Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Astros Re-Sign Martin Maldonado

By | at

DEC. 23: The signing is now official, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was among those to tweet.

DEC. 20: The Astros have agreed to a two-year deal to bring back catcher Martin Maldonado, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). It includes a guaranteed $7MM for the MVP Sports Group client.

This is now the third time that the Astros have brought in Maldonado. After striking mid-season deals to acquire him in each of the past two campaigns, the Houston organization went ahead and committed to a full two-year term.

It’s possible the ’Stros are now set to move on from primary 2019 receiver Robinson Chirinos. The club already locked up Dustin Garneau to a cheap deal at the outset of the winter and has been looking for cost-efficient means of filling out a star-studded, increasingly expensive roster. Maldonado could’ve earned more from another team, per Feinsand, but preferred the comfort and opportunity available in Houston.

Maldonado, 33, has long been regarded as an excellent defender. The Baseball Prospectus grading system no longer values him as the top option behind the plate in all of baseball — as it did in 2017 — but still rates him as an above-average performer. Given today’s signing, and the evident interest from other clubs, it seems fair to presume that organizations around the game still hold Maldonado’s capabilities in the dark arts of catching in high esteem.

Achieving the benefits of Maldonado’s work on the defensive side of the spectrum has typically meant tolerating his efforts with the bat in hand. There have been a few relative peaks, but he has long been a subpar contributor on offense. Through over two thousand career plate appearances, Maldonado carries only a .219/.289/.355 batting line.

That’s more or less precisely what Maldonado did as a hitter in 2019. He finished with a 76 wRC+, just north of his lifetime 73 wRC+ mark. Maldonado did finish strong upon moving to the Astros, due largely to a power burst of questionable sustainability. Over 98 plate appearances in Houston, he slashed .202/.316/.464 with six home runs.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets, Yoenis Cespedes Agree To Amended Contract

By | at

DECEMBER 21: Under the amended contract, Cespedes will see his 2020 base salary drop from $29.5MM to just $6MM, according to a report from Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. However, that number will hike up to $11MM as soon as Cespedes is on the active roster or the IL with an injury unrelated to the contentious ankle fracture. Cespedes will still be able to reach the $20MM threshold through a series of plate appearance bonuses totaling $9MM; if he reaches 650 plate appearances, he will earn that entire amount.

Earlier Updates

5:25pm: Cespedes’s pocketbook has taken a huge hit, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. In addition to losing some of his 2019 earnings, he’ll now be guaranteed less than $10MM for the season to come. He can earn his way back to the $20MM range through the incentives.

For the Mets, the benefit comes primarily from the perspective of cash accounting. It’s unclear whether this modification will be reflected in the calculation of the team’s payroll for purposes of computing the competitive balance tax. Even if so, the reduction presumably wouldn’t be dollar-for-dollar (barring some special treatment), since the CBT refers to the average annual salary of a contract.

4:29pm: Much but not all of the guarantee can be recouped via performance and awards bonuses, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.

3:58pm: There’s more to this story (and more sure to come). The Mets stopped paying his salary at some point during the 2019 season, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). The organization also brought a grievance action relating to Cespedes’s 2020 earnings.

The involvement of Cespedes’s 2019 salary adds another wrinkle to this. For one thing, it seems the club has been saving on its hefty obligations to the veteran slugger for some time. (Timing remains unclear.) For another, it appears there was quite a lot more cash at stake in the dispute than was already evident. Cespedes was due to earn $29MM last year.

3:21pm: The Mets and injured outfielder Yoenis Cespedes have agreed to “amend” the remainder of his contract with the team, according to Andy Martino of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Details of the arrangement aren’t yet clear, but it seems there is a modification to the salary Cespedes will earn in the coming season.

As things stand, Cespedes is due $29.5MM in the final season of his four-year deal. He’ll remain under contract, but at a lower rate. The modification relates to the injury suffered this May. Cespedes shattered his right ankle in an accident on his ranch while recovering from successive surgeries to both heels.

While we still lack a full public accounting of how Cespedes was injured, it seems clear that he was in a jeopardized position with regard to his contract. This settlement — which surely involved the league and union — will allow both sides to avoid the cost and strain of a full-throated legal battle. For the Mets, they now know just how much they will save on their obligations to Cespedes at a key juncture in the offseason.

The Mets entered the winter with a payroll predicament. This news promises to free up a good chunk of change to put towards other uses. The club will still have Cespedes on hand as a complete wild card — his talent is undeniable but his physical capabilities are at this point unknown — but can divert a substantial portion of what it would’ve paid him to other purposes. The club had reportedly been looking to move some underperforming contracts as a means of freeing payroll. Just how the offseason course will be impacted by today’s news remains to be seen.

