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Pirates Acquire Kyle Keller, Designate Edgar Santana

By Mark Polishuk | April 5, 2021 at 1:21pm CDT

The Pirates have acquired right-hander Kyle Keller from the Angels in exchange for cash considerations, both teams announced. To create roster space, the Pirates noted that right-hander Edgar Santana has been designated for assignment.

Keller hit the DFA wire himself earlier this week, and the 27-year-old now finds himself traded for the second time in 15 months, after joining the Angels in a swap with the Marlins in January 2020. Keller has appeared in each of the last two seasons, with a 4.15 ERA over 13 MLB innings with Miami and Los Angeles, striking out 12 batters but also walking ten.

Working almost exclusively as a reliever throughout his pro career, Keller has a 3.53 ERA and 31.8% strikeout rate over 249 2/3 career innings in Miami’s farm system. Control wasn’t nearly as much of a problem in the minors (8.9% walk rate) was it was at the big league level for Keller, and the Pirates are hoping he can provide some bullpen depth for a pitching staff that has lost both some starting and relief candidates to injury in the early going.

Santana is no stranger to injuries, having undergone Tommy John surgery in September 2018. The rehab process cost Santana all of the 2019 season, and he then missed all of 2020 due to an 80-game PED suspension. As per the terms of the suspension, Santana still had to sit out the first 20 games of this season before being eligible to return to the field.

Before his career was put on pause, Santana delivered solid results in his first two MLB seasons. The right-hander posted a 3.31 ERA/3.77 SIERA over 84 1/3 innings out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen in 2017-18, with an impressive 6.8% walk rate but a below-average 21% strikeout rate.

NL Notes: Reds/Cardinals Brawl, Castellanos, Padres, Baez

By Mark Polishuk and TC Zencka | April 5, 2021 at 12:57pm CDT

Outfielder Nick Castellanos was issued a two-game suspension for his part in Saturday’s brawl between the Reds and Cardinals, the league announced. Castellanos was the only player suspended, and he is appealing his two-game ban. Fines were issued to three players on each team — the Reds’ Castellanos, Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez, and the Cardinals’ Jordan Hicks, Yadier Molina, and Nolan Arenado.

The incident developed after Cards pitcher Jake Woodford hit Castellanos with a pitch during a fourth-inning at-bat. Castellanos wasn’t pleased by the HBP, and picked up the ball and held it in Woodford’s direction as he went to first base. Later in the inning, Castellanos scored from third on a wild pitch, and celebrated the run by standing over Woodford (who was covering home plate) and flexing. This led to the benches clearing, and a lot of shoving and heated words between the two NL Central rivals.

Nationals To Begin Season On Tuesday

By Anthony Franco | April 5, 2021 at 11:56am CDT

TODAY: In another announcement from MLB, the Braves and Nationals will play a doubleheader on Wednesday to account for today’s postponement. The Nats are currently working out on their home field, and as the league’s release states, “Since the most recent round of test results of Nationals personnel included no new positives, all of the Club’s eligible personnel are permitted to participate in baseball activities at Nationals Park today.”

SUNDAY, 9:35pm: The Braves and Nationals will play on Tuesday, according to an announcement from Major League Baseball. “The most recent round of test results of Nationals personnel included no new positives. All of the Club’s eligible personnel will be able to participate in baseball activities at Nationals Park on Monday,” the league’s statement reads. Monday’s game will be postponed, and details are still forthcoming on when that game and the series with the Mets will be made up.

9:03pm: Discussions are still “ongoing” about the status of Monday’s game, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post writes, and no official announcement about a postponement has been made. The Nats have yet to hold a full-team workout, and Rizzo told Dougherty and other reporters that he was “concerned” about the possibility of playing after “a very, very short workout schedule before” Monday’s game begins.

6:00pm: Monday’s game between the Braves and Nationals has been postponed, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). The two sides are still planning to take the field for Tuesday’s scheduled game.

