NL West Notes: Padres, Hill, Morales, Rockies
In an excellent piece for Baseball Prospectus, Jeff Quinton examines how the Padres went from uninteresting to potential contenders without spending too heavily or parting with top prospects Hunter Renfroe, Austin Hedges, Matt Wisler or Rymer Liriano. As Quinton notes, the Padres took an indiscriminate approach to adding players this offseason, focusing on overall value delivered rather than team need. The Padres could have claimed their outfield was full after adding Matt Kemp, for example, but proceeded to add further value by acquiring both Justin Upton and Wil Myers. Similarly, one could have said the team was set at both catcher and starting pitcher and should have focused on the infield, but they added value in areas that weren’t seen as traditional areas of need. By doing so, the Padres didn’t put themselves in situations where they were forced to overpay because the other team knew San Diego desperately needed the player in question. Rather, the team sought general value and therefore found more buyer-friendly markets, Quinton speculates.
Here’s more on the National League West…
- Aaron Hill tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that he’s feeling good heading into Spring Training and thinks he has a few good years at second base left in him. Hill wouldn’t blame his 2014 struggles on injuries, even though he dealt with several, instead saying that he began to press after his initial struggles. As Piecoro notes, the D-Backs‘ ideal scenario would have Yasmany Tomas handling third base with Hill playing well at second base. While such an outcome would obviously improve Arizona’s on-field performance, it would perhaps more importantly make Hill, who is owed $12MM in each of the next two seasons, a considerably more tradeable asset.
- The Rockies‘ addition of Kyle Kendrick allows them to work top prospects Jon Gray and Eddie Butler into the rotation more slowly rather than rushing them to the Majors, writes the Denver Post’s Nick Groke. Gray, Butler and trade acquisition David Hale join several in-house candidates to give the Rox better depth than they had in 2014 when they used a club-record 15 pitchers, Groke notes. He points to the fact that Franklin Morales — the team’s “emergency starter” — ranked second on the team in innings as an example of how problematic depth was in 2014. Additionally, Groke notes that Morales, who is still a free agent, probably won’t return to the Rockies.
- In a notebook piece, Groke’s colleague Patrick Saunders touches briefly on a point of frustration for some Rockies fans — the fact that the team did not make a run at James Shields or any other top starters despite a clear rotation need. Saunders notes that the only way the Rockies will ever add a top flight starter under owner Dick Monfort is via trade, as they’d have to grossly overpay a free agent to come to Coors Field, and Monfort “is never going to hand out big money to a free agent pitcher.”
Braves, Jose Veras Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves and right-hander Jose Veras have agreed to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league Spring Training, reports MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (on Twitter).
With the exception of a 13 1/3 inning stint as the Cubs’ closer, Veras has been largely effective over the past two seasons. The Praver/Shapiro client pitched to a 3.02 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 62 2/3 innings between the Astros and Tigers in 2013, registering 21 saves while serving as Houston’s closer. Upon his release from the Cubs in 2014 (which came on the heels of a ghastly 12 earned runs allowed in those 13 1/3 innings), Veras went back to Houston and worked to a 3.03 ERA with 37 strikeouts against 16 walks in 32 2/3 innings of work.
Veras had previously said he hoped to return to the Astros — an organization that has come to feel like home for him. However, Houston was but one of four teams with whom he was speaking at the time, and it appears that the Braves presented a better opportunity for the 34-year-old. He’ll compete for a spot in a revamped bullpen that has seen David Carpenter, Jordan Walden and David Hale depart via trade. In their place, Jason Grilli, Jim Johnson and Josh Outman have been added on Major League deals. Veras will look to join that trio, as well as elite closer Craig Kimbrel, lefty James Russell and righty Shae Simmons in manager Fredi Gonzalez’s bullpen.
Roc Nation Sports, CAA Announce End Of Partnership
Roc Nation Sports, founded by Jay-Z in 2013, and CAA Sports have announced the end of their planned two-year partnership, writes Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal. Per Mullen, the agencies released the following joint statement:
“Roc Nation Sports and CAA Sports have recently concluded their two-year partnership. Roc Nation Sports and CAA Sports are two of the premier agencies and they will continue their high levels of client service to the world’s top athletes. They have enjoyed their time as partners and have achieved many successes together. Going forward, they will each focus their efforts on their own business opportunities and clientele.”
