Steve Adams | MLB Trade Rumors

MLB Draft Signings: 6/10/19

By Steve Adams | June 10, 2019 at 11:54am CDT

Here are the latest notable signings from last week’s amateur draft, with the newest signings at the top of the post. Click here for the full list of slot values and draft pool bonuses, and you can find prospect rankings and scouting reports from Baseball America’s Top 500, Fangraphs’ Top 200, MLB.com’s Top 200, and the Top 100 of ESPN.com’s Keith Law…

The Padres signed second-round pick Josh Mears for a $1MM bonus, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (via Twitter). That checks in about $543K below slot, giving the Friars some additional flexibility in negotiations with their other picks. Callis further suggests that the additional funds could help to sign third-rounder Hudson Head, who “won’t come cheap.” Mears, an 18-year-old corner outfielder, ranked as the draft’s No. 68 prospect according to Law. He was 93rd on BA’s Top 500 and 118th at MLB.com. He’s rapidly elevated his stock over the past year and had been committed to Purdue but will instead begin his pro career. The Washington native draws praise for above-average right-handed power and bat speed. Law calls his power “explosive.”
Tigers second-rounder Nick Quintana announced on Twitter that he’s signed a contract with his new team. His No. 47 overall slot came with a $1.58MM value, though bonus terms . Quintana played third base at Arizona and checked in 43rd on Fangraphs’ rankings heading into the draft. He placed 77th at MLB.com, 81st at BA and 85th at ESPN. He’s regarded as a plus defender at third with above-average raw power, but there are some strikeout concerns and he’s a below-average runner as well.
The Royals announced that they’ve signed supplemental second-round pick Alec Marsh. He’ll receive the full slot value of $906,800 that accompanies the No. 70 overall pick, Callis tweets. A right-hander out of Arizona State, Marsh was ranked most favorably by Law (No. 83 overall). He landed 97th at BA, 102nd at MLB.com and 113th at Fangraphs. Law notes that he has a four-pitch mix and a chance to start. Neither MLB.com nor Fangraphs gives Marsh a true plus pitch, but their reports credit him for average or slightly above-average offerings across the board and a good feel for pitching.

Orioles Acquire Tom Eshelman From Phillies

By Steve Adams | June 10, 2019 at 9:47am CDT

The Orioles have acquired right-hander Tom Eshelman from the Phillies in exchange for international bonus allocations, per announcements from both clubs. Eshelman has been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk for the time being.

Eshelman, 24, was a second-round pick by the Astros back in 2015 (when Baltimore GM Mike Elias was with Houston) and landed with the Phillies by way of the Ken Giles trade in the 2016-17 offseason. Eshelman opened the season in Double-A Reading and struggled to a 6.28 ERA in 28 2/3 innings, but he did so with strong K/BB numbers that led metrics like FIP (3.79) and xFIP (2.98) to forecast better days on the horizon. The Phillies bumped him up to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and Eshelman responded well. In four starts there (26 innings), he’s notched a 2.77 ERA with a 23-to-5 K/BB ratio and a 48.6 percent ground-ball rate.

While Eshelman is Norfolk-bound for the time being, it’s not difficult to see him emerging as an option at the Major League level in the near future. Between the 2017-19 seasons, he’s made a total of 48 starts at the Triple-A level, so he has plenty of upper-minors experience. And the Orioles’ rotation has performed dreadfully as a collective unit, posting a 5.42 ERA that ranks 26th in the Majors as well as an MLB-worst 5.87 FIP.

Manager Brandon Hyde said about three weeks ago that the front office had been exploring various avenues to add some rotation depth to the organization, and acquiring Eshelman certainly fits that mold. He wasn’t considered to be among the top prospects in the Phillies’ system but gives the Orioles the type of fairly advanced arm that they’re lacking in the upper levels of a farm system that’s still being rebuilt (and will be for the next few years).

Currently, the Orioles are deploying Andrew Cashner, Dylan Bundy, John Means, David Hess and Gabriel Ynoa, but the latter two of that quintet have struggled in particular. Veteran righty Alex Cobb remains sidelined by a back injury, while Nate Karns is on the shelf indefinitely due to a flexor strain. The alternatives in Triple-A are collectively underperforming, as each of Josh Rogers, Luis Ortiz and Chandler Shepherd has an ERA over 7.00.

As for the Phillies, they’ll add a bit of money — no amount was specified — to add a few more international players to their minor league ranks in the coming days. The 2018-19 international signing period comes to a close on June 15, but this swap should give them more funds to add a bit more talent to the lower levels of the system. International signing slots need to be traded in $250K increments, so the Phils picked up at least that much in this deal — and quite possibly more, given Eshelman’s proximity to the Majors.

Pirates Rumors: Kingham, Keller, Outfield, Vazquez

By Steve Adams | June 10, 2019 at 9:26am CDT

The Pirates’ rotation in 2019 has been unexpectedly weak. Injuries to Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams and some alarming regression for Chris Archer have overshadowed solid performances by Joe Musgrove and offseason signee Jordan Lyles. Longtime prospect Nick Kingham entered the year out of minor league options and struggled so greatly that the team begrudgingly designated him for assignment last week and now seems likely to lose the righty.

