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NL Central Notes: Betts, Brewers, Venable, Tigers, Pirates

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Could Mookie Betts have blossomed to stardom in a Brewers uniform?  It could have been a reality if former Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin had had his way, as he tried to acquire Betts from the Red Sox in 2013 in exchange for closer Francisco Rodriguez, according to MLB.com’s Adam Berry and Adam McCalvy.  As a fifth-round pick for Boston in the 2011 draft, “Mookie sort of went under the radar if you went by the so-called MLB Pipeline or whatever.  I don’t think at the time he was in their top 10-15 prospects,” Melvin said.  Both the Brewers’ analytics and scouting departments agreed on Betts’ potential, however, so the pitch was made to then-Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington, who wisely declined the offer.

Betts was already in the midst of a big season at the A-ball levels in 2013, and Cherington recalls that by season’s end, Betts’ “name was the first one” mentioned by other clubs in trade negotiations.  “Doug Melvin was the first to ask, so I always give Doug credit.  He was the first one to ask for him,” Cherington said.

While Milwaukee fans take a moment to sigh ruefully, let’s look at some other items from around the NL Central…

  • Cubs third base coach Will Venable spoke with the Tigers about their managerial vacancy, NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer reports.  Venable was first cited as a potential candidate for the Tigers job back in September, and Venable has also recently interviewed with the Red Sox about their managerial job.  Beyond the Red Sox and Tigers, “other clubs also have sought the Cubs’ permission to talk with Venable about other, non-managerial openings in their organizations,” Wittenmyer writes.  A veteran of nine MLB seasons, Venable has spent the last three years in Wrigleyville as a special assistant to Theo Epstein, as well as a first base and third base coach.  This is the second straight winter that Venable has been a popular candidate, as the Cubs considered him for their own manager’s job last offseason, and the Astros and Giants also interviewed him for their managerial openings.
  • The Pirates have 19 players eligible for arbitration this offseason, the most of any team in baseball.  At least some of those names won’t be back in Pittsburgh in 2021, as The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel thinks as many as six players could be non-tendered and several others are trade candidates.  Interestingly, Biertempfel cites Trevor Williams as a potential non-tender, on the heels of a season that saw Williams get off to a good start but then struggle to finish with a 6.18 ERA over 55 1/3 innings, with a league-high 15 homers allowed.  Williams received some trade interest from at least one team (the Blue Jays) back in August, so it’s possible Toronto or another club could have some talks with the Pirates before the non-tender deadline.  Williams had a pair of solid seasons in 2017-18 and is entering his age-29 season with two years of team control remaining.  MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Williams to earn between $3.2MM and $4.6MM through the arbitration process this winter.

Mets’ GM Search Down To Three Finalists

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Oct. 25: Like Van Wagenen before him, Bloom has opted to release a brief statement rather than conduct an interview with the media. It’s a fairly standard-issue statement, with Bloom calling yesterday’s second interview with the Mets “productive” and adding that he “enjoyed” the opportunity to but declining to speak much beyond that out of respect to his current role with the Tampa Bay organization.

DiComo tweets that a “sizable industry majority” considers Melvin to be the favorite, though he and numerous others have suggested that the lack of a media session for Van Wagenen and Bloom shouldn’t be read into as an indicator that Melvin has the job locked up. Rather, neither Van Wagenen nor Bloom felt comfortable addressing the New York media about a potential new role, given their prominent standing elsewhere in the baseball world.

Oct. 24: The Mets’ ongoing search for a general manager was narrowed to five recently, and Matt Ehalt of the New Jersey tweets that two candidates, MLB exec Kim Ng and agent Casey Close, have been eliminated from the running. (Close’s role in the process is now being downplayed, as Tim Healey of Newsday tweets.) MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo hears similarly, tweeting that the three finalists for the post are Rays senior vice president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, former Brewers/Rangers general manager Doug Melvin, and agent Brodie Van Wagenen — the head of CAA Baseball.

The backgrounds of the three reported finalists are about as wide-ranging as one could imagine. We’ll keep tabs on the situation here:

Chaim Bloom

Bloom, 35, cut his teeth as a 21-year-old intern and rose through the ranks of one of baseball’s most analytic- and data-driven organizations, recently being named one of the Rays’ top two execs alongside GM Erik Neander. He will have the chance to make final impressions on the Mets hiring committee, following the other two candidates in the process. It is expected that he’ll speak with the media following his interview.

