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NL Notes: Adames, Braves, Giants, Francona, Yamamoto
Willy Adames has long been mentioned in trade rumors, with the Dodgers one club known to have had past interest in the star shortstop. It is fair to guess that any number of teams at least checked in with the Brewers about Adames’ availability, and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman (via X) writes that the Braves and Giants also had Adames as a “target” in the past. As Adames is now set to become a free agent this winter, any of these teams could well be suitors again on the open market, though naturally a free agent pursuit and a trade pursuit can be very different endeavors.
Atlanta shortstop Orlando Arcia had a dismal year at the plate after posting solid numbers in 2022-23. Arcia is still under contract for 2025 but only for $2MM (and a $1MM buyout of a $2MM club option for 2026), so the Braves could sign Adames and still keep Arcia around as veteran infield depth. With Adames likely to command a contract in the $150MM range, signing the shortstop would represent something of a departure for Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, whose free agent signings have been fairly limited during his seven seasons running Atlanta’s front office. Still, a more aggressive foray into free agency might be seen as necessary after three straight playoff disappointments, and Anthopoulos certainly hasn’t been shy about spending in general, as evidenced by the Braves’ heavy slate of contract extensions.
Tyler Fitzgerald hit well in his rookie season but was a subpar defender as the Giants’ primary shortstop in 2024. That said, Fitzgerald has played at six different positions during his two years in the big leagues, so it is easy to see San Francisco shift him to another spot on the diamond to accommodate Adames. The Giants have long been eager to bring top-tier free agents to the roster, and with Matt Chapman already signed to a new contract, adding Adames would give the team arguably the league’s best left side of the infield. Landing Adames (or another big name) would be an easy way for Buster Posey to make a splash in his first offseason as the Giants’ new president of baseball ops.
More from around the National League….
- The Reds’ hiring of Terry Francona came together quickly, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that president of baseball operations Nick Krall first touched base with Francona via a phone conversation on September 26. Krall had gotten permission from the Guardians to speak with Francona (who was still with the team in a special assistant role), as Francona was atop the Reds’ list of nearly 100 possible managerial candidates but “with an asterisk,” depending on the longtime skipper’s health and whether he wanted to return after a year away from the sport. Krall and GM Brad Meador met with Francona in Tucson on October 2, and were impressed enough to call owner Bob Castellini to fly to Tucson the next day to finalize the contract. In other details on the managerial search, interim manager Freddie Benavides had put himself on the Reds’ short list with an excellent set of interviews, and Rangers associate manager Will Venable was also on the list of top targets. It appears as though Benavides might’ve been the only other candidate to actually interview, as Francona’s emergence precluded the Reds’ need to speak with Venable, or other rumored candidates as David Ross or Skip Schumaker.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto was rocked for five runs over three innings in Game 1 of the NLDS last night, though the Dodgers came back for a 7-5 win over the Padres. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that the Dodgers were exploring the possibility that Yamamoto was tipping his pitches when runners were on base, and Ardaya notes that Yamamoto had a similar pitch-tipping issue during Spring Training. Or, the problem might just be that the Padres have Yamamoto’s number, as they tagged him for eight runs over six innings in two starts during the regular season. Either scenario is naturally a concern for L.A. in the rest of the series, and Roberts only said Yamamoto was “in play” to pitch during a potential Game 5, if not necessarily as a starter.
AL East Notes: Bichette, Yoshida, Cortes
The Blue Jays had some largely “exploratory” trade talks involving Bo Bichette early last offseason, TSN’s Scott Mitchell writes. This isn’t exactly new news, as multiple reports last November indicated that the shortstop’s name indeed come up in trade discussions, though those talks were portrayed as other teams checking on Bichette’s availability. Mitchell, however, specifies that “the Jays did indeed shop Bichette.”
As always, there’s plenty of gray area when parsing hot-stove terminology, as the distinction between actively trying to move Bichette and listening on Bichette trade offers could be pretty thin. Executives routinely discuss scores of players in trade talks with other clubs, just as a matter of due diligence in gauging interest. For instance, if Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins had learned that a rival club had a particular interest in Bichette and had a player or players that the Jays liked, Atkins might have been more inclined to “shop” Bichette in that particular direction in order to swing a favorable trade for Toronto. In any case, as Mitchell observes, revisiting any trade talks involving Bichette this winter could be difficult because the shortstop is coming off an injury-plagued down year, so the Blue Jays aren’t likely to land a premium return even if they did look to move Bichette.
