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Blue Jays Acquire Jesse Chavez From A’s For Liam Hendriks

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The Blue Jays have officially acquired righty Jesse Chavez from the Athletics. Right-hander Liam Hendriks is going to Oakland in return.

Sep 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jesse Chavez (30) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

This swap could have wide-ranging implications. The 32-year-old Chavez figures to join the re-signed Marco Estrada in the Jays rotation, significantly reducing the team’s need to add a free agent starter. While neither figures to be a top-of-the-rotation contributor, that duo should provide innings, depth, and options. Of course, a bigger addition could still occur.

Chavez was something of a journeyman before he landed in Oakland. Over four seasons there, he worked to a 3.98 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 363 2/3 innings. He proved especially useful for his versatility, making 47 starts and 54 appearances from the pen after working almost exclusively as a reliever earlier in his MLB career.

MLBTR projects that Chavez will earn $4.7MM this year in his final season of arbitration eligibility. That’s obviously quite a bit cheaper than one would expect to pay for an arm of his quality on the open market, but he does come with just one season of control.

Meanwhile, the A’s will get four years of control over Hendriks, the first of which (2016) will be at league minimum. The 26-year-old enjoyed a breakout 2015 in the Toronto pen after functioning mostly as a starter earlier in his career — the opposite transformation of that enjoyed by Chavez.

The Aussie ended the season with 64 2/3 innings of 2.92 ERA pitching. Most impressively, he racked up 9.9 K/9 against just 1.5 BB/9 — figures that he never approached in prior seasons. As Chris Mosch of Baseball Prospectus explained in detail earlier today, a huge leap in fastball velocity and tweaking of pitch selection seemed to drive Hendriks’ success. His new team will now hope that he can continue that high level of performance and take up a key set-up role.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported the trade (Twitter links).

Added To The 40-Man Roster: Friday

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Tonight at 8:00pm ET is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster and thereby protect them from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. In other words: there will be a significant amount of 40-man roster moves made over the course of the next 13 or so hours. Six clubs already made moves to protect prospects from the Rule 5 yesterday, and each of the remaining 24 clubs should make moves today as well.

In brief: players drafted/signed at 18 years of age or younger must be added to the 40-man roster within five years of signing or be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Players drafted/signed at 19 or older must be added within four years. Those interested in all of the specifics can refer to articles from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Perhaps of greater interest is that Mayo lists all of the prospects from MLB.com’s Top 100 list and from their organizational Top 30 lists that much be protected in advance of tonight’s deadline, while Cooper provides brief write-ups on each player that has been protected (and will continue to do so as additions are made).

Here are today’s additions to the 40-man roster. You can check out Baseball America’s coverage to learn more about the individual players listed below …

Earlier Updates

Athletics Designate A.J. Griffin

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The Athletics have designated righty A.J. Griffin for assignment, the club announced. His 40-man spot will go to just-signed lefty Rich Hill, whose deal is now official.

The 27-year-old Griffin hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2013, when he threw an even 200 innings and worked to a 3.83 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9. He’s been hit hard by arm injuries since, though he tells Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link) that he is no longer experiencing the shoulder tightness that plagued him after his Tommy John surgery.

There will certainly be clubs with interest in taking a shot at Griffin, though it remains to be seen whether any will be willing to give him a 40-man spot (and/or send anything Oakland’s way for his rights). Griffin was able to return to make four rehab starts last year, so teams have had a chance to see him throw recently.

Trade Market Notes: Tigers, Fernandez, Chavez, Belt

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The Tigers have canvassed the trade market for late-inning relievers, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets, checking in on closers including Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller. But the team is “not comfortable with [the] asking prices” it’s been quoted, says Rosenthal. Of course, Detroit has also been tied to several of the best-available free agent relievers. If a swap isn’t in the offing, presumably the club will look to the open market to build out its pen.

