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Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun continues to rehabilitate from offseason back surgery. 

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Braun’s Recovery from Surgery Behind Schedule

Sunday, Jan. 31

Braun isn’t expected to be fully rehabilitated before the start of camp, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He could still be ready in time for Opening Day, however.

He had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back a week after the 2015 season ended.

Braun, 32, hit .285 with 25 home runs and 84 RBI last season.   

He is one of the few remaining impact players in Milwaukee—along with Jonathan Lucroy and Khris Davis—as the Brewers undergo a rebuilding phase. That process continued Saturday, when the team traded shortstop Jean Segura to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a five-player deal, per the Associated press (via ESPN). 

Braun isn’t allowing the rebuild to adversely affect him, however, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

He added, “I look forward to it. We’re not breaking up a juggernaut team,” per McCalvy. 

That perhaps came in response to comments Lucroy made recently, saying he wanted to play for a World Series title and that he didn’t see the Brewers as a playoff contender this year. He also added, “Rebuilding is not a lot of fun for any veteran guy,” per Haudricourt.

Of course, despite Braun’s public acceptance of the rebuild, he could nonetheless become a very popular trade target, namely if he returns from his back issues and continues to post big numbers. Braun remains one of the most well-rounded players in all of baseball, so teams will come calling if the Brewers struggle early and he is posting big numbers.

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The Baltimore Orioles announced Sunday that minor league infielder Ramon Ramirez died in a motorcycle accident Saturday night in the Dominican Republic.

“As a member of the Orioles organization, Ramon worked tirelessly to make the most of his opportunity to play professional baseball,” said Dan Duquette, the team’s executive vice president of baseball operations. “Our thoughts are with his family, friends, teammates and coaches as we mourn this unimaginable loss.”  

Ramirez joined the organization as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He played 32 games that year in the Dominican Summer League, and in 2015, he spent time with Baltimore’s Rookie League, short-season A and High-A affiliates.

In 55 career minor league games, Ramirez batted .238 with 18 runs batted in and 11 stolen bases.

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Determining offseason winners and losers can be a futile task of sorts. We’ve all heard the cliches about playing the games, right?

There’s a paper champion and then the real champion. Very rarely do they match. Who is to say whether a contract is good or bad until we actually watch a player during the season?

It’s difficult to determine the overpaid, the underpaid and the teams that adeptly spent their money. But in attempting to sort through the MLB offseason’s winners and losers, it was apparent that every loser spawned a winner.

There were players, managers and teams that won and lost this offseason. But some winners and losers were more loosely defined: groups of players, as defined by their statistics and style of play, won and lost. A rivalry was reinvigorated. There was a shocking twist in one team’s managerial hire. And for now, the baseball purists will get their way.

Here’s how it all went down…

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The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired right-handed pitcher Tyler Wagner in a five-player trade with the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, the team announced.

Along with Wagner, the Diamondbacks received 2013 All-Star infielder Jean Segura, while the Brewers acquired infielder Aaron Hill, pitcher Chase Anderson and shortstop Isan Diaz.

MLB.com ranked Wagner as the No. 15 prospect in the Brewers farm system. Milwaukee drafted the 25-year-old Las Vegas native in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. Wagner had a stellar 2015 campaign with Double-A Biloxi, going 11-5 with a 2.25 ERA and striking out 120 batters.

He also had a small stint with the Brewers in 2015 but struggled heavily in his three starts. Wagner pitched 13.2 innings and gave up 11 earned runs, finishing with an ERA of 7.24.

MLB.com highlighted Wagner’s fastball as his strongest pitch, while he continues to improve his changeup:

Using that closer mentality from his days at Utah, he goes right after hitters, inducing weak contact early in counts. His slider is a solid average hard breaking ball with bite that misses bats. While his changeup isn’t quite as good, it is effective at neutralizing left-handed hitters. His walk rate has gone down each year since his summer debut and he continues to get a good amount of groundball outs.

His brief big league debut was just a taste, with Wagner very close to being ready to fulfill a ceiling as a mid-to-back of the rotation type of starter at the highest level.

