Phillies Designate Cesar Jimenez For Assignment
The Phillies have designated left-hander Cesar Jimenez for assignment. The move creates a spot on the 40-man roster for the newly-signed Chad Billingsley.
This is the second time the Phils have Jimenez has been designated for assignment in just under eight months, and he also was outrighted off their 40-man roster in June. The southpaw signed a one-year deal to avoid arbitration with the Phillies in October.
Jimenez, 30, posted a 1.69 ERA, 1.14 K/BB rate and 4.5 K/9 over 16 relief innings for Philadelphia last season, as well as an impressive 1.45 ERA, 3.07 K/BB rate and 8.3 K/9 in 49 2/3 IP at the Triple-A level. He joins five other players in “DFA Limbo” according to the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker.
Minor Moves: Paulino, LaHair, Marjama
Here are today’s minor league transactions, with the latest moves at the top of the post…
- The Red Sox announced the signings of righty Felipe Paulino and 1B/OF Bryan LaHair to minor league deals with Spring Training invites. Paulino posted an 11.29 ERA over 18 1/3 IP with the White Sox last season, his first taste of MLB action since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012. LaHair also last appeared in the majors in 2012, when he rode a big first half to an All-Star selection but came back to earth after his hot start. LaHair played in Japan in 2013 and spent last season in the Indians’ minor league system.
- The Rays acquired catcher Mike Marjama from the White Sox, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (via Twitter). Chicago will receive cash or a player to be named later in return. Marjama was a 23rd-round pick for the Sox in the 2011 draft and the 25-year-old backstop has a .270/.307/.376 slash line over 888 minor league plate appearances. Marjama has yet to play above the high-A level, and Topkin notes that the catcher isn’t expected to be in the Rays’ Major League Spring Training camp.
Marlins Sign Ichiro Suzuki
JAN. 29: Ichiro can earn up to $2.8MM in bonuses, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). The outfielder will earn $400K for reaching the 300-plate appearance plateau, and then another $400K for each additional 50 PA up to 600 plate appearances.
JAN. 28: Ichiro’s deal could reach up to $5MM if he receives enough plate appearances, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported earlier this week (on Twitter). That, of course, is only likely in the event of a significant injury to another outfielder, as Jackson notes.
JAN. 27: The Marlins have officially announced the signing of free agent outfielder Ichiro Suzuki to a one-year contract that is reportedly worth $2MM. The 41-year-old Ichiro, a client of John Boggs & Associates, should serve as Miami’s fourth outfielder in 2015.
Though his skills have clearly eroded somewhat with age, Ichiro posted a respectable .284/.324/.340 batting line in 385 plate appearances with the Yankees in 2014. He also swiped 15 bases in 18 tries, continuing a career-long trend of pronounced efficiency in that regard. Defensive metrics pegged him as an average right fielder, and he slid over to center field for a brief, 19-inning cameo as well, suggesting that he’s capable of doing so in a pinch should the Marlins require such a move on occasion in 2015.
The Marlins’ primary outfield will consist of Christian Yelich in left field, Marcell Ozuna in center and Giancarlo Stanton in right — an excellent young trio that will limit Ichiro’s playing time and make it highly unlikely that he reaches the 156 hits he needs to reach 3,000 in his Major League career (he also had 1,278 hits in his Japanese career prior to jumping to MLB). However, there’s been no indication from his camp that this will be the likely Hall of Famer’s final season, so he could yet reach the plateau if he remains reasonably productive and secures another big league deal next offseason.
The addition of Ichiro merely adds to what has been a highly active season for the Marlins. In addition to this move, executives Dan Jennings and Michael Hill have added Mat Latos, Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, Martin Prado and Aaron Crow via trade while also signing free agent slugger Mike Morse to upgrade the team’s offense at first base.
Craig Mish of MLB Network Radio first reported the agreement (Twitter link). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that there were no options on the deal (Twitter links). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweeted the guarantee.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blue Jays To Sign Ramon Santiago To Minor League Deal
5:00pm: Santiago will earn $1.1MM if he makes the big league roster, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
1:36pm: The Blue Jays and veteran infielder Ramon Santiago have agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training, tweets Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi.
