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Garrett Richards Expects To Be Ready For 2017 Season

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6:31pm: Richards has indeed been cleared by Yoon, meaning he’ll now prepare for Spring Training as usual rather than undergoing Tommy John surgery, Fletcher reports.

1:11pm: The news that both Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney had damaged ulnar collateral ligaments back in May was a dagger to the hearts of Angels fans everywhere, but it now appears that Richards’ decision to elect for stem cell treatment over Tommy John surgery may have been prudent. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes that Richards made another successful start in the instructional league yesterday, throwing 55 pitches in front of a large contingent of Angels decision-makers, including GM Billy Eppler, pitching coach Charles Nagy and owner Arte Moreno. Richards reported no issues following the start, and the team, according to Fletcher, now believes that he can return to anchor the rotation in 2017.

“The ball felt like it was coming out of my hand as good as it ever has,” said Richards. “It was cutting and sinking. I was throwing my slider for strikes and balls, same as my curveball. If I can go do that, there’s no worry in my mind. … I’m excited about pitching next year.”

Richards is set to meet with Dr. Steve Yoon for a final examination of his elbow today (including an MRI), per Fletcher. Richards may receive an additional stem-cell injection to continue to strengthen the ligament while he rests between now and the resumption of his throwing program in January. Fletcher suggests that today’s exam is little more than a formality, noting that Richards’ velocity was up to 96 mph in yesterday’s outing.

If Richards is able to successfully rehabilitate a partially torn UCL via this stem cell therapy, it could indeed be a significant development not just for him and the Angels but for future victims of UCL injuries. Richards tells Fletcher that he’s hopeful that what he believes will be a successful recovery will persuade other pitchers in his situation to try an alternative method to Tommy John before undergoing surgery.

For the Angels, the importance of an unexpected rebound for Richards can’t be emphasized enough. The team already lost both Heaney (who attempted the same stem cell treatment without the same success) and Nick Tropeano to Tommy John surgery, and both C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver are free agents at season’s end. Not long ago, it looked like the Halos would head into the 2017 season with Ricky Nolasco and Matt Shoemaker as the only sure things in their rotation, with a hopefully healthier Tyler Skaggs and an unproven Alex Meyer as rotation options for the upcoming year as well. If Eppler and his staff can pencil Richards into that equation with any form of certainty, it should make the Angels’ offseason navigation markedly easier. Certainly, the team will still need to focus on accumulating further rotation options, but a healthy Richards is the most cost-effective impact move the Angels could make to next year’s rotation, based on his $7MM projected arbitration salary (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).

NL East Notes: Tebow, Mets, Kelley, Ramos, Washington

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The Mets not only gave former quarterback Tim Tebow a $100K bonus, but handed him a cherished spot in the Arizona Fall League, and ESPN.com’s Keith Law argues (Insider link) that both were mistakes. Tebow, 29, lacks the baseline skill of his fellow entrants in the prospect-heavy offseason competition, Law opines after taking an in-person look. The prospect guru panned Tebow’s contact ability at the plate and his instincts in the field, and took no prisoners in assessing the totality of the situation: it was, in Law’s words, “a craven, mercenary move befitting an independent-league team desperate for the added revenue from ticket sales, not something a major league team with postseason aspirations should be doing.”

Here’s more from the NL East:

