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Aaron Loup

The Top Unsigned Left-Handed Relievers

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Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training in about two weeks but a slow offseason means there are still plenty of free agents out there. Over the past week, MLBTR has already taken a look at the remaining catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, center fielders, corner outfielders designated hitters and starting pitchers. Next up, we’ll run through some of the top remaining left-handed bullpen options out there.

  • Wandy Peralta: From 2021-23, Peralta logged 153 innings of 2.82 ERA ball with a 21% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and huge 56.5% ground-ball rate as a member of the Yankees’ bullpen. In addition to keeping the ball on the ground at a strong clip, Peralta manages hard contact quite well. He’s been in the 88th percentile or better in opponents’ average exit velocity in each of the past four seasons, per Statcast. Peralta had some uncharacteristic command struggles in ’23. His walk rate jumped from 7.6% to 13.6%, and he plunked a career-high six batters — as many as he’d hit over the four previous years combined. Still, the track record is good, he kept his ERA below 3.00 even with the shaky command, and at 32 he’s younger than most of the other southpaws available. Both the Yankees and Mets have been reported to have interest, but there are surely quite a few other teams who’d be happy to plug him into the bullpen.
  • Brad Hand: Hand, 34 in March, posted a 4.54 ERA in 35 2/3 innings with the Rockies before getting rocked for a 7.50 mark in 18 innings following a trade to the Braves. That was due largely to an alarmingly low 49% strand rate — a mark so low that it’s assuredly fluky. (Hand’s career 73% strand rate is right around the league average.) Hand had his best strikeout and walk rates since 2020 last season, whiffing a quarter of opponents against a 9.3% walk rate. He was one of MLB’s premier relievers from 2016-20 (2.70 ERA, 104 saves, 33.3% strikeout rate), and while those days are probably in the past, he posted serviceable or better ERA marks in 2021-22. Hand will probably command another affordable one-year deal.
  • Jake Diekman: Diekman has never had even close to average command, but despite the fact that he has only once posted a walk rate under 11%, he’s still caved out a nice 12-year MLB career. He’s 37 now, but the southpaw’s 95.6 mph average heater in 2023 was a dead match for his average velocity over the preceding seven seasons. Diekman was rocked in 11 1/3 innings with the White Sox to begin the year but — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — completely turned things around upon being picked up by the Rays. In 45 1/3 frames, Diekman recorded a sparkling 2.18 ERA while striking out 28.6% of his opponents. Diekman throws hard, keeps the ball on the ground and misses plenty of bats, but command will always be an issue for him. A big league deal could still be in the cards for him.
  • Aaron Loup: There’s no getting around Loup’s ugly year in 2023, when he posted a 6.10 ERA with his lowest strikeout rate since 2014 and highest walk rate since 2017. But Loup has an extensive track record at the big league level, including a terrific run from 2017-22 when he notched a tidy 3.06 ERA in a combined 241 innings across six seasons. Now 36 years old, Loup will look to bounce back to prior form — presumably with a new team. To his credit, Loup kept the ball on the ground at a strong 46.6% clip and still had a nice opponents’ batted-ball profile, per Statcast (87.9 mph average exit velocity, 37.2% hard-hit rate). Last year’s sky-high .373 average on balls in play undoubtedly drove up his ERA. Metrics like FIP (4.36) and SIERA (4.33), while still not painting a great picture, were far kinder to Loup than his more rudimentary ERA.
  • Jarlin Garcia: Garcia didn’t throw a single pitch in 2023 due to a nerve issue in his biceps. However, he only just turned 31 years old on Jan. 18 and enjoyed very strong results from 2019-22. In that time, the lefty tossed 202 2/3 innings of 2.89 ERA ball between Marlins and Giants. Garcia averages 93.4 mph on his heater, and while his 21.6% strikeout rate from ’19-’22 was a couple percentage points shy of average, his 7.2% walk rate was better than average and he kept the ball on the ground at a solid 42.1% clip. Garcia has benefited from low BABIPs and playing his home games in cavernous settings, but he’s still a capable middle reliever who’d be a lock for a big league deal if not for last year’s injury. He won’t be game-ready for the start of spring training but recently resumed throwing and is expected to be back on a mound around May 1.

