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Archives for January 2019

Mariners To Re-Sign Ichiro Suzuki

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The Mariners have reached agreement on a minor-league deal with ageless outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). It would pay him at a $750K rate in the majors.

While the contract may come as a surprise to some, it has long been something of an inevitability. When the legendary former star wrapped up his most recent stint with the M’s last May, the sides made clear that the arrangement — in which Ichiro traveled and trained with the big league club but did not suit up for games — would not preclude a return to action in the future. Since that time, Ichiro has prepared to play in 2019, with the club indicating it would give him an opportunity in camp.

At this point, it’s a risk-free move for the Seattle team. Indications are that Ichiro will at least be utilized to open the season, as the M’s are slated to kick things off with a two-game series in his native Japan in which the team will be able to carry a 28-man roster. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess whether Ichiro has a real shot at sticking on the active roster, but it certainly seems at least possible he’ll do so in what has already been declared something of a transition year for the club.

Needless to say, it’s an unusual situation. Then again, few if any players have combined Ichiro’s (metaphorically) towering stature with his unending drive to play the game. For a Seattle team that has failed to reach its goals over the past few seasons (and then some), there’s obviously an opportunity here to continue to benefit from a uniquely great player. There’s also still no shortage of potentially tricky terrain to navigate.

Cuban Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez Cleared To Sign With MLB Teams

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Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez has left Cuba and has been cleared by Major League Baseball to sign with teams beginning on Feb. 5, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs report. The 21-year-old (22 in March) will be subject to MLB’s international bonus pool system.

Sanchez’s stats in his limited professional experience won’t wow anyone — he’s a .297/.338/.345 hitter in 435 plate appearances — but McDaniel and Longenhagen nonetheless paint him as a likely seven-figure bonus recipient due to his raw speed, glovework at shortstop and arm strength — each of which are considered by scouts to be anywhere from above average to plus. Their report notes that scouts view him as the type of prospect who’ll typically command a bonus between $2-4MM.

Certainly, that bodes well for the Orioles, who still have upwards of $6MM in their international bonus pool after whiffing on prospects Victor Victor Mesa, Victor Mesa Jr. and Sandy Gaston when the trio signed early in the 2018-19 offseason (the Mesa brothers with the Marlins; Gaston with the Rays).

Of course, the mere fact that the Orioles presently have the most money at their disposal doesn’t by any means make Baltimore a lock to sign Sanchez. The O’s, after all, had the ability to make larger offers to the Mesa brothers and Gaston but did not ultimately ink any of the trio. It’s also possible that they don’t view Sanchez as a prospect who should command such an investment — or at least that they don’t like him to the same extent as another organization with millions remaining in its bonus pool. Beyond that, Sanchez could technically opt to wait until July 2 to sign, at which point bonus pools would reset and present him with a vastly larger list of suitors.

While Baltimore is the runaway leader in remaining pool space, McDaniel and Longenhagen write that the Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies are among the teams with the most resources remaining. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez adds the Cardinals to the mix, noting that St. Louis has an estimated $1.85MM remaining in its pool. Sanchez pegs the Dodgers at about $1.4MM, the Phillies at roughly $1MM and the Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox in the $750-800K range. Sanchez will hold workouts for teams later this week in the Dominican Republic, per Fangraphs’ report.

NL Notes: Realmuto, Dodgers, Braves, Markakis, Cardinals, Gray

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The Dodgers’ recent acquisition of Russell Martin hasn’t taken them out of the running for Marlins star J.T. Realmuto, reports Joe Frisaro of MLB.com. To the contrary, the Dodgers are still discussing a potential Realmuto deal with Miami, and catching prospect Keibert Ruiz is among the names Miami is targeting. Although he opened the 2018 season at just 19 years of age, Ruiz spent the entire season with the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate. Ruiz was nearly five years younger than the average player in the Double-A Texas League, but the switch-hitter nevertheless held his own, hitting .268/.328/.401 with a dozen home runs and 14 doubles in a career-high 415 plate appearances. Ruiz also demonstrated preternatural bat-to-ball abilities, striking out in only eight percent of his plate appearances. He currently ranks 36th among all MLB prospects on the latest rankings from Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs.