More from around the AL East….
- “Some clear discord” developed between the Red Sox and Masataka Yoshida last April, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo writes, when Yoshida was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain. Yoshida chose to seek out second and third opinions on his sprain, which apparently didn’t sit well with the team, who felt the initial assessment (that Yoshida wouldn’t need surgery) was enough. Yoshida ended up not needing surgery, and spent a little more than six weeks on the IL before returning in mid-June. Between this situation and Yoshida’s displeasure at being a DH-only player who mostly faced only right-handed pitching, Cotillo wonders if both sides would benefit from a trade this winter. Such a move is easier said than done, of course, as Yoshida is owed $54MM over the 2025-27 seasons, and has been good (112 wRC+ in 1001 plate appearances) but not great over his two Major League seasons. Yoshida was also playing through a shoulder problem for much of 2024, which could represent another red flag for any interested trade suitors.
- Nestor Cortes is slated to throw between 20-30 times during a game of catch today, the Yankees left-hander told The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty. This represents the first time Cortes has thrown since suffering a flexor strain in late September. Cortes said he was “feeling good” in his recovery to date, and “if my body responds and if my arm responds, we’ll try to be as quick as possible” in charting out a potential return to the mound. The Yankees would naturally need to advance to at least the ALCS in order to give Cortes any chance of pitching again in 2024, and even if New York does get deeper into October, it remains to be seen if Cortes will be able to be healthy enough to merit a roster spot.
The Surprise Ace Of Last Year’s Free Agent Class
As the 22 teams that aren’t currently focused on capturing the 2024 World Series title gear up for the coming offseason, many will surely be keeping an eye on the number of high-profile free agent starters set to hit the market this winter with Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, Max Fried, and Jack Flaherty among the consensus top arms. It’s a class that’s not entirely dissimilar from last winter’s group of top arms, which was headlined by a quartet of Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Aaron Nola, and Jordan Montgomery.
Those top free agent arms garnered a combined guarantee of more than $600MM last winter, and the results were generally commensurate with that production. While Montgomery struggled badly with the Diamondbacks, Nola put up a fairly typical season by his standards with the Phillies this year (albeit with slightly diminished peripherals) and both Snell and Yamamoto fought through injury woes to dominate as expected when healthy. That said, a starter who was looked at more as a mid-rotation type of arm last winter surprised the baseball world by emerging with numbers comparable to those at the very top of the class.
That hurler was Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga, who was generally looked at as a tier below the aforementioned group alongside Eduardo Rodriguez, Lucas Giolito, and Sonny Gray. In spite of rumors that Imanaga’s market could top $100MM when all was said and done, the southpaw lingered in free agency into the new year before eventually signing with Chicago on a deal that fell far below expectations. While the deal maxes out at five years and $80MM, just a stone’s throw away from MLBTR’s prediction of $85MM over five years, the deal came with a complex structure that only guaranteed Imanaga $53MM, or roughly two thirds of that $80MM total figure.
It’s not hard to see why teams were seemingly bearish on Imanaga. After all, the 30-year-old lefty was coming over from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball at an age that’s roughly in line with a typical MLB free agent rather than the younger age many NPB players such as Yamamoto and teammate Seiya Suzuki make their way to the majors at. Yamamoto was marketing his age-25 season last year, while Suzuki marketed his age-27 season over the 2021-22 offseason. With many of Imanaga’s prime years already behind him, he maintained all the risk of providing a hefty sum to a player with no MLB experience without much of the perceived upside that would come with signing a player in their mid-20s.
Even aside from Imanaga’s age, it’s also worth noting that the lefty’s profile as a pitcher drew significant questions. The southpaw doesn’t throw especially hard, having averaged just 91.9mph on his heater this year, and some scouting reports (including one from Brandon Tew of Sports Info Solutions) raised questions about his ability to manage home runs at the big league level due to his fly ball-oriented profile. While Imanaga’s deep pitch mix and high-end stuff metrics offered reason for optimism regarding his future in the big leagues, the lefty nevertheless entered his first MLB season with plenty of questions surrounding him.
