NPB’s Yomiuri Giants Re-Sign Thyago Vieira, Zelous Wheeler
The Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball have re-signed right-hander Thyago Vieira and first baseman/outfielder Zelous Wheeler, according to reports out of Japan. Both players will be entering their third season with the Giants, though Wheeler is a longtime veteran of NPB, having also played with the Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2015-2019.
Vieira tossed 25 2/3 innings over parts of three seasons with the Mariners and White Sox from 2017-19, with a 7.36 ERA to show from this brief taste of the majors. The hard-throwing righty found his groove after joining the Tokyo-based Giants prior to the 2020 campaign, and he has a 3.04 ERA and a 26.9% strikeout rate over 80 relief innings in the last two seasons. A 12.4% walk rate represents the down side of those numbers, as Vieira’s big fastball has been undermined by a lack of control both in American and Japanese baseball.
Back in October, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that as many as five big league clubs had interest in bringing Vieira back to North America, though no deal materialized prior to the lockout. It could be that Vieira simply preferred to remain in a familiar environment rather than compete with a rush of other pitchers scrambling for contracts once the transactions freeze eventually ends, as there wasn’t necessarily a sure thing that Vieira would even have landed a guaranteed Major League deal.
Wheeler turns 35 next month, and though his only MLB experience was 62 plate appearances with the Yankees in 2014, the veteran is now set to enter his 16th season in pro ball. A 19th-round pick for the Brewers back in 2007, Wheeler spent eight years in the Milwaukee, Baltimore, and New York organizations before embarking on what has become a lengthy stint in Japan. Wheeler has hit .264/.339/.458 with 133 home runs over his 3107 plate appearances in NPB, bouncing back from a down year in 2020 to hit .290/.358/.477 with 15 homers in 439 PA for last season’s Giants club.
Chris Gittens Signs With Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
First baseman Chris Gittens has agreed to a contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per a team announcement. Gittens was released by the Yankees at the end of November, just prior to the beginning of the lockout. At that time, it was reported that the Yanks had granted him his release in order to allow him to pursue an opportunity with an NPB team.
Gittens has spent the entirety of his professional career thus far in the Yankees organization, having been drafted by them in 2014. Gittens has always hit well in the minors, but has limited roster versatility due to the fact that he’s only ever played first base. In 2021, he played 45 games at Triple-A and absolutely crushed, slashing .301/.440/.644, for an incredible wRC+ of 185. He couldn’t translate that production to the major league level, as he hit .111/.250/.194 in his first season of MLB action. However, due to bouncing between the two levels and sustaining a few injuries, that was a small sample of 44 plate appearances in 16 MLB games.
Gittens was potentially facing a similar situation in 2022, as he still has option years remaining and didn’t have a clear path to playing time in the Bronx. Luke Voit is currently pencilled in at first for the Yanks, and they have also been connected to other first basemen this offseason, such as Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo and Matt Olson. There’s also the potential of the club adding to another infield position and pushing DJ Lemahieu into some first base duty.
For Gittens, who turns 28 in February, he will now have greater certainty about his job status and likely an increase in salary as well. If he is able to hit NPB pitching at a level anywhere close to the level he’s shown in the minors, he should be able to garner interest from MLB teams in bringing him back to North America, following the trajectory of other sluggers who returned after overseas success, such as Eric Thames or Darin Ruf.
Andrew Suarez Signs With NPB’s Yakult Swallows
Left-hander Andrew Suarez has signed with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2022 season, per a club announcement (link via Yahoo Japan). It’ll be the first season in Japan for the lefty, who spent the 2021 season with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization.
Suarez, 29, will head to Japan on the heels of an outstanding season in the KBO. The lefty in 23 games (22 of them starts) and worked to a pristine 2.18 ERA and 2.72 FIP with an impressive 26.6% strikeout rate, a solid 8.7% walk rate and a huge 57.1% ground-ball rate through a total of 115 2/3 innings. Given that success and his relative youth — Suarez won’t turn 30 until next September — it stands to reason that a strong season in Japan would go a long ways toward putting him back on the MLB map as a free agent.
Suarez, after all, is only three seasons removed from a pretty sound debut campaign with the 2018 Giants. That season saw the 2015 second-rounder rack up 160 1/3 innings of 4.49 ERA ball with a 19.5% strikeout rate that was below the league average but a 6.8% walk rate and 51.3% grounder rate that were both considerably better than the average big league pitcher.
