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10 Bounceback Pitcher Candidates Still Available In Free Agency

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By this point, the free agent market has thinned considerably, especially at its upper reaches. But there remain plenty of interesting players still available.

Looking through the list of unsigned players, one finds a number of recently high-performing pitchers who can likely be had on relatively (or very) modest deals. Achieving truly adequate pitching depth remains one of the game’s elusive pursuits, so there’s always opportunity for arms.

Here are some of the most intriguing names still available, featuring five starters and five relievers:

Tyson Ross: It came as a surprise when the Padres elected to non-tender Ross rather than paying him a repeat of his $9.6MM arbitration salary in his final season of eligibility, but that move leaves the 29-year-old available for other teams to take a risk. While organizations may prefer to attempt to secure multiple years of control if they roll the dice on the health of his ailing shoulder, Ross will no doubt prefer a single-season commitment. He carried a 3.07 ERA over 516 2/3 innings from 2013-15, so the upside is evident, and it’s no surprise that most of the league has some degree of interest.

Brett Anderson: Soon to turn 29, Anderson did not show well in his brief return from back surgery last year. But he turned in 180 1/3 frames of 3.69 ERA ball in 2015, and has generally been rather good when healthy, so there could still be something left in the tank. While Anderson’s extensive injury history is a major deterrent, organizations could reasonably hope that he can at least provide some useful innings during whatever stretch he is able to contribute.

Doug Fister: Entering his age-33 season after two straight duds, it’s tough to view Fister in quite the same light that one could have a year ago, when he seemed like a solid bounceback bet. That being said, he isn’t far removed from being a quality mid-rotation starter, and was at least able to turn in 32 starts in a healthy 2016 season. Unlike the other pitchers on this list, there isn’t an immediate injury to blame for the diminished value, though perhaps that also means he comes with a greater expectation of near-term contribution. If Fister can restore some of his lost groundball luster, perhaps he’d again rate as a useful rotation piece.

Nathan Eovaldi: Teams won’t be able to expect anything out of Eovaldi in 2017, as he’s expected to miss the entire year after Tommy John surgery. But he hasn’t even turned 27 and did show a personal-best 97.0 mph average fastball and 9.3% swinging-strike rate in 2016, so he remains an intriguing candidate to receive a rehab-and-return contract.

Henderson Alvarez: The long-term health outlook is perhaps even cloudier in the case of Alvarez, who couldn’t make it back to the majors in 2016 from shoulder issues. But he, too, has yet to reach his 27th birthday and he was able to provide 187 innings of 2.65 ERA ball as recently as 2014. And Alvarez did make 11 minor-league appearances last year, so there’s at least some reason to hope that he can contribute in the season to come.

Greg Holland: An obvious candidate for this list, Holland is perhaps the most fascinating relief arm still left unsigned. Once one of the game’s most dominant pitchers, the 31-year-old figures to sign with expectations of a full 2017 campaign after finishing up his TJ rehab. Like Ross, Holland has drawn wide interest and ought to be able to generate a variety of interesting and relatively lucrative opportunities.

Luke Hochevar: Now far removed from an impressive 2013 season in which he successfully transitioned from struggling starter to late-inning pen arm, Hochevar will be attempting to return from thoracic outlet surgery (after missing 2014 due to a Tommy John procedure). There’s plenty of uncertainty in the outlook for the 33-year-old, but he did put up 9.6 K/9 against just 2.2 BB/9 while working to a 3.86 ERA over 37 1/3 innings in 2016, and could be expected to return early in 2017.

Drew Storen: Still just 29, Storen was an electric reliever as recently as 2015, when he posted 11.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 across 55 innings while working to a 3.44 ERA that metrics viewed as somewhat unfortunate. Though he struggled last year and showed a worrying drop in his average fastball velocity (from 94.1 mph in the season prior to 92.3 mph in 2016), Storen still put up a 10.5% swinging-strike rate that landed right at his career average. He also closed out the year by yielding just three runs in his final 17 innings while posting a 15-to-2 K/BB ratio.

Aaron Barrett: After TJ surgery derailed his sophomore 2015 season, Barret’s return was cut short with an elbow fracture. On the other hand, Storen’s former pen mate in D.C. owns a 3.47 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 3.47 BB/9 over his 70 career MLB frames, with a 13.1% lifetime swinging-strike rate driven by his 93 to 94 mph heater and wipeout slider. Whatever team takes a shot on his future can also pick up plenty of affordable future control over Barrett, who’ll soon turn 29.

