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Archives for March 2018

Tigers Release Travis Wood

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The Tigers announced this morning that they’ve given lefty Travis Wood his unconditional release. Wood, 31, had been in camp on a minor league contract trying to make the big league pitching staff, but those hopes were dashed when he suffered a torn ACL while executing a rundown in his first start of the spring.

Wood signed a two-year, $12MM deal with the Royals last offseason but struggled mightily in Kansas City and was traded to the Padres alongside Matt Strahm in the summer trade that netted the Royals Trevor Cahill, Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter. His fortunes didn’t turn in San Diego, though, and the Padres wound up releasing him this offseason despite the fact that the Royals are on the hook for the entirety of his 2018 salary. In all, Wood logged a disastrous 6.80 ERA and allowed 19 home runs in just 94 innings between the two teams in 2017.

Grisly as those numbers were, the veteran lefty logged a tidy 2.95 ERA in 61 frames in 2016, and he was a generally useful arm in a five-year stint split between the Cubs’ rotation and bullpen, working to a cumulative 3.94 ERA through 691 1/3 innings from 2012-16 — including a 200-inning campaign for the Cubs in 2013.

The ACL tear means that Wood will require surgical repair and miss the upcoming 2018 campaign, though he can likely find his way into big league camp with a club next spring once he’s recovered from the injury. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted recently that if and when Wood was released, Detroit could potentially re-sign him to a new minor league pact.

NL West Notes: Dickerson, Dodgers, Ohtani, D-backs

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Padres outfielder Alex Dickerson has been diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left (throwing) elbow, and surgery is a possibility, writes MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. It’s a tough break for the 27-year-old Dickerson, who missed all of the 2017 season following back surgery but showed some promise at the plate in his rookie campaign in 2016. That year, Dickerson slashed .257/.333/.455 with 10 homers in 285 plate appearances while walking at a 9.1 percent clip and fanning in just 15.4 percent of his plate appearances. Per Cassavell, the club is “hopeful” that Dickerson won’t require Tommy John surgery, but even if he doesn’t require surgery, he’s likely to miss at least the first month of the season.

More from the NL West…

  • Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times takes an excellent look at the Dodgers’ failed pursuit of Shohei Ohtani. The team had Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner and Chris Taylor fly into L.A. to help sell Ohtani on the Dodgers in their in-person meeting, but it proved to be a somewhat frustrating experience. Both Turner and Kershaw candidly stated that the process felt like a “waste of time,” indicating that Ohtani already seemed set on signing with an AL club where he could serve as a part-time DH. Kershaw didn’t express any ill feelings toward Ohtani himself, though he voiced some frustration toward CAA, Ohtani’s agency, over the matter. “I’m kind of mad at his agent for making us waste all that time and effort,” said Kershaw. “Fifteen teams should have been out of it, from the beginning.” Ohtani’s agent with CAA, Nez Balelo, issued a rebuttal to McCullough in which he calls any assertion that Ohtani would meet with a team for which he had no interest in playing “unfounded and an insult to [Ohtani’s] personal ethics.” Balelo also points out that Ohtani met with more NL clubs (four) than AL clubs (three). It’s a fascinating column that is filled with quotes from Kershaw, Turner, Balelo, Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman.
  • The D-backs have plenty of roster decisions to make by the end of Spring Training, but the bench presents a particularly enigmatic situation, writes Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. GM Mike Hazen and skipper Torey Lovullo need to determine whether they plan to carry seven or eight relievers, which will determine whether they utilize a four- or five-man bench. Even if it’s the latter, there are numerous battles for a spot. Lovullo calls a third catcher a “luxury” that he enjoyed in 2017, but Chris Herrmann or John Ryan Murphy (the two men who’d compete to fill that role) are vying with Yasmany Tomas and possibly Christian Walker for a potential fifth bench slot. The first four slots figure to go to Jeff Mathis, Chris Owings, Jarrod Dyson and Daniel Descalso, with Nick Ahmed and Ketel Marte likely holding the up-the-middle starting gigs. Notably, both Herrmann and Murphy are out of minor league options.

