Phillies Sign Pete Mackanin To New Extension
The Phillies have announced that manager Pete Mackanin has been signed to a new contract that will cover the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The deal also includes a club option for 2018.
This fresh contract overwrites the extension Mackanin received just last September when the Phils removed his interim tag and made him their official manager for the 2016 season. That older deal gave Mackanin a guarantee for 2016 and a club option for 2017, whereas this new contract adds an extra year of security for the 64-year-old.
Mackanin stepped in as the Phillies’ interim manager when Ryne Sandberg resigned in June, and the team went 37-51 under his leadership. More importantly than wins and losses for the rebuilding Phillies, Mackanin impressed upper management with his handling of the young talent. In a statement when Mackanin was originally extended in September, Phillies president Andy MacPhail said “Since assuming the interim manager position in June, Pete has developed an excellent rapport with our players and has also connected well with the media and our fans. Equally as important is his eagerness to take on the challenge of rebuilding the team and further developing our players.”
Prior to taking over managerial duties, Mackanin served as the Phillies’ third base coach and bench coach in two stints with the club since 2009. This is Mackanin’s first non-interim managerial job in the bigs after a long career of coaching and managing at both the Major League and minor league levels.
Astros Release Neal Cotts
The Astros have released lefty Neal Cotts, the club announced. Cotts was in camp on a minor league deal that contained an opt-out for March 26 if he wasn’t on Houston’s MLB roster.
The release is something of an unfortunate birthday present for Cotts, who turns 36 today, though he still has over a week to try and catch on with another club prior to Opening Day. The 10-year veteran posted a 3.41 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.64 K/BB rate over 63 1/3 innings with the Brewers and Twins last season, holding left-handed batters to just a .186/.243/.330 slash line. Cotts has very even lefty/righty splits over his career, though right-handed hit him hard (.867 OPS) in 2015.
Houston also optioned left-hander Kevin Chapman to the minors, so with Chapman and Cotts out of the picture, it’s possible Tony Sipp may be the only southpaw in the Astros bullpen. As Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle tweets, veteran lefty Wandy Rodriguez still has a chance at the last open spot in the pen, competing with righty Dan Straily.
Twins Release Ryan Sweeney
The Twins have released outfielder Ryan Sweeney, the team announced. Sweeney signed a minor league deal in December that would’ve paid him $750K had he made Minnesota’s roster.
Sweeney sat out the 2015 season in order to get healthy from a series of nagging injuries that had plagued his career. The well-regarded defender was hoping to win a job as a backup outfielder for the Twins, and he’d been hitting well (.294/.400/.412) over 40 Spring Training plate appearances. The 31-year-old has a .276/.333/.380 slash line over 2338 career PA with the White Sox, A’s, Red Sox and Cubs over nine years in the bigs, most notably as a starter in Oakland in the late aughts.
Mets Release Buddy Carlyle
The Mets have released right-hander Buddy Carlyle, ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin reports (Twitter link). Carlyle told Rubin that he isn’t sure if he wishes to continue his career, though the veteran righty noted he’s healthy in the wake of hip surgery that cut short his 2015 season.
It was an all-around injury-plagued year for Carlyle in 2015, as he also missed time with back and hamstring issues and was limited to just eight innings. It was a far cry from his first year with New York in 2014, when he posted some very impressive numbers (1.45 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 5.6 K/BB rate) in 31 innings out of the Mets bullpen. Carlyle signed a new minor league deal to rejoin the Mets in January.
The 38-year-old Carlyle has enjoyed a 20-year pro career that has seen him pitch for 10 different Major League organizations as well as stints in Japan and the Korea Baseball Organization. Carlyle has appeared in parts of nine MLB seasons since 1999, posting a 5.14 ERA over 292 1/3 innings with the Mets, Yankees, Braves, Dodgers and Padres.
Orioles Acquire Edgar Olmos
The Orioles have acquired lefty Edgar Olmos from the Cubs, per a Baltimore announcement. Chicago will receive a player to be named later in the swap.
Olmos will join just-signed southpaw Zach Phillips in the mix to fill in for injured reliever Brian Matusz. Baltimore gave Phillips a 40-man spot, but will be able to hold onto Olmos without committing to him on the major league roster since he was previously outrighted by Chicago.
Baltimore has obviously been intrigued with Olmos before, as he was briefly a member of the organization before the Cubs claimed him off waivers. Soon to turn 26, the former third-round draft pick only has minimal major league experience but posted a 3.55 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 33 Triple-A innings last year.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/24/16
Here are some minor moves from around baseball over the last week…
- The White Sox signed righty Chris Volstad to a minor league contract, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. The move comes less than two weeks after Volstad was released from his previous minors deal with the Braves. Volstad was an innings-eating rotation arm for the Marlins and Cubs from 2009-12 but he’s pitched just 10 1/3 big league frames since then, bouncing between five different MLB clubs and a stint in the Korea Baseball Organization.
