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Minor MLB Transactions: 12/21/18

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Phillies have a host of new additions to the team’s list of MLB Spring Training participants. In addition to a few we’ve already featured here at MLBTR, the Philadelphia club has announced the signings of southpaw Jeremy Bleich, backstop Rob Brantly, righty Josh Martin, utilityman Matt McBride, and infielder Gregorio Petit. Every one of these players has seen MLB time except for Martin, who’ll be looking for his first crack at the bigs after compiling a seven-season minor-league stat line with the Indians organization that features a 3.33 ERA and 9.2 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.
  • Likewise, the Padres have announced a haul of camp competitors. Allen Craig will come back for another go, as will Alex Dickerson. Otherwise, southpaws Ryan Bollinger and Dietrich Enns have inked with the San Diego org, along with righty Tyler Higgins. On the position-player side, infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Aderlin Rodriguez are joined by outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo. It’s the opposite situation from the one just discussed above, as all of the new additions excepting Enns — who’s compiled two MLB appearances — have yet to crack the majors.
  • A handful of new free agents are heading to the Rangers, too, per a club announcement. Lefty Jack Leathersich has seen action in a pair of MLB campaigns, but won’t get a camp invite. Fellow southpaw Miguel Del Pozo, righties, Ariel Hernandez and Phillips Valdez, and infielder Nolan Fontana will open their tenure in Texas on the MLB side of Spring Training. Hernandez and Fontana each have minimal experience in the bigs. Valdez worked to a 2.73 ERA in 135 upper-minors innings with the Nationals organization last year, with 6.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9; Del Pozo has averaged ten strikeouts per nine in his minor-league career.
  • The Red Sox have added another hurler on a minor-league pact, this time picking up righty Ryan Weber, per Michael Mayer of Metsmerizedonline.com (via Twitter). Now 28 years of age, Weber has thrown 73 2/3 innings of 5.01 ERA ball over the past four years, though the vast majority of those came in 2015 and 2016. He was rather effective last year at Triple-A in a swingman capacity, spinning 115 1/3 innings of 2.73 ERA ball with 6.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9.

NL Notes: Reds, Anibal, Nats, Tulo, Darvish

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The Reds were keen on retaining Matt Harvey entering the offseason and held talks with him right up until he agreed to join the Angels on a one-year deal yesterday, Cincinnati GM Nick Krall tells Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links). However, the Reds simply weren’t comfortable matching the $11MM guarantee promised by the Halos. That said, Krall made clear that the Reds still hope to add another starting pitcher, be it via free agency or trade, and the GM also added that his club is pursuing another outfielder and some bullpen help. “We need to improve this club, and we know that,” said Krall, whose largest offseason move to date has been acquiring Tanner Roark. While the durable Roark certainly helps to shore up the back of the Reds’ rotation, there’s still plenty of question marks in the mix of in-house rotation options.