Royals Sign Ricky Nolasco To Minor League Deal

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7:55pm: The Royals announced the signing.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provides a more in-depth breakdown of Nolasco’s incentive structure (Twitter link). The veteran righty would unlock a $25K bonus for making his 10th start of the season, and he’d earn an additional $25K for each start up through his 19th of the year. For a pitcher with Nolasco’s recent durability, that’s a highly attainable set of bonuses, though he’s obviously far from a lock to even make the big league roster.

5:15pm: The Royals and Nolasco are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links). He’ll earn a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the Major League roster and has another $250K of incentives available to him. Nolasco’s deal also has a March 24th out clause.

3:54pm: The two sides are discussing a minor league contract, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (via Twitter), though he cautions that the deal is not yet complete.

3:32pm: The Royals are closing in on an agreement with free-agent right-hander Ricky Nolasco, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). Nolasco, a client of Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon, will provide some depth for a thin group of rotation candidates with the Royals, who recently lost righty Jesse Hahn to the 60-day DL due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament.

Last season, the 35-year-old Nolasco wrapped up a four-year, $49MM deal initially signed with the Twins, though he played out the final season of that contract with the Angels after being flipped to them at the 2016 non-waiver trade deadline. Signed to serve as a durable innings eater in the middle of the Twins’ rotation, Nolasco lost much of his first two years of that deal to injury.

He bounced back to make 65 starts from 2016-17, though the results in that time weren’t what either the Twins or Halos would’ve hoped; over the past two seasons, Nolasco has soaked up 378 2/3 innings between the two clubs but struggled to a 4.66 ERA and averaged 1.4 homers per nine innings pitched.

To his credit, Nolasco has managed to keep his velocity steady, sitting in the 90-91 mph range into his mid-30s, and he posted a career-best 10.9 percent swinging-strike rate with the Angels in 2017. That said, he was still far too hittable — 205 hits in 181 innings — and yielded a 37.6 percent hard-contact rate that ranked as the fourth-highest among all qualified starters.

With the Royals, Nolasco will vie for a spot in a rotation that will include Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy and Jason Hammel. Jake Junis and Nate Karns are both candidates for the final two spots, with Junis turning in a solid rookie effort in 2017 and Karns looking for a comeback following surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome. Wily Peralta, Eric Skoglund, Sam Gaviglio and Trevor Oaks are among the other rotation candidates on the 40-man roster.

Rays Release Dustin McGowan

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Veteran right-hander Dustin McGowan, who has been in camp with the Rays on a minor league contract, was informed by the team that he would not make the Opening Day roster and has been released, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin noted (on Twitter) that out of respect to McGowan, the organization offered him the chance to remain in camp and keep working out as he searched for a new opportunity with another organization, though he appears to have declined that offer.

McGowan, 36 later this month, spent the 2016-17 seasons with the Marlins, totaling 144 2/3 innings of 3.86 ERA ball and averaging 7.9 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9 with a 53 percent ground-ball rate along the way. A starter early in his career with the Blue Jays, McGowan has worked almost entirely out of the bullpen since 2013 — often tossing more than one inning per appearance — and logged a 4.08 ERA in 275 2/3 frames in that time. He’ll presumably look to latch on elsewhere, hoping another club will provide him a stronger opportunity to earn a roster spot.

[Related: Updated Tampa Bay Rays depth chart]

As for the Rays, they’re still trying to sort out who will fill the final few spots in their bullpen behind Alex Colome, Sergio Romo, Daniel Hudson and lefties Dan Jennings and Jose Alvarado. The 40-man roster presents numerous options, including Andrew Kittredge, Chaz Roe, Austin Pruitt, Ryne Stanek, Jaime Schultz and Diego Castillo. The Rays also have several left-handers with big league experience in camp as non-roster invitees: Jonny Venters, Vidal Nuno, Adam Kolarek and Dan Runzler.

While that’s a large group of candidates, the Rays look to be slowly narrowing the field. In addition to allowing McGowan to explore other opportunities, the Rays released veteran righty Evan Scribner earlier this afternoon. Like McGowan, Scribner had been in camp on a minor league deal.

Scott Boras Reports Progress On Remaining Free Agents

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6:11pm: Boras spoke with Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star about Moustakas at greater length, and Mellinger suggests that Boras and Moustakas may be comfortable waiting until after the June draft to sign. At that point, there’d be no draft compensation attached to Moustakas, and there’d also be the possibility that more teams have unexpected needs at third base (or that unexpected contenders are looking to add).

