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Reds Acquire Nick Solak From Rangers

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The Reds have acquired outfielder Nick Solak from the Rangers in exchange for cash considerations, according to an announcement from Texas.

Solak, 28, in January, was a second round pick of the Yankees in 2016 but was traded to the Rays as part of the 2018 three-team deal that saw the Yanks get Brandon Drury and the Diamondbacks get Steven Souza Jr. In July of 2019, the Rays flipped him to Texas for Pete Fairbanks.

After that second trade, Solak made his MLB debut with the Rangers, getting into 33 games down the stretch in 2019. It could hardly have gone much better, as Solak hit .293/.393/.491 in that stretch for a wRC+ of 126. He played second and third base in that time, giving the Rangers an exciting option for the infield.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to maintain those results since then. Over 2020 and 2021, he hit .250/.318/.357 for a wRC+ of just 88. He also struggled defensively and got pushed into a corner outfield role, putting more pressure on him to provide value offensively. He was optioned on and off the team throughout 2022, only getting into 35 big league games and not hitting too much when in the lineup. He finished the season on the IL due to a foot fracture and needed to be reinstated since the IL goes away today and doesn’t come back until Spring Training. Instead of adding him back to the roster, the club has swung a deal and sent him to Cincinnati.

For the Reds, there’s little harm in taking a shot on a bounceback. They’ve been stripping the roster down for the past couple of years and aren’t likely to be competitive here in 2023. Although Solak has struggled at the big league level in the past few years, he’s still performed well in Triple-A. In 2022, that led to a batting line of .278/.371/.489 and a wRC+ of 114.

The Reds have some other outfield options, such as Nick Senzel, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley and Aristides Aquino, though none of them are really set in stone. Solak still has one option year remaining, which means the Reds don’t even need to commit an active roster spot for him. If he can get his bat back on track, he still has years of arbitration control remaining.

Reds Decline Mike Minor’s Mutual Option

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The Reds announced they have declined their end of a  mutual option on left-hander Mike Minor, making him a free agent. He’ll receive a $1MM buyout instead of a $13MM salary for next year.

Prior to the 2021 season, Minor signed with the Royals on a two-year contract with a club option for 2023. In the event Minor was traded, that club option would become a mutual option, which indeed came to pass when the Royals flipped him to the Reds for Amir Garrett going into 2022.

In the first year of that deal, Minor made 28 starts for the Royals and tossed 158 2/3 innings. His 5.05 ERA certainly didn’t elicit much excitement, though there were reasons to think he could have deserved better. His 22.3% strikeout rate was just a shade under league average among starting pitchers that year, though his 6.1% walk rate was almost two ticks below the 7.8% par. His 66.4% strand rate was also much worse than the 72.5% median, leading advanced metrics to come in better than his ERA, such as a 4.38 xERA, 4.29 FIP, 4.32 xFIP and 4.20 SIERA.

Going into 2022, the Reds did some roster clearing, mostly for financial reasons. Wade Miley was put on waivers and claimed by the Cubs, while Sonny Gray was traded to the Twins. They held onto Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, but it was still expected that those guys would likely be moved later, which did indeed come to pass at the trade deadline. Taking all that into consideration, they needed a veteran to maintain a steady presence in the rotation and acquired Minor to be that guy.

There was some logic to this, as Minor had made at least 28 starts in the previous three full seasons as well as 11 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Unfortunately, that durability didn’t carry over into 2022, with Minor making multiple trips to the IL due to shoulder issues. He did end up taking the ball 19 times in 2022, though he was not able to be very effective when he did. He posted a 6.06 ERA on the year, with a diminished strikeout rate of 16.7%. Based on that disappointing season, it’s no surprise that the Reds have turned down their end of the bargain. Minor turns 35 years old in December and has also mulled retirement.

Despite losing Minor and the aforementioned traded pitchers, the rotation is one of the more interesting parts of the roster for the rebuilding Reds. Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft all made their debuts in 2022 and each showed varying levels of promise. That could give the club a strong nucleus of starters to build around as they look to move towards their next competitive window.

Mets Prioritizing Retaining Brandon Nimmo And Edwin Díaz

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The Mets have a huge batch of players departing their roster for free agency in the coming days, a list that includes Brandon Nimmo, Tyler Naquin and almost the entire bullpen, including closer Edwin Díaz. That group is likely to be joined by Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker, who all either have opt-outs they can trigger or options they can turn down. However, the Mets are most interested in retaining Díaz and Nimmo out of that group, according to Andy Martino of SNY.

