Giants Claim Jarlin Garcia, Designate Burch Smith
The Giants have claimed southpaw Jarlin Garcia off waivers from the Marlins. In a corresponding move, righty Burch Smith was designated for assignment.
It’s not surprising at all to see these two teams line up on a transaction of this nature. The Giants have claimed pitcher after pitcher under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, quite often going on to attempt to slip them through waivers. And the Marlins have dropped a variety of interesting but not-yet-established relief pitchers this winter, with quite a few landing on other 40-man rosters.
Garcia was rather successful last year, compiling 50 2/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball. He lacks eye-popping strikeout numbers, but does get a solid number of groundballs and was quite successful at limiting hard contact. Garcia also found equal success against right and left-handed hitters in 2019, though fielding-independent pitching measures suggested he was much more effective when facing southpaw swingers.
As for Smith, he was added through the waiver wire last August. The 29-year-old had some effective outings last in the year with San Francisco but has obviously yet to show he’s a reliable MLB relief option. Over 135 2/3 career innings at the game’s highest level, Smith carries a 6.57 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9.
Angels Claim Jose Quijada, Designate Parker Markel
The Angels announced that they have claimed lefty Jose Quijada off waivers from the Marlins. Righty Parker Markel was designated to create roster space.
The Halos will try to tap into the upside of Quijada, who got quite a few swings in his 2019 debut despite relying heavily upon his fastball. He also coughed up 26 walks, 19 earned runs, and 10 home runs in his first 29 2/3 MLB frames. Over seventy career Triple-A innings, Quijada carries a 3.73 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9.
Markel also debuted in 2019, though he’s already 29 years of age. He throws a 95+ mph heater and a slider with about equal frequency, but didn’t draw a stand-out number of swinging strikes (just over ten percent) in the majors last year. He was hammered in his 22 debut innings, surrendering 19 earned runs with a 24:17 K/BB ratio. But Markel was much better in the upper minors last year, throwing 41 1/3 innings of 1.74 ERA ball with a hefty 16.3 K/9 against 5.7 BB/9.
Marlins Sign Sean Rodriguez
TODAY: The Marlins have officially announced the signing. Rodriguez’s minor league deal indeed contains an invitation to Miami’s big league Spring Training camp.
FEBRUARY 4: The Marlins have struck a minor-league deal with veteran utilityman Sean Rodriguez, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Other terms aren’t yet known.
Presumably, the 34-year-old will receive an invitation to participate in MLB camp. Rodriguez has seen action in each of the past dozen years in the big leagues, though he has failed to produce league-average offensive numbers over the past three seasons.
Rodriguez slashed a robust .270/.349/.510 in 342 plate appearances with the Pirates in 2016. That was an remains his best campaign at the plate. He inked a two-year contract with the Braves in the ensuing offseason, but was never really able to get going in Atlanta. Rodriguez and his family were victims in a major automobile accident before camp opened in 2017.
Given the severity of the injury and the depth of his ensuing struggles on the field, Rodriguez’s 2019 season was actually something of a rebound. He took 139 plate appearances last year with the Phillies, slashing .223/.348/.375.
Marlins Sign Matt Joyce
FEBRUARY 3: Joyce will earn $1.5MM with another $250K in available incentives based upon plate appearances, MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports on Twitter.
JANUARY 30: Joyce’s deal is a Major League contract, Heyman tweets.
JANUARY 26: The Marlins have agreed to terms with free agent corner outfielder Matt Joyce, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). He is represented by ACES. Terms of the deal remain unclear.
Joyce, 35, has had a series of up-and-down performances the past few seasons. A productive hitter for the Rays from 2010-14, Joyce was traded to the Angels prior to the 2015 season. He endured a miserable season in Anaheim before an offensive rebirth with the Pirates the following year. He continued that strong showing with the the A’s in 2017, where he amassed a career-high 544 plate appearances of .243/.335/.473 hitting (117 wRC+). After a down 2018 season in Oakland, though, Joyce was forced to settle for a pair of minor-league contracts last offseason.
The Giants, who signed Joyce to the second of those minor-league deals, traded him to Atlanta just before the start of the season. The Braves quickly selected him to their active roster, and they were rewarded with yet another bounceback year at the plate. In 238 plate appearances, Joyce put up a .295/.408/.450 line with seven home runs.
