White Sox Designate Matt Purke
The White Sox have designated lefty Matt Purke for assignment, per a team announcement. His roster spot will go to just-signed southpaw Derek Holland.
Purke, 26, finally made it to the big leagues last year, throwing 18 relief innings in a dozen appearances. It didn’t go quite as hoped, as Purke allowed 11 earned runs on twenty hits, with 15 strikeouts and 12 walks. He did manage a 3.52 ERA in his 38 1/3 Triple-A frames, though his 8.9 strikeouts were accompanied by 5.4 walks per nine innings at Charlotte.
Still, it was an accomplishment to make it that far for a talented southpaw who had dealt with shoulder problems throughout his career. Given a significant bonus as a third-round pick by the Nationals back in 2011, Purke never developed quite as hoped. While he did average better than 92 mph with his fastball in his brief MLB stint, he obviously has continued to struggle with control — a problem that has reared its head at several points in his minor-league career.
Pirates Claim Brady Dragmire
The Pirates have claimed righty Brady Dragmire off waivers from the Rangers, per a club announcement. Texas had only recently nabbed Dragmire from Pittsburgh before designating him, so this move reverses that process.
The Bucs had acquired Dragmire for cash from the Blue Jays right at season’s end, but evidently found it hard to keep a 40-man spot clear for him. Whether the team can do so this time around, or manage to get him through waivers, remains to be seen. The 23-year-old induces groundballs at a prodigious rate, which helps explain the appeal despite otherwise less-than-exciting minor-league numbers.
Phillies Re-Sign Andres Blanco, Designate David Rollins
1:46pm: Philadelphia has announced the signing, noting that lefty David Rollins was designated for assignment to clear roster space. Rollins continues to traverse the majors via the waiver wire this winter; he has already moved from the Mariners to the Cubs, then on to the Rangers, before landing in Philadelphia.
12:54pm: The Phillies have agreed to a one-year, $3MM to bring back utility infielder Andres Blanco, according to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (via Twitter). Blanco, 32, has spent the past three seasons in the Philadelphia organization.
[RELATED: Updated Phillies Depth Chart]
The veteran utilityman has revived his career since landing with the Phils as a minor-league free agent. While he wasn’t a big part of the 2014 team, he made his way back to the majors for the first time since 2011.
Blanco ended up returning on another minors pact in the ensuing offseason, cracking the roster out of camp. Nobody foresaw the career-year that ensued. Ultimately, Blanco slashed a robust .292/.360/.502 with seven home runs over 261 plate appearances in 2015.
That surprise performance led the Phils to tender Blanco, which netted him a $1.45MM payday. While he wasn’t quite able to keep up the offensive output in 2016, he still provided a sturdy .253/.316/.405 batting line in his ninety games.
Blanco’s new contract recognizes both his useful bat and his defensive versatility. While metrics were more favorably inclined toward his glove earlier in his career, Blanco remains capable of playing anywhere in the infield and has been trusted with spot duty in the corner outfield as well.
Phillies Claim Richie Shaffer, Release Phil Klein To Pursue Asian Deal
The Phillies have claimed infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer off waivers from the Mariners, per a club announcement. Additionally, the team announced that righty Phil Klein was released in order for him to sign a contract to play with an organization in Asia.
Philadelphia announced Shaffer as a third baseman, perhaps suggesting that’s where they see him being utilized — though, of course, that position will almost certainly be manned regularly by Maikel Franco. Shaffer can also play the corner outfield or first base.
The 25-year-old Shaffer, a former first-round pick, bounced from the Rays to the Mariners earlier this offseason. He was riding high after a big 2015 season in which he hit 30 total long balls between the upper minors and the majors (where he received his first, brief look). But he largely struggled in the campaign that just ended, posting a meager .227/.329/.367 batting line at the Triple-A level and earning only twenty games in the bigs. Those struggles made him expendable, but the Phils evidently see enough upside to take a chance with a 40-man spot — though the team could ultimately attempt to sneak him through waivers at some point.
Klein, 27, also landed in Philadelphia through a waiver claim — in his case, from the Rangers. He did not pitch particularly well in his four appearances late in 2016 for the Phils, and owns only a 5.50 ERA over his 55 2/3 total major league innings. But Klein has carried impressive strikeout numbers and posted dominant results in the upper minors, which surely lent to his appeal to ballclubs on the other side of the Pacific. It is not yet clear just where Klein is headed.
