NL Central Notes: Cardinals, Senzel, Cubs Comeback
It doesn’t sound as if the Cardinals are planning to make another addition to their roster. Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quotes president of baseball operations John Mozeliak in stating that the team has accomplished much of what it set out to do this winter. “Any move we would make now would sort of complicate things,” said Mozeliak. “Even if we were to break (camp) today, we’re going to have guys competing for at-bats already. And we still feel we have a lot of depth in our pitching.” Beyond that, Mozeliak indicated that he “[sees] no reason” that left fielder Marcell Ozuna wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day. Ozuna played through a shoulder injury in 2018 and underwent offseason surgery, but Mozeliak notes that the outfielder is already swinging a bat and is on track to begin a throwing program when he reports to Spring Training in February.
More from the division…
- Nick Senzel will be given every opportunity to earn starting centerfield duties this season, per John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The Reds have no shortage of outfielders, with Yasiel Puig, Scott Schebler, Jesse Winker and Matt Kemp all in the corner outfield mix, but none of them are natural fits in center. Phil Ervin will have the chance to take some at-bats, but he profiles better in the corners as well. The hope appears to be that Senzel will prove a quick study, able to secure his spot in the bigs by learning yet another new position. Senzel, of course, comes to big league camp a third baseman by trade, and he’s spent some time at second base as well – but with Eugenio Suarez locked into a long-term deal at third, and Scooter Gennett at least temporarily installed at second, Senzel’s path to the the bigs goes through the only position on the Reds lineup card without a starter in place.
- Former first round pick Luke Hagerty is attempting a comeback at age 37, writes ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Hagerty hasn’t pitched professionally since 2008 when a case of the yips drove him from the game. Hagerty has reworked his arsenal and his mindset at the Driveline Baseball Program, the same facility where Kyle Zimmer of the Royals trained last season. At a recent Driveline pro day tryout, the 6’7″ Hagerty averaged a 96.9 mph fastball, impressing himself and the area scouts in attendance. Sixteen and a half years after they signed him the first time, the Cubs signed Hagerty again, this time to a minor league deal. The first time through the Cubs system, Hagerty suffered from the yips, a hiccup rooted in psychology wherein an automatic physical ability, like throwing a baseball over the plate, suddenly and without apparent cause, becomes no longer automatic. The yips are a hurdle that Hagerty appears to have cleared, however, and the southpaw is throwing electric stuff. If Hagerty does make it to the show, he would be the oldest player (without international experience) to make his major league debut since Satchel Paige in 1948. Even Jim Morris, made famous by Dennis Quaid in Disney’s The Rookie, was three years younger than Hagerty when he took his last/best shot at the bigs.
Cubs Sign Tony Barnette, Outright Ian Clarkin
5:55pm: The deal also includes roster bonuses, with $250K available if Barnette breaks camp on the active roster and again if he lasts there for 155 days of the season, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). There’s also a quarter-million-dollar incentives package.
It’s worth noting, too, that if the Cubs do pick up the option, they’ll be required to release Barnette thereafter rather than tendering him a contract and offering arbitration.
3:04pm: The Cubs have now announced the Barnette signing.
2:40pm: The Cubs and right-handed reliever Tony Barnette have agreed to a one-year contract with a club option for the 2020 season, reports Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter links). Barnette will receive a $750K salary for the 2019 season and has a club option valued at $3MM for a second season, per Gonzales. Barnette is represented by Wasserman.
Additionally, Gonzales tweets that lefty Ian Clarkin cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Iowa. That move wasn’t made to accommodate the addition of Barnette, though, as the Cubs already had a spot open on the 40-man roster.
Barnette, 35, pitched brilliantly for the Rangers in 2018 but had his season truncated by shoulder issues. The right-hander logged a 2.39 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 0.68 HR/9 and a 51.4 percent ground-ball rate in 26 1/3 innings but made his final appearance on July 3.
That season wrapped up an uneven three-year stint with the Rangers organization for Barnette, whose track record is among the more unique in today’s game. A 10th-round selection of the Diamondbacks in 2006, Barnette spent four years toiling in the Diamondbacks’ system before accepting an offer to go pitch for the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. That initial one-year offer was parlayed into a six-year run with Yakult, where Barnette emerged as one of the top closers in Japan. He saved 97 games there after ascending to that role and pitched to a 1.29 ERA in his final season there before signing a big league deal with the Rangers.
