Phillies Rumors

NL East Notes: Braves, Lowrie, Nunez, Martini

By Steve Adams | March 10, 2020 at 5:22pm CDT

It doesn’t sound as though the Braves’ decision on an everyday third baseman will come until the final days of camp. Austin Riley and Johan Camargo are vying for that spot, but manager Brian Snitker told reporters today that both players have impressed so far and he’ll “wait until the last couple of days” before making up his mind (Twitter thread via David O’Brien of The Athletic). Snitker has previously suggested that whichever player doesn’t get the Opening Day nod could head to Triple-A Gwinnett for everyday at-bats, as both have minor league options remaining. The skipper again implied as much today: “[A]ll things being equal, one guy’s not going to be real happy with the decision.”

Camargo is hitting .308/.333/.500 through 10 games thus far, while Riley is hitting .320/.346/.600 in the same sample. Obviously, we’re talking about a minuscule number of plate appearances (26), and the Braves’ decision will be based on more than the pair’s surface-level production at the plate.

A bit more from the National League East…

There’s still no clarity regarding the knee injury that’s limiting Mets infielder Jed Lowrie, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. The 35-year-old is still wearing a sizable brace on his ailing leg, and neither he nor the organization have been forthcoming about the exact nature of his knee troubles. There’s still no timetable for Lowrie, who tallied just eight plate appearances with the Mets during the first season of a two-year, $20MM deal in 2019. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that with Lowrie unable to participate in Grapefruit League games, fellow veteran Eduardo Nunez has impressed the Mets in camp — perhaps positioning himself to snag a utility role. Nunez is playing on a minor league pact and would need to be added to the 40-man roster. He’s hitting .321/.387/.464 with a pair of doubles and a triple through 31 plate appearances so far in Spring Training and has experience at second base, shortstop and third base in addition to some more limited work in left field.
Outfielder Nick Martini was outrighted off the Phillies’ 40-man roster last month, but the news that Andrew McCutchen will open the season on the injured list once again has him in contention for an Opening Day roster spot. Standing in his way are former Phillies top prospect Nick Williams and fellow offseason acquisition Kyle Garlick — both of whom are on the 40-man roster. Nevertheless, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic writes that Martini has impressed manager Joe Girardi, who praised the “professional” manner in which Martini “grinds out” all of his at-bats. Martini does indeed have some of that “professional hitter” feel to him — at least based on his career numbers in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .305/.401/.435 with a hearty 13.5 percent walk rate against a 16.9 percent strikeout rate in more than 1400 plate appearances. Both Garlick and Williams have minor league options remaining, but the Phils would need to make a 40-man move to bring Martini north when camp breaks.

East Notes: Moose, Jays, Donaldson, Braves, N. Walker, deGrom

By Connor Byrne | March 6, 2020 at 9:40pm CDT

Mike Moustakas came off the market when he signed a surprisingly large contract (four years, $64MM) with the Reds in December. It turns out that the Blue Jays were among the runners-up for Moustakas, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who tweets that they made him a three-year, $30MM offer. The Reds obviously blew that proposal out of the water, however, and the Jays pivoted to a much cheaper corner infielder Travis Shaw (one year, $4MM). A third baseman for most of his career, Moustakas is set to handle second in Cincinnati. That position is spoken for in Toronto (Cavan Biggio), as is third (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), so it seems likely Moustakas would have worked at 1B extensively for the first time in his career had the club won the bidding for him. Instead, the Blue Jays will hope for a bounce-back season from Shaw, who was teammates with Moustakas in Milwaukee last year.

Let’s move over to the NL East…

The Braves lost their top free agent, Josh Donaldson, to the Twins’ four-year, $92MM offer over the winter. Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos acknowledged afterward that the team put forth an offer that came up short. Heyman has some details on it, reporting that the Braves were willing to go to four years in the range of $75MM to $90MM to retain Donaldson. That’s a wide gap, so it’s unknown just how much money Donaldson would have left on the table to re-sign with Atlanta. Regardless, the club now looks to be in much less impressive shape at third, where Austin Riley and Johan Camargo are competing for the starting role.
Infielder Neil Walker signed a minor league contract with the Phillies over the winter, but he has no plans to play below the MLB level. “I’m not going to concede to the notion of retiring as a 34-year-old who is in good shape,” Walker told Matt Gelb of The Athletic (subscription link). “But I’m not going to play in Triple A.” For now, Walker’s continuing to compete for a reserve role in Philadelphia, but if he’s unable to find a big league job with the Phillies or another team this season, it’s possible it’ll be the end of the line for the longtime second baseman. The switch-hitting Walker did still have something to offer at the plate last season, though, as he batted .261/.344/.395 (99 wRC+) in 381 trips.
As a back-to-back Cy Young winner, it doesn’t seem that Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom has to change anything. But the ace is now working on adding more curveballs into his repertoire, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News writes. According to FanGraphs, deGrom’s usage of the pitch ranged from 7.9 percent to 10.8 percent from 2014-18. The number dropped to 3 percent in 2019, when opposing hitters had their way with it to the tune of a .364 weighted on-base average. That was the only pitch deGrom threw last year that hitters could even muster a .300 mark against. He was dominant overall, notching a 2.43 ERA/2.67 FIP with 11.25 K/9 and 1.94 BB/9 over 204 innings.

