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Archives for March 2022

Rangers To Sign Martin Perez

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The Rangers have agreed to terms on a contract with free-agent lefty Martin Perez, reports FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). It’s a one-year, $4MM contract for Perez, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman adds. Perez, a client of Octagon, will return to the organization that originally signed and developed him. He made his big league debut with Texas in 2012 and spent the next seven seasons with the Rangers.

Perez, 31 next month, spent the 2019 season with the Twins and was with the Red Sox in 2020-21 before returning to Texas. In his three years away from his original club, the southpaw turned in 341 1/3 innings of 4.88 ERA ball with rather pedestrian strikeout (18.4%), walk (8.7%) and ground-ball (44.9%) rates. Boston declined a $6MM club option in favor of a $500K buyout on Perez after the 2021 season.

Once lauded as one of the sport’s premier pitching prospects, Perez has instead settled in as a back-of-the-rotation starter. Those 2019-21 rates represented a slight uptick over his career strikeout rate and a slight downgrade over his career ground-ball rate, but generally speaking, Perez’s output in three years away from Texas was roughly in line with his lifetime numbers at the big league level. He doesn’t necessarily work deep into starts, but Perez has avoided the injured list for the past three seasons, with the exception of a brief absence this past summer following a positive Covid-19 test. He’ll give the Rangers some needed stability at the back of a starting staff that was — and still is — in need of multiple arms.

Perez will join fellow offseason signee Jon Gray and right-hander Dane Dunning as one of the only three locks in the Texas rotation. Lefty Taylor Hearn could get another look, depending on other moves that are made, but he was hit hard in limited work out of the rotation while thriving in the bullpen this past season. Right-hander A.J. Alexy had a big year in the upper minors but a tepid 4.70 ERA in 23 big league frames. Prospects Spencer Howard and Glenn Otto, acquired at the trade deadline, both were hit hard in their brief MLB looks. Right-hander Yerry Rodriguez and southpaw Brock Burke are both on the 40-man roster but were both ineffective in Triple-A this past season.

Put another way, Perez figures to be one of multiple arms acquired by the Rangers, whether via free agency or trade. Texas has been strongly linked to hometown star Clayton Kershaw, and the general belief is that Kershaw will either return to the Dodgers this winter or sign with the Rangers to be close to his family. The Rangers are also known to be keenly interested in A’s first baseman Matt Olson, and Oakland has several arms who could be on the trade block alongside their All-Star first baseman (Sean Manaea, Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas).

The Rangers’ hope is surely that 2021 No. 2 overall pick Jack Leiter and 2019 first-rounder Cole Winn — two of the sport’s most promising arms — will be able to factor into the big league rotation sooner than later. That may not be the case until 2023, however, so the veteran Perez will give them a bridge to those younger arms. His $4MM salary is a mere footnote in what’s been a massive offseason of spending for president of baseball operations Jon Daniels and general manager Chris Young. Texas has also signed Corey Seager (10 years, $325MM), Marcus Semien (seven years, $175MM), Gray (four years, $56MM) and Kole Calhoun (one year, $6.2MM), bumping their projected payroll to just under $134MM. That’s a notable increase from the past couple seasons but still a good bit shy of 2017’2 franchise-record $165MM payroll.

Cubs Extend Manager David Ross

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The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve signed manager David Ross to a contract extension that runs through the 2024 season and contains a club option for the 2025 campaign. Ross had been set to enter the final guaranteed season of his previous contract (although the team did hold a 2023 club option over him).

The team could have and quite likely did discuss the possibility of a new contract throughout the lockout. Ross told reporters back in October that he and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had begun some “preliminary” discussions on a new contract. The general expectation throughout the offseason was that a Ross extension was little more than a formality. The organization has been quite happy with Ross’ leadership, even after a losing 2021 season. The Cubs went 71-91 last year, although the July dismantling of the team’s longstanding core played an obvious role in that poor record.

Ross, 45 next week, is entering his third season as the Cubs’ manager. He was plenty familiar with the organization and the front office before ever taking on the role, having spent the final two seasons of his playing career (2015-16) as the Cubs’ backup catcher. Ross garnered the nickname “grandpa” as the team’s elder statesman during those final seasons and earned the respect of many of the players he eventually wound up managing years later.

