AL Notes: Rangers, Astros, Red Sox, Tigers
So far during their brief major league careers, Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo have not lived up to the hype they received as prospects, and Rangers general manager Jon Daniels doesn’t believe the organization has put either player in proper position to succeed. “Don’t hold it against these players,” Daniels told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. “That’s on us. We promoted them aggressively because they were advanced in a lot of ways, and when you get to Triple-A at age 19 or 20 years old and reach the big leagues at 20 or 21, that’s unusual. The guys that hit and perform immediately are on the fast track to the Hall of Fame discussion.” Considering they’re only entering their age-24 seasons, there’s certainly still time for Profar and Gallo to establish themselves in the infield or outfield. Texas, for its part, remain bullish on the pair. “The talent and the instincts haven’t gone anywhere,” Daniels noted. With their farm system having thinned out recently and several of their top players on the wrong side of 30, the Rangers have a lot riding on the development of Profar and Gallo, posits Crasnick.
More from the AL:
- The Astros’ success this year figures to largely hinge on the bounce-back abilities of their top starters, 2015 Cy Young-winning southpaw Dallas Keuchel and right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who endured injury-shortened campaigns last season. Keuchel, who hasn’t started since Aug. 27 on account of shoulder inflammation, could be ready for game action during the upcoming week, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Thanks to elbow problems, McCullers’ latest start came Aug. 2, though he’s also on the right track now. The 23-year-old threw 43 pitches in live batting practice Saturday and will make his Grapefruit League debut Thursday.
- Red Sox skipper John Farrell indicated Sunday that reliever Fernando Abad will put himself in a less-than-ideal position by leaving the team to pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, per Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com. “You love the fact that his country looks upon him as a guy to contribute for the WBC,” said Farrell. “He’s pitched four times; there’s been early-camp mixed results, which are not uncommon. But in those positions of competing for a spot, you’d like to think that a guy’s going to be here to make that mark here. He’s aware of his status on the roster competing for a spot. When he returns, it’s constant evaluating that’s going on.” Abad’s battling for a spot on the team with fellow left-hander Robby Scott, whom Farrell complimented Sunday, and his shaky spring has come on the heels of a disappointing showing with Boston in 2016. After the Red Sox acquired Abad from the Twins at the trade deadline, he allowed nine earned runs on 13 hits and eight walks in 12 2/3 innings. It’s worth noting that Abad’s $2MM salary for 2017 won’t become fully guaranteed until Opening Day, so his place in the organization could be in jeopardy.
- Another Red Sox reliever, offseason acquisition Tyler Thornburg, also hasn’t enjoyed a great spring thus far, as John Tomase of WEEI writes. Having yielded nine earned runs on seven hits in 1 1/3 frames, the righty will stay away from game action for the next few days as he attempts to fix his mechanics. “It’s been more timing in his delivery,” Farrell observed. “He’s out of sync right now. His body is drifting to the plate too quick, you see a number of pitches left up of the strike zone up to his arm-side. To see him hit a guy the other day with a changeup, that just says his timing right now needs a lot of work.” Boston sent three players to Milwaukee for Thornburg, who was among the game’s premier relievers last year.
- The elbow MRI that Tigers reliever Adam Ravenelle underwent after leaving the team’s game Saturday didn’t show any structural damage, according to manager Brad Ausmus (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). “He’ll get a second opinion to be safe, but they don’t think it’s anything major. I’m sure he feels better about it, more than anyone else, having been through surgery already,” said Ausmus, referring to the ulnar nerve procedure Ravenelle underwent in 2012. Baseball America ranks the 24-year-old as Detroit’s No. 8 prospect.
NL Notes: Nationals, Dodgers, Mets
There’s a belief across baseball that the Nationals’ affinity for deferring money in contracts has somewhat hindered their pursuit of talent in free agency and could negatively affect them down the line as they attempt to avoid the luxury tax, according to Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. “They’re unique. They’re the only team that operates like this,” an agent told Svrluga, who adds that team ownership won’t comment on its methods. The Nats are set to pay their newest addition, reliever Joe Blanton, $4MM on a one-year deal, but he’ll collect that money through 2019. Among far more expensive examples, starters Max Scherzer (signed through 2021) and Stephen Strasburg (2023) will be on the franchise’s books and through 2028 and 2030, respectively.
