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Phillies Designate Michael Mariot For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that they’ve designated right-hander Michael Mariot for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Joaquin Benoit, whose one-year deal is now official.

Mariot, 28, pitched 21 2/3 innings with the Phils last year but limped to a 5.82 ERA with a 23-to-14 K/BB ratio and a 31 percent ground-ball rate in that time. Mariot has an ERA just shy of 6.00 in 49 2/3 big league innings over parts of three seasons, but he has a flat 3.00 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in parts of five Triple-A seasons over a total of 183 innings. That minor league track record should get Mariot some interest as a depth option elsewhere, but he’s out of minor league options so he’d have to break camp with a team next year or be exposed to waivers before he could be sent to the minors.

Phillies Sign Joaquin Benoit

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DEC. 6: The Phillies have announced the signing of Benoit.

DEC. 5: Gelb reports that Benoit will earn $7.5MM on his one-year deal — the same amount he earned in 2016 (Twitter link).

DEC. 4, 11:59pm: Benoit’s deal is a one-year contract and it will be finalized when he passes a physical, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

10:04pm: The Phillies are close to a deal with veteran reliever Joaquin Benoit, CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury reports.  The contract is expected to be announced before the end of the Winter Meetings on Thursday.

Benoit’s 15th big league season was really like two seasons in one, as he struggled with both the long ball and his control over 24 1/3 innings with the Mariners before being traded to the Blue Jays in late July.  In Toronto, Benoit turned things around in spectacular fashion, posting an 0.38 ERA, 9.1 K/9, 2.67 K/BB rate and just one home run allowed over 23 2/3 IP as a Blue Jay.  He missed out on the Jays’ postseason run due to a torn calf muscle suffered in a bench-clearing brawl with the Yankees in late September.

Assuming a deal is finalized, the Phillies would be the seventh team Benoit has suited up for during his long career.  The 39-year-old has somewhat flown under the radar as one of the best relievers in baseball in recent years, posting a 2.40 ERA, 3.56 K/BB rate and an even 10.0 K/9 over 427 bullpen innings since the start of the 2010 season.

As Salisbury notes, Benoit does have some closing experience but for now likely slots in alongside Pat Neshek as the veteran setup options behind Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gomez.  Salisbury speculates that Benoit could give the Phils added depth so the team could shop Neris or Gomez; Neris in particular would draw a lot of attention on the open market, though Philadelphia would want a lot in return.

AL West Notes: Hernandez, Utley, A’s, Mariners, Beltran

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News and rumors from around the AL West…

  • The Angels checked in with the Phillies about second baseman Cesar Hernandez at the start of the offseason but talks didn’t develop due to the Phils’ high asking price, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports.  While Hernandez doesn’t look like an option, Fletcher lists several other relatively inexpensive second base possibilities who could be available for the Halos in free agency or in trades.
  • One name cited by Fletcher is Chase Utley, and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman indeed tweets that the Angels “have emerged” as a potential landing spot for the veteran second baseman.  Utley has a clear path to playing time in Anaheim and he would get to stay in his hometown area.
  • The Athletics and Royals have a pretty healthy trade history, MLB.com’s Jane Lee notes, and the clubs could work out another deal to land the A’s a center fielder in the form of Jarrod Dyson.  Lorenzo Cain is also available, if more expensive and Oakland would have to give quite a bit more to land him.  Lee’s piece suggests several names that could be on Oakland’s radar for the center field vacancy, though costs will keep the A’s away from many of the bigger names.
  • Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto said his club is engaged in talks to acquire a starter, with a trade more likely than a signing, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes.  Dutton speculates that Scott Kazmir or Brandon McCarthy, both of whom are reportedly being shopped by the Dodgers, could be fits in Seattle.  On the free agent front, the M’s are still interested in Doug Fister but don’t seem to have much interest in such options as Colby Lewis, Derek Holland or C.J. Wilson.
  • New Astros signee Carlos Beltran was introduced to media (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart) during his introductory press conference today, and he said the Astros quickly drew his attention in free agency.  “They really made an offer early, faster than any other team….The fact they were aggressive and went out there and really showed big-time interest, it wasn’t that difficult to make to make a decision,” Beltran said.
  • In other AL West News, the Rangers were covered in a team-centric notes post as well as news about their bigger-ticket outfield targets.

