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Latest Bryce Harper Rumors

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If you’ve been away from the internet for the last 24 hours, you’ll want to catch up on the major free agent news that broke yesterday. If not, you can safely skip ahead to focusing on what’s next: the final stretch of bidding for Bryce Harper. Here’s the latest:

  • The Phillies’ “total focus” right now is on Harper, Heyman tweets. Another free agent, such as Dallas Keuchel and/or Craig Kimbrel could become a target once Harper signs (be it in Philadelphia or elsewhere), but at the moment, the organization’s efforts are zeroed in on landing Harper.
  • Todd Zolecki, Mark Feinsand and Jamal Collier of MLB.com write that the Phillies are wary of bidding against themselves and overpaying for Harper. Notably, the MLB.com trio cite multiple sources in reporting that the Nationals “have no plans to give Harper a mega-deal comparable to Machado’s 10-year, $300 million contract.” If that’s the case, then it’s not clear exactly who’d pose a threat to the Phillies at present, as the Giants’ interest in Harper has repeatedly been reported to be on a shorter term deal with a significant annual value. The report also cites two sources indicating that approximately $100MM of the Nationals’ initial 10-year, $300MM offer to Harper (issued back in September) would have been deferred. Certainly, ownership could still decide to step up and retain the face of the franchise, but the fact that the initial offer was well shy of $300MM in actual, present-day value because of those deferrals doesn’t bode well for the Nats now deciding to top $300MM. Machado’s deal reportedly contains no deferrals.
  • Giants president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi didn’t speak with an increased urgency after the Padres landed Machado, as Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Specifically, Zaidi stated that he doesn’t think the Machado agreement “really changes how we’re viewing our team and what we might still do with it,” going on to emphasize the importance of making the “right decision” rather than acting “in a reactionary way.”

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Orioles Claim Josh Osich, Designate Hanser Alberto

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The Orioles have claimed lefty Josh Osich off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. To open a roster spot, they designated infielder Hanser Alberto for assignment.

Osich gives the O’s yet another lefty relief option. The 30-year-old will try to show that he can tap into his apparent upside. Osich has a big fastball and draws loads of grounders, but has struggled with control and carries a 5.01 ERA in 120 1/3 MLB innings.

As for Alberto, 26, he’ll either land back with the O’s as a non-roster player or move once again through the DFA process. He has turned in solid offensive numbers at the Triple-A level but hasn’t yet carried that over to the majors in limited opportunities.

Bruce Bochy To Retire After 2019 Season

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Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced today that he will retire at the end of the 2019 season (Twitter link). Baseball’s longest-tenured skipper, Bochy is entering his 13th season as the Giants’ manager. In that time, he’s overseen three World Series championships (2010, 2012 and 2014) and helped guide the Giants to a 979-965 record.

A surefire Hall of Famer, the 2019 season will be Bochy’s 25th as a Major League manager, as he also previously enjoyed a 12-year run at the helm for the Padres. The 63-year-old surprisingly only took home one NL Manager of the Year title in those 24 seasons (1996 with the Padres), but his track record is among the most impressive of any manager in the past three decades. As MLB.com’s Jon Morosi points out, Bochy is one of only 10 managers to win three World Series titles, and the other nine are in the Hall of Fame (Twitter link).

As for his future, Bochy indicated that he’ll still be involved in the game in some capacity (Twitter link via NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic). He’s already spoken with CEO Larry Baer about alternative roles with the Giants organization and didn’t sound as if he had much interest in pursuing a role with another club, plainly stating: “I’m a Giant.”

With general manager Bobby Evans recently dismissed from his post and Brian Sabean moving into more of an advisory capacity with the team, the departure of Bochy will be the next major step in an organizational overhaul. Ownership tabbed former Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi as the organization’s new president of baseball operations early in the offseason, and after the 2019 season, Bochy’s retirement will give the Giants’ new front office an opportunity to handpick a replacement to serve as a new voice for the next generation of Giants.

Billy Owens, GM Candidate With Giants?

