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Quick Hits: Cubs, Maldonado, Cedeno, M’s, Healy, Rox, Estevez

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The Cubs had interest in catcher Martin Maldonado before he agreed to join the Royals on Saturday, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports (subscription required). The presence of established starting catcher Willson Contreras worked against the Cubs in this instance, though, as Mooney hears Maldonado wanted to go to a team capable of offering him a solid amount of playing time. After losing out on Maldonado, the Cubs are still interested in bolstering their depth at catcher behind Contreras and Victor Caratini, Mooney hears.

  • Maldonado only ended up in Kansas City because starting catcher Salvador Perez needed Tommy John surgery – a procedure veteran Matt Wieters expects to become more commonplace for backstops. Wieters, who underwent the procedure in 2014 (the first time a starting catcher required the surgery since 1997), told Joel Sherman of the New York Post this week, “I think it is because more and more you are on the clock,” referring to the fact that teams are now timing catchers when they throw. “I am not sure that is a great way to go,” the Cardinals’ Wieters opines. Along with Perez and Wieters, the Red Sox’s Christian Vazquez and the Mets’ Travis d’Arnaud are the most prominent catchers who have undergone TJ surgery in recent years, Sherman notes.
  • With Kyle Seager battling a wrist injury, Ryon Healy has emerged as the Mariners’ top fallback option at third base, Greg Johns of MLB.com writes. Healy totaled over 100 games’ worth of action at the hot corner with the Athletics from 2016-17, but he barely played there last year with the Mariners, instead spending almost all of his time at first. The addition of Edwin Encarnacion has pushed Healy out of a starting spot there, however, and so did his subpar production in 2018. In his first year with the Mariners, Healy slashed an unimpressive .238/.277/.412 (90 wRC+) in 524 plate appearances, continuing his drop-off from an encouraging 2016 rookie campaign with the A’s.
  • Contrary to popular belief, Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez is not out of minor league options, Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets. Rather, the Rockies will be able to demote Estevez this season “based on complicated regulations regarding full seasons played and age at the time of signing,” Harding writes. That will afford the Rockies more flexibility in their bullpen, where it appeared they’d either have to keep Estevez or potentially lose him. The 26-year-old was a part of the group from 2016-17, but he struggled to a 5.36 ERA (though he did post a much better 4.08 FIP) with 9.27 K/9, 4.33 BB/9 and a 44.3 percent groundball rate across 87 1/3 innings. Thanks in part to oblique and elbow injuries, Estevez failed to appear in the majors last season.
  • Cubs reliever Xavier Cedeno is likely to miss the start of the season on account of a wrist injury, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. It doesn’t seem overly serious, though, as Cedeno’s only expected to sit out the next seven to 10 days. Cedeno, whom the Cubs signed to a minor league contract in February, had been competing for a bullpen spot after several productive seasons divided among the Astros, Nationals, Rays, White Sox and Brewers. Over 175 1/3 innings, the 32-year-old southpaw has logged a 3.69 ERA/3.80 FIP with 8.91 K/9, 3.54 BB/9 and a 50.4 grounder percentage, and has held same-sided hitters to a weak .218/.285/.298 line.

Dodgers Claim Donnie Hart, Release Josh Fields

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SUNDAY: The Dodgers have released Fields, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets.

THURSDAY: The Dodgers have claimed left-hander Donnie Hart off waivers from the Orioles, per an announcement from both clubs. In order to open a spot for Hart on the 40-man roster, Los Angeles surprisingly designated right-hander Josh Fields for assignment. The Dodgers will now have a week to trade Fields, release him, or pass him through outright waivers. Hart had previously been designated by the O’s when they re-claimed Hanser Alberto from the Giants.

Hart, 28, posted solid numbers for the 2017 Orioles when he worked to a 3.71 ERA with 6.0 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 1.03 HR/9 and a strong 53.1 percent ground-ball rate in 43 2/3 innings of work. That performance came on the heels of strong showings in Double-A and Triple-A, and it looked as if Hart was well on his way to cementing himself as a fixture in the Baltimore ’pen.

The 2018 season, though was demonstrably worse for Hart. While he tore through younger competition at Triple-A (2.41 ERA, 9.9 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.22 HR/9, 60.7 percent grounder rate), he was clobbered for 13 runs on 31 hits and 12 walks with 13 strikeouts in 19 1/3 frames at the MLB level. While it’s obviously a small sample of work, it seems that the new-look Orioles front office wasn’t overly impressed with Hart’s abilities. He has a minor league option remaining, which could serve the Dodgers well this year, given their penchant for cycling relievers back and forth between the Majors and upper minors in an effort to keep a fresh slate of arms available to manager Dave Roberts.