Despite that solid showing and some shakiness at the back of the San Francisco rotation in his sophomore season, Suarez was used almost exclusively as a reliever the following year in 2019. He didn’t take well to the change, scuffling to a 5.79 ERA in a small-ish sample of 32 2/3 innings. Suarez saw even less MLB time in 2020 after the acquisitions of Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly, Tyler Anderson and Trevor Cahill; he logged just 9 2/3 frames out of the bullpen that season and had his contract purchased by the KBO’s Twins that offseason.
In an odd coincidence, Suarez will continue down a similar career path to 32-year-old righty and similarly named Albert Suarez (no relation). Both made their Major League debuts with the Giants within the past five years and have seen their only MLB action come with San Francisco — Albert from 2016-17 (4.51 ERA in 115 2/3 innings) and Andrew from 2018-20 (4.66 ERA in 202 2/3 innings). The similarities don’t stop there; Albert has spent the past three seasons pitching for the same Swallows club that Andrew will now join. Albert departed the Yakult organization as a free agent this winter and signed in the KBO — albeit with the Samsung Lions and not Andrew’s former Twins.
Time will tell whether either pitcher will make it back to the big leagues, but the younger Suarez has certainly taken some promising steps down that path. Andrew’s 2021 campaign in Japan will be particularly worth monitoring for big league clubs who are eyeing 2022 rotation help.
Colin Rea Signs With Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have announced the signing of right-hander Colin Rea (as per Yahoo Japan). Rea will return to the Hawks for the second straight season, and after something of a rushed departure last summer.
After initially signing with the Japanese club last winter, Rea pitched quite well (2.03 ERA, 25.33% strikeout rate) over 40 innings before he left the Hawks in August to be with his family, following the premature birth of his child back in the United States. Rea ended up catching on with the Brewers on a minor league contract, resulting in 35 2/3 innings at Triple-A and then a single game in the big leagues, tossing six innings of bulk-pitcher duty in the Brew Crew’s second-last game of the regular season.
It was enough to put a fourth MLB season on Rea’s professional resume, as Rea tossed 134 1/3 innings with the Marlins and Padres in 2015-16 before Tommy John surgery interrupted his career. He returned to throw 14 innings with the Cubs in 2020, and while the two sides worked out a one-year deal to avoid arbitration heading into the 2021 season, Rea was allowed to pursue that deal with the Hawks since he ultimately wasn’t in Chicago’s long-term plans.
Rea’s performance last season bodes well for more success in NPB, and his chances of re-establishing himself as a solid rotation candidate either in Japan or potentially for another return to a Major League team. Originally a 12th-round pick for the Padres in the 2011 draft, Rea has worked as a starter for the majority of his career. The 31-year-old isn’t a particularly hard thrower or a big strikeout pitcher, but he has a solid 3.68 ERA over 742 2/3 career innings in the minors, as well as a 4.90 ERA over his 154 1/3 frames at the big league level.
Freddy Galvis Agrees To Two-Year Deal With NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
TODAY: Galvis’ deal could pay him up to $6MM, according to reports out of Japan (hat tip to The Associated Press).
DEC. 12: Galvis has agreed to a two-year contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).
DEC. 4: Infielder Freddy Galvis appears to be close to a move overseas, as reports from Yahoo Japan indicate that Galvis is nearing a contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball.
Should the move be finalized, it would count as a bit of a surprise. While there hadn’t been much buzz about Galvis’ free agent market to date, he was widely expected to generate interest either for either contending or non-contending teams that were looking for a lower-cost middle infield option.
Instead, a move to Japan indicates that perhaps Galvis was worried about being caught up in a signing crunch that may take place for mid-to-lower tier free agents once the lockout ends. The sheer volume of players looking for jobs may force some to settle for smaller guaranteed salaries or even minor league contracts. If the Hawks are offering more security in the form of a multi-year contract and a guaranteed salary, taking such a deal would allow Galvis to sidestep the lockout entirely and instead focus only on his on-field preparations for 2022 (albeit in a whole new country and new league).
