Nationals, Mac Williamson Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Mac Williamson, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. He’ll be in Major League camp this spring and would earn a modest $700K salary if he makes the big league club. He’s represented by CAA Sports.
For years, the Giants hoped that Williamson, now 29, would eventually seize an everyday spot in an outfield corner. But despite a strong Triple-A track record and some occasional flashes of potential, Williamson mustered a tepid .203/.282/.348 line with 17 homers, 10 doubles and a triple in 483 plate appearances over the life of 160 MLB games. Williamson didn’t get a prolonged opportunity at regular at-bats in San Francisco or in Seattle after the Mariners picked him up, and it seems unlikely that he’ll have such an opportunity in a crowded Nationals outfield.
Juan Soto, Victor Robles and Adam Eaton comprise a strong starting unit in D.C., while Michael A. Taylor and Andrew Stevenson are on hand as reserve options. Newly signed slugger Eric Thames, too, has corner outfield experience.
The Nationals’ upper-level outfield depth is rather thin, however, which also prompted the club to pick up center fielder Carlos Tocci on a minor league arrangement. If Williamson isn’t able to crack the roster as a bench bat, he could head to Fresno as a depth option in Triple-A, where he’s a career .265/.343/.487 hitter in 1156 plate appearances.
Red Sox, Rangers Swap Sam Travis For Jeffrey Springs
The Rangers have acquired first baseman Sam Travis from the Red Sox in exchange for left-hander Jeffrey Springs, the teams announced. Boston has designated left-hander Bobby Poyner to make room on the 40-man roster.
Both Travis and Springs were recently designated for assignment, though Travis had already cleared waivers and been outrighted off Boston’s 40-man roster. Springs, meanwhile, was only designated earlier this afternoon. The Rangers will now pick up Travis’ rights without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to the former prospect. The Red Sox, meanwhile, clearly feel they’re upgrading their left-handed bullpen depth in going with Springs over Poyner.
Travis, 26, was a second-round pick back in 2014 and frequented Red Sox prospect rankings as he rapidly ascended through the lower minors. However, while he hit well up through the Double-A level, Travis saw his bat stall in Triple-A and, despite a series of looks in the Majors, never made good at the game’s top level, either. In all, he’s a .267/.339/.392 hitter in nearly 1200 Triple-A plate appearances and just a .230/.288/.371 hitter in 278 MLB trips to the plate.
That said, the Rangers aren’t exactly teeming with quality first base options. Former top prospect Ronald Guzman hasn’t distinguished himself in his own MLB tryouts to date, and the club is intent on playing Joey Gallo in the outfield. Newly signed Todd Frazier could certainly handle first base if the Texas organization adds a more prominent option at third base, but there’s little harm in stashing Travis as a depth piece in hopes that a change of scenery brings out some of his yet-untapped potential.
The 27-year-old Springs, meanwhile, struggled to a 6.40 ERA with 32 strikeouts against 23 walks in 32 1/3 innings with Texas in 2019. He’s posted huge strikeout numbers in the upper minors and enjoyed better success with the Rangers in 2018 than in 2019, but he’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher with below-average velocity who saw his opponents’ hard-hit rate soar in 2019. Springs does have three minor league option years remaining, so he’ll be an optionable piece of depth for the Sox for the foreseeable future — assuming he sticks on the roster.
Poyner, meanwhile, has a minor league option of his own remaining. Like Springs, he’s a 27-year-old who posted solid numbers in 2018 but struggled in 2019. The similarities don’t stop there, as Poyner saw his hard-hit rate and opponents’ exit velocity both jump in 2019. However, he doesn’t have Springs’ gaudy strikeout totals and averages just 89.8 mph on his heater to Springs’ 91.7 mph. Boston will have a week to trade, outright or release Poyner.
Braves, Yangervis Solarte Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran infielder Yangervis Solarte, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). The versatile switch-hitter will be in Major League camp this spring and will earn a $1MM salary if he cracks the big league roster.
