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Cardinals Place Edmundo Sosa On COVID-IL, Recall Juan Yepez

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The Cardinals have placed infielder Edmundo Sosa on the COVID-19-related injured list according to Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. First baseman Juan Yepez has been called up to take Sosa’s spot on the roster, though he won’t join the team in Kansas City until tomorrow.

Sosa’s placement on the IL corresponds with a small COVID breakout among the Cardinals’ traveling party, as three staff members and a clubhouse attendant have also tested positive. Jones notes that Sosa is “mildly symptomatic” and will need to return a pair of negative tests and become asymptomatic before he is able to rejoin the team. Earlier today President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak claimed that the club is “probably 95%” vaccinated, which lends some hope that this will be the only COVID-themed transaction for the team this week.

The 26-year-old infielder heads to the IL having started just six of the team’s first 22 games. In that brief showing, Sosa has slashed a tepid .160/.250/.160 with an uncharacteristic 42.9% strikeout rate. The team’s active roster is now a bit light on shortstop depth, but should be able to weather Sosa’s absence with starting shortstop Paul DeJong and versatile second baseman Tommy Edman on hand.

The 24-year-old Yepez meanwhile will see his first taste of big league action since a surprise cameo last October. The right-handed hitter is expected to see some action off the bench and in the corner outfield during his call-up, with Paul Goldschmidt entrenched at first base. There’s a case to get Yepez as many at-bats as possible, as he’s continued last year’s tear through the upper minors and Arizona Fall League with an 8-homer, .960 OPS showing across 21 Triple-A games this year.

Offseason In Review: San Francisco Giants

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The Giants witnessed the departures of several key players this offseason, but made some targeted free agent strikes and filled their rotation with pitchers on short-term deals. The team is banking on veteran depth and a few new diamonds in the rough to recreate last year’s miraculous run to the postseason.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

Trades and Claims

Extensions

  • Signed 1B/OF Darin Ruf to a two-year, $6.25MM extension (deal also includes a $3.5MM option for 2024)

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

After winning a franchise-record 107 games that even the most optimistic prognosticators didn’t see coming, the Giants entered this offseason with a straightforward goal: do it again. Any team would be hard-pressed to collect triple-digit win totals in back-to-back seasons, but San Francisco finds themselves in a uniquely odd spot to attempt the feat. In their last full season in 2019 the team won only 77 games and ended 29 games back of first place, and yet when they fielded almost the exact same veteran core two years later they tacked on 30 wins and eked out a division title over the Dodgers, who again won 106 games. Career years from the Giants’ veteran roster made all the difference in 2021, but until the 2022 season is in the books it’s impossible to say if this was a perfect storm or the new normal moving forward. 

Complicating the team’s hope of this being the new normal is that one of their most counted upon veterans retired at the onset of the offseason. Long-time catcher Buster Posey hung up his spikes after a dozen seasons in the league, a decision that has more than just sentimental ramifications for the club. In his 2021 comeback campaign, Posey slugged at a rate not seen since his age-25 MVP season in 2012. The 34-year-old’s production served as a final feather in the cap of the future Hall-of-Famer’s career, but 113 games of a .304/.390/.499 (140 OPS+) slash line will be hard to replace from an organizational perspective. Joey Bart is the heir apparent to San Francisco’s catching throne and a former second overall pick but will have a tough act to follow, particularly considering he had just 35 games of big league experience heading into 2022.

While Posey’s departure caught many by surprise, for reasons ranging from his elite play to the fact that the team held a $22MM club option over his services for 2022, he wasn’t the only retirement party recipient this winter. Left-handed reliever Tony Watson, who spent three and a half of the last four seasons by the Bay, also called it a career after shoulder issues dashed his 2022 ambitions. The 36-year-old reliever was no lock to return to the club even if his health permitted, but it’s worth remembering that in a lights out bullpen last season it was Watson who was the least hittable. 

A pair of retirement decisions were out of the Giants’ control, but they struck early and often to keep some of their top 2021 talents in the fold. On November 7 the team exercised a trio of very affordable club options to keep infielder Wilmer Flores, left-handed reliever Jose Alvarez, and right-handed reliever Jay Jackson under team control. Alvarez racked up ground balls en route to a career season, and should team with fellow lefties Jake McGee and Jarlin Garcia to minimize the blow of Watson’s exit. Jackson, interestingly, was flipped to the Braves for cash or a PTBNL shortly after his option was picked up. Flores, meanwhile, was the consummate utility infielder last season, backing up first, second, and third base while posting a 111 OPS+ across 139 games. His easy retainment proves all the more valuable considering the team’s corner infielders, Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt, have racked up a fair bit of IL time in their careers.

Speaking of Belt, the “Captain” forewent an extended trip into free agency after the team issued him an $18.4MM qualifying offer. He’ll continue to man first base at a high level when healthy enough to take the field, though the universal DH may help keep the longest-tenured Giant fresher than he’s been in years past. Keeping Belt around through his age-34 season carries some risk, as he’s endured heel, oblique, knee, and finger injuries the past couple of seasons. Despite those injury concerns, however, Belt is enough of a force at the plate— he hit a team-leading 29 home runs in just 97 games last season— that his upside far outweighs the risk of a single year pact. Belt is currently on the IL after testing positive for COVID.

Belt wasn’t the only captain to have his Giants tenure extended, as the team’s official skipper, manager Gabe Kapler, received a 2-year extension through 2024. The reigning NL Manager of the Year was an integral part of the club’s surprising division title and was credited, along with his fellow coaches, for helping so many of the club’s players reach unexpected heights in 2022. Keeping Kapler atop the coaching pyramid will help keep the coaching staff’s messaging consistent, an important note considering the team lost last year’s hitting coach Donnie Ecker to a bench coach role with the Rangers, denied the Mets a chance to do the same with pitching coach Andrew Bailey, and saw their minor league hitting coordinator Michael Brdar leave for the rival Padres’ hitting coach role.

