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Tucker Barnhart

Cubs Designate P.J. Higgins For Assignment

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The Cubs announced they’ve designated P.J. Higgins for assignment. The move opens a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow catcher Tucker Barnhart, who has officially signed a two-year free agent deal.

Higgins, 29, has appeared in the majors in each of the last two seasons. A 12th-round pick back in 2015, he reached the majors in 2021 after six seasons climbing Chicago’s minor league ranks. That first stint proved brief, as Higgins played in just nine games before tearing the UCL in his throwing arm. He required Tommy John surgery and missed the rest of the season. At the end of the year, Chicago ran him through outright waivers rather than reinstate him from the injured list.

The Old Dominion product quickly returned to the only organization he’s known, inking a minor league contract a few weeks later. He spent the first six weeks of the 2022 campaign with Triple-A Iowa before being re-selected onto the MLB roster. The season saw Higgins log his first extensive major league action, as he appeared in 74 games and picked up 229 plate appearances.

It was a fairly successful look, as Higgins posted a .229/.310/.383 line with six home runs and 11 doubles. That was a bit better than the .228/.295/.368 mark compiled by catchers around the league. The right-hander showed decent contact skills and plate discipline, albeit with very modest hard contact numbers. He’s shown a similar high-OBP profile throughout his time in the minors, compiling a .279/.365/.378 line through 2100 career MiLB plate appearances.

While he hit fairly well for the position, Higgins didn’t rate highly in the eyes of public defensive marks. Statcast rated him a couple runs below average as a pitch framer through 236 innings behind the dish. His arm strength similarly rated below par, with his average pop time (time to throw to second on a steal attempt) checking in 60th among 73 backstops with 10+ throws. He successfully threw out only three of 16 basestealers. Higgins was also behind the plate for three passed balls and 13 wild pitches in 24 starts as a catcher, with Defensive Runs Saved estimating him as six runs below average overall.

Despite those defensive numbers, Higgins could find some interest from another club on the waiver wire. Catching depth is always in demand, and Higgins has flashed better offensive capabilities than most reserve catchers. Adding to the appeal, Higgins has a full slate of minor league option years remaining. Any team willing to carry him on the 40-man roster could keep him in Triple-A for the foreseeable future. If Higgins were to go unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the right to elect minor league free agency as a player who has previously been outrighted in his career.

Cubs Sign Tucker Barnhart To Two-Year Deal

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The Cubs and catcher Tucker Barnhart are in agreement on a two-year deal, though the second year is a player option. He’ll be guaranteed $6.5MM but escalators could push his earnings to $9.5MM. The deal is pending a physical. Barnhart is represented by the Ballengee Group.

The catching situation in Wrigley has been in flux for some time, despite the fact that they’ve had one of the best backstops in the league for the past seven seasons in Willson Contreras. The club leaned into a rebuild in 2021, trading away Anthony Rizzo, Javier Báez and Kris Bryant, among others. Contreras stayed at that time as he still was under control for 2022, but a trade still seemed inevitable. That feeling only increased when the club signed Yan Gomes to a two-year deal going into the season.

Curiously, a deal never came together, though it was later reported that they had a trade lined up with the Astros before Houston owner Jim Crane scuttled the deal. Contreras eventually turned down a qualifying offer from the Cubs and signed with the Cardinals. That will net the Cubs an extra pick in the upcoming draft but it left them a bit thin behind the plate.

Gomes is still under contract for one more year but he’s now 35 years old and coming off a poor year at the plate. He hit .235/.260/.365 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 73, indicating he was 27% below league average. The only other catchers on the 40-man roster are P.J. Higgins, who is more of a utility player than can catch if needed, and Miguel Amaya, who has yet to reach Triple-A. Given those options, catcher was a natural target for the Cubs, who were also connected to Christian Vázquez, Omar Narváez, Curt Casali and Roberto Perez at times this offseason.

Barnhart, 32 next month, should provide the Cubs with a fairly stable profile. He’s rarely been exceptional or awful, on either side of the ball. He’s hit .245/.320/.360 in his career for a wRC+ of 80. That indicates he’s been 20% below league average overall, but catchers generally are less potent at the plate than their peers. The league average catcher posted a wRC+ of 89 in 2022. Barnhart has never posted a wRC+ higher than 90 but he’s also never finished below 63, apart from his brief debut in 2014. That 63, however, was just this past season with Detroit, when he batted .221/.287/.267.

On the glove side, Barnhart has 12 DRS for his career. FanGraphs has graded his framing as poor on the whole, but it bottomed out in 2018 and was above-average in next three seasons before dipping just below in 2022. Although defensive metrics don’t paint him as a lights-out defender, Barnhart has won a pair of Gold Gloves, including in 2017 when he nabbed a league-leading 44% of runners who attempted to swipe a base on his watch. He also received interest from the Reds, Pirates and Astros this offseason but will join the Cubs, returning the National Central where he spent many years as a Red.

