On paper, it’s hard to see Jon Jay as any sort of upgrade for the defending World Champion Chicago Cubs. Prior to the one-year, $8-million agreement between Jay and the club, our Depth Chart projections featured Jason Heyward as the recipient of the majority of the team’s center-field plate appearances, with Kyle Schwarber receiving most of the time in left, Ben Zobrist in right, and Jorge Soler serving as a backup at each of the latter two positions. Adding Jay, moving Heyward from center to right, giving Zobrist the majority of time at second base, and forecasting fewer plate appearances for Javier Baez (who had appeared as the starting second baseman on the depth charts previous to the acquisition of Jay) does little to help Chicago’s projections. That said, the acquisition probably does have benefit for the 2017 club — even if the abundance of outfielders ultimately serves to diminish the trade value both of Soler and Albert Almora.

Despite his otherworldly defense in right field, Heyward doesn’t seem to be an ideal fit in center. While he can handle the position, the Cubs have appeared unwilling to make him the starter there. They re-signed Dexter Fowler to avoid that scenario this past year and were likely always going to find a replacement for Fowler this offseason. The addition of Jay gives them the opportunity to deploy a platoon in center now, with Jay handling the lefty side of things and a 23-year-old Almora taking a couple hundred plate appearances from the right. That’s a sensible solution. As sensible as it is, though, some questions remain regarding the Cubs outfield.

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Have you heard? The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2017 is now available for sale. You can check out the table of contents and read some excerpts from the book here. When you finish that you can purchase it Amazon in either print or Kindle form.
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So, last night, Major League Baseball and the Player’s Association agreed to the terms of a five year Collective Bargaining Agreement, maintaining labor peace through at least the 2021 season. Despite it going down to the deadline, this felt like a deal that was always going to get made; there is just too much money in baseball for either side to risk a work stoppage right now. And at the end of the day, the two sides mostly just agreed to continue under the same rules as before.

There are changes, but they are tweaks more than overhauls. The luxury tax is going up, but only a little bit. Teams no longer have to surrender a first round pick to sign a player who received a qualifying offer; now they have to surrender either 2nd and 5th round picks or a 3rd round pick, depending on whether they are over the luxury tax threshold or not. The DL is being shortened from 15 days to 10 days. The All-Star Game no longer determines home field advantage in the World Series. The season will start mid-week, and more off days will be built into the schedule.

Like I said, tweaks. There’s no change to roster size, as was rumored earlier in the week. There are no big rules adjustments that impact the game on the field. For the most part, baseball is going to go on as it was before.

There is, however, one area where things are changing drastically. Maybe not as drastically as the owners would have liked, as the dream of an international draft died in negotiations, but the acquisition of players from other countries is reportedly changing in a big way. And it could lead to some huge shifts in how baseball teams operate off the field.

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Pitching coordinators play an important role. They oversee development throughout their respective club’s minor-league system, roving between affiliates to ensure that organizational philosophies — many of which they’ve had a hand in designing — are being followed. Their responsibilities extend to the individual arms, as well. Each pitcher has a player plan, and the coordinators are expected to optimize his chances of making it to the big leagues.

Ron Roenicke isn’t a pitching coordinator. Nor is Erik Bennett. But both have up-close familiarity with what the position entails. Roenicke — currently on Mike Scioscia’s staff in Anaheim — has coached and managed in both the major and minor leagues since 1992. Bennett has been a pitching coach in the Angels system since 2003, most recently at the Triple-A level. He spent the bulk of the 2016 season in the big leagues, filling in for bullpen coach Scott Radinsky, who was recovering from a medical procedure.

Roenicke and Bennett shared their insight on the roles and responsibilities of pitching coordinators this past summer.

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Ron Roenicke: “The coordinators are obviously important. The pitching coach at the level a player is at is probably even more important. He’s going to be building a relationship with the guy. He’s going to know his head — what he’s thinking about — and what his positives are, on a daily basis. The coordinators — at least the good ones — will go in and take what the coach gives them, and they’ll watch to see the difference between spring training and that specific time.

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Teams have gotten pretty good about handling trade rumors. The teams themselves don’t operate any differently, but whenever any big name is discussed, you just about always hear the team isn’t shopping him. Rather, the front office will frequently indicate it’s open to anything. “Listening to offers,” as if there’s any other way. Big names still get traded as often as ever, but teams try to reduce anxiety in the meantime. They don’t want people stressing out until or unless there’s something worth stressing over.

