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Cafardo’s Latest: Braun, Mariners, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Fister

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Here’s the latest from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:

  • The Dodgers and Brewers have remained in contact over a potential deal involving Ryan Braun, Cafardo reports. Last summer, the two sides reportedly engaged in serious talks about a deal involving Braun and Yasiel Puig. Trades involving big-name players don’t typically take place early in the season, although it’s worth noting that, at last check, the Dodgers were not one of the teams restricted by Braun’s no-trade clause, and that he will receive ironclad no-trade protection when he becomes a 10-and-5 player May 24.
  • The Mariners could start selling talent early if they don’t improve after starting the season 3-8, Cafardo writes. Should the Mariners become sellers, I’d speculate that potential trade candidates could include Danny Valencia, Carlos Ruiz, Jarrod Dyson, Yovani Gallardo and Steve Cishek, all of whom are eligible (or potentially eligible) for free agency after this season. Players like Marc Rzepczynski, Leonys Martin and even Nelson Cruz and Jean Segura could also be subjects of speculation.
  • New Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen isn’t certain about when, or whether, the team will put veterans like Zack Greinke on the market. “We haven’t tackled the long-term outlook yet,” he says. “You see what you have when you get to the June 1 marker. We’ll ask, ‘What are we looking to do to improve the club? What can we do to improve the club? Where are we at overall with our organization?’ That’s what we’re going to talk about. We’re not looking too far down the road at present.” Hazen, of course, inherited a Diamondbacks team that won 69 games last season, although it should be noted that they’re currently 7-4 and in first place in the NL West at this very early point in the year.
  • The Red Sox have missed 85 player days due to illness since 2011, most in the Majors. Those 85 days cost the team approximately $3.9MM in salaries. At the start of the season, the team was dealing with a flu outbreak, leading other teams to take precautions when sharing a clubhouse or stadium with the Red Sox — the Twins asked the Tigers to fumigate their visitors’ clubhouse after following the Red Sox as guests at Comerica Park, and the Rays brought air purifiers for their series at Fenway this weekend.
  • Doug Fister remains a free agent mostly because teams feel his stuff is “marginal,” and that he therefore isn’t worth the big-league deal he seeks. Colby Lewis, too, is available, and has lately only received lukewarm interest. Those pitchers could find homes if hurlers from other teams get hurt, although, at this point, Fister would almost certainly need to start the season in the minors anyway to build up to being able to make big-league starts.

Mark Shapiro Not Looking To “Overhaul” Blue Jays Despite 1-9 Start

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The Blue Jays 1-9 start is their worst in the history of the franchise. Team president and CEO Mark Shapiro says, though, that he isn’t planning significant changes at this time, as Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi writes.

“Less than 10 games in, this is not the time to start looking at external help,” says Shapiro, issuing the standard line executives (mostly correctly) use when their teams struggle in April. “There may be a time and a place when you start to think about that, but you’re not going to replace five hitters.”

Indeed, teams are rarely willing to make big trades in April, either as buyers or sellers, and teams’ early-season problems can be misdiagnosed due to sample-size issues. The Blue Jays have scored just 2.8 runs per game thus far, and Devon Travis, Russell Martin, Jose Bautista and Steve Pearce in particular have struggled. With what would appear to be a good veteran lineup, though, that could change in time. Shapiro says the team is now focused on making the most of the talent it has.

“When it goes collectively as badly as it does right now with our offence, a lot of what we’re dealing with is we need to get to a point where guys stop trying to do too much and stop trying to take responsibility for it individually,” says Shapiro.

And as Shapiro also notes, the team’s pitching has been capable. The team has gotten good performances thus far from Marcus Stroman and relievers Joe Biagini, Joe Smith, Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup in particular, and J.A. Happ currently has 17 strikeouts and no walks despite posting a 5.40 ERA in the early going.

“Not everything is wrong,” says Shapiro. “We’re pitching well, dominant at times, there are a lot of good things going on both in the rotation and in our bullpen and we’re playing good defense. We’re not looking at overhauling the entire team.”

The Blue Jays do have their share of both short- and long-term issues — they recently had to place superstar Josh Donaldson on the DL with a calf injury, and the team’s somewhat unwieldy reliance on veterans (including Donaldson, Martin, Bautista, Pearce, Kendrys Morales, Troy Tulowitzki, Marco Estrada, Francisco Liriano, Happ and Jason Grilli) creates pressure on the team to succeed now. It might be unwise, however, for the Jays to overreact to the ten-game slump that has started their season.

