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Nationals, Carl Edwards Jr. Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Nationals have signed reliever Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league contract, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (on Twitter). As a minor league free agent, he remained eligible to sign during the ongoing lockout.

Edwards has pitched in the majors in each of the past seven seasons, although he’s only made twelve combined appearances the last two years. The lanky right-hander is best known for his early-career days with the Cubs, where current Nationals manager Dave Martinez worked as bench coach. Edwards was a solid contributor to Chicago’s World Series winning club in 2016, then worked over 50 innings of sub-3.00 ERA ball in each of the following two seasons. Between 2016-18, he posted a 3.03 ERA in 154 1/3 frames, striking out an elite 34.2% of opponents and holding batters to a .152/.271/.250 slash line.

Control was an issue for Edwards even at his best, as he doled out free passes at an elevated 13.5% clip. The walks spiked even more in 2019 (up to 16.7%) and his strikeout and swinging strike rates tumbled that season. The Cubs traded Edwards to the Padres at the deadline, but he quickly landed on the injured list due to a shoulder strain and was eventually cut loose. He signed with the Mariners that offseason but suffered a season-ending forearm strain after just five outings in 2020; Seattle let him go at the end of the year.

Last season, Edwards bounced between three organizations. He signed a minors deal with the Braves and made the big league club in May. Atlanta designated him for assignment after just one day, and Edwards elected free agency upon clearing waivers. He signed with the Blue Jays and was quickly selected to their MLB roster, but an oblique strain sent him to the injured list after only six games. Toronto released him rather than bring him back after he recovered. Edwards signed another minor league deal — this time with the White Sox — late in the season but didn’t get a big league call and reached the open market again at the end of the year.

The past three seasons have obviously been trying, particularly from a health perspective. Yet Edwards had a decent run of early-career success, and he’s still only 30 years old. It’s a sensible no-risk flier for the Nationals, and the South Carolina native should have a decent shot at cracking the big league bullpen if he impresses in Spring Training. Washington’s relief corps was a disaster last year, finishing 29th in ERA (5.08) and 25th in SIERA (4.32). Swingman Paolo Espino is the only returning reliever who worked 20+ innings with a SIERA below 4.00 in 2021.

White Sox Agree To Minors Deals With Wes Benjamin, Patrick Kivlehan

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The White Sox have agreed to minor league contracts with Wes Benjamin and Patrick Kivlehan, according to the club transactions log at MLB.com. Both players saw some big league action last season but were later outrighted off their teams’ respective rosters and qualified for minor league free agency.

Benjamin is joining his second club, having previously spent his entire career with the Rangers. A former fifth-round pick, he made it to the majors for the first time in 2020. Benjamin had an alright debut showing, pitching to a 4.84 ERA across 22 1/3 frames in a multi-inning relief role. The left-hander induced swinging strikes on a solid 12.3% of his offerings that season and showed passable control, only walking 7.1% of opponents. Benjamin served up four home runs in that time, but he looked like a potential long relief/spot starter option for Texas heading into 2021.

Things went off the rails last year, though. He was tagged for an 8.74 ERA in 22 2/3 innings. His swinging strike percentage dipped to 9.5% while his walk rate more than doubled to 15.2%. The 28-year-old struggled just as much with the Rangers’ top affiliate in Round Rock, where he posted an 8.29 ERA in 15 outings (including 10 starts). Benjamin wasn’t as homer-prone in the minors, but he mustered subpar strikeout and walk numbers and allowed a .402 batting average on balls in play.

There’s no risk for the White Sox in giving Benjamin a non-roster opportunity to rebound from his rough year. He has plenty of starting experience in the minors and has been a capable performer up through Double-A. The University of Kansas product posted a sub-4.00 ERA at each stop until Triple-A and could serve as either rotation or long relief depth with Chicago.

Kivlehan has logged some MLB action in four different seasons. The bulk of that experience came with the 2017 Reds, for whom he tallied 204 plate appearances and hit .208/.304/.399. He showed some power and walked at a solid 10.8% clip that year, but he fanned in 29.9% of his trips and otherwise has scant big league experience. Kivlehan has a cumulative 46 MLB plate appearances in three additional seasons with the Padres and D-Backs, including five games with San Diego last May.

