Angels Notes: Watson, Royals, McCann, Rojas
Gene Watson is leaving the Royals for the Angels’ front office, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link). Watson will be a special advisor to new Angels GM Perry Minasian, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, and The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya recently chronicled Watson’s longstanding ties to Minasian dating back to Minasian’s childhood.
Watson has spent the last 14 seasons with the Royals, the last three as the team’s senior director of pro scouting and a special assistant to GM Dayton Moore. Watson previously worked as a scout with the Padres, Braves, and Marlins before coming to Kansas City, and his long career as a respected evaluator put him on the radar for general manager openings in the past. Of greatest relevance, Watson interviewed for the Angels’ job before Minasian was hired, and Watson also spoke with the Astros about their GM vacancy last offseason.
More from Anaheim…
- The Angels were known to be suitors for James McCann, who reached an agreement with the Mets today on a four-year deal worth over $40MM. According to Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times, the Angels weren’t willing to offer McCann more than a three-year contract. Given the large amount of interest McCann was generating in the free agent market, it would be interesting to know if any other teams besides the Mets went beyond a three-year offer, or if it was indeed the fourth year that clinched the signing for New York. It remains to be seen if the Angels will pursue another catcher or if their interest in the position was limited to McCann — in regards to J.T. Realmuto, Torres figures the Halos will spend on pitching rather than direct resources towards a nine-figure deal for Realmuto’s services.
- Longtime Angels broadcaster Victor Rojas was the most surprising name to interview for the team’s GM position, and Rojas discussed his candidacy with Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Previously a minor leaguer in the Angels farm system in 1990, the GM of the independent Newark Bears for two seasons, and the son of former big leaguer Cookie Rojas, the younger Rojas carried a unique resume to go along with his 11 years of calling Angels games on television. The interview stemmed from a lengthy memo Rojas wrote after the season detailing how he would address various issues within the organization since, as he told Shaikin, “as an Angels fan, I was getting a little frustrated.”
Royals Re-Sign Bubba Starling, Carlos Sanabria, Foster Griffin
The Royals have brought back three familiar faces, announcing that outfielder Bubba Starling, right-hander Carlos Sanabria, and left-hander Foster Griffin have all been signed to minor league contracts. The trio were all cut loose by the Royals within the last two weeks, with Starling being non-tendered and Sanabria and Griffin both electing free agency after being designated for assignment by the club.
Starling is the best-known name of the bunch, owing to his status as the fifth overall pick of the 2011 draft. A local product from Gardner, Kansas, Starling never put things together in the minors (and considered retiring in 2017) until posting an .806 OPS in 285 PA for Triple-A Omaha in 2019, which earned him his first trip to the big leagues. Over 261 plate appearances over the 2019-20 seasons, Starling has a .204/.246/.298 slash line against MLB pitching.
Sanabria was claimed off waivers from the Astros in October. The righty (who turns 24 in January) made his Major League debut in 2020, tossing two innings over two games. An international signing out of Venezuela in 2014, Sanabria has spent his entire career in Houston’s organization, posting a 3.81 ERA, 2.15 K/BB rate, and 8.9 K/9 over 354 minor league innings and working exclusively as a reliever over the last three seasons.
Griffin also made his MLB debut in 2020, throwing 1 2/3 hitless innings for the Royals on July 27 before suffering a tear in his UCL during that first outing. Griffin will now miss the entire 2021 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Royals drafted Griffin with the 28th overall pick in 2014, and he has a 4.77 ERA, 2.19 K/BB rate, and 7.2 K/9 over 708 innings in Kansas City’s farm system.
Quick Hits: Tigers, Pirates, Royals
The Tigers have added former outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. to their major league coaching staff, the team announced. He’ll “focus on hitting instruction,” according to the Tigers. While the Tigers didn’t name an exact role for Cruz, it appears he will be their assistant hitting coach to Scott Coolbaugh, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com observes. Cruz spent 1997-2008 with a handful of different major league teams and clubbed 204 home runs. He has since worked for the MLBPA and as an ESPN analyst. He’s now part of the same organization as his son, infielder Trei Cruz, whom the Tigers drafted in the third round last summer.
