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Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
  • The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
  • The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
  • Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
  • Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
  • The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

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The Corey Kluber Trade: Reaction & Analysis

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Over a year of trade rumors surrounding Corey Kluber came to an end this afternoon, as the Indians dealt their longtime ace to the Rangers in exchange for outfielder Delino DeShields and right-hander Emmanuel Clase (plus $500K, in a split of the $1MM assignment bonus Kluber received in the event of a trade).  Here are some of the early takes on the trade, plus some of the potential aftershocks that might yet be forthcoming…

  • Kluber’s struggles and drop in velocity at the start of the 2019 season are a concern, ESPN’s Keith Law writes in a subscriber-only piece, while Clase is a very intriguing young reliever.  That said, Cleveland’s overall trade return is “so light compared to what Kluber was as recently as 2018 that it feels like this was a move to dump salary rather than a way to rebuild with younger players.”  Kluber is owed $17.5MM in 2020 and is controlled via an $18MM club option for 2021 (with a $1MM buyout).
  • What the Tribe will do with this newfound payroll space is on the minds of Marc Carig and Jason Lloyd as part of The Athletic’s writers roundtable of opinions on the trade (subscription required).  The club could be content to just pocket the savings as part of a more thorough rebuild that could include a Francisco Lindor trade this winter.  But, with the Indians still in position to contend within a weak AL Central, dealing Kluber could create enough payroll relief to make the team even less likely to move Lindor in the short term, and spend the money saved on Kluber to address other needs.  “Given the number of teams that were involved in the Kluber rumors, it’s hard to dispute that this was the best return they [the Indians] could fetch,” Lloyd writes, with Ken Rosenthal also noting that Cleveland might have been concerned that Kluber’s value could further decline prior to the 2020 trade deadline.
  • Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti discussed the deal with reporters (including The Athletic’s Zack Meisel and MLB.com’s Mandy Bell) and addressed the “variety of different packages” offered by “a lot of teams that had interest in Corey.”  One of the factors that helped sway the talks in the Rangers’ direction was that Clase and DeShields are “two players that could come back and help us in 2020 and help us try to sustain the level of competitiveness we’ve had over the last seven years.”  Even in the short amount of time since the trade was announced, Antonetti revealed that some teams had already called to ask if Clase was available in a follow-up deal.
  • The Angels were one of the teams known to have interest in Kluber, though Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (Twitter link) reports that the Indians wanted highly-touted outfield prospect Brandon Marsh and another top-10 prospect from the Halos’ farm system.  It was a significant ask, given how Marsh is widely considered to be the Angels’ second-best prospect (after Jo Adell) and is ranked by Fangraphs as the 74th-best prospect in all of baseball.  If Cleveland was seeking for such a return for Kluber from the various teams in the hunt, Fletcher notes that it could be a sign that “they have a much higher opinion of Clase than most of baseball.”
  • While DeShields’ lack of hitting kept him from being an everyday player in Arlington, his departure creates more questions within an already uncertain Rangers outfield mix.  Texas GM Jon Daniels told MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan and other reporters that the Rangers will look for an experienced center field through either a trade or a signing, though for now, utilityman Danny Santana is penciled in as the club’s center fielder.  Over his career, Santana has posted subpar fielding numbers (-7.2 UZR/150, -10 Defensive Runs Saved) over 1108 innings as a center fielder, and he has more overall value to Texas a player who can be shifted around the diamond rather than locked into an ill-fitting position.
  • Daniels said his front office first discussed Kluber with the Indians earlier in the offseason, and only circled back after the Winter Meetings, and after the Rangers came up short in their attempts to sign Anthony Rendon.  Negotiations became more serious once Texas agreed to move Clase as part of the deal, speaking again to how highly Cleveland values Clase’s ability.

Danny Santana, Nomar Mazara Exit With Injuries

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TUESDAY: Santana’s confident he won’t miss time, according to manager Chris Woodward, but it doesn’t appear Mazara will be as fortunate. His oblique injury is similar to (but not as severe as) the strain that sent teammate Joey Gallo to the IL in June. Gallo wound up sitting out just over three weeks (via Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram).

