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Matt Chapman Turned Down Prior Extension Offer From Blue Jays

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The Blue Jays made an attempt at extending Matt Chapman before he reached free agency, TSN’s Scott Mitchell reports, but Chapman rejected Toronto’s offer.  It isn’t known exactly when the Jays made the offer or how much was on the table, though Mitchell indicates that Chapman passed on more than $100MM over the span of a four- or five-year contract.

This is notably less than the six-year, $150MM deal that MLB Trade Rumors is predicting for Chapman, who ranked seventh on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents.  With Shohei Ohtani as a DH-only player, Cody Bellinger (ranked #2) and Chapman are the only true position players ranked within the top 11 on MLBTR’s list, amidst a free agent class that is heavy on pitching.

The relative lack of position-player depth on the market is to Chapman’s benefit after something of a shaky season.  Chapman generated 3.5 fWAR largely on the strength another outstanding defensive performance, as Chapman earned the fourth Gold Glove of his career.  His .240/.330/.424 slash line and 17 homers over 581 plate appearances resulted in an above-average 110 wRC+, though Chapman struggled badly at the plate after winning AL Player Of The Month honors in April, and a finger injury later in the season contributed in part to those struggles.

However, Chapman’s hard-contact numbers were among the best of any player in baseball.  This has been a trend throughout much of Chapman’s career, and 2023 also continued his track record of above-average walk rates and a lot of strikeouts.  Since Chapman was on a hot streak at the plate in July and early August, agent Scott Boras will surely point to the finger injury as the major culprit for the offensive downturn, arguing that a healthy Chapman will post better numbers going forward….and thus be worthy of a heftier contract.

It is relatively rare to see top-tier free agents like Chapman accept extension offers so close to free agency, and very rare to see a Boras client pass up a chance at testing the open market.  Mitchell feels that the Blue Jays might still be candidates to re-sign Chapman, but perhaps only in a situation where Chapman circles back if he can’t find a larger deal, rather than a case of the Jays increasing their offer.

Since Chapman will almost surely reject the one-year, $20.325MM qualifying offer before today’s deadline, the Blue Jays stand to recoup an extra draft pick if Chapman signs elsewhere.  This compensatory pick would fall between the fourth and fifth rounds of the 2024 draft, since Toronto surpassed the luxury tax threshold in 2023.  The Jays are looking for multiple position players whether or not Chapman returns, though obviously retaining the third baseman would address one major hole in the lineup.

Blue Jays Hire DeMarlo Hale As Associate Manager

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The Blue Jays announced that they have hired DeMarlo Hale as associate manager, working under manager John Schneider.

It’s a homecoming for Hale, 62, who was with the Jays as bench coach from 2013 to 2018. He then went to the Atlanta organization for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, working the first year in the minors and then joining the major league coaching staff in the second.

For the past three seasons, Hale has been the bench coach for the Guardians, working under Terry Francona. That has occasionally given Hale managerial opportunities on an interim basis, as Francona has had to step away at times due to health issues.

The Guardians are making some shifts to their staff this year, which will be their first without Francona in quite some time. He is stepping aside and the club hired Stephen Vogt to take his place, with Craig Albernaz also coming aboard as major league field coordinator. Zack Meisel of The Athletic reported last week that Hale was still deciding whether or not to return to Cleveland but it appears he will make the return trip to Toronto.

The Jays have also been doing some shuffling on their staff. Don Mattingly was the bench coach in 2023 and will continue in that role next year, though the club recently added “offensive coordinator” to his title. It isn’t exactly clear what Hale’s associate manager title will cover, but it’s possible some of Mattingly’s bench coach duties might fall to Hale if Mattingly is going to be doing some hitting coach-type stuff. Mattingly is also a candidate for the open managerial vacancy in Milwaukee, so perhaps Hale gives the Jays a fallback if the Brewers end up plucking Mattingly away.

AL East Notes: Blue Jays, Donovan, Nootbaar, Watson, Judge

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Before signing Willson Contreras last winter, the Cardinals were known to be considering catching options on the trade market, which included talks with the Blue Jays about their then-surplus of Gabriel Moreno (who was eventually dealt to the Diamondbacks, Alejandro Kirk, and Danny Jansen.  Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shed some light on those past talks between the Jays and Cards, writing that Toronto had interest in Lars Nootbaar and Brendan Donovan.