Galvis hit .242/.302/.407 with 14 home runs over 394 combined plate appearances with the Orioles and Phillies in 2021. After signing a one-year, $1.5MM deal with Baltimore last winter, he was dealt to the Phils at the trade deadline, despite still being on the injured list recovering from a right quad strain. Galvis ended up missing close to two months of the regular season, and his 104 games played represents his lowest total (2020 excepted) since he played 43 games in 2014.
The 32-year-old Galvis has been an everyday player for most of the last seven seasons, playing as an every shortstop (with significant chunks of time as a second baseman and third baseman) with the Padres, Blue Jays, Reds, Orioles, and in two different stints in Philadelphia. With a modest .246/.292/.387 slash line over 4238 PA, Galvis relied more on strong glovework and some decent baserunning over his career, though he has shown some power on occasion, including a 23-homer season in 2019.
Most of the headlines about the offseason shortstop market have naturally focused on the superstars available in free agency, with Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Javier Baez, and Chris Taylor already finding new teams. Carlos Correa and Trevor Story remain among the big-ticket names, and some clubs might wait to see where those two sign before attention can fully turn to the next tier of available shortstops. With Galvis perhaps gone to the Hawks, it creates more opportunity for the likes of Andrelton Simmons, Jose Iglesias, or Jonathan Villar to find regular jobs with MLB teams that either miss out on Correa/Story or couldn’t afford them in the first place.
Matt Andriese To Sign With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants
Dec. 18: Andriese’s deal with the Yomiuri Giants is worth $2.1MM plus incentives, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). That’s notably the exact sum Andriese earned with the Red Sox last season.
Dec. 16: Right-handed pitcher Matt Andriese has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to Yahoo Japan. The 32-year-old elected free agency at the end of September after being designated for assignment by the Mariners.
Andriese first cracked the big leagues with the Rays and spent parts of four seasons there, from 2015 to 2018. His most extensive MLB action was 2016, where he appeared in 29 games, 19 of them starts, logging 127 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.37. Since that time, he’s gradually seen more time out of the bullpen, having only made one start in the past three seasons as he’s bounced to the Diamondbacks, Angels, Red Sox and Mariners.
Moving to the bullpen has seen him rack up more strikeouts, but without improvement in real results. After posting a 19.8% strikeout rate from 2015-2017, it’s been 24% in the subsequent four campaigns. Despite that, his ERA has jumped from 4.35 in those first three seasons to 4.98 since, although some advanced metrics are a bit more optimistic. (3.70 SIERA and 3.87 xFIP, for instance.)
For 2021, Andriese signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox with a $2.1MM guarantee and was given a chance to earn a role in the starting rotation. He eventually made 26 appearances out of Boston’s bullpen, logging 37 1/3 innings and putting up an ERA of 6.03, despite his decent strikeout and walk rates. He hit the IL with hamstring tendinitis on July 10th and was eventually released in August. He latched on with the Mariners a few weeks later and appeared in eight games for them, throwing 11 innings with an ERA of 2.45. Despite that good stretch, he lost his roster spot in the waning days of the season and wound up electing free agency. He finished the year with a solid final line of 48 1/3 total innings, strikeout rate of 22.5% and walk rate of 5.9%. Despite the 5.21 ERA, he was treated much kinder by the advanced metrics, as evidenced by his 3.66 SIERA and 4.02 xFIP.
Due to finishing the season without a 40-man roster spot, he would have been eligible to sign a minor league deal with an MLB club, even during the ongoing lockout. However, he will instead opt for the greater certainty of a secured roster spot in Japan. If he can have better luck translating those underlying metrics into real results, he could be an interesting candidate to return to North America a year from now.
NPB’s Orix Buffaloes Sign Breyvic Valera, Jesse Biddle, Jacob Waguespack
Infielder Breyvic Valera, left-hander Jesse Biddle and right-hander Jacob Waguespack have all signed with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, the team announced this week (link via Yahoo Japan). MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that Valera will earn $1MM on his deal.
The 29-year-old Valera ended the 2021 season on the Blue Jays’ roster but was granted his release earlier this month so that he could pursue this opportunity. He played 37 games and tallied 97 plate appearances with a .253/.313/.356 batting line for Toronto this past season.
