White Sox Sign Justin Anderson To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have signed right-hander Justin Anderson to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Charlotte for now but could get an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Anderson, 31, appeared in 111 big league games for the Angels over 2018 and 2019. He tossed 102 1/3 innings with a 4.75 earned run average. He struck out a strong 27.7% of batters faced but also gave out walks at a 15.7% clip. Despite the control issues, he nonetheless served a leverage role for the Halos, racking up five saves and 33 holds.
Since then, however, injuries have sent him out into the proverbial wilderness. In 2020, he suffered an oblique strain and then a torn ligament in his pitching elbow, the latter eventually leading to Tommy John surgery in July of 2020. He was non-tendered by the Angels at the end of that year and signed a two-year minor league deal with the Rangers, with that club hoping for a post-surgery bounceback in 2022. That didn’t work out, with Anderson landing on the minor league IL in April of 2022 after just three appearances and never returning.
In 2023, Anderson finally showed a bit of progress. He secured a minor league deal with the Royals in June and was able to make 24 appearances over the final few months of the season, logging 36 2/3 innings of work. Anderson posted an ERA of 6.87 on the year overall but struck out 35.5% of batters faced and finished strong, with an ERA of 3.44 in his final 11 appearances and 0.63 in his last eight. Any pitcher can look better with that kind of arbitrary selectivity, but since Anderson was dealing with injuries for so long, it would be fair to expect him to take some time getting into a groove.
The White Sox will be hoping that was indeed the case and that Anderson can be in better form in 2024 after shaking off some rust this year. If he is able to stay healthy and effective, he still has a full slate of options and less than three years of service time. If he’s added to the roster at any point, he could be moved between the majors and minors without being exposed to waivers and could be retained for future seasons via arbitration.
Twins Have Discussed Christian Vázquez Trades
The Twins have been open about their plans to reduce payroll and that has reportedly led them to try to trade some players from their roster. In an appearance on Foul Territory, Robert Murray of FanSided listed catcher Christian Vázquez as one player that the club has been aggressively shopping.
Vázquez, now 33, signed a three-year, $30MM deal with the Twins almost a year ago. He got that deal after many years of solid work in the big leagues, generally pairing strong defense with offense around league average for a backstop. However, the first year in Minnesota didn’t go especially well. Vázquez was still good when donning the tools of ignorance but his work with the bat took a big step backwards. His strikeout rate jumped to a career high of 23.1% and his overall line of .223/.280/.318 translated to a wRC+ of just 65.
While Vázquez was going through that disappointing season, the Twins saw Ryan Jeffers take the opposite path. He had a tremendous breakout campaign in 2023, hitting 14 home runs in 96 games. His .276/.369/.490 batting line led to a wRC+ of 138. His glovework isn’t as heralded as that of Vázquez but he is still just 26 years old and could still make strides behind the plate. He’s only entering arbitration for the first time this winter with a projected salary of $2.3MM and isn’t slated for free agency until after 2026.
Vázquez still has two years and $20MM left on his deal, which isn’t terribly burdensome by baseball payroll standards. But for a club looking to cut costs due to its uncertainty around broadcast revenue, $10MM per year on a catcher who has been leapfrogged on the depth chart might be a luxury they can’t afford. Jair Camargo just had a strong season in Triple-A and got added to the 40-man roster, so perhaps he could step in as a backup to Jeffers, or the club could also look for a lower-cost veteran to replace Vázquez.
Though the Twins are looking to shed salary, they will likely have to eat at least a little bit of the deal in order to move it. Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reported this week that several other clubs were willing to give Vázquez deals around two years and $20MM last year before the Twins got it done by adding a third year. But with Vázquez now a year older and coming off a rough season, the desire by other clubs to take on that contract is surely diminished.
But once the financials are worked out, there would likely be plenty of interest around the league. Murray mentions that the Padres had interest in Vázquez when he was a free agent, though they have their own payroll concerns and Luis Campusano had a strong finish to the 2023 season for them, perhaps reducing their need for help behind the plate. Murray also mentions the Marlins as a speculative fit, which is sensible since they are known to be looking for upgrades there. Some other clubs that could perhaps look for veteran to help with the workload behind the plate include the Red Sox, White Sox, Cubs, Rays, Diamondbacks and others.
