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Rangers, Hyeon-Jong Yang Reportedly Nearing Deal

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The Rangers are nearing a deal with left-hander Hyeon-Jong Yang, according to multiple reports out of South Korea (hat tip: Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency, on Twitter). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports that an announcement of a minor league agreement could come from the Rangers today. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson tweets that the deal would contain an invite to Spring Training and pay Yang $1.3MM should he make the roster.

Yang, 32, has long had his sights set on eventually testing his abilities against Major League opponents. His original club, the Kia Tigers, posted him for MLB clubs seven years ago. However, the Tigers were unsatisfied with the top bid — a bid which came from the Rangers — and opted to instead hang onto him. The Tigers controlled Yang for multiple seasons beyond that point, and he opted to re-sign on a series of lucrative contracts that made him one of the KBO’s highest-paid players.

Now on the verge of his 33rd birthday and with ample career earnings in the KBO, however, Yang has appeared dead set on pursuing MLB opportunities this winter. He recently cut off negotiations to return to the Tigers for what would’ve been his 15th season, indicating he’d instead exhaust his opportunities at securing a Major League job. It seems that no club was willing to make Yang a guaranteed offer — he struggled through a down season in 2020 — so he’ll now look to earn a spot on the Rangers’ staff.

Yang’s 2020 season — which featured 172 1/3 innings of 4.70 ERA ball, a 20 percent strikeout rate and 8.6 percent walk rate — surely hampered his market this winter, but he still has several points working in his favor as he looks to realize his MLB dream.

First and foremost, he has a lengthy track record as one of the KBO’s most successful arms. Yang is a former KBO MVP who, from 2013-19, worked to a combined 3.35 ERA in more than 1200 innings. He’s also been a durable workhorse, starting at least 29 games in each of the past seven seasons. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, Yang tossed 172 1/3 innings over the life of 31 starts last season. While no MLB pitcher reached even 85 innings in 2020, Yang tossed more than double that workload. As teams look to navigate the season and monitor the workloads of their rotations, Yang would be one of the few pitchers in MLB who could at least theoretically be entrusted with a typical workload of 180-plus innings and 33-34 starts.

That won’t matter, of course, if he proves ineffective against big league hitters. But a player with his track record, recent workload and modest price tag is a perfectly reasonable flier for any team — particularly a rebuilding club like the Rangers.

Rangers, Brock Holt Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers are in agreement on a minor league contract with free-agent infielder/outfielder Brock Holt, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The contract would pay the Lagardere Sports client $1.75MM if he makes the roster. He’ll be in Major League Spring Training.

Holt, 32, had a strong run with the 2018-19 with the Red Sox, hitting at a combined .286/.366/.407 while playing above-average defense at each of second base, third base and the outfield corners. Holt, who also has time at shortstop, still found something of a tepid market last winter and settled for a one-year deal with the Brewers. Things didn’t pan out in Milwaukee, however, as Holt hit just .100/.222/.100 before being cut loose. He bounced back after latching on with the Nationals, however, hitting at a .262/.314/.354 clip in 70 trips to the plate.

With the Rangers, Holt joins fellow non-roster invitee Charlie Culberson as a veteran bench option for manager Chris Woodward. With Isiah Kiner-Falefa now ticketed for everyday work at shortstop and Nick Solak likely getting the lion’s share of time at second base, Holt and Culberson will battle Rougned Odor for playing time at the hot corner as the Rangers organization awaits the eventual arrival of top prospect and former first-rounder Josh Jung.

Blue Jays, Joe Panik Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent infielder Joe Panik, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). The Jet Sports client will be invited to Major League Spring Training and would earn $1.85MM with another $400K available via incentives if he makes the roster.

It’s the second straight minor league pact with Toronto for Panik, who ultimately did crack the 2020 roster and appear in 41 games for the Jays. The longtime Giants infielder tallied 141 trips to the plate with Toronto, batting at a .225/.340/.300 clip with a homer, six doubles and a gaudy 14.2 percent walk rate.

Panik hasn’t hit for much average since his first two years in the Majors, but he’s settled in as a quality defender with a solid walk rate and one of the game’s lower strikeout rates. Dating back to the 2016 season, Panik carries a .255/.324/.366 slash in addition to a 2016 Gold Glove Award for his work at second base. He’s played second base almost exclusively in his MLB career, but Panik was a college shortstop who also saw time at third base with the Blue Jays in 2020.