Here’s more from the Senior Circuit…

  • Nick Markakis told reporters on today’s conference call that he had larger offers in both overall value and in guaranteed length but felt strongly about returning to the Braves for a fifth season (link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Markakis re-upped with Atlanta on a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $6MM — a $4MM salary in 2019 and a $2MM buyout on a $6MM option for the 2020 season — and general manager Alex Anthopoulos indicated that the unexpectedly affordable rate could help the Braves accomplish some other offseason goals. “Nick coming back on these terms allow us to pursue other things, have financial flexibility to improve the club in other ways,” said Anthopoulos. (David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets that the team’s next move may not occur until Spring Training is underway, though.) Burns notes that Markakis won’t suit up for all 162 games next season, as he did in 2018, which the club believes will help the 35-year-old to stay fresher and to avoid a second-half slump.
  • Signing Paul Goldschmidt to an extension could be a bit more complicated for the Cardinals than many would think, as Mark Saxon of The Athletic explores in his latest column (subscription required). Goldschmidt has already signed what turned out to be one exceptionally team-friendly extension, and as the former union representative for the D-backs, he takes particular umbrage with team owners’ increasing reluctance toward spending in free agency. Saxon wonders whether Goldschmidt will feel obligated to push for a maximum-value contract given his views, though he emphasizes that Goldschmidt himself has declined to discuss his feelings about a new contract. And, as Saxon further writes, there are no indications that talks between the Cardinals and Goldschmidt’s agent, Casey Close, have begun.
  • Sonny Gray spoke with reporters about his decision to sign an extension with the Reds before ever suiting up for a single game with the team (link via Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Gray noted that his relationship with newly hired pitching coach Derek Johnson, who previously was his pitching coach at Vanderbilt, played a significant role in the decision. The Reds also have one of Gray’s college battery-mates, Curt Casali, on the roster as a backup to starter Tucker Barnhart. Gray also explained that his late father was a Reds fan, adding that the first MLB game he ever attended as a child was at Great American Ball Park. As to what prompted his struggles in New York this past season, Gray was uncertain but said he feels stronger having endured the struggles. “I honestly think you can go through some hardships at times and come out the other end better than you ever were,” Gray said.

Angels Sign Cody Allen

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Jan. 22: Allen will earn $250K upon reaching both 35 and 40 games finished, Heyman tweets. He’ll receive $500K for reaching 45, 50 and 55 games finished, and he’ll also receive a $500K assignment bonus in the event that he is traded.

Jan. 20: The deal is official, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. The incentives are for $2MM, not $2.5MM, Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group reports.

Jan. 18: Allen will be guaranteed $8.5MM and can earn another $2.5MM based on his number of games finished, Rosenthal tweets. It’s a straight one-year deal with no options, which will allow Allen to re-enter the market next offseason — hopefully on the heels of a rebound campaign. The signing is still pending a physical.

Jan. 17: The Angels have reportedly secured a one-year deal with veteran reliever Cody Allen. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link) first indicated that something may be in place, while ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan and Alden Gonzalez (Twitter links) reported that terms had indeed been agreed to.

The Meister Sports Management client will need to pass a physical before the deal is official. If and when that comes to pass, it seems he’ll earn something in the realm of $9MM, though that’s not fully clear. Incentive pay could also be a feature, though that too has yet to be reported. Neither is it yet known whether the pact includes an option, though Passan suggests that’s also a possibility.

Notably, Rosenthal indicates that Allen was specifically seeking an opportunity to function as a closer — a role he has a rather clear path to in Anaheim. By prioritizing the opportunity over the total length and guarantee, he could hope to bounce back and reenter the market next winter in search of a bigger deal. Prior to his messy 2018 campaign, after all, Allen had seemed on track for a sizable, multi-year pact in free agency.

This time last year, Allen had just agreed to a $10MM deal to avoid arbitration in his final season with the Indians. He had long since laid claim to the team’s closer role. In total, as of the conclusion of the 2017 season, Allen had run up 373 2/3 innings of 2.67 ERA pitching with 11.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 and 122 games saved.

With an immaculate record of durability, ample high-leverage experience, and consistently robust velocity readings and swinging-strike rates, Allen had all the makings of a top free agent closer. He was due to hit the market at a relatively youthful thirty years of age. That version of Allen might reasonably have looked to a contract like the Mark Melancon deal as a floor in free agency.

Instead, things went south in 2018. It was hardly a complete disaster, as Allen was healthy enough to make seventy appearances and save 27 ballgames while showing many of the same skills he always had. But it was a thoroughly diminished version of the hurler in many regards.

For starters, Allen averaged a career-low 94.0 mph with his fastball — a notable, though hardly monumental, decline from his typical levels. Whether that was the root cause isn’t entirely clear, but opposing batters seemingly found it easier to fight off his sliders; their contact rate on balls out of the zone jumped from below fifty percent (as low as 44.3% in 2017) all the way up to 56.9% last year. Ultimately, Allen recorded a 12.7% swinging-strike — his lowest since he became the closer for the Indians — while hard contact soared to 38.4% and he coughed up nearly a homer and a half per nine innings.

