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Mets Activate Michael Conforto

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TODAY: The move is now official, which further sets the stage for an exciting early-season tilt between the Mets and Nationals. Conforto will play center and take the leadoff spot in the lineup.

YESTERDAY, 5:25pm: The Mets will activate Conforto before tomorrow’s game against the Nationals, Puma tweets. Infielder Philip Evans is being optioned out to create a spot on the active roster.

10:12am: The Mets will bring outfielder Michael Conforto on their forthcoming road trip to Washington, D.C., Mike Puma of the New York Post reports on Twitter. While the precise plans aren’t yet clear, it seems likely that Conforto will be activated from the DL tomorrow, Puma notes.

This is the latest good news for a Mets organization that came into the 2017-18 offseason with numerous health questions. By and large, the uncertainties have resolved to this point in a positive manner, significantly improving the club’s outlook for the new season and beyond.

Conforto had suffered a worrying shoulder injury late in the 2017 campaign, undergoing surgery to repair a torn capsule. That procedure came with a roughly six-month recovery timeline, so in that regard it’s not altogether surprising that he is returning now. But the fact that he’s already geared up to spend almost all of the season in the majors surely represents the best-case scenario for an important young player.

Even as the Mets stumbled in 2017, Conforto turned in a monster year at the plate, slashing .279/.384/.555 and driving 27 balls out of the park in 440 plate appearances. Then came the news that the 25-year-old would join several other core players on the DL with significant injuries, clouding the team’s near-term outlook.

If Conforto can produce at anything approaching that level, he’ll return to a roster that increasingly seems primed to contend. The Mets signed multiple veteran pieces over the winter, bringing in outfielder Jay Bruce, third baseman Todd Frazier, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, infielder Jose Reyes, starter Jason Vargas, and reliever Anthony Swarzak. With the club’s high-end rotation generally showing promise this spring, there’s generally cause for optimism in Queens.

It’ll be interesting to see how the return of Conforto changes the team’s position-player rotation, which is now full of options. He joins Bruce and center fielder Brandon Nimmo as left-handed-hitting outfielders. Yoenis Cespedes will continue to get the bulk of the time in left, while Juan Lagares will presumably mostly see action against southpaws and in late-game situations. Though Bruce could in theory appear at first base to help alleviate the outfield logjam, Gonzalez also hits from the left side and is already accompanied by a right-handed bat in utilityman Wilmer Flores.

NL West Notes: Rockies, Myers, Giants

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Hours after the Rockies announced an extension for star center fielder Charlie Blackmon, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post chatted with Blackmon’s teammates and manager about the newly inked contract. The question on the minds of many in the wake of the $108MM deal, which guarantees Blackmon $94MM in new money over the next five seasons (he was already signed at $14MM this year), was whether the Rox would be able to keep both Blackmon and Nolan Arenado. However, Arenado tells Saunders that his teammate’s considerable payday hasn’t prompted him to think about his own contract. “Honestly, I didn’t think about that,” said Arenado — a free agent after the 2019 season. “…I would rather not negotiate during the season. I’m happy for Chuck, and it’s not about me, it’s about him. I didn’t really put me and him together with it.”

Even more telling, though, were comments by second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who was candid in expressing his doubt that his camp and the Rockies will even hold talks. “No, there have been no talks and I don’t think there will be,” said LeMahieu. The 29-year-old LeMahieu, a two-time Gold Glove winner and All-Star, is set to hit the open market at season’s end.

