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Archives for April 2015

West Notes: Nix, Walker, Olson, Garcia, Bradley

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Late last night, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle followed up on his report that the Astros’ exact draft pool is unknown because two players after the 10th round received bonuses north of $100K. Per Drellich, 14th-round pick Nick Tanielu and 15th-round pick Connor Goedert each received bonuses of $200K — $100K above slot for each of them. As such, Drellich writes in a separate piece that the team’s final $616,165 offer to fifth-rounder Jacob Nix was virtually every dollar they had available to offer without losing future draft picks.

Here’s more from the game’s Western divisions…

  • Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon confirmed to Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune that both right-hander Taijuan Walker and left-hander Tyler Olson have made the team’s Opening Day roster (Twitter link). Walker’s inclusion on the 25-man roster is significant, as with 142 days of service time under his belt, he’ll almost certainly be a Super Two player two offseasons from now. The 25-year-old Olson, on the other hand, was in camp as a non-roster invite and will need to be added to the 40-man roster.
  • Freddy Garcia’s Minor League contract with the Dodgers does contain an opt-out clause, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, although the exact date of that opt-out remains unknown. Also pertaining to Garcia, Han Lee of Global Sports Integration has passed along Garcia’s Taiwanese stats to MLBTR. The veteran righty pitched to an 11-9 record with a 3.19 ERA, 6.0 K/9, 1.1 BB/9 and a 1.19 WHIP in 161 innings of work while pitching overseas in 2014.
  • Though the D-Backs have named their starting rotation, Zach Buchanan of the Arizona Republic writes that Archie Bradley has been so impressive that the Snakes may have to re-think at the last minute. Bradley fired six shutout innings Wednesday, including 5 2/3 no-hit innings, and after the game, manager Chip Hale told reporters: “We’ve named our five, but he’s pushed the envelope all the way down to the last possible chance he had. He’s looked great. We’ll have to sit down and evaluate everything.” Bradley could also begin his first full season in the Majors in a bullpen role, serving as a long man to get acclimated with the big leagues, Hale indicated.

Yankees Acquire Gregorio Petit

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The Astros announced that they’ve traded infielder Gregorio Petit to the Yankees in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

The 30-year-old Petit returned to the Majors for the first time since 2009 last year, batting .278/.300/.423 with a pair of homers in 100 trips to the plate. Petit has never much in the Majors outside of that sample, or in Triple-A for that matter, though he does bring some defensive versatility to the table, as he is capable of handling second base, shortstop or third base. The addition of Petit could be tied to the fact that the Yankees learned earlier today that Brendan Ryan will likely open the season on the disabled list after suffering a calf strain.

Christian Vazquez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Red Sox have announced that catcher Christian Vazquez will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow tomorrow. The surgery, which will be performed by Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Fla., will sideline Vazquez for the entire season.

The loss of Vazquez is a significant blow to the Red Sox, who anticipated enjoying the 24-year-old’s presence as their regular catcher in 2015. Vazquez, praised by most as one of the best defensive catchers in all of baseball, made his big league debut in 2014 and batted .240/.308/.309 in 201 plate appearances. Despite that lack of offensive production, Vazquez provided quite a bit of value, throwing out an incredible 52 percent of opposing base-stealers and rating as one of the game’s best pitch-framers, per both Statcorner.com and Baseball Prospectus.

Boston was seemingly prepared for this outcome, as they acquired switch-hitting catcher Sandy Leon from the Nationals earlier this week. The out-of-options Leon is excellent at controlling the running game himself, though he lacks the overall upside of Vazquez. Leon will join Ryan Hanigan, whom the Sox had acquired to serve as a backup but will now see regular action, as half of the team’s catching tandem.

Of course, the eyes of all Boston fans will be carefully monitoring the progress of top catching prospect Blake Swihart as he finishes off his Minor League development at the Triple-A level this season. Swihart, one of the game’s top overall prospects, is widely considered to be Boston’s No. 2 prospect, behind Yoan Moncada. The Phillies have repeatedly asked for Swihart in Cole Hamels trade discussions, but the Sox have refused to include him in a deal. With Vazquez now out for the season, one would imagine that the Sox will be even more reluctant to part with Swihart.

