Dodgers Sign Justin Turner
DECEMBER 23, 6:04pm: The deal has been announced.
3:28pm: Turner’s deal appears to have hit the books, though it hasn’t yet been announced. He’ll receive a $4MM signing bonus, with annual salaries of $12MM (2017), $11MM (2018), $18MM (2019), and $19MM (2020), per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). There’s also a $1MM trade bonus provision, though Turner doesn’t pick up any other protection against being dealt, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (also via Twitter), who also specifies that the contract is indeed official.
DECEMBER 13: The Dodgers have finalized their new four-year deal with third baseman Justin Turner, reports Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. The deal will guarantee Turner a total of $64MM, Bowden notes, as was reported yesterday when the two sides were first said to be nearing an agreement. Turner is a client of the Legacy Agency. The Dodgers have yet to officially announce the deal.
Turner, who just turned 32, was an unheralded minor league signing for the Dodgers three offseasons ago but broke out and reached star status in his three years with Los Angeles. Since being non-tendered by the Mets and signing in L.A., he’s slashed .296/.364/.492 with 50 homers in just shy of 1400 plate appearances. His walk rate was down a bit in 2016, but Turner offset the dip in on-base percentage by delivering the best power production of his life. Turner hit .273/.339/.493 while setting career-highs in home runs (27), doubles (34), triples (three), and isolated power (.218). Further strengthening his overall performance was his excellent defense at third base, where Defensive Runs Saved pegged him at seven run above average, while Ultimate Zone Rating was even more bullish at +14 runs.
[Related: Updated Los Angeles Dodgers Depth Chart]
A look at the open market shows a number of free-agent alternatives to Turner, and there were trade options to pursue as well (e.g. Todd Frazier), but none of the available alternatives can reliably be expected to produce in the manner that Turner did in his first three years with the Dodgers. Though president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hasn’t made a habit out of beating the market and landing top-tier free agents since taking over atop the Dodgers’ front office, he’s now done just that on three instances this winter — each to retain one of his own players — by agreeing to new deals with Turner, Rich Hill and Kenley Jansen. That trio will cost the Dodgers about $192MM in total and add about $48MM of luxury tax considerations to the annual ledger.
Then again, the Dodgers are poised to see their commitments to Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier and Alex Guerrero come off the books next year and could bid farewell to Adrian Gonzalez, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-jin Ryu a year later. Those commitments total upward of $100MM in annual luxury tax penalization, so while the Dodgers are adding $48MM to their CBT total in the short-term, they’ll see more than twice that sum come off the books in the next 24 months. And, of course, Los Angeles could look to trade from its stable of veterans and jump the gun on removing some of those mostly onerous commitments from the ledger.
Of course, the Dodgers can’t be completely ruled out from pursuing further additions. They could still stand to see upgrades in the bullpen, at second base and possibly in the corner outfield. In particular, the 2016 iteration of the club was the worst in baseball at hitting left-handed pitching. The return of Turner should help with that flaw — though he did have some uncharacteristic struggles against southpaws last year — but further right-handed bats with some pop and/or strong on-base skills would make for reasonable pursuits. And, even with Jansen on board, the Dodgers are currently down a pair of setup men, as both Joe Blanton and J.P. Howell hit the free-agent market following the 2016 season.
Chris Camello of the Rebel Media Group reported Sunday that the two sides were nearing a four-year deal that could be worth about $65MM (Twitter link). ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted on Monday morning that there was growing confidence on the Dodgers’ behalf. Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links) and FOX’s Ken Rosenthal chipped in additional financial details (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Angels Sign Ben Revere
The Angels have officially agreed to a one-year, $4MM contract with free-agent outfielder Ben Revere, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney first reported (Twitter links). There are also incentives in the deal based upon plate appearances that could boost its final value by up to $2.25MM, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag adds (Twitter links). Los Angeles has designated first baseman Ji-Man Choi for assignment to create roster space, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter.
With Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun entrenched as everyday options in center and right, it seems likely that Revere will mostly share time with Cameron Maybin in left field. The Maybin-Revere pairing figures to represent a higher-grade version of last year’s left-field platoon; while they’ll cost a combined $13MM, both are youthful players who won’t come with any future obligations.
[RELATED: Updated Angels Depth Chart]
Of course, there’s a reason that the fleet-footed Revere was available for such a limited commitment. Though he has been a heavily utilized player for the better part of the last six seasons, and offers quite a lot of versatility, Revere is coming off of a 2016 season which was the worst of his career at the plate.
Revere came to the Nationals last winter after playing in over 150 games in each of the two prior seasons — over which he carried a solid .306/.333/.369 batting line. He also swiped a combined eighty bags and rated as one of the game’s most valuable overall baserunners.
But things simply never took in D.C. After an oblique injury slowed him at the start of the season, Revere ultimately hit just .217/.260/.300 over 375 plate appearances. Though he continued to display excellent contact ability (34:18 K/BB ratio), his BABIP plummeted by about a hundred points (to .234) and drug his average down with it. And while Revere did steal 14 bases, he delivered only average value on the bases.
Given the struggles, Revere’s projected $6.3MM arbitration salary proved too rich for the Nats, who non-tendered him. Now, he’ll join fellow former Nationals Danny Espinosa and Yunel Escobar (each of whom was acquired via trade) as important role players in Los Angeles.
For the Halos, Revere appears to represent a solid value that solidifies an excellent outfield and adds flexibility for skipper Mike Scioscia. If he can return to being even a marginal offensive presence, Revere figures to represent at least a strong fourth outfielder who won’t cost quite as much as many similar players. While he carries neutral platoon splits, the left-handed-hitting Revere represents a natural platoon mate for Maybin and is plenty capable of spelling Trout at times up the middle.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins Designate Elvis Araujo, Announce Brad Ziegler Signing
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.