Rangers Sign Shane Greene, Jonathan Holder To Minor League Deals
The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed right-handers Shane Greene and Jonathan Holder to minor league contracts with invitations to big league camp this spring. Texas also confirmed its previously reported signing of righty Austin Pruitt to a similar pact.
Greene, 35, was at one point a high-leverage bullpen arm with both the Tigers and Braves, pitching to a combined 3.25 ERA with 64 saves and 35 holds in 221 2/3 innings from 2017-20 between the two clubs. He reached free agency on the heels of that stretch but didn’t end up signing until the following May, when he returned to the Braves. Greene struggled to a 7.23 ERA in 28 innings after that delayed start to the season and hasn’t had much of an opportunity to get back on track since; he’s pitched just six MLB innings over the past two campaigns.
The Cubs inked Greene to a minor league deal last year and got three sharp innings out of him late in the season. Coupled with a dominant showing their Triple-A club in Iowa (1.75 ERA in 25 2/3 frames) that performance surely piqued the interest of the Rangers and others. It’s been several years now since Greene found success in the big leagues, but his track record is mostly solid and there’s no risk for the Rangers to bring him to camp and see how he looks this spring.
Holder, 30, was solid for the Yankees back in 2017-18, notching a tidy 3.42 ERA in 105 2/3 innings while whiffing 22.6% of his opponents against an excellent 6.1% walk rate. However, shoulder troubles have limited the right-hander in each of the 2019, 2021 and 2022 seasons. He pitched just 23 innings between the minors and big leagues combined from 2021-22 and hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2020.
Holder spent the 2023 season with the Angels after inking a minor league contract last winter. The results weren’t pretty — 5.40 ERA — but Holder was healthy enough to rack up 66 2/3 innings. That’s something of a success story in and of itself, given his prior shoulder troubles. He fanned nearly a quarter of his opponents with Salt Lake last year but also saw his once-pristine walk rate inflate to an untenable 12.9%.
The reigning World Series champs have some uncertainty both in their bullpen and in their rotation, the latter due in no small part to injuries for Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom. They’re also facing some questions about their television broadcast situation, which has played a role in the club’s far more timid offseason than the recent free-agent extravaganzas that brought in deGrom, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray and others. The bulk of the remaining offseason resources could be allocated to the rotation, so it’s not a surprise to see Texas GM Chris Young loading up on non-roster veterans in hopes of finding some low-cost relief help this spring.
Yankees Sign Tanner Tully To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have signed left-hander Tanner Tully to a minor league deal, according to a report from Matt Eddy of Baseball America. It’s unclear if the lefty will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
It’s the second straight offseason in which the Yanks have brought Tully aboard on a minors pact. He made 19 starts at the Triple-A level last year with a 5.64 earned run average, posting a subpar 18.6% strikeout rate but limiting walks to a 6.4% clip and keeping 40.7% of balls in play on the ground.
He was released in August to join the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization and finished the year on a strong note. He made 11 starts for the Dinos with a 2.92 ERA. His 17.7% strikeout rate was still not especially strong, but his 4.9% walk rate and 59.6% ground ball rate were both quite encouraging.
That has generally been the profile for Tully in his minor league career, which dates back to being drafted by Cleveland in 2016. He’s never had a walk rate higher than 8.2% at any stop of his minor league career and has induced a fair share of grounders, but he’s also never been a big strikeout guy. He has six innings of major league experience, which came with the Guardians in 2022.
The Yankees have a reputation for loving ground ball guys and they also need some extra rotation depth, having included Michael King, Drew Thorpe, Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez in the Juan Soto trade. They will have Gerrit Cole leading the major league rotation, with Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt to follow. They also seem likely to add someone else, having been connected to names like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Marcus Stroman and Dylan Cease.
Tully, now 29, can provide them with some depth at the Triple-A level alongside guys like Clayton Beeter, Luis Gil, Yoendrys Gómez, Cody Poteet and Will Warren. He’s also done some relief work in the past and could perhaps slide into a bullpen role later. The Yanks lost their primary lefty ground ball guy, Wandy Peralta, to free agency at the end of the 2023 season. If Tully is added to the roster at any point, he still has a full slate of options and just 15 days of service time.
Rangers, Austin Pruitt Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have agreed to a minor league pact with free agent righty Austin Pruitt, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Texas native will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.
