Q. When the guys return from injury, what do you think of your starting rotation at that point? Would you like another pitcher? How do you feel about your starters right now?
JOE ESPADA: Right now obviously I feel really good about Valdez. We’ve got Hunter Brown and Arrighetti and Ronel Blanco. We’ve got a couple of young pitchers that will fit right in if we have to. Gordon is a really nice fit we just put on the 40-man roster who threw the ball really well. Gusto is another guy we’ve had conversation about. He’ll be ready to contribute at the Major League level.
Again, we’re having conversations. Because I think you need more than just five or six guys. So that’s one area that we’ll be spending quite a lot of time here in the next couple of weeks talking about how can we improve our pitching depth.
Q. You guys made some news early in this off-season with the Severino signing. What kind of is the feeling this off-season as opposed to the last few off-seasons where you were waiting around until late in the off-season to make moves? Now a team that you feel is close to competing, adding some pieces can help you?
MARK KOTSAY: I think the way we finished the second half, we built a lot of momentum, and the young position player group kind of carried that momentum. We’ve still got a ways to go. And I think the signing of Severino shows the desire to accelerate that process and add to this group and show that they can compete in the second half.
The veteran starter that has a track record of success in pitching in the postseason was kind of a target for us, and to be able to land Sevy and bring him in, not just from a performance standpoint, but from a leadership standpoint, to have him surround himself with guys like J.T. Ginn and Joey Estes as well as Osvaldo Bido and Mitch Spence, I think is really going to add to their development and their growth.
• Jacob Wilson is trying to add bulk this offseason.
Q. Jacob Wilson caused a lot of excitement last year, the top prospect came up. He’s battled some injuries. As it gets to be a full season for you guys, do you send him into the off-season with plans to address his injury concerns?
MARK KOTSAY: I spoke about Jacob on MLB this morning in terms of just the physicality that’s needed to play at this level on an everyday basis. That’s been a big emphasis for Jacob to get in the weight room, to really focus on the strength side of things as well as their flexibility.
Jacob’s hamstrings have been tight. There’s some areas to address, and we feel like we can help him in that area. He’s working with our strength coach Josh Cuffe in Arizona. I think he’s training out of the Spring Training facility, which is great, so we can continue to work with him and monitor his progress.
It will be interesting because Jacob hasn’t played the 162-game schedule. In the Minor Leagues now with the adjustments they made with giving a day off every Monday, you don’t get the rigor of a 13-day stretch where you don’t get a break. So that’s going to be different for Jacob, and we’re going to have to kind of monitor his workload and see how we can keep him healthy and on the field for as many games as possible.
Q. What does Triston McKenzie need to do to get back on track? Is it mental, mechanics, experience?
STEPHEN VOGT: I think Triston, last winter was still recovering from injury and just never quite caught his stride this last season. For Triston, he’s got a healthy body, healthy arm. He’s having a great off-season. I know it’s going to continue to go that way.
I’m expecting Triston to come in ready to rock in good year and hopefully earn a spot in our rotation. We all know how good Triston McKenzie can be, and the best version of him makes him the best version of us. So really excited for Triston.
Q. Can you expect Felix Bautista to be your Opening Day closer next year? Do you feel like you can give him the same kind of workload as he’s had in the past?
BRANDON HYDE: I think we’re going to have to wait and see with all that. Felix, when he threw it there at the end of the year sometime in October was the end of his rehab, he was throwing the ball extremely well.
He’s coming off a Tommy John, so he hasn’t pitched in a real game in over a year. There’s going to be — we’re going to handle it a little bit differently. I think we’re going to be very, very careful with him early on, seeing what his stuff looks like in Spring Training. I’m expecting him to look like Felix again.
But knowing kind of what he’s been through the last year plus and want to try to keep him as healthy as possible for this next year, we’re going to be communicating constantly with him. And probably, especially early on, be really conservative with him.
• Jackson Holliday won’t be guaranteed the starting second base job.
Q. Is it your plan or your hope that Jackson Holliday is your starting second baseman on Opening Day and you can let him go and play him almost every day?
BRANDON HYDE: Yeah, I’m not writing it in. I’m definitely keeping the options open. Talked to him yesterday as well. He feels great. He loves the swing adjustments he made. He’s in a great place physically, and he’s really excited to go in Spring Training.
