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Cardinals Sign Giovanny Gallegos To Extension

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OCTOBER 4: It’s an $11MM guarantee, the Associated Press reports. Gallegos receives a $500K signing bonus, followed by successive salaries of $4.5MM and $5.5MM for his final seasons of arbitration eligibility. There’s a $500K buyout on the 2025 option, which has a base value of $6.5MM. The option price can escalate by as much as $3.5MM depending on his games finished tally during the 2024 campaign. It’d increase $500K apiece at 20, 26 and 31 games finished and would add an extra $1MM at each of 36 and 41 games.

OCTOBER 3: The Cardinals announced that they have signed right-hander Giovanny Gallegos to a two-year extension with a club option for 2025. Gallegos had two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, with this deal buying out those years and potentially one free agent year as well.

Gallegos, 31, came over to St. Louis alongside Chasen Shreve in the July 2018 trade that sent Luke Voit to the Yankees. He got a very brief stint with the Cards in the months after that trade, throwing 1 1/3 innings over two appearances. But in the four seasons since then, he has established himself as a mainstay of the club’s relief corps.

From 2019 to 2021, he made 155 appearances and threw 169 1/3 innings. In that time, he registered a 2.76 ERA with excellent strikeout and walk rates of 32.4% and 6.2%, respectively. He earned his way into high leverage situations in that time, notching 19 saves and 44 holds in that period.

He reached arbitration for the first time after last season, with he and the club agreeing to a $2.41MM salary for 2022. Since signing that deal, he’s been putting up very similar results to what he had done in the previous three campaigns. He has a 2.91 ERA in 58 2/3 innings with a 31.2% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate, earning another 14 saves and another 12 holds.

Based on his fourth straight season of strong performance, Gallegos would have been due an arbitration raise for 2023 and likely another for 2024, as long as he stayed healthy. Of course, with a pitcher, the health factor could always change the calculus in a hurry. Instead, Gallegos will have the security of knowing his earnings for the next two seasons are locked in. For giving Gallegos that guarantee, the Cards will have the ability to secure his services for an extra season.

“So excited,” Gallegos tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I feel so happy. I don’t have the word exactly for how I’m feeling. Right now, I’ve got an extension with the team. My confidence is 100%, 200%.” Goold also spoke to John Mozeliak, the club’s president of baseball operations. “He really wanted to stay and be a part of the St. Louis Cardinals moving forward,” Mozeliak says. “I think it really was a win-win for both parties. This gives him a little peace of mind as well.”

Johnny Cueto Open To Return To White Sox

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The White Sox are wrapping up a season that’ll finish right around .500, a disappointing follow-up to last year’s 93-win campaign. Among the culprits for their middle-of-the-road showing was a rotation that ranks 15th in ERA (3.82) and 14th in strikeout/walk rate differential (14.6 percentage points).

While a league average rotation probably isn’t what general manager Rick Hahn and his front office had in mind, there were a few bright spots. Dylan Cease doubled down on last year’s breakout and could be a finalist for the AL Cy Young award. Michael Kopech tailed off in the second half but flashed the ability to be a productive big league starter in his move from the bullpen. The most surprising positive performance from a White Sox starter is probably that of Johnny Cueto, though.

The 15-season MLB veteran wrapped up a six-year contract with the Giants at the end of last season. He wasn’t coming off a bad year, pitching to a 4.08 ERA over 22 outings. Nevertheless, he did so with a mediocre 20% strikeout rate, and the league clearly had skepticism about his ability to repeat those decent results. Cueto went unsigned until just before Opening Day, when he inked a minor league deal with the ChiSox. The contract came with a $4.2MM base salary for any time spent in the majors, an atypically large figure for a non-roster pact. That suggested Cueto was a high-priority minor league signee and may well have had some MLB offers with a lower base value. Nevertheless, it also indicated no team offered him both $4+MM and an Opening Day rotation spot, and he had to work his way onto Chicago’s roster after building into game shape in Triple-A.