MONDAY: Rangers utilityman Danny Santana and outfielder Nomar Mazara left the team’s game Monday with injuries that seem as if they could lead to IL stints. Santana departed with left hamstring tightness, while Mazara succumbed to tightness in his left oblique. Should at least one of those players end up on the shelf, the Rangers are prepared to promote infield/outfield prospect Nick Solak from Triple-A Nashville, TR Sullivan of MLB.com suggests. Nashville pulled Solak from its game Monday.

At 60-64, the Rangers’ once-legitimate postseason hopes are now dead. But Santana has done everything in his power this season to help propel the Rangers back to prominence. The 28-year-old switch-hitter has slashed .305/.333/.576 with 21 home runs and 13 steals (on 19 attempts) over 376 plate appearances. Between Santana’s offensive production and his defensive versatility (he has appeared in double-digit games in the outfield, at first and at second), he undoubtedly looks like one of the best bargain signings of last offseason. Texas inked the former Twin and Brave to a minor league deal after a couple rough seasons, and the Rangers will be able to control him two more times via arbitration.

This season hasn’t been as prosperous for Mazara, who still hasn’t lived up to the considerable hype he garnered coming up through the Rangers’ system. While the fourth-year man has been on a tear of late, his overall .268/.318/.466 line with 17 HRs in 443 is merely mediocre. There have been rumblings about the Rangers possibly trading the 24-year-old Mazara, who has another two seasons of arb control left. That could be a situation to watch over the winter, but for now, the sizzling Mazara will hope to stay off the IL.

In the event that doesn’t happen, Solak, 24, could crack a big league roster for the first time. He’s just over a month into his tenure with the Rangers, who acquired him from the Rays on July 13 in a swap for young righty Peter Fairbanks. It was already the second trade involving Solak – a 2016 second-round pick whom the Yankees sent to the Rays in a three-teamer back in 2018.

Solak may yet emerge as a regular in Texas, with FanGraphs placing him just outside the game’s top 100 prospects and contending he’ll at least turn into “an average everyday second baseman.” Solak has made a strong case for a promotion by raking since he got to Nashville, where he has slashed an eyebrow-raising .357/.390/.670 with 10 home runs in 124 trips to the plate. Even in the offense-driven Pacific Coast League, Solak’s production has been 48 percent above average, according to wRC+.

Rangers Haven’t “Seriously Engaged” Teams On Danny Santana

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Rangers utilityman Danny Santana has been one of the most surprising success stories of the 2019 season. Santana’s career began with a flourish as a member of the Twins in 2014, but he then performed terribly over parts of the next four seasons divided between Minnesota and Atlanta. Booted from the Braves’ 40-man roster last year, Santana caught on with the Rangers on a minor league contract over the winter.

Since the Rangers promoted Santana to the majors in the middle of April, the switch-hitting speedster has slashed .316/.346/.567 (128 wRC+) with 14 home runs, 12 steals and 2.0 fWAR in 281 plate appearances. Despite Santana’s best efforts, including a three-hit, six-RBI showing in a win over the Athletics on Thursday, the Rangers have backslid in recent weeks after looking like contenders for a while. The club’s still a decent 53-51 overall, but at five games behind wild-card position, rallying for a playoff spot probably isn’t realistic.

The Rangers’ place in the standings could influence them to sell by Wednesday’s deadline, and the 28-year-old Santana has come up as a speculative trade candidate. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported last weekend Santana has drawn interest from other teams, but that’s vague. There was no specification as to whether talks had gotten serious with anyone. Well, now we have an answer. According to Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas has “heard from only a few teams” in regards to Santana, and it hasn’t “seriously engaged any club in trade talks” for him.

With the Rangers set to open a new ballpark in 2020, when perhaps they’ll be better equipped to contend, Santana could stay as an important part of their roster going forward. As Wilson notes, although Santana has little third base experience, it’s possible he’ll take over as the Rangers’ starter there next season for Asdrubal Cabrera, who’s set to become a free agent. Otherwise, Santana may continue to function as the Rangers’ version of a Swiss Army knife. Thus far in Texas, he has totaled between five and 35 appearances at all three outfield spots and every infield position but third.

