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Diamondbacks Acquire Walker, Marte From Mariners For Segura, Haniger, Curtis

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The Diamondbacks have announced that they’ve acquired starter Taijuan Walker and shortstop Ketel Marte from the Mariners for middle infielder Jean Segura, outfielder Mitch Haniger and lefty Zac Curtis. The Mariners also announced that they’ve designated switch-pitcher Pat Venditte for assignment. Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan was first to tweet that a deal was close between the two teams.

[Related: Updated Arizona Diamondbacks Depth Chart]

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The trade marks quite the opening salvo for Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, who has added two very intriguing young players to his new organization. Walker, 24, began his career as a top-ten prospect in all of baseball, and while he hasn’t yet emerged as a standout starter, he also hasn’t done much to dim his status as a top young talent. His name had repeatedly come up as a speculative possibility in potential blockbusters, including one in 2014 involving David Price, but he managed to stick with Seattle and put in two-plus seasons in their rotation before finally being dealt. In 2016, he posted a 4.22 ERA, with 8.0 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over 134 1/3 big-league innings, bringing a strong mid-90s fastball in the process.

Walker’s upside remains considerable, and he’s under control for the next several seasons — he’s eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter as a Super Two player (and is projected to make $2.8MM), and he can’t become a free agent until after the 2020 season. He battled a foot injury in the middle of the 2016 campaign and had surgery to address it after the season, but there’s no reason to expect that to be a major issue going forward. He’ll join some combination of Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, Patrick Corbin, Shelby Miller, Rubby De La Rosa, Archie Bradley and Braden Shipley in the Diamondbacks’ rotation.

Marte is a not-to-be-overlooked component of Arizona’s side of the deal. He only recently turned 23 and already has the equivalent of a season’s worth of big-league plate appearances under his belt. While he struggled both offensively and defensively in 2016 (posting a .259/.287/.323 line and a significantly below average UZR), he fared well enough in the minors to get to the big leagues at age 21, and certainly has time to improve. If he develops, he could become the Diamondbacks’ starting shortstop for the next several seasons.

“Young, controllable pitching is hard to find, and adding Taijuan to the rotation gives us significant depth in that area,” Hazen says. “In Ketel, we believe we have acquired a talented switch-hitting shortstop to join a very solid core of young middle infielders.”

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[Related: Updated Seattle Mariners Depth Chart]

From the Mariners’ perspective, the deal seems to hinge to a large degree on Segura’s breakout performance last season. Segura batted .319/.368/.499 with 20 homers in an outstanding 2016, posting 5.0 fWAR of value in his first season with the Snakes. (Credit former GM Dave Stewart for acquiring Segura in one of his better trades in his short tenure in Arizona.)

Segura’s previous history is erratic, however — he failed to clear a .300 OBP in either 2014 or 2015 with the Brewers. Some of Segura’s struggles might have been related to the tragic death of his infant son in the middle of the 2014 season, but his difficulties on the field are still worth considering. Also, unlike Marte (who is controllable for five more years), Segura only has two years of control remaining before he’s eligible for free agency. (MLBTR projects he’ll make $7.3MM in his second year of arbitration eligibility this offseason.) Segura had primarily been a second baseman with the Diamondbacks, but it appears likely he’ll play mostly shortstop with the Mariners, who have Robinson Cano at second.

The 25-year-old Haniger made his big-league debut in 2016 and batted a modest .229/.309/.404 in 123 plate appearances. He did, however, grade well defensively in a small sample, and he batted an excellent .341/.428/.670 in 312 plate appearances at Triple-A Reno, demonstrating outstanding power (with 20 home runs, albeit in a favorite hitting environment) and good plate discipline. Nonetheless, he was not particularly highly regarded — MLB.com ranked him just 21st among Diamondbacks prospects, noting the likelihood that he would wind up as a good fourth outfielder, and Baseball America (subscription required) didn’t even mention him in their midseason writeup on the Diamondbacks system. Still, he wouldn’t be the first young player with excellent minor league numbers to go underrated by prospect hounds, and he could contribute to a thin Mariners’ outfield immediately (likely mostly as a corner outfielder, since the M’s have Leonys Martin to man center). The Diamondbacks initially acquired him in 2014 when they traded Gerardo Parra to the Brewers.

