Central Notes: Stauffer, Brewers, Indians, Baker, Viciedo
Though he receives only a $2.2MM guarantee, recently-signed Twins righty Tim Stauffer can earn significantly more through incentives, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports. Stauffer can max out his deal at a total of $3.95MM ($1.75MM bonus) if he makes 55 appearances in the coming season. He can earn $250K bonuses upon his 15th, 18th, 21st, 24th, and 27th appearances, land $100K for the 45th time he takes the hill, and nab another $250K at number fifty-five.
Here’s more from the central divisions:
- The Brewers and Indians are among the teams on the market for late-inning relief help, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. Neither team intends to “spend big,” however, Rosenthal adds. Several established pen arms remain available through free agency.
- We heard yesterday that righty Scott Baker had interest from five clubs that were offering minor league deals. The Reds are one of the teams pursuing the veteran, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN, whereas the Twins are not involved.
- The White Sox could still cut Dayan Viciedo loose this spring after agreeing to avoid arbitration, writes SB Nation’s Jim Margalus, but the club would still be on the hook for a portion of his $4.4MM salary. Margalus breaks down recent instances of such scenarios, but explains that the actual cost to teams (as well as the presence or results of any grievance proceedings) remains largely unknown publicly. At this point, a spot as a bench bat seems the likeliest outcome, though a trade is still possible.
Nationals Acquire Dan Butler From Red Sox For Danny Rosenbaum
The Nationals have acquired catcher Dan Butler from the Red Sox in exchange for lefty Daniel Rosenbaum, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. Butler had been designated for assignment a week ago.
Though Washington seemed to be set at the big league level, with three catchers on the 40-man and another (Steven Lerud) coming to camp, the 28-year-old Butler apparently held enough appeal to add. He only reached the big leagues briefly for the first time last year, but owns a .248/.329/.416 slash with 22 home runs over 739 career trips to bat at Triple-A.
Though his numbers dipped at the highest level of the minors last year, Butler showed in 2013 that he can reach base and hit for power against quality pitching. Whether that can carry to the big leagues remains to be seen, of course.
As the Red Sox give up on one of their organization’s development success stories in Butler, so too the Nats finally part with Rosenbaum. The 27-year-old rose from a 22nd-round pick to the highest levels of the minors and even earned a Rule 5 selection before the 2013 season.
A prototypical soft-tossing, crafty lefty, Rosenbaum has not carried his domination of the lower minors into the upper ranks. Across 178 1/3 Triple-A frames, he owns a 3.94 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. Rosenbaum will need to finish rehabbing back from Tommy John surgery last spring before he can take the hill for the first time in the Sox organization.
That the Nationals parted with an upper-level arm, rather than the usual cash settlement, could indicate that there was slightly more at work here than the average DFA deal. It could be that Washington faced competition in pursuing Butler and/or that the organization felt it had enough depth and was ready to move on from Rosenbaum, who would become a minor league free agent after the end of the season.
NL East Notes: Shields, Howard, Mets, Nationals
The Marlins are taking a cautious approach to their interest in James Shields, writes MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. While the Fish undoubtedly have interest, the team simply won’t go to the $100MM range over five years. Frisaro speculates that something in the five-year, $90MM range could be their limit, and even that would be tricky. The Marlins could afford to pay Shields as much as $20MM on a front-loaded deal, but they have $33MM committed to four players in 2016 with a whopping 14 players eligible for arbitration next winter (of course, some could be non-tendered or traded). The target payroll for 2016 is $80MM, making it difficult to commit a huge salary to Shields. The Marlins, Frisaro writes, want to ensure that nothing similar to their 2012 fire sale happens again; that year, they loaded their payroll up over $100MM with the assumption that a new ball park would send revenues to record levels, but the earnings didn’t reach Miami’s projections. That, coupled with a losing season on the field, led to the dramatic restructuring of the roster.
This is purely speculative on my behalf, but I’d think the idea of trading Steve Cishek, who projects to earn $6.9MM in 2015 (to say nothing of what’s sure to be a sizable 2016 salary), would make things easier on the Fish going forward. Allocating that type of cash to one reliever restricts a club with a limited payroll in a substantial way. Then again, the Marlins have been reluctant to listen to offers for Cishek in the past, and one could argue that paying one starter upwards of $20MM is equally limiting. Previous reports have indicated that Miami could have a new TV deal by 2017, so they could soon have much greater means for an increased payroll.
