Alex Presley Will Not Make Brewers, Has 48-Hour Window To Be Added Elsewhere
Alex Presley has been told he will not make the Brewers‘ Opening Day roster, MLBTR has learned. There will now be a 48-hour period in which other teams can decide whether they want to add Presley to their active rosters, and if someone does, the Brewers must allow him to depart or assign him to their own active roster.
Presley hit well in Spring Training while competing for a Brewers outfield job as a non-roster invitee, batting .289/.396/.556 in 53 plate appearances, but the Brewers’ decision indicates that they prefer Keon Broxton and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, with whom he was competing for two available outfield jobs. Presley is a career .259/.299/.393 hitter in parts of six seasons with the Pirates, Twins and Astros. He played briefly for Houston last season, spending most of the year with Triple-A Fresno.
Braves Designate Michael Bourn For Assignment
The Braves have designated outfielder Michael Bourn for assignment, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes (Twitter links). They also selected the contracts of outfielder Drew Stubbs and reliever Alexi Ogando. The Braves signed Stubbs to a minor-league deal earlier this week, adding the veteran to a crowded outfield picture, and Stubbs’ addition as a potential backup center fielder likely made the Braves feel Bourn (and Emilio Bonifacio, who was also cut this morning) no longer had much use for them.
As O’Brien points out, the Braves’ two highest-paid players this year will be Bourn and Nick Swisher, both of whom are now gone. Of course, some of Bourn’s $14MM and Swisher’s $15MM will be paid by the Indians, who signed both players before sending them to Atlanta for Chris Johnson in an exchange of bad contracts. Bourn is in the last year of his deal — he has a vesting option for 2017, but almost certainly won’t get enough plate appearances this season for it to vest.
Bourn’s decline since signing that contract in early 2013 has been swift. His hitting has declined from .274/.348/.391 in 2012 to .238/.310/.282 last year, and his once-terrific defense has declined, too — UZR, for example, rated Bourn as 23.3 runs above average in center in 2012 and 2.5 runs below last season. Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising, since outfield defense doesn’t seem to age particularly well. Whatever the case, Bourn no longer served an obvious purpose on a rebuilding Braves team already featuring plenty of outfielders, including Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis, Hector Olivera, Jeff Francoeur and Stubbs.
Braves Designate Emilio Bonifacio For Assignment
The Braves have designated infielder/outfielder Emilio Bonifacio for assignment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien tweets. Bonifacio signed a one-year, $1.25MM deal with the team in December. Nonetheless, the Braves had other options they liked better in camp, and Bonifacio’s fate was likely sealed by Jeff Francoeur making the team and the Braves adding Drew Stubbs in a late-breaking move.
Bonifacio played sparingly for the White Sox in 2015, but collected 426 plate appearances in 2014, some of those with the Braves after arriving in a July trade. In the last three seasons, he’s batted .243/.291/.325 in 969 plate appearances while playing second, third, shortstop and all three outfield positions.
Padres Sign Jeremy Guthrie To Minor-League Deal
SATURDAY: The deal is complete, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.
FRIDAY: The Padres have agreed to terms with righty Jeremy Guthrie on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports report (via Twitter). The Rangers released Guthrie earlier this week after he exercised an opt-out clause in his contract with them. Guthrie is a client of Excel Sports Management.
Guthrie, who will be 37 next week, had a poor season for the Royals in 2015 (insofar as anyone on a World Series-winning team could have a poor season). He pitched 148 1/3 innings and posted a 5.95 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. He did not pitch in the postseason with the Royals, who paid him a $3.2MM buyout after the season ended rather than exercising their $10MM option on him. For his career, Guthrie has a 4.37 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 12 seasons with the Indians, Orioles and Rockies in addition to the Royals. The Padres’ plans for him are unclear, but the organization seems like a good fit, given the team’s unsettled rotation beyond Tyson Ross, James Shields and Andrew Cashner.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/1/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league:
- The Mets have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Jim Henderson. The former Brewers closer will be back in the big leagues for the first time since 2014. Henderson has battled shoulder issues in recent seasons, but he got good results in Spring Training, whiffing 13 batters in 10 2/3 innings. The hard-throwing 33-year-old has a lifetime 3.44 ERA, 12.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in three big-league seasons.
