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Blue Jays, Reds, Dodgers Among Teams Showing Interest In Michael A. Taylor

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5:38 pm: The Dodgers have also expressed interest in Taylor, writes Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. Los Angeles is looking for a right-handed bat who can see some acton in the outfield, where the lefty-hitting Jason Heyward currently projects to man right field.

2:57pm: Outfielder Michael A. Taylor has been linked to both the Mets and the Red Sox this week, and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi adds the Reds and Blue Jays as another pair of clubs who’ve reached out.

There’s some sense to either party pursuing the righty-swinging defensive standout. The Reds currently project to have left-handed hitter TJ Friedl and Will Benson in center field and right field, respectively. Friedl has excelled in left-on-left matchups in his brief big league tenure and in the upper minors, but Benson has not (.130/.200/.174 in a small sample of 50 plate appearances). As things stand, Stuart Fairchild is probably the favorite to platoon with Benson, but he’s only a .229/.343/.389 hitter in 170 career plate appearances versus lefties.

Taylor, meanwhile, slashed .252/.313/.602 and pounded nine home runs in his 112 plate appearances against southpaws this past season. He’s a career .256/.310/.436 hitter against left-handed pitching. Taylor is also a plus defender in the outfield, evidenced by strong marks in Defensive Runs Saved (5) and Outs Above Average (8) in just 129 games and 965 innings of center field work with Minnesota this past season. He’d not only give the Reds a potential platoon partner for Benson but also a viable late-game defensive upgrade or pinch-running weapon off the bench.

Over in Toronto, Taylor would only further add to a heavily right-handed roster. However, the Jays currently project to have Daulton Varsho and Nathan Lukes line up for regular time in the outfield. The Jays have been linked to a number of alternative options in the outfield, but even if they do make an outfield addition, bringing Taylor into the fold as a fourth outfielder makes some sense.

Taylor, who’ll turn 33 in March, had a characteristically strong defensive showing and belted a career-best 21 homers with the Twins in 2023, though his season wasn’t all roses. The longtime Nationals outfielder turned in a .278 OBP — a career-low in a 162-game season — and punched out at an alarming 33.5% rate (nearly eight percentage points higher than his mark over the past three seasons).

Taylor was perhaps selling out for some of the power he displayed, and the resulting bottom-of-the-scale OBP wasn’t pretty — but it was overall a fairly useful package. He went 13-for-14 in steals with plus defense and enough power to offset that OBP; both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference had him just shy of two wins above replacement in only about 60% of a season’s worth of plate appearances. Taylor has previously expressed interest in returning to the Twins, though it’s not clear whether they’ll make a strong effort to do so amid their RSN-driven reported payroll cuts.

Seven Teams Emerge As Top Suitors For Yamamoto

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While the baseball world awaits movement on Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto, NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto has emerged as the #3 name on the offseason market. The right-hander is the most popular starting pitcher in free agency and has been tied to virtually every big spender (and a few less traditional suitors).

Will Sammon of the Athletic reports that seven teams have stepped forward as the key players in the Yamamoto bidding. That group includes (listed alphabetically) the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Mets and Yankees. Two other “mystery teams” are also involved.

None of those teams come as a surprise. They’ve all previously been linked to Yamamoto, while a few have openly discussed him as a target. Mets owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns recently flew to Japan to sit down with the 25-year-old righty. Yamamoto will make his own trip this weekend, when he’s scheduled to come to the U.S. to chat with interested teams.

At the beginning of the offseason, MLBTR predicted a nine-year, $225MM contract. It seems that could end up being light. In an appearance on Foul Territory yesterday, Ken Rosenthal noted there’s a general expectation that Yamamoto’s deal will land “considerably higher” than $200MM.

Yamamoto is coming off a third consecutive Sawamura award as Japan’s top pitcher. He turned in a 1.21 ERA over 164 innings while striking out 169 batters. Evaluators are nearly unanimous in projecting Yamamoto as at least a #2 caliber starter in the majors with a shot to be an ace. Between that dominance and nearly unprecedented youth for a free agent pitcher, he’s one of the most appealing in recent history.