- The Pirates announced a number of additions to their baseball operations staff via a press release. Pittsburgh hired Rafael Freitas as their new Major League Head Athletic Trainer, Terence Brannic as Head Major League Strength & Conditioning Coach, Adam Vish as a Strength & Conditioning Coach, and Seth Steinhauer joins the Major League staff as Physical Therapist after sour seasons as the Pirates’ minor league rehab coordinator. Josh Hopper heads to Pittsburgh from the college ranks as the Coordinator of Pitching Development. Hopper spent the last three seasons as pitching coach at Dallas Baptist University after nine seasons in the same role with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
- The Royals don’t have any staff additions to announce, but they are adding a new video board that will cover the Hall of Fame wall in left field, writes Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star (via Twitter). The team has released a series of tweets here, and here, showing the construction project getting underway. The new board will be the tallest HDR video board in baseball with 5.1 million total pixels.
Royals Sign Carlos Santana
3:03PM: The Royals have officially announced the signing.
1:06PM: The Royals have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent first baseman Carlos Santana, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). The contract is worth $17.5MM in guaranteed money, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link), with another $1MM available in incentives. The majority of the money will come in 2022, as the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports that Santana will earn $7MM in 2021 and then $10.5MM in the second year of the deal. Santana is represented by Octagon’s Ulises Cabrera and Brian Mejia.
The $17.5MM matches what Santana would have earned in 2021 had the Indians exercised their club option on his services. Instead, Cleveland declined the option and bought Santana out for $500K, sending him into free agency.
This is the Royals’ second notable two-year free agent contract in as many weeks, following their two-year pact with Mike Minor worth $19MM in guaranteed money. Kansas City had over $23.5MM coming off their books in the form of expired contracts for Ian Kennedy and Alex Gordon and Maikel Franco being non-tendered, and now just about all of that money has been reinvested in the form of Santana, Minor, and Michael A. Taylor.
As a smaller-market team facing a bigger financial hit than most clubs in 2020 given the lack of revenue-sharing funds, this type of aggressive spending from the Royals is a little surprising, yet it signals that owner John Sherman (who bought the team last offseason) is willing to green-light some significant roster upgrades. GM Dayton Moore openly said that he plans to field a competitive team in 2021, and while the Twins, White Sox and (even likely without Francisco Lindor) Indians still loom as powers in the AL Central, the organization clearly feels it is possible to contend.
Kansas City is very familiar with Santana over his years in Cleveland, and Santana has more career home runs (31) and RBI (93) against the Royals than any other opponent over his 11 Major League seasons. 2020, however, was a down year for veteran, as he hit .199/.349/.350 over 255 plate appearances for the Tribe — the lowest numbers Santana has ever posted in all three slash-line categories. While he still led the American League with 47 walks, Santana’s power numbers dropped significantly, and he posted his lowest hard-hit ball and barrel percentage (as per Statcast) of the last six seasons.
It isn’t what you want to see out of a player entering his age-35 season, making it somewhat surprising that Santana was able to land such a healthy two-year guarantee in free agency. (MLBTR projected Santana for a one-year, $6MM deal.) Still, Santana had only a .212 BABIP last season and his .360 xwOBA far outpaced his .311 wOBA, so some misfortune was baked into his lackluster results. Combine this lack of batted-ball luck with the small sample size of the shortened 2020 season, and there’s certainly reason to imagine Santana could look like his old self next year. It was just in 2019 that Santana hit .281/.397/.515 with 34 homers for Cleveland, earning the first All-Star and Silver Slugger nods of his long career.