The Cubs have been fairly aggressive this winter, signing Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, Jameson Taillon, Brad Boxberger and now Barnhart. That brings the club’s payroll up to $172MM, per Roster Resource, with a competitive balance tax figure of $206MM. That payroll is already a sizeable increase over last year’s $143MM figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, though they’ve been up as high as $203MM in the past. It’s unknown how much more the club plans on spending, but it’s possible there’s more there to work with. They’re also more than $20MM shy of the luxury tax threshold, which is $233MM.

Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first reported that the Cubs and Barnhart were closing in on a deal. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported that an agreement was in place. Joel Sherman of The New York Post first reported the one-year plus a player option framework. Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the financials.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Latest On The Cubs’ Catching Targets: Casali, Barnhart, Pérez

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The Chicago Cubs are looking for a “defense-first catcher,” reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic, with Mooney linking the team to free agents Curt Casali, Tucker Barnhart, and Roberto Perez. Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation has also recently connected the club to Barnhart in a platoon role with incumbent Yan Gomes.

The Cubs currently only have two catchers on their 40-man roster, prospect Miguel Amaya, who reached Double-A Tennessee in 2022 and is projected to debut during the 2023 season, and 11-year veteran Gomes. Gomes, who signed a two-year, $13MM deal during the 2021 offseason, with a $6MM player option for the 2024 season, hit .235/.260/.365 in a complementary role to All-Star Willson Contreras during his first season in Chicago. P.J. Higgins also saw time behind the dish during the 2022 season, hitting .229/.310/.383 in 229 plate appearances, and has the ability to plan all around the infield.

Nevertheless, the recent additions of Dansby Swanson, Jameson Taillon, Brad Boxberger, and Cody Bellinger, along with their reported re-signing of Drew Smyly, signal an intent to compete in 2023 after finishing third in their division last season. With the free agent catcher market rapidly shrinking, Casali, Barnhart, and Perez profile as veteran regulars that won’t command long-term contracts and delay Amaya’s promotion.

Casali was limited to only 57 games during the 2022 season, spending time on the injured list with a concussion and right oblique strain. Over 176 plate appearances, the 34-year-old hit a weak .203/.318/.331 with a high 28.4% strikeout rate but a strong 13.6% walk rate. Casali is a career .223/.316/.392 hitter over parts of nine seasons and is credited with 16 defensive runs saved since 2014, in addition to throwing out 32% of runners and drawing positive marks for his framing ability.

Barnhart joined the Tigers via trade after the 2021 season and struggled to a .221/.287/.267 slash line with a 24% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate in 2022. It’s a sharp drop off from his career numbers of .245/.320/.360, and his strong 2017 showing (.270/.347/.403) is slowly becoming a distant memory. Like Casali, Barnhart is typically viewed positively for his defensive ability, earning a total of 12 DRS over nine seasons, despite being credited -8 DRS during the 2022 season, while throwing out 32% of runners. Barnhart also ranks highly for his framing ability.

Perez suffered a left hamstring strain in early May and was forced to undergo season-ending surgery later in the month. It marks the second consecutive injury-ravaged year for Perez, who was limited to only 44 games with Cleveland during the 2021 season due to a pair of IL stints (a fractured right finger and shoulder inflammation). Like Casali and Barnhart, Perez is a glove-first catcher, with a meager career slash line of .207/.298/.360, but he has accumulated a whopping 79 DRS since 2014 while throwing out 39% of would-be runners and possesses a highly regarded framing ability.

The Cubs’ will likely struggle to fill Contreras’s offensive production from the catching position, but the franchise will hope that recent additions of Swanson and Bellinger, as well as prospects Brennen Davis and Matt Mervis settling in at the Major League level, will help fill the All-Star size hole behind the dish at Wrigley Field.

Pirates, Astros Interested In Tucker Barnhart

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3:50pm: The Astros also have interest in Barnhart, reports Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. They missed out on their top catching target when Willson Contreras agreed to terms on a five-year deal with the Cardinals this afternoon. It seems they’re still looking for a veteran to pair with incumbent Martín Maldonado, even if Barnhart’s a significantly less imposing offensive threat than Contreras would have been. According to Rome, the longtime Red backstop is looking for a multi-year contract.

1:07pm: The Pirates have expressed an interest in catcher Tucker Barnhart, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Barnhart, 32 in January, has spent the vast majority of his career across the division in the Reds’ organization, having been drafted by them back in 2009. He made it to the big leagues in 2014 and stayed with the team through the end of the 2021 campaign. The club had a $7.75MM club option to keep him around for 2022 but flipped him to the Tigers instead, the lone season he’s spent in a different organization so far.

