Outrights: Yamamoto, Selman
A pair of players designated for assignment as teams set their Opening Day rosters recently passed through waivers unclaimed.
- The Mets have outrighted Jordan Yamamoto to Triple-A Syracuse, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The right-hander doesn’t have the requisite service time to refuse the assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization and try to pitch his way back onto the roster. New York acquired Yamamoto, formerly a decently-regarded pitching prospect, in a minor deal with the division-rival Marlins in February 2021. Unfortunately, he spent the bulk of his first season in Queens on the injured list. Yamamoto has pitched to a 6.05 ERA in 96 2/3 MLB innings, but he’s performed well up through Double-A and doesn’t have much experience at the minors’ top level.
- The Athletics have outrighted southpaw Sam Selman to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Like Yamamoto, he’ll have to stick in the organization by virtue of never having previously been outrighted and not having reached three years of MLB service. The 31-year-old reliever has pitched 54 2/3 innings over 59 MLB appearances with the Giants and Angels the past three seasons. He owns a 4.77 ERA and hasn’t posted particularly strong peripherals, but Selman has handled left-handed batters well throughout his big league tenure. The A’s already have Adam Kolarek, Sam Moll, A.J. Puk and Kirby Snead as lefty bullpen options on the 40-man roster, but Selman will try to pitch his way back into that mix during his time with the Aviators.
Athletics Claim Gabe Klobosits, Designate Luis Barrera For Assignment
The A’s announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Gabe Klobosits off waivers from the Nationals and, in a corresponding move, designated outfielder Luis Barrera for assignment. Oakland’s 40-man roster remains at capacity.
Klobosits, a towering 6’8″ right-hander, made his big league debut with the Nationals last season and allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits and five walks with five strikeouts through 11 1/3 innings of relief. He averaged 94.8 mph on his heater during that time and induced chases on pitches outside the strike zone at a gaudy 35.6% clip, both of which surely hold some appeal to the A’s. The former 36th-round pick also posted a brilliant 1.64 ERA with a sizable 28.9% strikeout rate against a respectable 8.8% walk rate in a combined 38 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year.
It’s an intriguing profile in the first place, and the fact that Klobosits still has a pair of minor league option year remaining makes it all the more appealing. The Athletics’ bullpen picture is pretty much wide open after the team let several veterans walk and did nothing to reinforce the group via free agency. Klobosits should have ample opportunity to make an impression on the A’s this year.
As for the also-26-year-old Barrera, he’s long rated as one of the better prospects in the Oakland system but has seen his stock dip in recent years. The left-handed-hitting, left-handed-throwing Barrera put the ball in play and drew plenty of walks in Triple-A last year, but he showed minimal power en route to a .276/.348/.393 batting line that checked in at 12% worse than league-average by measure of wRC+. Scouting reports on Barrera peg him as a capable defender at any of the three outfield spots with well above-average speed. He ranked 24th among A’s prospects at Baseball America and 32nd at FanGraphs.
Despite last year’s 10.1% walk rate in Triple-A, however, virtually every report on Barrera cites a need to be more selective at the plate. BA notes that he swung at 48% of the pitches he saw in 2021, which makes that walk rate both remarkable and, quite possibly, anomalous in nature. Still, Barrera has a solid track record up through Double-A, and even if his ceiling is ultimately that of a fourth outfielder, he’s a largely MLB-ready one. Viewed through that lens, it’s rather surprising to see the A’s jettison Barrera in this manner, but the organization must feel fairly confident in its outfield depth beyond him. The A’s will have a week to trade Barrera or try to pass him through outright waivers.
Lerner Family To “Explore” Possibility Of Selling Nationals
In what could be a franchise-altering moment, Nationals owner Mark Lerner tells Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post that the team has enlisted New York-based investment bank Allen & Company to explore the possibility of selling the franchise or adding new investors/partners to the current ownership group. Lerner emphasized that the process is “exploratory” in nature and added that there’s no “set timetable or expectation of a specific outcome.”