Pittsburgh isn’t currently certain who’ll start for the organization on Wednesday this week, but general manager Neal Huntington told reporters that the Pirates will “look externally” to see if there are any palatable options available (links via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Adam Berry of MLB.com). Top prospect Mitch Keller is a candidate to make that start, but the Bucs have already recalled and optioned Keller once this season. The next time Keller is called up to the Majors, Huntington noted, the team would like it to be a permanent promotion. Adding an external option would allow the team to give Keller a bit more time in Triple-A, where he has 100 1/3 total innings since last season, but the Bucs won’t find a more talented option than Keller to plug in for that Wednesday outing.

In the meantime, the Pirates will explore the trade market to see what kind of interest there is in Kingham. Huntington noted that players with that type of prospect pedigree “tend to get traded” if they’re designated for assignment and expressed optimism that he will “be able to get something for him” even in spite of his considerable 2019 struggles. Kingham allowed an incredible 38 runs on 54 hits and 17 walks in 34 2/3 innings to begin the 2019 season, but he has a solid Triple-A track record and was long viewed as a potential big league starter. A rebuilding club like the Orioles, Blue Jays, Tigers, Royals or Giants could be intrigued by seeing how he fares in a change of scenery. An injury-plagued team like the Angels or Athletics could make some sense, too.

Perhaps a more intriguing source of trade speculation surrounding the Pirates, however, resides in the outfield. Corey Dickerson returned from the IL to join a mix that already had Bryan Reynolds, Starling Marte and Melky Cabrera playing well. Gregory Polanco has posted roughly average numbers at the plate since returning from shoulder surgery and has a solid track record prior to this season. With all five healthy, it’ll be tough to sort out playing time Huntington unsurprisingly declined to go into specifics but did at least acknowledge the possibility of a trade, stating that while the Pirates like all five outfielder, they’re “always open to opportunities to make this club better.”

That said, with the team slipping in the National League Central, it’s only natural that there’ll be increased speculation about the possibility of trades in the coming weeks — particularly when dealing from a position of strength like the outfield. Moving an outfielder, even to another contender (probably not within the division) could potentially net some help for a pitching staff that hasn’t performed up to expectations so far. If the Pirates surge back into contention — they’re seven back in the NL Central and five and a half back of a Wild Card spot — moving a short-term piece like Dickerson for another veteran could boost the staff. If their slide in the standings worsens, the Bucs could even entertain offers on Marte, who is controlled through 2021 by way of a pair of club options ($11.5MM in 2020, $12.5MM in 2021). Doing so could reap prospect value while opening a long-term spot for the cost-controlled Reynolds.

Also of interest in a selling scenario would be whether the Pirates make standout closer Felipe Vazquez available, but the fact that he is cheaply controlled through the 2023 season would make it extremely difficult to bite the bullet on a deal. “The ask will be big, and they won’t move from it,” one rival executive told ESPN’s Buster Olney when asked about a potential Vazquez deal (subscription required).

That’s probably an understatement. Vazquez has a 2.30 ERA with 14.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.99 HR/9 and a 34.4 percent ground-ball rate in 27 1/3 innings so far in 2019. He’s being paid $4MM this year, $5.25MM in 2020 and $7.25MM in 2021 before the team will be able to decide on a pair of club options in 2022 and 2023 — both valued at $10MM. That’s four and a half seasons of control over Vazquez, who’ll turn 28 in July, for a shade under $35MM.

For the time being, it’s likely that the Bucs will find some kind of deal for Kingham (or that he’ll be claimed on waivers) and monitor the market for at least a potential spot-start option Wednesday. There’s sure to be more afoot over the next several weeks, as the Pirates will soon have to give a long-term audition to one of the game’s best overall prospects (Keller) and perhaps resolve an outfield logjam on the trade market. Whether that move is made with an eye toward 2019 or an eye toward 2020 and beyond will probably be dictated by the team’s performance in the near term.

The Indians Have Some Difficult Decisions Looming

By Steve Adams | June 10, 2019 at 8:30am CDT

The Indians didn’t leave themselves much margin for error heading into the 2019 campaign. Ownership mandated payroll cuts in the offseason while delivering a candid and ominous “enjoy him” message to fans in reference to franchise shortstop Francisco Lindor. Cleveland’s Opening Day lineup looked more like the type you’d expect to see in early Spring Training than that of a division favorite earnestly putting forth its best options. An injury to Lindor weakened the product, but the holes throughout an order that featured Tyler Naquin hitting third were glaring.

A questionable offense was a known trade-off, though, as the Indians were built on the foundation of perhaps the game’s best collection of starting pitchers. Two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber was again joined by co-aces Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer, while younger righties Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber rounded out a rotation that would make nearly any team envious.

Fast forward a bit more than 10 weeks, and only Bauer and Bieber are healthy — neither with the results one might’ve expected of them. Clevinger made two starts before going down to a teres major strain that still has him on the injured list (though he’s nearing a return). Kluber suffered a fractured arm when he was struck by a comebacker. Most concerning of all, Carrasco is on the injured list due to a blood condition that has rendered him lethargic and likely contributed to some disappointing on-field results of his own. Even the Indians’ top depth option, Jefry Rodriguez, landed on the IL last week.