Fortunately for both Imanaga and the Cubs, he answered those questions in resounding fashion with an excellent rookie campaign. Overall, the lefty posted a 2.91 ERA (37% better than league average by ERA+) with a strong 25.1% strikeout rate that was 16th-best among qualified starters this year. He paired that strikeout stuff with excellent control, walking just 4% of opponents faced this year. That’s a figure topped by only George Kirby, Miles Mikolas, and Zach Eflin among all big leaguers this year and leaves him with a fantastic 21% K-BB that leaves him sandwiched between ace righties Zack Wheeler and Dylan Cease on the NL leaderboard.
That being said, not everything about Imanaga’s 2024 performance was dominant. His 3.72 FIP is rather pedestrian (just 6% better than league average by FIP-) and more advanced metrics such as xERA and SIERA, while more bullish than FIP on his performance, nonetheless see him as more of a 3.50 ERA pitcher than the 2.91 figure he actually posted this year. The main culprit for that discrepancy between results and metrics is the very same weakness that drew some skepticism last winter: his proclivity for giving up homers. Imanaga surrendered 27 home runs this year, tied with Twins righty Bailey Ober for ninth-most among all qualified starters in 2024.
While that’s certainly not a completely untenable figure, it would certainly be fair to wonder if Imanaga is due for some regression heading into next season. Of the eight pitchers who surrendered more homers than Imanaga this year, none came close to his sterling ERA with only Nola (3.57) and Jose Berrios (3.60) posting an figure that was even within a full run of Imanaga’s 2.91 mark. Between his hefty home run rate and an above-average 80.2% strand rate this year, it would hardly be a surprise if the emergent ace put up numbers closer to the mid-rotation ceiling he was thought to have this time last year come 2025.
Of course, even a step back that aligns Imanaga’s performance more closely with his advanced metrics would leave the Cubs with an excellent #2 starter behind ace Justin Steele who they should have no concerns about starting in a hypothetical playoff series. Barring dramatic regression on the part of Imanaga next year, it seems very likely that the Cubs will guarantee the lefty the full $80MM value of his contract rather than risk him opting out following the 2025 campaign, which he would be able to do if the Cubs decline to guarantee the full contract.
Rays Could Deal From Rotation Depth This Offseason
After the club’s first losing season in six years, the Rays are headed into what figures to be a pivotal offseason for the club as they look to remain contenders in a highly competitive AL East division. As noted by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, one way the club could look to address its lackluster offense (29th in the majors in runs scored this year) this winter is by trading from their rotation depth to acquire a bat, even if that bat doesn’t address their reported offseason priority of improving the club at catcher.
For a Tampa club that enters the winter in serious need of an offensive boost, it’s hard to deny the logic in dealing from their deep group of available arms. Youngsters Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, and Ryan Pepiot all emerged as solid, affordable rotation options for the club this year, and Zack Littell’s first full season in a big league rotation seems to have established him as a quality mid-rotation option with one year to go before free agency.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Springs returned to make seven solid starts for the club in the second half after undergoing Tommy John surgery early last year and Drew Rasmussen also rejoined the club’s pitching staff late in the year following his own 2023 elbow surgery. Rasmussen pitched primarily in a relief role this year, never throwing more than 38 pitches in an outing, but figures to be a rotation option for the Rays come Spring Training. That also figures to be the case for lefty Shane McClanahan, who went under the knife last August but figures to be ready for Spring Training as well.
With at least seven quality rotation options even after dealing away Aaron Civale and Zach Eflin at the trade deadline over the summer, it would certainly make sense for the club to explore dealing from that depth in order to address the offense. The Braves, Cubs, and Red Sox are all already known to be interested in adding rotation help this winter, while the Orioles and Mets are among the many other teams that could stand to benefit from adding a starter or two this winter as well. With even more clubs sure to look to bolster their pitching when the offseason fully gets underway following the World Series, the Rays should be well positioned to make a deal if they so choose.