Designating Fields for assignment was unexpected both due to his regular-season results over the past couple seasons and due to the fact that the Dodgers had already agreed to a $2.85MM salary with the righty. That’s a non-guaranteed sum, as is the case with all arbitration contracts, but unless the Dodgers find a taker in a trade at that price point, they’ll be on the hook for one-sixth of that sum ($475K) even if they release him and get nothing for him. Fields has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment, as well, so this seems quite likely to lead to either a trade or Fields becoming a free agent.

Since being acquired by the Dodgers, the 33-year-old Fields has tallied 117 1/3 innings of relief and pitched to a terrific 2.61 ERA with 8.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and 1.22 HR/9. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher, never more so than in 2018 (22.9 percent grounder rate, 51.4 percent fly-ball rate), but Fields averages nearly 95 mph on his heater with solid swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates. Fields’ heater comes with a middle-of-the-pack spin rate, however, and his curve ranks in just the eighth percentile among MLB hurlers in terms of spin rate, though Hart’s breaking ball ranks even lower.

For one reason or another, it seems that the Dodgers don’t believe Fields to be capable of replicating his previous success. If that’s the case, though, it’s puzzling that they opted to tender him a contract in the first place.

Injury Notes: Dodgers, Mariners, Altuve, Mets

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The Dodgers expect their top two starters, left-hander Clayton Kershaw and right-hander Walker Buehler, and shortstop Corey Seager to be ready for the beginning of the season, manager Dave Roberts said Sunday (Twitter links via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com). Kershaw – who has been working back from a shoulder issue for two weeks – is set to throw a bullpen session Monday, while Buehler will throw live batting practice again Tuesday or Wednesday. Though Buehler’s not injured, the Dodgers are taking a careful approach with the 24-year-old wunderkind this spring after he experienced a massive innings increase from 2017-18. The Dodgers have also been cautious with Seager, who’s coming off Tommy John surgery and a left hip procedure.

  • Manager Scott Servais issued updates on a few key Mariners on Sunday, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and Greg Johns of MLB.com (all Twitter links). Third baseman Kyle Seager, brother of the aforementioned Corey Seager, underwent an MRI on Saturday on his injured left wrist. The results aren’t available yet, however. Outfielder Mallex Smith, who has been shelved the past few weeks because of a strained flexor mass in his right forearm, is making progress and could take batting practice Monday. Reliever Hunter Strickland has been unavailable since last Sunday with lower back tightness, but Servais doesn’t think it’s serious, nor should it keep the former Giant out for much longer.
  • The Astros are shutting down second baseman Jose Altuve “for a few days,” manager A.J. Hinch told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle and other reporters Sunday. Altuve’s battling left side soreness, though the Astros don’t believe it’s anything “alarming,” and they’re hoping the superstar can return to Grapefruit League action late next week, according to Hinch.
  • Mets reliever Drew Smith is heading back to New York for an evaluation of his sore right elbow, Tim Healey of Newsday was among those to report. Smith’s attempt to win a season-opening spot in the Mets’ bullpen is on hold as a result. In his first major league action last season, the 25-year-old pitched to a 3.54 ERA/3.66 FIP with 5.79 K/9 and 1.93 BB/9 over 28 innings.

Rays Renew Blake Snell For $573,700

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SUNDAY: Snell’s renewal is official, Topkin tweets. He commented on the team’s decision (via Topkin), saying: “The Rays have the right under the collective bargaining agreement to renew me at or near the league-minimum salary. They also have the ability to to more adequately compensate me, as other organizations have done with players who have similar achievements to mine. The Rays chose the former. I will have no further comment and look forward to competing with my teammates and field staff in our quest to win the World Series in 2019.”

FRIDAY: The Rays intend to stick to their pre-arb salary formula with regard to lefty Blake Snell, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. It is anticipated that the team will renew Snell’s contract at the price of just $573,700.

Plenty of young major leaguers are playing at similar rates of pay, to be sure. The minimum salary sits at $555K and most organizations stay close to it, typically handing out increases measured in the thousands or tens of thousands based upon service time and certain performance standards.

The collective bargaining agreement allows teams to pay pre-arb players whatever it likes, so long as they earn at that floor level. Snell, though, needn’t agree to the salary he’s allotted. And indications are he won’t, preferring instead to make a symbolic protest.

