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Blue Jays Sign Josh Fuentes To Minors Deal

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The Blue Jays have signed Josh Fuentes to a minor league deal, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter). He has been issued an invitation to Major League camp, adds MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson (via Twitter).

Fuentes, 29, has spent the whole of his Major League career with the Rockies. He was largely a bit player until last season when he started 56 games at third base. Of course, third base in Colorado had previously been spoken for by Fuentes’ cousin, Nolan Arenado. Fuentes appeared in 32 games on the other side of the diamond at first base, though he was mostly inserted as a late game replacement.

Offensively, Fuentes struggled mightily in 2021, posting a lowly 48 wRC+ and .225/.257/.351 triple slash line. For his career, a total 443 plate appearances, Fuentes owns an acceptable 25.7 percent strikeout rate, too-low 3.4 percent walk rate, and below-average .134 isolated power mark.

There isn’t expected to be much in the way of playing time on the Blue Jays’ roster for a right-handed corner infielder – not with Matt Chapman and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. locking down those spots. That said, there is some opportunity for a bench role in Toronto. Righties fill the lineup, however, so Fuentes will likely start behind non-roster invitees like Greg Bird or Gosuke Katoh in his effort to claim the final bench spot.

Mets Checking In On Free Agent Tony Watson

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The Mets are one of many teams to have checked in on veteran southpaw Tony Watson, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). The only southpaws currently projected for the Mets’ Major League roster are Chasen Shreve and Alex Claudio, both of whom joined the club as non-roster invitees. Joey Lucchesi might at some point join them, but the former starter underwent Tommy John surgery in June, and he won’t be ready at the start of the year.

The Mets have one of the more improved rosters of the offseason, but Watson would fill one of their few remaining holes. The 36-year-old has quietly been one of the more consistent lefty relievers in the game over the last decade. He debuted with the Pirates way back in 2011, spending seven seasons with the Buccos. All these years later, Watson is still, in a way, contributing in Pittsburgh. He was dealt to the Dodgers at the 2017 trade deadline for Angel German and Oneil Cruz, the latter of whom is pushing his way to the Majors. Cruz has big-game power, and he is one of Pittsburgh’s most promising prospects, as well as being one of the more distinctive young players in the game.

For Watson himself, he moved on from the Dodgers after a half season, Watson signing with the Giants and spending three successful seasons in the bay. After half a year with the Angels, the Giants re-acquired Watson at last year’s trade deadline. For his career, Watson has never had a full season ERA higher than 4.17, and he’s made between 60 and 78 appearances in every season since 2012, except for the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

A number of teams have understandably checked in on Watson. It wouldn’t be surprising if almost every contender in the league had checked in on Watson, given his sure-to-be reasonable contract demands. Watson made $1MM last season, and he only once earned a yearly salary higher than $3.5MM. Even for non-contenders, Watson could draw interest as an eventual trade asset, though Watson himself would presumably prefer to choose his own contender at this juncture.

The veteran Watson is the top available bullpen lefty available on the free agent market. This deep into the offseason, few options remain. Fernando Abad, Hector Santiago, and Ross Detwiler are the other options available who spent appreciable time on a Major League roster last season. Watson is easily the most accomplished of the four.

Diamondbacks, Ketel Marte Working On Extension

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The Diamondbacks and Ketel Marte are discussing the possibility of a contract extension, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). No deal is imminent, though Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reports that the two sides are discussing adding three years of team control to his current contract at a total value of roughly $75MM.

Marte is already under contract for the below-market sum of $8.4MM for 2022, with the Dbacks holding team options for 2023 and 2024 at $11MM and $13MM, respectively. Obviously, those numbers come in far shy the $25MMper annum he would theoretically earn in his age 31-33 seasons under the terms reported by Heyman. And yet, it’s still a number that could be considered a discount, given Marte’s proven ceiling.

Marte has been floated as a potential trade candidate for much of the offseason, but his value has been somewhat difficult to peg because he’s so eminently affordable for the next three campaigns thanks to the extension he signed in March 2018. At the time that he signed the deal, Marte had not yet entered his arbitration seasons, and he’d already been dealt once in what turned out to be one of the more interesting swaps of the past decade. In the deal, Arizona acquired righty Taijuan Walker with the 23-year-old Marte in exchange for an unproven Mitch Haniger, a post-breakout Jean Segura, and southpaw Zac Curtis. Notably, it was one of the very first moves of GM Mike Hazen’s tenure in Arizona.