The Lerner family purchased the Nationals, formerly the Expos, from Major League Baseball for a sum of $450MM back in 2006 after the former Montreal franchise was folded and moved to Washington, D.C. Forbes recently estimated that the franchise is worth $2 billion — a four percent increase from last year and the 12th-most of any MLB franchise. Sportico placed that same $2 billion estimate on the franchise’s value back in March 2021. Longtime control person Ted Lerner, who’s now 96 years of age, ceded control of the franchise to his son, Mark, back in 2018. At the time, as Svrluga points out, the younger Lerner was adamant that the family would never consider selling the team. Clearly, that mentality has shifted.
The Nationals’ open willingness to explore a sale of the club comes at a time when the on-field product has been largely torn down following last summer’s fire sale, which saw Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Daniel Hudson, Yan Gomes, Josh Harrison, Brad Hand and Jon Lester all traded for younger, more controllable players (and, in some cases, salary relief). Of that bunch, Turner was the only one who’d been controlled beyond the 2021 season. He’s now earning $21MM with the Dodgers. The rest of that group signed elsewhere in free agency (or, in Lester’s case, retired).
The Nats did reinvest some of those resources into the 2022 team, but their overall payroll is nearly $40MM lower than its 2021 level. Most notably, Nelson Cruz joined the club on a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $15MM. Cesar Hernandez ($4MM), Anibal Sanchez ($2MM), Steve Cishek ($1.75MM), Ehire Adrianza ($1.5MM), Sean Doolittle ($1.5MM) and Alcides Escobar ($1MM) all signed in the offseason as well, as did non-roster veterans Dee Strange-Gordon and Maikel Franco, who both made the club. None of those players are signed beyond 2022, though Cruz’s deal contains a mutual option for the 2023 season. That’s largely an accounting measure, as mutual options are very rarely exercised by both parties.
When looking at the potential sale of the franchise, there are various complicated factors to consider — even beyond the standard complexities associated with any multi-billion dollar sale of a team. Firstly, the Nationals have been mired in ongoing litigation with the Orioles regarding their television rights fees for the better part of a decade. The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) broadcasts Nationals games but is owned and operated by the Angelos family — who also own the Baltimore Orioles. At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
The team’s long-term payroll outlook, of course, also impacts the sale price. That’s one reason that last summer’s broad-reaching sell-off was of some note, but it also shines a particular light on the Nationals’ thus-far unsuccessful efforts to extend superstar Juan Soto, who reportedly rejected a 13-year, $350MM extension this winter.
Of more concern to potential buyers than money that perhaps ought to be earmarked for extending a franchise cornerstone is the money that’s still owed to a host of players who no longer even play for the Nationals. The Lerner family has habitually included deferred money in deals for their free-agent signings as a means of tamping down present-day value. That overwhelming slate of deferrals, however, is beginning to mount.
For instance, the Nationals owe Max Scherzer $15MM in deferred salary each season from 2022-28 — even though he’s now pitching for the division-rival Mets. They’re paying Stephen Strasburg a third $10MM installment in deferred salary from his prior contract this year, before even considering the salary he’ll earn under the new $245MM deal he signed on the heels of his World Series heroics. That new deal for Strasburg calls for him to receive three equal payments of $26,666,667 each July from 2027-29 — the contract itself ends in 2026 — plus a final installment of $3,999,974 on Dec. 31, 2029 (hat tip to Cot’s Contracts for the specific figures).
Those are far from the only deferrals to consider. Patrick Corbin‘s $140MM contract contains $10MM in deferrals to be paid out from 2024 through 2026. The Nationals will pay Brad Hand a combined $6.5MM from 2022-24 as part of the one-year, $10.5MM deal he signed to pitch the 2021 season. They are, somewhat incredibly, still even on the hook for $2MM annually to Rafael Soriano through 2025. Soriano retired after the 2015 season.
The enormous slate of deferrals and messy television rights dispute notwithstanding, the Nationals’ franchise value has undeniably skyrocketed from the point at which the Lerner family purchased the team. And given the relative rarity with which Major League franchises are put up for sale, there ought to be considerable interest, whether from an entirely new ownership group or from some wealthy investors looking to get a foot in the door as minority stakeholders with an eye toward growing that share over the years.
Read The Transcript Of Today’s Fantasy Baseball Chat With Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson has been writing about fantasy baseball for more than a decade and has considerable experience in Roto, H2H, dynasty, DFS, and experimental formats. As an expert in the field, Brad participates in the Tout Wars Draft and Hold format and was crowned the league’s winner in 2020. Brad’s writing experience includes RotoGraphs, NBC SportsEDGE, and right here at MLB Trade Rumors. He’s also presented at the First Pitch Arizona fantasy baseball conference.
