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Athletics Rumors

Boras: Kyler Murray “Has Every Intention” Of Playing For A’s

By Jeff Todd | December 6, 2018 at 2:02pm CDT

Recent top Athletics draft pick Kyler Murray is most famous for his role as a standout quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, but he already inked a $4.66MM deal to join the Oakland organization over the summer. Some whispers have circulated that Murray could be enticed by the NFL draft, where he might also be a first-round talent, but agent Scott Boras largely shot down that idea in a chat today with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

If Boras was not quite fully committing, he nevertheless did not leave much wiggle room for his client. “Kyler has every intention of fulfilling his agreement with the A’s,” said Boras, who adds that Murray “will be in Spring Training with the A’s” (as Fancred’s Jon Heyman indicated earlier this week, on Twitter).

That’s good news for the Oakland organization, which surprised many by taking Murray ninth overall. There is no questioning his immense athletic ability, of course, but the collegiate star is much more accomplished and polished on the gridiron — if only due to the fact that he has focused his attention to that higher-profile collegiate pursuit.

Notably, as Slusser explains, the A’s have a lot to lose if Murray changes his mind. While the club would get its money back, it wouldn’t receive a compensatory pick as occurs in situations where no agreement is consummated in the first place. As part of the initial deal with Murray, the Athletics organization agreed to allow him to finish out his career at OU.

Murray himself had raised a few eyebrows with recent comments in which he seemingly indicated there was still an opening for a football future. Certainly, his draft stock has risen after an immense season for the Sooners, though it still seems unlikely he’d be considered at the very top of the draft class due to his short stature. Regardless, Boras suggests that Murray’s words shouldn’t be parsed too closely. After all, he is being pressed with attention as he nears a potential Heisman Trophy.

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Oakland Athletics Kyler Murray

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Athletics Acquire Tanner Anderson, Add Four To 40-Man

By Jeff Todd | December 1, 2018 at 1:14pm CDT

Dec. 1, 1:04 PM: Right hander Wilkin Ramos is Pittsburgh’s return in the deal, the teams announced this afternoon. Ramos, 18, spent all of last season at Oakland’s Dominican Summer League affiliate, where he posted an 8.55 K/9 against 3.83 BB/9 over 40 IP. He stands a projectable 6’5, 165, but didn’t rank among the team’s top 30 prospects in recent updates by various outlets.

Nov. 20, 6:48 PM: The Athletics announced today that they have acquired righty Tanner Anderson from the Pirates. The Oakland organization has also added four players to its 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft: outfielders Luis Barrera and Skye Bolt along with righties Grant Holmes and James Kaprielian.

Anderson is a 25-year-old who was originally taken in the 20th round of the 2015 draft. He has steadily marched through the Pittsburgh farm since becoming a professional, working as both a starter and reliever. He shifted to the pen full-time in 2018.

Though he hasn’t typically produced exciting strikeout numbers, Anderson limits the free passes and long balls. And he has generally produced outstanding groundball numbers. Indeed, Anderson has yet to finish a season with less than a 60% groundball rate. In the just-completed season,he worked to a 2.64 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 61 1/3 innings.

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Oakland Athletics Pittsburgh Pirates Transactions James Kaprielian Tanner Anderson

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Athletics Non-Tender Mike Fiers, Kendall Graveman, Cory Gearrin

By Jeff Todd | November 30, 2018 at 7:06pm CDT

The Athletics have non-tendered a trio of right-handed pitchers, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. Starters Mike Fiers and Kendall Graveman will be sent to free agency along with reliever Cory Gearrin.

It had been widely expected that Fiers would return to Oakland. After all, the A’s certainly need arms and he was quite successful in 2018 on both sides of the trade that sent him out west from the Tigers. He ended the season with a 3.56 ERA in 172 innings.