Solarte, 32, was a productive utility player for the Yankees and Padres from 2014-16 but has seen his production tail off in the past three seasons. That decline culminated with a brutal .205/.247/.315 showing with the Giants this past season. And while that effort came in a tiny sample of 28 games/78 plate appearances, the collective .238/.293/.391 slash that he’s posted over his past 1096 MLB plate appearances highlights the extent of his troubles. Solarte joined Japan’s Hanshin Tigers after being cut loose last year but endured similar struggles in a small sample of games overseas.
That said, there’s no risk in bringing Solarte to camp to see if he can rediscover some of the 2014-16 form that saw him post a combined .271/.332/.419 batting line (109 OPS+) despite playing the majority of his games in the pitcher-friendly Petco Park. The veteran has experience at all four infield slots — primarily second base and third base — and has even dabbled a bit in left field.
Giants Place Zack Cozart On Release Waivers
The Giants have placed veteran infielder Zack Cozart on release waivers following his DFA earlier this week, tweets Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Cozart never seemed particularly likely to see the field with the Giants, who have veterans Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford locked in on the left side of the diamond and promising young Mauricio Dubon likely ticketed for regular reps at second base. San Francisco’s acquisition of the veteran Cozart, rather, was a pure means of buying 2019 first-round pick Will Wilson from the Angels. The Halos, eager to move the remaining $12.167MM on Cozart’s three-year contract, sent Wilson to the Giants as the Giants picked up the remaining tab on Cozart.
Cozart’s 2016-17 run with the Reds was excellent, albeit injury shortened, but his health troubles have escalated to new heights since signing with the Angels on a three-year, $38MM deal. While some missed time was always going to be likely given his track record, there was little reason to predict that he’d be limited to just 96 games over the first two seasons of the deal. Moreover, the .190/.261/.296 slash he posted in 360 plate appearances with the Halos registers as a shock, given his prior productivity in Cincinnati. Injuries have surely sapped some of his ability at the dish, but a decline of this magnitude was nonetheless difficult to foresee.
Once Cozart clears release waivers (a 48-hour process), he’ll become a free agent who can sign with any club for the prorated league minimum for any time spent in the big leagues. That sum would be subtracted from the $12.167MM the Giants are paying him next year, but the San Francisco organization will remain on the hook for the vast majority of Cozart’s contract.
Marlins Acquire Stephen Tarpley, Designate Brian Moran
The Yankees have traded left-hander Stephen Tarpley to the Marlins in exchange for minor league third baseman James Nelson and cash, the two teams announced. In order to open a spot for Tarpley on the 40-man roster, fellow southpaw Brian Moran was designated for assignment. Tarpley was designated for assignment last week when the Yankees finalized their deal with Brett Gardner.
Tarpley, 26, came to the Yankees organization in the 2016 trade that sent Ivan Nova to Pittsburgh, but he’s only logged 33 2/3 innings of action in the Majors. Most of that workload came in 2019, when he pitched to an ugly 6.93 ERA with a 34-to-15 K/BB ratio in 24 2/3 innings.
Control was clearly an issue for Tarpley this past season, as in addition to his 15 walks, he plunked two hitters and unleashed five wild pitches. But he hasn’t had that type of issue finding the zone throughout his minor league tenure and has generally been a successful reliever in the upper minors. Tarpley pitched to a 1.76 ERA in 46 Double-A innings (albeit with less impressive marks of 7.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9) and is also the owner of a career 2.88 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 65 2/3 Triple-A frames. His gaudy ground-ball tendencies haven’t carried over to the Majors just yet, but Tarpley has routinely run up grounder rates north of 60 percent in Double-A and Triple-A. The lefty has a pair of minor league options remaining as well, so the Marlins can shuttle him between New Orleans and Miami as they see fit over the next two seasons.
Nelson, 22, was Miami’s 15th-round pick back in 2016. The Cisco College product turned in a big age-19 season in the Class-A South Atlantic League when he slashed .309/.354/.456 with seven homers, 31 doubles and three triples against older competition. But the past two seasons, both of which have come with Miami’s Class-A Advanced affiliate in Jupiter, have been nightmarish. Nelson has racked up 723 plate appearances but has sub-.300 marks in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage: .222/.273/.290.
