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Nelson Cruz

AL Central Notes: Twins, Norris, Indians

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Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey tells Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the team isn’t ruling out the addition of an established hitter in free agency. Asked specifically about the possibility of adding a slugger such as Nelson Cruz, Falvey spoke in general terms about the “trade-off” of adding an established bat to “take pressure off other guys in the lineup” at the expense of allowing some younger options to develop or receive a legitimate chance at playing time. The Twins have some options at designated hitter in the form of C.J. Cron and Tyler Austin, though Falvey was also clear in indicating that the Twins “feel like there’s still an opportunity on the board to bring in someone who will help our lineup.” Whether that ultimately leads to a move remains to be seen, but adding someone of Cruz’s caliber to a lineup also featuring Cron, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano and Jonathan Schoop would give the Twins quite a bit of power potential in 2019 and add some stability to a group that is in need of several rebound seasons (Sano, Schoop, Byron Buxton).

More from the division…

  • As part of his latest mailbag column, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press takes a look at what the addition of both Matt Moore and Tyson Ross means for Daniel Norris’ future with the Tigers. As Fenech notes, the pair of additions sends a message to Norris that he won’t be guaranteed a starting job and will need to force his way into the rotation. Once considered one of the game’s premier pitching prospects — Norris ranked as a Top 20 overall prospect per both Baseball America and MLB.com in 2015 — the now-25-year-old Norris has just a 4.61 ERA in 252 innings with the Tigers. His development was undeniably slowed by a frightening battle with thyroid cancer in 2016, and Norris also underwent surgery to repair a groin tear earlier this season. Fenech adds that “behind-the-scenes, [the Tigers] have not been bashful in their views that Norris needs to take a step forward, and soon.” Detroit controls Norris through the 2021 season.
  • Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said it has yet to be decided if the money saved so far in the offseason trades of Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes and Yonder Alonso would be reinvested into the 2019 roster, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. That’s not to say that Cleveland has decided not to spend any of its newfound resources, however, and it’s perhaps unsurprising that any top-ranking exec would decline to make firm promises when it comes to spending a specific amount on the roster. Hoynes goes on to suggest that a bullpen addition such as Adam Ottavino doesn’t seem particularly likely if the pitcher in question hopes to sign for something near Andrew Miller’s $25MM guarantee, however, casting a bit more doubt on Cleveland’s spending capacity. All that said, the trade market would present innumerable paths to improving the roster in an effort to gear up for a run at a fourth consecutive division championship, and there will certainly be more affordable bullpen options as the offseason wears on.

Agent Bryce Dixon Talks Nelson Cruz

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Yesterday at the Winter Meetings here in Las Vegas, I sat down with Nelson Cruz’s agent Bryce Dixon for an interview.

How are you positioning Nelson Cruz in this market when you talk to GMs?

He’ll be the straw that stirs in the drink in the middle of the lineup for you. He changes the entire lineup. When he’s in the middle there, the pitcher has to pitch completely differently and he’s the finishing piece that you know is going to go out there and give you exactly the production that you see on the back of the baseball card that you see every single year.

And when he gets into the playoffs, he’s already proven that the bigger the moment, the bigger he shines. You start to look back to some of the bombs he hit in the playoffs for Texas and you know he is a big-time player and he is burning to get back into the playoffs. He thought that the Mariners were going to do it this year. Obviously they fell short, and he was disappointed at that. Clearly he thought they had unfinished business, but the Mariners are going in a different direction so he’ll have to do it with another team.

He’s the guy that you plug in every single day in the middle of the lineup and rakes. Apart from that, he’s also a very good influence on the younger players, teaching them not only secrets of hitting, but how to conduct themselves on and off the field. He’s not a guy who is very vocal in the clubhouse. He’s not going to get up and start yelling at guys, but he’s definitely a one-on-one, lead-by-example guy, who’s going to take the younger guys and say, “If you want to be successful for as long as I’ve been successful, here’s how you do it.” That’s kind of how he leads because he’s definitely not a “ra ra” guy, but he’s always working hard, always having fun, and that rubs off on the younger guys for sure.

You mentioned a finishing piece. How important is it for Cruz to play for a contending team in 2019?