Extension Notes: Baez, Minor, Realmuto

By Steve Adams | March 6, 2020 at 9:04am CDT

Reports back in November indicated that the Cubs had initiated extension talks with star shortstop Javier Baez, but Baez himself said as recently as mid-February that talks on that front have been “up and down.” Asked about the potential of signing a long-term deal in the wake of this week’s seven-year extension for division rival Christian Yelich, Baez told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that Yelich’s seven-year, $188.5MM extension “doesn’t have anything to do with mine.” Baez acknowledged that he and the Cubs are still “working on” a long-term deal, though there’s no indication that talks have gained significant momentum.

Cubs president of baseball ops Theo Epstein declined to discuss talks with Baez or any other player in detail, merely indicating that the Cubs have tried to sign several players long term. “It’s not worth talking about,” Epstein said of his team’s extension efforts. “If we can get it done, we will. If we can’t, then we’ll move forward. But players don’t have an obligation to sign.” Baez is earning $10MM in 2020 and will be arbitration-eligible one last time next winter before reaching free agency in the 2021-22 offseason.

Some more notes on potential extensions for high-end players…

Mike Minor has previously made his desire to sign an extension with the Rangers known, but the left-hander told Sam Blum of the Dallas Morning News that “nothing’s happened.” The 32-year-old said he’s not the type to “put a hard deadline kind of thing” on talks before immediately contradicting that statement (to an extent) by adding that he doesn’t want to discuss a new contract during the season. Getting a new deal done before Opening Day would be a “best case” scenario, per Minor, who pitched to a 3.59 ERA with 8.6 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 1.30 HR/9 and a 40 percent ground-ball rate in a career-high 208 1/3 innings with Texas in 2019. Minor is owed a $9.83MM salary in 2020 — the final season of a three-year, $28MM deal signed with Texas prior to the 2018 campaign. Minor figures to be one of the better arms available on next year’s market and was an honorable mention on the first edition of MLBTR’s 2020-21 Free Agent Power Rankings.
The Phillies continue to discuss an extension with free-agent-to-be J.T. Realmuto, writes Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. The desire to get a long-term deal worked out isn’t exactly a well-kept secret, as both sides have made their desire to continue the relationship beyond 2020 known. Zolecki reports that talks between the two sides are moving slowly at this point, however. Realmuto for the first time this spring publicly acknowledged that the two sides are indeed talking but wouldn’t specify beyond that, simply stating that there’s “no update” at this time. Realmuto landed second on the first edition of MLBTR’s Free Agent Power Rankings, wherein Tim Dierkes observed that the 29-year-old is one more strong season away from being the first free-agent catcher to ever sign a deal worth more than $100MM.

Phillies Looking At Ervin Santana

By Mark Polishuk | March 5, 2020 at 5:48pm CDT

We haven’t heard much about Ervin Santana since his minor league deal with the Mets was up at the end of last season, though the 15-year veteran recently threw for the Phillies, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). It isn’t known whether or not Philadelphia has continued interest in Santana in the wake of this workout, though adding an experienced hurler on a minors contract wouldn’t be a bad idea for a team with some question marks at the back of the rotation.

Though the Phils have a number of arms already vying for the fifth starter job, none of the current candidates have Santana’s track record. It was only back in 2017 that Santana posted one of the finest years of his career, tossing 211 1/3 innings of 3.28 ERA ball for the Twins and finishing seventh in AL Cy Young Award voting. That season capped off a five-year stretch for Santana that saw him average 182 innings and a 3.52 ERA per year with Kansas City, Atlanta, and Minnesota from 2013-17.

