Braves Decline Darren O’Day’s Option
The Braves have turned down right-handed reliever Darren O’Day‘s $3.5MM club option for 2021 in favor of a $500K buyout, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. O’Day is now the second notable reliever to have a team decline his option today, joining the Indians’ Brad Hand, who could earn $10MM in 2021 if another club acquires him.
While O’Day isn’t as noteworthy or expensive as Hand, it’s nonetheless surprising to see the Braves give him up. With the league coming off a pandemic-shortened season sans fans, though, these moves could be a sign of negative things to come for the players this winter. It seems relievers will face some economic adversity in free agency, but it’s possible the open market will prove to be disappointing for most or all players, regardless of position.
No matter how free agency does shake out across the league, O’Day currently looks like one of the most accomplished relievers on the open market. Despite averaging around 86 mph on his fastball throughout his career, O’Day has been highly effective with a handful of teams since he debuted in 2008. The longtime Oriole owns a 2.51 ERA/3.43 FIP with 9.36 K/9 and 2.47 BB/9 in 576 2/3 innings in the majors.
The Braves acquired O’Day from the O’s in the 2018 season, but his year had already ended on account of a hamstring issue. Anthony injury, this time to his forearm, kept O’Day out until September of last season, but he was able to end on a positive note with five strong innings. The Braves then re-signed O’Day to a guaranteed $2.5MM last winter, and he went on to deliver in 2020 with 16 1/3 innings of eight-hit, three-run ball, also notching 22 strikeouts against five walks. But that excellent performance was not enough to convince the Braves to keep O’Day around for what looked like a reasonable sum.
Indians Place Brad Hand On Outright Waivers
In a rather stunning move, the Indians have placed closer Brad Hand on outright waivers, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). It’s a pure cost-cutting transaction from Cleveland, with the hope that another team places a claim on the left-hander, who has a $10MM club option on his current contract. Any club that claims Hand would be able to pick up that option and retain him for the 2021 season at that $10MM price.
Per Meisel, the Indians had planned to decline the option, which would’ve required paying a $1MM buyout. They’ll decline it if he goes unclaimed. However, Cleveland would stand to save that $1MM if another team makes a claim, which seems possible given Hand’s excellent 2020 season and generally strong track record.
Hand, 30, led the American League with 16 saves this year and posted a 22-to-4 K/BB ratio with a 2.05 ERA over the life of 22 innings. He had a few hiccups in the ninth inning early on, but Hand’s overall results fall right in line with his All-Star track record. Since being unearthed by the Padres on a waiver claim back in 2016, Hand owns a 2.70 ERA with 12.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 0.87 HR/9.
Waiver priority at this juncture is based on reverse order of the league-wide standings. That’d give the Pirates, Rangers, Tigers, Red Sox, D-backs, Orioles, Nationals, Mets, Rockies and Angels first crack at Hand, in that order. Most of those clubs are rebuilding or cutting costs themselves, but it’s feasible that a team like the Red Sox, Nats, Mets or Angels could place a claim with an eye toward contending in 2021.
Frankly, revenue losses notwithstanding, it’s arguable that any club should welcome the chance to bring Hand into the fold. There’s not a team that wouldn’t be bettered by adding a pitcher of this caliber to its relief corps, and the one-year, $10MM price point would be considered a bargain under normal market circumstances.
Of course, the absence of fans in 2020 has created what most expect to be a brutal market for free agents as clubs take drastic measures to cut payroll. As such, some clubs will surely pass on claiming Hand — maybe in hopes that he’ll go unclaimed and be available on a multi-year deal at a lower annual rate — but it’s hard to imagine that a hopeful contender won’t jump at the opportunity to acquire an elite bullpen price on a one-year term.
As for the Indians, this removes doubt about the club’s offseason direction. It’s long been expected that they’ll continue last winter’s efforts to pare back payroll, although not in such egregious fashion. The move to place Hand on waivers only seems to further the likelihood that Cleveland will trade superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor, whose salary could approach or exceed $20MM in his final trip through the arbitration process. That much has looked likely since owner Paul Dolan infamously told fans to “enjoy him” a few years back, but it now feels more inevitable than ever before.
Looking more broadly at the market as a whole, it’ll be of greater concern for free agents — relievers, in particular — across the game if Hand somehow passes through waivers unclaimed. If no club is willing to take on Hand at a one-year, $10MM term (or if he survives all the way to the Dodgers, who are last in waiver priority), that will speak volumes about market expectations in the months to come.
White Sox, Tim Beckham Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Tim Beckham, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). The Wasserman client will receive a $1.35MM base salary in 2021 if he makes the roster.
Technically teams are still in the period of exclusive negotiations with their own free agents, but Beckham was unsigned for the 2020 season and thus free to negotiate with any club. He was hit with an 80-game PED suspension back in Aug. 2019. He’s already served a portion of that ban but will presumably still need to serve the remainder before he’s eligible to suit up for a big league club.
