Pirates Sign JT Riddle
5:12pm: Riddle’s deal with the Pirates will pay him $850K, MLBTR has learned.
3:25pm: The Pirates announced Friday that they’ve signed infielder JT Riddle to a Major League contract. The addition of Riddle, a Meister Sports client, fills Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster.
Riddle, 28, was once considered to be among the more promising farmhands in the Marlins organization but was unable to establish himself in parts of three MLB seasons in Miami. Through 718 plate appearances, Riddle managed just a .229/.269/.368 batting line, which proved tepid enough that the Marlins eventually cut ties with him earlier this offseason.
Although he’s been unable to produce much at the MLB level, Riddle does carry a heartier .284/.321/.457 slash in 85 Triple-A contests. The former 13th-rounder and University of Kentucky product rose through Miami’s system primarily as a shortstop, but the Marlins began trying him out in center field in recent seasons as well. Riddle has played far more shortstop than any other position, but he does come to the Pirates with experience at second base, third base and in all three outfield slots.
Miami surely felt comfortable trying Riddle out at new defensive positions due to Miguel Rojas‘ presence at shortstop, but the decision to pull Riddle away from short was still somewhat curious given how well he’s graded out at the position. In 1323 Major League innings at shortstop, Riddle notched 13 Defensive Runs Saved, 10 Outs Above Average and a 3.1 Ultimate Zone Rating.
Twenty-six-year-old Kevin Newman currently projects to be the Pirates’ everyday option at short, but Riddle can give the club some depth there while also presenting them an option to play in center field following the departure of the recently traded Starling Marte. In the days since that trade, general manager Ben Cherington has been open about his desire to add some more options in center field, and while Riddle would seemingly qualify, it’s also of some note that the team’s press release announcing the move refers to Riddle solely as an infielder.
Riddle is out of minor league options, so today’s signing is a clear indicator that the Pirates will carry him on the big league roster to open the season. He has two years, 118 days of Major League service time, meaning he’s controllable not just for the 2020 season but all the way through the 2022 campaign. Riddle will be arbitration-eligible next winter.
Brewers Sign Andres Blanco To Minor League Deal
The Brewers announced that they’ve signed veteran infielder Andres Blanco to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. He’s represented by GSE Worldwide.
Blanco will turn 36 in April and hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2017, but he’s had a pair of productive Triple-A campaigns in 2018 and 2019 — the former actually coming with the Brewers organization. Blanco hit .271/.362/.435 (111 wRC+) in 357 plate appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs that season. Last year, with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, he put together a nearly identical .262/.364/.443 slash (109 wRC+) in a larger sample of 530 plate appearances.
The veteran Blanco has played in parts of 10 MLB seasons, logging time at each infield position and batting a combined .256/.310/.378 in 1321 trips to the plate. His signing comes just days after the Brewers found out projected shortstop Luis Urias will need six to eight weeks to recover from surgery to repair a broken hamate bone — an injury he sustained while playing in the Mexican Pacific Winter League. Blanco will head to Spring Training and vie to join a currently fluid infield mix that includes Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko, Orlando Arcia, Ryon Healy and Justin Smoak, among others.
Rockies Sign Zac Rosscup
The Rockies have brought left-handed reliever Zac Rosscup back to the organization on a minor league contract, tweets Thomas Harding of MLB.com. He won’t be in big league camp, so he’s presumably ticketed straight for Triple-A Albuquerque.
Rosscup, 31, tossed 18 Major League innings between the Mariners, Blue Jays and Dodgers in 2019, allowing 10 earned run (5.00 ERA) on 22 hits and 19 walks with 26 strikeouts. That type of production has been fairly typical for Rosscup, as he’s traditionally been able to rack up strikeouts in bunches but has also frequently struggled with his control. In 83 2/3 innings at the big league level, Rosscup has punched out 113 hitters (12.2 K/9) but also issued 55 walks (5.9 BB/9), with the result being a lackluster 5.16 earned run average. Rosscup does have a career 2.74 ERA in 115 Triple-A frames, where he’s also managed an impressive 12.7 K/9 mark.
