Michael Saunders Hopes To Re-Sign With Blue Jays
Although he’s fresh off arguably the best offensive season of his career, 30-year-old outfielder Michael Saunders remains on the free agent market with spring training gradually approaching. Along with Toronto, where the Canada native played last season, Saunders has drawn connections to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cleveland this offseason.
While it’s unclear whether Saunders is currently in negotiations with the Phillies, Orioles or Indians, he revealed Saturday that he is in talks with multiple teams, including the Blue Jays. Saunders also indicated that his preference is to re-sign with the Jays, via Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith (Twitter links).
“I’m waiting for the right deal for me and my family,” said Saunders. “I’m hoping to stay in Toronto and hopefully finding out soon.”
With both Saunders and Jose Bautista no longer on their roster, the Blue Jays are wanting in the corner outfield, where Steve Pearce, Ezequiel Carrera and Melvin Upton Jr. represent their top options. Bautista is superior to Saunders, though the book could be closed on the unsigned slugger’s illustrious run up north. Even if the Jays are interested in re-signing Bautista, he’d come at a higher price than Saunders in multiple ways. Not only would Bautista cost more in dollars, but Toronto would punt the chance to secure a first-round pick in the 2017 draft by letting him walk. Because Bautista rejected the Jays’ qualifying offer at the outset of the offseason, they’ll be entitled to compensation if he leaves. On the other hand, the Jays didn’t tender Saunders a QO, though it looked as if he was playing his way to one during the first half of 2016.
Thanks to an outstanding .298/.372/.551 batting line with 16 home runs in 344 plate appearances over the season’s initial three-plus months, Saunders earned the first All-Star nod of his career. The ex-Mariner followed that with a .178/.282/.357 line and eight HRs in 214 post-All-Star break PAs, thereby damaging his appeal entering free agency. While Saunders did recover from a couple injury-ravaged years to appear in a career-high 140 games, he didn’t help his cause in the outfield, where he ranked toward the bottom of the majors in Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.
Despite his faults, Saunders would at least give the Blue Jays another experienced, offensively capable outfielder. Plus, in re-signing him, the Jays would have the option of shifting Pearce to first base – his primary position – and sending their projected starter, the unspectacular Justin Smoak, to the bench.
AL Notes: Park, Trumbo, Bass
Twins first baseman Byung Ho Park‘s season ended in August after a wrist injury that required surgery, but he’s now able to work out without restrictions and he has returned to batting practice, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press writes. Park, formerly one of the top power hitters in the KBO, will try to bounce back from a disappointing first season in the Majors in which he batted .191/.275/.409 and struck out 80 times in 244 plate appearances. The Twins owe him a total of $9.25MM through 2019. Here are a couple more quick notes from the American League.
- A couple details on Mark Trumbo‘s market — first, Peter Gammons tweets that the Orioles‘ previously reported offer to Trumbo was for three years $40MM, not $50MM-plus. That’s a relatively small offer for a player who swatted 47 home runs last season, but perhaps it’s somewhat reflective of the evident change in the market for one-dimensional sluggers, many of whom linger in free agency. A second, and perhaps related, tidbit is that the Athletics don’t seem likely to be key players in the Trumbo market, as John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group writes. The A’s strongly pursued Edwin Encarnacion, but it doesn’t appear they’re as interested in Trumbo, to whom they were connected last week.
- Free agent righty Anthony Bass has been in contact with five or six teams, and the Tigers are among them, MLB.com’s Jason Beck tweets. Bass would prefer an opportunity to start, but he is also open to pitching out of the bullpen. It’s probably unlikely he’ll get a chance to do either in the Major Leagues right away — the 29-year-old is coming off a decent but not overwhelming season with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, for whom he posted a 3.65 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 over 103 2/3 innings. He last appeared in the big leagues in 2015 with the Rangers.
Cafardo’s Latest: Crawford, Victorino, Manny, Wright
Here are the highlights from this week’s notes piece by Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:
- One Dodgers official says Carl Crawford‘s career is likely over. At last check, the 35-year-old seemed likely to try to make a comeback next season. There’s been no official word from Crawford about any retirement plans, however. The Dodgers designated Crawford for assignment last June, then released him, even though he still had $35MM remaining on his $142MM contract at the time. At the time of his release, he was batting .185/.230/.235 in 87 plate appearances, and he had missed time due to a back injury.
