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Mariners, Evan White Agree To Long-Term Contract

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NOVEMBER 25: The Seattle organization has announced the signing.

NOVEMBER 22: The Mariners and first base prospect Evan White are in agreement on a six-year, $24MM contract that contains three club options, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The contract, which can max out at $55.5MM if the options are exercised (via Robert Murray), locks up a key piece of the Mariners’ future before he even sets foot in the Majors. White is represented by True Gravity Baseball.

Evan White | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

White, the No. 17 overall pick in the 2017 draft, spent the 2019 campaign with the Mariners’ Double-A in Arkansas, where he batted .293/.350/.488 with 18 home runs, 13 doubles, two triples, a 7.3 percent walk rate and a 23 percent strikeout rate in 400 plate appearances. Those numbers were particularly impressive in a pitcher-friendly setting, evidenced by White’s robust 132 wRC+ (indicating that he was 32 percent better at the plate than the average hitter in the Texas League).

From a broader offensive standpoint, the University of Kentucky product has performed well throughout his minor league tenure. He hit .277/.345/.532 in a tiny sample of 14 games of short-season Class-A ball in 2017 after being drafted and followed that up with a .303/.375/.458 slash in a full season at Class-A Advanced in 2018.

White is also regarded as a superlative defensive first baseman, with scouting reports at FanGraphs and MLB.com pegging him as a 70-grade defender. He currently ranks in the game’s top 100 overall prospects at MLB.com (No. 58), Baseball America (No. 73) and FanGraphs (No. 77).

The extension in many ways mirrors the long-term deal signed by Scott Kingery just prior to the 2018 season. As was the case with Kingery at the time, White is a 23-year-old top prospect who is widely expected to be a key contributor for his club in the near future. Both deals guaranteed the player $24MM over six years, though Kingery’s option years are valued at a slightly higher rate, as his contract can max out at $65MM. That’s perhaps reflective of the fact that Kingery, unlike White, had already played in Triple-A and was perhaps on the cusp of making the Opening Day roster out of Spring Training. White, meanwhile, could still be ticketed for some Triple-A time to being the 2020 season, although the long-term deal should increase his chances of breaking camp with the team. There’s no longer any reason to play service-time games and option him to Triple-A if he convinces the team of his MLB readiness with a strong spring effort.

White is suddenly the only player on the Mariners’ roster signed to a guaranteed contract beyond the 2021 season. The 2020 campaign will be a pivotal one for the “reimagining” Mariners, as they’ll get their first glimpse at White and quite possibly (later in the summer) at vaunted outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic (acquired in last winter’s Edwin Diaz/Robinson Cano trade). Lengthy auditions for lefty Justus Sheffield, righty Justin Dunn and outfielders Kyle Lewis and Jake Fraley — each of whom made his MLB debut in 2019 — are likely on the 2020 docket as well.

Athletics, Jaime Schultz Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Athletics have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Jaime Schultz, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training and vie for a bullpen job in camp.

Schultz, 28, has spent the past two seasons in the Rays and Dodgers organizations, where he’s scuffled to a combined 5.86 ERA in 35 1/3 innings at the MLB level. Schultz has averaged 9.7 K/9 during that time but has also surrendered an average of 5.1 walks and 1.8 homers per nine innings of work. That said, Schultz averaged just under 96 mph on his fastball in 2019, has a career 12.5 percent swinging-strike rate in the big leagues and was in the 87th percentile of MLB pitchers in terms of fastball spin rate this past season, perhaps suggesting there’s more in the tank.

Schultz has also appeared in parts of four Triple-A campaigns and notched a 4.42 ERA with 12.1 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in 226 innings. He’s been more of a fly-ball pitcher since moving to the bullpen a few years back but did post an above-average 47.2 percent mark in that regard with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.

Yankees Trade Nestor Cortes Jr. To Mariners

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1:41pm: The two teams have both announced the move.

“Nestor is a versatile lefty who can do a little bit of everything,” Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto said in a statement announcing the swap. “He can start, he can relieve, he can give you those middle innings or even operate as an opener.”

