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AL Central Notes: Haley, Twins, Rondon, Infante, Tigers, Chisenhall

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Here’s the latest on some final roster decisions being made in the AL Central:

  • Rule 5 righty Justin Haley will crack the Twins’ Opening Day roster, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reported on Twitter and skipper Paul Molitor later confirmed. He and Michael Tonkin will round out the Minnesota pen to start the season. Though Haley allowed nine earned runs on 19 hits in his 16 1/3 frames this spring, he carried a 13:4 K/BB ratio and evidently showed enough to warrant a shot at holding a MLB roster spot for the full season.
  • The Twins will likely place infielder Ehire Adrianza on the DL to open the season, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press tweets. He is dealing with an oblique issue. That injury may help the club resolve some of its final roster decisions; both Adrianza and fellow utility candidate Eduardo Escobar are out of options. Minnesota is expected to announce its remaining roster calls tomorrow.
  • Though he’s still going to be on the Opening Day roster, righty Bruce Rondon has shown diminished velocity this spring. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he has some concerns about the once-hyped reliever, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports on Twitter. Rondon has issued six walks and allowed six earned runs over his 6 1/3 spring innings. Meanwhile, as MLB.com’s Jason Beck tweets, Ausmus confirmed that Matt Boyd will join the rotation to open the year, with Anibal Sanchez very likely heading to the pen, as was reported yesterday (though as noted below, there’s still some uncertainty in the staff).
  • Veteran infielder Omar Infante was among the Tigers’ camp cuts today, possibly setting him up to opt out from his deal next week, as Beck notes on Twitter. Infante showed well in camp, slashing .351/.368/.486, and Beck suggests it’s unlikely he’ll pass on an opportunity to test the open market if Detroit doesn’t change its mind about his roster placement. Ausmus did say, though, that he believes Infante would be willing to take a Triple-A assignment if he can’t find a major league job elsewhere, Evan Woodberry of MLive.com tweets.
  • The Tigers also sent out 31-year-old outfielder Alex Presley, despite the fact that he put up a ridiculous .452/.528/.839 batting line in camp. Ausmus says he told Presley to be prepared for a call-up at any time, though, as Woodberry tweets. Otherwise, Ausmus played things close to the vest, Woodberry writes, as the skipper declined to give clarity to the team’s intentions in the outfield. With Presley out of the picture, it seems that Tyler Collins and JaCoby Jones could share time in center while Mikie Mahtook and Steven Moya do the same to cover for the injured J.D. Martinez in right. But Ausmus seemingly hinted there could be some moves in the works that would change the complexion of the roster, so there’s still plenty of uncertainty.
  • The Indians will place Lonnie Chisenhall on the 10-day DL to open the year, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. But the shoulder injury he suffered in a recent collision with the outfield wall doesn’t seem likely to keep him out for much more than the minimum. For the time being, at least, Abraham Almonte will take a spot on the active roster.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Friday

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With the non-tender deadline set for tonight at 8pm ET, expect to see quite a few players avoid arbitration today — specifically those who stood out as possible non-tender candidates. You can check out the full list of projected arbitration salaries from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz here, and we’ll run down the list of players to duck arbitration in this post…