Charlie Furbush: Rotator cuff surgery is never good news for a pitcher, and returning from that procedure presents a major hurdle for the 30-year-old. But quality southpaws are always in high demand, so there’s much to be gained in the event that he can get back on track. Over his last 175 1/3 MLB frames, compiled over 2012 through 2015, Furbush provided the Mariners with a 3.23 ERA and 10.3 K/9 versus 3.0 BB/9.

Padres Re-Sign Brett Wallace, Sign Craig Stammen And Christian Villanueva

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The Padres have re-signed corner infielder Brett Wallace to what would appear to be a minor league deal, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Wallace is a client of MVP Sports Group. The Padres also made a number of other signings, including righty Craig Stammen and corner infielder Christian Villanueva.

The 30-year-old Wallace collected 256 plate appearances with the Padres in 2016, batting a meager, .189/.309/.318. That showing plus Wallace’s below-average defense made him worth -0.8 fWAR last season. The Padres, perhaps unsurprisingly, outrighted Wallace last month rather than taking him through the arbitration process.

The 32-year-old Stammen spent parts of seven seasons on the Nationals’ staff (with a career 3.91 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9, with even better career numbers as a reliever) before struggling with injury issues in 2015. He signed a minor league deal with the Indians prior to the 2016 campaign but did not debut until late June and ended the season with Triple-A Columbus, finishing his season with a 3.62 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 across three minor league levels.

Villanueva, 25, was once a top prospect in the Cubs system, but they non-tendered him after he missed the entire 2016 campaign after breaking his leg in Spring Training. He batted .257/.314/.438 with 20 home runs in 536 plate appearances split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2015.

Padres Considering Jered Weaver

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As the Padres continue to build out their rotation with affordable, veteran arms, the organization is considering a move on righty Jered Weaver, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).

San Diego has parted ways with a variety of notable pitchers in recent months, which left the team with a skeleton crew entering the offseason. But the club has already reached a pair of modest, $1.75MM deals with Jhoulys Chacin and Clayton Richard, each of whom appear likely to occupy rotation slots.

Despite those signings, the rotation currently projects to feature at least three largely unproven arms. Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource lists Luis Perdomo, Christian Friedrich, and Paul Clemens as the next starters in line on the Friars’ depth chart. Needless to say, that mix leaves plenty of room for addition.

Unlike rebuilding rivals such as the Braves and Phillies, each of whom committed significantly more cash to add their own short-term starters, the Padres are seemingly on the look for true bargains. San Diego is also said to be eyeing former staff ace Jake Peavy, who struggled last year with the Giants and will turn 36 during the 2017 season. The club surely has some interest in others as well.

Weaver, 34, ended his season with a minor back injury after giving the Angels 178 innings over 31 starts, but it seems that he fully expects to continue pitching. While he still commands the ball, and drew plaudits for taking the bump every fifth day, Weaver was more vulnerable than ever in his final season with Los Angeles. He surrendered a career-high 5.06 earned runs per nine with 5.2 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. And those disappointing results came despite a continuation of his long history of outperforming the expectations of ERA estimators, which took rather a dim view of his 2016 effort (5.62 FIP, 5.64 xFIP, 5.44 SIERA).

Never a flamethrower, Weaver has seen his average four-seam fastball velocity decline from the ~90 mph range all the way down to 84 mph in 2016. Opposing hitters made hard contact at a 34.7% clip and hit homers on 12.7% of the flies they put in play against Weaver, both of which were career-worst numbers for the former Halos ace, who also generated grounders at a personal-low rate of 28.8%.

All told, it’s tough to see much reason to believe that Weaver can regain his form of old, though perhaps with some tweaks he can still represent a plausible back-of-the-rotation option. Given the rough platform year, it likely won’t take much of a commitment for the Padres or another organization to find out. Certainly, San Diego and others will place at least some additional value on Weaver’s pedigree and respected status around the game.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/20/16

