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Archives for May 2017

Athletics Designate Jaff Decker

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The Athletics have designated outfielder Jaff Decker for assignment, per a club announcement. Oakland has recalled infielder/outfielder Mark Canha to take his place on the active roster.

Decker, 27, had earned his most extensive MLB opportunity to open the year, receiving 62 plate appearances over 17 games of action. But he has slashed just .200/.322/.260 in that span, continuing a run of rough but brief showings in the majors.

That’s not to say that clubs can’t anticipate somewhat more out of Decker moving forward. The former top-100 prospect is a .269/.370/.410 hitter in five seasons at the Triple-A level.

Rays Acquire International Slot From Mariners

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The Rays have acquired an international signing slot from the Mariners in exchange for minor-league righty Bryan Bonnell, per an announcement from the M’s. While the announcement doesn’t specify, it seems that the international money will be for the current season.

Tampa Bay will pick up the 71st international pool slot, which gives the team $321,100 in added bonus money. The Rays are sitting in the penalty box this year after loading up on the 2014-15 draft class, so the team is capped at $300K in spending on any given player. But the organization has still moved aggressively, as Ben Badler of Baseball America writes (subscription required and recommended), with 36 players already under contract.

As for the Mariners, the club evidently didn’t see the merit in utilizing that cash before the close of the current signing period on June 15th. Instead, they’ll pick up the 23-year-old Bonnell, who came to the Rays as a 36th-round draft pick in 2015. Bonnell has worked as a reliever in the minors, opening the current season at High-A. Through 11 frames this year, he has allowed five earned runs on 11 hits while compiling 10 strikeouts against just one walk.

Zach Britton Expected To Be Out For 6 to 8 Weeks

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5:03pm: Britton will not pick up a ball for at least ten days, Ghiroli tweets. But he says he expects to be ready to return on the early side of the estimated timeline.

4:30pm: Orioles lefty Zach Britton is expected to miss approximately 45 to 60 days of action, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports (Twitter links). Britton has already been placed back on the 10-day DL with what the team has described as a forearm strain.

Britton, who established himself last year as one of the game’s truly elite relievers, has been cleared of structural issues. But the fact that his forearm ailment recurred after an initial rest-and-rehab effort obviously suggested a need for more cautious handling.

The estimated timeline seemingly builds in a lengthy period of rest. As Ghiroli reports, the plan is for Britton to be shut down for some time to allow the forearm to “completely calm down.”

Baltimore hopes to get the ace closer back by the All-Star break. Given that timeline, the organization ought to be able to assess his status before making any plans for the trade deadline. Of course, with Brad Brach providing excellent work in Britton’s stead — he has a 2.41 ERA and eight saves through 18 2/3 innings on the year — it’s unlikely the O’s will be in the market for a closer this summer.

Dodgers Claim Justin Marks

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve claimed left-hander Justin Marks off waivers from the Rays and optioned him to Triple-A. Outfielder Andre Ethier was transferred to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

The 29-year-old Marks has a 1.74 ERA in 10 1/3 innings for the Rays over the past two seasons, but he’s also issued 10 walks against just seven strikeouts in that sample. Marks has had questionable results through his minor league tenure as a starting pitcher, though he dominated left-handed opponents last season in his work between the Majors and minors; same-handed opponents mustered just a .199/.268/.344 batting line against Marks in 168 plate appearances.

Blue Jays Designate Neil Ramirez For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced on Tuesday that they’ve designated right-hander Neil Ramirez for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man and 25-man roster for fellow righty Mike Bolsinger, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Buffalo. Bolsinger is slated to make a spot start for the Jays with J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez on the disabled list.

The 27-year-old Ramirez had just been claimed off waivers. Though he was added to the active roster briefly, he did not see any game action for the Jays. Earlier, with the Giants, Ramirez turned in 10 1/3 confounding innings in which he allowed 15 earned runs but also racked up 18 strikeouts against just four walks. Presumably, Toronto will hope for a chance to keep him in the minors if he clears waivers.