  • Infielder Ehire Adrianza gets $600K in the majors and $300K in the minors with the Giants, per another Heyman tweet. He had projected for only the league minimum after receiving action in just forty major league contests.
  • Lefty Paco Rodriguez avoided arbitration with the Braves for $637,500, Heyman tweets. It seems likely he’d have been non-tendered had he not taken that contract, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter), which helps explain why he took less than his projected $900K.
  • The Brewers have agreed to a contract with second baseman Scooter Gennett for 2017, per Heyman (via Twitter). He receives $2.525MM, a fair sight shy of his projection of $3.0MM. Given his limited ability to face left-handed pitching, Gennett may not have fared better on the open market.
  • Righty Cory Gearrin will be paid $1.05MM by the Giants, Heyman tweets. That’s right in line with his $1.1MM projected arb value.
  • Infielder Brett Lawrie will earn $3.5MM next year for the White Sox, per Heyman (on Twitter). That’s well shy of MLBTR’s $5.1MM projection — which was predicated upon Lawrie’s $4.125MM salary from a season ago. It’s highly unusual for players to receive pay cuts in arbitration, least of all when they are coming off of seasons in which they play a reasonable amount (384 plate appearances, in his case) and put up non-trivial numbers at the plate (a roughly league-average .248/.310/.413 batting line with a dozen home runs). But in some cases, players feel they’re better off taking the money on the table, and the opportunity at hand, rather than testing the market. It’s certainly possible that was the case here.
  • The Twins have agreed to a $2.6MM price tag with infielder Eduardo Escobar, according to Heyman (via Twitter). He had projected at $2.9MM in his second season of eligibility. The 27-year-old had posted two consecutive seasons of above-average production, but limped to a .236/.280/.338 slash over 377 plate appearances last year.
  • Lefty Jake McGee picks up a $5.9MM salary from the Rockies, also via Heyman (on Twitter). That’s just shy of his $6.1MM projection. Though the high price tag (driven by prior years’ save tallies) had made McGee at least a hypothetical non-tender candidate, it’s not surprising to see him return. Colorado will hope that he can restore some velocity and improve upon the 4.73 ERA and 7.5 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 that he posted in his first year with the Rox.
  • The Braves agreed to a $800K figure with catcher Anthony Recker, Heyman tweets. The veteran receiver had projected at $1MM, but will settle for less to take his place in a still-uncertain catching mix. Atlanta also recently acquired and tendered Tuffy Gosewisch, and also has Tyler Flowers under contract. Recker hit a surprising .278/.394/.433 last year, albeit over just 112 plate appearances. While he lands a bit shy of his projected number, Recker won’t have to settle for a split arrangement; instead, he’ll receive a full big league deal.
  • White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia received a $3MM deal from the club, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). A Super Two player last winter, Garcia turned in another subpar year at the plate and in the field, but managed to hold onto his roster spot in Chicago. The 25-year-old was projected at $3.4MM.
  • The Athletics have avoided arbitration with first baseman Yonder Alonso by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $4MM, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). Alonso looked like a non-tender candidate after an underwhelming season at the plate that saw him bat .253/.316/.367 with seven homers and 34 doubles across 532 plate appearances. Once one of the game’s top all-around prospects, Alonso has never materialized into the offensive force he was supposed to become and is a lifetime .269/.334/.387 hitter.

Earlier Updates

  • Lefty Wade LeBlanc and the Pirates have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $800K, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Leblanc will make $750K in 2017, and his contract contains an option for the 2018 season that is valued at $1.25MM and comes with a $50K buyout. The veteran southpaw logged a 4.50 ERA in 50 innings for the Mariners last year before being traded to the Buccos, where he allowed one run in 12 innings of work with a 10-to-2 K/BB ratio. The 62 innings Leblanc logged last year were the most he’s pitched in a big league season since 2012. He’s controllable through the 2019 season and would be arbitration-eligible once more if the Pirates exercise their 2018 option on him.
  • The Mets and catcher Rene Rivera agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.75MM, Heyman tweets. The 33-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Mets last summer and eventually found his way onto the big league roster due to a combination of injuries and struggles from backstops Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki. While Rivera didn’t hit much — .222/.291/.341 in 207 plate appearances — he’s a strong defensive backstop and gives the Mets a glove-first option to back up either d’Arnaud or Plawecki (presumably the former, who has been the team’s starter when healthy in recent years).
  • Outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis and the Brewers settled on a split contract that pays the veteran $900K in the Majors and $257K in the minors (Heyman again, on Twitter). The 29-year-old picked up 392 plate appearances in 125 games with Milwaukee, batting just .209 but logging a .324 OBP and slugging .385. The 13 homers Nieuwenhuis hit were far and away a career-best — he entered the year with just 17 home runs in 693 PAs — and he contributed solid defense across all three outfield spots.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Friday

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The deadline for teams to exchange arbitration figures with eligible players is 1pm ET today. Dozens of arb agreements figure to flow in over the next few hours, and we’ll keep track of the smaller arb agreements in this post. All projections referenced are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz and can be viewed on the full list of 156 players that filed for arbitration this year. Remember also that you can keep track of everyone that has avoided arbitration by checking out MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.

