Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Orioles Rumors

AL East Notes: Britton, Encarnacion, Cespedes, Yankees, Red Sox

By | at

Based on comments he made in October, it seems a trade out of Baltimore wouldn’t surprise Orioles closer Zach Britton, who has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining. However, Orioles general manager Dan Duquette isn’t inclined to shop Britton on the heels of an incredible season in which he converted all 47 save chances and posted a 0.54 ERA and 80 percent ground-ball rate across 67 innings. “I’d rather see Britton on our team than trade him now,” Duquette told 105.7 The Fan on Thursday (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). If Britton doesn’t receive an extension this winter and instead plays next season on his arbitration salary, he’ll rake in roughly $11.4MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

More from the American League East:

  • Duquette might not want to trade Britton, but he should at least listen to offers, opines Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com. Placing Britton on the block would enable the Orioles to market him at a much lower price than the top free agent relievers – Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon – will command, though Melewski cautions that trading the soon-to-be 29-year-old could cripple the O’s playoff chances in 2017. Baltimore earned a wild-card berth by 2.5 games this past season, and it may have been on the outside looking in without Britton’s brilliance.
  • At least one of the top two hitters available in free agency, Yoenis Cespedes or Edwin Encarnacion, will sign with the Yankees, predicts Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio (Twitter link). FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal suggested Saturday that the Yankees are in position to make a bold strike, and signing either slugger would certainly qualify. The team could use help at first base and designated hitter, where Encarnacion plays, as well as in the corner outfield (Cespedes’ domain). New York has already shown some interest both.
  • While the Yankees boast a deeper prospect pool than that of the Red Sox, FanRag Sports’ John Perrotto argues that Boston has a clear advantage because of its young talent base already in the majors. When comparing the two teams’ youth, it’s hard to disagree. The Red Sox have AL MVP runner-up Mookie Betts, AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada among a group of 20-somethings controllable through at least 2019. The Yankees’ best 20-somethings under control for three or more more seasons include Masahiro Tanaka, Dellin Betances, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius. That’s an impressive quartet, but it’ll take a hit if Tanaka opts out of his contract after next season and departs in free agency.

Quick Hits: White Sox, Dodgers, Twins, Yankees, Orioles

By | at

The White Sox are willing to listen to offers for just about all of their players, and industry sources regard them and the Dodgers as perfect trading partners, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan (Twitter links). Ace Chris Sale, third baseman Todd Frazier and closer David Robertson are among the players Chicago could move, and all of them fit the Dodgers’ needs, notes Passan. Meanwhile, the White Sox like several Dodgers – outfielder Yasiel Puig and prospects Cody Bellinger, Alex Verdugo, Jose DeLeon and Willie Calhoun – so it seems the two sides could line up for some sort of deal this offseason.

Now for some American League notes:

  • Former Twins reliever LaTroy Hawkins has joined the team’s revamped front office as a special assistant, reports Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. And longtime outfielder Torii Hunter, one of the greatest Twins ever, could be next. Hunter told Berardino he has had “several conversations about” taking on a role with the Twins, adding that he and the club “will talk here in the near future.” Hawkins and Hunter, both of whom retired after the 2015 campaign, spent a combined 21 major league seasons with the Twins. Minnesota chose Hawkins in Round 7 of the 1991 draft and Hunter in the first round in 1993.
  • Although the Yankees are on the hunt for starting pitching, they could take advantage of a weak market and shop contract-year right-hander Michael Pineda, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests. Even if New York opts against that and only adds to its rotation, Sherman doesn’t see the team going to three years for free agency’s best option, onetime Yankee Rich Hill. New York has shown interest in Hill, Jason Hammel and Derek Holland this week.
  • The Orioles did not add outfielder Mike Yastrzemski or catcher Audry Perez to their 40-man roster Friday, meaning both minor leaguers could end up leaving the organization in December’s Rule 5 draft. Baltimore is at least hoping to retain Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Mike Yastrzemski hit just .221/.312/.369 in 385 plate appearances at Triple-A Norfolk in 2016, though injuries negatively affected him. “He had a labrum problem and he also had a core injury that he had to have surgery on, so he’s got a little work to do to be ready for the spring,” said general manager Dan Duquette. Scouts regard Yastrzemski as a potential fourth outfielder in the majors and Garcia as a possible reserve backstop, and Kubatko expects someone to draft the latter.
  • Along with the previously reported Roger McDowell and Frank Viola, Orioles Double-A pitching coach Alan Mills, Cardinals minor league pitching coordinator Tim Leveque and Rangers minor league pitching coordinator Danny Clark are vying to replace the departed Dave Wallace as Baltimore’s pitching coach, per Kubatko. The club is looking to make a hire soon, perhaps as early as this weekend.

