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Quick Hits: Mets, deGrom, A. Jones, Marlins, Jays

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A few notes from around the game…

  • The Mets and right-hander Jacob deGrom began discussing a contract extension in December, but the two sides haven’t exchanged any offers yet, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. DeGrom, who’s controllable through 2020, is on track to enter camp on the $17MM salary he secured upon avoiding arbitration earlier this month. It stands to reason, however, that the team and player will engage in more substantive talks prior to the season. If serious negotiations take place, they’ll be particularly interesting to monitor given that deGrom’s previous agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, is now the Mets’ general manager. Van Wagenen challenged the Mets to either extend or consider trading deGrom last season, but the club’s previous front office didn’t bite in either case. The rookie GM will now have to help decide how much the team should pay his ex-client over the long haul.
  • Interest in free-agent outfielder Adam Jones has picked up, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe suggests. It’s unclear which teams are chasing Jones, but rumors centering on the longtime Baltimore center fielder have been scarce this winter. Although he’s a highly respected veteran, the 33-year-old Jones’ halcyon days appear long gone. Jones may no longer be a viable option in center, where he posted minus-18 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-10.5 Ultimate Zone Rating in 2018, and has only been a league-average offensive player in 1,920 plate appearances dating back to 2016.
  • Before he signed a minor league contract with the Marlins in November, Harold Ramirez received offers from 15 teams, the outfielder tells Walter Villa of Baseball America (subscription required). The Blue Jays, with whom Ramirez played at the Double-A level from 2016-18, offered the largest bonus ($32K), but he accepted the Marlins’ $25K proposal because he believes they present a more immediate path to the majors. In fact, the Marlins informed Ramirez that only one of their outfielders, Lewis Brinson, is a lock for a major league roster spot in 2019. Considering the dearth of established outfielders on hand, the 24-year-old Ramirez – formerly a well-regarded prospect – will have an opportunity to vie for a big league job with the Marlins.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/27/18

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We’ll track today’s minor moves from around the league here…

  • The Cardinals announced yesterday that right-hander Derian Gonzalez has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis. The 23-year-old pitched to a 3.51 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 4.1 BB.9 across three levels (Rookie, Double-A, Triple-A) in 33 1/3 innings during an injury-shortened 2018 season. That marked the first action in either Double-A or Triple-A for Gonzalez.
  • Left-hander Hoby Milner cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A by the Rays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’ll head to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee in hopes of once again cracking the roster. The 27-year-old Milner (28 in January) owns a 3.03 ERA in 38 2/3 big league innings, but there’s a fair bit of smoke and mirrors at play in that regard. Milner has just 7.0 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in the Majors and has stranded an unsustainable 86.2 percent of the runners he’s put on base. Fielding-independent metrics cast a much less favorable picture than his ERA (5.30 FIP, 5.65 xFIP, 5.07 SIERA). To his credit, Milner has held lefties to a laughable .177/.292/.277 slash through 98 plate appearances.
  • The Marlins announced that right-hander Ben Meyer and outfielder Braxton Lee have both cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A New Orleans and Double-A Jacksonville, repsectively. The 25-year-old Meyer made his MLB debut in 2018 but was hammered for 22 runs in 19 innings. The 2017 season was much better for the righty, as he worked to a 2.02 ERA with 10.8 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 111 1/3 innings — albeit against much younger competition between Class-A and Class-A Advanced. Lee, meanwhile won a Double-A batting title in 2017 but hit just .233/.316/.294 across three minor league levels in 2018 in addition to a weak showing in a brief MLB debut of his own (18 plate appearances). Lee received plus grades for his speed and above-average marks for his outfield defense in the past but has never shown any power.
  • The Marlins have signed outfielder Harold Ramirez to a minor league contract, per John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (Twitter link). The 24-year-old Ramirez spent a third consecutive season at the Double-A level in 2018 and put together a strong campaign, hitting .320/.365/.471 with 11 homers, 37 doubles and 16 steals in 505 trips to the plate. Ramirez was once considered to be on the fringes of the game’s top 100 prospects, but his stock has dipped in recent seasons — particularly in 2017 (.678 OPS in his second full season of Double-A ball).
  • Australian righty Todd Van Steensel tweeted last night that he’s signed a minor league pact with the Padres. The 27-year-old has spent the past six seasons in the Twins organization, where he’s topped out at the Double-A level. Van Steensel has a career 2.11 ERA with 9.4 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9 in 110 2/3 innings at that level, with all but two of his 66 Double-A appearances coming out of the bullpen.