  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins sat down with Ken Davidoff of the New York Post this spring, talking through the season to come with the understanding that their comments wouldn’t be published until year end. At the time, none of the challenges that sprung up during the 2016 campaign were really evident, but both leaders noted the variability inherent in the game and acknowledged that the health of the rotation and lineup could never really be assured.
  • Outgoing Nationals free agent Wilson Ramos had successful surgery today to repair ACL and meniscus tears in his right knee, as the team announced and Jon Heyman of Fan Rag first reported. Estimates of his recovery timeline are ranging between six and eight months — which would obviously push into the early or middle portion of the 2017 season. Given that uncertainty, but also Ramos’s young age (he just turned 29) and top-level production (.307/.354/.496 batting line, 22 home runs in 2016), his free agent case will be among the more interesting in recent memory.
  • The Nationals not only suffered yet another heartbreaking NLDS exit last night, but also watched key reliever Shawn Kelley leave with what looked to be a potentially significant arm injury. He said after the game that he lost feeling in his hand after throwing his final pitch, but there seems to be hope that a major problem has been averted, as MLB.com’s Bill Ladson reports. Kelley suggested that he hopes “it’s just a nerve thing,” explaining that he experienced worsening numbness rather than suffering an acute injury. Kelley is owed $11MM over the next two years and just wrapped up an excellent 2.64 ERA showing in 2016, with 12.4 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 over 58 frames. Needless to say, he’s an important part of the Nats’ relief corps, and the organization already will likely be hunting for a big pen arm with mid-season closer acquisition Mark Melancon hitting free agency.
  • Newly-inked Braves third base coach Ron Washington thought at one point he’d land the team’s managerial job, as John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group reports. “I thought my interview was good to the point I got that I had the [managerial] job, no doubt in my mind,” Washington said. “But you never know what the other side is thinking and how it will go. They offered me a different job in the organization.” Though he missed on the top post, and could’ve earned the same money on a two-year deal to stay with the Athletics in a coaching capacity, Washington chose to take a position that would put him closer to home.

Zach Duke Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Cardinals lefty Zach Duke has undergone Tommy John surgery and also had work done to his flexor muscle, according to MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter). He’ll miss all of the 2017 season, after which time he is set to reach free agency.

Duke, 33, reinvented himself as a reliever after beginning his career as a mediocre starter. A redemptive 2014 season earned him a three-year, $15MM contract with the White Sox. He had delivered 98 1/3 frames of 3.11 ERA ball to Chicago heading into this year’s trade deadline, striking out 9.9 but walking 4.4 batters per nine in that span.

St. Louis didn’t make any major splashes in the summer trade market, but did ship outfielder Charlie Tilson to the White Sox to add Duke. In doing so, the club sought not only to bolster its pen from the left side down the stretch in 2016, but also to get out ahead on its shopping list heading into 2017.

Duke provided the Cards with 23 1/3 quality frames, posting a 26:13 K/BB ratio and allowing just five earned runs on 17 hits. He has been brutal for opposing lefties in recent years, and continued that trend in 2016.

While St. Louis won’t enjoy Duke’s presence in the 2017 pen, it will remain obligated to him for the final $5.5MM of his deal. While there are internal options available, led by Kevin Siegrist, the loss could well have a rather substantial impact on the team’s offseason plans. It squarely puts the club in the market for another southpaw, and perhaps even adds to the case for picking up the option of southpaw Jaime Garcia — who could conceivably be utilized in a swingman role.

Royals Rumors: Payroll, Duffy, Morales

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While the expectation surrounding the Royals has been that they’ll have to reduce payroll in 2017 after a franchise-record $140MM mark in 2016 — GM Dayton Moore himself has recently suggested as much, in fact — team owner David Glass tells Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star that he hasn’t made a final determination on the payroll. Glass calls Moore a “very persuasive” general manager and said there’s no way of knowing where the payroll will stand due to the fact that there’s no way of knowing what the offseason will hold.

“I don’t know where we’ll end up,” Glass tells Mellinger. “…[W]hat we actually do depends on the opportunities we have, and none of us, including our general manager, know right now what we can do.” The roster impact of Glass’ apparent openness to continuing to spend at an aggressive level remains to be seen, but Mellinger reports that the Royals, as a franchise, actually lost at least $10MM overall in 2016.

As Mellinger points out, the Royals are facing a payroll increase even if they simply stand pat and let Edinson Volquez and Kendrys Morales depart via free agency. (Kansas City reportedly plans to buy out Volquez’s $10MM mutual option.) Indeed, the Royals will see a number of built-in contractual raises as well as numerous arbitration raises that will spike payroll. Alex Gordon’s salary jumps from $12MM to $16MM next season, and he’s hardly alone when it comes to escalating salaries. Ian Kennedy ($7.5MM to $13.5MM), Lorenzo Cain ($6.5MM to $11MM), Mike Moustakas ($5.6MM to $8.7MM), Chris Young ($4.25MM to $5.75MM), Joakim Soria ($7MM to $8MM), Salvador Perez ($2MM to $3MM), Mike Minor ($2MM to $4MM) and Yordano Ventura ($1MM to $3.25MM) will all see their guaranteed salaries rise. And, as we projected earlier this week, the Royals also stand to see substantial arbitration raises for Eric Hosmer, Danny Duffy, Kelvin Herrera and Jarrod Dyson.

