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Archives for January 2021

Rangers Sign Drew Anderson To Minor League Contract

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The Rangers have signed free-agent right-hander Drew Anderson to a minor league contract, the team announced. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Anderson began his career with the Phillies, who chose him in the 21st round of the 2012 draft, but the organization moved on from him toward the end of the 2019 season. He spent some of last season with the White Sox, but they released him in early September after the 26-year-old threw just 1 1/3 innings in their uniform.

In all, Anderson has totaled 22 1/3 major league innings of 9.67 ERA ball and posted an 18.6 percent strikeout rate against a 9.7 percent walk rate. Anderson does, however, possess a far more respectable 3.52 ERA through 486 minor league frames.

Rangers, Rays Complete Nate Lowe Trade

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The Rangers announced that they have acquired outfielder Carl Chester from the Rays. Chester is the player to be named later in the teams’ December trade that sent first baseman Nate Lowe to Texas.

Now 25 years old, Chester was a 12th-round pick in 2017 who has topped out at the Double-A level so far in his career. He debuted there in 2019 and slashed .264/.299/.405 with a pair of home runs in 127 plate appearances. Overall, Chester has batted .284/.340/.397 and smacked 13 homers over 1,283 trips to the plate in the minors. Chester did not rank among the Rays’ 30 best prospects at Baseball America, FanGraphs or MLB.com before the trade.

Mets Notes: Kluber, Paxton, Coaches

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The latest from Queens…

  • The Mets will send scouts to Corey Kluber’s showcase on January 13, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (Twitter link) and the club also had evaluators watching James Paxton when Paxton threw for teams two weeks ago.  Both free agent pitchers are looking to bounce back from injury-shortened 2020 seasons, and Kluber also barely pitched (35 2/3 innings) in 2019.  If healthy and effective, either pitcher would give the Mets another major arm to join Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman atop the rotation.  Lots of other teams, of course, would have similar hopes of installing Kluber or Paxton as a rebound candidate, though it is unclear how this interest will manifest itself in terms of a contract given both pitchers’ health concerns.  The Mets have deeper pockets than most clubs this offseason, however, and New York could conceivably sign Kluber or Paxton as something of a lottery ticket for the back end of the rotation while still targeting a higher-tier arm (such as a Trevor Bauer).
  • The Mets announced their full coaching staff, including official confirmation of new hires Dave Jauss (as bench coach) and Tony Tarasco (as first base coach and an outfielders/baserunning coach).  Ricky Meinhold will also join the staff as an assistant pitching coach, while retaining his prior job as a minor league pitching coordinator.  Brian Schneider returns to the staff with a new assignment, moving from quality control coach to Major League field coordinator and catching coach.
  • In case you missed some noteworthy Mets news from yesterday, the Amazins are reportedly no longer bidding on Tomoyuki Sugano, but they are interested in former Indians closer Brad Hand.

Latest On Hyeon-Jong Yang, Sung-Bum Na

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Two of South Korea’s top players are still waiting to see if they will join Major League Baseball next season, as Jeeho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency provides updates on both left-hander Hyeon-Jong Yang and outfielder Sung-Bum Na (Twitter link).

Beginning with Yang, the southpaw is looking for a guaranteed MLB deal rather than a split contract, according to Yang’s agent In-gook Choi.  Yang is willing to “be flexible” about being sent to the minors without his consent, Choi said, “but we won’t take a split deal.”

There hasn’t been much publicly-known information about Yang’s free agency since news broke back in October about his plan to explore a jump to North America.  Yoo goes so far as to describe the longtime Kia Tigers hurler as “almost a forgotten free agent,” perhaps owing to Yang’s subpar 2020 season.  The lefty posted a 4.70 ERA, 19.97 K% and 8.6 BB% over 172 1/3 innings for the Tigers last season, with that ERA standing out as Yang’s highest in the last eight seasons.

It isn’t the platform year that Yang wanted as he prepared to market himself to Major League teams, and it remains to be seen what type of offers he might land as he heads into his age-33 season.  Choi said that “teams that are still trying to fill out their rotation have shown interest” and predicts that Yang will get more attention once Tomoyuki Sugano’s posting period is up on Thursday.  However, a concrete offer for Yang will have to come soon — Choi and Yang have set a mid-January date for a decision either way, so Yang will have adequate time to get ready for the 2021 season whether he pitches in North America or for another KBO League team.

Yang is a full free agent, and thus doesn’t have to face any international signing restrictions or the KBO/MLB posting system.  Whereas Yang’s mid-January deadline is self-imposed, however, Na is subject to a 30-day posting window that lasts until 4pm CT on January 9.  As Yoo plainly puts it, there is “not much buzz around Na so far” as his posting deadline draws near. 

