Angels GM Candidates Include LaCava, Hazen, Atkins, Eppler
When former general manager Jerry Dipoto left the club in the middle of the summer over an apparent lack of compatibility with manager Mike Scioscia, it became apparent that the Angels could have a unique GM search on their hands. The team has been increasingly active recently and is said to be hopeful of making a decision within a few weeks’ time.
Here’s the latest on the Angels’ search for a new leader of their baseball operations department, with updates on the preliminary interview process added as information is reported:
- Blue Jays assistant general manager Tony LaCava interviewed for the Angels’ GM vacancy today, reports Buster Olney of ESPN (via Twitter). LaCava has been an AGM with Toronto since 2007 and also currently holds the title vice president of baseball operations. He’s been strongly considered for GM openings in the past, and he even (reportedly) turned down an offer to become the Orioles’ GM back in 2011.
Earlier Updates
- Red Sox AGM Mike Hazen will interview with the Angels as soon as today, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter. Hazen has long been considered likely to head up a baseball ops department at some point. His name has also come up with regard to Boston’s own internal GM opening.
- Angels pro scouting director Hal Morris has also been given an interview for the post, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports on Twitter. He joins Klentak and Servais as internal candidates who have reportedly been given a chance to sit down with the top-level brass.
- The Angels interviewed Indians VP of player personnel Ross Atkins today, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. Atkins has been in the Cleveland organization for quite some time, and has occupied his current post since a promotion last year. Indians AGM Mike Chernoff has received more press as a possible GM hire, though he also seems to be an internal promotion candidate if current Cleveland GM Chris Antonetti takes the vacated president’s role. Antonetti has previously noted that Atkins holds the promise of a future general manager.
- We learned yesterday that Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler had his interview with the Halos, as had been widely expected. Eppler has been tabbed by some as the leading candidate, and is reportedly interested in the position — despite any possible limitations of authority owing to the presence of Scioscia — due in part to his ties to Southern California.
- Los Angeles is said also to have conducted interviews with its own assistant general managers, Matt Klentak and Scott Servais.
Latest On Eddy Julio Martinez
Top Cuban prospect Eddy Julio Martinez is now a client of Rick Thurman and Rafael Nieves of the Beverly Hills Sports Council, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
Martinez, regarded by some as the top free agent on this year’s international market, has flown under the radar of late after generating quite a bit of buzz late in the spring and early this summer. It’s been written on multiple occasions that the 20-year-old center fielder is expected to command a bonus in excess of $10MM. That, of course, means that a signing team would be penalized with a 100 percent luxury tax for every dollar spent over its league-allotted international bonus pool. His signing team would also be unable to sign an international free agent for more than $300K in either of the next two signing periods, although changes to the CBA following the 2016 season could impact those rules.
As MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reported last night, the Reds have joined the Martinez market and will host a private workout for him later this week. The Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Astros and Rangers have all been linked to Martinez at various times as well. As Sanchez noted in his free scouting report, Martinez has a compact and powerful stroke plus the ability to hit home runs to all fields. His speed gives him base-stealing upside, and he should be able to remain in center field thanks to good range in the gaps and an accurate throwing arm. Heyman spoke to several scouts today, with one praising Martinez’s considerable pop and multiple calling him a solid prospect. An eight-figure deal is still the expectation for Martinez, Heyman hears.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/15/15
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league, each coming courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy…
- The Royals have outrighted infielder Dusty Coleman and right-hander Yohan Pino to Triple-A Omaha. Each player was designated for assignment last week as Kansas City added Joba Chamberlain and Louis Coleman to its bullpen. The 31-year-old Pino delivered 19 1/3 solid innings for the Royals this season, posting a 3.26 ERA with a 13-to-3 K/BB ratio. Coleman, 28, made his big league debut in 2015, though he went 0-for-5 in his brief stint. He batted .292/.364/.442 in 99 games between Double-A and Triple-A.
- Danny Dorn was outrighted to Triple-A by the Blue Jays, who designated him for assignment last week as well. Toronto claimed Dorn off waivers from the D-Backs, but he wasn’t long for the team’s 40-man roster, lasting just under two weeks. The 31-year-old minor league veteran got his first taste of MLB action in Arizona this season and has a nice Triple-A track record — a .280/.355/.485 batting line in 727 games at the top minor league level.
East Notes: Cespedes, Hutchison, Parmelee
The Mets faced a tough last-minute decision on Yoenis Cespedes, as Tim Rohan of the New York Times details in an interesting story on the key deadline addition. GM Sandy Alderson decided to pull the trigger, parting with well-regarded young pitcher Michael Fulmer, after a somewhat nerve-wracking meeting with the organization’s key decisionmakers. You’ll want to give this one a full read if you’re interested in the subject. It also includes some discussion of the complicated matter of whether the team will make a real go at re-signing the streaking outfielder.
