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Filling Out The Tigers’ Starting Rotation

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UPDATE: Zimmermann has been placed on the 45-day injured list, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck and others (Twitter links). The Tigers aren’t ruling him out for the season yet.

TODAY: Jordan Zimmermann is dealing with the same sort of forearm soreness that sapped him of much of the 2019 season, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. If he can stay healthy – a big if – Zimmermann would look to make the most of a short season by proving his arm still plays at the major league level. This will be the final year of the five-year, $110MM pact he signed with the Tigers before the 2016 season.

It’s been a tough couple of years for Zimmermann, who will end his contract without ever making 30 starts in a season after doing so in each of his final four seasons with the Nationals. Despite the precipitous drop in performance, the Tigers were nonetheless turning to Zimmermann as a veteran stopgap in a rotation that will soon be overrun by high-upside prospects like Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Franklin Perez, Casey Mize, and Joey Wentz. The rotation is already without Daniel Norris, who has yet to pitch in camp after testing positive for coronavirus.

In the meantime, the Tigers are scrambling to fill out the rotation behind ace Matthew Boyd. Veteran Ivan Nova was brought in to soak up innings (34 starts, 187 innings in 2019), and Spencer Turnbull figures to slot in somewhere in the middle of the rotation after a mostly-strong showing in 2019. Turnbull went 3-17 last season with a 4.61 ERA/3.99 FIP. He’s done a nice job of limiting long balls throughout his two seasons in the majors, and if he can improve upon some control issues that led to an AL-high 16 hit batters and 3.6 BB/9, the Tigers hope Turnbull can level off his 4.76 career ERA and land closer to his 3.88 career FIP mark.

Beyond those three, the Tigers are working on extending the innings of Dario Agrazal, Shao-Ching Chiang, Hector Santiago, and Tyler Alexander to potentially fill out the rotation. Former Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer also has a chance to get some rotation innings, writes McCosky. Fulmer missed all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Of the youngsters in camp, Mize probably has the best shot of cracking the rotation. Under normal circumstances, Mize would be ticketed for Triple-A after 22 starts with a 2.55 ERA in Double-A last year, but without minor league games to further his development, count Mize among the many young stars with a slightly better chance of breaking into the big leagues sometime during the shortened 2020 season. Seven days on the taxi squad will be enough for the Tigers to secure an extra year of service time, notes McCosky, but manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t plan on making any official decisions until knowing more about the health of Zimmermann and Norris.

Daniel Norris Away From Camp Due To Coronavirus Protocols

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11:41am: Norris has tested positive, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports.

10:39am: Tigers lefty Daniel Norris is away from Summer Camp pursuant to the coronavirus protocols, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports on Twitter. It is not clear whether he has personally tested positive for an infection.

The good news here is that Norris indicates he’s not presently experiencing any deleterious side effects. The southpaw adds that he’s at full strength otherwise.

Even if Norris has not contracted the virus or does not experience symptoms, he’ll have to wait a while before returning to camp. He will have to register negative for COVID-19 on two consecutive tests.

Norris, 27, remains an interesting and uncertain part of the picture for the Tigers. He threw 144 1/3 innings of 4.49 ERA ball last year, compiling 7.8 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9, a 42.6% groundball rate, and 1.56 homers allowed per nine innings. The results and the peripherals suggested that Norris performed as a back-of-the-rotation starter — a useful player, but perhaps not what once seemed possible for the former to prospect.

The Blockbuster That Brought The Tigers Their Most Valuable Trade Chip

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The Blue Jays were the talk of the 2015 trade deadline. A few days after bringing in star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Rockies, the Jays struck for the top rental starting pitcher on the market: Tigers’ left-hander David Price. Amidst a seven-year run of pristine durability and general excellence, 2015 was perhaps Price’s peak season. At the time of the deal, he was sitting on a 2.53 ERA over 146 innings.

