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Devon Travis

Devon Travis Elects Free Agency

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The Blue Jays announced that second baseman Devon Travis has rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency. He’s now eligible to sign with any club.

This was the obvious outcome when Toronto announced that Travis had cleared outright waivers earlier in the week. Any player with three or more years of Major League service time — Travis has four-plus years — has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, and virtually every such player who is outrighted this time of season opts to test the open market.

Travis, who’ll turn 29 in February, at one point looked to be the Blue Jays’ second baseman of the future. Acquired in a one-for-one swap that sent outfielder Anthony Gose to the Tigers nearly five years ago to the day, Travis burst onto the scene the following season with a .304/.361/.498 batting line, eight homers and 18 doubles in just 239 plate appearances. Despite being promoted to the Majors in early April that year, Travis was limited to 62 games as a result of a shoulder issue that twice put him on the shelf for at least a month.

Injury notwithstanding, a strong impression was made, and the following season gave further reason for optimism. Upon returning from surgery to repair that balky shoulder, Travis appeared in 101 games and hit .300/.332/.454 with 11 homers, 28 doubles and a triple in 432 plate appearances. Through the first two (injury-shortened) seasons of his career, Travis carried a .304/.342/.469 slash (116 OPS+) and looked well on his way to a quality big league career.

Unfortunately for both Travis and the Jays, knee troubles set in during the 2016 postseason, and his recovery from that issue proved far more cumbersome than his recovery from the 2015 shoulder troubles. A bone bruise in the 2016 ALCS led to offseason knee surgery for Travis, and he underwent a second procedure on that knee the following summer. Those injuries contributed to a miserable season at the plate in 2018, and in Spring Training 2019, Travis underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his other knee. Multiple setbacks in his recovery followed, and Travis didn’t play at all this past season.

In all, since that promising two-year stretch to open his career, Travis has appeared in just 153 games over a three-year period and posted a lackluster .242/.280/.400 batting line with 16 homers and 32 doubles in 575 plate appearances. It’s clear that he possesses plenty of raw ability, though with shoulder surgery and a trio of knee operations all coming before his 29th birthday, it’s fair to wonder just how much his body will allow him to tap into that talent. He may have to settle for a minor league pact to prove he’s healthy enough to return to his once-productive ways. Any club that signs him would be acquiring multiple years of control, as Travis is nine days shy of five years of Major League service time, meaning he’d remain arbitration-eligible through the 2021 campaign.

Blue Jays Designate Ryan Tepera, Outright Devon Travis

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The Blue Jays have dropped two notable players from their 40-man roster today, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Reliever Ryan Tepera was designated for assignment while infielder Devon Travis was outrighted.

Both of these players had been eligible for arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Tepera to earn $1.6MM and Travis to take home $1.95MM through the process.

It is at least a bit of a surprise to see the departure of Tepera, who just celebrated his 32nd birthday. The righty had mostly been a sturdy member of the Toronto relief corps before running into trouble in 2019. He ended the year with 21 2/3 innings of 4.98 ERA ball, with 5.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Tepera lost a good bit of fastball velocity but still managed a 12.6% swinging-strike rate.

Travis just hasn’t been able to get fully healthy since starting his time with the Jays with such promise. He appeared in 103 games last year, but showed poorly both at the plate (.232/.275/.381) and in the field (-6 DRS, -8.5 UZR). Travis never suited up this year as he battled ongoing knee problems.

AL Notes: Blue Jays, Tigers, Gardenhire, Yanks, C. Frazier

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Oft-injured Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis is unlikely to remain with the team next season, per Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star. Travis hasn’t played at all this season (and nor will he) as a result of left knee issues, and his absence has opened the door for rookie Cavan Biggio to take over the keystone. While Travis could stay with the Jays next year as a backup infielder (or they could simply option him to Triple-A Buffalo), Chisholm suggests he’s not a fit to stick around because the team wants a reserve who’s capable of playing shortstop. As of now, Travis – who’s on a $1.93MM salary – has two more years of arbitration control remaining.

