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HEADLINES

 * Giants To Sign Matt Chapman
 * Giants Remain Involved On Snell, Chapman
 * Cubs Re-Sign Cody Bellinger
 * Cardinals Sign Brandon Crawford
 * Twins Acquire Manuel Margot
 * Dodgers Sign Enrique Hernández To One-Year Deal

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GIANTS TO SIGN MATT CHAPMAN

By Anthony Franco | March 1, 2024 at 10:55pm CDT

Matt Chapman is headed back to the Bay Area. The four-time Gold Glove winner has
reportedly agreed to terms with the Giants on a three-year, $54MM guarantee. The
Boras Corporation client can opt out after each of the next two seasons.

He’ll make $20MM this season, followed by successive $18MM and $16MM player
options. The contract has an $18MM average annual value for competitive balance
tax purposes. San Francisco will need to make a 40-man roster move once the deal
is finalized.

Chapman, 31 next month, reunites with Giants president of baseball operations
Farhan Zaidi and manager Bob Melvin. He’s familiar with both from his early days
with the A’s. Chapman was a first-round pick by Oakland in 2014 and debuted
three years later. He stepped in as one of the sport’s best all-around players.

The Cal State Fullerton product put up a .255/.336/.503 batting line through his
first three and a half seasons. He paired that with the best third base defense
in the American League. Chapman finished among the top 10 in AL MVP balloting in
2018 and ’19, securing Gold Glove honors in both years.



Chapman’s 2020 season was cut short by a labrum tear in his right hip. He
underwent surgery that September, shutting him down for the year. While it
wasn’t clear at the time, that injury has proven to be something of a turning
point in his career. His offensive production hasn’t been the same since he made
his return.

The right-handed hitter stumbled to a career-worst .210/.314/.403 line in 2021.
The A’s dealt him to the Blue Jays the following offseason. Chapman’s offensive
production ticked up slightly in Toronto, but he hasn’t found his 2018-19 form
outside of a scorching April last year.

After a .229/.324/.433 showing in 2022, Chapman entered his platform season
looking to reestablish himself as a middle-of-the-order force. He began the year
as the hottest hitter on the planet. Chapman mashed at a .384/.465/.687 clip
through the end of April. While he’d cut his strikeout rate to a 22.8% mark in
the season’s first month, his whiffs spiked as the summer approached. A dismal
May kicked off what proved to be a disappointing finish to his Jays tenure.

Over his final 467 plate appearances, Chapman hit .205/.298/.361 with a
strikeout rate near 30%. By the second half, he was often hitting in the bottom
third of the lineup. The Jays briefly sent him to the injured list in late
August for a sprain of the middle finger on his right hand. It’s possible that
had an adverse effect on his offense, but the biggest concern is that he didn’t
sustain the strides in contact rate he had seemed to make early on.

That presented a tough evaluation for teams as he hit the open market for the
first time. Even if he’s no longer an MVP-caliber player, Chapman is still an
above-average regular. He has drawn walks in more than 10% of his plate
appearances in each of the last three seasons. He connected on 27 homers in both
2021 and ’22. That dipped to 17 longballs a year ago, yet that’s not a
reflection of a drop in his contact quality.

Chapman actually hit the ball harder than ever last season, averaging 93.5 MPH
in exit velocity. He made hard contact (defined as 95+ MPH) on 56.4% of batted
balls. That was the highest rate for any qualified hitter in the majors,
narrowly ahead of impact bats like former teammate Matt Olson, Juan Soto, Ronald
Acuña Jr., Rafael Devers and Shohei Ohtani.

He remains an asset on the other side of the ball. Chapman’s defensive grades
aren’t quite as eye-popping as they were early in his career, but he’s still a
plus at third base. Both Statcast and Defensive Runs Saved have rated him as an
above-average defender in every season of his career. That includes an estimated
three runs better than par by Statcast and an excellent +12 mark from DRS over
more than 1200 innings last season.

Infield defense was an issue for the Giants, particularly on the left side. San
Francisco led longtime shortstop Brandon Crawford walk in free agency. They’re
set to turn that position to 22-year-old Marco Luciano. Incumbent third
baseman J.D. Davis drew mixed reviews from defensive metrics last season.
There’s no question that Chapman will be an upgrade on that side of the ball.
While there had been some speculation the Giants could consider kicking Chapman
up the defensive spectrum to shortstop, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco
Chronicle reports that he’ll stick at the hot corner at Oracle Park.

