May 5th, 2020: Britton, Rodgers, 2020 Draft, Judge

Good news: ESPN will broadcast six Korea Baseball Organization games per week starting today, so it's live baseball on an easy-to-find channel. The games take place at odd hours seeing how they're on the other side of the world, but there will be replays throughout the day. Don't forget to set your DVRs. Now let's get to today's thoughts.

1. Britton's option. Three important Yankees will become free agents after this season (DJ LeMahieu, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka) and three others could hit the open market as well: Brett Gardner, J.A. Happ, and Zack Britton. The Yankees hold a $10M club option for Gardner, though the $2.5M buyout makes it a $7.5M decision. If he wants to play in 2021, he'll be back. The only question is whether the Yankees pick up the option or attempt to negotiate a lower salary following the shutdown. Happ's $17M option vests with 27 starts or 165 innings this year, neither of which will happen because of the shutdown. I have no idea whether MLB and the MLBPA addressed vesting options like they did service time and other matters (Jon Lester, Andrew Miller, and Charlie Morton are among the others with vesting options for 2021), so for now, I'm going to assume Happ's option won't vest and he'll become a free agent. Whether the Yankees attempt to bring him back will depend on his performance during whatever season gets played, their needs, and the market. As for Britton, his option situation is much more complicated than Gardner's or Happ's. Here are his option terms:

• The Yankees hold a two-year, $27M club option ($13M in 2021 and $14M in 2022).
• If the Yankees decline the club option, Britton has a one-year, $13M player option.

Britton was very good last season, especially after he started throwing more curveballs late in the year. He remains the sport's premier ground ball pitcher -- Britton had the highest ground ball rate (77.2%) and lowest average launch angle allowed (-8.9 degrees) in baseball last year and it wasn't close either -- plus he's great in the clubhouse and willing to pitch in any role, which is important. The downside is that he's still prone to losing the strike zone, he has a somewhat recent injury history, and he'll be 33 on Opening Day 2021. That two-year club option covers his age 33 and 34 seasons. Britton's hellsinker works great now. What about in a year or two should he start to lose velocity or movement? The Yankees will have to decide this winter whether to commit to Britton for the next two years at pretty significant dollars. That $13M would make him the sixth highest paid reliever in the game in 2021. The Yankees will have to make that decision after not seeing Britton pitch a full season in 2020 because of the shutdown, and also after losing who knows how much money, also because of the shutdown. Normally, yes, the Yankees absolutely should pick up the two-year club option because Britton is still excellent and the championship window is as open as it's going to get, and maybe that's what will happen. There are not normal times though. The financial impact is likely to span multiple years -- there's no way attendance will bounce back to normal next season, right? many folks will steer clear of large crowds for a little while -- and committing $14M to a 34-year-old reliever in 2022 might make the team squeamish. The Yankees could decline their option and hope Britton picks up his option so he remains with the team in 2021 without tying up 2022 payroll. The risk is Britton declines his option and tests free agency, though how appealing is that right now? Teams are losing money during the shutdown, lots of it, and the financial hit will trickle down to the players in free agency. Even a reliever as good as Britton and with his track record may not have the most robust market. Then again, Britton has already banked over $60M in his career plus whatever prorated portion of his 2020 salary he receives -- being a Super Two really pays when you're an elite closer racking up saves and All-Star Game selections -- so he might be more willing to roll the dice in free agency than the average reliever. Once the two-year club option is declined, the goal is not necessarily beating $13M in 2021, it's just beating $13M. Getting a two-year deal worth $20M would accomplish that. Lower average annual value but more total dollars. Britton, who is active in the union and presumably fully aware of any changes to the sport's landscape, and his agent (Scott Boras) are not dummies. I think they understand this is not the best time to test free agency. The safest move is picking up the option, taking the guaranteed $13M, then testing the market next offseason, once baseball has an opportunity to recover. I'd rank the possible outcomes like so:

1. Britton picks up the player option.
(small gap)
2. Yankees pick up the club option.
(bigger gap)
3. Britton declines the club option and beats $13M total across multiple years.
4. Britton declines the club option and gets $13M+ annually for multiple years.