Since then, however, Santana has thrown only 38 innings total over the last two seasons. Finger surgery kept Santana sidelined for almost all of the 2018 campaign, and he posted a 9.45 ERA over only 13 1/3 innings for the White Sox last season before being released. The results weren’t much better for Santana in the Mets’ farm system, as he managed just a 5.31 ERA over 95 total innings at the Triple-A and high-A ball levels.

Santana turned 37 in December, so his decline could be simply chalked up to age and wear and tear after the accumulation of 2421 1/3 Major League innings. He does want to continue his career, Heyman notes, and Santana is also hoping to pitch for his native Dominican Republic if the D.R. national team qualifies for the Olympics.

Phillies Notes: Lineup, Hunter, Dominguez

By Connor Byrne and Darragh McDonald | March 2, 2020 at 10:41pm CDT

With the recent news that Andrew McCutchen will open the season on the IL, Phillies manager Joe Girardi will have to decide on what to do about the leadoff spot, as Todd Zolecki of MLB.com observes. Girardi mentioned Scott Kingery, Adam Haseley and Roman Quinn as options. But Girardi also “did not rule out” J.T. Realmuto, and he went on to note that he is taking the new three-batter minimum into consideration when thinking about lineup construction. “You want to bring in your lefty to face Bryce (Harper),” he says, “but I’m going to have him surrounded with my best two right-handers around him. So pick your poison.” Regardless of the solution, Girardi and Phillies fans will be hoping for McCutchen to return in short order and retake his position at the top of the lineup.

Per reports from Matt Gelb of The Athletic and Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports, expectations are that right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter will begin the season on the IL. The 33-year-old will be ready “a month or so into the season,” Salisbury adds. Hunter’s 2019 season was ended by elbow surgery in July. But that didn’t stop the Phillies from giving him an incentive-laden deal in February. Hunter was quite effective for the Phillies in 2018, providing 64 innings with an ERA of 3.80. However, he was limited to just 5 1/3 innings in 2019 before the aforementioned elbow issues. It remains to be seen which version the Phillies will get in 2020.
Like Hunter, righty Victor Arano also seems ticketed for the IL to open the year, according to Gelb. Arano appeared in just three of Philly’s games last season (all in April) before elbow surgery knocked his year off the rails and stopped him from building on a quality 2018. That season, Arano notched a 2.73 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 2.58 BB/9 over 59 1/3 frames.
With Hunter and Arano joining David Robertson on the IL, that could create high-leverage opportunities for other relievers, such as Seranthony Dominguez. However, it’s still not clear if he can avoid the IL himself. Salisbury notes that Dominguez himself “believes he will be ready for opening day, but officials will be cautious.” The reliever emerged as a weapon out of the Philly bullpen in 2018, putting together 58 innings of work with a 2.95 ERA, even compiling 16 saves in the process. The following year, however, saw that ERA balloon to 4.01 over 24 2/3 innings before a ligament strain in his right elbow finished his season on June 5th. The 25-year-old pitched in a simulated game on Sunday, with Girardi noting that his fastball got up to 94 mph. That’s still short of his normal average of 98 mph, according to StatCast. But Philly fans will surely take solace in the fact that he is seemingly healthy and still has some time to ramp up to full strength.

East Notes: Phillies, Werth, Harper, Mets, Gimenez, Orioles, Martin

By TC Zencka | February 29, 2020 at 10:08am CDT

Jayson Werth was not surprised when his bromantic partner Bryce Harper signed with the Phillies exactly a year ago yesterday, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. After years of traveling together, yukking it up from stadium to stadium, Werth knew Harper’s feelings about the league about as well as could be expected, and given his own positive feelings about his time in Philly (he won a ring there in 2008), Harper taking a shine to his mentor’s former club definitely tracks. Werth impacted both franchises in their most recent championship endeavors, directly for the Phils as he hit .309/.387/.582 during their ’08 run. For the Nats, he provided legitimacy to the franchise at the outset of their current run of competency. The Nationals have posted a winning record in each of the last eight seasons back to 2012, Werth’s second year with the club. That’s enough reminiscing for today. Let’s stay in the NL East and check in on some spring training news…