Curtis has the lowest profile of any of the five players in the deal, but he’s an interesting fifth piece. He was pitching for Class A+ Visalia in 2016 when he got promoted all the way to the big leagues, thanks to a stat line that included 22 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he didn’t fare well there, posting a 6.75 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 8.8 BB/9 in 13 1/3 innings, but he got significantly better results after heading back to Double-A Mobile and might eventually reemerge as a good bullpen arm once he has more seasoning. In 111 minor league innings, he’s totaled 169 strikeouts against 35 walks. Curtis is undersized at 5’9″ and averaged a relatively modest 90.9 MPH on his fastball in the big leagues, though, so he probably doesn’t profile as a future power reliever.

Venditte pitched 13 1/3 innings with the Mariners in 2016 and allowed ten runs. The 31-year-old has attracted plenty of curiosity for his ability to pitch with either hand, but despite his consistent platoon advantage, he has just a 4.97 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in parts of two seasons in the big leagues. Most of the damage done against Venditte has come from right-handed batters, as opposing lefties have hit just .179/.242/.366 against him.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Central Notes: Pirates, Cardinals, Twins

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The Pirates have not discussed an extension with manager Clint Hurdle, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. “How long will I go? I don’t know the shelf life,” says Hurdle. “I just know that I’m still engaged. I love what I do, I love who I’m doing it for, and I love who I’m doing it with. I’ll take it one year at a time.” There’s no indication Hurdle’s job is in danger, and he’s signed through 2017 with an option for 2018. Interestingly, though, Biertempfel notes that whenever Hurdle’s tenure with the Pirates does come to an end, there’s a good chance he could be replaced internally, with new bench coach and former Double-A skipper Tom Prince as a possible replacement. “We hope Clint manages the Pirates for a long time,” says Pirates president Frank Coonelly. “But, like with any other key leadership position, we want to be sure we’re developing successors. We have a bias toward promoting from within when possible, but we also have a bias toward hiring the best person for the job. If we develop our people the right way, they’ll be the best people for the job.” The Bucs already recently did develop another top big-league manager — former Bucs bench coach Jeff Banister was the 2015 AL Manager of the Year with the Rangers. Here’s more from the Central divisions.

  • Four-year deals for relievers are demonstrably dicey propositions, so it’s unclear why the Cardinals committed to Brett Cecil for that long, ESPN’s Keith Law writes (Insider only). Cecil was worth roughly $7.5MM per year (the annual value of the contract he just received) in 2013 through 2015, but it’s optimistic to expect him to be worth that several years from now, given the uninspiring histories of relievers who’ve received long-term deals (B.J. Ryan, Justin Speier, Joe Nathan, Steve Karsay, and so on).
  • Cardinals fans would be unwise to read too much into the news that the team has mentioned Michael Wacha’s name in trade talks, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in a series of questions and answers about the Cards’ offseason plans. The Cardinals might simply be trying to gauge Wacha’s value, as they did in previous discussions about pitchers like Shelby Miller and Kyle Lohse.
  • Law praises the Twins for dropping Trevor Plouffe, on the grounds that his underwhelming defense makes him approximately replacement level. Law says he is curious to see whether the Twins will now turn to Miguel Sano at third base, since he is heavy for the position and has not been a good defender at the position throughout his career. (UZR and DRS rated Sano around average in 376 big-league innings at the position in 2016.)
  • The Twins have been in contact with free agent righty Justin Masterson, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. That’s not surprising, since new Twins head of baseball operations Derek Falvey previously worked with Masterson in the Indians organization. Masterson, formerly a solid big-league starter, had an underwhelming 2016 in the Bucs organization while fighting his way back from shoulder trouble, posting a 4.85 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 59 1/3 innings covering two minor league stops.

MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent Prediction Contest

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Only a few hours remain in the MLB Trade Rumors Free Agent Prediction Contest!  Click here to log in with Google or Facebook and predict which team you think each of the remaining top 50 free agents will sign with.  For each player, you can select one of the 30 MLB teams, as well as Retirement, Korea, or Japan.  Be sure to use the “Save Picks” button at the bottom each time you make a change.  Make sure you have something chosen for all 50 players by midnight central time tonight.  Finish your picks now!

This year, we rebuilt the contest to allow people to log in with Google or Facebook.  We’re doing two things with your information: saving your picks, and displaying your name on the contest leaderboard (which is still in progress).