Latest On Market For Jose Bautista
Neither the Yankees nor the Giants are “seriously pursuing” veteran slugger Jose Bautista, Jon Morosi of MLB Network writes. Morosi goes on to discuss the remaining market for the 36-year-old, who will require draft compensation from a signing team since he turned down a qualifying offer from the Blue Jays.
Both New York and San Francisco seemed at least to be decent hypothetical matches, particularly the latter. All said, the news doesn’t improve the outlook for Bautista. As Morosi notes, organizations such as the White Sox and Phillies could have a theoretical need in the corner outfield, but will probably be loath to part with a draft choice and spend big on an aging player at this stage of their respective rebuilding efforts.
Several AL East teams make some sense, at least on paper, beyond the Yankees and incumbent Jays. But the Orioles have shot down any such notions, citing Bautista’s poor reputation among the Baltimore faithful. (The same, presumably, is true of the Rangers.) We have also heard some suggestion that the Rays could have some interest in Bautista — or, at least, a theoretical player of his ilk — but that would likely be more as an opportunistic landing spot than as a dedicated pursuit. The Red Sox appear to have been of interest to Bautista, but it seems that the organization doesn’t feel there’s a fit (in part, at least, due to salary considerations).
I’d add, speculatively, that there are a few other teams that could conceivably enter the picture. The Mariners could stand to add a bat and have some positional flexibility with which to work, though they do have several right-handed-hitting pieces in the corner outfield/first base/DH areas already, it’s possible to imagine a fit. It’s a similar situation for the Mets, who have been rumored to have at least some interest in the past. If you squint hard enough, or imagine a trade to open space, it’s still possible to see a match with the Astros despite the addition of Carlos Beltran. And the Nationals did surprisingly pursue Bautista at the 2016 trade deadline, though the acquisition of Adam Eaton makes a move on him now a tough proposition. Most intriguingly, perhaps, the Rockies could stand to plug Bautista’s bat in at first base, if they were to move an outfield piece and shift the just-inked Ian Desmond to the grass.
Given the overall market setting, Morosi argues that the most sensible outcome at this point is for Bautista to end up back with the Blue Jays. For Toronto, there’s still an evident need to add offense, particularly in the outfield. In a multi-year scenario, at least, Bautista could slide in at first base at some point down the line. While the team would stand to sacrifice the chance to recoup a compensatory draft pick, adding Bautista wouldn’t hurt as much in the draft department as it would many other organizations. (Under the new CBA, no organization will be able to make Bautista a qualifying offer in the future.) Plus, there’s obviously a special connection between this particular team and player.
It’s worth emphasizing that the level of interest on the Jays’ side remains somewhat unclear. The club is said to be in touch with Bautista’s representatives, but there’s little doubt that Toronto will prefer to minimize its commitment in any arrangement. While Bautista was still a productive player last year, and maintained his excellent plate discipline, he wasn’t quite himself in the power department (22 home runs, .452 slugging percentage). With the obvious issue of age and declining glovework in the outfield — not to mention the fact that the Jays already locked into a three-year commitment at DH with Kendrys Morales — there’s good reason for the organization to be wary of a lengthy entanglement.
MLB, MLBPA Officially Ratify New Collective Bargaining Agreement
Major League Baseball and the MLB Player’s Association have each officially ratified the new collective bargaining agreement, per announcements from both entities. The new agreement will run for five years.
While the MLBPA executive board voted unanimously in favor of the deal, there was one dissenter among the ranks of MLB owners. The Rays’ Stuart Sternberg declined to support the CBA, as the AP first reported, telling Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that the final document had failed to address the “extraordinary and widening competitive gap that exists on-field between higher and lower revenue clubs.”
The sides had previously announced agreement in principle on the game’s next CBA, and evidently worked through the final details over the last two weeks. Many of the details of the various new rules regimes are discussed in that link, though we’ll need to await release of the final document for a full understanding of all the nuances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/14/16
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.
2017 Competitive Balance Draft Pick Order
Major League Baseball has set the order of the competitive balance component of the 2017 draft, per MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo. That establishes a new overall draft order, though remaining outcomes on players who declined qualifying offers will serve to modify the final slate.
