With Ross an unlikely candidate, Rosenthal and Kuty suggest that former Tigers and Angels manager Brad Ausmus, who was reportedly a candidate for the managerial gig in Houston before the club opted to promote Espada, could be a contender for the bench coach gig in the Bronx. Another potential candidate could be Yankees third base coach and former Mets manager Luis Rojas, though that hire would simply shift the hole on the big league coaching staff from the dugout to the third base line. The person hired to replace Mendoza will be the fourth to serve under manager Aaron Boone in the role, following not only Mendoza but also Phillies manager Rob Thomson and Dodgers bullpen coach Josh Bard.

More notes from around the AL East…

• Giants bullpen coach Andrew Bailey is expected to be a hot commodity on the coaching market this offseason, with Rosenthal and Kuty suggesting that he’s not only a candidate for the bench coach role with the Yankees but also the pitching coach role with both the Red Sox and Orioles. The duo suggest that Bailey could have a preference to return to the east coast after being denied permission by San Francisco to interview for a bench coach vacancy with the Mets back in 2022. The Giants hold no such power over Bailey at this point, as the 39-year-old is currently a free agent. Bailey pitched for both the Yankees and Red Sox during his big league career, which spanned eight seasons. Prior to his tenure as pitching coach in San Francisco, Bailey worked as a bullpen coach with the Angels under Ausmus during the 2019 season.
• The Rays have no plans to replace Peter Bendix as GM after Bendix departed the organization to take a job as president of baseball operations for the Marlins last week, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin relays that there will be no external search for a new GM, with assistant GMs Will Cousins, Chanda Lawdermilk and Carlos Rodriguez all expected to take larger roles in the baseball operations department in the wake of Bendix’s exit. Senior adviser Jon Daniels, who previously lead baseball operations for the Rangers from 2005 to 2022, is also expected to take on a larger role in the Rays’ front office, acting as a mentor to the club’s group of assistant GMs. Bendix is the fifth high-ranking member of the Rays front office to depart to lead another baseball operations department, joining Andrew Friedman, Chaim Bloom, James Click, and Matt Arnold, though Bloom and Click are no longer in those roles.

12:15PM: It’s now been roughly a month since the Red Sox fired chief baseball operations Chaim Bloom, creating a vacancy atop their baseball ops department. The club has expressed a willingness to take their time in making a decision, but it seems that there’s a building narrative that many potential candidates aren’t terribly excited by the job opening. Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo, both of MassLive, reported on the search today with each of them relaying that the club has been getting the cold shoulder from many of their targets.

It’s not known which specific candidates are involved, but it’s reported than many of them have declined to be interviewed or have withdrawn their names from consideration for the post. Though running a prestigious large-market club like the Sox might be attractive in theory, there are a few factors listed for the lack of interest. One is the high amount of turnover in the Boston front office of late. Ben Cherington got the position in October of 2011 but was replaced as the club’s baseball decision maker by Dave Dombrowski in August of 2015, despite the fact that the club had won the World Series in 2013. Dombrowski was then dismissed in 2019, even though he also brought a title to Boston the year prior, getting replace by Bloom.

Beyond that, there are reportedly concerns around the established role of manager Álex Cora and some incumbent executives. To an outsider, it would appear there are fears of getting hired, not being given much agency and then getting quickly thrown under the bus if things aren’t going well.

One name the club is targeting is Michael Hill, reports McAdam, though it’s unclear if he has been interviewed or if he even wants the job. He does have plenty of front office experience, as he was a part of the Marlins’ front office from 2002 until 2020. He worked his way up to hold various titles, including assistant general manager, general manager and president of baseball operations. But his contract wasn’t renewed after 2020 and he has since been working for Major League Baseball as senior vice president of on-field operations. His name has frequently popped up in front office searches in recent years, with the Astros being interested in him as recently as January. But Hill withdrew his name from consideration for that job, which ended up going to Dana Brown.

One other name on the list is Josh Byrnes, who currently serves as senior vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers. Cotillo reports that the Sox have had internal discussions about interviewing Byrnes, but it’s unclear if that’s led to any direct contact. Byrnes has a baseball résumé that dates back to being hired by Cleveland back in 1994, later bouncing to various other clubs, including a stint in Boston as assistant general manager starting in 2003. That led to stints as the general manager of the Diamondbacks and Padres, before he joined the Dodgers in 2014.  Like Hill, his name has also been a popular one in recent front office searches, most recently being connected to the Tigers just over a year ago.

In what is perhaps a more notable development, the club has already interviewed current assistant general manager Eddie Romero, per Cotillo. He has been with the Sox since 2006 and Cotillo reports that he has a strong relationship with Cora.

There’s still plenty of unknowns around the search and the narrative could always change, but it’s interesting that the club seems to be hitting some obstacles to this point. Though they have Hill and Byrnes on their list, there’s been no reporting to suggest the interest is mutual or that any momentum has been gained with either. As Cotillo relays, Romero might have an edge not just based on his existing relationship with the club but also due to the other candidates taking their respective hats out of the ring, though it’s entirely possible that other candidates will emerge in the weeks to come.