He may need another year or two before making it to the main roster, but Wagner will be a good addition for Arizona. The Diamondbacks have already bolstered the top of their rotation by signing star pitcher Zack Greinke and trading for 25-year-old Shelby Miller in the offseason. Wagner proved in his Double-A stint last year that he has a high upside with plenty of room to grow.

In two years, the Diamondbacks may have one of the best pitching rotations in the major leagues, and Wagner could be a part of it.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks traded minor league shortstop Isan Diaz to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday in a deal that sent Jean Segura to Arizona, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The move was spurred by the fact that the Brewers needed to make room for talented shortstop prospect Orlando Arcia, whom MLB.com ranked as the No. 6 overall prospect for 2016. Diaz also played second base in the Diamondbacks system and was the 70th overall pick in the 2014 draft out of high school, per Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.

Brewers general manager David Stearns commented on the addition of Diaz, per Haudricourt. “We are excited to be able to add Isan Diaz to our growing supply of high-upside minor league talent,” he said.

Diaz should not be an afterthought in this trade, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports:

His 2015 rookie-ball season with the Missoula Osprey was impressive. Diaz slashed .360/.436/.640 with 13 homes runs, 51 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 68 games. MiLB.com shared a replay of a three-run home run the sweet-swinging left-hander hit:

If Arcia turns into the major leaguer many expect him to, Diaz may need to move to second base to become an everyday player in Milwaukee. However, Haudricourt noted Arcia may not be ready to make an immediate impact.

It’s clear Diaz is in Milwaukee’s future plans, considering the team gave up a bona fide starter in Segura, even if it means he’s an insurance policy for Arcia.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks attempted to upgrade their second-base position by way of subtraction, trading away incumbent Aaron Hill on Saturday to the Milwaukee Brewers in a deal that netted them shortstop Jean Segura.  

According to the Brewers’ official Twitter account, Arizona dealt Hill, right-handed pitcher Chase Anderson, shortstop Isan Diaz and cash to Milwaukee in exchange for Segura and right-handed pitcher Tyler Wagner. 

“In Chase Anderson and Aaron Hill, we are adding two proven major league contributors who will impact our team this year,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said, per the Associated Press. “Chase is a young starting pitcher who has already enjoyed success at the major league level. Aaron has a long history of production and positional versatility.”

As for the Diamondbacks, snagging Segura is a major win. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel‘s Tom Haudricourt noted, Milwaukee was motivated to move the 25-year-old with ascendant minor league shortstop Orlando Arcia in line to make his major league debut sooner rather than later. 

MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy broke down when Arcia could arrive in the Brewers lineup: 

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman and Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan broke down the move further from Milwaukee’s perspective: 

Segura, who was an All-Star in 2013 and batted .257 with a career-best 50 RBI last season, is under team control for three more seasons, per Spotrac. However, a shift may be on the way for Segura. According to USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale, the Diamondbacks “certainly plan to have Jean Segura in the everyday lineup, most likely at second base.”

On the flip side, Hill is due $12 million in salary for the 2016 season, though the positive for Milwaukee is he has an expiring contract, according to Spotrac. 

Having posted on-base percentages below .300 over the past two seasons and a negative defensive WAR in that span as well, per Baseball-Reference.com, Hill has not lived up to his top-dollar billing.

If the Diamondbacks can’t land a superior second baseman on the roster before spring training, they might opt to start Chris Owings, though Segura is also an option to change positions.

Owings is only 24 years old, and although he batted .227 in 2015, he does have upside and plenty of room to grow, whereas Hill’s best baseball seems to be behind him. No matter what the future holds with Owings, it wouldn’t hurt to bring a veteran aboard for depth purposes.

Even if this Hill trade isn’t one that stirs excitement among fans in the desert, it is a step in the right direction. The addition of ace pitcher Zack Greinke gives the D-backs staff a much-needed boost and should help Arizona improve in 2016 regardless of who starts at second base.

The Brewers are absorbing a lot of salary and cutting the Diamondbacks a considerable break, but they won’t be burdened with Hill’s deal on the books for long. The hope is he can have a bounce-back season.

Hill was an All-Star with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009, when he had 36 home runs and 108 RBI. He also had an excellent 2012 campaign in Arizona with 26 homers, 85 RBI and became one of only four players in MLB history to hit for the cycle twice in one season.