Here’s more from the division…

  • The Padres announced tonight that they’ve placed Wil Myers on the 10-day disabled list due to nerve irritation in his right arm and recalled right-hander Phil Maton from Triple-A El Paso. While Myers will be shut down from baseball activities entirely for the next few days, the Friars don’t consider the injury to be serious and are actually expecting a minimal DL stint, as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes. X-rays have already shown that there’s no structural damage in Myers’ arm, per Cassavell, who adds that a specialist examined Myers and made the diagnosis of some apparently mild irritation. “It’s early in the season,” Myers told Cassavell. “If I can use these days to get this right, get my back right, to finish the last 148 games completely healthy, it’s the right move.”
  • While they didn’t call a great deal of attention to it, the Giants beefed up their analytics department over the offseason, writes Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. San Francisco has become more aggressive in terms of infield shifting and, during Spring Training, displayed leaderboards with more modern metrics such as exit velocity in the clubhouse. Giants players have begun to ask for additional info on their launch angles and batted-ball tendencies, Pavlovic notes. Regarding the infield shifts, Pavlovic also points out that the addition of a strong defensive player in Evan Longoria, plus the increased emphasis on data, figures to make the club considerably more aggressive in terms of shifts.

Angels Agree To Minor League Deal With Dustin Ackley

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The Angels are in agreement with free-agent infielder/outfielder Dustin Ackley on a minor league contract, reports MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). It’ll be the second go-around with the Halos for Ackley, who is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Once the No. 2 overall pick in the MLB draft (2009), Ackley’s career cratered after a promising debut with the 2011 Mariners. The UNC product hit .273/.348/.417 with six homers, 16 doubles, seven triples and six steals in 376 plate appearances as a rookie, but he’d go on to bat just .235/.296/.358 over his next 1971 PAs in the Majors from 2012-16.

Ackley spent the 2017 season with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake, where he batted .261/.340/.376 in 505 plate appearances. Now 30 years of age, Ackley has experience at all three outfield positions as well as at second base and first base, so he’ll give the Halos some depth across the board and an experienced bat to plug into the lineup in Triple-A.

Latest On Brandon Phillips

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Brandon Phillips was one of the many veterans unable to find a landing spot in free agency this winter, but the longtime Reds second baseman tells MLB.com’s Jon Morosi that he’s still holding out hope for a return to the big leagues (Twitter links). The 36-year-old Phillips notes that he’s open to platoon or bench roles, adding that he’s also amenable to bouncing around the infield and playing some outfield as well.

Certainly, Phillips isn’t the All-Star-caliber player that he once was. While he batted .280/.330/.449 with above-average power and baserunning in addition to superlative defensive contributions from 2007-12, his overall output has diminished in recent years. Nonetheless, Phillips still posted a quite respectable .285/.319/.416 slash in 604 plate appearances between the Braves and Angels last season, delivering 13 homers and 11 steals. His defensive ratings did dip in 2016-17, with both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved providing a negative valuation of his glovework. He’s also been inefficient on the bases, as evidenced by a 25-for-41 success rate (61 percent) in stolen-base attempts over the past two seasons.

While it’s unlikely that a club would add Phillips and plug him into a regular role in the near term, there’s still some potential value to be had. Phillips is perennially one of the toughest strikeouts in the league, even in recent years (11.5 percent from 2015-17), and has batted .290 over the past three seasons. That average hasn’t been artificially inflated with luck (.312 BABIP) and has helped him to get on base at a roughly league-average clip in that time (.322), even though he rarely walks. He’s also maintained a quality line-drive rate, including a 22.2 percent mark in 2017.

On the other hand, Phillips has walked in fewer than four percent of his plate appearances in that three-year run, and his power has dropped from the aforementioned 2007-12 peak. While it’s true that he still hits an above-average share of line drives, his overall hard-contact rate is below the league average, and he didn’t rate well in Statcast metrics such as exit velocity and barreled-ball rate. In fact, at a time when the general thought process throughout the league seemed to be to hit the ball in the air and focus more on launch angle, Phillips posted a career-low 28.3 percent fly-ball rate — one of the lowest marks of any qualified hitter (130th out of 144, to be exact).