The 31-year-old Moran is the older brother of Pirates third baseman Colin Moran. He made his MLB debut at the age of 30 this past season, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts through 6 1/3 frames. Moran has solid numbers in Triple-A, where he’s averaged better than 11 strikeouts per nine innings in parts of five seasons, so perhaps another club in need of some left-handed relief depth would place a speculative claim if the Fish try to pass him through outright waivers.
Carlos Beltran’s Role In Astros Scandal Poses Tough Questions For Mets
2:54pm: There’s “legitimate concern” for Beltran’s job at the moment, Puma tweets.
7:36am: When Carlos Beltran was hired to manage the Mets on November 1st, his stint as a veteran anchor of the 2017 World Series-winning Astros was one of his better resume lines. With two other managers now fired for their roles in the Houston sign-stealing scandal, and Beltran cited as a participant in the report on the scheme, his time with the ‘Stros now represents a stain that calls into some doubt his future in New York.
Beltran won’t be suspended by the commissioner Rob Manfred since he was a player at the time of the rules violations. And there is no specific indication at this point that Beltran’s new job is in jeopardy. But with Alex Cora following A.J. Hinch onto the unemployment rolls, it’s inevitable that the Mets will need to reach a decision on Beltran and address it with the media.
When the Astros scandal broke, Mike Puma of the New York Post notes on Twitter, Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen was rather dismissive of the idea that it would have any impact on Beltran’s status. “I have no idea if anything did or did not,” said Van Wagenen, “but at this point I don’t see any reason why this is a Mets situation.”
The GM didn’t know then that Beltran would specifically be cited as a chief protagonist (alongside Cora) in the perpetration of the Houston rules violation scheme. And the magnitude of the scandal wasn’t yet clear. It also now seems that Beltran lied in his prior comments on the subject to the media.
At the moment, the Mets are taking a deliberative approach, per SNY.tv’s Andy Martino (Twitter link). While the Red Sox acted quickly to dump Cora, his departure was more obviously mandated by recent developments (including the fact of a separate investigation into the Boston organization). Beltran is at the moment preparing for his first Spring Training in the managerial seat, per Martino.
Indeed, we’re just a month out of the opening of camp, which will officially kick off a rather momentous year for the Mets organization. As Ken Davidoff and Joel Sherman of the New York Post explain in their worthwhile summation of the subject, there’s a reasonable concern that the high-profile situation will create quite the distraction for the Mets. That’s all the more true given that Hinch and Cora will be sitting out spring camp; Beltran will be scheduled to engage with the media on a daily basis and was already sure to attract close coverage.
There’s also the question whether an ethically compromised figure still ought to be trusted with the keys to the roster, a topic that the Post duo also broach. And perhaps there’s still some thirst around the game (and in the public sphere) to see further punishment meted out. That consideration doesn’t change the moral equation for the Mets, but does create added potential practical difficulties. On the other hand, making a change at this point obviously comes with a host of other risks.
It’s a tough spot for the Mets, who otherwise had no connection whatsoever to this scandal. How Van Wagenen navigates the situation could well weigh heavily on his own long-term job security.
Diamondbacks Sign Travis Snider To Minor League Deal
Outfielder Travis Snider has agreed to a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, per a recent announcement from Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate, the Reno Aces. Snider will head to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee to big league camp.
At this point, it’s been close to a half decade since Snider, once one of the game’s elite prospects, appeared in the Majors. Now 31 years old, Snider was the No. 14 pick in the 2006 draft and was ranked among the game’s top 10 overall prospects by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus heading into the 2009 season. However, despite some encouraging results in partial seasons — often in a platoon role — Snider has amassed just a .244/.311/.399 slash on the whole in 1971 MLB plate appearances.
