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Archives for February 2024

Yankees Claim McKinley Moore From Phillies

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The Yankees claimed right-hander McKinley Moore off waivers from the Phillies, per announcements from both clubs. The Yanks put right-hander Lou Trivino on the 60-day injured list to open up a roster spot.

Moore, 25, was designated for assignment by the Phils earlier this week when they signed Spencer Turnbull. Originally a draftee of the White Sox, he came to the Phils in the 2022 Adam Haseley trade. Moore has shown a powerful arsenal but has also struggled to harness that stuff.

Last year, he made his major league debut, which didn’t turn out to be the dream scenario. He issued five walks and allowed seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. That means he currently sports a gruesome earned run average of 18.90 in his career. But that’s obviously a tiny sample size and he at least averaged a potent 97.2 miles per hour on his fastball in that time.

Looking at his minor league work, he threw a combined 120 2/3 innings over the past three years at various levels. He posted a 3.88 ERA in that time, giving out walks to 13.1% of opponents but also striking out 32.9% of them. The Yankees are known to favor ground ball guys and Moore has kept about half of balls in play in the dirt throughout his career.

The righty is obviously not a finished product but he has a couple of option years remaining and just a few days of service time. He’ll provide the bullpen with a bit of depth that can be summoned from the minors when needed, while they will presumably try to help him rein in the command.

As for Trivino, the 32-year-old was just signed a couple of days ago, but the club was well aware that he underwent Tommy John surgery in May of last year. He’ll now be officially ineligible to come off the IL until late May, which likely wasn’t going to be a possibility anyway.

Orioles Claim Diego Castillo, Designate Livan Soto

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Diego Castillo off waivers from the Phillies. Fellow infielder Livan Soto was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 26-year-old Castillo has bounced from the D-backs, to the Mets, to the Yankees, to the Phillies and now to the Orioles all in the span of two months. He appeared in only one game at the MLB level for Arizona last year and went hitless in a single plate appearance. A year prior, he logged 283 trips to the plate with the Pirates but mustered only a .206/.251/.382 batting line in his debut campaign in the majors.

Though he’s yet to have any big league success, Castillo possesses an outstanding track record in the upper minors. He hit .313/.431/.410 in Triple-A Reno last season, walking more often than he struck out: 17.4% versus 14.2%. Castillo has played in 177 Triple-A games to this point in his career and delivered a stout .296/.410/.407 line thanks to that keen eye at the plate and his excellent bat-to-ball skills. He’s walked 124 times in Triple-A against 125 strikeouts. Beyond that, he’s experienced at second base, shortstop, third base and in left field.

While Castillo has never been touted as a top prospect, he’s a versatile and contact-oriented hitter who can provide some depth — hence the whopping five teams he’s now been with in just two months. That said, there are reasons he’s been unable to hold down a roster spot. Castillo hit just three homers last year and has only twice reached double-digits in plate appearances. He’s never swiped more than 13 bases in a season. He’s generally considered a below-average runner with below-average power and a sub-par (albeit versatile) defensive skill set.

But Castillo has a minor league option remaining, and there’s still value in a bat-first utilityman with plus bat-to-ball skills. He can provide cover for the Orioles at a number of different positions, and as shown by last year’s .323/.445/.439 slash against lefties, his right-handed bat is particularly interesting in platoon situations.

Soto, 23, was just claimed off waivers from the Angels eight days ago. He’s hit .375/.414/.531 in a tiny sample of 71 big league plate appearances but benefited from a sky-high .469 average on balls in play during that time. Despite that strong showing in the majors, Soto has typically been a light-hitting but solid defensive shortstop in the minors. He split the 2023 season between Double-A and Triple-A in the Angels system, hitting a combined .237/.342/.358 between those two levels.

The Orioles will have a week to trade Soto or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If he goes unclaimed, they can retain him without dedicating a 40-man roster spot.

Padres To Move Xander Bogaerts To Second Base

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Padres manager Mike Shildt told members of the media today that Xander Bogaerts will be moving from shortstop to second base, with Dennis Lin of The Athletic among those to relay the news. Ha-Seong Kim will cross the bag in the other direction to take over the shortstop position.

