Ryan Minor Passes Away
Former Orioles third baseman and minor league manager Ryan Minor passed away on Friday at age 49, as announced by Ryan’s brother Damon (via X): “After a courageous and hard fought battle I’m sad to say that Ryan lost his fight with cancer this afternoon. He truly was the best twin brother you can ask for. His family and I want to thank everyone for the prayers and support during this time. BOOMER SOONER.”
Minor played in 142 MLB games over four big league seasons, hitting .177/.228/.259 over 342 career plate appearances. Minor appeared in 87 games with the Orioles from 1998-2000 and in 55 games with the Expos in 2001, and his time in the minor leagues and in independent baseball spanned from 2002-05, including stops in the farm systems of the Mariners, Dodgers, and Marlins.
In just his third career big league game, Minor became a unique part of baseball history. Minor was Baltimore’s starting third baseman against the Yankees on September 20, 1998, which meant that he was technically the player who supplanted Cal Ripken Jr. in the Orioles’ lineup on the night that Ripken voluntarily ended his record consecutive-games streak.
After retiring from playing, Minor started a long second career as a coach and minor league manager. Much of that time was spent in Baltimore’s organization, working from 2010-19 managing the Orioles’ A-ball and high-A affiliates in Delmarva and Frederick. Minor also worked as a coach and manager in the Atlantic League in 2006-07 before beginning his long stint with the Orioles, and he managed the Tigers’ Gulf Coast West League affiliate in 2020-21.
As Damon Minor’s message indicates, the Minor brothers attended the University of Oklahoma, and Ryan was a standout in both baseball and basketball. Minor was a second-round draft pick (selected 32nd overall) for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1996 NBA Draft, and he spent 1996 playing in the Sixers’ preseason camp and in the Continental Basketball Association. The Orioles controlled Minor’s baseball rights via a 33rd-round selection in the 1996 MLB draft.
We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Minor’s family, friends, and colleagues.
Angels, Giants Among Teams Pursuing Blake Snell
The Angels have lost Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers and never appeared to be a finalist for NPB star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but they’re pursuing the biggest fish remaining on the free agent market, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, who reports that the Halos have made reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell “their priority” now that Ohtani has officially departed. The Giants, too, are interested in Snell, per Slusser.
Signing Snell would be a departure from the norm for either club. The Angels’ three-year commitment to Tyler Anderson last offseason was the organization’s first multi-year deal for a free agent starting pitcher since signing Joe Blanton to a two-year contract a decade prior. Owner Arte Moreno has been comfortable with long-term deals for position players — oftentimes mega-deals that haven’t worked out favorably (Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, Josh Hamilton) — but has generally been wary of similar commitments to pitchers. The Angels did pursue Gerrit Cole when he was a free agent, but they of course lost out to the Yankees’ then-record bid of $324MM. (Yamamoto topped that mark by $1MM when he agreed to terms with the Dodgers.)
Similarly, the Giants have eschewed long-term deals for starting pitchers in five years under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. San Francisco hasn’t gone beyond three years on any starting pitcher under the current regime — arguably a shrewd philosophy but also the reason that Kevin Gausman is starring for the Blue Jays on what now looks to be a wildly affordable five-year, $110MM contract. Zaidi’s club has gone to three years to sign Anthony DeSclafani and issued two-year deals for veterans Alex Wood, Alex Cobb, Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling, but longer-term pacts haven’t been in this front office group’s playbook.
Then again, the Giants also haven’t been consistently successful under this front office regime. Their 107-win season in 2021 stands as a clear highlight, but the Giants have fallen well shy of the lofty expectations set by that outlier season. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic suggested earlier this week in his latest Giants mailbag that ownership could be providing “a little more direction from above” than in prior offseasons — particularly when it comes to this sort of long-term pursuit (one that, as Baggarly rightly notes, is largely possible by virtue of the front office’s prior aversion to taking on this sort of long-term risk). To be clear, Baggarly wasn’t addressing Snell in particular but rather the general philosophical shift associated with pursuing larger-scale additions from the free-agent market.
