Marlins Designate Kaleb Ort For Assignment
The Marlins have designated right-hander Kaleb Ort for assignment, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. This move opens a spot for the Marlins to claim Declan Cronin off waivers from the Astros, a move that was reported earlier.
Ort, 32, spent the past few seasons with the Red Sox but has been on the roster carousel of late. Since the most recent season ended, he’s been claimed off waivers by the Mariners and Marlins and has now lost his roster spot yet again. The Fish claimed him in early December and he lasted just over two months on their roster before getting bumped off.
The righty has some big velocity, averaging around 96 miles per hour on his fastball. That’s led to Ort racking up strikeouts in the minors, but also with his fair share of walks. In the majors, both of those tallies have been a bit tempered. Over the past three seasons, he’s tossed 97 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level while allowing 2.76 earned runs per nine, striking out 31.1% of batters faced while walking 10.9%. In that same stretch of time, he threw 51 2/3 innings in the majors with a 6.27 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate.
Though he hasn’t quite punched out big league hitters at the same rate, the minor league numbers appear to be drawing the interest of various clubs. Ort still has one option year remaining and doesn’t need an active roster spot, which adds to the appeal. A club could keep him stashed in the minors and call him up as needed throughout the season.
Despite that appeal, the Marlins decided that Cronin was a better fit for their roster and nudged Ort off. They will now have a week to trade Ort or pass him through waivers. Based on the multiple claims this offseason, he may wind up with a new club shortly. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he lacks the previous career outright or three years of MLB service necessary to elect free agency, meaning he would stick with the Marlins as non-roster depth.
Angels Acquire Guillermo Zuñiga, Designate Austin Warren
The Angels announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired right-hander Guillermo Zuñiga from the Cardinals, who’d previously designated him for assignment. Anaheim sent cash to St. Louis in the deal. To clear a spot on their own 40-man roster, the Halos designated righty Austin Warren for assignment.
Zuñiga, 25, made his big league debut with the Cards in 2023, tossing two innings and allowing a run on two hits and no walks with four strikeouts. That’s the only MLB experience of his career to date. After becoming a minor league free agent following the ’22 season, he inked a surprising Major League deal with the Cards but ultimately spent the bulk of his season in Triple-A Memphis, where he posted an unsightly 7.63 ERA in 30 2/3 innings.
The results might not be pretty, but Zuñiga features a triple-digit heater and misses bats at a high level. Like so many pitchers who can approximate the eye-popping 99.4 mph average on Zuñiga’s fastball, however, he’s battled his share of command issues throughout his minor league tenure. Zuñiga walked 13.7% of his opponents in Triple-A last year and has issued a free pass to 10.6% of his minor league opponents.
Zuñiga still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so the Angels will be able to move him freely between Anaheim and their Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake this season and next — if he sticks on the team’s 40-man roster. Barring another DFA, he’ll head to big league camp with the Angels and vie for a spot in a massively overhauled bullpen that has added veterans Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Luis Garcia, Adam Cimber and Jose Cisnero on free agent deals this offseason.
As for the 28-year-old Warren, he’s spent time in the Angels’ bullpen in each of the past three seasons, compiling a total of 38 innings with a solid 3.55 earned run average. Most of his success came as a rookie in 2021, however, when he tossed 20 1/3 innings of 1.77 ERA ball. Since then, Warren has been tagged for 11 runs in 17 2/3 innings with just a 14.5% strikeout rate against a strong 6.6% walk rate.
Warren’s struggles began in 2022 and culminated with a stint on the injured list in 2023. By early May, the team revealed that he’d been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and would require Tommy John surgery. As such, Warren is slated to miss the early portion of the 2024 campaign and may well have been ticketed for the 60-day injured list, were it not for today’s DFA.
The Angels will have a week to trade Warren or attempt to pass him through waivers. Any team looking to acquire him would have to do so knowing that Warren will likely be shelved into the summer at the earliest.
