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Tigers Sign Renato Nunez

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The Tigers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder/designated hitter Renato Nunez to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training. They also confirmed their previously reported minors pact with infielder Greg Garcia. The Atheltic’s Cody Stavenhagen first reported talks between the Tigers and Nunez, who is represented by Octagon.

Nunez, 26, was designated for assignment by the Orioles back in late November and run through outright waivers. Baltimore would’ve owed him a raise in arbitration and clearly wasn’t keen on paying that out to a player with a rather one-dimensional skill set, and the league largely agreed based both on Nunez clearing waivers and on him settling for a non-guaranteed deal in mid-February.

It’s true that Nunez has been a generally above-average hitter over the past couple seasons, batting at a .247/.314/.469 batting line that translates to a 106 wRC+ and OPS+. Put more simply: he’s been about six percent better than a league-average hitter when adjusting for his league and his home park.

Nunez has some clear pop in his bat, with 43 home runs from 2019-20, but he rarely walks and also has a penchant for both strikeouts (25.4 percent) and infield flies (42). Since Opening Day 2019, 30.6 percent of Nunez’s plate appearances have resulted in a punchout or a pop-up. Add in a below-average 7.5 percent walk rate and questionable defense at both infield corners, and it becomes less surprising that clubs were wary about offering him a guaranteed pact.

All that said, it’s hard to fault Detroit for bringing in an above-average bat to compete for a roster spot this spring. With the Tigers, Nunez will vie for playing time at first base with Jeimer Candelario. He could also make the club as a bench bat, but with Miguel Cabrera still on the books all the way through the 2023 season at $30MM+ per year, there won’t be any DH at-bats available for Nunez anytime soon, barring another lengthy injury absence for Cabrera. And if Nunez does take a step forward, either in terms of his on-base skills or with the glove, Detroit could control him through the 2024 campaign via arbitration.

Phillies To Sign Brandon Kintzler

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The Phillies have agreed to a minor league pact with free-agent righty Brandon Kintzler, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter links). The veteran reliever had a big league offer to return to the Marlins, Rogers adds, but he opted for a non-guaranteed deal with the Phillies that offers more earning potential if he makes the club: a $3MM base salary plus additional incentives. Kintzler is represented by agent Kevin Kohler.

Based on his track record and the general state of disrepair in which the Phillies’ bullpen resided over the past couple seasons, Kintzler would seem to have a good chance at cracking the roster and securing that $3MM base. The 36-year-old sinker specialist has pitched to a 2.55 ERA over the past two seasons between the Cubs and Marlins, and he’s notched a 3.15 mark or lower in four of the past five years. In that half-decade span, Kintzler has a 3.26 ERA and 3.67 SIERA with a sub-par 16.2 percent strikeout rate but an excellent 6.3 percent walk rate and similarly strong 55.4 percent grounder rate.

Kintzler will add to a late-inning relief mix that has been quickly overhauled since Dave Dombrowski was named president of baseball operations in Philadelphia. Righty Hector Neris, the team’s most frequent closer in recent years, is back for the 2021 season, but Dombrowski has added hard-throwing lefty Jose Alvarado from the Rays, signed Archie Bradley and now inked Kintzler.

If Kintzler does indeed make the club, he’ll push the Phillies north of $201MM in luxury-tax obligations. That doesn’t leave too much room for additional spending — assuming owner John Middleton aims to keep his club south of that mark — but it could leave the door open for some additional low-cost signings and/or non-roster invitees between now and Opening Day. Dombrowski has mentioned multiple times that he hopes to stockpile as much pitching depth as possible after last year’s truncated 2020 season shortened every MLB pitcher’s workload.

Phillies Trade Johan Quezada To Cardinals

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The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve traded right-hander Johan Quezada to the Cardinals in exchange for cash. The move opens up a 40-man spot for a Phillies club that still needs to make Didi Gregorius’ new two-year deal official. The Cardinals’ 40-man roster is now up to 38 players.

Quezada, 26, is a longtime Twins farmhand who inked a minor league deal with the Marlins last winter and went on to make his MLB debut late in the 2020 season. The righty tossed just three big league innings last year, showing a fastball that sat at 97 mph and has long been considered his best offering. He spent the bulk of the 2020 season at Miami’s alternate training site and landed with the Phillies on a waiver claim in late October.

Due to the lack of a minor league season in 2020, there’s little point of reference for Quezada’s work in 2020. He spent the 2019 campaign with the Twins’ Class-A Advanced affiliate, pitching to a 3.44 ERA and 3.59 FIP in 52 1/3 innings of relief with a below-average 21 percent strikeout rate and a 12 percent walk rate he’ll need to pare down to be effective at more advanced levels. Quezada did register a hearty 53.3 percent ground-ball rate in that 2019 season, however. If he can improve the location of his power repertoire while maintaining those ground-ball tendencies, there’s some clear upside — but he’s something of a project for the time being.