It was a fascinating swap for a number of reasons. The 52-51 Jays were only 1.5 games above the Tigers in the standings, making the organizations’ decisions to take diverging approaches at the deadline particularly interesting. At the time, Fangraphs gave the talented, but to that point underperforming, Toronto club a 48.9% shot of reaching the postseason, while the Tigers’ playoff odds sat at a lowly 9.7%. In that context, it makes sense then-Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopolous considered the time right to push his chips in; it’s equally sensible then-Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski pivoted his organization toward a rebuild.

Just as notable was the steep acquisition cost. The Jays sent the Tigers a trio of left-handed pitching prospects, led by Daniel Norris, who had entered that season as Baseball America’s #18 overall prospect. He’d had some strike-throwing issues in the minors, but Norris looked the part of a potential power mid-rotation starter.

Unfortunately, Norris has never really made good on that immense promise. In four-plus seasons in Detroit, the former second-rounder has a cumulative 4.56 ERA/4.41 FIP in 396.1 innings. His once-dominant stuff has waxed and waned in that time. Norris quietly had a strong second half in 2019, particularly after being limited to three innings per start in August. Perhaps there’s hope yet for the 27-year-old to find his niche.

Even if Norris hasn’t turned out the way Detroit fans may have envisioned, the Tigers have gotten plenty of long-term value from the Price deal. Matthew Boyd was arguably viewed as the third piece at the time, behind Norris and Jairo Labourt. (Labourt, then a well-regarded low minors starter, never panned out, even after moving to the bullpen). Boyd had already reached the majors but was viewed as a back-of-the-rotation type. Suffice it to say most didn’t envision him emerging as one of the game’s premier strikeout artists, but that’s exactly what he did in 2019. Among pitchers with at least 100 innings, Boyd ranked thirteenth in strikeout rate (30.2%) while maintaining his long-lauded control (6.2% walk rate).

Boyd’s 4.56 ERA didn’t match up with those strong peripherals, mostly due to an abundance of home runs. Indeed, he’s a fly ball pitcher who may always serve up a few too many longballs to be a top-of-the-rotation arm. As much as any pitcher in baseball, Boyd could stand to benefit if the ball is less lively than it has been in recent seasons. More than ever, though, teams covet pitchers with swing-and-miss stuff. Between his four-seamer and slider, Boyd has a pair of bat-missing weapons.

With the Tigers yet to emerge from the rebuild the Price trade symbolically kicked off, Boyd himself could be on the move in the near future. Detroit didn’t actively look to trade him last offseason, but the club also seems unlikely to contend by 2022, his final season of team control. He’ll no doubt pique contending teams’ interest and would bring back a much stronger return than his ERA might otherwise suggest.

As for the Jays, their story has been told many times, although their fans may not mind hearing it once more. They stormed back in the second half, not only securing a playoff berth but erasing a seven-game deficit to win the AL East. Toronto knocked off the Rangers in the ALDS that year in one of the more memorable series in recent history. Their magical second-half run came to an end in the ALCS at the hands of the eventual World Series champion Royals. Price was instrumental to that success, tossing 74.1 innings of 2.30 ERA ball in the season’s final two months. He parlayed his longtime excellence into a seven year, $217MM deal with the Red Sox that offseason.

All told, the trade looks like a win for both sides. The Blue Jays got an elite two months from an ace to help propel them to a division title. The Tigers have gotten plenty of valuable innings over the longer term. Indeed, they got their high strikeout, mid-rotation southpaw out of the deal, even if it wasn’t the player anyone expected to it be.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
  • The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
  • The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
  • Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
  • Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
  • The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

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Tigers Notes: E-Jax, Reyes, Norris, Castro, Minor League Staff

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Edwin Jackson’s on-field performance in his second stint with the Tigers hasn’t given fans much to cheer about — 8.58 ERA in 35 2/3 innings — but catcher Grayson Greiner called Jackson’s experience “invaluable,” when talking with MLB.com’s Jason Beck about the veteran right-hander’s role as a mentor. And while one would expect teammates to voice support for Jackson, Beck adds that a member of the opposing dugout also heaped praise onto Jackson. Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde called Jackson “one of my top five teammates I’ve ever been around” — a reference to the pair’s days together with the Cubs. “He’s a total pro and a class act, and there’s a reason why he’s been around so long and people want to have him around and always give him an opportunity, because he’s such a great guy,” said Hyde.

