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Royals Expect To Deal With Payroll Constraints In 2017

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The Royals’ payroll will “regress” in 2017, according to GM Dayton Moore, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports. While Kansas City still intends to push to put a winner on the field after a disappointing, .500 campaign, it will face significant monetary restraints in finding ways to improve.

Dodd provides an extensive breakdown of the organization’s financial situation. The club carried approximately $135MM on its payroll on Opening Day of 2016, and is currently lined up to land near that team-record number as things stand (with arbitration raises factored in).

That kind of outlay, Moore suggested, is not likely. “This [2016] payroll was put together with going deep in the postseason [in mind],” said Moore. “That didn’t happen. Again, I’m accountable for that. It’s not going to look very good on the spreadsheet when the bill comes due.”

Looking ahead, it seems, there’s little chance that Kansas City will further bump that spending. If anything, it seems, the inclination may be to find ways to save. “[W]e’ll have to re-evaluate that, probably reorganize, take some steps back,” Moore explained. “We’re going to have to look internally and [in] trades,” he went on to add. “We won’t be adding money. That’s for darn sure.”

That will make for a challenge as K.C. seeks to return to contention. Certainly, better health and better play from key veterans could make a significant difference. But Moore cited an interest in bolstering the back of the pen and boosting the offense, which could require identifying the right internal talent and pursuing what Moore referred to as “creative” trade scenarios. He largely rejected the idea of adding salary in free agency after making some rather substantial outlays last winter.

Certainly, the totality of the comments seem to suggest that some change could be afoot. Key players such as Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy, Wade Davis, and Alcides Escobar are entering their final seasons of team control. While praising the organizational core, Moore said that the front office “also recognize[s] the need to maybe mix it up a little bit.”

Improving on offense will be a particular challenge given that the Royals may soon bid adieu to Kendrys Morales, their most productive hitter in 2016. He’s unlikely to pick up his side of a $10MM mutual option, and while the club could theoretically slap a qualifying offer on him, that would represent a big risk given the aforementioned financial constraints.

Moore suggested that it’s still an open question how things will play out with Morales, but it seems difficult to imagine a way to accommodate his return. “We’ll just keep all of our options open,” Moore said. “But he’s a player that we’re very proud of. He’s a big part of our success. We would love to have him back. I just don’t know if it will work at this point in time.”

Cardinals Still Weighing Jaime Garcia’s Option; “Floated” Him In Trade Talks This Summer

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The Cardinals are still debating whether to pick up the $12MM club option over southpaw Jaime Garcia, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. St. Louis would need to pay a $500K buyout if it declines.

Garcia, 30, just made thirty starts for only the second time in his career, representing a highly promising return to health for a pitcher who has battled shoulder problems. But his results fell well shy of his established benchmark. Between his first full season in the majors through last season (i.e., 2010-2015), Garcia compiled a 3.25 ERA over 708 1/3 innings.

In his 171 2/3 frames in 2016, Garcia ended up allowing 4.67 earned runs per nine. His peripherals weren’t that far off of his career norms — 7.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 were both on the high side of his typical range, while his strong 56.7% groundball rate was nearly an exact match for his lifetime average.

Really, Garcia suffered most from an elevated home run susceptibility. He was touched for dingers on over one of five flyballs put in play against him, with opposing hitters launching 1.36 per nine. Whether he can pare back the long balls may be the biggest question remaining. Ultimately, ERA estimators suggest that his down year occurred at least in part due to some poor fortune (4.49 FIP; 3.77 xFIP; 3.93 SIERA.)

In terms of the underlying physical tools, there are indications that Garcia has continued to adapt with a shoulder that will probably never be fully normal. His release point continues to drift (see here and here), with his breaking balls showing marked changes in behavior as well as some inconsistencies. With those changes, Garcia’s typically double-digit swinging strike rate has resided just below that level (9.2%) for each of the last two years. On the other hand, his average fastball velocity is better than ever.

Garcia acknowledged that some of his struggles may be related to his efforts to stay ahead of the shoulder problems that have plagued him for so long. “I got caught up so much in being healthy and working hard to stay healthy that sometimes mechanics took a hit,” he said. But he says he’s glad to have ended the year on an uptick, proclaiming: “I found it now. … I know the kind of pitcher I am.” 

