Mets Sign Antonio Bastardo
FRIDAY: The Mets have announced the signing. Bastardo gets a $250K signing bonus and will then earn salaries of $5.25MM (2016) and $6.5MM (2017), Heyman tweets.
WEDNESDAY: The Mets and left-hander Antonio Bastardo are in agreement on a contract, reports Jon Heyman (Twitter link). It’s a two-year, $12MM contract, according to Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray (on Twitter). Bastardo is represented by the Legacy Agency.
Murray reported yesterday that things were picking up in the Bastardo market, though the three-year deal mentioned in that report ultimately wasn’t attained. The two-year pact represents a departure from the Mets’ previously reported plans, as the team was said earlier this month to be seeking relief help on a one-year deal. In that regard, the agreement between the two parties represents a compromise, as Bastardo was said to be seeking a three-year deal in the $18MM range (similar to the one Tony Sipp landed with Houston earlier this year).
Bastardo, 30, has turned in generally strong results across the past three seasons between the Phillies and Pirates, working to a 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate in 164 innings of work. He’s dominated left-handed opponents in that stretch, holding same-handed batters to a paltry .167/.273/.295 triple-slash. However, Bastardo is more than a specialist, as he’s also been plenty effective against right-handed batters, limiting such opponents to a .204/.310/.314 line. As such, he can be deployed as a setup man, regardless of matchup, alongside Addison Reed and Jenrry Mejia. That trio, of course, will help bridge the gap from the club’s excellent young rotation to breakout closer Jeurys Familia, who saved 43 games for the Mets in 2015.
With Bastardo in the fold, the Mets will now have a wealth of quality left-handed options for manager Terry Collins to utilize. The team re-signed Jerry Blevins this offseason, and he’ll look for better health after twice fracturing his forearm in a pair of fluky accidents in 2015. Sean Gilmartin, whom the Mets selected in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, enjoyed a brilliant season with New York, recording a 2.67 ERA in 57 1/3 innings in his Major League debut. And southpaw Josh Edgin, who missed the 2015 campaign in the wake of Tommy John surgery, will likely be ready to return to a big league mound at some point during the 2016 season as well.
The Mets deserve some praise for waiting out what was an exceptionally aggressive relief market in the earlygoing this offseason. Five relievers scored contracts of three or more years in the earlier phase of the offseason, and many — we at MLBTR included — believed Bastardo would find such a pact as well. However, while his average annual value is commensurate with many of the multi-year deals given to setup men this winter, the Mets’ patient approach allowed them to knock a year off the price in the end.
Bastardo drew interest from a number of teams, including the Orioles, Dodgers, Pirates, Blue Jays and Twins, per various reports this offseason. With his departure from the open market, teams could turn to one-year deal candidates such as Neal Cotts, Franklin Morales and Matt Thornton as they look to supplement their bullpens with left-handed relievers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Padres Designate Rymer Liriano
The Padres have designated outfielder Rymer Liriano for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot goes to Alexei Ramirez, whose signing was announced today.
Liriano, 24, once rated as one of the game’s fifty or so best prospects. But he’s now lost his 40-man spot after only one brief and disappointing MLB cameo in 2014.
Heading into 2015, Baseball America still considered Liriano a top-ten organizational prospect, noting his impressive raw tools but limitations at the plate. Liriano went on to put up a solid .280/.375/.451 batting line (with 14 home runs and 18 steals) over 549 plate appearances in his first full season at Triple-A. He also posted a personal-best 11.7% walk rate, though he continued to strike out in about a quarter of his plate appearances.
That showing was apparently not enough to convince the Pads that Liriano has much of a future in the majors. It seems plausible to think that other organizations might see some upside left to tap into, though it obviously remains to be seen whether any will be willing to give him a 40-man spot to find out.
While the Padres’ offseason may not yet be complete, Liriano had figured to factor in the outfield mix this season. Indeed, it appeared that he and Rule 5 pick Jabari Blash (among others) might battle for a roster spot in camp. Both would have had to make the active roster to be retained. Liriano was added to the 40-man before the 2012 season, which would suggest that he had burned through a fourth option last year.
