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Angels Notes: Payroll, Ryu, Keuchel, Ohtani

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Let’s check in on the Halos, who made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason last week with the signing of superstar third baseman Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245MM contract…

  • The Angels made their send notable rotation pickup of the offseason Thursday, agreeing to sign right-hander Julio Teheran to a one-year, $9MM guarantee. Teheran and the previously acquired Dylan Bundy should help improve the Angels’ starting staff in 2020, but the team still hasn’t added a much-needed front-line hurler this offseason. But now that Teheran, Bundy and Rendon are in the fold, does the club have the financial flexibility to reel in yet another rotation upgrade? Perhaps. As Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group observes, the Angels currently have an actual payroll around $170MM and a luxury-tax outlay in the $181MM range – $27MM below the threshold. The former figure would be a franchise-record amount for the Angels, though owner Arte Moreno has indicated the team’s payroll would rise in 2020. It’s just unclear what his limit is.
  • Signing either lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu or fellow southpaw Dallas Keuchel would put yet another significant dent in the Angels’ payroll. No matter, the team appears to be in on both hurlers. The Angels and agent Scott Boras (who also represents Rendon) have had “multiple conversations” about Ryu and Keuchel, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times writes. However, Torres notes that a deal with the Angels isn’t imminent for either pitcher. Ryu (three years, $54MM) and Keuchel (three/39) are MLBTR’s highest-rated remaining pitchers in terms of potential earning power.
  • Regardless of how many moves the Angels make this winter, there may not be a more important development in 2020 than getting two-way star Shohei Ohtani back to full health. The right-hander/designated hitter was unable to pitch at all last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2018. Fortunately, though, the 25-year-old Ohtani has fully recovered from that serious procedure, Fletcher relays (Twitter links). Looking ahead to 2020, Ohtani only figures to pitch once a week, which aligns with the schedule he grew accustomed to in Japan before immigrating to the United States.

Padres Sign Jimmy Yacabonis To Minors Deal

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The Padres have signed right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis to a minor league contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).

Over his three MLB seasons, Yacabonis has seen action as both a starter and a reliever for the Orioles, though he hasn’t found much success in either role.  The 27-year-old has a 5.75 ERA over 101 2/3 career innings (starting 11 of 55 games), with a 6.6 K/9 and only a 1.32 K/BB rate.  Yacabonis has also been plagued by the long ball over the last two seasons in particular, with a 1.9 HR/9 over his last 81 frames of work.

Yacabonis does have a live arm and a 94mph fastball, so there’s little risk for the Padres in taking to him to Spring Training and seeing if they can unlock some potential in the New Jersey native.  Yacabonis will see some familiar faces from Baltimore, as former Orioles coaches Wayne Kirby and Bobby Dickerson and former O’s utilityman Ryan Flaherty are all on San Diego’s coaching staff, and of course former O’s star Manny Machado is now holding down third base for the Padres.

AL East Notes: Panik, Tsutsugo, Roark, Abad, Holmes

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The Yankees have had discussions about signing second baseman Joe Panik, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets, as New York continues to look for ways to both add infield depth and add left-handed balance to a lineup that is loaded with righty swingers.  Panik is a left-handed bat, though he is coming off a pair of subpar years at the plate — the veteran has only a .249/.311/.334 slash line over 883 plate appearances since the start of the 2018 season.  These struggles prompted the Giants to part ways with their longtime second baseman last summer, though Panik hit better after catching on with the Mets for 39 games in 2019.  The 29-year-old Panik also has the bonus of being a native New Yorker, born in Yonkers and a product of St. John’s University.

With Gleyber Torres likely to shift from second base to shortstop, the keystone could be occupied by DJ LeMahieu if the Yankees don’t prefer to use LeMahieu primarily as a first baseman.  Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada are the top in-house options for the utility infield or part-time second base jobs if LeMahieu is indeed slated mostly for first base work, though the Yankees could prefer to be as flexible as possible with LeMahieu based on matchups.  In this sense, Panik’s lack of defensive versatility could be a detriment to his chances at a Yankees deal; Panik has played all but one of his 682 MLB games as a second baseman, with the lone exception being one game at first base for San Francisco in 2018.