Not only has Santana been terrific at the plate and extraordinarily versatile in the field, but he has done it for a league-minimum salary. Santana also won’t rake in a ton next year via arbitration, and he’ll still be controllable for another season after that.

While Santana’s affordable control counts as a reason to keep him, it could likewise be an argument for the Rangers to cash him in for a rich return during the upcoming week. There’s also the fact that we’ve been down a familiar road with Santana in the past. His stellar rookie-year production came in spite of an ugly K/BB ratio and an unsustainable .405 batting average on balls in play. Santana’s K/BB issues have worsened since then – he has fanned 28.5 percent of the time and drawn walks at a meager 3.9 percent clip – while his BABIP (.401) is once again flying way too close to the sun and sure to plummet.

It’s clearly going to be difficult for Santana to continue to perform anywhere near this well as a hitter. At the same time, though, his Statcast profile shows he has made legitimate strides this season. Santana’s .335 expected weighted on-base average does pale in comparison to his .386 real wOBA, but it’s nothing to scoff at coming from an inexpensive player who can line up all over the diamond. The positives outweigh the negatives in the estimation of the Rangers, who seem content to keep Santana.

Danny Santana Drawing Trade Interest

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At the All-Star break, the Rangers sat on the brink of playoff contention, looking like a team that could be a surprise bet to conservatively buy at the trade deadline. However, any hopes of contention look to be quickly vanishing, and the front office may not have to debate whether to buy or sell. Sunday’s loss makes it seven straight games that the Rangers have dropped, leaving the club just a game over .500 and now in fourth place in the division.

Should the Rangers elect to trade off veteran pieces and regroup in hopes of building a future contender, utilityman Danny Santana may be among the most coveted Rangers on the market. Per J.P. Morosi of MLB Network, the 28-year-old has garnered interest from several teams around baseball and could fetch a nice return for Texas. Though no specific teams are named, it seems reasonable to assume that most every team in playoff position would welcome a versatile offensive weapon. As Morosi notes, that interest may be heightened in light of the Royals’ steep asking price for Whit Merrifield, who would be the most attractive utility player on the market if the Kansas City weren’t so reluctant to let him go.

Santana, for his part, emerged as one of a number of minor-league signings fueling the Rangers’ surprise first-half performance. Formerly of the Twins and Braves, Santana appeared to have peaked as a rookie, when he posted a .824 OPS as a 23-year-old. After that, Santana’s OPS never climbed above .606 in a single season—until now, with an evolving approach leading to an offensive breakout. After posting below-average exit velocity numbers in his first years in the Majors, balls have left Santana’s bat at an average of 91.1 mph this season, a mark that ranks in the 83rd percentile, per Baseball Savant. Not only is he hitting the ball harder, but he is elevating it, leading to a career-high 13 home runs and a .250 ISO. With average launch angles of 3.4˚ in 2017 and 9.1˚ last season, that number has jumped to 12.3˚ this season. He likewise ranks favorably in hard-hit rate and expected batting metrics, indicating that his current performance cannot be easily dismissed as a fluke.

To be sure, though, Santana has outperformed those expected batting marks to some degree: his actual wOBA (.381) is nearly 40 points higher than expected (.342) and the same can be said for his batting average (.320 actual versus .282 expected), perhaps in large part thanks to an astronomical .399 BABIP. In that respect, then, teams may be hesitant to pencil Santana in to match his first half production. Those who inquire on Santana are essentially looking at a half-season’s worth of production, making Santana a more risky investment than players with long track records of success. That may depress his value somewhat, but Rangers general manager Jon Daniels should still be able to get a solid return, especially considering that Santana received virtually no attention when he signed in Texas.

However, those expected marks are still more than enough to attract some interest from contending clubs. Santana’s ability to play across the diamond might lower the offensive bar somewhat; teams in the hunt for a World Series won’t acquire Santana with the expectation that he plays every day at one position—rather, he might be deployed a la Chris Taylor or Marwin Gonzalez, hunting favorable matchups and spelling injured or resting regulars.