The righty justified the hype surrounding him with a 2.09 ERA in 60 1/3 innings during his rookie season, but he was clobbered for a 5.49 ERA a year later in 2017 as he also dealt with finger injuries. In all, Barnette comes to the Cubs with a long track record of success in Asia and a 3.50 ERA with a 132-to-43 K/BB ratio in 144 Major League innings — all with Texas.
The Cubs’ budgetary constraints this offseason are well known, as the team had to trade Drew Smyly and his $7MM salary to the Rangers simply to pick up their option on Cole Hamels. Since that time, the team’s only expenditures have been small deals for utility infielder Daniel Descalso, right-hander Brad Brach and now Barnette. While the limitations are an understandable point of contention for fans who’d hoped to see ownership support a run at a franchise-altering talent like Bryce Harper, the front office has seemingly done well in adding a pair of potentially useful setup men (Brach and Barnette) for a combined total south of $6MM.
As for Clarkin, he’s a former first-round pick (No. 33 by the Yankees in 2013) that has bounced back and forth via waivers between the Cubs and White Sox on multiple occasions this winter. Clarkin was hit hard in 68 innings of Double-A ball last year, turning in a 4.98 ERA with nearly as many walks (4.1 BB/9) as strikeouts (4.6 K/9), and he’ll now stick with his new organization and likely head to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/28/19
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Cubs have re-signed righty Allen Webster to a minor league contract, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. Webster resurfaced in the big leagues late in the 2018 season with Chicago — his first MLB action since the 2015 season. Webster tossed just three big league innings and managed only 17 minor league frames in an injury-shortened season. Webster posted a 2.64 ERA and 24-to-3 K/BB ratio in those 17 innings, and while most of them came all the way down at Rookie ball as he worked his way back, Cubs internal evaluators were clearly encouraged by what they saw based on bringing Webster to the Majors and now bringing him back to the organization for a second look.
- Left-hander Chris Nunn announced on Twitter that he’s agreed to a minor league pact with the Rangers. Originally a Padres prospect, the 28-year-old split last season between the Astros organization and the St. Paul Saint of the independent American Association. Nunn turned in a 1.80 ERA and a 23-to-8 K/BB ratio in 20 innings with Houston’s Double-A club last season, and he posted solid numbers on the indy circuit as well. Nunn garnered some attention when Rob Friedman tweeted out some recent bullpen sessions in which the lefty was hitting 97 to 99 mph. The Athletic’s Robert Murray tweets that the Rangers’ plan for Nunn is for him to open the season in Triple-A.
Cubs Sign Junichi Tazawa To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed right-hander Junichi Tazawa to a minor league contract, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reports (Twitter link).
The move reunites Tazawa with Theo Epstein, who was the Red Sox general manager in December 2008 when Tazawa signed with Boston to begin his pro career (bypassing the Nippon Professional Baseball draft in order to go straight to North America). Tazawa was a sturdy member of Boston’s relief corps from 2012-16, though his performance dropped off after he signed a two-year, $12MM free agent deal with the Marlins prior to the 2017 season. The righty posted a 6.57 ERA over 75 1/3 innings in Miami, which led to his release last May.
Tazawa signed minors deals with the Tigers and Angels last season, getting back to the Majors for eight September games in an Angels uniform. All in all, it has been an ugly two years for Tazawa — a 6.16 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 1.74 K/BB rate, and 1.6 HR/9 over his last 83 1/3 frames. He has endured a big spike in his home run and hard-hit ball rates, as well as a decline in fastball velocity (92mph in 2018, down from 93mph in 2017 and an average of better than 94mph during his time in Boston).
Despite these recent struggles, there isn’t much risk for the Cubs in taking Tazawa to Spring Training to see if he has anything left in the tank. Chicago has been on the hunt for low-cost bullpen help this winter, looking for depth since incumbent closer Brandon Morrow could miss Opening Day in the wake of elbow surgery. Brad Brach signed a one-year, Major League deal with the team on Thursday, while the Cubs have also added the likes of Rob Scahill and George Kontos on minor league contracts.