1:49pm: A few more people have entered quarantine as close contacts, GM Mike Rizzo told reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com and Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). Fortunately, the Nationals’ most recent set of tests all came back negative. No one who tested positive continues to suffer from symptoms. The “majority” of the players affected by the situation were expected to open the year on Washington’s active roster, Rizzo says. All told, eleven players and two staff members are in quarantine.

9:07am: The Nationals’ season-opening series was postponed due to COVID-19 spread within the organization. As things currently stand, Washington is scheduled to host the Braves tomorrow afternoon to kick off their season. Even if the team is able to return, they’ll be without a handful of key players.

Kyle Schwarber, Jon Lester, Josh Harrison and Alex Avila are among the players expected to be sidelined if the Nationals begin play early next week, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Four Nats players have tested positive for the coronavirus, while five more are currently in quarantine as close contacts. It isn’t clear which (if any) of Schwarber, Lester, Harrison and Avila have tested positive versus being close contacts. Under the league’s 2021 health and safety protocols, an individual who tests positive is subject to a 10-day quarantine period, while close contacts are subject to seven-day quarantines. The identities of the other five players currently in quarantine are not yet known.

Avila’s potential absence could’ve played a role in the Nationals’ decision to sign veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy to a minor-league deal last night. If Avila is forced to miss time, Washington would be down to Yan Gomes and Tres Barrera as the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Barrera, initially optioned to the alternate training site, was among the handful of players reportedly slated to be recalled in the spread’s initial aftermath.

Mets, Francisco Lindor Agree On Ten-Year Extension

By Anthony Franco | April 5, 2021 at 10:45am CDT

APRIL 5: The Mets have officially announced Lindor’s extension. Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News provides the release here.

MARCH 31: The stalemate is over. The Mets have reportedly come to terms on a ten-year, $341MM contract extension with star shortstop Francisco Lindor, covering the 2022-31 seasons. Lindor will be paid a $21MM singing bonus, followed by flat $32MM salaries in each year of the deal. The contract calls for $5MM of the annual salaries to be deferred, paid annually from 2032-41, for a total of $50MM in deferrals. The deal also contains a 15-team no-trade clause without any opt-out provisions. Lindor is represented by SportsMeter.

The extension is a monumental development, both for the Mets and for the sport as a whole. New York acquired the 27-year-old Lindor, one of the sport’s brightest stars, in an offseason trade with the Indians. Now they’ll ensure he spends the bulk of his career in Queens.

Lindor was the eighth overall draft pick by Cleveland back in 2011. He immediately became one of the game’s top prospects and moved quickly through the minors for a high school draftee, reaching the big leagues by June 2015. Lindor burst onto the scene that year with a .313/.353/.482 slash line as the Indians’ everyday shortstop, earning a runner-up finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting.

That sensational debut set the stage for a run of four consecutive star-level seasons. Between 2016-19, Lindor hit .284/.346/.495 (118 wRC+) with 118 home runs and 81 stolen bases. That’s quality offensive production from any player, but it’s particularly remarkable coming from a shortstop widely regarded as one of the game’s premier defenders. Lindor’s two-way production earned him an All-Star berth and a top 15 finish in AL MVP voting in each of those seasons.

That production did drop off a bit during the abbreviated 2020 season. Lindor played in all sixty games for Cleveland but hit a career-worst .258/.335/.415 (102 wRC+). It seems that average showing is something of a small sample anomaly, though. Lindor kept his strikeout rate at its customary 15.4% range (well better than the league average of 23.4%) while drawing walks in a career-best 9.0% of his plate appearances. His power production took a slight step back, but Lindor’s 89.9 MPH average exit velocity remained solid.

Clearly, the Mets aren’t concerned about that slight offensive downturn. They parted with four well-regarded young players (infielders Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez and prospects Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf) to acquire him and starter Carlos Carrasco from the Indians in January. They’re following that up with one of the largest contracts in MLB history.

Working out an extension with Lindor has been the Mets’ hope since they acquired him, but it seemed just a few hours ago the star infielder was headed for the free agent market. Lindor had rather definitively stated he wouldn’t negotiate an extension during the regular season, leaving the parties with dwindling time to work out a deal before tomorrow’s season opener. The Mets originally offered a ten-year, $325MM pact, while Lindor came back with a twelve-year, $385MM counterproposal. With the clock ticking, both sides budged a bit from their original asks, although Lindor ultimately relented on the deal’s length more significantly than the Mets did on the money.