Angels Reach Stadium Agreement With City Of Anaheim

By | at

DEC. 21: The Anaheim City Council has approved the deal, making it official, Shaikin tweets.

DEC. 4, 1:10pm: The Angels are still weighing whether to renovate the existing stadium or build a new stadium on the current site, Alicia Robinson of the Orange County Register reports. To that end, they’ve hired the same architectural firm that recently designed Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium — home of the NFL’s Vikings — and the Rangers’ new ballpark in Texas to aid in their decision-making process.

Robinson’s colleague, Jeff Fletcher, tweets that despite remaining in Anaheim, there are no plans to revert to the “Anaheim Angels” moniker; the team will continue to be referred to as the Los Angeles Angels.

11:52am: The Halos will stay at home for at least thirty more years after reaching a deal with the city of Anaheim, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). As part of the arrangement, which runs through the 2050 campaign, the club has purchased Angel Stadium and its surrounding lots for a sum of $325MM.

This news seems to bring an end to a long-simmering stadium dispute. While other organizations are dealing with more complicated ballpark matters, Angels owner Arte Moreno has at times hinted at the possibility of a move. That never seemed a high-likelihood outcome; now, it’s off the table.

Some important details remain unknown at present. The club will obviously continue to play in the existing ballpark for the time being, but it’s not known whether the facility — at over fifty years of age, one of the oldest in baseball — will ultimately be slated for replacement. At minimum, the Halos are sure to set to work at developing the real estate surrounding the existing stadium.

Angels To Sign Neil Ramirez

By | at

The Angels have inked righty Neil Ramirez to a minor-league deal, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). It seems safe to assume he’ll receive an invitation to MLB Spring Training.

Ramirez, 30, has continued to get opportunities even as the results continue to disappoint. He’s a 4.46 ERA pitcher through 179 2/3 innings in the majors, with most of the good frames coming in his first two seasons in the league.

It’s not hard to see why teams keep thinking Ramirez might turn the corner. He throws 95 and gets a good number of swinging strikes (13.9% last year). But his command will likely always be in question, as evidenced by his career 4.8 BB/9 walk rate and worrying propensity to surrender the long ball (30 in his last 122 innings).

10 Relatively Youthful Bounceback Pitching Targets

By and | at

Much of the heavy lifting has been done in free agency. But there are still a few major players, a host of solid veterans, and no shortage of intriguing reclamation projects left on the open market. Here, we’ll look at a few available hurlers who have previously established significant MLB ceilings and are only entering their age-30 or younger seasons … albeit with significant injury histories that have altered their career trajectories.

We’ll go youngest to oldest:

Edubray Ramos: The still-youthful hurler — he celebrated his 27th birthday just yesterday — endured a highly disappointing 2019 season, struggling through shoulder problems and ultimately throwing only 15 MLB innings. But he was quite effective in 2018 and could be an interesting bounceback candidate after getting some rest over the offseason (though he is pitching in Venezuelan winter ball).

Taijuan Walker: Walker worked back from multiple arm injuries, only to end up as a surprising non-tender from the Diamondbacks. It’s certainly notable that his own club wasn’t convinced, but that won’t stop others from reaching their own risk/benefit assessments. Walker threw 157 1/3 innings of 3.49 ERA ball in his last full season, 2017. In his brief return to the bigs in 2019, Walker was already exhibiting most of his prior velocity and spin rate, so there’s reason to hope the physical tools are still intact.

Aaron Sanchez: It has long been a rollercoaster for the other 27-year-old starter on this list. He has battled through with finger injuries, then showed flashes in 2019 before going down to shoulder surgery. That procedure made it inevitable that he’d be non-tendered by the Astros, but the talent that led the Houston organization to take a shot will surely still intrigue rival organizations.

Alex Wood: He was held up to open the 2019 season and struggled with the long ball when he finally did appear for the Reds, but the southpaw did make it back to the bump. He showed typical velocity, swinging-strike, and K/BB numbers in his seven-start stint to finish out the year. Wood has thrown 839 innings of 3.40 ERA ball in his career, with peripherals that largely match, so don’t sleep on his upside.

Arodys Vizcaino: Over 2017-18, Vizcaino threw 95 2/3 innings of 2.54 ERA ball. The Viz Kid way outperformed his peripherals in doing so, but has always had swing-and-miss stuff. It’s anyone’s guess how he’ll bounce back from shoulder surgery, and he was hardly a perfect pitcher beforehand, but Vizcaino remains an interesting player to watch.

