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You Only Get One MLB Debut

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It’s been 342 professional appearances and nearly eight calendar years since Ryan Dennick was selected by the Royals out of Tennessee Technological University in 2009. We’re happy to welcome Ryan as the latest author to join our Player’s Perspective series here at MLBTR.

18,910. This is the number of players who have made a Major League debut in the history of the sport. In life, you only get a few true indelible moments. For those nearly 19,000 players, there is no doubt in my mind getting the call to the big leagues is one of them. Every single player that has been lucky enough to beat incredible odds to reach the game’s highest level can tell you in vivid detail where they were, when it happened, and the emotions that came with having a lifelong dream realized. My name is Ryan Dennick. I was a 22nd-round senior sign in the 2009 draft. Six seasons later, I became number 18,360. This was my indelible moment.

Ryan Dennick | Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

On August 31st, 2014, Jonathan Broxton was traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Milwaukee Brewers. To most, this meant the Reds were shedding a little over $11MM in payroll commitment. For a team that was in desperate need of salary relief, it was a move they had to make. To the players in Triple-A Louisville’s clubhouse, this meant something completely different. There was an open 40-man roster spot.

When news of the trade broke, a bit of a buzz swept through the clubhouse. The move was completely unexpected and guys began to speculate who could fill the vacancy. With rosters in the big leagues expanding from 25 to 40 the next day, that roster spot wouldn’t be vacant very long. Each year, you can take a pretty good guess on who most of the September call-ups are going to be. Players already on the 40-man roster in the upper minors obviously have the inside track to get the call, since no roster move needs to be made. Prospects that require being protected from the Rule 5 draft the upcoming offseason could certainly find themselves in a Major League uniform come September.

Then there are players like me. The hardest call-ups to predict. The non-prospect, roster filler types that had their best statistical seasons. If a spot isn’t open on the 40-man, teams don’t often go out of their way to create an opening for a player who probably doesn’t fit into their long-term plans. Instead, these players will be sent into the offseason with a pat on the back for a job well done, and perhaps an invite to Major League Spring Training the next season. A team’s placement in the standings plays a factor as well. Without the added pressure of staying in contention late in the season, teams out of the race may be more willing to reward these players with a call-up, if a roster spot is available. The Reds were the perfect storm. Sitting with a record of 66-71, they were out of contention. When the Broxton trade happened, a roster spot opened up. Every player in our clubhouse not currently on the 40-man roster was hoping that spot had their name on it.

For a good majority of my minor league pitching career, I was quite mediocre statistically. I was never great, but never horrible either. I had always shown enough promise to warrant filling a minor league roster spot. But in the eyes of those in the front office, I probably didn’t have enough “stuff” to reach the Majors without great minor league numbers to force their hand. Of course, being left-handed helped me stick around, too. I always believed I would reach the Majors one day. Every minor leaguer does. We would be crazy to live the minor league lifestyle year after year if we didn’t think we could reach the carrot on the stick, even if it was just a nibble.

For whatever reason, a player can have a year where everything just goes right. Something just clicks. Pitchers see line drives hit right at fielders. Hitters have more bloopers fall in for hits. That was my 2014 season. I was having easily the best season of my life. Outing after outing, I was building my case to force the Reds to make a decision on me. A move from the starting rotation to the bullpen helped my fastball play up a little more and made my slider a little sharper. Every bit helps. By the end of the season, my 40-man roster spot résumé included an unblemished record, a team-low ERA, the league lead in appearances, and the league lead in holds. Seemingly every break went my way. I was hoping for one more.

On the morning of September 1, I rolled into Louisville Slugger Field a little later than I normally do. I had just finished a long breakfast with my mom and fiancé at one of the local spots in downtown Louisville. I tried all I could to get my mind off what could be waiting for me when I arrived. I failed. Expecting a call-up was an easy way to set yourself up for disappointment so I always tried to operate with the idea that if I was meant to be in the big leagues, somehow I would get there. But the Broxton trade cleared a path. That spot has to go to someone. Why not me?

As I walked through the clubhouse doors, to the left I already saw our manager, Jim Riggleman, in his office letting the members of the 40-man roster know they are getting the call back to the Majors. Since I was one of the last players to arrive in the clubhouse, I set my bag down at my locker and took a quick look around the room looking for unbridled happiness from a player who earned the right to fill the open roster spot.