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • Outfielder Juan Perez, third baseman Zack Cox and right-handed reliever Waldis Joaquin have joined the Tigers on minor league deals. Perez’s only major league experience came as a member of the Giants, with whom he batted .224/.267/.316 in 246 plate appearances from 2013-15. All of his time in 2016 was spent with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, where he slashed .276/.310/.444 with nine home runs and 16 steals in 412 trips to the plate. Cox went to the Cardinals in the first round of the 2010 draft (25th overall), but he didn’t get to the majors with either them or his second organization, the Marlins. The 27-year-old hit .290/.348/.452 in 460 PAs with Wichita of the independent American Association last season. Joaquin, who spent the past few seasons pitching in Mexico and his native Dominican Republic, was with the Giants from 2007-11. He notched 21 2/3 big league innings of 5.40 ERA ball during that period, also adding matching strikeout and walk rates of 7.06 per nine.
  • The Reds have signed righty reliever Rob Wooten to a minor league contract, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Wooten last pitched in the majors in 2015, when he totaled six innings as a member of the Brewers. Overall, he has registered a 5.03 ERA, 7.01 K/9, 2.91 BB/9 and 48.1 ground-ball rate in 68 major league innings – all of which have come with the Brewers, who selected him in the 13th round of the 2008 draft. The 31-year-old spent last season with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate and recorded a 3.58 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 1.36 BB/9 in 73 frames.
  • The Diamondbacks have added righty swingman Brooks Hall on a minors deal. Hall, 26, went to Milwaukee in the fourth round of the 2009 draft and stayed with the organization through last season, but he hasn’t yet cracked the majors. He saw his first action at the Triple-A level in 2016 and struggled with a 6.94 ERA, 4.24 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 23 1/3 frames. Most of Hall’s recent work has come at the Double-A level, where he has logged a 3.90 ERA with 6.5 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 across 267 2/3 innings since 2013.
  • To continue the theme of ex-Brewers catching on elsewhere, third baseman Garin Cecchini has signed a minor league deal with the Royals. Cecchini, whom the Brewers designated for assignment in October, hit .271/.325/.380 over 469 Triple-A plate appearances last season. The 25-year-old was previously a high-end prospect with Boston, and even slashed a terrific .258/.361/.452 in a small sample of 36 major league PAs in 2014, but the shine truly wore off in 2015. That year, Cecchini batted just .213/.286/.296 in 496 Triple-A plate appearances.
  • Righty Jon Edwards has re-signed with the Padres on a minors pact, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The 28-year-old reliever missed all of last season after suffering a flexor strain in spring training. He previously totaled 25 innings with the Rangers and Padres from 2014-15.
  • The Cubs have reached a minors agreement with middle infielder Elliott Soto, who was previously with the organization from the 2010 draft (15th round) through the 2015 campaign. All of Soto’s action last season came with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate, with which he hit .241/.358/.297 in 190 plate appearances. In 2,202 minor league PAs, Soto has batted .249/.329/.299.

Roughly 20 Teams Interested In Tyson Ross

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Although free agent right-hander Tyson Ross threw just 5 1/3 innings last season and is on the mend from October thoracic outlet surgery, the vast majority of major league teams are interested in his services. Roughly 20 clubs are in on Ross, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman, who specifically names his previous team – the Padres – along with the Cubs, Rangers, Pirates and Indians as suitors.

The Padres non-tendered Ross at the outset of this month, but general manager A.J. Preller then revealed there’s “mutual interest” in a reunion between the two sides. However, Ross is reportedly seeking $9MM or more in guarantees, and the Padres were already unwilling to pay him a similar amount in arbitration (an estimated $9.6MM).

Since the Padres cut Ross, no team has been connected to the 29-year-old more than the Cubs. Chicago – which Heyman indicates has visited with Ross – nearly acquired him via trade in July 2015, when he was amid a three-year run as a front-line starter. From 2013-15, Ross posted a 3.07 ERA, 9.16 K/9, 3.48 BB/9 and 58.2 ground-ball rate over 516 2/3 frames, but San Diego elected against dealing him. That proved to be a mistake in hindsight, as Ross’ shoulder troubles kept him off the field last season after a truncated Opening Day start and ultimately led to the end of his Padres career (temporarily at least).

If healthy, Ross would slot into a Cubs rotation that’s currently set to feature Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Mike Montgomery. The reigning World Series champions could use another left-hander in their righty-packed bullpen, and adding Ross would perhaps enable them to shift Montgomery, a southpaw, to a relief role. Ross would have to recover first, of course, and Peter Gammons tweeted earlier this month that he should be OK by April.