All told, it seems hard to imagine that the Cards will punt Garcia onto an open market that is starved for arms. There’s certainly an argument to be made that it would be unwise to sacrifice the depth after a season in which Lance Lynn, Marco Gonzales, and Michael Wacha were among the club’s hurlers who dealt with varying degrees of injury problems.

If anything, a trade would seem the more likely scenario. According to Goold, St. Louis “floated” Garcia’s name over the summer to assess his value. Whether or not there was ever serious consideration of moving him in 2016, that could become an option this offseason. As Goold explains it, promising the $12MM payday to Garcia “would give Mozeliak control of an asset for 2017 and pitching depth that he could use in deals even into spring training.”

Dave Stewart Discusses End Of Tenure With D-Backs

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The Diamondbacks ousted Dave Stewart from the GM seat yesterday, bringing his tenure to an end after just two years. Stewart discussed his feelings on the matter with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, who described the scene yesterday as chief baseball officer Tony La Russa informed his long-time friend that he’d no longer be with the organization.

That order, of course, came from above La Russa’s head, with managing partner Ken Kendrick and president/CEO Derrick Hall deciding it was time to move on. La Russa’s own fate remains to be determined, but he won’t control the organization’s baseball operations any longer.

Stewart expressed little in the way of regret, explaining that he believes he ought to have been retained but also that he will land on his feet. After all, the long-time big league hurler has compiled a rather varied resume following his playing times. Most recently, before heading to Arizona, he served as a player agent.

“Quite frankly,” said Stewart, “I’ve got better things to do.” Just what those things will be isn’t clear yet. “I just got to figure out what to do next,” said Stewart, “but really, I’ll be just fine.”

What Stewart won’t be doing is airing grievances against the Arizona organization. While he acknowledges that he was “angry” when he left the Blue Jays organization 15 years ago after being passed over for an open GM seat, Stewart says that he’s “not angry this time.” Instead, he said, it’s “almost a relief.” And though he and Kendrick “were oil and water,” Stewart says that was just a reflection of personality differences; he does not “have anything bad to say about” the D-Backs owner.

 

 

As for the state of the roster and farm that he leaves behind, Stewart expressed optimism. “This team will be back,” he said. “They’re not far away at all.” Asserting that he stands by his work at the helm of the baseball ops department, Stewart suggested that it may take some time for the fruits of his labor to become obvious to the rest of the game. “You may not know it for a couple of years,” he said, “but you will.’’

 

West Notes: Walker, Athletics, Angels, Richards

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Mariners righty Taijuan Walker is headed for a medical consultation to determine whether he ought to undergo surgery on his troublesome right foot, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports. The 24-year-old has suffered with arch tendinitis, and may go in for a procedure to help address the problem over the offseason. Rest is the alternative, but a decision must be made soon. Walker says that the specialist he spoke with previously told him “it would be anywhere from a three- to four-month recovery to be ready to pitch.” Walker had a roller-coaster campaign — manager Scott Servais says he was “all over the board” with hot and cold stretches — but ultimately ended with a 4.22 ERA over 134 1/3 innings, with 8.0 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9. Seattle will hope that Walker can put the foot issue behind him and fully realize his talent in 2017.

Here’s more from out west:

  • Among the Athletics’ many needs, the outfield stands at the top of the list, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Outside of Khris Davis, there’s little in the way of sure things. “No question center fielder is a concern short term and long term,” said president of baseball operations Billy Beane. “Until we discover a long-term option, we may be strategic in how we fill that temporarily.” Slusser notes that the club could end up pursuing a bounceback player, suggesting Carlos Gomez as one possible solution.
  • The Angels also ended 2016 buried in the AL West, but the team is still exuding optimism about the season to come, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. “I don’t think we’re that far off,” says manager Mike Scioscia. “I know that we’re all going to work very hard this winter not only to put together a team but get it ready and play well in the spring and have some different conversations this time next year.”
  • One key for the Angels, of course, is righty Garrett Richards. Per Fletcher, he is up to 97 mph as he continues to try to battle through UCL issues rather than succumbing to Tommy John surgery. He is slated for two more instructional league appearances before undergoing a final medical exam. If all goes well, the club will pencil him in for next season. “If you talk about having a top-of-the-rotation starter vs. not having a top-of-the-rotation starter, that would be a sizable difference for any club,” Eppler said.
  • Regardless, the Angels figure to chase pitching, per Eppler (also via Fletcher). And the Halos have several holes to fill on the position-player side. Still, the GM says he won’t head into the winter just looking to tick through the team’s needs. “I don’t really walk in with a grocery list and say ’This is what we need,’ because then you end up forcing a shot,” says Eppler. “To use a basketball reference, I don’t want to force the shot. If the shot is there and the circumstances are right, take it.”