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Athletics assistant GM/director of player personnel Billy Owens has been rumored as “a strong candidate” to become the next Giants general manager, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ newly-hired president of baseball operations, knows Owens well from their time together in Oakland’s front office, and Zaidi is one of several voices in Slusser’s piece who praise Owens’ ability to scout and identify talent (not to mention describe that talent in legendarily elaborate scouting reports).  If there is one flaw in Owens’ resume, it could be his love of scouting prevents him from amassing the type of executive experience necessary to run a front office.  That said, Owens has been sought after by other organizations, and he interviewed for the Phillies’ GM job in 2015, leading to speculation that he could eventually leave Oakland for a higher-profile job — perhaps even reuniting with Zaidi in the Bay Area.

Cameron Maybin On Giants Deal

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  • Cameron Maybin received interest from multiple teams this winter, though the veteran outfielder told Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group that he chose to sign with the Giants due to the opportunity for playing time, and because of Buster Posey’s recent tweet about the club being “an organization that wants to win.”  Maybin has only reached the postseason once in his 12-year career, though the trip was a memorable one, as Maybin won a World Series ring as a member of the 2017 Astros.  Of course, the Giants don’t profile as the most obvious potential contender going into the 2019, though there’s still plenty of veteran talent on hand if everyone can stay healthy.

Giants Sign Yangervis Solarte

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TODAY: The Giants announced that Solarte has passed his physical (The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly was among those to tweet the news).

FRIDAY, 9:50am: If he makes the roster, Solarte will earn $1.75MM and can make another $250K via incentives, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network. That seemingly indicates that Solarte’s deal is of the minor league variety, though it could also be a non-guaranteed MLB pact that comes with a 40-man spot. The team has yet to announce the signing.

9:17am: The Giants and free-agent infielder Yangervis Solarte have agreed to terms on a contract, reports Robert Murray of The Athletic (via Twitter). The deal is pending the completion of a physical. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reported yesterday that San Francisco had interest in the versatile veteran.

Solarte, 31, had a steady run of production between the Yankees and Padres from 2014-17 before seeing his offensive output unexpectedly crater upon a move from pitcher-friendly Petco Park in San Diego to the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre in Toronto. The switch-hitter didn’t debut in the Majors until he was 26, but he quickly acclimated himself and hit a combined .267/.327/.419 with 57 homers, 99 doubles and six triples through his first 2061 plate appearances.

Last offseason, the Padres flipped Solarte and the remainder of what looked to be a club-friendly contract — he was earning $4MM in 2018 and had a pair of club options worth a combined $13.5MM for 2019-20 — to the Blue Jays in exchange for prospects Edward Olivares and Jared Carkuff. The transition back to the AL East was a rough one for Solarte, however, and his season concluded with a disappointing .226/.277/.377 batting line in 506 plate appearances. Following that showing, the Jays declined his $5.5MM option, making him a free agent.

Though the 2018 season wasn’t a good one for Solarte, there were still some positives. He remained an exceptionally difficult player to strike out, whiffing in just 14.2 percent of his plate appearances. Solarte’s line-drive rate actually increased over his more productive 2017 season and over his career mark, as well. It’d be fair to attribute some of his poor showing to a major drop in his batting average on balls in play (.233), though it should also be pointed out that his low mark in that regard isn’t as unfortunate as it seems; Solarte’s 28 infield flies tied him for the sixth-most in baseball, and popping up at that rate will naturally reduce a players BABIP. Pop-ups have been an issue at times for Solarte in his career, but never more so than last year, when he held the dubious distinction of tying Mike Moustakas for the Major League lead in infield-fly rate (19.2 percent).

All of that said, Solarte isn’t long removed from being a reasonably productive bat, and he can help the Giants by serving as a depth option at any of the four infield positions, as he has at least 264 innings at each slot. While he’s not a premium defender at any of those positions, he doesn’t rate disastrously at any of the four, either. As a low-cost bench option for a team that has seen as many recent infield injuries as the Giants, Solarte is sensible addition. And, if he’s able to bounce back to his previous levels of production, the Giants could well find themselves with a tradeable commodity on their hands this summer.

Giants Sign Gerardo Parra To Minor League Deal

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TODAY: Parra has passed his physical, as per a team announcement (The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly was among those to tweet the news).

TUESDAY: The Giants have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Gerardo Parra, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (Twitter link). The Octagon client will head to Major League Spring Training in hopes of earning a spot on San Francisco’s Opening Day roster. If he can, Parra would earn a $1.75MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link), with $250K in incentives tied to plate appearances.

