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NL Notes: Rockies, Cardinals, Ozuna, Gregerson, Braves

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The latest from the National League . . .

  • Following Thursday’s departure of reliever Adam Ottavino to New York, the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders spoke with GM Jeff Bridich about the state of affairs in the team’s bullpen. On the heels of last offseason’s months-long reliever binge, which saw the club devote nearly a third of its payroll space to the most fickle asset in the game, Colorado apparently couldn’t save room for dessert. The club didn’t offer Ottavino a contract, preferring instead to take its chances with the current crop: “We need last year’s decisions to pitch better than they did in 2018,” said Bridich. “It’s not a lack of talent or a sudden inability to perform well. But they need to do a better job.” Bryan Shaw, Mike Dunn, and Jake McGee, though, did exhibit a sudden inability to perform well, as the trio combined for an ugly -0.7 fWAR in 118 combined IP. Wade Davis, too, was hardly himself in ’18, stranding just 66.9% of baserunners – down from an MLB-best 87.5% from 2014-17 – en route to his lowest career output. Scott Oberg, who began the year in AAA despite being arguably being the team’s most effective pre-spree reliever, again paced the returning bunch, limiting homers at an elite rate and continuing to maintain a stellar walk rate.
  • President of baseball operations John Mozeliak provided injury updates on two key Cardinals during a Saturday chat with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Outfielder Marcell Ozuna, who was bothered all season by a nagging shoulder injury that ultimately required surgery, hasn’t yet begun throwing, and the club “isn’t sure” if he’s taken hacks in the cage, either. Ozuna has spurned treatment at the club’s spring facility in favor of offseason rehab in his native Dominican Republic, which Mozeliak deemed “not ideal,” but the 28-year-old outfielder, who heavily regressed toward his established mean last season after a breakout 2017, has expressed no reservations about his outlook for the upcoming season. Reliever Luke Gregerson, who was limited to just 12 1/3 IP last season after a shoulder injury of his own, “hasn’t felt right” in offseason workouts, and the club isn’t anticipating much from him in Spring Training. The soon-to-be 35-year-old Gregerson has endured one of the game’s heaviest reliever workloads since debuting in 2009, accruing a staggering 611 IP over that span, and appearing in an MLB-high 623 games from 2009-17.
  • Per GM Alex Anthopoulos (h/t to the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Gabe Burns on Twitter), the Braves have made an outfield acquisition their top priority at current, and a move “may be resolved soon.” The club, of course, has been linked to still-available A.J. Pollock (who would cost the team a second-round draft pick if signed) and the recently-departed Nick Markakis to fill its vacancy at one outfield spot. With an overflow of starting pitching talent in the upper minors, the team seems better positioned than almost any to fill its hole via trade, but has thus far shown little interest in doing so. The Blue Jay version of Anthopoulos was an ardent mover of minor-league assets, shuffling talent in all directions when circumstances dictated, but has been far more cautious in his short time with Atlanta. With a still-unsettled rotation mix, perhaps this strategy is prudent, but distancing his club from the ravenous NL East pack will almost surely require a return to old ways for the young Braves GM.

Latest On Alex Reyes

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  • The Cardinals still don’t have a defined timeline regarding right-hander Alex Reyes’ return from shoulder surgery, writes Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The prized 24-year-old prospect has been throwing recently, and president of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Goold that Reyes is “long-tossing without limitation.” The expectation, per Mozeliak, is that Reyes will progress to mound work within the next two weeks. However, he’ll also have an “individualized build-up” in Spring Training, and his return to pitching in a game setting will be determined based on milestones within that personalized program. Reyes has long been touted as one of the game’s most promising arms, but he’s never reached 120 innings in any professional season. Given that he’s already had Tommy John surgery and now last year’s shoulder surgery, one can imagine the Cardinals will be particularly cautious in getting him back up to speed.

International Signings: Dodgers, Cardinals

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Here are the latest reported deals on the international circuit …

  • The Dodgers appear to have a deal in place with Taiwanese right-hander Lin Hui-Sheng, with Liberty Sports reporting the news and CPBL Stats tweeting it along. It’s believed the youngster will secure a $300K to $350K bonus if and when he passes a physical. You can read more about this reputedly live-armed 20-year-old here, courtesy of CPBL Stats. Injuries seem to have interfered with Lin’s development to this point, but it seems the Dodgers will have an interesting new arm to work with.
  • Three Dominican teenagers are joining the Cardinals organization, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch. Righty Jesus Jaquez and outfielders Fernando Brazoban and Smith Vargas are said to be in agreement. There’s little public info on Jaquez and Vargas, but SB Nation’s A.E. Schafer dug up some materials on Brazoban. As he explains, and as an embedded video shows, the youngster appears to have some reasonably impressive physical tools to work with, though it’s certainly all but impossible to venture a reasonable guess as to his long-term outlook.