Adam Liberatore To Undergo Left Elbow Surgery

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Dodgers lefty Adam Liberatore will undergo a debridement procedure tomorrow on his left elbow, the team announced. He is expected to be able to recover in time for a full 2017 season, per the team’s statement.

Liberatore, 29, was a revelation for the Dodgers in the first half of the campaign. He had only ever appeared in the majors previously in 2015 for L.A., but allowed just two earned runs over his first 33 innings on the season.

That pace proved difficult to keep up, especially as injury issues crept in. Liberatore ended up struggling through August and September, and ended the year with a 3.38 ERA ovr 42 2/3 frames, with an excellent 9.9 K/9 versus 3.6 BB/9.

Given his difficulties, Liberatore likely wasn’t slated to appear in the postseason for the Dodgers even before today’s news, as Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Still, it’s disappointing that he won’t even have a chance to appear if a need arises.

The Dodgers are no strangers to managing pitchers with health issues, so they’ll no doubt value Liberatore as a potential contributor next year. Still, he’ll need to earn his opportunities and prove his health next spring in order to claim a major role in the Los Angeles pen in 2017.

Tony La Russa Won’t Run D-Backs’ Baseball Ops; Future With Org Uncertain

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The Diamondbacks continued a massive organizational overhaul today, firing GM Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale after previously parting ways with VP DeJon Watson. Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa remains with the team at this point, but as MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert reports, he’ll no longer run the team’s baseball operations department.

A new decisionmaker — whether a president of baseball operations, general manager, or both — will take over the reins in molding the team’s roster. At this point, it’s not known when or how the organization will go about filling the void, but president and CEO Derrick Hall says that the new hire will be expected to put greater emphasis on analytics.

Statistical analysis was one of several areas that observers have cited in criticizing the most recent iteration of the D-Backs’ oft-changing front office mix. La Russa was brought on as CBO in hopes that he’d oversee a successful organizational decisionmaking structure, but things haven’t turned out as hoped (as detailed in the post on the firing of Stewart and Hale). In the statistical arena, La Russa has been openly skeptical of the role of analytics, and raised many eyebrows with his hiring of long-time acquaintance — and first-time baseball front office man– Ed Lewis as director of baseball analytics and research.

Arizona’s top brass — Hall, who just inked an eight-year extension, and managing general partner Ken Kendrick — claimed a share of the responsibility for the failings. But they suggested that it was necessary “to turn the page and hit reset and see if we can’t get going in the right direction,” as Hall put it, by starting fresh with a new GM and manager. Per Kendrick, the organization “did not see the trend line at present moving in the right direction.”

Whether La Russa will be a part of the reshaped front office is an open question that was apparently not fully resolved in a lengthy meeting this morning (as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag notes on Twitter). Talks will continue as to what, if any, role may make sense for the Hall of Fame manager, whose foray into the D-Backs’ front office was his first in that capacity.

Jeff Luhnow On Trade Deadline, 2017 Needs & Payroll, Rasmus

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Astros GM Jeff Luhnow says that he recognizes in retrospect that the team would’ve been better served to be more active at the trade deadline, as Angel Verdejo of the Houston Chronicle reports. But that wasn’t entirely apparent at the time, he stressed.

In particular, the losses of starters Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers Jr. left a difficult void for Houston down the stretch. But Luhnow says that he “didn’t have that perspective at that point,” referring to the August 1st trade deadline and its run-up. He also noted that, “over the long term, [foregoing additions] does sometimes turn out to be the right decision;” obviously, striking significant deals typically requires the sacrifice of young talent.

