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Dan Vogelbach

Pirates Designate Cam Alldred For Assignment

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The Pirates announced they’ve designated reliever Cam Alldred for assignment. Pittsburgh also placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list and put reliever Heath Hembree on the 15-day IL. The moves clear roster space for the previously-reported promotions of right-hander Roansy Contreras and outfielder Calvin Mitchell.

Alldred just earned his first major league call a couple weeks ago. The 25-year-old made one appearance, tossing a scoreless inning against the Reds before being optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis. He’s spent the rest of the season there, working 20 1/3 innings across ten appearances. Alldred has a sterling 1.33 ERA, inducing grounders on three-fifths of the batted balls he’s allowed.

The University of Cincinnati product hasn’t missed many bats in the minors. He has a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate in Triple-A, unsurprising for a pitcher who averaged 86.7 MPH on his sinker during his lone big league outing. Alldred has performed throughout his time in the minors, however, and he’s seen marked improvements in both his walk and ground-ball numbers thus far in 2022.

Vogelbach hits the IL due to a left hamstring strain. The team hasn’t provided a timetable for a return for the 29-year-old, who has been the club’s primary designated hitter this season. The lefty-swinging Vogelbach signed a $1MM deal over the offseason and had been off to a nice start to his Pittsburgh tenure. He’s hitting .241/.321/.457 while popping six home runs through his first 131 plate appearances.

Hembree also signed a one-year deal with the Bucs as a free agent, though he’s gotten off to a more inauspicious start. The right-hander has an 8.10 ERA through 17 appearances, walking 14.5% of batters faced. Hembree profiled as an interesting buy-low flier after striking out 34.2% of opponents between the Reds and Mets last season. He hasn’t come close to replicating that thus far, owning just a 16.1% strikeout rate in the early going.

In other Bucs’ injury news, the club transferred shortstop Kevin Newman to the 60-day IL yesterday. (The move was necessary to accommodate the promotion of Yerry de los Santos). General manager Ben Cherington announced over the weekend that Newman had suffered a hamstring injury while on a minor league rehab assignment (link via Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). That’s a separate issue than the left groin strain that originally landed him on the IL last month.

Cherington indicated Newman’s new injury isn’t likely to be serious, though it has halted his rehab stint. He won’t be eligible to return to the majors for sixty days from the time of his initial IL placement on April 27. A late-June return is now the best possible outcome for the 28-year-old, who hit .250/.308/.375 in 14 games before suffering the groin injury.

Pirates Sign Daniel Vogelbach, Heath Hembree

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10:20am: Hembree’s contract guarantees him $2.125MM, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter links). He adds that Vogelbach’s $1MM guarantee comes in the form of an $800K salary and a $200K buyout on next year’s $1.5MM option.

9:15am: Vogelbach’s deal comes with a $1MM base salary and up to $400K worth of incentives, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The contract also contains a $1.5MM club option for the 2023 season. Vogelbach would remain under team control via arbitration even if the option is not picked up, although at that point, if the club opts against a $1.5MM salary, it seems likely that he’d be non-tendered.

7:07am: The Pirates kicked off their Tuesday by announcing a pair of signings: first baseman/designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach and right-handed reliever Heath Hembree have both agreed to one-year, Major League contracts, per the team. Vogelbach is repped by ISE Baseball, while Hembree is a client of the Ballengee Group. Right-handers Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears were transferred to the 60-day injured list in a pair of corresponding moves. Cederlind is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel tweets that Mears had surgery to clean up some scar tissue in his right elbow back on Feb. 9.

Vogelbach, 29, will join Yoshi Tsutsugo in the mix for playing time at first base and in the newly created National League designated hitter slot. The 2011 second-rounder (Cubs) has spent the past two seasons with the Brewers organization after logging parts of five seasons as a member of the Mariners. He batted .219/.349/.381 in 258 plate appearances with Milwaukee during a 2021 season that saw him hobbled by hamstring tear. Vogelbach sustained the injury when scoring from second base on an RBI single; it was a bizarre play that saw the big man pull up lame about a third of the way home but still limp home as a sleeping D-backs defense appeared unaware of its surroundings.