Several of the team’s reunions had to wait a bit longer, as qualifying offers were not offered to outgoing starters Alex Wood, Anthony DeSclafani, Johnny Cueto, or Kevin Gausman (who was ineligible after accepting a QO in 2020). President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi made it clear in October that he had interest in re-signing all four pitchers, acknowledging that he and his staff would have to offer multi-year deals to do so. Offering expensive contracts of length hasn’t been Zaidi’s M.O. since taking over the club’s front office in November 2018, as evidenced by the modest one-year deals initially used to sign Gausman, Wood, and DeSclafani. However, with a payroll sitting under $100MM after Belt’s QO decision and the team’s competitive window emphatically flung open, the Giants likely felt they could curb their conservative spending to an extent.

Within a few days of Belt’s new contract the Giants began to make good on their rotation plans, as they re-signed Wood and DeSclafani to respective two and three-year deals, at annual rates of roughly $12MM. Those represent fairly sizable commitments to two early-30’s pitchers with checkered injury histories, but if either is able to maintain their mid-3.00 FIPs moving forward then the innings they do provide should be worth it— and may even be a bargain— for the big market club.

Fast forward to December and the team struck a similar deal with free agent starter Alex Cobb, at two years and $20MM (plus a $10MM club option). The 34-year-old Cobb was hardly the paradigm of a dependable starter during his time in Baltimore, pitching to a 5.10 ERA across 210 innings from 2018-2020, but he turned a corner after being traded to the Angels. A wrist injury wiped out a good chunk of Cobb’s summer, but when he was healthy he missed bats at the highest level of his career and posted a slate of sub-4.00 run prevention metrics. What’s more, Cobb entered spring training throwing harder than ever before, which he maintained into his three regular season starts. Health will remain a concern for Cobb, but that’s true of most pitchers following this year’s goofy ramp-up period. Otherwise, this deal is quite similar to the short-term pacts for Wood, DeSclafani, and Gausman, all of which worked out swimmingly so far for the club.

The Cobb addition has upside, but it surely disappointed some fans to see his signing occur on the same week that Kevin Gausman signed a $110MM deal with the Blue Jays. Gausman, after all, had already established his upside in the Giants’ rotation and was coming off a sixth place Cy Young finish in a very competitive NL field. Though the Giants were presumptive favorites to re-sign the right-hander after two successful seasons with the club, they ultimately never made an offer to retain the All-Star. 

Being connected to top free agent talent was a rather prominent theme for the Giants, as their payroll sat under half of their previous $200MM heights entering the offseason. As the non-signing of Gausman demonstrated, however, the Zaidi-led front office likes to spread its money around to limit the impact of any single deal going south. The industry belief during the lockout was that the Giants were unlikely to go to nine figures to sign a free agent, which helps explain the lack of a Gausman reunion and several other non-signings this winter. Other high profile targets of the Giants included Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Robbie Ray, Seiya Suzuki, Trevor Story, Starling Marte, Steven Matz, and Marcus Stroman, yet they all eluded the team and netted a contract greater than the ones doled out by San Francisco this offseason.

Another free agent who priced themselves out of the Giant’s comfort zone was Kris Bryant, who landed a massive seven-year, $182MM contract with the Rockies. The size of the former MVP’s contract was a shock, but Bryant’s time in San Francisco was thought to be a layover from the moment of his trade deadline acquisition. Accordingly, his non-signing with the Giants was not a surprise, and the front office prepped fans for that outcome before the offseason was even underway. A lack of movement on the Bryant front isn’t the most exciting outcome for a team who certainly could’ve afforded him, but the Giants have veteran incumbents, like Wilmer Flores, and low-cost alternatives, like outfielder Heliot Ramos, to offer cover at every position Bryant would’ve been signed to play.

San Francisco drew a line on contracts it was willing to give out once the free agent market re-opened back in March, but that didn’t preclude them from handing out contracts altogether. Free agent Joc Pederson was signed to a one year $6MM contract— one thirtieth of Bryant’s deal— to roam the outfield corners in a platoon capacity. The team also handed out its biggest contract of the offseason to left-handed starter Carlos Rodon, a two-year $44MM accord with an opt-out clause that becomes available to Rodon if he pitches 110 innings in 2022.

The Rodon signing seems particularly obvious in hindsight, as the lefty’s effectiveness when healthy is undeniable. That “when healthy” caveat though is what drove his contract demands into the short-term sphere that the Giants like to dabble in, at an annual rate that matches departing ace Kevin Gausman’s contract no less. Should Rodon continue his run of 2021 dominance into 2022, then he’s a lock to head back into free agency after the season. As the Giants have shown with many of their recent starters, they have no problems with one-year pitcher commitments, and may even bring Rodon back if his market isn’t overly competitive.  Through his first four starts of the season, Rodon has dominated to the tune of a 1.17 ERA and 43.2 K%. 

An added complication in Rodon’s future with the team is his status as a potential qualifying offer candidate. The lefty didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the White Sox, meaning the Giants are eligible to offer one at the end of Rodon’s contract if the qualifying offer system isn’t done away with entirely by July 25 of this year. Regardless of the Giants’ ultimate interest in retaining Rodon long-term, they’ll have him atop their rotation for 2022 as they try to repeat or better the 3.25 ERA posted by last year’s starting staff.