The 31-year-old slugger is coming off one of his finest of his eight seasons with the NC Dinos, as Na hit .324/.390/.596 with 34 home runs over 584 plate appearances.  Despite this performance, Na spent much of his time as a designated hitter in 2020, in the aftermath of a major knee injury that cost him much of the 2019 season.  The status of Na’s knee and how it impacts both his speed and his ability to regularly play the outfield) is of natural concern to any Major League suitors.  Na has already made the trip to North America, Yoo writes, as Na has been working out at the Boras Corporation’s training facilities in California.

NL Notes: Kluber, Nationals, D’Backs, Peralta, Giants

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Some items from around the Senior Circuit…

  • The Nationals and Diamondbacks will be among the teams who will have scouts at Corey Kluber’s showcase on January 13, as reported by The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli and Zach Buchanan (both Twitter links).  Washington has a clearer need for starting pitching than Arizona, but given the potential upside of adding a former Cy Young Award winner if Kluber can stay healthy, the veteran righty makes sense for practically every team in baseball.
  • “The Cardinals have talked about acquiring” David Peralta in the past, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, and Goold feels it would be logical for the Cards to again consider acquiring the Diamondbacks outfielder.  Peralta began his pro career with St. Louis back in 2004 before being released in 2009, and he has since gone on to become a solid contributor over seven MLB seasons with the D’Backs.  Peralta’s name has been periodically mentioned in trade rumors as the Diamondbacks’ fortunes have gone up and down over the years, but Arizona locked Peralta up on a contract extension last spring.  That same deal now could make Peralta an affordable (he is owed $7.5MM in both 2021 and 2022) trade target for a team like the Cardinals, who are both in need of outfield help and are seemingly trying to limit spending.  While the D’Backs have dealt several of their higher-paid players in recent years, however, there hasn’t been any indication that Arizona is considering a similar move involving Peralta or any of its pricier veterans this winter.  If anything, indications are that the D’Backs are leaning towards bringing much of their roster back, with the sense that 2020 was an aberration of a season.
  • With all of the economic uncertainty surrounding baseball, the Giants “will be better positioned than almost any team…to weather whatever 2021 brings,” The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly (subscription required) writes in a breakdown of the team’s overall solid financial outlook.  This doesn’t necessarily mean the Giants will heavily spend on new players this winter, but it bodes well for the future — perhaps as soon as next offseason, once almost all of San Francisco’s expensive contracts are off the books.

International Transactions: 1/5/21

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The latest on former big leaguers signing abroad…

  • The Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League have signed left-hander Felix Doubront, the team announced.  Best known for his solid performance as a starter for the 2013 world champion Red Sox, Doubront posted a 4.89 ERA over 513 2/3 innings for the Athletics, Blue Jays, Cubs, and Red Sox from 2010-15, with 98 of his 118 MLB games coming in a Boston uniform.  Doubront missed all of 2016 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and has since pitched for Oakland’s Triple-A team, the KBO League’s Lotte Giants, and two Mexican League clubs.

Red Sox Sign Daniel Gossett To Minor League Deal

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TODAY: Gossett will earn $750K in guaranteed salary if he makes Boston’s MLB roster, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.

JANUARY 4: The Red Sox are signing right-hander Daniel Gossett to a minor-league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The deal includes an invitation to big league spring training, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter).

Gossett, 28, was selected by the Athletics in the second round of the 2014 draft and became a decently-regarded prospect. After a few years of generally solid minor-league production, he reached the big leagues in 2017. He didn’t find much success at the highest level, however. Gossett threw a fair amount of strikes but never missed many bats (striking out just 16.3% of opposing hitters) and was plagued by home runs. Altogether, he managed just a 5.91 ERA in 115.2 innings over 23 starts.

An ill-timed Tommy John surgery in August 2018 sidelined Gossett through the end of the 2019 season. He was released by the A’s this past July and sat out last season. Gossett is now fully recovered from the procedure and throwing bullpen sessions, Cotillo relays.

Two and a half years removed from his most recent big league work, Gossett will look to work his way onto a Red Sox pitching staff in flux. There’s room for him to claim a starting or multi-inning relief job if he shows well in spring training, particularly with Chris Sale not expected to return until midseason after undergoing Tommy John surgery last March.

Cubs Release Colin Rea

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The Cubs have released right-hander Colin Rea, according to the MLB.com transactions page.  Rea avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $702.5K deal with Chicago on December 2 (the day of the non-tender deadline), but he will now look to sign a new contract with a Japanese team, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets.