Whoever does get the job will have challenges moving forward. The club is generally considered to have a strong farm system but the American League East is arguably the strongest division in the league. The Orioles, Rays and Blue Jays all made the postseason this year and each club is well positioned to continue being competitive. The Yankees had a bit of a down year but haven’t finished below .500 since 1992 and will surely be looking for ways to come back stronger next year.

The Sox have generally been an aggressive spending team but not as much lately. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, their payroll was in the top five in the league for much of the century but has fallen out of that tier since the pandemic. They also have some hefty contracts on the books already, especially those of Rafael Devers, Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida. Thanks to that group and Garrett Whitlock, the club already has close to $80MM committed to just four players as far out as 2026.

Daniels, 45, spent 17 years running the baseball operations in Texas, getting hired as general manager in 2005 and promoted to the POBO role in 2013. The Rangers had their best run of success with Daniels at the helm, as they made the playoffs in five out of seven seasons from 2010 to 2016, including trips to the World Series in the first two of those years. Since that time, however, the club has entered a rebuilding period that has continued to linger. They fell to 78-84 in 2017 and just endured their sixth straight losing season in 2022, with Daniels getting fired in August.

Despite the poor results in recent seasons, the Rays will bring Daniels into their front office mix. Said front office is headed by Erik Neander, president of baseball operations, followed by Peter Bendix, senior vice president baseball operations and general manager. The exact level of involvement they expect from Daniels is unclear, though Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays that Daniels will focus on “supporting baseball ops senior leadership while utilizing his extensive experience in the industry to help further inform decision-making.”

In addition to the hiring of Daniels, the Rays also announced several promotions and/or title changes, with Topkin giving a rundown on Twitter (link one, two and three).

“This morning I informed Jon Daniels that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the season and that he is being relieved of his duties effective immediately,” managing partner Ray Davis said in a press release announcing the move. “Jon’s accomplishments in his 17 years running our baseball operations department have been numerous. He and his staff put together the best teams in this franchise’s history that resulted in five playoff appearances and two American League pennants between 2010 and 2016. His impact on the growth of our player development, scouting, and analytics groups has been immense. Jon has always had the best interests of the Rangers organization in mind on and off the field and in the community.

“But the bottom line is we have not had a winning record since 2016 and for much of that time, have not been competitive in the A.L. West Division. While I am certain we are heading in the right direction, I feel a change in leadership of the baseball operations department will be beneficial going forward.”

Daniels had been atop the Rangers’ baseball operations hierarchy since way back in 2005, when at just 28 years of age he became the sport’s youngest general manager. Prior to today’s ousting, he was the sport’s third-longest-tenured baseball ops leader, trailing only Athletics executive vice president Billy Beane and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

As Davis alluded to, Daniels oversaw some of the finest years in Rangers franchise history, including a pair of back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010-11. Those teams thrived in no small part due to savvy trades made by Daniels. His blockbuster deal sending Mark Teixeira to the Braves (in exchange for shortstop Elvis Andrus, 2010 AL Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and lefty Matt Harrison) and Daniels’ acquisitions of Josh Hamilton (from the Reds in exchange for Edinson Volquez) and Nelson Cruz (from the Brewers for Carlos Lee) helped set the stage for those halcyon days in Arlington.

The success carried  into the mid-2010s, as Texas won the AL West and enjoyed a 97-win season back in 2016. That came on the heels of some other high-profile moves — e.g. signing Yu Darvish and Adrian Beltre, acquiring Cole Hamels — which led to multiple contract extensions for Daniels over the years. Since that time, however, ill-fated signings have begun to mount while what should have been pivotal trades have failed to bear fruit.

The 2014 signing of Shin-Soo Choo to a seven-year, $131MM contract ultimately proved to be a misstep, for instance, and shorter-term deals for veterans like Andrew Cashner and Carlos Gomez also came up empty. Texas’ 2016 acquisition of Jonathan Lucroy went south in 2017, and the Rangers ultimately received little to no value in trades of production veterans such as Yu Darvish and Mike Minor, which further set the farm system back. Meanwhile, homegrown talents projected for stardom never achieved those ceilings; Nomar Mazara, Martin Perez, Leody Taveras, Hans Crouse, Willie Calhoun (acquired for Darvish) and Chi Chi Gonzalez are among the many former Top-100 Rangers prospects who never really developed into impact players (though Perez’s 2022 breakout has at least finally changed the narrative on him to an extent).

That difficulty regarding player development wasn’t unique to the organization’s very best prospects, either. Rather, Texas’ ability to develop big leaguers through the draft has simply stalled out in recent years. Incredibly, not one member of the Rangers’ 2018-21 draft classes has reached the Majors yet. Dating back to 2016, right-hander Joe Barlow is the only player drafted by the Rangers to produce even 1.0 wins above replacement in the Majors.