No Extension Talks Planned Between Cards, Goldschmidt, Ozuna, Wacha

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  • The Cardinals have yet to hold any extension talks with Paul Goldschmidt, Marcell Ozuna, or Michael Wacha, GM Michael Girsch told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other media.  All three players are scheduled for free agency next winter, and while negotiations could yet take place later in the offseason, Girsch said “We’ll see how this year goes” in regards to the trio.  Since Goldschmidt has yet to play a game in a Cards uniform, it would be very surprising to see him ink an extension before getting a chance to test the open market.  As for Ozuna and Wacha, it makes sense for the Cardinals to see how either player bounces back from an injury-marred 2018 before making a long-term commitment.  Ozuna was solid but unspectacular last season, hitting .280/.325/.433 with 23 homers over 628 plate appearances while dealing with nagging shoulder issues.  Wacha, meanwhile, didn’t pitch after June 20 due to an oblique injury.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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The deadline for players and teams to exchange arbitration figures passed yesterday at 1pm ET, and there has been a landslide of settlements on one-year deals to avoid an arbitration hearing. We’ll track those settlements from the National League in this post. Once all of the day’s settlements have filtered in, I’ll organize them by division to make them a bit easier to parse.

It’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of teams have adopted a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning that once arbitration figures are exchanged with a player, negotiations on a one-year deal will cease. The two parties may still discuss a multi-year deal after that point, but the majority of players who exchange figures with their team today will head to an arbitration hearing.

As always, all salary projections referenced within this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and we’ll also be updating our 2019 Arbitration Tracker throughout the day…

Today’s Updates

  • Rounding out contract numbers for the St. Louis Cardinals, Dominic Leone will take home $1.26MM, Chasen Shreve will make $900K, and outfielder Marcell Ozuna will earn $12.25MM in his last season before free agency, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Ozuna has the most high-impact potential as he looks to rebound from a still-productive season in 2018 that saw his power output hindered at times by a balky shoulder. He still managed 23 home runs and a .280/.325/.433 slash line while playing just about every day outside of a 10-day DL stint late in August.
  • The Diamondbacks came to terms with a slew of players, per Feinsand (via Twitter), including Matt Andriese for $920K, Steven Souza Jr. for $4.125MM, shortstop Nick Ahmed for $3.6625MM, and potential closer Archie Bradley for $1.83MM.
  • The Rockies and starting pitcher Jon Gray have come to an agreement on a $2.935MM deal, per Feinsand (via Twitter). Gray had an up-and-down 2018 that is generally considered to be more promising than the optics of his 5.12 ERA make it seem.
  • The Pirates have come to terms on one-year deals with both of their arbitration eligible players, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Left fielder Corey Dickerson signs for $8.5MM, and reliever Keone Kela takes home $3.175MM. It’s a small arb class for the Pirates, whose list will grow next season as players like Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, and Joe Musgrove, among others, reach their first season of eligibility.
  • The Dodgers signed a couple of their remaining arbitration-eligible players yesterday, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links). Utility man Chris Taylor has a $3.5MM deal, while outfield Joc Pederson settled at $5MM.

Earlier Updates

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Cardinals Avoid Arbitration With Marcell Ozuna

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The Cardinals have agreed to avoid arbitration with outfielder Marcell Ozuna for a $12.25MM salary. Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com tweeted the agreement, with Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporting the terms.

Ozuna had been projected by MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz to earn a $13.4MM salary for the 2019 season. He’ll check in a fair sight shy of that number in his final arb-eligible season, though his salary is still within ten percent of the projected amount.

Also locking in a pay rate was reliever Dominic Leone. He’ll earn $1.26MM after an injury-shortened campaign, just a smidge under the $1.3MM predicted amount. We had heard previously that the club agreed with starter Michael Wacha.

