn only $800K in arbitration this winter, though may no longer have a spot on Toronto’s roster if Jansen and McGuire are the new regular duo. Maile turns 29 in February, and hit a respectable .248/.333/.366 over 231 PA in 2018, though that solid season was sandwiched between two very poor years at the plate in 2017 and 2019.
The Blue Jays could also look to move younger catchers from within their farm system. Gabriel Moreno (#8), Alejandro Kirk (#12), and Riley Adams (#27) are all ranked within MLB Pipeline’s list of the top 30 Jays prospects. Adams is the most developed, with 81 games at Double-A last season, while Kirk reached the advanced A-ball level and Moreno spent all of 2019 at Single-A Lansing.
MLBTR Chat Transcript: Phillies, Donaldson, Cards, Lindor
Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s live baseball chat, moderated by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk
Yankees Notes: Givens, Galvis, Lefty Hitting, Spending
Some items from the Bronx…
- The Yankees “tried hard” to land Orioles reliever Mychal Givens at the trade deadline, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports. The right-hander was a popular figure on the rumor mill last July, with such clubs as the Indians, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, and Nationals all reportedly showing interest in acquiring his services. It isn’t any surprise that the Yankees were also involved given how New York is constantly looking to reinforce its already strong bullpen, and it isn’t out of the question that the Yankees could ask about Givens again this winter. The 29-year-old is under team control for two more seasons (and projected to make $3.2MM in arbitration this winter), though Givens is coming off the worst of his five big league seasons. Givens posted a 12.3 K/9 and 3.31 K/BB rate over 63 innings but his ERA ballooned to 4.57, due in large part to a lot of problems keeping the ball in the park (1.9 HR/9).
- Sticking with Sherman’s piece, he wonders if the Yankees could perhaps try to land both Givens and Jonathan Villar from the Orioles in a package deal that would also address another team need — a lack of left-handed hitting. Interestingly, Sherman writes that there is some strategy behind this lineup imbalance, as the Yankees have preferred to deploy right-handed bats with opposite-field power rather than actual left-handed hitters, as lefty bats can be more easily hampered by defensive shifts. If the Bronx Bombers did decide to add more pop from the left side, however, Sherman feels the best possible solution would be switch-hitting superstar Francisco Lindor, if the Indians made him available in a trade. Beyond Villar, Sherman lists a few other players (old friend Didi Gregorius, Freddy Galvis, Tucker Barnhart, Jason Castro) who could be signed or acquired in trades to add left-handed balance to either the lineup or bench. In Galvis’ case, Sherman reports that he was the Yankees’ second choice as shortstop depth last offseason before they landed Troy Tulowitzki.
- The Yankees’ decision to exercise some financial restraint has drawn criticism from some fans and pundits, particularly since the club has now gone 10 full seasons without a World Series title. As Fangraphs’ Craig Edwards observes in a look at the last 20 years of Yankees spending, the franchise made a gigantic payroll spike in 2003-2004 (up into the $200MM-$240MM range, around three times as much as the average payroll) that possibly “outstripped what might have been reasonable compared to their revenues and financial status, and that staying at around $240 million reflected a necessary correction.” The Yankees’ average payroll increase hasn’t matched the rest of the league’s overall increase over the last decade, however, even while the Yankees franchise has increased its revenues.
Red Sox Re-Sign Six Players To Minors Deals
The Red Sox have re-signed a host of minor-league free agents, with the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reporting that left-hander Dan McGrath; right-handers Austin Maddox, Domingo Tapia, and Andrew Schwaab; catcher Jhon Nunez; and infielder Jantzen Witte have all agreed to minor-league contracts to remain with the Boston organization.
Maddox is the only one of that group who has seen Major League action, making a brief but impressive debut in 2017. He tossed 17 1/3 innings in his only career Major League stint, surrendering just one run while striking out 14 batters and walking two.
McGrath, 25, reached Triple-A in 2019 after a solid performance at Double-A, where he struck out 113 batters in 112 1/3 innings. 2019 was Tapia’s first year in the Boston organization after he spent the first nine seasons of his professional career in the Mets’ and Reds’ minor league systems. Schwaab, 26, has five years of professional experience under his belt and has reached as high as Double-A. For his minor league career, he’s put up solid per-nine averages: 0.1 HR/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 9.7 K/9.
Nunez, a 24-year-old switch-hitting catcher, also reached Double-A in 2019 and posted a nice .280/.333/.412 batting line. Witte was a 24th-round draft choice in 2013, and he’s spent parts of the last four seasons in Triple-A but has yet to break through to the Majors. In 1227 Triple-A plate appearances, Witte is batting .261/.333/.370 with 15 home runs.
All of the above will be back in the Red Sox system in 2020, searching for a long-awaited trial at the big league level.
