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Archives for March 2019

White Sox Claim Josh Osich

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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve claimed left-handed reliever Josh Osich off waivers from the Orioles. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, Chicago has placed right-hander Michael Kopech on the 60-day injured list. Osich, 30, was designated for assignment by Baltimore last week. Kopech, meanwhile, is expected to miss the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery late in the 2018 campaign.

Osich, 30, has spent time with the Giants in each of the past four seasons, though he’s struggled increasingly at the MLB level dating back to 2016. In 120 1/3 innings, Osich has a 5.01 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 1.50 HR/9 and a 51.8 percent ground-ball rate. Last year in Triple-A, Osich posted a 4.96 ERA with a 42-to-18 K/BB ratio in 45 1/3 innings.

Osich does have a minor league option remaining, and he’s also averaged roughly 95 mph on his heater throughout his career. Right-handed batters have owned him at the MLB level (.294/.385/.496), though he’s held lefties to a more manageable (albeit still unspectacular) .228/.319/.388 line in his time as a big leaguer. San Francisco designated Osich for assignment a month ago when they acquired young righty Jose Lopez from the Reds, after which he was claimed by the Orioles. Osich’s time in the Baltimore organization lasted only about three weeks, as the O’s designated him Friday upon picking up Dwight Smith Jr. from the Blue Jays.

Out Of Options 2019

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The following 40-man roster players have less than five years service time and are out of minor league options. That means they must clear waivers before being sent to the minors. I’ve included players on multiyear deals. This list was compiled through MLBTR’s helpful sources.

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Indians

Mariners

Marlins

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

NL East Notes: Phillies’ Outfield, Mets’ Bullpen, Solis, Lopez

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Offseason additions of Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen have left the Phillies with an overcrowded outfield mix that will likely lead to some roster shuffling. As The Athletic’s Meghan Montemurro examines at length (subscription required), the Phils now have five outfielders — Odubel Herrera, Roman Quinn, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr and Dylan Cozens — all on the 40-man roster beyond their two big-name pickups. Both Herrera and Quinn are currently nursing minor injuries, but they’re also the two most logical options for center field. Williams, meanwhile, isn’t viewed as an option in center, per manager Gabe Kapler, which severely clouds his future with the team. Williams does have minor league options remaining, but he could also hold appeal as a trade asset marketed to other clubs in search of outfield help. (The same could be true of Herrera, but he’s owed $24.5MM through 2021 and had a down season in 2018.) Of the Phillies’ current outfielders, both Altherr and Quinn are out of minor league options, which only enhances the likelihood of some roster moves in the next couple of weeks.

Elsewhere in the division…

  • Because of the numerous off-days baked into the early-season schedule, the Mets are likelier to open the season with seven relievers than they are with eight, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, Justin Wilson, Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo are locks to hold down five of those spots, and Puma adds that non-roster lefties Luis Avilan and Hector Santiago are strong candidates to claim the other two slots. Both veterans signed minor league contracts with invites to Spring Training, and both have thrown quite well to open camp. That’d give manager Mickey Callaway three lefties to utilize out of the ’pen early in the season, although it wouldn’t leave the team with too much in the way of roster flexibility. With so many veteran relievers on board, the only three pitchers of that bunch who could technically be optioned to the minors would be Lugo, Gsellman and Diaz — none of whom would figure to be sent down to the minors at any point. If the Mets do eventually shift to carrying eight relievers, they’d be able to use that final ’pen slot to shuffle some fresh arms back and forth between the Majors and Triple-A Syracuse.
  • Left-hander Sammy Solis was caught “completely off guard” by the Nationals’ decision to release him, the pitcher tells Richard Justice of MLB.com. Solid seemingly took the abrupt and unexpected news in good stride, thanking the organization and expressing some disappointment over having to say goodbye to longtime teammates. As manager Dave Martinez explains, the move was made with an eye toward giving Solis a chance to find another organization before the season begins. “For me, it was more about giving Sammy an opportunity to latch on with another team and get a chance to have that Spring Training elsewhere,” said Martinez. The Nats also shed $713K in salary with the move, which surely played a factor as well. The 30-year-old Solid has had a pair of unsightly seasons over the past two years, including a 2017 campaign that was shortened by elbow troubles. He maintains that he’s healthy now, though, and one would imagine that a lefty who averaged nearly 94 mph on his fastball to go along with a 12.9 percent swinging-strike rate in 2018 will garner interest — even if only on a minor league contract.
  • Right-hander Pablo Lopez is making a strong case to open the season in the Marlins’ rotation, but manager Don Mattingly said this weekend that no decisions have been made as to who’ll round out the rotation behind Jose Urena and Dan Straily, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Lopez tossed four perfect innings and picked up four punchouts in his most recent outing against a Nationals lineup featuring many regulars. He’s now allowed just one run on three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in nine spring frames. Wei-Yin Chen’s contract — he’s owed $42MM over the next two seasons — makes him a likely candidate to get a long look, while other rotation hopefuls include Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Richards and southpaw Caleb Smith.