With Goold also reporting earlier this week that Dylan Carlson was on the Jays’ radar this winter, there’s plenty of reason to think that Toronto and St. Louis could line up on some sort of trade this winter.  Nootbaar could slide perfectly into the Blue Jays’ left field vacancy, while Donovan’s ability to play almost any position would give Toronto lots of flexibility in figuring out how it wants to address its many needs around the diamond.  Of course, several teams have also made calls about Nootbaar, Donovan, and Carlson, and it remains to be seen if the Jays could outbid the field, if the Jays have the available pitching that the Cardinals are badly seeking this offseason, or even if St. Louis dealt any of these particular players whatsoever.

More from around the AL East…

  • The Rays hired Tony Watson for a job in their player development department, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Watson will be working under director of pitching Winston Doom.  A veteran of 11 big league seasons from 2011-21, Watson retired in 2022 due to shoulder problems, and the 38-year-old is now moving into a new stage of his baseball career.  Known mostly for his seven seasons with the Pirates, Watson was a former All-Star reliever who posted a 2.90 ERA over 648 1/3 career innings, and is MLB’s all-time leader in holds (246) since the statistic started to be officially recorded by the league in 1999.
  • It isn’t any surprise that Aaron Judge is a big voice within the Yankees organization, and The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner writes that Judge and owner Hal Steinbrenner “have already met this offseason on multiple occasions.”  Examples of Judge’s influence might extend to the job security of manager Aaron Boone and director of player health and performance Eric Cressey, as Judge (and perhaps the Yankees clubhouse at large) likes both.  Kirschner notes the interesting dynamic this creates, writing that “Judge is seemingly on the second level of the team’s organizational ladder alongside” GM Brian Cashman, though Cashman himself earlier this week said he didn’t have any issue with star players like Judge or Gerrit Cole giving their input.
  • For more from the AL East, MLBTR’s Nick Deeds compiled another set of notes from around the division earlier today.

Blue Jays Open To Adding Primary Designated Hitter

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The Blue Jays are looking to add multiple position players this offseason. It’s possible one of them will be a bat-first option who doesn’t provide much defensive flexibility.

General manager Ross Atkins told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet yesterday that the club is open to bringing in a designated hitter. The veteran executive cited “the versatility we already have on our team” as affording opportunity to add an offense-first player.

That’s not surprising considering the Jays may lose this year’s DH. Brandon Belt led the team in at-bats from the position. He’s back in free agency on the heels of last winter’s one-year, $9.3MM free agent deal. While a surprising move at the time given Belt’s previous knee injuries, that proved an excellent pickup for Atkins and his staff. The longtime Giant turned in a .254/.369/.490 line over 404 plate appearances for the Jays, albeit in a platoon role that shielded him from left-handed pitching.

Any mention of a DH pursuit this offseason is going to lead to speculation about Shohei Ohtani. It’s fair to presume the Jays will kick the tires on the expected AL MVP, although they’re not generally regarded as a likely landing spot. No one else in the class comes close to Ohtani, of course, but there are a handful of offense-minded veterans who are on the open market.

J.D. Martinez connected on 33 home runs in 113 games with the Dodgers. Justin Turner declined a player option with the Red Sox on the heels of a .276/.345/.455 showing. Jorge Soler blasted 36 homers with a .250/.341/.512 line for the Marlins, leading him to decline a player option of his own. Mitch Garver and an excellent year as a DH/catcher hybrid. Rhys Hoskins missed all of 2023 after a Spring Training ACL tear. When healthy, he has proven an annual threat for 30 homers and is career .242/.353/.492 hitter. He could look for a one-year pillow contract or a two-year deal that gives him a chance to opt out next season. None of those five were tagged with a qualifying offer (Turner was ineligible), so they wouldn’t cost draft compensation.

There are additional players likely to be available on one-year deals, including a couple with local ties. A Belt reunion isn’t far-fetched. As a Toronto native, Joey Votto has been floated as a speculative target since the Reds bought out their option. Carlos Santana and Joc Pederson are also on the open market. Other than Ohtani and perhaps Martinez, each of those players could factor in at first base or the corner outfield on occasion — although a run at any would pair them with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as defensively limited players who could step into the middle of the Toronto lineup.

