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Justin Bour Signs With Mexico City Red Devils

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First baseman Justin Bour has signed with the Red Devils of Mexico City (Diablos Rojos del México) for the 2022 season, announced the team on December 30th.  After playing in the Majors from 2014-19 with the Marlins, Phillies, and Angels, Bour spent 2020 with the Hanshin Tigers.  He signed a minor league deal in March 2021 to return stateside with the Giants, but he moved to KBO’s LG Twins after 33 Triple-A games.

The 18-team Mexican League was founded in 1925 and became part of Minor League Baseball thirty years later, and was eventually considered a Triple-A league.  The Mexican League’s longtime connection ended in 2021 when MLB re-organized the minors.  Bour joins several players with MLB experience on the Diablos Rojos’ roster, including Arquimedes Caminero, Jumbo Diaz, Roberto Osuna, JC Ramirez, Yangervis Solarte, and Jorge Cantu.  Diablos manager Jorge del Valle noted that Bour brings similar power to that of Jon Singleton, who recently signed a minor league deal with the Brewers.

Bour, 33, was drafted by the Cubs in the 25th round out of George Mason University back in 2009.  He remains the most successful Major Leaguer from that Virginia college.  Bour joined the Marlins in the 2013 Rule 5 draft.  He became the Marlins’ primary first baseman from 2015-18, finishing fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting with a 23-homer debut in ’15.  Bour popped 83 home runs for the Marlins in that span and ranks 12th in franchise history.  A left-handed hitter, Bour generally needed to be platooned against southpaws but still owns a 123 wRC+ against righties in his 559-game MLB career.

Dodgers To Sign Eddy Alvarez

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The Dodgers have signed infielder Eddy Alvarez, as announced by Alvarez himself on his Instagram page.  Due to the lockout, Alvarez’s contract must be a minor league deal, and he was eligible to sign since was already a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason.

Alvarez has already carved out a unique niche for himself in sports history as one of just six athletes to win medals in different sports at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.  Alvarez won a silver medal as part of the Team USA baseball team this past summer in Tokyo, and he previously won a silver medal as part of the U.S. 5000m relay speed-skating team at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

The Miami native returned to baseball following the end of his speed-skating career, and he spent five seasons in the White Sox farm system before joining his hometown Marlins prior to the 2019 season.  Alvarez made it to the Show in each of the last two seasons, and he has a .188/.287/.287 slash line over 115 big league plate appearances with the Marlins.

Alvarez turns 32 later this month, and while he has had some hitting success at the Triple-A level, the age gap compared to other minor leaguers (not to mention the livelier ball used across Triple-A baseball in 2019) might explain his strong numbers.  That said, a .279/.377/.447 slash line in 929 Triple-A plate appearances is no small feat, so it tracks that the Dodgers would want to take a look at Alvarez in Spring Training.  He fits the Dodgers’ preferred model of versatile players, as Alvarez has quite a bit of experience as a second baseman, third baseman, and shortstop during his pro career.

NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks To Sign Tyler Chatwood

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The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have reached a deal with right-hander Tyler Chatwood, according to a Sports Hochi report (Japanese language link).  Chatwood elected free agency after finishing the 2021 season on a minor league contract with the Giants.

After some up-and-down years with the Cubs, Chatwood seemed to be opening a new chapter in his career as a full-time relief pitcher when he signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Blue Jays last winter.  Chatwood got off to a good start with the Jays but battled some serious control issues as the year went on, leading Toronto to designate the righty for assignment and then release him in August.  Chatwood caught on with the Giants on a minor league deal but only saw four innings of MLB action with San Francisco.

As a whole, Chatwood posted a 5.63 ERA over 32 innings in 2021, with a respectable 26.2% strikeout rate undermined by an ugly 14.5% walk rate.  Command has been a problem for Chatwood during a large portion of his 10-year Major League career, reaching a nadir when he posted a 19.5% walk rate over 103 2/3 frames with the Cubs in 2018.

The move to Japan provides a fresh start for Chatwood as he enters his age-32 season, and it will be interesting to observe whether he works out of the Hawks’ bullpen, or if he might try to re-establish himself as a starting pitcher.  At least trying to work as a starter might help raise his stock for MLB teams in the future, giving any interested clubs the option of using Chatwood as a starter, reliever, or long man.

