Cubs, Matt Dermody Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with left-hander Matt Dermody, MLBTR has learned. The 30-year-old southpaw will be invited to Major League Spring Training to compete for a bullpen job.
Dermody opened the 2020 season pitching on the independent circuit but caught the Cubs’ attention with a strong showing, leading to a minor league deal in August. The Cubs called him up to the big league roster later in the summer, and he pitched one scoreless inning before being taken off the roster. That marked Dermody’s first MLB experience since a 22 1/3-inning stint with the Blue Jays in 2017, when he posted a 4.43 ERA with 15 strikeouts and five walks.
Dermody has a rather limited track record at the MLB level, having pitched just 26 1/3 innings overall, but he’s appeared in parts of four Triple-A seasons and pitched to a 4.12 ERA in 87 1/3 frames. Overall, in seven minor league seasons, the former 28th-rounder has a 3.68 ERA with 7.7 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. At the moment, the Cubs’ only left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster are Kyle Ryan and Brad Wieck, so it’s not a surprise to see them adding some left-handed depth to bring to camp.
Tigers Sign Dustin Garneau
The Tigers announced that they’ve signed catcher Dustin Garneau to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. Garneau, a client of agent Marc Kligman, will compete for a spot alongside Jake Rogers, Grayson Greiner and Eric Haase. The deal includes multiple opt outs, but Garneau will earn a $1MM salary if he earns a spot with the Tigers, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.
Garneau, 33, had a solid season between the Angels and A’s in 2019 but struggled with his third AL West club, the Astros, in 2020. This past season, Garneau served as the backup to Martin Maldonado and limped to a .158/.273/.279 batting line in an admittedly minuscule sample of 46 plate appearances.
Defensively, he’s caught 37 percent of would-be base thieves in the minors and 33 percent in the Majors. And after a poor start to his career in terms of pitch framing, Garneau has rated a bit above average in each of his past few MLB efforts.
Garneau has never received a particularly long look in the Majors, as his career-high in plate appearances came back in 2017 when he tallied 126 trips to the dish between Colorado and Oakland. He’s a career .202/.288/.338 hitter in 427 Major League plate appearances but a .260/.335/.500 hitter in parts of six Triple-A seasons.
Free Agent Prediction Contest Leaderboard Now Available
Our new Free Agent Prediction Contest leaderboard is now available! Over 4,000 MLBTR readers participated in our November prediction contest. At this point eight of the top 50 free agents from our contest have signed. Impressively, one person has correctly predicted the signing teams for five of them. I’ll be updating this leaderboard as additional signings occur throughout the offseason.
Doosan Bears Re-Sign Jose Miguel Fernandez, Sign Ariel Miranda
The Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization announced that they’ve re-signed first baseman/designated hitter Jose Miguel Fernandez and signed left-hander Ariel Miranda (link via Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency).
Fernandez, who’ll be returning for a third season with the Bears, never got much of a look in the Majors despite a considerable track record in the Cuban National Series, but he’s broken out as a star-level hitter in the KBO. The 32-year-old hasn’t missed a game since originally signing with the Bears and has delivered a combined .342/.407/.490 batting line with 36 homers, 63 doubles and more walks (119) than strikeouts (just 96) through 1313 plate appearances. Fernandez’s deal comes with $800K worth of guarantees and an additional $300K available via incentives.
Miranda, 32 in January, will now somewhat remarkably have pitched in virtually every top professional league in the world. The Cuban-born southpaw got his start in the Cuban National Series back in 2007 and has since pitched in the Majors (with the Orioles and Mariners), Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (SoftBank Hawks) and most recently in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CTBC Brothers).
This past season in Taiwan, Miranda tallied 156 1/3 innings of 3.80 ERA ball with 9.8 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. That came on the heels of a two-year NPB run that saw him post a 3.37 ERA in 133 2/3 frames. Miranda logged a 4.72 ERA in 221 big league frames between Baltimore and Seattle, tallying a career-high 160 innings with the Mariners back in 2017. He’ll be guaranteed $700K in his new deal with the Bears and can make another $100K via incentives.