That’s not to say he fared poorly. His deal checks in as the third-largest contract in MLB history in terms of total guarantee. Hardly coincidentally, it tops Fernando Tatís Jr.’s recent $340MM extension with the Padres by the narrowest of margins. The deferred money in Lindor’s deal keeps the contract’s actual value a bit below Tatís’, since none of the latter’s money is deferred. Nevertheless, Lindor picks up a symbolic $1MM more than one of the game’s other top shortstops. By average annual value, meanwhile, Lindor’s $34.1MM comes in sixth all-time. It is also easily the biggest financial outlay in Mets history.

Keeping one of the sport’s best players and most charismatic people for the next decade is certainly a huge development for the Mets on its own. But the Lindor deal also represents something of a symbolic leap for the organization’s future under new owner Steve Cohen. Under the previous ownership group, the Mets’ payrolls were closer to average than the top-of-the-market range one would expect from a team in New York City. The offseason sale of the franchise to Cohen, MLB’s richest owner, brought hope for Mets fans of a massive uptick in spending.

New York had an active winter, but they didn’t make a true splash at the top of free agency, to the consternation of some observers. By extending Lindor, the Mets keep one of the top players in next winter’s class off the market. The 2021-22 free agent shortstop class has drawn plenty of attention. It remains loaded, with Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Carlos Correa and Javier Báez all slated for the open market. Lindor was perhaps the face of that group, though, and he carried as much or greater earning power than his peers.

Because Lindor’s extension begins in 2022, the Mets’ books for the upcoming season are unaffected. The two sides had already agreed to a $22.3MM salary for this season to avoid his final potential trip through arbitration; Lindor will play out the year on that deal. Pushing the extension off a season also keeps the Mets’ competitive balance tax number for 2021 at the same level- around $194MM, in the estimation of Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That leaves New York with about $16MM of breathing room if they wish to stay below the $210MM tax threshold this year.

Lindor’s deal will count for $34.1MM (a deal’s average annual value is measured for CBT purposes) against the luxury ledger every year from 2022-31, assuming the luxury tax system is still in place under the terms of the next collective bargaining agreement. The deal pushes the Mets’ actual payroll number in 2022 to over $127MM, per Cot’s, with a projected luxury tax number of $135MM. New York will need to shell out another significant outlay (albeit nothing approaching the Lindor range) if they wish to keep star outfielder Michael Conforto from hitting free agency over the offseason. The Mets and Conforto have talked about an extension this spring and could continue those conversations into the season.

Regardless of what decisions Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson make in the coming months, they’ll be able to build around their new franchise shortstop. In the waning moments before their self-imposed extension deadline, the Mets and Lindor got the deal done.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link) was first to report an agreement had been reached and the deal’s general range, as well as the presence of some deferrals. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was first with terms (Twitter link). Andy Martino of SNY (via Twitter) was first to report the existence of a no-trade clause and the absence of opt-out clauses. Bob Nightengale of USA Today was first to report the deal began in 2022 (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post was first to report the $50MM in deferrals (Twitter link), as well as the yearly rates (Twitter link) and deferrals (on Twitter) and the fifteen-team no-trade clause (on Twitter).

Quick Hits: Franchise Values, Rays, Cardinals

By TC Zencka | April 5, 2021 at 9:51am CDT

Major League Baseball teams are up in value by 3 percent from 2020, per the annual report from Forbes’ Mike Ozanian. Baseball’s 30 clubs are now being valued at an all-time high of $1.9 billion. The Yankees saw a 5 percent bump to $5.25 billion at the top of the list. They are not only the most valuable franchise in baseball, but one of the top three most valuable franchises in North America, along with the Cowboys and Knicks. Despite the operating losses many franchises suffered because of the pandemic, the long-term values were buoyed by the sale of the Mets and the valuation of the Boston Red Sox with their pending private equity deal. Ozanian reports that revenue was down 65 percent in 2020 as teams lost $1.8 billion after raking in a $1.5 billion profit the year prior. Check out the full article for the list and methodology. More from around the game…

