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Pitching Market Rumors: Giants, Gray, Rangers, Allen, Scrabble

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The pitching market continues to proceed at a steady but unhurried pace, with today’s reunion between the Giants and Derek Holland marking the latest signing of note. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to cover the news from the team’s perspective. While the organization has undergone front office changes since Holland wrapped up a solid performance on a one-year deal in 2018, new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi still made the call to bring back the southpaw. That was due in no small part to the club’s positive experience with him last year, both on and off the field. Zaidi emphasized that the team still wants to find more rotation depth this winter, though it’s far from clear that any further MLB signings will be pursued. It certainly seems possible that the club will add plausible rotation pieces via trade or on minor-league deals.

Here’s the latest on the pitching market:

  • Talks surrounding Sonny Gray have “ramped up” since Yankees’ lefty CC Sabathia was cleared to resume baseball activities last week, Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets. The Yankees are discussing Gray with six teams, including the Reds, per Heyman, though previous reports had indicated that Cincinnati’s interest had cooled off since adding Alex Wood and Tanner Roark. Gray agreed to a $7.5MM salary over the weekend, falling shy of MLBTR’s $9.1MM projection and perhaps making him a bit more appealing to clubs who’ve already added a fair bit of payroll this offseason.
  • The Rangers are maintaining interest in adding some free-agent arms to their bullpen and have been in recent contact with the representatives for right-handers Adam Ottavino and Cody Allen, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links). However, the likelier route is that the Rangers will add multiple lower-cost relievers rather than one higher-end piece. Rosenthal adds Adam Warren to the list of potential Texas targets and notes that the Rangers are also still looking to add an infielder. Meanwhile, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that the Twins still have interest in Allen. Minnesota was connected to Allen earlier this winter and has since signed Blake Parker, though they’re still in the market for additional relief help. Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey knows Allen quite well from his days in the Indians’ front office.
  • Free-agent lefty Marc Rzepczynski is hosting a showcase for big league teams tomorrow, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. The 33-year-old southpaw struggled tremendously in 2018 both at the Majors and in Triple-A, and he’ll look to audition for clubs on what figures to be a minor league deal with a chance to reestablish himself as a credible option. “Scrabble” has worked as a lefty specialist for the bulk of his career, as he hasn’t topped 50 innings since 2011 despite averaging 64 MLB appearances per season from 2012-17. In his career, he’s held lefties to an awful .225/.296/.305 batting line through 857 plate appearances.

Rays To Sign Avisail Garcia

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The Rays have reached agreement on a contract with free-agent outfielder Avisail Garcia. He’ll earn at least $3.5MM on the one-year deal, with the potential for more.

The 27-year-old, who was non-tendered by the White Sox just before the deadline earlier in the offseason, can achieve an additional $2.5M via incentive pay tied to his playing time. He’ll get $250K upon reaching 350 plate appearances and do the same for every fifty more thereafter, through his 600th PA. There’s another $1MM payout if he strides to the plate 650 times.

Avisail Garcia | Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay has reportedly been in the market for a right-handed bat and, if finalized, will bring a buy-low candidate who fits that description into the fold with Garcia. Hamstring issues torpedoed Garcia’s 2018 season, as he was limited to just 93 games and managed just a .236/.281/.438 batting line in 385 plate appearances. A year prior, though, Garcia enjoyed a breakout campaign with a .330/.380/.506 slash through 561 plate appearances.

Truthfully, though, it’s difficult to know what to make of Garcia. His 2017 season was very clearly inflated to an extent by a .392 average on balls in play that he isn’t ever likely to repeat (or even approach). Garcia struck out at a career-low 19.8 percent clip that season, but he also hit the ball on the ground at a 52.2 percent clip — hardly a trend that is conducive to success for a plodding player who is listed at 6’4″ and 240 pounds.

Garcia seemed a prime regression candidate in 2018, and while that held true when looking at his bottom-line stats, there were actually a fair number of silver linings in an otherwise disastrous season. Garcia hit the ball in the air at a career-high 34.4 percent rate, resulting in a clear power surge. Despite having just 385 PAs last season, he clubbed a career-high 19 home runs, and his .202 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) was easily a career-high mark as well. Moreover, Garcia’s hard-hit rate jumped from 40.7 percent in 2017 to 43.2 percent in 2018, per Statcast. At the same time, though, Garcia also punched out in a career-worst 26.5 percent of his plate appearances.