Kansas City does have some payroll coming off the books. In addition to Volquez and Morales, the Royals could see Luke Hochevar and Kris Medlen depart. And they have some non-tender candidates, including Tony Cruz, Daniel Nava, Tim Collins and Dillon Gee. Those subtractions, though, won’t offset the raises throughout the rest of the roster. That’s likely the reason that there are already rumors about the Royals trading closer Wade Davis, who is set to earn $10MM next year (once his option is picked up). However, Glass’ comments at least curb what appeared t be a foregone conclusion regarding payroll reduction.

As Mellinger writes, one creative way to manage the 2017 payroll to some extent would be to agree to backloaded extensions with Duffy and Herrera. Both the team and Duffy have expressed interest in a long-term deal before, and Mellinger writes that the plan is indeed to talk about an extension this winter. If that’s the case, the Royals could guarantee Duffy significantly less than his $8.2MM arbitration projection in 2017 and pay him at a higher rate in subsequent seasons of the deal — after some combination of Cain, Moustakas, Hosmer and Davis are off the books. A similar approach could be employed with Herrera, whom MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected to receive a healthy bump from $2.55MM to $5.3MM.

One party, in particular, may come away as the beneficiary of a potential payroll crunch in Kansas City, though, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman reports within his latest notes column that the team is unlikely to make a qualifying offer to Morales. The 33-year-old switch-hitter enjoyed a monstrous four-month stretch to close out the season, hitting .296/.357/.531 with 24 homers in 106 games en route to an overall line of .263/.327/.468 (and his first 30-homer season since 2009). However, the Royals believe there’s a good chance that Morales would accept the qualifying offer after rejecting one from the Mariners in 2013 and languishing on the free agent market until the following June.

While Heyman writes that in an ideal world, Kansas City would prefer to keep the slugging DH in 2017 and beyond, the Royals are also intrigued by the idea of a floating DH role that would allow Gordon, Moustakas (who had surgery to repair a torn ACL earlier this year) and Perez to get the occasional breather from the rigors of their daily defensive routines. Perez, in particular, strikes me as someone who stands to gain from that line of thinking, as he’s averaged a staggering 137.5 starts behind the plate per season dating back to 2013.

Cardinals Outright Harris, Rosario, Ohlman

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The Cardinals have outrighted right-handed reliever Mitch Harris and catchers Alberto Rosario and Mike Ohlman, per Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The 30-year-old Harris spent the season on the 60-day disabled list. The Cards had hoped that he could return from Tommy John surgery in June 2015 to make an impact on the roster this season, but Harris didn’t end up pitching in the Majors or minors this year. The Naval Academy product made his MLB debut last season and tossed 27 innings of 3.67 ERA ball with 5.0 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 and a 45.1 percent ground-ball rate. In addition to the 27 frames he compiled in 2015, Harris has a 2.92 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in his minor league career.

Rosario, 29, made his MLB debut this season, hitting .184/.225/.237 over the life of 41 plate appearances. He’s never hit all that much, as evidenced by his .253/.302/.327 line in parts of five Triple-A seasons, though he’s caught 42 percent of attempted base-stealers throughout his 11-year minor league career.

Ohlman, 25, is a former Orioles farmhand that spent his second season with the Cardinals organization in 2016. The 25-year-old split the 2016 season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he batted a combined .287/.344/.434. Ohlman saw 54 games/186 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this year — his first exposure to that level of competition — and fared well with the bat, hitting .280/.333/.464.

Royals Receiving Early Trade Interest In Wade Davis

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The Royals have already begun receiving quite a few calls about the availability of closer Wade Davis, per FanRag’s Jon Heyman, and the team appears willing to consider the possibility of a deal, as it was this past July when Davis was a trade candidate prior to landing on the disabled list with a forearm strain.

Kansas City has yet to exercise Davis’ $10MM option for the 2017 season and won’t do so until the completion of the World Series, though it’s a lock that they’ll do so when that decision arrives. While he’s only controlled for one more season before hitting the open market, Davis would represent a considerably more affordable late-inning option (from a financial perspective, anyhow) than free agents such as Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon.

