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Cardinals Claim Ricardo Sanchez

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The Cardinals have claimed left-hander Ricardo Sanchez off waivers from the Mariners, as announced by both teams.  Infielder Ramon Urias was designated for assignment by St. Louis to create a 40-man roster spot for Sanchez.

Sanchez hit the waiver wire last week, when he was DFA’ed by the Mariners to make roster room for Yoshihisa Hirano.  The southpaw has spent four of his six pro seasons in the Braves organization, sandwiched between his debut season with the Angels’ rookie ball affiliate in 2014 and a 2019 season spent with the Mariners’ Double-A club.

Sanchez has an unimpressive 4.52 ERA over 517 1/3 innings, though with some solid peripheral numbers (8.2 K/9, 2.25 K/BB rate) and youth still on his side, as he doesn’t turn 23 until April.  There isn’t much risk for the Cards in seeing what Sanchez can do in a new system, as at worst, he can be a depth rotation in the minors.  Sanchez has started 106 of 111 career games, so a turn to relief pitching could also be explored if Sanchez ultimately doesn’t develop as a starter.

Urias, a longtime veteran of the Mexican League, has spent the last two seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system.  The bulk of that time has been spent at the Triple-A level, where the 25-year-old hit .262/.347/.426 with 14 homers over 524 plate appearances.  Urias has played mostly as a second baseman while in the Cards’ organization, though he also has quite a bit of experience as a third baseman, and seen some time as a shortstop, first baseman, and left fielder over his nine professional seasons.

Dipoto On Mitch Haniger Injury

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Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto discussed the uncertainty surrounding key outfielder Mitch Haniger, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports. Haniger recently underwent a core muscle procedure.

That surgery came as quite a disappointment. Haniger missed a big chunk of the 2019 season owing to an exceedingly unfortunate injury to a sensitive area. He struggled thereafter to get back to full speed, but the hope had been that an offseason of rest would allow for a complete recovery.

Dipoto had said that Haniger was likely to require a six to eight week recovery period. But it now seems the Seattle GM is walking back any expectations for a clear timeline.

While he emphasized that the belief remains that the recent procedure “was successful,” Dipoto says the club won’t count on Haniger to return any particular point.

“We’re just fingers crossed,” says Dipoto. “We have no expectation on his timeline until we actually see him live [at Spring Training]. We’re not going to push him. Mitch will return at his own pace. Whether that is some time around Opening Day or sometime around the middle of the season, I have no idea.”

It isn’t clear whether some change in the outlook prompted Dipoto’s comments. Regardless, it’s a rough situation for player and team. Haniger, who is a .267/.348/.480 hitter through 1,499 career plate appearances, is (when at full health) one of the M’s most valuable players. He’s set to earn just north of $3MM this year through arbitration and remains under team control through 2022.

Mariners Extend Marco Gonzales

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February 4: Gonzales will receive a $1MM signing bonus and be paid salaries of $5MM in 2021, $5.5MM in 2022, $6.5MM in 2023 and $12MM in 2024, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. There’s no buyout on the $15MM option for the 2025 season.

February 3: The Mariners have announced a contract extension with southpaw Marco Gonzales. He’s now guaranteed $30MM from 2021 through 2024, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. The deal includes a $15MM club option for another campaign, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).

Though it has been a fairly quiet winter for the Seattle organization, the club has now managed to strike two notable long-term deals. The other was a surprising pre-debut pact with first base prospect Evan White.

Gonzales, who was already under contract for the 2020 season, had been on track to qualify for arbitration next winter. He’d have reached the open market at the end of the 2023 campaign. Instead, the M’s have now secured his services for one would-be free agent campaign while picking up an option for another.

As he’s now closing in on his 28th birthday, Gonzales will now be under team control through his age-33 campaign. Given the costs involved, it was a pretty easy bet for the team to make. And it’s equally understandable that the CAA Sports client was interested in locking in earnings at this stage of his career.

Gonzales has been quite effective since coming over from the Cardinals in a mid-2017 trade. Over the past two seasons, he has carried a 3.99 ERA over 369 2/3 innings with 7.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. While there’s nothing especially about his stuff or his peripherals, Gonzales has successfully tamped down on the long ball and studiously avoided hard contact.

