Stanozolol (better known by its popular name, Winstrol) is one of very few anabolic steroids that’s actually been deemed safe for consumption by the FDA; Stanozolol possesses the rare quality of being able to survive both the digestive system and the liver, meaning it can be taken orally (as opposed to intravenously) and still deliver the desired effects. Because of that, it can be legally sold and as such is easy to obtain. Stanozolol is known for its use in competitive body building, occasionally being used in the offseason for building definition (as opposed to enormous muscle growth).

Of course, being legal for sale and consumption doesn’t equate to being sanctioned for use in Major League Baseball, so Bastardo will receive the second PED-related suspension of his career. Five years ago, Bastardo was slapped with a 50-game ban for his involvement in the infamous Biogenesis clinic. As a result, his second suspension is (obviously) much more severe and has the potential to end the lefthander’s career.

Bastardo’s best known for his time spent with the Philadelphia Phillies, in whose system he spent upwards of ten seasons. Bastardo pitched for Philadelphia at the MLB level for parts every season from 2009-2015. The left-hander also tossed innings for the Mets and Pirates, and was certainly known for being effectively wild. His career ERA to date sits just above 4.00, and he managed to strike out 10.76 batters per nine innings while walking a whopping 4.40. During his career, Bastardo has largely served as living proof that even the most extreme fly ball pitchers can carve out a role for themselves at the MLB level. His 28.6% career ground ball rate ranks as the 10th-lowest all time among qualified pitchers ever since the stat first began to be measured.

Bastardo’s career took a turn for the worse at the beginning of the 2017 season, when he made just nine appearances for the Pirates before hitting the disabled list with a left quad strain. Those nine appearances were absolutely catastrophic; the right-hander issued a walk per inning across those nine innings while allowing five homers and giving up 15 earned runs on the whole. After spending two months on the DL, the Pirates elected to designate the veteran for assignment, closing the books on the two-year, $12MM contract he signed with the Mets prior to 2016. He hasn’t pitched at the MLB level since.

The Diamondbacks too a chance on Bastardo at the beginning of 2018, adding him to a large pool of veterans they signed to minors deals prior to spring training. Though he did manage to strike out nine hitters in just 5 2/3 innings (against only one walk), Arizona prioritized other pitchers ahead of him and granted him his release on March 20th. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted at the time, it still seemed possible that the veteran’s track record and decent spring performance would afford him an opportunity elsewhere.

That never ended up coming to fruition, and now Bastardo will have to sit out 140 MLB games before even getting a chance to set foot on a major league mound again. His removal from the 2018 pool leaves Eric O’Flaherty as the lone major league free agent lefty on the market.

Also departing MLB camp were righties Neftali Feliz and Jimmie Sherfy, the latter via optional assignment. Veteran position players Jeremy Hazelbaker and Christian Walker were also optioned, while backstop Anthony Recker was  reassigned.

Bastardo and Feliz both landed with the Arizona organization in hopes of launching career turnarounds. The former would have earned a $1.5MM salary in the majors, with a hefty $4MM incentives package also available. Instead, neither player will have a MLB job out of camp — at least with the D-Backs.

The 32-year-old Bastardo certainly ought to have a chance to catch on elsewhere. After all, he turned in good results this spring, racking up nine strikeouts against just one walk in his 5 2/3 innings of action (though also surrendering two long balls). Though he struggled badly in 2017, Bastardo has long been a useful major-league reliever.

As for Feliz, 29, he’s also coming off of a rough campaign in which he managed only a 5.48 ERA over 46 innings. He seemed a reasonable bounceback target given his strong 2016 output, but has struggled in camp. In six innings, Feliz has been tagged for six earned runs on ten hits while recording just three strikeouts to go with three walks.

Bastardo, 32, has at times been a high-quality setup man. But he stumbled in 2016 and, in particular, 2017. Over his last 76 2/3 MLB innings, Bastardo has been tagged for 16 home runs and 49 earned runs. He received only nine frames at the game’s highest level last year, struggling on both sides of a lengthy DL stint for a quad injury and ultimately being designated for assignment.