Oddity of that play aside, Vogelbach will bring to the Buccos plenty of pop against right-handed pitching and a lofty walk rate against both lefties and righties. He’ll quite likely be platooned, as he’s just a .135/.256/.255 hitter against southpaws, but Vogelbach has walked in nearly 17% of his career plate appearances versus right-handers while putting together a .228/.357/.442 batting line. He’s only appeared in more than 100 games once in his career, but when he did so, Vogelbach swatted 30 long balls through 558 plate appearances with the 2019 Mariners.

If things go well in Pittsburgh, the Bucs will be able to retain Vogelbach for another two seasons beyond the 2022 campaign via arbitration. He currently has three-plus years of big league service time and is out of minor league options.

As for Hembree, he’ll give the Pirates a big-time strikeout arm to install in their late-inning mix. The 33-year-old punched out a massive 38% of his opponents last year while pitching for the Reds and spent a portion of the season as the closer in Cincinnati. A nightmare stretch of games from late July through mid-August saw Hembree serve up 13 runs in seven innings, however, ballooning his ERA north of 6.00. Hembree was designated for assignment, caught on with the Mets and had a nice finish to the season, pitching to a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 innings with New York.

Hembree’s end-of-season ERA was still an unsightly 5.59, continuing some struggles he’d experienced beginning in the shortened 2020 season (9.00 ERA in 19 innings). However, even with the recent scuffles — which seemingly stem from an uptick in home runs allowed — the right-hander has maintained big strikeout, swinging-strike and opponents’ chase rates. Hembree’s 30.9% strikeout rate and 21.3 K-BB% are actually better than the marks he posted from 2015-19, when he was a consistent presence in the Red Sox bullpen and notched a 3.59 ERA over the life of 238 innings.

As far as low-cost bullpen fliers go, Hembree is a particularly sensible one for the Bucs, who’ll hope he can sustain some of those strikeout gains while getting away from the home run troubles he had at more hitter-friendly settings in Philadelphia (2020) and in Cincinnati. Hembree figures to serve as a setup man for emerging closer David Bednar, joining righty Chris Stratton in that regard. If Hembree does manage to curtail the home run troubles that plagued him in 2020-21, he could well emerge as a nice trade chip for the Pirates this July.

Brewers Non-Tender Daniel Vogelbach

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The Brewers announced this evening that they have non-tendered both first baseman Daniel Vogelbach and right-handed pitcher John Curtiss. The power-swinging Vogelbach was projected to receive a $2MM salary through arbitration (by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), which the team likely viewed as redundant with a fellow lefty bat on hand in Rowdy Tellez.

Claimed off waivers from Toronto during the 2020 season, Vogelbach’s bat erupted for a 161 OPS+ during a 19-game stint with the Brewers last season. His .219/.349/.381 slash line this year, however, registered slightly below the league average (97 OPS+). The 28-year-old continued to hit the ball with authority this year and even cut his strikeout rate to a personal best 22.1%, but his defensive limitations and middling offensive performance were enough for the budget-conscious Brewers to move on. The lefty slugger can be controlled through 2025 via arbitration if he latches on with another Major League team this winter.

The right-handed Curtiss came over to Milwaukee in a last-minute deal with the Marlins this past July. The deal proved ill-fated for both the Brewers and Curtiss after just six appearances out of the bullpen, as the reliever yielded six runs and headed to the injured list with a torn UCL. The 28-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery in September and is unlikely to see action on a Major League roster until 2023, at the earliest. Dating back to 2020 Curtiss carries a 2.86 ERA across 69 innings and will remain a high-upside reliever play for teams if his recovery goes as planned. The Brewers now have 36 players on their 40-man roster.