Whether that makes Jackson worthy of a roster spot on a rebuilding team when his struggles on the mound have been so pronounced is another debate — one the Tigers will surely have internally this winter. Beck notes that Detroit could have interest in re-signing Jackson to a minor league contract. Doing so would at least bring him to Spring Training with the team’s young players and could give them a veteran to bridge the gap to promising pitching prospects like Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Tarik Skubal and others — if he makes the roster.

More out of the Motor City…

  • Positive strides made by the trio of Victor Reyes, Daniel Norris and Harold Castro late in the 2019 season have most likely solidified their place on the 2020 roster, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News writes. Reyes, 25 next month, looked wholly overwhelmed as a Rule 5 pick in 2018, but he’s delivered a .299/.333/.415 slash line with a pair of homers, 14 doubles, three triples and six steals in 237 plate appearances since being recalled in 2019 — all while playing above-average defense in center. The Tigers began limiting Norris to three-inning outings last month, and he’s responded with a 3.86 ERA and a 21-to-7 K/BB ratio in 21 innings of work. He’s still been far too homer-prone in that time, but it’s an encouraging step forward for the former top prospect, who’ll likely command only a modest raise on this year’s $1.2MM salary in arbitration this winter. As for Castro, the 25-year-old has hit at a .305/.320/.399 clip in 333 plate appearances, although his paltry 2.7 percent walk rate and a .383 average on balls in play call into question the sustainability of that production.
  • Lynn Henning of the Detroit News reports that the Tigers have fired six minor league coaches, including Double-A hitting coach Brian Harper and minor league field coordinator Bill Dancy. The Tigers are still deciding the fate of Triple-A manager Doug Mientkiewicz, who is currently under contract through the 2020 season. Double-A skipper Mike Rabelo could be a potential replacement option for Mientkiewicz if Detroit opts not to bring him back, Henning adds.

AL Notes: Dunning, Andrus, Norris

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White Sox righty Dane Dunning recently discussed his Tommy John rehab work with MLB.com’s Scott Merkin. The 24-year-old has begun light throwing, but that’s just the start of a lengthy rebuilding process. He’s hoping to be ready for game action by early June, which would be about 15 months after his procedure. It is certainly possible that the highly regarded hurler could have an impact in the majors as soon as 2020, though odds are that he’ll spend more time regaining his footing in the upper minors. Dunning’s sterling 2018 showing was cut short by forearm issues that ultimately ended in the operating room. But he has already shown he can thrive at the Double-A level. When he is able to make it back, Dunning says he hopes to have an even “stronger foundation” to work from. He says he’s stronger, more aware of how to care for his body, and better prepared “to maintain a healthier balance through the season.”

More from the American League …

  • With the Rangers continuing a tricky roster balancing act, the play of shortstop Elvis Andrus remains a key factor. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News examines the 31-year-old’s status as the 2019 campaign winds to a close. The organization can count on his three-year, $43MM future contract obligations remaining on the books, as Andrus has little reason to exercise his opt-out clause after an underwhelming season. While it’s a manageable-enough sum of money, it’d look a whole lot more palatable if Andrus was hitting near the league-average rate and performing better in the field. Instead, he has hovered at about twenty percent below average in productivity with the bat while showing inconsistency with his glove.
  • Tigers southpaw Daniel Norris has been a bright spot in a dismal season in Detroit, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News writes. Norris is being handled with care down the stretch since he was so limited last season, which reflects the fact that the organization is invested in the 26-year-old’s future. To be sure, it’s not as if Norris has dominated. He has turned in stronger results of late but only owns a 4.70 ERA in 126 1/3 frames to date. As McCosky explains in detail, though, Norris has made some strides that have created a sense of optimism. The club will owe him a raise on his $1.275MM arbitration salary.