Blue Jays Have Shown Interest In Dylan Carlson

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The Cardinals have received trade inquiries on switch-hitting outfielder Dylan Carlson from multiple clubs, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with the Blue Jays being identified as one of them.

It would appear to be a fairly logical pairing, since the Cardinals are hoping to add multiple starting pitchers and are reportedly willing to considering trading position players in order to do so, with the Yankees having interest in outfielder Alec Burleson and utility player Brendan Donovan. The Jays, meanwhile, are hoping to add multiple position players this winter. The Red Birds and Blue Birds have also been fairly regular trade partners. Last year, they lined up on three separate deals, with the Jays acquiring Génesis Cabrera, Jordan Hicks and Paul DeJong. They also made four other deals from 2017 to 2021.

Trading Carlson would be a sell-low move for the Cardinals at this point, given the results of the past two years. They used the 33rd overall pick to draft him in the 2016 draft and he became one of the club’s top prospects while in the minors, generally considered a player who was good at everything but without a standout tool, showing some good form at the plate, in the field and on the bases.

He got a brief debut in the shortened 2020 season but seemed to break out in 2021. Getting into 149 contests in that season, he walked at a solid 9.2% clip and hit 18 home runs. His .266/.343/.437 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 111, indicating he was 11% better than the league average hitter. He split his time between all three outfield positions and was considered around average on defense, leading to a tally of 2.5 wins above replacement from FanGraphs.

In 2022, there were mixed results. On the positive side, he lowered his strikeout rate from 24.6% to 19.3% while keeping his walk rate steady and his defensive grades were slightly better. But he made multiple trips to the injured list, getting sidelined by a left hamstring strain and a left thumb sprain. He was limited to 128 games and just eight home runs but still produced 2.5 fWAR thanks to his improved defense.

But 2023 was unquestionably a disappointing campaign. He suffered an ankle sprain in May and went on the injured list for almost a month. Though he returned in June, the issue didn’t go away and he eventually required surgery later in the year. While on the field, he hit just .219/.318/.333 for a wRC+ of 84, but it’s fair to speculate about the ankle causing some of those results.

Carlson still has three years of club control left, qualifying for arbitration for the first time this winter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a salary of $1.8MM for 2024, with two further arb years slated to follow. Moving on from a former first-round pick while he’s still young and affordable would likely be tough for the Cards, especially with his value somewhat weakened by the ankle surgery. But their desire for pitching and their position player surplus may put it on the table.

Even if Carlson were removed, the club would still have Burleson, Donovan, Tyler O’Neill, Lars Nootbaar, Jordan Walker, Tommy Edman and Richie Palacios competing for outfield jobs, with Juan Yepez, Moises Gomez and Michael Siani also on the roster. Some of those players are also capable of playing on the infield, but the club has Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Gorman and Masyn Winn potentially lined up on the dirt. That may put them in a position to move one or more of these players while still fielding a strong lineup.

The Blue Jays, as mentioned, are looking to acquire some position players this winter. Carlson could perhaps bolster the Toronto outfield, which just lost Kevin Kiermaier to free agency. But whether they can provide the starting pitching that is coveted in St. Louis is an interesting question.

The Jays have four rotation spots filled by Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi but a question mark for the fifth. The Cards would likely have varying degrees of interest in someone from that group, but the Jays might not want to open a second question mark in their rotation. Speculatively speaking, Alek Manoah could be an interesting fit for these talks, since he’s also a former top prospect coming off a down year.

He posted a 5.87 ERA in 2023 while getting optioned to the minors multiple times as his relationship with the club appeared to sour. He is still a year away from qualifying for arbitration but his circumstances are vaguely analogous to Carlson since both are still affordable and controllable but coming off frustration campaigns, albeit for different reasons. Toronto’s GM Ross Atkins said yesterday that Manoah should have the inside track on a rotation job, but the club also has other options like Mitch White, Bowden Francis and prospect Ricky Tiedemann, while they could also look to bolster that group in free agency.

