Marlins Claim Elvis Araujo
The Marlins have claimed southpaw Elvis Araujo off waivers from the Phillies, the teams announced. He’ll stay in the division but change sides, bringing plenty of cheap control with him to Miami.
Araujo, 25, is a towering lefty with a low-nineties heater to go with a slider and infrequently-used change. He has averaged better than a strikeout per inning in his 62 major league frames, but has also walked 5.2 batters per nine in that span. He was more effective in 2015 than 2016, but still largely dominated at Triple-A upon being demoted.
Miami has always taken chances on powerful relievers, even with shaky control, and this seems to be an interesting opportunity for the club. The Fish were looking for southpaw relievers with only one (Hunter Cervenka) currently penciled into the pen.
Brewers Claim Adam Walker
The Brewers have claimed Adam Walker off waivers from the Twins, according to Phil Miller of the Star Tribune (via Twitter). The 25-year-old, who is a Milwaukee native, was a third-round draft pick back in 2012.
Walker has long shown impressive power in the minors, with 124 total home runs in his five professional seasons. But he has yet to earn a trip up to the majors due to questions surrounding the rest of his game.
At the plate, Walker racks up an enormous number of strikeouts. At Triple-A last year, he managed a .243/.305/.479 slash and 27 bombs. But he also went down on strikes 202 times in 532 plate appearances, making for a cringe-worthy 38.0% K rate.
It’ll be interesting to see what kind of opportunity Walker will receive with the Brewers. He’s bound to draw comparisons to current first baseman Chris Carter, who has a similar profile. Indeed, with Carter’s arbitration price tag projected to rise to $8.1MM due to his voluminous home run output, it’s possible that the club could ship him out and instead go with the younger, cheaper Walker — though he has played only in the outfield as a professional. Carrying both on the MLB roster, or stashing Walker at Triple-A, are also certainly plausible outcomes as well.
Indians Claim Tim Cooney
The Indians have claimed lefty Tim Cooney from the Cardinals, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. He apparently lost his roster spot as St. Louis makes some hard decisions on younger, Rule 5-eligible players.
Cooney, 25, showed a lot of promise in 2015. Not only did he debut with six solid major league starts; he also posted a strong 2.74 ERA over 88 2/3 Triple-A innings. It seemed reasonable to expect that he’d play a major role in the Cards’ rotation mix this year and beyond.
Instead, shoulder troubles prevented Cooney from pitching at all in 2016. And his health remains in question this winter, with the Cardinals suggesting he could be limited even at the start of Spring Training. But Cooney would be quite a nice asset if he can get past the bum wing, and the Indians apparently see enough of a possibility to put in a claim.
Twins Outright Trevor Plouffe
The Twins have outrighted third baseman Trevor Plouffe, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (via Twitter). He’ll become a free agent today unless he’s claimed by another organization.
MLBTR projected Plouffe to garner $8.2MM in his final pass through arbitration, a rather sizable sum for the solid veteran. Evidently, any efforts to deal him weren’t showing enough promise to keep him around through today’s deadline to add Rule 5-eligible players to the 40-man roster.
[RELATED: Updated Twins Depth Chart]
Plouffe, 30, no longer fit on a Twins roster that is overloaded at first base and DH while also featuring promising young third baseman Miguel Sano. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in breaking down the team’s offseason outlook, there was some reason to believe that Plouffe might draw at least a marginal trade return. But that obviously didn’t pan out.
That doesn’t mean that teams won’t be intrigued in free agency, of course. Plouffe has carried a .253/.314/.427 batting line and hit 48 home runs over his three seasons and 1,558 plate appearances. That’s approximately league-average production, to go with defensive metrics that have ranged from slightly below to slightly above average over the last few campaigns. He struggled badly early last year, and missed a fair bit of time, but was much better with the bat in the second half.
All told, there’s every reason to think that Plouffe will command a major league deal. Indeed, he could even score a multi-year commitment, depending upon how things shake out. But he likely won’t be drawing a $8MM+ annual payday. Justin Turner remains the clear top free agent third baseman, but Plouffe figures to slot in alongside Luis Valbuena near the top of the remainder of the market.
There had been discussion last winter that the Twins could try to move Plouffe to another organization to make room for Sano. But the club instead elected to keep both and give the lumbering Sano a try in the corner outfield. That move didn’t work out well at all, and in the interim Plouffe’s value fell enough that he was more a non-tender than a trade candidate.
Braves To Acquire Tuffy Gosewisch
The Braves have acquired catcher Tuffy Gosewisch from the Diamondbacks, the MiLB Roster Tracker Twitter account first reported (Twitter link). Specifically, he was claimed off waivers, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets.