Clearly, something was off for Bastardo in his most recent MLB showing. He exhibited a loss of about 1.5 mph of average fastball velocity, doled out a walk per inning, and only managed to induce swinging strikes at about half his usually excellent rate (13.3% career).

That said, Bastardo turned in more promising results at Triple-A, where he allowed just four earned runs on 11 hits and nine walks while picking up twenty strikeouts in 18 1/3 frames. And there’s a deeper history to be considered, too. Between 2011 and 2015, Bastardo ran a 3.28 ERA with 11.3 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 in over three hundred major league appearances.

Bastardo has only made nine appearances out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen this season after spending two months on the disabled list with a quad strain.  Even in his limited action, the southpaw has been very ineffective, posting a 15.00 ERA thanks to five homers and nine walks over just nine innings pitched.  It’s perhaps unfair to extrapolate too much given this small sample size (and Bastardo’s less-than-healthy status), though the lefty is also coming off a rough 2016 campaign that saw him post a 4.52 ERA and a 1.5 HR/9 over 67 2/3 IP for the Pirates and Mets.

Bastardo has always countered somewhat shaky control (career 4.4 BB/9) with big strikeout totals, though his average fastball velocity has dropped a full mile per hour from last year, down to 90.5 mph.  By contrast, he was averaging 92.8 mph on his heater in 2015, Bastardo’s last effective season.

After signing a two-year, $12MM deal with the Mets in the 2015-16 offseason, Bastardo is owed approximately $3.15MM for the rest of this season.  The Pirates are on the hook for that amount unless someone claims Bastardo or a trade is worked out, and given Bastardo’s lack of effectiveness, one would think any interested team could wait to see if Bastardo is released after his DFA period expires.  Bastardo carried some pretty solid career numbers prior to 2016, so he could certainly draw some looks from clubs in need of left-handed relief depth.

After he couldn’t secure a taker for McCutchen at the Winter Meetings in December, Huntington declared that the five-time All-Star would likely continue in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have since decided to shift the longtime center fielder to right, where he’ll attempt to bounce back from a highly disappointing 2016 in which his production declined in the field, at the plate and on the base paths. McCutchen was his typical durable self, having eclipsed the 150-game plateau for the sixth time in seven full seasons, but he logged a career-low fWAR (0.7) across 675 plate appearances. That mostly came on account of mixing a slightly above-average batting line (.256/.336/.430) with a major league-worst minus-28 Defensive Runs Saved.

Despite his stunning drop-off last season, McCutchen still comes with a relatively appealing contract. The 2013 NL MVP has two years and $28.5MM left on his deal, including a $14.5MM club option for 2018. However, the 30-year-old has highly rated outfield prospect Austin Meadows pushing for a spot behind him in Pittsburgh. Baseball America, ESPN’s Keith Law and MLB.com all regard the 21-year-old Meadows as one of the game’s 10 best prospects, and it stands to reason he’s not going to knock either of McCutchen’s fellow starting outfielders, Starling Marte or Gregory Polanco, out of the organization. Marte and Polanco, after all, are younger than McCutchen and under team control at eminently affordable prices through 2021 and 2023, respectively.

Harrison, meanwhile, is controllable for up to four more seasons – including two club options – at a maximum of $39.5MM. Like McCutchen, Harrison endured a rough 2016; unlike McCutchen, though, Harrison doesn’t carry a star-caliber track record, which has surely made it that much more difficult for Huntington to find a quality return for him. Since he earned his lone All-Star nod in 2014 and then inked an extension the next spring, Harrison has slashed a mediocre .285/.318/.389 over 971 trips to the plate. Harrison, to his credit, put up a career-high 19 steals and registered a plus DRS (eight) in 1,077 innings at second base in 2016. Nevertheless, thanks largely to a subpar .283/.311/.388 batting line in 522 PAs, he accounted for a below-average 1.5 fWAR.