Reds Sign Braden Shipley To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed right-hander Braden Shipley to a minor league contract that contains an invitation to Major League Spring Training, per a team announcement.

Shipley, 29 later this month, was the No. 15 overall pick by the Diamondbacks in 2013 and was considered to be among the game’s more promising pitching prospects in the years after that draft.  Things obviously haven’t panned out that way, however.

Shipley had some success in the low minors, but his strikeout rates plummeted in Double-A and have yet to really recover. His fastball velocity upon reaching the Majors in 2016 was south of its peak levels from his top prospect days, and Shipley wasn’t able to fool opponents over parts of three seasons on the D-backs’ staff. From 2016-18, he totaled an even 100 innings of work but was clobbered for a 5.49 ERA and a 5.31 SIERA to match. Shipley was punching out nearly a quarter of the hitters he faced in the low minors, but in the Majors he’s managed a dismal 14.3 percent strikeout rate against a 10 percent walk rate — the latter of which is considerably higher than his minor league rates.

Shipley hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2018, and in addition to his struggles at the game’s top level, he’s been hammered for a 5.17 ERA in Triple-A — albeit in a very hitter-friendly setting (and with a juiced ball in 2019). He’s whiffed just 16.7 percent of opponents in Reno and hasn’t offset that lack of strikeouts with plus control or a heavy ground-ball rate.

Still, Shipley is a former high-end prospect who’ll pitch all of next season at 29. There’s little risk in bringing him in to see if the Reds’ pitching factory can unlock something, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that the Reds haven’t really brought in any outside pitching help aside from their recent agreement with Sean Doolittle.

Cardinals Likely Done Spending

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The Cardinals have condensed an entire offseason’s worth of drama into the span of about two weeks, re-signing icons Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, trading Dexter Fowler and striking a blockbuster deal to acquire Nolan Arenado. It’s been a frenzied period for president of baseball ops John Mozeliak, GM Mike Girsch and the rest of the staff, but it seems the bulk of the team’s heavy lifting is complete. Mozeliak suggested at yesterday’s Molina press conference that the team is “pretty confident with the team we have going into camp” (links via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat).

While the Cardinals may yet seek out some depth up the middle and in the rotation, any remaining additions are likely to be of the non-roster variety, it seems. That suggests that the Cardinals will head into the season with a young and/or unproven outfield mix consisting of Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader, Dylan Carlson, Lane Thomas, Justin Williams and Austin Dean. It also looks to rule out the possible addition of veteran starters Jake Odorizzi, James Paxton or Taijuan Walker — all three of whom (Odorizzi in particular) were rumored to be under consideration as of late last week.

There are still plenty of notable free-agent names that could settle for non-guaranteed deals with Spring Training just around the corner. Potential middle-infield targets for teams in need include Eric Sogard and Joe Panik, while veteran starters like Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Matt Shoemaker and Anibal Sanchez are among the many free agents lingering on the open market. If the Cards do look to add some competition in the outfield, there are even more recognizable names available on that front. The Cardinals currently project to have a payroll in the $145MM range, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, although that could still tick upward a bit depending on the outcome of ace Jack Flaherty’s arbitration hearing.

Barring a change of heart from Mozeliak and/or a sudden ownership green-lighting of one more big free-agent strike, the Cards seem likely to lean on Flaherty, Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Kwang Hyun Kim and Carlos Martinez as their primary starters. Depth options include Daniel Ponce de Leon, Genesis Cabrera, Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo — plus whichever arms the front office can reel in on non-roster invitations in the coming days or weeks.

Marlins To Sign Adam Duvall

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3:15pm: Duvall will earn $2MM in 2021, while there’s a mutual option for $7MM or a $3MM buyout in 2022, per Mish.

2:44pm: The Marlins are “extremely close” to wrapping up a deal with free-agent outfielder Adam Duvall, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports (via Twitter). MLB Network’s Jon Heyman initially connected the two sides, noting that the Fish might need to “stretch” an already light $60MM payroll in order to accommodate what should be a modestly priced deal for the CAA client.

The 32-year-old Duvall was one of the majors’ most prolific home run hitters a season ago in Atlanta, where he slashed .237/.301/.532 with 16 homers in 209 plate appearances. It was the latest high-powered campaign for Duvall, a former Giant and Red who has twice smacked 30-plus HRs in a season.

As a Brave from 2019-20, Duvall hit a well-above-average .248/.307/.545 (117 wRC+) and totaled 26 homers in 339 trips to the plate. Duvall has also been a significant plus in the outfield, where he has combined for 42 Defensive Runs Saved and a 14.8 Ultimate Zone Rating across 4,000-plus innings in the majors. Nevertheless, the Braves still moved on from Duvall earlier in the offseason, choosing to non-tender him instead of giving him a projected $4MM in arbitration.

