Braves Rumors

Braves Extend Ender Inciarte

By Steve Adams | December 23, 2016 at 9:00am CDT

The rebuilding Braves have been working to assemble a new core of players for the past two years, and on Friday they locked up the first member of that group for the long haul when they announced a five-year contract extension for center fielder Ender Inciarte.

The contract, which contains a club option for a sixth season, will reportedly guarantee Inciarte $30.525MM. The Octagon client will receive a $3.5MM signing bonus before earning $2MM in 2017, $4MM in 2018, $5MM in 2019, $7MM in 2020 and $8MM in 2021. The option is reported to be valued at $9MM and comes with a $1.025MM buyout. All told, this new contract will give Atlanta control over two of Inciarte’s would-be free-agent years.

“We are thrilled to announce an extension for Ender,” GM John Coppolella said in a press release announcing the move. “We feel that he’s the best defensive center fielder in baseball and one of the best leadoff hitters in the game. Ender brings so much to our club, on and off the field, and we are happy to have him under club control for at least the next six years.”

Originally acquired in last winter’s Shelby Miller heist, Inciarte cemented himself as a Major League asset in 2016 by largely recreating a 2015 breakout. Over the past two seasons, he’s been roughly league-average overall at the plate — .297/.345/.395, nine homers in 1139 plate appearances — with excellent contributions on the basepaths and especially in the outfield. Inciarte has swiped 37 bases in 263 games dating back to 2015, and Fangraphs rates him as one of the game’s 15 best baserunners.

Meanwhile, he’s been 17 runs above average in the outfield despite missing some time due to injury, per Defensive Runs Saved, while Ultimate Zone Rating has him at about +13 runs in that same time frame. Among players with at least 1000 defensive innings since 2015, UZR/150 has Inciarte tied for 14th (with Anthony Rendon) among players of all positions, at +14.1, placing him a shade behind the likes of Lorenzo Cain and Mookie Betts in the outfield.

[Related: Updated Atlanta Braves Payroll Projections]

Inciarte, who just turned 26 after the season ended, was eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter as a Super Two player and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $2.8MM in his first trip through that process. He’ll instead avoid arbitration for the entirety of his career thanks to this deal, which will keep him under team control through his age-31 campaign. The contract is nearly identical, in terms of its guarantee, to the one inked by division-rival center fielder Odubel Herrera in Philadelphia last week (though Herrera did not qualify as a Super Two player and, as such, conceded to two club options instead of one). It also represents a step forward from the five-year, $23.5MM deal that Adam Eaton signed with the White Sox prior to the 2015 campaign when he, too, was between two and three years of big league service time (though also shy of Super Two status).

While Inciarte has been frequently mentioned as a speculative trade candidate as Coppolella and president of baseball operations John Hart have overseen an aggressive rebuild, the emergence of a new five-year deal seems to firmly indicate that Atlanta sees the standout center fielder as a long-term building block. Inciarte is likely to be flanked by Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis in 2017, though there’s a definite possibility that fellow speedster Mallex Smith (who made his Major League debut this past year) eventually gets a chance at a larger role in the Atlanta outfield, either later in the 2017 season or in 2018.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported the agreement and the guarantee (Twitter links). FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reported the year-to-year breakdown of the deal (also via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Revere, Braves, Bird, Ross

By Steve Adams | December 22, 2016 at 11:09pm CDT

Free agent center fielder Ben Revere is reportedly likely to sign in the near future (as MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko first relayed earlier today), and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets that the Blue Jays won’t be his landing spot. That crosses the Blue Jays and Orioles (per Kubatko) off the list for Revere — two teams that could conceivably be in the market for a left-handed-hitting outfielder with some speed. Multiple teams still make some degree of sense for Revere, with the Giants, Mariners, Rangers, Angels and Tigers all striking me as on-paper fits (though that list is purely speculative). Non-tendered by the Nats this offseason, Revere logged a dismal .217/.260/.300 batting line in 375 plate appearances in 2016, but he’d batted .305 or better in each of the three prior seasons.

