Tom Koehler Retires
Right-hander Tom Koehler, in camp with the Pirates as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training, announced his retirement from baseball on Instagram this morning. The 33-year-old Koehler says he’s looking forward to “starting [his] next chapter in the game,” whenever and whatever that may hold. For now, it seems as though he’ll take some time with his family.
From 2013-16, Koehler was a solid and durable constant at the back of the Marlins’ rotation, averaging 30 starts per season while pitching to a 4.14 ERA with averages of 6.8 strikeouts, 3.7 walks and 1.0 home runs per nine innings pitched. He struggled early in the 2017 season and found himself traded to the Blue Jays, with whom he posted an intriguing 15-game relief stint (2.65 ERA, 18-to-6 K/BB ratio in 17 innings). That showing prompted the Dodgers to take a look at Koehler in the offseason with the hope that he could transform his career as a late-inning bullpen piece.
Instead, Koehler was beset by shoulder injuries in 2018. After spending more than half the season trying to rehab an anterior capsule strain and make his Dodgers debut, Koehler underwent surgery that ended his 2018 season. He never threw a pitch at the MLB level for the Dodgers. He signed with the Pirates both last offseason and earlier this winter but wasn’t able to get back onto the hill.
It’s a tough way to end a playing career, although as an 18th-round senior sign back in 2008, Koehler exceeded any and all expectations. The Stony Brook alum pitched in 161 Major League games, totaling 784 1/3 innings of 4.39 ERA ball along the way. Koehler’s 36-55 record is more an indictment on the sub-par Marlins rosters surrounding him for much of his career than on his own abilities on the mound. He was generally a serviceable option, twice leading the club in games started and once leading them in innings pitched. Koehler was never a household name but pitched into his arbitration years, helping him to secure more than $12MM in total salary. Best wishes to Koehler in whatever path he next pursues.
Pirates Announce 11 Non-Roster Invitations
The Pirates have announced a slew of non-roster invitations to Spring Training, including some new signings. Former big leaguers Tom Koehler and Nik Turley have evidently inked new deals with the Pittsburgh organization after qualifying for minor-league free agency at the end of the 2019 season.
Koehler spent last year with the Bucs, making some strides in his effort to return from shoulder surgery but not fully turning the corner. The 33-year-old is now two full seasons removed from the majors. In 784 1/3 innings at the game’s highest level, he carries a 4.39 ERA. Koehler obviously showed enough for the club to think there’s still a shot at a rebound.
As for the left-handed Turley, he hasn’t recorded any professional stats at all in the past two seasons owing to suspension and injury. He briefly made it to the majors in 2017 with the Twins but was knocked around in 17 2/3 innings.
Among the other players now slated to participate in MLB camp are Montana DuRapau, Luis Escobar, and Williams Jerez. All three were outrighted in one fell swoop at the outset of the offseason. Having cleared waivers, they remained with the Pittsburgh organization. The same occurred a few weeks earlier for James Marvel, who also gets an invite after debuting last year with the Bucs. Also receiving camp invitations are minor-leaguer catchers Christian Kelley and Jason Delay, hurlers Nick Mears and Blake Weiman, and outfielder Jared Oliva.
Pirates Notes: Archer, Polanco, Koehler
The latest on a few injured Pirates, courtesy of Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
- The season has gone down the drain for the Pirates, whose 56-77 record is among the worst in the majors, but they’re still hoping to see right-hander Chris Archer take the hill again this year. Archer went to the injured list a week ago on account of shoulder inflammation, though he has made good progress since then, director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk explained Wednesday. Archer still hasn’t thrown a baseball since he landed on the IL, though, so it’s hardly a foregone conclusion that he’ll return to the mound in 2019. Regardless, the Pirates seem likely to exercise Archer’s $9MM club option (in lieu of a $1.75MM buyout) once the offseason arrives. While Archer was a highly regarded starter when he joined the Pirates last summer in a major trade with the Rays, the current campaign has been an injury-limited disaster for the 30-year-old. Archer has given Pittsburgh 119 2/3 innings of 5.19 ERA/5.01 FIP ball this season.