It was just a little over a year ago that the Padres signed Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280MM contract. At the time, it was a bit of a puzzling fit on the club’s roster. Fernando Tatis Jr. was supposed to be the franchise shortstop once upon a time. In February of 2021, he and the Friars agreed to a historic 14-year, $340MM extension to keep him on the club for the bulk of his career. He ended up missing the 2022 season both due to injuries and a PED suspension, but he was expected back early in 2023. While he was out, Kim provided excellent glovework at the position.

Going into 2023, there was a bit of uncertainty. Tatis was coming off an entirely missed season and the club was thinking about moving him to the outfield. But even if that scenario, they still had Kim to cover short. It wasn’t really expected that they would head into the offseason looking for a mega deal but they landed Bogaerts nonetheless.

Bogaerts’ first year in San Diego resulted in fairly typical offensive production for him. He hit 19 home runs and slashed .285/.350/.440 for a wRC+ of 120. Defensively, Outs Above Average gave him a positive grade of +3 but Defensive Runs Saved had him at -4. He has long been considered a candidate to move off of shortstop, even as a prospect, and it seems the time has now come. For his career, his tallies at short are -31 OAA and -54 DRS.

In the short term, the move is probably best for the 2024 version of the Padres, as Kim is excellent with the glove. He has played 1,505 1/3 innings at short in the majors, just over a full season’s worth. In that time, he’s tallied 22 DRS and 7 OAA. Having him at short and Bogaerts at second should give the club a great middle infield, as even mediocre shortstops often provide solid defense on the other side of the bag.

But taking the wide view, the decision making from the Padres becomes questionable. Twice now in recent years they have given around $300MM to a shortstop on a deal longer than a decade, and now neither will be playing short. Tatis, who has now been moved to right field, is under contract through 2034 and Bogaerts through 2033. Kim is set to become a free agent after 2024, as his deal has a mutual option for 2025 and those provisions are almost never triggered by both parties.

Assuming Kim reaches free agency a year from now, the club will then be looking for a solution at short for 2025 and beyond. They could always move Bogaerts again but he’ll be 32 years old by then and his abilities at that position will only be trending downwards with age. One of the club’s top prospects, Jackson Merrill, is a shortstop who reached Double-A last year. He could perhaps be a solution at that spot down the road but he is reportedly coming into camp as an outfielder, with the club trying to get creative in covering the spots vacated by trading Juan Soto and Trent Grisham. He could move back to short in 2025 but that might be a bit tricky if he spends this year in the outfield with the big league club instead of getting reps in Triple-A.

The Soto/Grisham deal was necessary because the club is paring back spending this winter. That’s partially a result of their TV deal with Diamond Sports Group falling apart but also connected to their extreme aggression in recent years, which includes giving a massive deal to a shortstop they didn’t really need.

Dodgers, Justin Wilson Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have agreed to a deal with free-agent lefty Justin Wilson, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’ll be a minor league pact with a spring training invite for the ACES client, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic adds.

Wilson, 36, has been limited to just 3 2/3 innings over the past two seasons due to Tommy John surgery and a lat strain. That brief sample of work came with the Reds and saw Wilson create some intrigue with a bump back to his peak velocity levels (95.1 mph average fastball). He faced only 13 hitters as a Red but fanned seven of them and didn’t issue a walk. Surgery cut his season short, however, and he signed with the Brewers on a one-year deal with an option. The TJS rehab and subsequent lat strain wound up combining to keep Wilson off a big league mound for the entirety of the 2023 season.

Prior to those health setbacks, Wilson had enjoyed a lengthy run as a quality setup man for the Pirates, Yankees, Tigers, Cubs and Mets. From 2013-21, the lefty rattled of 458 2/3 innings of 3.43 ERA ball with 132 saves and 18 holds. He’s never had great command (career 10.7% walk rate), but Wilson has fanned just shy of 26% of hitters in his MLB career and sat north of 29% with his strikeout rate from 2017-20 after shelving his sinker and ramping up the usage of his four-seamer.

The Dodgers lost some left-handed depth in the bullpen this winter, trading Victor Gonzalez and Caleb Ferguson to the Yankees in separate swaps. Alex Vesia and Ryan Yarbrough are currently slated to manager Dave Roberts’ left-handed options in the ’pen, with fellow southpaw Matt Gage also on the 40-man roster (and still possessing a minor league option). Wilson and veteran T.J. McFarland give the Dodgers a pair of experienced lefty relievers who’ll be non-roster invitees in camp. They’ll be joined by NRI righties Daniel Hudson, Dinelson Lamet, Nabil Crismatt and Jesse Hahn, among others, in looking to win a spot in a crowded Dodgers bullpen.

