Andre Jackson Signs With NPB’s Yokohama BayStars
Andre Jackson has signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced. The move comes a few weeks after he was designated for assignment and released by the Pirates.
Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported at the time that the DFA was a mutual decision to permit him to pursue an NPB opportunity. It wasn’t then clear with what team the 6’3″ righty would be signing. That’ll be a BayStars club that also recently added lefty Anthony Kay.
Jackson, 27, has spent the past seven years in affiliated ball. Drafted by the Dodgers in 2017, the University of Utah product reached the majors in ’21. He logged 39 innings over parts of three seasons with Los Angeles, working to a 4.15 ERA. The Dodgers DFA him and flipped him to the Pirates for cash in late June.
While Jackson had pitched exclusively in relief in L.A., the Pirates used him out of the rotation at times. Jackson started seven of 12 appearances in black and gold. He turned in a 4.33 ERA across 43 2/3 innings. His 23% strikeout rate was solid, but he also walked almost 11% of opponents. Command has been the main question throughout his career. He has walked 12.7% of batters faced while fanning just under 26% of hitters in his minor league tenure.
Jackson is out of minor league options and wasn’t firmly established on the MLB roster. Had he stayed in Pittsburgh, there was a decent chance they’d have tried to run him through outright waivers at some point. Jackson instead locks in a guaranteed salary in NPB, where he might get a full season working from the rotation. He’s certainly young enough to reemerge as an option for MLB teams in future offseasons.
Mets Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment
The Mets have designated infielder Diego Castillo for assignment, tweets Will Sammon of the Athletic. That clears the necessary 40-man roster spot for left-hander Sean Manaea, whose two-year deal was finalized.
New York claimed Castillo off waivers from the Diamondbacks a week ago. It might prove an exceedingly brief stay in the organization for the right-handed hitter. The Mets will have to trade Castillo or put him on waivers themselves within the next seven days.
The 26-year-old spent almost all of last season in Triple-A. Arizona acquired Castillo in a minor trade with the Pirates over the 2022-23 offseason. They kept him on optional assignment to their top affiliate in Reno for all but one game. The 5’10” middle infielder had a solid year for the Aces, hitting .313/.431/.410 through 556 plate appearances. Castillo only hit three home runs in a very favorable offensive environment, but he demonstrated strong strike zone discipline. He walked at a massive 17.4% rate while striking out just 14.2% of the time.
It was a reversal from his 2022 MLB work in Pittsburgh. Castillo connected on 11 homers in 283 plate appearances (roughly half a season) as a rookie. He hit .206 with a meager .251 on-base percentage in that time, largely because of a poor strikeout and walk profile. Castillo walked less than 5% of the time while striking out in nearly 27% of his plate appearances as a big leaguer.
Castillo has been more of a hit-over-power player over an eight-year professional career. He’s a .276/.346/.373 hitter in the minors. He spent the bulk of that time in the Yankees system before being traded to Pittsburgh in what turned out to be a lopsided 2021 deal sending Clay Holmes to the Bronx.
Orioles Announce Coaching Staff
The Orioles announced their 2024 coaching staff this morning. That included three new hires: the previously reported addition of Drew French as pitching coach, Mitch Plassmeyer as assistant pitching coach, and Grant Anders as major league development coach.
Plassmeyer is the brother of left-hander Michael Plassmeyer (who signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh last week). Mitch Plassmeyer, 28, gets his first look on a big league staff. He had spent the better part of the last two years as a minor league pitching coordinator for the O’s. Before joining the professional ranks, he coached at the University of Missouri. Anders, 27, is also a first-time MLB staffer. He has worked in player development with Baltimore for four seasons.
They join a staff that remains essentially unchanged on the offensive side. Brandon Hyde is back for a sixth year at the helm. Fredi González returns as bench coach. Co-hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller continue to work alongside offensive strategy coach Cody Asche. Tony Mansolino and Anthony Sanders are the base coaches, while Tim Cossins (field coordinator) and José Hernández (major league coach) are also returnees.
French and Plassmeyer join pitching strategy coach Ryan Klimek in the run prevention realm. Prior pitching coach Chris Holt is returning to an overhead organizational role as director of pitching, while former assistant Darren Holmes departed and joined the Cubs as bullpen coach.
Twins, Hobie Harris Agree To Minor League Deal
The Twins and right-hander Hobie Harris have agreed to a minor league deal, per MLB Transactions Daily on Instagram. The Gaeta Sports Management client will make a salary of $750K if he cracks the major league roster.
Harris, 31 in June, made his major league debut in 2023 after almost a decade grinding away in the minor leagues. He was originally drafted by the Yankees in 2015 and finally made it to the show with the Nationals last year. He tossed 19 1/3 innings over 16 appearances with a 5.12 earned run average. His 9.9% strikeout rate and 14.4% walk rate were both well worse than league averages.
In addition to that major league work, he also tossed 32 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Despite a 5.57 ERA there, his peripherals were better than in the majors, but still subpar. He struck out 15.2% of Triple-A hitters on the year while walking 12%. The Nationals outrighted him off the roster at season’s end and he elected free agency.