AL East Notes: Kimbrel, Rays, Orioles, Red Sox

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Though the common belief is that the Rays wouldn’t make an expensive splash to add Craig Kimbrel, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that there’s somewhat of a “never say never” sentiment within the organization as Kimbrel continues to linger (and as his price likely drops in corresponding fashion). The right-hander doesn’t appear likely to cash in on the mega contract he sought early in the offseason, and it’s not clear at this point how many clubs would even have interest on a multi-year pact. I ran through some potential landing spots for Kimbrel on shorter-term deals (with a significant annual value) last Friday and largely glossed over the Rays due to their historic reluctance to spend at that level and due to the fact that Kimbrel would require forfeiture of a draft pick (another prior sticking point for Tampa Bay). However, with a projected Opening Day payroll of just $60MM and only $27MM on the books in 2020 (per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez), the Rays certainly have the payroll space to add Kimbrel if they look to break character for a second time this winter after already inking Charlie Morton (two years, $30MM). The Rays opened the 2018 season with a $76MM payroll.

Here’s more from the AL East…

  • The Orioles would trade any of their starters who are “making significant money,” Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes in his latest notes column (subscription required). It’s hardly surprising that Baltimore would jump at the opportunity to shed the remaining $43MM (over three years) on Alex Cobb’s contract or the $8MM owed to Andrew Cashner this season, but Rosenthal also lists right-hander Dylan Bundy (earning $2.8MM) among the group. Moving Bundy would be more surprising given his affordable salary and remaining three seasons of control, though it seems unlikely they’d sell low on the former No. 4 overall pick after he led the Majors with 41 homers allowed last season. Bundy, 26, has demonstrated very appealing K/BB numbers over the past two seasons, but home runs have continually been a problem for him at the MLB level. A trade of any of the three seems extraordinarily unlikely to happen before Opening Day, but if any of that trio is performing well early in the year, he’ll emerge as a trade candidate this summer.
  • Red Sox right-hander Brandon Workman opened Spring Training with a fastball that was sitting 92 to 93 mph, writes Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, but his velocity has dipped substantially in recent outings. Workman has averaged 87 to 89 mph on his fastball in his past two outings, and manager Alex Cora spoke to Mastrodonato about the current “dead arm” Workman is attempting to overcome. As Mastrodonato points out, the majority of Boston’s candidates for the bullpen have struggled this spring, which at least has the potential to open the door for a prospect like Darwinzon Hernandez to get a look.

Mike Foltynewicz Won’t Be Ready For Start Of Season

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Braves top starter Mike Foltynewicz won’t be ready for the start of the season, general manager Alex Anthopoulos revealed Monday (Twitter link, with video, from 680 The Fan). The 27-year-old was scratched from a start nearly two weeks ago due to elbow soreness.

“Folty’s the one guy that, building him up as a starter, he’s not going to be ready,” said Anthopoulos. “Feeling great. Throwing. We were just mapping out his throwing program this morning in terms of bullpens, live BPs — all those type of things. We’re just trying to figure out what point do we get him up to five innings?”

Anthopoulos wouldn’t forecast specifically how much time Foltynewicz would need to get ready, as he’s not yet progressed to throwing off a mound. The GM speculated on anywhere from one to three would-be turns through the rotation, though the situation remains fluid. Anthopoulos did acknowledge that had Foltynewicz been healthy, he’d likely have been given the Opening Day nod for the Braves.

