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NL Notes: Rollins, Phillies, Braves, Swanson, Diamondbacks

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Longtime major league shortstop Jimmy Rollins hasn’t officially wrapped up his playing career since the Giants released him in March 2017, but it seems the 39-year-old is heading in that direction. Rollins will soon meet with Phillies general manager Matt Klentak to discuss a potential role, according to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Rollins would like to retire as a Phillie, and while he isn’t interested in coaching, “he could work on assisting some players or on special assignments,” Breen writes. Rollins is best known for his run with the Phillies from 2000-14, a period in which he established himself as one of the greatest players in franchise history.

More from the National League…

  • This is “a critical year” for the Braves, in part because it will help them decide how aggressively to seek upgrades via the free agent and trade markets next winter, general manager Alex Anthopoulos told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “The ideal scenario is that these guys emerge, they all take these jobs, run with them and become a part of our core,” Anthopoulos said of the Braves’ young talent, and he mentioned shortstop Dansby Swanson, third basemen Johan Camargo and Austin Riley, and catcher Alex Jackson as players who are capable of etching themselves into the team’s long-term plans this season. The most notable member of that group is Swanson, whom Arizona chose No. 1 in the 2015 draft and then traded to Atlanta in the well-known Shelby Miller deal later that year. Swanson’s now coming off his first full major league season, in which he struggled to a .232/.312/.324 batting line in 551 plate appearances. “Dansby Swanson at shortstop; everyone knows about Draft status and talent and all of that, but he didn’t have the year he’s capable of last year,” Anthopoulos said. “He’d be the first one to tell you that. Does he take that step and emerge as our shortstop?”
  • At 34 and in the last year of his contract, outfielder Nick Markakis probably isn’t in the Braves’ long-term plans. But he’s still a Brave for now, and his coaches and teammates are glad, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains. Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer told O’Brien that Markakis is the “ultimate professional” and compared him to Royals luminaries George Brett and Alex Gordon, two people Seitzer’s familiar with from his days in Kansas City. Meanwhile, Swanson is “super thankful” Markakis is still in the fold. The same could hold true for manager Brian Snitker, whom Markakis raved about to O’Brien. According to O’Brien, now-former Braves president John Hart berated Snitker in the manager’s office after a loss last August. Markakis caught wind of it and “made it known, had the message sent up the chain, that if Hart ever treated the manager that way again that Markakis would, in so many words, kick his ass,” O’Brien writes.
  • The Diamondbacks’ three-man closer competition is “wide open,” manager Torey Lovullo told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com and other reporters Sunday. The club’s choosing among Brad Boxberger, Yoshihisa Hirano (two offseason acquisitions) and Archie Bradley to replace Fernando Rodney, who converted 39 of 45 save opportunities as a D-back last year before leaving for Minnesota in free agency. Boxberger, though, has been dealing with “general arm soreness,” Gilbert relays, and hasn’t pitched in a game since Feb. 23. It’s unclear when he’ll see game action again, but Lovullo did say he “looked good” and “felt fantastic” during a 25-pitch bullpen session Sunday.
  • Elsewhere on the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff, a lack of starting depth is an issue, particularly since the team dealt Anthony Banda to the Rays in last month’s Steven Souza Jr. trade, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic observes. Piecoro goes on to run down the Diamondbacks’ in-house options behind the enviable starting five of Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, Zack Godley, Taijuan Walker and Patrick Corbin. With the exception of the aforementioned Shelby Miller, who won’t return until the summer after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, no one in the group has much of a big league track record. Fortunately for the D-backs, general manager Mike Hazen realizes they need help on that front. “I think there’s still some work to do there,” Hazen said of the team’s starting depth. “I think it’s an obvious area of focus now that we traded Banda. As I said before, it sort of always was as we went through that process.”

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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The deadline for MLB teams to exchange salary arbitration figures with their arbitration-eligible players is today at 1pm ET. As such, there will be a veritable flood of arb agreements piling up in the next few hours — especially in light of a more universal approach to the “file and trial” method for teams. (That is to say, those teams will no longer negotiate one-year deals after arb figures are exchanged and will instead head to a hearing with those players, barring an agreemenr on a multi-year deal.)

