Mining the News (2/1/25)

• Some teams are considering signing Lance Lynn as a closer.

Lynn, 37, has not pitched out of the bullpen since 2018. But his agent, Kevin Lustig, recently informed him that several clubs asked if he would be interested in pitching the ninth inning.

“He said, ‘I got a couple of weird calls today.’ I was like, ‘What? Did someone ask me for a minor-league deal?’” said Lynn, who remains a free agent. “He started dying laughing. He was like, ‘No, they asked what you thought about being a back-end guy, a closer.’

American League

Red Sox

• The Athletic’s Jen McCaffery thinks Masataka Yoshida will not be ready at the start of the season.

This isn’t me predicting Yoshida will be traded, but, rather, because it feels like he won’t be ready for Opening Day. At Fenway Fest, Yoshida said he would begin taking dry swings (not hitting a ball, just the motion of swinging) by the end of January and wouldn’t begin throwing until March. It’s possible he’s ready for the start of the season, and it’s not as if he’d be throwing regardless from the DH spot. Still, I could see the team giving him extra time to rehab fully and, in turn, promote Campbell to start the season.

• David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez are practicing to play in the infield and outfield.

… utility men David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez, both of whom are getting work in the infield and outfield.

• Vaughn Grissom looks bigger.

Cora went out of his way to mention how physical Grissom has looked when he’s visited him this offseason and it was noticeable how much stronger Grissom looked at Fenway Fest compared to last year.

Yankees

• The team likes Chase Hampton’s chances to contribute this season.

At the Winter Meetings, general manager Brian Cashman name-dropped Hampton, a 23-year-old righty, as someone on his radar when he was discussing the pitching depth in the Yankees’ minor leagues.

“One of the guys, for instance, no one talks about anymore is Hampton, who was hurt last year,” Cashman said at the time. “He’s healthy again.”

Hampton was among the Yankees’ most hyped prospects going into 2024.

Baseball America (No. 72), MLB Pipeline (No. 92) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 56) each had him ranked as one of the top 100 prospects in the game.

The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him as the Yankees’ top overall pitching prospect and their sixth-best prospect in the system, noting his “kitchen-sink arsenal, working 94-95 mph with some ride up in the zone and two breaking balls that both might be plus.” Law added that Hampton “looks like a back-end starter if he can hold up, maybe more if he ditches the cutter and develops a real change-of-pace pitch.”

Phillies

• The team sees Orion Kerkering as a future closer especially since he added a sinker.

Could he see Kerkering as a closer in the future?

“For sure,” Cotham said. “That’s an easy yes for me. If we define closer like the ability to get the most important outs in a game, he’s there.”

But there are ways to be even better in those spots. Kerkering said a focus this spring is his fastball. Specifically, throwing more two-seamers and locating them better.

He thinks it could be a game changer.

“Maybe it’s like 25-25 [percent] between fastballs,” Kerkering said, with the other half being sliders. “Split it a little bit more, and play off between righties and lefties a little bit more. Be able to locate left and right side of the plate a little better with it. Just keep growing off it. Last year, I don’t want to say [the sinker] was a play-around pitch, but [it was an] experiment almost. See how it is. But this year it’s take the next step into it.”

• The team has mentioned top prospect Justin Crawford as possibly contributing this season.

If you could predict one prospect (other than Painter) to make an impact this year, who would you pick? — Will W.

…

Now, take this for what it is: Dombrowski has mentioned Crawford in the same breath as Painter — just in terms of closeness to the majors. The Phillies might have a greater 2025 need in the outfield than the infield.

He has hit over .300 in the past two seasons while stealing over 40 bags in each.

Reds

• Will Benson reworked his swing his offseason.

Benson has reworked his swing, and the hope would be that it makes him a more competitive option in the outfield.

Rockies

• Jacob Stallings has been retraining his eyes with positive results.

Early in Spring Training, Harrison quickly went deeper than Stallings’ eyes. He inquired about his head.

…

The stats held the answer. After seeing three straight years of OPS readings better than .700 with increased playing time with the Pirates, Stallings was traded to the Marlins. He dipped to .584 in ‘22 and .565 in ‘23 before the Marlins non-tendered him.

Harrison — whose SlowTheGameDown Elite Visual Performance company has extensive experience with teams and individual athletes — worked to restore the puzzle piece that Stallings didn’t know was missing.
…
“A few weeks later, he [Harrison] came back in Spring Training,” Stallings said. “I did the assessment again, and I tested as one of the best guys in all of camp.”

The results showed it. Stallings posted career full-season bests with a .263 batting average, .357 on-base percentage, .453 slugging percentage and nine home runs while appearing in 82 games. The performance was good enough to earn him a new one-year, $2.5 million guarantee with a 2026 option.