Despite the rough 2023 campaign, Vázquez suitors might be interested in the .271/.318/.416 batting line he posted from 2019 to 2022. That translated to a 94 wRC+, below average overall but roughly par for a catcher, which paired nicely with his excellent glovework. What might help the Twins is that the free agent market doesn’t have many more exciting options. Mitch Garver and Tom Murphy have more offensive upside but both have significant injury histories and can’t match Vázquez in terms of defense. Gary Sánchez, Victor Caratini and Yasmani Grandal are some of the other top names available. What might work against the Twins, however, is that the Yankees are also looking to trade from their catching surplus.
It’s been suggested that the Twins could look to open 2024 with a payroll between $125MM and $140MM, a drop from last year’s $154MM mark. Roster Resource has them pegged at $125MM already, giving them little wiggle room for upgrading the pitching staff. They could give themselves a bit more breathing space with a trade of a player making a somewhat notable salary, such as Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco or Kyle Farmer, but Vázquez is apparently on the list as well.
The Opener: Thanksgiving Deals, Starting Pitching Market, Jensen
Here are three things we’ll be watching on Thanksgiving…
1. Holiday dealings:
Will any agents or general managers step away from the holiday feast in order to pick up a phone and make a deal? Thanksgiving tends to be pretty quiet in baseball circles but notable things have happened before. Back in 2020, MLBTR posted a list of some notable transactions that went down on Thanksgiving, including Torii Hunter signing a five-year deal with the Angels in 2007. The Marlins were particularly busy in 2005, sending Carlos Delgado and cash to the Mets for Grant Psomas, Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit, and then finishing an even bigger deal that sent Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota to the Red Sox for Jesús Delgado, Harvey García, Hanley Ramírez and Aníbal Sánchez.
2. Starting pitching market:
Overall, there’s been little movement this offseason, but the starting pitching market seems to have more momentum than other areas. Multiple reports suggest that demand for rotation help is incredibly high and a few names have come off the board already. The Phillies were able to retain Aaron Nola while the Cardinals signed Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson. There’s a ticking clock on Yoshinobu Yamamoto since he has been posted, while Shota Imanaga is expected to be posted on Monday. It appears the ball is rolling down the hill and picking up some steam, so teams in this area might have to be ready to jump.
3. Jensen in DFA limbo:
The Mariners swung a two-for-one deal yesterday, flipping Eugenio Suárez to Arizona for Carlos Vargas and Seby Zavala. That left them needing a roster spot, which squeezed out Ryan Jensen. The M’s now have less than a week to work out a trade or try to pass Jensen through waivers. He didn’t have a great season in the minors in 2023 but there are so many open roster spots around the league right now, with many clubs having just freed up space via non-tenders and free agency. The Mets only have 28 players on their 40-man, while Atlanta and San Diego are each at 31. Perhaps that will help Jensen find another landing spot in the next few days.
MLBTR Podcast: Aaron Nola, Non-Tenders And The Pace Of The Offseason
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Phillies re-sign Aaron Nola (0:50)
- The Braves sign Reynaldo López (7:20)
- The Cardinals sign Lance Lynn (10:30)
- Interesting non-tenders, including Brandon Woodruff… (12:10)
- Spencer Turnbull… (14:10)
- ..and Rowdy Tellez (17:10)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Why is the MLB offseason so slow to get going? The other leagues, most of your top free agents are off the board within a few days. It’s been three weeks since players filed for free agency and nothing. (19:55)
- Do you think the Dodgers do something major this year or will it be another disappointing offseason for the fans? (23:30)
- Do you think the Pirates sign Rhys Hoskins or settle for someone cheaper? (26:20)
Check out our past episodes!
- Top Trade Candidates, Bryce Harper at First Base and the Braves’ Raising Payroll – listen here
- Top 50 Free Agents Megapod (with Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco) – listen here
- Juan Soto Speculation, Melvin and Zaidi in SF, and Boston Hires Breslow – listen here
KBO’s LG Twins Re-Sign Casey Kelly
Right-hander Casey Kelly has re-signed with the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization, tweets Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap. He’ll make $1.5MM for the 2024 season.
Kelly heads back to the Seoul-based franchise for a sixth season. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi suggested earlier this month that the 34-year-old could be on MLB radars. While it’s possible he found some amount of big league interest, he’s clearly comfortable with the KBO’s defending champions.
A former first-round pick of the Red Sox, Kelly struggled to a 5.46 ERA with three clubs over parts of four MLB seasons between 2012-18. He has been a durable and effective starter since making the jump to Korea for the 2019 campaign. He has started between 27 and 30 games in each of his five KBO seasons, topping 166 innings annually. This past season’s 3.83 ERA was the highest of any those years.
