Rockies Decline Justin Morneau’s Option
The Rockies announced that they have declined their half of Justin Morneau‘s $9MM mutual option. The first baseman and Relativity Sports client will instead be paid a $750K buyout and hit the open market in search of a new team.
Morneau, 34, signed a two-year, $12.5MM contract with the Rockies prior to the 2014 season after concussion and neck injuries nearly forced him into retirement late in his Twins tenure. The 2006 American League MVP enjoyed an outstanding rebound campaign in Colorado last year, hitting .319/.364/.496 with 17 homers. While it was low relative to previous league leaders, that .319 batting average earned Morneau the 2014 National League batting title.
The 2015 season, though, told a markedly different tale for Morneau. The Canadian-born slugger played in just 49 games total, as he missed most of the season with yet another concussion and further neck problems. Morneau was sidelined from May 13 until Sept. 4, although it is certainly worth noting that upon activation from the disabled list, he looked to have something left in the tank. Morneau hit .338/.423/.471 in 22 games down the stretch, although he failed to homer and was undoubtedly aided by a .434 BABIP in that time. Nevertheless, he drew 10 walks and struck out just 15 times in 78 plate appearances, suggesting that his strike zone knowledge and pitch recognition were still intact.
Morneau will enter a free-agent market that is headlined by Chris Davis and Korean star Byung-ho Park but offers little else in the way of full-time options. Even Morneau himself probably shouldn’t be considered a full-time player at this stage of his career, despite the fact that he batted .342/.375/.474 against southpaws this season. Those numbers look impressive, but they came in a sample of just 40 plate appearances, which is far less telling than the .224/.263/.307 batting line he’s compiled in 666 PAs versus lefties dating back to the 2011 season.
While Morneau’s injury shortened season was a disappointment for a player who looked to be on his way to rebuilding a significant portion of his stock with a nice 2014 season, I’d imagine the fact that he not only showed he was healthy enough to take the field but was also productive in the season’s final month will earn him an incentive-laden one-year contract this offseason, assuming he wants to continue playing after once again enduring the rigors of recovering from a severe concussion.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins To Hire Don Mattingly
The Marlins will hire Don Mattingly as their next manager, reports Molly Knight of Vice Sports. Mattingly has agreed to a four-year deal with the club, but there may not be an official announcement until the World Series comes to a close, she adds.
Incredibly, the 54-year-old Mattingly becomes the Marlins’ eighth man to manager the Marlins since the 2010 season, Knight points out (though that does count bench coach Brandon Hyde, who managed just one game on an interim basis in 2011). Mattingly will replace GM-turned-skipper Dan Jennings, who bizarrely transitioned from the front office to the dugout in nearly unprecedented fashion earlier this year after Mike Redmond was fired as manager. The Marlins will pay Redmond through the 2017 season and only recently had Redmond’s predecessor, Ozzie Guillen, come off the books, as his four-year contract expired upon completion of the 2015 season despite the fact that he was fired three years ago.
The Marlins interviewed a wide variety of candidates, though reports throughout the interview process indicated that owner Jeffrey Loria would consider Mattingly the favorite were he to part ways with the Dodgers. That scenario came to fruition last week, when Mattingly and the Dodgers mutually parted ways. Mattingly is said to feel that the team didn’t want to commit to him for the long haul, though some form of extension was discussed prior to his departure. (Speculatively speaking, it seems plausible that the Dodgers only offered Mattingly a one-year extension of his contract, which would’ve extended it through the 2017 season.)
Though Loria is notoriously fickle with his managers — as evidenced by the fact that seven men have filled that role from 2010-15 — the New York native is said to be a huge fan of Mattingly dating back to Mattingly’s days as a six-time All-Star first baseman with the Yankees. Perhaps, then, that will buy Mattingly more leeway than was afforded to the men he is succeeding in his new role.
