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Indians Have Interest In Chase Utley

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FEB. 10: Utley has narrowed his field to four teams, tweets Rosenthal. The veteran second baseman is only considering contending clubs and is moving closer to making a decision.

FEB. 8: The Indians are interested in veteran second baseman Chase Utley, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Certainly, as Heyman notes, Cleveland is far from a perfect fit for Utley, as Jason Kipnis is entrenched at second base. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal hears the same, noting that there are also other clubs in the mix on Utley (Twitter link).

The Indians seemingly would have a difficult time finding consistent at-bats for Utley, which could make them a tough sell for the 38-year-old. With Kipnis at second base and a combination of Edwin Encarnacion and Carlos Santana set to rotate between first base and DH, there’s no regularly open spot for Utley to occupy. However, he’d be a nice bat off the bench for manager Terry Francona, and it’s possible that Utley would be attracted to Cleveland’s deep roster and status as an early AL Central division favorite. Heyman notes that Cleveland would be interested in giving Utley a utility job if he’s open to such a role. His experience outside of second base is fairly limited, but Utley has logged a few innings at both infield corners in the Majors (230 at first base and 27 at third).

Utley didn’t have a great season at the plate in 2016 but held his own in mostly regular work with the Dodgers, hitting .252/.319/.396 with 14 homers in 565 plate appearances. His batting line was dragged down by a woeful .154/.206/.264 slash against left-handed pitchers, but Utley handled righties quite well; in 468 trips to the plate while holding the platoon advantage, he batted .273/.343/.425 with 12 of his 14 round-trippers.

Cleveland may also be attractive to Utley based on the simple fact that there aren’t many teams with regular second-base at-bats to offer. The Dodgers and Angels entered the winter with clear needs at Utley’s position, but the Dodgers acquired Logan Forsythe from the Rays, while the Angels acquired Danny Espinosa from the Nationals. (The Halos could still conceivably use Utley in a platoon with the switch-hitting Espinosa, but there’s been no recent link between those two parties.)

It’s not clear which other teams have interest, though Heyman writes that some wonder if Utley, a Long Beach native and Bay Area resident, would be reluctant to leave California. If that’s the case it becomes all the more difficult to find a fit. The A’s could theoretically make room for Utley by shifting Jed Lowrie to a utility role, but there’s been no connection between the two. The Giants could move an infielder into left field to try to make room for Utley, but that’s obviously far from a perfect fit as well.

Speculating further (if Utley is willing to leave the west coast), the Royals could seek some more certainty at second base or, at least, a left-handed bat for the bench. The Braves have also been loosely linked to second base upgrades this winter, while the Twins are known to be looking for a strong veteran voice in their clubhouse. Signing with a team that lost as many games as either Atlanta or Minnesota did in 2016 could be a tough sell for Utley, however, to say nothing of geographic preference. All of these potential fits outside of Cleveland are, of course, speculative reaches due to the lack of obvious fits for the longtime Phillies star. Still, at last check Utley was said to have received “multiple offers,” so it seems that he’ll ultimately find a team to suit up for what will be his 15th Major League season.

Indians Designate Austin Adams For Assignment

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The Indians have designated right-handed reliever Austin Adams for assignment to make room for the addition of left-handed reliever Boone Logan, whose deal with the team is now official, reports Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (Twitter link).

Adams, whom the Indians chose in the fifth round of the 2009 draft, has seen action with the Tribe in each season since making his major league debut in 2014. The results have been largely underwhelming, though, despite the fact that Adams possesses a fastball that averages 96 mph.

In 58 2/3 major league innings, Adams has logged a 6.29 ERA, 6.75 K/9 and 3.22 BB/9. A significant portion of the damage came last season, when the 30-year-old pitched to a sky-high 9.82 ERA across 18 1/3 frames. While Adams posted a career-high K/9 (8.35), he surrendered home runs on 25 percent of fly balls and allowed a .333/.386/.679 batting line and .439 wOBA (for reference, David Ortiz led the majors with a .419 wOBA). Adams, to his credit, has been a lot better at the Triple-A level, where he has managed a 3.47 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 103 2/3 innings.

