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Archives for November 2019

Yolmer Sanchez Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency

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Nov. 27: Sanchez went unclaimed on waivers and will become a free agent, Rosenthal tweets. A formal announcement from the club should follow.

Nov. 25: The White Sox have outrighted infielder Yolmer Sanchez from their 40-man roster, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). MLBTR had projected him to earn $6.2MM in arbitration.

While he has at times been a solid contributor in Chicago, Sanchez is coming off of a rough 2019 season at the plate. There are quite a few veteran alternatives available in free agency, making it tough to pay that kind of cash to retain him.

Sanchez has been trusted with quite a lot of playing time on the South Side of late, appearing in over 140 games in each of the past three seasons. But his offensive output has declined steadily in that span, dropping from a .267/.319/.413 batting line and 95 wRC+ in 2017 — that is, five percent below league average — to last year’s .252/.318/.321 slash and 74 wRC+.

While Sanchez has maintained the same general strikeout and walk levels all along — he’s a bit below the league average with both his career 7.5% walk rate and 21.0% strikeout rate — his power has fallen off a cliff. Sanchez went from a dozen home runs and a .147 isolated power mark in 2017 to just two dingers and a .069 ISO in 2019.

What hasn’t changed is Sanchez’s excellent glovework. Whether utilized at second or third base, he has graded as a top-notch performer — even winning a Gold Glove Award for his work at second base in 2019. That makes him a strong candidate to find a landing spot as a utility piece. Barring a big upswing at the plate, however, it’s hard to imagine Sanchez as a regular lineup piece on a team with designs on immediate contention. If and when he does land elsewhere, he’ll be controllable through the 2021 season via arbitration.

Brian Johnson Clears Waivers

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Nov. 27: Johnson went unclaimed on waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, the team announced. He doesn’t have the requisite service time to reject that assignment in favor of free agency, so he’ll remain with the Red Sox organization and hope for another chance at the MLB level in 2020.

Nov. 25: The Red Sox have placed southpaw Brian Johnson on outright waivers, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). That starts a two-day window within which Johnson can be claimed.

Johnson, who’ll soon turn 29, struggled to a 6.02 ERA in 40 1/3 innings in Boston last year. Elbow troubles limited his availability and perhaps contributed to his ineffectiveness.

A first-round pick in 2012, Johnson turned in excellent results and overcame some challenges on his way up the farm ladder. He wasn’t much of a strikeout hurler but was obviously tough to square up, as opposing hitters produced meager batting averages on balls in play and didn’t muster many home runs.

That has generally been the case in the majors as well, as Johnson averages less than 90 mph with his fastball and doesn’t get many swings and misses. But he was able to limit the hard contact and post a 4.34 ERA in the 130 2/3 MLB innings he threw before the ’19 campaign.

Marlins Release Wei-Yin Chen

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The Marlins announced that left-hander Wei-Yin Chen has cleared waivers and been released. This move boils down to little more than a formality, as Chen was designated for assignment last week and no team was ever going to claim the remaining $22MM on his contract (which expires at the end of the 2020 season).

Chen, now 34, was a steady source of quality innings from 2012-15 in Baltimore, pitching to a 3.72 ERA in the hitter-friendly AL East while averaging 29.25 starts and 176 innings per year. That durability and reliability led the Marlins to invest a whopping five-year, $80MM contract in the lefty when he hit the free-agent market, but the deal went south almost immediately.

Chen barely kept his ERA under 5.00 and tossed just 123 1/3 innings in his first year with the Marlins. A UCL injury wiped out nearly all of his 2017 season and much of the 2018 campaign, and he pitched just 68 1/3 innings of ineffective relief work in 2019. Overall, he recorded a dismal 5.10 ERA in 358 innings with Miami.

Now that he’s a free agent, Chen is free to sign with any club, and a new team would only owe him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the Major League roster. That sum would be subtracted from the $22MM owed to Chen by the Miami organization, but at this point the Marlins have accepted the fact that they’re on the hook for the vast majority of his remaining guarantee.

