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Archives for February 2018

David Phelps Hires Jet Sports Management

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Mariners righty David Phelps has hired Jet Sports Management to represent him, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter).

Phelps was one of several MLB players that was left searching for a new agency after parting ways with Jason Wood and Career Sports Entertainment. Wood was fired by CSE and suspended by the MLBPA following allegations of misconduct against his own clients.

The 31-year-old Phelps has already avoided arbitration, agreeing to a $5.55MM deal with the M’s. But he’ll soon be in need of further negotiating assistance, as he’s slated to reach the open market at season’s end.

Phelps’s future earnings outlook is rather unclear at present. Notably, Phelps made only ten appearances in Seattle following a mid-season swap. His 2017 season ended with elbow surgery, perhaps removing any possibility that Phelps might return to the rotation, though the hope is that Phelps will be ready for a full 2018 campaign.

So long as Phelps can return to health, there’s good reason to think he’ll be one of the most sought-after set-up men on the market next winter. Since the start of the 2016 season, after all, he has thrown 142 1/3 innings of 2.72 ERA ball with 11.1 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Phelps has a background as a starter, making him a potential multi-inning weapon.

As always, you can keep tabs on the latest agency movement with MLBTR’s Agency Database.

Mets Could Pursue Rotation Addition

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After being quiet for much of the offseason, the Mets have been more active in recent weeks, bring Jay Bruce back to Queens on a three-year deal and reportedly agreeing to a two-year pact with Todd Frazier. And now that they’ve satisfied their needs in the infield and outfield for the most part, the team could turn its focus to the starting pitching. Both MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo and the New York Daily News’ John Harper reported Tuesday that the Mets could look to the open market for some support in the rotation.

DiComo suggests that the Mets are keeping an eye out for rotation help but don’t consider it as much of a priority as an infielder was, whereas Harper characterizes the need a bit more aggressively, writing that a source told him that the Mets are “serious” about looking at rotation possibilities. Meanwhile, the Record’s Matt Ehalt suggests that if the team adds a rotation arm, it’ll likely be an affordable source of innings rather than a top starter with draft compensation attached (Twitter links). Ehalt also notes that a lefty reliever is another area of focus for the Mets.

Starting pitching was a strength during the Mets’ 2015 World Series run, as the team rode strong performances from Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey plus veterans Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon to an NL pennant that season. Steven Matz made his big league debut that season as well and impressed in six starts.

However, the Mets’ rotation was in shambles for much of the 2017 season, with Syndergaard, Harvey, Matz, Zack Wheeler and Seth Lugo among the rotation pieces that missed significant time due to injury. Only deGrom held up and made a full season’s worth of starts, logging 201 innings over the course of 31 trips to the hill.

All of the team’s rotation options that were limited in 2017 are expected to be healthy for Spring Training, but the general lack of stability surrounding them is an unequivocal cause for concern. Harvey has undergone both Tommy John surgery and thoracic outlet surgery in recent years. Matz’s career, both in the minors and Majors, has been punctuated by shoulder and elbow troubles. Wheeler was torched for an ERA north of 5.00 in his first season back after two years lost to Tommy John surgery. Syndergaard pitched just 30 1/3 innings last year due to a torn lat muscle.

The question for the Mets, at this point, is one of how much ownership will be willing to spend to bolster the starting corps after already signing Frazier, Bruce, Anthony Swarzak and Jose Reyes this offseason. The Mets still project for a payroll that comes in south of last year’s Opening Day mark, and as was the case in 2017, they’ll recoup $15MM or so of the $20MM owed to David Wright this year by virtue of the insurance policy on his contract (assuming that Wright once again is relegated to the 60-day DL for much, if not all of the season).

Harper, within his column, opines that Lance Lynn would be an ideal fit for the Mets, though there’s been no serious indication to this point that the Mets would play for any of the top four starters on the market, particularly those wiho rejected a qualifying offer. In addition to Ehalt’s report, GM Sandy Alderson recently expressed reluctance to pursue Mike Moustakas in part due to draft compensation, and the team ultimately elected to bring Frazier into the fold instead.

