Click here to view the transcript for MLBTR Chat With Jason Martinez: March 22, 2017
East Notes: Green, Yankees, Nationals, Orioles
Former major league right-hander, manager and executive Dallas Green passed away Wednesday at the age of 82. The Phillies and Mets were among the teams for which Green played during his career from 1960-67, and he later managed those clubs and the Yankees. Most of his success as a manager came in Philadelphia, where he went 169-130 from 1979-81 and helped the franchise to its first World Series title in 1980. Green also served as the Cubs’ general manager from 1982-87. In Chicago, he was the driving force behind the team’s acquisition of now-Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg in an ’82 trade with the Phillies.
“The game lost a great baseball man today,” stated Phillies chairman David Montgomery. “Dallas held many different positions in baseball and his passion and love for the game was evident in every role he played. He was a big man with a big heart and a bigger-than-life personality. Having known Dallas since 1971, he was one of my first phone calls upon becoming Phillies president because of his perspective and advice. All of us at the Phillies had tremendous respect for Dallas as a baseball man and friend. We will miss him dearly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Sylvia, and his children, Dana, John, Kim and Doug.”
MLBTR joins the Phillies and the rest of the baseball world in sending our condolences to those close to Green.
- Greg Bird has earned the Yankees starting first base job, manager Joe Girardi told reporters including ESPNNewYork.com’s Andrew Marchand (Twitter link). That’s not terribly surprising given his torrid spring — he hit two more bombs today following the news — and the equally subpar performance thus far from Chris Carter (.118/.231/.206). While it’s never wise to put too much stock in Spring Training stat lines, and Carter is far the more established MLB player, the Yanks have long believed in Bird’s talent and will gladly give him a chance to lock down as large a role as he proves capable of handling. The righty-swinging Carter will no doubt still find himself in the lineup against quite a few lefties; Bird was far more impressive with the platoon advantage in his strong (albeit brief) 2015 MLB debut and has shown rather wide splits in the upper minors.
- The stress fracture Nationals ace Max Scherzer suffered in his right ring finger over the winter won’t cause him to miss any turns in the team’s season-opening rotation. While Scherzer won’t start on Opening Day, the reigning NL Cy Young winner is on track for the Nats’ third game of the season, according to skipper Dusty Baker (via Eddie Matz of ESPN.com). Wednesday was a notable test for Scherzer, who faced major league hitters for the first time this spring. The right-hander tossed 73 pitches against the Cardinals and hit 95 mph on the radar gun, per Matz. Scherzer was encouraged afterward, saying: “I’m getting through that injury. It’s behind me now.”
- Manager Buck Showalter says the Orioles are focused on roster flexibility in shaping their bullpen, as Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports. With questions throughout the starting rotation and the inevitable need to fill gaps that arise during the season, Showalter stressed the organization’s improved set of optionable, upper-level pitchers. It’s still a wide-open competition to fill in for Chris Tillman in the rotation and settle on a long reliever in setting the Opening Day roster, and Meoli breaks down the hard-to-prognosticate state of play as camp enters its final phase.
Yankees Not Interested In Zack Cozart, Jose Iglesias
While the suddenly shortstop-needy Yankees have interest in acquiring the Diamondbacks’ Nick Ahmed, they’re not eyeing either the Reds’ Zack Cozart or the Tigers’ Jose Iglesias. In the wake of the shoulder injury Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius suffered Saturday, Cincinnati gauged the Bombers’ interest in Cozart, and Detroit did the same with Iglesias. The Yankees turned down both teams’ overtures, reports George A. King III of the New York Post.
It’s unclear what the Reds and Tigers would have wanted in return for their shortstops, neither of whom carry ultra-cheap price tags. Iglesias is set to rake in $4.1MM this year, his penultimate season of team control, while Cozart will collect $5.325MM and then become a free agent next winter. Given that Gregorius could only miss the first month of the season, it likely wouldn’t make sense for the Yankees to add a somewhat expensive stopgap at short.