Players Added To The 40-Man

By and | at

We’ll use this post to keep track of the players being added to their teams’ respective 40-man rosters today, which is the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Players must be added to the big league roster within either four years (if they were 19 or older at the time of their original signing) or five years (if 18 or younger) of their signing year in order to be shielded from selection.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo took a look at some of the biggest names who face roster decisions, though most of those won’t be much in question. At the fringes, teams must also consider the major league readiness of the player, since that factors heavily into whether they’ll be taken and kept. Any drafting team, of course, must keep a player on its active MLB roster for the full season (with certain exceptions relating to the DL) in order for their control rights to vest. Adding a player to the 40-man too early can have its own risks, because it limits flexibility and could require a team to expose that player to waivers if a need arises. With 26-man rosters reportedly under consideration, the Rule 5 draft could be quite intriguing this year, and that may bleed into today’s decisions as well.

Below is a division-by-division rundown of the names that were added to each team’s 40-man roster (plus the various waiver claims that spawned from teams trying to outright players to protect Rule 5-eligible prospects). We won’t delve into each player’s background, but if you’re looking to a little more about the names that were added, I’d highly recommend this tremendous, in-depth examination of each team’s additions by Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper. If you want to see how the moves look in the context of a team’s roster, head over to Roster Resource for your club’s depth chart.

Onto the moves…

American League West

American League Central

American League East

National League West

National League Central

National League East

Mark Trumbo Will Reject Qualifying Offer

By | at

“Indications are” that Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo will reject his qualifying offer, per FanRag’s Jon Heyman, and Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets a similar sentiment, calling the market for Trumbo “bustling” and adding that he can be “cross[ed] off the list of players who might be inclined to accept a qualifying offer.” SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets more definitively that Trumbo will reject. After leading the Majors with 47 home runs, Trumbo has never seemed to be an especially likely candidate to accept the qualifying offer. Some teams, undoubtedly, will be scared off by his fairly one-dimensional nature, but power is always an in-demand commodity even in spite of the league-wide increase in home runs in 2016.

Mark Trumbo

Trumbo, 31 in January, hit .256/.316/.533 in 667 plate appearances this past season, adding 27 doubles and a triple to his MLB-leading home run total. However, Baltimore deployed Trumbo as its primary right fielder, and while he has plenty of corner outfield experience from his days with the D-backs, the results have never been pretty, as one might expect for a player that is listed at 6’4″ and 235 pounds. In 791 outfield innings this year (all but eight of which came in right field), Trumbo graded out to 7.7 runs below average, per Ultimate Zone Rating, and an even less-flattering 11 below average, per Defensive Runs Saved. He also walked at a slightly below-average 7.6 percent and struck out in 25.5 percent of his plate appearances, hence the middle batting average and on-base percentage.

All of that said, Trumbo’s bat should still get him paid fairly handsomely. He’s topped 30 homers three times in his career to date (and fell one big fly shy of that mark in 2011), and while he’s never been a great defensive outfielder, he’s received solid marks at first base when playing there in the past. Trumbo’s presence on teams that have had established first basemen — Albert Pujols with the Angels, Paul Goldschmidt with the D-backs and Chris Davis with the Orioles — has forced him to the outfield grass with regularity (as MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently noted in Trumbo’s free agent profile), but could be a nice fit on a team with a vacancy at first base and/or designated hitter.