Santana played all 60 games at first base last season, with somewhat mixed reviews (+5 Defensive Runs Saved, but -2.0 UZR./150 and -2 Outs Above Average) depending on the metric. Still, Santana has long been at least an average defender at first base, so he is likely to get the bulk of playing time at the position in 2021, with likely a fair number of DH days included to keep him fresh.
With Santana at first base and Franco gone, it now looks at if Hunter Dozier will slide back across the diamond to play third base. Dozier didn’t exactly shine defensively in his previous stints at third base, so there is some possible room for flexibility within the Royals’ lineups. Speculatively, Dozier could see some time in the outfield and Whit Merrifield could get some time at the hot corner, though Merrifield hasn’t played third base since 2017. If Bobby Witt Jr. is called up at some point in 2021, K.C. could also deploy the star prospect at third base.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Players Avoiding Arbitration: 12/2/20
With the non-tender deadline coming today at 7pm CT, expect quite a few players to agree to contracts for the 2021 season, avoiding arbitration in advance. In many (but not all) cases, these deals — referred to as “pre-tender” deals because they fall prior to the deadline — will fall shy of expectations and projections. Teams will sometimes present borderline non-tender candidates with a “take it or leave it” style offer which will be accepted for fear of being non-tendered and sent out into an uncertain market. Speculatively, such deals could increase in 2020 due to the economic uncertainty sweeping through the game, although there are also widespread expectations of record non-tender numbers.
You can track all of the arbitration and non-tender activity here, and we’ll also run through today’s smaller-scale pre-tender deals in this post. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s arbitration salary projections here.
Latest Agreements
- The Giants have a $1.275MM agreement with first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf, Schulman tweets.
- Pirates righty Jameson Taillon will earn $2.25MM in 2021, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets. Taillon didn’t pitch at all in 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2019. Reliever Michael Feliz will get $1MM, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Earlier Agreements
- Twins righty Jose Berrios will earn $6.1MM with a $500K signing bonus in 2021, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports. Catcher Mitch Garver will rake in $1.875MM, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Center fielder Byron Buxton ($5.125MM) and reliever Taylor Rogers (terms not released) also agreed to deals, according to Phil Miller of the Star Tribune.
- The Phillies have deals with starter Zach Eflin ($4.45MM) and relievers Hector Neris ($5MM), David Hale ($850K) and Seranthony Dominguez ($727,500), Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Heyman and Todd Zolecki of MLB.com relay.
- The Marlins and first baseman Garrett Cooper have a $1.8MM agreement that could max out at $2.05MM with performance bonuses, Craig Mish of Sportsgrid tweets.
- The Brewers are keeping catcher Manny Pina in the fold for $1.65MM, according to Heyman. They’re also retaining first baseman Daniel Vogelbach for $1.4MM, Nightengale reports.
- The Giants and outfielder Austin Slater have a one-year, $1.15MM deal, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.The club also reached a $925K agreement with lefty Wandy Peralta and a $700K pact with righty Trevor Gott, Heyman tweets.
- The Cubs are bringing back hurlers Dan Winkler ($900K), Colin Rea ($702,500) and Kyle Ryan ($800K), Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Ryan’s agreement is a split contract that features a $250K minor league salary.
- The Mets are retaining lefty Steven Matz for $5.2MM, Nightengale tweets. Matz had a brutal campaign in 2020 with a 9.68 ERA/7.76 FIP over 30 2/3 innings in 2020, but the Mets will give him a chance to rebound.
- The Padres and lefty Matt Strahm have a one-year, $2MM deal, Nightengale reports. Strahm gave the Padres a 2.61 ERA/4.93 FIP in 20 2/3 innings in 2020.
- Outfielder Guillermo Heredia, whom the Mets claimed from Pittsburgh in August, will earn $1MM in 2021, according to Nightengale.
- The Astros and reliever Austin Pruitt have settled for $617, 500, per Heyman. The right-hander missed the season with elbow issues.
