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Rangers, Ian Kennedy Agree To Deal

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The Rangers are re-signing Ian Kennedy, the veteran reliever announced on Instagram this afternoon. Presumably, it’ll be a minor league deal for the Boras Corporation client.

Kennedy spent the first half of the 2021 season in Arlington. Those months were among the best of his past four seasons as a full-time reliever. After cracking the MLB roster following an offseason minors deal, Kennedy quickly pitched his way into the closer’s role. He saved 16 games through 32 appearances while posting a 2.51 ERA over 32 1/3 frames. At that summer’s deadline, the then-rebuilding Texas club packaged Kennedy with veteran starter Kyle Gibson to Philadelphia for righty Spencer Howard.

The 16-year MLB veteran fanned almost 27% of opponents with the Phils but surrendered a staggering seven homers in 24 innings. In spite of the poor finish, Kennedy landed a $4.75MM guarantee from the Diamondbacks last winter. He made 57 appearances during his second stint in the desert but struggled. Kennedy managed only a 5.36 ERA over 50 1/3 innings. He continued to battle the longball, allowing nearly two home runs per nine innings, while his strikeout percentage plummeted to a 19% clip. At season’s end, the D-Backs made the fairly easy call to buy out a mutual option on his services for 2023.

Kennedy carries a 4.30 ERA in 190 appearances since making his bullpen conversion during the 2019 campaign. He’s shown the ability to miss bats at an above-average rate while throwing a decent number of strikes at his best. The 38-year-old will look to recapture some of his early-2021 success in a second crack as a Ranger.

Yankees Have Shown Interest In David Peralta

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The Yankees have been in contact with free agent outfielder David Peralta this offseason, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. It isn’t clear whether talks are ongoing, as Heyman suggests the Yankees look likelier to roll with their in-house options in left field.

That position has been a prominent talking point among the fanbase throughout the offseason. That’s due to the two-year struggles of Aaron Hicks, who’s coming off a .216/.330/.313 showing through 453 plate appearances. That marked an improvement over his .194/.294/.333 line during an injury-riddled 2021 season but was still below average.

Given the stiff competition the Yankees are facing in the AL East, one could certainly argue for general manager Brian Cashman and his staff to seek out an upgrade. They’ve been tied to an array of left field possibilities. That includes the top remaining free agent, Jurickson Profar, and trade candidates like Bryan Reynolds and Max Kepler. Pittsburgh has reportedly set a massive asking price in talks regarding Reynolds. Minnesota dealing Kepler this offseason still seems possible, though Heyman writes there isn’t any current traction between the Yankees and Twins on that front.

Peralta’s part of a veteran fallback contingent for teams looking to augment their corner outfield but unwilling to meet Profar’s asking price. The longtime Diamondback had a great 2018 season in which he connected on 30 homers, but he’s posted roughly average offensive numbers in the four years since then. The left-handed batter owns a .266/.329/.425 mark since the start of the 2019 season. That includes a .251/.316/.415 showing over 490 trips between Arizona and the Rays last year.

While the bottom line numbers for the nine-year MLB veteran didn’t much change, the shape of his production did. Peralta significantly cut back on his ground balls last season, putting the ball on the dirt 36.3% of the time after hovering around 50% in every previous season of his career. The fly-ball oriented approach looked to be resulting in better power output earlier in the season, as Peralta carried a .460 slugging mark through 87 games in Arizona. Things cratered after he was dealt to the Rays, as he didn’t collect a single longball and stumbled to a .255/.317/.335 slash over 180 plate appearances with Tampa Bay.

Peralta’s a low-cost veteran option during his first trip to free agency. Yet even a modest deal might prove too costly for the Yankees given their reported spending limit. Heyman wrote last week the club doesn’t want to surpass the $293MM luxury tax mark that’d subject them to the highest penalization level on spending. Roster Resource calculates their CBT number around $292.3MM at the moment. Virtually any acquisition would likely push the Yankees past that threshold.

If the Yankees do stick with their internal left field options, the competition would figure to come down to Hicks and youngster Oswaldo Cabrera. The latter hit .247/.312/.429 in 44 games as a rookie, outperforming Hicks in 2022. Nevertheless, Cashman suggested last weekend in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM the veteran could have the upper hand in a camp battle (h/t to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). While Cashman called the situation “fluid,” he noted he expects “(Hicks) will be the guy that emerges, because he’s still really talented and everything’s there.“

Brewers Release Jon Singleton

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The Brewers have released first baseman Jon Singleton, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. The move comes a few days after he was designated for assignment once Milwaukee signed Brian Anderson.

