The Opener: Spring Training, Arraez, Red Sox
With baseball’s preseason kicking into gear, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Baseball is back!
Pitchers and catchers are reporting to camp ahead of Spring Training for 18 of the league’s 30 clubs today. When combined with the early reporting dates for the Dodgers and Padres, that means camp will be underway for two thirds of the league by the end of the day. Even as teams begin their preparations for the coming campaign, however, four of the offseason’s top 10 free agents remain on the market and the rumor mill continues to buzz with the possibility of more preseason deals both in free agency and on the trade market.
Among the teams reporting to camp today are the Rangers, who enter the 2024 campaign looking to defend the first World Series title in franchise history; the Diamondbacks, who hope to carry over the momentum that allowed that to make a surprise run to the Fall Classic last year into the new season; and the Twins, who will look to return to the postseason in 2024 after breaking their record 18-game postseason losing streak and won a playoff series for the first time since 2003.
2. Arraez, Marlins await hearing results:
Second baseman Luis Arraez is scheduled to go to a hearing against his club today after the sides failed to come to an agreement to avoid arbitration, as noted by the Associated Press. Arraez requested a $12MM salary for the 2024 campaign, while the Marlins offered $10.6MM. Arraez won his case against Miami last year, when a panel of arbiters awarded him $6.1MM rather than the Marlins’ submitted figure of $5MM. Arraez’s hearing comes on the heels of a loss by Rays right-hander Jason Adam, who also went to arbitration against his club for the second consecutive season after winning last year’s hearing. With five cases as of yet undecided, players have won in seven hearings while teams have won in four.
3. What’s the plan for the Red Sox?
It’s been a strange offseason in Boston. After a lengthy search for the club’s next chief baseball officer which ended the club hiring Craig Breslow, the club made clear that their primary focus this winter would be on bolstering the starting rotation. Since then, the club shipped out longtime ace Chris Sale in a trade that brought second baseman Vaughn Grissom back from Atlanta while landing right-hander Lucas Giolito via free agency. That series of moves that landed the club a potential regular at a position of need but arguably left the club with a similar lack of rotation depth and a volatile top veteran starter. Since then, club officials have backtracked on previous comments indicating a “full-throttle” approach to the winter while noting that payroll would likely go down in 2024.
That conflicting messaging leaves plenty of uncertainty surrounding the Red Sox as the club’s pitchers and catchers begin to report to camp today. While the club continues to pursue additions to its outfield mix via free agency, it’s simultaneously receiving trade interest in outfielder Jarren Duran while also shopping listening to offers on key bullpen pieces such as Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin. Will the arrival of Spring Training provide more clarity on the club’s direction headed into the 2024 campaign?
Athletics To Meet With Government Officials About Coliseum Lease Extension
The Athletics have a meeting on Thursday with officials from the City of Oakland and County of Alameda to discuss a lease extension at the Coliseum, reports John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The A’s are planning to move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season, a move that was already unanimously approved by all 29 other owners. But their lease at the Coliseum in Oakland is up after 2024, leaving them without a home stadium for the three intervening seasons. Various solutions for how to navigate that interim period have been considered, including playing in Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Reno, sharing San Francisco’s Oracle Park with the Giants or playing at the organization’s Triple-A field in Las Vegas.
Staying in Oakland never seemed to be a realistic option, with the relationship between the club and the city growing frosty during and after the stadium negotiations. Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has previously indicated that the city would have lofty demands in any lease discussions, such as the city retaining the rights to the name “Athletics” or a guarantee of a future expansion franchise. More recently, she indicated the city is willing to reopen talks with the club, but also relayed that she hadn’t spoken with owner John Fisher since he started focusing on the Vegas move in April.
It seems likely there’s a financial motivation for the sides to come back to the table. It was reported back in August that the club’s TV deal with NBC Sports California runs through 2033 and pays the club about $60MM per year. Jeff Passan of ESPN later reported that the club will actually receive about $70MM in 2024. But the deal lapses if the club leaves the Bay Area.
Sharing Oracle Park with the Giants would allow the club to continue collecting that money but would come with many logistical problems. The other proposed locations are not considered to be in the Bay Area and would result in forfeiting the deal. If the A’s want to get that TV money, staying in Oakland could be their best bet.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the upcoming negotiations will be fruitful, as the city and county will now they have leverage coming into the talks. But with the club having millions of dollars on the line, perhaps they can work something out. Shea reports that the A’s pay $1.2MM annually in rent. Also per today’s report, the meeting will feature Oakland chief of staff Leigh Hanson, city council member Rebecca Kaplan, county supervisor David Haubert and A’s team president Dave Kaval.
