Minor MLB Transactions: 4/1/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league:
- The Mets have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Jim Henderson. The former Brewers closer will be back in the big leagues for the first time since 2014. Henderson has battled shoulder issues in recent seasons, but he got good results in Spring Training, whiffing 13 batters in 10 2/3 innings. The hard-throwing 33-year-old has a lifetime 3.44 ERA, 12.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in three big-league seasons.
- The Red Sox have announced that they’ve signed outfielder Justin Maxwell to a minor-league deal, and he’ll report to Triple-A Pawtucket. The Marlins released Maxwell earlier this week. The 32-year-old hit .209/.275/.341 in 274 plate appearances with the Giants in 2015. Previously, he had played for the Nationals, Astros and Royals.
- The Rockies have signed shortstop Jeff Bianchi to a minor-league deal, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Bianchi played briefly for Boston last year, spending most of the year at Triple-A, where he hit .262/.329/.315. He has a .531 OPS in 404 career big-league plate appearances spread over four years, most of them coming with the Brewers.
- The Orioles have released 1B/OF Mike Carp and 3B/1B/OF Alex Liddi from minor-league camp, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. Carp, who’s played six seasons in the big leagues with the Mariners, Red Sox (with whom he won a World Series in 2013) and Rangers, played only briefly at the Triple-A level in the Dodgers organization in 2015. He’s a lifetime .254/.330/.414 hitter in the big leagues. Liddi played parts of three seasons for the Mariners from 2011 through 2013 and spent last season split between the Royals’ Double-A Northwest Arkansas affiliate and Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.
Orioles Release Miguel Gonzalez
FRIDAY: The Orioles have announced that Gonzalez has cleared waivers and has officially been released.
WEDNESDAY: The Orioles have placed righty Miguel Gonzalez on release waivers, according to Eduarco Encina of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). Gonzalez, 31, had agreed to a $5.1MM arbitration salary for the coming season, and the club would remain obligated for about a quarter of that (45 days pay) if he isn’t claimed.
Gonzalez had been a mainstay in the Orioles rotation dating back to his MLB debut in 2012. From that point through 2014, he consistently produced excellent results — he carried a 3.45 ERA over 435 2/3 innings — but his peripherals always suggested a fall-off. That’s exactly what occurred last year, as Gonzalez produced a 4.91 ERA over 144 2/3 innings.
The Orioles could have elected to option Gonzalez, as Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com notes on Twitter. But he’s shown only an upper-80s fastball this spring, and that was reflected in the results. Over 19 1/3 innings, Gonzalez permitted 21 earned runs on a troubling 35 hits, and walked six while striking out only eight opposing hitters.
With Gonzalez leaving the picture, it remains unclear what Baltimore will do with the back of the rotation. Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson would appear to be options, and veteran swingman Vance Worley remains available as well. Parting with Gonzalez does, at least, seem to be an implicit vote of confidence in the health of Kevin Gausman, who may open the year with a brief DL stint but is expected to be back in action in short order.
Padres Have Had Internal Talks About Trading For Pablo Sandoval
The Padres have had internal discussions about the possibility of dealing for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, Jon Heyman tweets. (Via WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Padres deny that there have been any substantive talks.) The Padres are not among the three teams to whom Sandoval can block a trade, Heyman adds. Sandoval is still owed $75MM through 2019, including a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option, so as Heyman notes, a deal to send Sandoval from the Padres to the Red Sox would likely include money to offset his contract.
The Red Sox recently named rookie Travis Shaw their starter at third base ahead of Sandoval, even though they’re only one year into Sandoval’s contract. The Padres, meanwhile, reportedly had a scout watching Sandoval, although it wasn’t clear how much interest they had in him or whether that scout might be watching someone else. The Padres had interest in Sandoval during their splashy 2014-15 offseason, reportedly offering Sandoval a nine-figure deal that exceeded the Red Sox’ offer in total value.
The Padres might now see Sandoval as presenting an opportunity to buy low, although it’s not clear whether Sandoval is an upgrade over current Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte. Solarte hit .270/.320/.428 last season and projects to produce 1.6 fWAR, via ZiPS. Sandoval, meanwhile, batted .245/.292/.366 and projects to produce 0.9 fWAR (although another projection system, Steamer, rates him as being likely to produce half a win better than that). Sandoval would seem to be a curious addition for a Padres team that was badly burned by veteran additions two winters ago and now seems more focused on trading high-profile veterans rather than on adding them.
