The Philadelphia Phillies were busy last week. They added high-profile veteran flamethrower Craig Kimbrel to the bullpen while DFA’ing former high-dollar international signee Francisco Morales to make room for him, then capped things off with a five-player trade with the Detroit Tigers headlined by two-time All Star reliever Gregory Soto. The deal involves several moving parts, both in the trade itself and in terms of what it means for the Tigers’ and Phillies’ roster and lineup construction in the upcoming season. The entire trade is:
Philadelphia receives:
RP Gregory Soto and 2B Kody Clemens
The Phillies now have the majors’ two hardest-throwing left-handed pitchers in Soto and José Alvarado, and three of the top 40 regardless of handedness when you include Seranthony Domínguez. Alvarado and Domínguez handled high-leverage duty for the Phillies during the 2022 playoffs, with experienced veteran David Robertson playing the “closer” role in the event that both had already thrown, or if either was unavailable. Now Kimbrel and Soto, both with closer experience, appear poised to fall into high-octane versions of that role, and that extends to Soto’s assumed role as the second lefty in Philly’s bullpen, a part occupied last year by Brad Hand. Read the rest of this entry »
Along with Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker — they of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance fame — Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker are the most-storied double-play combination in baseball history. As well they should be. The Detroit Tigers duo played more games together (1,918) than any middle-infield duo in history. Moreover, they combined for 11 All-Star appearances, seven Gold Gloves, seven Silver Sluggers, and they won a World Series together. Both are icons for a franchise that has played in the American League since 1901.
Tinker and Evans, who played together with the Chicago Cubs from 1902-1912, are both in the Hall of Fame. So is Trammell. Meanwhile — this for reasons best explained as inexplicable — Whitaker is not. His exclusion stands as one of Cooperstown’s most glaring omissions.
Whitaker has more WAR and a higher JAWS score than a number of Hall of Fame second basemen, but that can be a debate for another day. For now, let’s focus on how he compares to Evers.
Whitaker: 2,369 hits, 244 home runs, 118 wRC+, 68.1 WAR.
Evers: 1,659 hits, 12 home runs, 109 wRC+, 49.0 WAR.
While Evers’s numbers are anything but great, it should be noted that he won an MVP award and played for three World Series-winning teams (the Cubs twice and the Boston Braves once). That said, it’s highly unlikely that he would be in the Hall of Fame were he not part of a legendary double-play combination (he and Tinker were Old-Timers-Committee selections in the same year). How they became legendary is, of course, a big part of the story. The poem penned in 1910 by sportswriter Franklin Pierce Adams reads: Read the rest of this entry »
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Detroit Tigers signed a veteran starting pitcher with (a) experience as a reliever and (b) a troubling injury history to a single-year deal worth (up to) $10 million. Two weeks after signing 31-year-old Matthew Boyd to such a contract, the Tigers came to terms with soon-to-be 31-year-old Michael Lorenzen on a similar deal. Lorenzen will make $8.5 million guaranteed, with the chance to earn an additional $1.5 million in performance incentives.
One year and $8.5 to $10 million is just what you’d expect for Lorenzen, who was worth 1.0 WAR last season and projects to be worth another 1.0 WAR (per Steamer) in 2023. When he was on the mound, he was a league-average starter in 2022, with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.31 FIP. Unfortunately, a shoulder strain kept him out for two months in the middle of the year. He has yet to prove he can last a full season in a starting role.
Lorenzen was a closer in college, but the Cincinnati Reds saw his potential as a starter and stretched him out as such. Then he struggled in the role in his rookie season, and after an elbow injury kept him out for much of his sophomore campaign, he returned to the bullpen. Not one to be easily discouraged, Lorenzen advertised his services as a starting pitcher when he reached free agency last winter. The Angels took him up on his offer and invited him to join their six-man rotation for the 2022 season. It was a good landing spot for a pitcher who had barely worked as a starter since 2015:
Michael Lorenzen’s Workload 2015-21
Season
Games
Games Starts
IP
2015
27
21
113.1
2016
35
0
50.0
2017
70
0
83.0
2018
45
3
81.0
2019
73
0
83.1
2020
18
2
33.2
2021
27
0
29.0
The Angels did not, however, take Lorenzen up on his other offer: in addition to starting ballgames, he wanted regular plate appearances and reps in the outfield. He had not been a two-way player since 2019, when he played 89 innings in the outfield and hit .208/.283/.313. One might have thought the Angels were the perfect team to give him that opportunity, but in hindsight, it was a bit of a pipe dream. The Angels entered the season with a strong outfield alignment of Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, and Brandon Marsh, and they certainly didn’t have any at-bats to spare at DH. By the time Trout was injured and Marsh was traded, Lorenzen was wasting away on the injured list.
