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West Notes: Anderson, Ausmus, Byrnes

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Dodgers starter Brett Anderson has reached another performance bonus threshold tonight, tweets Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Anderson will earn another $350K for throwing 170 innings. He’s triggered $1.65MM in bonuses in addition to his $10MM base salary.

Here’s more on Anderson and baseball’s western divisions:

  • Anderson would like to return to L.A. next season, reports Mark Saxon of ESPN. The club is also reportedly interested in re-signing the southpaw. Anderson is in the midst of a rough outing at Coors Field tonight, but that’s hardly an uncommon occurrence. Including his performance through three innings this evening, Anderson has a 3.77 ERA, 5.87 K/9, 2.41 BB/9, and a 66% ground ball rate over 171.2 innings. He’s just four innings short of his career high (set in 2009). Between improved health and success, Anderson should be a popular target this offseason. The 27-year-old could potentially use Brandon McCarthy’s four-year, $48MM contract as a comparable. McCarthy was entering his age 31 season when he signed that deal, but he was arguably coming off a stronger platform season. MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth also considers McCarthy and Pirates lefty Francisco Liriano as possible precedents.
  • Josh Byrnes is a top candidate for a role in the Angels front office, confirms Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via tweet). However, Los Angeles is not looking to hire a president of baseball operations. Whoever they sign will be the GM. You can learn more about Byrnes and the other Angels’ GM candidates here.
  • If the Tigers hadn’t retained manager Brad Ausmus, he would have been a top candidate for the Padres opening, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Ausmus debuted with the Padres way back in 1993. He played in parts of four seasons for San Diego before later moving on to the Tigers, Astros, and Dodgers. While it’s a moot point now, it seems likely that Ausmus would have landed somewhere on both feet.

Josh Byrnes A Candidate For Top Jobs With Angels

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Former Diamondbacks and Padres GM Josh Byrnes is a candidate for GM or president of baseball operations with the Angels, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. Byrnes currently serves as vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers.

Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler is reportedly the favorite for the Angels GM job. Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine and Angels director of pro scouting Hal Morris have also been connected to the position, however, along with Blue Jays assistant GM Tony La Cava, Indians vice president of player personnel Ross Atkins, and Angels assistant GMs Matt Klentak and Scott Servais. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the Angels currently plan to hire one executive, not two, so if they were to hire Byrnes as president of baseball operations, it would appear they would not hire a GM.

Yesterday, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman mentioned another name in connection with the GM job: that of Kevin Towers, who ironically replaced Byrnes as Diamondbacks GM after Byrnes was fired in 2010. Two years later, Byrnes then headed to San Diego to take the GM job Towers had once occupied.

Quick Hits: Tiebreakers, Lee, Diamondbacks, Padres

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With less than two weeks left in the regular season, the NL playoff picture appears relatively stable, but there’s plenty left to be determined in the American League. That could result in any number of headache-inducing tiebreaker situations, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark explains. That includes the possibility that there could be a four-way tie between the Rangers, Astros, Angels and Twins for one spot atop the AL West and the last Wild Card spot. The number of possible scenarios are exhausting, but for the teams involved, the travel could be even more exhausting. For example, if the Astros and Twins were to tie for the final Wild Card and the Astros were to win, they’d potentially have to travel from Seattle to Phoenix to Minneapolis to New York to either Kansas City or Toronto, all in a span of about a week. Here’s more from around the league.