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Orioles Select Spenser Watkins
The Orioles have selected the contract of right-hander Spenser Watkins, manager Brandon Hyde announced to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun). Baltimore also recalled right-hander Alexander Wells from Triple-A Norfolk and placed righty Dean Kremer on the 10-day injured list due to an oblique strain. Outfielder DJ Stewart was optioned to Norfolk last night, so Watkins and Wells will fill the vacancies created by that move and by Kremer’s placement on the IL. Baltimore’s 40-man roster had previously been at 39 players, but it’s now full following Watkins’ selection.
This will be the second straight season that the 29-year-old Watkins has logged big league time in Baltimore. The longtime Tigers farmhand made his big league debut in Baltimore last year after signing a minor league deal in the 2020-21 offseason. Watkins had solid numbers in eight Triple-A games (six starts), pitching to a 3.53 ERA with a 20.4% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate in that time.
The big leagues were another story, however. Opponents jumped on him for 49 runs in just 54 2/3 innings — an 8.07 ERA. Watkins started off his big league career with just three runs through his first 16 1/3 innings, and he closed out the 2021 season with a more solid stretch of three runs allowed in his final 7 2/3 frames. The middle stretch of games proved brutal, however, as he served up 43 runs in 31 innings over seven starts and one relief appearance. Watkins has a 3.86 ERA in 625 1/3 innings at the minor league level, and he’ll now aim to carry some of that success over in his second go-around in the Majors.
As for the 25-year-old Wells, he signed with the O’s as an international free agent out of Australia back in 2015. He, too, made his MLB debut in Baltimore last season and experienced a rough set of results, serving up 32 runs in 42 2/3 innings (6.75 ERA). As with Watkins, Wells has considerably better numbers in the minors, where he’s pitched to a 2.87 ERA in 529 2/3 innings. That includes a 3.29 ERA in 54 2/3 Triple-A frames last year. Wells has punched out just 19.6% of his minor league opponents in his career, but he also boasts an outstanding 3.9% walk rate.
Mariners Sign Nick Ramirez To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have signed lefty Nick Ramirez to a minor league contract, as first reported by Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto (Twitter link). Ramirez wasn’t formally signed until yesterday morning, but he’s already reported to the Rainiers and tossed a scoreless inning out of their bullpen last night.
The 32-year-old Ramirez spent the 2021 season in the Padres organization and logged 20 1/3 innings out of their bullpen — his third straight season with big league experience. He was hit hard in that time, yielding 15 runs (13 earnd) on 23 hits and seven walks with 14 strikeouts. The resulting 5.75 ERA wasn’t much to look at, and Ramirez cleared waivers last September before opting for minor league free agency following the season.
Though he hasn’t had strong results in either 2020 or 2021, Ramirez did toss 79 2/3 innings of 4.07 ERA ball with the 2019 Tigers. He carries a 4.55 ERA in 110 2/3 Major League innings, as well as a 20.4% strikeout rate, a 9.4% walk rate and a solid 46.1% ground-ball rate. Lefties, in particular, have had a hard time with Ramirez, as evidenced by a .234/.314/.333 batting line in 159 plate appearances. Right-handed hitters haven’t had nearly as much trouble, hitting him at a .255/.323/.466 clip in 326 tries.
While Ramirez was a fourth-round pick of the Brewers back in 2011, this is still only his sixth season as a pitcher. He spent the first five-plus seasons of his professional career as a first baseman before Milwaukee moved him to the mound in 2017. Ramirez carries a 2.96 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A, where he’s posted a combined 20.7% strikeout rate and an 8.8% walk rate.
Anthony Misiewicz and Justus Sheffield are the only two lefties currently in Seattle’s big league bullpen, though the team also has on the 40-man roster Nick Margevicius but down in Tacoma. Other recognizable southpaws on the Rainiers’ roster (but not on the Mariners’ 40-man) include Tommy Milone, Andrew Albers, Roenis Elias and Kyle Bird. Ramirez will give them some additional depth in that regard, and given that he’s pitched in the Majors each season from 2019-21, a strong showing performance could put him on the map for a fourth big league look.