As that plate appearance figure suggests, Joyce was used judiciously by Braves’ manager Brian Snitker. He started just 34 games (thirty in right field, four in left). He was much more prominently used as a bench bat, pinch hitting 85 times. He wasn’t especially productive as a pinch hitter (and hasn’t been throughout his career), but he was stellar when trusted to start games.
Joyce is almost exclusively a platoon player. He has just a .188/.272/.309 career line against left-handed pitching, and he totaled all of 26 plate appearances against southpaws last season. He’s got a career .252/.354/.452 (122 wRC+) mark against right-handers and is coming off a season in which he was even better than that. Clearly, the Fish believe he can still serve as a quality hitter if put in the right role.
The Marlins’ corner outfield mix is promising but uncertain. Fellow free agent signee Corey Dickerson will surely get a long leash, but he’s coming off an injury-riddled 2019 season. Miami plans to move Jonathan Villar around the diamond. He’s also an option on the dirt and could speculatively be given a look in center, too, given his athleticism.
That likely leaves Garrett Cooper and Harold Ramírez as Joyce’s primary competition for at-bats. Both hit right-handed, making Joyce a potential platoon partner. (Both Cooper and Ramírez have been better without the platoon advantage to this point in their careers, although that tends to reverse itself over a larger sample size). Joyce has never played first base, but it’s at least possible (speculatively speaking) to imagine him occasionally spelling the right-handed Jesús Aguilar there as well. At the least, he figures to give manager Don Mattingly a deeper, more balanced bench as the Marlins continue to improve around the margins in hopes of being more competitive in 2020.
Marlins Designate Jarlin Garcia, Jose Quijada
The Marlins announced today that they have designated southpaws Jarlin Garcia and Jose Quijada for assignment. Their roster spots will go to Brandon Kintzler and Matt Joyce, whose signings are now official (see here and here).
Young hurlers continue to fly off the Miami 40-man roster. The club vowed to compile a strike-throwing relief corps entering the 2020 season, but it remains surprising to see so many pitchers flowing out — most of them to this point landing on other MLB rosters via claim or trade.
Garcia, 27, is entering his final pre-arbitration season after working to a 3.02 ERA over 50 2/3 innings in 2019. He managed only 6.9 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9, but did post a 46.9% groundball rate and had success at preventing home runs (0.71 per nine, 7.8% HR/FB). Garcia was exceptionally difficult for MLB hitters to square up; he held them to a 31.8% hard-hit rate that sat in the 84th percentile among pitchers leaguewide.
The 24-year-old Quijada had struggled quite a bit last year in his first taste of the majors. He was bombed for a 5.76 ERA in 29 2/3 innings, allowing 10 long balls on a whopping 34.5% HR/FB rate. But Quijada also showed he could get MLB hitters to swing and miss, as he has in the upper minors, by producing a 14.0% swinging-strike rate.
Free Agent Spending By Team: National League
With the clear exception of the still-unsigned Yasiel Puig, free agency is almost devoid of high-upside contributors at this point. The majority of players capable of securing guaranteed contracts have already come off the board, making this a good time to check in on which teams have spent the most and which clubs have paid the least via the open market. We’ve already gone through the same exercise for the American League, where the Yankees have returned to the top of the heap as the biggest spenders in their league and in the sport in general. Meanwhile, over in the Senior Circuit, reigning world champion Washington clearly isn’t resting on its laurels after a storybook playoff run…
Nationals: $316.75MM on 10 players (Stephen Strasburg, Will Harris, Daniel Hudson, Starlin Castro, Yan Gomes, Howie Kendrick, Eric Thames, Asdrubal Cabrera, Ryan Zimmerman and Kyle Finnegan; financial details unclear for Finnegan; top 50 MLBTR signings: four)
Reds: $164MM on four players (Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama and Wade Miley; top 50 signings: four)
Phillies: $132MM on two players (Zack Wheeler and Didi Gregorius; top 50 signings: two)
Braves: $116.25MM on nine players (Will Smith, Marcell Ozuna, Cole Hamels, Travis d’Arnaud, Chris Martin, Nick Markakis, Tyler Flowers, Darren O’Day, Adeiny Hechavarria; top 50 signings: five)
Diamondbacks: $109.65MM on five players (Madison Bumgarner, Kole Calhoun, Hector Rondon, Stephen Vogt and Junior Guerra; top 50 signings: two)