- The Royals and outfielder Jorge Soler have agreed to a one-year, $8.05MM deal with $250K in incentives, Nightengale reports. Soler was a 48-home run hitter in 2019, but his production went backward this past season, in which he slashed .228/.326/.443 with eight HRs in 174 trips to the plate.
- The Red Sox have kept relievers Matt Barnes ($4.4MM) and Ryan Brasier ($1.25MM) and catcher Kevin Plawecki ($1.6MM), per tweets from Nightengale, Robert Murray of FanSided and Heyman. Barnes has been a solid reliever as a member of the Red Sox, though he yielded more than five walks per nine and upward of four runs per nine in 2020. Brasier was more successful this past season, as he tossed 25 frames of 3.96 ERA/3.15 FIP ball and averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine. Plawecki had a nice year as the backup to Christian Vazquez, as he batted .341/.393/.463 in 89 PA.
- The Giants and southpaw Jarlin Garcia have settled for $950K, according to Heyman. Garcia is coming off an 18 1/3-inning effort in which he posted a near-perfect 0.49 (with an impressive 3.14 FIP) and 6.87 K/9 against 3.44 BB/9.
- The Marlins have agreed to a one-year, $4.3MM deal with first baseman Jesus Aguilar, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. The 30-year-old slugger put up strong numbers in his first year with the Fish, slashing .277/.352/.457 with eight long balls in 216 plate appearances.
- The Giants and outfielder Alex Dickerson settled at a year and $2MM, tweets Nightengale. The 30-year-old slugger has a lengthy injury history but has been excellent in limited work with the Giants, including a .298/.371/.576 slash in 170 plate appearances this past season.
- Luis Cessa will be back with the Yankees on a one-year deal, tweets Nightengale. He’ll earn $1.05MM. The righty notched a 3.32 ERA and 3.79 FIP with a 17-to-7 K/BB ratio in 21 2/3 innings this past season. Fellow righty Ben Heller will also return, the team announced, though it didn’t disclose financial details.
- First baseman Matt Olson and the Athletics settled on a one-year deal worth $5MM, tweets Nightengale. The 26-year-old Olson’s .198/.310/.424 slash was an obvious step back from his 2019 campaign, but he’s still viewed as a vital part of the club’s future moving forward.
- The Braves and righty Luke Jackson agreed to a one-year deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The 29-year-old was rocked for a 6.84 ERA in this year’s shortened slate of games but posted a 3.84 ERA and 3.24 FIP with better than 13 K/9 as one of the team’s steadiest relievers in 2019. The contract is valued at $1.9MM, per a team announcement.
- The Brewers are bringing back catcher Omar Narvaez for one year and $2.5MM, Heyman tweets. Narvaez was a very good offensive catcher from 2o16-19 with the White Sox and Mariners, but he struggled last season after the M’s traded him to the Brewers. Thanks in part to a career-worst 31 percent strikeout rate, Narvaez could only muster a .176/.294/.269 line and a paltry two HRs in 126 plate appearances. Nevertheless, he’s in line to return to the Brewers for a second season.
- The Brewers have agreed to a one-year, $2MM contract with shortstop Orlando Arcia, Nightengale relays. Arcia endured serious struggles on offense in prior years, but the 26-year-old managed a respectable .260/.317/.416 line with five home runs over 189 plate appearances this past season.
- The Phillies and catcher Andrew Knapp have reached a one-year, $1.1MM agreement, per Nightengale. Typically a light-hitting backstop, Knapp batted a career-best .278/.404/.444 in 89 plate appearances in 2020. He’s currently the No. 1 catcher on a Phillies team that could lose J.T. Realmuto in free agency.
- Pirates infielder Erik Gonzalez agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.225MM, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. It was the second year of arb eligibility for Gonzalez, whose glovework will earn him a contract despite a brutal .227/.255/.359 batting line in 193 plate appearances in 2020.
