Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Braves Rumors

Pitching Notes: Wood, Brewers, Braves, Astros

By | at

Free agent left-hander Travis Wood worked almost exclusively out of the Cubs’ bullpen over the previous two seasons, but he could return to the rotation with a new club in 2017. “Multiple teams” are offering Wood a chance to start, according to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). Wood, who will turn 30 on Monday, combined for 133 starts with the Reds and Cubs from 2010-15 and registered a 4.19 ERA, 7.11 K/9 and 3.15 BB/9 in that 776-inning span. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported Friday that Wood could sign sometime this weekend.

More pitching-related notes:

  • Right-hander Chase Anderson and his representatives don’t expect to avoid arbitration with the Brewers, who are employing a file-and-trial approach, a source told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The two sides are set to argue their cases sometime before Feb. 14, which would be the Brewers’ first arbitration hearing since 2012. Anderson, who’s arbitration eligible for the first time, is seeking $2.85MM as his 2017 salary, while the Brewers have offered $2.45MM (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $3.1MM award entering the offseason). The 29-year-old is coming off a season in which he amassed 151 2/3 innings, totaled nine wins and recorded a 4.39 ERA – the three statistics arbitrators examine when dealing with starting pitchers.
  • The Braves are loaded with bullpen options going into the spring, opines MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, who expects there to be plenty of “buzz” centering on left-handed prospect A.J. Minter. A second-round pick in 2015 (a few months after he underwent Tommy John surgery), the hard-throwing Minter received his first professional action last season and laid waste to hitters at both the Single-A and Double-A levels.
  • David Laurila of FanGraphs had a lengthy, pitching-focused chat with Astros assistant general manager Mike Elias. The two discussed the value of in-person scouting, the Astros’ curveball usage and the risk associated with drafting high school pitchers, among other subjects. On 6-foot-7 righty Forrest Whitley, whom the Astros selected 17th overall out of high school in last year’s draft, Elias observed: “When you see a kid that long and lean be as coordinated, and able to repeat his delivery as well as he was, at the age of 18… that’s a big reason we took him with our first pick. We were really impressed with how he coordinates himself when he’s going down the mound. And he goes down the mound pretty aggressively.”

Braves To Sign Rex Brothers

By | at

The Braves have agreed to a minor-league deal with lefty Rex Brothers, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (via Twitter). Brothers will not receive an invitation to MLB camp.

Brothers, 29, was picked up by the Cubs last winter. But he didn’t even make it through Spring Training before he was cut loose. Brothers struggled badly with his control while with the Chicago club, culminating with four wild pitches in a single spring frame. The veteran southpaw never ended up joining another organization, which rated as a surprise given his rather lengthy MLB track record.

Now, Brothers will seek to earn his way back to the majors in Atlanta after a full season of rest. The big question is whether he can stay in the zone. He has declined in that regard in each successive season, landing at just 40.5% in 2015. Reflecting that difficulty, Brothers owns a 5.00 ERA in 66 2/3 innings since the start of the 2014 season, with 8.1 K/9 against 6.3 BB/9.

Before 2014, though, Brothers had been remarkably effective. Despite calling Coors Field home, he carried a 2.82 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 4.8 BB/9 in his 175 2/3 innings from 2011 through 2013. Beyond that history, there are some more recent markers that afford some degree of hope. Brothers sat at 93 mph with his average heater in his last MLB action, and still posted double-digit swinging-strike rates even in his two rough campaigns.

Pitching Notes: Hammel, Jays, Royals, Blevins, Blanton, Braves

By and | at

Let’s take a look in at the latest on the pitching market:

