By Mark Polishuk | at
The latest minor moves from around baseball….
By Mark Polishuk | at
The White Sox have signed right-hander Bryan Mitchell to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).
Mitchell spent 2019 in the minors, after seeing at least a bit of MLB action in each of the previous five seasons. Even with the caveat that 2019 was the most hitter-friendly season in the history of Triple-A baseball, Mitchell’s results weren’t good, as he posted a 9.41 ERA, 7.0 K/9, and 5.7 BB/9 over 44 innings for the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in El Paso.
Chicago represents a fresh start for Mitchell, who has shown flashes of promise of his short big league career but has yet to deliver consistent results over his time with the Padres and Yankees. San Diego acquired Mitchell in the 2017-18 offseason, as part of a trade that saw the Padres agree to absorb the remainder of Chase Headley’s contract as the price for getting a controllable young arm in Mitchell. The gambit didn’t work out for the Padres, as Mitchell had a 5.42 ERA over 73 frames (starting 11 of 16 games) for the club in 2018.
By Mark Polishuk | at
The Diamondbacks announced that they have claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Orioles and sent right-hander Jimmie Sherfy outrighted to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. Sherfy was designated for assignment last week. Arizona didn’t need to open a 40-man spot for Valaika, as their roster stood at 39 players following this week’s trade of Matt Andriese to the Angels.
This is the second waiver claim of the offseason for Valaika, as Baltimore grabbed him off the Rockies’ roster at the end of October. Valaika was then designated for assignment earlier this week, when the Orioles took Richard Urena from the Blue Jays on another waiver claim.
Valaika is headed back to the NL West after spending his entire seven-year professional career in the Colorado organization. A ninth-round pick for the Rox in 2013, Valaika appeared in 231 games for the team between 2016-19, hitting .214/.256/.400 over 433 plate appearances. Over a quarter of those PA were in a pinch-hitting role, though Valaika has also been a versatile bench piece, playing all four infield positions and a handful of games in left field.
This defensive flexibility will help Valaika battle Ildemaro Vargas, Domingo Leyba, Josh Rojas, and Andy Young for utility duties in Arizona, as the D’Backs continue to sort out their infield mix. With Ketel Marte increasingly likely to spend much of his time in center field, the Diamondbacks can go with Eduardo Escobar at second base and Jake Lamb at third, or move Escobar back to third to spell Lamb whenever a left-handed starter is on the mound. Or, Lamb could be relegated to bench duty himself if he can’t get on track following a pair of subpar seasons, leaving one of second or third base (whichever Escobar isn’t playing) open for a platoon situation.
Sherfy was designated for assignment last week when the D’Backs signed Hector Rondon. Sherfy showed some glimpses of promise over 27 innings in 2017-18, though his ERA ballooned to 5.89 over 18 1/3 frames last season. Still looking for a longer stint at the big league level, Sherfy can offer some solid numbers in the minors, with a 3.59 ERA, 11.9 K/9, and 3.07 K/BB rate over 303 career relief innings in Arizona’s farm system.
By Mark Polishuk | at
There hasn’t been many rumblings linking Nicholas Castellanos to the Cardinals this offseason, though one rival executive suggests to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link) that Castellanos would be a better answer to the Cards’ outfield needs than Marcell Ozuna. We’ve addressed the Castellanos/Ozuna debate ourselves in a recent Free Agent Faceoff, though from the executive’s standpoint, Castellanos is preferable for St. Louis since he isn’t attached to any draft pick compensation. If the Cards were to re-sign Ozuna, they’d miss out on the compensatory draft pick they are slated to receive if he signed elsewhere, since Ozuna rejected the qualifying offer. Signing Castellanos, however, would both upgrade the St. Louis outfield and still leave the Cardinals in line for the extra pick.
On the flip side, the Cards’ apparent lack of interest in Castellanos may signal that they simply prefer Ozuna, who is both a comparable talent and is a more known quantity to the Cardinals’ staff and front office. Recent reports suggest that the Cards, Reds, and Rangers are all still in the mix for Ozuna, while Texas also has some interest in Castellanos, but perhaps only as a first baseman. Along with Josh Donaldson, Castellanos and Ozuna are the headliners of a rapidly-depleted free agent crop as we approach the middle of January, and it will be interesting to see which clubs (perhaps a known suitor or a mystery team) wind up with these big bats.
