Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted via Twitter that Byrd chose not to appeal. The veteran has released a statement disclaiming fault, as has his attorney, both via Rosenthal (here and here). They suggest that a tainted supplement is to blame for the growth hormone secretagogue Ipamorelin that was found in Byrd’s system. Given his age and history, it’s fair to wonder whether this is the end of the line for the veteran, who has seen action in fifteen major league seasons.

Cleveland added the 38-year-old on a minor league deal to shore up an outfield that had several question marks — due, in part, to the PED suspension of presumptive center fielder Abraham Almonte. His own 80-game ban will finish up early next month.

Byrd had performed as hoped, posting a .270/.326/.452 slash with five home runs over 129 plate appearances. As usual, he’s done most of his damage against left-handed pitching. With his glovework in the corner outfield rating as at least average by measure of both UZR and DRS, and solid baserunning valuations added in, he’s been a sturdy contributor at the bargain rate of a $1MM annual salary.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, that wasn’t meant to last. With Almonte and Michael Brantley still out of action, the Indians are left with an outfield of Jose Ramirez, Rajai Davis, and Lonnie Chisenhall. All three have been rather productive this year, though it may be a lot to ask of that trio to make up an everyday unit.

The club has Michael Martinez on hand as a utility option, and seems likely to bring back Tyler Naquin to add another corner option. Naquin, 25, showed well earlier in the year, and both Joey Butler and Collin Cowgill provide depth on the 40-man roster.

Looking forward, the intriguing question is whether the loss of Byrd will add any motivation for a more dramatic move. Highly-rated prospects Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier are both raking at the Double-A level; while it’s unclear whether either would be considered in the near term, they could factor in down the line. Otherwise, it’s fair to wonder whether Cleveland will entertain an outside addition. The club can take its time assessing its needs and canvassing the market, but a significant strike can’t be ruled out with the division up for grabs.

• Phil Hughes is being moved to the Twins bullpen, manager Paul Molitor told reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger).  Kyle Gibson will replace Hughes in Minnesota’s rotation.  Hughes allowed a league-high 29 homers in 2015 and has struggled to a 4.74 ERA over 208 2/3 innings since the start of last season.  Unless he can regain his form while relieving and eventually get back to the rotation, the Twins will face further scrutiny over signing Hughes to an extension following his excellent 2014 season, the first year of a three-year/$24MM contract.  The Twins overwrote the final two years of that deal for a new extension that guaranteed Hughes $58MM from 2015-19.
• While the Indians could well be deadline buyers as they make a push for the division title, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer figures top prospects Clint Frazier, Bradley Zimmer and Bobby Bradley are untouchable in trade talks.
• Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes that since the start of the 2013 season, Justin Upton and Marlon Byrd have posted more similar counting stats than one might think.  Upton is the better player overall (as seen through an fWAR comparison) and is a decade younger, though Pluto’s point is that the Indians are getting a bargain after signing Byrd to a minor league deal worth a $1MM guarantee plus incentives.  The veteran is outperforming Upton, who has been a sub-replacement player in his first two months with the Tigers.
• Shane Greene could return to the Tigers as either a starter or reliever when he comes off the DL, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes.  Michael Fulmer seems to have locked up a rotation spot, so Greene could find himself back in the pen barring further notice (such as if Jordan Zimmermann’s groin injury worsens).  Greene has been sidelined with a finger blister.
• Dave Dombrowski is happy to have “a championship type of guy” like Eduardo Rodriguez on the Red Sox roster, but the southpaw was a trade roadblock back when Dombrowski was the Tigers’ general manager.  As Dombrowski tells Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, Detroit was eager to acquire Andrew Miller from the Red Sox at the 2014 trade deadline and Dombrowski felt a deal was imminent after the Tigers agreed to give then-Sox GM Ben Cherington the two players he was seeking.  Cherington had to make one more call, however, which led to Miller being dealt to the Orioles for Rodriguez.  “They didn’t say we had a deal but you thought you had a deal,” Dombrowski said.  “There is a difference between the two….It’s ironic how it worked out because I’m the benefactor of it.  Really when they got Eduardo Rodriguez, he was better than the guys we were offering.  So I understood it.”

