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NL Notes: Flores, Phillies, Jackson

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Mets infielder Wilmer Flores will be out the rest of the season, Mike Puma of the New York Post writes. Flores injured his wrist in a home-plate collision three weeks ago. “I’ve been trying for a few weeks, but the bottom line is I can’t swing,” Flores said. “I’m frustrated. I can’t go out there like that.” Even if the Mets were to advance as far as the World Series, they would probably be reluctant to use Flores after so much time away from game action. Flores has hit .267/.319/.469 this season, including a terrific .340/.383/.710 against lefties. He’s played all four infield positions this season. In particular, he gave the Mets a strong option at first base against left-handed pitching, as Puma notes. Both the Mets’ current first basemen, Lucas Duda and James Loney, are left-handed. Here’s more from the NL.

  • Manager Pete Mackanin met with various members of the Phillies’ front office Friday to discuss the team’s plans for the offseason, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. Afterwards, Mackanin reiterated his desire for the organization to acquire a veteran bat or two, although he sounded realistic about how far the rebuilding Phils might be willing to go to find additional hitting talent. “I would like to get a good solid proven hitter somewhere on the field,” Mackanin said. “Where that is right now will be determined by who is available and what kind of a deal, if any, they could make. And if not we’ll try to find something from within that we think can help us or somebody could make a great impression in the spring. There’s so many ways to do that.” As Zolecki points out, the Phillies are likely more than one or two players away from being contenders, and so, as previous reporting has indicated, the Phillies might not want to spend heavily on moves designed to improve the 2017 team.
  • Veteran righty Edwin Jackson is set for free agency at the end of the season, but he’s interested in returning to the Padres, as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell writes. “It’s definitely a place I’d like to come back to,” says Jackson. “A lot of positives and a lot of upside to the future of the organization. It’d be fun to be a part of it toward the end of my career.” Whether the Padres would have interest in Jackson is unclear, but he’s unlikely to be a sought-after free agent this winter after posting a 5.89 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 84 innings with San Diego and Miami.

Free Agent Notes: Wieters, Yankees, Phillies, Hellickson, Nova

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Orioles catcher Matt Wieters appears to be headed for the open market, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports in his latest notes column. Recent chatter between agent Scott Boras and the club did not really even delve into extension talks, because it wasn’t seen as likely to result in any progress with the sides “believed to be tens of millions of dollars apart.” And Baltimore doesn’t seem to be interested in dangling a $16.7MM qualifying offer after Wieters took the one-year deal last offseason. Whether the O’s will pursue Wieters in free agency remains unclear — the team has chased its own free agents in the recent past, and does have a need behind the dish — but it seems that they’ll let him test interest from other clubs regardless.

Here’s more from Heyman’s column along with a few other notes on pending free agents:

  • The Yankees have an interesting offseason ahead, with many internal options but also a clear need to improve, and Heyman says the club will be looking to bolster its power while adding to its stable of arms — both in the starting staff and the bullpen. Last winter, New York didn’t give out a single big league contract, but that list of wants certainly suggests that things will be different this time around. One area the club could target, Heyman suggests, is the outfield. There are no shortage of possibilities on hand, with Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hicks, and a returning Dustin Ackley joined by less-established players such as Tyler Austin, Rob Refsnyder, Jake Cave, Mason Williams, Aaron Judge, and possibly Clint Frazier in the possible mix. The unit’s overall output this season was uninspiring, though, and its most productive player — Carlos Beltran — is already playing elsewhere.
  • While the Phillies are said to be interested in adding to their lineup and rotation, Heyman writes that the club isn’t quite prepared for a major spending spree. Philadelphia’s brass believes that the team is at least a year away from competing in earnest, so it would be somewhat premature to go all-out on this winter’s market. That being said, it does still seem reasonable to think that the team will make some targeted additions as it seeks to ramp back up, with Heyman suggesting a left-handed hitter to spend time at both first base and the corner outfield.
  • Though his season ended with an early exit due to a sprained knee, Jeremy Hellickson provided the Phillies with solid output all year — he’ll wrap things up with a 3.71 ERA in 189 innings — and will hit the open market having significantly boosted his stock. He said after tonight’s game that he’s looking for multiple years on his next contract, as Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets. It seems rather likely he’ll find that elsewhere, with the big question being whether the Phils will make him a qualifying offer on his way out. That kind of cash could prove tempting, but it seems that Hellickson is hoping for some long-term security, and he ought to do quite well even if he’s tagged with draft compensation given the lack of other options.
  • Pirates righty Ivan Nova says he hopes to remain in Pittsburgh and intends to value his comfort there, as Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (Twitter links). Still, he suggested that’s far from a certainty. “I don’t want to leave this clubhouse, to be honest,” he said. “But it’s not up to me.” It’s not immediately clear just what Nova meant by that comment, but certainly there are plenty of other factors at play — on his end, but also for the Pirates and other clubs. The 29-year-old has positioned himself nicely with a huge showing since heading to Pittsburgh. After his outing tonight, Nova has allowed just 21 earned runs over 59 1/3 innings with 47 strikeouts against only three walks.