While Lynn, Alex Cobb, Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish aren’t in the fold (Darvish due to general price tag, the others due to price and draft compensation), the market for starters has scarcely moved at all this winter, so Alderson & Co. have plenty of alternatives. Other available options for the club would include Jaime Garcia, Andrew Cashner and old friend Jason Vargas. Bounceback candidates still exist in the form of Chris Tillman and Hector Santiago, while less exciting but durable innings eaters still available include Ricky Nolasco and Wade Miley.

Boras, Halem Continue Quarrel Over Free Agent Activity

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Agent Scott Boras jabbed back at Major League Baseball’s comments to ESPN’s Crasnick this evening, writes FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Specifically, Boras questioned how the league could reconcile the notion of commenting on any offers made to unsigned players — a reference to Manfred telling Crasnick that some players had received “nine figure” offers.

“I find it interesting that free agents have nine-figure offers since the CBA mandates that teams not share that sort of information,” said Boras. “I am also curious how a public statement communicated to all teams about offers on the table and players demanding too much money from a central league office … is any different from the infamous ’information bank’ in the 1980s.”

MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem responded to Boras’ comments (also per Heyman):

“If Mr. Boras spent as much time working on getting his players signed as he does issuing inflammatory and unsubstantiated statements to the press, perhaps the events of this off-season would be different.”

Boras, without missing a beat, replied by pointing out that Halem made no denial that the league’s comments on the nature of offers some players have received contained the type of information that should not be made public and should not be known about by league officials. He also invoked statements from former union chief Donald Fehr made more than three decades ago:

“I’d be embarrassed,” Fehr said of MLB owners back in 1987. “But they aren’t. And the reason they aren’t is that they have decided that winning a battle with the players over salaries is more important than winning on the field. Winning on the field is secondary these days. The owners apparently feel they will come out no matter what.”

To Boras’ credit, it does seem curious that the league’s statement would openly acknowledge the size of offers that some players have received. In addition to running counter to the CBA, the comments hardly paint players in a favorable light at a time in which commissioner Rob Manfred is spearheading efforts to broadly expand the game’s appeal to a younger audience. If anything, today’s statement only furthers the popular “greedy player” narrative — one which often ignores that the alternative is for the even wealthier owners to simply pocket money not spent on player contracts.

While those numbers weren’t exactly a secret after being leaked to the media by various sources, likely from both the agent and team side of the equation in various cases, it was nonetheless surprising to see the league stating those numbers in a factual manner (even if it was merely in reference to media reports; it’s not clear which was the case in this instance).

Of course, it’s also worth noting that Boras is making a reach by likening the current economic state of free agency to one in which owners were proven to have colluded, resulting in mass one-year deals throughout the league and, eventually, an “information bank” in which owners readily shared intel on the types of offers that were being made to free agents.

Boras’ usage of Fehr’s comments, though, was more likely in reference to the spirit of competition (or lack thereof) and the number of “tanking” teams that aren’t endeavoring to put forth a winning club in 2018. Viewed through that lens, there’s some merit to the reference, but teams today certainly have greater incentive to tank than the more financial motives of those late-80s clubs. Furthermore, the five-year deal for Lorenzo Cain as well as reported seven-year offers for Eric Hosmer and five-year offers for J.D. Martinez and Yu Darvish underscore the fact that it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.

That point seems particularly worth highlighting; while many critics of the labor side of this dispute express difficulty in sympathizing with millionaire players that aren’t finding often outlandish contractual demands met, the larger issue isn’t so much that players like Hosmer, Martinez and Yu Darvish aren’t receiving offers in excess of $150MM. Rather, one of the main gripes — certainly the one voiced by Boras and MLBPA chief Tony Clark today — is simply that not enough teams are making any sort of effort, and their refraining from free agency entirely has eliminated the game’s general spirit of yearly competition (both on the field and on the open market). In addition to limiting the market for the top-tier talents, the absence of 10 or more teams on the free-agent market dramatically erodes the market for mid-range free agents who, in prior winters, would’ve happily taken two- and three-year deals from teams that may not be clear division-championship-level contenders. Obviously, there’s time yet for offers from some such teams to materialize.