Cueto took four starts in the minors before the White Sox selected his contract in mid-May. He’s been a fixture in the starting five from that point forward, and he’s gotten his strongest results since his 2016 campaign in San Francisco. Over 25 outings (24 of them starts), the two-time All-Star tallied 158 1/3 innings of 3.35 ERA ball. He averaged 6 1/3 frames per appearance and allowed three or fewer earned runs in 21 games. By and large, Cueto kept the White Sox in the game when he took the ball, more than making good on his contract. He also set himself up for a better trip to the open market this time around, as he’ll head back to free agency a month from now.

After his final start of the season yesterday, Cueto told reporters he’d welcome a return to Chicago (via James Fegan of the Athletic). The 36-year-old indicated he believes he can still pitch for another two or three seasons, foreclosing whatever small possibility there may have been he’d retire at year’s end.

How replicable Cueto’s 2022 production can be is an open question. Concern about his lack of swing-and-miss remains, as he punched out just 15.7% of opposing hitters. That’s the lowest rate of his career and more than six points south of the league average. His 42% ground-ball rate is right around the league mark. He did a solid job at limiting hard contact but wasn’t elite in that regard.

Where Cueto did excel is in avoiding free passes. He walked only 5.1% of batters faced, his lowest mark since 2016. He’s long had above-average control, but he was among the sport’s best strike-throwers in 2022. The veteran righty also avoided the injured list for the first time in six years, and he told Fegan and others yesterday he was pitching pain-free for the first time in years (presumably since before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2018).

Cueto certainly has locked in a big league contract during his upcoming trip to free agency. His 2022 season isn’t too dissimilar from Zack Greinke’s 2021 platform, which agent Bryce Dixon could point to as an optimistic comp. During his final year with the Astros, Greinke pitched to a 4.16 ERA with a 17.2% strikeout rate, a 5.2% walk rate and a 44.4% grounder percentage. Greinke tallied a few more innings since he was on the big league roster from start to finish, but Cueto soaked up a bigger workload on a per-start basis.

Greinke went on to secure a one-year, $13MM pact from the Royals heading into his age-38 season. A likely future Hall of Famer and a former Cy Young winner, Greinke has had a more accomplished career than Cueto, and he’d been far more consistently durable before his platform year. It seems unlikely Cueto will quite reach a $13MM base salary for those reasons, but their respective seasons before free agency are alike.

Wade Miley, another veteran control artist coming off an excellent year from a run prevention perspective, pitched to a 3.37 ERA with an 18.1% strikeout rate through 163 innings with the Reds last season. The Cubs claimed him off waivers at the end of the year and exercised a $10MM option on his services for 2022. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, as Miley didn’t have the benefit of an open market bidding the way Cueto will this winter. Yet it affirms that a team valued Miley, who was entering his age-35 campaign, as at least a $10MM player, setting that as the seeming floor for what his market value would have been had he gotten to free agency.

Precisely where Cueto’s 2023 salary lands will obviously be determined in the coming months, but there’s no question he proved a valuable contributor for the White Sox. It stands to reason Chicago will at least maintain contact with his reps this winter, as they’re facing a fair bit of uncertainty in the starting staff. Cease will be back at the front of the rotation, and Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn will get chances to bounce back from disappointing 2022 campaigns.

Kopech figures to be in the season-opening starting five, but he’s never topped 140 2/3 innings in any professional season and will be coming off surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee (albeit with an expectation he’ll be full-go for Spring Training). Davis Martin seems the in-house favorite for the #5 spot after eight decent starts to begin his MLB career, but he’s never been a top prospect and was quite homer-prone in the minors. Pushing Martin down a peg or two on the rotation depth chart with an outside addition seems likely, particularly since Chicago’s thin farm system doesn’t offer much in the way of obvious upper minors rotation pieces.

Previewing The 2022-23 Free Agent Class: Third Basemen

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With the offseason drawing nearer, MLBTR will be breaking down the free-agent class on a position-by-position basis. We’ve already run through this winter’s crop of catchers, first basemen and second basemen. You can check out the full list of this offseason’s free agents here, but today we’ll take a deeper look at the options for teams in need of help at third base next.

As was the case when running through the second-base market, I’ll note that there are some star shortstops (e.g.  Xander Bogaerts) who could technically be pursued as a third base option for a team that already has an entrenched shortstop, but we’ll save that group for the shortstop preview. There’s plenty of overlap with the second base market, as many of the free-agent options this winter are utility types who can capably handle either spot.