There’s been some speculative conversation about a trade that could send Sandoval to San Diego and James Shields to Boston, and a Sandoval/Shields framework might make some sense, at least on a purely financial level — the Padres still owe Shields $65MM on the deal he signed with them last offseason. While Shields’ home-run-heavy first year with the Padres was merely a relatively small disappointment, though, Sandoval’s first year with Boston was a disaster, so the two players’ current values seem somewhat different.
Reds Claim Dan Straily From Padres
The Reds have claimed righty Dan Straily from the Padres, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. It was reported earlier today that the Padres had placed Straily on waivers.
Straily spent most of last season pitching for the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate in Fresno, where he produced a 4.77 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 122 2/3 innings. He previously spent about a season and a half in the Athletics’ rotation, though, and his combination of relative youth (27), controllability (he’s still not yet eligible for arbitration) and experience make him an understandable target for a rebuilding team like the Reds. Straily can also start or relieve, and he can be optioned. The Reds’ current role for him is unclear, but it’s easy to see how they might find him useful in a variety of contexts, particularly given their injury-ravaged rotation and unsettled bullpen.
Orioles Reliever Chaz Roe Clears Waivers
12:47pm: Roe has cleared waivers, Crasnick tweets.
10:33am: The Orioles have placed reliever Chaz Roe on waivers after assigning him to Triple-A, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. Roe had been a candidate for a bullpen job.
Roe pitched 41 1/3 innings for the Orioles last season, posting a decent 4.14 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9. It was, however, the 29-year-old’s first extended action in the big leagues, and he struggled down the stretch, posting a 6.91 ERA in 16 outings in the second half and missing time in August due to shoulder tendinitis. For his career, Roe has a 4.25 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in parts of three seasons with the Diamondbacks and Yankees in addition to the Orioles.
AL East Notes: Red Sox, Rays, Kim
At $17.6MM and $11.3MM, respectively, Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo will give the Red Sox two of the AL’s three most expensive bench players this season, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. (Those salary figures include portions of those players’ signing bonuses.) And in addition to Sandoval and Castillo, the Red Sox will also have Allen Craig, who has a $9MM salary, at Triple-A. The only more expensive reserve than Sandoval or Castillo will be Josh Hamilton, who will make about $26MM, most of it paid by the Angels. The Red Sox’ projected $48MM bench is almost four times more expensive than that of the average AL team. Of course, the Red Sox have enough money to have very expensive players, but the cases of Sandoval, Craig and perhaps Castillo are reminders of some of the organization’s past mistakes. Here’s more from the AL East.
- In the Rays’ additions of Hank Conger, Corey Dickerson, Brad Miller, Logan Morrison and Steve Pearce and subtractions of Jake McGee, Nathan Karns, Rene Rivera and James Loney, the Rays might be straying from their pitching-and-defense-first philosophy, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman says the team has merely made a slight adjustment to take advantage of what was available — making itself better by finding better offensive players that are capable enough defensively. Chris Archer, at least, agrees with their new approach. “You have to have balance,” he says. “We learned for the last eight years that just being pitching heavy is probably not the way to do it. You’ve got to have defense. You’ve got to have pitching — the teams that win get high-level pitching, starting and relief. But you’ve got to have offense, too.”
- The Orioles‘ situation with Hyun Soo Kim is “a mess,” Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes. The two sides currently disagree about whether Kim is ready to play in the Majors, but Kim has the right to refuse a minor-league assignment. This isn’t the first time the O’s have run into had a hard time due to an interaction with a Korean player, Connolly notes — they had to release pitcher Suk-min Yoon last year when it became clear they had little use for him, allowing him to go back to the KIA Tigers in Korea. And they were briefly banned from scouting in Korea after offering a deal to amateur pitcher Seong-Min Kim.
Offseason In Review: St. Louis Cardinals
This is the latest entry in MLBTR’s Offseason In Review series. The full index of Offseason In Review posts can be found here.
After a winter in which they dealt with several significant losses, last year’s winningest team will try to regroup for 2016.