Doug Melvin

The 66-year-old Melvin comes from a more traditional scouting background and would undoubtedly be tabbed an “old-school” hire by the Mets, though his fingerprints are still present on a Brewers club that just came within a game of a World Series berth. Melvin was the GM for the acquisitions of Josh Hader (Carlos Gomez trade), Domingo Santana (Gomez trade), Corey Knebel (Yovani Gallardo trade), Zach Davies (Gerardo Parra trade) and Hernan Perez (waiver claim) as well as the drafting of Brandon Woodruff, Jacob Barnes and Brent Suter.

Following his sit-down, Melvin chatted with the media about his candidacy, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo was among those to cover. He emphasized that he’s open to contemporary analytics and also attempted to highlight his own instances forward thinking as an executive. Melvin seemingly positioned himself as a seasoned decisionmaker who can incorporate cutting-edge tools. He also stressed that he is motivated to get back into the day-to-day running of an ops department after several years away.

Brodie Van Wagenen

Van Wagenen would be the most outside-the-box hire the Mets could make, having no prior experience as an executive with a Major League club. The 44-year-old directly represents numerous Mets players, though, including Yoenis Cespedes and Jacob deGrom, so owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon undoubtedly have a longstanding familiarity with him. Agencies are continually becoming increasingly versed in analytics as they seek to make the best possible cases for their clients, though certainly there’d be an enormous difference between heading up an agency (even one of the game’s larger agencies) and running a baseball operations department while simultaneously addressing the media as the face of the team’s leadership.

Van Wagenen interviewed on Monday. While the New York Post’s Mike Puma has previously reported that the Mets plan on making all of the finalists available to the media after the coming wave of secondary interviews, that did not come to pass in this case owing to Van Wagenen’s still-existing agency obligations.

The Mets did release a statement from Van Wagenen, who says his “conversations with the Mets continue to be organic.” He sought to walk a fine line in his comments, concluding by writing, somewhat awkwardly: “As Jeff and Fred [Wilpon] continue their search for a new head of baseball operations, the players, fans and entire organization will be motivated to have a leader with the skills and commitment to win. If the Wilpons believe I am that person, we will have that conversation.”

As Puma writes, the obvious tension between Van Wagenen’s current role as a significant agent and his consideration for this important role with the Mets is a significant concern for some on the player side of the labor divide. Clearly, it creates a tricky situation even during the interview process. Van Wagenen would need to step away from CAA and transfer representation of his clients to others in the agency were he to ultimately take the Mets’ job.

The Mets’ GM Search

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Not long after longtime general manager Sandy Alderson stepped down from his post with the Mets earlier this summer, it became clear that the organization would conduct an extensive search to tab a new head of baseball operations. Assistant GM John Ricco and special assistants J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya have been overseeing the team’s baseball operations department on an interim basis, but the Mets are now formally in search of a new department leader.

There have been multiple reports that owner Fred Wilpon is eyeing a more traditional general manager with scouting-based acumen (an “old school” type of executive, to use a broad description), while his son, COO Jeff Wilpon, is more focused on hiring an analytically-inclined executive that more closely aligns with recent industry trends. Per Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Mets are leaving some candidates with the sense that the new hire won’t quite enjoy a full slate of baseball ops power. As he puts it, the impression is that Omar Minaya or one of the other existing assistant GMs could retain control over player development functions. Team sources that spoke with Heyman denied that was the case, however.

As we’ve done with some recent managerial searches, we’ll track the majority of the updates in the Mets’ GM search here as they navigate the early phases of the process.

Latest Update — 10/20

  • Doug Melvin and agent Brodie Van Wagenen are the favorites to land the job, per Mike Puma of the New York Post.
  • Ng and Bloom are still being considered for the position, per Puma.
  • Littlefield, if not already eliminated, is considered a “long shot” at this juncture.
  • Close and former Mets GM Omar Minaya can’t “completely be ruled out” at this time, per Puma and Joel Sherman.

Latest Update — 10/19

  • It seems that agent Casey Close is also still in the mix. Martino tweets that he, Van Wagenen, Bloom, Ng, and Melvin appear to make up the finalists.
  • LaRocque is no longer under consideration, Marc Carig of The Athletic reports (Twitter link).
  • Agent Brodie Van Wagenen is still in the picture after receiving an initial interview, per Carig (via Twitter). (Carig initially tweeted the opposite, but amended his report.)
  • The Mets only consider Littlefield a “fringe” contender to land the position, per Mike Puma of the New York Post.
  • DiComo now tweets that Watson did not receive a call for a second interview and is no longer in the running for the position.