  • Cliff Lee’s tenure with the Phillies is about to officially reach its end, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com writes. This is the last year of the $120MM contract to which the Phillies signed Lee before the 2011 season, and the Phillies will surely pay Lee a $12.5MM buyout rather than exercising his 2016 option for $27.5MM. Lee missed much of the 2014 season and all of 2015 with elbow trouble. “He helped us make the World Series in ’09 and the postseason in ’11. He pitched very well in ’12 and ’13. It just didn’t work out,” says Phillies interim GM Scott Proefrock. “It was a situation last year where we were looking to trade him and obviously his injury short circuited that.” Zolecki notes that the Phillies insured Lee’s contract, so they’ll get back part of the $25MM they’ve paid him for 2015. Lee was, of course, a huge part of the 102-win 2011 Phillies, ranking among the best pitchers in a brilliant rotation that also featured Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. He also pitched 200-plus excellent innings in both 2012 and 2013.
  • The Diamondbacks and Padres have both had underwhelming seasons, but they’re taking diverging paths, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. The Diamondbacks have plenty of good young players under team control, including Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock, David Peralta and Ender Inciarte, Lin writes. The Padres, meanwhile, have a veteran team that would be expensive to try to keep together even if it weren’t already disappointing. The D-backs entered the season with modest expectations and may have already surpassed them, while the Padres began with great expectations and fell well short. “For us, we have a nice core of talent that’s come through the minor leagues together, and now they’re getting this opportunity,” says Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale. “We have to make the decision this winter of where do we spice in some of those veterans, whether it’s a position player or a couple starting pitchers.”
  • The Padres’ situation is such that more wins this season might actually diminish their flexibility for the future, writes Jeff Sanders of the Union-Tribune. Not only does fewer wins mean a higher draft position for 2016, but a bottom-ten finish in wins means the Padres can pursue top-tier free agents this winter without risking losing their top draft pick due to the qualifying offer system. Currently, the Padres are tied with the Tigers for the eighth-worst record in the big leagues at 72-81, but they’re within striking distance of improving upon the records of several other teams, including the White Sox, Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Mariners.

NL Notes: Enberg, Bruce, Asher

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Padres broadcaster Dick Enberg announced during Wednesday’s game that he would retire after the 2016 season, as MLB.com’s Corey Brock notes. Enberg has been the Friars’ play-by-play broadcaster for six years. Previously, Enberg had done play-by-play work for CBS on NFL, college basketball and tennis broadcasts. He had also previously worked for NBC. “In culminating 60 years of sports broadcasting, it has been a tremendous thrill to be the TV voice of my hometown San Diego Padres, and I’m tremendously excited that I will have a continuing TV role though the 2016 season, an All-Star Game year for San Diego,” said Enberg in a press release. Here are more quick notes from the National League.

  • Reds outfielder Jay Bruce is “embarrassed” by his season, Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News writes. “There are a lot of different ways to be good and driving in runs is good,” says Bruce. “But I should have 100 RBI, easily, every year. I should hit 30 home runs, hit 40 doubles and I should hit for a respectable average. And I’€™m not doing it.” Bruce’s offensive issues, such as they are, stem from a low batting average (.229) and on-base percentage (.300). Still, he’s hit 26 home runs and has produced some value with his solid defense. Nonetheless, rumors near the trade deadline connected Bruce to the Mets, and he wouldn’t have had nearly the impact of the player they acquired instead, Yoenis Cespedes. “I don’€™t think about it and it looks as if the Mets made a good decision,” says Bruce. “Cespedes has done a great job for them.”
  • Righty Alec Asher, one of the Phillies’ acquisitions in the Cole Hamels trade, is making a bid to be included in the team’s plans for next season, writes Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. He took the loss in his start against the Marlins Thursday, but pitched seven innings and only allowed one run. After allowing 21 runs and six homers in his first four MLB starts, Thursday’s start was a step in the right direction. Asher wasn’t the centerpiece of the trade — prospects Jake Thompson, Nick Williams and Jorge Alfaro were all more highly regarded. But he and Jerad Eickhoff (another Hamels acquisition who’s currently in the Phillies’ rotation along with Asher) could provide the Phils with valuable rotation depth as they rebuild.