Santana has appeared at six different positions for the Rangers this season, providing passable (if unspectacular) defense. If defensive metrics like DRS and UZR are to be believed, Santana fits best as a middle infielder, largely grading out below average in the outfield. However, that doesn’t mean that he can’t provide value as an outfielder—giving his manager another option is valuable in and of itself, and Santana doesn’t have to play any one position exceptionally as long as he can play several capably. He’s also stolen 12 bases at a roughly 70% clip, which is an added bonus for Santana’s skillset.

Of course, money is always of interest in trade discussions, and Santana’s value only grows from a financial perspective. Agreeing to a minor-league deal with the Rangers prior to the season, his salary comes in at the league minimum, meaning that interested teams will owe essentially negligible money to Santana, who is controllable through 2021. His combination of affordability and the potential for long-term value—in addition to on-field performance—should make him an attractive candidate for plenty of teams between now and July 31. As Rangers position-players go, Santana may be the most valuable one who is likely to be dealt.

3 Minor League Signings Helping Drive Rangers’ Offense

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For Major League Baseball teams, there is essentially no risk in signing a player to a minor league contract. Cognizant of that, the Rangers were aggressive on the non-guaranteed market in the offseason, inking 20 players to minors contracts. Two months into the regular season, three of those players – Hunter Pence, Logan Forsythe and Danny Santana – have helped lead the Rangers’ offense to the game’s third-most runs (306) and a 10th-place ranking in wRC+ (103).

Pence, the most proven member of the trio, starred for much of his career with the Astros and Giants before recent struggles forced him to settle for a cheap pact with the Rangers. But the longtime outfielder looked done during the previous two years in San Francisco, especially when he hit .226/.258/.332 (59 wRC+) with four home runs and a .106 ISO in 248 plate appearances last season. To his credit, though, Pence spent the offseason working to turn things around, as he explained to Jessica Kleinschmidt of NBC Sports California in December. You may have scoffed at his efforts back then, chalking them up to a washed-up player grasping at straws, but it now looks as if Pence has discovered the Fountain of Youth during his age-36 season (Pence de Leon?).

Through 153 trips to the plate with the Rangers, Pence has slashed .295/.346/.619 with 11 homers and a .324 ISO. He has already given the Rangers 1.1 fWAR after combining for minus-0.2 with the Giants from 2017-18. Pence’s revival certainly doesn’t look like a product of luck or ballpark – there’s nothing abnormal in his batting average on balls in play or K/BB ratio, and he has logged far better numbers outside hitter-friendly Globe Life Park.

Pence is pulling more pitches, hitting more fly balls and making better contact, all of which has helped opened the door to his power resurgence, while swinging and missing less and chasing fewer pitches out of the zone. Pence’s average exit velocity on fly balls and line drives sits at a strong 96.6 mph, up from 91.5 in 2018, and his weighted on-base average/expected wOBA has spiked from .255/.267 to .401/.387. In the xwOBA department, Pence has gone from hitting like Joey Rickard to resembling Juan Soto. It’s an amazing one-year turnaround.

If there’s one knock on the 2019 version of Pence, it’s that he has largely been limited to the designated hitter spot at his advanced age. Forsythe, on the other hand, has spent the season in the field, registering most of his appearances at first base but also playing at least five games at shortstop, third and second. Now 32, Forsythe was one of baseball’s most valuable second basemen with the Rays from 2015-16, but he began falling off the next season and then cratered last year between the Twins and Dodgers. It looks as if Forsythe’s back after joining Texas on a deal in late February, though. Like Pence, a fellow right-handed hitter, Forsythe has offered better production outside of Arlington while posing a legitimate threat against pitchers of either handedness.

Forsythe has opened his Rangers career with a line of .309/.414/.485 (136 wRC+) and 1.2 fWAR in 163 attempts, far outdoing the minus-0.2 he posted in that category last season. An unsustainable .406 BABIP has aided Forsythe’s cause, but he has made real strides otherwise. While Forsythe’s power hasn’t been sensational (three homers, .176 ISO), he’s well ahead of his paltry 2018 output in that regard (two HRs, .059 ISO in 416 PA). As with Pence, a greater emphasis on pulling and elevating the ball has led to Forsythe’s uptick in the power department. His average exit velocity has climbed from 89.6 mph on liners/flies last year to 92.8 this season. Forsythe’s also swinging at far fewer pitches than ever outside the strike zone. Those factors have assisted in a strong .390/.362 wOBA/xwOBA, an enormous step up from the .274/.277 Forsythe recorded in 2018.

