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Veteran catcher Eric Fryer, who earlier this offseason had inked a minor league deal with the Phillies, has elected to retire instead of attending camp this spring, the team announced.
Fryer, 32, has spent parts of the past seven seasons in the Majors, including 94 games between the Pirates and Cardinals in 2016-17. In 374 plate appearances across the life of 159 games, Fryer hit .232/.320/.300 with a pair of homers, 14 doubles and a triple. In addition to spending parts of three seasons with the Pirates and two with the Cardinals, Fryer also saw action with the Twins in the 2014-15 seasons.
In addition to his time in the Majors, Fryer, a former 10th round pick (Brewers, 2007), enjoyed a nine-year career in the minors, during which he batted .269/.357/.396 in an additional 647 games. Best wishes to Fryer in his post-playing days.
The Indians are in agreement with veteran catcher Ryan Hanigan on a minor league contract, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links). The O’Connell Sports Management client will earn a $1.25MM base salary if he’s able to crack the Major League roster.
Hanigan, 37, spent the 2017 season in the Rockies organization, logging 33 games in the Majors and another 17 in Triple-A. He hit .267/.324/.347 with a pair of homers through 112 plate appearances in the Majors last year — numbers that are fairly representative of his overall skill set despite the small sample size. Hanigan has long displayed solid on-base skills, especially for a catcher, as evidenced by a career .344 on-base percentage and 11.2 percent walk rate. That walk rate has trended downward in recent seasons as his strikeout rate has risen correspondingly, however, and he’s never displayed much in the way of power.
The veteran Hanigan will give Cleveland a depth option, though he’s a ways down the depth chart. Both Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez are under guaranteed contracts after signing long-term deals with Cleveland in recent years, and the Indians also have one of the game’s top catching prospects, Francisco Mejia, looming in the upper minors.
Shohei Ohtani’s debut will be one of the major stories of the 2018 season, and in a fascinating piece, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register talks to five sources (Ohtani’s former manager and signing scout with the Nippon Ham Fighters, and three former MLB players who played with Ohtani in Japan) to gauge how the 23-year-old will fare with the Angels. While all five agree that Ohtani will have to make some inevitable adjustments to Major League Baseball, all believe he’ll be a success — interestingly, manager Hideki Kuriyama and scout Takashi Ofuchi think Ohtani will be better as a hitter than as a pitcher. Former Yankees and Astros infielder Brandon Laird described Ohtani as “at his age, he’s one of the best, if not the best player I’ve ever seen or had the chance to play with,” after three years as his teammate on the Fighters. “He’s almost like a 10-tool player, a pitcher and hitter who can do it all.” For more opinions on what Ohtani might bring to the table, MLBTR’s Chuck Wasserstrom compiled an in-depth scouting report on Ohtani last May based on talking to five international-scouting figures from MLB teams.
Here’s more from both the AL and NL West…
The Cubs “put in one last call” to Jake Arrieta before completing their six-year, $126MM deal with Yu Darvish, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Heyman says Epstein respectfully inquired as to whether Arrieta would have been willing to accept “a deal believed to be similar to the one offered to Darvish should Darvish turn them down.” According to Heyman, “while Arrieta surely appreciated the gesture, he wasn’t immediately prepared to accept a six-year deal for what was believed to be for a similar annual salary.”
A careful reading of Heyman’s phrasing is advised, as he at no point states that the Cubs actually made a six-year offer to Arrieta. Nor could one accurately say Arrieta turned down a six-year offer from the Cubs, as we erroneously did in an earlier version of this post. Last Wednesday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that “the Cubs and Arrieta barely even engaged in contract talks this winter.” If that’s correct, it would be odd for Epstein to even have made an intimation of a six-year offer around that same time.
It isn’t uncommon for teams or their free agents to touch base with each other one final time before either side is on the verge of a move, either out of mutual respect and/or genuine interest to see if a deal could be reached. (For one example from this winter, Carlos Santana’s representatives kept the Indians up to date on his market just to leave open the possibility that the Tribe could’ve found the payroll space to keep Santana in Cleveland.) It also isn’t an uncommon tactic for a team to approach several similarly-valued free agents with similar contact offers to see which, if any, accepts first.
Certainly, it doesn’t seem that Arrieta or his agent Scott Boras felt the need to jump at the Cubs’ offer, as Boras is still confident his client will land a deal closer to the much higher price tag Boras was reportedly seeking earlier this offseason. While the lack of free agent activity around the sport is “not traditional,” Boras said, “it seems normal (now). The free agent market is now under way. For me, it’s December 10th, not February 10th.” Heyman gives an idea of Arrieta’s possible current asking price, writing, “Some might have seen the Cubs’ last-minute inquiry as a chance to end a difficult free-agent season happily, but others understood that Arrieta probably wasn’t going to take a much lower deal than Jon Lester’s in light of the fact that a strong case could be made he’s outperformed Lester over the last few years.” Heyman’s “case” for Arrieta as compared to Lester is certainly worth debating. Lester signed a six-year, $155MM deal with the Cubs on the eve of his 31st birthday, on the back of a huge walk year that resulted in a fourth-place Cy Young finish and a big market bidding war. Arrieta turns 32 soon and is coming off a good, but not great, year. He’s also battling a historically slow free agent market that is likely to leave at least a few big names disappointed.