• Michael Brantley (shoulder) and Lonnie Chisenhall (wrist) have begun rehab assignments with Triple-A Columbus, so the composition of the Indians’ outfield seems likely to change soon, Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes writes. Part of the issue, in Brantley’s case, is that he missed most of Spring Training, so he needs to get enough repetitions in his rehab assignment so that he can be ready to play. “With Michael it’s about him building enough volume and feeling comfortable at the plate,” says Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti The Indians’ roster currently includes four outfielders — Marlon Byrd, Collin Cowgill, Rajai Davis and Tyler Naquin. Of those, only Naquin is optionable. The 38-year-old Byrd, interestingly, shares that no teams showed interest in him before the Indians signed him to a minor-league deal in mid-March. “There was no interest … zero,” he says. “I would have to ask the 29 other teams what the reason was.”
• Veteran outfielder David Murphy does not plan to retire and is looking for an MLB job, the MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets. Murphy had opted out of his deal with the Red Sox in Spring Training. He had previously said he might retire if he did not get a big-league job.

• Outfielder Jeff Francoeur is set to earn $1MM with the Braves after cracking the team’s Opening Day roster. He can also add another million via incentives in his contract. Francoeur received a hero’s welcome at Turner Field on Monday for his return to the organization with which he entered the league with much fanfare. At this stage, of course, the veteran is likely to serve as a fourth outfielder and bench bat.
• Under the contract he originally signed with the Pirates — which the Braves acquired in a late-spring trade — lefty Eric O’Flaherty will earn a $1.75MM base salary and can add to that via unspecified incentives. O’Flaherty had eight strikeouts against just two walks in his 9 2/3 innings of spring action with Pittsburgh, but also allowed 15 hits and eight runs (though only three were earned). Of course, like Francoeur, he’s a former Atlanta standout who’s coming home in 2016.
• Braves right-hander Alexi Ogando is in line for $2MM this year after he earned a pen job. He’ll also have the chance to tack on another $1.5MM if he can reach unreported milestones. (Previous reporting had suggested Ogando could only earn $1MM extra.) Ogando is looking for a bounceback after advanced metrics suggested he was actually rather fortunate to post a 3.99 ERA last year.
• If and when he is called up to the Padres, veteran righty Jeremy Guthrie will pitch at a $1.25MM rate. Guthrie, who’ll turn 37 on Friday, joined on with San Diego after he failed to make the Rangers and opted out of his deal. Despite a rough 2015, Guthrie has a solid track record of delivering innings at the back of the rotation, and figures to have a shot at making some more MLB starts if and when a need arises.
• Indians righty Joba Chamberlain will not only play at a $1MM base salary, but can earn up to $2MM via incentives. Chamberlain, 30, was a somewhat surprising choice to make the Cleveland pen after he allowed seven walks in his ten spring innings, though he did strike out eight while allowing only three earned runs. He was already coming off of a subpar campaign the season prior, though some advanced metrics (in particular, SIERA) viewed him as a still-useful pitcher and he did have a strong 2014 under his belt.
• Finally, in addition to his previously-reported $1MM salary, Marlon Byrd can earn up to $2.5MM in incentives with the Indians. But he has agreed to an advanced consent clause that would allow Cleveland to dodge the bulk of its potential obligations if it cuts him loose within the contractually-specified number of days of Opening Day (the maximum advanced-consent length is 45 days, but it remains unreported in this case). Byrd could play an important role in the Indians’ outfield mix, as he has continued to mash left-handed pitching, but he’ll likely function in a platoon role.

• The Indians announced that veteran outfielder Marlon Byrd has made the team.  The move guarantees Byrd $1MM in base salary.  Byrd signed his minor league deal with Cleveland just last week, and his addition will add some power (especially against left-handed pitching) to the Tribe’s unsettled outfield situation.
• The Nationals will put right-hander Matt Belisle on the 25-man roster, manager Dusty Baker told MLB.com’s William Ladson.  Though Belisle was an Article XX(B) player, his opt-out date was actually yesterday.  Making the Nats roster will earn Belisle a $1.25MM base salary in 2016, as per the terms of the minor league deal he signed with Washington last month.

