American League

Athletics

• Esteury Ruiz is working on getting to more power with his swing.

While Ruiz does not profile as a power hitter, nor do the A’s expect him to morph into one, they do believe there is a way to fine-tune his swing in order to unlock better contact. Those efforts have already gotten underway this offseason.

“I think the biggest thing, we can clean his mechanics up offensively,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “I think we can open up some more power for him and some bat speed, and we’re excited about that. It takes the player to engage and want to make those changes, and I think he does want to make those changes.

“It’s going to be a process that he’s got to go through, but we’ve identified the things that we feel can open him up and make him even more of an impact player. He’s impactful when he gets on base, but our goal is to increase that by providing some power behind that swing as well.”

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American League

Athletics

• Sean Newcomb had a second knee surgery since he last pitched.

A's announce LHP Sean Newcomb underwent right knee arthroscopic surgery with Dr. Will Workman today in San Ramon. This is separate from the left knee surgery Newcomb underwent in September. He's expected to be ready for Spring Training.

— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) December 20, 2023

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• Free Agent Lucas Giolito made an adjustment with the Angels to regain some velocity.

Laurila: What about your fastball velocity?

Giolito: “That’s roughly the same, it’s still low- to mid-90s. My velo was kind of down earlier this year, but I made a mechanical adjustment while I was with the Angels [from July 26 to August 31] and got it to tick back up a little. A lot of that was getting back on top of the fastball, which also helped me get a little more ride and hop.”

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• Free agent James Paxton had issues with his front leg at the season’s end.

Laurila: You obviously had some really good outings this year. What tended to be the issue when you weren’t going well?

Paxton: “Honestly, just the execution of my breaking stuff. And then toward the end, my last few games, I was having trouble with my front leg. I wasn’t able to brace on my front leg, so I was kind of falling off and not being able to finish my pitches. That was nothing too serious, though. It’s already feeling better.”

Paxton’s knee started acting up on June 24th. Before the injury he had a 3.29 ERA (3.13 xFIP), 12.0 K/9, and 1.07 WHIP. After the inury, he posted a 5.31 ERA, 7.8 K/9, and 1.47 WHIP. His performance decline can be seen with a drop in his fastball velocity.

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• Adam Plutko 플럿코 wants to test the MLB free agent market.

Adam Plutko is a free agent looking to return to MLB after two excellent years in Korea. He was 15-5 with a 2.39 ERA in 2022 and 11-3 with a 2.41 ERA in 2023 (both for LG). Overall 26-8, 2.40 ERA, .596 opponent OPS. Slider spin rate improved from 2,486 to 2,592 with more break

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 15, 2023

In five MLB seasons, he posted a 5.39 ERA and 1.38 WHIP over 273 IP. While his results in Korea were better, his average fastball velocity dropped to 89.3 mph. Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Athletics

• The team isn’t sure what position Miguel Andujar will play next season.

A’s general manager David Forst, who met with Andujar’s agent at the annual GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., this week, spoke highly of the 28-year-old.

“He had a fantastic year at Triple-A for the Pirates,” Forst said. “This is still a young man. He obviously was highly regarded when he came up with the Yankees. It’s a hard place to come up in New York and a lot of attention was paid to his defense at the time and whether he could play third base. I think we believe he’s still a Major League hitter.

“He’s done a nice job transitioning to the outfield. He played both left and right field in Triple-A last year. He’s played some at first base as well, which is a nice option to have because we’re very left-handed at first base between [Ryan] Noda, [Seth] Brown and [Tyler] Soderstrom. I think the bat is a really good fit for us. It’ll remain to be seen where he fits overall on the roster. But there’s a lot of people here who believe he is a Major League hitter.”

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• Here is the average age (per batter faced) for all the pitchers in the league. The age went up even with several high-profile rookies being promoted to the majors. I suspect even more prospects to be promoted to bring the average age down some.

American League

Astros

• Jake Meyers made some mid-season swing adjustments.

Meyers made some swing adjustments during the season, but still slashed just .227/.296/.382 in 341 plate appearances. His average exit velocity dropped to 86 mph — in the fifth percentile among major-league hitters — and he didn’t make enough contact to allow his speed to shine.

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Note: I’m reading through some articles on certain players that were published right before the season ended and I didn’t have time to process them at the time. I know the articles are dated but the info is still useful for next season.

American League

Athletics

• Ken Waldichuk believes he can come back next season with better velocity and control.

Even with my [velocity] being down this past month, I think if I come back with better stuff next year, I think I’ll see some success.”

…

One area Waldichuk will look to improve for next season is limiting walks. Entering Friday, his 4.5 walks per nine innings was fifth-worst in the Majors this season among pitchers with at least 130 innings.

“Being in the zone is the biggest thing,” Waldichuk said of his takeaways from the season. “Know how to attack guys and figure out what they’re looking for based on reading them and knowing what to throw them based off that.”

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American League

Blue Jays

• Alek Manoah has not requested a trade and will be fighting for a rotation spot next year.

The GM also said Manoah hasn’t requested a trade. Realistically, the Blue Jays might explore deals for the starter, but his trade value is at an all-time low, so the return may not be better than the upside of hoping he can rebound in 2024. Odds are, Manoah will be competing for a spot in Toronto’s rotation next spring.

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• Yuki Matsui is considering signing with an MLB team.

Star closer Yuki Matsui looks to be interested in a potential move to Major League Baseball, as a Yahoo Japan report (Japanese language link) indicates that Matsui has exercised his international free agent rights, as well as his rights to freely negotiate with other Nippon Professional Baseball clubs.

• Here is a full list of all players with some form of an opt-out that must get decided this winter.

• Rich Hill plans on signing after the season has started, hopefully with a contending team.

Hill might not sign over the winter, however. While he’d previously expressed an intent to play in 2024, the 43-year-old (44 in March) now tells Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune he’s giving some thought to waiting until midway through the campaign before joining a new team.

…

There are a few reasons behind Hill’s decision-making. The most straightforward one is health. MLB’s oldest active player, Hill conceded to Acee he has “a pretty good gauge and a monitor on my body” and considers “half a season … much more palatable than a full season.” Hill also pointed to a desire to spend more time with his family, noting that he’d like to watch his 12-year-old son play during his final year of Little League baseball next spring. By waiting until midseason, he’d also have a chance to survey the competitive landscape and look to land a spot with a playoff contender.

If a contending team signs Hill, they won’t be contending for long. Read the rest of this entry »