Atkins: Jays Would Need To Subtract To Accommodate Significant Acquisition

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As the Blue Jays opened Spring Training, general manager Ross Atkins met with reporters yesterday. The GM implied the bulk of the club’s offseason activity was complete, minimizing the chance of making an impactful free agent strike without offloading someone from the roster.

“At this point, additions that would be of significance would mean some level of subtraction,” Atkins said (link via Kaitlyn McGrath of the Athletic). “We feel good about the team that we have. Feel good about the work that’s been done over the last five offseasons, the last four trade deadlines and now coming into another trade deadline, we’ll have another opportunity, I hope, that we’re in a strong position to add to that team (and) I know that we will.”

It wasn’t quite as firm a declaration that the team was finished with notable acquisitions as executives with other clubs (i.e. Nationals, Rangers) have made. Atkins noted the Jays remain in contact with player representatives as a large number of free agents are still unsigned. It nevertheless downplays the chance of Toronto jumping in on anything more than depth additions.

That’s an apparent reflection of a franchise-high payroll. Roster Resource projects their 2024 spending in the $236MM range. Their competitive balance tax figure sits around $249MM, into the first tier of luxury tax penalization. Toronto paid the tax a year ago, so they’re subject to heightened penalties. They’re taxed at a 30% rate on spending up to $257MM and a 42% rate on the next $20MM, with higher penalties in the unlikely event they push past the $277MM mark.

On the one hand, the Jays have pushed their Opening Day spending past last year’s approximate $210MM figure. Team president Mark Shapiro suggested at the beginning of the offseason they anticipated keeping payroll steady. They have instead increased spending. Yet the Jays have also come up empty on their most significant free agent swings. They’d been linked to high-profile targets from Shohei Ohtani to Jorge Soler.

Their largest guarantee was a five-year, $32MM pact for Cuban swingman Yariel Rodríguez. They signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a two-year, $15MM deal and inked one-year pacts with Justin Turner ($13MM) and Kevin Kiermaier ($10.5MM).

While Atkins didn’t address any specific free agents — team personnel are prohibited from declaring themselves out of the market on individual players — his comments seem most notable with regards to Matt Chapman. The Jays appeared an on-paper fit to bring Chapman back. Their closest direct replacement at third base is Kiner-Falefa. Coming off a .242/.306/.340 platform showing that is broadly in line with his career numbers, Kiner-Falefa is better suited as a utility player for a team with playoff aspirations.

Toronto also allowed Whit Merrifield to hit free agency. He’s expected to make his signing decision within the coming days. While a return to Toronto isn’t out of the question, the Jays look content to allow a handful of multi-positional types to battle for playing time at second and third base.

Beyond Kiner-Falefa, the Jays have Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement and prospects Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez on the 40-man roster. None of Martinez, Jimenez or Barger has played in the majors. All three have reached Triple-A, although Jimenez struggled in a brief look there last year. They’re longer shots to make the Opening Day roster. Veteran Eduardo Escobar will also be in camp after agreeing to a minor league contract last night.

Biggio, Espinal and Schneider are virtual locks to make the team. They’ve all shown flashes in their careers but none is a clear everyday player. Biggio had a league average .235/.340/.370 line over 339 plate appearances a season ago. After posting solid offensive numbers in his first two seasons, he has been an average or slightly worse hitter three years running.

Espinal was a surprising All-Star selection amidst an impressive 2022 campaign. His production dropped precipitously last year, as he hit .248/.310/.335 over 254 plate appearances. Schneider had a scorching start to his MLB career after being called up last August. He raked at a .426/.526/.894 clip over his first few weeks before slumping to a .174/.321/.406 line while striking out a third of the time in September. It was still an extremely impressive debut showing in aggregate, yet he’ll have to make his own adjustments as he faces MLB pitching over a full season for the first time. Clement, meanwhile, has been a utility player throughout his career. He’s out of options, so he’d have to secure a spot on the Opening Day bench or be placed on waivers.