From a payroll vantage point, both the Halos and Giants can handle a weighty commitment to Snell, who’s reportedly been seeking a commitment of $200MM or more. San Francisco currently projects for a $158MM payroll, per Roster Resource, to say nothing of the fact that the Giants are about $45MM shy of the $237MM luxury-tax threshold. (Luxury tax is calculated by the sum of the average annual value on the payroll and can thus differ from the bottom-line dollars paid out in a given year; contracts are often backloaded or frontloaded for varying purposes.) The only two players signed beyond the 2025 season are ace Logan Webb (five years, $90MM from 2024-28) and newly signed center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, who inked a six-year, $113MM pact.
As for the Angels, they’re stuck paying the aforementioned Rendon $38MM for each of the next three seasons on his backloaded deal. There’s little no hope of trading that cumbersome contract away, so the team can only hope for a return to his Nationals form — unlikely as it may be as he enters his age-34 season. Anderson is signed through 2025 at $13MM per season, and the Angels still owe former MVP Mike Trout $34.45MM annually through the 2030 season.
Even with the huge commitments to Trout and Rendon, the Angels project for a $152MM payroll in 2024 and sit at just $167MM in terms of luxury-tax obligations. That leaves ample room to sign Snell, even if doing so would require shattering the franchise-record for a starting pitcher contract (Jered Weaver‘s five-year, $85MM deal).
It stands to reason that with both Ohtani and Yamamoto now off the board, the market for Snell will continue to crystalize in the coming weeks. Several runners-up for Yamamoto, in particular, could pivot to consider Snell — although various reports out of New York have indicated that the Mets aren’t expected to be among them. Will Sammon of The Athletic wrote last weekend that the Mets weren’t planning to pursue other top-tier free agents if they fell short in their bid for Yamamoto, whom they considered to be uniquely aligned with their long-term plan given his youth. MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo echoed that sentiment today, reporting that the Mets shouldn’t be expected to pursue Snell or fellow free agent Jordan Montgomery.
Several Angels Players Reportedly Drawing Trade Interest
According to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Angels have received trade interest on several of their controllable players this offseason. Infielder Luis Rengifo, catcher Matt Thaiss, left-hander Jose Suarez as well as outfielders Taylor Ward and Mickey Moniak are all pieces who have reportedly been asked after to this point in the winter.
That clubs would see the Angels as a potential trade partner is hardly a surprise. With Shohei Ohtani having departed the club in favor of Chavez Ravine, the club figures to be all but forced to begin a significant retool of their roster if they hope to improve upon their consecutive 73-win campaigns in 2022 and ’23 even after parting ways with the most valuable player in the sport.
While that could see the club dabble in the free agent market, where they’ve been connected to left-hander Blake Snell and veteran slugger J.D. Martinez recently, it seems unlikely the club would be able to completely retool their roster just through free agency even as RosterResource projects the club for a payroll of just $153MM next season, more than $60MM below their payroll in 2023. As such, it’s hardly a surprise that the Angels would consider exploring the trade market, particularly given reports earlier this month that they have been aggressive in their pursuit of starting pitching via trade.
With all that being said, each of the rumored players garnering interest are controllable, inexpensive pieces who could prove key to Anaheim’s hopes of contending in 2024 and beyond. According to Rosenthal, the club’s willingness to deal any of the aforementioned players could hinge on the willingness of ownership to spend to replace the outgoing talent on the open market. It’s possible that between money spent on a replacement and the trade return the club could receive for their controllable talent, the Angels could improve their overall outlook even by trading away a fairly key piece in their current 2024 outlook.