That has made him a target for virtually all the big-market clubs. It stands to reason the Jays’ interest is contingent on Ohtani’s decision. (Toronto general manager Ross Atkins told reporters this week they didn’t plan to add two players from the top of the market.) The Giants and Dodgers are also believed to remain in the race for Ohtani, who could sign in the next few days. The Yankees are reportedly on the verge of acquiring Soto but still seem to be engaged on Yamamoto, while the Mets have made no secret of the fact that Yamamoto is their top offseason priority.

Braves, Leury Garcia Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Braves are in agreement with Leury García on a minor league deal, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Robert Murray of FanSided tweets the utility player will get a look in big league Spring Training.

García returns to the affiliated ranks after sitting out the 2023 campaign. He was released by the White Sox at the end of Spring Training and spent the rest of the year in free agency. That ended a decade-long run in Chicago. García has never been much of an offensive contributor but endeared himself to multiple Sox coaching staffs with his defensive versatility.

He leveraged that into a three-year, $16.5MM contract when he hit free agency during the 2021-22 offseason. That always seemed a high price for a light-hitting utility player. It didn’t work out at all as the Sox had envisioned. García hit .210/.233/.267 in 97 games during the first season. He was cut loose before the start of year two.

García will make $5.5MM next year, his age-33 campaign. The White Sox are on the hook for that money. If García cracks the Braves roster at any point, Atlanta would only be responsible for the $740K league minimum for whatever time he spends in the majors. That makes this a no-risk flier to add multi-positional depth in exhibition play.

A switch-hitter, García owns a .253/.293/.350 batting line in over 2400 major league plate appearances. He has played everywhere aside from catcher and first base, seeing the plurality of his time in center field. García also has plenty of experience in the corner outfield and at both middle infield positions. Public defensive metrics have graded him around average at every spot.

Angels Sign Willie Calhoun To Minor League Deal

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The Angels announced the signing of outfielder Willie Calhoun to a non-roster contract. He’ll get an invitation to big league Spring Training.

Calhoun, now 29, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees last winter. He ended up getting selected to the big league roster and received semi-regular playing time in the first half. He was put into 44 games and took 149 trips to the plate. He only struck out in 13.4% of those but his overall line of .239/.309/.403 amounted to a wRC+ of 96.

That’s only a bit below league average overall but Calhoun is generally considered a subpar defender in the outfield and was often in the designated hitter slot for the Yanks. A DH is naturally expected to produce above-average offense, so Calhoun was designated for assignment and outrighted in July. He elected free agency and didn’t catch on anywhere else until today.

Prior to 2023, Calhoun had been a top 100 prospect as a minor leaguer due to his bat. Since reaching the majors, he has continued to be tough to strike out but he hasn’t tapped into enough power or got on base much. He now has 1,085 MLB plate appearances, striking out in just 15% of them, but he’s also only walked at a 7.4% clip and hit 37 home runs in that time. His .240/.300/.404 batting line translated to an 84 wRC+.

The Angels currently project to have an outfield mix that consists of Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell. Both Trout and Ward have battled injuries in the past few years while Moniak still has just 151 games of MLB experience. Adell only has 178 games of his own and has struggled badly with strikeouts. The club also has a DH vacancy with Shohei Ohtani having reached free agency.

Calhoun will give the club some extra non-roster depth and try to force his way into that mix. If he is able to get himself a roster spot, he can be retained for an extra season via arbitration but he is out of options.

Yankees, Dennis Santana Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent right-hander Dennis Santana, reports Jessica Kleinschmidt. He’ll head to major league camp during spring training and compete for a bullpen job.

While it’s not the news Yankees fans are anxiously awaiting, Santana will add some depth with big league experience to the Yankees’ system. He spent the 2023 season with the Mets organization, where he tallied 10 2/3 innings at the MLB level and yielded seven runs in that time. The hard-throwing Santana has at times shown potential to be a steady big league reliever, but he’s yet to find much consistency at the MLB level.

