The Royals have avoided arbitration with first baseman Eric Hosmer by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $12.25MM, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (on Twitter). The Scott Boras client is entering his final season of team control and will be a free agent following the 2017 campaign. He’d been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $13.3MM in 2017.
Royals Rumors
Greg Holland Seeks Two-Year Deal With Opt-Out
Free-agent righty Greg Holland is arguably the highest-upside reliever left on the open market, and Jon Heyman of Fan Rag provides some notable updates on his situation. The 31-year-old is in a somewhat unusual spot as a free agent, in that he brings a sparkling track record but is also seeking to return from a long layoff due to Tommy John surgery.
Given his health situation and also the evident interest around the league, Holland seeks a two-year deal that would allow him to opt out after the first season, according to Heyman. That’s the same structure that Brian Wilson landed with the Dodgers before the 2014 season, though he had made it back to the hill late in the prior campaign.
In Holland’s case, there’s perhaps greater uncertainty, but also greater upside. He took a step back in his most recent action, in 2015, but that may well have been due to the elbow issues that led to his surgery. Over the prior four campaigns, Holland was one of the game’s very best relievers, as he compiled 256 1/3 innings of 1.86 ERA pitching with 12.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.
There’s interest in Holland’s proposed two-year arrangement, per the report. Among the teams still pursuing him are the Dodgers, Nationals, Rockies, Brewers, Reds, and Rays. While the Cubs showed prior interest, it’s not clear whether they are still in. And the Royals have also indicated a desire to bring back their former closer, though it seems that the team’s payroll situation may not allow for a competitive bid.
That group of organizations would presumably offer Holland a variety of possible roles. The Nationals, Rockies, Brewers, Reds, and Royals (if they’re involved) could all promise him first dibs on closing roles, while the Dodgers and perhaps the Cubs are more likely to view the veteran as a setup man. Tampa Bay, perhaps, might be most interested in the event that it strikes a deal for incumbent closer Alex Colome. Whether and to what extent the chance to take hold of the ninth is an important factor in Holland’s decisionmaking is not immediately clear.
Free Agency Notes: Moss, Orioles, Gee, Royals
Free agent slugger Brandon Moss “has been linked to the Orioles,” writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The 33-year-old possesses plenty of experience in the corner outfield – where general manager Dan Duquette is still looking for help even after acquiring Seth Smith on Friday – and could fit as a designated hitter in Baltimore. While re-signing Mark Trumbo would help fill those vacancies, Duquette didn’t sound optimistic about that Sunday. Moss should cost far less than Trumbo, largely because the former is coming off back-to-back mediocre seasons. As a member of the Cardinals last year, Moss swatted an impressive 28 home runs, but he nevertheless posted an unspectacular .225/.300/.484 line in 464 plate appearances. The lefty-swinger would at least add more power and variety to a mostly right-handed lineup, however.
More notes on the free agent market:
- Right-hander Dillon Gee received medical clearance Thursday after undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in October, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (Twitter links). Gee, who should be ready for spring training, has garnered interest from multiple teams, per Cotillo (the Marlins contacted him earlier this offseason). The 30-year-old has been on the open market since November, when he cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Gee spent 2016 in Kansas City, where he recorded a 4.68 ERA, 6.41 K/9 and 2.66 BB/9 in 125 innings and 33 appearances (14 starts).
- Speaking of the Royals, the budget-conscious club will continue to monitor the market for potential bargains as the spring approaches, GM Dayton Moore told Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. “When the music stops, there’s always going to be a few guys without chairs,” Moore said. “And unfortunately, for those players, the options dwindle. For the clubs that stay aggressive and keep their pulse on everything, you can get some potential deals.” The Royals spent on several free agents – including Edinson Volquez, Kendrys Morales, Alex Gordon, Ian Kennedy and Joakim Soria – over the previous couple winters, but they’ve taken a much less aggressive approach this offseason. So far, backup catcher Drew Butera is the only free agent Kansas City has given a major league deal.