Here’s more from around the AL East…

  • The Rays’ two-year, $12MM contract with Yoshitomo Tsutsugo wasn’t the highest offer received by the outfielder, though the team’s strong courtship of the Japanese slugger eventually convinced him to come to Florida, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  The Rays were the first team to contact Tsutsugo after he was posted by Yokohama, they provided him with a thorough 20-page booklet about the club and the Tampa area, and a six-person crew that included manager Kevin Cash and GM Erik Neander visited Tsutsugo in person prior to the Winter Meetings, while Tsutsugo was working out in Los Angeles.  All of the wooing paid off for the Rays, who now welcome a player with 185 homers over his last six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball.
  • The Blue Jays made a similar big push to land Tanner Roark, as the right-hander told reporters (including Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic) that Toronto was the first team to get in contact with his representatives as free agency opened.  “They knew what they wanted, and they wanted me and it’s exciting to have someone want you like that,” Roark said.  Pitching coach Pete Walker also told McGrath that he and Roark “just seemed to hit it off” during a 25-minute phone call.  Roark ended up inking a two-year, $24MM deal with the Jays, and is looking forward to being a veteran leader within Toronto’s young clubhouse.
  • The Orioles had several conversations with Fernando Abad before the left-hander signed with the Nationals, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports.  With Abad now off the board, the O’s will continue to look for low-cost experience for their bullpen.
  • Also from Kubatko, the Orioles have hired Darren Holmes as their new bullpen coach.  Holmes worked in the same role with the Rockies for the previous five seasons.  A veteran of 13 MLB seasons, Holmes’ playing career included a brief five-game stint as a member of the Orioles in 2000.

Rangers Have Interest In Nolan Arenado

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5:15PM: The Rangers’ calls about Arenado are more “due diligence” for now, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports (Twitter link), though Texas is legitimately interested in the third baseman.

4:21PM: The Rangers missed out on Anthony Rendon, and reportedly have stepped back from the race to sign Josh Donaldson.  However, Texas is still on the lookout for a big-ticket addition at third base, and the club has been in talks with the Rockies about Nolan Arenado, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription required).

Texas isn’t the only interested party, as the Rockies have spoken to multiple teams about Arenado’s services.  While the Cardinals and Dodgers aren’t specifically cited as two of those other clubs, Rosenthal notes that St. Louis and Los Angeles each “have a longstanding interest in Arenado,” though the Dodgers are doubtful that Arenado would be sent to one of Colorado’s division rivals.

Rockies GM Jeff Bridich has unofficially confirmed that he has been listening to offers for Arenado, though of course, that is markedly different from actively exploring trades of the franchise player.  As Rosenthal observes, “many in the industry are skeptical it [an Arenado trade] will happen this offseason” due to several complicating elements — Arenado has a full no-trade clause, he is owed $234MM over through the 2026 season, and Arenado has the right to opt out of that deal following the 2021 campaign.

It doesn’t make for a long list of teams that could potentially fit as a trade partner, especially since “Arenado effectively controls the process” via his no-trade clause.  It can’t hurt for Bridich to listen to offers for the sake of due diligence, especially since the third base market will shift again once Donaldson comes off the board.

In the Rangers’ case, much of their offseason work has been focused on upgrading their pitching staff, adding Corey Kluber, Kyle Gibson, and Jordan Lyles to join incumbents Mike Minor and Lance Lynn.  More work still needs to be done on the position player side, however, and Texas has created some room by moving Nomar Mazara and Delino DeShields from its crowded outfield mix.  If the Rangers are indeed no longer pursuing Donaldson, it stands to reason that they could be looking for a lower-key solution at third base (an in-house option like Nick Solak or a stopgap free agent) and instead be looking to spend on another outfield bat.  Nicholas Castellanos is reportedly been on the Rangers’ list of targets, and the team also had interest in Marcell Ozuna earlier in the offseason.

Rangers Re-Sign Volquez, Gibaut, Federowicz To Minors Deals

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The Rangers have re-signed right-handers Edinson Volquez and Ian Gibaut, and catcher Tim Federowicz to minor league contracts, as per club executive VP of communications John Blake (Twitter link).  All three players receive invitations to the Rangers’ big league Spring Training camp.

Volquez and the Rangers have been in talks for several weeks about a new minor league deal, as the veteran is looking to play in his 15th Major League season after considering retirement earlier this year.  Volquez missed all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery and then faced the threat of another surgery last year after suffering an elbow sprain in April.  At the time, Volquez indicated that he was just hoping to return for a final appearance or few appearances in 2019 before hanging up the spikes, but it seems like he’ll again look to win himself a spot on the Texas roster.

Volquez won’t be in line for a starting job now that Texas has revamped its rotation, though the 36-year-old can provide some depth in the event of an injury, and also work out of the bullpen.  Full-time relief work would be something of a new frontier for Volquez, who has started 273 of his 287 career appearances, though he performed well in the very small sample size of his 2019 pen work.  Volquez didn’t allow a single run in his seven games (6 2/3 IP) as a reliever last season, while posting an 11.57 ERA over 9 1/3 innings as a starter.