Jeremy Hellickson Departs Final Start Of 2016 With Knee Sprain

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8:12pm: Hellickson has a right knee sprain, the club announced (via Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, on Twitter). That’s certainly good news for the Phils and for Hellickson, assuming that there’s no further damage.

7:30pm: Phillies right-hander Jeremy Hellickson left the mound tonight with an apparent injury, calling for the trainer in the middle of the fourth inning. This was his final scheduled start of the season, with free agency beckoning at year’s end.

At present, there is no indication of just what went wrong. Certainly, it isn’t clear whether Hellickson suffered any significant injury, let alone one that would impact his upcoming entry onto the open market.

Any uncertainty could have a major impact on a pitcher who’ll be one of the best available through free agency this winter. Philadelphia has been expected to issue a qualifying offer to Hellickson, who’ll presumably decline it in hopes of securing a multi-year pact.

Hellickson, 29, has provided Philadelphia with 185 2/3 innings of 3.78 ERA pitching entering tonight’s contest, with 7.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 and a 40.5% groundball rate. ERA estimators weren’t quite as high on him as the results would suggest, but still valued him — as they have in years past — as a low-4.00 ERA arm.

That’s actually quite a valuable profile, especially in a market that lacks anything close to the firepower we’ve seen in recent years. Hellickson has an argument as the hurler with the most earning potential this winter, with his top competitors likely being the aging-but-suddenly-unhittable Rich Hill and a re-emergent Ivan Nova.

Phillies Likely To Pursue Veteran Arm In Offseason

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While much has been made of the Phillies’ desire to add a veteran bat this winter — two, if manager Pete Mackanin gets his wish — Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes that adding a veteran starter to provide some stable innings in the rotation “seems to be as big a priority” for GM Matt Klentak as adding to his lineup.

“I don’t think we will ever have the luxury of ignoring starting pitching,” said Klentak. “Starting pitching is the name of the game. We saw it for the first month or two of the year. Every night we were pitching. Our starters were performing. … We were competitive almost every night. At times, throughout the rest of the season, we’ve sputtered along. … But if you can dictate the pace of the game on the mound, you always have a chance to win. We’re never going to ignore that.”

Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, acquired with little fanfare this offseason, proved to be that stabilizing force for the Phillies in 2016, but Salisbury writes that he’ll likely go elsewhere (likely after rejecting a qualifying offer, from my own vantage point) and cautions not to expect any type of spending spree on the free agent market this winter. As such, a low-cost free-agent starter — Charlie Morton, Doug Fister and Jorge De La Rosa come to mind as possibilities — or swinging a similar deal to last year’s Hellickson swap could make some sense for the Phils.

Hellickson amounted to a rental for Philadelphia at the time of the deal, as he’d disappointed in his lone season with the D-backs and cost the team a low-level prospect and the willingness to pay Hellickon’s arbitration salary. There may not be a direct comparable to Hellickson’s situation, but the Twins’ Hector Santiago has disappointed in his few months with the team (and has a connection to Klentak from the duo’s Angels days), and left-hander Wade Miley has floundered in Baltimore but still has $9.25MM coming his way through next season. The Phils could also look to acquire a pitcher with a 2017 option that is of borderline value (e.g. Jaime Garcia or Derek Holland) and hope that he experiences better results in 2017.

While some Phillies fans might bemoan the idea of adding a veteran starter when the team has so many enticing young arms, there’s a great deal of uncertainty in Philadelphia’s contingent of young horses. Vince Velasquez has long had durability questions and missed a month on the DL this season, while Aaron Nola had to be shut down for the season due to a UCL/flexor sprain and Zach Eflin underwent surgery on each of his knees. With Hellickson departing, there’s certainly plenty of logic to adding not only a source of potentially quality innings but someone to help mentor the team’s young starters through the ups and downs of a full season at the big league level.

Salisbury also writes that in addition to adding a source of innings to the rotation, the Phillies also figure to look into some veteran relievers. However, Klentak stressed to Salisbury that the Phillies aren’t interested in removing too many opportunities for the team’s younger players to establish themselves. “We want to do everything we can to field the most competitive team on the field that we possibly can,” the GM explained. “We also want to make sure we continue to provide opportunities to our young players to develop. That’s the fine line that we’ll have to tiptoe all offseason.”