Honorable mentions: Joely Rodriguez, Richard Bleier, Amir Garrett, Justin Wilson

Angels Decline Options On Aaron Loup, Eduardo Escobar

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The Angels announced that they have declined club options on left-hander Aaron Loup and infielder Eduardo Escobar. Both will now become free agents, with Loup receiving a $2.5MM buyout instead of a $7.5MM salary for 2024, while Escobar receives a buyout of $500K instead of a $9MM salary.

Neither move comes as a surprise. Loup posted a remarkable 0.95 ERA in 2021 and parlayed that into a two-year, $17MM deal going into 2022. His first year with the Halos was fine, resulting in a 3.84 ERA, but that figure jumped to 6.10 in 2023. There may have been some bad luck in his poor results this year, with a .373 batting average on balls in play and 63.6% strand rate, but his strikeout rate has also been declining. He fanned 26.1% of batters in that strong 2021 campaign but that rate dropped to 20% and then 19.5% in the two most recent seasons.  He also finished the 2023 campaign on the injured list with a left shoulder strain.

The Halos acquired Escobar in a midseason trade with the Mets. They hoped the veteran switch-hitter would stabilize an infield that had been wrecked by injury. It didn’t go as planned, with Escobar stumbling to a .219/.259/.303 slash in 189 plate appearances. Combined with a slow start in Queens, he managed just a .226/.269/.344 line over 100 games on the season.

Lefty relief and third base both stand as areas the Angels could try to address this offseason. They don’t have any left-handers who are guaranteed spots in the season-opening bullpen, with the likes of Kolton Ingram and Kenny Rosenberg projecting as their top options. Anthony Rendon is the ostensible starter at third base, although he’s coming off another disappointing year marred by injury.

Angels Select Kelvin Caceres

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The Angels have selected the contract of right-hander Kelvin Caceres, per a team announcement. In corresponding moves, left-hander Aaron Loup has been transferred to the 60-day IL while right-hander Jose Marte was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Caceres, 23, began the 2023 campaign at High-A before quickly advancing to Double-A and then Triple-A by the end of the season. Across all three levels, Caceres owns a 4.12 ERA in 54 2/3 innings of work. Since being promoted to Triple-A, however, Caceres has been nothing short of dominant with a 0.90 ERA and a 27.5% strikeout rate despite a 12.5% walk rate in ten innings of work. That small-sample success is particularly impressive given the extreme offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, where the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate plays. Caceres will look to get into one of the last few games of the regular season for his major league debut as the Angels look to cover innings ahead of the offseason.

Making room for Caceres on the 40-man roster, is Loup, which is little more than a procedural move. After all, Loup’s 2023 campaign was already expected to come to a close after his placement on the injured list earlier this month with a shoulder strain. The 35-year-old veteran struggled through a difficult season in 2023 as he posted a 6.10 ERA across 55 appearances, albeit with a more palatable 4.37 FIP. The Angels hold a $7.5MM club option on Loup’s services in 2024, but given his downturn in performance it seems more likely the club will opt for a $2MM buyout on the option, allowing Loup to test the open market this offseason.

Meanwhile, the Angels optioned Marte to make room for Caceres on the active roster. The 27-year-old righty has consistently struggled at the big league level in brief cups of coffee over the past three seasons, with a combined 8.14 ERA and 7.62 FIP in 24 1/3 innings of work in the majors. His work at the Triple-A level, while certainly an improvement, also leaves something to be desired; he’s posted a 5.83 ERA in 46 1/3 innings of work at the highest level of the minor leagues during his career.

Upcoming Club Option Decisions: AL West

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Last week, MLBTR took an early look at offseason option decisions facing teams in the National League. We’re continuing our division by division series moving through the Junior Circuit. To round out the series, we move to the AL West. There are only five players in the division whose contracts contain options but they’re spread among every team aside from the Mariners.

Previous posts: NL East, NL Central, NL West, AL East, AL Central

Houston Astros

  • Hector Neris: $8.5MM club option ($1MM buyout); converts to player option with 40 appearances in 2023

Neris’ option is presently a club provision, but it’s not likely to be for much longer. His free agent deal with the Astros allowed him to convert the third-year option into a player provision in a few ways — one of which was by making a combined 110 appearances between 2022-23. The bullpen workhorse pitched 70 times last year, leaving him just 40 shy of the mark entering 2023. (As is common for provisions like these, he’ll also have to pass a physical at season’s end.)