Cubs To Sign George Kontos
The Cubs have agreed to a minor-league deal with reliever George Kontos, according to Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com (via Twitter). The deal comes with an invitation to participate in spring camp as a non-roster player.
Kontos, 33, has a long track record of getting results at the MLB level, though he has rarely flashed truly convincing peripherals. It’s hard to argue with 357 frames of 3.10 ERA pitching in the bigs. At the same time, with an underwhelming combination of 6.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, and a 43.7% groundball rate for his career, Kontos carries only a 3.82 FIP, 4.00 xFIP, and 3.76 SIERA.
Generating light contact has been the name of the game for Kontos, who has held opposing hitters to a .265 batting average on balls in play for his career. Despite the unremarkable strikeout totals, he has also carried a strong 11.7% lifetime swinging-strike rate. Most intriguing of all was a 2017 bump in that statistic to an elite 16.4% level, though Kontos did not carry that with him into the ensuing campaign. He ultimately matched his career-worst ERA last year, allowing 4.39 earned runs per nine over 26 2/3 innings while bouncing between three teams.
All said, there’s plenty to like in securing Kontos on a minor-league deal. At worst, he represents a quality depth option to have on hand. And that past whiff rate does still tantalize, particularly since (as Levine notes) Kontos has shown an uptick in his velocity in workouts this winter. His typically low-nineties heater had trended down a bit in 2018.
Cubs To Sign Brad Brach
1:24PM: Brach will earn at least $4.35MM in guaranteed money in 2019, Rosenthal tweets. The mutual option is also more of a dual option for the 2020 season, similar to what we’ve seen in recent contracts for Zach Britton and Yusei Kikuchi. If the Cubs exercise their option for 2020, Brach will receive $9.5MM over the course of the two seasons. If Brach exercises his side of the option but the Cubs do not, Brach is still under team control for 2020 but at a lesser salary.
11:59AM: The Cubs have agreed to sign free agent reliever Brad Brach, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). The deal is a one-year contract worth $3MM, as per Jon Heyman of Fancred Sports (Twitter links), and the two sides hold a mutual option for the 2020 season. Brach, a client of Big League Management Company, will have to pass a physical before the deal is official.
After four years of excellent numbers out of the Orioles’ bullpen from 2014-17, Brach’s production stumbled in the first half of the 2018 season, as he posted a 4.85 ERA over 39 innings with Baltimore. Brach had an untidy 4.4 BB/9 rate over that stretch, though an inflated BABIP may have somewhat unfairly contributed to Brach’s struggles. After a deadline trade to the Braves, however, Brach looked more like his old self, delivering a 1.52 ERA, 8.4 K/9, and a 2.44 K/BB rate over 23 2/3 frames for Atlanta.
On the whole, Brach posted a career-best 46% grounder rate in 2018, though he also had a career-worst 35% hard-hit ball rate, far surpassing his previous high of 29.6%. His fastball also averaged 94.4mph after three years of topping the 95mph threshold, though Brach also threw his fastball less often than usual last season, instead using his changeup with greater frequency in 2018 than in any season save 2015.
These warning signs and Brach’s age (33 in April) may have been enough to lower Brach’s price tag to just one guaranteed season. (MLBTR ranked Brach 41st on our Top 50 Free Agents list, with Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Jeff Todd projecting Brach for a two-year, $12MM deal.) The mutual option does provide the right-hander with the ability to test free agency again next winter if he returns to his old form, making the deal essentially a pillow contract.
Brach served as Baltimore’s closer in 2017 when Britton was on the disabled list, and he could very well pick up some save opportunities early next season as Brandon Morrow recovers from November elbow surgery. At the very least, Brach will provide some backing behind Pedro Strop, Carl Edwards Jr., or whomever ends up handling the ninth inning while Morrow is out, assuming Joe Maddon doesn’t deploy a committee approach.