Major League Signings
- P Mike Leake: five years, $80MM (plus 2021 mutual option)
- P Jonathan Broxton: two years, $7.5MM
- C Brayan Pena: two years, $5MM
- P Seung-Hwan Oh: one year, ~$5MM (plus 2017 option)
- SS Ruben Tejada: one year, $1.5MM
Notable Minor League Signings
Trades And Claims
- Acquired IF Jedd Gyorko and cash from Padres for OF Jon Jay
- Acquired SS Jose Martinez from Royals for C Tony Cruz
- Claimed P Jayson Aquino from Indians
- Selected P Matthew Bowman from Mets in the Rule 5 Draft
Extensions
- Kolten Wong, 2B: five years, $25.5MM (plus 2021 option)
Notable Losses
- Jason Heyward, John Lackey, Jay, Steve Cishek, Peter Bourjos, Randy Choate, Mark Reynolds, Carlos Villanueva, Cruz
Needs Addressed
A variety of departures and injury issues had the Cardinals playing catch-up this offseason. They tried to retain star outfielder Jason Heyward with an offer for a greater total value than the deal Heyward eventually received, but were dealt a serious blow when Heyward instead picked the Cardinals’ division rivals in Chicago. The Cards were briefly connected to Alex Gordon, but instead chose to focus on other needs, going with Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty in the outfield and Brandon Moss and Matt Adams at first.
In the rotation, one top starter, John Lackey, left via free agency. Then, in early November, the team announced that another top starter, Lance Lynn, had undergone Tommy John surgery. Those losses left the Cards with significant holes at the top of their rotation. They aimed high, making a serious bid for David Price, but they lost out to the Red Sox and ended up signing Mike Leake (pictured) instead.
$80MM for a seemingly mid-grade starting pitcher like Leake seems like a lot, but perhaps it isn’t in an offseason in which Jeff Samardzija, Wei-Yin Chen and Ian Kennedy all received comparable amounts. (MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes predicted Leake’s $80MM contract exactly.) The 28-year-old Leake is easily the youngest of the four, and the Cardinals are effectively buying his late-prime years, at least in theory. Also, he has a strong health record, and his good control, ground-ball tendencies and strong hitting give him a high floor. Leake’s $80MM price tag reflects an escalation in starting pitcher salaries, but it’s also a reflection of Leake’s abilities, which are considerable, even if he isn’t as flashy as many of this winter’s other rotation options were.
The Cardinals’ other big-league signings were less significant, although they took steps to improve their bullpen. They re-signed Jonathan Broxton to a two-year deal after trading for him last July. The last several seasons of Broxton’s career have been spotty at times, and he struggled in 2015 with Milwaukee before being dealt to St. Louis, but he whiffed 9.4 batters per nine innings last year and still has mid-90s velocity. He should be in the Cardinals’ late-inning mix.
Joining him in that mix will be Seung-Hwan Oh, who’s making the leap to the US after nine seasons in his native Korea and two in Japan. Oh was a highly effective closer in both the KBO and the NPB, racking up a total of 357 saves between the two leagues and posting a career 1.81 ERA, 10.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. The details of Oh’s contract still haven’t been released, but it reportedly guarantees about $5MM, with the chance to increase to $11MM over two years if Oh clears his incentives and the Cardinals pick up his 2017 option. That price would be a relative pittance for an everyday player, but it’s a significant commitment for a reliever, so the Cardinals seem to be banking on Oh being a key contributor to their bullpen.
Between Broxton, Oh and whatever they can get out of Jordan Walden (who’s currently struggling with what appears to be a continuation of the shoulder issues that cost him most of last season), the Cards’ bullpen could look quite different in 2016 than it did for most of last year, though it will also feature holdovers Trevor Rosenthal, Seth Maness and lefties Kevin Siegrist and Tyler Lyons (who’s out of options). Rule 5 pick Matt Bowman will reportedly get an opportunity in Walden’s absence.
Elsewhere, the Cardinals dropped light-hitting backup catcher Tony Cruz and replaced him with Brayan Pena, a competent but forgettable second catcher who signed a cheap two-year deal. In Spring Training, a late-breaking thumb injury to starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta forced the Cards to sign Ruben Tejada to a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Tejada is hardly a world-beater, but for the Cardinals to get a decent defensive shortstop with on-base ability after losing their shortstop in March rated as a minor coup at the time — Tejada is a credible big-league starter who only became available once the Mets released him, and in many seasons, it would have been hard for a suddenly-injury-ravaged team to find someone as good as Tejada without giving up any trade assets. Of course, Tejada went down with a quadriceps strain this week and will join Peralta on the DL to start the season.