Royals, Cubs, Nationals Among Teams At Seth Maness Workout

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TUESDAY: The Brewers, Reds, Indians, Orioles, Astros and Twins also sent scouts to observe Maness’ workout, according to Goold.

MONDAY: Scouts from at least 16 Major League clubs were on-hand today to watch free agent right-hander Seth Maness work out, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Instagram). Per Goold, the Royals, Cubs and Nationals were all represented at Maness’ audition.

Maness’ showcase is especially intriguing due to the circumstances surrounding his injury. The 28-year-old suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament last summer and underwent surgery in August, but he elected to undergo an experimental “primary repair” surgery that, if successful, could represent a potential alternative to Tommy John surgery. Not every pitcher with a torn UCL can turn to the primary repair procedure as an alternative — the operation is dependent on the location and extent of the ligament tear — but certainly a return to health for Maness in seven and a half months would pique the interest of others with similar diagnoses around the league. (Those who are interested in the matter and missed Goold’s column on Maness last month should absolutely take the time to read through his breakdown of the operation itself and the larger-reaching potential implications of the surgery.)

The 28-year-old Maness was a fixture in the St. Louis bullpen from 2013-16, racking up 237 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a hefty 59.4 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Last season, however, he logged a 3.41 ERA with career worst K/9 and BB/9 rates of 4.6 and 2.3, respectively. Following the August operation, the Cardinals non-tendered him rather than pay him a projected $1.6MM via arbitration (projection via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).

As an added bonus for any club that ultimately signs Maness, if he is indeed able to return and pitch at a high level, he’d remain under club control not just for the 2017 season but through the 2019 season. Maness wrapped up the 2016 campaign with three years and 154 days of Major League service time, so he’d be arbitration-eligible in each of the next two winters before hitting free agency in advance of his age-31 season.

Tribe's Signing Of Wily Mo Pena A Favor To Edwin Encarnacion

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Carlos Martinez’s extension with the Cardinals was largely spurred by the right-hander and agent Brian Mejia, the latter of whom first approached the Redbirds about a new deal nearly a year ago, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While Martinez secured a guaranteed $51MM and could earn up to $86MM if the Cardinals exercise club options for both 2022 and ’23, Craig Edwards of FanGraphs opines that it’s not a great deal for the player, arguing that the 25-year-old may have left roughly $100MM on the table by eschewing the chance to hit free agency after the 2019 season. As Edwards points out, though, it’s difficult to fault Martinez for choosing security for him and his family – especially given the recent deaths of two fellow Dominicans, ex-Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras and former Kansas City righty Yordano Ventura. Plus, Martinez will still have an opportunity to hit free agency as a 31-year-old if he sees this contract through. “He could have just pointed to (age) 28 as a free agent,” general manager John Mozeliak said Thursday. “He chose not to.”

More from the majors’ Central divisions:

  • While the newly signed Brandon Moss looks like a strong candidate to become the Royals’ everyday designated hitter, the team doesn’t aim to use him that way. “We didn’t sign Brandon to be our DH,” GM Dayton Moore revealed Wednesday (via Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star). “We plan on rotating that slot. We have an aging lineup, as we know. I think it’s going to be very beneficial to give a lot of our position players an opportunity to DH from time to time.” Moore added that Moss’ ability to play both corner outfield and first base “was important for us.” Moss has spent the majority of his career in the American League, but he has seen far more time in the outfield and at first (a combined 833 games) than DH (27 games).
  • The Pirates turned down trade offers – “some big, some small” – involving right-hander Chad Kuhl last summer, GM Neal Huntington informed Adam Berry of MLB.com. Now Kuhl, 24, figures to begin 2017 in the Pirates’ rotation after logging a 4.20 ERA, 6.7 K/9 against 2.55 BB/9 and a 44.3 percent ground-ball rate in 14 starts (70 2/3 innings) as a rookie last year. “He really didn’t surprise us internally,” Huntington said of Kuhl’s promising debut. “We’ve liked him for a long time.”
  • Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang earned his third DUI arrest in South Korea in December, but the team is proceeding as if it won’t affect his standing for spring training. “The expectation is that [Kang] will arrive and be ready to go,” Huntington told Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But until that happens, there’s always a chance that we could hit a snag.” Kang could still face punishment from Major League Baseball, but it’s unclear whether he has gone before a panel yet for an assessment, according to Nesbitt. Per the collective bargaining agreement, players in Kang’s situation “must appear before a joint panel agreed upon by the league and the player’s union,” writes Nesbitt, who notes that Kang is still under investigation for an alleged sexual assault that took place in Chicago last summer.
  • The Indians’ decision to sign outfielder Wily Mo Pena to a minor league pact Tuesday came as a favor to their highest-profile offseason acquisition, first baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion, writes Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com. Encarnacion, who’s friends with Pena, asked the Tribe to venture to the Dominican Republic to observe Pena and other unnamed players work out. The Indians came away impressed enough to take a flyer on the 35-year-old Pena, who landed an invitation to spring training.

Indians To Sign Boone Logan

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6:49pm: Logan will earn a $5.5MM base salary in 2017, tweets Hoynes. His 2018 club option is worth $7MM and comes with a $1MM buyout.

2:31pm: It’s a one-year deal with a club option, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer (via Twitter).

1:55pm: The Indians have agreed to a deal with free-agent lefty Boone Logan, per Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Terms remain unknown at this time; the deal is pending the results of a physical.

Apr 18, 2016; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Boone Logan points to home during the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Rockies won 5-1. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Logan, 32, has reportedly sought a two-year deal, with indications he’d be able to command that. Before the offseason, MLBTR predicted a two-year, $12MM contract for the veteran. He just wrapped up a three-year, $16.5MM pact with the Rockies that didn’t really pan out for the team, though Logan certainly ended his tenure in Colorado on a strong note.

In 2016, Logan worked to a 3.69 ERA — all the more impressive that he did so while pitching at Coors Field — with 11.1 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 over 46 1/3 innings. With a 93 mph fastball and a devastating slider, he racked up an outstanding 16.4% swinging-strike rate that rates among the game’s best. He typically produces solid groundball rates, too, with a lifetime 46.4% mark.

Of course, Logan wasn’t nearly as good over the two prior seasons, over which he carried a 5.37 ERA — due, at least in part, to elevate BABIP totals (.379 in 2014 and .374 in 2015). He has also dealt with elbow issues at times, which presents  not-unfamiliar risk.

The bigger issue, though, may be in his usage limitations. While he’s dominant against opposing southpaws, Logan isn’t nearly as effective against righties. Over 847 total plate appearances during his career, righty hitters own a .288/.376/.478 slash.

[RELATED: Updated Indians Depth Chart]

For the Indians, though, Logan still offers plenty of functionality. The club already has the dominant Andrew Miller available as the southpaw piece of a high-leverage mix that includes righties Cody Allen and Bryan Shaw. With those three arms already in place, skipper Terry Francona ought to have plenty of flexibility in deploying Logan to take full advantage of his skillset.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Indians Outright Richie Shaffer

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We’ll keep tabs on the latest minor moves here:

  • The Indians have outrighted corner infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer after he cleared waivers, the team announced. That brings to an end his winter tour d’waiver, which saw him spend time on the rosters of the Rays, Mariners, Phillies, and Reds before he landed with Cleveland. The 25-year-old, who’s primarily a third baseman, wasn’t able to capitalize on his opportunity with Tampa Bay, as he slashed .213/.310/.410 over 142 plate appearances over the past two campaigns. But he does own a solid .243/.338/.445 batting line with thirty long balls over his 788 career trips to the Triple-A dish.
  • The Athletics have signed minor-league deals with two young Cuban players, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. Righty Luis Miguel Romero and outfielder Enry Pantojas have both joined the Oakland organization. Neither player has received much in the way of prospect attention, so there’s little public information available. The 23-year-old Romero last appeared in Cuba’s Serie Nacionale in 2015, when he pitched to a 3.31 ERA over 35 1/3 innings and managed just 23 strikeouts to go with 16 walks. Of course, that was just his age-21 campaign. Pantojas, who just turned twenty, has even less of a track record. He hit .304/.429/.348 in Cuba’s top league back in 2015, but that came over just thirty plate appearances.