Some more from around baseball…
By Mark Polishuk | at
Payroll concerns have been the prominent storyline of the Red Sox offseason, especially given the team’s relative lack of major moves. There has been much more attention paid to the club’s apparent attempts to trade such high-salaried players as David Price, Nathan Eovaldi, Jackie Bradley Jr., or perhaps even Mookie Betts in order to avoid surpassing the Competitive Balance Tax threshold for the third consecutive season, based on comments made by Red Sox principal owner John Henry last September.
During a season wrap-up press conference, Henry said “This year we need to be under the CBT. That is something we’ve known for more than a year now.” This statement was already partially walked back by team CEO Sam Kennedy a few days later, as Kennedy said that avoiding a luxury tax penalty was “goal but not a mandate” for the coming season.
Henry further discussed the team’s financial direction in a recent e-mail exchange with Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. This past week, Shaughnessy contacted top executives with the Red Sox and the umbrella Fenway Sports Group ownership company asking “I am working on a column in which I will suggest that there was no plan to disclose the mandate to get under the $208MM luxury tax threshold before you went into the September 27 press conference. It felt like John just came out with it spontaneously. And now that is the charge for [newly-hired chief baseball officer] Chaim Bloom. Is this accurate?“
In response to the question, Henry sent this message…
“You might actually be right for once in that I don’t plan what I’m going to say before answering media questions in a live media event. But this focus on CBT resides with the media far more than it does within the Sox. I think every team probably wants to reset at least once every three years — that’s sort of been the history — but just this week…I reminded baseball ops that we are focused on competitiveness over the next 5 years over and above resetting to which they said, ’That’s exactly how we’ve been approaching it.’ ”
“You seem to think Chaim was brought in to reduce payroll. That has simply not been the way FSG operates here or across the pond. We try to act responsibly so as to be consistently competitive. Your main point seems to be that I accidentally disclosed a secret plan but unlike you, I am honest about Sox issues. The question was asked and I answered it.”
Whereas Henry’s September comment about the “need to be under the CBT” seemed rather direct, this latest statement implies that Henry was only speaking in broader terms about his team’s (or any team’s) long-term payroll goals. Obviously, every club would prefer to avoid the luxury tax whenever possible, and especially avoid three straight years of CBT overages to avoid the maximum “three-timer” penalty of a 50% tax rate on any overages.
According to Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, the Red Sox have a luxury tax number of just under $237.89MM for their 2020 payroll, putting them in line for a third straight year of overages. The Sox already surpassed the CBT threshold in both 2018 and 2019, costing them roughly (by the estimate of Cot’s Baseball Contracts) $25.37MM in tax payments. Also, for spending more than the maximum $40MM over the threshold in 2018, Boston’s top pick in the 2019 draft was dropped back ten slots in the draft order.
(As always, it should be noted that the CBT isn’t at all a hard salary cap, so a “need” to avoid the tax is ultimately more of an ownership preference for both the Red Sox and any other team in baseball. To use Boston’s overages from the last two years as an example, $25.37MM over a two-year span isn’t exactly a major expenditure for any franchise, especially a big-revenue club like the Red Sox.)
To this point, it’s been a pretty quiet offseason for Bloom and his front office. While the club hasn’t shed any of its heftiest contracts, the Sox also haven’t made any big expenditures, with Martin Perez and Jose Peraza representing Boston’s most notable additions. Given that there has been virtually no buzz connecting the Red Sox to any major free agents or trade targets, it’s probably safe to assume that the team’s payroll won’t be going up. While Bloom may not be under any overt directive to cut salaries, the question may be just how a fine line Bloom has to walk in trying to keep the team competitive in 2020 while not incurring an even larger luxury tax bill.
By Mark Polishuk | at
Catching up on some minor moves from around baseball….
By Mark Polishuk | at
The Rockies’ search for catching help could lead them to a familiar face, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes that “Jonathan Lucroy could return to the Rockies for a second stint.” Lucroy first played for Colorado in 2017, suiting up for 46 games in the purple pinstripes after a deadline trade from the Rangers. The veteran backstop had a big hand in the Rockies’ run to the NL wild card game that season, batting .310/.429/.437 over 175 plate appearances with the club.