Singleton didn’t appear in an MLB game with the Brew Crew during his brief stint on the 40-man roster. He hasn’t played in the majors since 2015, his second season as a member of the Astros. A one-time top prospect and recipient of a $10MM extension before reaching the majors, Singleton struggled to a .171/.290/.331 line through 114 big league games. He connected on 14 home runs with a massive 14.3% walk percentage but struck out at an untenable 36% clip.

After spending a couple seasons in the minors, Singleton was released by Houston. That came on the heels of a suspension after failing a drug test, with the left-handed hitter later admitting he has battled marijuana addiction. Singleton was out of the sport entirely for a few seasons but embarked on a comeback in Mexico two years ago. A monster 46-game run there earned him a minor league opportunity with Milwaukee heading into 2022.

Singleton spent the year with the Brew Crew’s top affiliate in Nashville. He struck out at a near-28% clip and only hit .219, but he more than compensated with his typical blend of patience and power. Singleton walked at a 20.1% clip to reach base at a strong .375 rate and popped 24 home runs in 581 plate appearances. It didn’t get him a big league call but impressed Milwaukee’s front office enough they re-signed him to a minor league deal at the start of the offseason and quickly added him to the 40-man roster to prevent another team from taking him in the Rule 5 draft.

Unfortunately for Singleton, the Brewers’ high rate of turnover this offseason squeezed him out of the picture. Assuming he goes unclaimed on release waivers, he’ll be free to explore other opportunities as a free agent.

Phillies, Jesus Cruz Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Phillies recently agreed to minor league deals with reliever Jesús Cruz and corner outfielder Dustin Peterson, according to their transactions log at MLB.com. It’s unclear if either will get a non-roster Spring Training invitation.

Cruz, 27, is a 6’1″ right-hander with eight MLB appearances to his name. Seven of those came last season for the division-rival Braves, as he worked 8 2/3 innings of low-leverage work. He allowed six runs (including a trio of homers) with four walks and six strikeouts before losing his 40-man roster spot at the beginning of August.

Things went better at the Triple-A level, where the Mexico native showed interesting swing-and-miss stuff. Cruz punched out an excellent 32.2% of batters faced in 28 outings with the Braves’ highest affiliate in Gwinnett. That came with a lofty 13.2% walk percentage, the continuation of longstanding control problems he’s shown throughout his career. Cruz has walked 13.4% of opponents in parts of five minor league seasons.

Erratic as his strike-throwing is, he’s shown the ability to miss bats at the upper levels of the minors. Cruz averaged just under 95 MPH with his heater and around 87 MPH on his slider during his limited MLB look in Atlanta. He’ll add a reasonably strong arm to the Phils’ bullpen depth chart, likely to open the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, meaning Philadelphia could send him back and forth between MLB and the minors if he secures a 40-man roster spot.

Peterson is a former second-round pick of the Padres who has limited MLB time as a member of the Braves and Tigers. He played in 19 games between the two clubs from 2018-19, collecting 10 hits and two walks in 49 plate appearances. The 28-year-old has spent a decade in the minor leagues, hitting .261/.319/.364 in just under 3700 trips to the plate.

The right-handed hitter opened the 2022 campaign with the Brewers on a minor league pact. After just three games, Milwaukee traded him to Philadelphia. Peterson spent the rest of the season with the IronPigs, posting a .244/.318/.379 line with nine homers across 102 contests. He made a favorable enough impression on the organization to get another minor league opportunity and could play a similar depth role during the upcoming season.

Brewers Sign Robert Stock To Minor League Deal

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The Brewers have signed right-hander Robert Stock to a minor league contract, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.

Stock appeared at the MLB level each season from 2018-21. He first cracked the majors during his age-28 season with the Padres. The hard-throwing Stock broke in with a flourish, posting a 2.50 ERA in 39 2/3 relief innings as a rookie. He didn’t replicate that success the following season, struggling in 10 appearances and missing an extended stretch of action with a biceps strain. The next offseason, he bounced from San Diego to Philadelphia to Boston on waivers.

After struggling in 10 outings of relief for Boston, Stock landed with the Cubs on waivers. He made just one appearance for Chicago — his first MLB start — and then headed to the Mets. Stock started twice for New York and was outrighted off the roster at the end of the season. He signed with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization for the 2022 campaign.

The USC product worked out of the Bears’ rotation last year. He started 29 games and worked 165 innings, posting a solid 3.60 ERA. That came with a fairly modest 19.1% strikeout percentage and an elevated 11.5% walk rate. Stock will try to iron those numbers out in his return to affiliated ball.

He’ll be in MLB camp and offer some depth in both the starting staff or bullpen. Milwaukee’s rotation is already deep, with Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Wade Miley, Aaron Ashby, Eric Lauer and Adrian Houser offering seven options on the 40-man roster. The clearer path to MLB time for Stock would likely come in relief, though he seems likely to open the year at Triple-A Nashville given Milwaukee’s overall pitching depth.