Brewers: $48.38MM on eight players (Avisail Garcia, Josh Lindblom, Justin Smoak, Brett Anderson, Eric Sogard, Alex Claudio, Ryon Healy and Deolis Guerra; financial details unclear for Healy and Guerra; top 50 signings: two)
Padres: $48MM on three players (Drew Pomeranz, Craig Stammen and Pierce Johnson; top 50 signings: three)
Mets: $24.35MM on four players (Dellin Betances, Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha and Brad Brach; top 50 signings: three)
Marlins: $23.855MM on five players (Corey Dickerson, Brandon Kintzler, Francisco Cervelli, Matt Joyce and Yimi Garcia; financial details unclear for Joyce; top 50 signings: one)
Giants: $17.775MM on four players (Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly, Tony Watson and Tyler Anderson; top 50 signings: one)
Dodgers: $15.25MM on three players (Blake Treinen, Alex Wood and Jimmy Nelson; top 50 signings: one)
Cardinals: $15MM on three players (Adam Wainwright, Kwang-hyun Kim and Matt Wieters; top 50 signings: one)
Cubs: $2.5MM on three players (Steven Souza Jr., Jeremy Jeffress and Ryan Tepera; top 50 signings: zero)
Pirates: Signed OF Guillermo Heredia and C Luke Maile (financial details unclear; top 50 signings: zero)
Rockies: Signed RHP Jose Mujica (financial details unclear; top 50 signings: zero)
NL Notes: Marlins, Brewers, Knebel, Taylor
We’ll round up a few notes from the Senior Circuit to finish the weekend.
- The Marlins are in ongoing negotiations with Sinclair Broadcast Group about a new TV rights contract, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The parties’ current deal, which will pay the club a league-low $20MM for broadcast rights on Fox Sports’ regional networks in 2020, expires at the end of the season. The figures the parties are discussing for 2021 and beyond are unclear. However, Jackson notes that the Marlins turned down an offer which would’ve paid north of $50MM annually in 2017; that offer was put on the table after the current Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter group agreed to buy the franchise, but before the franchise sale was completed, and new ownership preferred to negotiate the TV deal on their own. Whether that particular offer (or something higher) is still on the table isn’t known. What is apparent, however, is the new TV contract will be far more lucrative than the old deal, which could spur ownership to significantly increase spending on player payroll (Jackson estimates an extra potential $20MM annually) in future seasons.
- Brewers’ reliever Corey Knebel is progressing well from March 2019 Tommy John surgery, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). Knebel won’t be ready for the start of the season, but he’ll begin throwing from a mound next week as he ramps up his rehab, McCalvy reports. Knebel signed a one-year, $5.125MM contract to avoid arbitration in December, suggesting the club believes he’ll make an impact in 2020.
- Brewers’ outfielder Tyrone Taylor underwent minor surgery this offseason to repair a wrist injury, he told reporters (including McCalvy). Nevertheless, Taylor should be at full strength for the start of spring training. The 26-year-old has only 12 MLB plate appearances to his name. Coming off a passable two-year run in Triple-A and with Milwaukee having traded Trent Grisham to San Diego this offseason, though, Taylor has a shot to earn a reserve outfield spot in spring training.
Marlins To Sign Brandon Kintzler
The Marlins have agreed to a one-year contract with right-hander Brandon Kintzler, ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers reports. The deal will pay Kintzler $3.25MM in guaranteed money — $3MM in 2020 salary, and a $250K buyout of a $4MM club option for the 2021 season. In the event of a trade before the 2020 season is out, the 2021 club option increases to $5MM with a $500K buyout. Kintzler is represented by Kevin Kohler.
Miami has been linked to the 35-year-old Kintzler for the last few weeks, with MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reporting earlier today that the two sides were “working on a deal.” With Kintzler now in the fold, it would seemingly put an end to the Marlins’ pursuit of Pedro Strop, another former Cubs reliever Miami was also considering as a ninth-inning option.
Now, Kintzler will step back into a closer’s role for the first time since the 2017 season. Kintzler has spent the bulk of his career outside of save situations, though he did total 46 saves with the Twins and Nationals over the 2016-17 seasons. 2018, however, was a rougher ride for Kintzler, who struggled to a 7.00 ERA over 18 innings with the Cubs after the Nationals dealt him at the trade deadline.
