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Offseason In Review: Seattle Mariners

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The Mariners made the offseason’s biggest free agent splash by issuing the third-biggest contract in Major League history, but they fell oddly silent in the months that followed.

Major League Signings

Notable Minor League Signings

Trades and Claims

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

Needs Addressed

With Eric Wedge out of the picture, the Mariners began the offseason by looking for a new skipper. After many interviews — some with old-school managers and some with younger, less traditional candidates — Seattle decided on former Tigers hitting coach and Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon. He fits into the old-school category, but Seattle clearly preferred some experience as opposed to a rookie hiring such as the ones made by the Cubs (Rick Renteria) and Tigers (Brad Ausmus).

Robinsno Cano

With that out of the way, the Mariners sought to address the club’s collective .237/.306/.390 batting line of a year ago. Specifically, Mariners second basemen combined to bat .229/.299/.340 and play sub-par defense in 2013, resulting in a total of -0.1 wins above replacement (per Fangraphs). That glaring flaw set the stage for an ongoing pursuit of the offseason’s premier free agent in Cano. The Yankees showed interest in retaining Cano, but in the end they never came close to matching Seattle’s offer, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else did either. The Mariners reportedly topped the Yankees’ best offer by as much as $65-70MM, and they even went above and beyond their initial comfort levels. Reports on the day of the signing indicated that talks had disintegrated after the two sides were said to be in agreement on a nine-year, $225MM contract. Apparently, agents Brodie Van Wagenen and Jay-Z then upped the asking price to 10 years and $252MM, which caused a breakdown. The exact details of the negotiation will never be known, but the two sides overcame any obstacles and agreed to a $240MM middle ground that tied Albert Pujols for what was then the third-largest deal ever. (Cano’s deal trailed Alex Rodriguez’s two separate 10-year deals of $252MM and $275MM, and Miguel Cabrera has since surpassed his total commitment.)

Not long after the Cano signing, the Mariners added a pair of wild-card bats in the form of Hart and Morrison. Hart didn’t play in 2013 after undergoing surgeries on both knees, while Morrison’s own knee issues have dampened what looked to be a promising start to the former top prospect’s career. Hart batted .279/.343/.514 and averaged 29 homers per season in a three-year stretch from 2010-12 — his most recent big league action. Morrison, still just 26 years old, batted .259/.351/.460 with 25 homers in his first 185 games in the Majors.  If either one were to return to his peak form, that bat would represent a significant upgrade for the Mariners.

Jack Zduriencik’s second-largest signing of the offseason was made with an eye toward solidifying the ninth inning while allowing Danny Farquhar — who emerged as Seattle’s best reliever last season — to continue to get important outs in high-leverage situations in the seventh and eighth inning. Rodney was written off by many before signing with the Rays and rejuvenating his career with a historic 2012 season. His command regressed in 2013, but he still shot off 37 celebratory (imaginary) arrows and posted a strong 3.38 ERA with 82 whiffs in 66 2/3 innings. He’s been a part of a solid Mariners bullpen to this point.

Questions Remaining

For all of the money the Mariners spent, how much has their offense truly improved? Even if Hart hits reasonably well, he wouldn’t be a significant upgrade over Morales, who left via free agency (and is still looking for a job). Cano will be a huge boost at the keystone, and they’ll have a full season of Brad Miller after watching Brendan Ryan toil away for much of 2013. Still, the Mariners have been going with Abraham Almonte in center field along with familiar faces like Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak in the lineup. Almonte has struggled all season, and while Ackley and Smoak started hot, each has come back down to Earth. Mike Zunino has shown some improvement and could be an above-average bat behind the dish, but the team’s offensive output to this point has actually been worse than it was in 2013.

Injuries have run rampant through Seattle’s rotation, as both Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker opened the season on the disabled list. That duo was joined shortly thereafter by promising young lefty James Paxton, and Seattle has scrambled to cobble together a rotation with that trio on the shelf. Cuban rookie Roenis Elias has been an unexpected godsend for the club to this point, making five starts and posting a 3.54 ERA in the process.