Manager Dusty Baker has already called upon Neris 25 times this season. He needs just 15 more outings to turn this into a player provision. That’s a lock barring a major injury, with Neris potentially triggering the mark by the All-Star Break.

That could prove lucrative, as he’s building a strong case for another multi-year free agent deal. Neris carries a 1.13 ERA over 24 frames. While he’s obviously not going to keep preventing runs at quite that pace, he’s fanning over 31% of opponents and picking up swinging strikes on a huge 15.4% of his offerings. Even nearing age 34, Neris could push for a two-year deal in the $15-20MM range, where the likes of Joe Kelly and Chris Martin have landed in recent seasons.

Los Angeles Angels

The Halos signed Loup to a two-year, $17MM free agent deal over the 2021-22 offseason. He was effective enough in year one, though the Angels probably expected better than a 3.84 ERA with a 20% strikeout rate over 58 2/3 innings. That’d be a marked improvement over Loup’s early results this year, however. The 35-year-old has allowed 12 runs (10 earned) with 11 strikeouts and six walks over 13 1/3 frames. Los Angeles looks likely to take the buyout.

Oakland A’s

Oakland took a low-cost flier on Rucinski last winter. They signed him to a $3MM guarantee with a promised rotation spot after he’d been an effective starter in South Korea for four seasons. The 34-year-old righty hasn’t had a chance to get on track. He began the year on the injured list with a hamstring strain. He returned to make four starts and was tagged for 22 runs with a ghastly 6:14 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 18 innings. Rucinski went back on the IL a few weeks ago with an illness. It’s been a disastrous first couple months and the option is trending towards a declination.

The A’s acquired Piña as a veteran complement to Shea Langeliers in the Sean Murphy trade. He’d been limited to five games last year thanks to a left wrist injury that required surgery. Complications with the wrist flared up in Spring Training and he’s spent this season on the IL as well. The A’s are likely to cut him loose at year’s end.

Texas Rangers

At his best, Leclerc looks like a quality high-leverage reliever. He misses tons of bats and routinely pushes or exceeds a 30% strikeout rate. Yet he’s paired those whiffs with plenty of free passes. Control has become especially problematic this year, as he’s dished out walks to almost 16% of opponents. Leclerc is carrying a sub-3.00 ERA but benefitting from a .256 average on balls in play.

Leclerc started slowly last season after working back from Tommy John surgery. He caught fire down the stretch, leading Texas to exercise a $6MM option for 2023. There’s still time for him to repeat that pattern but he’ll have to dial in the strike-throwing to do so.

Angels Select Reyes Moronta, Jacob Webb

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The Angels announced a flurry of roster moves a the club selected the contracts of right-handers Reyes Moronta and Jacob Webb. The club also announced that left-hander Aaron Loup had been activated from the 15-day injured list, while righties Andrew Wantz, Jimmy Herget, and Zack Weiss were each optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake. Moronta and Webb will take the 40-man roster spots vacated by Brett Phillips and Ryan Tepera, both of whom were designated for assignment by the club earlier this week.

Moronta, 30, made his big league debut for the Giants in 2017. He would remain a part of the club’s bullpen mix until 2021, when the club outrighted the righty off the roster, leading him to declare free agency. During his time with the Giants, Moronta excelled on the mound, with a 2.65 ERA that was 52% better than league average by ERA+ and 3.44 FIP in 132 1/3 innings of work. Despite the excellent results leading him to be seen a quality late-inning option, the Giants elected to part ways with the right-hander after shoulder surgery, which cost Moronta his entire 2020 season, proved to have sapped his velocity. While he averaged 97.2 mph on his four-seamer in 2019, the pitch’s velocity had dropped more than three ticks to just 93.9 mph when Moronta returned to the mound in 2021.