After working to “simplify my mechanics” last Spring Training, Kintzler bounced back in impressive fashion, posting a 2.68 ERA, 3.69 K/BB rate, 7.6 K/9, and 54.7% grounder rate over 57 innings out of the Chicago bullpen in 2019. Despite being in the bottom eighth percentile of hard-hit ball rate, opposing batters couldn’t do much with that hard contact, as Kintzler also posted a low exit velocity (19th percentile) and limited batters to a .265 wOBA that was only slightly lower than his .286 xwOBA.
Kintzler brings some closing experience and, with 10 MLB seasons to his name, simply some experience overall to a mostly-young Marlins bullpen. With Kintzler looking like the favorite to handle the ninth inning, Miami can deploy Jose Urena, Ryne Stanek, Drew Steckenrider, or any other potential closer candidates in other high-leverage roles to gauge their readiness for any save situations. Since the Marlins are still rebuilding, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kintzler shopped at the trade deadline if the right-hander is pitching well, and the extra control offered by the 2021 club option could increase his trade value over pure rental pitchers.
Marlins Pursuing Brandon Kintzler
TODAY: The Marlins “are working on a deal” with Kintzler, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets.
JANUARY 24: The Marlins are a reported finalist for righty Pedro Strop, but they’re also “very much in pursuit” of right-hander Brandon Kintzler, tweets Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio. The Miami organization is hoping to entrust ninth-inning duties to one of those two veteran late-inning arms.
Both Strop and Kintzler have spent the past couple seasons with the Cubs. But while Strop is out on the market in hopes of enjoying a rebound season in 2020, Kintzler has already enjoyed a strong rebound effort and is hoping to cash in on his 2019 showing.
In 2018, the now-35-year-old Kintzler limped to a 4.60 ERA (4.10 FIP, 4.50 xFIP) through 60 2/3 innings between the Nationals and Cubs. He’d been sharp in D.C. but immediately scuffled in Chicago, posting a 7.00 ERA in 18 innings. It wasn’t at all the showing for which the Cubs had hoped and Kintzler unsurprisingly exercised a $5MM player option.
That 2018 hiccup now looks like more of an outlier, though, as Kintlzer recorded a career-best 2.68 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate. As usual, Kintzler’s low-spin sinker — where, unlike with four-seam heaters, less spin is considered a positive — generated plenty of grounders. He also more than doubled the amount he used his changeup and enjoyed an uptick on his swinging-strike rate against that particular offering.
Kintzler now has an ERA of 3.15 or better in three of the past four seasons. Going back seven years to his first full season in the bigs, he’s posted an ERA of 3.24 or better on five occasions, with the lone exceptions coming in 2018 and in 2015, when a knee injury wiped out most of his season (seven MLB innings, 19 in the minors). All told, he has a career 3.37 earned run average in 424 1/3 innings. And while his lifetime 6.3 K/9 mark isn’t the gaudy total one expects to see from a closer, Kintzler is no stranger to late-inning pressures. He’s tallied 49 saves in his big league tenure, thriving thanks to a quality 2.3 BB/9 mark and his robust 56.1 percent grounder rate.
Marlins, Rangers Reportedly Finalists To Sign Pedro Strop
The chase for Pedro Strop may not rate as national news, but it’s an important situation in the context of the remaining relief market. Perusing the slate of still-available pen pieces should convince you of that.
The group of pursuers was defined recently and seems now to have been culled again. The Marlins and Rangers are the two final clubs in the bidding, according to Hector Gomez of Deportivo Z 101 (Twitter link), with the Brewers and Cubs evidently exiting the picture.
For the Fish, Strop would represent something of a finishing flourish to an offseason full of bullpen movement. The Miami organization has dumped a whole lot of talented but unreliable younger hurlers and obviously has interest in plugging in a late-inning veteran.
Should he land instead in Texas, Strop would help buttress a unit that still has some uncertainty. Jose Leclerc and a resurgent Rafael Montero provide some potential fire at the back of the unit, but it’d be nice to pair Strop with Jesse Chavez to lock in some sturdy frames.
Strop has been a steady performer for years now, though he’s coming off of a down 2019. With injuries limiting his availability and effectiveness, the 34-year-old managed only a 4.97 ERA. More than anything, he (like many of his peers) was suddenly prone to the long ball, allowing about twice as many per nine innings as he had over the preceding five years. And a fairly significant velocity decline gave some cause for concern. But it’s not hard to envision a quick bounce back if Strop is at full health, as he still proved capable of inducing an enticing mix of swings and misses and groundballs.