NL West Notes: Anderson, Padres, Gray, De La Rosa, Weiss

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As Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register recently pointed out on Twitter, Brett Anderson has accumulated enough innings that he’s reached the incentive portion of his one-year contract with the Dodgers. The left-hander’s deal calls for a $10MM base, but Anderson received an extra $300K for reaching both 150 and 155 innings, and he received an additional $350K upon reaching 160 and 165 innings. Currently sitting at 168 2/3 innings, Anderson will receive another $350K for reaching 170 and 175 innings, and he’ll earn $400K for every five innings he amasses beyond that point, up to 200. Obviously, he won’t reach the 200 inning maximum given the limited amount of time left this season, but Anderson’s already secured an additional $1.3MM and could conceivably earn an additional $1.5MM or so before season’s end, making for a very hefty payday.

More from the NL West…

  • The Padres have shuffled their scouting department, reports MLB.com’s Corey Brock. Logan White, hired last winter to be the team’s director of pro scouting and serve as a senior adviser to general manager A.J. Preller will now focus on amateur and international scouting in addition to his role as a senior adviser. In his place, west coast regional scouting supervisor Pete DeYoung will be promoted to director of pro scouting. DeYoung’s promotion creates another opportunity, and area scout Josh Emmerick will move up the ladder into DeYoung’s former position. Brock’s column details several other changes further down the line in San Diego’s scouting department as well.
  • Rockies pitchers Jon Gray and Jorge De La Rosa are done for the season, manager Walt Weiss told reporters, including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (Twitter links). Gray’s shutdown was planned, per Weiss, as he’s hit his innings limit for the season. The former No. 3 overall pick posted a 4.33 ERA in 114 2/3 innings while pitching in the hitter-friendly Triple-A Pacific Coast League. His struggles weren’t aided by moving to Coors Field midseason, as Gray totaled a 5.53 ERA in his 40 1/3 innings at the Major League level. All told, he’s pitched 155 innings this season — a notable increase from the 124 1/3 he tossed in 2014. As for De La Rosa, he was scratched from his most recent start due to tendinitis in his Achilles tendon, and the club apparently won’t risk further aggravation of the issue. The 34-year-old made 26 starts and tallied a 4.17 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 in 2015 — the first season of a two-year, $25MM extension he inked with Colorado last August.
  • Weiss acknowledged to Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post that his job security with the Rockies is uncertain. “Hey, it’s a legitimate question,” Weiss told Kiszla upon being asked how he’d sell the front office and ownership on retaining him for the 2016 season. “because you’ve got to defend what you’re doing if you haven’t won. … We haven’t won yet, but I feel like there’s a foundation of respect and trust in the clubhouse with this coaching staff. Guys on this team feel the need to show up and compete every day. … I don’t expect people to give that a whole lot of credence. But, for me, when I look in the mirror after every game, that’s what me and the staff hang our hat on.” The Rox have lost 271 games in Weiss’ three seasons as manager, though as Kiszla notes, that’s hardly something for which Weiss can be faulted. Weiss has had little help in terms of pitching talent, among a slew of other problems. Kiszla notes that if the front office — or perhaps, ownership — believes contending in the near future is possible, though, Weiss could land on the chopping block due to his teams’ poor performances over the years.

Vesting Options Update

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With the regular season nearing its end, we have some clarity on several vesting clauses around the game. Let’s take a look at where things stand …