Padres Sign Alexei Ramirez
The Padres have officially added veteran infielder Alexei Ramirez, who’ll presumably slot in as the team’s regular shortstop. He reportedly receives a $4MM guarantee, with a $3MM salary for 2016 and a $4MM mutual option that comes with a $1MM buyout.
Ramirez, 34, had spent his entire career with the White Sox after coming over from Cuba before the 2008 season. He’s been a reliable, albeit rarely spectacular, performer ever since.
The first plate appearance that Ramirez takes in San Diego will be the 5,000th of his career. In the ones that precede it, he’s hit a cumulative .273/.310/.399 while adding about 14 home runs and 17 stolen bases annually.
Ramirez’s work at the plate has fluctuated somewhat year to year, of course, but he generally featured as a 3-or-more-win player for most of his tenure in Chicago. That’s because he also generated consistently strong overall baserunning ratings and above-average defensive metrics.
It all adds up to a nice, veteran package — except for the fact that Ramirez seemed to hit a wall in 2015. He posted a .249/.285/.357 batting line that set personal lows in all three triple-slash categories. And his work on the basepaths and with the glove drew negative overall ratings for the first time since his debut season.
San Diego will be banking on a turnaround, or at least a bounce back toward his career numbers. After all, he did suffer from an uncharacteristically low .264 BABIP while otherwise maintaining a K:BB ratio at his career norms and putting up more-or-less typical batted ball numbers. And things turned up markedly in the second half at the plate.
It’s certainly an understandable move for an organization that received dismal production at the shortstop position last year. While Ian Desmond would have been a bigger upgrade, he comes with plenty of risk and still seems likely to command a much larger contract. And it’s eminently arguable that Ramirez makes for a better fit, as San Diego has some younger players moving through the minor league ranks, led by Javier Guerra but also including names like Jose Rondon and Ruddy Giron. It’s not clear that any will be prepared by the time Ramirez’s deal is up, but at least there’s little chance that the organization will be paying big money to a player who is clogging the depth chart and reducing flexibility at a key position.
Jon Heyman reported the signing and financial details (Twitter links). Eno Sarris of Fangraphs first reported the guarantee and deal structure.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Jared Burton Receives Fifty-Game Suspension
Right-handed reliever Jared Burton has been hit with a fifty-game suspension for a second positive test for a drug of abuse, according to MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter link). Burton, 34, is currently a free agent.
Dating back to his debut in 2007, Burton has contributed 361 innings of 3.44 ERA pitching at the major league level. Serving in the pen for the Reds and then the Twins, Burton averaged 7.6 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 to go with a 44.1% groundball rate.
Last year, however, the veteran failed to crack the majors for the first season since he entered the league. He threw 16 minor league frames in the Yankees and Rangers organizations, allowing just four earned runs on nine hits and seven walks while striking out 18 batters. Burton had been said to be drawing interest earlier in the winter, but obviously this news will not improve his market outlook.
Twins Avoid Arbitration With Kevin Jepsen
We’ll track the day’s smaller arbitration agreements in this post:
- The Twins have announced a deal with righty Kevin Jepsen. He’ll earn $5,312,500, per the club, which lands nearer to his $5.4MM asking price than the team’s $5.05MM filing. MLBTR had projected him at $6MM, though, so Minnesota will certainly save some cash as against the projection system’s expectations. Jepsen came to the Twins from the Rays on deadline day last summer in exchange for minor league righties Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia. The 31-year-old finished strong, logging ten saves and dropping his already-solid earned run average to a 2.33 mark on the year. Over his 69 2/3 total innings, Jepsen struck out 7.6 and walked 3.5 batters per nine. While the season was a success on the whole, it wasn’t all roses: Jepsen’s K rate dropped (he had struck out better than a batter per inning in each of the prior two campaigns) and he lost just over one full tick on his average heater. Then again, his swinging strike rate was still in the double-digits, and he still ran up his fastball at a sturdy 94.5 mph average. The 31-year-old figures to play an important role in the Twins’ pen before hitting the open market after the season.