A few notes from around the National League on a quiet Wednesday evening…

  • The Nationals have had “ongoing conversations” with Anibal Sanchez’s agent, Gene Mato, since the Winter Meetings, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. That said, there are still multiple teams interested in Sanchez, who enjoyed a career renaissance with the Braves in 2018, as he pitched to a 2.83 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate. There’s no shortage of skeptics with regard to Sanchez’s resurgence, though the substantial increase in his usage of a cut-fastball and the fact that he allowed less hard contact than any qualified pitcher in baseball last season (per Statcast) should pique the interest of some clubs. Mato told MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes last week that teams interested in Sanchez “realize it wasn’t luck” that fueled his 2018 rebound.
  • Robert Murray of The Athletic writes that the Brewers sent three representatives to watch Troy Tulowitzki’s audition for MLB clubs yesterday (subscription required). Murray spoke to multiple scouts in attendance who had positive things to say about how Tulo looked on that given day, though obviously the primary question isn’t whether the 34-year-old is healthy right now, but whether he’ll be able to hold up over the course of a full season. The Brewers could utilize Tulowitzki at either third base or second base, with Travis Shaw manning the other spot. Given Shaw’s experience (and proficiency) at the hot corner, second base would be Tulowitzki’s likeliest position in Milwaukee. There were at least 11 other clubs on hand at yesterday’s showcase, however, so Milwaukee is but one of many possible landing spots for the former Rockies star. Any team that signs Tulowitzki would only owe him the league minimum of $555K in 2019.
  • Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish went through his second day of a throwing program as he works his way back from an arthroscopic debridement procedure in his right elbow (Instagram link). The Chicago organization said at the time Darvish’s surgery was announced that the right-hander is expected to be ready for Spring Training 2019, and the fact that he’s throwing in mid-December is an encouraging sign in that regard. Injuries limited Darvish to just 40 innings with the Cubs in a disappointing first season with the team. The six-year, $126MM contract for Darvish looks all the more problematic for the Cubs in light of reports that the team has extremely limited financial resources at its disposal this offseason. The fact that the Cubs spent a combined $186MM on Darvish, Tyler Chatwood and Brandon Morrow last winter, then acquired the second season of Brandon Kintlzer’s contract at the deadline this summer, only to now be handcuffed by payroll issues is undoubtedly a bitter pill for Cubs fans to swallow.

Nationals Sign Matt Adams

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DECEMBER 18: The Nats have announced the signing.

DECEMBER 15, 3:38 PM: The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty tweets that Adams will earn $3MM in 2019, and he’s also guaranteed a $1MM buyout on a mutual option for the 2020 season.

3:18 PM: Free agent first baseman/outfielder Matt Adams has agreed to a one-year, $4MM deal (contract details via Yahoo’s Jeff Passan) with Washington, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Per Rosenthal, the deal is pending a physical.

Matt Adams | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Adams, 30, was excellent in 277 plate appearances for the Nationals last seasons, slashing .257/.332/.510 (123 wRC+) before moving back to St. Louis on a late-August waiver claim. Despite poor numbers in a minuscule sample upon returning to the Cardinals, a slimmed-down Adams posted his highest hard-hit rate (39.1%) since the 2014 campaign, and displayed, for the first time, an ability to adequately handle a corner-outfield spot, earning decent DRS marks after a dreadful initiation to the spots in 2017.

Adams, though, has long been a near-automatic out against left-handed pitching (career .208/.238/.358 batting line, 59 wRC+), and did little to dismiss the notion in 32 plate appearances versus lefties in 2018. Still, he’s a solid bench option for a team in dire need of upper-level offensive depth, and should be an adequate replacement for an aging Ryan Zimmerman or the injury-prone Adam Eaton, should either fall prey to the DL and/or bouts of ineffectiveness.

The Slippery Rock University product made his MLB debut in 2012 with St. Louis after systematically annihilating minor-league pitching from 2009-12. His rookie season in 2013 was arguably his best, as the then-24-year-old joined a host of lineup-mates in demolishing NL pitching (his 135 wRC+ was third-best on the team) en route to the team’s second pennant in three seasons. Sharp decline followed, though, and an undiscerning eye (5.0 BB% from ’14-’15) relegated the 23rd-round pick to extreme part-time duty.

An increased, 7.6 BB% allowed for a slight rebound in Adams’ 2016 performance, before the slugger dropped 30 pounds and vowed to improve his versatility. There’s hope for more, too: Adams’ 107 wRC+ last season was suppressed by a career-low .245 average on balls in play, with his second-St. Louis-stint results (.167 BABIP in 60 PA despite a 56% hard-hit rate) being an obvious anomaly.

