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Archives for February 2021

Braves Sign Jake Lamb

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Feb. 23: The Braves announced their one-year deal with Lamb. While it is technically a Major League deal, it’s also a non-guaranteed deal, per the team. That means Lamb could yet be cut in Spring Training for only a portion of his salary. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that salary to be $1MM.

Feb. 21: The Braves are in agreement on a contract with corner infielder Jake Lamb, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’s expected to be a major league pact, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). The deal is pending a physical. Lamb is a client of CAA Sports.

Lamb once looked like a building block for the Diamondbacks, with whom he began his career. Between 2016-17, he hit .248/.345/.498 with 59 home runs, earning an All-Star berth in the latter season. Unfortunately, the left-handed slugger was plagued by a shoulder issue that eventually required surgery in 2018, knocking him off course. Over the past three seasons, Lamb has just a .205/.309/.351 line with 15 homers across 563 plate appearances. That led Arizona to release him last September.

To his credit, Lamb hooked on with the Athletics after being cut loose by the Diamondbacks and hit very well down the stretch. That production came over just thirteen games on the heels of two-plus seasons of subpar performance, though, so it seems unlikely he’s completely regained his footing at the plate.

The Braves needn’t get his return to peak form for this to make for a worthwhile addition, though. Lamb won’t see much action at first base, thanks to the presence of reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman, but third base was a problem area last season. The combination of Austin Riley, Johan Camargo and the since-departed Adeiny Hechavarría struggled to varying degrees at the plate. Lamb isn’t a sure thing to produce himself, but he’ll bring a left-handed bat with some power to the mix, which could pair well with the right-handed hitting Riley. Non-roster invitees Jason Kipnis and Ehire Adrianza will try to work their way onto the roster during spring training, as well.

Athletics Designate Paul Blackburn For Assignment

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The Athletics have designated right-hander Paul Blackburn for assignment, the team announced Tuesday. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to first baseman/designated hitter Mitch Moreland, who has passed a physical and thus made his one-year agreement with Oakland official.

Blackburn, 27, has seen time in the big leagues with the A’s in each of the past four seasons but has yet to consistently put together strong results. He did notch 58 2/3 innings of 3.22 ERA ball as a rookie in 2017, but that was accompanied by a paltry 9.2 percent strikeout rate that served as a clear indicator he’d have difficulty maintaining that output. While Blackburn has succeeded in upping his strikeout rate a bit — it’s still well below league average — he’s nevertheless been hit quite hard in the three years since that debut. Over his past 41 innings in the big leagues, he’s yielded 44 earned runs.

Overall, Blackburn carries a 5.69 ERA in 99 2/3 MLB frames to date, although there are certainly some intriguing aspects to the righty’s track record. He’s induced grounders at a rather hefty 53.2 percent clip thanks to a low-spin sinker, and he’s walked just 6.5 percent of opponents he’s faced in the Majors. Blackburn has a sub-4.00 ERA at every minor league level and a 3.47 ERA mark in parts of eight minor league seasons overall. He’s also out of minor league options, however, meaning he’d have to break camp with another club in order to avoid again being designated for assignment.

The A’s will have a week to trade Blackburn, try to pass him through outright waivers or release him. Should he go unclaimed on waivers, he’ll remain with the club and presumably head to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. At that point, he’d have a chance to force his way back onto the MLB roster or could be sent to Triple-A to open the year as a relatively seasoned upper-level depth piece.

Athletics Sign Mitch Moreland

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The Athletics added some left-handed pop to their lineup, announcing on Tuesday that they’ve signed first baseman/designated hitter Mitch Moreland to a one-year deal. The Paragon Sports International client will reportedly be guaranteed $2.25MM on the deal and can earn another $250K worth of incentives.

Mitch Moreland | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Moreland may be 35 years old, but he’s turned in the best work of his career at the plate over the past two seasons. In 487 plate appearances between the Red Sox and Padres in that time, Moreland has slashed .256/.333/.521 with 29 home runs, 26 doubles and a triple. He’s also boosted his walk rate north of 10 percent in the past few years after previously sitting around seven percent for the bulk of his career, and the uptick in power and free passes hasn’t come with any discernible increase in strikeouts (21.8 percent).

At this point in his career, Moreland’s glovework likely isn’t as good as it was at its Gold Glove peak, but that’s not much of an issue in Oakland, where Matt Olson is among the game’s best defenders at the position. He’ll give them a veteran with a solid defensive track record in the event that Olson misses any time, but Moreland figures to see time as the primary designated hitter for the A’s now that Khris Davis has been traded to Texas in a trade that brought Elvis Andrus to Oakland.