That’s not to say that all is lost. Perhaps Allen can rediscover a bit of juice on his heater, or otherwise adjust. He did end up being a bit unlucky, with Statcast crediting him with a .306 xwOBA that lagged the .323 wOBA that hitters produced against him. Things certainly didn’t end on a promising note, as Allen was bombed in two postseason appearances, but he may only be a mechanical adjustment or restful winter away from clicking back into gear.

The Halos, clearly, will take a roll of the dice on a return to form. As with rotation additions Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill, the organization clearly hopes to unearth some gems — or, at least, pick up some solid innings at a reasonable price — without tampering with its post-2019 balance sheet. Allen is certainly a reasonable risk, with clear upside, though the pitching unit as a whole still underwhelms on paper.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina Elected To Hall Of Fame

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Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina have all been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, per tonight’s announcement from Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson. Notably, Rivera becomes the first player in history to be unanimously selected into baseball immortality, as his name was checked on each of this year’s 425 ballots. Both Martinez and Halladay were selected on 85.4 percent of this year’s ballots, while Mussina narrowly made his way into Cooperstown with a 76.7 percent rate of selection.

Rivera was a lock to go into Cooperstown, though most expected that he’d still fall shy of unanimous enshrinement. That won’t be the case, however, as Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in saves (652), games finished (952) and ERA+ (205) was too clear a Hall of Famer for any voter to ignore. In addition to those three staggering numbers, Rivera retired with an 82-60 record, a 2.21 ERA, and an 1173-to-286 K/BB ratio in 1283 2/3 innings of regular-season work. Rivera was named to a whopping 13 All-Star teams over the course of a career that spanned parts of 19 seasons.

Of course, much of Rivera’s legacy is tied to his postseason heroics; the game’s premier reliever ratcheted up his penchant for domination in October (and November), pitching to a ludicrous 0.70 ERA with 110 strikeouts against 21 walks in 141 postseason innings. Rivera appeared in 96 postseason contests and racked up a workload that was roughly equivalent to two full regular seasons, and he somehow managed to limit opponents to just 11 earned runs in that time. He won five World Series rings with the Yankees and was named both an ALCS MVP and a World Series MVP during his illustrious career. It’s rare that players can be described with absolutism in a game as subjective as baseball, but it’s virtually unequivocal that Rivera is the best relief pitcher the game has ever seen.

Halladay, tragically, was taken from this world far sooner than his family, friends, former teammates and legions of fans could’ve imagined. The former Blue Jays and Phillies ace, a two-time Cy Young winner and eight-time All-Star, was killed when his single-engine plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 7, 2017. Halladay’s widow, Brandy, offered the following statement on behalf of her late husband:

Being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame is every boy’s dream.  To stand on that stage in Cooperstown and deliver your acceptance speech in front of baseball’s most enthusiastic fans is something that every baseball player aspires to achieve, and Roy was no exception.  But that was not Roy’s goal.  It was not his goal to have those three letters after his signature.  His goal was to be successful every single day of his 16-year career.  Tonight’s announcement is the end result of that effort.  If only Roy were here to personally express his gratitude for this honor, what an even more amazing day this would be.  I would like to extend special thanks to the baseball writers for the overwhelming percentage of votes that Roy received in his first year on the ballot.  It means so much to me, Braden and Ryan.

It’d be difficult to argue that Halladay isn’t a deserving candidate. Beyond his Cy Youngs and All-Star nods, the right-hander pitched to a 203-105 record with a career 3.38 ERA, a 2117-to-592 K/BB ratio, 20 shutouts and 67 complete games. At a time when baseball was moving further and further away from allowing pitchers to throw a full nine innings, Halladay stood out as a throwback who led the league in complete-game efforts in seven of his 16 seasons — including five in a row from 2007-11. Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs both valued his brilliant career at 65 wins above replacement. And while Halladay doesn’t have the lengthy postseason track record of Rivera — he logged a 2.37 ERA in 38 playoff frames — I’d be remiss not to mention the masterful no-hitter he pitched against the Reds in his postseason debut back in 2010. Halladay issued just one walk in an otherwise perfect showing, putting on a masterful display and further establishing himself as a big-game pitcher on a national stage.

The 56-year-old Martinez will be a controversial addition for some onlookers, given that he spent the vast majority of his career as a designated hitter. There’s little denying, however, that the Mariners franchise icon is one of the best pure hitters Major League Baseball has ever seen. Martinez won two American League batting titles, thrice led the league in on-base percentage and hit better than .300 in 10 separate seasons.

