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Read The Transcript Of Our Chat Hosted By MLB Outfielder Brent Rooker

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After being drafted by the Twins in the 38th round out of Mississippi State, Brent Rooker went back to college for another year.  That move paid off, as the Twins took him again in the first round in 2017.  At the time, Baseball America ranked the outfielder/first baseman as a top 100 prospect in the game, writing, “He projects as a middle-of-the-order weapon with power as a strong carrying tool.”

Rooker reached Triple-A in 2019.  The minor league season was cancelled in 2020, but Rooker was able to make his MLB debut in September of that year.  In his sixth game in the Majors, he went deep off the Cardinals’ Daniel Ponce de Leon.  Unfortunately, Rooker’s forearm was fractured on a hit-by-pitch not long after that.

The surgery for that injury went well, and Rooker was back in the bigs in April of ’21.  The left fielder showed promise that year, popping nine home runs in 213 plate appearances for the Twins.  One highlight: a four-hit effort against the Rays, including a home run off Evan Phillips.

The Padres were drawn to Rooker, as they acquired him along with Taylor Rogers in the April 2022 trade that sent Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan to Minnesota.  After a few brief big league looks for San Diego, the Padres traded Rooker to the Royals in August of ’22 for Cam Gallagher.  Finally, in November of last year, the A’s claimed Rooker off waivers from the Royals.

A whirlwind 2022 season saw Rooker as a member of four different organizations.  He still managed to hit 28 home runs in 365 plate appearances at Triple-A.  Rooker joins an A’s team that currently projects to have Ramon Laureano and Seth Brown at the outfield corners and Aledmys Diaz at DH.  The 28-year-old Rooker appears to have little left to prove at Triple-A and is in a good place to compete for playing time as a right-handed power bat.

As Brent notes, he’s at least above replacement level at Twitter, and you should follow him @Brent_Rooker12.  Brent volunteered to chat with MLBTR readers today, and we’re happy to have him!  Click here to read the transcript of the chat, where Brent talks about everything from the mental weight of a serious injury, the biggest gaps between Triple-A and the Majors, his favorite teammates/toughest opponents, clubhouse food spreads and more!

Guardians Sign Zack Collins To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians announced Thursday that they’ve signed catcher Zack Collins to a minor league deal and invited him to big league camp this spring. Cleveland also confirmed its previously reported minor league deals/non-roster invites with lefty Phillip Diehl and righty Dusten Knight.

Collins was the tenth overall pick by the White Sox back in the 2016 draft. As with most players who have that type of draft pedigree, he once ranked among the sport’s consensus top-100 prospects, though he’s yet to establish himself as a viable big leaguer on either side of the ball.

The 28-year-old Collins has logged big league action in each of the past four seasons, batting a combined .185/.295/.327 with an impressive 12.9% walk rate but a troubling 33.6% strikeout rate through 459 plate appearances. He split the 2022 campaign between Toronto and Pittsburgh, slashing .155/.231/.320 in 108 trips to the plate. He’s notched a much more impressive .248/.377/.495 output in 570 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, but strikeouts have been an issue there as well (26.9%).

Defensively, Collins has graded out poorly in the Majors, recording negative framing marks and being dinged for -23 Defensive Runs Saved in just 608 career innings behind the plate. He’s also thrown out a below-average 18% of base thieves at the MLB level, though his 32% caught-stealing rate in the minors is far better and comes in a much larger sample. Each of the White Sox, Blue Jays and Pirates have given Collins some time at first base in the Majors, and he’s tallied another 304 innings there in the minors, so there’s a bit of versatility in his skill set.

Mike Zunino, signed to a one-year, $6MM deal earlier in the offseason, is slated to shoulder the bulk of the Guardians’ workload behind the plate in 2023, at least in the season’s early stages. His backup, however, remains something of an open question. Top catching prospect Bo Naylor is viewed as the organization’s catcher of the future, but the team may prefer that he heads to Triple-A and logs regular playing time early in the year. Bryan Lavastida is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, though minor league veterans like Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria will join Collins in camp as non-roster invitees.

That gives Cleveland as many as four catchers who could open the season in Triple-A Columbus, although Collins’ ability to mix in at first base could help them carry at least three backstops on the Triple-A roster. Still, it seems likely that at least one of the NRIs in camp could be cut loose at some point. For now, there’ll be some healthy competition to determine who opens the year as Zunino’s backup.

