It doesn’t look like the Indians will reach any extensions with Francisco Lindor or Trevor Bauer before the season begins, though the team did at least explore the possibility of long-term deals with both players, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes. It isn’t any surprise that the Tribe looked into gaining some cost certainty on either man even though Bauer is already controlled through the 2020 season and Lindor through 2021. In the latter’s case, Lindor is still a year away from salary arbitration, though one wonders if Lindor may feel confident enough in his abilities to forego guaranteed money now and wait until free agency to chase an even bigger contract. He already turned down an extension offer reportedly worth around $100MM last offseason, and his stock has only risen after a superb 2017 campaign.
Here’s more from around the baseball world as we enter the offseason’s final day…
- The Rangers seems to be done their offseason shopping, as GM Jon Daniels stated to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and other reporters. “I couldn’t be more clear, I don’t expect any more significant acquisitions. There is not a lot going on from our standpoint in the free-agent market,” Daniels said. This also seems to include a pursuit of Greg Holland, as Daniels reiterated that Texas plans to be flexible with the ninth-inning role and allow a closer to emerge from several candidates. Adrian Beltre, for one, still feels that a more established arm is needed, as he feels the end-game plan is “an area that’s going to be a question mark. Normally, when you have really good teams, you have [a closer.] You have closers out there in the free-agent market. … Ideally for me, you get a closer, put him in there and use him.”
- Ichiro Suzuki may begin the season on the DL to give him more time to fully recover from a right calf strain, with Mariners manager Scott Servais telling the Associated Press and other media that a decision will be made tomorrow when the team sees how Suzuki is feeling after playing seven innings today. Utilityman Taylor Motter looks to make the Opening Day roster if Ichiro isn’t available.
- The Pirates’ interest in Korean shortstop prospect Ji-Hwan Bae dates back almost two years, Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, and the team was finally able to land the 18-year-old after he was made a free agent following the Braves’ international signing scandal. Given a second chance at the signing, Pittsburgh again made a push, and Bae said (via an interpreter) that he chose them over other suitors because the “Pirates were the most active team approaching” about a contract. The Pirates thought enough of Bae to give him $1.25MM, the second-largest bonus the franchise has ever given to an international prospect, and GM Neal Huntington feels Bae can stick at shortstop over the long term.
- Brad Boxberger has been named the Diamondbacks’ closer, the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and others reported. Boxberger posted a league-best 41 saves in his first season as the Rays’ closer back in 2015, though injuries both cost him the job and limited him to 53 2/3 total innings in 2016-17. Now healthy, Boxberger could again blossom into an effective late-game weapon for Arizona, though Piecoro notes that the larger factor in the Diamondbacks’ decision might’ve been the team’s preference to keep Archie Bradley as a fireman rather than in a strict ninth-inning role. For updates on every team’s closing situation, be sure to follow MLBTR’s sister Twitter feed @CloserNews.
Harry Scout
Still think the Expos should trade Archie Cianfrocco to the Padres for Tim Scott straight up.
LF16
Archi Cianfrocco reference? Well done, sir.
geg42
Scott pitched well for the ‘spos but by the time he was traded to Giant he wasn’t getting anyone out.
Of course, Kirk Reuter was the real prize of that trade.
jbigz12
Did not know Lindor hit 33 hrs last year. Guess he is turning down extensions.
mike156
Beltre is a future Hall of Famer and someone who should be taken seriously. But who is out there, except for Beltre’s fellow Scott Boras client Holland? Where’s there an upgrade at a rational price?
madmanTX
What’s rational? The Rangers have a high payroll ($140mil) and don’t want to add to it. I’m guessing the closer will be end up being Bush, but we’ll see.
justinkm19
My guess is Kela
66TheNumberOfTheBest
After reading Beltre’s comments, it felt a lot like reading a Jon Heyman article so I used the MLBTR Agency database to look up who Beltre’s agent was…
Imagine that.
ralph 3
I applaud you for not just asking on the comments board who Beltres agent is and actually doing the research. There aren’t enough of you.
yoyo137
Who’s Beltre’s agent?
ralph 3
har har.
mlb1225
So if Ichiro starts the year on The DL, will this be the first time in his career he’ll spend time on The DL during the regular season?
fs54
I believe not. I recall he spent some time on DL before because I remember it being a big deal. Was it injury related or illness related? I don’t know.
Tavares
No, he started the 09 season in the DL, with a bleeding ulcer that was caused in part by the stress of playing in the WBC.. He missed 8 games, and in his first game he hit a grand slam.
It was the only time in his career that he was in the DL
Yankeepatriot
I don’t see Lindor coming back when his time comes (hope I’m wrong for Cleveland’s sake). Ramirez is more likely imo
sufferforsnakes
If he doesn’t, at least they have Willi Castro on the way. While he’s not Lindor’s caliber, he still looks like a good one.
thekid9
Whole lotta Johnny GMs on this thread.
sufferforsnakes
Some of us follow our team’s minor league system closely, and have for years.
brucewayne
Aha! A slightly newer slam! Refreshing .
66TheNumberOfTheBest
I understand the logic of taking a quantity approach to signing prospects, but there is always something to be said for quality. Bae is a very intriguing signing for the Pirates. First in a while.
Solaris601
Like Carlos Correa, Lindor is betting on himself which, given his performance, is a good strategy. It’s clear CLE wants to extend him. Among many other factors to consider Lindor must wonder what life will be like on a post-Kluber/Carrasco/Brantley/Miller/Allen/Encarnacion team around the time he’d hit free agency. If the Tribe still genuinely wants to extend him they’ll make another offer just before he goes to arbitration following 2018. The Shapiro era in Cleveland left me a bit jaded in these matters, but the CLE market is the same, so I’ll predict Lindor is not extended, and they’ll look to trade him for a wealth of prospects at the 2019 deadline or after that season.
Coal tender
The Rangers are “done” anyway whether they are FA shopping or not. Daniels has completely given up on his team ever becoming a competitive team in the near future. They have prospects, but are three to four years out. The organization needs to slash season ticket sales and general admission prices before they move into their slick new stadium.
atd75167
The thing is last year the Rangers were not good because we had no closer.
There were other problems but that was the main one.So going into this year it should have been the main priority.Daniels has lost it the last few years he has no outlook or plan.Not saying a closer would put us in ws this year but it would at least mean we win most of the games when we get to the 9th inning with a lead.Honestly he should went a got Holland last year on a multi year.He will spend all that money on Choo but not a fraction of that on a closer.
oldhaus
I don’t see Bae on any prospects’ ‘top 30’ list. Will he be on one once they are updated?