Mariners Sign Ryan Cook
The Mariners have announced the signing of right-hander Ryan Cook, as Jon Heyman first reported (Twitter links). It’s a split contract that will pay Cook a $1.1MM base salary in the majors and $300K in the minors, according to Heyman.
Cook, 28, was a promising setup man for the A’s from 2012-13 but saw his control and ERA begin to trend in the wrong direction in 2014. Shoulder troubles crept up and delayed his start to the 2015 season, though, and the entire season would up being a more or less lost year for him. Cook logged just 8 2/3 innings between the A’s and Red Sox, allowing an astounding 18 earned runs (19 total runs) on 20 hits — four of them homers — and seven walks. Cook fared better in the minors, where he recorded a 3.16 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 42 innings of relief. He was traded from Oakland to Boston on July 31 this season, then claimed off waivers by the Cubs in November, though he was ultimately non-tendered.
Cook will come to camp with the Mariners, presumably, and compete for a job in a new-look Seattle bullpen that saw a spot open up today when righty Anthony Bass was released to pursue an opportunity in Japan. If he can rediscover the form he showed with the A’s from 2012-14, Cook will be controllable through the 2018 season as an arbitration-eligible player.
Dodgers Designate Ronald Torreyes For Assignment
The Dodgers announced that they have designated infielder Ronald Torreyes for assignment in order to clear a spot on their 40-man roster for their newest pitcher, right-hander Kenta Maeda.
Torreyes, who turned 23 in September, was traded to the Dodgers from the Blue Jays back in June, with cash considerations heading to Toronto in exchange. Torreyes got a brief cup of coffee with L.A. in 2015 — his Major League debut — collecting a pair of hits in six at-bats/eight plate appearances. Torreyes has seen most of his professional defensive work come at second base, though he does have significant experience at shortstop (144 games) and third base (65 games) as well. He’s also seen a bit of time in the corner outfield.
This past season, Torreyes batted .261/.308/.347 between Double-A and Triple-A across three organizations: the Astros, Blue Jays and Dodgers. While he’s never shown much pop, Torreyes has hit for average pretty consistently in the minors while displaying the aforementioned defensive versatility. He’s a lifetime .287/.330/.358 hitter at Triple-A and an overall .298/.353/.409 hitter in the minor leagues.
MLBTR Chat: 1/7/16
Click here to view a transcript of today’s chat with host Jeff Todd.
White Sox Claim Daniel Fields From Dodgers
The White Sox announced today that they have claimed outfielder Daniel Fields off waivers from the Dodgers. Fields was designated for assignment last week after the Dodgers finalized their signing of left-hander Scott Kazmir.
Fields, 25 next month, has spent the majority of the past two seasons at the Triple-A level, where he’s batted a combined .225/.312/.358 with 13 homers and 25 steals in 825 plate appearances. Baseball America has ranked him among the Tigers’ Top 30 prospects in each of the past six offseasons (26th last winter) since he received a $1.625MM bonus to forgo his college commitment to Michigan. Their latest scouting report noted that he has fringy arm strength and is a fringe-average runner, making him better suited to play left field than center field. He does have average raw power, per BA, but he’s also prone to swinging and missing.
Much like catcher Josmil Pinto, Fields is being bounced around the league quite a bit this winter. After spending 2015 with the Tigers, he’s been claimed by the Brewers, Dodgers and now White Sox, making them his fourth organization since season’s end. Considering the fact that the Sox have been linked to outfield upgrades, it makes sense to add Fields as a depth piece. However, the fact that Chicago may yet bring in a veteran outfielder also lends some uncertainty to Fields’ roster spot.
Pirates Sign Right-Hander Trey Haley To Major League Contract
The Pirates announced that they have signed right-handed reliever Trey Haley to a one-year, Major League Contract on Thursday.
Haley, 25, has spent his entire career in the Indians organization since being selected by Cleveland in the second round of the 2008 draft. The Texas native rated among Baseball America’s Top 30 Indians prospects from 2008-13, ranging from No. 14 to No. 28 and at times earning the distinction of having the best-rated fastball and the best-rated curveball in Cleveland’s minor league system. Control problems have long plagued Haley, but he’s never had an issue missing bats, as he’s averaged about a strikeout per inning in his minor league career. This past season, Haley reached the Triple-A level for the first time and posted a strong 2.45 ERA with 9.8 K/9 against 5.2 BB/9 in 55 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.
Haley will land on the Pirates’ 40-man roster and compete for a job this spring despite never having thrown an inning in the Majors. While the signing will come as a surprise to some, these types of deals — Major League contracts for career minor leaguers — happen a few times each offseason. This winter, we’ve already seen left-hander Buddy Baumann (Padres), right-hander Cesar Vargas (Padres) and right-hander Andury Acevedo (Cubs) land Major League deals despite having no prior Major League experience. (Right-hander Tony Barnette, too, landed a big league deal with the Rangers despite zero MLB innings, although he’s been pitching very successfully in Japan in recent years.)
