Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Giants Rumors

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: National League

By | at

We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from National League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

NL West

  • The Dodgers announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-hander Mitchell White, infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry and outfielder DJ Peters. Both White and Peters are considered to be among the club’s top 15 prospects. McKinstry isn’t generally ranked inside L.A.’s top 30, but the 24-year-old had a big season between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019 while appearing at six defensive positions (shortstop, second base, third base and all three outfield slots).
  • The Diamondbacks announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Taylor Widener and Riley Smith as well as the contracts of infielders Andy Young and Wyatt Mathisen. Widener, 24, was one of the organization’s best pitching prospects coming into the season but was blown up for an eye-popping 8.10 ERA in 100 innings. He’s only a year removed from 137 1/3 innings of 2.75 ERA ball and an 11.5 K/9 mark in Double-A, however. Smith, 24, was sharp in Double-A before struggling in Triple-A — like many pitching prospects throughout the league (and with the D-backs in particular). Young, acquired in the Paul Goldschmidt trade last winter, hit 29 homers while playing three infield positions between Double-A and Triple-A. Mathisen, 26 in December, hit .283/.403/.601 in 345 Triple-A plate appearances.
  • The Giants, surprisingly, did not add anyone to their 40-man roster prior to tonight’s deadline.
  • The Rockies selected the contracts of infielder Tyler Nevin, left-hander Ben Bowden and right-handers Ashton Goudeau and Antonio Santos (Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post first reported the news on Twitter). Those four moves will fill the team’s 40-man roster. Of the four, Bowden and Nevin draw the most fanfare. Nevin, the No. 38 pick in the 2015 draft and son of former MLB slugger Phil Nevin, posted deceptively solid numbers in an extremely pitcher-friendly Double-A environment in 2019 (.251/.345/.399 — good for a 122 wRC+). Bowden, a second-round pick in ’16, posted gaudy strikeout numbers but struggled in Triple-A after dominating in Double-A in 2019.
  • The Padres selected outfielder Jorge Ona’s contract and designated outfielder Nick Martini for assignment, as outlined here.

NL Central

  • The Cardinals announced the additions of Jake Woodford, Elehuris Montero and Alvaro Seijas while designating righty Dominic Leone for assignment (as detailed here at greater length).
  • Outfielder Corey Ray and right-hander J.P. Feyereisen will head onto the Brewers 40-man, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter). It’s not yet known if the team will make further roster additions, but it would have five additional spots to work with to do so. Ray was the fifth overall pick in the 2016 draft but is coming off of a rough season. Feyereisen, who was added in a quiet September swap, will have a chance to challenge for MLB relief opportunities. Milwaukee also added infielder Mark Mathias to the 40-man roster after acquiring him in a trade with the Indians tonight.
  • The Cubs announced that they’ve added catcher Miguel Amaya, infielder Zack Short and right-handers Tyson Miller and Manuel Rodriguez to the 40-man roster. Amaya is the most highly regarded of the bunch, ranking second among Chicago farmhands and drawing some top 100 consideration at MLB.com.
  • Four additions to the 40-man were announced by the Reds, who have selected the contracts of catcher Tyler Stephenson and right-handers Tony Santillan, Ryan Hendrix and Tejay Antone. All four rank within the club’s top 30 at MLB.com, headlined by Santillan at No. 4 and ranging all the way to Antone at No. 30. Santillan thrived in a brief Double-A debut in 2018 but struggled there in a larger 2019 sample (4.84 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.8 BB/9 in 102 1/3 innings). He’s still just 22, though, and is regarded as a potential big league starter. Stephenson is a former first-round pick who hit well in a highly pitcher-friendly Double-A setting (.285/.372/.410; 130 wRC+). Hendrix posted big strikeout numbers as a reliever in 2019, while Antone displayed sharp ground-ball skills as a starter and reached Triple-A for the first time.
  • The Pirates added prospects Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Will Craig, Blake Cederlind and Cody Ponce to the 40-man roster while also designating four pitchers for assignment (as explored in greater length here). Lefty Williams Jerez and right-handers Dario Agrazal, Montana DuRapau and Luis Escobar were cut loose.

NL East

Giants Hitting Coach Alonzo Powell Accepts Job With Japan’s Chunichi Dragons

By | at

Giants hitting coach Alonzo Powell has accepted a position as the new hitting coach of the Chunichi Dragons, the Dragons announced this week (hat tip: Jim Allen).