The Twins also re-signed outfielder Austin Dean last week. That duo is joined by newcomer Dietrich Enns as the team’s three foreign-born players. Righty Adam Plutko did not re-sign and is seeking MLB opportunities this winter.
Giants, Yusniel Diaz Agree To Minor League Deal
Outfielder Yusniel Díaz has signed a minor league contract with the Giants, according to his transaction log at MLB.com. It isn’t clear if he’ll get an invitation to MLB Spring Training.
Díaz, 27, is a former top prospect from his early time in the Dodgers organization. The Cuban-born outfielder hit very well up through Double-A, leading to his inclusion in a 2018 deadline blockbuster. Los Angeles sent him to the Orioles as the headliner in the Manny Machado deal. Díaz entered the following season as Baltimore’s #1 prospect, in the estimation of Baseball America, which ranked him among the sport’s top 40 minor league talents overall.
The righty-hitting outfielder never built on his low minors success to become the player that many prospect evaluators envisioned. Díaz hit at a below-average level in Triple-A over parts of two seasons there. Baltimore called him to the majors at the very end of the 2022 season, but his only MLB experience consists of one game (in which he struck out in his only at-bat).
Díaz returned to the Dodger organization on a minor league deal last winter. Los Angeles assigned him back to Double-A Tulsa. Díaz had strong numbers there, hitting .278/.374/.484 with 16 home runs through 406 plate appearances. That came against generally younger competition but was enough to earn him another minor league deal this offseason. San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was in the Dodgers’ front office for a couple seasons while Díaz was beginning his pro career.
Mariners Notes: Urias, Candelario, Murphy
The Mariners traded their starting third baseman this afternoon, sending Eugenio Suárez to the Diamondbacks for reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala. That leaves a few paths that Seattle could explore at the hot corner.
Internally, it seems recent trade acquisition Luis Urías has the upper hand on the job. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (X link) and Daniel Kramer of MLB.com each report that Seattle is likely to give Urías the third base job.
That’s a risky play for a team that expects to contend in 2024. The right-handed hitting Urías is coming off a disappointing season. He had hit only .145/.299/.236 in 20 MLB games for the Brewers early in the ’23 season, spending a good portion of the year on optional assignment to Triple-A. Milwaukee moved on at the trade deadline, sending him to the Red Sox. Urías’ production was improved but still pedestrian in Boston, where he hit .225/.361/.337 over 32 contests.
It was essentially a replacement level showing overall. Urías looked like a roughly average regular over the preceding two seasons in Milwaukee. He had hit .244/.340/.426 in a little over 1000 plate appearances between 2021-22. He combined for 39 home runs with a strong 10.8% walk rate and standard 20.6% strikeout percentage.
The M’s clearly believe that he’ll bounce back from his 2023 season. Seattle dealt reliever Isaiah Campbell to Boston for Urías, who had seemed a non-tender candidate before that trade. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz forecasts him for a salary in the $4.7MM range for his penultimate arbitration season. While hardly an overwhelming sum, it’s not an entirely insignificant amount for a player who had fallen down the infield depth charts in Milwaukee and, to a lesser extent, Boston.
With four months remaining in the offseason, there’s obviously plenty of time for the Seattle front office to bring in another option. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi floated the possibility of a run at free agent Jeimer Candelario, although it’s not clear if that’s something the Mariners are actually considering. The switch-hitting Candelario is coming off a far better offensive showing than Urías is. Between the Nationals and Cubs, he ran a .251/.336/.471 batting line with 22 homers in 576 plate appearances.
There’d be a viable roster fit for Candelario even if the Mariners wanted Urías to play every day. The latter has plenty of second base experience in his big league tenure. Seattle has a few options at the keystone — Josh Rojas and José Caballero primary among them — but none who stands a clear regular.
A run at Candelario would be out of character for a front office that has shied away from adding offensive talent in free agency. The M’s have rather incredibly not signed a single free agent position player to a multi-year contract in seven offseasons under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. MLBTR predicts Candelario for a four-year, $70MM guarantee.
While the trade adds some uncertainty to the infield, Zavala now seems the choice to back up Cal Raleigh behind the plate. Kramer writes that the M’s are no longer planning to pursue a reunion with veteran backstop Tom Murphy. He’d played in Seattle since 2019, struggling with injuries but generally making a strong power impact in limited playing time. Murphy hit .250/.324/.460 over his Mariners tenure. He has a shot at a two-year deal in his first trip to free agency.
