Athletics Acquire Josh Lucas From Cardinals
The Cardinals and Athletics have swapped a pair of right-handers. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that reliever Josh Lucas is headed to the A’s, with the Cardinals receiving minor-league starter Casey Meisner in exchange.
The 27-year-old Lucas made his majors debut last season with St. Louis, tossing 7 1/3 relief innings across five appearances. He struck out seven hitters and walked four while allowing three earned runs. Across the past two seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system, the righty posted a K/9 north of 10 and a ground ball rate of nearly 50%. He has 49 career MiLB saves, but was designated for assignment by the Cards earlier this week, a move that came as something of a surprise considering that Lucas seems to carry some upside.
The towering 6’7″ Meisner had a solid showing with the A’s High-A affiliate last season, posting a 3.98 ERA with 9.64 K/9. However, he struggled a bit upon a midseason promotion to Double-A; after that point, the 22-year-old averaged fewer than five innings per start while seeing his walk rate nearly double and his strikeout rate plummet to 5.64 K/9. Meisner was selected by the Mets in the third round of the 2013 draft, and subsequently traded to the A’s in exchange for reliever Tyler Clippard.
Reds Sign Yovani Gallardo
The Reds have inked free agent right-hander Yovani Gallardo to a one-year major league contract, according to Robert Murray of FanRag Sports. Chris Cotillo of SB Nation confirms, tweeting that he’ll earn a guaranteed $750K, and his contract includes incentives that could boost the total value of the deal to $1MM. The club has optioned right-hander Zack Weiss to Triple-A in a corresponding move, and designated catcher Stuart Turner for assignment in order to make room on the 40-man roster.
It’s a quick turnaround for the 32-year-old Gallardo, who earlier this offseason settled for a partially-guaranteed contract with a Brewers organization that drafted and developed him. Soon after being informed that he wouldn’t make the team, Gallardo was released by Milwaukee.
After just five days back on the open market, the righty has found a new home with a rebuilding Reds organization that finds itself wondering when Anthony DeSclafani and Brandon Finnegan might return to the rotation. The signing figures to push left-hander Cody Reed to the bullpen, leaving the club with a starting cast of Homer Bailey, Luis Castillo, Sal Romano, Tyler Mahle and Gallardo.
While Gallardo’s 5.57 ERA, 6.48 K/9 and 4.38 BB/9 across the past two seasons with the Orioles and Mariners represent rather uninspiring marks, the righty had long been an effective rotation piece for the Brewers and Rangers. Prior to 2016, his ERA had only exceeded 4.00 once in a full season, and according to Fangraphs his full-season WAR never dipped below 2.0 from 2009-2015. If he can regain some semblance of his former ground ball-inducing and hard contact-limiting ability, he could yet prove a steady presence in the Reds’ rotation.
Cardinals Place Brett Cecil on DL, Recall Ryan Sherriff; Alex Reyes Moved To 60-Day DL
Minutes after the Greg Holland signing became official, the Cardinals placed left-hander Brett Cecil on the 10-day disabled list with a left shoulder strain, and recalled left-hander Ryan Sherriff from Triple-A in a corresponding move. The club also transferred right-hander Alex Reyes from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL in order to make room for Holland.
The news of Cecil’s injury comes as something of a surprise, and is upsetting news to a Cardinals club that’s currently without Luke Gregerson and will need to wait for Holland to work his way back into game shape. The lefty’s 2017 performance was middling, as he pitched to a 3.88 ERA and 3.65 xFIP with just 8.82 K/9 after exceeding 11 K/9 in each of his previous three seasons. Hope for a another strikeout-heavy campaign isn’t off to a good start with news of a shoulder injury about which we don’t yet know the severity.
The 31-year-old Cecil has been a reliable setup man since his first full season as a starter-turned-reliever in 2013. In the past five seasons with the Blue Jays and Cardinals, the southpaw owns a 3.14 ERA with 327 strikeouts in 272 2/3 innings to go with 12 saves and 66 holds. Cecil also sports an impressive 48.2% ground ball rate during that time.