- The Royals and Hunter Dozier agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.72MM in entirely guaranteed money, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports. More is available to Dozier via contract incentives. Dozier hit .228/.344/.392 over 186 PA after missing over the first two weeks of the season recovering from a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
- The Red Sox agreed to an $870K deal with right-hander Austin Brice for the 2021 season, as per Nightengale. Brice posted a 5.95 ERA, 11.4 K/9, and 5.9 BB/9 over 19 2/3 innings in his first season in Boston, and was considered a potential non-tender candidate.
- The Twins and righty Tyler Duffey agreed to a one-year, $2.2MM pact, SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson reports. According to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, Duffey’s deal is fully guaranteed.
- The Braves agreed to a one-year, $900K deal with southpaw Grant Dayton, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. Dayton had a 2.30 ERA over 27 1/3 innings in 2020.
- The Braves announced an agreement with utilityman Johan Camargo on a one-year, $1.36MM deal. Camargo was thought to be a non-tender candidate after struggling to a .222/.267/.378 slash line in 375 plate appearances over the last two seasons, but he will return for a fifth year in Atlanta.
- The White Sox and left-hander Jace Fry agreed to a one-year deal worth $862.5K, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Fry posted a 3.66 ERA, 2.00 K/BB rate, and 11.0 K/9 over 19 2/3 innings in 2020, and he has strong overall career numbers against left-handed batters.
- The Orioles agreed with second baseman Yolmer Sanchez on a one-year deal worth $1MM, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Baltimore claimed Sanchez off waivers from the White Sox at the end of October. A Gold Glove winner in 2019, Sanchez was non-tendered by Chicago prior to last year’s deadline, though after signing a minors deal with the Giants, he returned to the White Sox on another minors deal and appeared in 11 games on the South Side.
- The Twins agreed to a one-year deal worth roughly $700K with left-hander Caleb Thielbar, The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman reports (via Twitter). 2020 marked Thielbar’s first taste of MLB action since 2015, as the southpaw worked his way back from independent ball to post a 2.25 ERA, 2.44 K/BB rate, and 9.9 K/9 over 20 innings for Minnesota.
- The Dodgers and left-hander Scott Alexander have agreed to a one-year, $1MM deal, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link). Alexander posted a 2.92 ERA over 12 1/3 innings out of the Los Angeles bullpen this season, recording an equal number of walks and strikeouts (nine). The southpaw was thought to be a potential non-tender candidate given his relative lack of usage and his non-inclusion on the Dodgers’ playoff roster, but the team will retain Alexander for his second arb-eligible year. ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter) adds the noteworthy detail that Alexander’s $1MM salary is fully guaranteed, as opposed to the usual contracts for arbitration-eligible players that allow their teams to release them prior to Opening Day and only pay a fraction of the agreed-upon salary.
Royals Non-Tender Maikel Franco, Bubba Starling
6:52pm: The Royals have non-tendered Franco, infielder Jeison Guzman, infielder/outfielder Erick Mejia and outfielder Bubba Starling, Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star tweets. This could end Starling’s tenure in KC. He was the fifth overall pick in 2011 but hasn’t come close to living up to his draft status.
3:22pm: The Royals are expected to non-tender third baseman Maikel Franco, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Franco to earn between $4.5MM and $8MM in his final year of arbitration eligibility, but those figures were too rich for the Royals’ blood.
Although he was a star prospect with the Phillies, Franco didn’t pan out in their uniform after an excellent rookie showing in 2015. The Phillies non-tendered him after last season as a result, and Franco then caught on with the Royals on a $2.95MM guarantee. It ended up as a decent investment for Kansas City, with which Franco slashed .278/.321/.457 (106 wRC+) and totaled eight home runs in 243 plate appearances. He also chipped in playable work at third base with zero Defensive Runs Saved and a plus-1.3 Ultimate Zone Rating in 51 games.
