Notes On Dodgers’ Deal With Pablo Millan Fernandez
Last night, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reported that the Dodgers had agreed to terms with 25-year-old Cuban pitcher Pablo Millan Fernandez on a minor-league contract with an $8MM bonus. The Dodgers will convert Fernandez from relief to starting. The deal came as somewhat of a surprise, given that Fernandez wasn’t a big international name and his stuff reportedly isn’t overwhelming. As Badler notes (via Twitter), “If he can get $8MM, Vladimir Gutierrez must be doing back flips right now.” Here are more notes on Fernandez.
- Dodgers infielder Alex Guerrero played with Fernandez in Cuba and remembers him well, J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group writes. “Good control, command, great kid, good attitude, that’s all I can say,” says Guerrero. “Slider, fastball — the best thing is that he locates them good.”
- Fernandez defected from Cuba last October, Hoornstra writes. The Dodgers only recently became interested. The team recently underwent changes in their front office, of course, and Badler noted in his original report that Fernandez’s velocity increased recently, so those might be two potential reasons. There’s also the possibility, as Hoornstra notes, that the Dodgers previously hadn’t viewed Fernandez as a potential defector.
- Not all teams were as impressed with Fernandez as the Dodgers apparently were. Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs tweets that one international scouting director says his team had little interest in Fernandez, believing his stuff was unimpressive and that his upside was that of a back-end starter.
- Another scout told McDaniel (again via Twitter) that Fernandez had a good chance of becoming an Odrisamer Despaigne-type pitcher. That view perhaps isn’t entirely inconsistent with that of the international scouting director’s, but it’s framed much more positively — perhaps Fernandez won’t be an ace, but if he can be a reliable contributor in the Dodgers’ rotation, that would, surely, be a good use of $8MM.
White Sox Extend Adam Eaton
White Sox GM Rick Hahn announced a five-year, $23.5MM extension with center fielder Adam Eaton today on CSN Chicago. The deal includes two club options, which give the team risk-free control over Eaton for 2020 and 2021. Eaton is a client of Diamond Sports Management.
Here’s how the deal breaks out for the 26-year-old, who entered the spring with just over two years of service time and would have been playing for his first of three arbitration deals. Eaton receives $850K for the 2015 campaign, followed by $2.75MM, $4MM, and $6MM salaries for what would have been his arbitration seasons and $8.4MM for his first season of free agent eligibility. The club options are valued at $9.5MM and $10.5MM, respectively, and either can instead be bought out for $1.5MM. The last club option can increase to $12MM if Eaton finishes second or third in MVP balloting any season from 2015 through 2020, and $13MM if he wins the MVP any of those years.
So, what did the White Sox get for their investment? Last year, in his first full run through the bigs, Eaton slashed .300/.362/.401 and swiped 15 bases. While he has no power to speak of, Eaton’s cumulative, park-adjusted work at the plate checked in at about 15% above league average. He draws walks at about a league-average rate while striking out a good bit less than the mean. Eaton’s .359 BABIP is probably not quite sustainable, but Eaton’s speed makes him a candidate to maintain a rather high average on balls in play; indeed, he consistently topped that level as a minor leaguer.
That kind of output will play at most positions, but is especially valuable in an up-the-middle defender. How one views this deal largely swings on how one values Eaton’s defense. He was not considered a sure thing in center as a prospect, but had at least proven he can handle the position heading into last year and unquestionably has the speed required.
The question is: with one full season in the books, which rating system (if any) do you believe? In the estimation of Ultimate Zone Rating (-3.3 last year), Eaton is slightly below average at the position; thus, he checked in at 2.7 fWAR. But by measure of Defensive Runs Saved (12 runs above average), Eaton is an outstanding defender and was worth a staggering 5.2 rWAR last year.
If we split the difference and peg Eaton as an average to slightly above-average performer in center, and assume that he can continue to hit at an average or slightly better rate and provide value on the bases, then you have the makings of a solid 2.5 to 3.5 win player for the foreseeable future. That makes his new contract look rather appealing.