For Reyes, being transferred to the 60-day DL means the Redbirds’ top prospect won’t be eligible to pitch for the team until at least May 28th. It’s a quick change of heart for a team that only recently said that the fireballer, who underwent Tommy John surgery last year, wouldn’t be moved to the 60-day DL. The club doesn’t have much rotation depth beyond Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Luke Weaver, Miles Mikolas and Jack Flaherty, particularly following an offseason trade of Sandy Alcantara to the Marlins as part of a package for Marcell Ozuna.
Sherriff, 27, has just 13 major league appearances to his name, all coming in the latter half of 2017. The lefty showed well in a small sample, striking out 15 hitters while allowing just five earned runs. For his MiLB career, Sherriff has proved something of a ground ball phenom, topping 56% in three of his past four seasons. He’s spent his entire career in the Cardinals organization after being selected in the 28th round of the 2011 draft.
Cardinals Sign Greg Holland
March 31: The Cardinals have made the signing official.
March 30: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that Holland’s salary is not pro-rated. He will earn the full $14MM sum regardless of when he is added to the big league roster. Beyond that, his contract comes with the standard awards bonus package ($50K for All-Star or a playoff MVP Award, $250K for Rivera/Hoffman Relief Award, etc.).
It does not, however, sound like anything will be finalized today. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that the Cards are still reviewing his physical and still need to lay out a preparation plan for Holland to get into game shape.
March 29, 10:35am: Heyman tweets that Holland will earn $14MM on a one-year deal with the Cardinals.
10:25am: Mark Saxon of The Athletic reports that the two sides have agreed to terms on a deal (Twitter link). The contract is still pending a physical.
10:16am: The Cardinals and free-agent closer Greg Holland are moving close to a deal, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The 32-year-old Holland, a client of the Boras Corporation, is the lone remaining top-tier free agent that has yet to sign.
Holland paced the NL with 41 saves and 58 games finished as the Rockies’ closer last season but stands alone as the last remaining top-tier free agent on the open market. Reports have indicated that the righty received an offer to return to the Rockies earlier this winter, but Colorado pivoted and signed Wade Davis after Holland didn’t bite on their initial proposal.
St. Louis will stand to benefit from a collapsed market, as they’ll now land one of the better available relievers of the winter for a value that falls shy of the $17.2MM qualifying offer and $15MM player option that Holland rejected back in November. The Cards had previously been set to enter the season with Luke Gregerson handling ninth-inning duties, but the veteran Gregerson has been slowed by an oblique injury in camp and, more recently, a hamstring issue that will shelve him to open the year. Dominic Leone figures to open the season in the ninth, though he could very well give way to Holland once the former All-Star works his way into game shape.
The Cardinals, clearly, will be hoping for the dominant form that Holland displayed through the season’s first three months before wilting in the second half of the year. August proved to be a particularly dreadful month for the former Rockies stopper, as he surrendered 14 runs on the strength of four homers in just 9 1/3 innings.
While he rebounded with a solid finish in September, Holland’s fastball velocity and location were off for much of the summer — even when his ERA wasn’t reflecting it — and his struggles returned against the Diamondbacks in the NL Wild Card game. Of course, given that the 2017 season was Holland’s first back from September 2015 Tommy John surgery, it’s perhaps not surprising that he faded down the stretch. Certainly, it’s plausible that fatigue played a significant role in those difficulties.
In order to sign Holland, the Cardinals will forfeit their second-highest pick (their second-round selection) in the 2018 draft as well as $500K of international money. Because he signed a contract for less than $50MM in total guarantees, Holland will net the Rockies a draft pick after Competitive Balance Round B — in the 75 to 80 range of the draft.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Angels Sign Ben Revere To Minor-League Deal
The Angels have brought back outfielder Ben Revere on a minors pact, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. Revere played 109 games for the club last season, but spent spring training with the Reds.
Revere brings with him eight seasons of MLB experience, plus speed on the basepaths, and respectable defense in the outfield. Still yet to reach his 30th birthday, the outfielder hit .275/.308/.344 in 2017 while chipping in 21 stolen bases across just 308 plate appearances. fWAR and rWAR pegged him around replacement level, while Baseball Prospectus’ WARP suggests he was worth about half a win above replacement.