Though Marte was a high-end prospect, Walker was viewed as the real get at the time. Marte had yet to fully establish himself over parts of two seasons with the Mariners. His extension, then, came after just one additional year with the Diamondbacks, one in which the switch-hitter managed only 255 plate appearances. Marte’s career triple-slash line was just .265/.319/.361 (84 wRC+) with eight homers and 22 steals over his first 968 major league PAs. And yet, Hazen didn’t blink in locking him up for the next seven years.

Hazen’s prescience paid off as Marte broke out in a big way during the 2019 season, finishing fourth in MVP voting. Marte absolutely leveled up to a .329/.389/.592 line over 628 plate appearances, chipping in 36 doubles, nine triples, and 32 home runs, good for 6.9 rWAR/7.0 fWAR. After taking a step back in 2020, Marte posted a reasonable facsimile of his breakout campaign last year with a 139 wRC+, but he was only able to stay on the field for 90 games.

An extension now would be an interesting gambit for the Diamondbacks, considering the injuries that have followed Marte throughout his career. And while he’s a multi-positional standout – and somewhat of an oddity in that he has more-or-less split his career playing time between second base, shortstop, and centerfield – his glovework has largely earned subpar marks everywhere on the diamond except the keystone.

Add to the total picture Marte’s tremendous, if surprising offensive ceiling, and he’s not a player that takes easily to projections. One could argue that the Diamondbacks would be better off waiting on extending Marte to see if he can produce another full season like 2019, given that he’s already under team control for three more seasons. By the time a new extension would kick in, Marte would be on the other side of his prime.

Perhaps they want to put an end to any trade rumblings and commit to Marte as a centerpiece of their offense for the next half decade. Hazen’s been right about Marte twice before, so the pair are probably due the benefit of the doubt.

Besides, Arizona’s future payroll is totally clear. They have nobody currently on the books for after the 2024 season, when Marte’s current contract runs out.

When he’s right, Marte brings a plus ability to put the ball in play, above-average power, above-average speed, and enough positional versatility to be an asset, at least in a game-to-game basis. It’s easy to understand why the Diamondbacks would want him at the forefront of their future endeavors.

Yankees Claim Jeisson Rosario From Red Sox

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The Yankees announced that outfielder Jeisson Rosario was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox.  Rosario has been optioned to the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate.

The 22-year-old Rosario was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Sox needed a 40-man roster space to accommodate Trevor Story.  Rosario began his career in the Padres farm system, and came to Boston as part of the August 2020 trade that saw Mitch Moreland dealt to San Diego.

Rosario has a .256/.366/.332 slash line over 1675 minor league plate appearances.  He hasn’t shown much power thus far, and his offensive contributions have mostly come in the form of on-base skills and speed (with 48 steals in 77 chances).  Rosario is considered a good defensive center fielder, however, and has also spent some time in right field and a handful of games as a left fielder.

League Makes Proposals To MLBPA Restricting Sign-Stealing, On-Field Information

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Major League Baseball has made a series of proposals to the players union about measures meant to restrict sign-stealing, and the use of information during games, The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli reports (Twitter thread).  It isn’t yet known how the MLB Players Association will respond to these proposals, whether they accept or reject the league’s idea, or perhaps make some counter-proposals with some tweaks.

One proposal involves the PitchCom system currently being tested during Spring Training games, as the league is now offering that players can continue to use the system on a voluntary basis during the regular season.  PitchCom is an electronic method for a catcher to communicate signs to the pitcher — the catcher enters the desired pitch (or pickoff throw, pitchout, etc.) on a specialized wristband, while the pitcher is wearing an audio device in his hat that tells him the pitch call via an automated voice.  The catcher and as many as three other fielders can also be wearing the audio device, to ensure accuracy and to make the information known around the diamond.

Ideally, PitchCom is a way of addressing sign-stealing by simply removing signs altogether.  The system also theoretically speeds up play by removing the need for some mound visits.  Early reviews have varied from individual to individual, and it remains to be seen how many players (or the MLBPA as a whole) would be open to continuing the PitchCom tech during the season.  The voluntary nature of the usage could be an obstacle, as a competitive advantage could be gained by some teams.