His Own Tier

Whether Arenado actually becomes a free agent is entirely up to him. He has five years and $144MM remaining on his contract but also has an opt-out clause at season’s end that would allow him to enter into the free-agent market for the first time in his career. Arenado chose not to exercise an opt-out after the 2021 season, but he’s now owed less money and is coming off perhaps the greatest season of his brilliant career. (Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote in September that Arenado was not planning to opt out, citing “friends” of Arenado, but Arenado himself has not made any declarations one way or another.)

Even if Arenado’s goal is to remain in St. Louis, there’s a good case for him to leverage that opt-out and a huge 2022 showing into an extension or larger deal with the Cards. Through 618 plate appearances, Arenado is hitting .292/.358/.533 with 30 home runs, 42 doubles, a triple and five steals (in eight tries). Arenado’s 11.5% strikeout rate is the second-lowest of his career (and lowest over a full 162-game season). He’s second among all Major League third basemen in both Defensive Runs Saved (19) and Outs Above Average (14), trailing only Pittsburgh’s Ke’Bryan Hayes in both categories.

The five years and $144MM remaining on Arenado’s contract average out to $28.8MM annually — a number that, at this point, is a ways shy of where the game’s top position players are paid on an annual basis. Because next year will be his age-32 season, it’s hard to imagine him securing anything longer than a six-year deal in free agency, but as Freddie Freeman illustrated last year, it’s possible for a free agent to secure six years at that age. Arenado, of course, is coming off an even better season this year than Freeman was last winter. He’s been worth 7.2 fWAR and 7.8 rWAR — both of which are personal bests in what increasingly looks to be a Hall of Fame-caliber career.

There’s no guarantee that Arenado reaches free agency, but if he does, it’s an easy call to project a larger guarantee over five years — and perhaps over an even lengthier term than that.

A Distant Second Place

Drury had a rough patch to begin his tenure with the Padres following a deadline swap, but he’s been swinging it just fine over the past month. Dating back to Aug. 29, Drury owns a .288/.338/.575 batting line in 80 plate appearances, and he’s logged a collective .263/.320/.497 batting line on the season. His minor league deal with the Reds was one of the best of the season by any team.

Suitors in free agency may view Drury’s 2022 campaign with some skepticism, given his disastrous 2018-20 run between the Yankees and Blue Jays (.205/.254/.346 in 582 plate appearances). However, Drury hit in a small sample with the Mets last year and has been generally productive in 2022, save for an ugly first three weeks or so in San Diego. Since Opening Day 2021, he’s at .265/.318/.494 with 32 home runs, 36 doubles and two triples in 645 plate appearances. One would think that playing a big slate of games at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park has padded his stats, but only 12 of his 28 homers came in Cincinnati.

Defensively, third base has been Drury’s most frequent position both in 2022 and, more narrowly, in his broader career. He’s been a scratch defender there, per Statcast’s Outs Above Average, and Ultimate Zone Rating generally agrees. Defensive Runs Saved (-3) has him a bit below average, and that’s generally been the case throughout his career. Still, Drury isn’t any kind of glaring liability at the hot corner, and he has 1436 MLB innings at second base, 965 between the outfield corners and  361 at first base. At the very least, he looks like a super-utility player, but Drury has hit enough to be considered a potential starter at second or third, as well.

Utility Players

Diaz has played at least 45 innings at five different positions this season: all four infield spots and left field. He was primarily a shortstop early in his career and still has more total innings there than at any position. He never graded well there, and as he enters his mid-30s, he’ll be viewed as more of a utility player. Diaz’s .248/.294/.415 line in 2022 is a bit down from the .259/.318/.433 slash he’s posted over four total seasons with the ’Stros. He’s a right-handed bat who’s shown a pretty noticeable platoon split over the past couple seasons, though early in his career he hit fellow righties better than lefties. Third base isn’t Diaz’s primary position, but he’s still tallied 758 innings there in his career.

Primarily a second baseman until the current campaign, Peterson has played mostly third base in Milwaukee this season and posted sensational defensive marks there, including 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 6 Outs Above Average in just 605 innings. The lefty-swinging Peterson has revived his career with a solid three-year run in Milwaukee, hitting .241/.339/.377 (100 wRC+) with a hefty 12.4% walk rate, 16 homers and 23 steals in 684 plate appearances. He’s even handled lefties well in a small sample over the past two seasons, although a career .217/.289/.282 output against them still suggests he’s best deployed against righties only.

