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DJ LeMahieu

NL Notes: LeMahieu, Marlins, Straily, Hill

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Some items from around the Senior Circuit…

  • The Marlins had some interest in free agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (via Twitter), though talks “never got close” between the two sides.  It’s surprising to see the rebuilding Marlins make a play in any sort of veteran this offseason, though as Rosenthal puts it, Miami saw LeMahieu as an “undervalued asset at potential below-market price.”  While it took until early January for LeMahieu to land his two-year, $24MM deal from the Yankees, the second baseman still had a pretty robust market, with multiple teams (including the Giants, Nationals, Dodgers, and Athletics) showing interest in his services.  It stands to reason that several others at least checked in, as the Yankees hadn’t been linked to LeMahieu before their deal was announced and Miami was certainly off the radar as a potential candidate.  LeMahieu’s $24MM total also topped MLBTR’s prediction of a two-year, $18MM contract for the free agent second baseman, so it’s fair to assume that his market never dropped to the point that the Marlins could’ve made a play.
  • Keeping with the Marlins, right-hander Dan Straily remains “high atop the team’s trade list,” the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo writes.  Straily drew quite a bit of trade attention last winter but his stock dropped after a forearm injury limited him to just 122 1/3 IP in 2018, and some rough advanced metric numbers.  Straily’s .350 xwOBA was well above his .324 wOBA, and ERA indicators (5.11 FIP, 4.99 xFIP, 4.92 SIERA) paint a lesser picture of his 4.12 ERA.  This could make it hard for the Marlins to get their desired “nice return” for the righty, as Cafardo describes it, though he suggests that Miami could get more offers on Straily after other pitching targets in free agency or the trade market come off the board.  Straily is controllable for the next two years and isn’t very expensive, as he and the Marlins recently agreed to a $5MM contract for 2019 to avoid arbitration.
  • Also from Cafardo, he hears from Dodgers southpaw Rich Hill that the veteran hurler “absolutely” plans to continue his career into the 2020 season.  Hill is entering the final season of his three-year, $48MM deal with the Dodgers, and it seemed logical to wonder if Hill could be considering retirement, given that he turns 39 in March and has dealt with a number of injuries throughout his career.  That said, it also isn’t surprising that Hill wants to keep going in the wake of his late-career revival, as the southpaw has a 2.98 ERA, 10.6 K/9, and 3.76 K/BB rate over 407 2/3 IP in 2015-18.  If Hill manages can duplicate his performance in 2019, it certainly seems like he’ll be able to land another contract (if a short-term deal) from a contending team.  “There’s a lot more left in the tank. I want that ring,” Hill said, in reference to the Dodgers’ close calls in the World Series in each of the last two seasons.

Poll: The LeMahieu And Lowrie Signings

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On Thursday, news broke that the Mets, one of the few teams who’d continued to kindle the Hot Stove throughout the winter, were again firing up, with the signing of 34-year-old Jed Lowrie. And then on Friday, amidst a chaotic deluge of arbitration settlements, the Yankees added to perhaps the league’s most crowded infield mix, signing second baseman (and now, perhaps, utility infielder) DJ LeMahieu.

On the surface, both deals were head-scratchers: the Mets, of course, just replaced a pop-up option at the keystone with a potential hall-of-famer, and already seemed set at third and short. First base was tentatively reserved for a Peter Alonso/Dominic Smith/J.D. Davis mix, and the team had spent much of this month assembling depth options of every sort. So where would Lowrie fit? And why wouldn’t the team have used its (ostensibly) few remaining resources where it needed it most, viz. in center field, or to tighten a loose mid-relief corps?

The Yankees, then, may have seized the enigmatic upper hand with Friday’s LeMahieu signing. Gleyber Torres, an early-season option at shortstop during Didi Gregorius’ absence, looked to have second-base on lock for the next half-dozen years at least, and the team has young, good, and very cheap options at the corner spots.  Plus, there’s the addition of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, brought in to hold down the early-season fort if he can make his way to the field, who seemed interested in New York only because of its clear path to playing time. LeMahieu has played positions other than his native second before, but none since 2014, since which time he’s entrenched himself as (arguably) the game’s premier defender at the position. Utility men don’t typically make $12MM a year, especially on the heels of two below-league-average offensive seasons, so perhaps the signing is a mere precursor to a move on a larger scale.

