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Indians Sign Justin Grimm To Minor League Contract

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The Indians announced Thursday that they’ve signed right-hander Justin Grimm to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Grimm is represented by the Bledsoe Agency.

The 30-year-old Grimm split the 2018 season between the Royals and Mariners but struggled through the worst season of his career. The former Cubs reliever was clobbered for a combined 20 runs in 17 1/3 innings and walked more hitters (14) than he struck out (11).

Grimm did improve upon landing in Seattle, allowing just one run in 4 2/3 innings as a Mariner. It’s been awhile since Grimm enjoyed success at the MLB level, but he was excellent back in 2015 when he tossed 49 2/3 innings of 1.99 ERA ball with 12.1 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9. Control has long been an issue for the righty, but he’s also consistently demonstrated an ability to miss bats both in the upper minors and at the Major League level.

Twins Designate Aaron Slegers For Assignment

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The Twins announced Thursday that they’ve designated right-hander Aaron Slegers for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for newly signed designated hitter Nelson Cruz.

Slegers, a towering righty, stands at 6’10” and has pitched 29 innings for the Twins across the past two seasons but struggled to a 5.90 ERA in that time. Although Slegers hasn’t had much experience at the MLB level, he’s had quite a bit of success in Triple-A, where he’s pitched to a 3.54 ERA in 233 2/3 innings with 6.8 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 and average or better ground-ball tendencies. As a starting pitcher who has had some success in the upper minors and has a pair of minor league options remaining, Slegers could hold some appeal to clubs in need of some depth and options at the back of the rotation. If he clears waivers, he’ll presumably head the Twins’ top affiliate on an outright assignment.

AL Central Notes: Indians, Cruz, Tigers

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The chances of the Indians trading one of Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer “seem to diminish by the day,” writes Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic in his latest notes column (subscription required). Rosenthal writes that Cleveland is instead looking at affordable options to round out the back end of the roster more than moving either of the oft-rumored-to-be-available righties. As MLBTR’s Ty Bradley recently noted in profiling the remaining needs of the American League Central’s five teams, the Indians could still use some outfield upgrades as well as help in the bullpen and behind the plate. Adding some veteran versatility for the bench could also prove prudent in Cleveland, where Jordan Luplow, out-of-options Max Moroff and non-roster invitee Mike Freeman are currently among the candidates for bench roles.

Elsewhere in the American League Central…

  • The Twins obviously plan to use Nelson Cruz primarily as a designated hitter, but manager Rocco Baldelli at least raised the possibility that Cruz could see occasional outfield work in 2019, as Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes. “We’re going to work with him and have a lot of conversations about how he is doing,” said Baldelli. “How he feels. How he prepares for the season to play in the outfield.” Presumably, Cruz would be more of an emergency option or perhaps an option in National League parks during interleague play. Minnesota, after all, isn’t short on young, athletic outfield options with Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler currently in line for the bulk of the corner outfield work, plus Byron Buxton and Jake Cave in the center field mix. Miller also quotes Cruz on his decision to sign in Minnesota, which was influenced in part by his familiarity with GM Thad Levine and former Orioles teammate/new Twins second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Meanwhile, Rosenthal adds that Cruz did receive two-year offers in free agency, but none that would’ve come close to the $26MM he can earn if the Twins exercise his 2020 option. The Rays and Astros were among the other teams prominently linked to Cruz in free agency.
  • Chris McCosky of the Detroit News chats with Tigers prospect Bryan Garcia, who is now 11 months removed from Tommy John surgery and is nearing a return to the mound. As McCosky notes, the Detroit farm system looks dramatically different now than it did a year ago, when Garcia was ranked among the organization’s more promising young arms. MLB.com still ranks Garcia as the Tigers’ No. 22 farmhand, but he’s been leapfrogged by numerous pitchers over the course of the year he missed. None of that bothers Garcia, who discusses his decision to undergo surgery, his mindset during rehab and his 2019 outlook at lengthy with McCosky. A sixth-rounder in 2016, Garcia enjoyed a meteoric rise through Detroit’s system in ’17, ascending from Low-A to Triple-A and amassing 55 innings of 2.13 ERA ball with 12.8 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 along the way. Tigers VP of player development Dave Littlefield tells McCosky that the goal is for Garcia to be pitching competitively by May. The 23-year-old could well emerge as a ’pen option in Detroit in late 2019 or in 2020, though Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen wrote last May that Garcia could also have the stuff to start.