A hamstring strain cost Solano more than two months, but since being activated, he’s batted .284/.338/.384 with four homers and 15 doubles in 293 trips to the plate. Solano has been quite good at home, in Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, and below-average on the road, but this is the fourth consecutive season he’s headed for at least league-average offense overall. Dating back to his 2019 resurgence with the Giants, “Donnie Barrels” is hitting .301/.350/421 in 1068 plate appearances. He’ll turn 35 in December, though, and his defensive grades at second, third and shortstop in recent years are all lacking. He’s posted excellent numbers in 190 innings as a first baseman this year, however (5 DRS, 3 OAA).

Depth Options and Rebound Hopefuls

  • Ehire Adrianza (33): A switch-hitter with considerable experience all over the infield and in both outfield corners, Adrianza doesn’t hit particularly well from either side of the dish and doesn’t have great defensive marks anywhere. He’s batted .215/.302/.320 in 415 plate appearances since Opening Day 2020.
  • Charlie Culberson (34): Culberson torments lefties, is generally regarded as a strong clubhouse presence and has played every big league position except center field and catcher. Since a career-high 12 homers in 2018, however, he’s slashed just .248/.291/.384 in 542 plate appearances.
  • Matt Duffy (32): A regular at third base with the Giants and Rays earlier in his career, Duffy has long been touted as a strong defensive player. Injuries have hampered him extensively in recent years, limiting him to 730 plate appearances over the past four seasons. He’s hit reasonably well in that time: .267/.338/.346.
  • Maikel Franco (30): Once one of the game’s top prospects, Franco never developed into the slugger the Phillies hoped. With just a .233/.278/.384 slash since 2019 (including .229/.255/.342 with the Nats this year) and woeful defensive grades, the 30-year-old Franco is likely looking at another minor league deal this winter.
  • Marwin Gonzalez (34): The veteran switch-hitter has survived on the Yankees’ roster all season despite hitting just .180/.255/.308 in 195 plate appearances. Gonzalez’s career year in 2017 helped him land a two-year deal with the Minnesota, and since the second season of that contract he’s since cratered with a .197/.273/.310 slash across 701 plate appearances.
  • Phil Gosselin (34): The journeyman utility player has experience at every infield spot and in the outfield corners. He hit .149/.182/.176 in 77 plate appearances this year but did record a respectable .259/.316/.371 slash in 475 plate appearances from 2020-21.
  • Jonathan Villar (32): Villar hit 24 homers and swiped 40 bags with the O’s in 2019, struggled through a dismal showing between Miami and Toronto in 2020, and rebounded nicely with the 2021 Mets. The pendulum swung back in the other direction this year, as he’s been released by both the Cubs and Angels while hitting a combined .208/.260/.302. At his best, Villar is a switch-hitter with some power and difference-making speed, but he’s been wildly inconsistent throughout his career.