All that said, Phillips was worth about a win in 2017 per Baseball Reference’s version of WAR, while Fangraphs was a bit more bullish at 1.6 WAR. In all, he’s a career .275/.320/.421 hitter in nearly 8,000 big league plate appearances. Morosi notes that Phillips has been working out at Georgia Tech while hoping for an opportunity, though it stands to reason that he’d likely need some minor league or extended spring games to ready himself for another run in the Majors.

NL Central Notes: Greene, Wainwright, Holland, Pham, Brewers

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Reds prospect Hunter Greene, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft who wowed scouts with triple-digit velocity in addition to his potential as an infielder, will begin the season exclusively as a pitcher, Cincinnati director of player development Jeff Graupe tells Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). However, while the ballyhooed 19-year-old won’t be hitting to begin the year, the organization is not “closing the door on developing him offensively,” Graupe adds. Virtually every scouting report heading into the draft suggested that Greene’s upside on the mound was higher anyhow, though there was nonetheless some thought to developing him as a two-way player at least in the early portion of his career. Greene made three starts in Rookie ball last season and appeared in seven games as a DH.

Here’s more from the division…

  • The Cardinals announced that Adam Wainwright will be activated from the 10-day disabled list on Thursday and start the team’s game against the Diamondbacks. In a corresponding move, top prospect Jack Flaherty has been optioned to Triple-A Memphis. Wainwright opened the season on the shelf due to a strained left hamstring. He’ll be looking to bounce back from an uncharacteristic season in which he struggled to a 5.11 ERA in 123 2/3 innings.
  • Cardinals general manager Mike Girsch spoke with Mike Ferrin of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM about the team’s late signing of closer Greg Holland (Twitter link, with audio). While the Cards were in touch with agent Scott Boras about Holland as far back as the GM Meetings, nothing between the two sides became serious until late in camp. “It really wasn’t until the last week or 10 days of Spring Training when it became more apparent that there might actually be a possibility of finding some common ground,” said Girsch. “…His expectations were changing, and our willingness to find someplace that we could make something happen made it so we could actually get something done.” Notably, Girsch said that Luke Gregerson’s injuries didn’t play much of a role in the decision to add Holland, as he’s not dealing with arm troubles and is only expected to be out for a few weeks. More important, it seems, was the length of the contract. Girsch notes that the Cards have some younger arms “who are future back-of-the-bullpen arms” that aren’t far from big league readiness.
  • Tommy Pham chatted with MLB.com’s Bill Ladson about his rise to prominence and his ongoing battle with keratoconus — an eye disorder characterized by the progressive thinning of the cornea. Interestingly, Pham said he gives a huge amount of credit to current Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, who, during his days in the Cardinals front office, was the first to set up the initial test that diagnosed Pham with his condition. “He just always believed I was too good of an athlete to struggle in this game,” said Pham. “…I hit a lot of home runs, but I struck out a lot, and Jeff thought it was my vision rather than my actual swing. … sure enough, he was right.”
  • Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel provides a host of updates on some injured Brewers (all links to Twitter). Veteran lefty Wade Miley, who signed a minor league deal last month, is playing catch but likely a month away from returning from the groin injury that sidelined him. Both Miley and lefty Boone Logan, who is dealing with a triceps injury, are hoping to begin throwing off a mound next week. Ace Jimmy Nelson, meanwhile, is hoping to throw from a mound by the end of the month. As for catcher Stephen Vogt, he hopes to throw by the end of the week after recently being cleared by doctors, but he’s still a few weeks from returning. When he does, the Brewers will have to make a call on what to do with Vogt and Jett Bandy, as both are out of minor league options and behind Manny Pina on the depth chart.

AL East Notes: JDM, Red Sox, Cobb, Gausman, Hicks

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In an interesting look back at recent history, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com explores the Red Sox’ decision-making process on finding a big bat over the just-concluded offseason. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski says the organization zeroed in from the outset on J.D. Martinez, despite knowing it could take a big salary to get a deal done. Giancarlo Stanton’s no-trade rights mostly took him out of consideration, says Dombrowski, while Marcell Ozuna came with too high a prospect price tag — reflecting his value as an outfielder, not just a DH, which was the Sox’ primary need.