Still, Fiers projected to earn a hefty $9.7MM salary. And the results came in spite of some rough underlying stats. Fiers checked in with 7.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9, but coughed up 32 home runs — the same tally he allowed in the prior campaign. All of the major ERA estimators value him as a 4+ performer over each of the past four campaigns.

Graveman, meanwhile, is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and will likely miss most or all of the 2019 campaign. But he’s an interesting pitcher who should draw plenty of looks on the market. Gearrin, too, seems like a prime target as a steady veteran reliever. The A’s simply preferred not to pay their salaries, which were projected at $2.5MM and $2.4MM, respectively.

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Newsstand Oakland Athletics Transactions Cory Gearrin Kendall Graveman Mike Fiers

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Players Avoiding Arbitration Prior To Non-Tender Deadline

By Steve Adams | November 30, 2018 at 7:00pm CDT

Tonight marks the deadline for MLB clubs to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players. As such, there’ll be a slew of pre-tender agreements announced today — particularly for arbitration-eligible players who might have otherwise been non-tender candidates. As we saw yesterday (and frequently in previous seasons), players agreeing to terms before the tender deadline will often sign for less than they’re projected, as the alternative in some cases may simply be to be cut loose into a crowded free-agent market.

We’ll track today’s pre-tender agreements here, with all referenced projections coming courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz…

  • Giants infielder Joe Panik settled at a $3.8MM price tag, per Heyman (via Twitter). That’ll represent a savings as against the $4.2MM projected salary. Many had wondered whether the new San Francisco front office would move on from Panik, who has one more year of arb eligibility remaining. Meanwhile, Heyman tweets that reliever Sam Dyson has agreed to a $5MM pact. That also comes in $400K below his projection.
  • The Padres settled with righty Bryan Mitchell for $900K, Heyman tweets. Mitchell had been a non-tender candidate at a projected $1.2MM sum.
  • Newly acquired first baseman C.J. Cron has agreed to a $4.8MM contract, the Twins announced. He projected to a $5.2MM salary; this becomes the latest of many indications of the unstable market position of defensively limited slugger types.
  • The Indians have settled with righty Danny Salazar for $4.5MM, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. He was projected at $5MM, with some wondering whether the Cleveland organization might non-tender him. The talented hurler missed the entire 2018 season. Meanwhile, righty Nick Goody is slated to earn $675K, Heyman tweets.
  • Southpaw Jonny Venters avoided arb with the Braves, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets. It’s a $2.25MM deal, sitting well over the $1.5MM projection, though certainly his unusual career path could have led to some additional arguments for a stronger raise.
  • The Cardinals announced an agreement with lefty Chasen Shreve. Terms aren’t yet known. The 28-year-old had projected to take home $1.2MM for the 2019 campaign, but will settle at $900K per Heyman (via Twitter).
  • Pirates righty Michael Feliz has avoided arbitration with the club, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. Feliz projected at a $900K salary and will get $850K, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. It’s a split agreement that promises $375K in the minors, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter).
  • Infielder Tyler Saladino has agreed to a $887,500 salary with the Brewers, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. That comes in below the $1MM he projected to earn.
  • The Athletics settled at $2.15MM with Liam Hendriks, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter), all of which is guaranteed. That’s just where he projected ($2.1MM) on the heels of a fascinating 2018 season. Hendriks was dropped from the MLB roster in the middle of the season but returned late in the year in dominant fashion as the A’s “opener.”
  • Lefty Sammy Solis agreed to terms with the Nationals to avoid arbitration, the club announced. He profiled as a potential non-tender candidate, so it seems likely the organization pushed to get something done before the deadline. Solis, who has an intriguing power arsenal but struggled through a homer-prone 2018, projected at $900K. He’ll earn $850K, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link).
  • The Athletics announced that they’ve agreed to a one-year deal with righty Ryan Dull in advance of tonight’s deadline. He’ll get $860K, Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets, which checks in pretty closely with his $900K projection. Dull, 29, posted a 4.26 ERA with 21 strikeouts and seven walks in 25 1/3 innings of relief in 2018.
  • Heyman also tweets that the Padres and Greg Garcia, whom they claimed off waivers earlier this offseason, settled on a one-year deal worth $910K that aligns with his $900K projection. Garcia hit .221/.309/.304 in 208 plate appearances with St. Louis last season and is a career .248/.356/.339 hitter in 860 plate appearances.