Veterans with Club Options

  • Hanser Alberto (30): Alberto’s one-year deal with the Dodgers contained a $2MM club option and a $250K buyout. Los Angeles will all likely opt for the buyout after Alberto has batted .234/.248/.357 in 157 trips to the plate. Alberto has solid defensive ratings around the infield and hits lefties well — career .322/.340/.448 hitter in 581 plate appearances — giving him some bench appeal. His recent poor showings will be hard to overlook, though.
  • Josh Harrison (35): Pretty much everything I wrote about Harrison last week in the second base preview still holds up. He’s had a tough week at the plate, so his offense has now fallen to slightly below average, by measure of wRC+ (96). Still, a .256/.317/.361 output with six homers, 18 doubles and a pair of triples is decent production for an affordable veteran who’s turned in plus defensive marks at both second base and third base this season. Harrison is also plenty experienced in the outfield corners, and after a rough showing in 2018-19 has been a slightly above-average hitter over the life of three seasons. He has a $5.625MM option with a $1.5MM buyout, and a net $4.125MM price seems plenty reasonable. The White Sox, though, are already facing a potential record payroll next year and might want more offense than Harrison can provide, even though his overall price tag is eminently reasonable.
  • Evan Longoria (37): Given the Giants’ overall results this year and the amount of time Longoria has spent on the injured list, it feels safe to say he’s likely having a better season than many realize. He’s not the Longo of old, but even at age 36, he’s turned in a .244/.315/.451 batting line with 14 homers and 13 doubles in just 298 plate appearances. Longoria is striking out more than ever (27.9%) and is no longer the elite defender he was in his 20s. He’s still making tons of hard contact and hitting for power, though. The Giants hold a $13MM option with a $5MM buyout, and the Giants may prefer that buyout as they look to get younger. Longoria discussed the possibility of retirement in an interview with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this summer. It’ll be a family decision on whether he’ll continue playing at age 37, but given his huge output against lefties and his overall batted-ball profile, there ought to be interest in the veteran slugger even if it’s in a more reduced role.
  • Justin Turner (38): A Dodgers fixture who hasn’t stopped hitting even as his 38th birthday approaches (November), Turner has a $16MM club option with a $2MM buyout. That could’ve vested automatically based on MVP voting, but that’s not going to happen — solid as Turner’s season has been. In 525 trips to the plate, he’s hit .280/.352/.443 with 13 long balls — good for a 125 wRC+. The Dodgers have recently picked up the options of a few players and tacked on a new club option for 2024, and given Turner’s consistency perhaps they’ll look at doing the same here. Turner is still a very good hitter, but his defensive ratings at third base have dipped and he’s spent nearly half his time at designated hitter in 2022.

Red Sox Place Rob Refsnyder On Injured List

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The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating first baseman Eric Hosmer from the injured list while recalling left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez. In corresponding moves, right-hander Josh Winckowski was optioned and outfielder Rob Refsnyder was placed on the injured list due to back spasms.

Refsnyder, 31, has somewhat quietly been having the best season of his career. Signed by Boston to a minor league deal in the offseason, he eventually got into 57 games for the Sox and hit .307/.384/.497 for a wRC+ of 146, indicating his production has been 46% better than league average. That’s likely buoyed by some good luck, as his .394 batting average on balls in play is well above his career rate and the league-wide average, but it’s still a nice result for a minor league signing.

Refsnyder can be retained for next year via arbitration, which is the path it seems like the team is leaning towards. Manager Alex Cora spoke to Christopher Smith of MassLive about Refsnyder and had plenty of positive things to say. “He was really, really good offensively. Versatility. The quality of the at-bats were awesome,” Cora said. “The ability to impact the baseball was there and the projections. Defensively solid. It’s a matter of staying healthy. That’s the most important thing with him. We’ll set up a good program for him in the offseason and this is a guy we really like. We really like. And he can contribute at this level.”

Refsnyder has played some infield in previous seasons but the Red Sox kept him on the grass this year, getting a bit of time at all three outfield positions. Going forward, there’s some uncertainty in the team’s outfield picture. Tommy Pham is likely to reach free agency as he has a mutual option for 2023, with those pacts rarely being exercised by both sides. Enrique Hernández and the club recently agreed to sign an extension, though he’s a candidate to spend some time in the infield with Xander Bogaerts likely to opt out of his contract and become a free agent this winter. That leaves Alex Verdugo as the only guy locked into next year’s outfield, with Refsnyder, Abraham Almonte and Franchy Cordero potential candidates to be there as well. The Sox could certainly reinforce that group with external additions, but it sounds like Refsnyder has earned his way into their plans for next year.

Giants Place Evan Longoria On IL With Thumb Fracture

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, with third baseman Evan Longoria being placed on the injured list due to a thumb fracture. Left-hander Thomas Szapucki was also placed on the injured list, with a hip strain being the culprit in his case. To take their spots on the active roster, outfielder Bryce Johnson was recalled while left-hander Andrew Vasquez had his contract selected. To make room on the 40-man roster for Vasquez, lefty Alex Wood was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Longoria suffered his injury yesterday when attempting to field a ground ball. X-rays revealed a fracture, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, which will finish Longoria’s season. The veteran had another strong year at the plate, hitting .244/.315/.451, production that was 15% above league average by measure of wRC+. However, various injuries limited him to just 89 games on the year, as he previously went on the IL due to hand surgery, an oblique strain and a hamstring strain.

