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Archives for February 2017

Red Sox To Sign Carlos Quentin

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SATURDAY 9:57am: Quentin can make $750K in the Majors, Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald tweets.

WEDNESDAY 2:00pm: There’s no invite to Major League camp on Quentin’s deal with the Red Sox, reports WEEI’s Rob Bradford, so it seems he’ll head to minor league camp and open the season in Triple-A. Bradford cites a lack of depth in the team’s current minor league outfield options as well as the fact that Quentin has dropped 40 pounds behind the signing.

12:52pm: The Red Sox have agreed to a deal with veteran slugger Carlos Quentin, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). It’s all but certain that the deal is of the minor-league variety, though it’s not clear whether Quentin will receive an invite to MLB camp.

Quentin last appeared in the pages here at MLBTR when he took his free agency from the Twins last spring. After failing to crack the Minnesota roster out of camp, he asked for his release rather than taking a spot at the Triple-A level.

That brought an end to Quentin’s most recent comeback attempt, but it seems he has at least one more try left in the tank. Now 34, the right-handed-hitting outfielder has not seen the majors since 2014, when he struggled in a fifty-game stint with the Padres.

Despite the recent layoff and long-running knee problems, Quentin does have a long track record of quality offensive production. Between 2008 and 2013, he posted a .260/.356/.503 batting line with 136 home runs over 2,638 plate appearances.

Rays Acquire Jesus Sucre From Mariners

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The Mariners announced that catcher Jesus Sucre has been traded to the Rays in exchange for a player to named later or cash. The 28-year-old Sucre had recently been designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster, so he’ll head to camp with the Rays as a non-roster invitee.

Sucre has hit for average in the minors, batting .279/.312/.341 across parts of four Triple-A seasons, but he’s never been able to produce at the plate in the Majors. In parts of four seasons with Seattle, he owns a collective .209/.246/.276 batting line in 264 trips to the plate. There may be some temptation to assume that the pitcher-friendly Safeco Field has played a role in those struggles, but Sucre’s .640 OPS at home in his career dwarfs his .415 road mark.

Though he’s struggled at the plate, Sucre has proven to be an adept defender, throwing out 35 percent of attempted base thieves in his big league career. He’s routinely received average to above-average grades for his pitch-framing skills as well. Dating back to his prospect days with the Braves, Sucre has been touted as a strong overall defender, with Baseball America previously calling his arm a “cannon” and rating him as the best defensive backstop in Atlanta’s system in 2010.

The Rays signed Wilson Ramos earlier this offseason with the hope that he can eventually shoulder the load behind the plate following last September’s ACL tear. He’ll miss at least a couple of months of the 2017 campaign, leaving Curt Casali and Luke Maile to handle the bulk of the catching duties early in the year. Sucre could conceivably challenge that pair for playing time in Spring Training, or he could simply head to Triple-A as a defensive-minded depth piece.

There have also been rumors connecting the Rays to free-agent catcher Matt Wieters, although at this point there’s been nothing to suggest that Tampa Bay is in serious pursuit of the former Oriole or that any form of offer has been made.

Daniel Mengden Undergoes Foot Surgery

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The Athletics announced today that righty Daniel Mengden has undergone surgery on his righty foot after suffering a fracture during a home bullpen session. He’ll require a walking boot for at least six weeks, with further rehab presumably required beyond that point.

Clearly, Mengden won’t be able to participate in Spring Training, which is set to open for A’s pitchers and catchers in less than a week. Even if he’s able to get back on the hill not long after the boot comes off, he’ll need some time to build back his arm strength. Odds are, then, that Mengden won’t be an option for Oakland until at least a month or so into the 2017 season.

The expectation had been that Mengden, who’ll soon turn 24, would battle for a spot in the rotation. He cracked the majors for the first time in 2016 after a quick run through the minors, but scuffled to a 6.50 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in his 72 innings. Still, the strikeout rate was fairly promising and Mengden’s track record suggests that the control won’t continue to be an issue.

Given the injury, he’ll now need to reestablish his spot in the pecking order and hope that an opportunity arises at some point during the year. In the meantime, the organization now seems likely to turn to Kendall Graveman, Jharel Cotton, and Andrew Triggs to round out a staff fronted by Sonny Gray and Sean Manaea. The other 40-man members who could compete for a starting job are Jesse Hahn, Frankie Montas, and Paul Blackburn.