More from Washington and two other NL cities:
- Dodgers right-hander Brandon McCarthy has long been a control artist, which makes it rather startling that he walked 26 batters in an injury-shortened, 40-inning 2016. McCarthy returned from 2015 Tommy John surgery and also dealt with a hip issue, but it was a case of the yips that led to his spike in walks – including 15 over 8 1/3 innings (three starts) from Aug. 2-13 – as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes. “I think most of it was mechanical,” McCarthy said. “Usually, if you get the shanks in golf, something has gone wrong physically in your swing, and you lose your mental feel for what you are trying to do. It becomes sort of a self-fulfilling thing. I think that was really the extent of it.” McCarthy made a late-season mechanical adjustment and is optimistic the issue is behind him. The 33-year-old is now entering the penultimate season of a four-year, $48MM contract, but he’d have no qualms about retiring and leaving money on the table if he were to lose his desire to pitch. “The day where the motivation is not there to come in and do it, I have no problems ‘Gil Meche-ing it’ and just walking home and leaving it,” said McCarthy, referring to then-Royal Gil Meche’s decision to retire in 2011 and abandon a guaranteed $12MM. (For more on players who have battled the yips, check out FanGraphs’ Travis Sawchik’s piece from earlier this week.)
- The Mets are doubling down on last year’s roster, writes the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, who notes that they’re likely to open the season with 25 players who were on their team in 2016. “It doesn’t feel it’s stale, it feels as if we have consolidated our gains,” general manager Sandy Alderson said of the club’s roster, which managed 87 wins and a playoff berth last season despite myriad injuries. Of the 55 players the Mets invited to camp, just three weren’t in the organization a year ago, and the only newcomer who has much of a chance to make the team is left-hander Tom Gorzelanny, per Sherman.
- The Nationals are doing their due diligence on Eric Gagne as the former star closer looks to emerge from his yearslong retirement and return to the majors. Nats special assistant De Jon Watson was on hand at Dodgers camp Saturday to watch Gagne throw, relays Shaikin, who tweets that the right-hander topped out at 91 mph. Now 41, Gagne averaged just over 92 mph on his fastball in 2008, his latest major league action.
AL East Notes: Jays, Rays, Red Sox, Orioles
The Blue Jays have shown interest in outfielder Angel Pagan, one of the best free agents left on the market, but it’s unlikely he’ll end up in Toronto, according to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. The club is content to stick with Steve Pearce, Melvin Upton Jr., Ezequiel Carrera and Dalton Pompey as its left field options and doesn’t want to disrupt their competition by adding Pagan to the mix on a major league contract, per Chisholm.
More from the AL East:
- The Rays have so far gotten the worst end of the three-team, 11-player deal from 2014 that saw them send then-outfielder and now-first baseman Wil Myers to the Padres and acquire outfielder Steven Souza from the Nationals, who picked up Trea Turner and Joe Ross from the Friars. Unlike Myers and Turner (and arguably Ross), Souza hasn’t established himself as a cornerstone player for his club. That means first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers could be the Rays’ best hope to salvage the trade, observes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The team’s front office has long been bullish on the ex-Padres prospect, with president of baseball operations Matt Silverman telling Topkin: “Our staff had raved about him after seeing him that season. We’re thrilled we were able to acquire him. You don’t see many prettier swings.” Bauers used that swing to slash .274/.370/.420 in 581 Double-A plate appearances last season, and he now ranks as a top 80 prospect in the opinions of Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. The Rays expect the 21-year-old to continue impressing. “His maturation and ability to handle the game at a young age is fascinating to me,” said farm director Mitch Lukevics. “Generally that’s not the case.”