It doesn’t matter if a player has been to the big leagues before or not, when a teammate gets called up for the first time, it’s a special moment in the clubhouse. Everyone stops what they are doing to offer handshakes and hugs in recognition of the hard work, dedication and sacrifice it takes to reach the game’s highest level. Major League jobs aren’t given away. Every single one of them is earned. However, no such excitement was taking place. I left my locker to head towards the players’ lounge to try to get in a game of spades before heading out to the field to do my throwing program. Right as I turned the corner, I was met by our pitching coach, Ted Power. “Where have you been?! Skip wants to see you! Now!”

When the manager wants to see you, it’s usually for one of three reasons. You’re either going up, going down, or going home. It’s not to chit-chat. As I made my way to Riggleman’s office, I passed another player who was just told he was returning to the big leagues. We didn’t say anything as we passed. He just shot me a wink, as if he already knew what I was about to walk into. “Have a seat, Ryan,” Jim said. I took a seat on the sofa in his office as I wondered if this was it.

“Am I going up? Is he letting me know they decided not to call me up but he’s thanking me for a great season?” My mind raced so fast that I didn’t realize he’d been talking for about ten seconds, and I didn’t hear anything he said. I snapped out of it and zoned back in to catch him say, “So you’re going up to Cincinnati to finish out the season. Do you have any questions?”

I sat in stunned silence, trying to process what has just been said to me. I’d waited my whole life to hear those words and now that I had, I didn’t know what to do. Years of low pay: validated. Years of sub-par housing: validated. Years of cramped 12-hour bus rides: validated. Years of eating more peanut butter and jelly than is recommended in a lifetime: validated. “…No,” I said. I could barely eek that out.

“OK, then get out of here, Jimmy (the trainer) has your itinerary.”

I left his office, and right around the corner was the player I passed on my way in. “Yeah??” he asked, referring to me being called up or not. I nodded my head. “Yeah…” He turned to go into the clubhouse and shouted,“We got a first-timer here!” Handshakes and hugs all around. I just became a 27-year-old rookie.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Matt Wieters’ Market

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Matt Wieters is still looking for a new team, and the catcher is short one more potential landing spot now that Braves have agreed to sign Kurt Suzuki.  Atlanta had long been cited as a candidate to sign Georgia Tech alum Wieters; just under 30% of MLBTR readers predicted the Braves as Wieters’ next team in a poll last month.

ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick explored the Wieters market in a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, 4), including the news that there is some sentiment within the Orioles organization to re-sign Wieters to a one-year deal.  Under this arrangement, Wieters would split time with Welington Castillo behind the plate while also getting some at-bats as a DH.  While Wieters is popular with Baltimore’s on-field staff, however, Crasnick describes the O’s as “a long shot” for Wieters since the team’s analytics staff has reservations.

Wieters would certainly be an upgrade over current backup catcher Caleb Joseph, and a one-year deal would give the Orioles future flexibility at catcher — Castillo has a player option for 2018 and top prospect Chance Sisco is close to being ready for the big leagues.  Wieters would still carry a not-insignificant price tag even on a one-year contract, and the Orioles might not be keen to spend that much on the catcher position when Joseph is still in the fold at a low price and could rebound from his dismal 2016 season.

A timeshare-esque situation in Baltimore also wouldn’t necessarily help Wieters’ chances at scoring his sought-after multi-year contract next winter, so he could prefer a clearer path to playing time.  An MLB source with knowledge of the catching market tells Crasnick that the Angels, Rockies and perhaps the Reds seem to be the best fits for Wieters on a one-year deal.  The Angels have reportedly had some internal talks about Wieters already, while the Rockies could use a more established catcher in lieu of their planned Tony Wolters/Tom Murphy platoon.

The Reds are a new name in the mix, and their interest in Wieters or any other established catcher hinges on Devin Mesoraco’s health.  Mesoraco underwent hip surgery last summer and was scheduled to begin catching drills around this point in January, so more should be known about his injury situation in the next few weeks.  Since signing a four-year, $28MM extension after the 2014 season, Mesoraco has barely been able to get onto the field, playing just 39 games total in 2015-16 due to shoulder surgery and procedures on both his left and right hips.  Tucker Barnhart handled most of the work last year in Mesoraco’s absence, hitting .257/.323/.379 in 420 PA and posting strong blocking numbers according to Baseball Prospectus, though both BP and StatCorner rank Barnhart as a below-average pitch framer.  Rule 5 pick Stuart Turner is the only other catcher on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster.