Rengifo, 27 in February, is coming off the best season of his career in 2023. After entering the All Star break with a mediocre .219/.312/.326 slash line, the switch-hitter caught fire down the stretch with a .318/.374/.587 the rest of the way until his season came to an end due to a torn biceps tendon that ended up requiring surgery. With Rengifo expected to be ready for Spring Training, however, it’s easy to see why rival clubs would be interested in his services. Overall, Rengifo posted a solid 114 wRC+ while playing passable defense all around the diamond, with time spent at second base, third base, shortstop, and all three outfield spots over the course of the 2023 season. That positional flexibility paired with a solid bat would make Rengifo a worthwhile addition for most any team, and the fact that he can be controlled for two seasons surely makes him all the more enticing for rival clubs, and the presence of Brandon Drury could allow the Angels to replace Rengifo at the keystone fairly seamlessly.
Thaiss and Suarez, on the other hand, are not quite as obviously enticing as Rengifo. Thaiss slashed just .214/.319/.340 overall last season in 307 trips to the plate while posting average defensive marks behind the plate, while Suarez missed most of 2024 with shoulder issues and struggled to a 9.62 ERA in six starts prior to that trip to the IL. With that being said, each could nonetheless be of interest to clubs.
Catching depth is always something clubs are on the hunt for, and Thaiss offers an average bat and glove for the role with enough offensive potential that he could even have further upside as a tandem catching option should his offense take a step forward at some point. Thaiss also bats left-handed, making him a potentially useful pinch-hitter off the bench on days where he isn’t catching. Suarez, meanwhile, was an extremely valuable lefty swingman for the Angels in 2021 and ’22, with a 3.86 ERA across 207 1/3 innings of work. Given the fact that Suarez and Thaiss are controllable for three and four more seasons respectively, they’d be affordable options for clubs in need of a catcher or flexible pitcher who can throw from the left side.
It’s easy to see why Ward and Moniak would be attractive to rival clubs, but they may be difficult for the Halos to part with this offseason. Ward has become one of the club’s steadiest offensive producers in recent years, with a .265/.349/.446 slash line in 297 games since the start of the 2021 campaign. Ward is likely penciled in for everyday duty in one of the outfield corners not only for 2024, but for seasons to come, as he won’t be a free agent until after the 2026 campaign. Moniak, meanwhile, enjoyed a breakout season in his first full season as an Angel in 2023, slashing a respectable .280/.307/.495 with a wRC+ of 114 in 85 games. Moniak is also the club’s best option in center field besides Mike Trout, who has dealt with injuries more and more frequently in recent years and may benefit from additional rest in the form of occasional DH starts as he stares down his 33rd birthday in August.
In terms of the potential return headed to Anaheim should any of these players be dealt, it’s easy to assume the club would focus on bolstering their pitching staff in any deal. The club posted a respectable 101 wRC+ as a team in 2023, and while that includes the incredible production of Ohtani, its fair to point out that healthy seasons from the likes of Trout and Ward as well as continued development from key youngsters like Nolan Schanuel, Logan O’Hoppe and Zach Neto could all help the club make up for some of Ohtani’s lost production.
By contrast, the team posted an ERA of just 4.64 in 2023 even with Ohtani contributing 132 innings of 3.14 ERA baseball. The rest of the club’s rotation was essentially league average, with Patrick Sandoval‘s 4.11 ERA (109 ERA+) leading the pack. Meanwhile, the club’s bullpen posted a disastrous 4.88 ERA that ranked bottom-six in the majors last year. Given those massive shortcomings, the addition of impactful pitching talent figures to be the Halos’ best hope of getting Trout back to the postseason for the first time since 2014.
Latest On Yankees’, Mets’ Failed Pursuits Of Yoshinobu Yamamoto
The Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes ended late last night when the 25-year-old right-hander agreed to a 12-year deal with the Dodgers worth $325MM. The massive figure is a record for free agent pitchers (aside from two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani‘s $700MM deal with LA earlier this month) as Yamamoto slightly surpassed Gerrit Cole‘s nine-year, $324MM guarantee with the Yankees.