New York Mets prospect Andres Gimenez added a leg kick to his swing this winter in an effort to get more lift, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. Gimenez will have to push the envelope to make his presence felt at the major league level this season, but he’s breathing down Amed Rosario’s neck. Robinson Cano is owed big money over the next four seasons, but there’s certainly the possibility that one of the Mets’ young shortstops could eventually move to the keystone. Despite some uncertainty regarding Rosario’s performance at the big league level, shortstop is a deep positional field for the Mets organizationally. Gimenez is the Mets’ 2nd-ranked prospect, per Fangraphs, behind only Ronny Mauricio, who trails Gimenez in timeline by roughly the same margin between Gimenez and Rosario. For now, Rosario, 24, will keep the position warm until Gimenez, 21, can take it. That is, until Mauricio, 19 in April, can get to it first.
Jumping to the junior circuit, the Baltimore Orioles expect 2020 to be a development year for Richie Martin – out of the spotlight. With defensive wizard Jose Iglesias in-house to hold down shortstop – until July at least – Martin can make up for lost time in Triple-A. Last year’s Rule-5 selection from the A’s, Martin was pushed into a full season with the big league club last year, and his naïveté showed. Martin put up -0.6 rWAR and a 50 wRC+ in 2019 as their more-or-less everyday shortstop. Still, Martin isn’t giving up the possibility of winning a job at second base or in a utility role, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. The team lacked middle infield depth last season, but they at least have more players vying for those roles this spring – likely leaving Martin on the outside looking in on opening day. Hanser Alberto has his name on one roster spot, while Andrew Velazquez and Ramon Urias are contenders for utility roles, while Stevie Wilkerson, Pat Valaika, Jose Rondon, and Dilson Herrera are all in camp as non-roster invitees.

Andrew McCutchen To Open Season On Injured List

By Jeff Todd | February 28, 2020 at 3:55pm CDT

Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen will open the 2020 campaign on the injured list, manager Joe Girardi told reporters including Matt Gelb of The Athletic (via Twitter). McCutchen has been working back to health from a torn ACL.

This is certainly not the outcome the Phils hoped for. But there’s no indication that there’s cause for particular concern, either. McCutchen is obviously being handled with some care given that he’s returning from such a significant injury.

The timeline will surely be dictated by the progress Cutch is able to make over the coming weeks. But Girardi says the expectation is that the long-time star will be ready to join the club at some point in April, so the team obviously doesn’t anticipate an especially lengthy absence.

With McCutchen sidelined, the Phillies will presumably turn over additional opportunities to a rotating cast of others. Veteran Jay Bruce seems likely to see most of the action against righties, with switch-hitter Roman Quinn and right-handed-hitting utilityman Josh Harrison among the leading candidates to share time.

The additional roster spot increases the chances for all of the club’s many non-roster invitees. If Harrison makes the club and is slated for outfield duties, then there’ll be a bigger opening for infielder challengers such as Neil Walker, Logan Forsythe, T.J. Rivera, Phil Gosselin, and Ronald Torreyes. Or the team could help fill in for Cutch by turning to a right-handed-hitting outfielder such as Matt Szczur or Mikie Mahtook. There’s also added space available for left-handed hitters in camp such as Nick Williams, Kyle Garlick, and Nick Martini.

NL East Notes: Nimmo, Adams, Marlins, Kingery

By Mark Polishuk | February 27, 2020 at 7:44pm CDT

After undergoing more rounds of cardiac testing, Brandon Nimmo has been cleared to resume baseball activity, Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen told reporters (including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). There was some concern yesterday after it was announced that Nimmo would be taking the extra tests after being scratched from a spring lineup, though it appears as though Nimmo can return to action as per usual. The outfielder is already trying to rebound from an injury-shortened season, as a bulging cervical disk limited Nimmo to only 69 games in 2019. While Nimmo is returning, however, Matt Adams will also be undergoing more cardiac tests. The eight-year veteran signed a minor league contract with the Mets last month and is hoping to crack the roster as first base/outfield bench depth.

Health Notes: Clase, Nimmo, May, Stock

By Steve Adams | February 26, 2020 at 8:53pm CDT

The Indians are awaiting the results of an MRI on flamethrowing relief prospect Emmanuel Clase, the team told reporters Wednesday (link via Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer). The 21-year-old righty has been feeling discomfort in his latissimus dorsi recently, including during yesterday’s throwing session, per GM Mike Chernoff. Clase, armed with a triple-digit sinker, was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Corey Kluber to Texas over the winter. Cleveland received the young righty and backup outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. in that swap, so any notable injury for Clase would leave the team with a part-time outfielder (and, of course, salary relief) as the immediate return for Kluber. If healthy, Clase should factor prominently into the Cleveland ’pen in 2020. He made his MLB debut in 2019, pitching to a 2.31 ERA with a 21-to-6 K/BB ratio in 23 1/3 innings of relief for the Rangers.

