Royals Acquire Rights To Rule 5 Pick Stephen Woods Jr.
The Royals announced today that they’ve sent a player to be named later or cash to the Rays in exchange for unrestricted rights to Rule 5 pick Stephen Woods Jr. Such moves are only possible once a player first goes unclaimed on outright waivers. Normally, a Rule 5 pick is then offered back to his original club, but the Royals worked out a trade to keep Woods in the organization — and because he’s already cleared waivers, the right-hander won’t require a spot on the 40-man roster.
Woods, 25, missed the entire 2018 season due to shoulder surgery but returned in 2019 to throw 86 1/3 frames of 1.88 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 53.4 percent ground-ball rate in Class-A Advanced. Pitching the majority of last season at age 24, Woods was a bit old for the level, but the results were obviously quite encouraging for a pitcher coming back from a major surgical procedure. The Kansas City organization was clearly enamored of the former eighth-round pick’s upside and will now be able to hang onto him for the foreseeable future.
Woods has a history of control struggles, but he’s also missed plenty of bats in both his NCAA and professional career. His velocity was down a bit from its previous levels in 2019, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen noted at the time of the Rule 5 Draft, but Woods also posted the lowest walk rate of his career in ’19.
White Sox Announce 60-Man Additions
The White Sox announced the addition of 16 players to their 60-man player pool Tuesday. They’ll all head to the team’s alternate camp site in Schaumberg, Ill. Today’s additions include (* = non-roster invitee):
Right-Handed Pitchers
Left-Handed Pitchers
Catchers
Outfielders
As Opening Day draws nearer, the White Sox will option additional players to their alternate camp site. There are currently 43 players in big league Summer Camp with the South Siders, and they’ll need to trim that number to 30 by the time the opener rolls around.
Today’s list of additions contains several notable names, including 2020 first-round pick Garrett Crochet, whom the Sox selected 13th overall out of the University of Tennessee. Farm director Chris Getz isn’t ruling out the possibility of Crochet making his MLB debut sometime this year, Bruce Levine of 670 The Score tweets.
Getz also spoke about another recent White Sox first-round pick in Zack Burdi, whom they took 26th in 2016, saying (via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times): ‘We hope to build off how he finished major league camp. It’s the best we’ve seen him in a while. His last couple outings were very encouraging. It’s a special arm.”
Significant injuries have prevented the hard-throwing Burdi from realizing his potential or even reaching the bigs since the White Sox drafted him. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, barely pitched the following year as a result, and then succumbed to a ligament tear in his patella last season. Burdi’s still a well-regarded relief prospect, though, and may have a chance to factor into Chicago’s bullpen this season.
Jordan Hicks Opts Out Of 2020 Season
JULY 14: A setback in Hicks’ Tommy John rehab played a part in his decision to opt out, manager Mike Shildt revealed Tuesday (via Saxon). Hicks is dealing with inflammation and would not have been able to pitch until at least September had he decided to play this year.
JULY 13: Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks has opted out of the 2020 season, citing preexisting health concerns, the Cardinals announced on Monday. Hicks, who has Type 1 diabetes, is also recovering from Tommy John surgery and was expected to open the season on the injured list.
“We respect and understand Jordan’s decision to opt out this season,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said in a statement announcing the news. “We wish him well as he continues his recovery from elbow surgery, and we look forward to seeing Jordan back on the mound for the 2021 season.”
Hicks becomes the 13th Major League player to opt out of the 2020 season, joining a growing list that figures to have more additions between now and Opening Day. While most have been veteran players with considerable career earnings already under their belt, Hicks and White Sox hurler Michael Kopech have bucked that trend, joining Nationals righty Joe Ross as younger players on the opt-out list.
Notably, The Athletic’s Mark Saxon tweets that Type 1 diabetes is listed by MLB as a preexisting condition that would allow a player to opt out and receive service time and salary. Hicks isn’t yet arbitration-eligible, so he’ll take home a prorated salary worth only a bit more than the league minimum, but the service time he accrues this season will push him to three years — making him arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter. He won’t have much of a platform to earn a considerable raise, but that will bring him one step closer to free agency in the 2023-24 offseason, so it’s certainly of importance to both player and team.