Santana once ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in a deep Dodgers system, but his stock has fallen since injuries — most notably a torn rotator cuff in 2018 — slowed his development and eventually pushed him to a bullpen role. He’s spent time with the Dodgers, Rangers and Mets over the past three seasons, in addition to offseason waiver stops in Atlanta and Minnesota.

Overall, Santana carries a career 5.17 ERA in 149 2/3 MLB frames. He averaged 95.9 mph on his fastball last year and is at 96.2 mph for his career. Santana has whiffed 21.2% of his big league opponents and produced grounders at a solid 44.9% clip, but he’s also walked 12% of the batters he’s faced.

Marlins Listening On Starters; A.J. Puk To Be Stretched Out In Spring

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The Marlins are listening to trade offers on their starting pitchers, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. On a related note, the club is planning to have left-hander A.J. Puk get stretched out in the spring, per Isaac Azout of Fish On First and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

The past few offseasons have seen plenty of rumors surrounding the Miami rotation, as they have had lots of attractive young arms but holes in the lineup that need to be addressed. However, that surplus has been chipped away at quite a bit in the past year. The Fish finally made a significant deal in January when they flipped Pablo López to the Twins for Luis Arráez. They also traded away prospect Jake Eder at the deadline for Jake Burger. Then Sandy Alcántara required Tommy John surgery late in the year, making him unavailable for all of 2024.

That still leaves them with a strong front three of Jesús Luzardo, Eury Pérez and Braxton Garrett, though it gets a bit shakier after that. Trevor Rogers was great in 2021 but struggled the year after and then was limited by a left biceps strain to just four starts in 2023. Edward Cabrera can rack up both strikeouts and ground balls but he also has significant control problems. Ryan Weathers has a career earned run average of 5.88 thus far. Max Meyer missed all of 2023 rehabbing from his own TJS. Sixto Sánchez has been held back by shoulder issues and has thrown one minor league inning over the past three years.

There are some options in there but it’s not quite overflowing with talent the way it was a year ago. Perhaps that’s why the club is considering moving Puk back to the rotation. He came up as a starter but was moved to the bullpen by the Athletics before the Marlins acquired him. He has generally fared well out of the bullpen, posting an ERA of 3.12 with the A’s in 2022 and a mark of 3.97 with the Marlins in 2023.

Puk was once considered a top 100 prospect during his time as a minor leaguer with the A’s, so perhaps the Marlins think there’s more value to be tapped into by stretching him out. However, he’s faced his fair share of health issues in his career, having undergone shoulder surgery in 2020 and then subsequently dealt with a strained left biceps and nerve irritation in his left elbow. But there’s generally no harm in getting stretched out in the spring and then moving into the bullpen, as it’s much easier than doing it the other way around.

Teams are generally willing to listen to all kinds of trade offers, so it doesn’t mean that the Marlins are likely to make a move just because they will pick up the phone. We saw last year that they flipped López and then tried to make up for his loss by signing Johnny Cueto. Though that didn’t work out since Cueto had an injury-marred season, they could try a similar strategy again. But since then, general manager Kim Ng has departed the club and Peter Bendix has been hired as president of baseball operations, perhaps leading to a change in the way the club operates.

A new decision maker can sometimes lead to a roster shakeup, as the new person is less committed to the incumbent players than their predecessor. Perhaps Bendix will have some willingness to move on from someone in this group and maybe that’s why there’s a shift in the strategy with Puk. Then again, it might also be down to the fact that the club is loaded with lefty relievers and the bullpen could be fine without Puk in it.

The Marlins have obvious needs in their lineup, with Bendix admitting that shortstop and catcher are areas where the club is looking to improve. The Marlins generally aren’t big spenders and the free agent options for those positions aren’t amazing, so perhaps the club will earnestly considering trading from their rotation in order to fill those spots. Just about every club in the league is looking for some starting pitching help, so they will undoubtedly be fielding plenty of calls.

Rockies, Matt Koch Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Matt Koch and invited him to spring training, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. Koch spent the 2023 season with the Rox but was outrighted in October and elected free agency. He’ll now head back for a second season on a non-guaranteed deal.