Some more injury situations worth monitoring…

Brandon Nimmo gave Mets fans something of a scare today, though details surrounding his status are still somewhat sparse. Nimmo was scratched from today’s game after the team’s cardiologist recommended that he undergo additional cardiac testing, the club told reporters (Twitter link via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). Manager Luis Rojas eventually labeled the extra tests as “precautionary” and downplayed the severity of the issue, but it’s certainly out of the ordinary to see players go through multiple waves of cardiac examinations. The 26-year-old Nimmo missed a good chunk of the 2019 season due to neck issues and hit .221/.375/.407 through 254 plate appearances when healthy. Nimmo has been an on-base machine in his career, as evidenced by a lifetime .254/.387/.440 slash, but the 2018 season remains the only year in which he’s even played 70 games at the MLB level.
Prized Dodgers pitching prospect Dustin May is still being slowed by muscle pain in his side and hasn’t thrown off a mound since the first day of camp, tweets MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick. May impressed in his MLB debut in 2019, pitching to a 3.63 ERA with 32 strikeouts and just five walks in 34 2/3 innings of work despite the fact that he just turned 22 this past September. He ranks within the game’s top 25 overall prospects at Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and The Athletic. However, between the acquisition of David Price, the return of Alex Wood and May’s early discomfort, it’s not clear whether the touted young righty will factor into the Opening Day mix for the Dodgers. He should play a significant role on their pitching staff in 2020 regardless, but he’s a ways behind the rest of the club’s pitchers in camp at this point.
Perhaps no team has seen more bullpen injuries than the Phillies over the past year, and it seems that trend is continuing. Manager Joe Girardi tells Matt Gelb of The Athletic that right-hander Robert Stock is dealing with forearm tightness — possibly a flexor tendon issue. That’s an ominous outlook for any pitcher, though at this point there’s no timetable or definitive diagnosis, as he’s still undergoing testing. Stock, 30, is far from a household name but is on the Phillies’ 40-man roster, so a notable absence would likely lead to some additional moves. He spent the past two seasons with the Padres, struggling through 10 2/3 innings in 2019 but posting a sharp 2.50 ERA with just under a strikeout per inning in 39 2/3 frames back in 2018.

Realmuto On Arbitration Process, Contract Outlook

By Jeff Todd | February 21, 2020 at 6:54pm CDT

Star Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto expressed disappointment today — not with his earnings or with the team, but with the process — after learning he had lost his arbitration case against the ballclub. Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer was among those to collect Realmuto’s thoughts.

Realmuto says he’s “fortunate” to earn a hefty $10MM salary, but said he’s “disappointed in the system more than anything.” He had sought a $12.4MM salary, with his side arguing that he ought to be compared as much to other high-quality position players as to prior catchers.

The hope, says Realmuto, was “to advance it a little bit and do something for future catchers.” Calling the system “outdated,” he criticized the fact that “there’s a separate catchers’ market.”

Realmuto ran into some of the same problems some other players have had with breaking up the strange forms of arbitration. Just as Josh Hader failed to convince a panel that he shouldn’t be undervalued just because he didn’t have a lot of saves, Realmuto struggled to pull away from the gravitational field of prior catcher salaries.

While the Phils will save some cash this year, don’t expect Realmuto to lower his sights when it comes to working out his first multi-year contract. That’s not out of bitterness — Realmuto didn’t express any disdain for the Phillies — but the same business-oriented approach that led him to take his arb case to a hearing. The arbitration process “doesn’t change anything from my outlook,” he said.

So, how likely is a deal? Realmuto says he “can’t predict the future.” He did express an ongoing interest in holding discussions with the team but wasn’t interested in handicapping the outcome. “Whether it matches up or not, that’s to be determined,” says the two-time All-Star.

The big question remains just what price Realmuto will demand — and how far the Phillies will stretch to keep him from reaching the open market. Breen joins Jon Heyman of MLB Network (video link) in suggesting that Realmuto’s camp would like to top the catcher-record $23MM annual value achieved a decade back by Joe Mauer. And Heyman says he expects Realmuto to look for a seven-year term.

It’s frankly tough to imagine the Phillies reaching to that level to lock up Realmuto with a year to go before free agency. Even on the open market, that level of annual salary and length of term seems like a reach for a player who’ll turn 30 before opening the 2021 season. Mauer’s monster deal is outdated, it’s true, but he was at the time a perennial MVP candidate and was also still just 27 years of age. If Realmuto is earn that sort of AAV over a significant term, he may need to log a big all-around season and market his services to all thirty teams next winter.

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