The closest comp for the Eaton deal is probably the 2012 extension between the Padres and Cameron Maybin. That contract went for five years and $25MM, with the team picking up just one option year. Maybin was obviously a high-variance player with bigger counting stats, so San Diego had to pay for his upside. Another obvious comparison point was just set: the $49.57MM Christian Yelich deal with the Marlins, which more than doubles the promise made to Eaton. While Yelich has more power upside, he plays in the corner. And though Yelich is a good bit younger (just 23), he also was one year further away from arbitration and free agency.
Of course, there are other elements weighing down Eaton’s price here. For one, his skillset is unlikely to translate into huge arbitration earnings And then there’s the fact that Eaton has dealt with a series of injury issues in recent seasons. Last year, it oblique and hamstring strains led to DL stints. In 2013, Eaton went down to a UCL sprain in his left elbow. It remains to be seen whether Eaton is uniquely injury prone or has just encountered some bad luck, but that track record certainly increased the deal’s logic from his perspective.
All told, the White Sox are undoubtedly pleased with how things have turned out with Eaton. Chicago was able to add him in exchange for lefty Hector Santiago, serving to facilitate the late 2013 Mark Trumbo deal.
Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune first tweeted the news. Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com tweeted the option details. Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune tweeted the annual breakdown, while CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweeted details about Eaton’s last option season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Reactions To The Rockies’ Release Of Jhoulys Chacin
Here’s the latest on the Rockies’ sudden release of Jhoulys Chacin, a key part of their rotation for most of the last five seasons.
- Four teams have shown interest in Chacin, who the Rockies released over the weekend, 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweets. (The Twins, who are in Wolfson’s market, are not among them.)
- The release of Chacin helps clear the way for less experienced pitchers like Jon Gray, Eddie Butler, Christian Bergman and David Hale, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding writes. Of course, Chacin himself is just 27, but manager Walt Weiss says the Rockies can’t worry about whether they cut bait too early. “You can’t get caught up in that,” he says. “It’s happened probably thousands of times in the history of this game, and it’s going to happen thousands more. It comes down to, are you willing to make a baseball decision based on where you’re at, at that point in time?” Harding also notes that the Rockies have an insurance option in John Lannan, who agreed to a minor-league deal with the team in November.
- Chacin’s release increases the burden on veteran Rockies starters Jorge De La Rosa and Kyle Kendrick, Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes. De La Rosa is currently dealing with a groin strain. “We need him,” says Kendrick of De La Rosa. “He’s a big key to our rotation, to our team. The sooner we get him back, it’s going to be better for us.”
Rangers Release Joe Beimel
The Rangers have released lefty Joe Beimel, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. They also reassigned top power-hitting prospect Joey Gallo to the minor leagues and optioned another top prospect, catcher Jorge Alfaro, to Double-A Frisco.
The Rangers signed Beimel to a non-guaranteed $1.5MM MLB deal earlier this month, but he allowed 14 runs in three innings this spring. The reliever had a fine 2014 season with the Mariners, posting a 2.20 ERA with 2.8 BB/9, albeit with an underwhelming 5.0 K/9, in 45 innings. That had been his first year in the big leagues since 2011. The 37-year-old veteran has appeared in 12 MLB seasons with the Pirates, Twins, Dodgers, Nationals and Rockies in addition to the Mariners.
As Grant points out, the move leaves Alex Claudio as the Rangers’ main left-handed option. The team has also been connected in trade rumors to the Marlins’ Mike Dunn, suggesting they might not be finished pursuing left-handed relief help.
Nationals Release Heath Bell
The Nationals have released reliever Heath Bell, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The Nats signed Bell to a minor-league deal in December. He struck out six batters and walked five while allowing five runs, four earned, in 5 1/3 innings in Spring Training.
The 37-year-old Bell established a strong track record as the Padres’ closer from 2009-2011, but began struggling after signing a three-year deal with the Marlins prior to the 2012 season. Bell headed to the Diamondbacks and then the Rays, for whom he allowed 16 runs in 17 1/3 innings last season while struggling with his velocity. After the Rays released him, he briefly signed on with the Orioles and then the Yankees, but struggled in Triple-A and did not appear in the big leagues with either team.