While Valera has had a difficult time sticking on one team’s 40-man roster and has been designated for assignment on six different occasions, he’s also been claimed off waivers four times and traded once — illustrating the manner in which his defensive versatility and strong minor league production hold appeal to clubs. The switch-hitter has appeared in 93 big league games but spent time with five teams, hitting .236/.302/.322 in 235 plate appearances while seeing action at second base, shortstop, third base and in right field. Valrea has been much more productive in the upper minors, evidenced by a .303/.377/.443 batting line in 1730 Triple-A plate appearances.
Biddle, 30, has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, with the bulk of his work coming as a member of the Braves. The former No. 27 overall pick has also spent time with the Rangers, Reds and Mariners, pitching to a combined 5.07 ERA in 103 big league frames. Biddle spent the early portion of his pro career as a starter and, for a couple seasons, ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects at Baseball America and MLB.com.
Biddle struggled between Double-A and Triple-A in 2015, however, and he wound up requiring Tommy John surgery following that season. He missed all of the 2016 campaign a good portion of the 2017 season as well while recovering, and he’s worked exclusively out of the bullpen since making it back to the mound. He’s been hit fairly hard in the Majors but posted strong minor league numbers as a reliever, including a 2.67 ERA and a whopping 37.7% strikeout rate through 33 2/3 innings with Triple-A Gwinnett this past season.
Waguespack, 28, made 13 starts for the 2019 Jays and held his own with a 4.38 ERA, an 18.8% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate. His 2020 season was a struggle, however, as he was tagged for 16 earned runs on 27 hits and nine walks in just 17 2/3 innings of work. In all, Waguespack carries a 5.08 ERA in 95 2/3 innings at the big league level.
As with Valera and Biddle, the minor league track record on Waguespack is quite a bit better. He’s notched a 3.86 ERA in parts of six minor league campaigns since being selected by the Pirates way down the board in the 37th round of the 2012 draft. Making it to the big leagues at all is something of a feat for a 37th-round selection, and Waguespack will now head to Japan and secure the first notable, guaranteed salary of his professional career.
All three players figure to earn more playing in Japan than they’d have received in 2022 had they remained in North America. Valera would’ve been in line for a pre-arbitration salary (i.e. near the league minimum) and, as his transaction history makes abundantly clear, was not a lock to last the whole season on the roster. Biddle and Waguespack would’ve been minor league free agents who’d likely command minor league contracts with non-roster invitations to Spring Training. Signing in Japan also creates the possibility for each of the three to earn raises if they find success and re-sign in NPB or the KBO for future seasons. With strong enough results, it’s plausible that any of the three could garner interest in a big league return at some point down the road.
Gregory Polanco Reportedly In Talks With NPB Club
Free agent outfielder Gregory Polanco is in talks with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Tenchy Rodriguez and Hector Gomez of Z101 Deportes report (Twitter links).
It’s been a swift decline for the now-30-year-old Polanco, who once ranked among the game’s elite prospects and was seen as a key building block in Pittsburgh. The longtime Pirates outfielder decimated Triple-A pitching while rising through the minor league ranks and eventually drawing praise as the No. 10 and No. 13 prospect in the entire game, respectively, on the 2014 rankings of Baseball America and MLB.com.
While Polanco did have a few solid seasons in the big leagues, including two with 20-plus homers and 10-plus steals (2016 and 2018), he only ever had one season where he was a decidedly well above-average offensive performer (2018). That year’s .254/.340/.499 slash (123 wRC+) feels like a distant memory, as Polanco has limped to a combined .203/.270/.364 batting line in 723 plate appearances since. His once minimal strikeout rate — he fanned at just a 14.6% clip in 2017 — has skyrocketed to 30.2% in the past three seasons.
In fairness to Polanco, injuries have undoubtedly taken their toll on his body and played a role in sapping his production. While he was mostly healthy through the 2017 season, save for a couple of minor hamstring strains, the 2018 campaign marked the beginning of more serious physical troubles. That September, while playing out the final weeks of the best year of his career, Polanco both dislocated his shoulder and sustained a significant bone bruise in his left knee on an awkward slide into second base while legging out a double.
The shoulder injury required surgery and came with a recovery timetable of up to seven months. Polanco missed the first three weeks of the 2019 season but clearly wasn’t right upon being activated. He appeared in just 42 games over the next seven weeks before returning to the injured list with inflammation in that surgically repaired shoulder, and he never made it back to the field that year.