The Opener: WBC Rosters, NBA Deadline, Player Chat

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With the return of baseball just around the corner, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the sports world throughout the day today:

1. WBC Rosters Announcement

The World Baseball Classic is set to return for its fifth installment next month, and tonight, WBC rosters will be announced. Coverage of the announcement will begin at 5pm CT on MLB Network. As per usual, the WBC is expected to feature star-studded rosters; for example, both Mike Trout and Mookie Betts are already confirmed for the Team USA roster, while the Dominican Republic is expected to include stars like Rafael Devers, Juan Soto and Julio Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani will headline Japan’s roster. With the tournament running from March 8-21, players who participate in the WBC will be away from their team’s Spring Training camp to participate. As such, tonight’s roster reveal could have implications not just for the WBC itself but throughout all of MLB, as the absence of those stars will create some additional playing time for others during Cactus League and Grapefruit League play this spring.

2. NBA Trade Deadline

Typically, The Opener (and MLBTR in general) focuses purely on baseball. Today, however, we’re making a rare pivot to the larger sports world, as the NBA has its trade deadline this afternoon, at 2pm CT. Our sister site, Hoops Rumors, is set to provide the same type of coverage we at MLBTR provide during baseball’s own trade deadline. Just yesterday, a three-team deal sent Russell Westbrook to the Jazz and D’Angelo Russell to the Lakers, while superstar Kevin Durant was dealt to the Suns in a separate blockbuster late last night. With more sure to come in advance of this afternoon’s deadline, basketball fans who enjoy MLBTR’s content should check in at Hoops Rumors for up-to-the-minute coverage and analysis of the trade deadline throughout the day.

3. MLBTR Player Chat

Yesterday, MLBTR had the opportunity to host a live chat with former MLB starting pitcher Brandon Beachy, the transcript of which you can find here. Today, we’re excited to welcome current A’s outfielder Brent Rooker, who’ll host a live chat with our readers at noon CT. Rooker, the No. 35 overall pick in 2017, has consistently raked in the minor leagues, though since his MLB debut with the Twins in 2020, he’s struggled to make the jump to the big leagues. In 2022, Rooker changed uniforms three times: he started the year as a Twin before being sent to the Padres just before the start of the season in the Taylor Rogers trade, then was traded from San Diego to Kansas City in early August in exchange for catcher Cam Gallagher. Finally, a November waiver claim sent him from the Royals to the A’s, where he remains on the 40-man roster and will compete for an Opening Day spot during Spring Training. Brent’s chat will kick off at today at noon CT, so check back then to participate live!

Trade Rumors Front Office: Q&A

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In past polling about our Trade Rumors Front Office subscription service, it became clear a lot of MLBTR readers don’t know what it is or what the benefits are.  In the reliable format of asking myself questions and then answering them, here we go!

What is Trade Rumors Front Office?

Trade Rumors Front Office is our paid subscription service, which we launched in July 2020.  Click here to subscribe.

What are the specific benefits as compared to the free site?

  • The removal of ads when you’re browsing this website and using our Trade Rumors app
  • Exclusive weekly articles from Steve Adams and Anthony Franco.  These articles feature analysis from Steve and Anthony.  Recent examples include “It’s Time For The Reds To Explore Long-Term Deals With Their Young Core” and “The small-market team that rebuilt without going into an actual rebuild.”  Steve and Anthony also analyze recent major transactions, such as the Rafael Devers extension.
  • Exclusive live chats with Anthony every Friday
  • During fantasy baseball season (starting this month), weekly articles from fantasy expert Brad Johnson.  Brad also holds fantasy baseball chats for subscribers every other week during this time.
  • Early access to our chats with MLB players.  Subscribers are first to know about these chats and have the chance to submit questions early.

How are the chats different if you’re a subscriber?

In a typical chat open to everyone on MLB Trade Rumors, the host is able to answer about 5% of the questions that come in, due to the high volume.  In Anthony’s subscriber chats, since there are fewer participants, he’s able to answer about 70-90% of the questions asked.  If that number consistently drops below 70%, we plan to add a second weekly subscriber chat.