Parra, 31, wrapped up a three-year, $27.5MM with the division-rival Rockies in 2018 — one that did not pay the dividends the Colorado organization had hoped when signing Parra in the 2015-16 offseason. During his three years with the Rox, Parra posted a .283/.320/.407 slash that looks solid on the surface but checked in well south of the league average when adjusting for park and league. Weighted metrics such as OPS+ (82) and wRC+ (77) felt that Parra’s bat was anywhere from 18 to 23 percent worse than that of an average-hitter over that span. And last season, Parra turned in the least-powerful campaign of his 10-year Major League career (six homers, 17 doubles, no triples, .087 ISO in 443 plate appearances).

Defensively speaking, Parra has a steady track record as a quality corner glove. Though defensive metrics weren’t kind to him in his first year with Colorado, that season now looks anomalous in nature. Parra tallied +11 Defensive Runs Saved and a 10.2 Ultimate Zone Rating from 2017-18. Statcast pegged him as a roughly scratch defender in that time (+1 outs above average).

Overall, Parra is a useful defender in the outfield corners — one who has long shown solid contact skills and managed to get on base at a respectable clip, as evidenced by a career .278/.325/.405 slash. All of that offensive output has come while playing his home games in a hitter-friendly setting (Diamondbacks, Orioles, Rockies, Brewers), but with a career strikeout rate of just 17 percent, Parra undeniably has quality bat-to-ball skills that could help him to earn a spot in a currently barren Giants outfield mix.

Young Steven Duggar is returning from shoulder surgery and will hope to lay claim to regular center field duties at the newly renamed Oracle Park, but he didn’t hit especially well in his rookie debut last season. Depending on the health of his shoulder and his early production, it’s certainly possible that he’d still need some further development. Beyond Duggar are Austin Slater, Chris Shaw and the out-of-options Mac Williamson — none of whom has solidified himself as a big league regular.

Of course, the potential for a radical shift in the Giants’ outfield mix still looms large, with the team recently reported to be in the mix for Bryce Harper. Certainly, adding Parra on a non-guaranteed deal does nothing to lessen the Giants’ chances of landing Harper, though ultimately signing Harper would obviously hinder Parra’s chances of cracking the roster in San Francisco.

Giants Sign Cameron Maybin

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SUNDAY: Maybin has joined the Giants, Maria Guardado of MLB.com tweets.

SATURDAY: Per Andrew Baggarly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Giants are “finalizing” an agreement to bring outfielder Cameron Maybin to Spring camp as a non-roster invitee.

Maybin, 32 in April, has spent time with four teams over the last two seasons, dropping an identical 88 wRC+ in each. Mired for the last three seasons in fourth-outfielder limbo, the former first-rounder has seen his once-vaunted center-field defense decline sharply with age. In nearly 2,800 innings at the position since the beginning of 2015, the longtime MLB vet has posted -26 DRS, though his numbers did normalize a bit in the last two seasons.

Rushed to the big leagues at the ripe age of 20, Maybin was quickly shipped in the Miguel Cabrera trade to Miami, where he never quite found his footing at the plate. A cross-country swap to San Diego offered respite, and Maybin’s 105 wRC+, 4.3 fWAR 2011 season precipitated a 5 year, $25MM extension for the young outfielder. Tough times followed, though, and the Friars cut their losses just three seasons in.

The then-29-year-old looked to turn a corner in 2016, when he slashed .315/.383/.418 for Detroit in part-time play, though his BABIP (.383) was hardly congruent with his hard-hit rate (24.7%), and he again faced regression the next season. All told, Maybin has slashed a respectable .254/.322/.368 (92 wRC+) in 3,848 lifetime MLB plate appearances, which mirrors closely his Steamer projection (92 wRC+) for the upcoming season.