The club’s pitching staff is high in upside, but requires depth as all rotations do. A hallmark of least season’s 107-win club was the emergence of unexpected contributors, and the Giants added some candidates who can fit that bill in their pursuit of more pitching depth. In March, right-hander Jakob Junis was brought aboard for a $1.75MM contract, with left-hander Matthew Boyd joining the team days later on a $5.2MM pact. Junis hasn’t been a particularly effective source of innings since 2018, but he comes with an extra year of team control via arbitration if the team wants it, and given the Giants’ ability to revitalize pitching careers they very well might. Boyd on the other hand has appeared on the verge of breaking out for years, though his end of year numbers always seem to lag behind his evident promise. He’ll likely be recovering from left flexor surgery until the summer, but could follow Gausman’s track and put it all together once he’s healthy and pitching for the Giants.

The Giants went thrift shopping all winter, but some moves that may pay the biggest dividends can come via the minor league contracts they handed out. Longtime Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez joined the club on an incentive-laden minor league deal, and could be a valuable depth option once he’s fully recovered from last year’s thumb ligament issues. Joe Palumbo is another potential hidden gem unearthed by the club. The 27-year-old left-hander ranked among the Rangers’ most promising farm hands through last year, but injury woes sent him to waivers where he was ultimately claimed (and later retained on a minor league deal) by the Giants. Both pitchers increase the team’s depth on minor league contracts with lighter values than departing starter Johnny Cueto’s minor league deal with the White Sox.

Outfielder and Triple-A masher Austin Dean is yet another quiet waiver claim-turned-minor league signee who can make a splash for a San Francisco team that is likely to mix and match its active roster throughout the season. A March trade with the Phillies landed the Giants Luke Williams, a speedy plays-anywhere type who can be stashed on the bench or in the upper minors of a system whose best prospects haven’t reached Double-A. The team’s ongoing habit of accruing as many near-big league options as possible can clearly bear fruit, as evidenced by the two-year $6.25MM extension awarded to slugger Darin Ruf, himself a minor league signee in 2020. 

All told, the Giants signed four legitimate starters to fill their rotation and stockpiled enough depth to cover for the departures of several star players, yet there’s still the faintest whiff of the club being too bashful given its available resources. The team certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt given last year’s tour de force performance, and should have plenty of funds earmarked for trade deadline acquisitions. Time will tell if this winter’s moves were enough to make playoff baseball the new normal in San Francisco, something that will be no small feat given the efforts of all four division rivals.

Offseason In Review: Cleveland Guardians

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The Guardians kicked off the offseason with a name change and did little else until April rolled around, when they locked up some key talent to extensions. The team will try to vie for a playoff spot on the strength of a homegrown rotation and one of the youngest rosters in the game.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

  • Exercised $12MM club option on 3B Jose Ramirez (2022 salary is now $22MM under terms of contract extension)

Trades and Claims

Extensions

  • Signed 3B Jose Ramirez to a five-year, $115MM extension
  • Signed RHP Emmanuel Clase to a five-year, $20MM extension (deal also includes a pair of club options on Clase’s first two would-be free agent seasons in 2027 and 2028)
  • Signed CF Myles Straw to a five-year, $25MM extension (the deal, which wasn’t finalized until a few days into the 2022 season, also includes a pair of club options on Straw’s first two would-be free agent seasons in 2027 and 2028)

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

A new era of Cleveland baseball began last November in dramatic fashion, as the team officially declared itself the Cleveland Guardians on November 19. The name change ratcheted up expectations, with many fans hoping their club’s offseason would be every bit as busy as the team’s new logo. The Guardians’ offseason activity does bear some resemblance to the team’s rebrand, but not exactly in the “busy” sense. Instead, the Cleveland’s winter moves were like its rebrand in that they were thoughtfully executed, but far from a home run with much of the fanbase.

The Guardians wound up being largely inactive, but few would have predicted that based on the team’s November 19 activity. That’s not just because that date coincided with the team’s official reboot, but because of the huge roster churn that took place on the same day. For the league at large, November 19 served as the deadline to protect eligible players from the Rule 5 Draft that typically takes place during December’s Winter Meetings. To protect a player from being snatched by another team in the draft, they must be added to the Major League team’s 40-man roster. Usually this means a few highly regarded prospects and maybe an upper-level reliever or two near their debuts are squeezed onto the 40-man roster. Cleveland, however, added a whopping 11 young players to its roster.

With turnover on more than a quarter of the team’s total roster, some risks needed to be taken. The first risk came when Cleveland designated seven players for assignment to make room for their protected minor leaguers. Among those designated, several remain in the organization; most however, do not. Among the group of exiled players was outfielder Harold Ramirez, who produced at replacement level while starting the majority of the team’s games in the outfield last season. President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti did swing cash considerations from the Cubs in a deal for Ramirez, at least, and was likely betting on a younger player to exceed the departing outfielder’s production.

The second, bigger risk taken by the Guardians’ front office was protecting this many minor leaguers at all, considering the Rule 5 Draft was in jeopardy (along with the 2022 season itself) thanks to the league’s implementation of a lockout. Hindsight is 20-20 and it’s hard to fault a team for guarding players it believes in, but the Rule 5 Draft ultimately was scrapped this year after a new CBA was agreed upon.

This development means that Cleveland now has a huge contingent of players on the 40-man roster who didn’t need to be protected and who are devoid of Major League experience coming into 2022. These players are unlikely to be jettisoned so quickly after being protected, and that may put Cleveland in a bind when they need to make a roster move during the season. One could certainly argue this stiff roster construction is why veteran catcher Sandy León, who signed a minor league contract with the team on November 22 (and would eventually need a 40-man roster spot) didn’t make the Opening Day roster. 

Slightly alleviating the tight roster situation is the fact that three of the team’s protected youngsters— Steven Kwan, Bryan Lavastida, and Konnor Pilkington— proved advanced enough to make the Major League team. As some of the trio get demoted, as two members already have, Cleveland’s roster situation will further stiffen. None of this trio figured to shoulder a full workload on the team however (Kwan is penciled in for a platoon role, Lavastida is the backup catcher, and Pilkington is a long reliever/ depth starter), which should minimize the team’s need to find outside help to supplant them. 