  • Chase Utley, Dodgers: There’s no chance that Utley’s $15MM option — the first of three in succession — will vest. (He’d need 110 plate appearances over the final two weeks of the season to reach 500.) Instead, Utley will become subject to a team option — the value of which floats between $5MM and $11MM based upon days spent on the DL. The precise details have yet to be reported, so it’s not yet clear how much it would cost Los Angeles to control the veteran. Neither is it known whether the team would have interest; Utley has a mediocre .200/.296/.347 slash over 108 plate appearances with the Dodgers.
  • Jonathan Papelbon, Nationals: This one was taken care of as part of the deal that sent Papelbon to D.C. from the Phillies. Papelbon helped facilitate the swap by agreeing to take $11MM to throw next year for the Nats. He was already likely to reach the requirements for his option to vest at $13MM, but that agreement greased the wheels on a move he desperately wanted and removed any doubt as to his payday.
  • David Ortiz, Red Sox: Big Papi has blown well past the 425 plate appearances he needed for his 2016 option to vest, though he’ll also need to pass an offseason physical. The question now is the value of the option. It has already reached $15MM, but would go higher if he makes his 600th trip to the dish. In that case, it will go to $16MM (or, if it’s more than that, the value of the qualifying offer). Ortiz has earned it, with another huge season and successful run at 500 career home runs.
  • Joaquin Benoit, Padres: Benoit needed to finish 55 games for to his $8MM option to vest. That can’t happen, so it’ll turn into a team option. It’s a fair sum for a reliever, but Benoit continues to put up strong results at 38 years of age.
  • Marlon Byrd, Giants: The 38-year-old sits at 502 plate appearances. He needs 48 more the rest of the way to reach 550 total, which, in combination with those accumulated last year, would be sufficient for his $8MM option to vest for 2016. With 13 games left, it’s still possible that he could reach the needed total, but that’ll depend heavily on playing time — and San Francisco may well not wish to be on the hook for that kind of cash.
  • Santiago Casilla, Giants: As MLBTR reported, Casilla needs 55 games finished for his $7.5MM option to vest for 2016. The situation is somewhat similar to Byrd’s. With 49 finished games in the bank so far, it’s still possible — but, perhaps, unlikely — for Casilla to reach the necessary tally.
  • Nori Aoki, Giants: Due to injuries, the outfielder is stalled well shy of the 550 plate appearances he needed to turn a $5.5MM club option into one of the mutual variety. That could still be an appealing price tag for a player who performed well when healthy.
  • Jonny Gomes, Royals: Gomes needs 325 plate appearances for a $3MM club option for 2016 to become guaranteed. He only has 246, and hasn’t been used much in Kansas City, so that’s not happening.

We already know that Cliff Lee won’t achieve the innings totals required for his 2016 option to vest, as the Phillies southpaw hasn’t pitched all season and is attempting to recover from a torn left flexor tendon without undergoing surgery.  Brandon League also hasn’t pitched this season and has been released by the Dodgers, so he won’t reach the games-finished total required to allow his 2016 player option to vest.

Quick Hits: Walker, Cespedes, Gyorko

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The Pirates may say goodbye to second baseman Neil Walker after the season, writes Rob Biertempfel of the Pittburgh Tribune-Review. He’s set to earn at least $10MM in his final year of arbitration eligibility. Due to a balky back and the availability of Jung-ho Kang, Jordy Mercer, and Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh may prefer to commit that money to another position. Of course, the Pirates will probably never reach the point of actually non-tendering Walker. Plenty of teams should be interested in a one-year flier on the 30-year-old. Biertempfel offers a fascinating look at Walker who is actually a Pittsburgh native. It’s well worth a read.

  • Pittsburgh should actually extend Walker, opines Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Rossi refers to Walker as a fan favorite and lauds his clubhouse presence. Rossi suggests a four-year, $47MM contract as a reasonable compromise. Of course, the notoriously penurious club does have a wealth of affordable middle infield depth with Kang, Harrison, and Mercer on the roster. Prospect Alen Hanson is also close to major league ready. Presumably, Walker could return a decent player via trade too. While it’s tough to part with a hometown fan favorite, sometimes it’s the right thing to do.
  • A hot October could lead Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to his desired six-year contract, writes Mark Townsend of Yahoo. While teams may be concerned about offering a big guarantee through his age 36 season, they may be willing to swallow the risk if they can bank on production early in the contract. Of course, no player is a sure thing to repeat past exploits. Postseason success would certainly go a long way towards assuaging any doubts. I said the same earlier tonight when examining the players who most improved their free agent stock.
  • The Padres are pleased with Jedd Gyorko’s development at shortstop, writes Corey Brock of MLB.com. The Friars began the experiment to keep both Cory Spangenberg and Gyorko in the lineup. While there is obviously concern about his defense, his offense easily ranks among the best at the position. Advanced statistics like UZR aren’t a fan of his work, but a one month sample is way too small to form a judgment. He hasn’t committed an error and makes all the routine plays. A NL West scout even suggested that he looks more comfortable at short than second. If the club thinks he can continue to man the position in 2016, it could save them from scrounging through the free agent shortstop market.