NL Central Notes: Reds, Winker, Dozier, Martinez

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As they ramp back up following some holiday downtime, the Reds are still looking at external center field candidates, president of baseball operations Dick Williams tells Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. However, Williams expresses confidence that in-house options like Scott Schebler and Phil Ervin can handle center field if needed, and he also lists top prospect Nick Senzel as a possibility there. “If this is the group we go into camp with, I think we’d be open-minded there,” said Williams of his current outfield mix. “But between now and Spring Training, we’ll continue to look at ways to address that area.” Cincinnati already has Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Schebler, Ervin and Jesse Winker as options in the outfield.

Regarding Winker, who has posted a terrific .299/.397/.460 slash through his first 136 MLB games, Williams indicated that the Reds still view him as an everyday option or, at the very least, “a very consistent regular contributor.” Winker’s playing time could be cut into by the additions of veterans Kemp and Puig, though he’s coming off surgery in his non-throwing shoulder, so perhaps some additional rest would prove beneficial.

Here’s a bit more from the NL Central…

  • The Brewers “like” free-agent second baseman Brian Dozier, writes Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic in his latest notes column (subscription required), though there’s no clear indication that the two sides have had any substantial talks to this point. Bringing Dozier into the fold would give Milwaukee a potential short-term bridge to prospects Keston Hiura and Mauricio Dubon while affording the longtime Twins slugger to rebuild some value in the wake of a poor 2018 season which was hindered by knee troubles. From 2014-17, Dozier hit .254/.338/.476 and averaged 32 homers per season, but he faceplanted with a .215/.305/.391 slash between Minnesota and Los Angeles last year.
  • Rosenthal also writes that one executive from a rival club feels the Cardinals are becoming decreasingly likely to move Jose Martinez in a trade this winter. The late-blooming 30-year-old has hit .309/.372/.478 with 31 homers, 44 doubles and a triple through his first 915 MLB plate appearances since debuting in 2016, though his pronounced defensive shortcomings at first base and in the outfield have made him a potential trade candidate. That, of course, hardly precludes a trade, but it seems the Cards may be more keen on keeping Martinez as a bench bat now that they don’t need to rely on him for a full slate of games following the acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt. Martinez only has two years and 27 days of Major League service time, leaving him a year shy of arbitration eligibility and giving the Cardinals another four seasons of club control before he can become a free agent. Given that Martinez isn’t likely to earn much more than $600K in 2019, the Cardinals aren’t under any sort of pressure to move him unless they receive immediate MLB-ready help at a position of greater need.

Retirement Notes: Tuiasosopo, Amezaga

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The latest retirement news from around the game . . .

  • Per an Atlanta Braves team release, former IF/OF Matt Tuiasosopo has retired and will manage the club’s low-A Rome affiliate next season. Tuiasosopo, 32, appeared in parts of five major league seasons with Seattle, Detroit, and Atlanta, slashing a combined .206/.288/.353 in 404 career plate appearances. The brother of former NFL quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo showed late-career promise in Triple-A with the White Sox and Braves, but decided to call it quits after a poor showing with the New Britain Bees of the independent Atlantic League in 2018.
  • In the same release, the Braves announced that former MLB IF/OF Alfredo Amezaga is no longer playing and will make his “coaching debut” with the organization in a to-be-determined capacity. Amezaga had spent much of 2013-17 in the Mexican League after a decade-long MLB career with four different teams. The 40-year-old slashed a respectable .247/.307/.333 over those ten seasons, starting at least one game at every position on the diamond, save for behind the plate. The Mexican-born Amezaga’s 2004 grand slam, hit in the first game of a decisive, final-weekend series against the Athletics, will live forever in Angel lore. He last appeared stateside for AAA-Albuquerque in 2013 after spending parts of the 2011 season with the Rockies and Marlins.