Earlier Agreements

  • The Brewers and Hernan Perez avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $2.5MM, as first reported by Heyman. He’ll check in a bit shy of his $2.7MM projection but remain on hand as a versatile utility option in Milwaukee.
  • Left-hander Tony Cingrani and the Dodgers avoided arb with a one-year deal worth $2.65MM. That checks in just south of the lefty’s $2.7MM projection. Cingrani turned in a brilliant 36-to-6 K/BB ratio in 22 1/3 innings but was also tagged for a considerably less palatable 4.76 earned run average.
  • The Red Sox announced that they’ve agreed to terms on a one-year contract for the 2019 season with right-hander Tyler Thornburg. They’ve also tendered contracts to the remainder of their arbitration-eligible players, though the terms of those deals will be negotiated in the coming weeks. Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston tweets that Thornburg will earn $1.75MM i 2019 and can earn another $400K via incentives. I’m told that includes $100K for reaching each of 45, 50, 55 and 60 appearances. Thornburg, 30, was roughed up to the tune of a 5.63 ERA in 24 innings for the Sox this season — his first action for Boston since being acquired prior to the 2017 season. His Boston tenure has been utterly derailed by thoracic outlet syndrome and the ensuing surgery. Thornburg was excellent for the 2016 Brewers, and Boston parted with Travis Shaw in order to acquire him, so the Sox will surely hope that a regular offseason of rest and further removing himself from TOS surgery will get the righty back on track. This will be Thornburg’s final season of club control. He’d been projected to earn $2.3MM.
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Atlanta Braves Boston Red Sox Cleveland Guardians Milwaukee Brewers Minnesota Twins Oakland Athletics Pittsburgh Pirates San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants St. Louis Cardinals Transactions Washington Nationals Bryan Mitchell C.J. Cron Chasen Shreve Danny Salazar Greg Garcia Joe Panik Jonny Venters Liam Hendriks Michael Feliz Nick Goody Ryan Dull Sam Dyson Sammy Solis Tyler Saladino Tyler Thornburg

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Players Avoiding Arbitration: Thursday

By Steve Adams | November 29, 2018 at 7:27pm CDT

With the non-tender deadline looming tomorrow, there figure to be several players agreeing to pre-tender deals to avoid arbitration today. Many players who agree to terms prior to the deadline will be fringe non-tender candidates and, as such, are likelier to sign for less than they’d been projected in order to avoid a non-tender. We’ll keep track of today’s players who are avoiding arbitration in this post (with all referenced projections coming courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…

  • The Royals announced that they’ve agreed to one-year deals with both Cheslor Cuthbert and Jesse Hahn. Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports (via Twitter) that Cuthbert will earn $850K, while Hahn’s deal contains an $800K base salary. Both were definitive non-tender candidates, as Cuthbert batted just .194/.282/.301 in 117 plate appearances this past season. Hahn, meanwhile, didn’t pitch in 2018 due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament that ultimately required “primary repair” surgery — a similar, but less invasive alternative to Tommy John surgery that is perhaps familiar to Royals fans after Seth Maness previously underwent the procedure.

