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Six Players Extended Qualifying Offers

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Six players will be extended qualifying offers this winter, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Those players are:

None of the players issued the QO comes as a particular surprise. Bauer, LeMahieu, Realmuto and Springer were all easy calls for their respective teams. Each of that group will certainly reject the offer. Stroman and Gausman might’ve been tougher calls but had been reported previously.

More notable are the series of players who were not issued a QO. Astros outfielder Michael Brantley will hit the market unencumbered, as he did when he became a free agent two years ago. Oakland didn’t issue a QO to either of Marcus Semien or Liam Hendriks, while the Phillies and Angels decided against an offer for Didi Gregorius and Andrelton Simmons, respectively. The six players issued a qualifying offer is down from last offseason’s ten, which isn’t much of a surprise since this winter is expected to be particularly tough for players in the wake of teams’ pandemic-driven revenue losses.

The players issued the qualifying offer will now have ten days to weigh their options. Players who reject the offer and become free agents will cost their signing teams draft compensation (or the right to recoup draft compensation if they sign with their current team). Here is a full run-down of the qualifying offer rules this offseason.

Latest On Phillies’ Front Office, J.T. Realmuto

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Phillies president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail met with media members (including Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Todd Zolecki of MLB.com) on Friday to discuss some of the key issues surrounding the club. For one, MacPhail had to address his own future with the franchise. The longtime executive confirmed that 2021 will be his last year in the majors, adding that it’s possible he’ll step down before the season ends.

For now, MacPhail is part of the Phillies’ search for a new front office leader. He doesn’t object to hiring a different president of baseball ops, though it may be quite some time before the Phillies bring in a new general manager to replace the reassigned Matt Klentak. In fact, it’s “likely” that interim GM Ned Rice will remain in the role in 2021, Zolecki relays.

No matter who holds the GM spot next year, Phillies fans surely want to see improvement after a ninth straight season without a playoff berth. They may be able to bolster their roster this winter via the open market, but MacPhail indicated that “he doesn’t expect any big moves in free agency until later in the process,” Lauber tweets. That could bode poorly for the Phillies’ chances of re-signing their No. 1 free agent, catcher J.T. Realmuto, who’s arguably the best position player available and someone who could sign one of the richest deals ever for someone at his position. Philadelphia does still have interest in bringing back, as you’d expect, though it seems unlikely to happen should the team avoid an aggressive offseason.

Phillies Decline David Phelps’ Option

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The Phillies announced they’ve declined their $4.5MM club option on right-hander David Phelps. He’ll receive a $250K buyout and hit free agency. The Phillies also declined their $7MM option on fellow reliever Héctor Neris, although he remains on the roster as an arbitration-eligible player. Philadelphia also confirmed the previously-reported declination of David Robertson’s club option.

Additionally, utilityman Phil Gosselin, right-handers Heath Hembree and Blake Parker and southpaw Adam Morgan have all cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Right-hander Johan Quezada, meanwhile, was claimed off waivers from the Marlins.

Phelps came over from the Brewers in a midseason swap for three low-level prospects. The hope was that he’d help salvage a bullpen that had been the club’s weak point. Unfortunately, he was tattooed for eleven runs in 7.2 innings down the stretch. Phelps’ overall strikeout and walk numbers were stellar, but massive home run problems led to a 6.53 ERA.

Neris is projected for a salary between $4.8MM and $6.4MM in arbitration if tendered. That made declining the option an easy call, and it’s possible Neris ultimately winds up non-tendered.

Phillies Decline David Robertson’s Option

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As anticipated, the Phillies will decline their $12MM club option on reliever David Robertson, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). The veteran righty will instead be bought out for $2MM.

This marks the end of a union that didn’t at all go according to plan. Robertson’s durability was a big reason the Phils guaranteed him $23MM over two years during the 2018-19 offseason. Unfortunately, he blew out just seven appearances into his first season, eventually requiring Tommy John surgery. While it seemed at one point he might be able to make it back to the mound for the tail end of 2020, a setback ultimately prevented him from pitching again.

Now 35 years old (36 in April), Robertson figures to face a tough market this winter. He has an excellent track record and was still a high-end bullpen piece in 2018 (his last full season), but his age and recent injury history may force him to work his way back onto an MLB roster via a non-guaranteed deal.

