Pirates Claim Yoervis Medina From Cubs
The Pirates have claimed righty Yoervis Medina from the Cubs, Pittsburgh announced. Medina was recently designated for assignment by Chicago.
The 27-year-old had two nice years with the Mariners over 2013 to 2014, working to a 2.81 ERA and posting 9.4 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 along with a 53.5 percent ground-ball rate. He worked at an average 94.8 mph velocity with his fastball in that stretch.
But that all turned around last year, as Medina posted an ugly 4.71 ERA with just 16 strikeouts against 11 walks over 21 frames. He lost two full ticks off of his fastball and saw his groundball induction rate plummet.
before taking a significant step backwards in 2015. This season, Medina logged a 4.71 ERA with an unsightly 16-to-11 K/BB ratio in 21 innings for the Mariners and Cubs. Notably, his fastball velocity, which had averaged 94.8 mph in 2014, sat a full two miles per hour lower at 92.8 in 2015, and his ground-ball rate dipped to 36.8 percent. And the rough outcomes also held in the upper minors.
Braves To Sign Alexi Ogando
The Braves have struck a minor league deal with righty Alexi Ogando, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports on Twitter. The veteran reliever will receive an invitation to major league camp. He would earn a $2MM base salary with up to $1MM in available incentives if he can crack the big league roster, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.
Atlanta has opportunities available in its pen, which may have helped the team land Ogando without making any commitment. Boston had outrighted Ogando rather than tendering him a contract through arbitration, where MLBTR projected he could earn $2.4MM.
Now 32, Ogando worked to a 3.99 ERA in 65 1/3 frames last year for the Red Sox, with 7.3 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. But that didn’t represent a full return to form for a player who was once a highly-regarded young pitcher for the Rangers. Major ERA estimators all viewed his actual contribution at 4.18 or higher.
Cubs Claim Edgar Olmos
The Cubs have claimed lefty Edgar Olmos from the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. Baltimore exposed Olmos to waivers to clear roster space for the signing of Hyun Soo Kim, and Chicago grabbed him back after originally losing him just weeks ago to the O’s by the same procedure.
Olmos is a 25-year-old southpaw who’s changed hands quite a bit in the last few seasons. He obviously has an intriguing arm, and has shown a mid-90s fastball in his brief time in the majors. At Triple-A in 2015, Olmos worked to a 3.55 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 at Triple-A last year.
Angels Claim Rey Navarro
The Angels have claimed infielder Rey Navarro off waivers from the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com hears (via Twitter).
Recently designated, the 26-year-old reached the bigs last year briefly in Baltimore. He put up only a .261/.310/.372 batting line over 394 Triple-A plate appearances, but is highly regarded with the leather up the middle.
White Sox Claim Jerry Sands
The White Sox have claimed outfielder Jerry Sands off waivers from the Indians, Chicago announced.
The 28-year-old failed to seize an opportunity with Cleveland last year, slashing just .236/.286/.390 in 133 plate appearances on the year. But he has dominated upper-minors pitching and showed legitimate pop with a .268/.357/.492 slash over parts of five seasons at the Triple-A level.
Cubs To Sign Brandon Gomes
Among the players signing minor league deals with the Cubs was righty Brandon Gomes, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America (Twitter links). He’ll join the pen competition with another recently-added righty, Jean Machi.
Gomes, 31, threw 59 frames for the Rays last year, posting a 4.27 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9. He has thrown 167 total innings over the last five years in Tampa Bay, finding some success at times. But Gomes has been limited by a tendency to serve up the long ball.
Among the other arms heading to the Chicago organization this spring are righty Stephen Fife and southpaws Scott Barnes and Luis Cruz. Fife missed all of 2015 with Tommy John surgery but recently had a nice, 13-start showing in Venezuela. Barnes pitched in the Blue Jays organization last year and hasn’t cracked the majors since 2013. And Cruz, 25, lost his 40-man spot with the Astros this fall after throwing 116 innings of 4.27 ERA ball at Triple-A last year, with 7.2 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9.
Finally, the Cubs inked outfielders Juan Perez and Kelly Dugan. Perez has seen action as a reserve with the Giants over the past three years, compiling a .224/.267/.316 slash in 246 total plate appearances. The 25-year-old Dugan had previously spent his entire career in the Phillies organization. He struggled in his first taste of Triple-A last year.
Diamondbacks To Sign Tim Stauffer, Jason Bourgeois
The Diamondbacks have agreed to a minor league deal with righty Tim Stauffer and outfielder Jason Bourgeois, as Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets and the PCL transactions page reflects. Also heading to Arizona on minors pacts are lefty Scott Rice and the previously reported Joaquin Arias.