Huntington tried in November to jettison Harrison in order to re-sign then-free agent Sean Rodriguez, and failing to do so led Rodriguez to join the Braves. Now, barring a late-winter deal, the 30-year-old Harrison will start 2017 at the keystone in Pittsburgh. It seems an ideal scenario for the club would include dealing him and opening up an everyday job for utilityman Adam Frazier. The 25-year-old impressed as a rookie last season, as he hit .301/.356/.411 in 160 PAs and totaled double-digit appearances at second, left field and right field, and Huntington took notice.

“We believe [Frazier] will evolve into a very versatile defensive player who can swing the bat,” Huntington told Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last month. “We also see a role in which he progresses into a regular, where he takes a position, grabs hold and never let’s go. It’s just we have somebody in front of him right now in some places. His opportunity is going to be to bounce around the field and do what he does well.”

Elsewhere on Pittsburgh’s roster, if Rule 5 pick Tyler Webb makes the team, it could could lead Huntington to trade either Tony Watson or Antonio Bastardo, writes Biertempfel. Webb, Watson, Bastardo and Felipe Rivero would give the Pirates four left-handed relievers. While both Watson and Bastardo have come up in trade rumors this offseason, the former would clearly warrant a greater return. Watson last year wasn’t as effective as he had been from 2013-15, as his 4.37 FIP paled in comparison to the combined 2.92 figure he recorded over the previous three years. On the plus side, the former setup man and current closer did exceed the 65-inning mark for the fourth straight season and post a 3.06 ERA. He’s also set to rake in an a reasonable salary in the $6MM neighborhood in 2017, which is his final season of team control. Bastardo is entering a contract year, too, but the Pirates’ reported willingness to eat some of the $6.5MM he’s owed hasn’t paved the way for a trade.

More rumblings:

• Sixteen teams have shown interest in free agent reliever Daniel Hudson, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag. One of those clubs is the Diamondbacks, with whom the right-hander pitched from 2010-16. With a 5.22 ERA in 60 1/3 innings, the two-time Tommy John surgery recipient struggled to prevent runs last season, but he did show impressive velocity and post respectable strikeout (8.65) and walk (3.28) rates per nine.
• The Pirates are willing to pay some of left-handed reliever Antonio Bastardo’s $6.5MM salary for 2017 in order to trade him, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Bastardo’s coming off a disappointing year spent with the Mets and Bucs, as he logged a 4.52 ERA in 67 2/3 innings and allowed a .253/.321/.495 line to lefty hitters. He’s currently one of four southpaws in Pittsburgh’s bullpen, joining Tony Watson, Felipe Rivero and Wade LeBlanc.
• In the event the Red Sox prefer a left-handed hitter to take over their vacant designated hitter job, they could attempt to acquire Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson from the Mets, writes Scott Lauber of ESPN.com. The Mets look likely to trade at least one of the two outfielders this offseason, perhaps as early as the winter meetings.
• Free agent righty Tyson Ross will take his time signing with a team, tweets Peter Gammons, who notes that the 29-year-old should recover from October surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome between February and April. The Padres non-tendered Ross on Friday after he missed nearly all of last season with shoulder troubles.

The swap of left-handers reunites each southpaw with his 2015 team, as Niese spent his entire career prior to the 2016 campaign in Queens and Bastardo pitched for the Bucs last season. Pittsburgh picked up Niese in what now looks to be an ill-fated swap that netted the Mets Neil Walker, while Bastardo inked a two-year, $12MM contract with the Mets. Neither pitcher has performed up to his standards, though, with Niese posting a 4.91 ERA and briefly losing his spot in the rotation and Bastardo logging a similar 4.74 ERA in 43 2/3 innings of relief.

Niese posted a 4.13 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in New York last season, while Bastardo had a 2.98 ERA, 10.0 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 last year in Pittsburgh. The trade seems to suggest an optimism on the part of their old teams that the flaws the two players showed this year (a vanishing strikeout rate and home-run problems in Niese’s case; control and home-run problems in Bastardo’s) might be painted over. Niese is making $9MM this season, plus a $500K buyout on his 2017 option. Bastardo, who will rejoin the Pirates’ bullpen, is under contract through 2017, when he’ll receive $6.5MM. He’s making $5.25MM this year.