Quick Hits: Belt, Mondesi, Padres

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Brandon Belt will be out of the Giants’ lineup for the time being after his second concussion in two seasons, Alex Pavlovic of CSNBayArea.com writes. His current issues stem from a slide against the Reds on Tuesday. He had difficulty concentrating during Friday’s game. “He showed symptoms last night and that’s what we’re treating him for,” says manager Bruce Bochy. Belt also missed about a quarter of last season due to a concussion. Buster Posey will take over for Belt at first base until Belt returns. Here are more quick notes from around the league.

  • Manager Ned Yost says the Royals could promote another middle infielder, according to Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (Twitter links). Both Alcides Escobar and Omar Infante left Friday’s game with injuries. Escobar’s injury was merely a bruise, as Flanagan notes, but Escobar’s injury (an oblique strain) could be more serious. That could mean the promotion of top prospect Raul Mondesi Jr., Flanagan speculates. Mondesi has only hit .240/.279/.372 in 338 plate appearances for Double-A Northwest Arkansas this season, but he’s a strong defensive player and baserunner, so he could potentially be useful to the Royals in those capacities. He also only recently turned 20 and is about four years younger than the average player in the Texas League. In July, Baseball America ranked Mondesi the No. 25 prospect in the game. MLB.com currently ranks him 35th.
  • The Padres have a tough task ahead of them this offseason, Jon Heyman says in a video for CBS Sports. They appear likely to lose Justin Upton, who will likely get a large contract elsewhere. Heyman says he hears the Padres will probably extend Ian Kennedy a qualifying offer after a strong second half, and Kennedy will likely refuse it. After a disappointing season, the Padres will have to decide this winter whether to attempt to contend again next year or whether to rebuild, trading players like Craig Kimbrel and Tyson Ross.

NL Notes: Lackey, D’Backs, Kimbrel, Colletti

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MLBTR has learned the full details of the incentives clause negotiated last winter between the Cardinals and righty John Lackey. (Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has already reported major elements of the clause.) The provision calls for $400K payouts to Lackey for reaching each of five innings tallies. His first milestone was 100 innings, with successive markers every 25 innings thereafter. When Lackey reached 200 frames last night, he maxed out the bonus at a total of $2MM (on top of the league minimum salary that was already called for in his deal).

Here are some more notes from the National League:

  • The Diamondbacks face several contract questions regarding pitchers even before considering outside additions, as Zach Buchanan of AZCentral Sports writes. Whether to tender Jeremy Hellickson and Jhoulys Chacin, exercise a club option over Josh Collmenter, and pursue a reunion with free agent-to-be David Hernandez are among the matters that Arizona will need to address. Chief baseball officer Tony La Russa discussed all four pitchers with Buchanan. Most interestingly, perhaps, is the situation regarding Chacin. La Russa says that he has “seen enough from Chacin” to know that he’d be “in the competition” for the club next year. The 27-year-old looked good at Triple-A this year and has put together three nice outings for Arizona. Because of his limited MLB time this year, he is arb-eligible. Chacin had agreed to a $5.5MM deal with the Rockies before he was released in the spring before signing successive minor league deals with the Indians and D’Backs. My guess would be that the club will look to work something out with him before the tender deadline.
  • Padres closer Craig Kimbrel says it’s been a frustrating first season in San Diego, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Kimbrel says that he expects the club to improve next year, citing the assembly of new faces as one factor that may have slowed down the Pads this year. Of course, as Lin writes, it’s certainly plausible to imagine a scenario where Kimbrel is dealt elsewhere to address other areas of needs or re-build the farm system.
  • Former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, who now works with the organization as an adviser, is “right in the middle of everything, but nowhere near anything,” Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times writes. But as Plaschke points out, Colletti — who says it’s been “a different kind of year” — was responsible for bringing in many of the team’s key pieces. That includes not only players like Clayton Kershaw and Zach Grienke, but youngsters such as Joc Pederson and Corey Seager. All said, the piece suggests, Colletti’s nine-year tenure as the head of the organization’s baseball operations department was probably more successful than many have acknowledged.