He’s going to get every opportunity to get as many at-bats as possible. Love the defensive work he’s done also. He made huge strides defensively there for us. Tough in your first year changing position, 20 years old, trying to hit in the Big Leagues. I thought he handled everything extremely well last year, and he’s just going to benefit from that.
Q. What do you know about Kyle Higashioka? Do you have any talks with him since —
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, we’ve spoken a couple of times. No, excited to have him. He’s a winner. You know, talking to him, he takes so much pride in trying to make the pitcher better. That’s what he is so good at, framing and game-calling. He does a tremendous job behind the plate. He obviously — catching the postseason last year and how much confidence they had in him.
He’s going to complement Jonah so well I think. I think it’s going to enable us to rest Jonah a little bit more. We have a great tandem behind the plate.
…
Jonah will do a little bit more of the catching. I think that’s fair to say, but how we end up doing it, there’s going to be variables involved, who is pitching for us, who is pitching for them, who needs a day, maybe who is hot, things like that.
Q. Eric mentioned Caballero might play winter ball, outfield?
KEVIN CASH: He is. We’ve exchanged a couple of text messages. He’s so athletic. Why not let him explore if there’s an avenue for him to get at-bats out there, see what it looks like. I think he’s played two or three games out there, maybe late games when he was with Seattle.
Spoke to him about it before the season ended. The best thing about Cabby is he wants to help us win. He’ll do whatever it takes to win. Certainly he wants to play. He’s an elite defender on the dirt, and I think that can transition in the outfield in a pinch.
We’ve got really good outfield options as we have now, but to have that possibility for late game maneuvers, keep your options open.
Q. It sounds like DeLuca is going to get the lion’s share of work in centerfield. What did you see from him defensively and offensively?
KEVIN CASH: Jonny was as consistent as any player that we had. I look at what him and Taylor Walls did, they’re just game changing, and they’re consistent.
Red Sox
• Sounds like there are no plans to move Rafael Devers off third base.
Q. There’s been a lot of talk about moving Rafy off third, creative stuff like that.
ALEX CORA: I don’t know where that comes from. I haven’t talked to Rafy about that. I have never talked to his agent about that.
Obviously people talk about his defense. Actually I thought last year he did an outstanding job, especially to his left. He actually struggled when he was playing in the shift. If you look at his errors, he didn’t make plays at shortstop. That’s something that we have to get better at, but I think if something like that happens with Rafy, with Casas, with Trevor, with Rafaela, the player will know first.
I guarantee you we haven’t had those conversations.
Q. He takes so much pride in the defense in that stuff. I assume he wants to stay there and be there for as long as possible?
ALEX CORA: I think at the end of the day when you sign a contract like that, he signed as a third baseman, and he wants to be a third baseman. Right now he’s a third baseman for the Boston Red Sox.
ALEX CORA: He’s progressing. He’s doing well. I think the conversations now are not about developing him. Is he a starter or reliever? We’ll use him the way we see it, and he was a very successful reliever in ’21. He’s been an okay starter for us.
Obviously injuries have been part of his path, but I think, to be honest with you, we’ll use him the right way and the right way will be kind of like high-leverage innings. If it’s early or late, we don’t know yet.
Q. Diving into the depth a little bit and losing Singer in your rotation, it opens up two spots in the rotation now. How do you kind of view that going into Spring Training?
MATT QUATRARO: I think we’re going to stretch out Bubic again. He’s been a starter. He adapted tremendously well in that reliever role last year. We couldn’t have anticipated that. All the along the play is for him to start.
We like Marsh. We really liked him last year, and we would expect him to continue to grow.
Those are the kinds of things — we’ll also stretch out Lynch and see where that goes. You also have to fortify the bullpen too. We’re lucky we have guys that can do either.
MATT QUATRARO: He’s going to play a lot at third base. We’ve seen his versatility. He is the shortstop if something were to happen to Bobby. He can play second. We’ve put him in the outfield a couple times.
I know in the spring we’ll just move him around, but primarily at third base.
Q. Do you see him more as an everyday kind of third baseman, or do you see him moving around more than he did last year?
MATT QUATRARO: More at third, I would say, as of right now.
Tigers
• The team does not want to move Tyler Holton to the rotation.