Here’s more from the AL East:

  • Red Sox top prospects Jay Groome and Michael Chavis will open the season on the disabled list, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Groome, 19, is dealing with a mild flexor strain that is similar to the injury that hampered him in 2017, though farm director Ben Crockett tells Speier that the injury isn’t serious in nature, calling it “pretty mild overall” and noting that Groome has already been symptom-free for “several days.” Chavis, 22, is dealing with an oblique strain that he suffered back in February. He’s begun swinging a bat, however, and could get into extended spring games next week.
  • Alex Cobb is nearing readiness to join the Orioles, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes. It seems likely he’ll take the ball on Monday, though that won’t be finalized until the weekend. Baltimore skipper Buck Showalter said the club is mostly allowing Cobb to drive the process while understandably preferring to “err on the side of caution.” Trusting the veteran hurler but maintaining a conservative approach seems wise given Cobb’s health history and the team’s $57MM investment.
  • Orioles fans will certainly also want to check out this lengthy chat between righty Kevin Gausman and the Sun’s Jon Meoli. The talented 27-year-old has not quite turned the corner to being a front-line starter, despite showing hints of it at times. He’s now entering an important season in which he’ll try to bounce back from a messy 2017 showing in advance of his final two arb-eligible campaigns. Likewise, VP of baseball ops Brady Anderson recently joined the podcast of MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. He discussed how his history as a player helped spur his current career, as he began his post-playing involvement in the game by helping his former teammates. Though he’s hardly the only former player with a prominent executive role, Anderson is somewhat unusual in that he still gets down on the field quite a bit.
  • Aaron Hicks is confident that he can return to the active roster in time for the Yankees’ upcoming series against the Red Sox, which begins next Tuesday, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Beyond that, while recently claimed Trayce Thompson is initially reporting to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, skipper Aaron Boone tells Hoch that the optional assignment “doesn’t mean he won’t become an option very soon.”

Rockies Extend Charlie Blackmon

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The Rockies have announced an extension with outfielder Charlie Blackmon. In addition to re-working his already agreed-upon 2018 salary, the new deal covers five additional seasons, giving the Rockies control over three would-be free agent campaigns and providing the ACES client with a pair of player options for two further years.

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Blackmon will be guaranteed $94MM in new money, $63MM of which comes over the three seasons that are locked in before the player options, according to Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports (Twitter link). He will also receive the same amount ($14MM) he was already promised for 2018, though $2MM of that figure will now come by way of signing bonus. He’ll then earn $21MM annually from 2019 through 2021.

In the final two potential seasons, Blackmon will consider a $21MM player option for 2022 and, if he’s still playing under the contract, a $10MM option for 2023. That final option number could escalate by up to $8MM. As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets, it will move north by $5MM so long as Blackmon takes 400 plate appearances. He can boost the figure by $2MM with a first, second, or third-place finish in the MVP voting or by $1MM if he lands fourth or fifth. The contract also includes limited no-trade protection.

Blackmon, who’ll turn 32 in July, has ramped up his productivity over the past two seasons to become one of the game’s best all-around outfielders. He has won consecutive Silver Sluggers and placed fifth in the National League MVP voting in 2017.

More importantly, the numbers suggest that Blackmon is primed to continue his success. Blackmon has racked up 400 hits over the past two seasons, carrying an eye-popping .327/.390/.578 cumulative slash line that impresses even after accounting for the fact that he plays half of his games at Coors Field. He no longer swipes many bags, but made up for that lag in the counting-stat department by hitting a career-high 37 long balls last season. Notably, he also boosted his walk rate to a career-high 9.0% in 2017. While that’s hardly a premium figure, it’s promising that it is moving northward at this stage. And Blackmon has also fared rather well historically against left-handed pitching.