It’s certainly not the typical profile of an extension target. Gonzales sits in the 90 mph range with his fastballs and managed only a 7.9% swinging-strike rate last year. Neither is he a groundball monster. But he was able to keep hitters off balance by utilizing five pitches with equivalent frequency — none less than 15.9% of the time and none more than 24.1%.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mariners Designate Matt Festa For Assignment

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The Mariners announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Matt Festa for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Jose Siri, whose previously reported waiver claim out of the Reds organization has now been formally announced by Seattle.

Festa, 27 next month, has pitched 30 2/3 innings of relief with the Mariners over the past two seasons, logging a 4.70 ERA with a 25-to-14 K/BB ratio and a 36.5 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Seattle initially selected him in the seventh round of the 2016 draft.

Festa has enjoyed solid numbers in Double-A and Triple-A, albeit in limited samples of work. The East Stroudsberg University product pitched to a 2.76 ERA with 12.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 in 49 innings in 2018 before logging a 2.64 ERA, 9.7 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 30 2/3 Triple-A frames in 2019. Festa doesn’t throw particularly hard (93 mph average four-seamer) and doesn’t have the type of gaudy spin rates that attract some clubs to pitchers who lack premium velocity. His success in the upper minors and the fact that he has a minor league option year remaining, however, could earn him a look with another club.

The Mariners will have a week to trade Festa, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Mariners Claim Jose Siri

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The Mariners have claimed outfielder Jose Siri off waivers from the Reds, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. The Seattle organization hasn’t formally announced the move yet and will need to make a corresponding 40-man transaction to open space for Siri, who was designated for assignment last week when the Reds inked Nick Castellanos to a four-year deal.

Siri, 24, was considered to be among Cincinnati’s best farmhands just two years ago. FanGraphs, in fact, ranked him near the back end of the game’s 100 best prospects (No. 93 overall) heading into the 2018 campaign. At that point, he was a 22-year-old who was fresh off an impressive .293/.341/.530 slash with 24 homers and 46 steals in the Class-A Midwest League.

Since that time, however, Siri has turned in a pair of disappointing seasons, logging a combined on-base percentage south of .300 in 2018-19 between Class-A Advanced, Double-A and Triple-A. This past season, Siri mustered a lackluster .237/.300/.357 showing through 517 plate appearances in the minors, and he’s struggled even more heavily in the Dominican Winter League (.196/.264/.411 in 125 plate appearances).

The addition of Siri comes not long after the Mariners learned that they’ll be without right fielder Mitch Haniger early in the season due to core surgery. Haniger recently suffered a setback when rehabbing from the ruptured testicle that sidelined him for much of the 2019 season and could miss up to eight weeks of action. With Haniger sidelined for what could be much of Spring Training, Siri will join an outfield mix consisting of Mallex Smith, Kyle Lewis, Dee Gordon, Jake Fraley and Braden Bishop. Siri has a minor league option remaining, so the Mariners can keep him even if he doesn’t break camp with the club.

West Notes: Diamondbacks, Marte, Marte, Mariners, Lewis, Kikuchi

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The Arizona Diamondbacks have put together one of the more intriguing rosters as we approach spring camp, and they’ve done so while maintaining flexibility. The Starling Marte acquisition, for instance, secures center field as GM Mike Hazen had hoped – secondarily allowing star Ketel Marte to stay at second base –  but that doesn’t mean Ketel’s days in center are done. The Martes could very well play side-by-side in the outfield against tough lefties while David Peralta or Kole Calhoun gets a breather, writes MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. Most of Arizona’s bench hits from the left side, though Ildemaro Vargas, Domingo Leyba, and Andy Young can all hit righty, making them candidates to spell Marte at second when he vacates. Let’s jump the the Junior Circuit to check in on the Mariners…