Q. I actually have sort of the opposite question. On Tyler Holton, he has a lot of attributes to be a starter, and he’s had two fantastic years. How much conversation has actually gone into could he start for us?
A.J. HINCH: Yeah, I think the natural thought is he could do whatever is asked of him. There hasn’t been a ton of conversation about that given the depth that we have and, quite honestly, how good he’s been in the role that we’ve had him.
We use him as much as anybody in baseball, and we try to give him the allotted rest. Not as much as a starter rests, but when he gets stretched out to two and three and four innings, we’re very disciplined with giving him the amount of rest before we pitch him again.
He’s not going to be in the starter competition. He’s in that Swiss Army knife where he’s going to pitch probably every inning next year that we play. Maybe not extra innings if I have already used him, but I don’t know if he did every inning this year. If he didn’t, he got as close as anybody in baseball.
Q. So a philosophical question. We’re not talking about the No. 1 and 2 starters on the team. Isn’t Tyler Holton more valuable pitching in the same number of innings in the current role as he would be as an actual starter?
A.J. HINCH: If you look how I use Tyler, he pitches in winning games. Either he bridges to other guys in the bullpen or he’s closed out games for us. So to a manager, the guys that pitch in wins, the guys that can close out wins, the guys that can get you out of tough jams to lead you to a win, my definition of value is going to be how do we create more wins for ourselves?
By how comfortable I’ve become using Tyler in any role, he’s pretty valuable to me where he’s at.
A.J. HINCH: Javi is doing well. He’s in between Puerto Rico and Tampa with his rehab. We go back and forth. Our people have been down to Puerto Rico and seen him. He’s going step-by-step. It’s a long rehab process, and that’s why we’re all anxious to see how he comes out of it physically with the hip and hopefully alleviates the back issues that he’s talked a lot about.
He’s been very diligent in his work and very diligent in his rehab process. He hasn’t had a misstep or he hasn’t had anything that gives us doubt or pause that he’s not going to be fully healthy when the time comes.
I don’t know when that is, and I don’t know what he’s going to be able to give us as we get into the spring. We’ll know a little bit more, but I’ve been very proud of his communication, his diligence and the program he’s on is giving him the best chance to get back being healthy.
• Brant Hurter could be a “valuable part” of their rotation.
Q. What were your takeaways from Brant Hurter’s season? How do you evaluate the Triple-A performance and then the Big League performance when he started in Triple-A and started in the Big Leagues?
A.J. HINCH: I think he had to do a lot. We broke him in with a very unique role of being a mostly bulk reliever/starter and getting his innings in a different way. We could insert him whenever we wanted to and against whatever hitter we wanted.
He adapted to that well. He’s easy-going. He’s low-key. His routine is excellent. His strike-throwing is very, very good. He’s a tough angle. Especially the first time you see him from the big body with a unique angle.
He’s very much more adaptable than I think most pitchers are given credit. He could do anything. So we are going to build him up as a traditional starter and give him a chance to win a rotation spot.
Given the confidence that he had to have had throughout this first taste of the Major Leagues and the type of games he was pitching in, I see him pretty eager coming to spring to try to win a job and be a valuable part of our rotation.
Twins
• Depending on how the offseason goes, Royce Lewis could move to second base.
Q. Derek had mentioned Royce at second base as like an off-season conversation. Is that something you think he could handle if he’s open to it and you guys want him there?
ROCCO BALDELLI: I said before I think he can handle it. If he has time to prepare and get ready for this and he has the second half of an off-season and Spring Training to get ready, he has the skill set. He has the ability to handle that. I have very little doubt that he can do that.
I actually saw Royce and Larnach yesterday. They’re here and they work out locally. They’re both doing very well. We had a good time. We went and got lunch. Jayce came too. It was nice.
Royce actually said he’s been taking balls on both sides of second base. So that’s — it tells you a little bit about where his head is. He’s like, yeah, I’ve been getting some work done at second just in case, just in case. We’ll make that decision when we see what our roster overall is going to look like.
It’s hard to say anything about where Royce will ultimately fall. I’d like to figure that out sooner than later, and I’m sure he would too. But at this point in the off-season, we probably can’t answer that question quite yet. He can do it. He can do it.
WILL VENABLE: Just the consistency. Can control the zone. Give you a professional at-bat, good defender, good base runner. Just one of those guys that you can depend on every day.
