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Blue Jays To Select Brian Serven

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters today, including Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic, that catcher Brian Serven has made the team as the backup to Alejandro Kirk. Serven is not yet on the 40-man roster and will need to be added before the season begins next week.

Serven’s opportunity comes on the heels of catcher Danny Jansen suffering a wrist fracture earlier this month, leaving Kirk’s usual partner behind the plate ticketed for the injured list to open the season. Serven, who will celebrate his 29th birthday in May, has 73 games of big league experience under his belt since making his big league debut with the Rockies during the 2022 season. Since then, he’s hit just .195/.248/.314 in 228 plate appearances, all of which came during his time with Colorado.

While he posted quality framing numbers during his time in the majors, that wasn’t enough for the Rockies to keep him on the 40-man roster this offseason. He was designated for assignment by the club back in January and was promptly claimed off waivers by the Cubs, though he remained with Chicago for less than a week before he was once again DFA’d. This time, he was claimed by the Blue Jays, who were able to sneak him through waivers in late January, allowing them to keep him in the organization as non-roster depth headed into Spring Training.

That decision has now paid off, as Serven made the most of his opportunities this spring by clubbing three home runs while drawing walks at a 14.8% clip in his 27 trips to the plate across 12 spring games. While Spring Training numbers are of course rarely predictive of regular season performance, it’s possible Serven’s hot streak helped his case over fellow non-roster depth option Payton Henry, who appears set to begin the season at Triple-A Buffalo. While Serven has yet to hit much in the big leagues, his decent minor league numbers suggest that he could provide the level of offense associated with a major-league caliber backup behind the plate. He’s a career .240/.310/.418 hitter in the minors, including a .238/.305/.450 slash line in 134 career games at the Triple-A level.

Miguel Andujar To Undergo Meniscus Surgery; Sean Newcomb To Begin Season On A’s Injured List

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Miguel Andujar will undergo surgery to repair a torn right meniscus and will miss least 4-6 weeks in recovery, A’s manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reporters.  The Athletics will also lose another player to the season-opening injured list, as Sean Newcomb will miss time due to irritation in his surgically-repaired left knee.

Andujar’s surgery is set for Wednesday, and Kotsay said a further timeline will be established once doctors actually “get in there [to see] what the repair has to be….We could be looking at a longer timeframe.”  This will mark the second major surgery for Andujar, following a shoulder procedure in 2019 that cost him most of that season and serves as a turning point in his career.

A spectacular 2018 season with the Yankees saw Andujar finish second in AL Rookie of the Year voting, though he has since played in only 144 Major League games.  The Yankees seemed to move on from Andujar after his lost 2019 campaign, and gave him only sporadic looks on the big league roster amidst several call-ups and demotions back and forth from Triple-A.  The Pirates claimed Andujar off waivers from New York in September 2022, but this fresh start didn’t result in much more MLB playing time, as Andujar appeared in only 30 games for Pittsburgh in 2023.

Oakland acquired Andujar on another waiver claim back in November, and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.7MM salary for 2024.  Andujar has been on fire at the plate during Spring Training, yet he’ll now face yet another frustrating setback with this knee injury.  More will be known once the surgery takes place, yet the hope is obviously for a best-case scenario that would see Andujar make his official A’s debut some time in May.

Newcomb had a lateral meniscus repair of his own on his left knee in September, and then an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee in December.  It certainly isn’t promising that Newcomb’s knee is still giving him problems, though the characterization of the issue as just “irritation” is perhaps a hint that there isn’t any further structural damage.  The Athletics will give Newcomb an extra 15 days on the IL at the start of the year to hopefully work through his soreness, and then complete any ramp-up work necessary to get him ready for his season debut.

Newcomb has seen action in each of the last seven Major League seasons, pitching mostly with the Braves before a trade to the Cubs in April 2022.  He spent most of the 2023 season in the Giants’ minor league system before being traded to the A’s and given a look on the active roster, and Newcomb then delivered a 3.00 ERA over 15 innings.  Small sample size notwithstanding, it was still a big improvement over the 7.45 ERA that the southpaw posted in 73 2/3 MLB innings over the 2020-22 seasons.  Those struggles were tied to rather extreme difficulties in limiting walks and home runs, and Newcomb still issued nine free passes in his 15 innings with Oakland.

