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Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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Quite frankly, there were too many arbitration agreements today to reasonably stuff into one post. So here’s a rundown of the National League players that have avoided arbitration on smaller deals (American League deals here). You can see all of the arbitration “action” thus far in a sortable, filterable format by checking out MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker. All projections referenced in this post are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Wily Peralta and Carlos Torres have agreed to one-year deals, according to the team’s Twitter account. Peralta will earn $4.275MM (compared to $4.4MM projection), per Heyman. Torres was projected to make $2MM, but will get slightly more at $2.175MM, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter).
  • Reliever George Kontos gets $1.75MM from the Giants, Heyman tweets. He had projected at $1.7MM.
  • The Diamondbacks also reached agreement with lefty Patrick Corbin, righty Randall Delgado, and catcher Chris Herrmann, per Jack Magruder of Fan Rag (links to Twitter). Delgado gets $1.775MM and Herrmann receives $937,500. As for Corbin, he’ll take home $3.95MM, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (via Twitter), which falls a bit shy of his $4.2MM projection.
  • Infielder Eduardo Nunez will receive $4.2MM from the Giants, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). San Francisco has also reached agreement with lefty Will Smith, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). He’ll receive $2.5MM, just over his $2.3MM projection, Heyman tweets.
  • The Phillies settled at $4.2MM with righty Jeanmar Gomez, per Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter). He falls just a big shy of his $4.6MM projection.
  • The Cardinals have announced arb deals with Trevor Rosenthal and Kevin Siegrist. Rosenthal receives $6.4MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which is just $100K over his projection. Siegrist projected at $1.9MM, but his salary has yet to be reported.
  • Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom have each avoided arbitration with the Mets. Harvey gets $5.125MM in his second arb year, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Meanwhile, deGrom will receive $4.05MM in his first trip through the arb process, per ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin (via Twitter). New York has also agreed with lefty Josh Edgin, Rubin tweets, though terms remain unreported.

Earlier Updates

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NL Central Notes: Cubs, Nolin, Torres, Pirates

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The Cubs never made the big offseason deal to acquire a starting pitcher that many expected of them, but president of baseball operations Theo Epstein tells Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago that his team will be ready to pounce on a deal should the right opportunity present itself during the season. “We built in a little bit of room for in-season,” says Epstein. “We built in some (budget) flexibility, but I wouldn’t expect a very aggressive winter next year. I think we’ve been open about the fact that we really did two offseasons worth of spending and acquisitions in one winter, knowing that we like the players available this winter more than next winter.” Epstein also tells Mooney that any trade in which he surrenders young talent would have to land someone that fits “both for now and probably for the long-term if it’s going to be a bigger deal.”

Here’s more from the NL Central…

  • Brewers lefty Sean Nolin has been officially diagnosed with a UCL sprain and not an elbow strain, GM David Stearns told reporters, including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (Twitter link). Nolin will rehab the injury for the next six weeks before making a decision on Tommy John surgery. Milwaukee picked up Nolin from the A’s this offseason and had expected to use him in the ’pen prior to his injury.
  • Via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt (Twitter link), Stearns also revealed that he had interest in signing right-hander Carlos Torres earlier this offseason upon his release from the Mets. Torres, however, inked a minor league contract with the Braves and headed to camp with Atlanta. While the Brewers weren’t prepared to offer a big league deal at the time, they clearly had a change of heart late in camp, as Milwaukee signed Torres to a Major League pact over the weekend after he opted out of his deal with Atlanta. The Brew Crew can control Torres through 2018 via the arbitration process if he excels in his new environs.
  • While many Pirates fans have focused on the losses of Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and second-half surprise J.A. Happ this offseason, Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that not enough emphasis has been placed on retaining an expensive closer in Mark Melancon — a decision that kept a dominant Pirates relief corps intact. Cook spoke to GM Neal Huntington about the decision to hold onto his All-Star closer. “I know first-hand,” Huntington told Cook. “One year I was with Cleveland, we lost more late leads in a month than most teams do all season. I know that’s hard to come back from. That’s a big part of our decision to keep Mark.” Huntington said that he never got any offers to his liking for Melancon this winter and didn’t see many ways to effectively reallocate the $9.65MM Melancon earned in arbitration to definitively improve the 2016 club. Notably, he discussed the loss of Happ and explained that part of the reason the front office felt Happ was so successful was that he was asked to throw more than six innings just once with the Bucs — due in large part to Pittsburgh’s strong bullpen.