Yankees
• Anthony Volpe made a mechanical adjustment before the playoffs.
Q. You have access to bat tracking data now. In October Anthony was swinging the bat much harder than he was in the regular season.
AARON BOONE: It’s a mechanical thing. Look, I had this conversation with you, and I’ve had it with Anthony. Like the week off leading into the postseason, the little adjustments I saw, it was like, boom, it leapt off the screen. That’s it. That’s it right there.
Then obviously he carried it into the games into the postseason. So I haven’t seen the bat tracking, but I’m not surprised because I know what I was watching every single day, and that’s what we want, yes. When you see it, yes.
Q. Any further down the road you’ll know how you’ll move those pieces around in the infield?
PAT MURPHY: I think as we get closer — you obviously know there’s an option either Ortiz or put Turang over. Think it’s one or the other. Unless we acquire somebody that’s a better fit for that because Joey played third base so well, what can you say?
You take a guy, a platinum glove winner, take him off second. If it’s best for the team, we do it. So we’ll see. It’s one or the other.
Q. It’s getting to the time where the pitchers are going to start to go. What are you going to instruct Ashby, Hall, Misiorowski in terms of — do you want them to build up to their game?
PAT MURPHY: I think for sure Ashby and Hall need to build up because there’s a possibility they’re both starters.
I think in Misiorowski’s case, teaching him how to do things at the Big League level is essential. He’s a big part of it, yeah. So I don’t think we push it right now that way. We can always get there, but there’s no rush. Let’s make sure he’s healthy and make sure the program he is developing out is something we’ve really got our eyes on.
Giants
• Jung Hoo Lee 이정후 will have no restrictions during Spring Training.
Q. (Question regarding Jung Hoo Lee.)
BOB MELVIN: Jung Hoo is good to go. He’s ready. He’ll come to Spring Training, and there will be no restrictions on him.
Q. Assuming that you don’t have a need there anymore, what would you identify as the next thing that this roster really needs?
BOB MELVIN: … Then you’re always looking to add pitching, but we really do — we have a lot of good, young pitching in our organization. We’ll see where it goes with that.
We’re comfortable obviously at the top with Webby and Robbie and Jordan, and then we have a whole host of — Harri and Birdsong and Roupp and guys like — some of the guys that we didn’t even see last year with Carson Seymour and Whisenhunt.
• The team doesn’t plan on going with a set DH.
Q. Who would be your DH?
BOB MELVIN: I think that’s one we’re going to move around. I don’t think we’re going to bring in a set DH. Now, we could, but I think that’s one we want to be able to give some guys some days off too. Whether it’s a Chapman, LaMonte can DH, or he can play first. Ramos played a lot. I think we would probably like to be able to move the DH spot around as opposed to kind of pigeonhole one guy.
Marlins
• Edward Cabrera is exciting and should get another shot at the rotation.
Q. Is there a player that you are looking forward to seeing what he can prove next season? I know you mentioned some on an unrelated question.
CLAYTON McCULLOUGH: I’m really excited about Edward Cabrera. I had the chance for the last few years, a few opportunities where you are competing against him and those hitters weren’t fans of having to go up there and take that at-bat. Again, it’s young, great stuff. There’s so much more in the tank there.
I think that’s — he’s a really exciting one for me just because the up side is so big, and not everybody’s path to success is linear, right? It’s real ability that can win Major League games.
Q. How would you assess the back end of the bullpen in particular?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Well, losing Finnegan was tough. I put Ferrer in some situations last year to close games. He did really well. I know he’s young. We have Ferrer, we have Garcia, we have Law who pitched really well for us.
We’re here. We’re looking. We’re searching. I know we’d like to add a couple more bullpen arms. We’ll see what comes up.
DAVE MARTINEZ: Tena could do a lot of good things. Last year he played at third base. When I put him at second base, he handled it really well. We’ve had him at shortstop.
What I like is he swings the bat really well. It’s just a matter of time before the power comes out. He’s a guy that stays in the middle of the field. He has good baseball instincts. He’s going to get an opportunity to play.
Like I said, he’s one of the guys we’re going to count on next year. For what position, I don’t know yet, but he’s going to get a chance to play.
Q. What do you see in your rotation now and whether you need to add Sasaki?
MIKE SHILDT: I like what we have. We’ll start with Darvish with the nod towards the experience. He threw the ball fantastic when he was available to us this year, and he’s having a good offseason.