Snider has bounced between the Pirates, Royals, Mets, Rangers and D-backs systems since his last MLB appearance, most recently spending the 2019 campaign in Reno. He’ll return to the Aces for a second season after posting a huge .294/.402/.497 slash with 11 homers, 22 doubles, four triples and a gaudy 15.2 percent walk rate through 368 plate appearances in 2019. The Diamondbacks’ MLB outfield consists of David Peralta, Ketel Marte and Kole Calhoun, with fleet-footed Tim Locastro penciled in for fourth outfield duties at the moment.
There’s no immediate path back to The Show for Snider, but if he repeats his ’19 performance and the Snakes suffer some injuries to their starters, perhaps his four-year grind through the minors and the independent circuit will culminate in a big league return.
Rangers Designate Kyle Bird, Jeffrey Springs
The Rangers have designated lefties Kyle Bird and Jeffrey Springs for assignment. Their roster spots were needed to make way for the now-official signings of catcher Robinson Chirinos and infielder Todd Frazier.
Bird, 26, was hit hard in his MLB debut last year, surrendering five home runs and 15 walks in a dozen outings as he struggled with fastball command. But he has posted strong results in the upper minors, including a run of 2.86 ERA ball (with 10.1 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9) in his 34 2/3 innings last year at Triple-A. And he has shown a high-level spin rate that could hold appeal to other organizations.
As for the 27-year-old Springs, he turned in solid results in 2018 but took a bit step back in his sophomore campaign. Over 32 1/3 frames, he surrendered 6.40 earned runs per nine with 8.9 K/9 and 6.4 BB/9. While he hasn’t really shown it at the MLB level, Springs has at times carried eye-popping strikeout numbers in the minors. And he did record a 12.5% swinging-strike rate in 2019.
Angels Hire Dylan Axelrod As Pitching Coordinator
Former MLB hurler Dylan Axelrod is joining the Angels organization in the position of pitching coordinator, he announced today. Axelrod had worked as a pitching instructor and now becomes the latest such figure to step into a notable role with an MLB organization.
Axelrod ended with only a 5.27 ERA in his MLB career. But he threw over 200 innings over five campaigns — no mean achievement for a 30th round draft pick. Just getting to the point of being drafted was an achievement, given that Axelrod had to throw at a community college before even gaining a chance with a D-I outfit.
It probably won’t be surprising to hear that, in addition to his time with Peak Performance Project, Axelrod has some background with Driveline Baseball, the institution that has helped many pitchers discover or rediscover a formula to add velocity and harness spin rate and other tools to get on the MLB map. Driveline has spun employees out to affiliate teams in player development roles similar to Axelrod’s. Among others, Driveline founder Kyle Boddy signed on with the Reds and Rob Hill recently joined the Dodgers.
Padres Sign Jerad Eickhoff
The Padres have agreed to a minor-league deal with righty Jerad Eickhoff, the former Phillies hurler recently told Aaron Hancock of Indiana’s 14 News. Eickhoff adds that he received an invitation to participate in the MLB side of Spring Training.
Now 29 years of age, Eickhoff broke into the majors with aplomb back in 2015. He was again effective in the ensuing season, when he threw 197 1/3 innings of 3.65 ERA ball with 7.6 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9. To that stage of his career, Eickhoff seemed like he’d be a solid rotation piece for years to come for the Philadelphia organization.
As it turned out, things would turn south from there. Eickhoff dipped in 2017, with a 4.71 ERA over 128 innings, which he accumulated while dealing with a variety of injury issues. The health problems continued in the following campaign, with a lat injury turning into numbness in his fingers that was eventually diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Eickhoff has worked hard to get on the bump as much as possible, but he has managed only 63 2/3 MLB innings over the past two seasons. And though he managed a useful 62:18 K/BB ratio in that span, Eickhoff was tagged for 19 home runs. He also struggled in minor-league work in 2019.
The Padres will try to help Eickhoff rediscover his former promise. Tamping down the persistent hand issues will obviously be a key. At worst, Eickhoff figures to function as experienced depth; perhaps there’s also a glimmer of upside remaining for him and the San Diego organization. Padres GM A.J. Preller is amply familiar with Eickhoff, having helped draft the hurler in his former capacity as assistant GM of the Rangers.