The KBO limits each team to three foreign professionals, so assuming right-hander Walker Lockett passes the physical to complete his already agreed-upon deal, they’ll be at capacity.
Phillies Name Sam Fuld As General Manager
2:34PM: The Phillies have announced Fuld’s promotion. Also, Jorge Velandia was promoted to assistant general manager from special assistant to the GM (as reported earlier today by Jim Salisbury) and former Twins GM Terry Ryan will move into the special assistant role from his past position as a Phillies special assignment scout.
12:59PM: The Phillies are set to promote Sam Fuld to the role of general manager, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury (Twitter link). Fuld has been working for the team for the last three seasons as the director of integrative baseball performance.
Much like Philadelphia’s recent hire of Dave Dombrowski as the president of baseball operations, the news comes as something of a surprise, as there wasn’t any indication that Fuld was under consideration for the GM role. However, after months of uncertainty about the front office after former GM Matt Klentak was reassigned, the Phillies’ baseball ops pyramid is now led by the one-two punch of a veteran executive in Dombrowski and a younger, first-time general manager in Fuld.
It was only back in 2017 that Fuld retired from a playing career that saw him play in 598 Major League games from 2007-15 with the Cubs, Rays, Athletics, and Twins. Fuld moved from the diamond to the Phillies’ front office, operating (as he explained to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2018) in a role that allowed him to transmit and teach analytical data provided by the front office to the Phillies’ players. “I can appreciate what it’s like to step in the box and understand that some of the things that we may be asking them to do are really, really hard,” Fuld told Breen. “I think that’s been an issue in the past I’ve seen. Players are told to do something from someone that doesn’t quite have playing experience at a high level and it can be frustrating when you’re told to do something that is really, really difficult. It’s taken for granted sometimes. Hopefully I can relate.”
The skillset of being able to blend recent playing experience with new-age analytical data made Fuld a sought-after managerial candidate in recent years, though he turned down most interview requests before finally sitting down with the Red Sox about their managerial vacancy this past fall. Fuld was known to be a finalist for the position the Sox re-hired former skipper Alex Cora.
Rather than turn to managing, the 39-year-old Fuld will now take a new path as a GM. He joins the Rangers’ Chris Young and the Mariners’ Jerry Dipoto as current general managers who also played in the majors (Oakland executive VP of baseball operations Billy Beane also has MLB experience.) Young’s recent hiring in Texas might be the most obvious comp, as both Fuld and Young are recently retired players working under seasoned presidents of baseball operations — Dombrowski in Philadelpha and Jon Daniels in Texas — who will have the final say on personnel moves.
MLBTR Poll: George Springer’s Future
Longtime Astros outfielder George Springer entered free agency this winter as one of the most coveted players on the open market. Understandably so, as the 31-year-old hit an excellent .270/.361/.491 with 174 home runs in 3,567 plate appearances from 2014-20. Thanks to his tremendous output in Houston’s uniform, MLBTR ranked Springer as the third-best free agent available at the beginning of the offseason, projecting him for a five-year, $125MM contract.
Almost two months into free agency, the Astros, Mets and Blue Jays are the only teams with reported interest in Springer. It’s unclear, though, whether the Astros are willing to dole out another nine-figure contract, despite what Springer has meant to the club. The Mets, led by deep-pocketed rookie owner Steve Cohen, could turn to Springer as their new center fielder, though that might mean trading one of their other outfielders (Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Dominic Smith). Similarly, the Blue Jays have a decent outfield on paper with Randal Grichuk, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez. However, the team doesn’t appear content with Grichuk as its center fielder, so it could bring in Springer and let go of Grichuk or one of its other outfielders in a deal.
While Houston, New York and Toronto look like the front-runners to sign Springer, a “mystery team” could step in and steal the three-time All-Star. Which club do you expect to sign Springer? (Poll link for app users)
Who will sign George Springer?
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Mets 53% (11,607)
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Blue Jays 21% (4,696)
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Other 14% (3,132)
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Astros 11% (2,455)
Total votes: 21,890
Free Agent Notes: LeMahieu, Realmuto, Arihara, Hand
The Mets “recently contacted” infielder DJ LeMahieu, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The fight for LeMahieu appeared to be between his previous team, the Yankees, as well as the Blue Jays, but it would be difficult to count the deep-pocketed Mets out of the mix. Signing LeMahieu would enable the Mets to send Jeff McNeil from second to third base, though it’s unclear what that would mean for J.D. Davis, who started the majority of Mets games at the hot corner in 2020.