Outfield Notes: Fowler, Dyson, Soler, Herrera, Revere

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The latest in outfielder rumors…

  • The Blue Jays have offered Dexter Fowler a deal in the neighborhood of four years and $60MM, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports.  This falls short of the $18MM in average annual value that Fowler and his representatives are seeking, though it isn’t such an insurmountable gap that it would rule the Jays out of the running for the free agent outfielder.  The Cardinals continue to be interested in Fowler, Heyman notes, while the Giants and Nationals have also been linked to him in past reports and several other teams are speculative matches for Fowler in all three outfield positions.
  • Royals outfielder Jarrod Dyson is another Cardinals target, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (via Twitter).  Dyson has the benefit of coming at a much lower financial or trade cost than Fowler or Royals teammate Lorenzo Cain, plus he would be a good fit for a St. Louis team that has defensive upgrades as a stated offseason goal.
  • The Royals like Jorge Soler, 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine tweets.  Rated as one of the game’s best prospects just two years ago, Soler has shown only a few glimpses of his potential at the MLB level and doesn’t have a clear path to regular playing time within the very crowded Cubs outfield.  The Cubs shopped Soler last offseason, and Levine speculates that a deal could be worked out involving K.C. closer Wade Davis, as Chicago is one of several teams interested in Davis.
  • There is some speculation that the Phillies would be open to trading Odubel Herrera, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets.  It would surely take quite a bit to make a deal happen, as Herrera has gone from Rule 5 pick to an everyday contributor for Philadelphia who has hit .291/.353/.419 and 23 homers over his two big league seasons.
  • With the Angels looking for a fourth outfielder who preferably hits from the left side of the plate, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register speculates that Ben Revere could be a good fit.  Revere had a brutal 2016 season and was non-tendered by the Nationals, but Fletcher notes that he has been an Angels target in the past and could be a potential bounce-back candidate.

Phillies Designate Cody Asche For Assignment, Claim David Rollins

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The Phillies announced that they’ve claimed lefty David Rollins off waivers from the Rangers and designated infielder/outfielder Cody Asche for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Asche, formerly one of the Phillies’ top prospects, has struggled in parts of four seasons and was a non-tender candidate prior to tonight’s 8pm ET deadline.

Philadelphia was hopeful at one point that Asche, now 26, could develop into a regular option at the hot corner, but his bat has never come around at the Major League level, and Maikel Franco’s arrival pushed him out to left field. The left-handed hitter owns a career .240/.298/.385 batting line with 31 homers in 1287 Major League plate appearances — a far cry from the .297/.359/.491 slash he’s compiled in 150 games across parts of four seasons at Triple-A.

Prior to the 2013 season, Baseball America rated Asche seventh among Phillies farmhands and noted that while he doesn’t have the prototypical power or high-level defense one would expect out of a regular third baseman, he had the potential to hit enough to land a role as a Major League regular. To this point in his career, that hasn’t panned out.

Rollins, 27 next month, has gone from the Mariners to the Cubs to the Rangers to the Phillies on waivers in a matter of two months. The former 24th-round pick has a 7.60 ERA in 34 innings with the Mariners across the past two seasons and has averaged 7.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 with a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. He’s been rather unlucky, as evidenced by a .379 BABIP, but even the most optimistic ERA estimator pegs him in the mid-4.00s (4.41 SIERA). Rollins does have minor league options remaining, so the Phils could stash him in Triple-A next year if he doesn’t break camp with the club. Then again, the Phillies may try to pass Rollins through waivers themselves at some point with an eye toward keeping him in the organization but freeing up a 40-man roster spot. No team has been able to successfully do that this winter, however.

Trade Rumblings: Braves, Wilson, Martinez, Carter

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The Braves are still looking at trading for an ace even after adding Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Jaime Garcia to their rotation this winter and are specifically focused on White Sox lefty Chris Sale and Rays right-hander Chris Archer, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (all Twitter links). The Braves prefer Sale to Archer despite the potentially higher asking price and shorter amount of club control remaining on his contract, Crasnick adds. Atlanta is receiving quite a bit of interest in top prospect Ozzie Albies (in general and not specifically from the White Sox or Rays), Crasnick adds, but they’re expressing a good deal of reluctance to part with him. The Braves don’t seem especially enamored of Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray on the heels of a down season in 2016, according to Crasnick.