Of course, as has been pointed out on many occasions — the players themselves bear no shortage of responsibility in the matter. The current structure of amateur talent acquisition in Major League Baseball disproportionately rewards noncompetitive clubs in both the draft and the amateur international market, thereby encouraging teams to strive for high draft picks rather than taking an against-the-odds shot at a Wild Card berth. Those measures, as well as the luxury tax that many of the game’s heaviest spenders are treating as a soft salary cap, were agreed upon by the union in the most recent wave of collective bargaining a bit more than one year ago.

Tim Lincecum To Throw For MLB Teams Next Week

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Right-hander Tim Lincecum will audition for Major League teams next Thursday (Feb. 15), Kyle Boddy of Driveline Baseball announced today (on Twitter). The two-time NL Cy Young winner has been working out with Driveline this offseason in an effort to revitalize his career.

Rockies right-hander Adam Ottavino, another Driveline client, shared a photo of Lincecum on Instagram back in December in which Lincecum looked to be in excellent physical condition. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweeted at the time that Lincecum’s velocity was up, and Boddy noted then that Lincecum would eventually host a showcase for MLB clubs before Opening Day.

In Lincecum’s last run through MLB, he logged a 9.16 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 5.4 BB/9 and a staggering 2.58 HR/9 through 38 1/3 innings with the Halos. His average fastball in that time was just 87.7 mph — nearly seven full miles per hour off he 94.2 mph that he averaged as a 23-year-old rookie one decade ago.

Those unsightly results notwithstanding, Lincecum should still at least pique the interest of clubs, and it stands to reason that plenty of scouts will be in attendance to see if he shows enough to merit consideration. Presumably, Lincecum is looking at a minor league contract and an invite to Major League Spring Training if a team ultimately does make an offer.

It’s been quite some time since Lincecum, who’ll turn 34 in June, has been much of a contributor at the big league level, of course. The once-premium velocity “The Freak” displayed early in his career wilted as he entered his late 20s, falling to an average of just over 90 mph in 2012-13. Lincecum underwent hip surgery late in the 2015 season and has only appeared sparingly in the Majors since that time. His most recent season as an elite starter came back in 2011 when he tossed 217 innings of 2.47 ERA ball for the Giants, but he’s posted just a 4.94 ERA in 654 Major League innings since that time.

Angels Sign Ian Krol To Minor League Deal

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The Angels announced that they’ve signed left-hander Ian Krol to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. Krol, 27 in May, is a client of ISE Baseball.

The 2017 season proved to be a rough followup to a strong 2016 campaign for Krol, as he saw his ERA soar from 3.18 to 5.53. Krol’s K/9 rate fell from 9.9 in ’16 to 8.1 in ’17, while his BB/9 rate ballooned from 2.3 to 3.9. He also allowed eight homers in 49 innings after surrendering just four long balls in 51 frames a year prior.

Though he throws from the left side, Krol has actually struggled more against lefties than righties in each of the past three seasons. In that time, he’s allowed a .253/.336/.420 slash to righties and struggled to a more concerning .292/.369/.426 slash against same-handed opponents.

That said, Krol averages better than 93 mph on his fastball and more than eight strikeouts per nine innings, and he has also shown the ability to generate grounders at a roughly league-average clip over the course of 188 MLB innings thus far in his career. The resulting 4.55 ERA isn’t overly appealing, but a 4.05 xFIP and 3.77 SIERA forecast a somewhat rosier picture.

With the Halos, he’ll compete for a spot in manager Mike Scioscia’s bullpen, where Jose Alvarez currently projects as the only lefty. In fact, the only other southpaws on the Angels’ 40-man roster at all are starters Tyler Skaggs and Andrew Heaney, meaning Krol landed in a spot that should afford him a decent opportunity to crack the big league roster in Spring Training.

Reds Win Arbitration Hearing Against Eugenio Suarez

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Cincinnati third baseman Eugenio Suarez lost his arbitration hearing against the Reds, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (Twitter link). Suarez and his agents at Octagon had filed for a $4.2MM salary, while the Reds countered with a figure of $3.75MM (as reflected in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker). Suarez will earn that $3.75MM salary for the upcoming season, and he’ll now have a lower launching point for the subsequent arbitration raises for which he is in line in the next two offseasons.