Bolsinger, 29, had a 1.46 ERA with an 18-to-3 K/BB ratio in 12 1/3 Triple-A innings thus far in 2017. That’s a considerable improvement over his 2016 work, when he logged a 6.83 ERA in 27 2/3 big league innings due largely to a troubles with the long ball. He did have solid K/BB numbers in both the Majors and the minors last year, however. Bolsinger had a strong season in the Majors as recently as 2015, when he logged a 3.62 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 53.1 percent ground-ball rate in 109 1/3 innings for the Dodgers.

Phillies Acquire Casey Fien

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The Mariners announced that they’ve traded right-hander Casey Fien to the Phillies in exchange for cash. Because Fien wasn’t on the Mariners’ 40-man roster, Philadelphia does not need to make a corresponding 40-man move. Fien will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, per an announcement from the Phillies.

Fien, 33, has been designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster by the Mariners twice this season. He’s struggled immensely through six big league innings this year, surrendering 10 earned runs on nine hits (three homers) and four walks with six strikeouts. That marks a continuation of the difficulties that Fien had with the Dodgers and Twins in 2016, when he posted a 5.49 ERA through 39 1/3 innings. (Notably, Fien did improve considerably upon moving from Minnesota to Los Angeles, recording a 4.21 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 25 2/3 innings.)

Though he’s struggled since the onset of the 2016 season, Fien was a reliable middle relief/setup option for the Twins from 2012-15, logging 223 2/3 innings with a 3.54 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9. Fien’s velocity is down a bit this season, but he’s also registered an impressive 17.8 percent swinging-strike rate and is subsequently sporting a career-best 66.7 percent contact rate. The long ball has plagued Fien since early in 2016, and while a move to the homer-happy Citizens Bank Park (in the event that he is promoted to the Majors at some point) may not help in that regard, it could also do Fien some good to get out of the America League.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/9/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Twins reinstated ByungHo Park from the minor league disabled list and cleared a spot on the Triple-A roster by releasing outfielder Quintin Berry, tweets Nate Rowan of the Rochester Red Wings’ public relations department. The 32-year-old Berry batted .194/.275/.278 in 40 plate appearances over 14 games with Rochester prior to his release. Berry hasn’t appeared in the Majors since the 2015 campaign, though his excellent speed and baserunning prowess have landed him on expanded September rosters for the Red Sox, Orioles and Cubs as a late-inning pinch-running option/defensive replacement off the bench. Berry is a career .265/.336/.368 hitter in 342 MLB plate appearances and has a collective .242/.339./.304 slash in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.
  • Left-hander Mitch Harris announced on Instagram today that he’s no longer a part of the Cardinals organization (presumably meaning that he was released by the club). Harris, who is rehabbing from the same “primary repair” operation that former teammate Seth Maness had last August, had made just two appearances in Triple-A thus far in 2017. Harris sports a 3.64 ERA in parts of three Triple-A seasons (including this year) and logged a 3.67 ERA with 5.0 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 in 27 innings for the Cards back in 2015.

Doug Fister Close To Signing; Mets Not Involved

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10:11am: Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the Mets are not signing Fister. He characterizes the Angels as one of multiple “serious considerations” for Fister.

9:48am: Free-agent right-hander Doug Fister is close to signing with a yet-unreported team, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (Twitter link). Though Fister has had interest from both the AL and NL, he’s likely to land with a National League club, per Heyman. In a second tweet, Heyman notes that the D-backs are “in the mix” on Fister, adding that he hasn’t heard much tying him to the Mets as of late. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets that the Mets, D-backs, Giants, Angels and Blue Jays have all been in the mix to varying extents.

From the listed teams, the Mets jump out as the club in most dire need of rotation reinforcements, as New York has lost Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Seth Lugo to injuries already, while right-handers Matt Harvey, Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler have all struggled thus far in 2017. The Mets are hopeful that Matz and Lugo will be able to return in late May or early June, though there’s no guarantee that either comes back at full strength just yet. And Wheeler, of course, is on an innings limit in 2017 after missing the entire 2015 and 2016 seasons due to Tommy John surgery.

