Rays, Padres Announce Tommy Pham-Hunter Renfroe Trade
DECEMBER 6, 6:32pm: The trade has been announced. The Rays will acquire a player to be named later to go with Renfroe and Edwards, with the Padres picking up Pham and Cronenworth.
2:00am: It appears the Rays will also land another prospect in the deal, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com.
12:27am: The Padres will also acquire minor leaguer Jake Cronenworth in the trade, Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports. The 25-year-old Cronenworth enjoyed an eminently successful year at the Triple-A level in 2019, when he hit .334/.429/.520 with 10 HRs and 12 steals in 406 trips to the plate. Cronenworth’s primarily a middle infielder, but the 2015 seventh-rounder can also pitch. He put up 7 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and four hits allowed at the minors’ highest level in 2019, though the righty hurler did surrender eight walks.
DECEMBER 5, 10:55pm: The teams have agreed to the trade, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. However, it won’t be announced until medical reviews of all the involved players are completed Friday.
10:42pm: The Rays and Padres are deep into talks on a trade that would see Tampa Bay outfielder Tommy Pham and San Diego outfielder Hunter Renfroe switch clubs, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Rays would also land Single-A shortstop Xavier Edwards, while the Padres would pick up an unnamed prospect to go with Pham.
This is already the second major outfield trade of the winter for the Padres, who acquired Trent Grisham from the Brewers last week. Pham is far more proven than Grisham, as the former is coming off yet another outstanding season at the plate. The 31-year-old Pham, whose first full season came with the Cardinals in 2017, has somewhat quietly been among the majors’ most effective outfielders over the past three campaigns. He has totaled 13.6 fWAR, including 3.3 in 2019, dating back to his initial full season. Typically one to post high on-base percentages, Pham’s coming off a year in which he slashed .273/.369/.450 with 21 home runs and 25 stolen bases across 654 plate appearances.
In Pham, the Padres – led by under-fire general manager A.J. Preller – are getting a player with two years’ control remaining. Pham, who’s slated to earn a projected $8.6MM next season, will join Grisham, Manuel Margot, Wil Myers, Franchy Cordero and prospect Taylor Trammell as the Padres’ most prominent outfielders.
While Pham looks like an intriguing addition for the Padres, they’re giving up a powerful and affordable outfielder at the same time. Renfroe, soon to turn 28, entered the bigs as a first-round pick of the Padres in 2013. He has hit at least 26 homers in each season since debuting in earnest in 2017, including 33 this year, though injuries helped undermine him after a hot start in 2019. Renfroe wound up slashing .216/.289/.489 over 494 PA, and he earned elite marks in 998 innings divided among all three outfield positions (22 Defensive Runs Saved, 10.1 Ultimate Zone Rating).
Never a team to boast a high payroll, the Rays are saving quite a bit of money in this swap. Renfroe should only make around $3.4MM next season, which will be his first of four arbitration-eligible years. He’ll presumably accompany Austin Meadows and Kevin Kiermaier as the Rays’ starting outfielders in 2020, thus replacing free agent Avisail Garcia.
Along with Renfroe, the Rays are getting a quality farmhand in Edwards, a 2018 first-rounder whom FanGraphs ranked as the Padres’ 14th-best prospect in a loaded Padres system back in May. Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel wrote then that Edwards “is a high-effort offensive catalyst who knifes at defenses with line drives and well-placed bunts,” adding that second base or center field could be in his future. The 20-year-old divided 2019 between both middle infield positions and batted .322/.375/.396 with just a single homer in 596 PA at the Single-A and High-A levels.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On Addison Russell
DECEMBER 6: A source tells Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link) that the Tigers “have no interest” in Russell.
DECEMBER 5: The Tigers are among the teams interested in free-agent middle infielder Addison Russell, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Russell joined the open market when the Cubs non-tendered him Monday.
There is no denying Russell is a major league-caliber middle infielder, but the significant baggage he comes with likely helped influence the Cubs to move on from him. The 25-year-old Russell sat out the early portion of last season after the league issued him a 40-game suspension for a violation of its domestic violence policy in October 2018. Once Russell came back from that alarming ban, opposing pitchers handled him. The former top prospect managed a weak .237/.308/.391 line with nine home runs across 241 plate appearances.