Orioles Claim Travis Lakins, Designate Stevie Wilkerson
The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve claimed righty Travis Lakins off waivers from the Cubs. Infielder/outfielder Stevie Wilkerson was designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.
Lakins, 25, was designated for assignment by the Red Sox earlier this winter and subsequently traded to Chicago for cash. Although he’d consistently ranked in the No. 15-25 range of a thin Boston farm system, the Ohio State product has yet to put together a particularly strong showing in the Majors or in the upper minors. Lakins made his big league debut this past season, yielding a 3.86 ERA with a lackluster 18-to-10 K/BB ratio in 23 2/3 innings for Boston. His work in Triple-A has been rather similar, as he’s compiled a 3.82 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and slightly below-average grounder rates in parts of two seasons there. Lakins worked as a starter earlier in his career but has pitched primarily out of the bullpen the past couple of seasons.
Wilkerson, 28, is a career .219/.279/.365 hitter in 410 plate appearances — most of which came this past season in Baltimore. He’s spent time at all three outfield positions with the O’s in addition to second base and third base, although he’s most likely remembered by many for his absurd home run robbery against Jackie Bradley Jr. at Fenway Park this past season (video link). He also holds the distinction of being the first position player to earn a save, which he did when pitching the 16th inning of a marathon win over the Angels on July 25 of this past season.
The switch-hitting Wilkerson hasn’t spent much time in Triple-A but has had some success there, hitting .294/.340/.478 through 153 trips to the plate. Wilkerson has generally been a versatile defender with respectable batting average/on-base percentage marks but limited power in the minors; since being drafted out of Clemson in the eighth round back in 2014, he’s hit .268/.342/.371 in six minor league seasons.
Cubs, Corban Joseph Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Corban Joseph, tweets Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The PSI Sports Management client will be in Major League camp this spring.
Joseph, 31, has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past two seasons — albeit on a very limited basis. He’s played in just 44 MLB games, tallying 94 plate appearances and posting a tepid .170/.213/.261 batting line with a homer and five doubles.
That said, Joseph is a fairly accomplished Triple-A hitter with some defensive versatility. In parts of six Triple-A seasons, he’s a .294/.362/.457 hitter, and he has experience at second base, third base and first base over the course of a 12-year professional career.
Phillies Claim Reggie McClain
The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Reggie McClain off waivers from the Mariners and designated fellow righty Trevor Kelley for assignment in order to open space on the 40-man roster.
McClain, 27, was designated for assignment by Seattle last week when the club claimed lefty Nick Margevicius from the Padres. McClain made his big league debut in 2019 but struggled to a 6.00 ERA in 21 innings with the Mariners. McClain had a big season in the minors last year, however, skyrocketing across three levels and notching a combined 2.23 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 0.5 HR/9 in 72 2/3 innings.
McClain averages just under 94 mph on a heavy sinker that led to a huge 64.8 percent ground-ball rate in his 21 MLB innings, and his grounder rate in the minors checked in at nearly 60 percent as well. McClain still has all three minor league option years remaining, so if he sticks with the Phillies, they’ll be able to shuttle him back and forth between Philadelphia and Triple-A Lehigh Valley as often as they see fit.
The 26-year-old Kelley was also a waiver claim by the Phillies, coming over from the Red Sox organization in early December. Like McClain, he struggled in his MLB debut this past season (eight runs in 8 1/3 innings) but posted impressive minor league numbers in 2019 (1.79 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 in 65 2/3 innings).
Orioles Claim Pat Valaika, Designate Branden Kline
The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve re-claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Diamondbacks and designated right-hander Branden Kline for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Baltimore designated Valaika for assignment earlier this month, surely hoping to pass him through waivers and retain him without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to the 27-year-old. Instead, the Diamondbacks claimed him and briefly hung onto him until needing a roster spot of their own following the acquisition of Starling Marte. The O’s have been on the lookout for infield depth since losing Valaika, and they’ll now welcome him back into the organization at Kline’s expense.