Boras isn’t directly quoted regarding the possibility of waiting until June, it should be noted, and the agent spoke with some optimism that Moustakas could yet find a landing spot before the season begins.

“The teams are coming, and Moose is going to be playing baseball,” said Boras to Mellinger. “But I don’t control time, and I don’t control competitiveness. The question is when do those teams want to commit to winning, and of course I think he’ll be playing, yes.”

Boras does note that free agency would be a “totally different world” for Moustakas were draft forfeitures not attached to signing him, pointing out that the new CBA stipulates that players can only receive one QO in their career. With that in mind, perhaps Boras and Moustakas would be amenable to a one-year pact that would allow for another crack at the open market next season, when Moustakas will still be a relatively youthful 30 years old.

11:03am: Agent Scott Boras, who represents many of the top remaining free agents, suggested to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi that at least some of his clients could be nearing new contracts. (Twitter link.)

Boras represents four still-unsigned players who had spots on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agent list: Jake Arrieta, Mike Moustakas, Greg Holland, and Carlos Gonzalez. Four other players with other representation from that list of fifty names also remain available.

Morosi says he posed the question to Boras whether deals were imminent for any of his four top free agents. This was the response:

“We’re closer to deals than we were two weeks ago. Some of those things are only a phone call away.”

Clearly, there’s nothing earth-shattering in that quote. But it’s nevertheless notable to hear that real progress has been made. And given Boras’s frequent barrage of criticisms over the course of the offseason, it’s also worth emphasizing that this relative optimism could well be a real indication that the end is in sight for some of these players — particularly given the clear suggestion that there are some firm offers on the table.

Of course, there’s also little in the way of specifics. In some cases, Boras clients still seem to face relatively meager prospects for maximizing their value. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently examined the remaining top-fifty free agents in a piece that covers the field of potential suitors and illustrates the less-than-ideal leverage situation from the players’ perspective.

Mariners Designate Shawn Armstrong For Assignment

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The Mariners have designated right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Ichiro Suzuki, whose return to the organization is now official (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Greg Johns).

Seattle acquired Armstrong, 27, in a minor December swap that sent $500K of international bonus allotments to the Indians. Armstrong spent his entire career in the Indians organization prior to that trade, debuting with the big league club in 2015 and going on to pitch 43 1/3 innings out of the Major League bullpen from 2015-17. In that time, he worked to a solid 3.53 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.45 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Armstrong, however, was out of minor league options and was not a lock to make a bullpen that figures to be anchored by closer Edwin Diaz and righties Juan Nicasio, David Phelps and Nick Vincent in addition to lefties James Pazos and Marc Rzepczynski. That left just two spots for Armstrong, Mike Morin, Dan Altavilla, Tony Zych, Chasen Bradford and Nick Rumbelow — each of whom is on the 40-man roster and has minor league options remaining.

The Mariners will have a week to trade Armstrong or place him on outright waivers with the hopes of keeping him in the organization. He’s had a solid spring to date, allowing a run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

Jose De Leon To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Rays have lost a second highly touted pitching prospect to a torn ulnar collateral ligament, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that right-hander Jose De Leon is headed for Tommy John surgery (Twitter link). Fellow right-hander Brent Honeywell, widely regarded as Tampa Bay’s best all-around prospect, underwent Tommy John earlier this spring.

Acquired last offseason in a straight-up swap for infielder Logan Forsythe, De Leon was thought to be a near-MLB-ready asset at the time of the trade. However, De Leon battled a flexor strain and tendinitis in his elbow for much of the 2017 season and was ultimately limited to just 41 innings on the season as a whole — 38 1/3 frames in Triple-A plus another 2 2/3 innings at the big league level. Now, with today’s news, the Rays won’t have the opportunity to reap much benefit from that trade until 2019, at the earliest.

While the Rays have an enviable stock of MLB-caliber arms on the precipice of breaking into the Majors, there’s no question that the team’s pitching depth has taken a massive hit in recent weeks. The Rays felt comfortable enough with their depth to trade righty Jake Odorizzi to the Twins in a move that looks to have been largely motivated by finances, and in the three brief weeks since that trade they’ve lost both Honeywell and De Leon — effectively removing three rotation candidates from their roster in under a month’s time.