Minor Moves: Reds Release Jose Mijares
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game:
- The Reds have announced that they’ve released lefty reliever Jose Mijares. In addition, they optioned catcher Tucker Barnhart, infielder Eugenio Suarez and outfielder Donald Lutz to Triple Louisville and reassigned infielder Josh Satin and catcher Chad Wallach to minor-league camp. Mijares didn’t pitch last season after opting out of his minor-league deal with the Red Sox, but he’s been an effective specialist for much of his career, posting a 3.23 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 259 innings in six seasons with the Twins, Royals and Giants. The Reds signed him to a minor-league deal in December.
Latest On Hector Olivera
Here’s the latest on Cuban free agent infielder Hector Olivera, much of it from CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman:
- Olivera’s new agent, Greg Genske, says he thinks he and his client will reach a deal with his new team “soon.” (Last Wednesday, Genske told Heyman that Olivera would likely sign by the end of what is now last week, so negotiations have already gone on longer than anticipated.)
- It’s possible there could be a bidding war between the Dodgers and Padres. Those two teams appear to be leading the bidding, although other teams (including the Braves, Athletics and Giants) remain interested. (The Marlins are reportedly out of the bidding.)
- Olivera is reportedly throwing well, perhaps easing concerns over a report that he could have UCL damage.
- Olivera will likely agree to a deal by Wednesday, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets.
Erick Aybar Switches Agents
Angels shortstop Erick Aybar has switched his representation and is now a client of Roc Nation Sports, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reports (Twitter link). Juan Perez will serve as Aybar’s agent, Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal reports (via Twitter). Aybar had previously been represented by Relativity Baseball.
Aybar is halfway through a four-year, $35MM contract he signed with the Halos in April 2012, and he’s owed $8.5MM in each of the next two seasons. The extension kept the 31-year-old off the open market, as he was scheduled to hit free agency following the 2012 campaign. Aybar has a .277/.318/.385 slash line over 4161 career plate appearances and has flashed a generally above-average glove at short, winning a Gold Glove in 2011.
For agency info on over 1,700 players, check out MLBTR’s oft-updated agency database. Agents: if you’ve got a 40-man roster player or top prospect whose representation is not correctly noted, we welcome corrections at mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
Blaine Boyer And His Personal Entourage
In March, it’s not uncommon to see over-the-hill veterans in camp looking to extend their careers for just one more season. By the same token you don’t normally see marketable 30-year-old players call it quits, but that’s what reliever Blaine Boyer did three years ago. Boyer didn’t fall out of love with baseball, but he was decidedly heartsick and missing his family back home. When the right-hander told his wife Ginsey that he wanted to retire and potentially leave a mountain of money on the table, she understood the way he felt and the reasons behind his decision.
“I grew up in a household that was broken early. My parents divorced when I was three and there was just so much inconsistency there,” Boyer told MLBTR in the Twins’ dugout prior to their afternoon contest against the Phillies. “I’ve had to live with that for a long time. I was coming and going and I wasn’t consistently there for my boys and my wife and that brought back a lot of what I went through when I was little, so she understood that. It wasn’t about me not wanting to play baseball anymore, it was much deeper.”
While Boyer’s sabbatical from the game effectively amounted to a boxer’s retirement, he was confident that he was done with baseball for good. When the pull of the sport was too strong for Boyer to resist, he and his wife came up with an unorthodox game plan: she and their two young sons would travel with Boyer on the road as much as humanly possible throughout the season.
Boyer, 33, feels as though he has found the right balance between being an active parent and doing what he feels he was put on this planet to do professionally.
“The boys, they’re 3 and 4 now, they’re at the point where they’re kind of expecting baseball season and they love it. My wife especially, she loves the atmosphere of the games, she loves sitting back and eating a hot dog, watching the boys and the seventh inning stretch and it’s just so much fun for her to be their mother watching them watch their daddy,” Boyer said. “For me, I’m able to experience this as their father and my wife always being with me, it’s kind of like the Boyer family adventure and it’s a blessing.”
For the right-hander, traveling with the family entourage means that he doesn’t have to live with regret in the present or in the future.