Cafardo’s Latest: Orioles, Bautista, Hellickson, Reddick

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The Orioles and agent Scott Boras discussed impending free agents Matt Wieters and Pedro Alvarez in a meeting last week, but no progress was made toward extensions for either, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. As a result, Wieters and Alvarez look likely to depart Baltimore at season’s end. Wieters, the Orioles’ top catcher since 2009, accepted a qualifying offer from the club for $15.7MM a year ago, but they probably won’t tender him for $16.7MM during the upcoming offseason. The 30-year-old is in the midst of one of his worst offensive seasons, having batted .241/.300/.401 in 438 plate appearances. Alvarez, a former Pirate, took a $5.75MM deal with the O’s last March and has since slashed .248/.319/.506 with 22 homers in 367 PAs. Those are right in line with the numbers the designated hitter/corner infielder regularly produced in Pittsburgh.

More from Cafardo:

  • Right fielder/DH Jose Bautista’s underwhelming showing this year could lead him to accept a qualifying offer from the Blue Jays, writes Cafardo. After terrorizing opposing pitchers from 2010-15, Bautista has hit a disappointing .233/.360/.449 with 20 homers in 484 PAs. The soon-to-be 36-year-old has also been on the disabled list multiple times. In taking a QO from the Jays, he’d have a chance to rebuild his value and make a stronger case for a high-paying deal after the 2017 season, Cafardo argues. However, that would represent a far fall for a player who reportedly wanted a long-term pact worth $30MM-plus per year last offseason.
  • The Phillies and Jeremy Hellickson have mutual interest in keeping the right-hander in Philadelphia, but he might first explore the open market before making a commitment, per Cafardo. With so few capable starters primed to hit free agency in the coming months, it won’t be surprising if Hellickson does listen to other teams’ offers. Hellickson, who will turn 30 in April, has rebounded from three straight subpar seasons to post a 3.78 ERA, 7.27 K/9, 2.18 BB/9 and 14.4 percent infield pop-up rate across 185 2/3 innings this season.
  • Outfielder Josh Reddick’s less-than-stellar output with the Dodgers could cost him a significant amount of money in free agency, Cafardo contends. Reddick, whom LA acquired from Oakland before the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, has batted .241/.291/.298 with one home run in 152 PAs as a Dodger. The 29-year-old was far better as a member of the Athletics, with whom he hit .257/.321/.440 and combined for 14.2 fWAR in 2,364 PAs from 2012-16. As of June, Reddick wanted in the neighborhood of $15MM per annum on a four-plus-year deal, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The A’s were offering well below that – in the three-year, $30MM range – which undoubtedly helped lead to the end of Reddick’s tenure with them.

NL Notes: Giants’ Pen, Garcia, Murphy, McCarthy, Rodriguez

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As the Giants have struggled to lock up the ninth inning down the stretch, GM Bobby Evans discusses his decision not to push harder for a top-tier closer at this year’s deadline, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Evans told Jon Heyman of Fan Rag that the struggles have made him feel like a “knucklehead,” though he notes to Schulman that he was saying that in jest. The San Francisco general manager went on to explain a bit more about the team’s efforts to acquire Mark Melancon, who ended up with the Nationals, from the Pirates. “It was very comparable to what they ultimately got,” he said of the Giants’ offer. “You think about it. ’Was there something else I could have done? Was there another name I could have pushed across the table?’ They ended up getting one guy who throws 100 and another who throws 98.” But as Evans went on to discuss, it’s ultimately a matter of hindsight. “Those are just reflections,” he said. “… All I can do is think about how I handled it and how far I went.”

  • The Cardinals are still tinkering with their pitching mix, and will now re-insert Jaime Garcia into the rotation in the place of Luke Weaver, as Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reports. Garcia has shown well in his brief move to the pen, while Weaver has struggled in his most recent outings after an excellent start to his major league career.
  • Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy has been diagnosed with a strained glute, as MLB.com’s Jamal Collier reports on Twitter. Murphy last played a full game on September 17th and will rest for a few more contests before returning to action. Obviously, the Nats will be sure to rest him well with the NL East in hand, as Murphy figures to be a key piece of the team’s postseason hopes after posting a remarkable .347/.391/.596 batting line thus far.
  • Brandon McCarthy will become the latest Dodgers pitcher to return to action on Saturday, when MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick says the veteran righty will be activated (Twitter link). The 33-year-old has produced strong results despite allowing over six walks per nine in his eight starts on the year, with a 9.9 K/9 mark and just twenty hits allowed helping to offset the free passes. It remains to be seen what role he’ll play in the postseason for Los Angeles after working back from a hip injury.
  • Phillies reliever Joely Rodriguez looks to be a keeper, as Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Acquired in the Antonio Bastardo trade, the 24-year-old southpaw has developed upper-nineties heat in a relief capacity. He has allowed just a single hit in his first 5 1/3 major league innings, with four strikeouts and two walks also on his ledger.

