Rays Acquire Carlos Corporan From Yankees
The Yankees have announced that they’ve traded catcher Carlos Corporan to the Rays for cash considerations. The 32-year-old Corporan will likely serve as catching depth for the Rays, who have Hank Conger and Curt Casali at the big-league level. The Rays were down a catcher after releasing Rene Rivera last week.
Corporan collected 121 plate appearances for the Rangers in 2015, hitting .178/.244/.299, after which Texas non-tendered him. The Yankees signed him to a minor-league deal over the winter. He’s played parts of six big-league seasons, also suiting up for the Brewers and Astros, and had established himself as a somewhat better hitter than he showed last year — in 780 career plate appearances, he’s batted .218/.280/.342.
Quick Hits: Morosi, Epstein, Trout
Congratulations to Jon Morosi, one of the reporters most frequently cited here at MLBTR, who has announced (Twitter links) that he’ll now be working full-time for the MLB Network and MLB.com. He adds that he’ll continue working for FOX Sports as a game reporter and on FOX Sports 1 network shows. Here’s more from around the game.
- Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has acquired an unusual reputation within the game and changed the qualifications typically associated with becoming a top team executive, Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post writes in a lengthy profile. As Svrluga points out, ten of baseball’s GMs are now Ivy League products, and none were the year before Epstein took over the Red Sox GM job. The profile features a number of fascinating details about Epstein’s life in the game, like how he used to trade game tickets for class notes when he was working for the Padres and going to law school simultaneously, and how, with the Red Sox, he got access to 30 years of college baseball stats by sending interns to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis to photocopy them.
- With the regular season on its way, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe lists baseball’s 50 most important players, in his estimation. There are certainly some placements one might quibble with, but it’s hard to disagree too strenuously with Cafardo’s pick for No. 1, Angels superstar Mike Trout. Cafardo also lists 20 potential breakout candidates (topped by Phillies infielder Maikel Franco) and ten comeback candidates, including Josh Hamilton of the Rangers.
AL West Notes: Beltre, Parker, Mariners
Rangers GM Jon Daniels says he will speak to Adrian Beltre‘s agent, Scott Boras, this weekend, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes (Twitter links). Daniels apparently did not reveal much about the content of those talks, but said the Rangers would like to keep Beltre, who is eligible for free agency after the season. As Gerry Fraley of the Morning News notes, Beltre would prefer not to negotiate in-season, and the two parties would have to reach a deal by Monday to prevent that from happening. At last check, there was a “significant gap” between the two sides, with the soon-to-be-37-year-old Beltre looking for a hefty three-year deal. Both parties have, however, shown interest in reaching a deal. On a separate note, Daniels also suggested it was unlikely the Rangers would make an outside addition to their roster before Opening Day. Here’s more from the AL West.
- Athletics righty Jarrod Parker has now undergone surgery, as expected, to repair his ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. The procedure was described as successful, but the 27-year-old faces yet another lengthy and uncertain rehabilitation process after already working back from two prior Tommy John surgeries. This time, of course, it will be even less straightforward (though he didn’t require a new UCL), since he’s also suffered two fractures to the medial epicyndyle area that typically anchors the UCL. The Chronicle’s Susan Slusser takes a closer look at the medicine involved.
- It isn’t official yet, but the Mariners‘ Opening Day roster appears set, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes. Steve Clevenger appears likely to win the backup catcher job over Rob Brantly. Both are out of options, so one will need to go through waivers. Relievers Charlie Furbush (shoulder) and Evan Scribner (lat), meanwhile, seem likely to head to the 15-day DL. 1B/OF Efren Navarro, outfielder Daniel Robertson and pitchers Donn Roach and Blake Parker appear likely to head to Triple-A Tacoma, leaving the Mariners with a 25-man that would require extra 40-man space only for non-roster reliever Joel Peralta.
Brewers Sign Carlos Torres
10:49am: The Brewers have announced that they’ve signed Torres to a one-year big-league deal. To make room on the 40-man roster, they’ve moved outfielder Rymer Liriano (face) to the 60-day DL. To clear active roster space, they optioned Cravy to Triple-A Colorado Springs and placed Knebel on the 15-day DL with an oblique strain. The move seemingly sets the Brewers’ bullpen with Torres, Jeffress, Blazek, Thornburg, Capuano, Boyer and Pena.
8:37am: Righty Carlos Torres is “expected to sign” with the Brewers, 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweets. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted yesterday that Torres was attracting plenty of interest and seemed likely to get a big-league deal.
Earlier this week, Torres opted out of his minor-league deal with the Braves. The 33-year-old is coming off three useful years with the Mets in which he posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9, pitching mostly out of the bullpen but occasionally also making starts (although he did not start at all last season).
