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AL Central Notes: Alvarez, Gonzalez, White Sox, Balester

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Here’s the latest from around the AL Central…

  • The Twins’ reported interest in Pedro Alvarez has been “overstated,” a team source tells 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link).  FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported earlier this week that Minnesota at least held some internal discussion about signing the slugger, who would join Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas in the first base/DH mix.  Wolfson believes the Twins could sign Alvarez only if he could be had on an inexpensive one-year deal.
  • Several teams have asked about Indians infielder Erik Gonzalez, though Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer hears from one team source that Gonzalez “is a real possibility” for a utility infield role for the Tribe.  Gonzalez, 25, has a .274/.316/.395 slash line over 2986 career plate appearances in Cleveland’s minor league system, and he got his first taste of MLB action last season in the form of 21 games for the Tribe.  While he has spent the bulk of his career as a shortstop, Gonzalez also has significant experience at second and third base, plus some time at first, center field and right field.  MLBPipeline.com ranks Gonzalez as the eighth-best prospect in Cleveland’s system, praising his defensive work at short and his above-average speed.  As Pluto notes, Gonzalez would appear to offer more upside than veteran Michael Martinez, who could be the top competition for a utility infield job.
  • “Critical mass” is what White Sox GM Rick Hahn hopes to achieve in terms of stockpiling young talent during the team’s rebuild, MLB.com’s Scott Merkin writes.  The Sox want to add as many good minor leaguers as possible both to give them options now and in the future as depth.  “The last few years we’ve had a very top-heavy roster and the reason we haven’t won had nothing to do with the quality players at the top end of that roster,” Hahn said. “When the time comes that we are in a position to contend again, we are going to be approaching that with ideally a much deeper, more thoroughly balanced roster than what we had.  It had to do with what was going on with not just one through 25, but one through 35 or 40.  So now as we approach this, we have to build that organizational quality depth, not just insurance policies, but real high-caliber depth.”
  • Collin Balester took a short break from baseball last summer in the wake of a disappointing stint in South Korea, and the righty tells Anthony Fenech of the Detroit News that he is now healthy and looking forward to continuing his career in the Tigers farm system.  Balester said he was at something of a low point last year and even questioned his future in the game.  His spirits rose, however, after he began throwing last November without any elbow issues, and Balester then contacted the Tigers about a minor league deal (which he signed in December).

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/10/17

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Here are the latest minor moves from around the league:

  • The Rangers have added backstop Brett Hayes on a minor-league deal, as Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News recently tweeted. Soon to turn 33, Hayes has appeared in seven MLB campaigns, though he has accumulated just 464 big league plate appearances in that span. He compiled a .205/.250/.359 lifetime batting line in the bigs. Last year, Hayes failed to crack the game’s highest level but spent time at Triple-A in the Diamondbacks and White Sox organizations.
  • Also joining the Rangers on a non-roster arrangement is righty Anthony Bass, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). Bass, 29, spent last year pitching in Japan, where he put up 3.65 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 over 103 2/3 innings split between the rotation and bullpen. He had appeared in each of the five prior MLB seasons — most recently with Texas — pitching to a 4.40 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 across 278 1/3 frames.
  • Lefty Luis Perez is heading to the Indians on a minors pact, the club announced. Like Bass, the 32-year-old Perez will return from a NPB stint. He struggled with his control in a brief run with the Yakult Swallows and hasn’t seen the big leagues since 2013. In his three seasons with the Blue Jays, Perez compiled a 4.50 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 112 frames.
  • Outfielder Joey Butler is joining the Nationals on a minor-league deal, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Butler, who’ll turn 31 in March, scuffled last year at the Triple-A level with the Indians organization and never earned a call-up. But he had provided the Rays with 276 plate appearances of .276/.326/.416 hitting in the season prior.
  • The Twins inked a minors pact with outfielder Quintin Berry, Cotillo also tweets. The speedy Berry broke into the league in 2012 with the Tigers as a fourth outfielder, but hasn’t seen much big league time since. He appeared in every postseason round in both 2012 and 2013, receiving little in the way of playing time but nevertheless swiping five bases. Last year, the 32-year-old hit .261/.341/.313 and swiped 35 bags at the Triple-A level with the Angels and Blue Jays organizations.