- The Red Sox have announced that they’ve signed outfielder Justin Maxwell to a minor-league deal, and he’ll report to Triple-A Pawtucket. The Marlins released Maxwell earlier this week. The 32-year-old hit .209/.275/.341 in 274 plate appearances with the Giants in 2015. Previously, he had played for the Nationals, Astros and Royals.
- The Rockies have signed shortstop Jeff Bianchi to a minor-league deal, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Bianchi played briefly for Boston last year, spending most of the year at Triple-A, where he hit .262/.329/.315. He has a .531 OPS in 404 career big-league plate appearances spread over four years, most of them coming with the Brewers.
- The Orioles have released 1B/OF Mike Carp and 3B/1B/OF Alex Liddi from minor-league camp, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. Carp, who’s played six seasons in the big leagues with the Mariners, Red Sox (with whom he won a World Series in 2013) and Rangers, played only briefly at the Triple-A level in the Dodgers organization in 2015. He’s a lifetime .254/.330/.414 hitter in the big leagues. Liddi played parts of three seasons for the Mariners from 2011 through 2013 and spent last season split between the Royals’ Double-A Northwest Arkansas affiliate and Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.
Padres Have Had Internal Talks About Trading For Pablo Sandoval
The Padres have had internal discussions about the possibility of dealing for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, Jon Heyman tweets. (Via WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Padres deny that there have been any substantive talks.) The Padres are not among the three teams to whom Sandoval can block a trade, Heyman adds. Sandoval is still owed $75MM through 2019, including a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option, so as Heyman notes, a deal to send Sandoval from the Padres to the Red Sox would likely include money to offset his contract.
The Red Sox recently named rookie Travis Shaw their starter at third base ahead of Sandoval, even though they’re only one year into Sandoval’s contract. The Padres, meanwhile, reportedly had a scout watching Sandoval, although it wasn’t clear how much interest they had in him or whether that scout might be watching someone else. The Padres had interest in Sandoval during their splashy 2014-15 offseason, reportedly offering Sandoval a nine-figure deal that exceeded the Red Sox’ offer in total value.
The Padres might now see Sandoval as presenting an opportunity to buy low, although it’s not clear whether Sandoval is an upgrade over current Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte. Solarte hit .270/.320/.428 last season and projects to produce 1.6 fWAR, via ZiPS. Sandoval, meanwhile, batted .245/.292/.366 and projects to produce 0.9 fWAR (although another projection system, Steamer, rates him as being likely to produce half a win better than that). Sandoval would seem to be a curious addition for a Padres team that was badly burned by veteran additions two winters ago and now seems more focused on trading high-profile veterans rather than on adding them.
There’s been some speculative conversation about a trade that could send Sandoval to San Diego and James Shields to Boston, and a Sandoval/Shields framework might make some sense, at least on a purely financial level — the Padres still owe Shields $65MM on the deal he signed with them last offseason. While Shields’ home-run-heavy first year with the Padres was merely a relatively small disappointment, though, Sandoval’s first year with Boston was a disaster, so the two players’ current values seem somewhat different.
Reds Claim Dan Straily From Padres
The Reds have claimed righty Dan Straily from the Padres, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. It was reported earlier today that the Padres had placed Straily on waivers.
Straily spent most of last season pitching for the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate in Fresno, where he produced a 4.77 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 122 2/3 innings. He previously spent about a season and a half in the Athletics’ rotation, though, and his combination of relative youth (27), controllability (he’s still not yet eligible for arbitration) and experience make him an understandable target for a rebuilding team like the Reds. Straily can also start or relieve, and he can be optioned. The Reds’ current role for him is unclear, but it’s easy to see how they might find him useful in a variety of contexts, particularly given their injury-ravaged rotation and unsettled bullpen.
