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Archives for January 2015

Giants Sign Gregor Blanco To Two-Year Deal

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Gregor Blanco won’t have to worry about arbitration again in his career, as the outfielder has signed a two-year contract that buys out his final two seasons of arbitration eligibility, the team officially announced on Thursday.

Gregor Blanco

Blanco, a client of Octagon’s Jose Mijares, will reportedly earn $7.5MM over the life of the deal: $3.6MM in 2015 and $3.9MM in 2016. The 31-year-old had filed for a $4MM salary next year, with the team countering at $3.3MM, as documented in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker. The deal keeps him on track to reach free agency before the 2017 campaign.

Blanco seems likely to function as a fourth outfielder next year, now that San Francisco has signed Nori Aoki. But he obviously represents a key part of the club’s plans, especially given the injury history of center fielder Angel Pagan.

Blanco, who swings from the left side, has enjoyed a productive three-year run thus far with the Giants. Over that stretch, he has averaged 469 plate appearances annually while producing a league-average .257/.336/.355 slash. Though his defensive ratings took a step back last year, he has generally been valued as an above-average glove and two-to-three win player in a slightly less-than full-time role.

Manuel Lira of Venezuelan outlet Lider en Deportes was the first to report the deal. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle first tweeted the year-to-year breakdown.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ryan Vogelsong Likely To Return To Giants

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3:22pm: The Giants and Vogelsong are working toward a one-year deal, and it seems likely to happen, tweets Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

THURSDAY, 11:07am: The Giants are in “active discussions” with Vogelsong, tweets Crasnick, though nothing is completed.

9:54am: The Astros have not been told that Vogelsong has decided to sign elsewhere, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter links). Houston appears to be waiting and watching at the moment, per the report.

WEDNESDAY: While yesterday it looked like Ryan Vogelsong was on the verge of signing a one-year deal with the Astros, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports now reports that the right-hander has “shifted course” and is in serious discussions with the Giants about a reunion (Twitter link). Earlier today, MLB.com’s Chris Haft wrote that San Francisco remained in contact with the 37-year-old Vogelsong.

Vogelsong spent the 2011-14 seasons in San Francisco, pitching to a 3.74 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 657 2/3 innings and winning a pair of World Series rings along the way. Those numbers were skewed somewhat by an injury-shortened 2013 campaign that saw Vogelsong post a 5.73 ERA in 103 1/3 innings, but he rebounded to a 4.00 ERA over the life of 184 2/3 innings in 2014.

The Giants appear to have a full rotation with Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, Tim Hudson, Jake Peavy and Tim Lincecum all in the fold, plus excellent swingman Yusmeiro Petit waiting in the wings as a safety net. However, both Cain and Hudson are on the mend from surgery, while Lincecum has deteriorated over the past three seasons and Petit has never thrown more than 117 innings in the Majors.

White Sox Sign Jesse Crain, Scott Carroll To Minor League Deals

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The White Sox announced that they have signed right-handers Jesse Crain and Scott Carroll to minor league deals with invites to big league Spring Training.

The 33-year-old Crain was in the midst of an incredible season with the White Sox in 2013 when a shoulder injury sidelined him. While it wasn’t believed to be serious at the time, Crain hasn’t thrown a Major League pitch since hitting the disabled list that July. He eventually underwent surgery on his right biceps in order to correct the issue, but recovery from that surgery was slower than expected and he missed all of 2014 after signing with the Astros. (Crain was also traded from Chicago to Tampa while injured in 2013 but didn’t throw a pitch for the Rays, either.)

Crain’s 2013 featured a dominant streak of 29 scoreless appearances, leading to a minuscule 0.74 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 36 2/3 innings of work. He’s always had plus velocity, dating back to his days with the Twins, but Crain began to rely more heavily on breaking balls upon signing with the White Sox prior to the 2011 season, and the results were favorable. In 150 innings with Chicago, Crain pitched to a 2.10 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9. GM Rick Hahn and his staff will hope that the talented setup man can overcome his health woes and rediscover that form on a low-risk deal with the Sox in 2015.

As for Carroll, the 30-year-old made his big league debut for the Sox in 2014 and totaled 129 1/3 innings of work, registering a 4.80 ERA with 4.5 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 19 starts and seven relief appearances. He’ll again serve as rotation depth, though the starting five may be tougher to crack this time around. In addition to Chris Sale, Jose Quintana and John Danks, the Sox acquired Jeff Samardzija from the A’s this winter and have 2014 No. 3 overall pick Carlos Rodon waiting in the wings as well. Hector Noesi, who outperformed Carroll in 2014, is expected to fill the fifth slot in the rotation to open the season.

Chicago also confirmed its previously reported minor league deals with names such as Geovany Soto, Tony Campana and George Kottaras in today’s announcement.