NL East Notes: Morris, Reed, Phillies, Swanson

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The Marlins made the somewhat surprising decision to designate right-hander Bryan Morris for assignment earlier today, three months after the previously reliable bullpen arm underwent back surgery. As Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes, the Fish simply felt they needed Morris’ roster spot (presumably meaning this winter, as he was on the 60-day DL but activated in order to be designated). However, Morris’ agent, Jim Kuzmich, tells Jackson that president of baseball ops Michael Hill told him to “keep [the Marlins] in mind” if Morris goes unclaimed and hits free agency this winter. That would indicate that the Marlins are open to bringing Morris back into the fold on a minor league contract, though based on his history, many teams would figure to show interest in Morris as a free agent. While he’s not a big-time strikeout arm, the 29-year-old Morris pitched to a 2.30 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in parts of three seasons with Miami. And, on top of that, he has a hefty 58.6 percent ground-ball rate in 215 career innings between the Pirates and Marlins.

Here’s more from the NL East…

  • The exploits of Mets reliever Addison Reed are increasingly notable, as James Wagner of the New York Times and August Fagerstrom of Fangraphs each explore. He has changed his mechanics and approach since coming over to New York last August, and the results have been spectacular. Wagner looks into a seeming oddity: Reed has thrived despite — if not because — he puts the ball over the middle of the plate more than other pitchers. Fagerstrom breaks down the mechanical changes in detail and points out that no pitcher in baseball has fired more first-pitch strikes than Reed while also illustrating the difference in the location of Reed’s slider since his transformation.
  • Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com looks back at the Phillies’ 2016 season and highlights some positive takeaways, focusing on improvements from Jerad Eickhoff, Vince Velasquez, Odubel Herrera, Freddy Galvis and Cesar Hernandez. Lawrence also writes that A.J. Ellis has been such a positive influence in terms of not only his receiving but his skills as a teacher/mentor for the youthful roster that the Phils could have interest in re-signing him. As a follow-up, he wonders if the Phillies might, then, be willing to trade from their catching depth — the team has Cameron Rupp starting with Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knapp on the way — to acquire help for another area on the roster. Lawrence briefly speculates on the possibility of re-signing Ellis then dealing Rupp this offseason.
  • While the Braves won’t formally say that Dansby Swanson is here to stay in the Majors, the praise that GM John Coppolella and interim manager Brian Snitker offered for Swanson when talking to MLB.com’s Danny Knobler certainly implies that there’s a belief that Swanson is done with the minor leagues for good. “This is a winning player, a special player,” said Coppolella of the 2015 No. 1 overall pick. Snitker explained that Swanson was promoted this season to prepare him for the 2017 campaign. “That’s the whole idea of why we wanted him here,” said Snitker, who also likened Swanson’s demeanor to that of John Smoltz and Tom Glavine early in their careers. “Now, going to Spring Training, he’s not going to be in awe of anything. He’s getting a jump-start on guys he’ll face next year.”

J.P. Crawford Undergoes Knee Surgery; Aaron Nola Nearing Attempt To Throw

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There were some notable reports on two important Phillies players today. Highly-touted shortstop prospect J.P. Crawford underwent knee surgery recently, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports on Twitter. And the club is nearing a critical phase of Aaron Nola’s recovery from an elbow injury, as Zolecki further reports.

Crawford’s procedure was to remove a loose body from his knee. It’ll require a four-week resting period, but doesn’t seem likely to pose any limitations heading into the 2017 season. A consensus top-ten league-wide prospect, Crawford didn’t quite make it to the majors this year but figures to get his shot at some point next season.

Following a solid but hardly overwhelming showing at Double-A, the 21-year-old Crawford earned a promotion to the highest level of the minors. He stalled out there, however, posting only a .244/.328/.318 batting line with four home runs and seven stolen bases in eleven attempts. While he continued to show strong plate discipline, there’s obviously a fair bit of work remaining.