It’s important and I think where he’s at in his career, if you’re not a contender, you don’t really have a need for a Nelson Cruz. So the teams that are in on him want to win. He clearly wants to win and would love to get back to the playoffs and the World Series. He’s got unfinished business as far as that’s concerned. So yes, it’s of utmost importance, he wants to go back to the playoffs. Wherever he signs will be a team that has got designs on making the playoffs.

The general assumption is that National League teams can’t be in the mix for Cruz. Would you agree with that?

National League teams could be in the mix. He would love to play the field, but the last few years the Mariners have wanted him to exclusively DH. They had a ton of quality, quality outfielders so he didn’t play the field unless it was an NL park. Down the stretch he told the Mariners, end of August, September, “Start playing me more when we play the NL teams because we need to win these games and I know I can help out.” He did well there. He’ll do whatever the team wants, so if an NL team wants to put him in the field, he has no problem with that. Obviously he’s been DH, so the majority of the teams that are after him are American League teams.

If you’re looking at AL contenders with DH openings it looks like there are 4-5 suitors, and that feels a lot different than shopping around a reliever who might make sense for 20 teams. Have GMs been trying to leverage that against you?

Even though you’re clearly in a smaller universe because of who he is and which teams would have that need, they haven’t because there are enough teams that they don’t want to come in and lowball and try to act like there’s nowhere else for him to go. All 30 teams aren’t in like they would be on a middle reliever type, maybe, but there are numerous teams in so there’s enough to push his market where it needs to go. If there was only one or two, then maybe it would be a different answer. But there’s numerous, so he’s fine where he’s at.

In general when you have a free agent, how is it that you decide that you’ve got that last dollar or that the bidding has stopped?

There’s no perfect answer but you can sense from the team’s side, the tonal change, and it’s a feeling that you get. “OK, we’re at a point that we need to make a decision.” You have to try to read the future as much as possible. And think, if we don’t pull the trigger now, can this market collapse, or are we going to be fine waiting longer? It’s the totality of the circumstances. You’re looking at what happens with other players with other teams. Teams nowadays especially with trades, you’re kind of mixing them all together and coming up with the feeling, “OK, now is go time.”

Twins Interested In Nelson Cruz, Wilson Ramos, Joakim Soria, Trevor Cahill

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The Twins are looking into a number of available free agents, perhaps most notably slugger Nelson Cruz.  Fancred Sports’ Jon Heyman was the first to report Minnesota’s interest in Cruz, with MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park noting that there is indeed “mutual interest” between the two parties (both links to Twitter).  Beyond Cruz, the Twins are also “kicking the tires” on Wilson Ramos, Trevor Cahill, and Joakim Soria, according to 1500ESPN.com’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link).

It’s an intriguing mix of players to pursue for a team that underachieved in 2018, though with the AL Central still a thin division (and even the first-place Indians exploring selling talent), there’s certainly room for Minnesota to make a move to return to contention next season.  Signing Cruz or Ramos would be the biggest steps in that direction, as either player would require a significant commitment, though Cruz’s deal would be somewhat limited in length by his age.

In the wake of Joe Mauer’s retirement and Logan Morrison’s declined option, there is room for a DH to take some at-bats in Minnesota’s lineup.  The Twins have already added C.J. Cron to their first base mix, and as Park notes, GM Thad Levine recently pointed to the DH spot as an area that could use an addition, beyond just the Twins’ internal options.

While many teams prefer to rotate players through the designated hitter spot as a way to keep everyone fresh, an exception could certainly be made for a hitter of Cruz’s caliber.  The 38-year-old hit .256/.342/.509 with 37 homers for the Mariners last season, showing little sign of slowing down as he approaches his 40’s.  Despite this production, it might be a stretch for Cruz to land a three-year deal, though a two-year deal on a high average annual salary is very feasible.  MLBTR predicted Cruz for a two-year, $30MM and actually had him landing with the Twins.  Several of the other teams mentioned as potential landing spots (the White Sox, Astros, Rays) have also been linked to Cruz’s market this offseason, as there aren’t a ton of potential contenders with an open DH spot.

Ramos would be the second notable catcher signing in as many years for the Twins, who inked Jason Castro to a three-year, $24.5MM contract last winter.  Unfortunately, the 2018 season ended up as a disastrous one for Castro, who played just 19 games before succumbing to knee surgery.  Since Ramos is no stranger to knee injuries himself, the Twins could also use their DH spot to use Ramos as an everyday player at either designated hitter or catcher, with Castro behind the plate whenever Ramos was elsewhere in the lineup.