The 33-year-old Koch pitched 38 2/3 innings for Colorado this past season, yielding a 5.12 ERA with a 16.6% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.5% walk rate. Koch doesn’t throw especially hard, averaging 93.8 mph on his four-seamer and 89.6 mph on his cutter, but he induced grounders at an above-average 49% clip. When opponents did manage to elevate the ball against him, however, the contact was often loud. Koch surrendered an average of 1.63 homers per nine frames, and opponents notched a 90.1 mph average exit velocity and 44.8% hard-hit rate against him.

Koch has appeared in parts of six big league seasons between the D-backs, Mariners and Rockies. In that time, he’s worked to a 5.03 ERA in 168 1/3 innings with 13.9% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 43.1% ground-ball rate. He’ll vie for a job in a Rockies bullpen that has little in the way of certainty beyond presumptive ninth-inning favorite Justin Lawrence. Righty Tyler Kinley struggled in his return from Tommy John surgery, while 2022 All-Star Daniel Bard walked 49 batters in 49 1/3 innings. The Rox traded Pierce Johnson to the Braves at the deadline and saw Brent Suter become a free agent at season’s end. They’ll likely be in the market for some additional veteran stability as the winter wears on, but several more depth pickups like this one with Koch also feel plausible.

Nationals, Juan Yepez Agree To Minor League Deal

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First baseman Juan Yepez has agreed to a minor league deal, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

Yepez, 26 in February, was recently non-tendered by the Cardinals after a disappointing 2023 season, but posted strong results in the two prior campaigns. In 2021, Yepez split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 27 home runs in 111 games. He also walked in 11.8% of his plate appearances, leading to a combined batting line of .286/.383/.586 and a wRC+ of 154.

In 2022, he was moved between Triple-A and the majors, performing well at both levels. He hit 16 homers in 50 Triple-A games and slashed .277/.341/.580 for a wRC+ of 137. In the big leagues, he hit 12 home runs in 76 games, producing a line of .253/.296/.447 and wRC+ of 107. He also hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the first game of the Wild Card series against the Phillies, though the Cards ended up losing both that game and the series.

In 2023, he hit just .183/.246/.300 in 28 major league games and spent most of the season on optional assignment. But he didn’t thrive in Triple-A either, hitting .255/.323/.413 in his 86 games at that level for a wRC+ of 82.

Even if Yepez had been performing well, it would have been tough for the Cards to find a spot for him. He has played some third base in the past but not in 2023, primarily lining up at first base and the outfield corners. Since St. Louis has Paul Goldschmidt at first and a surplus of outfield options, he had a tough hill to climb in finding playing time there.

The Nationals, however, should be a much better fit for him. Dominic Smith was the primary first baseman for that club in 2023 but he was also non-tendered and is currently a free agent. Joey Meneses could be in line for a regular role there but he can also play the outfield and the Nats don’t have anyone strictly locked into the designated hitter slot. Even in the outfield, Victor Robles is heading into his final arbitration season before reaching free agency while Lane Thomas is just two years from the open market, though prospects like James Wood and Dylan Crews should be factors in the near future.

If Yepez can hit his way back to a roster spot, he still as one option year remaining and barely a year of service time. That means the Nats could retain him for multiple seasons if he ends up clicking with them.

Eduardo Rodriguez Narrows Decision To Two Teams

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Free agent left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez has been at the Winter Meetings in Nashville this week, where he’s held sitdowns with multiple interested clubs. It seems that slate of meetings will soon produce a deal, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that Rodriguez has narrowed his possibilities to two teams and will decide between that pair of offers by tomorrow.

Beyond the fact that he’s known to have been in Nashville to meet with clubs, it’s been a relatively quiet offseason on the Rodriguez front. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported last month that any geographic preferences that may have been in place at the trade deadline are now out the window, as the left-hander has expressed an openness to pitching anywhere.

Logically speaking, teams that are deep into pursuits of Shohei Ohtani and/or Yoshinobu Yamamoto might not want to make a commitment of this size before either of those names comes off the board. That’s largely speculative, to be clear, although SNY’s Andy Martino reported this morning that the Mets haven’t even shown interest in Rodriguez at or prior to the Winter Meetings — largely for that specific reason; they’ve been focused squarely on Yamamoto to this point. That certainly seems to take them out of play as one of the two apparent finalists.

