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Mets Notes: Grandal, Castellanos, Pollock

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Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen has not stopped knocking on a multitude doors as he keeps working to improve his just-inherited roster. The latest news involves the team’s efforts to upgrade behind the dish and to boost its outfield mix.

While J.T. Realmuto has been — and still is — a top target for the Mets, the club has also been connected to numerous other receiving possibilities on the open market. The New York org is “moving closer to resolution” of its catching situation, per Andy Martino of SNY.tv (Twitter links).

As Van Wagenen and co. narrow their options, top free agent Yasmani Grandal is said to be a “very serious” possibility. That’d mean topping the market for a player who is among the best in baseball at his position — postseason foibles aside.

Certainly, Grandal would be more than an adequate consolation prize if Marlins star J.T. Realmuto can’t be had. The 30-year-old switch-hitter has posted a strong 116 wRC+ since the start of the 2016 season. Despite his well-documented issues with, well, catching the baseball in October, Grandal is a gifted overall defender. He frames about as well as anyone and is good at limiting the running game.

If the Mets aren’t able to add offense behind the plate, Van Wagenen has suggested, that’d increase the need to do so in the outfield. It seems the club would like a right-handed-hitting bat, preferably one capable of lining up in center defensively.

Tigers outfielder Nicholas Castellanos certainly has the offensive game the Mets would desire, though he’s not an option up the middle and has graded quite poorly even in a corner. Still, the two teams have discussed trade scenarios, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free-Press (Twitter link), with the Detroit organization maintaining a steep asking price to this point in talks, which remain ongoing with multiple clubs.

MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz project Castellanos to earn $11.3MM in 2019, his final season of arbitration eligibility. That’s a notable sum for a Mets club that’s seeking to pack in as much talent within its payroll limits (the specifics of which are not really known). But Castellanos would only require a single-season commitment, as he’ll be a free agent at the end of the ’19 campaign.

That’s not to say that the Mets have moved off of A.J. Pollock, who’d certainly be a cleaner fit for their roster but will require a much more significant commitment. Martino adds on Twitter that the club remains “serious” about the veteran center fielder as an option.

MLBTR graded both Grandal and Pollock among the ten best players on the open market this winter. We predicted that both would secure four-year deals, with the former at $64MM and the latter at $60MM.

Matt Chapman Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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The Athletics announced today that third baseman Matt Chapman has undergone surgery on his left shoulder. Specifically, a “distal clavicle resection” was performed, per the club announcement.

Thankfully, the outlook isn’t as scary as that technical description. Chapman is said to be only six weeks away from resuming swinging, so long as all goes according to plan. He’s also recovering from a mid-October thumb procedure but seems on track to return from that as well.

Chapman’s thumb problem had arisen during the season, while the shoulder issue only came to light while he was doing winter workouts. In any event, all told, it seems A’s can breathe easy with regard to the 25-year-old star, who’ll be looking to follow up on an immense 2018 season in which he was one of the most valuable players in the American League.

Padres Showing Interest In Dallas Keuchel

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The Padres are interested in veteran lefty Dallas Keuchel, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic (via Twitter). That said, in a subsequent report, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell characterizes the level of interest as “pretty low.” (Twitter link.)

The San Diego organization has reportedly been searching for a higher-end starter all winter, but has yet to find a match. Keuchel, who’s closing in on his 31st birthday, is said to be looking for serious coin in free agency. It’s not yet known precisely what kind of average salary Keuchel is seeking — it seems reasonable to guess it’s in the range of $20MM — but he’s reportedly hoping for a five or even six -year term.

The Friars aren’t interested at the current price tag, says Lin. That’s not surprising to hear, as it’s frankly hard to imagine any team going well north of $100MM to land Keuchel. While he was outstanding in 2017 and (especially) 2015, Keuchel struggled in 2016 and was more good than great last year. With drops in his rates of swinging strikes (8.3%) and groundballs (53.7%) in 2018, there’s at least some cause for trepidation.

That being said, Keuchel still looks to be a high-quality rotation piece who’d improve any team. It helps that he nudged back over 200 frames last season, seemingly putting some prior shoulder and neck issues in the rearview mirror.

Still, it’s good for Keuchel to have another participant in his market. The Nats are reportedly involved to some extent, as are the Reds, Phillies, Blue Jays, and perhaps the Braves. While the Pads may not seem to be a likely landing spot at first glance, they did land Eric Hosmer (another Scott Boras client) last winter and have made clear they’re interested in beginning to make tangible progress at the MLB level.