San Francisco has targeted Chapman throughout the offseason, having been tied to
him as early as the middle of November. They were content to wait out the market
as he was one of a handful of top free agents who lingered well into Spring
Training.

A $54MM guarantee certainly isn’t what his camp had in mind at the beginning of
the offseason. Chapman had reportedly declined a 10-year, $150MM extension offer
from the A’s back in 2019. He also reportedly passed on an offer from Toronto
that would’ve topped $100MM at some point before he got to free agency. Whatever
asking price he had set at the beginning of the winter wasn’t met. As with
fellow Boras Corporation client Cody Bellinger, Chapman turned to a short-term
deal that gives him the chance to get back to the market next offseason instead.

He was one of seven players to receive and decline a qualifying offer in
November. The QO would have been valued at $20.325MM, a hair above what he now
stands to make next season. This contract structure is certainly preferable to
taking the qualifying offer — there’s added security built in via the player
options in case he struggles or suffers an injury — but the end result could be
similar. The likeliest outcome is that he collects a $20MM salary in 2024 and
retests the market next winter.

It remains to be seen if it would treat him more kindly the next time around.
He’d be entering his age-32 season with a profile that is heavily dependent on
defense. Chapman won’t be eligible for another qualifying offer — players can’t
receive that more than once in their careers, per the CBA — but he’s unlikely to
be the clear top free agent at the position, as he was this winter. Alex Bregman
headlines next year’s third base class, which will also include Davis.

The Giants surrender their second-highest pick in the upcoming draft (#51
overall) and $500K in international signing bonus space to add a player who had
declined the QO. The Jays were one of eight teams that paid the luxury tax last
season, so their compensation is minimal. They’ll get an extra draft choice
after the fourth round, roughly 136th overall.

It’s a bigger penalty for the Giants than it is compensation for Toronto. It’s
one the Giants are nevertheless happy to pay to get Chapman at a price well
below what they could have expected coming into the offseason. (MLBTR predicted
he’d receive six-year, $150MM pact at the start of the winter.) The contract
pushes their 2024 player payroll to roughly $183MM, as calculated by
RosterResource. They’re around $231MM in luxury tax obligations, keeping them
$6MM shy of next year’s threshold.

If they want to avoid the CBT, that wouldn’t leave a ton of room for in-season
acquisitions. It’s possible they’re comfortable exceeding the threshold for the
first time since 2017. San Francisco has been tied to Blake Snell (and to a much
lesser extent) Jordan Montgomery. They’re still in clear need of rotation help,
particularly after expected #5 starter Tristan Beck underwent surgery on Friday
to address an aneurysm.

Forfeiting a draft choice to sign Chapman to a contract that allows him to opt
out after one season is the clearest win-now move of San Francisco’s offseason.
They’ve also brought in Jung Hoo Lee to take center field, Jorge Soler at
designated hitter, and signed Jordan Hicks to a four-year pact to transition to
the rotation. Revamping the lineup to that extent without adding more certainty
behind Logan Webb, Hicks, and rookie Kyle Harrison seems unlikely.

Davis is set for a $6.9MM salary in his final season of arbitration and just
lost his spot in the starting lineup. Soler and Wilmer Flores are ahead of him
as right-handed hitters who’ll factor in at DH at first base, respectively.
Flipping Davis to a team that needs third base help before Opening Day could
clear spending room for the Giants and seems the best outcome for him
personally. There’s very likely more to come at Oracle Park in the next three
weeks.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the agreement, opt-outs, and
salary breakdown. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.


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Newsstand San Francisco Giants Toronto Blue Jays Transactions J.D. Davis Matt
Chapman

276 comments


INJURY NOTES: SCHERZER, DONOVAN, LODOLO, CHANG

By Anthony Franco | March 1, 2024 at 9:08pm CDT

Max Scherzer is one of a trio of key Rangers starters who’ll open the season on
the injured list. The three-time Cy Young winner underwent surgery in
mid-December to repair a disc herniation in his back. The team announced at the
time that the injury would keep him out of action into June or July.