3 Remaining Needs: AL Central

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Our 3 Remaining Needs series skips over to the Cleveland-dominated American League Central, home to three of MLB’s least successful franchises in 2018. The Tribe still figure to have a stranglehold on the division, though the upstart Twins have kicked off the winter with a flurry of moves, and prospect-rich White Sox are shooting well beyond their typical free-agent moon. Here’s a look at the three most pressing needs for each team in the division (listed in order of 2018 finish) . . .

[Previous installments: NL West, NL East, NL Central, AL West]

Cleveland Indians

  • Find an outfielder (or three). The Tribe probably don’t need to do anything this winter if their aim is simply to lock down a fourth straight division crown, but surely the title-starved club, rife with franchise icons on the infield and in the rotation, has set its sights a good deal higher. If so, they’ll need to fix their desolate outfield situation, which currently features some haphazard mix of Jordan Luplow, Jake Bauers, Leonys Martin, Greg Allen, and Tyler Naquin. Jason Kipnis could be an option as well, though the club has already swapped penciled-in third baseman Yandy Diaz for Bauers, which should force Jose Ramirez back to the hot corner and Kipnis – who suffered through a second consecutive subpar season in ’18 – back to second. The Indians saved about $18MM by dealing Yonder Alonso and Edwin Encarnacion, so this should be their first priority.
  • Address the pen. Behind star-level closer Brad Hand, the Tribe pen is surprisingly thin. Tyler Olson, essentially a LOOGY at this point in his career, is otherwise the club’s highest-producing returner, with a 2.94 xFIP in just 29 IP. Stunningly, not a single other returning Indian reliever posted higher than 0.1 fWAR in 2018, with heralded midseason acquisition Adam Cimber posting a dreadful 3.15 K/9 over an identical 3.15 BB/9 in his stint with the club. Cleveland has long treasured bargain pickups in this area, and may again be left shuffling through the bin in search of help.
  • Acquire a catcher. Recent deals have stripped the club of star prospect Francisco Mejia and the up-and-down Yan Gomes, leaving just a combination of Roberto Perez and Eric Haase behind the dish, each of whom project around replacement level. An upper-minors savior isn’t in the wings, so the club will likely be forced to look elsewhere for an upgrade.

Minnesota Twins

  • Solidify the back end of the rotation.  The Twins have gone all-in on righty power (Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron, Jonathan Schoop) this winter, but have still yet to address a number of staff holes.  A top end of Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, and Kyle Gibson – plus a returning Michael Pineda – is a nice start, but three of the four are free agents after the season, and the club has little in the way of track record after that. Youngsters Stephen Gonsalves, Lewis Thorpe, and Fernando Romero could fill in eventually, but none appear poised to immediately lock down a role.
  • Shore up the pen. Taylor Rogers quietly had one of MLB’s best relief seasons in 2018 (a dominant 54 FIP-) and Trevor May is a quality arm, but the Twins lack anything in the way of cohesion beyond that. Figureheads Addison Reed and Trevor Hildenberger struggled mightily with the long ball last year and, with the fickle nature of even longtime bullpen success stories, can hardly be counted on in the season to come. Lefty Andrew Vasquez deserves at least an early-season look after sporting minor league numbers that nearly defy belief, but the club would do well to hunt down two or three more proven performers in the back end.
  • Don’t mess with Kepler. German-born Max Kepler has accrued nearly three full seasons’ worth of MLB at-bats in his young career and has yet to produce even a league-average line, but a closer look suggests there may be much more to come. Indeed, the 25-year-old quietly accumulated a solid 2.6 fWAR last season despite a balls-in-play average of just .236, and his plate-discipline profile (11.6 BB%/15.7 K%) stood as one of the AL’s best. Kepler earns plus defensive marks wherever he plays, and could be a breakout center-field candidate if Byron Buxton again sputters early in the season. Kepler is an apparently a sought-after commodity on the trade market this winter, but the man who Steamer projects to produce a 110 wRC+ (Brandon Nimmo, by comparison, is at 112) should have a long-term home in Minneapolis.