Brewers Activate Adrian Houser

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The Brewers announced they’ve reinstated starter Adrian Houser from the COVID-19 injured list. He’s starting this afternoon’s game against the Nationals. Additionally, Milwaukee recalled left-hander Aaron Ashby and optioned right-handers Miguel Sánchez and Eric Yardley to Triple-A Nashville. To create 40-man roster space, Milwaukee transferred first baseman Daniel Vogelbach from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Houser has been a reliable member of the rotation this season. The 28-year-old has a 3.55 ERA over 104 innings despite worse than average strikeout and walk rates (18.1% and 10.9%, respectively). That’s largely thanks to a massive 60.5% ground-ball rate that handily leads all MLB pitchers with 100+ innings this season. Houser hasn’t pitched in two weeks since a positive coronavirus test, so it’s not clear how deep into today’s start he’ll be capable of working. The recalling of Ashby, who’s can go multiple innings himself, could enable manager Craig Counsell to run a tandem-start setup against Washington.

Vogelbach’s transfer is entirely a procedural move. The left-handed hitting slugger has been out since June 23 due to a left hamstring strain, so his sixty-day minimum stint is already completed. Vogelbach began a rehab assignment with Nashville this week, so he should be back in the big leagues in relatively short order.

Daniel Vogelbach Out At Least Six Weeks

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June 25: Vogelbach will be out for “at least” six weeks, manager Craig Counsell announced to reporters Friday (Twitter link via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). The manager added that lefty Brett Anderson is expected to miss 10 to 14 days with the bone bruise in his knee that recently landed him on the IL.

June 23:  The Brewers announced Wednesday that they’ve placed first baseman Daniel Vogelbach on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain and recalled infielder Keston Hiura from Triple-A Nashville.

It’s not yet clear how long Vogelbach will be expected to miss, although manager Craig Counsell foreshadowed an absence of some note last night when calling it a “significant” strain and noting that Vogelbach would require an MRI (video link via Bally Sports Wisconsin). GM Matt Arnold tells reporters that the team is evaluating not only Vogelbach’s hamstring but also his left knee (Twitter link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com).

Vogelbach sustained the injury on one of the more bizarre plays you’ll see this season. The slugger came up lame as he rounded third base but somehow managed to limp home to score anyway when the D-backs inexplicably failed to throw to the plate on a play where Vogelbach should’ve been out by some 30 to 40 feet.

While Vogelbach’s overall .216/.323/.386 slash isn’t particularly impressive, he’s been much better of late, swatting four homers and four doubles with an .816 OPS since the calendar flipped to June. Beyond that, Milwaukee first baseman have persistently struggled in 2021, so getting any production from the position in recent weeks has been a nice change of pace.

Hiura, who returns for a third stint with the Brewers this season, has played no small part in the team’s collective struggles at first base. The former first-round pick and top prospect slid over to first when Milwuakee inked Kolten Wong to a two-year deal this winter, but the offensive form that made him such a sensation as a rookie in 2019 has been nowhere to be seen. Hiura always seemed primed for some degree of regression, as his 2019 breakout was buoyed by a .402 average on balls in play, but few could’ve predicted struggles of this magnitude.

So far in 122 plate appearances, the 24-year-old has mustered only a .130/.217/.222 slash. His luck on balls in play has swung completely in the opposite direction of 2019, as he’s been plagued by a .220 BABIP in that small sample. However, Hiura’s anemic stat line is far from a matter of a poor fortune. He punched out at a 30.7 percent clip during his rookie campaign but has seen that number skyrocket to 39.3 percent so far in 2021, and his rate of hard-hit balls has dropped by nine percent as well. It’s perhaps encouraging that Hiura has maintained a 23.3 percent line-drive rate, but he’s hitting far more lazy flies than he did at his best — and the huge uptick in strikeouts is obviously glaring.

Hiura absolutely destroyed Triple-A pitching when he was first sent down to the minors this year, hitting at a .438/.526/.906 clip with three home runs and six doubles in 38 plate appearances. But he also punched out 13 times, and when he returned to the Majors on the heels of that strong Nashville showing, he looked more lost than ever. From May 24 through June 6, Hiura went 2-for-29 and struck out in 16 of 33 plate appearances. The Brewers demoted him back to Nashville.