Polanco continued to receive opportunities in Pittsburgh, due in no small part to both that prior prospect pedigree and the fact that he’d inked a five-year, $35MM extension early in the 2016 season. The Bucs had a pair of club options that would’ve covered the 2022 and 2023 seasons, so there was good reason to give Polanco every opportunity to recapture some of his pre-surgery form. That didn’t happen, and Pittsburgh finally released Polanco following a DFA late in the 2021 season. He signed a minor league deal with Toronto on Aug. 31 but didn’t end up playing in the Majors with the Jays; he did, however, post a huge .374/.436/.747 batting line in 101 plate appearances with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate, perhaps lending some hope for more productive days ahead.
If Polanco does head to NPB and does manage to rebound, he’s still young enough that a Major League comeback is plenty viable. (He won’t turn 31 until Sept. 14 of next season.) A strong year in NPB could also simply open the door for a raise and/or multi-year deal to remain overseas. At the very least, signing in NPB would lock in a guaranteed 2022 salary for Polanco, which wasn’t likely to happen in Major League Baseball, where he’d presumably have been in line for a non-roster deal with an invite to Spring Training somewhere.
John Gant To Sign With NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters
Right-hander John Gant has signed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball, as first reported by Daily Sports in Japan. The team has not yet formally announced the agreement, but sources confirmed the deal to MLBTR. It’s a one-year contract.
Gant, 29, elected free agency early in the offseason after the Twins passed him through outright waivers. The longtime Cardinals righty landed in Minnesota (alongside minor league lefty Evan Sisk) via the deadline trade that sent J.A. Happ to St. Louis.
The 2021 campaign was something off a mixed bag for Gant. Although he posted a plenty respectable 4.09 ERA in 110 innings, he also logged the second-lowest strikeout rate (18.7%), the highest walk rate (14.5%) and the lowest average fastball velocity (92.4 mph) of his six-year Major League career. He’d have been arbitration-eligible for the final time this winter had the Twins opted to keep him on the 40-man roster.
While Gant has never been a dominant strikeout arm or a pinpoint command specialist, he still carries a very solid 3.89 ERA through 372 2/3 Major League frames. He was particularly effective out of the St. Louis bullpen from 2019-20, pitching to a combined 3.43 ERA with a near-identical 3.44 FIP through 81 1/3 frames. He fanned 23.6% of his opponents against a 12.4% walk rate during that time, adding a hearty 49% grounder rate as well.
Gant has worked as both a starter and a reliever in his big league career thus far, with a good bit more success in relief than out of the rotation. The Fighters, however, could potentially deploy him in the rotation. Former big leaguers Drew VerHagen and Robbie Erlin both made some starts for the Fighters this past season — the former more effective and more heavily used than the latter — but both became free agents at season’s end. Gant is the second former big leaguer to join the Fighters late this week, as they announced a deal with infielder Arismendy Alcantara earlier today.
Brooks Kriske Signs With NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars
The Yokohama DeNA BayStars have signed right-hander Brooks Kriske. (Hat tip to Sung Min Kim.) When Kriske was released by the Orioles last week, it was reported that he may have been pursuing an opportunity with a foreign club.
It’s quite common for players on the fringes of a 40-man roster to head overseas, as such opportunities can often lead to earning more than they would bouncing between the minors and the big leagues or hitting the waiver wire. A successful showing in Japan can also lead to an MLB contract in the future, as evidenced by the recent signing of Nick Martinez, who spent the past four seasons pitching in Japan but has now agreed to a four-year deal with the Padres. The ongoing lockout could also play a factor, as a player in Kriske’s shoes might prefer the certainty of having a job pinned down for 2022, as opposed to waiting for a new CBA to be signed and then scrambling to find a job in the new year.
Kriske, 27, has spent most of his career with the Yankees thus far, being drafted by them in 2016. He cracked the big leagues in 2020 but only got to throw 3 2/3 innings. He logged another 7 2/3 innings for the Yanks in 2021 before being claimed on waivers by the Orioles in September. His big league ERA is a bloated 14.40 so far, but in a small sample size of just 15 total innings. His minor league numbers are much more appealing, however. In 2021, he threw 29 1/3 Triple-A innings with an ERA of 3.68. Though his walk rate was a bit high at 12.2%, his strikeout rate was an excellent 37.4%.