The 32-year-old has far more experience at Triple-A, where’s generally been an effective hitter. Over parts of five seasons at the minors’ top level, Kivlehan owns a .262/.324/.485 line. He spent last season with the Friars’ top affiliate in El Paso, posting a .261/.316/.508 mark with 21 homers in 91 games (albeit in an extremely hitter-friendly environment). He’ll give the White Sox a right-handed bat with some pop to stash in the upper minors. The bulk of Kivlehan’s MLB time has come in the corner outfield, but he’s logged more than 3,000 innings at third base and nearly 2,000 frames at first base in the minors.

Mets, Felix Pena Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Felix Pena, per the team’s transactions log. The former Cubs and Angels righty will presumably be in big league camp whenever it opens and will give New York some valuable depth in either the rotation or the bullpen. Pena was eligible to sign during the lockout because he was released by the Angels in September and did not return to a 40-man roster before season’s end.

Pena, who turns 32 today, was a quality swingman with the Halos from 2018-20, logging a combined 215 2/3 innings of 4.34 ERA ball with a 23.6% strikeout rate, a 7.7% walk rate and a 43.4% ground-ball rate. Those strikeout and grounder rates are both roughly in line with the league averages, while Pena’s walk rate checked in better than average.  He’s not a flamethrowing power arm, but Pena sat 92.3 mph on his heater during that three-year stretch in Anaheim and has made 24 starts at the MLB level in addition to another 80 relief outings. He’s worked 142 innings in those 80 bullpen appearances, so he’s no stranger to multi-inning work.

A torn ACL ended Pena’s season in Aug. 2019, but he bounced back with a solid showing in the shortened 2020 schedule (4.05 ERA in 26 2/3 frames). His 2021 bordered on nightmarish, however. Pena missed the first six weeks of the season owing to a hamstring injury and was shelled for seven runs in 1 2/3 innings in his first two appearances upon returning. The Angels passed him through outright waivers not long after, and Pena went on to yield 61 earned runs through 68 1/3 innings in Triple-A Salt Lake before being released. He’s been lights out in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, though, posting a 1.91 ERA and a 27-to-7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings.

At present, the Mets’ rotation is expected to consist of Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker, with options like Trevor Williams, David Peterson and Tylor Megill vying for the fifth spot. It’s possible one or more of those current fifth-starter candidates could land in a deep group of relievers that’ll be headlined by Edwin Diaz, Trevor May, Seth Lugo and Miguel Castro.

The Mets are widely expected to add another established arm to the rotation whenever the lockout ends, and there’s probably room for a lefty in the bullpen as well (particularly following the departure of Aaron Loup). Pena can compete for a long relief spot in the bullpen or head to Triple-A Syracuse, where he’ll serve as a quality depth option. In a total of 260 2/3 innings, Pena carries a 4.66 ERA and 4.05 SIERA to go along with strikeout, walk and ground-ball tendencies that are all within arm’s reach of the league average.

Oswaldo Arcia Signs With American Association’s Cleburne Railroaders

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A pair of former major leaguers recently signed with teams in the American Association, according to the league’s transactions log. Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia has signed with the Cleburne Railroaders, while infielder Darnell Sweeney returned to the Kansas City Monarchs.

Arcia, the older brother of Braves utilityman Orlando Arcia, appeared in the big leagues between 2013-16. Included among Baseball America’s top 50 overall prospects heading into 2013, the now-30-year-old Arcia looked as though he could emerge as a middle-of-the-order power bat during his time in the Twins system. The left-handed hitter flashed some power potential over his first couple seasons, popping 34 home runs with a .201 ISO (slugging minus batting average) over 788 plate appearances between 2013-14.

Along with that power came big strikeout totals and below-average walk rates, however. That led to Arcia struggling from an on-base perspective, and his overall offensive output checked in around the league average. He’s limited to the corner outfield or designated hitter, and public metrics have pegged him as a below-average defender even in the corners. Without the high-end offensive output to compensate for that lack of value with the glove, Arcia bounced between four different clubs in 2016.