Quick Hits: Red Sox, Bloom, KBO, Kim, Reds
With the offseason now firmly underway, let’s survey the baseball landscape with a few brief Saturday notes…
- For Red Sox fans eager to gain an inkling as to how their team’s front office might behave under new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, it might be worth reading Jen McCaffrey’s latest work for The Athletic, in which she uses Tampa Bay’s moves in 2019 as a blueprint for how Bloom might operate in Boston. The Rays, of course, overcame one of baseball’s smallest payrolls and took the Astros to five games in the ALDS, while the Red Sox missed out on the postseason entirely despite a comparatively astronomical payroll. Boston can expect Bloom to deploy many of the same strategies that brought success to Tampa, though he’ll of course have a greater bank of resources at his disposal. One might liken Bloom to the Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman, another former Rays exec who inherited a big-market budget when he was hired to spearhead the Dodgers’ baseball operations.
- A flurry of teams sent scouts to watch Kwang-hyun Kim of the KBO’s SK Wyverns, according to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO. Scouts from more than ten teams—including the Padres, Twins, and Dodgers, among others—were recently spotted at one of Kim’s games. Though he hasn’t yet been posted, Kim has expressed his desire to play in the Majors in 2020, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, who also reports that his club is “weighing its options” regarding Kim’s posting. A 31-year-old lefty, Kim logged a 2.51 ERA in 190 1/3 innings of work in the 2019 KBO season, striking out 180 batters while walking just 38. He’s had previous opportunities to play stateside, most notably in 2014 when he and the Padres failed to agree on a contract. He could slot in as a mid-tier free agent option for clubs unwilling to pony up the money necessary to pursue the top options on the market.
- The Reds have hired a new assistant pitching coordinator, with Eric Jagers announcing on Twitter that he’ll join the Reds staff after a year in the Phillies organization. With the Phillies, Jagers worked in the minor league player development department, filling a new position in the organization as a pitch strategist. He broke into the MLB coaching scene after cutting his teeth as Driveline Baseball’s pitching coordinator. Notably, with the Reds he’ll work alongside another Driveline alum, Kyle Boddy, who founded the company and parlayed its success into a position as the Reds’ pitching coordinator. The addition of Jagers continues the organizational overhaul of its pitching infrastructure, which began with the team’s hiring of Derek Johnson, who coached the club to the National League’s fourth-lowest ERA in 2019.
Marcell Ozuna “Very Unlikely” To Accept Qualifying Offer
Free agent outfielder Marcell Ozuna is “very unlikely” to accept the $17.8MM qualifying offer made to him by the Cardinals, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Ozuna was seen as one of the few recipients who could consider accepting the one-year deal, but Heyman suggests that there is a robust market for Ozuna’s services.
While it was perhaps never likely that Ozuna would take the qualifying offer to stick around in St. Louis for another year, he stood out as one of the ten QO recipients who could be a candidate to accept in lieu of entering the open market. Ozuna’s retractors might pin the outfielder as one of the hitters who could suffer most in baseball’s notoriously stingy free agency; as a solid but unspectacular hitter who won’t carry a lineup and who doesn’t stand out on defense, critics might put him in Mike Moustakas territory.
That’s not to say he doesn’t offer any value. Ozuna is just two years removed from a breakout season in Miami’s pitcher-friendly ballpark. While he’s no longer the Gold Glover he was in 2017, Ozuna still grades out solidly as a defensive outfielder. By free agent standards, he’s on the younger side, and there’s reason to believe that he’s capable of more than the .241/.328/.472 line he posted in his second year in St. Louis; his .382 expected wOBA far outclassed his actual .336 mark, suggesting that Ozuna’s true talent level is a notch above his Cardinals output.
Assuming that Ozuna indeed elects to hit free agency, it’s not a foregone conclusions that the 28-year-old will play in a new uniform next year. Ozuna has expressed his desire to remain with the Cardinals, and while the organization has been less steadfast in their interest, it has been recently reported that the two sides are prepared to discuss a multiyear contract. By virtue of extending the QO, the club has demonstrated a willingness to keep Ozuna at a considerable cost, but only for one year—we’ll see how far they’re willing to go on a multiyear commitment.
Otherwise, Ozuna will reach free agency for the first time with a compensatory draft pick attached to him. We’ve seen in recent years that this additional price has been a deterrent for mid-range free agents, and Ozuna’s market will no doubt take a hit as a result, though to what extent it’s not clear. Regardless of the draft pick, Ozuna has plenty of desirable qualities that should make him an attractive target to a flurry of clubs, like Heyman notes; MLBTR projects Ozuna to receive a three year, $45MM contract—while that’s a lower projection that other outlets, such a deal would still give Ozuna the second-highest payday among free agent corner outfielders (behind only Nick Castellanos).