Getting the 2013-17 version of Brach for, at most, $9.5MM over two years would be a nice coup for a Cubs team that has been facing a payroll crunch all winter. Even the modest expenditure for Brach, however, puts Chicago into a higher Competitive Balance Tax bracket. As per Roster Resource’s projections, the Cubs now have a luxury tax payroll over just under $229MM for next season, putting them in line for an additional tax beyond the usual 20% “first-time” rate for not only exceeding the $206MM luxury tax threshold, but exceeding it by more than $20MM. There had been speculation that the Cubs could explore trading a big contract or two off its current roster to afford bullpen help or other acquisitions, and it remains to be seen if Theo Epstein’s front office has more moves in store to cut payroll and/or land new players.
Cubs To Sign Colin Rea
The Cubs have agreed to a minors deal with righty Colin Rea, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports on Twitter. Details otherwise remain unclear.
Now 28 years of age, Rea at one point seemed likely to be a steady rotation piece at the game’s highest level. In fact, the Marlins acquired him on just that premise in the middle of the 2016 season.
Things took a stunning turn when Rea exited his first start in Miami with an elbow injury, teeing up a controversy with the Padres that resulted in Rea being shipped back to San Diego. Rea ended up undergoing Tommy John surgery not long thereafter, costing him all of the 2017 season.
Though he returned to the hill last year, Rea managed only a 5.73 ERA in 75 1/3 innings in the upper minors. The San Diego club dropped him at the outset of the offseason. He’ll look to get back on track in Chicago and perhaps provide an interesting depth option for the Cubs.
Also joining the Chicago organization is outfielder Zach Borenstein, Eddy adds. The 28-year-old has yet to crack the bigs, but has posted some solid numbers at times at Triple-A. In five total seasons there, he carries a .260/.337/.476 slash, popping 65 home runs but also going down on strikes 493 times in 1,657 plate appearances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/23/19
We’ll use this post to catch up on some recent minor moves and track any new ones that emerge …
- The Dodgers reportedly have a minors deal in place with veteran backstop Josh Thole. Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), the arrangement includes a $600K potential MLB salary as well as an opt-out opportunity on July 1st. Thole has seen time in eight MLB seasons, slashing a cumulative .242/.313/.306 through 1,499 plate appearances, but hasn’t been asked up to the bigs since 2016. He plied his trade last year at Double-A with the Tigers organization.
- Meanwhile, righty David Hale is reportedly headed to the Yankees on his own minor-league accord. The 31-year-old bounced on and off of the New York roster last season (as well as that of the Twins) and will again represent a depth piece for the Yanks. Hale’s chief appeal is his ability to function in a swing capacity, giving innings from the bullpen or if needed taking a spot start. He spent most of 2018 at Triple-A, working to a 4.20 ERA in 55 2/3 innings through 11 starts while compiling 7.1 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9.
- The Nationals have reportedly lined up on an agreement with outfielder Tyler Goeddel, the terms of which remain unknown. He’ll be hoping for an eventual shot to return to the majors after struggling in a 92-game stint with the Phillies back in 2016. Goeddel, 26, hit just .219/.298/.329 last year in the upper minors with the Reds and Dodgers organizations.
- Finally, the Cubs have also reportedly added a player on a minors deal, with infielder Cristhian Adames slated to join the organization. Now 27 years of age, the switch-hitter saw time over four MLB seasons with the Rockies but failed to make it back up last year. In his 498 Triple-A plate appearances with the Marlins org, Adames, put up a .269/.324/.370 batting line. Adames is capable of playing all over the infield and has primarily appeared at shortstop as a professional.
Cuban Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez Cleared To Sign With MLB Teams
Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez has left Cuba and has been cleared by Major League Baseball to sign with teams beginning on Feb. 5, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs report. The 21-year-old (22 in March) will be subject to MLB’s international bonus pool system.
Sanchez’s stats in his limited professional experience won’t wow anyone — he’s a .297/.338/.345 hitter in 435 plate appearances — but McDaniel and Longenhagen nonetheless paint him as a likely seven-figure bonus recipient due to his raw speed, glovework at shortstop and arm strength — each of which are considered by scouts to be anywhere from above average to plus. Their report notes that scouts view him as the type of prospect who’ll typically command a bonus between $2-4MM.