Twins Notes: Napoli, Alvarez, Perkins

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The Twins offered Mike Napoli more money than he ultimately accepted from the Rangers, reports FOX’s Ken Rosenthal, as new execs Derek Falvey and Thad Levine valued his on-field productivity and his clubhouse presence. Both Falvey and Levine know Napoli well from his time with the Indians and Rangers, and the new Twins duo is emphasizing not only on-field production but off-the-field value in all of their decisions. “Talent is an aspect of any decision we make,” Falvey told Rosenthal. “But there is an element of clubhouse chemistry that also plays a role in organization-building. We’re going to talk about leadership, makeup and how guys fit in our clubhouse along with how we feel they will perform.” 

More from Minnesota:

  • 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson noted in his most recent podcast (audio link, Twins talk around 10:10 mark) that the Twins got the sense they’d have had to blow the Rangers’ offer out of the water to convince Napoli to sign in Minnesota — perhaps a two-year offer worth nearly $10MM annually — as the veteran slugger was prioritizing contending clubs in free agency. It’s certainly understandable that the organization wasn’t willing to make quite so significant a commitment.
  • Missing on Napoli has left the Twins looking for alternatives, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports on Twitter. Lefty slugger Pedro Alvarez is one player who has received at least internal considerations; as Heyman notes, there are a variety of other possibilities also still available via free agency. Most of the better remaining bats are left-handed hitters — including, most prominently, Alvarez, Adam Lind, Justin Morneau, and Ryan Howard — whereas Napoli hits from the right side, but it seems that the organization does not have a strong preference in that regard. Presumptive first baseman Joe Mauer is a lefty bat, but top DH option Kennys Vargas is a switch-hitter who has performed better in the majors when facing southpaws. (Byung Ho Park represents another righty option, if he can earn his way back into 40-man consideration.)
  • Mound work will have to wait for lefty Glen Perkins, as LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. The former closer “felt a familiar catch behind his left shoulder,” per the report, which caused him to delay a planned throwing session today. Though Neal notes on Twitter that it wasn’t considered a setback, it seems that Perkins will need to continue building his arm strength before he’s ready to advance in his progression. The veteran reliever is attempting to make it back from labrum surgery, with hopes he’ll be capable of returning to major league action relatively early in the 2017 season.

Pirates Acquire Pat Light, Designate Lisalverto Bonilla For Assignment

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The Pirates announced that they’ve acquired hard-throwing right-hander Pat Light from the Twins in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Pirates designated fellow right-hander Lisalverto Bonilla for assignment. Minnesota had designated Light for assignment last weekend when they claimed infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers. It seems as if the Twins will be receiving cash, as opposed to a player, as Minnesota’s announcement made no mention of a possible PTBNL.

Light, 26 next month, long rated as one of the more promising farmhands in the Red Sox organization, but Boston parted ways with him to acquire southpaw Fernando Abad prior to last year’s non-waiver trade deadline. Light made his big league debut last season but allowed 22 runs in 16 1/3 innings with 16 strikeouts against 16 walks.

Control has been an issue for Light in the past two minor league seasons, as he has walked 56 batters in 100 2/3 innings in that time. He did, however, average nearly 95 mph on his fastball during his brief 2016 call-ups, and he also logged a 54.4 percent ground-ball rate. Both factors likely piqued the interest of the Pirates, who place a heavy emphasis on ground-ball tendencies.

Bonilla, 26, hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2014. The former Phillies/Rangers prospect underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015 but worked his way back to health with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016. In 111 innings split between the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates of the Dodgers, Bonilla logged a 3.97 earned run average with a 118-to-40 K/BB ratio. His short stint in the Majors back in 2014 resulted in a 3.05 ERA and a 17-to-12 K/BB ratio in 20 2/3 innings. The Bucs had signed Bonilla to a Major League deal earlier this offseason.

Byung Ho Park Clears Waivers, Outrighted To Triple-A

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First baseman/designated hitter Byung Ho Park has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the Twins’ 40-man roster, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The team has since announced the move. Park will be in camp with the Twins as a non-roster invitee in Spring Training.

Park was somewhat surprisingly designated for assignment last week in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Matt Belisle, who signed as a free agent. However, the guaranteed $9.25MM remaining on Park’s contract allowed him to pass through waivers unclaimed, and he’ll now remain with the Twins and vie for a job in camp or early this season after getting in some work with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester.

The 30-year-old Park was a superstar in the Korea Baseball Organization prior to being posted by the Nexen Heroes, and the Twins secured exclusive negotiation rights with him in December 2015 by submitting a blind bid of $12.85MM. Minnesota and Park’s representatives at Octagon worked out a four-year, $12MM contract that came with a fifth-year club option, and Park was penciled in as Minnesota’s primary DH heading into the 2016 campaign.

Park rallied after a slow first week and was hitting .257/.339/.578 with nine homers through his first 124 plate appearances. Strikeouts were a problem for Park from the get-go, however, and his production fell off the table before a June demotion to Triple-A. With Rochester, Park was eventually sidelined by a wrist injury that ultimately required surgical repair. The slugger wouldn’t blame his struggles in the Majors on the injury, though it’s certainly possible that Park’s ailing wrist/hand contributed to his .191/.275/.409 slash in the Majors.

Twins Designate Byung Ho Park For Assignment

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FEB. 8: Park has been placed on waivers, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter), so he won’t be traded.

FEB. 3, 1:17pm: La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets that the expectation is that Park will clear waivers due to the remaining salary on his contract and report to Spring Training as a non-roster invite. Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes that there’s no plan from Park’s camp to return to Korea.

11:11am: In a fairly surprising move, the Twins announced that they’ve designated first baseman Byung Ho Park for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Matt Belisle, whose one-year deal with the team is now official.

Park’s DFA comes just one year into a four-year, $12MM contract signed with Minnesota last winter (which came on top of a $12.85MM posting fee paid by the Twins to acquire negotiation rights with the former KBO slugger). He’s still guaranteed $9.25MM over the life of the next three seasons, so there’s a good chance that Park will clear waivers if the Twins go that route. At that point, he’s be able to work on his swing in Triple-A and potentially return at some point in 2017.

The 30-year-old Park arrived in Minnesota with lofty expectations after blasting a combined 105 home runs in his final two KBO seasons. While Park’s power was as advertised — he homered 12 times and posted a .219 ISO in 244 plate appearances — strikeouts also proved to be a problem, as he punched out in 32.8 percent of his plate appearances.

Overall, Park posted a disappointing .191/.275/.409 batting line with the Twins, although it’s certainly worth noting that he ultimately proved to have a wrist injury that required surgical repair. And, Park did bat .257/.339/.578 with nine homers through his first 124 plate appearances in Minnesota (albeit with 38 strikeouts) in addition to showing well in a number of Statcast categories, including exit velocity and barreled balls (as recently examined by Fangraphs’ Travis Sawchik).

The Twins could also explore trade scenarios involving Park. While he’s unlikely to carry significant value given his poor debut season, a team looking to acquire a right-handed bat at first base/DH could consider Park a reasonable roll of the dice. He’s controlled for three years at what figures to be a comparable price to the one Mike Napoli will command in free agency, so there’s certainly a degree of financial upside present, as one can only assume that the cost of acquisition would be low at this juncture.

Further expounding upon that point, the Twins themselves have been a rumored landing spot for Napoli in recent weeks, and jettisoning Park from the 40-man roster creates one potential avenue of adding a more veteran right-handed bat to the picture in Minnesota.

Twins, Drew Stubbs Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran outfielder Drew Stubbs, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). The Lagardere Sports client will be invited to Major League Spring Training and compete for a role with the club.

Minnesota’s outfield currently figures to feature Eddie Rosario in left field, Byron Buxton in center field and Max Kepler in right field, so there won’t be a clear-cut starting role for Stubbs to pursue. However, both Rosario and Kepler hit left-handed and have struggled against same-handed pitching to this point in their young careers, making Stubbs a potential platoon partner. In 841 career plate appearances against lefties, Stubbs is a .272/.348/.444 hitter with a 10.3 percent walk rate but a more troubling 29.8 percent strikeout rate.

Switch-hitting Robbie Grossman could be a better option than Stubbs against left-handed pitching, as most of his damage is done from the right side of the dish, but Stubbs is a considerably superior defender that is also capable of playing center field. Converted infielder Danny Santana is also in the mix for an outfield role, and he’s out of minor league options, which could give him a leg up with a solid spring performance.

The 32-year-old Stubbs was once regarded as one of the game’s top all-around prospects and showed a nice mix of power and speed early in his career with the Reds, but his production has tapered off, relegating him to reserve role in recent seasons. Last year, he appeared with the Braves, Rangers and Orioles in the Majors in 2016, batting a combined .225/.330/.338 in 94 trips to the plate. He hasn’t received regular work in the Majors since a monster 2014 season with the Rockies, during which he hit .289/.339/.482 with 15 homers and 20 stolen bases.

Royals, Cubs, Nationals Among Teams At Seth Maness Workout

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TUESDAY: The Brewers, Reds, Indians, Orioles, Astros and Twins also sent scouts to observe Maness’ workout, according to Goold.

MONDAY: Scouts from at least 16 Major League clubs were on-hand today to watch free agent right-hander Seth Maness work out, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Instagram). Per Goold, the Royals, Cubs and Nationals were all represented at Maness’ audition.

Maness’ showcase is especially intriguing due to the circumstances surrounding his injury. The 28-year-old suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament last summer and underwent surgery in August, but he elected to undergo an experimental “primary repair” surgery that, if successful, could represent a potential alternative to Tommy John surgery. Not every pitcher with a torn UCL can turn to the primary repair procedure as an alternative — the operation is dependent on the location and extent of the ligament tear — but certainly a return to health for Maness in seven and a half months would pique the interest of others with similar diagnoses around the league. (Those who are interested in the matter and missed Goold’s column on Maness last month should absolutely take the time to read through his breakdown of the operation itself and the larger-reaching potential implications of the surgery.)

The 28-year-old Maness was a fixture in the St. Louis bullpen from 2013-16, racking up 237 1/3 innings with a 3.19 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a hefty 59.4 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Last season, however, he logged a 3.41 ERA with career worst K/9 and BB/9 rates of 4.6 and 2.3, respectively. Following the August operation, the Cardinals non-tendered him rather than pay him a projected $1.6MM via arbitration (projection via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).

As an added bonus for any club that ultimately signs Maness, if he is indeed able to return and pitch at a high level, he’d remain under club control not just for the 2017 season but through the 2019 season. Maness wrapped up the 2016 campaign with three years and 154 days of Major League service time, so he’d be arbitration-eligible in each of the next two winters before hitting free agency in advance of his age-31 season.

AL Notes: Twins, Park, Orioles, Logan

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Correcting a previous report, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Twins will not release designated hitter/first baseman Byung Ho Park if they’re unable to trade him. Park has been in limbo since Minnesota designated him for assignment last Friday and looks poised to head to camp as a non-roster invitee. The Twins owe the 30-year-old $9.25MM through the 2019 season.