Giants To Re-Sign Gordon Beckham

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The Giants have agreed to a minor-league deal to bring back infielder Gordon Beckham, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). He’ll earn at a $1.25MM annual rate if he cracks the MLB roster, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets.

Beckham, 30, landed in San Francisco late last year — September 27th — as the team sought to bolster its depth down the stretch. Though he didn’t manage a hit in six plate appearances, and wasn’t eligible for the postseason, he left a good impression on the organization, per Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area (via Twitter).

Before that, Beckham turned in a .217/.300/.354 batting line in his 273 plate appearances with the Braves, who had signed him to a one-year deal last winter. The former first-round draft pick had spent the vast bulk of his career to that point with the White Sox, though he also had a brief stint with the Angels.

For the Giants, Beckham figures to enter a camp battle for roster spots and playing time in the infield. Though Joe Panik will likely command the bulk of the reps at second, he did struggle against left-handed pitching last year. And there’s plenty up for grabs at third, with Eduardo Nunez perhaps best suited to a utility role. Beckham could end up jockeying for position with fellow right-handed hitter Jae-gyun Hwang, with lefty swinging Conor Gillaspie also representing a factor.

Top 10 Remaining Free Agents

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Last we looked, there were a fair number of players left from MLBTR’s pre-winter top 50 list. As might’ve been expected, though, the free-agent herd has thinned considerably. With about a week to go before the start of spring camp, these are the best remaining free agents (by order of MLBTR’s ranking, where applicable; “HM” refers to honorable mention, “NR” to players who weren’t mentioned in that list):

16. Matt Wieters. We’re mostly still hearing crickets on the market for Wieters, though some the chirping continues to hint ongoing interest from organizations like the Nationals, Rays, and perhaps the incumbent Orioles.

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24. Travis Wood. There’s plenty of chatter surrounding the next name on the list. With several clubs reportedly interested in Wood as a starter, and others valuing his swingman capabilities out of the pen, it seems there’s still some bidding taking place.

31. Joe Blanton. Clubs interested in righty setup men won’t find any who outperformed the aging but resurgent Blanton last year. He made good on his one-year pact with the Dodgers by turning in eighty frames of 2.48 ERA pitching in 2016.

49.  Chase Utley. Another steady veteran who most recently plied his trade in Los Angeles, Utley is said to be weighing multiple offers. It seems unlikely he’ll land an everyday second base job, but could provide plenty of value as a platoon player.

HM. Angel Pagan. Despite a solid bounceback season, the 35-year-old Pagan hasn’t generated much buzz this winter. As a switch hitter who has plenty of experience in center, though, he could add plenty of function to a variety of clubs.

HM. Pedro Alvarez. As the market for sluggers finally sorts itself out, there remain a few big lefty bats available. Alvarez remains a limited player — he’s best used as a DH against righty pitching — but only just turned thirty and hit a productive .249/.322/.504 last year.

HM. Adam Lind. Though he’s older (33) and wasn’t nearly as good as last year as Alvarez, Lind has a higher established ceiling as a hitter. From 2013 to 2015, he slashed an outstanding .291/.364/.478 in 1,411 plate appearances.

HM. Colby Lewis. At 37 years of age, Lewis doesn’t come with huge expectations. But he turned in a 3.71 ERA over 19 starts in 2016, showing he can still provide some sturdy innings even as he missed time with a lat injury.

NR. Michael Bourn. Something of a forgotten man entering the year, Bourn found a shot with the Diamondbacks and then thrived in a brief stint with the Orioles. Whether he can sustain the momentum from his 24-game run in Baltimore remains to be seen, but he might represent a useful speed-and-defense-oriented fourth outfielder for the right club.

NR. Doug Fister. A 2016 stint with the Astros didn’t represent the comeback that the 33-year-old Fister hoped for. But while he struggled to a 4.64 ERA, he did make all 32 starts while topping 180 innings for the first time since 2013. Teams in need of rotation depth will surely have interest.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres Agree To Minor League Deal With Tony Cruz

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The Padres have agreed to sign catcher Tony Cruz to a minor league deal, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).