Phillies Have Discussed Boyd, Greene With Tigers

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The Phillies have had recent trade talks with the Tigers, and general manager Matt Klentak will be travel to Detroit to get an in-person look at the Tigers’ trade candidates, reports Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. Of particular interest to the Phils are lefty Matthew Boyd and closer Shane Greene, although Salisbury suggests that the two teams have at least discussed outfielder Nicholas Castellanos and left-handed starter Daniel Norris.

Both the pitching staff and the bullpen are logical areas of focus for the Phillies, who recently demoted Nick Pivetta to the bullpen in favor of a dice roll on Drew Smyly (whose first start as a Phillie was excellent). Aaron Nola scuffled through a sluggish stretch earlier in the season, while Jake Arrieta is pitching through a bone spur that’ll eventually require elbow surgery. Righty Zach Eflin has been a solid mid-rotation piece, but Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, Jerad Eickhoff and rookie Cole Irvin have all struggled in their starts.

The bullpen has been an entirely different brand of problematic. David Robertson, Seranthony Dominguez, Tommy Hunter, Pat Neshek, Edubray Ramos and Victor Arano have all missed significant time due to injury in 2019, which has frequently left the Phillies to rely on questionable arms. Of late, closer Hector Neris has become extraordinarily homer prone after what had been a strong two-month run that saw him yield one homer in 22 1/3 innings.

The Phillies are only a half-game back of the Nationals for the second NL Wild Card spot and, at 7.5 games behind the Braves, are technically still within plausible reach of a push for the division — although unseating Atlanta for the division crown is admittedly a long shot. Because of those long odds, though, it’s perhaps more natural to see the Phils paying particular interest to players who can be controlled beyond 2019. Dealing significant prospects for a rental when the most likely playoff scenario involves a one-game playoff is a tough sell for any front office.

Philadelphia has about $110MM committed to next season’s payroll — about $51MM less than the team is currently carrying. They’ve also seen their opening day payroll climb as high as $177MM back in 2014. With that level of financial breathing room — Nehsek, Hunter and Juan Nicasio will all be free agents; Maikel Franco could be non-tendered — the Phillies will be able to be aggressive in reloading for another run in 2020 regardless of this season’s outcome. Adding some salary right now in proactive moves to bolster this year’s Wild Card push and next year’s division chase is only logical.

Whether that proves to be some combination of Detroit’s controllable arms, at this point, is an unknown even to the Tigers and Phillies themselves. Team president Andy MacPhail recently expressed reluctance to deal from the very top tier of the farm (e.g. Alec Bohm, Spencer Howard), and the asking price on Boyd alone is known to be enormous. Reports have ranged from seeking a young, established “star”-caliber player to a Jose Quintana-esque haul. (The Cubs sent the White Sox a four-player package headlined by Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease.) Salisbury suggests something similar to the latter in referencing a four-player package with two potential stars — and that’s just for Boyd.

If the Phils are to look elsewhere, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale again connects the team to Arizona ace Zack Greinke as well as D-backs left-hander Robbie Ray (Twitter link). It’s not at all clear whether the Diamondbacks will move either player, but the Phils have previously been linked to Greinke, in particular. The aforementioned payroll capacity would surely come into play in any talks involving the righty. Greinke is still owed $75MM+ in base salaries between now and 2021, plus a yearly $3MM payout on his annualized signing bonus. Beyond that, a substantial portion of his yearly salary is deferred. He’ll be paid $12.5MM annually from 2022-26.

The Phillies could certainly help alleviate some of that fiscal burden for the Diamondbacks, but Greinke is also enjoying a strong season and wouldn’t be traded away for pure salary relief. The two sides would, in all likelihood, need to agree on some combination of financial aid and still-appealing prospects. That’s a tall order under any circumstances but is especially cumbersome with a nine-day clock on negotiations at a time when the D-backs, with a 50-50 record, aren’t even decided deadline sellers. As if all of that isn’t a sizable enough roadblock, the Phillies are also on Greinke’s limited no-trade list.