Mets To Hire John Gibbons As Bench Coach
7:50pm: New York will hire Antoan Richardson as first base coach, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (on X). He had held that role in San Francisco for four seasons under Gabe Kapler.
6:49pm: The Mets are hiring John Gibbons as their bench coach, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic first reported (X link) that the Mets were nearing agreement with Gibbons to take the position.
New York has turned to a first-time skipper in former Yankee bench coach Carlos Mendoza. Immediately after Mendoza’s hiring, reports suggested they were seeking a more experienced voice to operate as his chief staffer. The 61-year-old Gibbons qualifies.
A first-round pick of the Mets in 1980, Gibbons played 18 big league games with New York in the mid-80s. He had a far lengthier big league run as a manager. Gibbons, who began his coaching career in the Mets system in 1990, logged two separate stints as an MLB manager in Toronto. He led the Blue Jays from 2004-08. After being dismissed midway through the ’08 season, Gibbons spent some time as bench coach in Kansas City.
The Jays re-hired him as manager going into the 2013 season. He’d hold that position for six more seasons, overseeing three straight winning campaigns between 2014-16. The Jays made the playoffs in both 2015 and ’16, advancing to the AL Championship Series both years. The team’s performance tailed off thereafter, as they finished below .500 in both 2017 and ’18. The Jays replaced Gibbons with Charlie Montoyo going into 2019.
Gibbons has been floated as a candidate for a few managerial vacancies in the years since. While he hasn’t gotten a look in the lead role, he’ll return to a coaching staff as Mendoza’s top lieutenant.
In other coaching news, Puma reported yesterday that New York was nearing agreement to hire Jose Rosado as bullpen coach. He had overlapped with Mendoza during a run in the Yankees’ farm system. Meanwhile, Andy Martino of SNY reports (on X) that the club will hire Mike Sarbaugh as third base coach. He had held that role under Terry Francona in Cleveland for 11 seasons.
Patrick Murphy Agrees To Deal With NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
Right-hander Patrick Murphy has agreed to terms with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The deal, which is pending a physical, will be for one year with a 2025 option as well as performance bonuses and escalators.
Murphy, 29 in June, spent 2023 with the Twins on a minor league deal. He began the year in a fairly typical relief role but got stretched out for the final two months of the season. From the start of April to August 1, he tossed 44 2/3 innings over 33 appearances with an earned run average of 4.63. He struck out 25.3% of opponents but gave out walks at a 16.1% clip. He made nine more appearances from there and tacked on another 40 2/3 innings with a 2.66 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate.
Prior to this year, he was a third-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2013. He made it to the majors with that club and eventually went to the Nationals via a waiver claim. Between those two teams, he threw 39 2/3 major league innings from 2020 to 2022 with a 4.76 ERA, but he didn’t get to the big leagues in 2023.
Had he stayed in North America for 2024, he likely would have been limited to minor league offers but will instead head to Japan, where he should be in line for a larger salary and an opportunity to prove himself in what’s generally considered to be the strongest league outside of MLB. It’s unclear if the Fighters plan on using Murphy as a starter or reliever but he did both in 2023 and could perhaps provide them with some flexibility. If he fares well overseas, he could parlay that into a return to the majors down the road, a path taken by guys like Miles Mikolas, Chris Martin, Nick Martinez and others.
How Aggressive Will The Tigers Be This Winter?
The ill-fated Miguel Cabrera extension is off the books in Detroit, leading to the most payroll flexibility the team has had in quite some time. As it stands, the only three players on guaranteed contracts for the 2024 season are Javier Baez, Mark Canha and Carson Kelly. That trio combines for $40MM in guaranteed salary. Only Baez is signed beyond the 2024 season. Detroit also has a small arbitration class. Left-hander Tarik Skubal, righty Casey Mize, catcher Jake Rogers and outfielder Akil Baddoo project to earn a combined $7.5MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
Suffice it to say, there’s ample payroll space available in the Motor City. Detroit trotted out a payroll as high as $200MM back in 2017, albeit under the ownership of the late Mike Ilitch. Since his son, Chris, took over as the team’s control person, the Tigers haven’t fielded an Opening Day payroll north of $135MM. Then again, the Tigers have been rebuilding for much of Chris’ time in charge of the club, so aggressive spending hasn’t typically on the radar.