Some more trade chatter from around the league…

  • The Tigers have been receiving plenty of calls about their veterans as they look to get younger and cut some payroll this winter, but MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets one name that has been drawing considerable interest without generating many headlines: lefty reliever Justin Wilson. Per Morosi, Detroit has “perhaps the largest number of inquiries” on Wilson as teams look to bolster their left-handed relief corps. The arbitration-eligible Wilson is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn just $2.7MM next season, so he wouldn’t trim much payroll of the Tigers’ books. But, he could certainly fetch a nice prospect or two, allowing the Tigers to get a bit younger in the process. Wilson, 29, posted excellent peripherals that suggest his marginal 4.14 ERA will improve in 2017 and beyond (10.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 54.9 percent ground-ball rate, 3.02 SIERA).
  • Morosi also tweets that the Phillies are seeking a short-term outfield bat and have inquired with the Tigers about J.D. Martinez, but talks didn’t advance much, he notes. Martinez has been one of the most talked-about trade candidates of the offseason and seems to have a decent chance of landing elsewhere this winter, but the asking price on him is apparently quite high at the moment. Newsday’s Marc Carig reported yesterday that Michael Conforto’s name came up in talks with the Mets before New York re-signed Yoenis Cespedes. (Unsurprisingly, talks died quickly once Detroit mentioned Conforto, per Carig.)
  • The Brewers are trying to trade recently-designated-for-assignment slugger Chris Carter before tonight’s 8pm ET non-tender deadline tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The Orioles, who just claimed a player with a potentially similar skill set in Adam Walker, aren’t likely to make a play for Carter, per Heyman (whose tweet came prior to the Walker claim). Carter’s current scenario is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Mark Trumbo situation, as he’s a player with prodigious power that the league isn’t valuing at his arbitration number due to defensive concerns, high strikeout tendencies and a questionable on-base percentage. The Mariners were able to get a nominal return for Trumbo rather than non-tendering him, but MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that Milwaukee shopped Carter around for a month before designating him, so it seems unlikely that a trade will materialize in the next six hours.

Phillies Hire Terry Ryan As Special Assignment Scout

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The Phillies announced that they’ve hired former Twins general manager Terry Ryan as a special assignment scout. The move will reunite Ryan with team president Andy MacPhail, whom he knows well from the pair’s days together in Twins organization back in the 80s and early 90s, when Ryan came up through the Twins’ system and rose to the position of vice president of player personnel under then-GM MacPhail.

While Ryan’s Twins were an unequivocal disappointment in 2016 and many of his most recent free-agent signings haven’t panned out, he’s long been respected throughout the industry for his scouting acumen. A two-time Sporting News Executive of the Year, Ryan will bring more than three decades of scouting and front office experience to the Phillies’ front office and to their player evaluation process.

“I’m very happy to be joining the Phillies and have the opportunity to provide some impact and evaluation,” said Ryan in a press release announcing the move. “This is an exciting time for the franchise as they have what many in the industry consider to be one of the top farm systems in baseball.”

“I have known Terry for more than a decade and have enormous respect for all that he accomplished during his tenure with the Twins,” said GM Matt Klentak in the release. “Terry’s work ethic, loyalty and track record as a talent evaluator are simply unparalleled in our game. … “While we have made significant investments in our analytical endeavors over the past year, it is important to remember that quality talent evaluation is essential to making quality baseball decisions. We are thrilled to welcome Terry to the Phillies.”

Mutual Interest Between Phillies, A.J. Ellis

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There’s mutual interest between the Phillies and veteran catcher A.J. Ellis about a reunion for the 2017 season, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark. The Phils would like to have Ellis back and consider him both a leader and an “unofficial coach,” Stark notes.

The 35-year-old Ellis (36 in April) went from the Dodgers to the Phils alongside Tommy Bergjans and Joey Curletta in a surprising August swap that sent fellow veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz to Los Angeles. Ellis logged just 11 games with the Phils but showed well, hitting .333/.371/.500 in a tiny sample of 35 plate appearances. Those numbers brought up his overall season production a bit, but he still finished the year with an overall disappointing line of .216/.301/.298.

As it stands, the Phils project to have Cameron Rupp as their everyday catcher on the heels of a solid season. Rupp hit .252/.303/.447 with 16 homers and controlled the running game at an average rate (27 percent) while drawing slightly below-average framing marks from Baseball Prospectus. Ellis would profile as a backup to the 28-year-old Rupp and would offer a veteran source of advice for a pitching staff that, outside of right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, is quite young and lacks significant experience. None of Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez or Jerad Eickhoff has thrown even 250 innings in the Major Leagues, and the Phils’ fifth starter will likely have even less experience. (Jake Thompson, Alec Asher, Zach Eflin and Ben Lively are among the candidates.)

