Dodgers Set To Overhaul International Scouting Department
The Dodgers have notified several significant members of their international scouting department that their contracts will not be renewed, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez and Ken Gurnick report. While the team’s future plans remain unknown, it now seems committed to overhauling its international operations over the coming months.
Included in the cuts is vice president of international scouting Bob Engle. Originally hired a few months after the team signed Yasiel Puig back in 2012, Engle was the man chosen to lead the club’s broader efforts to ramp up its presence in the baseball hotbeds around the world.
Despite significant front office turnover in the interim, international spending has continued to be a major element of the organization’s efforts to leverage its nearly-unmatched financial might. Key players such as Puig, injured starter Hyun-jin Ryu, and top pitching prospect Julio Urias have come from abroad. Most recently, the Dodgers inked the since-traded Hector Olivera and paced the league in July 2 spending (including a $16MM bonus for Cuban righty Yadier Alvarez).
Engle is the top executive who the team is parting with, but hardly the only one. Per the report, the Dodgers have also dismissed Latin America scouting coordinator Patrick Guerrero, who came with Engle from the Mariners. “The only explanation I got was that they wanted to go in a different direction and nothing else,” Guerrero told MLB.com. “I understand. That’s baseball.”
Also left looking for new jobs are Dominican Republic scouting coordinator Franklin Taveras, director of international and minor league relations Joseph Reaves, special advisor for international player performance Rafael Colon, senior manager of international scouting Hidenori Sueyoshi, and Latin America field coordinator Bruce Hurst.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi continue to remake the organization on and off the field. With a ban on significant July 2 spending forthcoming for the next two signing seasons, the front office seemingly decided it was an opportune moment to turn over the team’s international operations.
Rangers Notes: Holland, Darvish, Martin, Mazara
The Rangers looked like future buyers when they dealt for Cole Hamels at the trade deadline, but the team now finds itself right in the mix for the postseason. Here’s the latest out of Texas:
- Left-hander Derek Holland is set to return from the DL on Wednesday, executive VP of communications John Blake announced on Twitter. Holland, 28, has seen very little time on the bump at the MLB level over the past two seasons as he’s dealt with knee and shoulder issues. He’s not only an important piece of the team’s current efforts to crack the playoffs, but will be entering a critical campaign in 2016. Guaranteed $10MM next year, the southpaw can be controlled by a pair of options thereafter, but will need to prove both health and effectiveness for the club to exercise them.
- Staff ace Yu Darvish also hit a milestone in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, though he remains a ways off. As Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets, the outstanding righty began a throwing program today and did not experience any discomfort afterwards. Darvish remains a huge key to the club’s near future, and will surely look to stay on track to be a significant contributor next season.
- Outfielder Leonys Martin, meanwhile, is set to visit with a specialist to determine the source of pain in his hand, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. The club is worried that he may have broken his hamate bone, which would end his season. Martin has struggled at the big league level this year, though he’d been playing well since his demotion to Triple-A. If nothing else, his speed and high-quality defense would make him a very useful player to have up with expanded rosters in September.
- With Martin out, top prospect Nomar Mazara has been bumped up to the Triple-A level, Grant adds. The 20-year-old outfielder owns a .284/.357/.443 slash with 13 long balls over 470 plate appearances at Double-A on the year. He’ll now slot in alongside fellow prized youngster Joey Gallo in the Round Rock lineup.
Braves Likely To Bring Mike Minor Back For 2016
The Braves are likely to retain injured lefty Mike Minor for the 2016 season, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (links to Twitter). He cautions that it’s not yet certain how the team will proceed.
Minor, 27, can be controlled through arbitration for two more years. Since agreeing to a $5.6MM salary for the present season, a figure which was elevated by his prior Super Two qualification, Minor has accrued a full year of service time on the DL after undergoing shoulder surgery. Even before his lost 2015, Minor had followed up an outstanding 2013 campaign (204 2/3 innings, 3.21 ERA) with an injury-shortened disappointment last year (145 1/3, 4.77).
While Atlanta would undoubtedly prefer to keep the rights to the talented southpaw, and will have the benefit of watching him begin to throw in the coming weeks in assessing its position, that high salary starting point poses an issue. The CBA provides that teams “may not tender, sign or renew a Player under reserve to the Club” to a contract with a salary “that constitutes a reduction in excess of 20% of his salary for Major League service in the previous season.”
Salaries are rarely reduced through arbitration regardless, but that rule creates a firm $4.48MM floor if Atlanta tenders Minor a contract. The very same consideration led Atlanta to non-tender pitchers Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy last offseason. But in Minor’s case, O’Brien suggests on Twitter, there may be greater team interest in trying to strike a deal in that range if one can be had.
Of course, tendering a contract would not only make for a firm commitment but would open up the possibility of being forced to pay more money. The Braves could instead look to work something out before the non-tender deadline in early December. Particularly given that Minor will still be a full season away from qualifying for free agency through accumulation of service time, he could presumably also be approached with some kind of multi-year arrangement (as both Medlen and Beachy ultimately landed as free agents) that provides him with some guaranteed money while giving the club a chance to participate in the upside through cheap future guarantees and/or option years.
