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Phillies Release T.J. Rivera

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Infielder T.J. Rivera was among the minor league players the Phillies released Friday, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. It’s not yet known which other players the Phillies cut.

Rivera signed a minors pact with the Phillies back in December, at which point he was coming off a respectable offensive run with the division-rival Mets. The 31-year-old was a .304/.335/,445 hitter with a meager 14.2 percent strikeout rate in 344 plate appearances from 2016-17, though health problems have taken a sledgehammer to his career since then.

Rivera underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2017, and his Mets tenure came to a close when they released him in March 2019. He has since played with the Nationals’ Double-A affiliate, in the Puerto Rican and Dominican Winter Leagues, and with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. If another major league team does take a chance on Rivera, he’ll surely have to work his way back via the minors, where he has performed well. Rivera is the owner of a .335/.375/.490 line in 663 trips to the plate in Triple-A ball.

Latest On Teams’ Plans For Minor League Pay

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3:14pm: The Astros will also pay their minor leaguers through August, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The Red Sox will do the same, Julian McWilliams and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe write. The Reds will pay theirs through Sept. 7, the end of the scheduled minor league season, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.

2:16pm: As teams throughout the league make sweeping releases at the minor league level, neither the Twins nor the Royals plan on cutting any players, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links). The Twins and Royals will also commit to paying all of their minor league player the current $400 weekly stipend through Aug. 31 — the would-be end of the minor league season — while providing full benefits. The Twins are also committing to front-office and baseball ops staff through at least the end of June, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com tweets.

To this point, no other clubs in the league have made such a commitment. The Marlins, Padres and Mariners all agreed to pay their minor leaguers through season’s end, although none of that bunch is known to be entirely avoiding minor league releases. Seattle, in fact, reportedly cut 50 minor league players this week already. The volume of players being released around the league is jarring — the D-backs cut a reported 64 players — although it should be noted that many of the releases would’ve come at the end of Spring Training under normal circumstances anyhow.

That doesn’t detract from the gesture made by the Twins or Royals, of course. It’s a stark contrast to an organization such as the Athletics, who informed minor league players earlier this week that they’ll no longer be paid after May 31. As MLB.com’s Jim Callis observes (on Twitter), the decision made by the Twins and Royals could quite likely prove beneficial in recruiting undrafted players who are selecting among teams while capped at a $20K signing bonus this summer.

Latest Minor League Releases

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Minor League Baseball has never faced greater uncertainty than it presently does, with contraction widely expected later this year and significant doubt as to whether a 2020 minor league campaign will even be able to take place. Over the past several days, we’ve seen wide swaths of minor league releases due to myriad reasons. It’s common for players to be released late in Spring Training, but those cuts didn’t happen this year. Between that, the likely absence of a minor league season and the typical wave of releases that precede the annual MLB draft, cuts have been abundant.

The Score’s Robert Murray tweets several clubs who’ve made undetermined numbers of releases: the Brewers, Reds, Nationals, Rays, Cardinals and Blue Jays among them. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Diamondbacks have released a whopping 64 players in recent days. In all likelihood, all 30 teams will make significant cuts. The Orioles, White Sox, Rockies and Mariners are already known to have done so.

Most of the players who’ve been cut loose have yet to be named — and the majority of them won’t be especially recognizable to any but diehard fans of a particular organization. We’ll track some former big leaguers and other notable names in this post and update as more information comes to light…