WEDNESDAY: The Mets and left-hander Antonio Bastardo are in agreement on a contract, reports Jon Heyman (Twitter link). It’s a two-year, $12MM contract, according to Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray (on Twitter). Bastardo is represented by the Legacy Agency.

Murray reported yesterday that things were picking up in the Bastardo market, though the three-year deal mentioned in that report ultimately wasn’t attained. The two-year pact represents a departure from the Mets’ previously reported plans, as the team was said earlier this month to be seeking relief help on a one-year deal. In that regard, the agreement between the two parties represents a compromise, as Bastardo was said to be seeking a three-year deal in the $18MM range (similar to the one Tony Sipp landed with Houston earlier this year).

Bastardo, 30, has turned in generally strong results across the past three seasons between the Phillies and Pirates, working to a 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate in 164 innings of work. He’s dominated left-handed opponents in that stretch, holding same-handed batters to a paltry .167/.273/.295 triple-slash. However, Bastardo is more than a specialist, as he’s also been plenty effective against right-handed batters, limiting such opponents to a .204/.310/.314 line. As such, he can be deployed as a setup man, regardless of matchup, alongside Addison Reed and Jenrry Mejia. That trio, of course, will help bridge the gap from the club’s excellent young rotation to breakout closer Jeurys Familia, who saved 43 games for the Mets in 2015.

With Bastardo in the fold, the Mets will now have a wealth of quality left-handed options for manager Terry Collins to utilize. The team re-signed Jerry Blevins this offseason, and he’ll look for better health after twice fracturing his forearm in a pair of fluky accidents in 2015. Sean Gilmartin, whom the Mets selected in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, enjoyed a brilliant season with New York, recording a 2.67 ERA in 57 1/3 innings in his Major League debut. And southpaw Josh Edgin, who missed the 2015 campaign in the wake of Tommy John surgery, will likely be ready to return to a big league mound at some point during the 2016 season as well.

The Mets deserve some praise for waiting out what was an exceptionally aggressive relief market in the earlygoing this offseason. Five relievers scored contracts of three or more years in the earlier phase of the offseason, and many — we at MLBTR included — believed Bastardo would find such a pact as well. However, while his average annual value is commensurate with many of the multi-year deals given to setup men this winter, the Mets’ patient approach allowed them to knock a year off the price in the end.

Bastardo drew interest from a number of teams, including the Orioles, Dodgers, Pirates, Blue Jays and Twins, per various reports this offseason. With his departure from the open market, teams could turn to one-year deal candidates such as Neal Cotts, Franklin Morales and Matt Thornton as they look to supplement their bullpens with left-handed relievers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Elsewhere in the NL Central…

