Morning Rundown: Tigers sign Colt Keith, Scherzer and deGrom updates, Dylan Cease rumors
Tigers sign a prospect to contract, updates on pair of Rangers' pitchers, and more Dylan Cease rumors.
The Detroit Tigers signed one of their top prospects, Colt Keith, to a six-year contract that could be worth up to $82 million (and also extend out an extra three seasons).
Keith is ranked as the Tigers’ second-best prospect on MLB Pipeline and 22nd overall.
In 126 games between AA and AAA last year, Keith batted .306/.380/.522 with 27 home runs and 101 RBI.
This is the second deal of its kind this offseason, a team giving a prospect with no major league experience a long-term major league contract, the first going to Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Jackson Churio.
The Texas Rangers had their own fanfest this weekend, and we got an update on Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
Both will miss the first half of the season, with Scherzer recovering from a herniated disk in his back and deGrom having UCL surgery.
When healthy, the Rangers have two of the best starting pitchers in the game, but one is 35 years old and the other 39. Given the June/July timeframe for Scherzer, he could be right at turning 40 when he returns.
There is a new team rumored to be in the Dylan Cease sweepstakes. According to Bob Nightengale, the Seattle Mariners are interested in the righty, and the package would be centered around Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo.
Cease has been in trade rumors all off-season, but nothing has come of it yet. The Mariners are looking to return to the playoffs in 2024 but have mostly shed salary without making a significant move.
Yesterday’s feature was a look at Derek Diamond, someone former Greensboro and current Altoona manager Robby Hammock was very high on when I talked to him late last season.
Every Monday during the offseason, we will be doing a mailbag article. Please send in your questions to have them answered! Either comment below with ‘mailbag’ entered in the message or email us at bucsondeckqa@gmail.com.
I look forward to answering what you guys have!
Pirates had a big front office loss in the few days. Max Kwan stepped away from his position as director of player personnel. He was with the Pirates for exactly ten years, working his way up the front office chain. While most of his work was done in the States, what the Pirates lost was the person who closed the deals with the Pacific Rim players, including Bae, Tsung-Che and Shim, as well as players from Australia. That main connection for future signings from the area is lost. Doesn't mean that they can't use the current players to help sell the system, but Kwan did the dirty work getting players in. The upside for now (until at least next year) is that he isn't bringing that connection elsewhere. He was the reason that the Pirates are considered to be the top team in baseball for bringing in Pacific Rim amateur talent over the last five years.
MLBTR has an unfortunate bit of int’l news — no Pirate connection yet. MLB has voided over 50 deals, both signed contracts and handshake deals, due to age fraud. Appears the buscones figured out how to circumvent the procedures adopted after the big age gate mess years ago. Few specifics. Article mentions 6-8 teams that were affected. No mention of the Pirates, but the list of teams doesn’t appear to be complete.
The Pirates have seldom been hit with this issue. I recall the last time around they had a middling IF prospect who suddenly got older. Maybe one or two others. Of course, their int’l program was a farce back then, instead of just poor, so there were no top prospects to be impacted. They had one established major leaguer — Remember Enrique Wilson? — whose age got “adjusted.”