Roc Nation Sports made headlines when then-Yankees superstar Robinson Cano left agent Scott Boras to become Jay-Z’s first major client. Roc Nation and CAA head Brodie Van Wagenen partnered to negotiate a massive 10-year, $240MM contract with the Mariners. Since bringing Cano into the fold, Roc Nation has also added the likes of Yoenis Cespedes, CC Sabathia and Rusney Castillo, among MLB players. The agency also represents athletes from other major sports, including 2013-14 NBA MVP Kevin Durant, and NFL Pro Bowl wide receivers Victor Cruz and Dez Bryant, among others.
Remember that for agent information, you can consult MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains representation data on more than 2,000 Major League and Minor League players. If you see any errors or omissions, please let us know: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
White Sox Notes: Offseason Additions, Campana
White Sox general manager Rick Hahn was a guest on MLB Network’s Hot Stove earlier this morning and spoke with hosts Ron Darling and Fran Charles to discuss his team’s aggressive offseason (video link). Chicago, of course, has added Jeff Samardzija via trade in addition to signing David Robertson, Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, Zach Duke, Emilio Bonifacio and Geovany Soto.
Here are some highlights from Hahn’s appearance as well as another White Sox item…
- Chicago’s plan goes back to the 2013 trade deadline, Hahn said. “…The die was cast on that season being a disappointment fairly early on,” he explained, “which gave us the opportunity to take a step back and assess where we needed to go as an organization and areas we had to get better.” The Sox flipped Jake Peavy for not only Avisail Garcia but top prospect Francellis Montas, whose stock has soared since the deal. That trade, as well as the trade of Alex Rios, freed up enough cash for the Sox to add Jose Abreu last winter, and his immediate impact helped the team decide to make a push this winter.
- Early in the offseason, Hahn sat down with owner Jerry Reinsdorf, president Kenny Williams, manager Robin Ventura, pitching coach Don Cooper and hitting coach Todd Steverson to assess the state of the organization. The “marching orders” from Reinsdorf after that meeting “were to go out and put us in a position to contend,” Hahn explained, noting that Reinsdorf did not want to waste the primes of players such as Abreu, Chris Sale and Jose Quintana.
- One reason that the club added LaRoche, according to Hahn, was that Abreu “ran out of a gas” a bit down the stretch. The team is hopeful that by giving Abreu a little more time at DH and using LaRoche at first base on those days, Abreu can sustain his production throughout the year. Abreu hit only five homers over the final two months of the season, and he posted a relatively pedestrian (by his standards, anyhow) .799 OPS over the final 21 games of 2014. That, of course, could be nothing more than a small sample size, though the lack of home runs could be seen as a sign of fatigue.
- Asked by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports/MLB Network whether the state of the division impacted the Sox’ aggressive push (referring to the fact that the Tigers and Royals are seen by some as worse than they were in 2014). “We don’t look around and see the team that won the AL Championship in Kansas City or the team that’s won the division the last four years in Detroit as necessarily coming back to the pack,” Hahn replied. Rather, he explained, the decision was more about a belief that the White Sox are in a position where they can reach the same level as those clubs and contend for a division title.
- Non-roster invitee Tony Campana suffered a torn ACL in a recent training session and will likely miss the entire 2015 season, the Sox announced on Twitter. It’s a tough break for the 28-year-old speedster, who was looking to make the club as a fourth outfielder after posting a solid .277/.336/.340 batting line in Triple-A with the D-Backs and Angels last season.
Braves To Sign Matt Capps
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Braves have inked righty Matt Capps to a minor league deal, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Twitter. An eight-year big league veteran, Capps has not worked in the majors since 2012 and has thrown few minor league innings over the last two seasons owing to injury struggles. The former Pirates, Nationals, and Twins closer is still only 31 years old. He owns a 3.52 ERA over 439 2/3 lifetime frames at the game’s highest level, with 6.5 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9.
Vance Worley Wins Arbitration Case Against Pirates
Right-hander Vance Worley has won his arbitration case against the Pirates, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. That means Worley will earn his filing amount of $2.45MM, rather than Pittsburgh’s submission of $2MM.