Here are some more trade market notes:

  • There was some buzz yesterday surrounding the possibility of the Marlins dangling stud righty Jose Fernandez in trades after Craig Mish of Sirius XM tweeted that there is a “growing sentiment” inside and outside the organization that a deal could occur this winter. That’s hardly an indication that a deal is likely, but it wouldn’t be surprising for the Fish at least to listen. The Scott Boras client has three years of control remaining and doesn’t seem likely to sign an extension. While he’ll be rather affordable — MLBTR projects only a $2MM arbitration salary because of his limited innings last year — he’d also be a hotly-pursued trade piece that could potentially bring back a huge return of more controllable talent at or near the big league level.
  • Marlins sources downplayed the likelihood of a Fernandez deal to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. And club president David Samson told Jackson: “Some players are more likely to be traded than others. Jose fits in the latter category. He is a Marlin for at least the next three years and hopefully longer and we look forward to the start of the 2016 season.” As MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro notes on Twitter, it is also worth bearing in mind that the club is in the middle of important TV rights fees negotiations. Dealing away one of the club’s two major stars wouldn’t figure to aid the club’s leverage in those talks.
  • The Athletics have fielded “significant trade interest” in righty Jesse Chavez, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter. Oakland could consider dealing the 32-year-old swingman now that free agent lefty Rich Hill has signed, Passan adds. MLBTR projects Chavez to earn $4.7MM in his final trip through arbitration.
  • After extending Brandon Crawford yesterday, there’s still some uncertainty surrounding the Giants’ other key, 4+ service-time infielder by that first name. First baseman Brandon Belt could also be an extension candidated, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter links), although he adds that the sides may not have progressed very far yet in talks. But there’s still also a possibility that Belt will be traded, per Schulman. While other teams may be somewhat hesitant since Belt ended the year with concussion issues, there are no reasons at present to believe that he’ll be limited going forward. And his consistent production would undoubtedly draw plenty of interest.

Athletics To Sign Rich Hill

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The Athletics have agreed to terms with free agent left-hander Rich Hill, reports Robert Murray of Baseball Essential. The deal is pending a physical. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that it’s a one-year deal with a $6MM guarantee.

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Yesterday, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reported that Hill was likely to sign a contract this week. Earlier tonight, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo listed the A’s as one of the teams in the mix for hill, noting that one official involved in the bidding considered Oakland one of the favorites (links to Twitter). Passan notes (Twitter link) that Hill turned down a more lucrative offer from another club due to the promise of a spot in the club’s rotation.

Few would’ve believed prior to — or even 75 percent of the way through — the 2015 season that a payday like this was in the cards for Hill, who at 35 years of age had spent the past several seasons bouncing around the league as a lefty reliever. Hill’s claim to fame dated all the way back to 2007, when he punched out 183 batters in 195 innings of 3.92 ERA ball for the Cubs as a 27-year-old. Hill didn’t replicate that success in 2008, though, and injuries and poor performance limited his role around the league for the next eight seasons.

Released from the Nationals’ Triple-A club this summer, Hill latched on with the Red Sox — the same organization with which he spent the 2010-12 seasons. Despite three years in the organization, Hill logged just 31 2/3 big league innings in that stretch, but a strong season at Triple-A led the 2015 Sox to give him a few starts at season’s end, and Hill capitalized in more emphatic fashion than most could’ve imagined.

In 29 innings (four starts) with the Sox, Hill allowed a grand total of five earned runs, striking out 36 batters against just five walks to complement a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate. Hill ditched his two-seam fastball and reduced the usage of his four-seamer in 2015 as well, trading in some of his 90 mph for a dramatic increase in curveballs. The results were outstanding, and the endgame will be a guaranteed payday that is six times greater than Hill’s previous career-high single-season salary of $1MM.

Hill joins a rotation picture led by ace Sonny Gray but also featuring veteran righty Jesse Chavez and a slew of younger arms including Jesse Hahn, Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin and Aaron Brooks. Former mainstays Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin will hope to return to the fold after missing each of the past two seasons due to arm surgery, and lefty Drew Pomeranz is also an option for Oakland manager Bob Melvin (though he had greater success working out of the bullpen).

For the Athletics, it’s a risk to give $6MM to a pitcher with such a limited track record and a wide-ranging history of injuries, but the team has quite a bit of pitching depth and can reasonably absorb the blow if Hill misses a significant portion of the season  on the disabled list. And, if Hill is able to deliver even a handful of starts resembling his September work in 2015, he could turn out to be one of the biggest free-agent bargains of the offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL West Notes: Kotsay, A’s, Rangers, Astros, Dunn, Gutierrez

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The Athletics announced yesterday that former outfielder Mark Kotsay, who most recently served as the Padres’ hitting coach, has been hired as the new bench coach in Oakland. (The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser first reported that Kotsay would be hired.) “I think every bench coach is an extension of the manager, and the manager sets the tone,” said Kotsay of the hiring (via MLB.com’s Jane Lee). “From my standpoint as a bench coach, hopefully I can share my experiences as a player and get across to them the importance of buying in and how special teams can be when the group really believes in that.” Kotsay spoke fondly of the organization, which is no surprise considering the fact that he spent four of his prime-aged seasons with the A’s, reaching the postseason in 2006. Kotsay batted .282/.336/.410 in his four years with the A’s and .276/.332/.404 across parts of 17 Major League seasons.