The second year of the club option complicates everything. The financial well-being of the sport has changed dramatically the last two months and I can't imagine teams, even rich as hell teams like the Yankees, will be eager to commit significant dollars to future payroll without knowing what the recovery looks like. It's one thing to pay big bucks for a prime-aged superstar like Mookie Betts or a great player at a demanding position like J.T. Realmuto this offseason. It's another to commit now to paying a 34-year-old reliever a top of the market salary in two years, even one as good as Britton. The dual option makes his situation unique and I'm not sure a 2020 season of any length will provide more clarity prior to the offseason. This'll be a mystery right up until the decision is announced.

2. Targeting Rodgers. There are many reasons the Yankees are where they are right now. First and foremost, they've turned into a player development powerhouse. It's hard to be bad when your farm system produces guys like Miguel Andujar, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres, and others in a short period of time. Secondly, the Yankees are really good at identifying buy-low opportunities. They consistently take straw from other teams and spin it into gold. They did it with Chad Green, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Mike Tauchman, and Luke Voit. Even when it doesn't work out (Nathan Eovaldi), it still works out (they got Domingo German in that trade too). Those moves have had me on a perpetual mission to find the next buy-low Yankees target the last few years. My latest obsession: Brendan Rodgers. Eh, obsession is overselling it, but he's the latest guy I've come up with as a potential candidate. Rodgers, 23, was the third overall pick in the 2015 draft and he made his MLB debut last year, hitting .227/.272/.250 (25 wRC+) with no homers and poor contact quality numbers (86.9 mph average exit velocity and .202 xwOBA) in 81 plate appearances before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. MLB.com ranks him as the 29th best prospect in the game. Here's a snippet of their scouting report:

Blessed with outstanding bat speed, Rodgers possesses the ability to hit for average and power. He can drive the ball to all fields, and even with limited success in Colorado a year ago, he showed a penchant for hard contact the other way. There's plenty of home run pop now, and there should be more to come as learns to tap into it consistently. An aggressive hitter, Rodgers has improved his walk rate and lowered his strikeout rate in the Minors in each of the last two seasons. While he's not really a speed guy, he is a solid baserunner ... While Rodgers did see some time at his natural position in 2019, he saw a lot more time at second base and he's played a good amount of third as well ... second looks like his best bet at a regular spot, and he should be at least an  above-average defender there. 

From what I gather as an outsider, there is some prospect fatigue setting in with Rodgers. He's been a top prospect for a half-decade now and he didn't wow at Double-A and Triple-A in 2018 (.268/.330/.460 and 116 wRC+), plus the Rockies are loaded on the infield. Nolan Arenado is signed long-term at third base, Trevor Story is entrenched at shortstop, and Ryan McMahon grabbed the second base job last year. Arenado has made it no secret he is upset the Rockies haven't done anything to improve since he signed his extension last spring and that has fueled trade speculation, though his contract in onerous (owed $199M through 2026) and I'm not sure other clubs are willing to jump on that after the shutdown. Also, the shutdown and expected drain on free agency make it less likely Arenado will opt out after next season, so he can't really force the team's hand. At this point, I think the more likely scenario is the Rockies try to mend their relationship with Arenado and add pieces around him, in which case Rodgers would seem to be a prime piece of trade bait. They are set on the infield and he's kinda sorta in no prospect's land. Gary Sanchez was in a similar place in 2015 (around long enough that everyone knew who he was but also sick of waiting) and he's a good reminder that high-end talent is worth waiting for. The thing is, the Rockies are not the smartest organization. Far from it. In fact, they're probably the least advanced organization in the sport. The Monforts, the team's ownership group, is very loyal to their people and they always promote from within. That's good and admirable to some extent, but it also means they haven't brought in fresh eyes in a long time. They haven't had someone come in with new ideas in quite a while and it shows. No organization makes more head-scratching decisions, whether it's the Ian Desmond contract or replacing DJ LeMahieu with Daniel Murphy (same contract terms!) or blowing $20M a year on non-elite relievers like Jake McGee and Bryan Shaw. Long story short, you can take advantage of the Rockies. Rival teams and agents have done it on the regular over the years and nothing has changed in the organization's hierarchy that would lead me to believe things are about to change. At minimum, Rodgers is a talented player whose value is depressed because he's coming back from shoulder surgery. That the Rockies might be getting tired of waiting for him, similar to how the Twins got tired of waiting for Hicks, could work in the Yankees' favor as well. Second base is unsettled long-term. LeMahieu will be a free agent after the season and while bringing him back is a distinct possibility, it's not a guarantee. And heck, who knows what'll happen at third base? Andujar may not cut it defensively and Gio Urshela could be a flash in the pan. I don't think he was -- I don't think he'll ever be that good again, but I don't think he'll go back to sub-replacement level either -- but it's possible. You don't have to try real hard to see how Rodgers could fit long-term. I'm not sure what a fair value trade is, but the Yankees could try to build a deal around Clint Frazier, who they obviously do not like (or at least do not love), and secondary depth arms like Albert Abreu and Nick Nelson. Cobbling together spare parts and trading them for another team's prized young player is a video game move and the Rockies might be the only team in the sport to fall for it. Rodgers is worth a phone call, if nothing else. Middle infielders with high-end tools are always worth asking about.