Free Agent Rumors: Harrison, Kimbrel, Norris, Angels

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The Nationals have had a pair of “brief” meetings with Josh Harrison’s representatives at MSM Sports, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. While there’s mutual interest, Dougherty reports that Harrison’s camp is also looking “closely” at other landing spots as well. Whether that’s due to what the Nats would be willing to offer, how they’d plan to use Harrison or another factor remains to be seen. The Nats have some uncertainty at second base, where Wilmer Difo and Howie Kendrick (who missed most of 2018 due to a ruptured Achilles) currently sit atop the depth chart. Top prospect Carter Kieboom may not be far from the big leagues, but adding a stable short-term option still makes plenty of sense for Washington. The Nats have been connected to Harrison several times over the past couple of weeks, but the versatile 31-year-old surely has other teams interested in his services. He’s been tied to the Yankees and Reds at various points this winter.

A few more notes on the free-agent market…

  • Craig Kimbrel’s lofty asking price — a reported six years and $100MM — and the lack of big-market clubs currently willing to spend on a late-inning reliever could present the right-hander with a difficult market this winter, Buster Olney of ESPN.com writes. Olney likens the situation to last year’s tepid market for J.D. Martinez — a similarly elite player for his position (designated hitter) who lingered on the open market until landing in Boston in late February — a match that long seemed inevitable. The Red Sox may be the best bet for Kimbrel, too, Olney opines, especially given the plethora of more affordable options for smaller and mid-market clubs to pursue even if they do want to bolster the back end of their bullpens.
  • The Marlins are one of several teams that has reached out to free-agent right-hander Bud Norris, tweets Craig Mish of SiriusXM. Miami has thinned out its bullpen this offseason by trading Kyle Barraclough (to Washington), and there’s a definitive lack of experienced arms at the back end of the organization’s bullpen. At present, Drew Steckenrider is the presumptive favorite to close games for skipper Don Mattingly, although the right-hander struggled down the stretch in 2019. Even as the Marlins rebuild the organization, there’s still an obvious opportunity to add some low-cost bullpen options to help take the stress off younger arms and, potentially, to be traded for further minor league talent down the line. The 33-year-old Norris has a 3.91 ERA with 10.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and 47 saves over the past two seasons — the most recent of which was spent with the Cardinals.
  • The Angels’ best offer to J.A. Happ topped out at two years and a total of $28MM, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). That checks in $6MM shy of the two-year total that Happ received to return to the Yankees, so it’s hardly surprising that Happ opted for the familiarity of an organization he already knew and a greater guarantee. Both offers contained vesting options, Fletcher notes. With Happ, Patrick Corbin, Nathan Eovaldi, Charlie Morton and Lance Lynn all off the board, the Halos have begun to see some of their free-agent options dwindle. Dallas Keuchel and Yusei Kikuchi are the top two starters from MLBTR’s Top 50 free agent list remaining, though as can be seen in our Free Agent Tracker, there are plenty of available options beyond that pairing. And, of course, the trade market will offer various options for the Angels, whose rejuvenated farm system should appeal to many clubs with pitching to spare.

Indians Acquire Andruw Monasterio From Nationals To Complete Yan Gomes Trade

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The Indians announced today that they’ve acquired minor league infielder Andruw Monasterio as the player to be named later in last month’s Yan Gomes trade.

It’s the second trade of the past four months for Monasterio, whom the Nationals acquired in the August trade that sent Daniel Murphy to the Cubs. The 21-year-old Monasterio’s stay with the Nationals organization will go down as a brief but productive one, as he hit .308/.404/.359 in a tiny sample of 47 plate appearances with Washington’s Class-A Advanced affiliate. On the season as a whole, Monasterio batted .267/.363/.338 with three homers, 14 doubles, three triples and a dozen steals through 483 plate appearances against generally older and more experienced competition in the Class-A Advanced Carolina League.

Monasterio not only split the 2018 season between the Cubs and Nationals organizations but also split his time on the field between second base (645 innings) and shortstop (236 innings). At the time of the Murphy trade, Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote that Monasterio’s size made his likeliest outcome that of a utility/bench piece, though he also praised the Venezuela native’s above-average speed and arm strength while noting he has the hands and feet to play basically anywhere on the infield. Monasterio did walk at better than an eight percent clip in A-ball in 2017 and walked in more than 12 percent of his PAs in High-A in 2018, so there’s certainly some elements of his game about which to be optimistic.

