Braves Designate Mauricio Cabrera
The Braves have designated righty Mauricio Cabrera for assignment, per a club announcement (h/t David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Twitter). His roster spot will go to fellow right-hander Peter Moylan, whose signing is now official.
Dropping Cabrera would have been inconceivable this time last year. When camp opened in 2017, after all, the young flamethrower was seen as a major part of the late-inning mix in Atlanta.
In 2016, Cabrera posted a 2.82 ERA in his first 38 1/3 innings at the game’s highest level while averaging an eye-popping 101.2 mph with his four-seamer. Though he only managed 7.5 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9, he sported a solid 11.7% swinging-strike rate and got a strong 49.1% groundball rate.
Things went south last year, however. Cabrera experienced some arm issues in camp and struggled badly while working back through the minors, never returning to the MLB roster. Walks have always been a concern, but Cabrera was irredeemably wild in 2017. Over 43 total minor-league frames, he walked more than a batter per inning while stumbling to a 6.49 ERA.
Cardinals Sign Jason Motte To Minor League Deal
Feb. 19: Motte has passed his physical, as the Cardinals announced the signing this morning.
Feb. 16: The Cardinals have struck a minor-league pact with veteran reliever Jason Motte, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). The agreement is still pending a physical. Chris Cotillo of SB Nation first connected the sides on Twitter.
Motte, 35, rejoins his long-time organization after a three-year hiatus. The former Cards closer has spent time with the Cubs, Rockies, and Braves since the start of 2015.
There’s little question that Motte did not regain his prior form after missing all of 2013 for Tommy John surgery. The converted catcher had posted 192 1/3 innings of 2.43 ERA pitching over the prior three seasons at that point. Since, he has allowed 4.12 earned per nine over 137 2/3 innings, with 6.7 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9.
Motte once averaged about a 12 percent swinging-strike rate and roughly 97 mph heater. Since returning from surgery, Motte has declined precipitously in both regards. He generated whiffs at a marginal 7.6% rate last year and averaged 93.8 mph with his heater.
To be fair, Motte found a way to succeed despite managing only 6.0 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 in his 40 2/3 innings in 2017. He ended the season with a 3.54 ERA, after all. But there’s little reason to believe that Motte will be able to replicate a .200 batting average on balls in play.
Red Sox Re-Sign Eduardo Nunez, Designate Ben Taylor
Veteran infielder Eduardo Nunez is headed back to the Red Sox, the team announced Sunday. Nunez has agreed to a one-year deal with a player option — essentially, then, a two-year guaranteed contract with opt-out — and will reportedly be guaranteed $8MM on the deal. Right-hander Ben Taylor was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, per the team.
The 30-year-old Nunez will be guaranteed $4MM in each season of the deal and can reportedly boost his 2019 base salary by $250K for each of his 250th, 300th, 350th and 400th plate appearance in 2018. He can further boost his 2019 salary by $250K by reaching each of those plate-appearance-based incentives again in the 2019 campaign. The 2019 player option comes with a $2MM buyout, so Nunez can earn up to $6MM this season if he re-enters the market next winter.
Nunez has long been mentioned as a target for the Sox, who could use the depth in the infield and are especially interested in finding a fill-in for the still-recovering Dustin Pedroia. While there’s some optimism that the team’s long-time second baseman won’t miss an extended period to open the year, he has been banged up a fair amount in recent seasons. Plus, the organization is also preparing to rely on the relatively unproven (but plenty talented) Rafael Devers at third.
Though Nunez has spent most of his career elsewhere, he made an impression during his stint in Boston after arriving in a trade deadline swap from the Giants. Nunez posted a robust .321/.353/.539 batting line with eight home runs in 173 plate appearances after the deal.
Unfortunately, Nunez was limited by a knee injury that ended up requiring a lengthy rehab period. Indications are, though, that he’s back to full strength as Spring Training gets underway.