Braves president of baseball operations John Hart spoke with MLB.com’s Hal Bodley about the parallels between the rebuild he’s helped to architect in Atlanta and the one that he led in Cleveland back in the early to mid-90s. Hart also discussed the team’s decision to promote Dansby Swanson this past summer and the decision to add a trio of veteran starters — Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey, Jaime Garcia — this winter despite the team’s bulk of young pitching. “We didn’t want to stand in the way of our young pitchers, so we went with guys who I think are going to give us innings,” said Hart of adding three starters on one-year commitments. “I think this gives us a more competitive ballclub going into the new park. I don’t think this deviates from the plan we have.”
The Yankees “appear content” with Matt Holliday serving as the major offensive addition to their roster this winter, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, which increases the importance of Greg Bird to the team’s 2017 roster. Bird is the early favorite to serve as manager Joe Girardi’s everyday first baseman next year, and GM Brian Cashman said that getting a look at Bird in the Arizona Fall League was important. “All we care about is him having a full healthy Fall League, which he’s done,” said Cashman. “It checks the box and we’ll be looking forward to seeing him in Spring Training. All reports are, he looks good.” Bird and Tyler Austin could compete for time at first base and may eventually settle into a platoon, while the outfield could see Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks in a similar spring battle for playing time, Hoch writes.
Nationals right-hander Joe Ross missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2016, but MLB.com’s Jamal Collier writes that the 23-year-old’s arm is back to health. Ross took a few weeks off to rest his shoulder, and it’s now full strength as Ross progresses through his typical offseason routine. As Collier points out, the trades of Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez magnify the importance of getting a healthy season out of Ross. Notably, Ross said he’s tinkering with some potential mechanical alterations to his delivery and throwing program in an effort to stay healthier next year.

East Notes: Red Sox, Nationals, Yankees, Braves

By Connor Byrne | December 20, 2016 at 8:59pm CDT

At least one team has shown interest in left-hander Drew Pomeranz this offseason, but the Red Sox haven’t made him available, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI (Twitter link). Boston subtracted from its starting depth by trading Clay Buchholz to the Phillies on Tuesday, though it still has six quality options in Chris Sale, David Price, AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello, Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez and Steven Wright. It’s unclear which member of the Pomeranz-Rodriguez-Wright trio will be the odd man out of the rotation to begin next season. While Pomeranz has plenty of relief experience, he was also among the majors’ top starters as a member of the Padres during the first half of 2016. That led the Red Sox to send highly regarded pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza to San Diego in July, but the deal hasn’t yet gone as planned for Boston. Pomeranz wasn’t healthy down the stretch, which caused plenty of controversy, and logged a 4.59 ERA despite a 9.36 K/9 and 3.15 BB/9 in 68 2/3 innings with the Sox.

NL East Notes: Klentak, Marlins, Swanson, Mets

By Mark Polishuk | December 18, 2016 at 10:04pm CDT

Some news from around the NL East…

Phillies GM Matt Klentak said his team is looking at adding another hitter or reliever, though neither move is a necessity, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes. The hitter is likely to be a reserve outfielder, as the Phillies want to see what they have in their young outfielders as they continue their rebuilding process. “We continue to prioritize roster flexibility and payroll flexibility so players that are in position to sign shorter term contracts are going to be more appealing to us,” Klentak said.
The Marlins have assembled their bullpen based on talent, fit and availability, without any specific regard to balance between left-handers and right-handers. As a result, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro notes, Miami could head into 2017 with an entirely right-handed relief corps. Hunter Cervenka and Elvis Araujo are the only southpaw relievers on the Marlins’ 40-man roster and either could potentially win a job in Spring Training, though both pitchers are way down depth chart at this point.
Dansby Swanson is “as close to untouchable as any Brave right now,” David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, as John Hart and John Coppolella are both very impressed by the young shortstop’s on-field talents and off-the-field intangibles. “I don’t think you can put any playables or comparisons on him, I just know we’re better with him, and the whole is greater than the parts. This is a special guy that makes people around him better,” Coppolella said. The White Sox reportedly wanted Swanson as part of a Chris Sale trade package earlier this offseason but the Braves refused to part with the former first overall draft pick.
The Mets are known to be shopping outfielders, though MLB.com’s Mike Petriello notes that even if New York deals one of Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson or Michael Conforto, it still creates an issue since neither Granderson or Conforto project as a good defensive center fielder. Petriello instead proposes that the Mets could move two outfielders (either the two veterans, or Conforto with one of Granderson or Bruce to garner a bigger trade return) and then acquire an actual center fielder to properly fill the job.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/14/16