The 27-year-old was eligible for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two. That means that Pittsburgh can control him for three more seasons if it so chooses.
Worley represents the latest turnaround story out of Pittsburgh. He tossed 110 2/3 innings of 2.85 ERA ball in 2014 after joining the organization on a cash swap last spring. With 6.4 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 and a 49.4% groundball rate, Worley’s peripherals backed his success, though obviously not quite to the outstanding run prevention level he achieved.
Notwithstanding a rough 2013 season — both in terms of performance and results — Worley has consistently generated ERA estimations in the mid-3 to low-4 earned run per nine range. That makes for a useful asset, particularly given his youth and contract status.
With his victory, Worley pushed his earnings closer to, but still shy of, the $2.9MM that MLBTR/Matt Swartz had projected. As always, you can keep up to date on arbitration news by clicking on MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.
Victor Martinez Has Successful Knee Surgery
FEBRUARY 10: The news out of the surgery was positive, with Detroit announcing that Dr. James Andrews performed a successful medial menisectomy on Martinez’s left knee that will leave the star DH able to “resume full activity in 4-6 weeks.” GM Dave Dombrowski expressed that he expects Martinez to be ready to go at the start of the season.
The club had been advised that the timeline for recovery would not be known until after the procedure was started. With the time missed now expected to land on the lighter side, it would appear that the Tigers will not need to find a temporary replacement for Martinez.
FEBRUARY 5: The Tigers announced that Victor Martinez tore the medial meniscus in his left knee during his offseason workout program and will undergo surgery next Tuesday. The team did not give a timeline regarding his recovery, stating that they will provide further updates next week after Dr. James Andrews performs the operation.
While a meniscus tear isn’t as severe as the torn ACL that Martinez suffered three winters ago (thus facilitating the Prince Fielder signing in Detroit), the injury will likely sideline him for the entirety of Spring Training, and his status for Opening Day with the Tigers is certainly in doubt. However, because the injury is less severe than the ACL tear, a significant addition to replace Martinez seems unlikely.
The Tigers signed the 36-year-old Martinez to a four-year, $68MM contract shortly after free agency began. The switch-hitter was coming off arguably the best offensive season of his career, having batted .339/.409/.565 (168 OPS+) with a career-best 32 homers. His injury further clouds the 2015 outlook for a Tigers team that is banking on health rebounds from former MVPs Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, both of whom saw their production diminish in 2014 as they played through injuries (the latter more so than the former).
Quick Hits: Prospects, Offseason Assessment, NPB
Baseball Prospectus has released its top-100 (+1) prospects list, and it has some fairly significant differences of opinion at the top from other compilations. Most notably, BP lists Cubs standout Kris Bryant fifth overall, preferring the more well-rounded skillsets of the Twins‘ Byron Buxton (No. 1) and three shortstop prospects to Bryant’s immense power potential. Meanwhile, MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis list their favorite sleeper prospects, with Mayo choosing Mets farmhand Gabriel Ynoa at the top of his board and Callis giving the nod to Astros outfielder Brett Phillips.
- With much of the winter’s business conducted, it is time for observers to pronounce winners and losers. As Dave Cameron of Fangraphs rightly points out, in assessing a club’s hot stove season, some tend only to focus on clubs that have done the most trading of future assets for present expected production.
- While this year’s free agent crop had plenty of question marks, that may have driven a memorable offseason of swaps, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca writes. Ben notes that some deals seemingly came about in part due to weakness in areas of the free agent market, to say nothing of the fact that clubs were obviously interested in buying up shorter-term commitments by dealing for pending free agents (twenty of whom changed hands).
- The anecdotal evidence of bias against foreign players in Japan’s NPB remains largely unclear after applying available statistical methods, Eno Sarris writes in a piece for FOX Sports. While there is “some evidence of systematic differences,” differences in approach and styles of play could be the root cause, rather than some systemic disfavoring of non-native players.
Trade Candidate: Red Sox Outfielders
With the free agent market wrapping up, there remains plenty of intrigue left in the offseason. In addition to extensions, several trade situations still seem worth watching over the spring.