  • MLB Network’s Peter Gammons tweets that one Cubs official to whom he recently spoke believes that many teams around the league assumed Jason Hammel was injured when Chicago surprisingly decided to decline his seemingly reasonable $12MM club option. That’s not the case, however, per Gammons, who notes that Hammel is in good health. It’s been a surprisingly slow market for the 34-year-old Hammel, who looks to be the top remaining starter on the open market. The 2016 season saw Hammel toss 166 2/3 innings with a 3.83 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 42.1 percent ground-ball rate. Over the past three seasons, Hammel sports a 3.68 ERA, 8.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 40 percent grounder rate. Hammel did see his strikeout and walk rates trend in the wrong direction last year, which contributed to a 4.48 FIP, 4.34 xFIP and 4.28 SIERA that are among his worst marks since establishing himself as a big league starter.
  • Despite adding lefty J.P. Howell, the Blue Jays are still looking for another pen arm, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). It doesn’t seem as if there’s a clear preference between a righty and a lefty, as the club is said to be exploring both varieties of pitchers.
  • Likewise, Royals GM Dayton Moore says that his club still intends to add another arm, though it’s not clear specifically whether it’ll be for a starter or reliever, as Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com was among those to tweet. Either the trade or the free agent market could hold the missing piece, the GM noted.
  • The Mets and left-hander Jerry Blevins “have been exchanging concepts” for some time now, writes ESPN’s Buster Olney, but the Mets have only proposed one-year scenarios to this point. Blevins is known to be seeking a multi-year pact and seemingly has a realistic shot of obtaining one. Payroll has reportedly been an issue for the Mets — their current projection of $146MM would be their second-highest Opening Day mark ever — though the New York Post reported yesterday that the Mets are open to pursuing a back-loaded deal, which could serve as a compromise of sorts.
  • Similarly, Olney notes that the Dodgers were very pleased with Joe Blanton last summer but have limited interest at this time after spending a combined $192MM to retain the trio of Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner and Rich Hill. Los Angeles is open to adding a reliever, but there have been rumors that they’re focused on one-year deals, and Olney’s mention of them does little to dispel that notion.
  • While there’s some uncertainty as to which left-handers will be working out of the Braves’ bullpen in 2017, Atlanta hasn’t expressed much interest in free agents such as Blevins, Javier Lopez, Boone Logan, Travis Wood and Chris Capuano, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Braves feel that those options are either too expensive or not definitive enough upgrades to sign. Ian Krol and Paco Rodriguez (if healthy) are likely to see significant work in the Atlanta relief corps this season, per O’Brien, who also runs down a number of other internal options.
  • Right-hander David Aardsma is slated to throw for interested teams tomorrow in hopes of landing an invite to Major League Spring Training somewhere. The 35-year-old last pitched in the Majors back in 2015, tossing 30 2/3 innings with the Braves and registering a 4.70 ERA. Aardsma has added about 20 pounds while following an Olympic weightlifting program in hopes of boosting his velocity. He struggled through a brief showing with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate last season but turned in strong minor league results in 2014-15.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/31/17

By | at

It’s been nearly two years since Wily Mo Pena’s name has come up at MLBTR, but the outfielder has agreed to a minor league pact with the Indians that will pay him $700K if he cracks the Major League roster, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Now 35 years of age, Pena hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2011. As a young slugger with the Reds, Pena belted 26 homers back in 2004 and was traded to the Red Sox a year later in the deal that sent right-hander Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati. Pena never demonstrated enough ability to make contact or draw walks to carve out consistent playing time in Boston, though, and he ultimately found the most success of his career overseas in Japan. Pena spent the 2012-15 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, and while he struggled in 2013, he OPSed better than .800 in each of the three other campaigns and hit a combined 71 homers in his Japanese career.