Read more

Earlier Updates

  • The Twins have agreed to a one-year, $1.3MM contract with utility infielder Ehire Adrianza, thus avoiding arbitration, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. A light-hitting defensive specialist, Adrianza batted .251/.301/.379 with career-highs in plate appearances (366), home runs (six) and doubles (23). His level of playing time increased due to the suspension for Twins shortstop Jorge Polanco as well as the midseason trade of Brian Dozier. Adrianza had been projected at $1.8MM.
  • The Athletics announced that they’ve avoided arbitration with catcher Josh Phegley by agreeing to a one-year deal. Heyman tweets that Phegley will earn $1.o75MM next season. Phegley, 31 in February, has posted a .255 OBP in each of the past two seasons while struggling to keep his average above the dreaded Mendoza Line. Phegley has some pop, however, and has controlled the running game quite well throughout his career (33 percent caught-stealing rate, including 35 percent in both 2017 and 2018). He’s the only catcher on Oakland’s 40-man roster at present, so the A’s will surely be looking for some additions. Phegley had been projected at $1.2MM.
  • The Rockies announced that they’ve agreed to a one-year deal with lefty Chris Rusin. He’ll earn $1.6875MM next year — a $400K raise over his 2018 salary — tweets Heyman. Rusin was widely considered a non-tender candidate on the heels of a disastrous season in which he was clobbered for a 6.09 ERA with a career-worst 4.3 BB/9 mark through 54 2/3 innings. He’s only a year removed from a terrific season out of the Colorado bullpen, however, during which he totaled 85 innings of 2.65 ERA ball in 60 appearances. He’d been projected to earn $1.7MM.
  • The Royals have avoided arbitration with lefty Brian Flynn in advance of tomorrow’s non-tender deadline, the team announced. His contract is worth $800K, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). Flynn, 29 in April, appeared in 48 games out of the Kansas City bullpen in 2018 and pitched to a 4.04 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 0.59 HR/9 and a 49.8 percent ground-ball rate. It’s the first trip through the arbitration process for Flynn, whom the Royals initially acquired in the 2014 trade that sent righty Aaron Crow to the Marlins. In parts of three seasons since that trade, Flynn has compiled 133 1/3 innings of 3.44 ERA ball with 91 strikeouts against 58 walks and a grounder rate north of 50 percent. As things currently stand, Flynn will join Tim Hill as one of the top two lefty options in an inexperienced Kansas City bullpen. General manager Dayton Moore and his staff figure to be on the lookout for some veteran additions to supplement that relief corps this offseason.
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Colorado Rockies Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins Oakland Athletics Transactions Brian Flynn Cheslor Cuthbert Chris Rusin Ehire Adrianza Jesse Hahn Josh Phegley

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Arbitration Breakdown: Khris Davis

By Matt Swartz | November 29, 2018 at 9:44am CDT

Over the last few days, I have been discussing some of the higher profile upcoming arbitration cases. I rely partly on my arbitration model, developed exclusively for MLB Trade Rumors, but will also break out some interesting comparables and determine where the model might be wrong. 2019 arbitration projections are available right here.

Khris Davis enters his third year of arbitration under somewhat familiar conditions—with a .247 average (matching his exact batting average in each season from 2015 through 2017) and at least 40 home runs in his platform season. Coincidences aside, my model sees him getting his biggest raise ever, a $7.6MM bump, good for an $18.1MM salary projection. Last year, he got a $5.5MM raise from his initial $5MM salary in his first year of arbitration.

With career highs of 48 home runs and 123 runs batted in, it is pretty logical that Davis is projected to get his biggest raise yet. On top of that, the same type of performance in the third year of arbitration eligibility is typically associated with a larger raise than it would in the second year of eligibility.

Davis’ case obviously hinges on his power numbers, which is certainly a fortunate skill to possess when it comes to arbitration; power is the skill the arbitration system favors most heavily. Looking for appropriate comparables for Davis is going to require looking for other players who have had significant tallies of the right counting stats, so we should restrict our search to prominent sluggers.

Somewhat surprisingly, in the past decade, only one player has hit 40 home runs going into his third year of arbitration: Todd Frazier, two years ago. Frazier only hit .225 that year and fell just short of 100 RBIs with 98. Davis hit eight more home runs than Frazier did, too. Putting that together, we get an absolute floor of the $3.75MM raise from Frazier’s case.