Those past two seasons, in many ways, are a microcosm of Garcia’s career. He’s long been touted as a potential impact bat and clearly has some raw offensive capabilities, but he’s never been able to consistently tap into that talent. In fact, outside of that All-Star 2017 season, Garcia has essentially been a replacement-level player because of the fact that he’s graded out as a poor defender over parts of seven big league seasons.

The Rays have a strong defensive mix in the outfield with Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows lined up for regular work, so it’s perhaps likelier that Garcia will see more time at designated hitter and play in the outfield corners only sparingly. Tampa Bay, then, is betting firmly on the offensive potential that has teased both the Tigers and White Sox so often in the past but rarely manifested itself over a consistent stretch in the Majors. If the Rays can cut back on Garcia’s strikeouts while helping him to maintain his hard-contact and fly-ball gains, however, he could prove to be a bargain source of pop in 2019 before returning to the open market next winter.

Tampa Bay already has Yandy Diaz lined up for some regular work at designated hitter, though he could also see time at first base with Ji-Man Choi as well. And given that neither Choi nor Diaz is a proven asset, it’s possible that either could struggle and thus further open at-bats for Garcia, who already figures to be in line for fairly regular playing time.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that a deal was close (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of Fancred (links to Twitter) reported that it was done and had financial details. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden first tweeted the total guarantee.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Brewers Sign Yasmani Grandal

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3:45pm: Grandal’s contract actually contains a 2020 option, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). He’ll earn $16MM in 2019, and his option is also for $16MM with a $2.25MM buyout. It’s a mutual option, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets. As he notes, mutual options are virtually never exercised by both parties.

Jan. 14, 2:59pm: The Brewers have officially announced the signing.

Jan. 9, 10:16pm: Yahoo’s Tim Brown reports that Grandal will be guaranteed $18.25MM in 2019 (Twitter link).

10:06pm: The Brewers are in agreement on a contract with free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). It’s a one-year contract for Grandal, however, which pales in comparison to the four-year contract that was reportedly offered by the Mets earlier this offseason. Rosenthal adds that the deal is still pending the completion of a physical.

Yasmani Grandal

Clearly, the decision to spurn a four-year offer from New York looks especially regrettable now, even if, as Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweeted yesterday, the Mets’ offer was actually for a bit less than the initially reported $60MM figure. The exact size of the proposed guarantee isn’t known, but USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets it was in excess of $50MM, and Rosenthal tweets that the Mets’ offer could have reached $60MM in total value, presumably indicating that there were some incentives or escalator clauses at play.

It’s still possible, of course, for Grandal to come out ahead over the 2019-22 seasons. A strong showing with the Brewers could yet net him a lucrative multi-year deal in free agency next year — when he won’t have a qualifying offer attached to his name. A three-year offer in the range of $13-14MM per season next winter would effectively recoup the money Grandal’s camp turned away, and it’s hardly unthinkable that he could deliver a strong enough performance to land another four-year offer a year from now and actually earn even more.

For Milwaukee, getting an upgrade of Grandal’s caliber on a one-year pact was likely something they never envisioned as a possibility when the offseason began. Many expected him to land at least a three-year contract, and we at MLBTR predicted that he’d land a four-year, $64MM deal which apparently checks in just north of what the Mets offered him earlier this winter. A one-year deal simply never seemed likely.

As a revenue-sharing recipient, the Brewers will forfeit their third-highest selection in next year’s draft as penalty for signing Grandal. That’s a fairly small price to pay for a win-now club that has successfully upgraded one of its most glaring deficiencies, though, especially when considering the fact that they already traded their Competitive Balance pick (No. 39 overall) to acquire Alex Claudio in a trade with the Rangers. Because of that deal, Milwaukee’s third-highest selection is their third-round pick — currently No. 104 overall in the draft.

Milwaukee catchers combined to post a meager .237/.294/.363 batting line with 16 home runs in 637 plate appearances last season. Grandal, meanwhile, hit .241/.349/.466 in full-time duty with the Dodgers last season, meaning he should provide the Brew Crew with a substantial boost in terms of both on-base percentage and overall power. Salvador Perez was the only catcher in baseball with more home runs than Grandal’s 24 big flies last season, and no catcher (min. 300 PA) topped Grandal’s .225 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average).  In other words, the Brewers are quite arguably getting the game’s most powerful catcher.

