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Players Opting Out Of The 2020 Season

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Several players have already elected to opt out of the 2020 MLB season. Those players that remain under team control for future seasons, whether or not by guaranteed contracts, will simply forgo salary and service this year (unless they are considered in an at-risk class) and then step back into their remaining contract situation.

We will keep track of those players that have opted out in this post and update it if any more join the list (links to post on decision):

Lorenzo Cain, OF, Brewers

Welington Castillo, C, Nationals

Yoenis Céspedes, OF, Mets

Tim Collins, RP, Rockies

Ian Desmond, OF, Rockies

Isan Diaz, IF, Marlins

Felix Hernandez, SP, Braves

Jordan Hicks, RP, Cardinals

Michael Kopech, SP, White Sox

Mike Leake, SP, Diamondbacks

Francisco Liriano, RP, Free Agent

Nick Markakis, OF, Braves (since opted back in)

Shelby Miller, SP/RP, Brewers

Collin McHugh, SP, Red Sox

Hector Noesi, RP, Pirates

Buster Posey, C, Giants

David Price, SP, Dodgers

Joe Ross, SP, Nationals

Tyson Ross, SP, Giants (released before decision was reported)

Kohl Stewart, SP/RP, Orioles

Marcus Stroman, SP, Mets

Mark Zagunis, OF, Cubs

Ryan Zimmerman, 1B, Nationals

Giants Add Jose Siri To Player Pool

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The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve added outfielder Jose Siri to their 60-man player pool. They claimed him off waivers out of the Mariners organization back in March, just days before the league shutdown began.

Siri, 24, spent the 2013-19 seasons in the Reds organization after signing as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic. At one point he was considered one of the Reds’ best prospects and landed on the back of FanGraphs’ Top 100 prospects list, but the shine has worn off him in recent years. Siri raked at a .293/.340/.531 clip with 24 homers and 46 stolen bases as a 21-year-old in Class-A back in 2017, but in the two seasons since that time he’s posted a disappointing .238/.297/.397 slash between Double-A and Triple-A.

Following that pair of unimpressive seasons, Siri was designated for assignment when Cincinnati signed Nick Castellanos to a four-year contract this past offseason. Now with the Giants, Siri is a ways down the outfield depth chart; Hunter Pence, Mike Yastrzemski, Alex Dickerson, Jaylin Davis, Austin Slater and Steven Duggar are all likely ahead of him. Veteran Billy Hamilton is also in the Giants organization, but he was recently placed on the injured list. The Giants have top prospects Heliot Ramos and Alexander Canario in Summer Camp as well, but Canario hasn’t played above Low-A while Ramos has just 25 Double-A games under his belt. Neither is an immediate option, though Ramos is regarded as one of the game’s more promising outfield prospects.

The Giants initially announced 51 players in their 60-man pool, though they’ve since seen Buster Posey opt out of the 2020 season and shuffled the deck a bit, adding a few groups of players while also placing some on the injured list (which, if done for coronavirus-related reasons, opens additional vacancies in the player pool).

Orioles Add Dean Kremer To Player Pool

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The Orioles announced Tuesday that they’ve added right-handed pitching prospect Dean Kremer to their 60-man player pool. He’s reporting to alternate training camp at the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate in Bowie, where he’ll be joined by righty Hector Velazquez, whom the club has optioned out of Summer Camp (per that same announcement). The O’s also put Richie Martin on the 60-day IL and removed him from their 60-man pool, which formally ends his season. Martin is set to undergo surgery to repair a broken wrist tomorrow.

Kremer, 24, was one of the pitchers acquired from the Dodgers in the trade that sent Manny Machado to Los Angeles. The former 16th-round pick had a solid year in 2019, reaching Triple-A and pitching to a combined 3.72 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 0.87 HR/9 and a ground-ball rate just shy of 40 percent. Kremer also showed quite well in the Arizona Fall League (five runs on 13 hits and four walks with 23 strikeouts in 19 innings), and he’s generally considered one of the better pitching prospects in the rebuilding Orioles’ system.

Kremer ranks 11th or better among Orioles farmhands at Baseball America, FanGraphs an MLB.com, and scouting reports on the 6’3″, 180-pound righty project him as a fourth/fifth starter. Given that he’s already reached Triple-A and is on Baltimore’s 40-man roster, it’s quite possible that Kremer will make his MLB debut in 2020.