Hiura has punished Triple-A pitchers in similar fashion since being sent back to Nashville a second time this year, albeit with one key difference. His .375/.490/.575 slash in his latest 11-game stint is nearly as impressive as his first Triple-A run, but this time around he’s showing considerably more discipline. Hiura has drawn nine walks in 51 plate appearances and struck out as many times in 51 plate appearances as he did in 38 plate appearances during his first minor league run this year (13).

It’s obviously a tiny sample from which to glean much, but the dip from a 34 percent strikeout rate to a 25 percent clip is encouraging, as is the increase from a 10.5 percent walk rate to a 17.6 percent mark. At the very least, it would seem to indicate that Hiura has made conscious strides to work on his plate discipline.

He’ll now have a chance to carry that potential change in approach over to the big league level. With Vogelbach on the shelf, Hiura ought to receive the bulk of the playing time at first base, securing one final audition before the Brewers make tougher calls with the trade deadline on the horizon. Ideally, a version of Hiura at least approximating his 2019 output would take the reins at first base and run with the job. But with Milwaukee first baseman combining for just a .197/.295/.343 batting line so far in 2021, it stands to reason that the Brew Crew will look outside the organization if Hiura can’t pick up the slack in his third go-around of the season with the MLB club.

NL Central Notes: Senzel, Pirates, Vogelbach

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The Reds still don’t have a clear answer at shortstop, but it doesn’t appear as though moving Nick Senzel back to the infield is a consideration. Manager David Bell today told reporters that Senzel is seen as the primary center fielder in Cincinnati, adding that if the club ever considered putting him back in the infield, “…we’d be missing a lot in the outfield” (Twitter link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com).

On paper at least, there’s reason to consider such a shift sensible. The Reds have a crowded outfield mix with Shogo Akiyama, Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos also in the mix for at-bats. Winker and Castellanos are strictly corner outfielders, but Akiyama has a long track record in center field in Japan and, ostensibly, could be viewed as a candidate for regular work in center. That’s not in the plans at this time, it seems, so they’ll look to a mix of Kyle Farmer, Kyle Holder, Jose Garcia and non-roster veteran Dee Strange-Gordon as options at shortstop. It’s a mix that could clearly use an upgrade, but at this time there’s no indication the team is aggressively pursuing alternatives.

More from the division…

  • Pirates outfielder Anthony Alford is still limited on defense following last year’s fractured right elbow, director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk told reporters (link via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mike Persak). While Alford will likely be in early spring games as a designated hitter, he’s still facing some “challenges” with regard to throwing. While the Bucs will likely give Bryan Reynolds at least some time in center this season, manager Derek Shelton implied Wednesday that the current battle is more one between Alford and non-roster veteran Brian Goodwin. That was before the club’s acquisition of Dustin Fowler from the Athletics, however, so it’s likely that the newly acquired former top prospect is now in the mix as well. That seems to leave Reynolds as the primary left fielder and Gregory Polanco looking for a bounceback in right field. Both Fowler and Alford are out of minor league options, so they’ll need to make the Opening Day roster (or be placed on the Major League injured list) to avoid being designated for assignment again.
  • There’s still no indication that the National League will be able to deploy a designated hitter in 2021, but Brewers skipper Craig Counsell is still rooting for a late agreement to change that, writes MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Though Counsell has previously been against the NL DH, the manager noted that for the Brewers roster, as currently constructed, it would be beneficial. That’s largely because of the presence of Daniel Vogelbach, who mashed in 67 plate appearances as a Brewer late in the 2020 season but was pushed off a potential regular role at first base when Milwaukee signed Kolten Wong, thus sliding Keston Hiura over to first base. As McCalvy notes, if there’s no late agreement on a designated hitter, it’s possible the Brewers could cut Vogelbach loose. He agreed to a $1.4MM to avoid arbitration over the winter, but the Brewers would only owe him 30 days’ salary ($226K) if he’s cut in the first half of Spring Training or 45 days ($339K) if he’s cut in the second half of camp. If Vogelbach makes the Opening Day roster, that entire $1.4MM salary would be locked in.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 12/2/20