By Jeff Todd | December 14, 2016 at 8:59am CDT

Let’s catch up on the latest minor moves:

The Padres have agreed to minors deals with non-tendered players Jose Pirela and Hector Sanchez, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports via Twitter. San Diego will also bring in outfielder Rafael Ortega and righty Andre Rienzo on minor-league deals. Of this group, Sanchez has the most major league experience and seems most likely to have a chance to reaching the bigs in San Diego. He has seen time in each of the past six major league campaigns, compiling a .241/.278/.354 batting line across 691 plate appearances. Ortega, though, saw the most time in 2016, posting a .232/.283/.292 slash in 202 plate appearances with the Angels.
Righty Stephen Fife and first baseman Tyler Moore are the newest additions to the Marlins organization, per Eddy (on Twitter). Fife, 30, saw time in three years for the Dodgers and owns a 3.66 ERA in his 91 major league frames. After missing time for Tommy John surgery, he returned to make ten Triple-A starts in the Cubs organization in 2016, working to a 4.58 ERA with 7.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Moore, meanwhile, spent parts of four years in the majors with the Nationals, but struggled in limited action last year at the Braves’ top affiliate.
The Astros agreed to terms with 26-year-old southpaw C.J. Riefenhauser, Eddy tweets. He’ll likely end up as a depth piece, as he did last year with the Cubs. Riefenhauser does have twenty major league innings under his belt — all with the Rays, and with a 6.30 ERA — but spent all of 2016 at Triple-A (with Fife), where he posted a 4.71 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 6.0 BB/9 over 28 2/3 frames.
The White Sox have added outfielder Caleb Gindl on a minors pact, Eddy further tweets. Despite showing some promise upon reaching the majors in 2013 with the Brewers, Gindl fell off badly in each of the ensuing two seasons. He ended up playing indy ball last year, but showed enough with the Lancaster Barnstormers to return to an affiliated club.
Outfielder Lane Adams is headed to the Braves on a minors pact, also via Eddy (on Twitter). The 27-year-old has exceedingly brief major league time, but has spent the past several seasons in the upper minors. Last year, with the Yankees and Cubs organizations, Adams put up a .266/.342/.388 batting line and swiped 44 bags to go with ten home runs over 481 plate appearances split between Double-A and Triple-A.
The Orioles added infielder/outfielder Sean Coyle on a minor-league deal, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. Now 24, Coyle was once seen as solid prospect in the Red Sox’ system. But he struggled badly last year in the upper minors, posting a cumulative .181/.269/.293 batting line over 426 plate appearances. He was claimed in mid-season by the Angels, but ended up being dropped from the team’s 40-man.
The Phillies outrighted righty Michael Mariot, who was recently designated for assignment.

Braves To Sign John Danks

By Jeff Todd | December 12, 2016 at 6:55pm CDT

The Braves have agreed to a minor-league deal with left John Danks, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Danks, 31, was said to be seeking a comeback opportunity. He’ll earn at a $1.5MM annual rate for any portion of the year he spends in the majors, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets.