Other contest notes:

  • Players in the contest who have already signed are considered freebies, although you still need to go in and make the correct pick.
  • The leaderboard will rank contestants by “batting average” on correct picks.  The leaderboard will show full names of contestants.
  • Ties in batting average will be decided by totaling the ranking number of each correctly-guessed free agent and taking the lowest total, rewarding contestants for being right on better free agents.  If people are still tied after that method is applied, prizes will be distributed at MLBTR’s discretion by choosing among tied contestants randomly.
  • Prizes are a work in progress, but I do intend to give something out for the top finishers.
  • If you experience a technical issue, please use our contact form.

John Hart On Braves’ R.A. Dickey, Bartolo Colon Signings

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This offseason, the Braves have added two starting pitchers so old that one of them (42-year-old R.A. Dickey) can’t believe the team also acquired an even older hurler in 43-year-old Bartolo Colon, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. “Coppy [Braves GM John Coppolella] said to me, we’re going after Colon, and I said, whatever; he’s never leaving New York because he’s had a great run there, why would he leave there?” Dickey says. “So I automatically thought that I was going to be the oldest player on the team.”

Dickey and Colon certainly look like different sorts of pitchers than those the Braves used last year, when they got 126 starts from pitchers in their age-25 season or younger. But the Braves say the team’s signings of two veteran starters doesn’t mark a significant change in the organization’s recent plan of building with youth, O’Brien writes.

“A lot of our pitchers are at the A-level, the high-A level, the Double-A level. We were sort of forced to giving some starts [last season] – Matt Wisler did a terrific job up and down, Aaron Blair showed a little bit towards the end,” says president of baseball operations John Hart. “That next wave is at least a year away, and I think as we viewed this, going into this new ballpark, with the club that we had and giving this club and our fans an opportunity to compete, without standing in the way of some of these young pitchers.”

Hart says that, even with Dickey and Colon in the fold, younger pitchers will still have plenty of opportunities to start. (Wisler, Blair, Tyrell Jenkins, Williams Perez, Rob Whalen and John Gant would appear to be among those who could receive chances next season.) The organization is still waiting for many of its best young talents, several of whom are still deep in the minors. Nine of the players on MLB.com’s list of the top 15 Braves prospects are pitchers, but only two of those — Sean Newcomb and Lucas Sims — have significant experience at Double-A or higher.

“We’re certainly going to have at least one, maybe two youngsters in this rotation as we go forward,” says Hart. “It’s a long season, a lot of things happen, and a big part of what John and I are going to be focused on certainly is what’s going on at the major league club, but we pay attention to what’s happening down below. We’re going to be following the progress of the Sean Newcombs and the Max Frieds and the Mike Sorokas and Kolby Allards and all these youngers that we really like. But these kids, they’re still in the bus leagues (low minors), a lot of these guys.”

Latest On The Yankees’ Offseason

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The Yankees’ top relief target this winter is their own former closer Aroldis Chapman, but they have made contact with other stars at various positions as well, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports writes. The Yankees have also been in touch with closer Kenley Jansen (although they prefer Chapman, since he’s pitched for them before and since signing him wouldn’t cost them a draft pick) as well as hitters Carlos Beltran, Edwin Encarnacion, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Bautista, as has been previously reported. They’ve also likely spoken to representatives for starters Rich Hill (in whom top Yankees exec Brian Cashman has stated interest) and Jason Hammel (about whom the Yankees were previously known to be gathering information).

Encarnacion, Heyman writes, could be a high priority for the Yankees, although he also reports that the team has spoken with Cespedes’ agent up to five times already. As has been previously noted, the Yankees are involved in Beltran’s market, along with the Astros, Red Sox and perhaps Rangers.

Heyman also adds a few new names to the mix: those of Dexter Fowler, Matt Holliday, Mike Napoli and Brandon Moss. The Yankees currently have Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Judge in the outfield and Tyler Austin at DH, but Judge and Austin are inexperienced, and the Yankees could trade Gardner to clear playing time and payroll space for an impact bat.

Heyman cites Napoli, who is coming off a solid .239/.335/.465 season in Cleveland, as one option who could be particularly intriguing. Napoli or Holliday could help the Yankees at DH, while Fowler would likely play the outfield, and Moss could help in the outfield or first base, or at DH. Either way, it’s unclear to this point whether the Yankees are looking for one player for outfield and DH or two.