Marlins Claim Declan Cronin
The Marlins have claimed right-hander Declan Cronin off waivers from the Astros, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC-2 in Houston. He was designated for assignment last week. Miami hasn’t formally announced the claim and will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster to make the move official.
Cronin, 26, made his big league debut with the White Sox in 2023, yielding 11 runs in 11 innings. He’s a sinker-slider righty who averaged just under 94 mph on the former of those two offerings and posted big ground-ball rates both in the upper minors and in his limited MLB time. Cronin logged a 3.83 ERA in 51 2/3 Triple-A frames this past season, striking out 18.7% of his opponents against an 8.9% walk rate while sporting a 54.5% grounder rate.
While Cronin’s cup of coffee in the big leagues doesn’t stand out, his combination of lofty ground-ball rates and plus spin on his slider has piqued the interest of a few teams now. The ChiSox selected him to the roster this past summer, the Astros claimed him off waivers early last month, and the Marlins have now placed their own claim. Since the former 36th-round pick was just selected to a 40-man roster for the first time last summer, he still has multiple minor league option years remaining and, if he can establish himself as a viable MLB bullpen piece, is controllable for at least six more seasons.
Red Sox, Dalton Guthrie Agree To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox agreed to a minor league contract with infielder/outfielder Dalton Guthrie, per the transaction log at MiLB.com.
Guthrie has logged MLB time with the Phillies in each of the past two seasons, albeit in a quite limited role. The 28-year-old has tallied 28 plate appearances in each season while appearing in a combined total of 37 games. In that small sample, he’s batted .244/.393/.333 with a hefty 16.1% walk rate against a 25% strikeout rate.
Beyond a decent showing in limited MLB work, Guthrie touts a solid .289/.357/.434 slash in parts of three Triple-A seasons. He’s not a big power threat, with just 16 long balls in 856 plate appearances at that level, but he’s generally shown decent contact skills and provided a good bit of defensive versatility. Guthrie has played at least 582 innings at each of shortstop, second base, third base and center field, and he’s logged a combined 688 innings in the outfield corners (398 in right, 290 in left). The former Florida Gator was a sixth-round pick by the Phillies back in 2017.
Over the past year, Guthrie has begun to bounce around the league. The Phils selected his contract in September of 2022 but designated him for assignment last June when they needed to open a roster spot for Darick Hall‘s return from the 60-day IL. Guthrie was traded to the Giants for cash, designated for assignment three weeks later, and then claimed off waivers by the Braves a week after that. He didn’t appear in a big league game with Atlanta, who designated him for assignment at the trade deadline and succeeded in passing him through waivers. Guthrie elected minor league free agency at season’s end.
Guthrie will add a right-handed bat to the Red Sox’ bench competition, and his experience playing just about anywhere on the diamond could serve him well as he tries to work his way back to the big leagues. Bench options currently on Boston’s 40-man roster include Enmanuel Valdez, Rob Refsnyder, Pablo Reyes, Bobby Dalbec and David Hamilton.
The Opener: Altuve, Guerrero, DFA Limbo
With Spring Training just around the corner here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Astros, Altuve to hold press conference:
As noted by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Astros have scheduled a press conference for this afternoon in Houston where star second baseman Jose Altuve and team leadership will be available to discuss Altuve’s five-year extension. An eight-time All Star with three batting titles, six Silver Slugger awards, a Gold Glove award, and the 2017 AL MVP award, Altuve owns a career .307/.364/.471 slash line in 13 seasons in Houston since he made his MLB debut back in 2011. The deal keeps Altuve in an Astros uniform through his age-39 season.
