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Marlins Designate Elvis Araujo, Announce Brad Ziegler Signing

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The Marlins have designated lefty Elvis Araujo for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll play in 2017 for Japan’s Chunichi Dragons, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald tweets. Araujo’s roster spot will go to veteran reliever Brad Ziegler, whose two-year contract was also announced.

Araujo was claimed off waivers from the Phillies earlier in the offseason, and had been perhaps second to Hunter Cervenka on the team’s depth chart among southpaw relievers. It seems increasingly plausible to expect that Miami won’t put too great an emphasis on ensuring that its bullpen features at least one lefty; Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource currently projects an all-righty relief corps.

The 6’7 Araujo threw 62 total major frames over the past two seasons. He produced largely equivalent K/BB numbers — which average out to 9.1 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9 — but suffered much worse batted-ball fortunes in 2016. All told, he owns a 4.35 ERA in the big leagues, which is just about what ERA estimators expect based upon his peripherals.

Araujo did show improved control when pitching at Triple-A last year, where he carried a 2.18 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and just 2.6 BB/9 over 20 2/3 frames. Notably, he debuted there after he reached the majors — which came after he had made only 25 total appearances at Double-A — so there’s perhaps added reason to believe that Araujo could still undergo some refinement.

Tigers Sign Alex Avila, Designate Angel Nesbitt

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The Tigers have signed catcher Alex Avila to a one-year deal, per a club announcement. He’ll receive a $2MM guarantee, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. To create 40-man space, the club designated righty Angel Nesbitt for assignment.

Avila, who is the son of Tigers GM Al Avila, returns to Detroit after a one-year stint with the White Sox. The lefty swinging 29-year-old seems likely to function in a platoon role with James McCann, who has played in over 100 games in each of the last two seasons and may well do so again in 2017.

[RELATED: Updated Tigers Depth Chart]

Though it had seemed Avila might be too expensive for the Tigers, the sides have found a way to make it work. He hit a solid .213/.359/.373 with seven home runs over 209 plate appearances last year, though the University of Alabama product continued to be limited almost exclusively to facing right-handed pitching.

Avila carries huge platoon splits over his career, though that still makes him a plenty useful part-time piece, especially since he hits from the left side. All told, over his eight seasons of MLB action — seven of which have come with Detroit — he owns a .247/.357/.418 batting line against opposing righties.

 

There are some questions, though. Avila missed time last year with a hamstring issue and, more worryingly, has dealt with concussion problems. Avila’s defensive work, too, isn’t necessarily a strong suit, though that’s always difficult to assess for a backstop. He draws rather poor ratings as a pitch-framer, per both StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus (subscription link), and the latter publication also has traditionally graded Avila as a somewhat below-average performer in terms of throwing and blocking.

As for Nesbitt, 26, he’ll lose his roster spot after throwing 47 2/3 innings of 4.91 ERA ball at Triple-A in 2016, where he averaged 7.9 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. He received 24 major-league appearances in the prior campaign, but managed only a 5.40 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Nesbitt did show a 93.9 mph average heater and manage a solid 48.5% groundball rate, but the results just haven’t been there.

Angels Claim Blake Parker From Brewers

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The Angels on Friday announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Blake Parker off waivers from the Brewers, marking the second time that the Halos have won a waiver claim on Parker since the regular season ended. Anaheim also claimed Parker from the Yankees back on Oct. 5, but designated him for assignment in late November when clearing spots on the 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft. The Brewers scooped Parker up on waivers shortly thereafter, but his stay in the Milwaukee organization will ultimately last just one month.

The 31-year-old Parker split the 2016 season between the Mariners and Yankees, and wound up pitching 17 1/3 innings in the Majors. During that brief stint, he turned in a 4.67 ERA ball with 15 strikeouts against eight unintentional walks. Parker actually averaged a career-best 92.2 mph on his fastball in 2016 and comes with a 3.67 career ERA in 90 1/3 innings at the Major League level. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher and has averaged 10.5 K/9 in parts of nine seasons at Triple-A but has also averaged 4.2 walks per nine innings there.