Note that you can keep an eye on all of today’s deals using MLBTR’s 2018 Arbitration Tracker, which can be filtered to show only the results of the team you follow and is also sortable by service time and dollar value of the agreement. All projections that are referenced come from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s annual compilation of projected arbitration salaries.

Onto today’s landslide of deals…

National League West

  • The Rockies have agreed to a $2MM salary with righty Chad Bettis, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). That’s a fair sight more than his $1.5MM projection. Bettis surely would have had an opportunity to set a bigger platform for himself, but had to battle through testicular cancer before returning to the hill in 2017. Meanwhile, second baseman DJ LeMahieu has settled for a $8.5MM payday in his final year of arbitration, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. That’s just a hair short of the $8.8MM he was pegged for in MLBTR’s projections.
  • Giants second baseman Joe Panik is slated to earn $3.45MM in his first season of arb eligibility, Devan Fink of SB Nation was first to tweet. That’s just a hair shy of the $3.5MM that MLBTR projected. Lefty Will Smith has settled at $2.5MM, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). The club has also announced deals with its remaining arb-eligible players, right-handed relievers Sam Dyson ($4.6MM projection), Hunter Strickland ($1.7MM projection), and Cory Gearrin ($1.6MM projection). (H/t John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Twitter). Strickland earns $1.55MM, Nightengale tweets.
  • The Padres and Freddy Galvis agreed to a $6.825MM deal for his lone season of team control in San Diego, tweets Robert Murray of FanRag Sports. Galvis, who spent the first several seasons of his career in Philadelphia before being traded this winter, had been projected to make $7.4MM. Infielder Cory Spangenberg settled at $1.7MM, Heyman tweets, falling below a $2.0MM projection. San Diego has also reached agreements with righty Kirby Yates and outfielder Matt Szczur, the team announced. Yates will earn $1,062,500, Heyman tweets, which is just shy of his $1.1MM projection. Szczur, meanwhile, will get $950K, a healthy boost over his $800K projection, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link).
  • The Diamondbacks agreed to a $7.75MM deal with center fielder A.J. Pollock, Murray tweets. Pollock was projected to earn $8.4MM in his final year of eligibility before free agency. Murray also notes that Brad Boxberger is set to earn $1.85MM next year (Twitter link). Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds that lefty Andrew Chafin ($1.2MM projection) and the D-backs have a $1.195MM deal in place. Third baseman Jake Lamb, meanwhile, agreed to a $4.275MM deal with the Diamondbacks, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). Lamb, eligible for arbitration for the first time, was projected to earn $4.7MM. He’s controllable through 2020. And ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Chris Herrmann ($1.4MM projection) landed a $1.3MM deal. Righty Taijuan Walker has settled for $4.825MM, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), which is within range but shy of the $5.0MM he projected for. Lefty Robbie Ray has settled at $3.95MM, per Nightengale (Twitter link), which falls short of his $4.2MM projection. Infielder Nick Ahmed will $1.275MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which tops the projected figure of $1.1MM. Arizona has also announced that Chris Owings and David Peralta have agreed to terms.
  • The Dodgers are in agreement on a $6MM deal with lefty Alex Wood, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He had projected at $6.4MM. Meanwhile, righty Josh Fields agreed to a $2.2MM deal, tweets Murray. Heyman tweets that Enrique Hernandez will earn $1.6MM. Fields’ projection of $2.2MM was on the money, whereas Hernandez topped his mark by $300K. Fields is controlled through 2019, while Hernandez is controllable through 2020. Southpaw Tony Cingrani gets $2.3MM, Murray tweets, which is just a shade over his $2.2MM projection. Outfielder Joc Pederson has also settled, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter), with Beth Harris of the Associated Press reporting a $2.6MM salary that rather handily tops the $2.0MM that MLBTR projected.