3. Latest draft proposal. Negotiations regarding the 2020 draft are underway. Last week MLB submitted a proposal that was quickly rejected by the MLBPA. Here are the proposal details via J.J. Cooper, Evan Drellich, Ken Rosenthal (subs. req'd), and Joel Sherman:

• Draft expected to be held virtually on June 10th, the original date.
• Ten rounds rather than the minimum five rounds.
• Rounds 1-5 would have the same slot values as 2019.
• Rounds 6-10 would have 50% of the 2019 slot values and a hard cap at full slot.
• Any bonus pool savings in rounds 6-10 could not be used on other picks.
• Maximum five undrafted free agents can receive a $20,000 bonus.
• Unlimited undrafted free agents at $5,000 or less.

Let's go line by line. First, MLB can push the draft as far back as July 20th, but I think holding it on June 10th is the way to go. There is no amateur baseball being played right now nor is any expected to be played this summer, so evaluation opportunities are nonexistent. Teams already have all the information they're going to have. There's nothing new coming. Holding the draft on June 10th puts baseball back on the map and into the public eye as early as possible. MLB's draft is not as exciting as the NFL or NBA drafts but it's something. It'll give people a reason to think about baseball during the shutdown rather than let the sport continue to fade out of the picture. Second, 10 rounds rather than five rounds is an obvious plus. The more players you can bring into professional baseball, the better. Cooper says limiting the draft to five rounds is "not as popular among many MLB baseball front offices and scouting departments" as it is among the owners, because duh. The owners want to cuts costs whereas front offices want access to as much cheap, controllable talent as possible. It's not just the owners vs. the MLBPA here. It's the owners vs. the MLBPA and their own front offices to some extent, though I would not expect that to sway any arguments. In the end, the front office people will do what they're told because those jobs are few and far between, and getting fired so the owner can bring in someone else to do his bidding isn't worth it. Third, sticking to 2019 slot values in rounds 1-5 is whatever. Not great for the players -- there's usually a 3% to 5% increase each year -- but it is what it is. Fourth, slashing slot values to half the 2019 values in rounds 6-10 and setting a hard cap at the full slot value should be a complete nonstarter for the union. Anything that sets a hard cap should be a nonstarter. The owners are ruthless. They'll start with a hard cap at the full slot value in rounds 6-10, then it'll be rounds 3-10, then every round, then they'll lower the slots, on and on it goes. MLB and the owners are shameless. They've already leveraged the pandemic in such a way that their minor league contraction plan and an international draft are closer to a reality than ever, and they'll do the same with hard caps for the draft. The MLBPA has sold amateurs out for a long time and I suspect they'll do it again, but I'd like to think even they recognize letting MLB get their foot in the door with a hard cap is a bad idea. The risk here is MLB says fine, we'll just have a five-round draft if you're not going to give us hard caps, but at some point the MLBPA has to put their foot down. Hard caps for the draft benefit no one except the owners. They should not even be up for discussion. And fifth, the proposed limits on undrafted free agents shows just how petty the owners can be. Only five undrafted free agents at $20,000 each? They're that worried about money that they wouldn't dare risk 10 or 15 undrafted free agents at the maximum bonus even after cutting 30 rounds out of the draft? Roster spots are a finite resource. Ten undrafted free agents at $20,000 each is not the same thing as 40 undrafted free agents at $5,000 each because there's not enough places for these kids to play. Teams will only sign X number of undrafted free agents because that's how many roster spots they have available. Limiting only five to the $20,000 maximum bonus means the remaining X-minus-5 get much less, and the owners save that much more. There's no limit to how cheap owners will be. Slashing the undrafted free agent bonus from $125,000 to $20,000 isn't enough. They're already trying to get it down to $5,000 and there hasn't even been one draft held with the revised rules. Because so many front office folks want a 10-round draft, I think the chances MLB grants it are slim rather than none. My only concern is the pound of flesh they'll take in return. The draft is already player unfriendly and MLB is dead set on tipping the scales even more, and they're using the pandemic to make it happen.

