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Mets To Decline Options On Ramos, Frazier, Chirinos

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2:48pm: The Mets will also buy out their options on infielder Todd Frazier and catcher Robinson Chirinos, reports Tim Healey of Newsday. As with Ramos, neither decision is surprising. Both Frazier and Chirinos were acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline, albeit in separate transactions.

Frazier, 35 in February, batted .236/.302/.382 in 172 trips to the plate between Arlington and Queens in 2020. His one-year, $5MM deal included a $3.5MM salary in 2020 and a $1.5MM buyout on a $5.75MM option for the 2021 season. The Mets had a net $4.25MM decision on the slugger, but he’ll head out into the open market once again.

Chirinos, 36, had a $1MM buyout on a $6.5MM option for the upcoming 2021 campaign. Given this season’s dismal .162/.232/.243 performance between the two clubs (82 plate appearances), there was no way the Mets were going to pick him up at that salary.

1:40pm: The Mets are planning to decline their $10MM club option on veteran catcher Wilson Ramos, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. It’s anything but a surprise given Ramos’ lackluster tenure in Queens. He’ll be paid a $1.5MM buyout and head back to the open market in search of a new club.

Ramos, 33, was known to be an offense-first catcher when he signed with the Mets prior to the 2019 season, but his production never reached the levels the Mets likely expected of him. His 2019 campaign was solid, particularly for a catcher (105 wRC+), but Ramos’ two years as a Met resulted in a rather pedestrian .276/.339/.410 batting line through 679 trips to the plate.

Were Ramos a strong defensive backstop, that production would make him an excellent all-around catcher, but that hasn’t been the case for some time now. He registered bottom-of-the-scale framing metrics in his two years in Queens, and his -12 Defensive Runs Saved and 15.9 percent caught-stealing rate underscore the struggles he endured. That led to some drama with Noah Syndergaard, who reportedly requested that Tomas Nido catch his starts because of Ramos’ inadequacies as a receiver. The 122 stolen bases allowed by Ramos since 2019 are far and away the most in Major League Baseball; Yasmani Grandal’s 80 are the next-highest, though he’s also logged a solid 29.2 percent caught-stealing rate in that time.

The defensive questions surrounding Ramos will complicate his market this winter, although when he’s at his best at the plate, he’s proven to be one of the more productive bats the game has to offer at the position. From 2016-19, Ramos made two All-Star teams and logged a combined .294/.346/.463 slash with 62 home runs and 72 doubles in 1687 plate appearances.

Justin Turner Tests Positive For COVID-19

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2:30pm: Major League Baseball announced that it will conduct an investigation into Turner’s violation of health-and-safety protocols and implied that he could be disciplined. The league’s press release reads:

Immediately upon receiving notice from the laboratory of a positive test, protocols were triggered, leading to the removal of Justin Turner from last night’s game. Turner was placed into isolation for the safety of those around him. However, following the Dodgers’ victory, it is clear that Turner chose to disregard the agreed-upon joint protocols and the instructions he was given regarding the safety and protection of others. While a desire to celebrate is understandable, Turner’s decision to leave isolation and enter the field was wrong and put everyone he came in contact with at risk. When MLB Security raised the matter of being on the field with Turner, he emphatically refused to comply.

The Commissioner’s Office is beginning a full investigation into this matter and will consult with the Players Association within the parameters of the joint 2020 Operations Manual.

MLB’s release adds that nasal swabs of the Dodgers’ entire traveling party were conducted, and the league again tested both the Dodgers and Rays this morning. Their travel back to their home cities is pending approval based on the results of those tests.

Oct.28, 8:30am: Turner joined his teammates on the field after the game, celebrating with the Commissioner’s Trophy and taking part in the team photo.  According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, “league officials, league security personnel and some Dodgers officials spoke with Turner, asking him to remain in isolation” in the wake of his positive COVID-19 test, but Turner “was adamant about wanting to join the celebration.”