Earlier Updates — 10/19

  • The Mets have interviewed six to eight candidates and will enter the second round of interviews next week, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (Twitter link). Fred Wilpon will join the interview process in place of John Ricco for the second wave of sitdowns. DiComo notes that Littlefield, Bloom, LaRocque, Watson, Melvin and Ng are the six known candidates to date.
  • It’s not fully clear whether all six to eight candidates who’ve interviewed are ticketed for a followup session, though. Andy Martino f SNY.tv writes that the Mets have not yet determined which of the first round interviewees will be spoken with next week. Interestingly, Puma tweets that the Mets plan to make each finalist available to the media after his or her second interview is completed, so it seems as though there’ll be some transparency in the latter stages of the process.

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Quick Hits: Mets, Melvin, Nationals, Lucroy, Dunning

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The Mets will interview former Rangers and Brewers GM Doug Melvin about their open general manager’s position sometime in the next week or two, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.  Melvin, who has been a senior advisor for Milwaukee since being moved out of the GM role in August 2015, was first linked to the Mets by Fancred’s Jon Heyman back in August.  With Mets owner Fred Wilpon reportedly looking to hire a seasoned executive with a scouting background, Melvin’s 30 years of front office experience would certainly seem to make him a solid candidate, though COO Jeff Wilpon is seemingly more keen on a more analytical mind in New York’s baseball ops department.  Up to a dozen “serious candidates” are reportedly under consideration for the Mets’ GM job, however, so Melvin still faces tough competition.

Some more from around the baseball world as we prepare for the AL Wild Card game….

  • The Nationals are parting ways with assistant GM Bob Miller, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link) reports that the Nats didn’t renew Miller’s contract.  Miller has worked in Washington for the last four seasons, and has longstanding ties with Nats GM Mike Rizzo when the two worked together with in Diamondbacks organization.  Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link) describes Miller as Rizzo’s “right-hand man” in the front office and the team’s “rules guru,” also crediting Miller with the trade that brought Trea Turner and Joe Ross to the Nationals.
  • Jonathan Lucroy didn’t contribute much at the plate for the Athletics this season, but the signing of the veteran catcher has become a major move in Oakland’s run to the AL wild card game, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  Thanks to an up-and-down 2017 season, a dropoff in his framing numbers, and perhaps just the overall chilled free agent market, Lucroy had to settle for a one-year, $6.5MM deal from the A’s in March.  Catcher became a need for the A’s once Bruce Maxwell fell out of favor with the team, and Lucroy’s veteran knowledge became particularly important given the number of young arms that ended up on the roster due to injuries and a focus on the bullpen.  “I don’t even know the numbers of starters that we’ve gone through with unfortunate injuries,” closer Blake Treinen said.  “And then the amount of arms that we had in the bullpen through September, trying to keep hitters off balance, knowing what everybody has, trying to read their stuff on that day.  [Lucroy has] been pretty solid, to say the least, for us back there, and it’s a good luxury to have.”  Lucroy’s mediocre offensive numbers will limit his free agent market and keep him in Oakland’s price range, so it will be interesting to see if the A’s could pursue a reunion with the catcher in free agency this winter.
  • White Sox pitching prospect Dane Dunning’s season was cut short by an elbow sprain, but after rehabbing the injury, Dunning tells The Athletic’s James Fegan (subscription required) that he is hopeful of avoiding surgery altogether.  Dunning may even get a few instruction league innings under his belt just to test his arm before the offseason.  The 29th overall pick of the 2016 draft, Dunning came to Chicago as part of the trade that sent Adam Eaton to the Nationals, and his prospect stock has since been on the rise.  He cracked the preseason top-100 prospect lists from Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America, and MLB.com prior to 2018, and then posted a 2.71 ERA, 3.85 K/BB rate, and 10.4 K/9 over 86 1/3 combined innings at A-ball and Double-A this season.

