Sunday Notes: Rebuffing Criticism, Bill Schmidt Likes The Rockies’ Direction | FanGraphs Baseball

David Laurila’s Sunday Notes.

How can a team playing in Colorado not score more runs? There is no bigger indictment of their process than their lack of offense. They should be at the top of team run scoring leaderboard perennially. 

My own coverage of the club, which has focused primarily on players, prospects, and coaches, has included neither criticism nor compliment. Which isn’t to say I’m not intrigued by brickbats thrown. I am, which led me to approach Colorado GM Bill Schmidt to get his perspective on some of what has been said about the team he’s been with for two-plus decades.

...

“We’ve brought some people in, but that’s neither here nor there,” said Schmidt. “I don’t think we’re stagnant. We have a belief ...

Rosenthal: Aaron Judge’s contract likely to be for nine years, sources say - The Athletic $

Are teams going to nine years to lower the AAV or adding another year to raise the pot?

The way the free-agent market for Aaron Judge is developing, it appears increasingly likely the winning bid will be for nine guaranteed years, sources involved in the negotiations say.

A nine-year deal for Judge, who turns 31 on April 26, would take him through his Age 39 season. The Yankees might need to decide if they are comfortable offering that long a contract to retain their star outfielder. Judge, in turn, might face a decision about whether he wants to leave the Yankees for one extra guaranteed year.

Sources: Bryan Reynolds requests trade from Pirates as his situation takes odd turn before Winter Meetings

Bryan Reynolds’ standing with the Pirates took an odd and unexpected turn on Saturday afternoon, as sources confirmed to the Post-Gazette that the outfielder has requested a trade.

The sticking point, of course, remains what happens now.

The Pirates can obviously acquiesce to the demand and trade Reynolds, who remains under contractual control through 2025. They can also decide to keep him and proceed with the offseason as normal. At this point, per a Pirates statement issued by a team spokesman shortly after the story broke, it’s the latter more than the former.

Describing the news as “disappointing,” the Pirates said Reynolds’ request will have “zero impact on our decision making in this offseason or in the future.”

Orioles reach 1-year deal with Kyle Gibson, sources say

The Baltimore Orioles have reached an agreement on a one-year contract with right-handed starter Kyle Gibson, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Saturday.

The deal is pending a physical, sources said.

Gibson had spent the past 1½ seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, who had acquired him in a trade deadline move from the Texas Rangers in July 2021.

In Philadelphia, Gibson was 14-14 in 43 appearances (42 starts) with a 5.06 ERA. He made two scoreless relief appearances in this year’s playoffs as the Phillies reached the World Series for the first time since 2009.

Jason Castro Announces Retirement

Catcher Jason Castro took to Twitter today to announce he is retiring from major league baseball. The veteran spent parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues with the Astros, Twins, Angels and Padres. “Over the last 15 years of pro ball, I have been blessed with many incredible opportunities and have met so many people along the way that helped me achieve more than I could have ever imagined,” Castro said, before going on to thank all of the people who supported him along the way.

Castro was selected by the Astros out of Stanford with the 10th overall pick in the 2008 draft. He was considered one of the top 100 prospects in the game by Baseball America in 2009 and 2010, making his MLB debut in the latter season. Prospect evaluations at ...

Most stunning free agent deals in MLB history

2013-14: Robinson Canó signs with Mariners

Canó had been a Yankee for all nine seasons of his career when he signed a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Mariners in December 2013. Not only was it a blockbuster move because of the sheer amount and length of the deal, but because Canó left the big stage of New York to join a Seattle franchise that hadn’t been to the postseason since 2001. But Seattle’s offer reportedly far exceeded New York’s in both monetary value and length, prompting the second baseman to head to the opposite coast.

2011-12: Albert Pujols signs with Angels

A Cardinal for his entire 11-year Major League career to that point, Pujols inked a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Angels in December 2011, a move ...

Jacob deGrom signs with Rangers

What a HORRIFIC contract! It’s an expensive contract that bases value on hope. The Rangers HOPE he can be healthy enough to provide them value. It’s the kind of contract that gets a GM fired.

DeGrom turns 35 next June. He pitched 64.1 innings in 2022 and 92 innings in 2021.

I expect they went five years to lower the AAV. Of course, it’s a great contract for DeGrom, especially considering he’ll pay no state tax when he pitches in Texas.

It’s a shocker for sure.

Although it might not seem like it now, the Rangers did Mets fans a favor.

The Rangers pulled off a stunner ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings, signing ace right-hander Jacob deGrom to a five-year free-agent contract on Friday night. The deal will pay deGrom $185 million, ...