This roster turnover was one of the main storylines for Cleveland before the lockout began in December simply because there weren’t many other Guardians-themed storylines to follow before then. Transactionally, most of the team’s early offseason moves pertained to non-player personnel, as the club saw Assistant GM Carter Hawkins depart for the Cubs, assistant pitching coach Ruben Niebla depart for the Padres, and Chris Valaika of the Cubs replace Ty Van Burkleo as the team’s primary hitting coach. That last hiring is perhaps the most interesting personnel change to follow throughout the 2022 season, as the Van Burkleo-tutored team of 2021 was a bottom-half unit in the eyes of most offensive metrics. The veteran hitting coach helped coax numerous offensive breakouts during his nine-year tenure as Cleveland’s hitting coach, but that responsibility will now shift to the 36-year-old Valaika.

Beyond those moves, there were some minor league deals doled out in Cleveland, including accords for the aforementioned Sandy León and ex-Phillies reliever Enyel De Los Santos. Additionally, some of the players jettisoned off the roster as Rule 5 protection collateral were scooped off of waivers by other teams. A minor trade with the Rays for right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers, plus a deal with Milwaukee that would ultimately net the team versatile catching prospect David Fry, served as the team’s only action on the trade market. In house, the team also made swift decisions to decline catcher Roberto Perez’s club option and pick up the $12MM club option on their best player, Jose Ramirez. 

Picking up the club option on Ramirez was largely a formality, and very easily could’ve acted as a precursor to an offseason trade of the third baseman. Both the Blue Jays and Padres were teams known to have been aggressive in acquiring the switch-hitting MVP candidate, who remained under team control through 2023 via another affordable club option. Instead, the team doubled-down on their commitment to Ramirez and signed him to a five-year extension on the eve of Opening Day. The terms of the extension exercise and rework the club option salaries a bit, and amount to Ramirez being owed $141MM over the next seven seasons. 

Despite this being the first nine-figure deal to ever hit Cleveland’s books, the extension does appear to be something of a bargain for the club. Ramirez will make no more than $25MM in any year of his deal, and in the first two of his would-have-been free agent years will make less than $20MM. The three time All-Star is signed through his age-35 season and of course may succumb to injury or decline throughout the deal’s tenure. If he keeps up anything close to his 162-game pace of 5.8 bWAR, however, Cleveland should continue to reap surplus value from their star player.

Keeping Ramirez in the fold through 2028 is a huge boon to a Guardians lineup that has plenty of options but little certainty in the other eight spots. Looking at Ramirez’s companions around the infield is likely to yield some puzzled expressions from fans, as none of these players come anywhere close to the third baseman in terms recognizability or production. That said, the team did spend in March to bolster one position, catcher, with veteran talent via free agency. 

The rub, though, is that the catcher was 31-year-old veteran Luke Maile, who signed for just under $1MM to back up defensively-gifted starting catcher Austin Hedges. As a fellow right-handed hitter, Maile won’t make for an ideal platoon-mate with the offensively-limited Hedges. Offense is hardly Maile’s calling card either, as his career .568 OPS is a notch beneath Hedges’ career .590 OPS mark. Both players figure to at least form a strong defensive unit behind the plate, but Maile will need to put a hamstring strain incurred during spring training behind him for the tandem to last on the team’s active roster.

Elsewhere on the diamond, no infield position appeared more up for grabs heading into the 2022 season than first base. Former third-round pick Bobby Bradley manned the position 68 times last season and showed prodigious pop (16 home runs in 74 total games), but struck out at an untenable 35.5% clip and struggled against lefties.  Just yesterday, Bradley was designated for assignment. Josh Naylor remained on hand as another left-handed option, but was recovering from a rough 2021 ankle injury and entered the offseason as perhaps the team’s top choice in right field. Owen Miller and Yu Chang are right-handed hitting complements to both Naylor and Bradley, but neither showed much in 200 plus plate appearances last season and may ultimately settle in as utility infielders.  Miller is doing the most he can, as he’s off to a scalding start through 63 plate appearances.

It’s not a group without promise, but Cleveland’s passivity with regard to first base may loom largest if this trio fails to build on their 2021 performances. That’s because the trade market had no shortage of first base alternatives, headlined by new Brave Matt Olson, for who Cleveland was reportedly “in the mix.” Additionally, Mets corner infielder J.D. Davis was thought to be on the trading block after they bolstered their defense this offseason. Meanwhile, Yankee-turned-Padre Luke Voit was traded for a modest return after the team re-signed Anthony Rizzo. Davis and Voit both sport a 128 OPS+ over the past three seasons and come with three more seasons of control, but there was no indication Cleveland targeted either player.

While a lack of movement at first base may seem dubious, the same can’t be said for the middle infield, where Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez currently head the team’s depth chart. Neither player lit the world on fire with their 2021 performances, but both players have shown above average skills at the MLB level and possessed a fair bit of hype when they were in the Mets’ system. Their primary backups, Chang and Ernie Clement, don’t carry strong offensive track records, but they, along with Miller, should offer solid enough depth if Rosario begins to see more work in left field or either starter needs to sit for an extended stretch. Even if the team lacks faith in the collection of middle infield talent at the major league level, they have a wealth of highly regarded infielders in the upper minors. Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, and Brayan Rocchio each frequent numerous top prospect lists and should continue along their path to Cleveland’s infield of the future if they aren’t traded first to patch holes elsewhere.

Like first base, the outfield group is short on stability, but apparently not enough to deter Cleveland’s front office from rolling with it. Kwan and Naylor are set to see the bulk of work in the outfield corners, with Rosario and Oscar Mercado picking up reps along the way. Franmil Reyes too may see some outfield starts, even if he’s best limited to DH duty. The main story in the incumbent outfield group though is the team’s early April extension of center fielder Myles Straw. The speedy outfielder’s five-year, $25MM extension contains two club options that may keep him on Progressive Field’s grass through 2028. The 27-year-old Straw, owner of nine professional career home runs, isn’t likely to add much offense to an outfield that has a questionable amount of it, but he should provide above-average base running and glovework, at worst, for the duration of his new contract.