The league’s other proposals relate to the in-game use of scouting information.  Under these new rules, a player at the plate couldn’t (to use Ghiroli’s example) review any information on a scouting card within his helmet, for instance.  Also, team staff wouldn’t be allowed to print and deliver and new information to any on-field personnel during the game, whether on the actual diamond or in the dugout.

Specifying the use of printed information relates to how the league has already restricted the use of some electronic devices during a game, in the wake of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.  Still, while it would seem fairly easy to monitor whether or not a batter is using a “cheat sheet” during an at-bat, it would seem more difficult to completely police the flow of information between the on-field personnel and front office personnel over the course of a game.  Of course, there may never be an entirely airtight way to prevent teams finding loopholes, though having direct rules in place could at least act as some kind of deterrent.

Padres Claim Kyle Tyler, Designate James Norwood

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The Padres announced that right-hander Kyle Tyler has been claimed off waivers from the Red Sox.  To open up space on San Diego’s roster, righty James Norwood has been designated for assignment.

It has been a whirlwind week for Tyler, who is now playing for his third different organization in the last four days.  Tyler was designated by the Angels on March 19 when the Halos needed a 40-man roster spot for Ryan Tepera, and then after the Red Sox claimed Tyler on Tuesday, they DFA’ed him again on Thursday to claim Ralph Garza from the Twins in another waiver move.

Tyler is now headed back to SoCal, this time in a Padres uniform.  The 25-year-old has worked almost equally as a starter and as a reliever over his 232 1/3 career minor league innings, so Tyler gives the Padres yet another option on a roster that is now quite loaded with rotation depth, even if there are plenty of injury questions.  Tyler has a 3.25 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate over 232 1/3 innings as a minor leaguer, and he posted a 2.92 ERA over 12 1/3 MLB innings last season, in his first taste of big league action.

Norwood has pitched 27 innings spread over 28 games in the last four Major League seasons, with a 3.67 ERA to show for his brief time in The Show.  Norwood has a 13.1% walk rate in that small sample size in the majors, continuing the control problems that have been a thorn in his side for much of his minor league career (in the Cubs and Padres organizations).

On the plus side, Norwood’s strikeout totals have been on the rise over the last few years, and he has an impressive 34.2% strikeout rate over 120 innings at the Triple-A level.  That’s a number that could get another team’s attention on the waiver wire, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Norwood claimed before his DFA period is up.

Blue Jays Pitching Coach Pete Walker Arrested On DUI Charges

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Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker was arrested Friday morning on charges of speeding and driving under the influence, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.  (WFLA’s Nathaniel Rodriguez broke the news.)  Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling adds that Walker was released on a $500 bond later that morning, and that he will make a statement to media following the Jays’ game with the Yankees this afternoon.

According to the affidavit, Walker was allegedly driving 82mph in a 45-mph zone when pulled over by police.  Walker failed sobriety tests, and told officers that he had been drinking at a local restaurant earlier that evening.

Walker has been a member of Toronto’s coaching staff for 10 seasons, working as the club’s bullpen coach in 2012 and then moving into his current role as pitching coach.  He previously worked for the organization as a minor league pitching coach and instructor, and also pitched for the Jays during four of his eight MLB seasons as a player.  Walker has been highly regarded for his work with Jays pitchers over the years, most recently credited with helping turn Robbie Ray into the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner after Ray suffered through a disastrous 2020 season.

Mariners’ Evan White To Undergo Sports Hernia Surgery

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Mariners first baseman Evan White will soon be undergoing surgery to address a sports hernia, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.  It’s another big setback for White, who underwent a hip surgery last July that cut short his 2021 season.

Though White’s specific case may differ, most sports hernia operations result in roughly 4-8 weeks of missed time.  It’s probably safe to project towards the higher end of that timeframe, given that White is also on the way back from his hip procedure, and he has barely played during Spring Training.  With these factors in mind, White could be looking at closer to a midseason debut.

The 17th overall pick of the 2017 draft, White drew plenty of top-100 prospect buzz heading into the 2020 season, and his rookie season was highlighted by a Gold Glove Award for his work at first base.  At the plate, however, White has remained a major work in progress, hitting only .165/.235/.308 over his first 306 plate appearances against big league pitching.