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With the non-tender deadline coming today at 7pm CT, expect quite a few players to agree to contracts for the 2021 season, avoiding arbitration in advance.  In many (but not all) cases, these deals — referred to as “pre-tender” deals because they fall prior to the deadline — will fall shy of expectations and projections.  Teams will sometimes present borderline non-tender candidates with a “take it or leave it” style offer which will be accepted for fear of being non-tendered and sent out into an uncertain market.  Speculatively, such deals could increase in 2020 due to the economic uncertainty sweeping through the game, although there are also widespread expectations of record non-tender numbers.

You can track all of the arbitration and non-tender activity here, and we’ll also run through today’s smaller-scale pre-tender deals in this post.  You can also check out Matt Swartz’s arbitration salary projections here.

Latest Agreements

Earlier Agreements

  • Twins righty Jose Berrios will earn $6.1MM with a $500K signing bonus in 2021, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports. Catcher Mitch Garver will rake in $1.875MM, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Center fielder Byron Buxton ($5.125MM) and reliever Taylor Rogers (terms not released) also agreed to deals, according to Phil Miller of the Star Tribune.
  • The Phillies have deals with starter Zach Eflin ($4.45MM) and relievers Hector Neris ($5MM), David Hale ($850K) and Seranthony Dominguez ($727,500), Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Heyman and Todd Zolecki of MLB.com relay.
  • The Marlins and first baseman Garrett Cooper have a $1.8MM agreement that could max out at $2.05MM with performance bonuses, Craig Mish of Sportsgrid tweets.
  • The Brewers are keeping catcher Manny Pina in the fold for $1.65MM, according to Heyman. They’re also retaining first baseman Daniel Vogelbach for $1.4MM, Nightengale reports.
  • The Giants and outfielder Austin Slater have a one-year, $1.15MM deal, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.The club also reached a $925K agreement with lefty Wandy Peralta and a $700K pact with righty Trevor Gott, Heyman tweets.
  • The Cubs are bringing back hurlers Dan Winkler ($900K), Colin Rea ($702,500) and Kyle Ryan ($800K), Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Ryan’s agreement is a split contract that features a $250K minor league salary.
  • The Mets are retaining lefty Steven Matz for $5.2MM, Nightengale tweets. Matz had a brutal campaign in 2020 with a 9.68 ERA/7.76 FIP over 30 2/3 innings in 2020, but the Mets will give him a chance to rebound.
  • The Padres and lefty Matt Strahm have a one-year, $2MM deal, Nightengale reports. Strahm gave the Padres a 2.61 ERA/4.93 FIP in 20 2/3 innings in 2020.
  • Outfielder Guillermo Heredia, whom the Mets claimed from Pittsburgh in August, will earn $1MM in 2021, according to Nightengale.
  • The Astros and reliever Austin Pruitt have settled for $617, 500, per Heyman. The right-hander missed the season with elbow issues.
  • The Royals and outfielder Jorge Soler have agreed to a one-year, $8.05MM deal with $250K in incentives, Nightengale reports. Soler was a 48-home run hitter in 2019, but his production went backward this past season, in which he slashed .228/.326/.443 with eight HRs in 174 trips to the plate.
  • The Red Sox have kept relievers Matt Barnes ($4.4MM) and Ryan Brasier ($1.25MM) and catcher Kevin Plawecki ($1.6MM), per tweets from Nightengale, Robert Murray of FanSided and Heyman. Barnes has been a solid reliever as a member of the Red Sox, though he yielded more than five walks per nine and upward of four runs per nine in 2020. Brasier was more successful this past season, as he tossed 25 frames of 3.96 ERA/3.15 FIP ball and averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine. Plawecki had a nice year as the backup to Christian Vazquez, as he batted .341/.393/.463 in 89 PA.
  • The Giants and southpaw Jarlin Garcia have settled for $950K, according to Heyman. Garcia is coming off an 18 1/3-inning effort in which he posted a near-perfect 0.49 (with an impressive 3.14 FIP) and 6.87 K/9 against 3.44 BB/9.
  • The Marlins have agreed to a one-year, $4.3MM deal with first baseman Jesus Aguilar, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. The 30-year-old slugger put up strong numbers in his first year with the Fish, slashing .277/.352/.457 with eight long balls in 216 plate appearances.
  • The Giants and outfielder Alex Dickerson settled at a year and $2MM, tweets Nightengale. The 30-year-old slugger has a lengthy injury history but has been excellent in limited work with the Giants, including a .298/.371/.576 slash in 170 plate appearances this past season.
  • Luis Cessa will be back with the Yankees on a one-year deal, tweets Nightengale. He’ll earn $1.05MM. The righty notched a 3.32 ERA and 3.79 FIP with a 17-to-7 K/BB ratio in 21 2/3 innings this past season. Fellow righty Ben Heller will also return, the team announced, though it didn’t disclose financial details.