Still, the Mariners knew full well that they’d open the season with 40 percent of their rotation on the disabled list, and they were already counting on an inexperienced group beyond Felix Hernandez and Iwakuma (with the possible exception of minor league signee Scott Baker, whom the team released in Spring Training).

All the while, Ervin Santana sat on the free agent market looking for a team, ultimately settling for a one-year, $14.1MM deal with the Braves. Santana seemed set on inking a one-year pact by the time he signed — the Twins had reportedly offered three years and about $33MM in Spring Training — and was said to prefer the National League, but could he have been persuaded by an offer in the $16-17MM range from Seattle? Cano was outspoken in his desire for his new team to sign Santana (and to re-sign Morales), but instead Santana is dominating early in Atlanta, while the M’s have turned to Young and questionable arms such as Blake Beavan, Brandon Maurer and Erasmo Ramirez. Maybe Santana never would have signed in Seattle, but it was curious that the bidding was said to be down to the Orioles and Blue Jays at around $14MM before the Braves emerged as late suitors due to injuries to Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy.

One alternative for the Mariners to bolster the offense or the starting rotation could have been to trade displaced top prospect Nick Franklin, who looks to be out of a job with Miller and Cano manning the middle infield. However, Seattle hung onto the 23-year-old and started him off in Triple-A. It’s possible that the decision was made in hopes that Franklin would improve his trade value after a disappointing rookie campaign. Franklin has mashed at Triple-A to start the season, though he struggled in a brief call-up to the Mariners in which he didn’t receive consistent playing time.

One trade that was oft-discussed in the early stages of the offseason was an acquisition of David Price, but the Rays never showed that much of an inclination to trade the former Cy Young winner, and Price’s agent stated in December that his client wouldn’t sign an extension in Seattle were they to make a trade for him. One would think that a package headlined by Franklin and Walker would have piqued Tampa’s interest, but Zduriencik never wanted to part with Walker in a deal, which could be been the reason that talks never really got off the ground.

If money was truly too tight to pursue Santana or a significant bat like Nelson Cruz (to whom they were heavily linked as well), then the Mariners’ modest deal for Bloomquist strikes me as a particularly questionable allocation of funds. Bloomquist has essentially been a replacement-level player throughout his career, yet the Mariners saw fit to guarantee him multiple years (two years, $5.8MM). His $2.8MM salary in 2014 isn’t exactly crushing, but it does make up about three percent of Seattle’s payroll. Meanwhile, the division-rival A’s signed the defensively superior Nick Punto for half that guarantee, and the Pirates inked defensive specialist Clint Barmes for just a $2MM guarantee.

From a defensive standpoint, the Mariners will likely be giving plenty of time in the outfield to Hart and Morrison, which could prove to be a liability. The infield defense should be improved by the addition of Cano and with the definitive decision to place Brad Miller at shortstop over Franklin, who many scouts feel is better suited for second base.

Deal of Note

The news that Cano was signing in Seattle ignited and energized a fanbase that has been starved for quality hitters (while also enraging a great number of Yankee fans). The addition of Hart was a nice followup, as he figured to be a semi-risky but high-reward addition that could be an upgrade at first base or at least a replacement for Morales. Fans were disheartened in the months that followed to hear that the team may not have additional money to spend, though.

With that looking to be the case, it’s now fair to wonder multiple things about the Cano deal. If Seattle was truly spending the overwhelming majority of its offseason budget on Cano, would the resources have been better off divided among multiple assets? That type of money could have, in theory, netted both Santana and Matt Garza while still leaving enough money to add Shin-Soo Choo. That type of second-guessing can always be applied to a significant offseason addition such as this one, but Cano-type deals are usually accompanied by additional, significant moves. That wasn’t exactly the case in this instance, which has led many to ask why a team that needed so much work to contend would spend so wildly on one asset while improving the rest of the team very little.

