Brewers Defeat Josh Hader In Arbitration
The Brewers have won their arbitration case against lefty relief ace Josh Hader, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). He’ll receive the $4.1MM that the team presented rather than the $6.4MM salary he had sought.
This is a significant win for the team side. For the Brewers, specifically, it not only means immediate savings but sets the team up to pay quite a lot less in each of the three remaining seasons of team control.
More broadly, this case now joins the Dellin Betances ruling in tamping down arbitration leverage for exceptional relief pitchers who have not accumulated a large number of saves. It has been a good winter for teams generally, as they’ve taken six of seven arbitration hearings thus far after the players scored some wins last offseason.
Hader, 25, will not earn as much as he had hoped. But he’ll still do much better throughout his arbitration years than would’ve been expected at the time of his initial promotion to the majors. Most of that is due to his excellent work on the field, of course, but he also did not seem in line for Super Two status. Hader just did sneak in to early arb qualification owing to this year’s unusually low service-time cutoff.
The Brewers have received quite a few good innings from Hader over the past three years. In 204 2/3 total frames, he carries a 2.42 ERA with 15.3 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. He was homer-prone last year but otherwise remained all but impossible to square up. The flamethrower finished the season with a personal-best 6.90 K/BB ratio.
Rays Sign Brooks Pounders, Deck McGuire
The Rays have reached minor-league agreements with righties Brooks Pounders and Deck McGuire, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report on Twitter. Both will enter MLB camp.
Pounders, 29, has some swing-and-miss ability but hasn’t yet translated that into results at the MLB level. He has allowed 43 earned runs and 14 long balls through 45 2/3 innings over the past four campaigns, though he also carries a much more promising 47:12 K/BB ratio. Pounders spent most of 2019 at Triple-A, where he worked to a 4.31 ERA with 10.5 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 over 56 1/3 frames.
As for McGuire, he’s a former first-round pick who has appeared in the majors but has not reached his initially perceived ceiling. The 30-year-old owns a 5.23 ERA in 51 2/3 frames in the majors. He struggled last year with Korea’s Samsung Lions, managing only a 5.05 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9 in 21 starts before being cut loose.
Astros Slow Brad Peacock’s Throwing Program After Setback
Astros righty Brad Peacock entered camp as a candidate to take home a rotation spot, but he’s had a recurrence of the nerve issue in his neck that plagued him last year, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. Peacock is throwing from 90 feet, but his overall program has been slowed down for the time being, lessening his chances of seizing a starting job.
Peacock, 32, has been a solid arm for the Astros in both the rotation and bullpen across the past four seasons, pitching to a combined 3.48 ERA with 10.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 320 1/3 innings of work. He’s posted a better ERA and much higher strikeout rate when working in short relief than out of the rotation, but Peacock’s 3.62 ERA and 3.72 FIP in 218 2/3 innings as a starter certainly suggests that he could be a capable back-end starter.
At present it seems to be more a question of just what his body will allow him to handle. Peacock missed significant time with shoulder and neck troubles late in the 2019 season, making only six regular-season appearances after June 27. After a month-long stint on the injured list, he returned for three appearances before quickly being placed back on the IL for close to another month. He did toss 5 2/3 innings between the ALCS and the World Series, though he walked four batters in that time.
The Houston rotation looks more vulnerable than it has in quite some time. Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke will pair to create a formidable one-two punch, and the return of Lance McCullers Jr., who had Tommy John surgery in 2018, should be a boost if he can recapture his form. Right-hander Jose Urquidy is the front-runner to nab the fourth spot, and with Peacock slowed down, newcomer Austin Pruitt could be the favorite to land the final spot to open the year. Houston has plenty of other options with starting experience — Josh James, Framber Valdez and Rogelio Armenteros among them — so the back of that group could yet change composition.
For Peacock personally, it’s a rough start to a pivotal year. The right-hander will cross the six-year threshold in terms of Major League service time in 2020, meaning he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. If he’s able to quickly put these issues behind him, Peacock could yet build a strong free-agent case, but it’s a somewhat ominous start to the new season in light of last year’s health troubles.