Here are the rest of the day’s minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Braves announced that slugging outfielder Adam Walker, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. That marks the end of a whirlwind winter for Walker, who was placed on outright waivers by the Twins in November and then bounced from Minnesota, to Milwaukee, to Baltimore, to Atlanta on waivers. He’ll now remain with the Braves organization but will not occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Atlanta did not announce whether Walker will receive an invite to Major League Spring Training, but he’s likely to open the season in Triple-A. The former third-round pick has displayed enormous power in the Twins’ minor league system in recent years but also posted prodigious strikeout totals. He’s limited to left field and possibly first base from a defensive standpoint, so he’ll need to curb the strikeout tendencies to give himself a chance to stick on a big league roster.
  • Atlanta also inked lefty Michael Kirkman to a minors pact, tweets Heyman. Kirkman, who will make $600K if he cracks the roster, has a 5.28 ERA in 109 Major League innings and most recently appeared with the Padres and Brewers in 2016 (though he totaled just 2 1/3 innings). Kirkman has consistently demonstrated an ability to miss bats in both the Majors and minors but has also struggled with control.
  • Southpaw Nick Hagadone has joined the Mariners on a minor-league pact, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times first reported on Twitter. The former Indians left-hander hasn’t pitched since 2015 due to an elbow fracture that required surgical repair. Hagadone struck up a minor league deal with Atlanta last winter but had the contract voided due to concerns in his physical. He didn’t pitch at all in 2016 but will aim to prove he’s healthy enough for a big league look with Seattle in 2017. Hagadone, 31, posted a 3.55 ERA with a 55-to-18 K/BB ratio in 50 2/3 innings with Cleveland from 2014-15 and was once well-regarded enough as a prospect to be ranked in the Top 100 of both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. He was also one of three pieces sent from the Red Sox to the Indians in the 2009 Victor Martinez swap.
  • The Yankees announced their invitations to Major League Spring Training today, and the list includes infielder Donovan Solano and right-hander Nick Rumbelow, each of whom re-signed to a minor league deal. (Others on the list have already been noted at MLBTR in recent months.) Solano, 29, hit .227/.261/.455 with a homer and a pair of doubles in 23 plate appearances with the Yankees last season. Capable of playing second base, shortstop and third base, Solano also slashed .257/.307/.328 over the life of 1145 plate appearances across parts of four seasons with the Marlins prior to his time with the Yankees. As for Rumbelow, the 25-year-old had Tommy John surgery last season. He’d made his Major League debut in 2015 and tossed 15 2/3 innings of 4.02 ERA ball as a followup to 52 2/3 innings with a 4.27 ERA in Triple-A. Rumbelow has averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors while also walking just 2.4 batters per nine frames.

The Rule 5 Opportunity

By | at

This is an original MLBTR article produced by contributor Dan Lumpkin and the MLBTR staff. To read more recent MLBTR originals, click here.

Ender Inciarte and Odubel Herrera will long be linked due to their status as division-rival center fielders who inked extremely similar five-year extensions within two weeks of one another. They’re also linked, however, by the Rule 5 Draft altering their career trajectories.

Oddly enough, it was the Phillies who selected Inciarte out of the Diamondbacks organization back in 2012. Although he didn’t stick with the team all season and was eventually shipped back to the D-backs, Inciarte tells MLBTR he’s not sure he’d be playing in the Majors today were it not for the Phillies’ show of faith.

“You know, I could say I was very under-the-radar in Arizona,” the 2016 Gold Glove winner said. “Not underrated but very under-the radar.”

Inciarte was not seen as a prospect for his organization initially but was invited to play in Winter Ball during the 2012 offseason, and that’s where Phillies scouts got a good look at him and determined that Inciarte might be able to cut it in the big leagues.

“As soon as [the Phillies] picked me it took me by surprise, to be honest,” Inciarte said. “Then I realized what [the Rule 5 Draft] was and what it meant. It really worked great for me. It doesn’t work the same for everybody because some people don’t get to play and others get to play a lot.”

Inciarte played with the Phillies in his first big league Spring Training and did well despite the Phillies’ manager mistaking him for a clubhouse employee on his first day with the team.

“When I got there on the first day, I got there at like 5:00am, and Charlie Manuel didn’t even know who I was,” Inciarte recalled. “He asked me to go get something like his shoes or his hat and I told him, ‘I’m not a clubbie, I’m the Rule 5 kid.”

Inciarte found his way with the big league club, and many of the Phillies veterans saw his ability and encouraged him throughout Spring Training. This, Inciarte said, is what made him play with confidence.

“When I was there, I was playing with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, and Roy Halladay,” Inciarte said. “I could see all those guys up close. I felt like I was living a dream, right there. All those guys got to talk to me and said, ‘Hey man, you are part of this team. Don’t think because you are a Rule 5 it isn’t going to happen.’ It gave me a lot of confidence. I had a great time there.’”

Inciarte had a good Spring Training and actually made the Opening Day roster for the Phillies as a bench player. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t in the Opening Day lineup, which would prove to be his only chance to suit up for the Phillies that year. Following the first game of the season, the Phillies signed Ezequiel Carrera, and it was Inciarte who lost his roster spot in a corresponding move. Inciarte was returned to the Diamondbacks.