Orioles Reliever Chaz Roe Clears Waivers
12:47pm: Roe has cleared waivers, Crasnick tweets.
10:33am: The Orioles have placed reliever Chaz Roe on waivers after assigning him to Triple-A, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. Roe had been a candidate for a bullpen job.
Roe pitched 41 1/3 innings for the Orioles last season, posting a decent 4.14 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9. It was, however, the 29-year-old’s first extended action in the big leagues, and he struggled down the stretch, posting a 6.91 ERA in 16 outings in the second half and missing time in August due to shoulder tendinitis. For his career, Roe has a 4.25 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in parts of three seasons with the Diamondbacks and Yankees in addition to the Orioles.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Rays, Kim
At $17.6MM and $11.3MM, respectively, Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo will give the Red Sox two of the AL’s three most expensive bench players this season, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. (Those salary figures include portions of those players’ signing bonuses.) And in addition to Sandoval and Castillo, the Red Sox will also have Allen Craig, who has a $9MM salary, at Triple-A. The only more expensive reserve than Sandoval or Castillo will be Josh Hamilton, who will make about $26MM, most of it paid by the Angels. The Red Sox’ projected $48MM bench is almost four times more expensive than that of the average AL team. Of course, the Red Sox have enough money to have very expensive players, but the cases of Sandoval, Craig and perhaps Castillo are reminders of some of the organization’s past mistakes. Here’s more from the AL East.
- In the Rays’ additions of Hank Conger, Corey Dickerson, Brad Miller, Logan Morrison and Steve Pearce and subtractions of Jake McGee, Nathan Karns, Rene Rivera and James Loney, the Rays might be straying from their pitching-and-defense-first philosophy, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman says the team has merely made a slight adjustment to take advantage of what was available — making itself better by finding better offensive players that are capable enough defensively. Chris Archer, at least, agrees with their new approach. “You have to have balance,” he says. “We learned for the last eight years that just being pitching heavy is probably not the way to do it. You’ve got to have defense. You’ve got to have pitching — the teams that win get high-level pitching, starting and relief. But you’ve got to have offense, too.”
- The Orioles‘ situation with Hyun Soo Kim is “a mess,” Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes. The two sides currently disagree about whether Kim is ready to play in the Majors, but Kim has the right to refuse a minor-league assignment. This isn’t the first time the O’s have run into had a hard time due to an interaction with a Korean player, Connolly notes — they had to release pitcher Suk-min Yoon last year when it became clear they had little use for him, allowing him to go back to the KIA Tigers in Korea. And they were briefly banned from scouting in Korea after offering a deal to amateur pitcher Seong-Min Kim.
Offseason In Review: St. Louis Cardinals
This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.
After a winter in which they dealt with several significant losses, last year’s winningest team will try to regroup for 2016.
Major League Signings
- P Mike Leake: five years, $80MM (plus 2021 mutual option)
- P Jonathan Broxton: two years, $7.5MM
- C Brayan Pena: two years, $5MM
- P Seung-Hwan Oh: one year, ~$5MM (plus 2017 option)
- SS Ruben Tejada: one year, $1.5MM
Notable Minor League Signings
Trades And Claims
- Acquired IF Jedd Gyorko and cash from Padres for OF Jon Jay
- Acquired SS Jose Martinez from Royals for C Tony Cruz
- Claimed P Jayson Aquino from Indians
- Selected P Matthew Bowman from Mets in the Rule 5 Draft
Extensions
- Kolten Wong, 2B: five years, $25.5MM (plus 2021 option)
Notable Losses
- Jason Heyward, John Lackey, Jay, Steve Cishek, Peter Bourjos, Randy Choate, Mark Reynolds, Carlos Villanueva, Cruz
Needs Addressed
A variety of departures and injury issues had the Cardinals playing catch-up this offseason. They tried to retain star outfielder Jason Heyward with an offer for a greater total value than the deal Heyward eventually received, but were dealt a serious blow when Heyward instead picked the Cardinals’ division rivals in Chicago. The Cards were briefly connected to Alex Gordon, but instead chose to focus on other needs, going with Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty in the outfield and Brandon Moss and Matt Adams at first.