Chatwood joins Freddy Galvis and Colin Rea as familiar big leaguers joining the Hawks this winter.  Fukuoka is coming off a rare losing season after dominating Nippon Professional Baseball over the last decade — the Hawks won the Japan Series seven times between 2011-2020, including four straight titles from 2017-20.

KBO’s Hanwha Eagles Re-Sign Nick Kingham, Ryan Carpenter

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The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization re-signed right-hander Nick Kingham and left-hander Ryan Carpenter to new one-year contracts earlier this month.  According to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News, Kingham will receive $900K in guaranteed salary, while Carpenter gets $750K.  The new deals represent nice raises for both pitchers, as Carpenter signed for $300K and Kingham for $250K last winter.

Kingham missed much of the 2020 season due to elbow surgery, and made only two starts for the SK Wyverns before the KBO club released him in July 2020.  Looking to rebound with the Eagles, Kingham largely stayed healthy (except for a month-long absence with a lat injury) and posted a 3.19 ERA and 22.16% strikeout rate over 144 innings last season.  As Kingham told Yoo in a recent interview, he believes he can pitch even better in 2022, as he enters the new year focused only on normal offseason preparations without any injury rehab.

After pitching for the Rakuten Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2020, Carpenter performed well in his debut KBO season.  The southpaw posted a 3.97 ERA and 23.99% strikeout rate over 170 innings for the Eagles, starting 30 of his 31 games.

Both pitchers looked for a fresh start overseas after appearing in parts of the 2018 and 2019 MLB seasons.  Kingham, a former top prospect during his days in the Pirates farm system, has a 6.08 ERA over 131 2/3 career Major League frames with Pittsburgh and Toronto.  All of Carpenter’s big league experience came in a Tigers uniform, as he posted an 8.57 ERA over 63 innings (starting 14 of 15 games) with Detroit.

Athletics Sign Justin Grimm To Minor League Contract

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The A’s have signed veteran righty Justin Grimm to a minor league deal, according to Tim Hayes of The Bristol Herald Courier (Twitter link).  Grimm was eligible to sign during the lockout due to his status as a minor league free agent, as his previous minors deal with the Mariners expired at the end of the season.

Grimm posted a 4.37 ERA over 47 1/3 innings with Triple-A Tacoma last season, with a very impressive 33.6% strikeout rate but also a 9.8% walk rate and 11 home runs allowed over that small sample size.  It wasn’t enough for the Mariners to give him a call-up, and thus Grimm has now only seen MLB action in one of the last three seasons.  Grimm’s last big league exposure was a four-game stint with the Brewers in 2020 that saw him struggle to a 17.36 ERA over only 4 2/3 innings.

With some rough numbers in 2017-18, it has been some time since Grimm has been an effective member of a Major League bullpen.  Best known for his work with the Cubs, Grimm posted a 3.36 ERA and 28% strikeout rate over 171 1/3 frames from 2014-16, providing Chicago with a durable and largely effective relief arm.  After the high point of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship, however, Grimm began to decline, in large part due to an increase in walks and homers allowed.

There’s no risk for the Athletics in giving Grimm a look in Spring Training to see if he can recapture his old form at age 33, or if Oakland coaches can make a tweak to help the right-hander get back on track.  With the A’s perhaps still figuring out how to best manage payroll cuts without fully tearing things down, it has been a pretty quiet winter on the transactions front for Oakland, but the bullpen is an obvious area of need — Andrew Chafin, Yusmeiro Petit, Jake Diekman, and Sergio Romo are all free agents.  Given the Athletics’ budget crunch, they seem likely to target lower-cost options rather than invest heavily in relief pitching.

NPB’s Yomiuri Giants Re-Sign Thyago Vieira, Zelous Wheeler

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The Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball have re-signed right-hander Thyago Vieira and first baseman/outfielder Zelous Wheeler, according to reports out of Japan.  Both players will be entering their third season with the Giants, though Wheeler is a longtime veteran of NPB, having also played with the Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2015-2019.

Vieira tossed 25 2/3 innings over parts of three seasons with the Mariners and White Sox from 2017-19, with a 7.36 ERA to show from this brief taste of the majors.  The hard-throwing righty found his groove after joining the Tokyo-based Giants  prior to the 2020 campaign, and he has a 3.04 ERA and a 26.9% strikeout rate over 80 relief innings in the last two seasons.  A 12.4% walk rate represents the down side of those numbers, as Vieira’s big fastball has been undermined by a lack of control both in American and Japanese baseball.