In five seasons as manager of the Dodgers, Mattingly posted a 446-363 record, guiding his club to the NL West Division title in each of the final three years of his term. While the team won only one postseason series in four attempts under Mattingly, he recorded a winning record in each of his five seasons and was generally well-regarded by his players. Notably, Mattingly managed in an extremely high-pressure market while juggling a large number of highly paid players on his roster, many of whom had been reduced to part-time roles. Managing the number of egos and dealing with the L.A. media undoubtedly took a toll on Mattingly, and he’s likely to encounter a more low-key environment in Miami. Mattingly said in a recent appearance on the Dan Patrick Show that he’s intrigued by the Marlins’ young core and considered it a “new challenge” that appealed to him (this was prior to his reported hiring but after his initial interview).
Knight notes that it’s unclear whether or not Mattingly will be able to bring any of his field staff from Los Angeles to Miami. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and bench coach Tim Wallach would be candidates, though Wallach is still in the running for the managerial vacancies in both L.A. and San Diego. The Dodgers did tell their coaches at season’s end that they were free to pursue opportunities elsewhere, so perhaps Honeycutt could jump ship with Mattingly.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nationals To Name Bud Black Manager
The Nationals will hire former Padres skipper Bud Black as their next manager, reports James Wagner of the Washington Post. The team has yet to confirm the move or make an official announcement, as Major League Baseball frowns upon teams announcing major news on the days that World Series games take place. Black was said to be one of two finalists, with former Giants/Cubs/Reds manager Dusty Baker the other reported name under consideration.
Black, 58, served as the Padres’ manager from 2007 until June of this past season, when he was fired. On the heels of a highly active offseason, the Padres entered the season with high expectations but failed to deliver the results that the front office and ownership had hoped to see. Black’s dismissal surprised many in the game, as he was among baseball’s longest-tenured and most respected managers. His time in San Diego represents Black’s only Major League managerial experience. He managed the team to a 649-713 record in that time, the Padres routinely dealt with payroll constraints that hampered the team’s ability to field competitive rosters. Prior to his time in San Diego, Black was the Angels’ pitching coach from 2000-06, where he won a World Series ring in 2002.
Black will replace the recently fired Matt Williams, who came to D.C. without prior managerial experience and often looked overmatched with in-game decisions such as bullpen usage. However, perhaps more troubling were the reported communication issues that developed between Williams and the Nationals’ roster over the course of the 2015 season. Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post wrote an extensive piece about rifts that formed between Williams and some of the team’s veteran players. Williams also appeared unaware of the extent to which a dugout altercation between Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper escalated in the season’s final weeks. Given Black’s experience managing in the Majors, such communication issues and day-to-day problems don’t figure to arise under his watch.
Washington also dismissed its entire coaching staff following the season, so Black will be allowed to hand-pick each of the coaches who serve alongside him. As Wagner reports, Rick Renteria, who formerly managed the Cubs but served as Black’s bench coach in San Diego prior to that job, is an early favorite to serve as Black’s bench coach with the Nationals.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
White Sox Claim Jacob Turner From Cubs
The White Sox have claimed right-hander Jacob Turner off waivers from the Cubs, according to the club’s transactions page at MLB.com. Turner, 24, didn’t pitch in the Majors this season, spending most of the year on the 60-day disabled list due to a strained right flexor tendon and right shoulder inflammation.
Formerly one of the top prospects in the game — Baseball America ranked him within its Top 30 for three consecutive offseasons from 2010-12 — Turner’s career has been slowed dramatically by injuries. The Tigers selected him ninth overall in the 2009 draft, and he was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante from Miami to Detroit.
Turner spent parts of three seasons with the Marlins and was mostly healthy there (he did miss time in 2014 with shoulder issues), but he wasn’t able to deliver on his considerable upside. Miami made the tough call to designate him for assignment in August of 2014, as he was out of options and couldn’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers (which was never going to happen at that point). Miami placed Turner on revocable waivers, with the hope of working out a trade to a club with a high priority, and there was some surprise when the Rockies, who then had the No. 1 waiver priority, neglected to place a claim. The Cubs, who were second in line, promptly claimed him and worked out a trade, sending minor league right-handers Tyler Bremer and Jose Arias to Miami in return.