Clearly, nobody will expect Nunez to continue producing like a middle-of-the-order slugger. But he has unquestionably raised expectations for the offensive side of his game after a tepid showing to start his career. Since the beginning of the 2015 season, Nunez owns a strong .296/.332/.443 slash.
The other elements of Nunez’s game are worth noting, too. He has also swiped 72 bags over the past three seasons and generally grades as a quality baserunner. And while he has never graded as a particularly good defender, he is capable of palatable handling of any infield position and has also spent some time in the corner outfield.
In his new deal with the Sox, then, Nunez can reliably be asked to handle second base early in the season while Pedroia is on the shelf before then returning to a utility role. That’s of additional importance given the yet-unproven presence of Devers at the hot corner; while the former top prospect impressed in his half-season debut in 2017, he’s yet to log a full season in the Majors and did cool after a hot start to his career. Nunez gives the Sox a plenty serviceable option at third base, should the need ever present itself.
The 26-year-old Taylor, meanwhile, was a seventh-round pick of the Red Sox in 2015. He saw his first major league action last season and tossed 17 1/3 innings of 5.19 ERA, notching 9.35 K/9, 4.67 BB/9 and a paltry 26.4 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Taylor was more successful in his Triple-A debut in 2017, albeit over an even smaller sample (13 1/3 frames), as he worked to a 2.70 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.38 BB/9 and a 45.5 percent grounder mark.
An earlier version of this post mistakenly suggested that Nunez had undergone surgery on his knee.
MLB.com’s Ian Browne first reported that there was momentum toward a deal (via Twitter). Robert Murray of Fan Rag reported the agreement (also via Twitter). Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reported the structure of the deal and the incentives breakdown (Twitter links). FanRag’s Jon Heyman reported the specifics on his yearly salaries and opt out (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rangers Will Not Sign Seung-Hwan Oh
3:32pm: A “physical issue” led the Rangers to abandon the Oh signing, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. The Rangers became concerned after looking at the MRI results on Oh’s arm, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes.
Feb. 17, 1:41pm: The Rangers have moved on from Oh, Wilson was among those to report (on Twitter).
Feb. 15: Rangers GM Jon Daniels told reporters today that there’s nothing imminent with Oh (Twitter link via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that it’s not clear yet if there was some sort of hangup with the contract.
It’s worth noting that the Giants reportedly made an offer to Oh as well before his reported agreement with Texas, so if talks between Oh and the Rangers have broken down, it’s possible that San Francisco could jump back into the mix.
Feb. 6: The Rangers have struck a deal with free agent reliever Seung-hwan Oh, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). If Oh passes his physical, he’ll stand to receive a $2.75MM guarantee, per Devan Fink of Beyond the Box Score (via Twitter). The deal also includes a $4.5MM option ($250K buyout) and $1MM in available incentives for the Rosenhaus Sports Representation client.
This makes for an interesting match given the open questions at the back of the Texas pen. Oh, a veteran Korean hurler, took over the closer’s role for the Cardinals during his debut MLB season of 2016. He opened the ensuing campaign with the same job after spinning 79 2/3 frames of 1.92 ERA ball, with 11.6 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9, but was not able to repeat his dominance.
In 2017, Oh wound up posting a 4.10 ERA in 59 1/3 innings. The fall-off was not only evident in the results; Oh’s peripherals suffered across the board. In particular, his swinging strike rate dropped from an outstanding 18.0% to a still-strong 12.9%, taking his strikeout rate down to 8.2 K/9. His home run rate nearly tripled to 1.52 per nine; his groundball rate plummeted to 28.7%; and he surrendered a batting average on balls in play (.319) nearly fifty points north of his 2016 level.
That said, there are some reasons to believe that Oh may have suffered some poor fortune. That BABIP jump came even as he induced more soft contact (15.3% in 2016 vs. 22.4% in 2017) at the expense of hard contact (34.2% vs. 28.1%). Statcast figures reflect that evident discord, with Oh’s .298 xwOBA coming in well shy of the .338 wOBA he actually surrendered. Interestingly, while hitters obviously had less trouble making contact, Oh got batters to chase outside the zone just as often in each of his two MLB seasons and his Brooks Baseball charts mostly show consistent movement on his pitches.