  • The Mets cut 39 players loose this week, with first baseman Joey Terdoslavich and right-handers Nick Rumbelow and Rob Whalen among those let go, according to Roster Roundup. Newsday’s Tim Healey had previously reported an unspecified number of players were being cut loose. Each of Terdoslavich, Rumbelow and Whalen has big league experience. Terdoslavich, 31, was at one point a fairly well-regarded farmhand with the Braves, for whom he appeared in 2013-15. Rumbelow pitched with the Mariners in 2018-19 but hasn’t replicated the high-end performance he showed in Triple-A when working back from Tommy John surgery. Whalen, 26, had announced his retirement at one point but opted for a comeback this past winter. He logged 36 innings between the Braves and Mariners from 2016-18.
  • The Red Sox announced Friday the release of 22 minor league players. While none of the bunch has appeared in the Majors, there are some notable names in there all the same. Infielder Nick Lovullo, 26, is the son of former Sox bench coach and current D-backs skipper Torey Lovullo. He’d been with the organization since being selected in the 20th round of the 2016 draft. Boston also cut ties with infielder Juremi Profar — the younger brother of Padres second baseman Jurickson Profar. Boston inked the younger Profar brother to a minor league pact back in November after he’d spent seven years in the Rangers organization. The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham tweeted the whole list for those interested.

Latest News, Notes On Minor League Pay

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The manner in which teams are — or, in some cases, aren’t — continuing to pay their minor league players has drawn increased attention as the end of the month draws near. Major League teams agreed back in March to pay minor league players $400 per week through the end of May, but most minor league players now face ongoing financial uncertainty. The Dodgers have already committed to continue that $400 weekly stipend through the end of June, but veteran left-hander David Price is stepping up to add a helping hand, pledging $1,000 to each non-40-man Dodgers minor leaguer, according to a report from Francys Romero (Twitter link). That includes more than 220 minor leaguers, per MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. It’s a similar gesture to the one Shin-Shoo Choo made with the Rangers back in April.

Of course, the very fact that veterans such as Choo and Price even feel it necessary to step up to help out minor leaguers speaks to the manner in which minor league players are under-compensated. While some clubs — the Marlins and Padres — are reportedly set to pay out that $400 weekly stipend through the end of the minor league season, the Athletics are cutting off the stipend at month’s end. Others have extended the stipend through June but have not committed further.

Here’s how a few other clubs are handling the matter…

  • The Mets, Rays, Brewers, Cardinals, Giants and Indians are all extending the $400 weekly stipend through the month of June, per reports from MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (tweet), the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak (tweet), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (tweet) and Kyle Glaser of Baseball America (tweet). “This money right now, especially for guys who aren’t as well off, this is a huge deal,” Rays minor league catcher Chris Betts tells Topkin. “…I’m beyond excited about it, and I’m honestly just more stoked and proud that the organization I play for took this route more than anything.”
  • The Athletics have, unsurprisingly, drawn a wide array of harsh criticism for their wide-ranging furlough and the full cutoff of minor league payment, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. Slusser notes that owner John Fisher repeatedly used the word “family” in his letter to fans explaining the cutbacks, but many impacted by the cuts don’t feel the effects of that word. “It’s very hard to preach family and then not act like it when times are difficult,” Class-A pitcher Aiden McIntyre tells Slusser. Triple-A outfielder Jason Krizan added: “…[I]t hurts to see the Marlins continue to pay their players when they made the least in baseball last year,” though he noted he’d rather remain an Athletic and receive benefits than otherwise. Other players, past and present, voiced similar criticisms to Slusser, as did a big league agent and an executive with another club. Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein writes that termination of the stipend saves the Athletics an approximate $1.3MM.

Mariners Release More Than 50 Minor Leaguers

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May 29: Heyman now tweets that Gonzalez is not among the Mariners players who have been released. The Score’s Robert Murray adds, though, that the Seattle organization has released more than 50 minor league players.

May 28: The Mariners have released veteran outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. As a reminder, Major League transactions are still frozen, although we recently verified that minor league cuts are still permissible. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times had previously reported that the Mariners were releasing more than 30 minor league players. Divish adds that minor leaguers who remain with the Mariners will continue to receive the current $400 weekly stipend through the end of the 2020 season. Teams had previously only agreed to pay minor leaguers through May, and some have already cut their pay entirely or extended the stipend but only through the end of June.

Teams didn’t make many of their usual cuts late in Spring Training, so several of today’s releases might’ve already been cut lose already under normal circumstances anyhow. That’s certainly the case for the veteran Gonzalez, who was unlikely to make the club and had an April 1 opt-out date in his minor league deal. As Divish further points out, large-scale minor league releases are common prior to the amateur draft. This year’s five-round draft is vastly shorter than a standard 40-round draft, but other clubs (Orioles, White Sox) have begun to make similar waves of releases. With minor league contraction potentially on the horizon and uncertainty surrounding a minor league season being played at all in 2020, additional cuts seem likely throughout the league.