Hicks is baseball’s hardest thrower, averaging a ridiculous 101.6 mph on his fastball prior to injury. After a solid rookie season in 2018, he looked to be elevating his game to another level in 2019, when he pitched to a 3.14 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 0.63 HR/9 and a massive 67.2 percent ground-ball rate in 28 2/3 innings. Hicks went 14-for-15 in save opportunities last year before his injury, firmly seizing the ninth-inning job in manager Mike Shildt’s bullpen.
From a pure baseball perspective, it’s a tough loss for the Cardinals, who have also seen setup man John Brebbia undergo Tommy John surgery while top setup man Giovanny Gallegos has yet to report to Summer Camp. There’s been talk of again using Carlos Martinez as a late-inning option, though the right-hander’s preference has been to start. Mozeliak has also previously mentioned right-hander Ryan Helsley as a potential ninth-inning option in absence of Hicks.
Royals Activate Salvador Perez
The Royals announced Tuesday that they’ve activated catcher Salvador Perez from the injured list. He had previously tested positive for COVID-19, according to the club, and it appears he’s since had the two negative tests required to return to the field of play. Perez is in uniform and working out with the club today.
It’s been 22 months since Royals fans saw the six-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glover suit up for a game. Perez sat out the entire 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and hasn’t caught a game since Sept. 30, 2018. Perez’s clearance to return is of particular importance to the Royals given that the team’s only other catchers on the 40-man roster, Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria, are on the injured list at the moment. Gallagher tested positive for COVID-19 last week. No reason for Viloria’s IL placement was provided.
Assuming Perez is ready for Opening Day and Gallagher and Viloria aren’t, it seems likely Nick Dini will serve as the team’s main backup catcher. Dini struggled during a 64-plate appearance major league debut last season, but he has hit well in Triple-A dating back to 2018. Oscar Hernandez (whom the Royals signed last week), MJ Melendez, Sebastian Rivero, Freddy Fermin and Allan de San Miguel comprise the rest of the backstops in the club’s player pool.
Braves To Sign Yasiel Puig
5:35pm: Puig agreed to a one-year deal with Atlanta, per Charles Odum and Ben Walker of the Associated Press.
2:50pm: The Braves have agreed to a deal, pending a physical, with free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The agreement brings to a close a lengthy free-agent saga for the mercurial Puig, who is a known commodity for Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos (formerly the Dodgers’ VP of baseball operations). Puig is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council.
Puig, 29, was the most prominent name among unsigned free agents, having gone the entire offseason without agreeing to a deal and then enduring a league-wide transaction freeze during the pandemic that further slowed his path to a team. He reportedly received offers from the Marlins and Orioles along the way — as well as some interest from the Korea Baseball Organization — but Puig never found an offer to his liking it seems. It’s doubtful that he’ll command the sizable multi-year deal he sought over the winter in this new arrangement with Atlanta, but he’ll join a club with obvious postseason aspirations.
The Braves, of course, just lost one notable outfield option last week when veteran Nick Markakis announced that he will not play in 2020. Puig will give the Braves another accomplished bat who offered similar production to Markakis in 2019. While the Atlanta outfield was already largely set with Marcell Ozuna, Ender Inciarte and Ronald Acuna Jr., the addition of Puig will allow the Braves to rotate all their corner-outfield options (also including Adam Duvall) through left field, right field and DH while keeping everyone fresh. Acuna can also play center field in place of Inciarte, so we’ll surely see days where Ozuna, Acuna and Puig are lined up left-to-right in the outfield — perhaps with Duvall at designated hitter.
Puig split the 2019 season between Ohio’s two clubs, opening the year with the Reds before being moved to the Indians — while in the midst of an on-field brawl, no less — in the three-team blockbuster that sent Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati. While he was generally a solid bat, his offensive output didn’t quite mirror his past standards. Puig appeared in 149 games and, in 611 plate appearances, batted .267/.327/.458 with 24 long balls — albeit just two following his trade to Cleveland. In a season that saw enormous spikes in offensive output thanks to the altered composition of the ball, Puig’s line checked in right about at the league average (101 wRC+, 100 OPS+). That lines up quite similarly with Markakis (102 wRC+, 98 OPS+) but falls well shy of 2017-18, when Puig was roughly 20 percent better than a league-average hitter.