Santiago, 35, spent the 2014 season with the Reds, hitting .246/.343/.324 with a pair of homers in 214 plate appearances. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client spent time at third base, second base and shortstop in Cincinnati, as he has done throughout his 13-year big league career. Santiago typically grades out as a plus defender at shortstop, per Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved, and he’s been roughly average at second and third as well. His upside with the bat, however, is fairly limited, as evidenced by his lifetime batting line of .243/.314/.330.
Braves To Sign Eric Stults
The Braves have agreed to sign left-hander Eric Stults to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, reports MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (on Twitter). Stults is a client of Pro Star Management, Inc.
The 35-year-old Stults has spent the better part of the past three seasons in the Padres’ rotation, working to a 3.87 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate just north of 40 percent. The past two seasons were his first full years in a big league rotation, and he averaged 190 innings between the two campaigns.
While all of that appears solid on paper, Stults saw his numbers take a step back in 2014, and he’s never fared particularly well away from the pitcher-friendly Petco Park (4.77 road ERA in 2013, 4.50 in 2014). Last season, Stults worked to a 4.30 ERA that metrics such as xFIP and SIERA feel is commensurate with his talent level, and the pristine command he showed in 2013 (1.8 BB/9) regressed toward his career mark, as he allowed 2.3 walks per nine.
Stults figures to compete with Michael Foltynewicz to see which of the two will round out a starting rotation that currently includes Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, Mike Minor and Shelby Miller.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Thursday
Arbitration settlements will continue to trickle in over the coming months, and we’ll be tracking them in our Arbitration Tracker as well as on a daily basis in posts such as this. Here are the day’s minor arb settlements, with all projections coming courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz…
- The Red Sox announced that they have avoided arbitration with outfielder Daniel Nava, and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Nava will receive a $1.85MM salary. Nava had filed at $2.25MM, while the team countered with a $1.3MM offer. His salary is a bit north of the $1.775MM midpoint between the two figures and just $50K shy of his $1.9MM projection. The 31-year-old Nava enjoyed a solid season at the plate last year but saw a precipitous decline in power, hitting just four homers en route to a .270/.346/.361 batting line. That represents roughly league-average production (100 OPS+), but is also a far cry from his excellent .303/.385/.445 batting line and 12 homers in 2013.
NL East Notes: Phillies, Nats Payroll, Cosart, Ichiro
Pat Gillick is a curious choice to serve as the Phillies‘ president, writes David Murphy of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Murphy feels that the decision to move David Montgomery from president to chairman, with Gillick remaining president, was little more than a cosmetic change to buy time before a larger restructuring. That, he writes, would seem to suggest that GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is capable of doing something to save his job, as the reason for that evaluation would be to determine which of these three options are the best: replace Amaro, extend Amaro, or hire a new permanent president and let that newcomer determine the front office situation. As Murphy notes, no evaluation of the moves Amaro will make over the coming months will be able to be judged immediately (he’ll be acquiring prospects that will take years to properly evaluate), making the recent shuffle all the more puzzling. Gillick has expressed no interest in overseeing a lengthy rebuild, per Murphy, who adds that he may not be well-equipped to do so anyway based on his lack of success in the draft.
Other items pertaining to the National League East:
- The Nationals are nearing — and will likely exceed — $160MM in Opening Day commitments for the coming season, writes Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. That would put the team amongst the five highest salary tabs in the league, a level of spending that seemed hard to imagine in the not-so-distant past. GM Mike Rizzo told MLBTR at the GM Meetings that the organization would make baseball decisions without payroll restrictions, and that has indeed seemed largely to be the case.
- Marlins righty Jarred Cosart is now represented by agent Erik Burkhardt, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. Burkhardt is best known, perhaps, for repping NFL quarterback (and recent MLB draftee) Johnny Manziel. Cosart had previously been a client of Excel Sports Management. The 24-year-old will not be arbitration eligible until after the 2016 campaign.
- There is no denying the excellence that Ichiro Suzuki has displayed over his outstanding career, but it is fair to ask what kind of production — and presence — he will deliver to the Marlins in 2015. Crasnick spoke with various talent evaluators and executives around the game, with the consensus seeming to be that Ichiro is certainly still capable of being a useful big league player.
