The MLB offseason fun begins: GM meetings, free agents, manager needs and more – The Athletic
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It’s officially the offseason. Time to fire up those free-agent rumors, find a surprisingly large number of managers and catch up on a busy first weekend. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to the Windup (coming to you twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays, all offseason)!
The offseason has begun
Today is the first day that teams can sign members of a free-agent class that is headlined by Shohei Ohtani. But did you know that there are also other free agents?? We have a top 40 free agent big board here, so pop that open, bookmark it, and make it your new internet friend for the next few months.
Before players and teams could start on the free agency process, however, there was some business to clear up: player and team (and mutual) options, which allow a team or player to exercise the final year of a contract or choose to part ways.
Here are some of the more recognizable names who either made decisions (or had decisions made for them) over the weekend:
Team options
• Among those retained by their teams: OF Max Kepler (Twins, $10 million), 2B Jorge Polanco (Twins, $10.5 million), LHP Andrew Heaney (Rangers, $13 million), RHP Kyle Hendricks (Cubs, $16.5 million), and RHP José Leclerc (Rangers, $6.25 million).
• And here are some notable names whose options were declined, making them free agents: SS Tim Anderson (White Sox, $1 million buyout), RHP Liam Hendriks ($15 million buyout, payable over 10 years, per CBS Sports), RHP Lance Lynn (Dodgers, $1 million buyout), 1B Joey Votto (Reds, $7 million buyout). Yes, for now, the Reds and Votto are no more.
As of right now, Joey Votto is no longer a member of the Cincinnati Reds. (Harry How / Getty Images)
Player options
• 1B Josh Bell (Marlins, $16.5 million) and RHP Ross Stripling (Giants, $12.5 million) will stick around for another go with their teams.
• Among those who chose to test the waters in free agency: OF Cody Bellinger ($5 million buyout), RHP Mike Clevinger (White Sox, $4 million buyout), RHP Seth Lugo (Padres), RHP Hector Neris (Astros), LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (Tigers), OF Jorge Soler (Marlins), RHP Marcus Stroman (Cubs), and DH Justin Turner (Red Sox, $6.7 million buyout)
Mutual options
• The Padres declined options on two players — RHP Nick Martinez and RHP Michael Wacha (Padres), triggering a player option at a lower salary. Martinez has already declined, and Wacha is expected to follow suit.
• Likewise, the Blue Jays and 2B/OF Whit Merrifield ($500,000 buyout) both decided to part ways.
Oh, and we also had a trade before free agency started: the Brewers sent Mark Canha to the Tigers for minor-league pitcher Blake Holub. Meanwhile, the GM meetings start on Tuesday in Scottsdale, Ariz. Here’s Ken with more on that.
Ken’s Notebook: Manager merry-go-round
Wait, didn’t we just leave Arizona? Yes, and the Rangers’ celebration will barely have ended when the general managers’ meetings begin tomorrow.
The meetings are a springboard for offseason conversation, with executives laying the groundwork for future trades and free-agent signings. But five clubs — almost one-fifth of the sport — will be preoccupied with a more pressing matter: Finding a manager for 2024.
The Guardians would have made it six, but they announced Monday morning that they’ve got their guy. Two of the five remaining teams, the Mets and Brewers, are awaiting a decision from Craig Counsell, the leading managerial free agent. Two others, the Angels and Astros, seem likely to act on the whims of their owners. And the final club with a vacancy, the Padres, will be hiring its sixth manager in 10 years under general manager A.J. Preller.
A quick overview:
Mets: Assuming Counsell is the Mets’ top choice, the question is whether they will offer him enough money to thwart any bid by the Brewers to retain him. Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza also is in the Mets’ mix, but would new president of baseball operations David Stearns go with a first-timer after the team’s dubious experiences with Mickey Callaway and Luis Rojas?
Brewers: Counsell wants to raise the bar on managerial salaries, and the Brewers are not exactly known for spending money. But to keep Counsell, owner Mark Attanasio should be tempted to do whatever it takes. Let’s say we’re talking about a salary of $8 million per season. That is roughly the going price for a free-agent setup man. And with all due respect, Counsell is a heck of a lot more valuable than Joe Jiménez.
Guardians: The team announced Monday it is hiring former major-league catcher Stephen Vogt, who just completed his first season as the Mariners’ bullpen coach. Vogt was the front-runner for the job, according to one rival executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to comment publicly on another club.