  • Unlike Travis, odds are “good” that right-hander Matt Shoemaker will be back with the Blue Jays next season, Chisholm reports. It’s possible, though, that Toronto will first non-tender Shoemaker and then attempt to re-up him at a lower cost. Otherwise, the 32-year-old would earn a raise over his current $3.5MM salary in his fourth and final trip through arbitration. The Jays signed Shoemaker in free agency last winter, and the former Angel initially justified the investment with 28 2/3 innings of 1.57 ERA/3.94 FIP pitching with 7.53 K/9 against 2.83 BB/9. Shoemaker’s potential bounce-back year came to an end April 21 when he suffered a torn left ACL.
  • Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire has helped oversee their extensive rebuilding effort since last year, and it’s likely he’ll helm the club’s dugout again next season. The soon-to-be 62-year-old Gardenhire’s “in little to no jeopardy” of not returning in 2020 for the final season of his contract, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Gardenhire, for his part, seems uninterested in going anywhere else. “That’s to be determined for (general manager) Al Avila, with where they want to go and what they want to do, but I enjoy this and I love this city,” Gardenhire said of his future. The Tigers have stumbled to a miserable 103-158 record under Gardenhire, but it would be unfair to judge him for that. Anyone would’ve been hard-pressed to guide last year’s roster or this season’s team to respectable marks.
  • The Yankees will “probably” recall outfielder Clint Frazier from Triple-A Scranton when rosters expand Sunday, manager Aaron Boone said (via George A. King III of the New York Post). The 24-year-old Frazier’s weeks-long stay in the minors has gotten plenty of coverage, in part because he was the subject of numerous trade rumors leading up to the July 31 deadline. However, the Yankees kept the former top prospect, who posted a quality batting line of .283/.330/.513 with 11 home runs in 209 plate appearances before they sent him down in mid-June to make room for a just-acquired Edwin Encarnacion. The Yankees’ wealth of outfield talent, Frazier’s well-documented defensive issues and his remaining minors options have all conspired to strand him in Scranton, for which he has hit a meek .243/.300/.426 with seven HRs over 250 PA.

Latest On Clay Buchholz, Devon Travis, Ryan Borucki

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Blue Jays right-hander Clay Buchholz went to the injured list May 10 with a shoulder injury, but a back problem could keep him out for a while longer. Buchholz is dealing with a Grade 2 strain of his teres major, per MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, who adds that the hurler will see famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews early next week for a second opinion. Assuming the initial diagnosis holds up, Buchholz could stay on the shelf for a “significant” amount of time, Chisholm writes.

This is the latest negative turn in what has been a forgettable Blue Jays tenure for Buchholz, who parlayed a bounce-back 2018 with Arizona into a $3MM guarantee from Toronto this past March. An elbow issue kept Buchholz from making his season debut until April 13, however, and though he performed well in his first start with the Jays, his overall production has left plenty to be desired. Buchholz has averaged fewer than five innings during his five appearances and logged a disastrous 6.57 ERA/5.51 FIP with a career-low 4.38 K/9 and personal-worst velocity.

The 34-year-old Buchholz hasn’t been the picture of durability throughout his career, nor has teammate Devon Travis. The oft-injured second baseman, who underwent left knee surgery March 17 and hasn’t played this year, has suffered a setback and is without a timetable to return, Chisholm reports. Travis’ knee doesn’t have any structural damage, but he did undergo a platelet-rich plasma injection to tamp down inflammation.

Travis, 28, looked like a legitimate building block for Toronto during an excellent rookie showing in 2015. However, a series of lower body injuries and a decline in production have torpedoed Travis’ career since then and limited him to 254 of a possible 531 games.

In further unfortunate news for Toronto, injured lefty Ryan Borucki may not make his 2019 debut until mid- to late June, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Borucki has recovered slowly from an elbow ailment that surfaced toward the end of March and was only supposed to keep him out for a small amount of regular-season time. Two months later, though, the 25-year-old Borucki hasn’t yet gotten the opportunity to build on a solid rookie campaign in which he managed a 3.87 ERA/3.80 FIP with 1.6 fWAR over 97 2/3 innings and 17 starts.

Injury Notes: Miller, LeBlanc, Borucki, Blue Jays

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The Nationals have placed right-hander Justin Miller on the 10-day IL due to a lower back strain.  Righty Austen Williams has been called up to take Miller’s spot on the 25-man roster.  Miller has a 5.68 ERA over 6 1/3 frames out of Washington’s bullpen this season, with all of that damage coming from runs allowed in each of his last three appearances.  Miller’s absence is yet another problem for the beleaguered Nats bullpen, which has a league-worst 8.12 cumulative ERA this season.  The Nationals were seemingly close to a deal with Bud Norris before that rumored contract fell through, so the team is actively looking for ways to upgrade its relief core.  There’s certainly opportunity here for a new face like Williams to make an impact, as the 26-year-old had an outstanding Spring Training and has turned in good results out of the bullpen at the minor league level since becoming a full-time reliever last season.  Williams made his MLB debut in 2018, tossing 9 2/3 innings over 10 games with the Nats.