National League Central

  • All three remaining Cardinals arb-eligibles have agreed to deals, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. Marcell Ozuna will earn $9MM after drawin a much larger $10.9MM projection, Heyman tweets. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had explained that Ozuna likely wouldn’t quite reach the amount the algorithm suggested, though the actual salary still comes in a bit shy of expectations. Lefty Tyler Lyons ($1.3MM projection) receives $1.2MM, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). The Cards have also reached agreement with Michael Wacha for $5.3MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter); he was projected to earn $5.9MM.
  • The Reds agreed to a $860K salary with Anthony DeSclafani, tweets Murray. DeSclafani missed the 2017 season due to arm troubles and had been projected to earn $1.1MM. He’ll remain under Reds control through 2020. Billy Hamilton and the Reds have settled on a one-year deal worth $4.6MM, tweets Murray. A popular trade candidate this offseason, Hamilton was projected to earn $5MM and comes with another two seasons of team control. Murray also conveys that Michael Lorenzen agreed to a $1.3125MM deal, which lines up fairly well with his $1.4MM projection.
  • The Cubs have struck a deal with lefty Justin Wilson, agreeing to a one-year, $4.25MM pact, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). Wilson, who had been projected at $4.3MM, will be a free agent next winter. The Cubs alsoagreed to a $950K salary with infielder Tommy La Stella, tweets MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat. La Stella was projected to make $1MM in his first offseason of arbitration eligiblity and can be controlled through 2020. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks and the Cubs have agreed to a $4.175MM salary, per Nightengale (on Twitter). That sum comes in a fair bit shy of his projected $4.9MM projection as a first-time eligible player. The Cubs control Hendricks through the 2020 season. Chicago also agreed with Addison Russell, per Wittenmyer (Twitter link). The shortstop will receive $3.2MM for the coming season.
  • Nightengale reports (on Twitter) that the Brewers and breakout closer Corey Knebel settled at $3.65MM. As a Super Two player, Knebel can be controlled through the 2021 season and will be arb-eligible thrice more. He was projected at $4.1MM. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that the Brewers and right-hander Jimmy Nelson settled at $3.7MM, which falls $1MM shy of his $4.7MM projection (though some of that discrepancy may be due to Nelson’s shoulder injury). Milwaukee also announced a deal for infielders Jonathan Villar (projected at $3MM) and Hernan Perez (projected at $2.2MM). McCalvy reports that Villar will earn $2.55MM, while terms of Perez’s deal are not yet available.
  • The Pirates have avoided arbitration with shortstop Jordy Mercer by settling on a $6.75MM salary for 2018, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Mercer, who’d been projected to earn $6.5MM, is entering his final year of team control and will be a free agent next winter. Biertempfel also reports that Gerrit Cole will earn that same $6.75MM salary in 2018 — a $3MM raise over last year (Twitter link). He has two years of control remaining and had been projected to earn $7.4MM. Righty George Kontos has also agreed to terms, per Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (via Twitter). He had projected for $2.7MM and will receive a smidge more, at $2,725,000, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).

National League East

  • The Braves reached a $3.4MM deal with righty Arodys Vizcaino, per Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link). He’d been projected at $3.7MM. The Braves and righty Dan Winkler agreed to a $610K salary for the upcoming season, tweets Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Winkler tossed just 14 1/3 innings in the Majors this year as he made his way back from elbow surgery. He’d projected at $800K.
  • The Marlins and Miguel Rojas agreed to a $1.18MM deal for 2018, Heyman tweets, placing him north of his $1.1MM projection. Rojas should see additional playing time following the Marlins’ wave of trades this offseason. He’s controlled through 2020. Miami also has a deal in place with infielder Derek Dietrich for $2.9MM, Heyman tweets, after projecting at $3.2MM.
  • The Mets were able to settle perhaps their most notable arb case, agreeing to a $7.4MM deal with righty Jacob deGrom, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). That’s well shy of his $9.2MM projection, though MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had explained the formula likely overestimated deGrom’s earning power by quite a wide margin. Fellow top righty Noah Syndergaard gets $2.975MM, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), which goes a fair sight past the $1.9MM projection for the outstanding young starter, whose 2017 season was limited by injury. And reliever AJ Ramos will take home $9.225MM, according to Wagner (via Twitter). That’s just barely past the $9.2MM projection.  Wilmer Flores has also avoided arbitration with the Mets, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports (on Twitter). He’ll receive a $3.4MM salary, which falls within $300K of his projected rate. The Mets control Flores through the 2019 campaign. The Mets and right-hander Matt Harvey agreed to a one-year deal worth $5.625MM, tweets Nightengale. Harvey, who is a free agent next winter, had been projected to earn $5.9MM. Meanwhile, Marc Carig of Newsday tweets that Jeurys Familia will earn $7.925MM for the upcoming year, while Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports that catcher Travis d’Arnaud will earn $3.475MM in 2018 (Twitter link). Familia, a free agent next winter, was projected at $7.4MM. The Mets control d’Arnaud through 2019, and his projection was $3.4MM. Righty Hansel Robles gets $900K, Heyman tweets.
  • Also via Nightengale (Twitter link), the Nationals agreed to a $6.475MM salary for 2018 with right-hander Tanner Roark. That falls about $1MM shy of his $7.5MM projection but still represents a noted raise of $4.315MM for Roark, whom the Nats control through 2019. Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post adds that Michael Taylor will earn $2.525MM next year. Taylor is controlled through 2020 and was projected at $2.3MM.
  • The Phillies and Maikel Franco settled on a $2.95MM salary for the 2018 season, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link). Franco, a Super Two player who’d been projected at $3.6MM, remains under club control with the Phils through the 2021 season. Second bagger Cesar Hernandez will earn at a $5.1MM rate in 2018, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki (via Twitter). That beats his $4.7MM projection and wraps up this year’s arb business for the Phillies.