With Foltynewicz out for the start of the year, the Braves will open with Julio Teheran, Sean Newcomb and Kevin Gausman locked into rotation spots. As Anthopoulos noted, the significant number of off-days the Braves have early in the year will allow them to work with only a four-man rotation early on, so there may only be one other spot up for grabs. Atlanta isn’t lacking for options to take that fourth spot in the rotation to open the year; Touki Toussaint, Kyle Wright, Max Fried and Bryse Wilson have all made multiple starts already this spring — Wright will make a third today — and could all conceivably get a look in that spot. Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets that with Foltynewicz sidelined, Teheran or Newcomb (likely the former) will receive the actual Opening Day start.

West Notes: Jones, Felix, Gerson, Skaggs, Adell

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There wasn’t much news on Adam Jones’ market this winter, though ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets that the Giants and other teams were interested in the veteran outfielder earlier this winter at a price tag of around $2MM-$3MM on a one-year contract.  Jones was looking for more at the start of the offseason, though ultimately landed a contract in that range, agreeing to a one-year, $3MM deal (with $2MM more available in incentives) with the Diamondbacks.  The Giants were a logical suitor for Jones given their unsettled outfield, and San Francisco ended up landing a number of veteran outfielders (Gerardo Parra, Cameron Maybin, Craig Gentry) to minor league contracts, rather than give Jones a guaranteed Major League deal.  Given the timing, it seems like the Giants decided to move on from Jones rather than wait to see if his price dropped.

Here’s more from the western half of the baseball map…

  • Felix Hernandez is entering the last season of his seven-year, $175MM contract, and while the veteran righty obviously won’t receive anything close to that salary in his next contract, it increasingly seems like it will be his last year altogether with the Mariners.  As Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times puts it, “neither side seems interested in continuing the relationship” beyond 2019, creating the possibility of an awkward exit for one of the franchise’s greatest players.  After injuries hampered Hernandez’s effectiveness in 2016-17, the 32-year-old suffered through the worst season of his career in 2018, posting a 5.55 ERA over 155 2/3 innings.  As a result, Hernandez has been dropped to the fifth spot in Seattle’s rotation, thus ending his streak of 10 consecutive Opening Day starts.  There appears to be some hard feelings on Hernandez’s part about missing the opener, admitting to reporters that he was upset about the decision, though adding “I’ve got no comment to that,” when asked to give further details.
  • Mariners rookie right-hander Gerson Bautista left today’s game after suffering an injury to his upper arm and/or pectoral muscle.  (MLB.com’s Greg Johns was among those to report the details.)  There’s no word yet on the severity of the injury, though Bautista left the mound in visible discomfort.  Bautista was part of the trade package acquired from the Mets as part of the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz trade, and the 23-year-old has been making a good case to win a bullpen job during an impressive spring.
  • Top Angels prospect Jo Adell will be out of action for 10-12 weeks after suffering both a Grade-2 right ankle sprain and a Grade-1 left hamstring strain, the team announced (Twitter link).  Adell was a consensus top-14 prospect in preseason top-100 rankings, with Baseball Prospectus going as far as to rank Adell as the second-best prospect in all of baseball.  The outfielder was expected to begin the year at Double-A, though Adell will now be force to miss a a big chunk of his third pro season.
  • Tyler Skaggs missed today’s scheduled Cactus League outing due to forearm fatigue, Angels manager Brad Ausmus told reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group).  As worrisome as any forearm issue is for a pitcher with Skaggs’ Tommy John history, the injury doesn’t appear to be too serious — Skaggs merely overworked himself while experimenting with a new pitch.  An MRI revealed no problems, and Skaggs is expected to be back on the mound in a few days’ time.  (A follow-up tweet from Fletcher even showed a picture of Skaggs playing catch after his start was shelved.)

NL Notes: Uecker, McCann, Cubs, Braves, Pache, Conforto

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Few people in baseball are as well-liked as legendary Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker, and he garners so much respect within the team’s clubhouse that the players voted Uecker for a full share of playoff money from their NLCS run last season, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes.  Uecker will divide the full $123K amount amongst four charities, and was humbled to receive such a gesture.  “I would never keep the money, but I sure appreciated what they did.  I’m proud of that. When I talked to them about it, they said, ’Ueck, that was no big deal. You were part of that.’ Still, I was shocked when they did it,” Uecker said.