After last summer’s fire sale, it’s easy to forget that the Cubs not only made the expanded postseason field in 2020 but did so by winning the National League Central with a 34-26 showing. That proved to be another postseason exit for a club that never really developed into the dynasty many expected on the heels of the organization’s 2016 World Series title. Former president of baseball ops Theo Epstein stepped down after the season, giving way to longtime GM Hoyer as the Cubs embark in something of a transitional period.

The current retooling hasn’t resembled the complete teardown the Cubs went through a decade ago. Chicago kicked off its offseason by claiming veteran starter Wade Miley off waivers, and the Cubs have since further fortified their rotation by adding Marcus Stroman on a three-year contract. It’ll still quite likely be a team populated by young and/or inexperienced players, as the team looks toward establishing the nucleus of another perennial contender. Whether that includes another free-agent splash or simply allowing unproven but controllable players the chance to cement their place on the roster (e.g. Nico Hoerner, Frank Schwindel, Adbert Alzolay, etc.), it seems the front office and ownership are in agreement that Ross’ voice is the steadying presence they’d like to shepherd the group as the roster turns over from the Kris Bryant/Javier Baez/Anthony Rizzo era.

Phillies Hire Sean Rodriguez As Player Development Instructor

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Veteran utilityman Sean Rodriguez is taking on a new job, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports that Rodriguez has been hired by the Phillies as a player development instructor.  The move brings an end to the 36-year-old Rodriguez’s playing career after 18 professional seasons, including parts of 13 Major League seasons from 2008-20.

Rodriguez hit .226/.301/.379 with 81 homers over 2913 MLB plate appearances.  Originally a third-round pick for the Angels in the 2003 draft, Rodriguez went on to play for six different teams in the bigs, with the majority of his 1103 career games coming with the Rays (553 games) and Pirates (384 games).

No matter the uniform, Rodriguez made himself valuable due to his ability to play virtually anywhere on the diamond.  Second base was the most common of his many positions, though Rodriguez made at least 27 appearances at every position except catcher and pitcher throughout his career, and he even made a couple of mop-up appearances as a reliever in 2019.

Those two mound appearances came when Rodriguez was a member of the Phillies in 2019, as he played 76 games with the club and hit .223/.348/.375 with four home runs over 139 PA.  One of those homers made Rodriguez something of an infamous figure among Philadelphia fans, Zolecki notes.  Rodriguez hit a walkoff home run to lift the Phils to a 6-5 win over the Pirates on August 26, 2019, though in a postgame interview, Rodriguez described Phillies fans as “entitled.”

Discussing the incident with Zolecki, Rodriguez said that “Philly fans are just as passionate about baseball as I am.  I was doing my best to try to defend two stars on our team, seeing if I couldn’t alleviate some pressure on them.  It is a little funny that I’m back, but Phillies fans are passionate and I’m a passionate player.”

Rodriguez moved on from Philadelphia to sign a minor league deal with the Marlins in the 2019-20 offseason, and he played four games with Miami during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.  Rodriguez’s time on the Marlins’ big league roster was further limited by an extended stint on the injured list, as Rodriguez joined many other Miami players in being sidelined by a COVID-19 outbreak in the clubhouse.

Rodriguez will now move into the next phase of his baseball career on the instructional side, operating at the Phillies’ camp in Clearwater year-round and working with the organization’s minor leaguers on infield work and baserunning.  We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Rodriguez on a fine playing career and we wish him the best in his new role.

Cardinals Sign Drew VerHagen To Two-Year Deal

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The first Major League free-agent signing following the MLB lockout went to an unexpected player, as the Cardinals announced Friday that they’ve signed right-hander Drew VerHagen to a two-year contract. VerHagen, a client of ISE Baseball, spent the past two seasons pitching in Japan. He’ll reportedly be guaranteed a total of $5.5MM — $2.5MM in 2022 and $3MM in 2023. He can further boost his earnings via incentives.

While the 31-year-old VerHagen probably wasn’t predicted by many as the first post-lockout domino to fall, he’ll head back to the big leagues not only on a guaranteed contract but on a multi-year arrangement. The 6’6″ righty struggled for much of his six seasons with the Tigers, pitching to a 5.11 ERA over the life of 199 big league frames. His two-year stint overseas changed his fortunes, however, as VerHagen broke out as a key member of the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ bullpen.