Even if we soften the home run requirement to 35 and require 100 RBIs, we only get one player in the past five years: Charlie Blackmon, last year. He got a $6.7MM raise for hitting .331 with 37 home runs and 104 runs batted in. There was some debate last year about whether that was enough of a raise, with some rival agents taking shots through the media claiming he should have gotten more. If applied back to Blackmon’s case, the current iteration model does project his 2017 season to support a larger raise of $7.8 million. That also means that the model slightly prefers that season, with its lofty batting average but lesser power stats, to the one just turned in by Davis. All things considered, Blackmon seems like a pretty solid overall comparable, one that either side in the Davis case could argue off of.

It is difficult to come up with other comparables in recent years, but if Davis and the A’s go further back, they might want to look for someone who led the league in home runs like Davis did going into his third year of arbitration. That would be Matt Kemp, who got a $5.05 million raise for his .324/39/126 season in 2011. That is obviously very stale, but it makes it plausible that Davis could get a similar kind of raise with inflation, although his batting average was obviously worse.

With so few plausible comparables, it is difficult to know what Davis could command. In such situations, I would lean towards the model, especially without much evidence that the number was too high or too low. Regardless, in the current era with so many home runs being hit league wide, it will be interesting to see how this affects future cases for guys like Davis who hit so many home runs. Of course, we may not get to see a one-year settlement. The relationship seems to be working for both sides and all involved surely remain mindful of the open market’s devaluation of sluggers, so it would not be surprising to see a multi-year agreement of some kind.

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Arbitration Breakdown MLBTR Originals Oakland Athletics Khris Davis

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Athletics Announce Stadium Plans

By Jeff Todd | November 29, 2018 at 8:24am CDT

Yesterday, the Athletics announced their initial plans for a long-awaited new ballpark. Set in Oakland’s Howard Terminal, the proposed new facility would represent a marked departure from standard stadium design.

Renderings and other information are available here. They show a waterfront facility that might be described as baseball’s version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. A fan-accessible, greenscaped ring (the club calls it an “elevated park”) surrounds a much tamer inner stadium that’s notable mostly for its ample provision of standing room and snug, 34k-seat capacity.

There’s more to this than the architecture, of course. The proposal, like most other ballpark projects we’ve seen of late, would include plans for mixed-use development featuring “housing, including affordable housing, offices, retail, small business space and restaurants, hotels, public gathering spaces, and parks.” Transportation challenges could be met in part by a gondola system connecting to downtown Oakland, which certainly sounds like a unique new way to get to a ballgame.

As with the Rays, the other MLB organization that realistically lacks a contemporary stadium and has recently proposed a striking new facility, public handouts will not completely carry this project through. In this case, while the A’s will surely seek public support in a variety of ways — acquiring rights to the site, to take but one notable example — the club says it will fully finance the ballpark construction through private means.

Needless to say, it’s quite an ambitious overall undertaking that will take some time to pull off. The team says it hopes to break ground in 2021 and open the ballpark in time for the 2023 season. For a perennially underfunded A’s club, there’s a lot at stake. As the organization itself claims on the stadium website, getting the new facility up is necessary to “retain our players and build a more competitive team.”

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Oakland Athletics

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Trade & Free Agent Rumors: Dodgers, Indians, Phils, Harvey, Goldschmidt, Brantley

By Steve Adams | November 21, 2018 at 8:27pm CDT

Always active on the offseason trade market, the Dodgers have been having “lots” of discussions with the Indians regarding a variety of potential scenarios, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Los Angeles unsurprisingly is intrigued by Cleveland’s pitching — as all teams would be — and Rosenthal notes that catcher Yan Gomes could make sense there as well. Conversely, Cleveland has a significant need in the outfield — an area of depth for Los Angeles. There’s no indication that there’s anything especially close to fruition between the two sides, and Rosenthal even notes that both clubs are chatting with several other teams. The Dodgers, for instance, are one of the many clubs with interest in Marlins star J.T. Realmuto.