Stauffer, 33, worked 20 1/3 innings in the majors last year with the Twins and Mets. The results weren’t great, as he surrendered 16 earned runs with a 14:9 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That represented Stauffer’s tenth season with at least some MLB action. He owns a 3.97 ERA overall in just under 600 total frames.
Soon to turn 34, Bourgeois picked up 212 plate appearances with the Reds in 2015 — his most extensive MLB action in some time. He ended the year with a .240/.294/.332 slash. Once a legitimate stolen base threat, Bourgeois also managed only three swipes on the year.
As for Rice, 34, he racked up 39 2/3 innings of sub-2.00 ERA pitching at the Triple-A level last year and nearly reached double-digit strikeouts per nine. But he also carried a troubling 6.4 BB/9 walk rate and failed to crack the majors with the Mets.
Rosenthal On Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals
After discussing the Mets‘ budget-conscious offseason spending thus far — and questioning the team’s choice of an apparently conservative route after a run to the World Series last year — Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports runs through a variety of notes from around the league. Here are some highlights:
- Even as the Dodgers pursue Kenta Maeda, the team is continuing to show interest in Scott Kazmir, per Rosenthal — despite an already heavily left-handed rotation. And there is some sentiment among rival executives that L.A. could make a play for yet another southpaw, Wei-Yin Chen.
- The Giants remain unlikely to play at the top of the free agent outfield market, according to the report, but might look at the next level down. Two names in play are Dexter Fowler and Gerardo Parra, with another possibility being the addition of a right-handed-hitting platoon partner for Gregor Blanco. San Francisco is also in communication with the Rockies on their outfielders, Rosenthal’s colleague Jon Morosi reports.
- The Cardinals did not sign Mike Leake with intentions of spinning off another starter for outfield help, says Rosenthal. As he notes in another post, signing Leake — while allowing John Lackey to walk — came with some draft benefits, as the club didn’t have to sacrifice a pick to add the former and will gain a selection for losing the latter.
Brewers To Sign Will Middlebrooks To Minor League Deal
TODAY: Middlebrooks will earn $1.2MM if he makes the Brewers’ Major League roster, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). If he hasn’t reached the majors by July 1, Middlebrooks can be released for a spot on another club’s roster.
TUESDAY: The Brewers have agreed to a minor league pact with third baseman Will Middlebrooks, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. Middlebrooks, 27, was non-tendered by the Padres, who elected to cut bait with the former top prospect rather than pay him an arbitration salary that MLBTR projected at $1.5MM.
Though Middlebrooks opened the year as San Diego’s regular third baseman after coming over via trade, he was not able to regain his once-promising trajectory there. He put up a meager .212/.241/.361 batting line with nine home runs over 270 plate appearances last year. Middlebrooks spent a lengthy stretch at Triple-A, too, and managed only a .255/.287/.379 slash in the favorable offensive climate of the PCL.
Milwaukee has been without a clear option at third after dealing away Aramis Ramirez last summer. The team also recently acquired another former Red Sox prospect in Garin Cecchini, and could let those two (among others) battle for playing time this spring.
Pirates To Release Allen Webster
SATURDAY: Webster is indeed heading abroad — the Samsung Lions of the KBO have announced that they’ve signed him along with righty reliever Collin Balester. Sung Min Kim of River Ave. Blues initially tweeted that Webster was headed to Korea. The 29-year-old Balester has a 5.47 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in parts of five big-league seasons with Washington, Detroit and Cincinnati. He made 15 appearances with the Reds in 2015.
FRIDAY: The Pirates have released righty Allen Webster, as the team’s transactions page reflects and as Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Webster had been acquired for cash after the Diamondbacks designated him for assignment.
Tim Williams of PiratesProspects.com first noted the unexpected change in Webster’s status on the Bucs’ transactions page, explaining that Pittsburgh did not seem to have an immediate need for a 40-man spot. That could mean that Webster is headed for an opportunity with an Asian club, as the Bucs had previously seemed set to give a chance this spring to the out-of-options right-hander.
Webster, 25, has long been seen as a rising power arm, but he’s struggled to make good on his promise in the majors. In 120 1/3 MLB frames over the past three years, he owns a 5.81 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9.
While he had previously put up strong numbers in the upper minors, Webster was bombed to the tune of a 8.18 ERA over 15 Triple-A starts last year. It’s worth noting, too, that Webster’s average fastball velocity (in the majors) dropped to 91.5 mph in 2015 after clocking in at over 94 in his first season of MLB action.