Here’s more from the central divisions:

• Twins righty Alex Meyer will return to the rotation to open the 2016 season, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports. The former top-50 leaguewide prospect shifted to the pen last year after a disastrous beginning to the season, with up-and-down results. Meyer has a long way to go to restore his prospect sheen, but it seems he’ll at least have a chance to harness his big arm as a starter.
• Trevor Rosenthal of the Cardinals, meanwhile, has established himself as one of the game’s best relievers, but still hopes to have a chance to return at some point to the rotation, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Rosenthal mostly pitched as a starter in the brief time he spent in the minors, but has operated exclusively in relief at the major league level. Though he didn’t take issue with his 9th-inning role, Rosenthal said he “would definitely like to have [a starting] opportunity,” preferably “sooner rather than later.” Of course, his role is highly unlikely to change this spring or over the season to come, and it remains to be seen whether the organization will be willing to tinker next spring. Rosenthal’s work as a closer has already earned him a $5.6MM payday in his first of three years of arbitration.
• Infielder Yadiel Rivera has impressed the Brewers this spring, but finds himself in a tough spot in the organization’s hierarchy, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. The 23-year-old is behind Jonathan Villar in the pecking order at the major league level, with the heralded Orlando Arcia rising quickly as well. But there’s little question that a rebuilding Milwaukee organization will find some way to give Rivera a chance if his added strength and confidence show up in the results; indeed, none of the club’s likely starting infielders appear to have a stranglehold on their jobs heading into the season.

• White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf issued an official statement regarding the Adam LaRoche retirement controversy, noting that this will be the last public discussion of the matter by any White Sox employee.  Reinsdorf expressed his respect for LaRoche and his full confidence in the White Sox management team.  “I do not believe there is anyone to directly blame in this situation. While there is no doubt this might have been handled differently, the fact remains that this is an internal matter that we have discussed and now resolved,” Reinsdorf said, also noting that he felt “much of this was a result of miscommunication and misunderstanding rather than this being a case of anyone not telling the truth.”
• Marlon Byrd’s minor league contract with the Indians has up to $2.5MM available in incentives, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports (Twitter link).  The veteran outfielder will earn a base salary of $1MM if he makes the Tribe’s big league roster.
• Ross Ohlendorf can opt out of his minor league deal with the Royals today, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports.  If the team wants to keep the veteran righty, it will have to put him on the 40-man roster.  Ohlendorf posted good results in 19 1/3 innings of the Rangers bullpen last season, though his path to a similar role in K.C. could be difficult given the number of other good arms in the Royals’ relief corps.
• “It’s a possibility” that Victor Martinez may not be ready for Opening Day, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told reporters (including MLB.com’s Cash Kruth).  Martinez hasn’t appeared in a game since straining his left hamstring on Monday.  Ausmus said the veteran slugger could swing a bat tomorrow for the first time since the injury, though “we’ve got to wait and see.”
• As David Ortiz enters his final season, the Twins’ infamous decision to release the slugger in 2002 is revisited by Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  Twins GM Terry Ryan took responsibility for the release, calling it “a very bad baseball decision. We thought we had better options. We were wrong in a big way.”  Ortiz is still dismayed about his treatment with the Twins organization, noting that the focus always seemed to be on his shortcomings rather than the positives he could bring in the form of his power bat.

11:04am: The Indians and outfielder Marlon Byrd have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The 38-year-old Byrd, who split last season between the Reds and Giants, is represented by ACES.

Byrd will add to a growing mix of outfield options for the Indians, who figure to open the season without Michael Brantley (at least for a couple of weeks) and are otherwise relying on a mix of Tyler Naquin, Rajai Davis, Lonnie Chisenhall and Collin Cowgill in addition to fellow non-roster invitees Will Venable, Robbie Grossman and Shane Robinson. On paper, Byrd would bring the most offensive upside of the bunch to serve as a platoon partner for the left-handed-hitting Chisenhall, who thrived in the outfield last year but has longstanding difficulty against left-handed pitching at the plate. Byrd has long been a thorn in the side of southpaw pitchers, and he continued that trend in 2015, hitting .271/.324/.496 against lefties.

