Orioles Nearing Deal With Mark Trumbo
4:29pm: Trumbo will be guaranteed less than $40MM in the deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter.
4:20pm: The sides are nearing a deal, Heyman adds in another tweet. If completed, it’ll be for three years, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets.
4:07pm: The sides are “making progress” in their talks, Heyman tweets.
3:54pm: The Orioles are “back in touch” with free-agent slugger Mark Trumbo, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). It’s not immediately apparent how serious talks are, but Heyman notes that there’s a possibility of a deal coming together.
Trumbo and the O’s were said to be in deep discussions about a deal to bring him back to Baltimore earlier in the winter. But the team pulled its offer — reported to be about either three or four years at around $14MM annually — when an agreement did not come together.
Now, it seems, the sides have picked up where they left off. Whether the O’s will still be willing to put as much cash on the table remains to be seen. Last winter, the organization circled back to Chris Davis and gave him a monster deal, though he was certainly also a unique case given his standing in the organization. But Baltimore may now also feel that Trumbo’s market demand isn’t as great.
Last we heard, teams like the Rockies and Rangers are also involved in Trumbo’s market, though it’s not clear to what extent. The 31-year-old is arguably the best remaining free agent, though demand is also impacted by the presence of a variety of other power hitters, and Trumbo’s top-tier slugging is offset by his limited on-base abilities and mediocre glovework in the outfield.
Rangers Designate Brady Dragmire
The Rangers have designated righty Brady Dragmire for assignment, the team announced. His roster spot was needed for the team’s signing of Tyson Ross.
Dragmire, 23, has already been designated once by Texas this winter — and several other times by other organizations. Now, he’ll likely continue his tour of the majors via the waiver wire, unless the Rangers can sneak him through.
As we’ve noted on each of those prior occasions, Dragmire hasn’t yet sniffed the big leagues and worked to only a 4.38 ERA over his 72 Double-A frames in 2016. Despite pedestrian K/BB numbers (5.1 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9), he also carried a 63.6 percent groundball rate that has obviously intrigued quite a few teams.
Rangers Sign Tyson Ross
JANUARY 19: The Rangers have announced the one-year deal with Ross, who can earn up to $3MM in incentives, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).
JANUARY 13, 5:04pm: The deal guarantees Ross $6MM and also comes with available incentives, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets.
3:42pm: The Rangers have agreed with free-agent starter Tyson Ross, as Jeff Wade of 105.3 The FAN in Dallas/Fort Worth first reported. Ross’ contract is a one-year deal, per MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan (Twitter link). Salary terms are not yet reported.
[Related: Updated Texas Rangers Depth Chart]
Ross is set to turn 30 in April and is coming off a season in which shoulder troubles limited him to one lone appearance — that which he made on Opening Day. Ross attempted to rehab the injury all season without success, ultimately undergoing surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome.
The Padres, not wishing to pay him a repeat of last year’s $9.6MM salary, non-tendered Ross last month. Nearly two-third of the league showed some level of interest in Ross as a free agent, but in recent weeks it’s been reported that the Rangers and Cubd were his two likeliest landing spots, with the Nats also floating on the periphery of his market.
Because of the aforementioned TOS surgery, Ross isn’t a lock to be ready for Opening Day. Durability concerns have long accompanied Ross, but prior to the 2016 season he’d been a largely healthy and effective starter atop the San Diego rotation. From 2013-15, Ross tossed 516 2/3 innings for the Padres, logging to a 3.07 earned run average with 9.2 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 to go along with a superlative 58.2 percent ground-ball rate.
That level of upside is what led to the widespread interest in Ross and is what will likely lead the Rangers to plug him directly into their rotation once he’s healthy enough to take the hill. As it stands, A.J. Griffin is slotted in as the Rangers’ fifth starter behind Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels, Martin Perez and fellow offseason signee Andrew Cashner. However, Griffin tossed 119 innings with a 5.07 ERA last year and seems the likeliest to be ousted from the starting five once Ross completes his rehab. (Alternatively, the Rangers could deploy a six-man unit as a means of keeping everyone in the rotation healthy, though that’s simply speculation.)
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Angels Claim Juan Graterol, Designate Blake Parker
The Angels have claimed catcher Juan Graterol off waivers from the Diamondbacks, per a club announcement. The team designated righty Blake Parker for assignment to clear roster space.
