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Phillies Hire Terry Ryan As Special Assignment Scout

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The Phillies announced that they’ve hired former Twins general manager Terry Ryan as a special assignment scout. The move will reunite Ryan with team president Andy MacPhail, whom he knows well from the pair’s days together in Twins organization back in the 80s and early 90s, when Ryan came up through the Twins’ system and rose to the position of vice president of player personnel under then-GM MacPhail.

While Ryan’s Twins were an unequivocal disappointment in 2016 and many of his most recent free-agent signings haven’t panned out, he’s long been respected throughout the industry for his scouting acumen. A two-time Sporting News Executive of the Year, Ryan will bring more than three decades of scouting and front office experience to the Phillies’ front office and to their player evaluation process.

“I’m very happy to be joining the Phillies and have the opportunity to provide some impact and evaluation,” said Ryan in a press release announcing the move. “This is an exciting time for the franchise as they have what many in the industry consider to be one of the top farm systems in baseball.”

“I have known Terry for more than a decade and have enormous respect for all that he accomplished during his tenure with the Twins,” said GM Matt Klentak in the release. “Terry’s work ethic, loyalty and track record as a talent evaluator are simply unparalleled in our game. … “While we have made significant investments in our analytical endeavors over the past year, it is important to remember that quality talent evaluation is essential to making quality baseball decisions. We are thrilled to welcome Terry to the Phillies.”

Mutual Interest Between Phillies, A.J. Ellis

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There’s mutual interest between the Phillies and veteran catcher A.J. Ellis about a reunion for the 2017 season, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark. The Phils would like to have Ellis back and consider him both a leader and an “unofficial coach,” Stark notes.

The 35-year-old Ellis (36 in April) went from the Dodgers to the Phils alongside Tommy Bergjans and Joey Curletta in a surprising August swap that sent fellow veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz to Los Angeles. Ellis logged just 11 games with the Phils but showed well, hitting .333/.371/.500 in a tiny sample of 35 plate appearances. Those numbers brought up his overall season production a bit, but he still finished the year with an overall disappointing line of .216/.301/.298.

As it stands, the Phils project to have Cameron Rupp as their everyday catcher on the heels of a solid season. Rupp hit .252/.303/.447 with 16 homers and controlled the running game at an average rate (27 percent) while drawing slightly below-average framing marks from Baseball Prospectus. Ellis would profile as a backup to the 28-year-old Rupp and would offer a veteran source of advice for a pitching staff that, outside of right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, is quite young and lacks significant experience. None of Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez or Jerad Eickhoff has thrown even 250 innings in the Major Leagues, and the Phils’ fifth starter will likely have even less experience. (Jake Thompson, Alec Asher, Zach Eflin and Ben Lively are among the candidates.)

Ellis would also serve as a stopgap to catching prospects Jorge Alfaro and Andrew Knapp, both of whom come with MLB upside but likely require additional minor league seasoning. If Ellis ultimately lands elsewhere, the free-agent market offers many other options for the Phils, as names like Kurt Suzuki, Alex Avila, Geovany Soto, Ryan Hanigan, Jeff Mathis and Chris Iannetta, among others, are all available this offseason.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/23/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Rockies have brought back infielder Josh Rutledge on a minor league deal, per the MLBRosterMoves Twitter account. He receives a camp invitation in the contract. Rutledge, 27, cracked the majors with Colorado and has taken most of his plate appearances there. After a minor league stint with the Angels, he returned to the majors with the Red Sox in each of the last two seasons, posting a cumulative .276/.338/.358 batting line over 141 plate appearances. Rutledge missed the bulk of the past season due to knee issues and took free agency after being outrighted by Boston.

Earlier Moves

  • Outfielder Jaff Decker has signed on with the Athletics on a minor league pact, agent Tom O’Connell announced on Twitter. The deal includes an invitation to participate in MLB camp next spring. Deckr, 26, has seen scattered action in each of the last four major league campaigns, but has mostly plied his trade at the highest level of the minors in recent years. At Triple-A last year with the Rays, he slashed .255/.366/.421 with a dozen home runs and 18 stolen bases over 417 plate appearances.
  • The Angels have struck minor league deals with outfielder Shane Robinson and infielder Rey Navarro, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports via Twitter. Both spent the 2016 season in the Halos organization, and will return for another run in 2017. Robinson, 32, hit just .173/.257/.235 over his 111 MLB plate appearances with Los Angeles, but brings a decent bit of major league experience (he’s appeared in seven seasons, though has only taken 760 trips to the plate) and provides a depth option all over the outfield. The 26-year-old Navarro, a glove-first utility piece, hit .227/.253/.325 in his 175 plate appearances at Triple-A last year.
  • Righty David Buchanan has been given his release by the Phillies, per a club announcement. He was designated for assignment recently as the team overhauled its 40-man roster. Buchanan ought to draw interest from teams looking for rotation depth. He pitched to a 3.75 ERA over twenty big league starts in 2014, though he was hammered to the tune of a 6.99 earned run average in his 15 starts in the following year. Buchanan fared better at Triple-A in 2016, though, posting a 3.98 ERA over 167 1/3 innings.
  • The Royals requested release waivers on catcher Tony Cruz, who was also recently designated, as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. The 30-year-old will surely head onto the open market, as he’d otherwise be eligible for arbitration (with a projected $1MM salary). He spent most of 2016 at Triple-A, slashing .264/.347/.387 in 363 plate appearances.