Both Cahill and Soria have each drawn their fair share of interest in the offseason, and each would fit well on a Minnesota team that is looking to reinforce both its rotation and bullpen.  Cahill revived his stock with a quality season for the A’s in 2018, while Soria pitched well both as a closer for the White Sox and then in a setup role for the Brewers.  Soria could also factor into the Twins’ ninth-inning mix.  It’s worth noting that Levine is quite familiar with ex-Rangers Soria and Cruz, as both played for Texas when Levine was the team’s assistant general manager.

AL Notes: Rays, Tigers, Angels, Mariners

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The Tampa Bay Rays have money to spend and an uncharacteristic willingness to entertain higher profile free agents like designated hitter Nelson Cruz this offseason. The front office, however, does not feel any particular urgency to spend that nest egg. Working on a rolling five-year budget, the Rays won’t be shy about pushing this payroll space over to next season or later if they can’t get the players they want at a reasonable price, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin pegs their current payroll at a meager $32MM (roster resource estimates closer to $37MM), more than enough space for additions even before reaching last season’s payroll number of $76MM. Still, their 90-win 2018 was an incredible achievement in part because of the large number of pre-arbitration players on the roster, but those same players won’t be inexpensive forever. Hence the willingness of the Rays front office to bank any remaining funds for future seasons if they don’t like the prices in free agency.

Speculatively speaking, that could point to contract extensions for pre-arb players like those they signed with Evan Longoria and Matt Moore in the past, or it could simply be language intended to prime their expectant fanbase for the eventuality of a disappointing winter. With the possibility of a splashy free agent signing on the table for the first time in a long time, the Rays are surely aware of the excitement forming around this offseason.

Some more notes from around the American League as teams prepare for tomorrow’s winter meetings…

  • Speaking of Matt Moore, he and the Tigers found something in common: they both viewed Moore as a starting pitcher. He came out of the bullpen for much of last season, working to a 6.79 ERA over 102 innings (12 starts) for the Rangers, Moore’s primary motivation in choosing a new home in free agency was finding an opportunity to get back into a starting rotation, where he is most comfortable, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. The Tigers signed Moore to a one-year, $2.5MM deal with incentives up to $1MM more based on the number of starts he makes. Both sides are incentivized to turn Moore back into a serviceable rotation arm, Moore for his own sake, and the Tigers because he’ll be a more attractive trade chip as a starter.
  • The Angels have mostly tinkered around the edges of their major league roster thus far this offseason in acquiring Tommy La Stella, Dillon Peters and Peter Bourjos, among others, but pitching remains their biggest area of need as GM Billy Eppler heads to Las Vegas for the winter meetings, per MLB.com’s Maria Guardado. It’s been addition by subtraction with the non-tenders of Matt Shoemaker and Blake Parker, freeing up additional funds in an effort to add durable arms to their pitching staff. With an Opening Day payroll that usually comes in at around $165MM, the Angels have at least $20MM and maybe as much as $30MM to build a winner around Mike Trout this winter. Fancred’s Jon Heyman names Marwin Gonzalez and Joakim Soria as two potential targets, though both players are sure to have their share of bidders.
  • The Mariners may not be done shedding veteran contracts, per TJ Cotterill of the News Tribune. Nobody expects GM Jerry Dipoto to stop dealing, of course, as baseball’s most active GM has already made six trades this offseason. With the return in these deals leaning towards youth, Dipoto suggests the prospects imported this winter has transformed the Mariners’ farm into a top-10 system, but not everyone is equally optimistic, writes Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, who takes a look at the new Seattle youngsters. Heyman suggests they’ll be in on Japanese free agent Yusei Kikuchi, but the bullpen is the larger area of need, as tumbleweeds now populate a pen that has recently expelled Edwin Diaz, James Pazos, Alex Colome and Juan Nicasio.

AL Notes: Rays, Cruz, Rangers, Colon, Blue Jays, Biggio

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The Rays, along with the previously reported Astros and White Sox, have shown interest in free-agent designated hitter Nelson Cruz, per Jon Heyman of Fancred and Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Although Tampa Bay’s not known for throwing money around in free agency, the club currently has cash to play with and a need for a big-hitting presence after designating power hitter C.J. Cron for assignment this past Tuesday. Judging by the offensive prowess Cruz has shown off during his long career, he’d deftly step in for Cron. The 38-year-old Cruz is limited to DH, though, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote Saturday that the Rays may want to replace Cron with a player who poses a threat at the plate while also offering some defensive versatility. It’s also unclear whether the Rays would meet Cruz’s potential price (MLBTR predicts he’ll land a two-year, $30MM guarantee), with Topkin noting they might only hand out a one-year, $10MM-plus contract.