Certainly, that bodes well for the Orioles, who still have upwards of $6MM in their international bonus pool after whiffing on prospects Victor Victor Mesa, Victor Mesa Jr. and Sandy Gaston when the trio signed early in the 2018-19 offseason (the Mesa brothers with the Marlins; Gaston with the Rays).
Of course, the mere fact that the Orioles presently have the most money at their disposal doesn’t by any means make Baltimore a lock to sign Sanchez. The O’s, after all, had the ability to make larger offers to the Mesa brothers and Gaston but did not ultimately ink any of the trio. It’s also possible that they don’t view Sanchez as a prospect who should command such an investment — or at least that they don’t like him to the same extent as another organization with millions remaining in its bonus pool. Beyond that, Sanchez could technically opt to wait until July 2 to sign, at which point bonus pools would reset and present him with a vastly larger list of suitors.
While Baltimore is the runaway leader in remaining pool space, McDaniel and Longenhagen write that the Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies are among the teams with the most resources remaining. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez adds the Cardinals to the mix, noting that St. Louis has an estimated $1.85MM remaining in its pool. Sanchez pegs the Dodgers at about $1.4MM, the Phillies at roughly $1MM and the Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox in the $750-800K range. Sanchez will hold workouts for teams later this week in the Dominican Republic, per Fangraphs’ report.
Central Notes: Twins, Castellanos, Bucs, Cards/Cubs
The Twins‘ reported agreement with left-hander Martin Perez won’t preclude them from adding further arms this offseason, writes Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I think there are still some guys on the board that are interesting, certainly that could fit, so we remain engaged with those,” chief baseball officer Derek Falvey tells Helfand. Falvey wouldn’t rule out adding another pitcher on a big league deal, acknowledging that the team has some payroll flexibility — especially relative to the previous levels at which they’ve spent.
Somewhat surprisingly, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets that the Twins are indeed viewing Perez as a starting pitcher. Perez is coming off a season in which he ranked in the bottom one percent of strikeout rate and opponents’ weighted on-base average among big league pitchers in 2018. Perez is still just 27, was once a well-regarded prospect and is a known commodity for GM Thad Levine (formerly an assistant GM in Texas), but the Twins weren’t short on options for the fifth spot in the rotation. Adalberto Mejia, Fernando Romero, Stephen Gonsalves, Tyler Duffey, Kohl Stewart and Zack Littell were all already on the 40-man roster, but the Twins are seemingly more comfortable with Perez as a back-of-the-rotation option early in 2019 than any of that bunch.
More from the central divisions:
- If there’s a key remaining question for the Tigers this winter, it probably relates to the future of Nicholas Castellanos. Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press takes stock of the situation. Critically, as he notes, it’s largely unclear just how much interest there is among rival clubs. Castellanos is still just 26 years of age and out-hit most remaining free agents in 2018, but he’s also still considered a defensive liability and is earning a hefty $9.95MM in his final season of arbitration eligibility. Whether a significant offer will materialize remains to be seen; as Fenech suggests, though, it’s hard to fault the Tigers for holding on to a reasonably steep asking price to this point.
- Some potentially eyebrow-raising chatter arose yesterday regarding the Pirates, but Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets that there’s nothing of substance. There’s no possibility of a deal between the Bucs and Dodgers regarding outfielder Starling Marte, says Heyman, shooting down speculation that had arisen. That, at least, had some facial plausibility since the L.A. organization would no doubt be interested in such a pursuit. Heyman also shoots down a much more fanciful idea that evidently arose involving a certain superstar free agent.
- Elsewhere in the NL Central, the Cardinals and Cubs seem to be primed for a feud in the coming campaign. Both teams are dead set on getting back to the top of the division. And now things are getting personal. As Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch deftly explains, Chicago star Kris Bryant‘s casual and mostly harmless jab at the city of St. Louis (“boring”) ignited a “scorched-earth response” from stalwart St. Louis backstop Yadier Molina. It might seem like much ado about nothing; it may turn out to be just that. But Molina promises “it will carry” into the season. And as Frederickson explains, the matter touches at something deeper in the psyches of Molina, the Cards, and even the city they play in.