Omar Minaya Joins MLBPA As Senior Adviser
The Major League Baseball Players Association has announced that Omar Minaya has left his post as senior vice president of baseball operations for the Padres to join the MLBPA as a senior adviser to executive director Tony Clark.
With the MLBPA, Minaya will focus on international affairs and game development in the United States, per the Associated Press. Clark stressed the importance of having the Dominican-born Minaya join the union’s ranks as the number of Latin American players in the game continues to increase. Minaya may also play a part in determining the structure of a potential international draft, which the league is eyeing upon the completion of the current collective bargaining agreement at the end of the 2016 season.
In a statement within the press release, Minaya said he feels that players “provide the sport with its heart and soul.” The former Mets GM continued: “I share the Players’ and Tony’s views on the state of the game, especially as they relate to what active and inactive Players are doing to help develop the game, widen its appeal and excite the next generation of players, while ensuring the integrity of the competition on the field is maintained.”
Quick Hits: Prospects, Viciedo, Cuba, Coffey
It is prospect season yet again, with various evaluators releasing their latest breakdowns of the brightest young players in the game. Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs are working through the systems on a team-by-team basis for the time being, while MLB.com is going position-by-position at present. ESPN.com’s Keith Law (subscription links) has now filed a new top-100 list as well as organization rankings. Kris Bryant and his club, the Cubs, rank atop Law’s respective boards.
- The Phillies should take a flier on Dayan Viciedo, argues CSNPhilly.com’s Corey Seidman. While there are some barriers to such a move, and reasons against it, Seidman says that there is enough upside left in the 25-year-old that Philadelphia ought to roll the dice.
- In another update on Yoan Moncada and the general situation of Cuban ballplayers, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports that the U.S. Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) does still issue the “specific licenses” that MLB has required Cubans to obtain before they are cleared to sign. Since it appears that such players would already be able to sign pursuant to a “general license” (more on that here), Badler suggests that MLB-related requests may be receiving a lower priority that extends the delay.
- Free agent reliever Todd Coffey has interest from five or six club and may be nearing a deal, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. The 34-year-old has not seen big league action since 2012, but put up intriguing numbers last year at Triple-A in the Mariners organization.
AL Central Notes: Garcia, Viciedo, Weeks, Ichiro
The White Sox rank at the very top of the list of offseason winners compiled by Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. GM Rick Hahn ticked through many of the team’s questions this winter and should have a competitive team to show for it, says Heyman. Of course, despite plenty of praise, there are still some non-believers out there. They can point to this year’s PECOTA projections from Baseball Prospectus, which see Chicago as a 78-win team. Also of note from PECOTA, which is rather down on the division on the whole: the Tigers are tabbed as a .500 club, while the Royals project to win just 72 wins after appearing in the World Series last year.
More from the south side and the AL Central:
- The White Sox are a much improved team heading into the 2015 season, but much of the optimism surrounding the club relies on the contributions of right fielder Avisail Garcia, writes Fangraphs’ Neil Weinberg. Perception appears to be that Garcia can handily outperform the just-designated Dayan Viciedo, but Weinberg cautions that we shouldn’t readily accept that as fact. Garcia’s stats to date tell a similar tale to that of Viciedo — modest on-base percentage with some power and below-average base-running and defensive skills. While Garcia’s track record is clearly smaller, the two are excellent statistical comps even when looking at their production through the age of 23. Weinberg notes that scouts have long questioned whether or not Garcia would be able to resist bad pitches and make enough contact to succeed, and the assumption that he will outperform Viciedo is based largely on perceived ceiling as opposed to likely outcomes.
- Newly-designated White Sox slugger Dayan Viciedo should generate plenty of interest, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports writes. The American League West offers the best matches, Morosi argues, with the Mariners, Athletics, and Rangers all potentially making sense as landing spots.
- Despite some apparent suggestions, the Twins are not interested in free agent second baseman Rickie Weeks, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets. That is not terribly surprising, given that the right-handed-hitting Weeks does not play short and would presumably have needed to serve as a backup to two right-handed hitters in Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe.
- Ichiro Suzuki‘s representatives (who he shares with Twins skipper Paul Molitor) tried to generate interest in the veteran from Minnesota, but the club never saw a fit, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. As Berardino explains, Ichiro and Molitor — both incredible pure hitters — share an interesting relationship.