4. Best and worst draft picks of the 2010s. The folks at Baseball America are running a series previewing the 2020 draft for each team by looking at how "each organization approached the draft over the last decade." Here's the index. As part of the previews they are discussing each team's best and worst draft picks of the 2010s. For the Dodgers (subs. req'd), their best is Cody Bellinger (fourth round in 2013) and their worst is Chris Anderson (13th overall in 2013). They have not yet covered the Yankees, and before they do, I wanted to chime in on the team's best and worst picks of the 2010s. I figure I can beat them to the punch. To be clear, I'm not saying I'm right and their picks will be wrong. I'm just giving my opinion. Here are the Yankees' best and worst draft picks of the 2010s:

Best Pick: Aaron Judge (32nd overall in 2013)

I mean, duh. Not counting Gerrit Cole, who didn't sign with the Yankees as their 2008 first round pick, Judge has already accrued more career WAR than any Yankees' first rounder since Derek Jeter. As for the last decade, here are some numbers:

• Aaron Judge: +19.1 WAR
• Every other Yankees' draft pick during the 2010s: +12.0 WAR
• Every other Yankees' draft pick with positive WAR during the 2010s: +19.8 WAR

Among non-Judge players, New York's best pick of the 2010s was Jordan Montgomery. The Yankees turned a fourth round pick into a back-end starter who could maybe be better than that, though we're still waiting to find out. Tommy John surgery and the shutdown have delayed things a bit. John Brebbia, Jake Cave, Ben Gamel, Tommy Kahnle, and Caleb Smith stand out most after Montgomery. Kahnle's had the highest peak of that group (not all of it has been with the Yankees), Gamel has played the most MLB games (by a lot), and I'd say Smith is the favorite to have the most impactful big league career from this day forward seeing how he's a 28-year-old high strikeout lefty. The Yankees also turned several late round picks into trade chips (11th rounder Josh Rogers and 22nd rounder Cody Carroll for Zack Britton, 27th rounder Phil Diehl for Mike Tauchman, etc.), which should be noted. A drafted player doesn't have to ever actually wear your uniform to provide value. This exercise is obviously skewed toward the beginning of the decade because more recent picks are very early in their careers -- who's to say 2017 first rounder Clarke Schmidt won't be the Yankees' best pick of the 2010s when we look back at this in 10 years? -- but Judge is, clearly, the best player the Yankees drafted last decade given what we know right now. It's not at all up for debate.

Worst Pick: Cito Culver (32nd overall in 2010)

Yeesh. The Yankees had the best record in baseball in 2009 and two compensation picks for unsigned 2009 draft picks (Diamondbacks and Rays) earlier in the draft meant the 2010 first round was 32 picks long. The Yankees used their first round pick on Culver, a high school shortstop from Rochester. Baseball America (subs. req'd) was the only publication ranking more than 100 draft prospects at the time and they had Culver as the 168th (!) best prospect in the class, putting him in the fourth to sixth round range. "Some believe he profiles as a utility player down the road," said their scouting report. All sorts of mental gymnastics were performed to justify the pick -- scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said another team (supposedly the Twins) were going to take Culver in the next round -- but, in the end, it was a straight up dud. As bad as it appeared on draft day. Culver managed to reach Triple-A with the Yankees, but he never hit and had to play multiple positions just to have value as an organizational utility guy. Dante Bichette Jr. wasn't as egregious a pick in 2011 -- Bichette was the 52nd overall selection (the Yankees forfeited their first rounder to sign Rafael Soriano that year) and Baseball America (subs. req'd) ranked him as the draft's 108th best prospect -- but the common thread was the Yankees overvaluing makeup. Culver and Bichette were billed as mature, hard-working kids who would take baseball seriously, and they did, but the physical ability wasn't on par with the mental component. Ty Hensley (30th overall in 2012) and Ian Clarkin (33rd overall in 2013) didn't work out because they got hurt. Pitchers do that. The Yankees did include Clarkin in the Todd Frazier/Tommy Kahnle/David Robertson trade though, so they got some value out of him that way. Clearly, Culver was the team's worst draft pick in the 2010s. It looked bad on draft day and it looks somehow even worse in hindsight. Nick Castellanos was the obvious alternative with the Culver pick. He wanted a ton of money, but there were no spending restrictions at the time, and we're talking about it the Yankees. It always frustrated me that they never went all out with their draft spending before the bonus pool system was put in place. Castellanos was a consensus first round talent and still on the board. He went 44th overall to the Tigers.