Seattle’s 40-man roster is now at 36 players.

1:30pm: The Yankees have traded left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. to the Mariners in exchange for international bonus allotments, Buster Olney of ESPN reports (via Twitter). New York designated Cortes for assignment last week when setting the 40-man roster in advance of next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Cortes, 25 next month, has appeared in 37 big league games over the past two seasons — all but one of which was a relief outing. Though he’s been a longtime Yankees farmhand, the lefty actually made his MLB debut with the Orioles in 2018 after Baltimore selected him in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft. He wasn’t able to hold his roster spot, however, and was returned to the Yankees during the ’18 season.

This past year, Cortes made his Yankees debut but limped to a 5.67 ERA in 66 2/3 innings. He averaged 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched and logged a 10.5 percent swinging-strike rate, but Cortes also averaged 3.8 walks and 2.2 home runs per nine frames in his limited time with the Yanks. He doesn’t generate many grounders (34.2 percent), nor does he throw especially hard (89.6 mph average fastball), but lefties with strong Triple-A track records and minor league options remaining will always have some appeal throughout the league. Cortes has a pair of options left and, in 205 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level, has a 3.11 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9. A move to a more pitcher-friendly setting could certainly help to curb the home-run troubles that plagued him in 2019, and at the very least he’ll give the Mariners some depth both in the rotation and as a long relief option.

The amount of money the Yankees received in return for Cortes isn’t presently known, but international allotments have to be traded in blocks of $250K, so New York picked up at least that much in additional resources to add to its pool.

Blue Jays, A.J. Cole Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander A.J. Cole, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports (via Twitter).

Cole, 27, spent the 2019 campaign with the Indians, for whom he tallied 26 innings of 3.81 ERA ball with 10.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 1.38 HR/9 and a 30.8 percent ground-ball rate. Once regarded as one of the game’s top pitching prospects, Cole has yet to establish himself as a consistent MLB contributor but has demonstrated some intriguing traits since moving to the bullpen on a full-time basis in 2018.

Over his past 62 innings between the Indians and Yankees, Cole has worked to a 4.21 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. He’s still been far too homer-prone (1.89 per nine) and may always struggle a bit in that regard thanks to his extreme fly-ball tendencies (32.2 percent grounder rate), but Cole could also stand to benefit a bit if next year’s ball is a bit less charged. The 6’5″, 238-pound righty averaged 94.2 mph on his heater between his time with New York and Cleveland, and both his swinging-strike rate (15.1 percent) and opponents’ chase rate on pitches out of the strike zone (33.2 percent) were sources of intrigue as well. Beyond all that, Cole’s spin rate on his fastball skyrocketed in 2019 and wound up ranking in the 82nd percentile of MLB hitters, per Statcast.

Cole will have to earn a job in big league camp with the Jays next spring, but the thin nature of the Toronto pitching staff should give him a decent chance at doing so if he performs well in camp. He’s out of minor league options, so once the Jays select him to the MLB roster, he won’t be able to be sent back down without first being passed through waivers. Even if he did clear waivers, as a player who’s previously been outrighted (twice, in fact), Cole would be able to turn down the assignment in favor of free agency.

Drew VerHagen To Sign With Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters

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Tigers right-hander Drew VerHagen will sign a one-year deal with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports (Twitter links). Detroit has formally requested release waivers on VerHagen in order to facilitate the move, per a club announcement. The move drops the Tigers’ 40-man roster to a total of 39 players.

“It sounds like they are going to give me a great opportunity to start,” VerHagen tells McCosky (Twitter link). “I just felt like this is something cool and different and it will big financially, as well. I’m excited.”

VerHagen, 29, has spent his entire career in the Tigers’ organization. Originally drafted in the fourth round back in 2012, the 6’6″ righty has made a handful of starts with the Tigers since debuting in 2014 but has worked primarily out of the bullpen. VerHagen’s 5.11 ERA in 199 Major League innings doesn’t exactly stand out, but he’s notched a hearty 53.9 percent ground-ball rate at the game’s top level. Metrics like FIP (4.76), xFIP (4.50) and SIERA (4.29) all feel he’s been a fair sight better than his baseline ERA, which is perhaps unsurprising given that he’s played in front of some lackluster defenses as the Tigers have worked through their current rebuilding phase.