Indians Designate Andrew Velazquez For Assignment
The Indians announced Friday that they’ve designated infielder Andrew Velazquez for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to outfielder/designated hitter Domingo Santana, whose one-year deal with the Indians has now been formally announced.
Velazquez, 25, appeared in five games with the Indians in 2019 and went 1-for-11. He’s appeared sparingly at the MLB level between the Tampa Bay and Cleveland organizations, hitting .152/.222/.242 in a minuscule sample of 36 plate appearances. The Indians acquired him just this past July in exchange for international bonus pool allotments.
The versatile Velazquez is a shortstop by nature but has also logged ample time in center field, at second base and at third base throughout an eight-year minor league tenure. He’s a career .260/.316/.415 hitter in 648 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Cleveland will have a week to trade Velazquez, place him on outright waivers or release him. He does have two minor league option years remaining, so a club seeking some versatile infield depth could place a speculative claim if it has the roster flexibility at present.
Padres Sign Seth Frankoff To Minor League Deal
The Padres have signed right-hander Seth Frankoff to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training, tweets MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. He’s repped by Vanguard Sports.
Frankoff, 31, has spent the past two seasons pitching for the Doosan Bears in the Korea Baseball Organization. In that time, he’s logged a combined 3.68 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 over the life of 266 2/3 innings (50 starts). Prior to his time in the KBO, Frankoff pitched in the Athletics, Dodgers and Cubs organizations. He appeared in one game with the Cubs’ big league team in 2017 but has not appeared in the Majors otherwise. In 165 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball in his career, Frankoff owns a 4.46 ERA and a 152-to-68 K/BB ratio.
Frankoff gives the Friars some depth both in the rotation and in the bullpen, as he’s pitched extensively in both roles throughout a decade-long professional career. San Diego has added Zach Davies to its rotation mix and Emilio Pagan to the bullpen this winter via trade. The Friars have also dished out free-agent contracts to Drew Pomeranz (four years, $34MM), Craig Stammen (two years, $9MM) and Pierce Johnson (two years, $5MM). That slate of acquisitions dampens Frankoff’s hopes of breaking camp with the club, but he’s a reasonable depth option to have on hand in the event of injuries throughout the pitching staff.
Blue Jays Shut Down Ryan Borucki
The Blue Jays have shut left-hander Ryan Borucki down due to tightness in his left elbow, tweets TSN’s Scott Mitchell. The plan is to re-evalute the 25-year-old within the next few days, but it’s clearly an ominous development after Borucki was limited to just two MLB appearances in 2019 due to elbow troubles. General manager Ross Atkins said that an MRI on Borucki has not revealed any structural damage (Twitter link via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi).
Borucki isn’t a household name outside of Toronto, but he’s been viewed as an important piece for the Jays as they look to emerge from a rebuilding effort. The former high school draftee ranked among Toronto’s top 20 prospects from 2014-17 before making an impressive big league debut in 2018 when he posted a 3.87 ERA in 17 starts. That season saw Borucki total 97 2/3 innings while averaging 6.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 0.65 HR/9 with a 46.8 percent ground-ball rate.
The Blue Jays invested heavily in pitching this winter, signing free agents Hyun-Jin Ryu (four years, $80MM) and Tanner Roark (two years, $24MM) in addition to trading for Brewers righty Chase Anderson. That trio was expected to be joined by a returning Matt Shoemaker — who was excellent early in 2019 prior to tearing his ACL — and Borucki. Now, however, it’s difficult to forecast that Borucki will be a go to break camp in the Toronto rotation — or even on the active roster.
Toronto isn’t shy on alternative options. The Jays also signed Japanese righty Shun Yamaguchi this winter, and the former Yomiuri Giant has experience as both a starter and a reliever. Trent Thornton, who paced the Jays in innings pitched last year, remains in the mix. The Blue Jays also have several young options on the cusp of MLB readiness; each of Anthony Kay, Sean Reid-Foley, Jacob Waguespack and T.J. Zeuch has already gotten his feet wet in the Majors and could be in line for a look. Others on the 40-man roster include Thomas Hatch, Yennsy Diaz, Hector Perez and Julian Merryweather.