The Diamondbacks and Nationals have both been linked to Wieters at various times this winter, though Crasnick echoes other recent reports in saying that the Nats don’t seem to have much interest in Wieters.  After Washington acquired Derek Norris, there were rumors that the Nationals could sign Wieters and then flip Norris, though one would think that the Nats could’ve just signed Wieters rather than trade for Norris in the first place.  It doesn’t seem like D.C. is a fit at the moment, though “you can never rule out the Nationals with Scott Boras clients,” Crasnick writes.

NL Notes: Straily, Marlins, Padres, Nationals/Wieters

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Parting with righty Dan Straily wasn’t particularly easy for the Reds, who surely valued the cheap innings he might have provided, but as GM Dick Williams explains and MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports, the team finally found an offer it couldn’t say no to from the Marlins. Per Williams, the team “identified some of [the acquired prospects] as guys we were absolutely targeting,” informing Miami “that we wouldn’t go forward if we couldn’t get access to those guys.” While the Fish initially declined, says Williams, they steadily upped their offer over a span of several months. While the team wasn’t keen to give up Straily, Williams says it “just couldn’t pass on” the chance to add “impact talent” in the form of right-handers Luis Castillo and Austin Brice along with outfielder Isaiah White.

Here are a few more notes out of the National League:

  • The Marlins’ stockpiling of arms this winter — including, most recently, the acquisition of Straily — may result in atypical pitcher usage patterns, president of baseball operations Michael Hill says (via Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, on Twitter). Miami may look to rely heavily on what it considers to be a deep pen, Hill suggested. “There may be situations where the starter is out in the fourth or the fifth, and a bridge guy takes you to the sixth, and you’ve got a setup man in the seventh and the eighth, and a closer in the ninth,” he explained, dubbing the expected approach “non-traditional.”
  • Another team that has already added a few hurlers, the Padres, could still be in the market for more, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (via Twitter). It’s not considered a major need, though, as the club intends to open up the team’s five rotation spots to as many as nine possible competitors this spring.
  • It has long been debated whether the Nationals will (and should) pursue free-agent catcher Matt Wieters, whose market has seemingly languished. Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post updates the situation from the Nats’ perspective, noting that there may be some truth to the chatter that the front office hasn’t yet been given the green light to spend more heavily. But while there may be some posturing at play, it also seems that the team just isn’t all that interested in Wieters. Janes writes that “the Nationals have never been particularly high on Wieters internally … and harbor concerns about his defense and his health.”

Reds Designate Steve Selsky For Assignment

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The Reds have designated outfielder Steve Selsky for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for the acquisitions of right-handers Luis Castillo and Austin Brice from the Marlins as part of today’s Dan Straily trade, tweets Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Selsky, 27, made his Major League debut with the 2016 Reds and picked up 54 plate appearances in 24 games, batting an impressive .314/.340/.471 with a pair of home runs along the way. Selsky’s pop has been a bit more limited in a larger sample of work at Triple-A, however, as the former 33rd-rounder has compiled a .283/.369/.425 batting line in 191 games with Cincinnati’s affiliate in Louisville.

The right-handed-hitting Selsky has never rated among Cincinnati’s top-ranked prospects, but he has a history of producing strong batting average and on-base percentage marks in his minor league career. Since being drafted back in 2011, Selsky is a .295/.379/.459 hitter. He has more than 1000 minor league innings of experience in both outfield corners and at first base, in addition to some brief work in center field (136 total innings).

Marlins Acquire Dan Straily

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11:45am: The Reds and Marlins have both announced the trade. Cincinnati has yet to announce a corresponding roster move, though they’ll need to make one shortly, as both Castillo and Brice are on the 40-man roster, pushing Cincinnati’s total to 41.

7:55am: The Marlins and Reds have reportedly agreed to a trade that will send right-hander Dan Straily from the Cincinnati to Miami in exchange for right-handed pitching prospects Luis Castillo and Austin Brice as well as outfield prospect Isaiah White.