In all, Martinez retired as a .312/.418/.515 hitter with 309 home runs, 514 doubles, 15 triples, 2247 hits, 1219 runs scored and 1261 runs batted in. While his counting stats fall shy of what some consider to be Hall of Fame benchmarks (e.g. 500 home runs, 3000 hits), Martinez was consistently elite on a rate basis right up until the final season of his career. The seven-time All-Star was 47 percent better than a league-average hitter in the estimation of park- and league-adjusted stats like OPS+ and wRC+ (147 in each). Beyond that, he was the pinnacle of consistency, tallying an OPS+ of 140 or better in all but three seasons from 1990-2003 (with those three seasons including an injury-shortened ’93 campaign, the strike-shortened ’94 campaign and a 2002 season in which he posted a 139 OPS+).

Like Martinez, the 50-year-old Mussina perhaps falls shy of some long-considered “standard” Hall of Fame benchmarks, but he was a consistently excellent pitcher during the game’s all-time offensive peak. “Moose” retired with a 270-153 record, a 3.68 ERA and a 2813-to-785 K/BB ratio in 3562 2/3 innings of regular-season ball. A five-time All-Star who won seven Gold Glove Awards and had six top-five Cy Young finishes, Mussina was a true workhorse for the Orioles and Yankees over an 18-year career that included a decade-long peak during which he posted a cumulative 129 ERA+. Mussina topped 200 innings in nine straight seasons from 1995-2003, and he padded his Hall of Fame resume with another 139 2/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball in the postseason.

Some may be surprised to be reminded that Mussina never won a World Series, as he joined the Yankees for the first time in the season immediately following their 1998-2000 threepeat and retired a year before their ’09 return to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, Mussina was a consistent rotation stalwart who thrived in the midst of the steroid era while spending the entirety of his career pitching in the game’s toughest division.

Rangers Sign Zach McAllister

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4:21pm: The Rangers have now formally announced the addition of McAllister on a one-year deal. Their 40-man roster is now full, meaning they’ll need to make a corresponding move once Asdrubal Cabrera’s reported one-year agreement becomes official.

3:55pm: The Rangers are in agreement on a one-year, Major League contract with veteran right-handed reliever Zach McAllister, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Excel Sports client will earn a $1MM salary in 2019, and Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that he can boost his earnings via an incentives package.

McAllister, 31, struggled through an awful 2018 campaign with the Indians and Tigers, posting a combined 6.20 ERA in 45 innings of relief between the two clubs. He did turn in a quality 39-to-10 K/BB ratio in that time, though, and McAllister’s 95.3 mph average fastball velocity was as strong as ever. Additionally, he actually made some gains in swinging-strike rate and particularly on his opponents’ chase rate on out-of-zone pitches.

It’s also worth noting that McAllister was a quality reliever for Cleveland from 2015-17, during which time he turned in a 2.99 ERA with 10.0 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 through 183 1/3 innings of work. Texas has plenty of open spots in its relief corps behind closer Jose Leclerc and the re-signed Jesse Chavez, so it’s not all that surprising to see the organization add an affordable veteran arm. If McAllister can successfully rebound to his 2015-17 form, he’d presumably become a trade asset for the Rangers this summer.

The Rangers organization has yet to announce the move, but Texas did announce a trio of minor league signees today — right-handers Taylor Guerrieri and Michael Tonkin, as well as catcher Tony Sanchez. Each will be invited to Major League Spring Training. Tonkin’s addition was already covered here at MLBTR earlier this month.

Guerrieri, 26, made his MLB with the Blue Jays this past season but only appeared in nine games, totaling 9 2/3 innings with a 4.66 ERA (five runs allowed). A former first-round pick and top prospect with the Rays, Guerrieri’s career has been slowed by injury — most notably including Tommy John surgery in 2013. He’s also served a 50-game suspension in the minor leagues (for a “drug of abuse” as opposed to a performance-enhancing substance). Guerrieri has pitched to a 3.31 ERA in parts of two Double-A seasons (182 innings) but has not yet found much in the way of success in Triple-A or the Majors.

Sanchez, now 30 years of age, was a first-rounder himself back in ’09 but has appeared in just 52 big league games with a .257/.301/.375 slash to his name through 156 plate appearances. He’s a career .253/.340/.403 hitter in nearly 2000 Triple-A plate appearances, though, and he’ll give Texas some depth behind 40-man options that include Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Jeff Mathis and Jose Trevino. Jett Bandy, too, will be in camp with the Rangers as a non-roster invitee.