Certainly, that doesn’t all fall solely on Daniels’ shoulders. The Rangers have had scouts, analysts and dozens of other executives contributing to those collaborative processes throughout that dry period, but as general manager (and eventually president of baseball operations), Daniels was the final call both on baseball operations decisions, on filling out the scouting and player development ranks, etc.

Speaking of general managers — those duties will now all fall to Young, the 43-year-old former big league pitcher who has rapidly ascended into the game’s executive ranks following the conclusion of a 13-year Major League career. A Princeton product, Young was always touted as one of the sport’s brightest baseball minds, even during his playing days. He broke into executive work not with a team but working in Major League Baseball’s offices, where he served as the league’s senior vice president of on-field operations, initiatives and strategy.

Young was tabbed as the new Rangers’ general manager in somewhat out-of-the-blue fashion in Dec. 2020. It was his first post working in a Major League front office, but the Rangers weren’t the only club with interest. The Mets, in owner Steve Cohen’s first offseason at the wheel of the team, had interest in interviewing Young for their own GM vacancy. He interviewed for the post but withdrew his name from consideration, citing the fact that he did not want to move his family from Dallas to New York as the key factor in that decision. A week later, the Rangers announced his hiring.

Young may not have the typical resume most up-and-coming executives bring to the table, but he’s spent the past two years learning under Daniels — who, for all the Rangers’ recent struggles, remains one of the game’s most widely respected executives. That experience will prove vital as Young now sets forth to execute his own vision for the franchise.

Daniels, meanwhile, would surely be a welcome addition to countless baseball ops departments around the game, though it’s not yet clear whether he’ll immediately pursue another position or whether he’ll step back and take some time with his family after a near two-decade grind leading the Rangers. He’s been tied to his hometown Mets in the past, and there will be at least one GM vacancy this offseason now that the Tigers have fired Al Avila. Time will tell, but Daniels should have little trouble finding a new role if he’s so inclined — though for the time being, it may not be running his own department.

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets today that Alderson signed a two-year deal to help Cohen’s ownership transition and front office changes, but he had no desire to return to a full-time baseball operations role. The team’s plan for the 2022 season is to have Alderson return to a broader-reaching team president role without directly running the baseball operations department. A new hire will need to be made, as has already been widely suggested in the wake of Scott’s DWI charge.

Cohen’s Mets were connected to numerous high-profile candidates last year in looking to fill their baseball operations void after parting ways with Brodie Van Wagenen, but several either declined to interview or were denied permission to do so. Teams generally only permit their executives to interview with other clubs if the position is a promotion over their current post. It’s probably not a coincidence that the Rays not only extended general manager Erik Neander but promoted him to president of baseball operations just yesterday; Neander was known to be of interest to the Mets last year.

There’s been quite a bit of recent speculation on Theo Epstein as a candidate. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman all wrote on the topic within the same 24-hour period. Of course, as Rosenthal pointed out, it was Epstein who originally hired both Scott and Jared Porter — the former Mets GM who was fired a month into his tenure last offseason following revelations of past harassment of a reporter. Both joined the Red Sox under Epstein’s watch, and Epstein brought Porter to Chicago not long after being named Cubs president of baseball operations.

The optics of that aren’t necessarily damning, but a cleaner break from that tree might also be welcome. Furthermore, SNY’s Andy Martino wrote this week that nearly everyone he’s spoken to has strongly downplayed the Epstein rumors. All three Epstein columns also mention the possibility that he’d look to secure a minority stake with any team he joins, and Martino suggests the same: that Epstein is seeking a partial ownership opportunity.

Looking around the league, there aren’t many high-profile executives who’d seem like candidates to depart their current post and take on the spotlight of the Mets’ presidency. Twins GM Thad Levine and Indians GM Mike Chernoff both declined the opportunity to interview last offseason. A’s GM David Forst was reported to be of interest to the Mets (and the Angels), but there’s no indication he ever actually interviewed (or even spoke with) either club.

Heyman somewhat speculatively suggests two other executives whose names have been or could be of interest to the Mets: Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes and Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels. Martino, in similar fashion, listed off three more high-profile execs who’d be making lateral moves and require ownership permission to even interview: Cleveland’s Chris Antonetti, Minnesota’s Derek Falvey and Oakland’s Billy Beane.

Byrnes would make a fairly logical candidate for the Mets to pursue. He’s a high-ranking member of a large-payroll, consistently successful organization, but the Mets’ top baseball ops job would still represent a promotion for him. He’s also served as general manager of both the Padres and the Diamondbacks in the past, so he’s no stranger to running a baseball operations outfit himself. Somewhat coincidentally, Byrnes was the other finalist for the Mets’ GM post back in 2010 when the team ultimately hired Alderson to take over baseball operations.

