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Mets Sign Matt Kemp

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6:07pm: The deal has been announced. Kemp is headed to the club’s spring facility at Port St. Lucie.

4:16pm: The Mets have agreed to a minors pact with veteran outfielder Matt Kemp, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Terms of the deal aren’t known; it’s pending a physical. Kemp opened the season with the Reds but was released recently.

It’s rather surprising to see the 34-year-old land in New York, though a spate of injuries has challenged the organization’s depth situation. Veterans Carlos Gomez and Rajai Davis had been camped at Triple-A to begin the year but were brought up to the majors to help fill in.

Kemp got off to a brutal start in Cincinnati, slashing just .200/.210/.283 with one home run (and just a single walk) in 62 plate appearances. He’s not much of a defender at this point of his career, so he needs to hit a fair bit to be a useful roster piece.

There’s certainly an argument to be made that Kemp would fit best on an American League team. For the Mets, though, this move is mostly about filling in the upper-minors outfield mix. It is still possible they’ll end up finding cause to bring Kemp up. Though he’s obviously no longer the star he was earlier in his career, Kemp did turn in a strong .290/.338/.481 slash in 506 plate appearances last year.

Athletics Place Khris Davis On 10-Day IL

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This move had been expected, but it still took some time. The Athletics announced today that slugger Khris Davis is going to the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 22nd.

In the announcement, the club cited a “left hip/oblique contusion.” It still isn’t known just how long Davis will be down, but the hope remains it won’t be an exceedingly long absence.

In his stead, outfielder Skye Bolt will join the active roster. The 25-year-old came up briefly earlier this year. He has been turning in big numbers at Triple-A, with a .311/.379/.571 slash and six home runs through 132 plate appearances.

Twins Designate Austin Adams, Recall Zack Littell

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The Twins announced today that they have designated right-hander Austin Adams for assignment. His roster spot will go to fellow righty Zack Littell, who was recalled.

Adams, 32, only got into a pair of games for the Twins. Unfortunately, he was knocked around yesterday. Beyond the difficult outing, the fact that Adams threw 43 pitches likely sealed his fate.

The 23-year-old Littell makes his way up for the first time this year after getting a few looks in 2018. He carries a 4.19 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 43 Triple-A innings.

Brewers Reinstate, Option Jimmy Nelson

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In something of a surprise move, the Brewers announced today that they have reinstated Jimmy Nelson from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A. He is finally back to health after a long layoff but won’t come straight up to the majors.

It seems that Nelson wasn’t deemed quite ready for the MLB rotation. It could be that the team also prefers to option him to maintain roster flexibility, though it’s tough to imagine they’d hold him down if he looked to be in top form. Nelson allowed ten earned in 19 rehab frames at Triple-A, posting a 22:9 K/BB ratio.

There had been some suggestion that Nelson could be brought back in a relief capacity if the club decided not to plug him in as a starter. Instead, he’ll keep working at the club’s top affiliate — presumably as a starter, though that’s not yet clear.

It’s surely a tough pill to swallow for the soon-to-be-30-year-old pitcher, who was closing in on a return to the big leagues after missing all of 2018 following labrum surgery. Before his injury, he had turned in a breakout 2017 effort, with 175 1/3 innings of 3.49 ERA ball on the back of 10.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9.

Nelson entered the present season with 4.107 years of MLB service and has accrued 57 days this year while working back. That leaves him shy of topping five full years of service, which occurs at 172 days, though he’ll pass that bar rather quickly if and when he is called up.

That’s not to suggest that the Brewers are acting with service-time motivations. The club spent $3.7MM last year and this year to retain the rights to Nelson and would surely prefer to see that investment turn into MLB results.

Marlins Designate Isaac Galloway For Assignment

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The Marlins announced today that outfielder Isaac Galloway has been designate for assignment. That creates 40-man space for the addition of Bryan Holaday, who is coming onto the roster as Chad Wallach hits the injured list with a concussion.

Galloway, 29, is a career-long Marlin who finally got his first chance at the majors last year. He performed well enough, but still ended up being bumped from the 40-man just before the start of camp. When he was brought back up to the majors earlier this year, things didn’t go quite so well.

In 54 plate appearances in the majors in 2019, Galloway carries an ugly .167/.167/.185 slash without a single walk. He has also drawn just two free passes while racking up 31 strikeouts in 70 plate appearances at Triple-A, though he has delivered strong power output (five home runs, .515 SLG) at the highest level of the minors.