Speaking about Turner after the game, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters “I think the people who were around him were the people that would be in the contact tracing web anyway, which is how closely a lot of us have been around each other.  Now I think subsequent tests we’re going to take are really important to figure out what we do and to make sure any of us that are potentially positive do not spread it to other people.”

In regards to Turner’s positive result, his Monday test was inconclusive, which the league didn’t learn until the second inning of Game 6 due to a delay in receiving the results.  The league then asked for a quick turn-around for Turner’s test from yesterday, and when that test showed COVID-19 positive, the Dodgers were informed and Turner was taken out of the game.  Since “inconclusive results are not uncommon,” Rosenthal said league officials were hesitant to immediately remove Turner from the game without confirmation.

Oct. 27: The Dodgers just knocked off the Rays to win their first World Series since 1988, but the victory did come with some bad news. Third baseman Justin Turner exited the Dodgers’ Game 6 win early because of a positive COVID-19 test, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report. The Dodgers replaced Turner with Edwin Rios in the eighth inning.

First and foremost, the hope is that Turner will overcome the illness. The 35-year-old had another great regular season for the Dodgers, batting .307/.400/.460 with four home runs in 175 plate appearances, before totaling three playoff HRs and hitting .320/.346/.720 in the World Series.

As we head into the offseason, it’s unclear whether Turner will play for the Dodgers again. He’s set to enter the winter as one of the top infielders available in free agency, so there should be plenty of interest in him if he’s healthy.

Nationals Decline 2021 Options On Four Players

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The Nationals have declined their 2021 options on right fielder Adam Eaton, right-hander Anibal Sanchez, first baseman Eric Thames and infielder/outfielder Howie Kendrick, per a club announcement. Eaton’s five-year, $23.5MM deal contained club options for the 2020 season ($9.5MM) and the 2021 season ($10.5MM with a $1.5MM buyout). The Nats picked up his 2020 option last winter but will buy him out on the heels of a woeful season at the plate.

Sanchez’s two-year, $19MM deal with the Nats contained a $12MM club option with a $2MM buyout. Thames signed a one-year, $4MM deal last winter — one that came with a $4MM mutual option and a $1MM buyout. Kendrick’s $6.25MM deal with the Nats came with a $4MM salary in 2020 but a hefty $2.25MM buyout on a $6.5MM mutual option for 2021. All four players will be paid those buyouts and head back to the open market.

Eaton, 32 in December, was acquired in the blockbuster trade that sent pitching prospects Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning to the White Sox — all three of whom started games for the South Siders in 2020. Giolito has emerged as one of the game’s best young pitchers since the trade, but the others have yet to solidify themselves as consistent arms. (Dunning will surely get that chance in 2021.)

While Eaton’s time with the Nats ended with a whimper — he batted just .226/.285/.384 in 2020 — he was a key member of 2019’s World Series roster. Eaton appeared in 151 games with the Nats in that championship season, batting .279/.365/.428 with 15 homers, 25 doubles, seven triples and 15 steals. He had a quiet postseason before breaking out to go 8-for-25 with a pair of homers and four walks during the 2019 World Series.

From 2014-19, Eaton batted .289/.367/.423 with 51 homers, 133 doubles, 37 triples and 74 steals, and any club that signs him this winter will hope for a return to that level of productivity. He’s never won a Gold Glove — he very arguably should have in 2016 — but Eaton has a solid defensive reputation in right field. He’s unlikely to return to those 2016 heights that saw him log 27 Defensive Runs Saved and an 18.5 Ultimate Zone Rating in right field, but Eaton has a solid track record of above-average power, speed and glovework that should appeal to clubs at something less than the one-year, $10.5MM price point on which the Nats passed.

Sanchez, 37 in February, improbably revitalized his career for a second act when he latched on with the 2017 Braves at the end of Spring Training. Sanchez parlayed a brilliant rebound campaign with the Braves into a two-year, $19MM deal in D.C. and, like Eaton, provided considerable value to the World Champs in 2019. That season saw Sanchez rack up 166 innings of 3.85 ERA ball, and he went on to give the Nats 18 innings with a 2.50 ERA in the postseason — including a dominant, 7 2/3-inning scoreless effort against the Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLCS.