Beckham was the No. 1 overall pick of the Rays in the 2008 draft, and while he has had his moments since then,it has largely been a disappointing career. Now 30 years old, Beckham has combined for a .249/.302/.431 with 63 home runs and 31 stolen bases over 1,751 trips to the plate with the Rays, Orioles and Mariners. During his most recent action, he batted a similar .237/.293/.461 and smacked 15 HRs across 328 PA.
Defensively, Beckham has seen plenty of action all over the infield and even some in the corner outfield. So, if he does make the White Sox, Beckham could serve as insurance behind the likes of Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Nick Madrigal and Eloy Jimenez.
Mariners Re-Sign Kendall Graveman
11:42am: Graveman’s deal comes with a $1.25MM base salary and another $2.5MM worth of incentives, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). That will give him the opportunity to earn a bit more than the $3.5MM he’d have taken home had the Mariners picked up his option.
11:35am: That was quick. Just one day after declining their $3.5MM club option on Kendall Graveman, the Mariners announced that they’ve re-signed the right-hander to a new one-year, Major League contract for the 2021 season. It’s surely at a lesser rate than that $3.5MM price point, but the Sports One Management client looks as though he’ll be locked in as a member of the team’s bullpen again next season.
Graveman, 29, returned to the Majors in 2020 after missing most of 2018 and all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery. The initial hope was that he’d be a member of the team’s six-man rotation, but Graveman spent much of the year on the injured list due to a neck injury and returned to the club in September as a reliever.
The results upon his return were encouraging, however, as Graveman averaged a career-best 96.4 mph on his sinker and held opponents to four runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 10 innings. Three of those runs came in one particularly rough outing, but Graveman allowed just one run in the rest of his bullpen outings combined. He also sported a hefty 55.4 percent ground-ball rate in that time, giving further cause for optimism about his potential as a reliever over the course of a full season.
For Seattle, re-signing Graveman is its first noteworthy order of business in what should be an active winter for its relief corps. After the Mariners’ bullpen finished 2020 last in the AL in ERA and fWAR, general manager Jerry Dipoto declared the M’s would try to add three to four relievers in the offseason.
Astros Place Roberto Osuna On Outright Waivers
The Astros have placed right-hander Roberto Osuna on outright waivers, reports Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (Twitter link). The right-hander missed most of the 2020 season with an elbow injury and was initially recommended to undergo Tommy John surgery, although a second opinion caused him to attempt to rehab the injury without surgery. Osuna was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to repeat his $10MM salary in his final trip through arbitration, and his salary and injury have made an obvious non-tender candidate. That’s what this move effectively boils down to.
Given Osuna’s injury, projected salary and prior suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, it’s all but a lock that he’ll clear waivers and become a free agent.
Still just 25 years of age, Osuna pitched only 4 1/3 innings in 2020 before landing on the injured list with what proved to be a season-ending elbow ailment. He’s been consistently excellent every season he’s been on the mound — career 2.74 ERA, 9.9 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 — but Osuna also served 75-game suspension in 2018 after his girlfriend filed domestic violence charges against him. Osuna eventually agreed to a peace bond in Canada, which resulted in the charges being dropped.
Per the Canadian Department of Justice’s web site, peace bonds are generally used when “an individual (the defendant) appears likely to commit a criminal offence, but there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has actually been committed.” The Canadian Department of Justice further specifies that peace bonds are obtainable by “any person who fears that another person may injure them, their spouse or common-law partner, or a child, or may damage their property.”
All of that will be factored into any future negotiations between Osuna and a new team once he reaches the market, although Osuna’s own track record shows that teams will look past allegations of abuse and assault in order to acquire a productive Major Leaguer. The Astros embarrassingly walked back their own “zero tolerance” policy for domestic abuse in order to acquire Osuna at a lower cost in the middle of his suspension, and we’ve seen other teams pay premium prices to sign players who’ve served suspensions under the domestic violence policy (most notably the Yankees with Aroldis Chapman).
The most immediate determining factor in Osuna’s next destination will be the health of his right elbow (or lack thereof). He began a throwing program about a month after initially being shut down, but he’ll have a ways to go before he’s ready to rejoin a bullpen.
Phillies Outright Heath Hembree, Adam Morgan
The Phillies have outrighted relievers Heath Hembree and Adam Morgan, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Both were arbitration-eligible, and both have the service time to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, which is a mere formality at this point. Hembree was one of the team’s August trade pickups from the Red Sox. Morgan has been a longtime member of the bullpen but recently underwent flexor tendon surgery that is expected to sideline him for six to nine months.
Hembree, 31, was a stable member of the Boston bullpen for years but got out to an ugly start in 2020 and saw things get worse after the trade. From 2016-19, the right-hander notched a solid 3.60 ERA with 10.1 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 212 2/3 innings of work — plus 4 2/3 shutout frames in the 2018 postseason. He allowed six runs in 9 2/3 frames with the Red Sox prior to the swap, although nearly all of the damage against him came in one nightmare outing (four runs and zero outs recorded).
