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Archives for September 2015

Brewers Name David Stearns General Manager

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1:15pm: The Brewers have announced Stearns at a press conference (you can follow along the live video stream of the conference here).

SEPT. 21, 9:43am: Stearns will be introduced as the new general manager today at 1pm CT, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy.

SEPT. 20: The Brewers are expected to name Astros assistant GM David Stearns as their new GM, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.  Stearns will indeed be the next GM in Milwaukee, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweets, and he adds that a formal announcement will come on Monday.

David Stearns

Stearns, 30, will now become the youngest GM in baseball.  He is, in fact, younger than seven players on the Brewers’ current roster (Ryan Braun, Matt Garza, Kyle Lohse, Adam Lind, Nevin Ashley, Francisco Rodriguez and Cesar Jimenez).  As an assistant GM in Houston, he was tasked with assisting GM Jeff Luhnow in “all baseball operations capacities including player evaluations, player transactions, and contract negotiations,” per his site bio.  The Harvard grad served as the director of baseball operations for the Indians in 2011/12 and has previously worked in the baseball operations departments of the Mets and Pirates.

Stearns is “adored by his colleagues,” Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets.  Despite his academic background, Passan notes that he is “far from an all-analytics guy.”

In August, it was announced that longtime Brewers GM Doug Melvin would move to an advisory position within the organization.  Melvin, 63, became Milwaukee’s general manager nearly 13 years ago and prior to that spent eight years as GM of the Rangers. He was the GM in Texas for the team’s first three postseason appearances and helped to construct a pair of playoff teams during his Brewers tenure as well, including a 96-win team that made it to Game 6 of the NLCS against the Cardinals in 2011.

The Brewers have conducted an exhaustive search to fill their GM vacancy, but it seems that they have found their man before the official end to the season.  The team was known to be focusing on candidates who were both younger and had an analytics background.  Rays VP of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, Pirates director of player development Tyrone Brooks, A’s assistant GM Dan Kantrovitz and the Brewers’ own scouting director Ray Montgomery were all names linked to Milwaukee’s GM opening.

Photo courtesy of the Brewers media relations department.

AL Central Notes: Cueto, Twins, Chisenhall, Indians

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Johnny Cueto’s struggles over the past month with the Royals have been well-documented, but he looked considerably better on Friday (7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), and as Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star writes, the improved results could have been due to changes made by someone other than Cueto himself. Cueto admitted to manager Ned Yost and catcher Salvador Perez that he had an issue with Perez’s positioning behind he plate, McCullough writes, and they worked out a new gameplan in a closed-door meeting. The exchange was respectful on both sides, and Cueto was a bit hesitant to even suggest the alterations, per Yost. “He understood that Salvy’s a three-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glover,” said Yost. “He’s not going to come in and tell him what to do.” Catching coach Pedro Grifol explained that Perez’s tendency is to set up higher than where the pitch’s ultimate target is, then adjust as the pitcher is delivering. Cueto prefers a lower target that’s set as he begins his delivery, as he likes throwing directly to the glove. There is, of course, only one start’s worth of data to suggest that the changes will yield better results, and this does little to explain how Cueto was initially so successful in Kansas City before beginning to struggle after a handful of starts.

Here’s more from the AL Central…

  • The Twins will pay a small luxury tax (abut $38K) for slightly exceeding their international bonus pool on shortstop Wander Javier’s $4MM bonus, but VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff explains to Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune why they’ve shied away from pool-shattering spending sprees that would prevent them from signing players for more than $250K in future periods. The Twins have been content to sign one top-tier talent and then fill in the gaps with smaller signings recently. “Otherwise, you’re forced to evaluate 13-year-olds to judge whether the strategy will pay off,” said Radcliff. “and that’s not going to work.” Radcliff did note that the pool-shattering concept has been discussed internally and called it a “legitimate strategy,” noting that it does have its merits.
  • In his latest reader inbox column, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tackles a number of Indians-related topics, including Lonnie Chisenhall’s future and the team’s free agent approach. Hoynes points out that Chisenhall has played astoundingly good defense since his move to right field, potentially putting him in line for everyday at-bats in 2016. While Chisenhall’s defensive work in right comes with the usual small sample caveat — it’s just 278 innings — he’s posted incredible marks of +11 Defensive Runs Saved and a +7.6 Ultimate Zone Rating (translating to an unsustainable but eye-popping UZR/150 of 46.4).
  • As far as free agency is concerned, Hoynes writes that Cleveland has “made it clear” that it will not be a big player in the free agent market. The team is still stinging from its signings of Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn and will pursue trades and international signings or try to find another Scott Kazmir “lightning in a bottle” addition rather than spend for top-tier names. Hoynes also notes that the Indians want to give Trevor Bauer another chance to start in spite of his poor second half and downplays his status as a potential trade candidate.