Juan Lagares, Kyle Barraclough, Seth Frankoff Elect Free Agency

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The Padres announced Tuesday that a trio of veteran players have elected free agency. Outfielder Juan Lagares and right-handers Kyle Barraclough and Seth Frankoff are all returning to the open market and will now be free to sign with new clubs. None of the three had been included in San Diego’s player pool.

Lagares, 31, joined the Friars on a minor league pact back in February and, at least in the initial version of Spring Training, was seen as a legitimate candidate for the Opening Day roster. The organization’s thinking looks to have changed in the months since the March shutdown, and Lagares will now look for another club with interest in adding him to its player pool.

The longtime Mets outfielder posted a career-worst .213/.279/.326 batting line in 285 plate appearances last year, but Lagares remains a highly regarded defensive player who’d make a nice reserve option for any team with questionable outfield defense and/or an injury among the team’s starters. The Padres have a crowded outfield mix, however, and younger options they’d seemingly like to get a look at in this shortened season.

Barraclough, 30, was a quality late-inning arm with the Marlins from 2015-17, but he saw his production dip a bit in 2018 before completely cratering in 2019. In 33 2/3 frames between the Nationals and Giants last season, Barraclough was clobbered for 5.61 ERA thanks largely to allowing nine home runs in that short time. Control has always been an issue or Barraclough, who has averaged 5.5 walks per nine innings in the Majors, but he’s also never had a problem missing bats (11.4 K/9).

The 31-year-old Frankoff has just two Major League innings under his belt but is a veteran of eight minor league seasons and a pair of successful campaigns in the Korea Baseball Organization. Frankoff spent the past two seasons with the KBO’s Doosan Bears, pitching to a combined 3.68 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 in 266 2/3 frames (50 starts). Like Lagares and Barraclough, he joined the Padres on a minor league deal this winter in hopes of earning his way back to the big leagues with a strong camp showing, but he’ll now need to find another club to give him that opportunity.

Support MLBTR And Go Ad-Free

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For the past 15 years, virtually all of the revenue generated by this website came from banner ads.  Though ad rates had been dropping prior to 2020, we’ve also seen an increase in traffic to make up for it.  Free websites supported only by advertising seemed to be a thing of the past, but the model was working well enough for us.

Then COVID-19 hit, reducing MLBTR’s year-over-year traffic by over 40% since mid-March.  On top of that, ad rates decreased similarly.  In April, I wrote a post explaining our situation.  I was heartened by the response in the comments.  Many longtime readers urged me to create a way to support the website directly.

Given the devastation of COVID-19, the status of a baseball website is not high on anyone’s priority list.  We’ll be covering this strange 2020 MLB season with the same devotion we’ve had for hot stove news over the past 15 years.  The free, ad-supported MLBTR remains unchanged.  But for those regular readers who have the means and desire to support MLBTR directly, we’ve created Trade Rumors Front Office.

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Tyler Glasnow Returns To Rays’ Camp

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11:00am: Glasnow previously tested positive for COVID-19, thus explaining his absence, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to cover (Twitter links). Fortunately, he never experienced significant symptoms and has obviously now been cleared of the disease.

Glasnow says he fully expects to be ready for the Opening Day roster.

10:05am: Rays righty Tyler Glasnow finally appeared in Summer Camp today. Better still, he was able to take the hill in the team’s intrasquad game, as Juan Toribio of MLB.com covers on Twitter.

One of the highest-ceiling hurlers in all of baseball, Glasnow just might hold the key to the Rays’ hopes in 2020. The 26-year-old looked like an elite starter in an injury-shortened 2019 season, working to a 1.78 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 over 60 2/3 frames.

The big stuff was on display this spring, as Glasnow reemerged after offseason wrist surgery (which itself followed a lengthy layoff for a forearm strain). The hope was that the coronavirus pause would give Glasnow a chance to rest up fully in preparation for a 60-game sprint.

Anticipation met the realities of the covid world when Summer Camp opened and Glasnow was nowhere to be seen. We still don’t know what precipitated his absence, though answers could now be forthcoming.

With the delayed training, it’s fair to wonder whether Glasnow will be at full tilt when the season opens in just a week and a half. But the fact he is throwing multiple frames today suggests he has maintained a throwing program and is in good health. It’s a significant boon to the Rays’ outlook.