Monasterio joins outfielder Daniel Johnson and right-hander Jefry Rodriguez in comprising the entirety of the Indians’ return for Gomes, who will be under control for the next three seasons in Washington.

Red Sox, Nationals Only Two Teams To Exceed 2018 Luxury Tax Threshold

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TODAY: The final totals are in, as The Associated Press reports that the Red Sox will owe $11,951,091 in luxury tax payments, while the Nationals owe $2,386,097.  Boston will also lose ten spots in draft position, dropping from its original 33rd overall spot in the first round.

NOVEMBER 4: As was widely expected, the Red Sox and Nationals were the only two clubs who exceeded the $197MM luxury tax threshold this season, as MLB.com’s Jon Morosi confirmed (Twitter link) earlier this week.  The exact figures aren’t known, though as per the luxury tax calculations on Cot’s Baseball Contracts, Boston surpassed the threshold by slightly beyond $40.85MM, while Washington was just under $6.3MM beyond the tax line.  As a reminder, a team’s normal payroll is just pure dollars spent on player salaries in a season, whereas the payroll as calculated for Competitive Balance Tax purposes consists of the average annual value of player contracts, bonuses, and other expenses.

This is the second straight year that the Nats passed the luxury tax threshold, so their tax bill will consist of 30 percent of every dollar spent in overage (so around $1.89MM).  After exceeding the threshold in 2015 and 2016, the Red Sox ducked under the CBT line in the 2017-18 offseason to “reset their clock,” so they’ll be taxed at the first-timer rate of 20 percent of every dollar spent in overage.  By Cot’s numbers, however, the Red Sox surpassed the threshold by more than $40MM, so they’ll face a 62.5 percent surcharge on the overage.

This would work out to roughly $25.53MM in luxury tax payments and, perhaps more importantly, Boston’s top pick in next year’s amateur draft (currently the 33rd overall selection) would drop by 10 spots.  Since the Sox are so close to that $40MM figure, it’s possible there could be some other calculation or unknown payroll factor that got the club under the $237MM mark — we won’t know for certain about the draft pick or the final Competitive Balance Tax bill until the league makes an official announcement.  Had Boston stayed within the $20MM-$40MM range for payroll overage, they would have faced only a 12 percent extra in tax on top of their 20 percent first-timer percentage, putting them on the hook for approximately $12.672MM in luxury tax payments.

The Giants were right up against the $197MM line seemingly all season long, though by Cot’s calculations, they squeaked under the threshold by less than $1.6MM, thus avoiding their fourth straight year of tax payments.  San Francisco was very careful in trying to stay under the $197MM payroll line after a busy offseason, as the team made a pure salary dump of a trade with the Rangers in July to unload Austin Jackson and Cory Gearrin’s contracts, and also traded Andrew McCutchen to the Yankees on August 31 once they were fully out of contention.

The Competitive Balance Tax was a major subplot of the 2017-18 offseason, as one of the reasons behind the unprecedented lack of free agent activity was the fact that big spenders like the Giants, Yankees, and Dodgers all kept their spending in check (at least by their standards) in an effort to stay under the threshold.  For New York, this marks the first time since the luxury tax system was instituted in 2003 that the team will avoid making payments — the Yankees paid a whopping $319.6MM in total luxury tax payments from 2003-17.  The Dodgers have exceeded the threshold every season since 2013, as the Guggenheim Baseball Management ownership group made an initial big spending splash to bring the club back into relevance, though the Dodgers always stressed that they would eventually take a more measured approach to payroll.

The expectation was that, once these teams reset their spending clocks, it would open the floodgates for increased spending in a 2018-19 free agent market that has two players (Bryce Harper, Manny Machado) in line for record-setting contracts.  Those two superstars plus many other available big names like Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, Yasmani Grandal, Craig Kimbrel, Josh Donaldson, Nathan Eovaldi, and many others makes this winter a particularly important time to have as much salary flexibility as possible.

