We’ve been tracking the day’s arbitration decisions in the run-up to tonight’s deadline, which has produced a bevy of last-minute calls. In addition to those already covered elsewhere (with all projected salary figures from MLBTR/Matt Swartz projections) …
- The Padres announced they have non-tendered Miguel Diaz and Pedro Avila. Neither hurler had yet been eligible for arbitration, so this amounts to no more than a roster cleanup. Avila had already been designated for assignment. Diaz, meanwhile, saw extensive action as a Rule V pick in 2017 but has only sporadically logged MLB time since.
- Relievers Javy Guerra and Koda Glover were non-tendered by the Nationals, per a club announcement. Guerra would have cost a projected $1.3MM. Glover announced earlier today that he would retire.
- The Red Sox non-tendered infielder Marco Hernandez and reliever Josh Osich, per a team announcement. Neither projected at big dollars — $700K and $1.0MM, respectively — but obviously the club felt it could put the roster spots to better use on other players.
- The Blue Jays have non-tendered relievers Derek Law and Jason Adam, along with backstop Luke Maile. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter) and Scott Mitchell of TSN (on Twitter) were on the news. Law projected at $1.3MM, while Maile was in line for a $800K payday. Adam is still pre-arb eligible.
- The Giants announced today that they have non-tendered outfielder Joey Rickard ($1.1MM projection), southpaw Tyler Anderson ($2.625MM), and righty Rico Garcia (pre-arb). Both Anderson and Garcia were claimed from the division-rival Rockies after the end of the 2019 season.
- In addition to other moves earlier today, the Braves have non-tendered catcher John Ryan Murphy and outfielder Rafael Ortega. Each provided depth down the stretch in 2019 for the Atlanta organization. Murphy would’ve been owed a projected $1.2MM, while Ortega remains shy of arbitration eligibility.
- A host of players were non-tendered by the Royals, per a club announcement. Righty Jesse Hahn was cut loose along with infielders Humberto Arteaga, Cheslor Cuthbert and Erick Mejia. Among these players, Hahn (projected $900K) and Cuthbert ($1.8MM) have the most MLB experience. With these 40-man trimmings, the K.C. org should be able to place some claims and/or make Rule 5 selections in the coming weeks.
- Righties Ian Gibaut and Wei-Chieh Huang are each heading to free agency after being non-tendered by the Rangers. Neither is anywhere near the service time needed for arbitration eligibility, so this was just an opportune time for the Texas org to drop them from the MLB roster.
PapiElf
I wouldn’t say that John Ryan Murphy was “depth” with the Braves. He only had one at bat in about two months.
antibelt
Minor league depth.
DarkSide830
*safety blanket
bencole
*solied blanket
bencole
*soiled blanket
commentinggenius
Aaron Hicks
R.D.
Calling John Ryan Murphy a non-catcher is pretty brutal.
bhambrave
I was thinking the same thing.
atxapex
Lmaaooooooo
Dag Gummit
And the ninja editors have fixed it without noting the mistake, apparently. Now it says “non-tendered catcher”.
Either own it or own up to it, MLBTR! 😀 ;D
DarkSide830
someone’s getting a good deal on Marco Hernandez.
pasha2k
Dark I agree. Marco did very well when played. I hope wherever he lands he gets to play.
Baseball 1600
Lol… sure
DarkSide830
he’s been pretty good when healthy. looked like a good replacement for Holt.
Jeff Zanghi
I agree — really kind of surprised and disappointed the Sox are letting him go just when he was starting to be healthy and productive again. I remember some years ago now but John Farrell talking about Hernandez and saying he wasn’t “just a utility guy” that his skill-level potential was that of an everyday player. Hope he winds up getting a chance to prove himself — or maybe wishful thinking — but winds up back with the Sox as a minor league FA — though for how cheap he was if they didnt feel he was worth that my guess is Bloom doesn’t feel the same way previous execs/coahces have about him previously. I think he has all the makings of a VERY solid Utilty guy wherever
bhambrave
Now that teams have open spots on their 40-man rosters, maybe we’ll see some mid-level free agents being signed.
Dag Gummit
Probably. Seems reasonable to expect more activity in general now that the tender deadline has past. Teams will be signing more FAs of all tiers, trading, and gearing up for the Rule 5 (coming up on December 12th).
DarkSide830
wait, since when was JR a “non-catcher?” pretty sure he is very much a catcher.