Though Byrd was quite productive following an August trade to the Giants, his tenure in San Francisco ended with some degree of controversy. Playing in the final season of a two-year, $16MM contract last in 2015, Byrd needed to reach a total 550 plate appearances for an $8MM vesting option to trigger. Over the final few games of the season, the Giants relegated Byrd to the bench in favor of young outfielders Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson. As GM Bobby Evans explained at the time, the club planned to play Byrd on an everyday basis up until the club was mathematically eliminated from the postseason. If and when that occurred, the team would shift focus and use the remainder of the year to evaluate future options such as Parker and Williamson. Unfortunately, due to the length of time for which the Giants staved off elimination, that meant that Byrd ultimately fell just six plate appearances shy of having his option vest.

Now with the Indians, Byrd will hope to make the club and approximate the solid overall production he’s posted since a career renaissance with the Mets and Pirates in 2013. Since that rebound campaign, Byrd has batted a collective .268/.313/.469. Over the life of a 14-season career in the Majors, his cumulative batting line sits at .275/.329/.430 in nearly 6,000 plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

• Cafardo points to one notable victory for scouting over analytics from 2011, when the Rays’ then-top scout convinced Andrew Friedman to obtain Chris Archer as part of the eight-player blockbuster that sent Matt Garza to the Cubs.  The scout was sold on Archer, while Friedman’s analytics evaluation were pointing him towards righty Chris Carpenter, who ended up pitching only 15 2/3 innings at the MLB level.
• There’s still “a lot of interest” in Jorge Soler on the trade market, which is an option for the Cubs as they sort out their crowded outfield.  With Dexter Fowler rather unexpectedly returning to Chicago, the Cubs have Jason Heyward playing every day in right (or sometimes center) and then Fowler, Soler, Kyle Schwarber and possibly minor league signee Shane Victorino all juggling for playing time, plus Ben Zobrist and Javier Baez also capable of playing left.
• The Brewers are still considering a Jonathan Lucroy trade, as “there’s still buzz in the scouting community” that a deal could come in Spring Training.  Lucroy would have to prove himself healthy in the wake of a 2015 season shortened by a concussion and a fractured toe.  If he looks good in Cactus League action, that could be enough for another team to pull the trigger on a deal.
• It’s been a quiet offseason for Marlon Byrd rumors, as Cafardo notes that the veteran outfielder “isn’t getting much love on the market.”  Interest in Byrd could pick up as teams sort through their roster options, however, and Cafardo lists the Angels, Blue Jays and Orioles as speculative fits.  Byrd had 24 homers and an .847 OPS as recently as the 2013 season, but while he’s still managed to hit for power (48 homers) over the last two years, the 38-year-old’s batting average and OBP have fallen off considerably.