In two seasons with the Fighters, VerHagen notched a 3.51 ERA in 2017 1/3 innings while punching out a quarter of his opponents against a strong 7.2% walk rate. He’s long had decent velocity (94 mph average) on his sinker and has a track record of inducing grounders at a high rate (53.9% in the Majors) — which fits in well with the Cardinals’ otherworldy infield defense.

Broadly speaking, the Cardinals have a track record in signing players out of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and the Korea Baseball Organization — both in terms of former big leaguers making a return and established NPB/KBO stars making their first jump to MLB. The Cardinals’ 2017 signing of Miles Mikolas (two years, $15.5MM) proved one of the better return pickups in recent memory, and KBO lefty Kwang Hyun Kim spent the past two seasons as a key member of the St. Louis pitching staff after signing at two years and $8MM. VerHagen is the latest to follow that path on a big league deal, though the Cards’ January signing of righty Aaron Brooks to a minor league contract could eventually enter that fold.

VerHagen worked out of the rotation with the Fighters, and Cards president of baseball operations John Mozeliak suggested today he’ll compete for a starting job in St. Louis as well (Twitter link via Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat). That said, a bullpen spot seems easier to carve out, given the already crowded nature of the team’s starting staff. The Cardinals’ rotation includes Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Mikolas and lefty Steven Matz, who inked a four-year, $44MM deal earlier in the offseason. The Cards also have prospects Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson working their way toward the Majors, plus depth options like Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo.

The addition of VerHagen gives them a potential long relief and spot-start option, but he could also find his way into a late-inning role if he can maintain some of his overseas success. Giovanny Gallegos is the current favorite to close games for newly minted manager Oliver Marmol, and there’s plenty of talent throughout the rest of the bullpen mix. Alex Reyes and Jordan Hicks have both closed games in the past, while Genesis Cabrera and veteran T.J. McFarland give the Cards a pair of solid left-handed options. It’s quite possible the Cards will make further bullpen additions, as they’ve been connected to higher-profile relievers such as Joe Kelly and Ryan Tepera throughout the duration of the lockout.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the agreement and the terms.

Bryan Reynolds Turned Down Extension Prior To 2021 Season

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Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds turned down multiple extension offers prior to the 2021 season, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald (Twitter links). News of rebuffed extension efforts will only serve to further trade speculation surrounding Reynolds, though the Bucs surely have a sky-high asking price, as he’s emerged as their best player and can be controlled via arbitration for another four years.

Reynolds recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he didn’t talk about a long-term deal between the end of the 2021 season and MLB’s implementation of the lockout that froze transactions for 99 days, although that shouldn’t be taken as an indication that the Pirates have given up hope of signing him, even in light of today’s report from Mish. Extension talks are often reserved for Spring Training, with teams preferring to spend the bulk of the offseason exploring free agent and trade possibilities. The Pirates explored a possible extension with Reynolds prior to the 2020 season as well, though those talks obviously proved unfruitful as well.

Mish adds, as he’s previously reported in the past, that the Marlins still hold keen interest in prying Reynolds from Pittsburgh, and longtime Marlins beat writer Joe Frisaro tweets the same — that Reynolds remains a target for GM Kim Ng and her staff now that the lockout has lifted. They won’t be the only team with interest, of course, as there are several other teams in the hunt for outfield upgrades. The Yankees, Astros, Angels, Braves, Brewers and Mariners have all unsuccessfully tried to trade for Reynolds over the past year alone, and there are undoubtedly other clubs who’ve done so more quietly. The Phillies, Guardians and White Sox are all expected to pursue outfield help in this second wave of offseason activity.

[Related: Post-Lockout Impact Trade Candidates]

Realistically, the list of teams without any interest in trading for Reynolds is likely shorter than the list of teams who’d like to add him to their outfield mix. The switch-hitting 27-year-old finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2019 after posting a huge .314/.377/.503 batting line with 16 home runs, 37 doubles and four triples. He followed that with the quintessential “sophomore slump” in 2020’s shortened season (.189/.275/.357), but that came in a small-ish sample of just 208 plate appearances. Reynolds not only rebounded in 2021 but turned in his best year yet, batting .302/.390/.522 with 24 homers, 35  doubles and a league-leading eight triples. That 2020 flop looks like an aberration at this point, and Reynolds’ overall line .290/.368/.490 in 1400 big league plate appearances is immensely tantalizing for any club seeking outfield upgrades.