If he’s able to make their roster a second time, Panik could bounce around the infield as a utility piece. Santiago Espinal is his primary competition on the 40-man roster for that role, though the Jays will also have Richard Urena in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Rays Add Four Pitchers On Minor League Deals

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The Rays are reported to be nearing a big league deal with veteran righty Collin McHugh, but they’ve also been active in minor league free agency this week. Tampa Bay has agreed to non-roster invitations with lefty Brian Moran and right-handers Joey Krehbiel and Louis Head, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. They’ve also signed righty Stetson Allie to a minor league deal and Spring Training invite, as announced by agent Gavin Kahn on Twitter.

Each of Moran and Krehbiel have some big league experience under their belts. Moran, the older brother of Pirates first baseman Colin Moran, has pitched 11 innings between the Marlins and Blue Jays over the past two seasons. He’s surrendered eight runs in that time and displayed some problematic control (14.5 percent walk rate, three hit batters, three wild pitches), but Moran has also whiffed 31 percent of opponents. The 32-year-old has pitched in parts of five Triple-A seasons with a 3.67 ERA and 30.2 percent strikeout rate.

The 28-year-old Krehbiel tossed three scoreless frames for the 2018 D-backs but hasn’t made it back to the Majors since that time. Like Moran, Krehbiel has some bat-missing ability (25 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A) but problematic control that has held him back (12.5 percent walk rate in Triple-A).

Allie may be a familiar name to some due to his status as a once-touted pitching prospect. The 2010 second-rounder was considered one of the top high school arms in the draft and landed on a few Top 100 lists before injuries stalled his career. Allie pivoted and tried to make it as a first baseman/outfielder for several years before returning to the mound on a full-time basis in 2018. He’s spent time with the Pirates, who drafted him, and the Dodgers. He’s yet to make it to the big leagues, but the Rays will hope to coax another level out of the now-29-year-old righty, whose fastball has in the past reached triple digits.

Head, a longtime Indians farmhand who spent 2019 with the Dodgers organization as well, is a career reliever who posted strong numbers through Double-A but hasn’t yet matched that success in Triple-A. He has a 5.46 ERA in 90 2/3 frames of Triple-A ball while striking out just shy of a quarter of opponents against an 11.5 percent walk rate he’ll need to reduce.

Phillies, Brad Miller Closing In On Deal

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8:30am: The Phillies and Miller are working toward a deal that would come with a guarantee in the $3MM to $3.5MM range, Morosi tweets.

7:45am: The Phillies are in talks with veteran utilityman Brad Miller about a contract for the 2021 season, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reports (via Twitter). If completed, it’d mark Miller’s second stint with the Phillies after spending half the season with them in 2019.

A Miller reunion would be an affordable and sensible upgrade for the Phillies’ bench. Manager Joe Girardi said this week that with Didi Gregorius now officially back in the fold, it’s likely that Jean Segura is penciled in for the starting role at second base (Twitter link via Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer). Scott Kingery will again bounce around the diamond and see time at multiple positions. Kingery has average or better defensive grades at each of second base, third base, shortstop and in center field but will be looking for a rebound at the plate after slumping through 124 plate appearances in 2020 following a bout with Covid-19.

On days when Kingery is tasked with roaming the outfield, the current iteration of the Phils lacks much in the way of infield depth. The Phillies acquired infield prospect C.J. Chatham — a former Dave Dombrowski draftee — from the Red Sox earlier this winter but have little on the 40-man roster behind him. Ronald Torreyes will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, but at the moment, a couple of injuries would leave the Phillies reliant on a thin farm system that lacks MLB-ready infield talent.

Miller, 31, would give them another versatile player to add to the mix. He’s not the defender that Kingery is, but he’s been a much better hitter of late and has a longer track record at the MLB level. In 171 plate appearances with the Cardinals in 2020, Miller slashed .232/.357/.451, and over the past three years combined he’s a .247/.329/.468 batter with 27 homers, 27 doubles and four triples. He’s strikeout-prone (29.1 percent in that time), which limits his batting average, but Miller draws plenty of walks (10.4 percent) and makes frequent hard contact.

The Cardinals used Miller as a designated hitter more often than anything else in 2020, although he played 15 games at third base and also appeared at shortstop and second base. He lined up most frequently in left field and at third base with the Phillies in 2019, but Miller has more than 3000 MLB innings at shortstop, more than 1200 at second base and more than 600 at first base as well.

The Phillies, by all indications, are angling to stay beneath the $210MM luxury tax threshold, but signing Miller wouldn’t jeopardize that goal. They’re currently at $198.7MM worth of luxury obligations, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, and Miller’s price ought to only push that upward by a few million dollars.

