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Twins Re-Sign Adam Rosales To Minor League Deal

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The Twins announced that they’ve re-signed veteran infielder Adam Rosales to a minor league contract. He’ll report to Triple-A Rochester to open the season.

Rosales, 35, had a huge spring with Minnesota, batting .278/.350/.694 with four homers and three doubles in 40 trips to the plate. He’d hoped to earn a roster spot with the Twins, but Minnesota’s addition of Marwin Gonzalez provided the team ample depth behind Jorge Polanco, Jonathan Schoop, Ehire Adrianza, Willians Astudillo, Ronald Torreyes and the injured Miguel Sano.

Rosales has experience at all four infield positions, so he can bounce around the diamond with the Twins’ top affiliate while waiting to see if an opportunity presents itself at the MLB level. The veteran spent the 2018 season in the Indians organization and tallied 21 plate appearances for Cleveland late in the season. In doing so, he finished out the year on their active roster, meaning that in order for the Twins to retain him without releasing and re-signing him, they’d have had to pay Rosales a $100K retention bonus as an Article XX (B) free agent. It’s commonplace for organizations and veteran players to sidestep that issue; Junichi Tazawa (Cubs), Andrew Romine (Phillies) and John Axford (Blue Jays) have all signed similar deals over the past 24 hours.

In 1807 plate appearances at the Major League level, Rosales is a .226/.291/.365 hitter. He’s spent time with the Athletics, Padres, Rangers, Reds, Diamondbacks and Indians at the MLB level.

Steven Souza Jr. To Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

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The Diamondbacks announced Tuesday that right fielder Steven Souza Jr. will undergo major surgery to repair his his left knee. The operation will address not only a torn ACL but also a torn LCL, a partially torn PCL and a posterolateral capsule tear. Souza suffered the injury while crossing home plate in last night’s Cactus League game. He was helped off the field after crumpling to the ground and underwent an MRI to evaluate the damage this morning.

The gruesome injury will bring about a second frustrating year for Souza, whom the D-backs had hoped could give them a controllable power bat in right field at the time of his acquisition from the Rays. A series of pectoral strains limited Souza to just 72 games in 2018, though, and he now won’t suit up until 2020 at the earliest. A specific timetable on injury of this magnitude won’t be known until surgeons have repaired the extensive damage.

Souza, 29, looked to be healthy after last seasons injury troubles this spring as he turned in a 10-for-47 effort with a pair of homers, a double and seven walks. He’d been lined up to serve as Arizona’s everyday right fielder but will now cede those duties to some combination of Adam Jones and Jarrod Dyson. Jones, who signed a one-year deal worth $3MM with the Diamondbacks earlier this month, had been set to play all three outfield positions but may now slot in as the primary right fielder with Dyson backing up Ketel Marte. The loss of Souza significantly increases the odds that utilityman Ildemaro Vargas will break camp with the Diamondbacks.

Arizona and Souza agreed to a $4.125MM salary to avoid arbitration earlier this offseason, and he’ll remain under team control through the end of the 2020 season. It’s fairly common for players who miss the entire season due to injury to receive the same salary in arbitration rather than any kind of raise, so if the team is confident in Souza’s ability to return to health in 2020, he could be in line for a similar (if not slightly reduced) rate of pay.

The loss of Souza is compounded by the fact that Arizona had placed fellow outfielder Socrates Brito on waivers prior to last night’s game, meaning one of the team’s primary depth pieces to replace him could now be lost to another organization. If Brito ultimately clears waivers, the Diamondbacks could immediately select him back to the 40-man roster, as placing Souza on the 60-day injured list would open a spot on the 40-man roster. If Brito is claimed by another club, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Diamondbacks look into outfield alternatives. The team does have some non-roster options to which it could turn in the form of Yasmany Tomas, Abraham Almonte and Matt Szczur, but none of that trio was able to secure a roster spot in Spring Training.