Extension aside, the lack of activity on the outfield front is glaring. It wasn’t for a total lack of trying though, as the team had reportedly been looking to trade some of its prospects for an established outfielder since the middle of last season. One trade target of the team’s was left fielder Jesse Winker, who was ultimately dealt to the Mariners. Cleveland’s inability to absorb third baseman Eugenio Suarez’s contract, as the Mariners did, undoubtedly played a role in trade discussions falling through.

Free agency remained a means for outfield help, but to that end the team is only known to have expressed interest in Joc Pederson, who later signed with the Giants. Evidently Pederson and other free agent outfielders didn’t represent enough of a value play over Kwan, Naylor, or interesting prospects like George Valera to entice the team to splurge. General manager Mike Chernoff spoke in March about his desire to create opportunities for younger players as opposed to signing a veteran name just to provide some perceived stability. That philosophy is certainly easier on the team’s bottom line, but it does hold some merit considering the team signed the typically-steady Eddie Rosario during the previous winter only to watch him produce at a career-worst rate for the team. 

Eschewing free agency upgrades in favor of young in-house talent was a similar theme for the team’s pitching staff as well. The club’s entire stable of pitchers features just two veterans over the age of 30, one of them being infielder-turned-flamethrower Anthony Gose. The other veteran is 34-year-old right-hander Bryan Shaw, who returned to the club on a $3MM deal after he parlayed a 2021 minor league deal with the team into a bounce-back campaign. 

Cleveland also acquired right-handed pitcher Anthony Castro in a cash-positive deal with the Blue Jays. Like their acquisition of Tobias Myers, this trade for a 20-something pitcher is more of a depth move than a genuine shake-up to the team’s pitching staff. A lack of veteran depth may affect the team as the season wears on, but the club’s current staff, including top depth options Eli Morgan and top prospect Daniel Espino, offer enough upside that outside expenditures may be viewed as luxury for a tight purse string club like the Guardians.

The only matter of business to pursue on the pitching staff, it seemed, was to lock in the talent that already resided on it. Closer Emmanuel Clase signed a five-year $20MM deal with two club options to anchor the team’s bullpen through 2028, potentially. Long-term deals with relievers are rife with risk given the volatility of the position, but the commitment has the potential to be a shrewd signing given the right-hander was one of the best pitchers on the planet after returning from a 2020 suspension last season. Staff ace Shane Bieber hinted back in 2021 that extension talks might take place during the 2022 offseason, but that was prior to a shoulder injury that likely dimmed his bargaining power. Bieber, along with the team’s other starting pitchers, all remain controllable through at least 2024, affording the club some leeway to pursue more extensions during a future offseason.

Maintaining a lean club payroll was certainly a factor in the Guardians’ very limited spending this offseason. Currently, Cot’s Contracts estimates the team’s payroll at $68MM, about half of their franchise record $135MM payroll in 2018. It’s not clear why the team’s spending has dropped so precipitously in recent years, a trend that started before the COVID-19 pandemic affected ticket revenues across the league. Moreover, it’s not apparent how quickly the club plans to expand payroll again, if at all. It’s worth noting that the team only just recently snapped an eight-year streak of above .500 ball, a span that mostly featured yearly payrolls beneath the $100MM threshold. With increased odds to make the expanded playoffs and a potential ownership transition to minority owner David Blitzer on the horizon, it’s possible the Paul Dolan-owned club feels less pressure to spend now than ever.

Minimal spending won’t do the new-look Guardians many favors competing with division rivals that were more than happy to spend this offseason. Zigging when others zag has proven to be wise on occasion, and it’s possible that Cleveland will have more mid-season capital to spend than their division mates. That said, it’s far from a lock that Cleveland’s team as constituted will be in the thick of a pennant race come July. With better health, some young players taking a step forward, and a few lucky breaks anything is possible. But this is a team that struggled to win games outside its division last season en route to a 80-82 record, and the matchups within the division only figure to be more difficult this year. 

Eovaldi Won’t Discuss Extension During Season

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In an about-face from an earlier report, it appears one of the Red Sox’ best starters is destined to reach free agency at season’s end after all. Right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi was previously thought to be open to mid-season extension talks, but WEEI’s Rob Bradford reports that Eovaldi has no desire to discuss contract matters during the season. Bradford adds that there is an expectation the righty’s camp will be in contact with the team after the 2022 campaign concludes.

It’s commonplace for players in walk years to halt extension talks after Opening Day— look no further than the division rival Yankees for recent evidence of that— though it registers as a mild surprise that Eovaldi’s self-imposed deadline has come and gone without much talking at all. Eovaldi is coming off the finest season of his career: a 182-inning showing of 3.75 ERA ball with elite command (4.6% walk rate), Cy Young votes, and a bevy of underlying metrics that indicate his performance was even better than his ERA lets on. With just one season to go before a healthy payday awaits the righty in free agency, however, it’s possible Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom and the front office didn’t see the cost upside in writing up a new contract now.

Alternatively, the Red Sox front office may have simply been too preoccupied post-lockout trying to assemble a team with playoff aspirations. Though the club did kick the tires on extensions with franchise players Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts, neither discussion got very far. The front office engaged sophomore pitcher Garrett Whitlock in extension talks, agreeing to an extension this past Sunday, though that’s a value play that was unlikely to be afforded in the veteran Eovaldi’s case. Due to either consistent high-end performance or financial upside it’s easy to see why extension talks were prioritized in all three of these cases over the one with a 32-year-old pitcher.