Red Sox Unlikely To Make Significant Rotation Upgrade

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While many fans are waiting to see the Red Sox add a front-line starter to “complete” their offseason rebuild, so to speak, general manager Ben Cherington implied on Thursday that such a move is unlikely. As WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes, Cherington explained that the Sox are more focused on the five arms they currently have in house — Clay Buchholz, Joe Kelly, Wade Miley, Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson — and adding depth than they are on making a big splash to add to the rotation.

“We’re pursuing some stuff but I think it’€™s more what you would classify as depth related,” Cherington said. “…We like where we’€™re at. We like the collection of pitchers we have. We think there’€™s untapped potential in the group and the collection we have now can give us a strong pitching staff this year.”

Regarding James Shields, specifically, Cherington said that the Sox met with his agent at the Winter Meetings in San Diego last month, but he was quick to add that they met with a number of agents and didn’t single out Shields’ agent, Page Odle, in any way. “We’€™re pursuing some opportunities maybe on some depth in certain areas, but there’€™s nothing on the front burner that would grab headlines,” Cherington added.

Boston has been commonly linked to Shields as well as trade rumors/speculation regarding Cole Hamels and, over the past few days, Jordan Zimmermann. However, the Sox are also set to cross the luxury tax threshold as it is, and therefore, adding a significant salary to the rotation would be even more costly for Boston than it would appear on the surface. In addition, the team has already sacrificed a pair of draft picks to add Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, and while some would say that makes it easier for them to part with a third pick to bring in someone of Shields’ ilk (he’d cost them “only” a third-round pick after forfeiting a second-rounder and a Comp Balance Round B pick), the Sox may not wish to deplete their draft pool any further.

White Sox To Sign Geovany Soto

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The White Sox and catcher Geovany Soto have agreed to terms on a minor league contract for the 2015 season, reports Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com. The Kinzer Management Group client will be invited to Major League Spring Training and compete for a 25-man roster spot, Levine adds (Twitter links).

Soto, 32, missed much of the 2014 season as he recovered from offseason surgeries on his left foot and right knee, and a groin injury sidelined him for two weeks in July as well. That trio of physical ailments limited him to just 87 plate appearances between the Rangers and Athletics, though he was expected to handle the bulk of Texas’ catching duties at the onset of the season. Overall, Soto batted .250/.302/.363 with one homer on the year. The former NL Rookie of the Year looked much sharper with the Rangers in 2013 when he batted .245/.328/.466 with nine homers in 184 trips to the plate.

Soto’s performance has fluctuated fairly significantly on a year-to-year basis, but the cumulative sum of his efforts over the past five seasons and over the entirety of his career has been roughly a league-average bat, in terms of OPS+. A lifetime .248/.334/.436 hitter, Soto offers above-average plate discipline and pop for a catcher when he’s healthy, but he does come with a fairly lengthy injury history.

Tyler Flowers currently projects to be the everyday catcher for the White Sox, with 2014 backup Adrian Nieto, waiver claim Rob Brantly and minor league signee George Kottaras all fighting for time behind the dish as well. I’d wager that Soto’s track record gives him a leg up over much of the competition, provided he’s healthy. Ultimately, I could see him overtaking Flowers as the starter, given the fact that Flowers’ .241/.297/.396 batting line was bolstered by an unsustainable .355 average on balls in play. If that number regresses toward his career mark of .308 and Flowers continues striking out at a 35 to 36 percent clip, it wouldn’t be surprising if another starter emerged for the ChiSox eventually.

Brewers Exploring Pitching Upgrades

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1:45pm: GM Doug Melvin tells Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio that his club hasn’t made a play for Shields and has not made a phone call to his camp. The team’s priority, according to Melvin, is upgrading the bullpen, where they’d like to add one or two pieces. Should the Brewers add a starter, it won’t be someone of Shields’ caliber, Melvin added (All Twitter links).

1:31pm: Following their trade of Yovani Gallardo, the Brewers are casting a wide net as they consider pitching upgrades, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Although all indications since the deal have pointed to the young Jimmy Nelson stepping into the rotation to fill Gallardo’s slot, Heyman lists James Shields as a potential candidate for Milwaukee. He also notes that Francisco Rodriguez and Rafael Soriano are considerations for the Brewers, and trades are possible as well.

Looking at next year’s payroll (via Cot’s Contracts), the Brewers project to come in around $97MM (when factoring in league-minimum players needed to round out the roster). That’s lower than their 2014 Opening Day mark of ~$103.7MM, but it seems like they’d be hard-pressed to fit Shields without going well over that mark. Of course, a back-loaded deal could make sense, as about $45MM is coming off the books next winter with Aramis Ramirez, Kyle Lohse, Jonathan Broxton, Gerardo Parra and possibly Adam Lind all due for free agency (and they’ll be free of Gallardo’s commitment — of which they’re still paying $4MM — as well).

