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Gold Glove Winners Announced

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Major League Baseball announced the Gold Glove winners tonight, as selected by a group of managers, coaches, and statistical analysis.  Twenty-five percent of the selection total was determined by SABR’s Defensive Index metrics, while the other 75 percent was determined by votes from all 30 managers and up to six coaches from each team.  The utility Gold Glove was determined in a separate fashion, via a defensive formula calculated by SABR and Rawlings.

National League winners….

American League winners….

Manfred: MLB To Test Ball-Strike Challenge System In Spring Training

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Major League Baseball plans to test the ball-strike challenge system during next year’s Spring Training, commissioner Rob Manfred said this week. Manfred suggested as much on Monday in a conversation with Jack Curry of the YES Network (X link). The commissioner reiterated that this morning in an interview with Chris Russo on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio.

“What I can tell you 100% is we are going to test the challenge system in Major League Spring Training in 2025,” Manfred told Russo. “I think that’s an important step forward.” That isn’t a stepping stone to implementing the system in regular season games by next year. Manfred said in May that he didn’t believe the technology would be sufficiently ironed out to put the automatic strike zone in place for meaningful games by ’25.

The commissioner didn’t reveal a specific timeline for its regular season implementation. He did tell The Dan Patrick Show last week (X link) that he expected to have some form of automated zone in place by the end of his tenure as commissioner, which concludes in the 2028-29 offseason. The date will presumably be dependent on the feedback MLB gets from players, coaches, and umpires. While MLB initially seemed to embrace a fully robotic zone, they’ve pivoted to the challenge system after testing both the challenge and the full ABS in the minors.

The challenge system leaves the human umpire as the default. Each team gets a finite number of challenges to turn to the automatic zone on borderline pitches. Challenges must be called for in real time by the hitter, pitcher or catcher. That’ll leave some missed calls but reduces the likelihood of a blown call on an especially important pitch.

That assuages some concerns about the rule book strike zone not perfectly aligning with the way players expect the game to be called. One common complaint about the automatic zone is its tendency to reward pitchers for clipping the top of the zone with an elevated breaking ball. That’s less likely to be an issue with the challenge system, as pitchers and catchers won’t often dispute pitches they don’t perceive as strikes themselves.

The challenge system also preserves some of the value of a catcher’s framing ability, although it offers a check in high-leverage spots when stealing a strike would be most significant. From a fan perspective, that’s mostly an aesthetic concern. It’s an economic one for some players, as there are plenty of current catchers whose value is driven largely by their receiving skills.

In an unrelated bit of rule experimentation, MLB used the Arizona Fall League as a testing ground for check swings. As Baseball America’s Josh Norris first observed (on X) last week, players were able to use bat tracking technology to challenge a check swing call.

MLB rules don’t spell out a technical definition of a check swing. Subjectivity doesn’t work for a challenge system. Sam Dykstra of MLB.com writes that the league used a 45-degree threshold for the bat angle. In other words, if the bat angle went beyond the opposite field base line, it was deemed a swing. The check swing challenge was only in use during the Fall League. There’s no indication it’s under consideration for testing with MLB players, though it wouldn’t be a surprise if it gets an eventual trial run in minor league regular season games.

MLB Player Agency Updates

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MLBTR maintains a database of players and their agencies, which is exclusive to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

Today, we updated this database to contain only players who appeared in the Majors from 2022-24.  The resulting database contains 2,117 players.  We have the agency for about three-quarters of these players.

If you click below, there’s a list of 540 players for whom we do not have their agency.  If your company represents these players and you would like to fill in some blanks or correct errors, that would be welcome!  Please reach out through our contact form.

Here’s our list of players without known agencies:

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Carlos Carrasco Plans To Continue Pitching

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Carlos Carrasco was in attendance this evening as Venezuelan countryman Salvador Perez was honored as MLB’s Roberto Clemente Award winner. Carrasco told reporters that he has begun his offseason training regimen and hopes to pitch for two more seasons (X link via Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com).

The veteran right-hander turns 38 in March. Pitching two more seasons would take him near his 40th birthday. Carrasco elected minor league free agency after the Guardians were eliminated from the AL Championship Series. He’d have gotten to the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series anyhow since he has well over six years of MLB service.

Carrasco is almost certainly looking at a minor league deal for the second straight offseason. The longtime Cleveland hurler rejoined the organization on a non-roster contract in January. He broke camp and locked in a $2MM base salary. Carrasco held a rotation spot for the majority of the season, making 21 starts and tossing 103 2/3 innings. That was enough to land him third on the team in workload, though his results weren’t impressive. Carrasco allowed 5.64 earned runs per nine with a middling 19.9% strikeout percentage. The Guardians ran him through outright waivers in September.