Detroit Tigers

  • Find a taker for Nick Castellanos. Castellanos, 26, had his best offensive season last year, slashing .298/.354/.500 (130 wRC+) with a celestial 48% hard-hit rate. He’s entering the last year of team control, though, and would seem to have to have little on-field value for a rebuilding Tiger club; numerous teams are said to have had interest, but the price (somewhat oddly, given his defensive ineptitude) remains exorbitant.
  • Continue to hunt for flip candidates. Thus far in the offseason, Detroit has signed Matt Moore, Tyson Ross, and Jordy Mercer, all of whom (but especially the former two) could have legitimate mid-season trade value if they unexpectedly return to form. Pickups of this ilk seem ideal for a Tiger team in flux; a few more, perhaps at multiple spots in the outfield and in the bullpen, could be an excellent jumpstart for the nascent rebuild.
  • Add prospect depth. It’s been years – decades, maybe – since the Tiger farm churned out multiple big leaguers at a time, with the team instead preferring to assemble their best clubs through shrewd trades and lavish free-agent signings. Now, though, seems the perfect time to amass a burgeoning juggernaut on the farm; the club is off to a great start, with three of the league’s top-50 prospects in place, but strength in numbers will be the order of the next few seasons in Motown.

Chicago White Sox

  • Sign one of (or both) Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.  This remains a long shot, to be sure, but the talk in Chicagoland seems to be intensifying around each superstar. Whether the White Sox, who’ve never handed out a free-agent contract north of $70MM in club history, are willing to meet the respective enormous demands is unclear, but a seat at the table may be sufficient for the long-suffering fans on the Southside.
  • Find guys who put the ball in play. The White Sox led baseball with a hard-to-believe 26.3 K% last year, and received meager ancillary benefit, with a mid-pack team ISO of just .160. Among regulars, only Jose Abreu had a strikeout percentage under 20%, which may well be a first in major-league history. A power-driven lineup makes sense in the homer-happy Guaranteed Rate Field, but it won’t mean much if the club continues to strike out at a historic collective pace.
  • Find guys who keep the ball in play. Chicago’s 115 xFIP- was dead-last in MLB last year, aided in no small part by a league-worst 4.09 BB/9 and the tendency of its starters to deliver up the gopher ball. Head culprit James Shields is gone, but the club needs, urgently, to be on the scent of pitchers with a track record of limiting the home run. Perhaps no pitcher would be a better fit than Marcus Stroman (0.81 career HR/9), but others, like Gio Gonzalez, Mike Leake, Sonny Gray, and even perhaps Martin Perez, who was homer-allergic in his previous few seasons prior to last, would be excellent choices as well.

Kansas City Royals

  • Scour the depths for pitching help. Kansas City’s pitching staff was, by any account, an unmitigated disaster last season, as the team’s hurlers struck out a mere 7.27 men per nine on the way to near-league-worst output. The team, oddly, has poured so much of its resources into finding high-contact offensive players, but seems thoroughly disinterested in identifying their inverse on the pitching staff. The 2018 Royals featured nine regular contributors who struck out seven or fewer men last season, none of whom received much help from the unit’s highest-priced contingent of Ian Kennedy and Danny Duffy. Put simply, the Royals need mound help wherever they can find it.
  • Cash in peak-value assets. 30-year-old Whit Merrifield’s value will likely never be higher – fresh off a 5.2 fWAR season, the versatile IF/OF has already piqued the interest of a number of a clubs, all of whom have been informed that he likely is not available. Such a strategy seems unsound – Merrifield, after all, projects around league-average next season, would seem to have hit his zenith, and doesn’t figure to be a key cog in the next contending Royals club. Plus, there’s the troubling track record – it took Whit three tries to progress beyond Double-A, and another three to get past AAA. If a crater is on the horizon, Kansas City will certainly be kicking themselves in the seasons to come.
  • Find regular at-bats for Brett Phillips and Jorge Soler. The two former top-50 prospects have seen their value slide precipitously over the last two seasons, but it’s certainly not time to give up on either yet. Alex Gordon and the newly-signed Billy Hamilton figure to take up two-thirds of the outfield slots, and team favorite Jorge Bonifacio is likely to contend at the other, but the non-contending Royals must find a way to get both of these players at least 400 plate appearances in 2019.