Of course, it’s also tantalizing for the Buccos to keep Reynolds and hope to build around him moving forward. Teams will undoubtedly try to persuade the Pirates to part ways with their newest star, but the Pirates’ rebuild is well underway and Reynolds will still be in his prime as prized prospects like Oneil Cruz, Henry Davis, Liover Peguero, Nick Gonzales and others percolate up to the Majors. The Pittsburgh farm is already ranked third in the game by the team at Baseball America, third by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and sixth by Keith Law of The Athletic. That system will be further bolstered when Pittsburgh picks fourth overall in this summer’s draft. Eventually, the Pirates will need to shift their focus to wins at the big league level, and Reynolds could be a huge part of that — or perhaps the final player moved on the path to building up MLB’s best overall farm system.

MLB, MLBPA Reach New Collective Bargaining Agreement

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After 99 days, the MLB lockout is finally drawing to a close. The Major League Baseball Players Association has voted to approve the most recent counterproposal from ownership, setting the stage for a new collective bargaining agreement to be ratified, as first reported by Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extra Base. The new CBA covers the 2022-26 seasons, and the transaction freeze associated with the lockout has been lifted. The Score’s Travis Sawchik tweets that the proposal passed by a vote of 26 to 12 among the MLBPA’s 30 team union reps and eight executive subcommittee members.

Increasing pay for younger players, advancing the competitive balance (luxury) tax thresholds in a meaningful way, implementing anti-tanking measures and eliminating draft-pick compensation took center stage among the players’ must-have goals. MLB, meanwhile, sought to further expand revenues by widening the postseason field and adding advertising patches to player uniforms. The league also pushed for, and was ultimately granted, the creation of a fourth tier of luxury-tax penalization. Additionally, ownership saw to it that a handful of grievances filed by the MLBPA over the past several years would be dropped.

Among the more notable gains for the players, they’ll now see the luxury-tax threshold jump from this past season’s $210MM up to $230MM in 2022. It will rise to $244MM over the life of the agreement. Given the manner in which the competitive balance tax has begun to function as a soft salary cap among the sport’s top-spending teams, notable advancement was vital. The 9.5% jump in the first year of the new CBA marked a notable gain for the players’ side, even if it fell shy of their initial ask.

Other notable gains for the union include a newly created league-funded pool that will provide pre-arbitration players with bonuses based on performance. After much back-and-forth, the two parties settled on a sum of $50MM (just under $2MM per team) that can be divided among the sport’s top pre-arbitration stars. The exact parameters of how that will be doled out remain unclear, but it’s a notable uptick in the earning power of the game’s young stars.

Pre-arbitration players will also see a sizable increase in their base levels of pay, as the minimum salary will jump from $570,500 to $700,000. That number will grow by a measure of $80K over the agreement’s five years, pushing the league-minimum salary to $780K by the time the 2026 season rolls around.

The players also sought to clamp down on the issue of service time manipulation, and an agreement is believed to be in place that would award a full year of service to players who finish well in end-of-season Awards voting. As with the pool, the finer details have not yet come to light. On the flip side of that equation, teams now also stand to be awarded draft picks if young players on their Opening Day roster finish well in Rookie of the Year voting.

The hope among players is that such measures will bring star players up sooner, as the issue of service manipulation was seen both as a means of tamping down players’ earning potential and also a data point in a long string of anti-competitive behaviors by clubs. Essentially, teams argued that the best players in an organization should be on its Major League roster. Along those same lines, the union pushed for a draft lottery as a means of curbing the increasingly popular multi-year rebuilds that see a team effectively tank for premier draft position. While the lottery that was eventually implemented wasn’t quite as robust as the MLBPA originally proposed, it’s expected that the first six selections of the draft will now be determined in lottery fashion.

Perhaps the key victory for the league was the expansion to a 12-team playoff field — which will reportedly secure them an additional $85MM in annual television revenue from ESPN alone. The additional profits associated with any live game (gate, parking, concessions, etc.) will only add to that total. The league also succeeded in its desire to add advertising patches to player uniforms, which will generate tens of millions in revenue itself. Rates will presumably only increase during the spotlight of the postseason, making the extra games added via the expanded field all the more lucrative.

Major League Baseball secured a provisional agreement to discuss the implementation of an international draft, setting a July 25 deadline for the two parties to come to terms on a format that would go into effect in 2024. If an agreement is reached, the qualifying offer system pertaining to free agency will be eliminated. Absent an agreement on the international draft, the two sides agreed that both the qualifying offer system and the current international free-agent system will remain in place.