Some more notes from the AL West…

  • While the Athletics know there is uncertainty around the health of Coco Crisp’s neck, GM David Forst told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart that he still doesn’t expect to seek much in the way of outfield help this winter. Forst spoke highly of Josh Reddick, Billy Burns, Mark Canha and Jake Smolinski as alternative options that are under club control for the 2016 season. Rather, Forst and the A’s front office are trying to determine the best way to add a starting pitcher to the mix in 2016, be it through trade or via free agency. Forst told McTaggart that he laid some groundwork with a number of other clubs and with some agents, though it’s too early to tell whether any of those talks will ultimately lead to a transaction.
  • The Rangers are in the market for a starting pitcher, a right-handed bat and a bullpen arm, McTaggart writes in a second column, and GM Jon Daniels said that the club’s current focus is more on trades than on free agency. McTaggart also spoke to Daniels about the possibility of pursuing a catcher, though Daniels didn’t make it sound like a priority, expressing confidence that Robinson Chirinos is capable of catching 110+ games in 2016 if the Rangers head into the season with him as their starter. The 31-year-old Chirinos very quietly delivered a respectable .232/.325/.438 batting line in 273 plate appearances this past season.
  • Marlins southpaw Mike Dunn would be a reasonable trade option in the Astros’ search for left-handed relief help, writes the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich. Dunn will earn $3.45MM in 2016 — his final year of club control before free agency. Dunn’s average of 95 mph on his fastball would fit GM Jeff Luhnow’s previously stated goal of adding velocity to his bullpen, and Dunn has shown the ability to retire both left- and right-handed batters over the years. Dunn does come with some control problems, and the Marlins have been reluctant to trade him in the past. Still, he does make sense as a lefty relief trade target for clubs seeking such commodities. Luhnow wouldn’t comment on Dunn when asked by Drellich, stating only that he’s checked in with all teams this offseason.
  • In a second column, Drellich examines the Astros’ front-office structure in the wake of David Stearns’ departure. Stearns, who was hired as the Brewers’ GM, handled most of the club’s arbitration negotiations and was also in touch with agents regarding contract negotiations. In his absence, director of pro scouting Kevin Goldstein has stepped up to begin talking with some agents regarding free agency, while some of the arbitration duties are falling to director of baseball ops Brandon Taubman, director of business development Samir Mayur and player development assistant Armando Velasco, per Drellich.
  • Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto called the decision to re-sign Franklin Gutierrez a “no-brainer,” writes MLB.com’s Cash Kruth. “We love his makeup, we love what he brings to our clubhouse, and just generally to the balance of the team,” said Dipoto of Gutierrez. Dipoto says that Gutierrez will likely platoon in left field with Seth Smith next season, which should create a formidable offensive duo. Smith batted .255/.343/.458 against righties in 2015 and has a lifetime .274/.356/.478 line when holding the platoon advantage. Gutierrez checked in at .317/.357/.615 against southpaws last season and has a career .291/.346/.491 line against them.

Beane, Forst Stress That Gray Unlikely To Be Traded

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NOV. 10: “We don’t intend to trade Sonny Gray,” Athletics GM David Forst told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford today. “Not for a lack of interest, and not because he’s not a great pitcher that a lot of teams want. But we really feel like he’s part of our future, as well. As soon as you trade a young, healthy really good pitcher, you’re looking for another one.”

NOV. 4: While many fans whose teams are seeking top-tier pitching this winter have dreamed of prying right-hander Sonny Gray away from the Athletics, Oakland president of baseball operations Billy Beane tells Peter Gammons that he “just cannot see us trading Gray or [Josh] Reddick.”

The A’s have earned the reputation of being willing to trade anyone, and nothing exemplifies that more than last winter’s Josh Donaldson swap with the Blue Jays. Skeptics will point to quotes last year which indicated that Donaldson wouldn’t be dealt, but those came from an unnamed source as opposed to on-record comments from the club’s top decision-maker.