Many Tigers fans entered the current offseason expecting some degree of change in that regard, however. The AL Central is perhaps the sport’s weakest division, and the Tigers have some interesting young players emerging to form a core group. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene both took big steps forward in 2023. Skubal returned from flexor surgery and pitched like a genuine top-of-the-rotation arm. Reese Olson looks like a mid-rotation piece. Kerry Carpenter has swatted 26 homers and hit .277/.334/.473 in his first 149 big league games. Former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize will come back from Tommy John surgery in 2024. Jason Foley, Will Vest, Tyler Holton and Alex Lange all had nice years in the bullpen (Lange’s command issues notwithstanding). It’s easy to see the reasons for optimism.
At the same time, that doesn’t necessarily portend a return to the Tigers’ former status as one of the league’s most aggressive offseason spenders. For one thing, the now-former front office regime helmed by Al Avila attempted to reestablish the Tigers as just that when signing Baez and Eduardo Rodriguez. The former hasn’t worked out at all and now stands as one of baseball’s most immovable/undesirable contracts. The latter performed well enough to opt out of the remaining three years and $49MM after an uneven tenure in Detroit.
New president of baseball operations Scott Harris will surely be wary of further saddling the team with unwanted contracts. His most recent organization — the Giants, where he was GM — has a recent track record of clearly preferring shorter-term, manageable commitments in free agency. They haven’t inked a free agent for more than three years under Farhan Zaidi’s watch as president of baseball operations. That doesn’t mean Harris will operate from the exact same playbook, but it’s notable context nonetheless.
To that end, the general expectation surrounding the Tigers this winter has been that the team will at least one, if not two arms in free agency. Adding a bat to the middle of the lineup also seems like a sensible enough fit. The question is: to what extent are the Tigers willing to spend?
Recent reports have indicated that the Tigers have interest in both Seth Lugo and Kenta Maeda, for instance, but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press wrote this morning that the Tigers prefer Lugo on a one-year deal. He’s understandably seeking a three-year pact after a breakout 2023 campaign. Petzold also reports that rebound candidate Luis Severino is on the Tigers’ radar. He’s likely to sign a one-year deal this winter. Maeda is generally expected to sign for no more than two years. Between those three targets, a preference for shorter-term additions seems to be on the table for the Tigers.
Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic frames things similarly in his latest mailbag, writing that the Tigers seem likelier to dish out multiple short-term deals — similar to last year’s one-year pact with Michael Lorenzen — than they are to ink a notable arm on a heftier deal. The Tigers reportedly checked in on Lance Lynn before he signed a one-year, $11MM deal with the Cardinals. Stavenhagen suggests that contracts of that nature (and the Cardinals’ one-year, $12MM deal with Kyle Gibson) are roughly what one could expect the Tigers to offer in free agency. Similarly, he writes that Canha could be the team’s most significant position-player acquisition this winter.
There’s no firm indication that the Tigers won’t be a bit more aggressive in free agency and pursue some notable names on multi-year deals. Unexpected market circumstances can always emerge, perhaps leading a team to land a major free agent they never expected early in the winter. The Twins surely didn’t enter the 2021-22 offseason expecting to sign Carlos Correa, for instance, and the Tigers’ ample flexibility leaves them open for opportunistic adds of that nature, should they arise.
The trade market also can’t be discounted as a means of adding some notable talent. Harris and his staff proved over the past year that they’re plenty willing to make deals with other clubs. Since the beginning of last offseason, Detroit has traded Joe Jimenez to Atlanta and Gregory Soto and Michael Lorenzen to Philadelphia (in separate swaps). The Tigers picked up Zach McKinstry in a spring trade with the Cubs earlier this year and added Canha in a deal with Milwaukee just a few weeks ago. It’s perfectly reasonable to think they might be more active in trades than in free agency; some combination of both avenues is likely at the end of the day.
However, those hoping for a bigger splash may want to look back to Harris’ comments earlier this month when asked about having sufficient resources to sign a premier free agent (link via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News): “If we feel like we are close enough to where a big free agent pushes us over the edge, sure, we have an ownership that’s going to support us to be able to do that. But, as this game has taught us time and time again, sometimes, teams over-estimate their proximity to being a team that’s right on the verge of the playoffs, and they spend a lot of money and it doesn’t push them forward. It pushes them back. We have to be really careful.”