Between Trevor Gott’s Tommy John surgery, Scott Alexander’s stress reaction in his left ribs, and now Newcomb’s knee issue, the Athletics have suddenly lost the three most experienced members of their bullpen to the IL (and, in Gott’s case, for the whole season).  Kyle Muller is now also the only left-hander remaining in the relief corps with Alexander and Newcomb sidelined, so the A’s might be on the lookout for southpaws in particular if they turn to the open market for any veteran relievers who might be available after the last rounds of Spring Training cuts.

As for Andujar, he was seemingly penciled into the regular outfield mix, but the A’s will now have to adjust to his IL stint.  Utilityman Hoy Park might now have a better chance of breaking camp, and Park has helped his case with some very impressive numbers in Cactus League play.  Park and Lawrence Butler could be backup outfield options behind the provisional starting trio of Seth Brown, JJ Bleday, and Esteury Ruiz.

Trey Mancini Opts Out Of Marlins Contract; Curt Casali Won’t Make Roster

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Veteran first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini has opted out of his minor league deal with the Marlins, manager Skip Schumaker told the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson and other reporters.  Catcher Curt Casali has also been told that he isn’t making the Opening Day roster, but Casali has yet to decide on whether or not to exercise his own standard opt-out clause as an Article XX(B) free agent.

Mancini joined the Cubs on a two-year, $14MM free agent contract last offseason, and since the Cubs waived him last August, any team that uses Mancini on a big league roster is only obligated to pay him a minimum salary (with Chicago still on the hook for the rest of his $7MM salary for 2024).  This made Mancini even more of a flier than your standard minor league signing, though the Marlins didn’t see enough in Mancini’s Spring Training performance to give him a roster spot.  Mancini hit an unspectacular .257/.333/.371 over 39 plate appearances this spring.

After missing the 2020 season due to a battle with colon cancer, Mancini made a triumphant return in 2021 and won Comeback Player Of The Year honors while batting .255/.326/.432 over 616 PA with the Orioles.  His longtime tenure in Baltimore ended when the O’s dealt Mancini to the Astros at the 2022 trade deadline, and while Mancini earned a World Series ring with Houston, he didn’t contribute much at the plate during the regular season or in the playoffs.  The struggles continued with the Cubs in 2023, as Mancini hit only .234/.299/.336 over 263 PA.

Mancini just celebrated his 32nd birthday earlier this week, and now again finds himself at something of a crossroads in his career.  His track record and reputation as a clubhouse leader should land him another minor league deal in another organization, though Mancini’s most recent results aren’t particularly encouraging.

Casali was another minor league signing for the Marlins this offseason, brought in as catching depth behind Miami’s planned tandem of Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes.  Since that isn’t exactly a proven set of backstops, Casali might well choose to pass on his opt-out decision and stay at Triple-A in the hopes of receiving a call-up at some point.  That said, any number of teams could have catching vacancies opening up due to injuries or end-of-spring cuts, so Casali find be able to find a more preferable opportunity elsewhere.

A veteran of 10 MLB seasons, Casali has hit .220/.314/.380 in 1454 PA.  Casali has been a few impressive years at the plate as a part-timer with the Reds and Rays, but the 35-year-old hasn’t hit much in the last three seasons and is generally known more for his defense and game-calling prowess.

Phillies Acquire Zac Houston From Rays

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The Phillies have acquired right-hander Zac Houston from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (X link).  Topkin describes the trade as a side effect of the Rays’ crowded Triple-A pitching staff, as Houston was apparently squeezed out by the team’s desire to give more innings to younger pitchers.

The 29-year-old Houston is a career minor leaguer, beginning his pro career as an 11th-round pick of the Tigers in the 2016 draft.  (Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had already parted ways with the Tigers almost a year before Houston’s draft date.). Working almost exclusively as a reliever, Houston has a 3.18 ERA over 305 2/3 career innings in the minors, though he has only a 4.81 ERA over 101 frames of Triple-A action.

Houston has a whopping 35.46% strikeout rate, but an equally large 12.86% walk rate across his minor league career.  The righty’s control problems have existed since the start of his pro career, and his walk problems have ticked upwards as Houston has moved up the minor league ladder.  The obvious strikeout ability makes him an interesting project for the Phillies’ pitching development staff, as Houston could be a very useful bullpen weapon if he can pair his knack for missing bats with even average control.

White Sox Release Jesse Chavez

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The White Sox announced that veteran reliever Jesse Chavez has been released.  Chavez inked a minor league deal last month, but as per his status as an XX(B) free agent, the White Sox had until yesterday to add Chavez to the Opening Day roster or else the right-hander could opt out.