The Rangers and Pirates have also been in the Ross chase since the Padres non-tendered him, though it’s difficult to imagine low-payroll Pittsburgh approaching his asking price. The Indians, whom FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal previously named as a possible landing spot for Ross, also aren’t known for spending. The Tribe’s run to the World Series proved lucrative, though, which could help them secure Ross.

Padres Re-Sign Clayton Richard

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4:07pm: The Padres have announced both Richard’s deal and the signing of Jhoulys Chacin.

3:26pm: Richard’s pact also features $1MM in incentives, including a $250K assignment bonus if the Padres trade him, reports Heyman (Twitter links).

12:35pm: The Padres have agreed to re-sign lefty Clayton Richard to a one-year deal, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He’ll earn $1.75MM, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).

Richard and the Padres have already had their formal reunion, so this move represents a continuation of a revived partnership that began way back at the 2009 trade deadline. San Diego picked up Richard as a big part of the swap that sent righty Jake Peavy to the White Sox.

Long a member of the Padres rotation, Richard turned in some quality seasons but left the organization after his shoulder issues resurfaced in 2013. After a brief 2014 appearance in the minors with the Diamondbacks, he joined the Pirates in advance of the 2015 season. With Richard showing well at Triple-A, he was able to make use of an “upward mobility” clause in his contract; when the Cubs showed interest in adding him to their MLB roster, he was back in the bigs.

That 2015 campaign was a good one for the veteran, though he returned primarily in a long relief role. Over his 42 1/3 innings, Richard worked to a 3.83 ERA with 4.7 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9. That led to a $2MM major-league contract in the ensuing winter. But things didn’t work out quite as well the second time around in Chicago; over his 14 frames in 25 appearances, he managed only a 6.43 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts (seven apiece).

Cut loose by the Cubs, Richard headed back to San Diego and turned things around — at least in terms of the bottom-line results. Over nine starts and a pair of relief appearances, he turned in 53 2/3 innings of 2.52 ERA ball. Of course, it’s important to bear in mind that he still managed only 5.7 K/9 to go with 4.0 BB/9, though Richard also ended the year with a career-best 65.1% groundball rate over his 67 2/3 total frames.

[RELATED: Updated Padres Depth Chart]

With opportunity aplenty in the Padres’ rotation, it seems likely that Richard will enter camp with the expectation of securing a starting job. But if that doesn’t work out, or if he falters during the season, it’s certainly possible that he could end up spending time in the pen as well. Despite the middling K/BB numbers last year, Richard did show signs of hope for the coming season. Beyond the groundball advances, Richard also sported an average fastball velocity in his typical career range (91.2 mph) and boasted a personal-best swinging-strike rate of 8.5%, due in part to the fact that he got hitters to chase and whiff even as he worked out of the zone at by far the lowest levels of his career (42.6%).

Padres Have Held Talks With Jake Peavy

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The Padres have held discussions with free-agent righty Jake Peavy about a possible reunion, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Peavy, 35, last played with San Diego in 2009, when he was shipped to the White Sox in a mid-season deal that landed fellow hurler Clayton Richard — whose own return to the Pads was just extended with a one-year deal.

Peavy established himself as a dominant starter with San Diego, the organization that drafted him in the 15th round of the 1999 draft. He was a key part of the team’s last two postseason entrants (in 2005 and 2006) and won the Cy Young award with the club back in 2007.

Since that time, Peavy has gone from the White Sox to the Red Sox (by way of trade) and then on to the Giants (via trade and a subsequent free-agent contract). While he has never again been quite a dominant as he was with the Friars for a full season, Peavy has continued to provide solid innings for the vast bulk of a 15-year career.

Last year didn’t go quite as hoped, however, as Peavy managed only 118 2/3 innings of 5.54 ERA ball with San Francisco. A demotion to the pen and back issues marred his final season with the Giants, but Peavy still managed 7.7 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9. He coughed up a .320 BABIP that sat well above his career .285 mark (though that’s partially attributable to a career-worst 37.1% hard-contact rate), and also posted a low strand rate of 65.4%, so there’s some cause to see poor fortune as a driver of the results. Indeed, metrics such as FIP (4.36), xFIP (4.70), and SIERA (4.41) all suggested that Peavy performed about as well as he had in prior recent years.