- Another veteran outfielder, 36-year-old Shane Victorino, has an offer on the table, but his agent is waiting to hear back from his client about whether to take it. The deal would almost certainly be of the minor-league variety. As of last month, Victorino was working out in Las Vegas in preparation for next season. The Cubs released him in May after just nine minor-league games. He last played in the big leagues in 2015 with the Red Sox and Angels, batting a modest .230/.308/.292 in 204 plate appearances.
- 44-year-old Manny Ramirez recently signed with the independent Kochi Fighting Dogs in Japan, and MLB execs express guarded optimism about the possibility that his comeback attempt could lead him back to bigger things, even though he hasn’t played in the Majors since 2011. “We’ll have to see how his body holds up,” says Braves president of baseball operations John Hart. “If it does, he’s best suited for the American League as a DH at this point, but would I be surprised if he could still hit? Absolutely not.”
- Red Sox righty Steven Wright is rehabbing his shoulder (which he injured while pinch-running late last season), but he should be ready for Spring Training, Cafardo writes. The knuckleballer last pitched last August 31, finishing his year with a 3.33 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 over 156 2/3 strong innings.
NL Notes: Moss, Arrieta, Rockies
Brandon Moss lingers on the free agent market despite a relatively successful season with the Cardinals in 2016. According to ESPN’s David Schoenfield, that’s due not only to the logjam of 1B/OF sluggers still available via free agency, but to the fact that teams would increasingly prefer to find the next Brandon Moss than to sign the existing one at something close to market value. Moss’ own history is a data point in favor of this approach — he struggled for several years after his first taste of the big leagues before performing well as a cheap acquisition for the Athletics, giving the A’s much better value than they likely would have gotten with a big-name signing. Also, in the past several years the game has gotten younger as players have begun their decline phases at earlier ages, meaning that players at Moss’ current age (33) are less likely to be meaningful contributors. Here’s more from the National League.
- Cubs ace Jake Arrieta doesn’t sound optimistic about his chances of receiving an extension in his last year before free agency eligibility, but his team still says it’s willing to try to negotiate one, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. “Years and dollars are always complicated, but I’m sure we’ll take a stab at it,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein told fans today. Arrieta and the Cubs avoided arbitration by agreeing to terms on a one-year, $15.6375MM deal on Friday.
- The Rockies have been speculatively connected to various catchers this offseason (including, for example, Matt Wieters). But the team is comfortable with its young duo of Tony Wolters and Tom Murphy, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. “We are certainly monitoring the catching market, but we are extremely high and positive on the group that we have and we feel like there is a good, young core there,” says GM Jeff Bridich. Wolters entered the season with no big-league experience and a limited minor-league track record behind the plate, although he hit a reasonable .259/.327/.395 and received good marks for his framing. Murphy has played sparingly in the big leagues, but he batted .327/.361/.647 with 19 homers in 322 plate appearances in the admittedly hitter-friendly context of Triple-A Albuquerque last year.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Saturday
The filing deadline was yesterday, but deals to avoid arbitration continue to trickle in. Here are the latest contracts from around the league.
- The Padres have agreed to deals with lefties Christian Friedrich for $1.79MM and Brad Hand for $1.375MM, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Both pitchers have three-plus years of service and are going through the arbitration process for the first time. The 29-year-old Friedrich joined the Padres on a minor-league deal prior to the 2016 season and posted a 4.80 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 129 1/3 innings. Despite those somewhat unimpressive numbers, the Padres elected to tender him a contract, perhaps thinking of the lack of depth in their 2017 rotation. MLBTR projected he would receive $2MM through the arbitration process this season. The 26-year-old Hand arrived in San Diego in April via a waiver claim and was very useful out of the bullpen, with a 2.92 ERA, 11.2 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 in a league-leading 82 appearances. MLBTR projected he would make $1.4MM in 2017, landing very close to his actual salary.
Padres Sign Yangervis Solarte To Two-Year Deal
SATURDAY: Solarte will receive a $7.5MM guarantee, Fan Rag’s Robert Murray tweets. He’ll get a $250K signing bonus, $2.5MM next season and $4MM in 2018. In addition, the options will be worth $5.5MM and $8MM, with a $750K buyout attached to each. (Heyman tweeted information about the signing bonus and buyouts.)
