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Angels Remove Cody Allen From Closer’s Role

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The Angels are removing right-hander Cody Allen from the closer’s role for the time being, manager Brad Ausmus revealed prior to Wednesday’s tilt with the Yankees (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger). There won’t be a set closer in his place, it seems, as each of Ty Buttrey, Hansel Robles and Luis Garcia could receive looks depending on availability and matchup, Bollinger notes.

Signed to a one-year deal worth $8.25MM this offseason, Allen hoped to bounce back in his new environs following the worst full season of his MLB career in 2018. Allen gave the Indians five straight seasons of sub-3.00 ERA ball with at least 11.3 K/9 from 2013-17 before stumbling in his final season of arbitration; last year, the righty posted a 4.70 ERA with 10.7 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a career-high 1.5 HR/9.

The start of the 2019 season hasn’t gone any better. Allen is a nominal 4-for-4 in save opportunities, but he’s yielded five earned runs on six hits and seven walks with nine strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings. The home-run troubles that plagued him last year are all the more pronounced in 2019, as he’s already served up a trio of dingers on the young season. Perhaps more concerning is the fact that Allen’s 92.2 mph average fastball is a full two miles per hour lower than it was in 2017 and three miles slower than it was back in 2014. As one might expect with that type of velocity dip, Allen’s swinging-strike rate has plummeted from 14.9 percent in 2017 to 10.4 percent in 2019.

It remains to be seen whether the change in role can help to get Allen back on track. At 30 years old, it’s not out of the question that he can rediscover some of his lost velocity. It’s also certainly possible that a pitcher with his track record and wipeout curveball can learn to be effective even with reduced life on his heater, though doing so may come with an adjustment period.

Fantasy players asking who’s in line for the bulk of saves won’t have a true answer until we see how Ausmus deploys the other late-inning relievers in his bullpen. But to this point in the season, both Buttrey and Robles have been terrific. Each has struck out at least one third of the hitters he’s faced while walking fewer than eight percent of opponents. Buttrey has paired his outstanding K-BB% with a hefty 56.5 percent ground-ball rate (dwarfing Robles’ 25.0 percent), underscoring the difficulty that opponents have when it comes to elevating his pitches.

Since being acquired from the Red Sox in exchange for Ian Kinsler, Buttrey has a 2.10 ERA and a 33-to-8 K/BB ratio and zero home runs allowed in 25 1/3 innings for the Angels. Robles, since being claimed off waivers from the Mets, has a 3.02 ERA and a 52-to-18 K/BB ratio in 47 2/3 frames. Between the two, Buttrey has induced more swinging strikes and grounders and seems like the more prototypical closer, though it’s possible that Ausmus will err on the side of veteran experience and give the first looks to Robles.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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

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

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

Today’s Updates

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

Earlier Updates

Read more

AL West Notes: Astros, Athletics, Garcia Trade, Rangers’ Payroll

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The addition of Robinson Chirinos on a one-year, $5.75MM contract won’t stop the Astros from pursuing additional help behind the plate, writes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, but president of baseball ops Jeff Luhnow did suggest that the team is comfortable moving forward with Chirinos and Max Stassi in the event that a further opportunity doesn’t come along at a palatable price. “We certainly feel good about going into the season with Stassi and Chirinos as our catchers,” said Luhnow. “We’ve got [Garrett] Stubbs in the Minor Leagues and other players as well. It doesn’t mean we won’t take advantage of the opportunity if one presents itself as a way to get better, but right now we feel comfortable with the group we have.” Houston stands out as a logical fit for Marlins star J.T. Realmuto or the Pirates’ Francisco Cervelli on the trade market, while the reps for free agents Yasmani Grandal and Wilson Ramos have presumably reached out to the ’Stros as well. The Astros have often carried three catching options in the past, so it shouldn’t be ruled out that they’d do so in 2019.