Submit Your Questions For The MLBTR Mailbag

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It’s Monday, which means Mailbag day at MLBTR. If you have a question you’ve been kicking around and would like to hear our take on it, send it in via email to mlbtrmailbag@gmail.com. We’ll be tackling a handful of the questions we receive later this afternoon.

Last week, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk stepped in and answered questions on Jason Heyward’s potential of re-signing in St. Louis, a Daniel Murphy qualifying offer, the Red Sox’ pursuit of an ace and Bronson Arroyo’s future.

Readers are welcome — and encouraged — to send emails throughout the week, of course. However, please also be mindful of the fact that we receive a sizable number of questions and cannot get to all of them. You can always ask other questions in the weekly live chat every Tuesday afternoon.

AL East Notes: Sabathia, Red Sox, Jepsen

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Though he gutted out a quality start after a tough first inning last night,Yankees southpaw  CC Sabathia is dealing with bone-on-bone arthritis in his right knee, the left-hander told MLB.com’s Barry Bloom last night. Sabathia told Bloom that he’ll eventually need knee replacement surgery, but “that’s the price you pay.” Sabathia has been wearing a brace on his injured knee which he says prevents the ligaments in the joint from rubbing together when he plants to throw a pitch. As such, he’s able to maintain his mechanics.

A few more notes from around the AL to kick off the week…

  • The Red Sox could use an “alpha dog” atop their rotation, writes Peter Gammons of the MLB Network and GammonsDaily.com. Gammons breaks down a number of options for the Sox, including Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda (whom, according to one scout that spoke to Gammons, is “too slight” to pitch every fifth day in the Majors). Gammons outlines the case for and against the Sox reeling in top free agents David Price and Zack Greinke within his column, and he also looks at Johnny Cueto’s struggles since over the past month with the Royals.
  • Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes that while the trade of Kevin Jepsen from the Rays to the Twins doesn’t stand out as one of the more memorable deals from this past deadline, it had a significant impact on the Rays’ clubhouse. There was a feeling in the air that the team had given up by trading one of its top setup men to a team they were chasing in the Wild Card race, Topkin hears from people around the clubhouse, especially considering that the return was a pair of low-level minor leaguers who weren’t going to contribute in 2014.

Quick Hits: Zito, Giants, Cespedes, Stearns

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Barry Zito tossed an inning in the Athletics’ 5-1 loss to the Astros today, marking his first Major League appearance since 2013.  It wasn’t exactly a triumphant return (Zito allowed a hit, a walk and a two-run homer to Colby Rasmus in his one inning) but it still represented a milestone for the veteran southpaw, who worked his way back to the Show after sitting out 2014 and spending most of this season at Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate.  Here’s more from around the game as we begin a new week…

  • David Stearns was involved in all facets of baseball operations as the Astros’ assistant GM, which Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets was one of the many reasons why the Brewers wanted him as their new general manager.  Stearns’ multi-tasking ability made him the ideal choice as Jeff Luhnow’s lone second-in-command in Houston, as Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle notes that many teams have multiple assistant GMs who oversee different departments.  Stearns’ departure, therefore, leaves the Astros with a big hole to fill.  The Astros have several highly-touted members of the organization who could potentially be promoted to assistant GM, and Drellich notes that promoting from within could help the Astros retain these front office talents before they’re lured away by other clubs.
  • There is some thought in rival front offices that the Giants could bid on Yoenis Cespedes this winter, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (Insider subscription required).  Cespedes would likely be deployed in left, though some time in center field wouldn’t be out of the question if the Giants wanted to keep him playing every day while also finding time for Angel Pagan and Nori Aoki (assuming Aoki is brought back).  It could be a moot point, however, as Olney wonders if Cespedes’ demands for a six-year deal are too rich for the Giants’ liking.
  • From that same piece, a rival executive told Olney “the Giants are the quickest fix” of any of the non-playoff teams.  While San Francisco has some clear needs in the rotation, they have a lot of payroll coming off the books as well as a solid core of proven veterans and controllable younger players.
  • Like most GMs, Alex Anthopoulos uses both analytical and scouting data to inform his decisions, and he gave a bit of insight to Fangraphs’ David Laurila about which methods were used in some recent Blue Jays transactions.  Edwin Encarnacion and Dioner Navarro may have been more inspired by scouting reports, whereas Justin Smoak may have been more of an analytics call.  Both departments endorsed signing Jose Bautista to an extension in February 2011, a contract that has been a major bargain for the Jays.
  • Also from Laurila’s piece, he spoke with Mark Melancon about his development into a star closer with the Pirates after an unsuccessful stint with the Red Sox.  Melancon credits ex-teammate Russell Martin with encouraging him to use his cutter more, and he admitted that he’s satisfied that he was able to prove to his critics in Boston (both within the fanbase and the organization) that he indeed has “the closer mentality.”

