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Agency Changes: Gurriels, Calhoun

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Here are the latest agency changes from around the game. As always, you can find updated representation information in MLBTR’s Agency Database.

  • Both of the Gurriel brothers — Yuli Gurriel of the Astros and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Blue Jays — have hired Magnus Sports, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). The elder Gurriel is closest to free agency, though he still has two full seasons to go on his five-year contract with the Houston organization. He’s also already 34 years of age. His little brother is still just 25 years old and cracked the bigs for the first time last year, turning in a promising initial showing with the Jays. His contract takes him through the 2023 campaign, with at least one year of arbitration eligibility remaining thereafter.
  • Meanwhile, Rangers power-hitting prospect Willie Calhoun has hired MVP Sports Group, per Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has seen brief tastes of the majors in each of the past two seasons but has yet to earn a full showcase at the game’s highest level. He’s seen as a high-end talent with the bat who still needs to iron things out defensively. It seems Calhoun will ultimately be given a shot in left field, but he’ll need to bounce back from a 2018 power outage (11 home runs in 578 total plate appearances) in order to force his way back onto the active roster.

Doug Fister Retires

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Veteran right-hander Doug Fister has elected to call it a career after spending parts of 10 seasons in the Majors, agent Page Odle tells Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Fister, 35, received multiple Major League contract offers this winter, according to Odle, but is instead making a “100 percent family-driven” decision to spend time with his wife and two children.

A seventh-round pick of the Mariners back in 2006, Fister ascended to the Majors as a largely unheralded prospect with the Mariners in 2009. After establishing himself as a quality starter over his first 378 frames with the Mariners, Fister was flipped to the Tigers in a 2011 trade deadline deal, where he’d go on to thrive over another three seasons. Fister, in fact, was somewhat quietly one of the game’s better starters from 2011-14, pitching to a 3.11 ERA (129 ERA+) with 6.5 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and 0.7 HR/9.

A 2015 forearm strain led to diminished velocity and diminished results for Fister, though he managed to make 32 starts for the 2016 Astros and served as a stabilizing force in their rotation. Hip and knee injuries slowed Fister in his most recent run with the Rangers, with the latter of the two issues ultimately ending his season after 66 innings.

All in all, Fister will walk away from his baseball career with a lifetime 83-92 record, a 3.72 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 1422 1/3 big league innings. The towering 6’8″ righty also amassed an impressive postseason resume, tallying 56 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball with a 41-to-17 K/BB ratio in five separate postseasons runs (three with the Tigers, one with the Nats and one with the Red Sox). He made one World Series start, with the Tigers in ’12, where he tossed six innings of one-run ball against the Giants.

Fister earned more than $36MM in player salaries over the life of a career that both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs value at 20 wins above replacement. Best wishes to the former Tigers, Mariners, Nationals, Astros, Red Sox and Rangers righty in his life beyond baseball.

Bauer, Cole, Wood Win Arbitration Cases

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The players may be suffering through a winter of discontent in the free agent market, but they have now scored some notable wins in arbitration. Trevor Bauer of the Indians, Gerrit Cole of the Astros, and Alex Wood of the Reds have all been awarded the contract values they sought by their respective arbitration panels, per ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link).

Bauer will take home $13MM, a full $2MM more than the Indians had sought to pay him. Cole’s $13.5MM salary was about the same amount higher than the Astros’ $11.425MM filing figure. And Wood secures a $9.65MM payday that tops the $8.7MM the Reds defended.

[RELATED: MLBTR Arbitration Tracker]

Those cases break what had been a tie in arb hearings. The players already had a solid edge in the more significant cases, with Blake Treinen ($6.4MM vs. $5.6MM), Carlos Correa ($5MM vs. $4.25MM), and Tommy Pham ($4.1MM vs. $3.5MM) all coming out ahead while Kyle Barraclough ($2MM vs. $1.725MM), Michael Taylor ($3.5MM vs. $3.25MM), and Ryan Tepera ($1.8MM vs. $1.525MM) lost smaller-value contests.

In coming away with wins, all three of the starters also managed to top their projected earning power from MLBTR and Matt Swartz. Bauer ($11.6MM), Cole ($13.0MM), and Wood ($9.0MM) had projected in range of what they ultimately earned, but took shots on securing bigger paydays by making their cases to panels.

Bauer’s situation is particularly noteworthy, since he won a previous arb hearing and remains eligible for one more trip through the process after the 2019 season. This time last year, Bauer emerged with a $6.525MM salary rather than the $5.3MM the team proposed. That made him $1.225MM richer this time around as well, since his raise was dropped on top of a greater starting point. The same will hold true next year.