Diamondbacks Acquire Brad Boxberger

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The D-backs announced today that they’ve acquired right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger from the Rays in exchange for minor league right-hander Curtis Taylor.

Brad Boxberger | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The trade of Boxberger to Arizona sheds one arbitration-eligible player for the Rays, who have a sizable arb class and many decisions to face as they look to trim payroll for the 2018 season. While Boxberger won’t be paid at an exorbitant rate — MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $1.9MM salary in 2018 — Tampa Bay was facing arb decisions on 12 players, suggesting that further non-tenders or trades of second-tier players could be on the horizon for the Rays.

Boxberger, 30 in May, was an All-Star closer for the Rays back in 2015 when he saved 41 games and pitched to a 3.71 ERA with 10.6 K/9, 4.6 BB/9 and a 36.3 percent ground-ball rate. Arizona’s ninth-inning situation is currently murky after 2017 closer Fernando Rodney hit free agency at season’s end, and while Boxberger could compete for a high-leverage spot depending on the D-backs’ other offseason moves, he won’t simply be handed the job. For one thing, Archie Bradley could well be the in-house favorite to fill that role at present. Furthermore, the bullpen looks like one area for the D-backs to address this offseason, though they’ll face payroll challenges in doing so.

Beyond that, Boxberger hasn’t been closing in Tampa Bay in recent seasons anyhow, as he’s been plagued by groin and oblique injuries as well as a flexor strain in 2017. When healthy, however, he was quite effective this past season, as evidenced by a 3.38 ERA, 12.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 29 1/3 frames. Boxberger has totaled just 53 1/3 innings over his past two injury-plagued seasons, though he’ll be a nice addition that the team can control through the 2019 season, via arbitration, if he can remain healthy next year. Boxberger adds to a massive D-backs arbitration class that now includes an astounding 15 players — though the Snakes have several non-tender/trade candidates in that mix themselves (e.g. Chris Herrmann, J.J. Hoover, T.J. McFarland).

[Related: Updated Diamondbacks Depth Chart & Rays Depth Chart]

As for the Rays, they’ll pick up a prospect that ranked 14th in a poorly regarded Diamondbacks farm system, per MLB.com. The 22-year-old Taylor (23 next July) spent the 2017 season with Class-A Kane County, where he pitched to a solid 3.32 ERA with 9.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9 and a 43.6 percent ground-ball rate in 13 starts (62 1/3 innings).

Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com note in their scouting report that the 6’6″ fourth-rounder (2016) has the potential for two plus offerings thanks to a 94-95 mph sinker and an upper-80s slider. Callis and Mayo note that there’s a belief that Taylor could end up in the bullpen ultimately, and Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tweets the same. Per Longenhagen, Taylor has better control than most pitchers of his height and a potential plus slider, but his delivery is better suited for relief work.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rays Designate Danny Farquhar For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-hander Danny Farquhar for assignment and will activate right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger from the disabled list tomorrow, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links).

The 30-year-old Farquhar tossed a scoreless inning in tonight’s game for Tampa Bay and has thrown a total of 35 frames for the Rays in 2017. In that time, he’s pitched to a 4.11 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 5.7 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate. While the lack of control is obviously a problem for Farquhar, he was better not only in terms of limiting free passes but also in missing bats just one year ago. Last year with the Rays, he logged a strong 3.06 ERA with 11.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 35 1/3 frames.