Though he grades mostly as an average performer in center, and may ultimately move out to a corner spot before this deal is up, Blackmon is a solid defender and good baserunner as well. He has also stayed on the field consistently since emerging as a full-time player in 2014.

The move will keep one of the Rockies’ biggest stars on hand through at least his age-34 season while committing the team financially through his age-36 effort. Whether the Colorado organization can similarly lock up its other top player, third baseman Nolan Arenado (a free agent after 2019), remains to be seen.

This contract also removes a significant player from the much-anticipated 2018-19 free agent class. While Blackmon never was going to carry quite the earning power of some of the other intriguing names who’ll soon reach the open market, he had certainly profiled as one of several players that could have pushed for nine-figure contracts.

As it turns out, Blackmon’s new contract topped nine figures only nominally. Of course, he’s locking that figure in now rather than rolling the dice on how things turn out in the season to come — not to mention how the next free agent period will go after a long, strange 2017-18 offseason. And he’ll get to stay with the only organization he has played for. There’s also value in controlling the outcome of the final two seasons of the deal, though perhaps not all that much given how long in the tooth Blackmon will be when it comes time to make a call on those years.

Blackmon also had to contend with anticipated market unease over his age as well as the fact that he has rather significant home/road splits (131 wRC+ vs. 100 wRC+ for his career). It was fairly unlikely that he’d have received a much lengthier commitment upon entering the market at 32 years of age. The Coors factor is harder to gauge, but could certainly also have been a factor in limiting interest.

All told, there’s certainly a case to be made that Blackmon could have earned a fair bit more had he waited. Way back in the 2012-13 offseason, Josh Hamilton secured a five-year, $125MM pact entering his age-32 season. Then again, the amply accomplished Lorenzo Cain — nowhere near the hitter Blackmon is, but a better performer in other areas — is only months older than Blackmon and secured just $80MM for his own five-year term. Another monster season might, in the right market circumstances, have allowed Blackmon to drive up a bidding war and earned a decent bit more than he will. Odds are, though, that he will not have left an enormous pile of cash on the table when all is said and done.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Reds Outright Stuart Turner

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The Reds announced today that catcher Stuart Turner was outrighted after clearing waivers. He’ll remain with the organization at Triple-A.

Turner, 26, was carried on the active roster for all of the 2017 season after being taken in the Rule 5 draft from the Twins. He ended up appearing in only 37 games and taking just 89 plate appearances, over which he carried an ugly .134/.182/.244 batting line.

While the Cincinnati organization achieved full control rights over Turner, he obviously did not exactly force his way into the club’s plans. Though he’ll still have a chance to continue working on his hitting at Triple-A, Turner will need to play his way back onto the 40-man roster.

Angels Acquire Miguel Almonte, Designate Juan Graterol

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The Angels have acquired righty Miguel Almonte from the Royals, per a club announcement. Cash or a player to be named later will head back in return for Almonte, who has been optioned to Triple-A by the Halos. To create an opening on the 40-man roster, the Los Angeles organization designated catcher Juan Graterol for assignment.

Almonte, who was removed from the 40-man recently to create space for a player of the same last name, will celebrate his 25th birthday today by joining a new organization after seven years in the Kansas City system. While he was once viewed as a quality prospect, Almonte has had trouble earning MLB opportunities and has in recent years been shifted mostly into a relief role.

Still, Almonte’s arm obviously caught the attention of the Angels front office. He threw 47 innings of 1.72 ERA ball last year in the upper minors, over which he recorded 52 strikeouts against just 13 walks. But injuries again limited him in 2017 and Almonte is slated for some further time off after dealing with shoulder problems this spring.

As for the 29-year-old Graterol, he has seen limited MLB chances with the Halos over the past two seasons. He does have plenty of experience in the upper minors over a dozen-year professional career. Graterol carries a .652 OPS in his 353 Triple-A plate appearances and a .690 mark over 477 turns with the bat at the penultimate level of the minors.

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