Ones Who Got Away

Every year teams will fail to sign draft picks who go on to do good things down the road. The Yankees and Gerrit Cole are a great example, though unsigned picks are usually late rounders. That high school kid who doesn't break out until he goes to college, that sorta thing. Here are the best players the Yankees drafted in the 2010s but did not sign:

1. RHP Jon Gray: +10.1 WAR (10th round in 2011)
2. LHP Aaron Bummer: +3.0 WAR (31st round in 2011)
3. C/IF Kyle Farmer: +0.6 WAR (35th round in 2012)
4. RHP Cal Quantrill: +0.4 WAR (26th round in 2013)
5. LHP Taylor Guilbeau: +0.2 WAR (39th round in 2011)

When the Yankees selected Gray, he was a pudgy and unrefined righty at an Oklahoma junior college. They offered him $500,000 to sign, but he said no, got himself into shape, then had a monster run at Oklahoma and went third overall in 2013. Bummer has turned himself into the best non-Britton ground ball pitcher in the game but he was never a top prospect. The Yankees took him out of high school in 2011 and the White Sox made him a 19th round pick out of college three years later. Just a great player development success story. Farmer and Guilbeau are role players and Quantrill has a chance to be something, though it's looking like he'll be a back-end starter rather than a frontline guy. No other unsigned Yankees' draft pick in the 2010s has amassed positive WAR.

5. 2020 draft prospect: Bryce Jarvis. We don't know when the 2020 amateur draft will take place just yet -- MLB can hold it anytime between June 10th and July 20th, and it sounds like it'll be June 10th or close to it -- but there will be a draft this year, and I'm gonna break down potential Yankees targets the next few weeks. We've already covered Nick Bitsko, Tanner Burns, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Isaiah Greene, Luke Little, Max Meyer, C.J. Van Eyk, and Austin Wells. Jarvis is the son of former big leaguer Kevin Jarvis and he declined to sign with the Yankees as a draft-eligible sophomore in the 37th round last year. He's one of four former Yankees' draft picks with a chance to go in the first round this year, joining Burns, Wells, and Arizona State shortstop Alika Williams. When he's not busy with the boys at the yacht club, Jarvis is a right-hander at Duke, and he was marvelous prior to the shutdown this spring: 27 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 40 K. He threw the first perfect game in Blue Devils history on Feb. 23rd. Here's the video. Jarvis split his freshman and sophomore seasons between the rotation and bullpen and had success in both roles. MLB.com ranks him as the 25th best prospect in the draft class while Baseball America (subs. req'd) has him 45th. The Yankees hold the 28th overall pick. Here's a chunk of MLB's scouting report (here's more video):

After working with an 88-93 mph fastball at the beginning of 2019 and dipping to 86-91 by season's end, Jarvis added 20 pounds to his 6-foot-2 frame and operated at 92-96 with effective downhill plane last fall and this spring. His breaking ball used to be average at best, and now he flashes a plus curveball in the upper 70s that he can manipulate into a distinct and equally effective slider in the mid-80s. His fading changeup remains his best secondary offering, grading as well above average at its best ... He repeats his delivery well and long has drawn praise for his competitiveness.

