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Archives for January 2017

NL Notes: Moss, Arrieta, Rockies

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Brandon Moss lingers on the free agent market despite a relatively successful season with the Cardinals in 2016. According to ESPN’s David Schoenfield, that’s due not only to the logjam of 1B/OF sluggers still available via free agency, but to the fact that teams would increasingly prefer to find the next Brandon Moss than to sign the existing one at something close to market value. Moss’ own history is a data point in favor of this approach — he struggled for several years after his first taste of the big leagues before performing well as a cheap acquisition for the Athletics, giving the A’s much better value than they likely would have gotten with a big-name signing. Also, in the past several years the game has gotten younger as players have begun their decline phases at earlier ages, meaning that players at Moss’ current age (33) are less likely to be meaningful contributors. Here’s more from the National League.

  • Cubs ace Jake Arrieta doesn’t sound optimistic about his chances of receiving an extension in his last year before free agency eligibility, but his team still says it’s willing to try to negotiate one, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. “Years and dollars are always complicated, but I’m sure we’ll take a stab at it,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein told fans today. Arrieta and the Cubs avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $15.6375MM deal on Friday.
  • The Rockies have been speculatively connected to various catchers this offseason (including, for example, Matt Wieters). But the team is comfortable with its young duo of Tony Wolters and Tom Murphy, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. “We are certainly monitoring the catching market, but we are extremely high and positive on the group that we have and we feel like there is a good, young core there,” says GM Jeff Bridich. Wolters entered the season with no big-league experience and a limited minor-league track record behind the plate, although he hit a reasonable .259/.327/.395 and received good marks for his framing. Murphy has played sparingly in the big leagues, but he batted .327/.361/.647 with 19 homers in 322 plate appearances in the admittedly hitter-friendly context of Triple-A Albuquerque last year.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Saturday

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The filing deadline was yesterday, but deals to avoid arbitration continue to trickle in. Here are the latest contracts from around the league.

  • The Padres have agreed to deals with lefties Christian Friedrich for $1.79MM and Brad Hand for $1.375MM, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Both pitchers have three-plus years of service and are going through the arbitration process for the first time. The 29-year-old Friedrich joined the Padres on a minor-league deal prior to the 2016 season and posted a 4.80 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 129 1/3 innings. Despite those somewhat unimpressive numbers, the Padres elected to tender him a contract, perhaps thinking of the lack of depth in their 2017 rotation. MLBTR projected he would receive $2MM through the arbitration process this season. The 26-year-old Hand arrived in San Diego in April via a waiver claim and was very useful out of the bullpen, with a 2.92 ERA, 11.2 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 in a league-leading 82 appearances. MLBTR projected he would make $1.4MM in 2017, landing very close to his actual salary.

Padres Sign Yangervis Solarte To Two-Year Deal

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SATURDAY: Solarte will receive a $7.5MM guarantee, Fan Rag’s Robert Murray tweets. He’ll get a $250K signing bonus, $2.5MM next season and $4MM in 2018. In addition, the options will be worth $5.5MM and $8MM, with a $750K buyout attached to each. (Heyman tweeted information about the signing bonus and buyouts.)

FRIDAY: The Padres have announced a two-year deal with infielder Yangervis Solarte. He’ll pick up guaranteed money for the next two seasons while giving the club a pair of options for the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.

It’s an unusual contract structure for the 29-year-old, who was eligible for arbitration for the first time as a 3+ service-class player. The options will cover his final season of arb eligibility and one would-be free agent campaign.

Solarte had been projected by MLBTR to earn $2.7MM through the arb process, but he was set to earn a bit more. He filed at $3.2MM with the team countering at $2.8MM, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted. But that never seemed likely to matter, as various reports suggested that a lengthier arrangement was in the works.

The contract comes on the heels of a year in which Solarte posted a career-best .286/.341/.467 batting line with 15 home runs over 443 plate appearances. He has hit at better than the league-average rate in every one of his three MLB campaigns since emerging as a surprisingly useful player as a minor-league signee of the Yankees.

Though Solarte has typically drawn average or slightly below average grades for his glovework, he’s capable of playing both second and third base and has also seen a bit of time at shortstop and the corner outfield. That makes him a versatile piece for San Diego, which has a variety of options but little in the way of sure things in its current infield depth chart.

Solarte joins first baseman Wil Myers in securing multi-year deals from the Padres today. While his is surely to come in well shy of the $80MM+ that Myers is reportedly set to receive, it’ll add to the future obligations of an organization that had nothing on its future books except for salary owed to previously traded players.

Neftali Feliz Nearing Deal With Brewers

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Free agent righty Neftali Feliz is close to agreeing to a deal with the Brewers, Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman writes (Twitter links). BrewerFan.net’s Jim Goulart was first to tweet a connection between Feliz and the Brew Crew.