Though he pitched in 2016, Danks made his last appearance in May. He never joined another organization after being cut loose by the White Sox after his first four starts of the year. In that span, Danks lasted 22 1/3 innings and coughed up 18 earned runs on 28 hits with 16 strikeouts against 11 walks.

There was a time, of course, when Danks routinely logged around 200 innings of sub-4.00 ERA pitching annually. But those days are well in the past at this point; Danks did top 190 frames in 2014, but has allowed at least 4.7 earned runs per nine in every season dating back to 2012.

That 2012 season was a notable one for Danks and his former organization. He had signed a five-year, $65MM extension the winter before, but ended up making only nine starts before undergoing shoulder surgery. Needless to say, he hasn’t been the same since. And his fastball has never again averaged over ninety miles per hour.

Though the heater bottomed out last year at less than 88 mph, and Danks has shown little to suggest he can return to his form of yore, there’s little risk here for Atlanta. The ill-fated contract extension is now a thing of the past, and the Braves will be happy to add some depth with a minimal commitment. While the club already has added three rotation pieces this winter, and may still be looking for more, it’s a staff that certainly could end up in need of reinforcement at some point.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/9/16

By Jeff Todd | December 9, 2016 at 10:02pm CDT

Here are the day’s minor moves:

The Astros added infielder Reid Brignac on a minor-league deal, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports on Twitter. His contract includes a spring invite. Brignac, 30, has bounced around quite a bit since his days as a frequent contributor to the Rays earlier in his career, appearing most recently with the Braves. The former top prospect has appeared in each of the last nine major league seasons, but hasn’t cracked 100 plate appearances in a single year since 2011. All told, Brignac owns a .219/.264/.309 batting line over 951 trips to the plate in the majors.

Earlier Moves

Southpaw Sean Burnett will head to camp with the Phillies, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). If he can crack the roster, Burnett will receive a $1.25MM salary if and when he pitches in the majors, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links). The deal also includes $1.75MM in available incentives along with a March 26 opt-out date, per Nicholson-Smith. Burnett, 34, returned to the majors in 2016 with the Nationals after missing time due to injury. He posted a 3.18 ERA with three strikeouts and a walk over 5 2/3 innings across ten appearances in his return to D.C., and figures to have a shot at earning a lefty specialist role in Philadelphia.
The Braves have a minor-league deal in place to bring back infielder Emilio Bonifacio, Cotillo tweets. Now 31, Bonifacio has played in the majors in ten consecutive seasons. But his opportunities have dwindled of late, and he spent most of 2016 at Triple-A. In his 471 plate appearances at Gwinnett, Bonifacio slashed a solid .298/.356/.369. He could conceivably challenge for a utility role next spring.
Outfielder Junior Lake will join the Red Sox on a minor-league pact, per Cotillo (via Twitter). The 26-year-old, a right-handed hitter, cracked the majors briefly this past season with the Blue Jays and has appeared in each of the past four MLB campaigns. But Lake has seen only 51 games of action since playing an active reserve role for the Cubs in 2013-14. He hit .231/.314/.352 over 318 plate appearances last year at Triple-A.
Righty Logan Bawcom is headed to the Padres on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Bawcom has yet to crack the big leagues, but showed well in the upper minors last year in the Dodgers organization. Spending most of his time at Triple-A, the 28-year-old posted 98 innings of 1.93 ERA ball over a dozen starts and 24 relief appearances, with 7.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.
The Mariners outrighted lefty Dean Kiekhefer, the club announced. He had recently been designated for assignment. A 22-inning MLB debut in 2016 didn’t go very well, as Kiekhefer pitched to a 5.32 ERA for the Cardinals, but he has posted sub-3.00 earned run averages in each of the past three seasons in the upper minors.
Catcher Johnny Monell is heading to Korea, but it’s the KT Wiz and not the NC Dinos who’ll sign him. Cotillo had reported a connection to the Changwon-based Dinos yesterday, but says that the destination changed after that arrangement fell through. (Twitter link.)