Pruitt, 34, spent the past two seasons in Oakland, where he pitched to a combined 3.65 ERA in 103 2/3 innings — primarily working out of the bullpen. Pruitt’s 16.2% strikeout rate with the A’s was well below the league average, but he also posted an excellent 5% walk rate during his stint in green and gold.
The 2022-23 seasons were Pruitt’s fifth and sixth at the MLB level. He’s previously spent time with the Rays, Astros and Marlins since debuting with Tampa Bay back in 2017. Overall, he’s logged 310 2/3 innings at the big league level and notched a 4.43 earned run average with comparable marks from fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.33) and SIERA (4.27).
Pruitt doesn’t throw particularly hard, averaging 91.8 mph on his heater, but he’s kept the ball on the ground at close to league-average levels and has generally limited hard contact well (career 88.3 mph exit velocity, 33.8% hard-hit rate). Oakland outrighted him off the 40-man roster following the season; he’d have been eligible for arbitration, given his five years of MLB service, but a forearm strain in August ended his season and the A’s opted not to keep him on the 40-man roster.
If Pruitt makes the big league roster in spring training, he’d likely open the season in the bullpen, as Texas currently has Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning and Andrew Heaney locked into starting jobs. With both Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom recovering from injury, southpaw Cody Bradford currently figures to hold down the final spot.
Pruitt has 17 big league starts under his belt and has often worked as a multi-inning reliever, so he’d at least be a candidate for the five spot with a strong spring. The Rangers, however, could also make some additions to the starting staff before the offseason is up. Doing so would push Bradford, Pruitt and other eventual rotation candidates down the depth chart while lessening the need to rush prospects like Owen White, Cole Winn, Jack Leiter and Zak Kent, all of whom could benefit from some additional seasoning in the upper minors.
Mets Still Exploring Bullpen Market
Jan. 10: SNY’s Andy Martino indicates that the Mets are planning to spend in the vicinity of another $10MM on the 2024 payroll, with the bullpen indeed standing as the top priority. That’d very likely leave room for acquisitions along the lines of Suter, Peralta, Brebbia or other middle-tier relievers in free agency but figures to take the Mets out of the running for Hader and any of the top-tier bats left on the market.
Jan 9: The Mets have signed three relievers to major league contracts this offseason — Jorge Lopez, Michael Tonkin, Austin Adams — but perhaps aren’t yet done adding to the relief corps. Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that while the Mets are highly unlikely to play at the top of the relief market (i.e. Josh Hader), they’re active in the lower tiers, with a preference for a left-handed arm. Brent Suter and Wandy Peralta are among the potential targets, and Sherman suggests that righty John Brebbia could be of interest to the Mets as well.
Suter, 34, has drawn some interest as a starting pitcher this winter but would presumably slot into the bullpen role for the Mets, whose president of baseball operations, David Stearns, knows the lefty quite well from the pair’s days together in Milwaukee (2016-22). Suter spent the 2023 season with the Rockies and showed no ill effects even moving to Coors Field; he logged a 3.38 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate, 46.5% grounder rate and his characteristic brand of weak contact. Suter’s 84 mph average exit velocity, 26.3% hard-hit rate and 3.3% barrel rate all ranked in the 97th percentile or better among MLB pitchers.
While Suter has never been a huge strikeout arm, his nearly-impossible-to-barrel repertoire has long made him a successful big leaguer. He touts a 3.49 ERA since making his MLB debut back in 2016 and, since moving to a relief role back in 2020, has logged a 3.16 earned run average with a 21.4% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. Suter’s age and lack of velocity — he averaged just 88.3 mph on his sinker in 2023 and has never topped an 88.4 mph average — might combine to tamp down his earning power, but he’s a candidate for a multi-year deal and could hold extra appeal to Stearns due to those Brewers ties.
Peralta, meanwhile, is a known commodity to another key Mets figure: incoming manager Carlos Mendoza. The former Yankees bench coach had a first-hand look at Peralta in each of the past three seasons as he became an increasingly important arm for the Yankees. From 2021-23, Peralta logged 153 innings of 2.82 ERA ball with a 21% strikeout rate, 10.2% walk rate and huge 56.5% ground-ball rate. While Peralta isn’t quite at Suter’s level of hard contact suppression, he’s been in the 88th percentile or better in terms of his own average exit velocity in each of the past four seasons.