As Mayo explains, there are some notable changes to the system under the new collective bargaining agreement. Unlike the old lottery system, there’s now a procedure in place to sort among the teams that are eligible to participate — i.e., those that are in the bottom ten league-wide in terms of revenue and/or market size. The new formula “takes revenue and winning percentage into account,” per Mayo.
In another twist, once the teams are ordered and sorted between Round A (after the first round) and Round B (after the second), that grouping will flip-flop from year to year. In other words, the teams that choose in Round A in 2017 will get to participate in Round B in 2018, and vice versa. That process will continue throughout the duration of the recently agreed-upon CBA, which runs through the year 2021. For the coming draft, six teams will participate in the higher portion.
The order reported by Mayo is somewhat tentative in nature, as Competitive Balance draft picks can be traded once the season starts (but only traded once). Furthermore, teams signing qualifying offer free agents could slightly alter the exact positioning of these picks in the 2017 draft. Here’s the current order, per Mayo’s report:
Competitive Balance Round A
- Tampa Bay Rays (No. 31 overall)
- Cincinnati Reds (32)
- Oakland Athletics (33)
- Milwaukee Brewers (34)
- Minnesota Twins (35)
- Miami Marlins (36)
Competitive Balance Round B
- Arizona Diamondbacks (No. 67 overall)
- San Diego Padres (68)
- Colorado Rockies (69)
- Cleveland Indians (70)
- Kansas City Royals (71)
- Pittsburgh Pirates (72)
- Baltimore Orioles (73)
- St. Louis Cardinals (74)
Brewers Acquire Jett Bandy
3:38pm: The Brewers have announced the trade.
3:07pm: Righty Drew Gagnon is the other piece of the deal, Hudson Belinsky of Baseball America tweets. The 26-year-old spent most of 2016 at the Triple-A level with Milwaukee, converting mostly relief work after spending most of his prior professional career as a starter. He worked to a 5.56 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 over 55 innings at Colorado Springs.
2:53pm: The Brewers have agreed to a trade with the Angels to acquire catcher Jett Bandy, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). Heading back in return are fellow catcher Martin Maldonado and a minor-league pitcher, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.
The 26-year-old Bandy has just one full season in the majors under his belt. He slashed .234/.281/.392 with eight long balls last year for the Halos over 231 plate appearances. Stat Corner rated him as an average framer, while Baseball Prospectus (subscription required) was slightly more bearish — though it gave him better marks as he came up through the system.
Maldonado, 30, is in his second year of arb eligibility. MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz project him to earn $1.6MM. Functioning mostly in a reserve capacity behind former Milwaukee backstop Jonathan Lucroy, Maldonado has posted a .217/.299/.342 batting line in 1,094 plate appearances over the last six seasons.
Though he is somewhat limited with the bat, Maldonado has high-quality framing metrics. He’s mostly average in other areas of catching defense (per BP, subscription required), but certainly comes with a quality overall reputation behind the dish.
Orioles To Re-Sign Logan Ondrusek
DEC. 13: Ondrusek’s option is worth $1.5MM, reports Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com. Connolly lists Ondrusek’s salary at $650K and notes that it isn’t guaranteed, as the O’s can recoup some of the money if they cut him before Opening Day (in that sense, it seems structured like an arbitration agreement). Ondrusek can also earn up to $500K of incentives in both years of the deal, as he’ll take home $100K for reaching 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 appearances on the season. The contract also allows him to be optioned to the minors without first clearing waivers.
DEC. 12: The Orioles have agreed to a one-year, $625K deal to bring back righty Logan Ondrusek, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Baltimore also picks up a 2018 option in the agreement.
Ondrusek, 31, came to the O’s in a rare mid-season acquisition from Japan. He had been producing quality results for the Yakult Swallows, working to a 2.17 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in the 99 2/3 frames he threw from the start of 2015.
Upon his arrival, though, he struggled in seven major league appearances. Ondrusek allowed seven earned runs on nine hits, striking out four and walking three. The O’s declined a club option (at an unknown value) earlier in the offseason.
Ondrusek did show that he’s still bringing a roughly 93 mph fastball, and obviously Baltimore thinks he can contribute again in the big leagues. He has 277 total MLB frames under his belt, all with the Reds with the exception of his brief O’s stint. All told, he carries a 4.03 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9.