The result is an Indians club that trails the surprising Twins by 10.5 games in the AL Central. At 33-32, the Indians are still within 1.5 games of the second AL Wild Card spot, but it’s a tight race. Both the Yankees and the Rays are at 40-24, jostling for the AL East division lead. They’re six games up on another surprising club, the Rangers, and one of New York or Tampa Bay appears quite likely to claim that top Wild Card position. The Red Sox, Indians, Athletics, White Sox and Angels are all within four games of Texas for that second spot. Each of the Rangers, Red Sox and Athletics rather handily tops Cleveland’s -6 run differential.

The Indians are clear Wild Card contenders with a (much) longer shot to fight back into the division race, but for a club that entered the year as a strong favorite in the AL Central, their outlook is unexpectedly bleak. And given the obvious payroll constraints they faced in the offseason, it’s worth questioning whether ownership will dub the 2019 campaign somewhat of a transitional year and look to further cut some costs.

The Indians have just $48.4MM committed to next year’s payroll (via Jason Martinez of Roster Resource). That seems plenty manageable, but the number won’t stay at that level. Kluber’s $17.5MM option seems likely to be exercised even with his injury and some unexpected struggles (5.80 ERA in 35 2/3 innings). Lindor and Bauer headline an expensive arbitration class. Lindor already received a $10.55MM salary in his first trip through the process, and while we can’t know precisely what he’ll earn, last year’s Kris Bryant and Mookie Betts cases provide somewhat of a range. Both players earned similar numbers to Lindor in their first arbitration campaigns; Bryant had an injury-hindered year in 2018 and was bumped up to $12.9MM while Betts won the AL MVP and vaulted to $20MM. Lindor will probably check in somewhere near the midpoint — perhaps closer to Betts given that he’s been quite productive since returning from the IL. Bauer, meanwhile, will get a raise on a $13MM salary and could approach the $20MM mark.

The aforementioned $48.4MM figure could balloon to the $100MM vicinity when accounting for the salaries of Lindor, Kluber and Bauer alone. Add Clevinger’s first arbitration salary, the need to supplement the roster in other areas (one of second/third base, the bullpen, the outfield) and several league-minimum players, and it’s easy to see the payroll approaching or even exceeding the current $124MM mark despite a drop in attendance from 2018. All of this is to say that the Indians enter the summer not as the clear-cut buyers that many anticipated but as a team that could plausibly walk the line between a sell-off and some measured upgrades to the roster.

Players like Bauer and Brad Hand will be highly attractive assets who could command sizable returns. Cleveland knows it won’t sign Bauer long-term. The right-hander has been open on multiple occasions about his plans to play out his career on a series of one-year contracts (thus maximizing his salary on a year-over-year basis while also incurring a good bit of risk).

Hand is controlled through 2021 ($7.6MM in 2020, $10MM club option in 2021), and every contender in the game would love the opportunity to add him to its bullpen. His value right now is arguably as high as it was when the Indians acquired him a year ago; Hand has career-bests in ERA (0.98), FIP (1.70), xFIP (2.82) and HR/9 (0.33) at the moment and is eminently affordable. ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote yesterday (subscription required) after chatting with executives around the league that other teams expect Cleveland to trade Hand with his value nearing its apex.

Moving Hand or Bauer wouldn’t do the Indians’ playoff chances any favors, but doing so could yield controllable, near-MLB-ready talent while simultaneously providing the front office with a substantial increase in payroll flexibility this winter — dollars that could be reallocated to putting forth a more complete roster. And selling either or both players wouldn’t totally eliminate the team from contention, given the rather mediocre nature of the AL Wild Card race at the moment and the rebuilding nature of the bottom of the AL Central. It’s even plausible that the Indians could trade one of those players and acquire a more affordable replacement.

For now, the focus will surely remain on narrowing the gap between them and the Twins, and it’s certainly worth highlighting that their upcoming schedule is weak. They’ll play a combined 12 games against the Royals, Tigers and Orioles between now and the All-Star break. That presents a nice opportunity to make up some ground, although the Twins also have seven games against the Royals, three against the Mariners and three against the White Sox in that same span. The Indians and Twins will meet for a three-game set in Cleveland to open the second half.

The Indians needn’t embark on a full-scale rebuild like the ones that are taking place in Kansas City and Detroit — though if they ever did go that route, the price on a player of Lindor’s caliber would be staggering — nor do they even need to throw in the towel for the 2019. But the way the season has played out thus far makes it increasingly plausible that they’ll listen to offers for Bauer or Hand — a scenario few expected back in March.

Braves Sign Dallas Keuchel

By Steve Adams | June 7, 2019 at 9:07pm CDT

FRIDAY, 9:07pm: The Braves have announced the agreement. To make room for Keuchel on their 40-man roster, they transferred reliever Darren O’Day to the 60-day injured list. Atlanta plans to activate Keuchel after he makes two starts in the minors, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets.

6:32pm: Keuchel has passed a physical, per Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). The signing is expected to be announced tonight.