Harris is not too far removed from some pretty strong showings at the minor league level. With the Jays in 2021 and Brewers in 2022, he tossed a combined 96 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 2.89 ERA and 27.4% strikeout rate, though the walks were still high at 12.6%.
The Twins will bring him aboard as some non-roster depth and see if he can get back into that form he showed prior to 2023. If he’s able to get onto their roster at any point, he still has a couple of option years remaining. The club lost relievers like Emilio Pagán and Dylan Floro to free agency and is now facing a budget crunch this winter due to uncertainty in their broadcast situation. The major league minimum salary is set to be $740K next year and Harris will barely be above that if he has his contract is selected at any point.
Harris is currently second all-time in wins above replacements among Hobies, with both Baseball Reference and FanGraphs having Hobie Landrith slightly ahead.
Dodgers Hire Raul Ibanez In Baseball Operations
The Dodgers have hired Raúl Ibañez as their vice president of baseball development and special projects, tweets Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic. He returns to the L.A. organization, where he worked in Andrew Friedman’s front office between 2016-20.
Ibañez had a 19-year playing career in the major leagues. The left-handed hitting outfielder suited up with the Mariners, Royals, Phillies, Yankees and Angels between 1996-2014. He played through his age-42 campaign and remained in the sport almost immediately after hanging up his spikes. He was a finalist in the Rays managerial search within weeks of his retirement but ultimately backed out of the running. (Things worked out well for Tampa Bay, who ended up hiring Kevin Cash.)
After one year off, he joined the Dodgers in a special assistant capacity. Ibañez would hold that position for five seasons before moving to the MLB offices. He joined the league as a senior vice president of on-field operations. Ibañez was among a number of recently retired players working alongside the commissioner on various initiatives — in his case, primarily with regards to rules and on-field technology.
Ibañez spent three seasons in that role. The 51-year-old now heads back to the team side, reuniting with many former colleagues in Los Angeles. Whether this could set the stage for an eventual jump to a more significant front office or coaching position remains to be seen. In addition to the Rays, Ibañez has been mentioned in managerial searches in Houston, San Francisco and with the Yankees and Cubs over the years.
Charlie Culberson Attempting To Become Pitcher, Re-Signs With Braves On Minors Deal
Charlie Culberson has re-signed with the Braves on a minor league deal and will report to minor league camp as a pitcher, per reports from Jon Heyman of The New York Post and Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Culberson, 35 in April, has served as a utility player in the majors for over a decade now. He debuted with the Giants back in 2012 and has since suited up for the Rockies, Dodgers, Braves and Rangers, getting into 590 games in his career. He’s never been a huge threat at the plate, having hit .248/.293/.385 overall for a wRC+ of 76, but he has generally received strong defensive grades while lining up at every position on the diamond except catcher and center field.
That includes some brief stints on the mound, which have gone well. He has tossed 7 1/3 innings over his eight appearances in the big leagues, allowing just one earned run, three walks and seven hits while striking out one opponent. He also made four appearances in Triple-A last year, allowing two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, with five strikeouts and two walks. As noted by Toscano, Culberson was clocked at 93.7 miles per hour in an appearance back in 2018. In Triple-A last year, he hit 93.1.
Perhaps focusing on pitching full-time will allow him to push that velocity further, or maybe it will be harder for him to maintain it with a larger workload. Attempting to suddenly become a pitcher on the cusp of one’s 35th birthday is obviously an unusual path but there’s some logic to it for Culberson. He would have been hard-pressed to find a meaningful role as a utility player going forward. In 2023, he had two separate month-long stints on the big league roster in Atlanta but received just one major league plate appearance for the year. Incidentally, he got a single and finished the year with a slash line of 1.000/1.000/1.000 and a wRC+ of 475. But instead of languishing on the bench or in the minors again, he’ll take a different path.
It will also be fun storyline for supporters of the club. Culberson has become something of a fan favorite over his many stints with Atlanta and he’ll now set his sights on a new and surprising task.
KBO’s NC Dinos Sign Matt Davidson
Matt Davidson has signed with the NC Dinos of the KBO League, reports Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. The infielder will have a salary of $560K, plus a $140K signing bonus and $300K of incentives.
Davidson, 33 in March, has received scattered MLB action, appearing in six seasons over the 2013 to 2022 timeframe. He played in 311 big league games over that decade-long stretch, suiting up for the Diamondbacks, White Sox, Reds and Athletics. He struck out in 34.3% of his plate appearances but also launched 54 home runs. The combined result was a .220/.290/.430 batting line and 93 wRC+.
His Triple-A track record has been much stronger, as he has hit .253/.335/.479 at that level over eight separate seasons, hitting 163 home runs in 3,236 plate appearances. That likely helped him secure a job in Japan last year, as he joined the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2023 season. He hit 19 home runs in his 381 plate appearances for that club but his overall line of .210/.273/.425 suggests it was a power-only performance. He struck out in 31.5% of his trips to the plate last year while walking just 5.8% of the time.