Ellis would also serve as a stopgap to catching prospects Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knapp, both of whom come with MLB upside but likely require additional minor league seasoning. If Ellis ultimately lands elsewhere, the free-agent market offers many other options for the Phils, as names like Kurt Suzuki, Alex Avila, Geovany Soto, Ryan Hanigan, Jeff Mathis and Chris Iannetta, among others, are all available this offseason.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/23/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Rockies have brought back infielder Josh Rutledge on a minor league deal, per the MLBRosterMoves Twitter account. He receives a camp invitation in the contract. Rutledge, 27, cracked the majors with Colorado and has taken most of his plate appearances there. After a minor league stint with the Angels, he returned to the majors with the Red Sox in each of the last two seasons, posting a cumulative .276/.338/.358 batting line over 141 plate appearances. Rutledge missed the bulk of the past season due to knee issues and took free agency after being outrighted by Boston.

Earlier Moves

  • Outfielder Jaff Decker has signed on with the Athletics on a minor league pact, agent Tom O’Connell announced on Twitter. The deal includes an invitation to participate in MLB camp next spring. Deckr, 26, has seen scattered action in each of the last four major league campaigns, but has mostly plied his trade at the highest level of the minors in recent years. At Triple-A last year with the Rays, he slashed .255/.366/.421 with a dozen home runs and 18 stolen bases over 417 plate appearances.
  • The Angels have struck minor league deals with outfielder Shane Robinson and infielder Rey Navarro, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports via Twitter. Both spent the 2016 season in the Halos organization, and will return for another run in 2017. Robinson, 32, hit just .173/.257/.235 over his 111 MLB plate appearances with Los Angeles, but brings a decent bit of major league experience (he’s appeared in seven seasons, though has only taken 760 trips to the plate) and provides a depth option all over the outfield. The 26-year-old Navarro, a glove-first utility piece, hit .227/.253/.325 in his 175 plate appearances at Triple-A last year.
  • Righty David Buchanan has been given his release by the Phillies, per a club announcement. He was designated for assignment recently as the team overhauled its 40-man roster. Buchanan ought to draw interest from teams looking for rotation depth. He pitched to a 3.75 ERA over twenty big league starts in 2014, though he was hammered to the tune of a 6.99 earned run average in his 15 starts in the following year. Buchanan fared better at Triple-A in 2016, though, posting a 3.98 ERA over 167 1/3 innings.
  • The Royals requested release waivers on catcher Tony Cruz, who was also recently designated, as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. The 30-year-old will surely head onto the open market, as he’d otherwise be eligible for arbitration (with a projected $1MM salary). He spent most of 2016 at Triple-A, slashing .264/.347/.387 in 363 plate appearances.

Nationals Acquire Jimmy Cordero

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The Nationals have acquired minor league righty Jimmy Cordero from the division-rival Phillies, per a club announcement. Philadelphia will receive cash or a player to be named in the agreement.

Cordero, who recently turned 25, was designated for assignment as part of the Phillies’ house-cleaning effort in advance of the recent deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Though he hasn’t appeared in the majors, he was added to the 40-man last winter to prevent other organizations from staking a Rule 5 claim on him.

Arm issues limited Cordero to just 22 appearances last year, spread across the Phillies’ farm system. But he showed promise in 2015, when he ran up 67 innings of 2.55 ERA pitching with 8.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Cordero was acquired by the Phils in the middle of that season in the deal that sent Ben Revere to the Blue Jays.

Phillies GM Matt Klentak recently explained why the organization had made the decision to move Cordero off of the big league roster. “A year ago at this time, we were pretty high on Jimmy,” Klentak said. “His year was not as productive as we had hoped and as he had hoped. It becomes a numbers game. That may sound cliche, but truly that’s the reality of it. We like him a lot and we would love to keep him in the organization, if possible.”

Instead of stick in Philly, Cordero will move south to D.C. For the Nats, he represents a reasonably high-upside arm on which to take a chance. Scouts have been intrigued in the past by Cordero’s sometimes-triple-digit velocity and promising slider. While the control hasn’t always been there and his health is now in question, there’s some reason to believe that he could be ready for major league action in the near-term.

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