  • Opportunity abounds in the Mariners outfield now that Mitch Haniger is set to miss opening day. With plenty of internal candidates to choose from, there’s no need for a reactionary signing in Seattle, though Executive VP and GM Jerry Dipoto never rules anything out. For now, Kyle Lewis has the inside track on left field, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns. Lewis put together a mighty 75 plate appearances at the end of 2019 to stake his claim to the grass in 2020. The Haniger injury may mean more consistent at-bats for Mallex Smith in the early going, but the real growth opportunity exists for youngsters like Braden Bishop and Jake Fraley. It’s unclear how much time they’ll have to put their stamp on 2020, but the Mariners are likely to temper their expectations for Haniger’s return and enjoy the opportunity to preview Bishop and/or Fraley in the outfield. The Mariners also recently brought Eric Filia into their spring mix, who could earn a spot, while infielders Shed Long, Dee Gordon, Tim Lopes and Aaron Nola can capably shag fly balls as well.
  • Yusei Kikuchi put together a less-than-stellar inaugural season in Seattle, but he’s not a lost cause, writes Johns. The 28-year-old southpaw went 6-11 with a 5.46 ERA/5.71 FIP across 32 starts (161 2/3 innings) in 2020. Despite Kikuchi’s struggles and a lack of established rotation arms, the Mariners have less interest in extending their use of the Opener in 2020. A focus on relievers who can throw multiple innings will allow the Mariners to protect Kikuchi somewhat. Mostly, the Mariners envision progress through regression. Writes Johns, “…there is a feeling that he tinkered far too much with his arm angles and throwing motion — both over the course of the year and even during games — and needs to get back to just being himself and letting it rip as he did when he first arrived.”

Phillies Claim Reggie McClain

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The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Reggie McClain off waivers from the Mariners and designated fellow righty Trevor Kelley for assignment in order to open space on the 40-man roster.

McClain, 27, was designated for assignment by Seattle last week when the club claimed lefty Nick Margevicius from the Padres. McClain made his big league debut in 2019 but struggled to a 6.00 ERA in 21 innings with the Mariners. McClain had a big season in the minors last year, however, skyrocketing across three levels and notching a combined 2.23 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 0.5 HR/9 in 72 2/3 innings.

McClain averages just under 94 mph on a heavy sinker that led to a huge 64.8 percent ground-ball rate in his 21 MLB innings, and his grounder rate in the minors checked in at nearly 60 percent as well. McClain still has all three minor league option years remaining, so if he sticks with the Phillies, they’ll be able to shuttle him back and forth between Philadelphia and Triple-A Lehigh Valley as often as they see fit.

The 26-year-old Kelley was also a waiver claim by the Phillies, coming over from the Red Sox organization in early December. Like McClain, he struggled in his MLB debut this past season (eight runs in 8 1/3 innings) but posted impressive minor league numbers in 2019 (1.79 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 in 65 2/3 innings).

Latest On Mariners, Taijuan Walker

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The Mariners have added a pair of potential rotation candidates in Wei-Yin Chen and Nick Margevicius since last week, and they may not be done yet. It’s “believed” that they’re still interested in free-agent right-hander Taijuan Walker, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. Johns first connected the Mariners to Walker over a month ago, but rumors centering on the 27-year-old have been scarce in the past several weeks.

There has already been one Seattle stint for Walker, whom the team chose 43rd overall in the 2011 draft and then saw blossom into an elite prospect. Walker stayed with the organization through 2016, but the M’s then traded him to Arizona in a move that netted them outfielder Mitch Haniger and middle infielder Jean Segura (now with the Phillies). Segura was later shipped out as part of a deal for the Mariners’ current shortstop, J.P. Crawford.

Walker, still only 27 years old, perhaps hasn’t lived up to the billing he had as a prospect. He had an uneven tenure with the M’s, though Walker was effective with Arizona in his first season there. Unfortunately, shoulder and elbow injuries (including Tommy John surgery) have cut him down dating back to 2018, having limited him to 14 innings in the past two seasons. Walker tossed just one frame last year, in the Diamondbacks’ final game.