As it turns out, focusing on one aspect of his game was the smartest choice for Lorenzen, and the man himself seems to agree. “Now that I am a starter, I’m pretty happy about that,” he told the Orange County Register in April. “Of course, if they want me to hit, I’m willing to do it, but it’s not something that I’m fighting for.”
After years spent mainly in the bullpen, Lorenzen made 18 starts in 2022 and looked more than capable while doing so. By WAR, it was the second-best season of his career. Any time he might have spent training at the plate would only have taken away from time spent refining his pitch repertoire.
To that point, Lorenzen clearly put a great deal of work into his pitches this season. Back in April, Jake Mailhot wrote about Lorenzen’s return to the starting rotation and how he was adjusting his repertoire to find success. Yet Lorenzen wasn’t done making changes – not even close. His pitch mix morphed as the season continued, and many of the adjustments Jake wrote about completely disappeared. The sinker, Lorenzen’s most-thrown pitch in April, became less and less of a factor. By the end of the year, he was using it only 8% of the time. His slider, meanwhile, lost about four inches of horizontal movement from April to September. The first clip here is from April 18, while the second is from September 9:
Lorenzen’s primary pitches also changed throughout the year. From April to June, his go-to offering against left-handed batters was the four-seam fastball, but his changeup earned a bigger role as the year progressed. By September, he was throwing the change to lefties nearly half the time:
Similarly, his sinker was his primary pitch against righties early on, but his slider overtook it by season’s end:
Lorenzen also vastly reduced his cutter usage and adding in a curveball. Until September, he had thrown just five curveballs all year. Over his final five starts, he threw 30. As for his individual pitches, Lorenzen added spin to every one of his offerings throughout the season, and he also started throwing a noticeably slower changeup. All this to say, late-season Lorenzen was a vastly different pitcher than his early-season counterpart. He changed his approach, and he had better outings as a result:
Michael Lorenzen by Month
Months
GS
IP
K/BB
ERA
FIP
xFIP
April-July
13
71.0
1.83
4.94
4.46
4.42
Sept/Oct
5
26.2
2.14
2.36
3.90
3.60
Lorenzen did well to concentrate on his pitching in 2022. He saw especially positive results in September, and he’ll look to build upon that success in a healthy 2023 season. It’s probably best if he continues to resist the call of the bat – even if he has a much better chance of cracking the lineup with his new team. Lorenzen’s career OPS (small sample size warning) is higher than the Steamer projections for half of Detroit’s starting lineup:
It’s funny that I find myself advocating against Lorenzen, the two-way player. I promise I’m not anti-fun! In fact, I was inspired to write about him in the first place precisely because of his experience on both sides of the ball. A little part of me was hoping to find an argument that might compel him to pick up the bat once again. However, the more I learned about his 2022 season, the more invested I became in Lorenzen, the one-way player. He spent the year altering his approach and refining his individual pitches, and the season ended before we could tell if he found a pitch mix to stick with.
That being the case, I look forward to watching his development continue into 2023. With the Tigers, Lorenzen should have a low-stress environment to tinker, adjust, and grow as a starting pitcher. If he’s happy with the approach he took in September, I’m interested to see how it plays out over a full season. And if he isn’t done adjusting, I’m excited to keep up with whatever changes he makes next.
Masataka Yoshida is MLB’s latest NPB import, having been inked to a five-year, $90M contract by the Boston Red Sox earlier this week. A 29-year-old, left-handed-hitting outfielder, Yoshida is coming off of a season where he slashed .335/.447/.561 with 21 home runs for the Orix Buffaloes… and it wasn’t a breakout season. He’s been one of the best hitters in Japan’s top league in each of the last five years.
Who is the best pitcher in NPB? I asked Yoshida that question on Thursday following his introductory press conference at Fenway Park.
“Probably Kodai Senga,” replied Yoshida, citing the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks right-hander who recently signed a 5-year, $75M deal with the New York Mets. “I think he was the best pitcher in Japan.”
Intrigued by that answer, I followed up by asking, via interpreter Keiichiro Wakabayashi, if he feels that Senga is actually better than his former Orix teammate, 24-year-old Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Read the rest of this entry »
The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2023 Hall of Fame ballot. Originally written for the 2021 election, it has been updated to reflect recent voting results as well as additional research. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule, and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.