That serves to illustrate how important these cases can be to an individual player. But there’s also a broader market significance. Each data point that trends north can be cited by another player in the future, either in seeking a bigger arb number or in negotiating out the terms of an extension.

AL Notes: Yanks, Machado, Didi, Romo, Cole

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The Yankees still aren’t pushing the market for Manny Machado, and probably never will, but also shouldn’t be counted out. That’s the word from Andy Martino of SNY.tv, who reports that the New York org is still keeping tabs on Machado in hopes that a golden opportunity will emerge. The Yanks aren’t interested in utilizing him at short, but would instead plan to put Machado at third while pushing Miguel Andujar across the diamond in the even of a signing. Of course, Martino cautions that it still seems unlikely that anything will come together.

  • It’s interesting that the Yankees evidently wouldn’t see Machado as a factor at shortstop. That lends greater credence to the idea that the team really is committed not only to allowing Troy Tulowitzki to take the job there to open the season, but also to paying a big arbitration salary to Didi Gregorius in hopes that he’ll return in relatively short order (and in good form) from Tommy John surgery. As Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports, Gregorius has now begun his throwing program. There’s still a long road ahead, but he seems to be on track to make his anticipated summer return.
  • In addition to the Blue Jays, the Twins and Rangers are looking into signing veteran righty Sergio Romo, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). The Minnesota and Texas organizations, though, only seem to be considering minor-league offers. (Toronto’s offer level isn’t clear.) It’s a bit surprising to hear of such limited interest in the 35-year-old, who still gets plenty of swings and misses and comes with ample late-inning (and opening) experience.
  • The Astros battled Gerrit Cole in front of an arbitration panel today, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Obviously, that indicates that the sides were unable to agree to a last-minute deal. The outcome is expected later this week. As MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker shows, there’s just over $2MM at stake, as Cole is seeking $13.5MM and the club prefers to pay $11.425MM.

Mariners Rumors: Encarnacion, Hernandez

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After the Mariners acquired designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion from the Indians in a three-team trade in December, the retooling M’s informed the slugger they were planning on flipping him elsewhere for prospects, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. While Enarnacion did generate interest from a few other teams after Seattle acquired him, he’s still a member of the Mariners nearly two months after the fact. The reason? Potential suitors for Encarnacion have faded, Divish relays, making it possible the 36-year-old will at least open the season with the Mariners.

The Rays, Astros and White Sox were reportedly “involved” in talks for Encarnacion in late December. Tampa Bay showed no interest in trading for Encarnacion, however, even if the Mariners ate half of the remaining $25MM guarantee left on his contract, according to Divish. Meanwhile, although the Mariners did shop Encarnacion to division-rival Houston, the Astros appear content with Tyler White and Yuli Gurriel as their top DH/first base options, Divish suggests. As for the White Sox, they don’t look like a clean fit for Encarnacion given the presences of lumbering sluggers Jose Abreu and Yonder Alonso.

With Encarnacion primarily being a DH at this juncture of his career, his market’s limited to the American League, where nobody is champing at the bit to acquire him, per Divish. The Mariners’ best hope of moving Encarnacion before the season may be if a contending team’s DH/first baseman suffers an injury during the spring, then, as Divish observes. Otherwise, it appears the M’s will be left to hope Encarnacion – a once-dominant offensive force who posted a 146 wRC+ and a major league-best 231 home runs from 2012-17 – can rebuild his stock in their uniform leading up to the July and August trade deadlines. Encarnacion did belt 32 homers in 579 PAs last year – his seventh straight campaign with at least 30 HRs – though his .246/.336/.474 line and 115 wRC+ fell flat in comparison to his tremendous output over prior seasons.

Like Encarnacion, right-hander Felix Hernandez is potentially a year from free agency and may be in his last several months as a Mariner. And the M’s have even less hope of finding a taker for the formerly marvelous Hernandez, owing to both his team-high salary ($27.5MM) and the hideous 5.13 ERA/5.12 FIP he registered over 242 1/3 innings from 2017-18. Despite King Felix’s recent struggles, however, “all indications” are that he plans to his career beyond the upcoming season, Divish writes. Regardless, Hernandez will try to return to at least serving as a viable starter this year after an awful showing in 2018, when the M’s briefly relegated the 2010 AL Cy Young winner to their bullpen. Going forward, though, general manager Jerry Dipoto emphasized that the Mariners are planning on using Hernandez solely as a starter.