The rebuilding Reds have been trying to move the 31-year-old Cozart since at least last summer, when a near-trade with the Mariners fell through. Cozart has been a terrific defender since debuting in earnest in 2012 (54 Defensive Runs Saved, 42.2 Ultimate Zone Rating), and he has recently offered respectable production at the plate. Over the previous two seasons, Cozart combined to slash .254/.308/.435 with 25 home runs in 722 plate appearances. It’s somewhat surprising, then, that Cincinnati hasn’t been able to find a taker for Cozart, though many teams are set at shortstop, as FanGraphs’ Jeff Sullivan writes. By ridding themselves of Cozart, the Reds would be able to turn to a full-time middle infield consisting of the 22-year-old Jose Peraza and the 23-year-old Dilson Herrera, the latter of whom will begin the season at the Triple-A level.
Unlike the Reds, the Tigers aren’t rebuilding, making it an eye-opener that they’d dangle their starting shortstop prior to Opening Day. Iglesias, 27, has been a roughly average player dating back to his first full season, 2013, having accounted for 5.6 fWAR in 1,359 plate appearances since then. The light-hitting Iglesias is coming off his worst offensive season (.255/.306/.336 in 513 PAs), but he made up for it with his defensive chops (three DRS, 11.6 UZR) en route to a career-high 2.1 fWAR. If it were to deal Iglesias sometime this year, Detroit would presumably hand shortstop to a potentially similar player in prospect Dixon Machado. MLB.com describes the 25-year-old as “a defensive wizard who has improved enough physically and with the bat to be a big league regular.” Offensively, Machado hasn’t lit it up at the Triple-A level, where he has slashed .264/.331/.344 in 1,136 PAs, and has only taken 91 trips to the plate in the majors on account of Iglesias’ presence.
As for the Yankees, barring an Ahmed acquisition or a change of heart on Cozart or Iglesias, they’ll go into Opening Day with one of Starlin Castro, Tyler Wade, Ronald Torreyes, Pete Kozma or Ruben Tejada as Gregorious’ temporary replacement. If it’s Castro, who’s the Yankees’ starting second baseman, other members of the shortstop candidates group or utilityman Rob Refsnyder could fill in at the keystone.
AL West Notes: Rangers, Ross, A’s, Gray, Mariners
Rangers righty Tyson Ross threw his first live batting practice session today, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (Twitter links). The twenty pitch outing proceeded without issue, which leaves Ross on track for a somewhat more rapid timeline to return to MLB action than had been anticipated. Per Wilson, the bounceback candidate — who’s returning from thoracic outlet surgery — could be available as soon as early May. Texas will pay Ross $6MM this year, with up to $3MM available in incentives, in hopes that he can return to the form that made him one of the game’s more effective starters over the 2013-15 seasons.
- With some questions in the rotation, especially early on, the Rangers may elect to carry a deep relief unit while relying on just three bench players, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. The key to that arrangement is the versatility of Jurickson Profar and Ryan Rua, who could share time in left with Delino DeShields while also filling in wherever else they’re needed. Profar is primarily an infielder by trade, and that’s where Rua spent most of his minor-league career — though he has played mostly in the outfield in the majors.
- It seems there’s reason for optimism for Athletics righty Sonny Gray, who was “very encouraged” after picking up the ball yesterday, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter. Gray only made twenty throws from a distance of sixty feet and another fifteen from seventy-five feet, but that’s an important first step. He’ll repeat the exercise today as he seeks to speed up his return from a lat strain.
- Mariners utilityman Shawn O’Malley needed an appendectomy yesterday, which will sideline him for around two weeks, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports. He and Taylor Motter are battling for a reserve role on the Opening Day roster, but the health issue could certainly move the needle. Thus far, Motter has the better spring stat line, with a .324/.435/.459 slash against O’Malley’s .278/.333/.278 mark. Both have options remaining and have reached the majors previously, though neither has a significant track record at the game’s highest level.
- The Mariners also got some updates on a pair of righty relievers, Dutton adds on Twitter. Shae Simmons was able to play catch as he works through forearm issues, while Steve Cishek is scheduled for his first pen session tomorrow as he continues to progress from offseason hip surgery. It seems clear at this point that neither will be ready for Opening Day, though the deep Seattle unit should be able to bear the loss, and both could represent intriguing mid-season additions to the relief corps.
Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox
This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.
The White Sox set a rebuilding course with a pair of Winter Meetings blockbusters in which Chris Sale and Adam Eaton were cashed in for top prospects.
Major League Signings
- Derek Holland, SP: one year, $6MM. Includes performance bonuses.