Barnhart’s never been a huge threat at the plate, having put up a career batting line of .245/.320/.360. That’s 20% below league average production, as indicated by his 80 wRC+, but it’s not disastrous for a catcher since they typically produce less than other hitters, on average. Barnhart generally is graded well on defense, however, posting 14 Defensive Runs Saved in his career. FanGraphs’ framing metric didn’t like his work earlier in his career but has given him a positive mark in three of the last four seasons.

For the Pirates, they planned on Roberto Pérez being their primary backstop in 2022 but he required season-ending hamstring surgery in May. From that point on, they cycled through various options behind the plate, with most of them having already been jettisoned from the roster. As of this moment, the only catcher on the 40-man is prospect Endy Rodriguez, who only has 37 games played above High-A.

The Bucs are rebuilding but have nonetheless been active this winter, grabbing veterans to supplement their young core. They traded for Ji-Man Choi and signed Carlos Santana to help out at first base and designated hitter, then signed Vince Velasquez to help in the rotation and Jarlín García for the bullpen. Those players are stopgaps, with all four slated for free agency at the end of the upcoming season. Since the Pirates have Rodriguez coming up and catching prospect Henry Davis behind him, it’s likely they’ll find another one-year deal for a veteran catcher. Barnhart makes plenty of sense for that job, but it’s also possible they bring back Pérez.

Reds, Tucker Barnhart Have Discussed Reunion

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The Reds and catcher Tucker Barnhart have discussed the possibility of him returning to Cincinnati, according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.

Barnhart, of course, has spent the vast majority of his career in the Reds’ organization, having been drafted by them back in 2009. He made it to the big leagues in 2014 and stayed with the team through the end of the 2021 campaign. The club had a $7.75MM club option to keep him around for 2022 but flipped him to the Tigers instead, the lone season he’s spent in a different organization so far.

Sheldon notes that Barnhart, who turns 32 in January, is still looking for a job as a primary catcher, which would likely mean that returning to the Reds would only happen if he fails to find that full-time job he’s looking for. The Reds have Tyler Stephenson atop their depth chart, though he only played 50 games in 2022 due to various injuries, including a concussion, a broken thumb and a broken clavicle. The depth options that the club used in Stephenson’s absence have all since been jettisoned from the roster, meaning they will have to find a backup and some depth, either from their own system or via external additions. That makes their interest in Barnhart fairly sensible.

However, from Barnhart’s point of view, it makes sense that he would look for a starting job before settling for a backup role. His numbers mostly went in the wrong direction in 2022, but he has a long track record that combines quality glovework with a bat just a bit below league average. His career batting line of .221/.287/.267 amounts to a wRC+ of 80. That means he’s been 20% below league average overall but catchers generally hit at a lower level than the rest of the league. The combined batting line for all catchers in 2022 was .226/.295/.367 for a wRC+ of 89. On the other side of his game, Defensive Runs Saved has given Barnhart a 14 in his career. FanGraphs’ framing metric has given him a negative number overall but thinks he’s improved and has been much kinder over the past four seasons.

The free agent market contains a few names above Barnhart, such as Willson Contreras and Christian Vázquez. But then there’s a tier of flawed but passable options, including Omar Narvaez, Gary Sánchez, Austin Hedges, Barnhart and others. The trade market could feature Sean Murphy as well as the Toronto trio of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno.

There are various teams who are either known to be looking for catching help or are sensible fits for it, including the Cardinals, Astros, Giants, Tigers, Cubs, Brewers, Twins, Diamondbacks, Guardians and more. Barnhart and his representatives will likely be reaching out to those clubs and assessing their interest first, but it seems like he could circle back to the Reds as a fallback option if that search doesn’t pan out.

Mozeliak: Cardinals Seeking Catching Help, Left-Handed Bat

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The Cardinals bid farewell to a pair of franchise icons at season’s end, as Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina officially closed the books on their playing career. For the first time in nearly two decades, St. Louis enters an offseason unsure of who’ll receive the bulk of the playing time behind the dish the following season. While the Cardinals have in-house options in Andrew Knizner and Ivan Herrera, president of baseball operations made clear in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this week that he’s actively exploring the market for catching upgrades.

“Clearly, with Yadi retiring, we know we need to upgrade at catching — especially when you think about the day-to-day demands of that role,” said Mozeliak. “That’s something that we’re going to look at, whether it’s trade or free agency.”

Asked about interest in top catcher Willson Contreras, Mozeliak declined to publicly comment on the free agent’s potential market, calling that a “dangerous game” and instead simply doubled down on interest in catching help: “We are in the catching market.”

Contreras, a longtime division rival, is this year’s top free-agent catcher, with former Red Sox and Astros backstop Christian Vazquez the clear No. 2 option. They’re not the only names available, of course, but they’re the two clear-cut starting catchers coming off strong 2022 campaigns. Rebound candidates include Omar Narvaez, Mike Zunino and Tucker Barnhart, all of whom had down 2022 seasons but were quite recently considered quality starting options behind the dish.