2. Guerrero arbitration result:
Eleven arbitration cases have yet to reach a conclusion, and among the most high-profile of the remaining cases could be nearing a decision. The Associated Press has reported that first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays went to a hearing yesterday. Guerrero filed at $19.9MM while Toronto countered at $18.05MM. Both those figures come in below MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projection of $20.4MM, which would be a result of the 24-year-old slugger’s “down” season at the plate last year (by his lofty standards, anyhow). In 682 trips to the plate, Guerrero slashed .264/.345/.444 with 30 doubles and 26 home runs. While that’s certainly strong production, it left something to be desired after the youngster crushed the ball to the tune of a .292/.370/.539 slash line over the previous two seasons.
Yesterday saw five players sweep arbitration decisions, as right-handers Jacob Webb and Phil Bickford, outfielders Austin Hays and Taylor Ward, and utility player Mauricio Dubon all won their cases against their clubs, putting players ahead of teams 5-2 in this year’s slate of arbitration hearings.
3. Players to exit DFA Limbo:
When players are designated for assignment, they can remain in transactional limbo for up to a week while their team looks to trade them or attempts to pass them through waivers. For right-hander Declan Cronin of the Astros, outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba of the Pirates, and right-hander Zack Weiss of the Red Sox, that one-week period expires today, meaning resolutions to each player’s DFA should be announced today. All three of the aforementioned players are unable to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, meaning their club’s can retain them as non-roster depth entering the season if they pass through waivers successfully.
Cronin, 26, posted a 9.00 ERA across 11 appearances during his first season as a big leaguer last year, though he enjoyed more success at Triple-A with a 3.88 ERA in 51 2/3 innings of work. Smith-Njigba, 25 in April, came to the Pirates as part of the return in the Jameson Taillon trade and owns a .273/.366/.469 slash line at the Triple-A level, though he’s struggled badly in his first 44 trips to the plate in the majors. Weiss, 31, made his big league debut back in 2018 but had a disastrous outing for the Reds where he surrendered four runs on two walks and two homers while failing to record an out. That first cup of coffee was the only taste of major league action Weiss would get until his age-30 season four years later, when he reemerged as a member of the Angels. Since then, he’s pitched to a 3.29 ERA with a 5.27 FIP in 27 1/3 innings of work.
Astros Sign Jose Altuve To Five-Year Extension
Jose Altuve is remaining in Houston. The Astros announced the signing of the former MVP to a five-year extension that covers the 2025-29 seasons. Altuve, a client of the Boras Corporation, is reportedly guaranteed $125MM. He’ll collect a $15MM signing bonus. Altuve’s previous deal called for a $26MM salary in 2024 that remains in place. He’s now due $30MM annually between 2025-27 and respective $10MM figures from 2028-29. He had been slated to reach free agency next offseason.
It isn’t exactly a surprise to see the two sides come together on a deal. Dana Brown was hired as the club’s general manager in January of 2023 and almost immediately spoke on the record about how he hoped the club would be able to lock up core players, including Altuve. Shortly thereafter, he said that Altuve “should be in Houston for life.” It was just a couple of days later that Altuve himself said “I hope to retire here, so I think we’re on the same page.” It was in March that Brown pushed the brakes a little, saying extension talks would likely be pushed to after the 2023 campaign, with a deal now coming to fruition. This new extension runs through Altuve’s age-39 season.
This is the third time that Altuve and the Astros have signed an extension, which has kept him with the team as so many others have come and gone. Fairly or unfairly, that has made him the face of the franchise, which is a double-edged sword. For supporters of the club, he provides a through line from their miserable rebuilding years at the start of the previous decade to their incredible run of recent success, which includes a pair of World Series titles and seven straight ALCS appearances. For many others around baseball, his accolades remain tarnished by the 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
However one feels about Altuve’s legacy, there’s no question he remains one of the sport’s best offensive players as he goes into his age-34 campaign. An atypically poor showing during the shortened 2020 season looked as if might signal the start of a decline. That hasn’t been the case. Altuve rebounded with 31 homers and a .278/.350/.489 showing in 2021. He has been even better over the last two seasons. He raked at a .300/.387/.533 clip with 28 homers through 604 trips to the plate two seasons ago.