Heyman’s report doesn’t list specific teams that have reached out the K.C. general manager Dayton Moore, but the Giants are known to be prioritizing top-tier bullpen arms this winter. Speculatively speaking, the Dodgers could make sense as an eventual trade partner, given president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s familiarity with him (Friedman was the GM in Tampa Bay when Davis was drafted), though certainly Los Angeles has more pressing issues on its hands as it preps for a matchup with the Cubs in the NLCS. The Cubs themselves could also be in the market for a ninth-inning arm this offseason (though they may well try to retain Chapman), while the Yankees and Nationals represent other clubs that could explore opportunities to add high-impact relief help.

Of course, any number of teams could come calling on Davis given his relatively affordable salary and his track record of excellence. Since moving to the bullpen with the Royals following multiple lackluster seasons in the rotation, Davis has transformed into one of the game’s truly elite relievers. Dating back to Opening Day 2014, Davis boasts a comically minuscule 1.18 ERA with 11.5 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate. Moore has said that Kansas City will see its payroll “regress” in 2017, and swapping out Davis for some premium minor league talent and/or a cheaper, more controllable young big leaguer could help them work toward that end.

Then again, the 31-year-old Davis isn’t without his red flags. Though his 1.87 ERA in 2016 was once again pristine, his 9.8 K/9 rate was the lowest in any of his seasons as an elite reliever, while his 3.3 BB/9 rate was his highest of any full season in the ’pen. Davis’ velocity was down one full mile per hour over his 2015 average of 95.9, and he also spent a combined five weeks on the disabled list (spread across two different stints) due to forearm troubles. He surrendered three runs across his first three appearances in returning from that second DL stint, though interested parties may be heartened by the fact that he finished the year with seven shutout innings, during which he compiled a very tidy 9-to-1 K/BB ratio.

While it should be stressed that no deal would be reached with the postseason still in full swing, the preliminary talks being held now could ultimately provide the groundwork for more substantial discussions later in the offseason, be they at the GM Meetings in November or the Winter Meetings in early December.

Braves Outright De La Cruz, Lalli, Snyder

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The Braves have outrighted reliever Joel De La Cruz, catcher Blake Lalli and first baseman Brandon Snyder off their 40-man roster, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. Each of the three can and very likely will become minor league free agents this offseason.

Signed to a minor league pact this offseason, the 27-year-old De La Cruz made his big league debut with Atlanta in 2016 and wound up tossing a fairly substantial 62 2/3 innings for the Braves across nine starts and 13 relief appearances. In that time, De La Cruz worked to a 4.88 ERA with 5.3 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate. The longtime Yankees farmhand, who has also spent time in the Brewers and Nationals organizations, averaged 91.3 mph on a sinker he threw for just over half of his offerings, per PITCHf/x data, also working in a slider and a changeup. Neither De La Cruz’s Major League nor minor league numbers stand out, but his 4.15 ERA in parts of three seasons (184 1/3 innings) at the Triple-A level is an identical match with his career 4.15 ERA across five minor league levels, so he can function as a serviceable depth piece in a club’s Triple-A rotation or bullpen.

The 33-year-old Lalli, meanwhile, returned to the Majors for the first time since 2013 and picked up 13 plate appearances with a pair of hits. He’s seen parts of three seasons in the Majors, though he has just 53 plate appearances and a .305 OPS in that time. He’s fared considerably better at Triple-A, where he’s a lifetime .265/.316/.376 hitter.

And Snyder, 29, tallied 47 PAs this season and hit .239/.255/.652 — one of the stranger batting lines you’ll come across anytime soon. The 29-year-old collected 11 hits but just one single, as he belted four homers to go along with five doubles and a triple in his brief stint, bumping his career batting line to .242/.279/.459. Clearly, as evidenced by the .217 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) that he’s posted in the Majors, there’s some pop in Snyder’s bat, though he’s never been able to carve out a prolonged role in the bigs. Formerly selected with the 13th overall pick by the Orioles in 2005, Snyder is a career .274/.336/.437 hitter in the minors, including a .259/.319/.411 slash in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Farrell, Orioles