Cruz, 30, spent the 2007-15 seasons in the Cardinals organization before playing the 2016 campaign in the Royals’ system. Though he totaled just five big league plate appearances with Kansas City, Cruz logged a solid .264/.347/.387 batting line in 92 Triple-A contests last season. Prior to that, he appeared in 259 games for the Cardinals from 2011-15 while serving as a backup to Yadier Molina, though he’s never provided much in the way of offense in the Majors. Across 638 big league plate appearances, Cruz is a .218/.260/.308 hitter, but it bears mention that he has a .732 OPS in the minors and a .724 OPS in parts of three Triple-A campaigns.

From a defensive standpoint, Cruz has halted 27 percent of stolen base attempts against him in the Majors, and his career 43 percent minor league mark in that regard is quite impressive. Though he once graded poorly in Baseball Prospectus’ pitch-framing metrics, he’s progressed to be a roughly average receiver, by that measure, in recent years.

Austin Hedges and Christian Bethancourt figure to be the primary backstops in San Diego this coming season, but with Bethancourt perhaps shifting into a hybrid catcher/outfielder/relief pitcher role, there could be some room to carry a third catcher on the roster, if Cruz proves worthy of a spot. Others that will be in the mix are Rule 5 pick Luis Torrens and non-roster invitees Hector Sanchez and Rocky Gale.

Twins, Drew Stubbs Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Drew Stubbs, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). The Lagardere Sports client will be invited to Major League Spring Training and compete for a role with the club.

Minnesota’s outfield currently figures to feature Eddie Rosario in left field, Byron Buxton in center field and Max Kepler in right field, so there won’t be a clear-cut starting role for Stubbs to pursue. However, both Rosario and Kepler hit left-handed and have struggled against same-handed pitching to this point in their young careers, making Stubbs a potential platoon partner. In 841 career plate appearances against lefties, Stubbs is a .272/.348/.444 hitter with a 10.3 percent walk rate but a more troubling 29.8 percent strikeout rate.

Switch-hitting Robbie Grossman could be a better option than Stubbs against left-handed pitching, as most of his damage is done from the right side of the dish, but Stubbs is a considerably superior defender that is also capable of playing center field. Converted infielder Danny Santana is also in the mix for an outfield role, and he’s out of minor league options, which could give him a leg up with a solid spring performance.

The 32-year-old Stubbs was once regarded as one of the game’s top all-around prospects and showed a nice mix of power and speed early in his career with the Reds, but his production has tapered off, relegating him to reserve role in recent seasons. Last year, he appeared with the Braves, Rangers and Orioles in the Majors in 2016, batting a combined .225/.330/.338 in 94 trips to the plate. He hasn’t received regular work in the Majors since a monster 2014 season with the Rockies, during which he hit .289/.339/.482 with 15 homers and 20 stolen bases.

Diamondbacks Sign Daniel Descalso, Designate Phil Gosselin

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The D-backs announced that they’ve signed infielder Daniel Descalso to a one-year deal and designated fellow infielder Phil Gosselin for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that Descalso will be guaranteed $1.5MM in his new deal — a $1.35MM salary for the 2017 season plus a $150K buyout on a $2MM club option for the 2018 season.

Daniel Descalso | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The 30-year-old Descalso spent the 2015-16 seasons with the division-rival Rockies, and while he batted a woeful .205/.283/.324 across 209 plate appearances in 2015, he did have a rebound campaign in 2016. Last year, the left-handed-hitting Descalso batted .264/.349/.424 with eight homers and three steals in 289 plate appearances, moving into a larger role following Trevor Story’s season-ending injury. Prior to his time with the Rox, Descalso was a fixture on the Cardinals’ roster from 2010-14, appearing in 529 games and posting a cumulative .243/.313/.341 batting line in just under 1400 trips to the plate.

Descalso will give the D-backs a left-handed bat to help balance out a predominantly right-handed roster, and he’ll also provide manager Torey Lovullo with some defensive versatility on the infield. While Descalso doesn’t grade out as a plus defender at any of the four infield spots, he does have more than 1000 innings at second base, third base and shortstop as well as 170 innings at first base in his career.

As for Gosselin, the 28-year-old has spent the past season and a half in Arizona, hitting a combined .283/.338/.409 316 plate appearances. While Gosselin’s bat has been better than that of Descalso over the course of their respective careers, he’s primarily a second baseman with more limited experience at third base and at shortstop.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rays Re-Sign Logan Morrison

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The Rays have agreed to a one-year contract to bring first baseman/designated hitter Logan Morrison back to the organization, the team announced. To make room for Morrison on the roster, lefty Enny Romero has been traded to the Nationals in exchange for minor league right-hander Jeffrey Rosa (more details on that deal here).