Nick Senzel Out Several Weeks Following Ankle Injury

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Top Reds prospect Nick Senzel, who was recently reassigned to minor league camp, incurred a right ankle sprain while sliding into second base during a minor league game and will be in a walking boot for seven to 14 days, the team announced. As president of baseball operations Dick Williams tells Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Senzel will require multiple weeks to get back up to speed once he’s out of the boot.

Cincinnati assigned Senzel to minor league camp earlier this week — a move that was met with noted protest from agent Joel Wolfe, who called the decision a “simply egregious case of service-time manipulation” in a statement to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Whether the move was indeed fueled by service time — the Reds can at least plausibly maintain that they’d like Senzel to continue getting reps in center field after shifting there from the infield just this spring — the injury will definitively keep in the minors long enough for the Reds to garner an additional year of club control over the former No. 2 overall draft pick (2015). Assuming Senzel is called up to the Majors later this season and sticks, he’ll be controlled through the 2025 season and, depending on the exact date he’s called up, would be eligible for arbitration after either the 2021 season (if he’s a Super Two player) or the 2022 season.

With Senzel sidelined, Scott Schebler will now get a lengthier look as the primary center fielder with the Reds to begin the 2019 season. He’ll be flanked by Jesse Winker, Yasiel Puig and (more occasionally) Matt Kemp in the outfield for at least the first few weeks of the season.

Rangers Claim Kyle Dowdy From Mets

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The Rangers announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Kyle Dowdy off waivers from the Mets, bringing their 40-man roster count to a total of 38 players. Dowdy was New York’s selection in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, meaning he’ll need to stick on Texas’ big league roster or else be exposed to waivers for a second time. If he clears, he’d need to be offered back to the organization from which he was originally selected: the Indians.

Dowdy, 26, posted unsightly results in a combined 124 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year: a 5.15 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. However, as Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser examined in depth earlier this spring, Dowdy caught the attention of scouts last season after an enormous velocity jump. Once regarded as a “pitchability” right-hander, with a fastball in the upper 80s and low 90s, Dowdy began working out on a weighted-ball program and altered his arm angle during the 2017-18 offseason. A fastball that previously topped out at 94 mph began sitting in the 94-96 range and even scraped 99 mph on radar guns.

The results weren’t there last season in the minors, and it was a similar tale for Dowdy this spring (seven runs on 15 hits and seven walks with seven strikeouts through 11 1/3 innings), but the rebuilding Rangers will at least take a look at the sudden hard-thrower in hopes of refining his newfound velocity.

Cubs Extend Kyle Hendricks

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12:57pm: It’s a four-year, $55.5MM extension for Hendricks, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosethal (Twitter links). Hendricks will be paid $12MM in 2020 and $14MM annually from 2021-23. He has a $16MM vesting option for the 2024 season that comes with a $1.5MM buyout but would become guaranteed if he finishes top three in the 2020 Cy Young voting.

12:47pm: The Cubs announced Tuesday that they’ve signed right-hander Kyle Hendricks to a four-year contract extension spanning the 2020-23 seasons. The deal also contains an option for the 2024 season. Hendricks, who is already set to earn $7.405MM in 2019 after avoiding arbitration, was originally under control through the 2020 season. He’s represented by Wasserman.

Kyle Hendricks | Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Hendricks, 29, has blossomed from unheralded prospect to steadying force in the Chicago rotation. While he’s unlikely to ever match the dominance that carried him to a third-place finish in the 2016 Cy Young voting, when he pitched 190 innings of 2.13 ERA ball, he’s nevertheless a rock-solid mid-rotation piece, thriving on pristine control and weak contact rather than overpowering opponents. Hendricks averages just 87 mph on his fastball, but he ranked in the top eight percent of the league in terms of average opponents’ exit velocity in 2018 (85.2 mph), and the spin rate on his curveball is among the best in the game (89th percentile).