It’s tough to say what to expect. Regardless, given Oh’s background, it’s certainly fair to wonder whether the 35-year-old is slated to close for the Rangers. The team still employs several pitchers who have featured prominently in the late-inning mix in recent seasons, including righties Matt Bush and Keone Kela as well as lefties Alex Claudio and Jake Diekman. But Oh has fairly earned his memorable nickname, Final Boss, by closing down 396 total contests over his 13 seasons of action in the KBO, NPB, and MLB. He’ll likely at least have a shot at earning the closer’s nod in camp.
For the Rangers, this is the latest of many additions to the team’s pitching staff. As MLBTR’s 2017-18 Free Agent Tracker shows, the organization has steadily picked up arms throughout the winter. In addition to a variety of free agents, the club dealt for lefty Matt Moore. The Rangers’ updated depth chart lists six hurlers acquired this winter who currently project to make the Opening Day roster, with others (especially Bartolo Colon) potentially challenging for jobs in camp.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Dodgers Re-Sign Chase Utley
SATURDAY: The Dodgers have announced the signing.
TUESDAY, 7:45pm: Utley’s deal will be for two years and $2MM when it becomes official, tweets Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times.
3:43pm: Utley has agreed to a two-year contract to return to the Dodgers, Heyman now tweets. Certainly, the multi-year deal comes as a bit of a surprise, given his age, though it seems likely to come at a relatively modest annual rate.
10:22am: There’s a deal in place, per Heyman (via Twitter).
10:14am: The Dodgers appear to be closing in on a deal to bring back infielder Chase Utley for another run with the organization. Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reported last night that the sides were engaged in serious talks, while MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets that Utley appears to have a locker set up at the team’s spring facility, lacking only a nameplate.
All indications of late have been that the 39-year-old would repeat his turn as a platoon piece. At this point, it seems only a matter of time before things are formalized.
If the sides do indeed wrap up a deal, Utley will presumably spend most of his time spelling the right-handed-hitting Logan Forsythe at second base. Long a high-end everyday player, Utley’s productivity had understandably waned with age. He was effective in a surprisingly robust 2016 season, over which he took 565 plate appearances, but slid into a part-time role last year.
Los Angeles skipper Dave Roberts was exceedingly careful both to limit the wear and tear and to deploy Utley against right-handed pitching last year. Utley saw time in 127 games but tallied only 353 plate appearances, as the Dodgers sought to utilize him in advantageous situations. He batted .236/.324/.405 with eight homers on the season as a whole, though he strode to the plate against lefties on just 28 occasions.
In each of the past two years, Utley has delivered just-below-average overall offensive output, with successive 96 wRC+ efforts. He still grades as a quality baserunner and average defender even as he closes in on his fortieth birthday. Clearly, part of the math here for the Dodgers is Utley’s oft-lauded, hard-nosed veteran presence.
AL East Notes: Tillman, Jays, Stroman, Betts
Free-agent righty Chris Tillman is weighing offers and preparing to make a decision in short order, according to Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun. The Orioles are joined by the Twins and two other organizations in the picture for Tillman’s services, per the report, which also suggests that Tillman is willing to take an incentive-laden contract as he looks to return to form after a miserable 2017 season. With the Minnesota organization also said to be involved on some other hurlers, its ongoing involvement is especially interesting to note — though it’s also fair to wonder whether the team’s reported agreement with another bounceback candidate (Anibal Sanchez) will dampen its interest. We’ve seen real movement on the starting pitching market of late; with Tillman also seemingly nearing a deal, it’ll be interesting to see whether the same holds for some other free agents.