• With Chris Davis off the board, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post looks at the market for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. While Davidoff runs through five of Cespedes’ top suitors, he ultimately concludes that none of them are a perfect fit to offer Cespedes his asking price. Budget or an unwillingness to spend on a right-handed outfielder are barriers with most of the obvious matches. The Tigers are a reasonable dark horse candidate for Cespedes (or Justin Upton) due to owner Mike Illich’s penchant for surprise blockbusters. With his market seemingly growing stale, I wonder if a team like the Phillies could be baited into a bid. They have the money and wouldn’t have to surrender a draft pick to sign him. Preposterous? Probably.
• The 2016-2017 free agent pool is thin in the outfield, making a one-year deal a viable option for Cespedes and Upton, writes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Carlos Gomez and Jose Bautista are the top names available, although either player could be re-signed. After the top pair, the market thins out dramatically. Re-entering the market strikes me as an unnecessary risk for Cespedes and Upton. Both players had strong, healthy platform seasons. Cespedes in particular stands to lose out if he’s impatient. He isn’t tied to a qualifying offer, and it’s hard to imagine him improving upon a 6.7 WAR season.
• Speaking of dark horse buyers, the Rays could jump in the market for a player like Upton, Ian Desmond, Pedro Alvarez, or Steve Pearce, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays are still shopping their starting pitching, but the well-stocked free agent market may prove too tempting. Any free agent addition would require require owner Stuart Sternberg’s approval, but he’s been on board with opportunistic additions in the past. Topkin also lists Marlon Byrd, Justin Morneau, and David Murphy as possible fits. The club would like to get out from under some of the $8MM owed to James Loney.
• The Rockies have three obvious issues, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. The outfield is crowded by the addition of Gerardo Parra. The club seemingly would like to trade one or more of Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon, and Corey Dickerson, presumably to solve their second problem – a lack of pitching depth and talent. The players themselves ask if Saunders if the Rockies will acquire pitching. So far, they’ve sat out the free agent market. The Rays are the most obvious sellers in the trade market. Last but not least, Jose Reyes’ future with the club is completely uncertain. He played poorly after joining the Rockies and currently faces criminal charges and possible jail time in relation to domestic abuse charges. He’s also a suspension candidate under the league’s new domestic violence policy.

San Francisco is open to re-signing Aoki, Baggarly notes, also adding in a second tweet that Aoki was completely cleared of the concussion symptoms that cut his 2015 season short. Pavlovic quotes Giants GM Bobby Evans as saying that right now, the club’s focus is on “keeping our options open in a number of areas.”

While the Giants can maintain interest in bringing Aoki back into the fold, that strikes me as an unlikely scenario, as it’s difficult to envision Aoki receiving a smaller guarantee than the $5.5MM base rejected by the team. Though the concussion symptoms are cause for concern, Aoki enjoyed a productive season with the Giants, batting .287/.353/.380 with five homers and 14 stolen bases in 93 games (392 plate appearances). Defensive Runs Saved pegged Aoki’s work in left field as roughly average, whereas Ultimate Zone Rating felt he saved between three and four runs with his glove. While that adds up to more of a useful regular than a star outfielder, Aoki certainly produced a good deal of value and would figure to be a candidate for either a multi-year deal or a one-year pact with a bigger guarantee, health permitting.

Admittedly, we saw last winter that the market didn’t necessarily place full value on Aoki’s low-power, high-contact skill set (hence the $4.7MM guarantee with the Giants), and perhaps that will be the case again this year. Even if that’s true to some extent, I’d imagine that the five homers hit by Aoki quieted at least some of the concerns over his dip in power after he homered just once in 132 games with the Royals in 2014.

Plus, the large amounts of success the Royals have experienced by deploying a contact-oriented lineup — of which Aoki was a part in 2014 — would seem to help the 33-year-old’s case. Among players with at least 350 plate appearances, Aoki’s 6.4 strikeout rate was easily the lowest in baseball, with Daniel Murphy checking in second-lowest at 7.1 percent. It’s probably not surprising, in light of that stat, to see that Aoki ranked third in contact percentage, connecting in some regard on 91.6 percent of his swings this past season.

In the end, though, Baggarly writes that the Giants simply weren’t comfortable committing to Aoki as their regular left fielder this early in the offseason. Evans explained to Baggarly: “The timing is bad because we have a lot of things to address this winter and a lot of things we want to look at, and it’s about keeping our options open. To predetermine left field today is just premature.” That’s a valid stance. Aoki is a nice player, but it’s not as if he cannot be upgraded upon, and with the team expected to pursue pitching upgrades, all the payroll space they can get is important. I can’t help but wonder if the option could’ve been exercised with the intention of trading Aoki, but the team didn’t have much time to explore that market before making the final call on the option, and Aoki’s concussion probably did make that more difficult.

Byrd, meanwhile, began the year in a huge slump with the Reds and found himself hitting just .169/.188/.273 at the end of April. The 38-year-old turned things around from that point on, however, batting .261/.308/.485 with 21 homers over his final 114 games. Byrd suffered a minor fracture in his wrist early this summer but returned quicker than expected and without a stint on the disabled list. To the surprise of many (myself included), Byrd showed little to no ill effect from the injury and continued producing at a solid clip.