The club’s interest in Nimmo is fairly understandable for a few reasons. For one thing, Nimmo is very good, having been above-average at the plate in each of the past six seasons. For his career, he’s gotten into 608 games and has walked in 13.6% of his plate appearances, much better than league average, producing an overall batting line of .269/.385/.441. That production is 34% better than the league average hitter, as evidenced by his 134 wRC+, with Nimmo putting up the same number in 2022.

Nimmo is also a serviceable defender in center field, though defensive metrics disagree on exactly how effective he is on the grass. Defensive Runs Saved gave him a -3 this year, but a +4 last year. Ultimate Zone Rating was at -0.4 in 2022 after giving Nimmo a 2.9 in 2021. Outs Above Average was the most optimistic, pegging him with a six this year and a three last year.

Perhaps most importantly, Nimmo stayed healthy this year, getting into 151 games in the regular season and three more in the playoffs. Health has often been a question mark around Nimmo, with 2022 being just the second time he’s gotten into more than 100 games in a campaign. However, he played 55 games in the shortened 2020 season and 92 last year, meaning he’s going into free agency on the heels of a fairly strong three-year stretch in the health department.

What also adds to Nimmo’s appeal is the fairly weak crop of free agent center fielders this year. Outside of Nimmo and Aaron Judge, who’s never been a full-time center fielder, the top option is probably the oft-injured Kevin Kiermaier. The Rays hold a club option for Kiermaier but are likely to turn it down given his down year and season-ending hip surgery. Cody Bellinger could join the market if the Dodgers decide to non-tender him, though the reason they might do that is because he’s hit so poorly over the past two years. Beyond that group, there aren’t a lot of realistic options who can be expected to secure everyday jobs. As the Mets watch Nimmo depart, the easiest path to filling his vacancy is to simply bring him back.

General manager Billy Eppler recently said that the club is open to moving Starling Marte from right to center, but also spoke highly of Nimmo. Given that Marte recently turned 34 and didn’t play much center this year, it would be a riskier move to ride with him as opposed to bringing Nimmo back. Of course, retaining Nimmo will mean beating the market and paying him to stick around. Given Nimmo’s talents and the dearth of more attractive options, he surely won’t be cheap.

As for Díaz, it’s fairly understandable that the club would want to retain him as well. He is one of seven relievers that the Mets are about to lose to the open market, meaning they will have to effectively rebuild their entire bullpen from scratch this winter. Starting with arguably the best reliever on the planet is a good way to kick things off. He pitched 62 innings with a tiny ERA of 1.31 in 2022. He did that by striking out 118 batters, an incredible rate of 50.2%. He also kept his walks at a reasonable 7.7% and got grounders on 46.9% of balls in play. He even added 2 2/3 innings of scoreless work in the postseason before the Mets were eliminated.

Given that excellence, Díaz will also be looking at a nice payday on the open market. The record deal for a reliever is the five-year, $86MM deal signed by the Yankees and Aroldis Chapman. Díaz has a compelling case that he’s currently as good as Chapman was then or perhaps even better. Since that contract is six years old at this point and inflation generally pushes contracts upwards over time, it’s entirely possible that Díaz sets a new record. Given that the Mets have so many holes to fill, there would be some sense in avoiding mega deals while spreading their money around, but there’s also no doubt that retaining Díaz adds a huge lockdown element to help them win close ballgames.

The fact that the Mets have set their targets on Nimmo and Díaz doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not interested in their other potential free agents, such as deGrom, Walker or Bassitt. Roster Resource estimates the 2023 payroll is around $231MM at the moment, though that will drop by about $40MM when deGrom and Walker trigger their opt-outs. Assuming the Mets pick up Carlos Carrasco’s $14MM club option instead of the $3MM buyout, that will add $11MM back on. Factoring in a couple of non-tenders and the club could be around $200MM, give or take. Owner Steve Cohen has hinted at a $300MM spending limit, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, which leaves plenty of room to make multiple signings if that’s the way the club wants to go. Of course, the players also have a say in the matter, as do the 29 other teams. The Mets will have many strands to follow this winter, even if Nimmo and Díaz are currently at the top of the agenda.