Turning to Gonzalez, the lone name known at this point, he was always a bit of a tough fit on a rebuilding Mariners club that was trying to give as many plate appearances as possible to young talent. Back in Spring Training, Divish suggested that the CarGo signing was something of a courtesy to a respected veteran — offering him a chance to pick up some spring at-bats. Surely in the event of multiple injuries, the depth would’ve become more useful for the M’s, but the April 1 opt-out in his deal was present to allow him to seek other opportunities if and when he found himself a ways down the depth chart.

Gonzalez, 34, went 6-for-22 with a double, three walks and five strikeouts in 25 spring plate appearances with Seattle. The three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger is coming off a brutal season split between the Indians and the Cubs — one in which he mustered only a .200/.289/.283 batting line in 166 plate appearances. He posted a respectable .276/.329/.467 slash (99 OPS+, 97 wRC+) with the Rockies a year prior, but CarGo hasn’t been a decidedly above-average hitter since 2016, when he batted .298/.350/.505 with Colorado.

While he’s no longer in the prime of his career, Gonzalez isn’t so far past that point that a resurgence is unforeseeable. And with the likely advent of the universal designated hitter for at least the 2020 season, perhaps some NL clubs with lackluster options will have interest in taking a flier on a player who batted .296/.353/.535 with an average of 26 homers per season during his peak from 2010-16.

Remembering A Yankees-White Sox Blockbuster

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In late July of 2017, the Yankees were mired in a weeks-long skid and working to avoid their second straight season without a playoff berth. After a 38-23 start to the season, the Yankees suffered a loss to the Twins on July 17 to fall to a so-so 47-44. They were in the midst of a free-fall, and general manager Brian Cashman decided he had seen enough. While the Yankees did get a win on the 18th, Cashman acted aggressively that night to acquire third baseman Todd Frazier and two relievers – right-handers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle – from the White Sox. In doing so, Cashman surrendered three prospects – left-hander Ian Clarkin and outfielders Blake Rutherford and Tito Polo – as well as reliever Tyler Clippard.

The deal played some role in helping the Yankees to a 91-win finish, a playoff berth and a trip to the ALCS, where they lost to the eventual champion Astros in seven games. Frazier seemed to be a hugely positive influence in the clubhouse (remember the thumbs-down craze?), and on the field, he slashed a decent .222/.365/.423 with 11 home runs in 241 plate appearances. Frazier was only a rental at the time, though, and he wound up with the Mets the next offseason on a two-year, $17MM guarantee.

Robertson, a Yankee from 2008-14 before he signed a four-year, $46MM contract with the White Sox prior to 2015, was excellent in his return to the Bronx. He threw 104 2/3 innings of 2.49 ERA ball with 12.21 K/9 and 2.37 BB/9 over parts of two seasons, though he left the Yankees as a free agent yet again when the Phillies inked him to a two-year, $23MM in advance of the 2019 campaign.

Kahnle, meanwhile, is still in the Bronx. The year the White Sox gave him up, Kahnle (who entered the pros as a fifth-rounder of the Yankees back in 2010) was amid a breakout season in which he wound up throwing 62 2/3 frames of 2.59 ERA/1.83 FIP ball with 13.79 K/9 and 2.44 BB/9 between the two teams. The 2018 season proved to be an injury-shortened disaster for Kahnle, who could only manage a 6.56 ERA/4.19 FIP in 23 1/3 innings, but he bounced back last year with a 3.67 ERA/3.33 FIP and 12.91 K/9 and 2.93 BB/9 across 61 1/3 innings.