Unfortunately for Sanchez and the Nats, his 2020 season swung in the other direction. He pitched 53 innings and was tattooed for a 6.62 ERA in that time, but there’s no denying the crucial role he played in helping the Nats to their first World Series title.

Speaking of that World Series, Kendrick will go down in Nationals lore as perhaps the biggest hero of the whole season. His epic grand slam put away the Dodgers in the decisive Game 5 of the NLDS, and Kendrick again played savior when he banged what looked like a perfectly located pitch from Will Harris off the right foul pole to put the Nats on top over the Astros in Game 7 of the World Series.

Kendrick battled through injuries in his return to the Nats in 2020, however, taking just 100 plate appearances and posting a solid but unremarkable .275/.320/.385 slash in that time. Kendrick isn’t certain whether he’ll play again in 2020 or retire at this point, so he’ll take some time to ponder his future.

Thames inked a one-year deal with the Nats last winter but never really found his footing. He took 140 turns at the plate but managed only a .203/.300/.317 batting line in that small sample. The former KBO star slugged 72 homers in the three prior seasons with the Brewers, and he could fit on a club looking for a lefty bat that can platoon at first base or in the outfield corners. Given the scope of his 2020 struggles, he may need to earn his way onto a roster via a minor league deal, however.

D-backs Decline Options On Mike Leake, Hector Rondon, Junior Guerra

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The Diamondbacks are declining their 2021 options over right-handers Mike Leake, Hector Rondon and Junior Guerra, general manager Mike Hazen announced to reporters (Twitter link via Steve Gilbert of MLB.com). Leake’s five-year, $80MM contract (originally signed with the Cardinals) carried an $18MM club option with a $5MM buyout. Rondon’s one-year, $3MM deal included a $4MM club option that will instead be bought out for $500K. Guerra’s $3.5MM club option is being bought out for $100K, but he’ll remain under club control via arbitration.

Leake, who’ll turn 33 in a couple weeks, didn’t pitch in 2020 after becoming the first of several veterans to opt out of the season due to health and safety concerns. He made 10 starts for the D-backs in 2019 after coming over from the Mariners via trade, pitching to a 4.35 ERA with a 27-to-8 K/BB ratio in 60 innings.

Leake’s five-year deal didn’t at all go how the Cardinals envisioned — they ate a sizable portion of the deal to facilitate a trade to Seattle just a year and a half into the contract — but he was rather solid from 2017-19 under the deal. Leake made 94 starts in that time and logged a collective 4.19 ERA through 568 2/3 frames. He’s never been one to miss many bats, but Leake typically has excellent control and ranked sixth among all MLB pitchers in games started from 2011-19.

Rondon, once the Cubs closer, enjoyed a solid 2018-19 run with the Astros before scuffling through a disastrous 2020 season in Arizona. He tallied 20 innings of work but was clobbered for a 7.65 ERA in what will go down as his lone season with the team. In those 20 frames, Rondon yielded 17 earned runs on 25 hits (six homers) 11 walks with 23 strikeouts. He still has a career 3.49 ERA and 3.63 FIP even in spite of this year’s woeful results, so he should be able to get another look somewhere in 2021, his age-33 season — though it’d likely have to come on a non-guaranteed deal.

Guerra, who’ll turn 36 in January, notched a tidy 3.04 ERA in 23 innings this past season, although his 21-to-15 K/BB ratio and 5.03 SIERA tell another story. Guerra was a frequent contributor for the Brewers prior to signing in Arizona, as he pitched to a combined 3.78 ERA in 416 2/3 frames with Milwaukee from 2016-19. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a possible $2.8MM salary for Guerra via arbitration, and if the D-backs feel similarly, it’s not a surprise that they opted not to pay the full freight of his 2021 option.