In the rotation, one top starter, John Lackey, left via free agency. Then, in early November, the team announced that another top starter, Lance Lynn, had undergone Tommy John surgery. Those losses left the Cards with significant holes at the top of their rotation. They aimed high, making a serious bid for David Price, but they lost out to the Red Sox and ended up signing Mike Leake (pictured) instead.
$80MM for a seemingly mid-grade starting pitcher like Leake seems like a lot, but perhaps it isn’t in an offseason in which Jeff Samardzija, Wei-Yin Chen and Ian Kennedy all received comparable amounts. (MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes predicted Leake’s $80MM contract exactly.) The 28-year-old Leake is easily the youngest of the four, and the Cardinals are effectively buying his late-prime years, at least in theory. Also, he has a strong health record, and his good control, ground-ball tendencies and strong hitting give him a high floor. Leake’s $80MM price tag reflects an escalation in starting pitcher salaries, but it’s also a reflection of Leake’s abilities, which are considerable, even if he isn’t as flashy as many of this winter’s other rotation options were.
The Cardinals’ other big-league signings were less significant, although they took steps to improve their bullpen. They re-signed Jonathan Broxton to a two-year deal after trading for him last July. The last several seasons of Broxton’s career have been spotty at times, and he struggled in 2015 with Milwaukee before being dealt to St. Louis, but he whiffed 9.4 batters per nine innings last year and still has mid-90s velocity. He should be in the Cardinals’ late-inning mix.
Joining him in that mix will be Seung-Hwan Oh, who’s making the leap to the US after nine seasons in his native Korea and two in Japan. Oh was a highly effective closer in both the KBO and the NPB, racking up a total of 357 saves between the two leagues and posting a career 1.81 ERA, 10.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. The details of Oh’s contract still haven’t been released, but it reportedly guarantees about $5MM, with the chance to increase to $11MM over two years if Oh clears his incentives and the Cardinals pick up his 2017 option. That price would be a relative pittance for an everyday player, but it’s a significant commitment for a reliever, so the Cardinals seem to be banking on Oh being a key contributor to their bullpen.
Between Broxton, Oh and whatever they can get out of Jordan Walden (who’s currently struggling with what appears to be a continuation of the shoulder issues that cost him most of last season), the Cards’ bullpen could look quite different in 2016 than it did for most of last year, though it will also feature holdovers Trevor Rosenthal, Seth Maness and lefties Kevin Siegrist and Tyler Lyons (who’s out of options). Rule 5 pick Matt Bowman will reportedly get an opportunity in Walden’s absence.
Elsewhere, the Cardinals dropped light-hitting backup catcher Tony Cruz and replaced him with Brayan Pena, a competent but forgettable second catcher who signed a cheap two-year deal. In Spring Training, a late-breaking thumb injury to starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta forced the Cards to sign Ruben Tejada to a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Tejada is hardly a world-beater, but for the Cardinals to get a decent defensive shortstop with on-base ability after losing their shortstop in March rated as a minor coup at the time — Tejada is a credible big-league starter who only became available once the Mets released him, and in many seasons, it would have been hard for a suddenly-injury-ravaged team to find someone as good as Tejada without giving up any trade assets. Of course, Tejada went down with a quadriceps strain this week and will join Peralta on the DL to start the season.
The Cardinals also signed second baseman Kolten Wong to a five-year, $25.5MM deal that begins in 2016 and includes an option for 2021. The deal allows the Cards to control Wong for an extra two seasons through age 30 (since he would have been eligible for free agency after 2019), while providing Wong financial security. Wong doesn’t profile as a star, but he’s a solid defender and a good baserunner, and he provides enough offense that ensuring two extra years of his services on a relatively cheap extension seems like a reasonably low-downside gamble.
More analysis after the jump.