Dag Gummit
Typo that’s been corrected, perhaps? I don’t see it now. It says the Braves “non-tendered catcher John Ryan Murphy”
DarkSide830
that was the intention, yeah, but it was a very good typo.
Pingleja
I think Cuthbert will end up somewhere, Orioles perhaps
RedSox4Life4ever
Wasn’t Osich Bloom’s first trade acquisition? If so, kind of weird to trade for a guy and then nontender him.
Ashtem
It was a claim
Dotnet22
The Braves have non-catcher John Ryan Murphy. Finally a typo I can get behind.
southi
Not surprised at all that Murphy and Ortega were non tendered.
REALZWORDZ
JR Murphy is a decent backup catcher, I watched him develop in NY, until Romine outplayed him for the role. He should be picked up quick.
RobM
It wasn’t that Romine outplayed Murphy. JRM was traded for Aaron Hicks, which then opened the door for Romine, who was considered the lesser of the catching prospects. Your view of Murphy is no doubt influenced by his solid year with the Yankees in 2015. It looked like the launching point for a player who could be a starting MLB catcher, similar to another Yankee BUC, Francisco Cervelli. Instead, he regressed tremendously, hitting .183 with no power in 144 games spread over the past four seasons and three teams. I wouldn’t mind if he returned, but only on a minor league deal as depth to store down in AAA.
RoyalsFanAmongWolves
I’m really sad about Mejia. I had high hopes for him after we traded for him. I just hope Dayton doesn’t sign junk pitching (like wily peralta)
Bjoe
You know Dayton will hit up the bargain bin for pitching!
Jeff Zanghi
wow why would the Red Sox non-tender Marco Hernandez!? that’s a big surprise to me and a bit of a disappointment. I really thought he looked good last year after working his way back from multiple injuries. And they’re short on Utilty/INF depth with Brock Holt probably leaving via FA — I really thought Marco was going to be the replacement for him. I know he’s just a utility guy but I’ve got to say as a Red Sox fan I’m really disappointed to see him go (barring that they bring him back on a new minor league deal)
commentinggenius
It’s okay Jeff 🙂
AtlSoxFan
More surprising aspect is releasing 2b depth when pedroia is such a question mark (which is to say getting ANYTHING from him would be a nice bonus.)
Marco’s salary wasn’t much above a league minimum, meaning they must have other plans… Likely chavis and dalbec at 2b/1b, but, depth over 162 is nice…
User 4245925809
Hernandez did rack up 3y of MLB sevice time, mostly from being on the DL list and not playing 2017-18. Don’t forget Tzu-Wei-Lin is around and he’s only 25, out of options, plays more positions with a better glove at each than does Hernandez play.
Lin is about to get his chance at a full season job finally and show if can consistently hit at the MLB level and don’t forget he can also fill in at CF and has speed.
giantsphan12
I’m sure I’m missing something….please inform me: why would Zaidi claim Anderson and Garcia off waivers after the season concluded but then non-tender them?
Sadler
He’s looking more and more like Jerry Dipoto every day. Make as many moves as you possibly can because the law of averages dictates at least some of them will be good.
giantsphan12
Sadler, you’re right. But a few of his 40 moves worked out last year (including his Pillar trade). But these two guys got picked up, then non-tendered before he could even look at them. I don’t get it…
pustule bosey
yeah i expected Anderson to stick for a bit- unless there have already been talks behind the scenes with other rotation guys we don’t know about
spooky
Claiming players to just non-tender them? Back off the caffeine Farhan.
commentinggenius
Claiming to prevent an outright assignment. Ended up making that player a free agent
spooky
Really
commentinggenius
Probably, with numerous other considerations. Come on they’re mlb execs
geg42
Don’t waiver claims cost the team money? Or is that just rule 5 picks?
+1 on confusion over these moves.
Sadler
The Giants didn’t tender Kevin Pillar either.
spooky
I’m starting to question if Zaidi is consistent and patient enough to be a successful head of baseball ops. It seems he likes the new flavor of the week too much and moves on from players to chase something else.
coldbeer
Jays keep Drury????? Why?
clabberty
Why not? May as well give him another year – they won’t be contenders
disgruntledreader 2
Rule V, Jeff?
Really?
jimmertee
The Jays non-tendered Derek Law. That would make two supposed assets they got from San Fran for Pillar now gone.
They haven’t had a decent center fielder that could play everyday since Pillar left. Pillar by the way was 1 war with 21 Hr’s and 88 Rbis. and .735 Ops. Not a bad 2019.
