The free agent outfield market, outside of Jason Heyward, has been slow moving.
Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon, and Justin Upton are all out there for teams to sign, but the three have yet to really develop their markets. Barring a major shakeup, they will probably all be free agents going into the new year. According to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez, Cespedes' market, in particular, has begun to take shape. He reports that the Orioles and White Sox are emerging as leaders for Cespedes "for now." The Giants and Angels are also reportedly in the mix and the Rangers are monitoring the situation. Both Baltimore and Chicago have shown the need for an outfielder. The Orioles are missing depth in the corner outfield. They already agreed to sign Hyun-soo Kim out of Korea to fill one of the two sports, but as of now, L.J. Hoes is the starter in the other. In general, the Orioles' lineup will take a step back with the expected loss of Chris Davis from the heart of the order. As for Chicago, they are in a similar situation. The team showed their willingness to contend already this offseason, acquiring Todd Frazier from the Reds. Any outfielder they sign would likely be an upgrade over Avisail Garcia in right field. He hit for just a .675 OPS and 89 OPS+ in 601 plate appearances. The Giants and Angels have already been connected to free agent outfielders this offseason. The Rangers could always make a splash. Last season, the 30-year-old Cespedes hit .291/.328/.542 with 35 home runs and 105 RBIs in 676 plate appearances with the Tigers and Mets. According to FanGraphs, he was worth a whopping 6.7 Wins Above Replacement. --Devan Fink
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The Los Angeles Angels have acquired shortstop Andrelton Simmons from the Atlanta Braves, Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reported on Thursday. The Angels also received catcher Jose Briceno as part of the deal, as the teams announced. The Braves received quite a prospect haul in return for Simmons. They received left-hander Sean Newcomb and right-hander Christopher Ellis, the Angels' No. 1 and No. 2 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline's rankings. Atlanta also received big league shortstop Erick Aybar as part of the deal, as well as $2.5 million in cash. The past 24 hours have been quite a whirlwind in Simmons rumors. It started last night, with Jonah Keri reporting that the Braves were discussing a Simmons trade with an NL West club. Those rumors continued to develop throughout today, with the Mets, Angels, Dodgers, and Padres all being connected to the Braves and Simmons at some point. However, the main consensus amongst many around the league was that the Braves were just listening on Simmons up until this point. The Angels have made upgrading the middle infield a priority this offseason. While Simmons' bat is not nearly as good as his elite defense, he provides an all-around upgrade over Aybar at shortstop. They also get to have Simmons for a long time. Simmons is signed to an extremely team-friendly deal. The Angels will get five years of him for just $53 million, which would be an extreme discount if Simmons went on the free agent market today. His defense has made him one of the best shortstop in baseball. The 26-year-old Simmons hit .265/.321/.338 with four home runs and 44 RBIs over 583 plate appearances this past season. According to defensive metrics, he was worth 25 defensive runs saved and posted a 17.5 UZR/150 in 2015. Over his career, he has 113 defensive runs saved, which is most amongst baseball since he started playing. He was worth 3.2 fWAR this season. The Angels do not get this young and good player at this price for nothing. They traded their top two prospects to Atlanta, Sean Newcomb and Christopher Ellis, as well as a short-term shortstop replacement in Erick Aybar. Newcomb, a former first round pick, and Ellis, a former third round pick, both finished last season in Double-A. --Devan Fink The Los Angeles Angels will show interest in second baseman and third baseman Daniel Murphy in free agency this offseason, sources told Cover Those Bases on Saturday. The Angels have made sense as a possible suitor for Murphy all along. They could possibly be losing third baseman David Freese to free agency. Also, they have had poor play at second base ever since Howie Kendrick was traded to the Dodgers. The 30-year-old Murphy still is not a free agent quite yet. The New York Mets offered him a qualifying offer and he has until this Friday whether to accept or decline. Considering the fact that no player has ever accepted a qualifying offer in the three-year history of the deal, Murphy is a pretty good bet to become a free agent this week. Murphy is a solid-hitting infielder. He posted a .281 average, .322 on-base percentage, and .449 slugging percentage in 538 plate appearances this past season, hitting 14 home runs and driving in 73 runs at the plate. Murphy's free agent stock shot up this postseason, homering seven times in his first nine postseason games, including in six straight. He made glaring error in Game 4 of the World Series, however, which cost the Mets the game and quite possibly swung the momentum in the whole series. From a defensive standpoint, Murphy is a subpar player. He is below-average defensively at both second and third base, but has saved some runs out at first. His versatility could increase the amount of teams interested over the course of the next few months. The Rockies, Yankees, and White Sox have all been mentioned as other possible teams who could target Murphy. --Devan Fink
Torii Hunter has hung up the cleats.
"I've been married to the game 23 years," Hunter told LaVelle E. Neal of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I put it almost No. 1 in my life. My family kind of second. I made sacrifices for my family. And now it is time to give them more time." The 40-year-old Hunter makes his decision following 19 successful big league seasons. He was voted to five All-Star Games, won nine Gold Glove awards, and finished in the MVP voting four times. Hunter, who established himself as a big league regular back in 1999, was a main cog in the Twins lineup for a good part of the early-2000s. He appeared in 1,227 games for Minnesota from 1999 to 2007. During that stretch, he hit .271/.324/.469 with 192 home runs and 709 runs batted in over 4,875 plate appearances. He took a seven-year hiatus from the twin-cities, heading to the Angels for five seasons, then the Tigers for two. But Hunter finished his career back where he started it, signing a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Twins this offseason to head back home. Hunter was the Twins' first round pick (20th overall) in the 1993 MLB Draft. According to Baseball-Reference WAR, Hunter (50.0 bWAR) was the second-most valuable player selected in that round, behind Alex Rodriguez (118.8) For his career, Hunter finishes as a .277/.331/.461 hitter, hitting 353 home runs and driving in 1,391, while recording 2,452 hits. I wish Hunter the best in retirement and good luck as he takes the next step in life. --Devan Fink
trThe Philadelphia Phillies will name Angels assistant GM Matt Klentak to their vacant general manager position, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports.
Klentak was mentioned as one of three finalists for the position yesterday by Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Chaim Bloom of the Rays and Dan Kantrovitz of the A's were the other two. The 35-year-old Klentak represents quite a change for the Phillies in the GM position. He will be replacing recently-fired Ruben Amaro Jr. at the helm, who is known as a non-believer in analytics. Klentak, however, is a graduate of Dartmouth College, getting a degree in economics, and is known as an analytically-friendly front office member. He should help to bring the team out of their current state of not using the statistics over scouting. The Phillies are operating under completely new leadership in the front office, with well-respected baseball executive Andy MacPhail taking over the President of Baseball Operations position at the end of the season. Klentak and MacPhail have already had their share of history together. Klentak and MacPhail both worked on the 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement together with MLB's Labor Relations. Then, in 2008, MacPhail hired Klentak to be the Baltimore Orioles director of baseball operations. After the 2011 season, Klentak was hired by the Angels to become their assistant general manager, a position he has held since. He interviewed for the Angels' vacant GM position a few weeks ago, but was passed up by ownership. Klentak will have plenty of work to do, as the Phillies finished 63-99, their first time finishing with 90+ losses since 2000. --Devan Fink |
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