As for Daniels, he would be making a lateral move, from one president of baseball ops role to another. However, the Rangers also just recently hired Chris Young as their new general manager, and that could be viewed as a means of grooming an eventual heir-apparent for Daniels, who was extended on a contract of still-unreported length back in 2018. Daniels — a Queens native, for what it’s worth — has been running the Rangers’ baseball operations department since being appointed general manager at just 28 years of age in the 2005-06 offseason.

Daniels’ situation bears some similarity to that of Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns, whose name was recently raised in connection with the Mets by ESPN’s Buster Olney. However, there are also some key differences. As is the case with the Rangers, the Brewers just named a new general manager, Matt Arnold, to serve under Stearns (who is, like Daniels, a New York native). The key difference is that Arnold was promoted to GM from within at a time when the Mets were known to be looking to hire a GM; Young was hired by the Rangers from outside the organization. (Although he also interviewed for the Mets’ job last offseason before joining the Rangers.)

Stearns is also newer to the Brewers’ top job than Daniels is to his own post. His contract extension and promotion are both more recent as well. There’s little reason to think Brewers owner Mark Attanasio would be open to allowing Stearns to depart when he’s still under contract another year and when the Brewers have emerged as one of the best teams in all of baseball. The Brewers denied him permission to interview last offseason, Martino notes.

Suffice it to say, speculation already abounds with regard to the Mets’ front office, and that’s before the team has even truly begun its search for a new baseball operations leader in earnest. These names and a dozen or more others will likely be tied to the Mets in the weeks and months to come, before a hire is ultimately made.

In light of what we’ve seen so far, Lance Lynn’s one-year, $9.3MM deal looks like a more attractive trade piece now than it was even a week ago. But that doesn’t always help grease the wheels. The difficulty in trading a player on a great contract like Lynn is that for the acquiring team, Lynn’s value drops precipitously as the prospect value it takes to acquire him rises. Of course, the Rangers aren’t incentivized to move him without significant and/or talented youth coming back. To oversimplify, trading is hard.

Following a breakout 7.5 bWAR season in 2019, Lynn again posted solid production with a 3.32 ERA across 13 starts totaling a league-leading 84 innings in 2020. Admittedly, Lynn lost about a half mph off his four-seamer, and a career-high 28.1 K% in 2019 fell to 25.9 K% in 2020. That amounts to a difference of roughly 20 strikeouts over a full season.  That’s not a worrisome drop in either velocity or K-rate, but it’s still noteworthy for a guy entering his age-34 season.

Using Fangraphs metrics – which were less bullish on his 2020 than baseball-reference – Lynn’s 4.17 FIP put him on pace for a 3.7 fWAR full-scale season (with a similar workload to 2019). That’s closer to middle-of-the-rotation stalwart than it is unequivocal ace. And yet, brass tacks: that’s valuable.

Potential acquiring teams might look at the number of young players who stepped into roles at the Major League level last season and choose to ride it out with their own cheaper, younger, and yet more volatile assets. Lynn no doubt brings more certainty to a rotation, however, and even his one-year contact can be seen as a positive for a team that values financial flexibility. In this day and age, most teams qualify.

If the Rangers decide to move him, they’ll look to get pitching prospects in return, writes Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Generally speaking, GM Jon Daniels spoke highly of their pool of position player prospects, complimenting their depth in that department. Pitching has long been an area for improvement for Texas, and it makes sense to seek pitching if subtracting a presence like Lynn.

There’s value in keeping Lynn, however. If Daniels is unable to get a blue-chip prospect in return, keeping Lynn isn’t the worst outcome. Besides, the AL West is arguably more wide open than at any point in the last five years. The Houston Astros stranglehold on the division finally lessened in 2020, the A’s could lose shortstop Marcus Semien in free agency, and the Angels are currently pivoting in the front office. The Mariners, meanwhile, have begun to put some solid pieces together, but they’re not a deterrent for Texas. Both are in the same boat, presumably near the bottom of the American League West.

Way-too-early oddsmakers peg the Rangers among the least likely MLB teams to win the World Series with odds around 80-to-1. It’s doubtful whether they have enough pitching beyond Lynn to truly compete, but stranger things have happened. Besides, Rangers’ fans might like to have a pitcher of Lynn’s pedigree in the rotation, even in the event that they struggle to keep pace. It’s easy to say from the outside that the Rangers are best served trading Lynn, but sometimes those living inside the house simply like living there too much to sell it.

So let’s hear from Rangers’ fans. Is it time to take the best prospect package available? Or do you want to see what happens to start the season? If you don’t consider the Rangers your favorite team, we want to hear from you too. There are more possible opinions than what I’m offering below, so do your best to choose the opinion closest to yours, then spell out the difference for us in the comments.