Some more from around the National League…

  • The Cubs made an offer to Brian McCann this offseason that was worth more than the one-year, $2MM deal that McCann eventually received from the Braves, The Athletic’s David O’Brien reports (subscription required).  The money wasn’t the primary factor in McCann’s choice, however, as the catcher wanted to either return to the Astros or to the Braves, his original team.  It doesn’t seem that any other suitors were given serious consideration, as McCann “had no interest in being a hired gun and going elsewhere to play what could be the final season of his career,” O’Brien writes.  Between this item and reports from earlier today that the Cubs had interest in Martin Maldonado, it seems as if Chicago was a quiet player in the catching market this offseason.  Willson Contreras is the incumbent starter, though the Cubs are looking for more depth beyond Victor Caratini and minor league signing Francisco Arcia.
  • Also from O’Brien’s piece, he mentions that Braves prospect Cristian Pache received trade interest from rival teams this winter as part of a larger profile on Pache.  It would’ve been surprising, frankly, if Atlanta hadn’t gotten calls on the 20-year-old outfielder, given Pache’s emergence as one of the team’s (and baseball’s) most intriguing young players.  Though he hit only a modest .279/.307/.410 over 495 combined PA in A-ball and Double-A last season, Pache is beginning to show more power potential, as evidenced by some big numbers in Atlanta’s Spring Training camp.  If Pache can develop into even a passable hitter at the MLB level, he’ll still have enormous value given his widely-touted speed, throwing arm, and defensive play.  Even prior to 2018, some Braves scouts considered Pache to be the organization’s best defensive outfielder, ahead of even Ender Inciarte or Ronald Acuna.  Pache made his debut in the preseason top-100 prospect lists, with varied assessments from MLB.com (who ranked him 37th), ESPN.com’s Keith Law (45th), Baseball Prospectus (62nd), Baseball America (85th).  The Marlins were one club known to have Pache on their radar, as he was on the short list of prospects Miami wanted from Atlanta as part of a J.T. Realmuto trade package.
  • Michael Conforto will stick to right field this season, Mets manager Mickey Callaway told Newsday’s Anthony Rieber and other media.  Over Conforto’s four MLB seasons, he has actually spent the least amount of action in right field (208 1/3 innings) of any of the three outfield spots, as he has 869 1/3 innings as a center fielder and 2045 innings in left field.  As per UZR/150 and Defensive Runs Saved, Conforto has struggled in center field but been solidly above-average in the corner outfield spots, so keeping in right field should enhance his overall value.  Conforto’s placement should provide some stability within a very in-flux Mets’ outfield situation, as Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo are slated to see much of the work in left field, with Nimmo, Keon Broxton, and Juan Lagares all in the mix in center field.  Veterans Carlos Gomez and Rajai Davis are also in camp, and there’s still a slim chance that Yoenis Cespedes could return from the injured list at some point in 2019.

No Extension Talks Between Tigers, Nick Castellanos

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“There’s been no talking” between the Tigers and Nick Castellanos’ representatives about a possible contract extension, the slugger told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News and other reporters.  Castellanos reiterated that he would love to spend the rest of his career in Detroit, and stated “I think both sides know a conversation would be welcome” about a long-term pact.

This isn’t the first time Castellanos has discussed his willingness to discuss an extension, and of course there’s still plenty of time before Opening Day (or beyond, if Castellanos is open to in-season negotiations) for the Tigers to begin talks.  That said, the Tigers have discussed extensions with Castellanos in the past, so the heretofore lack of negotiations just months before the right fielder is scheduled to hit free agency is rather telling.  Between the lack of talks and the months of trade rumors swirling around Castellanos, it certainly seems as if the Tigers see him more as a trade chip rather than as a building block of the next Detroit contender.

Though Castellanos is still young (he turned 27 earlier this week) and has hit a very solid .285/.336/.495 over the last three seasons, he has thus far been a bat-only player over his first six years in the big leagues.  Despite posting a 121 wRC+ and OPS since 2016, Castellanos only has 7.0 fWAR total over those three seasons due to very poor glovework as both as third baseman and right fielder.  While Castellanos only became a full-time outfielder in 2018 and is athletic enough to potentially become at least passable defensively, the Tigers may not want to bet (in the form of a contract extension) on such an improvement until they actually see better results.  Detroit already has at least $162MM tied up in Miguel Cabrera through the 2023 season, and committing more money to Castellanos could result in a clog at the first base/DH positions if first base duty is eventually in Castellanos’ future.