Lowrie has been excellent over the last two seasons, accruing 8.5 fWAR in 310 games. He appeared in more games last season, though, than he did from 2015-16, and nearly as many games in ’17 as he did from ’10-’12. Injuries have always been a major part of the profile, and the soon-to-be 35-year-old had mostly dropped the utility moniker in recent years, appearing only in cameo roles at positions other than second. So where will the team deploy him?  Third base is an option, but that’d move Todd Frazier to first, where, after three middling offensive seasons, he seems a disjointed fit at best. Such a move, too, would likely keep Peter Alonso in the minors, where the recurrence of a demolition tour would seem of little benefit to anyone. Lowrie probably doesn’t have the range for short at this point in his career, and a utility role wouldn’t be appropriate for someone of his pay grade. Perhaps Frazier will shift full-time to the bench, where the club already has much younger and much cheaper options, or is sent away in a back-page trade, netting a fringe return at best. Steamer, for its part, forecasts Lowrie to be just two percent better offensively than Frazier next season, so hoping for a straight upgrade seems presumptuous.

LeMahieu is part of the rare breed, since Statcast data was made public, to post well-above-average exit velocities and a well-below-average launch angle. The combo works for Christian Yelich, but for most others – Eric Hosmer, Ian Desmond – it spells disaster. If the Yanks can rework LeMahieu’s swing – he already boasts an opposite-field-dominated approach that should fit perfectly in their park – and transplant his defensive wizardry at second to another position(s), the club may have a bargain on its hand, but such an outcome seems unlikely. He doesn’t fit at first, and the club has now lost leverage in a potential Miguel Andujar trade. If the rookie-of-the-year runner-up can shore-up his defensive woes and find a bit better control of the strike zone, the Yankees are looking at a perennial all-star. With a value nowhere near his potential peak, shipping out Andujar now – or moving him to first base – seems altogether shortsighted.

Do you like the respective moves? Pick your answer in the poll below.

Giants Showing Interest In DJ LeMahieu, Exploring Joe Panik Trades

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The Giants are discussing trade scenarios involving Joe Panik with multiple clubs, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who notes that the infield market is beginning to pick up some steam (as evidenced by this morning’s agreement between Brian Dozier and the Nationals). In a related report, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the Giants are among the teams showing interest in free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu.

It stands to reason that if the Giants have serious interest in bringing LeMahieu on board, they’d first need to move Panik. Both are pure second basemen at this juncture of their respective careers, and even if the Giants had interest in slotting LeMahieu or Panik in at a different position on the infield, third base and shortstop are locked up by Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford — neither of whom is particularly movable on the trade market (Longoria primarily for financial reasons and Crawford due largely to a full no-trade clause).

Panik, 28, already avoided arbitration earlier this offseason by agreeing to a one-year, $3.8MM contract. He’s coming off the worst offensive season of his career, having batted .254/.307/.332 with just four home runs in 392 plate appearances — production that rated 23 to 25 percent worse than that of a league-average hitter, based on park-neutral metrics (77 OPS+, 75 wRC+). Panik was a Gold Glover in 2016 and was generally regarded as a plus defender at second base, but his defensive ratings have also slipped in recent seasons.  He’s only a year removed from a productive season at the plate, however, as he hit .288/.347/.421 with 10 long balls in 2017 before thumb and groin injuries hindered his playing time last season.

As for LeMahieu, he’s perennially among the game’s premier defensive second baseman and has consistently hit for average, though his overall production has wavered somewhat on a year-over-year basis. LeMahieu won a surprise National League batting title when he hit .348/.416/.495 in a career year back in 2016, but while he followed that up with a high-quality .310 average in 2017, his power fell off, as he slugged just .409 that season and posted a .099 ISO (slugging minus batting average). This past season, most of his pop returned, but his overall output checked in at .276/.321/.428 — rather pedestrian production when considering his hitter-friendly home setting (86 wRC+).

All in all, LeMahieu generally rates as an average or better overall hitter with premium defensive skills. He’s batted a combined .309/.369/.429 across the past four seasons and been one of the toughest strikeouts in the league over that span, punching out in just 14.2 percent of his plate appearances. LeMahieu would provide the Giants with better defense than they expected from Panik even at his peak, and he’d bring a more reliable bat to the table as well — albeit at a considerably higher price point. His past production makes LeMahieu an easy candidate for a solid multi-year deal in free agency, though he won’t cost the Giants anything in terms of draft-pick compensation, as the Rockies did not issue him a qualifying offer at season’s end.