THURSDAY, 9:02pm: Keuchel’s contract is indeed for one year, reports Yahoo’s Tim Brown (Twitter link). He’ll be paid $13MM between now and season’s end, which is a bit more than the $11.16MM he’d have made on a prorated deal worth the same amount as the $17.9MM qualifying offer. (ESPN’s Jeff Passan adds that his base salary is technically around $20MM, and the $13MM represents the prorated version of that sum.) Keuchel will take a physical tomorrow, and he’ll jump right into the fray with Triple-A Gwinnett when he makes a start there on Saturday.

8:18pm: The Braves have agreed to terms with left-hander Dallas Keuchel, reports David O’Brien of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s “likely” a one-year deal, O’Brien adds. Keuchel is represented by the Boras Corporation.

As was the case with Craig Kimbrel, Keuchel will see his prolonged free-agent saga come to a close just days after the draft-pick compensation that has hung over his head was lifted. The terms of the contract will surely be only a fraction of what the former Cy Young winner had eyed when rejecting a $17.9MM qualifying offer from the Astros back in November, but but a short-term arrangement will allow Keuchel the opportunity to once again test free agency — this time without the burden of a qualifying offer and likely with some lower expectations; Keuchel and Boras reportedly sought a contract of five years and more than $100MM in the early stages of free agency.

Keuchel, 31, has seen his results tail off since his brilliant Cy Young campaign back in 2015, but he’s still a quality arm who should provide some much-needed stability to a Braves rotation that hasn’t functioned according to plan (or anywhere close) in 2019. Top starter Mike Foltynewicz missed several weeks to open the season and has struggled considerably in his return from the injured list, while Sean Newcomb has been moved to the bullpen and Kevin Gausman is lugging around a 6.15 ERA. Julio Teheran has posted solid bottom-line results, but fielding-independent pitching metrics forecast him as a regression candidate.

Mike Soroka has been far and away the team’s best starter, putting himself not only in the Rookie of the Year race but in the Cy Young race early in the season. Soroka, however pitched just 56 1/3 innings between the Majors and minors last season and figures to have some degree of workload restriction facing him down the line. Lefty Max Fried has also emerged as a largely solid option, but he tossed only 111 innings last year and could see his own innings monitored a bit late in the year.

Last season, Keuchel racked up 204 2/3 innings while working to a 3.74 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 53.7 percent ground-ball rate. Keuchel’s strikeout and ground-ball rates have dipped in recent seasons, particularly in 2018, and he also saw both his 2016-17 seasons shortened a bit by injuries. All of that has taken some of the shine of the lefty, but it’s also a fact that he’s posted a sub-3.00 ERA in three of the past five seasons. Even when throwing out his Cy Young campaign, Keuchel has a 3.77 ERA with a premium ground-ball rate and above-average control through his past 518 1/3 innings.

Based on that track record, there’s little doubt that he’ll be an upgrade for the Braves — especially when considering who he’ll likely replace. Gausman would appear to be the odd man out in this situation, as he’s struggled through the worst season of his career and could very well be bullpen-bound. If he can manage to find success in that admittedly presumptive new role, the benefit to the Braves would be twofold; not only would they get another quality arm in the ’pen, they’d have a starter working deeper into games (Keuchel) and thus not forcing the bullpen into action as frequently.

Keuchel drew interest elsewhere around the league, with the Yankees in particular being mentioned as an aggressive pursuer. However, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees had a very clear cutoff with their offer and were not willing to budge beyond paying Keuchel the prorated portion of the $17.9MM qualifying offer (Twitter link). That base salary would’ve paid Keuchel about $11.16MM through season’s end — assuming a deal is completed tomorrow. The Cardinals, Twins and Rays were all mentioned as interested parties, to varying extents, although Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets that Tampa Bay was never strongly after the lefty. Those teams will instead have to turn to the trade market in order to find rotation upgrades, as Keuchel was the open market’s lone realistic difference-maker.

The Braves, too, still figure to be active on the trade market moving forward. Even after adding Keuchel to the rotation, the Atlanta bullpen has been shaky and could stand to be improved upon. The team has been relying on Luke Jackson in the ninth inning as well as a host of converted starters and a series of low-cost fliers on veterans (e.g. Jerry Blevins, Anthony Swarzak). Newcomb has shown well in that role, as has Touki Toussaint, which makes the situation a bit less dire, but it’d nevertheless be a surprise if the Braves didn’t add at least one more reliable arm to the relief corps. Keuchel may very well be the highest-profile addition made by Atlanta between now and July 31, but he’s unlikely to be the only one.

Mike Minor Isn’t The Only Interesting Rangers Starter

By Steve Adams | June 7, 2019 at 6:14pm CDT

Mike Minor’s future with the Rangers is drawing plenty of headlines and speculation, here included, as the summer trade season approaches — and rightfully so. He bounced back from multiple years that were ruined by shoulder injury to pitch well with the Royals’ bullpen in 2017, post a solid season in the Rangers’ rotation in 2018 and now pitch like one of the game’s best all-around arms in 2019.

It’d be totally understandable for a rival team to express significant trade interest on a starter controlled beyond 2019 who is averaging better than a strikeout per inning with career-high fastball velocity and a 3.18 FIP in 74 innings. But that pitcher isn’t Mike Minor. That pitcher is his teammate — Lance Lynn.