- Total spend: $6MM.
Trades And Claims
- Claimed OF Rymer Liriano off waivers from Brewers
- Claimed RP Giovanni Soto off waivers from Athletics
- Acquired 2B Yoan Moncada, SP Michael Kopech, OF Luis Alexander Basabe, and RP Victor Diaz from Red Sox for SP Chris Sale
- Acquired SP Lucas Giolito, SP Reynaldo Lopez, and SP Dane Dunning from Nationals for CF Adam Eaton
- Acquired SP Dylan Covey from Athletics in Rule 5 draft
- Acquired cash from Rangers for P James Dykstra
- Claimed OF Willy Garcia off waivers from Pirates
- Acquired 1B Brandon Dulin from Royals for player to be named later or cash
Notable Minor League Signings
- Cory Luebke, Anthony Swarzak, Geovany Soto, Everth Cabrera, Cody Asche, Peter Bourjos, Blake Smith, Tyler Matzek, Tyler Ladendorf
Extensions
- Tim Anderson, SS: Six years, $25MM. Includes club options for 2023 and 2024.
Notable Losses
- Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Brett Lawrie, J.B. Shuck, Justin Morneau, Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, Matt Albers, Jacob Turner, Daniel Webb, Anthony Ranaudo, Jason Coats
White Sox Roster; White Sox Payroll Information
Needs Addressed
When I published my White Sox Offseason Outlook on November 5th, the team had not yet tipped its hand as to the offseason direction. GM Rick Hahn had said in August, “By the time we make our first or second transaction, publicly it will be fairly clear as to our direction.” Hahn wasn’t kidding. The White Sox staked a very clear rebuilding position with back-to-back Winter Meetings blockbuster trades. Finally, the team committed to a full teardown.
First, longtime ace starting pitcher Chris Sale was traded to the Red Sox for a bevy of top prospects, led by Moncada and Kopech (pictured at right). In Moncada, the White Sox acquired the type of player who is rarely traded: a potential perennial All-Star, on the cusp of being MLB-ready. The switch-hitting Cuban is penciled in as Chicago’s second baseman of the future. Moncada draws raves from prospect gurus for his power, speed, and arm. Kopech, meanwhile, is a power pitcher who comes with “front of the rotation potential,” according to Baseball America. Basabe, while further from the Majors, also rates as one of the team’s top ten prospects now. The White Sox determined they could not win in the next three years with Sale, and Hahn was able to maximize the return by pitting the Red Sox against the Nationals, Astros, Braves, and others.
Barely 24 hours later at MLB’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, Hahn made a deal to send Adam Eaton to the Nationals for three pitching prospects. Baseball America ranks Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez both slightly above Kopech, and has all three in the #25-32 range among all MLB prospects. Like Moncada, Giolito and Lopez have Major League time. While there may be growing pains, the top assets acquired by Hahn are all close to contributing in 2017. Dunning played the Basabe role in this deal, as a third piece who is further from the big leagues. Eaton, 28, is at the top of his game and was the rare veteran player to be dealt with five years of remaining control. With the Eaton trade, Hahn was able to pull off a second deal that drew raves around the industry. The total haul for Sale and Eaton leaned toward pitching, a function of Hahn pursuing the best available young players, regardless of position.
A week later, the White Sox filled their rotation vacancy by signing Derek Holland to a one-year deal. Holland hasn’t had a healthy, valuable season since 2013, but this is the kind of free agent signing we expect to see with a rebuilding club. In the best case scenario, Holland has a nice first half and the White Sox are able to spin him for a useful, controllable piece in July.
Earlier this week, the White Sox locked up shortstop Tim Anderson to a precedent-setting six-year, $25MM deal. The contract sets a new record for a player with less than one year of Major League service. With only 115 days of Major League service under his belt, it’s difficult to project what kind of player Anderson will become. But at age 23, he already looks like a solid two-win contributor. And the team has a fantastic recent track record with these types of extensions, having previously signed Sale, Eaton, Jose Quintana, and Nate Jones.