Manager John Schneider told reporters yesterday that Biggio is a bit delayed after battling tendinitis in his left shoulder this offseason (relayed by Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). He is not yet facing live pitching. Assuming he’s ready by Opening Day, he’s likely to compete with Kiner-Falefa and Espinal at third base. Davis Schneider has split his time in the minors fairly evenly between second and third. John Schneider said that Davis Schneider is focused on second base and left field as his main positions for the upcoming season (via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet).

Angels, Ehire Adrianza Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Ehire Adrianza, manager Ron Washington announced to beat writers in camp this morning (X link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). It’s a minor league deal, although Adrianza hasn’t completed his physical, so the Warner Sports Management client’s deal is not official just yet.

The 34-year-old Adrianza knows Washington well, having spent the majority of the past three seasons in the Braves organization where Washington was coaching before being hired back to a manager’s post in Anaheim this offseason. He’ll bring some versatility to camp and compete for a spot on the Halos’ bench.

Adrianza has appeared in the majors in each of the past 11 seasons, typically filling a bench role. He’s suited up for the Giants, Twins and Nats in addition to the Braves and sports a career .238/.308/.352 batting line in 1550 trips to the plate. He appeared in only five big league games and another 15 Triple-A contests with Atlanta last season due to an elbow injury that sent him to the 60-day IL for the bulk of the 2023 campaign.

Though his numbers from 2022-23 are unsightly (.159/.248/.187 in 121 plate appearances), Adrianza was an important utility piece for the Braves as recently as 2021, when he hit .247/.327/.401 and played six positions during Atlanta’s World Series-winning season. He’s played every position other than catcher in the big leagues — including three innings of mop-up work on the mound. At this stage of his career, Adrianza isn’t considered the plus infield defender he was in his 20s, but he’s unlikely to be a liability in the infield, either.

The Angels’ bench right now will include backup catcher Matt Thaiss and outfielder Aaron Hicks, who signed a big league deal earlier this offseason. The other two spots are more open for the taking. Former top prospect Jo Adell is out of minor league options and will need to make the club or else be traded or placed on waivers. Infielder Michael Stefanic could make the club as a bat-first utility option, but he does have a minor league option remaining. Adrianza will join fellow non-roster veterans Hunter Dozier, Miguel Sano and Richie Martin (among others) in vying for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Brian Cashman Discusses Possible Extensions, Current Roster

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke with the media this week and addressed various topics. Notably, he downplayed the possibility of an extension for either outfielder Juan Soto or infielder Gleyber Torres, both of whom are impending free agents. He also indicated it’s still possible for roster additions, with pitching a likely target area.

“The odds are this is a one-year situation,” Cashman said about Soto, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “I don’t see too many things stopping him from reaching free agency.” That assessment of the situation tracks with publicly-available information, as well as logic. Soto is just 25 years old but already has six years of elite production in the major leagues. Most free agents don’t reach free agency until they are around 30 years old but Soto is on track to get there around his 26th birthday, which will be at the end of October.

Despite his youth, he’s already hit 160 home runs in 779 career games, while also drawing walks more often than he strikes out. He’s hit .284/.421/.524 overall for a wRC+ of 154 and has never posted a wRC+ lower than 143 in any individual season. That combination of youth and talent has long made it seem as though a trip to free agency would be fairly inevitable. While with the Nationals in 2022, Soto reportedly rejected a $440MM extension offer, which is what led to him being dealt to the Padres.

The Yankees sent five players to the Padres this winter to get Soto and Trent Grisham, likely knowing full well that it was probably going to be a one-year proposition, with Cashman’s comments today reflecting that. Now that Soto has moved closer to free agency, his earning power has only increased since he turned down that $440MM offer, making the odds of keeping him from the open market even lower. The Yanks will have a chance to bring him back via free agency, but they will have to compete with the other clubs around the league in what is sure to be a hotly contested market.

As for Torres, it was reported back in November that the club had not engaged Torres on any extension talks. The infielder even replied “I wish” when asked about the possibility. Cashman confirmed to Greg Joyce of The New York Post this week that the club has not had any extension talks with him. Torres has been a solid player for the Yanks, hitting 123 home runs in his 734 contests thus far. His .267/.334/.454 batting line translates to a 116 wRC+. His defense at second base has been passable at times, though it was graded poorly last year.