Though some players might consider it a demotion and a disappointment to just barely sniff the Major Leagues in that manner, Inciarte views his brief stay in the Phillies organization as a turning point.

“For me, it was great because a lot of teams got to see me play and when I got back to Arizona they sent me to Double-A when I was supposed to go to Single-A,” he explained. “Everyone started paying more attention to me. I got more chances to play and prove myself. It was for the best but I know it’s not the same for everybody. When I got back Kevin Towers went to go see me play in Mobile, Alabama. He didn’t know who I was (before the draft). After the Rule 5 is when they started paying more attention to me. If it weren’t for the Phillies, I probably would not even have a chance to play in the big leagues so I’m very grateful for what happened to me.”

Inciarte’s experience with the Rule 5 process is typical — especially for position players. While it’s not uncommon to see a relief pitcher survive a season as the seventh man in a big league bullpen, there are fewer spots to stash position players on a Major League roster. That reality makes Odubel Herrera’s accomplishment of not only sticking on the Phillies’ roster all season but thriving and becoming a key long-term cog all the more impressive.

Herrera split the 2014 season between the Rangers’ Class-A Advanced and Double-A affiliates and put together a strong season. In 545 plate appearances as a 22-year-old, he batted a combined .315/.383/.388 with two home runs and 21 stolen bases. But it wasn’t enough to land him on the Rangers’ 40-man roster, and the Phillies reaped the benefits. Though Herrera had spent nearly his entire career playing second base, the Phils plucked him in the Rule 5 and shifted him to center field.

“I feel very blessed that the Rangers didn’t protect me because I am now in the big leagues and I have a long-term deal with the Phillies,” said Herrera through an interpreter. “Once I found out that the Rangers didn’t protect me, I knew in my heart that another team would pick me up through the Rule 5. … I went to Spring Training feeling a little strange but as soon as I arrived in Clearwater, the manager gave me a lot of cheers and confidence from day one.”

While Herrera’s five-year deal with the Phillies may closely mirror Inciarte’s deal with the Braves, Herrera’s Rule 5 experience in many ways is more closely aligned with that of former Marlins/Braves slugger Dan Uggla. Like Herrera, Uggla was the rare position player to be selected in the Rule 5 and plugged immediately into his new team’s Opening Day lineup despite the fact that he (like Herrera) had never played a game above the Double-A level in his career.

“I was thinking about [the Rule 5 Draft] a lot, yeah,” said Uggla when asked about being left off the Diamondbacks’ roster back in 2005. “I had a good fall league and they left me off the 40 man, so that’s obviously what I was hoping for. I found out in the morning that I had been drafted by the Marlins and it was one of the coolest moments of my career. The coolest moment up to that point.”

That moment, of course, would soon be joined by a great many more exciting moments, as Uggla went on to appear in three All-Star Games and hit 235 home runs in parts of 10 big league seasons from 2006-15. But the rarity of the chance he was given by the Marlins is not lost on him to this day.

“They gave me the everyday starting second base job in the big leagues,” Uggla said. “For a guy in my position, that was unheard of. It involves an extreme amount of luck and timing. I could have gotten called up with any team and there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have got to play. Maybe a couple pinch hits or a spot-start against a really tough pitcher, maybe I would have gotten sent back down. But to be in that situation and to make the team and they just let you play everyday, that was pretty amazing.”

Uggla also credited timing as a significant factor in his opportunity to start playing in the Majors. During the offseason he was picked up, the Marlins were in the midst of a fire sale in which they traded several starting players to build up their farm system. This flurry of trades opened up the Marlins’ depth chart and created an opportunity for Uggla to prove himself against big league pitchers.

“They had just made a bunch of trades and started from scratch with a bunch of younger guys and rookies,” Uggla said. “It was cool. I got to walk in and be at the team meeting and I found my place on the team.”

Rebuilding clubs indeed have an easier time carrying a Rule 5 pick over a marathon regular season, and that was a large factor in Joakim Soria’s emergence in the Majors, as his agent, Oscar Suarez points out.