Brebbia, 33, has spent the past three seasons in San Francisco and fared quite well for the most part. He posted an ugly 5.89 ERA in a tiny sample of 18 innings there back in 2021 — his first season back from Tommy John surgery. Since then, he’s worked to a 3.47 ERA in 106 1/3 frames with the Giants from 2022-23. Brebbia has worked as a setup man but was also a frequent opener for the Giants. He’s fresh off a career-best 29.2% strikeout rate. In six big league seasons between the Cardinals and Giants, he’s logged a 3.42 ERA with better-than-average strikeout and walk rates of 25.5% and 7.2%, respectively.
Any of the three listed possibilities would come to the Mets with more track record than their signings to date. Mets fans might be frustrated at the lack of high-profile targets for the team outside of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year contract with the Dodgers, but any of Suter, Peralta or Brebbia would improve the club’s bullpen — likely on relatively short-term deals. That comes with the benefit both of slightly bolstering the roster while also creating the possibility of emerging as a deadline trade candidate in the event that the Mets fall out of the running by July.
Yankees, Marcus Stroman Have Had Recent Discussions
The Yankees have held “productive” discussions with free agent right-hander Marcus Stroman recently, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com. There’s no indication that a deal is close at this time, but USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that the Long Island native had expressed interest in pitching for the Yankees (though the team hadn’t made an offer at the time).
On the one hand, signing Stroman is a straightforward means of addressing an obvious need for the Yankees. Beyond reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ rotation is littered with question marks. Injuries torpedoed the bulk of Carlos Rodon‘s first season in the Bronx; he pitched just 64 1/3 innings with a grisly 6.84 ERA after signing a six-year, $162MM contract. Fellow southpaw Nestor Cortes was limited to a near-identical slate of innings (with better but still sub-par results — a 4.97 ERA) due to injuries of his own. Former top prospect Clarke Schmidt made 32 starts and piled up a career-high 159 innings but did so with a 4.64 earned run average. The Yankees traded Michael King to the Padres in the Juan Soto deal and saw Luis Severino sign with the crosstown Mets in free agency.
On the other hand, Stroman himself is coming off an injury-ruined second half of his second and perhaps final season as a member of the Cubs. The two-time All-Star had pitched his way into Cy Young talks through the first half of the season, compiling a pristine 2.28 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and a massive 60% ground-ball rate in his first 16 starts — a span of 98 2/3 innings. Stroman, however, allowed 30 runs over his next 30 innings before hitting the injured list with a hip injury. While rehabbing that, he was diagnosed with a rib cartilage fracture that kept him on the shelf all the way into mid-September. Stroman returned to pitch eight shaky innings and then opted out of the final year and $21MM of his contract.
Given that end to his season, Stroman himself has some injury question marks. Beyond that, the Yankees in particular stand as a surprising fit to some extent, given general manager Brian Cashman’s prior and unusually candid remarks regarding the right-hander. In September of 2019, Cashman acknowledged to Wallace Matthews of ESPN that the Yankees held some interest in Stroman at that year’s trade deadline — Stroman ultimately landed with the Mets — before adding that they passed because they “didn’t think he would be a difference-maker” and that the right-hander “would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”
Perhaps some of that still holds true; the Yankees could well view Stroman as their fourth starter in the event that each of Cole, Rodon and Cortes are healthy. Then again, Stroman has pitched to a sharp 3.48 ERA in 514 innings since the 2019 trade deadline, fanning 21.4% of his opponents against a tidy 7.3% walk rate and complementing those marks with a terrific 52.5% grounder rate.
Regardless of where the Yankees feel he’d slot into the staff, there’s little doubt that Stroman is a clear upgrade for the team’s rotation. Stroman’s performance has been consistently better than average, and his perennially strong ground-ball rates have helped him post low home-run rates throughout his career (despite frequently pitching in hitter-friendly settings like Toronto and Chicago). The Yankees, whose own home park is friendly to hitters, have shown a strong preference for grounder-heavy pitchers in the bullpen (e.g. Zack Britton, Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Joely Rodriguez), so it stands to reason that’d carry over to at least some extent in the rotation as well.
The Opener: Imanaga, Hicks, Llovera
As the offseason continues to trundle along, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Imanaga contract to be finalized:
Left-hander Shota Imanaga reached an agreement with the Cubs last night, as first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, but there’s still plenty of information surrounding the deal that’s yet to come to light. The deal is pending a physical, which is expected to happen today. In addition to Imanaga’s physical, today could bring clarity regarding the specific terms of the arrangement between the sides. Reporting has indicated that the deal guarantees Imanaga just $30MM over two years and involves a complex series of options as well as incentives that could bring the total guarantee to around $80MM over a longer term.
