Mining the News (11/14/22)

• Masataka Yoshida should be posted in the next week or two.

Sources: Masataka Yoshida, two-time batting champ in NPB, likely to be posted by Orix Buffaloes in the next 2 weeks. Details are still being discussed, but it’s becoming increasingly likely that Yoshida, a left fielder, will play next season in @MLB. 🇯🇵 @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 8, 2022

• Teams are interested in Seth Lugo as a starter.

Right-hander Seth Lugo reached free agency for the first time in his career last week and has already drawn plenty of early interest as teams begin charting their offseason gameplan. Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that more than a dozen teams — but not the Mets, yet — have reached out to Lugo. That shouldn’t be surprising for a consistently solid setup man, but what’s more interesting is Sammon’s note that some of those clubs have expressed interest in putting Lugo back into a rotation.

For his career, Lugo has a 4.35 ERA, 8.0 K/9, and 1.34 WHIP as a starter. Last season, the 32-year-old threw four different pitches.

He might be able to go with his four-seamer and curve and mix in the slider when needed.

American League

Guardians

• The team seems content with Bo Naylor as their primary catcher next season.

The Guardians have never been shy about trusting young players in big roles, and this trend could continue given how much they like Naylor.

“We think he’s got a chance to be a really good catcher on all sides of the game,” Antonetti said. “Not only really talented offensively…he does an extraordinary job of leading the pitching staff. He’s so motivated to make an impact with the pitchers that he’s kind taken it upon himself to learn Spanish. And not just the pitches, but actually learn the language so he can build a rapport and relationships with our Spanish-speaking pitchers.”

Rangers

• Brock Burke might be a rotation option.

Brock Burke
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Regardless, he was a bright spot in the bullpen, and his 2.1 bWAR was good for eighth-best on the team. It will be interesting to see if the team entertains a move back to starting pitching in 2023.

Burke was a starter until a shoulder injury cost him his 2020 and 2021 seasons. While Burke focused on his fastball (9% SwStr%) last season, he also threw a change (19% SwStr%, 50% GB%), cutter (16% SwStr%, 46% GB%), and slider (6% SwStr%, 35% GB%). While he’ll likely lose some velocity going to the rotation (92 mph starting in 2019, 95 mph last season), the change and cutter are nice compliments to his fastball. I think he’s a great value as a starter or reliever, especially with an NFBC ADP of 664.

• Jonathan Hernández could be a closer candidate next season.

Jonathan Hernández
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The important thing was that he stayed healthy, and if his second year back shows the sort of improvement that one might expect after Tommy John surgery, he’s a potential closer for the 2023 squad.

Red Sox

• Garrett Whitlock will be in the rotation.

General manager Brian O’Halloran acknowledged to reporters at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas on Wednesday that the dilemma has been settled.

Whitlock is projected to be in the starting rotation to start the 2023 season. And unlike last season, it’s highly doubtful he will bounce back and forth between the bullpen and rotation.

“Yeah, so with Whit, we told him to plan to be a starter. We expect him to be a starter,” O’Halloran said.

• Tanner Houck will build up as a starter but might move to the bullpen.

Houck will spend the offseason building up to be a starter, but the club informed him he might wind up in the bullpen once the season starts. Houck’s season ended in August due to a back injury that required surgery. He got a chance to close before the injury and seemed to thrive off the adrenaline and pressure of that role.

White Sox

• Yasmani Grandal never regained his strength last season and is trying to remove stress from his knees.

Throughout the season, Grandal repeatedly said his .202/.301/.269 batting line with just five home runs in 99 games was due to his struggles to reestablish the strength and explosiveness in his legs in order to regain power. Healthy enough to train this winter rather than rehabilitating after surgery, Grandal said he’s already had about 30 grueling sessions with Goodman in his effort to get to spring training at full strength.

…

Mosquera’s primary goal is to remove stress from Grandal’s knees, under the rationale that if he’s healthy and playing with less pain, he will hit and catch better. But while Grandal was an above-average pitch-framer again last season, albeit short of some of his elite past performances, the value he piles up by stealing strikes is tasked with making up for blocking issues.

Yankees

• The Yankees are happy with their current rotation.

Cashman mentioned Tuesday that he feels comfortable going into the season with Severino, Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Frankie Montas and Domingo German as the team’s rotation.

National League

Brewers

• Kolten Wong played through some lower body injuries last year.

Better health should help. Wong said he battled lower body issues throughout the season, including a right calf injury from a hit-by-pitch in June that lingered despite treatment and experimentation with footwear.

Beyond that, it’s a matter of starting fresh.

“Last year, I had a lot of moving parts with my personal life and my baseball life and the lockout; it just threw a wrench in how an offseason usually goes for me,” Wong said. “I’ve looked at enough video to understand where I was and the mistakes I was making.

Padres

• Nick Martinez wants to be in a starting rotation.

San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller acknowledged the 32-year-old would prefer to work as a starting pitcher. Martinez started 10 games this year but otherwise came out of the bullpen 37 times. He fared better in relief and Lin writes that some within the organization believe he’s better suited for such a role, but giving Martinez at least the opportunity to crack the rotation could aid San Diego’s efforts to keep him around for the next few seasons.

• Fernando Tatis Jr. may see some time at second base.

One idea that has been kicked around, according to sources familiar with the team’s thinking: deploying Tatis at second base, at least part time, while moving second baseman Jake Cronenworth to first base and keeping Ha-Seong Kim 김하성 at shortstop, Tatis’ preferred position. It might seem less likely than Tatis playing some combination of shortstop and the outfield, but it would still make use of his unique athleticism and perhaps give him a better chance of staying healthy when he returns to play.

Tatis has not appeared at second base in the majors. He made 10 starts there in the minors, the last coming in 2017. If necessary, the Padres and rival evaluators believe, he could play just about any position without much difficulty.

Phillies

• Bailey Falter, Cristopher Sánchez, Andrew Painter, Mick Abel, and Griff McGarry are options for next season’s rotation.

Dombrowski indicated the team was hopeful its 40-man roster and farm system could backfill the rotation behind Nola, Wheeler and Suárez. He listed Bailey Falter, Cristopher Sánchez, Andrew Painter, Mick Abel and Griff McGarry as candidates to join the group in 2023. “We want to try to create a spot for one of them,” he said.

Here are their projected ERA’s.

Name: Steamer ERA Projection
Falter: 4.27
Sanchez: 4.05
Painter: 4.38
Abel: 5.18
McGarry: 4.43

Sanchez is interesting with a projection of 7.7 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 52% GB%. As a starter last year, he posted a 3.38 ERA, 7.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, and 45% GB%. He attacks hitters with a 93-mph sinker (6% SwStr%, 50% GB%), change (13% SwStr%, 58% GB%), and slider (10% SwStr%, 68% GB%). He has no demand and hasn’t been taken in any NFBC drafts.

Pirates

• Once Endy Rodriguez gets promoted, expect him to play various positions all over the field besides just catcher.

I expect Rodriguez will make his Pirates debut sometime around the middle of the 2023 season. When he arrives, he’s gonna play a lot, but it probably won’t be behind the plate every day. Manager Derek Shelton loves player versatility and I suspect that, at least for a little while, he’ll make the most of that with Rodriguez, who played first base, second base, left field and DH last season.

“I’ve always had an open mind to play different positions,” Rodriguez said. “I think it dates back to when I was younger and had a manager in the Dominican Republic who said to me, ‘You’re a pretty athletic guy, so you should be open to going wherever you’re needed. Watch other people practicing at different positions and take from that what you can.’ But if I had to say where I’m most valuable, it’s definitely catching.”