With experience playing third base and shortstop, he’s a versatile infielder who could be a solid stopgap option reinvigorated by a fresh start.

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In a Friday television special, MLB Network revealed its top 50 prospects for the 2016 season. Last year’s top two prospects, Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins and Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, both made their MLB debuts in 2015. Buxton struggled to find his place, hitting .204 with 44 strikeouts and just six walks, but Bryant hit 26 home runs and had 99 RBI during an All-Star and Rookie of the Year campaign.

So while the list may not be a perfect representation of who the next-biggest MLB stars are, it’s a safe bet if your team has players toward the top, the future could be bright. Twins fans are hoping that proves true, as Buxton was ranked in the top two for the third straight season. There is no denying his talent, but in an era where everyone wants instant gratification, tangible production at the MLB level is a must for the 22-year-old.

Los Angeles Dodgers fans should be feeling good as their team has two prospects in the top 10, including No. 1 talent, short stop Corey Seager. The 6’4″, left-handed hitter is thought to have one of, if not, the best bats of any prospect in the game. MLB Pipeline called him a “hitting machine:

A full ranking of the top 100 prospects can be found on MLB.com, but first here’s a look at MLB Network’s top-10 list:

There was drama as the countdown unfolded when Seager and Buxton were the final two players left. Buxton had been ranked No. 1 the previous two seasons, but the 21-year-old Seager laid claim to the top spot this time.

Jim Callis of MLB.com was live tweeting during the show and seemed to admit there was not much space between the two top prospects when responding to a fan who thought Buxton should be No. 1:

Austin Meadows, an outfielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, complimented the top prospect after the rankings were revealed:

Seager slashed .307/.368/.523 with 62 home runs and 278 RBI in 390 career minor league games. He showed some of that promise in 98 major league at-bats in 2015, hitting .337 with four home runs and 17 RBI.

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register thinks Seager will be a mainstay in the Dodgers’ lineup next season:

Buxton’s drop in the rankings, albeit just one spot, could have as much to do with his production as it did with Seager’s strong performance. However, as this MLB.com scouting report on Buxton shows, the Twins are still relying on him to be contributing at the big league level:

In an ideal world, Buxton would have received an additional 200-300 at-bats in the Minors to help his development. He wasn’t ready to hit in the big leagues, having trouble with breaking-ball recognition and having some holes in his swing exploited. Even when Buxton is not hitting, he can impact the game in so many other ways. He’ll be a Gold Glove center fielder in the future, with plus range and arm. Buxton’s plus plus speed will make him a basestealing threat. Once he settles in, he will adjust and hit for average and power.

Injuries have really hampered Buxton’s development and a full healthy season would help put any questions to rest. The Twins were pleased with how he handled adversity in the big leagues, and they think that bodes well for 2016 and beyond.

The MLB.com report on Seager predicts batting titles could be in his future:

Seager has a higher offensive ceiling than any big league shortstop except for Carlos Correa. He combines a sweet left-handed swing, bat speed, strength, tremendous feel for hitting and the willingness to use all fields. The only knock on Seager at the plate is that he can get somewhat aggressive at times, but that shouldn’t prevent him from challenging for batting titles and producing 25 or more homers per season.

Because Seager is 6-foot-4 and a below-average runner, he has faced doubts about his long-term ability to stay at shortstop since he has turned pro. His strong arm and his instincts allow him to make plays, however, and he may stick there longer than expected. Eventually moving to third base wouldn’t prevent Seager from being a star, because his bat will play big at any position.

Los Angeles, which advanced to the National League Division Series in 2015 and led the NL with 187 home runs last season, could use one more bat like Seager’s to put it over the hump in its quest for the franchise’s first World Series since 1998.

The Twins, on the other hand, have not made the playoffs for five seasons, and their 83 wins in 2015 were their most since 2010. They showed improvement from a 70-win 2014 season, which should excite a fanbase that must be eager for Buxton to join the club permanently. 

The center fielder could step into a leadership role early on if he plays well considering the Twins projected outfield of Buxton (22 years old), Max Kepler (24) and Eddie Rosario (24) will be among the youngest in all of baseball.