The Cardinals also signed second baseman Kolten Wong to a five-year, $25.5MM deal that begins in 2016 and includes an option for 2021. The deal allows the Cards to control Wong for an extra two seasons through age 30 (since he would have been eligible for free agency after 2019), while providing Wong financial security. Wong doesn’t profile as a star, but he’s a solid defender and a good baserunner, and he provides enough offense that ensuring two extra years of his services on a relatively cheap extension seems like a reasonably low-downside gamble.
More analysis after the jump.
Dave Stewart Interview, Part II
Over four decades in baseball, Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart has done nearly everything in baseball. He was a solid pitcher for 16 years, with 168 wins and a 3.95 ERA. Over four superstar seasons with the Oakland A’s, he collected 17.8 bWAR and four straight top-four Cy Young Award finishes. Upon retirement, he was a pitching coach and an assistant GM for multiple teams, and was a finalist to manage the Milwaukee Brewers upon Davey Lopes’s firing in 2002.
After failing to ascend to general manager in Toronto (with the Blue Jays instead hiring J.P. Ricciardi), Stewart formed a player agency and represented several stars, including Eric Chavez, Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley and Chris Carter.
Years after Stewart had admittedly given up hope of ever being a big-league GM, Tony La Russa was hired to run baseball operations in Arizona and selected his former ace as the Diamondbacks GM.
Last week, we spoke to Stewart about his Diamondbacks team. This week, Stewart reflects on his career and his path to the big chair in this exclusive conversation.
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You were drafted in the 16th round by the Dodgers in 1975, but you also had a ton of football scholarship offers, and played some pretty good basketball, too. Why did you choose baseball?
[Laughs] It was the sport that I was least likely to get hurt playing. There are obvious injuries that happen in baseball, but in football, even at 6’2”, 210 pounds, that’s not big enough to play the sport, for me. In basketball, there were some size restrictions as well. What’s great about baseball is that anybody can get on the diamond and show their skills. At the time, among the three sports, baseball was not my favorite, and probably not my best sport. But it’s just funny how things turn out.
Did you have any idea L.A. was going to convert you from catcher to pitcher?
No clue whatsoever [laughs]. Once I reported to [rookie ball in] Bellingham, Washington, the picture became clear what they were going to do with me.
You blossomed into stardom in front of your hometown Oakland fans, with four straight seasons for top-four Cy Young finishes. Meanwhile, your A’s teams made it to three straight World Series and not afraid to put somebody on their backsides to get there. But Oakland was under .500 in 1986, your first year in Oakland, and just .500 in Tony La Russa’s first full year as manager in 1987. When did the A’s develop their swagger?
We had a good group of players, [Mark] McGwire, [Jose] Canseco, Carney Lansford, Dave Henderson, Rickey Henderson. And you look at the pitching staff of myself, [Bob] Welch, Mike Moore, Curt Young; our rotation was good, we had Dennis Eckersley on the back end, and Rick Honeycutt and others in the pen.
But what really makes the team is the guy who leads the team, the manager. Tony was a great example of what we should be and how we should play the game. His message went through our clubhouse. We believed we could win, and when we stepped on the field, we were going to win. That all started with Tony and his coaching staff, and the things they brought to us day-to-day as players.
Since retiring, you’ve been a player agent, a pitching coach, in the front office, and even have gotten consideration as a manager. You seem to have your choice of baseball gigs. Why GM?
The general manager has the most impact on an organization and a franchise. I get the opportunity to pick the manager and put the players in place. It’s the biggest responsibility in an organization. I like that kind of pressure. I like being in that situation. I’ve won championships as a player, now I want to win a championship in the front office. In this capacity now, I want to be able to shape and form an organization, and build a tradition during my tenure.
You’ve been outspoken about the role of race in your goal to become a baseball GM. Was there ever a point when you thought it just wasn’t going to happen?
No, there wasn’t a single point, because by a certain time I definitely didn’t think it was going to happen. But the thing about baseball, especially at the upper levels of management, if you get the right person in the right position, it can affect your life immediately, as this did for me. Tony La Russa is a guy I’ve had a relationship with for over 30 years, and once he was put in a position where he could hire me, he did. If Tony would not have gotten his opportunity, I wouldn’t haven’t have gotten mine.