Blue Jays Outright Harold Ramirez, Chris Rowley

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The Blue Jays announced that minor league outfielder Harold Ramirez and right-hander Chris Rowley have been outrighted off the 40-man roster after clearing waivers. The pair of moves creates some additional room on the 40-man in advance of tonight’s 8pm ET deadline to protect players from next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Ramirez, 23, came to the Blue Jays alongside Reese McGuire and Francisco Liriano in a trade that sent Drew Hutchison to the Pirates in 2016. The Bucs were widely panned for parting with a pair of intriguing prospects in a trade that looked largely fueled by a desire to shed Liriano’s contract, but Ramirez flopped in his first full season in the Toronto organization. Once considered to be among the game’s top 100 prospects, the 23-year-old hit just .260/.320/.358 in 489 plate appearances at the Double-A level this past season.

The 27-year-old Rowley made his big league debut this season after working to a combined 2.24 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9 in 116 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A (albeit against younger competition). Rowley tallied 18 2/3 frames for the Jays but was tagged for 14 runs on 24 hits (four homers) and 10 walks with 11 strikeouts in that time.

Blue Jays Acquire Francisco Liriano, Two Prospects For Drew Hutchison

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The Pirates have announced that they’ve received righty Drew Hutchison from the Blue Jays in exchange for lefty Francisco Liriano, outfielder Harold Ramirez and catcher Reese McGuire. The deal comes as a shock, as the Bucs gave up two legitimate prospects in exchange for a marginal rotation option and relief from the approximately $18MM remaining on Liriano’s contract.

[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays Depth Charts]

Liriano was a top performer in the Pirates’ rotation in 2013 through 2015, but he has struggled badly in 2016, with a 5.46 ERA and a league-leading 69 walks. The Bucs, much-praised for their reputations for fixing struggling pitchers, evidently felt they wouldn’t be able to fix Liriano, who is making $13MM both this year and next.

Hutchison, formerly a regular in the back end of the Jays’ rotation, has spent most of the 2016 season with Triple-A Buffalo, where he’s posted a 3.26 ERA, 9.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9. He’s had considerably less success in his four-year big-league career, with a 4.92 ERA, although with a reasonable 8.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. He’s making $2.2MM this season. He’s eligible for arbitration for two more years after this one, should the Pirates choose to keep him.

The 21-year-old Ramirez was batting .306/.354/.401 for Double-A Altoona. He has a stocky build and hasn’t yet developed much home-run power, but is relatively close to the Majors at a young age and has always hit well for average. MLB.com ranks him the Pirates’ ninth-best prospect.

Ramirez’s inclusion in the deal was surprising enough, but the inclusion of McGuire is downright strange — McGuire’s bat hasn’t developed, but he’s a very highly regarded defensive catcher who rated as the Pirates’ No. 8 prospect. MLB.com notes that his plus defense makes him a likely future regular, with potential to be more than just a defensive-minded player depending on how his bat develops. The 21-year-old has batted .259/.337/.346 for Altoona this season.

Overall, the deal is reminiscent of the Diamondbacks’ 2015 trade of Bronson Arroyo and top prospect Touki Toussaint to the Braves for Phil Gosselin and relief from Arroyo’s salary. The Diamondbacks’ end of that trade was harshly criticized by most analysts, and the Pirates’ end of this deal seems likely to suffer a similar fate.

Robert Murray of Fan Rag was first to tweet that a deal had been struck.  Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweeted that the Jays would receive two prospects. Gideon Turk of BP Toronto tweeted that Hutchison was involved, with Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noting Ramirez’s involvement.

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