FRIDAY: The Padres have announced a two-year deal with infielder Yangervis Solarte. He’ll pick up guaranteed money for the next two seasons while giving the club a pair of options for the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.
It’s an unusual contract structure for the 29-year-old, who was eligible for arbitration for the first time as a 3+ service-class player. The options will cover his final season of arb eligibility and one would-be free agent campaign.
Solarte had been projected by MLBTR to earn $2.7MM through the arb process, but he was set to earn a bit more. He filed at $3.2MM with the team countering at $2.8MM, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted. But that never seemed likely to matter, as various reports suggested that a lengthier arrangement was in the works.
The contract comes on the heels of a year in which Solarte posted a career-best .286/.341/.467 batting line with 15 home runs over 443 plate appearances. He has hit at better than the league-average rate in every one of his three MLB campaigns since emerging as a surprisingly useful player as a minor-league signee of the Yankees.
Though Solarte has typically drawn average or slightly below average grades for his glovework, he’s capable of playing both second and third base and has also seen a bit of time at shortstop and the corner outfield. That makes him a versatile piece for San Diego, which has a variety of options but little in the way of sure things in its current infield depth chart.
Solarte joins first baseman Wil Myers in securing multi-year deals from the Padres today. While his is surely to come in well shy of the $80MM+ that Myers is reportedly set to receive, it’ll add to the future obligations of an organization that had nothing on its future books except for salary owed to previously traded players.
Neftali Feliz Nearing Deal With Brewers
Free agent righty Neftali Feliz is close to agreeing to a deal with the Brewers, Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman writes (Twitter links). BrewerFan.net’s Jim Goulart was first to tweet a connection between Feliz and the Brew Crew.
The 28-year-old Feliz is coming off a strong comeback season in the Pirates’ bullpen in which he posted a 3.52 ERA, 10.2 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 53 2/3 innings. (He missed the last month of the season due to arm discomfort, but his injury was not structural in nature, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Feliz also began the year throwing his fastball in the mid-90s and added velocity as the season went on, a promising sign for a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery in 2012 and spent several seasons thereafter trying to get back on track.
The Brewers could represent a good match for Feliz. He has 99 saves’ worth of career closing experience, and in the wake of a variety of Brewers trades of established relievers (including Jeremy Jeffress and Tyler Thornburg), he could receive the opportunity to close in Milwaukee. If he does, he could potentially receive a very lucrative contract the next time he’s a free agent. The rebuilding Brewers, meanwhile, would get the chance to dangle Feliz as a trade piece at the deadline, assuming they do fall out of the playoff race. The Brewers have reportedly been looking for relief pitching lately — GM David Stearns has said he’s exploring the possibility of adding relief help not only through big-league additions, but through minor-league signings and trades. The Dodgers had also been connected to Feliz of late.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/14/17
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.
- The Mariners have announced that they’ve outrighted righty Cody Martin to Triple-A Tacoma. They had designated him for assignment when they acquired Mallex Smith and Shae Simmons from the Braves last week. The 27-year-old Martin made nine appearances, including two starts, for the Mariners last year and posted a 3.86 ERA, but with a modest 5.3 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. He fared well in 114 1/3 innings with Tacoma, with a 3.62 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9, and has generally been successful at the Triple-A level in his career.
- The Indians have announced that they’ve signed righties Steve Delabar and Travis Banwart to minor-league deals with Spring Training invites. As a hard-throwing member of the Blue Jays bullpen, the 33-year-old Delabar was once one of the game’s more dynamic setup men, but he’s fallen on hard times of late. He struggled in eight innings with the Reds last season and finished his season with the Hiroshima Carp in Japan. The 30-year-old Banwart also pitched in Asia last year, posting a 5.79 ERA, 6.0 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 130 2/3 innings with the KT Wiz in Korea. It was his third year in the KBO. Before that, he pitched parts of eight seasons in the Athletics and Indians farm systems, ascending as high as the Triple-A level. He could end up pitching with the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, for which he posted a 3.13 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 16 starts in 2014 before departing for Korea.