Additionally, the question has been raised as to who else was a serious player for Cano. While many teams showed some interest, and there was speculation regarding the Rangers following the Prince Fielder/Ian Kinsler swap, no team was publicly linked to Cano at the same price level of the Mariners. As I said before, we’ll never know exactly how negotiations panned out, but it seems hard to believe that Seattle had to top the runner-up bidder by $65-70MM. Was another team involved, or did they simply outbid themselves? It’s been speculated that this was the work of a GM who knew his job was in danger and needed to make a splash, but the move required ownership approval as well, and it’s hard to imagine Zduriencik fancied Cano as a cure-all for the team’s many ailments.

Overview

While the club hasn’t hit as well as expected in the early-going, the offense should still be improved over 2013’s weak performance. The rotation, too, could be a solid group if Iwakuma, Walker and Paxton are able to return at full strength. However, it was surprising to see Seattle sit on its hands, even after division rivals such as the Rangers (Derek Holland) and A’s (Jarrod Parker) suffered significant setbacks in their rotations.

The Mariners made one of the most significant moves in baseball history but then followed that up with the type of risk/reward moves one might expect from a rebuilding club (buying low on a former top prospect in Morrison, signing a tradeable veteran to a one-year deal in Hart). Perhaps the club placed too much of a belief in its ability to land Price and didn’t much care for any of the fallback options. Perhaps they looked at the pitching-rich free agent class of 2014-15 and thought they were better served by waiting for a year and adding a James Shields or Justin Masterson over Santana. Or, perhaps Zduriencik and his staff still saw enough promise in the young core they thought they acquired when drafting Ackley and trading for Smoak.

In the end, the offseason sent a confusing message to fans and Seattle’s own players alike. The Mariners don’t look like a playoff team right now, and their fans aren’t the only ones confused by what transpired this offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL Notes: Cano, Tigers, A’s, Baker

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Robinson Cano will be making his first trip to the Bronx since signing his ten-year, $240MM contract when the Mariners open a series against the Yankees on Tuesday. Cano explained the differences between Seattle and New York to Newsday’s Anthony Rieber. “Here it’s more relaxed. It’s not as intense as New York,” Cano said. “In New York, when the game is over, everyone is looking at what’s wrong. Here we don’t have that.” Cano is hopeful there won’t be many Bronx cheers from the Yankee faithful upon his return. “They understand that this is a business and I don’t have anything against the fans, the team, anybody. I can tell you I’m excited to go back and be able to see guys that I played with for a long time. Be able to see [Derek] Jeter play in his last year. Just looking forward to going back.” 

In other news and notes from the American League:

  • The Tigers may start to see additional dividends from the Doug Fister trade, reports Chris Iott of mlive.com. Left-hander Robbie Ray, acquired from the Nationals in that December deal, is a leading candidate to replace the injured Anibal Sanchez in the rotation. Ray has posted a 1.93 ERA, 6.2 K/9, and 1.9 BB/9 in his four starts for Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers have yet to decide who will fill in for Sanchez; but, if Ray is their choice, they will need to create roster space since the 22-year-old isn’t on the 40-man roster.  
  • The A’s bullpen has had mixed result this season and the coaching staff is trying to navigate the fine line between a closer-by-committee and the comfort provided by having well-defined roles, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser.
  • The Twins were called this weekend about the prospects of signing right-hander Scott Baker, but have no interest, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN.com. Baker is currently pitching for the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate (2.77 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 2.1 BB/9 in 26 innings covering four starts), but has a May 1st opt-out date.

AL West Notes: Griffin, Figueroa, Mariners, Doolittle

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Athletics right-hander A.J. Griffin’s elbow hasn’t responded well after being shut down for a month, and the 26-year-old will seek a second opinion from Dr. Thomas Mehlhoff, who performed Tommy John surgery on Oakland’s Fernando Rodriguez, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Griffin has been out with flexor tendinitis, which is often a precursor to Tommy John, Slusser points out. She goes on to write that the loss of both Griffin and Jarrod Parker for the season would likely lead the A’s to actively seeking starting pitching on this summer’s trade market, even if they were merely looking for a back-of-the-rotation innings eater to provide some stability.