While he’s set to be a key piece of the 2024 club, the Yanks likely feel they can pivot to a post-Torres era fairly easily. Oswald Peraza was still considered a top 100 prospect before he exhausted his rookie status last year, but he’s blocked from his natural shortstop position by Anthony Volpe. Peraza still has one option year remaining and could perhaps take over the keystone when Torres hits free agency. They also have multi-positional guys like Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu who could factor in at that spot.

As for the rest of the roster, Cashman said that it’s not “pencils down,” per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. “I guess it’s always pitching,” he added about a concerning area. The Yankees project to have a rotation of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt. That’s a good rotation if healthy but that’s a big “if” as each of Rodón, Cortes and Stroman missed significant time last year. The club also subtracted from their depth when they included four possible starting pitchers in the Soto deal.

Adding to that group would be sensible but the finances may be tight. Roster Resource has the club’s competitive balance tax number at $307MM right now, well beyond the top tier of $297MM. As a third-time payor at that level, any additional spending comes with a 110% tax. Since they have five rotation spots allocated and they effectively have to pay double on any future signings, they may stick to depth signings on minor league deals, though a significant injury can always change that calculus.

Marlins Made Recent Offer To Tim Anderson

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The Marlins recently made an offer to free-agent infielder Tim Anderson, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Miami has been on the lookout for help at shortstop throughout the offseason. Their interest in Anderson isn’t a new revelation, but the fact that they just recently put forth an offer is certainly of note.

The 30-year-old Anderson became a free agent back in November when the White Sox declined a $14MM club option. That would’ve seemed unthinkable a year prior, as Anderson was one of the game’s top-hitting middle infielders from 2019-22. During that time, he led all qualified big leaguers in batting average and turned in an overall .318/.347/.473 line in more than 1600 plate appearances.

Fortunes can change quickly, however, and Anderson’s 2023 season was nothing short of calamitous. His average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage somehow all clocked in south of .300; his overall .245/.286/.296 slash and one home run rendered him one of baseball’s least-productive hitters. Anderson saw his exit velocity and hard-hit rate both drop, but the larger issue may have been a sky-high 61.1% ground-ball rate — a jump of nearly 10 percentage points over the 52% mark he’d posted in his career prior to the 2023 campaign. No matter how fast a player may or may not be, it’s difficult to be productive when close to two-thirds of batted balls are hammered into the ground.

On that note, it bears mentioning that Anderson’s speed took a notable hit in 2023. It’s not uncommon for players to lose a step as they enter their 30s, but Anderson’s downturn could well be due to injury. Anderson missed nearly a month early in the 2023 season due to a left knee strain, and the fact that his average sprint speed (per Statcast) dropped by about a full foot per second seems likely to be related. He’d sat between 28 ft/sec and 28.7 ft/sec every season of his career prior to 2023, never ranking lower than the 74th percentile of MLB position players. In 2023, he averaged 27.2 ft/sec and clocked into just the 45th percentile. He still went 13-for-15 in stolen base attempts, but Anderson has always been deft in that regard, evidenced by a career 81.3% success rate.

On what would presumably be a one-year contract, Anderson is a sensible buy-low candidate for a team in need of middle infield help. The Marlins fit that bill and could certainly stand to improve the lineup — which a healthier Anderson could well achieve — but the Miami defense is already quite suspect, which makes Anderson a less optimal fit. With Jake Burger at the hot corner, Luis Arraez at second base and Josh Bell at first base, the Fish already have three questionable infield defenders. Defensive metrics have panned Anderson’s glovework at shortstop for the past two years — making it harder to blame any shortcomings on last year’s injury. Questions about his defense were substantial enough that Anderson voiced a willingness to shift to second base following the ’23 season.

Presumably, that wouldn’t be necessary in Miami, although the Marlins could conceivably shift Arraez to first base and deploy Bell more as the designated hitter. Before trading Arraez to the Marlins, the Twins utilized him more at first base than at second base due to concerns about his defense and his history of knee troubles. Such an alignment could improve the overall defensive outlook of the team, though it would leave the Marlins with the same hole at shortstop they’re currently looking to fill.