With a fantastic major-league outfield of Mike Trout, Justin Upton and Kole Calhoun, a promotion of Revere to the big league club at any point this year would put him in a reserve outfielder/pinch running role for the Halos. It’s worth noting that the club’s other backup outfielders at present are Jefry Marte and Chris Young, neither of whom have been particularly impressive in recent seasons. Revere’s speed could be the asset that helps him force his way back to the majors this season.
Garrett Whitley Undergoes Labrum Surgery
Rays outfield prospect Garrett Whitley has undergone surgery to his right labrum, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links). The recovery will cost him all of the coming season.
The 13th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Whitley has not exactly flown up the ladder in the Tampa Bay system. But he still rates as one of the team’s better prospects.
Last year, the toolsy 21-year-old turned in a .249/.362/.430 slash with 13 home runs and 21 steals at the Class A level — easily his best output as a professional. It’s certainly disappointing that he’ll miss a season of development right at the point when he seemed ready to push into the upper minors.
Mike Zunino Placed On DL With Oblique Strain
The Mariners have elected to place catcher Mike Zunino on the 10-day DL with a left oblique strain, per a club announcement. David Freitas was recalled to take his spot on the active roster.
Per the club, the injury occurred during a workout on Wednesday. The initial hope, though, had been that the it wouldn’t require a DL stint. It’s still unclear how long Zunino will be down.
Clearly, the M’s were not anticipating opening the year without their top backstop. Zunino turned in a big 2017 season — .251/.331/.509 with 25 home runs — and is expected to be a key component of Seattle’s hopes in 2018. Hopefully this muscle injury will not prove to be a major obstacle.
Remaining Free Agents Of Note
Greg Holland‘s reported agreement with the Cardinals took the remaining top-tier free agent off the market, somewhat fittingly prolonging the most drawn-out free agent market in recent history to a wire-to-wire affair. With the season now underway, and all of our top fifty free agents under contract, we thought it’d be interesting to look at the most notable names still remaining. It’s not certain that all of the below-listed players are still intent on continuing their playing careers, but surely many of them hope to do so — or, at least, did when the offseason got underway.
Catchers
Ryan Hanigan, Chris Herrmann, Derek Norris, Carlos Ruiz, Cameron Rupp, Geovany Soto
Rupp is probably the most notable name on the list, as he’s just 29 years of age and is coming off of a three-year run over which he compiled a .236/.301/.417 batting line with 39 home runs in 1,049 plate appearances. Herrmann opened eyes in 2016 but came back to earth last year; he and the others mostly look to be depth options at this point.
Utility Infielders
Erick Aybar, Darwin Barney, Stephen Drew, Yunel Escobar, J.J. Hardy, Brandon Phillips
There are some notable players here, many of whom have enjoyed lengthy runs as regulars. Both Escobar and Phillips have maintained solid offensive output over the past several years, though neither is capable of playing shortstop. J.J. Hardy certainly still is capable of handling the glove at short, but his bat has collapsed.
Fourth Outfielders
Both of these veterans are capable of playing center, so they could find themselves in some demand if a need for a versatile bench outfielder arises. Of course, neither has distinguished himself offensively in recent seasons.
Corner Bats
Jose Bautista, Melky Cabrera, Andre Ethier, Franklin Gutierrez, Matt Holliday, Adam Lind, Brandon Moss, Jhonny Peralta, Ryan Raburn, Mark Reynolds, Michael Saunders, Seth Smith
It’s rather remarkable to see such a long list of recognizable sluggers out of work, though that certainly dovetails with the widely observed recent market developments. There’s good reason to believe that many of these players can still handle the bat at the game’s highest level, but at this point it seems some of them may end up moving on to other pursuits.