Any team who exceeds the luxury tax threshold in three or more consecutive years must pay a 50 percent tax on the overage, so getting under the line carries some noteworthy savings.  Plus, as per the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that came into play for the 2017 season, a team that surpasses the $40MM overage figure (as it appears Boston has done) faces as much as a 90 percent tax on the overage, plus that 10-slot drop for their top pick in the amateur draft.

Those stiffer penalties surely also contributed to the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants’ decisions, though it should be noted that the actual dollars paid in tax penalties aren’t overly pricey for such wealthy franchises.  While big spending is certainly no guarantee of success on the field, it usually does provide some level of competitive advantage — for instance, nobody in Boston’s organization is sweating that tax payment in the wake of a World Series championship, no matter if the final bill ends up at $12.672MM or $25.53MM.  (Even dropping from the 33rd to the 43rd overall pick is a pretty light penalty.)  As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes has written in the past, some “large market teams are treating the CBT thresholds as lines they absolutely cannot cross,” perhaps as an overall excuse to curb spending.  Only eight teams total have ever made tax payments, with two of those clubs — the 2004 Angels and 2016 Cubs — doing so only once.  Teams will have even more room to spend in 2019, as the luxury tax threshold is jumping up to $206MM.

In paying the tax in 2018, the Red Sox and Nationals will each face added penalties for pursuing free agents who were issued qualifying offers, and will receive limited compensation if their own QO free agent (Kimbrel for the Sox, Harper for the Nats) leaves.  If Boston or Washington signs a player who rejected the QO from his former team, the Sox/Nats would have to give up $1MM in international signing bonus pool money as well as their second-highest and fifth-highest picks in next year’s draft.  Should Kimbrel and Harper reject their qualifying offers and sign elsewhere, the Sox and Nationals would only receive a compensatory pick after the fourth round of the draft.

NL Rumors: Realmuto, Braves, Bucs, Galvis, Padres, Pirela, Nats

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Here’s the latest from the National League:

  • Not only are the Braves one of the teams still in the hunt to acquire Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, but they’re “slight” favorites as of now, Craig Mish of SiriusXM tweets. Braves third base prospect Austin Riley’s “on the table” in talks, Mish adds. The 21-year-old Riley – MLB.com’s 43rd-ranked prospect – got his first taste of Triple-A action in 2018 and batted a terrific .282/.346/.464 in 324 plate appearances, though he also struck out in nearly 30 percent of trips. Riley is blocked at third in Atlanta, at least temporarily, by the recently signed Josh Donaldson and 2018 starter Johan Camargo.
  • The Pirates have “big interest” in free-agent shortstop Freddy Galvis, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. In Pittsburgh, the switch-hitting 29-year-old would take over for Jordy Mercer, who signed with the Tigers earlier this week. Joining the Pirates would also mean a return to Pennsylvania for Galvis, a Phillie from 2012-17 who spent last season in San Diego. Across 3,096 major plate appearances, Galvis has batted .248/.299/.380 with 65 home runs, including 13 in 2018.
  • Once the Padres’ signing of Ian Kinsler becomes official, they’re “likely” to designate infielder/outfielder Jose Pirela for assignment, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. Even if the Padres don’t designate Pirela, he’s not long for their roster, Cassavell suggests. The 29-year-old Pirela, a member of the San Diego organization since it acquired him from the Yankees in 2015, racked up 817 PAs at the major league level from 2017-18 and managed a respectable .265/.320/.405 line with 15 home runs and 10 stolen bases.
  • While free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu has been on the Nationals’ radar, they’re “more likely” to look for a cheaper infielder, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post, who lists Brian Dozier, Josh Harrison and Jed Lowrie as speculative fits. Although, in MLBTR’s estimation, Lowrie will easily land the richest contract of that quartet this offseason.