The 28-year-old Feliz is coming off a strong comeback season in the Pirates’ bullpen in which he posted a 3.52 ERA, 10.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 53 2/3 innings. (He missed the last month of the season due to arm discomfort, but his injury was not structural in nature, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Feliz also began the year throwing his fastball in the mid-90s and added velocity as the season went on, a promising sign for a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and spent several seasons thereafter trying to get back on track.

The Brewers could represent a good match for Feliz. He has 99 saves’ worth of career closing experience, and in the wake of a variety of Brewers trades of established relievers (including Jeremy Jeffress and Tyler Thornburg), he could receive the opportunity to close in Milwaukee. If he does, he could potentially receive a very lucrative contract the next time he’s a free agent. The rebuilding Brewers, meanwhile, would get the chance to dangle Feliz as a trade piece at the deadline, assuming they do fall out of the playoff race. The Brewers have reportedly been looking for relief pitching lately — GM David Stearns has said he’s exploring the possibility of adding relief help not only through big-league additions, but through minor-league signings and trades. The Dodgers had also been connected to Feliz of late.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/14/17

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

  • The Mariners have announced that they’ve outrighted righty Cody Martin to Triple-A Tacoma. They had designated him for assignment when they acquired Mallex Smith and Shae Simmons from the Braves last week. The 27-year-old Martin made nine appearances, including two starts, for the Mariners last year and posted a 3.86 ERA, but with a modest 5.3 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. He fared well in 114 1/3 innings with Tacoma, with a 3.62 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9, and has generally been successful at the Triple-A level in his career.
  • The Indians have announced that they’ve signed righties Steve Delabar and Travis Banwart to minor-league deals with Spring Training invites. As a hard-throwing member of the Blue Jays bullpen, the 33-year-old Delabar was once one of the game’s more dynamic setup men, but he’s fallen on hard times of late. He struggled in eight innings with the Reds last season and finished his season with the Hiroshima Carp in Japan. The 30-year-old Banwart also pitched in Asia last year, posting a 5.79 ERA, 6.0 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 130 2/3 innings with the KT Wiz in Korea. It was his third year in the KBO. Before that, he pitched parts of eight seasons in the Athletics and Indians farm systems, ascending as high as the Triple-A level. He could end up pitching with the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, for which he posted a 3.13 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 16 starts in 2014 before departing for Korea.

Cubs Notes: Arrieta, David Ross, Tyson Ross

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Jake Arrieta’s agreement on a one-year, $15.6375MM deal this week suggests his time with the Cubs could be reaching its end, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago writes. Arrieta is eligible for free agency at the end of the season, and his agent, Scott Boras, had previously said he and the Cubs would talk about an extension when the two sides discussed Arrieta’s 2017 salary this month. “The timeline is kind of coming to an end as far as as leading up to free agency,” Arrieta said yesterday. “I am here for one more year and I am going to enjoy every moment of it.” Still, he didn’t rule out the possibility that the two sides could still reach a deal. “If it happens, it happens. I don’t know where we stand. I really don’t. We do have some time to maybe work something out. If it doesn’t, I will become a free agent,” he said. Here’s more from out of Chicago.

  • The Cubs have announced that they’ve hired David Ross as a special assistant to baseball operations. The 39-year-old Ross, of course, retired as a player after a strong 2016 season capped with a World Series Game 7 homer, and he’s beloved in Chicago. (He carried the World Series trophy at the beginning of this weekend’s Cubs Convention yesterday.) He’s looking forward to his new role, which seems open-ended — MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat writes that Ross will contribute in a variety of roles, including scouting, development and front-office work. “I don’t even know what I’m doing,” Ross says. “I feel like there’s a hall-of-fame front office and a relationship with guys who I have a bond with. They offered to help me grow in my baseball knowledge and try to learn different aspects of what goes on in the organization. I’m really going to be listening.”
  • The Cubs recently lost out on Tyson Ross to the Rangers, but president of baseball operations Theo Epstein says the team still hopes to add starting pitching, as MLB.com’s Phil Rogers tweets. The Cubs “made it a difficult decision” for Ross, extending him an offer similar to the $6MM plus incentives he got from Texas, tweets CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney. Ross, formerly a top starter with the Padres, could have provided a strong back-end option for the Cubs provided he’d made a solid comeback from the shoulder troubles that cost him most of his 2016 season and resulted in surgery in October to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome.