It appears things are going well in the early stages of Scherzer’s rehab
process. Manager Bruce Bochy told MLB Network this week the team envisions the
star righty being back on an MLB mound by June (X link). The veteran skipper
said that’s “a little bit earlier” than the team initially expected. Bochy
indicated the club was shooting for a July return for offseason signee Tyler
Mahle and a potential August timetable on Jacob deGrom, both of whom are working
back from Tommy John procedures.

A few other health notes around the league:

 * Brendan Donovan is preparing for a rebound after his 2023 season was cut
   short. An injury to his throwing arm initially required the Cardinals
   infielder to move to designated hitter. With the team out of contention by
   the trade deadline, Donovan shut things down and underwent season-ending
   surgery. While that was initially reported as a flexor tendon repair in his
   forearm, Donovan clarified to John Denton of MLB.com that he actually had an
   internal brace procedure to fix the UCL in his elbow (on X). The 27-year-old
   is back in action this spring and should split most of his time with Nolan
   Gorman between second base and DH.
 * Reds starter Nick Lodolo was limited to seven appearances in 2023 because of
   a stress reaction in his left tibia. That bothersome issue kept him out of
   action from mid-May on. The southpaw apparently isn’t quite at 100%. Lodolo
   has yet to make his Spring Training debut because of residual leg discomfort
   on days after his bullpen or live batting practice sessions, manager David
   Bell told reporters (link via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer).
   The Reds are sending Lodolo for additional testing on the bone before
   deciding on the next step in his build-up process. That’s at least somewhat
   alarming, although Bell said the team is still hopeful that Lodolo will avoid
   opening the season on the injured list.
 * The Rays lost one of their depth infielders to what’ll be a fairly
   significant injury. Yu Chang will be out six to eight weeks after suffering
   an oblique strain, manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times
   (relayed on X). That was the concern when the team revealed that Chang was
   dealing with left side soreness earlier in the week. The defensive specialist
   is in camp on a minor league contract. He had a shot at securing an Opening
   Day bench spot, particularly with Taylor Walls opening the season on the IL,
   but that’s no longer in play. The Rays have declared José Caballero their
   expected starter at shortstop. Recent free agent pickup Amed Rosario is on
   hand as a multi-positional option who’d likely be Caballero’s primary backup.


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Cincinnati Reds Notes St. Louis Cardinals Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Brendan
Donovan Jacob deGrom Max Scherzer Nick Lodolo Tyler Mahle Yu Chang

32 comments


ANGELS STRETCHING JOSE SORIANO OUT AS STARTER

By Anthony Franco | March 1, 2024 at 7:43pm CDT

The Angels will build José Soriano up as a starting pitcher in camp, manager Ron
Washington announced this morning (link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). The
right-hander is scheduled to start tomorrow’s matchup with the D-Backs, in which
he’ll throw three innings.

Soriano is going into his second big league season. He pitched exclusively out
of the bullpen as a rookie, logging 42 innings across 38 appearances. Soriano
was one of the team’s better relievers, working to a 3.64 ERA. He punched out
30.3% of opposing hitters behind an excellent 14.8% swinging strike rate. Over
half the batted balls he did allow were hit on the ground.

While his MLB work was in relief, Soriano had a track record of starting in the
minors. He worked from the rotation into Low-A ball in 2019. Prospect evaluators
considered the 6’3″ hurler an intriguing starting pitching prospect at that
time, but injuries wrecked his next three seasons.

Soriano blew out his elbow in Spring Training 2020 and underwent Tommy John
surgery. The Angels left him off the 40-man roster despite being eligible for
the Rule 5 draft. Pittsburgh selected him with the first pick in that winter’s
Rule 5 proceeding, aiming to stash him on the injured list while he completed
his rehab.

That netted Soriano big league pay and service time but not the major league
opportunity for which he’d been hoping. He felt recurring elbow pain during his
minor league rehab and required a second Tommy John procedure that June.
Pittsburgh sent him back to the Angels that winter instead of carrying him on
the 40-man roster for a second rehab. Soriano missed almost all of 2022, only
throwing 13 low minors innings on his rehab.

With almost three full seasons wrecked by elbow injuries, using Soriano in
relief last year was prudent. He stayed healthy and was able to tally 65 1/3
frames between Double-A and the majors. The organization evidently hasn’t given
up hope of him as a starter over the long haul. They’ll at least give him the
chance to compete for a rotation role in camp.