The KC Royals have a new pitching coach ... and they took him from an AL Central rival

The Kansas City Royals have settled on a new leader for their pitching staff, and they scooped him up from a division rival that has been among the top organizations in Major League Baseball in producing pitching talent in recent years. The Royals hired former big-league pitcher Brian Sweeney, who has been the bullpen coach for the Cleveland Guardians for the past three years, as their new pitching coach.

Sources: Red Sox, reliever Chris Martin agree to 2-year, $17.5M deal

The Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a two-year, $17.5 million deal with right-handed reliever Chris Martin, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Friday.

The contract is pending a physical, sources said.

Martin, 36, was acquired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a midseason trade with the Cubs. He closed the season strong for L.A., going 3-1 with a 1.46 ERA across 24⅔ innings.

Kolten Wong trade: Mariners send Jesse Winker, Abraham Toro to Brewers

The Seattle Mariners have acquired second baseman Kolten Wong from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for outfielder Jesse Winker and infielder Abraham Toro, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Wong, 32, is a two-time Gold Glove Award winner who hit for a 118 OPS+ in 2022. He’s entering the final season of his contract, during which he’ll earn $10 million. The Mariners would be wise to pair Wong with a right-handed platoon partner, as he has generally been a below-average contributor versus southpaws. Even so, he should provide the Mariners with good defense, baserunner, and some quality hitting against right-handed pitchers.

Tampa Bay Rays, Zach Eflin reach agreement on 3-year, $40M deal

Right-hander Zach Eflin and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a three-year contract worth $40 million, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The deal, which is pending a physical, is the largest free-agent contract in Rays history, topping the five-year, $35 million contract that pitcher Wilson Alvarez received before the team’s inaugural 1998 season.

Before reaching agreement with Eflin, the Rays were the last remaining team in the majors to never have committed more than $35 million to a free agent, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. There now are two teams left—the Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates—that have never spent $40 million on a free agent.

Eflin, 28, became a free agent after turning down a $15 million ...

13 players who might benefit from change of scenery

Gleyber Torres, 2B, Yankees

A supposed sure thing when acquired from the Cubs as a prospect in the 2016 Aroldis Chapman trade, Torres has had an erratic tenure in pinstripes. He was an All-Star in each of his first two seasons in 2018-19 before posting a combined OPS+ below league average while struggling defensively at shortstop in 2020-21. A full-time shift to second base was part of a better 2022 in which Torres slashed a more respectable .257/.310/.451. Torres is entering his age-26 season and had above-average hard-hit and barrel percentages last season. So unlike fellow Yankees trade candidates Josh Donaldson and Aaron Hicks, an acquiring team could speculate that his best days are still ahead of him.

Sources: Tigers agree to deal with left-hander Matt Boyd

Left-hander Matt Boyd and the Detroit Tigers are in agreement on a contract, pending physical, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

The deal is for over $10 million, according to the New York Post.

Boyd, 31, spent seven seasons with the Tigers and returns to a team looking to overhaul its pitching staff under new president Scott Harris.

Boyd signed with the Giants in March but never appeared in a game for them while recovering from elbow surgery. He was traded to the Mariners at the deadline and posted a 1.35 ERA in 10 appearances in relief.

Flamethrower Shintaro Fujinami posted by Japan’s Hanshin Tigers, could be MLB reliever

The Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league have submitted right-hander Shintaro Fujinami to Major League Baseball’s posting system, they announced Thursday. Fujinami will now have 30 days to negotiate with MLB clubs. Should he reach an agreement with a MLB team, the Hanshin Tigers will receive a compensatory fee derived from his contract’s worth. (You can read more about how the posting system and compensatory fees work by clicking here.)

Fujinami, 28, pitched for the Tigers in parts of the last 10 seasons, amassing a 3.17 ERA and a 2.31 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 252 career appearances. He was once considered a top rival to Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, thanks in part to his impressive arm ...

Gaylord Perry, two-time Cy Young winner and master of the spitball, dies at 84

Baseball Hall of Famer and two-time Cy Young Award winner Gaylord Perry, a master of the spitball, died Thursday. He was 84.

Perry died at his home in Gaffney, South Carolina at about 5 a.m. Thursday of natural causes, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said. He did not provide additional details.

Perry pitched for eight major-league teams from 1962 until 1983. He won the Cy Young with Cleveland in 1972 and with San Diego in 1978 just after turning 40.

Perry was a five-time All-Star who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991.

He had a career record of 314-255, finished with 3,554 strikeouts and used a pitching style where he doctored baseballs or made batters believe he was doctoring them. His 1974 autobiography was titled “Me and ...

Aaron Judge rumors

IT’S BEEN REPORTED!

The Yankees have indeed upped their offer to the face of their franchise. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (subscription required), New York has offered Judge a contract “in the neighborhood of eight years and $300 million and could increase it, depending on how far the San Francisco Giants—the other top suitor—are willing to push the market.”

