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Archives for December 2017

Cubs Release Matt Carasiti To Sign With Japan’s Yakult Swallows

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The Cubs have released right-hander Matt Carasiti, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). He’ll be moving to Japan to play for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows.

Carasiti, 26, landed in Chicago in a mid-season swap with the Rockies — the team that originally drafted and developed him. He reached the majors with Colorado in 2016, struggling in limited action.

There was some cause to think that Carasiti could earn a return trip to the majors before long. He worked to a 3.26 ERA with 12.3 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 over 49 2/3 Triple-A frames in 2017. Carasiti showed a mid-nineties heater during his brief MLB stint and has typically generated solid groundball numbers.

In the NPB, though, Carasiti will likely enjoy solid earnings and a clear path to a significant role. At his age, it’s certainly possible that he could end up moving back to the big leagues if he proves himself at Japan’s highest level.

White Sox Sign Welington Castillo

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The White Sox announced on Friday that they’ve signed free agent catcher Welington Castillo to a two-year contract. One of the few teams to disclose financial terms, the White Sox confirmed previous reports that Castillo signed a two-year, $15MM contract with an $8MM club option for the 2020 season. He’ll earn $7.25MM in each season and is promised another $500K through a buyout. Castillo is represented by ACES.

Welington Castillo | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The 30-year-old Castillo is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, having batted .282/.323/.490 with 20 homers in 365 plate appearances as the Orioles’ primary backstop. With that strong offensive output in his back pocket, Castillo turned down a $7MM player option to return to Baltimore — a move that has certainly paid dividends now that he has a multi-year agreement secured.

While Castillo has long come with a questionable defensive reputation, he led the Majors with a 49 percent caught-stealing rate in Baltimore and also turned in dramatically improved pitch-framing marks in his lone season with the O’s. It remains to be seen if he can sustain that level of defensive play moving forward, but the improvements certainly didn’t hamper his free agent stock.

Though the White Sox are (obviously) in the midst of a rebuild, the team has relied on a hodgepodge of underwhelming options since making the error of non-tendering Tyler Flowers prior to the 2016 season. Castillo will help to solidify a position of need and also give the team’s up-and-coming core of young pitchers an experienced receiver behind the dish.

[Related: Updated Chicago White Sox Depth Chart & Payroll Outlook]

With Castillo in the fold, Omar Narvaez will shift from the club’s starting catcher to a reserve role, while Kevan Smith will likely be pushed off the big league roster. That pair received the majority of the White Sox’ at-bats behind the plate last season, with Geovany Soto and Rob Brantly also receiving a handful of opportunities. Overall, the South Siders’ catching corps posted a solid .279/.346/.381 batting line, though Narvaez and Smith both benefited from some help in the BABIP department, and neither offers anywhere near the pop that Castillo carries in his bat.

From a payroll vantage point, the Sox can easily fit Castillo’s salary onto the books. The Sox entered the offseason projected to field just a $61MM payroll (after arbitration estimates), with only $15.95MM of that sum coming in the form of guaranteed contracts. The only guaranteed money on the books beyond the 2018 season is Tim Anderson’s contract, which calls for just a $1.4MM salary in 2019.

Castillo may or may not fit into the expected competitive window on the south side of Chicago; the Sox aren’t expected to make an aggressive push for contention this season, though they surely like the idea of a veteran catcher helping a young pitching staff all the same. However, given the wealth of talent in the upper levels of the Sox’ farm, it’s not out of the question that they could contend as soon as the 2019 campaign — the second year of Castillo’s deal. If not, the team surely aims to be contending by 2020, and if Castillo’s play still merits an $8MM salary at that juncture, he could yet be leaned upon as part of the puzzle, depending on the development of prospect Zack Collins.

