Sunday Notes: MiLB Money vs Japan & Words from the Winter Meetings

Anthony Seratelli came into spring training with a chance to make the New York Mets roster in a utility role. Instead, the 31-year-old career minor-league veteran spent the entire season in Triple-A. Now he’s heading to Japan.

Seratelli signed a one-year contract with the Seibu Lions, and the primary reason was money. Nine years after entering pro ball, his big-league hopes slowly fading, it was time to finally earn a meaningful paycheck.

Minor-league salaries are abysmal. The standard salary for first-year players is $1,100 per month. At the Double-A level, players get approximately $1,500 per month. Triple-A players can make markedly more, depending on experience and 40-man-roster status, but some earn as little as $2,150 per month. Major League Baseball’s minimum salary recently increased to $507,500 per year.

Minor-league players only receive paychecks April through August. They aren’t paid during spring training, instructional league, or during the offseason. For seven months out of the year, they’re training on their own dime. According to Garrett Broshuis, the Uniform Player Contract “requires players to perform work throughout the year, but teams aren’t paying them for that.” A prospect-turned-attorney, Broshuis is involved in a class-action suit to improve compensation for minor-leaguers.

Each Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team has a 70-man roster and the lowest-paid player on any roster reportedly earned the equivalent of $44,000 US dollars last year. Seratelli signed with Seibu for $600,000, plus incentives.

With the majority of minor-league players in the United States making no more than $7,500 annually, Japan has plenty of appeal. According to Seratelli, “Playing overseas always comes up when you’re in the minor leagues.”

Japan has its own draft, and does everything it can to keep young talent at home. NPB representatives regularly alert amateur players to what they would encounter in the United States. Other factors are at play – notably the “Tazawa Rule” – but minor-league wages and living conditions serve as a strong deterrent.

Seratelli still has big-league dreams. In the meantime, he plans to embrace a new culture that has familial ties. One of his grandmothers is Japanese-born, and while he’s never visited and doesn’t speak the language – he told me he’s anxious to learn – Seratelli is looking forward to playing baseball on the other side of the world. As much as anything, he’s looking forward to making a livable wage.

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The MLB strike zone was lower in 2014. How that impacted individual teams, and how to approach it going forward, is a matter of opinion. I broached the subject with several people last week.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan said he doesn’t feel the lower strike zone impacted his team, although “it did the industry.” He added that expanding the strike zone will ultimately affect offense, but that goes for east and west, as well as down. Ryan emphasized that no one is blaming any of the Twins ills on a lower strike zone. As he honestly and bluntly put it, “We had issues.”

Rockies manager Walt Weiss addressed the question from a pitching point of view. He said the lower strike zone “plays right into our hands” because of Coors Field and the club’s emphasis on keeping the ball out of the air. Weiss said it is nice to see his pitchers rewarded for doing what is preached to them: Attack the bottom of the zone.

Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon – a former hitting coach – tackled the issue from an offensive standpoint. He said he saw little impact this season, then offered an upside-down opinion on pitch location.

“You want the ball down,” said McClendon. “Against power pitching, you have the ability to drive the ball better when it’s down than when it’s up. Power pitchers get their strikeouts up in the zone.”

Padres manager Bud Black brought up how hitters had trouble handling velocity at the higher end of the strike zone in this year’s World Series. In his opinion, lower called strikes are a good thing, but so is the ability of a pitcher to use velocity at the top of the zone. He added that catching the low pitch for a strike is an art.

Not surprisingly, Black is tuned in to framing. The former pitcher called it important and noted that Rene Rivera and Yasmani Grandal graded out as good framers. He added that Austin Hedges – based on what he’s seen and what he’s heard from evaluators – is also a good framer. In Black’s words, “Statistically, what that means to a pitching staff – what it means to ball-strike ratio – and what it means to the overall development of young pitchers and pitching performances, is real.”

Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis told me pitchers are generally going to have less success with pitches elevated in the strike zone. He qualified that by saying most hitters will tell you they are good low-ball hitters. Davis said a key is “to be disciplined at how far you’re going down there.” He added that Brandon Moss tends to “chase down a lot.”