Rockies’ Daniel Murphy Enters Free Agency

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Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy is officially a free agent, as per the MLB Players Association’s list of 147 players who entered free agency today now that the World Series is complete.  Murphy and the Rockies shared a $12MM mutual option for Murphy’s services in 2021, though it can probably be assumed that the Rox declined their side of the option, instead paying Murphy a $6MM buyout.

It was widely expected that Murphy wouldn’t be back for a third season in Colorado.  After signing a two-year deal worth $24MM in guaranteed money in December 2018, Murphy underwhelmed, hitting .269/.316/.426 with 16 homers over 610 plate appearances in 2019-20.  An early-season finger injury may have contributed to his problems in 2019, but Murphy simply hit poorly this season, finishing in the bottom five percentile of all batters in exit velocity, wOBA, and hard-hit ball rate.

Beyond Murphy’s own lack of production, his signing ranks as a particular miss for the Rockies considering that DJ LeMahieu (the player Murphy essentially replaced) immediately went on to deliver a pair of outstanding seasons with the Yankees.  While Josh Fuentes played well in an increasingly larger role at first base in 2020, it seems likely that Colorado will look for a more proven bat to fill the position this winter.

It wasn’t long ago that Murphy was a feared bat, finishing second in NL MVP voting in 2016 and delivering another All-Star season in 2017 (both years as a member of the Nationals).  Murphy will turn 36 on Opening Day 2021, however, and given his age and his decline over the last two seasons, he might be hard-pressed to find a Major League contract on the open market.

Tigers Interview Dave Clark, Sal Fasano, Mark Kotsay

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TODAY: The Tigers have another internal candidate in first base coach Dave Clark, as Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports (via Twitter) that Clark interviewed for the manager’s job last month.

OCTOBER 26, 5:44pm: Athletics quality control coach Mark Kotsay has also interviewed for the job in Detroit, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

5:32pm: The Tigers have discussed their managerial vacancy with Braves catching instructor Sal Fasano, Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets.

Now 49 years old, Fasano played for an array of teams during a major league career that spanned from 1996-2008. He finished his playing career as a .221/.275/.392 hitter before moving into the coaching ranks. Prior to joining the Braves’ staff, Fasano garnered managerial experience at multiple levels in the minors with the Blue Jays and Angels organizations. He earned Manager of the Year honors with the Jays’ Double-A affiliate in 2011.

Now, Fasano is among a slew of candidates who could succeed the retired Ron Gardenhire in Detroit. MLBTR’s 2021 Managerial Search Tracker has the complete list of names.

Mariners Decline 2021 Club Option On Kendall Graveman

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The Mariners have declined to exercise their $3.5MM club option on right-hander Kendall Graveman, as Graveman was listed by the MLB Players Association as one of 147 players who officially entered free agency today.  Graveman will instead receive a $500K buyout from the Mariners.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2018, Graveman didn’t pitch in the majors last season but returned to toss 18 2/3 innings for Seattle in 2020.  Graveman inked a one-year deal with the Mariners last offseason that paid him $1.5MM in salary for the 2020 season, as well as the $500K minimum in buyout money and the potential for $3MM more if the option was picked up.

The righty started his first two outings before heading to the injured list with what was originally described as neck spasms, but further examination revealed a benign bone tumor in Graveman’s cervical spine.  Despite that scary-sounding diagnosis, Graveman not only returned to the mound, but pitched well as a reliever in nine further games — a 3.60 ERA over those 10 relief frames, with three of his four runs allowed coming in one rough outing against the Giants.

Graveman has worked exclusively as a starter since the 2014 season, but his success as a reliever perhaps hinted at a new role for the 29-year-old (who turns 30 in December) going forward.  While a new team could still look into Graveman as a starter, he might also market himself as a multi-inning reliever or swingman on the open market.