Some more chatter on the trade and free-agent markets…

  • Carlos Santana’s name has come up on the rumor mill early in the offseason, but Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Phillies also have relievers Pat Neshek and Tommy Hunter “on the block.” Reports since the team’s late-season collapse have indicated that the Phillies will be open to trading just about any player other than Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins, so it’s only reasonable that they’d be open to moving either relatively high-priced setup man. Neshek is owed $7.75MM and has a $750K buyout on an option for the 2020 season, while Hunter is owed $9MM and will be a free agent next offseason.
  • Heyman also tweets that in addition to the Reds, Matt Harvey is drawing some level of interest from the Athletics. Cincinnati’s interest in Harvey has been well-documented, as he won over some decision-makers in the organization during his four-month run with the Reds. As for Oakland, their search for rotation help is no secret. It’s unlikely that the cost-conscious A’s will be players for the highest-priced options on the free-agent market, making second- and third-tier options
  • The Twins checked in on Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com, though the report describes the talks as “preliminary.” While Minnesota has an obvious opening at first base following the retirement of Joe Mauer, though, Dan Hayes of The Athletic downplays the possibility of a Goldschmidt pursuit for Minnesota (Twitter link); Hayes notes that the Twins did make some form of inquiry but adds that this “doesn’t appear to be a path the Twins will go down.” The fit is obvious, but Arizona’s asking price on the perennial MVP candidate will be quite high, and he’s a free agent after the 2019 season.
  • Morosi also tweets that the Cardinals have “maintain[ed] interest” in free-agent outfielder Michael Brantley, although Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests (via Twitter) that Brantley isn’t a top priority for St. Louis. Per Goold, the Cards would need to miss out on more preferable targets and perhaps move other pieces of the roster before embarking on a legitimate pursuit of the 31-year-old. Brantley is coming off a strong season in which he hit .309/.364/.468 with 17 homers, 36 doubles and 12 steals, but the Cards do have in-house alternatives and are known to be looking at bigger fish (i.e. Bryce Harper).
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Arizona Diamondbacks Cleveland Guardians Los Angeles Dodgers Miami Marlins Minnesota Twins Oakland Athletics Philadelphia Phillies St. Louis Cardinals J.T. Realmuto Matt Harvey Michael Brantley Pat Neshek Paul Goldschmidt Tommy Hunter Yan Gomes

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Players Added To The 40-Man Roster

By Steve Adams | November 20, 2018 at 6:15pm CDT

Tonight marks the deadline for players to be added to their respective organizations’ 40-man rosters. Over the nine hours, there’ll be a flurry of moves, ranging from minor trades (like the one the Indians and Rays made yesterday), waiver claims and players being designated for assignment or outrighted. Each will be made to clear room for players who need protection from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. As a reminder, players who signed at 18 years of age or younger and have five professional seasons are eligible, as are players who signed at 19 or older and have four professional seasons under their belts.

Here’s a rundown of players who’ve been added to their respective 40-man rosters (which will be updated throughout the day)…