Torii Hunter could go get it. Fluid and graceful while patrolling center field, he was renowned for his leaping, acrobatic catches and his willingness to sacrifice his body. He made a strong enough impression upon those who watched him that he won nine Gold Gloves during his 19-year career, more than all but three center fielders, namely Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Andruw Jones. Hunter earned the nickname “Spider-Man” for his ability to climb outfield walls to steal home runs — something he did more than just about anybody else during his career — though one attempt to do so at Fenway Park left him with a broken ankle, and another a concussion.
“I’ll do anything to get that little white ball. I’ll put my life on the line,” Hunter toldSports Illustrated’s Albert Chen in 2005, sounding very much like the football player he was during his high school days in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Hunter rose from difficult circumstances in Pine Bluff, including a father who was addicted to crack cocaine and friends who fell into the dead-end life of drugs, guns, and gangs. His athleticism helped him escape, though when he entered professional baseball as a first-round pick of the Twins in 1993, his talent was more raw than most. Read the rest of this entry »
The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2023 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule, and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.
Francisco Rodríguez was the October Surprise. As the Angels went on their 2002 postseason run, they introduced a secret weapon out of their bullpen, a 20-year-old Venezuelan righty with an unholy fastball-slider combination and the poise of a grizzled veteran despite him having all of 5.2 major league innings under his belt. Often throwing multiple innings and quickly graduating into a setup role in front of closer Troy Percival, Rodríguez set a number of records, including one for the most strikeouts by a reliever in a single postseason (28) while helping the Angels to their first (and to date only) championship in franchise history.
Though he endured some growing pains at the major league level, by 2004 Rodríguez was an All-Star, and from ’05-08 he led the American League in saves three times, setting a still-standing single-season record with 62 in the last of those campaigns. His mid-90s fastball and mid-80s slider befuddled hitters, while his demonstrative antics — “a melange of pirouettes, fist pumps and primordial screams,” as one writer put it — sometimes got under their skin.
Rodríguez cashed in via free agency, signing a three-year, $37 million deal with the Mets, but he was rarely the same pitcher he’d been in Anaheim. He made three more All-Star teams, but was arrested twice, once for assaulting his girlfriend’s father (and tearing ligaments in his thumb in the process) and once for domestic abuse. He pled guilty to the former and attended anger management classes, while the charges for the latter were dropped when the woman left to return to Venezuela. Both incidents likely would have interrupted his career to an even greater degree had they occurred after Major League Baseball and the Players Association adopted its domestic violence policy in 2015. Read the rest of this entry »
Gabe Kapler was asked about next season’s more-balanced schedule when he met with the media during the Winter Meetings. More specifically, he was asked about not having to play as many games against powerhouse division rivals like the Dodgers and Padres. His response began with an unexpected nod to the team that finished in fourth place with a record of 74-88.
“The Diamondbacks were really tough on us this year,” said the Giants manager, whose club went 9-10 versus Arizona. “They’re a really challenging team. I think about the Diamondbacks a lot, because they’re so gifted and athletic, and they’re all so young. Torey [Lovullo] does a great job, and Mike Hazen… their whole front office is a good group.”
Arizona’s young talent on the position player side includes Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, and Geraldo Perdomo, with more reinforcements on the way. Carroll, who debuted at the end of August, is No. 4 on our Top 100 — a list that includes five D-Backs — and the farm system that Hazen oversees as Arizona’s GM ranks sixth-best among the 30 organizations.
How does this group compare to the young talent Lovullo worked with as Boston’s bench coach from 2013-2016, and before that as the team’s Triple-A manager? Read the rest of this entry »
The Braves have taken a heterodox approach to building a bullpen in recent years. Sometimes they apply the overall team strategy of strongly preferring players with ties to Georgia, like Collin McHugh and former Brave Will Smith. Sometimes they take fliers on players looking to reinvigorate their careers, like Kirby Yates and Nick Anderson. Sometimes they fleece the Angels for Raisel Iglesias, or sign a good closer to a short-term deal like Kenley Jansen, or draft and develop an A.J. Minter. Heck, sometimes they just call Jesse Chavez, and he magically appears in the bullpen.