More complex contract structures have become more commonplace in recent years with examples ranging from San Diego’s arrangement with right-hander Michael Wacha last year to superstar outfielder Julio Rodriguez‘s extension with the Mariners. Even so, it’s something of a surprise to see Imanaga agree to a two-year commitment. Many in the industry believed he’d surpass Kodai Senga’s five-year deal with the Mets, and ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote just last week that some executives around the sport expected the left-hander to top $100MM. MLBTR predicted a five-year, $85MM deal for the left-hander heading into the offseason.
2. Jordan Hicks’ market:
Right-hander Jordan Hicks is perhaps the best right-handed relief option on the market and arguably the market’s second-best bullpen arm behind relief ace Josh Hader. It appears the bidding for the flamethrowing righty’s services may be gaining steam, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post indicated yesterday evening that the market for Hicks has begun to pick up. Hicks has been connected to plenty of teams this offseason including the Yankees, Astros, Rangers, Red Sox, and Angels. Hicks, whom MLBTR predicted would land a deal worth four years and $40MM this offseason, combined a 28.4% strikeout rate with a 58.3% groundball percentage and would be a strong addition to virtually any club’s late-inning mix. Will the movement on his market lead to a signing in the near future?
3. Llovera exiting DFA limbo:
Red Sox right-hander Mauricio Llovera was designated for assignment back on January 3 to make room for fellow righty Lucas Giolito on the club’s 40-man roster. Today marks one week since Llovera was DFA’d, meaning a resolution is expected sometime today. The right-hander, 28 in April, made his big league debut with the Phillies back in 2020 and since then has spent time in the Giants and Red Sox organizations with a career 5.80 ERA and 5.29 FIP in 59 career big league innings.
While those numbers are nothing to write home about, it’s worth noting that he’s excelled in Triple-A in recent years, with a 2.82 ERA and 25.9% strikeout rate at the level since the start of the 2021 season. If a team is sufficiently intrigued by that performance, they could claim him on waivers and add him to their own 40-man roster. Should the Red Sox manage to sneak him through waivers, they’ll have the opportunity to assign him outright to the minor leagues where he can act as non-roster depth for Boston headed into the 2024 campaign. Llovera has previously been outrighted, however, giving him the right to reject a second outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Anthony Kay To Sign With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars
Left-hander Anthony Kay is signing with the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). It’ll be the first overseas stint for the CAA client.
Kay, 29 in March, is a former first-round pick of the Mets. Traded to the Blue Jays as a prospect in the Marcus Stroman deal, he debuted with Toronto in 2019. That kicked off a stretch of five seasons with some amount of MLB action. His largest workload came in 2021, when he logged 33 2/3 innings of 5.61 ERA ball.
The UCONN product remained with the Jays through the 2022 season. He bounced around the league last year, going to three different teams on waivers. Kay opened the season with the Cubs and briefly landed with the Mets at year’s end. During the postseason, the A’s claimed him. Oakland cut him loose a couple weeks later without any game action, sending him to the open market.
Kay has yet to find much MLB success. He owns a 5.59 ERA through 85 1/3 innings, working mostly in a long relief capacity. Middling control has been the primary culprit. Kay has walked upwards of 12% of batters faced in his MLB career. He handed out free passes at a 13.6% clip during his big league work last season and walked a nearly identical 13.7% of opponents over 37 1/3 innings in Triple-A.
Strike-throwing issues notwithstanding, Kay represents an intriguing flier for an NPB team. His fastball has averaged just under 95 MPH during his time in the majors. He has a reasonable 22.4% strikeout percentage in his big league career and fanned more than 31% of opposing hitters in Triple-A a year ago.
That ability to miss bats would’ve enabled Kay to find a minor league contract if he wanted to remain in affiliated ball. The opportunity in Japan allows him to lock in a salary that is surely above what he’d have made in Triple-A. He’ll take that avenue instead. If he pitches well in NPB, he could reemerge as a target for major league teams a year or two from now.
Red Sox Promote Paul Toboni To Assistant GM
The Red Sox are promoting Paul Toboni to assistant general manager, as first reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The 33-year-old had held the title of vice president of amateur scouting and player development.