Whoever opens the season in the fifth spot could end up serving as a mere placeholder anyhow. The Jays have one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects in right-hander Nate Pearson. He and his triple-digit fastball are expected to make their big league debut at some point during the 2020 campaign.
Indians Complete Deal With Domingo Santana
The Indians have completed their rumored contract with outfielder/designated hitter Domingo Santana, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Wasserman client will earn a $1.5MM guarantee, and his contract comes with a $5MM club option or a $250K buyout. Santana can earn $500K in bonuses for days spent on the roster in 2020, and each roster bonus he triggers will boost the value of next that 2021 club option. In total, the deal can reportedly max out at two years and $7.5MM.
Still just 27 years old, Santana was an offensive force with the Brewers as recently as 2017, when he slashed .278/.371/.505 with 30 home runs and 29 doubles (good for a 126 OPS+ and 127 wRC+). However, Santana was the beneficiary of a .363 average on balls in play that year, punched out in nearly 30 percent of his plate appearances and played a below-average right field. It’s impossible to say whether those traits gave the Brewers concern about his ability to produce moving forward or whether the team simply found the value in a pair of marquee offseason acquisitions too great to pass up. Regardless, Santana was effectively pushed to a bench role the following year after Milwaukee traded for Christian Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain to join Ryan Braun in the outfield.
The 2018 season wasn’t a great one for Santana. One can point to the fact that he was already a regression candidate or suggest that his newfound limited role was a difficult adjustment. Whatever the reason, Santana’s .265/.328/.412 slash through 235 plate appearances marked a substantial downturn. He was traded to the Mariners for Ben Gamel last winter.
In Seattle, Santana once again found himself in a near-regular role, and his production bounced back to an extent. In 507 plate appearances, he hit .253/.329/.441 with 21 homers, 20 doubles and a triple. It wasn’t the same level of pop that he displayed in 2017, but it was a nice bounceback effort all the same. Santana’s strikeout rate only worsened, though, as he fanned in 32.3 percent of his trips to the plate. And, his already shaky glovework bottomed out in 2019 when defensive metrics graded him as one of baseball’s worst defenders at any position (-17 Defensive Runs Saved, -16.1 Ultimate Zone Rating, -13 Outs Above Average).
Santana’s fit in Cleveland is admittedly something of a curious one, as the Indians already have an extremely similar player in Franmil Reyes. Both lumbering, defensively-challenged sluggers hit from the right side of the dish and profile better as a designated hitter than as an outfielder. Santana draws more walks and runs slightly better; Reyes has more power, strikes out a bit less and boasted 99th-percentile marks in exit velocity and hard-hit rate in 2019. Overall, they bring comparable skill sets to an already-crowded Indians outfield mix (though Reyes would seem to have more offensive upside).
Oscar Mercado should have center field locked down after a strong debut campaign in 2019, leaving Santana and Reyes as two options in the outfield corners. The problem is that right-handed-hitting Jordan Luplow is also in the corner mix, and his otherworldly production against lefties should at least ensure him a platoon role. Cleveland also acquired Delino DeShields Jr. — another right-handed bat — in the Corey Kluber salary dump. The switch-hitting Greg Allen is in the mix, too, as are lefty-swinging Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer and (once recovered from last year’s ACL tear) Tyler Naquin.
Santana is an affordable addition to the fray, to be sure, and there’s little doubt that he deepens the club’s reservoir of options in the corners and at DH. That said, it’s also not clear that Santana is an upgrade over what they already had in house.
Marlins Sign Brad Boxberger
February 14: Miami has announced the signing.
February 13: The Marlins have agreed to a minor-league pact with righty Brad Boxberger, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro (via Twitter). He receives an invitation to MLB camp.