Last summer Jarvis trained at Driveline Baseball and Cressey Sports Performance, the two premier independent (and data driven) training facilities, rather than pitch in the prestigious Cape Cod League. The result was added muscle and improved velocity this spring. The shutdown means teams won't get to see whether Jarvis sustains that velocity all year -- as noted in the scouting report above, his fastball dipped a good bit as the season wore on last year -- but seeing him work at 96 mph is probably enough. Teams know it's in there. Jarvis has good stuff, big league bloodlines, and he's also demonstrated the willingness and aptitude to use data to improve, something I'm sure analytically inclined teams will love. On the downside, Jarvis is a 22-year-old college junior who will be 23 on Opening Day 2021. He's seven months older than 2019 second rounder T.J. Sikkema. The track record of older high school draftees in pro ball is not particularly good but I don't know anything about the track record of older college draftees. I guess teams could ding Jarvis a bit for that. I dunno. As far as we know, the Yankees will have only three picks and $3.7M in bonus pool money this year. Jarvis strikes me as candidate for their first round pick given his natural ability, his makeup and competitiveness, and his analytical inclinations. There's also the fact the Yankees drafted him last year -- scouting director Damon Oppenheimer has said those Hail Mary late round picks are often about building relationships -- and the Cressey connection. Jarvis trained at Cressey Sports Performance last summer and the Yankees hired Eric Cressey, the facility's president and co-founder, to oversee their training staff this winter. I imagine Jarvis has to consent before Cressey can share any biometric data with teams, and even then I would assume it goes to all 30 teams rather than be made exclusive to the Yankees. Still, there is a connection to Cressey, which could be a factor in the decision to draft him (or not draft him should Cressey could alert the Yankees to any red flags, etc.) My guess is the Yankees believe Jarvis comes with way more positives than negatives, and they have him pretty high up on their draft board.

6. Remembering a random Yankee: Cesar Cabral. By request, the next random Yankee we will remember is one of the team's most recent Rule 5 Draft picks. We've already covered Juan Acevedo, Erick Almonte, Oscar Azocar, Colter Bean, Brandon Claussen, Kevin Elster, Greg Golson, Nick Green, Aaron Guiel, Brandon Knight, Blake Parker, Chris Parmelee, Mark Reynolds, and Kerry Wood. Technically, the Yankees did not select Cabral in the Rule 5 Draft. The Royals selected him from the Red Sox with the fifth pick in the 2011 Rule 5 Draft, then traded him to the Yankees for cash in a prearranged deal. Kansas City wasn't planning to select anyone that year, so they sold their pick. The Yankees didn't expect Cabral to last until their selection, so they gave the Royals a little something to get their guy. Cabral, then 23, had a 2.95 ERA (2.72 FIP) with a 29.2% strikeout rate in 55 relief innings at High-A and Double-A in 2011. Lefties who do that are prime Rule 5 Draft fodder (or were before the three batter minimum rule became a thing). Cabral impressed in Spring Training 2012 (two earned runs and 12 strikeouts in 11.1 innings) and was in position to be on the Opening Day roster -- David Robertson hurt his foot falling down the stairs in early March and it became a running gag at RAB that Cabral must've tripped Robertson to open a bullpen spot -- but he broke his elbow in late March and missed the entire season. The Yankees liked Cabral enough that they kept him on the 40-roster throughout the 2012-13 offseason. He started 2013 in the minors on a rehab assignment, and, once he got healthy, they dropped him from the 40-man roster rather than call him up. Cabral cleared waivers and remained with the Yankees as a non-40-man roster player. Once he cleared waivers, the Rule 5 Draft rules no longer applied. Cabral was New York's to keep. He pitched well enough in the minors that year that the Yankees brought him to the big leagues as a Sept. call-up. They were going to put him back on the 40-man roster anyway in the offseason, so they got a head start. Used as a true left-on-left matchup guy, Cabral allowed one run in 3.2 innings with the Yankees that September, and held lefties to 1-for-8 with six strikeouts. That'll work. Cabral did not make the 2014 Opening Day bullpen but he didn't have to wait long to get called up. A groin issue sent Robertson to the disabled list a week into the season and Cabral was back in the Bronx. His first three outings were unremarkable (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K). The wheels came off his fourth time out. With the Yankees down three runs in the eighth inning at Tropicana Field on April 18th, Cabral was summoned for mop-up duty. Only one of the next seven Rays scheduled to bat was a lefty, so yeah, it was mop-up duty. Here's how Cabral's inning went:

• Ben Zobrist singled to center. Wild pitch moved him to second.
• Brandon Guyer singled to right, scoring Zobrist.
• Evan Longoria hit by the first pitch.
• James Loney hit by a pitch in a 3-0 count to load the bases.
• Wil Myers singled to left, scoring Longoria and Loney.
• Logan Forsythe hit by the first pitch. Cabral ejected.