Phillies Outright Heath Hembree, Adam Morgan

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The Phillies have outrighted relievers Heath Hembree and Adam Morgan, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Both were arbitration-eligible, and both have the service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, which is a mere formality at this point. Hembree was one of the team’s August trade pickups from the Red Sox. Morgan has been a longtime member of the bullpen but recently underwent flexor tendon surgery that is expected to sideline him for six to nine months.

Hembree, 31, was a stable member of the Boston bullpen for years but got out to an ugly start in 2020 and saw things get worse after the trade. From 2016-19, the right-hander notched a solid 3.60 ERA with 10.1 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 212 2/3 innings of work — plus 4 2/3 shutout frames in the 2018 postseason. He allowed six runs in 9 2/3 frames with the Red Sox prior to the swap, although nearly all of the damage against him came in one nightmare outing (four runs and zero outs recorded).

With the Phils, however, Hembree uncharacteristically yielded runs in eight of his 11 appearances on the mound, including a four-run drubbing in his final outing of the year. All told, he served up 13 runs on 17 hits — a staggering seven of which were home runs — and five walks with 10 strikeouts in just 9 1/3 innings. His struggles made him a clear non-tender candidate, and the Phillies opted to act early rather than prolong the decision.

Morgan, a 30-year-old lefty, was tagged for eight runs in 13 frames during an injury-shortened 2020 season. He broke into the Majors as a rotation hopeful with the Phillies, starting 36 games for the club from 2015-16, but struggled to find success in that role. Upon a full-time move to the ’pen in 2017, though, Morgan found a home as a regular member of the staff. From 2017-19, he tallied 133 2/3 frames with a 3.97 ERA and 4.08 FIP, averaging 9.6 strikeouts and 3.4 walks per nine innings pitched while also recording a solid 47.8 percent grounder rate.

The bullpen figures to be among the Phillies’ top priorities this winter — a new deal with J.T. Realmuto is surely their No. 1 goal — and moving on from Hembree and Morgan now gives them a bit more flexibility as they pursue those goals.

East Notes: Phillies, Andujar, Marlins

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Let’s check in on a few East Coast clubs…

  • The Phillies will not retain bullpen coach Jim Gott, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Gott held the role for three years, but the Phillies elected not to renew the former big league right-hander’s contract. The move comes on the heels of a disastrous season for the Phillies’ bullpen, which posted a bloated 7.06 ERA en route to a last-place finish in the league. The unit’s struggles played a major part in the Phillies’ failure to earn a playoff berth. Now, with Gott gone and pitching coach Bryan Price having retired, that aspect of Philly’s coaching staff is in for a shakeup.
  • After a second straight abbreviated season, Yankees third baseman/outfielder Miguel Andujar will report to the Dominican Winter League, Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes tweets. Andujar looked like a budding star as a rookie in 2018, but he has played just 33 games since then, owing in part to a serious shoulder injury he suffered in his second season. While Andujar did come back this year, he was unable to unseat Gio Urshela as the Yankees’ No. 1 option at third base. Andujar wound up slumping to a .242/.277/.355 line with one home run in 65 plate appearances.
  • The Yankees have lost a pair of minor league coaches to the Marlins, as George A. King III of the New York Post reports that Tommy Phelps and Phil Plantier are headed to Miami. Phelps would have been the Yankees’ Triple-A pitching coach had a minor league season taken place, while Plantier was in line to serve as their hitting coach. Phelps will now work as the Marlins’ assistant pitching coordinator, though Plantier’s role is unclear. These hirings continue a deep Yankees connection for the Marlins, who are co-owned by Derek Jeter, managed by Don Mattingly, and employ Gary Denbo as their director of player development and scouting.

Quick Hits: Keller, Straily, Lotte Giants, Neris, Red Sox

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Brad Keller posted a 2.47 ERA, 2.06 K/BB rate, 5.76 K/9, and 52.8% grounder rate over 54 2/3 innings this season, as the 25-year-old continues to establish himself as a front-of-the-rotation option for the Royals.  Keller was aided this season by an improved slider that essentially looked more like his fastball and moved like a curveball, as the right-hander told Fangraphs’ David Laurila.  The first step was remaking a slider delivery that initially left Keller unable to “see the plate because my front arm was covering the catcher….I was constantly pulling off on everything, yanking my front side.  I needed to clean that up and keep my shoulders more square.”