That’s pure speculation and the clubs are likely discussing various scenarios, with the Cards fielding plenty of calls from clubs around the league. Carlson received interest from the Yankees and Orioles last year and it stands to reason those clubs would likely be interested again. This winter’s free agent class is generally considered weak on the position player side, which could position the Cards to use their many talented players to improve their pitching staff as they look to bounce back from a disappointing 2023 campaign.

Blue Jays Hope To Add Multiple Position Players This Offseason

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Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins spoke to the media at the GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona, with Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet passing along some of his quotes. Atkins discussed many details but the overarching takeaway was that the Jays are looking to add position players, with Atkins saying it could be anywhere from one to four players but it would most likely be two or three.

That pursuit is understandable given the results from the season that just ended. Though the Jays qualified for the postseason, their strength was their pitching and defense. The club had a combined wRC+ of 107 at the plate during the regular season, which wasn’t terrible, putting them just inside the top 10 league-wide. But they scored just one run across two games against the Twins in the Wild Card round and then saw Matt Chapman, Brandon Belt, Whit Merrifield and Kevin Kiermaier become free agents, depriving the club of four regular members of the lineup.

Atkins went on to address the free agent market, which is generally considered light on impact position players beyond Shohei Ohtani and Cody Bellinger, though the GM doesn’t necessarily view it that way. He said that “there are some really compelling players” available beyond the top of the market but they could also look to the trade market since they “still have the depth to trade from.”

Infield is likely to be a focus for the club, since Chapman was an everyday player at third base, while Merrifield split his time between second and the outfield and Belt played a bit of first base when he wasn’t the designated hitter. The Jays have plenty of infielders on the roster but, outside of shortstop Bo Bichette and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., many of them are unproven at the big league level or are perhaps better suited to a bench/utility role.

Davis Schneider, Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Spencer Horwitz, Ernie Clement, Otto López, Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez are all infielders on the 40-man roster but it’s unclear if the Jays want to rely on anyone in that group to step up and replace those that are departing. That is perhaps why Atkins gave the wide swath of possibilities for this winter.

Free agency features some potential solutions, such as Gio Urshela or Amed Rosario, though bringing Chapman back still seems to be on the table. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that Chapman is at the GM Meetings and has met with multiple teams, including the Jays. Chapman is coming off an uneven season but is still going to be one of the top free agents available this winter. He recently took the #7 spot on MLBTR’s list of the Top 50 Free Agents for this offseason, with a prediction of $150MM over six years.

Another option would be corner infielder Jeimer Candelario, who came in #13 on that MLBTR list with a prediction of $70MM over four years. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that the Jays met with Candelario’s reps at the GM meetings, indicating they are open to him as a Chapman replacement. Candelario looked to be establishing himself as an everyday player in Detroit not too long ago, hitting .278/.356/.458 over 2020 and 2021 for a wRC+ of 124. But he then endured a nightmare season in 2022 and got non-tendered. Splitting 2023 between the Nationals and Cubs, he got back on track with a .251/.336/.471 line and 117 wRC+. He’s generally been regarded as a passable but subpar defender in that time.

It’s also possible the Jays go another direction and lump multiple younger players together in a trade for an established major leaguer. That’s how they acquired Chapman in the first place, sending four less-established players to the A’s in March of 2022. Given the aforementioned glut of infielders, it’s possible the Jays could look to do something like that again.

On the trade front, Nicholson-Smith reports that third baseman Eugenio Suárez of the Mariners is one of the players they are interested in. It’s unknown if Seattle has openness to such a deal, but it seems possible. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said yesterday that the club is looking to reduce the amount of strikeouts in the lineup and moving on from Suárez would certainly help in that department. Each of the past five seasons has ended with his strikeout rate near 30%, when the league average is usually in the 22-23% range.

That hasn’t stopped him from being a useful hitter, but with year-to-year inconsistency. While his strikeout rate has been steadily high in those five recent campaigns, the power and batting average have oscillated. That has resulted in two season with a wRC+ of 130, a couple close to league average and one way down at 85. On defense, he’s generally considered passable at third, though Outs Above Average loved his 2023 season. That metric considered him to be league average over the 2018-2022 period but gave him +11 in 2023. He has one year left on his contract with a club option for 2025. He’s set to make a salary of $11MM in the upcoming campaign with the option valued at $15MM and coming with a $2MM buyout.