“As a pitcher, you go in with a second-tier team, like Joakim did with Kansas City at the time — they are no longer a second-tier team by any stretch of the imagination — but going in, they had no closer,” Suarez recalled. “Joakim was a starter, but they had no closer so they put him in the pen, and he beat everyone else out and before you know it, he was their closer. As an agent, yeah, you want any of your players to be Rule Fived, but you need to be realistic. What team are they going to go to? Like, if you are an infielder and you get Rule Fived by the Seattle Mariners, you say, ‘thank you for bringing me to your big league camp,’ but you know they aren’t going to keep you.”

That’s the reality that faces a handful of players each year following their selection in the Rule 5, but the opportunity with which they’re presented is one that is the envy of other players and agents throughout the game. This year, there were 18 players selected in the Rule 5 Draft, and if history is any indication, the vast majority of them will be returned to their original organization. A few may be picked up by other clubs along the way before being offered back, but it’s rare for a player to survive the season and even more rare for them to then emerge as regulars. For the select few who do, however, the Rule 5 Draft will always be looked at as a watershed moment in their career.

“It is a good thing for players like me that don’t get protected and because of that rule now, I’m a big leaguer,” said Herrera. “…I feel very grateful and very humble for the Rule 5 draft.”

Special thanks to Leo Nunez and Estefany Palacio for translation assistance.

Market Notes: Profar, Utley, Francoeur, Masterson

By | at

The Rays have at least opened a dialogue with the Rangers about infielder Jurickson Profar, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. It seems that the discussions are just preliminary at this point, but it does seem there’s a rather intriguing possible match on paper. Tampa Bay is in need of a second baseman after trading Logan Forsythe (and might also like the idea of having another player capable of playing short). For Texas, Profar is something of an underutilized asset; the Rays possess a variety of pitchers that might be of greater function. Of course, lining up on value and finding common ground isn’t as simple as finding mutual interest; it remains to be seen whether these talks will gain traction.

  • Veteran second baseman Chase Utley has received “multiple offers” and appears to be nearing a decision, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). We haven’t heard much at all of late as to what teams might be in pursuit — beyond the incumbent Dodgers, at least, though they don’t seem like much of a fit at this point. Still, it’s not surprising to hear of rather robust interest in Utley, who is a highly respected talent and still managed to hit at just below the league-average rate (.252/.319/.396) in near-regular duty last year. He is especially useful against right-handed pitching, and might suit a variety of organizations depending upon how much playing time he is seeking.
  • Though the Braves remain interested in bringing back veteran outfielder Jeff Francoeur, per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, the club is only willing to offer a minor-league deal to do so. Francoeur is still hoping to find a guaranteed contract, though Bowman notes that he has yet to receive such an offer. The 32-year-old spent much of the 2016 season in Atlanta, where he also once starred as a rookie. Over 331 total plate appearances, including a late-season run with the Marlins, he hit just .254/.297/.378.
  • Righty Justin Masterson is planning to build up for a late-February showcase, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter). The 31-year-old last put together a successful MLB campaign back in 2013, with shoulder and knee injuries playing a big role in the 5.79 ERA he has posted ever since (over 188 innings in the 2014-15 seasons). Masterson did pitch last year, throwing 59 1/3 minor-league innings in the Pirates organization, but managed only a 4.85 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9.

Braves Sign Kurt Suzuki

By | at

The Braves continued their pattern of adding veterans on one-year commitments Monday, announcing the signing of Kurt Suzuki to a one-year contract. The MVP Sports client will reportedly receive a $1.5MM guarantee and can earn up to $2.5MM worth of incentives based primarily on games started. The Braves had an open 40-man roster spot, so no corresponding move is necessary to accommodate the signing. Atlanta’s 40-man roster is now full.

Kurt Suzuki

Suzuki, 33, hit .258/.301/.403 with eight homers over 373 plate appearances for the Twins last season.  That somewhat modest output that still represented a big improvement from a dire 2015 season for the veteran catcher, though it fell short of Suzuki’s strong 2014 campaign (.288/.343/.383 in 503 PA) that earned him an All-Star berth.

[Related: Updated Atlanta Braves Depth Chart]

In Atlanta, Suzuki joins Tyler Flowers as the Braves’ top catching options.  A traditional platoon isn’t an option since both are right-handed hitters, though Flowers is likely to get the bulk of starts behind the plate given his superior pitch-framing abilities.  Both Baseball Prospectus and StatCorner ranked Flowers as one of the game’s best framers last season, while Suzuki was ranked near the back of the pack.  (Suzuki’s defensive issues reportedly played a part in a relative lack of trade interest in his services last summer.)