More out of the AL West…

  • While Griffin is another potential victim of the Tommy John epidemic, Rangers left-hander Pedro Figueroa can definitively add his name to that list. The team told reporters today, including FOX Sports Southwest’s Anthony Andro, that Figueroa has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and damage to his flexor tendon, and he will likely undergo Tommy John within the next week (Twitter link).
  • Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune conducted a Q&A in which he answered many of his Twitter followers’ questions, and within the article noted that the Mariners are still looking to add a bat to improve their lineup. The team has “never stopped looking” for a bat, he writes, before cautioning that they don’t appear to have much interest in Kendrys Morales. Dutton also touches on the team’s payroll, Hisashi Iwakuma’s health status and Abraham Almonte’s role with the club.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea compares Sean Doolittle’s recent five-year contract extension to previous deals of five-plus years for relievers, noting that Doolittle’s contract has little precedent. Shea concludes that the deal works for both sides and doesn’t carry as much risk as other contracts for a pitcher would, as Doolittle is a converted first baseman that has only been pitching for about three years.

Quick Hits: Int’l Scouting, Morales, Olt, Taveras, Pitching Tandems

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Scouting pitching in the Dominican is a challenging endeavor on many levels, writes Ben Badler of Baseball America. Players are incented to light up radar guns (or, for hitters, launch home runs) in non-game situations due to a “showcase mindset” that pervades the baseball environment. Here are more notes from around the game:

  • Baseball executives believe it an increasing likelihood that Kendrys Morales will wait to sign until after the June 5-7 amateur draft, reports CBSSports.com’s  Jon Heyman. If he does so, then a signing club would not lose a draft pick and his former club (the Mariners) would not gain a compensatory choice. Morales has had discussions since the start of the season — Heyman says the Orioles are believed to have had “serious talks” — but apparently nothing is close. In addition to Baltimore and Seattle, says Heyman, possible landing spots could hypothetically include the Brewers and even the Athletics.
  • Cubs third baseman Mike Olt, 25, has done enough in the early going to earn a chance at additional playing time, writes Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. Though his on-base and strikeout numbers are less than promising, Olt has blasted four home runs in 48 plate appearances. Olt, of course, came over in last year’s Matt Garza trade as something of a buy-low prospect, after eye issues contributed to a rough season at Triple-A in 2013 (.201/.303/.381, with 15 home runs and 132 strikeouts, in 432 plate appearances).
  • Outfielder Willy Taveras is eyeing a comeback, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). The 32-year-old, who last played in the bigs in 2010, is playing in Mexico at present. Best known for his wheels — he led the league in stolen bases (68) in 2008 — Taveras has swiped seven bags in seven attempts in his first 18 games in the Mexican League, Rosenthal notes. In 279 plate appearances at Triple-A last year with the Royals, Taveras slashed .239/.308/.340 and stole 11 bases.
  • With a young staff, the Astros have made the league’s most extensive use of true long relief, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. GM Jeff Luhnow says that the club’s minor league use of a true tandem system is “more of a development thing,” with the big league club’s employment of long men more a “cousin” deployed for “high-pitch count guys.” Looking ahead, though, Luhnow says he “would not be surprised if clubs started to think about some unique solutions to help prevent injuries” noting that “we’re certainly one of them.” Notably, given his organization’s upper-minor tandems, Luhnow observed:“you do it at Triple-A — what’s the difference doing it at the big leagues?” Athletics assistant GM Farhan Zaidi was even more bullish on the possibility of tandem starters appearing in MLB. “I can absolutely see it happening,” he said. “We actually talked about doing it a few years ago when we had pitching depth that wasn’t unlike what the Astros have now. The reason I think it could still happen is overwhelming evidence that limiting the exposure of pitchers to a third time through the lineup is really advantageous.” The full piece includes many more interesting observations from these executives, and is well worth a read.