Questions Remaining
With the Sale and Eaton trades occurring in rapid succession, it seemed a Jose Quintana deal wasn’t far behind. Quintana’s availability this winter was no secret. While the 28-year-old doesn’t have Sale’s ace reputation, he is a very good starting pitcher on a very team-friendly contract. With a terrible free agent market for starting pitching, it was surprising no team was willing to meet the demands of the White Sox for Quintana. The Pirates and Astros were reportedly quite interested, with the Rangers, Yankees, and Braves also connected. Quintana is undoubtedly a major trade chip for the White Sox in the coming months. In a February call with MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, Hahn said, “Frankly, there just hasn’t been an offer on the table that has made us feel like, ’Boy we better move now or we are going to be kicking ourselves.'” While Hahn noted he’s feeling no economic or timing pressure on his remaining trade chips, the team is taking a calculated risk that offers will improve in future. While a summer Quintana trade currently seems like the most likely scenario, it’s possible a deal could be struck between now and Opening Day.
Rumors were scant regarding first baseman Jose Abreu, outside of a Winter Meetings note that the Rockies were interested. The White Sox may have run into an overcrowded free agent market, which featured more first base/DH-type bats than there were jobs. At the lower end, players such as Brandon Moss, Mike Napoli, and Chris Carter took cheaper-than-expected deals. Abreu, 30, is more appealing than many of those free agents, but not enough to trigger wide reported interest.
In their talks for Adam Eaton, the Nationals reportedly attempted to expand the deal to include reliever David Robertson. Talks continued, but the Nationals and White Sox have reportedly reached a stalemate on the veteran closer. With two years and $25MM remaining on his contract, and control problems in 2016, Robertson is not for everyone. He’s another name to watch this summer. Perhaps the White Sox will end up eating more money than they were willing to in the winter. Todd Frazier, a free agent after 2017, is another veteran player who received little reported interest this winter despite hitting 75 home runs over the past two seasons. The White Sox will be rooting for strong, healthy first halves for many veteran players, which would lead to an active July. Hahn repeatedly said he would have liked to have made four more transactions this winter, and perhaps Quintana, Abreu, Robertson, and Frazier were the four players.
The team would also be best served moving 32-year-old veteran Melky Cabrera, who will serve as the Opening Day left fielder. The Melk Man hit about as well as Wil Myers, Adam Eaton, or Mike Napoli last year, but his below-average defense and $15MM salary seems to have limited interest. One quietly intriguing trade chip this summer will be Nate Jones, a fantastic reliever who is under contract for up to five more seasons. Jones, a 31-year-old with a 97 mile per hour fastball, is far more valuable than Robertson and could be the best reliever traded this summer. The White Sox still have a ton of trading left to do.
Aside from all the trades that have yet to happen, the other question is who is actually going to play for the 2017 White Sox. With a team that is clearly not concerned about winning in 2017, the White Sox have a rare opportunity to use low-pressure playing time to unearth trade chips or future contributors. Unfortunately, the roster is currently loaded with placeholders devoid of upside. For example, the club’s Opening Day outfield could feature Cabrera, Peter Bourjos, and Avisail Garcia. Someone has to stand out there, but hopefully Hahn can identify a few post-hype sleepers to try out in the outfield until long-term fixtures are identified. The White Sox make a great home for players feeling the roster squeeze. The release of Lawrie was a step in the right direction, opening up second base for cheaper options led by Tyler Saladino. The team’s catching position is another area of uncertainty. The club is hoping 25-year-old Omar Narvaez can keep the seat warm until 2016 first-round pick Zack Collins is ready for The Show.
Overview
In 2017, the White Sox are set to join teams like the Phillies, Reds, Padres, and Brewers as clubs undertaking rebuilds. It’s the right move for the franchise as Hahn and company look to build a sustainable winner with a deep roster. The Major League product will get worse before it gets better, as the White Sox will continue to clear the decks of veteran players this summer.
What’s your take on the White Sox’ winter? (Link to poll for mobile app users …)
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
David DeJesus Retires
Veteran outfielder David DeJesus announced today on Twitter that he’s officially retiring from the game. He’ll join the CSN Chicago studio team for the upcoming season.
The news certainly doesn’t come as much of a surprise after the 37-year-old sat out the 2016 season. He ended his time in the majors with a brief and unsuccessful stint with the Angels, who declined a club option for his services last year under the contract the team inherited when it acquired him from the Rays.