(Poll link for app users)

“The first is how much baseball is going to lose [financially] in 2020.  And also, the life cycle of our club,” Davis said.  “We have some high-paid contracts rolling off our payroll.  We will have some minimum salary players coming on.  So, it gives a justification, if you will, to not to spend as much.  The economics of baseball has been so sad this year and there is uncertainty about what 2021 will bring.”

The Rangers were projected to have a payroll in the $153MM range heading into the season, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and the season was reduced to 60 games (thus reducing Texas’ outlay to roughly $65MM).  Grant figures the club won’t go much, if at all, beyond the $100MM figure in 2021, though as Davis noted, some of that reduction was already baked into the future plans.  Approximately $47.1MM will come off the books in the form of departing free agents, most notably Shin-Soo Choo and Corey Kluber — Texas holds a $14MM club option on Kluber for next season but that will surely be declined in the wake of Kluber’s injury-plagued year.  It’s also worth mentioning that 2020 was the final year of the Rangers’ outstanding obligation to retired slugger Prince Fielder.

Assuming Grant’s $100MM projection is correct, that leaves Texas GM Jon Daniels with some room to maneuver, as Roster Resource has just under $62MM in payroll commitments on the Rangers’ books for the coming season.  However, as Daniels has already publicly committed to a “youth movement” year in 2021, major expenditures don’t seem likely.  The Rangers had already taken a generally more conservative approach to free agent spending in recent years, most notably their strategy of signing veteran pitchers (such as Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, Jordan Lyles, and Kyle Gibson) to multi-year deals that didn’t break the bank.

It remains to be seen if the Rangers will consider even those modest types of contracts this winter, though Davis did make it clear that Daniels will be the one continuing to weigh those decisions.  Daniels has been running the team’s baseball operations department for 15 seasons, and though the Rangers have suffered through four straight losing seasons, Davis still believes in Daniels’ track record.

“Jon has demonstrated that he and his team can put together winning ballclubs,” Davis said.  “If you thought about going out and replacing him, all you have is a question mark.  We have a known entity.  We have a group of guys that know how to get it done and I think they are going to get it done again.”

Daniels’ comment would seem to diminish the chances of a deal between Texas and Nicholas Castellanos, the top free agent left on the board and a player who has already emerged as a Rangers target.  As MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently detailed, a few teams are speculative fit for Castellanos at this point in the offseason, though all of these clubs seem to have at least one significant obstacle — a crowded outfield, lack of payroll space, etc. — standing in a way of a signing.

Texas arguably has the least-daunting of these positional obstacles, as Castellanos could be installed at first base or in right field, thus relegating either Ronald Guzman or Danny Santana to part-time duty (and Joey Gallo into a primary center field role).  It’s possible, therefore, that money could be the holdup in talks.  MLBTR projected Castellanos for a four-year, $58MM deal at the beginning of the offseason, though it could be that the Rangers or other teams aren’t willing to meet such a significant multi-year price given the narrowed market for Castellanos’ services.  Marcell Ozuna, often considered Castellanos’ closest peer amongst free agent corner outfielders, recently had to settle for a one-year/$18MM pact with the Braves, though Ozuna was also impacted by draft pick compensation via the qualifying offer.

If a big free agent signing isn’t happening, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Rangers are set to make a splashy trade for the likes of a Nolan Arenado.  While Texas has been linked to the Rockies third baseman on the rumor mill, Daniels called it “unlikely” that a deal would be worked out.  Rockies GM Jeff Bridich seemingly put the Arenado rumors to rest earlier this week, only for speculation to re-escalate once Arenado went public with what he felt was “disrespectful” treatment from Bridich in particular and the Colorado organization as a whole.

Offense continues to be the Rangers’ primary target, with Daniels saying that he has had talks with almost every team in baseball about potential lineup acquisitions.  Pitching is a lesser concern, as Daniels said that is more apt to add relievers on minor league deals than on multi-year Major League contracts.  This might not bode well for the Rangers’ chances of signing Pedro Strop, though Strop wouldn’t necessarily require a multi-year deal.

Texas could also add veteran starters on minor league deals, though Daniels is pretty satisfied with his team’s in-house options, saying “I’d rather go to Kolby Allard than most of the guys who are available to us.”  Daniels revealed that the Rangers had interest in signing Jerad Eickhoff before the righty inked a minor league pact with the Padres earlier this month.  Eickhoff is a known quantity to Daniels, as the Rangers made Eickhoff a 15th-round draft pick in 2011 before sending him to the Phillies as part of the trade package for Cole Hamels in July 2015.