Powell’s status with the Giants was up in the air following the organization’s recent hiring of Gabe Kapler as the successor to iconic manager Bruce Bochy. It’s common for clubs to restructure their coaching ranks with the hiring of a new manager; the Giants already appear set to lose Hensley Meulens and already saw bullpen coach Matt Herges hired away by the division-rival Diamondbacks. Newly hired managers are frequently allowed to appoint their own staff, although Giants mainstay Ron Wotus will remain on hand as the team’s third-base coach.

It’s not exactly an unfamiliar jump for Powell, who played as an outfielder with the Dragons in six seasons from age 27 through 32 (1992-97). During an impressive run with the Chunichi club, Powell was a three-time batting champion who hit .300 or better and posted an OBP north of .350 in five of his six seasons. Powell maintained an OPS better than .900 in four consecutive years there, including an eye-catching .355/.405/.584 slash in 1995.

Powell has extensive experience as a minor league hitting coach and manager. He’s previously served as an assistant hitting coach with the Padres and Astros as well as interim hitting coach with the Mariners back in 2010.

Quick Hits: Giants, Belt, Kapler, MLBPA, Licensing

By | at

Earlier this offseason, the Giants were said to be underway on a few structural changes to Oracle Park, including a plan to shift team and visiting bullpens from along the baselines to beyond the outfield fence in center field. Today’s report from Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports brings a few more details on that planned renovation, complete with photos snagged during a recent offseason event at Oracle (link).

It may be interesting to consider how these changes may affect the performance of the club’s on-field personnel. Oracle has long been known to be one of the most pitcher-friendly ballparks in the bigs, owing to both the dense air surrounding San Francisco Bay and the park’s infamous “Triples Alley” chasm in right-center field. According to Pavlovic’s report, the deepest part of this “Triples Alley” area will be moved from 421 feet to approximately 410 feet as a result of the current offseason’s changes. This adjustment could be a huge aid to first baseman Brandon Belt, who has logged 32 triples since entering the league in 2011–far and away tops among major league first baggers (presumably, Belt wouldn’t have minded a few of those triples clearing his home park’s fence). Whether club pitchers will be as happy with the reconstruction is an altogether different question.

More notes from around the game on a quiet Saturday eve…

  • New Giants manager Gabe Kapler was often the subject of intense personal scrutiny during his time as manager of the Phillies, and, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tells it, Kapler is still an individual who cuts a unique profile within league circles (link). In a wide-ranging personal interest piece, Slusser references one MLB coach’s description of Kapler as “condescending” and one staff member’s description of Kapler as a “bully”; meanwhile, other league figures are quoted in praise of Kapler’s intellect, perseverance, and humility. Regardless of his enigmatic profile, Kapler may face an uphill climb in winning over some Giants fans, as indicated by a separate Saturday column from the Chronicle’s Ann Killion, which amplifies the quotes of several San Francisco followers upset over the implications of Kapler’s hire (link).
  • The player’s unions for the NFL and MLB have entered into a new partnership.  Specifically, the NFLPA and MLBPA have come to an agreement with RedBird Capital Partners to form a company called OneTeam Partners LLC. This joint operation will manage the portrayals of respective league athletes, according to Miriam Gottfried, Andrew Beaton, and Jared Diamond of The Wall Street Journal (link). Each player union has typically negotiated the sale of player likeness and image to gaming, trading card, and other companies independently, but OneTeam Partners is presumably designed to leverage the combined forces of both unions. Individual players will still receive their standard annual payouts from such deals, but RedBird Capital will use union licensing funds to invest in additional, outside opportunities.

Farhan Zaidi On Giants’ Offseason Needs

By | at

“We’re going to be open to anything and see what the market yields,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle about the team’s offseason plans.  It isn’t markedly different from the strategy Zaidi employed during his first year in charge of the Giants’ front office, as Zaidi didn’t fully commit to either contending or rebuilding while adding some unheralded players (i.e. Mike Yastrzemski, Donovan Solano) who ended up being solid contributors to the roster.

“We’re still in a mode where we want to compete next year.  We want to play meaningful baseball as deep into the season as we can, which was our stated goal in 2019,” Zaidi said.  “But we want to do it in a way that creates flexibility for us and keeps us an organization moving in a positive, healthy direction. We’re going to be balancing those things as we go through the offseason.”

Looking ahead to 2020, Zaidi was a bit more firm about some specific items on the Giants’ winter shopping list.  Zaidi plans to see a left-handed hitting infielder with multi-position capability, backup catching, and extra pitching, though he again stressed that “flexibility” will factor into the team’s decisions.