The Cubs, led by president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, have spoken well of Russell since they moved on from him. Nevertheless, he probably won’t do all that well in free agency, which helps make the rebuilding Tigers a fit for Russell. They don’t figure to spend that much in free agency after a 47-win campaign. General manager Al Avila has indicated that utilityman Niko Goodrum‘s the favorite to man short in 2020, but even if that’s true, the Tigers have a clear need at second base. Russell has significant experience at both positions.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/6/19
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball have reached an agreement with right-hander Gabriel Ynoa, Jim Allen relays. A former Met and Oriole, Ynoa was hammered last season in his most extensive major league action to date. Across 110 2/3 innings for Baltimore in 2019, he posted a 5.61 ERA/6.20 FIP with 5.45 K/9 and 2.11 BB/9. Home runs were a major problem for the 26-year-old Ynoa, who gave up 29 on the season.
- The Dodgers have signed left-hander Casey Crosby to a minor league contract, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Thanks in part to injuries, the 31-year-old Crosby has only appeared in the majors in one season – back in 2012 – since the Tigers picked him in the fifth round of the 2007 draft. Crosby divided last year between the independent American Association and the Atlantic League, combining for 46 2/3 dominant innings in which he logged a 1.74 ERA with 14.5 K/9. However, the hard-throwing Crosby struggled with control, as his lofty walk rate of 6.6 per nine shows.
- The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization re-signed outfielder Jared Hoying this week, per the Yonhap News Agency. The ex-Ranger, 30, spent the previous two years as a member of the Eagles, with whom he has been far more successful than he was during his brief run in the majors from 2016-17. Hoying has put up a .296/.355/.519 line with 48 home runs in 1,115 plate appearances since he departed for Korea.
Giants Hire Donnie Ecker As Hitting Coach
New Giants manager Gabe Kapler has made an important addition to his staff. Reds assistant hitting coach Donnie Ecker will take over as San Francisco’s hitting coach, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune was among those to report. It’ll be a homecoming for Ecker, who Gonzales notes hails from the Bay Area.
Just 33 years old, Ecker’s a former professional infielder whom the Rangers selected in the 22nd round of the 2007 draft. Ecker didn’t get past the Single-A level with the Rangers, and he spent the final couple years of his career on the independent circuit, but he has carved a niche for himself as a coach since he last played in 2010.
Ecker’s an ex-high school and college coach who also worked for the Cardinals before the Reds hired him prior to 2018. They made Ecker their director of hitting before last season, and now he’ll try to help turn around a San Francisco offense that ranked among the majors’ worst in ’19. Ecker will replace prior hitting coach Alonzo Powell, who accepted a coaching position in Japan last month.
Along with Ecker, the Giants are adding Jim D’Aloia to the organization, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets. D’Aloia, who had been the Mets’ pro scouting director, will work in a scouting capacity with the Giants, per Puma. He was a major opponent of the Mets’ decision to include stud outfield prospect Jarred Kelenic in their trade for then-Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano and closer Edwin Diaz last winter, Puma notes. That reflects well on D’Aloia, as that trade has been disastrous for the Mets thus far.
Angels Have Met With Stephen Strasburg
The Angels have often been connected to right-hander Gerrit Cole, the No. 1 free-agent starter available, but they’re considering the second-best starter on the market as a contingency plan. The club has held a face-to-face meeting with Stephen Strasburg, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports.
Strasburg, like Cole, is a a Southern California native, but that probably won’t matter if the Angels don’t put forth an extremely competitive offer. In Strasburg’s case, that could mean a proposal approaching $200MM. The Angels already acquired one starter earlier this week, as they landed righty Dylan Bundy in a trade with the Orioles, but there’s still plenty of work left to fix their rotation. To many, this offseason could go down as a failure for the long-suffering Angels if they don’t reel in a front-line starter such as Cole or Strasburg.
Of course, whether Strasburg will leave his only team to date – the Nationals – remains in question. He and third baseman Anthony Rendon are two enormously important free agents for the reigning World Series winners, but Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner has suggested the Nats are only capable of retaining one of the two. If that one free agent proves to be Rendon, it could lead to a Strasburg-Angels union. Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, hasn’t gotten along well with Angels owner Arte Moreno in the past, though it seems the two have moved past their differences. That may prove to be hugely important for the Angels, as they need a No. 1-caliber starter and the two top rotation options – Cole and Strasburg – are Boras cliients.
Padres Finalize Coaching Staff
The Padres have promoted Damion Easley to hitting coach, the team announced. Additionally, Skip Schumaker will take over as the Padres’ associate manager and Rod Barajas will grab the reins as their catching and quality control coach.
Easley, a longtime major league infielder, served as the Padres’ assistant hitting coach/infield coach in 2019. It was the first season on a major league staff for the 50-year-old Easley.