How much does it cost?

$29.89 per year or $2.99 per month.

How do I access it?

To remove the ads, subscribers just need to be logged in when they’re on the site or app.  All the other benefits are sent via email.

What if I sign up, try it for a while, and decide it’s not worth my money?

I’ll refund 100% of your money!

What if I get everything I need from the free site?

That’s perfectly fine.  We’re glad to have you here.

What if I don’t like paying for baseball news?

We’re not offering additional news with this service.  We are offering analysis from our writers beyond what free MLBTR has, plus live chats with a much higher likelihood of getting your questions answered.

What if this subscription doesn’t fit into my budget?

We respect that and we’re happy we’ve been able to offer a free, ad-supported website for 17 years and counting.

Are you going to make the free website worse or paywall it in some way?

No, and we’ve actually got all sorts of plans to make the free website even better.  It can be a tough needle to thread, but Trade Rumors Front Office is for those who have the means, would like to support us directly, and want to go even deeper with our writers in terms of analysis and interaction.

Don’t you make money off the ads on the free site?

Yes, ads represent the vast majority of our revenue.  In that sense, the website isn’t completely free, as you’re letting us show you ads (assuming you’re not using an ad blocker).

We don’t have an ad sales team going out and negotiating deals with advertisers.  Instead, we plug in code from the major online ad middlemen (like Google), and they take a cut.  So, we don’t control the specific ads that appear on the site.  We also don’t control the rates at which those ads pay.  2022 was our worst year for ad rates in a decade, with the exception of 2020.  There are a few levers I can try to pull, but I also think it’s good for the company long-term to grow the subscription service.

Is there a way I can support MLBTR without getting a paid subscription?

Yes!  Tell your MLB fan friends to visit mlbtraderumors.com or download the free Trade Rumors app, and share our stuff on social media like Twitter and Facebook.

If you do want a Trade Rumors Front Office subscription, click here!

Guardians, Dusten Knight Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians have agreed to a minor league deal with reliever Dusten Knight, reports Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. Assuming he passes a physical, he’ll get a non-roster invitation to MLB camp. Knight is represented by Big League Management Company.

Knight, 32, has spent a decade in the professional ranks since being drafted by the Giants in 2013. He reached the majors for the first time in 2021 as a member of the Orioles, pitching seven times and tallying 8 2/3 innings. Knight signed a non-roster deal with the Rays last winter after Baltimore ran through him waivers. He bounced on and off Tampa Bay’s active roster on a few occasions, ultimately getting into six contests and tossing 11 innings.

Over his two seasons, the Oklahoma native has worked 19 2/3 frames of 18-run ball. He’s fanned 20 hitters, walked nine and picked up swinging strikes on a roughly average 11% of his offerings. Knight’s fastball only checked in at 89.5 MPH on average last season, though he leaned more frequently on an upper-70s changeup and mid-80s cutter.

While Knight hasn’t carved out a consistent role in a big league bullpen, he’s allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine innings in each of the last two Triple-A seasons. He posted a 3.05 ERA over 35 outings with Baltimore’s top affiliate in 2021 and put up a 3.42 mark through 55 1/3 frames for the Rays’ affiliate in Durham last season. Knight induced grounders at a decent 47.8% mark and struck out an impressive 27.7% of opponents for Durham, though that came with an alarming 13.4% walk percentage.

Knight still has two minor league option years remaining. If he cracks the Guardians 40-man roster at any point, they can bounce him between Cleveland and Triple-A Columbus for the next couple seasons. He joins Michael Kelly, Touki Toussaint, Luis Oviedo, Peyton Battenfield, Caleb Baragar and Phillip Diehl among the non-roster pitchers who have some MLB experience in Cleveland’s camp.

Poll: Will The Mariners Trade Chris Flexen?

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Early in the offseason, it looked as though there was a good chance the Mariners would move one of their two candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation. The quartet of Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby create a standout set of options in slots one through four, and Seattle has a pair of solid back-of-the-rotation options in Marco Gonzales and Chris Flexen. Behind that duo, prospects like Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller and Taylor Dollard have all reached Double-A and enjoyed success there, placing them within reasonable proximity of MLB readiness. Miller, in particular, cracked the back of some top-100 lists this year, landing 74th on Kiley McDaniel’s list at ESPN, 98th at MLB.com and 100th at Baseball America.