Rangers Claim Brady Dragmire, Lose David Rollins On Waivers To Cubs

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The Rangers announced on Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Brady Dragmire off waivers from the Pirates and added that left-hander David Rollins has been claimed by the Cubs. (FOX’s Ken Rosenthal first tweeted that Rollins was on his way to the Cubs via waivers.)

Both pitchers have bounced around the waiver circuit a staggering amount this offseason. Rollins has now been claimed off waivers a stunning five times since Nov. 18, going from the Mariners, to the Cubs, to the Rangers, to the Phillies, back to the Rangers and now back to the Cubs. While Rollins has to be glad to continually be deemed worthy of a 40-man roster spot, the offseason has unquestionably been a tumultuous one for the former Rule 5 pick.

The 27-year-old Rollins is a former 24th-round pick that has a 7.60 ERA in 34 innings with the Mariners across the past two seasons and has averaged 7.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 with a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. He’s been rather unlucky, as evidenced by a .379 BABIP, but even the most optimistic ERA estimator pegs him in the mid-4.00s (4.41 SIERA). Rollins does have minor league options remaining, so he could be sent down in Spring Training if he doesn’t break camp with the team. However, multiple clubs seem intent on trying to slip Rollins through waivers this winter, though none have been unable to do so successfully.

As for Dragmire, he’s gone from the Blue Jays, to the Rangers, to the Pirates and now back to the Rangers. The 23-year-old logged a 4.38 ERA with 5.1 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in 72 innings at Double-A New Hampshire (Toronto’s affiliate) this season. While those numbers don’t exactly stand out, Dragmire boasts exceptional ground-ball tendencies and turned in a stellar 63.6 percent rate in that regard this year. That factor, as well as his relative youth, undoubtedly contributes to the appeal he’s generated around the league this winter.

Reds Claim Richie Shaffer, Tyrell Jenkins Off Waivers

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The Reds announced on Friday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer off waivers from the Phillies and also claimed right-hander Tyrell Jenkins off waivers from the Rangers. Both players were recently designated for assignment by their now-former organizations.

Shaffer, 25, spent parts of the 2015-16 seasons at the Major League level with the Rays but batted a disappointing .213/.310/.410 in 142 plate appearances. The former first-round pick has been considerably more productive at the Triple-A level, where he’s slashed .243/.338/.445 with 30 homers in 188 games. Shaffer, a right-handed hitter, has experience at all four corner positions but has spent the majority of the time at first base. In his big league career, he’s actually been better against right-handed pitching than left-handers, but he doesn’t come with much of a platoon split looking back throughout his minor league career. He’ll presumably compete for a bench job with Cincinnati in Spring Training.

Jenkins, meanwhile, has moved around the league quite a bit in the past couple of years. The former Cardinals top prospect (drafted No. 50 overall in 2010) went to the Braves in the Jason Heyward/Shelby Miller deal back in 2014, and Atlanta traded him to Texas earlier this month. The Rangers, though, designated Jenkins for assignment this week and weren’t able to pass him through waivers. Jenkins draws plenty of praise for his athleticism, but he’s posted rather unsightly numbers in the Majors (5.88 ERA, 4.5 K/9, 5.7 BB/9 in 52 innings) and in questionable rate stats in Triple-A (2.86 ERA in 129 innings but with 5.9 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9). Jenkins won’t turn 25 until July, however, so the Reds are adding a bit of upside at minimal cost for the time being. (It seems far from a given that Jenkins will survive the offseason on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster.)