Starting Pitchers
R.A. Dickey, Scott Feldman, Yovani Gallardo, Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez, Scott Kazmir, John Lackey, Jeff Locke, Ricky Nolasco, Jake Peavy, Chris Young
Many teams are also betting on young starters rather than handing off rotation spots to innings eaters. In some seasons in the past, we’d have expected to see a few make-good, low-guarantee MLB deals — or minors pacts with real shots at making the majors — given out to some of these hurlers. Instead, there’s a lot of experience waiting by the telephone. (It’s worth noting that Dickey rather clearly would have commanded a solid guarantee after his productive 2017 season, but has a strict geographic interest area and may not have been interested in pursuing contracts at all.)
Relievers
Antonio Bastardo*, Joe Blanton, Josh Collmenter, Gallardo, Jason Grilli, Daniel Hudson, Eric O’Flaherty*, Dustin McGowan, Jason Motte, Chad Qualls, Young
This list is short on lefties (*), proving yet again that it pays to be a southpaw. Hudson, a hard-throwing 31-year-old released at the tail end of camp, is sure to draw plenty of interest. The outlook is decidedly less optimistic for the others, though in most cases minor-league deals ought to be available.
Giants Release Jarrett Parker
The Giants have released outfielder Jarrett Parker after he cleared waivers, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports tweets. He had been designated for assignment recently.
It’s somewhat surprising to hear that the San Francisco organization is parting with Parker entirely after deciding not to keep him in the majors. The 29-year-old has at times been seen as a potentially useful MLB asset, but it seems the club just didn’t have the space available at Triple-A and decided to allow Parker to explore other possibilities.
Parker did go down on strikes twenty times in his 48 plate appearances this spring, but also ended up posting a healthy .561 slugging percentage. He’s a .274/.368/.503 hitter at Triple-A and has hit at better than a league-average rate in his 382 career MLB plate appearances, so there’s little question that Parker will draw some interest from other organizations.
Brewers Sign Dan Jennings, Move Jimmy Nelson To 60-Day DL
FRIDAY: The deal has been announced. Milwaukee opened a 40-man spot by shifting righty Jimmy Nelson to the 60-day DL. That will mean he can’t debut until the end of May, though he was not expected back before then anyway.
First baseman/DH Ji-Man Choi — whose eye-opening spring surprisingly earned him a MLB roster spot — was optioned to create room on the active roster.
WEDNESDAY: The Brewers are in agreement with left-hander Dan Jennings, pending a physical, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). I’m told it’s a Major League pact for the veteran southpaw.
The ACES client was released by the Rays earlier this week, and Tom Haudicourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel suggested earlier tonight that the Brew Crew was pursuing an external pitching addition that could carry 25-man roster implications (Twitter links). Specifically, Haudicourt implied that Ji-Man Choi, who won a spot on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster but has an option remaining, could be sent to Triple-A early in the season once this deal is finalized.
Jennings, 31 next month, was somewhat surprisingly cut loose by the Rays earlier this week. He’d agreed to a $2.375MM salary with Tampa Bay earlier this winter, avoiding arbitration, and the Rays’ decision to cut him loose means they’ll be on the hook for about $584K of that sum (45 days’ termination pay). He’ll pocket that sum in addition to the guarantee to which he agreed on his new deal with the Brewers.
The decision to cut Jennings had been speculated upon but was nonetheless somewhat of an eye-opener, as the veteran southpaw posted a strong 3.45 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 and a 59.8 percent ground-ball rate in 62 2/3 frames between the White Sox and Rays last season. Opposing lefties hit just .213/.323/.306 in 128 plate appearances against Jennings. Moreover, the Rays traded at least a somewhat notable prospect, first baseman Casey Gillaspie, in order to acquire Jennings.
He’ll now join a Brewers bullpen that saw its left-handed depth take a hit with an injury to fellow veteran Boone Logan, who looks likely to miss six or more weeks with a strained triceps muscle.. As an added bonus, Jennings enters the year just a single day shy of five years of MLB service. Because of that, the Brewers will be able to control him through the 2019 season via arbitration as opposed to just the 2018 season.
All told, Jennings will bring to the Brewers a veteran arm with a career 2.90 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 55.2 percent ground-ball rate to a Brewers’ bullpen that also features closer Corey Knebel and setup men Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Hader, Matt Albers and Jacob Barnes.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.