Heyman’s Latest: Samardzija, GMs, Ozuna, Managers, Giants, Iwakuma

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Despite a terrible second half following up what had been an already underwhelming season, multiple executives tell Jon Heyman of CBS Sports that they expect White Sox right-hander Jeff Samardzija to do just fine in free agency. As has been said on many occasions, scouts love Samardzija’s raw stuff and competitive nature, and as Heyman points out he’s a relatively low-mileage arm due to his days as a wide receiver and time spent in the bullpen early in his MLB career. Two execs told Heyman they expect Samardzija to top Ervin Santana’s four-year, $55MM contract, with one saying he should “blow it away.” Unsurprisingly, Heyman hears that the Sox will extend a qualifying offer to Samardzija. I’ll join Heyman and the execs to whom he spoke in saying I’d be shocked to see Samardzija accept.

More from Heyman’s latest Inside Baseball column…

  • Frank Wren is seen as a likely hire for Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, though Heyman notes that Wren may receive a role other than GM. Turning to other GM openings, Heyman lists Jerry Dipoto as the favorite for the Mariners’ GM gig and calls current A’s assistant GM Dan Kantrovitz a favorite for the Brewers. Milwaukee is said to be seeking someone who is extremely analytical, and they’ve felt that some who have interviewed haven’t fit that description well enough. Billy Eppler is still the favorite for the Angels’ slot, Heyman writes. He doesn’t list a favorite for the Phillies, though he again connects Angels AGM Matt Klentak and Royals AGM J.J. Picollo to the position. Also according to Heyman, Ben Cherington turned down an interview with the Mariners, as his current plan is to take some time away from the rigors of GM work.
  • Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald recently wrote that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is very open to trading Marcell Ozuna, but president of baseball operations Michael Hill expressed a desire to keep the talented-but-struggling center fielder when speaking to Heyman. “He’s extremely talented and very much in our plans moving forward,” said Hill, although such a line is to be expected from an on-record executive anyway. Even if the intent is to shop Ozuna, Hill wouldn’t come out and say it.
  • Nationals skipper Matt Williams is “all but assured of a pink slip” following the season barring a miraculous playoff surge, per Heyman. On the opposite end of the spectrum is interim Phillies manager Pete Mackanin, who looks like he’ll be given a chance to shed the “interim” portion of his title in 2016. Brad Ausmus is indeed expected to be let go by the Tigers following the season, he also writes, and Ausmus could find himself in the dugout for the Padres if that comes to pass.
  • The Giants hope to add at least one, if not two starting pitchers this offseason, and a run at retaining Mike Leake appears to be one possible scenario. San Francisco is expected to work out a reunion with Tim Lincecum as well, he adds; the two-time Cy Young winner had hip surgery that ended his season earlier this month, though his surgeon strongly believes that the operation will help Lincecum restore some of his disappearing velocity.
  • Mariners ownership and those remaining in the front office want Hisashi Iwakuma back, so much so that they told other clubs at the deadline that they wouldn’t even consider trading him, Heyman writes. Iwakuma is keen on returning to Seattle as well, he notes. Of course, a run at Iwakuma would have to align with the thinking of whichever new executive steps into the GM’s chair.
  • Not that there should’ve been any doubt, but Heyman notes that the Blue Jays intend to pick up the club options on Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista. That’s hardly a surprise, as the respective $10MM and $14MM options on the right-handed sluggers are probably two of the easiest option decisions you’ll ever see.
  • Joel Hanrahan isn’t in a rush to return from his second TJ surgery and may not attempt to pitch in the Majors again until 2017. Best of luck to Hanrahan, who has seen injuries destroy the past three seasons of his career.
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