“Trading Gray is not something I think we could do,” Beane explained to Gammons. “We have to put a representative product on the field, and continue to dream we get a ballpark. We should have good pitching, with Gray, Jarrod Parker, Kendall Graveman, Jesse Hahn, Chris Bassitt, maybe Sean Manaea during the season.” While those comments don’t 100 percent eliminate the possibility of moving Gray or Reddick, they should serve to temper some rumors surrounding their names.

Gray, who turns 26 on Saturday, would command a king’s ransom in a trade anyhow. With two years and 61 days of big league service, Gray isn’t yet arbitration eligible and won’t be a free agent until the completion of the 2019 season. Four years of team control, the first of which would come near the league minimum, for a pitcher that has worked to a 2.88 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 54.2 percent ground-ball rate would rank among the most valuable commodities in the game.

Reddick, on the other hand, is more of a conventional trade candidate, as the 28-year-old (29 in February) outfielder will be a free agent following the 2016 campaign. However, this is the second time that Beane has gone on record as saying he doesn’t plan to trade Reddick. Beane, in fact, discussed Reddick as a possible extension candidate when speaking to the Bay Area media following the regular season’s completion.

Reddick is a .251/.315/.439 hitter in four seasons with the A’s, though that includes what now looks to have been outlier season in 2013 when his bat was surprisingly unproductive (91 OPS+). Defensive metrics were somewhat down on Reddick in 2015, though he dealt with an oblique strain early in the season and also battled several knee injuries back in 2014, which could have lingered into the 2015 campaign. He comes with an outstanding defensive reputation, however, ranking ninth in the Majors in Defensive Runs Saved and 10th in Ultimate Zone Rating since being traded to Oakland prior to the 2012 campaign. Reddick has his flaws — namely a weak bat against same-handed pitching — but he’s a highly valuable player that could be in for a significant contract after the 2016 season if the A’s aren’t able to work out a long-term deal prior to that point.

Latest On Byung-ho Park

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8:52am: Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the White Sox aren’t the winner, either. That leaves the Brewers and Twins in addition to the Cubs and Reds, though the latter duo doesn’t have much of a spot for Park to play (unless Cincinnati feels he can handle left field). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reported last week that the Twins have scouted Park quite a bit, though the Brewers seem to be a better fit from a roster standpoint, in my eyes.

8:37am: Heyman also eliminates the Rockies and the Phillies from the mix (via Twitter). That leaves the Brewers, Reds, Cubs, White Sox and Twins as the remaining options. As I noted before, the presence of Joey Votto in Cincinnati and Anthony Rizzo on the Cubs’ roster makes that pair of NL teams seem like long shots, to say the least. The White Sox and Twins each have long-term first base options in Jose Abreu and Joe Mauer, though Park could certainly split time at first and DH with either player.

8:22am: The Astros didn’t submit the winning bid for Park, either, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

NOV. 9, 7:29am: We’re down to seven possibilities on the mystery team for Park, as ESPN’s Buster Olney (Twitter link) and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Biertempfel (Twitter link) report that the Pirates have not won the bidding.

There have been reports eliminating all but seven teams from the Park bidding, leaving the Phillies, Brewers, Reds, Cubs, White Sox, Twins and Astros as possibilities. And while the Reds and Cubs are technically possibilities, it’d be surprising to see either NL club post the winning bid on a first baseman, given the stars that each has entrenched at that position. The Rockies haven’t been completely ruled out, though the report below seems to indicate they’re more of a long shot than anything else at this point.

Alan Nero, Park’s agent at Octagon, tells Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that even he does not yet know which club won the bidding, adding that both league offices were closed over the weekend (Twitter link).

NOV. 8, 9:51pm: The winning bid wasn’t posted by the Royals or Braves, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports (Twitter links).  “It’s safe to assume” the Rays didn’t have the winning bid either, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin tweets.

9:10pm: The Athletics and Marlins also didn’t have the top bid, Heyman tweets.

7:24pm: The Mariners and Diamondbacks didn’t place bids on Park, as per tweets from CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman and Zach Buchanan of AZCentral.com.  Also, the Giants can be eliminated from contention, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.  The Rockies might also be out, as MLB.com’s Thomas Harding doesn’t “think anything is happening there.”