Moving away from Shields, here are a few more notes from the NL East…
- ESPN’s Jayson Stark tweeted yesterday that he’s heard from clubs in touch with the Phillies that Philadelphia is playing up what a great person Ryan Howard is when pitching him in potential trades. While Stark notes that it’s an accurate point, he adds that (unsurprisingly), it’s done little to help the Phillies’ cause. There still appear to be no takers at this point, says Stark.
- Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com looks at the inactivity of the Mets‘ in addressing their shortstop position and concludes that there really hasn’t been an ideal fit for the club this offseason. Ian Desmond, the most recent name in the mix, would’ve cost them Noah Syndergaard and another prospect and is hitting the open market next season. The top free agent shortstop, Hanley Ramirez, signed as a left fielder, and other free agents like Asdrubal Cabrera and Jed Lowrie have significant defensive question marks. Stephen Drew‘s contract was negligible, but as Castrovince notes, a year of Drew is not a clearly better option than getting a definitive answer as to whether or not Wilmer Flores can handle the position.
- Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com ponders if the combination of Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar would be an upgrade over the Nationals‘ expected midddle-infield tandem of Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa, had the rumored three-team trade with the Mets and Rays gone through. It’s debatable, he writes, and the second year on Escobar’s contract had significant value for Washington, as Trea Turner likely won’t be ready by 2016, but the Nats could still come out ahead by retaining Desmond for 2015 and adding a second base upgrade. Zuckerman points out that the very fact that the trade was discussed indicates that GM Mike Rizzo is still actively pursuing upgrades and could find an alternative just yet.
Minor Moves: Krauss, Peguero, Rodriguez, Lerud
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- First baseman/outfielder Marc Krauss, who was designated for assignment by the Angels last week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. Krauss hit .194/.279/.323 with six homers in 208 PAs for the Astros last season but was designated to clear room on the 40-man roster when the Halos acquired Kyle Kubitza from the Braves.
- The Rangers have signed both Carlos Peguero to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training, executive VP of communications John Blake announced (Twitter link). Peguero, 28 next month, had an excellent season with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2014, hitting .266/.349/.563 with 30 homers. The former Mariners prospect has shown huge power throughout his minor league career but hasn’t been able to carry his success over to the Majors, where he’s hit .196/.245/.379 and fanned in nearly 39 percent of his 229 PAs.
- The Rangers also re-signed Guilder Rodriguez to a minor league deal, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The 31-year-old infielder was a nice story in an otherwise dreadful Rangers season in 2014, as he reached the Majors for the first time after 13 minor league seasons and collected a pair of hits in 12 at-bats. Rodriguez hit .260/.340/.290 in 284 PAs at Triple-A.
- Catcher Steven Lerud has signed a minor league deal with the Nationals that contains an invite to big league camp, tweets Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington. The former Pirates third-rounder (2003) saw a bit of Major League time with the Phillies in 2012-13, but the 30-year-old has never received a prolonged look in the bigs. He’s a lifetime .225/.361/.337 hitter at Triple-A and has caught an excellent 34 percent of attempted thieves on the basepaths over the life of his career.
AL East Notes: Sox, Bradley, Hunter, Zobrist, O’s, Yankees, Jays
The Red Sox made their annual announcement of front office personnel changes today, and among the most significant changes is the creation of a department of behavioral health, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. The Red Sox will hire Dr. Richard Ginsburg as the department head, and he will pair with former Major Leaguer Bob Tewksbury, who served as a mental skills coach with Boston from 2005-13. Tewksbury left the club for a year to work with the MLBPA, and Speier writes that his absence was noticed by young players such as Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts as they struggled to transition to everyday roles. Said GM Ben Cherington of the new department: “We’re trying to take care of the body as well as we possibly can… Health extends past the body, but it’s all related. … We’re really just trying to help players be as healthy as they possibly can be, physically and mentally.”
More from the AL East…
- The Red Sox may have to sell low on Bradley Jr., as they did with Will Middlebrooks, writes Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com. Boston will likely trade Bradley or another outfielder before Opening Day due to the fact that they have a logjam in the outfield. Mastrodonato opines that Bradley absolutely has the upside to be an everyday center fielder in the field and at the plate — his defense is already considered among the best in baseball — and worries about the danger of moving him only to see him take off with another club. He likens Bradley to Carlos Gomez, who was slow to develop but has always possessed a good glove and is now a perennial MVP candidate in the NL. Bradley may not have that type of power, but Cherington has told Mastrodonato this offseason that he thinks there are other clubs that will perceive Bradley as an everyday outfielder, and the Sox feel he has that ability as well.