With Eovaldi all but certain to reach free agency, he’ll join a group teeming with upside (and for the Red Sox, potential replacements). Assuming some opt-outs are exercised and some player options are not, the 2022-23 free agent market stands to contain elite names like Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw. With more than $100MM worth of commitments likely headed off the books after the season, the Red Sox should have no shortage of options to explore this offseason, be it by re-upping some familiar faces or by inviting some new ones into the fold.

NL Central Notes: Pirates, Nutting, Crowe, Contreras

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Shortly after signing third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year $70MM extension, Pirates owner Bob Nutting spoke to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the team’s plans moving forward. After applauding the work done by third-year GM Ben Cherington to rebuild the team’s talent pipeline, Nutting stated his belief “that we’ve rebuilt that foundation to the point that now we can really focus on the major league club.” That’s surely welcome news for Pittsburgh fans, who have sat through an arduous rebuilding process that’s included three consecutive fifth place finishes and a bottom-three payroll entering the 2022 season (per Cot’s Contracts).

Of further note, Nutting spoke of the need to look internally and pick “a few key building blocks […] to start building here in Pittsburgh.” It’s already known that the team tried to extend All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds prior to the 2021 season, and have since settled on an arbitration-avoiding pact with the 27-year-old earlier today. Still, with Hayes locked up through his prime years and extensions on the front office’s mind they’ll be hard-pressed to find a better building block than Reynolds. Whether further extension talks take place with Reynolds or other “building blocks”— Mackey suggests breakout reliever David Bednar as one option— remains to be seen, it’s clear the franchise is ready to pivot and secure a division title for the first time since 1992.

Some other news of note from the NL’s central division…

  • We’re only a few games into the new season but the Pirates feel they may have another breakout reliever on their hands, reports Kevin Gorman of Tribune-ReviewSports. After picking up a three-inning save yesterday, the first of his career, converted-starter Wil Crowe extended his streak to seven scoreless innings to open the season. Small sample size caveats are abound here, but it’s clear that the headlining return from 2020’s Josh Bell trade has seen his stuff play up out of the bullpen. After posting a 5.48 ERA across 26 games (25 starts) with below average strikeout numbers last year, Crowe has upped his swinging strike rate and ranks among the early leaders in avoiding hard contact this season.
  • The Cubs and catcher Willson Contreras remain far apart in arbitration talks and it doesn’t appear an agreement will be reached without an arbiter, per NBC Sports’ Gordon Wittenmyer. While a few months remain for both sides to settle on a midpoint between their exchanged figures— Contreras filed at $10.25MM while the Cubs put forth a $9MM offer— a tidy resolution never seemed likely between the club and one of the last members of their 2016 World Series-winning core. The Cubs are a file-and-trial club and take a hard stance on discussing arbitration salaries after the figure-exchanging deadline (this year’s deadline was March 22). When asked if the club would make an exception for Contreras, given his reputation on the team and as one of the league’s better hitting catchers, team president Jed Hoyer replied “That’s not our policy. We went past the deadline.” For his part, Contreras doesn’t seem too bothered by the prospect of an arbitration hearing, noting that he’s “been going through a lot of [criticism] since I was in the minor leagues, and everything they have to say I’ve already heard it”. The 29-year-old Contreras is set to headline a decent free agent catcher market after the season, and while he hasn’t closed the window on lengthening his Cubs tenure he did note his chances of remaining with the team may take a hit once the Cubs allow him to test the market. The two-time All-Star also drew trade interest over the offseason, which may eventually expedite the catcher’s exit from his original organization.

Reds’ COO Phil Castellini Discusses Payroll Reduction

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One of the major storylines of this past offseason was the extent to which the Reds would cut spending. General manager Nick Krall’s November quote about “aligning our payroll to our resources” became oft-repeated as Cincinnati parted with notable players like Sonny Gray, Wade Miley and Jesse Winker in money-saving moves while making virtually no effort to retain free agent slugger Nick Castellanos.

The Reds did reinvest some of the saved funds into modest one-year deals with free agents Tommy Pham, Donovan Solano, Hunter Strickland, and Colin Moran, plus took on more than $7MM of payroll expenses in the Amir Garrett–Mike Minor swap with the Royals. These present-minded moves, coupled with a Cincinnati farm system that has seen its stock rise over recent years, factored into Reds President and COO Phil Castellini’s March decree for fans to “have a little bit of faith in what we’re doing with your Cincinnati Reds.”

Fans were none too pleased with Castellini’s comments, as the on-paper unit the Reds are rolling out in 2022 houses considerably less star power than the 2021 team. The team also entered the new season with a payroll $9MM lighter than the previous year (per Cot’s Baseball Contracts). With several young pitchers forcing their way onto the team’s roster at eminently affordable rates, an argument can be made to have kept at least one of the team’s departed stars.

Early Tuesday, Phil Castellini joined WLW 700’s Scott Sloan and Mo Egger and was asked why fans should maintain trust in Reds leadership. Addressing this question, as well some fans’ calls to sell the team, Castellini replied:

“Well where are you gonna go? Let’s start there. I mean, sell the team to who? That’s the other thing – you want to have this debate? If you want to look at what would you do with this team to have it be more profitable, make more money, compete more in the current economic system that this game exists – it would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else. And so be careful what you ask for […] we’re doing the best we can do with the resources that we have.”

It’s bizarre to see an ownership figure take such a defensive stance to criticism and all but threaten the fans, particularly on Opening Day when the Reds sold more than 43,000 tickets. (Wednesday’s attendance, per Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer, was 10,976 — though weather surely impacted that total.)