2:39pm: Italian artist Michelangelo is famously misquoted as saying that he sculpted the historic David statue by chipping away the parts that did not look like David.  Perhaps that is how we will whittle down the field of suitors for first baseman Byung-Ho Park until we unravel the mystery team that submitted the winning bid to negotiate with the Korean star.  Failing that, we might just have to wait until Monday, when the announcement is formally made.

On Friday, Korea’s Nexen Heroes accepted a $12.85MM bid on the rights to negotiate a big league contract with Park.  As of today, we still don’t know which MLB club won the posting process, but one team out there now has a thirty day window with which to hammer out a deal with one of the winter’s most intriguing and mysterious free agents.

The Blue Jays are not the winning team, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter), and the winning bid was not submitted by the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, or Angels, either (link),  The Cardinals, who are looking at various first base options, tendered an unsuccessful bid for the 29-year-old, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  James Wagner of the Washington Post (on Twitter) heard that the Nats did not have interest.  Late last week, the Indians, Tigers, Rangers, Orioles, Padres, and Red Sox were also crossed off the list by various reporters.

If Park and his new club do not reach agreement on a contract, Nexen will lose out on the posting fee and the winning team will have to move on to a Plan B at first base.  The reported $12.85MM fell shy of the $25MM+ posting amount commanded by lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, but it easily tops what the Pirates paid Nexen last year (~$5MM) for the rights to reach a deal with infielder Jung-Ho Kang. After the team-to-team transfer was arrived at, Kang and the Bucs agreed to a four-year, $11MM guarantee.

In the recently-released list of MLBTR’s top fifty free agents, Tim Dierkes predicted that Park would command a $10MM posting fee and a five-year, $40MM contract from the winning team. The first part of that was close, but it remains to be seen how negotiations will proceed.

West Notes: Padres, Athletics, Molina

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It doesn’t look like A.J. Preller and the Padres will be big spenders the way they were last winter, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes in a preview of the team’s offseason. Lin notes that starting pitcher Ian Kennedy is expected to decline his qualifying offer and test free agency. He also notes that the Padres still badly need a shortstop, and could also pursue a starting pitcher and outfielder, since Kennedy and Justin Upton seem likely to depart. James Shields and Derek Norris, meanwhile, could be potential trade candidates. Moving Shields and the $65MM remaining on his salary would give the Padres more flexibility (which means Craig Kimbrel and Joaquin Benoit could also be trade candidates). If Norris departs after a solid first season in San Diego, the Padres could hand the catching position to youngster Austin Hedges, a strong defender. Here’s more from the West divisions.

  • The Athletics have announced a pair of promotions within their front office. They’ve promoted director of player personnel Billy Owens to assistant GM, director of player personnel. Director of professional scouting and baseball development Dan Feinstein, meanwhile, is now assistant GM, pro scouting and player personnel.
  • The Angels have named Jose Molina their catching coordinator. As MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez tweets, that’s a new position for the organization. Gonzalez further clarifies that Molina will mostly be working with minor leaguers. On paper, this looks like a terrific hire for the Angels, since Molina had a rock-solid reputation as a pitch-framing catcher. Molina caught for the Angels for parts of seven seasons, mostly serving as his brother Bengie’s backup. The 40-year-old last appeared in the big leagues with the Rays in 2014.

Athletics Claim Andrew Lambo Off Waivers

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The Athletics have claimed outfielder Andrew Lambo off waivers from the Pirates, Oakland announced today. Lambo, 27, missed much of the season as he battled plantar fasciitis.

Lambo’s calling card is his pop, which emerged in a huge 2013 campaign in which he blasted 32 long balls in 501 plate appearances (split between Double-A and Triple-A). After slashing .328/.389/.563 in his 262 Triple-A plate appearances in 2014, it seemed that Lambo was on his way to becoming an interesting power piece in the majors.

That could still come to pass, and Oakland is an interesting place for him to land. It remains to be seen what the A’s have in mind for Lambo, who has only seen minimal MLB playing time. But the club relied on several unproven players last year, including Rule 5 pick Mark Canha, and it’s plausible to imagine Lambo functioning as one left-handed-hitting component of a broader corner outfield/first base/DH rotation.

Of course, as Baseball America noted in rating Lambo the Pirates’ 21st-best prospect before the 2014 season, power is the only plus tool in his arsenal. It remains to be seen whether his in-game, MLB power output can ever be sufficient to make up for his lesser-regarded skills, such as the “fringe-average” baserunning and outfield defensive grades he got from BA.

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