The Rangers opened more than a few eyes this winter when they signed Lynn to a three-year deal worth a guaranteed $30MM. Lynn signed a one-year deal with the Twins after the start of Spring Training 2018 and never really found his footing in Minnesota. He’s an oft-cited data point when teams express wariness over signing players after Spring Training has already begun. Lynn struggled to a 5.10 ERA in 20 starts for Minnesota, averaging a career-worst 5.5 BB/9 in that time before being traded to the Yankees over the summer. Signing him was a rather low-risk proposition for the Twins, but it went down as a largely failed move (and, perhaps, a notable factor in Minnesota’s decision to dismiss its pitching and bullpen coaches following the ’18 season).

Lynn’s ERA with the Yankees was unremarkable, but ERA is an oft-misleading stat. His K/BB numbers and fielding-independent metrics in the Bronx told another story and convinced Texas to spend aggressively despite Lynn’s middling bottom-line results. The early results in Texas weren’t much better. Lynn was tagged for five or more earned runs in three of his first seven starts — including a pair of clunkers that saw him surrender seven and eight runs.

His secondary numbers in March/April were better, though, and somewhere along the way Lynn began to find the same type of K/BB success he enjoyed in Texas. He’s been on an absolute tear over his past seven outings, pitching to a 3.30 ERA and 2.74 FIP with a 53-to-14 K/BB ratio through 46 1/3 innings. In fact, even with Lynn’s series of early-2019 meltdowns, if you look back to the time he was traded from Minnesota to New York, the numbers are eye-opening.

Beyond his pedestrian 4.35 ERA, Lynn has logged a 2.75 FIP with 9.7 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 0.56 HR/9 (despite playing home games at Yankee Stadium and Globe Life Park) and a 42.8 percent ground-ball rate. This year’s 93.7 mph average fastball is the best of Lynn’s career, and his spin on the pitch has increased for the third straight season — to the point where it now ranks in the 86th percentile of MLB pitchers. Statcast pegs Lynn’s expected weighted on-base average at .304 against its actual .321 mark, suggesting that based on the quality of contact he’s allowed, he’s been a bit unlucky to get the results he’s generated so far. He’s also more than three years removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The $30MM guarantee on Lynn’s deal suddenly looks far more like a bargain than it does an overpay. He’ll earn $4.95MM from today through season’s end, $11MM in 2020 and $8MM in 2021 on a contract that concludes with his age-34 season.

For all the talk of Minor’s trade value, Lynn would draw significant interest were the Rangers to put him out there at this point. It’s not common to see a player traded just months into a three-year free-agent contract, though, and Lynn’s excellence actually in many ways only further calls into question how Texas should approach the summer trade market. Minor and Lynn give Texas two high-quality arms around which to help build a rotation both this year and next.

While the Rangers don’t have much beyond that duo — Adrian Sampson has looked intriguing in his past handful of outings but is still unproven — they’re also four games above .500 and in possession of a Wild Card spot at the moment. The trend in baseball is for teams to either commit to aggressively trying to win at all costs or completely tearing down a roster in a painful, multi-year rebuild, but the Rangers have never committed to a full rebuild and find themselves in a decent position nevertheless. They’ve pared back their payroll, added some interesting pieces in trade over the past few years, signed some high-profile international talent and are at least a fringe contender with a new stadium on the horizon.

Lynn’s success has been somewhat under the radar, but it’s been so great that it could arguably be described as a breakout rather than a return to form. He’s being paid comparably to what a mid-rotation starter might expect toward the end of arbitration but pitching substantially better than that. (He’s also on the mound tonight — so my deepest apologies to Rangers fans for jinxing him.) If everything falls apart in Texas over the next two months, he could be an interesting trade piece. But if the Rangers remain in the Wild Card picture and give their fans an unexpected postseason chase down the stretch in 2019, Lynn will be nearly every bit as vital to that Cinderella story as his more talked-about rotationmate.

The Offseason’s Best Minor League Signings (So Far)

By Steve Adams | June 7, 2019 at 12:15pm CDT

The final two top-tier free agents are finally off the board — it only took until June! — but most clubs have long since begun to reap the benefits of their offseason additions from the open market. That includes those who partook in the annual grab bag of minor league contracts.

Each year, there are dozens upon dozens of recognizable names who settle for non-guaranteed pacts — perhaps more in this past winter’s frigid free-agent climate — and while most fail to yield dividends, there’s always a handful of gems unearthed. The Rangers, Reds and Pirates did particularly well in terms of signing players on minor league contracts this offseason, but there have certainly been other deals of note. It’ll merit revisiting this bunch after the season is over to see who maintained their pace and who stepped up in the final two thirds of the 2019 campaign, but to this point in the year, here’s a look at the most productive minor league signees of the winter.

Rangers: Hunter Pence, Logan Forsythe, Danny Santana

Much was made of Hunter Pence’s efforts to revamp his swing while playing winter ball in the offseason. Frankly, it’s not uncommon to hear of veteran players perhaps in the twilight of their career making alterations in an effort to stick around a bit longer. What is uncommon is for the results to be this eye-opening.