Castellini’s comments also come on the heels of a second straight offseason punctuated by transactions more oriented toward cutting payroll than toward improving the on-field product. Asking Reds fans for patience is particularly brazen given that the team’s most recent rebuilding effort is still fresh in the minds of fans. The Reds, from 2015-16, traded away the likes of Aroldis Chapman, Todd Frazier, Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake — generally coming up empty on the vast majority of those deals.

What followed was a series of three straight last-place finishes in the National League Central from 2016-18, followed by a fourth-place finish in 2019. The Reds averaged a $95MM payroll during that string of last-place finishes, ranking 25th, 25th and 22nd in leaguewide payroll along the way. Cincinnati emerged from that rebuild/retooling process and spent aggressively in the 2019-20 offseason, signing Mike Moustakas, Nick Castellanos, Shogo Akiyama and Wade Miley. The stage appeared set for the Reds, buoyed by a strong rotation and a collection of impressive sluggers, to shift back into a prolonged win-now mindset.

Instead, the Reds went 31-29 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, got swept in the postseason without scoring a run, and immediately began taking another step back. Raisel Iglesias was traded to the Angels in a pure salary dump, and the Reds non-tendered their two main trade-deadline acquisitions: Archie Bradley and Brian Goodwin. Krall spoke of reallocating those resources to other areas of need. Months later, on Opening Day, Sean Doolittle proved to be the Reds’ lone Major League signing — at one year and $1.5MM. The 2021-22 offseason subsequently commenced with the aforementioned “align payroll to resources” comments from Krall that preceded further payroll reduction.

Despite that frustrating sequence, Castellini further preached fan patience and loyalty throughout the day yesterday, drawing comparisons to the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals who surprisingly emerged from a string of losing seasons en route to a Super Bowl appearance (and ignited fanbase) two months ago. In regards to the team’s payroll, Castellini also added that it “is still significantly more than the revenues we’re generating to produce it. […] For the last 16 years [we’ve] invested beyond our market size every single year.”

Those comments caused a stir among Reds fans who haven’t seen their team win a playoff series since 1995, and Castellini has since walked them back. They also come in conjunction with comments from Castellanos to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, wherein he blasts Reds ownership for “suffocating” baseball in a “great city like Cincinnati.” Castellanos made those comments for a piece that ran before Castellini made his comments Tuesday, but even though they’re not a direct reaction, the timing is nevertheless impeccable.

Beyond riling the fanbase though, the club president’s comments potentially shed some light onto the team’s plans moving forward. If the team is indeed operating at a deficit while in Cincinnati, then it’s unlikely the payroll is set to rise much any time soon. Of course, there’s no way to verify the veracity of Castellini’s claims, as teams choose not to open their books to the public. But it’s worth noting that following MLB’s offseason streaming agreements with Apple and Peacock, each club is now set to receive roughly $65MM in national television/streaming revenue alone. That doesn’t account for gate revenue, local broadcast deals and myriad other revenue sources for Major League clubs.

Perhaps further signaling the organization’s future direction, Castellini name-checked the club’s “Big Red Machine” days of the 1970’s, indicating the way to best emulate that successful era of Reds baseball was to invest in the team’s talent pipeline and grow from within. Placing an emphasis on internal development is certainly a practical approach, but it’s sure to draw skepticism from the fanbase in context of the Reds curtailing payroll at a time when they’d already graduated a significant amount of young talent to the majors. Cincinnati has just $44.5MM on the books in 2023 and does not have any guaranteed contracts for the 2024 season.

Injury Notes: Walker, Fletcher, Alcala

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The Mets have placed right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker on the 10-day injured list with shoulder bursitis per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. Walker started yesterday’s game against the Phillies, pitching two scoreless innings with four strikeouts before leaving the game with shoulder irritation. Though the right-hander himself indicated he’d be alright following an MRI earlier today, it appears the team will be taking a more cautious approach. DiComo adds that Walker will miss at least a couple turns through the rotation as he will stretch out on a rehab assignment when he’s cleared to pitch again.

Electric closer Edwin Diaz will return from the bereavement list and take the roster spot vacated by Walker, sparing the Mets from any further roster shuffling for the time being. With New York’s rotation already thinned following Jacob deGrom’s untimely IL stint, the team will presumably have to rely on internal options— perhaps long reliever and last-year starter David Peterson— to patch over some rotation gaps early in the season.

Some other injury developments from the young season…

  • The Angels announced that they have moved infielder David Fletcher to the 10-day IL with a left hip strain. Infielder Andrew Velazquez, acquired in an offseason waiver claim from the Yankees, has been recalled to man the shortstop position in tonight’s game against the Marlins. It’s an inauspicious start to the 2022 season for Fletcher, who struggled offensively (.622 OPS) across 157 games in the first year of his five-year extension.
  • Twins right-hander Jorge Alcala is also headed to the 10-day IL with right elbow inflammation, per MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park. Elbow discomfort has followed Alcala around since this spring, so down time may do some good for one of the more quietly effective members of the Twins’ pitching staff the past few seasons. Right-hander Griffin Jax, who saw a plenty of action out of the team’s rotation last year, has been called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Braves Sign Kenley Jansen

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The Braves have a new closer, as they announced agreement Friday evening with Kenley Jansen on a one-year, $16MM contract. (Atlanta discloses their own contract terms). The Wasserman client had spent his entire career with the Dodgers, but he’s headed to one of the National League’s other powerhouses this season. In order to clear space on the 40-man roster, Atlanta placed reliever Jay Jackson on the 60-day injured list to a right lat strain.

A three-time All-Star and two-time Hoffman Award winner (as the National League’s top reliever), Jansen is one of the best late-game arms in recent memory. The consistently excellent closer has never posted an ERA above 3.75 in his 12-year big league career, and he’s put up an ERA below 3.00 in eight separate seasons.