It seems we could soon have some rule changes on the horizon, as the league sought the implementation of several measures it believes will improve in-game action and pace of play. While the specifics and timing remain to be seen, the stage is set for measures such as a pitch clock, the banning of aggressive defensive shifts and larger bases — if not in 2022 than in 2023. The universal designated hitter, as has long been expected, will formally go into effect under this new CBA.

MLB also pushed for revenue-sharing grievances against the A’s, Pirates, Rays and Marlins to be dropped and succeeded in having Oakland reinstated as a revenue-sharing recipient. The A’s had previously been ousted from that designation in the prior CBA. A late revelation regarding their proposal was the push for the MLBPA to drop its $500MM grievance that claimed the league did not act in good faith during return-to-play negotiations in the Covid-shortened 2020 season.

Over the days and weeks to come, we’ll break out some of the finer details of the collective bargaining agreement and drill deep into the specifics of every new wrinkle. For the time being, however, the focus shifts immediately to one of player movement and the long-awaited return of the lifeblood of MLBTR: transactions! Owners are reportedly expected to ratify the new agreement on a 6pm ET call, and free-agent and trade activity can begin immediately once that occurs.

Prior to a lockout they all saw coming, teams scrambled to scoop up the offseason’s top free agents before the previous CBA expired. Thirty of MLB’s top 50 free agents were signed in an unprecedented November spending spree, with nine-figure pacts going to Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Javier Baez, Max Scherzer, Robbie Ray, and Kevin Gausman. Now, three months’ worth of remaining offseason signing and trading is expected to take place in roughly a four-week period, creating a frenzy the likes of which we’ve never seen. The salary arbitration process will likely bleed into the regular season. You can review the best remaining free agents here, and our series of posts on the trade market here.

The bottom line in all of this: baseball is back, and it will be back in a big way. Spring Training games will commence late next week, and April 7 is now the target for Opening Day. Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman, Trevor Story, Clayton Kershaw, Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and dozens of other free agents remain unsigned, while the A’s and Reds are among the teams expected to be active in trading veteran players coming out of the lockout. Stars like Matt Olson and Luis Castillo are among the most notable names expected to be on the market, and activity is expected  to be nothing shy of frenetic.

As is the case with every trade deadline and Winter Meetings bonanza, we’re prepared to cover the deluge of Hot Stove activity to the fullest here at MLB Trade Rumors. After nearly 100 days with only minor league free agency, labor quarrels and countless “what if” scenarios dreaming of idyllic post-lockout days, we’re just as excited as the rest of our readers to have actual baseball transactions and actual baseball games now on the horizon. Thanks for sticking with us through it all, and let the chaos begin!

Dodgers, Daniel Zamora Agree To Minor League Deal

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Reliever Daniel Zamora has signed with the Dodgers, he announced this evening on Twitter. Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic reports that it’s a minor league contract.

Zamora, 28, has appeared in three of the past four big league seasons. He broke into the majors with the Mets in 2018, and saw some time as a situational left-hander for two years. Zamora made 33 combined appearances but tallied just 17 2/3 innings, facing 41 left-handed hitters and 37 righties. The Stony Brook product actually had more success against opposite-handed batters, but it’s unlikely teams will put any stock in those splits in such a limited sample of work.

New York assigned Zamora to their alternate training site for the entirety of the shortened 2020 season. He got off to a dismal start last year with Triple-A Syracuse, and the Mets designated him for assignment in May. The Mariners picked him up off waivers and gave him four big league appearances before designating him themselves the following month. Zamora cleared waivers that time around and spent the rest of the season with their top affiliate in Tacoma. Over 37 innings with the Rainiers, he worked to a 4.14 ERA, striking out an impressive 29.2% of opposing hitters.

Zamora owns a 4.50 ERA over 22 MLB innings. He’s flashed some decent bat-missing ability against top-level hitters, punching out 28.4% of batters faced on the strength of an 11% swinging strike rate. There’s no downside for the Dodgers in giving him a look in Spring Training, although they already have a fair amount of left-handed bullpen depth. Alex Vesia, Caleb Ferguson, Víctor González, Justin Bruihl, Garrett Cleavinger and Darien Núñez are all already on the Los Angeles 40-man roster.

