Marlins Release Delino DeShields
The Marlins announced that outfielder Delino DeShields has been released from his minor league contract. DeShields didn’t show much in limited Grapefruit League action, getting just one hit in eight plate appearances over four games.
DeShields’ strong center field glove and basestealing ability earned him a regular spot in the Rangers’ lineup in 2017-19, even if his bat was rarely dangerous. Cleveland acquired DeShields as part of the Corey Kluber trade in the 2019-20 offseason, but he was then non-tendered the next, and bounced around to three different teams during the 2021 campaign. The outfielder’s only MLB action last year came in a Reds uniform, as he hit .255/.375/.426 in 58 PA for Cincinnati.
In the wake of this release, DeShields will now try to catch on with another team in need of outfield depth. The Marlins seemed to be such a club, as DeShields’ center field ability made him a good backup for a starting outfield that will feature Jesus Sanchez and Avisail Garcia sharing time in center. However, with DeShields now gone, it seems as though the Fish will be going with another minor league signing in Roman Quinn as their top outfield bench option.
Diamondbacks’ Josh Rojas Suffers Grade 2 Oblique Strain
The Diamondbacks will be without utilityman Josh Rojas for “weeks, not days,” manager Torey Lovullo told The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters, as Rojas has suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain. It’s a rough setback for both Rojas and the team, as Rojas was projected to serve as the Diamondbacks’ starting third baseman.
One of four prospects acquired from the Astros in the 2019 Zack Greinke trade, Rojas was perhaps the least-heralded member of that quartet at the time of the deal, but has thus far had the biggest impact for the D’Backs at the big league level. The 27-year-old hit .264/.341/.411 with 11 home runs over 550 PA with Arizona last season, good for a 102 wRC+ and a 106 OPS+. Between this slightly above-average offense and Rojas’ ability to play all over the diamond, he was one of the few bright spots of an otherwise dismal season for the Snakes.
Rojas spent much of his time last season in right field and at both middle infield spots, also making 12 starts as a left fielder and seven starts at third base. Though it is probably safe to assume that Rojas will still get plenty of utility time in 2022, he had been slated for regular third base duty, as Arizona is lacking in depth at the hot corner.
Unfortunately, the D’Backs already now find themselves without their intended left side of the infield, between Rojas’ injury and Nick Ahmed‘s ongoing shoulder problems. Ahmed is expected to start the season on the injured list, and while it seems like Rojas will have the longer absence of the two, the lingering nature of Ahmed’s sore shoulder has to be a concern.
Piecoro noted that Drew Ellis seems to be back in the Diamondbacks’ big league camp after previously being optioned to Triple-A, so Ellis looks to be in the mix for third base duty while Rojas is out. Ellis joins Sergio Alcantara and non-roster invites Wilmer Difo and Matt Davidson as candidates to fill in for Rojas. Josh VanMeter saw a good chunk of third base time for the D’Backs last season, but VanMeter was just traded to the Pirates on Thursday.
White Sox Trade Zack Collins To Blue Jays For Reese McGuire
The White Sox and Blue Jays have agreed to a swap of catchers, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link). Zack Collins is headed to Toronto, while Reese McGuire has been dealt to the Sox.
Rumors have swirled for months that the Jays were looking to move some of their catching depth, though today’s move still gives Toronto a bit more roster flexibility behind the plate while still retaining that depth. Collins has a minor league option remaining while McGuire is out of options, so the Blue Jays can now more easily stash Collins at Triple-A.
From Chicago’s perspective, the Sox now have a more established big leaguer who can work as the backup behind Yasmani Grandal. Since Grandal will get some time at the DH spot, McGuire and Seby Zavala (who is also out of options) can each get some action behind the plate, and the expanded 28-man rosters for April will allow the White Sox the luxury of carrying three catchers.
The Pirates selected McGuire with the 14th overall pick of the 2013 draft, and he was a regular on top-100 prospect lists during his time in Pittsburgh’s farm system. However, despite some good numbers in limited action in 2018-19, McGuire’s potential has yet to really manifest itself at the big league level. The 27-year-old has hit .248/.297/.390 with nine homers over an even 400 plate appearances with the Blue Jays, with McGuire often finding himself behind Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, and Luke Maile on the catching depth chart.