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With arbitration looming, Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas still does not have a new contract. 

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Moustakas and Royals Have Had Dialogue 

Friday, Jan. 29

Moustakas told MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan that he and the Royals have discussed a two-year contract.

This is nothing new for Moustakas and the Royals. Both parties avoided arbitration last season when he signed a one-year, $2.6 million deal per Spotrac.com.

It was quite a last season for him, too. Moustakas was selected to his first All-Star game in his five-year career after achieving career highs with a .282 batting average, 22 home runs and 82 RBI.

In seasons in which he played over 100 games, the 27-year-old had never batted over .242 until 2015.

He was one of the centerpieces of a Royals team that won its first World Series in 29 years, beating the New York Mets in five games.  

While he and the Royals are flying high this offseason, they have had a lot of work to do in order to find him a new deal, per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan on Jan. 15:

Moustakas is just one of the pieces that embodies what the Royals are all about. He possesses a blue collar mentality and doesn’t bring anything flashy to his play at the hot corner. 

The Royals are not a team of superstars. They’re just a unit of solid players who know how to give their all for one another and find ways to win games.

So far, the Royals have done well this offseason to hold onto their core after their championship. While they lost Ben Zobrist to the Cubs, they managed to retain long-time Royal Alex Gordon with a four-year, $72 million deal. 

They also avoided arbitration with outfielder Lorenzo Cain with a two-year, $17.5 million contract earlier in January. 

After the year the Royals had and what Moustakas brings to the chemistry of this team, Kansas City should make it a priority to get on the same page with their third baseman. He is right in the prime of his career and looks like he is only getting better so they should lock him up for the foreseeable future. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have won three straight National League West titles, and they really didn’t need to do anything else this winter to have a good shot at making it four in a row in 2016.

But why settle for “good enough” when you can go for “even better”?

This line of reasoning would seem to be responsible for the Dodgers’ latest move. As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports was first to report, the Dodgers are bringing back veteran second baseman Howie Kendrick on a two-year deal.

According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Kendrick’s deal guarantees him $20 million. That’s only a few million more dollars than he would have gotten if he’d accepted the $15.8 million qualifying offer at the start of the winter, which would have been for only one year.

So, behold the rarest of finds on the free-agent market: a steal.

Going into the offseason, Kendrick figured to get roughly the same sort of deal as fellow second baseman Daniel Murphy. He’s nearly two years older than Murphy, sure, but Kendrick has clearly had the better career.

So much for that. Murphy signed a three-year deal with the Washington Nationals that will pay him $37.5 million. No thanks to his ties to draft-pick compensation and his long wait on the open market, Kendrick is only getting a little more than half of that.

Too bad for Kendrick, but good for the Dodgers. Because lest we forget, they’re getting a pretty good player in addition to a pretty good deal.

Kendrick is coming off a 2015 season that admittedly wasn’t his best. Injuries limited the 32-year-old to 117 games, and, at least according to the advanced metrics, his defense took a big step back.

Kendrick remained an effective hitter, though. He hit a solid .295, making it three straight years in which he’s hit better than .290. He did this the way he always does: by putting his bat on the ball and, as Brooks Baseball can show, wearing out the opposite field with line drives.

Those last two habits make Kendrick a classic No. 2 hitter, which is mainly where now-former Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly used him in 2015. In 2016, new Dodgers manager Dave Roberts figures to do the same.

“He’s a heck of a ballplayer,” Roberts said of Kendrick before the news hit the wire on Friday, via Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times. “I know that he enjoyed his time here last year. If something does work out, it makes us a better ball club.”

At the least, Kendrick certainly makes the Dodgers lineup better. Slot him into the No. 2 hole in the lineup, and you get a pretty impressive unit. Here’s Dodgers Nation with a sneak peek:

Granted, there are some question marks present in the Dodgers lineup. Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal were pretty banged up by the end of 2015. Yasiel Puig was banged up for most of 2015 and wasn’t at his best when he was able to play. Joc Pederson struggled down the stretch of his rookie season, and Corey Seager has fewer than 30 major league games under his belt.