That marks consecutive subpar showings for the 15-year veteran. Carrasco also scuffled during his third and final season as a member of the Mets. Opponents tagged him for a 6.80 ERA over 90 innings in 2023. He owns a 6.18 ERA across 41 starts over the last two seasons. Carrasco still throws strikes and gets ground-balls at decent rates, but declining velocity has cost him whiffs and led to trouble keeping the ball in the park.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The World Series will be done within a week, meaning the offseason fun is about to begin. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the winter or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Avisail Garcia Undergoes Back Surgery

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Outfielder Avisail Garcia underwent surgery to treat both a fracture and a disc issue in his lower back today, according to a report from The New York Post’s Jon Heyman. A timetable for his recovery was not provided.

The news comes just a few months after the Marlins decided to release the veteran outfielder partway through the third season of his four-year, $53MM deal with the club. It became clear almost immediately that the deal was a mistake on the part of the Marlins as Garcia’s first season in Miami saw him hit a paltry .224/.266/.317 (61 wRC+) in 380 trips to the plate. He spent nearly two months on the IL due to hamstring issues near the end of that year, and a combination of back and hamstring issues limited the veteran to just 169 trips to the plate over the next two seasons prior to his release.

Garcia had struggled badly throughout his limited time on the field over the past two seasons, as well. In those aforementioned 169 plate appearances, he struck out at a 30.8% clip while slashing just .203/.246/.335 (53 wRC+). Those ghastly numbers were certainly more than enough justification for the Marlins to move on from the veteran and dedicate his playing time to young players. With that being said, news of Garcia’s surgery provides an interesting bit of context to his deep struggles with the Marlins—particularly given the fact that he missed three months due to a back injury in 2023.

Given the amount of time Garcia spent on the IL during his tenure in Miami, it’s not hard to imagine his back and hamstring issues played a large role in his sudden decline. After all, the outfielder was coming off a strong platform season where he posted a 115 wRC+ and slugged 29 homers for the Brewers. On top of that, Garcia had a track record of solid production dating back half a decade at that point. After generally being a below average hitter early in his career, from 2017 to 2021 Garcia slashed .278/.335/.464 (113 wRC+) while oscillating between being roughly league average and above average with the bat depending on the year.

Garcia did not sign with another club this year following Miami’s decision to part ways with him, but it’s possible that news of his back surgery could lead to interest from clubs who wonder if he might be able to regain some of his old form if he’s now properly healthy. That’s likely a long-shot to come to pass with Garcia staring own his age-34 season after three straight unproductive campaigns, but it’s still feasible to imagine a club taking a no-risk minor league flier on him this offseason. If Garcia were to make an MLB roster next year, his new club would only be on the hook for a pro-rated portion of the big league minimum while the Marlins pay out his $12MM salary for 2025.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 World Series matchup is now set, with the offseason just over the horizon. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the winter or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

By | at

On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 postseason is well underway, with the offseason just over the horizon. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the winter or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Justin Dunn To Hold Showcase For Interested Teams

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Right-hander Justin Dunn is holding a showcase for scouts on Tuesday, according to the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham.  Just a few weeks after his 29th birthday, Dunn is looking to exhibit both his pitching repertoire and his health after missing essentially two full seasons.  Dunn was limited to 3 1/3 innings in the Reds’ farm system in 2023 due to a rotator cuff issue and then a shoulder surgery in September of that year, and he didn’t pitch at all this season while rehabbing from that procedure.

A highly-touted arm during his time at Boston College, Dunn was picked 19th overall by the Mets in the 2016 draft.  His time in New York’s pipeline didn’t last long, as he was one of the headline pieces of the five-player trade package the Mets sent to the Mariners in December 2018 for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz.  Back in March 2022, Dunn was part of another prominent deal when Seattle moved him, Jake Fraley, Brandon Williamson, and Connor Phillips to the Reds in exchange for Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker.

Dunn was already dealing with shoulder problems at the time of the latter trade, though the Reds were aware and made the deal anyway, perhaps since their primary concern was dumping salary rather than maximizing the player return.  This injury-marred 2022 season saw Dunn post a 6.10 ERA over seven starts and 31 innings for Cincinnati, and he hasn’t since pitched in the majors.  Dunn opted into minor league free agency last winter after the Reds outrighted him off their 40-man roster.

While injuries have thrown a roadblock into Dunn’s career, he had a respectable 3.94 ERA over 102 2/3 innings and 25 starts with the Mariners during the 2019-21 seasons.  That ERA comes with a few asterisks, however, as Dunn has benefited from some good fortune despite shaky peripherals.  A .215 career BABIP has been the biggest helper, since Dunn hasn’t missed many bats (19.3% strikeout rate) and struggled with his control (14.7% walk rate) during his brief MLB career.

Even when Dunn was appearing near the back of top-100 prospect lists, some scouts felt relief pitching was a better path for his big league future than a rotation job.  Dunn might well explore such a role change as a nod to his arm health or simply to better his results, but at this point, he is surely open to whatever contract offers might be on the table.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see him land a minor league deal and a Spring Training invitation from this showcase, as he represents a no-risk flier for teams looking for pitching depth.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast

By | at

On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we regularly answer questions from our readers and listeners. With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 postseason is well underway, with the offseason just over the horizon. If you have a question about a past transaction, a look ahead to the winter or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you! You can email your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it. iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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