In all, since debuting in 2014, Hendricks has amassed 789 innings of 3.07 ERA ball with 7.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.86 HR/9 and an above-average 48.9 percent ground-ball rate. His plus changeup and hook, paired with pinpoint control, allow him to generate a well-above-average swing-rate on pitches outside the strike zone (32 percent), which helps to explain how he’s managed to continually limit hard contact despite laying claim to one of the slowest fastballs in the Majors.

Hendricks would’ve reached free agency heading into his age-31 season, and the price on his four-year extension is somewhat reflective both of his age and his proximity (or lack thereof) to an open-market setting. Both Nathan Eovaldi and Miles Mikolas, for instance, received $68MM on their own recent four-year contracts. However, Eovaldi received that sum as a 29-year-old on the free-agent market, while Mikolas received that deal with his own foray into free agency just a few months away.

For the Cubs, getting Hendricks locked up long-term was likely of particular importance given the long-term outlook of their starting staff. Lefties Jon Lester and Cole Hamels remain quality options but are both near the expiration of their contracts and are both aging. Lester has just two guaranteed years of his contract remaining, while Hamels can become a free-agent at season’s end. Jose Quintana, similarly, has just one year of control remaining beyond the current season.

The Cubs do have some longer-term options, but the organization can’t know exactly what to expect from Yu Darvish, who pitched just 40 innings in the first season of a six-year, $126MM contract last year. Chicago picked up Kendall Graveman this winter as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, but while he’s controlled through the 2021 campaign, he won’t be a plausible option until next year. Mike Montgomery is arbitration-eligible through the 2021 season as well, but he’s never worked a full season as a starter. With Hendricks now in place for an additional three years beyond the point at which he’d have originally become a free agent, the Cubs have some much-needed certainty in place.

From a luxury tax standpoint, the extension does have some ramifications. Hendricks had counted as a $7.405MM hit against the team’s luxury-tax bill, but that number now rises to $12.581MM. And because the Cubs were already into the second bracket of luxury tax penalties, every single dollar of that increase will come with a 32 percent tax hit. As such, even though Hendricks’ salary is unchanged for the coming season, the Cubs will now pay an additional $1.656MM in surcharges. Beyond flying in the face of the audacious comments made by owner Tom Ricketts last month, in which he claimed that the Cubs “[didn’t] have any more” money to spend, the Hendricks extension will give the Cubs more than $232MM of salary that counts against the luxury tax. It’ll also push the Cubs’ 2020 payroll to a guaranteed $114MM before the 2019 season even kicks off.

From a broader perspective, Hendricks’ contract is the latest in an avalanche of long-term deals signed by players this spring against a backdrop of general unrest regarding the state of free agency. Dating back to Sonny Gray’s late-January extension with the Reds, there have been a remarkable 22 multi-year deals signed by players who were still under club control (as shown in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker). That number would typically constitute two, if not three year’s worth of spring extensions. The series of long-term deals has not only weakened next winter’s free-agent class but now, with extensions from Hendricks and Jacob deGrom, has begun to cut into the 2020-21 class of free agents as well.

Rockies Select Mark Reynolds

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Mark Reynolds is once again an official member of the Rockies’ roster, as the team announced this afternoon that they’ve formally selected his contract. Reynolds’ addition brings Colorado’s 40-man roster to a total of 39 players. As MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported at the time of Reynolds’ signing, he’ll now receive a $1MM base salary with the opportunity to earn an additional $1MM via incentives.

Reynolds, 35, spent the 2016-17 seasons with the Rockies before taking a one-year detour with the Nationals in 2018. Last season, the slugger posted a .248/.328/.476 slash that helped to prove his 2016-17 output with the Rox wasn’t merely fueled by Coors Field. As is the case with many veterans in their mid-30s in this age of baseball, however, Reynolds settled for a minor league contract this winter.

It was a rough spring for Reynolds, who hit just .133/.278/.333 in 54 plate appearances. The Rockies, though, weren’t swayed by the slow start and chose to instead bet on the productive three-year stretch Reynolds carried into camp. Dating back to Opening Day 2016, Reynolds has batted a combined .269/.349/.472 with 57 homers and 54 doubles. He’ll give the Rockies a right-handed bat off the bench who can occasionally spell Daniel Murphy at first base against left-handed pitching.