Among the most aggressive suitors for Yamamoto’s services aside from the Dodgers were the two New York teams. Both the Yankees and Mets met with Yamamoto multiple times and reportedly made offers that appeared to match or even exceed LA’s in terms of aggressiveness. Previous reporting indicated that the Mets offered Yamamoto a matching $325MM guarantee while the Yankees offered $300MM over just ten years, boosting the deal’s average annual value to $30MM. In the aftermath of Yamamoto’s decision to head to Los Angeles, more details regarding both clubs’ ultimately fruitless pursuits of the right-hander have come to light.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Yankees’ offer to Yamamoto exceeded that of the Dodgers’ in a few key areas despite offering $25MM less in terms of total guarantee. In addition to the aforementioned higher AAV, Rosenthal indicates the Yankees were willing to offer Yamamoto opt-out opportunities after the 2028 and 2032 seasons, both one year earlier than the opt-out opportunities he received in his contract out west. The differences in those offers are more meaningful than they may immediately appear. Had Yamamoto signed in the Bronx, he would have had the opportunity to hit free agency for a second time before his 30th birthday, while his deal with the Dodgers will offer him his first chance to opt-out after his age-30 season. Generally, players younger than 30 are widely considered to be far more attractive candidates for long-term deals than those older.
In addition to the potentially more lucrative opt-out situation, the Yankees’ offer to Yamamoto was not back-loaded, as his deal with the Dodgers reportedly is. That the contract Yamamoto ultimately agreed to is back-loaded is no small factor; not only does that mean that the deal’s present day value is diminished somewhat, it also means Yamamoto would be leaving a larger portion of his guaranteed money on the table by opting out of his contract with the Dodgers. No such concern would exist with the Yankees’ offer.
For the Mets’ part, Mike Puma of the New York Post indicates that the club’s 12-year, $325MM offer to Yamamoto was “among the first received” by the right-hander, and that the club was not offered the chance to improve upon that offer. Puma goes on to note, however, that the club may not have significantly raised their bid above that $325MM figure due to the roughly $50MM posting fee the club would have owed to Yamamoto’s NPB team, the Orix Buffaloes, had a deal come together.
The Mets have long been expected to largely avoid top-of-the-market bidding wars for starting pitchers this offseason if they were to miss on Yamamoto, and club owner Steve Cohen seemingly confirmed that stance in conversation with reporters today. As relayed by Puma, Cohen discussed a more cautious approach to free agency this offseason than in previous seasons under his ownership.
“We’re going to be thoughtful and not impulsive and thinking about sustainability over the intermediate long-term, but not focused on winning the headlines over the next week,” Cohen said. “I think there’s a couple of ways to build a team… We’ll build it. It will happen. Slowly and surely you will see changes and improvements.”
Such a measure approach to the 2023-24 offseason has seemed to be a possibility in Queens ever since veteran right-hander Max Scherzer indicated last summer that the club viewed 2024 as “a kind of transitory year” with 2025 and 2026 as the club’s true focus in terms of returning to contention. Since then, the club’s pursuit of Yamamoto has largely taken center stage as the club has made smaller moves on the periphery, adding Luis Severino and Joey Wendle in free agency while picking up Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor in trade.
One factor that may have helped the Dodgers in their pursuit of Yamamoto, as discussed by Rosenthal, is the $50MM signing bonus he’ll receive as part of the contract. Rosenthal notes that Yamamoto’s bonus, paid entirely in 2024, would not be subject to California state taxes so long as he is not a resident of the state. That structure reportedly could save the right-hander as much as $7.2MM. Perhaps even more valuable than that savings would be the Dodgers’ unique position to accommodate his transition to the majors. NPB teams typically use six-man rotations with starters expected to pitch just once a week, making the move to MLB a significant jump in workload for overseas arms.