Brewers Sign Carlos Torres

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10:49am: The Brewers have announced that they’ve signed Torres to a one-year big-league deal. To make room on the 40-man roster, they’ve moved outfielder Rymer Liriano (face) to the 60-day DL. To clear active roster space, they optioned Cravy to Triple-A Colorado Springs and placed Knebel on the 15-day DL with an oblique strain. The move seemingly sets the Brewers’ bullpen with Torres, Jeffress, Blazek, Thornburg, Capuano, Boyer and Pena.

8:37am: Righty Carlos Torres is “expected to sign” with the Brewers, 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweets. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted yesterday that Torres was attracting plenty of interest and seemed likely to get a big-league deal.

Earlier this week, Torres opted out of his minor-league deal with the Braves. The 33-year-old is coming off three useful years with the Mets in which he posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9, pitching mostly out of the bullpen but occasionally also making starts (although he did not start at all last season).

That kind of versatility could prove helpful to any number of teams, but particularly a team like the Brewers, who aren’t outstanding in either the rotation or the bullpen. The Brewers recently lost closer Will Smith to an LCL tear, and starter Matt Garza recently left a spring game with shoulder soreness (although Garza’s injury does not appear serious), so the flexibility someone like Torres could provide could turn out to be helpful. The Brewers’ bullpen currently features Jeremy Jeffress, Michael Blazek, Tyler Thornburg, Corey Knebel and veterans Chris Capuano and Blaine Boyer, along with either Tyler Cravy or Ariel Pena.

Carlos Torres Opts Out Of Braves Contract

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Right-hander Carlos Torres has opted out of his minor league deal with the Braves and is now a free agent, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports.  Earlier today, MLBTR’s Zach Links reported (Twitter links) that Torres’ representatives were already talking to other teams about a new opportunity for the veteran reliever after Atlanta didn’t put Torres on the Opening Day roster.

Torres was a big part of the Mets’ bullpen from 2013-15, posting a 3.59 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 3.0 K/BB rate over 241 innings, mostly working as a reliever but also making 10 starts amidst his 165 games with New York.  Torres was waived in January and signed on with Atlanta in February.

The 33-year-old received a fair amount of reported interest on the open market, choosing the Braves deal over offers from the Dodgers and Yankees.  This is just my speculation, but the Yankees might have room for a bullpen addition in the wake of injuries to Andrew Miller and right-handed swingman Bryan Mitchell.  The Dodgers could also be a fit given their own pitching issues, though the injury bug has taken more bites from the L.A. rotation rather than the bullpen.

NL East Notes: Torres, Ramos, Narveson, Breslow

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Here’s the latest from around the NL East…

  • Carlos Torres has an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Braves, MLBTR’s Zach Links reports (Twitter links), and Torres’ representatives are now talking with other teams after Atlanta didn’t put the righty on the Opening Day roster.  Torres posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.18 K/9 and 3.00 K/BB rate over 241 innings for the Mets in 2013-15, with all but 10 of his 165 appearances coming out of the bullpen.  He was outrighted off New York’s 40-man roster in January.
  • Wilson Ramos hopes to remain with the Nationals beyond this season, the catcher tells James Wagner of the Washington Post.  Ramos underwent Lazik surgery and adopted a new offseason training regiment to get in better shape, and the results have paid off thus far in the form of strong Spring Training numbers.  The catcher is looking to rebound from a down year in 2015, both to “be well prepared for the market” as a free agent and to prove himself to the Nats as deserving of a new deal.  “I hope they give me a chance to stay longer and I hope I can have a good year to prove that I can be here longer,” Ramos said.  There is a fair amount of quality catching available in next winter’s free agent market, though a big season would nicely position Ramos within an overall thin class of players.
  • Left-handers Craig Breslow and Chris Narveson both have opt-out clauses today in their minor league deals with the Marlins, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports.  Breslow seems likely to make the roster, so with Mike Dunn established as the other lefty in the bullpen, Narveson could be the odd man out.  Narveson posted a 4.45 ERA, 9.5 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 with Miami last season but was punished by the long ball, allowing seven homers in just 30 1/3 innings.  The veteran southpaw re-signed with Miami after being outrighted in October.  Frisaro wrote more earlier this week about Narveson’s quest to make the Marlins.
  • Former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd and an American League scout break down the Marlins roster for Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.  Both O’Dowd and the scout like Marcell Ozuna and Adam Conley this season, though the Marlins’ bullpen is a problem area.
  • In other NL East news from this morning, John Schuerholz is stepping down as the Braves’ president to take a new role as the club’s vice chairman.