The D-backs, of course, have had their own brush with injuries, having lost right-hander Shelby Miller for the season due to a torn ulnar collateral ligament that necessitated Tommy John surgery. Arizona, though, seemingly has better depth at the upper levels of its farm, with Braden Shipley, Anthony Banda and Zack Godley among the potential rotation options currently in Triple-A (to say nothing of right-hander Archie Bradley, who is currently in the Major League bullpen but could likely start if deemed necessary).

As for the Giants, they lost Madison Bumgarner for what will likely be most of the first half of the season, if not more, due to a controversial dirtbike accident that resulted in a shoulder injury. None of the Giants’ other starters — Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Matt Moore, Matt Cain or Ty Blach — has mustered an ERA south of 4.50 on the season. The Giants also traded one of their upper-level depth options, Clayton Blackburn, to the Rangers earlier this year. However, with Tyler Beede and Chris Stratton both in Triple-A, the Giants do possess some upper-level options should they decide to shuffle the rotation.

The Angels and Blue Jays, of course, both have plenty of cause to seek rotation help as well. However, Heyman seems to suggest that an AL club isn’t as likely, and that’s a logical line of thinking for Fister, who could likely post better numbers in the National League.

It should be noted that Fister is hardly a quick fix for any team’s rotation; the right-hander will almost certainly need a fair amount of time to ramp up before he’s ready to join a Major League rotation. And while he comes with plenty of name value, Fister’s fastball has been in the 86-87 mph range in recent seasons. Unsurprisingly, there’s been a corresponding dip in his effectiveness. Last year he proved a durable rotation piece for the Astros (32 starts) but logged just a 4.64 ERA with 5.7 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in 180 1/3 innings.

2018 Vesting Options Update

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Each year, the free-agent class is impacted by the performance of players with vesting options (as is the financial future of players with said provisions in their contract). For those unfamiliar with the option, a vesting option is typically (though not always) a club option that can automatically trigger based on the player’s health and/or performance. Meeting pre-determined criteria for games played, innings pitched and plate appearances are the most common ways of triggering a vesting option. Some also require that a player avoid the DL at the end of the season and/or for a certain number of games over the course of the year.

Here’s a look at all of the 2018 player options that can automatically trigger based on the players’ 2017 performance…