Between his injuries and the lack of a 2020 minor league season, White’s development has already hit some significant speedbumps, and it was already looking like he would be starting 2022 as either a backup or perhaps even in the minors to get some regular playing time.  The Mariners can afford to take their time, as White was already been signed to a six-year, $24MM extension back in November 2019.  Much of the money on that backloaded deal has yet to kick in, as White made $2.6MM in the first two years of the extension and is set to earn $1.4MM in 2022.

Ty France is Seattle’s top option at first base, with utilityman Abraham Toro and Luis Torrens also capable of handling the position.  Divish also reports that new acquisition Jesse Winker has been working out at first base, which could represent an interesting way for the M’s to juggle their lineup (especially when star prospect Julio Rodriguez is eventually called up).  Winker has never played first base in his pro career, though gaining a foothold at a new position could be helpful for Winker considering that defensive metrics haven’t been too fond of his work in the outfield.

Reds Sign Tommy Pham

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TODAY: The Reds have officially announced Pham’s signing.  Tejay Antone (who underwent Tommy John surgery in August) was placed on the 60-day injured list to create roster room.

March 24: Pham is guaranteed $7.5MM on the deal, coming in the form of a $6MM salary and a $1.5MM buyout on next year’s mutual option, Nightengale further reports.

March 23: The Reds are in agreement with outfielder Tommy Pham on a one-year deal, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The deal, which contains a mutual option for 2023, is pending a physical. Financial terms have not been disclosed. Pham is a client of Vayner Sports.

Pham was one of the game’s more underrated players early in his career with the Cardinals and Rays. Between 2017-19, the right-handed hitter posted a .284/.381/.475 line while averaging nearly 22 home runs and stolen bases apiece per season. Pham routinely posted high-end exit velocities and walk rates while making a decent amount of contact. A high ground-ball tendency kept him from emerging as an elite power threat, but he was a well-rounded and highly productive offensive player.

Over the 2019-20 offseason, Tampa Bay traded Pham and Jake Cronenworth to the Padres in a deal that sent Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards back to the Rays. While Pham was the headliner of the swap from the Friars’ perspective, Cronenworth proved to be the more valuable pickup. Pham struggled to a .211/.312/.312 mark during the shortened 2020 season, the only below-average offensive showing of his career. Last year’s .229/.340/.383 slash was a tick above average, by measure of wRC+, but it still came up well shy of his early-career numbers.

Pham, who didn’t emerge as a regular until his age-29 campaign, turned 34 earlier this month. It’s certainly possible his recent downturn is attributable to aging, but it’s worth noting he dealt with a few health issues in San Diego that probably also had a deleterious effect on his performance. Pham missed a month in 2020 after fracturing the hamate bone in his right hand, an injury that could certainly have sapped some of his power. Last offseason, he was the victim of a life-threatening stabbing attack that required 200 stitches to close a wound in his back.

Remarkably, Pham returned by Opening Day and didn’t spend any time on the injured list. Yet he was open about how the incident affected his offseason routine, and it’s possible he was never fully healthy in 2021. Pham actually performed much better in the first half of the year than he did in the second — he didn’t merely start slowly while recovering from the stabbing  — but it’d be understandable if he weren’t up to the physical grind of a 162-game season coming off the prior winter’s tribulations.

Pham’s dip in results has been attributable to what has happened on balls in play. Last season’s 13.9% walk rate remained excellent, while his 22.8% strikeout percentage is right in line with his career marks. Pham still made plenty of authoritative contact. His 47.6% hard contact rate and 94.9 MPH average exit velocity on balls hit in the air were both definitively better than average. The results didn’t align with those batted ball numbers, though, as Pham saw a career-low 13.5% of his fly balls clear the fences.

San Diego’s pitcher-friendly home ballpark didn’t seem to do the veteran outfielder any favors. Pham’s .412 weighted on-base average on fly balls was far outstripped by his .562 “expected” weighted on-base on those batted balls, per Statcast. A few more of those flies should clear the fences at the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park, perhaps enabling Pham to post numbers closer to his career norms.

That makes him a sensible buy-low target, although the signing comes in the broader context of a strange offseason for the Reds. Much of the winter was focused on the club’s cost-cutting efforts. They parted ways with Wade Miley, Tucker Barnhart, Sonny Gray and Jesse Winker and seemingly made no effort to retain free agent Nick Castellanos. Those all thinned out a roster that was marginally above-average (83-79 with a +26 run differential) last season.