Cubs Notes: Arrieta, David Ross, Tyson Ross
Jake Arrieta‘s agreement on a one-year, $15.6375MM deal this week suggests his time with the Cubs could be reaching its end, Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago writes. Arrieta is eligible for free agency at the end of the season, and his agent, Scott Boras, had previously said he and the Cubs would talk about an extension when the two sides discussed Arrieta’s 2017 salary this month. “The timeline is kind of coming to an end as far as as leading up to free agency,” Arrieta said yesterday. “I am here for one more year and I am going to enjoy every moment of it.” Still, he didn’t rule out the possibility that the two sides could still reach a deal. “If it happens, it happens. I don’t know where we stand. I really don’t. We do have some time to maybe work something out. If it doesn’t, I will become a free agent,” he said. Here’s more from out of Chicago.
- The Cubs have announced that they’ve hired David Ross as a special assistant to baseball operations. The 39-year-old Ross, of course, retired as a player after a strong 2016 season capped with a World Series Game 7 homer, and he’s beloved in Chicago. (He carried the World Series trophy at the beginning of this weekend’s Cubs Convention yesterday.) He’s looking forward to his new role, which seems open-ended — MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat writes that Ross will contribute in a variety of roles, including scouting, development and front-office work. “I don’t even know what I’m doing,” Ross says. “I feel like there’s a hall-of-fame front office and a relationship with guys who I have a bond with. They offered to help me grow in my baseball knowledge and try to learn different aspects of what goes on in the organization. I’m really going to be listening.”
- The Cubs recently lost out on Tyson Ross to the Rangers, but president of baseball operations Theo Epstein says the team still hopes to add starting pitching, as MLB.com’s Phil Rogers tweets. The Cubs “made it a difficult decision” for Ross, extending him an offer similar to the $6MM plus incentives he got from Texas, tweets CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney. Ross, formerly a top starter with the Padres, could have provided a strong back-end option for the Cubs provided he’d made a solid comeback from the shoulder troubles that cost him most of his 2016 season and resulted in surgery in October to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome.
5 Key Stories: 1/7/17 – 1/13/17
Here’s the key news from a busy week here at MLBTR:
Arbitration madness. This week’s arbitration filing deadline led to a number of interesting deals to avoid the arbitration process, including a two-year, $29.5MM contract for Nolan Arenado, $15.6375MM over one year for Jake Arrieta, $12.25MM for Eric Hosmer, $12MM for Todd Frazier, $11.5MM for Manny Machado, $11.4MM for Zach Britton, $13.625MM for Bryce Harper, $9.15MM for Dallas Keuchel. Here’s a roundup of various agreements from the National League, and here’s a roundup from the American League. You can follow all of this week’s arbitration-related moves with MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.
Padres’ big week. The Padres aren’t yet ready to announce a deal, but it appears they’re closing in on an extension with first baseman Wil Myers that’s worth north of $80MM and that will cover his three arbitration seasons plus his first three years of free agency eligibility. They also signed another infielder, Yangervis Solarte, to a two-year extension that includes two options, the latter covering a season in which Solarte would previously have been eligible for free agency. And as the week came to a close, the Padres were also reportedly nearing a deal with righty Trevor Cahill.
Mariners acquire Drew Smyly in pair of deals. The Mariners’ busy offseason continued this week with a pair of related trades. First, they shipped well-regarded prospect Luiz Gohara plus another young lefty, Thomas Burrows, to Atlanta for outfielder Mallex Smith and righty Shae Simmons. Then, they sent Smith, minor-league infielder Carlos Vargas and minor-league lefty Ryan Yarbrough to the Rays for lefty Drew Smyly, who will join their rotation. (Smith will join a Rays outfield mix that also now includes Colby Rasmus, with whom they agreed to a one-year deal this week.)
Athletics add Santiago Casilla, Trevor Plouffe. The A’s reached agreement with two players on big-league contracts this week, landing former Giants closer Santiago Casilla on a two-year, $11MM deal that will keep him in the Bay Area, and former Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe on a one-year deal that’s likely to be in the $5MM range.
Rangers land Tyson Ross. A variety of teams were connected to free agent righty Tyson Ross, who the Padres non-tendered last month after an injury-plagued 2016 season. Ross ultimately agreed to terms with the Rangers this week on a one-year deal for $6MM plus incentives, potentially allowing him to reestablish his value before heading out on the free agent market again next winter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.