Drew Gagnon, Eric Stout Sign With CPBL Teams
Former big league pitchers Drew Gagnon and Eric Stout have both signed on with teams in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. Gagnon, the reigning CPBL MVP, re-signed with the Wei Chuan Dragons, per a team announcement. It’s a two-year deal for the former Mets righty, who’s repped by GSI. The left-handed Stout, who’s previously pitched in the big leagues for the Royals, Cubs and Pirates, has signed with the CPBL’s CTBC Brothers, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports. The 30-year-old Stout, a client of NPG Sports, finished out the 2023 season with the Brothers as well after beginning last year with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate.
Gagnon, 33, has spent the past three seasons pitching with the Dragons and cemented himself as one of the top starters in the CPBL. Since debuting there in 2021, he’s pitched 451 1/3 innings of 3.07 ERA ball with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The 183 innings Gagnon pitched this past season were a personal-high at any level in his 13-year professional career, and he turned in a sharp 3.00 ERA with a 20.8% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate.
Gagnon hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since a 2018-19 run with the Mets that saw him record a 7.32 ERA in a small sample of 35 2/3 innings. He spent the 2020 season with the KBO’s Kia Tigers, pitching to a 4.34 ERA in 159 2/3 frames, and his new two-year pact — one of the most lucrative for a foreign player in CPBL history — will keep him in Taiwan for his fourth and fifth CPBL campaigns.
For a former third-rounder who’d become something of a minor league journeyman before making his first jump to the professional ball in Asia, Gagnon has carved out a nice career with better compensation and job security than he’d have had jumping from Triple-A club to Triple-A club in hopes of a perhaps brief MLB return. Present-day CPBL salaries for first-year foreign players can range from $300-400K, and with Gagnon coming off an MVP season and a strong three-year run, he’s quite likely priced himself north of those figures.
As for Stout, he’d been pitching in the bullpen with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate but stretched out as a starter in Taiwan, ultimately taking the ball a dozen times and pitching to a 3.28 ERA with a 27.9% strikeout rate and 4.6% walk rate in 68 2/3 frames. He’ll head back to the Brothers’ rotation for the upcoming season. It’s not uncommon for former big leaguers pitching in the CPBL to draw interest from larger Asian professional leagues as the season wears on, but even if he spends the whole year in the CPBL, Stout could parlay a strong showing there into interest from KBO, NPB and/or MLB teams.
In the majors, Stout has just 24 2/3 innings under his belt. He’s been tagged for an unsightly 7.30 ERA in that time. In parts of six Triple-A seasons, he carries a 4.63 ERA in 286 innings, with particularly solid results over the past two years between the affiliates for the Pirates, Cubs and Mariners. Stout drew some interest from big league clubs early in the offseason, though that was presumably on minor league arrangements. He’ll instead head back to Taiwan and hope that continued success there can either lead to a multi-year deal like the one signed by Gagnon or perhaps a larger guarantee with a team in the KBO, NPB or even back in MLB at some point.
Padres Continue To Explore Outfield, Rotation Markets
Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller met with reporters on Tuesday afternoon as spring camp got underway. Pointing to a “late-developing market,” Preller made clear the team anticipated making a few more acquisitions (link via AJ Cassavell of MLB.com).
“We’ve had, honestly, trade conversations that are still ongoing. Usually at this point in the season, most teams are focused on: They have their roster, getting into Spring Training, going and playing,” Preller said. “We’ve been pretty active. … We’re always going to be looking to add and improve. The team that starts camp here in the next couple days, it’s not going to be the team that, obviously, we finish with.”
That’s self-evident given the state of the team’s outfield. The Padres have two clear openings alongside Fernando Tatis Jr. after trading Juan Soto and Trent Grisham. Light-hitting center fielder José Azocar is the only other outfielder on the 40-man roster. Jurickson Profar will join him once his one-year contract is finalized, yet he’s more of a depth option after a rough season in Colorado.
San Diego has had recent conversations with the Red Sox regarding Jarren Duran. He’s surely one of a number of possible options the front office has considered. With five years of club control, Boston figures to stick to a high asking price on the lefty-hitting outfielder. San Diego has also shown interest in Michael A. Taylor, the top unsigned free agent center fielder beyond Cody Bellinger, this offseason.