That’ll make it difficult to make a serious run at contention in 2022, but Cincinnati has made a few short-term moves in recent days. They acquired Mike Minor from the Royals and signed each of Donovan Solano, Colin Moran and Hunter Strickland, building out the margins of the roster. Pham may be the most impactful of those moves, but competing this year while slashing costs still looks to be a difficult needle for general manager Nick Krall and his staff to thread.

Pham figures to replace Winker as the primary left fielder. Jake Fraley, whom the Reds acquired from the Mariners in the Winker/Eugenio Suárez trade, is better suited for left but could see some action in center field. Tyler Naquin will probably move from center to right after rating poorly defensively, leaving Fraley, Nick Senzel and Shogo Akiyama as the options in center. That’s not an ideal group, but there weren’t many capable everyday center fielders available in free agency or trade this offseason. Pham isn’t a perfect positional fit, but installing his bat into the lineup should help an offense that lost two of last season’s top three hitters.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Marlins Release Monte Harrison

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TODAY: The Marlins have released Harrison, according to MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola (Twitter link).

MARCH 24: Harrison has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, the team informed reporters (including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald). He’ll remain in the organization without requiring a 40-man roster spot.

MARCH 18: The Marlins announced a trio of roster moves Friday, designating outfielder Monte Harrison for assignment, claiming righty Yoan Lopez off waivers from the Phillies, and signing veteran outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. to a minor league contract.

Harrison, a second-round pick in 2014 and former top-100 prospect, was one of the key pieces sent from Milwaukee to Miami in the Christian Yelich blockbuster. The 26-year-old appeared in just 40 games with the Marlins over the course of his time in the organization, batting .175/.230/.263 in a tiny sample of 62 plate appearances. Of course, Harrison also never really forced his way onto the big league roster with standout performances in the minors, either. He logged a .715 OPS in an admittedly pitcher-friendly Double-A setting in 2018 — his first in the Marlins organization — and wasn’t able to push that OPS even as high as .800 in any of the three years he spent in the system.

Harrison did post a .242/.331/.446 batting line that checked in slightly above league-average production in Triple-A last year (108 wRC+), but he did so with a staggering 39.3% strikeout rate that surely didn’t give the team any confidence he was beginning to turn a corner. Now out of minor league options and squarely behind Avisail Garcia, Jesus Sanchez, Bryan De La Cruz and others on the outfield depth chart, Harrison finds himself jettisoned from the 40-man roster. The Marlins will have a week to trade Harrison, place him on outright waivers, or release him. The latter of those three scenarios seems highly unlikely; Harrison will either be traded/claimed by another club, or he’ll pass through outright waivers unclaimed and remain in the Marlins organization.

Taking Harrison’s spot on the 40-man roster, at least for now, is the 29-year-old Lopez — a former high-profile Diamondbacks signing out of Cuba. He’s spent parts of four seasons in the big leagues but, after a decent start with Arizona, has seen his numbers tank in recent years. Lopez throws hard (96.2 mph average fastball in his career) and has better-than-average marks in terms of walk rate (7.7%) and ground-ball rate (46.8%).

That said, Lopez’s 19.1% strikeout rate is well shy of the MLB average, particularly among relievers, and he’s been overwhelmingly homer-prone. In 101 2/3 innings at the MLB level, he has a 4.25 ERA but a sky-high 1.77 HR/9. Lopez’s four-seamer has above-average velocity but bottom-of-the-scale spin rate, which has allowed hitters to square it up with regularity. On 251 occasions, Lopez has finished a big league plate appearance by throwing a fastball, and opponents have posted a .280/.333/.511 batting line in those instances. Lopez’s career 5.3% swinging-strike rate on his four-seamer is one of the lower marks you’ll come across.

As for the veteran DeShields, he’ll replenish some of the center-field depth lost by designating Harrison for assignment but do so without requiring a 40-man roster spot. The 29-year-old is a generally known commodity know, having logged big league time in each of the past seven seasons (including three years as the primary center fielder in Texas). DeShields has never shown much in the way of power but has well above-average speed and is capable of playing all three outfield spots. He’s a lifetime .247/.326/.342 hitter in 2114 trips to the plate at the MLB level.

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