It’s a strong collection of depth, and the presence of Miller, Hancock and Dollard seemed like it could be enough to sway the Mariners to move one of Flexen or Gonzales. Flexen, as a free agent next offseason* with a palatable $8MM salary — compared to the $18.5MM still owed to Gonzales through 2024 — seemed to be the likeliest candidate. That’s true not only from an on-paper standpoint, but also when considering that president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto plainly acknowledged in November that he’d been receiving trade interest in Flexen at the annual general managers’ meetings.

(*=There seems to be some continued confusion regarding this, as Flexen won’t have six years of Major League service time after the season, but MLBTR has confirmed that he will become a free agent next winter, as is the case with the vast majority of KBO/NPB signees whose free agent contracts expire.)

The Mariners, however, were never going to give Flexen away just to shed his salary, and the fact that he remains with the club is a clear indicator that another club has yet to put forth an offer Dipoto & Co. felt was commensurate with Flexen’s value. The extent of that value is subjective, but Flexen would be a clear upgrade to the back of several teams’ rotations.

Since returning from a successful one-year stint in the Korea Baseball Organization, he’s pitched to a 3.66 ERA in 317 2/3 innings. Granted, his 92.4 mph average fastball and 16.5% strikeout rate are below average, but Flexen also has sharp command (6.8% walk rate). He keeps lefties in check with the help of an above-average changeup and has generally done a good job keeping the ball in the yard since his MLB return. Flexen has benefited slightly from a pitcher-friendly home environment, but his numbers away from T-Mobile Park (3.75 ERA, 1.12 HR/9) are only slightly worse than those compiled when pitching at home in Seattle (3.57 ERA, 0.91 HR/9).

Because Flexen’s numbers were superior to those of Gonzales across the board, some argued that Gonzales should be the odd man out, despite his relatively lengthy tenure with the club. Gonzales is nearly three years older, however, has more than double the money remaining on his contract. Flexen’s trade value was and is higher, and while he alone wouldn’t have fetched a substantial upgrade to the Seattle lineup, he could certainly have been included in a package that worked toward that endgame.

Now, however, the majority of the teams around the game have exhausted the bulk of their offseason budget and filled the rotation vacancies that existed early in the winter. That ostensibly points toward both Flexen and Gonzales beginning the year with Seattle, perhaps with one in a long relief role. It’s always possible that a spring injury elsewhere on the staff would necessitate a scenario wherein both Flexen and Gonzales are part of the Opening Day rotation.

That said, the injury component still looms as a possibility for other clubs. Even teams that right now believe their rotations to be full could run into trouble over the next 50 days. Nary a spring training goes by without multiple pitchers going down to major injury; situations like the one that popped up today in Milwaukee — where Aaron Ashby is being slowed by shoulder fatigue — are commonplace this time of year. As the exhibition season wears on, more severe injuries that threaten long chunks (or the entirety) of an established pitcher’s season will arise. Many teams are in positions like the Mariners, where they have the depth to withstand such a hit. Others, however, are already looking at questionable depth beyond their top few names (e.g. White Sox, Blue Jays, Padres — to varying extents).

Injuries are an inevitability this time of year, and the Mariners’ depth will likely be attractive to other clubs as health troubles throughout the league arise. Seattle may prefer to stockpile that depth, but moving Flexen would likely free up some resources to expand the budget for in-season acquisitions. It’s also possible that they take on some salary to address another need on the big league roster by way of the Flexen trade itself.

For what it’s worth, Corey Brock of The Athletic speculated in his latest mailbag that the Mariners will ultimately find a deal for Flexen during spring training when an injury on another club creates a need, though it’s just as possible that said injury occurs on Seattle’s staff and takes Flexen out of the trade equation entirely.

Let’s put this one up to a vote for MLBTR readers to weigh in (link to poll)…

Will the Mariners trade Chris Flexen before Opening Day?
No, they'll keep the depth. 60.19% (2,566 votes)
Yes, they'll find a trade partner in Spring Training. 39.81% (1,697 votes)
Total Votes: 4,263

Arte Moreno Reiterates Angels’ Desire To Keep Shohei Ohtani Past 2023 Season

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Shohei Ohtani’s long-term future has been a marquee storyline in the game for the past couple years. He’s now a season away from the open market, where he presently seems on track for a record-setting contract. There’s already been plenty of speculation among rival fanbases and presumably within other front offices about the possibility of Ohtani signing elsewhere after six seasons with the Angels.