Cafardo’s Latest: Cutch, Pirates, Royals, Braves
The Pirates are reportedly unlikely to trade center fielder Andrew McCutchen, whom they heavily shopped at last month’s Winter Meetings, but teams are still trying to acquire him, a major league source told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Toronto is the latest reported team to show interest in McCutchen, whom the Bucs are only willing to deal if they receive major league-ready talent in return. The 30-year-old is coming off the worst season of his career, having gone backward at the plate, in the field and on the base paths, but he still carries a resoundingly successful track record and an affordable contract (two years, $28.5MM, including a $14.5MM club option for 2018). Considering those factors, it’s not surprising that teams continue to pursue the longtime face of the Pittsburgh franchise.
More inside info from Cafardo:
- Free agent second baseman/third baseman Aaron Hill is on the radar of a few teams, and Atlanta and Kansas City could be among them, per Cafardo. Hill, 34, spent last season between Milwaukee and Boston, with which he combined to hit .262/.336/.378 with 10 home runs in 429 plate appearances. It’s debatable whether Hill would fit in Atlanta, which already seems to have a capable second base platoon on hand with Jace Peterson and Sean Rodriguez, not to mention a third baseman with a similar offensive profile to Hill in Adonis Garcia. Both Hill and Garcia have hit southpaw pitchers better than right-handers in their careers, so it might behoove Atlanta to instead find a lefty-swinging complement to Garcia. KC, meanwhile, already has multiple third base options – Mike Moustakas and Cheslor Cuthbert – and a few second base candidates in Whit Merrifield, Raul Mondesi, Christian Colon and Cuthbert.
- Speaking of the Braves and Royals, they are interested in free agent third baseman/first baseman Trevor Plouffe, who has been available since the Twins outrighted him in November. Boston and Oakland are also in on the 30-year-old Plouffe, a steady contributor from 2014-15 who batted an underwhelming .260/.303/.420 with 12 homers in 344 PAs last season. Like Hill, Plouffe has had more success versus lefties (.268/.344/.465) than righties (.239/.294/.403) during his career.
- To finish off a Royals-heavy set of notes, it’s still possible they’ll trade one of Moustakas, first baseman Eric Hosmer or outfielder Lorenzo Cain – all contract-year players – before the season, per Cafardo. A willingness to deal Moustakas or Hosmer, particularly the former, would somewhat explain Kansas City’s interest in Hill and Plouffe. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal previouly reported that Hosmer is unlikely to go anywhere prior to the season, though, and KC already subtracted a key outfielder Friday when it shipped Jarrod Dyson to Seattle. Speculatively, that could impact whether the Royals would also part with Cain, who’s due $11MM next season.
Arbitration Breakdown: Todd Frazier & Eric Hosmer
Over the next few days, I will be discussing some of the higher-profile upcoming arbitration cases. I will rely partly on my arbitration model developed exclusively for MLB Trade Rumors, but will also break out some interesting comparables and determine where the model might be wrong.
Two corner infielders, Todd Frazier and Eric Hosmer, enter arbitration this offseason after completing two-year deals that paid them each $8.25MM in the latter year (including a prorated portion of Frazier’s signing bonus). Both had solid years as power hitters, and my model projects each to receive a raise of $5.25MM for Frazier and $5.05MM for Hosmer, to $13.5MM and $13.3MM, respectively).
Only ten position players in the past decade have received additional single-year salaries through arbitration after receiving multi-year deals earlier in their eligibility. Most of these players had poor seasons, and only five of these ten have met these criteria since 2009.
As a result, it’s difficult to find good comparables for the situations in which Frazier and Hosmer find themselves. Perhaps the best match would be Prince Fielder, who received a $4MM raise in 2011 after a solid season in which he batted .261 with 32 homers and 83 RBIs. Frazier actually had more home runs last season but a worse average, posting a .225/40/98 line with 15 steals, while Hosmer was very similar at .266/25/104.
It’s rare for six-year old cases to be used in arbitration hearings, so Fielder is probably not a great match. However, applying some salary inflation to his $4MM raise suggests the model’s projections for Frazier and Hosmer are probably somewhat reasonable.
We can also check if players going to arbitration following multi-year deals fare better or worse than players who have been going year to year, and the evidence here suggests looking for regular comparables among the year-to-year group is reasonable. The average raise for the ten players coming off multi-year deals was $1.6MM, compared to projected earnings of $1.5MM. This difference is not significant enough to worry about a systematic bias. Therefore, looking for comparables in the year-to-year group makes sense to pin things down more precisely.