The Angels aren’t alone in that regard. Teams like the Braves (Reynaldo López),
Giants (Jordan Hicks), White Sox (Garrett Crochet) and Rays (Chris Devenski)
have at least considered rotation roles for former relievers this spring. Tampa
Bay has been particularly successful with this kind of move in recent years,
moving each of Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs and Zack Littell from bullpen to
rotation jobs.

Of course, injuries suffered by Rasmussen and Springs hint at the downside. Some
pitchers (e.g. Jameson Taillon, Nathan Eovaldi) have stuck as starters despite
having two Tommy John surgeries in their past. It’s not particularly common,
though, so Soriano’s injury history could lead to questions about whether he’d
hold up as starter. He’d at least be on an innings limitation in 2024. Soriano
has never thrown more than 82 1/3 innings in a professional season. The Angels
aren’t going to ask him to make 30 starts this year.

There’s also simply the question of whether Soriano has the command to stick.
While he’s capable of overpowering hitters, he walked more than 12% of batters
faced a year ago. He’d need to improve upon that as a starter, with the Angels
hoping he can dial in his command as he gets further from the three-year layoff.
Soriano worked mostly with a mid-80s curveball and a pair of upper 90s fastballs
(sinker/four-seam) in relief. His breaking ball is already one of the best in
the majors, but he didn’t use a changeup at any point in 2023.

The Angels have built this offseason around their bullpen. They’ve added Robert
Stephenson, Luis García, Adam Cimber, Matt Moore and José Cisnero in free
agency. The Halos haven’t directly addressed the rotation, although their volume
approach to the bullpen could increase their comfort in giving Soriano a real
chance to crack the starting five.

Washington has made clear the Halos will go with a five-man rotation in the
post-Shohei Ohtani era. Barring a late addition from outside the organization,
they’re set to go with Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning and
likely Tyler Anderson as the top four. Soriano joins Chase Silseth, Zach
Plesac, José Suarez and another potential rotation convert Andrew Wantz in the
battle for the last spot.


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Los Angeles Angels Jose Soriano

39 comments


BREWERS SIGN KEVIN HERGET TO MINOR LEAGUE DEAL

By Anthony Franco | March 1, 2024 at 6:17pm CDT

The Brewers recently signed right-hander Kevin Herget to a minor league
contract. He’s in big league camp and made his spring debut yesterday, tossing a
scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts against Texas.

Herget became a minor league free agent at the start of last offseason. The
32-year-old had logged a career-high MLB workload with the Reds a season ago. He
pitched in 14 games and tossed 24 1/3 innings of mostly low-leverage relief. He
allowed 5.18 earned runs per nine with a well below-average 12.4% strikeout
rate. Herget missed more bats at the Triple-A level, where he fanned 22.7% of
opponents in 47 1/3 frames. His 5.13 ERA in the minors wasn’t far off his big
league work, largely on account of an elevated home runs rate (1.52 HR/9).

A former 39th-round pick, Herget has spent a decade in professional baseball
between five organizations. He first reached the majors two seasons back, making
three appearances for the Rays. Herget has logged 31 1/3 innings of 5.74 ERA
ball at the highest level. He owns a 4.25 mark over parts of six seasons at
Triple-A.

Herget brings plenty of upper minors experience to Milwaukee camp. He’s likely
to start the year as a long relief depth option at Triple-A Nashville. He still
has a pair of minor league options remaining, so the Brewers could freely move
him between the majors and Nashville if they add him to the 40-man roster at any
point.

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Milwaukee Brewers Transactions Kevin Herget

17 comments


ROBINSON CANÓ SIGNS WITH MEXICAN LEAGUE’S DIABLOS ROJOS

By Darragh McDonald | March 1, 2024 at 4:15pm CDT

The Diablos Rojos of the Mexican League announced that they have signed Robinson
Canó, as relayed by Enrique Rojas of ESPN.

Canó, now 41, has a lengthy list of accomplishments in his big league career,
though his legacy is also burdened with a couple of suspensions for
performance-enhancing drugs. After thriving in the early parts of his career
with the Yankees, he signed a 10-year, $240MM deal with the Mariners going into
the 2014 season, which was tied for the third-largest contract in MLB history at
that time.