It’s not clear how much the Marlins have to spend. Miami is the only team in baseball that has not signed a free agent to a big league contract this winter. They’ve effectively sat out that portion of the market, instead operating only in minor league deals and small trades around the fringes of the roster. Catcher Christian Bethancourt and utilitymen Nick Gordon and Vidal Brujan — all acquired via trade — are the only new additions to the roster so far. Miami has also added veterans like Curt Casali, Trey Mancini, Yonny Chirinos and Matt Andriese on minor league deals.

Angels Hoping To Add To Rotation

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The Angels are looking to add to their rotation and have been “mulling” whether to make a run at Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post, though Heyman adds that they’re more likely to go after a back-end guy like Michael Lorenzen. The club has been loosely tied to Snell and Montgomery earlier in the offseason but without anything seeming close or particularly viable.

The club’s current rotation projects to be fronted by some combination Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson and Griffin Canning. Options for the fifth spot include Chase Silseth, José Suarez and Zach Plesac. That competition also would have had Sam Bachman in it, but Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports that Bachman had arthroscopic surgery last fall and won’t be ready for Opening Day.

That rotation mix has talent but plenty of question marks. Detmers had a 3.77 ERA in 2022 but it jumped to 4.48 last year. Sandoval went from 2.91 to 4.11 while Anderson jumped from 2.57 to 5.43. Canning was healthy enough to get to 127 innings pitched last year but that was a new high for him, thanks to injuries and the pandemic. Suarez missed most of last year due to a shoulder strain. Silseth has just 81 innings of MLB experience and only 45 2/3 at Triple-A. Plesac’s ERA shot up to 7.59 with the Guardians last year. There was some bad luck in there but he was nonetheless passed through waivers and outrighted off the roster.

Given those question marks and the inevitable pitcher injuries that arise in a long baseball season, there’s plenty of logic in adding to that group. A run at Snell or Montgomery would be interesting, as there are reasons to doubt the possibility. MLBTR’s Contract Tracker shows that the largest contract the Angels have given a starting pitching since the start of 2012 is the three years and $39MM they gave Anderson. That historical lack of spending on starting pitching and owner Arte Moreno’s recent comments about operating with a lower payroll this year would make it surprising to see the Angels suddenly splurge on Snell or Montgomery.

Even with a lower payroll, it’s possible they have some powder dry. They opened last year with an Opening Day payroll of $212MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and also flirted with the luxury tax line. This year, Roster Resource pegs them at $173MM, almost $40MM below where they were a year ago. Their CBT number of $188MM is almost $50MM below this year’s $237MM threshold. That could leave some wiggle room for them to make a notable signing while still having lowered their spending slightly.

Coming into the offseason, MLBTR predicted Snell for $200MM over seven years and Montgomery for $150MM over six. The fact they are still on the open market in mid-February suggests they may be having difficulty getting into that range, so perhaps there’s an opportunity for the Angels to make something work, despite their past resistance to long-term deals for starters.

Either would immediately become the best pitcher on the staff, if added. Snell is coming off his second career Cy Young victory, posting a 2.25 ERA with the Padres last year. He’s had his ups and downs but is obviously one of the best in the league when he’s throwing well. Montgomery has continued to build his innings totals and lower his ERA since returning from Tommy John surgery. He tossed 44 innings in 2020 with a 5.11 ERA, then got to 157 1/3 frames with a 3.83 ERA in 2021. He followed that up with 178 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball and then 188 2/3 innings with a 3.20 ERA last year, then adding another 31 postseason frames with a 2.90 ERA.

But signing someone like Lorenzen would be more the Angels’ style and they have, in fact, done it before. After years of being pushed to the bullpen by the Reds, the Halos gave Lorenzen a one-year, $6.75MM deal and let him try starting in 2022. It went reasonably well, as he made 18 starts and logged 97 2/3 innings with a 4.24 ERA.

He was able to parlay that into a one-year, $8.5MM deal with the Tigers and pushed himself even farther in terms of workload and results. He had a 3.58 ERA in 105 2/3 innings with Detroit before getting flipped to the Phillies. He made two excellent starts for his new club, the latter being a no-hitter, but seemed to run out of gas after that. After completing his no-hitter, he was sitting on a 3.23 ERA through 122 2/3 innings on the year. He was lit up the rest of the way and finished the season with an ERA of 4.18, but it seems possible that was a result of him pushing his innings tally into new territory.