So playoff game, he was pitching as well as he could possibly pitch. It starts with him. That’s great.
Michael King not only the next step, but multiple steps and really taking that next level not only to be a Major League starter, but to be like a front end Major League starter. Michael had a phenomenal year. Again, another guy that played exceptionally well in the playoffs. Got two wins. Expect him to continue to grow and take those next steps and fortify the front end of the rotation, which the club we expect to have we’ll need.
Then you have Dylan Cease. Dylan had a great year. Took the ball, threw the no-hitter and got us into the playoffs. Threw the ball exceptionally well. You know you’re going to get or feel confident you’re going to get a quality start and give yourself more of a chance than not to win a baseball game with all three of those guys.
That’s a good start. We have experienced guys that helped us this year. Vasquez got 20 starts. Matt Waldron carried the mail, was a big part. I feel like Matt got lost a little bit in the postseason shuffle in a sense of we added Martin Perez, and Darvish came back and Joe was back for a while. Matt Waldron, without him especially in the first half and in the middle of the season, able to accomplish what he was able to accomplish, we’re not where we ended up being. That was a playoff World Series caliber contending club.
Having those two guys back is really important. Jhony Brito, we expect to contend for an opportunity to compete for a rotation spot. After that we’re open for business.
Phillies
• The team is hoping to get J.T. Realmuto more rest.
Q. You mentioned at the end of the season that you might have to convince Realmuto to take some time off next year. Have those conversations already started?
ROB THOMSON: No, I’ll do those face to face, in person. Right now he’s working out. He’s down in Clearwater. He’s working out every day. He’s in great shape, feels good. We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.
Q. Do you think he’ll be receptive to that idea?
ROB THOMSON: I don’t know how he’s going to react, but I think still you’re going to play out the season how you see it, how you feel it, how he’s feeling, the conversations you have with him, the communication he has. Is he fresh? Does he feel fresh? He’s usually fairly honest.
Q. How do you view the backup catcher situation going in the spring?
ROB THOMSON: I think it’s between Stubby and Marchán. Marchán doesn’t have any options left, but at this point they’ll battle it out.
• Jordan Romano is not guaranteed the closer’s role.
Q. How do you anticipate using Romano?
ROB THOMSON: It’s Romano. That’s how we pronounce it in Canada. I spoke to him yesterday. I met him at CBP one time. It was a getaway day, and I met him on the elevator. He happened to be on there.
I think he’s really excited, and we’re excited as well. Because when he’s healthy, it’s a really good arm, big arm. He’s pitched in high, high leverage, which we like, and we’ll treat him the same here.
Like I said yesterday to our local group, we haven’t promised him a closing role. We’ll probably run our bullpen like we have the last couple years. We’ve had a lot of success with it. I think everybody’s pretty happy with that.
• The hope is that Taijuan Walker regains his velocity and becomes a serviceable starter.
Q. Is there any favorite for that No. 5 spot right now as of today? You might sign — I expect you’ll probably sign somebody at some point, but internal options, is there somebody who’s a leg up?
ROB THOMSON: It’s really up in the air, but I’m hoping that the program that Taijuan is on works, and he gains that velocity, he gains the extra stuff that he needs to miss bats and get soft contact.
I know he’s working on it. I know the program is a good program and it’s worked in the past. Hopefully it happens.
Rockies
• Kris Bryant will be the primary designated hitter.
Q. You were talking on MLB Network that you expect the veteran slugger to be Kris Bryant this season. Talk to me about how you plan to utilize him this upcoming year.
BUD BLACK: Well, you’re right. For us to go offensively, you need everybody, but there are certain players who have talent that need to do what they’re capable of doing. Kris has been hampered by injuries. He’s been hampered by a number of couple of things physically that have kept him from being Kris Bryant. So we need him to do that.
I envision him just strategically lineup-wise to primarily get probably most of his at-bats as a designated hitter. I see him in the outfield. In right field specifically. I see him potentially a little bit at first base.
But we have a slew of young outfielders. A slew of them. They’re going to get an opportunity. I’m counting Nolan Jones in there too. I’ll count Sammy Hilliard in there too at age 30. We have a slew of outfielders, and Billy has talked about the young guys.
Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.
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