For instance, both Buster Posey and the Giants consider the longtime face of the franchise still capable of being an everyday catcher, despite Posey’s down year in 2019 that was perhaps influenced by lingering after-effects from his 2018 hip surgery.  As such, Zaidi has options for what the team expects or needs from its secondary catcher role.  “Is it maybe a 60-game guy who plays other positions or is it more of a true backup? I think there’s different ways we could attack it because we expect Buster to be even healthier and better a year further from the surgery,” Zaidi said.  A reunion with Stephen Vogt isn’t out of the question, as Zaidi described the free agent backstop as “a great fit for our roster,” and expected to be in contact with Vogt and his representatives in due course.

The Giants have already made one pitching addition, claiming Tyler Anderson off waivers from the Rockies to add the southpaw to a rotation mix that includes two proven veterans (Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija) and a lot of unproven younger arms.  To that end, “we’d certainly be open to adding more veterans and more innings,” Zaidi said.

A veteran left-handed hitting infielder would provide balance for both third baseman Evan Longoria and second baseman Mauricio Dubon, who both hit from the right side.  Though Dubon made a solid accounting of himself in his rookie season, adding a veteran complement to second base could also be helpful if Dubon runs into a sophomore slump.  Brock Holt, Eric Sogard, Brad Miller, and switch-hitting Asdrubal Cabrera could all be fits in free agency, and San Francisco will surely be on the lookout for any lefty-swinging utility bats on the trade front.

7 Players Reject Qualifying Offers

By | at

The 4pm CT deadline has passed for free agents to accept or reject qualifying offers, and seven of the 10 players issued offers have officially turned them down.  An eighth free agent, Will Smith, rejected the Giants’ qualifying offer and left the free agent market even before the deadline passed, signing a three-year, $40MM deal with the Braves.  Jake Odorizzi of the Twins and Jose Abreu of the White Sox each accepted their team’s qualifying offers, and will now earn $17.8MM for the 2020 season.

Here are the seven players who rejected their former team’s one-year, $17.8MM qualifying offer….

There aren’t any surprises in that list, as there wasn’t doubt that Bumgarner, Cole, Donaldson, Rendon, Strasburg, and Wheeler would forego the one-year offer in search of a much richer, multi-year commitment.  There was perhaps a bit more uncertainty surrounding Ozuna and Smith, given that Ozuna was coming off a pair of good but unspectacular years in St. Louis and Smith could perhaps have been wary of how the QO would impact his market, given what happened to another closer in Craig Kimbrel last winter.

If anything, the only real surprise occurred on the acceptance side, as Odorizzi was seen as a candidate to receive a multi-year offer before he opted to remain in Minnesota in 2020.  Abreu, on the other hand, was widely expected to remain with the White Sox in some fashion, either via the QO or perhaps a multi-year extension.  It should be noted that Odorizzi and Abreu are still free to negotiate longer-term deals with their respective teams even after accepting the qualifying offer.

Teams that sign a QO-rejecting free agent will have to give up at least one draft pick and some amount of international bonus pool money as compensation.  (Click here for the list of what each individual team would have to forfeit to sign a QO free agent).  The Astros, Nationals, Giants, Mets, Cardinals, and Braves are each in the same tier of compensation pool, so if any of their QO free agents signs elsewhere, the six teams will receive a compensatory draft pick between Competitive Balance Round B and the third round of the 2020 draft, or roughly in the range of the 75th to 85th overall pick.  Atlanta, for instance, probably didn’t mind giving up their third-highest selection in the 2020 draft to sign Smith since the Braves have another pick coming back to their if Donaldson leaves for another club.

A total of 90 players have been issued qualifying offers since the QO system was introduced during the 2012-13 offseason, and Odorizzi and Abreu become the seventh and eighth players to accept the one-year pact.  Odorizzi and Abreu are now ineligible to receive a qualifying offer in any future trips into free agency, so both players won’t be tied to draft/international pool penalties if they hit the open market following the 2020 season.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand was the first to report that Donaldson turned down his QO, while ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan was the first to report on the other six names.

NL West Notes: Padres, Cordero, Giants, Fetter, Dodgers

By | at

Padres GM AJ Preller spoke to reporters at the GM Meetings in Arizona yesterday, with a few interesting notes on the club’s current roster concerns. While Preller didn’t unequivocally dispel rumors of Luis Urias’ availability on the trade market, he did offer that he sees “a lot of scenarios” in which the youngster is starting in the middle infield in 2020 (as noted in an article from Dennis Lin of The Athletic). Meanwhile, catcher Francisco Mejia is “very much in the catching equation” for the club next year, and team officials still feel like Austin Hedges can “swing the bat a lot better than he did [in 2019]”.