Orioles Seeking Veteran Shortstop And Pitching Depth
The Baltimore Orioles primary goal for the near-term remains adding as much talent to the organization as possible, primarily in the minor leagues. That said, GM Mike Elias does have a winter checklist in this, his first full offseason as GM (the Orioles hired him on November 16th of last year). Namely, the Orioles will be looking for pitching and a veteran shortstop, per MASNSports’ Roch Kubatko.
While still in the infancy of their rebuild, the Orioles do not plan to shop in the premium aisles of the free agent market, but adding free agent talent is as much about protecting the organization’s youngsters as it is about the talent influx itself. Said Elias, “…we want to have more depth than we went into last year in the event that injuries occur, that we can protect our young pitching prospects who will be coming up.”
The Orioles first have to decide which of their own players to protect before the Rule 5 draft, and with rosters expanding to 26 players this season, teams could use the extra roster spot to be more aggressive in the Rule 5 draft, as the Orioles themselves were last year in keeping shortstop Richie Martin on the roster. It was a tough campaign for Martin, who authored a .208/.260/.322 line across 355 plate appearances, likely ticketing him for extended time in the minor leagues in 2020 now that he is officially a part of the Baltimore organization. Martin’s example is the reason Baltimore will emphasize adding depth this winter, both on the hill and at shortstop, so that they are not forced to rush further prospects before they are ready.
Jonathan Villar is the only rostered player who saw significant time at shortstop last season, almost equally splitting his time between second and short. Hanser Alberto covers second and has spent some time at shortstop in the past, but the Orioles roster is devoid of middle infield depth beyond those two, assuming a Martin demotion.
Trevor Bauer Explores Different Agency Experience, Becomes First Client Of Luba Sports
Enigmatic hurler Trevor Bauer has left the Wasserman Media Group to become the first client of Luba Sports, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Luba Sports is a new sports agency started by Rachel Luba, who officially became certified as an MLB agent on November 1st. Luba Sports will make up just one part of Bauer’s new representation, however. Bauer hired another certified MLB agent, Jon Fetterolf, a litigator from Zuckerman Spaeder who has a history of assisting agents in arbitration proceedings.
Bauer had no qualms with his previous agency, who did, after all, help him win consecutive arbitration cases against the Cleveland Indians, but at this stage in his career, he’s looking not only at his own upcoming arbitration case, but at the system as a whole. Surprise surprise, but the innovative and free-thinking Bauer has eyes towards making a difference for the betterment of players. Still, Bauer makes a point not to disparage the Wasserman Media Group or the current system. Rather, he aims to give players another option of representation moving forward
As such, the structure of representation set up between Bauer, Luba, and Fetterolf differs from the standard practice in baseball, in which players typically pay 5% of their salaries to their agents upon reaching the majors. Instead, Fetterolf will make a lower commission (1.5 to 2.5%) that differs depending on the player’s career status, plus an hourly rate. Still, the overall fee caps at 5% for an arbitration-eligible player and 4% for a free agent. Depending on the hourly workload, then, players have the potential to pay a good deal less under this structure.
The goal of this system would be to allow players to pay strictly for services rendered, thereby allowing a more personalized agency experience. Rather than being locked into the commission model, an “a la carte” system gives players the option of paying less for fewer services (or paying more for more). This would not wholly upend the player-agent relationship, though it does provide an interesting opportunity for players to reconsider the current structure and explore a system that might work more in their favor. It’s certainly on brand for Bauer to push for this type of innovation, and it will be interesting to follow the extent to which Luba Sports or similar agencies can make inroads with the MLB player community.
Bauer and Luba’s relationship dates back to their days as undergraduates at UCLA when they met in a communication studies class. Luba would go on to become an attorney and work for the players’ union during the 2018 arbitration season. She would be offered a position as an agent with another agency, but chose to forge her own path instead.
The timing here, of course, is not coincidental as Bauer prepares for his final time through arbitration this winter. MLB Contributor Matt Swartz projects Bauer to earn $18.6MM with the Reds this season.
Astros Promote Owner’s Son Jared Crane To Executive Team
The Astros moved some pieces around in their front office recently, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. With an eye towards succession, Astros owner Jim Crane has moved his son Jared Crane into a position to oversee the club’s business operations.
Longtime team president Reid Ryan has been moved out of the role and into a different position within the organization as Executive Advisor of Business Relations. The organization says Ryan will remain “an important part of the Astros organization,” though they’ve also said that he will have more time to explore other opportunities. All in all, the shift from Ryan to Crane seems a significant change for both parties.
Ryan, of course, is the son of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. The elder Ryan has been an advisor to the team for the past six seasons, but his role has expired and he is not expected to continue on with the team.
This all comes on the heels of an unfortunate situation surrounding former assistant GM Brandon Taubman, but the team insists this shakeup has nothing to do with the handling of Taubman’s situation. Instead, the move is part of a long-term plan by owner and chairman Jim Crane to move his son into an increased role with the team.