Here’s more on a couple other American League teams…

  • Despite their need for starting pitching, the Rangers haven’t shown a desire to re-sign free agent Bartolo Colon, according to Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. Even though he was the majors’ oldest player in 2018, the 45-year-old Colon tallied 146 1/3 innings and recorded the league’s third-lowest BB/9 (1.54) among those who threw 140 or more frames. At the same time, however, the right-hander finished bottom two among qualified starters in ERA (5.78), FIP (5.47) and K/9 (4.98). It was the second straight rough year for Colon, who may struggle to find a contract this offseason as a result.
  • Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio enjoyed a breakout 2018 at the Double-A level, where he thrived at the plate while seeing extensive action at second, third and first. The Blue Jays, hoping to add to Biggio’s defensive flexibility, then sent the 23-year-old to the Arizona Fall League to garner outfield experience, as John Lott of The Athletic details (subscription required). Biggio, the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, performed well in the grass, per Lott. It’s unclear if the Blue Jays will continue using Biggio in the outfield next year, but as Lott points out, taking on a super-utility role would likely hasten his arrival to the major leagues. Biggio, for his part, seems more than happy to play wherever Toronto wants him to, and director of player development Gil Kim believes “he’s got the athletic ability and the baseball acumen to do that effectively.”

Free Agent Rumblings: Cruz, Corbin, Marwin, Harrison, Chirinos

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Veteran slugger Nelson Cruz seems likely to draw quite a few looks from American League clubs. Per Jon Heyman of Fancred, the White Sox “are a player” in that market, while the Astros also have some interest. Either club would have some open DH plate appearances for the 38-year-old Cruz, who turned in a .256/.342/.509 slash with 37 long balls this past season in Seattle. That homer total, remarkably, was Cruz’s lowest in the past five seasons. During that time, he’s averaged 41 big flies per season while generally producing 45 percent more offense than a league-average hitter (by measure of OPS+). Houston GM Jeff Luhnow recently discussed a desire to add to an already imposing lineup, and Cruz would certainly fit the bill in that regard.

Some more early notes on the free-agent market…

  • The Yankees’ interest in Patrick Corbin is widely known, though general manager Brian Cashman made the fact a bit clearer at this week’s GM Meetings, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. Asked if the Yankees were interested in retaining lefty J.A. Happ, Cashman acknowledged having spoken to Happ’s agent — though the agent he mentioned, John Courtright, actually represents Corbin. Both players were already locks to be on the Yankees’ radar this winter, so the slip hardly reveals any new information. That said, Davidoff suggests that the Yankees haven’t been deterred by anything they’ve heard from Corbin’s camp yet, adding that Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey was Corbin’s pitching coach in Arizona from 2014-15. Harkey, Davidoff continues, has already offered a positive endorsement in Corbin’s favor.
  • Former Astros utility man Marwin Gonzalez is the most versatile defender in free agency this season, and Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that he’s garnered at least some level of interest from nearly every club in the game. As a switch-hitter with at least a league average bat and the capability to play as many as six positions (all four infield slots and both outfield corners), “Swiss G” is indeed easy to imagine fitting onto virtually any team’s roster. Meanwhile, former Pirate Josh Harrison, a quality defender at second base with experience at third base and in the outfield corners, has generated some interest from the likes of the Yankees, Reds and Nationals, among others, per Heyman. Both players’ versatility should serve them well this winter.
  • Free agent catcher Robinson Chirinos has drawn some early interest from the Twins and the Braves, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. The 34-year-old Chirinos hit the market after the Rangers declined his $4.5MM option. Chirinos’ .222/.338/.419 slash was a departure from his career year in 2017, but he did slug a personal best 18 home runs in 2018. Over the past four seasons in Texas, he’s hit .233/.337/.456 with 54 home runs in 336 games played. Chirinos’ strikeout rate at the plate and caught-stealing rate behind the plate both went in the wrong direction this year (in fairly significant fashion), but his track record at the plate is strong for a catcher, even if he’s never been regarded as a great defensive option.