The “jury’s out” on whether the ’Stros should have been more aggressive this summer, says Luhnow, who does note that there are lessons to be learned from the 2016 experience. “I can’t control what happened after the deadline,” he said. “But we’re certainly going to continue to look at every opportunity going forward to give ourselves maybe a little more breathing room so if we do lose a player or we have some underperformance, that we’ve got more of a margin to still have a successful campaign.”

The Houston GM also addressed a variety of other important topics for the organization as it moves forward after missing the postseason.

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In Appreciation Of Vin Scully

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Many have shared their appreciation of legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully as he steps away from the microphone after 67 magical seasons. MLBTR joins them in honoring one of the most uniquely compelling figures in sports history.

Chances are, you didn’t first fall in love with baseball by reading about it on the internet. More than likely, it happened as you sat amidst the peanut shells at a ballpark; smelled the leather of a new mitt; stumbled onto a Wrigley day game on WGN while flipping through the channels one summer; heard your dad grumbling about a blown call in last night’s contest; picked up the glorious tones of a golden-voiced announcer through an intermittently-fading radio signal.

However it happened, what led you here was likely something quite different from the statistics, money, and rules that we discuss on a daily basis. Probably, the reason you care about the player transactions that shape Major League Baseball is that you first found yourself intoxicated by the intricate details of the game itself, while absorbing it as a fan and amateur participant.

Baseball is cherished by those who have found it because it is exponentially rewarding in its repetitive, utterly simple details. Look closer and you’re drawn further in. The punctuating moments have such meaning only because they emerge from a layered canvas, with all its patina.

And that is why Vin Scully, the now-former Dodgers broadcaster, is so important and so meaningful — and not just because he calls a good game. For all his great calls, which we’ve enjoyably relived in recent weeks, his singular excellence resided in the mundane.

Just how is that batter digging in? Where’s the happiest kid in the stands and what is it about this pleasant good evening that he’s enjoying so much? Who, really, is this mop-up pitcher who’ll handle the eighth inning of a meaningless, late-season blowout? What is the count, and the score, and how does that relate to the standings and the [insert memory/history lesson/interesting fact] and oh look! just what are those brawling players shouting at each other (give or take)?

Sep 23, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; American broadcaster Vin Scully (right) is introduced with wife Sandra Scully (left) for Vin Scully appreciation night prior to the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Baseball by Vin is sharing memories, imparting and receiving wisdom, experiencing an event with the like-minded while seeking out and valuing different perspectives, exhibiting vigorous curiosity, accumulating and disseminating knowledge, building standing in a community with (and through) humility and gratitude, deriving meaning from the commonplace — whether times or moments are good or bad.

He didn’t just provide us with the best way to take in a ballgame. Broader lessons reside in the countless hours that Scully spoke into a microphone — often from the words themselves, but also from the steady cheer of the man who delivered them and the sheer fact that he did it for so long and with such obvious care. In a way, if we listened closely, he showed us how to navigate our lives, with all their ups and downs but also their sometimes-monotonous routines and easily-overlooked opportunities for appreciation.

It is bittersweet to think these thoughts now, and not just because we’ll no longer hear Scully’s perfect narration of yet another 9 innings — never again listen to his gentle cadence guide us through the game — but because baseball and life intersected more jarringly last Sunday.

The loss of Jose Fernandez was an unthinkable tragedy, a gut punch not only to his loved ones, but also — in a different but still-meaningful way — to most anyone who follows the game of baseball. That devastating blow reinforces Scully’s essential meaning, because Fernandez — whose immigrant journey was every bit as quintessentially American as Scully’s New York-to-Los Angeles epic — possessed an infectious joi de vivre different in form, but not in kind, from Scully’s.