Reynolds will join catcher Tony Wolters and out-of-options outfielder Raimel Tapia in occupying three spots on the Rockies’ bench. It also now seems likely that both Ryan McMahon and Garrett Hampson, who have been thriving this spring as they battle for the second base job, will both break camp with the team, meaning one of that duo will be available in reserve on most days.

Although Reynolds’ role will be a limited one, there’s still a strong possibility that he’ll celebrate a milestone in Colorado this season. Reynolds, who has never hit fewer than 13 home runs in a season, will enter the year just six big flies shy of the 300 mark.

Devin Mesoraco Reportedly Considering Retirement

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March 26: Mesoraco has indeed been placed on the restricted list, tweets Jon Heyman of the MLB Network.

March 25: Veteran catcher Devin Mesoraco, who was in Spring Training with the Mets as a non-roster invitee but reassigned to minor league camp over the weekend, is now contemplating retirement, The Record’s Matt Ehalt reports (Twitter link). Mesoraco has no plans to report to Triple-A with the Mets, but rather than release him the organization could instead place him on the restricted list. If that happens, per Ehalt, Mesoraco’s inclination is to retire.

It’s a bizarre scenario in which a veteran player does not appear to have been contractually promised anything but may have had a handshake agreement with the team. As Newsday’s Tim Healey reported over the weekend, during their discussions on a minor league contract this winter, Mesoraco’s camp was given the impression that he’d have a path to the big leagues either in the event that Travis d’Arnaud proved unready for Opening Day or should the Mets carry three catchers. Now, despite the fact that d’Arnaud will indeed be on the injured list to begin the season, Mesoraco was assigned to minor league camp and asked to report to Triple-A.

Mesoraco’s contract doesn’t contain an opt-out provision, it seems, though multiple reports last week indicated that his contract did have an “upward mobility” clause. The Mets last Wednesday informed teams that Mesoraco would be available should any team wish to put him on the big league roster, at which point they had 48 hours to inform him of their intent to do so. The Mets, in turn, would’ve then had the opportunity to instead place him on their own 25-man roster to prevent him from leaving. As the New York Post’s Mike Puma reported (via Twitter), however, no team expressed the intent to add Mesoraco to its big leagues roster.

Given that report, it’s possible that Mesoraco wouldn’t find a more immediate path to the Majors elsewhere anyhow. That said, he’d still have the opportunity to speak to other clubs with less-solidified catching situations where he could have a more plausible chance at a promotion back to the show. While it’s impossible to know exactly what kind of verbal assurances were given or implied during negotiations, it’s also understandable that Mesoraco would feel jilted had he spent the entirety of camp believing himself to have been competing for an opportunity that was never really there. To this point in Spring Training, he’s gone 6-for-26 with a homer and three doubles after batting .222/.306/.409 in 222 plate appearances with the Mets last year.

Frankly, it’s difficult to see what the Mets gain by placing Mesoraco on the restricted list rather than releasing him. The team doesn’t view him as one of its best options behind the plate — they’re reportedly in agreement with Rene Rivera and also have d’Arnaud, Nido and Ramos on the 40-man roster — and all 29 other clubs already passed when the Mets made him available. Perhaps the organization feels that Mesoraco is in violation of his contractual terms and that a hard line simply needs to be drawn, but beyond that possibility the motive seems muddled.

Indians Owner Paul Dolan On Spending Plans

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Indians owner Paul Dolan held court on a variety of topics recently with Zack Meisel of The Athletic (subscription link). It’s essential reading for fans of the organization; there are a few items worth highlighting from a hot-stove perspective.

Dolan’s comments are sure to raise a few eyebrows from those who’d like to see the team spending more. After capturing a third-straight AL Central title last year, the Cleveland organization is set to enter the 2019 season with a reduced payroll.