As noted by Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times, the Dodgers are all but guaranteed to plan on a six-man rotation for the 2025 season given the expected return of Ohtani to the mound that season. The lessened workload could help Yamamoto stay healthy throughout his big league career, which DiGiovanna relays is perhaps the primary concern of scouts regarding his future in the majors thanks to his undersized 5’10”, 176lb frame. Of course, there’s no guarantee that such an arrangement will be the plan for the Dodgers in 2024, when Ohtani will be rehabbing UCL surgery. Even so, DiGiovanna notes that the Dodgers’ starters appeared on regular rest in just 42 regular season games last season, leaving the door open for Yamamoto to get extra days of rest built into his schedule even if the club doesn’t go with a proper six-man rotation.
Padres To Hire Victor Rodriguez As Hitting Coach
The Padres are hiring Victor Rodriguez as hitting coach, according to a report from independent journalist Francys Romero.
Rodriguez, 61, had a 19 year professional career as an infielder that included two brief cups of coffee at the major league level; one in 1984 at the age of 22 with the Orioles, and one in 1987 as a 27-year-old with the Twins. While he received just 28 plate appearances at the big league level, he hit quite well in those limited opportunities with a career .429/.429/.607 slash line in the majors. Rodriguez retired from professional play in 1995 and began coaching at the minor league level the following season.
After more than three decades in the minor leagues as a player and a coach, Rodriguez joined the Red Sox coaching staff as an assistant hitting coach in 2013. After winning the World Series with Boston in his first year on the job, Rodriguez spent four more seasons with the Red Sox in that same role before departing for Cleveland following the 2018 season to replace current Royals manager Matt Quatraro as the club’s assistant hitting coach. Rodriguez has been in Cleveland ever since, but after six years he’ll now depart the Guardians for San Diego. Rodriguez will join the coaching staff of new Padres manager Mike Shildt, who took the role last month after former manager Bob Melvin was allowed to depart to take a managerial gig in San Francisco.
Little has been made public about Shildt’s coaching staff since. Bench coach Ryan Flaherty has since departed to join Craig Counsell‘s coaching staff on the north side of Chicago, while pitching coach Ruben Niebla and bullpen coach Ben Fritz are expected to remain in San Diego. Martinez serves as something of a replacement for Flaherty, who served as the club’s offensive coordinator in addition to his duties as bench coach last year. Per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union Tribune, Martinez will be joined on the hitting staff by assistant hitting coaches Oscar Bernard and Scott Coolbaugh, both of whom are expected to return to San Diego under Shildt in 2024 alongside Niebla and Fritz. Presumably, the remainder of Shildt’s coaching staff, including the bench coach role, will come into focus over the coming weeks as the Padres gear up for Spring Training two months from now.
Nationals Sign Lewin Diaz To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have signed first baseman Lewin Diaz to a minor league deal, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. The deal reportedly comes with an invite to minor league Spring Training.
Diaz, 27, signed with the Twins out of the Dominican Republic back in 2014. After several years with Minnesota that saw him advance to the Double-A level, Diaz was swapped to the Marlins in exchange for Sergio Romo during the 2019 season. From there, it wouldn’t be long until Diaz made his big league debut as he received a 14 game cup of coffee at the big league level during the shortened 2020 season. He struggled in his first taste of big league action, slashing a paltry .154/.195/.205 with a wRC+ of just 9 across his first 41 plate appearances in the majors.
That meager production didn’t stop Miami from sticking with Diaz as a left-handed bat off the bench over the next two seasons however. From 2021 to 2022, Diaz garnered 302 plate appearances for the Marlins across 98 games. He managed to hold his own somewhat in 2021 with a .217/.270/.518 slash line in 89 trips to the plate against right-handed pitching, though his numbers against southpaws remained abysmal. Unfortunately for Diaz and the Marlins, the first baseman’s fortunes turned in 2022, when he slashed just .164/.224/.288 with a wRC+ of 44 in 174 trips to the plate.
