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Adeiny Hechavarria Wins Arbitration Case Over Rays

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 1:11pm CDT

Rays shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria has won his arbitration case against his club, Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports tweets. He’ll earn a $5.9MM salary for the 2018 campaign, which is considerably more than both the $5.35MM that Tampa Bay had filed for and the $5.0MM figure that MLBTR’s Matt Swartz had projected. His arbitration salary comes as a $1.55MM raise in his third trip through the process.

Hechavarria’s raise comes on the heels of a 2017 campaign in which he hit .261/.289/.406 with eight homers and 30 RBI across 348 plate appearances for the Marlins and Rays. Following a month-long stint on the DL due to an oblique strain, the Rays acquired Hechavarria for a pair of minor-leaguers.

The 29-year-old Cuban native is known far more for his glove than he is for his bat. He owns a career wRC+ of just 72, and has gotten on base at just a .291 clip across six major-league seasons. He’s currently seated atop the team’s depth chart at shortstop, though the club will likely give the newly-acquired Christian Arroyo a fair chance to compete for the starting job this spring.

Roberto Osuna Loses Arbitration Case

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 1:02pm CDT

Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna has lost his arbitration case, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports. The right-hander had filed for a $5.8MM payday in his first trip through the arbitration process, but he’ll instead take home the $5.3MM salary that Toronto filed for. That amount represents about a $4.75MM raise in his first arb year, and falls just $300K shy of the $5.6MM figure projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz.

Osuna has shown excellent command of the strike zone over the course of his three MLB seasons, evidenced by his phenomenal 6.15 career K/BB ratio (a figure that ranks third among qualifying relievers from 2015-2017). He’s posted a solid 2.86 ERA during that time, though ERA estimators such as FIP (2.69), xFIP (3.23) and SIERA (2.64) don’t quite agree on his true talent level. Regardless, Osuna is one of the top closers in the game of baseball, and he’ll be rewarded for it this season.

Fellow first-time arb-eligible closer Ken Giles will earn $4.6MM after winning his case. Giles has tossed 36 1/3 more big league innings than Osuna with better run prevention, strikeout and ground ball results. However, the arbitration process values saves heavily, and because Osuna has 95 career saves (30 more than Giles), he’ll out-earn his Houston counterpart by over half a million dollars this season.

Osuna was an international signing of the Blue Jays in 2011. He pitched his way onto the big league roster out of spring training camp in 2015 at the age of 20, and earned his first career save just two and a half months later. He’s been an anchor at the back of the Jays’ bullpen ever since. Barring an extension, he’s set to pitch three more seasons with the team prior to reaching free agency following the 2020 season.

Ken Giles Wins Arbitration Case Over Astros

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 12:38pm CDT

Reliever Ken Giles has won his arbitration case against the Astros, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports tweets. The Astros filed at $4.2MM, but Giles will take home the $4.6MM that he and his agent filed for instead. That salary falls $400K shy of the $5MM projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz, and represents a raise of about $4MM in his first trip through the arbitration process.

Though a bad taste may still linger in the mouths of Astros fans due to Giles’ poor postseason performance (11.74 ERA with 5 walks and 3 homers allowed in 7 2/3 innings), the fact remains that Houston’s 27-year-old closer has posted some eye-popping numbers across his first four seasons in the big leagues. Among qualifying relief pitchers, the right-hander ranks 7th in xFIP, 10th in K/9, 13th in ERA, and 16th in Win Probability Added since the start of the 2014 campaign. His 65 saves probably figured into his arbitration win as well.

Giles was drafted by the Phillies back in 2011. The righty made his big-league debut on June 12th of 2014, allowing a home run to the first major-league hitter he faced but striking out the next in a game the Phillies would eventually win over the Padres. Following the 2015 season, the Astros acquired him (along with shortstop Jonathan Arauz) in a trade that brought back former number one overall pick Mark Appel, Vince Velasquez and three others. Since coming to Houston, Giles has struck out nearly 13 batters per nine innings thanks in part to a fastball that’s averaged a whopping 98.3 MPH during that time.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/3/18

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 12:21pm CDT

We’ll use this post to keep track of today’s minor moves…

The Rays have added catcher Adam Moore on a minors pact, tweets Jerry Crasnick of ESPN. The 33-year-old will receive an invitation to spring training camp. Moore hit .238/.313/.369 with a 31.4% strikeout rate across 277 plate appearances with the Columbus Clippers (the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate) in what ultimately ended up being his first season without MLB action since 2008. Since being drafted 171st overall by the Mariners in 2006, he’s played in the majors for them and three other clubs: the Royals, Padres and Indians. Moore owns a .197/.237/.303 lifetime slash line and has been worth just over a win below replacement for his career.