Given the club’s small-market payroll and focus on long-term sustainability, it would be something of a surprise to see the Rays move on from any of Bradley, Baz, or Pepiot without recouping a similarly talented and controllable bat in return. On the other hand, it wouldn’t be a shock if clubs were hesitant to deal for McClanahan or Rasmussen given the former hasn’t pitched in more than a year while the latter hasn’t stretched out to start since returning from injury. That could leave Littell and Springs as the most likely candidates to be dealt this winter, with each hurler having various pros and cons as a trade candidate.
When it comes to Littell, the argument for dealing him is rather straightforward: the righty is only under team control through the end of the 2025 season and projects for a not insignificant $4.8MM in his final trip through arbitration according to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, so by dealing him the Rays could save a bit of money to address other areas of the roster while also potentially bringing in a more controllable player to complement their offense. With that being said, Littell’s status as a rental could dampen the return for his services somewhat on the heels of a 3.63 ERA campaign that was more solid than excellent.
If teams aren’t scared off by Springs’s lack of volume over the past few years, then, he might be able to bring back a more significant return. After all, the southpaw has been dominant when healthy with a 2.44 ERA and 3.10 FIP in 184 1/3 innings of work since 2022, when he first became a starter. Results that strong would be valuable to virtually any rotation in baseball, and Springs’s $21.75MM guarantee over the next two years lands in the sort of sweet spot that would make him a relative bargain for other teams while still clearing a significant financial burden off the books in Tampa, allowing Erik Neander and his front office to explore further upgrades in free agency even beyond what Springs would bring back in trade.
How Will The Cardinals Handle Their Rotation Options?
The coming offseason figures to be a tumultuous one for the Cardinals. Coming off a second consecutive season where the club missed the playoffs, St. Louis brass have already announced that significant changes are coming, headlined by Chaim Bloom stepping in to take over baseball operations following the 2025 season (with a larger role in the meantime) and the club planning to slash payroll as they figure to bring back few if any of their departing veteran players.
While Paul Goldschmidt headlines the list of players who appear likely to don another uniform in 2025, what’s not yet clear is what the club intends to do about its starting rotation. Rumors have swirled that the club could shop staff ace Sonny Gray this winter as they look to trim payroll and focus on developing young players, and if Gray were to be moved that would leave only struggling veteran Miles Mikolas, oft-injured swingman Steven Matz, breakout youngster Andre Pallante, and deadline acquisition Erick Fedde as rotation options on guaranteed contracts for 2025. With some interesting young arms such as Michael McGreevey, Sem Robberse, and Adam Kloffenstein in the wings as potential contributors next year, it’s not hard to imagine St. Louis getting solid enough production from its internal options.
With that being said, however, their current rotation picture offers very little certainty, especially should Gray wind up pitching elsewhere next year. After all, even Pallante and Fedde lack track records of success in a big league rotation that go beyond the current season. Fortunately, the Cards have not one but two options available to them that could help raise the floor on their 2025 rotation at a relatively cheap price: Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. The veteran hurlers will play at ages 37 and 38 respectively next year, but both posted solid results as back-end rotation options for the club this year and come with identical $12MM club options (with $1MM buyouts) for 2025. Given the club’s focus on the future and desire to trim payroll, it would be something of a surprise if both options were exercised. Given the many similarities between the two veteran Midwest natives, it’s fair to wonder which of the two hurlers would be a better choice for the Cardinals to retain next year, and which one they should send into free agency.
Of the two, retaining Lynn would surely offer a higher ceiling. The veteran hurler pitched the first six seasons of his career in St. Louis as a perfectly capable mid-rotation arm, but had a late-career breakout with the Rangers and White Sox that saw him pitch like a true top-of-the-rotation ace: from 2019 to 2021, Lynn posted a strong 3.26 ERA that was 46% better than league average with a 3.39 FIP and a 27.5% strikeout rate. He also enjoyed slightly better results than Gibson did this year, with advantages in ERA (3.84 vs 4.24), FIP (4.31 vs 4.42), and strikeout rate (21.3% vs 20.9%). For a club that’s likely to rely primarily on internal improvements in order to maintain hopes of contending for a playoff spot in 2025, there’s an argument to be made that Lynn’s ceiling and stronger results this season make him the smarter choice to retain going forward.