Kevin Pillar and Mike Moustakas were in similar situations prior to being released yesterday, and as with Chavez, it isn’t clear if any of these players actually triggered their opt-outs or if the White Sox simply released them since none were slated for the 26-man roster.  The result is effectively the same, as Chavez now re-enters the free agent market as he looks to extend his career into a 17th Major League season.

Chavez is still pitching well beyond his 40th birthday, as he posted a 1.56 ERA over 34 2/3 innings with the Braves in 2023.  The righty’s 51.7% grounder rate combined with some good batted-ball luck (.273 BABIP) to help deliver that outstanding ERA, yet Chavez’s 27.1% strikeout rate and 33.3% hard-hit ball rate were also above average.  It wasn’t all positive for Chavez, however, as he spent over three months on the injured list after he was hit in the leg with a comebacker.

Chavez said in an interview last month that 2024 is “probably” going to be his last season as a player, as he will then look to stay in the game in a coaching capacity.  Given how well Chavez has pitched in each of the last three seasons, it seems almost a lock that another team will sign him to another minor league deal, and another return to the Braves would certainly seem like a possibility.  Chavez has already had four separate stints with Atlanta, including three in the last three years alone and a World Series ring as part of the Braves’ 2021 championship team.

Nationals Release Luis Perdomo

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The Nationals released right-hander Luis Perdomo earlier this week, as indicated on the team’s official MLB.com transactions page.  Perdomo was in Washington’s camp on a minor league contract.

Things seemed to be going swimmingly for Perdomo in his first four spring outings, as he allowed only two hits over four scoreless innings of work.  Unfortunately, Perdomo’s fortunes then turned for the worse, as he was charged with six earned runs over his next three appearances and innings pitched, resulting in an overall 7.71 ERA in seven innings.  Since the Nationals are in full cut-down mode as they decide their Opening Day roster, Perdomo didn’t make much of a case for himself to crack the 26-man.

Perdomo has a 5.12 ERA over 468 career innings, with all but 23 2/3 of those frames coming with the Padres from 2016-20 when he worked as a starter, reliever, and a mix of both roles as a swingman on the San Diego pitching staff.  The groundball specialist missed all of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Perdomo then had a 3.80 ERA over 23 2/3 innings with the Brewers in 2022.  Milwaukee opted to non-tender Perdomo after the season, and he left MLB entirely to pitch in Japan with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2023.

Perdomo had an impressive 2.13 ERA over 50 2/3 innings in NPB, which helped pave the way for his return to North American baseball even if he had to settle for a minors deal.  He could continue to look for minor league contracts with another team (or even a reunion with the Nats), or Perdomo might again consider a move to an international league.

Marlins To Include Max Meyer On Opening Day Roster

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Right-hander Max Meyer will be part of the Marlins’ Opening Day roster, the Miami Herald’s Craig Mish reports (via X).  Meyer “has the inside track” to win the fifth starter’s job, Mish writes, which would line the rookie up to face the Angels on April 1 in what would be Meyer’s third career MLB start.

Meyer’s first two big league outings took place in July 2022, with the second appearance ending after just two-thirds of an inning due to some elbow pain.  That discomfort was revealed to be a UCL tear, and the subsequent Tommy John surgery kept Meyer sidelined for the rest of the 2022 season and the entirety of the 2023 campaign.  Returning to the mound this spring, Meyer has looked very sharp in seven scoreless Grapefruit League innings, with only four hits and a walk allowed.

While Meyer has done well to earn his return trip to the majors, it is fair to say that this opportunity wouldn’t have been available if the Marlins weren’t dealing with a spate of injuries within their projected rotation.  Eury Perez (elbow inflammation), Edward Cabrera (shoulder impingement), and Braxton Garrett (shoulder soreness) all look to be starting the season on the injured list, and ace Sandy Alcantara was already ruled out for 2024 due to a Tommy John surgery of his own.  Manager Skip Schumaker said last week that “everyone’s on the table” in terms of potential fill-in starters, including Meyer, who had already been optioned to Miami’s minor league camp.

Bryan Hoeing seemed to be the favorite for fifth starter work considering how Meyer and other pitchers were optioned out of the big league camp, yet now it seems like the Marlins will give Meyer a look.  Jesus Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Trevor Rogers, and Ryan Weathers will seemingly act as the top four in Miami’s rotation, with Meyer slotting in as the fifth man.  It seems possible that Meyer and Hoeing could be paired up in a piggyback type of scenario, if the Marlins wanted to be cautious about limiting Meyer’s innings after such a long layoff.