Working on advice from Royals pitching coach Cal Eldred during the league shutdown, Keller fixed his delivery and turned his slider into a prominent part of his arsenal.  38.2% of his pitches were sliders in 2020, well up from a 31.2% usage in 2019 and a 26.2% usage in 2018.  As per Fangraphs’ pitch value and slider runs above average (wSL) metrics, Keller had the third-most effective slider of any pitcher in baseball, behind only Dinelson Lamet and Zach Plesac.

More from around baseball as the Dodgers sit a game away from a championship…

  • Dan Straily’s first season in Korea was a success, and the right-hander tells Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News that he has yet to make a decision about a potential second season with the KBO League’s Lotte Giants.  Before anything, Straily wants to return to the United States to see his family for the first time in nine months, as COVID-19 travel restrictions kept him in South Korea.  “I want to be with my wife when the decision starts coming up and my agent starts talking to the team about this,” Straily said.  After inking a one-year, $1MM contract with the Lotte Giants last winter, Straily posted a 2.50 ERA with 205 strikeouts over 194 2/3 innings, becoming arguably the league’s top pitcher and a popular figure with fans.  It was a solid rebound season after a tough 2019 for Straily that saw him allow 22 homers over only 47 2/3 innings with the Orioles, resulting in a 9.82 ERA.
  • The Phillies hold a $7MM club option on Hector Neris for 2021, which the team could see as an acceptable price tag for a reliever who has been generally solid over parts of seven MLB seasons.  However, in an offseason where the Phillies are dealing with revenue losses and trying to get under the luxury tax threshold, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman sees Neris as a possible extension candidate.  Seidman floats the possibility of a two-year contract worth $9MM-$10MM, which seems like a good number from the Phils’ perspective, though it remains to be seen if Neris or his agents would accept such an offer.  The team has some leverage in the sense that Neris probably wouldn’t like to test the very uncertain 2020-21 free agent market, yet Neris might also have confidence that the Phillies wouldn’t actually decline his option since the Phils are in such dire need of bullpen help.
  • Chaim Bloom’s first year in charge of the Red Sox front office was a tumultuous one, and the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier looked beyond the unprecedented events (the pandemic’s effect on the season and the Mookie Betts trade) to examine patterns about how Bloom will shepherd the team going forward.  The Sox mostly targeted controllable players, and the sheer volume of transactions was also different, as the 2020 club had the most roster turnover of any Red Sox team of the past decade.  “It goes back to being more open-minded and willing to be more aggressive with the bottom end of our 40-man roster,” assistant GM Eddie Romero said.  “The 40-man roster became more of a living document.  It was a daily conversation.  It required daily upkeep.”

Quick Hits: Rockies, Pint, Mackanin, Sherriff

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Some notes from around the league:

  • One key decision for the Rockies this offseason is whether to add Riley Pint to the 40-man roster, observes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Selected fourth overall in the 2016 draft out of a Kansas high school, Pint must either be added to the 40-man or exposed to the Rule 5 draft this winter. The 22-year-old (23 in November) has been undone by strike-throwing issues ever since draft day. In parts of four minor-league seasons, none above Low-A, Pint has managed only a 5.71 ERA across 156 innings thanks to an alarming 7.2 BB/9. However, Rockies assistant GM Zach Wilson points out (via Saunders) that Pint still has the high-octane stuff that made him so well-regarded as an amateur and has made strides mentally and mechanically.
  • The Phillies informed a handful of staffers their contracts weren’t being renewed in recent days, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among those let go was former Phils manager Pete Mackanin, who had been with the organization as a special assistant to general manager Matt Klentak (who himself stepped down from that position earlier this month). The 69-year-old Mackanin took over the managerial chair in Philadelphia in the middle of 2015, a title he’d hold until he was reassigned to the special assistant role after the 2017 season.
  • Rays reliever Ryan Sherriff worked his way back from a 2018 Tommy John surgery to appear on Tampa Bay’s World Series roster. This season marked his first big league action since a 2017-18 stint with the Cardinals, as Sherriff discusses with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Released by St. Louis in August 2018, two months after undergoing surgery, Sherriff concedes he was frustrated with the way things ended. In light of his success with the Rays, Sherriff now considers his Cardinals release the “best thing that ever happened to me.” A grievance filed in 2018 against the St. Louis organization for back pay and MLB service time related to the date of Sherriff’s injury is still pending, Goold reports.