Given the difference in age, though, there’s more reason to expect a rebound out of Puig than there would’ve been from the 36-year-old Markakis. Adding Puig and Ozuna to an already strong core won’t make up for the loss of Josh Donaldson, but it’ll give the Braves an unquestionably deep reservoir of bats from which to draw as they look to nail down a third straight NL East division title.
From a defensive standpoint, Puig played an average right field last year according to each of Defensive Runs Saved, Ultimate Zone Rating and Outs Above Average. His glovework in the past has ranged from passable to excellent in any given year, depending on one’s preferred metric. At the very least, though, it’s reasonable to expect Puig to be at least an average bat and an average corner defender, making him a nice pickup for Atlanta.
The Braves initially announced 56 players in their 60-man player pool for the 2020 season, although both Markakis and veteran right-hander Felix Hernandez can be subtracted from that number after opting out of the season. Atlanta has also had four players, including cornerstone Freddie Freeman, test positive for COVID-19. If any are placed on the IL as a result, they won’t count against the player pool. Even with no IL placements and after adding Bryce Ball to the player pool recently, the Braves will have space in their 60-man pool for Puig. The Braves also had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will need to be made to accommodate Puig’s presence on the roster.
Giants Add Jose Siri To Player Pool
The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve added outfielder Jose Siri to their 60-man player pool. They claimed him off waivers out of the Mariners organization back in March, just days before the league shutdown began.
Siri, 24, spent the 2013-19 seasons in the Reds organization after signing as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic. At one point he was considered one of the Reds’ best prospects and landed on the back of FanGraphs’ Top 100 prospects list, but the shine has worn off him in recent years. Siri raked at a .293/.340/.531 clip with 24 homers and 46 stolen bases as a 21-year-old in Class-A back in 2017, but in the two seasons since that time he’s posted a disappointing .238/.297/.397 slash between Double-A and Triple-A.
Following that pair of unimpressive seasons, Siri was designated for assignment when Cincinnati signed Nick Castellanos to a four-year contract this past offseason. Now with the Giants, Siri is a ways down the outfield depth chart; Hunter Pence, Mike Yastrzemski, Alex Dickerson, Jaylin Davis, Austin Slater and Steven Duggar are all likely ahead of him. Veteran Billy Hamilton is also in the Giants organization, but he was recently placed on the injured list. The Giants have top prospects Heliot Ramos and Alexander Canario in Summer Camp as well, but Canario hasn’t played above Low-A while Ramos has just 25 Double-A games under his belt. Neither is an immediate option, though Ramos is regarded as one of the game’s more promising outfield prospects.
The Giants initially announced 51 players in their 60-man pool, though they’ve since seen Buster Posey opt out of the 2020 season and shuffled the deck a bit, adding a few groups of players while also placing some on the injured list (which, if done for coronavirus-related reasons, opens additional vacancies in the player pool).
Orioles Add Dean Kremer To Player Pool
The Orioles announced Tuesday that they’ve added right-handed pitching prospect Dean Kremer to their 60-man player pool. He’s reporting to alternate training camp at the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate in Bowie, where he’ll be joined by righty Hector Velazquez, whom the club has optioned out of Summer Camp (per that same announcement). The O’s also put Richie Martin on the 60-day IL and removed him from their 60-man pool, which formally ends his season. Martin is set to undergo surgery to repair a broken wrist tomorrow.
Kremer, 24, was one of the pitchers acquired from the Dodgers in the trade that sent Manny Machado to Los Angeles. The former 16th-round pick had a solid year in 2019, reaching Triple-A and pitching to a combined 3.72 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 0.87 HR/9 and a ground-ball rate just shy of 40 percent. Kremer also showed quite well in the Arizona Fall League (five runs on 13 hits and four walks with 23 strikeouts in 19 innings), and he’s generally considered one of the better pitching prospects in the rebuilding Orioles’ system.
Kremer ranks 11th or better among Orioles farmhands at Baseball America, FanGraphs an MLB.com, and scouting reports on the 6’3″, 180-pound righty project him as a fourth/fifth starter. Given that he’s already reached Triple-A and is on Baltimore’s 40-man roster, it’s quite possible that Kremer will make his MLB debut in 2020.
Juan Lagares, Kyle Barraclough, Seth Frankoff Elect Free Agency
The Padres announced Tuesday that a trio of veteran players have elected free agency. Outfielder Juan Lagares and right-handers Kyle Barraclough and Seth Frankoff are all returning to the open market and will now be free to sign with new clubs. None of the three had been included in San Diego’s player pool.