The southpaw says it’s “disappointing” that he wasn’t rewarded with a bigger increase after wrapping up a stellar season in which he walked off with the American League Cy Young Award. He was anything but vitriolic toward the Tampa Bay organization, but left no doubt that he’ll also be taking a businesslike approach in his future dealings with the club.

Given his immense achievement, it’s not surprising that Snell would feel a bit slighted. It’s true, as Topkin notes, that renewals aren’t terribly uncommon for players who’ve turned in big seasons. But the examples he cites also highlight just how stingy the Rays’ formula is. Josh Hader declined to agree to the $687,600 salary that the Brewers’ own spreadsheets spit out. Mookie Betts wouldn’t put his signature on a $950K payday after a season in which he placed second in the MVP voting. The same thing happened last spring with Carlos Correa, who was renewed at a cool $1MM.

It is understandable enough that the Rays wish to maintain discipline, as Topkin explains, and are wary of allowing “an exception” to make it impossible to “draw, and hold, the line” in future situations. Of course, the team set its formula by fiat and can modify it at will to incorporate whatever inputs it wishes. No doubt the data-savvy organization could imagine a way to reward truly exemplary performance without opening the door to otherwise unwanted expenses. A well-crafted incentive structure might even make good financial sense, though the Rays have surely thought that through already.

With some prior extension chatter having failed to gain traction, Topkin writes, the expectation now is that the sides will go year to year in the arbitration process. Snell will hope to follow Betts in making his employer pay up through his three arb years:

“Hopefully this pushes me. Arbitration will be the business side, and that’s what I’ll tell them. I think fair is fair. It all comes around in the end anyway. At the end of the day, you get what you put in. I’ll be motivated.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the use of formulas in setting pre-arb salaries, check out this old but good piece from Zach Links on the subject.

NL Central Notes: Brewers, Moustakas, Cards, Molina, Bucs, Polanco

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Mike Moustakas “badly” wanted to re-sign with the Brewers, who granted his wish last month when they brought him back for a $10MM guarantee, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription required). It was the second consecutive drawn-out stay on the open market for the 30-year-old Moustakas, a career-long third baseman who will move to second base in 2019. It’s a surprising transition on the surface, but not for either the Brewers or Moustakas. Thanks to the presence of third baseman Travis Shaw, who shifted to second upon Moustakas’ arrival at last July’s trade deadline, the Brewers negotiated with the latter with the intention of trying him at second, per Rosenthal. Moustakas, for his part, informed agent Scott Boras early in the offseason he’d like to prepare for a change to second in order to make himself more attractive on the open market, Rosenthal explains. In the end, the increased versatility didn’t lead to a long-term deal for Moustakas, who reeled in his second straight single-year guarantee.

Here’s more from the NL Central:

  • Retirement is hardly imminent for 36-year-old Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who tells Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he’d like to play at least one more season with the team after his current contract runs out. Molina’s signed through 2020, which will be his 16th season and a year in which he’ll pass Bob Gibson to become the second-longest tenured player in the Cardinals’ storied history. However, while Molina wants to make it to at least Year 17, the potential Hall of Famer has no interest in overstaying his welcome in the majors. “I don’t want to retire when I hit .190 and I can’t throw anybody out at second,” said Molina, who batted .261 and caught 31 percent of would-be base stealers in 2018. When Molina finally does close out his playing career, don’t expect him to become the latest ex-catcher to become a big league manager, as he tells Hummel he’s uninterested in going down that road.
  • Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty, 23, was among the best young starters in baseball last season, when he recorded a 3.34 ERA/3.86 FIP with 10.85 K/9 and 3.52 BB/9 across 151 innings. As a pre-arbitration player, though, Flaherty won’t earn a salary commensurate with his 2018 production. The Cardinals renewed Flaherty for just over the $555K minimum – $562,100 – after they were unable to reach an agreement with him, Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch reports. The club first offered Flaherty $572,100, but he wasn’t willing to accept that sum, per Goold, who writes that the team determines a pre-arb player’s worth with “essentially a weighted Wins Above Replacement that takes into account service time.” Flaherty racked up 2.6 WAR in 2018, while reliever Jordan Hicks – who also wasn’t able to agree to a 2019 salary with the Cardinals – totaled 0.3. Hicks, like Flaherty, will earn less this year than the team initially offered him, though it’s unclear exactly how much he’ll make, per Goold. While neither player harbors ill feelings against the Cardinals, Flaherty contends that “the system as a whole is not great.” It’s hard to argue with him, especially given that reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell is also in line for a near-minimum salary this season.
  • Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco is making notable progress as he recovers from September shoulder surgery and could return by May, according to Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Polanco’s able to hit without restrictions, and he has progressed to throwing from 120 feet on back-to-back days. The injury to Polanco forced the Pirates to find fallback options in free agency over the winter, when they signed Lonnie Chisenhall to a $2.75MM deal and added Melky Cabrera on a minor league pact.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Suffers Oblique Strain