One of those is the glut of outfielders in Boston. Even after dealing Yoenis Cespedes, the Red Sox have an arguably-untenable bunching of players lined up for outfield reps. Spring Training could go a long way toward sorting through the apparent bunching, to be sure, but good health and solid performances could force a deal.
Let’s take a look at the club’s candidates for the roster and/or trade block. (Note: I am not saying that all of these players are realistic trade candidates!) It’s one of the most interesting compilations of outfielders we are likely ever to see heading into spring.
Mookie Betts — He’d be the starting second baseman for many teams, but with the Red Sox he could theoretically slot in anywhere. Betts is an extremely flexible piece with plenty of long-term value, and there is no way he will be dealt in anything other than a blockbuster.
Jackie Bradley Jr. — Something of a forgotten man, Bradley remains a high-floor player with his top-end glove and would surely draw plenty of interest in trade. If he no longer has a firm place in the team’s long-term plans, Bradley would be perhaps the most obvious chip to be used to make a late run at adding another starter. He could still be stashed in Triple-A, of course, though fitting him on the big league roster appears to be difficult at this point.
Rusney Castillo – Boston will be anxious to see how Castillo’s skills transfer in a full big league season after his impressive, but short-lived, debut late last year. He is highly unlikely to be traded.
Allen Craig — On most clubs, Craig would probably spend most of his time at first or DH. But with David Ortiz and Mike Napoli on board, he lands in an awkward spot for the Red Sox. With a terrible 2014 and still-spendy contract weighing down his value, Craig’s spring will likely determine his fate.
Brock Holt — Last year’s emergent hero looks like a solid bet to function as a super-utility player for the club next year, though a sub-par spring could certainly change that. Though he figures in the outfield mix as well, Holt is probably best viewed primarily as a utility infielder and therefore may not really be a part of this roster crunch.
Daniel Nava — Though his production dipped somewhat last year after a strong 2013, Nava still showed a league-average bat and actually posted much-improved defensive metrics. He would figure to draw a good deal of interest: though he is out of options, Nava is owed a reasonable $1.85MM and is controllable for two more years.
Hanley Ramirez — Not even eligible to be dealt at this point, Ramirez is unquestionably going to break camp with the team barring injury. But whether he transitions well to the outfield will have a major role in the team’s plans.
Shane Victorino — His contract looked like a steal after 2013, but a tough 2014 campaign makes the $13MM left to go seem a bit high. A healthy Victorino could force his way into the starting mix, or could make himself attractive in a trade — particularly if a contending club were to suffer an injury during camp.
And that’s all before mentioning Bryce Brentz, another viable outfield candidate who got his first taste of the bigs last year. Even if Boston carries six of the above players on its Opening Day roster — with a view to using Holt, Betts, and even Ramirez as part-time infield options as well — that leaves two players that will need to end up somewhere other than the MLB roster. While Bradley could easily start off in the minors, it would be much more difficult to justify such a move for Betts.
It is not impossible that the team will enter the season with control over all of these names, especially if a DL stint or two intervenes to delay the inevitable, but the backlog makes a trade rather likely. I would look for the club to take a close look at its options early in the spring and maintain an opportunistic outlook in trade talks.
With several of the more likely trade candidates needing to show their health and/or productivity this spring, it could be a drawn-out process with many hypothetically viable trade permutations. Also, with the enticing but low-probability possibility of going after a top-end starter, carrying this deep group will allow GM Ben Cherington to explore all such avenues without fear of exposing a lack of depth.
All said, the Boston outfield situation is one of the most interesting in the game. It should provide plenty for fans to digest and debate over the coming months.
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NFL free agency officially begins a month from today, and while we’re anticipating a flurry of action on that Tuesday, we’re also expecting plenty of excitement in the weeks leading up to that date, as teams assign franchise tags, cut veterans to create cap room, and try to work out extensions with key free agents.
You can follow all the latest NFL news and rumors at Pro Football Rumors, where we recently took an in-depth look at this year’s franchise tag candidates, such as Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, Chiefs pass rusher Justin Houston, and Patriots safety Devin McCourty. Over the next few weeks, we’ll also be previewing the offseason, team by team, and examining the free agent market, position by position. Be sure to check us out and give us a follow on Twitter!