Heyman’s Latest: Mets, Alderson, Didi, Gallo

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While Mets owner Fred Wilpon would reportedly prefer to hire a general manager from a more traditional scouting background, Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman hears that team COO Jeff Wilpon could prefer a GM in the younger, analytics-based mold.  Essentially, the Mets’ search is still in its very early stages, so it isn’t clear what type of executive the club will ultimately pursue.  For instance, Heyman reports that the Mets have interest in Astros assistant GM Mike Elias and former Brewers and Rangers general manager Doug Melvin, who each respectively represent the new-school and old-school approaches.  It’s also possible the team could end up hiring from within after all, giving the job to longtime assistant GM John Ricco or special assistant (and former general manager) Omar Minaya.

Here’s more from Heyman, via his weekly roundup of baseball notes…

  • The Mets’ extension with Sandy Alderson is up after this season, as Heyman corrected a report of his from June stating that Alderson’s deal ran through the 2019 campaign.  It was widely believed that Alderson’s deal was a two-year pact, though it is perhaps notable in hindsight that the contract’s length wasn’t mentioned when the club announced the deal last December.  Alderson is currently on a leave of absence to deal with a recurrence of cancer, and it is expected that the Mets will indeed hire a new GM once the season is over.
  • “It seems like there’s interest” from the Yankees in a Didi Gregorius extension.  Gregorius has emerged as a strong everyday player over the last two seasons thanks to an uptick in his offensive production, and it certainly makes sense that New York would see him as a cornerstone at shortstop even with a wealth of young prospects (i.e. Gleyber Torres) on hand to potentially step into the position.  Gregorius is earning $8.25MM this season and has one final year of arbitration eligibility remaining as a Super Two player before hitting free agency after the 2019 season.  There hadn’t been any talks between the two sides as of last April, when Gregorius expressed his desire to remain with the Yankees over the long term, though Heyman notes that any extension wouldn’t be signed until the calendar flips to 2019, when the team will have more payroll flexibility after escaping the maximum luxury tax penalty rate.
  • Joey Gallo drew some interest at the trade deadline, though the Rangers weren’t close to a deal since they’d be “selling low,” as one source tells Heyman.  Gallo is controlled through the 2022 season and still boasts great potential as a hitter, despite his penchant for strikeouts and low batting averages.  It’s worth noting that Gallo had only a .187/.303/.454 slash line on July 31, though he has since been on fire, hitting .333/.394/.750 over 66 plate appearances in August.  Trading Gallo would’ve signaled a larger rebuild for the Rangers, who thought to be looking at 2019 as a year of “retrenchment” before returning to contention in 2020 when their new ballpark opens.

Central Notes: Brewers, Tigers, Mauer

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Former Brewers GM Doug Melvin says he’s sleeping better in the six months since he ceded the team’s GM job to David Stearns, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy writes. Now a senior advisor, Melvin has continued to work in player development with the Brewers, but he’s also taken more time for himself.  “It’s like the difference between a coach and a manager. When you’re a coach, you have your certain responsibilities. You’re available. But when you’re the manager, you feel responsible to 25 players, plus the coaches and the trainers and everybody,” says Melvin. As a GM, he says, “[you feel a total responsibility. Pro scouting, amateur scouting, international scouting, player development, the Major League team — there’s always something to think about.” Here’s more from the Central divisions.

  • Tigers owner Mike Ilitch is the closest thing the game has to a modern-day George Steinbrenner, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post. After adding Justin Upton and Jordan Zimmermann this offseason, the Tigers have four players signed to nine-figure contracts. Of course, the ends of those kinds of contracts can create roster flexibility issues of the sort the Yankees have dealt with in recent years, and Sherman notes that the Tigers already have $122MM committed for the 2018 season for Upton, Zimmermann, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Victor Martinez.
  • Twins star Joe Mauer says lingering concussion symptoms caused him to have blurred vision while hitting the past two seasons, Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press writes. The vision issues were caused by sunlight, Mauer says he will try hitting with sunglasses in an effort to improve his ability to pick up pitches. “If you’re just a little off, you’re fouling off pitches you should be driving into the gap,” says Mauer. “In the big leagues, you don’t get too many more opportunities to see good ones to hit.” Mauer adds that he does not want his concussion issues to be an “excuse” for his performance the last two seasons, in which he’s seen a dramatic decline in offense. (He’s hit .270/348/.376 the last two years, compared to a previous career average of .323/.405/.468.) Mauer is still signed for the next three years at $23MM per season, so he could provide a big long-term boost to the Twins if he were to get back on track.