This week, they’re trying a new tack, making a trade to shore up their already-solid relief corps. It wasn’t the biggest transaction of the week or anywhere near it, but every transaction deserves a little analysis. Let’s talk Braves and Tigers. Let’s talk Joe Jiménez, Justyn-Henry Malloy, and Jake Higginbotham:
Jiménez is a walking advertisement for reliever volatility. Depending on the year, he’s been either excellent or near-unplayable. His true talent level likely lies somewhere in between his superlative 2022, when he struck out a third of opposing batters to go with pinpoint control, and his ’21, when he ran a 16.7% walk rate and an ERA approaching 6.00. Sure, relievers are volatile, but Jiménez has been really volatile. Read the rest of this entry »
Matthew Boyd has been on quite the baseball journey over the last few years. After spending the bulk of his career with the Tigers as a promising member of their rotation, an unfortunate elbow injury in 2021 resulted in Detroit non-tendering him after the season. He signed a one-year deal with the Giants and spent the first half of this year rehabbing from his flexor tendon surgery. He was traded to the Mariners at the trade deadline and returned to the big leagues to pitch 13.1 innings for his hometown team in September as they worked towards breaking their infamous playoff drought.
With his childhood dream fulfilled and a clean bill of health, Boyd will now return to the Tigers on a one-year, $10 million deal with the potential for an additional $1 million in performance bonuses.
With his recent injury history, the one-year contract doesn’t come without its share of risk. And even if Boyd’s elbow is completely healthy, he wasn’t exactly the most consistent performer in Detroit. In 2019, he posted a career-best 3.2 WAR behind a 30.2% strikeout rate and an above-average walk rate. Unfortunately, both his ERA and FIP sat above 4.00 that year because he also led the league in home runs allowed. The long ball had been a consistent problem for him throughout his career, but the improvements he made to his strikeout-to-walk ratio seemed like they could offset the number of balls flying over the fence. Read the rest of this entry »
Job Summary:
The baseball performance associate will assist with the delivery of performance science solutions within Baseball Operations. This role will work closely Baseball Analytics, Player Development, Strength and Conditioning, Sports Medicine and Coaching staffs in order to optimize performance.
Key Responsibilities:
Assist with implementation and maintenance of existing performance science initiatives across the organization, including data collection, analysis and reporting.
Assist with the design, development, testing and support of new performance science initiatives.
Work closely with the Director, Performance Science to develop and disseminate information from performance science initiatives.
Effectively collaborate and communicate with player development, coaching, sports medicine, strength and conditioning and front office staff.
Assist with data management, organization and integration into the organization’s athlete management system.
Review research and technology updates relevant to baseball performance.
Perform exploratory performance science research projects and analysis as directed.
Assist with the maintenance, calibration and upkeep of performance science related equipment.
Other duties as directed by Director, Performance Science
Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Bachelor’s degree in exercise science, exercise physiology, sports science, kinesiology, biomechanics or similar field.
Experience with the following technologies preferred: Force plates, IMUs, motion capture, high speed video, Trackman.
Experience using an athlete management system.
The ideal candidate must have excellent computer skills. Coding or data visualization skills a plus; R preferred.
The ideal candidate must have excellent communication skills. Candidate must be able to convey complex performance science findings to relevant staffs.
The ideal candidate must have excellent attention to detail.
The ideal candidate must have excellent organizational skills.
Previous experience working with professional athletes and coaches a plus.
The ideal candidate must be willing to work longs hours, including days, nights, weekends and holidays.
The candidate must be available full-time.
Willing and able to relocate to the Lakeland, FL area or Detroit metro area.
The Detroit Tigers are looking for Hawk-Eye and TrackMan systems operators to assist their affiliates day of game. This position will report to the Director, Performance Science.
Location:
Toledo, OH
Erie, PA
Grand Rapids, MI
Lakeland, FL
Job Summary:
Operate a Hawk-Eye or TrackMan system for each home game, arriving at least one hour prior to game time (or earlier, as requested).
Verify system readiness, rosters and pre-game information.
Log necessary information for each play of the game, including but not limited to pitch types and roster changes.
Verify logged data to ensure accuracy.
Review previously logged data for data accuracy corrections, as necessary.
Provide data and reports to Baseball Info Analysts conclusion of game, as necessary.
Other duties may be assigned.
Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Qualified candidate must be motivated, well organized, and detail orientated.
Previous experience using hawk-Eye or TrackMan software is preferred but not required.
Preferred candidate lives in proximity to affiliate location.
Knowledge of Microsoft office software including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and Internet Explorer.
Duration:
Availability for every home game as determined by each affiliate’s schedule.
Lakeland requires availability from beginning of Spring Training to end of Minor League schedule.
Assist the amateur scouts, crosscheckers, Assistant Director & Scouting Director in multiple aspects of Amateur Scouting – team sheets, stat sheets, organization of event schedules, etc.