If the Sox ultimately need a bit longer to return to prominence, or if Collins ascends and pushes Castillo for the regular role, his contract is modest enough that it should contain some trade value on the open market, provided he continues to produce at a level similar to his 2017 form.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the agreement (Twitter links). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the terms of the deal (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted the annual breakdown.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

MLB Ratifies New NPB Posting System, Formally Announces Shohei Ohtani Will Be Posted Today

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Major League Baseball announced today that owners of all 30 clubs have ratified a new posting system between MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The two sides also agreed to an extension of the previous posting system through Nov. 1, 2018, and MLB formally announced within its release that Shohei Otani will be posted by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters today. The release fee on Otani has been set at the maximum $20MM. Additionally, the Seibu Lions will post submarine right-handed reliever Kazuhisa Makita on or before Dec. 31, MLB announced. A release fee has not yet been set for Makita.

Beginning today, any team that is willing to meet the Fighters’ release fee ($20MM) will be allowed to negotiate with Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo of CAA Baseball. Only the team that ultimately secures a contract with Ohtani will be required to pay that $20MM out to the Fighters, however. The negotiation window will run through 11:59pm ET on Dec. 22, according to the league’s release, giving teams three weeks to negotiate.

As for Ohtani, his age means that he falls under the collective bargaining agreement’s designation as an international amateur, meaning he’ll be subject to international bonus pools. At present, the Rangers’ remaining pool of $3.535MM is the largest amount he can be paid. The Yankees ($3.5MM) and Twins ($3.245MM) are next in line. The Pirates can offer north of $2MM, while other suitors for Ohtani’s services like the Mariners and Angels can offer better than $1.5MM.

Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Ohtani’s free agency will come down to a simple matter of the highest bid, though. By coming to the United States right now, he’s forgoing the chance to sign a free-agent contract that could have been worth more than $200MM by simply waiting another two seasons. Balelo has already submitted a memo to all 30 teams asking for presentations including details on evaluations of Ohtani as a pitcher and hitter; player development and medical facilities; Spring Training facilities; cultural assimilation for Ohtani; a “detailed” plan for integrating Ohtani into the organization; a sales pitch on the city itself and what makes it desirable; as well as relevant marketplace characteristics.

Unlike Otani, the 32-year-old Makita is not a young star headed into his prime. Rather, he’s long been a successful starter and reliever. Makita is still subject to the posting system, though, because he did not begin his pro career in Japan until the age of 26, thus leaving him shy of the requisite nine years of service time to be considered a free agent under Japan’s rules. However, under MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, Makita is considered a professional. In other words: he’s subject to the posting system but not to international bonus pools.

Makita owns an excellent 2.83 ERA in 921 1/3 career innings. After moving to the bullpen full time in 2016, he’s posted a minuscule 1.91 ERA in nearly 150 innings. Makita’s submarine delivery could well hold appeal to a wide swath of clubs looking to give opponents a different look in the middle and late innings of a game, but his 5.0 K/9 rate will give teams some pause as well.

Beginning next offseason (Nov. 1, 2018), the release fee associated with a posted player will be directly tied to the size of the player’s contract with an MLB club. Per the league’s release, the sliding scale is as follows:

  • For Major League contracts with a total guaranteed value of $25 million or less, the release fee will be 20% of the total guaranteed value of the contract;
  • For Major League contracts with a total guaranteed value between $25,000,001 and $50 million, the release fee will be: (i) 20% of the first $25 million of the guaranteed total (i.e. $5 million) plus (ii) 17.5% of the total guaranteed value exceeding $25 million;
  • For Major League contracts with a total guaranteed value of $50,000,001 or more, the release fee will be: (i) 20% of the first $25 million of the guaranteed total (i.e. $5 million) plus (ii) 17.5% of the total guaranteed value between $25,000,001 and $50 million (i.e. $4,375,000) plus (iii) 15% of the total guaranteed value exceeding $50 million
  • For Major League contracts that contain bonus, salary escalators or options (Club, mutual or vesting), the Club may owe a supplemental release fee at a later date equal to 15% of any bonuses or salary escalators actually earned by the player under his contract, and/or 15% of any compensation paid to the player in Club, mutual or vesting option years that were exercised or vested;
  • For Minor League contracts, the release fee will be a flat 25% of the signing bonus. (For Minor League contracts of “Foreign Professionals” that contain Major League terms, a supplemental release fee will be owed if the player is added to the 25-man roster.)