One other route the club has considered is bringing in another Díaz, as Martino reports that the Mets tried to acquire Alexis Díaz from the Reds at the deadline a few months back. Alexis is Edwin’s younger brother and Martino reports that the two are quite close. Seeing the two brothers form a fraternal one-two punch at the back of the bullpen would certainly be exciting, but prying him loose from Cincinnati won’t be easy. 2022 was his first season in the big leagues, meaning the Reds still have five seasons of control over his services, including two more campaigns before Alexis even qualifies for a salary raise via arbitration. The debut could hardly have gone much better, as he tossed 63 2/3 innings with a 1.84 ERA and 32.5% strikeout rate, though his 12.9% walk rate was a few ticks above league average. He worked his way up the club’s depth chart as the season went on, earning 13 holds and 10 saves.

The Mets are reportedly hesitant to deal from their prospect depth at the moment, preferring to add to the big league team via free agency while they try to get their farm into good shape. That could make a deal unlikely to come together, though it adds another layer of intrigue to an offseason full of it.

13 Players Elect Free Agency

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With the World Series kicking off on Friday, we’re only a couple weeks from the opening of the offseason. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.

Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

In recent weeks, we’ve provided periodic updates on players qualifying for minor league free agency. Here are the latest, courtesy of the MiLB.com transactions tracker.

Pitchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Quick Hits: Reds, Wheeler, Morel, Rays Ballpark

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The Reds had a longstanding interest in Zack Wheeler as both a trade target and then when the righty entered free agency in the 2019-20 offseason.  Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer recently revisited that free agent pursuit, which ended when the Phillies signed Wheeler to a five-year, $118MM contract.  According to Nightengale, the Reds were also willing to spend beyond $100MM to sign Wheeler, but they may have been undone by geography more than just dollars.  Wheeler prioritized staying on the East Coast and closer to his wife’s home state of New Jersey, giving the Phils the edge over both the Reds and the White Sox (who reportedly offered more than $118MM).

Needless to say, signing Wheeler would’ve changed the entire trajectory of recent Reds history, not to mention the Phillies’ last three seasons and their current berth in the 2022 World Series.  As Nightengale notes, the Reds went on to sign Nick Castellanos (for $64MM over four years) and Shogo Akiyama ($21MM over three years) after Wheeler left the market, and it isn’t known if either of those deals could’ve or would’ve still happened if Cincinnati had made its big investment in Wheeler’s contract.

More from around the baseball world…

  • Christopher Morel had a solid rookie season, hitting .235/.308/.433 with 16 home runs over 425 plate appearances for the Cubs.  Beyond his contributions at the plate, Morel also started games as a second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, center fielder, and left fielder.  ‘There’s not many guys in the big leagues that can do what he does, the consistency he’s shown at times in each position,’’ Cubs assistant coach Jonathan Mota told Maddie Lee of the Chicago-Sun Times.  A super-utility role would make Morel a valuable commodity on the roster, and both Morel and the Cubs seem committed to continuing his prep work at multiple positions going forward.
  • Tampa-area businessman Darryl Shaw recently bought 25 acres of waterfront land in the Ybor City neighborhood, and as John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times explains, Shaw tried in the past to work with the Rays in other ventures in the Ybor area.  Shaw’s new land purchase might therefore revive the idea of a new Rays ballpark in downtown Tampa, though Romano notes that this could be a long shot for a variety of reasons, including a lack of committed civic funding and the Rays’ increased interest in a new park (and accompanying “baseball village” infrastructure) built on the grounds of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.  Any number of proposals involving Tampa, St. Pete, and even Montreal have been floated over the years as the Rays look for a new home, and it remains to be seen if any answer can be found before the club’s lease at the Trop expires after the 2027 season.  Rays team president Matt Silverman said that “city and county officials on both sides of the bay seem to appreciate the value of baseball and are focused on finding a solution.  The discussions are going on simultaneously in a parallel, non-competitive, non-adversarial way.  Everyone understands time is of the essence.”

Art Warren Expected To Miss 2023 Season

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Reds right-hander Art Warren finished the 2022 season on the injured list due to a elbow surgery, though no timetable for his recovery was given at that time. Manager David Bell told reporters, including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, that though Warren’s UCL was being repaired, it was not a full replacement. That seemingly left some room for optimism that Warren wouldn’t require a full year or more, as he would if he underwent Tommy John surgery. However, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer now reports that Warren is indeed expected to miss the entire 2023 campaign.

