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Braves Select Charlie Culberson

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The Braves announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Charlie Culberson. Atlanta non-tendered the 31-year-old this past offseason but quickly re-signed him to a minor league pact. He’ll now play a third straight season in Atlanta.

Culberson provided some big hits for the Braves in 2018, shaking off a terrible start to the season and emerging as a fan favorite after a career-best .270/.326/.466 batting line in 322 plate appearances that season. Things didn’t go as well for Culberson in 2019, as his line dipped to .259/.294/.437 in 144 plate appearances. Culberson has played every position except catcher and center field in the Majors — including three innings on the mound. He’ll give the Braves some versatility off the bench with rosters expanded to 30 players to begin the year. Culberson’s minor league deal included a $1MM base salary upon making the roster, and the prorated portion of that checks in just over $370K.

Royals Acquire Rights To Rule 5 Pick Stephen Woods Jr.

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The Royals announced today that they’ve sent a player to be named later or cash to the Rays in exchange for unrestricted rights to Rule 5 pick Stephen Woods Jr. Such moves are only possible once a player first goes unclaimed on outright waivers. Normally, a Rule 5 pick is then offered back to his original club, but the Royals worked out a trade to keep Woods in the organization — and because he’s already cleared waivers, the right-hander won’t require a spot on the 40-man roster.

Woods, 25, missed the entire 2018 season due to shoulder surgery but returned in 2019 to throw 86 1/3 frames of 1.88 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 53.4 percent ground-ball rate in Class-A Advanced. Pitching the majority of last season at age 24, Woods was a bit old for the level, but the results were obviously quite encouraging for a pitcher coming back from a major surgical procedure. The Kansas City organization was clearly enamored of the former eighth-round pick’s upside and will now be able to hang onto him for the foreseeable future.

Woods has a history of control struggles, but he’s also missed plenty of bats in both his NCAA and professional career. His velocity was down a bit from its previous levels in 2019, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen noted at the time of the Rule 5 Draft, but Woods also posted the lowest walk rate of his career in ’19.

Marlins Finalizing Deals With Second- And Third-Round Picks

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2:00pm: Miami has signed McCambley for a $775K bonus, Mish tweets, which comes in a bit shy of hi $831K slot.

6:23am: The Marlins had lagged the rest of the league in draft signings but now appear to be making progress. Second-rounder Dax Fulton and third-rounder Zach McCambley are putting the finishing touches on agreements, Craig Mish of Sports Grid reports (Twitter links).

Fulton’s deal comes in at a hefty $2.4MM, over half a million over-slot, so the Fish will be applying savings from other selections to make the bonus pool allocation math work. The high-school southpaw had been destined for the University of Oklahoma.

There’s a chance the Miami organization has come away with a steal in Fulton, whose risk profile changed after recently undergoing Tommy John surgery. Even given the added uncertainty, he placed 29th on the ESPN.com board and drew lofty grades from other pundits.

Getting Fulton to his ceiling will require some careful developmental work. Keith Law of The Athletic, who ranked Fulton lowest of the major outlets (#67), says the left needs to clean up his mechanics. Per Law: “There’s definite upside here, assuming his stuff returns, but also real risk if his arm action stays the same.”

As for McCambley, a Coastal Carolina product, the bonus value isn’t yet known. He was taken 75th overall, a pick that came with a $831,100 allocation. That’s precisely the range where most prognosticators expected him to be taken.

Like Fulton, McCambley is a potentially explosive lefty. In this case, the questions surround his ability to develop a third offering. Baseball America explains that McCambley features a plus heater and curve, but needs to re-work his change if he’s to progress towards a big-league rotation.

Cespedes Expects To DH On Opening Day

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The stage is set for a fascinating final contract year for Yoenis Cespedes and the Mets. The veteran slugger says he’s a full go for the regular season and anticipates opening the year as the team’s designated hitter, as Tim Healey of Newsday was among those to cover on Twitter.

Cespedes is working back from some serious leg injuries that cost him not only significant action, but also significant guaranteed money. His amended contract calls for his earnings to depend in large part upon how many plate appearances he manages this year, so it’s good news for all parties that he’s ready to roll from the jump. (The targets will be pro-rated to reflect the shortened season.)

The real financial prize for Cespedes lies in another trip onto the open market at season’s end. He’s already 34 years of age, so there’ll be some natural limits to his potential earning power, but he could hold a top position on the market with a full-throated return to form.

The Mets will gladly pay up if Cespedes is able to play at his typical levels. He has done nothing but hit in New York — when he has been in the lineup. Cespedes carries a .282/.346/.543 batting line during his time in Queens but has appeared in only 119 contests since the start of the 2017 season.

Dodgers Sign Jake McGee

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The Dodgers have announced the signing of lefty Jake McGee. McGee is signing right onto the 40-man roster and will presumably have a spot on the active roster to open the season.

Injured righty Jimmy Nelson has been placed on the 45-day injured list, thus freeing a roster spot. Nelson will miss the entire season after undergoing back surgery, as has been anticipated for several weeks.

McGee was just cut loose by the division-rival Rockies even as he prepared for the final guaranteed season of his contract. The Colorado org will remain on the hook for the pro-rated portion of his $9MM salary, less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends on the Dodgers active roster.

It’d certainly sting for the Rox to see McGee thrive in Los Angeles, but the southpaw will need to figure things out to make that happen. Soon to turn 34, McGee is coming off of a messy 2019 campaign in which he was likely fortunate to carry a 4.35 ERA despite permitting 2.4 home runs per nine innings.

McGee’s swinging-strike rate dropped to 8.6% as he continued to surrender fastball velocity to the hands of time. It’ll be interesting to see what the Dodgers have in mind to prolong McGee’s career, now that he’s no longer bringing the elite speed he once did. He turned increasingly to his slider last year with some success, but still went to his trusty heater in four of every five deliveries.