Braves Claim Chase Whitley From Rays

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The Braves have claimed right-hander Chase Whitley off waivers from the Rays, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (on Twitter). Whitley was arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $1MM.

Whitley, 28, tossed 57 1/3 innings this past season in his first full year back from Tommy John surgery. The righty made all 41 of his appearances with the Rays out of the bullpen after working as a starter throughout his minor league career and early on after his MLB debut with the Yankees. Whitley logged a 4.08 ERA with 6.8 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 and a 32.8 percent ground-ball rate. He doesn’t throw hard, averaging just 90 mph with his heater, but he still missed more bats earlier in his career and in the minors, leaving the potential for a modest uptick in strikeouts with Atlanta. (A move to the NL, clearly, won’t hurt his chances in that regard.)

The Rays are facing somewhat of a payroll crunch due in no small part to an arbitration class that at one point contained a dozen players. They’ve pared that back some by waiving Whitley and trading former closer Brad Boxberger to the D-backs, but it’s still likely that we’ll see a few more moves out of Tampa Bay before tonight’s 8pm ET deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players.

Cubs Sign Dario Alvarez To Major League Deal

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The Cubs announced that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Dario Alvarez to a Major League contract. Alvarez was designated for assignment and outrighted by the Rangers back in September and hit the open market at season’s end.

Alvarez, 29 in January, has seen Major League time in each of the past four seasons, tossing a combined 48 innings with the Mets, Braves and Rangers. In that time, he’s logged an unsightly 5.06 ERA with a more-promising 11.4 K/9 mark against 4.1 BB/9. He’s coming off a season in which he posted a sub-3.00 in the Majors (albeit with 14 walks in 16 1/3 innings) as well as in Triple-A and has a lengthy track record of intriguing strikeout rates at the minor league level.

Alvarez is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to either break camp with the big league roster or be exposed to waivers in order to be sent to Triple-A. Of course, it shouldn’t simply be assumed that he’ll be handed a job in the Chicago bullpen. Left-handed relief is an area of need for the Cubs (particularly after Justin Wilson’s struggles in Chicago), and it seems likely that they’ll pursue higher-profile options than Alvarez over the remainder of the season. Even if they don’t pick up additional lefties, though, Alvarez would likely compete with Rob Zastryzny for a spot as a third lefty in the bullpen next spring.

Due to his limited big league track record, Alvarez has only amassed one year and 66 days of Major League service time to this point in his career. If he ends up making a strong impression for the Cubs, Alvarez can potentially be controlled all the way through the 2022 season, and he won’t even be eligible for arbitration until the conclusion of the 2019 campaign at the very earliest.

For the Cubs, the signing of Alvarez isn’t entirely dissimilar to last winter’s acquisition of Brian Duensing. It was somewhat surprising to see Duensing land a 40-man roster spot coming off a down season with the Orioles, but the Cubs locked him up fairly early with a modest big league deal and were handsomely rewarded for their show of faith. While Alvarez comes with a considerably more limited track record than Duensing had, he’s a similarly surprising recipient of a 40-man roster spot.

Shohei Ohtani Rumors: Friday

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Japan’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters are expected to formally post ace/slugger Shohei Ohtani today once a new posting system between Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Nippon Professional Baseball has been formally ratified by Major League owners. The proposed system reportedly calls for a 21-day negotiation period for Ohtani this offseason, so within three weeks of his posting, it will finally be clear which team he’ll be suiting up for come 2018.