Dan Straily

The trade represents a significant flip for the Reds, who acquired Straily free of cost when they claimed him off waivers from the Padres last spring. Cincinnati subsequently enjoyed a season in which Straily, who had bounced around the league following a promising 2012-13 debut with the A’s, logged 191 1/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 32 percent ground-ball rate and reestablished himself as a Major League rotation piece.

[Related: Updated Miami Marlins Depth Chart and Cincinnati Reds Depth Chart]

Exactly how much of that strong season is repeatable remains up for debate; Straily has long been homer-prone and last year saw his fly-ball rate check in at 48 percent. A move to the much more spacious Marlins Park should help his cause, but he’ll also need to demonstrate that last season’s step forward in his control is sustainable. Straily’s BABIP was a lowly .239 as well, but fly-ball pitchers tend to maintain lower marks in that regard than their ground-ball counterparts, so the regression in that department may not be as sizable as one would assume upon first glance. (Straily’s career .255 BABIP in the Majors is considerably below the league average.)

The 28-year-old Straily finished out the year with two years, 126 days of Major League service time, meaning he fell just shy of Super Two designation. He’ll earn scarcely more than the league minimum this coming season and can be controlled by Miami for another four years in arbitration.

For the Reds, parting with Straily opens a spot in the rotation for one of the team’s many young arms. As it stands, Straily would’ve joined top starter Anthony DeSclafani, veteran Homer Bailey (if healthy) and left-hander Brandon Finnegan in Cincinnati’s starting five. A competition for the fifth spot in the deal would’ve likely included left-handers Cody Reed and Amir Garrett as well right-handers Robert Stephenson and Tim Adleman, though it’s now possible that two of those three could make the Opening Day rotation. Alternatively, the Reds could see the rotation vacancy as an opening to add a veteran arm that can provide some stability and leadership early in the season before possibly becoming a summer trade chip.

Straily joins a Marlins rotation that is also set to feature left-handers Wei-Yin Chen and Adam Conley, newly signed right-hander Edinson Volquez and longtime Marlins righty Tom Koehler. The addition of Straily seems likeliest to bump offseason signee Jeff Locke from the fifth slot in that rotation to the bullpen, which could have a trickle-down effect and bump an out-of-options player like Jose Urena off the roster.

Locke, however, would give Miami a much-needed southpaw option in the ’pen, as Miami previously stood to potentially deploy an all-right-handed relief corps. A.J. Ramos, Kyle Barraclough, David Phelps, Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa and Dustin McGowan all seem like locks to open the season in manager Don Mattingly’s bullpen. The former three constituted an outstanding late-inning trio in 2016, while the latter trio all signed Major League contracts this winter.

The price Miami is paying to acquire Straily is a steep one. Castillo, 24, rates as their No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America and their No. 5 prospect according to MLB.com. The hard-throwing righty is said to have a fastball that can touch triple digits and sits in the upper 90s, and he’s fresh off an excellent season with Miami’s Class-A Advanced affiliate in the Florida State League (plus a brief Double-A appearance late in the year). Castillo posted a scintillating 2.07 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against just 1.4 BB/9 in 117 2/3 innings in High-A, and he kicked in another 14 innings of 3.86 ERA ball at Double-A for good measure.

BA praised Castillo’s “easy velocity” and “smooth delivery” in their offseason scouting report on him, noting that he’s made the jump from power bullpen arm to potential mid-rotation starter. Per their write-up, his slider projects as an above-average offering, and he’s working to develop a changeup that still needs some fine-tuning. The Marlins originally landed him in the trade that sent Casey McGehee to the Giants, and his stock has risen quite a bit since that time.

However, it’s also worth noting that this is the second time the Marlins have agreed to trade the right-hander. Castillo was originally one of the prospects that went from Miami to San Diego in the Andrew Cashner/Colin Rea trade, but the Marlins reacquired him from the Padres after Rea suffered a UCL tear in his first start as a member of the Marlins. That, of course, doesn’t necessarily indicate that the Marlins have soured on him in any way, but Miami knows more about him than any other organization and seems comfortable parting ways with Castillo so long as it nets them a long-term rotation cog.