MLBTR ranked Trumbo eighth on our top 50 free agent list and projected a four-year, $60MM contract for the 2016 home run king. The Orioles have expressed interest in retaining Trumbo, though GM Dan Duquette did caution that he wasn’t sure they’d be able to afford him.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL East Notes: Encarnacion, Andujar, Duquette, Orioles

By | at

Here’s the latest from around the AL East…

  • As of today, the Red Sox and Edwin Encarnacion’s representatives had yet to engage in serious negotiations, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports.  Boston has often been cited as a logical landing spot for the free agent slugger, though Paul Kinzer (Encarnacion’s agent) recently said the Sox weren’t pursuing his client as aggressively as expected, and the club may have other targets in mind for the DH spot who would come at a cheaper price.  The pro-Encarnacion argument for the Red Sox, Bradford notes, is simply that the long-term concerns may not outweigh the relatively safe value of adding his elite bat.  “Because of his recent history, low-impact position, palatable age, and demeanor, it’s fair to suggest Encarnacion wouldn’t be one of those contracts that would make roster-building difficult to manage,” Bradford writes.
  • Yankees GM Brian Cashman says he has “a lot of teams asking me about” prospect Miguel Andujar, Brandon Kuty of NJ Advance Media reports.  Andujar, 21, hit .273/.332/.410 with 12 homers over 570 plate appearances at the high-A and Double-A levels last season, performing significantly better at the lower level (.817 OPS in 251 PA) than the higher (.681 OPS in 319 Double-A PA), as one might expect.  New York took big steps to reload its minor league system last year in the Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller trades, so it remains to be seen how eager the team is to deal Andujar or other notable prospects.  If the Yankees were interested in moving a youngster for a proven big leaguer, however, it would stand to reason that they would move an intriguing but not upper-tier minor leaguer like Andujar than they would a blue chip prospect like Gleyber Torres or Clint Frazier.  MLB.com ranks Andujar as the seventh-best prospect in New York’s farm system.
  • Outfield defense and catching depth continue to be offseason priorities for the Orioles, as Dan Duquette tells MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko.  At the recently-concluded GM Meetings, Duquette said the O’s “talked to a couple of clubs about potential trades and then we talked to some agents” about catchers.  With Matt Wieters hitting free agency, Baltimore has a big vacancy behind the plate, as light-hitting Caleb Joseph is currently the top backstop in the organization.
  • Also from Kubatko, the Orioles have parted ways with Rick Peterson, the club’s director of pitching development for the last five seasons.  A longtime coach and coordinator in both the majors and minors, Peterson is perhaps best known as a former pitching coach for the Athletics, Mets and Brewers between 1998-2010.
  • Earlier today on MLBTR, some more Red Sox and Orioles items were included in an edition of East Notes.

East Notes: Mets, Orioles, Red Sox

By | at

The Mets would like to re-sign left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins, who was terrific in 2016, and perhaps add another southpaw to their bullpen, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN.com. However, they’re unlikely to make any commitments without having answers from their top two free agents – outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and second baseman Neil Walker. General manager Sandy Alderson said earlier this week that he wants clarity on Cespedes’ intentions by Dec. 8, the end of the winter meetings. Cespedes will surely reject the Mets’ qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline, but Walker “could go either way,” per Rubin (click for Twitter links).

Now for a few AL East notes:

  • The Red Sox sent a Manuel Margot-headlined haul to San Diego for closer Craig Kimbrel last Nov. 13, but the deal looks good for Dave Dombrowski & Co. exactly one year later, opines Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Although Kimbrel wasn’t elite this past season, having delivered a 3.40 ERA to go with a bloated 5.6 BB/9 in 53 innings, Mastrodonato argues that the Sox struck at the right time to acquire him. The price to land high-end relievers either through trades or free agency has skyrocketed since then, as evidenced by the midseason deals involving Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller and the record contracts Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon will soon receive on the open market. “We have a closer now, we had to pay a heavy price for it but we felt it was worth it,” Dombrowski told Mastrodonato. Barring a sharp decline, Kimbrel should serve as the Red Sox’s closer at least until his current contract runs out after the 2018 season.
  • The Orioles could tab Roger McDowell or Frank Viola to replace the departed Dave Wallace as their next pitching coach, per Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. Kubatko cautions that the Orioles will have to act quickly if they want to hire McDowell, who is also drawing interest from other clubs. McDowell served as the Braves’ pitching coach over the previous 11 seasons, while Viola has held that role for the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate – Las Vegas – since 2014.
  • The Red Sox need to start considering long-term contract extensions for their young standouts, writes Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Teams like the Cubs, Astros and Pirates have benefited from locking up core talent to club-friendly deals in recent years, and the Red Sox could do the same with shortstop Xander Bogaerts, center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and right fielder Mookie Betts, Britton contends. Boston hasn’t yet initiated extension talks with any of them, and Britton notes that one potential holdup is the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement. It’s worth noting, too, that all three players are already under control for the next few years. Their days of playing for minimal salaries are about to end, though, as Bogaerts and Bradley are now eligible for arbitration and Betts will join them next year.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/13/16