• Kluber’s struggles and drop in velocity at the start of the 2019 season are a concern, ESPN’s Keith Law writes in a subscriber-only piece, while Clase is a very intriguing young reliever.  That said, Cleveland’s overall trade return is “so light compared to what Kluber was as recently as 2018 that it feels like this was a move to dump salary rather than a way to rebuild with younger players.”  Kluber is owed $17.5MM in 2020 and is controlled via an $18MM club option for 2021 (with a $1MM buyout).
• What the Tribe will do with this newfound payroll space is on the minds of Marc Carig and Jason Lloyd as part of The Athletic’s writers roundtable of opinions on the trade (subscription required).  The club could be content to just pocket the savings as part of a more thorough rebuild that could include a Francisco Lindor trade this winter.  But, with the Indians still in position to contend within a weak AL Central, dealing Kluber could create enough payroll relief to make the team even less likely to move Lindor in the short term, and spend the money saved on Kluber to address other needs.  “Given the number of teams that were involved in the Kluber rumors, it’s hard to dispute that this was the best return they [the Indians] could fetch,” Lloyd writes, with Ken Rosenthal also noting that Cleveland might have been concerned that Kluber’s value could further decline prior to the 2020 trade deadline.
• Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti discussed the deal with reporters (including The Athletic’s Zack Meisel and MLB.com’s Mandy Bell) and addressed the “variety of different packages” offered by “a lot of teams that had interest in Corey.”  One of the factors that helped sway the talks in the Rangers’ direction was that Clase and DeShields are “two players that could come back and help us in 2020 and help us try to sustain the level of competitiveness we’ve had over the last seven years.”  Even in the short amount of time since the trade was announced, Antonetti revealed that some teams had already called to ask if Clase was available in a follow-up deal.
• The Angels were one of the teams known to have interest in Kluber, though Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (Twitter link) reports that the Indians wanted highly-touted outfield prospect Brandon Marsh and another top-10 prospect from the Halos’ farm system.  It was a significant ask, given how Marsh is widely considered to be the Angels’ second-best prospect (after Jo Adell) and is ranked by Fangraphs as the 74th-best prospect in all of baseball.  If Cleveland was seeking for such a return for Kluber from the various teams in the hunt, Fletcher notes that it could be a sign that “they have a much higher opinion of Clase than most of baseball.”
• While DeShields’ lack of hitting kept him from being an everyday player in Arlington, his departure creates more questions within an already uncertain Rangers outfield mix.  Texas GM Jon Daniels told MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and other reporters that the Rangers will look for an experienced center field through either a trade or a signing, though for now, utilityman Danny Santana is penciled in as the club’s center fielder.  Over his career, Santana has posted subpar fielding numbers (-7.2 UZR/150, -10 Defensive Runs Saved) over 1108 innings as a center fielder, and he has more overall value to Texas a player who can be shifted around the diamond rather than locked into an ill-fitting position.
• Daniels said his front office first discussed Kluber with the Indians earlier in the offseason, and only circled back after the Winter Meetings, and after the Rangers came up short in their attempts to sign Anthony Rendon.  Negotiations became more serious once Texas agreed to move Clase as part of the deal, speaking again to how highly Cleveland values Clase’s ability.

• Each January, the Rangers invite a select group of top pitching prospects for a week-long mini-camp with the major league staff in advance of Spring Training, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. This season, however, they sent an even smaller group of about ten pitchers to a “secret secondary-pitch intensive.” The camp takes place at Driveline Baseball, an increasingly ballyhooed research and development consultant founded by Kyle Boddy. Trevor Bauer is one noted client, as is a couple of potential feel-good stories of 2019, Kyle Zimmer of the Royals and the Cubs 37-year-old rookie Luke Hagerty. Among the Rangers sent to Driveline were bullpen hopefuls like C.D. Pelham, Brett Martin, Michael Matuella, Jason Bahr, Nick Snyder and Brady Feigl. The exact purpose of the camp remains unclear, and Jon Daniels and the Rangers have been none too keen to speak on the subject. Still, the Driveline story is one to track throughout the year, as we may be hearing more from the innovative research group.
• Rick Porcello is open to furthering his time with the Red Sox, but they have yet to approach him about an extension, per Rob Bradford of WEEI Sports Radio Network. Porcello excelled in 2016 when he was able to limit walks and home runs en route to winning 22 games and the AL Cy Young, despite a FIP of only 3.40. Now in the final year of the four year, $82.5MM deal signed before that season, Porcello’s market value is tricky to pinpoint. The Cy Young raises his profile, though he remains closer to a mid-rotation workhorse than a top-of-the-rotation ace. He has a career 4.02 FIP, but he’s also on a remarkable run of durability that makes him an outlier in this era – he has started between 27 and 33 games each season for ten years running. Porcello, 30, is likely not as high on the Red Sox priority list as Chris Sale, Mookie Betts, and Xander Bogaerts.