- Though the Orioles have not approached right-hander Tommy Hunter about an extension, the setup man tells Rich Dubroff of CSN Baltimore that he’s certainly open to a long-term deal to remain with the club. Hunter’s agent, Mike Moye, just wrapped up negotiation on a contract to avoid arbitration for the final time, settling on a $4.65MM salary for 2015. Hunter is one of 11 Orioles that can hit the open market next winter, and while he says he’d love to see the group stay together, he acknowledged that that the business element of the game prevents that before adding, “Let’s win this year, and worry about everything else after.”
- Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com penned a column with multiple Orioles notes, including the fact that the Orioles had definite interest in acquiring Ben Zobrist from the Rays before he was dealt to Oakland. However, the Rays brought up names such as Dylan Bundy and Chance Sisco in talks, neither of whom GM Dan Duquette was willing to surrender.
- Kubatko also notes that the Orioles don’t appear to have interest in a reunion with Johan Santana, and there’s nothing hot between the O’s and Colby Rasmus at this time. Baltimore’s interest hasn’t waned, but they’re maintaining the same level and don’t appear willing to go beyond their comfort zone to add him to the roster.
- The Yankees are wise to have looked at the big picture this offseason rather than focusing on the immediate, opines Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. Historically speaking, the Yankees have lived largely in the present, doling out large contracts with little regard for the potential negatives at the end of a deal. However, despite needs in the rotation, the Yankees have stayed out of the Max Scherzer market and haven’t been seriously connected to James Shields or Cole Hamels. Rather, the club is prioritizing defense and a strong bullpen. While their 2015 outlook may not have improved much, Castrovince writes, the team is in a better place in the long-term due to exercising caution.
- Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith hosted a Blue Jays chat with readers today and covered a wide variety of hot stove topics. To name a few, Ben noted that he doesn’t foresee a reunion with Casey Janssen, that he expects Dioner Navarro to open the season with the club and that he believes the team will end up acquiring a new closer prior to Spring Training.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Tuesday
One-year agreements for arbitration-eligible players figure to begin coming in rapidly this week, with the deadline to exchange figures coming this Friday. We’ll keep track of today’s agreements in this post, with all projections mentioned referring to those of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:
- The Dodgers and catcher A.J. Ellis have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $4.25MM contract, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Ellis, 33, had the worst offensive season of his career in 2014, slumping to a .191/.323/.254 batting line in 347 plate appearances. However, he proved capable with the bat from 2011-13, hitting .256/.351/.389 with 25 homers in 1056 plate appearances. From a defensive standpoint, he’s never graded out well in terms of framing pitches, but Ellis has thrown out a very impressive 33 percent of attempted base-stealers in his career. The ACES client’s salary comes in north of Swartz’s projection model, which had Ellis at $3.8MM.
Marlins, Nick Masset Agree To Minor League Deal
The Marlins have agreed to terms with right-hander Nick Masset on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
Masset, a client of Jet Sports Management, struggled through 45 innings with the Rockies in 2014 — his first big league action after a two-year absence due to shoulder problems and throacic outlet syndrome. Masset’s 5.80 ERA may be a bit misleading. Metrics such as FIP (4.33) and SIERA (4.12) feel that he was the recipient of some poor fortune, and indeed, his .371 batting average on balls in play was the third-highest mark among pitchers with 40 innings thrown (per Fangraphs).
The 32-year-old Masset was formerly a solid setup man for the Reds, pitching to a 3.05 ERA with 8.5 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in parts of four seasons (240 1/3 innings) with Cincinnati. However, after signing a two-year, $5.5MM extension with the Reds, he failed to throw another pitch for the organization.
Masset isn’t without his faults; his 7.2 K/9 rate and 4.8 BB/9 rate from 2014 were both a far cry from his peak with the Reds. Still, if he can regain some of his lost control and continue to post a strong ground-ball rate (51.7 percent in 2014, 50 percent for his career), he could be a nice buy-low option for the Marlins.
D-Backs GM Stewart Talks Payroll, Shields, Catchers
4:02pm: In addition to discussing catchers, as noted below, Stewart also discussed the club’s payroll and his interest in James Shields with Piecoro. Stewart notes that the addition of Cuban righty Yoan Lopez could push the club to make cost-cutting moves. Lopez received an $8.25MM signing bonus that, after accounting for the penalties incurred due to exceeding their bonus pool, will cost the D-Backs about $16.3MM, Piecoro writes.