Here’s more from the division…

  • Athletics general manager David Forst told reporters Friday that the team planned to explore both trades and free agency in its search for rotation upgrades (Twitter links via Jane Lee of MLB.com). There’s no preference between the two, it seems, as Forst indicated that the A’s are “dipping into” both markets “equally.” Regarding the club’s second base situation, while there’s been talk of a new contract for Jed Lowrie since this summer, Forst suggests that there’s no clear direction on how they’ll address the position just yet. Oakland is still having internal discussions about adding a second baseman, giving the job to prospect Franklin Barreto or finding a platoon partner for the 22-year-old Barreto, per Forst. Barreto, who hit .259/.357/.514 with 18 homers in 333 plate appearances with Triple-A Nashville in 2018, is considered to be among Oakland’s best prospects. He’s managed just a .252 OBP in the Majors to this point in his career, but that’s come at a young age and in a tiny sample of 151 PAs.
  • Many Angels fans were displeased to see the Angels swap out lefty Jose Alvarez for right-hander Luis Garcia in a one-for-one trade last night, given Garcia’s 6.07 ERA with the Phillies in 2018. As GM Billy Eppler explains to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange Country Register, though, the Angels (obviously) paid little heed to Garcia’s ERA and instead bet on the right-hander’s velocity, ground-ball tendencies and other characteristics they found appealing. “He has the characteristics we gravitate to: strikeouts, ground balls and big stuff,” says Eppler of his new right-hander. “… He provides us another power look out of the bullpen to complement Ty Buttrey, Hansel Robles, Justin Anderson and Keynan Middleton (after he comes back from Tommy John surgery) sometime in the middle of 2019. You have a fairly high-octane bullpen that can miss a bunch of bats.”
  • The Rangers’ payroll will likely wind up in the $120MM range for the coming season, writes Jeff Wilson of the Fort-Worth Star Telegram. Texas currently projects at a payroll of just under $106MM, which should give them a bit of room to spend should they find some deals to their liking. However, Wilson quotes GM Jon Daniels as saying: “This is not the year where we are going to go all out. We are probably a year away from starting to look at some different options for expanding the payroll.” Daniels plainly states that the Rangers weren’t in on either Patrick Corbin or Nathan Eovaldi in free agency. Wilson suggests that Texas will still look at adding some pitchers — but likely more along the contractual lines of Mike Minor’s three-year, $28MM contract from last offseason than any kind of top-of-the-market addition.

Phillies Acquire Jose Alvarez From Angels

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The Phillies announced Thursday that they’ve acquired left-handed reliever Jose Alvarez from the Angels in a straight-up swap for right-handed reliever Luis Garcia.

Jose Alvarez | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

At first glance, the move looks like a head-scratcher for the Halos, as both pitchers come with two years of remaining club control and identical $1.7MM arbitration projections, via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. However, Alvarez turned in a terrific 2018 season, working to a 2.71 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.43 HR/9 and a 45 percent ground-ball rate in 63 innings out of the Angels’ bullpen. Garcia, meanwhile, struggled to a 6.07 ERA in 46 innings of relief. Of course, he also averaged a hefty 10.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 with a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate.

Looking past their ERAs, then, Garcia actually graded out more favorably in some regards. Some fielding-independent metrics were actually more bullish on the 31-year-old Garcia than the 29-year-old Alvarez; Garcia’s 3.64 xFIP was superior to Alvarez’s 3.98 mark, and his 3.46 SIERA also bested Alvarez’s mark of 3.78 by a slight margin. Garcia is also just a year removed from a 2.65 ERA in 71 1/3 innings of work, and there’s plenty to like about his 97.2 mph average fastball and impressive 14.5 percent swinging-strike rate. It’s also worth noting that the Phillies were one of the worst defensive teams in baseball by virtually any measure in 2018, which did Garcia and others no favors.

Luis Garcia | John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

Angels fans will surely bristle at the notion of acquiring a reliever whose ERA checked in north of 6.00, of course, but Major League front offices have generally moved away from evaluating players based solely on that rudimentary mark. Admittedly, however, it still registers as a surprise when looking at the Angels’ moves on the whole; the club bid adieu to Blake Parker via non-tender last week and has effectively replaced him with Garcia — all at the expense of its lone experienced left-handed reliever. Adding another lefty (or two) to the relief corps figures to be a priority for GM Billy Eppler and his staff moving forward.

As for the Phillies, they’ll add a pitcher who can’t match Garcia in terms of velocity or swinging-strike rate but was generally dominant against left-handed opponents in 2018. Alvarez held same-handed batters to a putrid .206/.265/.338 slash through 147 plate appearances in 2018 and will give the Phils a lefty to pair with fellow recent acquisition James Pazos and longtime Philadelphia southpaw Adam Morgan.

Alvarez, in essence, will step into the role that would have been filled by fellow lefty Luis Avilan had he not been non-tendered last week — and he’ll do so with a projected arbitration salary that checks in $1.4MM south of the $3.1MM that Avilan was projected to earn.

NL East Notes: Mike Fast, Braves, Nationals,

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Analytics guru Mike Fast joined the Atlanta Braves organization this Wednesday, he announced via Twitter. Fast was formerly the director of research and development in Houston before leaving the organization in late September. The former semiconductor engineer will serve as a special assistant to GM Alex Anthopoulous, who has made it a priority to improve the Braves’ analytics department ever since his hiring in November of 2017, writes the Athletic’s David O’Brien. Per Anthopolous himself, Fast will be part of Atlanta’s senior leadership team, giving his input into all areas of baseball operations. Now, some other rumblings from around the NL East…