- As with Archer, it’s uncertain whether outfielder Gregory Polanco will suit up for the Bucs again in ’19. Polanco’s shoulder has been a problem for about a year now – he underwent surgery in mid-September of 2018, sat out until late April this season and then went back to the IL in the middle of June. Although Polanco’s rehab in Bradenton, Fla., is going well at the moment, there may not be enough time left in the Double-A or Triple-A seasons for him to play with those affiliates before a potential return to the majors. Indeed, Tomcyzyk admitted that Pittsburgh’s “running up against the clock” with Polanco. The 27-year-old has been a rather valuable piece for the Pirates in the past, especially in 2018, but his shoulder troubles have helped hold him to an ineffective .242/.301/.425 line in 167 plate appearances this season. Next year will be the penultimate guaranteed season of the $35MM extension Polanco signed back in 2016. He’ll earn $8MM in 2020.
- The Pirates have shut righty Tom Koehler down for the year after he suffered a setback in his recovery from shoulder surgery. Koehler underwent the procedure last July as a member of the Dodgers, for whom he didn’t pitch at all in 2018, and has thrown just four innings at the minor league level this season. The 33-year-old signed with the Pirates on a minors pact last winter. Also a former Marlin and Blue Jay, Koehler has recorded a 4.39 ERA/4.49 FIP with 6.93 K/9 and 3.69 BB/9 in 784 1/3 frames in the majors.
Pirates To Sign Tom Koehler
6:35pm: Though the contract is a minor league pact, there’s a club option for the 2020 season attached to the deal, tweets Robert Murray of The Athletic. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that the deal comes with an $850K base salary and $250K of incentives in 2019, while the 2020 option is for a guaranteed $1.25MM with another $1.25MM worth of incentives.
2:26pm: The Pirates have agreed to a minor-league deal with righty Tom Koehler, per Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (via Twitter). It will not include an invitation to MLB Spring Training.
The lack of a spring invite isn’t really an indication of Koehler’s ability level so much as it is a reflection of his health status. As Biertempfel notes, the 32-year-old is still on a lengthy rehab timeline after undergoing shoulder surgery in July. There’s no clear timetable for his return at this point.
This time last year, Koehler looked to be an intriguing addition to the Dodgers’ pitching staff. Long a useful but underwhelming starter, Koehler had a nice run upon moving to the bullpen and altering his pitch mix late in the 2017 campaign. He ultimately turned in a 17-inning stretch over which he racked up an 18:6 K/BB ratio and permitted only five earned runs, which prompted Los Angeles to add him on a big league deal. However, a spring shoulder injury prevented him from logging a single inning during the 2018 season.
If Koehler can get back to full health, he could be a worthwhile asset for the Bucs — likely in the bullpen at this juncture. For the time being, the focus will simply be on rebuilding physical strength and putting the shoulder injury behind him to the extent possible.
Dodgers Designate Erik Goeddel, Release Tom Koehler
The Dodgers announced today that they have designated three players: righty Erik Goeddel, lefty Zac Rosscup, and infielder/outfielder Tim Locastro. Meanwhile, the club released right-hander Tom Koehler, who signed with the club as a free agent last winter but was arbitration-eligible.
Those moves helped create space for new additions to the 40-man roster. Notable prospects Keibert Ruiz and Yadier Alvarez were selected, along with infielders Matt Beaty and Edwin Rios as well as right-hander Josh Sborz.
Goeddel, who’s a month from his 30th birthday, was rather effective last year after several tough campaign. He worked to a 2.95 ERA in 36 2/3 innings with the Mariners and (mostly) Dodgers. Goeddel racked up 44 strikeouts but also issued twenty walks.
Those productive innings were expected to come from Koehler, who signed a $2MM deal last winter but ended up being sidelined all year due to injury. His season ended with shoulder surgery, so he’ll be looking for a place to rebuild value in 2019.
Rosscup has bounced around in recent years and has never yet entrenched himself in the majors. He did record twenty strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings for the Dodgers in 2018, but also coughed up three homers and six earned runs. As for Locastro, he has posted strong numbers at the plate in the minors over the past two years but has received scant MLB opportunity. He could appeal to teams that are looking for versatility, as he has plenty of experience playing up the middle on both the infield dirt and the outfield grass.