Braves To Sign Carlos Torres

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Reliever Carlos Torres has agreed to a deal with the Braves, reports Jim Seimas of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, who adds that he chose Atlanta over the Yankees and Dodgers (Twitter link). Bill Shanks of FOX Sports Radio and the Macon Telegram tweets that it’s a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.

Torres will give the Braves an option either in their rotation or bullpen, though the latter seems more likely based on his lack of recent rotation experience. The rebuilding Braves have a wide-open bullpen picture, with right-handers Arodys Vizcaino, Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson as the locks to factor into the relief corps. Beyond that trio, the likes of Mike Foltynewicz, Daniel Winkler, Ryan Weber and Shae Simmons (who is recovering from February 2015 Tommy John surgery) all represent right-handed options on the 40-man roster. Non-roster invitees that will be competing with Torres include David Carpenter, Alexi Ogando, Jhoulys Chacin and Chris Volstad, among others.

The 33-year-old Torres has spent the past three seasons with the Mets, pitching to a combined 3.59 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 241 innings (155 relief appearances, 10 starts). However, his solid production took a step backward in 2015, as he posted a 4.68 ERA in 57 2/3 innings, which led the Mets to designate Torres for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for Antonio Bastardo, who signed a two-year deal with the reigning National League Champions. Torres ultimately elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. Because Torres and the Mets had already agreed to a one-year, $1.05MM contract to avoid arbitration, the Mets were responsible for 30 days of termination pay on that non-guaranteed arb deal — a total of about $172K.

Carlos Torres Choosing Among Three Teams

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11:07am: Torres is deciding between major league and minor league offers, Links tweets, and is looking for the right opportunity in making his decision.

10:29am: Reliever Carlos Torres is “very close” to signing with a new club, MLBTR’s Zach Links reports on Twitter, with the righty set to choose between three organizations. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN recently tweeted that a deal was expected by week’s end.

Torres could theoretically match up with any number of clubs. The Orioles have reached out to his reps at Full Circle Sports Management, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. The Twins seem a theoretical match, but are not involved, per Wolfson. We’ve also heard prior chatter that the righty has drawn interest from Asian teams, though it’s not clear whether that’s currently under consideration.

Torres, 33, recently elected free agency after he was outrighted by the Mets. The Full Circle Sports Management client had initially agreed to a $1.05MM salary to avoid arbitration with New York, and the club will remain on the hook for one sixth of that value ($175K) regardless of what Torres ends up earning with a new organization.

Last season was a rough one for Torres in the results department, as he ended with a 4.68 ERA. But a .326 BABIP-against and 65.3% strand rate probably impacted the results. And there were other indicators to suggest that he could still be much the same pitcher he was when he logged a 3.24 earned run mark over the prior two campaigns.

Torres posted a career-best 48.3% groundball rate, continued to exhibit good control (2.8 BB/9), and improved his average fastball velocity to 92.5 mph. He did see a slight drop in strikeouts per nine and swinging strike rate, but remained solid in those departments (7.5 K/9, 9.6% SwStr%). All told advanced metrics saw his 57 2/3 frames in much the same light as they did his work in 2013-14.

In the aggregate, it isn’t hard to see why there is interest in Torres. He ought to have every chance to compete for a job in camp, and promises to bolster the depth of any pen. It’s worth noting, too, that he ran up big innings totals in his first two years in New York (183 1/3 total frames), indicating that he could fill a long-man role if needed.

Free Agent Notes: Buehrle, Thornton, Mets, Torres

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Today represents the forty-year anniversary of the advent of modern free agency, as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan explores. The piece includes some interesting quotes from some of those involved at the time.