Dipoto Downplays Possibility Of Mariners’ Rebuild

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7:33pm: Dipoto told MLB.com’s Greg Johns at the GM Meetings that this morning’s reports were “clearly over-dramatized,” adding that the Mariners are “just too talented” to completely tear down the roster. That said, Dipoto also conceded that the Mariners are “open-minded to different ways we can get better” and expressed a desire to “re-imagine” the team’s roster while “gather[ing] as much talent as we can.”

Generally speaking, it seems as though the Mariners will be open-minded to moving shorter-term assets — Paxton and Zunino both have only two years of control remaining — while also trying to gather some controllable talent in order to supplement the pieces of the roster that remain into 2019 and beyond. The GM also suggested that the Mariners won’t rule out a reunion with Nelson Cruz, whom he called a “super human being” and a “wildly productive” player. But the team also has other needs, specifically in center field, Dipoto noted.

The column is rife with quotes from Dipoto on the offseason direction and the agile approach the Mariners will take toward offseason roster maneuverings and is worth a look for Mariners fans and those hoping that various Mariners players become available in trades.

10:48am: Facing a difficult path to improving their roster sufficiently to compete in the AL West, the Mariners are said to be weighing at least a partial sell-off of veteran assets. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets that the organization is “considering a full-fledged teardown,” while Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times characterizes the situation as one in which the club will pursue the somewhat less dramatic path of “culling the roster of a few players who could actually bring back some younger talent to the organization” while also maintaining a competitive assortment of MLB players.

Whatever the precise course, it’ll be a fine line to walk, and one that’ll require deft handling from Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto. It’s worth noting that both reports emphasize the variability remaining in the situation. The M’s won’t simply be auctioning players off, it seems. Rather, the club is going to be demanding value. And as Divish notes, there’s also a strong countervailing wind to the concept of a rebuild. The goal, as Dipoto has himself stated recently, is to make a legitimate challenge for a World Series as swiftly as possible. Accordingly, it’s at least possible that the organization will prioritize near-to-the-majors talent over far-away, high-upside prospects.

Regardless, it’s an interesting shift in the market just as it gets underway. No doubt, the allure of the trade market is factoring into the thinking for the Mariners’ front office. That seems to be an element of the Indians’ decision to consider offers on some key veteran pitchers. The market side of the reasoning here isn’t altogether different, though it’s quite a different competitive picture for the Cleveland organization, which still has a very clear path to the postseason. With few top-end starters and relievers available for the highest bidder, there certainly could be some opportunities to achieve value.

All indications of late had been that the Mariners would consider to push to contend. There’s real talent on the roster, to be sure, and the club did just win 89 games even after a late-2018 tailspin. Certainly, the organization’s slate of contract commitments represents that of a contending team, with large and lengthy commitments to several players. Those same factors, though, also can easily be interpreted as supporting a different approach. The 2018 club arguably outperformed its true talent level and still finished 14 games out of first place in the AL West. And a crowded payroll situation makes it hard to imagine ready solutions to some of the team’s ongoing areas of need.

So, what players could be on the move? The premium assets will certainly draw the most attention, though they’ll also be the hardest to pry loose. James Paxton, Edwin Diaz, Mitch Haniger, Jean Segura, and Marco Gonzales all come with ample excess value in their control rights. Surely, it would require the right deal to part with any of these players. Of them, Paxton seems the likeliest to move, if only because the others are all controlled for at least four move seasons while he has just two left to go. Indeed, Divish indicates it’s quite likely the power lefty will be shipped out. Diaz is a fascinating potential piece on the market, as he’d easily be the most valuable relief asset available. The 24-year-old just turned in an outstanding season and his trade value was boosted by the fact that he barely missed out on Super Two qualification, which would have greatly increased his overall arbitration earning power. Haniger is likely the team’s most valuable piece, though he might also be the hardest to part with. Moving Segura’s contract might offer a means of both dropping salary and adding younger talent in one fell swoop. There’s really not much reason for the Mariners to consider dealing Gonzales, who is amply affordable and controllable (and also just agreed to an unusual new contract).