Here’s some more injury news from around the league…

  • Wade LeBlanc left during the fifth inning of last night’s game due to right oblique strain, and the Mariners southpaw is likely headed to the injured list.  (MLB.com’s Greg Johns was among those with the details.)  Tommy Milone or possibly Justus Sheffield seem like the top candidates to replace LeBlanc in Seattle’s rotation, though nothing will be confirmed until LeBlanc undergoes an MRI today to access the damage.  The 34-year-old LeBlanc has been a solid arm for the M’s since rejoining the team on a minor league deal in March 2018, posting a 3.79 ERA while starting 30 of 35 games.  This success resulted in an option-heavy extension between LeBlanc and the Mariners last July.
  • Blue Jays righty Ryan Borucki’s bothersome elbow will be re-evaluated in two weeks after the hurler received a cortisone shot, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi writes.  Borucki first experienced the problem in the final week of Spring Training, and hasn’t thrown since a bullpen session on April 3.
  • In other Blue Jays injury news from Davidi’s piece, Ryan Tepera has begun a rehab assignment and could potentially join the team as early as this weekend, as the reliever tries to bounce back from his own elbow problems.  David Phelps is set to begin bullpen sessions next week as the reliever continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery, with an eye towards a midseason return.  Devon Travis is scheduled for baseball activities next week, though a 60-day IL placement in the wake of meniscus surgery means that Travis isn’t eligible to return to the Jays’ big league roster until late May.

Blue Jays Sign Daniel Hudson

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March 25: The Blue Jays have now announced the signing. To make room on the 40-man roster, second baseman Devon Travis was placed on the 60-day injured list. Travis was already headed for the 10-day IL following surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee, but it’s now clear that he’ll miss at least the first two months of the season.

March 24, 4:57pm: Davidi adds in a subsequent tweet that Hudson will receive a $1.5MM base salary, with the ability to earn another $1.5MM in bonuses.

11:52am: The Blue Jays have agreed to a one-year, major league contract with reliever Daniel Hudson, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Hudson is a client of Jet Sports Management.

It was a short stay in team-less limbo for Hudson, whom the Angels released from his minor league contract Friday. Hudson struggled during the spring as a member of the Halos, with whom he allowed five earned runs and three home runs over 6 2/3 innings. But that didn’t deter Toronto, whose bullpen has been in flux of late. The Blue Jays just said goodbye to John Axford and have been dealing with injuries to fellow relievers Ryan Tepera and Bud Norris.

Hudson, a hard-throwing, 32-year-old journeyman, spent last season with the Dodgers and posted a 4.11 ERA/4.38 FIP with 8.61 K/9, 3.52 BB/9 and a 37.2 percent groundball rate over 46 innings. It was the latest passable showing from Hudson, who owns a 4.58 ERA/4.02 FIP with 8.98 K/9, 3.58 BB/9 over 241 2/3 lifetime frames as a reliever.

Blue Jays Acquire Jason Adam; Devon Travis, Mark Leiter Jr. Undergo Surgery

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The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander Jason Adam from the Royals for cash considerations, Scott Mitchell of TSN reports. Additionally, the Blue Jays announced notable injury news regarding second baseman Devon Travis and right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Travis underwent arthroscopic surgery “to address a small meniscus tear in his left knee” and will be reassessed in four to six weeks, while Leiter will miss the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Adam, a Kansas native, is leaving the Royals via trade for the second time since they selected him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. They previously dealt Adam to the Twins in 2014 for slugger Josh Willingham, only to bring him back on a minor league contract in 2017 following a stint with the Padres. After overcoming multiple serious injuries to his arm, as ESPN’s Keith Law explained last May, Adam made his major league debut in 2018 and recorded a subpar 6.12 ERA/6.16 FIP over 32 1/3 innings and 31 appearances. At the same time, though, the 27-year-old did manage playable strikeout and walk numbers (10.3 K/9, 4.18 BB/9).

As is the case with Adam, injuries have been a major problem during Travis’ pro career. Left knee inflammation sidelined the 28-year-old for a couple weeks before he underwent surgery, making it the latest lower body issue for a player who hasn’t appeared in more than 103 games in a major league season since debuting in 2015. Notably, Travis totaled just 50 appearances in 2017 on account of right knee surgery. He didn’t perform well last year in a 378-plate appearance return, over which he hit just .232/.275/.381 (77 wRC+). As a result, the Jays weren’t guaranteeing a starting job to Travis entering camp. It’s a moot point now, though, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Freddy Galvis and Richard Urena appear likely to open the season as the Jays’ top middle infield options.