While Franco took a step forward this past season, the Royals obviously don’t think that production merited a sizable raise in arbitration. That means the 28-year-old Franco will head back to the open market, where he’ll join the likes of Marwin Gonzalez and Todd Frazier after top option Justin Turner.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: 12/1/20
With the non-tender deadline on the horizon tomorrow, expect quite a few players to agree to contracts for the 2021 season, avoiding arbitration in advance. In many (but not all) cases, these deals — referred to as “pre-tender” deals because they fall prior to the deadline — will fall shy of expectations and projections. Teams will sometimes present borderline non-tender candidates with a “take it or leave it” style offer which will be accepted for fear of being non-tendered and sent out into an uncertain market. Speculatively, such deals could increase in 2020 due to the economic uncertainty sweeping through the game, although there are also widespread expectations of record non-tender numbers.
You can track all of the arbitration and non-tender activity here, and we’ll also run through today’s smaller-scale pre-tender deals in this post. You can also check out Matt Swartz‘s arbitration salary projections here.
Latest Agreements
- Athletics second baseman Tony Kemp will get $1.05MM over one year, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays.
- The Rockies announced that they have re-signed righty Jairo Diaz to a one-year pact. It’s worth $1.1MM, Feinsand tweets.
- The Phillies and righty reliever Seranthony Dominguez have a one-year, $727,500 deal, according to Feinsand. Dominguez underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of June, so he might not pitch at all in 2021.
- The Athletics and utility player Chad Pinder reached a one-year, $2.275MM deal, per Nightengale. Pinder has two seasons of team control left.
- The Orioles and catcher Pedro Severino agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.825MM, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link). There was some speculation that Severino could be a non-tender candidate, though he has posted pretty decent numbers over two seasons as Baltimore’s primary catcher. Severino is controllable through the 2023 season.
- The Nationals and right-hander Joe Ross agreed to a one-year, $1.5MM contract, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. This is a match of the salary Ross and the Nats had agreed on for the 2020 season, but Ross decided to opt out back in June. This was Ross’ third year of arbitration eligibility, and is now expected to return and compete for a job in Washington’s rotation in 2021.
- The Royals agreed to one-year deals with righties Jesse Hahn and Jakob Junis and outfielder Franchy Cordero, according to Feinsand and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links). Hahn signed for $1.75MM in guaranteed money with another $350K available in incentives. Junis will rake in $1.7MM. Cordero will earn $800K in his first arbitration-eligible year.
Earlier Agreements
- The Athletics and righty Burch Smith agreed to a one-year deal worth $705K, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. The 30-year-old Smith allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 frames with the A’s in 2020. That was a solid showing for Smith to carry into his first trip through the arb process, though he carried a career 6.57 ERA in 135 1/3 frames into the 2020 season. The A’s can control Smith through 2023.
- The Rockies agreed to a one-year, $1.2MM deal with catcher Elias Diaz, per Nightengale (Twitter link). The contract contains another $300K in available incentives. The 30-year-old looked like a clear non-tender candidate after posting an ugly .235/.288/.353 slash with lackluster framing marks and just a 1-for-8 effort in throwing out base thieves, but the Rockies must remain hopeful he can return to his 2018 level of performance. Diaz is controllable through the 2022 season via arbitration.
- Right-hander Jacob Barnes and the Mets agreed to a one-year deal worth $750K, Nightengale tweets. Barnes, claimed off waivers back in October, was a quality reliever in Milwaukee from 2016-18 but has seen his results crater over the past two seasons. From 2019-20, he’s posted a 6.75 ERA over 50 2/3 innings. Barnes has averaged 10 strikeouts per nine frames in that time but also averaged 4.6 walks and 1.42 homers as well. Barnes is controllable through 2022.
Royals Designate Carlos Sanabria
The Royals have designated right-hander Carlos Sanabria for assignment, per Alec Lewis of The Athletic. His roster spot will go to newly signed left-hander Mike Minor.