VerHagen’s time at the Triple-A level has gone much better. He’s appeared in parts of six seasons there, compiling a 3.97 earned run average with 7.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 321 2/3 innings. He wouldn’t be the first pitcher to reinvent himself in Japan before returning to MLB in his early or mid 30s, so his results in NPB will at least be worth keeping an eye on next season.

 

Rich Hill Undergoes Surgery, Won’t Be Ready For Opening Day

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Free-agent lefty Rich Hill won’t be ready for the start of the 2020 season after undergoing primary revision surgery, reports WEEI’s Rob Bradford. It’s unlikely that the 39-year-old would be ready to return until June, and he could be delayed into July as well.

A source familiar with the procedure tells MLBTR that the operation is similar to the Tommy John alternative that right-hander Seth Maness underwent a few years go. Primary revision (also sometimes referred to as “primary repair”) is a less-intrusive repair of a tear in a player’s ulnar collateral ligament and comes with a shorter rehab period. However, not all UCL tears make for good candidates to undergo the operation. The procedure is dependent on the general health of the tissue as well as the placement and extent of the tear. Hill, who actually pitched through the injury for some of the 2019 season, was deemed a good candidate for the lesser-known procedure.

Although he’ll turn 40 next March, Hill has voiced a desire to continue pitching as long as he can and has been vocal about his desire to return to the Dodgers. He’s also expressed some interest in pitching with the Red Sox again, as a Boston native whose family still resides in the area. Now, rather than opening the season in a rotation, Hill could instead be a midseason reinforcement. Whether he’ll sign a contract this winter and attempt to rehab with his 2020 team or wait until he’s able to demonstrate his health for clubs next summer isn’t known.

Knee issues and a forearm strain wiped out a fair bit of Hill’s 2019 season, limiting him to 58 2/3 innings in what was the final season of a three-year, $48MM contract with the Dodgers. But Hill was excellent when healthy enough to take the ball, pitching to a 2.45 ERA with a 72-to-18 K/BB ratio and a 49.6 percent ground-ball rate in that time. Hill missed time in each of the three seasons of that contract with L.A. but did log a 3.30 earned run average with nearly 11.0 K/9 in a total of 327 regular-season innings (plus another 37 innings of 2.43 ERA ball).

Since resurrecting his career with the Red Sox late in the 2015 season, Hill has pitched 466 1/3 innings with a 2.91 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 1.0 HR/9.

Tigers Acquire Dario Agrazal

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The Tigers have acquired right-hander Dario Agrazal from the Pirates in exchange for cash, the team announced. (Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reported the move, via Twitter, minutes before it was formally announced.) Agrazal was designated for assignment last week when Pittsburgh set its 40-man roster in advance of next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Detroit’s 40-man roster is now full.

Agrazal, 24, logged 73 1/3 innings with the Pirates in 2019 but struggled to a 4.91 ERA with 5.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.84 HR/9 and a 39.9 percent grounder rate. He’s typically demonstrated strong control and posted better ground-ball rates in the minors. Agrazal also has a minor league option remaining, so the Tigers will be able to shuttle him between Toledo and Detroit as rotation depth next season — so long as he survives the winter on the team’s 40-man roster.

The Tigers’ rotation is perilously thin at the moment, with Matthew Boyd, Jordan Zimmermann, Spencer Turnbull and Daniel Norris representing the likeliest options. Righty Michael Fulmer will be returning from Tommy John surgery as well, but he didn’t go under the knife until the end of March in 2019, meaning there’s no guarantee he’ll be back for Opening Day.

That said, the Tigers have a number of high-end pitching prospects looming on the horizon, led by 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick Casey Mize. Detroit also has Matt Manning, Alex Faedo, Beau Burrows, Tarik Skubal and Franklin Perez working through the upper minors, and it’d be both surprising and disappointing if that collection of arms didn’t produce a couple of MLB-caliber rotation pieces. The acquisition of Agrazal lessens any need to rush that group to the big leagues, though, and provides some additional depth in the event of injuries to the starters on which the Tigers currently expect to rely.