Despite Meyer’s lost 2023 season, Baseball Prospectus (86th) and Baseball America (89th) still included the 25-year-old on their preseason lists of the top 100 prospects in the sport.  Meyer drew a lot of hype coming out of the University of Minnesota, and he lived up to predictions that he would ready for the majors in pretty short order.  Meyer posted a 2.77 ERA over 172 career innings in the minors, along with an impressive 28.67% strikeout rate and an 8.79% walk rate that is a little on the high side.  The right-hander also had pretty strong grounder rates over his relatively brief time in the minors.

Pirates Release Chase Anderson

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TODAY: The Pirates have agreed to release Anderson, Alexander reports (via X), and the veteran righty is now free to sign with any team.

MARCH 22: Right-hander Chase Anderson is expected to trigger an out clause in his minor league contract with the Pirates, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (on X). If the Bucs don’t add him to the MLB roster, he’d become a free agent.

Anderson is among a host of veterans who faced opt-out decisions on Friday. He’s one of 31 players who had an automatic opt-out right in a minor league deal. That’s a CBA provision for Article XX(B) free agents — typically those with over six years of service time who finished the preceding season in the majors — who sign a non-roster pact more than 10 days before the start of the season. Anderson closed last season with the Rockies before inking a minor league deal with Pittsburgh in February.

The 36-year-old had been competing for a spot at the back of the rotation or as a long reliever. Pittsburgh called him out of the bullpen for three of his four outings this spring. Anderson has fared reasonably well, tossing 11 innings of three-run ball with nine strikeouts and three walks. However, the Bucs have a number of players competing for similar jobs.

Eric Lauer, Domingo Germán, Wily Peralta and Michael Plassmeyer all inked deals with non-roster invites to camp. Prospect Jared Jones might have pitched his way to the top of that group, while the Bucs have a few out-of-options arms (e.g. Roansy Contreras, Bailey Falter, Josh Fleming) who could block the path to middle relief reps.

Anderson tossed 86 1/3 innings at the major league level last season, his highest workload since 2019. Most of that came in Colorado, where he held a rotation spot for the second half. Anderson allowed a 5.75 ERA with a middling 17.5% strikeout rate while pitching his home games at Coors Field.

Mets Designate Phil Bickford For Assignment

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The Mets have designated right-hander Phil Bickford for assignment.  The move opens up roster space for J.D. Martinez, whose one-year contract with New York is now official.

Bickford came to Queens at last year’s trade deadline, acquired with Adam Kolarek from the Dodgers as a way of restocking a Mets bullpen thinned out by other deals.  Over 67 1/3 total innings with L.A. and New York last season, Bickford posted a 4.95 ERA and an above-average 25% strikeout rate, though he allowed a lot of hard contact and his 12.8% walk rate ranked in the bottom fifth percentile of all pitchers.

The Mets brought a ton of new relievers into camp on guaranteed and minor league contracts, making Bickford something of a borderline candidate to make the Opening Day roster.  Bickford doesn’t have any minor league options remaining, so the Mets had to go the DFA route in order to remove him from the 40-man roster and potentially send him to Triple-A (if he remains in the organization altogether).

Bickford is set to earn $900K this season after winning an arbitration hearing with New York, though the Mets would only owe 45 days’ worth of termination pay if they released Bickford prior to Opening Day.  In some echoes of the Giants’ recent release of J.D. Davis, Bickford’s salary would’ve been fully guaranteed as an arbitration-eligible player if he had reached an agreement with the Mets prior to a hearing, yet going to a hearing meant that Bickford’s salary wasn’t guaranteed unless he made the team’s big league roster.

The Davis situation created some controversy around the league, and it remains to be seen if Davis might yet attempt to file a grievance.  As per the CBA clause concerning this transactional tactic, “failure to exhibit sufficient skill or competitive ability” gives a team some leeway in releasing a player who went to an arb hearing, and the Mets might have more of an argument in Bickford’s case since the righty had a 5.79 ERA over 4 2/3 innings in Spring Training this year.

Of course, Bickford could still get his full $900K if another team simply claims him off waivers from the Mets.  Clubs might prefer to wait until Bickford clears waivers in order to lessen the financial commitment, though any number of scenarios are possible as teams finalize their rosters in advance of Opening Day.  With bullpen depth always at a premium, Bickford is bound to land somewhere on a new deal, whether a guaranteed MLB contract or a minor league pact.

Mets Sign J.D. Martinez

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TODAY: The Mets officially announced Martinez’s signing.