  • First baseman Matt Olson and the Athletics settled on a one-year deal worth $5MM, tweets Nightengale. The 26-year-old Olson’s .198/.310/.424 slash was an obvious step back from his 2019 campaign, but he’s still viewed as a vital part of the club’s future moving forward.
  • The Braves and righty Luke Jackson agreed to a one-year deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The 29-year-old was rocked for a 6.84 ERA in this year’s shortened slate of games but posted a 3.84 ERA and 3.24 FIP with better than 13 K/9 as one of the team’s steadiest relievers in 2019. The contract is valued at $1.9MM, per a team announcement.
  • The Brewers are bringing back catcher Omar Narvaez for one year and $2.5MM, Heyman tweets. Narvaez was a very good offensive catcher from 2o16-19 with the White Sox and Mariners, but he struggled last season after the M’s traded him to the Brewers. Thanks in part to a career-worst 31 percent strikeout rate, Narvaez could only muster a .176/.294/.269 line and a paltry two HRs in 126 plate appearances. Nevertheless, he’s in line to return to the Brewers for a second season.
  • The Brewers have agreed to a one-year, $2MM contract with shortstop Orlando Arcia, Nightengale relays. Arcia endured serious struggles on offense in prior years, but the 26-year-old managed a respectable .260/.317/.416 line with five home runs over 189 plate appearances this past season.
  • The Phillies and catcher Andrew Knapp have reached a one-year, $1.1MM agreement, per Nightengale. Typically a light-hitting backstop, Knapp batted a career-best .278/.404/.444 in 89 plate appearances in 2020. He’s currently the No. 1 catcher on a Phillies team that could lose J.T. Realmuto in free agency.
  • Pirates infielder Erik Gonzalez agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.225MM, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. It was the second year of arb eligibility for Gonzalez, whose glovework will earn him a contract despite a brutal .227/.255/.359 batting line in 193 plate appearances in 2020.
  • The Royals and Hunter Dozier agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.72MM in entirely guaranteed money, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports.  More is available to Dozier via contract incentives.  Dozier hit .228/.344/.392 over 186 PA after missing over the first two weeks of the season recovering from a positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
  • The Red Sox agreed to an $870K deal with right-hander Austin Brice for the 2021 season, as per Nightengale.  Brice posted a 5.95 ERA, 11.4 K/9, and 5.9 BB/9 over 19 2/3 innings in his first season in Boston, and was considered a potential non-tender candidate.
  • The Twins and righty Tyler Duffey agreed to a one-year, $2.2MM pact, SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson reports.  According to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney, Duffey’s deal is fully guaranteed.
  • The Braves agreed to a one-year, $900K deal with southpaw Grant Dayton, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  Dayton had a 2.30 ERA over 27 1/3 innings in 2020.
  • The Braves announced an agreement with utilityman Johan Camargo on a one-year, $1.36MM deal.  Camargo was thought to be a non-tender candidate after struggling to a .222/.267/.378 slash line in 375 plate appearances over the last two seasons, but he will return for a fifth year in Atlanta.
  • The White Sox and left-hander Jace Fry agreed to a one-year deal worth $862.5K, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).  Fry posted a 3.66 ERA, 2.00 K/BB rate, and 11.0 K/9 over 19 2/3 innings in 2020, and he has strong overall career numbers against left-handed batters.
  • The Orioles agreed with second baseman Yolmer Sanchez on a one-year deal worth $1MM, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).  Baltimore claimed Sanchez off waivers from the White Sox at the end of October.  A Gold Glove winner in 2019, Sanchez was non-tendered by Chicago prior to last year’s deadline, though after signing a minors deal with the Giants, he returned to the White Sox on another minors deal and appeared in 11 games on the South Side.
  • The Twins agreed to a one-year deal worth roughly $700K with left-hander Caleb Thielbar, The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman reports (via Twitter).  2020 marked Thielbar’s first taste of MLB action since 2015, as the southpaw worked his way back from independent ball to post a 2.25 ERA, 2.44 K/BB rate, and 9.9 K/9 over 20 innings for Minnesota.
  • The Dodgers and left-hander Scott Alexander have agreed to a one-year, $1MM deal, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link).  Alexander posted a 2.92 ERA over 12 1/3 innings out of the Los Angeles bullpen this season, recording an equal number of walks and strikeouts (nine).  The southpaw was thought to be a potential non-tender candidate given his relative lack of usage and his non-inclusion on the Dodgers’ playoff roster, but the team will retain Alexander for his second arb-eligible year.  ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter) adds the noteworthy detail that Alexander’s $1MM salary is fully guaranteed, as opposed to the usual contracts for arbitration-eligible players that allow their teams to release them prior to Opening Day and only pay a fraction of the agreed-upon salary.