As for Nola, there’s more concern but also less clarity. Though GM Matt Klentak says that the prized righty is “on track,” he still has yet to test his elbow since undergoing a platelet-rich plasma treatment. Nola will likely attempt to throw within the next week or two, says Klentak, with the results of that effort expected to play a major role in assessing his near-term outlook, which the GM says “remains to be seen.”

“The idea is before he goes into his offseason, he’s been up on the mound, he’s thrown to hitters and everything feels good and he goes into his offseason feeling very confident,” said Klentak. “We’re hopeful we’ll be able to time that with instructional league, but if it stretches beyond that, we’ll have to figure it out.”

Though Nola only ended up with a 4.78 ERA over his 111 innings on the year before he was shut down, there were plenty of signs of promise. He racked up 9.8 K/9 against just 2.4 BB/9 along with a 55.2% groundball rate. And ERA estimators viewed his season far more favorably than the earned runs would suggest, with Nola likely dealing with some bad luck (as reflected in a .334 BABIP-against and 60.6% strand rate).

Matt Klentak Discusses The Phillies’ Future

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At 65-82, the Phillies’ season may not stand out as a as one that many fans would consider a significant step forward. That Philadelphia is in the midst of a significant rebuild was a widely known fact entering the year, and few expected a major improvement in the standings this season. However, Phillies general manager Matt Klentak, hired to that post just last year, spoke to reporters (including Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com) before yesterday’s game to explain that the organization feels that there was plenty of progress made in 2016.

Among the players to draw praise from Klentak were catcher Cameron Rupp, first baseman Tommy Joseph, second baseman Cesar Hernandez and shortstop Freddy Galvis. While Klentak acknowledged that players like Galvis and Joseph (and really, most of the team) need to continue to work on developing their approach at the plate in order to work counts and boost on-base percentage at an individual and at a team level, he also noted the unexpected pop from each player — Joseph due to his status as a non-roster player entering the season and Galvis due to a lack of track record of power — has been a boon for the Phillies.

“Really for any position, but especially for a shortstop, to be approaching 20 homers in a season is pretty impressive,” said Klentak shortly after praising Galvis as “one of the most reliable, dependable shortstops in the league” from a defensive standpoint. While he didn’t directly state the fact, Klentak suggested that he’s cognizant of the fact that Galvis has never walked much and may never do so, explaining that lineups can contain such players as long as it’s not a trait from top to bottom. “The answer to that question may depend on what the rest of the lineup is doing,” the GM responded when asked if Galvis’ defense and power outweighed his .270 OBP.

Galvis’ future standing with the club, of course, has a direct impact on the team’s plans for top prospect J.P. Crawford — the former No. 16 overall draft pick that has risen to become one of the game’s consensus top 10 prospects. While Crawford is viewed as a potential franchise cornerstone at the position, Klentak didn’t shy away from stating that Galvis performed well enough in 2016 that, “Right now … he’s our shortstop.”

The first-year GM pointed to the fact that Crawford still has work to do to develop in the minors, even though he impressed as one of the youngest players at both the Double-A level and Triple-A level in 2016. “Even a 21-year-old at Double-A but certainly Triple-A is aggressive,” said Klentak. “I think he’s proven at both levels that he still has the ability to control the strike zone as well as anybody in our organization and probably the best in Minor League Baseball. I think his defense has taken a step forward. He’s still 21 years old. He still needs to get stronger. He still has some things he needs to work on.”

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Phillies Acquire Joey Curletta To Complete Carlos Ruiz Trade

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The Phillies announced today that they’ve acquired outfield prospect Joey Curletta from the Dodgers to complete last month’s Carlos Ruiz trade. The trade, then, will officially go in the books as Ruiz to the Dodgers in exchange for A.J. Ellis, Curletta and right-hander Tommy Bergjans.

Curletta, 22, was a sixth-round pick by the Dodgers out of Mountain Point High School in Phoenix, Ariz. back in 2012. He’s split the season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A for the second straight year, though his numbers in 2016 are superior to the ones he logged as a 21-year-old at those same levels in 2015. Curletta has batted .251/.323/.463 with 17 homers, 17 doubles and five triples in 409 plate appearances this season, though his 30 percent strikeout rate is indicative of the fact that there’s still plenty of room for growth in the right-handed hitter’s approach at the plate.

Curletta didn’t rank among the Dodgers’ top 30 prospects, though Baseball America has previously written that his two best tools are his raw power and his throwing arm. The 6’4″, 245-pounder has been described by BA as a “physical monster” in the past and has been limited to the corner outfield (primarily right field), where his strong arm profiles rather well.

J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group was the first to report that Curletta was headed to the Phils to complete the trade (Twitter link).

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