- The Marlins released righty Preston Claiborne, as per the team’s official MLB.com transactions page. Miami took Claiborne off waivers from the Yankees last winter but he missed the entire season with a shoulder injury. Claiborne posted a 3.79 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 2.42 K/BB rate over 71 1/3 innings out of the Yankees bullpen in 2013-14.
- The Reds released southpaw Jonathan Sanchez, as per the team’s Twitter feed. Sanchez was a staple in the Giants rotation from 2008-10, tossing a no-hitter in 2009 and helping the team win the World Series in 2010. He had control problems even at his peak, however, and he posted an 8.73 ERA, 63 walks and 60 strikeouts over 78 1/3 innings in 2012-13, which was his last taste of MLB action.
Padres Release Casey Janssen
The Padres have granted right-hander Casey Janssen his release, as per the club’s official Twitter feed. The Nationals bought out their end of Janssen’s $7MM mutual option for 2016 following the season, and the veteran reliever signed a minor league deal with San Diego last month.
Janssen, 34, posted a 4.95 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 3.38 K/BB rate over 40 innings out of Washington’s bullpen last season. ERA indicators (4.08 FIP, 4.60 xFIP, 4.19 SIERA) were a bit more favorable as Janssen had a very low 62.5% strand rate, though his 29.4% grounder rate was far below his 45.8% career mark. While Janssen has never been a power pitcher, his average fastball velocity dropped for the fourth consecutive year (down to 88.5 mph in 2015). After averaging 8.7 K/9 with Toronto from 2010-13, Janssen has managed just 5.8 K/9 over the last two seasons.
Alex Rodriguez May Retire After 2017
THURSDAY: Rodriguez may not be entirely firm about his decision to retire, as he texted Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News that “I’m thinking in terms of my contract which ends in 2017. After that, we’ll see what happens. I’ve got two years and more than 300 games to play.” One of Rodriguez’s friends tells Feinsand that the slugger could decide to keep playing if he’s reasonably close to Barry Bonds‘ all-time home run record. A-Rod currently has 687 homers, so he’s still a significant distance behind Bonds’ mark of 762.
WEDNESDAY: Long-time MLB star Alex Rodriguez has decided to retire after the 2017 season, he tells Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork.com. The veteran will wrap up his career when his contract with the Yankees is up after next season.
Rodriguez, 40, will no doubt go down as one of the most talented and controversial players in baseball history. He went from hyped prospect to star in his first full season, a 1996 campaign with the Mariners in which he led the league in batting average while playing a stellar shortstop. That was his first of five outstanding seasons in Seattle and first of six in which he finished with an OPS of over 1.000.
Entering the open market in advance of his age-25 season, Rodriguez inked a ten-year, $252MM contract with the Rangers — an unheard-of sum at the time and still one of the three largest baseball player contracts ever. A-Rod continued to produce in Texas, finally winning an AL MVP award in 2003, though the club didn’t post a winning season over his three years.
Things took an interesting turn when Rodriguez was shipped to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano before the following season. Though he was still a quality defender up the middle, he moved to third base to play alongside Derek Jeter. Rodriguez went on to take home two more most valuable player nods in 2005 and 2007, then opted out of his deal in the midst of the World Series — only to strike yet another ten-year pact to stay in New York, this one for $275MM. Rodriguez ultimately helped lead the way to a 2009 World Series win, though his offensive production began to wane as he entered his mid-thirties.
PED allegations and a 2014 suspension significantly marred his legacy, however, and at one point it seemed in question whether he’d ever suit up for the Yankees again. But Rodriguez has, rather miraculously, managed to rebuild some of his public image and turned in a strong .250/.356/.486 campaign last year as the club’s regular DH.
New York owes Rodriguez $20MM in each of his final two campaigns. He’ll likely surpass Babe Ruth on the career home run list at some point before hanging up his spikes. While his performance record will always come with at least an implicit asterisk, Rodriguez already rates among the top 15 position players in history in terms of total fWAR.
Twins Outright Mike Strong
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.
- The Twins have outrighted lefty Mike Strong to Triple-A Rochester, clearing a spot on their 40-man, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweets. Strong was claimed twice this offseason, going from the Brewers to the Marlins and then on to the Twins. The 27-year-old worked mostly in relief last season at Double-A Biloxi (where he fared well) and Triple-A Colorado Springs (where he fared poorly), combining for a 3.82 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 66 innings.
Blue Jays, John Gibbons Restructure Contract
The Blue Jays have agreed to a new contract structure with manager John Gibbons, according to MLB Network Radio’s Steve Phillips (Twitter links). His new deal provides a pay raise and guarantees his salary through 2017.
Notably, Gibbons will no longer be managing to pursuant to an annual rollover clause. His prior contract included an anti-lame duck provision pursuant to which the following year’s option would be picked up automatically if the club did not decline it by January 1, with another option year then added.
GM Ross Atkins addressed the subject in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (audio link). He suggested that the new front office was not interested in the same structure moving forward, but remains committed to the skipper.
Gibbons, of course, led the Jays to do an AL East title last year. They ultimately lost in the ALCS after winning a divisional playoff series. Over his three years in Toronto, the club has won 250 games and improved its record in each season.