NL Rumors & Notes: Brewers, Lowrie, Nats, Giants, Pillar, Kelly

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Following last month’s non-tender of Jonathan Schoop, the Brewers’ exhaustive, months-long search for a second baseman continues with the team’s pursuit of Jed Lowrie, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Lowrie, of course, is fresh off an outstanding, 4.9 fWAR 2018 season with Oakland, itself on the back almost identical offensive campaign (119 wRC+ in ’17, 122 in ’18) the year before. MLBTR projects the 34-year-old to earn a solid 3-year, $30MM deal this offseason, though Lowrie’s camp, given his recent two-year output, will surely be fighting for more. The risk with the switch-hitter lies in his subpar performance across multiple seasons (2011, ’14, ’15, and ’16), in obvious addition to his age and former propensity for the serious injury, plus the tendency of second basemen to decline earlier than most, but there could be surplus value aplenty to be found if he continues on his current trajectory.

In other news from around the NL …

  • The Nationals, another team with a hole at the keystone, offered Ian Kinsler a one-year deal before the 36-year-old signed a two-year pact with San Diego, per Rosenthal. Earlier this week, the club was said to have “checked-in” with free agent second-sacker D.J. LeMahieu, who would likely command a deal in excess length to the one offered to Kinsler, so it seems unclear as to exactly which direction the club will go in terms of filling the position. Carter Kieboom, a 21-year-old middle-infield prospect, has raked in the low levels of the minors and may just be a season and a half or so away, so perhaps the club is seeking just a one- or two-year stopgap in the interim.
  • Per Alex Pavlovic of NBA Bay Area, the outfield-naked Giants are interested in Blue Jays CF Kevin Pillar.  The club, who in years past has shown little interest in staking a defense-first player at the position, despite its park’s huge territory in right-center field, may be undergoing a philosophical about-face under its new, analytics-driven regime.  The club, of course, is stacked with right-handed fly-ball types in the rotation, and would seem to benefit in large measure from a ball-hawking center-fielder like Pillar.  The 29-year-old’s defensive metrics took a bit of a hit last season, but his peak from ’15-’17 (50 DRS) has rarely been matched in recent times. 25-year-old Steven Duggar would seem, at least in part, to fit the bill, but whether or not his bat will play – Steamer projects an 81 wRC+ for ’19 – is still an open question.
  • New Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly, who this week agreed to a 3-year, $25MM with the team, explained (audio version) to WEEI’s Rob Bradford why he chose LA, noting that the team was the first to extend its offer to three years. Though the duration may come as little surprise, it is notable that it came from the Dodgers, who in recent times (Kenley Jansen excluded) have preferred their relievers to be of the under-the-radar variety.

Pitcher Notes: Fiers, Sanchez, Brewers, Claudio

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Free agent starter Mike Fiers is being courted by multiple clubs, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). Among those with interest are the Reds, Giants, Rangers and Nationals, none of whom should surprise given their collective desire for more pitching. Fiers, 33, had his best year as a pro in 2018, working to a 12-8 record with a 3.56 ERA across 30 starts for Detroit and Oakland. His peripherals don’t scream drastic transformation, though he did lower his walk rate to a career-low 1.94 BB/9. He also threw more sliders, a pitch he has steadily worked into his repertoire since 2015, which could signal sustainability for Fiers’ 2018 success. Park factors for Comerica Park and the Oakland Coliseum definitely worked in his favor, so it’s fair to wonder how his stuff will fare in the bandboxes of Cincinnati, Texas, and Washington, especially considering increased use of his slider corresponded with a similar decrease in sinker usage, leading to elevated launch angles and more flyballs (43.2 FB%). Fiers has been homer prone in the past, though it’s a delicate balancing act for the righty, as he has generally been more effective when keeping the ball in the air – a strategy that obviously holds more water in Oakland than it would in, say, Cincinnati.