Morrison, a client of ISE Baseball, will reportedly be guaranteed $2.5MM and can earn an extra $250K if he does not spend any time on the 60-day DL due to a specific set of injuries. He can also reportedly gain up to $1MM worth of incentives to boost the value of the deal.

Logan Morrison | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Morrison, 29, posted a fairly pedestrian .238/.319/.414 batting line in 398 plate appearances with Tampa Bay last season, but that overall line is weighed down by a dreadful stretch early in the year. Morrison posted a .364 OPS through his first 95 plate appearances last season (in part due to a staggering .182 BABIP, though strikeouts were also an issue) but somewhat quietly enjoyed an excellent rebound beginning in mid-May.

From May 16 forth, the he totaled 303 plate appearances and logged a hefty .275/.350/.498 batting line and belted all 14 of his home runs. Given that finish and his relative youth, Morrison could likely have scored a larger payday were it not for an ill-timed September wrist injury that required surgery (and, obviously, ended his season prematurely).

Bringing Morrison back into the fold could very well mean that Brad Miller, who for much of the season was on track to be the team’s primary first baseman, will shift over to take the reins at second base on a regular basis. The Rays created a vacancy at second base last month when they traded Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers in exchange for young right-hander Jose De Leon, and Miller’s versatility allowed them to pursue myriad avenues to adding a bat to the lineup.

The Rays are still said to be pursuing a right-handed bat, though two of their reported targets — Chris Carter and Mike Napoli — agreed to one-year deals with the Yankees and the Rangers earlier today.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported the agreement (Twitter link). Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the deal’s incentives total (via Twitter). FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted about the health clause.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nationals Acquire Enny Romero From Rays

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The Rays and Nationals have announced a trade sending left-handed reliever Enny Romero to Washington for minor league right-hander Jeffrey Rosa  The move will open a spot on the 40-man roster for first baseman Logan Morrison, whose one-year deal to return to Tampa Bay is now official. The Nationals, on the other hand, did not need to make a 40-man roster move to accommodate Romero. Even after this trade, their 40-man count is still just at 39 players.

[Related: Updated Washington Nationals Depth Chart and Tampa Bay Rays Depth Chart]

Enny Romero

The 26-year-old Romero has had a pair of rough seasons in Tampa Bay, pitching to a 5.59 ERA in 75 2/3 innings at the Major League level from 2015-16. While he’s shown a penchant for missing bats (9.6 K/9), Romero has also averaged 4.9 walks per nine innings pitched and logged a slightly below-average ground-ball rate. However, his strikeout prowess and a power fastball that has averaged 96.1 mph over the past two seasons likely made him appealing to the Nationals.

Romero is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to break camp with the Nationals to open the season or first be exposed to waivers. He’ll head to Spring Training and give the Nats a third left-handed option behind veteran southpaw Oliver Perez and impressive young lefty Sammy Solis. If Romero ultimately proves able to harness his impressive velocity and strikeout potential, he’ll be a nice long-term option in the Nationals’ bullpen, as he’s controllable via arbitration through the 2021 season.

The 21-year-old Rosa has pitched 96 1/3 innings as a pro and pitched to a 3.83 ERA with a 103-to-49 K/BB ratio since signing as an amateur. He’s yet to crack any top prospect ranking within the Nationals organization, and that’s not terribly surprising given his age and the fact that he’s yet to advance beyond Rookie-level ball. But the out-of-options Romero was likely viewed as a potential 40-man casualty in Spring Training, as the Rays have Xavier Cedeno firmly ahead of him on the depth chart in addition to a slew of right-handed options that figure to merit spots.

It’s possible that Tampa Bay could seek further left-handed depth between now and Opening Day, though they could simply look at Cedeno, Alex Colome, Brad Boxberger, Erasmo Ramirez, Danny Farquhar and Shawn Tolleson as a likely front six in their relief corps. That would leave a number of other 40-man arms and non-roster invitees to battle it out for the final bullpen spot. All of those options can be seen on the Rays’ depth chart at Roster Resource.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported that Romero was going to the Nats (on Twitter). Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweeted that the Nationals were sending a Gulf Coast League pitcher to the Rays in the deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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