Blue Jays Promote Cavan Biggio

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May 24: The Blue Jays have made Biggio’s promotion official.

May 23: The Blue Jays will promote infield/corner outfield prospect Cavan Biggio, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll be joined in the majors by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Cavan Biggio

With a need for two roster spots, the Toronto organization will send down two players. Outfielder Billy McKinney and infielder Richard Urena will be optioned out.

It’s fun to see Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. share a MLB roster. They’ll likely be joined before too long by fellow top prospect Bo Bichette, at which time the Jays will be in position to compile a fearsome father-son softball team. (For the record, Cavan’s dad out-WAR’ed Vlad’s dad. Both are recent Hall of Fame inductees.)

If that trio can do anything to the 2020’s like their dads did to the 1990’s and 2000’s, it’ll make for heady times in Toronto. For now, the focus is on finishing off the development of these talented youngsters.

Biggio is the least hyped of the group, though he has already exceeded the expectations placed on him as a fifth-round draft pick. Entering the present season, he graded out as one of the ten or so best prospects in the Blue Jays system, but wasn’t considered an elite youngster on a leaguewide scale.

Notably, however, the 24-year-old has increased his offensive output at each step up the minor-league ladder. Through 168 plate appearances at Triple-A, he owns a robust .306/.440/.507 batting line with six home runs.

Having put the ball over the fence 26 times last year at Double-A, Biggio obviously possessed more power than might have been expected. He’s now combining that with the plate discipline that had long been his calling card — and doing so at the highest level of the minors. Biggio has ramped his walk rate all the way up to 19.0% while dropping his strikeout rate to 16.7% thus far in 2019.

Though he has primarily appeared at second base in the minors, Biggio also has experience at third, first, and the corner outfield. He and Gurriel could both appear at multiple positions in the big leagues. The latter was introduced to the outfield (where he has some prior experience in Cuba) after being optioned down due to his struggles at the plate and some yips that arose at second base.

Padres Promote Josh Naylor

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May 24: The Padres announced that Naylor’s contract has been selected from Triple-A El Paso. Outfielder Alex Dickerson has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained right wrist, thus opening a 25-man roster spot, while lefty Aaron Loup’s transfer from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL opens a spot on the 40-man roster.

May 23: The Padres are planning to promote outfield prospect Josh Naylor, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known.

This decision adds to the interest in tomorrow’s matchup in Toronto, which will already feature just-promoted Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio. As Lin notes, Naylor is a Toronto-area native, hailing from neighboring Mississauga. Still another Ontarian, Cal Quantrill, will start Saturday’s game for the Friars.

Naylor was taken with the 12th overall pick of the 2015 draft by the Marlins. He ended up being shipped to San Diego in the partially undone 2016 trade — a transaction that came close on the heels of another swap in which the Friars picked the pocket of the Miami organization.

Primarily a first baseman to begin his professional career, Naylor has been shifted to a corner outfield role more recently in a bid to find a home for his bat. He’s still learning his way around the outfield grass, but has continued to ramp up his productivity at the plate while moving into the upper ranks of the Friars farm.

Naylor received at least one top-100 leaguewide prospect grade entering the present season, with Baseball America slotting him in at #99, and he has certainly boosted his stock since. So far this year, Naylor carries a .299/.378/.538 batting line through 209 plate appearances at Triple-A. He has swatted ten home runs and walked as many times as he has struck out (24 apiece), making for a nicely balanced offensive profile.

Bringing Naylor up is going to require both 40-man and active roster space. It’s fair to wonder whether the time is up for Alex Dickerson, who returned this year from a lengthy run of poor injury luck. He devastated Triple-A pitching but has managed just three singles while going down seven times on strikes in his 19 MLB plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Neil Ramirez Accepts Outright Assignment With Indians

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Reliever Neil Ramirez will remain in the Indians organization after he cleared outright waivers but accepted an assignment to Triple-A. The club announced the move.

Ramirez avoided arbitration with the Indians over the offseason, striking a $1MM deal. That contract helps explain why he would agree to stick around rather than heading out in search of a better opportunity. With more than three but less than five years of service, he can choose free agency but would have to give up the remaining guarantee to do so.

Of course, it’s also true that the Cleveland organization helped Ramirez revive what had been a moribund career. He had bounced around quite a bit before settling in with the Indians and throwing 41 2/3 innings of 4.54 ERA ball last year.