An eight-year, $300 million deal carries an annual average value of $37.5 million, which would be the highest in the sport for any position player. Mike Trout currently holds the top spot with an AAV of $35.5 million.

ESPN+: What 2022-23 MLB free agency so far means for winter meetings

Jeff Passan thinks the free agent market will heat up next week.

No such urgency has graced this offseason. None of the eight free agents projected to receive the largest deals have signed. The biggest contract thus far, a $102 million deal for New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz, happened the day after the World Series, nearly four weeks ago. Not even the low end of the market is moving. About 100 free agents who did not receive a qualifying offer are expected to command major league deals. Seven have signed.

That could soon change. MLB’s winter meetings kick off Sunday in San Diego, and across the sport, executives and agents anticipate a flurry of action to finally initiate the inexorable winter frenzy. Aaron Judge could conclude his free ...

MLB offseason survey - Free agency and trade predictions

How much do MLB’s 2023 rule changes impact your offseason’s decision-making: a lot, some or not at all?

Not at all: 6
Some: 4
A lot: 0

Among the new rules, the elimination of the shift is most likely to impact roster construction, according to executives at the general manager’s meetings earlier this month. But they also say they don’t have a complete picture yet. Teams need to see it all in action before they know how it will impact decision-making in the future.

“Obviously, you can’t hide nonathletic second basemen anymore, but what we don’t know is how much the running game will be impacted by all these changes—both behind the plate and on the bases,” one voter said. “I don’t think the pitch clock will do much to roster construction ...

2022 Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft Preview Version 2.0 - $

Baseball America with some possible Rule 5 Draft options. Ramos looked good in some AFL games I watched. Noda’s profile is always an interesting one, although it seems to be going a little out of style.

Jose Ramos, OF, Dodgers

One of the most highly regarded prospects left exposed to this year’s Rule 5 draft, Ramos is a power-hitting corner outfielder with the ability to handle center in a pinch. Ramos hit .249/.339/.479 with 22 doubles and 25 home runs across 123 games, primarily with High-A Great Lakes, before finishing his 2022 season with Glendale of the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .275/.326/.463 with three home runs over 20 games. Ramos ranked as the Dodgers’ 17th-best prospect after the August update, and is among the top ...

Padres, Diamondbacks Among Teams Interested In Xander Bogaerts

Xander Bogaerts is part of a loaded shortstop class, and a number of teams have checked in with his representatives at the Boras Corporation. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports the Diamondbacks and Cubs have expressed interest, while adding that previously-reported suitors like the Phillies and Dodgers are in the mix. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller recently checked in with Scott Boras about Bogaerts’ willingness to play a position other than shortstop. Boras, however, flatly rejected the possibility; the agent tells Rosenthal “Xander is playing shortstop” and denied that San Diego would prefer to move him off the position.

San Diego’s interest in Bogaerts isn’t a ...

Add an intriguing team to the Jacob deGrom mix

To this point, the Mets, Yankees and Rangers are the only teams known to have had contact with free agent starting pitcher Jacob deGrom. Now we can add a surprising fourth team to the list.

According to league sources, the Tampa Bay Rays—true to their policy of practicing due diligence on every big free agent, even if they don’t end up as a match—have spoken with deGrom’s camp.

In addition to Tampa, league sources said that several other teams had talked to deGrom. His market does appear solid.

There is virtually zero chance that the Rays will be the high bidder on deGrom. At this point, it’s hard to see anyone offering deGrom more than the Mets will. But the Rays’ policy is to check in to make sure that free agents don’t have ...

Toronto Blue Jays hire Don Mattingly as bench coach

Don Mattingly is joining the Blue Jays as bench coach to manager John Schneider, the team announced Wednesday.

The former New York Yankees slugger, a six-time All-Star, joins the Blue Jays after seven seasons as manager of the Miami Marlins, where he won National League Manager of the Year honors in 2020.

Mattingly previously spent five seasons as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning three division titles in that span. He also worked as hitting coach and bench coach for the Yankees and as hitting coach of the Dodgers before his managerial stint in Los Angeles.

Disney Pays $900M for MLB’s Remaining Stake in Streaming Company BAMTech

The Walt Disney Co. has officially acquired 100 percent of BAMTech, the streaming video technology company that it acquired majority ownership of in 2017 from Major League Baseball.

According to a footnote in the company’s annual report, which it filed Tuesday, Disney paid Major League Baseball $900 million for its 15 percent stake in the company, now known as “Disney Streaming,” earlier in November.

Disney and the sports league had the right to force a buyout of the stake based on its fair market value beginning earlier this year. Disney had bought the National Hockey League’s 10 percent stake in BAMTech for $350 million last year.