It wasn’t a long run on the Royals’ 40-man roster for Sanabria, whom they claimed via waivers from the Astros at the end of October. The hard-throwing Sanabria was once a prospect of some note with the Astros, and he threw 66 2/3 innings of 2.84 ERA ball with 11.6 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 between the High-A and Double-A levels in 2019.
Sanabria’s performance was enough to earn him a chance in the majors in 2020, but the 23-year-old didn’t get a significant opportunity to establish himself. He threw two innings of two-run ball before the Astros cut him loose, and now the Royals could see him head elsewhere after just a few weeks in the organization.
Royals Sign Mike Minor
DEC. 1: It’s a two-year, $18MM guarantee with a $13MM club option or a $1MM buyout for 2023, Passan tweets. It will become a mutual option if the Royals trade Minor, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports (via Twitter). The deal includes salaries of $7MM for 2021 and $10MM for 2022, and Minor could make an extra $50K for 180 and 200 innings pitched in both seasons, according to Rosenthal (on Twitter).
NOV. 29: The Royals have agreed to a deal with southpaw Mike Minor, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). The contract will become official when Minor passes a physical. Minor is represented by Jet Sports Management.
ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports that it is a multi-year pact between the two sides, with MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand adding that the contract is for two years. This tops MLBTR’s prediction of a one-year, $6MM contract for Minor, and he is now the first free agent of the 2020-21 offseason to sign a multi-year contract. We’ve already seen a fair bit of action within the pitching market, though Robbie Ray (Blue Jays), Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly (both Braves) all signed one-year deals, and Marcus Stroman (Mets) and Kevin Gausman (Giants) accepted one-year qualifying offers to remain with their former teams.
This will be Minor’s second time in a Kansas City uniform, as the left-hander previously pitched for the team in 2017. Minor actually signed with K.C. on a two-year deal prior to the 2016 season, though he missed all of 2016 recovering from the shoulder problems that also caused him to miss all of 2015. After those two lost years, Minor excelled in a relief role in 2017, posting a 2.55 ERA, 4.00 K/BB rate, and 10.2 K/9 over 77 2/3 innings out of the Royals’ bullpen.
From there, Minor went on to sign a three-year, $28MM free agent deal with the Rangers and resumed his career as a starter, displaying much of the same solid form that made him a valued member of the Braves’ rotation from 2010-14. Minor posted a 3.84 ERA over 365 1/3 innings in 2018-19, even finishing ninth in AL Cy Young Award voting during the 2019 campaign.
2020 was a much tougher experience for Minor, however, as he posted a 5.56 ERA, 3.10 K/BB rate, and 9.8 K/9 over 56 2/3 innings with the Rangers and Athletics, joining Oakland on a deal at the trade deadline. A career-high 15.7% home run rate was part of Minor’s problem, and his hard-hit percentage jumped from 30.4% in 2019 to 40.4% in 2020.
While Minor’s overall Statcast picture wasn’t pretty, he still boasted an elite fastball spin rate that put him in the 97th percentile of pitchers. ERA predictors were also a bit more sympathetic to Minor’s performance in 2020, with a 4.64 FIP, 4.50 xFIP, and 4.20 SIERA.
With those silver linings, Minor’s generally solid track record, and their prior relationship with Minor in mind, the Royals clearly felt comfortable in making a two-year commitment to a pitcher who turns 33 in December. The Royals haven’t had a winning record since their World Series-winning 2015 season, though GM Dayton Moore has stated that he expects his team to be competitive in 2021, perhaps indicating that the Royals are planning to turn the corner from their latest rebuild.