Marlins Interested In Avisail Garcia

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The Marlins are among the teams pursuing free agent outfielder Avisail Garcia, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). But they’re only one of “many” interested organizations, per Heyman.

In our top 50 free agent ranking, we predicted that Garcia would end up with the Miami organization. But we didn’t see an exceptionally strong market developing for his services. While Garcia has some real positives working in his favor, he has some limitations and there aren’t all that many teams with obvious need in the corner outfield.

The real question is whether multiple teams will dream on Garcia’s skillset. Over the past three years, he’s a .288/.337/.473 hitter over 1,476 plate appearances. That’s substantially above average. Garcia graded as a high-quality performer in the field and has exceptional speed — not that you’d necessarily know it from his work on the bases. (Fangraphs grades him a -3.5 run runner.)

You can also focus on the negatives if you prefer. Garcia doesn’t hit a lot of home runs and doesn’t walk much. Instead, he’s highly reliant on his hard contact finding gaps. He sported a .392 BABIP in his productive 2017 season but dipped to .271 in a down 2018 effort.

As Heyman notes, some teams may well see greater value in Garcia than the other top right-handed-hitting corner options. Marcell Ozuna and Nicholas Castellanos will presumably seek a fair bit more money, but neither is overwhelmingly better than Garcia. Yasiel Puig is also an option, but some organizations may not have interest in his hijinks. (The Marlins seem like a great fit for Puig but for his rocky history with manager Don Mattingly.)

Greg Bird Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency

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1:07pm: The Yankees announced that Bird has indeed rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

12:35pm: Now-former Yankees first baseman Greg Bird has cleared waivers, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’s officially available on the open market.

This isn’t how the Yanks expected things to end. The now-27-year-old had a big 2015 debut, hitting .261/.343/.529 with 11 homers in 178 plate appearances, creating some optimism that he could settle in as a long-term option at first base. As one would expect given that rookie output, Bird was afforded quite a few opportunities over the years, but on-field struggles and injury issues sapped him of staying power.

In the past four seasons, Bird has only managed to stay on the field for 140 games and 522 plate appearances, recording a woeful .194/.287/.388 batting line in that time. Ultimately, Bird took seven hundred plate appearances for the Yankees. He hit 32 home runs and carried a .211/.301/.424 slash line. He has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining and should latch on with another club in need of first base/DH depth.

Rays Acquire Brian O’Grady, Designate Jesus Aguilar For Assignment

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The Rays have acquired outfielder/first baseman Brian O’Grady from the Reds, per club announcements. The Cincinnati organization will receive a player to be named and cash in the swap.

First baseman Jesus Aguilar was designated for assignment to create roster space. He had been projected to earn $2.5MM in arbitration.

O’Grady is a left-handed hitter who earned his first shot at the majors last year. He scuffled in limited opportunities but otherwise showed well in 2019. Over 489 Triple-A plate appearances, O’Grady slashed .280/.359/.550 with 28 home runs. The 27-year-old is optionable and affordable, making him a potential depth piece for Tampa Bay.

Aguilar had simply not performed as hoped when he was picked up in the middle of the 2019 season. He turned in a .261/.336/.424 batting line in 107 plate appearances — not enough to motivate the club to commit to his salary and continue to tie up a roster spot. Aguilar’s big 2018 season makes him an intriguing buy-low target for clubs interested in first base/DH help.

Mariners To Sign Carl Edwards Jr.

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The Mariners have agreed to a contract with righty Carl Edwards Jr., per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). It’s a MLB deal for the reliever, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Edwards will earn $950K with another $500K in available incentives, Nightengale adds via Twitter.

Shoulder troubles ended Edwards’s 2019 season early. But it had been a forgettable one before that point. Edwards struggled on both sides of a trade that sent him from the Cubs to the Padres before being cut loose by the San Diego organization.