Lagares, 31, joined the Friars on a minor league pact back in February and, at least in the initial version of Spring Training, was seen as a legitimate candidate for the Opening Day roster. The organization’s thinking looks to have changed in the months since the March shutdown, and Lagares will now look for another club with interest in adding him to its player pool.
The longtime Mets outfielder posted a career-worst .213/.279/.326 batting line in 285 plate appearances last year, but Lagares remains a highly regarded defensive player who’d make a nice reserve option for any team with questionable outfield defense and/or an injury among the team’s starters. The Padres have a crowded outfield mix, however, and younger options they’d seemingly like to get a look at in this shortened season.
Barraclough, 30, was a quality late-inning arm with the Marlins from 2015-17, but he saw his production dip a bit in 2018 before completely cratering in 2019. In 33 2/3 frames between the Nationals and Giants last season, Barraclough was clobbered for 5.61 ERA thanks largely to allowing nine home runs in that short time. Control has always been an issue or Barraclough, who has averaged 5.5 walks per nine innings in the Majors, but he’s also never had a problem missing bats (11.4 K/9).
The 31-year-old Frankoff has just two Major League innings under his belt but is a veteran of eight minor league seasons and a pair of successful campaigns in the Korea Baseball Organization. Frankoff spent the past two seasons with the KBO’s Doosan Bears, pitching to a combined 3.68 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 in 266 2/3 frames (50 starts). Like Lagares and Barraclough, he joined the Padres on a minor league deal this winter in hopes of earning his way back to the big leagues with a strong camp showing, but he’ll now need to find another club to give him that opportunity.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of this week’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Brian Urlacher, Travis Kelce, Bradley Beal Involved In A-Rod/J. Lo Mets Bid
The group headed up by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez put in a reported $1.7 billion bid on the Mets last week, and while they’re already known to be backed by VitaminWater and BodyArmor co-founder Mike Repole as well as Florida Panthers owner Vinnie Viola, ESPN’s Vaughn McClure reports that a host of other highly recognizable names are a part of the group. Among them are Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce; Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal; Denver Nuggets center Mason Plumlee; and ex-Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray.
Urlacher, 42, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 after a brilliant 13-year career as a linebacker with the Chicago Bears. The 2000 Defensive Rookie of the Year is an eight-time Pro-Bowler who earned more than $80MM in career salaries — to say nothing of countless endorsement deals during his time as one of the league’s most marketable players. He’s also dipped into NFL broadcasting and television analysis. Urlacher himself confirmed to McClure that he’s a part of the group, calling it a “pretty cool” opportunity and voicing particular excitement over working with Rodriguez and his other NFL brethren.
The 35-year-old Thomas figures to join Urlacher in the Hall of Fame when he gains eligibility for the honor in 2023. Thomas went to the Pro Bowl in 10 of his 11 seasons in the NFL from 2007-17, during which he earned $110MM, according to Over the Cap.
Like Urlacher, Kelce confirmed that he’s involved and expressed gratitude for being able to take part in such a “crazy opportunity.” He hasn’t had Urlacher’s 13-year career and decade-plus of endorsement deals, but Kelce is entering the final season of a five-year, $46.482MM contract extension. The five-time Pro Bowler ranks among the game’s elite at his position and should be in strong free-agent position upon the completion of his current deal.
Beal, the No. 3 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, signed a two-year extension worth nearly $72MM back in October — a contract that came partway through his preexisting five-year, $127MM contract. Beal only just turned 27, so he has plenty of time to sign another big deal in the future, assuming he holds up. Plumlee scored his own sizable payday in 2017, re-signing with the Nuggets for $41MM over three years.
Murray, 32, hasn’t played in an NFL game since spending the 2017 season with the Tennessee Titans. The former NFL Offensive Player of the Year and three-time Pro Bowler, who made just under $26MM in the league, entered the college coaching ranks in recent seasons and is currently an assistant at his alma mater of Oklahoma.
The extent to which each of these high-profile investors is involved isn’t clear. While they’re all unquestionably wealthy and likely able to commit millions of dollars to the bid, it’s also likely that there are quite a few other investors contributing to the mix.