Report: Lockout On The Table As CBA Nears Expiration

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4:33pm: There is optimism that a lockout can be avoided, ESPN’s Jayson Stark writes. Stark cites two sources who tell him there is a “path to a deal.” Both sides, however, seem to believe that the lockout suggests December 1 is a “hard deadline” to reach an agreement. If there were to be a lockout in December, it wouldn’t necessarily result in missed games, but it could delay the progress of the offseason and cut off player benefits.

TODAY, 12:32pm: ESPN.com’s Buster Olney writes (Insider link) that there’s no particular reason to think that the saber-rattling will lead to a significant interference in labor relations, stating his own “educated guess” that compromise will be found. Sources do tell him that the league side is indeed “incredibly frustrated” by the union’s foot-dragging and unwillingness to move on issues like the international draft. And that could still lead to a standoff that impacts the progress of this winter’s trade and free agent markets. But as Olney explains, there’s relatively little at stake in the talks (in relation to the immense amount of money that both sides are making) and plenty of time before the owners and union would risk interfering with the 2017 season.

YESTERDAY: Major League Baseball’s owners “will consider” instituting a player lockout if a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the MLB Player’s Association can’t be found, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The current CBA is set to expire on December 1st, and the sides are said to be at an impasse over several matters.

This is the first time we’ve heard a firm report suggesting that there could be a work stoppage — though, of course, there’s no imminent threat to actual baseball games with Spring Training not set to begin until mid-February and the regular season still four months off. It has long been assumed that the owners and union would resolve any differences, particularly given that the game has continued to experience growth in revenue, but talks have dragged on longer than expected.

In considering a lockout, the owners would be threatening to interfere with the conduct of the offseason’s business, much of which remains to be completed. Some have suggested that a failure to reach agreement by the new deadline might result in a continuation of the status quo; presumably, that’s still also a possibility. But if a deal can’t be struck and the owners take a hard line, it might well result in a freeze on transactions right before the Winter Meetings.

It’s important to bear in mind that there are strategic reasons for suggesting the possibility of a lockout, which would require a vote of ownership to be instituted. And with just over a week left to finish negotiations, there’s still time for a resolution. Commissioner Rob Manfred says he’s still “committed to the idea that we’re going to make an agreement before expiration,” while union chief Tony Clark declined comment.

The sides are certainly jockeying for position on the remaining issues; no doubt, each is familiar with the other’s positions at this stage. The key matters yet to be determined are, however, rather notable. According to Rosenthal, the owners offered to get rid of any tying of free agents to draft compensation (as currently embodied in the qualifying offer system), but requested an international draft in exchange. The union, it seems, has lined up behind the idea that the draft would be too onerous.

There’s also disagreement regarding the competitive-balance tax and the Joint Drug Agreement. As to the former issue, it seems largely a matter of divvying up dollars and figuring out ways to ensure that teams put any subsidies into their major league roster. With regard to the latter, it seems that all are agreed on the need to add force to the JDA, but the players are asking to be compensated in exchange.

Rosenthal spoke with sources to get a read of the situation, and his article is well worth a full read. The takeaway seems to be that there’s still a path toward completing an agreement before the CBA expires, but the players are also prepared to dig in their heels. There’s certainly much to be lost for both sides in the event of a serious labor dispute, and that fact remains the best reason to retain hope that a lockout can be avoided. While this bit of brinkmanship is hardly determinitive, though, it’s also a notable sign that there have been real difficulties in seeing eye to eye.

 

Indians Outright Michael Martinez, Sign Daniel Robertson To Minors Deal

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The Indians have announced that they’ve outrighted utilityman Michael Martinez. They’ve also signed outfielder Daniel Robertson to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.

Martinez, 34, spent 2015 and part of 2016 in the Indians organization before heading to the Red Sox in a minor trade last July. He then headed back to the Indians in August on a waiver claim. He made sporadic appearances with Cleveland throughout its playoff run, collecting three plate appearances and scoring once in the World Series. (His last plate appearance was the ground out that clinched the Cubs’ Game 7 victory.) In the regular season, he appeared at six positions and batted .238/.267/.307 in 106 plate appearances. He was set to make a projected $600K in the arbitration process, a relatively paltry sum, but he still figured to be a non-tender candidate due to his light bat. The Indians still hope to keep Martinez, though — as Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com tweets, they’ve offered him a minor league deal to remain in the organization.