Here’s more from the AL East:
- The Blue Jays are still in the market for pitching after signing Jaime Garcia, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports (Twitter links). With the rotation set, though, the club is now looking at the bullpen, with GM Ross Atkins saying there are still some funds available to work with. Interestingly, per Atkins, the team does not seemingly intend to use Joe Biagini in a relief role. Instead, the provisional plan seems to be for him to work as a starter through camp and remain stretched out when the season opens, even if that means working at Triple-A.
- Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman may not have enjoyed his arbitration experience, but that doesn’t mean he’s unhappy with the organization. As Nicholson-Smith writes, Stroman expressed today a keen interest in pursuing a long-term deal. Saying he loves everything about playing for Canada’s team, Stroman indicated that he’s “hoping to have talks soon” with the front office. It’s not immediately clear how likely it is that the 26-year-old will find common ground with the organization, but clearly he’s open to the idea. As a 3+ service-class pitcher who turned in a top-quality 2017 effort, Stroman could conceivably look to last winter’s Carlos Martinez contract as a comp.
- The feeling is a bit different for Red Sox star Mookie Betts. Per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, via Twitter, Betts says he does not intend to discuss a contract between now and the end of the season. There’s no lingering discord over his own arbitration hearing, in which he came away with $3MM more than the team wanted to pay him. Still, Betts says he won’t consider a lengthier deal until 2018 is in the books — though indications are he might be willing to talk at that time. Of course, a big season could leave the 25-year-old with ample leverage. He’s already slated to earn $10.5MM for the coming season, setting him up for massive potential total arbitration earnings.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/16/18
We’ll use this post to cover the day’s minor moves:
- The Dodgers have added lefty Cesar Ramos on a minors deal, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). The 33-year-old won’t receive a MLB camp invite. Ramos worked to a 4.00 ERA in 92 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level last year with the Phillies organization. That represented the first season in which he hadn’t cracked the majors since he first reached the bigs in 2009. Ramos carries a lifetime 4.02 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 346 2/3 MLB innings, most of them coming as a reliever. He has typically been fairly stingy against opposing lefty hitters, who carry a .245/.314/.339 overall batting line against him.
Miami-Dade County To Sue Jeffrey Loria, Marlins
8:50pm: The Marlins issued a statement to Hanks indicating that the purchase agreement included language protecting the new ownership group from claims relating to the stadium agreement. “This claim has absolutely nothing to do with the [current] ownership group,” the organization says.
6:31pm: Miami-Dade County is suing the Marlins, the former ownership group led by Jeffrey Loria,and the team’s current ownership group, according to a report from Doug Hanks of the Miami Herald. The litigation will address a dispute that has arisen over the municipality’s rights to a share of profits from the sale of the organization that was wrapped up last fall.
Details of the suit are still somewhat sparse at this time. But the general parameters of the matter were laid out by Hanks a few weeks back and are touched upon in the above-linked post. The county claims “fuzzy math” was utilized to prevent it from recouping a share of the sale profits.
Generally, of course, a local government would not have a direct claim to the proceeds of the sale of a sports franchise. But Miami-Dade County forked over hundreds of millions of dollars to enable the construction of Marlins Park. As part of the 2009 agreement that led to the new stadium, the county (along with the city of Miami) is entitled to a five percent share of certain profits from the franchise sale. Loria now claims that the $1.2B sale did not leave him with any profits within the terms of the contract.
It’ll surely be interesting to see how this litigation plays out. The current ownership group (led by Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman) will necessarily be involved, given that it now owns the entity that inked the original contracts, though its potential exposure to liability is not clear at this point. While it’s always possible that things could end up being settled out, the discovery process could lead to the airing of quite a lot of fascinating information regarding the Marlins’ finances. That possibility, no doubt, will also play a role in how things shake out.
Whether or not the team will be impacted moving forward, the suit also promises to be of quite some relevance to the ongoing debate over the public financing of stadiums. The Marlins Park episode has long been cited by opponents as a prime example of the harms the public can suffer when municipalities pay for the facilities utilized by sports teams.