Despite the arm troubles Walker has endured of late, he does look like one of the most interesting starters left in a free-agent market that has mostly been picked over. In the Mariners’ rebuilding position, Walker makes sense as a buy-low type who could have a chance to push for a spot in a rotation that’s short on established options behind Marco Gonzales.

Mariners To Sign Wei-Yin Chen

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The Mariners have agreed to a deal with left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).  Seattle will owe Chen a Major League minimum salary ($563.5K) if he makes their big league roster, and that minimum salary will be subtracted from the $22MM the Marlins owe Chen for the 2020 season, the final guaranteed year of the southpaw’s original five-year, $80MM contract with Miami.

That deal ended up being a significant misfire for the Marlins, as Chen battled injuries and struggled over the length of his time in South Florida.  Chen posted a 5.10 ERA over 358 innings as a Marlin, including a 6.59 ERA over 68 1/3 frames in 2019, working exclusively as a reliever.

Seattle is likely to see what Chen can do as either a starter or a reliever in camp, while gauging if the 34-year-old still has anything left in the tank following his rough stint in Miami.  Chen will at least get opportunity on a Mariners club that is open to all contributions at both the back of the rotation or in the bullpen.  Seattle is particularly thin on left-handed relief options, so that stands out as perhaps Chen’s best shot at making the Opening Day roster.

GM Jerry Dipoto said last week that the M’s were close to adding some new arms, and Seattle has since brought Nick Margevicius, Yoshihisa Hirano, and now Chen into the fold.  Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, and Justus Sheffield project as the top three starters in the Mariners’ rotation, though the last two spots are still up in the air, with Margevicius, Chen, Kendall Graveman, Nestor Cortes, Phillips Valdez, and top prospect Justin Dunn all in the mix as potential rotation members.

Mariners Sign Yoshihisa Hirano

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The Mariners announced that right-hander Yoshihisa Hirano has been signed to a one-year, Major League contract.  Hirano is represented by John Boggs & Associates.  Left-hander Ricardo Sanchez has been designated for assignment to create roster space.

Hirano will earn $1.6MM in guaranteed money, as per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (all Twitter links), plus incentive bonuses based on numbers of games pitched and finished.  Hirano can begin to unlock these bonuses if he makes at least 30 appearances, or finishes at least 20 games.  There is also a $250K transaction payment due to Hirano whenever he is traded.

After coming to Major League Baseball on a two-year, $6MM deal with the Diamondbacks in the 2017-18 offseason, Hirano finished sixth in NL Rookie Of The Year voting in 2018 after posting a 2.44 ERA, 2.57 K/BB rate, 50.3% grounder rate, and 8.0 K/9 over 66 1/3 innings out of Arizona’s pen.  Despite a higher strikeout rate (10.4 K/9) and K/BB rate (2.77) in 2019, Hirano’s ERA ballooned to 4.75 over 53 frames, and he also spent a few weeks on the injured list due to elbow inflammation.

Despite the wide gap in ERA over the two seasons, Hirano’s advanced metrics indicate a pretty similar level of performance in both 2018 (3.69 FIP, 4.01 xFIP, 3.76 SIERA, .311 xwOBA) and 2019 (4.04 FIP, 4.24 xFIP, 3.95 SIERA, .296 xwOBA).  Hirano finished in the 94th percentile of all pitchers in terms of limiting hard contact last season, so the Mariners are hoping the righty can translate that soft contact into better on-field results.

Though Hirano (who turns 36 in March) only has four career saves, the number of finish-saved incentives in his contract indicate that the Mariners see him as a potential answer to their unsettled ninth-inning situation.  Matt Magill is ostensibly the top in-house choice after saving five games for the M’s down the stretch last season, though those were the only five saves of Magill’s big league career.  While Hirano rarely got the call in save situations for the D’Backs, he has a long and successful history of saving games in Japan, racking up 143 saves for the Orix Buffaloes between 2013-17.

Sanchez posted a 4.44 ERA, 3.55 K/BB rate, and 8.3 K/9 over 146 innings for Double-A Arkansas last season, starting all 27 of his games.  The 22-year-old southpaw already has six years of professional experience, beginning in the Angels’ system before pitching with the Braves from 2015-18.

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