Opting out: 12 MLB players we won't see in 2020

The MLB season is finally about to begin next week, but not everyone will participate. As part of the agreement between MLB and the players association, any player who wishes to opt out of playing this year may do so. To date, 12 have made the decision to stay home this year.

The rationales behind each of their decisions are verified and personal. Some have been very public about their reasons while others have kept it close to the vest. What they all have in common is that they’re making the best choice they can for themselves and their families. As such, they deserve respect. Health and well-being matter more than baseball. However, their absences will have an impact on the field, and we’ll dig into that for each player.

Welington Castillo — Catcher, Washington Nationals

The defending champions are hit harder by opt-outs than any other team. Castillo is one of three players sitting out the season, but he’s probably the easiest of the three to replace. The ten-year veteran backstop has homered 98 times over the past six seasons despite inconsistent playing time. However, he recorded only a .304 on-base percentage over that span, making him rather one-dimensional at the plate. His defense rates poorly as well. Baseball Prospectus ranked him the second-worst defensive catcher in MLB last year out of 123 players.

In all likelihood, Castillo wasn’t going to make the team. After spending the past two years with the White Sox, he signed a minor league contract with Washington in February with a Spring Training invitation. They returned their veteran catching tandem of Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki on major league contracts. Barring injury, Castillo was merely intended to audition for the rest of the league in March. Still, the Nationals now lack a reliable third catcher in their player pool. They have invited four more catchers to Summer Camp instead: Tres Barrera, Taylor Gushue, Raudy Read, and Jackson Reetz. If Castillo had attended camp, the Nationals’ player pool would likely look much different.

Ian Desmond — First Base/Outfield, Colorado Rockies

As he explained in a powerful, passionate Instagram post, which everyone is strongly encouraged to read, Desmond’s decision to opt out has as much to do with the racial tensions and social unrest in America as it does with the pandemic. He intends to spend the year off making youth baseball more accessible and welcoming to everyone so that others can have the same opportunities he had as a boy. Time well spent.

Desmond’s days as a Silver Slugger and All-Star shortstop are long over. In three years in Colorado, he’s compiled just a .313 on-base percentage. His OPS+ is 82, meaning his overall offensive production is 18% below league average. Nevertheless, he would have been an important cog in the thin Colorado outfield depth chart. Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl are their two best outfielders, but the former is recovering from coronavirus and the latter has never played more than 100 games in a season. It’s not a coincidence that the team signed Matt Kemp after Desmond opted out.

Félix Hernández — Starting Pitcher, Atlanta Braves

After 15 memorable years with the Mariners, seeing King Félix wear any other uniform would’ve taken some adjustment. The 34-year-old former ace signed a minor league deal with the Braves prior to Spring Training. While he may have won a Cy Young award and made six All-Star teams in Seattle, his reign fizzled out with 5.55 and 6.40 ERAs over the past two seasons. His fastball averaged 95.8 mph as a 19-year-old rookie in 2005 but slumped to merely 89.6 mph in 2019.

Is this the end of the line for Hernández? It would have been hard to envision him cracking the Braves’ starting rotation. If he had made the team at all, it would’ve likely been as a long reliever. Atlanta won the NL East last year with 97 wins and figures to be competitive once again. That’s not the kind of team that can use roster spots on reclamation projects, regardless of sentimentality. Hopefully, he can resurrect his career to some extent in 2021.

Jordan Hicks — Reliever, St. Louis Cardinals

It’s not hard to recognize Hicks’ appeal. His fastball averaged 101.1 mph in 2019, joining Aroldis Chapman and Andrés Muñoz as the only pitchers in MLB to average triple digits. There have been 73 pitches clocked at 103 mph or higher over the past two years, and 60 of them were thrown by Hicks. He touched 105 on the radar gun in May 2018.

Unfortunately, with great power comes great strain on the elbow, and he underwent Tommy John surgery last June. It’s unlikely he would’ve been ready for the delayed Opening Day anyway. He probably would’ve pitched at some point this season though, so the Cardinals bullpen will be a little bit thinner. 

Michael Kopech — Starting Pitcher, Chicago White Sox

Much like the current core of the White Sox, the story of Kopech is largely yet to be written. As a flame-throwing prospect, he was traded to Chicago from the Red Sox organization prior to 2017 as part of the Chris Sale deal. He maintained his status as a consensus top-50 prospect in all of baseball each year from 2017-2020. He broke through to the majors for four starts in 2018 but succumbed to Tommy John surgery. 2020 would have been the year he returned, but now that will be delayed.

Perhaps more than any other team in the American League, the White Sox are on the rise. They haven’t finished above .500 since 2012 and last reached the postseason in 2008. However, they have rebuilt around young stars Yoán Moncada, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jiménez, and Lucas Giolito. They’re supplemented by free agent catcher Yasmani Grandal and the resigning of first baseman José Abreu. Kopech should be ready to contribute just as the team ascends to playoff contention, but for now, there’s no need to rush.