That’s not to say there isn’t a case to be made for Gibson, however. While the 12-year MLB veteran has never flashed the ceiling Lynn did during his peak, Gibson is more dependable in some ways. The groundballer rarely misses time due to injury, having made at least 29 starts in nine of his ten full seasons in the majors. By contrast, Lynn was limited to just 21 starts in 2022 and 23 starts this year by knee issues. What’s more, even as Lynn posted stronger overall numbers with the Cardinals this year, certain underlying metrics actually painted a much less clear picture: Gibson’s 4.44 SIERA is nearly identical to Lynn’s 4.40 figure, while Gibson actually wins on both xERA (4.90 vs 4.93) and xFIP (4.19 vs 4.39) thanks in part to a much stronger grounder rate (44.8% vs 36.3%).
While Gibson’s ceiling may not be as high as Lynn’s his reliability could be particularly valuable for a club that figures to rely heavily on young arms who may not yet be ready for a full season’s workload next year, and his comparable expected metrics call into question just how much of an advantage Lynn really has in terms of run prevention. Of course, it’s also worth noting that the club could choose a third option and decline both club options in hopes of finding similar production at a lower cost in free agency. It would be a risky choice to make given the rising costs of pitching in recent years, but a back-end arm like Martin Perez, Jose Urena, or Michael Lorenzen could theoretically be had at a lower price than either veteran’s club option depending on how this winter’s market shakes out. Of course, any player available at that price point would surely have flaws of their own.
How should the Cardinals handle their upcoming club options in the rotation? Have your say in the poll below:
Which Option Should The Cardinals Pick Up This Winter?
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Decline Both Options In Hopes Of A Better Deal In Free Agency 51% (1,824)
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Pick Up Kyle Gibson's Option 36% (1,290)
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Pick Up Lance Lynn's Option 12% (433)
Total votes: 3,547
NL Postseason Notes: McNeil, Marte, Edman, Freeman
The Mets could potentially get a big boost to their lineup if they advance to the NLCS. Manager Carlos Mendoza revealed to reporters (including Tim Britton of The Athletic) that Jeff McNeil will join the team’s taxi squad today, two days after welcoming his second child. The second baseman/corner outfielder has not played since September 6, when he fractured his right wrist as he pulled back a bunt attempt on a high-and-inside curveball from Reds’ left-hander Brandon Williamson. It’s possible McNeil will be ramped up and ready to play in time for the NLCS, should the Mets win two more games against the Phillies in the NLDS. However, Mendoza made it clear that it’s too soon to offer a definitive timeline for McNeil’s return.
McNeil, 32, got off to a dismal start over the first three months of the 2024 campaign. Then, he turned a corner in July, hitting eight home runs and 15 doubles with an .859 OPS and 140 wRC+ over his final 55 games. The veteran looked much more like the version of himself that won a Silver Slugger and a batting title in 2022. Even if he can’t get back to quite that level of performance, his lefty bat should be a valuable addition to a righty-heavy Mets lineup; he could take over from Jose Iglesias at second base or Starling Marte in right field with a right-handed starting pitcher on the mound.
Speaking of Marte, the 35-year-old outfielder took a Zack Wheeler fastball off his left forearm yesterday. As Britton pointed out, the pitch hit Marte in almost the exact same spot where Phillies reliever Jeff Hoffman plunked him with a sinker three weeks earlier. Marte remained in the game yesterday, running the bases and taking a couple more at-bats, but he was removed in the bottom of the eighth amid a flurry of late-game defensive switches and substitutions. There’s no reason to believe he’s nursing anything more than a minor contusion, but it’s possible he could use a day to rest. After Hoffman beaned him in September, Marte took the next game off. He started the game after that on the bench before entering as a pinch hitter.