NL Central Notes: Wainwright, Jocketty, Cubs

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The Brewers’ impending hiring of David Stearns as their new general manager is the biggest news out of the NL Central today, and here’s some more from around the division…

  • Adam Wainwright will meet with doctors on Monday to determine if he has a chance to pitch again this season, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes.  The Cardinals ace ruptured his Achillies tendon in late April, an injury that usually has a 9-12 month recovery period.  Wainwright has been throwing bullpen sessions to build up his arm strength, though he has yet to practice fielding during his rehab process.
  • Reds GM Walt Jocketty said his team will look at add at least one veteran starting pitcher this offseason, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.  The interview includes Jocketty’s general overview of Cincinnati’s disappointing season, though the GM believes the Reds can rebound in 2016 with fewer injuries and possible help from an improving farm system, and “by 2017, we’ll be back up and running.”
  • Jocketty doesn’t regret dealing the likes of Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, as it the trades brought some needed prospect depth into the Reds’ system.  The reinforcements were necessary given the overall strength of the NL Central, “so this was the time you kind of step back and rebuild it a little….not rebuild, but retool.  We’re not that far away,” Jocketty said.
  • Twelve key decisions best outline Theo Epstein’s master plan to rebuild the Cubs, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.  The list includes everything from important draft picks to coaching changes to notable additions and subtractions, and the list even includes a mistake — Edwin Jackson’s free agent contract “served as a cautionary tale for Epstein.”

AL Central Notes: Tribe, Cueto, Hunter, Joba

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After the Indians traded several veterans at the July deadline, manager Terry Francona asked remaining team leaders like Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, Jason Kipnis and Corey Kluber if they could draft a type of “accountability contract” for the rest of team, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes.  “It’s just a matter of playing the game the right way,” Gomes said. “We’re building a culture and we’re building a way that we believe in. That’s pretty much all I can say.”  After several weeks of finalizing the wording, the contract was passed out to Cleveland players this week and signed by the group.  As Gomes put it, “I think we’re going to be here for a long time together.  So, we figured, if we really put together something that us guys that will be here for a long time, something that we really believe in, and we truly live by it and we enforce it, then I think guys will come around and follow it. It was something we really wanted to put together.”

Here’s some more from around the AL Central…

  • Johnny Cueto’s recent struggles have “baseball people wondering again about the health of his elbow, among other issues,” Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes.  Cueto was excellent over his first four starts since joining the Royals and then posted a 9.57 ERA over his next five outings before rebounding with a very solid outing (7 IP, two ER, eight hits, four K’s) on Friday against Detroit.  He missed some time with elbow stiffness earlier this season while pitching for the Reds, though he didn’t go on the DL and the ailment ultimately didn’t hurt his trade value since Cueto returned and continued to pitch well.  MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently dropped Cueto to eighth in his 2016 Free Agent Power Rankings, so it’s looking like Cueto will need a strong finish in both the regular season and playoffs to regain some earning potential.
  • The Twins wouldn’t engage in extension talks with Torii Hunter’s representatives this summer, ESPN 1500’s Darren Wolfson reports (Twitter link).  Nick Cafardo reported earlier today that the Twins indeed want Hunter to return for 2016, and since Hunter has himself said he’s taking his playing future on a year-to-year basis, it could simply be a case of the club waiting until the season and playoff race is over before getting into future contractual business.  As Wolfson notes in a subtweeted response to his original message, Twins manager Paul Molitor particularly wants Hunter back.
  • Brad Ausmus isn’t sure the Tigers made the right move in releasing Joba Chamberlain in July, he told reporters (including James Schmehl of MLive.com).  Asked if he second-guessed the transaction, Ausmus admitted that, “Yeah.  I did. Even at the time, I didn’t know if it was the best idea.”  Chamberlain posted a 4.09 ERA over 22 innings for the Tigers (a number possibly inflated by BABIP and an ungainly home run rate) before moving on to minor league deals with Toronto and Kansas City and eventually returning to the bigs as a Royal.  While Chamberlain’s numbers weren’t anything special, he still would’ve been an upgrade to a Detroit bullpen that has been one of the worst in the game this year.

