Rockies Sign Jose Briceno
The Rockies are signing catcher José Briceño to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com. The 28-year-old backstop has 134 major league plate appearances on his resume.
Briceño broke into pro ball with the Rockies as an international amateur back in 2009. After five years in the Colorado system, he was traded to the Braves, who shipped him to the Angels a year later. Briceño made it to the big leagues with Los Angeles in 2018, putting up a .239/.299/.385 line as a rookie. Despite that fairly respectable showing, he’s only picked up six big league plate appearances since then.
Owner of a .251/.286/.464 mark in parts of four Triple-A seasons, Briceño joins a Rockies’ catching mix that has room for improvement. Neither Tony Wolters nor Elias Díaz has offered much at the plate in recent seasons, while Dom Nuñez only has 43 career plate appearances under his belt.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/11/20
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves from around the game…
- Left-hander Brian Gonzalez has signed a minor league deal with the Rockies, agent Gavin Kahn announced on Twitter. He’ll receive an invite to Major League Spring Training. Gonzalez, who turned 25 a couple of weeks ago, was a third-round pick of the Orioles back in 2014 but never advanced beyond the Double-A level in the Baltimore system. Gonzalez was hit hard at that level as a 22-year-old but fared better in 2019, when he logged a 4.32 ERA and 35-to-11 K/BB ratio in 41 2/3 frames there. He’s never been considered a particularly high-end prospect, but the Rockies have a clear need for some depth in the upper levels of a weak farm system.
- The Athletics have signed right-hander Montana DuRapau to a minor league contract, according to DuRapau’s agents at Primetime Sports Group (Twitter link). The 28-year-old (29 in March) didn’t pitch in the big leagues this past season but logged 14 1/3 frames with the Pirates in 2019. That’s the only Major League experience DuRapau has on his track record, and it didn’t go particularly well, as he yielded 15 runs in that time. However, DuRapau carries a career 3.42 ERA in parts of three Triple-A seasons — including a sterling 2.14 mark with 11.1 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 46 1/3 innings during 2019’s wildly hitter-friendly, juiced-ball season.
Rockies Sign Dereck Rodriguez To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have signed right-hander Dereck Rodriguez to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training, according to his agent, Gavin Kahn of EnterSports Management.
This deal means Rodriguez will return to the National League West, where he spent most of the prior three seasons with the Giants organization. The Giants designated Rodriguez for assignment in August, and the Tigers claimed him, but he didn’t throw a pitch for Detroit.
Rodriguez, the son of legendary catcher Ivan Rodriguez, entered the pro ranks as a sixth-round pick of the Twins in 2011 but didn’t crack the majors until 2018 with the Giants. He came out of nowhere that year to perform like one of the league’s best rookies, throwing 118 1/3 innings of 2.81 ERA/3.74 FIP ball with 6.77 K/9 and 2.74 BB/9.
Considering the results Rodriguez posted in his first season, the Giants probably thought they had a long-term piece for their rotation. But the 28-year-old Rodriguez wasn’t able to follow that up from 2019-20. Including just four innings in ’20, Rodriguez logged an ugly 5.94 ERA/5.89 FIP and 6.38 K/9 against 3.41 BB/9 in 103 frames during the previous two years. For Colorado, though, there isn’t any real harm in taking a chance on Rodriguez and hoping he returns to rookie form.
Trade Candidate: Trevor Story
There’s a strong case to be made that the Rockies out to auction off the rights to star shortstop Trevor Story this winter. While it’s tempting to hold tight and hope he can help lead a renaissance, it’s a fair sight easier to imagine that backfiring than working out.
The Rockies had a taste of short-season contention, but had a dreadful 2020 run deficit (275-353) and have played decisively sub-.500 ball since the start of 2019. There’s still a strong core of talent, but the path to contention is awfully questionable given the Rockies’ meager supporting cast and injury questions (Jon Gray, David Dahl, Scott Oberg) … not to mention the quality of the NL West competition.
The Colorado organization has a number of needs and unclear means to address them all sufficiently. The team has mostly finished paying for its recent swings and misses in free agency and has already begun drawing down payroll. But it’s still on track to spend north of $130MM (assuming they tender most arb-eligibles) even before making any additions. Owner Dick Monfort didn’t exactly suggest he’ll be buying up new talent, writing to season ticketholders that “there will be nothing normal about this offseason as the industry faces a new economic reality.”