Onto the agreements…

  • Shortstop Zack Cozart is in agreement with the Reds for an undisclosed sum, per a team announcement. He projected at $2.9MM in his second year of eligibility after a promising start to the 2015 season was cut short by a serious knee injury.
  • The Diamondbacks announced that they have avoided arbitration with righty Rubby De La Rosa for an undisclosed sum. He was projected at $3.2MM but, per Jack Magruder of Fanragsports.com (on Twitter), will earn only $2.35MM.
  • Reliever Fernando Rodriguez settled with the Athletics for $1.05MM — beneath his projected $1.3MM — per the Associated Press.
  • Dodgers infielder Justin Turner will earn $5.1MM next season, Jon Heyman reports on Twitter. That’s just a shade under his $5.3MM projection.
  • The Braves settled with reliever Arodys Vizcaino for $897,500, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets. He had a $1.1MM projection entering the fall.
  • Both Zach Putnam will earn a $975K salary next year after agreeing with the White Sox, per a club announcement. That’s $175K over the projected arb value of the Super Two.
  • The Cardinals settled with first baseman Matt Adams for $1.65MM, Heyman tweets. That’s a small bump over his $1.5MM projections. The team is also in agreement with right-hander Seth Maness, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Super Two reliever projected at $1.2MM but will receive $1.4MM, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter).
  • Righty Tom Koehler receives a $3.5MM payday from the Marlins, per Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The team gets a break on the $3.9MM that had been projected. The team also has an agreement with righties David Phelps and Carter Capps, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. Heyman adds (via Twitter) that Phelps will earn exactly his projected amount of $2.5MM. Capps was predicted to earn $800K, but his salary is yet to be reported.
  • The Diamondbacks agreed to a $4.35MM rate with first-year-eligible starter Shelby Miller, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter. He had projected at $4.9MM. Notably, Miller comes in just ahead of fellow 3+ service-class pitcher Harvey (who is covered below). Fellow Arizona hurler Patrick Corbin will earn $2.525MM next year, Passan also tweets.
  • The Nationals have agreed with infielder Danny Espinosa for $2.875MM, Jon Heyman tweets. He gets a slight bump over his $2.7MM projection in his second season of arb eligibility.
  • Nolan Arenado will receive a $5MM salary from the Rockies in his first season of eligibility, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. That’s exactly what fellow star young third baseman Manny Machado settled for as well, though Arenado was a Super Two. As Swartz explained recently, those two players’ cases may well have been tied together despite some important distinctions. He also explained why Arenado might not reach his sky-high $6.6MM projection in actuality.
  • The Orioles have agreed with starter Miguel Gonzalez for $5.1MM, Eduardo Rodriguez of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. Gonzalez projected for $4.9MM.
  • Outfielder Chris Coghlan agreed at $4.8MM with the Cubs, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat tweets. That’s quite a nice increase over his projected $3.9MM. Also agreeing with Chicago was reliever Pedro Strop, who gets $4.4MM, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). He had been projected at $4.7MM.
  • Both righty Michael Pineda (for $4.3MM) and infielder/outfielder Dustin Ackley ($3.2MM), according to Passan (via Twitter) and Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Those numbers largely track the projected amounts of $4.6MM and $3.1MM, respectively.
  • Danny Duffy will play at $4.225MM next year after reaching terms with the Royals, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports (Twitter links). Catcher Drew Butera, meanwhile, will get $1,162,500 from Kansas City. Both represented small bumps over their projected values of $4MM and $1.1MM.
  • Marlins closer A.J. Ramos will get $3.4MM in 2016, Heyman reports (Twitter links). Teammate Adeiny Hechavarria, meanwhile, will take down $2.625MM. Both first-year-eligible players went over their projections ($2.8MM and $2.3MM, respectively).
  • The Mets will pay $4.325MM to Matt Harvey and $3MM to shortstop Ruben Tejada for 2016, ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports (Twitter links). Harvey approaches, but doesn’t quite reach, his $4.7MM projection. Though he’s still recovering from an unfortunate leg injury suffered during the post-season, Tejada will take home a cool half-million more than had been projected.
  • Righty Joe Kelly has agreed with the Red Sox at $2.6MM, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. He falls a fair sight shy of the $3.2MM that MLBTR projected. Though he reached ten wins on the year, Kelly scuffled to a 4.82 ERA over his 134 1/3 innings.
  • Righty Drew Hutchison agreed with the Blue Jays for $2.2MM, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter. He falls short of a $2.6MM projection after a tough 2015 campaign.
  • The Tigers have reached terms with shortstop Jose Iglesias for $2.1MM, per another Heyman tweet. The deal also includes some incentives, per the report. That’s a healthy jump up over the $1.5MM projection for the slick-fielding infielder, who did have a strong 2015 season.
  • The Mariners announced that they reached agreement with lefty Charlie Furbush and righty Evan Scribner. Furbush will receive $1.7MM, while Scribner will get $807.5K, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports.
  • Both shortstop Jean Segura and righty Wily Peralta are under contract with the Brewers, per a team announcement. Segura gets $2.6MM after being projected at $3.2MM, per Heyman (Twitter link). Matt Swartz’s system pegged Peralta at $2.8MM, and that’s exactly what he’ll earn, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter).