On the defensive side of the coin, most casual onlookers will surely recall Grandal’s disastrous postseason, during which he yielded three passed balls before eventually ceding playing time to backup Austin Barnes for a second consecutive October. But Grandal has prevented stolen bases at a league-average or better rate in each of the past four seasons, and there’s no catcher in baseball who has consistently graded out as strongly as Grandal in terms of pitch-framing. The postseason passed-ball issues aren’t exactly a total hiccup for Grandal, who has thrice led the National League in passed balls allowed, but his adequate throwing and elite framing have nevertheless led to consistently top-shelf ratings in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average category. Grandal is also perennially among the league leaders in Defensive Runs Saved at catcher, with a collective +45 DRS across the past four seasons.

For the Brewers, he’ll serve as an unequivocal upgrade over the previously projected pairing of Manny Pina and Erik Kratz and deepen a lineup that already ranked sixth in the National League in on-base percentage and second in home runs. The Brewers aren’t set to lose any key members of the lineup with the exception of midseason acquisition Mike Moustakas, so they’ll essentially be adding Grandal to the same lineup that proved to be one of the NL’s best in 2018.

From a payroll perspective, Grandal will push the Brewers’ Opening Day projection to $123.5MM, as Jason Martinez outlines at Roster Resource. That mark would shatter the Brewers’ previous franchise record, as the organization has only twice had a $100MM+ payroll in its entire history — in 2014-15 when the Opening Day payrolls checked in at $103.5MM and $104.3MM. Of course, the Brewers have a bit more funds at their disposal having just completed a deep postseason run. That NLCS appearance also makes it easier for Mark Attanasio to spend aggressively, as his team is now firmly past its rebuilding phase and is a widely projected playoff contender.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, will stand to gain a compensatory draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B. Currently, that round runs through the 78th overall selection, though further free-agent machinations could slightly alter the exact placement of picks. Regardless, the Dodgers will add a pick in the late 70s or very early 80s as compensation for losing Grandal.

It’s at least somewhat curious that the Dodgers wouldn’t make an effort to bring Grandal back on a one-year deal, now knowing that was an option he was willing to consider. Perhaps Grandal simply wasn’t interested in returning to L.A., or perhaps the Dodgers soured on Grandal after his ongoing passed-ball issues. However, the catching position is still a glaring need in Los Angeles, where Barnes is currently lined up as the starter but neither of the organization’s top catching prospects, Keibert Ruiz and Will Smith, are ready for a look at the MLB level just yet. The Dodgers have myriad other options available to them, both in trade and on the free-agent market, but they were willing to risk Grandal accepting a $17.9MM salary just a few short months ago.

Yankees Designate Tim Locastro For Assignment

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The Yankees announced Monday that they have designated infielder/outfielder Tim Locastro for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will to to veteran DJ LeMahieu, whose previously reported two-year deal is now official.

New York acquired the 26-year-old Locastro from the Dodgers earlier this season, sending minor league righty Drew Finley to Los Angeles in return. Locastro, however, doesn’t appear as though he’ll get the opportunity to suit up for the Yankees unless he clears waivers and works his way back into the MLB picture following an outright assignment.

Locastro has just 15 MLB plate appearances to his name, but he’s a .307/.402/.443 hitter with six homers, 33 doubles, two triples and 30 stolen bases (in 34 attempts) in just 114 games of Triple-A experience. The Yankees referred to Locastro as an outfielder only, likely indicative of how they planned to use him, but he’s played all over the field in the minors and has spent most of his time at second base and shortstop. He does have a pair of options remaining, so he could be viewed as a depth piece by another club.

Yankees Sign DJ LeMahieu

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Jan. 14: The Yankees have now announced the deal.

Jan. 11, 7:50pm: The deal promises LeMahieu $12MM in each of its two seasons, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets.

11:43am: LeMahieu is heading to the Yankees, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. His contract is believed to be a two-year deal with a guarantee in the range of $24MM.

11:40am: The Yankees are closing in on a two-year contract with free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu, reports Jack Curry of the YES Network (Twitter links). New York’s plan for LeMahieu is to use him as a multi-positional asset, where he’ll see time at second base, third base and even at first base, per Curry.