The Andrew McCutchen offers have taken on a different feel. At first, it felt like, all right, maybe the Pirates would be open to trading him. But Wednesday, reports emerged that the Pirates are the ones being aggressive. I don’t know if that’s coming from the Pirates organization or somewhere(s) else, but this is pretty unusual. Pair that with the news that Austin Meadows will be playing an outfield corner and you definitely get the sense McCutchen’s days with the Pirates are numbered.

As Ken Rosenthal and others have written, it looks more likely than ever that McCutchen’s going to be dealt. If it happens, it would hardly be a shock to see it happen before the end of next week’s winter meetings. McCutchen is still to be considered a premium outfielder, so any number of teams would love to pick him up. After examining the landscape, though, I don’t see a better fit than the Nationals.

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Last year, the A’s couldn’t play defense. Matt Joyce isn’t really going to help with that. Last year, the A’s couldn’t keep their pitchers healthy. Matt Joyce isn’t really going to help with that. And, last year, the A’s couldn’t hit very much. Matt Joyce is probably going to help with that.

Here’s the deal — around this time of year, we write about a lot of transactions. We don’t write about every transaction, but we cover the majority of multi-year free-agent signings. Not every one of those signings is interesting. It took me forever to find something to say about Edinson Volquez, and I don’t even like the post that I wrote. Joyce has now signed with the A’s for two years and $11 million, meaning he got half of Volquez’s guarantee. Many of you have figured out this is a post about Joyce, and so you want to just leave and read anything else. But this one is interesting. Joyce is interesting. A few times during the season, I wanted to write him up, but I never got around to it. Now I have a reason, as the A’s might’ve found another cleanup hitter.

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With the Winter Meetings on the horizon, our position-by-position look at hitter contact quality continues, using granular exit-speed and launch-angle data as our primary guides. On Monday, it was the AL second-sackers’ turn; today, we turn to their senior-circuit counterparts.

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Have you heard? The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2017 is now available for sale. You can check out the table of contents and read some excerpts from the book here. When you finish that you can purchase it Amazon in either print or Kindle form.
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Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal published a piece over on FoxSports arguing that, if a team wants to put themselves in the Chris Sale sweepstakes, they should consider parting with one of their “can’t touch” players.

“Can’t do that.”

That’s the phrase baseball people often use when confronted with the possibility of trading a top young player. Can’t do that. Won’t do that. Don’t even go there.

The availability of White Sox left-hander Chris Sale, however, creates a different landscape — or at least, it should.

Rarely, if ever, have we seen a pitcher obtainable under circumstances like this.

Sale, 27, is not simply one of the game’s top aces. He also is under club control for three more years — and priced well below market value at less than $13 million per season.

The White Sox, then, are justified in setting an exceedingly high bar for Sale, and should not settle for less when they start hearing the proverbial “can’t do that” from one team after another.

Rosenthal goes on to list six players who fit the criteria of a cornerstone player, the kind that Rosenthal believes Sale should bring back in return as the foundation of a deal. Those players? Alex Bregman, Andrew Benintendi, Rougned Odor, Julio Urias, Trea Turner, and Dansby Swanson.

Rosenthal is right that Sale, based on his elite performance and remarkably underpriced contract, is worth this kind of player. It’s why he ranked as the 15th most valuable asset in the game in this summer’s Trade Value series, ahead of all six of those players. But if I’m one of the teams trying to make a deal for Sale, I’d still be inclined to try and say “no thanks” to a deal built around those kinds of players.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have been incredibly successful on the field under the Guggenheim Group, winning four straight division titles and twice coming within two games of a World Series appearances. Not only does the club possess a massive television contract with Time Warner, but they’ve also drawn more than 3.7 million fans in every season under the current ownership group. The team has also been at the top of Major League Baseball payrolls — and, including competitive-balance tax money, has paid out roughly $1.2 billion in salaries over the past four years. There are rumblings that those payroll figures could come down quite a bit, with a detailed piece from Bill Shaikin in the Los Angeles Times indicating how and why payroll could be reduced.

Shaikin does a good job separating the Dodgers’ debt issues from their payroll concerns. While obviously related at some level — both matters are relevant to the Dodgers’ financial health — the one doesn’t necessarily affect the other. According to the current (and expiring) collective bargaining agreement, teams are forbidden from carrying a franchise debt in an amount greater than eight to 12 times the team’s earnings. (The exact multiplier depends on a few different factors not worth exploring here, and how earnings are calculated and why it matters are explained in this comment.) The rule exists to ensure the financial security of all MLB teams, limit outside influences, and make certain that teams aren’t in danger of going under. The Dodgers’ ownership group has been given five years as a grace period before the rule applies to them, giving them another year to address their debt.

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