Another option that the Jays are open to is first baseman Joey Votto, who is now a free agent for the first time in his career after the Reds declined their 2024 club option. He has been a speculative fit for the Jays going back many years since he grew up in Etobicoke, which was amalgamated into Toronto in 1998. “Incredible player, remarkable career,” Atkins said of Votto. “They’re just massive impact in the community if he were to be a Toronto Blue Jay. So definitely something that we would have to consider if that was something he wanted to pursue.” Though he added that Votto’s reputation would lead to him finding interest outside of his stomping grounds. “Incredible reputation, really dynamic personality, really bright (person) that I know our team would embrace,” Atkins said. “But I think that’s the case for probably 15 teams.”

Despite Votto’s incredible career, he’s not coming into free agency on a high note, having hit .204/.317/.394 over the past two seasons with a shoulder surgery in between those campaigns. It’s a somewhat similar scenario to Belt, who joined the Jays after a poor 2022 campaign that was ended by knee surgery. But Belt was going into his age-35 season when he was signed whereas Votto is now 40. Both are left-handed hitters at first base and the designated hitter spot, so it’s possible Votto could be viewed as a Belt replacement, but the Jays might have less faith in a post-surgery bounceback from Votto given the age disparity.

In the outfield, the Jays could look for a center fielder to replace Kiermaier though Daulton Varsho is also a capable center fielder, which could allow them to add in a corner. But Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports they are showing interest in free agent Michael A. Taylor. He’s a similar player to Kiermaier as both are considered excellent defensive center fielders but with lesser reputations on offense. Taylor hit 21 home runs in 2023 but his 6.7% walk rate and 33.5% strikeout rate were both worse than league average, resulting in a 96 wRC+. The defensive metrics have continued to be excellent though, as they have all throughout his career.

Though the lineup figures to be the primary concern, there is some uncertainty on the pitching staff. Four rotation spots should be spoken for with Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi all under contract and set to return in 2024, though the free agency of Hyun Jin Ryu leaves one spot open. That could go to Alek Manoah, who was excellent in 2021 and 2022, but 2023 was a different story. He posted a 5.87 ERA and was optioned to the minors multiple times as the relationship between him and the club appeared to sour. Perhaps there is some hope of getting back on track next year, as Atkins tells Keegan Matheson of MLB.com “I do feel like he has earned, already, the right to have a strong leg up” for that spot. Manoah may have some competition, as the Jays recently added Mitch White back to their roster, while prospect Ricky Tiedemann reached Triple-A in 2023.

Davidi adds that the Jays are interested in Japanese hurler Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with Atkins having gone to Japan to scout him three times this past year. They surely won’t be alone in that pursuit since Yamamoto is only 25 years old and has been one of the best pitchers in Japan for years, leading MLBTR to predict a contract of $225MM over nine years. Whether the club would upgrade their relatively strong rotation while having clear needs in the lineup is something that was asked of Atkins. “I feel like we will have the opportunity to present those types of significant adds or acquisitions to ownership. We’ve been given so much support that I wouldn’t say that that is unrealistic to do both.”

The club’s president/CEO Mark Shapiro previously stated that he expects next year’s payroll to be similar to this year’s, though they are already close on that front. Cot’s Baseball Contracts pegged their Opening Day payroll at $210MM in 2023 and now Roster Resource has them slated for $205MM next year. That includes projected salaries for arbitration-eligible players, but even a couple of non-tenders would only drop them down a bit below $200MM. Though if the competitive balance tax is the larger concern, there should be more wiggle room. RR estimates the club got to $246MM in terms of CBT in 2023 but is only at $216MM at the moment, with a few non-tenders likely to knock that down some.

Elsewhere in Blue Jays’ notes, they announced that Carlos Febles will be their third base coach next year, replacing Luis Rivera. It was reported last month that Rivera is retiring after 11 years in that gig for Toronto. Febles has been part of the Red Sox’ organization for the past two decades, serving as that club’s third base coach since 2018.