DeJesus had inked that two-year deal with Tampa Bay after a separate series of late-season transactions — he was claimed by the Nationals and then by the Rays shortly thereafter — left him with the new organization late in the 2013 season. He ultimately provided the Rays with 647 plate appearances of .254/.333/.394 hitting in what was his final significant stop in the game.
By that point, of course, the left-handed-hitting DeJesus was mostly a platoon player who was utilized against right-handed pitching. Earlier in his career, though, he was deployed on a fairly regular basis.
From his debut season in 2003 through the 2010 campaign, DeJesus slashed a solid .289/.360/.427 with 61 home runs for the Royals, representing his lengthiest and most productive stint with a single organization. That was an excellent return on the up-front investment for Kansas City, which had drafted him in the fourth round of the 2000 draft.
After an injury shortened his 2010 campaign, DeJesus was dealt to the A’s, where he didn’t quite perform to expectations. Still, the Cubs’ then-new front office signed him to a two-year deal — the first signing that it made. Installed as the regular right fielder while also spending time in center, DeJesus turned in a sturdy overall effort (.258/.343/.403) over his 900 plate appearances in Chicago.
In the aggregate, DeJesus enjoyed a productive, 13-year run in the majors. He tallied 24.7 fWAR and 22.9 rWAR along the way, and will be remembered as a steady and solid all-around performer. MLBTR wishes him the best of luck in his new venture.
Brewers Release Joba Chamberlain, Ryan Webb
The Brewers have released veteran righties Joba Chamberlain and Ryan Webb, per a club announcement. Both had been signed to minor-league deals over the offseason.
Though he allowed only three runs in his eight spring frames, Chamberlain managed only two strikeouts to go with five walks and ten base knocks. That was much the same story as his 2016 campaign, when he worked to a 2.25 ERA over twenty innings with the Indians but coughed up 11 walks (against 18 punch-outs) in the process.
In 342 career relief appearances, Chamberlain carries a 3.56 ERA and has held opposing hitters to a .247/.318/.379 batting line. But he last turned in a full and productive campaign in 2014 with the Tigers. Still, it seems likely he’ll catch on with another organization in the coming days.
Webb, meanwhile, only received three innings of work in camp, allowing just a single hit and earned run but failing to record a strikeout while issuing two free passes. Like Chamberlain, he’s a 31-year-old reliever who has had a fair bit of MLB success, with a 3.43 lifetime ERA in nearly 400 frames at the game’s highest level. But he struggled to a 5.19 ERA last year in his 17 1/3 innings with the Rays, coughing up 27 hits in the process.
AL Central Notes: Carrasco, Tigers, Martinez, Anderson
While the image of father and son playing catch is a core part of baseball lore, it doesn’t always happen quite that way. Indians starter Carlos Carrasco penned an interesting post at the Player’s Tribune detailing how he got started in the game as a youngster — urged on by his mother. Carrasco traces his path — including a pizza binge driven by his still-developing English language skills — on the way to becoming a top-quality big leaguer with a nice contract. The culmination isn’t just his on-field success, though; it’s about his own young family and recent achievement of U.S. citizenship.
That story is well worth a full read. Here’s more out of the American League Central:
- Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus strongly suggested today that the club will go with its existing options in center field, as MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports on Twitter. While we’ve heard ongoing suggestions that Detroit is still looking at alternatives, Ausmus says he’s “90-something percent sure” an outside addition won’t be made that alters the regular duties up the middle.
- In other Tigers news, slugger J.D. Martinez projected optimism in discussing his sprained right foot, as Beck reports (links to Twitter). While he’s being tested “to rule out other things,” Martinez says he believes it’s nothing more than a ligament sprain. Assuming that is indeed the case, there’s still the question of a recovery timeline, though it seems likely that’ll be dictated by how Martinez feels. Progress is slow, he says, but “it’s going in the right direction” and he is now able to put weight on the injured foot.
- White Sox GM Rick Hahn discussed the team’s newly minted extension with shortstop Tim Anderson, as MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports. He emphasized “the cost certainty and the added control” achieved in the unusually early agreement, noting that doubling down with long-term deals for Chris Sale and Adam Eaton functioned to enhance the value of those players when they were dealt in December. Of course, the hope now is that Anderson will be a core player for a contending team in Chicago. If he can build off of a promising 2016 season, the Sox can perhaps check an important box at a reasonable cost for years to come. “[C]ertainly if you have a number of players outperforming what they’re paid, it makes more free money available to go out and augment the roster,” said Hahn. “That’s certainly the intent.”