DJ LeMahieu | Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

With LeMahieu and Troy Tulowitzki now in the fold, Manny Machado looks to be less of a fit in the Bronx than ever, although the addition of those two players certainly doesn’t preclude a signing. There’s been talk earlier this winter of the possibility that the Yanks could yet move an infielder, and Tulowitzki’s league-minimum salary doesn’t represent much of an impediment if the Yankees decide to alter their course. That said, there’s no denying that today’s agreement with LeMahieu does seem to make that long-speculated match with Machado considerably less plausible.

The Yankees’ infield now likely consists of Miguel Andujar at third base, Tulowitzki at short, Gleyber Torres at second base and Luke Voit at first, with LeMahieu filling in as a versatile super-sub and Greg Bird also on hand as an option at first base. Didi Gregorius, of course, will join that mix later this season when he is sufficiently recovered from Tommy John surgery. It’s a crowded mix but a deep and highly talented one that should provide the Yankees plenty of insurance against injury while also allowing them to field a strong lineup even on days when their top bats are resting.

LeMahieu, 29, is perennially among the game’s premier defensive second baseman and has consistently hit for average, though his overall production has wavered somewhat on a year-over-year basis. LeMahieu won a surprise National League batting title when he hit .348/.416/.495 in a career year back in 2016, but while he followed that up with a high-quality .310 average in 2017, his power fell off, as he slugged just .409 that season and posted a .099 ISO (slugging minus batting average). This past season, most of his pop returned, but his overall output checked in at .276/.321/.428 — rather pedestrian production when considering his hitter-friendly home setting (86 wRC+).

All in all, LeMahieu generally rates as an average or better overall hitter with premium defensive skills. He’s batted a combined .309/.369/.429 across the past four seasons and been one of the toughest strikeouts in the league over that span, punching out in just 14.2 percent of his plate appearances. And while some will make a point to note that his home/road splits are rather pronounced, he’ll be moving from Coors Field to yet another one of the game’s premier hitters’ parks, Yankee Stadium.

Twins Designate John Curtiss For Assignment

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The Twins announced Monday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever John Curtiss for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to Blake Parker, whose one-year contract is now official.

A sixth-round pick by the Twins back in 2014, Curtiss was considered one of the organization’s more promising relief prospects for much of the past few seasons but hasn’t found big league success to date — albeit it in a tiny sample of work. Through 15 MLB frames, Curtiss has a 7.20 ERA but a more promising 17-to-6 K/BB ratio. He averaged better than 95 mph on his heater with the Twins during a nine-game MLB debut, but that average dropped off to 93.9 mph in eight games this past season. Curtis has also posted an alarmingly low 18.6 percent ground-ball rate in the big leagues, though he’s previously posted considerably higher marks in the minors.

It’s quite possible that Curtiss will draw some interest from other organizations — either in trade or via the waiver wire. He has a pair of minor league options remaining and has been quite good in Triple-A to this point in his career, sporting a 2.49 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 in 79 2/3 innings. Curtiss’ walk rate is a bit problematic and has risen steadily in the upper minors, but as a reasonably hard-throwing reliever with strong strikeout numbers and multiple option years remaining, it’s easy to see another team taking a look.

Kyler Murray Declares For NFL Draft

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Athletics outfield prospect and Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray announced today that he has formally declared for the NFL Draft. While this is a largely procedural move that was widely anticipated and does not preclude him from opting to continue as a professional baseball player, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Murray “has informed the Oakland A’s of his intention to follow his heart to the NFL” (Twitter link).

It’s not feasible for Murray to endure the rigors of playing quarterback in the NFL and then also playing baseball in the spring and summer; reports from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser and Henry Schulman indicated last week that there was no scenario in which Murray would play both sports professionally. Schefter tweets today that Murray’s mind “has been made up,” though there is of course still time for a late change of heart.

The Athletics have reportedly been discussing signing Murray to a Major League contract and adding him to the 40-man roster as a means of swaying him away from a football career. While ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last night that the league would not stand in the way of Murray signing a Major League deal so quickly despite the fact that the collective bargaining agreement ruled out MLB contracts for draftees back in 2012, Schefter’s reports today suggest that Murray isn’t all that likely to be swayed. He does technically still have a few weeks to decide, and the Athletics, it seems, can continue to negotiate with agent Scott Boras in the meantime.