Quick Hits: LeMahieu, Rangers, O’s, Senzel, Calhoun

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While DJ LeMahieu played his high school ball in Michigan, a return to his old stomping grounds in the form of a Tigers contract “isn’t likely,” MLB.com’s Jason Beck writes.  Detroit figures to wait until closer to Spring Training to land a second baseman, so LeMahieu will likely be off the market by then, plus his desire for a multi-year deal probably also doesn’t fit with the Tigers’ plan to acquire a short-term bridge to prospect Dawel Lugo.  The Nationals, Dodgers, and Athletics have all been linked to LeMahieu at various points this offseason, though it’s probably safe to count Oakland out of the running after the team’s acquisition of Jurickson Profar.  In general, Beck feels the Tigers could wait until later in the offseason to address several needs, looking for low-cost veterans or potential bargains to fill holes in the rotation, bullpen, catcher, or on the bench.  The Tigers may also have to hold off on dealing Nick Castellanos until after Bryce Harper signs with a new team, in order to take stock of a newly-shuffled outfield market.

Some more from around baseball…

  • Is Adam Jones a fit for the Rangers?  MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan believes so, opining that Jones’ right-handed bat would help balance out the team’s heavily left-handed outfield mix, plus Jones could provide clubhouse leadership to an increasingly young team.  There’s certainly an argument to be made for such a signing, or at least for a player of a similar mold, should Jones himself be a bit too expensive for the Rangers’ liking or if he only wants to play for a team aiming to contend in 2019.
  • Speaking of signing veterans, MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski argues that the Orioles should see what they have in their young pitchers rather than acquiring an experienced innings-eater for the rotation.  Barring a trade, Baltimore will have Andrew Cashner, Dylan Bundy, and Alex Cobb as its top three starters, which perhaps provides enough of a veteran base to allow the O’s to audition any number of young arms through the other two rotation spots.
  • Nick Senzel is on pace to make his Major League debut sometime in 2019, though without a clear position to play in the Reds’ lineup, the team could deploy Senzel as a multi-positional threat, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale writes.  Senzel was drafted as a third baseman and has spent much of his minor league career at the hot corner, though he saw more time at second base last season at Triple-A and even started one game at shortstop.  The Reds also intended to use Senzel as a corner outfielder in Arizona Fall League play, though he was sidelined after surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow.  The biggest priority for the Reds and Senzel is simply to make sure that the top prospect is healthy in the wake of an injury-shortened 2018 season, and to get him everyday at-bats no matter what position he fills around the diamond.  Senzel could even be considered for some time in center field, which is the only open position the Reds have at the moment.
  • Trading Kole Calhoun would help free up some payroll space for the Angels to go after pitching, though MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger isn’t sure how much the Halos could really save in such a deal.  Calhoun is owed $11.5MM next season, counting both salary and a buyout of his $14MM club option for 2020, and it seems like the team would have to eat at least some of that given that Calhoun is coming off a replacement-level season.  Los Angeles could also conceivably swap Calhoun for another player with a contract his team would like to unload, if such a fit could be found.  Of course, the Angels are hoping for a rebound year from Calhoun and have him penciled in as their everyday right fielder, so dealing him would create another roster hole to be filled.

NL Rumors: Realmuto, Braves, Bucs, Galvis, Padres, Pirela, Nats

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Here’s the latest from the National League:

  • Not only are the Braves one of the teams still in the hunt to acquire Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, but they’re “slight” favorites as of now, Craig Mish of SiriusXM tweets. Braves third base prospect Austin Riley’s “on the table” in talks, Mish adds. The 21-year-old Riley – MLB.com’s 43rd-ranked prospect – got his first taste of Triple-A action in 2018 and batted a terrific .282/.346/.464 in 324 plate appearances, though he also struck out in nearly 30 percent of trips. Riley is blocked at third in Atlanta, at least temporarily, by the recently signed Josh Donaldson and 2018 starter Johan Camargo.
  • The Pirates have “big interest” in free-agent shortstop Freddy Galvis, according to George A. King III of the New York Post. In Pittsburgh, the switch-hitting 29-year-old would take over for Jordy Mercer, who signed with the Tigers earlier this week. Joining the Pirates would also mean a return to Pennsylvania for Galvis, a Phillie from 2012-17 who spent last season in San Diego. Across 3,096 major plate appearances, Galvis has batted .248/.299/.380 with 65 home runs, including 13 in 2018.
  • Once the Padres’ signing of Ian Kinsler becomes official, they’re “likely” to designate infielder/outfielder Jose Pirela for assignment, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. Even if the Padres don’t designate Pirela, he’s not long for their roster, Cassavell suggests. The 29-year-old Pirela, a member of the San Diego organization since it acquired him from the Yankees in 2015, racked up 817 PAs at the major league level from 2017-18 and managed a respectable .265/.320/.405 line with 15 home runs and 10 stolen bases.
  • While free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu has been on the Nationals’ radar, they’re “more likely” to look for a cheaper infielder, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post, who lists Brian Dozier, Josh Harrison and Jed Lowrie as speculative fits. Although, in MLBTR’s estimation, Lowrie will easily land the richest contract of that quartet this offseason.

Position Player Rumors: Brantley, Manny, ChiSox, Phils, NY, Ramos, Tulo, DJ

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Continuing to cast a wide net in their search for upgrades, the White Sox “have checked in on” outfielder Michael Brantley, Jayson Stark of The Athletic writes. To this point, the 31-year-old Brantley has spent his entire career as a member of the AL Central rival Indians, though he figures to be too pricey for the Tribe this offseason. Based on his career to date, Brantley would be a substantial upgrade for a Chicago team that received horrid production from its cast of outfielders in 2018.

  • Speaking of the White Sox, they’re among the teams that will meet with superstar Manny Machado, per Jon Heyman of Fancred. The Yankees and Phillies, two other unsurprising suitors, will also sit down with the 26-year-old infielder, Heyman adds. In total, Machado will visit four clubs in the coming days, Buster Olney of ESPN hears.
  • The Brewers met yesterday with free agent backstop Wilson Ramos and his representatives, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy reports. Positive vibes seem to have emerged from the sit-down on both sides, which could perhaps spur some momentum toward a match. The Mets met with Ramos today, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post was among those to tweet, though the New York club is seemingly pushing on other fronts first.
  • Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who surprisingly hit the open market Tuesday when the Blue Jays released him, may be a fit for the Athletics as a second baseman, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle observes. While Tulowitzki would like to remain at short, he “would be willing to change positions,” his agent, Paul Cohen, told Slusser on Tuesday. He’s also a Bay Area native who, according to Cohen, “would have a lot of interest” in returning there.
  • Meantime, the shortstop-needy Tigers will consider Tulo, but signing him is “a low probability,” GM Al Avila said (via Jason Beck of MLB.com). Regardless, the Tigers will add a shortstop prior to next season, Avila declared (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com).
  • The Nationals want an everyday second baseman, and free agent DJ LeMahieu tops their list, Bob Nightengale of USA Today relays. General manager Mike Rizzo revealed last week that the Nationals had contacted LeMahieu’s camp.
  • Eight teams are interested in infielder Wilmer Flores, Heyman tweets. The 27-year-old Flores was an above-average offensive player with the Mets in each of the past three seasons, though he did most of his damage against lefties and dealt with injury issues. The Mets non-tendered Flores last month.
  • Infielder Carlos Asuaje, whom the Rangers claimed off waivers from the Padres on Monday, is drawing interest from Japan, Heyman reports. It’s unclear, however, whether Texas would enable Asuaje to leave. The Rangers would probably need financial compensation for that to happen, Heyman posits.

Infield Notes: Machado, Realmuto, LeMahieu, Merrifield, Hernandez, Arenado

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Superstar free agent Manny Machado will not meet with teams in Las Vegas, it seems, preferring instead to visit suitors at their home parks, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). That would seem to suggest that his market won’t take off over the week to come, though surely there’ll be relevant developments. If Machado is indeed plotting a course of courtship that will take place over the coming weeks, then perhaps there’s more room for earlier developments in other segments of the infield market …