More notes from the NL postseason teams…
- Tommy Edman started in center field for the Dodgers last night, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. His most interesting at-bat, however, was the double play he grounded into with runners on the corners in the bottom of the fifth. Facing the right-handed Jeremiah Estrada, the switch-hitting Edman chose to hit from the right side (h/t to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). It was the first time all season Edman attempted to bat right-handed against a right-handed pitcher. To that point, he batted as a lefty against the other two right-handers he faced last night: Dylan Cease and Bryan Hoeing. It was an unconventional, but not entirely unreasonable, choice for Edman, who hit .181 with a .523 OPS and 51 wRC+ in 117 plate appearances as a lefty batter this season. Conversely, he went 14-for-34 (.412) with four home runs, a 1.299 OPS, and a 250 wRC+ in a tiny sample size of plate appearances as a righty. Indeed, Edman has hit better as a righty in every season of his career. However, when he tried batting right-handed against right-handed pitchers on occasion last season, the results were poor. He produced a .665 OPS and 77 wRC+ in 61 trips to the plate. Even worse, he went 0-for-4 batting righty against righties over two games in 2021. It will be worth watching to see if Edman continues this experiment against Estrada or any of the Padres’ other right-handers.
- Nursing a sprained right ankle, Freddie Freeman’s status was questionable heading into the NLDS. Yet, the Dodgers first baseman played all nine innings of Game 1, going 2-for-5 at the dish. He also stole a base. Later on, Freeman revealed to reporters (including Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic) that he is also dealing with a bone bruise in his ankle. He says the bruise started to bother home around the fourth inning last night. Nevertheless, the famously durable superstar believes he can do it all again today – with the help of the Dodgers training staff. After the game, manager Dave Roberts joked that Freeman was “certainly medicated” (per Rosenthal), while Freeman expressed his gratitude to the training staff for getting him game-ready despite his significant injuries.
Clayton Kershaw Won’t Return In 2024
5:15pm: Kershaw spoke to reporters (including Ardaya) this afternoon about the injury and revealed that his attempts to return from the injury have worsened his toe’s condition. Kershaw added that offseason surgery to address the bone spurs is “in the conversation” but indicated that no decision has been made to this point on the topic. When addressing his future Kershaw indicated that he still enjoys pitching but did not want to discuss his plans in detail until after the season has come to a close.
3:33pm: The Dodgers are scheduled to begin Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres later this evening, and among the pitchers notably absent from their roster for the series is veteran southpaw Clayton Kershaw. That’s not a surprise given that he was previously said to be targeting a return sometime in mid-October, but today manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) that the Dodgers will actually be without Kershaw for the entire postseason. Plunkett adds that, according to Roberts, the bone spurs in Kershaw’s big toe have not improved since he went on the IL back in August, adding that things may actually have worsened since then.
The news officially brings to an end an injury-plagues season for Kershaw, who leaves the 2024 campaign behind with a 4.50 ERA (87 ERA+) and 3.87 FIP in 30 innings of work across seven starts while striking out just 18% of opponents. That’s by far the lowest strikeout rate of his career and the first time his ERA+ has been below average since his rookie campaign back in 2008, when his 98 ERA+ came in just a hair below average. While low walk and home run rates help to salvage some of Kershaw’s peripheral numbers, 2024 will nonetheless go down as the worst season of the veteran’s career to this point, though given the small sample its difficult to draw conclusion about his ability when healthy enough to take the mound.
Kershaw holds a $10MM player option for the 2025 season, though after occasionally contemplating retirement over the past few offseasons it’s not yet clear whether or not he’ll exercise that option or wait to decide on his future until later in the winter. Should he decide to continue his career into 2025, the future Hall of Famer will surely be welcomed back by the only team he’s ever known during an offseason where the club is sure to pursue rotation additions with only Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Gavin Stone locked into the 2025 starting rotation alongside Shohei Ohtani, whose return to the mound will likely necessitate moving to a six-man staff.
In the meantime, however, the Dodgers will need to piece together production from a rotation that offers little certainty outside of Yamamoto and deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty throughout the postseason. A struggling Walker Buehler (5.38 ERA in 16 starts) and rookie Landon Knack (3.65 ERA in 69 frames this year) stand as the club’s most likely starting options to fill out the rotation behind Yamamoto and Flaherty, who are set to start Games 1 and 2 respectively.