• The Rangers managerial job is Michael Young’s if he wants it, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The former Rangers infielder is one of many ex-Rangers currently serving as special assistant to GM Jon Daniels, along with Ivan Rodriguez, Darren Oliver, and Colby Lewis. Theoretically, Young would provide philosophical continuity with the previous regime as well as the front office. Conversely, he’s been looked at before, withdrawing himself from consideration before the hiring of Bannister in 2014, and there’s no indication he has any more interest in the position now. MLB TV analyst Mark DeRosa and Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin – Young’s teammates on the 2006 Rangers – continue to pop up as potential alternatives.
• The Reds hope to have their new skipper in place by the end of the World Series, per Nightengale. Next on the interview docket: Rays bench coach Charlie Montoyo and Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens will be brought in this week, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Meulens served as Bruce Bochy’s right-hand man last year after eight season as the Giants’ hitting coach. The Curacao native managed the Netherlands for two World Baseball Classics and has been considered a manager-in-waiting for a few seasons – interviewing with the Tigers and Yankees last winter, added Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Charlie Montoyo managed Rays affiliates for eighteen years before coaching third base at Tropicana from 2015-17 and – like Meulens – moving to the bench for 2018. Along with their internal candidates, the Reds have interviewed Joe Girardi, Brad Ausmus, and current Giants VP of player development David Bell, as it appears the Reds search is beginning to take shape. It’s no surprise that they’ll want their new manager installed before the offseason bonanza begins, as they plan to be aggressive in going after pitching. If they can secure a clear, strong voice in the dugout and a few extra arms for the mound, the Reds will have accomplished their two primary offseason goals.

• In his end-of-season meeting with the media, Rangers GM Jon Daniels told MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and other reporters that “starting pitching is still a priority” for the offseason in the wake of the team’s lackluster rotation performance in 2018.  That said, Daniels also expressed an openness to explore pitching upgrades in all forms, such as how other teams have more heavily utilized a deep bullpen.  Texas seems to have a virtual blank slate to work from with its pitching, in terms of internal promotions or offseason acquisitions, as Sullivan figures that Mike Minor and Jose Leclerc are the only current arms who are locks for the 2019 roster.
• Despite coming off a 95-loss season, Daniels hinted at something of a rebuild on the fly, as he thinks it possible that the Rangers could contend next year if things break right.  “Our belief is we can take steps forward next year. I don’t believe in the thought of tanking. That’s not in our mindset,” Daniels said.  A big signing splash doesn’t appear to be in the cards, as Daniels also doesn’t “think this is the winter we are going all in on the top free agents necessarily.”
• Daniels also mentioned the possibility of trading a left-handed hitting outfielder to acquire pitching, noting that “They potentially fit us very well; they potentially fit other teams really well.  As we look to address our pitching situation, we’re gonna have to talk about our areas of depth, and that’s one of them.”  Of the four lefty bats in the outfield, Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News opines that Nomar Mazara could be the best fit as a trade chip — Willie Calhoun is too good a prospect, Shin-Soo Choo’s contract is too large, and Joey Gallo has delivered more results in his brief career.  While Mazara has only been okay over his first three MLB seasons, he doesn’t turn 24 until April, and is still controllable for three more seasons via arbitration.  It would be a risk to trade (and possibly be selling low on) a former top prospect like Mazara, though Sherrington feels such “a bold move” is necessary to help a rotation that is so thin on Major League-ready arms.
• Robinson Chirinos is likely to have his club option exercised by the Rangers, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News predicts, and the original $2.375MM cost of that 2019 option is now closer to $4MM based on plate appearance-related escalators in the catcher’s contract.  It’s a reasonable price to retain Chirinos, even if his numbers took a step back after a strong 2017 season, and his pitch-framing statistics took a nosedive (as per StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus).  Grant doesn’t figure Texas will exercise their other club options, on Martin Perez, Matt Moore, and Doug Fister.  A case could be made for retaining Perez ($7.5MM) or Fister ($4.5MM) just because the Rangers are so short on pitching, though neither showed much in 2018 — Perez lost his rotation spot, while Fister spent much of the year on the DL with a knee injury.  Of course, the Rangers could decline either option and then look to re-sign either pitcher to a less-expensive contract.

A new contract for the club’s top baseball operations executive has long been expected, so the news is no surprise in that regard. Daniels is now in his 13th year in the position, which he took at just 28 years of age.

Over that tenure, Daniels has signed contracts of varying lengths, but never for more than four campaigns. His latest deal covered the 2016 through 2018 seasons, so it was set to expire at year end.

While the Rangers are experiencing some transition pains at the MLB level, Daniels has delivered strong overall results during his time in office. The club went to the postseason in five of seven seasons between 2010 and 2016 and has only carried a losing record in two of the past nine campaigns, though another will likely be added to that tally when 2018 draws to a close.

On the surface, it’s odd to see this agreement come while the Rangers are limping out to a 27-37 record. But there’s obviously a broader view being considered here. The club is scheduled to open a new ballpark (its second in less than three decades) for the start of the 2020 season, which surely represents a target date of sorts.

There’s certainly a formidable challenge ahead for Daniels, whose current roster is not exactly stuffed with core talent. Though the team has its share of well-regarded prospect talent, it isn’t considered a top farm system overall. Meanwhile, each of the other four teams in the AL West have generated some excitement and momentum to this point in the season.