Minor Moves: Brian Omogrosso, Ji-Man Choi, Rafael Perez

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Here are the day's minor moves:

  • Former White Sox pitcher Brian Omogrosso has signed on with the independent league Blueport Bluefish, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. The 29-year-old righty has a 5.54 ERA in 37 1/3 career MLB innings.
  • Mariners prospect Ji-Man Choi has been suspended for 50 games, the Associated Press reported yesterday (via ESPN.com). Choi, a 22-year-old who was on the club's 40-man, tested positive for methandienone. He received the older first-time-offender penalty because his test was taken before new PED suspension guidelines were put in place.
  • The Rangers have released lefty Rafael Perez, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. Perez, 31, struggled at the Triple-A level this year. He was a significant part of the Indians pen between 2006-12, but has been dealing with shoulder issues.
  • The DFA limbo ranks grew significantly today, as MLBTR's DFA Tracker shows. In order of earliest to latest, here's the current group: Sam Fuld (Athletics), Lucas Harrell (Astros), Ryan Rowland-Smith (Diamondbacks), Andy Parrino (Rangers), and Ryan Roberts (Red Sox).

Teams Wield Advance Consent Hammer

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As Opening Day drew near, veteran Randy Wolf appeared to be the frontrunner for the No. 5 spot in the Mariners' rotation.  That's why it came as a bit of a surprise when he requested his release from the club on March 25th.  It turned out that Wolf, who missed all of 2013 as he recovered from his second Tommy John surgery, refused to sign a 45-day advance-consent form.  The form, for the uninitiated, would have allowed the M's to terminate the deal during that window for any reason except injury.  

While sources tell MLBTR that these requests are common throughout MLB, Wolf told Bob Dutton of The News Tribune that he was quite upset about it.  The 37-year-old felt as though he was put in a position where he had to renegotiate his deal just months after hammering out a team-friendly pact ($1MM for making big league roster with $3MM+ in incentives) days before the start of the season.  “The fact that I essentially made the team, in theory, I’m proud of that accomplishment.” the veteran told Dutton. “But I’m really disappointed in how it ended. The day should have started with a handshake and congratulations instead of a 24-hour feeling of licking a D-cell battery. So, it’s a really hard time.” 

Of course, the Mariners and General Manager Jack Zduriencik acted completely within the rights granted to them by the Collective Bargaining Agreement: the advance consent form has been in place since the end of the 1994/1995 strike.  And, as expected, Wolf wasn't out of work for very long, as he signed a similar minor league deal with the Diamondbacks late last week.  However, Wolf's ire about the relatively unknown clause raised some interesting questions about how frequently it's used, the ways it could be misused, and how it is viewed by executives, agents, players, and the players union.

"As a general matter, players hate it," one union source said. "These are players, needless to say, who did not have a lot of leverage in their negotiations in the offseason…There's no question that it is a distasteful process for players and their agents."

The use of the form varies greatly from club to club.  One high-ranking executive told MLBTR that his club has asked a player to sign an advance consent form just once over the last decade.  On the flipside, a National League executive said that anytime his team has a player with five or more years of major league service (the form cannot be extended to those with less service time per the CBA) who does not figure to be an everyday player, they will use the clause in order to give themselves as much flexibility as possible.  In line with that thinking, the club often will push for players to agree to optional assignment rather than outright assignment.  If the player consents to outright assignment, the club does not have to subject the player to waivers before demoting him.  Again, per the CBA, both types are permitted.

Because the request is traditionally made of players who don't have a ton of leverage, they often agree to sign.  The NL exec has found that there are times when agents will protest, but with the leverage being in the club's corner, they'll ultimately relent.  