Aside from Kershaw, right-hander Joe Kelly was also left off the club’s NLDS roster. It was a difficult year for Kelly, who allowed a 4.78 ERA across 35 relief appearances while battling injuries. That includes a shoulder issue that bothered him throughout the final weeks of the season, and Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) that the veteran right-hander won’t be available until at least the World Series after tweaking his shoulder during a simulated game this week. Without Kelly in the fold, the Dodgers figure to rookie Edgardo Henriquez to fill out their bullpen for the NLDS.
Pirates Notes: Skenes, Bednar, Hayes
After a difficult season that saw the Pirates flash signs of life in the first half with a 48-48 record before crashing to a 28-38 record after the All-Star break, Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington discussed a few of the club’s key players as they team now looks ahead toward the 2025 campaign and the coming offseason.
Chief among those was like NL Rookie of the Year favorite Paul Skenes. For all of the club’s faults this year, Skenes was the most obvious bright spot as he was nothing short of dominant practically from the moment he made his big league debut back in May. In 23 starts from then on, Skenes posted an eye-popping 1.96 ERA with an excellent 2.45 FIP. With a 33.1% strikeout rate across his 133 innings of work, Skenes was perhaps the most dominant pitcher in all of MLB this year. The one flaw in is otherwise dominant rookie campaign was volume, as Skenes threw just 160 1/3 innings of work in total this year between the major and minor leagues. That includes eight starts where Skenes failed to pass 80 pitches in his outing.
Fortunately, that seeming unwillingness to have Skenes pitch deep into games faded as his season continued, with the right-hander ultimately throwing more than 100 pitches in six of his 23 big league outings. What’s more, Cherington told reporters (including Alex Stumpf of MLB.com) that the hard-throwing righty could find himself unleashed completely next year. Cherington indicated that the Pirates do not currently plan on “any sort of hard limits” on Skenes’s innings or pitch counts headed into 2025, leaving the door open for Skenes to post an even stronger season next year should he be able to post something close to this season’s results over a full slate of 30 starts. The righty figures to headline Pittsburgh’s rotation next year, followed by Jared Jones and Mitch Keller. There’s some uncertainty at the back of the club’s rotation behind those three, but Johan Oviedo, Luis L. Ortiz, and Bailey Falter could all be in the mix for starts as well.
Looking beyond the rotation, Cherington notably also offered a vote of confidence in longtime closer David Bednar, who struggled badly throughout the 2024 campaign and was eventually removed from the closer role in late August. Bednar’s results improved over the month of September but his peripheral numbers remained shaky, as he posted a solid 3.38 ERA but walked (ten) more batters than he struck out (nine) across 10 2/3 innings of work. That left Bednar with an overall ERA of 5.77 on the year, and while his 4.80 FIP offered some reason for optimism even that figure was still worse than average as it was held back by a 10.7% walk rate.
Given Bednar’s brutal performance and a fairly considerable $6.6MM salary projection for next season courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the club explore moving on from Bednar this winter. If that possibility is on the table, however, Cherington did not acknowledge it. On the contrary, Stumpf notes that Cherington suggested Bednar could even recapture the closer’s role in time for 2025. Even in spite of Bednar’s poor performance, such an outcome would hardly be a shock. After all, the club has few proven relievers under team control besides Colin Holderman and Bednar dominated to the tune of a 2.25 ERA with a 2.56 FIP over the 2021-23 seasons. If Bednar can even come close to that sort of production next year, he’d be well worth the $6.6MM investment via arbitration.
Now turning to the positional side, Cherington also provided a small update (as relayed by Stumpf) on third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. A former top-of-the-line infield prospect who enjoyed something of a breakout campaign in 2023 where he paired excellent defense with a roughly league average at, Hayes appeared sure to join Skenes, Jones, and Oneil Cruz among the club’s core this season. Instead, injuries derailed Hayes’s year completely. He was limited to just 96 games by a disc problem in his back that sent him to the injured list twice this year and left him playing through pain for the majority of the year when he was on the field. The injury marred campaign led to disastrous results, as Hayes hit just .233/.283/.290 in 396 trips to the plate alongside defensive numbers that were a far cry from previous seasons.