Schumaker, an ex-major league utilityman, spent last season as the Padres’ first base coach. He then drew interest from the Mets as they sought a new manager this offseason, but they elected to hire Carlos Beltran instead. Now, with the Padres as another team with a rookie manager (Jayce Tingler), Schumaker has moved up in their pecking order to become an even more important assistant.
The Padres interviewed Barajas to take over as their next manager after they fired Andy Green, but he’s among several candidates who lost out to Tingler. Barajas, a former major league catcher, served in multiple roles for San Diego in 2019. He was the team’s bench coach before grabbing the reins as interim manager when it let go of Green toward the end of September.
Yankees Reportedly Prioritizing Gerrit Cole
The Yankees have already met this offseason with the top free agent available, Cy Young-caliber right-hander Gerrit Cole. It sounds as if their powwow went well, as the Yankees have a Cole signing atop their list of offseason priorities, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. While the luxury tax has frequently been an issue for the Yankees since Hal Steinbrenner assumed ownership several years ago, it doesn’t look as if it’ll impede a potential Cole signing. The Yankees “have ownership-level approval to offer him a record-setting deal,” Passan writes.
Along with the Yankees, the Angels – who have been regarded as the favorite to sign Cole – as well as the Dodgers may be lining up for a Cole bidding war, suggests Passan. Offers haven’t come in yet, but the Yankees’ involvement could be an enormous boon for Cole. Even if he doesn’t sign with them, the financially powerful franchise has the money to further drive up bidding for Cole, who’s essentially a shoo-in to ink a contract worth far more than the record pact David Price signed with the Red Sox entering 2016 (seven years, $217MM).
The Yankees haven’t handed out a nine-figure contract in free agency since they added righty Masahiro Tanaka on a seven-year, $155MM payday going into 2014. However, the franchise clearly loves Cole, as it selected him in the first round of the 2008 draft (Cole went to UCLA instead, later becoming the No. 1 overall pick of the Pirates) and tried to trade for him a couple years ago. But the Astros outbid the Yankees for Cole before the 2018 season, and Houston eliminated New York from this fall’s ALCS with Cole’s help. The Yankees, however, have clearly seen enough of Cole dominating in other uniforms, and they look ready to strike now that he’s available in free agency.
The Yankees sent a notable contingent to meet with Cole and agent Scott Boras this week, per Passan, who names general manager Brian Cashman, skipper Aaron Boone, pitching coach Matt Blake and franchise icon Andy Pettitte as those who sat down with him. In the event the Yankees lose out on Cole, though, they haven’t ruled out going after longtime National and reigning World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg, the No. 2 starter on the market. The Yankees have also met with Strasburg, another Boras client.
A’s Notes: Treinen, Middle INF, Barreto, Mateo
Athletics general manager David Forst discussed the team’s offseason direction with multiple outlets Monday, including A’s Cast (hat tip to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com) and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Let’s take a look at a few of the highlights…
- Although the A’s non-tendered right-hander Blake Treinen before Monday’s deadline, that doesn’t necessarily mean the two sides are headed for a divorce. The team still has interest in re-signing Treinen, a lights-out reliever a couple years ago who fell on hard times this past season. Treinen pitched to a dismal 4.91 ERA/5.14 FIP with 9.05 K/9, 5.68 BB/9 and a 42.8 percent groundball rate across 58 2/3 innings during the 2019 campaign, in which he lost his role as the A’s closer to Liam Hendriks. As a result, the 31-year-old Treinen probably won’t cost an exorbitant amount to re-sign, but if he does end up out of the A’s price range, they could still sign a “solid veteran” to a short-term contract, Slusser writes. Also, they have already addressed their bullpen in multiple other ways this offseason, having claimed left-hander T.J. McFarland off waivers from the Diamondbacks and re-signed fellow southpaw Jake Diekman. The A’s did cut ties with lefty Ryan Buchter, though it seems they did so because there were concerns on their part about the three-batter minimum rule that appears likely to take effect in 2020.
- The A’s are on the hunt for a lefty-hitting middle infielder, though it’s “ideally someone who can play a number of positions,” according to Forst. That player would obviously seldom line up at shortstop, as MVP candidate Marcus Semien has that position locked down. But Oakland’s situation is far less certain at second base, where the club traded Jurickson Profar to the Padres this week. Speculatively speaking, in terms of the free-agent market, Cesar Hernandez, Brock Holt, Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Scooter Gennett, Brad Miller, Joe Panik, Neil Walker and ex-Athletics Ben Zobrist and Eric Sogard are some of the players the A’s could turn to for lefty-swinging middle infield aid.