He continued to perform at an All-Star level with his new club but was hit with
his first PED suspension in May of 2018, an 80-game penalty for testing positive
for furosemide. He returned to the M’s later in that season but was traded to
the Mets the following winter, going to Queens alongside Edwin Díaz with a
five-player package going back to Seattle.

Canó had a bit of a down year in 2019 and then a huge bounceback in 2020 but
received his second suspension in November of the latter year. Due to a positive
test for Stanozolol, he was given a 162-game suspension, wiping out his entire
2021 campaign. He returned in 2022 but ended up bouncing around the league. He
was released by the Mets after playing in just 12 games then signed with the
Padres. He got into another dozen contests with that club before getting
released again, then returned to the Friars on a minor league deal before
getting traded to Atlanta for cash. Atlanta selected his contract but let him go
after nine games.

He has been a free agent since August of 2022. His mega contract ran through
2023, meaning he could have been signed for the league minimum last year with
the Mets on the hook for the remainder, but no club decided to do so. That’s not
terribly surprising, considering his age, the suspensions and his .150/.183/.190
slash line in limited playing time in 2022. He hasn’t been totally out of
action, as he has been playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic in the past
two winters and also played for the DR team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

It seems his desire to play remains and he’ll be joining the Diablos Rojos for
2024. His MLB track record consists of 2,267 games with 2,639 hits, including
335 home runs. He won the World Series with the Yanks in 2009 and has eight
All-Star games, five Silver Sluggers and two Gold Gloves on his résumé. Like
many other players connected to PEDs over the years, the framing of his
accolades will be contested for years to come.

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Mexican League Transactions Robinson Cano

93 comments


MURPHY: WADE MILEY “50-50” TO BE READY FOR OPENING DAY

By Darragh McDonald | March 1, 2024 at 2:15pm CDT

Brewers left-hander Wade Miley may not be ready for Opening Day, manager Pat
Murphy tells Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Murphy said it’s a
“50-50” shot that Miley is ready for the opener but declined to provide any
details. “We’ll let you know more in about 10 days,” he said.

It’s a vaguely ominous update that comes out of nowhere, as there hasn’t been
any previous reporting to suggest that anything was up with Miley. He hasn’t yet
appeared in a Spring Training contest, but that’s true of a lot of pitchers at
this relatively early stage of the spring.

Meaningful conclusions can’t be drawn without more information but the rotation
depth in Milwaukee is weaker than it has been in a long time, so any kind of
uncertainty will be concerning. Brewers fans have been able to enjoy a staff
fronted by co-aces Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff for the past few years,
but that won’t be the case in 2024. Burnes has been traded to the Orioles while
Woodruff will be out for much of the year recovering from shoulder surgery.

On paper, the rotation now projects to be fronted by Freddy Peralta, followed by
some combination of Miley, Jakob Junis, Colin Rea, DL Hall, Joe Ross, Aaron
Ashby and Janson Junk, with plenty of uncertainty in that group. Junis has done
some solid work of late but mostly in a swing role, having not topped 112
innings since 2019. Rea had a decent season in Milwaukee last year but that was
his first meaningful big league action since 2016. Hall is not too far removed
from being a notable prospect but there are concerns about his control and
workload. Ross didn’t pitch in the big leagues in the past two years due to
Tommy John surgery, the second of his career. Ashby missed all of last year
after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder. Junk has just 32
big league innings and a 4.42 ERA in his Triple-A work.

Amid all of that uncertainty, Miley was going to be one of the more reliable
options, despite his own history. Now 37 years old, he hasn’t topped 170 innings
since 2015. Only twice since 2017 has he thrown more than last year’s 120 1/3
innings. He missed time last year due to a left lat strain and left elbow
discomfort but still made 23 starts, though elbow and shoulder issues limited
him to just 37 frames the year prior.

While there’s no clarity on what’s currently holding back Miley or how serious
it is, his personal injury history and the lack of established rotation options
is undoubtedly a situation worth monitoring for the Brewers. Despite the losses
of Burnes and Woodruff, the club still aims to contend this year, having spent
money on players like Junis, Rhys Hoskins and Gary Sánchez to help them defend
their division title.