5 Key Stories: 4/8/17 – 4/15/17

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Here are five key stories from this week at MLBTR.

James KaprielianYankees struggle with injuries. It was a bad week for the health of young Yankees players. Righty pitching prospect James Kaprielian will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, while catcher Gary Sanchez recently headed to the DL with a biceps strain. In happier Yankees news, lefty Jordan Montgomery made his big-league debut this week after winning a spot in the team’s rotation.

Giants sign Melvin Upton Jr. The Giants agreed to a minor-league deal with Melvin Upton Jr., who eventually could bolster their struggling outfield. The Rays, meanwhile, did not pursue Upton, preferring to give opportunities to another veteran, Peter Bourjos.

Orioles add relief help, deal international bonus spending rights. The Orioles made a series of small deals this week, bolstering their core of potential relief arms but inviting criticism for their approach to the international amateur market. First, they acquired Damien Magnifico from the Brewers for the rights to $885,300 in international bonus spending. They made a separate trade with the Brewers, sending another reliever, righty Oliver Drake, to Milwaukee for a player to be named or cash. They then nabbed lefty Paul Fry from the Mariners, but gave up another $198K in international bonus spending rights in the process. The moves continued the Orioles’ recent trend of acquiring potentially helpful pitching in minor transactions, but also continued a recent trend of seeming neglect of the international amateur free-agent market.

Carlos Correa lays out conditions for extension. Astros phenom Carlos Correa’s agent said he would not consider a pre-free-agency extension, although Correa himself offered a somewhat different view, saying he would consider a deal if it was favorable financially. Correa also said he would no longer consider a deal once he hit arbitration, which he is set to do following the 2018 season.

More minor moves. Other key minor transactions from this week: The Tigers signed first baseman James Loney to a minor-league deal; the Orioles re-signed outfielder Michael Bourn to a minor-league deal; the Dodgers acquired righty Joe Gunkel from Baltimore for a player to be named or cash; the Nationals re-signed righty Joe Nathan to a minor-league deal and designated veteran starter Jeremy Guthrie for assignment; the Braves signed righty Jason Motte to a minor-league deal; and the Blue Jays claimed infielder Ty Kelly from the Mets. Outfielder Brennan Boesch also appeared set to retire.

Offseason In Review: Texas Rangers

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This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.

Facing a number of high-profile defections and about as many big holes, the Rangers faced a tough task this winter. Their acquisitions are just talented enough to work out well for them, but they’ll need some luck to approach their 95-win total from 2016.

Major League Signings

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Josh Hamilton, James Loney (since released), Travis Snider, Will Middlebrooks, Allen Webster, Anthony Bass, Bobby LaFromboise

Extensions

  • Rougned Odor, 2B: six years, $49.5MM, including $3MM buyout on $13.5MM option for 2023
  • Robinson Chirinos, C: one year (2018), $2.35MM, including $100K buyout on $2.375MM option for 2019

Contract Options

Notable Losses

Ian Desmond, Carlos Beltran, Mitch Moreland, Colby Lewis, Holland

Needs Addressed

Heading into the winter, the Rangers faced a number of potential high-profile defections, including those of Ian Desmond, Carlos Gomez and Carlos Beltran, and a limited amount of cash with which to address them — the Rangers’ budget was somewhat restricted by high-dollar, low-value contracts such as those of Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo, as well as expensive deals for Cole Hamels, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus and Yu Darvish.

In particular, the Rangers needed to replace key players in their outfield, upgrade their rotation and find a solution at first base and/or DH. In their rotation, the Rangers sensibly declined longtime starter Derek Holland’s $11MM option, paying him a $1.5MM buyout after a season in which he posted a 4.95 ERA, 5.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 while struggling with shoulder trouble. They also parted ways with another longtime starter, 37-year-old Colby Lewis, whose 3.71 ERA in 2016 masked lousy peripherals. Lewis remains a free agent.

The free-agent market for starting pitchers was poor, giving the Rangers limited opportunities to find another solid starter to complement Hamels, Darvish and Martin Perez. Instead, they gambled on two interesting former Padres arms, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross. Both are relatively young pitchers with tantalizing stuff, but they also both come with major question marks.