Orioles, Rangers, Astros Have Recently Scouted Yolbert Sanchez

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As of today, 21-year-old Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez is formally cleared to sign with Major League clubs. Sanchez, who recently left Cuba and has since been living and working out in the Dominican Republic, emerged as the most touted talent on the international free-agent market in late January when it was first reported that he’d be cleared to sign on this day.

At present, the Orioles and their near-$6MM signing pool are the runaway leaders in terms of pool money available. The Dodgers’ $1.4MM remaining pool is the next largest, though teams are still allowed to trade international funds between now and the close of the current signing period on June 15.

According to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez, the Orioles recently sent new general manager Mike Elias and a contingent of evaluators to the Dominican Republic to scout the newly available shortstop. The O’s aren’t the only ones who’ve seen him, however, as the report also indicates that Rangers president of baseball ops Jon Daniels and Astros president of baseball ops Jeff Luhnow were both in the Dominican Republic recently to scout Sanchez in person. Houston can’t offer Sanchez more than $300K until the next signing period begins on July 2, though Texas can trade for additional funds on top of the $850K the organization currently has in its pool.

The point regarding the next signing period is a key distinction, particularly given that Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tweeted today that Sanchez’s camp has told interested teams that one club has already put forth an offer of $2MM if he’s willing to wait until the 2019-20 signing period begins. That could be a negotiation tactic, though it’s common for teams to have verbal agreements with international free agents in place well in advance of the signing period’s commencement, and Sanchez is surely a know commodity to other clubs throughout the league.

Sanchez isn’t necessarily considered an elite prospect, but he’ll turn 22 in March and, as such, could be closer to the Majors than most amateurs available in international free agency. Longenhagen and colleague Kiley McDaniel wrote at the time they reported Sanchez’s impending availability to MLB clubs that his glove, speed and throwing arm all draw above-average to plus ratings from scouts. His offensive upside, however, is not as universally agreed upon.

Sanchez appeared in 128 appeared across parts of three seasons in the Cuban National Series before leaving the island in 2018 and batted a combined .297/.338/.345 through 435 plate appearances. Sanchez homered just once in that span, although the majority of his plate appearances came as a teenager and he struck out at just an 8.7 percent clip.

Carlos Correa Wins Arbitration Case Against Astros

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Shortstop Carlos Correa won his arbitration case against the Astros, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The GSE client will earn $5MM rather than the $4.25MM figure that the team had submitted.

One of the game’s brightest young stars, Correa picked a poor time for his first misstep in the majors. After turning in monster offensive numbers in an injury-limited 2017 season, the former Rookie of the Year again missed time in 2018 and wasn’t quite himself at the plate. He ended up posting a .239/.323/.405 slash over 468 plate appearances.

So long as Correa can put his back issues behind him, his outlook remains quite bright. He’ll still open his arb earning period with a strong $5MM base rate, though that’s about half of what he might have taken home with a platform season that better matched his prior offensive output. (Fellow youthful star shortstop Francisco Lindor earned $10.55MM after posting his best offensive season in his final pre-arb year.)

This decision is now reflected in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.

Astros Avoid Arbitration With Chris Devenski

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The Astros and reliever Chris Devenski have settled on a $1.525MM salary for the 2019 season, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Per Rosenthal, the deal also includes a club option for $2.625MM in 2020, which can increase to $2.725MM if the righty appears in 50 or more games in 2019. The salary will increase to $2.825MM if he appears in 60 games, and $2.925MM if Devenski, represented by MVP Sports Group, makes 68 appearances.

Devenski had originally asked for $1.65MM in his first arbitration-eligible season, with the club filing at $1.4MM.

The 28-year-old Devenski broke out in 2016, posting an absurdly high (for a reliever) 2.8 fWAR in just 48 appearances. His once-dominant changeup, though, has become far more hittable of late – AL hitters teed off on the righty last season, smashing nine homers in just 47.1 IP and making hard contact nearly 34% of the time. Devenski did continue to strike batters out, whiffing 9.7 men per nine after a career high of 11.6 K/9 in 2017.

He’ll likely fill a long role in a deep Astro bullpen that includes stalwarts Roberto Osuna, Ryan Pressly, Hector Rondon, and Will Harris, with the Houston analytic team surely on the prowl for ways in which the unorthodox righty can keep more balls on the ground.