Budget constraints have been the prevailing theme of the Padres’ offseason. They allowed a number of key free agents to depart and offloaded upwards of $30MM in the Soto blockbuster. That cut their projected season-opening spending to around $160MM, as calculated by Roster Resource.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the team is planning on carrying a player payroll in the $180-190MM range for the upcoming season. That’d leave $20-30MM in remaining spending room, although Acee writes that the team may prefer to keep some of that in reserve for midseason acquisitions. They should be able to bring in a couple low-cost free agents but will have to rely on some internal options to take a step forward.
In the outfield, that could be top prospect Jackson Merrill. He spent much of the offseason training as an outfielder in addition to his customary shortstop work. Merrill enters camp with what appears to be a legitimate chance to make the Opening Day roster as a 20-year-old. He has all of 44 games above A-ball, however. He finished last season with a .273/.338/.444 showing at Double-A San Antonio and hasn’t played at the top minor league level. 22-year-old Jakob Marsee only has 16 games of Double-A experience but put together an impressive .273/.413/.425 showing in High-A and impressed in the Arizona Fall League.
While the outfield is the biggest concern, San Diego could use additional rotation depth and perhaps another bench bat. Preller left open the possibility of bringing in another starter. Only Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Michael King are locks for the season-opening five. Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, Jay Groome, Pedro Avila and prospects like Jairo Iriarte and Drew Thorpe could all vie for season-opening roles. Top prospect Robby Snelling also received an invite to big league camp but seems a long shot for the Opening Day roster, as he has made all of four starts in Double-A.
That group is very light on MLB experience. Even King, who is locked into a mid-rotation role, was a reliever for the Yankees until last August. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reported last week that the Padres were showing some level of interest in free agent starters Michael Lorenzen, Hyun Jin Ryu, and old friend Eric Lauer. Acee recently added Noah Syndergaard to that list.
Acquiring controllable pitching in trade at this stage of the offseason would be challenging. That’s particularly true if the Padres are loath to part with the likes of Snelling and Dylan Lesko towards the top of the farm system. If they were to consider dealing from the MLB roster for help in another area, middle infielder Ha-Seong Kim has been their most valuable realistic trade chip. He’s due $10MM this year and will become a free agent when his 2025 mutual option is declined (very likely by Kim) at the beginning of next offseason.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that interest in Kim from other teams remains very high. Yet Preller didn’t sound urgent to deal the Gold Glove winner, characterizing talks more as due diligence. “With the Kim situation, we were pretty consistent through the offseason. You’re never going to hang up the phone. You’re always going to listen on any player when anybody calls. But it wasn’t something we were pushing,” he told reporters (including Cassavell). “We see him as a huge part of our team. Most likely, if we’re going to play well, it’s Ha-Seong Kim in the middle of the diamond.“
Giants Acquire Otto López, Designate TJ Hopkins
9:48pm: López still has one minor league option remaining, reports Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic (on X). That affords San Francisco the freedom to send him to Triple-A without putting him on waivers.
2:07pm: The Giants have acquired infielder/outfielder Otto López from the Blue Jays, per announcements from both clubs. The Blue Jays, who designated López for assignment last week, receive cash considerations in return. In order to open a spot on their roster, the Giants designated outfielder TJ Hopkins for assignment.
López, 25, was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays when the team finalized its five-year deal with right-hander Yariel Rodriguez. The right-handed hitter has appeared in sparse MLB action over the past two seasons. He’s 6-for-10 during that time (all singles) but has spent the bulk of his 2022-23 seasons in Triple-A Buffalo. He had a big year at the plate with Buffalo in ’22, hitting .297/.378/.415 in 391 plate appearances, but López declined across the board this past season, slashing just .258/.313/.343 in a comparable amount of playing time.
While López has long rated among the Jays’ top 30 prospects due to a plus hit tool and above-average speed, he has bottom-of-the-scale power (seven homers in 931 Triple-A plate appearances). He’s punched out in just 15% of his Triple-A plate appearances but hasn’t walked at an especially high clip (8.3%). And for all the speed he possesses, López’s 70.8% success rate in 518 minor league games (90-for-127) is below average.
López brings some versatility to the Giants’ bench, but he also adds another right-handed bat to an infield mix that’s already crowded with such options. He’s played second base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield positions, though scouts question whether he has the arm to play on the left side of the diamond. He’ll be in the mix for playing time alongside J.D. Davis, Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada around the infield — if he sticks on the 40-man roster. It’s also possible the Giants simply try to pass López through waivers, which would allow them to keep him in the organization at Triple-A without dedicating a 40-man roster spot.