Diamondbacks Claim Juan Graterol, Designate Peter O’Brien For Assignment

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The D-backs announced today that they’ve claimed catcher Juan Graterol off waivers from the Reds and designated catcher-turned-outfielder Peter O’Brien for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

Graterol, 27, made his MLB debut and logged 15 plate appearances with the Angels this past season. The former Royals farmhand spent the 2015 season in the Yankees organization before inking a minors pact with the Halos last winter. He’s a career .274/.306/.338 hitter in parts of three seasons (95 games) at the Triple-A level and has halted stolen base attempts at a very strong 38 percent clip in the minors. Baseball Prospectus gives him average pitch-framing grades in the minors as well. He’s made his way from the Angels to the Reds to the Diamondbacks on the offseason waiver wire thus far and will give the new Arizona front office a seemingly solid defensive depth option behind the dish.

O’Brien, meanwhile, has drawn his fair share of attention over the years due to his gaudy power numbers in Triple-A. Now 26 years old, he’s compiled a career .270/.315/.530 batting line in Triple-A stints with the D-backs and Yankees — New York sent him to Arizona in the 2014 Martin Prado trade — and hit 35 homers in Triple-A as recently as 2015. However, while O’Brien began his career as a catcher, few scouts gave him much of a chance to stay behind the plate due to defensive concerns. Many scouting reports have suggested that O’Brien lacks any real position on the defensive spectrum, and he’s struggled in his brief taste of the Major Leagues to date (.176/.228/.446 with six homers but 32 strikeouts in 79 plate appearances). His pop could make him alluring to another organization, but questions surrounding his defense may limit the interest.

Athletics Sign Cuban Right-Hander Norge Ruiz

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The Athletics announced on Friday that they’ve signed international free agent Norge Ruiz to a minor league contract. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (on Twitter) that Ruiz will receive a $2MM signing bonus. The 22-year-old Cuban right-hander has long been considered one of the more appealing arms in Cuba. Ruiz is subject to international spending limitations due to his age, so he’ll count against Oakland’s bonus pool.

Ruiz’s numbers in three professional seasons in the Cuban National Series are impressive, as he worked to a collective 2.55 ERA in 374 1/3 innings. He averaged just six strikeouts against 3.1 walks per nine innings pitched in that time, though scouting reports on Ruiz indicate that he has the potential to make a significant impact on Oakland’s farm system.

Sanchez ranks Ruiz as the No. 3 prospect on this winter’s international market, and while he didn’t make Baseball America’s list of top international prospects this summer, that was due to the fact that he’d yet to technically be cleared as a free agent. (Ruiz was declared a free agent by MLB back in early September.) Per Sanchez’s above-linked report, Ruiz has a fastball that reaches 94 mph and has plenty of movement on it, and he’s also worked with a slider, changeup, cutter and splitter that are deployed from various arm angles.

BA’s Ben Badler writes today that Ruiz’s changeup a plus pitch and also writes that his slider can flash above-average at times as well. He generates plenty of ground-balls, though there’s some belief that his size could lead to durability issues. Ruiz is listed at 6’0″ and 185 pounds, and that slight frame has led to some skepticism from scouts, though it seems likely that he’ll be given every opportunity to develop as a starting pitcher in the Athletics organization. Ruiz will add an intriguing arm to the upper levels of the Athletics’ system and could conceivably be an option in 2018, if not 2017, depending on how quickly he shakes off the rust as he settles back into game settings and on how quickly he adjusts to facing more advanced competition.

Orioles Interested In Rajai Davis

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The Orioles have interest in free-agent outfielder Rajai Davis as the team looks to add some speed to its outfield mix, reports Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. The O’s have previously been linked to Angel Pagan amidst their search for a corner outfielder/leadoff man, but Encina writes that the team’s interest in Davis may have surpassed its interest in Pagan at this point.