West Notes & Rumors: Rockies, Arenado, CarGo, Astros, Gattis

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Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado may be the best soon-to-be free agent in baseball, but team owner Dick Monfort has expressed optimism that the four-time All-Star won’t even reach the open market next winter, per Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “I think we’ve gotten it to the point where we’re to the finals,” Monfort said of a potential multiyear contract for Arenado. “We’re to the crescendo.” Arenado and the Rockies have already reached one agreement this offseason, having come to terms on a lucrative, arbitration-avoiding contract for 2019 on Thursday, and that may be a sign the two sides are progressing toward a long-term arrangement. Notably, regarding a potential multiyear pact for Arenado, Monfort declared: “I’m comfortable that we can get a number that we can get to. There are a lot of things that have to go through Nolan’s mind, too. But I’m confident that after we met, Nolan wants this to happen as much as we do.”

  • More from Harding, who contradicts a recent report suggesting the Rockies are interested in re-signing free-agent outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. CarGo, 33, was a Rockie from 2009-18, a span in which he was plenty successful, but there’s no indication the club wants him back, Harding hears. Rather, it seems they’re primed to roll with younger options (David Dahl and Raimel Tapia) complementing the veteran tandem of Charlie Blackmon and Ian Desmond in the grass. Colorado also doesn’t seem to have an opening at first base for Gonzalez, Harding notes, as the team has signed Daniel Murphy and Mark Reynolds (the latter only landed a minor league deal, though).
  • Slugger Evan Gattis is one of many familiar names remaining in free agency as spring training nears, though it’s possible he’ll return to Houston. Gattis said Saturday, via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle, that “various people from the Astros organization” have stayed in touch with him this offseason. An Astro from 2015-18, Gattis – an experienced catcher – was almost exclusively a designated hitter last year, but the Astros haven’t addressed the DH position since the campaign concluded. They instead may end up starting Tyler White, who was quietly excellent across 244 plate appearances in 2018. The 32-year-old Gattis, meanwhile, only offered league-average offense and replacement-level value over 451 PAs. As a result, whether from the Astros or another team, he doesn’t figure to rake in a particularly expensive payday in the coming weeks.

Astros Sign Wade Miley

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Feb. 1: The Astros have formally announced the signing. Houston’s 40-man roster is now at 39 players.

Jan. 31: The Astros have agreed to a one-year deal with lefty Wade Miley, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The O’Connell Sports Management client receives a $4.5MM guarantee and can tack on $500K in incentives, Bob Nightengale of USA Today adds (Twitter links).

Miley becomes the latest mid-range starter to settle for a one-year pact after entering the offseason with a case for a multi-season arrangement. He’ll presumably step into the Houston rotation, though his incentives package includes provisions allowing him to earn either for starts or relief appearances, per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (Twitter link).

This trip through free agency may not have been quite as financially rewarding as Miley might have hoped, but he landed with a clear contender and certainly fared better than he did the last time around. Miley settled for a minors pact last year with the Brewers after a rough two-season run, but turned things around after overcoming some health issues early in the season.

All told, Miley worked to a 2.57 ERA in 80 2/3 frames over 16 starts last year in Milwaukee. He averaged only 5.6 K/9 with 3.0 BB/9, but generated a robust 52.8% groundball rate and allowed only three home runs on the year.

In some regards, Miley was not a substantially different pitcher last year than he had been over the prior seven seasons. His swinging-strike rate sat just a half percentage point above his lifetime 8.6% mark; his average fastball velocity sat right at his career mean of ~92 mph. But that only tells part of the story, as Miley drastically revamped his arsenal in a manner that obviously paid dividends.

In particular, Miley ramped up usage of his cutter, which became his most-used and most-effective pitch, while burying his sinker and slider in favor of enhanced usage of a curve and change. He surrendered much more pull-side contact than before, but with a career-high 2.24 GB/FB rate, the shift-savvy Brewers were able to gobble up quite a few of those well-struck balls. Miley also induced weak contact on 19.5% of the balls put in play against him and ended the season with a career-low .269 BABIP-against.

That last figure — batting average on balls in play — is an interesting one to consider. Any change in Miley’s fortunes in that area, or in the number of balls that leave the yard, could reverse his turnaround. First, though, opposing hitters will have to find a way to solve Miley’s two favorite new offerings; they managed sub-.200 batting averages and sub-.300 slugging percentages against both his cutter and curve last year. Statcast was duly impressed, as it credited Miley with a .300 xwOBA that largely supports the weak .283 wOBA mark he held batters to.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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