As for Brice, the 24-year-old gives the Reds an immediate, MLB-ready option to plug into their bullpen if he shows well in Spring Training. Brice made his Major League debut in 2016, and while he struggled to the tune of 11 earned runs in 14 innings, he also allowed only nine hits against five walks with 14 strikeouts. Add to that a composite 2.74 ERA in 102 minor league innings (93 1/3 frames at Double-A plus 8 2/3 in Triple-A), and there’s a chance that Brice could open the year in Cincinnati’s bullpen.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis rank Brice ninth among Miami farmhands, noting that he looked to improve upon his longstanding control problems in 2016. Per MLB.com’s free scouting report, he throws a “heavy” fastball in the low to mid 90s and boasts an above-average slider that was newly added to his repertoire. Their report notes that Brice does still have some upside as a potential starter but adds that he could have a quicker impact as a two-pitch reliever that can dominate same-handed opponents.

White, meanwhile, ranks 15th on MLB.com’s list of top 30 Marlins prospects. The 2015 third-rounder spent last season with Miami’s short-season Class-A affiliate, hitting .214/.306/.301 in 51 games and 201 plate appearances. While those numbers clearly aren’t eye-catching, Callis and Mayo call him a plus-plus runner (70-grade speed on the 20-80 scale) with the potential to be a premium defender in center field. White only just turned 20 years of age and is less than two calendar years removed from playing in high school, so he’s raw and represents something of a wild card for the Reds at this point. However, that’s not a bad third piece to add to a pair of more established arms that could conceivably impact the Cincinnati pitching staff within the next two years.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported that a Straily trade was close, adding that Castillo and Brice were involved (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports tweeted that a deal was in place, pending medical reviews. Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM reported that White was the third prospect in the deal (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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Quite frankly, there were too many arbitration agreements today to reasonably stuff into one post. So here’s a rundown of the National League players that have avoided arbitration on smaller deals (American League deals here). You can see all of the arbitration “action” thus far in a sortable, filterable format by checking out MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker. All projections referenced in this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Wily Peralta and Carlos Torres have agreed to one-year deals, according to the team’s Twitter account. Peralta will earn $4.275MM (compared to $4.4MM projection), per Heyman. Torres was projected to make $2MM, but will get slightly more at $2.175MM, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter).
  • Reliever George Kontos gets $1.75MM from the Giants, Heyman tweets. He had projected at $1.7MM.
  • The Diamondbacks also reached agreement with lefty Patrick Corbin, righty Randall Delgado, and catcher Chris Herrmann, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (links to Twitter). Delgado gets $1.775MM and Herrmann receives $937,500. As for Corbin, he’ll take home $3.95MM, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter), which falls a bit shy of his $4.2MM projection.
  • Infielder Eduardo Nunez will receive $4.2MM from the Giants, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). San Francisco has also reached agreement with lefty Will Smith, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). He’ll receive $2.5MM, just over his $2.3MM projection, Heyman tweets.
  • The Phillies settled at $4.2MM with righty Jeanmar Gomez, per Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He falls just a big shy of his $4.6MM projection.
  • The Cardinals have announced arb deals with Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist. Rosenthal receives $6.4MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which is just $100K over his projection. Siegrist projected at $1.9MM, but his salary has yet to be reported.
  • Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom have each avoided arbitration with the Mets. Harvey gets $5.125MM in his second arb year, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Meanwhile, deGrom will receive $4.05MM in his first trip through the arb process, per ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin (via Twitter). New York has also agreed with lefty Josh Edgin, Rubin tweets, though terms remain unreported.

Earlier Updates

Read more

Greg Holland Seeks Two-Year Deal With Opt-Out

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Free-agent righty Greg Holland is arguably the highest-upside reliever left on the open market, and Jon Heyman of Fan Rag provides some notable updates on his situation. The 31-year-old is in a somewhat unusual spot as a free agent, in that he brings a sparkling track record but is also seeking to return from a long layoff due to Tommy John surgery.

Given his health situation and also the evident interest around the league, Holland seeks a two-year deal that would allow him to opt out after the first season, according to Heyman. That’s the same structure that Brian Wilson landed with the Dodgers before the 2014 season, though he had made it back to the hill late in the prior campaign.

In Holland’s case, there’s perhaps greater uncertainty, but also greater upside. He took a step back in his most recent action, in 2015, but that may well have been due to the elbow issues that led to his surgery. Over the prior four campaigns, Holland was one of the game’s very best relievers, as he compiled 256 1/3 innings of 1.86 ERA pitching with 12.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.