Following his departure from San Francisco, Reyes spent 2022 as a member of the Dodgers and Diamondbacks organizations, with a 4.30 ERA and 4.41 FIP in 37 2/3 innings of work. Despite the downturn in performance, he secured a minor league deal with the Rangers during the offseason, though the club released him once it was clear he would not make the roster out of camp. That led him to sign a minor league deal with the Angels earlier this month. Now, Moronta join the Halos’ bullpen just ten days after signing with the organization.

Webb, meanwhile, posted a 2.47 ERA over 76 2/3 innings of work as a member of the Braves from 2019-2021, though a 3.99 FIP indicates there was some good luck baked into those excellent top line results. Webb did not appear in the majors last season, posting a 6.06 ERA in 35 2/3 innings during an injury-plagued 2022 campaign. Webb elected free agency during the offseason, eventually signing with the Angels on a minor league deal. While Webb has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 17 1/3 innings of work so far for Salt Lake this season, the Angels will hope he can get things back on track in the major league bullpen going forward.

The pair of right-handers are joined in the Angels bullpen by Loup, who is returning from the injured list after suffering a hamstring injury earlier this season. Loup signed a two-year, $17MM deal with the Angels ahead of the 2022 season, and delivered a 3.84 ERA with a 3.76 FIP in 58 2/3 innings of work last season. Now in his age-35 season, Loup struggled in nine innings of work this year prior to his injury, posting a 7.00 ERA on nine hits and seven walks (two of which were intentional) against just eight strikeouts. Of course, the veteran lefty came into the 2023 campaign with a career ERA of just 3.15 over his eleven previous seasons in the majors, leaving the Angels with reason for optimism he can turn things around and join Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore as a late-inning option going forward.

The 27-year-old Wantz has performed the best this season of the three righties ticketed for Triple-A, with a 3.32 ERA in 21 2/3 innings so far this season. Herget, 29, has struggled to a 4.38 ERA in 12 1/3 innings so far this season after posting a sterling 2.48 ERA in 69 innings of work for the Angels last season. Weiss, meanwhile, made just two appearances for the Angels prior to his demotion, with three hits, a home run, and a walk against two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings of work. All three figure to be depth options for the Angels’ bullpen going forward.

Angels Select Gerardo Reyes, Ryan Aguilar

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The Angels announced a host of roster moves before tonight’s series in Toronto. Relievers Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera and outfielder Taylor Ward were all placed on the restricted list. That’s standard procedure for players who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 and are thus prohibited from traveling into Canada. In order to replace them on the roster, the Halos recalled righty José Marte and selected the contracts of reliever Gerardo Reyes and outfielder Ryan Aguilar. All three players have been designated as “substitutes,” meaning they can later be taken off the roster and returned to the minor leagues without passing through waivers.

It’s likely to be a temporary promotion for that trio, but Reyes and Aguilar have long-awaited opportunities to make an impact at the major league level. Reyes has a bit of big league experience, having come out of the bullpen 27 times for the 2019 Padres. The right-hander posted a 7.62 ERA over 26 innings. He spent 2020 at the alternate training site and was dealt from San Diego to Anaheim that deadline in exchange for veteran catcher Jason Castro.

Reyes was outrighted off the 40-man roster last March and underwent Tommy John surgery not long after, but he’s returned to action in Salt Lake this season. Through 39 innings with the Bees, the 29-year-old has a 3.69 ERA. He’s punched out an above-average 29.2% of opposing hitters but issued walks at an elevated 15.7% clip.

Aguilar, meanwhile, could get a chance to make his MLB debut. A 31st round pick of the Brewers out of the University of Arizona in 2016, he remained in the Milwaukee farm system through the end of last season. The 27-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Halos over the offseason and has spent the year at Double-A Rocket City. He’s posted an excellent .280/.427/.517 line with a massive 19% walk rate (albeit against generally younger competition) to earn a big league call. A left-handed hitter, he’s played primarily right field with the Trash Pandas.

Loup, Tepera and Ward will miss the weekend series. They’ll presumably rejoin the club on Monday, when they return home to host the Yankees. Sam Blum of the Athletic tweets that hitting coach Jeremy Reed also did not make the trip to Toronto.