Bridich On Offseason, Weiss, CarGo

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The Rockies are already looking ahead to the offseason, and GM Jeff Bridich is giving some hints about his winter plans with a few different media outlets.  Here’s the latest from the Colorado general manager…

  • In an interview with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (audio link), Bridich said that “everything is on the table” in terms of what the club could do this winter.  This includes “players, how the team looks, how the team gelled together this year.  We had a number of guys injured so we’ll have to make a number of evaluations in terms of those players, do they factor into our future whether they’re young players or veteran guys headed towards free agency.  We’ll evaluate our own process [in the] front office, evaluate the Major League staff and our collective combined process together this year.”
  • Manager Walt Weiss’ status for 2016 will be decided after the season.  “We’ll have meetings, sit down and talk and see what the right fit is,” Bridich said.  “This isn’t the time or the place yet to say 100 percent yes or no.  He’s got to have a part in that too and we’re going to let the season play out before we make that final determination.”  A month ago, Weiss said he wanted to return next season, which would be the final year of his three-year contract.
  • No big changes are seemingly on the horizon in player acquisition, as “we’ll probably proceed as we have for the last year, which is eyes and ears open and if people want to talk we’re willing to talk.”  Carlos Gonzalez has again become an object of trade speculation given his big season, though Bridich reiterated that the Rockies are in no particular rush to move the star outfielder.  “I think we’ve showed that if we were hellbent on trading Carlos Gonzalez, he would’ve already been gone by now,” the GM said.
  • While there’s no magic formula to rebuilding, Bridich told The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders that he has taken some lessons from how the Pirates and Royals rebuilt their organizations, though he clearly believes Colorado won’t suffer multi-decade struggles like those two teams.  How the Rockies “evaluate, collectively, the available pitching in the industry, might shift a little bit” but Bridich said player development will still be the organization’s prime focus.  “If you are asking if there is going to be massive monetary or financial shifting with us, I would be very surprised if that happens,” he said. “The Pirates didn’t do it that way and neither did the Royals.”
  • For more from Bridich, check out the Sept. 4 edition of the MLBTR Podcast when the GM spoke with Jeff Todd.

AL East Notes: Ortiz, Tanaka, Orioles, Price

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David Ortiz made his 575th plate appearance of the season today, boosting the value of his 2016 contract to $15MM, Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe tweets.  The Red Sox held a club option on Ortiz for 2016 that vested for $11MM when the slugger hit the 425-PA plateau, and he has only been adding to his future salary ever since by making more and more plate appearances.  Big Papi can max out his deal at $16MM in 2016 by reaching 600 PA, which seems like a foregone conclusion with two weeks left on the schedule.  The deal is contingent on Ortiz passing a physical, though the slugger has been seemingly healthy and is still very productive, hitting .270/.357/.544 with 35 homers this year.

Here’s some more from around the AL East…

  • Masahiro Tanaka will miss his scheduled start against the Blue Jays on Wednesday due to a hamstring strain, Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).  Tanaka suffered the injury while running out a sac bunt in an interleague game with the Mets last Friday, though he was able to stay in the game and pitch six innings.  It is a Grade One strain, the lowest level, so the Yankees hope that Tanaka will only miss one outing; the righty himself “lobbied” to pitch as scheduled in the big AL East matchup.
  • The Orioles rotation hasn’t pitched up to expectations this season, though Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun doesn’t think the starting five will be too different in 2016.  The O’s have rarely been big free agent buyers, and are probably even less likely to spend big on pitching given how Ubaldo Jimenez hasn’t delivered much return on his four-year, $50MM deal.  Schmuck figures Wei-Yin Chen will depart in free agency, but Baltimore will still have Jimenez, Kevin Gausman, and arbitration-eligibles Miguel Gonzalez and Chris Tillman projected to return as the top four.  Chen will likely be replaced by an internal option, with Mike Wright or Tyler Wilson standing as the best candidates to be the fifth starter.
  • In an interview with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link), Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos has been pleased to see what David Price has brought the team on the field and also “to see the impact that he’s had on the entire clubhouse. He truly loves his teammates and the environment.”  Price has made similar comments praising his team and the Toronto fans, which obviously can’t hurt the Jays’ chances of re-signing the southpaw in free agency this winter.  It will take more than good feelings, of course, to keep Price in town, as he is expected to command at least a $200MM deal this winter.
  • It sounds like former Rays notable Aubrey Huff could be interested in a comeback, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  Now 38 and retired since 2012, Huff took to Facebook recently and wrote: “I do feel mentally, and physically stronger than I ever have in my life. Hmmmmmm!???”  Huff retired after a 13-year big league career in which he posted a .278/.342/.464 line in 6,786 plate appearances for the Rays, Astros, Orioles, Tigers, and Giants.

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/20/15

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Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball, with the latest transactions at the top of the post…

  • The Athletics purchased the contract of catcher Bryan Anderson from Triple-A Nashville, creating 40-man roster space by shifting Kendall Graveman to the 60-day DL.  This will be Anderson’s first stint on an MLB roster this season, providing some catching depth as Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley are both battling injuries.  Anderson has appeared in 36 career big league games since 2010 (with the Cardinals, White Sox and A’s) and has a .202/.273/.288 line over 322 PA at Triple-A this season.

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