There’s interest in Holland’s proposed two-year arrangement, per the report. Among the teams still pursuing him are the Dodgers, Nationals, Rockies, Brewers, Reds, and Rays. While the Cubs showed prior interest, it’s not clear whether they are still in. And the Royals have also indicated a desire to bring back their former closer, though it seems that the team’s payroll situation may not allow for a competitive bid.

That group of organizations would presumably offer Holland a variety of possible roles. The Nationals, Rockies, Brewers, Reds, and Royals (if they’re involved) could all promise him first dibs on closing roles, while the Dodgers and perhaps the Cubs are more likely to view the veteran as a setup man. Tampa Bay, perhaps, might be most interested in the event that it strikes a deal for incumbent closer Alex Colome. Whether and to what extent the chance to take hold of the ninth is an important factor in Holland’s decisionmaking is not immediately clear.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/10/17

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Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Athletics announced that infielder/outfielder Max Muncy has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A (h/t: Melissa Lockard of OaklandClubhouse.com). He’ll head to Spring Training on a non-roster invitation and hope to work his way back into the team’s big league plans down the line. The 26-year-old Muncy has been up and down between Triple-A and the Majors with the A’s over the past two seasons and has batted a combined .195/.290/.321 batting line with five homers in 295 plate appearances.
  • The Tigers announced 22 minor league signings today, and while we’ve previously noted the majority of them, new to the mix are first basemen Brett Pill and Sean Halton. Pill, 32, hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2013 but spent parts of the 2011-13 campaigns with the Giants. He’s a career .233/.279/.404 hitter with nine homers in 259 trips to the plate. Following his time with San Francisco. Pill jumped to the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization and spent three seasons with that club, most recently hitting .317/.359/.521 with 20 homers and 36 doubles. As for Halton, the longtime Brewers farmhand spent the bulk of the 2016 season playing quite well for the independent Atlantic League’s Lancaster Barnstormers. The 29-year-old Halton got a brief look with the Brewers in 2013, when he hit .238/.291/.396 in 111 PAs. He’s a career .270/.340/.432 hitter in Triple-A.
  • Left-hander Tim Berry announced (on Instagram) that he’s back in the Orioles organization (h/t: MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The 25-year-old rated as one of the Orioles’ top 30 prospects from 2011-15, in the eyes of Baseball America, but the past two seasons have been a struggle for him in the minors. Berry logged an unsightly 7.32 ERA in 82 1/3 innings with the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate in 2015, and he posted a 6.32 ERA across two levels between the Padres and Marlins organizations in 2016.
  • Right-hander Deunte Heath has agreed to terms with the Reds on a minor league contract, as Baseball America’s Matt Eddy first reported. The deal comes with a $600K base salary in the Majors, I’m told. Heath, 31, last appeared in the Majors with the 2013 White Sox. He’s pitched just 9 2/3 innings at the big league level but has recently posted a 2.37 ERA in 101 1/3 innings between two campaigns with Japan’s Hiroshima Carp. He also pitched 46 1/3 innings with a 3.11 ERA in the Mexican League in 2016. Cincinnati also picked up catcher Adrian Nieto on a minors pact, per Eddy. The 27-year-old spent the 2014 season with the White Sox as a Rule 5 pick, hitting .236/.296/.340 with a pair of homers in 118 plate appearances. That’s been Nieto’s only big league exposure to this point, as he’s struggled greatly at Double-A and Triple-A in the two subsequent seasons. The 27-year-old switch-hitter posted a meager .195/.287/.257 batting line in 129 PAs with the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate last year.

Reds To Sign Louis Coleman

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The Reds have agreed to a minor-league deal with righty Louis Coleman, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter link). Details of the arrangement remain unreported.

Coleman, 30, tossed 48 frames last year for the Dodgers, working to a 4.69 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9. Despite the unfavorable results, he did at least return to health after an injury-ravaged 2015 season that represented the conclusion of his run with the Royals.

There are some reasons for Cincinnati to hope it can find a serviceable arm on a meager commitment. Coleman ran up a 2.69 ERA across 140 1/3 innings between 2011 and 2013, so he has a track record of success. And he still managed a useful 12.4% swinging-strike rate last year.

Though he isn’t a hard thrower, Coleman has consistently generated swings and misses with his oft-utilized slider. He relied on that offspeed offering on nearly three of five deliveries to the plate in 2016, which perhaps helps to explain why he ended up in the zone on just 39.7% of his pitches.