Cincinnati traded Byrd to the Giants in an August waiver deal, receiving minor league right-hander Stephen Johnson in return. While the thought at the time of the acquisition was that Byrd would hold down the fort until Aoki and/or Hunter Pence were healthy enough to step into more regular roles, their injuries kept them on shelf longer than expected, leading to regular playing time for Byrd until the season’s final week.

That led to some drama surrounding the veteran Byrd, whose contract had an $8MM vesting option that came extraordinarily close to triggering. Byrd needed to reach 550 plate appearances in the 2015 season to lock in that $8MM payday, but he ultimately fell six plate appearances shy after the Giants decided not to start him in the final few games of the year. Evans was up-front with both Byrd and the media, explaining that as long as the team had a theoretical shot at the postseason, Byrd would continue to play. However, once the Dodgers eliminated the Giants from playoff contention, the Giants turned to younger options such as Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson in order to get a look at the pair of prospects in game action.

San Francisco was said at the time to be open to bringing Byrd back next season, but I’d imagine that the rather uncomfortable end to the season will lead Byrd to explore his options on the open market, where he should draw plenty of interest as a platoon outfield bat, albeit probably at a guarantee that falls shy of the $8MM value of his option. Byrd fared quite well against left-handed pitching in 2015, as he typically does, posting a strong .271/.324/.476 line against southpaws.

• The Braves will pursue bullpen upgrades this winter after their relief corps struggled tremendously in 2015. Presumably, the club could be in the mix for some short-term upgrades that could be flipped come the trade deadline, though I’ll point out that the Braves will probably be better off in 2016 with the returns of Shae Simmons, Chris Withrow and perhaps Daniel Winkler from Tommy John surgery.
• While the Red Sox are more willing to trade prospects under president Dave Dombrowski than they were under former GM Ben Cherington, the club is said to consider infielder Yoan Moncada, outfielder Andrew Benintendi and right-hander Anderson Espinoza off-limits as it looks to upgrade its pitching staff on the trade market.
• The White Sox are on the lookout for third base help and will also pursue upgrades behind the plate. Chicago wound up designating Conor Gillaspie, its primary third baseman from 2013 through the first half of 2015, for assignment this summer and trading him to the Angels. Tyler Flowers had a poor second half, although as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes noted in his Offseason Outlook on the ChiSox, Flowers has worked hard to become an excellent pitch framer, so he does bring some value to the table in that increasingly important element of the game.
• Some feel that the Reds are going to blow things up and go for a full-on rebuild this winter, though Heyman writes that Brandon Phillips is said to have negative trade value. Considering the fact that Phillips had a decent rebound season at the plate and is still a sound defender whose contract no longer is too burdensome, I wonder if that’s a universal sentiment. While he’s not a bargain, Phillips seems to be at least reasonably priced.
• The Cardinals will try to re-sign Jason Heyward, but while they could go “a bit beyond” Matt Holliday’s franchise-record $120MM guarantee, Heyward’s camp will insist on topping Jacoby Ellsbury’s $153MM sum and inching as close to $200MM as they can get.
• The Indians still have interest in Marcell Ozuna, as they reportedly did prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. I mentioned in my Offseason Outlook for Cleveland that a pursuit of Ozuna would make some sense and speculated on a potential match sending Trevor Bauer to Miami. Heyman notes that the Marlins are looking for a frontline pitcher to pair with Jose Fernandez, but history shows us they’re not likely to spend on a top-tier free agent.
• The Astros, too, are looking for bullpen upgrades. Houston pursued top-end relief talent prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, with GM Jeff Luhnow candidly telling the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich that he’d like to pursue a “flamethrower.”
• The Twins are expected to pursue a reunion with A.J. Pierzynski, as many have speculated on recently (myself included). Heyman notes that the Braves will probably try to bring Pierzynski back as well. Minnesota also wants Torii Hunter back, but in a reduced role.
• Starting pitching will be a focus for the Giants, who are interested in Zack Greinke and Mike Leake, Heyman writes. They will also exercise their $5.5MM club option on Nori Aoki, so long as he continues to progress from late-season head injuries that stemmed from being hit in the head by a pair of pitches. San Francisco will decline Marlon Byrd’s $8MM option.
• The Nationals will try to trade both Drew Storen and Jonathan Papelbon this winter, though the latter, of course won’t have much of a market due to his personality issues. Storen’s an expensive but talented option, and Heyman opines that he “absolutely has to go.” While I wouldn’t go that far, I’ll admit that it does seem like a change of scenery would be best for all parties involved. I’d imagine a number of teams — the Tigers, Cubs, Astros, Red Sox, Yankees and Rangers, to name a few — would have interest in Storen. Papelbon’s $11MM salary strikes me as nearly impossible to move unless the Nats eat the majority of the deal or take on an even more undesirable contract.