Both Graterol and Parker have now changed hands multiple times over the winter. The former, a 27-year-old receiver who reached the majors for the first time in 2016, will return to the Angels — who lost him earlier in the offseason. Ironically, he lost his 40-man spot in Arizona to former Halos backstop Chris Iannetta.
Parker has seen even more movement, bouncing from the Yankees to the Angels to the Brewers and then back to Los Angeles. Clearly, the Halos will hope that he can be outrighted successfully, though there is obviously ongoing interest from other organizations as well.
Astros, Mike Fiers Avoid Arbitration
The Astros have avoided arbitration with right-hander Mike Fiers by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $3.45MM, reports Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter). Fiers had filed for a $3.9MM salary, while the team countered at $3MM, as can be seen in MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker. His ultimate $3.45MM contract will land directly on the midpoint between those two proposed sums.
As things currently stand in Houston, Fiers figures to head into camp as a member of the team’s rotation, alongside Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, Collin McHugh and offseason signee Charlie Morton. Young Joe Musgrove, who was sharp in his 2016 MLB debut, could be in the mix for rotation innings as well. Fiers does have some bullpen experience, though, so it’s at least possible that the team could explore a swingman role for him if Musgrove looks sharp in camp and the other four starters all appear healthy. It’s also worth noting that the Astros have been consistently linked to trade rumors for top-tier starting pitchers, and a deal would obviously make a significant impact on the construction of their rotation.
The 31-year-old Fiers made 30 starts and 31 total appearances for the Astros last season, pitching to a 4.48 earned run average with 7.2 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a career-best 42.2 percent ground-ball rate in 168 2/3 innings. Since coming to Houston in the 2015 trade that also netted the Astros center fielder Carlos Gomez, Fiers has turned in 231 innings of 4.17 ERA ball.
With Fiers’ situation now resolved, the only remaining arbitration cases for the Astros are those of McHugh, setup man Will Harris and utility infielder Marwin Gonzalez (via the Arb Tracker).
MLBTR Chat Transcript: 1/19/17
Click here to read a transcript of today’s chat with host Jeff Todd.
Reds Designate Steve Selsky For Assignment
The Reds have designated outfielder Steve Selsky for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for the acquisitions of right-handers Luis Castillo and Austin Brice from the Marlins as part of today’s Dan Straily trade, tweets Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Selsky, 27, made his Major League debut with the 2016 Reds and picked up 54 plate appearances in 24 games, batting an impressive .314/.340/.471 with a pair of home runs along the way. Selsky’s pop has been a bit more limited in a larger sample of work at Triple-A, however, as the former 33rd-rounder has compiled a .283/.369/.425 batting line in 191 games with Cincinnati’s affiliate in Louisville.
The right-handed-hitting Selsky has never rated among Cincinnati’s top-ranked prospects, but he has a history of producing strong batting average and on-base percentage marks in his minor league career. Since being drafted back in 2011, Selsky is a .295/.379/.459 hitter. He has more than 1000 minor league innings of experience in both outfield corners and at first base, in addition to some brief work in center field (136 total innings).
MLBTR Seeking Freelance Writers For Feature Articles
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Phillies Designate Severino Gonzalez For Assignment
The Phillies announced on Thursday that they’ve designated right-hander Severino Gonzalez for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster for outfielder Michael Saunders, whose one-year deal with the team is now official.
Gonzalez, 24, has spent parts of the past two seasons in Philadelphia but has been unable to replicate his minor league results at the Major League level. The Panamanian hurler has pitched to a 6.68 ERA in 66 big league innings, though his 8.5 K/9 rate and 1.9 BB/9 rate are both impressive. Gonzalez has never missed that many bats over a much larger sample of work in the minors, though, and as an extreme fly-ball pitcher spending half his games in the cozy confines of Citizens Bank Park, he’s been particularly susceptible to the long ball (career 1.9 HR/9).
In the minors, excellent control has long been Gonzalez’s calling card. He’s averaged just 1.5 walks per nine innings pitched since being signed as an amateur back in 2011, and he turned in a very nice year between Double-A and Triple-A in 2016. Across those two levels last year, Gonzalez posted a 3.13 ERA with a 35-to-8 K/BB ratio in 36 innings, with all but one of his appearances coming out of the bullpen. That marked a change for Gonzalez, who worked exclusively as a starting pitcher in both 2014 and 2015.