It will certainly be interesting to see how things proceed, given that the Braves have been actively investing in fairly risky pitching talent. On the other side of the equation, as Minor and his representatives will be well aware, clubs around the league have shown a good deal of willingness to spend on injured pitching on the free agent market in recent campaigns.
Mets Notes: Bullpen, Montero, Wright
Here’s the latest on the Mets, who currently enjoy a healthy 4.5-game cushion over the fading Nationals in the NL East:
- Mets GM Sandy Alderson says that he does not “foresee” the team pulling off a deal to bolster its bullpen, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports (Twitter links). While New York has had some uneven results out of its pen, Alderson said that the players who have cleared waivers would not seem to offer much of an upgrade. He did indicate that righty Vic Black could be brought back up to add another arm.
- One player who won’t be able to provide support from inside the organization is righty Rafael Montero. Alderson said that Montero has suffered a setback that may well see him shelved the rest of the season, as Puma reports (Twitter links). The New York GM said that the promising 24-year-old, who has dealt with shoulder issues for much of the year, is now back to “square one” in the recovery process.
- In more promising injury news, the Mets seem to be lining up a big league return next week for third baseman David Wright, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. Wright, who has been out for an extended stretch with potentially serious back problems, could be activated for the team’s series at the Phillies. The Mets are obviously eager to welcome back their highest-paid player and will hope that he can provide a boost at the plate. While trade deadline infield additions Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson have boosted the club’s depth, neither has hit particularly well since coming to New York.
Travis Snider Weighing Options; Pirates Among Teams With Interest
TODAY: Snider says that he is “talking with multiple teams, including the Pirates,” Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on Twitter. The free agent added that he “hope[s] to have a decision made soon.”
YESTERDAY: On his radio show this morning, Pirates GM Neal Huntington confirmed that he has reached out to Travis Snider‘s camp and that there is some interest in a deal, Dan Zangrilli of 93.7 The Fan tweets. Snider, of course, was with the Pirates from 2012 through 2014 before an offseason trade sent him to Baltimore.
Snider, 27, was designated for assignment by the Orioles earlier this month and was ultimately released on Saturday. The Orioles acquired Snider as they sought to mix and match pieces to fill in for the departed Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis. There was never much hope of fully replicating their collective production, but the O’s have nevertheless largely been disappointed by their Opening Day corner outfield platoon, leading the team to add Gerardo Parra last month.
The 2014 season looked like something of a breakout for Snider as he slashed .264/.338/.438 with 13 home runs, seemingly making good on his former top-prospect ratings. But, he was not able to carry that forward in Baltimore, as his current .659 OPS attests.
Brandon Morrow To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
AUGUST 17: Morrow will indeed undergo surgery that will require a three-to-four month recovery window, Brock tweets.
AUGUST 5: Padres right-hander Brandon Morrow, who left the second start of a rehab assignment early last week, may now require surgery to repair a shoulder impingement, tweets MLB.com’s Corey Brock. The recovery on that operation would be three to four months, meaning Morrow’s season would be over. Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets that the operation is “likely.” The diagnosis of the injury came on a second opinion of the shoulder from Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
Injuries are nothing new for Morrow, who has now logged six separate stints on the disabled list, dating back to the 2009 season. While the former No. 5 overall draft pick’s talent is alluring, he’s never been able to stay healthy with any form of consistency. Morrow has logged 768 2/3 innings in parts of nine big league seasons but has topped 100 innings just three times and never pitched more than 179 1/3 innings in a season.
The Padres rolled the dice on both Morrow and fellow talented-but-injury-prone righty Josh Johnson this offseason, perhaps hoping that one or the other would be able to deliver semi-regular starts in the fifth spot of the rotation. That hasn’t been the case, as Johnson hasn’t pitched, and Morrow’s been limited to 33 innings.
The work Morrow did turn in was quality, as he pitched to a 2.73 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 47.5 percent ground-ball rate. That production actually isn’t a bad return on the club’s modest $2.5MM investment. Morrow had the opportunity to earn an additional $5.5MM via incentives as a starting pitcher (or $1.5MM as a reliever), but he now seems extremely unlikely to reach the minimum threshold for any of those bonuses. (They’d have kicked in at 12 starts or 40 relief appearances, plus an additional $500K for 168 days on the active roster, per Cot’s.)
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/17/15
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Padres announced today that infielder Taylor Lindsey has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Double-A San Antonio. Lindsey, 23, was designated for assignment last week just more than a year after coming to San Diego as a piece of the team’s Huston Street trade with the Angels. A former first-round pick, Lindsey’s bat has never come around in the minors, and he has a .592 OPS between the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season.
- Likewise, Athletics lefty Brad Mills has been outrighted to Triple-A, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Mills was designated for assignment on Saturday after making one start for Oakland. The 30-year-old turned in five innings in the appearance, allowing three earned runs with a strikeout and a walk. Mills owns a 4.45 ERA over 127 1/3 innings at Nashville on the season.