Despite the strikeouts, Davidson’s power bat is clearly a threat and it has intrigued the Dinos. This will complete the club’s foreign player allotment, as KBO clubs are limited to three such slots. They previously signed pitchers Daniel Castano and Kyle Hart.
Mets Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment
The Mets designated catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment, as first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets announced the move a couple minutes later. Hummel’s spot on the 40-man roster will go to righty Max Kranick, whom the Mets are claiming off waivers from the Pirates.
Hummel, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Mariners earlier in the offseason. He appeared in 10 MLB games last year and came to the plate 26 times with Seattle. He also received a brief look with the D-backs in 2022, and he’s posted an overall .166/.264/.286 line in 227 career plate appearances.
Ugly as that small-sample slash line may be, Hummel turned in a .262/.409/.435 batting line in Triple-A last year and drew walks at a massive 18% clip. The Mets were surely attracted to that output and to his versatility; he’s logged more than 1800 innings in left field, 1054 frames behind the plate, 508 innings at first base and another 296 innings in right field. Add in that he has a minor league option remaining, and he’s an interesting depth piece even if he hasn’t yet been able to produce at the big league level.
Hummel is also a known commodity for Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, who was the Brewers’ general manager in 2016 when Hummel was drafted by Milwaukee. Stearns traded Hummel to the D-backs in the 2021 Eduardo Escobar swap, and he’ll now have a week to trade Hummel again or else attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Mets Claim Max Kranick From Pirates
The Mets have claimed right-hander Max Kranick off waivers from the Pirates, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The righty was designated for assignment by the Bucs a week ago when they needed a roster spot to sign Martín Pérez. The Mets have a full roster and will need to make a corresponding move for Kranick, and will need to open another when they make their signing of Sean Manaea official.
Kranick, 26, will now join just the second organization of his career. He was drafted by the Pirates and has been a part of that organization until this transaction. He made his major league debut with nine starts in 2021, posting a 6.28 earned run average in 38 2/3 innings. He made two relief appearances for the club in 2022 but required Tommy John surgery in June of that year, wiping out the rest of the season and most of 2023. He was healthy enough to return to the mound late in 2023, making a few minor league starts in August and September.
There’s obviously not much major league track record to go on and the surgery has prevented him from pitching meaningful innings in the minors of late. But he has thrown 344 1/3 innings on the farm overall with a 3.55 ERA. He has only struck out 19.5% of minor league hitters but has only given out walks at a modest 6.2% clip.
He is now out of options, which suggest the Mets are either planning to keep him on their active roster or will attempt to run him through waivers in the future. The Mets already have a rotation composed of Manaea, Luis Severino, Kodai Senga, José Quintana and Adrian Houser, with Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi on hand as optionable depth. David Peterson will be in the mix once he recovers from his hip surgery. Given that rotation picture, perhaps the Mets will keep Kranick in the bullpen and see if he can find some extra strikeouts with his stuff playing up in shorter stints.
The Mets are taking something of a step back this year and have limited themselves to fairly modest moves. Manaea got a two-year deal but with an opt-out after the first season. Severino got a one-year deal, as did Harrison Bader, Joey Wendle, Jorge López, Austin Adams and Michael Tonkin. The club has also claimed Penn Murfee, Zack Short, Tyler Heineman and Cooper Hummel and now Kranick off waivers.
Taken together, those moves have filled out the pitching staff and bench as the club will look to go into 2024 with more depth. Perhaps that will help them avoid the pitfalls they fell into last year when a batch of injuries knocked them out contention, or perhaps it will simply allow someone in that batch to break out and take a step forward this year. If the club falls out of contention again and winds up engaging in another deadline selloff, they can give some extra innings or plate appearances to someone showing signs of development.
Mets, Danny Young Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mets have agreed to a minor league deal with left-handed reliever Danny Young, MLBTR has learned. He’ll be in big league camp this spring and would earn an $825K salary in the majors. Young is repped by Dynamic Sports Group.
The 29-year-old Young has seen big league time with the Mariners and Braves over the past two years, logging a combined 14 2/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA, a 25.4% strikeout rate, a 6% walk rate and a healthy 48.8% ground-ball rate. He was particularly sharp with Atlanta, yielding just one run in 11 innings as a Brave and posting a 12-to-2 K/BB ratio. However, Young missed the bulk of the 2023 season due to hip injury. He pitched just 15 2/3 Triple-A frames and 8 1/3 MLB innings before landing on the injured list and ultimately undergoing surgery.
Young has a 4.70 ERA in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s fanned 28% of his opponents at the top minor league level against an 11% walk rate, though his command has been better in his limited MLB looks. He has a minor league option remaining as well, so if he makes the Mets’ roster out of spring training or at any point during the 2024 season, he could be optioned freely for the remainder of the season.
The Mets are known to be on the lookout for bullpen help and have specifically been focused on adding some left-handed depth. New York reportedly had interest in former Brewers and Rockies southpaw Brent Suter, but Suter agreed to a one-year pact with his hometown Reds yesterday.