MLBTR predicted he could secure a two-year, $22MM deal this offseason. He remains unsigned and is arguably the best starter in free agency apart from Snell and Montgomery. Unless the Angels plan to make a pivot and open themselves up to the idea of a mega deal for a pitcher, Lorenzen would be their best path to solidifying the rotation. Other notable remaining free agent starters are Mike Clevinger, Hyun Jin Ryu, Eric Lauer, Noah Syndergaard, Rich Hill, Zack Greinke and Johnny Cueto.

Twins Still Interested In Michael A. Taylor

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The Twins are known to be looking for rotation depth and a right-handed-hitting outfielder even as spring training gets underway, and Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that Minnesota hasn’t ruled out a reunion with Michael A. Taylor. The veteran Taylor was seeking a two-year deal earlier in the offseason, per the report, though it’s not clear whether that ask remains in place.

Taylor, 33 next month, played his typical brand of plus defense in 2023 with the Twins. He logged 960 innings in center field and wound up being credited with five Defensive Runs Saved and eight Outs Above Average. He went 13-for-14 in stolen base attempts, adding to his track record as a contributor on the basepaths.  His season at the plate was a bit more unusual, at least by his standards.

Though he’s not typically known for his power, Taylor belted a career-high 21 homers in just 388 trips to the plate. His .223 isolated power mark (slugging percentage minus batting average) was 83 points higher than the .140 career mark he carried into the season. That surge came at a cost, however. Taylor appeared to perhaps be selling out for power, as his 33.5% strikeout rate was easily a career-high mark over a full season — and nearly 10 percentage points higher than the 23.9% mark he’d turned in with the Royals just one year prior. Taylor finished out the season batting just .220 with a paltry .274 on-base percentage but a heartier .442 slugging percentage.

By all accounts, Taylor enjoyed his time in Minnesota. He said back in October that he hoped to return for the 2024 season. However, he’s not likely to have the same role waiting for him if he opts to return. Byron Buxton didn’t play a single game in center field last season as he battled lingering effects from offseason knee surgery. Buxton is slated to return to center field work this season, which would leave less playing time available for Taylor at Target Field. Of course, Buxton’s injury history is among the lengthiest in baseball, so there’d likely be some stretches where Taylor is pressed into regular duty in center — but it nonetheless seems unlikely he’d approach 1000 innings in the outfield in 2024, as he did last year.

That said, even in the unlikely event that Buxton were healthy enough to play nearly everyday in center, there’d still be ways to get Taylor into the lineup. He tattooed left-handed pitching in ’23, hitting .252/.313/.602 with nine homers in only 112 plate appearances. The Twins will have lefty-swinging bats in both the outfield corners — Matt Wallner, Max Kepler — and could use Taylor to spell either player against southpaw opponents. Kepler is a premium defender himself, making him unlikely to be lifted for a late-game defensive replacement. Wallner, on the other hand, is more of a bat-first left fielder and could be swapped out in such situations. A defensive outfield with Taylor in left, Buxton in center and Kepler in right would be among the best in the game.

Taylor has drawn interest from a wide range of teams this offseason. Each of the Pirates, Angels, Padres, Blue Jays, Reds, Dodgers and Red Sox have been linked to him at various points throughout free agency. Some of those clubs (e.g. Dodgers, Jays) have since gone in other directions in their outfield search, but Taylor is still stands as a fit with many of them.

Minnesota’s front office is likely working with a somewhat limited budget. The Twins stated early in the offseason that they planned to reduce payroll due to uncertainty regarding their television broadcast situation, with Dan Hayes of The Athletic reporting a $125-140MM range as the target at the time. They’re currently projected at about $123.5MM, per Roster Resource, so there’s certainly room to add Taylor back into the fold. Adding Taylor and another arm could prove more difficult within those budgetary constraints, barring some type of late trade to free up a bit more payroll space (e.g. Kyle Farmer). The Twins have also reportedly shown interest in righty-hitting outfielder Adam Duvall. Other options on the market include Randal Grichuk, Enrique Hernandez, Tommy Pham and perhaps Whit Merrifield, who’s expecting to decide on his next team within the next couple days.

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