That kind of versatility could prove helpful to any number of teams, but particularly a team like the Brewers, who aren’t outstanding in either the rotation or the bullpen. The Brewers recently lost closer Will Smith to an LCL tear, and starter Matt Garza recently left a spring game with shoulder soreness (although Garza’s injury does not appear serious), so the flexibility someone like Torres could provide could turn out to be helpful. The Brewers’ bullpen currently features Jeremy Jeffress, Michael Blazek, Tyler Thornburg, Corey Knebel and veterans Chris Capuano and Blaine Boyer, along with either Tyler Cravy or Ariel Pena.
Alex Presley Will Not Make Brewers, Has 48-Hour Window To Be Added Elsewhere
Alex Presley has been told he will not make the Brewers‘ Opening Day roster, MLBTR has learned. There will now be a 48-hour period in which other teams can decide whether they want to add Presley to their active rosters, and if someone does, the Brewers must allow him to depart or assign him to their own active roster.
Presley hit well in Spring Training while competing for a Brewers outfield job as a non-roster invitee, batting .289/.396/.556 in 53 plate appearances, but the Brewers’ decision indicates that they prefer Keon Broxton and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, with whom he was competing for two available outfield jobs. Presley is a career .259/.299/.393 hitter in parts of six seasons with the Pirates, Twins and Astros. He played briefly for Houston last season, spending most of the year with Triple-A Fresno.
Braves Designate Michael Bourn For Assignment
The Braves have designated outfielder Michael Bourn for assignment, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes (Twitter links). They also selected the contracts of outfielder Drew Stubbs and reliever Alexi Ogando. The Braves signed Stubbs to a minor-league deal earlier this week, adding the veteran to a crowded outfield picture, and Stubbs’ addition as a potential backup center fielder likely made the Braves feel Bourn (and Emilio Bonifacio, who was also cut this morning) no longer had much use for them.
As O’Brien points out, the Braves’ two highest-paid players this year will be Bourn and Nick Swisher, both of whom are now gone. Of course, some of Bourn’s $14MM and Swisher’s $15MM will be paid by the Indians, who signed both players before sending them to Atlanta for Chris Johnson in an exchange of bad contracts. Bourn is in the last year of his deal — he has a vesting option for 2017, but almost certainly won’t get enough plate appearances this season for it to vest.
Bourn’s decline since signing that contract in early 2013 has been swift. His hitting has declined from .274/.348/.391 in 2012 to .238/.310/.282 last year, and his once-terrific defense has declined, too — UZR, for example, rated Bourn as 23.3 runs above average in center in 2012 and 2.5 runs below last season. Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, since outfield defense doesn’t seem to age particularly well. Whatever the case, Bourn no longer served an obvious purpose on a rebuilding Braves team already featuring plenty of outfielders, including Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis, Hector Olivera, Jeff Francoeur and Stubbs.
Braves Designate Emilio Bonifacio For Assignment
The Braves have designated infielder/outfielder Emilio Bonifacio for assignment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien tweets. Bonifacio signed a one-year, $1.25MM deal with the team in December. Nonetheless, the Braves had other options they liked better in camp, and Bonifacio’s fate was likely sealed by Jeff Francoeur making the team and the Braves adding Drew Stubbs in a late-breaking move.
Bonifacio played sparingly for the White Sox in 2015, but collected 426 plate appearances in 2014, some of those with the Braves after arriving in a July trade. In the last three seasons, he’s batted .243/.291/.325 in 969 plate appearances while playing second, third, shortstop and all three outfield positions.
Padres Sign Jeremy Guthrie To Minor-League Deal
SATURDAY: The deal is complete, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.
FRIDAY: The Padres have agreed to terms with righty Jeremy Guthrie on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports report (via Twitter). The Rangers released Guthrie earlier this week after he exercised an opt-out clause in his contract with them. Guthrie is a client of Excel Sports Management.
Guthrie, who will be 37 next week, had a poor season for the Royals in 2015 (insofar as anyone on a World Series-winning team could have a poor season). He pitched 148 1/3 innings and posted a 5.95 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. He did not pitch in the postseason with the Royals, who paid him a $3.2MM buyout after the season ended rather than exercising their $10MM option on him. For his career, Guthrie has a 4.37 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 12 seasons with the Indians, Orioles and Rockies in addition to the Royals. The Padres’ plans for him are unclear, but the organization seems like a good fit, given the team’s unsettled rotation beyond Tyson Ross, James Shields and Andrew Cashner.
Roster Notes: Kim, Bailey, Frieri, Arencibia, Venable, Sabathia, Miller
We’ve already covered a number of roster decisions already this evening, but more keep rolling in. Here are some of the latest:
- The Orioles announced a number of moves, including the demotion of infielder Paul Janish. That could open the door to an Opening Day roster spot for Hyun Soo Kim, as Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com explains (Twitter links). Kim has continued to maintain that he will not accept a minor league assignment, as is his contractual right, despite a rough spring. Only Xavier Avery appears to remain an obstacle to a roster spot for Kim, as the team’s 29 remaining players in camp include three who are bound for the DL.