Gibaut wasn’t eligible for arbitration, though he was still non-tendered earlier this month as a way for the Rangers to clear some roster space.  2019 was Gibaut’s first season of big league action, as the 26-year-old posted a 5.65 ERA over 14 1/3 combined innings for the Rays and Rangers.  An 11th-round pick for Tampa Bay in the 2015 draft, Gibaut has a 2.44 ERA, 3.03 K/BB rate, and 11.2 K/9 over 221 2/3 career minor league innings, though that impressive track record was hit with some heavy control issues last season.  In addition to a 7.5 BB/9 over 18 total minor league frames, Gibaut also had a 6.3 BB/9 in his brief MLB tenure.

Federowicz hit .160/.213/.347 over 83 PA with the Rangers last season, and the veteran backstop will return as a potential Triple-A depth option, as Texas is known to be looking for upgrades to its lackluster catching situation.  Federowicz has appeared in parts of eight Major League seasons, and owns a career .568 OPS over 443 plate appearances with six different teams.

MLB Players Union Files Grievance On Behalf Of Jacoby Ellsbury

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The MLB Players Association has filed a grievance against the Yankees in regards to the team’s plans to withhold Jacoby Ellsbury’s salary for the 2020 season, Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports.  The matter will be heard by an arbitrator, with no timeline given as to when the hearing will take place or when a decision could be rendered.

Some type of official challenge on the union’s behalf was a given, once the Yankees’ intentions were made public last month.  At the time, the MLBPA released a statement saying the union “will vigorously defend any action taken against Jacoby or his contract and is investigating potential contract violations by his employer.”

Ellsbury signed a seven-year, $153MM deal with the Yankees prior to the 2014 season that has turned out to be one of the most notable free agent busts in recent memory.  Injuries have kept Ellsbury off the field entirely for the last two seasons, and he only hit .264/.330/.386 in 2171 PA over his first four seasons in New York (with injuries also limiting the outfielder in two of those four years).  The Yankees finally released Ellsbury last month, with $26,142,857.15 still remaining in the last year of his deal — his guaranteed salary, and the $5MM buyout of his club option for the 2021 season.

However, the Yankees took the very unusual step of arguing that Ellsbury’s remaining earnings should be voided, alleging that Ellsbury underwent medical treatment without the team’s permission.  As Blum notes, “Ellsbury contends any treatment he received without authorization was for a non-baseball-related injury or condition, which does not require the club’s consent.”  The Yankees, Ellsbury, and Ellsbury’s agent Scott Boras all declined to comment on the matter.

The arbitrator’s ruling will obviously have a significant financial impact on Ellsbury, and also on the Yankees’ ability to avoid paying a maximum luxury tax penalty in 2020.  The club has a projected tax bill of just under $261.6MM for the 2020 season, as per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, well beyond the $248MM that represents the highest level of taxation threshold.  The Yankees therefore face a ten-slot drop in their top position in the 2021 draft, as well as a bill of 42.5% of every dollar spent over the threshold.

Red Sox Sign Martin Perez

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TODAY: The Red Sox have officially announced the signing.

DEC.12: The Red Sox have reached a one-year, $6MM agreement with free-agent left-hander Martin Perez, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The deal includes a $6.25MM club option for 2021. The buyout on that option checks in at $500K, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Perez is a client of OL Baseball Group LLC.

The agreement with Perez comes at a time when the Red Sox look to be shopping a much more prominent and far more expensive southpaw in David Price. As of now, though, the soon-to-be 29-year-old Perez is slated to join Price, Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez and Nathan Eovaldi in a lefty-heavy Red Sox rotation.

Once a standout prospect with the Rangers, Perez is now amid a second straight offseason in which a team has turned down his club option for the following year. The Rangers cut Perez loose a winter ago on the heels of a horrid season for the hurler, while the Twins – who then inked him to a $3.5MM guarantee – did the same last month. Had the Twins retained Perez, he’d have earned $7.5MM. He’ll take home a bit less as a member of the Red Sox, but this still looks like a respectable payday in light of Perez’s showing in Minnesota.