- Oakland’s next starting second baseman could come from within, as the team has every intention of giving former standout prospect Franklin Barreto an opportunity in 2020. It’s do-or-die time for Barreto, whom the Athletics acquired from the Blue Jays in the A’s widely panned Josh Donaldson trade in 2014 and who has no minor league options remaining. To this point, the 23-year-old Barreto has hit a horrid .189/.220/.378 with nine homers in 209 major league plate appearances.
- Meantime, fellow young infielder Jorge Mateo – picked up as part of the return from the Yankees for Sonny Gray in 2017 – hasn’t even appeared in the bigs yet. He’s also out of options, but the A’s want to give him a chance to establish himself next season. Mateo, 24, spent all of 2019 at the Triple-A level and hit .289/.330/.504 with 19 home runs and 24 stolen bases over 566 PA. That production looks palatable on paper, but according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric, it checked in 4 percent below the league average.
SK Wyverns Posts Lefty Kwang-hyun Kim
TODAY: Kim’s official posting period begins tomorrow morning and ends at 4pm CT on January 5, as per Yoo’s latest report. The delay in Kim’s posting was due to some extra medical documentation that the KBO had to submit to Major League Baseball.
NOV. 28: The KBO has officially asked MLB to post Kim, Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News tweets. After MLB notifies its clubs, Kim’s 30-day negotiating window will open at 8 a.m. ET the next day.
NOV. 22, 5:32pm: Kim is getting hits from several MLB teams, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link). The Mets, Royals, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Cubs are all said to have shown some level of interest in the southpaw. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be seen as a rotation or bullpen candidate and what kind of salary terms teams will be amenable to offering.
1:38am: The SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization will post left-hander Kwang-hyun Kim, according to Naver Sports (via Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). Kim has already made it known that he’d like to pursue a major league opportunity in 2020.
Under the rules of the agreement between MLB and the KBO, Kim will be free to negotiate with all 30 big league clubs upon his posting. The release fee the Wyverns would receive if Kim were to sign with a major league team would depend on the value of his contract.
This will be the second posting for Kim, who was available to major league teams back in 2014 but was unable to reach an agreement with the Padres after they won the bidding for him for $2MM. The Padres are reportedly among several teams who have shown much more recent interest in Kim, a longtime star in his homeland.
The 30-year-old Kim has pitched his entire career with the Wyverns since debuting in the KBO at the age of 18 in 2007, though he did miss all of 2017 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Kim has bounced back well from that procedure, however, and owns a sparkling 3.27 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 1,673 2/3 innings in what has typically been a hitter-friendly league. He logged an even better 2.51 ERA and recorded 8.5 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 across 190 1/3 frames in 2019.
Kim’s repertoire includes a low- to mid-90s, a major league-caliber slider, a curveball and a forkball, as Sung Min Kim of the KBO’s Lotte Giants tweeted in August. Although Kim boasts a well-rounded pitch mix, it’s unclear how aggressively MLB teams will pursue him. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote in their Top 50 free agent rankings that Kim’s slider is a “nasty, tilt-a-whirl” offering but that the rest of his pitches are average at best, calling him more of a fifth starter or swingman.
Teams will surely have their own ideas about how to coax some improvements out of the lefty, be it via a move to the bullpen or some alterations to his pitch selection and location. For now, though, he’ll at least add a bit more intrigue to a southpaw pitching market led by fellow Korea native Hyun-Jin Ryu, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels and Dallas Keuchel on the starting side and Drew Pomeranz on the relief side.
KBO’s Doosan Bears Post Kim Jae-Hwan
TODAY: Kim’s negotiating period begins at 7am CT tomorrow, and ends at 4pm CT on January 5, as per Jee-Ho Yoo of Yonhap News.
YESTERDAY: The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization have posted outfielder Kim Jae-Hwan, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. As the agreement between MLB and the KBO dictates, Kim will have a 30-day window to negotiate with all 30 MLB clubs once he’s officially posted. Should he sign with a big league club, the release fee the Bears would receive would depend on the value of his contract.
“I don’t know which teams will show interest in me or how I am going to be evaluated, but I am just thankful for this opportunity,” Kim said (via the Korea Herald). “Every baseball player dreams of reaching the majors. I’d like to thank the Bears for allowing me to take on this challenge.”
Kim was one of the most prolific sluggers in Korea from 2016-18, a span in which he amassed 116 home runs and posted an OPS above 1.000 in each season. While Kim won KBO MVP honors in 2018, last season made for a somewhat disappointing follow-up. Kim totaled 15 homers and batted .283/.362/.434 across 574 plate appearances in a league where offensive production fell in general. Nevertheless, he’ll try his hand at landing a major league deal this winter.