Heyman lists the Brewers, Nationals, Phillies, Twins, and Cardinals as “the most logical teams” that could still make a play for Arrieta, though he notes that the latter two clubs seem like longer shots. Milwaukee, Washington, and Philadelphia have all been linked to Arrieta at various points this winter and, now that Darvish is off the board, Arrieta might be the top target for a Brewers team that has money to spend and a need for front-of-the-rotation pitching. The Phillies also have a glaring rotation need but may still be a year away from serious spending (their deal with Santana notwithstanding), while the Nats would have to carve out payroll space or simply accept a big luxury tax overage in order to sign Arrieta.
The latest buzz from the Twin Cities…
The Nationals have made late-winter signings in the past, and there’s certainly opportunity for the club to do so again given the large number of available free agents, MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman writes. While the idea of the Nats signing Jake Arrieta, Alex Cobb, or Lance Lynn at a discounted price in March is tempting for a team that has toyed with upgrading the rotation, Zuckerman feels that Washington is more likely to add a reliever if a late signing is indeed in the cards. On the whole, the Nats aren’t under any real pressure to make any sort of move, given their deep roster.
Here’s more from around the NL East…
Here are the biggest stories from the past week here at MLB Trade Rumors…
Darvish goes to Wrigleyville: The offseason’s biggest free agent finally landed a new home, as Yu Darvish agreed to a six-year, $126MM deal with the Cubs. Though several teams were linked to Darvish over the course of the winter, it took until almost mid-February in this unusually-quiet offseason for the star right-hander to sign — this slow market, in fact, seemingly opened the door for the Cubs to pursue Darvish in the first place, as opposed to other pitching targets. The addition of Darvish to an already-strong rotation of Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, and Tyler Chatwood bolsters Chicago’s chances of repeating as NL Central champions, despite other notable offseason upgrades for the Cardinals and Brewers. It wouldn’t be surprising if Darvish’s contract leads to more movement on some of the other top members of the free agent pitching class, i.e. Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, and Alex Cobb.
Mets sign Todd Frazier: A prominent free agent position player also signed this week, with Todd Frazier remaining in New York but trading in the Yankee pinstripes for the orange-and-blue. Frazier signed a two-year, $17MM deal with the Mets, a lower-than-expected contract that reflects the cool free agent market overall and, specifically, the relative lack of contenders looking for third base help. The Mets themselves were mostly focused on second basemen (or multi-position infielders) this winter with Asdrubal Cabrera penciled in at the hot corner, though the Frazier signing came not long after Cabrera expressed a preference for playing second base. With so much health and positional uncertainty dotting the Mets’ roster, the team will be helped by Frazier’s durability, not to mention his above-average defense and hitting.
Spring Training for free agents: With more that 100 free agents still unsigned, the MLB Players Association is finalizing plans for a separate Spring Training camp for these unattached players so they can prepare as normally as possible for the coming season. Several details are still to be finalized about this camp, and not all free agents are expected to attend; some of Scott Boras’ clients, for instance, will train at the Boras Corporation’s own facilities. The MLBPA camp is the most public example yet of what an unusual offseason this has been for free agent activity, and the war of words between the union and the league office about the alleged reasons for the dearth of signings continued this past week.
Bullpen signings: The Rangers and Rays each added some veteran depth at the backs of the bullpens, with Texas signing Seung-hwan Oh to a one-year, $2.75MM deal (with a $4.5MM club option for 2019) and Tampa Bay welcoming back Sergio Romo on a one-year pact that could pay Romo as much as $2.75MM. Oh’s second year in Major League Baseball wasn’t nearly as successful as his first, though the former Cardinals closer has the opportunity to regain his old “Final Boss” status within a Rangers pen that lacks a clear answer for the ninth inning. As for Romo, he could also be in line for some saves should the Rays pull the trigger on an Alex Colome trade. Romo struggled with the Dodgers last season before regaining some of his old form after a July trade to Tampa Bay.
Arbitration results: ’Tis the season for arbitration hearings, and you can keep track of each case’s decision via the MLB Trade Rumors ArbTracker. Of course, not all of the unsettled cases have actually gone to a hearing, as Jonathan Schoop and the Orioles avoided arbitration by agreeing to an $8.5MM salary for 2018 (for reference’s sake, Schoop filed for $9MM and the O’s countered with $7.5MM. The Astros both reached agreement with a young star and saved themselves some work for next winter by inking a two-year, $24MM extension with George Springer that will cover the World Series MVP’s next two arb-eligible seasons.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
This week in baseball blogs…
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Astros right-hander Chris Devenski has changed his representation and is now a client of MVP Sports Group, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports on Twitter. The switch for the 27-year-old Devenski comes on the cusp of his final pre-arbitration season.
Since making his debut in 2016, Devenski has been an incredible bargain for the Astros, having established himself as one of the game’s premier relievers. Across 110 appearances, including five starts, Devenski has racked up 189 innings of 2.38 ERA ball and posted 9.71 K/9 against 2.19 BB/9. Only one reliever, Brad Hand of the Padres, totaled more frames from the bullpen than Devenski’s 164 1/3 from 2016-17. He also ranked fifth among relievers in ERA (2.41), ninth in K/BB ratio (4.82) and 18th in infield fly rate (14 percent) during that span, thanks to a lethal fastball-slider-changeup combination.
While Devenski isn’t a closer, which could tamp down his value in arbitration, his penchant for effectively eating innings and amassing holds will help his cause when he first goes through the process next year (barring an extension, of course). He’s coming off a year in which he tied for 11th in holds (24), which helped the Astros run away with the AL West en route to their first World Series title.
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