The Marlins, meanwhile, earned a surprise playoff berth in 2020, but they haven’t done much to upgrade their offense so far this winter. The right-handed Duvall may be able to help their cause in left field, where he could share time with the lefty-swinging Corey Dickerson. Starling Marte, Garrett Cooper, Magneuris Sierra, Lewis Brinson, Harold Ramirez and Monte Harrison are among the other outfielders on the Marlins’ 40-man roster.

Tigers, Renato Nunez Discussing Minor League Deal

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The Tigers are discussing a minor league pact with former Orioles first baseman/designated hitter Renato Nunez, tweets Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Baltimore designated Nunez for assignment rather than tendering him a contract prior to this December’s deadline.

The Nunez DFA caught some by surprise, given the 26-year-old’s 43 home runs for the O’s over the past two seasons and a modest arbitration projection as a first-time-eligible player. Nunez, however, is a sub-par defender at both infield corners with below-average walk rates that have held back his ability to get on base. Despite the 43 long balls over the past two years, his penchant for strikeouts and pop-ups have coupled with that aversion to walks to produce a .247/.314/.469 batting line.

That’s still a bit north of league-average offensive output, by measure of wRC+ and OPS+ (106), but combined with a lack of any value with the glove, it clearly didn’t lead to much interest in his services. Nunez went unclaimed on waivers even though he’d likely have earned under $4MM in arbitration, and there’s been little in the way of reported interest in him since the Orioles ultimately released him.

Several years ago, Nunez likely would’ve been tendered or at least traded — and had he hit the open market at that time, there’d surely have been stronger interest. Generally speaking, though, clubs have moved away from spending on defensively limited sluggers who carry OBP questions of this magnitude.

Should Nunez and the Tigers come to terms on a deal, he’d presumably head to minor league camp to compete with Jeimer Candelario at first base and as a possible bench bat to give incoming skipper AJ Hinch some pop off the bench. He’s technically controllable through the 2024 season via arbitration, but he’ll need to work on his on-base abilities or considerably improve his glovework to avoid being a non-tender candidate again next winter even if he does make the roster.

Mariners Sign Taylor Guerrieri, JT Chargois To Minor League Deals

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The Mariners have signed right-handers Taylor Guerrieri and JT Chargois to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training, per a paid of club announcements.

Now 28 years old, Guerreri once ranked as one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects. The Rays selected him with the No. 24 overall pick back in 2011, and he was considered to be among the game’s 100 best prospects for the next three years.

As is the case so often with promising young hurlers, however, Guerrieri’s development was halted by Tommy John surgery. Guerrieri underwent that operation midway through the 2013 season and missed all of 2014 as a result. He’s battled other arm troubles since that time and, to this point in his career, has only topped 100 innings in a season on one occasion. He was healthy for the 2019 season, splitting the year between the Majors and Triple-A in a relief role with the Rangers.

Guerrieri tossed 28 1/3 innings with Texas that year and another 9 2/3 with the Blue Jays a year prior, but his results at the MLB level haven’t been impressive so far. In 36 frames, he’s been tagged for a 5.50 ERA with nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (27). However, Guerrieri was quite good with the Rangers’ Nashville affiliate in 2019, and he’s displayed elite spin on his curveball in limited big league action.

Chargois, 30, was a second-round pick by the Twins back in 2012 and at one point looked like he could be a future closer in Minnesota. He posted dominant minor league numbers with sizable strikeout rates and an upper-90s heater, but Chargois hasn’t yet found his footing in the big leagues. The Rice University product has just a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 MLB frames, though his 3.40 SIERA, 26.3 percent strikeout rate and 9.9 percent walk rate are a bit more encouraging. Chargois pitched with Japan’s Rakuten Eagles last year and struggled to a 5.81 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work in that tiny sample, but he has a lengthy minor league track record of success — including a 1.90 ERA in 85 1/3 Triple-A frames.

Angels To Sign Phil Gosselin

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Phil Gosselin and invited him to Major League Spring Training, per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya (Twitter link).

Gosselin, 32, spent the 2019-20 seasons with the Phillies and batted .255/.312/.363 with three homers and eight doubles in 170  trips to the plate. The well-traveled utilityman has seen MLB time with the Braves, D-backs, Rangers, Reds and Pirates in addition to his work in Philadelphia. Defensively, Gosselin has spent the bulk of his MLB time at second base, although he has experience at all four infield spots and has seen time in the outfield corners as well.

The Angels have a full infield, with David Fletcher at second base, offseason trade acquisition Jose Iglesias at shortstop and Anthony Rendon at third base. Gosselin will compete with former top prospect Franklin Barreto, waiver claim Robel Garcia and 24-year-old Luis Rengifo for backup time around the infield. Barreto is out of minor league options, which likely helps his case, but it’s possible the Halos could carry more than one backup infielder.

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