After parts of three seasons in the big leagues with little to show for it, Diaz was designated for assignment by the Marlins early in the 2022-23 offseason. He rode the transactional carousel throughout much of the offseason last year, moving from Miami to Pittsburgh to Baltimore on the waiver wire before being traded to Atlanta and returning to the Orioles on waivers. Baltimore eventually managed to sneak Diaz through waivers successfully in mid-January and outrighted him to Triple-A as a potential lefty hitting complement to Ryan Mountcastle, though the club ended up utilizing the breakout of Ryan O’Hearn to fill that gap on the roster rather than Diaz’s services.
That left Diaz to spend the entire 2023 season in the minor leagues, where he slashed a solid .268/.362/.442 across 118 games. The solid season at Triple-A continued Diaz’s track record of solid work at the level; the lefty owns a slash line of .258/.341/.479 across 274 career games at the level. Now, Diaz is poised to join a Nationals club that recently saw Dominic Smith depart the organization for free agency. This spring, he’ll likely have the opportunity to earn a spot as the club’s first baseman, a role which he’ll likely compete with Joey Meneses for barring further external additions.
Angels Sign Francisco Mejia To Minor League Deal
The Angels signed catcher Francisco Mejia to a minor league deal, according to reporter Miriam Luz. The deal includes a spring training invite.
Mejia, 28, put up a .227/.258/.400 batting line in 160 plate appearances for the Rays this year. He split time behind the dish for Tampa Bay with Christian Bethancourt, logging 381 innings. Mejia hit the IL in late July with an MCL sprain, an injury that cost him about a month. Upon his activation in August, the Rays instead chose to designate Mejia for assignment, sticking with Rene Pinto as their backup catcher. Mejia then accepted his outright assignment, so as not to abandon the remainder of his $2.155MM salary. He then elected free agency in October.
Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2012, Mejia broke out as a bat-first switch-hitting Indians prospect in 2016. Prior to the 2018 season, Baseball America considered him the 20th best prospect in the game, while MLB.com had him at #11.
In July of 2018, the Indians traded Mejia to the Padres for relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber. Mejia made the Padres in 2019 as the backup to Austin Hedges, though by the end of 2020 he was optioned to Triple-A. In December of 2020, Mejia was again traded, this time heading to the Rays with Luis Patiño, Blake Hunt, and Cole Wilcox for Blake Snell. Mejia and Patiño, the principals in that trade, have fallen far in these three years. Patiño was claimed on waivers earlier today, returning to the Padres. Snell, meanwhile, reached free agency, won his second Cy Young award, and was reported yesterday as an Angels priority by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mejia paired up with Mike Zunino to form the Rays’ catching tandem in 2021. He posted a .260/.322/.416 batting line in 277 plate appearances, providing the best offense of his career to date. In 2022, with Zunino on the injured list, Mejia led the Rays and set a career-high with 638 1/3 innings caught, despite injuries of his own.
Though Mejia is still relatively young, he generally hasn’t impressed defensively and his highly-touted bat never materialized. Logan O’Hoppe holds the starting catching job for the Angels, and Mejia will have to supplant Matt Thaiss for the Halos’ backup role. The Angels shipped catcher Max Stassi to the Braves earlier this month along with David Fletcher, who then flipped Stassi to the White Sox. It’s been a quiet offseason otherwise for Angels GM Perry Minasian, who has seen Shohei Ohtani depart and has thus far added three relievers in Luis Garcia, Adam Cimber, and Adam Kolarek.
Tigers Designate Donny Sands For Assignment
The Tigers announced Friday that catcher Donny Sands has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to right-hander Shelby Miller, whose previously reported one-year contract has now been formally announced by the club.
Sands, 27, came to the Tigers from the Phillies alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in the trade sending left-hander Gregory Soto and utilityman Kody Clemens to the Phillies. The Tigers viewed him as some valuable, optionable depth behind the plate, but the performance of Jake Rogers in the Majors and some struggles from Sands in Triple-A combined to keep Sands in the upper minors all season.