Nationals Acquire Jimmy Cordero

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The Nationals have acquired minor league righty Jimmy Cordero from the division-rival Phillies, per a club announcement. Philadelphia will receive cash or a player to be named in the agreement.

Cordero, who recently turned 25, was designated for assignment as part of the Phillies’ house-cleaning effort in advance of the recent deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Though he hasn’t appeared in the majors, he was added to the 40-man last winter to prevent other organizations from staking a Rule 5 claim on him.

Arm issues limited Cordero to just 22 appearances last year, spread across the Phillies’ farm system. But he showed promise in 2015, when he ran up 67 innings of 2.55 ERA pitching with 8.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Cordero was acquired by the Phils in the middle of that season in the deal that sent Ben Revere to the Blue Jays.

Phillies GM Matt Klentak recently explained why the organization had made the decision to move Cordero off of the big league roster. “A year ago at this time, we were pretty high on Jimmy,” Klentak said. “His year was not as productive as we had hoped and as he had hoped. It becomes a numbers game. That may sound cliche, but truly that’s the reality of it. We like him a lot and we would love to keep him in the organization, if possible.”

Instead of stick in Philly, Cordero will move south to D.C. For the Nats, he represents a reasonably high-upside arm on which to take a chance. Scouts have been intrigued in the past by Cordero’s sometimes-triple-digit velocity and promising slider. While the control hasn’t always been there and his health is now in question, there’s some reason to believe that he could be ready for major league action in the near-term.

Players Added To The 40-Man

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We’ll use this post to keep track of the players being added to their teams’ respective 40-man rosters today, which is the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Players must be added to the big league roster within either four years (if they were 19 or older at the time of their original signing) or five years (if 18 or younger) of their signing year in order to be shielded from selection.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo took a look at some of the biggest names who face roster decisions, though most of those won’t be much in question. At the fringes, teams must also consider the major league readiness of the player, since that factors heavily into whether they’ll be taken and kept. Any drafting team, of course, must keep a player on its active MLB roster for the full season (with certain exceptions relating to the DL) in order for their control rights to vest. Adding a player to the 40-man too early can have its own risks, because it limits flexibility and could require a team to expose that player to waivers if a need arises. With 26-man rosters reportedly under consideration, the Rule 5 draft could be quite intriguing this year, and that may bleed into today’s decisions as well.

Below is a division-by-division rundown of the names that were added to each team’s 40-man roster (plus the various waiver claims that spawned from teams trying to outright players to protect Rule 5-eligible prospects). We won’t delve into each player’s background, but if you’re looking to a little more about the names that were added, I’d highly recommend this tremendous, in-depth examination of each team’s additions by Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper. If you want to see how the moves look in the context of a team’s roster, head over to Roster Resource for your club’s depth chart.

Onto the moves…

American League West

American League Central

American League East

National League West

National League Central

National League East

Phillies Designate David Buchanan, Jimmy Cordero; Add 11 To 40-Man

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The Phillies announced today that they have designated righties David Buchanan and Jimmy Cordero for assignment. Their departure clears the way for a whopping eleven players to be added to the team’s 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

Here’s the full list of players who’ll rise to the Phillies’ MLB roster:

That’s a rather notable volume of 40-man turnover, and represents one of the more dramatic indications of the team’s commitment to developing from within. Philadelphia now has a full 40-man, which will make it tough to add more major league assets this winter without dealing off of the MLB roster or exposing some of these (or other) players to waivers.

Buchanan and Cordero were two early roster casualties as the club cleared the way to protect youthful assets. The 27-year-old Buchanan put up a solid 3.98 ERA in 167 1/3 innings last year at Triple-A, and recorded good results in the majors 2014 before a rough 15-start stint there in 2015, so he could draw outside interest. Cordero, 25, has yet to reach the majors. He failed to repeat a promising 2015 season, which led to his addition to the 40-man last winter.

Marlins Claim Elvis Araujo

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The Marlins have claimed southpaw Elvis Araujo off waivers from the Phillies, the teams announced. He’ll stay in the division but change sides, bringing plenty of cheap control with him to Miami.