Obviously this procedure is more common among pitchers, but there are still position players who have had to undergo the procedure in recent years. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters had Tommy John last June and will likely open the 2015 season on the disabled list, while Twins top prospect Miguel Sano underwent the procedure last March and missed the season but has been healthy all spring.

Rule 5 Update: J.R. Graham, Delino DeShields

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Earlier today the Braves claimed Rule 5 left-hander Andrew McKirahan off waivers from the Marlins — the second Rule 5 player to be claimed off waivers in the past week (the Padres also claimed Rule 5 righty Jandel Gustave of waivers from the Royals). As teams are setting their 25-man rosters, here are the most recent updates on the players selected in this year’s Rule 5 Draft…

  • Right-hander J.R. Graham, selected by the Twins out of the Braves organization, has made Minnesota’s 25-man roster, according to Twins director of baseball communications Dustin Morse (on Twitter). The 25-year-old Graham rated as one of the game’s Top 100 prospects two offseasons ago, per Baseball America (No. 93) and Baseball Prospectus (No. 63) but has been slowed by injuries in recent years. This spring with the Twins, he allowed just three runs in 12 2/3 innings, though he also recorded a rather unsightly 7-to-6 K/BB ratio.
  • Second baseman/outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. has beaten out Carlos Peguero for a spot on the Rangers’ 25-man roster, tweets Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. DeShields is currently 1-for-3 in today’s game, having boosted his average to .268. DeShields, the eighth overall pick in the 2010 draft, spent last season with the Astros’ Double-A affiliate, batting .236/.346/.360 with 54 steals. The speedster swiped an incredible 101 bases in 135 games across two Class-A levels in 2012. MLB.com rated DeShields as the game’s No. 66 prospect as recently as last offseason.

Extension Notes: Duda, Harvey, Cueto, Price

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The Mets are reportedly set to lock into all of the arbitration-eligible seasons of center fielder Juan Lagares while adding control over another year via club option. But that is not the only possible extension scenario ongoing in New York and elsewhere.

Here’s the latest:

  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson acknowledged that the club has had conversations with both Lagares and first baseman Lucas Duda, as Mike Vorkunov of the Star-Ledger reports (Twitter links). He explained the team’s process as akin to that which led it to sign deals in the past with players like David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Jon Niese, calling Lagares and Duda “select individuals who we think have real upside.” A new pact for the power-hitting, arb-eligible Duda will likely cost the Mets a fair bit more than the $23MM the team reportedly committed to Lagares.
  • For his part, Duda indicated that he is hopeful of getting a deal done before the presumptive deadline of Opening Day, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets. His agents are still working with the New York front office.
  • Arguably the Mets’ best player, starter Matt Harvey, tells Puma (Twitter links) that he and agent Scott Boras have not been approached to discuss a deal. Of course, that could be due in large part to the fact that Harvey appears to be in a particularly unlikely extension spot: a Boras-represented ace with nearly-unlimited upside who is preparing to enter his arbitration years after missing a season due to Tommy John surgery. When asked whether he would try to get something done with Harvey, Alderson said that the question was “too far afield for me.” Needless to say, it does not appear that there is anything in the works here.
  • The Reds have made “no progress” on a deal with ace Johnny Cueto, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. That is really not surprising, given that Cincinnati appears to have a lack of future payroll flexibility and Cueto a rather substantial earning potential as a free agent.
  • Morosi also tweets that he does not expect any pending free agents to reach long-term deals barring a surprise, massive offer from the Tigers to David Price, and it is hard to disagree with that assessment. That being said, Price made clear yesterday that he is not putting any timeline on talks about a new deal, as MLB.com’s Jason Beck reports. Price also gave some hints as to his mindset, seemingly indicating that Detroit knows his demands and will have to decide whether to meet them. “It wouldn’t be something that would linger on,€” he said. “These guys, they know what they want to do, and so do I. So if we get to that point, then I think once it gets going, it would go quickly. If it doesn’€™t happen, then it just wouldn’t happen. It’s not something that we’d revisit every two weeks. I’€™m sure the Tigers would rather it be either we can get it done or we can’t and leave it alone. We’€™ll see how everything starts shaking out.”€ Price added that he does not necessarily see recent deals for top starting pitchers as setting the salary range that should apply to his next deal: “I guess you could say that, but that’s not my thought behind it.”