The Pirates’ 40-man roster is currently full, so they’ll have to make a corresponding move in order to complete Haley’s signing. The team has yet to announce that transaction, however.
MLBTR Podcast: Talking White Sox with Scott Merkin
MLBTR’s Jeff Todd runs down the latest from around the league before being joined by Scott Merkin of MLB.com to discuss his experience covering new Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. in his days with the White Sox as well as the outlook of the ChiSox after a disappointing 2015 season. Specifically, Jeff and Scott talk about the Sox’ philosophy, the potential of further additions to the roster and trade talks that have taken place between Chicago and Colorado.
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The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.
Mariners Release Anthony Bass To Pursue Opportunity In Japan
The Mariners announced on Thursday that they have released right-hander Anthony Bass so that he may pursue an opportunity with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The specific team with which Bass will sign in Japan has not yet been reported.
The move comes as somewhat of a surprise, as Seattle had only just acquired Bass this offseason in a trade that sent Tom Wilhelmsen, James Jones and Patrick Kivlehan to the Rangers. (Seattle received center fielder Leonys Martin in the deal as well.) While Bass wouldn’t necessarily have been guaranteed a roster spot with the Mariners, he seemingly was in a good spot to land a bullpen spot behind new closer Steve Cishek and new setup man Joaquin Benoit. The 28-year-old was eligible for arbitration and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to take home a $1.1MM salary in 2016, so Bass and his representatives at the Beverly Hills Sports Council probably received a fairly notable offer from the yet-unnamed overseas club. Typically, in these situations, the foreign team will also pay the MLB club some kind of cash considerations as compensation for releasing the player.
Bass spent the bulk of the 2015 season in the Rangers’ bullpen, working to a 4.50 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent ground-ball rate in 64 innings of relief. He’s totaled at least 27 innings at the Major League level in each of the past five seasons, with the 2012 campaign representing his largest body of work (97 innings, including 15 starts for the Padres). In 278 1/3 innings, Bass has a 4.40 ERA and has averaged 6.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 to go along with a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate and a 92.6 mph fastball.
AL Central Notes: Indians, Santana, Twins, Park, Gordon
In an excellent piece for Sports on Earth, MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince profiles the Indians‘ “dream team” front office from the mid-1990s, which featured eight men that have now occupied (or currently occupy) the title of GM or president of baseball operations. John Hart was the Cleveland GM at the time, but the front office also included assistant GM Dan O’Dowd (who went on to become GM of the Rockies); director of player development Mark Shapiro (former GM and president of the Indians and now president of the Blue Jays); scouting director Josh Byrnes (former GM of the Padres and D-backs); advance scouts Ben Cherington and Paul DePodesta (former GMs of the Red Sox and Dodgers, respectively); assistant director of minor league operations Neal Huntington (current GM of the Pirates); and baseball operations assistant Chris Antonetti, who is of course the current president of baseball ops in Cleveland. Hart and O’Dowd spoke fondly of the group’s explorations of baseball philosophy, and Castrovince explains how O’Dowd and Shapiro wrote a 15-page whitepaper that was pitched to Hart detailing their models of extensions for arbitration-eligible players. While such extensions are commonplace now, the Indians pioneered such extensions in early to mid-90s, allowing them to retain their top talent and emerge as perennial contenders in the American League. Castrovince examines other statistical and technological trends of which the Indians were early adopters and looks at how each now-well-regarded executive got his foot in the door with the Indians.
Here’s more from the AL Central…
- The addition of Mike Napoli to the Indians‘ roster almost certainly means that Carlos Santana has gone from catcher to first baseman to DH (with a brief, ill-fated stop at third base along the way), writes Cleveland.com’s Zack Meisel. While there’s the possibility that focusing solely on offense could help Santana build his offense back up to its 2011-14 levels, Meisel also notes that the $12MM club option the team holds over Santana for the 2017 season is a steep amount for a club with an eight-figure payroll to pay a designated hitter. Meisel’s implication, of course, is that Santana’s future with the club is somewhat murky. Considering the raises Cleveland will owe Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Jason Kipnis on their guaranteed contracts and also the raises that will be owed to Cody Allen, Lonnie Chisenhall, Bryan Shaw, Trevor Bauer and Zach McAllister in arbitration, a crunch does appear to be coming.