The Reds will likely allow Coleman to battle for a pen spot this spring. Cinci already signed Drew Storen to a modest pact, and could still look to add to a relief corps that was terrible in 2016 but figures to be better in the season to come.

Brandon Phillips Blocked November Trade To Braves

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JAN. 6: Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM cites a Reds source in reporting that there’s still a possibility of a trade that would send Phillips to Atlanta, with the Reds picking up the majority of the money that remains on the contract. He adds, though, that Reds executives “acknowledge that they made promises and assurances to Phillips that they are not living up to” and will need to work through those issues with Phillips before a deal. Moving Phillips would allow the Reds to clear an easier path to playing time for Jose Peraza and potentially for Dilson Herrera as well.

JAN. 5: The Reds had worked out a deal that would have sent second baseman Brandon Phillips to the Braves, but he utilized his no-trade protection to scuttle the arrangement, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Phillips’s no-trade clause previously got in the way of potential trades last winter.

While Phillips is a Georgia native who (per Rosenthal) owns a home in Atlanta, he still wasn’t amenable to the move. There was no discussion of an extension this time around, according to the report; the Braves would not have been interested, and Phillips made his view clear before that subject was even broached.

This latest episode raises the question whether the 35-year-old Phillips will ever be a movable asset for Cincinnati, which had been set to retain “a significant portion” of his $14MM salary as part of the proposed trade. He’s in the final year of his contract, and it seems all but inevitable that he’ll land elsewhere after the 2017 season. But Phillips is still holding firm on his desire to remain in Cincinnati as something of a “matter of principle,” per Rosenthal, who says that Phillips would only be willing to sign onto a deal if “certain, unspecified issues” are dealt with by any acquiring team.

While Phillips is more than entitled to utilize the no-trade clause (which he earned through ten-and-five rights) in whatever manner he chooses, it’s certainly something of an odd situation. The Reds have a variety of young infielders they’d surely like to expose more to the majors in the coming year, which could bite into Phillips’s own playing time.

Long a productive regular who combined excellent glovework with solid overall offensive production, Phillips has declined of late. Since the start of the 2014 season, he has slashed .285/.319/.396, which amounts to slightly below-average (94 OPS+) work at the plate. Phillips has returned to running more, though his 14 stolen bases in 2016 came at the cost of being caught on eight other attempts. And he’s still good for about a dozen home runs per year. The most concerning change, perhaps, comes on the defensive side. Phillips has long rated as a well-above-average defender at second, but took a bit of a step back in 2015 and drew negative metrics in his most recent season.

Still, Phillips would represent a steadying presence in the right organization — particularly, one that has taken a positive view through recent scouting assessments. If he can bounce back in the field, there’s reason to hope that he could put up a season worthy of regular play despite the fact that he was worth less than one win above replacement last year. A right-handed hitter, Phillips has never carried drastic platoon splits and actually fared better against same-handed pitching in 2016.

Though it’s still theoretically possible that the sides could revisit a deal, Rosenthal says that’s not seen as a likely scenario. When Rodriguez inked his deal in late November, that added a second-base-capable, right-handed bat and perhaps absorbed some of the salary that might have been allocated to Phillips.

“We explore a myriad of trade opportunities,” Braves GM John Coppolella tells MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, “some which make more progress than others, and some which get more media attention than others. Trades aren’t done until they are done.”

That being said, it’s still imaginable that Atlanta will consider moving to bolster its mix at second and third base. Rodriguez has experience at both spots, creating some flexibility. But it’s far from clear that Adonis Garcia will be a worthwhile semi-regular at the hot corner. The left-handed-hitting Jace Peterson is also on hand, of course, and perhaps top prospect Ozzie Albies will be ready sooner than later, but the Braves have already made several 2017-centric moves, attempting to improve the near-term outlook without sacrificing the future.

If Atlanta does take a look at adding another infielder, there are any number of trade targets that it could pursue. And the open market still features a variety of second and third basemen that might conceivably be of interest. That includes righty hitters such as Aaron Hill and Trevor Plouffe, as well as lefty bats like Luis Valbuena, Chase Utley, Stephen Drew, Chris Coghlan, and — of course — perennial favorite Kelly Johnson.

*An earlier version of this post incorrectly suggested that Phillips’s decision was influenced by the signing of Rodriguez.

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