Roster Decisions: Braves, Jays, Tigers, Twins

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With Opening Day nearly upon us, here are a few of the notable roster decisions from around the game …

  • Right-hander Wes Parsons and non-roster invitees Matt Joyce and Josh Tomlin have made the Braves’ Opening Day roster, the team announced to reporters today (Twitter link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Meanwhile, as The Athletic’s David O’Brien writes, Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright will be a part of Atlanta’s rotation to begin the season. That makes for quite an interesting and unexpected collection of roster pieces. The club is waiting to finalize its roster completely while evaluating external options.
  • Right-hander Trent Thornton, whom the Blue Jays acquired in exchange for Aledmys Diaz this winter, will be Toronto’s fourth starter to open the season, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Fellow righty Sam Gaviglio will open the year as a long man in the bullpen. In other decisions for the Jays, also via Davidi, the club has decided to keep Rule 5 righty Elvis Luciano despite some rocky moments this spring. Southpaw Thomas Pannone and infielder Richard Urena are also heading north, with the team’s final roster spot still up for grabs. It may go to Bud Norris if he’s ready, says Davidi, with the team also pondering Javy Guerra while eyeing outside possibilities.
  • The Tigers have informed righty Spencer Turnbull that he’ll be in the rotation to begin the season, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports. He took that job over lefty Daniel Norris, who’ll open the year in the bullpen. Norris will work in a long capacity, with the goal being to keep him stretched out in case a starting spot comes open. Turnbull, 26, earned the nod with an excellent spring showing: 15 frames of 1.80 ERA pitching with 15 strikeouts and just a pair of walks. The former second-round pick reached the big leagues briefly last year, but spent most of his ’18 season at Double-A. He pitched to a 4.47 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 98 2/3 innings over 19 starts at the penultimate level of the minors.
  • In one of the better stories of Spring Training, Ryne Harper has made the Twins’ Opening Day roster, as manager Rocco Baldelli recently announced (Twitter link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Harper, who turns thirty today, enjoyed a terrific spring with the Twins and will now have the opportunity to pitch in his first big league game after grinding through eight minor league seasons. The call to the big leagues for Harper is surely sweetened by the fact that he’s come as close to making his big league debut as possible in the past; the Mariners selected Harper’s contract back in 2017 but optioned him back to Triple-A before he ever appeared in a game. He was outrighted before ever being summoned back to the big leagues.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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The deadline for players and teams to exchange arbitration figures passed at 1pm ET yesterday, meaning over the next few hours, there will be a landslide of settlements on one-year deals to avoid an arbitration hearing. We’ll track today’s minor settlements from the American League in this post. Once all of the day’s settlements have filtered in, I’ll organize them by division to make them a bit easier to parse.

It’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of teams have adopted a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning that once arbitration figures are exchanged with a player, negotiations on a one-year deal will cease. The two parties may still discuss a multi-year deal after that point, but the majority of players who exchange figures with their team today will head to an arbitration hearing.

As always, all salary projections referenced within this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and we’ll also be updating our 2019 Arbitration Tracker throughout the day…