It’s a scenario in which many teams will explore their options with quality veterans. But who to deal? The Rox dabbled in some major scenarios last winter but ultimately kept third baseman Nolan Arenado. It’d be awfully difficult to strike a reasonable deal now, given his hefty salary and subpar offensive season. Charlie Blackmon is too expensive to foist onto another team after a middling season. They could certainly move German Marquez, but that’d mean giving up a 25-year-old rotation building block with a good contract situation.
Enter Story, a mid-prime star shortstop who is still youthful (28 in ten days) but entering his final season of team control. It’s much the situation that Arenado was in a few years back, except that Story will command a rather less onerous salary ($17.5MM) than Arenado had lined up for his final season of arbitration.
Arenado ended up inking a monster extension rather than testing free agency. That’s an avenue here, too … in theory, anyway. Monfort certainly didn’t sound like he was plotting out another nine-figure deal. While Story would never have commanded Arenado-like money, and certainly won’t now during a pandemic, he’d still cost a pretty penny.
Make no mistake: Story is a truly elite position player. If anything, he’s underrated, perhaps due to his roller-coaster first two seasons in the majors. Since he settled in, Story has compiled the tenth-most fWAR in baseball over the past three years.
We honestly don’t need to dive in too far to understand the point here. Story once had big pop and a ton of strikeouts, but he figured out the latter problem without sapping his power. He drove his K rate down to 24.3% in the just-completed season and is still driving the ball with authority. He’s in the top 5% leaguewide in speed and plays outstanding defense.
How about the demand side? Story isn’t cheap, but he’s an absolute bargain who would instantly elevate a lineup. Acquiring him would only require a one-year commitment and bring with it the likelihood of a qualifying offer (with anticipated draft compensation) this time next year. There’s always the potential for an extension as well.
Demand may not be widespread — it’ll tick up next winter when several big-time shortstops hit the open market — but it’s not hard to envision teams having keen interest. The Angels, Reds, Phillies, and Yankees all make particular sense on paper. Story is good enough that a team could consider acquiring him and playing him at third base, or instead moving an existing shortstop to another spot on the diamond.
It’ll be hard for the Rockies to go forward with moving Story. Keeping him at least until mid-season would at least give the club a chance. Then again, it would also mean paying half his salary, risking injury or decline, and taking the qualifying offer off of the table (which will reduce the value that an acquiring team would anticipate receiving in a swap). Unless Monfort and GM Jeff Bridich are able to mount a surprise run at an extension with Story’s reps, biting the bullet and getting a trade done this winter looks to be the best option.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
40-Man Roster Additions: 11/1/20
With the offseason kicking off, most teams are bringing some inactive players back onto their rosters. Here’s the latest:
- The Rockies announced they’ve activated outfielder Ian Desmond from the restricted list. Outfielder David Dahl and right-handers Peter Lambert and Scott Oberg are back from the 60-day injured list, putting Colorado’s 40-man roster tally at 38. Desmond opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns and is entering his final year under contract. Dahl underwent shoulder surgery in September, capping a miserable season. Lambert, meanwhile, underwent Tommy John surgery in July. Oberg unfortunately also had to go under the knife, undergoing thoracic outlet surgery to alleviate blood clots in September.
- The Indians reinstated right-hander Jefry Rodríguez from the 45-day injured list (via Tribeinsider). While working at Cleveland’s alternate training site, the 27-year-old went down with a strain in his throwing shoulder in early September. Rodríguez worked 98.2 innings of 5.20 ERA ball with the Nationals and Indians between 2018-19 but didn’t pitch in the majors in 2020. Cleveland’s 40-man roster now sports 35 players.
- The Rays activated pitchers Jalen Beeks, Yonny Chirinos, Colin Poche and Cody Reed from the 45-day injured list (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Each of Beeks, Chirinos and Poche has undergone Tommy John surgery over the past few months, meaning none will be ready (or even particularly close) at the start of next season. Reed suffered an injury to his left pinky finger shortly after being acquired from the Reds. He’s expected to be a full-go for spring training, Topkin notes.
- The Mariners have brought outfielder Mitch Haniger, catcher Tom Murphy and right-hander Andres Muñoz off the 45-day injured list, per Greg Johns of MLB.com. Haniger has dealt with a series of brutal injuries since emerging as one of the sport’s quieter stars, but he’s finally expected to be healthy next spring. Like Haniger, Murphy missed the entire 2020 season; the backstop broke a bone in his foot on the heels of a breakout 2019. Muñoz underwent Tommy John surgery while part of the Padres’ system in March. Still, the Mariners acquired the fireballing 21-year-old before the trade deadline as part of the return for Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla. Seattle now has 35 players on the 40-man roster.