Tom Koehler Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
The Dodgers announced to reporters this afternoon that right-hander Tom Koehler has undergone season-ending shoulder surgery (Twitter link via SportsNet L.A.’s Alanna Rizzo).
Los Angeles signed Koehler, a longtime starter for the Marlins, to a one-year, $2MM deal this winter in the hopes of converting him into a bullpen piece. The 32-year-old had made just one relief appearance from 2014-17 when the Blue Jays picked him up and shifted him to the ‘pen last season. That experiment apparently piqued the interest of the Dodgers, who’d hoped Koehler could be a low-cost replacement for Brandon Morrow, who departed via free agency over the winter.
That, of course, has not been how things have panned out. Koehler was diagnosed with an anterior capsule strain early in Spring Training and had a setback in his recovery in June. The hope at the time of that setback was that he’d be able to join the Dodgers in August, but he’ll now miss the entire season and could quite likely see his Dodgers tenure end altogether without throwing so much as a single pitch in a game setting.
The Dodgers will have the option of retaining Koehler via arbitration, as he’ll finish out the season with five years, 152 days of Major League service time. Koehler wouldn’t earn a raise in arbitration after missing the entire season, but he’d likely command a salary identical to this season’s $2MM mark. Even the deep-pocketed Dodgers seem likely to non-tender him given that fact, though they could certainly bring him back to the organization on a minor league contract.
Quick Hits: Napoli, Cubs, Koehler, Tigers
Even after tearing his right ACL and meniscus last April, Mike Napoli isn’t ready to close the book on his career, the veteran slugger tells The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (subscription required). “I’m going to train like I’m going to play next year,” Napoli said. “When it’s time to make that decision, I’ll make it, but I still really want to play. I don’t want to go out like that. I feel like I can still play. We’ll see. We’ll see what opportunities there will be and go from there.” Even if his chances at a 13th big league season seem remote, it wouldn’t be too surprising for a team to take a flier on Napoli on a minor league deal next spring, assuming he is healthy enough to play. If a comeback doesn’t materialize, Napoli said his next dream would be to become a Major League manager, and he believes he would be able to start his post-playing career as a coach somewhere in the Indians organization.
Here’s some more from around the league…
- The Cubs aren’t yet sure what their plans are for the trade deadline, GM Jed Hoyer told Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription link). “What we may need on July 31 may be totally different than what we know sitting here right now,” Hoyer said. “I do think that right now the answers are here….Now, that might not be the answer in six weeks. But I think that’s the answer today.” Chicago already has quite a bit of depth and talent on the roster, plus Yu Darvish and Carl Edwards Jr. will provide reinforcements upon returning from the disabled list, though it would be surprising if the Cubs didn’t make at least one notable addition as they push for another postseason berth.
- Right-hander Tom Koehler has had a setback in his recovery from an AC strain and isn’t expected back until August, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (Twitter link) and other reporters. Koehler signed a one-year, $2MM deal with Los Angeles last winter but has yet to officially pitch for the club after suffering the injury during Spring Training. He initially hoped to return by the All-Star break but will now have to wait longer to properly don the Dodger blue.
- The Tigers are considering deploying a six-man rotation, as manager Ron Gardenhire hinted to MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery and other reporters. With Blaine Hardy pitching well, Detroit wants to find a way to keep him in the rotation when Francisco Liriano makes his expected return from the DL this week, plus the other starters could benefit from the lesser workload. “We’ve got some guys in there that could probably use extra days, take innings off our load. We started thinking we could probably do this. Not saying we’re going to, but we could,” Gardenhire said.
NL West Notes: Reynolds, Valaika, O’Malley, Dodgers
The Rockies “remain in contact” with free agent first baseman Mark Reynolds, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. Reynolds, who hit 30 homers for Colorado in 2017, is the best free-agent first baseman available on the market, and a reunion between the two has long seemed like a solid fit in theory. However, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports recently contacted Reynolds’ agent, Jeff Boris, who tells him that the Rockies haven’t made any type of offer to Reynolds this winter. The 34-year-old carries a .274/.354/.471 slash line across two seasons with Colorado, but graded poorly among first baseman in quality of contact statistics like hard contact rate, average exit velocity and barrels per plate appearance last season.