Today’s Updates

  • Yankees 1B Greg Bird will make $1.2 MM next season, per Bob Nightengale on Twitter.
  • The controversial Roberto Osuna will make $6.5MM next season, per Feinsand. Teammate Jake Marisnick, who again scuffled in ’18 after a promising 2017, will make $2.2125MM.
  • Per Mark Feinsand on Twitter, A’s lefty Sean Manaea $3.15MM in what’s sure to be an injury-marred 2019.
  • Hard-throwing reliever Mychal Givens will make $2.15MM, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter), with additional incentives for making the All-Star team or placing in the Top-3 for the Rivera/Hoffman Reliever of the Year Awards, added MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).
  • The Mariners agreed on a $1.95MM deal with outfielder Domingo Santana, per MLB.com’s Greg Johns (via Twitter). Santana is the second and last of the Mariners’ arbitration-eligible players.
  • The Angels agreed to contracts with a pair of players yesterday, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Reliever Hansel Robles signed for $1.4MM. Robles threw 36 1/3 innings of 2.97 ERA baseball after the Angels claimed him off waivers from the Mets in June. Luis Garcia, acquired via trade from the Phillies this winter, signed for $1.675MM.
  • The Tigers and reliever Shane Greene settled on $4MM, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via Twitter).
  • The Yankees reached an agreement with Sonny Gray for $7.5MM, per Nightengale. Gray, of course, has been involved trade rumors most of the winter, but for the time being, he stands to play a role in the Yankee pen while providing insurance for the rotation.
  • Didi Gregorius has also come to an agreement with the Yankees on a one-year, $11.75MM deal in his final season before free agency, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links).
  • New Yankee James Paxton signed for $8.575, per Nightengale (via Twitter). Paxton is under contract for the 2020 season as well.
  • The Houston Astros came to an agreement with Collin McHugh for $5.8MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter). McHugh could be moving back into the rotation after a stellar season in the pen, either way this will be his final season of arb eligibility before hitting the open market.
  • Jonathan Villar comes away with $4.825MM for what will be his first full season in Baltimore, per Nightengale (via Twitter).

Earlier Updates

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AL Central Notes: Twins, Norris, Indians

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Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey tells Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the team isn’t ruling out the addition of an established hitter in free agency. Asked specifically about the possibility of adding a slugger such as Nelson Cruz, Falvey spoke in general terms about the “trade-off” of adding an established bat to “take pressure off other guys in the lineup” at the expense of allowing some younger options to develop or receive a legitimate chance at playing time. The Twins have some options at designated hitter in the form of C.J. Cron and Tyler Austin, though Falvey was also clear in indicating that the Twins “feel like there’s still an opportunity on the board to bring in someone who will help our lineup.” Whether that ultimately leads to a move remains to be seen, but adding someone of Cruz’s caliber to a lineup also featuring Cron, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano and Jonathan Schoop would give the Twins quite a bit of power potential in 2019 and add some stability to a group that is in need of several rebound seasons (Sano, Schoop, Byron Buxton).

More from the division…

  • As part of his latest mailbag column, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at what the addition of both Matt Moore and Tyson Ross means for Daniel Norris’ future with the Tigers. As Fenech notes, the pair of additions sends a message to Norris that he won’t be guaranteed a starting job and will need to force his way into the rotation. Once considered one of the game’s premier pitching prospects — Norris ranked as a Top 20 overall prospect per both Baseball America and MLB.com in 2015 — the now-25-year-old Norris has just a 4.61 ERA in 252 innings with the Tigers. His development was undeniably slowed by a frightening battle with thyroid cancer in 2016, and Norris also underwent surgery to repair a groin tear earlier this season. Fenech adds that “behind-the-scenes, [the Tigers] have not been bashful in their views that Norris needs to take a step forward, and soon.” Detroit controls Norris through the 2021 season.
  • Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said it has yet to be decided if the money saved so far in the offseason trades of Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes and Yonder Alonso would be reinvested into the 2019 roster, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. That’s not to say that Cleveland has decided not to spend any of its newfound resources, however, and it’s perhaps unsurprising that any top-ranking exec would decline to make firm promises when it comes to spending a specific amount on the roster. Hoynes goes on to suggest that a bullpen addition such as Adam Ottavino doesn’t seem particularly likely if the pitcher in question hopes to sign for something near Andrew Miller’s $25MM guarantee, however, casting a bit more doubt on Cleveland’s spending capacity. All that said, the trade market would present innumerable paths to improving the roster in an effort to gear up for a run at a fourth consecutive division championship, and there will certainly be more affordable bullpen options as the offseason wears on.
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