“Complex information and simple messages,” that’s the key to the Rays’ run prevention plan, per MLB.com’s Adam Berry. The Rays believe in their ability to develop arms and find value where other teams have missed it. The Rays are famous for their analytical approach, but it might be their ability to effectively communicate their findings to the players on the field that truly makes them stand out as a development center. Throwing strikes and simplifying the approach is a big part of that, but so is giving confidence to guys who have struggled with other organizations. This year, the Rays’ approach will truly be put to the test as they attempt to replace nominal stars like Blake Snell and Charlie Morton with veterans like Chris Archer, Michael Wacha, and Rich Hill.
After the bullpen logged more innings than starters in their opening series against the Reds, the Cardinals may soon have to consider adding a ninth reliever to the roster, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jake Woodford made the opening day roster exactly for this possibility, and he soaked up 2 1/3 innings on Saturday afternoon. Seth Elledge and Kodi Whitley are two bullpen arms on the taxi squad that could be added to the roster if the Cardinals decide they need another arm for their series against the Marlins.

Nationals To Add Kyle McGowin To Active Roster

By TC Zencka | April 5, 2021 at 7:32am CDT

So far, we know that Sam Clay, Tres Barrera, Luis Garcia and Yadiel Hernandez are being added to the Nationals’ roster before their Tuesday opener, while Jon Lester, Alex Avila, Kyle Schwarber, and Josh Harrison are among the players expected to have their debuts delayed. We can now add right-hander Kyle McGowin to the roster additions, per the Athletic’s Maria Torres (via Twitter). At least one more player from their expected opening day roster will thus be unavailable. Reports have suggested that upwards of nine players could miss time due to contact tracing protocols, so there may be more moves coming.

There was positive buzz around McGowin for the work he’d put in refining his slider this winter. Nats’ fans will get an earlier look than expected. The 29-year-old has seen time in each of the past three seasons for the Nats. He has a 7.53 career ERA/6.20 FIP across 21 appearances (2 starts) spanning 34 2/3 innings. McGowin has primarily been a starter in the minors, though it’s not yet clear what role he’ll play early this season. At least one rotation spot will have to be filled in the short-term, though Erick Fedde or Austin Voth could easily step back into the role they filled in spring training.

Looking ahead, the Nationals are able to add players from off of their 40-man roster as replacements for COVID-related injuries, notes Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Thus far, all the names added to the roster have been on the Nats’ 40-man roster. There are a number of bullpen arms that could be natural adds as well, depending on need, but we should know the full roster by their opener against the Braves on Tuesday.

Dodgers Place Tony Gonsolin On 10-Day Injured List

By Mark Polishuk | April 4, 2021 at 10:54pm CDT

Prior to today’s game, the Dodgers placed righty Tony Gonsolin on the 10-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The placement was retroactive to April 1. Right-hander Dennis Santana was called up from the alternate training site to take Gonsolin’s spot on the active roster.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jorge Castillo of the L.A. Times) that Gonsolin has been dealing with the shoulder problem “the last few days,” which explains why Gonsolin has yet to make his 2021 debut. Gonsolin had been ticketed for a multi-inning bullpen role to begin the season, though given the Dodgers’ penchant for managing pitchers and the right-hander’s own track record over his short MLB career, Gonsolin is likely in line to receive some proper starts as the year goes along.

Gonsolin has a 2.60 ERA/4.11 SIERA over 86 2/3 innings as a big leaguer, starting 14 of his 20 career games over the 2019-20 seasons. He also started both Game 2 and Game 6 of the World Series last fall, though both of his outings were essentially bullpen games as the Dodgers mixed and matched pitchers throughout the Fall Classic. With generally above-average career metrics, the 26-year-old Gonsolin would likely be seen as promising rotation building block on a team that wasn’t so deep in pitching, and it’s possible the Dodgers might still use him in a more traditional starter role down the road.