The Braves have been looking for catching help for much of the offseason, heavily pursuing Jason Castro and also being linked in rumors to the likes of Welington Castillo, Nick Hundley, Brian McCann and Matt Wieters.  Suzuki represents something of a fallback option to those higher-profile names, and with Atlanta now ostensibly set behind the plate, it further limits the market for the still-unsigned Wieters and Hundley.

Rosenthal notes that with Suzuki now in the mix for the Braves, backup Anthony Recker could receive some trade interest from other teams.  Atlanta has also added Blake Lalli and David Freitas as minor league depth this winter, and already acquired and then traded away veteran Tuffy Gosewisch.

SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo first reported the agreement. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted the financial terms. Cotillo tweeted context on the incentives.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Rodriguez, Red Sox, Orioles

By | at

New Braves utilityman Sean Rodriguez and his family were recently struck in a car crash in Florida, WSVN TV in Miami reports (hat tip to FanRag’s Robert Murray on Twitter). A man stole a police cruiser and hit Rodriguez’s car. Rodriguez was not hurt, although his wife Giselle and two young children were taken to hospitals. Giselle Rodriguez is in fair condition, while the two children are in serious but stable condition. The man who stole the cruiser died in the crash. “We are aware that Braves player Sean Rodriguez and his family were involved in a very serious car accident Saturday night in Miami,” said the Braves in a statement. “At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the health and well-being of Sean’s family as they look to recover.” We here at MLBTR wish Rodriguez and his family the best in what sounds like a very scary time.

Here’s more from the East divisions.

  • The Red Sox’ signing of Hanley Ramirez two years ago prevented them from taking advantage of a glut of right-handed power on this year’s free agent market, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal writes. After a poor first year in Boston, Ramirez bounced back last year, hitting .286/.361/.505. But while numbers in that vicinity made Ramirez a unique commodity in an offense-starved context in 2014-2015, times are different now. After an increase in home runs throughout the game over the past two seasons, right-handed power hitters like Edwin Encarnacion, Mark Trumbo and Jose Bautista have landed much cheaper deals than the $88MM Ramirez received, and the Red Sox have sat on the sidelines.
  • The Orioles haven’t made a significant move to address their rotation this offseason (other than their trade of Yovani Gallardo for outfielder Seth Smith), but they still feel their starting pitching will be better next season, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes in a report from the team’s FanFest this weekend (more on Orioles FanFest here and here). “Our starting rotation, I hope, is a little bit stronger,” said O’s vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette. “We had really good starting pitching late in the year in September, and we’re returning that rotation.” The Orioles’ rotation ERA of 4.72 was third worst in the AL last year, better than only the Twins and A’s. The team can hope for more from Kevin Gausman (who got better results last year in the first half than the second, although his underlying numbers didn’t change much), and Dylan Bundy (who didn’t transition to the rotation until July and had a modest degree of success once he got there). Joining Gausman, Bundy and ace Chris Tillman will be Wade Miley and Ubaldo Jimenez, who have both mostly struggled in their Orioles tenures.

East Notes: Orioles, Tillman, Braves, Yankees, Severino

By and | at

The Orioles opened contract extension talks with right-hander Chris Tillman’s agent in December, though Tillman stated earlier this month that he hadn’t heard anything about a potential new deal. The 28-year-old again touched on his future Saturday, implying that the Orioles won’t have a large window to extend him if they make an earnest attempt. Tillman doesn’t expect contract discussions to begin until spring training, and he’d prefer not to engage in any once the season starts, he informed Rich Dubroff of PressBoxonline.com (Twitter link). In what could be his last year as an Oriole, Tillman is slated to rake in $10.05MM.