Mets Notes: Smith, Loup, Lindor

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Mets manager Buck Showalter spoke with reporters about the team’s decision to option Dominic Smith to Triple-A this week, calling it a “difficult” conversation to have with the first baseman (link via Newsday’s Laura Albanese). “You always try to put yourself in their shoes knowing that, in a lot of cases, you can’t,” Showalter said of his conversation with Smith. “It’s one of those cases where someone says, I know what you’re feeling. No, you don’t. No, you don’t, so don’t act like you do. I’ve learned in situations like that, you’re better off listening than you are talking.”

Smith will play primarily first base in Syracuse, and Showalter voiced confidence in the 26-year-old’s ability to find his swing with the help of regular at-bats and to get back to the Majors sooner than later. For the time being, however, with a banged-up pitching staff, the Mets needed a extra arm. Smith had minor league options remaining and had been struggling through infrequent usage. The former first-rounder hit .299/.366/.571 from 2019-20, but he batted just .186/.287/.256 in 101 plate appearances this year. Smith told SI.com in March that he played through a small tear of the labrum in his right shoulder last year, and it’s certainly possible there are (or were) some lingering effects of that issue.

A few more notes out of Queens…

  • Former Mets lefty Aaron Loup chatted with SNY’s Andy Martino about his decision to sign with the Angels over the winter, revealing that the Mets indeed made an offer but did not match the two-year, $17MM terms he received from the Halos. Loup details that the Angels were aggressive from the jump, while the Mets took their time in putting together an offer as they sorted through front-office and managerial searches. Loup acknowledges that he and his agents “tried to stall the Angels as long as we could” while waiting to see if the Mets would match the offer. Ultimately, the Mets came in the $12-12.5MM range with a two-year offer, per Loup, who unsurprisingly opted for the larger guarantee in Anaheim. Loup has already allowed more runs in 18 2/3 innings with the Angels than he did in 56 2/3 frames as a Met last year, though the bulk of the damage against him has come over his past four appearances. No one expected the 34-year-old to replicate last year’s immaculate 0.95 ERA in the first place, and the fact that he’s sporting nearly identical strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates suggests that Loup ought to bounce back from this rough patch before long.
  • Showalter told reporters, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, that Francisco Lindor has “a form of” fracture in his finger. However, it doesn’t seem to be terribly serious, as Lindor is in tonight’s lineup, hitting third and playing shortstop. The injury came about in an unusual fashion, as he got his finger stuck in a hotel door. The shortstop seems to be in good spirits about the situation, joking with reporters about keeping the door open from now. “I ain’t touching that door,” Lindor said, per Tim Healey of Newsday. “It can stay open.” Lindor has been a key part of the club’s tremendous start to the season, as he’s hitting .261/.345/.442 for a wRC+ of 126. He’s also added seven steals and quality defense, accumulating 2.1 fWAR already with less than a third of the season played.

Angels Sign Aaron Loup

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The Angels announced they’ve signed reliever Aaron Loup to a two-year, $17MM guarantee. (The team announced the contract terms). He’ll receive successive $7.5MM salaries in 2022 and 2023, and the deal also contains a $7.5MM club option for 2024 that comes with a $2MM buyout. Loup is a client of the Beverley Hills Sports Council.

A longtime member of the Blue Jays’ bullpen early in his career, Loup had seemingly settled in as a competent journeyman not too long ago. He split the 2018 season between Toronto and the Phillies, then spent the next three years playing on either minor league or one-year big league deals with different clubs.

After an injury-wrecked 2019 campaign with the Padres, he settled for a minors pact with the Rays in 2020. Loup posted strong results in Tampa Bay but didn’t boast the kind of velocity teams typically covet from back-end arms. His 2020 numbers were enough to land him a guaranteed job with the Mets, albeit on a fairly low $3MM base salary.

Loup’s deal with the Angels shatters his previous three contracts, a testament to how effective he was in Queens. The Louisiana native worked to an incredible 0.95 ERA across 56 2/3 innings, a mark bested only by Seattle’s Casey Sadler among those with 30+ frames. Teams are looking far beyond ERA to evaluate pitchers (particularly relievers), but Loup’s underlying metrics also painted the picture of an elite late-innings arm.