The Yankees can control Kahnle at reasonable prices through 2021, so he should continue to be an important part of their bullpen for at least a little while longer. However, when they made this deal, the Yankees were no doubt hoping it would help propel them to a championship. That hasn’t happened, though they have made three consecutive playoff appearances since swinging the trade. As for the White Sox, who were still a long way from contention when they agreed to the swap, here’s how their return has gone so far…

  • Ian Clarkin: The former first-rounder (No. 33 in 2013) struggled enough in Double-A in 2018, his first full year in Chicago’s system, for the team to designate him for assignment. He threw 13 1/3 innings with the Cubs’ Double-A club last season and is now in the San Diego organization.
  • Blake Rutherford: The 18th pick in 2016, Rutherford topped out as Baseball America’s 45th-best prospect after 2017, though his stock has dropped since then. After the 23-year-old batted .265/.319/.365 with seven homers in 480 PA at Double-A last season, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked him as Chicago’s No. 15 prospect.
  • Tito Polo: Now 25, Polo only lasted in the White Sox’s system through 2018. He divided last season between the Mariners’ Triple-A team and the Mexican League. He’s currently a free agent.
  • Tyler Clippard: Less than a month after acquiring Clippard, the White Sox traded the veteran to the Astros for cash considerations.

Almost three full years since this trade occurred, it seems Kahnle has emerged as the most valuable long-term asset involved. Now, Chicago’s only hope is for Rutherford to turn into a viable major leaguer, as the other players it received left the organization and didn’t bring back any assets when they departed.

The 2008 Top 10: Four Teams Passed On Potential Hall Of Famer

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Twelve years after the 2008 amateur draft, one top 10 pick ranks far above the rest…

1.) Tim Beckham, SS, Rays:

Taking Beckham at No. 1 has long looked like one of the most regrettable moves in Rays history. Beckham was only a .247/.299/.421 hitter with 2.5 fWAR in 791 plate appearances with the team from 2013-17. and it flipped him to the Orioles for right-hander Tobias Myers in the last of those seasons. Myers hasn’t advanced past the High-A level for Tampa Bay, while Beckham didn’t offer much production for Baltimore in 2018 or Seattle in ’19. He’s currently a free agent after the league hit him with an 80-game PED suspension last August.

2.) Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Pirates:

Alvarez wasn’t a total bust for the Pirates, with whom he put up two 30-home run seasons worth 2.5-plus fWAR apiece. The former Vanderbilt Commodore hasn’t lived up to his draft status, though, and is now accompanying Beckham in free agency. Alvarez, who has also played for the Orioles, hasn’t taken a major league diamond since 2018. If his career in the bigs is over, he’ll end as a .236/.310/.447 hitter with 162 homers and 7.7 fWAR.

3.) Eric Hosmer, 1B, Royals:

Hosmer had an inconsistent run as a Royal from 2011-17, but the highs were high. He was a key part of the Royals’ most recent championship team in 2015, and his .284/.342/.439 line with 127 homers and 60 steals in their uniform helped lead to a notable free-agent payday heading into the 2018 season. The Padres forked over a guaranteed eight years and $144MM to Hosmer, but he hasn’t lived up to the deal so far. The 30-year-old has hit .259/.316/.412 with minus-0.5 fWAR since he signed with San Diego.

4.) Brian Matusz, LHP, Orioles:

Matusz once looked like a can’t-miss prospect, but he failed to match the hype. To Matuz’s credit, after a pretty rough run from 2009-12, he reinvented himself as a solid reliever for the Orioles from 2013-15. However, he hasn’t pitched in the majors since a horrid nine-inning run with the Braves and Cubs in 2016. Matusz hasn’t officially retired yet, but he’s likely to call it quits as the owner of a 4.92 ERA across 528 2/3 innings.

5.) Buster Posey, C, Giants:

Finally, a smash success. Posey, 33, is the lone member of the 2008 top 10 with a legitimate Hall of Fame case. He’s a six-time All-Star, an NL Rookie of the Year, an MVP and someone who has been instrumental in three Giants World Series titles. Posey’s also a lifetime .302/.370/.456 batter with 140 homers and 52.7 fWAR.