Collins and McGuire share rather similar resumes — both are left-handed hitting catchers, they were born less than a month apart in 1995, and both are former first-round picks. The White Sox selected Collins 10th overall in 2016, and like McGuire, Collins has also yet to offer much production in the majors. Collins has a .195/.315/.330 slash line and seven home runs in 351 career PA, and he has struck out in 113 of those plate appearances.
Defense has been a question mark for Collins dating back to his college days at the University Of Miami, whereas McGuire is regarded as a decent defender. (Statcast gave McGuire a solid +4 in framing runs during the 2021 season.) This could be seen as something of a hitting-for-defense swap, if the Jays think they’ve seen something in Collins that can allow him to unlock his power potential.
With Collins able to be optioned, Jansen and Kirk now projects as Toronto’s regular catching tandem, and Kirk is also expected to get some DH time. It isn’t out of the question that the Jays might still deal from this catching depth, as star prospect Gabriel Moreno is starting the season at Triple-A and could be making his Major League debut before 2022 is out.
Trevor Rosenthal Drawing Interest
Trevor Rosenthal is drawing a lot of interest, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. After serving as one of the best relievers in baseball for many years, Rosenthal suffered a major setback when he required Tommy John surgery in 2017. That wiped out the remainder of that season and also prevented him from pitching at all in 2018. When he finally made it back to the hill in 2019, he didn’t seem to resemble his former self, registering a 13.50 ERA in 15 1/3 innings that year, a showing which included an ugly 30.6% walk rate.
While many people considered him cooked, he had a tremendous return to form in 2020. After signing a minor league deal with the Royals, he eventually had his contract selected and threw 13 2/3 innings with a 3.29 ERA and excellent 37.5% strikeout rate, though the walks were still present at a rate of 12.5%. After being traded to the Padres, he pitched another 10 innings without allowing a single earned run. His strikeout rate shot up to an incredible 48.6% and his walk rate dropped down to 2.9%.
In February of last year, the Athletics quite surprisingly outbid the field and gave Rosenthal a one-year, $11MM deal, a huge sum for a typically low-spending club. Unfortunately, the gamble backfired in a big way, as shoulder inflammation sent him to the IL in April, leading to surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. Though he was hoping for a midseason return, hip surgery in July wiped out any chance of that. In the end, he wasn’t able to make a regular season appearance at all last year.
Despite that litany of injuries, it’s not surprising that Rosenthal is garnering plenty of interest, as he’s already shown himself capable of returning from the injury wilderness. His final line on the 2020 season between the Royals and Padres was 23 2/3 innings with a 1.90 ERA with a 41.8% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate. While a pessimist could say that he has only had a couple of good months over the past four seasons, there’s no denying that he was elite the last time he was healthy. After missing another full season due to injuries, he surely won’t be able to land a significant commitment in either years or dollars, meaning there should be plenty of teams interested in taking a low-cost flier that he can pull off a repeat of 2020.
Mariners Avoid Arbitration With Mitch Haniger
The Mariners have avoided going to an arbitration hearing with outfielder Mitch Haniger, per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com relays that Haniger will earn a salary of $7.75MM this year, after he had filed at $8MM with the team filing at $6.71MM. (Twitter links)
This will be a significant raise for Haniger, effectively doubling his career earnings. After making around the league minimum for his first few seasons, like most players, he reached arbitration for the first time in 2020 and earned a salary of $3.01MM. Unfortunately, he missed all of that campaign due to the ruptured testicle he suffered in July of 2019.
Due to missing that whole season, he re-upped with the Mariners for the same salary in 2021 and had a tremendous bounceback season. In 157 games, he hit 39 home runs and posted an overall line of .253/.318/.485, good enough for a wRC+ of 120. Based on that excellent campaign, he will now bump his salary up to $7.75MM in his final arbitration year before reaching free agency this coming winter.