In hindsight, the series of transactions was largely inconsequential, as Turner was healthy enough to throw just 34 2/3 unsuccessful innings for the Cubs, though it made plenty of sense for the Cubs to roll the dice on a prospect with the type of upside Turner possessed.
The White Sox will now look to do the same, although because he’s out of options, they’ll have to either pass him through outright waivers — something the Cubs just failed at doing, hence the claim — or keep him on the 40-man roster all winter and Spring Training. Turner would have to break camp with the big league club next year or be exposed to outright waivers late in the spring.
Royals Promote Raul Mondesi, Designate Joba Chamberlain
The Royals have called up top prospect Raul Mondesi in order to add him to their World Series roster, the club announced. To clear 40-man roster space, Kansas City designated righty Joba Chamberlain for assignment.
It’s not a traditional top-prospect promotion, as Mondesi — a consensus top-fifty prospect in all of baseball — will make his first MLB appearance in the World Series. While he won’t pick up any service time for that, and figures to return to the minors to start 2016, the 20-year-old does now reach the 40-man roster earlier than was necessary.
Mondesi, whose father was a prominent big leaguer, signed with Kansas City as an international free agent and saw his first action in Rookie ball in 2012 at just 16 years of age. He spent all of this season playing at Double-A, putting up a .243/.279/.372 batting line and swiping 19 bases.
Presumably, the switch-hitting middle infielder will be used mostly for running and defense in his high-leverage debut series. He’ll take the spot of Terrance Gore, the club’s usual post-season burner, while also providing another infield glove.
Meanwhile, Chamberlain will hit the free agent market a bit early, though the move was largely procedural. The 30-year-old joined Kansas City late in the season, allowing five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. He did not appear in the post-season. Chamberlain will probably be looking for a make-good minor league deal this offseason after a rough overall campaign.
Pirates Claim Jorge Rondon
The Pirates have claimed righty Jorge Rondon off waivers from the Orioles, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Rondon, 27, was designated recently to create 40-man space.
Interestingly, Rondon lost his spot with Baltimore to make way for the team’s claim of fellow right-hander Vance Worley from Pittsburgh. The result is a more-or-less direct swap of those two players.
Rondon carried a 2.23 ERA over 60 2/3 innings at Triple-A last year, with 7.4 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. He was once rated among the top thirty prospects of the Cardinals, and has a track record of solid, if unspectacular, numbers in the minors.
In a rather small sample at the big league level, though, Rondon has struggled. He allowed ten earned runs in just two appearances in Colorado, and permitted eleven more in his 13 1/3 frames with the O’s. In his 15 1/3 total MLB innings, Rondon has struck out only nine batters while walking ten and surrendering 28 hits.
Domonic Brown Elects Free Agency After Outright
OCTOBER 26: Brown has elected free agency, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports on Twitter. That will bring his tenure in Philadelphia to an end, barring a somewhat surprising reunion.
OCTOBER 19: The Phillies announced today that former top prospect and starting right fielder Domonic Brown has been outrighted off their 40-man roster. As a player with more than three years of big league service time, Brown will have the option to elect free agency rather than accepting an assignment to Triple-A. Also outrighted were catcher/first baseman Tommy Joseph, outfielder Brian Bogusevic and outfielder Kelly Dugan.
Brown, 28, batted just .228/.284/.349 this season — a disappointing season and a near-mirror image of his 2014 batting line: .235/.285/.349. Ranked by Baseball America as the game’s No. 1 overall prospect midway through the 2010 season, many believed Brown to be ticketed for stardom. The former 20th-round pick batted .327/.391/.589 with 20 homers in just 93 games between Double-A and Triple-A in that 2010 campaign, leading to visions of future 30-home runs seasons from the powerful lefty batter.