- New Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and Jeff Berry, the agent for free-agent catcher J.T. Realmuto, had a discussion Monday, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic relays. Negotiations did not occur during that talk, but Dombrowski made sure to mention that the Phillies want Realmuto back, per Montemurro. They have made Realmuto an offer, Heyman relays.
- The Rangers are among the teams “believed” to have interest in right-hander Kohei Arihara, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets. The 28-year-old Arihara, whom the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball posted earlier this offseason, logged a 3.74 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 over 836 innings. MLB teams have until Dec. 26 to sign Arihara.
- Minnesota native Brad Hand, one of the top relievers on the open market, told Darren Wolfson of SKOR North that he’d “love to play” for the Twins in 2021. However, the southpaw isn’t sure if the Twins are interested in signing him. Hand reached free agency when the division-rival Indians declined his $10MM club option after last season, which came as a surprise considering the 30-year-old was one of baseball’s top relievers in 2020.
Red Sox Sign Stephen Gonsalves To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox have re-signed left-hander Stephen Gonsalves to a minor league pact, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. The team previously outrighted Gonsalves in late August. His new deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.
Gonsalves, now 26 years old, became a pro when the Twins used a fourth-round pick on him in 2013. He eventually became a top 100 prospect, though he didn’t see much major league time with the team or make a notable impact in Minnesota. Gonsalves concluded his Twins tenure with 24 2/3 innings of 6.57 ERA/5.72 FIP ball with ghastly strikeout and walk numbers (5.84 K/9, 8.03 BB/9). The 2018 season has been his lone big league experience to this point.
The Twins moved on from Gonsalves going into 2020, when the Mets added him via waivers. Gonsalves didn’t last long with the Mets, though, as the Red Sox picked him up as a waiver claim in July. He’ll continue trying to work his way back to the majors as a member of the Red Sox.
Padres Sign Nick Burdi, Nick Ramirez To Minor League Deals
The Padres have signed right-hander Nick Burdi and lefty Nick Ramirez to minor league contracts, according to Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The hard-throwing Burdi underwent his second Tommy John surgery in October, so the 27-year-old probably won’t be available to the Padres at all in 2021. A second-round pick of the Twins in 2014, Burdi appeared in the majors with the Pirates in each of the previous three seasons, though he only combined for 12 1/3 innings. He also has just five Triple-A innings under his belt, but Burdi has pitched to a 3.44 ERA with 12.2 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 115 minor league frames.
Ramirez, 31, debuted in 2019 and led the Tigers’ bullpen in innings (79 2/3) that year. He threw another 10 2/3 last season. Overall, Ramirez pitched to a 4.28 ERA/4.71 FIP with 8.47 K/9, 3.89 BB/9 and a 46.2 percent groundball rate in a Tigers uniform. Detroit outrighted him in October.
Brewers Claim Tim Lopes
The Brewers have claimed outfielder Tim Lopes off waivers from the Mariners, according to a Seattle press release. Lopes was designated for assignment earlier this week to create roster space for the Mariners’ acquisition of Chris Flexen.
Lopes made his MLB debut in 2019 and saw quite a bit of action for the Mariners last season, appearing in 46 of 60 games as part of Seattle’s unsettled corner outfield mix. Over 279 career plate appearances at the big league level, Lopes has hit .252/.315/.362, and he has also stolen 11 bases in 14 attempts.
The large majority of Lopes’ playing time at the Major League level has come as an outfielder, though unusually, he spent almost no time playing outfield in the minors, playing mostly as a second baseman with significant amounts of experience also at third base and shortstop. As such, the 26-year-old Lopes can bring quite a bit of versatility to a Brewers roster that has a lot of unanswered questions around the diamond. The Brewers have valued multi-positional bench types in the past, and Lopes could be seen as a potential super-utility candidate for Milwaukee’s bench.