Moss is known as a good low-ball hitter, so I asked Terry Francona if that factored into the decision to trade for him. The Indians skipper told me I’d need to ask general manager Chris Antonetti, adding that where the strike zone is going is “a little more advanced than I’m capable of.”

I did ask Antonetti, who was evasive in his answer, saying only that Moss “fits our ballpark and his power plays very well in our ballpark.” If Antonetti has opinions on strike-zone trends and which players they favor, he wasn’t sharing them publicly.

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The Indians’ brain trust had interesting thoughts on the club’s defense, which was less than desirable in 2014. Antonetti pointed out that it was better in the second half, but still needs to be improved. That’s an understatement. Cleveland ranked dead last among the 30 teams in DRS and sixth-worst in BABiP.

According to Francona, his team “can play better than we did statistically last year.” One way he hopes to achieve that is with better preparation in spring training. He said infield practice will include taking more ground balls in the shift, because “when the game starts, we’re very rarely right straight-up.” Plans also include more live drills, with more intensity.

Antonetti and Francona had slightly different takes when asked about the shortstop position and prized prospect Francisco Lindor. Antonetti didn’t sound ready to shut the door on the 21-year-old’s chances of breaking camp with the big-league team, saying that while it isn’t probably, he could envision a scenario in which it happens. Francona appeared to have his hand on the dead-bolt.

“We’re really comfortable with Jose Ramirez and Mike Aviles,” said Francona. “(Lindor) needs his development. When he’s ready, his play will show us that. A guy hitting .400 in spring training doesn’t show you he is ready to handle the rigors of a full season. It can certainly excite you about seeing some of their tools, but that’s not a genuine show of what they can do.”

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The Braves have a somewhat similar situation with 20-year-old Jose Peraza. Unlike Lindor, Peraza is unlikely to reach Atlanta as a shortstop. Andrelton Simmons and his magic glove have a stranglehold at the position. For that reason, the highly-regarded Peraza transitioned to second base in 2014. Splitting the season between high-A and Double-A, he hit .339/.364/.441 and swiped 60 bases.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez said it would be a long shot for Peraza to make the jump, but that he wouldn’t rule it out. He added that the organization’s talent evaluators are “kind of divided on whether he could do it or not” and reminded the media that Simmons was called up in 2012 after 44 games in Double-A.

For now, newly-signed Alberto Callaspo is penciled in as the starter at second base, but the 31-year-old journeyman appears to be a placeholder. When I asked Gonzalez who he sees as Simmons long-term double-play partner, he said it was “probably Peraza.”

As for the Braves’ 2015 btting order, Gonzalez said Nick Markakis would lead off, with either Callaspo or Simmons hitting second. It sounded like he’s leaning toward his all-star shortstop in the two-hole.

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The Padres added one of the game’s top defensive shortstops when they signed Clint Barmes to a one-year deal last week. The 35-year-old former Pirate has never been much of a hitter, but The Fielding Bible regularly ranks him as one of the best in the business.

Barmes comes to San Diego from a team known for its extensive use of defensive metrics and precision positioning. Bud Black intends to make good use of his new acquisition’s knowledge.

“(The Pirates) weigh a little bit heavy on shifting,” said Black. “I might ask him about what the Pirates did, what his thoughts are on some National League teams and National League hitters, why the Pirates did this and that, pick his brain.”

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Walt Weiss offered that the Rockies led the National League in turning double plays (they were actually second, to the Mets) and how it was a big part of their defensive mindset. His comment prompted me to ask if that’s actually a good thing.

“You can look at it a couple of different ways,” responded Weiss. “There are going to be base runners at Coors Field. There is no question about it. It’s a hitter-friendly park, and that’s why (it’s important) to get two outs with one pitch. It’s critical in our place because there is going to be traffic.”

For all intents and purposes, it was equivalent to rush hour in Los Angeles. Rockies pitchers gave up the second-most hits (1,528) and the second-most walks (531) in baseball. It would have taken far more than their 405 twin killings to clean up that mess.

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In the opinion of many, the Hall of Fame is a mess. The BBWAA took a step in the right direction last week when it recommending that the number of players who can be voted for in a given year be increased from 10 to 12. It is now up to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to OK or deny the recommendation.