Among the club’s guaranteed contracts, only Ryan Braun is due for a substantial ($7MM) raise. And, as far as their arbitration eligible players are concerned, Jean Segura and Wily Peralta represent the only significant cases. Each will be arb-eligible for only the first time. It should also be noted that the Brewers have plenty of precedent for waiting out the starting pitching market, as they agreed to terms with Matt Garza one year ago tomorrow and also added Lohse in Spring Training of 2013.

Still, a Shields addition would likely require a record-setting payroll in Milwaukee, which does make it somewhat of a stretch to envision. Adding an arm like Rodriguez or Soriano to shore up the bullpen, however, would seem to be a much more plausible plan of attack for GM Doug Melvin. While Milwaukee did add a power arm in the Gallardo trade (Corey Knebel), there’s little experience and stability at the back of the relief corps.

Phillies Notes: Sandberg, Timeline, Hamels, Howard

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The Phillies’ issues last year were not limited to on-field struggles, skipper Ryne Sandberg told reporters yesterday, including Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News. Sandberg said the clubhouse atmosphere was not “conducive to winning,” explaining that there was a “lack of leadership as far as winning a baseball game everyday” and that the club’s “younger players couldn’t be themselves.” He continued: “Sometimes it’s easy to take it for granted, and say, ’[I] have a veteran club and they know everything and they’ll handle the clubhouse and everything will be fine. I learned that’s not the case.”

  • Needless to say, creating the right setting for the team’s rebuild to thrive will be at or near the top of Sandberg’s responsibilities this year and in the years to come. The organization is not shying away from acknowledging the full rebuilding process that lies ahead, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports. Interim president Pat Gillick — who says he has no interest in the permanent post — has reiterated a rather distant expected contention timeline. “Yeah, maybe further out,” he said. “Maybe ’18. You need about two or three years.”
  • Gillick also said that he expects interest in the team’s remaining trade chips — featuring, most prominently, lefty Cole Hamels — to pick up in the spring. “It’s funny,” said Gillick. “In this game, things change. People are not in the mood to do something, then they go to Spring Training and all of a sudden … they realize they want to be competitive and want to do something.”
  • Another of the team’s obvious remaining veteran trade candidates is first baseman Ryan Howard, whose well-documented struggles and well-funded contract make him a tough sell. MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince argues that the team could do better if it waits to allow the market to develop and given Howard a chance to produce on the field. I tend to agree: Howard not only has little present appeal as a general matter, but there is little demand for his services. It is not difficult to imagine things looking differently if he puts up a solid first half and injuries or poor performance intervene elsewhere, and that potential benefit probably outweighs the meager return that Philadelphia could achieve right now.

International Notes: Oeltjen, Varona, Moncada

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Outfielder Trent Oeltjen has seen action in parts of three MLB seasons and no less than eight Triple-A campaigns. The Aussie outfielder is now set to retire after playing his final ballgame this weekend for his hometown Sydney Blue Sox, according to a club release. Though Oeltjen had limited opportunity to have an impact at the big league level, he was a force in the upper minors. Across 2,908 plate appearances at Triple-A, he slashed .294/.358/.479 with 68 home runs and 122 stolen bases.

  • A large gathering of scouts was on hand for a showcase this week featuring Cuban outfielder Dayron Varona, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. (Crasnick estimates that fifty sets of eyes were on hand to see the bonus limit-exempt Varona, while Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets that it was more like 75.) Via ObstructedView.net, Varona’s Serie Nacional statistics show a high-contact approach (.312/.376/.470 lifetime slash), though he has not put up big counting stats with 38 home runs and 22 steals (against 25 times caught) in a career spanning 1,504 trips to the plate.
  • In the pursuit of Cuban second baseman Yoan Moncada, who is subject to international bonus caps and penalties, the rich teams have the edge, Ben Badler of Baseball America explains. Any team signing Moncada will, of course, have to pay a 100% tax on most of the anticipated signing bonus. While the bonus itself can be paid out over three years, Badler notes that the penalty amount must be paid in a lump sum within a month of the June 15th end of the signing period. Regardless of exactly how many tens of millions of dollars Moncada commands, that is going to be a very significant, inflexible hit to the balance sheet — especially since it will go to a 19-year-old who will not add big league value for some time. Additionally, Badler notes, the potential for large arbitration paydays must also be accounted for. In the aggregate, even if the total cost (bonus plus penalty) added up to something akin to the payouts promised to players like Jose Abreu and Rusney Castillo, the required structure of the deal would greatly increase the cost to the team and present cash flow roadblocks. Deeper-pocketed teams will have an obvious edge in freeing resources to make that work.