Minor will now join Danny Duffy as the veteran staples of the K.C. rotation, with Brad Keller entering his fourth MLB campaign and youngsters Brady Singer and Kris Bubic looking to build off respectable rookie seasons. Jakob Junis and Carlos Hernandez are also on hand as depth options, and noted prospects Daniel Lynch and Jackson Kowar are also likely nearing their big league debuts, so the Royals have quite a few interesting rotation options on hand. MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan also raises the intriguing possibility that Minor could be a fallback plan for the Royals at closer, since Minor performed well as a ninth-inning option for Kansas City in 2017.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Royals Sign Michael A. Taylor
The Royals announced Monday that they’ve signed outfielder Michael A. Taylor to a one-year, Major League contract. A client of the newly formed ALIGND Sports, Taylor will receive a $1.75MM base salary and another $1MM worth of available incentives, reports Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). In a corresponding move, the Royals have designated left-hander Foster Griffin for assignment.
Taylor, 29, was outrighted off the Nationals’ 40-man roster at season’s end and elected free agency. He would’ve been arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter, and the Nats opted to cut him loose early rather than pay him a raise on last year’s $3.325MM salary following a rough 2020 season.
Once ranked as one of the game’s premier outfield prospects, Taylor has struggled to find his footing as a consistent contributor in the big leagues. He looked to have broken out with a very solid age-26 campaign back in 2017, when he slashed .271/.320/.486 with 19 homers, 23 doubles, three triples, 17 steals and brilliant center-field defense. Taylor played in 118 games that season and was still worth about three wins above replacement per both Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs.
Unfortunately, Taylor wasn’t able to replicate his success in 2018 or at any point thereafter. He’s logged 581 plate appearances in the three years since that time — often being shuttled between Triple-A and the Majors — while posting a tepid .225/.284/.370 output at the plate. His blend of power and speed is plain to see, but Taylor’s overall offense is limited by a sky-high 31.7 percent strikeout rate to this point in his career.
Taylor has continued to post strong defensive marks, with a superlative 26 Defensive Runs Saved and a 12.1 UZR/150 in 1984 innings as a center fielder from 2017-20. Even if his bat doesn’t recover, he should give the Royals a high-quality defender capable of playing all three outfield positions. Per Statcast, Taylor ranked in the 91st percentile of all big leaguers in terms of outfield jumps, and his 82nd percentile sprint speed speaks to the value he can add on the bases.
Taylor joins a Royals roster that was already deep in outfield-capable players, though several of them are surely to be used in the infield at times (or even regularly) in 2021. Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier, for instance, can each be used on the right side of the diamond or in the outfield. Dozier could be the club’s long-term first baseman, though that’s probably somewhat dependent on any decisions the club makes with Ryan O’Hearn and/or Ryan McBroom this winter. Merrifield, meanwhile, can play all across the outfield and is a strong defender at second base as well.
Beyond that versatile pairing, the Royals have Franchy Cordero, Edward Olivares, Bubba Starling, Nick Heath and top prospect Khalil Lee all on the 40-man roster. Taylor could function as a simple platoon partner for the left-handed-hitting Cordero, or if he’s able to again approach his 2017 level of play, he could earn a bigger role in an outfield mix that is still largely undefined.
Griffin, 25, was the No. 28 overall pick by the Royals back in 2014. He made his MLB debut this past season and tossed 1 2/3 shutout innings, but Griffin underwent Tommy John surgery in August and will miss the 2021 season as a result.
Beyond that, Griffin has never developed into the pitching prospect the club had hoped at the time of that lofty selection. He posted solid ERAs through the lower minors even while walking more than 3.5 hitters per nine frames, but Griffin’s results bottomed out as he further climbed the organizational ladder. He pitched to an ERA north of 5.00 in 152 2/3 frames of Double-A ball in 2018 and saw that mark increase during his 2019 stint in Triple-A Omaha.
The Royals will have a week to trade Griffin, release him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. Because he’s a former first-round lefty with multiple minor league options remaining, another club could place a speculative claim, but it’d be tough to carry him on the roster for the remainder of the offseason knowing he won’t be able to contribute at all next season while he rehabs.