Going forward, it remains to be seen what the future holds for Longoria. He is in the final guaranteed year of the huge extension he signed with the Rays back in 2012. There is a club option for 2023, though Longoria has at least considered retirement, discussing the matter with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle back in June.

After the IL placement was announced today, Longoria spoke to the media about his future, with Slusser and Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic among those to relay the information on Twitter. He says that his wife and kids want him to continue playing in 2023 and that his first choice would be to return to the Giants. The option for next year comes with a $13MM base salary and $5MM buyout, though Longoria says he’s open to renegotiating the terms if the team wants him back. The club’s president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has already publicly spoken about a desire to run out a younger roster next year, which would seemingly be a point against bringing back Longoria, who turns 37 in a few days. However, if Longoria is willing to accept a lower salary, perhaps there is a price point where it makes sense for both sides to reunite. The surgery comes with a recovery time of about 4-6 weeks, per Slusser, meaning Longoria should have plenty of time to recover before Spring Training.

As for Vasquez, 29, he began the year with the Blue Jays but subsequently joined the Phillies and Giants on waiver claims before being outrighted about a month ago. He threw 6 2/3 innings with the Jays earlier this year but has otherwise been relegated to the minor leagues, pitching very well on the whole. In 32 1/3 innings in the minors on the year, he has a 2.23 ERA, 34.9% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate. He has less than a year of MLB service time and could be retained for next year if he holds onto his roster spot through the winter.

As for Wood, this today’s transfer is a mere formality as it had already been reported that he wouldn’t be returning this season.

Twins Select Aaron Sanchez

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The Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Aaron Sanchez. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Trevor Megill, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain. To make room on the 40-man roster, outfielder Kyle Garlick was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Sanchez, 30, had a tremendous season for the Blue Jays in 2016, throwing 192 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 20.4% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 54.4% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, various injuries have held him back in subsequent years, relegating him to a depth arm.

He began this year on a minor league deal with the Nats, eventually spending just over a month with the big league club. He then signed another minors deal, this time with the Twins. Since then, he’s twice been selected to the big league club before being designated for assignment and outrighted to the minors, with today’s selection being his third selection by the Twins and fourth on the year overall. Between all of those transactions, he’s thrown 58 1/3 innings in the bigs this year with a 6.33 ERA, 16% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 52.4% grounder rate. He has over six years of MLB service time and will return to free agency at the conclusion of the season.

As for Megill, 28, this IL placement will finish his season. He threw 45 innings for the Twins this year with a 4.80 ERA, though much stronger peripheral stats. His 25% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 45% ground ball rate are all a bit better than the league average marks. He might have been held back by some bad luck, as his 62.5% strand rate is well below the mean and his .368 batting average on balls in play is well above. He and the Twins will hope for better results next year and into the future, as he’s yet to reach arbitration eligibility.

As for Garlick, he’s been on the IL since mid-September due to a wrist sprain and this transfer will officially quash any chance of him returning. He finishes the year with a .233/.284/.433 batting line, good enough for a wRC+ of 104.

Athletics Select Nate Mondou

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The Athletics announced that they have placed infielder Vimael Machín on the paternity list and selected infielder Nate Mondou from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Mondou, 27, has spent his entire professional career with the A’s thus far, having been selected by them in the 13th round of the 2016 draft. After that draft, he began in the lower levels of the club’s system and fared well. Over 2016 and 2017, he hit .290/.370/.375 in 186 games between rookie ball, A-ball and High-A, striking out in just 17.1% of plate appearances while walking in 10.5% of them.

Though he’s never been a highly-touted prospect, his performance up to that time got him a mention on the 2018 FanGraphs list of top Oakland farmhands. Carson Cistulli highlighted Mondou as “Cistulli’s Guy,” a slot reserved for a prospect that was perhaps a hidden gem. Cistulli noted Mondou’s lack of power but gave a compliment his bat-to-ball skills.