Other small news items out of the NL West…
- In other Rockies news, Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes that the team is in a bit of a bind following news of injuries to utilitymen Pat Valaika and Shawn O’Malley. Valaika is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with an oblique strain, while O’Malley is expected to be out 4-6 weeks due to a broken right hand that will require surgery, according to Groke. He also notes that Desmond is capable of playing multiple infield positions, while top prospect Ryan McMahon has experience at second and third base. Beyond that, Colorado’s best options are minor-leaguers Daniel Castro, Garrett Hampson and Brian Mundell, and none of those players are on the club’s 40-man roster.
- The Dodgers aren’t in a rush to add a pitcher following the news that right-hander Tom Koehler could miss “extended time” with an anterior capsule strain. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register quotes president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who says that the team is “no more likely” to add a pitcher through trade or free agency in the wake of Koehler’s injury. “I don’t think it necessarily changes the thought process in terms of deals that made sense 3 days ago will still make sense,” says Friedman. “And I don’t think the opposite is true. I don’t think something is going to make more sense right now than it did 3 days ago.” The Dodgers reportedly like their in-house options and the depth they have in spring training camp.
Tom Koehler Diagnosed With Anterior Capsule Strain
An MRI showed that Dodgers reliever Tom Koehler has a mild anterior capsule strain. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that Koehler was seen in a sling, later noting that the righty will be out for “an extended time”, which could be weeks or months. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register adds that no surgery has been planned at the moment, and quotes Koehler as saying it’s “not the way I’d like my tenure as a Dodger to start two weeks in.” He’d left Friday’s spring training game early after retiring just one of the four hitters he faced.
Koehler struggled to a 7.92 ERA in 12 starts with the Marlins last season, but he excelled in a relief role after being acquired by the Blue Jays in August. From that day on, the right-hander posted a 2.65 ERA while striking out 9.53 batters per nine across 17 innings with Toronto. Though team elected to non-tender him following the 2017 season, the Dodgers snatched him up on $2MM contract with some added incentives. If Koehler misses a significant portion of the season, it would prove a blow to his ability to earn additional bonuses through accumulation of total starts and relief appearances.
From the team’s perspective, the loss of Koehler for any length of time would not only thin the Dodgers’ bullpen a bit, but also detract from the team’s rotation depth. Though he struggled in a starter capacity last season, he has an extended track record pitching above-replacement in that capacity. Koehler has made 131 starts in his career while pitching to a 4.44 ERA. Though he was always unlikely to make many starts for Los Angeles, the team’s injury prone starting group would benefit from as much depth as possible.
Dodgers Sign Tom Koehler
Dec. 20: The Dodgers formally announced the signing of Koehler today. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the righty will earn $2MM and can earn incentives based on games started and relief appearances. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds that Koehler would earn $1.25MM for starting 25 games and $500K for making 60 total appearances.
Dec. 15: The Dodgers have agreed to a one-year deal with righty Tom Koehler, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter). Financial details are not yet known. Koehler is represented by Pro Agents, Inc.
Koehler, 31, was non-tendered by the Blue Jays after the 2017 season. He had been projected to earn a hefty $6MM via arbitration. Koehler remains eligible to be tendered arbitration after the 2018 season.
Given the salary, that decision came as little surprise. But it’s also not hard to see why the reigning National League champs have made a move to bring in the veteranr right-hander.
While he struggled badly in the first half of the 2017 season, Koehler rebounded upon going to the Jays, where he moved into the bullpen and increasingly favored his curve over his slider. Over 17 frames, Koehler allowed five earned runs on 16 hits and six walks while recording 18 strikeouts.
Though it seems clear the Dodgers will use Koehler out of the bullpen, it doesn’t hurt that he comes with a long track record as a starter. Through 749 2/3 career innings working out of the rotation, Koehler carries a 4.44 ERA. In addition to multi-inning capacity, he has also generally proven to be effective against opposite-handed batters. While lefties knocked Koehler around in 2017, he actually carries slight reverse platoon splits for his career.