Twins To Sign Anibal Sanchez
8:19pm: Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press has some further details on how the contract works. Essentially, it’s structured like a non-guaranteed arbitration deal. Sanchez would receive about $410K if cut loose on or before the 16th day of camp or around $615K if he makes it past the first date but is then released before March 29th.
4:31pm: The Twins have reportedly reached agreement on a split MLB contract with veteran righty Anibal Sanchez. He can earn $2.5MM if he makes the roster out of camp but is guaranteed only $500K in the deal, which also includes up to $2.5MM in incentives.
Soon to turn 34, Sanchez is coming off of a dreadful three-year run with the Tigers. He produced in the first two seasons after signing with Detroit, but has limped to a 5.67 ERA in the 415 2/3 innings since the start of 2015.
Given the struggles, it came as no surprise when the Tigers paid Sanchez a $5MM buyout rather than picking up his 2018 option at a $16MM price tag. At that time, it seemed questionable at best whether the veteran would even merit a major league contract. After all, despite Sanchez’s excellent track record — he carried a 3.53 ERA through his first 1,177 MLB innings — it has been some time since he has been consistently effective.
In particular, the long ball has become a persistent problem. Compared with his better, prior campaigns, Sanchez has both allowed more flyballs and given up more dingers on the balls that have gone skyward off of opponents’ bats. The issues reached an apex in 2017, wen he coughed up 2.22 HR/9 on a 19.3% HR/FB rate. Sanchez also permitted hard contact at a career-high 37.4% rate.
On the positive side, Sanchez has continued to post solid strikeout and walk numbers. He maintained a typical 9.8% swinging-strike rate in 2017 and finished with 8.9 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9. Those levels hardly stand out in this age of whiffs, but do suggest he could be effective if he can regain control over the batted-ball outcomes.
Sanchez was tagged for a .354 BABIP. While the volume of hard contact suggests that may have been deserved to an extent, Statcast numbers suggest there was some poor fortune. The veteran permitted a .386 wOBA but carried a .332 xwOBA, making for a rather massive spread.
Given the nature of the contract, Sanchez is hardly guaranteed a rotation spot. And though the addition changes the depth picture, it doesn’t seem that it’ll prevent the organization from pursuing a more significant starter, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN notes on Twitter.
Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reported the agreement (Twitter links). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN first noted the connection on Twitter and added additional details on Twitter. MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reported that the deal was not guaranteed (via Twitter).
Mike Rizzo Says He Is “Confident” He Will Reach New Deal With Nationals
Nationals president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo addressed his contract situation today. As Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post reports, the veteran executive gave the clearest indication yet that he anticipates remaining in his position beyond the present season.
“I’ve had a couple conversations with ownership about my contract,” said Rizzo, who noted that an agreement has yet to be struck. “I’ve been here for 12 years. With the trust that we’ve developed over the years, I feel confident that we should get something done.”
Rizzo is entering the final year of the deal he signed with the team in the middle of the 2013 season. He has been with the organization since 2006 and has sat atop the baseball ops hierarchy since 2009.
It is difficult to argue with Rizzo’s track record. The rosters he has constructed have taken four of the past six NL East titles. Of course, the Nats also have lost all four ensuing divisional series in heartbreaking fashion. Those postseason disappointments have helped to create quite some churn in the field manager role, but Rizzo has remained a constant — and with good reason, given his track record of engineering a sustained winner.
While it has long seemed from the outside that Rizzo enjoys the trust of the organization’s ownership, led by the Lerner family, his future had seemed less certain than ever during the current offseason. When asked about his contract status in November, Rizzo said he had yet to discuss it and would not be the one to broach the subject.
Rizzo’s most recent comments, though, clearly paint a different picture as camp gets underway. The notoriously tight-lipped executive, who has always negotiated his own contracts, not only made clear that he had been engaged in discussions but strongly suggested that a new deal ought to be anticipated.