Andrew CashnerCashner received $10MM and will enter the Rangers’ rotation as soon as he’s ready, likely sometime late this month. The 30-year-old brings mid-90s heat and a hard slider, but he’s never gotten the sorts of strikeout rates you’d associate with that repertoire, and he’s coming off a season in which he posted a 5.25 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 while fading down the stretch. It will be up to the Rangers to figure out why. Cashner has used his changeup less and less frequently over the years, and the pitch has been less effective when he’s thrown it; reestablishing that pitch might be a key to reviving his career. As Fangraphs’ Eno Sarris points out, Rangers catcher Jonathan Lucroy might be able to help Cashner with his quality pitch framing. In any case, Cashner’s an interesting gamble, although $10MM seems like a lot to pay given his recent performances. He’ll also begin the season on the DL due to biceps tendinitis.

The Rangers also added Tyson Ross, whose main problem is health. The 29-year-old had back-to-back excellent seasons in San Diego in 2014 and 2015, but pitched only one outing in 2016 due to shoulder trouble, and finally had offseason surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome. The Padres non-tendered him in December, and the Rangers lured him away from the Cubs with a $6MM deal. He isn’t ready yet, but he’s progressed to throwing bullpens and simulated games, and could be ready to join the Rangers early in May. It remains to be seen whether the Rangers will be getting the pitcher who struck out a batter an inning and posted ground-ball rates in the 60% range in 2014 and 2015. Ross can help them if he’s even half that good, but it’s difficult at this point to project with any certainty that he will be.

The Rangers thus began the season with a rotation that features neither of the key starting pitchers they acquired. Darvish, Hamels, Perez and A.J. Griffin (who struggled to a 5.07 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 2016 after missing two full seasons to injury) will comprise the initial rotation, with Cashner perhaps joining in mid-April when the team needs a fifth starter. The Rangers initially signed Dillon Gee to a minor-league deal, and then, after he opted out, re-signed him to a big-league contract and optioned him to Triple-A; he represents an alternative if Cashner isn’t ready to go. Given the considerable question marks surrounding Cashner, Ross, Griffin and Gee (and, if we want to get really pessimistic, Perez, who posted a very shaky 4.7 K/9 last season), the Rangers’ rotation still looks iffy, although it’s also easy to see the upside if Cashner and Ross pan out.

In the outfield, the Rangers lost Desmond to the Rockies, who agreed to pay him $70MM over five years. The Rangers, meanwhile, received the No. 29 pick in this year’s draft as compensation. The Rangers had interest in Desmond, but were wise not to match the Rockies’ offer — Desmond’s resurgence in 2016 was fueled by a career-best .350 BABIP, and he’s already 31.

Instead, the Rangers retained another outfielder, re-signing Carlos Gomez to a short-term deal to man center field. Gomez’s career seemed to be falling apart when the Astros released him last August, but he caught on with the Rangers down the stretch and batted .284/.362/.543, numbers worthy of his brilliant 2013-2014 run with Milwaukee. That sort of production probably won’t continue, but for a mere $11.5MM, the Rangers can get a good deal even if Gomez’s offense tails off. His hitting is hard to predict, and his 30.0% strikeout rate for the 2016 season is a bad sign, but he has defensive and baserunning value going for him, plus a bit of home-run power. All things considered, he seems good for about two wins above replacement, which would rather easily make him worth the value of his contract.

For first base and DH, the Rangers turned to another familiar face, that of Mike Napoli. The Rangers faced the loss not only of Beltran, but also longtime first baseman Mitch Moreland, whose production faded in 2016. Minor-league über-slugger Joey Gallo looked like an obvious candidate to take over at first, but the Rangers made clear at the beginning of the offseason that they felt the 23-year-old Gallo, who whiffed in a ghastly 34.6% of his plate appearances at Triple-A last year, ought to start 2017 in the minors. (Gallo began the season in the Majors anyway, taking over at third for Beltre, who is nursing a calf injury.)

Napoli is coming off a 34-homer season in Cleveland. The 35-year-old has always fared well in Texas — he had two of the best years of his career there in 2011 and 2012, and also was productive after the Red Sox dealt him to the Rangers in August 2015. It’s not a given his third stint with the team will go as well, given his age and his seemingly limited ability to hit for average. He batted just .248 in 2014, .227 in 2015 and .239 in 2016, and if his ability to make contact declines at all, he might have trouble hitting enough homers to compensate. As with the Gomez deal, though, it’s hard to argue with the limited commitment the Rangers made, coughing up only $11MM guaranteed and getting a 2018 team option in the deal as well.