Jarred Cosart Says He Did Not Bet On Baseball

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Marlins starter Jarred Cosart briefly addressed the league’s inquiry into a still-obscure, gambling-related issue, telling Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald: “I never have, never will bet on baseball.” 

That statement certainly indicates that Cosart does not believe he did anything that would trigger discipline, at least not pursuant to Rule 21(d), which prohibits gambling on baseball games. Cosart added that he hopes the league will wrap up its investigation by Opening Day, which of course is only days away.

Cosart declined comment otherwise. “That’s the only statement I can come out with right now,” he said. “I’m letting MLB security [handle the rest]. They’ve investigated my Twitter. I had to speak to some people from their offices last week, but I’m in a good position on it, I’m confident. Like I said, it’s kind of just in the commissioners hands now and we’ll see what he does with it.”

Michael Matuella To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Top draft prospect Michael Matuella, a Duke University righty, has torn his ulnar collateral ligament and will undergo Tommy John surgery, Keith Law of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. He had been tabbed as a possible first overall pick.

Matuella joins last year’s number one choice, Brady Aiken, as premium amateur arms requiring UCL replacements this offseason. The news has put a significant damper on a draft class that was already receiving less-than-stellar reviews.

Of course, we have seen some added willingness on the part of teams to take risks on players coming off of a TJ procedure. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper notes, last year’s draft included two prominent first-round choices who received big bonuses despite the surgery: Jeff Hoffman, who went 9th overall to the Blue Jays, and Erick Fedde, who went at 18 to the Nationals. And we have seen significant guarantees given to still-rehabbing pitchers, with the Royals along inking Luke Hochevar and Kris Medlen.

But there is little doubt that the added risk will have an impact on the earning capacity of Matuella. Cooper does note on Twitter that at least some clubs actually have greater long-term concern with back issues for the right-hander. BA’s John Manuel and Hudson Belinsky further discussed Matuella’s draft status in an interesting piece.

Royals Re-Sign Rafael Furcal

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The Royals have re-signed infielder Rafael Furcal, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports on Twitter. Furcal was released by Kansas City yesterday.

It appears that the move was designed to get Furcal in camp when he signed initially while preventing the Royals from being obligated to him for a $100K Article XX(B) retention bonus. Furcal does not appear on the list of Article XX(B) free agents I compiled recently, because he signed after that list was posted, but he did in fact qualify for free agency pursuant to that provision and therefore was entitled to its built-in protections.

Clayton Richard Declines To Opt Out From Pirates Deal

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Lefty Clayton Richard decided to allow his opt-out clause to expire yesterday, despite the fact that he was not added to the Pirates’ 40-man roster, Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects reports. Richard’s opt-out was negotiated into his deal; he is not an Article XX(B) free agent and thus lacks the automatic protection provided by that status.

Richard said that he is not sure if and when he can opt out in the future, but noted that his representatives were set to discuss his contract with GM Neal Huntington. The 31-year-old has been effective in spring — he allowed 3 earned runs over 8 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two — and likely would have drawn interest elsewhere. Instead, he’ll provide a potentially useful depth option for Pittsburgh.

“€œI’m still here,€ Richard tells Williams. “We just thought it would be best to stay here and work some stuff out. I’ve had such a good experience with everyone here. We’re going in the right direction. It seems like the right move to stay here and keep on making that progress.”

Latest On Jesse Crain

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1:14pm: The MLB.com site is incorrect: Crain is still with the team and has only been reassigned, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com tweets.

1:01pm: The White Sox have released righty Jesse Crain, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Crain had been reassigned to minor league camp.

Crain, an Article XX(B) free agent, was in line for a $100K retention bonus, which the team had reportedly decided to pay. While it remains unclear precisely what transpired, it obviously would not make sense for the White Sox to have committed to the bonus before dropping him the very next day.

The 33-year-old has been trying to return to action from shoulder surgery. He was one of the game’s very best relievers in 2013, but has yet to return to full game action since his shoulder issues cropped up.

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