There are plenty more after the jump:

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Minor Moves: Parker, Cabrera, Walters, Hernandez, Stock

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Some minor transactions from around the league and the independent circuit…

  • The Cubs have released right-hander Blake Parker, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Parker, designated for assignment yesterday, had not appeared in the big leagues this year. In his 3 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level, Parker permitted one earned run to score while striking out one and walking three batters. He does own a 3.68 career ERA in the majors, with a healthy 10.4 K/9 against just 2.9 BB/9.
  • Righty Daniel Cabrera has been released by the Reds, the club’s Triple-A affiliate tweets. The 33-year-old has not appeared in the big leagues since 2009, and spent each of the last two seasons playing in Japan. He made just one appearance at Louisville this season, going three innings and allowing one earned run but issuing four free passes and striking out only one opposing batter.
  • The Dodgers have signed right-hander P.J. Walters, who had been pitching with the independent Atlantic League’s Lancaster Barnstormers, reports Mike Ashmore of the Trentonian (Twitter link). The 30-year-old Walters should join L.A.’s Minor League ranks following the move. Though Walters has posted just a 6.28 ERA in parts of five Major League seasons with the Cardinals, Twins and Blue Jays, he does have a lifetime 4.70 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in Triple-A.
  • Former Twins left-hander Pedro Hernandez has signed a contract with the independent St. Paul Saints, the team announced. Hernandez was acquired along with Eduardo Escobar in the 2012 trade that sent Francisco Liriano to the White Sox. The now-26-year-old Hernandez struggled to a 7.33 ERA with 33 strikeouts against 26 walks in 66 1/3 Major League innings with the Sox, Twins and Rockies from 2012-14. He posted solid, if unspectacular numbers throughout much of his Minor League career until reaching the Triple-A level.
  • Right-hander Robert Stock’s contract has been purchased by the Pirates, according to a tweet from the Normal CornBelters of the independent Frontier League. The 25-year-old hit the indy circuit after posting a 4.12 ERA with 43 strikeouts against 46 walks in 63 1/3 innings between the Cardinals’ Class-A and Class-A Advanced affiliates in 2014.

Terry Ryan On Phil Hughes, Eduardo Escobar

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Phil Hughes was two years away from free agency but both he and the Twins realized that they wanted to hammer out something for the long term.  In December, Hughes agreed to a three-year extension that will pay him $42MM but also allow him to cash in again at the age of 32.

For both sides, the deal appeared to be a win-win.  The Twins locked up Hughes following his best season to date and Hughes will get to hit the open market roughly at the same age as James Shields when he inked a four-year, $75MM deal with the Padres in February.  In a pre-game scrum with the Twins’ beat writers on Monday, I asked GM Terry Ryan if the club ever pushed for a longer deal with the right-hander.

“I think that’s kind of where our comfort level was, he was signed for two and we tacked on more…In essence, I think that’s where we felt pretty comfortable in terms of his age and what he accomplished in his life and all that stuff,” Ryan said.  “We were comfortable with it and so was he.  At the end of the deal he’ll be [32] and that’s getting to an age when you start to have a bit of…concern at that point but then again, that’s how old Ervin Santana is and we signed him to a four-year deal.  He’s a young guy, he’s been around for a long time.  That’s what happens when you sign out of high school and move into the majors quickly.”

Meanwhile, this spring, Eduardo Escobar has presented the Twins with one of those good problems to have.  Escobar’s production at the plate has made some wonder if he could force shortstop Danny Santana back to the outfield, unseating Aaron Hicks.  I asked Ryan about that possibility and he seemed to downplay the chances of that happening.

“No, we’re still going with that path, there’s still competition but Santana is certainly playing well at short.  Paul [Molitor] said he’d like him to be there if he plays well and to this point he has.  Escobar has had a fine spring and I’ve stated this many times.  It’s going to be tough to get him out of that position because he played well last year and he played well this spring,” Ryan said.  “I don’t think I’m prepared right now to tell you who is going to play center and I’m not prepared to tell you who is going to play short, but Hicks is certainly in the mix and Santana is in the mix.”

Later, Escobar saw some time in the outfield in an effort to get him comfortable with playing multiple positions off the bench, as Ryan explained to MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger and other reporters after the game.

Eduardo Escobar Changes Agents

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Twins infielder Eduardo Escobar is now represented by Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press writes. Escobar had previously been represented by MDR Sports Management, according to MLBTR’s Agency Database. As Berardino notes, Praver and Shapiro also represent Escobar’s Twins teammates Oswaldo Arcia and Tommy Milone.

Escobar, 26, hit .275/.315/.406 in a breakout season in 2014, playing mostly shortstop but also logging significant time at second and third. He’s on track to become eligible for arbitration for the first time following the 2015 season.

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