Boxberger, 31, is looking for a bounceback shot after a rough 2019 season. He landed a $2.2MM guarantee from the Royals last winter, coming off of an ’18 campaign in which he managed only a 4.39 ERA but picked up 32 saves and averaged 12.0 K/9 against 5.4 BB/9. But he fell flat in Kansas City, coughing up 16 earned runs in 26 2/3 innings with a 27:17 K/BB ratio before being cut loose.
Before that, Boxberger had enjoyed a rather successful six seasons in the majors. He had maintained a 3.19 ERA through 231 career frames, rarely posting eye-popping swinging-strike rates but still coming up with a mean 11.6 K/9 strikeout rate.
That past track record shows the potential upside here for the Marlins. But the question remains whether Boxberger can rediscover his former form. His precipitous strikeout decline is worrisome, particularly as it coincided with a significant drop in average fastball velocity (to 90.6 mph). Boxberger never blew fastballs by hitters, but velocity — he sat in the 93 mph range until it started to erode in 2018 — was obviously a component of his highly effective heater.
Tigers Don’t Expect Further Additions
The Tigers have added a few modestly priced veteran free agents to a team that lost 114 games and easily finished last in the majors a season ago. At this point, Detroit’s not expecting any more acquisitions before the season, general manager Al Avila suggested Thursday (via Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic).
“I would say so,” Avila said when asked if Detroit’s Wednesday signing of outfielder Cameron Maybin would be its last notable pickup.
The Tigers have looked like speculative fits for outfielder Yasiel Puig, who’s still without a job, but it officially appears he’ll have to look elsewhere. Avila already shot down a potential Puig signing weeks ago. Now, between the reunion with the ex-Tiger Maybin and Avila’s comments, they can probably be scratched off Puig’s list of possible employers. They’re instead counting on Maybin, whom they reeled in for $1.5MM, to enjoy a second straight successful campaign and perhaps take on an everyday role, as Stavenhagen writes (subscription link).
The 32-year-old Maybin has bounced around since the Tigers took him 10th overall in the 2005 draft, enduring his share of ups and downs along the way. He had to settle for minor league deals with the Giants and Indians before last season, but an April trade to the Yankees may have revived his career. Maybin was an unsung hero on an injury-riddled New York club, as a more fly ball-oriented approach helped him to a .285/.364/.494 with 11 home runs in 269 plate appearances.
Maybin became the fifth veteran to join the Tigers on a one-year contract since last season ended. The club previously signed first baseman C.J. Cron, second baseman Jonathan Schoop, catcher Austin Romine and right-hander Ivan Nova. There may not be a world-beater in the bunch, but those stopgaps should at least make Detroit more competitive this season. And the team does have a few talented starters (some of whom aren’t yet in the majors but could be soon) who could combine to give the club a decent rotation. Matt Boyd, Spencer Turnbull and Daniel Norris are on hand at the MLB level; Michael Fulmer should make it back from Tommy John surgery in the summer; Nova’s an acceptable back-end innings-eater; and Casey Mize and Matt Manning are two of the top prospects in the game. With all of that said, the Tigers should be a tougher out in 2020.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/13/20
A couple minor moves, both of which come courtesy of Roster Roundup:
- The Yankees signed right-hander Kevin Gadea to a minor league contract earlier this week. The 25-year-old Gadea pitched at the low levels of the minors with the Mariners from 2013-16, during which he recorded a 2.64 ERA with 9.1 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 225 1/3 innings. The Rays then took Gadea in the Rule 5 Draft in advance of the 2017 season, but he hasn’t pitched competitively since then because of elbow issues. After a long layoff, he’ll try to get his pro career back on track with a new organization.
- The Dodgers have added righty Kieran Lovegrove on a minors pact. The flamethrower from South Africa was a third-round pick of the Indians in 2012 who has since spent time with the Orioles and Giants. Lovegrove and the Giants had high hopes for one another when the team signed him in November 2018, but the union didn’t yield positive results. He ended up enduring a difficult season between the Giants’ Double-A club and the O’s High-A affiliate, thanks largely to control problems. Lovegrove posted ERAs in the 9.00 range with those clubs and combined for 24 walks (with 18 strikeouts) in just 26 innings.