The Mariners seem well positioned to deal with an absence of Haniger next year, given the number of young outfield options on the roster. Jarred Kelenic debuted last year and seems ticketed for a lengthy showing this year. Jesse Winker was just acquired from the Reds and will still be around for 2023. 2020 Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis is still recovering from a torn meniscus but doesn’t seem too far away now. Then there’s Julio Rodriguez, widely considered one of the best prospects in baseball. He’s currently making a push to land a spot on the team’s Opening Day roster. Even if he isn’t with the club on day one, there seems to be little doubt that he’ll join the club at some point this year.
If Haniger does hit the open market after this season, he should be in high demand based on his excellent numbers at the plate. However, as something of a late bloomer, he’s scheduled to reach free agency at a relatively older age, as he’ll be turning 32 in December of this year. That could limit the length of the deals he is offered, though that could also increase the number of interested teams, as many clubs prefer to eschew long-term commitments these days.
Mets Trade Miguel Castro To Yankees For Joely Rodriguez
The Mets have traded Miguel Castro to the Yankees for Joely Rodriguez, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. As noted by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, Rodriguez was signed as a free agent this offseason and thus ineligible to be traded prior to June 15th without his consent. He and his agent gave that consent in exchange for a $500K assignment bonus, which will be paid by the Mets as part of this deal. (Twitter links) Rodriguez is represented by Daniel Szew of LA Sports Management.
For the Mets, they have had an extremely busy offseason, upgrading their lineup with the likes of Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. They also added Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to their rotation and Adam Ottavino to their bullpen. However, the one area of the roster they hadn’t really addressed was left-handed relief. With Aaron Loup joining the Angels, the only southpaws on the roster were candidates for the starting rotation. The club gave minor league deals to veterans like Chasen Shreve and Alex Claudio, but they clearly view Rodriguez as a meaningful upgrade, based on the fact that they were willing to give up Castro to get him.
After a couple of seasons with the Phillies in 2016 and 2017, Rodriguez headed overseas for a stint with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball. After two solid seasons in Japan, Rodriguez was able to come back to North American via a two-year deal from the Rangers. In the shortened 2020 season, he put up an ERA of 2.13 over 12 2/3 innings. Things seemed to be going in the wrong direction last year, as his ERA shot up to 5.93 in July. However, the Yankees seemed to believe that was a small sample blip, as they acquired him as part of the Joey Gallo trade. He fared much better after the swap, with a 2.84 ERA in 19 innings in pinstripes. At the end of the season, the club declined their $3MM option in favor of a $500K buyout, but then quickly re-signed him to a $2MM salary, saving themselves $500K. With this trade and the assignment bonus, Rodriguez has made back that difference.
The Yanks evidently felt they had enough lefties to part with Rodriguez, given the presence Wandy Peralta and Lucas Luetge, along with closer Aroldis Chapman. For their part, they are receiving Miguel Castro, a right-handed reliever. Despite being just 27 years old, he has appeared in part of seven MLB seasons thus far in his career, spending time with the Blue Jays, Rockies, Orioles and Mets. Those first couple of seasons were a bit shaky, which is not surprising given that Castro was just 20 and 21 years old during that time. However, over the past five seasons, he’s established himself as a quality big league reliever. Since the start of the 2017 season, he’s thrown 321 innings with an ERA of 3.93. His strikeout rate was just 14.6% over 2017-2018, but has jumped up to 25.2% over the past three campaigns. Walks have been a concern, with his annual rate coming in between 10 and 15% in each of the past five seasons. He and the Mets agreed to a $2.62MM salary for this season, his final arbitration year before hitting free agency at the end of this year. He will slot into a bullpen that will be headlined by Chapman, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green and Clay Holmes.
Braves Select Darren O’Day, Place Luke Jackson On 60-Day IL
The Braves have announced that they have selected the contract of reliever Darren O’Day, who they had signed to a minor league deal in November. To make room on the 40-man roster, fellow reliever Luke Jackson was placed on the 60-day IL. Additionally, Kyle Muller was optioned to Triple-A.
O’Day, 39, is a veteran side-arming righty who made his MLB debut with the Angels back in 2008. After spending some time with the Mets and Rangers, he landed with the Orioles and stayed for his longest stretch with any one club, spending seven seasons in Baltimore from 2012 to 2018. He then spent two seasons with Atlanta before donning Yankee pinstripes last year, and will now rejoin the Braves this year.