Ramirez, who turns 30 on Saturday, struggled out of the gates in 2019. His home run issues from a year ago deepened, as he allowed five in 16 2/3 innings. He’s still producing a healthy 14.3% swinging-strike rate and working in the mid-nineties with his fastball, but clearly needs to tune things up if he’s to get back to being a productive MLB reliever.

Brewers Face Decision On Jimmy Nelson

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The Brewers are deciding how to proceed with righty Jimmy Nelson after he completed his fourth rehab appearance at Triple-A today. Skipper Craig Counsell has suggested the club would reach its decision on how to utilize Nelson after today’s outing, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes on Twitter.

Nelson didn’t exactly finish with a bang. As Jerry Briggs of MiLB.com tweets, the rehabbing righty pitched fine until he was undone by a sloppy fifth inning. In total, Nelson has thrown 19 innings at Triple-A, allowing ten earned runs while compiling 22 strikeouts against nine walks. That certainly isn’t a dominant performance, but it’s encouraging to see that he has been generally effective against high-level competition.

It seems likely that Nelson will celebrate his upcoming thirtieth birthday in the majors. Though he still has time on his rehab clock — having begun his assignment on May 5th, his thirty days won’t expire until June 3rd — Counsell says the time has come for a decision after a long road back. The next pitch Nelson throws in the big leagues will be his first since late in the 2017 season, as he has been working back from labrum surgery since going down with injury late in what had been a stellar campaign.

Whether Nelson will work as a starter or reliever remains to be seen. The Milwaukee rotation isn’t desperate for reinforcement but also doesn’t have much in the way of roadblocks. Chase Anderson and Jhoulys Chacin appear to be most at risk among the current starters, but there are reasons also to keep both in a starting capacity.

In a sense, the decision seems to be more about Nelson than it is the rest of the staff. If the club thinks he’s back to anything approaching his former self and can handle a starter’s workload (even a reduced version thereof), then there’s little doubt the space can be found. Anderson hasn’t worked deep in games and could be moved back to a long relief capacity, joining a few other converted starters in an interesting bullpen mix.

Utilizing Nelson as a reliever would be something else entirely. Whether the lack of routine would be problematic is tough to guess, but he’d obviously be tasked with throwing fewer innings after a lengthy layoff.

No matter the initial decision, the Brewers will surely keep their options open over the course of the season and beyond. Nelson is earning $3.7MM this year with one final season of arbitration eligibility still to come thereafter.

10 Low-Cost MLB Deals Paying Dividends

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We’ve spent some time looking at one-year MLB deals recently, with separate posts checking in on the highest-paid position players, starters, and relievers. More often than not, the results have been underwhelming for those players. There’s still time for turnarounds, but we’re already one quarter of the way through the full duration of those contracts.

Scan a bit further down the list in terms of dollars promised, however, and you’ll find some more promising outcomes. Indeed, quite a few players earning relative peanuts on one-year MLB contracts are turning in downright excellent results. (Note: we’re talking about deals that were guaranteed at the time of signing, not minor-league contracts.)

Here are the ten most impressive, ordered from most to least expensive:

Avisail Garcia, Rays, $3.5MM: An under-the-radar aspect of the Rays strong opening to the season has been the bargain-basement score of Garcia, who has stung the ball early on. He’s humming along at a .283/.343/.507 clip with eight long balls and three steals through 166 plate appearances. Contact quality will probably always be king for Garcia, who isn’t especially strikeout prone but doesn’t walk much. What’s he doing differently? I’m not exactly sure, but he’s barreling the baseball far more (14.3%) than ever before and is underperforming against Statcast’s expectations (.360 wOBA vs. .385 xwOBA).

Jonathan Lucroy, Angels, $3.35MM: The venerable backstop had fallen on hard times over the past two seasons. It was most noticeable at the plate, where the long-productive hitter fell into a deep hole, but the former pitch-framing posterboy also stopped winning strikes for his pitchers. The bounceback has been a rare bright spot in Anaheim, as Lucroy is slashing .265/.326/.439 and once again earning strong marks for his receiving ability behind the dish.