Latest Reactions to Slow-Moving Offseason

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 10:28am CDT

The offseason continues to move painfully slowly. With spring training on the horizon, there’s not much time left for the staring contest between teams and players to break. Indeed, the past week has yielded more news by way of shouting from players, agents and union reps than by way of actual major league signings. We’ve collected some of the reactions from around the baseball community…

As one might expect, the colorfully hyperbolic Scott Boras has offered his input on the subject (via Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports), comparing the market phenomenon to the act of murder. “The difference between an accident and murder is intent,” Boras says. “Teams are intentionally murdering seasons and fans are dying with it.” Boras also says that the biggest issue is competition, adding that losing is only acceptable if there is an actual effort to win.
“The list of available free agents could fill out a 25-man roster and contend for a playoff spot,” writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. Dodd also includes quotes from Peter Moylan, which provide some interesting insight into the point of view of a lower-tier MLB free agent. Moylan describes his situation in terms of the uncertainty, telling Dodd that the only thing that is a “little frustrating” is the unknown. Moylan’s examples of the unknown include not knowing where he’ll be in two weeks, not knowing where he’ll be playing during the regular season, and the resulting inability to line up housing for either. The 39-year-old righty pitched to a 3.49 ERA across 59 1/3 innings last year for the Royals, and has publicly stated his desire to remain with the team.
The MLBPA is “laying the dynamite around itself” with its threats of spring training boycotts and accusations of collusion, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. Davidoff describes Brodie Van Wagenen’s recent statement as a “boiling point of sorts,” and wonders what can possibly be accomplished by all this “saber-rattling.” Davidoff seems to downplay the anger and threats from the union and player representatives, pointing out (by way of recent words from Brandon Moss) that they chose to sign a collective bargaining agreement that rewards tanking and penalizes clubs for spending too much.
Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated opines that the players “bargained for luxury, not labor” in his take on the subject. Verducci also highlights Moss’ words, describing the current CBA as “the deal that stiffened the soft cap created by a luxury tax threshold that hasn’t come close to keeping up with growth in revenues and payrolls.” He adds that the union celebrated something of a “Pyrrhic win” in its prevention of an international draft, which Verducci calls a bluff.
The mystery of the bizarre offseason before us can’t be solved by simply crying “collusion,” Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes, drawing attention to multiple factors in this offseason’s pace in a piece that’s definitely worth a full read. Some of those factors include a logjam at the top of the market (perhaps caused by CBA incentives for teams to tighten their purse strings), and the perceived value of youth in baseball.
For his part, Cubs GM Jed Hoyer is surprised that he’s headed to Arizona with so much offseason left to go. In an interview with Jesse Rogers of ESPN, Hoyer chalks the hot stove freeze up to something that seems quite simple on the surface: both players and teams feel justified in their positions. “Every team has their internal rankings,” he tells Rogers. “Every team has their evaluations which they will never reveal. Those rankings guide them through the market. Both sides of the market can always move or activate and free things up. To this point, we haven’t gotten there.”

East Notes: Marlins, Arroyo, E-Rod, Mets

By Kyle Downing | February 3, 2018 at 9:03am CDT

A 2008 agreement between Miami-Dade county and Jeffrey Loria (and his partners) saw the county fund most of the $515 million government-owned Marlins stadium in Little Havana. In exchange, the county was promised the right to 5 percent of any profits Loria & co. earned if they sold the team within 10 years. Yet Loria’s lawyers have released documents telling the county not to expect any money at all from last year’s $1.2 billion sale of the Marlins, Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald writes. The reasoning from Loria’s camp is that his accountants claim the sale amounted to a net loss of $141MM. The breakdown they offer begins with a $625MM agreed-to underlying value of the franchise, $280MM in debt, circa $300MM in taxes tied to the sale and a write-off of the $30MM fee paid to financial advisors. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez says that the city may sue to collect the taxpayers’ fair share of that $1.2 billion. My message is that this community really allowed you to make a lot of money,” he said on Friday. “He should do the right thing. He made profits, and he made big profits. He should share that with the people who allowed him to do that.”