- Dating back to last summer, the Red Sox have lost high-level prospects like Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and Anderson Espinoza in trades, and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski isn’t ruling out further deals, he told Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. At the same time, Dombrowski is aware that “you have to quit trading young guys” sometime. With the Red Sox’s collection of “good young players” in the big leagues and the minors, Dombrowski believes the team has the “foundation to be good for a long time.”
- Orioles closer Zach Britton had been feeling discomfort in his left side since Feb. 21, but that’s no longer the case, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. The star left-hander will throw off a half mound Monday and a full mound Wednesday, and if he doesn’t experience a setback, he’ll make his Grapefruit League debut later in the week.
MLBTR Originals
A roundup of MLBTR’s original content from the past week:
- Charlie Wilmoth kicked off this year’s Offseason In Review series with analysis on the Pirates, who elected against trading outfielder Andrew McCutchen during the winter and signed a couple notable pitchers in free agency.
- Jeff Todd (links: 1, 2, 3) highlighted three players who are in for make-or-break years, Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud, White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia and Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton.
- Jeff also searched for a landing spot for free agent DH Pedro Alvarez, whom the plurality of voters expect to sign with the White Sox, and Steve Adams did the same with unsigned outfielder Angel Pagan. Voters regard the Blue Jays as the most logical destination for the longtime Giant.
- Jason Martinez continued this year’s Camp Battles series with a piece on the Rays, while I took a look at the Cardinals.
Statcast’s Influence To Increase
The Statcast revolution in Major League Baseball is merely in its inchoate stages, as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan details in a must-read piece.
“We’re in the third inning,” Tom Tango, one of the minds behind Statcast, told Passan.
Statcast, which MLB.com notes “is capable of measuring previously unquantifiable aspects of the game,” became available in each of the league’s stadiums in 2015 and is utilized by all 30 front offices. The system tracked 1,435,241 pitches last year, but it was only scratching the surface, writes Passan, who expects it “to fundamentally change how we consume baseball.”
Major League Baseball Advanced Media, otherwise known as BAM, introduced Statcast and is now working to release data that makes the sport easily understandable to the public in a way that sabermetrics don’t.
“What we’re trying to do is we want to make it relevant and relative,” said BAM CEO Bob Bowman, who’s among commissioner Rob Manfred’s closest advisers. “Relevant to what fans are watching right now and relative to other players and similar situations.”
Tango, Daren Willman and Mike Petriello are attempting to put together a Statcast-based Wins Above Replacement to measure players’ values better than the current iterations of WAR. The version Tango, Willman and Petriello could introduce would lay out exactly how much value each position player contributes as a hitter, defender and base runner and, per Passan, possibly grade players on a 1-to-100 scale.
“What will make our version of WAR intriguing,” Willman said, “is the way we’re going to make it accessible.”
Their latest attempt to measure defense comes in the form of Catch Probability, which Petriello unveiled Saturday on MLB.com in another highly recommended piece. Catch Probability uses a 0-100 percent scale to determine how catchable each tracked ball hit to the outfield is, and they’d eventually like to use it to judge infield defense.
“A 40 percent play and 80 percent play are very close,” Tango told Passan. “Less than a second of hangtime. Fifteen to 20 feet of positioning. At a single-play level, that’s where this thing is going to shine.”
Eventually, BAM would like to integrate Statcast’s data into every major league broadcast. So far, the league has gotten incredible bang for its buck from BAM, which began with investments of a couple million dollars from each franchise. Now, according to Passan, the league’s 30 clubs are worth at least $1 billion apiece because all own a stake in BAM.
NL Notes: Giants, Brewers, Mets
There was a scary scene during the San Francisco-Kansas City game Saturday in Phoenix, as a line drive off the bat of Royals third baseman/outfielder Hunter Dozier struck Giants first base coach Jose Alguacil in the face, Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News was among those to report. Alguacil suffered a fractured nose, a deep facial laceration and fractures in his left eye socket, and he was airlifted to a Phoenix trauma center to undergo surgery. He’s now resting with his family, tweets Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. MLBTR wishes Alguacil a fast recovery as he prepares for his first season on the Giants’ coaching staff.