  • Right field and catcher clearly require the attention of the Braves’ front office this winter, where current free agents Kurt Suzuki and newly-minted Silver Slugger Nick Markakis have left holes, but improving the bench is not much further down their winter checklist, writes Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Versatile defender Charlie Culberson was a bright spot for the bench unit in 2018, but they could use a power bat to fill the spot once occupied by Matt Adams (and most recently by current free agent Lucas Duda). Outfielder Adam Duvall was acquired from the Reds last season in part to fill that role, but he struggled mightily in his 33 games as a Brave. Duvall projects to earn $3.1MM his first time through arbitration this winter, which makes him a likely non-tender candidate. He is a career .230/.291/.454 hitter. Still, while GM Alex Anthopoulos said they will be more “open-minded” about spending significant dollars on the bench this season, that’s not a development likely to happen early in the free agent season.
  • The Nationals do not see upgrading at second base as a priority this offseason, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Earlier this week Dougherty tweeted that the Nats were comfortable going into next season with Howie Kendrick and Wilmer Difo manning the keystone. Still, it’s a bit surprising given Kendrick is coming off a ruptured achilles, and Difo hardly looked the part of a starter last season when he hit only .230/.298/.350 in 456 plate appearances. Interestingly, Rizzo cites the organization’s depth, specifically prospects Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia as reasons for their optimism about the position moving forward. Rizzo’s comments are interesting because it means the Nationals are presumably comfortable keeping Trea Turner at shortstop for the foreseeable future. Further, Washington may view Kieboom and/or Garcia to be closer to the majors than it might otherwise appear. Garcia spent the 2018 season between Single-A Hagerstown and High-A Potomac, though he won’t even turn 19 until May. The 21-year-old Kieboom is the more likely of the two to make a surprise jump to the bigs (a la Juan Soto), as he played the final 62 games of 2018 at Double-A Harrisburg, hitting .262/.326/.395. The Nationals have, however, reportedly expressed some interest in Josh Harrison, though the former Pirates utilityman could back up multiple positions around the diamond.

Phillies Place Luis Garcia On 10-Day DL, Recall Thompson, Rios

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The Phillies have placed right-handed reliever Luis Garcia on the 10-day disabled list. Amidst the shuffle, the club also recalled fellow right-handers Jake Thompson and Yacksel Rios, while optioning another right-hander, Mark Leiter Jr., to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The moves were announced by the club’s media account on Twitter.

Though Garcia enjoyed a significant breakthrough last season by posting a 2.65 ERA to go with an impressive 56.3% ground ball rate last season, he hasn’t managed to build on that so far in 2018. The 31-year-old’s 4.74 ERA through 24 2/3 innings is an eyesore, while that fantastic ground ball rate has also dropped nearly seven points. That’s also with a .279 BABIP taken into consideration, which is well below the league average.

Thompson hasn’t had much opportunity with the Phillies this year, and hasn’t exactly impressed in limited action. The young gun has allowed a whopping seven earned runs in just 8 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Last season, Thompson posted a 3.88 ERA while pitching mostly as a starter, but his 5.92 FIP indicates that he was more than just a bit lucky.

As for Rios, there seems to be some reason for optimism surrounding his potential. His 5.29 ERA is a bit ugly, but he’s managed to limit opposing hard contact to 28.8% in his 17 innings on the year thus far. His 9.53 K/9 is certainly worthy of some attention, while his 3.71 BB/9 is at least passable. Rios has also suffered from a .400 opponent BABIP, a number which is likely to regress to the mean.

Though he made 11 starts for the Phillies last year, Leiter’s pitched exclusively out of the bullpen both in the majors and minors this season. He’s managed to strike out nine batters in eight innings across his four appearances; all four of those appearances saw him retire at least five hitters. Leiter also allowed four earned runs on two walks and eight hits, including two homers.

Phillies Send Charlie Morton To DL With Strained Hamstring

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The Phillies have placed right-hander Charlie Morton on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring and recalled fellow righty Luis Garcia, the team announced. Morton sustained the injury during his start against the Brewers on Saturday. As a result, he pitched just one inning, allowing three hits and a run while striking out three.

So far this season, the ground-ball-heavy Morton has been a solid veteran addition to the Phillies’ young rotation. After joining Philadelphia via trade with the Pirates during the offseason, Morton has begun his Phillies tenure by inducing grounders 62.8 percent of the time and posting a 4.15 ERA/3.01 FIP/2.87 xFIP in his first four starts (17 1/3 innings). Morton also fanned 19 batters and walked eight during that span. His spot in the rotation could now go to Brett Oberholtzer or Adam Morgan, who’s in Triple-A.

Garcia, 29, has been a member of the Phillies organization since 2013. He made his major league debut that season and has since racked up 112 innings, including a career-best 66 2/3 frames of 3.51 ERA ball last year. Overall, Garcia owns a 3.94 mark with a 7.88 K/9 and 5.57 BB/9.

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