A thumb fracture sustained when he was hit by a pitch in last year’s World Baseball Classic kept Altuve off the field for the first couple months of the 2023 season. He returned in the middle of May, and while his season was again paused in July by a mild oblique strain, he was no worse for wear when able to take the field. Altuve ran a stellar .335/.404/.544 line in the second half and finished the year with a .311/.393/.522 mark in 410 plate appearances. He concluded with another excellent playoff performance, knocking four home runs while hitting .286 in 11 games.
Since the start of the 2021 campaign, Altuve is a .294/.374/.513 hitter. That offensive productivity is 47 percentage points better than league average, as measured by wRC+. That’s easily the best hitting performance by any second baseman and a top 10 mark among all qualified batters. Altuve remains as difficult as ever to strike out and has posted his two highest single-season walk rates within the last two years.
To the extent that the eight-time All-Star has shown any signs of aging, that’s limited to the other side of the ball. Altuve has never been a great defensive second baseman. His glovework has dipped in recent years, although the extent of that drop-off differs depending on the metric. Statcast has graded Altuve around league average. Defensive Runs Saved, on the other hand, estimates that he has been a combined 28 runs worse than an average defensive second baseman over the last two years.
That’s not of much concern for Houston as they retain one of the best players in franchise history for what’ll likely be the remainder of his career. By the time the deal wraps up, Altuve will have spent parts of 19 years in a Houston uniform. Whether the Astros can maintain the kind of team success they’ve had over the last eight years for the rest of the decade remains to be seen. Houston has a number of key players approaching free agency within the next season or two.
Alex Bregman will hit the open market a year from now. Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez have two remaining seasons of arbitration control. They’ve successfully locked up Altuve, Cristian Javier and Yordan Alvarez on extensions and have three-plus years of control over the likes of Hunter Brown, Jeremy Peña and Yainer Diaz. There could be some turnover if Bregman, Tucker and Valdez were to depart, but the Astros are trying to ensure the window doesn’t close entirely.
Altuve’s extension won’t affect their salary commitments for 2024, but he’ll now add a $15MM signing bonus to their ledger. Houston already had a franchise-record level of spending with a projected 2024 payroll approaching $240MM, per Roster Resource. The signing bonus will push their actual spending obligations towards the $250MM mark.
Houston is already well into luxury tax territory, but the deal’s $25MM average annual value won’t count against their CBT obligations until 2025. They now have upwards of $115MM on the books for ’25 and over $100MM in commitments to Altuve, Alvarez, Javier, Josh Hader and Lance McCullers Jr. for 2026.
Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 first reported the $125MM guarantee. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the specific salary structure.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
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Nationals, Stephen Nogosek Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals are signing reliever Stephen Nogosek to a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link). He returns to the NL East, where he has spent the bulk of his career as a member of the Mets.
Nogosek, 29, was drafted by the Red Sox in 2016. Boston traded the Oregon product to New York the following deadline as part of a prospect package for veteran reliever Addison Reed. Nogosek pitched in parts of four seasons in Queens. He made a career-high 13 appearances last year, posting a 5.61 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. The Mets designated him for assignment in June.
The right-hander caught on with the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal. As is the case for most pitchers, he struggled with Arizona’s Triple-A team in Reno. Nogosek was tagged for a 6.55 ERA across 33 innings for the Aces and didn’t get an MLB look from the eventual NL champions.
Rough stint in Reno aside, Nogosek has a generally solid track record at the top minor league level. He has allowed 3.76 earned runs per nine in 143 2/3 Triple-A frames. Nogosek has punched out 27.3% of Triple-A opponents, although he has also issued walks at a lofty 11.9% clip. He has roughly average strikeout and walk numbers in his 57 1/3 MLB innings, in which he has posted a 5.02 ERA.
Washington had a below-average bullpen a year ago, making them a decent landing spot for relievers looking to get back to the majors on minor league deals. Nogosek joins Richard Bleier and Robert Gsellman as recent non-roster signees.