Farquhar was a Super Two player this past offseason and avoided arbitration for the first time, agreeing to a $900K salary. If the Rays ultimately place him on waivers, that figure — of which about $467K remains — is manageable enough that he’d be a candidate to be claimed. Of course, it’s possible that the Rays also gauge trade interest in Farquhar, who has a 3.65 ERA and nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings across his past 192 1/3 Major League innings and is controllable via arbitration through the 2020 season.

AL East Notes: Alvarez, Ellsbury, Sanchez, Ramos, Boxberger, Torres

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Pedro Alvarez and the Orioles agreed to extend their relationship beyond Alvarez’s original June 1 opt-out date, though that extension is up today, David Hall of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reports (Twitter link).  “Anything remains possible” between the two sides, Hall writes, which isn’t a surprise given the number of moving parts within Alvarez’s situation.  The slugger has only a .224/.295/.452 overall slash line at Triple-A this season, though he has been on a major hot streak over the last two weeks.  Alvarez’s transition to becoming an outfielder also remains very much a work in progress, which limits his ability to find a spot on Baltimore’s 25-man roster.

Here’s more from around the AL East…

  • Jacoby Ellsbury has been shut down due to a return of his concussion symptoms, Yankees manager Joe Girardi told media (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).  Ellsbury suffered the injury after a collision with the outfield wall while making a catch on May 24, and he has already spent more than the minimum seven days on the concussion DL.  The veteran is off to a strong .281/.349/.422 start over his first 153 plate appearances, though New York has a very capable center field replacement in Aaron Hicks while Ellsbury recovers.
  • Blue Jays righty Aaron Sanchez may begin throwing as soon as tomorrow, manager John Gibbons told Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters.  Sanchez hasn’t thrown a pitch since May 19 in an effort to fully recover from the blister and fingernail problems that have plagued him all season, leading to three separate DL stints.  It may still be a while before Sanchez returns to the mound, as Gibbons said the right-hander will “definitely” require a rehab assignment after he is able to begin throwing.
  • Wilson Ramos is aiming to make his Rays debut in late June, after completing a 20-day minor league rehab stint, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  Ramos has reportedly been making solid progress in his recovery from the ACL and meniscus tears he suffered in the last week of the 2016 season.
  • Also from Topkin, Rays reliever Brad Boxberger is also looking to return from the DL late this month.  Boxberger will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday that is tentatively scheduled to last for three weeks.  The right-hander will require a lengthy ramping-up process after missing much of Spring Training with a lat strain, and then suffering a flexor strain in his throwing shoulder.
  • Gleyber Torres has spent the bulk of his Triple-A time at third base, and the top Yankees prospect could very well get a crack at the position in the big leagues this season if Chase Headley continues to struggle.  NJ Advance Media’s Brendan Kuty talks to Yankees third base coach and infield instructor Joe Espada about Torres’ defensive abilities and the challenges in moving from shortstop to the hot corner.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/14/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Righty Casey Fien has accepted a Triple-A assignment with the Mariners after clearing outright waivers, as Bob Dutton and TJ Cotterill of the Tacoma News Tribune report (Twitter links). Fien, who said it was an easy call to remain in the organization, was designated after a few rough outings. But the 33-year-old still has plenty of life to his fastball and was registering swings and misses, and he figures to be one of the first players up if a need rises.
  • The Angels have selected the contract of righty Deolis Guerra, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. Clearing a 40-man spot wasn’t difficult, as the club was able to shift rehabbing lefty Andrew Heaney to the 60-day DL. Soon to turn 28, Guerra pitched to a 3.21 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9 last year, but nevertheless lost his 40-man spot over the winter. He is out of options, so he’ll have to stick on the active roster or face a DFA.
  • The Rays have selected the contract of outfielder Shane Peterson, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Peterson will take the place of Mallex Smith, who is headed to the 10-day DL with a hamstring injury. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Brad Boxberger has been transferred from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. The 29-year-old Peterson saw MLB time with Oakland in 2013 and with Milwaukee in 2015, hitting a combined .225/.322/.346 over the life of 234 plate appearances. Peterson has plenty of action at all three outfield slots and has a very strong .298/.383/.470 batting line in 418 Triple-A games (1808 plate appearances). His stay with the Rays could be a brief one, though, as Colby Rasmus will soon resume his minor league rehab assignment. As for Boxberger, he’s dealing with a flexor strain, Topkin reported last week, and now won’t be eligible to return to the big league roster until June.