Despite these questions, though, the potential is as clear as day. By adjusted OPS, every single position player in the Dodgers’ projected Opening Day lineup was an above-average hitter in 2015. And going into 2016, a few of them have the goods to be way above average.

It’s no wonder that the early (well, not too early at this point) projections see good things in store for the Dodgers offense in 2016. According to FanGraphs, the Dodgers are projected to score the most runs per game of any NL West team (except the Colorado Rockies, who play half their games at elevation).

It wasn’t even that close before Friday, but adding Kendrick gave them a nudge anyway. And in addition to padding the Dodgers offense, the Kendrick signing also pads their depth.

The Dodgers will now move Chase Utley to the bench, where they already had under-the-radar 2015 breakout star Enrique Hernandez. Another spot on the bench will go to whoever is not playing between Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier, and the Dodgers will also have Trayce Thompson, Scott Van Slyke and Alex Guerrero to call on.

Of course, anyone out there who’s not sold on the Dodgers going into 2016 is probably looking more at their pitching.

The Dodgers did lose Zack Greinke, after all, and replaced him with depth rather than another ace. Neither Scott Kazmir nor Kenta Maeda figures to be anywhere near as good. They also haven’t upgraded a bullpen that has something of a soft underbelly.

However, the Dodgers’ pitching projects to be a lot better than you may think.

FanGraphs’ projections have Dodgers pitchers near the top of the league in wins above replacement in 2016. That doesn’t mean they will be there, mind you, but it’s a good reminder that the Dodgers still have the best pitcher on the planet in Clayton Kershaw. Kazmir and Maeda should at least be serviceable, as should Brett Anderson and Hyun-jin Ryu. And late in games, Kenley Jansen is basically automatic.

None of this is to say the Dodgers aren’t going to get any competition in the NL West. The Arizona Diamondbacks already had a terrific offense and defense, and now they have some pitching after stealing Greinke and trading for Shelby Miller. The San Francisco Giants, meanwhile, figure to once again be the Dodgers’ primary nemesis.

The Giants didn’t make the postseason in 2015, but they likely would have if they’d had some starting pitching depth to help support the excellent Madison Bumgarner and a lineup led by Buster Posey and baseball’s most star-studded infield. They corrected that problem by signing Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. For good measure, they also added Denard Span to their outfield.

But though the Giants should be a dangerous team in 2016, you can still wonder if they have quite enough depth.

There’s a steep drop-off in their starting rotation after Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija, and there’ll be trouble in their outfield if Span, Angel Pagan and/or Hunter Pence have their 2015 injury troubles follow them into 2016. Question marks like these didn’t keep yours truly from rating the Giants as a more dangerous World Series contender than the Dodgers, but they’re not built as well for the 162-game grind of the regular season.

In so many words: Yeah, we can probably trust the projections on how the NL West is going to shake out in 2016. The Dodgers project to be the best team in the division by a comfortable margin.

And after basically completing the ensemble by re-signing Kendrick, they sure do look the part.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Oakland Athletics catcher Stephen Vogt underwent surgery on his right elbow on Friday.

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Vogt Expected to Be Ready by Opening Day

Friday, Jan. 29

The team announced (via CSNBayArea.com) that the All-Star catcher, who hit 18 home runs last year, is expected to need four to six weeks to recover. The surgery was to remove a bone chip in Vogt’s throwing elbow as well as dead tissue from the area.

Vogt was named to his first All-Star team in 2015, his fourth year in the major leagues and third in Oakland. He had a career-high 71 RBI and .443 slugging percentage in 136 games with the Athletics.

The 31-year-old catcher was one of the lone bright spots for the struggling A’s, who finished 68-94 and in last place in the AL West. Vogt finished second on the roster in home runs, only trailing outfielder Josh Reddick (20).

With Vogt likely missing all of spring training, catching duties will go to 27-year-old Josh Phegley. The soon-to-be fourth-year catcher played in 73 games in 2015 with the Athletics, his first year on the team, batting .249 while hitting nine home runs.

Had he played the same number of games as Vogt, he could have matched his production in terms of batting average and home runs.

Oakland won’t miss a beat in terms of production at the plate and behind it. Spring training could be an opportunity for Phegley to show he can be an everyday starter while Vogt continues to recover.

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