Further additions remain possible, of course; the Tigers added Tyson Ross and Matt Moore on perfectly reasonable, low-risk one-year pacts last offseason. Although neither move panned out, the logic behind each was apparent, and a similar pickup or two this winter wouldn’t be particularly surprising.

Twins Name Edgar Varela Hitting Coach

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11:26am: The Twins announced the promotion and also revealed that they’ve hired Michael Salazar away from the Padres to serve as their new head athletic trainer. He was previously San Diego’s assistant athletic trainer. Salazar is surely familiar with Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey, having spent the 2000-18 seasons working on various training staffs with the Indians organization, where Falvey was previously an assistant GM.

9:30am: The Twins will promote minor league field coordinator Edgar Varela to hitting coach for the 2020 season, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Varela will replace the well-regarded James Rowson, who was hired away by the Marlins as the new bench coach and “offensive coordinator” in Miami.

Varela, 39, spent a decade coaching and managing in the Pirates’ system before joining the Twins in 2018. He’ll team with assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez in an effort to continue the progress made in what was a breakout campaign for many of the Twins’ young hitters. Minnesota ranked first in the Majors in home runs (307), second in total runs scored (939) and tied the Nationals for the fourth-lowest strikeout rate of any team in the game (20.9 percent).

Minnesota is still waiting to find out whether bench coach Derek Shelton will return for the 2020 season or whether he’ll land a promotion with the Pirates. Shelton is reported to be a finalist in Pittsburgh’s managerial search, and if he’s ultimately offered that job, the Twins will have yet another key role to fill on 2019 AL Manager of the Year Rocco Baldelli’s staff.

Mariners Exploring Omar Narvaez Trade Scenarios

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The Mariners have been exploring several trade possibilities involving catcher Omar Narvaez, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). The Seattle club has “shown a desire” to trade the 27-year-old (28 in February) and could complete a deal “soon,” per Passan.

At this point, there’s little doubt that Narvaez is a quality offensive player. The Venezuelan-born backstop has been an OBP machine since debuting in the Majors back in 2016, and his power has increased both in 2018 and in 2019. He’s a career .276/.361/.411 hitter in 1216 plate appearances at the MLB level, including a stout .278/.353/.480 batting line with a career-high 22 home runs in 482 plate appearances this past season. He’s walked in 11.3 percent of his MLB plate appearances against a 17.8 percent strikeout rate — both of which are better than the league average in today’s game of three true outcomes.

It’s easy to attribute the power spike to the juiced ball in 2019, but Narvaez’s new career-high in home runs is also reflective of the fact that he shattered his previous career-high in plate appearances by a measure of 160. In fact, his .182 isolated power mark (slugging minus batting average) was only 28 points higher than 2018’s .154.

What’s also clear about Narvaez, however, is that he’s struggled defensively in every season of his big league career. His 21 percent caught-stealing rate at the MLB level is well south of the 28 percent league average in that time, and Baseball Prospectus has ranked him near the bottom of the league for his abilities (or lack thereof) to block pitches. Narvaez did markedly improve in terms of limiting passed balls in 2019 (three in 815 2/3 innings after allowing 12 in 653 1/3 innings in 2018), but that was the one silver lining in his glovework.

Framing, in particular, has been a struggle for Narvaez, who ranks poorly in that regard by virtually any estimation. Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs and Statcast all peg Narvaez near the bottom of the league in terms of framing value. Narvaez has caught 2386 1/3 innings in his career and registered -41 Defensive Runs Saved. Baseball Prospectus ranked him alongside Josh Phegley, Welington Castillo, Pedro Severino, Chance Sisco and James McCann as one of MLB’s worst defenders at the position in 2019.

Narvaez is under club control for another three seasons and will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $2.9MM salary for Narvaez in his first trip through that process, and he’ll be eligible twice more before reaching free agency in the 2022-23 offseason.