Latest On Mets’ Interest In Kris Bryant

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Though the Mets and Cubs tabled their talks for Kris Bryant at some point last month, SNY’s Andy Martino reports that the two sides have re-engaged to some extent more recently.

As outlined here in the past, any trade involving Bryant would be complicated for myriad reasons. The former NL Rookie of the Year and MVP is coming off his worst season, though that came in a truncated 2020 schedule, making it more difficult to evaluate his ability to rebound. He’s also controlled for only one more season and owed a hefty $19.5MM at a time when most clubs throughout the league are wary of taking on more money. There’s also little hope of Bryant, a Scott Boras client, signing an extension — be it with the Cubs or with a new team that acquires him in a trade.

Martino indicates that the Mets have been looking for takers to offload relievers Dellin Betances and/or Jeurys Familia, both of whom are signed through 2021 at rather inflated amounts. Betances exercised a player option valued at $6.8MM for the coming season, while Familia is owed $11MM this coming season ($1MM of which is deferred until 2022). His contract also contains a $1MM assignment bonus in the event of a trade. Speculatively speaking, the Mets could try to push either reliever on the Cubs as something of a financial counterweight.

Of course, the Mets already have a third baseman who’s been a productive hitter for them: 27-year-old J.D. Davis. New York controls Davis all the way through the 2024 season, and while his ceiling isn’t as high as Bryant’s, Davis has been every bit as productive as Bryant over the past couple seasons (.288/.370/.483 to Bryant’s .267/.365/.488). Davis, however, is owed just $2.1MM this year and eligible for three more raises in arbitration between now and the 2024-25 offseason.

Martino adds that the Cubs have at times expressed interest in acquiring Davis themselves, which isn’t a shock given his affordable price tag and recent level of production. However, getting the Mets to part with Davis in return for Bryant alone seems decidedly unlikely. Even attaching Familia’s final year to Davis would still mean the Mets were taking on more than $6MM in new salary and parting with four years of Davis in exchange for one year of a hopeful Bryant rebound.

It’s easy to conjure up more elaborate scenarios in which the Cubs send Bryant and an established pitcher to the Mets, who could use an upgrade in the rotation to push Joey Lucchesi into more of a depth role. The Mets just missed on Trevor Bauer in free agency, and they’ve recently been linked to free-agent starters. The Cubs adding any MLB pitching help to a potential deal would likely necessitate adding more pieces on the Mets’ side, however, further illustrating the difficult nature of actually coming to an agreement on such a layered discussion.

Giants Outright Luis Alexander Basabe

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FEB. 11: Basabe cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets.

FEB. 4: The Giants have designated outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe for assignment, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to infielder Tommy La Stella, whose three-year deal with the Giants has now been officially announced.

Basabe, 24, was originally signed by the Red Sox but flipped to the White Sox as one of the secondary pieces — behind Michael Kopech and Yoan Moncada — in the blockbuster that brought Chris Sale to Boston. Basabe struggled at Class-A Advanced in 2017 and bounced back with a nice showing between High-A and Double-A in 2018, but he slumped again at those same levels in 2019.

The Giants picked up Basabe in exchange for cash during the 2020 season and afforded him the opportunity to make his MLB debut late in the year. He appeared in nine games and went 2-for-14 with four walks, five strikeouts and a pair of stolen bases.

Basabe was at one point a rather well-regarded prospect — a potential regular in center field who was seen as having a high floor due to above-average range and a strong throwing arm. Another club in need of some center field depth could give him a look based on that defensive prowess, though Basabe is also out of minor league options, so a new team would need to either carry him on the Opening Day roster or again designate him for assignment. A rebuilding club willing to take on a center field project could make some sense, but it’s also possible that the Giants will be able to retain Basabe by passing him through waivers. They’ll have a week to either go that route or trade him now that he’s been removed from the 40-man roster.

Twins Claim Kyle Garlick, Designate Brandon Waddell

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The Twins have claimed outfielder Kyle Garlick off waivers from the Braves, per a team announcement. Left-hander Brandon Waddell was designated for assignment in order to open a space on the 40-man roster.

It’s the latest stop in a growing list of organizations for Garlick, 29, whose stay with the Braves will only prove to last for a few days. Garlick was the Dodgers’ 28th-round pick back in 2015, but in the past calendar year he’s been traded to the Phillies, claimed by the Braves and now claimed by the Twins.