The Rangers also exercised Lucroy’s $5.25MM 2017 option (probably the easiest move they made this winter), and extended backup Robinson Chirinos. Chirinos’ extension bought out his 2018 season, which would have been his last season of arbitration eligibility, for just $2.35MM, likely less than he would have gotten had he been even modestly productive in 2017. The Rangers also received a cheap option for 2019, giving them a couple years of flexibility as they prepare for Lucroy’s possible departure to free agency next winter. Chirinos had never been paid more than $1.55MM in a season prior to the extension, and, at age 32, might never have gotten another shot at a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract. His new deal thus provides him with a bit of financial security.

Questions Remaining

The Rangers never did acquire another player to help at DH, and it appears they’ll have Choo soak a number of plate appearances there. In a vaccum, that makes sense — Choo has rated as a below-average outfield defender in the past several seasons, and he’s had health problems to boot. With Nomar Mazara slated for the bulk of the time in right, that leaves left field open to one of the most wide-open time shares in baseball.

Delino DeShields arguably sits atop the depth chart at left field, which seems like a questionable proposition. DeShields is coming off an outstanding spring in which he posted a .442 OBP, but he’s coming off a miserable 2016 season in which he batted just .209/.275/.313. At just 24, DeShields is young enough to improve, and he’ll certainly make the Rangers’ defense better. But his bat is a question mark. Neither Ryan Rua nor Drew Robinson have established a track record of offensive production at the major league level, but they’ll also factor in the mix.

Then, there’s Jurickson Profar, once an elite prospect and now something of a super-utility option. Though there was reported trade interest over the winter, Texas elected to hang onto Profar to see if he can restore some of his lost luster. He will participate in the game of musical chairs in left and might also step into the infield wherever a need arises. Gallo, too, could theoretically shift to the corner outfield in addition to seeing time in the corner infield or at DH, depending upon how the season progresses. For both of these top prospects, it’s something of a make-or-break year for their futures with the Rangers.

Then there’s the Rangers’ pitching staff. It’s always hard to know how a bullpen will perform, but the Rangers’ looks fine — their 2016 ’pen didn’t rate well overall, but they’re returning most of the relievers (including Sam Dyson, Matt Bush, Tony Barnette and Alex Claudio) who were key to their second half, when their bullpen did an outstanding job keeping the ball on the ground and were very effective overall. Another key reliever, Jake Diekman, will be out until at least the All-Star Break after having colon surgery. Jeremy Jeffress will need to keep his off-field issues in check to play his expected role; if he can do that and remain effective, then either he or Bush would represent alternatives at the closer role if Dyson’s early struggles continue.

They’ll have to get the ball to those pitchers, though, and their rotation looks like it could quickly boil down to Hamels, Darvish and then a bunch of uncertainties, particularly if Cashner and Ross don’t reemerge.

Deal Of Note

"<strongLate in Spring Training, the Rangers announced that they’d signed second baseman Rougned Odor to a six-year, $49.5MM deal with a club option for 2023. The deal buys out what would have been Odor’s first two free agent seasons, with an option for a third.

The deal is roughly comparable to recent six-year, one-option extensions for fellow second basemen Jason Kipnis and Matt Carpenter, who received $52.5MM and $52MM, respectively, when they had between two and three years of service time. It’s also interesting to compare Odor’s deal to that of another infielder’s recent extension: that of Jose Ramirez, who received just $26MM over five years and gave up two option years. Even if the Indians exercise Ramirez’s first option, he’ll only receive a total of $35MM, far less than Odor, Kipnis or Carpenter received.

It’s debatable whether Odor will be as valuable as Kipnis or Carpenter have proven to be — Odor produced a mere .296 OBP and questionable defensive numbers in 2016. But the outlier here is Ramirez’s contract, not Odor’s, and that ultimately isn’t surprising. Kipnis, Carpenter, Ramirez and Odor were all early enough in their careers at the time of their extensions that many of the yearly salaries their extensions covered would have been governed by the arbitration process, which values counting stats. While Odor doesn’t have the overall track record Kipnis or Carpenter did, his 33-homer total in 2016, if sustained, probably would have gotten him paid at a similar rate. That’s particularly likely since the Kipnis and Carpenter contracts are both now three years old.