While a return to his 3.58 ERA from the 2015 season may be hoping for too much, then, there’s still reason to believe that Peavy can be a useful back-of-the-rotation arm. Though he sat at a personal low of 88.9 mph with his average fastball, Peavy’s swinging-strike rate rebounded to double digits (10.5%) for the first time since 2009. And as Lin notes, Peavy still generates excellent spin rates compared to the rest of the league.

San Diego’s interest would be on a one-year arrangement, Lin suggests, which would meet with expectations heading into the winter. It’s not clear how much longer Peavy will continue to ply his trade, and certainly there are enough red flags to make a lengthier commitment suspect from any team’s perspective.

International Signings: 12/20/16

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Here are some of the latest comings and goings on the international market:

  • There are a few recent moves to cover on the KBO side as well. Southpaw Hyeon-jong Yang will return to Korea’s Kia Tigers, Yonhap News reports (h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, via Twitter). The 28-year-old has been on the MLB radar for some time, and had been expected to gauge interest as a free agent this winter. Evidently, there wasn’t enough of an opportunity in North American ball for him to forego a chance at what’s reported to be the biggest single-season contract ever awarded in the KBO: 2.25 billion won, or about $1.89MM. Yang carries a 3.02 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 over 373 innings in the past two seasons in the hitter-friendly KBO.
  • Also, SK Wyverns recently announced the signings of infielder Danny Worth (for $700K) and lefty Scott Diamond ($600K). Both have seen action in multiple MLB campaigns. Most recently, Worth briefly cracked the Astros’ major-league roster. Though he struggled there, he did slash an excellent .330/.431/.525 in his 368 Triple-A plate appearances in 2016. And Diamond, once a rotation piece for the Twins, made one major-league appearance last year with the Blue Jays, but spent most of the year working to a 4.50 ERA (with 5.4 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9) over 166 innings at Triple-A.

Earlier Updates

  • The Yakult Swallows have added righty David Buchanan on a one-year deal worth about $750K, per a team announcement (via Kyodo News). Buchanan, 27, had been cut loose by the Phillies after spending all of 2016 at Triple-A, working to a 3.98 ERA over 167 1/3 innings. He had some success in a twenty-start rookie year at the major-league level back in 2014, but struggled there in 2015 and wasn’t able to return last year. “He can keep his pitches low with a high strike rate, and has strong fighting spirit. We wanted that kind of a pitcher,” said Yakult international director Masayuki Okumura.
  • Also heading to Japan after a recent stint with the Phillies is fellow righty Phil Klein, who the club recently released to pursue an opportunity in the NPB. He’s heading to the Yokohama BayStars, the team announced (Japanese-language link), for a deal that’s said to promise him around 150MM yen (~$1.27MM) along with an incentives package. Though Klein hasn’t succeeded in his looks at the majors, he obviously drew real interest from Asia with his intriguing numbers in the upper minors — including a 2.14 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 over 160 Triple-A frames.
  • The BayStars will not retain free agents Guillermo Moscoso and Zach Petrick, the team also noted. Moscoso, a former big leaguer, had spent three years with the organization. The 27-year-old Petrick, a former Cardinals farmhand, struggled to a 5.51 ERA in his only campaign in Japan.
  • Continuing their international spree, the Padres have agreed to a $400K bonus with Cuban lefty Ramon Ernesto Perez Favier, according to a report from Francys Romero of OnCuba.com (Twitter link), which Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune confirms (also via Twitter). There isn’t much public information on the 17-year-old, though you can check out his stuff on this YouTube video that reputedly features him. Lin provides a few tidbits on Favier as well, tweeting that the young southpaw sits in the low-nineties with his fastball and features a breaker with two varieties of change-ups. Since San Diego has long seen blown past its bonus limitations, the team will double its investment in the form of a penalty tax.

Padres Sign Jhoulys Chacin

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9:11pm: Chacin’s contract is worth $1.75MM, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. He rejected “significantly more money” from other teams because he felt the Padres offered the best opportunity (Twitter links).

3:13pm: Righty Jhoulys Chacin and the Padres have agreed to terms on a one-year deal, pending a physical, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Chacin is a client of the Legacy Agency.

The Padres will likely count on Chacin to eat innings in an otherwise thin and inexperienced rotation that has lately lost veteran arms like James Shields, Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross. There should be no shortage of opportunities for Chacin in San Diego. As of this afternoon, they had Christian Friedrich (who has never posted an ERA below 4.80 in the big leagues) top their starting pitching depth chart; below him was Luis Perdomo, who had a 5.71 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 while pitching as a Rule 5 player last season.