As Pavlovic notes, the decision comes on the heels of the Dodgers’ clinching of the NL West division championship. Had the Giants remained in the race, he writes, Byrd likely would’ve remained in the lineup and accrued the necessary plate appearances to trigger the option. Instead, Bochy feels it more valuable to rookies Williamson and Parker as well as to the team as a means of assessing the young talent.

General manager Bobby Evans met with Byrd to discuss the decision today, Pavlovic adds, and Bochy himself is also planning a sit-down with the veteran corner outfielder. Despite the fact that Byrd’s option will not vest, Evans conveyed to the 38-year-old that San Francisco would very much like him to return for the 2016 season. Per Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, Evans offered the following take on Byrd:

“He’s been a great addition to our club and we have interest in bringing him back for next year. When we acquired Marlon, our mindset was to do everything to win, and if we get eliminated, we do what we should do and that’s give our young players a chance to play. Right now, our mindset is to give our young players a chance.”

The Giants acquired Byrd from the Reds roughly six weeks ago, as injuries to both Hunter Pence and Nori Aoki had compromised their outfield depth. In his 147 plate appearances with San Francisco, Byrd has batted a very solid .275/.306/.449 with three homers, 11 doubles and a pair of triples. Overall this season, Byrd has rather pedestrian numbers against right-handed pitching, having batted .238/.279/.436. However, he’s been far more effective when holding the platoon advantage, batting .276/.331/.488 against lefties.

With questionable OBP but solid pop against righties and strong overall production against lefties, Byrd looks the part of at least a platoon outfielder that could occasionally be relied upon for more regular playing time, should injuries necessitate that scenario. The Giants, presumably, would want him back in that capacity as opposed to a starting option. He could, theoretically anyhow, be re-signed at a lower rate and paired with Aoki (whose $5.5MM option seems likely to be exercised) to form a left field platoon, with Pence manning right field.

Baggarly wonders if a two-year deal might be necessary on the Giants’ behalf to make up for the damage done by willfully preventing Byrd’s option from vesting, though, and if that’s the case, I can see San Francisco deeming the price too much. The team could, after all, elect focus its financial resources on upgrading the pitching staff and deploy the right-handed-hitting Williamson in a similar capacity to the one I suggested for Byrd.

There are, however, other factors at play here. As Jeff Todd noted in his vesting options update from earlier this week, Byrd’s option automatically vests if he gets 550 plate appearances this season. Byrd currently stands at 513 with ten games remaining. If the Giants were to simply let him play every day for the rest of the season, it’s likely his option would vest. With a couple days off, Byrd could come up just short, in which case the Giants would get to make a decision. The Giants’ interest in Byrd suggests they could simply exercise the option even if it doesn’t vest, and that wouldn’t be unreasonable — Byrd is hitting just .250 with a .296 OBP this year, but with 22 home runs and a .456 slugging percentage, he remains useful.