As you say, in many ways you learned how to play winning baseball under Tony, have been friends for decades, have discussed your futures in baseball together. Is it ideal to be working toward a championship in Arizona with him?
I know enough about Tony to say that our friendship had nothing to do with giving me the opportunity to do this job. But having a friendship makes it easier to do the job. Our communication is wide open. We feel free to talk with each other about anything. Most of the time our conversations are good conversations. Sometimes they’re not so good. We both have some fire. And that’s the great part about it, whether it’s a good conversation or a bad one, we walk out of the room united.
You were fresh-faced in 1981, winning your first title with Los Angeles. You were a pitching stud in 1989 when you won a second title, with Oakland. A few years later, you got a third in Toronto. Is there a favorite?
They were all good, because they were all at different points in my life. In 1981, I was just a rookie coming into the game, so I had an opportunity to win one right off the bat, which was great. I wasn’t of great impact to the Dodgers, but I was able to help them get there. In 1989, as you said, I was in the middle of it, and I made a difference in winning that World Series. In 1993 it was my last one, at the tail end of my career. I was on my way out of the game, contributing any way I could, but still having impact. I was ALCS MVP that year. But they were all significant and good because they were all different parts of my career and my life.
Padres Place Dan Straily On Waivers
The Padres have placed righty Dan Straily on waivers, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. Straily was out of options.
The Padres, of course, acquired Straily for catcher Erik Kratz in a minor deal with the Astros earlier this week. It appears their interest in Straily wasn’t particularly strong, or at least that they didn’t have an immediate use for him. They could be hoping to use him as minor-league depth if they anticipate he’ll go through the waiver process unclaimed.
Straily was once a regular in the Astros’ rotation, but he appeared in only four big-league games last season. He spent most of the year at Triple-A Fresno, posting a 4.77 ERA but with 9.1 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 122 2/3 innings. For his big-league career, the 27-year-old has a 4.60 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9.
NL Notes: Jansen, Sky Sox, Braves
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen won’t discuss an extension during the season, which means he’s highly likely to test free agency next winter, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes. Jansen says there are currently no discussions between the two sides. “I’m not going to talk about it,” he says. “I’ll just want to talk about that in October.” The Dodgers reportedly did not discuss a long-term contract with Jansen while they were reaching their arbitration-avoiding $10.65MM deal with him in January. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk pointed out at the time, top Dodgers exec Andrew Friedman tended to focus on cheaper relief pitching when he was with the Rays. The Dodgers do, however, have a much bigger budget, despite their relatively thrifty offseason, and their interest in Aroldis Chapman before revelations of his domestic violence issue this past winter perhaps indicates somewhat of a willingness to pay heavily for a top reliever. Jansen certainly fits into the “top reliever” category, given his 2.41 ERA with a spectacular 13.8 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 last year and his long track record of success. Here’s more from the National League.
- The Colorado Springs Sky Sox, currently the Brewers‘ Triple-A affiliate, will soon meet with San Antonio’s city council to discuss potential plans to move the franchise there, Brent Briggeman of the Colorado Springs Gazette writes. “If the City of San Antonio, the 37th largest TV market in the country, calls and says they would like to talk about a downtown stadium and the possibility of bringing Triple-A Baseball to San Antonio, it would be imprudent as business owners not to listen,” say the Sky Sox in a statement. The move would, apparently, be contingent upon San Antonio building a downtown ballpark appropriate for Triple-A baseball. The Elmore Sports Group, which owns the Sky Sox, also owns the Double-A San Antonio Missions, currently a Padres affiliate. The Sky Sox have been in Colorado Springs for nearly three decades, serving as the Rockies’ longtime Triple-A home most of that time before a recent switch to the Brewers.
- Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez expresses concern about the team’s bullpen in a three-part Q+A with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien (1, 2, 3). Gonzalez expresses confidence in the ability of both Arodys Vizcaino and Jason Grilli to close, and expresses a level of comfort with veterans Jim Johnson and Eric O’Flaherty. He does, however, hope that the team can improve its performance in the middle innings this season. Gonzalez says he doesn’t feel any more pressure than usual given that this will be the Braves’ last season in Turner Field before moving into a new ballpark next year. “I think you can do both – I think you can develop [young players] and I think you can win games,” he says. “I’m not going to say we’re going to go out and win 110 games or any of that crazy stuff, but as far as pressure I don’t feel any different from any other year.”