The 28-year-old Chacin began last season in a somewhat similar situation but on a minor league deal with the Braves, who later traded him to the Angels to plug their rotation, which was riddled with injuries. All told, Chacin ate 144 innings, posting a 4.81 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9. That line, of course, is somewhat underwhelming, and Chacin’s modest velocity and fairly recent history of shoulder trouble also limit his upside somewhat.

On the bright side, Chacin’s peripherals were a bit better than his ERA, and he gets his fair share of ground balls, with a 48.4 GB% last season. Before that, he managed to survive several seasons pitching in Coors Field, and spending two-thirds of one’s career with the Rockies and retaining a 3.94 ERA is no mean feat. Whatever his virtues, though, the Padres likely won’t expect Chacin to be perfect, only to help them get through what could be a tough season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/16/16

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Here are the latest minor moves from around the league:

  • The Rays added catcher Michael McKenry on a minor-league contract, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. Heyman further adds that McKenry will receive $900K if he’s in the Majors, plus a possible $475K in incentives. He has opt-outs on March 30 and June 1. With Wilson Ramos not expected to be ready to take over behind the plate for at least the first month or two of the year, there’s a need for depth. McKenry will presumably battle with pre-existing options Luke Maile and Curt Casali for a roster spot to open the season.
  • Outfielder Brandon Barnes is headed to the Marlins on a minors pact, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. The deal includes a Spring Training invite. Barnes, 30, figures to function as a depth piece after seeing time in the majors over parts of the last five seasons. He struggled to a .220/.250/.320 batting line in just 109 MLB plate appearances last year.
  • Lefty Jeff Beliveau is headed to the Blue Jays on a minors deal with a spring invite, per a club announcement. The 29-year-old has thrown 45 MLB frames spread over four years, with an even 4.00 ERA and 9.4 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9. Last year, he didn’t pitch above the Double-A level in the Orioles system, but provided 49 2/3 innings of 2.54 ERA pitching with a dozen K/9 to go with a sub-optimal 5.3 BB/9.
  • Righty Erik Johnson is back with the Padres on a minor-league arrangement, Heyman tweets. Johnson will continue to work back from Tommy John surgery with San Diego, which had recently non-tendered him.
  • The Orioles announced a series of minors signings. Among those not previously covered at MLBTR, the club will bring back outfielder Chris Dickerson and take a shot on Tomo Ohka. Dickerson joined Beliveau at Double-A in the Baltimore organization last year, hitting well in brief action there, but hasn’t seen the bigs since 2014. Ohka, 40, is a much more speculative addition; he’s trying to return to the majors for the first time since 2009 by turning himself into a knuckleballer.
  • Anther pitcher seeking to make it back after a long run away from the majors is lefty Andy Oliver, who’ll try things out with the Brewers, per Heyman (via Twitter). Heyman adds that can opt out of his deal on June 15 if he’s not on the big-league roster, and Oliver also receives a foreign team inquiry clause. Oliver blitzed through the Tigers system after being taken in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft. He cracked the bigs briefly in 2010-11, but has plied his trade at Triple-A ever since. Oliver moved back to the rotation for half of his appearances last year with the Orioles’ top affiliate, which may have helped as he finally quelled some of his control issues. Oliver ended 2016 with a 3.43 ERA over 86 2/3 frames and 8.7 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 (his lowest walk rate since his debut year in full-season professional ball).
  • The Tigers added third baseman Zack Cox on a minor-league arrangement, the indy ball Wichita Wingnuts announced. Once a highly regarded prospect, Cox never earned a major league call-up during his time in the Cardinals and Marlins systems, but hit .290/.348/.452 last year in 460 plate appearances for Wichita.
  • Five players are returning to the Rangers organization on minor-league pacts, per Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter links). Utilityman Alex Burg will join right-handed hurlers Dario Beltre, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Anthony Carter, and David Perez in returning to Texas. There’s a new farmhand coming in, too, as the Rangers added righty James Dykstra from the White Sox in a cash deal. Dykstra, 26, reached Double-A last year, throwing 102 1/3 innings of 4.93 ERA ball with 5.8 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9.
  • Two previously designated players — catcher Justin O’Conner (Rays) and lefty Williams Jerez (Red Sox) — have been outrighted by their organizations, per club announcements.
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