Dodgers, Red Sox Discussing Alejandro De Aza
The Dodgers and Red Sox are engaged in trade talks regarding outfielder Alejandro De Aza, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). Boston acquired De Aza from the Orioles in early June.
Per the report, the Dodgers are considering De Aza as an alternative acquisition target to Chase Utley. While the two obviously don’t play the same position, Rosenthal suggests that adding De Aza would allow Los Angeles to continue deploying Kike Hernandez at second base in place of the injured Howie Kendrick.
In spite of that explanation, it seems a curious fit unless another move is also being contemplated. De Aza hits from the left side, and the Dodgers already have three left-handed-hitting outfielders in Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford, and Joc Pederson. And it’s not as if the 31-year-old De Aza posts reverse platoon splits; to the contrary, he’s been far more productive against right-handed pitching this season and over his career. (The same holds true of the team’s incumbent options.)
De Aza does have some extra flexibility given his extensive (though somewhat outdated) experience in center field. But the same can be said to greater or lesser extent of the three players just mentioned — including, of course, the team’s current up-the-middle defender, Pederson.
The major difference between De Aza and the in-house veterans lies in the contractual realm. Boston only took on $1MM of his salary in acquiring him from the Orioles, and he’ll hit free agency after the season, so he’s a cheap rental piece at this point. Ethier ($38MM over two seasons) and Crawford ($41.75MM over two seasons) come with significant guarantees after the current year, though both have been rather productive at the plate. It’s conceivable, at least, that Los Angeles would have interest in an immediate replacement for either player if they found a trade partner willing to take on a piece of the future obligations.
While he’s best as a platoon player or fourth outfielder, De Aza is a useful piece — he’s slashed .313/.362/.520 since coming over to Boston. And it’s fairly clear that he holds more function to a team other than the cellar-dwelling Red Sox. But it’s also not immediately apparent that he makes a ton of sense for the Dodgers, as that team’s roster is currently structured.
Of course, being that it’s August, De Aza would need either to be claimed by the Dodgers or have already passed through revocable waivers to be dealt. It has not been reported whether or when De Aza was placed on waivers.
Ron Roenicke To Join Dodgers’ Coaching Staff
2:45pm: The Dodgers have announced the hiring of Roenicke as their new third base coach. Bundy will officially stay on as the team’s outfield coordinator, per the press release.
2:33pm: The Dodgers will hire former Brewers manager Ron Roenicke to join their coaching staff, according to Scott Miller of Bleacher Report (Twitter links). Roenicke will become the team’s new third base coach, according to Miller. Current third base coach Lorenzo Bundy is believed to be staying with the organization, he adds, but he’ll move to a yet unknown role. Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times tweets that Bundy will remain in charge of the outfield defense.
The 58-year-old Roenicke was dismissed as the Brewers’ manager in favor of Craig Counsell back on May 3. He spent parts of five seasons at the helm in Milwaukee and finished with a winning record (342-331) despite the club’s woes dating back to late in the 2014 season. Roenicke also had an eight-year playing career as an outfielder back in the 1980s. This will be his second stint coaching with the Dodgers, as he began his coaching career in L.A. back in 1992 and remained there through the ’93 season before embarking on a minor league managerial career. Roenicke also served as a coach on Mike Scioscia’s staff with the Angels from 2000 through 2010.
Blue Jays Option Drew Hutchison To Triple-A
The Blue Jays announced that they have optioned struggling right-hander Drew Hutchison to Triple-A, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet first reported they would. His demotion (along with yesterday’s demotion of left-hander Aaron Loup) clears way for Toronto to bring up outfielder Ezequiel Carrera and infielder Matt Hague, though Carrera’s promotion has not yet been made official. The Blue Jays will utilize a four-man rotation until a fifth starter is needed on Aug. 29, according to Davidi.
Hutchison, 24, was expected to hold down a rotation spot for the bulk of the 2015 season, with some projecting him to be Toronto’s most effective starter. Hutchison worked to a 4.46 ERA in 2014, but he struck out a batter per inning with good control (2.9 BB/9) and was looked upon more favorably by stats such as FIP (3.85) and xFIP (3.82). Those same stats feel he’s been slightly worse in 2015, but not to the point where his ERA should be a its current mark of 5.06.
The timing of Hutchison’s demotion has to be difficult for the right-hander, though, as he’s turned in a pair of very solid outings in his two most recent trips to the hill (combined three runs on seven hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings). He’s already cleared three years of service time this season and wouldn’t have had a chance at four, so this move won’t prevent him from reaching arbitration and won’t delay his free agency.
Hague, 30, was claimed by the Blue Jays 364 days ago and will join the big league club for the first time on the one-year anniversary of that transaction. He’s currently hitting .348/.427/.482 with 10 homers at Buffalo. He’ll serve as a bench piece, with the Blue Jays presumably hoping that he can fill a role similar to that of Danny Valencia earlier this season.
Carrera, 28, has already logged 70 games with Toronto this season. The speedy outfielder has batted .279/.327/.374 in 164 big league plate appearances this year and is batting a very similar .276/.349/.345 in Triple-A.