A career .214/.256/.400 hitter who has shown plenty of pop from the right side of the dish, Valaika has experience at each of second base, shortstop and third base. However, he’s also punched out in nearly 29 percent of his trips to the plate in the big leagues, which has contributed significantly to his inability to reach base at a passable rate. Valaika does have a minor league option remaining and a career .275/.315/.498 slash 695 Triple-A plate appearances, making him a reasonable depth option for the rebuilding Orioles to carry on the roster even if he doesn’t break camp with the club this spring.
The 28-year-old Kline made his MLB debut in 2019 but was hit hard, logging a 5.93 ERA and a 34-to-19 K/BB ratio in 41 innings of relief. He averaged a hearty 96.3 mph on his four-seamer in that time but generated below-average spin and yielded hard contact at far too great a clip (49.2 percent, per Statcast). Kline has had some success up through the Double-A level but has yet to post strong numbers in limited time with Triple-A Norfolk or in the Majors.
Williams: Reds Don’t Expect To Trade Nick Senzel
January 30: Williams doubled down on his comments regarding Senzel in an appearance on MLB Network Radio’s Power Alley show (Twitter link, with audio), voicing a strong preference to keep him in the organization after what the club felt was a promising rookie campaign.
“We had to go into this offseason, knowing that we wanted to add impact, we had to be open to trades,” said Williams. “We certainly talked about a lot of impact players out there. And when you’re going to acquire an impact player, a name like Nick Senzel is going to come up. But our preference all along was to spend money and add to the club without touching our prospects, and we’ve been able to do that.”
January 29: Cincinnati’s signing of Nick Castellanos to a four-year contract this week further deepened the Reds’ outfield mix and opened up some questions about a potential trade of former No. 2 overall pick Nick Senzel. President of baseball operations Dick Williams, however, threw some cold water on recent rumors that popped up regarding Senzel, telling Bobby Nightengale Cincinnati Enquirer that he expects Senzel to be on the Reds’ roster come Opening Day.
“He’s an impact, young offensive player,” Williams said of Senzel. “They don’t come along very often. The flexibility he brings to the club, attitude he brings. At this point, we see him as very much a part of a winning, championship team here.”
That’s not a firm declaration that Senzel is wholly unavailable — there’s a point at which any team would budge on virtually any player — but these types of on-record comments from top-level executives aren’t often walked back, either. That Williams felt strongly enough to make such a statement is certainly notable and significantly dampens other organizations’ hopes of landing a player that just a year ago was considered to be among baseball’s 10 best prospects before an injury-shortened 2019 campaign.
Shortened by injuries or not, there were some positives for the 24-year-old Senzel in his debut campaign. He didn’t set the game ablaze like some other vaunted prospects have in recent years, but few minor leaguers graduate to the Majors and hit the ground running at a full spring. Senzel hit .256/.315/.427 with a dozen homers and 14 steals (in 19 tries) through 414 trips to the plate. For a player who had finger and elbow surgery in 2018 and battled ankle troubles last spring, it was a respectable first showing, though the organization (and Senzel himself) surely hope there’s more in the tank.
Perhaps most encouragingly, Senzel seemed to take to center field quite naturally. The converted third baseman was learning the position largely on the fly — particularly after missing the 2018 Arizona Fall League due to the aforementioned elbow procedure — but posted passable marks in Defensive Runs Saved (-1), Ultimate Zone Rating (-1.2) and Outs Above Average (0). For a position that was mostly foreign to him, Senzel seemingly proved that he has the athleticism to handle the spot — perhaps even at an above-average (or better) level once he gains more experience.
Notably, despite surgery that could place third baseman Eugenio Suarez on the injured list to open the year, Williams again emphasized that Senzel wouldn’t be lining up at third base. Nor, it seems, will Senzel be considered an option at shortstop. The Reds haven’t made a marquee addition there, but Williams voiced confidence in Freddy Galvis and a reluctance to have Senzel try his hand at the spot after undergoing shoulder surgery of his own late last summer. “That’s the most difficult throw on the diamond to make,” Williams said in a nod to Senzel’s most recent surgery.