5 Key Stories: 1/7/17 – 1/13/17

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Here’s the key news from a busy week here at MLBTR:

Arbitration madness. This week’s arbitration filing deadline led to a number of interesting deals to avoid the arbitration process, including a two-year, $29.5MM contract for Nolan Arenado, $15.6375MM over one year for Jake Arrieta, $12.25MM for Eric Hosmer, $12MM for Todd Frazier, $11.5MM for Manny Machado, $11.4MM for Zach Britton, $13.625MM for Bryce Harper, $9.15MM for Dallas Keuchel. Here’s a roundup of various agreements from the National League, and here’s a roundup from the American League. You can follow all of this week’s arbitration-related moves with MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.

Wil MyersPadres’ big week. The Padres aren’t yet ready to announce a deal, but it appears they’re closing in on an extension with first baseman Wil Myers that’s worth north of $80MM and that will cover his three arbitration seasons plus his first three years of free agency eligibility. They also signed another infielder, Yangervis Solarte, to a two-year extension that includes two options, the latter covering a season in which Solarte would previously have been eligible for free agency. And as the week came to a close, the Padres were also reportedly nearing a deal with righty Trevor Cahill.

Mariners acquire Drew Smyly in pair of deals. The Mariners’ busy offseason continued this week with a pair of related trades. First, they shipped well-regarded prospect Luiz Gohara plus another young lefty, Thomas Burrows, to Atlanta for outfielder Mallex Smith and righty Shae Simmons. Then, they sent Smith, minor-league infielder Carlos Vargas and minor-league lefty Ryan Yarbrough to the Rays for lefty Drew Smyly, who will join their rotation. (Smith will join a Rays outfield mix that also now includes Colby Rasmus, with whom they agreed to a one-year deal this week.)

Athletics add Santiago Casilla, Trevor Plouffe. The A’s reached agreement with two players on big-league contracts this week, landing former Giants closer Santiago Casilla on a two-year, $11MM deal that will keep him in the Bay Area, and former Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe on a one-year deal that’s likely to be in the $5MM range.

Rangers land Tyson Ross. A variety of teams were connected to free agent righty Tyson Ross, who the Padres non-tendered last month after an injury-plagued 2016 season. Ross ultimately agreed to terms with the Rangers this week on a one-year deal for $6MM plus incentives, potentially allowing him to reestablish his value before heading out on the free agent market again next winter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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Quite frankly, there were too many arbitration agreements today to reasonably stuff into one post. So here’s a rundown of the National League players that have avoided arbitration on smaller deals (American League deals here). You can see all of the arbitration “action” thus far in a sortable, filterable format by checking out MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker. All projections referenced in this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Wily Peralta and Carlos Torres have agreed to one-year deals, according to the team’s Twitter account. Peralta will earn $4.275MM (compared to $4.4MM projection), per Heyman. Torres was projected to make $2MM, but will get slightly more at $2.175MM, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter).
  • Reliever George Kontos gets $1.75MM from the Giants, Heyman tweets. He had projected at $1.7MM.
  • The Diamondbacks also reached agreement with lefty Patrick Corbin, righty Randall Delgado, and catcher Chris Herrmann, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (links to Twitter). Delgado gets $1.775MM and Herrmann receives $937,500. As for Corbin, he’ll take home $3.95MM, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter), which falls a bit shy of his $4.2MM projection.
  • Infielder Eduardo Nunez will receive $4.2MM from the Giants, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). San Francisco has also reached agreement with lefty Will Smith, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). He’ll receive $2.5MM, just over his $2.3MM projection, Heyman tweets.
  • The Phillies settled at $4.2MM with righty Jeanmar Gomez, per Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He falls just a big shy of his $4.6MM projection.
  • The Cardinals have announced arb deals with Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist. Rosenthal receives $6.4MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which is just $100K over his projection. Siegrist projected at $1.9MM, but his salary has yet to be reported.
  • Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom have each avoided arbitration with the Mets. Harvey gets $5.125MM in his second arb year, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Meanwhile, deGrom will receive $4.05MM in his first trip through the arb process, per ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin (via Twitter). New York has also agreed with lefty Josh Edgin, Rubin tweets, though terms remain unreported.

Earlier Updates

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Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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The deadline for players and teams to exchange arbitration figures has come and gone, and there have been dozens of agreements broken throughout the league today. So many, in fact, that I’ve split the list up into a pair of league-specific posts to avoid having 100-something names in this list. You can see all the NL players here, and both of these will be updated as quickly as we’re able.

Many teams use the arbitration exchange as a hard deadline for negotiations on one-year deals — a “file and trial” approach which effectively means that once figures are exchanged, the only option they’ll pursue before a hearing is a multi-year deal. (The Mets and Orioles are both adopting that approach this year, and other teams to use that strategy in the past include Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Marlins, Rays, White Sox, Pirates, Reds and Nationals.)