“I feel like God has given me the ability to throw a baseball and he hasn’t given that many people this kind of ability. So, when I have to answer to him about the gifts he has given me, I don’t want to have to say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry I wasted that one.’ On top of that, I didn’t want to be 60 years old and thinking what might have been,” Boyer explained. “So, the whole no regrets mindset and still playing baseball gives me the opportunity stand up and talk about family and talk about God. Helping people understand my relationship with Jesus Christ is important to me.”
Boyer has taken his family with him all over the map, even internationally in 2013 when he pitched for Japan’s Hanshin Tigers. Boyer, who bristled at the thought of takoyaki and some of the country’s more adventurous cuisine, experienced a bit of culture shock, but he also fell in love with Japan’s baseball culture and its people. It also helped that friend Jason Standridge was pitching with Hanshin and, of course, his family was by his side.
For now, the Boyer family adventure has landed the traveling clan in Minnesota, but that could change in a matter of days. The reliever has a March 30th opt-out clause that can be exercised if he has not been added to the 40-man roster by that time. Boyer doesn’t know how that will play out yet, but he’ll have his own personal cheering section with him no matter where he winds up.
2016 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings
Opening Night is less than two weeks away, and none of the top ten free agents from the first installment of our Power Rankings seem close to an extension. It’s time for an update.
As a reminder, these rankings represent the earning power in terms of total contract size, assuming everyone reaches the open market and goes to the highest bidder. Here’s MLBTR’s full list of 2015-16 free agents.
1. Justin Upton. Padres GM A.J. Preller explained his Upton trade recently to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune, saying, “We made this deal with eyes open, knowing that this may be a long-term relationship and it may end up being a one-year relationship.” In December, Upton’s agent Larry Reynolds said they won’t be negotiating in-season, so the young slugger seems likely to reach the open market.
2. Jason Heyward. In contrast, Heyward seems willing to negotiate in-season. Check out Derrick Goold’s March 9th piece for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for an in-depth look at the Cardinals’ new outfielder. Heyward said of his contract, “The sooner that is done the better, for me,” while also hedging against any urgency in the comments that followed. But I found that comment telling, as well as his emphasis on comfort and a good fit. In February, I talked about Heyward potentially signing the largest contract in free agent history if his power returns. That’s the best case, open-market scenario, however. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports polled a bunch of GMs in March about Heyward’s next contract, and most felt he’ll fall short of $200MM.
3. David Price. Price is another top free agent who seems willing to sign an in-season extension, though there were no talks as of March 12th. Five days prior, the lefty had said he didn’t think the Tigers would wait until he nears free agency to open up discussions.
4. Ian Desmond. All is quiet on the Desmond contract front, as the shortstop prefers. Based on the currently available information, he seems headed for free agency after the season.
5. Johnny Cueto. Reds GM Walt Jocketty told Mike Ferrin and Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM earlier this month, “We’ve had some discussions,” and said he wanted to let the team’s fans know they’re still trying. This seems like a case where the hometown team will make a valiant effort but won’t be able to afford the player.
6. Jordan Zimmermann. Zimmermann doesn’t intend to discuss a contract during the season, so it appears he’ll hit the market. If the Nationals allow Desmond, Zimmermann, and Doug Fister to leave, they’ll be in for an interesting offseason of retooling.
7. Alex Gordon. There has been “not one bit” of contract discussion between Gordon’s agent and the Royals, the left fielder told Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star last week. December wrist surgery delayed Gordon’s spring debut, and he’s only played in two games to date.
8. Zack Greinke. There’s been nothing new on Greinke, who knows he holds all the cards with his opt-out clause.
9. Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija told reporters earlier this month he’s in a “pretty intense situation with a lot on the line.” He told Jon Heyman of CBS Sports on March 5th that there were no contract talks with the White Sox, and he doesn’t want to talk in-season. Heyman feels it would be an upset to see the big righty sign an extension prior to free agency.
10. Yoenis Cespedes. The lone new entrant on this list, Cespedes told reporters in March he’d “like to be in a Tigers uniform for a lot of years.” The 29-year-old slugger is ineligible to receive a qualifying offer, it should be noted.
Orioles catcher Matt Wieters loses his spot at #10, as he’s likely to start the season on the DL. He is still on schedule in his recovery from June Tommy John surgery, but it would be good for his free agent value to see him behind the dish and firing on all cylinders before May.