Ramirez, meanwhile, had two uneven years before his breakout 2016 and hasn’t posted outstanding counting stats in any category. As a player, I’d probably prefer Ramirez to Odor, due to Ramirez’s defense and versatility, as well as the greater likelihood that he’ll continue to reach base at a palatable rate. But it makes sense that Odor was the one who got the big contract.

These are, of course, different questions than whether the Rangers should have extended Odor. Odor whiffed seven times as often as he walked in 2016, a worrying sign. He only recently turned 23, though, so there’s plenty of room for growth. And even if his career stagnates, his deal is still fairly cheap in the grand scheme of things despite being considerably more expensive than Ramirez’s, and his positional value, power and age insulate the Rangers somewhat against the possibility that the deal will go south.

Overview

The Rangers’ 95-win 2016 season was built on shaky ground — they only scored eight more runs than they allowed. This year, their weaknesses look fairly obvious, particularly in their rotation. They have enough marquee talent (including Hamels, Darvish, Beltre, and Lucroy, potentially along with players like Odor or young outfielder Nomar Mazara) to contend if things go well, however. Within that context, their signings of Cashner and Ross this offseason look like Hail Mary passes — those gambles don’t appear incredibly likely to produce huge dividends, but could be decisive for the team if they do. The Rangers might have a hard time topping the Astros this season. But it’s easy to see how they could.

If things don’t go as hoped, though, the front office will increasingly face questions about how to handle the next offseason. While the Rangers could revisit extension talks with Darvish and Lucroy, or pursue them on the open market, efforts at new deals fizzled this spring. That could leave two very notable holes on the roster at the end of the 2017 season.

How would you rate the Rangers’ offseason moves? (Link for app users.)

Photos courtesy USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Padres, Astros, Dodgers, Rangers

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This year’s Padres are turning “tanking” into an art form, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. The Padres feature three players selected in the Rule 5 Draft, plus an incredibly inexperienced outfield and three starting pitchers who have recently been released. GM A.J. Preller’s strategy this season, Sherman writes, amounts to a “more extreme version of, say, what the Astros and Cubs did” — essentially, being indifferent to winning in the short term in order to get choice draft picks. Notably, Sherman detects a personal tone to criticism of the Padres’ strategy from employees of other organizations, in part because of Preller’s failure to disclose some relevant medical information in past trades, including the deal last season that sent Drew Pomeranz to Boston.

  • The Astros have liked what they’ve seen so far of Charlie Morton, who signed a two-year, $14MM deal with the team last winter, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times writes. “I do believe that Charlie Morton isn’t a back-of-the-rotation guy,” said GM Jeff Luhnow during Spring Training. “He hit 97 three times in the first inning yesterday, with a lot of sink on his pitches and good secondary stuff. A healthy Charlie Morton could work himself into the conversation with Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers at the top of our rotation.” Morton allowed just two runs and two walks while striking out six in his first start of the year against the Mariners this week, although, uncharacteristically, he allowed 11 fly balls. Morton is excited about his new team’s prospects, Kepner writes. “The whole team is strong,” he says. “I just don’t see how we’re not set up to win.”
  • With Rich Hill on the disabled list, the Dodgers will reinsert left-hander Alex Wood into their rotation for Monday’s game against the Cubs, manager Dave Roberts announced Saturday (via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com). Wood wasn’t able to crack the Dodgers’ season-opening rotation, but he has enjoyed plenty of success as a starter. The 26-year-old has racked up 458 1/3 frames from the rotation and recorded a 3.40 ERA, 8.01 K/9 and 2.88 BB/9.
  • Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre is eligible to come off the 10-day DL on Sunday, but the team is unsure if it will activate him, per T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. “The bottom line is, we are in the information-gathering stage, and how he feels,” manager Jeff Banister said of Beltre, who’s sidelined with a calf injury. “We’ll go from there.” Beltre took live batting practice Saturday, though he’s not yet able to run at full speed. Considering they’re off Monday, the Rangers could opt against activating the 38-year-old in favor of a couple more days of rest.

Giants To Sign Melvin Upton Jr.