While Perez did turn in 165 1/3 innings and 32 appearances (29 starts) as a Twin, he wound up with fairly pedestrian numbers. Despite career-high four-seam velocity (94.1 mph), the addition of a cutter to his repertoire and excellent hard-hit and exit velocity marks from Statcast, Perez finished with a 5.12 ERA and just 7.35 K/9 against 3.65 BB/9. ERA estimators such as FIP (4.66), xFIP (4.69) and SIERA (5.01) weren’t enamored of his work, though Perez did begin the year well. He owned a 4.26 ERA/3.71 FIP at the All-Star break, but the wheels came off during the second half of the season, in which Perez more closely resembled the pitcher the Rangers gave up on and notched a 6.27 ERA/5.94 FIP.

For the Chaim Bloom-led Red Sox, the agreement with Perez is the second one-year contract they’ve handed out Thursday. They previously inked infielder Jose Peraza to a $3MM guarantee. Both are modest signings in what most expect to be a low-key offseason for Boston, at least in terms of spending.

Photo courtesy of USA Sports Today Images.

Royals To Sign Maikel Franco

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The Royals have reached agreement on a one-year deal with third baseman Maikel Franco, MLB.com’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).  MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reported earlier today that Kansas City “emerged as the favorite” among the teams vying for the infielder, and a deal could be coming shortly.  Franco will earn $2.95MM in guaranteed money, with another $1.05MM available in incentives, as per Heyman.  Franco is a client of the Octagon agency.

Once considered one of the game’s better prospects, Franco burst onto the scene by posting an .840 OPS over 335 PA for the Phillies in 2015, seemingly staking his claim to being Philadelphia’s third baseman of the future.  That hot start only led to intermittent success over the next four seasons, however, as Franco hit .247/.299/.427 with 88 homers over 2146 plate appearances from 2016-19.

With the Phillies impatient to return to contention and upgrade their third base situation, they parted ways with Franco this winter, non-tendering him rather than keep him on the roster.  Franco was projected to receive a $6.7MM arbitration salary in what would have been his third trip through the arb process.  He’ll now get less than half of that in Kansas City, though with the opportunity for some decent incentive bonuses and (more importantly) the chance to re-establish himself as a legitimate everyday player at the big league level.

The Nationals and Rangers were two other clubs known to have interest in Franco after he became a free agent, though since the Royals aren’t likely to be in contention this season, Franco will get a longer look than he would for other teams who might give him a shorter leash.

Interestingly, Franco’s addition would seemingly hint at a position switch for Hunter Dozier, who played 100 of his 139 games at the hot corner last season.  MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets that Dozier will move to right field, with Whit Merrifield moving to center field.  That would also seem to indicate that Jorge Soler is primed to spend much of his time as a DH next year, though Dozier also has experience playing first base.  (There’s also the possibility of a Soler trade, though the most recent reports suggest the Royals are more likely to hang onto Soler.)  Dozier was bound to remain a regular part of Kansas City’s lineup in the wake of his impressive 2019 season, though since he didn’t exhibit much glovework at third base, the Royals could now shift Dozier around between first base, right field, and DH.

White Sox Sign Cheslor Cuthbert

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1:35PM: The White Sox have officially announced Cuthbert’s signing.  It is a minor league deal, with an invitation to the team’s Major League Spring Training camp.

1:07PM: The White Sox have reached an agreement with free agent infielder Cheslor Cuthbert, according to reporter Robert Murray (Twitter link).  Cuthbert hit the open market in early December after the Royals chose not to tender him a contract.

Cuthbert was projected to earn $1.8MM in his second year of arbitration eligibility, though Kansas City decided to move on in the wake of a season that saw Cuthbert hit .246/.294/.379 with nine homers over 330 PA.  It was a performance almost exactly on par with the .250/.300/.378 slash line Cuthbert has posted over 1160 career plate appearances, all with the Royals from 2015-19.

Most of Cuthbert’s time in K.C. was spent as a third baseman, and he stepped into a virtual everyday role in 2016 when Mike Moustakas spent much of the season on the injured list.  Despite posting some solid numbers that year, Cuthbert’s production badly tailed off in the subsequent three seasons and he became little more than a bench piece.

Aside from his work at the hot corner, Cuthbert also has played a lot of first base and a handful of games at second over his career.  Second base could potentially be Cuthbert’s best path to playing time in Chicago, as while star rookie Nick Madrigal is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2020, the White Sox will need some kind of veteran stopgap until Madrigal is ready.  Yolmer Sanchez was non-tendered, leaving rookie Danny Mendick as the current top choice for the Opening Day lineup.  It seems likely that Cuthbert could be one of many veteran infielders brought into Chicago’s Spring Training camp to compete for the second base job, and Cuthbert’s versatility could give him a path to staying on the roster as a utility infielder once Madrigal is called up.

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