The 33-year-old (34 next month) fanned a solid 26.1% of batters faced, the best full season mark of his career. That’s more good than dominant, but Loup has never been a particularly overpowering hurler. Relying primarily on a 92 MPH sinker and a mid-80s cutter/slider, the southpaw has typically been a ground-ball specialist. Loup routinely induces grounders on half or more of balls in play against him, and he continued to thrive in that regard this year. He also boasts plus control, only walking more batters than average in two of his eight career seasons with at least 20 innings pitched. His 7.3% walk percentage in 2021 was almost three points lower than the 9.8% league mark for bullpen arms.

Loup’s standout skill, however, has been contact suppression. He’s typically one of the league’s harder pitchers to square up, and that was never more true than in 2021. Only six of the 218 hitters who stepped in against him recorded an extra-base hit, and he remarkably allowed just a single home run. The Angels can’t reasonably count on Loup to be that effective moving forward, but the front office is clearly banking on him inducing plenty of grounders and otherwise unthreatening contact.

Adding to Loup’s appeal is that he stymied hitters from both sides of the plate. He’s always been a tough at-bat for left-handed hitters, and he was leveraged situationally quite a bit early in his career. But Loup has proven adept at getting righties out lately as well, holding them to a meager .205/.276/.311 line since the start of 2020. An ability to handle hitters from both sides of the plate has taken on an outsized importance in the three-batter minimum era, and Loup has proven capable of taking on that expanded role.

Loup was perhaps the top option in this offseason’s left-handed relief group. Andrew Chafin, Brooks Raley and former Angel Tony Watson now stand out as the best remaining arms in a fairly thin class. The combination of market scarcity and Loup’s recent dominance leads to a very solid contract that comes in a bit higher than generally expected.

The signing pushes the Angels’ estimated 2022 player commitments a bit north of $157MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. Non-tenders could shave a couple million dollars off that tally, and there’s still some decent leeway before reaching the club’s near-$182MM season-opening 2021 payroll. That could give general manager Perry Minasian and his staff the chance for further upgrades, with the pitching staff and middle infield still standing out as potential target areas.

The Angels have already made one big rotation strike, signing Loup’s 2021 (and now 2022) teammate Noah Syndergaard to a $21MM deal. Even after the Syndergaard pickup, Minasian told reporters the club was hoping to further bolster the rotation (link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). And while Loup should be a notable upgrade in the late innings, the club had a below-average relief corps in 2021 and is facing the potential free agent departure of closer Raisel Iglesias. An effort to retain or replace Iglesias still seems plausible, even with Loup now in the fold.

To create space on the 40-man roster, Los Angeles designated southpaw Hector Yan for assignment. The 22-year-old was highly regarded enough that the club added him to the 40-man last winter to keep him from potential selection in the Rule 5 draft. Yan struggled to a 5.25 ERA with a sky high 15.2% walk rate at High-A Tri-City, though, costing him his roster spot. The Angels will have ten days to trade Yan or place him on waivers.

Image courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.

Phillies Interested In Starling Marte, Aaron Loup

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The Phillies have interest in center fielder Starling Marte and reliever Aaron Loup, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links).  Since the outfield and bullpen are the top priorities for the Phils this winter, it isn’t surprising that Marte and Loup have gained the club’s attention.  Among the several teams involved in Loup’s market, Heyman also notes that the Mets are looking into bringing Loup back to Queens for a longer stint after the southpaw dominated out of New York’s bullpen in 2021.

Marte is really the only true full-time center fielder in this year’s free agent class, though Marte’s 2021 numbers would’ve still put him at or near the top of a deeper center field market.  Marte hit .310/.383/.458 with 12 home runs and a league-best 47 stolen bases over 526 combined plate appearances with the Marlins and Athletics, despite missing about five weeks due to a fractured rib.  Marte did benefit from a .369 BABIP, though his excellent speed and baserunning played a big factor in that extra batted-ball “luck.”  His 8.2% walk rate was still below average, though also the best of Marte’s 10 big league seasons.

Reviews were a little mixed on Marte’s glovework, as Defensive Runs Saved had him at -4, though UZR/150 (+1) and Outs Above Average (+4) gave his center field defense positive grades.  As Marte enters his age-33 season, however, he certainly still seems athletic enough to provide some quality help up the middle.