Leiter, 28, joined Toronto last September via waivers from the Phillies, but the Blue Jays ended up designating him for assignment and then outrighting him over the winter. While Leiter garnered extensive experience with the Phillies in 2017, when he amassed 90 2/3 innings and put up a 4.96 ERA/5.14 FIP, a flexor strain helped limit him to just 51 2/3 frames between the majors and minors last year. In 23 1/3 innings divided between Philly and Toronto, he only managed a 7.71 ERA/6.98 FIP.

Blue Jays Notes: Top FAs, Stroman, Travis

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The latest on the Blue Jays, all of which comes courtesy of Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet:

  • The Blue Jays “checked in” on prominent Scott Boras clients Bryce Harper, Dallas Keuchel and Marwin Gonzalez in free agency, but talks didn’t get serious in any of the three cases, Nicholson-Smith reports. Regarding Harper, there were “not a lot of conversations” on the Jays’ side, a source told Nicholson-Smith. “Some, but not a lot.” Toronto was never strongly connected to Harper during his drawn-out trip to free agency, which finally ended this week when he accepted the Phillies’ 13-year, $330MM offer. The 31-year-old Keuchel’s still available, meanwhile, though it doesn’t seem the Jays – who aren’t expected to contend in 2019 – are in position to sign a 30-something pitcher to a lucrative contract.
  • While right-hander Marcus Stroman has frequented trade rumors in recent months, Nicholson-Smith suggests nobody has approached Toronto’s asking price yet. For now, “trade talks are relatively quiet,” Nicholson-Smith writes, though he notes that could change if a starter-needy team loses out on Keuchel and pivots to Stroman as a Plan B. Stroman, who’s in his second-last year of team control, made headlines last month when he expressed frustration toward the Blue Jays for neither extending his contract nor being more active in free agency (they’ve since agreed to deals with fellow righties Clay Buchholz and Bud Norris, which could assuage Stroman to some degree). Whether he opens 2019 with Toronto or another club, Stroman will attempt to bounce back from an uncharacteristically poor 2018 season, during which he notched a 5.54 ERA with 6.77 K/9 and 3.17 BB/9 over 102 1/3 innings.
  • Oft-injured second baseman Devon Travis will sit out at least the next few days because of left knee inflammation, Nicholson-Smith relays. Manager Charlie Montoyo isn’t exactly pushing the panic button over the issue, but it nonetheless continues a discouraging run of lower-body issues in recent years for Travis, who’s coming off a disastrous campaign in which he slashed .232/.275/.381 and recorded minus-0.5 fWAR in 378 plate appearances. Should Travis begin 2019 on the injured list, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would likely assume the reins at second, leaving a utility infield spot for Eric Sogard or Richard Urena, per Nicholson-Smith.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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The deadline for players and teams to exchange arbitration figures passed at 1pm ET yesterday, meaning over the next few hours, there will be a landslide of settlements on one-year deals to avoid an arbitration hearing. We’ll track today’s minor settlements from the American League in this post. Once all of the day’s settlements have filtered in, I’ll organize them by division to make them a bit easier to parse.

It’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of teams have adopted a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning that once arbitration figures are exchanged with a player, negotiations on a one-year deal will cease. The two parties may still discuss a multi-year deal after that point, but the majority of players who exchange figures with their team today will head to an arbitration hearing.

As always, all salary projections referenced within this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and we’ll also be updating our 2019 Arbitration Tracker throughout the day…