Latest On The White Sox Pursuit Of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado

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5:38 PM: Levine does take care to note that, per his sources, Harper “has had” ten-year offers with “big” proposed AAV salaries, though the tendering clubs remain as yet unknown.

3:07 PM: Earlier today, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reported that the White Sox (and the Phillies) were willing to give Bryce Harper a contract of at least ten guaranteed years in length.  However, contrasting information on Chicago’s stance has come from 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine (Twitter link), who reports that the White Sox are only willing to give Harper or Manny Machado a maximum of a seven-year contract.  According to “high ranking industry sources” in contact with Levine, Passan’s report about the White Sox being open to a ten-year deal is “without any substance and flat out wrong.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that the Sox weren’t quite going all-out in their pursuit of either free agent.  Earlier in the offseason, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney described Chicago’s approach to Harper and Machado as “measured and modest,” noting that the club wasn’t willing to make the type of record-setting contractual commitment that both players are reportedly seeking.

Both Harper and Machado will be only 26 years old on Opening Day, and their entries into free agency at such a young age invite extended commitments considering their potential for future performance.  Either player could quite reasonably still be productive in their age-35 season, when a ten-year deal would conclude.  Looking at other recent long-term free agent deals, Jason Heyward (also just 26 at the time) scored an eight-year deal from the Cubs in December 2015, and Eric Hosmer (then 28 years old) got eight years from the Padres just last winter.  It’s almost impossible to see Harper or Machado taking less, considering that both have delivered considerably more superstar-level production than either Heyward or Hosmer at the time of their deals.

All things considered, a seven-year pact doesn’t seem like it would even get Harper or Machado’s attention, unless it came with a very high average annual value.  Even that strategy would seem uncharacteristic for the White Sox, who have never spent more than $68MM total (for Jose Abreu) on a player.  The Sox do have some new revenues coming in the form of a new broadcast contract, though it would still be a big leap to see the team suddenly be willing to spend in the neighborhood of $35MM+ in average annual value to land one of the offseason’s top two free agents.

Angels Sign Jonathan Lucroy

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January 2, 5:26 pm: Fancred’s Jon Heyman has the full breakdown of incentives in Lucroy’s deal. The backstop will stand to make $50K if he notches 100 starts in 2019, $75K each for hitting the 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, and 130 games started marks, and $100K if he starts 135 games. He’ll also earn $50K each for notching 350 and 375 plate appearances, respectively, and $75K if he accrues 400, 425, 450, 475 and 500 PA. In the event he reaches the 525 PA plateau, the 32-year-old will earn an extra $100K.

December 28, 9:58pm: Factoring in incentives, the max value of Lucroy’s deal is $4.525MM, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets.

December 28, 7:36pm: The Angels have agreed to a one-year, $3.35MM guarantee with free-agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who has already taken a physical, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. Jon Heyman of Fancred first reported the two sides were closing in on a contract. Lucroy, a client of Excel Sports Management, will have a chance to earn upward of $4MM on his new deal, according to Passan.

The 32-year-old Lucroy will stay in the American League West, where he played with the Rangers from 2016-17 and the Athletics last season. After a down 2017 split between Texas and Colorado, the former Brewers star had to settle for a one-year, $6.5MM guarantee with the A’s just a few weeks before the 2018 campaign started. Lucroy ended up drawing raves from his teammates and coaches in Oakland, which surprisingly earned a wild-card berth. However, he easily endured the worst statistical season of his career.