Gonzalez does have a minor league option remaining, so if he lands on another club — be it by trade or by waiver claim — that team can stash him in the minor leagues without having to first expose him to outright waivers.
Phillies Sign Michael Saunders
The Phillies deepened their lineup and added a veteran bat to the outfield mix on Thursday, announcing the signing of free agent Michael Saunders to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2018 season. Saunders will reportedly be guaranteed $9MM in the form of an $8MM salary and a $1MM buyout on an $11MM option for 2018. His contract is also said to contain escalators that can push the option’s value to $14MM.
The 30-year-old Saunders, a client of Meister Sports Management, has been linked to the Phillies on multiple occasions over the past several weeks. Philadelphia has had its eye on a number of outfield bats and reportedly has a preference to add a left-handed bat to its lineup. Saunders checks both of those boxes and will deepen a Philadelphia lineup that scored the fewest runs in all of Major League Baseball last year.
[Related: Updated Philadelphia Phillies Depth Chart]
Saunders turned in his first full, healthy season since 2013 last season, playing in a career-high 140 games and tallying a career-high 558 plate appearances. The overall results — a .253/.338/.478 batting line with 24 homers, 32 doubles and a pair of triples — look very strong on paper, although Saunders’ season was fairly dichotomous in nature. The first half of the 2016 season saw Saunders break out and perform at a superstar level. In 344 first-half plate appearances, Saunders hit a ridiculous .298/.372/.551 with 16 home runs — all of which was impressive enough to merit his first All-Star selection.
However, Saunders’ production fell off a cliff early in the second half. Over the final two and a half months of the season, he batted a woeful .178/.252/.357 with eight homers in 214 plate appearances. Certainly, there was some poor luck at play, as Saunders watched his BABIP plummet. While his first-half mark of .377 was never sustainable, his second-half mark of .221 seems equally fluky. The poor second half can’t be solely attributed to luck, though; Saunders’ strikeout rate spiked from 26 percent to more than 30 percent, and his infield-fly rate more than doubled as well (3.8 percent first half to 7.2 percent second half). He also saw his hard-contact rate drop by about six percent while his weak-contact rate rose accordingly.
Saunders once rated as a plus defender in the outfield corners, but his work in both left field and right field checked in below-average last season (per Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating). Saunders will enter the 2017 campaign one more year removed from surgery on his left knee, however, and he won’t have to play half of his games on artificial turf next season. As such, it’s possible that his glovework could experience a rebound. It should also be noted that Saunders has had shoulder troubles in the past as well, so durability has to be at least somewhat of a concern.
While there are a number of red flags with Saunders, the bottom line is that he’s been a decidedly above-average bat when healthy enough to take the field. Dating back to the 2012 season, Saunders owns a .249/.325/.435 batting line, which is more impressive than it first appears when considering the fact that the majority of those games have come in Seattle’s cavernous Safeco Field. Park-adjust metrics like wRC+ and OPS+ grade Saunders’ overall offensive output at 10 percent and 11 percent better than the league-average bat, respectively, in that span.
Saunders averaged 21 homers per 162 games in that time, and as he demonstrated last year when hitting 24 home runs, there’s the potential for a greater total in a more hitter-friendly setting than Seattle. He’s also hit quite a bit better against left-handed pitching in recent years than he did early in his career (.277/.364/.486), although that improved production has come across just 200 plate appearances, so it’s perhaps worth taking with a grain of salt. If he struggles against southpaws like he did earlier in his career, Saunders could potentially platoon with the right-handed-hitting Aaron Altherr.
Assuming Saunders’ deal is pushed across the finish line, he’ll slot into right field alongside trade acquisition Howie Kendrick in left field and recently extended Odubel Herrera in center field. The Phils do have a number of young options to whom they could’ve entrusted the right field job, but none comes with any degree of certainty. Fleet-footed Roman Quinn, for instance, looked respectable in a brief September cameo last year but hasn’t even played at the Triple-A level. Altherr showed very poorly in his return from a wrist injury, hitting .197/.300/.288 in 227 plate appearances. Top prospect Nick Williams, meanwhile, had a dismal year in Triple-A, while slugger Dylan Cozens, like Quinn, has yet to play in Triple-A.
MLB Network’s Jon Paul Morosi first reported that an agreement was close (Twitter link). Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com tweeted that medical reviews were underway. FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted that there’s an agreement in place. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported the terms (Twitter links). ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick gave a timeline for Saunders’ physical and added some details on the incentives (Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.