Brown looked to be delivering on that promise in 2013 when he belted 27 homers and batted a hefty .272/.324/.494 in his age-25 season, but much of that production came in a torrid six-week stretch, and he’s been unable to recreate anything resembling that level of success. He’ll assuredly draw some interest from other clubs with the hope of buying low on his once-potent bat. Brown cleared four years of big league service in 2015, meaning any team that signs him would be able to control him for 2016 and 2017, if he’s productive enough to justify a spot on the roster for that long.
Making this series of moves even more disappointing for the Phillies is that Joseph, too, once ranked among their top prospects. The main piece acquired from the Giants in the trade that sent Hunter Pence to San Francisco, Joseph’s once-promising career has been slowed by injuries — most recently a series of significant concussion issues. Joseph’s first full year in the Phillies organization was marred by injuries, but he looked to have turned a corner in 2014 when he got off to a .282/.345/.551 start in 27 games at Double-A Reading. A left wrist issue that ultimately required surgery cut that season short as well, though, and he hit just .193/.220/.301 in Triple-A this season before moving to first base due to concussion woes.
The 25-year-old Dugan rated 17th among Phillies farmhands last offseason, per Baseball America, but batted just .221/.295/.298 upon reaching Triple-A for the first time this year. Bogusevic, 31, has bounced around the league since debuting with the Astros in 2010. He’s a lifetime .238/.311/.373 hitter in 834 big league plate appearances.
Torii Hunter To Retire
Twins outfielder Torii Hunter has decided to retire, he tells LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star-Tribune. The 40-year-old played in parts of 19 years with three organizations.
“I’m sad because it’s all I’ve known for half of my life,” Hunter said. “This great game of baseball has done so much for me. I have learned a lot of lessons. … I still love the game, but time has taken a toll on me mentally and physically.”
Hunter ended things where he began by returning to Minnesota for the 2015 season. He broke in with the Twins back in 1997, earned regular playing time as a reserve in 1999, and locked down an everyday job with the club in 2001.
From that 2001 season through the end of 2007, Hunter put up over 4,000 plate appearances of .272/.326/.484 hitting with 178 home runs. Then serving as a center fielder, he received the Gold Glove award in every single one (and for two more years thereafter).
The winter of 2007 seemed to spell the end of Hunter’s tenure in Minnesota. He departed via free agency to join the Angels, who promised him $90MM over five years. Hunter continued to thrive, posting a .286/.352/.462 cumulative batting line in nearly 3,000 trips to the plate over the life of that contract.
Having transitioned to right field in the back half of his tenure with the Halos, Hunter caught on to take over there for the Tigers. He was a strong contributor to two good teams in his two years in Detroit.
While other organizations came calling before 2015, Hunter decided on a return to a Twins club that wasn’t expected to do much. But it proved more than a farewell tour, as the club surpassed expectations (and underlying performance barometers) with an 83-79 record.
Believers in the power of clubhouse chemistry would surely attribute some of the Twins’ success last year to the presence of the fiery Hunter, who is respected highly in that regard. He didn’t have a great season — to the contrary, he played at or below replacement level — but was still expected to be courted for a return, albeit in a reduced role.
Minnesota has plenty of options to proceed without the veteran, whose departure could open the way for some of the organization’s young talent. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in his offseason outlook for the team, there are some options on hand that figure to step in.
As a forty-to-fifty win player who was more consistently excellent than great, Hunter seems unlikely to land in the Hall of Fame, though he surely deserves a spot in the proverbial “hall of very good.” He has come under fire for homophobic comments made in recent years, an area that tarnished his reputation to many, though Hunter is widely lauded as one of the game’s good guys. All told, Hunter enjoyed a memorable career as one of the better players of his generation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Phillies Name Matt Klentak GM
OCT. 26: The Phillies have announced the hiring of Klentak as vice president and general manager, adding that, at 35 years of age, Klentak is the youngest GM in the club’s history.