Once among the majors’ elite all-around backstops, Lucroy limped to a .241/.291/.325 line across 454 plate appearances last year. Of hitters who racked up at least 400 PAs, he ranked sixth from the bottom in ISO (.084) and ninth last in wRC+ (70), continuing an abrupt fall from grace for someone who was a formidable offensive presence as recently as 2016. Worsening matters, for the second straight year, the former pitch-framing darling had extreme difficulty as a defender, according to Baseball Prospectus. To Lucroy’s credit, though, he did throw out an above-average 30 percent of would-be base stealers.

Despite his issues over the past couple years, it appears the Angels will count on Lucroy to play an important role in 2019. The club entered Friday with no truly established options behind the plate, as Kevan Smith (497 major league PAs) and Jose Briceno (128) were the lone catchers on its 40-man roster. Given that Smith’s out of minor league options, it’s likely he has the inside track to back up Lucroy. But whether Lucroy’s a significant enough pickup for the Angels to stop seeking help at the position is debatable. In the event the Halos are content with Lucroy, Smith and Briceno, it’ll remove a suitor for the top free-agent catcher available, Yasmani Grandal, whom they’ve reportedly chased.

For the Angels, the Lucroy signing is the fourth notable move they’ve made in free agency this winter. The team previously inked first baseman Justin Bour and a pair of right-handers in Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill – all of whom also received one-year commitments. The Angels have been linked to other free agents – including reliever David Robertson and infielder Josh Harrison on Friday – and considering they still have obvious needs, general manager Billy Eppler may not be done this offseason. For now, the Angels’ hope is that their quartet of free-agent additions will help provide a better supporting cast to the game’s foremost player, center fielder Mike Trout, as he heads into his penultimate year of team control. The Angels have managed just one postseason trip and zero playoff wins since the future Hall of Famer debuted in 2011, and they’re currently mired in a four-year drought.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/2/19

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The latest minor league transactions from around baseball….

Latest Moves

  • Per mlb.com’s transaction page on Dec. 14, the Dodgers have re-signed righty Daniel Corcino to a minor league pact. Corcino, 28, made two late-season appearances for Los Angeles last season after being a fixture in the AAA-Oklahoma City rotation for much of the year. The 5’11 righty was mostly excellent for the team’s chief affiliate, offering an 8.88 K/9 against 3.57 BB/9 with just 9 HR allowed in 103 1/3 IP, his first AAA exposure since 2013. Corcino, who made five appearances for the 2014 Reds, had worked mostly as a reliever since, appearing in 56 games at the High-A and Double-A levels from 2015-17.
  • The Rockies have signed right-hander Jairo Diaz to a new minors contract, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports.  The deal, notably, doesn’t seem to include an invitation to the team’s big league Spring Training camp.  That could be an indication that the Rox don’t want to pressure Diaz into trying to win a big league job and are simply focused on getting the injury-plagued righty on track.  Diaz missed all of 2016 due to Tommy John surgery, and subsequent forearm and elbow issues have limited him to just five MLB innings in 2017 and 32 1/3 total innings in the minors over the last two seasons.  Diaz did toss 30 1/3 IP in Venezuelan Winter League ball this year, so there is some sign of progress.

Earlier Today

  • The Dodgers have signed outfielder Shane Peterson to a minor league deal.  The contract contains an invitation to the team’s Major League Spring Training camp.  Peterson, who turns 31 in January, spent 2018 with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate, and he has a .254/.319/.359 slash line over 322 career MLB plate appearances.  The bulk of that action (226 PA) came with Milwaukee in 2015, and Peterson last appeared in the Show in 2017 when playing for the Rays.  Peterson has seen a lot of work at all three outfield positions over his 11-year professional career plus substantial time as a first baseman, giving L.A. another versatile asset to deploy as a bench piece or as minor league depth.

Mariners Sign Yusei Kikuchi

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The Mariners have spent much of the offseason making trades to aggressively reshape their roster, but they announced on Wednesday what figures to be one of the largest pitching signings of the offseason: a four-year contract for free-agent left-hander Yusei Kikuchi. The Scott Boras client, who had been posted for MLB clubs by the Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, will reportedly receive a guaranteed $56MM on a uniquely structured contract.