Moreland has never hit left-handed pitching well and is typically shielded from facing southpaws too much, so he’ll likely be deployed in a platoon setting. The A’s don’t have an obvious right-handed-hitting platoon partner at the moment — Chad Pinder likely in a platoon at second base — so it’s possible they could yet look to the market to bring in an affordable righty bat or switch-hitter to pair with Moreland.

Moreland joins Trevor Rosenthal, Yusmeiro Petit and Sergio Romo as recent additions on one-year deals, bringing the Oakland payroll up to a still-modest $85MM in total. It had been a near-silent offseason for the A’s, but it seems their ability to shed the Davis contract and a flooded free-agent market still full of veterans seeking deals has pushed ownership to begin spending a bit.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the deal (via Twitter). Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com first reported the financials.

Yankees Designate Greg Allen For Assignment

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The Yankees have designated outfielder Greg Allen for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to lefty Justin Wilson, whose previously reported deal is now official.

The 27-year-old Allen won’t get into a game as a member of the Yankees, who acquired him in a minor trade that sent minor league lefty James Reeves to the Padres back on Jan. 6. The Yankees were the third organization in half a year’s time for Allen, who opened the 2020 season in Cleveland before being traded to the Padres as part of the Mike Clevinger deal and then landing with New York.

Allen could be on the move again now, although the Yankees surely wouldn’t mind holding onto him as minor league depth in the event that he goes unclaimed on waivers. The soon-to-be 28-year-old has just a .239/.298/.343 batting line in 618 Major League plate appearances, but he’s also gone 32-for-38 in stolen bases during that time. More importantly, Allen is considered a solid defender in the outfield and is capable of handing all three spots out there.

Unfortunately for Allen, he’s also out of minor league options, which left him looking like a potential roster casualty as the Yankees made a slew of one-year additions late in the offseason. While he wasn’t technically the corresponding move for Brett Gardner’s return, which the Yankees also announced today, that deal may have been the final nail in his 40-man roster coffin.

The Yankees will have a week to trade Allen or, as previously noted, attempt to pass him through outright waivers. That the Padres were able to find a trade for Allen the first time around — one for a minor league pitcher and not simply cash or a PTBNL — suggests there was something of a market the last time he was designated. However, many clubs have made other outfield additions and filled up the fringes of their 40-man roster in the six weeks since that time, so it’s certainly possible the Yankees could sneak him through waivers.

Yankees Re-Sign Brett Gardner

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Brett Gardner is back for a 14th season with the Yankees. The team announced this morning that Gardner has been re-signed to a one-year deal with a player option for the 2022 season. The Meister Sports client will reportedly be paid $2.85MM in 2021, with a $2.3MM player option for a second season. If Gardner declines his player option, the Yankees can pick up a $7.15MM club option or buy him out at $1.15MM. Luis Severino, who is recovering from 2020 Tommy John surgery, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open roster space.

Brett Gardner | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees declined Gardner’s $10MM option for 2021 in favor of a $2.5MM after last season, but the new agreement hardly comes as any kind of shock. After all, the 37-year-old has been a career-long member of the club since he debuted in 2008 and remains an asset despite his advanced age.

Gardner is still adept at handling both left and center field, and he posted yet another above-average offensive showing in 2020. While his batting average wasn’t good, his overall .223/.354/.392 line in 158 plate appearances was around 10 percent better than the league-average mark, according to both OPS+ and wRC+. He’s also an immensely respected member of the team’s clubhouse.

If Gardner does return to the Yankees in 2021, he would serve as a highly qualified fourth outfielder on a team that has Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier lined up to start in the grass, with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton also likely to cycle in at right field from time to time.

The Yankees are aiming to stay under the $210MM luxury-tax threshold this year, and their deal with Gardner is the latest example of that. The Yankees have used split player/club options as a means of weighing down their luxury obligations. Because Gardner is unlikely to pick up that $2.3MM player option when he’s guaranteed at least the $1.15MM buyout on the club option anyway, his contract effectively amounts to a one-year deal with a club option. However, because player options are technically considered guaranteed money, that lowers the average annual value of the contract to $2.575MM; a traditional one-year deal with the club option and the same guarantee would’ve clocked in at $4MM.

It’s the same approach the Yankees took in their contracts with both Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson. None of the individual deals is likely to save them more than a million-plus in luxury room, but taken in totality they’ve probably trimmed back $3-4MM of luxury breathing room by brokering a series of player options that are all unlikely to be exercised.