Halos’ brass has unsurprisingly maintained on numerous occasions they’re hopeful of retaining the two-way superstar for the long haul. Owner Arte Moreno reiterated that goal in a recent interview with Jon Heyman of the New York Post. “I’d like to keep Ohtani. He’s one of a kind. He’s a great person,” the Angels owner told Heyman. “He’s obviously one of the most popular baseball players in the world, and he’s an international star. He’s a great teammate. He works hard. He’s a funny guy, and he has a really good rapport with fans.”

None of that registers as any kind of surprise, of course. Anaheim general manager Perry Minasian made similar comments last week, telling reporters the “whole organization would like nothing more than to see him here for a long, long time” and calling the 2021 AL MVP “somebody that we can envision here for a long, long time” (link via Associated Press).

Neither Moreno nor Minasian handicapped their odds of getting a deal done, nor did they specify whether there any plans for extension talks with Ohtani’s representatives at CAA this spring. Both expressed general optimism about the Angels’ chances of retaining him, with Moreno telling Heyman “we have as good a chance as anybody” at signing Ohtani to a long-term deal.

As recently as last month, it didn’t appear Moreno would be concerned about Ohtani’s long-term future in Anaheim. He’d been exploring a sale of the franchise dating back at least to last summer before pulling the team off the market in the middle of January. Sam Blum of the Athletic was among those to report in the aftermath of the decision that bids on the franchise were expected to top $2.5 billion but Moreno had a change of heart about relinquishing the franchise.

That led to some questions amongst the fanbase about whether the Angels’ chances of re-signing Ohtani took a hit with Moreno retaining control. The Angels have had seven straight below-average records and haven’t made the playoffs in eight years. Moreno admitted to Heyman “we have to win, we have to do a better job on the field,” though both he and Minasian have pointed out the Halos anually rank among the league’s top ten in spending.

Cot’s Baseball Contracts estimates the Angels will open the 2023 campaign with the league’s 7th-highest payroll. They’re behind the Mets, Yankees, Padres, Phillies, Dodgers and Blue Jays by that estimate, and a handful of those big-market behemoths would surely relish the opportunity to make a run at Ohtani in free agency.

Cot’s projects the Angels for around $119MM in guaranteed commitments for 2024, headlined by the megadeals for Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. Trout is under contract through 2030, while Rendon is signed through 2026. Tyler Anderson and David Fletcher are the only other players with deals past the ’24 campaign, with the guaranteed portion of both contracts wrapping up in 2025.

The Volatile Red Sox Rotation

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The Red Sox have been one of the more capricious teams in recent history. This millenium has seen them win the World Series four times but also finish fifth in the American League East five times. The past five seasons have seen them go from winning it all in 2018 to missing the playoffs in 2019, falling to last in 2020, back to the playoffs in 2021 but then back to the basement last year.

That mercurial nature seems to be embodied in this year’s rotation. There’s plenty of talent but also plenty of risk. It wouldn’t be a total shock to see this group be completely dominant or an utter disaster. Let’s take a look at the candidates and their respective error bars.

Chris Sale

From 2012 to 2018, Sale was one of the best pitchers in the league. He tossed 1,388 innings over that stretch with a 2.91 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate and 42.7% ground ball rate. His 39.2 fWAR in that period was bested only by Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.

Unfortunately, that’s starting to feel like ancient history now. Sale struggled in 2019 with a 4.40 ERA over 25 starts. That was the “juiced ball” season and his 19.5% HR/FB rate was a career high, so perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but ERA estimators still pointed to him taking a step back from his previous work. The three subsequent seasons have been mostly lost to injuries, with Sale undergoing Tommy John surgery in March of 2020. He returned in 2021 and made nine starts that year, but then the injury bug came back the next season. A right rib stress fracture put him on the injured list to start the year, and then he was hit by a comebacker when he returned and suffered a left fifth finger fracture. While on the IL with that finger injury, he fractured his right wrist in a bicycle accident.