Here are a few more notes from the game’s eastern divisions:
- The Blue Jays will utilize righty Drew Hutchison out of the bullpen for the rest of the year, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets. He’ll be used as a one-inning reliever down the stretch. It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old will crack the postseason roster as a pen arm, but there’s not much time left for the year to be anything but a disappointment. Hutchison owns a 5.33 ERA in 147 innings, which won’t create quite the arbitration platform he might have hoped for heading into his first season of eligibility.
- Orioles outfielder/first baseman Chris Parmelee will need surgery to repair a broken left forearm that he suffered recently, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (Twitter links). Baltimore hopes to re-sign the 27-year-old, who saw relatively minimal time at the big league level but put up good numbers at Triple-A. He’ll be looking at another minor league deal, of course.
Central Notes: Cubs, Holland, Larkin
The Cubs and Pirates are squared off in a key double-header today at PNC Park as the teams jockey for position in the NL Central — and, quite possibly, the rights to host an all-or-nothing Wild Card game. Let’s check in on the latest notes from that division and its corresponding grouping from the American League side.
- Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein says he’s not worried about the possibility of losing front office talent to other organizations this winter, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. “I think we have a pretty tight-knit group, and this is a great time to be a Chicago Cub,” he explained, going on to add that, “but if we do [lose front office staff], I think we have a really deep organization, that there’s another layer ready to step up.” Epstein’s own contractual status is set to move towards the front of the burner for Chicago, of course. He says that he’s not giving any thought to the matter at present, and it’s hard to blame him: with organization’s baseball operations department firing on all cylinders, his leverage only seems to be on the rise.
- There is some real cause for concern with Royals closer Greg Holland, writes MLB.com’s Mike Petriello. His fastball velocity and spin rate have both fallen off a cliff of late, and a recent ten-day rest did not reverse the trend. That not only creates questions the rest of the way for the World Series-hopeful Royals, but adds to the offseason intrigue for the 29-year-old righty. Kansas City already has a ton of cash (relative to its overall payroll) committed to the pen, and Holland will line up for a raise on his $8.25MM salary in his final year of arbitration. He had seemed a plausible trade candidate, but will need to answer some questions over the final weeks of the season and the postseason before his offseason outlook can be assessed.
- Former Reds great Barry Larkin has seen his name mentioned frequently as a hypothetical candidate to take over in the Cincinnati dugout, though it’s not clear yet whether Bryan Price will be retained for 2016. Larkin said today on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link) that he interviewed for the Rays job last year and had preliminary discussions about the Tigers‘ most recent opening, which at least gives credence to the idea that the Hall-of-Famer has interest in such a position.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read today’s impromptu hot stove chat with MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. We tested new chat software today; please let us know your thoughts in the comments of this post.
AL East Notes: Lovullo, Buchholz, Hill, Rodriguez
Let’s take a look in at the latest out of the AL East:
- Interim Red Sox skipper Torey Lovullo has acquitted himself nicely since taking over for John Farrell, who is battling cancer, as WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes. While it certainly isn’t an audition he’d have asked for, Lovullo has successfully guided the team to an 18-10 record under difficult circumstances. That performance certainly does not hurt as he looks ahead to another offseason of managerial vacancies. As Bradford notes, Lovullo has frequently had opportunities to interview with other teams, but has yet to be offered a permanent job to run a team’s dugout.
- The Red Sox‘ rotation has been a source of fascination all season long, and that has continued down the stretch. In addition to improved work from several key long-term pieces, there are other storylines worth watching. As Bradford writes, righty Clay Buchholz — whose club option for next year represents a key decision for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski — still has his sights set on returning late this year to pitch from the pen. And then there’s Rich Hill, the journeyman reliever who has suddenly morphed into an interesting swingman or rotation candidate on the upcoming free agent market (story also via Bradford).
- One of the best developments this year for the Red Sox has been the emergence of young lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, acquired at last year’s trade deadline from the Orioles for ace reliever Andrew Miller. As ESPNBoston.com’s Gordon Edes writes, Baltimore knew what it was parting with when it chose to go all-in for 2014, though that won’t necessarily make it easier to watch Rodriguez blossom with a division rival. Edes speaks to Calvin Maduro, one of the first Baltimore scouts to identify Rodriguez as a youngster, about his incredible development into a top-flight arm. Somewhat ironically, the inclusion of Rodriguez is reportedly what swayed Boston to divert Miller to Baltimore; otherwise, he’d have ended up with Dombrowski in Detroit.
Pirates Designate Radhames Liz, Recall Vance Worley
The Pirates have designated right-hander Radhames Liz for assignment, as Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported on Twitter. He’ll lose his roster spot to clear 40-man space for the return of fellow righty Vance Worley.