Stewart says he isn’t sure how the D-Backs will trim payroll, but they’re currently looking at about $106MM, and he’d like to be under $100MM. “I would like to be (under $100 million),” he tells Piecoro. “I’ve not been told to be, but I would like to be.” One player the club isn’t interested in dealing, according to Piecoro, is Mark Trumbo.
Despite the plainly stated desire to shed payroll, the D-Backs remain interested in Shields, Stewart says. The D-Backs have spoken with agent Page Odle to “work on groundwork,” according to Stewart, who thinks that the team’s old-school mentality will appeal to Shields. “I think James is a throwback guy by the way he goes about his business and the innings he pitches,” says Stewart. “I think the fact that Tony (La Russa) is here and that we have more baseball people — he probably sees us as a true baseball team vs. some of the other teams out here that are geared more toward analytics and those type of things.”
Stewart’s comments are interesting, particularly due to the fact that La Russa said after the departure of former GM Kevin Towers in September that he hoped to “beef up” the club’s usage of advanced metrics (via MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert on Twitter). Additionally, the club hired a new director of analytics just this past November, though they’ve done little else from a baseball operations standpoint to alter their image as a member of baseball’s old guard.
1:59m: GM Dave Stewart says that he has decided not to pursue an upgrade behind the plate, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. Instead, the club will rely on the continued development of recent trade acquisition Peter O’Brien while also utilizing some combination of Tuffy Gosewisch and Rule 5 pick Oscar Hernandez.
Piecoro quotes Stewart:
“I’ve decided that I’m not going to pursue another catcher. I talked with my people and my coaching staff. They believe that O’Brien is going to be around sooner than later. If that does happen, there’s no need to go out and get another guy. We would have had to trade somebody we didn’t want to trade to make it happen. We’re going to be patient and allow the progression of O’Brien to take place and stand pat on that.”
O’Brien, 24, came to Arizona in the Martin Prado deal and only had time for four games in his new organization. A bat-first catcher, the question remains whether O’Brien’s glove will be good enough to keep him behind the dish. Piecoro reports that Arizona was impressed with his work in the AFL, and notes that the team has had a chance to watch him over the last few days as well. Of course, it is far from clear that O’Brien will be ready to contribute at the big league level this season, leaving the team with quite a thin group at the position.
Cuba Notes: Lopez, Moncada, Ibanez, Heredia
The Diamondbacks made a risky gambit this morning by agreeing to sign righty Yoan Lopez to a record-setting $8.25MM bonus. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs breaks down the spread of opinions on Lopez (Twitter links), with some comparing him to mid-first-round arms from last year’s draft and others believing he’s destined to be a reliever. Of course, the risk with Lopez is not just in the player. As Ben Badler noted, and Dave Cameron explores in detail, the organization will not be able to deploy its league-leading international bonus allocation next year (or its to-be-decided pool for the following year). Though the club can still trade the rights to portions of its pool, it may have not be able to achieve full value.
Here’s more from the international market:
- Of course, there is another player by the same first name who comes with even greater hype. Yet Cuban infielder Yoan Moncada remains blocked from putting pen to paper, as MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez tweets. While he waits, Moncada will put on workouts with several teams in the coming month.
- Fellow second base prospect Andy Ibanez, 21, is set to headline a showcase this coming Friday and Saturday, Sanchez reports. Ibanez is not said to possess the same level of tools or physical ability as Moncada, but does look to be a solid across-the-board talent with a “gamer” reputation, per Sanchez.
- Meanwhile, back in Cuba, another significant player — center fielder Guillermo Heredia, most recently Baseball America’s 11th-rated prospect from the island — has been suspended from play in Serie Nacional. As Ben Badler of Baseball America explains, that typically means a player has been charged with a defection attempt, though in Heredia’s case there have been conflicting reports from the island about the cause for the ban. The nation’s baseball commissioner, Heriberto Suarez, reportedly confirmed a four-year suspension for the 23-year-old.
- Be sure to check Badler’s column for some updates on several other, more minor Cuban players.
Yankees Designate Gonzalez Germen
The Yankees have designated righty Gonzalez Germen for assignment, the club announced. Recently added from the Mets in exchange for cash, his roster spot will go to the similarly-acquired Chris Martin.
Germen, 27, has thrown a combined 64 2/3 frames at the big league level for the Mets over the last two years. He owns a 4.31 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9. He was much better at Triple-A last year, with a 1.93 ERA across 28 innings, though he allowed over five earned runs per nine the season prior with similar peripherals.