As Mozeliak alluded to, the trade market should produce a handful of alternatives. Oakland’s Sean Murphy will be available, though the asking price for three years of his services will be understandably steep. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have a trio of starting-caliber catchers on the roster in Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk and top prospect Gabriel Moreno. Jansen, with two years of remaining club control to Kirk’s five and Moreno’s six, is generally seen as the likeliest of the group to move.

Whatever path the Cards take, an addition at catcher feels like a foregone conclusion. Knizner, 27, has served as the primary backup to Molina in recent seasons and managed only a .204/.292/.288 slash through 536 big league plate appearances. Optimists might suggest that he’d improve with more consistent playing time than he received Molina and his iron-man approach to catching, but Knizner has also drawn sub-par defensive marks along the way. The 22-year-old Herrera went 2-for-18 in his MLB debut this year but turned in a solid .268/.374/.396 line in Triple-A. Still, a team hoping to vie for a return to the postseason could use more certainty behind the dish, perhaps easing the well-regarded Herrera into a larger opportunity — as opposed to simply throwing him into a trial-by-fire run at the starting job.

Catching help isn’t all that’s on the menu this winter for Mozeliak, GM Mike Girsch and the rest of the front office, though. Mozeliak didn’t specify a position but did voice hope of adding a left-handed bat to help balance out his lineup. Given that most of the available catching options are right-handed bats — Narvaez and the switch-hitting Barnhart being the exceptions — it’s likely the Cards will have to make an additional move to achieve that goal.

“When you look at our offense, trying to find something from the left side to try to help bolster our day-to-day lineup is something we think we could benefit from,” said Mozeliak. “…”When you think about our club from the left side, we could just use a little extra pop. Some of our better hitters are right-handed, and so we’re just looking for more balance in our lineup.

The Cards aren’t totally devoid of left-handed bats but do skew more toward the right side of the dish — particularly when it comes to the team’s power hitters. Lars Nootbaar showed some impressive power from the left side of the dish and likely secured himself a spot in the 2023 outfield, but he’s the main source of left-handed pop the Cardinals have at the moment. Rookie of the Year finalist Brendan Donovan had an outstanding all-around season but hit just five homers and posted a lowly .097 ISO (slugging minus batting average). Switch-hitters Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson were both vastly better hitters from the right side of the plate than the left. Twenty-two-year-old Nolan Gorman certainly has power from the left side of the plate but struggled increasingly as his rookie season wore on.

Last offseason’s signing of Corey Dickerson seemed intended to provide some help in this space, and while Dickerson rebounded from an awful start to finish with a roughly league-average batting line, he’s again a free agent and the Cardinals are surely hoping for more than average output from whoever is acquired to fill this role. The free-agent market isn’t exactly teeming with productive left-handed hitters who could be plugged into the St. Louis lineup, though veterans like Michael Brantley, Michael Conforto and old friend Matt Carpenter are all available. The former two will both be returning from shoulder surgery, whereas the latter enjoyed an otherworldly rebound with the Yankees before suffering a fractured foot that derailed his comeback effort.

As is so often heard from baseball operations leaders, Mozeliak also touched on the adage that a team can never have too much pitching, noting that “you’re always just one injury away from being in a tough spot.” While he didn’t characterize the Cardinals’ search for rotation depth as quite the same level of priority as a catcher and left-handed bat, Mozeliak suggested that the Cardinals will “keep the pulse” of the starting pitching market as the offseason progresses.

With Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Jordan Montgomery, Steven Matz, Jack Flaherty and Dakota Hudson, the Cardinals have at least six rotation options — Mozeliak also listed Drew VerHagen as a potential depth option there — but bolstering that group with a swingman or some veterans on minor league deals could well be on the eventual to-do list.

16 Impending Free Agents Off To Slow Starts At The Plate

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The Padres cut ties with Robinson Cano this morning, just as the Mets did before them. It was a tougher decision for the Mets, given the financial obligation they have toward Cano through the 2023 season. However, his lack of production and the presence of younger, better options forced the hand of both parties.

We’re coming up on a third of the way through the 2022 season, and it’ll become increasingly difficult for teams with struggling veterans in the Cano mold to continue trotting them out there. That’s especially true of players who are impending free agents. While fans can (and do) disagree with the thinking, a player like Aaron Hicks, whom the Yankees owe $30.5MM from 2023-25, will get a longer leash than an impending free agent due to that multi-year commitment. So while there are plenty of struggling veterans on long-term deals, those with the thinnest grasp on their current roster spots are those who’ll be off the books at season’s end anyhow.

With that in mind, here’s a look at some names to watch and, when applicable, some of the names behind them who could aid in pushing them out the door (all stats entering Thursday’s play):

Carlos Santana, Royals: I’m not sure anyone other than the Royals’ front office understands the thinking behind continuing to trot Santana out to the field at this point. The 36-year-old is hitting .161/.293/.250 through 147 plate appearances, and it’s not as though that enormous slump is an entirely new development. Santana hit just .214/.319/.342 while playing in 158 of 162 games for the Royals last year and .199/.340/.350 in Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season.