Over his 587 1/3 career innings, he holds an ERA of 2.53, strikeout rate of 25.8% and walk rate of 6.8%, all excellent numbers. However, he was limited to just 10 2/3 innings last year due to various injuries. He had a player option that could have kept him in the Bronx this year with a $1.4MM salary, but he chose the $700K buyout instead. His deal with the Braves will guarantee him $1MM, meaning that he earned himself an extra $300K by opting for the buyout.
As for Jackson, his IL placement isn’t terribly surprising after yesterday’s news that he may require Tommy John surgery. Although that surgery is not yet guaranteed, this move assures that he will be out of action for at least a couple of months. The 30-year-old had a tremendous breakout season last year, throwing 63 2/3 innings of 1.98 ERA ball, helping the club win the NL West and eventually hoist the World Series trophy. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to build on that campaign due to this injury. The club has bolstered their bullpen this offseason with the additions of Collin McHugh and Kenley Jansen. With Jackson landing on the shelf, O’Day will step in as yet another veteran presence.
Matt Brash Makes Mariners’ Rotation
Pitching prospect Matt Brash has earned a spot in the Mariners’ rotation to begin the season, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. The righty had his contract selected by the club in late September of last year but never got into a game, meaning it will be his MLB debut when he finally takes the hill in the coming days.
It’s been a remarkable rise for the Kingston, Ontario native over the past few years. Selected by the Padres in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, he pitched a few innings of rookie ball and A-ball that season. In 2020, of course, the minor league seasons were canceled by the pandemic, leaving Brash unable to pitch in any official games. At that year’s trade deadline, he was the player to be named later in a minor trade that saw reliever Taylor Williams go to San Diego. As noted by Kramer, Brash wasn’t considered a top 30 prospect of the Padres before the trade nor of the Mariners after.
In 2021, Brash proved that the Mariners had unearthed a hidden gem, as he threw 97 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A, putting up an ERA of 2.31 between those two levels. Although his 11.9% walk rate was a bit high, his 35.1% strikeout rate was elite. Based on that dominant performance, the club selected him to their big league roster September 28th, hoping that he could help cover some innings as they were making a push for a wild card spot, despite Brash never pitching at the Triple-A level. He didn’t end up taking the mound in those final few games, however.
Based off his excellent work last year, Brash is now considered one the 98th prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline, comes in at #84 at ESPN and #45 at Baseball America. This spring, Brash has continued to build his reputation, throwing 9 1/3 innings with 12 strikeouts, 2 walks and just a single earned run. The new CBA features a provision called the Prospect Promotion Incentive whereby teams can earn an extra pick in the draft if a rookie-eligible player with 60 days or fewer of major league service who is included on a preseason top 100 prospect list by two or more of Baseball America, ESPN.com or MLB.com is promoted and finishes high in award voting in any year before he is eligible for arbitration. Since Brash cracked all three of those lists and has just six days of MLB service time, he could earn the M’s an extra draft pick for a Rookie of the Year win or a top three finish in MVP or Cy Young voting in his pre-arbitration seasons. If the international draft is implemented, he could earn the club a selection if second or third in Rookie of the Year, or fourth or fifth in Cy Young. A team can gain at most one PPI pick in the amateur draft and three total PPI picks for any individual prospect, two international and one amateur, with a max of one such pick per year. (Further details about the incentive are laid out by Evan Drellich of The Athletic.)
After an 89-win season in 2018, Seattle surprisingly decided to tear down their roster and enter a rebuild. After just a pair of losing seasons, they took a huge leap forward last year, winning 90 games and narrowly missing the postseason. Before the lockout, they added the reigning AL Cy Young Robbie Ray to the rotation, joining holdovers Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. The 23-year-old Brash will round out that group to start the season. As noted by Kramer, Brash will be the first native of Kingston, Ontario to pitch in the big leagues.
Despite all that praise for Brash, he’s actually the second-best pitching prospect in the system, with George Kirby ahead of him on most lists. However, Kirby will head back down to the minors, based on the fact that he only logged 67 2/3 innings last year. “He didn’t have a huge workload last year,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s really important that he continues to progress. George is going to pitch for us this year, there’s no question about it. And I think he’s going to be a huge part of how our season plays out.” Should Kirby continue to develop, the Mariners will have an excellent depth option ready to go in the event of a need in the big league rotation.