The Giants would figure to have a place for Maybin in center, as the weak side of a Steven Duggar platoon, but the up-for-grabs outfield, the sloppiest projected crop in years by the bay, could align with him in a full-time role at either corner. Either way, he’ll jostle with a veritable grab-bag of candidates, including Gerardo Parra, Mac Williamson, Austin Slater, Chris Shaw, John Andreoli, Cesar Puello, Mike Gerber, Craig Gentry, Drew Ferguson, and Anthony Garcia, for any number of roles. ZiPS, interestingly, projects Ferguson, the Rule-5 selection, and Garcia, the longtime Cardinal farmhand, to post the highest WAR totals of any Giants outfielders in the upcoming season.

Farhan Zaidi Looking To Improve Giants' Depth, Culture

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  • Their courtship of free agent Bryce Harper aside, the Giants haven’t made a lot of headlines since president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi took the reins in November. Thus far, Derek Holland and Drew Pomeranz – two relatively modest free-agent signings – are the only players who have received major league contracts on Zaidi’s watch. However, the former Dodgers GM has worked diligently to strengthen the Giants’ depth and improve their culture, Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times explains. “Coming in, it was pretty clear that that second level of depth just wasn’t there for the organization,” said Zaidi, who has been plenty active via the minor league, waiver and Rule 5 routes early in his Giants stint. He’s also trying to form relationships with the Giants’ key players, some of whom he met with recently to discuss the team’s pitching plans, McCullough reports. While Giants starters Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija have made their disdain for the opener known lately, it seems Zaidi assured his pitchers the team won’t use relievers at the beginning of games as often as they may fear. Once the meeting ended, Bumgarner approached Zaidi and told him that the anti-opener comment he made to manager Bruce Bochy was in jest.

Quick Hits: Giants, Harper, Iglesias, Severino

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Giants frontman Farhan Zaidi is still exploring trade opportunities, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). The recent additions of Gerardo Parra, Craig Gentry, and Yangervis Solarte, after all, aren’t likely to form the backbone of the next World Series champion in the Bay. Still, they fit as puzzle pieces in Zaidi’s strategy to build the organization’s depth while maintaining future roster flexibility. They’re particularly high on Solarte, whom they see as a switch-hitter with above-average contact skills and 15-20 homer potential. His ability to play all over the field should keep him getting regular at-bats, Crowley writes in the Mercury News, and the Giants are optimistic about the potential returns. Per his word, Zaidi has focused on building depth and flexibility thus far, extending more than 20 invites to major league camp and avoiding any long-term roster obligations. Of course, Bryce Harper remains at large, and the Giants have emerged as a potential suitor. One would think Harper would be the type of foundational piece who could buoy the type of depth Zaidi is amassing, but Zaidi knows that even a talent like Harper isn’t a cure-all. For now, Harper remains one avenue among many open to Zaidi. In that sense, he fits Zaidi’s plan perfectly. Let’s check in on a couple other notes from around the league…

  • New Reds manager David Bell won’t assign the “closer” label to Raisel Iglesias, as the Reds are buying the new fad gripping bullpens league-wide of role fluidity, per the Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans. Put simply, the Reds plan on using Iglesias to help them win games. If that manifests itself through an appearance in the 7th or 8th, so be it. Still, the Reds anticipate Iglesias getting the bulk of save opportunities. Jared Hughes, David Hernandez and Amir Garrett could be called upon to close out games when Iglesias is unavailable. Traditional thinking has kept bullpen arms in well-defined roles in part because of the supposed psychological benefits of “knowing your role” – otherwise known as clear expectations. Bell and the Reds staff plan on communicating often with the bullpen crew, making sure that they are aware of their roles, even as those roles prove more dynamic than in year’s past.
  • It’s probably better for players overall if Luis Severino and Aaron Nola go year-to-year through the arbitration process, writes Joel Sherman of the NY Post, but therein lies the quandary for players weighing the risk/reward of securing their own long-term futures against market growth. While setting high arbitration annuals and reaching free agency at the earliest possible moment might technically be the best thing for the player market overall, Severino’s prudent personal decision to lock-in the first significant payday of his career makes a lot of sense from a personal standpoint. His future value was always going to be vulnerable to injury or further uneven performance such as his struggles at the end of last season. The competing interests of individual security v. collective wealth is a disadvantage the players’ union will face continually in the lead up to CBA negotiations in 2021. Yasmani Grandal represents the best recent example of the other side of this issue, as he took a one-year deal over multi-year offers in part to keep establishing higher AAVs for catchers. 

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