Marlins Acquire Jonah Bride, Designate Jordan Groshans
The Marlins announced the acquisition of infielder Jonah Bride from the A’s in exchange for cash. Miami designated fellow infielder Jordan Groshans for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot. Oakland had DFA Bride when they traded for Ross Stripling last week.
Bride, 28, has been with the A’s since they selected him in the 23rd round of the 2018 draft. The right-handed hitter has never been a highly-regarded prospect but has generally hit well in the minors. He owns a .288/.400/.459 line over the course of his minor league career. That includes a .322/.450/.553 slash over 401 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
While Oakland’s affiliate plays in one of the sport’s most hitter-friendly settings in Las Vegas, Bride’s production has been built around his strong strike zone awareness. He has walked in 17.2% of his Triple-A plate appearances while striking out at a modest 15.2% clip. That earned him looks at the major league level in each of the last two seasons, where he hasn’t found anywhere near the same level of success.
Bride is a .192/.296/.232 hitter over 98 MLB contests. He has walked at a strong 10.2% rate against a lower than average 18.2% strikeout percentage. He hasn’t done any kind of damage on contact, however. Bride has one homer and seven doubles in 293 plate appearances.
Primarily a third baseman, Bride also has experience at first and second base. He briefly dabbled with catching in the minors in 2022 but played exclusively on the infield last year. Bride has never played shortstop, so he won’t offer any cover at that position of need for Miami. He offers depth at any of the other infield spots and still has a minor league option remaining, so the Fish can send him to Triple-A Jacksonville next season without placing him on waivers.
The acquisition bumps Groshans off the roster, a disappointing development for the former first-round draftee. Selected by the Blue Jays, he was dealt to Miami at the 2022 deadline for relievers Anthony Bass and Zach Pop. Groshans made a brief MLB debut later that season, appearing in 17 games. He hit .262/.308/.311 in 65 trips to the plate.
Miami kept Groshans in Triple-A on optional assignment for all of last season. He had a lackluster .243/.339/.330 slash with six homers in 528 plate appearances. As with Bride, Groshans posted solid walk (12.5%) and strikeout (17.4%) numbers but made minimal power impact. First-year president of baseball operations Peter Bendix evidently feels Bride has a better chance of translating that approach into some amount of big league success. The Marlins have a week to trade the 24-year-old Groshans or try to run him through waivers.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported the Marlins were acquiring Bride. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Jacob Webb Wins Arbitration Hearing Over Orioles
Reliever Jacob Webb prevailed in his arbitration hearing against the Orioles, as first reported by Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link). He’ll make the $1MM sought by his camp at KHG Sports Management as opposed to the team’s $925K filing figure.
Webb has only spent a couple months in Baltimore. The O’s snagged him off waivers from the Angels in early August. The 30-year-old righty had a strong finish to the season, turning in a 3.27 ERA through 22 innings. He finished the season with a personal-high 53 2/3 frames between the two clubs. Webb struck out nearly a quarter of batters faced and worked to a 3.69 ERA behind an excellent 15.1% swinging strike rate.
Control remained an issue, as Webb walked almost 13% of opposing hitters. He hasn’t had great command at any point in his career, but he’s generally found success regardless. Webb has a sub-3.00 ERA in 130 1/3 big league frames between Atlanta, Los Angeles and Baltimore. That seems likely to earn him a spot in the season-opening relief group for the Orioles. Webb is out of options, so the O’s would need to trade him or put him on waivers if they decide not to carry him on the big league roster.
Teammate Austin Hays also won his hearing against the O’s this afternoon. Tuesday marked a strong day for the players on the arbitration side. In addition to Webb and Hays, Mauricio Dubón, Taylor Ward and Phil Bickford all came out ahead. After teams won the first two arbitration cases last week, the players have won five straight. Baltimore has one unresolved case. First baseman Ryan O’Hearn is seeking a $3.8MM salary, while the team countered at $3.2MM.