Sep 23, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; American broadcaster Vin Scully reacts as a banner is unveiled during the seventh inning stretch during the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Scully’s dependability and longevity, and Fernandez’s fleeting brilliance and flair, speak to the same fundamental messages: Life is best lived buoyantly. Its many splendors, great and meager, ought to be treasured daily. Celebrating our differences as well as our commonalities is our bond. There’s zen to be found in a ballgame, and just about anywhere else, with observation and appreciation. And the way to cope with the stultifying or the unfortunate things that life throws at us is not to despair or retreat, but to double down on joy.

Thanks, Vin, for letting us listen in. If we truly heard you, we might just end our days with only two regrets: that we didn’t absorb your life’s wisdom sooner, and that we didn’t catch enough ballgames with you at the mic.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Burke Badenhop: Free Agency, A Decade In The Making

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As a professional baseball player, you deal with a lack of autonomy throughout your career.  At the onset you don’t choose who you work for, they choose you.  You can’t request a transfer, but instead are subject to being traded.  If you don’t like your current situation, well, you can’t just up and leave and join another team that might present a better opportunity.  These situations are entirely unique to your chosen profession, but you deal with them nonetheless.  It’s simply part of the territory.  You’re forced to play the cards you’re dealt, but at the same time, you’re happy to have cards to play.  The one way to gain some limited freedom in our game is to reach free agency.  For the select few, that chance is just around the corner.

Reaching free agency is not a reality for the average player, unfortunately.  A player’s service time determines when they reach free agency.  Service time is literally how many days you have been on the big league roster.  Every day that service time clock ticks.  One.  Day.  At.  A.  Time.  It takes six full years of that clock ticking to be granted free agency.  Six years is a long time.  I made my debut in 2008 along with 238 other players that year.  Of those 238, only 58 of us earned enough service time to reach free agency, roughly 24%.

If you do happen to be one of the guys to make it, though, it’s rare to earn six years of service time over six consecutive seasons.  Players tend to shuffle from the big leagues to the minor leagues at the start of their careers, resulting in partial service time that counts toward your overall time.  It might take seven or eight seasons for a player to earn six years of service.  Throw in the two or three (and that’s on the short end) years in the minor leagues before reaching the bigs, and you’re looking at about ten years from the time a player is drafted until he can make any kind of decision that relates to his career.  And the same rules apply to everyone.  Perennial All-Stars have to wait just as long as tossed-around right handed middle relievers like myself.

Most players who reach free agency aren’t bombarded by all thirty teams, either.  Having ten teams courting you is actually a lot.  I was pumped that four or so teams were heavily involved once I reached free agency.  The teams calling also might not be the most personally desirable or ideal situations.  You could have family in a certain area that you’d like to be near, but have no teams interested for thousands of miles.  Maybe you’ve only been offered platoon roles when you’ve always been a regular starter.  Regardless of the options presented, it’s the presence of options at all that excites a player.

Now, the rules governing free agency aren’t unfair.  They are what they are. While baseball is a business, it’s an extremely unique business, especially as it relates to the players.  And know that when a player leaves your team as a free agent this off season, it’s nothing personal.  It’s just a decision he has probably been waiting ten years to make.

Marlins Will Not Retain Barry Bonds As Hitting Coach

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The Marlins have decided to part ways with hitting coach Barry Bonds, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports. This was his first season in that role, which he shared with Frank Menechino.

Bonds’s time in Miami seemed to go rather smoothly from the outside, but it appears that the arrangement may not have worked out quite as hoped behind closed doors. Manager Don Mattingly “called out” Bonds at some point in the middle of the year, after which time the latter’s “commitment level dwindled,” per Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio (via Twitter).

The major league lifetime leader in home runs for a career and for a single season, Bonds came to Miami in hopes of reclaiming a place in the game. He had seemingly been frozen out of Major League Baseball after his career with the Giants wrapped up following the 2007 season. At the time, Bonds still represented a fearsome presence at the plate, but was viewed as a major symbol of the steroid era.

It appears as if owner Jeffrey Loria was the chief supporter of Bonds, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports (Twitter links), but some players also viewed him favorably. Ultimately, it was Mattingly who seemingly drove the decision to make a change.

Bonds isn’t alone in departing the Marlins’ staff. Third base coach Lenny Harris and bullpen coach Reid Cornelius have also been cut loose, per Andy Slater of 940 AM WINZ (via Twitter).

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