With Gardner back in the fold, the Yankees’ luxury obligations sit just shy of $204MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, although the specifics of Wilson’s deal aren’t yet known and will further push that sum toward the $210MM threshold. In all likelihood, the Yankees will leave themselves a few million dollars of breathing room to allow some in-season dealings as needs arise.

Ken Davidoff of the New York Post first reported that the two sides had agreed to a new deal, and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman added details on the contract’s structure. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the exact breakdown.

Twins Sign Andrew Romine To Minor League Deal

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The Twins announced this morning that they’ve signed veteran utilityman Andrew Romine to a minor league contract. The Moye Sports client will join the club’s Major League group in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.

Romine, 35, has appeared in parts of 10 big league seasons — most of which came with the division-rival Tigers from 2014-17. He spent the 2020 season with the Rangers organization but appeared in only two big league games last summer, collecting a double in four trips to the plate. Through 1327 plate appearances in the Majors, the switch-hitting Romine is a .235/.291/.301 hitter.

Production at the plate has never been Romine’s calling card. He’s far more known for his defensive versatility, having spent at least 238 innings at each of the four infield positions and another 559 frames in the outfield (including 313 in center). The Twins got a first-hand look at that versatility late in the 2017 season, when then-Detroit skipper Brad Ausmus allowed Romine to play all nine positions on the same diamond in a game the Tigers topped the Twins by a 3-2 margin.

At 35, Romine might not be the defender he once was, but he’s turned in average career defensive marks at shortstop, above-average showings at second and third base, and above-average marks in left field as well.

The Twins already have several utility options in camp. With the signing of Andrelton Simmons, they’ll slide Jorge Polanco over as the everyday second baseman and move Luis Arraez into the super-utility role vacated by Marwin Gonzalez. Catcher/infielder Willians Astudillo could be in line to take another bench spot, and Minnesota also has second/third base prospect Travis Blankenhorn on the 40-man roster. Former Red Sox infielder Tzu-Wei Lin is in camp on a non-roster deal as well. All of that could make it tough for Romine to win a job to begin the year, but he’d be a reasonable depth option to stash in Triple-A St. Paul if a big league opportunity doesn’t present itself this spring.

Quick Hits: Pujols, T. Rosenthal, Gardner, Hoskins

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Deirdre Pujols, wife of Angels first baseman Albert Pujols, suggested on Instagram on Monday that this will be the final season of the 41-year-old’s storied career. However, she quickly amended her post and made it clear that he won’t necessarily retire after 2021. Indeed, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report that Pujols hasn’t made a decision on his future beyond this year. But as someone who has struggled immensely over the past few seasons, it doesn’t seem likely that the future Hall of Famer will land another guaranteed contract even if he wants to play in 2022. Regardless, he’ll earn $30MM this season on the 10-year, $254MM deal he signed with the Angels entering the 2012 campaign.

  • The Brewers were among the teams that tried to sign reliever Trevor Rosenthal before he inked a one-year, $11MM guarantee with the Athletics, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. The Braves were also known to be in the mix, and they made the right-hander a back-loaded offer for two years, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Trevor Rosenthal ultimately chose the A’s back-loaded proposal (they’ll pay him through 2023).
  • Outfielder Brett Gardner re-signed with the Yankees for a $5.15MM guarantee, but at least a few other teams considered prying him out of New York. The Braves, Angels and Blue Jays all showed interest in Gardner during his long stay in free agency, per Heyman. However, Gardner’s goal was to remain a member of the Yankees. A 2005 third-round pick who made his big league debut in 2008, Gardner is easily the Yankees’ longest-tenured player.
  • Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who underwent Tommy John surgery last October, said that he has been “medically cleared” for all spring training activities, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays. It’s not certain whether Hoskins will be in the Phillies’ lineup on Opening Day – that will depend on how many reps he gets this spring – but it’s not “out of the picture,” he stated. After a somewhat disappointing 2019, the 27-year-old slugger enjoyed a major rebound last season, when he slashed .245/.384/.503 (140 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 185 plate appearances.

Shin-Soo Choo Signs With SK Wyverns

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Longtime major league outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is joining the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization, Tae Woo Kim of SPOTV reports (h/t: Sung Min Kim, on Twitter). He’ll earn $2.4MM in 2021, Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net tweets.