Some of those injuries are of the fluky variety and don’t necessarily point to any irreversible core issue. However, Sale will turn 34 years old in March and has pitched less than 50 major league innings in the past three years, including just 5 2/3 last year. It’s difficult to know what to expect from him after so little recent work, and even if he’s in good form, will he eventually hit some kind of wall? Either mandated by the club or just a physical limit?

James Paxton

Paxton is in a fairly similar situation to Sale, though his previous highs aren’t quite as high. From 2016 to 2019, he posted a 3.60 ERA over 568 innings. He struck out 28.5% of batters he faced while walking just 6.7% and got grounders at a 42.6% clip. His 15.1 fWAR in that period was 12th among all pitchers in the league. But various arm injuries have limited him to just six starts since then, with his last in April of 2021. He required Tommy John at that time and was on his way back last year but suffered a lat tear during his rehab.

The Sox could have locked him in for another two seasons by triggering a $26MM option but made the obvious choice to turn that down. Paxton then turned down a chance to return to free agency by triggering his $4MM player option for this year. Like Sale, he’s coming off three mostly lost seasons and will be 34 this year, but he’ll be almost two years removed from his last major league appearance once the season begins. Will he be able to get things back on track and, if so, for how long?

Corey Kluber

Kluber’s arc has some echoes of the two guys already mentioned in this piece, though with more optimistic developments recently. From 2014 to 2018, he made 160 starts with a 2.85 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 44.8% ground ball rate. His 30.3 fWAR just nudged out Sale and trailed only Scherzer and Kershaw.

But after that, a forearm fracture and teres major muscle tear limited him to just eight starts over 2019 and 2020. He got back on track somewhat in 2021, as a shoulder strain sent him to the IL for about three months, but he still made 16 starts with a 3.83 ERA. He stayed healthy enough to take the ball 31 times last year, posting a 4.34 ERA. That came with excellent control as he walked just 3% of batters, but his strikeouts were down to a 20.2% clip.

Those past couple of seasons are encouraging but Kluber turns 37 in April. His fastball averaged 88.9 mph last year, well down from his 94-95 mph peak form. He seems like he has the ability to succeed despite that diminished stuff, but that will likely become more challenging over time, even if he does stay healthy.

Nick Pivetta

Compared to the three previous pitchers on this list, Pivetta is the picture of reliability. He hasn’t been to the injured list for a non-COVID reason during his time in the majors, which began in 2017.

However, that might be his best asset, as he hasn’t exactly wowed with the results. He has a 5.02 ERA for his career and registered a 4.56 mark last year. His 22.6% strikeout rate was slightly better than that of the average starter last year, but his 9.4% walk rate and 38.5% ground ball rate were both a few points worse. He’s not terribly exciting but there’s certainly value to that kind of steadiness, especially amid this erratic group.

Garrett Whitlock

Whitlock had a great season in 2021 after being plucked from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft. He tossed 73 1/3 innings over 46 relief appearances with a 1.96 ERA, 27.2% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 49.7% ground ball rate. He began 2022 back in the bullpen but the Sox tried stretching him out midseason. He made nine starts before a hip issue sent him to the injured list in June. He returned in July but was kept in a relief role until the hip issue put him on the IL again in September. He underwent surgery for that hip at that time but is expected to be ready for spring.

The club plans on implementing him as a starter here in 2023, which will be an interesting experiment. The 120 2/3 innings he threw in the minors in 2018 are the most in a single season on his résumé, as he’s been in the 70-80 range since then. With just those nine big league starts to his name, can he suddenly jump to a full starter’s workload? And even if he can, will he be able to maintain the same quality of of work that he did in relief in 2021-22?

Tanner Houck

Houck is in a fairly similar boat to Whitlock, as there are intriguing results there but it’s tough to map out the best path forward. He has a 3.02 ERA in 146 innings for his career thus far, striking out 27.6% of batters faced, walking 8.7% and getting grounders at a 49.3% rate. That work has involved 20 starts and 33 relief appearances. The splits aren’t huge, as he has a 3.22 ERA as a starter and a 2.68 out of the ’pen. He dealt with lingering back issues last year that sent him to the injured list in August and he ultimately underwent surgery in September.