As the market marches forward this winter, here’s the latest:

  • Free agent southpaw Mark Buehrle remains in a sort of holding pattern as he ponders retirement, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. The durable veteran is neither planning to sign for 2016 nor ruling out a “possible comeback down the road,” says Crasnick. That seems largely to confirm prior reports, but dangles the interesting possibility that Buehrle could take some time off and look to make a return in the future.
  • Lefty reliever Matt Thornton is among the solid players still looking for a deal, and he joined MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM to discuss his status (links to Twitter). The hard-throwing southpaw is getting on in years, but says he’s “not a typical 38-year-old” — a proposition that’s hard to dispute given that he still throws a 93.5 mph average heater (though that’s off a bit from recent years). Though Thornton said it’s been a “slow” market, he isn’t looking to settle. “I’m not taking an invite,” he said. “I’m getting a Major League deal or I need to look at myself and decide if I need to walk away.”
  • Mets GM Sandy Alderson addressed reporters today at the press conference to re-introduce Yoenis Cespedes. He says the club is done with major league signings for the winter, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. That’s not too surprising, of course, as New York has already given out six MLB deals this winter.
  • One of those Mets signings left righty Carlos Torres without a roster spot, and he has drawn quite a lot of interest since he cleared waivers and hit the open market, NJ.com’s Brandon Kuty writes. The Yankees have reached out, as have several Asian clubs, per the report. Torres has been a sturdy pen presence in recent years despite tough results in 2015.

Carlos Torres Clears Waivers, Elects Free Agency

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Mets right-hander Carlos Torres has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency, reports Adam Rubin of ESPN New York (via Twitter). He had been designated for assignment over a week ago. Rubin adds that pursuing an opportunity in Asia “is a possibility” for Torres, though he doesn’t specify whether that is in reference to Japan or Korea. Regardless, either could present Torres with more earning potential than a minor league deal with an MLB club.

Torres, 33, has spent the past three seasons with the Mets and been a largely effective reliever, though he did struggle in 2015. After recording a 3.24 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate of about 45 percent from 2013-14, Torres saw his ERA balloon to 4.68 in 2015. Despite the increase in ERA, Torres’ control remained solid (2.8 BB/9), his velocity actually increased by almost a full mile per hour (from 91.8 in 2014 to 92.5 in 2015) and his ground-ball rate of 48.3 percent was a career-best. FIP, in fact, felt that Torres’ 2015 season was actually superior to his 2014 work, while other metrics like xFIP and SIERA felt there was only a marginal drop-off in his skill set. All told, Torres totaled 57 2/3 innings for the Mets last season — a number that was somewhat limited by a  calf strain late in the season.

Torres had agreed to a one-year, $1.05MM salary with the Mets to avoid arbitration. However, because arbitration salaries aren’t fully guaranteed, the team can cut ties with him for $175K. He’ll join a free-agent market that has been largely picked clean but still features some recognizable right-handed names — including Tyler Clippard, Tommy Hunter and Matt Belisle — and be free to sign with any team for any amount.

Mets Place Carlos Torres On Outright Waivers

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JANUARY 29: New York has placed Torres on outright waivers after being unable to strike a trade, Rubin reports.

JANUARY 22: The Mets have designated righty Carlos Torres for assignment, Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. He’ll lose his roster spot to fellow reliever Antonio Bastardo.

Torres had already agreed to a $1.05MM arbitration salary, so any team claiming him would be obligated for that amount. If he is not traded or claimed, then New York would still owe him one-sixth ($175K) of that amount.

The 33-year-old had put together two straight solid seasons as a swingman and long reliever for the Mets, but ended 2015 with a 4.68 ERA over 57 2/3 frames. It’s worth noting, though, that Torres suffered from some ball-in-play (.326 BABIP) and sequencing (65.3% LOB%) misfortune, while his peripherals were otherwise fairly strong. He ended the year with 7.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 and a 48.3% groundball rate, leading ERA estimators to value him at a mid-3.00 level.

Certainly, it isn’t difficult to imagine another club deciding that’s enough of a track record to wager $1MM on. After all, similar background statistics supported 3.24 ERA over 183 1/3 frames over 2013-14. And Torres actually showed a slight velocity increase last year.

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