Padres: Bench coach Ryan Flaherty and senior advisor Mike Shildt are the leading internal candidates, and former Angels manager Phil Nevin and Angels infield coach Benji Gil are also in the mix. Preller has run through first-timers Andy Green and Jayce Tingler, as well as experienced managers Bud Black and Bob Melvin. Flaherty and Gil would be first-timers. Shildt and Nevin have previous managerial experience.
Astros. If the Astros were promoting the next in line, they would hire bench coach Joe Espada. If the choice belonged solely to general manager Dana Brown, the job might go to one of his former coaches with the Braves, Walt Weiss or Eric Young Sr. But owner Jim Crane almost certainly will have a major say, and one of his advisors, former Astros great Jeff Bagwell, might push for his former teammate, former Tigers and Angels manager Brad Ausmus. Crane is well-acquainted with Ausmus, who was a runner-up to Brown for GM and a finalist for the managing job that went to Dusty Baker in 2020.
Angels. It’s Arte’s call, Arte being Angels owner Arte Moreno. One day, Moreno might wake up and think, “Give me a big name. I want Buck Showalter.” Another day, he might say, “Give me a member of the 2002 World Series champion Angels — Benji Gil, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, any of the above!” Showalter didn’t do his best job with the 2023 Mets, but would be a wise choice for a team badly in need of stability and accountability.
Gold Gloves awarded
The results are in: here’s a full list of 2023 Gold Glove award winners. Some highlights:
• Anthony Volpe won the AL shortstop award in his rookie season. As Chris Kirschner writes in the above link, Volpe’s long-term fit with the Yankees might not even be at shortstop, as they have Oswald Peraza, who is considered a superior defender at the position.
• For the Rangers, Nathaniel Lowe finished dead last in Defensive Runs Saved among first basemen in 2022. This year, after a winter spent working with Francisco Lindor and others, he’s a Gold Glove winner. Adolis García took home the award in right field, and Jonah Heim got the gold at catcher, a year after his former teammate Jose Trevino won it with the Yankees.
• Two other teams also had three winners: the Toronto Blue Jays (3B Matt Chapman, CF Kevin Kiermaier and P José Berríos) and the Chicago Cubs (2B Nico Hoerner, SS Dansby Swanson and LF Ian Happ).
• And in San Diego, second baseman Ha-Seong Kim became the first Asian-born infielder to win a Gold Glove.
Marlins hire head of baseball ops
Kim Ng departed the Marlins front office in mid-October, and now the Marlins have hired Peter Bendix, formerly the GM of the Rays, to take over baseball operations in Miami.
It’s a new position that has been in the works for a while. It was reported that Ng left when Marlins owner Bruce Sherman informed her that he would be hiring a head of baseball operations who would slot in above her.
As Andy McCullough notes, Bendix is just the latest member of the Andrew Friedman crew to take over baseball operations elsewhere, following the recently fired Chaim Bloom in Boston, James Click (who departed Houston after 2022), and Matt Arnold, who is still in Milwaukee. Friedman’s departure preceded theirs; he took over the Dodgers’ baseball operations after the 2014 season.
Bendix had been with the Rays since joining the organization as an intern in 2009.
Handshakes and High Fives
The Curse of the Bambino: interesting, but pretty straightforward. The Curse of the Billy Goat? OK now we’re getting somewhere. But how about the Curse of the KFC Colonel? Now that’s truly weird, and Andrew Baggarly has all the details in this story, explaining how a statue of Colonel Sanders was “responsible” for the Hanshin Tigers’ 38-year title drought. The team won the Japan Series this week for the first time since 1985.
Chad Jennings has an absolutely amazing interview with Geddy Lee of Rush, who is selling a lot — but not all — of his collection of baseball memorabilia. The scope of Lee’s collection is staggering, but Jennings also tells the backstory of Lee’s baseball fandom.
Geddy Lee and part of his collection. (Courtesy of Richard Sibbald)
Clayton Kershaw hopes to return to pitching at some point in 2024 after undergoing shoulder surgery.
In front-office news, Jen McCaffrey says the relationship between Red Sox manager Alex Cora and new head of baseball operations Craig Breslow will be a big focus this year.
Rangers radio broadcaster Eric Nadel has been with the team since 1979. Last week, he finally got the chance to make a “bucket list” call — the last out of a Rangers World Series win. Earlier that day, I sat down with Eric to talk about his life in broadcasting.
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(Top photo of Tim Anderson: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)
