The indispensable Matt Eddy of Baseball America provides an overview of a vast number of players electing free agency following the 2017 season in his latest Minor Transactions roundup. Eddy largely focuses on players with big league service time (significant service time, in some cases) that were outrighted off the roster that are now hitting the open market for the first time. (Players with three-plus years of service that are not on the 40-man roster at season’s end can elect free agency, as can any player that has been outrighted on multiple occasions in his career.)
While the vast majority of these players seem likely to sign minor league pacts this winter — they did, after all, go unclaimed by 29 other teams on waivers — a number of them are still intriguing with recent success in their past and/or multiple years of arbitration eligibility remaining. Eddy’s rundown also contains a number of re-signed minor leaguers and released minor leaguers without big league experience as well as Arizona Fall League assignments on a per-team basis, so it’s well worth a full look.
We’ve updated our list of 2017-18 MLB free agents accordingly, and here are some of the new names now checking in on the list…
Depth options in the rotation
Josh Collmenter, Asher Wojciechowski, Drew Hutchison, Jeff Locke, Kyle Kendrick, Mike Bolsinger, Christian Bergman, David Holmberg
Collmenter is just two seasons removed from being the D-backs Opening Day starter but hasn’t had much success of late. Hutchison had solid Triple-A numbers and once looked like a long-term rotation piece in Toronto before Tommy John surgery. He can be controlled for another three seasons in arbitration. Locke was injured for most of an ugly first (and likely only) season in Miami, and Kendrick made just two starts for the Red Sox.
Wojciechowski (6.50 ERA in 62 1/3 innings with the Reds), Bolsinger (6.31 ERA in 41 1/3 innings with the Jays), Bergman (5.00 ERA in 54 innings with the Mariners) and Holmberg (4.68 ERA in 57 2/3 innings with the White Sox) all soaked up innings for injury-plagued pitching staffs. Bolsinger has had the most MLB experience of the bunch.
Corner Bats
Scott Van Slyke, Tyler Moore, Cody Asche, Conor Gillaspie, Jaff Decker
Van Slyke has long been a solid bat against left-handed pitching but appeared in just 29 games with the Dodgers and didn’t hit well with their Triple-A affiliate or with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate. (He was included in the Tony Cingrani trade to balance out the financial side of the deal.) Moore, also a right-handed bat, showed power but struggled to get on base.
Once one of the Phillies’ top prospects, Asche hit well in Triple-A Charlotte but flopped in a brief stint with the ChiSox. Gillaspie was unable to replicate his 2016 rebound with the Giants, while Decker showed some on-base skills in the Majors and minors but didn’t hit much overall. (He can play center but hasn’t graded well there in the Majors.)
Utility Infielders
Ruben Tejada, Phil Gosselin, Dusty Coleman, Chase d’Arnaud
Each of the four can play all over the diamond, but none provided offensive value in 2017. Tejada has the most big league experience but hasn’t received much playing time since 2015 (and hasn’t performed well when he has gotten opportunities). Gosselin has a solid defensive reputation but a light bat through 551 MLB PAs. Coleman hit four homers in 71 PAs in his MLB debut this year but logged a .268 OBP. d’Arnaud saw his fair share of 2016 action with the Braves but has never produced much at the plate.
Bullpen options
Kevin Siegrist (L), Josh Edgin (L), Seth Maness, Kevin Quackenbush
Siegrist and Edgin are intriguing names for clubs in need of left-handed bullpen help. Both have recent success on their track records, though Edgin wasn’t as sharp in 2017 as he was prior to 2015 Tommy John surgery. Siegrist’s control eroded in 2017 as he missed time due to a back/spinal injury and tendinitis in his left forearm, but he was one of the Cardinals’ top setup options in both 2015 and 2016. Both lefties are controllable through 2019.
Maness drew headlines for returning from a torn UCL in roughly seven months thanks to an experimental new “primary repair” procedure, but while he stayed healthy in 2017, the results weren’t great in the Majors and especially not in Triple-A (6.13 ERA in 47 innings). Quackenbush was excellent as a rookie in 2014 and solid in 2015-16 before imploding in 2017 (7.86 ERA in 26 1/3 innings). He was better but not great in Triple-A (3.90 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9). Maness could be controlled through 2019, while Quackenbush would have three more years of control.
quackenbush should have been given the opportunity to save games, but instead the padres opted for the Fernando Rodney experience
How would that opportunity made him any better of a pitcher? He was terrible last year.
Rodney pitched like 30 innings and gave up 1 run, he was then traded for a prospect. The Padres made the right choice. Quack never earned that opportunity to close
Quack should shave that miserable beard. Might improve his stuff
Think the Phillies should’ve held onto Siegrist. Morgan and Milner did good, but there’s not much lefty depth in the upper minors after them.And in a division with Harper,Murphy,Yelich and Freeman,lefthanded depth would be nice to have.
Ofcourse there’s still a whole offseason ahead.
Wonder if Cards interested in Siegrist reunion.. Could be valuable Setup man, given the team has a lot of Bullpen question marks.
Setup man for STL is NICASIO
NICASIO IS A FREE AGENT
I believe that Siegrist is close to “Burned Out”. He’s pitched in a LOT of games…….and worked through a Ton of difficult innings. I’d steer clear ….tendonitis in the forearm is a TJ precursor……RUN!!!!
THEY DFA’d him! I DOUBT IT
Dusty Coleman made his debut in 2015 with the Royals, not this past year.
Depth options in the rotation from the White Sox you forgot to include Chris Volstad in with David Holmberg
All these quality names…..sounds like a week before camp opens Dan Duquette shoppin spree….
First they must sign a minor league deal elsewhere, then Duquette can select them in the rule V draft
I’d like to see Hutch back with the Jays, but in the bullpen. Always liked him when he was in Toronto. Not sure how he did in Pittsburg (assuming bad), but getting him on a MILB deal would be ideal.
I’d like to see Detroit bring him in as a rotation option.
Pirates fans were never given the chance to see him pitch really. A few games in 16, but none this year. He was 9-9 with a 3.56 ERA in the minors
Hutchinson wasn’t given a fair chance in Pittsburgh. It was a bad trade from the start. But he was almost like a cast off
The trade was mainly a salary dump, but I do not think they should’ve given up 2 prospects along with Liriano, for just Hutch.
Especially when Liriano was traded a year later for Teoscar Hernandez.
The Jays bought 2 mediocre prospects from Pittsburgh in the Hitch deal by absorbing salary, then the Jays bought Hernadez from the Astros by absorbing a lot of liriano’s contract. The Jays were using money to acquire prospects, I think that the MLB players involved were insignifcant in these deals.
Ramon Flores also elected free agency. Intriguing mix of power, speed, plate discipline and youth. Killed AAA in ’17
With the O’s set to shop for starting pitchers in bulk this winter, I’m predicting they extend invitations to at least 2 of the SPs listed above with Hutchison and Collmenter at the top of the list.
The portion of this list of minor league free agents is just what Ross Atkins of the Blue Jays needs to construct his team for 2018. Now he can pursue some players from this list for main and depth roles and we can watch Atkins fulfill his opinion that the Blue Jays can compete. Sarcasm very very heavy.