Minor MLB Transactions: 10/29/20
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Rockies have outrighted RHP Joe Harvey, per a team announcement. This is the second offseason in a row that Colorado has outrighted Harvey, whom the club acquired from the Yankees prior to the 2019 trade deadline. The 28-year-old owns a 2.93 ERA with 11.0 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9 over 89 innings in Triple-A ball, but he hasn’t seen a significant amount of action in the majors so far. Through 21 1/3 innings as a Yankee and Rockie, Harvey has notched a 4.22 ERA/5.51 FIP with 8.02 K/9, 5.48 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent groundball rate. Harvey threw just three innings in 2020, though he didn’t allow a run or a walk in that stretch.
Rockies’ Daniel Murphy Enters Free Agency
Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy is officially a free agent, as per the MLB Players Association’s list of 147 players who entered free agency today now that the World Series is complete. Murphy and the Rockies shared a $12MM mutual option for Murphy’s services in 2021, though it can probably be assumed that the Rox declined their side of the option, instead paying Murphy a $6MM buyout.
It was widely expected that Murphy wouldn’t be back for a third season in Colorado. After signing a two-year deal worth $24MM in guaranteed money in December 2018, Murphy underwhelmed, hitting .269/.316/.426 with 16 homers over 610 plate appearances in 2019-20. An early-season finger injury may have contributed to his problems in 2019, but Murphy simply hit poorly this season, finishing in the bottom five percentile of all batters in exit velocity, wOBA, and hard-hit ball rate.
Beyond Murphy’s own lack of production, his signing ranks as a particular miss for the Rockies considering that DJ LeMahieu (the player Murphy essentially replaced) immediately went on to deliver a pair of outstanding seasons with the Yankees. While Josh Fuentes played well in an increasingly larger role at first base in 2020, it seems likely that Colorado will look for a more proven bat to fill the position this winter.
It wasn’t long ago that Murphy was a feared bat, finishing second in NL MVP voting in 2016 and delivering another All-Star season in 2017 (both years as a member of the Nationals). Murphy will turn 36 on Opening Day 2021, however, and given his age and his decline over the last two seasons, he might be hard-pressed to find a Major League contract on the open market.
Quick Hits: Rockies, Pint, Mackanin, Sherriff
Some notes from around the league:
- One key decision for the Rockies this offseason is whether to add Riley Pint to the 40-man roster, observes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Selected fourth overall in the 2016 draft out of a Kansas high school, Pint must either be added to the 40-man or exposed to the Rule 5 draft this winter. The 22-year-old (23 in November) has been undone by strike-throwing issues ever since draft day. In parts of four minor-league seasons, none above Low-A, Pint has managed only a 5.71 ERA across 156 innings thanks to an alarming 7.2 BB/9. However, Rockies assistant GM Zach Wilson points out (via Saunders) that Pint still has the high-octane stuff that made him so well-regarded as an amateur and has made strides mentally and mechanically.
- The Phillies informed a handful of staffers their contracts weren’t being renewed in recent days, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among those let go was former Phils manager Pete Mackanin, who had been with the organization as a special assistant to general manager Matt Klentak (who himself stepped down from that position earlier this month). The 69-year-old Mackanin took over the managerial chair in Philadelphia in the middle of 2015, a title he’d hold until he was reassigned to the special assistant role after the 2017 season.
- Rays reliever Ryan Sherriff worked his way back from a 2018 Tommy John surgery to appear on Tampa Bay’s World Series roster. This season marked his first big league action since a 2017-18 stint with the Cardinals, as Sherriff discusses with Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Released by St. Louis in August 2018, two months after undergoing surgery, Sherriff concedes he was frustrated with the way things ended. In light of his success with the Rays, Sherriff now considers his Cardinals release the “best thing that ever happened to me.” A grievance filed in 2018 against the St. Louis organization for back pay and MLB service time related to the date of Sherriff’s injury is still pending, Goold reports.
Quick Hits: LeMahieu, Angels, Dombrowski, Pino, Crawford
Don’t count on a reunion between DJ LeMahieu and the Rockies. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post recently contacted “those close to LeMahieu” to gauge the chances of the free agent returning to his former team, and “was told that while [LeMahieu is] keeping his options open, he doesn’t see the Rockies as a good fit for him.” LeMahieu spent seven seasons with the Rox from 2012-18, a stretch that saw him make three All-Star appearances, win two Gold Gloves, and capture the 2016 NL batting title.