Most immediately, there are some potentially sticky situations to be navigated involving veteran players. Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus could each become free agents — the latter has an opt-out chance — and thus may also be summer trade candidates. It’s fair to wonder whether the club may try to engineer some kind of move to shed a bit of the money owed to Shin-Soo Choo. Several relievers could be dealt. And then there’s the rotation, which includes three veterans who could be useful to contenders — Cole Hamels, Doug Fister, and Bartolo Colon — and otherwise presents as much or uncertainty as any other starting unit in baseball in both the near and long term.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Daniels was barely 28 years of age when he was named general manager of the Rangers, making him the youngest GM in the game’s history. He’s now overseen the Rangers for 12 seasons, though, and is among the game’s longest-tenured general managers.

At the time Daniels was promoted to GM (when then-GM John Hart resigned), the Rangers had struggled to losing records in five of their past six seasons. While winning didn’t come immediately under Daniels’ watch, he eventually built the Rangers up to a perennial contender. Texas averaged 92 wins per season from 2009-12 and appeared in back-to-back World Series in 2010-11. The Rangers have won 87 or more games six times in the past nine seasons and only had two losing records in that span (including this past year’s 78-84 finish).

While the Rangers’ outlook is somewhat bleak given their substantial pitching needs and the presence of the Astros atop the AL West, Daniels and his staff have kept the club largely competitive for the better part of a decade. In that time, some of his more notable moves include trading Mark Teixeira to the Braves in exchange for Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Beau Jones; acquiring Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman from the Phillies in exchange for Jorge Alfaro, Nick Williams, Jerad Eickhoff, Jake Thompson and Alec Asher; and the signings of Adrian Beltre and Yu Darvish.

Of course, Daniels’ regime has had its share of misses. Surrendering Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz in the trade that netted the Rangers Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress stands out as a recent regrettable decision, and the Prince Fielder/Ian Kinsler swap didn’t pan out after a debilitating neck injury ended Fielder’s career.

Obviously, every front-office regime comes with its triumphs and low points, but Texas has been a generally successful organization under Daniels during his time as general manager and president of baseball operations (which was added to his title back in 2013).

Beyond the option decisions, the Rangers announced that catcher A.J. Jimenez and right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx have cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Round Rock.

In coaching staff news for the Rangers, Texas also announced that it has hired former Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen as its new assistant pitching coach and hired former big league right-hander Colby Lewis as a special assistant to GM Jon Daniels.

The 26-year-old Perez hasn’t exactly made good on his once lofty prospect status, but he’s developed into a dependable back-of-the-rotation starter. Given the affordable nature of his option and the steep $2.35MM buyout that was associated with that option, it’d have been nothing short of shocking to see his option declined.

The 2017 season saw Perez log a team-high 185 innings with a 4.82 ERA, 5.6 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent ground-ball rate. Obviously, his run-prevention numbers weren’t anywhere near where Perez or the team would’ve hoped, but he’s made 65 starts across the past two seasons for a Rangers team that is in desperate need of innings. Andrew Cashner and Miguel Gonzalez are free agents, leaving Perez and Cole Hamels as the only true locks for the Texas rotation. Other options include Nick Martinez, A.J. Griffin and Yohander Mendez, but the Rangers very clearly need to add multiple arms to the rotation for the coming season.

Barnette, 34 later this week. made his Major League debut with the Rangers in 2016. A former Diamondbacks farmhand, Barnette never cracked the Majors early in his career and instead went overseas to find enormous success pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He earned a two-year Major League contract with the Rangers as a result of efforts in Japan and was every bit worth that investment in his first year with the club.

In 2016, Barnette pitched to a 2.09 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 with a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate in 60 1/3 innings out of manager Jeff Bannister’s bullpen. However, his strand rate plummeted in 2017 as his BABIP rose, causing his ERA to spike to 5.49. Barnette’s strikeout rate actually improved in ’17, and metrics like FIP and xFIP didn’t feel he was all that much worse than he was in 2016. However, the disappointing bottom-line results and a need for more bullpen stability caused the Rangers to move on. Barnette’s strong 2016 season and promising uptick in punchouts could generate him some interest on big league deals with a low base salary this winter, but many teams will likely hope to bring him into camp on a minor league contract.

The 36-year-old Napoli swatted 29 homers in his return to Arlington this season but saw his batting average check in south of the Mendoza Line and his OBP land in the upper .200s. Overall, the benefit of his considerable power (.235 ISO) was counteracted by a .193/.285/.428 batting line and below-average baserunning. Both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference pegged him slightly worse than replacement level. Napoli struck out at a career-worst 33.6 percent clip and also popped up at a career-high 15.6 percent pace. A troublesome 38.1 percent of his trips to the plate resulted in a punchout or an infield fly. He’d already been informed that his option would be declined (as previously detailed on MLBTR), and he’ll now return to the open market in search of a new team for the 2018 campaign.