Here are a few other tidbits from around the league’s Eastern teams…

Newly-acquired Rays infielder Christian Arroyo was working out at Tropicana Field on Friday morning, Bill Chastain of MLB.com writes. MLB Pipeline’s 81st overall prospect saw his 2017 season end due to a broken hand, but surgeon Donald Sheridan cleared him for baseball activities after a visit on January 9th. “The hand is great,” Arroyo said. “Right now, it’s about getting back into baseball shape.” The 22-year-old came to Tampa Bay in this winter’s trade that sent Evan Longoria to San Francisco. He hit .192/.244/.304 across 135 plate appearances with the Giants last year in his first taste of big-league action, and figures to be in the Rays’ infield mix for the coming season.
Speaking of young players returning from injury, Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez could potentially miss a few starts at the beginning of the season after undergoing right knee patellofemoral ligament reconstruction surgery, Ian Browne of MLB.com writes. “[The injury] happened, like, three times already,” Rodriguez pointed out. “I was just trying to fight to pitch with a knee like that. And I did it. Sometimes there would be ups and downs. Now it’s time to get back to the guy I was before I got the surgery.” The 24-year-old southpaw’s had his share of ups and downs across parts of three seasons with the Red Sox. Last season, he put up 137 1/3 innings for the club while striking out 9.83 batters per nine and posting a 4.19 ERA overall.
Eduardo Nunez and Todd Frazier are currently the Mets’ leading choices in their search for an infielder, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports via Twitter. They’re apparently leery of getting “used” by Frazier (presumably for leverage) if he prefers the Yankees as his ultimate destination. In addition, the Mets are reportedly reluctant to bring back second baseman Neil Walker, and aren’t getting any traction in their efforts to acquire Josh Harrison from the Pirates. Lastly, Rosenthal adds that the team is interested in signing Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn out of free agency if their prices dip low enough.

AL Notes: Red Sox, O’s, Schoop, A’s, Maxwell, Twins

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 11:36pm CDT

With so many teams unwilling to spend big money this offseason, the Red Sox are an outlier, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston writes. The BoSox have no fear of blowing past the $197MM luxury tax threshold, which Drellich posits puts them in a powerful position. And if they land J.D. Martinez (as expected), he argues that it could finally begin to break up the logjam atop the free agent market. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski confirmed Friday that Boston’s still seeking both a power bat (Martinez fits that description) and a left-handed reliever, per Drellich. Dombrowski also acknowledged that this has been an “unusual” winter, one that hasn’t necessarily been ideal for the sport. “I don’t think it’s a good situation that we’re sitting here on Feb. 2, there’s 110 free agents. I don’t think that’s good for the game, necessarily,” he said. “Does a change of system make it happen? I don’t know, we just got a new basic agreement a year ago. So, both sides agreed to that and were willing to sign it. … I don’t think you can only look at this winter time, I think then you have to look at the future, then you can analyze that.”

A few more notes from the American League…

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop will have his arbitration hearing Feb. 8, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. After enjoying a career season in 2017, the 26-year-old requested a $9MM salary, while the Orioles offered $7.5MM. There has reportedly been some discord between the two sides in salary negotiations, which could bode poorly for the Orioles’ chances of keeping Schoop past 2019 – his final year of arb eligibility.
Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell has a Feb. 12 settlement conference in Phoenix stemming from his October arrest on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The fact there’s a conference opens the door for a plea deal with the state of Arizona, Slusser notes, and the expectation is that they will come to an agreement prior to spring training. If no deal is reached, Maxwell is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 9, which was pushed back from the original date of April 10, according to Slusser.
Minnesota’s unexpected return to the playoffs in 2017 helped the club land free agent reliever Zach Duke this winter, as the left-hander spurned other teams for the Twins’ $2MM deal (via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). “I had a couple offers out there, but after examining rosters, the way teams are put together, atmosphere, and talking to people I knew that had been in certain places, the Twins just made sense,” Duke explained. “This team is on the edge of being really good for a while and has the same type of feel as the Astros with a bunch of really good young position players, but maybe a pitcher or two away.” After undergoing Tommy John surgery as a member of the Cardinals in October 2016, Duke didn’t debut last season until July, and he only recorded 18 1/3 innings on the year. Heading into 2018, the soon-to-be 35-year-old is confident he’ll return to his pre-surgery effectiveness.