Warren, 30 in March, was acquired by the Reds prior to the 2021 campaign. His first year in Cincy was fairly successful, as he registered a 1.29 ERA in 21 innings, which included a 41.5% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 37.6% ground ball rate. Though he was surely hoping to build on that here in 2022, he largely dealt with injuries and underperformance. He landed on the IL in July due to a right flexor pronator strain and then again in September due to the aforementioned surgery. When on the hill, he threw 36 innings but with his ERA jumping up to 6.50 and his walk rate to 13.3%.

Those results might have been caused by his injury issues but were disappointing nonetheless. On top of that, he will now be looking at losing the entirety of his age-30 season while recovering from surgery. He has yet to reach arbitration and won’t cost much to keep around until healthy, but there’s no injured list between the end of the World Series and the start of Spring Training. If Warren can hold onto his 40-man roster spot through the winter, he could be placed on the 60-day IL for all of next year, though it’s also possible he becomes a casualty of a roster squeeze at some point. The club doesn’t seem to have designs on competing in 2023, with general manager Nick Krall recently telling Nightengale that “We’re going to come into (2023) in a similar place that we are right now.” Whether Warren sticks in their plans will likely depend on how much they expect him to contribute in 2024 and beyond.

In terms of other Cincinnati relievers, Buck Farmer is hoping to stick with the team. “I hope to be here next year,” he tells Nightengale. “I think (the coaching staff) as a group put me in the spot to where I’ve gotten this year, so it’s been a big help being here.” Signed to a minor league contract in the offseason, Farmer ended up tossing 47 innings with a 3.83 ERA, a big improvement over the 6.37 he had with the Tigers in 2021. He also posted a career-high 27.1% strikeout rate, though also issued free passes to 12.6% of batters faced.

Farmer, 32 in February, is arbitration eligible and projected for a salary of $1.4MM by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. That’s not a huge sum by MLB standards, with next year’s minimum going up to $720K. Still, the club will have to decide if they think he can replicate or improve that performance going forward.

Reds Outright Three Players

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The Reds announced yesterday that right-handers Ryan Hendrix, Raynel Espinal, and catcher Chuckie Robinson have cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville. All three will become minor league free agents after the World Series unless added back to the 40-man roster.

Hendrix, 27, has spent the past two seasons shuttled between Triple-A and Cincinnati’s major league bullpen. He’s struggled mightily during that time, failing to post an ERA below 5.00 at either level during either season. Hendrix will search for a minor league deal this offseason and, having spent his entire professional career in the Reds organization, may benefit from a change of scenery.

Espinal, 31, played for three organizations in 2022. He opened the season pitching for the Giants at their Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, before being traded to the Cubs in exchange for minor league shortstop Dixon Machado at the trade deadline. After just 2 games with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, he was released, and later signed a minor league deal with the Reds, for whom he served as an up-and-down pitcher during September, posting a 7.71 ERA in just 4 2/3 innings of work. After a similarly short stint with weak results in the Red Sox bullpen last year (9.00 ERA in 2 innings), Espinal will look for a minor league opportunity with yet another club this offseason.

Robinson, 27, struggled at the plate in 25 games with the Reds this year (60 PA), slashing just .136/.136/.271 in that time. Robinson fared better during his time in the minors this season, however, slashing a more respectable .266/.320/.399 in 58 games (219 PA) split fairly evenly between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Given the desirability of upper-minors catching depth, Robinson will likely find a minor league deal this offseason, whether with the Reds or another club.

Orioles Designate Louis Head, Beau Sulser; Claim Aramis Garcia, Mark Kolozsvary

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The Orioles have added to their catching depth with a pair of waiver claims from the Reds, acquiring backstops Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary.  To create roster space, Baltimore has designated right-handers Louis Head and Beau Sulser for assignment.

Both Sulser and Head were themselves acquired via the waiver wire in 2022, with the former obtained from the Pirates in May and the latter from Miami in July.  Neither saw much action in an Orioles uniform, with Sulser pitching 12 2/3 MLB innings for the O’s and Head only five frames.  Those 12 2/3 innings for Sulser marked his Major League debut, as he pitched in four games with Pittsburgh before moving onto six more appearances with Baltimore.

The younger brother of former Orioles hurler Cole Sulser, Beau worked his way up to the big leagues after being a 10-round pick for the Pirates in the 2017 draft.  Though the Pirates gave the righty a long look at a starter at Triple-A in 2021, Sulser has pitched only as a reliever in his brief MLB career.  Sulser has a 4.12 ERA over 373 1/3 career innings in the minors, with an improved strikeout rate in 2022 as he made the move back to mostly relief pitching.