  • Behind the dish, the Marlins’ asking price on J.T. Realmuto may be creeping back down to more realistic levels, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. The organization has long been said to be asking for an enormous return in exchange for two seasons of the game’s best backstop, which truthfully isn’t an unreasonable starting point. Still, as Sherman notes, the club will ultimately likely be forced to take what the offer will give. For the Mets, pursuit of Realmuto is still seen “as a long shot,” Sherman adds on Twitter. And the Phillies are presently focused on other pursuits, per Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter), such that they haven’t engaged with their division rivals in Miami regarding Realmuto in a few weeks’ time.
  • The Athletics have reached out to second baseman DJ LeMahieu as they continue to explore the market for second basemen, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. That’s not an indication that the Oakland org is out on Jed Lowrie, so much as the latest sign that a reunion is anything but inevitable with both parties seeing other people. LeMahieu himself likely isn’t the only alternative being considered, Slusser notes; she goes on to explore some of the other opportunities that could be pondered by the A’s brass.
  • In a boon to free agents and teams with potential trade chips at second base, Royals GM Dayton Moore tells MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter link) that he is not getting as many questions of late about Whit Merrifield. That’s not because of a lack of interest, though, so much as the fact that the Royals have “pretty much made it clear” they will hold onto the late-blooming star. Merrifield will not even be eligible for arbitration until 2020, though he’ll turn thirty before the start of the 2019 season. From an outside perspective, this seems an ideal time to market a player who’d draw wide interest given his excellent recent production, defensive flexibility, and cheap price tag. But the Kansas City org seems determined to try to build around some of its preexisting roster assets.
  • The Phillies are not finding initial success at generating interest in second baseman Cesar Hernandez, according to Jayson Stark of The Athletic (Twitter link). With a robust slate of free agents at the position and a seemingly increasing list of available trade candidates, there’s some imbalance between the supply and demand. Hernandez, 28, has been a fairly steady performer, but he did fall off a bit with the bat last year and is increasingly expensive at a projected $8.9MM arb salary in his second to last run through the process.
  • Rockies GM Jeff Bridich discussed his team’s long-term relationship possibilities with third baseman Nolan Arenado in an inteview on MLB Network (h/t Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, Twitter links). Bridich says the club can afford to carry a $200MM+ promise to Arenado, citing a “responsible growth” plan for payroll. Of course, that number may only be scratching the surface of what Arenado could command in a hypothetical post-2019 free agency, so it’s far from clear just yet whether the club will be both willing and able to line up on a new deal to keep him from the open market. Otherwise, unsurprisingly, Bridich acknowledged that the Rox are interested in improving not only in the outfield but also at first base to boost a sagging offense.

NL West Notes: Dodgers, LeMahieu, Belt, Greinke

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Entering the Winter Meetings with a wide variety of potential moves under consideration, the Dodgers will “in all likelihood” move an existing starter via trade, ESPN.com’s Alden Gonzalez writes. Just what the might look like isn’t yet clear, but the club’s numerous options will surely hold appeal to rivals. To be sure, the Dodgers have found ways on numerous occasions in the recent past to juggle seeming roster overloads, but Gonzalez says that the ability to utilize a player such as Kenta Maeda as a trade piece (while improving in other areas) will likely prod a deal of some kind.

  • The Dodgers, meanwhile, are “showing continued interest” in second bagger DJ LeMahieu, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). Certainly, the club has seen plenty of the 30-year-old over his career, virtually all of which has taken place with the division-rival Rockies. LeMahieu would presumably be seen as a near-everyday piece at second base in Los Angeles, though it’d hardly be surprising to see a lefty hitting platoon mate utilized to some degree if he’s added. Beyond the team’s general predilection for such arrangements, LeMahieu has been 80 OPS points better against left-handed pitching in his career.
  • Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is drawing calls from “several” other teams, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Belt is still owed a hefty $48MM over the next three seasons and also can block deals to ten teams. His worrisome concussion history also poses a clear concern. And, of course, the market has not been particularly kind to first basemen of late. Certainly, Belt’s OBP-heavy bat would promise to improve quite a few lineups around the game, but it’s unclear as yet exactly what kind of trade scenarios might be under consideration.
  • As the Diamondbacks weigh their next move, they are finding Zack Greinke’s partial no-trade rights a “major impediment,” according to Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter link). Numerous potential landing spots for Greinke appear among the 15 clubs to which he can block a deal, which leaves the veteran no small amount of leverage and complicates things for the Arizona organization. It is not clear whether the D-Backs have engaged with Greinke and his reps about his willingness to green-light a deal to certain destinations, but obviously the clause adds a notable variable to an already-tricky situation. While he’s still a high-level performer, Greinke is already 35 years of age and is entitled to a hefty $104.5MM ($95.5MM of salary, the remainder signing bonus) over the next three seasons.