Of course, it is rare for power hitters to go year to year at all, so few players emerge as possibilities. No one in the last three years has entered their third or fourth year of arbitration eligibility coming off a platform year with 20 home runs and 90 runs batted in. A couple players did so in 2013, including Chase Headley, who received a $5.1MM raise after a .286/31/115 campaign with 17 steals. Hunter Pence only got a $3.4MM raise after his .253/24/104 campaign the year prior. Pence could prove a reasonable comparable for Hosmer’s .266/25/104, which suggests Hosmer’s $5.05MM projected raise is probably high. However, Headley clearly did not do all that much better than Hosmer in his platform year, and both cases are old, so it remains possible that Headley is the better comparable and a $5MM raise is reasonable.
Frazier’s case is tricky in that no one in the last decade has entered their third or fourth year of arbitration eligibility with a batting average below .260 and at least 30 home runs. Although Frazier’s batting average was much poorer, I have found that batting average is a somewhat less important criteria than ran home run totals in arbitration, so I believe Frazier’s case is strong. I think Headley’s 60 points of batting average probably roughly offset the nine fewer home runs, and a $5MM raise or slightly higher does seem more believable for Frazier.
Three players in the last decade have gotten $5MM raises as part of multi-year deals—Jose Bautista, Carlos Pena, and Matt Kemp. However, none of them are great comparables, since they all had much better numbers than either Frazier and Hosmer. Additionally, multi-year deals are generally not used in arbitration hearings, although they may be in these instances where comparables are tough to find.
Ultimately, I think both Frazier and Hosmer have good cases to top Fielder’s $4MM raise and either could make a case for being near Headley’s $5.1MM raise. I suspect Hosmer may fall short of his projected $5.05MM raise, and get somewhere closer to $4.5MM—which would put him around $12.75MM. Frazier’s 40 home runs allow for more upside, and his $5.25MM projected raise to $13.5MM seems like a reasonable estimate.
Royals Sign Chris Withrow, Al Alburquerque, Brandon League To Minor League Deals
The Royals have signed veteran righties Chris Withrow, Al Alburquerque and Brandon League to minor league deals with Spring Training invites, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com writes (Twitter links). Flanagan also notes the minor league signings of pitchers Bobby Parnell and Jonathan Sanchez, which had been previously reported; those two will combine with Withrow, Albuquerque and League to form a long list of formerly effective veterans who could compete for spots on the Royals’ pitching staff.
The 27-year-old Withrow was formerly a first-round pick of the Dodgers. After heading to Atlanta in a six-player deal involving Juan Uribe and Alberto Callaspo, Withrow spent 2016 with the Braves, where he posted a 3.58 ERA and an average fastball velocity approaching the mid-90s, but with an underwhelming 6.7 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 37 2/3 innings. He ended last season with over three years of service time after spending 2015 on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the Braves non-tendered him last month.
Alburquerque spent the 2016 season in the Angels and Mariners organizations, appearing briefly in the big leagues with the Angels and posting a 3.74 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 33 2/3 innings in the minors. The formerly hard-throwing Tigers reliever has seen his velocity dip to the low 90s in recent seasons. It’s possible some of that velocity drop might have some connection to his contraction of the Chikungunya virus in 2015, however, and the 30-year-old has proven to be an effective, if control-challenged, big-league reliever in the past.
League has not pitched since 2015, or in the big leagues since 2014, after struggling with shoulder trouble. The 33-year-old formerly served as a closer for the Mariners and Dodgers, but the Dodgers released him before the expiration of his three-year, $22.5MM contract with them. He has a 3.65 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in parts of 11 seasons with the big leagues.
Mariners Acquire Jarrod Dyson From Royals For Nate Karns
The Mariners have moved swiftly on a second trade of the day, officially adding outfielder Jarrod Dyson from the Royals in exchange for righty Nate Karns, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune first reported (via Twitter). The speedy Dyson will take the place in the Seattle outfield just vacated by Seth Smith, while Karns will presumably enter the rotation mix for Kansas City.