Liz was a surprising big-league signee this offseason, given that he’d last appeared in the majors in 2009. The 31-year-old has shown the ability to miss bats, with 10.4 K/9 on the year. But he has also struggled to keep hitters from reaching base, surrendering four and a half walks and ten hits per nine.
All told, Liz owns a 4.24 ERA in 23 1/3 innings at the major league level on the year, though he put up good results during a mid-season stint at Triple-A (much of it as a starter). Regardless whether he makes it back to the bigs this year, Liz has certainly shown enough — including a nearly 95 mph average fastball — to draw interest again this coming winter.
Worley, 27, had a bounce-back season last year for the Bucs. While he hasn’t been quite as good in 2015, at least in terms of bottom-line results, he’s been effective enough at the big league level with a 3.78 ERA over 69 innings. And he has been been quite effective against Triple-A hitters since being outrighted this summer.
Rosenthal’s Latest: Strasburg, Cespedes, Phils, Brewers, DePodesta
Here are the latest notes from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports:
- The Rangers and Nationals had trade talks involving Stephen Strasburg over the winter, per Rosenthal. Nothing ever came close to getting done in those “wide-ranging” talks, in which Steven Souza (later dealt to the Rays) and Jurickson Profar (later scratched for the season) also came up. It’s not clear from the report what kind of scenarios were considered. Looking forward, it remains to be seen whether there will be any consideration given this winter to a deal involving the 27-year-old righty. Strasburg’s value is down, due both to an inconsistent 2015 season and to the fact that he now has only one season left before hitting free agency, but it’s still hard to imagine the Nats letting him go unless the return was rather significant.
- The Braves could line up a pursuit of outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in free agency, a source tells Rosenthal. While it’s not hard to see the appeal — he’s a power bat at a position of need, and could line up with the team’s timetable for contention — such a move would still rate as a surprise. Atlanta only just got out from under the ill-fated Melvin Upton contract, which showed the risk of such a free agent signing given the team’s recent payroll restrictions, and Cespedes could well cost twice or more what Upton did ($75MM).
- Early returns on the summer trade hauls of the Phillies and Brewers have been positive. There is some nice buzz around Philadelphia’s system, especially with all the depth its added in recent months and the intriguing players that came over for Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman. Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s return for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers has looked rather compelling, with Domingo Santana raking in his early MLB action and the trio of other players finishing strong at Double-A. (Remember: the key player in that deal, Brett Phillips, joined the MLBTR Podcast just after being swapped, as did righty Zach Davies, who is now in the big leagues after being acquired for Gerardo Parra.)
- Mets VP of player development and scouting Paul DePodesta has been plugging away at that post for five years, and the fruits of his labors are now showing at the big league level. Rosenthal reports that the former Dodgers general manager “would consider returning to a GM’s role” with another organization, if the circumstances were right, though many still believe he’ll ultimately take over in New York for Sandy Alderson at some point.
Quick Hits: Eppler, Anibal, Wilson, Kennedy
Angels owner Arte Moreno and president John Carpino were scheduled to meet with Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler tonight in New York, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. This is the latest indication that Eppler could be the favorite to become the Angels’ new general manager, though the Mariners are reportedly also interested in talking to him about their open GM position. Here’s more from around baseball…
- Anibal Sanchez told reporters (including MLive.com’s Chris Iott) that he’ll see a doctor about his shoulder issue, possibly Dr. James Andrews. The righty was scheduled to return from the DL and start for the Tigers on Wednesday, but those plans have now been scrapped. Sanchez has had a rocky season, posting a 4.99 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.82 K/BB rate over 157 innings and he hasn’t pitched since August 18 due to a rotator cuff strain in his throwing arm.
- In his latest subscriber-only piece, ESPN’s Buster Olney discusses some looming offseason decisions involving qualifying offers and team/player options with agents and talent evaluators. Some of the choices are pretty easy (i.e. the Blue Jays will surely pick up club options on Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion for 2016) while others are trickier. For instance, evaluators would be wary about their teams surrendering a draft pick to sign Ian Kennedy. If the qualifying offer would hurt Kennedy’s market to this extent, he could consider accepting the Padres‘ QO, leaving San Diego with roughly $81MM tied up in five players (Kennedy, Melvin Upton Jr., Craig Kimbrel, Matt Kemp, James Shields).
- Brian Wilson is aiming to return to the majors in 2016 and will soon begin throwing, Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown tweets. The Dodgers released Wilson last December and sat out the 2015 season after not catching on with any other teams. The former Giants closer missed most of 2012 and 2013 while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, and he posted a 4.66 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and a 1.86 K/BB rate over 48 1/3 IP with L.A. last season.
- Rich Hill recently threw seven shutout innings for the Red Sox in his first Major League start since 2009, and now the southpaw is considering pitching in winter ball in the hopes of landing a job in an MLB rotation next year, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes. If a Major League job can’t be found, Hill is already drawing interest from several Japanese teams.