The Venezuela native spent the 2017 campaign in Triple-A with the Diamondbacks. He caught on with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan the following year, hitting .222/.315/.405 over 324 plate appearances. Arcia spent the 2019 season in the Mexican League and will try to work his way back into the affiliated ranks with a strong showing in his first year with the Railroaders.

Sweeney, on the other hand, has suited up for the Monarchs in two of the past three seasons, with a one-year stop as a member of the Winnipeg Goldeyes (also a member of the American Association) in 2020. The switch-hitting utilityman came up in the Dodgers’ system and was traded to the Phillies in 2015 as part of the deal that sent Chase Utley to Los Angeles. He played in 37 games for the Phils down the stretch but didn’t return to the big leagues until 2018, when he made a pair of appearances with the Blue Jays. The 31-year-old is a .252/.320/.394 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons.

Josh Reddick Signs With Mexican League’s Acereros De Monclova

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Longtime big league outfielder Josh Reddick signed with the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League earlier this month, according to a club announcement. It’s the first stint in Mexico for the left-handed hitter, who has spent the past thirteen years at the MLB level.

Reddick, who turned 35 over the weekend, is coming off a 2021 campaign split between the Diamondbacks and Mets. He tallied 158 plate appearances over 54 games with Arizona but struggled to a career-worst .258/.285/.371 line. The Snakes let Reddick go in early August. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets not long after but only spent about two weeks with their Triple-A affiliate before being released.

It wasn’t a great 2021 showing for the Georgia native, but he hit at a near league average level each season from 2018-20. Reddick has been a solid offensive player for the bulk of his MLB career, compiling a .262/.321/.426 line in a bit more than 1300 games split between the Red Sox, A’s, Dodgers, Astros and D-Backs. He has three seasons with a wRC+ above 115 (at least fifteen percentage points above the league average), including a .314/.363/.484 line over 540 plate appearances with the Astros in 2017.

Early in his career, Reddick also rated as one of the game’s preeminent defensive corner outfielders. He took home a Gold Glove award in 2012 and was typically rated favorably by public metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating through 2019. His defensive numbers have dipped below average over the past two seasons, though, and both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference have pegged his overall work below replacement level in that time.

Reddick joins an Acereros roster that features a handful of former big leaguers. Monclova also signed Pablo Sandoval a few weeks back, and they added former Brewers outfielder Keon Broxton at the end of January. Broxton, who compiled a .209/.297/.388 MLB line between 2015-19, has spent the past couple seasons in the minors. The righty-hitting center fielder split last season between the Twins’ and Brewers’ top affiliates and hit .173/.283/.297 across 311 plate appearances.

Nationals Sign Reed Garrett To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals have signed right-hander Reed Garrett to a minor league contract, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). He’s already at the team’s spring facility in West Palm Beach.

Garrett, 29, was the Tigers’ selection in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft. Coming over from the Rangers organization, he made Detroit’s Opening Day roster and held a spot through mid-May before ultimately clearing waivers and being returned to Texas. Garrett started the 2019 season with 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen, but the eight hits and seven walks he yielded during that gave reason for skepticism. Indeed, he regressed quickly as those command struggles continued and the hits piled up; Garrett yielded runs in each of his next six appearances — a total of 13 in just 6  2/3 frames.

Although his struggles continued with the Rangers’ Triple-A club that season, Garrett’s raw stuff drew some attention overseas. He’s spent the past two seasons with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he’s worked to a 3.46 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and an 11.1% walk rate through 106 2/3 innings of relief.

Garrett carries just a 4.48 ERA in 64 1/3 Triple-A frames and a similar 4.65 mark throughout his minor league career as a whole. However, as Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs noted following that Rule 5 selection back in 2018, Garrett’s velocity spiked following a move from the rotation to the bullpen in 2017, and he has a pair of above-average breaking pitchers. Time will tell whether he earns a second big league look with the Nationals, but he’ll give them some depth with plenty of experience, at the very least.