For Seattle, this swap plainly functions in concert with the Smith deal, which brought in starter Yovani Gallardo. Evidently, the M’s prefer the combination of the veteran Gallardo and Dyson to the team’s preexisting assets. GM Jerry Dipoto cited Dyson’s “elite level defense and base running” as the motivating factors for his addition (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, on Twitter).
While the earlier swap involved a pair of short-term veterans (though Gallardo does come with an option), the Mariners sacrificed some control with this move. Dyson, 32, is entering his final year of team control, though he’s still plenty affordable with a projected $2.5MM arbitration salary. The 29-year-old Karns, meanwhile, is still controllable through 2020 as a 2+ service-class player.
[RELATED: Updated Mariners & Royals Depth Charts]
Though Dyson, like Smith, hits from the left side, they are otherwise quite different players. Dyson isn’t quite as adept with the bat in hand as is Smith. He has never finished a year with even an average batting line. Last year, though, was his best yet in the majors, as he hit .278/.340/.388 over 337 plate appearances. Though he hit well in very limited duty against southpaws last year, Dyson has generally struggled without the platoon advantage, limiting his ability to play as a regular.
Unlike the lumbering Smith, Dyson earns his keep on the basepaths and in the field. On a rate basis, Dyson is perhaps the game’s most valuable overall baserunner. Despite just 1,091 plate appearances over the past four years, he has accumulated the sixth-highest total BsR score from Fangraphs (23.2); for reference, Billy Hamilton comfortably paces the league with 36.6 BsR, though he has taken nearly 50% more trips to the plate. Dyson is also a consistent threat to run, having tallied 176 total steals in his seven full or partial major-league seasons.
Dyson is equally impressive with the glove. In that same four-year span, he’s 13th in the game in total defensive value (by Fangraphs’ UZR-based measure). Again, that compares favorably to the game’s very best fielder, Andrelton Simmons, who has nearly hit the century mark in defensive runs since 2013 but has over twice Dyson’s trips to the plate. Though Leonys Martin, another left-handed hitter, could conceivably hold onto his job as the regular in center, Dyson is obviously capable of playing there as well. That’s not to say that Dyson can’t impact the game from a corner spot, if that’s where he ends up; Seattle certainly now has plenty of options with a defensive unit laden with quality fielders.
Still, it could end up being a hefty price to pay if Karns can harness his evident talent. Last year, he compiled only a 5.15 ERA over 94 1/3 innings, which he compiled over 15 starts and seven relief appearances. But even as he struggled with his command (4.3 BB/9) Karns managed to strike out more than a hitter per inning. And he was a highly productive, MLB starter as recently as 2015, when he gave the Rays 147 frames of 3.67 ERA ball with 8.9 K/9 against a more palatable 3.4 BB/9.
Karns’s struggles in 2016 may be attributed at least in part to some misfortune, as he allowed a slightly elevated .327 BABIP and ended up with a rather low 69.0% strand rate. He also managed to show a return to the 93 mph average range with his fastball after dropping a bit in the prior year. And despite the increased walks, Karns actually worked in the zone more than ever before (48.8%) while increasing his swinging-strike rate to a personal-best 10.9%.
There are some areas of concern, though. Karns spent a lengthy stretch on the DL with a back strain, though he did nearly return to action late in the season. And he had shoulder surgery earlier in his career, which delayed his advancement to the majors. For what it’s worth, this is also the third time he has been traded since 2014. (He was originally shipped from the Nationals to the Rays that spring, in exchange for Jose Lobaton, Felipe Rivero, and Drew Vettleson, and later moved to the Mariners in the fall of 2015 in in a six-player swap.)
It’s not immediately clear what role Karns will play in Kansas City, but he ought to at least have a chance to compete for a starting job in camp. Other options for the back of the rotation include Jason Vargas, Chris Young, Matt Strahm, Mike Minor, and Alec Mills. If he isn’t immediately utilized as a starter, it’s possible that K.C. could look to find out whether Karns’s stuff might play up in a full-time relief capacity. He also can still be optioned for one more season, so it’s possible he could end up opening the year at Triple-A.