Minnesota still needs a 40-man spot to make Alex Colome’s one-year deal final, so it’s far from a sure thing that Garlick will last on the roster for too long. It’s fairly common for clubs to claim a player and then try to pass him through outright waivers shortly thereafter — thus allowing the team to retain him without committing a 40-man roster spot.

Garlick spent most of the 2020 season at the Phillies’ alternate site in Lehigh Valley, though he did appear in a dozen games at the MLB level. He went just 3-for-22 with a double and seven strikeouts in that time, however. Garlick showed a bit of promise with the Dodgers in 2019 when he made his big league debut and hit .250/.321/.521 with three long balls and four doubles in a small sample of 53 plate appearances. He’s a career .281/.332/.568 hitter in 645 Triple-A plate appearances and does have a minor league option remaining as well.

As for the 26-year-old Waddell, he was a 2015 fifth-rounder by the Pirates out of Virginia. He made his MLB debut last year with Pittsburgh and tossed 3 1/3 innings with a pair of strikeouts and walks apiece. The Twins claimed him off waivers back on Oct. 30.

Waddell has a strong track record up through the Double-A level and was solid at Triple-A in 2018 as well. Like most Triple-A pitchers in 2019, however, his season was an unmitigated disaster as offensive levels spiked to all-time highs in that league amid the widely held belief that the ball was juiced. (Triple-A adopted the same ball used in MLB that season.) Even after being clobbered for 59 runs in 61 innings of Triple-A ball that year, Waddell has a 4.12 ERA in 478 minor league frames with a 20.4 percent strikeout rate and a 9.8 percent walk rate. He’s not a huge strikeout pitcher but induces grounders at an above-average clip and has two minor league options remaining.

Rockies, Greg Bird Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent first baseman Greg Bird, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com (via Twitter). He’ll be in Major League camp this spring.

Bird, 28, had a promising rookie debut with the Yankees back in 2015 when he hit .261/.343/.529 with 11 homers in 178 trips to the plate. Injuries have torpedoed his career since that showing, however, as he’s undergone surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder and to remove bone spurs in his ankle. It’s hard to believe that five seasons have elapsed since Bird first broke into the Majors, but that is indeed the case, and he’s batted just .194/.287/.388 in 522 plate appearances since that time.

Bird spent much of the 2020 season with the Rangers organization, but he didn’t play in a big league game with Texas. Bird does carry a career .296/.370/.528 batting line in parts of three Triple-A seasons, and first base has been a problematic position for the Rockies in recent years. Colorado doesn’t have a set option at first base currently. Veteran Ian Desmond seems the likeliest candidate, but he’s also played outfield and bounced around the infield, so he could play elsewhere should Bird, Ryan McMahon or Josh Fuentes seize an opportunity at first base.

Indians Sign Ben Gamel

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The Indians have signed outfielder Ben Gamel to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, per a club announcement. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman first reported the deal. Gamel is represented by Jet Sports.

The 28-year-old Gamel will vie for playing time in an overcrowded outfield jumble that is lacking in proven players. Eddie Rosario is the only lock to see time in the Cleveland outfield this year after agreeing to a one-year deal worth $8MM not long ago. Oscar Mercado will surely get a chance to put his awful 2020 season behind him, and if he looks anywhere near his excellent 2019 form, he should be the everyday center fielder.

Other options on the 40-man roster for Cleveland include Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer and Daniel Johnson. Luplow, as the only right-handed hitter of the bunch (including Gamel) may have the inside track based on handedness and the fact that he decimated left-handed pitching at video-game-esque levels in 2019 before a 2020 decline.

Gamel brings a knack for drawing walks (10.8 percent over the past three years) to the competition, and he has experience at all three outfield slots. He’s best deployed in a corner, however, and his bat has tailed off considerably since a solid 2017-18 showing in Seattle that saw him bat .274/.335/.398 (102 wRC+). The Mariners traded Gamel to the Brewers after the 2018 campaign, and his strikeout rate in Milwaukee has soared as his overall production has waned

In 483 plate appearances as a Brewer, Gamel batted .245/.331/.381. The batting line looks somewhat similar to his Seattle output, but it came in a more hitter-friendly setting at a time when offense was on the rise throughout the league. Gamel’s strikeout rate also ballooned from 21 percent in Seattle to just shy of 30 percent in Milwaukee, which surely didn’t leave the Brewers feeling great about giving him a raise via arbitration.

If Gamel wins a spot on the Indians’ roster this spring, he’ll remain controllable through the 2022 season via arbitration.

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