• The upcoming wave of collective bargaining negotiations will be a critical one for small-market teams like the Pirates, writes USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who spoke to Pirates owner Bob Nutting for the column. Nutting spoke about how he’d “love to see [Andrew McCutchen] stay with us forever,” though as Nightengale notes, that’s a difficult proposition considering Pittsburgh’s payroll constraints and the robust free agent prices (specifically, Nightengale references Jason Heyward’s deal, though comparing a 26-year-old to McCutchen, who will be entering his age-32 season when hitting the open market after 2018, is somewhat of an imperfect analogy). Revenue sharing and possible alterations to the luxury tax in an attempt to level the playing field, to some extent, will both be topics of discussion, Nightengale notes, though as he points out, it’s unlikely that the Pirates, Brewers, Indians and other small-market clubs will ever be able to spend at the level of the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox. Nutting feels this CBA will be “critically” important to small-market clubs and hopes steps are taken to give such teams greater access to talent acquisition.
• Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal tells Ben Frederickson and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that there have been no talks of a long-term deal with the team at this point. “As far as contractual, multi-year type things, I guess we haven’t had any talks,” said Rosenthal. “I don’t know what they’re thinking, what we’re thinking. I don’t know how any of that looks because I haven’t gone through it. Going through the arbitration process was pretty good. Smooth. I’m happy with how it ended up.” That’s a perhaps unsurprising revelation, as Rosenthal is represented by Scott Boras, whose clients rarely take contract extensions prior to hitting the open market. Beyond that, Rosenthal is already earning significant money in arbitration, having agreed to a $5.6MM salary for the 2016 season last week.
• Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who candidly expressed his frustration with the team’s rebuilding process yesterday, tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he’s working to avoid further concussions after suffering a serious one late in the 2015 season. Specifically, Lucroy explained that doctors and team trainers have preached neck strengthening exercises, as studies have shown that neck strength can help to limit the impact of a concussion.
• Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan examines the decline in Lucroy’s pitch-framing marks over the past four years and whether or not the Brewers (or an acquiring team) should expect him to bounce back in that regard. Sullivan’s research finds that catchers that see their pitch-framing numbers decline rarely experience a rebound in that particular metric, and perhaps more troubling, finds that Lucroy’s decline has been the most rapid of virtually any catcher in the league. As Sullivan notes, quantifiable pitch-framing metrics are relatively new, so there are some uncertainties with the information and there could be elements not being considered. Nonetheless, the initial returns on his examination don’t paint a particularly bright picture.
• Because Brandon Phillips elected not to waive his no-trade rights earlier this offseason, Reds fans could see newly acquired prospect Jose Peraza at a number of positions in 2016, writes MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. “I think it’s important to remember that Peraza has played a lot at shortstop,” GM Dick Williams tells Sheldon. “He has played center field. There’s a chance we could see him in different spots. I don’t think getting playing time for him will be an issue. We’d gladly take an approach where we get him some time at different areas and see where he can be of assistance to the team.” Sheldon notes that one means of enticing Phillips to approve a trade would be to reduce his playing time somewhat in favor of Peraza, though that could result in some clubhouse problems by making a still-productive veteran feel slighted by the organization.

Bastardo has reportedly been seeking a contract similar to the one secured by fellow free-agent lefty Tony Sipp this offseason. The 32-year-old Sipp landed a three-year, $18MM contract to return to Houston back in December, but the market for Bastardo’s services hasn’t been as aggressive despite the fact that he’s two years younger. While Murray notes that the intensifying market could potentially lead to a three-year pact, it’s difficult to see either the Mets or Blue Jays doling out that type of contract. The Mets are reportedly only interested in one-year deals with the remaining free agent relievers on the market, and the Blue Jays are said to be working with budgetary restrictions as their payroll is set to exceed last year’s mark as it is. The Orioles have been aggressive of late, but the $161MM they recently spent on Chris Davis (plus the $31MM given to Darren O’Day, the $7MM allotted to Korean outfielder Hyun Soo Kim and the $16.1MM going to Matt Wieters via the qualifying offer) calls into question how much more they’ll spend. (It’s also worth noting that with Brian Matusz, T.J. McFarland and closer Zach Britton, the team already has three lefties in the ’pen.)

The Dodgers, to be sure, have virtually unlimited spending capacity, but they’ve taken a surprisingly measured approach to their bullpen shopping this winter. The Cubs, theoretically, could issue that kind of deal, though Murray notes that it’s not clear when the last contact between the two sides even was, and they, too, have three lefties in the ’pen (Travis Wood, Clayton Richard, Rex Brothers).

Bastardo, 30, has been a somewhat quietly excellent performer across the past three seasons with the Phillies and Pirates. In that time, Bastardo has logged a 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate. He’s also been effective against both left- and right-handed batters, holding same-handed opponents to a .167/.273/.295 batting line while surrendering just a .204/.310/.314 batting line even when his opponents hold the platoon advantage. Of course, control has been a persistent problem for Bastardo, too, as he’s only averaged less than four walks per nine innings in one season of his career — his debut campaign in 2009, when he tossed just 23 2/3 innings.