Astros Outright Tyler Ivey
Astros righty Tyler Ivey went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Sugar Land, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Houston designated Ivey for assignment last week when selecting the contract of reliever Ronel Blanco — their final move before setting their Opening Day roster.
That Ivey, 25, went unclaimed is at least a moderate surprise, given his relative youth, his broader track record of minor league success and the fact that he has multiple minor league option years remaining. A team wasn’t going to claim Ivey and plug him directly into the rotation, but he’d have made a sensible enough depth option for another organization that is thin on big league-ready arms.
Instead, the Astros will be able to retain Ivey in hopes that he can recapture the form he showed in 2018 (112 innings of 2.97 ERA ball between two Class-A levels) and 2019 (1.57 ERA in 46 Double-A frames).
Ivey was limited to just 13 minor league innings and another 4 2/3 innings in the big leagues last season, thanks to a nerve issue in his pitching elbow that he detailed last June. That injury and the subsequent treatment — he underwent a non-surgical treatment for thoracic outlet syndrome, Rome reported last August — could well have played a role in Ivey passing through waivers. He was healthy enough to take the mound this spring, although he only logged one inning in one official game for the Astros.
Even with Lance McCullers Jr. on the injured list, Houston’s rotation is set for the foreseeable future. Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Jake Odorizzi give the Astros a strong quintet upon which to lean while McCullers mends, and talented righty Cristian Javier gives them a sixth MLB-caliber option, though he’s currently in the bullpen. Triple-A righties Brandon Bielak and Peter Solomon are both on the 40-man roster and have MLB experience as well, and former top prospect Forrest Whitley is making his way back from a notable arm injury of his own (Tommy John surgery).
If Ivey is back to full strength at some point this year, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him work his way back into MLB consideration. In 215 1/3 career minor league innings, the 2017 third-rounder has a 3.13 ERA with a 29.5% strikeout rate and an 8.1% walk rate.
Athletics Interested In Andrew Vaughn
The White Sox were among the many teams showing interest in the Athletics’ available starters, with Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas on Chicago’s target list. Manaea has since been dealt to the Padres, with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reporting that the White Sox “nearly” landed Manaea instead, and are still looking at Montas. However, the A’s want young slugger Andrew Vaughn back in return, and the Sox are balking at the demand.
It isn’t surprising that the A’s would make such a big ask, considering that Montas is under team control through the 2023 season. Likewise, it is natural that the White Sox wouldn’t be eager to part with a former star prospect who was already in the majors less than two years after being picked third overall in the 2019 draft.
Oakland could also be looking to leverage Chicago’s sudden lack of pitching depth, as Lance Lynn (knee surgery) will be on the injured list until late May and Lucas Giolito (abdominal tightness) is also on the verge of being placed on the IL for what looks like could be the majority of April. The White Sox did recently sign Johnny Cueto, but the veteran will need some ramp-up time after missing all of Spring Training, and might not be available for a few weeks anyway.
Dylan Cease, Dallas Keuchel, Michael Kopech, and Vince Velasquez are now the top four in the White Sox rotation, with Reynaldo Lopez, Jimmy Lambert, or Tanner Banks candidates to fill in for Giolito. Adding a pitcher of Montas’ caliber would be a major help both in the immediate future and beyond, as this is the last guaranteed season of Keuchel’s contract, and it seems unlikely that the Sox will exercise their $20MM club option on his services for 2023.
Then again, Vaughn is also a possible long-term answer as an heir apparent to 35-year-old Jose Abreu, who is also in the final season of his contract. There does remain a solid chance that the Sox will sign Abreu to another extension, so Vaughn could play in a first base/DH timeshare with Abreu, or perhaps see more time as a corner outfielder, even if Vaughn isn’t ideally suited for outfield work.
Another complicating factor is that the White Sox could also use Vaughn’s bat right now, given that the injury bug has also extended to the position player side. Yoan Moncada is on the 10-day IL with an oblique strain and AJ Pollock left yesterday’s game with a sore hamstring, though Pollock doesn’t believe the injury is terribly serious.