The first three years of Kikuchi’s contract will reportedly pay him $43MM, and at that point he’ll have a player option for the 2022 season that is valued at $13MM. However, the Mariners can also preemptively exercise a four-year club option on Kikuchi that would promise him an additional $66MM. In doing so, they’d effectively be extending his contract to a seven-year, $109MM deal. Conceptually, the deal is similar to the contract that Boras brokered between the Phillies and Jake Arrieta last year, though the overall length of the two pacts differs (as one would expect give the age discrepancy between the two).

Kikuchi, 27, was one of the more intriguing players available on this year’s free-agent market. He was free to sign with any team that he wanted after being posted by the Lions, but he had until early January to come to terms with a new team after being posted in early December, as the current posting agreement between Major League Baseball and NPB gives MLB clubs a 30-day window from the onset of the posting period. As part of that agreement, the Mariners will pay the Lions a release fee equal to 20 percent of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5 percent of the next $25MM and 15 percent of anything on top of that. In other words, the Mariners are effectively agreeing to pay the Lions as much as $10.275MM on top of Kikuchi’s guarantee. If the four-year option/extension is picked up in 2022, they’d pay the Lions a total of $19.725MM in addition to the full $109MM guaranteed to Kikuchi.

The connection between Kikuchi and the M’s has long been obvious, particularly since the organization has made no secret of its interest. Though the Seattle club has made clear it’s taking a step back from competitiveness, it hopes to bounce back to contention by 2020 or 2021. That has been a driving factor in Seattle’s acquisition of young, controllable players such as Mallex Smith, Omar Narvaez, Domingo Santana, J.P. Crawford and Justus Sheffield.

The still-youthful Kikuchi seems to fit that timeline. It’s also hard to ignore the simple geographical match. Seattle and other west coast clubs are more convenient locales for Japanese players; the M’s have previously enjoyed positive stints from players such as Ichiro Suzuki and Hisashi Iwakuma and were selected as a finalist for Shohei Ohtani’s services last winter as well.

The addition of Kikuchi will give the Mariners’ rotation some upside to line up alongside young southpaw Marco Gonzales and veteran hurlers Felix Hernandez, Mike Leake and Wade LeBlanc. Bringing Kikuchi into the fold will give the Mariners the luxury of being able to ease Sheffield and/or righty Erik Swanson (acquired alongside Sheffield in the James Paxton swap with the Yankees) into the mix rather than forcing one or both into the rotation out of necessity. Of course, that complexion could still change over the course of the offseason; the Mariners are reportedly still exploring the market for Leake and other veterans.

Over the past four seasons, Kikuchi has worked to a pristine 2.58 ERA with averages of 8.9 strikeouts, 3.1 walks and 0.68 home runs per nine innings pitched. He’s said to have a fastball in the low to mid 90s and multiple average-or-better secondary offerings to pair with that heater. Though the M’s are committing a fairly substantial sum to a pitcher who is largely a wildcard, if Kikuchi is able to find success at the MLB level, that contract could quickly become a bargain. And while that $56MM guarantee is fairly hefty for a player who has yet to throw a pitch in the Majors, it’s more along the lines of the contract a mid-rotation starter would expect to receive on the open market here. If Kikuchi can prove himself as a quality big league arm, it’s quite possible that there’ll even be surplus value on the deal.

The Kikuchi signing is somewhat of a rarity among non-contending clubs these days: a move designed to improve the team for the upcoming season even as it looks to retool/rebuild its organization for the long haul. In an era of tanking teams that are motivated by a collective bargaining agreement that heavily incentivizes losing, few teams make this type of investment early in the rebuilding (or, to use GM Jerry Dipoto’s term, “re-imagining”) process. But the acquisition of Kikuchi and the focus on MLB-ready or near-MLB assets in the majority of the growing web of trades Dipoto has made this winter do all speak to the fact that, as opposed to the arduous multi-year rebuilds on which so many other organizations have embarked, the Mariners hope to be competitive far sooner than later.

Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal (Twitter link). Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweeted that the two sides had reached an agreement. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported the length of the contract (via Twitter), and Heyman added further details on the contract structure (also via Twitter).

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