Here's the video. I remember none of the hit by pitches looked obviously intentional -- Rays manager Joe Maddon told Wally Matthews he didn't think they were intentional, but added the ejection was the right move because "someone was going to get hurt out there" -- but enough seeds of doubt existed. Hitting Longoria on the first pitch after giving up back-to-back singles, then hitting Loney with a 3-0 pitch screams frustration. Ditto hitting Forsythe on the first pitch. "Today was not a good day. I didn't try to hit anybody. I want to throw strikes. That happens sometimes. They know I don't want to hit anybody," Cabral told Adam Berry after the game. Joe Girardi said what he had to say to stand up for his player -- "He just clearly had no command. It's unfortunate. Obviously we're not trying to hit anyone there, and I feel bad that we hit three people there. You've just got to move on and go from there," he told Berry -- but actions speak louder than words, and the Yankees designated Cabral for assignment immediately after the game. Teams don't do that when they like a player and think he just had a bad night. Cabral spent the rest of the season in Triple-A and was released after the season. His Yankees career spanned three seasons (2012-14) but only 4.2 big league innings pitched. He signed with the Orioles in Dec. 2014 and made it back to the show in 2015, appearing in two games that June. That was his last taste of the big leagues. Cabral spent 2016 in Triple-A with the Orioles, 2017 with the Tokushima Indigo Socks of the independent Shikoku Island League Plus in Japan, 2018 out of baseball (I think he was hurt), and 2019 with two different independent teams in the U.S. Cabral turned 31 in February and is an unsigned free agent, as best I can tell.

7. Rapid fire thoughts. MLB and the MLB Umpires Association struck a deal regarding pay and benefits during the shutdown recently. As part of the agreement, MLB can unilaterally eliminate the use of instant replay in 2020, according to Ben Walker. That's mostly because MLB is worried about inconsistent video access at Spring Training and minor league parks, should regular season games be played there. They'd rather not have replay at all than have different access at different sites. I am totally cool with no instant replay no matter where they play. Getting the call right is important, I know, but the entire process is unpleasant. It slows the game down so much. Nothing about this season will be normal. I see no reason to sweat no instant replay. Scrap it and let's go ... Bob Nightengale reports MLB is considering having each team hold training camp at their home park (i.e. Yankees at Yankee Stadium) once baseball is ready to return rather than at their Spring Training site. Such a setup would save travel and money, because everyone could live at home rather than isolate at a hotel, and also limit liability. Player gets sick while isolated in Arizona so he can play baseball, and it's A Problem. Player gets sick while at home, then he's on his own. The downside is lack of space -- Spring Training complexes have multiple fields and they're all used -- and competition. Teams would be stuck playing intrasquad games and nothing more, though I suppose MLB could arrange Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Giants-Athletics, etc. games in two-team cities. That wouldn't be fair to the teams with no nearby opponent though. MLB has to consider anything and everything, but this plan seems like a no go. Maybe teams could do a week of workouts at home to save travel and money before going to their Spring Training site to play games against other teams? ... And finally, J.J. Cooper had a neat idea: Florida Fall League. Essentially a sister league for the Arizona Fall League later this year. There's unlikely to be a minor league season this year and teams are worried about their prospects losing a year of development time, understandably. Cooper proposes expanding the AzFL from six teams to 15 teams, with another 15 teams in Florida. Each MLB club fields its own 30-35 man roster and plays games at their Spring Training site for six or however many weeks in October and November. There could even be a Fall League Championship featuring the Arizona and Florida winners. It's a great idea and would help some players, though not all, but some is better than none. Unfortunately, the mistake here is assuming MLB actually wants to play minor league games this year and not simply scrap the season to cut costs.

(Send questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. Been running low on questions during the shutdown, especially lately, but all are appreciated.)