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Chad Jennings of the LoHud Journal News writes that it might finally be time for the Yankees to trade either Jacoby Ellsbury or Brett Gardner. Both outfielders have been oft-rumored trade candidates for more than a year, but both have (obviously) remained in New York. General manager Brian Cashman tells Jennings he’ll be open to discussing anything with other clubs this winter but doesn’t yet know where any of those talks may take him. As Jennings points out, though, the only open spots in the Yankees’ lineup right now are first base and right field, where the Yanks prefer to play Greg Bird and Aaron Judge in an ideal setting. Moving one of Gardner or Ellsbury would open another spot, in left field, where the Yankees could add a player with a bit more of an offensive-oriented profile. And, if they’re not able to acquire that type of bat but move Gardner or Ellsbury anyhow, they have an in-house replacement in the form of Mason Williams and will at least have trimmed some payroll.

More from the AL East…

  • While it’s already been announced that John Farrell will manage the Red Sox in 2017, there’s some degree of confusion pertaining his 2018 option, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald writes. Team president/COO Sam Kennedy said in a radio appearance on WEEI recently that the situation would be addressed in the coming days, adding that president of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski would be making a recommendation to ownership. However, Dombrowski himself indicated to Drellich that there’s no timetable for either a decision on the option or a discussion with ownership about the option.
  • Meanwhile, WEEI’s Rob Bradford argues that Dombrowski and the Red Sox are handling the situation wrong by not simply committing to Farrell for the 2018 season and picking up the option. While some critics of Farrell would be even more perturbed to see his contract extended beyond 2017, not exercising the option subjects both the manager and his players to uncomfortable questions about Farrell’s status, when the only downside to committing to him would committing a relatively marginal sum from which the team could move on next season if they change their mind. (Clubs dismissing managers that have multiple years remaining on their contract is hardly irregular.) Indeed, as Bradford points out, the financial hit would be scarcely more than cutting a middle reliever.
  • Orioles GM Dan Duquette tells MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko that top prospect Chance Sisco was in high demand at the non-waiver deadline, and Duquette also sounded open-minded about trade talks this coming winter. “A lot of teams like (Chance) Sisco other than our club,” said Duquette, who added that he feels the organization has some depth behind the plate. “We know that from our trade discussions at the end of July. Whether they can do that job or not, that remains to be seen, but we do have pretty good depth in the organization at the catching position.” Sisco is the presumptive heir apparent behind the plate in Baltimore, but he’s also played just four games at Triple-A and remains a work in progress from a defensive standpoint. Sisco did hit .317/.403/.430 as a 21-year-old at Double-A this season, demonstrating his offensive upside, but he’s probably not yet ready to open the year in the Majors, and he’d be an appealing piece in the event that the O’s pursue rotation help on the trade market this winter. However, Kubatko writes that the O’s are more determined to keep Sisco now that they traded fellow catcher Jonah Heim to Tampa Bay. Even still, though, he notes that they’ll need a short-term bridge to Sisco if they keep him.

Evans, Sabean Discuss Bullpen, Cain, Posey, Arroyo, Coaches

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The Giants’ season ended in a devastating defeat that saw a gem from Matt Moore — two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts across eight innings — go to waste as five relievers turned a three-run lead into a one-run deficit in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS vs. the Cubs. In the wake of that stunning defeat, executive vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean and general manager Bobby Evans spoke to the San Francisco media on Thursday, and Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area has published three different stories on the media session. (Giants fans would do well to read each in its entirety, as they contain far more quotes and context than this overview.)

Sabean and Evans emphasized that the Giants will pursue late-inning relief help this winter. A top-flight closer appears high on the wishlist for the longtime San Francisco baseball ops duo, though as Pavlovic notes, there won’t be a complete overhaul of the bullpen. The Giants are encouraged by the overall output of Derek Law, Hunter Strickland, Josh Osich, Steven Okert and Will Smith, and Evans confirmed that right-hander George Kontos will be tendered a contract as well. However, as Evans explained, the Giants believe there’s a benefit to all members of the relief corps if there’s no question as to who will be closing out games.