Blue Jays Outright Cam Eden

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Blue Jays outfielder Cam Eden went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per a team announcement. Toronto had not previously announced a DFA for Eden, though that’s not required before placing a player on waivers. His outright frees up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster.

Eden, 25, was Toronto’s sixth-round pick in 2019 and made his big league debut in 2023. Appearing in just five games, the speedster went 1-for-6 with a single and a pair of strikeouts. The bulk of Eden’s season was spent in Buffalo, where he posted a .257/.354/.333 batting line. As evidenced by that stat line, Eden is quite light on power (just three home runs in 460 plate appearances) but draws walks at an above-average clip. He’s also a major threat on the bases, where he went 53-for-57 in attempted steals.

Overall, Eden hasn’t had a full season of above-average production at the dish in pro ball, with the exception of his 2021 campaign in High-A (.274/.382/.402). But he’s a plus runner with more than 2000 innings of professional experience in center field who’ll now stick with the Jays organization and give them some depth in the upper minors, should injuries create a necessity for help in the outfield, some speed off the bench and/or a right-handed bat.

Latest On Brewers’ Managerial Vacancy

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The Brewers are suddenly looking for a manager for the first time in almost a decade, with Craig Counsell’s stunning move to the Cubs yesterday. Some of the options they are considering as a replacement, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, are current Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy, Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, Astros Bench coach Joe Espada, Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough, Astros hitting coach Troy Snitker and former player Rickie Weeks.

Counsell departing Milwaukee wasn’t totally unforeseen. He was on an expiring contract in 2023 and extension talks didn’t come to fruition. But with David Stearns moving on from the Brewers to become president of baseball operations for the Mets and then firing manager Buck Showalter, many assumed Counsell would follow him to Queens. But Counsell joining the division-rival Cubs was not foreseen or known to be on the table.

Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio spoke on the matter yesterday, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and it seems he was surprised as well. “When he first told me, I said, ‘Are you messing with me?’” Attanasio added that “It is what it is” and that the club intends to continue putting their best foot forward without Counsell. “We have a really good thing. I give Craig credit for helping to build that, and for adding all these coaches, all of whom have stayed. So we’re going to look for a manager who can continue having a terrific clubhouse culture and that can help us keep winning and hopefully get over the hump in the playoffs.”

As for the Mets, despite the generally spendthrift behavior of Steve Cohen in recent years, they apparently never got close to the $40MM over five years that Counsell secured from the Cubs. Per Andy Martino of SNY, there was a sense that his interest in coming to the Mets wasn’t actually that high and he was merely using them to drive up the bidding. That would track with his reported interest in resetting the market for managerial salaries. Perhaps he wasn’t especially willing to do that in Queens since he grew up in the Midwest and Chicago is a better fit for him, or perhaps the Mets were content to hire a manager with lesser demands, but the end result is that the Mets landed first-time manager Carlos Mendoza instead.

As for the Brewers’ immediate concerns in relation to this, though it may sting that Counsell joined a division rival instead of the Mets, the focus now will be on filling the void. It seems they weren’t terribly proactive while Counsell was still available, with Attanasio stating that he and general manager Matt Arnold “thought it was going to muddy things if we started interviews with third parties” but that Arnold has “conducted a couple of internal interviews, for what that’s worth.” That suggests they are still in the early stages of their search, with still a wide list of potential candidates being considered, as mentioned above.

Murphy, 65 this month, has a small amount of managerial experience. He was in the Padres’ organization in June of 2015 when Bud Black was fired as manager. Murphy got the gig on an interim basis for the second half of that season but Andy Green took over for the 2016 campaign. Murphy then came to the Brewers to serve as bench coach under Counsell and has garnered plenty of interest from clubs with managerial openings since, but has stayed in Milwaukee.

Mattingly, 63 in April, has plenty of experience as a bench boss. He was at the helm for the Dodgers from 2011 to 2015 and then for the Marlins from 2016 to 2022, before joining the Blue Jays as bench coach for the 2023 season.

Espada, 48, has coaching experience with the Marlins and Yankees but has been the bench coach of the Astros since the start of the 2018 season. He has been connected to various managerial gigs in the past few years but is still with the Astros, who just saw Dusty Baker step out of the skipper’s chair. It’s been speculated that Espada could take over in Houston but nothing is official there.