Hopkins, 27, made his MLB debut this past season with the Reds and went 7-for-41 (all singles) with a pair of walks and 17 strikeouts in 44 plate appearances. It was hardly an eye-catching debut, but the 2019 ninth-rounder’s production in Triple-A Louisville was far more intriguing. In his first full season at the top minor league level, Hopkins delivered a robust .308/.411/.514 batting line with a 14% walk rate, 23.9% strikeout rate, 16 home runs, 18 doubles, a triple and a pair of steals. Cincinnati designated him for assignment in December, and the Giants acquired him in exchange for cash.
Hopkins has played primarily left field in his professional career but has plenty of experience in right field and center field as well. He’s been an average or better hitter at every minor league stop and steadily improved both his walk and strikeout rates as he’s climbed the minor league ladder. He still has a pair of minor league options remaining. That could make him an intriguing fit for clubs seeking low-cost right-handed-hitting options to add to the outfield mix. The Red Sox, Twins and Padres are among the teams in that boat. San Francisco will have a week to trade Hopkins or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Marlins, Curt Casali Agree To Minor League Deal
The Marlins are in agreement with free agent catcher Curt Casali on a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (on X). The Beverly Hills Sports Council client will be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post (X link).
Casali, 35, spent last season as a member of the Reds. He signed a $3.25MM free agent deal for what proved to be his second stint in Cincinnati. Casali was penciled in as a third catcher behind Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile. He didn’t see a ton of action, in part because of a foot injury that ended his season in mid-July. Casali took 96 plate appearances, hitting .175/.290/.200.
That marked Casali’s 10th season logging some major league action. He’s a career .220/.314/.380 hitter in just over 500 games. Casali draws a decent number of walks but pairs that with lofty strikeout totals that have generally capped his offensive ceiling. He has a solid reputation as a defender and is a familiar presence to Miami assistant GM Gabe Kapler, who managed Casali during the 2022 season in San Francisco.
The Marlins only have two catchers on the 40-man roster: Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes. It’s likely that Casali will open the season at Triple-A Jacksonville as the top depth player behind the dish. Fortes still has a minor league option remaining, so Miami could send him to Triple-A if Casali plays his way into the backup job during Spring Training.
Red Sox Remain Open To Offers On Jansen, Martin, Schreiber
Kenley Jansen has been the subject of trade speculation for a large portion of the offseason. With the Red Sox’s payroll seemingly pushing against ownership’s spending limit, there’s sense in looking to move the four-time All-Star closer. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe wrote this evening that the Sox remain in contact with other teams about a possible Jansen trade before Opening Day.
He isn’t the only Boston reliever who could find himself on the move. MassLive’s Christopher Smith reports that the Sox have also expressed to other clubs they’re willing to field offers on right-handers Chris Martin and John Schreiber.
Of that trio, Jansen probably has the lowest trade value. That’s more a reflection of his contract than an indictment of his performance. Jansen is set for a $16MM salary in the second season of the two-year free agent deal which he signed last winter. That’s a lofty price tag — especially at a point in the offseason in which many teams could be near their own payroll ceilings — but he remains a very effective late-game arm.
Jansen locked down 29 of 33 save opportunities a year ago. He led the National League with 41 saves for the Braves two seasons back. He has allowed between three and four earned runs per nine in each of the past two seasons, including a 3.63 mark over 44 2/3 innings for Boston.
While that is the second-highest ERA of his excellent career, it remains better than average. That’s also the case for last season’s 27.7% strikeout rate, a personal low that nevertheless topped the league mark for relievers by four percentage points. The 36-year-old found some extra life on his trademark cutter. Jansen averaged 94.3 MPH on the pitch, his highest velocity since 2014.
If Boston wanted to maximize the prospect return, they could offer to pay down some portion of Jansen’s salary. That’s a strategy they took in the Chris Sale deal, sending $17MM to the Braves to convince Atlanta to relinquish Vaughn Grissom. Smith reports that they’re less keen to do so with Jansen, writing that they’ve been reluctant to include cash to facilitate a trade.