Several other players will also surely be of keen interest on the market. Veteran reliever Alex Colome is not as good, or as cheap and controllable, as Diaz, but he’d be quite an interesting alternative to the open market options for clubs needing late-inning relief talent. Several other bullpen assets could hold appeal as well. Backstop Mike Zunino has his limitations as a player, but he’s a talented defender with huge power. It would be rather challenging for the club to move its most expensive veterans, though perhaps contract-swapping arrangements of some kind can be imagined. Plenty of rivals would like to have Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Dee Gordon, and Mike Leake on their rosters, after all, despite their suboptimal recent track records, though certainly the remaining financial obligations would need to be sorted out somehow.

The possibilities, truly, are endless, and will depend in no small part upon precisely what Dipoto and co. are looking to accomplish. It could well be a matter of seeing what’s possible on the market, rather than setting out specifically to prioritize the addition of new talent, say, as opposed to shaving payroll. Given Dipoto’s history of dealmaking, it wouldn’t be surprising to see quite a few moves to re-shape the roster in the coming months.

Dipoto, Servais On Mariners’ Offseason

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The Mariners were one of the most talked-about teams in the first half of the 2018 season and finished with an impressive 89 victories on the year, but that total left them an improbably significant nine games back from even obtaining a Wild Card berth in an extremely top-heavy American League. The organization is in somewhat of a tough spot, with an aging roster, a crowded payroll and a thin farm system, but GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais made clear at their end-of-year press conference that there are no plans to embark on any sort of significant rebuild (links via TJ Cotterill of the Tacoma News Tribune and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).

“The likelihood of ever truly considering a tear-it-down model, it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Dipoto said. “…That doesn’t make sense because we have so many positive elements with where our teams is, guys like Mitch Haniger, Marco Gonzales and Edwin Diaz. There are the pieces you are trying to build around, not the pieces that you are trying to send away.”

Seattle does have its share of aging veterans and the subsequent payroll issues that one would expect with those aging veterans. Felix Hernandez is owed $27MM this coming season but will be off the books following the 2019 campaign. Robinson Cano is still owed $24MM annually through 2023, however, and Kyle Seager (who took a step back at the plate in 2018) is owed nearly $20MM in each of the next three seasons. Those issues, paired with a thin farm, are certainly problematic, but the Mariners have plenty of silver linings to give them optimism as well.

If there’s one veteran whose status is up in the air, it’s longtime designated hitter Nelson Cruz. The 38-year-old remained a prodigious slugger and a formidable threat in the heart of the Seattle lineup this season, hitting .256/.342/.509 with 37 home runs. But Cruz is a free agent and no longer capable of playing the outfield with any regularity, and the Mariners under Dipoto’s watch have tried to become more athletic and defensively versatile. Much has been made of a possible reunion, but Dipoto hinted that the team has not yet decided if it will have a dedicated designated hitter next season.

While Dipoto said he “never viewed Nelson as holding us back” because of his inability to play defense and noted that “Nelson Cruz is a winning player,”  the executive still doesn’t seem sold on re-signing him. Dipoto added: “But clearly if we were committed to going back to the DH-only player, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. We would have taken care of it much earlier this year,” suggesting the Mariners would’ve re-signed Cruz during the season if they were fully committed to bringing him back.

Even though he’s a one-dimensional player, Cruz was still part of the solution for the ’18 Mariners – as his 2.5 fWAR/2.9 rWAR indicates – and determining his future will be one of Dipoto’s key responsibilities during the offseason. Cruz is easily the most important pending free agent for a team which just extended its major league-high playoff drought to 17 years. Despite their ongoing struggles relative to the rest of the league, Dipoto seems encouraged by the overall performance of this year’s club. While Dipoto acknowledged that the Mariners “failed to reach the goal” of snapping their league-worst streak, he noted that “on paper we should feel good about” an 89-win season.

“To be honest, knowing that it would have required us to get to 98 wins to get to the playoffs probably helps you sleep a little bit better, because that’s not a particularly realistic goal,” continued Dipoto, referring to the 97-65 campaign the division-rival A’s posted en route the AL’s last playoff spot.