Santana’s very presence on the Royals is due to the team’s effort to return to win-now mode after a rebuild focused on drafting college arms. He signed a two-year, $17.5MM contract heading into the 2021 season but hasn’t been able to bounce back to the form that long made him one of the game’s biggest on-base threats and most underrated offensive performers.

Signing Santana might’ve been a “win-now” move, but it’s hard to argue that continuing to run him out there is in the Royals’ best interest. That’s doubly true with top prospects Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino mashing in Triple-A Omaha. Both are in the same first base/designated hitter mold as Santana, and both Pratto (55) and Pasquantino (61) rank prominently in Baseball America’s updated Top 100 prospect rankings. Pratto got off to a slow start but is hitting .246/.392/.483 over his past 148 plate appearances. Pasquantino burst out of the gates and hasn’t slowed down; he’s hitting .298/.392/.667 with 15 home runs in 204 plate appearances.

The Royals owe Santana the balance of his $10.5MM salary whether he’s on the roster or not, but he’ll start racking up incentives when he reaches 300 plate appearances.

Joey Gallo, Yankees: Gallo was one of the Yankees’ biggest trade-deadline additions in recent years, but he’s never found his footing in the Bronx. His status as a three-true-outcomes player is well-documented, but he’s trended more aggressively toward the least-desirable of those outcomes since donning pinstripes. Gallo has fanned in 38% of his plate appearances as a Yankee while seeing both his power and his walk rate dip. Since the Yankees acquired him, he’s batting .167/.295/.370.

Even with the short porch in right field, Gallo has only five home runs through 141 plate appearances this season. He’s also seen his average exit velocity, launch angle and barrel rate drop in 2022. Gallo is still making loads of hard contact when he hits the ball in the air, per Statcast, and perhaps that’s helping to keep him both in the lineup and on the roster. New York isn’t getting any real offense from Hicks, Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Kyle Higashioka, however. Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson are once again on the injured list. Anthony Rizzo had a massive April but is batting just .162/.274/.303 in his past 117 plate appearances. The Yankees’ AL East lead has begun to shrink, as the Jays have rattled off eight straight wins, and they can’t realistically count on Aaron Judge to carry the offense all season long.

Gallo doesn’t have a high-end outfield prospect breathing down his neck, but if he can’t get things going at the plate, the calls for change are only going to grow louder. He’s earning $10.275MM in his final arbitration season before free agency, and another club might view him as a change-of-scenery candidate with the hopes that he’ll be the position-player equivalent of Sonny Gray and thrive following a rocky stint in the Bronx.

Adam Duvall, Braves: Like Gallo, Duvall’s skill set and offensive profile were well established when the Braves opted to retain him via arbitration. He was coming off a 38-homer campaign, so there was never much doubt he’d be tendered a contract, but Duvall’s brand of huge power/bottom-of-the-scale OBP always left him with a pretty low floor should the power ever evaporate.

That’s been the case in 2022, as Duvall still isn’t walking or hitting for average, and he’s only slugged two homers on the season. Paired with a career-worst 31.9% strikeout rate, those troubling trends have resulted in a .191/.257/.272 slash for Duvall, who has also already been tasked with playing more center field in 2022 than he had in his entire career to date.

Atlanta has already called up Michael Harris II, one of the sport’s fastest-rising outfield talents, and former top prospect Drew Waters is at least putting together respectable, if unexciting results in Triple-A. The Braves have also tinkered with catcher William Contreras in the outfield. Duvall has been MLB’s second-worst qualified hitter, by measure of wRC+, and it’s fair to wonder how long the leash will be.

Miguel Sano, Twins: Sano isn’t technically a free agent at season’s end, but barring a Herculean push to finish the season, it’s nearly impossible to fathom the Twins picking up a $14MM option on him. To Sano’s credit, he hit quite well from June through season’s end (.251/.330/.503, 21 homers, 21 doubles in 373 plate appearances), but he looked absolutely lost at the plate in 2022 before landing on the injured list due to a torn meniscus. Sano hit just .093/.231/.148 in 65 plate appearances.

When Sano does return, he’ll come back to a retooled roster that has seen versatile Luis Arraez rake while picking up regular at-bats at first base. Former No. 1 pick Royce Lewis is getting looks at third base and in left field — though Lewis is on the 10-day IL himself now — and top outfield/first base prospect Alex Kirilloff is hitting well in Triple-A following his return from a wrist injury.

The Twins can keep Sano in Triple-A for 20 days on rehab assignment when he’s ready, and they may want to do just that to give him a chance to show he can recapture some of his late 2021 form. But the clock on Sano’s three-year, $30MM deal is running out, and the first-place Twins have plenty of options to fill out the lineup. None of them have Sano’s raw power — almost no one in MLB does — but the big man’s ongoing contact issues tend to lead to protracted slumps like the one he slogged through earlier this year. If he can’t turn it around quickly upon his return, it’d be difficult to justify playing him over Arraez, Kirilloff and others.