Suarez, 26, was in his first trip through the arbitration process this winter on the heels of a strong .260/.367/.461 batting line with 26 homers, 25 doubles and a pair of triples. The former Tigers farmhand, who came to Cincinnati in exchange for righty Alfredo Simon, has blossomed into the everyday third baseman for the Reds in recent years and was among the top all-around third basemen in the National League this past season. In addition to his fine work at the plate, Suarez turned in strong marks of +5 Defensive Runs Saved and a +5.8 Ultimate Zone Rating.

The Reds can enjoy that strong, well-rounded production for at least the next three seasons, as Suarez can be controlled through the 2020 campaign via arbitration. It stands to reason that even after agreeing on a salary for the coming season, the Reds could yet hold interest in brokering a longer-term pact for Suarez that would extend him beyond his arbitration seasons. Of course, the Reds have been undergoing a lengthy rebuilding phase and, depending on the team’s results this season, could ultimately look gauge interest in him on the trade market as well.

With Suarez’s case now wrapped up, the lone remaining case for the Reds is that of Scooter Gennett (Arb Tracker link). Gennett filed for $5.7MM, while the team submitted a $5.1MM sum.

Ervin Santana Out 10 To 12 Weeks Following Surgery On Finger

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The Twins announced today that right-hander Ervin Santana underwent a “capsular release/debridement procedure” on the middle finger of his right hand. He’s expected to be ready for a return to game activity in 10 to 12 weeks, according to the announcement.

Santana, according to the Twins, began experiencing discomfort in his right hand after ramping up bullpen work in preparation for Spring Training. The issue is something he’s dealt with in the past and had reviewed following the 2017 season, per the announcement, at which point an MRI and x-rays revealed that his tendon was intact, prompting doctors to recommend an injection. The injury is a “result of repeated cumulative stress from pitching, not one acute event, and did not present again until this past week,” the team further detailed.

Certainly, the news comes as a blow to a Twins team that has aspirations of contending for its first American League Central title since 2010. The 35-year-old Santana has been among the game’s most durable arms over the past decade and has been the Twins’ most consistent starter over the past two seasons. He’ll now be sidelined until anywhere from mid-April to early May as he recovers from this procedure. With him on the shelf to open the season, an already murky Twins rotation now figures to include Jose Berrios, Kyle Gibson and Adalberto Mejia, with several other names vying for starting opportunities as well.

Of course, the Twins have been prominently linked to the top name on the free agent market, Yu Darvish, with varying ties to the other top three starters: Jake Arrieta, Alex Cobb and Lance Lynn. Minnesota has reportedly been among the most aggressive teams on the Darvish front anyhow, and the loss of Santana even for only a month should only hasten their pursuit of rotation help (be it Darvish, a different free agent or a trade acquisition).

From a contractual standpoint, the injury to Santana is not without repercussions. Santana’s four-year, $55MM contract with the Twins comes with a $14MM club option for the 2019 campaign that would have automatically vested had he reached 200 innings this season. While that’s certainly still possible, especially if Santana’s return comes on the shorter end of the 10- to 12-week timeline, missing even a handful of starts at the beginning of the year makes that goal considerably tougher to achieve. Santana made 33 starts last year and totaled 211 1/3 innings — the second-highest total in MLB — but even missing two to three starts would have left him a bit shy of that mark.

Depending on how well Santana pitches, the Twins could well still exercise their end of that option, though it now seems likely to be entirely the team’s decision as opposed to a salary that Santana could lock in via the strength of his own performance.

Rangers Sign Darwin Barney To Minor League Contract

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TODAY: Barney would earn $1.25MM in the majors, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets, with an additional $500K of potential incentive pay. His contract also includes an opt-out opportunity on March 24th.

YESTERDAY: The Rangers announced that they’ve signed veteran infielder Darwin Barney to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.  He’s represented by CAA Baseball.

Barney, 32, has spent the past two seasons with the Blue Jays and seen quite a bit of action at the middle infield positions following frequent injuries to Devon Travis and Troy Tulowitzki. The slick-fielding Barney has totaled +7 Defensive Runs Saved and a +8.8 Ultimate Zone Rating in 383 innings of shortstop action over the course of his big league career, and those same metrics are even more bullish on his work at second base (+53, +37.3 in 5113 innings). His prowess at second base earned him an NL Gold Glove with the Cubs back in 2012 when he was the primary second baseman in Chicago.