This is all music to the Phillies’ ears, considering the club has Bryce Harper and not much else in its current outfield mix.  Both Andrew McCutchen and Odubel Herrera are free agents, and while Herrera had a pretty modest 2021 season, he was still the best of a revolving door of subpar options for the Phils in center.  Installing Marte in center field and at or near the top of the Philadelphia lineup would fill a couple of major holes for the club.

Signing Marte would represent yet another big expenditure on the Phillies’ books, though president Dave Dombrowski had given some indication (“I don’t find it restrictive“) that ownership has given him some spending flexibility.  With roughly $171.1MM committed to payroll in 2022, the Phillies could afford to give Marte a big contract and still have some significant room under whatever the luxury tax threshold ends up being next season.  Or, the Phils might even be comfortable going over the tax threshold, as owner John Middleton has indicated in the past that he would be okay with paying the tax in the right circumstance.

Loup won’t cost anywhere near Marte’s price range, but after signing a one-year/$3MM deal with the Mets last winter, Loup is in line for a much more significant contract this time around.  The veteran left-hander had one of the better seasons of any reliever in baseball, with a tiny 0.95 ERA over 56 2/3 innings out of New York’s bullpen.  While Loup’s .229 wOBA far outpaced his .272 xwOBA, Loup also had a 50.4% grounder rate to go along with above-average strikeout (26.1%) and walk (7.3%) rates.

Even if Loup pitches closer to his 3.32 SIERA next year, the Mets would certainly still like that kind of production back in their pen, and Loup would be even more of a boost to a Philadelphia relief corps that badly struggled in 2021.  Loup doesn’t much closing experience, so while he isn’t the lockdown ninth-inning answer Dombrowski is looking for, Loup can at least help the Phillies take a lead into the ninth.

Mets Sign Aaron Loup

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JANUARY 30: Loup’s deal, which the Mets have now made official, also includes $250K in potential incentives based on appearances, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). The Mets’ 40-man roster is now full.

JANUARY 28: Loup’s contract would guarantee him around $3MM once finalized, reports SNY’s Andy Martino (Twitter link).

JANUARY 27: The Mets and left-handed reliever Aaron Loup are in agreement on a deal, pending the completion of a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). It’s a one-year deal for Loup, Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reported earlier this afternoon that the Mets were “zeroing in” on Loup after missing out on Brad Hand, who signed with the division-rival Nationals. Loup is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Loup, 33, gives the Mets an established left-handed bullpen option that the roster previous lacked. Waiver claim Stephen Tarpley and former 40th-round pick Daniel Zamora were the only two southpaws on the Mets’ 40-man roster prior to their forthcoming agreement with Loup. Veteran southpaw Jerry Blevins will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee as well, though he didn’t pitch at all last season.

Outside of a forearm strain that wiped out a good chunk of his 2019 season in San Diego, Loup has been a largely durable and reasonably effective bullpen piece since breaking into the Majors with the Blue Jays back in 2012. He’s had some ups and downs along the way, but the end result is a 3.38 ERA and 3.24 SIERA with career strikeout and walk rates of 21.9 percent and 7.0 percent. Loup has upped his strikeout numbers over the past few years, however, and in 2020 with the Rays delivered one of his best stretches: a 2.52 ERA and 3.62 SIERA with a 22.9 percent punchout rate and a 4.2 percent walk rate that ranked among the game’s lowest. He also tossed 5 1/3 innings in the playoffs, allowing just two runs with seven strikeouts against two walks.

Loup has been better against lefties throughout his big league career but has held his own against righties and was quite good against them in 2020’s shortened slate of games. He’s held opposing lefties to a career .232/.301/.319 batting line while righties have managed a .264/.333/.428 output.

Loup will join right-hander Trevor May as a new member of the Mets’ setup core, effectively replacing fellow free-agent lefty Justin Wilson in the process. The Mets could perhaps still use another lefty, but with a relief corps featuring May, Loup, Edwin Diaz, Seth Lugo, Dellin Betances, Jeurys Familia, Miguel Castro and Brad Brach, they’re certainly not light on talent. Some of those veterans — Betances and Familia in particular — are in search of rebound efforts, but everyone in that veteran group has enjoyed a good bit of big league success.

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