  • There are three additions for the Twins: outfielder LaMonte Wade and infielders Nick Gordon and Luis Arraez.
  • The Giants announced that they have added a trio of righties: Melvin Adon, Sam Coonrod, and Logan Webb.
  • Lefty Justin Steele is now a member of the Cubs’ 40-man, per an announcement.
  • The Rangers announced that they are protecting veteran hurler Edinson Volquez, who’s returning from Tommy John surgery, along with outfielder Scott Heineman, righty Wei-Chieh Huang, and lefty Taylor Hearn.
  • Righties Mitch Keller and JT Brubaker, infielder Cole Tucker, and outfielder Jason Martin are all joining the Pirates’ 40-man, per Tim Williams of Pirates Prospects (via Twitter).
  • The Blue Jays will add righty Patrick Murphy to their 40-man, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). Toronto has announced his addition, along with those of fellow righties Trent Thornton, Yennsy Diaz, Hector Perez, and Jacob Waguespack.
  • Three Indians players have been boosted up to the 40-man, the club announced: first baseman Bobby Bradley, southpaw Sam Hentges, and righty Jean Carlos Mejίa.
  • Righty Joe Harvey is joining the Yankees’ MLB roster, the club announced.
  • The Phillies have added shortstop Arquimedes Gamboa along with righties Edgar Garcia and Adonis Medina to the 40-man, per a club announcement.
  • Former first-round draft pick Dillon Tate, a right-handed pitcher, was selected to the Orioles’ 40-man.

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Earlier Additions

  • The Marlins and Padres each made numerous additions. We covered the Angels and Athletics elsewhere as well.
  • The Red Sox have bumped several players onto the MLB roster: infielder Michael Chavis, righties Colten Brewer, Travis Lakins and Denyi Reyes, lefties Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez. Brewer was just picked up via trade.
  • Righty Jimmy Herget is the only player added to the Reds’ 40-man today, per a club announcement.
  • Per a Diamondbacks announcement, they’ve selected the contracts of first baseman Kevin Cron and four right-handed pitchers: Taylor Clarke, Joel Payamps, Bo Takahashi and Emilio Vargas.
  • There are three new additions to the Astros roster, per a club announcement. Righties Bryan Abreu and Rogelio Armenteros have had their contracts selected along with catcher Garrett Stubbs.
  • The White Sox announced that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Dylan Cease and Jordan Stephens, left-hander Kodi Medeiros and catcher Seby Zavala. Cease, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, joined the Sox in the Jose Quintana trade two years ago. Chicago added Medeiros this summer in the trade that sent Joakim Soria to the Brewers.
  • Right-hander Justin Lawrence is being added to the Rockies’ roster, reports Fancred’s Jon Heyman (on Twitter). The 2015 12th-rounder posted a 2.65 ERA with better than 10 punchouts per nine innings in Class-A Advanced this season — a fine followup to a 1.65 ERA at Class-A in 2017. The club has announced that move, along with the additinos of righty Ryan Castellani infielder Josh Fuentes and outfielder Sam Hilliard.
  • The Brewers have selected the contracts of outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. and right-hander Trey Supak, reports Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Stokes hit .233/.343/.430 in 551 PAs as a 22-year-old in Double-A this past season. Supak, acquired from the Pirates three years ago, logged a tidy 2.48 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 137 2/3 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2018.
  • The Royals selected the contracts of right-handers Josh Staumont, Scott Blewett and Arnaldo Hernandez, per a team announcement. Staumont is among the team’s most promising arms but has plenty of control issues to accompany big strikeout numbers out of the ’pen. The other two have worked as starters in Double-A.
  • The Mariners selected the contract of righty Erik Swanson, whom they acquired from the Yankees as part of last night’s James Paxton trade. The 25-year-old righty posted a 2.66 ERA with a 139-to-29 K/BB ratio across multiple minor league levels in ’18 and could surface as a rotation option for Seattle in 2019.
  • The Tigers selected the contract of right-hander Franklin Perez, the team announced. Perez, the top prospect acquired in the Justin Verlander blockbuster, was an easy call to add to the 40-man even after slogging through an injury-ruined season. As Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press wrote in August, Perez missed two-plus months with a lat strain and pitched just 19 1/3 innings before going down for the season with a shoulder injury. Perez is still widely considered to be a premium pitching prospect even after the 2018 injury woes.
  • The Nationals announced that righty James Bourque has been added to the 40-man roster. A 14th-round pick in 2014, Bourque moved from the rotation to the ’pen in 2018 and broke out with a 1.70 ERA, 12.9 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 53 innings between Class-A Advanced and Double-A.
  • The Braves announced that they’ve selected the contracts of catcher Alex Jackson and right-handers Patrick Weigel, Jacob Webb and Huascar Ynoa. Jackson, the No. 6 pick in the 2014 draft, struggled through a miserable 2018 season, but the organization clearly didn’t want to risk losing him. Webb turned in a big season out of the bullpen across two levels, while Weigel, one of the organization’s top arms, should be back from Tommy John in 2019. The 20-year-old Ynoa didn’t post great numbers but was up to 100 mph in velocity this year, per Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs (Twitter link).
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Yankees Notes: Gray, A’s, Machado, Relievers, Extensions