Adam Jones, Diamondbacks, $3MM: The esteemed veteran was all but frozen out of the free agent market this winter until the D-Backs came along with a decent offer. Jones hasn’t exactly morphed into a star, but he’s providing strong offensive output in an everyday role. Through 202 plate appearances, he’s slashing .265/.323/.476 with nine dingers, which is a rather vintage performance at the dish. That sort of production played better back when Jones was capable of playing center, but it’s good value regardless for a player who’s also a plus in the clubhouse.

James McCann, White Sox, $2.5MM: Perhaps the biggest surprise on this list when you look only at the top-line numbers, the younger of the two catching McCanns has been utterly on fire to open the season. He’s slashing a heretofore unheard of .340/.381/.538 in 113 plate appearances. Yeah, yeah … it’s not full-time action. And the regression warning lights are flashing, with a .421 BABIP and -.061 x/wOBA imbalance. McCann is also not getting the ravest of reviews in the framing arena. Still, at this cost, there’s no cause whatsoever for complaint. Bonus: McCann is arb eligible this fall.

Jordan Lyles, Pirates, $2.05MM: Many Pirates fans rolled their eyes and scoffed at this signing, and not without reason. It’s nice to find great value, but was Lyles really a buy-low candidate or just a cheap fill-in piece for a team that should be spending more? He has been one of the most cost-efficient starters in baseball thus far, providing 45 2/3 frames of sub-2.00 ERA ball in eight starts. His peripherals (9.3 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 43.0% GB%, 0.79 HR/9) don’t scream “ace,” but they do suggest he has been quite strong thus far. There’s good reason to think that Lyles has finally found himself after so many missed opportunities, with the Bucs benefiting.

Brian McCann, Braves, $2MM: The original behind-the-dish McCann hasn’t been flashy but has delivered everything the Braves hoped for when they brought him back to town. He’s producing right at the league average offensively through 92 plate appearances, grinding out tough at-bats by walking nearly as often as he’s striking out. The grizzled veteran is obviously valued as much or more for his ability to work with pitchers and nurture a youthful clubhouse as he is for his on-field contributions. It seems fair to say this is working out quite nicely thus far.

Neil Walker, Marlins, $2MM: If you look back at Walker’s career numbers, his rough 2018 season stands out as an outlier. Typically a steady producer at the plate, Walker looked like much the same hitter as ever but suffered from an unseasonably low .257 batting average on balls in play. This year, the BABIP gods have repaid him with a .363 mark, and his output has risen to a strong .290/.371/.427 level. Walker is helping hold down the fort for now in Miami but seems like a rather likely mid-season trade piece, as he ought to be able to help out a contending team as a multi-position infielder.

Blake Parker, Twins, $1.8MM: The Angels would take a do-over on their non-tender decision, as Parker has turned in 16 1/3 innings of 1.10 ERA ball for a bargain rate of pay. True, he’s carrying just 6.6 K/9 with 3.9 BB/9, but his strong 56.1% groundball rate is a nice base to work from. There’s really no reason to think that Parker will keep up the immaculate results, as he’s highly unlikely to carry a .195 BABIP and 96.2% strand rate all year long. Still, he has saved eight games for the streaking Twins and now seems to be a key part of the bullpen picture for a surefire postseason team. Parker is also eligible to be tendered a contract through arbitration one more time this fall.

Tim Beckham, Mariners, $1.75MM: It was a crafty move for M’s GM Jerry Dipoto to double down on the buy-low middle infielders. After acquiring J.P. Crawford, he grabbed a seat-warmer/bounceback piece in Beckham. That combination spread the bets and boosted the upside potential. It has been a hit so far, with Crawford hitting well at Triple-A and Beckham showing big thus far in the majors. Through 171 plate appearances, the former first overall pick owns a .259/.316/.506 slash with nine long balls. Regression may well be in store — Beckham is striking out at a 29.2% clip and hasn’t sustained prior breakouts — but it’s nice to have the production for the time being and he could still be flipped via trade or tendered for 2020.

Brett Anderson, Athletics, $1.5MM: You have to tip your cap to Anderson, who’s still pushing to get to the mound despite a lengthy run of injury woes. He has been able to stay active this year, turning in ten starts and 54 1/3 badly needed innings for the pitching-starved A’s, who brought him back on a late-breaking deal. Anderson isn’t exactly shoving, with a 4.14 ERA and just 4.6 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 along with a sturdy 51.9% groundball rate, but thus far he’s tamping down the long balls and doing just enough to succeed. Not convinced of the value? Just take a look at the return other teams have received on higher-priced, one-year starters.

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