The 31-year-old Robertson spent 2016 in the Mariners organization, batting .287/.357/.412 for Triple-A Tacoma and briefly appearing in the big leagues. Robertson has batted a mere .273/.322/.325 in parts of three seasons in the Majors, but he can play all three outfield positions and has fared reasonably well at the Triple-A level, with an offensive game built heavily around walks and a .362 career Triple-A on-base percentage.

Brewers Claim Blake Parker, Designate David Goforth

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The Brewers have announced that they’ve claimed reliever Blake Parker off waivers from the Angels, who designated him for assignment last weekend. To clear space on their 40-man roster, they’ve designated fellow righty David Goforth for assignment.

The 32-year-old Parker has been a fixture in the transactions pages recently — he began the 2016 season with the Mariners, then headed to the Yankees and then Angels via waiver claims. He hasn’t pitched more than 21 innings in the big leagues in a season since 2013 with the Cubs, but it’s easy to see why a variety of teams have shown interest in him, since he posted an outstanding 2.72 ERA, 12.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 39 2/3 innings with Triple-A Tacoma in 2016. He also pitched 17 1/3 innings in the big leagues, posting a 4.67 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 while registering an average fastball velocity of 92.2 MPH. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt tweets, Brewers pitching coach Derek Johnson is likely quite familiar with Parker, since Johnson was the Cubs’ minor league pitching coordinator for several years while Parker pitched in the Cubs’ system.

The 28-year-old Goforth struggled in both Triple-A and the big leagues in 2016, allowing 14 runs in 10 2/3 innings in the Brewers bullpen. He held his own in the Majors in his rookie season in 2015, but has since struggled to replicate that modest success — which isn’t a huge surprise, given control problems that have plagued him in parts of four seasons in the high minors.

Angels Designate Jose Valdez, Blake Parker, Abel De Los Santos

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WEDNESDAY: The Angels have announced that they’ve outrighted Valdez and De Los Santos to Triple-A Salt Lake. As we’ve noted elsewhere, the Brewers claimed Parker off waivers.

FRIDAY: The Angels announced that they’ve designated right-handed pitchers Jose Valdez, Blake Parker and Abel De Los Santos for assignment and also outrighted infielder Rey Navarro off the 40-man roster. The moves pave way for the addition of left-hander Nate Smith and right-handers Keynan Middleton, Austin Adams and Eduardo Paredes to the 40-man roster.

Valdez, 26, posted a respectable 4.24 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with the Angels this season and averaged a robust 95.3 mph on his heater, making him at least an intriguing future option for the Halos next season. However, he also issued 16 walks, hit a batter and uncorked a pair of wild pitches in that brief time with the Angels, demonstrating enough of a control issue that the team didn’t see fit to dedicate a 40-man roster slot to him this winter.

Parker, 31, split the 2016 season between the Mariners and Yankees, totaling 17 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA ball with 15 strikeouts against eight unintentional walks. The Angels claimed him back in earlyt October, on the heels of a season in which he actually averaged a career-best 92.2 mph on his fastball this season and does come with a 3.67 career ERA in 90 1/3 innings at the Major League level. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher and has averaged 10.5 K/9 in parts of nine seasons at Triple-A but has also averaged 4.2 walks per nine innings there.

De Los Santos was also an offseason waiver claim by the Angels, out of the Reds organization. De Los Santos tossed 20 1/3 innings in Triple-A this season and logged a 3.54 ERA with a 26-to-13 K/BB ratio, and he has a lifetime 3.03 ERA in Double-A as well. He has just 7 1/3 innings of big league experience under his belt, during which he’s allowed eight runs.

Among the four players added to the 40-man roster, Smith is perhaps the most interesting.  The lefty had a 4.61 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 150 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level last year, which doesn’t really stand out, but he does rank as the top pitching prospect in the organization, per MLB.com. The Halos will enter 2017 with Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Tyler Skaggs and Ricky Nolasco locked into rotation spots, health permitting, leaving the fifth spot up for grabs among Smith, Jesse Chavez, Alex Meyer and Daniel Wright (plus any further offseason additions).

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