The 30-year-old Rea tossed 14 innings for the Cubs last season, posting a 5.79 ERA, 16.1% strikeout rate and a very solid 3.2% walk rate.  Rea started two of his nine outings but was much more effective as a reliever, as seven of Rea’s nine earned runs allowed in 2020 came during his 5 1/3 innings as a starter.  It’s probably safe to assume he’ll look to rebuild his stock as a starting pitcher in Japan, as the bulk of Rea’s pro experience (161 of 203 games) in the majors and minors as come as a starter.

Those 14 innings for Chicago represented Rea’s first MLB action since 2016, as he spent the previous two seasons in the minors with the Cubs and Padres and missed all of 2017 recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Rea’s arm problems stand out as a major what-if for Padres fans, as a seven-player trade in July 2016 that originally sent Rea to the Marlins was partially reversed since Miami felt Rea was already injured at the time of the swap, so Rea was returned to San Diego and the Padres sent another pitcher involved in the deal back to the Marlins — that pitcher was future Reds ace Luis Castillo.

With Rea gone, the Cubs are short another starting candidate as they prepare to roll out an overhauled rotation in 2021.  Free agent departures and the trade of Yu Darvish to the Padres will set Chicago up with a projected rotation of Kyle Hendricks, Zach Davies, Adbert Alzolay, Alec Mills, and a host of young candidates vying for the fifth spot.  It seems likely that the team will add another veteran to the mix, though probably someone on a minor league deal or on a low-cost MLB contract.

Latest On Yasiel Puig

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Free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig hasn’t played in the majors since 2019, but the league hasn’t forgotten about him. Several clubs – the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, Marlins and Orioles – “appear to have varying levels of interest” in Puig, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets.

After a largely successful career with the Dodgers, Reds and Cleveland from 2013-19, Puig looked like a surefire bet to land a guaranteed contract last offseason. But the former All-Star didn’t encounter as much serious interest as expected, and he didn’t find a deal until the Braves agreed to sign him in the middle of July – shortly before the truncated season was set to begin. However, the contract never became official because Puig tested positive for COVID-19 just a few days later. Considering how long it would have taken Puig to recover and get up to speed, it was seemingly too late for the Braves or another big league club to sign him before the year ended.

Although last year was a lost season for Puig, he does appear to be an appealing buy-low type for MLB teams that aren’t necessarily looking to spend big on outfield help in free agency or via trade. Puig, who turned 30 last month, is the owner of a .277/.348/.475 line with 132 home runs and 79 stolen bases across 3,376 plate appearances. That history of above-average production should help Puig land a reasonably priced contract before next season starts.

Free Agent Notes: Kluber, Turner, Duvall, Puig

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It’s confirmed that free-agent right-hander Corey Kluber will hold a showcase for interested teams on Jan. 13 in Florida, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Kluber, a former Cleveland and Texas hurler who missed most of the previous two seasons because of a forearm fracture and shoulder problems, has gone through “a normal winter workout program and has begun to throw off a mound,” tweets the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, who reports that the two-time AL Cy Young winner has generated interest from approximately 12 teams this offseason. Kluber hasn’t pitched a full season since 2018, but the now-34-year-old did log a 2.89 ERA in 215 innings then.

  • Third baseman Justin Turner is looking for a four-year contract, but the Dodgers don’t want to go above two years, Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times writes. Turner spent the previous seven seasons as a member of the Dodgers, with whom he went from afterthought to star. The problem is that he’s now 36 years old, so the Dodgers (and other teams) may not be all that eager to commit to Turner on a long-term basis. MLBTR predicted at the beginning of the offseason that Turner would ink a two-year, $24MM deal.
  • The Marlins are interested in outfielder Adam Duvall, Craig Mish of Sportsnet tweets. The 32-year-old ex-Red spent the previous two-plus seasons in Atlanta, where he batted .231/.290/488 with 26 home runs in 396 plate appearances. As a Brave, Duvall was a powerful league-average hitter (100 wRC+), but that wasn’t enough for the team to tender him a contract earlier this winter, when it non-tendered him in lieu of paying him $4MM-plus in arbitration.
  • Speaking of the Marlins, they offered Yasiel Puig a $2MM base salary with “tons of incentives” during free agency a winter ago, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Puig didn’t end up signing with them or any other team in 2020. He did agree to a deal with the Braves in July, but that deal fell apart thanks to a positive COVID-19 test. Now that he’s healthy, though, Puig is back on MLB teams’ radars – including Miami’s.

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