- The Phillies have announced that veteran relievers Andrew Bailey and Ernesto Frieri were reassigned to minor league camp along with catcher J.P. Arencibia and outfielder Will Venable. That lends clarity to the team’s Opening Day roster. Bailey reportedly has a May 1 opt-out date, while Frieri apparently allowed his own to pass yesterday without action. Venable had seemed lined up for a job after signing late in camp, but the Phils will apparently give roster spots to non-roster invitees Cedric Hunter and Emmanuel Burriss, as MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki notes on Twitter. Fellow minor league signee James Russell also appears to have earned an Opening Day nod. The club is also set to give a shot to its two Rule 5 picks — outfielder Tyler Goeddel and lefty Daniel Stumpf.
- CC Sabathia has beaten out Ivan Nova for the Yankees‘ fifth starter role, manager Joe Girardi told reporters incluing Wallace Mathews of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter link). That appears to put Nova in the pen for now, where he’ll also serve as a swingman option. The Yanks will give their final pen job to righty Kirby Yates, according to Jack Curry of the YES Network (via Twitter). Yates was acquired for cash over the winter, and impressed this spring, though he might not have had a slot had it not been for an unfortunate injury to Bryan Mitchell. Chad Jennings of the LoHud Yankees Blog had noted yesterday on Twitter that Yates was a prime candidate to take over for Mitchell, while adding that Luis Cessa and Johnny Barbato were also slated to join the active roster for the season’s start.
- Fortunately for the Yankees, it appears they won’t have to replace lefty Andrew Miller on Opening Day. Miller has been cleared to pitch despite suffering a fracture to his non-pitching hand, as Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News reports. Miller, who’ll hold down closing duties while Aroldis Chapman is out, is not expected to require surgery and will apparently be able to proceed as normal so long as he can tolerate the injury.
NL Notes: Reds’ Medicals, Henderson, Heisey, Gott, Nolin
Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer has penned an interesting piece on the process for evaluating medicals in prospective trades — a matter that has taken on increasingly public significance with several recent swaps blown up after agreement was reportedly reached in principle. He chats at length with Reds orthopedist Dr. Timothy Kremchek and GM Dick Williams about the “streamlined” but still-nuanced assessment of player health in finalizing trades. “You’re hearing more about the ones that don’t happen,” Williams explained. “I do think because the technology is better. In the old days, it’s like, ‘Well, he has a sore elbow, but I’m sure it’ll be fine by spring.’ Now they’re taking scans and x-rays and you’re getting a lot more detail. There’s a lot more opportunity for interpretation. The dollars have gotten so much bigger that doctors don’t want to be the scapegoat.” The article is well worth a full read.
Of course, Williams also chatted recently with MLBTR about quite a different topic — his time at the University of Virginia. (As a fellow U.Va. alum, that made for an especially interesting trip down memory lane.) Here’s the latest from the National League:
- Righty Jim Henderson has cracked the Mets‘ Opening Day roster, as the team announced and ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports. Once a late-inning reliever, Henderson has struggled with shoulder injuries in recent years, but impressed this spring by allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out 13 over 10 2/3 frames. Meanwhile, lefty Sean Gilmartin — who had a strong season in the pen as a Rule 5 pick last year — has been optioned down to Triple-A. Logan Verrett will instead make the roster and function as New York’s longman.
- Outfielder Chris Heisey will take a reserve role with the Nationals out of camp, Devan Fink first reported on Twitter. A 40-man spot was cleared by adding TJ rehabber Aaron Barrett to the 60-day DL.
- Meanwhile, Blake Treinen appears to have beaten out Sean Burnett and Trevor Gott for the final pen role, James Wagner of the Washington Post tweets. Burnett is set to opt out of his deal, and the team has announced that Gott was optioned. What’s surprising isn’t so much that Treinen made the pen — he has an impressive arsenal and nice spring under his belt — but that Matt Belisle took the spot that had seemed destined to go to Gott. It’s not as if he had rough camp, as he finished with three earned runs on his tab over nine innings, allowing nine hits and two walks while recording five strikeouts. Though he generated quite a few grounders last year with the Angels, Gott only struck out 5.1 batters per nine, and he could certainly stand to add some polish to his curve to develop another pitch to go with a 96.1 mph heater. Gott enters the year with 114 days of service on his ledger, so a sufficiently lengthy minor league stint could also buy the club another year of control. He could eventually join Barrett, Treinen, and lefty Felipe Rivero in a young, cheap, high-powered pen corps of the future.
- Brewers manager Craig Counsell says that lefty Sean Nolin has been diagnosed with a “significant” injury to his UCL, MLB.com’s Chris Abshire reports. There had been some suggestion that Nolin had avoided a ligament issue, but today’s news seemingly puts a lengthier absence on the table. A final prognosis will await a second opinion, though, so the 26-year-old’s fate remains to be seen. Nolin, who was claimed off waivers from the A’s over the winter, had been competing for a pen spot before he was shut down a few weeks ago.