As I noted last week when looking at the situation, if Murray is drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, he stands to earn more than double the $4.66MM signing bonus that the Athletics gave him when selecting him with the ninth overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft. Last year’s No. 32 pick in the NFL Draft, Lamar Jackson, signed for nearly $9.5MM and will earn every bit of that sum; beyond that, he quickly ascended to a starter’s role in the NFL. On the flip side, even after signing a theoretical Major League deal, Murray would still need to spend at the very least one to two seasons developing in front of sparse minor league crowds before reaching the big leagues.

Should Murray pursue his career in football, Slusser and Schulman reported last week that the Athletics will not receive a compensatory pick in this June’s draft. Murray would have to return that $4.66MM bonus to Oakland, though he’d quite likely be setting himself up to earn substantially more money in the very near future.

Twins Sign Blake Parker

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2:50pm: The Twins have announced the signing.

Jan. 14, 12:05pm: Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that Parker is not actually guaranteed $3.2MM but rather can max out his contract at that level. He’ll be guaranteed $1.8MM and will earn $500K upon spending 130 days on the active roster, another $400K for reaching 140 days and $250K for reaching both 150 and 160 days. Minnesota has yet to formally announce the deal, though Rosenthal suggests that could happen today (Twitter link).

Jan. 7, 5:13pm: Parker and the Twins have agreed to a deal, per Rosenthal (via Twitter). He’ll receive a $3.2MM guarantee if his physical checks out.

4:21pm: A deal is indeed close at hand, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (via Twitter), who says the sides are closing in on a pact that’ll promise Parker “slightly more than $3MM” on a one-year term.

1:00pm: Free-agent right-hander Blake Parker is close to finalizing an agreement, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Twins are “believed to be” his landing spot, Rosenthal adds.

Blake Parker | Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Parker, 33, was somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the Angels in late November. He’d been projected to earn a fairly modest $3.1MM salary, which seemed more than reasonable for a pitcher who’d notched a 2.90 ERA (3.55 FIP) with 10.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and 22 saves in 133 2/3 innings with the Halos from 2017-18. Parker did see his velocity drop by a bit more than a mile per hour, averaging 93.5 mph on his heater in 2017 but 92.2 mph in 2018, and his swinging-strike rate also took a downturn (13.8 percent in 2017; 10.7 percent in 2018).

Those red flags may have turned the Angels away, but Parker nevertheless posted solid numbers last season and would bring an experienced arm with recent success to the Twins’ bullpen mix — perhaps for the next two seasons. Parker only has four years, 36 days of MLB service time, meaning the Twins (or any team) could sign him to a one-year deal and then retain his rights next winter through the arbitration process.

Presently, the back of the Minnesota ’pen will feature veteran Addison Reed, whose 2018 season was marred by elbow issues, as well as Trevor May and Taylor Rogers — both of whom finished out the season in impressive fashion. May turned in a 36-to-5 K/BB ratio through 25 1/3 innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, while Rogers rode a newly adopted slider to 28 consecutive scoreless outings and a 29-to-3 K/BB ratio (26 innings total). Righty Trevor Hildenberger, too, should get another look despite fading considerably in the second half. Hildenberger turned in a 3.27 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 52.5 percent grounder rate through his first 87 MLB innings from 2017 through this year’s All-Star break but was clobbered for 27 runs in 27 innings in the second half of the 2018 season. Minnesota has several in-house options who could also be in the mix, but there’s certainly room for a veteran addition or two, as well.

Phillies Sign Lane Adams To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies announced Monday that they’ve signed outfielder Lane Adams to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training.

Obviously, it’s not the free-agent outfield addition that Phils fans were hoping they’d hear about today, but Adams will give the club a useful depth piece and a potential bench option for the 2019 campaign. The 29-year-old is a career .263/.333/.467 hitter with seven homers and 11 steals in 154 Major League plate appearances — most of which have come with the division-rival Braves across the past two seasons.

Adams struggled through an ugly season in Triple-A last year but, as noted above, have been fairly productive in the big leagues and did notch a quality .264/.320/.461 slash in 199 Triple-A plate appearances with the Braves in ’17. Adams is 11-for-11 in MLB stolen-base attempts and has four seasons with 30 or more steals in the minors under his belt — highlighted by a 44-steal campaign in 2016. He’s capable of playing all three outfield slots and has spent the bulk of his Triple-A time in center field in recent seasons.

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