NL East Notes: Ottavino, Robertson, Mets, Nats, LeMahieu, Realmuto

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The latest from around the NL East…

  • The Mets have Adam Ottavino and David Robertson on their list of bullpen targets, SNY.tv’s Andy Martino tweets.  It’s fair to assume that the Mets are casting a wide net in their search for relievers, and either Ottavino or Robertson would represent an excellent setup option for newly-acquired closer Edwin Diaz.  Since Robertson would reportedly prefer to pitch for a team in the Northeast, the Mets may have a geographical edge on many suitors, though other clubs in the area (i.e. the Red Sox and Yankees) have also been linked to Robertson’s market.
  • In other Mets news, the team continues to explore possibilities on the trade front, though some of their most high-profile options (both internal and external) don’t seem to have much traction at the moment.  Both Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman and SNY.tv’s Andy Martino report that the Mets and Padres don’t seem close on a possible Noah Syndergaard swap since San Diego refuses to include elite prospect Fernando Tatis Jr. in talks (not to mention some other top minor leaguers, as Heyman reported last week).  On the acquisition front, Martino also notes that there doesn’t seem to be much cooking between the Mets and the Marlins or Indians in respective talks about J.T. Realmuto or Corey Kluber.
  • Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told reporters (including the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty) on Friday that he had been in touch with DJ LeMahieu’s camp, with the caveat that the team has checked in on close to 40 players as a matter of due diligence.  Second base stands out as a logical position of need for the Nats, as Howie Kendrick and Wilmer Difo represent the club’s top current options at the keystone, though Rizzo noted that he is comfortable with that duo going into the season.  Middle infield prospect Carter Kieboom could also be a long-term answer by 2020 or 2021, so a free agent in search of a lengthy multi-year commitment (like LeMahieu) might not be a perfect fit.  Then again, MLBTR predicted only a two-year contract for LeMahieu, so if a longer deal isn’t on the table anywhere else, the Nats could sign him for their win-now push and then prepare to have Kieboom take over come 2021.
  • All eyes will be on J.T. Realmuto during the Winter Meetings, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro provides a roundup of the trade speculation swirling around the Marlins catcher.  Though at least 14 teams have expressed some type of interest in Realmuto, it doesn’t seem as if any deal is close, as Miami is holding firm on very high trade demands for the All-Star.  The Marlins are intent on adding quality young talent for Realmuto, and aren’t willing to dilute their return just to get some more money off their books, Frisaro writes.  This would seem to rule out a scenario where the Marlins try to attach a high-priced player like Martin Prado as part of a Realmuto trade.

Rockies Will Not Issue Any Qualifying Offers

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The Rockies won’t issue qualifying offers to any of their free agents today, general manager Jeff Bridich tells Nick Groke of The Athletic (Twitter link). Second baseman DJ LeMahieu and emergent relief star Adam Ottavino may have been fringe candidates to receive a $17.9MM QO, but instead both will reach the open market free of draft-pick compensation for interested parties.

LeMahieu, 30, has seen his offense tail off since winning a batting title in a brilliant 2016 campaign. He’s followed up that .348/.416/.495 effort with a combined .767 OPS and posted an unspectacular .276/.321/.428 slash in 128 games this season despite his hitter-friendly home setting. This year’s 6.4 percent walk rate was his worst since 2014. However, LeMahieu remains a premium defensive second baseman — arguably the game’s best — and he showed career-best power while proving to be a characteristically difficult strikeout for opposing pitchers. His 2016 season will likely go down as a clear career year and a general outlier, but he should still garner interest on multi-year pacts in free agency.

Ottavino, meanwhile, rebounded from some troubling control issues in 2017 (his first season back from Tommy John surgery) to break out as a dominant late-inning force for skipper Bud Black. In 77 2/3 innings, Ottavino turned in a pristine 2.43 ERA. His 36.3 percent strikeout rate checked in eighth among 151 qualified relievers, though it’s worth noting that his 11.7 percent walk rate was the 21st-highest in that same group. Nonetheless, the right-hander’s ability to miss bats and his strong ratings from fielding-independent metrics like FIP (2.74), xFIP (3.13) and SIERA (2.82) should help him to receive multi-year interest in free agency — perhaps as much as a three-year offering.

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