In lighter news from San Francisco and two other National League cities…
- Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto will be able to opt out of his contract after this season, but the longtime ace told Chris Haft of MLB.com that’s not on his mind. “To me, this is just a regular year,” he said. “I signed for five [more] years, and I’m not thinking anything past that. It’s just another year for me.” Cueto will earn $106MM if he sticks with the Giants through 2022, though another great season would put him in prime position to land a more valuable pact next winter. In his age-30 campaign last year, Cueto pitched to a pristine 2.79 ERA, logged a 50.2 percent ground-ball rate and recorded 8.11 K/9 against 1.94 BB/9 in 219 2/3 innings.
- Brewers infielder Jonathan Villar addressed his recent decision to turn down a $20MM extension Saturday, telling Adam McCalvy of MLB.com that it wasn’t difficult to reject. “In my house, I feel good,” he said. “I’m comfortable. … I told my family [about the offer], and they told me, ‘It’s up to you. If you want, fine. If no, no.’ I can wait for arbitration.” Villar, who will become arbitration eligible next offseason, noted that he doesn’t harbor any ill feelings toward the Brewers. He’ll now try to build on a breakout 2016 in which he slashed .285/.369/.457 with 19 home runs and a major league-best 62 stolen bases over 679 plate appearances.
- Given that he was the subject of trade rumors throughout the offseason, Mets right fielder Jay Bruce did not expect to return to the club this year, he told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “The whole time I just assumed I was going being traded,’’ said Bruce. “Honestly, the way everything went down, I did not think I would be back. Not to sound like a (jerk), but I knew I was going to be the opening-day right fielder somewhere.” The Mets then informed Bruce in January he’d stick around, which he’s “very, very happy” about. Although Bruce batted a paltry .219/.294/.391 in 187 PAs with the Mets last year after joining the club in a deadline trade with the Reds, his rocky off-field transition from Cincinnati to New York didn’t help matters, Nightengale notes. Bruce stayed in six hotels as a Met down the stretch and was apart from his wife and 4-month-old son, who remained in Texas. The three of them will live in an apartment on New York City’s Upper East Side this year, per Bruce.
Lorenzo Cain Wants Long-Term Deal From Royals
Lorenzo Cain is among several key Royals who are unsigned beyond this year, but the center fielder would rather continue in Kansas City than head elsewhere in 2018, he told Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.
“You can’t help but think about that,” said Cain, referring to his uncertain future. “You try not to, but it’s there. You know, if it were up to me, I’d be here long-term.”
As of late February, the Royals were focusing on extending another soon-to-be free agent, first baseman Eric Hosmer, and hadn’t engaged in contract talks with Cain, third baseman Mike Moustakas or shortstop Alcides Escobar. Unlike Hosmer, Moustakas and Escobar, all of whom have seriously underwhelmed at times, Cain has consistently turned in quality production as a Royal.
Since debuting in earnest with Kansas City during a 61-game 2012 campaign, Cain has hit .286/.336/.417 across 2,226 plate appearances. While that’s more of a respectable slash line than a star-caliber one, Cain has added further value defensively and on the base paths to establish himself as one of the majors’ most well-rounded players. Only nine of Cain’s fellow big leaguers have bettered his 61 Defensive Runs Saved and just six have outdone his 51.4 Ultimate Zone Rating over the past half-decade, while he ranks among the top 50 in FanGraphs’ BsR metric and has accumulated 94 steals during the same time frame.
Thanks to his all-around prowess, Cain has totaled 18.0 fWAR since 2012, good for 35th among position players and somewhere between Ian Desmond (18.5 in 3,168 PAs) and Dexter Fowler (13.9 in 2,768 PAs). Notably, Desmond and Fowler landed five-year deals worth between $70MM and $82.5MM as free agents during the offseason. Like those two, Cain is entering his age-31 season. So was Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner in 2014, when he inked a four-year, $52MM extension and eschewed a chance to hit the open market in 2015. That came after Gardner combined for 17.1 fWAR in 2,087 trips to the plate from 2009-13.