Gregorius On Time With Phillies, Potential Yankees Reunion

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Didi Gregorius’ decision last winter to bet on himself with a one-year deal looks to have been a wise one, and he’ll now head back to free agency on the heels of a .284/.339/.488 slash with 10 home runs in a full 60 games with the Phillies. He’s already been linked to the Angels, and Gregorius himself said today in an appearance on WFAN’s Moose & Maggie Show that he’d have interest in returning to the Phillies (audio link).

“If they want me back, sure,” Gregorius said. “…I can’t force or say that I have to do this, or I have to be there. At the end of the day, it’s up to them. I really enjoyed playing with the guys over there. I had a really great time.”

Gregorius’ deal with the Phils reunited him with former Yankees skipper Joe Girardi, whom the shortstop praised multiple times throughout the interview. The 30-year-old Gregorius also had nothing but positive things to say when asked about playing alongside Bryce Harper, calling him “awesome” multiple times while discussing the experience.

While Gregorius’ positive comments on his time with the Phillies and his openness to a return are surely of note, his reply when asked about a return to the Yankees is drawing considerable attention in its own right.

“I don’t think they would want me back in New York to be honest right now,” Gregorius said when asked about whether he could envision a return to the Bronx. Asked why, he expressed confidence that Gleyber Torres would rebound from his 2020 struggles and seize the shortstop job.

“I think Gleyber is the future shortstop,” said Gregorius. “It’s just the one year and to my understanding he was hurt for some of it. Once you get hurt, it’s like a step back on everything. If he gets to next year, he’s fully prepared and ready to go, I think everything should work smoothly and he will be fine.”

It was a rather rough season for 23-year-old Torres in 2020, but he’ll surely be given every opportunity to rebound next year, whether at shortstop or second base. Torres turned in a respectable .243/.356/.368 slash through 160 plate appearances, but that was a far cry from 2019’s brilliant .278/.337/.535 line and 38 homers. More glaring, perhaps, were Torres’ defensive issues (-9 DRS, -5 UZR, -4 OAA).

Despite those defensive struggles, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last week that Torres “is our shortstop moving forward” (link via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News). Cashman expressed confidence that Torres could improve his glovework but stopped short of declaring that he’d be the shortstop in 2021, instead stating that the organization will “continue to evaluate” its options.

Many Yankees fans have clamored for a reunion with Gregorius, who exceeded expectations in the Bronx as the successor to Derek Jeter at shortstop. However, Gregorius implied that he saw the writing on the wall toward the end of his time in New York and did not speak optimistically about a return tour in the near future.

Of course, Gregorius’ strong season makes him a potential qualifying offer candidate. That could impact his market and would leave him with the choice of returning to join Girardi, Harper and others on a one-year deal worth $18.9MM or hitting the market in search of a multi-year pact. Generally, when a player bets on himself with a one-year pact and delivers high-quality results, it’s expected that he’ll look to cash in on a longer-term deal the following winter. This offseason is anything but typical, though, and the league-wide revenue losses raise the question of whether the Phillies would risk making the offer and whether Gregorius would consider accepting.

Zack Wheeler Undergoes Fingernail Resection Procedure

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The Phillies announced Wednesday that righty Zack Wheeler underwent a “right middle fingernail resection procedure” last week. He’s expected to be ready to go in time for Spring Training.

The minor surgical procedure was performed not only in hopes of repairing a fluky late-season injury in which Wheeler almost lost his middle fingernail completely after catching it on a zipper, but to correct some chronic issues with the nail. NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman notes that Wheeler has had minor issues with that nail dating back to high school. Cracked nails certainly don’t sound like a major issue, of course, but such maladies can impact a pitcher’s ability to grip the ball — particularly on breaking pitches.

If the fingernail was a major impediment for Wheeler this season, it certainly didn’t show in his results. The 30-year-old right-hander, who signed a five-year deal worth $118MM last offseason, made 11 starts for the Phils and racked up 71 innings with a 2.92 ERA, 3.22 FIP and career-best 55.9 percent ground-ball rate. Wheeler’s strikeout rate dipped, though that was due largely to his incorporation of a sinker/two-seamer that dramatically improved his ground-ball rate.

There was some concern late in the season that the aforementioned freak injury might cause Wheeler to lose his entire fingernail and possibly end his season. He rallied and returned to the mound to give the Phils three more solid starts down the stretch, however, allowing nine runs on 19 hits and seven walks with 17 strikeouts through 21 frames after that point. Wheeler is still owed $96.5MM over the final four seasons of his contract in Philadelphia.

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