Head made his Major League debut in 2021, posting a 2.31 ERA over 35 innings out of the Rays’ bullpen.  Seemingly the latest product of Tampa Bay’s nonstop pitching pipeline, Head spent an unusual amount of time moving up and down that pipeline, as the Rays sent the right-hander up and down from Triple-A on 12 different occasions.  Acquired by the Marlins in an offseason trade, Head struggled to a 7.23 ERA over his 23 2/3 innings with Florida’s other team, though he seemed to right the ship with an 1.80 ERA in his brief time with the O’s.

The additions of Garcia and Kolozsvary give the Orioles six catchers on their 40-man roster — an unusually high number even for a team that didn’t have a surefire starter in Adley Rutschman.  However, Robinson Chirinos is a free agent and Cam Gallagher is a non-tender candidate, so bringing more backstops into the fold gives the O’s some flexibility in deciding who will ultimately work as Rutschman’s backup in 2023.  (Anthony Bemboom is the other catcher on the 40-man.)

A second-round pick for the Giants in the 2014 draft, Garcia spent much of his career in San Francisco’s organization before being claimed by the Rangers in November 2020.  That move sparked a whirlwind of movement for the catcher, as the Oriole are now Garcia’s fifth different team within the last 23 months.  Garcia has seen MLB action in four of the last five seasons, totaling 320 plate appearances over 116 games with the Giants (2018-19), Athletics (2021) and Reds (2022).

Other than an .800 OPS in his first 65 PA with San Francisco, Garcia hasn’t shown much at the bat, hitting .216/.253/.332 for his career against big league pitching.  Injuries have played a significant role in Garcia’s career, as he missed all of 2020 recovering from hip surgery, and a finger sprain sent him to Cincinnati’s 60-day injured list last season.  Garcia is projected to earn $800K in his first offseason for arbitration eligibility, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Orioles non-tendered him prior to the deadline, depending on the team’s other plans for its catchers or its 40-man roster space.

Kolozsvary was a seventh-round pick for the Reds in 2017, and today’s waiver claim marks the first organization change of his pro career.  After hitting .215/.326/.343 in an even 1100 PA in the minors, Kolozsvary topped off his Reds tenure by making his Major League debut in 2022, appearing in 10 games.

Tigers Claim Michael Papierski, Designate Ali Sanchez

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The Tigers have claimed catcher Michael Papierski off waivers from the Reds.  In a corresponding roster move, Detroit designated catcher Ali Sanchez for assignment.

With Tucker Barnhart heading into free agency, Papierski’s addition gives the Tigers some extra depth behind the plate beyond Eric Haase.  Jake Rogers is expected to compete for playing time in Spring Training after missing 2022 due to recovery from Tommy John surgery, and prospect Dillon Dingler (who played all of last season at Double-A) might be in line for a late-season debut in the majors.

The waiver claim doesn’t preclude Detroit from making further or larger moves at catcher as the offseason rolls on, yet Papierski is a known quantity to new Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris.  Formerly the Giants’ GM for the last three seasons, Harris oversaw the trade that sent Papierski from the Astros to San Francisco last May, which opened the door for Papierski to make his MLB debut.  Papierski’s tenure with the Giants last just over a month before he went to Cincinnati on another claim.

An LSU product, Papierski was a ninth-round pick for the Astros in the 2017 draft.  Over 1606 career plate appearances in the minors, the backstop has a .222/.356/.337 slash line and 30 home runs.  Papierski couldn’t match this modest slash line in his first exposure to Major League pitching, as he hit .143/.228/.187 over 103 combined PA with the Giants and Reds last season.

Sanchez was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals back in June, but the 25-year-old didn’t see any MLB action with either St. Louis or Detroit in 2022.  Receiving cups of coffee in both 2020 with the Mets and in 2021 with the Cardinals, Sanchez’s MLB resume consists of seven total games.  Known more than his defense than his bat during his time in New York’s farm system, Sanchez has a career .262/.323/.343 slash line over 2045 PA, with six of his eight seasons coming in the Mets organization.  Given the constant need for catching depth around the big leagues, it wouldn’t be surprising to see another club claim Sanchez off the DFA wire, but if he clears, he’ll get attention for minor league contracts this winter.

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