6.) Kyle Skipworth, C, Marlins:

“Why couldn’t the Giants have taken Skipworth instead of Posey?”-The Marlins now, probably. Skipworth totaled four plate appearances as a Marlin in 2013, the only year in which he appeared in the majors. He last appeared in pro baseball in 2016 as part of Cincinnati’s minor league system.

7.) Yonder Alonso, 1B, Reds:

Alonso had a brief run with the Reds from 2010-11, after which they sent him to the Padres in a mega-trade for righty Mat Latos. Alonso has since had just one above-average season – with the A’s and Mariners in 2017, when he batted .266/.365/.501 with 28 homers and 2.4 fWAR. He has fallen back to earth since then, though, and has only accounted for 5.4 fWAR with a .259/.332/.404 line and 100 HRs in the majors during his career. Alonso’s now with the Braves, who signed him to a minor league contract over the winter.

8.) Gordon Beckham, SS, White Sox:

Beckham had a poor run as a member of the White Sox, with whom he hit .242/.304/.370 in over 3,100 PA, and has also struggled to put up good numbers in a few other stops. The 33-year-old is now a free agent.

9.) Aaron Crow, RHP, Nationals:

Washington failed to sign Crow, so it received the No. 10 pick in the 2009 draft as compensation. The team used that choice on righty Drew Storen, who logged a 3.02 ERA with 95 saves and 72 holds in 334 innings with the Nats from 2010-15.

10.) Jason Castro, C, Astros:

Thanks in part to his well-known pitch-framing wizardry, Castro has thus far enjoyed a respectable career between Houston and Minnesota. He’s a career .231/.313/.390 hitter with 86 HRs and 14.5 fWAR, and is just a few months removed from signing a one-year, $6.85MM contract with the Angels.

—

Any other first-round notables?

Not many. Gerrit Cole went 28th to the Yankees, but they couldn’t sign him (they made up for that a few months ago). Justin Smoak (No. 11), Aaron Hicks (14), Andrew Cashner (19) and Lonnie Chisenhall (29) also came off the board in that year’s top 30. There was some more success in the supplemental round, where Jake Odorizzi (32), Lance Lynn (39) and Wade Miley (43) were taken.

Which 15 Players Should The Nationals Protect In An Expansion Draft?

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We’re planning a two-team mock expansion draft here at MLBTR – just for the fun of it!  Currently, we’re creating 15-player protected lists for each of the existing 30 teams.  You can catch up on the rules for player eligibility here.  We’ll have plenty more next week, culminating in a live draft event.

The American League results are in!  Click here to see who’s protected and who’s available for each AL team.

Click here for previous entries in the series.  The Nationals are the last team up for discussion.

First we’ll remove free agents Ryan Zimmerman, Howie Kendrick, Kurt Suzuki, Asdrubal Cabrera, Sean Doolittle, Eric Thames, and Anibal Sanchez from consideration.  Adam Eaton’s $10.5MM club option for 2021 is worth entertaining, so I’ll add him to the poll.  Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg make the protected list due to their no-trade clauses.  We’ll lock down seven players out of the gate:

Max Scherzer
Stephen Strasburg
Juan Soto
Trea Turner
Patrick Corbin
Victor Robles
Carter Kieboom

That leaves eight spots for the remaining 23 players.  You can review the Nationals’ contract statuses and service time here.

Tres Barrera
Aaron Barrett
James Bourque
Starlin Castro
Wilmer Difo
Adam Eaton
Roenis Elias
Erick Fedde
Yan Gomes
Ryne Harper
Will Harris
Daniel Hudson
Kyle McGowin
Jake Noll
Tanner Rainey
Raudy Read
Joe Ross
Adrian Sanchez
Andrew Stevenson
Wander Suero
Michael A. Taylor
Austin Voth
Austen Williams

With that, we turn it over to the MLBTR readership! In the poll below (direct link here), select exactly eight players you think the Nationals should protect in our upcoming mock expansion draft.  Click here to view the results.