Enrique Hernandez & Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox: Hernandez was a revelation in 2021 when he smacked 20 homers, hit .250/.337/.449, and delivered all-world defense in center field. But as good as year one of his $14MM contract was, the second and final campaign of that deal has been nightmarish. Hernandez is hitting .203/.269/.340 with a career-low hard-hit rate and exit velocity. He’s still playing great defense in center and helping shoulder the second base workload, but the offensive deficiency is glaring.

That’s also somewhat true of Bradley Jr., who returned to Boston after one ill-fated season in Milwaukee. To Bradley’s credit, he has actually picked up the pace quite a bit, hitting .291/.328/.491 since mid-May, but that surge still only brings his overall season line to .227/.284/.353. If Bradley can sustain some of this production, he’ll surely hang onto his roster spot, but it’s hard not to look at young Jarren Duran’s .309/.391/.523 output in Triple-A and start thinking of ways to insert him into the big league lineup. Duran struggled in his debut last year but is still a touted young prospect whom the Sox envision as a long-term building block.

Hernandez is earning $8MM this season. Bradley is on a $9.5MM salary and is still owed an $8MM buyout on a mutual option for the 2023 season.

Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldonado & Jason Castro, Astros: Gurriel won a batting title and looked like one of the game’s best pure hitters in 2021, but he’s started his 2022 season with a woeful .223/.261/.361 performance through 176 plate appearances. His strikeout rate is up about four percentage points, while his walk rate has halved and his hard-contact numbers have plummeted. Gurriel is also chasing more pitches off the plate (36.4% in 2022, 29.8% in 2021) and making contact on pitches out of the zone at a far lower rate (74.5% in 2022, 81.9% in 2021).

Houston’s catchers, meanwhile, have been the least-productive in baseball. Maldonado has never been much of a hitter but is batting only .133/.208/.239 this season. Castro hasn’t even been able to match that, batting .104/.228/.146. If catching prospect Korey Lee weren’t enduring immense struggles of his own in Triple-A, a change might’ve already been made.

It seems unlikely that the Astros would cut bait on Gurriel, who’s been a prominent presence and one of the team’s most productive hitters since signing more than a half-decade ago. A reduced role is something they’ll have to consider if he can’t right the ship, however. The catchers seem far more vulnerable, and there figure to be some prominent names available on the trade market (Willson Contreras, most notably). That Houston is leading the AL West by 5.5 games despite having the least-productive catchers (29 wRC+) and 29th-ranked offensive output from its first basemen (74 wRC+) is both a testament to their pitching and indictment on the play of their divisional opponents thus far.

Gurriel is being paid $8MM in 2022, while Maldonado is earning a $5MM salary and Castro is at $3.5MM.

Andrew McCutchen, Brewers: Milwaukee added McCutchen on a one-year, $8MM contract this offseason with the idea of installing him as their primary designated hitter. McCutchen tormented the Brewers during his early years with the Pirates, which included an NL MVP win, but he’s hitting .214/.263/.312 to begin his tenure in Milwaukee. Even McCutchen’s typically outstanding production against lefties has gone up in smoke this year, as he’s managed a .196/.224/.391 slash against them.

Despite McCutchen’s ineffectiveness, the Brewers are leading the Majors in homers (70) and sit fifth in total runs scored (238). But if McCutchen, who’s hitless in six straight and has been 73% worse than average at the plate since a return from the Covid list (27 wRC+ in 57 plate appearances), can’t begin to show some signs of life, the Brewers could be on the lookout for some offensive help as the Aug. 2 trade deadline draws nearer.

Robbie Grossman & Tucker Barnhart, Tigers: Between Grossman, Austin Meadows and Victor Reyes, the Tigers have an entire outfield on the injured list. Underwhelming play from young options like Daz Cameron, Akil Baddoo and Derek Hill will probably extend Grossman’s leash, but he was hitting a career-worst .199/.311/.241 in 167 plate appearances prior to landing on the IL due to ongoing neck soreness. Grossman has a solid track record, but the Tigers will also want to get a look at top prospect Riley Greene soon, and they’re giving Kody Clemens an opportunity after a nice start down in Toledo.

Behind the plate, the Tigers are probably content with Barnhart’s glovework and leadership. There was talk of a potential extension after he was acquired, but a .229/.263/.257 start might have tempered that. Backup Eric Haase isn’t hitting enough to force a change, and the Tigers’ Triple-A catchers are journeymen Dustin Garneau and Ryan Lavarnway. They have a well-regarded prospect at Double-A in Dillon Dingler, but Barnhart shouldn’t be in imminent danger of losing his spot at this time.