Catalogue prospect medical questionnaires and general questionnaires found within the Draft Prospect Link.
Provide assistance in video editing/logging/uploading/maintenance within Scouting database.
Assist in meeting setup throughout the year.
Statistical compilation for all Draft eligible prospects throughout the country.
Prospect profile management within Scouting database.
Schedule management within database.
Gather and distribute research material and articles to Amateur Scouting staff
Assist with projects and perform other ad hoc duties as assigned.
Seasonal Assistant will work closely throughout the year with Baseball Operations, Analytics and Amateur Scouting.
Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
The ideal candidate must have excellent verbal and written communication skills
The ideal candidate must have excellent computer skills and strong Excel knowledge
The ideal candidate must have excellent communication skills
The ideal candidate must have excellent time management and organizational skills
The ideal candidate must be available full-time
The ideal candidate must be willing to work longs hours, including days, nights, weekends and holidays.
Working Conditions:
Office Environment in Lakeland, FL
Some evening, weekend, and holiday hours will be required
Overview:
The Detroit Tigers Minor League Sports Nutrition Associate is responsible for providing our minor league players and staff with effective strategies to optimize their performance and improve their well-being. Through the benefits of nutrition and science, the sports nutrition associates will enable the Toledo Mud Hens, Erie SeaWolves, and West Michigan White Caps athletes the ability to manage their body composition and perform at their highest level.
Responsibilities:
Coordinate services with Tigers’ team physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, strength and conditioning coaches, MLB Nutrition Coordinator, and MiLB Nutrition Coordinator and be available to such personnel at all reasonable times during the term for consultation.
Provide regular education in the clubhouse with the flexibility to create nutrition education pieces based on the most pertinent topics to their team. Sessions may be in person and/or via closed social media or online player platforms. Short team talks are to be coordinated with strength coaches/athletic trainers and affiliate coaches.
Work with other associates at the affiliates to share education pieces to help eliminate duplication of effort and ensure a consistent message across the organization. Have education pieces translated into Spanish. Examples of typical high priority education piece in the minor leagues include:
Healthier fast food and quick service restaurant options.
Hydration – how to evaluate hydration status, when to hydrate, how much, use of electrolytes.
Meal prep – quick and easy, on a budget and with limited cooking resources.
Protein shakes – recipes, preparation techniques, when to use.
Pre-training/game nutrition principles.
Post-game recovery nutrition principles.
Safe supplementation – NSF certification, is it necessary, safe and effective.
One on one nutrition consulting – assess and counsel minor-league players at your affiliate team for optimal performance, recovery, and health. Document sessions and regularly communicate with other associates at the affiliates when players move to other affiliates to ensure continuity of care. Keep open communication regarding any relevant issues with the MLB and MiLB Nutrition Coordinators.
Keep inventory of supplements and identify when supplement inventory is low. Communicate inventory or needs with the MiLB Nutrition Coordinator. Provide education as listed above on safe supplement usage.
Oversee food and nutrition services at the minor league clubhouse.
Select and order high performance food for pre and post-game meals at home and away stadiums.
Work with opposing teams visiting clubhouse mangers to identify options. Utilize feedback from strength coach to assess on the road food and make necessary modifications as necessary.
Attend all home games and assist in preparation of smoothies (and teach players how to make their own) and food set up.
Remain available at reasonable times to provide other related consultations as reasonably requested by the Tigers.
Any equipment purchases must receive prior approval from the organizations.
Other services and work as mutually agreed upon.
Characteristics & Qualifications:
Bachelor’s Degree in clinical nutrition, food and nutrition, food science, sports nutrition or related expertise required.
RD or RD eligible. Completion of a didactic program in nutrition and supervised program approved by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) or formally, Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education (CADE) of the American Dietetic Association.
Experience providing nutrition education and counseling (preferred experience with athletes).
Excellent communication, presentation, and counseling skills.
Excellent time-management and organizational skills.
Self-motivator, ability to work independently and collaborate as a member of a team.
Ability to accurately measure height and weight, as well as assess body composition.
Knowledge of eating disorders and any signs and symptoms.
Knowledge and application of medical nutrition therapy, ergogenic aids, nutritional/herbal supplements.
Excellent organizational and record keeping skills.
Knowledge of food service quality and safety practices.
Ability to pass background screening and drug test.
Ability to operate in highest professional standard.
Membership in SCAN (Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition and/or CPSDA (Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association) preferred.
Compensation / Location / Time Commitment:
To be determined
Spring Training March-April – Lakeland, FL (length TBD)