Parting with Dyson also opens up the outfield competition for the Royals, who otherwise likely would have used him in a platoon of some kind. But his importance to the organization was lessened by the acquisition of Jorge Soler, who the club will hope is capable of playing regularly alongside Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain. Other players in the outfield mix include Paulo Orlando, Whit Merrifield, Billy Burns, and perhaps prospects Hunter Dozier, Bubba Starling, and Jorge Bonifacio. While only Gordon and Burns hit from the left side (the latter as a switch-hitter), there are obviously plenty of options on hand.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AL Central Notes: Brantley, Encarnacion, O’Brien, Tigers
After missing nearly the entire 2016 season due to shoulder surgery and undergoing a second shoulder operation in August, Michael Brantley began some non-contact swinging drills over the holidays, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti has maintained this offseason that Brantley is in the team’s plans to be the Opening Day left fielder in 2017, Bastian continues, although it’s worth noting that Cleveland offered similar optimism last offseason, penciling Brantley in for a late April/early May return. While Brantley did indeed make his season debut in that window, he was limited to just 11 games all season and didn’t produce when on the field. The amount that Brantley will be able to contribute in 2017 will be crucial for Cleveland, although the Indians will get a nice boost to the lineup in the form of Edwin Encarnacion. Cleveland announced tonight that they’ll host a press conference tomorrow at 10:15am ET “regarding a potential new member of the organization,” thus indicating that Encarnacion passed today’s physical.
More from the AL Central…
- New Royals acquisition Peter O’Brien will head to Spring Training and compete for at-bats as the team’s designated hitter, general manager Dayton Moore tells MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. Moore added that the Royals’ front office has long held some level of interest in O’Brien and has tried to deal for him in the past without success. However, as Flanagan points out, O’Brien has minor league options remaining and as such could serve as a depth option at Triple-A. Cheslor Cuthbert, on the other hand, is out of minor league options and might not have a better path to regular playing time than the team’s DH slot, which could give him the inside track. Kansas City will also use its DH slot to rest some position players, including Mike Moustakas, who is returning from an ACL tear.
- FanRag’s Jack Magruder writes that O’Brien has gone from virtually untouchable in the Diamondbacks’ eyes to expendable in the eyes of the new Arizona regime. Both the Royals and Mariners expressed some interest in O’Brien at last year’s trade deadline, per Magruder, but talks never progressed beyond the preliminary stage in either case.
- Though it looked like the Tigers would move at least one veteran, if not more, earlier this offseason, MLB.com’s Jon Morosi writes that there’s now a strong chance that Detroit will open the season with a nearly unchanged roster. Ownership never mandated a payroll reduction from GM Al Avila, Morosi continues, so the general manager was only ever going to move players like J.D. Martinez and Ian Kinsler if a team offered an enticing package of near-MLB-ready talent, but those types of scenarios never surfaced. The Tigers could still move short-term veterans like Martinez and Kinsler this summer if they’re not contending, of course. Morosi does note that right-hander Jordan Zimmermann is throwing from 180 feet and expects to be ready for the start of Spring Training. A return to form for last year’s $110MM signing would go a long way toward the Tigers making a run in 2017.
Royals, Cardinals Had “Preliminary” Trade Talks Regarding Matt Adams
Earlier tonight, the Royals added a potential DH candidate when they acquired defensively-challenged slugger Peter O’Brien from the Diamondbacks, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that they also have had some “preliminary” talks with the Cardinals about first baseman Matt Adams (Twitter link).
[Related: Kansas City Royals Depth Chart | St. Louis Cardinals Depth Chart]
The 28-year-old Adams has long seemed like a potential trade candidate. The Cardinals told Matt Carpenter back in November that he was going to open the season as the everyday first baseman, and Adams has never lined up anywhere else on the diamond in either the Majors or the minors. Because both Carpenter and Adams swing from the left side of the dish, there’s no potential for any kind of platoon scenario, and with a 6’3″, 260-pound listing, Adams isn’t likely to find much success in an already-full Cardinals’ outfield.