Brewers Claim Jesus Aguilar, Designate Ehire Adrianza

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The Brewers have claimed first baseman Jesus Aguilar off waivers from the Indians, Milwaukee announced. Infielder Ehire Adrianza was designated for assignment to clear roster space.

In Aguilar, Milwaukee has acquired a 26-year-old power bat who has a track record of production in the upper minors. He has spent quite a bit of time at Triple-A, compiling a .271/.346/.472 slash across 1,647 plate appearances. That success hasn’t carried over to the majors, though Aguilar has received only 64 opportunities to bat at the game’s highest level. He’s out of options, though, after bouncing up and down over the past three seasons.

As for Adrianza, who was just claimed from the Giants and is also out of options, Brewers GM David Stearns notes that the organization hopes to keep him as a non-roster player if he clears waivers, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets. The 27-year-old, a switch-hitting utility infielder, has slashed .220/.292/.313 in his 331 MLB plate appearances across the past four years. Adrianza previously inked a deal with San Francisco that would pay him $600K in the majors or $300K in the minors for the coming season.

Indians Sign Wily Mo Pena To Minors Deal

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It’s been nearly two years since Wily Mo Pena’s name has come up at MLBTR, but the outfielder has agreed to a minor league pact with the Indians that will pay him $700K if he cracks the Major League roster, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Now 35 years of age, Pena hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2011. As a young slugger with the Reds, Pena belted 26 homers back in 2004 and was traded to the Red Sox a year later in the deal that sent right-hander Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati. Pena never demonstrated enough ability to make contact or draw walks to carve out consistent playing time in Boston, though, and he ultimately found the most success of his career overseas in Japan. Pena spent the 2012-15 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, and while he struggled in 2013, he OPSed better than .800 in each of the three other campaigns and hit a combined 71 homers in his Japanese career.

Here are the rest of the day’s minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Braves announced that slugging outfielder Adam Walker, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. That marks the end of a whirlwind winter for Walker, who was placed on outright waivers by the Twins in November and then bounced from Minnesota, to Milwaukee, to Baltimore, to Atlanta on waivers. He’ll now remain with the Braves organization but will not occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. Atlanta did not announce whether Walker will receive an invite to Major League Spring Training, but he’s likely to open the season in Triple-A. The former third-round pick has displayed enormous power in the Twins’ minor league system in recent years but also posted prodigious strikeout totals. He’s limited to left field and possibly first base from a defensive standpoint, so he’ll need to curb the strikeout tendencies to give himself a chance to stick on a big league roster.
  • Atlanta also inked lefty Michael Kirkman to a minors pact, tweets Heyman. Kirkman, who will make $600K if he cracks the roster, has a 5.28 ERA in 109 Major League innings and most recently appeared with the Padres and Brewers in 2016 (though he totaled just 2 1/3 innings). Kirkman has consistently demonstrated an ability to miss bats in both the Majors and minors but has also struggled with control.
  • Southpaw Nick Hagadone has joined the Mariners on a minor-league pact, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times first reported on Twitter. The former Indians left-hander hasn’t pitched since 2015 due to an elbow fracture that required surgical repair. Hagadone struck up a minor league deal with Atlanta last winter but had the contract voided due to concerns in his physical. He didn’t pitch at all in 2016 but will aim to prove he’s healthy enough for a big league look with Seattle in 2017. Hagadone, 31, posted a 3.55 ERA with a 55-to-18 K/BB ratio in 50 2/3 innings with Cleveland from 2014-15 and was once well-regarded enough as a prospect to be ranked in the Top 100 of both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus. He was also one of three pieces sent from the Red Sox to the Indians in the 2009 Victor Martinez swap.
  • The Yankees announced their invitations to Major League Spring Training today, and the list includes infielder Donovan Solano and right-hander Nick Rumbelow, each of whom re-signed to a minor league deal. (Others on the list have already been noted at MLBTR in recent months.) Solano, 29, hit .227/.261/.455 with a homer and a pair of doubles in 23 plate appearances with the Yankees last season. Capable of playing second base, shortstop and third base, Solano also slashed .257/.307/.328 over the life of 1145 plate appearances across parts of four seasons with the Marlins prior to his time with the Yankees. As for Rumbelow, the 25-year-old had Tommy John surgery last season. He’d made his Major League debut in 2015 and tossed 15 2/3 innings of 4.02 ERA ball as a followup to 52 2/3 innings with a 4.27 ERA in Triple-A. Rumbelow has averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors while also walking just 2.4 batters per nine frames.