If the club eventually decides it needs further additions, there are still
options available in free agency at this late stage of the winter. It would be a
shock to see the low-spending Brewers pursue a marquee name like Blake Snell or
Jordan Montgomery but a run at someone like Michael Lorenzen, Jake Odorizzi or
old friend Eric Lauer isn’t out of the question. RosterResource lists this
year’s club payroll at $109MM. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club had an
Opening Day payroll of $119MM last year and $132MM the year prior.

There could perhaps be some powder dry there for another move, even though we’re
now in the month of March. Another alternative could be for the club to turn to
its prospect depth. Robert Gasser and Jacob Misiorowski are two of the club’s
most notable prospects, though neither is on the 40-man roster and Misiorowski
has made just five starts above High-A.

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Milwaukee Brewers Wade Miley

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RED SOX AGREE TO MINOR LEAGUE DEAL WITH C.J. CRON

By Darragh McDonald | March 1, 2024 at 1:00pm CDT

1:00pm: Cron will make a base salary of $2MM if on the roster and could unlock
another $500K via incentives, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.

10:05am: The Red Sox and first baseman C.J. Cron are in agreement on a minor
league deal, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive (X links). The client of Moye Sports
Associates will presumably receive an invite to major league camp.

It was reported yesterday that the Sox were looking to bring in a veteran to
compete for a bench spot, with Cron floated as once such possibility. The
34-year-old has served as a potent bat in the big leagues for many years but is
coming a frustrating 2023 season.

He began the year with the Rockies for the second season of a two-year, $14.5MM
extension he signed late in 2021. But he made multiple trips to the injured list
last year due to issues with his back. He was traded to the Angels midseason and
only got into 71 games on the year between the two clubs. He still showed a bit
of pop with his 12 home runs but only walked in 6.1% of his plate appearances.
His .248/.295/.434 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 82.

Cron doesn’t really steal bases, just 10 in his career, and can only play first
base. His glovework has generally been solid in his career, as he has 12
Defensive Runs Saved and 13 Outs Above Average. But it’s still a position where
the offensive expectations are high, making last season’s struggles stand out.

The Sox will be hoping for a bounceback to his previous form. He came into last
year with 175 career home runs and a slash line of .261/.322/.474, which leads
to a wRC+ of 111. He had a really strong run from 2018 to 2022, hitting between
25 and 30 home runs in each full season of that stretch, though a knee sprain
limited him to just 13 games in the shortened 2020 campaign.

If his contract is selected, he likely wouldn’t be looking at an everyday role
in Boston. The club has Triston Casas as its regular first baseman and will
likely use the designated hitter slot to rotate in various defensively-limited
players like Masataka Yoshida and Rafael Devers. But they do have a number of
left-handed hitters who project for either full-time or part-time roles,
including Devers, Yoshida, Casas, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu and Reese McGuire.

Cron has pretty even splits in his career, having hit .266/.324/.489 against
lefties for a 113 wRC+ and .257/.318/.463 against righties for a wRC+ of 107.
But he could nonetheless help the Sox shield some of those lefties from tough
southpaw pitchers, either by serving as a pinch hitter late in games or taking a
few starts.

He will first have to crack a spot on the roster. The club’s bench will have
McGuire as the backup catcher while Rob Refsnyder should be present as a reserve
outfielder, as he has over five years of service time and cannot be optioned to
the minors. That leaves two spots for depth infielders, with Bobby Dalbec,
Enmanuel Valdéz, Pablo Reyes, David Hamilton and Romy González already on the
40-man roster. Reyes is the only one of that group without options, so the Sox
could theoretically run with a bench of McGuire, Refsnyder, Reyes and Cron while
sending the rest of those infielders to the minors in order to preserve depth.
The club would need to open a 40-man roster spot but could easily do so by
transferring Liam Hendriks to the 60-day IL, since he’s rehabbing from Tommy
John surgery and won’t be back until the trade deadline at the earliest.