Here’s more from around the league:

• Preliminary contract extension talks have occurred between the Cubs and President Theo Epstein, tweets 670 The Score. Cubs owner Tom Ricketts says the two sides are “generally on the same page,” with regards to the talks. Epstein is entering the final season of a five-year, $18.5MM deal signed in 2011.
• Using Wins Above Replacement (WAR), Grant Brisbee of SB Nation analyzed the Giants’ offseason to date. He figures the additions of Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and Denard Span over Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Chris Heston, and Nori Aoki add up to eight wins on paper. Brisbee uses 2016 projections for the newly added Giants and compares them to the actual 2015 performance of the outgoing players. The upgrades cost a bundle of money, putting to rest complaints that the front office is stingy.
• There is a feeling the Padres may be nearing an end to their shortstop search, writes Corey Brock of MLB.com. The club has used 18 shortstops since 2009, and their best prospects at the position are at least two years away. Free agents Ian Desmond and Alexei Ramirez have been most closely tied to the Padres. Desmond is coming off an ill-timed down season, and he has a history of suspect defense. When asked about what he wants from a shortstop, GM A.J. Preller said “I think in an ideal world, you want someone who is an intelligent player, a leader and captain of your infield, the ability to make the plays on the move, on the run, up the middle, in the hole. Someone, when the ball is hit to him late in the game, it’s an out.” While that may not sound like a taut fit for Desmond, Ramirez also had a choppy defensive season in 2015. While Brock doesn’t mention him, I wonder if the Padres might not be looking at Jimmy Rollins. He’s arguably the most sure-handed of the bunch.

On to current baseball news:

• The Orioles are the beneficiaries of the Denard Span signing. As one of the few teams with money and a pressing need in the outfield, they have leverage in talks with players like Justin Upton. Olney is not the first to wonder if Upton would sign a pillow contract to play with the Orioles. The Rangers are another team interested in Upton on a one-year contract.
• While Baltimore may eventually sign Chris Davis, some in the organization would like to reduce their seven-year, $150MM offer or simply move on to other players. To me, it seems as though Davis is playing a dangerous game of chicken. However, agent Scott Boras has successful navigated similar scenarios. One notable example is the Cardinals’ signing of Matt Holliday to a seven-year, $120MM deal prior to the 2010 season.
• In further Baltimore-related news, the club has “a lot of interest” in southpaw reliever Antonio Bastardo. He’s coming off a successful campaign with the Pirates. He posted a 2.98 ERA, 10.05 K/9 and 4.08 BB/9 in 57 innings – numbers similar to his career marks. As a fly ball pitcher, Bastardo may not be the best fit for the mostly small ball parks of the AL East. However, Bastardo did have success preventing home runs in Citizen’s Bank Park for most of his career. If the O’s inked Bastardo, they would probably trade fellow lefty Brian Matusz.
• The Giants would benefit from more roster depth, but they won’t use the free agent market to build it. Olney figures the club will explore trades for additional personnel.

8:01am: The Orioles and Mets are among the clubs holding discussions with free agent southpaw Antonio Bastardo, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. Bastardo, 30, spent last year with the Pirates.

Bastardo joins Tyler Clippard as the only two unsigned relievers left on MLBTR’s pre-winter list of the top fifty free agents. In that post, Tim Dierkes predicted that he could command a three-year contract with a $15MM guarantee, though he could be aiming for more after fellow lefty Tony Sipp landed an $18MM promise earlier in the offseason.

While his bottom-line run prevention numbers have wavered from year to year, Bastardo has been rather consistent in terms of peripherals. For his career, the veteran has posted 11.0 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9, while generating a meager 28.7% groundball rate. He has, however, kept the long ball in check, allowing only a 7.0% HR/FB rate and 0.80 HR/9 dating back to his rookie season of 2009.

Those numbers support his overall 3.45 ERA. Bastardo has carried a 3.20 SIERA to go with a 3.33 FIP, both of which suggest that he may have been a bit unlucky. On the other hand, xFIP only values his overall contributions at a 3.87 ERA equivalency.

That last metric has not been enamored of Bastardo’s work, in particular, over the past three years. He has been particularly fortunate in terms of limiting home runs in that span, with a HR/FB rate hovering below 5%. And last year, there was some cause to question the sub-3.00, as Bastardo benefited from a .246 BABIP despite allowing a career-high 32.2% hard contact rate.

But the southpaw also generated a 14.6% swinging-strike rate in his sole season in Pittsburgh, good for the second-best mark of his career. And his velocity actually trended up to 92.7 mph on the season.