Davis, 36, enjoyed a solid season with the Indians in 2016. While his two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman in Game 7 of the World Series might be what most fans associate with the 11-year veteran, strong glovework and exceptional baserunning are what made Davis such a valuable commodity in Cleveland last year. In 495 plate appearances, Davis batted just .249/.306/.388, and though he did slug a career-best 12 homers, his strikeout rate climbed to a career-high 21.4 percent. Davis uncharacteristically struggled against left-handed pitching last year despite boasting a very solid .288/.343/.437 slash against southpaws in his career.

Capable of playing all three outfield positions, Davis was a passable though unspectacular option in left field and center field with Cleveland in 2016 (depending on one’s preferred metric/method of evaluation). He’d be in line mostly for corner work with the Orioles, due to Adam Jones’ presence in center field, and could reasonably function in a platoon capacity with Hyun Soo Kim if Baltimore isn’t keen on giving Kim a chance against left-handed pitching in 2017. (Kim received just 22 plate appearances against southpaws last year.) Of course, Davis may well be looking for a more significant role, and his respectable defense and prowess on the bases plus a lack of proven options on the roster could allow that to materialize in Baltimore.

Davis’ 43 stolen bases in 2016 not only led the American League — they were more than twice as many as the Orioles’ entire roster mustered over the life of the regular season. Baltimore, somewhat stunningly, managed just 19 stolen bases on the year in 2016. That’s the lowest single-season total of any team since the Tigers stole just 17 bases as a team all the way back in 1972. And, Davis’ baserunning value extends beyond his raw stolen base numbers, as Fangraphs rated him as the game’s second-best baserunner last year, trailing only Billy Hamilton, due largely to his ability to take extra bases in non-stealing situations (going first to third, second to home, etc.).

Baltimore has reportedly been in talks with Mark Trumbo for quite some time about a return to play right field, although the team could conceivably add Trumbo and an outfielder, electing to use Trumbo primarily as a DH while deploying more defensively gifted options in the outfield. Pagan, too, would provide a solid defensive option with a bit of speed — albeit less than Davis — though it’s not entirely clear what the asking price for either Davis or Pagan is at this juncture. That, of course, will factor heavily into Baltimore’s thought process — especially if talks with Trumbo continue and/or intensify in the weeks to come.

Braves Extend Ender Inciarte

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The rebuilding Braves have been working to assemble a new core of players for the past two years, and on Friday they locked up the first member of that group for the long haul when they announced a five-year contract extension for center fielder Ender Inciarte.

The contract, which contains a club option for a sixth season, will reportedly guarantee Inciarte $30.525MM. The Octagon client will receive a $3.5MM signing bonus before earning $2MM in 2017, $4MM in 2018, $5MM in 2019, $7MM in 2020 and $8MM in 2021. The option is reported to be valued at $9MM and comes with a $1.025MM buyout. All told, this new contract will give Atlanta control over two of Inciarte’s would-be free-agent years.

Ender Inciarte

“We are thrilled to announce an extension for Ender,” GM John Coppolella said in a press release announcing the move. “We feel that he’s the best defensive center fielder in baseball and one of the best leadoff hitters in the game.  Ender brings so much to our club, on and off the field, and we are happy to have him under club control for at least the next six years.”

Originally acquired in last winter’s Shelby Miller heist, Inciarte cemented himself as a Major League asset in 2016 by largely recreating a 2015 breakout. Over the past two seasons, he’s been roughly league-average overall at the plate — .297/.345/.395, nine homers in 1139 plate appearances — with excellent contributions on the basepaths and especially in the outfield. Inciarte has swiped 37 bases in 263 games dating back to 2015, and Fangraphs rates him as one of the game’s 15 best baserunners.

Meanwhile, he’s been 17 runs above average in the outfield despite missing some time due to injury, per Defensive Runs Saved, while Ultimate Zone Rating has him at about +13 runs in that same time frame. Among players with at least 1000 defensive innings since 2015, UZR/150 has Inciarte tied for 14th (with Anthony Rendon) among players of all positions, at +14.1, placing him a shade behind the likes of Lorenzo Cain and Mookie Betts in the outfield.