Create your own user feedback survey

Boras Urges Clients Not To “Bail Out” Owners

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Never one to hold back his thoughts on the economic state of the game, agent Scott Boras recently penned an email to his clients urging them not to concede to further pay cuts — a concession he likens to a “bailout” for owners. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press has the bulk of the email.

“The owners’ current problem is a result of the money they borrowed when they purchased their franchises, renovated their stadiums or developed land around their ballparks,” Boras writes. “…Owners now want players to take additional pay cuts to help them pay these loans. They want a bailout.”

Boras notes that even amid record revenue increases, the average salary of players hasn’t risen in quite some time. Indeed, Blum reported earlier this month that the Opening Day average salary has remained constant at about $4.4MM since 2016 despite steady growth among league revenue and franchise valuations. Similarly, the value of the qualifying offer — determined based on the average of baseball’s 125 highest-paid players — slightly declined in 2019 for the first time since its inception (from $17.9MM to $17.8MM). It had previously risen every year, jumping from $13.2MM in 2012-13 to $17.9MM in the 2018-19 offseason.

To this point, the players’ general stance appears to align with that of Boras. Players are reportedly preparing a counter-proposal for the league that ostensibly ignores the sliding scale mechanism proposed by ownership and instead calls for the previously agreed upon prorated salaries but in a larger slate of games. Max Scherzer, one of eight players on the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, sounded off against the league’s proposal last night. Notably, Scherzer is one of three Boras clients on that eight-man committee (joined by Elvis Andrus and James Paxton).

While the players are broadly unified in their stance against the sliding scale proposal, they’re not all thrilled with the idea of Boras inserting himself into union matter. Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer, every bit as outspoken as Boras himself (if not more so), blasted the agent on Twitter last night, writing:

Hearing a LOT of rumors about a certain player agent meddling in MLBPA affairs. If true — and at this point, these are only rumors — I have one thing to say… Scott Boras, rep your clients however you want to, but keep your damn personal agenda out of union business.

On the surface, one would imagine that the goals of a prominent agent and a prominent player — particularly a free-agent-to-be such as Bauer — would be largely aligned as the union pushes back against further salary concessions. Bauer himself has made clear several times on Twitter that he, like other players, feels ownership has gone back on its end of the March agreement which stipulated prorated salaries in 2020. Ownership, of course, has contested that the agreement was contingent on fans being in attendance.

Which 15 Players Should The Phillies Protect In An Expansion Draft?

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In a few weeks, we’ll be running a two-team mock expansion draft here at MLBTR – just for the fun of it!  Currently, we’re creating 15-player protected lists for each of the existing 30 teams.  You can catch up on the rules for player eligibility here.

The American League results are in!  Click here to see who’s protected and who’s available for each AL team.

Click here for previous entries in the series.  The Phillies are up next.

First, we’ll remove free agents J.T. Realmuto, Jay Bruce, Tommy Hunter, Jake Arrieta, Didi Gregorius, Jose Alvarez, and David Robertson from consideration.  Bryce Harper and Jean Segura will make the protected list due to their no-trade clauses.  As Baseball America Top 100 prospects with a 2020 ETA, Spencer Howard and Alec Bohm will also make the list.  We’ll protect a total of 11 players out of the gate:

Bryce Harper
Jean Segura
Spencer Howard
Alec Bohm
Aaron Nola
Rhys Hoskins
Scott Kingery
Zack Wheeler
Zach Eflin
Adam Haseley
Hector Neris

That leaves four spots for the remaining 19 players.  Check out the Phillies’ contract statuses here.

Vìctor Arano
Austin Davis
Enyel De Los Santos
Seranthony Dominguez
Edgar Garcia
Kyle Garlick
Deivy Grullon
Deolis Guerra
Cole Irvin
Andrew Knapp
Reggie McClain
Andrew McCutchen
Adam Morgan
Nick Pivetta
Roman Quinn
Robert Stock
Ranger Suarez
Vince Velasquez
Nick Williams

With that, we turn it over to the MLBTR readership! In the poll below (direct link here), select exactly four players you think the Phillies should protect in our upcoming mock expansion draft.  Click here to view the results.

Create your own user feedback survey

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