That’s a reflection in part of the fact that there wasn’t any real postseason revenue last year, says Dolan. He claims that the team lost money last year and does so in most seasons, though annual bottom lines are subject to quite a lot of interpretation and Dolan also acknowledges that the ownership group has “seen an asset grow in a considerable value.”

Dolan indicated that the general philosophy in the Indians organization is to aim to keep open a contention window for a lengthy stretch, rather than to push in too many chips in a given year. Reaching the playoffs more often, in theory, creates more chances to win it all and tamps down on the number of lengthy losing stretches.

That’s what the team is engaged in at present, says Dolan, who says “the downside is out there somewhere.” Maximizing chances now would also mean raising the specter of a quicker and more dramatic decline. The hope, says Dolan, is that “we can put it off for as long as we possibly can.”

If it’s not clear enough already, Dolan left little doubt that huge contracts aren’t part of the plan. The Cleveland org “probably” won’t be doing any $300MM contracts — at least, he says, unless and until “somebody else is doing $1 billion deals.” He even critiqued the small-market Padres for spending $300MM on Manny Machado, saying that the club will “bump up against the issue with having so much of their payroll tied up in one guy.”

And what about the club’s own star, Francisco Lindor? Dolan says that fans should “enjoy him and then we’ll see what happens.”

There’s some conflict in some of Dolan’s positions. At one point he plainly stated that a team should never assume it is going to the postseason. Later, he cited the weak AL Central competition as part of his justification for the organization’s shopping of its elite starting pitching this winter.

“We ended up not doing it, but you heard talk about some of our elite pitchers,” said Dolan. “…we could theoretically have moved somebody there to get some upper-level talent that would have the effect of extending our window, taking our payroll down a little further, and if it took a few wins off of our expected wins this year, we probably have that buffer.”

Having failed to identify a suitable trade arrangement for Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer, and with an affordable new deal in place for Carlos Carrasco, the Indians will enter the season with their trio of veteran stalwarts still fronting the staff. They’ll also carry one of the cheapest and most questionable outfield groups in baseball. As Dolan hints, the roster is still quite a bit more talented than those of its division rivals. (The White Sox, of course, were denied the opportunity to invest in Machado.) But taking a title — and setting up in the best possible manner for the postseason — can never be taken for granted.

Some fans, surely, will be frustrated with the explanations proffered. Some, perhaps, even wish the Dolan ownership group would turn things over to another. “You just don’t know,” Dolan said on that matter. “There’s no plan not to own the team. I’ll put it that way. My parents are aging, so things could happen.”

Rangers Release Zach McAllister

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The Rangers announced that they’ve given right-hander Zach McAllister his unconditional release. It’s a somewhat surprising development given that McAllister had signed a Major League contract with Texas in the offseason and enjoyed a solid Spring Training to date. In a dozen Cactus League innings, he’s allowed four runs on 12 hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts.

With McAllister now out of the fold, the locks for the Texas bullpen include Jose Leclerc, Jesse Chavez, Shawn Kelley, Chris Martin and Jeffrey Springs (the latter of whom was informed last week he’d made the team). Right-hander Jeanmar Gomez is also in line to make the roster following the sudden retirement of Jason Hammel. Out-of-options righty Connor Sadzeck, presumably, is a candidate to open the year in new skipper Chris Woodward’s bullpen as well, though offseason acquisition Kyle Bird is also still in camp.

McAllister, 31, struggled through an awful 2018 campaign with the Indians and Tigers, posting a combined 6.20 ERA in 45 innings of relief between the two clubs. He did turn in a quality 39-to-10 K/BB ratio in that time, though, and McAllister’s 95.3 mph average fastball velocity was as strong as ever. Prior to that ugly season, McAllister was a mainstay in the Cleveland bullpen from 2015-17, where he worked to a 2.99 ERA with 10.0 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 through 183 1/3 innings of relief.

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