Jansen remained great last season, pitching to a 2.22 mark in 69 outings. He saved 38 games and struck out a stellar 30.9% of batters faced. That wasn’t quite at the level of his peak — when Jansen was punching out more than two-fifths of opponents while allowing fewer than two earned runs per nine — but it was nevertheless among the league’s best production. Among the 138 relievers with 50+ innings pitched, Jansen checked in 15th in ERA and 29th in strikeout percentage. He generated swinging strikes on 15.2% of his pitches, the 22nd-highest mark among that same group.

In addition to his ability to miss bats, Jansen has consistently excelled at limiting hard contact. Possessing an excellent cutter that stays off barrels, he consistently ranks among the league’s best in terms of checking opponents’ exit velocities and rates of solid contact. That continued last season, with opponents making hard contact (defined as a batted ball with an exit speed of 95 MPH or higher) on only 26.1% of balls in play against him. That’s nearly ten points lower than the 35.4% league average, although it’s par for the course for Jansen.

If there was anything to nitpick in Jansen’s performance, it’s that his once-stellar control got a bit wobbly. He walked 12.9% of opponents last year, his highest rate since his 2010 rookie season. That marked the fourth consecutive year in which Jansen’s walk percentage climbed relative to the year prior, and it was his first season in a decade walking more batters than the average reliever did. That didn’t prevent him from having plenty of bottom-line success, though, and the Braves aren’t locking themselves into a long-term investment.

The 34-year-old reliever signs a one-year deal, shy of MLBTR’s two-year, $26MM projection entering the offseason. The deal brings the Braves payroll to an estimated $185MM, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s uncharted territory for the organization, but Atlanta brass has maintained throughout the winter they’d push their spending upwards on the heels of a World Series run. Their luxury tax ledger, meanwhile, sits around $208MM — about $22MM shy of the base threshold.

Jansen’s signing is the most important step in what has been something of a bullpen makeover in Atlanta. The Braves also added Collin McHugh and Tyler Thornburg, both of whom can step into immediate work. McHugh, coming off an excellent season, seems likely to take on high-leverage innings for manager Brian Snitker. Former closer Will Smith now steps into that mix as well, as Jansen’s signing bumps him from the ninth inning. Speaking with reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) this evening, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos confirmed Smith was willing to cede the ninth inning in order to strengthen the overall roster. Smith, McHugh, Tyler Matzek, Luke Jackson and A.J. Minter form the core of what could be a very difficult late-innings mix to crack for opposing lineups.

That’s before even considering the presence of former All-Star closer Kirby Yates, whom the Braves signed before the lockout. The righty is still on the mend from a March 2021 Tommy John surgery, but he’s expected to factor into the mix down the stretch. Atlanta no doubt envisions playing meaningful games into September and October as they reload for what they hope will be another title run.

Along the way, they very well may come up against the Dodgers. There’d be plenty of intrigue if the clubs meet again in the playoffs, as they’ve now poached franchise icons from one another in recent days. Atlanta brass certainly didn’t allow the Dodgers’ finalization of a six-year deal with Freddie Freeman this afternoon to influence their pursuit of Jansen, but the fanbase and some in the organization probably feel some amount of satisfaction in poaching a marquee player from L.A. There was already going to be plenty of intrigue every time the two teams met this season. Jansen heading to Atlanta will only take that up another notch.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Padres Sign Ian Krol To Minor League Deal

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The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve signed left-handed pitcher Ian Krol to a minor league contract. The deal includes an invite to Major League Spring Training.

Krol, 30, joined the free agent market last November following the Tigers’ decision to outright him from their 40-man roster. After scattering usable results throughout his career and his inclusion in a few notable trades over the years, the former 7th-rounder is now set to join his ninth organization in San Diego. This comes on the heels of an 18-plus-inning run out of Detroit’s bullpen where Krol contributed a useful 4.34 ERA, albeit with opposing hitters batting .303/.365/.474 off him in that limited showing.

The Padres will look to coax a sharper performance out of Krol in the next few weeks at Major League camp. Given the left-hander’s general excellence in the minors it’s not out of the question that he can build off of last year’s performance. It would certainly behoove San Diego if he did, as the team is currently projected (per RosterResource) to start the season with only one healthy, established lefty in the bullpen— Tim Hill.

Krol hasn’t exactly mystified left-handed hitters in his career, but their collective OPS is more than 70 points lower than right-handed hitters’ OPS against the pitcher. If the veteran can crack the club’s Opening Day roster it will provide manager Bob Melvin a wider variety of tools to use out of a bullpen that was a top-5 run prevention unit last season.

Diamondbacks Release Zack Burdi

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The Diamondbacks released right-handed pitcher Zack Burdi earlier this week according to MLB.com’s transaction tracker. Arizona frees up a spot on its 40-man roster, which currently has 39 spots filled.

Acquired in an October waiver claim out of the Baltimore organization, Burdi’s time in the desert will prove practically nonexistent. A former first-round pick with the White Sox, Burdi has endured a trying handful of years since a scintillating minor league debut in 2016. After he skyrocketed all the way up to Triple-A in his first minor league season, the one-time relief prospect has endured a number of health issues, headlined by Tommy John surgery in July 2017.

While Burdi has shown promise when taking the (predominately minor league) field in recent seasons, hitting the mid to upper 90’s with his fastball and striking out batters in droves, he’s also proven awfully susceptible to walks and home runs. Last season proved no different, unfortunately, as the 27-year-old was rocked in Triple-A and in the Majors. Between a Chicago call-up and a cameo out of the Orioles bullpen Burdi sported a 5.40 ERA, with his three home runs and five walks allowed through 10 innings actually looking better than his work in 28 plus Triple-A frames.

Given his pedigree, it’s likely Burdi can latch onto another organization via a minor league deal. Teams who feel they can tap into the right-hander’s potential may also find his remaining minor league option year appealing, given that they can shuttle him between the big leagues and minor leagues if he can stick on a team’s 40-man roster.

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