Red Sox Have Shown Interest In Matt Moore

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The Red Sox have checked in on free agent reliever Matt Moore this offseason, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter links). The extent of their interest isn’t known, but Cotillo adds that fellow southpaw Andrew Chafin has not been on Boston’s radar thus far.

Moore and Chafin are arguably the two best remaining free agent relievers. Alongside Will Smith, they’re part of a group of quality left-handers whose market has unexpectedly lingered. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal linked a third of the league (Boston included) to the lefty relief market earlier in the week, but we’ve still not seen any notable movement since Taylor Rogers inked a three-year deal with the Giants before the calendar flipped to 2023.

The 33-year-old Moore spent a decade as a big leaguer starter, battling inconsistency along the way. The former top prospect had a couple strong seasons upon breaking in with the Rays but started to struggle in the wake of 2014 Tommy John surgery. He sandwiched a solid 2016 campaign between a trio of 5.00-plus ERA marks between 2015-18. Moore barely pitched in 2019, spent the ’20 campaign in Japan and was hit hard in his return showing with the Phillies two seasons ago.

Moore inked a minor league deal with the Rangers last offseason. He was in the majors again by mid-April and reinvented himself as a power arm out of the bullpen. Texas deployed him exclusively in relief, calling upon the veteran 63 times. Through 74 innings, Moore posted a stellar 1.95 ERA. He struck out batters at a strong 27.3% clip while generating swinging strikes on a massive 14.7% of his offerings. His fastball averaged around 94 MPH and he got excellent results on both his curveball and changeup, giving him a three-pitch arsenal to deploy in short stints.

The sole red flag in Moore’s 2022 performance was his control. He dished out walks to 12.5% of opponents, a rate more than three percentage points higher than average. ERA estimators like FIP (2.98) and SIERA (3.69) weren’t quite as bullish as his sub-2.00 ERA would suggest, as Moore was probably a bit fortunate to strand 81% of the baserunners he allowed. That said, there’s room for Moore to regress marginally from his 2022 level while still remaining a quality high-leverage option if he can sustain last season’s swing-and-miss prowess.

Moore certainly earned himself a big league deal this time around and he has a case for a multi-year pact even headed into his age-34 campaign. Former Red Sox hurler Matt Strahm secured a two-year, $15MM deal from the Phillies on the heels of a solid but arguably less impressive 3.83 ERA/3.30 SIERA showing.

Chafin has an even stronger argument for a two-year contract. He’s going into his age-33 season and coming off a second straight excellent year. He provided the Tigers 57 1/3 frames of 2.83 ERA ball with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk percentage. That was on the heels of a 1.83 ERA season between the Cubs and A’s in 2021. Speculatively speaking, it’s possible that’s leading to a loftier asking price than is coming from Moore’s camp to explain Boston’s seeming lack of interest in Chafin.

The Red Sox have a fairly straightforward desire for left-handed relief help. They’ve added Joely Rodríguez on a $2MM free agent contract but parted with Darwinzon Hernández and Josh Taylor after seeing Strahm leave in free agency. Rodríguez is the only assured lefty reliever on the 40-man roster, though starting pitching prospects Chris Murphy and Brandon Walter could theoretically find themselves in that mix. The Sox have signed Ryan Sherriff and Matt Dermody to minor league deals in recent days to strengthen the depth. Neither would take them out of the market for Moore, who’d be a more significant acquisition.

The Red Sox currently project for a player payroll in the $192MM range, as tabulated by Roster Resource. More meaningfully, they’re around $219MM in luxury tax obligations. That leaves them approximately $14MM shy of the $233MM base threshold, so a Moore deal would be financially viable while still leaving them some breathing room under the tax for midseason additions should they so desire. The Cubs are the only other team known to have checked in with Moore’s camp this winter, though there are surely numerous unreported suitors.

Gary Peters Passes Away

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Former big leaguer Gary Peters has passed away at the age of 85, per a report from Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

A native of Pennsylvania, Peters signed with the White Sox as an amateur in 1956. He got called up to the majors for brief showings in four straight seasons from 1959 to 1962, never getting to pitch more than 10 1/3 innings in any of those seasons. He finally got an extended run in 1963 and made the most of it. He tossed 243 innings that year over 30 starts and 11 relief appearances, posting a tidy 2.33 ERA that led the American League. He was given the AL Rookie of the Year award for that season. The southpaw built on that campaign with another strong one in 1964. He made 36 starts and one relief appearance, logging 273 2/3 innings with a 2.50 ERA. His 20 wins were tops in the American League and he made the All-Star team, the first of two times in his career.