Red Sox Add 5 Prospects To 60-Man Pool

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The Red Sox have added five of their top prospects to the organization’s 60-man player pool, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter) and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter links). That leaves the organization with five remaining openings.

Infielder Jeter Downs, the club’s consensus top prospect, leads the way. He’ll report for Summer Camp along with outfielder Jarren Duran, southpaw Jay Groome, and righties Tanner Houck and Bryan Mata.

Every one of those players has a top-ten spot on the latest MLB.com Red Sox farm ranking, so it’s a significant infusion of organizational talent. The club obviously doesn’t expect any of these youngsters to crack the Opening Day roster, or they’d have been in camp already, but they’ll now have a chance to train at full throttle with the team’s other best players.

Though Downs is the most-awaited of the group — expectations are high after he came over in the Mookie Betts swap — it seems the two righties have the clearest near-term path to the majors. Houck reached Triple-A last year and Mata topped out at Double-A, so both are among the more advanced arms that could be called upon if a need arises.

Daniel Bard Has Chance To Make Rockies

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Talk about a comeback. Long-lost MLB reliever Daniel Bard may finally be turning the corner in his latest attempt to return to the highest level of the game. Per Nick Groke of The Athletic, via Twitter, Bard “seems to be pitching his way to opening day” after a nice appearance in the club’s Summer Camp.

By now, Bard’s tale is well-known. The former first-round pick was a high-grade reliever for the Red Sox. When the Boston organization elected to try him out as a starter, Bard developed a case of the yips that persisted throughout several prior comeback efforts. (MLBTR’s Steve Adams documented this all a bit more thoroughly in his post on Bard’s signing in Colorado.)

Bard last appeared in a big league game in April of 2013. He’s now 35 years of age. If he can pull off even a lone MLB appearance, this would rate as one of the least-likely career revivals we’ve ever seen.

To make that happen, Bard will have to show the Rox that he’s in good enough form to merit clearing a 40-man roster spot and a 30-man (initial) active roster place. Bard has left the club “very pleased” with his performance thus far, says Groke, though his three Spring Training appearances weren’t as successful. In 2 1/3 innings before the game went on ice, Bard had coughed up seven earned runs on five hits and three walks.

Marcus Stroman Discusses Pending Free Agency

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Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman is slated to become one of baseball’s most prominent free agents in a few months, though no one knows how the game’s economic landscape will look then in the wake of a 60-game season. Stroman discussed his upcoming trip to the open market over the weekend with Tim Healey of Newsday and other reporters. While Stroman is unsure of what the future holds, the 29-year-old is confident he’ll be one of the best pitchers available if he does get to the market.

“It will truly play out as it will play out,” Stroman said. “I should be one of the top arms. I believe I’m one of the youngest. I’m extremely healthy. I’m coming off a great year. So however it plays out I think it will play out.”

It’s hard to argue with any of that. Unlike last offseason’s free agency period that Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg headlined, next winter’s won’t feature any surefire aces. But the likes of Stroman, Trevor Bauer and Robbie Ray look young enough and effective enough to cash in on multiyear contracts.

Stroman, who debuted in 2014 and has spent almost all of his career with the Blue Jays, has typically kept runs off the board at a nice clip. If there’s one clear negative, it’s that Stroman has never been any kind of strikeout artist.  However, he has offset that by inducing a boatload of groundballs and limiting walks to a respectable degree.

Last year between Toronto and New York, Stroman combined for 184 1/3 innings – his most since a 201-frame effort in 2017 – and logged a 3.22 ERA/3.72 FIP with 7.76 K/9, 2.83 BB/9 and a 53.7 GB rate. For the most part, those numbers don’t stray too far from Stroman’s career figures. Stroman, though, is convinced he has even more in the tank, saying, “I truly believe my best years are ahead of myself.”

We’ll see if that proves to be the case during a shortened 2020, and whether Stroman does enough to convince the Mets to make a serious run at bringing him back. Owing in part to Stroman’s pending free agency, the Mets’ rotation will head into next winter facing quite a bit of uncertainty behind all-world ace Jacob deGrom. They’ll have a decision to make on Tommy John patient Noah Syndergaard’s roughly $9.7MM arbitration salary (odds are they’ll tender him, but the coronavirus has perhaps made that less of a sure bet), while Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha are due to join Stroman in free agency.

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