And then there’s the 28-year-old Santana, who was a 3.9-fWAR player with the Twins during a 430-PA debut in 2014. Until this season, that looked like a total fluke (and perhaps it still does). Santana combined for minus-2.3 fWAR from 2015-18 with the Twins and Braves, though he’s back above water this year. Granted, with a 0.6 fWAR over 125 trips to the plate, Santana’s no world-beater. Still, that’s more than the Rangers could have reasonably expected when they took a flier on Santana in December. Since then, the switch hitter has slashed .296/.339/.478 (107 wRC+) with four HRs and six steals in 125 PA, also showing off his defensive flexibility by appearing multiple times at first, second, short and in center field.

Santana, however, could have a tougher time than Pence and Forsythe maintaining his numbers. In fact, they’ve already started to drop over the past month. The fact that he’s running ugly strikeout and walk rates (4.0 percent versus 29.6) and enjoying a .400 BABIP doesn’t offer a ton of hope going forward. Beyond that, Santana’s struggling against left-handed pitchers and hitting noticeably worse on the road. That said, there’s little difference between Santana’s wOBA (.347) and xwoBA (.341).

Should Santana continue to impress the Rangers through the season, they’ll have a chance to keep him via arbitration for the next two years. Otherwise, they could easily say goodbye to him. Meanwhile, Pence and Forsythe – two impending free agents – could either stick with the surprising Rangers (27-27) through the season if they’re in contention or emerge as summer trade chips if the team falls out of the race. Texas is in a win-win situation with all three of these minor league pickups, which is surely what general manager Jon Daniels hoped for when he added them over the winter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rangers Option Delino DeShields To Triple-A, Place Shawn Kelley On 10-Day IL

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TODAY: Guzman has been officially activated, as per Rangers executive VP of communications John Blake (Twitter link).  In another move, Texas has placed reliever Shawn Kelley on the 10-day IL due to an infection.  Right-hander Wei-Chieh Huang has been recalled from Triple-A to take Kelley’s roster spot.

YESTERDAY: The Rangers announced following today’s game that they’ve optioned center fielder Delino DeShields Jr. to Triple-A Nashville. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets that first baseman Ronald Guzman will be returning from the injured list in place of DeShields, though the Rangers won’t officially announce anything until tomorrow.

The decision to option DeShields to Triple-A likely means more playing time in the outfield for the revitalized Hunter Pence, who is hitting .344/.411/.656 with five homers, but it does leave Texas without a true center fielder on its roster. Joey Gallo has some experience there, and Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that today’s move could push Gallo to the position “pretty regularly.” Journeyman infielder/outfielder Danny Santana has 916 career innings in center field, but Texas has used him exclusively in the infield since bringing him to the Majors.

DeShields’ demotion to Nashville is just the latest downturn in a Rangers tenure that has been perpetuated by peaks and valleys. Selected from the Astros in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, the former No. 8 overall pick and top prospect made Texas look wise in 2015 with a .261/.344/.374 batting line as a rookie. He then flopped at the plate in 2016 before enjoying a rebound campaign in 2017. While the organizational hope was that DeShields had begun to solidify himself with that effort, he once again struggled in 2018 and will now head back to Triple-A to try to sort things out.

To this point, the Rangers have spent nearly a half decade trying to harness DeShields’ considerable athleticism and turn him into a consistent, everyday player. However, the resulting .241/.327/.337 batting line (76 OPS+, 78 wRC+) in 1635 plate appearances hasn’t exactly given them much to show for those efforts. DeShields still has an option year remaining beyond 2019, so the Rangers can continue to exhibit patience with him. On the other hand, DeShields will turn 27 in August, so it’s not as if he’s particularly young anymore.