Pence hasn’t simply bounced back from a pair of awful seasons to close out his Giants tenure — he’s given the Rangers one of the best offensive performances of his 13-year Major League career. The 36-year-old has posted a resplendent .288/.341/.583 batting line with a dozen home runs, 10 doubles and a triple through 179 plate appearances. His 47.6 percent hard contact rate lands in the 91st percentile of big league hitters, per Statcast, and his average exit velocity of 92.6 mph is in the 96th percentile. Defensive metrics are down on Pence, which isn’t a huge surprise for a 36-year-old corner outfielder, but he’s hitting at a star level without benefiting from a gaudy BABIP (.299). If he can maintain this pace, he’ll have no trouble landing not just a 40-man roster spot this winter — but a solid salary to go along with it.

Pence alone would make for a terrific minor league add, but the Rangers are also getting the best form of Logan Forsythe we’ve ever seen (.299/.404/.472 through 172 PAs) and a strong showing from Danny Santana (.291/.333/.465 in 139 PAs). Those performances are a bit more dubious, as the pair improbably sports matching .388 averages on balls in play. But, Forsythe is walking at a 14 percent clip that he’s never previously approached outside of a 2017 season in Los Angeles where he logged ample time hitting eighth in front of the pitcher (with a 21 percent walk rate in such plate appearances). Santana can’t boast that same plate discipline — to the contrary, his longstanding inability to draw a walk is as pronounced as ever — but he’s making hard contact more than ever before while also stealing bases with great efficiency (7-for-8). Both Forsythe and Santana can move all over the diamond as well.

Reds: Derek Dietrich, Jose Iglesias

Cincinnati has gotten even more production out of its minor league deals than Texas, although the two player the Reds landed on non-guaranteed contracts both came as a surprise. Even after Dietrich was effectively non-tendered by the Marlins, he was expected to get a big league deal. Iglesias enjoyed a solid season at the plate and has long been regarded as a stellar defender at shortstop. The Tigers jumped on a one-year deal with Jordy Mercer worth $5MM in early December, seemingly believing Iglesias would command more.

That neither player found his asking price met by the time mid-February rolled around has been nothing short of a godsend for the Reds, who scooped up both on minor league pacts. Cincinnati couldn’t have known that a spring injury to Scooter Gennett would create even more at-bats for this pair early in the season, but Dietrich and Iglesias have each been sensational in capitalizing on the opportunity for unexpected levels of playing time.

Dietrich has already pounded a career-high 17 home runs despite accruing only 157 plate appearances. Detractors will point to his new hitter-friendly home park, but Dietrich has a .377 on-base percentage, .541 slugging percentage and six home runs on the road this year. Besides, it’s not as if every member of the Reds has belted 17 home runs simply by virtue of playing games at Great American Ball Park. Dietrich has a career-best 9.4 percent walk rate and career-low 20.4 percent strikeout rate as well.

Iglesias, meanwhile, has batted .294/.335/.421 with four homers and a characteristically low strikeout rate (13.5 percent) in 2019 plate appearances. He’s already tallied seven Defensive Runs Saved with a +3.3 Ultimate Zone Rating in 477 innings at shortstop, making Detroit’s decision to move on from look all the more egregious, considering they went out and signed a different veteran to man the position anyhow. He’s not running like he did in 2018, but Iglesias has been a flat-out steal.

Pirates: Melky Cabrera, Francisco Liriano

Cabrera has been forced into minor league deals in each of the past two offseasons and will turn 35 later this summer, but the Melk Man just keeps on hitting. Injuries to Corey Dickerson, Gregory Polanco and Lonnie Chisenhall created an opening for Cabrera, and he’s responded with a .335/.376/.467 line through 179 plate appearances. It’s true that he’s benefited from a .366 average on balls in play, but Cabrera’s 11.7 percent strikeout rate is excellent and represents a continuation of the elite bat-to-ball skills he’s demonstrated throughout his career. The defense isn’t pretty — it never really has been — but Cabrera’s bat has been a huge plus for the Bucs.

The Astros tried Liriano in the bullpen down the stretch in 2017 and weren’t able to get the results they’d hoped. Liriano returned to a starting role with the Tigers in 2018 and found middling results, but he’s been reborn in the Pittsburgh bullpen in his second go-around at PNC Park. In 29 1/3 innings, Liriano has a 1.21 ERA with 32 punchouts, 12 walks and a 47.3 percent grounder rate. He won’t maintain a 96 percent strand rate or a .233 BABIP, but Liriano’s 14.7 percent swinging-strike rate is the best of his career. Even if he takes what seems like an inevitable step back, FIP pegs him at 3.08 while SIERA checks in at 3.82. While the game’s highest-paid free-agent relievers have largely flopped, Liriano looks every bit the part of a viable bullpen option.

Others of Note

There have been successful minor league signings outside of Arlington, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, of course. Eric Sogard, he of the former #FaceOfMLB and #NerdPower hashtag fame, has been a superlative pickup for the Blue Jays, hitting at a .290/.365/.481 pace with a career-high five homers in just 151 plate appearances. With several injuries and poor performances around the Toronto infield, his presence has been a boon to an otherwise disappointing lineup.