Mondou reached Double-A in 2018 but struggled there that year and in 2019, producing a .250/.344/.323 batting line at that level. After the minor league seasons were canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, Mondou got a bump to Triple-A in 2021 and has generally continued to fare well in that low-power way of his. Over the past two years, he’s hit just 15 home runs in 192 games in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but has walked in 10.6% of his plate appearances while striking out in just 17% of them. That’s led to a Triple-A batting line of .283/.373/.431 and a wRC+ of 104, or 4% better than league average.

Defensively, Mondou has spent most of his time at second base while also seeing some action at third base, shortstop, left field and one mound appearance. The A’s have traded away or released most of their established players in the last year, leaving them with a whole bunch of rookies scattered all over their roster. The infield is no exception, as Nick Allen, Jonah Bride, Dermis Garcia and Jordan Diaz are all in the mix, none of whom having ever cracked the big leagues before this season. Mondou will get a very brief chance to showcase his skills before the offseason begins, though he has a full slate of options and could act as a depth piece for the A’s for the foreseeable future.

Tony La Russa Announces He Won’t Return To White Sox In 2023

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White Sox manager Tony La Russa issued a statement today, saying that he will not return to his role for 2023. His contract runs for another year but he has been dealing with health issues that have kept him away from the team since late August. Reports emerged over the weekend that an announcement of this nature would be coming today.

“This February, I had a pacemaker installed and was cleared by my doctors to begin spring training as scheduled,” La Russa’s statement reads. “A periodic check of the device later identified a problem. During batting practice on August 30, I was informed of the issue, taken out of uniform and tested by doctors the next day.The solution was to update the pacemaker in Arizona and for me not to return as manager without medical clearance.”

La Russa goes on to outline a second, unspecified health issue that was diagnosed earlier in the year and that he intended to address in the coming offseason. “While I was inactive with the pacemaker, the second issue was analyzed. The result is that a corrective plan has been developed by my medical team and implementation has begun. I informed the White Sox of this second issue while I was out of uniform dealing with the pacemaker. At no time this season did either issue negatively affect my responsibilities as White Sox manager. However, it has become obvious that the length of the treatment and recovery process for this second health issue makes it impossible for me to be the White Sox manager in 2023. The timing of this announcement now enables the front office to include filling the manager position with their other off-season priorities.”

He then goes on to express his disappointment in his performance this year but makes clear he is not upset with the fans, even those who jeered him, as he understands their desire for the club to win. The White Sox are currently 79-80, eliminated from postseason contention after qualifying in the previous two seasons. In a press conference following the release of the statement, La Russa said he has not yet discussed a different role with the organization as his health is his focus right now, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

General manager Rick Hahn also participated in the press conference, saying that discussions about the next manager have already begun, per Van Schouwen (Twitter links). As for what they will be looking for in their next skipper, Hahn says they would like someone with recent managerial experience and success. A pre-existing relationship with the organization is not a prerequisite, though acting manager Miguel Cairo will receive an interview.

The Sox will be competing with a handful of other clubs who will also be looking for new field bosses for 2023. The Marlins and Don Mattingly announced that he won’t be back for next year, while the Blue Jays, Phillies, Angels and Rangers have all fired their managers midseason here in 2022. Some of those clubs will potentially retain their interim managers, with the Blue Jays seeming like a candidate to do so.

Whoever the White Sox grab to helm the dugout next season, they will have a very similar roster as La Russa had this year. Much of the club’s core performers are still under club control next year, with the most notable exception being first baseman Jose Abreu. However, the last time Abreu was approaching free agency, he was re-signed to stick around Chicago and could perhaps do the same again.

Of course, the organization could always make changes to the roster through the offseason, though they may be hamstrung financially. The club set a franchise record last year with an Opening Day payroll of $129MM but then shattered that here in 2022 by going up to $193MM, according to numbers from Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Next year’s outlay is at $121MM so far, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. However, that number doesn’t include raises for arbitration eligible players like Lucas Giolito or options for players like Tim Anderson, not to mention a potential new contract for Abreu. As such, Hahn tells Van Schouwen that the club is likely to be more active on the trade market than in free agency this winter.

Mariners Activate Julio Rodriguez

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Oct. 3: The Mariners have made it official, announcing that Rodriguez has been reinstated from the IL, with catcher Curt Casali being reinstated from the paternity list. In corresponding moves, catcher Brian O’Keefe and infielder Abraham Toro were optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Additionally, right-hander Phillips Valdez, who was designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Tacoma.