President of baseball operations Jon Daniels made clear following today’s demotion, though, that he still views DeShields as a viable long-term option in Arlington (Twitter link via Grant). “Delino is a valuable player,” said Daniels. “He’s a big leaguer. At this point, we are choosing to keep a deeper bullpen and didn’t want to cut ties permanently with anyone. Delino will play every day in Nashville, get himself going, and be ready to help us again this year.”

Any move that affords more playing time to a veteran like Pence at the expense of a younger option such as DeShields may at first seem counter-intuitive, given that they’re in a fairly transitional state. That said, DeShields’ poor play so far hasn’t left them with much of an alternative. He’s hitting just .182/.321/.284 through his first 108 trips to the plate. Beyond that, there’s an argument to be made that giving DeShields regular playing time in a lower-pressure environment is what’s best for him from a long-term standpoint. And while Texas isn’t in a pure rebuilding/tanking mode, they’re clearly taking a longer-term look at things rather than striving for a postseason berth in 2019.

For the time being, Gallo will get another opportunity to convince the organization that he can at least be a passable option in center field. He’s logged 158 innings there dating back to Opening Day 2018, and even being able to serve as an occasional option there in the coming years would be a valuable trait to have in his back pocket.

The aforementioned Santana could plausibly factor in there as well, though he’s unlikely to be a long-term piece for the Rangers. While he can technically be controlled through 2021, Santana’s .311/.358/.541 output doesn’t appear sustainable. That line is a close approximation of his excellent rookie season with the Twins, but like that 2014 campaign, his output to this point has been buoyed by a roughly .400 average on balls in play. Santana’s hard-hit rate, remarkably, checked in at 51.9 percent entering play Wednesday, so he’s definitely squaring up the ball well. However, that type of contact is the type expected from the league’s top sluggers — not a player who hit .219/.256/.319 in 735 PAs from 2015-18.

Quick Hits: Treinen, Rangers, Guzman, Allen

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It was on this day in 1975 that the Oakland A’s released Herb Washington, ending Washington’s unique Major League career after 105 regular season appearances and five postseason games.  Signed by the A’s prior to the 1974 season, Washington served exclusively as a pinch-runner — he never made a single appearance at the plate, in the field, or on the mound.  A distinguished track star at Michigan State, Washington tied and set world records in the 50-yard and 60-yard dashes, respectively.  Athletics owner Charlie Finley, never one to shy away from an unusual idea, signed Washington as the sport’s first “designated runner,” putting Washington on Oakland’s 25-man roster despite his lack of anything beyond high school baseball experience.  Washington ended up scoring 33 runs and stealing 31 bases (out of 48 attempts) during his regular season career, though he was caught stealing twice in the ALCS and picked off first base in Game Two of the 1974 World Series.  The A’s still won the Series, giving Washington a championship ring to show for his brief stint in professional baseball.

Here’s the latest from around the majors, including an item on the modern-day A’s…

  • Blake Treinen “came in feeling quite a bit better” on Sunday after suffering from elbow discomfort the day prior, Athletics manager Bob Melvin told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and other media.  Treinen said Saturday that he believed was suffering from elbow tendinitis, though he and the team will have more information when the closer is examined by doctors on Monday.  In the wake of his outstanding 2018 campaign, Treinen has a 3.00 ERA and 10.8 K/9 through 15 innings for Oakland this season, though with a troubling 6.6 BB/9.
  • Ronald Guzman (hamstring) is set to return from an IL stint on Thursday, leaving the Rangers with a 25-man roster question, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes.  Veterans Danny Santana and Logan Forsythe have been two of the team’s better hitters, and designating either for assignment would create the risk of a claim from another team, plus Santana and Forsythe both have the right to reject an assignment to Triple-A.  Perhaps the likelier option is that Texas demotes a reliever, as the Rangers are already working with an eight-man bullpen, or Delino DeShields is sent to Triple-A and Santana takes over in center field.  One option that isn’t on the table is a Triple-A stint for the struggling Rougned Odor, as manager Chris Woodward expressed confidence that the second baseman would get on track.  Even after a two-hit performance today against the Blue Jays, Odor is hitting only .141/.221/.244 through 86 PA this season.
  • The Angels are planning to activate Cody Allen from the IL on Tuesday, manager Brad Ausmus told Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group and other media.  Allen was sidelined on April 26 with a lumbar spine strain, though he’ll return after missing just over the minimum 10 days.  Thus far, Allen hasn’t found any success in an Angels uniform, with a 6.00 ERA, 10 walks, and 11 strikeouts over nine innings this season.  After excelling as Cleveland’s closer from 2014-17, Allen had a rough 2018 and had to settle for a one-year deal (worth $8.5MM guaranteed) in free agency.