[RELATED: Braves Depth Chart]
With the move, Atlanta picks up another depth piece for its catching core. Tyler Flowers currently stands as the top option behind the dish, with Anthony Recker seemingly next in line following a solid 2016 season. Both Recker and Gosewisch are controllable through arbitration, with projected salaries of $1MM and $600, respectively. All three catchers hit from the right side.
Of course, the Braves have been widely tabbed as a pursuer of catching talent this winter, with free agent Jason Castro among the possible targets connected with the organization. Adding Gosewisch hardly commits the team to an alternative course — indeed, it doesn’t even mean he’ll necessarily be tendered — but it does impact the overall picture somewhat. It’s possible, for instance, that his addition could pave the way for Recker to be dealt elsewhere.
Cubs Claim David Rollins
The Cubs have claimed lefty David Rollins off waivers from the Mariners, per a team announcement. He can be controlled at the league minimum salary.
It could be that Chicago intends to try to slip Rollins through waivers itself. After all, the Cubs are at the end of the line for waiver claims, meaning that every other organization passed on a chance to snag the 26-year-old.
There’s plenty to like about the numbers Rollins has posted at Triple-A over the past three years. Over 60 2/3 innings, he owns a 2.82 ERA with 7.1 K/9 against just 1.2 BB/9. But things haven’t quite worked out yet in the majors. He owns a grisly 7.60 ERA in 34 1/3 frames over the past two years, and struggled in particular in 2016 — with 12 hits and seven walks against just six strikeouts in his 9 91/3 innings. Rollins also showed a drop in average fastball velocity in 2016 (91.1 mph) as against his debut year (92.4 mph).
Clearly, though, the Cubs are intrigued enough by Rollins to place a claim. Whether or not he’ll have much of a shot there, or whether he’ll instead largely serve as depth, remains to be seen.
Gavin Floyd Intends To Pitch In 2017
Righty Gavin Floyd intends to return to the hill for the 2017 season, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter. His 2016 season ended early with yet more arm troubles, leading to renewed questions about his future.
But Floyd has made good progress in his efforts to rehab his shoulder capsule strain, agent Mike Moye tells Nicholson-Smith. It’s hardly the first time he has needed to return from a fairly significant injury, but evidently there’s enough cause for optimism that he’ll again seek a return to the majors.
Once a strong bet to take the ball every fifth day, Floyd’s career took a turn late in 2012, when he dealt with a flexor pronator mass strain. While he somehow managed to appear in the big leagues in the four campaigns since, he has managed only 123 innings in that time. First came a Tommy John procedure early in 2013. Floyd’s next two campaigns both ended with olecranon fractures. And then he was hit with the shoulder issues in 2016.
When healthy, though, he has been a solid presence: in those last 123 innings, he owns a 3.51 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. His days as a starter are probably over — he last took the ball to open a game in 2014 — but that doesn’t mean he won’t draw interest.
Last year, Floyd worked to a 4.06 ERA over 31 innings for the Blue Jays, notching 8.7 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9. Despite all the arm troubles, the move to the pen enabled him to sustain a career-best average fastball velocity, sitting at about 93 mph with both his four- and two-seam offerings.
It stands to reason that Floyd will draw interest. After all, he has managed to land guaranteed deals in each of the last three seasons — $4MM with the Braves, $4MM with the Indians, and $1MM with the Blue Jays — in spite of the health questions. If he can convince organizations that he’s back on track to pick up where he left off in Toronto, he’ll surely draw at least a minor-league opportunity with a real chance to crack a big league roster out of camp.
Mike Trout, Kris Bryant Win MVP Awards
Mike Trout of the Angels and Kris Bryant of the Cubs won the most valuable player awards in their respective leagues, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced tonight.
If Trout’s win is a surprise, it’s only because many wondered of the impact of the fact that his team wasn’t in contention. Looking only at his numbers, the case was rather clear, and he got 19 of 30 first-place votes. It may have been only a typical season for Trout, but a .315/.441/.550 batting line, 29 home runs, and 30 steals (combined with outstanding baserunning and quality defense in center) represented the best all-around output in baseball. This is his second MVP, and the fifth consecutive year he has finished in the top two of the voting.
Mookie Betts was the other top contender for the American League prize, and he was Trout’s equal in most offensive areas excepting OBP (.363), but his context-adjusted output wasn’t anywhere near as good (171 wRC+ for Trout, 135 for Betts). That said, Betts was every bit as good on the bases, and graded better defensively, but still finished over 1 WAR behind. He received nine first-place votes. Star Astros second baseman Jose Altuve came in third in the race.
On the National League side, it was long apparent that Bryant would win. He very nearly did so unanimously, but second-place finisher Daniel Murphy garnered one top nod. In just his second season in the majors, Bryant blasted 39 home runs, put up a 149 wRC+, and made a difference with his glove and legs. That he was the best player on the best team in the game surely didn’t hurt.