Padres Showed Interest In Michael Conforto Pre-Lockout

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The Padres expressed interest in free agent outfielder Michael Conforto prior to the MLB lockout, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres join a growing list of known teams to have reached out to the longtime Met’s camp, including the Yankees, who were reported to have interest earlier today.

Conforto is the latest player in a long line of free agent left field fielders the Padres have looked into. Reports from earlier in the offseason have connected San Diego to a number of offensively-gifted outfielders to bolster their lineup, including Kris Bryant, Nick Castellanos, and Seiya Suzuki. The interest in Conforto and other top outfielders stems from the departure of incumbent left fielder Tommy Pham, himself a candidate to be re-signed by the club via free agency.

Replacing Pham with Conforto may not deliver the jolt to a disappointing San Diego offense that fans expect, however. In 2021 Conforto slashed an uncharacteristically middling .232/.344/.384 with a 101 OPS+, not far off from a post-injury Pham’s .229/.340/.383 and 103 OPS+ output. Considering both players dealt with injuries and seemingly underperformed their batted ball metrics, it’s possible the Padres may simply find more bounce-back appeal (and, potentially, contract value) in the 29-year-old over the more senior Pham, who just turned 34-years-old.

Whether the Padres and their growingly-thin farm system should take a risk on Conforto is up for debate, as the Boras client rejected a qualifying offer en route to free agency and will cost his new team a draft pick and international bonus pool money. Still, the upside Conforto— a career .255/.356/.468 (124 OPS+) hitter— possesses is undeniable, and a likely upgrade over any current in-house options.

With plenty of offseason (remarkably) left to go in March, San Diego’s projected lineup still has room to change. It’s perhaps worth mentioning that RosterResource currently has non-roster invitee Nomar Mazara penciled into left field, a risky proposition for a team looking to take on their two 100+ win division rivals.

Acee notes that the Friars have roughly $15MM left to spend before hitting the new luxury tax threshold, and potentially more given the team’s willingness to surpass that threshold last season. Even if the club is hesitant to pass the threshold in consecutive seasons it’s still possible a long-term deal can be worked out with Conforto, owing to the likely departure of the well-compensated Wil Myers after the 2022 season. Efforts to move Eric Hosmer’s remaining salary persist as well, which would only further serve president of baseball operations AJ Preller’s penchant for big moves.

With this in mind, team officials have told Acee that the club “is in position to spend for an offensive upgrade”. Whether Conforto is atop Preller’s shopping list remains to be seen, but it’s clear based on this report that the Padres will be a team to watch in the coming days.

MLB, Players Association Could Expand Active Rosters Early In 2022 Season

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MLB and the Players Association agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement this afternoon, in time to preserve a 162-game regular season. The work stoppage dragged on long enough to deal a pretty significant blow to Spring Training, though, which will be shorter in 2022 than it is in a typical year.

With only four weeks until Opening Day, there’s some concern about the early-season workload players will have to assume. One possible solution would be to expand the active rosters a bit early in the season, and it seems that’s on the table. Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted this afternoon that while expanding rosters wasn’t part of the CBA, the parties could circle back to that possibility. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets that some in the industry expect an enlarged active roster early in the regular season.

That move wouldn’t be without precedent. Rosters were bumped to 28 players for the entirety of the shortened 2020 season. That followed a three-week exhibition “Summer Camp” and also came with greater concerns about teams losing players to COVID-19. Still, it suggests the league and union aren’t opposed to adding a little more depth to teams’ rosters if they’re concerned about the shortened ramp-up.

Complicating matters further is the return on the limit of the number of pitchers teams may carry. Over the 2019-20 offseason, MLB passed a rule that capped teams to 13 pitchers at any given time. Under pandemic protocols, that rule was suspended in both 2020 and 2021. However, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported last May that MLB was planning to reinstitute the 13-pitcher limit this season. That seems to have come to fruition, as Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak acknowledged it was in place when speaking with reporters this evening (via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch).

Were active rosters to expand for the season’s first few weeks, that limit on pitchers would probably be relaxed. Whenever teams are faced with a permanent cap of 13 hurlers, though, there figure to be greater challenges for managers in handling their staffs. The CBA also limits teams to optioning players to the minor leagues more than five times in a season, so management won’t be as simple as shuttling fresh arms on and off the roster daily. That could compel teams to lean more heavily on their starting pitchers than they have in recent years (particularly with the introduction of the universal DH removing the need to pinch-hit for pitchers depending on the game situation).