Shelby Miller: Okay, so Miller is going to have to bounce waaaay back if he’s to return to effectiveness. Since the fateful trade that sent him from the Braves to the Diamondbacks after the 2015 season, he has thrown just 183 innings of 6.89 ERA ball. Miller fell far short of a comeback last year with the Rangers, but did show 95 mph heat and is still only 29 years of age.

Jerad Eickhoff: Quite effective through the first forty starts of his MLB career, Eickhoff took a step back in 2017 and then ran into an injury wall. He made it back to the mound for the ’19 campaign but was only good for a 5.71 ERA in 58 1/3 innings. Eickhoff will need to regain some arm speed and figure out how to adapt to a longball-lofting set of opposing hitters.

Danny Salazar: Thirty in January, Salazar remains an intriguing talent. He has exhibited plenty of strikeout ability and found no small amount of success in the majors, but hasn’t yet shown he can find his way back from health issues. It’s unclear as yet what course his career will take, but the upside is tremendous.

Tony Cingrani: Cingrani hasn’t pitched a full season since 2016 and didn’t throw a pitch in the Majors in 2019 due to shoulder surgery. But looking at what the 30-year-old lefty did in parts of two seasons after being traded from Cincinnati to Los Angeles is eye-opening. Cingrani faced 172 hitters as a Dodger and struck out 64 of them (37.2 percent) while walking only 12 (6.9 percent). His swinging-strike rate in L.A. topped 14 percent. Considering the left-handed relief market was thin to begin the offseason and is now largely devoid of proven options, he’s a sensible buy-low target.

Drew Smyly: In addition to being one of those guys who’s younger than you thought every time you look, Smyly was also probably better at his peak than many fully realized. Times have been tougher of late, as he missed all of the ’17 and ’18 seasons and had a brutal run to open the 2019 campaign with the Rangers. But he finished on a better streak with the Phillies after fiddling with his pitch mix, posting a 4.45 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in a dozen starts. The velo and swinging-strike numbers are right back where they used to be. Smyly is a sneaky interesting target.

Reds Sign David Carpenter

By | at

The Reds have agreed to a deal with veteran reliever David Carpenter, according to the social media accounts of Cincinnati pitching coordinator Kyle Boddy and Carpenter himself. It’s a minors deal with an invite to MLB camp.

Carpenter didn’t exactly regain his former glory last year with the Rangers. But he did make it up for four MLB appearances — his first since way back in 2015. And Carpenter spun 38 2/3 innings of 1.63 ERA ball with 9.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 at Triple-A.

It seems the righty has been back at work at the Boddy-founded Driveline Baseball this winter. (Here’s a video link on Twitter if you’d like to look for yourself.) We’ll see whether he can crack the Reds roster in camp, but moving back towards his once-customary 96 mph heat would surely help.

Ian Kinsler Announces Retirement

By | at

Padres second baseman Ian Kinsler has announced his retirement, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter; full article via subscription link). He’ll move into the San Diego front office as an adviser.

Precisely what will happen to the $4.25MM Kinsler is owed under the contract he inked last winter remains to be seen. That will be subject to negotiations between the team and its now-former player.

Kinsler, 37, says he simply decided it was “time to move on.” He wraps up a 14-year career with borderline Hall-of-Fame credentials. He tallied a hefty 57.2 rWAR in his career, tied for 140th among all MLB players, and logged overall statistics that put him ahead of some Hall-worthy second baggers. Now begins a five-year waiting period to see whether Kinsler will gain traction among voters.

Though it seems unlikely he’ll command a plaque in Cooperstown, Kinsler turned in an undeniably outstanding career — all the more impressive considering he was a 17th-round draft pick. He was a perennially above-average hitter who excelled in the field and on the basepaths. Kinsler finishes things up just one hit shy of the 2k barrier. Over 8,299 trips to the plate in the majors, he slashed .269/.337/.440 with 257 home runs and 243 stolen bases.

Kinsler will be remembered most for his eight-year run with the Rangers. While that tenure ended with some acrimony when Kinsler was dealt to the Tigers, he thanked the organization in his comments to Rosenthal. Kinsler ended up having a productive, four-year stint in Detroit before rounding out his career with brief stops with the Angels, Red Sox, and Friars. Kinsler picked up a ring with the 2018 Red Sox.