NL Notes: D-backs, Mets, Cards, A. Reyes

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 9:57pm CDT

Thanks in part to the signing of catcher Alex Avila to a two-year, $8.25MM deal this week, the Diamondbacks are on track to run a franchise-record payroll in 2018 (upward of $120MM), as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic notes. They may not be done adding, either, as general manager Mike Hazen informed Piecoro that the Diamondbacks still have financial flexibility and are seeking another outfielder. “We’re still very much involved in both,” Hazen said of free agency and the trade market. “We have enough balls in the air, we could be a couple of yesses away from something getting done in any direction. We’re not close on anything just yet.” With A.J. Pollock being the only natural center fielder on the D-backs’ 40-man roster, they could pick up someone capable of handling that spot, Piecoro reports.

Rangers Notes: Andrus, Darvish, Choo, Outfield

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 8:46pm CDT

Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus will be able to opt out of his contract next offseason, which would mean leaving a guaranteed four years and $58MM on the table. The Rangers are bracing for that to happen, though general manager Jon Daniels has had brief talks regarding an opt-out-preventing deal with Andrus’ agent, Scott Boras, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. For his part, the 29-year-old Andrus told Wilson and other reporters that he doesn’t view the upcoming season “as a free-agent [year],” and that he’d like to stay with Texas for the rest of his career. Andrus has been a member of the Rangers organization since coming over in a blockbuster trade with the Braves in 2007. He’s currently fresh off arguably his top season, in which he posted a career-best 4.1 fWAR – thanks in part to a personal-high home run total (20; Andrus entered the year with just 35 from 2009-16).

Marlins’ J.T. Realmuto Still Hoping For Trade

By Connor Byrne | February 2, 2018 at 6:56pm CDT

Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto requested a trade out of Miami in December, owing to a lack of desire to play for a franchise that’s in the midst of a monumental teardown. At the time, the Marlins had already traded three of their top players – Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon. Nearly two months later, Realmuto remains on the Marlins’ roster, though they parted with yet another star (Christian Yelich) last week. Unsurprisingly, then, Realmuto continues to hope for a trade prior to the season, his agent, Jeff Berry of CAA Baseball, told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

“No matter how his arbitration hearing turned out, J.T.’s preference remains the same,” said Berry. “He would like to be traded to another organization before spring training so he has an opportunity to compete for a championship.”

Berry mentioned Realmuto’s arb hearing, which he lost. As a result, the 26-year-old will make $2.9MM this year instead of the $3.5MM he requested. That fairly negligible difference isn’t going to affect Realmuto’s value, however, as it’s an extremely small price to pay for one of baseball’s best backstops. Realmuto’s also under arbitration control through 2019 and ’20, so he figures to give either the Marlins or another team a reasonably priced solution behind the plate for the next three years.

To this point, one of Miami’s NL East rivals, Washington, has seemingly been the most aggressive pursuer of a Realmuto trade. Despite their glaring weakness at catcher, where Matt Wieters may have been the worst starter in the game in 2017, the Nationals don’t seem to be in Realmuto-or-bust mode. They’re reportedly unwilling to give up either of their top two prospects – outfielders Victor Robles and Juan Soto – in a Realmuto trade, and they did add accomplished veteran Miguel Montero on a minor league contract Friday. He could be a fallback starter in the event a Realmuto trade doesn’t materialize, or the Nats could venture to free agency, where Jonathan Lucroy remains available.

In talks with the Nationals and other clubs, the Marlins unsurprisingly “have been holding out for multiple high-end prospects,” Jackson writes. While slashing payroll has been a prime objective for the franchise this offseason, trading the cheap Realmuto would be more of a farm system-bolstering maneuver than anything. The Marlins, to their credit, have made headway in restocking the lower levels this offseason. Thanks to the trades they’ve made since December, they’ve climbed from 30th to 19th in Baseball America’s organizational rankings (subscription required and recommended). Miami still has plenty of work to do to turn its system into a strength, though, and moving Realmuto would further help the team achieve that.

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