Araujo, 25, is a towering lefty with a low-nineties heater to go with a slider and infrequently-used change. He has averaged better than a strikeout per inning in his 62 major league frames, but has also walked 5.2 batters per nine in that span. He was more effective in 2015 than 2016, but still largely dominated at Triple-A upon being demoted.

Miami has always taken chances on powerful relievers, even with shaky control, and this seems to be an interesting opportunity for the club. The Fish were looking for southpaw relievers with only one (Hunter Cervenka) currently penciled into the pen.

Market Notes: Braves, Nats, Sale, S-Rod, Hernandez, Santana, Rosario

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The Braves are “aggressively swapping offers” with other organizations for starters, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link). Atlanta has been rumored to have inquired on basically all of the quality, young, controllable arms that might be available, and it seems that the organization is serious about pursuing a major strike. One such pitcher, of course, is White Sox lefty Chris Sale, who has also reportedly been asked about by the Braves’ division rivals to the north. Adding a starting pitcher isn’t exactly a priority for the Nationals, at least from the perspective of need, but Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post argues that the team ought to push hard for Sale. By Svrluga’s reckoning, the team has the prospect arsenal needed to get something done; after another postseason disappointment, he says, adding another ace could get the team over the hump.

Here are a few more notes on the developing market:

  • There are five teams in on free agent utilityman Sean Rodriguez, reports Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter). One is the Pirates, who have said they’re interested in a reunion, and the Dodgers are also intrigued, per Robert Murray of Fan Rag. MLBTR rated Rodriguez as the 35th-best free agent available after his productive 2016 campaign.
  • We’ve heard discussion about the possibility of the Phillies dealing Cesar Hernandez, particularly after the team acquired second-base-capable Howie Kendrick, and CSNPhilly.com’s Corey Seidman takes a look at his possible trade market. His productive 2016 and cheap control make him an interesting option for other organizations, though the question remains whether he can sustain his breakout. Seidman discusses some players who could hold appeal to Philadelphia, suggesting that the club would be most interested in a major league return.
  • Lefty Johan Santana may not be done yet, Cotillo adds on Twitter. He’s planning on winter ball in Venezuela in hopes that he can land an opportunity with a major league organization. This certainly isn’t the first time that Santana, now 37, has had a crack at a return, but his prior efforts have all been thwarted by injury. The two-time Cy Young winner has not seen major league action since 2012.
  • Free agent slugger Wilin Rosario is still hopeful of landing with a major league club after spending a year in Korea, Cotillo tweets, but he’s not committed to playing in North America. A return to the KBO could also be a consideration, per the report. Rosario, 27, may no longer be an option behind the dish, but his power should intrigue regardless. Over 532 plate appearances last year with the Hanwha Eagles, he posted a .321/.367/.593 batting line with 33 long balls, though of course the KBO is a notably friendly league for hitters.

Phillies Release Matt Harrison

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2:12pm: Philadelphia actually will be able to reap some of the insurance benefits relating to Harrison, Salisbury clarifies. The Phils would have been able to save over half of the remainder owed had they kept him on the roster, but instead negotiated a settlement with the carrier that leaves the team with a “lesser payout.”

12:38pm: The Phillies have released lefty Matt Harrison, per a club announcement. Dropping him from the 40-man roster will increase the team’s flexibility this winter.

Harrison, 31, came to Philadelphia as part of the cost balancing in the Cole Hamels trade. He is still owed $15MM through next season, which includes a buyout of a 2018 club option, under the extension he signed with the Rangers.

There were no clear expectations that Harrison would even attempt to pitch this year. Serious back issues have completely derailed his career. Though he was able to return briefly to the majors in 2015, he hasn’t appeared in any competitive action since the trade.

By cutting ties with Harrison now, the Phillies will not be able to collect insurance proceeds to offset the money still owed, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com notes on Twitter. The policy covering Harrison’s contract appeared to have some possibility of paying out for at least a significant part of the remaining salary, but that either wasn’t likely to occur or wasn’t worth the sacrifice of a roster spot.

Though he was never much of a strikeout pitcher, and tended to overperform his peripherals, Harrison pitched to a 3.34 ERA in 399 innings over the 2011 through 2012 campaigns. That led Texas to ink him to a five-year, $55MM extension, but Harrison was only able to make nine more starts from that point forward.

Jeremy Hellickson Accepts Qualifying Offer

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2:40pm: Hellickson tells MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki that he was leaning toward declining the qualifying offer but changed his mind after multiple teams expressed reluctance to part with a draft pick when speaking to Boras (Twitter link).

1:11pm: Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson has accepted the one-year qualifying offer and will return to the Phillies for the 2017 season a $17.2MM salary, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (Twitter link). Hellickson, a client of the Boras Corporation, will become the fourth player to ever accept a QO, joining outfielder Colby Rasmus, left-hander Brett Anderson and catcher Matt Wieters — each of whom accepted a $15.8MM qualifying offer last winter.