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3:12pm: Upton will sign with the Giants, Feinsand reports (Twitter links). Upton’s deal will be of the minor-league variety, and he will report to Triple-A Sacramento. He is a client of Reynolds Sports Management.

As noted below, the Giants can use extra outfield depth, and Upton could conceivably play left field against lefties, pairing with Jarrett Parker. As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets, the Giants until recently did not seem to have interest in Upton. Parker and the Giants’ other left fielders have started the season poorly, though, with Parker going 0-for-10 with six strikeouts. The Giants’ change of heart might have had something to do with those struggles.

The Giants also have Mac Williamson for the sort of role Upton might eventually occupy, although Williamson is currently on the DL with a quad injury. Another potential option, Michael Morse, is also currently hurt. The Giants also recently signed another veteran, Drew Stubbs, to bolster their supply of outfielders. The Giants had also been connected to free agent Angel Pagan, who of course is no stranger to the organization; Upton’s signing perhaps makes a reunion less likely.

2:50pm: Free agent outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. is likely to sign with a National League team today, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets. The Blue Jays released Upton last week after telling him he wouldn’t make their club out of Spring Training.

The identity of the signing team isn’t currently known. Speculatively, the Giants could use a bit of extra depth, and the right-handed Upton could be a fit, with left-handed Jarrett Parker in left field. If Upton and the Braves might have interest in a reunion, that club has been known to have interest in bench help, and they have left-handed Nick Markakis in right. The Padres have a very young outfield and presumably have memories of Upton’s previous tenure there; they might see him as a stabilizing presence. Upton might also be a decent short-term fit in Colorado, where lefty Gerardo Parra is playing left while David Dahl nurses a rib injury.

Of course, Upton could also potentially sign a minor-league deal elsewhere and wait for an opportunity. But he might be able to find a situation where he can play right away, or close to it. He hit poorly down the stretch last year with the Blue Jays, but as Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe pointed out earlier today, Upton previously having revived his career in San Diego might convince interested teams to gamble on his upside. He seems likely to generate more interest than the typical minor-league free agent. The Padres are also paying the bulk of his remaining salary, so interested teams won’t have to worry much about his cost.

Nationals Select Jeremy Guthrie’s Contract

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The Nationals have announced that they’ve selected the contract of veteran righty Jeremy Guthrie, as expected. They’re cleared space for him on their active roster by optioning outfielder Michael Taylor to Triple-A Syracuse. Guthrie will start tonight against the Phillies.

Guthrie, who turns 38 today, last appeared in the big leagues in 2015, when he struggled with the Royals. He pitched in the Marlins and Padres farm systems last season and struggled, posting a 6.60 ERA or higher at each stop. Nonetheless, the Nationals signed him to a minor-league deal, and he posted a 2.41 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings this spring. The Nationals are giving Stephen Strasburg an extra day of rest after his start Monday, and they can’t promote Joe Ross back to the big leagues yet after optioning him to Triple-A on Sunday. So Guthrie will get Saturday’s start after being out of the Majors for over a year.

Guthrie, a first-round pick in the 2002 draft, eventually blossomed into a solid mid-rotation starter with the Orioles. Never a strikeout artist, his calling cards were decent control and durability — he’s pitched at least 200 innings in a season five times in his 12-year big-league career, posting a 4.37 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over nearly 1,800 Major League frames.

Cafardo’s Latest: Beane, Marlins, Royals, Upton, Las Vegas

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Here are the highlights of the latest from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:

  • 15 years after rejecting an offer from the Red Sox that would have made him the highest-paid GM in the game, the Athletics’ Billy Beane says he doesn’t regret staying in Oakland. “It turned out pretty well for the Red Sox and I have had a great run here and have enjoyed it here a great deal,” says Beane, citing a desire to be closer to his family as one reason he stayed. The Red Sox, of course, instead hired Theo Epstein, who led them to their first two World Series since 1918.
  • The Marlins feel they’ve made a significant upgrade in replacing hitting coach Barry Bonds with Mike Pagliarulo. Bonds obviously knew how to hit, as Cafardo notes, but “communicating it and devoting himself to it became an issue.” Pagliarulo has been proactive about developing plans for Marlins hitters. The Giants, meanwhile, hired Bonds as a special advisor.
  • Melvin Upton Jr. might not remain a free agent for long, Cafardo writes. Upton hit poorly in his brief stint with the Blue Jays, but had previously revived his career in San Diego, and there’s hope he can once again turn things around. “You just never know when you get him on the uptick and that feeling is what teams are going to look for when they need an outfielder,” says one American League evaluator. The Padres are paying most of Upton’s remaining salary, so he’ll be a cheap addition for his next team.
  • The Royals began their season by getting swept by the Twins and will have to perform well in the next few months, or else the team could move quickly to deal free-agents-to-be like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain. Jason Hammel and Ian Kennedy could also hit the market if the Royals were to struggle.
  • The city of Las Vegas “really wants” an MLB team, particularly after landing an NFL team in the Raiders, Cafardo writes. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has previously expressed interest in Las Vegas as an MLB market.