Rodriguez, 31 in April, opted out of the final three years and $49MM on his contract with the Tigers at the beginning of the offseason. There’s been no indication that a return is off the table, even after Detroit’s signing of veteran righty Kenta Maeda to a two-year contract. Tigers president of baseball ops Scott Harris was clear after that agreement that the Tigers remain in the market for starting pitching. Whether that includes putting forth a lengthier and larger commitment than the one from which Rodriguez just opted out isn’t clear, although it bears mentioning that Rodriguez was signed by Harris’ predecessor, Al Avila, and not the current Detroit front office regime.

The 2023 season was the second of a five-year, $77MM deal that had mixed results. Rodriguez was away from the Tigers for an extended period during year one of the contract, citing a marital issue, and posted a 4.05 ERA with diminished strikeout numbers when on the field. He bounced back early in 2023 and was one of the American League’s best pitchers for much of the first half. From April 12 through May 28, Rodriguez rattled off nine starts (57 1/3 innings) with a 1.40 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate.

A ruptured pulley tendon in his pitching hand sent Rodriguez to the injured list from late May through early July, and he wasn’t as sharp upon his return. The lefty improved as the summer wore on, but his 4.24 ERA in 85 innings post-injury list was decidedly less intriguing than his pre-injury output.

Overall, Rodriguez still finished out the season with 152 2/3 innings of 3.30 ERA ball, adding in a 23% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate, 41% ground-ball rate and 0.88 HR/9. MLBTR ranked Rodriguez 11th on our annual Top 50 free agent rankings and predicted a four-year, $82MM deal for the veteran southpaw.

Mets Sign Michael Tonkin

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December 6: Tonkin will earn $1MM, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.  Feinsand adds that Tonkin’s deal is actually a split contract, so the $1MM salary will be prorated over the time Tonkin spends on the big league roster. Tim Britton of The Athletic relays that Tonkin will make $400K in the minors. The Mets also officially announced the deal today.

December 5: The Mets have signed right-hander Michael Tonkin to a Major League contract, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via X).

After posting a 4.43 ERA over 146 1/3 innings with the Twins from 2013-17, Tonkin didn’t play in the majors until resurfacing with the Braves last season.  The five-year odyssey saw Tonkin pitch in Japan, the Mexican Leagues, the independent Long Island Ducks, and within the affiliated minors with the Braves, Diamondbacks, and Brewers.  That stint with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate occurred in 2019 when David Stearns was still running the Brewers’ front office, so today’s deal reunites Tonkin with the Mets’ new president of baseball operations.

Tonkin’s return to the big leagues was a success, as he posted a 4.28 ERA over 45 appearances and 80 innings last year.  Atlanta often used Tonkin in a multi-inning capacity, giving him a valuable role on a team that often had to figure out how to patch together innings in the wake of multiple rotation injuries.  A .241 BABIP did provide some help to Tonkin’s efforts, though his 3.87 SIERA was actually lower than his ERA, and his 7.1% walk rate was well above the league average.

Since Tonkin’s peripherals were otherwise pretty lackluster, that could explain why Atlanta opted to non-tender him, despite a modest $1MM arbitration projection.  The Braves were aggressive in moving a lot of arbitration-eligible players who were either obvious non-tenders or only borderline roster candidates for 2024, yet Tonkin didn’t linger in free agency long before catching on with another NL East team.

It would seem like Tonkin’s role in New York will resemble his assignment last year, as he’ll be called on to eat innings for a Mets club that currently has a lot of question marks on the pitching staff.  The Mets signed Luis Severino and have been rumored to be pursuing some big-name talent on the free agent market, yet for now there isn’t much certainty in the rotation beyond Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana.  The return of Edwin Diaz will fill the biggest hole in the Amazins’ bullpen, yet Tonkin will add a necessary long relief option to the mix.  Tonkin joins Austin Adams (who signed a split contact) and minor league signings Cole Sulser, Andre Scrubb, and Kyle Crick as relief signings for the Mets over the last few weeks.

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