The shutout by this year’s Golden Era committee was every bit as controversial as the BBWAA’s annual voting results. The eligible candidates needed at least 12 votes from the 16-member committee, and all fell short. Dick Allen and Tony Oliva garnered 11 votes each.

A selection of Golden Era (1947-1972) voters fielded questions following the announcement. I asked to what extent advanced stats were looked at, specifically ones that adjust to era and ballpark. Committee member Steve Hirdt, the Executive Vice President of the Elias Sports Bureau, gave what might be best-described as a half answer. He said, “There was a wide-ranging discussion of all of the statistics of a particular player, including some that may not have existed when that player was playing.” Hirdt also said, “The exact nature of the deliberations is always kept confidential.”

Following the formal Q&A session, I caught up with Ferguson Jenkins, another of the committee members. Jenkins told me “There was some comparison to guys who are presently in the Hall of Fame, and guys who are not. We compared their numbers and some are parallel, like Kenny Boyer and Ron Santo.”

I proceeded to ask the Hall of Fame pitcher about Allen and Oliva, each of whom he faced numerous times.

“I gave (Allen) a lot of respect because he was such a power hitter in that era, along with Aaron, Mays and McCovey,” Jenkins told me and one other reporter. “If you made a mistake, you were going to pay the price.

“Tony was similar a lot of Latin players in that he swung at a lot of different pitches, in and out of the strike zone. Pablo Sandoval, now. Roberto Clemente swung at a lot of pitches. Oliva didn’t really have a strike zone. There was no safe way to pitch him, because he could hit balls off the plate.”

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Andrew Heaney was traded twice during the winter meetings. First he went from the Marlins to the Dodgers, then he headed south to the Angels. The latter deal – Heaney straight up for Howie Kendrick – is understandable from both ends. The former is more difficult to comprehend, particularly from a Miami viewpoint.

But maybe it isn’t. A lot goes on behind the scenes, and this may be a classic case of fans and the media not having the whole story. A baseball insider – not someone with the Marlins – told me he’s heard there was some friction between Heaney and the organization. The degree to which that might be true is unknown, at least to me. It could conceivably be a reason the Marlins (at least seemingly) sold low.

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Kevin Cash was a hot topic at the winter meetings. A number of managers were asked about the newest member of their brethren during their media session. All agreed that Cash, who spent this season coaching in Cleveland, was a good hire for the Rays.

Perhaps the most -interesting quotes came from the GM of the team he departed.

“One of the things that separates Kevin is his preparation,” said Chris Antonetti. “He went into this process committed to being as prepared as he possibly could. On his own, he decided to write five or 10 pages on his vision of being a major-league manager – what that entailed and how he’d go about the job. He asked a ton of questions to not only me, but to all of the guys in our front office, our analytics group, our scouts. He wanted to be fully prepared for the interview. That’s indicative of how he’ll go about anything he does.”

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Dick Enberg, who was honored with the Ford C. Frick award on Wednesday, would love to see the Padres turn more double plays. San Diego ranked last in the National League this year with 276.

“I love the double play,” Enberg told the media. “In a matter of four seconds, a ball has to be struck, fielded by someone cleanly, and thrown to another player cleanly, caught by that player trying to avoid somebody and trying to knock him into left field, and make another throw to a first baseman and he makes the catch. (In) four seconds you’ve created two outs and there is a beautiful ballet right in the middle of all of that.”

Listening to Enberg can be pure poetry. Here are a few pearls from his question-and-answer session:

“This morning, as my wife said, I was blubbering too much to really verbalize an ‘oh, my,’ but this is that kind of day.”

“It happens to everyone. The first clue is when you get a Distinguished Lifetime Award. When you start getting those, you know that the clock is ticking down and your time is about up.”

“It gives you a chance to absorb it. My great grandfather could come back and see the Padres opener and I wouldn’t have to explain an awful lot to him. He would understand the game… and its beauty.”

“(Ernie) Harwell said, ‘(baseball) is opera without music.’ The poetry of this game – there is so much more that gets deeply into the soul of me, of man, than the other sports.”