AL East Notes: Boxberger, Tanaka, Alvarez, Jays

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Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Rays right-hander Brad Boxberger has actually been dealing with a flexor strain — not the lat strain that sidelined him in Spring Training. Boxberger tells Topkin that he felt “a little off” when throwing in a March 22 live batting practice session that was intended to gauge his recovery from the lat strain. Boxberger went two weeks without throwing and but has been cleared to begin a throwing program. The Rays are hopeful that he’ll be able to return sometime in the month of May, though Boxberger says there’s no hard timetable on his recovery. Boxberger, the former Rays closer, opened the 2016 season on the shelf coming off hernia surgery and quickly suffered an oblique injury upon returning from the disabled list last May. Those injuries combined to limit him to just 24 1/3 innings last year, and while he was on the shelf, Alex Colome broke out and laid claim to the closer’s role in St. Petersburg.

More from the AL East…

  • Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and GM Brian Cashman both tell George A. King III of the New York Post that there’s been no discussion about Masahiro Tanaka’s potential opt-out at season’s end, despite other reports suggesting the team is frustrated with his camp over the matter. “There is nothing to hold over our heads because we haven’t negotiated it,” says Cashman regarding the potential opt out at season’s end. “I have the utmost respect for [Tanaka’s agent] Casey Close and his office. I don’t know where this came from. We haven’t had any discussions of an opt-out.” Steinbrenner offers a similar sentiment to King, telling him that the team’s focus is squarely on the 2017 season. “Secondly, anyone that knows me knows that I don’t get emotional or personal about business,” says Steinbrenner. “Any decision then will be made on a solid analysis of all the relevant data, per usual.”
  • The Orioles released minor league outfielder-turned-pitcher Dariel Alvarez yesterday after it was learned that he’d require surgery (likely Tommy John), thus opening a spot on the 40-man roster for newly acquired left-hander Andrew Faulkner. However, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports that the Orioles are hopeful of re-signing Alvarez to a minor league contract and keeping him in the organization to rehab. That would allow the O’s to further pursue the pitching experiment with Alvarez — a transition that had only just begun when he incurred his elbow injury.
  • Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins tells Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi that the team is pleasantly surprised with the depth that has been stockpiled at Triple-A Buffalo. Getting Mike Bolsinger through waivers yesterday allows the Jays to pair him with Mat Latos in the Triple-A rotation, and Atkins sounded particularly pleased with the fact that they were able to win a claim on catcher Luke Maile. Atkins tells Davidi that the team didn’t expect to be able to stockpile this kind of depth after already adding Juan Graterol (also via waivers) and Mike Ohlman (minor league deal). “But the opportunity to add a piece that we feel is an already now major-league defender was something we didn’t want to pass on,” says Atkins of Maile.

Notable Roster Decisions: Friday

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As Spring Training draws to a close, the final determinations about each team’s roster will be continue to come into focus. Here are some of the day’s more notable roster decisions…

  • Prized righty Tyler Glasnow will take the final spot in the Pirates rotation, Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on Twitter. He had been competing with Trevor Williams, who’ll head to the bullpen, Adam Berry of MLB.com adds on Twitter. With southpaw Wade LeBlanc also taking a job, that seems to set the stage for Rule 5 pick Tyler Webb to hit the waiver wire.
  • The Giants have nailed down their bench and rotation, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. Aaron Hill and Chris Marrero will round out the bench. The veteran Hill figures to share the infield reserve duties with Conor Gillaspie, while Marrero will surprisingly open the season as a part of a left field platoon with the left-handed-hitting Jarrett Parker. Meanwhile, Matt Cain will keep a rotation spot, though Ty Blach will also make the club as a reliever — where he could often spell Cain in lengthier outings.
  • With injuries and young arms entering the picture, the Rockies’ pitching plans were interesting to watch this spring. As Nick Groke of the Denver Post tweets, the team will roll with lefty Kyle Freeland and righties Antonio Senzatela and German Marquez to fill out their starting staff. It seems likely that the former two will open the year in the rotation, with Marquez heading to the pen and staying on hand if a need arises.