This is a homecoming for the 38-year-old Choo, a South Korea native who played in the majors with the Mariners, Reds, Indians and Rangers from 2005-20. His greatest long-term success came in Cleveland, where the on-base machine batted .292/.383/.463 with 83 home runs and 85 stolen bases in 2,932 plate appearances. But Choo was also an above-average performer in Cincinnati and Texas, evidenced in part by the one-time All-Star’s lifetime .275/.377/.447 line with 218 HRs, 157 steals and 35.4 fWAR over 7,157 trips to the plate.

The 2020 campaign was the last season of the seven-year, $130MM guarantee Choo signed with the Rangers before 2014, and it was his worst offensive effort for the club. Choo hit .236/.323/.400 with five homers in 127 PA, dividing his time between the corner outfield and designated hitter.

Choo has had difficulty in the field throughout his career (minus-68 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-36.4 Ultimate Zone Rating), and with his age and fading offensive numbers also factored in, it appeared he would have trouble landing a guaranteed major league deal in free agency. He’s now heading back to his native country for the largest single-season payday in KBO history, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News.

Diamondbacks, Tyler Clippard Agree To Deal

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The Diamondbacks have agreed to a deal with free-agent reliever Tyler Clippard, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. The right-hander, a client of Excel Sports Management, will earn a guaranteed $2.25MM. There’s a $3.5MM mutual option or a $500K buyout for 2022.

This will be the second stint in the desert for Clippard, who was a member of the Diamondbacks in 2016. The 36-year-old has also appeared in the majors with nine other organizations during what has been a successful career. Long a durable late-game option, Clippard has overcome a paltry 28.1 percent groundball rate to log a 3.13 ERA/3.47 SIERA with an above-average strikeout rate (27.1) across 842 innings since his 2007 debut.

Although he only averaged 89.2 mph on his fastball in Minnesota last year, Clippard continued to record impressive production. He put up a 2.77 ERA/3.52 SIERA in 26 frames, owing largely to terrific strikeout and walk numbers. He fanned hitters at a 26.5 percent rate and walked hitters just 4.1 percent of the time – a career-best figure. Clippard also fared better than most in a large number of Statcast categories.

The Diamondbacks have been mostly quiet since their disappointing 2020 season ended, but they have made a few notable additions to their roster this month. Before agreeing to terms with Clippard, they signed fellow veterans Joakim Soria and Asdrubal Cabrera. Clippard and Soria figure to be important parts of a bullpen that finished a subpar 18th in ERA (4.60) a year ago.

Extension Notes: Lindor, Correa, Bieber, Bichette

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New Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor revealed that there’s “mutual interest” in an extension, though he believes “it’s too early” for serious talks to start, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. Lindor said in early January, shortly after the Mets acquired him from Cleveland, that he wouldn’t want to discuss a new contract during the season. His feelings on that subject seemingly remain the same, as he notes, “It would be unfair for me and the rest of the team to have ongoing conversations on an extension, and we show up on Opening Day and our mind is somewhere else.” Considering Lindor’s stance, the Mets figure to spend the next month-plus trying to lock up the 27-year-old, who has been a premier player throughout his career and who was the biggest acquisition the club made in the offseason.

  • The Astros’ Carlos Correa could join Lindor as part of a star-studded class of free-agent shortstops next winter, but he would also like to secure a new deal before the upcoming season, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com writes. “If the Astros want to extend me, I would like to get it done before the season starts,” Correa said. “I feel good, my body feels great and I feel I’m going to have such a great season. Once the season starts, I don’t want to be involved and distracted with those conversations.” Correa, 26, put up uncharacteristically mediocre production in 2020, but he stayed healthy for the first time in a few seasons. He avoided arbitration Feb. 6 with an $11.7MM agreement for 2021, but he and his agent haven’t heard from the Astros about a long-term deal since then, McTaggart relays.
  • Indians ace Shane Bieber hasn’t discussed a long-term deal with the club, but he’d be willing to do so, Zack Meisel of The Athletic tweets. The Indians don’t necessarily have to urgently sign Bieber, who won’t be eligible for arbitration until after 2021 or free agency until the end of 2024. But with the club’s low budget in mind, it could behoove it to extend the reigning AL Cy Young winner sometime soon.
  • Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and other reporters that he’s open to an extension, but the team hasn’t made him an offer so far. The 22-year-old Bichette has been a revelation for the Blue Jays dating back to his 2019 debut, having slashed .307/.347/.549 with 16 home runs and eight stolen bases in 340 plate appearances. Fortunately for Toronto, it isn’t in danger of losing Bichette in the near future, which would explain the lack of urgency in inking him to an extension. Bichette still has two pre-arbitration years remaining and isn’t slated to reach free agency until after 2025.

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