In 371 trips to the plate with Triple-A Toledo, Sands hit .225/.318/.353. Even when backup catcher Eric Haase struggled in the majors and was designated for assignment, the Tigers went outside the organization to bring Carson Kelly aboard on a one-year deal with a 2024 club option. The Tigers exercised that option earlier this winter, and Kelly is now in line to serve as Rogers’ backup.
Sands still has one more minor league option year remaining, and he’s posted roughly average framing grades in the upper minors. This past season, he logged a 24% caught-stealing rate. And, despite his scuffles in Toledo, Sands still carries a career .261/.352/.403 batting line parts of three Triple-A campaigns. Another club with some needs behind the dish could well hold interest in Sands, be it in a small trade or via a waiver claim. Detroit will have a week to find a trade partner or attempt to pass Sands through outright waivers.
Tigers Sign Shelby Miller
1:48pm: The Tigers have announced the signing. It’s a one-year contract worth a guaranteed $3MM, the team announced. They also hold a club option worth $4.25MM and a $250K buyout.
The Tigers, who have recently begun announcing the full terms of their contracts, added that Miller can earn an extra $1.175MM per season via incentives. He’ll receive $100K bonuses for reaching each of 50, 55 and 60 games pitched, plus another $125K for reaching 65 and 70 appearances. If he winds up serving as the closer, there’s even more money to be unlocked. The contract calls for $150K bonuses for 40, 45, 50 and 55 games finished.
The value of the club option can also be boosted by $1.4MM. Those escalators are tied to appearances ($100K for 50, 55 and 60 games pitched; $150K for 65 and 70 games pitched) and games finished ($200K for finishing 40, 45, 50 and 55 games).
8:39am: It’s a one-year contract with a 2025 option, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Miller is in Detroit for his physical today, Petzold adds, so the contract should become official soon.
8:26am: The Tigers have agreed to a deal with free agent right-hander Shelby Miller, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The contract is still pending a physical. Detroit’s 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to accommodate this latest addition. Miller is represented by Excel Sports Management.
Miller, 33, enjoyed a resurgent season with the 2023 Dodgers, pitching to a brilliant 1.71 earned run average in 42 innings over 36 appearances (35 relief outings, one start). He fanned a strong 25.8% of his opponents against a bloated 11.7% walk rate and kept the ball on the ground at a 37.4% clip — a few percentage points below the league average. Miller’s fastball is down about a mile per hour from its peak levels, sitting at a league-average 93.6 mph, but he also brandished a newly implemented splitter in 2023, which flummoxed his opponents.
Prior to the 2023 season, Miller had thrown exactly one splitter in his career — way back in 2014. He threw the pitch 26.2% of the time this past season, however, and batters were largely helpless against it. Miller threw 174 splitters in 2023 and finished off 47 plate appearances with the pitch; opponents posted an awful .136/.191/.250 against the pitch in that sample. Statcast credited the pitch with a .170 “expected” opponents’ batting average and a .274 expected slugging percentage.
That marked Miller’s first successful season since back in 2015. While he’d shown flashes of promise in the interim seven years, injuries and poor performances were far more common for the former top prospect and once-promising young starter. The 19th overall pick by the Cardinals back in 2009, Miller debuted in St. Louis as a 21-year-old, pitched to an outstanding 3.22 ERA over his first 575 1/3 big league frames and was twice traded in blockbuster deals — first going from St. Louis to Atlanta in exchange for Jason Heyward and a year later going to Arizona in the trade that brought Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte to the Braves.
Miller struggled immediately with the D-backs and never found his footing before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2017. At various points, his career looked to be on the brink, but he persevered through considerable struggles and now, in his mid-30s, looks to have found new life as a quality bullpen arm.
The Dodgers didn’t use him in high-leverage spots often last year, but Miller could have a clearer path to setup work in Detroit. Right-handers Alex Lange and Jason Foley are the primary ninth- and eighth-inning options, respectively, and Detroit brought lefty Andrew Chafin back on a one-year deal as a left-handed setup option as well. But Miller has a good bit more experience than the bulk of the Tigers’ relievers and could find himself in more tight, late-inning spots this season.