Here’s the latest chatter on Ohtani as he sits on the precipice of negotiations with Major League teams…

  • MLB.com’s Jon Morosi tweets that executives from multiple teams are of the belief that Ohtani’s preference is to sign in a market that does not already have an established Japanese star, though Ohtani’s agents at CAA have not commented on that possibility. Morosi also spoke to one of Ohtani’s teammates in Japan, former big leaguer Brandon Laird, who offered a similar suggestion (Twitter link): “I feel like he just wants to come and not be compared to other guys who have already been here — to start fresh on his own, show what he can do by himself.”
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman publicly stated his interest in Ohtani for the first time today, calling Ohtani a “perfect fit” and voicing a willingness to let him pitch and hit with the Yankees (all Twitter links via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch). “It’s a big stage here and it’s meant to have the best talent to play on it,” said Cashman. “Ohtani represents the next great talent that is available in the world of baseball. This stage is made for players like this.” While the Yankees’ interest in Ohtani is hardly a secret, Cashman had yet to go on-record to discuss his interest in bringing Ohtani to the Bronx prior to today.
  • Morosi also tweets that the conference call with MLB owners that will formally approve the posting agreement is set for 1pm ET this afternoon. The meeting is a formality at this point, though, and Ohtani is expected to be posted shortly thereafter.

Marlins, Bryan Holaday Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins are in agreement with free-agent catcher Bryan Holaday on a minor league contract, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). The Lagardere Sports client will head to camp and compete for a backup job behind J.T. Realmuto.

Miami already has three candidates to back Realmuto up on the 40-man roster in Tomas Telis, Austin Nola and Chad Wallach, so Holaday may face an uphill battle in cracking the roster. That said, he’d be a nice veteran depth piece to have in Triple-A in the event of an injury to any of the names above him.

The 30-year-old Holaday spent every season but the 2016 campaign as a member of the Tigers organization. Holaday returned to Detroit after that one-year hiatus in 2017 and posted a very solid .269/.325/.450 slash with a dozen homers in 347 plate appearances for the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Toledo. He also appeared in 13 big league games, though he took just 29 total plate appearances.

Holaday has seen action in parts of six big league seasons and is a career .244/.279/.343 hitter in that time. Defensively, he sports a roughly average 28 percent caught-stealing rate, though he’s improved considerably in that regard over the course of his career; his marks in recent seasons are well above the league average, though he does grade out as a somewhat below average pitch framer.

White Sox, Rob Scahill Agree To Minor League Deal

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Right-handed reliever Rob Scahill has agreed to a minor league contract with the White Sox, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (on Twitter). The Marc Kligman client will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training and compete for a bullpen spot.

It’s a homecoming for Scahill, who was raised in the Chicago suburbs and attended both high school and college in Illinois. The 30-year-old (31 in February) has seen action in parts of six Major League seasons with the Rockies, Pirates and Brewers and spent the entirety of the 2017 campaign in the Milwaukee organization. Scahill logged 22 1/3 innings in the Majors with the Brewers and pitched to a 4.43 ERA, albeit with just 10 strikeouts against 10 walks. He logged an additional 25 1/3 frames in Triple-A, where he posted a 1.40 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9.

Overall, Scahill has tossed 144 2/3 innings in the Majors and averaged 6.0 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and 1.0 HR/9 with a 54.8 percent ground-ball rate. Though he doesn’t miss many bats, he’s averaged better than 94 mph on his sinker and held righties to a fairly modest .232/.317/.389 batting line throughout his big league tenure.

Mariners Sign Hisashi Iwakuma To Minor League Contract

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Dec. 1: FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Iwakuma’s contract comes with a $2.5MM base salary upon making the big league roster as well as a hefty $6MM worth of incentives based on games started. Heyman also notes that Iwakuma’s deal contains a separate incentives package based on potential work out of the bullpen.

Nov. 27: The Mariners announced that they’ve re-signed right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.