Toboni was among the internal options whom the Sox considered in their search for a new front office leader after dismissing Chaim Bloom. He’d have had to jump a number of people on the organizational hierarchy to land that position, which always made him a long shot for the top job. Nevertheless, he lands a promotion a few months later under new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
Boston now has four assistant GMs: Toboni, Raquel Ferreira, Eddie Romero and Mike Groopman. Toboni moved quickly into the upper ranks of the organization. A collegiate infielder at Cal, he was hired by the Sox as a scout in 2015. By 2020, he’d been tabbed to orchestrate the club’s amateur drafts — a role he held through 2022.
While the Sox have a number of assistant general managers, they don’t have anyone currently holding the GM title. Breslow suggested at the time of his hiring as chief baseball officer that he wasn’t in a rush to tab a GM, who would serve as his top assistant in the front office.
Mariners Agree To Minor League Deals With Kirby Snead, Jhonathan Diaz
The Mariners have signed left-handers Jhonathan Diaz and Kirby Snead to minor league contracts, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Both pitchers come from AL West rivals who had outrighted them at the end of last season.
Diaz had spent the past few years with the Angels. The 27-year-old got to the majors every season from 2021-23 but hasn’t tallied more than four appearances in any year. He pitched seven innings over four games last September, allowing 11 runs (eight earned) with seven walks and four strikeouts.
A swing option, Diaz started eight of 38 appearances with Triple-A Salt Lake. He logged 87 innings of 4.55 ERA ball for the Bees. Diaz kept the ball on the ground at a solid 48% clip but had middling strikeout (21.5%) and walk (11.1%) numbers. He’ll likely open next season with the M’s top affiliate in Tacoma as multi-inning depth.
Snead, 29, is a more traditional lefty specialist. Originally a Blue Jays draftee, he made a brief MLB debut with Toronto in 2021. The Jays included him as the fourth piece in the Matt Chapman deal with the A’s the following offseason. Snead pitched 44 2/3 innings for Oakland in 2022, allowing a 5.84 ERA.
A shoulder strain cost him the first three months of the 2023 season. Upon his return, he got into 15 MLB games. Snead allowed seven runs (six earned) across 11 2/3 frames. He fanned nine and issued six walks. The Florida product had a tough run in a very hitter-friendly Triple-A setting. Pitching for the A’s top affiliate in Las Vegas, he was tagged for a 7.59 ERA in 21 2/3 innings. He walked over 14% of opposing hitters.
Snead’s results the past two years haven’t been encouraging, but he managed a 1.58 ERA in 40 Triple-A innings back in 2021. He held left-handed batters to a .141/.222/.203 showing in 73 plate appearances that season. The M’s will see if a change in environment can help him recapture something closer to that ’21 form.
L.A. District Attorney’s Office Will Not File Felony Charges Against Julio Urias; Case Referred For Misdemeanor Consideration
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has determined not to file felony charges against free agent pitcher Julio Urías, reports Alden González of ESPN (X link). The investigation has been forwarded to the L.A. City Attorney’s Office to determine whether misdemeanor charges are warranted.
Urías, then a member of the Dodgers, was arrested and booked on a felony charge of “corporal injury on a spouse” on September 3. According to ESPN, police alleged in the arrest report that Urías was arrested after a physical altercation between a man and a woman following an MLS game. Law enforcement turned the case over to the District Attorney’s Office in mid-December.
Prosecutors have evidently determined not to proceed with the felony case. Whether misdemeanor charges are filed will determine if the criminal proceedings continue. The decision not to bring felony charges is not a declaration that no assault of any kind was committed. Jack Harris of the L.A. Times reports that the D.A.’s office’s charge evaluation worksheet claims that Urías “pushed his wife against a fence and pulled her by the hair or shoulders” but stated that “neither the Victim’s injuries nor the Defendant’s criminal history justify a felony filing.”
MLB will presumably wait on the resolution of the criminal matter before deciding whether discipline is warranted. The league can impose discipline even in the absence of criminal charges under the Joint Domestic Violence policy with the Players Association.
In 2019, MLB suspended Urías for 20 games after determining he violated the domestic violence policy at that time. (He was arrested on the 2019 incident but did not face criminal charges after the DA’s Office agreed to defer prosecution.) No player has yet been suspended twice for violations of the domestic violence policy.
Urías spent the remainder of the 2023 season on administrative leave. He became a free agent at the start of the offseason thanks to his six years of service time. He finished the year with a 4.60 ERA in 21 starts.