[Related: Updated Atlanta Braves Payroll Projections]

Inciarte, who just turned 26 after the season ended, was eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter as a Super Two player and was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $2.8MM in his first trip through that process. He’ll instead avoid arbitration for the entirety of his career thanks to this deal, which will keep him under team control through his age-31 campaign. The contract is nearly identical, in terms of its guarantee, to the one inked by division-rival center fielder Odubel Herrera in Philadelphia last week (though Herrera did not qualify as a Super Two player and, as such, conceded to two club options instead of one). It also represents a step forward from the five-year, $23.5MM deal that Adam Eaton signed with the White Sox prior to the 2015 campaign when he, too, was between two and three years of big league service time (though also shy of Super Two status).

While Inciarte has been frequently mentioned as a speculative trade candidate as Coppolella and president of baseball operations John Hart have overseen an aggressive rebuild, the emergence of a new five-year deal seems to firmly indicate that Atlanta sees the standout center fielder as a long-term building block. Inciarte is likely to be flanked by Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis in 2017, though there’s a definite possibility that fellow speedster Mallex Smith (who made his Major League debut this past year) eventually gets a chance at a larger role in the Atlanta outfield, either later in the 2017 season or in 2018.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported the agreement and the guarantee (Twitter links). FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reported the year-to-year breakdown of the deal (also via Twitter).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Revere, Braves, Bird, Ross

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Free agent center fielder Ben Revere is reportedly likely to sign in the near future (as MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko first relayed earlier today), and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets that the Blue Jays won’t be his landing spot. That crosses the Blue Jays and Orioles (per Kubatko) off the list for Revere — two teams that could conceivably be in the market for a left-handed-hitting outfielder with some speed. Multiple teams still make some degree of sense for Revere, with the Giants, Mariners, Rangers, Angels and Tigers all striking me as on-paper fits (though that list is purely speculative). Non-tendered by the Nats this offseason, Revere logged a dismal .217/.260/.300 batting line in 375 plate appearances in 2016, but he’d batted .305 or better in each of the three prior seasons.

  • Braves president of baseball operations John Hart spoke with MLB.com’s Hal Bodley about the parallels between the rebuild he’s helped to architect in Atlanta and the one that he led in Cleveland back in the early to mid-90s. Hart also discussed the team’s decision to promote Dansby Swanson this past summer and the decision to add a trio of veteran starters — Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey, Jaime Garcia — this winter despite the team’s bulk of young pitching. “We didn’t want to stand in the way of our young pitchers, so we went with guys who I think are going to give us innings,” said Hart of adding three starters on one-year commitments. “I think this gives us a more competitive ballclub going into the new park. I don’t think this deviates from the plan we have.”
  • The Yankees “appear content” with Matt Holliday serving as the major offensive addition to their roster this winter, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, which increases the importance of Greg Bird to the team’s 2017 roster. Bird is the early favorite to serve as manager Joe Girardi’s everyday first baseman next year, and GM Brian Cashman said that getting a look at Bird in the Arizona Fall League was important. “All we care about is him having a full healthy Fall League, which he’s done,” said Cashman. “It checks the box and we’ll be looking forward to seeing him in Spring Training. All reports are, he looks good.” Bird and Tyler Austin could compete for time at first base and may eventually settle into a platoon, while the outfield could see Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks in a similar spring battle for playing time, Hoch writes.
  • Nationals right-hander Joe Ross missed significant time with a shoulder injury in 2016, but MLB.com’s Jamal Collier writes that the 23-year-old’s arm is back to health. Ross took a few weeks off to rest his shoulder, and it’s now full strength as Ross progresses through his typical offseason routine. As Collier points out, the trades of Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez magnify the importance of getting a healthy season out of Ross. Notably, Ross said he’s tinkering with some potential mechanical alterations to his delivery and throwing program in an effort to stay healthier next year.

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