Iwakuma, 37 in April, has spent his entire big league career with the Mariners, for whom he debuted back in 2012. Seattle bought out the 2018 club option on his contract after an injury-ruined 2017 season in which a right shoulder injury limited Iwakuma to just 31 innings. However, the veteran told reporters in Japan recently that he was weighing an offer to return to the Mariners. He’ll now head to big league camp with the M’s and try to earn a spot on the roster for what would be his seventh season in the Emerald City.

While the 2017 season wasn’t pretty for Iwakuma, he’s largely been an effective mid-rotation starter in Seattle — and quite a bit more in his best seasons. From 2012-16, Iwakuma turned in 852 2/3 innings of 3.39 ERA ball, averaging 7.4 K/9 against an outstanding 1.8 BB/9 mark while routinely turning in yearly ground-ball rates right around the 50 percent mark. His best campaign by virtually any measure came in 2013, when the then-32-year-old made his lone All-Star team and finished third in American League Cy Young voting on the heels of a 2.66 ERA over the life of 219 2/3 innings.

It’s obviously not reasonable to expect Iwakuma to return to his peak form, but even his 2016 season was a solid effort — one that the Mariners would be happy to see replicated in 2018. That year saw Iwakuma produce 199 innings of 4.12 ERA ball with averages of 6.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 against a 40.8 percent ground-ball rate.

Iwakuma won’t be guaranteed a rotation spot, as he has been in previous seasons with the Mariners, but he ought to have a legitimate chance to reclaim his place in manager Scott Servais’ starting five if he’s health come March. At present, the Mariners have James Paxton, Felix Hernandez and Mike Leake locked into rotation spots. Beyond that mix, however, there would appear to be two open spots. Iwakuma will join a race that includes Erasmo Ramirez, Andrew Moore, Marco Gonzales and Andrew Albers. Righties Chase De Jong, Max Povse, Rob Whalen and Seth Frankoff are all currently on the Mariners’ 40-man roster as well.

Brewers, Stephen Vogt Avoid Arbitration

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The Brewers have avoided arbitration with catcher Stephen Vogt by agreeing to a $3.065MM salary for the 2018 campaign, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). Vogt had been mentioned as a potential non-tender candidate but will remain with the Brew Crew in 2018 and has one more year of arbitration eligibility beyond that.

That Vogt received a minimal $100K raise on last year’s $2.965MM salary — MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him at $3.9MM — suggests that the Brewers did indeed weigh a non-tender of the 33-year-old. Many clubs figure to offer deals with extremely modest raises (or, in some instances, salary cuts) to their borderline tender candidates between now and tonight’s 8pm ET deadline. Final offers may effectively be presented in “take it or leave it” fashion, with the “leave it” option resulting in a non-tender.

Vogt figures to head into 2018 as the backup to Manny Pina after the 30-year-old Pina cemented himself as Milwaukee’s top catching option. Pina comes with a limited track record, though, and Vogt was a steady regular with the A’s for a few years, so it’s possible he could eventually step into a larger role.

This past season, Vogt hit just .217/.287/.357 in 174 plate appearances with the A’s, ultimately leading Oakland to designate the fan favorite and clubhouse leader for assignment. He stepped up his power game in a brief sample with the Brewers upon being claimed off waivers, hitting .254/.281/.508 with seven big flies in 129 trips to the plate. Overall, Vogt’s .233/.285/.423 slash and 12 homers were passable for a catcher, though he also struggled with just a 13 percent caught-stealing rate. Baseball Prospectus did credit him with the best framing marks of his career, grading him decidedly above average in that regard.

With Vogt’s situation resolved, the Brewers now have six other players eligible for arbitration in the form of Jared Hughes, Jeremy Jeffress, Jonathan Villar, Jimmy Nelson, Hernan Perez and Corey Knebel. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel suggested last night that Jeffress and Hughes are the team’s remaining non-tender candidates.

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