Twins Claim Mike Strong, Designate Logan Darnell
The Twins have claimed lefty Mike Strong off waivers from the Marlins, the club announced. Minnesota designated fellow left-hander Logan Darnell to create roster space.
Strong had already been claimed once this offseason, moving to Miami from the Brewers. He is already 27 years old, and just made it to Triple-A last year, but it’s obvious that teams are interested in his arm. Strong scuffled in his first go at the highest level of the minors, albeit in only a dozen appearances. But he did put up 49 2/3 innings of 2.54 ERA pitching, with 8.9 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9, at Double-A.
As for Darnell, who is about to turn 27 himself, a brief MLB cameo back in 2014 did not go very well. But he had solid results at Triple-A last year, carrying a 2.78 ERA with 7.6 K/9 vs. 2.9 BB/9 over 77 2/3 innings (including 7 starts).
Mariners, Gaby Sanchez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mariners and first baseman Gaby Sanchez are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). The Beverly Hills Sports Council client will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training as well, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.
Sanchez, 32, spent the 2015 season with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he batted .226/.328/.392 in 232 plate appearances. The former Marlins/Pirates first baseman last appeared in the Majors in 2014, though he struggled at the plate with Pittsburgh that season. Overall, the right-handed hitting Sanchez is a career .254/.332/.413 hitter in 2271 big league plate appearances. He’ll likely compete for a spot as the right-handed half of a platoon at first base alongside Adam Lind, and his career .291/.382/.481 batting line against left-handed pitching suggests that he’s capable of filling that role if he beats out the competition in Spring Training. Jesus Montero is the favorite to land that spot right now.
Tigers, J.D. Martinez Discussing Extension
The Tigers and right fielder J.D. Martinez have had discussions about a long-term extension, the outfielder himself told MLive.com’s Chris Iott yesterday. “It’s definitely something we’re still talking about,” Martinez said. “It’s something I think both sides are still interested in. We haven’t come to something where we both feel comfortable yet. I love this team. I want to be part of this team. I would love to be a Tiger for life. We’ve just got to see how it goes.”
General manager Al Avila deflected questions when asked about the status of negotiations, speaking highly of Martinez as a player but neglecting to divulge any sort of details into discussions. The Tigers and Martinez have an unresolved arbitration case at present, with Detroit having filed a $6MM salary figure and Martinez having filed an $8MM figure. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $7.8MM salary for Martinez in 2016 and explained in a full breakdown of Martinez’s arbitration case that most players in his service class coming off 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons ultimately sign multi-year deals, leaving few recent comparables as the two sides work to avoid a hearing.
In previewing the Tigers’ offseason, I raised the subject of a possible Martinez extension, estimating that if Martinez’s remaining arbitration years can be valued in the vicinity of $20MM (give or take a million), a six-year deal that paid him $20-22MM per free-agent season would be a reasonable outcome. Given the open-market contracts we’ve seen for Martinez’s new teammate Justin Upton as well as Jason Heyward and the rumored five-year offer to Yoenis Cespedes from the Nationals, perhaps something on the lower end of that range would be appropriate, considering the fact that Martinez is still two full seasons from reaching the free-agent market. However, having already banked $3MM this past season and slated to earn somewhere around $7MM this season, there’s less urgency for Martinez to take a discount, as he’s already secured a good bit of financial security. Two more seasons like his 2014-15 years would put him in line for a mammoth contract entering what would be his age-30 season. Something in the vicinity of $100MM doesn’t seem unreasonable, if the Tigers believe he can sustain this production. Alternatively, the Tigers and Martinez could pursue a two-year pact that would lock in his remaining arbitration years without extending club control. Lorenzo Cain went that route earlier this week, and we’ve previously seen players such as Ian Desmond and Jordan Zimmermann do the same.