Oct. 2: Monday is the first day that Julio Rodriguez is eligible to be activated from the 10-day injured list, and Mariners manager Scott Servais said the team is hoping that the star rookie will indeed be ready to return as soon as possible.  Servais told The Seattle Times’ Shane Lantz and other reporters that Rodriguez will take part in baseball activities (including “a bunch of swings“) today, and if he feels okay, Rodriguez will be back in the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Tigers.

Rodriguez has been sidelined by a lower back strain, and though the injury wasn’t thought to be too serious, the Mariners felt an IL stint was necessary given how Rodriguez had been missing games even prior to his placement on the injured list.  Even with the M’s in the heat of the postseason chase, the team naturally didn’t want to take any risks with their young cornerstone, and the caution paid off — Seattle still clinched a wild card berth, and will be heading to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

The next step is to get the team as close to peak form as possible, and the Mariners will need Rodriguez to be ready to go.  As Servais noted, “the thing you always worry about when you are out 10 days is timing.  What’s the timing going to be like at the plate?….That’s why I want to get Julio in there as soon as we can, to see how his body reacts and also get him as many at-bats as we can, and feel good about where he is at heading into the playoffs.”

This is Rodriguez’s second IL stint of his rookie season, as he also missed just slightly beyond the 10-day minimum in late July and early August due to a right wrist contusion.  These brief injury absences have been pretty much the only down notes in an otherwise spectacular debut for Rodriguez, who has hit .280/.342/.502 with 27 homers and 25 steals over 549 plate appearances.  Rodriguez is the favorite to win AL Rookie of the Year honors, and the Mariners have already cemented him as the face of the franchise by signing J-Rod to a long-term extension that is worth at least $210MM over 12 years (and could ultimately be a whopping 18-year, $470MM deal).

Orioles Shut Down Félix Bautista

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The Orioles have announced that right-handed pitcher Félix Bautista has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to left knee discomfort, retroactive to October 1. Fellow righty Yennier Cano was recalled in a corresponding move. Earlier today, manager Brandon Hyde had relayed to reporters that Bautista would be shut down, with Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com among those to relay the news.

The fact that Bautista is being shut down is fairly sensible. His knee has been bothering him for a few days now, but the club kept him around as they clung to their diminishing postseason aspirations. With the Orioles officially eliminated over the weekend, it makes sense to let Bautista go into offseason mode as opposed to potentially making his knee worse as they play out the string.

In the end, it will go down as a tremendous debut campaign for the hulking right-hander, a season that felt like it came out of nowhere. Bautista actually began his career in the Marlins’ organization but was released in January of 2015 after posting a 12.41 ERA in rookie ball in 2014. He was signed by the Orioles to a new deal in October of 2016 and has been working his way up the minor league ladder since then.

As he made his way towards the majors, he often paired huge strikeout numbers with troubling walk totals. That was still the case last year, as he threw 46 2/3 innings across three different levels, posting a 1.54 ERA and 39.7% strikeout rate despite walking 15.5% of batters faced. Though the signs of potential were there, Bautista never cracked Baseball America’s list of top 30 prospects in the system. FanGraphs listed him in the past three years, but always in the #30-45 range.

Still, Baltimore believed in the stuff enough that they added him to the roster in November of last year to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, which ended up being canceled by the lockout. Bautista took a huge step forward here in 2022, cracking the club’s Opening Day roster and almost immediately cementing himself as a lockdown reliever. He threw 65 2/3 innings over 65 games with a 2.19 ERA and 34.8% strikeout rate. He even showed improved control, limiting walks to a manageable 9.1% rate. He moved his way up the leverage chart for the O’s as the season went on, notching 15 saves and 13 holds.

Though his season ends with a bit of a down note, he and the club will look forward to 2023. After years of dismal results, Baltimore has posted a solid 82-77 record here in 2022 so far, their first winning season since 2016. Bautista was one of many rookies to debut and show promise this year, with Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Stowers and others giving the fanbase something to dream on throughout the winter. Bautista will finish the season with exactly one year of MLB service time, meaning he won’t be slated to qualify for arbitration until after 2024 and free agency after 2027.

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