Multiple Teams Showed Pre-Lockout Interest In J.D. Davis

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The Mets were one of the most active teams in the pre-lockout frenzy, adding Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha. Those signings, along with Robinson Cano’s return from serving a season-long PED suspension, have given them a crowded position player mix. This has led to some speculation that the club could end up moving a player like Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith or J.D. Davis, with all three of those players appearing on MLBTR’s list of the likeliest post-lockout trade candidates. It seems that Davis was garnering his fair share of attention before the lockout, as Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that the Cubs, Red Sox, Twins and Athletics all had interest in his services before the transactions freeze took hold in December.

The fact that various teams are interested in Davis is hardly surprising, given his excellent offensive skills. Since being acquired by the Mets from the Astros prior to the 2019 season, Davis has made 893 plate appearances in 269 games and has a line of .288/.373/.472. That’s good enough for a wRC+ of 130, fifth-best among third basemen with at least 850 plate appearances in that time, ahead of big names like Rafael Devers and Josh Donaldson.

Unfortunately, Davis hasn’t been as good on the other side of the ball, as advanced defensive metrics don’t look kindly upon his work at either third base or left field. For instance, Statcast’s Outs Above Average gave him -8 in 2019, followed by -6 in the shortened 2020 season and -3 in the 2021 campaign, despite playing just 73 games due to injury.

Despite those flaws, Davis should still hold plenty of appeal. The 28-year-old (29 in April) qualified for arbitration in 2021 due to reaching Super Two status and earned a salary of $2.1MM. Due to injuries holding him back last year, he is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a modest raise to $2.7MM in 2022 and can be controlled for two seasons beyond that. Those factors, combined with his bat, could make him a fit on plenty of rosters, especially now that the universal designated hitter is official.

The Cubs have spent most of the past year-plus subtracting from their roster, trading away Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and others. Since then, however, they have shown that they don’t have designs on totally tanking, as evidenced by their pre-lockout pickups of Wade Miley, Yan Gomes and Marcus Stroman. They currently have Patrick Wisdom pencilled in at the hot corner after a nice breakout campaign last year. However, he struck out in a whopping 40.8% of his plate appearances, making it questionable if he can be a long-term solution at the position.

There has been some speculation that Rafael Devers is destined to be moved off of third base in the long run, due to his defensive limitations, though Davis isn’t really an upgrade in that department. However, putting Davis in left field could be an option, if the club feels he would fit in front of the Green Monster. Jarren Duran struggled in his debut last season and could perhaps be sent to Triple-A for more reps there. Or perhaps the lefty Durran and righty Davis could complement each other in a platoon capacity.

The Twins have Josh Donaldson at third but he’s also seen significant time at DH, only taking the field in 92 of his 135 games last year. Given his age, 36, and injury history, it would make sense to acquire another option for the hot corner to help keep him healthy. Luis Arraez could fill that role at the moment, but he hasn’t produced the same level of offense as Davis thus far in his career. There also could be a path to playing time on the grass, as youngsters Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach both had tepid debuts last year, putting up a wRC+ of 93 and 89, respectively.

The Athletics already have an excellent third baseman, technically, in Matt Chapman. However, it’s widely expected that the club is about to embark upon a major selloff, with Chapman being one of those most often mentioned as a trade candidate due to his increasing salary and two remaining years of control. Acquiring Davis could be a relatively affordable way of filling Chapman’s absence after a trade. The club also has big question marks in its outfield right now, after Marte and Canha both went to the Mets. Ramon Laureano will be in center field eventually, but first has to serve 27 more games of his PED suspension. Seth Brown had a decent campaign, but none of Stephen Piscotty, Chad Pinder, Skye Bolt or Luis Barrera did much to inspire confidence last year. Tony Kemp could play the outfield but may be needed at second base.

Though his ultimate destination is unknown, the sense of an impending trade seems to be growing with Davis himself. “It’s kind of 50/50, kind of a flip of the coin,” he said back in October. When asked the same question by Puma today, he said, “Now it could be say 60-40 out of here, but you never know.” Davis then elaborated, referencing the fact that Cano, McNeil, Smith and Luis Guillorme are all lefties. “Baseball is in a situation of bench players, and something like that, three or four lefties and I’m maybe the only righty, so strategically I could see myself back there, but I don’t know. Anything can happen.”

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