The Jays received Law, Alan Hanson and the lottery ticket De Paul who will likely never make the big leagues. Who is going to hold Shapiro/Atkins accountable for yet another bad decision?
coldbeer
Jays would be non tendering him also if he was still on the team. They got a lottery ticket and a couple of bodies to get thru a rebuilding year at least.
jdgoat
It’s faux outrage. Nobody actually thinks like that poster. Probably just trying to get a rise out of people.
its_happening
Not really.
Pillar may have been non-tendered by the Jays. If keeping Pillar meant trading Grichuk in July without that extension I would have rather taken that route.
Instead the Jays traded their CF the first week of April. First week!! Idiocy. The trade was bad, ill advised and it set in-motion more baseball incompetency through the Grichuk extension. Jays gained nothing and took a step back.
jimmertee
Yup. Can you see an elite GM or baseball man make these kinds of moves???
Bob McCowan used to have a saying, he would call something like the BlueJays mgmt Alfonse and Gaston.
RobM
Ok surface numbers for Pillar, but 1 WAR from a starting CFer is actually quite bad. WAR awards bonus points to CFers just by standing out there, so that means Pillar eroded those bonus points by playing! It appears Pillar’s once-great fielding skills are in rapid decline. The Blue Jays wouldn’t be keeping him either if he was still with them. No loss here.
jimmertee
It s all relative. In case you hadn’t noticed the Jays 2019 Cf’s were Hernandez, Grichuk, Alford, Davis, and Derek Fisher who was supposed to be the answer – yah right.
As a former manager, I wouldn’t want to pencil any of these guys in at the moment, save Alford and give him a half season to figure it out.
Otherwise Pillar is an easy decision over all these guys in center. All I am saying is trading Pillar was a stupid trade. The lottery ticket they got for Pillar will never make the big leagues. And the trade left a giant hole in the big league club that wasn’t going to be filled by Atkin’s fantasy players.
jimmertee
BY the way Juan De Paula is (9.17 ERA in 52 innings at low-A Lansing). As I recall I said he would never make the bigs at the time of the trade.
The Jays professional scouting is awful.
jdgoat
Way to go out on a limb. Must’ve been real hard to predict an unranked prospect isn’t gonna make the big leagues. And one that was traded for a mediocre at best player who ALSO GOT NON TENDERED.
You sure got your head wrapped around the inner workings of baseball like always.
GothamGuy
there’s no two ways about it, the NY Mets need to sign Kevin Pillar !!
braves fan since 1968
Ortega out of options
why he was not DFA
He was the last brave to hit a grand slam this year.
clabberty
I’d aim higher than him – he makes the odd great catch that other CFs could run down…
Eat'EmUpTigers
Who wins a 7 games series……the best 26 non tendered players or the 2020 opening day Tigers roster? I say non tendered team in 5 games
madmc44
Does the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement allow players to Defer compensation?
I ask that because someone like Mookie or Price or Sale don’t need $20 M to $32 M to live on and by deferring part of their contract @ a higher interest rate, until an agreed upon date,
could help the player and the team to stay under the Luxury Tax.
jmi1950
It doesn’t work that way. The Lux Tax is calculated on AAV. Total $$$ divided by yrs. This prevents teams from playing games with the Tax.
mushelbyman
thoughts??…if we get Josh Donaldson/another 3rd baseman, this will change
Best lineup configuration ( vs LHP)
Ronald Acuna CF – R
Ozzie Albies 2B – S
Freddie Freeman 1B – L
Adam Duvall – RF – R
Austin Riley – LF – R
Johan Camargo – 3B – S
Travis D’Arnaud – C – R
Pitcher
Dansby Swanson SS – R
Bench
Tyler Flowers – C
Ender Inciarte – CF
Nick Markakis – LF/RF
Backup Middle Infielder ???
2nd Backup Infielder/3rd Catcher
Best lineup configuration ( vs RHP)
Ronald Acuna – RF – R
Nick Markakis – LF – L
Freddie Freeman – 1B – L
Ozzie Albies – 2B – S
Johan Camargo – 3B – S
Dansby Swanson – SS – R
Tyler Flowers – C – R
Pitcher
Ender Inciarte – CF – L
Bench
Austin Riley – LF/3B/1B
Travis D’Arnaud – C
Adam Duvall – LF/RF
Backup Middle Infielder ???
2nd Backup Infielder/3rd Catcher