West Notes: Rockies, Astros, Gallardo, White

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Wilin Rosario’s name has come up quite frequently in trade talks this winter, but Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes that it now appears likely that the Rockies will hold onto Rosario heading into the 2015 season. GM Jeff Bridich explained to Saunders that he feels Rosario possesses the athleticism and work ethic to add first base and corner outfield to his repertoire, and he’ll still likely see some time behind the dish.

Here’s more from Saunders’ piece and more regarding other clubs in baseball’s Western divisions…

  • Charlie Blackmon has also been a popular name on the rumor mill of late, but Saunders hears that the Rockies haven’t initiated any trade talks regarding Blackmon. While they’ve talked to several teams over the past few months, they’ve been on the receiving end of those calls rather than openly shopping Blackmon.
  • Saunders also notes that a trusted Major League source informed him that the Rockies “unequivocally did not make [James] Shields an offer,” thereby squashing some speculation that it was Colorado who extended the previously reported five-year, $110MM offer.
  • The Astros’ deal with Ryan Vogelsong looks to have fallen through, with the Giants reportedly making a serious run at re-signing the righty, but Houston GM Jeff Luhnow indicated earlier today that the team could still add another starting pitcher but is likely set from an offensive standpoint, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (All Twitter links). Luhnow also did not rule out trading away more of his own players. It seems like the Astros may not be quite done shaping the 2015 roster.
  • Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle spoke with Luhnow about the Astros’ abundance of strikeout-prone hitters, and Luhnow explained that the team is OK with the trade-off of strikeouts for power. “We probably will have a few strikeouts because of the types of players that we have,” said Luhnow, “but the flipside of that equation is we’re going to produce a lot of runs with those types of players. It’s up to our hitting coach to work on them to figure out when’s the right time to go for it and when to put the ball in play, and (manager A.J. Hinch) to figure out the lineup, so we don’t kill rallies by stacking up more than two or three of these guys at a time.”
  • More from Drellich, who adds some additional Astros notes in a late-night roundup, noting that Luhnow doesn’t expect to resolve the team’s only outstanding arbitration case (that of Marwin Gonzalez) in the near future. He also adds that the Astros’ acquisition of so many strikeout-prone hitters wasn’t due to a philosophy or belief that Houston knows something about strikeouts that other clubs do not; it just happened that the power bats they targeted came with strikeout issues.
  • In a piece for FOX Sports, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs examines the changes in Yovani Gallardo’s arsenal of pitches over the past few seasons and wonders if the Rangers can receive better results from the 28-year-old by trying to revert him to his previous ways. Gallardo has switched from pitching primarily off a four-seam fastball to throwing  significant amount of two-seamers. The results, Cameron notes, has been an increase in grounders and a decrease in strikeouts. However, Cameron theorizes that part of the thinking behind the conscious shift from Gallardo was that Milwaukee catchers excel at expanding the bottom half of the strike zone. Meanwhile the Rangers ranked 29th in team ground-ball percentage in 2014 and typically emphasize four-seamers over two-seamers. Cameron wonders if the change in scenery could cause Gallardo’s strikeout rate to rise, which could pay significant dividends for Texas.
  • Logan White is invigorated by his transition from Dodgers vice president of amateur scouting to Padres senior adviser/professional scouting director, writes MLB.com’s Corey Brock. White spoke at length about the differences between working on the amateur side of the game and working the pro side and the aggressive approach that the Padres will be taking to scouting: “We’re going to see anyone and everyone in pro baseball. We’re going to get after it on the back fields, make sure we know the makeup of these guys, talk to coaches, watch BP and early work. …  Some of the best decisions you make is because you work a little harder, not because you’re smarter than everyone else.”

Nationals, Evan Meek Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals have signed right-hander Evan Meek to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, reports MLB.com’s Bill Ladson (on Twitter). Meek is a client of Relativity Sports.

The 31-year-old Meek isn’t quite as flashy as the Nats’ most recent pickup, but he is a former All-Star setup man. From 2009-11 with the Pirates, Meek posted a strong 2.74 ERA in 147 2/3 innings of work, though other metrics such as his 7.9 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and 3.58 FIP in that time indicate that he was likely overperforming a bit. A shoulder injury limited Meek to 12 innings in 2012, and he spent the 2013 season with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate (somewhat curiously starting 15 games despite spending nearly all of his career as a reliever).

Meek was with the Orioles in 2014, but he struggled after breaking camp with the team and found himself outrighted to Triple-A in early June. From there, he went on to dominate at the Triple-A level, posting a 1.94 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 0.9 BB/9 in 41 2/3 innings of work. That earned him a September call-up, but while he got better results in the season’s final month, he still finished with a 5.79 ERA in 23 1/3 big league innings. He’ll compete for a job in a Nats bullpen that features Drew Storen in the closer’s role in front of setup options such as Craig Stammen, Jerry Blevins, Matt Thornton, Blake Treinen and possibly Tanner Roark, who could be bullpen-bound following Washington’s addition of Max Scherzer.

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