This lack of defensive utility is of obvious concern to Castellanos as he approaches free agency, due to both the lack of free agent activity in general over the last two winters, and the particularly chilled market for first base/DH types.  However, Castellanos’ limitations have also been a reason why there hasn’t been too much trade interest in his services (of course, the Tigers’ reported high asking price is also clearly a major factor).

If there is a limited market for Castellanos as a both a future free agent and as a current trade chip, McCosky suggests that there could be some opportunity here for a shorter-term arrangement between the Tigers and Castellanos, perhaps from a starting point of a three- or four-year deal worth $10MM-$11MM per season.  Such a deal, as McCosky notes, would cover the end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, perhaps allowing Castellanos to enter free agency when the conditions are more favorable to a player of his profile.  Such a deal could be attractive to the Tigers as a relative bargain for a good hitter in his prime years, though if the club doesn’t really plan to start spending (and pushing to contend) until 2021, keeping Castellanos for two more seasons even at something of a discount might not fit Detroit’s plans.

Quick Hits: Cubs, Maldonado, Cedeno, M’s, Healy, Rox, Estevez

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The Cubs had interest in catcher Martin Maldonado before he agreed to join the Royals on Saturday, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports (subscription required). The presence of established starting catcher Willson Contreras worked against the Cubs in this instance, though, as Mooney hears Maldonado wanted to go to a team capable of offering him a solid amount of playing time. After losing out on Maldonado, the Cubs are still interested in bolstering their depth at catcher behind Contreras and Victor Caratini, Mooney hears.

  • Maldonado only ended up in Kansas City because starting catcher Salvador Perez needed Tommy John surgery – a procedure veteran Matt Wieters expects to become more commonplace for backstops. Wieters, who underwent the procedure in 2014 (the first time a starting catcher required the surgery since 1997), told Joel Sherman of the New York Post this week, “I think it is because more and more you are on the clock,” referring to the fact that teams are now timing catchers when they throw. “I am not sure that is a great way to go,” the Cardinals’ Wieters opines. Along with Perez and Wieters, the Red Sox’s Christian Vazquez and the Mets’ Travis d’Arnaud are the most prominent catchers who have undergone TJ surgery in recent years, Sherman notes.
  • With Kyle Seager battling a wrist injury, Ryon Healy has emerged as the Mariners’ top fallback option at third base, Greg Johns of MLB.com writes. Healy totaled over 100 games’ worth of action at the hot corner with the Athletics from 2016-17, but he barely played there last year with the Mariners, instead spending almost all of his time at first. The addition of Edwin Encarnacion has pushed Healy out of a starting spot there, however, and so did his subpar production in 2018. In his first year with the Mariners, Healy slashed an unimpressive .238/.277/.412 (90 wRC+) in 524 plate appearances, continuing his drop-off from an encouraging 2016 rookie campaign with the A’s.
  • Contrary to popular belief, Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez is not out of minor league options, Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets. Rather, the Rockies will be able to demote Estevez this season “based on complicated regulations regarding full seasons played and age at the time of signing,” Harding writes. That will afford the Rockies more flexibility in their bullpen, where it appeared they’d either have to keep Estevez or potentially lose him. The 26-year-old was a part of the group from 2016-17, but he struggled to a 5.36 ERA (though he did post a much better 4.08 FIP) with 9.27 K/9, 4.33 BB/9 and a 44.3 percent groundball rate across 87 1/3 innings. Thanks in part to oblique and elbow injuries, Estevez failed to appear in the majors last season.
  • Cubs reliever Xavier Cedeno is likely to miss the start of the season on account of a wrist injury, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. It doesn’t seem overly serious, though, as Cedeno’s only expected to sit out the next seven to 10 days. Cedeno, whom the Cubs signed to a minor league contract in February, had been competing for a bullpen spot after several productive seasons divided among the Astros, Nationals, Rays, White Sox and Brewers. Over 175 1/3 innings, the 32-year-old southpaw has logged a 3.69 ERA/3.80 FIP with 8.91 K/9, 3.54 BB/9 and a 50.4 grounder percentage, and has held same-sided hitters to a weak .218/.285/.298 line.

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