“The bullpen performs at a much higher level when you know who your ninth-inning guy is,” said the GM. “It puts everybody at ease and helps [manager Bruce Bochy] as he defines roles. With ambiguity, it creates tension and unknowns that can add to or detract from performance and ultimately lead to struggles.” As for how he’ll go about acquiring a closer, Evans implied a no-stone-left-unturned approach, stating that he’ll be active in free agency, trades and even evaluating his internal options.

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Terry Collins On His Future, Mets’ 2017 Roster

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Terry Collins is only under contract as the Mets’ manager through the 2017 season, but even in the event that the team has interest in re-signing him, Collins isn’t certain that he’d manage beyond next year, he tells ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin.

“I just need to re-evaluate at the end of this coming year what’s going on, where I am, how I’m feeling,” said Collins, who admitted that the 2016 season was tough on him. Asked by Rubin if the next season would be his last as a manager if he felt the same in October 2017 as he does in October 2016, Collins indicated that was likely. The 67-year-old Collins is MLB’s oldest manager, Rubin notes, and the toll of traveling for a 162-game schedule understandably takes a toll on any human being — especially on evenings on which the team has to travel following a night game in order to arrive for an afternoon contest the following day.

Collins also addressed next year’s rotation, implying the obvious truth that there are uncertainties throughout the staff. “As we saw from Zack Wheeler, not everything is etched in stone,” the manager explained. “…We’ll make sure we don’t push them too much early in spring training, so that they are ready. Coming out of spring training, are they ready to go seven innings? Probably not, some of those guys.”

Collins did note, though, that there’s “no reason” the team would expect Wheeler not to be ready come Spring Training, as it’ll have been nearly two full years since his Tommy John surgery at that point. The offseason should also give Matt Harvey (thoracic outlet syndrome), Jacob deGrom (ulnar nerve repair) and Steven Matz (bone spur removal) ample time to heal up, though there can be no certainties until each is on the mound next spring. (That fact is what prompts many to believe that the Mets are likely to re-sign veteran Bartolo Colon.)

[Related: New York Mets Depth Chart]

Furthermore, Collins emphasized the importance of getting Travis d’Arnaud back up to full strength. While he cautioned that it’s not his call as to whether the team pursues outside help behind the plate, Collins spoke like a man who currently anticipates that d’Arnaud will have every opportunity to be the regular catcher again in 2017. “We’ve got to get him better,” said Collins of d’Arnaud. “…He had 250 at-bats when he should have 500. You’re talking about a guy who missed half the season. … He is going to be one of our No. 1 projects in spring training. We’ve got to get this guy back, and we’ve got to get his bat going. If he is what we thought he’s going to be, he’s a middle-of-the-lineup guy who can do damage from the right side.”

Indeed, d’Arnaud struggled greatly in 2016, batting a mere .247/.307/.323 with four home runs in 276 plate appearances. That represents a precipitous drop-off from a 2015 season in which d’Arnaud slashed .268/.340/.485 with 12 homers in roughly the same number of plate appearances (268). Set to turn 28 years old in February, d’Arnaud has never been a poster child for healthy seasons, as he’s never topped 108 games or 385 plate appearances in a big league campaign.

This past season he missed nearly two months with a strained right rotator cuff and upon his return was ineffectual enough with the bat that he lost playing time to light-hitting veteran Rene Rivera over the season’s final weeks. He’s also spent time on the disabled list due to a concussion, a fractured finger and an elbow sprain as a Major Leaguer in addition to knee troubles while still playing in the minors.

If the Mets do wish to look outside the organization for some help at catcher — which would be a disappointing outcome for a team that not long ago boasted a pair of Top 100 prospects behind the plate in d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki — the free-agent market does offer its fair share of alternatives. Top free agent Wilson Ramos saw his future clouded by an ill-timed ACL tear late in the season, but Matt Wieters, Jason Castro, Nick Hundley and Kurt Suzuki are each coming off respectable seasons and figure to avoid being tagged with a qualifying offer. Additionally, the trade market could bear some options, including Yankees backstop Brian McCann, although the Big Apple’s two teams don’t line up on trades particularly often.

Mets fans will want to check out Rubin’s entire column, as it’s chock-full of quotes from Collins and also contains insight from Rubin, who once again indicates that the Mets fully plan on exercising their $13MM option over Jay Bruce, as he suggested following the team’s exit from the postseason.

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