Tampa Bay will open the season with Chris Archer, Nathan Eovaldi, Blake Snell and Jake Faria in a four-man rotation, with Matt Andriese reportedly likely to jump in as a fifth starter after a few weeks. (The early schedule affords enough off days that Andriese can be used as a multi-inning reliever in the interim.) If Faria can build off an impressive rookie season (3.43 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 in 86 2/3 innings) and Snell can continue at the pace he showed in a very strong second half of the 2017 season (3.49 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 2.9 BB/9), then the Rays still boast a solid mix of starters even with the recent rash of injuries.

Beyond that quintet, the Rays still have lefties Anthony Banda and Ryan Yarbrough in addition to righty Yonny Chirinos waiting in the wings at Triple-A. Nonetheless, Tampa Bay is considerably less equipped to handle a major injury (or injuries) in the rotation now than it was at the onset of Spring Training. The organization no doubt has Double-A arms that can move up to step into the Triple-A vacancies, though it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see them pursue some additional veteran depth from outside the organization after losing both De Leon and Honeywell for the year.

Rangers Sign Tim Lincecum

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MARCH 7: Lincecum can take home an additional $500K in incentives tied to appearances, anther $500K in roster bonuses, $2MM based upon games finished, and $1.5MM for games started, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links). There’s also a $500K payout if he’s able to earn the nod as the comeback player of the year.

MARCH 6, 10:10pm: Lincecum passed his physical, Heyman tweets. The right-hander has already been at camp in Rangers gear giving interviews, so it seems his deal will likely be announced tomorrow.

12:02pm: The club has confirmed the agreement but says it is not quite finalized and won’t be announced today, as TR Sullivan of MLB.com was among those to tweet.

FEBRUARY 27, 7:21pm: Lincecum’s deal comes with a $1MM base salary and incentives to drive the salary up from that point, Grant tweets.

3:23pm: Lincecum has indeed agreed to a Major League contract, pending a physical, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Rangers plan to utilize Lincecum out of the bullpen, where he could compete for a presently vacant closer’s role. Passan suggested earlier on Twitter that Lincecum could be a relief option in Texas.

2:53pm: The Rangers have struck a deal with righty Tim Lincecum, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Presumably, the contract is of the MLB variety and pending a physical, though details remain unknown at this time. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) reported the sides were nearing a deal.

Texas has steadily added arms all winter long, rebuilding a pitching staff that entered the offseason with little in the way of certainty. Lincecum, like some of the other newly acquired players, certainly comes with ample uncertainty of his own, but the overall picture of the staff is at the very least much more interesting than it was four months ago.

Lincecum represents a wild card for the Rangers’ staff. He was drubbed for 68 hits and 39 runs in 38 1/3 innings in 2016, did not even pitch in 2017, and has not posted a sub-4.00 ERA since 2011. But Lincecum also had a four-year run (2008 to 2011) as arguably the game’s best pitcher. More importantly, he reportedly impressed scouts with his form and fitness in a recent showcase.

Of equal intrigue to just how the two-time Cy Young winner will look is how the Rangers will use him. The 33-year-old has functioned almost exclusively as a starter throughout his career. But the Rangers’ strategy this winter has been to add flexible hurlers that can contribute multiple innings in any role. There are also some suggestions that Texas could consider utilizing Lincecum in a late-inning capacity, though perhaps the overall impression at this point is that the organization intends to mix and match as circumstances dictate rather than committing to traditional roles.

Rays Release Evan Scribner

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The Rays have released right-hander Evan Scribner, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The move comes just about a month since Scribner signed on with Tampa Bay.

Scribner, a 32-year-old reliever, had made just one appearance this spring, throwing a clean frame. Evidently, the Rays did not like what they saw or the sides both decided to go their separate ways.

It seems that Scribner will need to earn his way back to the majors with another organization. He has seen at least some MLB time in each of the past seven seasons, working to a 4.15 ERA and 8.3 K/9 against 1.5 BB/9 in 169 frames. Remarkably, he handed out just six walks in his 93 most recent major-league innings. Unfortunately, injuries limited Scribner to just 33 2/3 innings at all levels over the past two seasons.

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