Both the A’s and the AL West-winning Astros figure to once again serve as major roadblocks for the Mariners in 2019. As such, Dipoto & Co. will have their work cut out for them this winter as they attempt to build a team good enough to break Seattle’s postseason drought next year.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Felix, Cruz

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Let’s check in on the latest out of the American League West …

  • As the Rangers prepare to find a new manager, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explores the case for simply keeping interim skipper Don Wakamatsu. It’ll obviously be hard for Wakamatsu to move the needle on the team’s bottom line over his brief tenure, but he is in some respects in the midst of a live audition for the job. As Grant notes, the former Mariners manager not only “has a long history with the Rangers and, in particular, [GM Jon] Daniels,” but also arguably offers the right blend of “continuity” and change. Wakamatsu certainly has a broad array of experiences in different dugouts, as is well documented in the piece.
  • Longtime Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is slated to return from a hamstring injury to make one last start in the 2018 season, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports. The veteran hurler, who has fallen on hard times on the mound of late, says he “just want[s] to finish strong and show them I can still pitch.” From the club’s perspective, skipper Scott Servais says, they hope to send Hernandez “into the offseason with peace of mind” to he can know how best to “get ready for next year.” Of course, there’s also a line of thinking that both player and team could be best served by a clean break at the end of this season — as Bob Dutton recently discussed (but did not specifically advocate).
  • Meanwhile, Dutton tackles the case of veteran Mariners slugger Nelson Cruz in another post on the KLAY 1180 AM blog. Both sides are saying they are hopeful of a reunion, but they have yet to hold contract talks. It’s an interesting dynamic, as Dutton explains, because there’s an argument to be made that Seattle ought to utilize its resources in a different manner — particularly with Robinson Cano on hand as a potential part-time DH. Of course, as Dutton also rightly notes, there is still plenty of time left to chat before Cruz formally returns to the open market — and, of course, he could still return thereafter. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out.

Jerry Dipoto On Mariners’ Struggles, Interest In Retaining Nelson Cruz

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In his most recent appearance on 710 ESPN radio (audio link), Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto discussed his club’s disappointing fade in the postseason race. What had seemed an inevitable march to a Wild Card has turned into a lost cause as the division-rival A’s sprinted past.

It long seemed that the M’s were outperforming their true talent level, but the collapse has still been surprising (albeit less so than the corresponding Oakland surge). Seattle is still 14 games over .500, but it sat over twenty games over for much of late June and July.

Dipoto admitted that the club is at a “bit of a crossroads” at this point, having seen a hoped-for postseason return fall out of its grasp. “We should be embarrassed by it and I am,” says the veteran executive, who says it feels as if the club has “taken two steps forward and then three steps back” over the course of the season.

It’s interesting to hear Dipoto describe things in that manner, as the organization seems largely to be set up to continue pressing forward after the present season. After all, its 2019 payroll already includes over $125MM in guaranteed money before accounting for arbitration salaries or outside acquisitions. Of course, Dipoto could perhaps be referring more to the team’s approaches to roster building and commitments to specific players than its determination to pursue near-term contention.

Notably, that upcoming salary figure also doesn’t include a salary for veteran slugger Nelson Cruz, who is the team’s top pending free agent. Dipoto highlighted Cruz as one of the season’s highlights in the above-linked chat. And he has made clear in other recent comments that the Mariners have every intention of trying to keep him in the fold, as Corey Brock of The Athletic explores (subscription link).

As Dipoto put it in an interview with Seattle’s KIRO-AM:

“I don’t think you could increase the chances we’d want to, the chances we want to are already very high. Everybody wants Nelson here, there’s no question about that.”

Just how contract talks will proceed isn’t clear, but they won’t be impacted by the qualifying offer process since Cruz isn’t eligible to receive one. The 38-year-old would otherwise seem a reasonable recipient despite his advanced age. After all, he has done nothing but mash since coming to Seattle. Through nearly 2,500 plate appearances over the past four seasons, he carries a ridiculous .286/.365/.553 slash with 162 home runs.

Interestingly, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times noted back in June that the organization has already made a run at “a contract setup similar to David Ortiz’s final years in Boston” — i.e., a hefty single-year guarantee with a series of options, at least some of which had vesting elements. Evidently, that approach (or other details of the offer) didn’t strike Cruz’s fancy, at least not to the extent that he was willing to make a deal before the start of the season.

Now that Cruz will have another productive year in the books, he can certainly seek a multi-year deal if he prefers. As Brock explains, some recent injuries are perhaps more a reflection of misfortune than deterioration, and Cruz is a noted workout fiend. Though he’ll be limited to American League teams, and will face a market that hasn’t favored defensively-limited sluggers, Cruz will surely be a popular target if he makes it to free agency.

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