Maikel Franco, Nationals: Franco is probably only in this everyday role because Carter Kieboom suffered an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery, but he hasn’t done much with his latest opportunity. The former Phillies, Royals and Orioles third baseman is hitting .258/.284/.374 (82 wRC+) through 208 plate appearances. The Nats have an ultra-thin farm system without much in the way of third base options in the upper minors, and they’re clearly not winning anything this year anyhow. That might keep Franco safe, but if an even semi-interesting option presents itself on the waiver wire, there’s little reason not to take a look.

Corey Dickerson, Cardinals: Prior to the 2022 season, Dickerson had never been worse than five percent below-average with the bat in any full year (by wRC+). That’s all but certain to change now, as the typically steady lefty has posted an uncharacteristic .183/.238/.215 slash in 101 plate appearances. For a lifetime .283/.327/.488 hitter who was coming off a solid 2021 campaign, it’s a rather astonishing swoon.

Dickerson has been in a platoon with Albert Pujols at DH for the most part, logging only 110 innings on defense in the outfield corners recently due to injuries elsewhere on the roster. He’s also only on a one-year, $5MM contract, so if he can’t find his swing in the near future, it’s easy to see the Cards giving more at-bats to Pujols’ long-shot chase for 700 home runs and to young standout Juan Yepez. Dickerson is safe for now with both Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson on the injured list, but he needs a hot streak sooner than later.

Mike Zunino, Rays: Zunino’s career-high 33 home runs from a year ago feel like a distant memory, as he’s off to a .147/.193/.294 start in 109 plate appearances in 2022. He’s still drawing excellent marks for his defensive contributions, which the Rays value heavily, but Zunino isn’t even hitting against lefties, whom he’s handled well throughout his career — particularly in recent seasons.

Backup Francisco Mejia isn’t hitting much himself, going just 6-for-42 without a walk over the past month or so. Were he producing at the plate, it’d be more tempting for Tampa Bay to significantly reduce Zunino’s playing time. The Rays do have 25-year-old Rene Pinto mashing in Triple-A, and he’s made his big league debut already this year. As with the Astros, however, the Rays are in firm win-now mode and entered the season with World Series aspirations. If the in-house options aren’t performing up to par, the trade market beckons.

Austin Hedges, Guardians: Hedges has never hit and has always been one of the game’s premier defensive players, so his 2022 season is nothing new. Still, a .155/.223/.282 output from your primary catcher is just difficult to stomach, no matter how strong the defense is. Veteran backup Luke Maile has hit well in a tiny sample of 35 plate appearances, but he’s a career .208/.264/.317 hitter himself.

Prospect Bryan Lavastida got a brief MLB cup of coffee in April and is hitting .225/.330/.360 so far in Triple-A. His performance will bear monitoring, because if the Guardians are intent on pulling into the playoff picture, Hedges’ production might be too light to overlook. And if they end up selling at the deadline, Hedges could draw interest from a team seeking a glove-first backup option — which could open a door for Lavastida.

Tigers Notes: Turnbull, Torkelson, Greene, Barnhart

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Spencer Turnbull was off to a strong start to the 2021 season, working 50 innings of 2.88 ERA ball with a massive 57.2% ground-ball rate over his first nine starts — one of which was a no-hitter against the Mariners. After those productive first two months, the right-hander landed on the injured list with what was originally termed a forearm strain. Early reports indicated that Turnbull may be able to avoid a long-term absence, but it emerged in mid-July that he’d torn his UCL and required Tommy John surgery. That procedure obviously ended his season and its timing cast his 2022 campaign in similar doubt. TJS procedures often require around 14 months of rehab time, raising a question of whether the University of Alabama product will be available at all this year.

Speaking with Chris McCosky of the Detroit News this afternoon, Turnbull expressed optimism about his chances of making it back to the majors late in the season. He tells McCosky he’s been throwing on flat ground for the past few weeks and generally feels his arm is progressing well. Like other players rehabbing from injury, he’s been unable to communicate with team personnel during the lockout. Turnbull described the situation as “weird” and “not ideal” but maintained he’s confident in the non-Tigers medical staff currently leading his recovery. The 29-year-old is controllable through 2024 via arbitration and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a modest $1.8MM salary this season.

More out of Detroit:

  • The delay to Opening Day puts the Tigers in an odd position with top prospects Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene, writes Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Both were expected to be in the mix for Opening Day roster spots, but the season’s delay will now likely push Major League Spring Training back to the point where it overlaps with the Triple-A season. The Tigers could be faced with pulling the pair from a more competitive setting in Triple-A to fly them back down to Florida for exhibition play — and then perhaps disrupting their season by sending them back to Toledo (where the team’s Triple-A affiliate plays) if either player is ultimately reassigned. It’s not a situation that’s unique to the Tigers, and one could even argue that Detroit is in an advantageous position, given that their two best prospects — both considered Top 10 throughout all of MLB — are both off the 40-man roster. The fact that neither is on the 40-man yet means that both are at least able to work out with team staff at their spring facility in Lakeland. Still, the organization faced a potentially difficult decision in the first place, and the delay to Opening Day adds another layer. Stavenhagen also has quotes from both players on the matter and some general observations from minicamp.
  • The Tigers kicked off their offseason by acquiring backstop Tucker Barnhart from the Reds. The seven-year veteran has taken on an active role in the MLB Players Association for the bulk of his career, and he’s been involved in the union’s efforts during this stage of collective bargaining talks. Barnhart spoke with Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press in the wake of the league’s announcement Tuesday that it was canceling the first two series of the regular season. The two-time Gold Glove winner, who wasn’t attending this week’s negotiations in-person, admitted he woke up Tuesday morning believing the parties would finalize a new CBA in time to avoid that outcome based on the optimistic reports that had trickled out the night before. However, Barnhart says he learned Tuesday morning that while the previous night’s discussions had made some progress, the gaps hadn’t been closed as much as had seemed — a common refrain echoed by many on the players’ side. He and Petzold discuss the various issues that remain to be sorted out.

Tigers Interested In Extension With Tucker Barnhart

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The Tigers are interested in working out a contract extension with recently-acquired catcher Tucker Barnhart, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. While no deal is believed to be close, Murray relays that Detroit has at least met with the backstop’s representatives at the Ballengee Group.

Barnhart hasn’t yet been in the organization for two weeks, but the front office no doubt values his on-field production and ability to work with a young pitching staff. The Tigers struck to acquire Barnhart from the Reds just hours into the offseason, clearly identifying him as a prime trade target. He’ll play next season on a $7.75MM salary after Detroit exercised a club option, but he’s currently on track to hit free agency after the 2022 campaign.

The lefty-hitting Barnhart offers stable production on both sides of the ball. He’s coming off a .247/.317/.368 showing in 388 plate appearances with Cincinnati, numbers that align with his career work at the dish. That’s a bit below the league average offensive output at the position, but Barnhart makes up for that with strong defense. Statcast has rated him as an above-average pitch framer three years running after he struggled in that facet of the game early in his career. He’s also been average or better at throwing out attempted base-stealers, and the two-time Gold Glove award winner is generally well-regarded for the non-quantifiable aspects (handling a pitching staff, game calling, etc.) of the position.

Barnhart turns 31 years old in January, so any extension that pushes the Tigers’ window of control beyond next season would begin with his age-32 campaign. That’s a year younger than Travis d’Arnaud, who signed a two-year, $16MM extension (with a 2024 club option) with the Braves in August. Barnhart and d’Arnaud are coming off fairly similar 2021 showings, but the latter flashed far more offensive potential by hitting .321/.386/.533 in 2020.

That’s also true to a lesser extent of Jason Castro, who signed for one year and $6.85MM with the Angels over the 2019-20 offseason. That came on the heels of a fine .232/.332/.435 showing, but Castro was also one year older at the time than Barnhart will be in 2023. Speculatively speaking, a two-year deal around that AAV — which would guarantee Barnhart $13.7MM between 2023-24 — could make for a mutually agreeable framework.

Whether the parties will line up remains to be seen, but it seems there’s at least some interest on both sides in getting a longer term deal done. Either way, Barnhart will head into 2022 as the Tigers’ regular backstop, with Grayson Greiner and Eric Haase on hand as the likeliest backup options.

Tigers Select Elvin Rodriguez

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The Detroit Tigers have announced that they have selected right-handed pitcher Elvin Rodriguez to their 40-man roster. Additionally, Tucker Barnhart, recently acquired in a trade with the Reds, had his club option for 2022 selected. Three players were also reinstated from the 60-day IL: catcher Jake Rogers and righties Rony Garcia and Spencer Turnbull.

Rodriguez was originally brought over to the organization as the player to be named later in the trade that sent Justin Upton to the Angels. At the time of the trade, he was only 19 and pitching in A-ball. Since that time, he has climbed through the Tigers’ system, reaching Triple-A this year. Baseball America ranked him as the #18 prospect in the organization in 2020, but he didn’t crack the 2021 list. FanGraphs ranked him at #30 in the Tigers’ system last year and #35 this year.

The righty, who turns 24 in March, made 18 starts at the Double-A level this year, logging 75 2/3 innings. His 5.83 ERA certainly doesn’t seem impressive, but it came with a solid 24.2% strikeout rate and average-ish 8.8% walk rate. After his season in Double-A, he was promoted to Triple-A for a single two-inning appearance in October. The club has a solid core of young hurlers in their rotation, with Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning being the headline names. Rodriguez will likely start the year in Triple-A and try to force his way into the big league picture as the season goes on.

The other transactions were mere formalities. There is no IL in the offseason, meaning all players on the 60-day IL have to be reinstated and retake their roster spots, with today being the deadline to do so. Barnhart was just acquired in a trade a few days ago, making it a lock that his option would be exercised by the club.

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