With the Phils, however, Hembree uncharacteristically yielded runs in eight of his 11 appearances on the mound, including a four-run drubbing in his final outing of the year. All told, he served up 13 runs on 17 hits — a staggering seven of which were home runs — and five walks with 10 strikeouts in just 9 1/3 innings. His struggles made him a clear non-tender candidate, and the Phillies opted to act early rather than prolong the decision.
Morgan, a 30-year-old lefty, was tagged for eight runs in 13 frames during an injury-shortened 2020 season. He broke into the Majors as a rotation hopeful with the Phillies, starting 36 games for the club from 2015-16, but struggled to find success in that role. Upon a full-time move to the ‘pen in 2017, though, Morgan found a home as a regular member of the staff. From 2017-19, he tallied 133 2/3 frames with a 3.97 ERA and 4.08 FIP, averaging 9.6 strikeouts and 3.4 walks per nine innings pitched while also recording a solid 47.8 percent grounder rate.
The bullpen figures to be among the Phillies’ top priorities this winter — a new deal with J.T. Realmuto is surely their No. 1 goal — and moving on from Hembree and Morgan now gives them a bit more flexibility as they pursue those goals.
Twins Decline Option Over Sergio Romo
The Twins have elected to decline their club option over righty Sergio Romo, LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. He’ll receive a $250K buyout rather than the $5MM option price.
Romo finished the 2020 campaign with a 4.05 ERA over twenty frames while carrying a 23:7 K/BB ratio and allowing three long balls. Those results weren’t good enough to convince the Twins to commit to another season, though Neal says the Minnesota brass will consider a lower-cost reunion.
Whether or not he ends up back with the Twins, it seems fair to presume that Romo will end up securing a big-league contract somewhere. Though he’s 37 years old and features bottom-of-the-barrel velocity, he is still capable of generating swings and misses with his trusty slider. Romo leaned on that offering more than ever in 2020, slinging it on 64.0% of his deliveries to the plate.
Marlins Outright 3 Pitchers
The Marlins have reinstated three pitchers – Drew Steckenrider, Brian Moran and Brandon Leibrandt – from the 60-day injured list and outrighted them, the team announced. Steckenrider and Moran have elected free agency.
Now 29 years old, the right-handed Steckenreider was a very promising part of the Marlins’ bullpen from 2017-18. However, he limped to a 6.28 ERA/7.96 FIP during the next season and hasn’t pitched since May 6, 2019, owing to arm problems.
Meanwhile, lefties Moran and Liebrandt have had minor roles with the Marlins. The 32-year-old Moran has thrown just 11 innings (10 with the Marlins, one with the Blue Jays) since making his major league debut in 2019. He has given up eight earned runs at the game’s top level. Liebrandt, the son of former MLB pitcher Charlie Liebrandt, yielded just two earned runs in nine frames with the Marlins in 2020, but he also posted seven walks against three strikeouts in the process.
Cardinals Decline Kolten Wong’s Option
The Cardinals have declined second baseman Kolten Wong‘s $12.5MM club option for 2021 in favor of a $1MM buyout, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was among those to report.
This doesn’t necessarily close the book on Wong’s career with the Cardinals, who were reportedly interested in extending him on a multiyear contract just a couple of weeks ago. For now, though, it does make Wong a free agent and leave a hole at the keystone for St. Louis.
A member of the Cardinals organization since they chose him 22nd overall in the 2011 draft, Wong has been a generally effective part of the team dating back to his 2013 debut. While Wong has never been a major threat at the plate, his ability to combine passable offense with outstanding defense has made him an average or better contributor throughout his career. Just this past season, the 30-year-old Wong batted .265/.350/.326 with a strong 14.4 percent strikeout rate in 208 plate appearances. He also accounted for six Defensive Runs Saved and a 3.8 Ultimate Zone Rating in the field.
Now, if Wong actually explores the open market, he’ll be one of the most accomplished players available at his position. Wong would arguably be the second-best player in free agency there after DJ LeMahieu.
Red Sox Outright 3 Players
The Red Sox have outrighted utilityman Jose Peraza, outfielder Cesar Puello and right-hander Dylan Covey off their roster, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Peraza and Puello have elected free agency.
Peraza, the most notable member of the trio, was one of Boston’s only guaranteed signings during a quiet winter of acquisitions last offseason. But after the club inked the ex-Dodger/Red to a $3MM contract, Peraza could only manage a .225/.275/.342 line with one home run in 120 plate appearances. Defensively, the 26-year-old spent most of the season at second base, though he does have experience all over the diamond.
Meanwhile, neither Puello nor Covey received much playing time with the Red Sox in 2020. Puello totaled 11 plate appearances after signing a minors pact before the season, while Covey – whom the Red Sox acquired from the Rays in July – tossed 14 innings and surrendered 11 earned runs.