Sogard’s former teammate and fellow Oakland cult hero, Stephen Vogt, thought his career could be over at this time a year ago. Instead, he’s back in the Majors and enjoying a solid showing at the plate with the Giants. In 66 plate appearances, Vogt has hit .250/.318/.417, and Buster Posey’s recent placement on the injured list will only create more opportunity for playing time. The Giants cycled through an all-you-can-sign buffet of veteran catchers earlier this spring, and Vogt is the last man standing.

As far as other catchers go, Matt Wieters landed the role of baseball’s most seldom-used backup: the Cardinals’ second option to iron man Yadier Molina. Wieters has just 50 plate appearances on the year through June 6, but he’s going to see an uptick in playing time with Molina on the injured list for a bit. In his 50 trips to the dish, Wieters has connected with three long balls and slashed a very solid .277/.300/.511. His 15 strikeouts against just one walk could very well be a portent for struggles to come, but some more frequent playing time could also help the veteran find his rhythm.

Speaking of players who’ve succeeded in minimal playing time, right-hander Mike Morin has given the Twins 10 1/3 innings of terrific relief since having his contract selected in early May. He’s punched out seven hitters, hasn’t allowed a walk, is sitting on a career-high 56.7 percent ground-ball rate and has limited opponents to just one run (a solo home run). He’ll need to miss more bats, as he’s not going to maintain a .172 BABIP and will eventually walk a batter, but Morin’s newfound knack for keeping the ball on the ground is encouraging. (For those wondering where Ryne Harper is, he was technically signed in the 2017-18 offseason and is in his second year with the organization.)

In a similarly small sample of work — four games, 20 1/3 innings — left-hander Tommy Milone has given the Mariners some competitive starts to help out in their beleaguered rotation. Milone is sitting on a 3.10 ERA and 3.84 FIP, and while he’s never been one to miss bats in the past, he’s punched out 20 hitters against only five walks. His velocity hasn’t changed, but Milone is throwing more sliders at the expense of his four-seamer and changeup.

Over in Atlanta, the Braves have enjoyed their own bullpen find, as Josh Tomlin has pitched a team-high 32 innings of relief. Tomlin’s 3.94 ERA doesn’t exactly stand out, and fielding-independent metrics all suggest a mid-4.00s mark is more realistic, but he’s been a relief workhorse for a team whose rotation and bullpen have struggled mightily for much of the year. The 32 innings Tomlin has already soaked up have been vital for the Braves.

Elsewhere in the NL East, former Pirates and Blue Jays prospect Harold Ramirez is doing his best to continue earning playing time with the Marlins. He’s hit .329/.368/.427 through 87 plate appearances, and while that line has been buoyed by a .394 average on balls in play, Ramirez is making solid contact and isn’t striking out much. He batted .320/.365/.471 in 120 games with Toronto’s Double-A affiliate last season and .355/.408/.591 in 31 Triple-A games with the Marlins in 2019, so he’s earned a look at the game’s top level.

Yankees Activate Didi Gregorius

By Steve Adams | June 7, 2019 at 11:30am CDT

June 7: Gregorius has officially been reinstated from the injured list, per an announcement from the Yankees. Estrada has indeed been optioned to Triple-A, while Tulowitzki was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot. Tulo has already been on the 10-day injured list for more than 60 days, so his transfer is nothing more than a formality.

June 6, 9:54pm: The Yankees have optioned Estrada to make room for Gregorius on their 25-man roster, Hoch was among those to tweet.

7:39pm: The Yankees are expected to reinstate shortstop Didi Gregorius from the injured list tomorrow, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. He’s sat out the entire season to this point as he recovers from last October’s Tommy John surgery. His activation will require a 40-man and 25-man roster move, as he’s currently on the 60-day injured list.

Gregorius has been well ahead of schedule on his rehab assignment. Original projections by the team specified merely that the Yankees hoped for a “summer” return, but he’s obviously on the very early end of even that broad range. Gregorius has already logged eight games of duty on a minor league rehab assignment, and while he’s batted only .156/.206/.250 through 34 plate appearances across a pair of minor league levels, the Yankees have clearly seen enough to feel confident in his ability to return.

The return of Gregorius will add a high-profile player to what has been somewhat of a patched-together infield. The Yankees’ offseason addition of DJ LeMahieu has proved to be a godsend, as he’s helped to cover the absences of not only Gregorius but Miguel Andujar and Troy Tulowitzki. With Gregorius back in the fold, he’ll see semi-regular action at shortstop, with Gleyber Torres splitting time at the two middle-infield spots and LeMahieu perhaps sliding over to third base. It’ll likely mean a decrease in playing time for the red-hot Gio Urshela, who has unexpectedly erupted with a .325/.371/.455 slash through 170 plate appearances (entering play today).