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/22/17
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Braves released southpaw Matt Marksberry, according to the pitcher himself earlier this week on his Facebook page. Marksberry posted a 5.06 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 1.35 K/BB rate over 26 2/3 innings with Atlanta from 2015-16. He suffered a severe health scare last fall when he was placed in a medically-induced coma following a seizure that caused a collapsed lung, though Marksberry appears to be recovering well from that terrifying situation.
- The Cardinals signed righty Josh Zeid to a minor league deal, as per Zeid himself via Twitter. Zeid pitched 48 1/3 innings out of the Astros bullpen in 2013-14, after joining the organization as part of the trade package sent by Philadelphia to Houston for Hunter Pence in July 2011. Zeid spent 2015 and 2016 in the minors with the Tigers and Mets, respectively, and he most recently pitched for Israel in the World Baseball Classic.
- Outfielder David Denson announced his retirement from baseball via a message on his Facebook page. Denson made history in 2015 when he became the first active player in affiliated baseball to publicly announce that he was gay, and he tells Tom Haudricourt and Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that “leaving the game has nothing to do with my coming out. That wasn’t a factor at all. This was a decision I made purely from a baseball standpoint.” Instead, Denson said that he simply lost his passion for playing the game. Denson was a 15th-round pick of the Brewers in the 2013 draft, and he hit .229/.338/.368 over 1269 career plate appearances, making it to the High-A level in Milwaukee’s farm system.
- The Blue Jays released outfielder Jacob Anderson, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. Toronto picked Anderson out of high school with the 35th overall selection of the 2011 draft, though he only made it as high as A-ball in five pro seasons, managing a .204/.271/.302 slash line.
MLBTR Poll: Grading Recent Extensions
As usual, the offseason has brought a few fairly significant long-term deals. Though we haven’t seen any nine-figure strikes — yet, at least — teams have staked a variety of interesting long-term bets on players who weren’t particularly close to free agency.
Since the start of February, in particular, three players with multiple years of control remaining have received guarantees that secure their financial future. But how wise were these investments? While it’s easy to like most early-career extensions — they are typically reached with young players who have played well at the game’s highest level, after all — they don’t all work out. The budgetary impact will never be as large as a pact to keep a top star off the market (or to bring one in), but even these early-career deals turn non-obligatory control rights into massive financial commitments that can hinder organizational flexibility.
Here are the most recent deals, with polls for each asking you to grade the merit of the investment:
Carlos Martinez, SP, Cardinals: five years, $51MM with two options ($17MM, $18MM): The first-time arb-eligible righty could be on the cusp of blooming into an established, top-of-the-rotation arm at 25 years of age. This deal extends the club’s control span over Martinez by four years, so there’s clear upside here. But it also comes with a hefty up-front promise and passes the risks inherent to pitching on to the Cards. The closest comp to this agreement, Matt Harrison’s $55MM deal with the Rangers, shows that there’s downside as well.
(Poll link for app users.)
Kevin Kiermaier, CF, Rays: six years, $53.5MM with one option ($13MM): Kiermaier was a Super Two player, so this deal boosts Tampa Bay’s control by three seasons. Only one of those is left to the team’s discretion, leaving the organization fairly firmly committed to the defensive whiz. While his glove gives him a lofty floor, that’s also dependent upon maintained athleticism. And Kiermaier hasn’t yet shown he’s more than an average hitter. If he can do that and keep tracking down just about everything hit in his general direction, he could be a star.
(Poll link for app users.)
Tim Anderson, SS, White Sox: six years, $25MM with two options ($12.5MM, $14MM): Announced just yesterday, this deal is quite a bit different than the others. Anderson hasn’t even completed a full season in the majors, and remains a highly variable player despite the evident talent. Understandably, he could only secure about half the guarantee of the other players, though he did easily beat the prior record for a sub-1 MLB service extension (Chris Archer, $20MM). Notably, this contract only promises to pay Anderson through his arbitration-eligible seasons (assuming he’s able to remain in the majors from this point forward), meaning the South Siders only extended their control rights by two years but also didn’t have to promise to pay Anderson too far out.
(Poll link for app users.)