Of those three players, Cain’s closest comparable is Gardner, who has also mixed roughly average offense with plus defense and baserunning throughout his career. Cain could certainly have a case to exceed Gardner’s deal, though, particularly if he stays healthy in 2017. Cain only appeared in 103 games and amassed 434 PAs last year, during which he posted his worst batting line since 2013 (.287/.339/.408), as he missed all but one contest in September on account of a wrist injury. Fortunately for Cain, that won’t hamper him going forward.
“No problems with the wrist,” he informed Flanagan. “I’ve been taking some heavy cuts and I haven’t made a lot of contact yet. But the wrist is really good.”
With his wrist issue in the past, Cain figures to further make his case for a rich contract during the upcoming campaign. A bounce-back performance from Cain could help the Royals return to the form they showed in 2015, when they won their first World Series since 1985 and he was among their top contributors. But if the team endures a second straight mediocre season, an extension-less Cain might find himself in a different uniform around the summer trade deadline.
Latest On Extension Talks Between Rangers, Rougned Odor
MARCH 4: There’s a “decent-sized gap” between the Rangers and Odor, who have exchanged proposals, and the team is likely to submit a counteroffer soon, according to Heyman.
FEBRUARY 27: Odor’s reps met today with Rangers GM Jon Daniels, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). There’s still no word as to how discussions are progressing, but clearly they are ongoing at this point.
FEBRUARY 23, 4:15pm: Whatever talks have taken place to this point don’t appear to advance to the point where Odor himself has been presented with an offer or a concept, as the infielder himself tells MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan (Twitter link) that he “[doesn’t] know anything.”
8:40am: The Rangers and the reps for second baseman Rougned Odor have undertaken renewed efforts to reach agreement on a long-term deal, according to a report from Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. It’s not clear just how likely it is that the sides will see eye to eye, but Heyman says there’s “at least a bit of hope.”
Last we checked in, early last fall, the sides had stalled out in talks over the size of the guarantee and number of option years that the club would pick up. Now, Odor stands one season away from reaching arbitration eligibility, perhaps adding impetus to the club’s effort.
Indeed, Texas appears to be making a significant push to get something done. The club is “believed to have offered something in the range of” the extension reached between Jason Kipnis and the Indians at the outset of the 2014 season. That six-year deal promised Kipnis $52.5MM and came with a single club option. At the time, the Cleveland second baseman was also a 2+ service class player who had not reached Super Two eligibility, putting him in the same position as Odor. (Interestingly, as Heyman notes, both are also represented by the large Beverly Hills Sports Council agency.)
Of course, that deal is now a few years old. And one could argue that Odor ought to earn more, based largely upon his age. Kipnis was entering his age-27 season at the time of his deal, while Odor only just turned 23. On the other hand, Kipnis was coming off of a monster season — his second straight as a 3+ WAR regular — while Odor has a somewhat less-established track record. While he drove 33 long balls last year, Odor also failed even to crack the .300 OBP barrier and drew poor metrics for his glovework.
It’s an interesting standoff, all things considered. Odor’s early lock on a regular job and sizable home run tallies give him significant arbitration earning power, while his young age holds the promise of free-agent riches to come. Those factors surely have driven the price northward on a deal, despite the fact that Odor has yet to put up a complete season approaching the All-Star campaign of Kipnis in 2013. That the Rangers are still pushing to get something done indicates that the team feels there’s still growth left in his game, though undoubtedly there are limits to what the team will spend.
Jeffrey Loria Likely To Sell Marlins This Year
Contrary to a report from February stating that Marlins Jeffrey Loria had a “handshake agreement” to sell the franchise to New York-based real estate developer Joshua Kushner, he hasn’t yet reached a deal with anyone, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. However, Loria is ready to move on from baseball and poised to part with the team sometime this year, reports Jackson.
Loria is currently in discussions with four groups, both from Miami and elsewhere, about selling the Marlins and has also had talks with two others. Major League Baseball knows the identities of the potential buyers, Jackson adds.