Preller also shared that the club is expected to retain second bagger Greg Garcia and that the club’s catching depth is “an area we get hit on” from other teams. Taken together, these comments don’t provide much clarity with regard to the team’s plans at catcher and second, but could be seen as typical of an executive staring down an offseason that offers a dizzying number of potential routes toward club improvement.

More from the NL West…

  • Another one of Preller’s many touted young players, outfielder Franchy Cordero, tweaked a glute muscle while rehabbing at the team’s complex in Arizona this week. As reported by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (link), the injury is not expected to be overly serious but should delay the 25-year-old’s participation in the Dominican Winter Leagues. Padres fans know well the extent to which Cordero has been limited in recent years by injuries, as a chronic elbow issue acted in concert with a quad injury to rob him of the majority of his 2019 season. Cordero, a lefty-swinging outfielder capable of playing center, fits exactly the type of player the Padres have been rumored to be in pursuit of this offseason, though he has been limited to just 79 major league games since debuting in 2017.  For what it’s worth, Preller still characterized Cordero as, “One of the more talented and physically gifted players in the league in terms of a speed/power combo.”
  • The Giants are considering University of Michigan coach Chris Fetter for their pitching coach vacancy, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (link). As noted previously, Fetter was a considered as a candidate for the Mets’ pitching coach opening. Fetter, a former ninth-round pick of the Padres back in 2009, previously spent time as a coach in the Dodgers system while new Giants manager Gabe Kapler was serving as the Los Angeles director of player development.
  • Speaking of L.A., Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman reiterated the club’s plans to use Julio Urias in the rotation next season, as noted in a tweet from Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times (link). Friedman currently projects to use Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and Kenta Maeda in the rotation, while Ross Stripling will “have a chance” to compete for a spot. The perennial NL West champs have also been connected to a number of high-profile starting pitchers this offseason (Gerrit Cole included), and starter Rich Hill has expressed a strong desire to return to the Dodgers.  The team also has Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May on hand as starting options, with Pedro Moura of The Athletic (link) relaying that the club still views May as a big league starter moving forward despite his late-season 2019 deployment from the bullpen.

Mets Notes: CF, Bench Coach, Bullpen

By | at

Here’s the latest on the Mets:

  • Although the Mets are in need of a center fielder, Japanese free agent Shogo Akiyama isn’t near the top of their list, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. This year’s free-agent class is limited in center, where Brett Gardner (who’s not even a full-time CFer) looks like the premier player available. Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Akiyama is coming off a productive nine-season run in Nippon Professional Baseball, but he’s no sure thing to succeed in the majors. And Akiyama’s a left-handed hitter, which seems to run counter to their ideal acquisition in center. The club wants a player who hits from the right side and is a better defender than Brandon Nimmo, Mike Puma of the Post tweets. Shortstop Amed Rosario’s a righty batter, and though the team has considered moving him to center in the past, those days are gone. “I don’t see a scenario for him to be in center field,” general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said (via Sherman).
  • While the Mets may not want Akiyama, they are among the teams interested in free-agent center fielder Matt Szczur, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The righty-hitting Szczur, 30, would likely be a minor league pickup, as the former Cub and Padre hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2018. He had a brutal year then in San Diego, which forced him to sign a minors pact with the Diamondbacks last offseason. Szczur batted a solid .322/.390/.577 with eight home runs in 172 plate appearances as a member of the D-backs’ top affiliate.
  • Pirates third base coach Joey Cora is the latest possibility to take over as the Mets’ bench coach, per Sherman. Cora, a former major league second baseman and the brother of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, has ties to new Mets manager Carlos Beltran and special assistant Omar Minaya, Sherman notes. He managed in the Mets’ minor league system when Minaya was their GM in the early 2000s. Cora, Fredi Gonzalez and Jerry Narron are the only known candidates to become the Mets’ bench coach. Longtime San Francisco assistant Ron Wotus had been in the running, but he’ll stay with the Giants as their third base coach, Daniel Brown of The Athletic relays.
  • The Mets were aggressive in trying to upgrade their bullpen last offseason, when they surrendered significant resources for Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson. The latter was the only somewhat effective member of the trio, while the struggles of Diaz and Familia played a key part in another non-playoff season for the Mets. Considering that their bullpen was a letdown this season, the Mets could again look for help in that area this winter, though Van Wagenen contends that the club’s relief corps must “largely sink or swim based on how Diaz and Familia perform,” Sherman writes. Van Wagenen suggested Diaz, Familia, Wilson, Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman are set to reprise their late-game roles, but it’s unclear who will join that quintet.