There’s no real risk in signing Cron to a minor league deal to get a close-up
look for a few weeks, assessing his health and current form. If he were to crack
the roster, perhaps a part-time role would help him stay healthy and effective
throughout the campaign.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions C.J. Cron

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BRANDON CRAWFORD DISCUSSES DEPARTURE FROM GIANTS

By Nick Deeds | March 1, 2024 at 12:17pm CDT

Veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford recently signed with the Cardinals on a
one-year, $2MM deal, officially bringing to a close his 13-season tenure at
shortstop for the Giants in the majors as well as his sixteen years as a member
of the organization. Crawford recently spoke to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic
regarding the first foray into free agency of his career and his departure from
San Francisco. In doing so, he emphasized that returning to the Giants was a
priority for him, but that the sentiment was not reciprocated by San Francisco
brass.

“The bottom line is I was not wanted back by the one person whose (opinion)
matters,” Crawford told Baggarly in reference to president of baseball
operations Farhan Zaidi. Crawford went on to note that his camp gave the Giants
an opportunity to counter after receiving the offer of a big league deal from
the Cardinals last month, though San Francisco offered the veteran only a
non-roster deal with an invitation to Spring Training.

2023 was a difficult season for the veteran, as he slashed just .194/.273/.314
in 320 trips to the plate while battling knee, hamstring, calf, and forearm
issues throughout the season. Crawford’s defense, once universally regarded as
elite, also began to slip somewhat last season. While Statcast’s Outs Above
Average placed him in the 90th percentile of qualified fielders with a +6
figure, Fielding Bible’s Defensive Runs Saved considered him to be among the
worst-fielding shortstops in the majors last year with -14 runs. All of
Crawford’s numbers were a far cry from the elite production he posted during his
2021 campaign, when he slashed an excellent .298/.373/.522 at the plate while
posting +16 OAA and +6 DRS in the field.

Even as Crawford’s production last year certainly left something to be desired,
it’s still somewhat surprising that the Giants seemingly had minimal interest in
retaining a face of the franchise with three All-Star appearances and two World
Series titles with the club under his belt. After all, he’s just two seasons
removed from that aforementioned dominant season that saw him earn his fourth
career Gold Glove award while finishing fourth in NL MVP voting. While
Crawford’s age-37 season is unlikely to see the veteran outproduce the club’s
young, internal options at short such as Marco Luciano and Casey Schmitt, the
veteran indicated to Baggarly that he made clear in a meeting with Zaidi back in
November that he would accept a bench role to remain in San Francisco while
mentoring the aforementioned young players.

Zaidi also commented on the situation to Baggarly, noting that while Crawford
has “been an important member of this team and a real leader in the clubhouse”
and stated his willingness to accept a smaller role with the club in 2024, he
had concerns that Crawford’s presence would put additional pressure on the
club’s young players to perform and potentially hinder their development.

“Having the greatest shortstop in franchise history on the bench … it was just
going to create a dynamic where it was going to be harder for our young players
to play with a margin of error,” Zaidi told Baggarly.

In addition, Zaidi indicated that Crawford, who had never appeared in the majors
at a position other than shortstop until working a single inning on the mound
last year, may not have been able to provide the club with the positional
versatility necessary to secure a spot on the club’s bench. While the club
seemingly intended to move Crawford off shortstop last season should their
now-infamous failed deal with Carlos Correa have been finalized, Zaidi suggested
the club was hoping to fill out its bench with a player both capable of playing
the infield and the outfield as well as a potential threat on the basepaths.

Crawford has never played the outfield at any professional level and has just 47
stolen bases for his career, with his only 10-steal season coming during his
career season back in 2021. Given those limitations, it seems the Giants
preferred to go with one of the club’s internal bench options rather than commit
to Crawford on a big league deal. In conversation with Baggarly, Zaidi pointed
to Tyler Fitzgerald as one player already in the organization who fits the
versatile role the club is hoping to fill, with Otto Lopez and Brett Wisely
among other speculative options already on the club’s 40-man roster.

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San Francisco Giants Brandon Crawford

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MATT BRASH CLEARED TO RESUME THROWING NEXT WEEK

By Darragh McDonald | March 1, 2024 at 11:20am CDT

The Mariners informed reporters today, including Ryan Divish of The Seattle
Times, that right-hander Matt Brash has medial elbow inflammation and can start
playing catch on Tuesday. He likely won’t be ready for Opening Day but it’s
still a positive development since reporting from earlier this week indicated
that missing the entire season was a possibility.