Athletics Claim Parker Bridwell

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The Athletics have claimed righty Parker Bridwell off waivers from the Angels, per a club announcement. He had recently been designated for assignment by the Halos for the second time this offseason.

The 27-year-old Bridwell will give the A’s some much-needed rotation depth. Oakland will be without top starter Sean Manaea for the 2019 season following shoulder surgery, and the A’s have also seen 2018 starters Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Edwin Jackson all hit free agency. Right-hander Mike Fiers, too, was briefly a free agent after being non-tendered by Oakland, but he’s since returned on a new two-year contract.

Bridwell struggled through a nightmare season in 2018, pitching just 6 2/3 innings at the Major League level while being clobbered for 13 runs on 14 hits — including five home runs. His Triple-A work wasn’t much better, as injuries limited him to 28 innings and he yielded nearly a run per inning pitched.

However, Bridwell is also only a season removed from 121 innings of 3.64 ERA ball with the 2017 Angels. Bridwell’s meager 5.4 K/9 and near-80 percent strand rate that season called his ability to sustain that success into question, but the A’s are thin on rotation options at the moment and Bridwell now figures to factor squarely into that mix.  He’s out of minor league options, so assuming he sticks on Oakland’s 40-man roster into Spring Training, he’ll need to break camp with the team or else once again be exposed to waivers.

Tigers Sign Gordon Beckham

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In announcing their non-roster invitees, the Tigers revealed that they have signed veteran infielder Gordon Beckham. Clearly, he’ll be on hand in camp this spring. Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that Beckham’s contract comes with a $700K base salary if he makes the big league roster.

Beckham will be looking to win a job as a bench piece in Detroit. While the club has little reason to utilize veterans in a manner that would block younger talent, it surely also wants to install some respected players and maintain a certain standard during another transition year. If he can’t crack the roster, Beckham would potentially represent worthwhile depth at Triple-A.

The opportunities have been sporadic of late for Beckham, who was once a regular with the White Sox. Still, he has appeared in every one of the past ten MLB seasons, compiling a cumulative .239/.302/.366 slash in 3542 plate appearances. Beckham, who’s an option at second and third base, did post a strong .302/.400/.458 batting line last year at Triple-A while drawing more walks (57) than strikeouts (52) in his 425 trips to the plate.

Braves Re-Sign Nick Markakis

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The Braves have officially announced a one-year, $6MM deal to re-sign outfielder Nick Markakis, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links). That amount includes a $4MM salary for the coming season as well as a $2MM buyout on a 2020 club option that’s valued at $6MM. Markakis is a client of TWC Sports.

With the move, the Braves have evidently resolved their right field opening by returning to a known commodity. The 35-year-old Markakis just wrapped up a four-year, $44MM deal with the Atlanta organization, during which he appeared in all but a dozen of the team’s contests.

The last season of that pact was easily the best for Markakis, at least from an offensive perspective, as he posted his most productive campaign at the plate since way back in 2012. Ultimately, he slashed a healthy .297/.366/.440 through 705 plate appearances.

Despite the boost in output, Markakis will secure a good bit less than MLBTR had predicted (two years, $16MM). As Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets, though, GM Alex Anthopoulos said that other teams put more years and dollars on the table. Markakis simply preferred to come back to Atlanta.

Regardless, the market was obviously well aware of the various qualifiers to the offensive numbers that Markakis put up in 2018. Most notably, he failed to sustain the eye-popping power surge he displayed to open the season, hitting just seven long balls over his final 545 plate appearances. Markakis finished with a .143 ISO that steadily topped his output over his first three seasons in Atlanta. It seems fair to say there’s good reason to question whether he’ll sustain that; odds are, he’ll regress back toward the league-average-ish overall batting productivity levels he had settled in at over the prior half-decade.

To be sure, a significant portion of Markakis’s reputation has been built on his abilities in the field (as well as his durability). Though metrics haven’t seen him as an extraordinary fielder of late, he did pick up his third Gold Glove award last year.

In the aggregate, though, Markakis seems to be more of a candidate to function as a platoon piece than a true regular — at least for a team that has designs on a repeat division title. He has a lifetime .808 OPS against right-handed pitching, 83 points higher than his output against southpaws.

That would line up nicely with Adam Duvall, supposing the right-handed hitter can rebound from a dreadful second-half run with the Braves. With the team also intending to utilize switch-hitter Johan Camargo at times in the outfield, and center fielder Ender Inciarte also perhaps a candidate to sit at times against southpaws, there should be plenty of mix-and-match opportunities — supposing, at least, that Markakis is asked to play a reduced role for the first time in his 13-year career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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