Difficult as 2024 was for Hayes, however, Cherington expressed optimism about the infielder’s status as he looked ahead to 2025. The GM acknowledged that there’s “always some level of concern” regarding an injured player until he’s once again on the field, but added that he believes the club is better informed about Hayes’s injury situation and that the third baseman is “excited” to return to action in 2025. When Hayes was unable to take the field this year, Jared Triolo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa were the club’s primary options at the hot corner this year. Both players are in line to return to the club next year and could continue backing up the position in the event Hayes struggles to stay on the field in 2025 as well.
Management Notes: Marlins, Twins, Angels
With the majority of teams done playing for the year, many clubs have already gotten a head start on making moves that will eventually impact the 2025 squad. While free agency won’t open until next month, a number of clubs have already announced changes to their staffs as they look for new voices following disappointing seasons.
Among those clubs is the Marlins, who parted ways with manager Skip Schumaker when the 2024 season came to a close in a long-anticipated move that will allow president of baseball operations Peter Bendix to select his own manager for the first time after replacing Kim Ng at the head of Miami’s baseball operations last offseason. While Schumaker has generally been regarded as among the most attractive potential managerial candidates available this winter, the Marlins will have to look elsewhere to replace the 2023 NL Manager of the Year, and their new manager will have a tall task after the club initiated a complete overhaul of their coaching staff that the club’s new skipper figures to pilot.
While the Marlins have surely already begun their managerial search, the club has not yet been reported to have interest in any possible names for the job. That being said, there’s at least one candidate who has seeming thrown his hat into the ring: 16-year MLB veteran Anibal Sanchez, who pitched for the Marlins from his big league debut in 2006 through the first half of the 2012 season. Sanchez, who officially retired back in 2023, has no affiliated coaching experience but has previously expressed interest in coaching or managing in the majors at some point in the future.
Even so, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported yesterday that the long-time hurler has reached out to the team to convey interest in the position. It would be something of a shock if the Marlins decided to hire Sanchez, however. The 40-year-old, as previously mentioned, has no significant coaching or managerial experience. That’s not always an obstacle to hiring a manager, of course; David Ross was hired to helm the club’s dugout following the 2019 season just three seasons after he retired and without any significant coaching experience on his resume. With that being said, Ross had strong ties to then-president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. There is no such clear connection between Sanchez and Bendix, who spent his entire career prior to joining the Marlins in a Rays organization that Sanchez never pitched for.
Other notes from around the league…
- Looking toward upper management, the Twins recently made waves when longtime GM Thad Levine, who has served as the #2 to chief baseball officer Derek Falvey throughout Falvey’s entire tenure in Minnesota, stepped down from his role with the club in order to pursue other opportunities. With Falvey and manager Rocco Baldelli both set to remain in their positions for 2025, Levine represents the most significant departure from club management on the heels of a disappointing season where the Twins missed the playoffs following a massive collapse in September. Levine recently commented on his departure (as relayed by Phil Miller of the Minnesota Star Tribune) and emphasized that he’s parting ways with the club on good terms. “I kind of liken myself to Mary Poppins — the kids know how to clean up their rooms now and take their medicine,” Levine told reporters, including Miller. “They don’t need someone singing in the background to do it.” Notably, Levine has been a candidate for top baseball operations jobs in recent years, including the Red Sox chief baseball officer position for which he was a finalist last winter.
- Turning even further up the food chain to comments from ownership, Angels owner Arte Moreno has at times indicated an openness to selling the franchise in the past. In 2022, the now-78-year-old went as far as to announce the exploration of a possible sale, though it was just a few months later that he seemingly changed his mind and took his franchise of the market. Back in February, Moreno indicated that he plans to continue his ownership “long-term” and had previously rebuffed potential buyers, insisting the club was off the market. In a phone interview with Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register this afternoon, however, Moreno indicated the door for a potential sale my not be fully closed. “I can’t tell you about the future,” Moreno said (as relayed by Fletcher) “If someone makes some stupid, crazy offer, I’ve got to do what’s best for the family. I do the best I can to run it as a business.” While it seems unlikely that a sale will ultimately come together given the fact that Moreno seemingly set the bar at a “crazy offer” in order to get a deal done, the comments are still nonetheless a notable shift in tone from just eight months ago for the longtime owner.