Front Office Notes: Dombrowski, Chernoff, Avila, Tigers

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There’s been plenty of front office turnover this summer, with Dave Dombrowski’s departure from the Tigers’ front office, the beginning of Doug Melvin’s transition to an advisory role with the Brewers and the abrupt resignation of Angels GM Jerry Dipoto (who has since taken a temporary consulting position with the Red Sox).

Here’s the latest buzz pertaining to executives around the league…

  • The Nationals, Blue Jays and Mariners appear to be the most likely landing spots for Dombrowski, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The Blue Jays and Mariners were immediately speculated upon landing spots, as Toronto has long been on the hunt for a president to replace the retiring Paul Beeston, and Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik’s job security has been questioned in the wake of a disappointing season for the Mariners. The Nationals don’t have an immediate need and seem a somewhat curious fit, given the fact that the well-respected Mike Rizzo currently holds the president of baseball operations title in D.C. The combination of Rizzo and Dombrowski, though, would give Washington a pair of very accomplished baseball minds atop their decision-making pyramid, if the two were to work together.
  • “I’ve had a number of people tell me today they think [Indians assistant GM Mike] Chernoff will be the one to beat,” Peter Gammons replied to the MLB Network’s Chris Russo yesterday when asked who will be the new GM of the Brewers (video link, with Brewers talk beginning at about the 4:00 mark). Gammons also lists Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen as a possibility and notes that he believes Melvin could very well remain on board with the Brewers as a club president.
  • New Tigers GM Al Avila spoke at length with Tony Paul of the Detroit News about his new position. While Avila didn’t want to get too in-depth about the differences between him and his friend/predecessor, Dombrowski, he did tell Paul that the Tigers’ front office will take more of an analytical approach to roster construction. “One thing I will bring different is expanded analytics,” said Avila. “I will tell you that I feel that we have a ways to go to catch up with the industry. We have been making some strides, but we’ll fast-forward a little bit and add to that department. You’ll see a big difference there.” However, Avila also stressed the importance of maintaining a balance between traditional scouting and the statistical component of player analysis. As Paul notes, the presence of J.D. Martinez on the Tigers can be chalked up to traditional scouting, and Avila played a huge role in bringing Martinez to Detroit.
  • Lastly, the Tigers announced three more front office promotions earlier this week. Major League scout Dave Littlefield (the former GM of the Pirates) has been promoted to vice president of player development. Scott Reid has been bumped from special assistant to senior advisor, and Dick Egan is now a special assistant to the executive VP and general manager.

Doug Melvin To Assume Advisory Role; Brewers Begin Search For New GM

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The Brewers announced today that longtime GM Doug Melvin will move to an advisory position within the organization, and the team will begin hunting for a new GM immediately (Twitter link). Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that it was Melvin’s decision to begin the transition now as opposed to after the season. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports (on Twitter) that the Brewers have hired executive search firm Korn Ferry to organize the team’s pursuit of a new general manager. The priority, according to McCalvy, will be to target younger candidates with knowledge of analytics.

Doug Melvin

Melvin, 63, became Milwaukee’s general manager nearly 13 years ago and prior to that spent eight years as GM of the Rangers. He was the GM in Texas for the team’s first three postseason appearances and helped to construct a pair of playoff teams during his Brewers tenure as well, including a 96-win team that made it to Game 6 of the NLCS against the Cardinals in 2011

As one would expect with such a lengthy tenure at the top of the team’s baseball operations hierarchy, Melvin made a number of notable transactions in his time with the Brewers, including a handful of high-profile trades. In 2008, Melvin acquired CC Sabathia from the Indians in a rental deal that sent Matt LaPorta, Michael Brantley, Zach Jackson and Rob Bryson to Cleveland. He swung another deal for an ace in the 2010-11 offseason, landing Zack Greinke from the Royals in exchange for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress (who has, of course, made his way back to the Brewers).

Melvin ultimately traded Greinke away a season and a half later, acquiring Jean Segura, Johnny Hellweg and Ariel Pena in exchange. He’s also architected extensions for Carlos Gomez (three years, $24MM), Ryan Braun (eight years, $45MM, followed by an additional five years, $105MM), Jonathan Lucroy (five years, $11MM) and, in a less successful decision, Rickie Weeks (four years, $38.5MM).