After leaving Coors Field to sign with the Yankees in the 2018-19 offseason, however, LeMahieu hit another level, posting MVP-type numbers over his two seasons in the Bronx. It’s certainly possible that LeMahieu simply remains in New York, though several teams are bound to inquire about his services — that is to say, teams with more available payroll and perhaps closer to immediate contention than the Rockies.
As we await tomorrow’s Game 3 of the World Series, some more from around the baseball world…
- Multiple reports linked Dave Dombrowski was a favorite to take over the Angels‘ front office, though after almost a month, there hasn’t been much new information on that front. In fact, in an appearance on Jon Heyman’s Big Time Baseball podcast (audio link), USA Today’s Bob Nightengale believes Dombrowski will “absolutely not” end up in Anaheim. Both Heyman and Nightengale think Dombrowski might remain in Nashville, where he is part of a group vying to bring an expansion team to the Music City, with Nightengale opining that the Phillies could also potentially be a fit for Dombrowski as a win-now team. As for the Angels’ job, Nightengale thinks their search is “wide open“at this point. Earlier reports have suggested that the Angels are just beginning their search, and Nightengale thinks a new front office boss might not be in place until close to Thanksgiving.
- 16-year-old Cuban outfielder Luis Pino worked out for scouts this week in the Dominican Republic, and ESPN.com’s Enrique Rojas (Spanish language link) reports that the Athletics and Rays are the favorites to land Pino when the international signing window opens on January 15. The Giants, Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox and Padres have also shown interest in Pino, who seems likely to command a bonus of $1MM or more.
- Longtime Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford enjoyed one of his best seasons in 2020, rebounding from a down year both offensively and defensively in 2019. As NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic notes, Crawford’s return to form solidified the Giants’ shortstop situation, and the team can now be more confident that Crawford can still be a productive player as he heads into his age-34 campaign. 2021 will also be the final year of Crawford’s contract with San Francisco, however, and the Giants have a star shortstop prospect in Marco Luciano coming down the pipeline. Luciano could potentially be ready for a regular role by 2022, so it remains to be seen if Crawford will only be a bridge to Luciano or if the veteran could potentially still land another deal to stay in the orange and black.
NL Notes: Kemp, Reds, Susana, Mets, Dodgers
Matt Kemp stated last February that he was hoping to add four or five more seasons onto his career, and with the 2020 campaign and Kemp’s 15th MLB season now in the books, nothing has changed about his future plans. “That’s always been one of my goals, is to at least play until I was 40 years old,” Kemp said in an interview on the Power Alley show on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM. Kemp is still focused on capturing that elusive World Series ring, and “as long as I can continue to help a team win and do some great things in the game of baseball, I’m going to continue to do this thing until I can’t do it any more.”
The 36-year-old Kemp was an All-Star as recently as 2018, though he endured an injury-shortened 2019 season that led to minor league deals in 2020 with both the Marlins and Rockies, the latter coming in June. Kemp hit .239/.326/.419 with six homers over 132 plate appearances for Colorado, working primarily as a DH and pinch-hitter and only playing left field in one of his 43 games. It remains to be seen if the Rockies or another team will give Kemp another chance at extending his career, though his prospects at another contract would definitely get a boost if the National League fully adopts the designated hitter.
More from around the NL…
- Shortstop was a big problem area for the Reds last season, and since Jose Garcia struggled badly during over 68 PA in his rookie season, he looks to still be a season or two away from being a big league contributor. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic (subscription required) looks at some of the possibilities available to the Reds on the offseason shortstop market, though it remains to be seen if Cincinnati will have the payroll flexibility to pursue top free agents like Didi Gregorius or Marcus Semien. Rosecrans also notes that the Reds have also scouted Ha-Seong Kim of the Korea Baseball Organization, who wouldn’t necessarily carry quite as large a price tag, though several teams are expected to check into Kim’s services when he is posted.
- Speaking of international talent, Dominican right-hander Jarlin Susana is an intriguing (and unattached) prospect heading into the January 15 international signing period. Baseball America’s Ben Badler has more on the 16-year-old Susana, who is 6’5″, 195 pounds, and hit 96mph during a showcase for scouts earlier this week. Susana also has “a sharp breaking ball” along with that fastball, which usually clocks in the “the low-to-mid 90s.” Many of the top prospects in the 2020-21 international class have already unofficially agreed to deals with teams, though Susana isn’t yet linked to anyone, making him an interesting option for clubs with available bonus pool space. The Mets and Dodgers were among the teams who had evaluators in attendance at Susana’s showcase.