Miller becomes the latest addition in what’s been a nice offseason of veteran pickups for the Tigers. Detroit has added righty Kenta Maeda (two years, $24MM) to help stabilize a young pitching staff and also bought low on former Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty (one year, $14MM), who’ll look to return to his prior heights in a new setting. The Tigers kicked off the winter by acquiring Mark Canha from the Brewers and picking up his 2024 option; he’ll join the team’s outfield and DH mix this coming season. Chafin, as previously noted, is returning to Comerica Park, where he excelled in 2022 before struggling with Arizona and Milwaukee in 2023. He and Miller have the potential to meaningfully fortify the Detroit relief corps.
There’s still room for some further additions, be they in the bullpen, on the bench or perhaps around the infield, where Detroit still lacks some certainty at multiple positions. Some of those could come from the trade market rather than free agency, although president of baseball operations Scott Harris indicated this week that he doesn’t envision trading from his newly deepened rotation mix. Wherever further reinforcements come from, the Tigers’ 2024 outlook is already brighter than the 2023 group. It’s a deepened roster that, with some continued development from young players like Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and prospects like Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy, could emerge as a viable contender in a weak American League Central division.
Padres Claim Luis Patiño
The Padres announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Luis Patiño off waivers from the White Sox, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. It’s a homecoming for Patiño, a former top prospect who was originally signed and developed by the Padres. Their 40-man roster is now up to 33 players.
Now 24 years old, Patiño was traded from San Diego to Tampa Bay alongside catcher Francisco Mejia, minor league catcher Blake Hunt and minor league righty Cole Wilcox in the 2020 trade that brought eventual two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to the Padres. At the time of the swap, Patiño was regarded as one of the sport’s very best pitching prospects; he’d scuffled through 17 1/3 innings in his initial call to the Majors the prior season (5.19 ERA, 21-to-14 K/BB ratio), but that debut came at just 20 years of age. Entering the 2020 campaign, each of Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, ESPN and The Athletic had ranked among the top 30 prospects in all of MLB.
As is made clear by the manner in which he’s returning to the Friars, things haven’t panned out for Patiño. The right-hander posted strong numbers in 29 1/3 Triple-A frames in 2021 and also spent the majority of that season on the big league roster in Tampa Bay. It wasn’t a great season by any means, but Patiño did post a 4.31 ERA with a 22.2% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate while averaging 96 mph on his heater. For a 21-year-old in his first full MLB campaign — and one who’d barely pitched above A-ball thanks to the canceled 2020 minor league season — it was a reasonably encouraging first foot forward.
From there, however, things went downhill quickly. Patiño suffered a severe oblique strain early in the 2022 campaign, prompting a 60-day IL placement and an absence of more than three months. Upon returning, he showed diminished velocity and far shakier results. Patiño walked more batters than he struck out in 20 MLB frames that year and was limited to 34 Triple-A innings, where he struggled with home runs and was tagged for a 4.50 earned run average.
In 2023, Patiño developed alarming command troubles, walking more nearly 18% of the opponents he faced in Triple-A between the Rays and the White Sox, who acquired him for cash considerations on the day of the trade deadline. In 21 1/3 innings at the MLB level, Patiño posted a 4.57 ERA with an 18.2% strikeout rate and 14.1% walk rate.
He’ll now head back to a Padres club that’s in need of pitching depth after seeing starters Snell, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill reach free agency in addition to relievers Josh Hader, Luis Garcia and Drew Pomeranz. Clearly, Patiño can’t be counted on like the Padres might have expected in 2021, had he not been traded, but he gives them a still-young arm to plug into the rotation mix or bullpen this spring. Patiño is out of minor league options, it should be noted, meaning he’ll have to either make the Opening Day roster or else be traded or placed on waivers once again.