NL East Notes: Conforto, Martin, Haseley

By Mark Polishuk | April 4, 2021 at 10:01pm CDT

Extension talks between Michael Conforto and the Mets “have yet to grow serious,” according to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, who also reports that the two sides never got to the point where numbers were exchanged. An earlier report two weeks ago stated that the Mets made an initial offer to Conforto, though both items aren’t necessarily contradictory — it could be that the Mets never got an official counter-offer back from Conforto’s representatives at the Boras Corporation, or perhaps the Mets’ offer was more exploratory in nature. Regardless, it remains to be seen if any negotiating will take place before Conforto hits the free agent market after the season. The outfielder told DiComo, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post, and other reporters today that he was “not interested in really talking about” the subject any further, and agent Scott Boras told Davidoff in a text message that “as is the custom when the season begins, [we are] focusing on the performance of the players.”

In other news, Conforto revealed that he and his fiancee tested positive for the coronavirus during the offseason, about two weeks before Conforto reported to Spring Training. His fiancee suffered some moderate symptoms while Conforto didn’t suffer much beyond some shortness of breath.

AL Injury Notes: Pinder, Laureano, Brantley, Dozier, Britton

By Mark Polishuk | April 4, 2021 at 7:36pm CDT

The Athletics were outscored by a 35-9 margin over the course of a four-game sweep at the hands of the Astros, and some injury concerns only further worsened Oakland’s nightmare of a series. Chad Pinder will receive an MRI after suffering a left knee sprain while making a jumping catch at the wall in the first inning of today’s game. Pinder made an awkward landing while completing the play, and though he finished the inning, he was replaced by a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the frame.

Losing a valuable utilityman like Pinder would be another blow to an A’s lineup that is already missing some key names, though manager Bob Melvin suggested Ramon Laureano could potentially be back in action on Monday. Laureano “feels a lot better today…I think we’re getting a little bit closer with him,” Melvin told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reporters. After jamming his wrist during a slide on Friday, Laureano has missed the Athletics’ last two games. Sean Murphy was hit in the hand with a pitch during that same Friday game, and Melvin said Murphy will be sidelined for at least one more game since the catcher had some discomfort swinging during Sunday’s batting practice.

Blue Jays Outright Reese McGuire, Breyvic Valera

By Steve Adams | April 4, 2021 at 6:14pm CDT

TODAY: McGuire and Valera have both cleared DFA waivers and been outrighted to the Blue Jays’ alternate training site, as per a team announcement.

APRIL 1: The Blue Jays announced Thursday morning that catcher Reese McGuire and infielder Breyvic Valera have been designated for assignment. Their roster spots will go to infielder Joe Panik and lefty Tim Mayza, whose contracts have formally been selected.

McGuire, 26, was the 14th overall pick by the Pirates back in 2013 and came to the Jays by way of the 2016 Francisco Liriano trade. The longtime top prospect hit well in 2018-19 (.297/.343/.539, seven homers in 138 plate appearances) before his bat fell off a cliff in 2020 (.073/.073/.146 in 45 plate appearances). That downturn in production, a bizarre and troubling Feb. 2020 arrest, and the breakout of fellow catcher Alejandro Kirk all combined to spell the end of McGuire’s days on Toronto’s 40-man roster.

Valera, meanwhile, has bounced around the league via the waiver wire for the past couple seasons. The Jays have claimed the versatile switch-hitter twice in that time, but he’s still only appeared in five games with the club. The 29-year-old Valera is a career .223/.294/.298 hitter in a small sample of 138 plate appearances, but he carries a much more appealing .302/.374/.442 line through 1550 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

The Jays told Panik that he’d made the roster last week, marking the second straight season that he’s cracked their big league club after inking a minor league pact in the offseason. Mayza, 29, pitched 104 innings with the Jays from 2017-19 but missed the 2020 season due to Tommy John surgery that he underwent in Sept. 2019. He’s healthy now and rattled off 6 2/3 shutout innings during Spring Training, yielding just one hit and two walks with six punchouts along the way.

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