Orioles Hire Brandon Hyde As Manager

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DEC. 14: The O’s have announced the hiring.

DEC. 11: 7:25pm: Elias has shot down reports that the Orioles have even offered anyone the job, let alone hired a new manager, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.

7:06pm: Hyde will indeed get the job, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.

6:59pm: The Orioles “are closing in on” naming Cubs bench coach Brandon Hyde their manager, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.

It didn’t take long for Hyde to emerge as the choice for the job in Baltimore, whose search for Buck Showalter’s successor only began in earnest a couple weeks ago. Rookie general manager Mike Elias, whom the Orioles hired less than a month ago, reportedly considered six candidates for the managerial role. Along with Hyde, Rockies bench coach Mike Redmond, Nationals bench coach Chip Hale, Royals catching/quality control coach Pedro Grifol, Diamondbacks director of player development Mike Bell and ex-Indians and Nats manager Manny Acta were in the running for the position.

Earlier this offseason, the 45-year-old Hyde garnered interest from the Blue Jays, Twins and Angels when they were seeking managers. He comes with plenty of coaching experience, having worked as a minor league manager with the Marlins from 2005-09 before serving as their bench coach from 2010-12. Hyde had been on the Cubs’ coaching staff since 2013, twice functioning as their bench coach (under both Rick Renteria and Joe Maddon) and once as their first base coach. His departure means the Cubs will have to find a new bench coach for the second straight offseason. Hyde only landed the role last year because Dave Martinez left to become the Nationals’ manager.

A former minor league catcher and first baseman in the White Sox organization, Hyde’s entering an unenviable situation in Baltimore. The Orioles finished with the majors’ worst record in 2018 and are now in the early stages of a full rebuild. The franchise’s hope is that he and Elias will be up to the task of putting together its next contender, but given that they’re both neophytes, it’s likely the duo will be afforded plenty of patience.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign Jeurys Familia

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TODAY: The deal is now official. Familia will receive a $2MM signing bonus and $6MM salary in 2019, with $11MM salaries in the two ensuing seasons, per Rosenthal (Twitter link). $1MM apiece of the 2020 and 2021 salaries is deferred to 2022. Familia can add $500K if he reaches fifty games finished and would receive a $1MM assignment bonus if traded.

YESTERDAY: The Mets are turning to an old friend to reinforce their bullpen, as the club has reportedly agreed to a deal with free agent right-hander Jeurys Familia, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter).  The contract is pending a physical.  MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi reports that it will be a three-year pact, while The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Familia will earn $30MM over the course of the contract (all Twitter links).  Familia is represented by the ACES agency.

Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the Mets in 2007, Familia spent his entire professional career with the organization before he was dealt to the A’s last July.  The right-hander posted a combined 3.13 ERA, 2.96 K/BB rate, and a career-high 10.4 K/9 over 72 innings for New York and Oakland, racking up a total of 18 saves along the way.

Familia had excellent numbers with the Mets from 2014-16, emerging as the team’s closer and recording 94 saves over those latter two seasons.  In a troubled 2017 season, he was suspended for the first 15 games under the league and players union’s joint domestic violence policy after being arrested on assault charges the previous fall.  Familia also spent over three months on the DL after undergoing surgery to fix an arterial clot in his throwing shoulder.

The 29-year-old had a brief DL stint due to shoulder soreness again in 2018, but overall looked healthy and more or less his old self on the mound.  Familia averaged 96.2 mph on his fastball (making him one of the harder-throwing relievers in the game), while posting a 14.1% swinging strike rate that topped his 13.6% career average.  The focus on strikeouts led to a drop to a 46.3% grounder rate, after Familia posted no worse than a 57.3% ground ball rate over his previous four seasons.

Familia will be returning to Citi Field as a setup man, now that the Mets have added Edwin Diaz to serve as their new closer.  The combination of Diaz and Familia gives the team an impressive combo for the eighth and ninth innings, and already provides a big upgrade to a bullpen that struggled with consistency in 2018.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see New York explore other moves to augment the relief corps, as Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman might be the only current relievers who could be considered locks for the Opening Day roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cubs, Cardinals Pursuing Daniel Descalso

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The Cubs are “in strong pursuit” of Daniel Descalso, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). They’ll have interesting company in the bidding, though, as the division-rival Cardinals are also involved on their former infielder, as previously rumored and as Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports tweets.