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Prized Blue Jays prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has suffered a Grade 1 left oblique strain, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports. The team estimates Guerrero will need three weeks to recover, Davidi adds.

The injury to Guerrero officially takes him out of the running to open the season in Toronto, though he wouldn’t have stood much chance to crack its roster even if he remained healthy. Not only will the Blue Jays gain an extra season of control over Guerrero by keeping the 19-year-old in the minors until mid-April, but general manager Ross Atkins indicated last month that the big-bodied third baseman’s not yet suited for a major league promotion. Since then, Guerrero has batted a meager .211/.250/.316 in 19 spring at-bats.

Despite his struggles over a small sample of exhibition plate appearances, Guerrero’s an all-world hitter who’s widely regarded as the game’s best prospect. As such, few took Atkins’ comments at face value, instead believing Toronto would demote him to manipulate the player’s service time. It’s now a moot point in light of the injury, though, as Davidi notes Guerrero would have been ticketed for a season-opening rehab assignment anyway. The hope now is that the injury won’t linger beyond the team’s estimated timeline, as is often the case with oblique issues.

Regardless of whether Guerrero’s back within the three-week window, he’ll see more time at Triple-A Buffalo before earning his first call-up to the majors this season. Guerrero garnered his first Triple-A experience late last year and slashed a phenomenal .336/.414/.564 (175 wRC+) with six home runs and more walks (15) than strikeouts (10) over 128 PAs, further cementing himself as an elite young player.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Braves, Rockies, Brewers, Keuchel, Harper, Phils

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This week in baseball blogs…

Submissions: ZachBBWI @gmail.com

NL Notes: Mets, Alonso, Giants, Rodriguez, Nats, Nuno

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A quick look around the National League…

  • Renowned for his offensive ability, Mets first base prospect Pete Alonso has lived up to the billing this spring with a  .423/.464/.885 line and three home runs over 26 exhibition at-bats. But it’s the 24-year-old’s defense which has truly raised manager Mickey Callaway’s eyebrows, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News. “I kind of knew the offense was going to be somewhat special. So for me, the defense and how locked in to a game he is every day (is surprising),” said Callaway, who added, “All the little things that it takes to be a quality major-league player, he’s doing them on defense.” A consensus top 100 prospect, Alonso is competing with Dominic Smith, who was a touted farmhand not long ago, for the Mets’ starting job at first. Smith has also raked this spring (.435/.500/.609 in 23 ABs), and it could help his cause that New York would gain an extra year of control over Alonso by sending him back to the minors until mid-April. The Mets, however, have insisted service time won’t play a role in whether Alonso lands an Opening Day roster spot.
  • After enjoying a stunningly effective rookie year in 2018, Giants right-hander Dereck Rodriguez has earned a place in the team’s season-opening rotation, manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Bochy noted that he hasn’t set the entire quintet in stone yet, but as Shea points out, Madison Bumgarner, Jeff Samardzija, Derek Holland and Drew Pomeranz look like locks to accompany Rodriguez in the starting five. Rodriguez was arguably the best member of the group last season, when he turned in a 2.81 ERA/3.74 FIP with 6.77 K/9 and 2.74 BB/9 in 118 1/3 innings (21 appearances, 19 starts).
  • Left-hander Vidal Nuno’s minor league contract with the Nationals includes opt-out chances on March 27 and June 15, Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reports. Thanks in part to the Nationals’ release of fellow lefty Sammy Solis on Saturday, Nuno’s chances of cracking their 25-man roster by one of those dates have seemingly improved, Dougherty observes. Further, the 31-year-old Nuno has gained an important fan in manager Dave Martinez, who said Saturday: “From what I’ve seen, he’s got a multitude of pitches that he can get people out with. I mean lefties, righties, he’s not afraid of pitching in. I like him. His presence on the mound is good. He attacks the strike zone. I really like what I see so far.”