By Connor Byrne | November 17, 2018 at 8:47pm CDT

Although the Athletics contacted the Yankees about right-hander Sonny Gray at least a week ago, “there is no present momentum in talks” between the teams, Jon Morosi of MLB.com tweets. A return to Oakland would represent a homecoming of sorts for Gray, a 2011 first-round pick of the A’s who mostly thrived with the club from 2013-17. The A’s dealt Gray to the Yankees in July 2017 for a bounty of prospects, but he has since looked like a poor fit in the Bronx, leading general manager Brian Cashman to concede that “it’s probably best” for the Bombers to move the 29-year-old this winter. Gray’s down to his final season of team control, in which he’ll earn a projected $9.1MM. Even for a low-budget team like Oakland, $9MM-plus for Gray doesn’t look like an unreasonable figure. Gray pitched like a front-end starter away from Yankee Stadium last year, after all, so he could boost an A’s rotation which is clearly in need of help.

More on the Yanks, all of which comes via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com:

  • Infielder Manny Machado infamously told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic last month that being “Johnny Hustle” isn’t his “cup of tea.” Considering he was then on the brink of a much-anticipated, highly lucrative trip to free agency, Machado’s remarks came at an inopportune time. And now that Machado is on the open market – where he still figures to rake in a historic payday – Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner addressed the superstar’s comments this week, calling them “troubling” and noting that the club would need to discuss them with the 26-year-old as part of a serious pursuit. To this point, though, the Yankees and Machado haven’t set up a meeting, Cashman revealed Thursday. The executive added that the Yankees have used past meetings with free agents to “educate people about who we are and where we want to go and get a feel back if there’s an alignment there, if that player can fit in our culture and our New York environment or not. There’s times I’ve walked away refreshingly, feeling strongly about, ’I’m glad he was so candid because this is not going to be a good fit.'”
  • The Yankees are at risk of losing high-profile relievers David Robertson and Zach Britton to free agency, though they have spoken to both hurlers about re-signing, Cashman said. The 33-year-old Robertson, a Rhode Island resident, would like to pitch for a team in the Northeast, according to Cashman.  “Does he want to come back? Yeah, but he said the same thing to me that he said to the public — he’s got to do what is in the best interests of his family,” Cashman said of Robertson, who’s acting as his own agent. “He’s looking for the best deal he can get. He must have already went to agent school; that’s normally the first thing you hear. There must be a playbook.”
  • Free agency and the trade market are likely the primary concerns for the Yankees right now, but they’ll also consider offseason extensions for some of their current players, per Cashman. Three of their top contributors – center fielder Aaron Hicks, shortstop Didi Gregorius and reliever Dellin Betances – are each scheduled to become free agents a year from now, but perhaps the Yankees will prevent one or more of them from reaching the market. “Is it something that’s on the list of things to talk to and walk through and get to? Yes,” Cashman stated in regard to potential extensions for the trio. “I wouldn’t rule anything out. Have we kicked it around in a very small scale way in the offices? Like, it’s now or never? Yeah, we have.”
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New York Yankees Oakland Athletics Aaron Hicks David Robertson Dellin Betances Didi Gregorius Manny Machado Sonny Gray Zach Britton

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