Mike Leake — Starting Pitcher, Arizona Diamondbacks

Leake is one of those guys who kind of just exist floating around MLB who you might only notice when they pitch against your team. Then one day you look him up and realize he’s been a reliable mid-rotation starter for a full decade, logging nearly 300 starts and more than 1,800 innings. He’s never been an All-Star or earned any Cy Young votes (though he did win a Gold Glove last year), but he’s never really had a bad season either.

The Mariners traded him to the Diamondbacks at the trade deadline a year ago. This is the last guaranteed year of his contract, though there’s a team option for next year. After signing Madison Bumgarner this winter, the team has enough starting pitching depth to overcome his loss. They’ll send out a solid rotation of Bumgarner, Robbie Ray, Luke Weaver, Zac Gallen, and Merrill Kelly. Leake would have made them that much deeper, and they’ll feel it if someone gets hurt.

Nick Markakis — Outfielder, Atlanta Braves

Markakis is the outfielder equivalent of Mike Leake. He’s never been a great player, but he has somehow amassed 2,355 career hits over a 14-year career. He’s decidedly not a future Hall of Famer, but if he hangs around long enough to reach 3,000 that will become an interesting conversation.  

He was set to depart Atlanta after five years with the team as a free agent, but they retained him on a one year deal. He’s no longer going to be a regular, as the Braves will go with an outfield combo of Ronald Acuña, Jr., Marcell Ozuna, and Ender Inciarte. The National League DH would’ve yielded him plenty of playing time though. Instead, his role will be filled by the newly-signed Yasiel Puig.

Héctor Noesí — Pitcher, Pittsburgh Pirates

No disrespect intended to Noesí or the Pirates, but he didn’t pitch in the majors at all from 2016-2018, then posted an 8.46 ERA for the Marlins last year. Pittsburgh will almost assuredly finish last in the NL Central. We don’t need to spend a lot of time here.

Buster Posey — Catcher, San Francisco Giants

Everyone’s reasons for opting out are valid, but Posey’s are especially poignant. He and his wife recently adopted twin baby girls, who were born premature and are still in the NICU. On the field, the former MVP’s production dropped off significantly last year as he hit just .257 with seven home runs. Catching takes a substantial physical toll, and sadly it seems the 33-year-old may be declining prematurely.

With Posey declining to suit up, the Giants have a fascinating decision regarding the future of their franchise. The team finished 77-85 a year ago and has a poor outlook for 2020. However, they have top prospect Joey Bart waiting in the wings to take over from Posey. He was selected second overall in the 2018 draft and has performed well in the minors, but has only 22 games experience above A-ball. If this season had started on time, he would have likely spent the year developing in the high minors and debuted in San Francisco at some point. With all of that lost development time, will the team bring him up anyway — starting his service time in a losing season-- or will they keep him on ice until next year?

David Price — Starting Pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers

The biggest transaction of the offseason was the blockbuster that sent Price from the Red Sox to the Dodgers. Oh, and Mookie Betts as well. Kidding aside, Price’s inclusion in the deal may have been a salary dump, but he’s no mere throw-in. Despite a career-worst 4.28 ERA (which really isn’t too bad), he set a personal best with 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings. He’s still got a lively left arm with a four-pitch mix, including an excellent changeup. Even in a stacked Dodgers rotation, he’s a mid-rotation stalwart.

Top to bottom, no team in baseball can match the overall depth of the Dodgers. Price might be a top-two starter on most teams, but Los Angeles boasts at least seven other quality options: Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Julio Urías, Ross Stripling, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin. While they’d undoubtedly have been better off with Price than without him, they should be fine with what they have.

Joe Ross — Pitcher, Washington Nationals

Ross certainly isn’t the best pitcher on the Nationals (see Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin), but he may be the most versatile. He threw 64 innings over 27 games last year, including nine starts and three games finished. He surrendered far too many baserunners and proved a little too easy to hit, but the team still trusted him to throw seven innings in the World Series including a start in Game Five.

Following the Big Three and Aníbal Sánchez, Ross would’ve been in contention for the fifth starter job. Failing that, he would have been a valuable long reliever. Now Erik Fedde, Austin Voth, and Kyle McGowin will duke it out for those jobs. The top four starters can’t throw all of their innings after all, and they’ll miss someone who can take the ball in virtually any situation. Every team needs innings eaters.

Ryan Zimmerman — First Base/DH, Washington Nationals

Zimmerman is an institution on the Nationals. In fact, he’s the first player they ever drafted in 2005 (before that they were the Montreal Expos). He may only be a shell of his former self on the field, but the Nationals brought him back on a one-year deal in January. 2020 would have been his 16th season with the franchise.

In a purely objective sense, the Nationals don’t really need Zimmerman. His part-time first base/DH role can easily be absorbed by Eric Thames, Asdrúbal Cabrera, and Howie Kendrick. However, he’s a local fan favorite (raised in Virginia) who would have been a big part of any World Series championship celebrations. It’s always hard to say goodbye to players who have spent so long in one place, and he may well have played his last game in D.C.