In Kansas City, though, Adams would be able to find much more consistent at-bats, presumably as a designated hitter. Currently, the Royals figure to give Jorge Soler plenty of looks there and also rotate players like Mike Moustakas and Cheslor Cuthbert into the mix from time to time. That outlook could change if the Royals deal an outfielder, thereby pushing Soler into the field with more regularity. (Jarrod Dyson has been an oft-rumored trade candidate this winter.) The Royals are actually trying to pare down the payroll a bit, but Adams is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn an affordable $2.8MM salary in 2017, so the Royals could find a way to squeeze him into the payroll (especially if any additional veterans are moved following last month’s trade of Wade Davis). As a bonus, Adams is controllable through 2018 via the arbitration process.
Adams has long been a force against right-handed pitching when he’s been healthy enough to take the field, amassing a lifetime .284/.331/.480 battling line when holding the platoon advantage. However, durability hasn’t been a strong point for Adams, who had brief DL stints for oblique and calf injuries in 2013 and 2014, respectively, before missing about half of the 2015 campaign with a torn right quadriceps muscle. He also missed about three weeks this past season due to inflammation in his left shoulder. Adams’ playing time has also been suppressed by dreadful performance against left-handed pitching; St. Louis has limited him to 280 career PAs against lefties, and the resulting .212/.243/.352 batting line and 29.3 percent strikeout rate aren’t encouraging.
The other question to address when considering an Adams trade is that the market is currently rife with sluggers bearing similar skill sets. Brandon Moss, Pedro Alvarez, Adam Lind, Logan Morrison, Justin Morneau and Ryan Howard are all free agents, as are left-handed-hitting outfielders like Michael Saunders and Colby Rasmus. While most of those players figure to sign for more than Adams’ projected salary, it’s doubtful that many of the bunch will earn significantly more. And, those free agents would obviously be available to the Royals without requiring the team to surrender any minor league talent. If the Royals are simply looking for DH candidates with power that can be had on one-year deals, then a right-handed bat like Chris Carter, Mark Reynolds or even old friend Billy Butler are free-agent options as well.
Put another way, it seems unlikely that the Royals or any other team would have a strong sense of urgency to swing a deal for Adams unless the cost of acquisition was truly palatable. That’s not intended to be a knock on Adams, but the supply of this type of player greatly outweighs the demand in the current market.
Royals Acquire Peter O’Brien From Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks announced on Tuesday that they’ve traded outfielder Peter O’Brien, who had recently been designated for assignment, to the Royals in exchange for minor league right-hander Sam Lewis.
The 26-yer-old O’Brien has drawn his fair share of attention over the years due to his gaudy power numbers in Triple-A. In 968 plate appearances at that level — split between the Yankees and Diamondbacks — O’Brien has compiled a career .270/.315/.530 batting line. Originally acquired by the D-backs in the 2014 trade that sent Martin Prado to the Yankees, O’Brien has slugged a total of 50 home runs in parts of two seasons in Triple-A.
While O’Brien began his career as a catcher, few scouts gave him much of a chance to stay behind the plate due to defensive concerns. Many scouting reports have suggested that O’Brien lacks any real position on the defensive spectrum, and he’s struggled in his brief taste of the Major Leagues to date (.176/.228/.446 with six homers but 32 strikeouts in 79 plate appearances). Still, he’ll give the Royals a potential power bat with multiple years of club control remaining. Unlike the D-backs, the Royals can simply elect to play O’Brien at DH in the event that he does eventually see his big league production more closely mirror the work he’s put in at the Triple-A level.
Lewis, meanwhile, turned 25 this offseason and returned from a 2015 injury to log 44 1/3 innings of 1.62 ERA ball across three minor league levels. However, impressive as that number seems, it should be noted that he topped out at Class-A Advanced, so he was working against considerably younger and less experienced competition. Lewis averaged 7.9 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9 in his 2016 campaign while also posting a 47.5 percent ground-ball rate, per MLBfarm.com. Their notes on Lewis have his fastball in the upper 80s to low 90s. Lewis only totaled nine innings at High-A last season, and that was his first exposure to the level, so he could return there to open the 2017 season or be pushed to Double-A if the D-backs take a bit more aggressive approach. He’s made just nine minor league starts, so he’s likely viewed strictly as a reliever by his new organization.