At present, there appears to be plenty of opportunity in the Washington bullpen. There’s no set closer in place, although 30-year-old Kyle Finnegan notched 11 saves last year following Daniel Hudson’s trade to San Diego. Hard-throwing righty Tanner Rainey was one of manager Dave Martinez’s go-to options in 2019-20, but he was clobbered for a 7.39 ERA in 31 2/3 innings last year. Veteran Will Harris missed nearly all of the 2021 season after a pair of operations — the first to remove a blood clot in Spring Training, and the second to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in late May. Right-handers Erick Fedde, Austin Voth and Patrick Murphy could all have the inside track on bullpen spots by virtue of the fact that they’re out of minor league options, but none pitched particularly well in 2021.

Suffice it to say, Garrett should have his chances to impact the big league roster if he can find some early success — be it in Spring Training (whenever games start) or early in the Triple-A season. The lack of established relievers in the Nats’ bullpen also likely portends some future acquisitions when the lockout lifts, whether they’re guaranteed big league deals, trade/waiver claims, or some additional non-roster invitees.

Edubray Ramos Signs With Atlantic League’s Kentucky Wild Health Genomes

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The Kentucky Wild Health Genomes of the independent Atlantic League have signed reliever Edubray Ramos, according to the league’s transactions log. It’ll be the first stint in indie ball for the 29-year-old, who has spent the past decade-plus in the affiliated ranks.

Ramos is best known for his four-year run with the Phillies from 2016-19. The righty was a capable middle innings option for a good chunk of that time. He debuted with 40 innings of 3.83 ERA ball as a rookie, then combined for a 3.41 mark across 100 1/3 frames the following two seasons. Ramos posted decent strikeout, walk and swinging strike numbers during that time, and he showed a knack for avoiding barrels and keeping the ball in the yard despite being a fly-ball pitcher.

While Ramos appeared to have cemented himself as a reliable member of the Philadelphia relief corps, his career was thrown off track by an injury-plagued 2019. He missed the bulk of that season with shoulder troubles and struggled mightily over his 20 appearances. The Phils outrighted him off their roster at the end of the year, and the Venezuela native hasn’t returned to the majors since.

Ramos signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers over the 2019-20 offseason. He spent the shortened campaign at their alternate training site but didn’t get a big league call. Last winter, he inked a minors pact with the Rangers. He never appeared in a game with one of Texas’ affiliates, though. He’ll try to work his way back into the affiliated ranks with a strong showing for the Lexington-based Atlantic League club.

White Sox, Dwight Smith Jr. Agree To Minor League Deal

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The White Sox have signed outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. to a minor league contract, reports Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. They’ll be the fourth Major League organization for Smith, who’s repped by Wasserman.

The son of former big league outfielder and 1995 World Series champion Dwight Smith, the younger Smith was the No. 53 overall draft choice by Toronto back in 2011. He ranked between 14th and 28th among Jays farmhands each season from 2012-16, per Baseball America, and Smith hit the ground running in his first few big league looks. In a small sample of 104 plate appearances from 2017-18, he batted .294/.365/.467 and earned his way into the team’s outfield mix. That showing helped prompt the Orioles to trade for Smith in a deal that sent international bonus allotments back to Toronto.

In 2019, Smith’s first season with the O’s, he saw a career-high 392 plate appearances over the course of 101 games. He got out to another hot start in Baltimore, beginning the year on an eight-game hitting streak and carrying a hearty .286/.333/.510 batting line with eight home runs, nine doubles and four stolen bases through his first 159 trips to the plate. Smith looked to be a pretty sound low-cost pickup at the time, but his bat wilted as the season wore on. From May 15 through season’s end, he hit just .210/.273/.343 through 233 plate appearances, and his .222/.306/.365 slash in 72 plate appearances in 2020 wasn’t much better.

Smith was designated for assignment by Baltimore in Aug. 2020 and went unclaimed on waivers. He was outrighted to the team’s alternate site in the pandemic-shortened season and became a minor league free agent at season’s end. Smith inked a minor league deal with Cincinnati last winter, but he scuffled with a .221/.327/.284 slash in 147 plate appearances with their Triple-A affiliate before being released.