Descalso, 32, was a mainstay with the Cards for several years, but has spent the past four seasons out west with the Rockies and D-Backs. In that time, the veteran has not only spread his wings a bit defensively but heated up a bit with his left-handed bat.

Known primarily as a utility infielder, Descalso has now spent a fair amount of time in the corner outfield. It’s likely that these and other clubs will mostly value him for his ability to field any position on the dirt, but it surely doesn’t hurt that he’s now familiar with left field.

At the plate, Descalso has earned a rather expansive role in Arizona by producing sturdy on-base numbers. He’s still a clearly below-average hitter over the course of his career, but Descalso has also perhaps shown some newfound abilities at the plate as an acolyte of the flyball revolution.

Last year, Descalso popped a career-high 13 long balls and turned in a healthy .198 ISO — well north of anything he had shown previously. An aggressive new approach also resulted in quite a few more strikeouts (26.0%) than usual, but Descalso more than made up for that by setting new career marks (by a wide margin) with a 15.1% walk rate and 43.1% hard-contact rate. The results — a .238/.353/.436 slash — were impressive.

Given those changes, and Descalso’s preexisting reputation as a reliable veteran and generally solid defender, it’s not hard to see why these two contending clubs have interest. Presumably, others do as well, though the infield market is still quite overloaded with possibilities.

Tigers Sign Jordy Mercer

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The Tigers on Friday announced the signing of longtime Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer to a one-year contract. The Scott Boras client will reportedly receive a $5.25MM guarantee as well as another $250K of available incentives. Today’s signing gives the Detroit organization a full 40-man roster.

Jordy Mercer | Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

“One of our priorities this offseason was to sign a shortstop, and Jordy is a solid addition to our ball club,” said GM Al Avila in a statement announcing the move. “He was one of the players we targeted heading into the offseason, and we’re really drawn to his consistency, both on the field at a premium position and in the clubhouse as a player that is a true veteran leader.”

The 32-year-old Mercer will be switching teams for the first time, as he has spent his entire professional career in the Pirates organization since Pittsburgh selected him in the third round of the 2008 draft. Mercer developed into an unspectacular but steady regular for the Bucs at shortstop, generating 7.6 fWAR and hitting .257/.317/.383 with 54 homers over 2928 plate appearances since the start of the 2013 season. Defensively, Mercer’s glovework has dipped below the average threshold over the past three seasons, as per Defensive Runs Saved (-19) and UZR/150 metrics.

Mercer represents just the type of veteran stopgap at shortstop at the Tigers were looking for this winter, as Jose Iglesias was heading into free agency. Youngsters Dawel Lugo, Willi Castro, and Isaac Paredes are all waiting in the wings as Detroit’s potential infielders of the future, so it could be a one-year relationship at most for Mercer and the Tigers. The club could even explore dealing Mercer at the trade deadline depending on how things play out. He’ll likely bring a bit more offense to the table than his predecessor, though it’s unlikely that he’ll match Iglesias’ sterling glovework.

Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman reported the agreement between the two sides and Mercer’s salary (Twitter links). MLB.com’s Jon Morosi initially reported the talks between the two sides as well as the one-year term of the contract (Twitter links).

Latest On Andrew Miller

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The Phillies are “strongly” in on free-agent lefty Andrew Miller, tweets Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Salisbury had previously reported the team to be in pursuit of both Miller and Zach Britton. Meanwhile, Fancred’s Jon Heyman suggests that Miller “is going to insist on a no-trade clause” after surprisingly being dealt a year and a half into his four-year pact with the Yankees. Heyman further reports that the White Sox were talking to Miller but now “seem to have pulled back.”

Miller, 34 in May, had a down season in 2018 as he missed brief stints due to hamstring and shoulder issues while also spending a more substantial period on the 60-day disabled list owing to a right knee injury. The result was a 4.24 ERA with somewhat diminished K/BB numbers in just 34 innings of work.

Of course, in the four preceding seasons, Miller was very arguably the game’s best reliever. Once a prized starting pitching prospect, he instead broke out following a move to the bullpen after several years of struggling in the rotation. From 2014-17, Miller pitched to a ridiculous 1.72 ERA with averages of 14.5 strikeouts and 2.3 walks per nine innings pitched. With the exception of the 2017 season, he’s posted at least average ground-ball tendencies on an annual basis, and dating back to the 2013 season, the only pitchers in all of baseball with a better swinging-strike rate than Miller’s 15.7 percent are Aroldis Chapman, Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen.