Vaughn hit .235/.309/.396 with 15 homers over 469 plate appearances in his 2021 rookie season, resulting in a 93 OPS+/94 wRC+. These are certainly respectable numbers for a player’s first taste of the majors, especially since Vaughn still has so little overall pro experience. After being drafted, Vaughn played in 55 minor league games in 2019 but then didn’t see any official game action at all in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, instead doing his work at Chicago’s alternate training site. Vaughn spoke with The Athletic’s James Fegan about his rookie year and the adjustments he has made both at the plate and in the field, which includes even taking some grounders at third base as a possible fallback option in Moncada’s absence.
Between Vaughn’s prospect pedigree and his big league-readiness, he is the type of player the A’s have traditionally targeted on the trade market, particularly during their most recent selloff of notable veterans. The likes of Cristian Pache, Shea Langoliers, Adrian Martinez, Kevin Smith, and Adam Oller have all been acquired since the end of the lockout, with Pache, Smith, and Oller already on the active roster.
Do The Braves Need Another Starter?
Braves General Manager Alex Anthopolous struck out in his attempt to land a top-of-the-rotation arm during the offseason, he said recently on The Bill Shanks Show. Even without a fresh face at the top of the rotation, the Braves enter the season in pretty good hands with Max Fried and Charlie Morton leading the way.
The face of the Braves’ title defense season, however, may depend more on the next two arms in the rotation: Kyle Wright and Ian Anderson. If the young duo can fully establish themselves as mainstays in the rotation, the future in Atlanta is bright.
Anderson is further along than Wright at the moment, having made 24 starts in the 2021 season, finishing with a 3.58 ERA/4.12 FIP over 128 1/3 innings. He then made four starts in the postseason, all four of which the Braves won. In fact, over the past two postseasons, the Braves are 7-1 in games Anderson starts, while he owns a 1.26 ERA over 35 2/3 postseason innings. After 30 career regular-season starts, Anderson’s rotation spot is secure. The only question remaining relates to his ceiling.
Wright, meanwhile, made just two starts with the big league squad during the regular season, and then matched that total in the World Series alone, tossing 5 2/3 innings and serving up just one earned run. Wright should finally get his opportunity to stay in the rotation this year.
The final spot in the rotation is where the Braves were presumably looking to upgrade. Mike Soroka lurks somewhere in the organization, but he can hardly be counted on until proven healthy. For now, they will rely on a depth group that includes Huascar Ynoa, Tucker Davidson, Kyle Muller, Touki Toussaint, and Bryce Elder. That group carries more upside than most depth stables, but for a team with aspirations of back-to-back titles, upside can mask inefficiency.
The Braves have won the division four years running, and they’re the defending World Series champions. To suggest that they need anything is premature. But with the Mets and Phillies both nipping hard at their heels, nothing is guaranteed. It’s certainly interesting to note that Anthopolous explored frontline rotation additions this offseason. As the season progresses and new names become available on the trade market, the Braves may again look to engage the trade market.
Blake Snell Scratched From Start
8:50 PM: Snell is likely headed to the injured list, per Cassavell (via Twitter). Crismatt tossed three scoreless innings in Snell’s place today. The Padres play the next ten games without a day off, so they will certainly move some roster pieces around if Snell is going to be out for that time.
3:38 PM: San Diego Padres starter Blake Snell was a last-minute scratch from his first scheduled start of the season today. The issue is left adductor tightness, the same injury that troubled Snell at the end of last season, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell (via Twitter).
Nabil Crismatt took the ball to start the ballgame in Snell’s stead. The 27-year-old swingman should be fresh, as he has yet to appear in a game so far this season. Today marks the first start of his Major League career, though he was mostly a starter coming up through the Mets’ minor league system. Crismatt owns a 3.71 ERA in 51 career appearances out of the pen.
Crismatt would be a candidate to stay in the rotation for a turn or two if Snell ends up needing a stint on the injured list. Reiss Knehr would be a prospective call-up if the Padres decide to go that route. They just dealt away Chris Paddack, but of course, they wouldn’t have done so with the expectation of needing just five starters to get through the season. They no doubt have a hierarchy in place for just this sort of contingency.
Snell’s first season in San Diego didn’t exactly go as planned for either party, and this marks an inauspicious start to year two. The 2018 AL Cy Young winner put up a 4.20 ERA/3.82 FIP over 128 2/3 innings over 27 starts.