Braves Acquires Tyler Pike From Mariners As PTBNL

By Jeff Todd | December 9, 2016 at 2:23pm CDT

The Braves have acquired lefty Tyler Pike from the Mariners as the player to be named later in the recent trade between the organizations, per club announcements. The late-November swap sent righties Rob Whalen and Max Povse to Seattle in exchange for outfield prospect Alex Jackson, who’ll now be joined by Pike.

A third-round pick in the 2012 draft, Pike has twice reached the Double-A level, but spent all of 2016 at High-A Bakersfield. In his 125 2/3 innings there, Pike worked to a 4.01 ERA with 9.6 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9. While that’s obviously a rather hefty walk total, it’s actually just below his career levels. Clearly, he’ll need to lock in his command to earn a shot at making the Braves’ MLB staff at some point in the future.

Rangers Acquire Tyrell Jenkins, Brady Feigl From Braves For Luke Jackson

By Jeff Todd | December 8, 2016 at 6:59pm CDT

6:59pm: Texas has announced the deal.

6:11pm: The Rangers and Braves have agreed to a trade that will send lefty Brady Feigl and righty Tyrell Jenkins to the Rangers, according to reports from Tommy Stokke of Fan Rag (via Twitter) and Keith Law of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Righty Luke Jackson is heading to Atlanta, Law adds on Twitter.

It seems fair to characterize this as something of a change-of-scenery swap involving two similarly situated young righties. The 25-year-old Jackson and 24-year-old Jenkins each drew a fair amount of attention as prospects and reached the majors only recently. In both cases, limited exposure to the big leagues has led to questions as to whether (and in what role) they can stick.

Taken with the 45th overall selection in the 2010 draft, Jackson brings a big arm to the table but hasn’t yet found his bearings at the game’s highest level. Over 18 MLB innings in the last two years, he has allowed 17 earned runs on 27 hits and ten walks, while retiring just nine batters via strikeout.

Though he has shown swing-and-miss stuff at all levels of the minors, and delivers a mid-to-upper-nineties fastball, Jackson has also long struggled with control. He has walked 4.6 batters per nine in his minor-league career, and a full-time shift to the pen hasn’t really helped much. In his 46 1/3 innings at Double-A and Triple-A last year, Jackson issued 32 free passes, though he also racked up 59 strikeouts.

For Jenkins, who joined the Atlanta organization as a part of the Jason Heyward-Shelby Miller swap, the results have been good in the upper minors over the last two years. But that has come in spite of a lack of strikeouts and uninspiring peripherals. Last year, for instance, he struck out 5.9 and walked 3.8 batters per nine over 83 2/3 Triple-A innings. He did end with a 2.47 ERA, though, in large part because he limited opposing hitters to just three home runs.

The dinger suppression did not continue when Jenkins hit the majors. He was touched for 11 long balls in his first 52 MLB frames. Over eight starts and six relief appearances in 2016, Jenkins worked to a 5.88 ERA while allowing 33 walks and striking out only 26 hitters.

There’s another piece being chipped in by the Braves, in the form of the 25-year-old Feigl. An undrafted product of Mount Saint Mary’s University, Feigl has been limited to 72 1/3 professional innings — mostly in the lower minors — as he fought through Tommy John surgery. He has shown well when healthy, though, posting a 2.74 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Braves Release Williams Perez

By charliewilmoth | December 8, 2016 at 8:05am CDT

The Braves have announced that they’ve released starting pitcher Williams Perez. The move clears a spot on their 40-man roster for the Rule 5 Draft, which is about to start.

The 25-year-old Perez has made 31 starts for the Braves over the past two seasons but has mostly struggled, with a 5.18 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 170 1/3 innings. Last season, he pitched 53 2/3 innings in the big leagues and posted a 6.04 ERA, also fighting through shoulder and elbow troubles. The Braves now have ample starting pitching depth of the type Perez provides and therefore could afford to lose him.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Braves Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect