Second Baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez Leaves Cuba, Seeks MLB Deal
One of the top players in Cuba, second baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez, has left the island and will seek a Major League contract, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America. Badler ranked Fernandez, 27, as the No. 3 player in Cuba back in April.
Because of his age and professional experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, Fernandez will be exempt from international bonus pools and free to sign a Major League contract for any amount of years and dollars. An exact timeframe is impossible to peg, as other Cuban free agents have demonstrated in the past. Fernandez first needs to establish residency in a different country and then be cleared by Major League Baseball before he’s eligible to sign. Badler expresses doubt that all of those steps will happen before Opening Day 2016.
Badler calls the 5’10”, 185-pound Fernandez MLB-ready, praising his short, quick left-handed stroke and excellent plate discipline. However, it’s been roughly a year since Fernandez saw in-game action, as he was suspended by the league for previously trying and (clearly) failing to defect early in the 2014-15 campaign. Last winter, Kiley McDaniel said on a Fangraphs podcast that Fernandez was being heavily guarded by police in Cuba after his failed attempt to defect.
Fernandez’s contact skills and keen eye are his best tools, as Badler notes that he has below-average power, isn’t particularly fleet of foot and is adequate, but not exceptional at second base from a defensive standpoint. He’s played third base in the past but doesn’t quite have the arm strength to profile at that position, Badler adds. On the flip side, Fernandez’s knack for making contact is astounding; he’s struck out just 113 times in 2,580 career plate appearances in Serie Nacional — a rate of just 4.3 percent. That number is even more impressive when juxtaposed with his 10.1 percent walk rate (263 walks in those 2,580 PAs). All told, Fernandez is a .319/.403/.423 hitter in his Cuban career, not including international tournaments like the 2013 World Baseball Classic, where he batted .524/.545/.667 in 21 at-bat without striking out, per Badler.
While Fernandez may not have the power or speed required to give him superstar upside, he’s a prime-aged, Major League ready second base option that seems capable of posting a strong OBP and hitting for a solid average in the Majors. That’s an appealing player even if he’s not an All-Star in the making, and clubs with deficiencies at second base — or, perhaps, teams that lose a second baseman to injury in Spring Training — figure to show interest in Fernandez if and when he is declared a free agent by the league.
Photo courtesy of Alyson Boyer Rode.
Marlins To Non-Tender Henderson Alvarez
The Marlins will non-tender right-hander Henderson Alvarez — their Opening Day starter from this past season — sources tell Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
The decision comes as somewhat of a surprise but seemingly indicates that the Marlins aren’t fully convinced that Alvarez will be able to contribute in 2016 as he recovers from right shoulder surgery that he underwent back in late July. Indications in September were that the Marlins felt comfortable tendering Alvarez, who projected to earn $4MM this year (per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), a contract for the 2016 season. However, recent reports have suggested that the team was no longer certain that would be the case, as Alvarez’s injury was expected to keep him out at least into the first month of the season.
Despite questions surrounding the health of his shoulder, Alvarez figures to draw widespread interest on the free-agent market. He’s still just 25 years of age (26 in April) and pitched to a sparkling 2.98 ERA with 5.2 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 53.6 percent ground-ball rate from 2013-14 when healthy in Miami (including a a no-hitter on the final day of the season in 2013).
Alvarez has just over four years of big league service under his belt, meaning that any club which signs him to a big league deal will be able to control him for not only the 2016 season but also the 2017 campaign, via the arbitration process. Alvarez has never been one to miss many bats, but he’s a well-regarded arm that could certainly slot into the middle of a big league rotation, so long as his shoulder allows him to do so.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Royals Non-Tender Greg Holland
The Royals announced that they have non-tendered injured closer Greg Holland as well as infielder Orlando Calixte (Twitter link). Holland, who would have been arbitration eligible for the final time this winter and came with a projected $11.3MM price tag, will enter the free-agent pool.
It’s been known for quite some time that the Royals would non-tender Holland, who underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year and missed the end of the season. Kansas City has expressed interest in working out a two-year contract that would allow the team to retain Holland, who was among the most dominant pitchers in baseball when healthy. Any contract would, of course, backload most of the salary into the second year of the deal, as Holland will almost certainly not take the mound in 2016 as he recovers from the operation.
Though it was a well-known possible outcome, the non-tender is nonetheless notable; due to the fact that the Royals weren’t able to strike up a two-year pact with Holland in advance of tonight’s deadline, he and agent Scott Boras will now have the opportunity to negotiate with all 29 other clubs to see if a more lucrative offer is available on the open market.
Greinke Likely To Decide Between Giants, Dodgers This Week
DEC. 2: ESPN’s Jayson Stark tweets that while Greinke’s preference is a six-year deal at an AAV north of Price, he’s also open to a five-year pact at a considerably higher AAV than he’d receive on a six-year contract.
DEC. 111:15pm: Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM tweets that a source close to the situation says Greinke will decide within the next 48 hours. Bowden adds that he expects Greinke to land a six-year deal worth $32MM annually, which would mean a $192MM total investment.
5:08pm: News of David Price‘s deal with the Red Sox is still fresh in the air, but another major decision may be relatively close, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that Zack Greinke could decide on his next contract “soon,” labeling it a matter of Dodgers vs. Giants, with a five- to six-year deal being the expectation. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds (Twitter link) that a Greinke decision is expected this week, noting that he, too, hears the Dodgers and Giants stand alone as the finalists. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Greinke is seeking an AAV that exceeds Price, so he could come in at $31.5MM to $32MM annually.
Greinke, like Price, finished runner-up in his league’s Cy Young voting this season despite the best single-season ERA mark by a qualified pitcher since Greg Maddux in 1995. He’s spent the past three seasons in L.A., working to a combined 2.30 ERA across 602 2/3 innings. Recently, Crasnick reported that the market for Greinke was “quietly heating up,” listing San Francisco and Los Angeles as the primary teams that were said to be seeking clarity in their pursuit of Greinke.
The fact that two division rivals are the top suitors for Greinke must be music to the ears of both the pitchers and his representatives at Excel Sports Management. However many wins either teams feels that Greinke can add to their future totals, the view could be made that failing to sign him will instead add those wins to the closest rival’s total, possibly increasing each team’s willingness to spend.
Both clubs are known to be seriously interested in Greinke, but Dodgers ownership partner Magic Johnson told Yahoo’s Tim Brown today that Greinke was the team’s “No. 1 priority” this offseason (Twitter link).
Orioles Acquire Mark Trumbo, C.J. Riefenhauser For Steve Clevenger
The Orioles don’t yet know whether Chris Davis will return to Baltimore, but they have a potential replacement on the roster now in the event that he signs elsewhere, as the team has announced the acquisition of Mark Trumbo and left-hander C.J. Riefenhauser from the Mariners in exchange for catcher Steve Clevenger.
Trumbo, 30 in January, provides insurance in the event that Davis does not return and can be an option in left field or at DH in the event that Davis is re-signed. Alternatively, the Orioles could deploy Trumbo at first base for his final season of club control and use Davis primarily in the corner outfield in 2016 before shifting him back to first base when Trumbo reaches free agency next winter.
Trumbo averaged 32 homers per season from 2011-13 with the Angels and D-backs, but injuries slowed him in 2014, and his power output declined a bit in 2015. In total, he’s a career .250/.300/.458 hitter with 30-homer power that is coming off a .262/.319/.449 season split between Arizona and Seattle. This marks the second time in the past three years that Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has traded Trumbo, as he sent him to Arizona in a three-team deal that netted Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago while serving as GM of the Angels.
From a defensive standpoint, Trumbo is limited. While he has experience at third base, in the corner outfield and at first base, he’s below average at the hot corner and in the outfield. While that limitation and his low on-base numbers suppress Trumbo’s value, he’s still a legitimate source of right-handed power that can handle first base. The Mariners don’t value that skill set at Trumbo’s projected $9.1MM salary, but he can certainly help the Orioles next season, and a move out of Safeco Field could benefit his overall production.
Riefenhauser, a 25-year-old southpaw, was acquired earlier in the winter in the trade that also delivered Nate Karns from the Rays, but will apparently never suit up for Seattle. Riefenhauser has yet to do much of use in the big leagues (6.30 ERA in 20 innings), but has put up excellent minor league numbers. In 113 innings at the Triple-A level, Riefenhauser has a 2.15 ERA to go along with averages of 8.7 strikeouts and 3.2 walks per nine innings pitched.
The 29-year-old Clevenger gives the Mariners a left-handed-hitting complement to Chris Iannetta and makes it easier for the club to give Mike Zunino some further development time at Triple-A. Clevenger, who also has experience at first base and third base, batted .287/.314/.426 with a pair of homers in 105 plate appearances in Baltimore last season. He’s been shuffled between the Majors and minors with the Cubs and Orioles over the past four seasons due primarily to questions about his defense, as he doesn’t have much to prove at the plate in Triple-A. The former seventh-round pick has never shown a great deal of power but consistently hits for average and gets on base at the top minor league level, where he’s a lifetime .310/.372/.413 hitter in 1061 plate appearances.
Clevenger is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to stick with the Major League club out of Spring Training in 2016. While he was projected to split time with Caleb Joseph behind the plate for the Orioles in 2016, a wrench was thrown into those plans when Matt Wieters accepted a qualifying offer. With Wieters and Joseph now slated to be the primary catching duo next season, Clevenger’s role with the team is uncertain.
The trade leaves the Mariners without a definitive answer at first base in 2016. With Trumbo now in Baltimore and Logan Morrison having been dealt to Tampa Bay in the aforementioned Riefenhauser trade, Seattle will likely look outside the organization to bring in a new first baseman. While some might speculate on the possibility of Davis — the man that could theoretically be replaced in Baltimore by Trumbo — Dipoto has operated primarily on the trade market to make his biggest additions thus far and has voiced a preference for that route to free agency. Considering the fact that Seattle has the top unprotected draft pick in 2016 (No. 11 overall), adding Davis would be more costly for the Mariners than any other club. None of that, of course, precludes a run at Davis, but it’s hard to envision him as the team’s top priority.
Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune first reported that a Trumbo-for-Clevenger swap was close. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports said an agreement was in place (Twitter link). Dutton and MLB.com’s Greg Johns said a second player was in the deal (Twitter links). Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweeted that Riefenhauser was the second player.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rangers Working On Deal For Backup Catcher
The Rangers have a deal in the works that would bring in a “backup type catcher,” according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan (Twitter links). If Texas pulls off the deal, says Sullivan, there could be an impact on its non-tender decisions this evening.
There are two backstops on the Rangers’ rolls of arbitration-eligible players: Chris Gimenez ($1MM projection) and Robinson Chirinos ($1.4MM). It seems unlikely that the latter would be displaced from the roster after averaging a league-average batting line and just over 300 plate appearances in each of the last two years. He can be controlled for two more seasons after this one.
Gimenez, though, could be at risk. Soon to be 33, he slashed an excellent .255/.330/.490 in just over one hundred plate appearances last year, but that doesn’t line up with his more modest career numbers. It’s certainly possible to imagine that Texas wouldn’t want to commit to giving him a roster spot if another option is added.
Tigers To Non-Tender Neftali Feliz
The Tigers will non-tender reliever Neftali Feliz, according to James Schmehl of MLive.com (via Twitter). He’ll join fellow right-handed reliever Al Alburquerque in reaching the open market rather than returning to Detroit via arbitration.
Feliz signed on with the Tigers over the summer after being cut loose by the Rangers. The 27-year-old was projected by MLBTR to earn $5.2MM. That’s rather a steep price, but his numbers were driven up by prior saves and the fact that he was in his final year of eligibility.
Things didn’t work out at all in Detroit, as the former closer scuffled to a 7.62 ERA in his 28 1/3 innings. That’s probably not a fair reflection of his efforts, as ERA estimators saw him more as a ~4.00 performer, but Feliz had been outperforming his peripherals for some time.
It’s been a remarkable fall for a pitcher who once looked like a future ace reliever — if not a high-quality starter. But teams will still probably look at Feliz as a nice rebound candidate: youth remains on his side and he still brings his fastball in the 94 to 95 mph range on average.
Twins Sign Byung-Ho Park
TODAY: Park can earn up to $1MM annually in incentives, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports on Twitter. They begin to kick in at the 400 plate appearance threshold, he adds.
YESTERDAY: The Twins have officially struck a four-year, $12MM deal with Korean first baseman Byung-ho Park that includes a $6.5MM club option ($500K buyout) for the 2020 campaign. Minnesota will pay Park $2.75MM annually for the deal’s first two seasons and then $3MM apiece in 2018 and 2019.
Park, 29, is a client of Alan Nero and Octagon Baseball. A deal was said to be highly likely as he traveled to the U.S. this week. Minnesota had won the rights to negotiate with the KBO star after promising a posting bid of $12.85MM to his now-former club, the Nexen Heroes. The Twins’ total commitment, then, will be just under $25MM.
In the end, Park’s guarantee will beat that of former teammate Jung Ho Kang by just $1MM. On the other hand, Nexen will clear over $7MM more in the more recent posting transaction. Park was only able to negotiate with one team through the KBO posting process — which is different from the new rules applicable to Japan’s NPB. Though Park could also have chosen to wait to come over until the winter of 2017-18, when he would have officially become a free agent, that would have taken away his chance to play in the majors for his late-prime years.
Park increasingly reached the MLB radar after two straight seasons in which he put up massive numbers in the hitter-friendly KBO. When Kang successfully transitioned to the bigs, the stage was set for Park to follow.
The right-handed-hitting slugger blasted 53 long balls and turned in a rather productive .343/.436/.714 slash line last year. While nobody expects that to carry over directly, scouts have said that his power is real. Indeed, one told MLBTR’s Steve Adams that there’s “no doubt” he’ll deliver pop in the majors while praising his athleticism. Park is also said to be a solid gloveman at first.
For the Twins, it seems that Park will likely see most of his time at first base and in the DH slot, possibly sharing both positions with Joe Mauer. Minnesota still needs to decide how to get Miguel Sano in the lineup; slotting him at third could dovetail with a trade of Trevor Plouffe, or the organization could roll the dice that he’ll transition well to left field. Regardless, the investment in Park suggests that he’ll be expected to receive fairly regular at bats.
Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com first reported the signing on Twitter. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported the total guarantee via Twitter. And MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger tweeted the option.
Photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins communications department.
Athletics, Padres Swap Drew Pomeranz, Yonder Alonso
The Athletics and Padres have announced a deal that will send first baseman Yonder Alonso and southpaw reliever Mark Rzepczynski to Oakland in exchange for lefties Drew Pomeranz and Jose Torres. There’s also a player to be named later heading to San Diego.
This deal is clearly motivated in large part by today’s non-tender deadline, as it involves several pieces with arbitration implications. MLBTR projects Alonso to earn $2.5MM in his second-to-last season of eligibility and Rzepczynski to take home $3MM in his pre-free agent campaign. Pomeranz, in turn, projects at $1.3MM as a first-year-eligible player.
By adding Alonso, moreover, the A’s now seem all but certain to move on from fellow lefty-swinging first baseman Ike Davis, who is projected for a $3.8MM salary but will likely end up a free agent. Presumably, Alonso will pair with the right-handed-hitting Mark Canha in a first base platoon. The 28-year-old Alonso has never quite lived up to expectations in San Diego, and the power has never really come around, but he does have excellent on-base abilities. He put up a .282/.361/.381 slash in 402 plate appearances last year.
In Rzepczynski, meanwhile, Oakland adds another pen piece as the team continues to bolster its relief corps. The 30-year-old put up an unsightly 5.66 ERA last year, but that could well have been the product of some ill fortune, as reflected in a .381 BABIP-against and 25% HR/FB rate. He posted a strong 10.5 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 while generating a ridiculous 67.3% groundball rate, and ERA estimators valued him as a much stronger contributor than the results suggested.
On the Padres’ side of the deal, Pomeranz has emerged as a solid swingman option since coming to Oakland before the 2014 season. Last year, he tossed 86 innings (including nine starts) and posted a 3.66 ERA with 8.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Pomeranz was much more effective against lefties than righties last year, but he came up as a starter and could certainly be given a chance to operate from the rotation for San Diego. Though he did just undergo a shoulder procedure, the 27-year-old is reportedly expected to be ready to go when camp opens.
Meanwhile, though the 22-year-old Torres only cracked the High-A level late last year, he was just added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper tweets that Torres works into the mid-nineties with his fastball and has made strides with controlling his secondary offering (a curve).
ESPN.com’s Keith Law reported the major pieces of the deal on Twitter. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the deal was done (via Twitter).
Terry Ryan: Twins Plan To Keep Trevor Plouffe
Twins GM Terry Ryan does not intend to deal third baseman Trevor Plouffe, he told reporters today at the press conference announcing the signing of Byung Ho Park. (Via LaVelle A. Neal III of the Star Tribune, Twitter links.)
Plouffe, 29, has emerged as a sturdy option at the hot corner over the last several years. In 2015, he put up a league-average .244/.307/.435 slash, with 22 home runs, while showing a solid glove at third.
A deal of Plouffe had seemed a distinct possibility with the addition of Park, who will see significant time at DH and thus push top young slugger Miguel Sano onto the field. Sano has long been considered a third baseman, but Ryan says the hefty 22-year-old will be moved to the outfield, as the team has previously suggested could be the case.
If Minnesota holds firm in its stance, then the third base trade market will lose one of its most appealing potential options. And the Twins will keep Plouffe’s projected $7.7MM salary on the books.
For Ryan, the possibility of freeing some payroll and getting something back for Plouffe isn’t worth the trade-off. “We had trouble scoring runs last year,” he said. “We’re going to go with what we’ve got.”