Brash was shut down from throwing a week ago, downplaying the severity of his
issues by saying he was just “banged up” and “didn’t feel great” after throwing
a bullpen. As mentioned, subsequent reporting from a couple of days ago
suggested Brash was at risk of missing significant time, perhaps even all of
2024.

That makes today’s news a welcome development for the Mariners, though the
concern will likely linger until he gets back on the mound. In the short term,
he’ll resume his program shortly and try to build up for game readiness.

If that all goes well, it will be a great relief for the Seattle bullpen. Brash
posted a 3.06 ERA last year but may have deserved even better. He struck out a
huge 34.7% of batters faced while also posting an above-average 46.1% ground
ball rate. His 9.7% walk rate was a tad high but not disastrously so, with
relievers around the league averaging a 9.5% clip last year. Some extra runs may
have scored thanks to a .380 batting average on balls in play and 77.2% strand
rate, which is why his 2.26 FIP and 2.86 SIERA were even more bullish on his
performance. He did all that while racking up four saves and 24 holds.

The club figures to have Andrés Muñoz in the closer’s role with Brash and
Gregory Santos likely to be in setup jobs. There were recent injury concerns
about both, as Santos had some discomfort near his teres major muscle. But
Santos has already begun playing catch and general manager Justin Hollander
suggested today that things are moving in a positive direction, per Divish. If
things continue to trend well for Santos and Brash, it will be a nice
development for the club, especially considering how worrisome things looked not
too long ago.

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Seattle Mariners Matt Brash

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TRISTAN BECK TO UNDERGO SURGERY TO ADDRESS ANEURYSM IN UPPER ARM

By Darragh McDonald | March 1, 2024 at 10:55am CDT

Giants right-hander Tristan Beck told reporters, including Andrew Baggarly of
The Athletic, that he will undergo vascular surgery on Monday at Stanford to
address the aneurysm in his upper right arm. He won’t have a timetable for his
return until after going under the knife.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Beck was dealing with some discomfort in
his throwing arm, which was eventually diagnosed as an aneurysm. It seems a
decision has been made that surgical intervention is necessary. Although the
timetable won’t be clear until next week when the procedure has been completed,
this further creates uncertainty in the San Francisco rotation, which already
stood out as a weak part of the roster.

Right-hander Alex Cobb underwent hip surgery last year and will begin the season
on the injured list. Trade acquisition Robbie Ray is recovering from UCL/flexor
tendon surgery and won’t be back until the All-Star break at the earliest.

The Giants have long known about both of those situations but nonetheless came
into camp with a rotation consisting of Logan Webb and a series of unknowns.
Jordan Hicks will be looking to move from a relief role to a starting role,
something he has never done before. Webb and Hicks were likely to be joined by
youngsters like Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn and Beck. All three of those guys
have shown promise but none of that trio has more than 85 innings in the bigs.

For a club planning to contend, that’s a lot of rotation uncertainty, which has
become more questionable in recent weeks. Winn was dealing with some elbow
soreness last week and although he could still be ready for Opening Day, there’s
at least a bit of murkiness there. The latest developments with Beck only
compound the concerns around the club’s rotation depth.

If the Giants decide they need to add to this group, there are still options
available in free agency. Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery are still out there
and the Giants have reportedly expressed interest in both, though a deal has
clearly not come together to this point. The club has generally avoided spending
on pitching, with the four-year deal for Hicks being the longest since Farhan
Zaidi became president of baseball operations in November of 2018, as shown on
MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. The $44MM guarantee for Hicks also matches Carlos
Rodón’s two-year deal for the largest guarantee the club has given a pitcher in
that time. If the club wants to avoid a huge deal for Snell or Montgomery, they
could also pivot to someone more affordable like Michael Lorenzen, Eric Lauer or
Jake Odorizzi.

If they don’t look to external additions, then the internal candidates to step
up and take a rotation job would include Sean Hjelle, Kai-Wei Teng, Daulton
Jefferies and Spencer Howard. Hjelle had an ERA of 6.00 in Triple-A last year
and a mark of 6.52 working out of the big league bullpen. Teng has yet to make
his major league debut. Jefferies has lost most of the past two years due to
undergoing both thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in June of 2022 and then Tommy
John surgery that September. Howard has a 7.20 ERA in his major league career
and has a 5.01 ERA in the minors over the past two years.

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San Francisco Giants Tristan Beck

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