Though his glove is hardly appealing, it’s hard to understate just how much better than the league-average catcher Narvaez been at the plate in his big league career. Since he debuted, the league-average offensive output from catchers has checked in at .240/.310/.396. Narvaez’s .276/.361/.411 line is markedly better across the board. And while the average catcher’s production has actually declined across the past two seasons, Narvaez has improved, posting a .277/.358/.448 that trounces the average catcher.

A club that either believes itself to be capable of improving Narvaez’s glove or is simply willing to trade some defense for uncannily solid offense from the catcher position could certainly look into acquiring Narvaez — particularly if it’s an AL club that can occasionally stash him at DH. Among the teams with yet-unaddressed needs behind the plate this winter are the Astros, Angels, Rangers, Rockies, Pirates and Brewers. Several other clubs could stand to add a second catcher, with the A’s in particular having been linked to lefty-hitting catchers. Given the awful level of production from most catchers — particularly backup options — Narvaez could be argued as a logical fit for most clubs throughout the league, although his defensive red flags make it every bit as easy to craft a counterargument against acquiring him.

Moving Narvaez now could be sensible for the Mariners, given the substantial demand for catchers with both Yasmani Grandal and Travis d’Arnaud now off the market. Jason Castro and Robinson Chirinos are the top two catchers remaining in free agency, and while other catchers could surely be on the move via the trade circuit, there’s no clearly available star-caliber option as there was last winter with J.T. Realmuto. The Cubs’ Willson Contreras has seen his name pop up in rumors already, but Chicago needn’t feel pressure to trade him. And, with Seattle possessing a solid in-house option (Tom Murphy) as well as an intriguing prospect on the horizon (Cal Raleigh), it doesn’t appear that Narvaez will be a vital piece of the core once the rebuild ends — perhaps as soon as 2021.

MLBTR Poll: Which Top Free Agent Should The Reds Pursue?

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The Reds figure to be among the offseason’s most fascinating teams. They want to contend in 2020, plan to increase payroll, and have a few areas on the roster in need of upgrade. The lineup figures to be the main focus, as Cincinnati finished 25th in baseball in runs despite a hitter-friendly home park. More specifically, the Reds could look to bolster their catching, middle infield and corner outfield mix. Alternatively, they could return Nick Senzel to second base full-time, although they’d then be left parsing through a sparse center field market. With those needs in mind, the MLBTR staff forecast Cincinnati coming away with Yasmani Grandal and Didi Gregorius at the outset of the offseason. Grandal, of course, has since signed with the White Sox, although the Reds have been linked to Gregorius this month.

However, the club certainly doesn’t appear ready to pigeonhole itself into searching for offense. They were tied to Zack Wheeler, the number three starting pitching option on the market, this week. While bolstering a starting rotation that already projects as one of the league’s best might seem questionable for a team with so many offensive holes, there’s merit to the idea of acquiring the best players possible and sorting out the puzzle pieces later. Adding Wheeler, or one of the many other starting pitchers available, would make the Reds better, even if it doesn’t address the team’s most glaring weakness.

So where should the Reds turn? In addition to Gregorius and Wheeler, they’ve checked in on any number of free agents in the early going. To some extent, they were in on Grandal before he went to Chicago, although it isn’t clear if talks got very far. They’ve checked in on Marcell Ozuna and Nicholas Castellanos, each of whom would be a conventional fit for an offense-needy club. Given the players to whom they’ve been linked, it’s little surprise Cincinnati isn’t overly concerned about forfeiting draft pick compensation to sign a player attached to a qualifying offer.

Speculatively speaking, even Mike Moustakas could make sense, assuming Cincinnati’s front office is comfortable with him as an option at second base. The Reds’ interest in Wheeler indicates we shouldn’t entirely rule out a starter like Madison Bumgarner or Hyun-Jin Ryu, either, even if neither hurler has yet been connected to the organization.

Options abound, but it seems likely the Reds will make some notable splash this winter. Where should they turn as they look to snap a six-year playoff drought?

Poll link (answer order randomized).

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