[Related: Updated Philadelphia Phillies Depth Chart]

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The news on Hellickson comes as somewhat of a surprise, given the dismal market for starting pitching. The 29-year-old Hellickson (30 next April) looked to be one of a select few arms that could be expected to deliver a quality season’s worth of innings in 2017 and, as such, was one of the few rotation options projected to receive a multi-year deal in free agency. However, Hellickson and his representatives have had the past week to survey the free-agent market while weighing the decision to accept Philadelphia’s offer, and clearly his camp wasn’t comfortable enough with his potential earning power to forgo a one-year deal at $17.2MM. That sum actually exceeds Hellickson’s career earnings to date, so his reluctance to pass on it is understandable from that point of view. He’ll now look to repeat was a strong 2016 season in the Phillies’ rotation and enter the open market next winter in advance of his age-31 season. If he’s able to do so, he could find himself in position for an even more lucrative deal, as he’d be coming off a two-year platform of quality work as opposed to the rebound campaign he enjoyed with the Phils this past year.

Acquired from the D-backs last winter in what amounted to be a salary dump, Hellickson tossed 189 innings of 3.71 ERA ball for the Phillies this year, averaging 7.3 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 to go along with a 40.7 percent ground-ball rate. That represented a continuation of a strong second half in 2015, giving Hellickson a 3.74 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 over his past 240 1/3 innings at the big league level. If he’s able to continue on at that pace in 2017, he should have no issues finding a sizable multi-year deal next winter, and there’s reason to believe that he could do so without needing to burden himself with a qualifying offer. The collective bargaining agreement is being renegotiated as we speak, and the flawed QO system is one of the main subjects of the newest wave of collective bargaining talks. Some reports have suggested that the new CBA will prevent players from being eligible for a QO in consecutive years, while other speculation has centered around eliminating the QO system altogether.

The long-term financial outcome for Hellickson remains to be seen, but his short-term prospects are set in stone at this point. After accepting the QO, he cannot be traded until June 15 of next season without his consent, so he’ll return to a Phillies rotation that’ll also include Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez and Jerad Eickhoff. Philadelphia has a number of young arms that can compete for the final spot in that rotation, including right-handers Zach Eflin, Jake Thompson, Alec Asher and Ben Lively. That group should give manager Pete Mackanin a solid starting mix in 2017, so the challenge for GM Matt Klentak, president Andy MacPhail and the rest of the Phillies’ front office will be to improve a lineup that was one of the worst, if not the worst in all of baseball last season. The Phils have already added one veteran bat to the mix in the form of Howie Kendrick, and they’ll presumably look to add some more respectable pieces to help round out a lineup that will be centered around Odubel Herrera and a hopefully improved Maikel Franco in 2017.

The Phillies will not receive the compensatory draft pick they likely expected to acquire when issuing Hellickson the QO in the first place, although having a capable arm back in their rotation on a one-year deal isn’t a disastrous outcome, even if it comes at somewhat of an overpay. Philadelphia, after all, has virtually no money committed to its long-term books, as Hellickson will join Kendrick ($10MM), recently acquired right-hander Pat Neshek ($6.5MM) and injured lefty Matt Harrison ($13.25MM plus a $2MM buyout of his 2018 option) as the only guaranteed contracts on next year’s roster. That, plus a modest projection of $12.8MM to four arbitration-eligible players (which could dip if Cody Asche and/or Jeanmar Gomez is non-tendered) brings them to a current Opening Day payroll projection of just $77.7MM (including pre-arb players). For a team that has previously spent as much as $177.7MM on its Opening Day payroll, the addition of Hellickson at $17.2MM is hardly a financial burden.

Taking a step back, the removal of Hellickson from the free-agent market takes an already terrible crop of starters and thins it even further. Rich Hill, Ivan Nova and Jason Hammel are the top three starters available this winter, and teams in need of other arms will be left with few options. Those teams could turn to bounce-back candidates like Andrew Cashner, Edinson Volquez, Jake Peavy, Jorge De La Rosa and Doug Fister or look to get creative by signing someone such as Travis Wood and converting him back into a starter or pursuing international arms like Korea’s Kwang-hyun Kim, Hyeon-jong Yang and Woo-chan Cha.

Otherwise, the trade market will be the most obvious method for teams to add to their respective rotations, though the lack of viable alternatives that are available through other means should place an abnormally high premium on rotation help. That was always going to be the case anyway; Hellickson’s subtraction from the free-agent class doesn’t create a shortage of pitching, but it certainly creates even more scarcity and should force one more team to get creative in seeking a starter, as he’ll now be returning to a team that didn’t otherwise seem like a plausible fit for him on a multi-year deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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