The M’s obviously are hoping that Edwards can regain the form that enabled him to throw 118 1/3 innings of 2.81 ERA ball over 2017-18. Even then, his 12.2 K/9 was accompanied by 5.3 BB/9, so there was room for improvement. But Edwards has a big arm and will bring plenty of upside with him to Seattle.

Pirates Hire Derek Shelton As Manager

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The Pirates have announced the hiring of Derek Shelton as their next manager, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter) first reported. Shelton had served as the bench coach for the Twins.

Shelton’s hiring represents the first major move for the organization since its front office overhaul. He had been under consideration even before the process that resulted in Ben Cherington taking over the GM seat.

The Minnesota coaching staff has now been fully picked over. Shelton had interviewed for several other openings but had remained unclaimed until the Pittsburgh org resumed its paused managerial search.

Shelton has 15 seasons of experience as a MLB coach. He functioned as the hitting coach for the Indians and Rays before a one-year stint with the Blue Jays. After two seasons of running the Twins’ bench, he’s now ready to take command of the full dugout in Pittsburgh.

Orioles Reportedly Working To Trade Dylan Bundy

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The Orioles are trying to hammer out a deal involving right-hander Dylan Bundy, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Whether or not talks are focused with a single team isn’t evident.

It’s a bit difficult to assess just how likely a swap truly is. Feinsand offers the obscure observation that “no deal is imminent, but one appears to be getting close.” It seems at minimum that the O’s are working hard to move the former top draft pick.

Bundy projects to earn $5.7MM in arbitration with one more season of control still to go. That could be a bargain if he can clean some things up. But there’s obviously work to do if Bundy is to reach his ceiling.

On the positive side, Bundy has shown an ability to generate ~12% swinging strikes and about a strikeout per inning. He has averaged about thirty starts per season for three years running. And he’s still just 27 years of age.

The results, though, haven’t been there. Bundy posted a 5.45 ERA in 2018 and a 4.79 mark in the just-completed campaign. He has allowed gobs of long balls and doesn’t carry near the velocity that was once expected — a product, perhaps, of the run of arm troubles that marred his early career.

It’s possible to imagine any number of teams having some level of interest in Bundy. Contenders willing to take a bit of a risk on one rotation spot could have interest, as might rebuilding organizations seeking a combination of reliable innings and upside.

Mets To Hire Jeremy Hefner As Pitching Coach

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NOVEMBER 27: Hefner and the Mets are in agreement on a deal, per Heyman (Twitter link).

NOVEMBER 26: Twins assistant pitching coach Jeremy Hefner “is the Mets’ choice” to be their new pitching coach, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. SNY’s Andy Martino tweets that the deal isn’t quite yet finalized but could be by next week. If and when a deal is complete, Hefner will replace interim pitching coach Phil Regan, who stepped up when the club parted ways with veteran coach Dave Eiland back in June.

Hefner, still just 33 years old, pitched for the Mets as recently as 2012-13 but called his playing career quits after a 2016 run with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate. He joined the Twins the following season as an advance scout. Hefner held that role for two seasons in Minnesota, helping to establish game plans for pitchers, devise defensive shifts and also use his experience as a recently retired player to best boil down data from the team’s analytics department for the players and coaching staff. Minnesota made Hefner its assistant pitching coach for the 2019 campaign, and that marks his lone season of experience on a Major League coaching staff to date.

Still, Hefner has been viewed as a rising star in the coaching ranks since latching on with the Twins and will seemingly get his first look at a top coaching spot with the only team for which he ever pitched at the MLB level. Hefner’s embracing of newer data and his recent experience as a player has become an increasingly desirable skill set for clubs both in terms of managerial and coaching searches.

Assuming the agreement does indeed go through, Hefner will be the second member of the Twins coaching staff to be hired away by another club this winter. Hitting coach James Rowson has already been plucked away by Miami, and it’s still possible that bench coach Derek Shelton could be hired as the next manager of the Pirates. Minnesota elevated an internal replacement, Edgar Varela, for Rowson yesterday.

MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes that the Mets plan to formally announce their new-look coaching staff all at once — perhaps sometime next week.

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