Then again, Byrd is already 38, and it’s also conceivable the Giants could hope to retain him more cheaply than $8MM, especially since the injured Hunter Pence will be back in 2016, pushing Byrd to more of a fourth-outfielder-type role. The Giants will also likely want to spend money on pitching. Since they’re currently are all but out of the playoffs, they could easily defend having Byrd sit a game or two for the rest of the season in order to give an extra start to a September call-up like Jarrett Parker or Mac Williamson. That would likely prevent the option from vesting. Of course, Byrd might then see an attempt to sign him more cheaply as bad faith, which might cause him to sign elsewhere, particularly if he were assured of more playing time.

That sort of maneuvering doesn’t seem typical of the Giants, however. They’re usually loyal to their players, frequently extending or re-signing veterans (including Pence, Tim Lincecum, Sergio Romo, Jake Peavy, Javier Lopez, Ryan Vogelsong, Jeremy Affeldt and Marco Scutaro) shortly before or shortly after they hit free agency. Byrd’s value certainly seems close to $8MM, so if the Giants want to keep him, they seem likely to try to do so in such a way that his impending option situation doesn’t cause strife. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to watch the box scores for the rest of the season to see how much Byrd plays.

• Chase Utley, Dodgers: There’s no chance that Utley’s $15MM option — the first of three in succession — will vest. (He’d need 110 plate appearances over the final two weeks of the season to reach 500.) Instead, Utley will become subject to a team option — the value of which floats between $5MM and $11MM based upon days spent on the DL. The precise details have yet to be reported, so it’s not yet clear how much it would cost Los Angeles to control the veteran. Neither is it known whether the team would have interest; Utley has a mediocre .200/.296/.347 slash over 108 plate appearances with the Dodgers.
• Jonathan Papelbon, Nationals: This one was taken care of as part of the deal that sent Papelbon to D.C. from the Phillies. Papelbon helped facilitate the swap by agreeing to take $11MM to throw next year for the Nats. He was already likely to reach the requirements for his option to vest at $13MM, but that agreement greased the wheels on a move he desperately wanted and removed any doubt as to his payday.
• David Ortiz, Red Sox: Big Papi has blown well past the 425 plate appearances he needed for his 2016 option to vest, though he’ll also need to pass an offseason physical. The question now is the value of the option. It has already reached $15MM, but would go higher if he makes his 600th trip to the dish. In that case, it will go to $16MM (or, if it’s more than that, the value of the qualifying offer). Ortiz has earned it, with another huge season and successful run at 500 career home runs.
• Joaquin Benoit, Padres: Benoit needed to finish 55 games for to his $8MM option to vest. That can’t happen, so it’ll turn into a team option. It’s a fair sum for a reliever, but Benoit continues to put up strong results at 38 years of age.
• Marlon Byrd, Giants: The 38-year-old sits at 502 plate appearances. He needs 48 more the rest of the way to reach 550 total, which, in combination with those accumulated last year, would be sufficient for his $8MM option to vest for 2016. With 13 games left, it’s still possible that he could reach the needed total, but that’ll depend heavily on playing time — and San Francisco may well not wish to be on the hook for that kind of cash.
• Santiago Casilla, Giants: As MLBTR reported, Casilla needs 55 games finished for his $7.5MM option to vest for 2016. The situation is somewhat similar to Byrd’s. With 49 finished games in the bank so far, it’s still possible — but, perhaps, unlikely — for Casilla to reach the necessary tally.
• Nori Aoki, Giants: Due to injuries, the outfielder is stalled well shy of the 550 plate appearances he needed to turn a $5.5MM club option into one of the mutual variety. That could still be an appealing price tag for a player who performed well when healthy.
• Jonny Gomes, Royals: Gomes needs 325 plate appearances for a $3MM club option for 2016 to become guaranteed. He only has 246, and hasn’t been used much in Kansas City, so that’s not happening.

We already know that Cliff Lee won’t achieve the innings totals required for his 2016 option to vest, as the Phillies southpaw hasn’t pitched all season and is attempting to recover from a torn left flexor tendon without undergoing surgery.  Brandon League also hasn’t pitched this season and has been released by the Dodgers, so he won’t reach the games-finished total required to allow his 2016 player option to vest.