It was a truly great campaign for the Nationals’ Murphy, too, who slightly topped Bryant in overall offensive production (156 wRC+) but wasn’t nearly as good in the other areas of the game. Corey Seager of the Dodgers, who took the Rookie of the Year award, finished an impressive third.
Astros Acquire Brian McCann
The Astros have acquired catcher Brian McCann from the Yankees, per team announcements. Prospects Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman will head back in return. The Yankees will pay $5.5MM of McCann’s $17MM annual salary for the two guaranteed years remaining on his deal, Buster Olney of ESPN.com tweets.
Houston has promised a bold offseason, and this acquisition certainly delivers on that promise. The veteran slugger will add a power left-handed bat and shore things up behind the plate for the ‘Stros, who had been in need with Jason Castro now a free agent. McCann, who waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the deal, will pair with Evan Gattis behind the dish. Both will likely also to see time in the DH role. Joel Sherman of the New York Post spoke with McCann’s agent, B.B. Abbot, who says that the catcher was told he’d have the opportunity to shoulder the bulk of the load behind the dish. (Links to Twitter.)
[RELATED: Updated Astros Depth Chart]
McCann, 32, has been solid since joining the Yankees before the 2014 season, but hasn’t quite delivered the top-quality offensive production for which he was known before signing a five-year, $85MM contract. In 1,565 plate appearances with New York, McCann has slashed .235/.313/.418 and swatted 69 home runs. He also has continued to rate well as a pitch-framer, while also doing a solid job of controlling the running game and handling balls in the dirt.
Houston will be on the hook for $11.5MM in each of the following two seasons under the new arrangement. The Astros will take full responsibility for McCann’s 2019 option, which stands as a $15MM club option but could convert to a player option if he meets certain playing time requirements. (Specifically, it vests if he has 1,000 plate appearances in 2017-18, starts at least 90 games behind the plate in 2018, and doesn’t end that year on the DL.)
The move won’t spell an end to Houston’s offseason, of course. The club already added starter Charlie Morton, but is looking to do more to boost their offensive production, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
For the Yankees, McCann became expendable with the emergence late last year of touted youngster Gary Sanchez. While he could still have functioned as a DH and part-time receiver, McCann was a rather expensive insurance policy given that the team also has Austin Romine on hand behind the dish. With strong market demand, the opportunity to add young assets again held appeal.
[RELATED: Updated Yankees Depth Chart]
That doesn’t mean, of course, that New York is packing things in for 2017. Far from it. Olney tweets that the club will look to redirect some (or all) of the savings on McCann to a better-hitting slugger. He says that the Yanks have interest in bringing back Carlos Beltran, who has drawn wide interest in the early-going.
While financial considerations surely played a role in the swap, the Yankees were no doubt intrigued by the two player they received. Abreu is the more highly regarded of the two; as J.J. Cooper of Baseball America explains, he throws a live fastball that occasionally nears the triple-digits. With a four-pitch arsenal, he perhaps has a chance to stick as a starter. Still, he only just turned 21 and struggled with his command last year at the Class A and High-A levels.
Guzman, meanwhile, has even more velocity, with his heater ticking up to 102-103 mph at times. Cooper notes, though, that he’s more effective when he’s operating at a slightly lower velocity (in his case, the upper-nineties). While the long-term outlook suggests that Guzman will end up in the pen, he is said to have a promising slider and also a change-up that’s in the works. The 20-year-old has yet to move past Rookie ball, but showed big strikeout ability (12.2 K/9) in his time in the Gulf Coast and Appalachian leagues last year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Latest On CBA Talks On Roster Size
One key element of the current collective bargaining talks is whether there will be any change to the number of players who can be carried on a roster. Negotiations are entering their final phases with the current agreement set to expire on the first of December.
There has reportedly already been consideration of going from 25 to 26 players on the active roster. (Here’s our story from two weeks back; the reporting came via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.) And that concept is still under discussion even as the time nears for the league and the MLB player’s association to wrap up talks, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
There’s little question that the 26th man would be a boon to the player’s union, though MLBTR contributor Ryan Spilborghs has argued that it would be beneficial for teams as well. Balancing the cost of thirty new MLB salaries, sources tell Rosenthal, could come in part from new limitations on the size of the active roster in September.
Currently, of course, organizations can utilize anyone on their 40-man roster during the month of September, as Spilborghs also recently discussed. The new rule under consideration might limit clubs to 28 players for any given game during the final full month of the season, with additional provisions allowing that group to be modified — but not every single day.
It’s easy to see the merit in paring back the strange rule that significantly changes the game beginning on September 1. There likely wouldn’t be much of an impact on the transactional world, and it’s hard to imagine any fans taking issue. Adding a 26th man for the full season, though, might shake things up a bit. It would potentially reduce the exposure of players to serious injury, make it easier for clubs to employ specialized players at the major league level, and make the Rule 5 draft a more feasible means of snaring young talent.