The most significant arb agreements of the day have been snapped off into their own posts already. We’ll continue adding the smaller-scale agreements from the American League right here (all projections referenced are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and all arbitration agreements and filings can be monitored in MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker)…

  • The Rangers have announced agreement on a deal to avoid arbitration with lefty Jake Diekman. With today’s deadline having passed, the sides did exchange figures — $3.1MM versus $1.9MM — but obviously were already nearing a number. The high-powered southpaw projected at $2.6MM, and will receive $2.55MM, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).
  • The Mariners announced that they’ve avoided arb with all eight of their eligible players, which includes Jean Segura (reported last night), Danny Valencia, Jarrod Dyson, Leonys Martin, Drew Smyly, James Paxton, Evan Scribner, Nick Vincent. Numbers aren’t all in yet, but Valencia took home $5.55MM, per FanRag’s Robert Murray (on Twitter). Martin will earn $4.85MM, per Heyman. They were projected at $5.3MM and $6.3MM, respectively. Meanwhile, Dyson gets $2.8MM, Heyman tweets, which lands just over his $2.5MM projection. Smyly will receive $6.85MM — right at his $6.9MM projection — while Scribner gets $907,500, per MLB.com’s Greg Johns (via Twitter). Meanwhile, Paxton will land at $2.35MM and Vincent will receive $1.325MM, per Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (via Twitter), both of which fall shy of their respective projections ($2.7MM and $1.5MM).
  • Catcher Martin Maldonado will receive $1.725MM from the Angels, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). That’s just over his $1.6MM projection.
  • The Tigers announced that they settled with third baseman Nick Castellanos. He projected at $2.8MM, but will receive $3MM, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
  • Jeremy Jeffress and Jurickson Profar have each avoided arbitration with the Rangers, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegarm (via Twitter). Jeffress receives $2.1MM, while Profar will receive $1.005MM. Also of note, the Jeffress deal includes incentives that can add up to $250K in incentives, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). He’ll get $50K apiece upon reaching 55, 60, 65, and 70 innings. He had projected for a $2.9MM salary, but his legal issues late last year certainly dented his bargaining power.
  • The Athletics have avoided arbitration with catcher/DH Stephen Vogt, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick reports on Twitter. Vogt will receive $2.965MM, falling shy of his $3.7MM projection. Oakland has also reached agreement with starter Sonny Gray for $3.575MM, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter), which is just shy of his $3.7MM projection. Also, reliever Liam Hendriks has agreed to terms, per John Hickey of the Mercury News. He’ll get $1.1MM, per Heyman (via Twitter).
  • Righty Adam Warren will get $2.29MM from the Yankees, per Baseball America’s Josh Norris (via Twitter). That’s just a shade under his $2.3MM projection. New York also announced deals with shortstop outfielder Aaron Hicks and lefty Tommy Layne, among other players whose arrangements were previously reported. Layne receives $1.075MM, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have avoided arbitration with second baseman Jonathan Schoop, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter links). He’ll receive $3.475MM, just over his projection of $3.4MM.
  • Adding to their previously reported deals, the Red Sox have announced agreement with all but two of their arb-eligible players. Salaries were reported by MLB.com’s Ian Browne for the players avoiding arb: shortstop Xander Bogaerts gets $4.5MM ($5.7MM projection), utilityman Brock Holt receives $1.95MM ($1.7MM projection), righty Joe Kelly will earn $2.8MM ($2.6MM projection), catcher Sandy Leon takes home $1.3MM (the same as his projection), lefty Robbie Ross gets $1.825MM (just $25K over his projection), and new righty Tyler Thornburg will earn $2.05MM (just under his $2.2MM projection).
  • Two moreplayers have avoided arbitration with the White Sox, per Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago (via Twitter). Among those not previously reported, starter Miguel Gonzalez gets $5.9MM and reliever Zach Putnam receives $1.175MM. That clearly indicates that Gonzalez and the Sox utilized his prior-years’ arb starting points, rather than his much lower earnings with the team last year. Putnam, meanwhile, had projected for $975K.

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Diamondbacks Designate Juan Graterol

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The Diamondbacks have designated catcher Juan Graterol for assignment, per a team announcement. His roster spot will go to just-signed backstop Chris Iannetta, whose signing was also announced.

Graterol was just claimed off waivers from the Reds in a move that cost Peter O’Brien his roster spot. The 27-year-old has bounced around quite a bit already this winter.

Last year was Graterol’s first in the majors, though he appeared in just nine games with the Angels. Playing at Triple-A for most of the year, he slashed .300/.340/.370 with just two home runs — but also only 27 strikeouts — in 246 plate appearances.

Though he makes lots of contact, Graterol has rarely been very productive with the bat in hand. But he’s regarded as a solid presence behind the dish. The Venezuelan native has gunned down would-be base stealers in 38% of their attempts and draws average pitch-framing ratings.

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