Today’s Updates

  • Yankees 1B Greg Bird will make $1.2 MM next season, per Bob Nightengale on Twitter.
  • The controversial Roberto Osuna will make $6.5MM next season, per Feinsand. Teammate Jake Marisnick, who again scuffled in ’18 after a promising 2017, will make $2.2125MM.
  • Per Mark Feinsand on Twitter, A’s lefty Sean Manaea $3.15MM in what’s sure to be an injury-marred 2019.
  • Hard-throwing reliever Mychal Givens will make $2.15MM, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter), with additional incentives for making the All-Star team or placing in the Top-3 for the Rivera/Hoffman Reliever of the Year Awards, added MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).
  • The Mariners agreed on a $1.95MM deal with outfielder Domingo Santana, per MLB.com’s Greg Johns (via Twitter). Santana is the second and last of the Mariners’ arbitration-eligible players.
  • The Angels agreed to contracts with a pair of players yesterday, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Reliever Hansel Robles signed for $1.4MM. Robles threw 36 1/3 innings of 2.97 ERA baseball after the Angels claimed him off waivers from the Mets in June. Luis Garcia, acquired via trade from the Phillies this winter, signed for $1.675MM.
  • The Tigers and reliever Shane Greene settled on $4MM, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (via Twitter).
  • The Yankees reached an agreement with Sonny Gray for $7.5MM, per Nightengale. Gray, of course, has been involved trade rumors most of the winter, but for the time being, he stands to play a role in the Yankee pen while providing insurance for the rotation.
  • Didi Gregorius has also come to an agreement with the Yankees on a one-year, $11.75MM deal in his final season before free agency, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links).
  • New Yankee James Paxton signed for $8.575, per Nightengale (via Twitter). Paxton is under contract for the 2020 season as well.
  • The Houston Astros came to an agreement with Collin McHugh for $5.8MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter). McHugh could be moving back into the rotation after a stellar season in the pen, either way this will be his final season of arb eligibility before hitting the open market.
  • Jonathan Villar comes away with $4.825MM for what will be his first full season in Baltimore, per Nightengale (via Twitter).

Earlier Updates

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Blue Jays Rumors: Tulo, Travis, Stroman, Sanchez

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Blue Jays general manager addressed the media last night in an appearance at the annual meeting of the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Toronto chapter, and, in the process, spoke about his team’s 2019 roster and what lies ahead in the 2018-19 offseason (links via Shi Davidi of Sportsnet and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com).

Atkins didn’t mince words when asked if shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who missed the entire 2018 season due to bone spurs in both feet, would be able to play regularly for the Jays in 2019.

“Candidly, and I think Troy would agree with me, that is not likely,” said the GM. “He will have to overachieve to play shortstop at an above-average level, with above-average offensive performance for 140 games.”

Whether Tulowitzki, 34, would actually agree with Atkins is up for debate; as Chisholm reminds in his column, it was just three months ago when Tulowitzki was asked about moving off the shortstop position and told reporters: “I’m a shortstop. … If someone’s better than me, I’ll pack my bags and go home.”

Certainly, no one should expect that Tulo would actually walk away from the final $38MM on his contract, but the disconnect between the two sets of comments is nonetheless of some note. Davidi adds that Atkins wouldn’t commit to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. as the primary shortstop but acknowledged that “if we were playing tomorrow,” Gurriel would likely get the nod.

The other middle-infield spot doesn’t appear to come with much more certainty. Devon Travis was tendered a contract despite ongoing health issues and an awful season at the plate in 2018 (.232/.275/.381), but Atkins wouldn’t commit to him as the everyday second baseman. Rather, Atkins emphasized that Travis needs to coming into Spring Training and prove that he can “be the best guy for second base for us” in 2019.

Perhaps most notable for the league’s other 29 clubs, though, were Atkins’ comments on right-handers Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez. While nothing Atkins said should be read as an indication that Stroman or Sanchez is being shopped, he stated that he can “absolutely” envision teams making strong enough offers to consider trading either pitcher.

Both Stroman and Sanchez looked to be among the league’s most promising young starters as recently as 2016 (Sanchez) and 2017 (Stroman), but both struggled through poor showings in 2018. Beyond that, both righties are just two years away from free agency, meaning they don’t align well with the Blue Jays’ realistic timeline for contending. That said, selling low on either would be a tough pill to swallow, and it’s arguably more prudent to give each a chance to rebuild some value early in the 2019 season.

Stroman pitched to a 5.54 ERA last season as his K/BB numbers went backward, and he also battled shoulder fatigue and blister issues. But, back in 2017, Stroman turned in a 3.09 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.94 HR/9 and a whopping 62.1 percent ground-ball rate in 201 innings — his second consecutive season of 200-plus frames. Though his 2018 results were ugly, it’s worth noting that he replicated that exact ground-ball rate this past season and actually allowed home runs at an even lower rate. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $7.2MM in arbitration this winter.

Sanchez, meanwhile, barely kept his ERA under 5.00 in 2018 and averaged five walks per nine innings pitched. It’s the second straight season that he’s posted that exact BB/9 mark and, more importantly, the second consecutive season in which he’s been beset by finger issues that have limited his availability and effectiveness. However, Sanchez posted a league-leading 3.00 ERA over the life of 192 innings back in 2016, making the AL All-Star team and finishing seventh in AL Cy Young voting. That season, he averaged 7.6 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9 and a 54.4 percent grounder rate. Unlike Stroman, he didn’t reach arbitration a year early as a Super Two player, so his $3.8MM arbitration projection is a bit more palatable.

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