A long-term contract for Martinez is an understandable goal for either side, but it’s more complicated for the Tigers when looking at the team’s long-term payroll. Miguel Cabrera‘s eight-year extension kicks in this season, and he’s owed $248MM over the life of that contract. Similarly, Justin Verlander is owed $28MM annually through the 2019 season, Zimmermann will receive $110MM over the next five years ($18MM in 2016-17, $24MM in 2018 and $25MM in 2019-20), and Victor Martinez is owed $18MM in each of the next three seasons as well. The Tigers cannot even be certain what their payroll will look like beyond the 2017 campaign, as it’s not known whether Upton will again test the market by virtue of his contract’s opt-out clause or if he’ll opt into the remaining four years and $88.7MM remaining on his deal at that time. If Upton remains on the payroll, that would mean the Tigers already have a staggering total of roughly $122.175MM committed to five players in 2018, $105.175MM committed to four players in 2019 and $78.175MM committed to three players in 2020. Adding a guaranteed salary for Martinez onto those seasons could put the team in a precarious situation years down the line. If Upton does opt out and sign elsewhere, it becomes easier to envision adding a significant annual salary for Martinez.
Martinez wouldn’t comment on how the Upton signing impacted his chances at landing the long-term deal he seeks, only telling Iott how excited he was to add a bat like Upton’s to their already-impressive lineup. He did, however, tell Iott that he doesn’t want to negotiate an extension during the season, which effectively sets an Opening Day deadline for the two sides to hammer out a long-term pact.
Cardinals Sign Carlos Peguero To Minors Deal
The Cardinals announced on Friday that they have signed outfielder Carlos Peguero to a minor league contract (via MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch, on Twitter). The Proformance client will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Peguero, 29 next month, split the 2015 season between the Rangers and Red Sox organizations, seeing action in 30 games with Texas. Peguero batted just .186 in his 84 plate appearances with the Rangers, but he also posted a .310 on-base percentage and slugged .414 thanks to the fact that eight of his 13 hits went for extra bases (four doubles, four homers). Peguero is a legitimate power threat, as evidenced by his career .276/.345/.528 batting line at Triple-A. He belted 30 homers in the minors as recently as 2014 and hit a combined 25 between the Majors and Triple-A last season. Making consistent contact, however, is an issue for Peguero, who has punched out in 39.5 percent of his Major League plate appearances and has a 31.7 percent strikeout rate in parts of five Triple-A seasons.
Duquette: O’s Unlikely To Surrender Draft Pick For Free Agent
The Orioles have been connected to free-agent right-hander Yovani Gallardo for much of the winter, but general manager Dan Duquette said today in an appearance on MLB Network Radio that the team’s preference is to retain its first-round pick — the No. 14 overall selection (links to Twitter). Asked by Jim Bowden about Gallardo, specifically, Duquette replied, “The question for us is ‘Are we willing to give up our first-round pick?’ and so far that answer has been no.” Speaking more generally about free agents tied to draft pick compensation, Duquette said, “I think we’re going to hang onto that pick.”
Plans can, of course, change in the event that the asking price of Gallardo comes down, but Duquette’s comments would be a blow to Gallardo’s market, as the right-hander hasn’t been connected to a large number of teams of late. The Orioles and Astros have been the two most frequently mentioned club’s in connection to Gallardo, although his representatives will reportedly meet with the Rockies soon. The Blue Jays have also at least checked in on Gallardo, although there’s no indication that their interest extends beyond due diligence at this point.
Duquette’s comments would also rule out Dexter Fowler, and while the switch-hitter hasn’t been concretely linked to Baltimore, he did appear to be a speculative fit in the outfield (as Jeff Todd and I discussed on yesterday’s MLBTR Podcast). Ian Desmond and Howie Kendrick are the other two remaining free agents that rejected qualifying offers, although neither has a clear fit on the Baltimore roster anyway, due to the presence of J.J. Hardy and Jonathan Schoop.
Furthermore, Bowden adds (links to Twitter) that Duquette confirmed some interest in Doug Fister but said the Orioles are not in the mix for free-agent lefty Cliff Lee. “Fister is interesting, bounceback candidate,” said Duquette. “I can’t say we’ve made an offer, but we’ve been monitoring his market.” Fister is said to be eyeing a two-year deal worth a total of $22MM, but the Orioles are said to be uninterested at that price. As for Lee, he’s looking for a one-year deal this season if he pitches at all; his agent recently told MLB Network Radio that Lee would need a “perfect fit” in order to make a comeback attempt, though it’s not clear exactly what would constitute that fit.