  • The opposite can be said of Anibal Sanchez, coming off a surprising comeback with the Atlanta Braves driven in part by a return to the wormburning ways of his early career. His groundball rate (45 GB%) returned to career levels after dipping below 40% for a two-year stretch that just so happened to produce career-high ERAs. Atlanta has interest in bringing the righty back for 2019, per Morosi (via Twitter), but they’re not the only club with interest. Given their similar price points, Sanchez and Fiers likely share suitors, though the Reds and Nationals have shown the most interest in Sanchez thus far. A year and a half older than Fiers, Sanchez will be 35 by Opening Day.
  • It’s a little surprising not to see the Milwaukee Brewers listed as pursuers for the starters above, but a slow burn winter isn’t uncommon for the Brew Crew. They have made one notable move, sending a Competitive Balance draft pick to Texas for funky left-hander Alex Claudio. Interestingly, Claudio’s sidelong delivery may be more than an incidental quirk for the Brewers, per Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs. The Brewers now boast a relatively substantial stable of minor leaguers who rely on deception and unique throwing motions, enough of a sample to presume an organizational focus, or at least curiosity. Given the stirring ascendancy of Josh Hader, himself a non-traditional thrower, it’s interesting to see the Brewers potentially exploring a system-wide extrapolation of Hader’s success. From a player valuation standpoint, the one-for-one swap with Texas is noteworthy because of what it means about Milwaukee’s evaluation of college hurlers. The pick being sent to Texas likely lands somewhere in the 40s, where advanced college relievers are often available. Meanwhile, Claudio’s price is rising as a first-time arbitration player. One view supposes the cost-conscious Brewers must view the prospects available in that spot as less-than. The other view, of course, is that this deal is not a wholesale denunciation of the draft class, rather Milwaukee just likes Claudio and views his major league experience as present-day value for a team with legitimate pennant aspirations in 2019.

Nationals “Leery” Of Asking Price On Dallas Keuchel

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The Nationals’ trade of right-hander Tanner Roark again puts Joe Ross and Erick Fedde atop the team’s list of options in the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation, meaning they’ll once again be on the hunt for starters. To that end, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports that the Nats have interest in top lefty Dallas Keuchel but are “leery of giving him the five- or six-year deal he seeks.”

That’s the first word on the asking price for Keuchel, and it’s a fairly steep one, as most would expect. Of course, early asking prices are always going to be high — typically higher than the eventual landing point. If agent Scott Boras and Keuchel are ultimately seeking four to five years, for instance, it’s only natural to see them set out asking for five to six years. MLBTR estimated a four-year, $82MM deal for Keuchel at the outset of free agency, and a recent reader poll saw only about 15 percent of respondents believe a five-year pact was within reach.

Keuchel, 31 on New Year’s Day, is the top remaining starter in free agency but is one of several available pitchers to whom the Nationals have been linked since trading Roark. In the 48 hours since that swap, Washington has been tied to Yusei Kikuchi, Anibal Sanchez and Wade Miley. Keuchel would give the Nationals a virtually unparalleled top four alongside Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin but would also quite likely give the Nats an unheard of four starting pitchers with annual salaries in excess of $20MM. Like Corbin before him, Keuchel would cost the Nationals a pick in next year’s draft by virtue of the fact that he rejected a $17.9MM qualifying offer.

As for those wondering about the wisdom behind trading Roark only to immediately search for a replacement, it’s possible that the organization simply felt Roark’s rising arbitration price — MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pegged him at $9.8MM — outpaced reasonable expectations for his performance in 2019. Roark’s strikeout, swinging-strike, home-run and ground-ball rates all went in the wrong direction in 2018, as did his velocity.

In the meantime, the Nats added a 100-mph arm, Tanner Rainey, in exchange for Roark’s final season of team control. While Rainey’s MLB cameo in 2018 was unequivocally brutal (19 runs on 13 hits and 12 walks with seven strikeouts in just seven innings), he also notched a 2.95 ERA with 13.5 K/9 across the past two minor league seasons. Walks were still an issue in the minors, though, as he averaged 5.4 free passes per nine innings pitched.

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