5OFs who fit team’s needs
Center field is priority as GM Click rebuilds
While the NBA continued a transfixing but truncated offseason with a headline-stealing trade Wednesday, Major League Baseball continued its trudge toward spring training. Baseball winters rarely are exciting, but none has had a more foreboding feel than this one.
Owners and general managers continue to bemoan the sport’s pandemic-ravaged revenue stream, leaving many to wonder whether teams will be active in the free-agent market. Wednesday’s nontender deadline delivered a glimmer of hope.
Many anticipated the flood of good players cut loose by teams looking to save money. Fifty-nine players were nontendered — an increase of only three from last winter. An unusual number of them settled for salaries far before the Jan. 15 exchange deadline, perhaps fearful of the unknowns in the arbitration process. The 59 nontenders is high, but not the avalanche some feared. All are now free agents and available for any team — even the ones that nontendered them — to sign.
The Astros had no drama. Putting Roberto Osuna, Chris Devenski and Dustin Garneau on outright waivers last month left the team with just three arbitrationeligible players: Carlos Correa, Aledmys Diaz and Lance McCullers Jr. Offering contracts to all three was a no-brainer.
Elsewhere, though, firstyear general manager James Click had to notice a trend. Fourteen outfielders were nontendered, accord---
ing to MLB Trade Rumors. Click’s foremost offseason objective is to rebuild the Houston outfield around Kyle Tucker following the departures of George Springer, Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick.
Here are five nontendered outfielders Click could consider:
David Dahl
Dahl’s nontender by the Colorado Rockies was one of Wednesday’s biggest surprises. The former 10th overall pick was an All-Star in 2019 and eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter. Dahl did undergo shoulder surgery in September, limiting him to 24 games, but the 26-year-old will reportedly be ready for spring training. Dahl has a career .828 OPS and finished his 2019 All-Star season slashing .302/.353/.524 in 413 plate appearances. Most of his damage, however, came at Coors Field. Dahl has a .722 career road OPS compared to a .918 mark at home. More important for an Astros team seeking a center fielder, Dahl has started 63 of his 236 career games in center.
Tyler Naquin
Like Dahl, Naquin is a versatile lefthanded hitter who’s played a lot of center field but been derailed by injury and ineffectiveness. Naquin finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting after the 2016 season, one in which he slugged .514, posted an .886 OPS and was a cornerstone to an Indians World Series run. In the three 162game seasons since, Naquin failed to play more than 89 games. He was sent to Class AAA during the 2017 season and appeared in just 150 major league games between the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Naquin finished the 2020 season with just a .632 OPS, sealing his fate. Hometown ties often are overblown, but it’s at least worth noting that Naquin was born in Spring before attending Klein Collins and Texas A&M.
Adam Duvall
Duvall was nontendered by the Braves despite hitting 16 home runs in 57 games during the 2020 season. He has a .468 career slugging percentage and, as a righthanded bat, could enjoy the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park. Duvall was an All-Star in 2016 while with the Cincinnati Reds and has two 30-homer seasons in his career. Most of his defensive work has come in left field, but Duvall has started16 big league games at first base — intriguing for an Astros team that values positional flexibility and has no proven backup for Yuli Gurriel.
Eddie Rosario
Rosario’s final act with the Minnesota Twins occurred against the Astros — he slammed his helmet in disgust and was ejected from Houston’s 3-1 win in Game 2 of the wild-card series. Rosario was nontendered to signal the start of touted prospect Alex Kirilloff’s big league career. According to Baseball-Reference, Rosario has been worth 11.6 wins above replacement over his six-year career, making him the best nontendered position player available. Rosario received AL MVP votes in two of the five seasons he was eligible. In 2015, he finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting that Carlos Correa won. Rosario has been durable and has 119 career home runs, but he might be limited defensively to the corner outfield positions. He reeled off three straight .800-plus OPS seasons from 2017-19.
Albert Almora
If the Astros are seeking a prototypical center fielder, Almora would fit the mold. He made 263 starts in center across five Cubs seasons but did little to distinguish himself. Almora carries a .707 career OPS and is worth only 2.8 b WAR despite being a big leaguer since 2016. Defensive metrics don’t always tell an entire tale, but Almora has a career six defensive runs saved as a center fielder, according to Fan Graphs. He was the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft, so tools are there. Perhaps a change of scenery could help his trajectory and, for the Astros, represent an upgrade for a fourth or fifth outfielder.