Given his age and the fact that he missed time due to three separate injuries last season, there’s some undeniable risk when it comes to Miller. But, if the Phillies are convinced of Miller’s health, they likely view him as a potentially wipeout reliever whose 2018 struggles may have dropped his earning power a bit. He’d give the Phils a formidable one-two punch at the back of the ’pen, alongside dominant rookie Seranthony Dominguez. Veteran setup options Tommy Hunter and Pat Neshek, too, will be back in 2019, with other names such as Jose Alvarez, Juan Nicasio, Hector Neris and Adam Morgan among the options to round out Gabe Kapler’s relief corps.

Should the ChiSox rekindle their pursuit, Miller would join right-handers Alex Colome and Nate Jones as the most established options at the back of what is currently an inexperienced group of relievers.

White Sox To Sign James McCann

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1:05pm: McCann will receive $2.5MM on a one-year deal, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).

12:51pm: The White Sox have agreed to terms with free-agent catcher James McCann, pending a physical, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The 28-year-old, who was non-tendered by the Tigers earlier this month, will remain in the AL Central after spending the entirety of his career in the Detroit organization to this point. He’s represented by the Ballengee Group.

As recently as the 2017 season, McCann served as the Tigers’ primary catcher and hit .253/.318/.415 with a career-high 13 home runs. However, his offense cratered in 2018 (.220/.267/.314, eight home runs in 457 plate appearances), and his once-excellent numbers against left-handed pitching were particularly concerning. In 109 PAs against southpaws last year, McCann hit just .176/.229/.284.

On the defensive side of the coin, McCann has continually been sensational in terms of controlling the running game. He’s registered at least a 30 percent caught-stealing rate in each of his four full big league seasons, including a 36 percent mark in 2018 and an overall rate of 37 percent. He’s been well below-average in terms of pitch framing across the past two seasons, though, and has struggled similarly in terms of blocking balls in the dirt.

Presumably, he’ll give the White Sox an option to step into the void created by the trade of Omar Narvaez to the Mariners (in exchange for Alex Colome). Veteran Welington Castillo is still atop Chicago’s depth chart behind the plate, making McCann the favorite to serve as his backup. Certainly, further offseason maneuvering can change that fact, and it’s of course worth noting that it’s not yet clear whether McCann received a guaranteed one-year deal or is headed to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.

Nationals “Leery” Of Asking Price On Dallas Keuchel

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The Nationals’ trade of right-hander Tanner Roark again puts Joe Ross and Erick Fedde atop the team’s list of options in the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation, meaning they’ll once again be on the hunt for starters. To that end, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports that the Nats have interest in top lefty Dallas Keuchel but are “leery of giving him the five- or six-year deal he seeks.”

That’s the first word on the asking price for Keuchel, and it’s a fairly steep one, as most would expect. Of course, early asking prices are always going to be high — typically higher than the eventual landing point. If agent Scott Boras and Keuchel are ultimately seeking four to five years, for instance, it’s only natural to see them set out asking for five to six years. MLBTR estimated a four-year, $82MM deal for Keuchel at the outset of free agency, and a recent reader poll saw only about 15 percent of respondents believe a five-year pact was within reach.

Keuchel, 31 on New Year’s Day, is the top remaining starter in free agency but is one of several available pitchers to whom the Nationals have been linked since trading Roark. In the 48 hours since that swap, Washington has been tied to Yusei Kikuchi, Anibal Sanchez and Wade Miley. Keuchel would give the Nationals a virtually unparalleled top four alongside Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin but would also quite likely give the Nats an unheard of four starting pitchers with annual salaries in excess of $20MM. Like Corbin before him, Keuchel would cost the Nationals a pick in next year’s draft by virtue of the fact that he rejected a $17.9MM qualifying offer.

As for those wondering about the wisdom behind trading Roark only to immediately search for a replacement, it’s possible that the organization simply felt Roark’s rising arbitration price — MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pegged him at $9.8MM — outpaced reasonable expectations for his performance in 2019. Roark’s strikeout, swinging-strike, home-run and ground-ball rates all went in the wrong direction in 2018, as did his velocity.

In the meantime, the Nats added a 100-mph arm, Tanner Rainey, in exchange for Roark’s final season of team control. While Rainey’s MLB cameo in 2018 was unequivocally brutal (19 runs on 13 hits and 12 walks with seven strikeouts in just seven innings), he also notched a 2.95 ERA with 13.5 K/9 across the past two minor league seasons. Walks were still an issue in the minors, though, as he averaged 5.4 free passes per nine innings pitched.

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