  • Matt Cain: The 2017 campaign is the final season of a six-year, $127.5MM extension that Cain signed with the Giants on April 2, 2012. Prior to that point, Cain had been one of the most durable and efficient starters in the NL, but injuries have completely derailed Cain’s career since that 2012 season. Cain hasn’t thrown more than 90 1/3 innings since 2013, and so far he’s delivered just a 4.64 ERA in 455 1/3 innings over the five extra years of control the Giants bought out. If he can reach 200 innings this season and is not on the disabled list due to elbow or shoulder troubles to end the year, his $21.5MM club option would become guaranteed. However, he’s averaging fewer than 5 1/3 innings per start in 2017, and his previous health woes make that decidedly unlikely. His option comes with a $7.5MM buyout, which seems like an inevitable outcome.
  • Andre Ethier: Ethier batted .273/.351/.429 through the first three seasons of his five-year, $85MM extension (including particularly strong efforts in 2013 and 2015), but he played in just 16 games last season and has been on the disabled list for the entire 2017 season (herniated disk in his lower back). His $17.5MM club option would automatically vest with 550 plate appearances this season, but that’s obviously not going to happen, so he’ll receive a $2.5MM buyout instead.
  • Matt Garza: Garza’s four-year, $50MM contract with the Brewers contained one of the more convoluted vesting options in recent memory. Injury concerns surrounding Garza allowed the club to land a team option valued at a base of just $5MM. However, had Garza made 110 starts over the contract’s four years, pitched 115 innings in 2017 and avoided the DL at the end of the 2017 season, the option would’ve become guaranteed at $13MM. On the other side of the coin, the Brewers would’ve been able to pick it up at just $1MM had Garza missed 130 or more days during any single season of the contract. Neither of those scenarios will play out at this point, though. All of that is a long-winded way of saying that Garza’s option won’t be vesting at $13MM and will come at a potentially reasonable rate of $5MM.
  • Gio Gonzalez: Gonzalez’s five-year, $42MM extension came with a $12MM club option for the 2017 season (which was exercised) and a $12MM club/vesting option for the 2018 campaign. If the left-hander reaches 180 innings this season, he’ll be locked in at $12MM next season. For a player as durable as Gonzalez, who averaged 31 starts per year from 2010-16, that seems simple enough. But, Gonzalez has had difficulty working deep into games and has not crossed the 180-inning threshold since 2013. This season, though, he’s already racked up 44 1/3 innings through seven starts — an average of about 6 1/3 frames per outing. He’d need only 29 starts at that pace to trigger the option. And even if he doesn’t sustain that innings pace, if he can avoid the DL and average even 5 1/3 to 5 2/3 innings per start for the rest of the year, he’d accrue enough innings to guarantee that option. Of course, if Gonzalez delivers anything close to the 3.57 ERA he’s turned in through parts of six seasons as a National, the team will likely pick up the option even if it doesn’t vest.
  • J.J. Hardy: Hardy decided to forgo the open market at the end of the 2014 season, instead re-upping with Orioles in early October on a three-year, $40MM deal. His contract comes with a $14MM club option ($2MM buyout) that could automatically vest in the event that Hardy reaches 600 plate appearances this season. Hardy, however, has reached that total just twice in six previous seasons with the Orioles, and he’s hitting a mere .196/.232/.252 through his first 113 plate appearances in 2017. Based on his recent health track record, it could be considered unlikely that he stays healthy enough to trigger the option. But if he does remain healthy and doesn’t turn things around at the plate, the O’s won’t have a hard time justifying a reduction in playing time to prevent the option from vesting.
  • Greg Holland: Holland signed a one-year, $7MM deal with a mutual option for the 2018 season, though so long as he remains healthy it’s effectively a two-year, $22MM contract with a player option/opt-out provision. Holland’s $10MM mutual option becomes a $15MM player option if he appears in 50 total games or finishes 30 games in 2017. He’s come out of the gate roaring as a dominant closer in Colorado, just as he was in Kansas City. Holland has already finished 14 games, meaning he needs just 16 more to trigger that player option and secure the right to re-enter the open market. An injury seems like the only thing that will stand in Holland’s way, as he’s currently sporting a 1.29 ERA with a 17-to-5 K/BB ratio, a career-best 51.6 percent ground-ball rate and a 93.9 mph average fastball through his first 14 innings.
  • Hisashi Iwakuma: After injury concerns stemming from Iwakuma’s physical caused the Dodgers to back out of a reported three-year, $45MM agreement in the 2015-16 offseason, Iwakuma instead returned to the Mariners on a one-year deal with a pair of vesting options. Iwakuma needed 162 innings to trigger his 2017 option, and he needed either 162 innings in 2017 or 324 innings between 2016-17 to trigger his $10MM option for the 2018 season. The 36-year-old racked up 199 innings last year, meaning he now needs just 125 innings in 2017, though he must also avoid the disabled list at season’s end as well. Iwakuma has barely averaged five innings per outing (31 through six starts), but he also needs just 94 more innings this year for that option to kick in.
  • Ricky Nolasco: Nolasco’s option isn’t a standard vesting option, but his $13MM club option would become a player option with 400 innings pitched between 2016-17. The 34-year-old logged 197 2/3 innings last year, meaning he’d need 202 1/3 innings in 2017 in order to convert his option. That’s a total that Nolasco has reached only twice in his career, and he’s not on pace to approach that number through his first seven starts of the season. If Nolasco were to make the same number of starts as last season (32), he’d need to average nearly 6 2/3 innings per outing for the rest of the season to reach that level. If he ties his career-high with 33 starts, he’d need to average 6 1/3 frames through season’s end. It’s technically possible that Nolasco does end up with a $13MM player option, but the likelier scenario is that the Halos will choose between a $13MM club option and a $1MM buyout. (Thanks to MLBTR commenters paytoplay and jdobson1822 for pointing out Nolasco’s option.)

Cot’s Contracts was used in the creation of this post.

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