"If the agent gives you push back, then you say, 'Okay, we'll go with someone else because we need the flexibility.'  I've never had an agent not back down," he explained.  "I tell them once you get [to the big league roster], you could stay there for a heck of a long time.  We never do it with the intent to send them down and keep them there."

Of course, as in Wolf's case, some players do object, and agents will often consult with the union ("We act as a sounding board," the source explained) to talk through their different options.  The form can allow for both types of assignments and the length can also be negotiated since the 45-day mark is not a hard number, but rather a maximum limit. 

The union source explained that at the beginning of the season, about a dozen players are usually asked to sign a consent form.  Over the course of the season, that number tends to grow to "30-to-36" requests.  The distinction between the number of players who are asked to sign off and the number of requests is an important one.  Several players in any given year will be asked to sign multiple consent forms, which can essentially keep them in a state of limbo.  

The aforementioned executive told MLBTR that agents often fret over the possibility of their clients being asked to sign multiple forms, though he was unsure of whether that was common practice or just a fear of player reps.  "It's absolutely a reality," the MLBPA source said. "There are players who have signed three advance consents in a season, which obviously covers the better part of a full season."  It should be noted that while there have been cases of a player being churned through consecutive advanced consent forms, the union indicated that there aren't specific clubs who are routine offenders.

Wolf felt blindsided by the Mariners' request at the end of March, but the reality is that he wasn't guaranteed at the time of signing that he wouldn't be asked to sign an advance consent form as a condition of making the major league roster, agent Joel Wolfe confirmed to MLBTR.  In this case, Wolfe and Wolf had non-roster offers from ten clubs this offseason after he impressed in his winter showcase.  Wolf and Wolfe ultimately settled on the M's because they felt that they gave him the best chance to make a big league rotation.  However, they were rebuffed when they asked for assurance that they wouldn't be asked to sign off on advance consent. 

"They told me, 'We don't do that' and, really, no team that I've dealt with does that.  They don't even want to discuss that," Wolfe said. "The team made a decision as a policy, not singling out Randy, that a player in this position must sign an advance consent or he's not going to make the team."

One would be hard-pressed to find a team in MLB that explicitly warns players about a possible advance consent request.  The union official indicated that while teams won't do it, agents usually give their low-leverage clients a heads up to brace for the possibility.  The NL exec said he does not warn players of the possibility at the time of signing, but if an agent asks, he always answers truthfully.

In a lot of cases, being asked for advance consent is a blow to a player's ego and a very real source of frustration.  However, there are certainly cases where it can work in a player's favor.  Wolfe explained that he once had a client who seemed destined to either start the season in Double-A or get released.  However, the player exceeded all expectations in Spring Training and wound up on course to make the big league roster.  The club had Wolfe's client sign an advance consent form and soon after when he suffered an serious injury, he was protected from release since a player cannot be cut due to injury.  While Wolf's situation put the notion of advance consent in a negative light, it can also be beneficial for players in a different position.

That doesn't mean that advance consent will be embraced by the majority of major leaguers.  As Wolfe explained, an accomplished veteran like Wolf is accustomed to using Spring Training as an opportunity to shake off some offseason rust and get back in the swing of things.  When that player is on a non-guaranteed deal, they now have to approach every at bat and every inning as though it were the regular season.  After putting in that kind of effort, veteran players don't want to hear, "Hey, you made the team, but…"  Whether they like it or not, players will be subjected to advance consent requests for at least a couple more years.  Even then, it's far from guaranteed that the issue will be revisited or revised in the 2016 CBA discussions.