That wouldn’t be as significant an obstacle regarding Martin (and certainly not with Schreiber). The former, like Jansen, signed a two-year free agent deal last offseason. While Jansen had a solid first season at Fenway Park, Martin was downright excellent. He turned in a microscopic 1.05 ERA over 51 1/3 innings. His 23.1% strikeout rate was solid and he kept the ball on the ground at a 51% clip. Martin continues to boast perhaps the best control of any reliever in the game. He walked just 4% of opponents a year ago and hasn’t handed out free passes at even a 5% rate in any of the last six seasons.
Boston owes Martin a $7.5MM salary for the upcoming campaign. He’s also set to receive the final $1.5MM of a $4MM signing bonus in June. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, that’s a little below the $9-11MM annual salaries secured this offseason by high-end setup relievers like Robert Stephenson, Héctor Neris, Jordan Hicks and Reynaldo López (the final two of whom will compete for rotation spots). Martin turns 38 in June, but the one-year commitment minimizes long-term downside. His fastball averaged 95.7 MPH last season, right in line with where it has sat throughout his career.
Schreiber, who turns 30 next month, is in a different spot contractually. He’s under arbitration control for three seasons. He and the Sox agreed to a modest $1.175MM salary for the upcoming campaign. The righty was a revelation two years ago, turning in a 2.22 ERA while fanning nearly 29% of opponents. His ’23 campaign wasn’t quite as impressive. Schreiber missed two months early in the year with a teres major strain in his throwing shoulder. He returned in July but worked with sightly diminished velocity relative to the prior season.
In 46 2/3 frames, he turned in a 3.86 ERA. Schreiber punched out a solid 26% of opponents, although his walk rate spiked from 7.4% to an alarming 12.3% clip. While his low arm angle remained a very tough look for right-handed hitters, lefty batters teed off for a .300/.456/.533 line in 79 plate appearances.
Moving Schrieber certainly wouldn’t be about finances. Considering offers on him (or Martin, to a lesser extent) seems more of a broad openness by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and the front office to consider opportunities that could balance the roster. Boston is still looking for right-handed hitting outfield help and could use additional certainty out of the rotation.
Jason Adam Loses Arbitration Hearing Against Rays
Reliever Jason Adam lost his arbitration hearing against the Rays, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link). He’ll make $2.7MM for the upcoming season instead of the $3.25MM his camp had been seeking.
Adam and the Rays went to a hearing for a second straight offseason. The right-hander was victorious a year ago, securing a $1.775MM salary against the club’s filing figure of $1.55MM. Things went in the opposite direction this winter, meaning Adam’s raise is a little less than $1MM relative to last year’s sum.
The 32-year-old is coming off a second consecutive very strong performance. Adam turned in a 2.98 ERA through 54 1/3 innings, an impressive follow-up to a dazzling 1.56 mark in the previous season. He punched out 31.1% of opposing hitters, held 11 leads and tallied a career-high 12 saves. An oblique strain cost him most of September and kept him off the playoff roster.
Adam has appeared in parts of six seasons but didn’t break through as a consistent high-leverage presence until landing in Tampa Bay. As a result, he only has between three and four years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration two more times, allowing the Rays to keep him under club control until his age-35 season. Tampa Bay still has one more hearing this winter, as they’ve yet to settle on a salary for designated hitter/outfielder Harold Ramírez. That is one of five pending cases around the league; players have won seven of the 11 hearings thus far.
Twins Sign Jeff Brigham, Brian O’Keefe To Minor League Deals
The Twins announced a batch of non-roster invitees to Spring Training today. It included various players on previously-reported minor league deals, as well as right-hander Jeff Brigham and catcher Brian O’Keefe. It also featured right-handers Jordan Balazovic and Daniel Duarte, both of whom were recently designated for assignment. Darren Wolfson of SKOR North relayed today that Balazovic cleared waivers while Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune was among those to relay the same for Duarte.
It’s a bit of an early birthday present for Brigham, who turns 32 on Friday. The righty is coming off a disappointing year with the Mets. Acquired from the Marlins in November of 2022, he spent 2023 as an up-and-down depth arm for the Mets. He made 37 appearances with the big league club but allowed 5.26 earned runs per nine innings. His 26.3% strikeout rate was quite strong but he also issued walks to 11.3% of batters faced. He also fared poorly in Triple-A, though in a tiny sample of nine innings.
The Mets non-tendered Brigham at season’s end rather than pay him an arbitration salary, which MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected would be $1.1MM. The Twins will take a no-risk look at him in camp and see if there’s anything that intrigues them. He’s not too far removed from better results, as he posted a 3.38 ERA with the Marlins in 2022, as well as a 27.7% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. But the stuff may be a concern, as his velo has been dropping. His fastball averaged 96.6 miles per hour in 2019 but he missed most of 2020 due to a biceps injury. His fastball velo dropped to 94.5 mph in 2022 and then 93.5 mph last year.