Back in October, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that as many as five big league clubs had interest in bringing Vieira back to North America, though no deal materialized prior to the lockout.  It could be that Vieira simply preferred to remain in a familiar environment rather than compete with a rush of other pitchers scrambling for contracts once the transactions freeze eventually ends, as there wasn’t necessarily a sure thing that Vieira would even have landed a guaranteed Major League deal.

Wheeler turns 35 next month, and though his only MLB experience was 62 plate appearances with the Yankees in 2014, the veteran is now set to enter his 16th season in pro ball.  A 19th-round pick for the Brewers back in 2007, Wheeler spent eight years in the Milwaukee, Baltimore, and New York organizations before embarking on what has become a lengthy stint in Japan.  Wheeler has hit .264/.339/.458 with 133 home runs over his 3107 plate appearances in NPB, bouncing back from a down year in 2020 to hit .290/.358/.477 with 15 homers in 439 PA for last season’s Giants club.

KBO’s Kia Tigers Sign Socrates Brito, Ronnie Williams

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The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed outfielder Socrates Brito and right-hander Ronnie Williams to one-year contracts, the team announced.  Reports out of South Korea last week indicated that Brito was joining the Gwangju-based team (hat tip to The Athletic’s Sung Min Kim).

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Brito will earn a $600K salary with another $300K available in contract incentives, with the Yonhap News’ Jeeho Yoo noting that $100K of Brito’s guaranteed money is a signing bonus.  Also via Yoo, Williams will get a $300K salary and a $100K signing bonus, with $350K more available in incentives.

Brito has appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, hitting .179/.216/.309 over 218 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays from 2015-19.  He signed a minor league contract with the Pirates in 2020 and played at the team’s alternate training site, but opted out of the season in September for tragic reasons, as Brito’s brother passed away from COVID-19.  Returning to the field in 2021, Brito hit .251/.315/.376 over 419 PA with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.

This performance represented a notable step down from Brito’s usual strong Triple-A numbers, as he had always produced in his previous stops with the Diamondbacks’ and Jays’ top farm clubs.  Some dropoff isn’t unusual given a full year away from the game, though it was Brito’s first season outside of a Triple-A environment that was very favorable to hitters.  Arizona’s Triple-A team played in the Pacific Coast League, while the 2019 season (which Brito spent with Toronto’s Buffalo affiliate) saw offensive numbers explode all across Triple-A baseball.

A trip to the KBO League might be what Brito needs to get his career back on track, as he enters his age 29 season.  A noted prospect in his early days with the D’Backs, Brito can play any of the three outfield positions, though he has has more recently been deployed in the corners.

Williams turns 26 in early January, and the righty already has seven seasons of pro experience.  A second-round pick for the Cardinals in the 2014 draft, Williams spent his first six years in the St. Louis organization before the Giants claimed him off waivers last winter.  The Miami native has a 4.24 ERA and 21.41% strikeout rate over 409 1/3 career innings in the minors, pitching mostly as a reliever over his last three seasons.  Only 15 2/3 of those innings came at the Triple-A level, as Williams didn’t reach Triple-A until this year in the Giants’ system.

The $400K (and the incentive possibilities) represent a much higher salary than Williams would have earned in the minors this year, and it makes sense that he would take the guaranteed money now rather than roll the dice on signing another minor league deal and trying to finally crack a big league roster.  The Tigers deal also allows Williams for some chance at reinvention, and a chance to showcase his skills for either further opportunities abroad or for MLB scouts.

Chris Gittens Signs With Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

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First baseman Chris Gittens has agreed to a contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per a team announcement. Gittens was released by the Yankees at the end of November, just prior to the beginning of the lockout. At that time, it was reported that the Yanks had granted him his release in order to allow him to pursue an opportunity with an NPB team.

Gittens has spent the entirety of his professional career thus far in the Yankees organization, having been drafted by them in 2014. Gittens has always hit well in the minors, but has limited roster versatility due to the fact that he’s only ever played first base. In 2021, he played 45 games at Triple-A and absolutely crushed, slashing .301/.440/.644, for an incredible wRC+ of 185. He couldn’t translate that production to the major league level, as he hit .111/.250/.194 in his first season of MLB action. However, due to bouncing between the two levels and sustaining a few injuries, that was a small sample of 44 plate appearances in 16 MLB games.