For those keeping score, that’s three surgeries for Senzel in just over a year’s time, which will prompt some to question the 24-year-old’s durability. That, however, doesn’t appear to be a substantial concern for the Reds at this time, and the aforementioned depth the team possesses gives them plenty of alternatives in the event that Senzel’s injury troubles continue. Offseason signing Shogo Akiyama has long been a quality center fielder in Japan, and the Reds have Jesse Winker, Aristides Aquino, Phil Ervin, Travis Jankowski and Rule 5 pick Mark Payton as other outfield options on the 40-man roster.
Yankees, Josh Thole Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees agreed to a minor league deal with veteran catcher Josh Thole this week, as first reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The former Mets and Blue Jays backstop would make $600K upon cracking the big league roster. He’s the third experienced catcher the Yankees have brought in on a minor league deal this winter, joining fellow veterans Chris Iannetta and Erik Kratz in that regard. Kyle Higashioka, though, remains the favorite to back up Gary Sanchez in 2020.
Now 33 years old, Thole carved out a niche as something of a personal catcher for former NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball both in New York and in Toronto. He’s never been a huge threat at the plate, however, hitting .242/.313/.306 through 1499 Major League plate appearances and .259/.349/.380 through 186 Triple-A games.
Thole split the 2019 season between the Angels and Dodgers organizations, where he logged a combined .243/.352/.327 slash in 267 minor league plate appearances. He briefly appeared in the Tigers’ system in 2018 and didn’t play at all in 2017. Thole’s last big league action came in 2016 when he appeared in 50 games with the Blue Jays.
Pirates Considering Various Center Field Additions
The Pirates, who earlier this week traded center fielder Starling Marte to the Diamondbacks, are “considering” several free-agent replacement options, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Among them are Kevin Pillar, Billy Hamilton and Cameron Maybin.
That the Bucs are in the market for a new center fielder isn’t a surprise. General manager Ben Cherington revealed hours after the Marte swap that he’d likely be in the market for a new center fielder. Pittsburgh’s trade of Marte was more about selling a valuable asset at peak value (and, of course, paring back payroll) than opening playing time for in-house options. Bryan Reynolds could conceivably handle center-field duties in the short term, but it seems as though the organization’s preference is to leave him installed in left field, with a hopefully healthier Gregory Polanco patrolling right field at PNC Park.
Of the listed options, only Pillar played a full season as a regular in 2019. Traded from Toronto to San Francisco in what amounted to an early-season salary dump, the 31-year-old displayed above-average pop and baserunning abilities while also reminding of his typical struggles to get on base. Pillar swatted a career-high 21 homers, posted a .174 isolated power mark (slugging percentage minus batting average) and swiped 14 bases this past season.
However, Pillar also only walked in 2.8 percent of his plate appearances and recorded a .287 on-base percentage, which was the fourth-lowest among qualified MLB hitters. Defensive metrics continued to suggest that his once-elite glove has taken a step back (-3 Defensive Runs Saved; 0.3 Ultimate Zone Rating; +2 Outs Above Average). As Heyman points out, Cherington is plenty familiar with Pillar after spending more than three years in the Jays’ front office.
The fleet-footed Hamilton, meanwhile, again rated as an elite defender and baserunner. He’s still just 29 years of age, but at this point the ship on him ever being a passable hitter has likely sailed. Hamilton’s .218/.289/.275 slash through 353 plate appearances last season was the worst in MLB among players with at least 350 plate appearances. He’s still nearly unrivaled in terms of raw speed and defensive ability, however, making him a serviceable stopgap if the Bucs simply want to keep a seat warm for someone like 2018 first-rounder Travis Swaggerty.
Maybin, 33 in April, enjoyed a career renaissance in a limited role in 2019, hitting .285/.364/.494 with 11 homers and 17 doubles in 269 trips to the plate. He worked mostly as a corner outfielder, though, and hasn’t tallied more than 450 innings in center field in a single season since his 2016 run with the Tigers.