Jaime Garcia To Retire

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Veteran left-hander Jaime Garcia is set to formally announce his retirement after spending parts of 10 seasons in the Majors, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Alex Carrion Velo of El Heraldo de Chihuahua in Mexico first tweeted that Garcia was “expected” to announce his retirement today.

Jaime Garcia | Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Still just 32 years of age, Garcia struggled in 2018 after turning a solid 2017 effort between the Braves, Twins and Yankees. In 82 innings between the Blue Jays and Cubs in 2018, Garcia logged an unsightly 5.82 ERA with a 73-to-44 K/BB ratio in 33 appearances (14 starts).

From 2010-17, however, the left-hander was a quality midrotation piece, primarily for the Cardinals, for whom he played a significant role in a 2011 World Series Championship. Garcia’s 2011 campaign included 194 2/3 innings of 3.56 ERA ball, and he gave the Cardinals a pair of strong starts in the World Series, where he totaled 10 innings and yielded just two earned runs against the Rangers. Despite a long run as a useful big league starter, Garcia never made an All-Star team, though the 2011 World Series ring assuredly more than compensates for that in his eyes.

Overall, the lefty will walk away from the game with a lifetime 70-62 record, a 3.85 ERA in 1135 regular-season innings, 925 strikeouts (7.3 K/9) against 369 walks (2.9 BB/9) and an additional 32 1/3 innings of 3.62 ERA ball from parts of four separate postseason appearances. He earned more than $60MM in player salaries over the course of his time in the big leagues and will long be remembered by Cardinals fans for the eight years and nearly 900 innings of quality production he gave to the St. Louis organization.

Cardinals Outright Ryan Meisinger To Triple-A

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  • The Cardinals have outrighted Ryan Meisinger to Triple-A after the right-hander cleared waivers, the team announced (Twitter link).  Meisinger will stay in the organization after being designated for assignment in December to make room on the Cards’ roster for Andrew Miller.  The 24-year-old Meisinger made his big league debut last season, posting a 6.43 ERA over 21 innings for the Orioles, and St. Louis claimed him off waivers from the O’s last month.

Cardinals Reportedly Becoming Less Likely To Move Jose Martinez

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  • Rosenthal also writes that one executive from a rival club feels the Cardinals are becoming decreasingly likely to move Jose Martinez in a trade this winter. The late-blooming 30-year-old has hit .309/.372/.478 with 31 homers, 44 doubles and a triple through his first 915 MLB plate appearances since debuting in 2016, though his pronounced defensive shortcomings at first base and in the outfield have made him a potential trade candidate. That, of course, hardly precludes a trade, but it seems the Cards may be more keen on keeping Martinez as a bench bat now that they don’t need to rely on him for a full slate of games following the acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt. Martinez only has two years and 27 days of Major League service time, leaving him a year shy of arbitration eligibility and giving the Cardinals another four seasons of club control before he can become a free agent. Given that Martinez isn’t likely to earn much more than $600K in 2019, the Cardinals aren’t under any sort of pressure to move him unless they receive immediate MLB-ready help at a position of greater need.

    [SOURCE LINK]
  • Rosenthal also writes that one executive from a rival club feels the Cardinals are becoming decreasingly likely to move Jose Martinez in a trade this winter. The late-blooming 30-year-old has hit .309/.372/.478 with 31 homers, 44 doubles and a triple through his first 915 MLB plate appearances since debuting in 2016, though his pronounced defensive shortcomings at first base and in the outfield have made him a potential trade candidate. That, of course, hardly precludes a trade, but it seems the Cards may be more keen on keeping Martinez as a bench bat now that they don’t need to rely on him for a full slate of games following the acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt. Martinez only has two years and 27 days of Major League service time, leaving him a year shy of arbitration eligibility and giving the Cardinals another four seasons of club control before he can become a free agent. Given that Martinez isn’t likely to earn much more than $600K in 2019, the Cardinals aren’t under any sort of pressure to move him unless they receive immediate MLB-ready help at a position of greater need.

Rays, White Sox, Astros Reportedly Interested In Jose Martinez

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The Mariners have grown “increasingly confident” they’ll be able to trade designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion before their spring training opens, Jon Morosi of MLB.com says (video link). Encarnacion’s market has picked up in the wake of the Twins’ agreement with Nelson Cruz, whose suitors are now turning to the former. The Rays, White Sox and Astros are each “involved” on both Encarnacion and Cardinals first baseman/outfielder Jose Martinez, according to Morosi.

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