By | at

The latest minor moves from around the sport, all of which come courtesy of Matt Eddy of Baseball America:

  • Infielder Josh Rutledge, whom the Red Sox outrighted Nov. 3, has elected free agency. Rutledge has seen major league action in each of the past five seasons, hitting .262/.312/.397 with 23 home runs and 20 steals across 1,088 plate appearances with Colorado and Boston.
  • Like Rutledge, Reds utilityman Ivan De Jesus has also elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment. De Jesus picked up 465 PAs with the Reds during the previous two seasons and garnered playing time in the infield and outfield, but he batted just .249/.311/.341 along the way. Cincinnati also released right-hander Soid Marquez, who threw 186 2/3 innings with low-level Reds affiliates from 2012-16 and posted a 5.26 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9.
  • The Cubs have added right-hander Jose Rosario to their 40-man roster and re-signed righty Nick Sarianides and catcher Gioskar Amaya to minor league contracts. The 26-year-old Rosario has been with the Cubs throughout his professional career, which began in 2009, and logged a combined 2.50 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 at three minor league levels in 2016. Sarianides, formerly with Cleveland and Arizona, threw 25 innings with the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate this year and put up a 3.60 ERA, 10.08 K/9 and 3.24 BB/9. Amaya, 23, has hit .274/.356/.388 in seven seasons with various Cubs minor league affiliates.
  • The Cardinals have added shortstop Breyvic Valera to their 40-man roster and re-signed catcher Alberto Rosario and righty Robby Rowland to minor league deals. Valera, 24, slashed an outstanding .341/.417/.415 in 257 PAs with Triple-A Memphis this year. The 29-year-old Rosario made his major league debut in 2016, hitting .184/.225/.237 in 41 trips to the plate with the Cardinals. Rowland spent the season with three of St. Louis’ minor league affiliates and registered a 3.92 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in just 20 2/3 innings.
  • The Royals have released catcher Chad Johnson and six pitchers – Alex Close, Daniel Concepcion, Jason Freeman, Nick Andros, Christian Flecha and Cole Way. Kansas City drafted all but two of those players, Freeman and Andros. The club also re-signed righty Roman Colon and second baseman Ramon A. Castro to to minor league agreements. Colon tossed 187 1/3 major league innings from 2004-12, including 60 1/3 with the Royals, but hasn’t pitched in an affiliated minor league since 2013.
  • The Orioles are bringing back right-handed reliever Richard Rodriguez on a minor league pact. He’ll now enter his third year as a member of the Orioles, with whom he has pitched 123 1/3 innings between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Rodriguez, 26, recorded 2.53 ERA, 8.93 K/9 and 2.76 BB/9 with Triple-A Norfolk this past season.
  • The Padres have signed righties Trey McNutt and Bryan Rodriguez to minors contracts. McNutt, once a well-regarded Cubs prospect, nearly went to Boston in 2011 in a deal for now-Chicago president Theo Epstein. He remained with the Cubs through 2015, though, before latching on with the Padres this past season. The 27-year-old threw a mere 7 1/3 minor league innings in his first season with the Friars organization. Rodriguez combined for 145 1/3 innings between the Padres’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, totaling a 4.46 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.
  • The Braves have re-signed catcher Braeden Schlehuber to a minor league deal. The 28-year-old has been a member of the Atlanta organization since it selected him in the fourth round of the 2010 draft, but he hasn’t gotten past the Triple-A level. Schlehuber collected 116 plate appearances with Triple-A Gwinnett in 2016 and hit .236/.254/.300.
  • The Giants have re-signed 27-year-old shortstop Ali Castillo to a minor league agreement. Castillo hit .313/.351/.374 in 411 PAs between the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2016.
  • The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Felipe Castenada and shortstop Shane Opitz to minor league contracts. Opitz has been with the Toronto organization since it chose him in the 11th round of the 2010 draft. He primarily played with Double-A New Hampshire in 2016 and batted .217/.280/.300 in 258 PAs.
  • The Indians have re-signed righty reliever Enosil Tejada to a minor league accord. Tejada, 27, didn’t pitch at all in 2016, but he amassed impressive numbers with the organization from 2010-15 (1.94 ERA, 9.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 in 296 1/3 minor league innings).