“In Matt we found an executive with the keen ability to understand cutting-edge baseball analytics, coupled with superior scouting, player development and leadership skills,” said president Andy MacPhail in the press release that announced the move. “Additionally, his commitment and resolve to build the foundation for a championship-caliber team was evident every step of the way through the process. I trust Matt to lead the Phillies as we all rededicate ourselves to return championship baseball to Philadelphia.”
OCT. 24: The Phillies will name Angels assistant Matt Klentak as their next GM, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweets. Yesterday, it emerged that Klentak was a finalist for the job, along with Chaim Bloom of the Rays and Dan Kantrovitz of the Athletics. As MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki noted (via Twitter), all three candidates were in their 30s and had Ivy League and analytics backgrounds.
Klentak began working in the Rockies baseball operations department soon after graduating from Dartmouth with an economics degree. He then worked in labor relations for MLB for several seasons and helped shape the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement. He departed to become director of baseball operations for the Orioles, where he worked under current Phillies president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. Following the 2011 season, he headed to the Angels, where he specialized in working with contracts, arbitration and roster issues. He was recently a candidate for the Angels GM position that went to Billy Eppler. (While with the Angels, Klentak was also one of the first-ever guests on the MLBTR Podcast, appearing one year ago today.)
“Matt brings so much to the table,” said then-Angels GM Jerry Dipoto. “Matt understands the inner workings of baseball from the field to the finance. He understands baseball from the staff in the clubhouse to the players on the field to how to communicate back and forth with a finance department and ownership.”
MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez writes (Twitter links) that Klentak did much of the Angels’ GM work once Dipoto resigned (even though Bill Stoneman was officially the Angels’ interim GM). Klentak is analytically oriented, but is regarded as a good communicator.
The Phillies’ 2015 season was, of course, a miserable one, but the situation Klentak is entering is in many ways rather favorable. Thanks to what appears to be a solid series of recent top draft picks and the strong trade of Cole Hamels to the Rangers, the Phillies have a very good collection of young talent headed by J.P. Crawford, Maikel Franco, Aaron Nola, Jake Thompson, Nick Williams, Jorge Alfaro and Cornelius Randolph. The Phillies have also historically had relatively large payrolls, which could give Klentak the ability to add to that core once it matures.
Besides Klentak, Bloom and Kantrovitz, other interviewees for the Phillies’ position included former Marlins executive Larry Beinfest, MLB vice president of baseball operations Kim Ng, Indians vice president of player personnel Ross Atkins, Cardinals director of player personnel Matt Slater, Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo and former Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Klentak’s departure is the second significant one for Eppler and the Angels’ front office this week — the Mariners just hired Klentak’s fellow Angels assistant Scott Servais to be their manager.
Minor MLB Transactions: 10/24/15
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.
- The Pirates announced that they have acquired righty Trevor Williams from the Marlins for righty Richard Mitchell. Williams, 23, was the Marlins’ second-round pick out of Arizona State in 2013. MLB.com ranked him the Marlins’ fifth-best prospect, noting that he can throw 96 MPH but typically throws in the low 90s, getting plenty of ground balls. (The Marlins’ farm system is currently quite weak, which partially explains Williams’ ranking.) Last year, Williams threw 131 innings between Double-A Jacksonville and Triple-A New Orleans, posting a 3.85 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. The 20-year-old Mitchell, a product of Colombia, posted a 3.38 ERA with 14 strikeouts and nine walks in 21 1/3 innings with the Bucs’ Gulf Coast League team this season. The Bucs signed Mitchell for $170K in 2011, but he has progressed very slowly through their system. He was not ranked in the Pirates’ top 30 prospects. Absent context, the trade seems somewhat weighted in the Pirates’ favor, and yesterday, the Marlins hired Pirates pitching guru Jim Benedict to become their new vice president, pitcher development. There has yet been no indication that this trade is related to that move, however.