Gittens was potentially facing a similar situation in 2022, as he still has option years remaining and didn’t have a clear path to playing time in the Bronx. Luke Voit is currently pencilled in at first for the Yanks, and they have also been connected to other first basemen this offseason, such as Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo and Matt Olson. There’s also the potential of the club adding to another infield position and pushing DJ Lemahieu into some first base duty.

For Gittens, who turns 28 in February, he will now have greater certainty about his job status and likely an increase in salary as well. If he is able to hit NPB pitching at a level anywhere close to the level he’s shown in the minors, he should be able to garner interest from MLB teams in bringing him back to North America, following the trajectory of other sluggers who returned after overseas success, such as Eric Thames or Darin Ruf.

Ariel Miranda Re-Signs With KBO’s Doosan Bears

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Coming off a dominant season that saw him win the Korea Baseball Organization’s Choi Dong-won Award (given annually to the best pitcher in the ten-team league), take home the league MVP award, and set a new KBO strikeout record, former Orioles and Mariners starter Ariel Miranda has re-signed with the Doosan Bears (via Yoo Jee-ho of Yonhap News). The deal will pay Miranda the equivalent of $1.9MM for a single season, freeing Miranda to re-evaluate his options next offseason should he wish to return stateside.

Indeed, following a season in which he posted a 2.33 ERA over 173 2/3 innings, the Cuban-born lefty would have been a certainty to generate some interest from big-league clubs. It’s unclear what role the MLB lockout may have played in his decision-making, but his record-setting 225 Ks (2 more than award namesake and KBO legend Choi Dong-won posted in 1984) will have turned at least a few front-office heads. Still, even if Miranda had hoped to take a second stab at the bigs, the $1.9MM he’ll make in 2022 represents a perfectly tidy consolation prize and leaves the door open for an MLB return in his age-34 season. It’s also a significant raise from the $800K he earned in 2021.

After defecting from his native Cuba in early 2015, Miranda signed a minor-league deal with Baltimore in May and made his big-league debut the following July, appearing in one game for the Orioles before heading to Seattle in a trade that send Wade Miley to Baltimore. In 223 innings across parts of three seasons, Miranda posted a 4.72 ERA (5.55 FIP). While his K- and BB-rates (19.9% and 9.1%, respectively) fell only just on the wrong side of league-average, his HR-rate of 5.3% made him a bit of a fringy play in limited action.

Though he consistently outperformed his peripherals (he had a 3.54 ERA against a 5.47 FIP in 56 innings with Seattle in 2016, for instance), the Mariners let Miranda go in 2018. It was then that he pivoted to Asian baseball, signing with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball less than two weeks later. He remained in Japan through the 2019 season before signing with the Chinatrust Brothers of the Taiwan-based Chinese Professional Baseball League for the 2020 season and the Doosan Bears for 2021.

Whether or not Miranda can repeat his stellar 2021 remains to be seen, of course. Across 133 2/3 innings at Japan’s highest level, he posted a solid (if unspectacular) 3.36 ERA to go with 75 walks against only 98 Ks — a similar line to his 3.80 ERA in 156 1/3 innings in Taiwan, though there he struck out 170 while walking 60. After finishing as the runners-up in the 2021 Korean Series, the Doosan Bears will certainly hope their prized Cuban lefty can hold on to whatever he found in 2021.

Dodgers Sign Tomas Telis To Minors Contract

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The Dodgers signed catcher Tomas Telis to a minor league deal earlier this month, as per the team’s official MLB.com transactions page.  Telis began the offseason as a minor league free agent, and is therefore eligible to sign during the lockout.

A veteran of five MLB seasons, Telis hit .230/.267/.298 over 267 plate appearances while playing with the Rangers and Marlins from 2013-18.  He has spent the last three seasons in the Twins organization but hasn’t yet appeared in a big league game for Minnesota.  Telis had his contract selected in April but was sent back down after a couple of days without seeing any action during his cup of coffee on the Twins’ active roster.

With Will Smith and Austin Barnes atop the Dodgers’ catching depth chart, Telis will provide some veteran depth in the minors, assuming he sticks with the club through Spring Training.  While the 30-year-old Telis hasn’t hit much at the MLB level, he has some very strong numbers at the Triple-A level, with a .306/.349/.426 career slash line and 43 home runs in 2262 PA at the top rung of the minor league ladder.  Telis’ production with Minnesota’s Triple-A club would likely have resulted in at least another look from most organizations, though the Twins’ own depth at catcher seemed to make Telis something of an afterthought.

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