Whether Graveman joins a new team is also in question, as 710 ESPN’s Shannon Drayer tweets that the Mariners have interest in bringing Graveman back on a new deal.  While Graveman’s injuries could quite possibly have led to Seattle declining his option under normal offseason conditions, the Mariners’ decision to punt on the extra $3MM to retain Graveman’s services is perhaps a hint about how the M’s (and other teams) will be cautious with any sort of borderline financial decision this winter in the face of 2020’s revenue losses.

Mariners Decline 2021 Club Option On Dee Strange-Gordon

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TODAY: Strange-Gordon appeared on the MLB Players Association’s list of players who became free agents today, indicating that the Mariners have officially bought out his 2021 option.

OCTOBER 27: It’s no surprise, but it appears the Mariners are set to part with infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon. They’ll move on from his $14MM club option for 2021 in favor of a $1MM buyout, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports.

After an effective run with the Marlins, with whom he posted 9.3 fWAR in three seasons, the Mariners acquired Strange-Gordon heading into 2018. The speedy Strange-Gordon didn’t offer the type of production the Mariners were hoping for, though, as he batted a meek .266/.293/.343 with seven home runs, 55 stolen bases and just 0.2 fWAR over 1,091 plate appearances as a member of the team. The 32-year-old did see time at both middle infield spots and in multiple outfield positions along the way, but he didn’t grade out especially well at any of them.

Assuming the Mariners do say goodbye to Strange-Gordon, he’ll become part of a second base class of free agents that’s low on great options after DJ LeMahieu. The Mariners, meanwhile, could stick with a combination of Dylan Moore, J.P. Crawford and Shed Long in their middle infield in 2021.

The 2020-21 Offseason Begins

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The most unusual season in baseball history is officially in the books, as the Dodgers notched a 3-1 victory in Game 6 last night to clinch the World Series.  It was the Dodgers’ first championship since 1988, and the drought felt particularly long given the team’s multiple postseason near-misses in recent years, most notably coming up short in both the 2017 and 2018 World Series.

The immediate aftermath of Game 6, however, focused equally on both the Dodgers’ triumph and the controversy surrounding Justin Turner’s positive COVID-19 test, which led to his removal in the eighth inning of last night’s game.  Much more will be written about Turner’s situation and MLB’s health protocols in the coming days and months, yet it serves as something of an ironic end to a season that will be forever defined by the coronavirus pandemic.

That same uncertainty over COVID-19 will spread into the offseason.  At the moment, Major League Baseball has little idea about how anything related to the 2021 season will proceed — how Spring Training will operate, when a new season will start, the length of said season (though a full 162-game schedule has been drafted), whether or not fans will be permitted to attend games, how the arbitration process will proceed, etc.  All these unknown factors will certainly impact how teams go about their normal offseason business, as it is widely expected that the large majority of clubs will look to limit or cut spending.  The threat of more labor unrest also hangs over the proceedings, as the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires after the 2021 season.

Amidst it all, MLB Trade Rumors will continue to provide full coverage of all baseball news in the coming months.  Our projected arbitration numbers are already live, and our annual Top 50 Free Agents list and Free Agent Prediction contest are both expected to be posted early next week.  You can also follow our ongoing Offseason Outlook series for a team-by-team breakdown of what each club may look to do this winter.

Here is a list of notable dates to monitor for offseason business…

Today: The beginning of a five-day period where teams and players must decide whether to exercise or decline contract options and opt-out clauses for the 2021 season.  All eligible free agents are officially now “free agents,” though they cannot sign with anyone but their current team for five more days.

NOVEMBER 1: The deadline for teams to issue qualifying offers (one-year, $18.9MM contracts) to eligible free agents, at 4pm CT.  Players issued qualifying offers then have ten days to decide on accepting or declining the QO.  For more on what this year’s qualifying offer market could look like, click here and here.

NOVEMBER 2: Free agency officially opens, five days after the conclusion of the World Series.

EARLY NOVEMBER: The GM Meetings take place, this year in virtual fashion rather than an in-person event for team general managers and front office staffers, as well as player agents.