Of more immediate concern is the impact on the Padres roster. Kinsler wasn’t clogging up a ton of payroll space but would’ve occupied an active roster spot and commanded a decent amount of playing time. Now, the path is cleared all the more for recently acquired second baseman Jurickson Profar, who’ll presumably be supplemented by Greg Garcia at second. The Friars have an additional slot and some added financial flexibility to work with in structuring their preferred alignment.

Kinsler hadn’t been in the form he or the team hoped when he signed on this time last year. He managed only a .217/.278/.368 batting line in 281 plate appearances before his season was cut short owing to a herniated cervical disk. Kinsler says that malady also influenced his decision to call it quits. Though he wasn’t able to play to his typical standard or log his 2,000th hit in 2019, Kinsler did make his first and only appearance on the MLB mound, turning in a scoreless frame.

It seems that Kinsler is already preparing for the next chapter in his personal and professional life. MLBTR congratulates him on an outstanding career and extends its best wishes for the future.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cubs Sign Ryan Tepera

By | at

The Cubs have struck a deal with reliever Ryan Tepera, as first reported by Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). It comes with a 40-man roster spot, though Tepera will play on a split arrangement. He’ll earn at a $900K rate in the majors and $300K in the minors.

Tepera, 32, was an effective inning for a nice stretch for the Blue Jays. But he ran into trouble in 2019, when he managed only 21 2/3 innings of 4.98 ERA ball. Long capable of striking out about a batter per inning, Tepera managed a meager 5.8 K/9 in the just-completed campaign. And he succumbed to the long ball malaise that afflicted so many other pitchers, coughing up five in 21 2/3 innings.

It’s a nice opportunity for the Cubs to seek value, though whether Tepera can bounce back may depend upon the question whether he can move past the elbow issues that plagued him in 2019. Tepera lost around 1.5 mph in average fastball velocity as compared to his ’18 numbers, with opposing hitters making contact on pitches in the zone at a 91.1% rate despite typically sitting in the low-eighties. More promisingly, Tepera was still able to generate a 12.6% swinging-strike rate and induce batters to chase on 37.3% of his pitches out of the zone.

Tigers Sign Zack Godley

By | at

The Tigers announced that they have signed righty Zack Godley. He’ll receive a minor-league deal with an invitation to participate in MLB camp.

There’s a $1.5MM salary if Godley can crack the roster, with another $1.5MM in available incentives, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets. Godley also receives a March 23rd opt-out date to force the Tigers’ hand. If all goes well Godley can elect free agency at season’s end rather than being subject to the arbitration process.

Godley looks to be an intriguing buy-low candidate for the Detroit organization. He has at times demonstrated an intriguing blend of skills that could make him quite a valuable starter. But more recent struggles forced the 29-year-old into a make-good, minor-league arrangement.

Last year, Godley limped through 92 innings of 5.97 ERA pitching, generating only 6.9 K/9 to go with 4.1 BB/9 and a 43.0% groundball rate. That was a far cry from his excellent 2017 season, when he ran up 155 frames of 3.37 ERA ball while striking out 9.6 and walking only 3.1 per nine and generating grounders at a hefty 55.3% rate. Godley wasn’t quite as effective in 2018 but still carried sub-4.00 FIP and xFIP numbers.

Godley has been hampered of late by a loss of fastball velocity, though it did trend up over the course of the season. He also increasingly experimented late in the ’19 campaign with abandoning his frequently used curve in favor of his cutter. Whether he’s already on track or still needs to find the right tweak, Godley will have to find a way to reverse the trends. If he can return to generating a combination of a 13+% swinging-strike rate and 50+% groundball rate, as he did in 2017, he could become a nice trade chip. If not, the Tigers will at least hope Godley can fill some innings in a respectable manner.

Red Sox Claim Chris Mazza

By | at

The Red Sox have claimed righty Chris Mazza off waivers from the Mets, as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand first reported (via Twitter). Mazza had recently been designated for assignment.

Though Mazza is already thirty years of age and has made just nine appearances in the majors, he obviously did something to catch the eye of the Boston front office. He allowed ten earned runs with a ho-hum 11:5 K/BB ratio in his first 16 1/3 frames in the majors, hitting four of the 74 batters he faced with errant pitches along the way.

While the early showing didn’t necessarily inspire confidence, the Red Sox were surely more favorably impressed by Mazza’s work at Triple-A. Through 76 innings in the tough International League, he worked to a 3.67 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, and a 58.0% groundball rate. Mazza has always generated a good number of worm burners. He has also long been relatively hard to take out of the park — a particularly notable statistical history in this day and age. In 2019, Mazza allowed 0.71 home runs per nine at Triple-A and didn’t surrender a single dinger in the majors.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top