AL West Notes: Astros, Franklin, Walker, Reddick

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The Astros have made the promotion of George Springer and DFA of Lucas Harrell official by announcing each move via press release. As Houston fans (and fantasy baseball players) eagerly await Springer's big league debut, here's a look around the rest of the division…

  • Springer won't be the only highly touted prospect to arrive in the Majors today; the Mariners will recall Nick Franklin from Triple-A Tacoma, reports Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, who expects Logan Morrison to hit the DL in order to clear a 25-man roster spot. According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (on Twitter), Franklin could see some time in the outfield. Franklin, 23, got off to a blistering .395/.469/.744 start in 11 Triple-A games after an offseason loaded with trade speculation.
  • Mariners right-hander Taijuan Walker was scratched from last night's rehab start after complaining of stiffness in his arm, reports Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune. GM Jack Zduriencik said that Walker — who is a consensus Top 10 prospect — will be re-evaluated today. Seattle's rotation has been solid so far, but they've experienced a good deal of poor luck with injuries to Walker, Hisashi Iwakuma and James Paxton.
  • Jerry Brewer of Athletics Nation looks at Josh Reddick's struggles this season and tracks the history of pitches he's seen in two-strike counts dating back to 2012. Brewer notes that Reddick has long struggled against good fastballs and curveballs, while feasting on sliders and changeups. Pitchers are hammering Reddick with fastballs and curves thus far, and the result has been a 33 percent strikeout rate to go along with his .098/.196/.098 batting line. The A's are in a clear jam as they decide what to do with Reddick, Brewer writes. Reddick has a minor league option remaining, but he could see as much or even more velocity in Triple-A, which will contain no shortage of up-and-coming power arms.

Morales Rejected $30MM Extension Last Summer

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Kendrys Morales is still without an employer as he and agent Scott Boras appear willing to wait beyond the June draft in order to free a signing team from the burden of having to surrender a draft pick. However, Morales had the opportunity to sign a deal that would've kept him in Seattle through 2017 last summer, according to Todd Dybas of the Tacoma News Tribune. As Dybas writes, general manager Jack Zduriencik recently told fans at a meet-and-greet that the Mariners offered Morales a three-year, $30MM extension after last year's All-Star break.

Reports last summer indicated that talks between the two sides never got serious due to the Mariners' surprise over the asking price from Boras and Morales. Interest in Morales on the open market was clearly never as high as the two had hoped, with the Mariners and Orioles being the teams that were the most frequently connected to the DH/first baseman.

Perhaps shedding the "draft pick compensation" label will aid Morales and get him a deal that is more to his liking, but it's tough to see him landing something north of Seattle's 2013 offer. In a now-controversial piece from ESPN, several executives offered their thoughts on Morales' value, but $8-10MM was as high as any were willing to go in terms of average annual value. (The MLBPA has asked the commissioner's office to investigate that situation, as the anonymous executives' comments are in violation of the collective bargaining agreement.)

The 30-year-old Morales batted .277/.336/.449 with 23 homers last season and earned $5.25MM in his final year of arbitration eligibility.

AL West Notes: Pujols, Elias, Mariners’ Payroll, Astros

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ESPNLosAngeles.com's Christina Kahrl looks at the difference between Albert Pujols' in 2013 and his hot start in 2014 with a pair of heat maps to demonstrate that Pujols is doing far more damage on pitches in the zone in the early-going than he was able to do last season. While it's a small sample and his .259/.322/.556 triple-slash isn't exactly vintage Pujols, his hot streak since hitting that first homer is a promising sign after a bleak 2013. Kahrl writes that the Angels' biggest need is for Pujols to fend off Father Time for a few more seasons. As "The Machine" closes in on 500 career home runs — he's currently at 496 — here are some more AL West links…