Lucroy’s time in Colorado also represents the last consistently good stretch of his career, as he has otherwise struggled badly over the last three seasons. Over 782 PA with the Athletics, Angels, and Cubs in 2018-19, Lucroy has hit only .237/.297/.338 with 12 home runs. Prior to the Rockies trade, Lucroy also batted .242/.297/.338 in his first 306 PA of the 2017 season.
It has been a stark dropoff both offensively and defensively for a player who was arguably the game’s best catcher in his 2012-16 heyday with the Brewers and Rangers. As per Baseball Prospectus, Lucroy’s blocking and framing numbers have been far below average over the last three seasons. On the more intangible front, Lucroy was heavily praised for his game-calling ability and work in managing Oakland’s makeshift pitching staff in 2018, as the A’s overcame a barrage of rotation injuries to win a slot in the AL wild card game.
This type of veteran stability would be a boost to a Rockies’ catching situation that was a big problem area in 2019. Tony Wolters has yet to show anything at the plate (.653 OPS) over 1123 career plate appearances, and Wolters’ framing numbers dropped precipitously from near-elite level in 2018 to below average in 2019. Drew Butera and Elias Diaz has have already been added as veteran backup options, and Lucroy would bring more of a track record than either of that pairing, though he has shown little of his old form in recent years. The pickings are slim on the free agent catching market by this point in the offseason, so Colorado could opt to just add another relatively inexpensive option in Lucroy or perhaps seek out a trade.
By Mark Polishuk | at
The White Sox have outrighted right-hander Tayron Guerrero and left-hander Kodi Medeiros to Triple-A, the team announced (hat tip to The Athletic’s James Fegan). Guerrero and Medeiros each cleared waivers after being designated for assignment since the start of the new year.
Guerrero was claimed off waivers from the Marlins in early December following a season that saw the righty post a 6.26 ERA over 46 innings out of Miami’s bullpen. The hard-throwing Guerrero has yet to harness his 99mph fastball into a consistent force at the MLB level, as while he has a 9.4 K/9 over his 106 career big league innings, he has also issued a lot of free passes — a 7.0 BB/9 last season, boosting his overall career BB/9 to 5.7.
Control has been a persistent issue for Guerrero throughout his decade-long professional career, as he also has a 5.8 BB/9 (with a 4.02 ERA and 9.0 K/9) over 346 2/3 minor league innings. Guerrero just celebrated his 29th birthday two days ago, so while he’d count as a late bloomer, there’s still time for him to become a useful relief weapon if the White Sox can get him on track.
Selected 12th overall by the Brewers in the 2014 draft, Medeiros has yet to reach even the Triple-A level through six seasons in pro ball. Medeiros has a 4.77 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 1.82 K/BB rate through 545 minor league frames (starting 91 of 139 games). The southpaw came to the White Sox in July 2018, as part of the trade package in the deal that sent Joakim Soria to Milwaukee.
Medeiros’ first full year in Chicago’s farm system was far from a success, as he had a 5.10 ERA over 83 innings for Double-A Birmingham. However, Medeiros saw much more work as a reliever than in the past, starting only nine of 28 games, and he fared much better out of the bullpen — a 2.55 ERA over 42 1/3 relief innings, as opposed to a 7.75 ERA over 40 2/3 frames as a starter. This could hint at a new direction for Medeiros, who is still just 23 years old.
By Mark Polishuk | at
Click here to read the transcript of tonight’s baseball chat, moderated by MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk
By Mark Polishuk | at
The Cardinals and Athletics were first linked to Matt Wieters during the Winter Meetings, and a month after those initial reports, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that St. Louis and Oakland continue to have interest in the veteran backstop. Wieters served as the Cards’ backup catcher last season, hitting .214/.268/.435 with 11 home runs over 183 plate appearances and 67 games — perhaps more playing time than was expected, given that workhorse Yadier Molina was limited to 113 games due to thumb injuries. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes (Twitter link) that the Cardinals have an offer out to Wieters and are hopeful of a reunion, to the point that a locker has been kept open for Wieters. The A’s would also be looking to use Wieters as a backup catcher behind promising youngster Sean Murphy, though Wieters could potentially have a larger role if Murphy were to struggle in his first full MLB season.
More from the NL Central…
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