Dodgers Option Gavin Lux

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The Dodgers have optioned talented young infielder Gavin Lux,. Lux had recently returned to Summer Camp after an unexplained absence that may or may not have been related to the coronavirus.

It’s not immediately clear why the Dodgers decided against carrying Lux to open the season. It had long been expected he’d be a key part of the roster after destroying upper-minors pitching in 2019 and holding his own over his MLB debut. That may still come to pass, but Lux will begin the year at the team’s alternate training site awaiting another call-up.

There’s obviously some potential here for service-time implications for the 22-year-old. He logged only 28 days in the majors last year, so even a brief absence in a shortened season could leave him shy of a full year of service when the 2020 campaign wraps up.

Lux obviously has nothing more to prove in the minors, so this decision surely isn’t about his development. With thirty active roster spots, there’s ample space to work with, though the Dodgers are surely committed to carrying loads of extra pitching. The uber-deep organization certainly has many viable candidates to cycle through at second base, where Lux had been the presumed option, though it’s still a bit difficult to imagine he truly fell short on a pure talent assessment.

It’ll be interesting to see how the organization (and Lux himself) discuss the decision when reporters have a chance to pose some questions. It could be there’s some as-yet-unknown developmental or motivational prerogative, or perhaps the Dodgers feel Lux is just in need of further work after a layoff. Whatever the reasoning, the service implications are hard to ignore given that the team could stand to pick up an extra year of control on the back end.

Braves Place Jacob Webb, Phil Pfeifer On 45-Day Injured List

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The Braves have placed a pair of young hurlers on the 45-day injured list, as David O’Brien of The Athletic covers on Twitter. Righty Jacob Webb is dealing with a shoulder strain, while southpaw Phil Pfeifer has been diagnosed with a bone contusion in his pitching elbow.

This news makes it rather unlikely we’ll see either of these pitchers in the 2020 regular season, though it doesn’t formally rule out the possibility. The typical 60-day injured list has been shortened to a 45-day minimum for the 2020 season. While these injuries dent the Braves’ pitching depth, the procedural moves open up 40-man roster space to bring in new arms.

Webb, who’ll soon turn 27, turned in a sparkling 1.39 ERA in his first 32 1/3 MLB innings last year. While the peripherals — 7.8 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9, 38.2% groundball rate — didn’t support the results, it’d be hard to deny him a pen slot. Unfortunately, Webb dealt with elbow woes late in 2019 and has now come down with further arm troubles despite the lengthy layoff.

It’s also unfortunate to see Pfeifer go down when he was so close to making his major-league debut. The 28-year-old had seven strong appearances this spring after earning his way onto the 40-man roster with an excellent 2019 effort. Pitching at three levels last year — as a starter in High-A and then increasingly as a reliever as he moved into the upper minors — Pfeifer ran a 2.97 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over 133 1/3 frames.

Daniel Norris Returns To Player Pool

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The Tigers announced today that lefty Daniel Norris has been cleared to return to the team’s 60-man player pool. He had been recovering from COVID-19 and awaiting consecutive negative tests.

It’s good to see Norris already clear of infection and ready to return to action. The timing is such that he’s likely to require some further work before he’s able to suit up in regular season action, but he can now begin building towards that goal.

This was already shaping up to be a decisive season for the 27-year-old southpaw. The former top prospect is in the middle of his arbitration years but still hasn’t fully established himself as a reliable rotation piece. And the Tigers have several young guns nipping at his heels.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Detroit organization handles its staff this year. Norris is sure to get a good look in some capacity. If the club wants to maximize his exposure to MLB hitting, perhaps it will deploy him in some kind of piggyback or multi-inning relief role while he builds up his pitch count early in the season.

Pirates Select Contracts Of Robbie Erlin, John Ryan Murphy

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The Pirates have selected the contracts of lefty Robbie Erlin and catcher John Ryan Murphy, per the team’s transactions page. Both had been assigned to the alternate training site but will now join the 40-man roster.

These moves were obviously made with an eye to structuring the Bucs’ Opening Day roster. With thirty roster spots to fill, the rebuilding club has quite a lot of openings to tinker with. These two players — both of whom are 29 years of age, were selected in the early rounds of the 2009 draft, and debuted in 2013 — are among the beneficiaries.

There was an especially clear need behind the dish in Pittsburgh. Murphy has never fully established himself as a MLB-caliber hitter, with a cumulative .219/.265/.357 slash line over 674 total plate appearances. But he’s trusted to handle backstop duties, having appeared with four different organizations over the past seven seasons.

Like most teams, the Pirates are likely to dedicate much of their added roster availability to pitching. Erlin will join a number of other arms hoping for their names to be called in on the bullpen phone. He could end up functioning as a situational lefty and/or long reliever. The 29-year-old carries a 4.57 ERA in 313 total MLB innings, all with the Padres.

Henderson Alvarez Signs With Indy Ball Club

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Former MLB right-hander Henderson Alvarez is hoping that an independent league stint will get his career back on track. He is joining the Milwaukee Milkmen of the American Association.

Alvarez says he is finally healthy and in good form. While MLB outfits obviously weren’t convinced, the 30-year-old says he intends to re-prove himself on the field.

In 2014, Alvarez spun 187 innings of 2.65 ERA ball. But he was derailed by injury in the ensuing season and has only made three MLB appearances over the past four campaigns.

Alvarez got a look at Triple-A last year with the Nationals, but couldn’t turn the corner. He pitched to a 5.94 ERA in 53 frames, recording 6.3 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 while surrendering 15 long balls in the supercharged offensive environment.

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