  • Mariners left-hander Roenis Elias' dream has come true this season, writes MLB.com's Greg Johns. The Cuban defector talked with Johns (via his interpreter) about the excitement of nailing down his first big league win and the inspiration he drew from his son. Elias impressed his manager, teammates and opponents in a win over the Rangers, as Lloyd McClendon and Elvis Andrus both offered high praise. Said McClendon: "I don't think facing Prince Fielder is really going to scare him that much. He was fighting for his life trying to make it to this country. He's shown a lot of poise."
  • In an excellent piece from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Baker examines the Mariners' payroll in contrast with the team's overall value, noting a large discrepancy. Last year's purchase of a 71 percent stake in ROOT Sports Northwest more than doubled Seattle's TV revenue, and their growing revenue over the past few years was enough that BizofBaseball.com founder Maury Brown estimated to Baker that the Mariners could fetch $1 billion on the open market were ownership to sell. Recent estimates from Bloomberg pegged the club's value at $720MM, but that was prior to the ROOT acquisition. Brown told Baker that there "should be no limits" on the Mariners in free agency despite mammoth commitments to Robinson Cano and Felix Hernandez. Baker concludes by calling baseball a "cash-drunk sport with only a vague notion of its financial ceiling" and noting that the Mariners "can't spot their ceiling with a telescope."
  • Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow tells Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle that two weeks is the "bare minimum" amount of time needed to make evaluations of minor league players, but many other factors are involved. Among them are whether the player has moved up a level, if they played in the Arizona Fall League or winter ball, and what their Spring Training was like. Luhnow said he expects the club's "most famous prospects" — presumably George Springer, Jonathan Singleton, Carlos Correa, Mark Appel and Michael Foltynewicz — to move quickly. As far as the players themselves are concerned, Springer tells Drellich he's not really sure what Super Two status meant, while Singleton "had an idea."

AL East Notes: Rays, Kelley, Drew, Gomes, Sox

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Facing the possibility of losing Matt Moore to Tommy John surgery, Rays manager Joe Maddon offered his take on the recent rash of Tommy John surgeries in the game. Via the Associated Press:

"Sometimes you have to look underneath the surface and I tend to agree it has a lot to do with youth sports and travel teams and multiple travel teams and kids pitching to win when they're really young and throwing too many pitches. I think the more recent epidemic curiously might be tied to what they're doing before they even get here professionally."

Of course, Moore's injury is not the only injury facing the Rays' rotation, either. Jeremy Hellickson opened the season on the disabled list, and Alex Cobb is now out as long as six weeks after being placed on the DL with an oblique strain yesterday, writes Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune. Here's more from the AL East…

  • The Mariners' decision to designate Shawn Kelley for assignment last Spring Training rather than pay him $935K has proven to be the Yankees' gain, writes John Harper of the New York Daily News. Kelley was a vital part of the bullpen in 2013 and has stepped up for the injured David Robertson in 2014 thus far. Kelley's strong 2013 season is part of the reason that the Yanks didn't add a right-handed setup arm this offseason, writes Harper, as they believed the two-time Tommy John victim to be capable of handling the role of Robertson's primary setup man.
  • Harper also looks at the predictably injury-riddled Yankees infield and opines that it's time for the team to call Scott Boras to get a deal done with Stephen Drew. As Harper points out, the Yankees ran out an infield of Kelly Johnson, Dean Anna, Yangervis Solarte and Carlos Beltran last night, and patchwork mixes like that simply won't cut it. He suggests a two-year deal for Drew, to play second base and provide insurance for Jeter this season before taking the reins at shortstop in 2015.
  • While much is made of Jon Lester's coming free agency by the Boston media, the Boston Herald's John Tomase writes that Jonny Gomes is also in the final year of his deal, and he spoke with the part-time Red Sox outfielder about that scenario. Gomes admits that it's difficult to play in a walk year due to the results-oriented nature of the game, adding that he knows being a good clubhouse presence won't necessarily get him a job next year. Tomase writes that ideally, Gomes' preference is to stay in Boston.
  • WEEI.com's Alex Speier writes that Red Sox manager John Farrell isn't exactly thrilled with the early returns on baseball's instant replay system. "It's hard to have any faith in the system," said Farrell after being on the losing end of a pair of challenges this weekend. Saturday's call, in particular, looked to provide conclusive evidence in Boston's favor, but the umpires didn't agree. Said Farrell: "As much as they’re trying to help the human element inside this system, it seems like it’s added the human element at a different level."
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