He’ll give the Twins a bit of non-roster bullpen depth, alongside guys like Matt Bowman, A.J. Alexy, Hobie Harris and Jared Solomon. If Brigham is added to the roster at any point, he still has an option year remaining and less than four years of service time.
O’Keefe, 30, has a small MLB résumé, having appeared in 10 games for the Mariners over the past two seasons. He hit .136/.240/.227 in his 25 plate appearances over that span. He’s had just over 1,000 trips to the plate in Triple-A, hitting .247/.333/.475, though with all of that time spent in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Baseball Prospectus has looked kindly upon his framing and blocking throughout his minor league career.
The Twins have Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez set to be their catching duo in the big leagues. The latter appeared in some trade rumors over the winter but nothing has come together. Jair Camargo is on the roster but has options and is likely to be in Triple-A. O’Keefe will likely join him in a non-roster capacity and will be on hand should an injury arise.
Balazovic, 25, was once a top 100 prospect but his stock has fallen significantly of late. He posted a 7.39 ERA in 22 Triple-A appearances in 2022, with Baseball America noting that his stuff had diminished in terms of velocity. In 2023, it was reported in February that he had a broken jaw due to “an altercation away from the field.” He went on to post 5.32 ERA in Triple-A and a 4.44 ERA in the majors. That big league work came with unimpressive peripherals such as a 15.7% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate.
He is now out of options and would need an active roster spot, in addition to a 40-man spot. It seems no club was willing to take a chance on him, despite the former prospect pedigree, so he will stick with the Twins as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have a previous career outright nor the three years of service time that would allow him to elect free agency.
As for Duarte, 27, he finally cleared waivers after spending the winter touring around the league. He was designated for assignment by the Reds in January and then went to the Rangers on a cash deal and then to the Twins on a waiver claim.
He had an ERA of 3.69 with Cincinnati last year but only struck out 16.9% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 14.7% clip. His 50% ground ball rate surely helped but he won’t be able to maintain a .218 batting average on balls in play or 81.6% strand rate going forward.
His interest around the league likely stemmed from his strong Triple-A numbers. In 35 innings at that level last year, he had a 3.34 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 51.8% ground ball rate. Like Balazovic, he will have no choice but to accept this assignment and stick with the club as non-roster depth.
Marlins, Yonny Chirinos Agree To Minor League Deal
The Marlins are in agreement with right-hander Yonny Chirinos on a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (X link). A client of MDR Sports Management, he had been non-tendered by the Braves over the offseason.
Chirinos looks for a bounceback after a frustrating 2023 campaign. The 30-year-old hurler had missed most of the 2020-22 seasons on account of elbow injuries. He first suffered a ligament tear that required Tommy John surgery. While rehabbing from that procedure, he fractured his elbow. Chirinos made it back at the tail end of the 2022 campaign and ostensibly began last year at full strength, but his results weren’t what they’d been before the surgery.
In 15 appearances with Tampa Bay, Chirinos posted a 4.02 ERA across 62 2/3 innings. That’s solid enough run prevention but came with a well below-average 11.8% strikeout rate. Chirinos surpassed the five-year MLB service threshold midseason, giving him the right to decline future assignments to the minor leagues. Without that roster flexibility, the Rays designated him for assignment in July. Atlanta nabbed him off waivers.
Chirinos’ time with the Braves was brief. He started five games but was tagged for a 9.27 ERA over 22 1/3 frames. Atlanta placed him on the injured list with inflammation in his elbow. That ended his season and ultimately his tenure with the organization, as they cut him loose at year’s end.
Early in his career, the Venezuelan-born hurler was a solid swing option for Tampa Bay. Chirinos pitched to a 3.71 ERA across 233 innings covering the 2018-19 seasons. His 21% strikeout percentage wasn’t far off the major league average and he showed excellent control, limiting the walks to a 5.9% clip.
Miami will take a low-risk look to see if Chirinos can put the elbow concerns behind him and recapture something like his early-career form. He becomes the latest in a handful of former Tampa Bay players acquired by Miami’s new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who’d been the Rays’ GM before taking over baseball operations in South Florida. If Chirinos cracks the big league roster at any point, the Fish would need to keep him in the majors or make him available to other clubs via trade or waivers.