Rangers Place Rougned Odor On 10-Day IL, Select Danny Santana

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Per a team release, the Rangers have placed 2B Rougned Odor on the 10-Day IL with a right knee sprain. IF/OF Danny Santana was selected to the 40-man from AAA-Nashville and will join the club in his place. To make room for Santana, the club moved righty Edinson Volquez to the 60-day IL. Per Jeff Wilson of the Fort-Worth Star-Tribune, Odor will miss “at least” two weeks of action.

Odor, 25, was off to a dreadful start at the plate this season for Texas, slashing .167/.255/.214 over his first 47 plate appearances. He rebounded with a solid .253/.326/.424 (97 wRC+, 2.5fWAR) 2018 after an awful showing the previous season; perhaps most encouragingly for the six-year vet, he nearly doubled his career-best walk rate, to 8.0%, and ranked among the best in the league with an outstanding 45% hard-hit rate. Odor’s shown an even further increase in plate discipline this season, so perhaps the early-season malaise can be chalked simply up to small-sample bad luck.

Santana, 28, was off to a strong start for AAA-Nashville over his first 40 plate appearances, but hasn’t hit much – in the minors or majors – since a .319/.353/.472 (132 wRC+) showing in 430 PAs for Minnesota in 2014, a performance fueled by a startling .405 BABIP. He has experience at nearly every position on the diamond, though, and should infuse a thin Ranger roster with some much-needed flexibility.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/11/18

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The latest minor moves from around the league …

  • IF/OF Danny Santana, formerly of the Twins and Braves, has signed a minor league pact with Texas, per Jon Heyman of Fancred on Twitter. Santana, 28, had a brilliant debut season in 2014 with Minnesota, albeit one with an obviously unsustainable .405 BABIP.  He’s been mostly awful since, posting below-replacement-level in figures in three of the last four seasons.  Santana spent most of last season with Triple-A Gwinnett, slashing .264/.294/.497 in 342 plate appearances.
  • The Angels have signed righty Forrest Snow, outfielder Cesar Puello, infielder Wilfredo Tovar, and reliever Matt Ramsey to minor league deals with invites to Spring Training, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. Snow, 29, has spent nine full seasons in the minors without an MLB appearance; in 2018, he struggled with the gopher ball (1.68 HR/9) in 20 starts for Tampa’s AAA affiliate. Puello, 27, has some previous MLB experience with the Angels and Rays and has posted a number of impressive slash lines in the high minors. Last year, he hit .317/.426/.454 in semi-regular time with Triple-A Reno in the Arizona system. Tovar, 27, is a noted defensive wizard at shortstop but offers little at the plate. In his fourth appearance at the AAA level in 2018, he slashed .297/.342/.386 in 389 PA. Ramsey, 29, posted an excellent 10.34 K/9 over 3.06 BB/9 in the hitter-friendly PCL last year, and could be an intriguing early-inning pen option for the Halos next season.
  • The KBO’s NC Dinos have signed former big-leaguer Christian Bethancourt to a one-year deal for $1MM, per the Yonhap News Agency. Bethancourt, 27, was acquired by San Diego in 2016 in hopes of becoming a two-way contributor, but was mostly abysmal on both fronts. The C/IF/OF/P posted an uninspiring 113 wRC+ in the rarefied air of AAA Colorado Springs last season, with forays to the mound mostly suspended for the time being.
  • The Yonhap News Agency also reports that the SK Wyverns of the KBO have re-signed former Pirate reliever Angel Sanchez to a 1-year, $1.2MM deal. Sanchez, 29, last appeared for the Pirates in 2017, following a mostly-solid career in the minors.

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