- Brewers left-hander Will Smith has some fans in the Twins‘ front office, says 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson in the first edition of his new podcast (Soundcloud link; Twins talk beginning around 19:30). Nationals right-hander Drew Storen also has some fans among Twins brass, though his projected $8.8MM salary (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) could serve to curb the team’s interest. Wolfson also notes that the Twins remain interested in free agent southpaw Antonio Bastardo but still aren’t keen on his three-year, $15-18MM asking price. A Twins official told Wolfson recently that even if the Twins don’t make further moves this winter, they’re happy with what they have, though Wolfson notes that he does expect at least one more move out of the Twins.
- Twins manager Paul Molitor tells MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger that he’s hopeful that Korean slugger Byung-ho Park will be ready to be his Opening Day designated hitter next season, though Molitor also recognizes that there will be some adjustment as Park transitions to a new league. Molitor notes that Park’s former KBO teammate, Jung Ho Kang, “looked beatable” when he saw him in Spring Training last season but had made enormous adjustments by the time the Twins played the Pirates in the summer. Molitor and the Twins feel that Park can make a similarly quick adjustment. “I think that our scouts understand bat speed, eye-to-hand coordination, pitch recognition abilities, even if velocities and breaking pitches are not Major League quality,” said Molitor in reference to Park’s impressive work in the KBO.
- Alex Gordon‘s desire to come back to the Royals “was a 10,” he told reporters at a press conference yesterday (as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan writes). Gordon spoke about how appreciative he is of both ownership and the front office for bringing him back to the Royals, although GM Dayton Moore explained that Gordon was always the team’s top priority. “When we went around the table and talked to our scouts, they said, ‘Get Alex Gordon,'” said Moore to the media. “”I talked to our analytical guys and they said, ‘Get Alex Gordon.’ I talked to our coaching staff and it was, ‘Get Alex Gordon.’ Talked to his teammates along the way and it was ‘Get Gordo back.’ My momma didn’t raise no dummy. We had to get him back.” According to Moore, things began coming together on New Year’s Eve, and the final details were hammered out over the next few days prior to yesterday’s announcement.
Arbitration Breakdown: Josh Donaldson
Over the next few weeks, I will be discussing some of the higher profile upcoming arbitration cases. I will rely partly on my arbitration model developed exclusively for MLB Trade Rumors, but will also break out some interesting comparables and determine where the model might be wrong.
The reigning Most Valuable Player of the American League enters his second year of arbitration eligibility due for a healthy raise on the $4.3MM he earned in his award-winning season. Josh Donaldson hit .297 with 41 home runs and 123 runs batted in 711 plate appearances, with an All-Star appearance and a Silver Slugger Award to add to his MVP honors.
It was the third baseman’s first year with the Blue Jays after a solid career in Oakland, and he certainly made a great impression on his new employers. Now, they will have to pay up in his second year of arbitration. Our model and several knowledgeable sources have confirmed that after the first year of arbitration eligibility, most players’ cases are treated as raises based almost exclusively on the previous year’s statistics. This helps explain why the model projects that Donaldson will receive a $7.7MM raise to a total of $12MM, which would be a record raise for a second-time eligible player.
The model’s projection of a record raise seems appropriate. The current record belongs to Chris Davis in 2014, who did not win an MVP Award when received a $7.05MM raise. Davis did out-homer Donaldson, 53 to 42, and had 138 RBIs — 15 more than Donaldson — as well. But, Donaldson had a higher average, .297 versus .286, and played a harder defensive position (third base versus first base) and is known for his excellent defense. While defensive performance usually does not matter much in arbitration cases (other than position played), I believe that Donaldson should be able to use his defense and his hardware to argue that he should have a bigger raise than Davis did– probably something in line with the $12MM projection, I would guess.
The last hitter to enter his second year of arbitration eligibility after winning an MVP Award was five years ago, when Josh Hamilton earned a $5.5MM raise. Hamilton had hit .359 with 32 home runs and 100 RBIs, but in only 571 plate appearances. Donaldson’s 140 extra trips to the plate with nine more home runs and 23 more runs knocked in should help him argue for a much larger raise than Hamilton received on the heels of his MVP season in 2010. Even if Donaldson cannot effectively argue that his raise should be larger than Davis’ due to the power gap, he should have less trouble arguing that he is deserving of a bigger raise than Hamilton received five years ago.
Few other players seem likely to make better arbitration cases for Donaldson than Hamilton and Davis. As a result, I think the case will likely come down to an argument about whether Donaldson should get something like a $6MM raise to top Hamilton by a decent margin, or whether Donaldson should get a $7.5MM raise to set a new record beyond Davis. It’s unlikely that Donaldson out-earned the $12MM salary I have projected for him, but I think it is more likely than not that he is close to this range. If he cannot argue that his case is stronger than Davis, though, he might end up around $10.3MM — a hefty raise, to be sure, but a fair margin shy of the current record increase that our model currently projects.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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