NOVEMBER 20: Teams must finalize their 40-man rosters in advance of the Rule 5 Draft on December.  Any draft-eligible players within an organization who aren’t on a 40-man roster can be selected in the Rule 5 by another team.

DECEMBER 2: The deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.  A very large number of non-tenders are expected, as clubs look to save on payroll.

DECEMBER 6: The Winter Meetings are scheduled to take place in Dallas.  While no official word has been made, it is expected that the in-person Winter Meetings will be canceled, and some version of the event may take place online.

DECEMBER 10: The Rule 5 Draft.  Normally set for the final day of the Winter Meetings, the draft is expected to proceed as scheduled, just remotely.

JANUARY 15: The opening of the 2020-21 international signing period.  A new addition to the winter calendar, the international signing window was pushed back from its usual July 2 date due to the pandemic.  The 2020-21 signing period ends on December 15, 2021.  The 2021-22 int’l signing window also won’t begin on July 2, 2021, as that period has now been pushed to January 15, 2022-December 15, 2022.

JANUARY 15: The deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to submit their salary figures to the league, if a deal hasn’t been reached by this date.  Teams and players who can’t reach an agreement will go to an arbitration hearing to determine the player’s 2021 salary.  With teams increasingly deploying the “file and trial” strategy of using the arb deadline as a strict date for working out contracts, any unsettled arbitration situations by this point are likely to advance to a hearing, though teams and players can agree to a contract at any point prior to the hearing actually taking place (most hearings are held in February).

FEBRUARY 27: The first Spring Training games are scheduled to take place.  The actual opening of Spring Training camps should roughly begin two or three weeks prior, though that has yet to be determined.

APRIL 1: Opening Day

Marlins Exercise Club Option On Starling Marte

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TODAY: The Marlins have officially exercised Marte’s option, according to The Associated Press.

OCTOBER 18: During a conference call with reporters (including Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald) to discuss the departure of president of baseball operations Michael Hill, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter noted that the club is planning to exercise its $12.5MM club option on outfielder Starling Marte for the 2021 season.  The option contained a $1MM buyout.

Miami acquired Marte in a trade deadline blockbuster with the Diamondbacks that sent southpaw Caleb Smith, right-hander Humberto Mejia and minor league left-hander Julio Frias to Arizona.  Given the substantial trade return, it always seemed pretty likely that the Marlins would pick up Marte’s option rather than see him only as a rental player for the rest of 2020.

Still, with all of the economic uncertainty around baseball, there are only a few contract options that could be seen as 100 percent sure things this winter.  It is also noteworthy that the Marlins are the team making this decision, given their history of low payrolls.  Marte immediately becomes their highest-paid player and a symbol that the rebuilding in Miami could be coming to an end, even though if it’s probably safe to assume that the Marlins won’t be going on a spending spree just yet.

Marte’s first month in a Marlins uniform had mixed results, as he only hit .245/.286/.415 in 112 regular-season plate appearances.  The Fish did end up reaching the postseason, however, and Marte went 2-for-4 in the Marlins’ Game 1 victory over the Cubs in the wild card series.  Unfortunately for Marte, he was also hit by a pitch and suffered a hand fracture, sidelining him for the rest of the postseason.

Assuming no long-term effects from the injured hand, Marte will be ready to roll as Miami’s everyday center fielder in 2021.  The 32-year-old hit a combined .281/.340/.430 over 250 PA with the D’Backs and Marlins last season, and has been a consistently steady performer over his nine-year career, spent entirely in Pittsburgh prior to the 2020 campaign.

Marte’s original six-year, $31MM extension with the Pirates signed in 2014 contained club options for both 2020 and 2021, so with both options exercised, that contract will end up as an eight-year, $53MM pact.  Marte forfeited roughly $2.4MM of that sum during his 80-game suspension for a positive PED test in 2017, and the shortened 2020 season reduced Marte’s salary from $11.5MM to a little under $4.26MM.

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