Now here’s the latest out of Baltimore, courtesy of Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com:

  • Orioles general manager Dan Duquette informed Kubatko he’s “looking for some more depth” to add to the team’s bullpen, and he’s not going to discriminate based on handedness. Baltimore was eyeing lefty Boone Logan before he agreed to a deal with the Indians last week, Duquette confirmed, but it seems he was well out of the club’s price range. The Orioles would prefer signing someone to a minor league deal, per Kubatko, who notes that one reason they haven’t re-upped free agent right-hander Tommy Hunter is because he’s seeking a major league pact.
  • Free agent outfielder Nolan Reimold has spent nearly his entire career with the Orioles since they selected him in the second round of the 2005 draft, but they haven’t shown any interest in re-signing him, according to Kubatko. The right-handed-hitting Reimold, 33, has fared respectably at the plate in his career (.246/.323/.422 in 1,556 trips), though he registered a disappointing .222/.300/.365 line in 227 PAs last season to perhaps conclude his O’s tenure. Behind lefty-swinging corner outfielders Seth Smith and Hyun Soo Kim, the Reimold-less Orioles have a righty-hitting reserve in Joey Rickard, who handled southpaws over a small sample size as a rookie in 2016 (.313/.367/.494 in 90 PAs).
  • The Orioles’ signing of infielder Robert Andino to a minor league deal Monday may have closed the book on free agent Paul Janish’s time with the organization, Duquette told Kubatko. “We’ve been looking for a veteran shortstop and I’m not sure Paul Janish is going to come back to the O’s,” said Duquette. “So we had been talking to Janish and some others and then Andino reached out to us through Adam Jones. And he let Buck (Showalter) know that he was looking for a job and wanted to come back. So, we followed up with his agent.” The defensively adept Janish, who elected free agency after the Orioles outrighted him in October, totaled a combined 71 plate appearances with the team from 2015-16.

Quick Hits: Analytics, Reds, Phillies, Sano

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Now that the Cardinals/Astros data breach scandal has seemingly come to an end, The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh contacted several sources in various organizational jobs around baseball to ask how various teams protect their proprietary data and intellectual property.  This extends not just to hacking and other illegal accessing of a team’s information, but also what happens when a front office member with knowledge of certain processes and information simply leaves for a job with another franchise.  The piece is a very interesting look inside the purposely-secretive world of analytics departments and is well worth a full read.  Here’s some more from around baseball….

  • While Devin Mesoraco’s health is still a big question mark, Reds GM Dick Williams tells MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon that the team isn’t planning to add a veteran catcher on a minor league deal.  “I don’t see any major signing there.  We’ll just have to see how [Mesoraco] responds and whether or not we have enough guys to cover the issues.”  Behind Mesoraco, Tucker Barnhart and Rule 5 pick Stuart Turner are the top catching options on Cincinnati’s depth chart.
  • Williams also provided updates on Desmond Jennings and Bronson Arroyo, who are both reportedly on the verge of signing minor league deals with the Reds.  Jennings’ deal is “close” to being done, Williams said, while Arroyo’s deal has been worked out “will take a couple of days to get that physically signed.”
  • The Phillies have made some solid offensive upgrades, as David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer feels the additions of Howie Kendrick, Michael Saunders and Chris Coghlan give the Phils “a fighting chance at fielding a middle-of-the-pack offense this season.”  There’s really nowhere to go but up for the Phillies (who scored the fewest runs in baseball in 2016) but they did add some lineup versatility and veteran experience, and they retained flexibility in their rebuilding process since none of the trio are guaranteed beyond 2017.
  • Miguel Sano’s ability to play third base is key to the Twins’ future plans, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (subscription required).  After an ill-advised experiment as a right fielder last year, Sano is back at the hot corner, where he has displayed roughly average glovework (3.9 UZR/150, minus-3 Defensive Runs Saved) in a brief sample size of 453 innings.  According to Olney, some in the previous Twins front office felt moving Sano into a primary DH role so early in his career could be a detriment to his conditioning and lower his overall value as a player.
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