Indians To Re-Sign Adam Moore

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The Indians have agreed to a minor-league deal with catcher Adam Moore, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He can earn at a $570K annual rate when he’s in the majors and receives an invitation to MLB camp this spring.

Moore, who’ll turn 33 in May, has been with the Cleveland organization for the past two years and will return for a third. His role, by now, is a familiar one for the veteran: he’ll likely see part-time duty at Triple-A unless and until there’s a need for a reliable backstop at the major-league level.

Rather remarkably, Moore has appeared at the MLB level in each of the last eight seasons, but has exceeded a dozen total plate appearances just twice. In his first trip to the bigs, back in 2009, he took 24 trips to the dish for the Mariners. And he received heavy part-time use the following year, appearing in sixty games. Since, he has picked up the bat in the big leagues just fifty times over six campaigns.

Moore was once a well-regarded prospect, but didn’t hit much in his one true look at the majors and hasn’t received much of a chance since. Still, he has carved out a nice niche for himself. And he has shown some hitting ability in the minors: in nearly 2,000 plate appearances over parts of seven seasons at Triple-A, he owns a solid .275/.334/.421 batting line.

Indians Acquire Carlos Frias, Designate Richie Shaffer For Assignment

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The Indians announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Carlos Frias from the Dodgers in exchange for cash and designated infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

[Related: Updated Cleveland Indians Depth Chart]

The 27-year-old Frias spent the bulk of the 2016 season with Los Angeles’ Triple-A affiliate after logging significant innings for the Dodgers in 2015, when he posted a 4.06 ERA in 77 2/3 innings. Frias exhibited a strong ground-ball rate with the 2015 Dodgers (55.1 percent) but averaged just five strikeouts per nine innings pitched against three walks over that same span. Metrics such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA all pegged him for an ERA closer to the mid-4.00s due to his pedestrian walk rate and lack of missed bats.

Frias did start 13 games for the Dodgers that season, though, so he’ll give the Indians some depth either in the rotation or in the bullpen. And he has a minor league option remaining as well, so Cleveland can send him to the minors at the end of Spring Training even if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster.

The 25-year-old Shaffer was recently claimed off waivers from the Reds, with minor league slugger Jesus Aguilar losing his roster spot in Cleveland to facilitate that claim. A former first-round pick, Shaffer spent parts of the past two seasons with the Rays (who drafted him 25th overall in 2012) but posted a lackluster .213/.310/.410 in 142 Major League plate appearances. In 188 Triple-A games (788 plate appearances), however, Shaffer has batted .243/.338/.445 with 30 home runs.

Shaffer has experience at both infield corners and both outfield corners, though the bulk of his work in the minors has come at third base. Like Frias, Shaffer can still be optioned to the minors without first being exposed to outright waivers, so he could latch on with his sixth organization of the winter. The Indians, though, had one of the lowest waiver priorities in the league and were still able to claim him just four days ago, so perhaps they’ll be able to slip him through waivers and retain him without dedicating a 40-man roster spot.

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