McCullough, 44 next month, has been the first base coach of the Dodgers since the 2021 campaign. He recently interviewed for the managerial opening in Cleveland but that position has now been filled by Stephen Vogt.

Snitker, 35 next month, is the son of Atlanta manager Brian Snitker. He has been co-hitting coach for the Astros for the past five seasons alongside Álex Cintrón.

Weeks, 41, played in the majors from 2003 to 2017, most of that in Milwaukee. He was hired by the Brewers for a player development role going into the 2022 season.

Seven Players Receive Qualifying Offers

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Seven players in this year’s free agent class have been tagged with the qualifying offer, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). Those players are:

Previous reports had already indicated that Teoscar Hernández, Mitch Garver, J.D. Martinez and Rhys Hoskins had not received the QO. The same is true of Jorge Soler and longer-shot candidates like Kenta Maeda and Kevin Kiermaier.

The QO is valued at $20.325MM this offseason. Players have until next Tuesday to decide whether to accept. The seven players who were tagged all seemed virtual locks to both receive and decline it. It’s hard to envision anyone in this group taking a one-year pact.

Indeed, the more surprising aspect of this year’s class were the number of players who were not qualified. Last winter, 14 players were tagged with the QO. Borderline cases Joc Pederson and Martín Pérez wound up accepting. Teams were far more risk-averse this winter, shying away from the potential lofty commitment for all but the market’s top options.

[Related: Which Picks Would Each Team Forfeit By Signing A Qualified Free Agent?]

With QO decisions now made, every free agent is allowed to begin negotiations with other teams. The five-day window of exclusive negotiation with their incumbent club is over. If these players sign elsewhere, their teams would be entitled to compensation.

The Twins, as a revenue sharing recipient, stand to receive the greatest compensation. Assuming Gray beats a $50MM guarantee (a good bet), Minnesota’s compensatory pick would fall after the first round in next year’s draft. The Cubs, as a team that neither receives sharing nor paid the luxury tax, would land a choice that falls between Competitive Balance Round B and the start of the third round for Bellinger’s departure.

San Diego, Toronto and Philadelphia all surpassed the CBT threshold this year. They’d therefore receive the lowest compensation — a draft choice between Rounds 4 and 5. The Angels finished the season right on the border of the $233MM threshold and don’t yet know whether they paid the tax. As a result, they’re still awaiting word on whether they’d land the pick before the third round or after the fourth if Ohtani heads elsewhere.

Blue Jays Acquire Brendon Little, Select Mitch White

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The Cubs have traded left-handed pitcher Brendon Little to the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations, the Blue Jays announced. The 27-year-old has been selected to the 40-man. Right-hander Mitch White has also been added back to Toronto’s 40-man roster.

Little is a former first-round pick. The southpaw has the briefest of MLB résumés, consisting of a single relief appearance for the Cubs in 2022 (at Rogers Centre as a COVID substitute). He averaged 94.5 MPH on his sinker in that game but allowed three runs while recording two outs.

The Pennsylvania native spent this past season in Triple-A, working to a 4.05 ERA through 73 1/3 innings as a long reliever. Little struck out a league average 23.1% of batters faced but issued walks at a lofty 12% clip. The stuff was nevertheless intriguing enough for the Jays to give him a 40-man spot, which keeps him from becoming a minor league free agent. He has a full slate of option years and can bounce between Toronto and Triple-A Buffalo so long as he holds that place on the roster.

White is a more familiar name for the Toronto fanbase. Acquired from the Dodgers at the 2022 deadline, he has had a few stints on the MLB roster. He hasn’t found much big league success as a Jay, working to a 7.60 ERA across 55 2/3 innings. After being outrighted from the 40-man roster in August, however, he finished the year strong in Buffalo. The 28-year-old posted a 1.69 ERA in four September starts for the Bisons, holding opponents to a .160/.259/.253 line in the process.

That was enough for the Jays to prevent White from leaving in minor league free agency. If he keeps his place on the 40-man throughout the offseason, they’ll need to carry him on next year’s MLB roster or make him available to other clubs because he has exhausted his minor league options.

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