The club has indicated they may stretch Houck out as a starter in camp but move him to the bullpen if the five guys ahead of him are all healthy. That still leaves a decent chance of him spending some time in the rotation this year. He made just four starts last year and hasn’t reached 120 innings in any of his professional seasons.

Brayan Bello/Kutter Crawford/Josh Winckowski

These three all have made their major league debuts but likely need more time to develop. Bello registered a 4.71 ERA last year, with Crawford at 5.47 and Winckowski at 5.89. They all have options and might be in the minors to start the year. But given the unstable nature of the arms ahead of them on the depth chart, there’s a chance they will be needed at some point.

Brandon Walter/Bryan Mata/Chris Murphy

These three are all on the 40-man but have yet to reach the majors. Walter and Murphy just got added in November to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. Walter has just nine Double-A starts and two at Triple-A, meaning he likely won’t be lined up for his debut in the immediate future. Murphy made 15 Triple-A starts last year but put up a 5.50 ERA in that time. Mata underwent Tommy John in April of 2021 and was able to return last year and toss 83 innings in the minors, but he has just five Triple-A starts to his name thus far. This group could be called upon if things really go south, but they will likely be behind the Bello/Crawford/Winckowski trio unless things shift as the season progresses.

_____

As mentioned off the top, there’s plenty of talent here but there are so many ways this could play out. Five years ago, Sale, Paxton and Kluber would have been a dominant front three but the odds of them all suddenly clicking into their previous ace levels are low. Whitlock and Houck have had tantalizing results but each is coming off a season ended by surgery and both are generally unproven as starters over any kind of meaningful stretch. The younger depth options could always take a step forward and seize a job but they probably can’t be counted on yet.

It seems the error bars are quite wide for the Sox going into 2023. Center field and shortstop will be manned by players with minimal experience at those positions in Adam Duvall and Enrique Hernández, respectively. Their first baseman will be Triston Casas, who has 27 MLB games to his name. Their left fielder will be Masataka Yoshida, attempting to make the transition from NPB to MLB. They’re hoping to get some kind of contribution from Adalberto Mondesi, who’s been limited to just 50 games over the past two years combined. There’s uncertainty all over the place, including the rotation. In a style that fits the organization, they could have a miracle season or it could all go horribly wrong.

Padres Sign Tim Lopes, Rangel Ravelo To Minor League Deals

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The Padres today announced a list of players that will be in camp as non-roster invitees, with utility players Tim Lopes and Rangel Ravelo among them, indicating that they have been signed to minor league deals.

Lopes, 29 in June, got into 94 major league games over the 2019-2021 period with the Mariners and Brewers. In that time, he hit .246/.310/.352 for a wRC+ of 85. Though that offensive production was 15% below league average, he contributed in other ways by stealing 11 bases and taking the field at second, third and the infield corners. He was outrighted by Milwaukee after 2021 and elected free agency, signing a minor league deal with the Rockies for 2022. He got into 73 games on the farm for them and hit .276/.339/.476 for a wRC+ of 100. He also stole 11 bases and suited up at the three infield position to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners.

Ravelo, 31 in April, got a taste of the majors with the Cardinals in 2019 and 2020. He hit .189/.250/.351 in a small sample of 42 games while playing first base and the outfield corners and was non-tendered at the end of the latter campaign. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers for 2021 and crushed it in his first 26 Triple-A games, producing a batting line of .407/.504/.758. He then signed with the NPB’s Orix Buffaloes but only got into two games that year. In 2022, he got into 24 contests with the Buffaloes but hit just .138/.296/.207. More recently, he’s been playing for the Cardenales de Lara of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, hitting .324/.441/.514 in 32 games.

Both players will give the Padres a little bit of extra non-roster depth. Lopes has a bit more positional versatility but Ravelo has occasionally impressed a bit more at the plate. The Padres have a fairly stacked lineup but their bench might feature some relatively inexperienced options in Brandon Dixon, José Azocar and Matthew Batten. Injuries are also inevitable and depth pieces will surely be required throughout the season. If either player cracks the roster at any point, they each have between one and two years of service time, meaning they could be affordably retained for the foreseeable future. Lopes also has a couple of option years, though Ravelo has exhausted his.

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