However, for all of his defensive accolades, Barney doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of offensive firepower. In 694 plate appearances with the Jays, he posted an anemic .251/.298/.357 batting line — numbers that only slightly outpace his career .246/.294/.341 slash through 2759 plate appearances.

With the Rangers, he’ll compete for a utility infield job, though he’ll have an uphill battle to climb in that regard as things currently stand. At present, the Rangers figure to have Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor starting at third base, shortstop and second base, respectively, with the out-of-options Jurickson Profar penciled in for the utility spot. Since Profar can’t be sent to the minors without first being exposed to waivers (where he’d obviously be claimed by another club), there isn’t exactly a clear path to even semi-regular at-bats for Barney (barring an injury or a trade). But, he’ll give the Rangers a nice depth option in camp and possibly in Triple-A early in the year.

It’s not a given that he’ll head to Triple-A Round Rock even if he doesn’t make the team, though; many veterans of this nature will negotiate the right to ask for their release during Spring Training into their contract. And, as an Article XX (B) free agent that signed a minor league contract, he’d be owed a $100K retention bonus at the end of Spring Training if the Rangers did elect to keep him around.

Rays, Evan Scribner Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rays and right-handed reliever Evan Scribner are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via Twitter). Scribner, a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management, will receive an $800K base salary if he makes the club. He’ll be in Major League camp as a non-roster invitee in Spring Training.

Scribner, 32, spent the past two seasons with the Mariners but was only healthy enough to toss 21 1/3 innings over the course of those two years due to lat and flexor strains in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Scribner bring so the Rays 169 innings of Major League experience, mostly with the A’s, for whom he pitched from 2012-15. In that time, he’s worked to a 4.15 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 and a 37 percent ground-ball rate.

While Scribner won’t blow anyone away with a heater that has averaged just 90.1 mph in the Majors (89.3 mph last year in just seven innings), he has an uncanny level of precision on the mound. Over his past 93 big league innings dating back to 2014, Scribner has issued just six walks (one intentional) and hit four batters. Among pitchers with at least 90 innings thrown over the past four years, none come remotely close to Scribner’s 0.58 BB/9 mark. (Josh Tomlin is next at 1.04.) He also ranks first in the Majors with a 73.1 percent first-pitch strike rate in that time.

Scribner has four years, 127 days of Major League service time, meaning that if he makes the team and remains healthy, he’ll be controlled beyond the 2018 campaign by way of arbitration. He’d need 45 days in the bigs this year (active roster or disabled list) to reach five full years of service, at which point he’d be controllable through the 2019 season.

Pro Football Rumors Seeking Part-Time Writers

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We’re looking to add part-time contributors to the Pro Football Rumors writing team. The position pays on an hourly basis. Applicants must meet ALL of the following criteria:

  • Exceptional knowledge of all 32 NFL teams, with no discernible bias.
  • Knowledge of the salary cap and transaction-related concepts.
  • At least some college education.
  • Extensive writing experience, with professional experience and a background in journalism both strongly preferred.
  • Keen understanding of journalistic principles, ethics and procedures. Completion of basic college-level journalism classes is strongly preferred.
  • Attention to detail — absolutely no spelling errors, especially for player and journalist names.
  • Ability to follow the site’s style and tone.
  • Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news in a few paragraphs. We need someone who can balance quick writing with thoughtful analysis. You must be able to add value to breaking news with your own insight, numbers or links to other relevant articles.
  • Ability to use an RSS feed reader. Ability to use Twitter. Both of these are crucial.
  • Strong weekend evening availability is crucial. The ideal candidate will be available for most Friday and/or Saturday evenings.
  • Weeknight availability (5-11 pm central time Monday-Friday) is also a plus.
  • Flexibility. You must be available to work on short notice.

If you’re interested, email pfrapplications@gmail.com by February 9 (11:00pm central time) and take a couple of paragraphs to explain why you qualify and stand out. Many will apply, so unfortunately we cannot respond to every applicant.

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