Click to read earlier updates …

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AL East Notes: Red Sox, Betts, Leon, Donaldson, Boxberger, Beckham

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In an interesting look inside the Red Sox front office, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal reports on the team’s analytical upgrade efforts. While the organization has long been associated with number-crunching and information hoarding, it has only recently ramped up its full-time staff to launch a new database effort and keep pace with other clubs. It’s an interesting look at the process behind and purposes of the team’s next steps in analytics.

Here’s more from Boston and the rest of the AL East:

  • In a look at Red Sox star Mookie Betts, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe delves into the role of off-field earning opportunities in determining the contractual path of Betts and other young stars. “[Getting endorsements] kind of eliminates things I’ve wondered as far as contracts go and the business part of the game,” says Betts. “[But] everything I can ever desire is going to start from me taking care of business on the field.” Whether that precludes a long-term deal — or, at least, drives up the potential price — remains to be seen.
  • Sandy Leon seems on track to open the season with the lion’s share of the time behind the dish for the Red Sox, skipper John Farrell told reporters including Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald (via Twitter). But the manager made clear that he doesn’t intend to rely too heavily on any one man at the catching position, suggesting it’ll be a fairly evenly shared platoon situation between Leon and Christian Vasquez — at least to start the season.
  • Star Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson took the field in Grapefruit League action for the first time yesterday, as MLB.com’s Paul Hagen writes. All indications were that his calf issue didn’t hold him back, so it seems that Toronto can still look forward to Donaldson’s presence on the Opening Day roster.
  • Rays righty Brad Boxberger isn’t going to be ready for Opening Day, but does hope to be contributing in the majors during the month of April, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. His lat issue will still require at least a week-long layoff before he beings a new throwing program.
  • The career of former top Rays prospect Tim Beckham has continued its roller-coaster path, Topkin writes. After a rough end to 2016, Beckham now seems ascendant yet again, with a strong showing in spring and unexpected opportunity at shortstop with Matt Duffy still on ice. Beckham is drawing rave reviews from manager Kevin Cash and veteran players for his commitment and performance, perhaps suggesting there’s still some hope the 27-year-old can turn the corner at the game’s highest level.

AL East Notes: Thornburg, Donaldson, Travis, Boxberger

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Reliever Tyler Thornburg tops the Red Sox’ list of concerns as the 2017 season approaches, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Thornburg has dealt with dead arm for most of Spring Training so far. The Red Sox gave up a fairly hefty package of talent that included infielder Travis Shaw and prospect Mauricio Dubon to get Thornburg, but so far Thornburg’s Red Sox tenure is off to a rough start — he misinterpreted the Red Sox’ prescribed offseason training regimen, according to Cafardo, and now will probably have to start the season on the disabled list. The Red Sox might end up missing longtime late-inning reliever Koji Uehara, who they allowed to depart for the Cubs. Cafardo notes that Thornburg could join a list of Red Sox relief trade acquisitions who disappointed due to injury, including Carson Smith, Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey — although, of course, Hanrahan and Bailey weren’t acquired under the Red Sox’ current front office, and it’s way, way too early to write Thornburg off. Thornburg pitched an apparently successful bullpen session on Saturday. Here’s more from the AL East.

  • Blue Jays slugger Josh Donaldson makes his Spring Training debut today playing DH against Minnesota, John Lott of the Athletic tweets. Donaldson suffered a calf injury near the start of Spring Training and has been out the past month. Donaldson’s return isn’t the only bit of good news for the Jays. Second baseman Devon Travis, who has missed time after having offseason knee surgery, also appears to be returning to health — Lott tweets that Travis expects to make his official spring debut later this week.
  • One player whose injury prognosis isn’t so sunny is Rays reliever Brad Boxberger, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes (all Twitter links). Manager Kevin Cash says Boxberger’s lat injury isn’t improving as quickly as the team had anticipated, and that he’s unlikely to be ready for Opening Day. Boxberger struggled with an oblique injury during a poor 2016 season in which he posted a 4.81 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 7.0 BB/9 in just 24 1/3 innings. His absence could create an opportunity for recent waiver claim Jumbo Diaz, who’s about to return to the Rays after pitching in the World Baseball Classic, according to Topkin.
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