Melvin’s recent transactions have been something of a mixed bag. The Adam Lind-for-Marco Estrada swap has benefited both parties, and the re-signing of Francisco Rodriguez has, to this point, been a solid move. Kyle Lohse made good on the first two years of his three-year, $33MM contract and justified the expenditure despite a poor 2015 season. However, the Matt Garza contract currently looks like a misstep, and recent seasons have seen Cain, Escobar and Odorizzi emerge as very valuable pieces.

This summer, Melvin drew praise for the return for Gomez and Mike Fiers — a four-player package that brought Brett Phillips, Josh Hader, Domingo Santana and Adrian Houser to Milwaukee. He also landed a nice piece from the Orioles when trading Gerardo Parra to Baltimore: right-hander Zach Davies.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Brewers GM Doug Melvin Considering New Role With Club

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Brewers GM Doug Melvin is actively discussing a move into a new role within the organization, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (Twitter links).

Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported earlier (on Twitter) that he expects Melvin to move into a role similar to that of recently-signed Phillies president Andy MacPhail. Per Haudricourt, that move could come at the end of this year, in time for Melvin to take up his new post for the 2016 campaign — presumably with a new GM serving underneath him.

All said, it appears that noting is imminent, with the organization apparently plotting a measured transition. Melvin has been in discussions with club owner Mark Attanasio for several weeks, says Heyman, about what a new front office structure might look like. Change “could happen” after the end of the current season, per the CBS Sports report.

Milwaukee has had rather a disappointing season and currently carries the league’s second-worst record. The team already dismissed manager Ron Roenicke earlier in the season. But Melvin has been in his post since way back in 2002, and it seems that he’s more likely to shift into a senior capacity than follow Roenicke out of the organization.

Heyman’s Latest: Howard, Tillman, Price, Cespedes, Astros

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In his latest Inside Baseball column, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports kicks off by discussing Ryan Howard’s increased trade value. Howard is hitting .256/.298/.519 with 10 homers this season, and while the OBP is lackluster, he’s performed particularly well of late, hitting .307/.340/.602 with six homers this month (a .389 BABIP on the month, though, is heavily influencing those numbers). The Phils were willing to pay down $35MM or so of Howard’s remaining contract this offseason, and doing so would make him a roughly $10MM player this season and next. While Heyman notes that might be seen as a fair price, he adds that some scouts and executives will want to see more sustained production before considering a move, which strikes me as more than reasonable; I doubt three weeks of hot hitting have transformed him from albatross into hot commodity. The Orioles, Royals and Rays all discussed Howard with the Phillies this offseason but went different directions, and Heyman looks at those three teams as well as five others in determining if there’s a fit to be made. Howard received 10-and-5 rights on May 2, however, allowing him to veto any deal. And while many reports have indicated it won’t get in the way of a trade, Heyman hears that Howard is happier in Philadelphia now than he was over the winter and wonders if he might require some kind of incentive to waive those rights.

Some more highlights from a lengthy column …

  • The Orioles never really came close to reaching an extension with starter Chris Tillman this spring, and talks are on hold at present. The 27-year-old has scuffled early this year with a 5.59 ERA over 48 1/3 innings.
  • David Robertson could have taken home even more than the $46MM promised to him by the White Sox, says Heyman, as an unnamed team offered him more this winter. That provides yet more reason to believe that plenty of teams are still willing to pay top dollar for premium relievers.
  • While the Tigers are very interested in attempting to retain Yoenis Cespedes beyond the current year, Heyman says that all signs point to him reaching free agency. Detroit can, of course, pursue him on the open market, but sources tell Heyman that Cespedes is unlikely to agree to an extension.
  • Likewise, the Tigers don’t appear to have much hope of an extension with ace David Price, and Heyman says they “aren’t overwhelmingly confident” that he’ll be back. Detroit’s front office believes that Price will look to top Max Scherzer’s contract. 
  • The Astros are sorting through many pitching acquisition possibilities, and Aaron Harang of the Phillies has “at least been discussed” by the club. Fellow Philadelphia starter Cole Hamels may come with too much contract for Houston, but Heyman reports that the club does see Reds free agent-to-be Johnny Cueto as a possibility.
  • While Brewers GM Doug Melvin has given signals that he’s ready to sell early, owner Mark Attanasio may prefer the club hold off until at least the upcoming draft. While PR considerations seem to be a factor, that may be the best strategy anyway; the team could still get out ahead of the market, while allowing it to mature somewhat before acting.
  • Be sure to check out the piece for more interesting items around the league.
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