Based on prior reports, it seems the Marlins could sell from between $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion, which would be quite a boon for the much-maligned Loria. Now 76, Loria bought the franchise for a relatively meager $158MM in 2002. The Marlins won their second World Series a year later, but they haven’t made the playoffs since and Loria has come under fire for, among other things, his reluctance to spend to improve the on-field product and the opening of a $634MM, taxpayer-funded stadium in 2012. Loria did sign outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to a $325MM contract in 2014, but he’d escape the remaining $309.5MM on the pact by selling the Marlins.
Should Loria leave baseball behind, he could become the United States ambassador to France under President Donald Trump, who’s the father-in-law of Jared Kushner, Joshua’s brother. The Kushner group issued a statement last month saying it wouldn’t pursue a purchase of the Marlins if Trump appoints Loria to that post. Regardless of whether that proves true, it does appear the Marlins will soon change hands.
Injury Notes: BoSox, Mets, Angels, Rox, Tigers, Braves
There was fear this week that Red Sox left-hander David Price would need elbow surgery, but those worries were put to rest Friday. It turns out that elbow experts Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Neal ElAttrache diagnosed Price with a mild flexor strain and some bone spurs, industry sources told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. That Price dodged a more serious injury surprised the doctors, the ace revealed. “They said it multiple times; we expected this to be a lot worse than what it really is,” said Price, who added that Andrews and ElAttrache informed him he has an “extremely unique” elbow. “It’s found a way to kind of heal itself,” he continued. “It’s pretty neat, bionic elbow.” Although Price avoided a season-ending issue, he’s still likely to begin the campaign on the disabled list and miss a to-be-determined amount of starts, according to Abraham. How much time Price misses will largely be up to him, though, as the doctors want the 31-year-old to map out his own recovery program. “I’ll know when I feel good enough to go out there and throw a baseball,” declared Price.
More pitcher-related injury updates:
- Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom took the mound Saturday for the first time since last September, when he underwent elbow surgery, and dazzled in two scoreless innings, reports Dan Martin of the New York Post. DeGrom’s average fastball velocity fell from 94.9 mph in 2015 to 93.4 mph last year, but it clocked in between 96 and 97 mph at times Saturday. “When I saw the 97, I looked at (pitching coach) Dan (Warthen) and said, ‘That’s a little special,’” said manager Terry Collins. Naturally, deGrom also came away encouraged. “Last year, it was all I had to get to 92 [mph],” deGrom noted. “It has to do with repeating my mechanics. Last year, I flew open all the time and my arm was dragging.”
- Unlike deGrom, Angels lefty Tyler Skaggs endured a rather poor spring debut Saturday, relays Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). In his first outing since undergoing a major injury scare last September, the onetime Tommy John surgery recipient recorded only two outs against four walks. More alarmingly, Skaggs saw his fastball dip from 89 to 92 mph at the beginning of the inning to 86 to 88 mph by the end of it.
- Southpaw Chris Rusin is attempting to claim the last spot in the Rockies’ rotation this spring, but those efforts will go on hold for an “extended period,” writes Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com. Rusin hurt his right side in his outing Friday, causing him to leave the game, and will “be out for a while,” manager Bud Black said.
- Tigers righty reliever Adam Ravenelle departed the team’s game Saturday with elbow discomfort and will undergo an MRI, skipper Brad Ausmus announced (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com). Ravenelle, a non-roster invitee whom Baseball America ranks as Detroit’s eighth-best prospect, underwent ulnar nerve surgery in his elbow in 2012, per Woodbery. More recently, the 24-year-old combined for 67 1/3 innings at three different levels last season. The plurality of his work came at Triple-A Toledo, where he put up a 4.85 ERA to go with 6.98 K/9 against 4.85 BB/9 in 29 2/3 frames.
- Braves Rule 5 pick Armando Rivero has been dealing with shoulder soreness, though manager Brian Snitker said Saturday that there’s no sign of structural damage, tweets Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Braves doctors cleared the righty, previously with the Cubs, to continue throwing and vying for a job with Atlanta. Rivero, 29, pitched to a 2.13 ERA and recorded a sky-high 13.97 K/9 against a bloated 4.66 BB/9 in 67 2/3 innings with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016.