Collin McHugh Shut Down For Six Weeks

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Astros righty Collin McHugh has been shut down for six weeks with a posterior impingement of his right elbow, the team has announced. An MRI did not reveal problems with his ulnar collateral ligament. McHugh will avoid surgery and will be reevaluated after six weeks. McHugh had begun the season on the DL due to right shoulder tendinitis, and he was pulled from a Triple-A rehab start earlier this week with elbow discomfort.

The 29-year-old McHugh posted a 4.34 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 184 2/3 innings with the Astros last year, continuing a solid three-year run that began when he posted a 2.73 ERA and finished fourth in AL Rookie Of The Year voting after the Astros claimed him from the Rockies in the 2013-14 offseason. He was set to open 2017 once again in the Houston rotation. In his absence, the Astros will continue to rely on their depth, with both Joe Musgrove and Mike Fiers joining Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton. There’s also Chris Devenski and long reliever Brad Peacock, both of whom have MLB starting experience.

In Triple-A Fresno, the Astros also have top prospect Francis Martes, although they might like him to get some experience at that level before joining the big-league rotation. Righty Brady Rodgers also appears to be a reasonable depth option.

Significant trades rarely occur this early in the season, so it stands to reason that the Astros might wait before making a huge move to replace McHugh. It’s worth noting, though, that they were connected to the White Sox’ Jose Quintana throughout the offseason and have more than enough young talent to complete a major trade. In lieu of that, it perhaps wouldn’t be surprising if they attempted some sort of minor transaction to round out their starting pitching depth.

5 Key Stories: 4/1/17 – 4/7/17

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Here are this week’s biggest stories from around MLBTR:

Stephen PiscottyCardinals extend Stephen Piscotty. This week, the Cardinals announced they’d extended outfielder Stephen Piscotty for six years and a $33.5MM guarantee, with a club option and performance escalators that can bring the value of the deal to $50.5MM. It was the latest in a series of Cardinals extensions — the club also finalized its three-year extension for Yadier Molina this week.

Blue Jays release Melvin Upton Jr. The Blue Jays parted ways with the 32-year-old Melvin Upton Jr. after determining he wouldn’t make their Opening Day roster. Upton batted .196/.261/.318 in 165 plate appearances with the Jays after they acquired him from the Padres last July.

Braves sign Ryan Howard to minor-league deal. Ryan Howard, once one of the NL’s most feared sluggers, languished on the free-agent market all offseason and only reached a new deal this week, signing with the Braves. Of course, with Freddie Freeman in tow, the Braves’ plans for Howard are currently up in the air.

Key pitchers suffer injuries. The first week of the season generally isn’t a big one for transactions, but there are frequently reports of new injuries. Two righties suffered significant injuries this week — Junior Guerra of the Brewers (who will miss six weeks or more with a strained calf) and Seth Lugo of the Mets (who has a slight UCL tear that he and his doctors will address with a platelet-rich plasma injection and rest). Also, Angels righty Garrett Richards also suffered a biceps strain, and lefty Rich Hill headed to the DL with a blister.

Padres place three Rule 5 picks on active roster. The way the Padres set their Opening Day roster perhaps isn’t the most impactful story, but the team’s eye-opening decision to place three Rule 5 Draft picks (Miguel Diaz, Luis Torrens and Allen Cordoba) on their 25-man roster (along with four other players younger than 24) received its fair share of attention this week, both on the site and on Twitter. The team’s Opening Day payroll for its current players was just $33MM, less than it’s paying Upton, James Shields and Hector Olivera, who are no longer with the team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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