Latest On Mets’ Coaching Staff

By | at

The Mets are making progress in their efforts to put together a staff under new skipper Carlos Beltran. In particular, the club has agreements in place with Chili Davis and Tom Slater to remain with the organization, per Andy Martino of SNY.tv (via Twitter).

Both Davis and Slater receive multi-year deals, per the report. They’ll continue to serve as hitting coach and assistant hitting coach, respectively, giving the New York org some continuity in that arena as Beltran takes over the dugout.

Beltran is still in need of a bench coach and that now seems to be the top priority. Longtime Giants coach Ron Wotus is under consideration for the gig, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (Twitter link). Wotus’s status in San Francisco is in flux now that Gabe Kapler has signed on there.

Jerry Narron and Fredi Gonzalez remain under consideration by the Mets as well, Jon Heyman of MLB Network notes on Twitter. It isn’t known whether that constitutes a final trio of candidates. Terry Collins has been mentioned previously as a speculative possibility, but he’s reportedly out of the mix.

Latest On Hensley Meulens

By | at

WEDNESDAY: Heyman offers further clarification on the subject, via Twitter. Meulens had inked a letter of intent but not a full contract with the Marlins. The Miami club has allowed Meulens to pursue bench coach positions elsewhere. Whether or not he remains a candidate to land with the Fish remains to be seen.

TUESDAY: Meulens still hasn’t signed a contract with the Marlins, and while it’s possible he will, he could accept a bench coach job elsewhere instead, Heyman tweets.

MONDAY: Longtime Giants coach Hensley Meulens has accepted a position on the Marlins’ coaching staff, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported yesterday (Twitter link). He’ll join new bench coach and “offensive coordinator” James Rowson, recently hired away from the Twins, as another fairly high-profile coaching addition to the Miami staff. Exactly what role Meulens will fill in Miami isn’t yet clear, though SiriusXM’s Craig Mish suggested last week that Meulens could become the club’s hitting coach if hired.

Meulens, 52, has spent the past decade on the Giants’ coaching staff under the recently retired Bruce Bochy. He’s been bench coach for the past two year but previously served as the club’s hitting coach and was also responsible for outfield defense and positioning instruction. Meulens was the Giants’ hitting coach for each of their three World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Beyond his experience on the Giants’ MLB staff, Meulens has spent five seasons as a minor league hitting coach and served as the manager for Team Netherlands in both the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics. Able to speak five languages, the Curacao native has frequently been mentioned as a possible managerial candidate at the MLB level and has interviewed for positions in each of the past few offseasons (including with the Giants last month).

Meulens, nicknamed “Bam Bam,” enjoyed a seven-year Major League career and also played professionally in Korea, Japan and Mexico before retiring in the early 2000s. He spent 1989-93 seasons with the Yankees, meaning he and and recently extended Miami skipper Don Mattingly have a longstanding relationship dating back to their playing days.

The Giants have still yet to name a new manager — they did name a GM over the weekend — but will now be on the lookout for a new bench coach (at the very least) whenever the successor to Bruce Bochy is ultimately appointed.

Latest On Mets’ Bench Coach Position

By | at

11:21pm: Giants third base coach Ron Wotus has also interviewed for the Mets’ bench coach position, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets. Wotus remains in the running for the job, per Baggarly. San Francisco has been the lone stop for the 58-year-old Wotus since his MLB coaching career began in 1998, and the Giants did consider him for their managerial vacancy this fall. However, now that the Giants have hired Gabe Kapler as their manager, it’s unclear if Wotus will remain part of their staff.

7:30pm: The Mets have their new manager in former major league slugger Carlos Beltran, a first-time skipper who brings zero coaching experience to the table. The fact that Beltran’s a neophyte makes it all the more important for the Mets to find an experienced bench coach capable of helping him learn the ropes. They’ve got at least two names on their radar in Fredi Gonzalez and Jerry Narron, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports.

The Mets have already spoken with Gonzalez, who’s likely to have a formal interview with the club after the GM meetings, according to Puma. The 55-year-old Gonzalez is a former major league manager who oversaw the Marlins from 2007-10 and the Braves from 2011-16. More recently, Gonzalez was the Marlins’ bench coach over the previous three seasons, but he stepped down from that post a month ago.

Narron, 63, left the Diamondbacks in late October after they chose to replace him as their bench coach. He served in that role for two-plus years before the D-backs decided to give the job to Luis Urueta, though their hope was that Narron would remain a part of their coaching staff. He’s now a free agent, however, and is well-known for managing the Rangers from 2001-02 and the Reds from 2005-07.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top