Cafardo’s Latest: CBA, BoSox, Bautista, Votto, Tigers, Yanks, Hoyer

By | at

The absence of a new collective bargaining agreement has representatives for top free agents like Yoenis Cespedes and Edwin Encarnacion concerned, and could lead to delays in signing, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The current CBA, set to expire Dec. 1, includes a $189MM luxury tax threshold. Big-spending teams that are near the $189MM figure could hold off on adding high-end free agents (Cespedes and Encarnacion, to name a couple) until the CBA situation is resolved because they might face penalties under the next agreement if the luxury tax number doesn’t increase. One club it will affect is the Red Sox, according to Cafardo, who expects them to pursue Encarnacion if the threshold rises. Otherwise, they’re likely settle for a less expensive bat like Carlos Beltran.

More from Cafardo:

  • Free agent outfielder/designated hitter Jose Bautista “loves” both Boston and Fenway Park, making the Red Sox a potential fit for the longtime Blue Jay, per Cafardo. Further, Bautista has fans in Red Sox manager John Farrell and third base coach Brian Butterfield, both of whom were previously in Toronto. If the 36-year-old doesn’t end up rejoining them in Boston, the Rangers, Astros, Orioles, Cardinals, Giants and Braves are also possibilities (the DH-less National League doesn’t seem ideal, though). First things first, Bautista will have to reject Toronto’s qualifying offer by Monday – which seems like a formality.
  • Reds first baseman Joey Votto could waive his no-trade clause if his hometown team – the Blue Jays – attempts to acquire him, Cafardo suggests, but he adds that a deal is unlikely. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported earlier this week that the Reds have “no intention” of trading Votto, who is owed $179MM over the next seven seasons.“We’ve traded away a lot of players we’ve drafted and developed. He’s one of the few that remains,” said GM Dick Williams. “There’s a sentimental connection with fans no doubt. But it doesn’t have anything to do with attendance and draw. It’s about performance. He delivers.” The 33-year-old Votto did indeed deliver in 2016, slashing a remarkable .326/.434/.550 with 29 home runs in 677 plate appearances.
  • The Tigers’ plan to get younger and cut payroll is “probably going to be a three-year process,” general manager Al Avila told Cafardo. Avila revealed that he isn’t worried about the luxury tax, saying, “I don’t know what [the luxury tax threshold is] going to be. We’re going to make this change in our business philosophy. We were just trying to get younger and whatever that ends up being, it ends up being. The market will decide what will happen.” The Tigers are reportedly willing to discuss trades involving some of their biggest names, including first baseman Miguel Cabrera, ace Justin Verlander and second baseman Ian Kinsler, and Avila has made it clear that he’s “open-minded in listening.”
  • Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner is a good bet to draw trade interest, reports Cafardo. He’s coming off a 2.4-fWAR season, his fourth consecutive campaign with at least that total. Depending on what happens with his 2019 club option, the 33-year-old Gardner will collect either $25MM or $35.5MM over the next three seasons.
  • Having signed a five-year extension in September, Cubs GM Jed Hoyer is clearly content as a prominent member of the World Series champions’ front office. However, president Theo Epstein’s second-in-command would like autonomy over a baseball department someday. “At some point I would relish [being in charge] again. I aspire to that,” Hoyer said. “But I’m in no hurry. I’ve had opportunities to have that role and I turned them down to stay in Chicago.” Hoyer was previously with the Padres as their GM from 2009-11, but he left San Diego to reunite with Epstein, his former Boston colleague.

Orioles Prioritizing Outfield Additions

By | at

NOV. 10: Josh Reddick is one potential target, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. Baltimore is “pursuing” Reddick, according to Morosi, though there are no indications that the team is in any type of serious negotiations this early in the offseason. Reddick has, in the past, carried a strong defensive reputation, though metrics on him took a step back in 2016. Nonetheless, his left-handed bat would fit the Orioles’ previously reported desire. Reddick should cost less than Trumbo, whom Duquette noted may be too expensive to retain (see below), but he could still command somewhere in the vicinity of $10-12MM per season, so he may not be that much more affordable on an annual basis.