More from Baltimore and two other East Coast cities:

  • One of Tillman’s teammates, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, said Saturday he wants “more speed” and “more athleticism” in the team’s outfield (via Paul Folkemer of BaltimoreBaseball.com). General manager Dan Duquette, meanwhile, acknowledged that “the outfield defense is an area where the club can improve” and talked up Rule 5 picks Aneury Tavarez and Anthony Santander as potential solutions. The Orioles had the worst defensive outfield in the majors by measure of both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating last year, but – Rule 5 choices aside – they haven’t done much to improve in that area. Seth Smith, who’s not exactly a defensive ace, has been the team’s only prominent outfield acquisition from outside, while it also brought back the bat-first Mark Trumbo. Jones spoke on the pair, saying, “They’re very good athletes, but they’re not top of the line defensive players first.”
  • Kris Medlen, a two-time Tommy John recipient and the newest member of the Braves organization, may have retired if not for a biomechanics instructor helping to reinvigorate the 31-year-old, writes Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Medlen, who missed all of 2014 and ’15 and then threw just 24 1/3 frames with the Royals last season, will attempt to reestablish himself in Atlanta, where he produced terrific results from 2009-13. “We’re all excited about being part of the Braves’ family again,” said Medlen, who lives in Atlanta with his family.
  • The Yankees’ young pitching depth is lacking a clear-cut potential ace, scouts tell Bleacher Report’s Danny Knobler, though there’s still a lot of promising talent in the system.  “There are not a lot of givens with their guys. They could end up with the best pitching on the planet, or they could have problems,” one NL scout said.  Justus Sheffield, acquired as part of the Andrew Miller trade last summer, may be the most intriguing of the bunch.  “A lot of people love [Sheffield]….When teams talk to the Yankees about trades, he’s the one they ask for,” an NL executive said.
  • Righty Luis Severino is among the Yankees’ highest-upside pitchers, but the 22-year-old disappointed as a starter last season after a promising showing in 2015. Severino laid out why he posted a 8.50 ERA across 11 major league starts in 2016, telling Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media that he had release point issues with his fastball, changeup and slider. With the help of both Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild and the legendary Pedro Martinez, Severino has worked to fix those problems this offseason. “I’m doing very well,” Severino said. “I’ve been throwing my bullpen and my changeup is way better than last year. My fastball location is better, too. So hopefully in spring training it’ll be good.” Severino also “dropped like 10 pounds” at the insistence of the Yankees, who will continue to use him as a starter – whether in the bigs or the Triple-A level to begin 2017 – despite a superb 23 1/3-inning run as a reliever last year. Although Severino logged a pristine 0.39 ERA and held batters to a laughable .105/.209/.158 line out of the bullpen, he’d rather start. “(Brian Cashman) knows I’m going to be a good starter,” he said. “I’m happy with that. I want to start. That’s my goal.”

Braves To Sign Kris Medlen

By | at

The Braves have struck a minor-league deal with righty Kris Medlen, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links). Once a key member of the Atlanta organization, Medlen will now have to earn his way into MLB camp, as his deal doesn’t include an invite.

If Medlen does make the MLB roster, he’ll earn at a $1MM annual rate, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He can also achieve up to $2MM in incentives, based upon what role he might occupy (games started or total appearances).

Medlen, now 31, last appeared for the Braves in 2013, when he turned in 197 innings of 3.11 ERA ball with 7.2 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. His career was knocked off course the next spring, however, when he tore his UCL during Spring Training and ultimately required Tommy John surgery.

Atlanta ultimately elected not to tender him a contract before the 2015 season, leaving Medlen to explore the open market. He landed with the Royals on a two-year deal that promised $8.5MM, but never really made good on the contract in Kansas City.

Medlen was able to return to action and provide 58 1/3 innings in 2015 — including eight starts and seven relief appearances. While his 4.01 ERA wasn’t exactly sparkling, Medlen did return to his typical ~90 mph fastball velocity and show that he could pitch competently at the major league level.

While there was some hope for a greater resurgence this past season, that wasn’t to be. Medlen dealt with shoulder injuries and wasn’t effective when he was available. He ended up handling only 24 1/3 MLB innings, posting a 7.77 ERA while uncharacteristically walking more batters (20) than he struck out (18).

Still, it’s an easy risk for Atlanta to take on a pitcher who is still relatively youthful and remains popular with the fanbase. Whether or not he can crack the roster remains to be seen, though the lack of a camp invite suggests that the team isn’t expecting it. Odds are, then, that Medlen will need to attempt to work his way back to the bigs with a stint in the upper minors at least to open the season.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top