If there’s a member of the infield mix who appears particularly in jeopardy, it would appear to be Kendrys Morales, who hasn’t hit much since being acquired by the Yankees. Like the more productive Luke Voit, Morales is limited to first base when playing defense, thus limiting manager Aaron Boone’s infield flexibility. If Morales is pushed out by the return of Gregorius, that’d open up some additional at-bats for the mix of Voit, Gregorius, LeMahieu, Torres and Urshela as well. Alternatively, the Yankees could option Thairo Estrada back to Triple-A, keep Morales for the time being and move either Tulowitzki or Giancarlo Stanton from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Both have already been on the IL for more than 60 days anyhow.

The Padres Have Yet To Resolve Their Outfield Crunch

By Steve Adams | June 7, 2019 at 10:36am CDT

It’s been rumored for months that the Padres would eventually have to make some form of outfield move. The team has more outfield options than playing time available, and that’s only become truer as the season has worn on. Currently, the Padres are “discussing what it would look like” to keep rookie slugger Josh Naylor on the roster even after Franchy Cordero returns from the injured list, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune. Doing so could potentially mean optioning the struggling Manuel Margot to Triple-A El Paso, where he could receive everyday at-bats and work on his approach at the plate.

Long considered to be among the game’s top prospects, Margot is hitting just .241/.283/.321 on the season, although Naylor hasn’t demonstrated much in the way of on-base skills in his brief audition so far. The former first-round pick has two homers and two doubles in 37 plate appearances but has yet to draw a walk. He’s also punched out a dozen times (32.4 percent) en route to a .243/.243/.459 overall batting line.

Still, it seems the club is at least pondering whether an alignment consisting of Cordero, Naylor, Wil Myers, Franmil Reyes and Hunter Renfroe is worth trying out. Defensively, there’s no true center field option, but any of the bunch could reasonably be expected to be more productive at the plate than Margot. Selling low on Margot surely isn’t something they’d prefer to do, but if the club is comfortable with Cordero or Myers in center, at least on a short-term basis, perhaps they’d more seriously explore the possibility.

As The Athletic’s Dennis Lin recently suggested (subscription required), San Diego would also be wise to explore the market for Renfroe given that his skill set is somewhat similar to that of Reyes, but he’s four years older. Renfroe was a frequently mentioned trade candidate in the winter and is out to a .250/.304/.619 start with 18 homers in 191 plate appearances. Margot is controlled through 2022 — Renfroe through 2023. Neither seems like a viable centerpiece for a premium trade acquisition, but both would hold some appeal to teams in search of controllable outfield depth.

Lin suggests that the Padres will be active both in looking to add long-term pieces — perhaps by condensing some of that outfield surplus and the team’s considerable prospect capital — while also being open-minded to moving current contributors. General manager A.J. Preller acknowledged that with the draft now in the past, trade talk becomes “a lot of the conversation for us,” which is generally true throughout the league.

Beyond Renfroe and Margot, the Padres would surely be open to shedding some of Wil Myers’ remaining contract, but the enormous financial commitment to him makes any trade difficult to piece together. Myers’ six-year, $83MM contract is extremely backloaded, such that he’ll earn $20MM in each of the 2020-22 seasons (plus a $1MM buyout on a 2023 club option). He’s hitting .232/.330/.442 with 11 homers, seven doubles and seven stolen bases through 218 plate appearances, but he’s also striking out in a career-worst 36.2 percent of his trips to the plate. He’s a capable enough corner outfielder but is overmatched in center, and his strikeout trouble will always hinder his on-base skills. It’s tough to imagine a trade involving Myers without the Padres taking back a similarly onerous contract or eating a substantial portion of salary.

It’s possible, then, that if the Friars do make a move, they’ll be sending away someone with significant team control remaining. Beyond the aforementioned Margot and Renfroe, Cordero is controlled through 2023, Reyes through 2024 and Naylor through 2025. The Padres are known to be on the lookout for starting pitchers they can control beyond the 2019 season, and parting with a pre-arbitration outfielder who has upwards of a half-decade of club control remaining would help them in that regard.

If the Friars are to explore possible trades for names like Marcus Stroman, Trevor Bauer or Matthew Boyd (to name a few), including a controllable outfielder as a piece of the puzzle would allow them to free up immediate playing time while also addressing the pitching staff both now and in the future. It’s worth nothing that each of the Blue Jays, Indians and the Tigers in particular have faced questions about their outfield production this season. Elsewhere in the league, the Phillies lost Andrew McCutchen for the remainder of the season due to an ACL tear just days after Odubel Herrera’s future became cloudy, at best, due to assault allegations. There are ample trade opportunities to explore, and more figure to emerge as the deadline draws nearer, but Naylor’s arrival and Cordero’s looming return make San Diego’s outfield feel more crowded than ever.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/7/19

By Steve Adams | June 7, 2019 at 9:06am CDT

Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…

First baseman/outfielder Jim Adduci cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Cubs and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Iowa, per the league’s transactions page. He’d have had the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reports (via Twitter) that Adduci was indeed added to the Iowa roster, with Matt Carasiti landing on the temporarily inactive list in a corresponding move. The 34-year-old Adduci was hitless in five plate appearances during his extremely brief time with the Cubs before being designated for assignment to accommodate the addition of Carlos Gonzalez. He hit .261/.306/.478 through 41 games in Iowa earlier this season and .267/.290/.386 in 185 plate appearances for the Tigers in 2018.

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