Now 29 years old, Smith has had some big league success but has yet to find much in the way of consistency. He’s a lifetime .248/.310/.316 hitter in 568 big league plate appearances and a .266/.351/.392 hitter in 1006 Triple-A plate appearances. It’s unlikely that the Sox view him as a primary candidate to factor into their right field mix this coming season, but he’ll be a depth option who’ll join a corner-outfield mix already featuring Eloy Jimenez, Andrew Vaughn, Adam Engel, Gavin Sheets and out-of-options prospect Micker Adolfo. The South Siders are expected to pursue further corner options once the league lifts the current transaction freeze, which would push Smith further down the depth chart.

Dodgers, Robbie Erlin Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have signed veteran left-hander Robbie Erlin to a minor league contract, per Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Erlin, a client of Apex Baseball, will presumably head to big league camp once it opens and give L.A. some depth both in the rotation and in the bullpen.

A veteran of seven big league seasons, Erlin spent the 2021 season pitching with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan, where he appeared in 11 games and worked to a 3.32 ERA over the life of 38 innings. He whiffed 20.5% of his opponents there and posted a strong 6.8% walk rate in his brief time overseas, but he’ll now look to get back to the big leagues as a member of a former division rival.

Erlin, 31, spent the first six seasons of his big league career as a member of the Padres. Initially a third-round pick by the Rangers in 2009, he landed in San Diego by way of a trade for reliever Mike Adams, going on to ultimately appear in 106 games for the Friars from 2013-19. Thirty-eight of those appearances came out of the rotation, so he could be stretched out as starting depth for the Dodgers if they so choose. Alternatively, Erlin is no stranger to working in multi-inning relief stints, as evidenced by the 123 1/3 frames he’s racked up in 72 career bullpen outings.

Erlin produced a 4.57 ERA, a 19.1% strikeout rate and a terrific 4.7% walk rate in his 313 frames with the Padres, but his most recent action came with the Pirates and Braves in 2020. Things didn’t go particularly well in either stop for the southpaw that summer, however, as he was tagged for a combined 24 runs in 26 2/3 innings. Erlin did post a solid 25-to-7 K/BB ratio in that time, continuing his career-long trends of below-average strikeout rates but excellent walk rates. Erlin posted MLB’s lowest walk rate back in 2018 and has long had solid spin on his four-seamer and an above-average spin rate on his curveball.

Mariners Sign Patrick Weigel To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have signed Patrick Weigel to a minor league contract, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. The right-hander had elected minor league free agency at the end of the season after being outrighted off the Brewers’ 40-man roster in August.

Weigel, now 27, is probably best known for his early-career days in the Braves’ farm system. A 7th-round draftee in 2015, he emerged as one of the more interesting young arms in the organization within a couple seasons. Weigel drew plaudits for a mid-high 90s fastball and a pair of quality breaking balls. Baseball America slotted him among the top ten prospects in the farm system after he dominated at Low-A in 2016, but he suffered a UCL tear that required Tommy John surgery the following season. He missed almost all of the 2018 campaign rehabbing.

While Weigel returned to post decent numbers in the high minors in 2019, he’s had a rough go of things the past couple years. He made his first MLB outing during the shortened 2020 campaign but spent the bulk of the year at the alternate training site. Atlanta traded Weigel to Milwaukee last April as part of a two-player package to bring in utilityman Orlando Arcia.

Weigel’s lone year with the Brew Crew didn’t go well. He averaged a solid 94.6 MPH on his fastball during his three big league appearances, but he only spent a bit more than a week on the active roster. The California native spent the rest of the year with Triple-A Nashville, where he worked almost exclusively as a reliever. Over 43 1/3 innings with the Sounds, he managed just a 7.27 ERA while struggling immensely with his control. Weigel walked an untenable 17.6% of batters faced at the minors’ top level last season, exacerbating strike-throwing problems he’s faced throughout his career.

It’s unlikely Weigel will ever have great command, but he’ll certainly need to throw more strikes than he did in 2021 if he’s to earn a spot on Seattle’s big league roster. It seems likely the M’s will give him a look in Spring Training to see if he can better harness the raw stuff that made him a solid prospect. Weigel was predominantly a starter up through 2019, but scouting reports had long suggested he might eventually have to move to the bullpen because of his questionable command. Given that he worked in relief last year, it seems likely the Mariners are eyeing him as a depth option for the ’pen.

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