MARCH 22: Martinez has given his consent to open the 2024 season in the minors, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. He’ll spend about 10 days either in extended spring training or in Triple-A to ramp up and get at-bats before joining the big league club early in the season.

MARCH 21: The Mets are in agreement with J.D. Martinez on a one-year, $12MM contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). The deal, which is pending a physical, has a net present value that will come in below $12MM on account of deferrals.

Andy Martino of SNY reports (on X) that the Mets will only pay $4.5MM of the salary this year. The remaining $7.5MM will be paid in $1.5MM annual installments between 2034-38. Martinez is a client of the Boras Corporation.

Martinez, 36, was the best unsigned offensive player. After signing a $10MM free agent deal with the Dodgers last offseason, he earned his sixth All-Star nod amidst a 33-homer campaign. That was his highest home run total since 2019, while his .271/.321/.572 batting line was also his best overall offensive production in four years. Martinez hadn’t been a bad hitter over the intervening three seasons, but last year’s work was a step up from the cumulative .269/.336/.469 slash he had posted in his final three seasons with the Red Sox.

Strong as that production was, it didn’t come without red flags. Martinez’s pure contact skills regressed as his profile became more dependent on power. He struck out in more than 31% of his plate appearances, the highest rate of his career. Martinez made contact on a below-average 67.5% of his swings, the first time that he whiffed on more than 30% of his cuts.

That’s not a problem so long as he continues to destroy the ball when he does make contact. Martinez certainly did that last season. More than 54% of his batted balls came off the bat at 95+ MPH. That’s his best hard contact percentage since Statcast began tracking in 2015. The huge exit velocities manifested in Martinez’s slugging production.

While the bat speed remains intact, the increase in whiffs seemed to lead to some trepidation around the league. His profile is entirely built on offense. Martinez was never a great defender, but he’s almost exclusively a designated hitter at this point. He has started one game on defense over the last two seasons, logging 12 innings in the corner outfield overall.

The lack of a position was perhaps the main reason Martinez spent much time in free agency at all. On the surface, he’d have been a reasonable candidate for a $20.325MM qualifying offer from the Dodgers. Los Angeles decided not to risk that early in an offseason in which they would (successfully) pursue Shohei Ohtani, though. Martinez doesn’t come attached to draft compensation as a result.

That kicked off four and a half months on the open market for the three-time Silver Slugger winner. The Giants reportedly made an offer in the $14-15MM range at one point this offseason, but his camp turned that down. It’s not known if San Francisco’s proposal would have included any deferrals, but the ultimate deal which Martinez accepted comes in south of that previous offer before considering the delayed payments.

For the past few weeks, his free agency has seemed to be a staring contest between his camp and the Mets. Teams like the Angels and Marlins reportedly showed late interest, but no club was more consistently tied to him than New York. Ultimately, Martinez’s ask dipped to a place where the Mets felt compelled to jump and plug him into the middle of the batting order. He’ll join Pete Alonso as a scary duo of righty power bats for opposing pitchers.

The Mets didn’t get much out of the designated hitter position a year ago. Their DH group hit .217/.309/.391 with 27 homers. They finished in the bottom third of the league in all three slash stats. Martinez should be a clear step up even if he continues to strike out at an elevated clip. New York has maintained they still expect to hang in the Wild Card mix this year despite viewing the 2025 season as the start of their next true contention window.

Part of that balancing act was figuring out how much trust to put in their young hitters, namely Brett Baty and Mark Vientos. They entered camp with Baty penciled in as the primary third baseman and Vientos set for the majority of at-bats at DH. Adding Martinez closes off the latter path to playing time. Baty and Vientos could now compete for work at third base. Baty hits left-handed, while Vientos bats from the right side. That could allow first-year skipper Carlos Mendoza to play match-ups if they’re each on the roster, although both players have an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A without landing on waivers.

The Mets are subject to the highest luxury tax fees possible under the CBA. They’re past the $297MM mark that’s the highest penalization threshold; they’ve paid the CBT in three consecutive years. As a result, they’re charged a 110% fee on future expenditures. The deferred money reduces the net present value of Martinez’s contract, so it’s not yet clear precisely how much the Mets will owe in CBT commitments.

A one-year, $12MM deal without any deferred money would’ve come with $13.2MM in luxury taxes. RosterResource’s Jon Becker estimates that the NPV of Martinez’s deal will land just under $9MM. That’d come with a little less than $10MM in luxury obligations.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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