NOV. 9: Ghiroli tweets today that Duquette said he’s already had multiple trade discussions at the GM Meetings and is seeking a left-handed-hitting outfielder. FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that their ideal target would also be a defensive upgrade, citing Brett Gardner and Ender Inciarte as the type of outfielder the O’s would like to acquire (though not specifically linking the Orioles to either outfielder).

NOV. 8: The Orioles’ top priority this winter will be adding outfield help, general manager Dan Duquette told reporters at the GM Meetings today (Twitter links via MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli). While the team’s rotation was clearly its primary downfall in 2016, Duquette said he’s comfortable heading into 2017 with the current depth he has. That includes right-handers Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, Yovani Gallardo and Ubaldo Jimenez as well as left-hander Wade Miley. Additionally, the team has some safety nets in the form of righties Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright and the arbitration-eligible Vance Worley.

Baltimore’s outfield picture is decidedly less certain at the moment. Adam Jones, of course, will reprise his role as the Orioles’ center fielder next year, but the corner picture is murkier. Hyun Soo Kim showed rell enough in his rookie season to see an increased number of at-bats in 2017, but the O’s didn’t seem to feel remotely comfortable letting Kim face lefties, as the former Korea Baseball Organization star recorded just 22 of his 345 plate appearances against a southpaw pitcher. Kim, it would seem, required a platoon partner at the very least, and other corner is even more wide open.

Mark Trumbo served as Baltimore’s primary right fielder in 2016, but Duquette suggested today that the team might not be able to afford to retain Trumbo following last offseason’s aggressive spending on the likes of Chris Davis, Darren O’Day and Gallardo (plus the trade-deadline addition of Miley). Baltimore is also facing sizable arbitration raises for Manny Machado and Zach Britton, among others, so it’s not necessarily surprising that Duquette’s resources could be limited this winter. And, if that’s the case, then the report of Baltimore’s interest in Ian Desmond from earlier this morning may be largely inconsequential, as Desmond figures to be in the same financial stratosphere as Trumbo — if not an even higher one.

Trumbo is one of many corner outfield options on the market this winter, though many teams figure to look at him as a first baseman. If the Orioles need to add a more affordable outfielder to their 2017 mix, the likes of Michael Saunders, Jon Jay and Matt Joyce are among the players that landed on MLBTR’s list of top 50 free agents yesterday, though Joyce and Saunders could present similar platoon issues to Kim. Jay, meanwhile, has fairly even platoon splits throughout his career, although his ability to play center field could lead to some competition for his services.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/10/16

By | at

Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Giants have agreed to a minor league deal with first baseman/outfielder Chris Marrero, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). The 28-year-old is a former first-round pick (Nationals, 2006) that spent the 2016 campaign with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate and hit quite well, slashing .284/.344/.494 with 23 homers and 30 doubles in 544 plate appearances. Marrero appeared in the Majors with the Nats back in 2011 and 2013 but batted a disappointing .232/.256/.272 in 133 PAs across those two stints. He’s a consistently solid bat in the minors though and could provide San Francisco with some depth both at first base and in left field.
  • The Mariners announced yesterday that catcher Steven Baron has been released following last week’s DFA. The No. 33 overall pick in the 2009 draft, Baron has just 11 big league plate appearances under his belt but has hit for respectable average and gotten on base at a solid clip in the upper minors. He’ll turn 26 next month and could serve as a depth piece for clubs that are seeking a relatively young catcher to pick up some playing time in Triple-A next year.
  • The Orioles announced that left-hander Jed Bradley has been outrighted off their 40-man roster yesterday. Baltimore claimed the former first-round pick and top prospect off waivers from the Braves last month, though his stay on the 40-man roster didn’t last long. Bradley made his Major League debut with Atlanta this season, yielding four runs on seven hits and six walks (two intentional) with four strikeouts in seven innings. He also posted a 3.09 earned run average with 108 strikeouts against 40 walks in 107 2/3 innings between the rotation and bullpen at Triple-A this year (13 starts, 22 relief appearances).
  • Outfielder Noel Cuevas has re-signed a minor league deal with the Rockies, the team announced. Cuevas, who turned 25 a month ago, began his pro career with the Dodgers but has spent the past two seasons in the Rockies organization and enjoyed one of his most productive minor league seasons to date in 2016. Splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A — his first action at the Triple-A level — the Puerto Rican center fielder hit .296/.331/.414 across 360 plate appearances.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top