He would continue to post solid results for most of remainder of the decade, keeping his ERA under 4.00 in each year through 1968. In 1969, his ERA jumped to 4.53 and he was traded to the Red Sox afterwards. He would pitch in three more seasons in Boston with an ERA just over 4.00 in each, with 1972 marking his final major league action.

Peters finished his career with a 3.25 ERA over 2,081 innings pitched in 359 major league games. He is credited with 124 wins, five saves, 79 complete games, 23 shutouts and 1,420 strikeouts. He won the Rookie of the Year in 1963, made the All-Star team in 1964 and 1967, led the AL in ERA twice and wins once.

MLBTR sends our condolences to Peters’ family, friends, former teammates and loved ones.

Mariners Outright Justus Sheffield

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The Mariners announced that left-hander Justus Sheffield has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.

Sheffield, 27 in May, was a first round draft pick and was previously considered one of the top prospects in baseball. Selected 31st overall by Cleveland in 2014, went to the Yankees in 2016 as part of the Andrew Miller trade and then went to Seattle in the 2018 James Paxton deal. Baseball America placed him on their top 100 list for four straight years beginning in 2016, including placing Sheffield in the top 50 for the latter two years of that stretch.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to deliver on that hype so far. He’s pitched 186 innings in the big leagues over the past five seasons with a 5.47 ERA, 18.2% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. His 49.5% ground ball rate is strong but the results have been poor otherwise. His work in the minors hasn’t inspired much confidence either, as he registered a 6.99 ERA over 24 Triple-A starts last year.

Those poor results nudged him off the roster when the Mariners signed Tommy La Stella last week. None of the 29 other clubs were willing to commit a roster spot to Sheffield so he’ll stick with the M’s as non-roster depth. Players with over three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but Sheffield doesn’t meet either qualification. If he earns his way back onto the roster, he still has one option year remaining.

Orioles Designate Darwinzon Hernandez For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that they have designated left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez for assignment. His roster spot goes to fellow lefty Cole Irvin, whom the club acquired from the A’s in a trade.

Few pitchers in the game can match the 26-year-old Hernandez’s ability to miss bats — evidenced by a 32.3% strikeout rate in 85 1/3 innings at the MLB level. However, even fewer struggle with their command to the same extent as Hernandez, who’s also walked 17.7% of his opponents as a big leaguer. He nonetheless managed a sharp 3.17 ERA with the Red Sox from 2020-21, but the 2022 season was a nightmare; Hernandez was shelled for 17 runs (16 earned)  in just 6 2/3 innings with Boston this past season. The Sox designated him for assignment earlier in the winter, and the O’s picked him up in a trade sending cash back to Boston. Overall, he has a 5.06 ERA during his 85 2/3 frames in the Majors.

Even with that poor command, Hernandez could intrigue other clubs. Controllable, hard-throwing lefties who avoid hard contact and have a minor league option remaining aren’t necessarily easy to come by. The Orioles will have a week to trade Hernandez or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. In the event that he goes through waivers unclaimed, the Orioles could assign Hernandez outright to their Triple-A affiliate, thereby keeping him in the organization without the need to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him.

Marlins Outright Daniel Castano

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Left-hander Daniel Castano went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Jacksonville, the team announced Thursday. Castano, who was designated for assignment to open a roster spot for Johnny Cueto, will be in spring training as a non-roster invitee.

Acquired alongside Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen and Magneuris Sierra in the lopsided trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis, the now-28-year-old Castano has appeared with the Marlins in each of the past three seasons, pitching to a combined 3.89 ERA over 85 2/3 innings of big league work. However, that ERA has been accompanied by a 12% strikeout rate that ranks as the lowest in MLB dating back to his debut (min. 80 innings pitched).

Castano has strong command, evidenced by a 7.5% walk rate, and he’s avoided hard contact nicely, yielding just an 87.6 mph average exit velocity, a 7% barrel rate and a 35.9% hard-hit rate, per Statcast. Paired with a solid 44.7% ground-ball rate, he’s managed to find some success even in spite of his lack of punchouts — although fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.86) and SIERA (5.28) feel he’s had his share of good fortune to arrive at that much stronger earned run average.

The addition of Cueto bolstered the Marlins’ rotation depth, although their subsequent trade of Pablo Lopez to the Twins thinned it back out. As such, the Marlins are surely happy to keep Castano in the organization. If he doesn’t earn a spot on the big league roster this spring, he’ll head to Jacksonville and give the club some experienced depth to call on in the event of an injury. While in Triple-A, he can continue to hone the new cutter that he debuted in 2022 — a pitch that emerged as his primary offering this past season. Castano found good success with the pitch in the minors (26.4% strikeout rate), but those new missed bats didn’t carry over to the MLB level for him this past season (12.8% strikeout rate).

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