Importantly, too, Bastardo recovered from a tough start with a nice run to end the year. And while he was even better against opposing lefties, he also limited right-handed hitters to a .207/.311/.315 batting line. That lines up with his career numbers, and will surely give teams comfort that he’ll be a flexible setup piece.

It isn’t surprising to hear that Baltimore and New York are among the suitors for Bastardo, but neither of these particular organizations seem to be in particular need of a lefty pen arm. The O’s top southpaw (outside of closer Zach Britton) is Brian Matusz, who has turned in solid results over the past three years. And the Mets already re-signed Jerry Blevins to go with Sean Gilmartin.

But particularly if one views Bastardo as a late-inning option who is nearly as useful against righties as lefties, it’s easy to see him drawing wide interest. (The same holds true, it’s worth noting, of Clippard.) Even at this late stage of the winter, there figure to be more clubs that will be involved as his market develops.

While that’s a sizable sum for any relief pitcher, the market for free-agent relievers has been strong this offseason, and Bastardo’s production over the past few years is similar to that of Sipp. Bastardo doesn’t have as strong of a two-year platform as Sipp carried into free agency, but he’s been a perhaps quietly excellent reliever over the past three seasons. In that time (split between the Phillies and Pirates), Bastardo has logged a 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate. He’s also been effective against both left- and right-handed batters, holding same-handed opponents to a .167/.273/.295 batting line while surrendering just a .204/.310/.314 batting line even when his opponents hold the platoon advantage. Additionally, having just turned 30 in late September, he’s more than two full years younger than Sipp — an element that figures to work in his favor. Bastardo does have his faults, with sub-par control (career 4.3 BB/9 rate) and a previously served 50-game suspension for his ties to the Biogenesis PED clinic chief among them.

Bastardo is one of the top remaining relievers on the market, but his name hasn’t frequented the rumor mill much this winter. He’s been linked to the Twins and Tigers, although Detroit has since acquired Justin Wilson from the Yankees, potentially removing them as a candidate for Bastardo’s services. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweeted yesterday that a Twins official denied a report stating that the Twins aren’t interested in Bastardo, but Wolfson implied that the asking price could be beyond Minnesota’s comfort zone. Many other clubs, including the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mariners, D-backs and Cubs have been linked to relief help in the past day or two.

A few more notes on the relief market…

• The Nationals had dialogue with the Pirates about closer Mark Melancon, though nothing is serious at this time, Bill Ladson of MLB.com tweets. Before Washington could even acquire Melancon, they’ll probably have to move at least one of Jonathan Papelbon or Drew Storen to free up some room.
• Twins GM Terry Ryan says the team is unlikely to bring back relievers Brian Duensing and Blaine Boyer, as Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com writes. Minnesota is eyeing left-handed relief help in Nashville and is interested in both Tony Sipp and Antonio Bastardo, per Bollinger. The Twins also checked in on veteran Matt Thornton, but their preference is a more strikeout-oriented arm, says Bollinger, so Thornton may not be a fit.
• Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press hears that teams have reached out to the Twins about All-Star closer Glen Pekrins in their search for left-handed relief, but talks didn’t get far (links to Twitter). Perkins is owed a reasonable $12.8MM over the next two seasons and has a $6.5MM club option for the 2018 campaign. That option becomes a player option if he’s traded.
• The Cubs meeting with the agents for Bastardo, according to Robert Murray of Baseball Essential (on Twitter). The Cubs have been very active over the past 24 hours and are known to be seeking bullpen upgrades.
• Shawn Kelley’s agent, Mike McCann, told Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter) that his client has yet to pick a team.  The Nationals are among “multiple clubs” in “active discussions” with McCann.
• Right-hander Joe Blanton is drawing interest from a wide number of teams after a strong 2015 showing in the bullpen, tweets Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Blanton could be a candidate for a multi-year deal after his excellent bounceback campaign.
• Multiple reporters, including J.P. Hoornstra of the L.A. News Group, have tweeted that Todd Coffey is in Nashville hoping to latch on with a club as he eyes an MLB comeback. Coffey, 35, hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2012 but was excellent at Triple-A as recently as 2014.