Lance Lynn Leaves Game With Right Knee Discomfort
White Sox starter Lance Lynn left his final Spring Training start with what the team announced as right knee discomfort. During the fourth inning, Lynn looked to be in obvious pain after throwing a pitch, gingerly moving with a slight limp as he walked back to the dugout.
More will be known about Lynn’s status after he receives treatment and testing, though the issue could very well be related to the right knee injury that sidelined Lynn late last season. Lynn only spent the 10-day minimum on the injured list, but White Sox GM Rick Hahn said in November that Lynn underwent 3-4 weeks of rehab on his right knee once the season was over.
At first glance, it certainly looks as though Lynn’s readiness for the Opening Day roster could be in jeopardy. Losing Lynn for any amount of time would be a notable blow to Chicago’s rotation, particularly since the pitching staff as a whole already lost Garrett Crochet (to Tommy John surgery) and Craig Kimbrel (in a trade to the Dodgers) within the last 48 hours.
Swingmen Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez were involved in the bullpen picture, though at least one of the two hurlers will likely step into the rotation if Lynn’s injury requires an IL trip. Velasquez was signed to a one-year, $3MM deal in March to provide some added pitching depth, though surely the White Sox weren’t planning on having to utilize this depth quite so soon.
Lynn has finished in the top six of AL Cy Young voting in each of the past three seasons, and his third-place finish in 2021 was his highest placement yet. The right-hander’s first year in Chicago saw him post a 2.69 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate, and 7.0% walk rate over 157 innings. 2021 was the last season of the three-year, $30MM deal Lynn signed with the Rangers during the 2018-19 offseason, but the White Sox moved to sign Lynn to a contract extension last July. Lynn is now set to receive $38MM in guaranteed money in 2022-23, and the Sox hold an $18MM club option his services for 2024.
Derek Holland, Travis Shaw Won’t Opt Out Of Red Sox Contracts
The Red Sox assigned left-hander Derek Holland to minor league camp earlier today, but the veteran won’t be exercising the opt-out in his minor league contract with the team, NESN’s Will Middlebrooks (Twitter link) was the first to report. A decision hasn’t yet been made about Travis Shaw, but Shaw told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier (Twitter link) that he won’t be exercising the opt-out in his own minors deal since the infielder has been informed that he is “trending” towards breaking camp.
Holland further explained his decision on his own Twitter feed, stating that he “took the [Triple-A] assignment because I’ve only been able to showcase two innings” of actual Grapefruit League action. “It’s a great organization to be apart of so I want to stay and see where this road takes me. Going to be a lot of fun with these guys.“
This is the third time in as many offseasons that Holland has signed a minor league deal, and his previous two contracts resulted in some significant big league action. The southpaw tossed 40 2/3 innings with the Pirates in 2020 and then 49 2/3 frames with the Tigers last year, with a 5.07 ERA to show for his time in Detroit. While Holland’s Statcast numbers weren’t impressive in 2021, his 4.00 SIERA was well below his actual ERA, likely since Holland was snakebit by a .354 BABIP.
Since the lockout prevented from Holland from signing anywhere until March 18, it makes that sense that he would take a bit more time to fully ramp up rather than immediately jump back into the open market. MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports that Holland has another opt-out on May 1 if he hasn’t already been added to the active Red Sox roster.
While nothing is official yet, it makes sense that the Red Sox would retain Shaw as a left-handed hitting complement to prospective starting first baseman Bobby Dalbec. While Dalbec had a terrific finish to the 2021 season, the young slugger has been pretty inconsistent over his 545 career plate appearances, so Shaw can provide some experienced backup.
Shaw is a familiar face in Boston, breaking into the majors with the team in 2015-16 and then returning last season after being claimed off waivers by the Brewers in August. Over a small sample size of 48 PA, Shaw hit well, delivering three home runs and a .238/.319/.524 slash line in his Red Sox return. He also had a clutch pinch-hit single in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the ALDS, advancing the eventual winning run to third base.