Disney this month has paid MLB $900 million for the remaining 15% of BAMTech it didn't already ...

Inside the decline of MLB’s star center fielders - Sports Illustrated

Tom Verducci takes a look.

Does your team need a center fielder? Two pieces of advice: get in line and keep your expectations low.

Center field is one of baseball’s traditional glamour positions. When Paul Simon conjured the yearning for the great American role model, John Fogerty sang about a return to limelight and Terry Cashman captured the lyrical essence of talkin’ baseball, all looked to center field. Now, when our nation turns its lonely eyes to center field, it sees the worst the position has been in half a century.

Center fielders last season hit .237 with a .303 on-base percentage and .688 OPS, the worst marks in each category at the position in at least 50 seasons (since 1973, when complete records by position are ...

Sources: Nationals, Jeimer Candelario reach one-year deal

Former Detroit Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario has reached an agreement with the Washington Nationals on a contract for the 2023 season, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

The deal is for $5 million with an opportunity to earn $1 million more in performance bonuses, a source told ESPN.

Candelario, 29, was non-tendered by Detroit earlier this month, making him a free agent after he compiled a career-low .633 OPS in 2022. He’ll have a chance to rebuild his value in Washington, where the Nationals are in the early portion of a rebuilding phase.

Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell criticizes Astros’ recent tilt toward analytics but says he doesn’t want GM job

The Houston Astros remain in need of a general manager after surprisingly cutting ties with incumbent James Click earlier this offseason. So enter Jeff Bagwell?

The franchise legend and Hall of Fame first baseman has been a close advisor to club owner Jim Crane for some time, and the idea that he might be in for a larger and more formal front-office role gained credence when Bagwell reportedly helped negotiate José Abreu’s recent free-agent contract with Houston. On Tuesday, Bagwell leveled what seems to be thinly veiled criticism at Click and his data-driven approach:

“This game is played by humans, not numbers,” says @baseballhall of Fame Jeff Bagwell, who admits that he personally thinks the #Astros front office went too far ...

Former MLB pitcher Jason Grimsley details bleak bout with addiction, profound recovery in new book

Grimsley did everything he possibly could do to survive in the game, taking human growth hormones, steroids, amphetamines – anything he could find to give him an edge.

Unlike thousands of others in the game who were believed to be doing the same thing, he was one of the few who were caught….

Grimsley spoke to federal agents without an attorney for two hours that April day in 2006, and for the next two months the feds kept asking him for names. They wanted the names of players. They wanted trainers. They wanted dealers. And they really wanted Barry Bonds.

The federal agents even asked Grimsley to wear a wire and speak to Bonds, who was ensnared in the BALCO investigation, to try to get him to confess to steroid use. Grimsley refused. ...

The Great Player of Year X | Articles | Bill James Online

I have concluded that it is no longer reasonable to say that Mike Trout is the best player in baseball.  That honor now rightfully belongs to Freddie Freeman.

This is merely an opinion, of course, and probably no better than your opinion.  I am not saying that YOU should not continue to regard Mike Trout as the best player on the block; I am just saying that I no longer regard that as a reasonable thing for ME to believe.  This is not an off-the-cuff or unstudied opinion; it is a conclusion arrived at by research and reflection.  Let’s see if I can take you along with me.

Kodai Senga is unlike any other MLB free-agent pitcher

Not every player who comes over from Japan’s NPB arrives with a parade of hype. Senga isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime Shohei Ohtani-type talent or even on the level of Yu Darvish when he arrived a decade ago, but there’s still a ton of reason to be excited. He’s coming off another excellent season — posting a 1.94 ERA with 156 strikeouts across 144 innings for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in NPB, the top league in Japan. Turning 30 in January, Senga is younger than every other starting pitcher available besides Zach Eflin, adding to his appeal for teams reluctant to commit big dollars to pitchers already nearing their mid-30’s. Though NPB is not MLB, his decade-long track record of excellence in what is widely considered the world’s second-best ...

Miguel Cabrera confirms plans to retire after 2023 season, but wants to stay in baseball

Miguel Cabrera, who joined the 3,000 hit club during the 2022 season, confirmed on Monday that his playing career will likely conclude sometime next year. “It feels a little weird to say that,” he told MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola. “I thought I’m not going to say never, but I think it’s time to say goodbye to baseball.”

Cabrera, 39, added that he would like to remain a member of the Detroit Tigers organization, with whom he’d like to assist younger players.

Cabrera’s announcement should come as no surprise. If anything, it was a predictable outcome given that the guaranteed portion of his contract runs through next season. (He’ll make $32 million in 2023 before being owed an $8 million buyout on a pair of club options.) Cabrera’s ...