Yankees Notes: Betances, Hicks, Frazier

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A few items on the Bronx Bombers…

  • Flamethrowing Yankees reliever Dellin Betances’ fastball has clocked in from the high 80s to the low 90s this week, a far cry from the 98 mph mean he posted in 2018. However, a slow start to the spring is neither a first nor a concern for Betances, whose fastball has helped him deliver elite production across five major league seasons. “I won’t be all the way until May,’’ Betances said of his velo (via George A. King III of the New York Post). “I have done this already. It’s always been a topic. Whenever Dellin Betances is throwing 88 to 90 everybody freaks out and panics.’’ While the soon-to-be 31-year-old Betances isn’t worried about his early 2019 velocity drop, it’s worth monitoring given that he’s in his last season of team control. Betances will be in line for a lucrative contract in free agency next winter if his heater returns to normal and he enjoys another strong season, though the Yankees could extend the right-hander before then.
  • Center fielder Aaron Hicks – shelved since March 1 with discomfort in his back – has been receiving treatment and will see a doctor Monday, according to manager Aaron Boone (via James Wagner of the New York Times). Boone noted Hicks isn’t experiencing a ton of discomfort, but the Yankees want to take a cautious approach with the 29-year-old, Wagner relays. New York just signed Hicks to a seven-year, $70MM extension on Feb. 25.
  • Meanwhile, fellow outfielder Clint Frazier seems ticketed for Triple-A to start the season, Boone suggested this week (per King). “He needs to play every day,’’ Boone said of Frazier, who wouldn’t get everyday playing time in New York with the established quartet of Hicks, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Brett Gardner blocking him. Boone added the Yankees do expect the 24-year-old Frazier to make a big league impact in 2019, which he wasn’t able to do last season during a concussion-limited campaign. Frazier totaled just 41 plate appearances with the Yankees last season, when he slashed an outstanding .311/.389/.574 in 216 PAs at the minors’ highest level.

AL Notes: Red Sox, Vazquez, Angels, Adell, Tribe, McKenzie, O’s

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Sometime in the next couple weeks, the Red Sox expect to trade one of their three catchers – Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon or Blake Swihart. The light-hitting Vazquez seems to have a strong chance to stick around, though, as manager Alex Cora lavished praise on him Saturday (via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Cora acknowledged the Red Sox were frustrated at times with Vazquez in 2018, the first season of a three-year contract extension, but the backstop regained the manager’s confidence during their run to the World Series last fall. “The confidence he gained in October is going to have a huge impact of who he is this year,” Cora told Speier. “You can see it.” And longtime organization members have informed Cora that the 28-year-old Vazquez is now amid “probably his best camp, big leagues or minor leagues. He’s in-tune with everything. He’s engaged in every drill.”

Here’s more from the American League…

  • Angels outfield prospect Jo Adell suffered a left hamstring strain and a right ankle sprain on the base paths Saturday, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report. Adell was on crutches after the game and will undergo an MRI on Sunday, general manager Billy Eppler announced. It’s unclear exactly how much time Adell will miss, but it’s expected he’ll sit out for at least “several weeks,” DiGiovanna writes. Considering Adell’s likely to begin at the Double-A level this year, his status won’t affect the big league club’s season-opening plans. Still, it’s a less-than-ideal development for the Angels and Adell, the crown jewel of their farm system and one of the game’s elite prospects.
  • The Indians’ top prospect is also heading to the shelf, as the team announced Saturday that it has shut right-hander Triston McKenzie down indefinitely on account of an upper back strain. As Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com notes, it’s now possible McKenzie will miss the start of the minor league season for the second straight campaign, having sat out until June 7 of last year after suffering a strained forearm in spring training. McKenzie, 21, thrived upon his return, though, with 90 2/3 innings of 2.68 ERA/3.62 FIP ball and 8.64 K/9 against 2.78 BB/9 in his first taste of Double-A action.
  • The Orioles, at the expense of international bonus pool space, have added outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. and right-handers Xavier Moore and David Lebron in three separate trades since Feb. 24. It’s a smart approach to improve organizational depth, observes MLB.com’s Joe Trezza, who points out the Orioles weren’t going to spend the money they gave up in those deals. With that in mind, rookie general manager Mike Elias essentially acquired Smith, Moore and Lebron for nothing, Trezza points out. Plus, even after making those trades, Baltimore still easily leads the majors in international cash – which should continue to give the franchise a clear advantage in the chase for Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez.

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