Brewers Designate Justin Smoak, Claim Daniel Vogelbach

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6:02pm: Milwaukee has announced the moves. The Brewers acquired Vogelbach via waivers.

3:23pm: The Brewers have designated first baseman Justin Smoak for assignment and acquired 1B/DH Daniel Vogelbach from the Blue Jays, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.

The switch-hitting Smoak had a couple very good years with the Blue Jays from 2017-18, but his production went downward in ’19 during his final campaign in Toronto. The Brewers, hoping for a bounce-back effort, signed the 33-year-old Smoak to a $5MM guarantee last offseason, but the deal didn’t pay dividends for the club. Smoak logged an ugly .186/.262/.381 line with five home runs in 126 plate appearances this year before the Brewers designated him. Thanks in large part to Smoak, first base has been a black hole for Milwaukee, though Jedd Gyorko (who has totaled the second-most starts there for the club) has posted terrific production over a small sample.

Vogelbach could now wind up in the mix at first for the Brewers, but he hasn’t lined up there at all this year between Seattle and Toronto, instead playing all of his games as a DH. While Vogelbach was a Mariners All-Star a year ago, his numbers plummeted in the second half then, and he certainly hasn’t offered a DH-caliber bat this season. Between the M’s and Jays, he hit an abysmal .088/.246/.211 with two home runs in 69 plate appearances. Toronto designated Vogelbach after four at-bats as a member of the team.

Blue Jays Designate Daniel Vogelbach, Brandon Drury, Sam Gaviglio

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The Blue Jays announced Tuesday that they’ve designated first baseman Daniel Vogelbach, infielder/outfielder Brandon Drury and right-hander Sam Gaviglio for assignment. The DFAs open roster space for lefty Robbie Ray, righty Ross Stripling and infielder Jonathan Villar, each of whom were acquired leading up to the trade deadline yesterday.

Vogelbach had a short run on the 40-man roster of the Blue Jays, who acquired him from the Mariners Aug. 23. The 27-year-old rode a hot first half of 2019 to an All-Star nod with Seattle, but his numbers cratered in the second half and haven’t rebounded with either club this season. Vogelbach owns a nightmarish .088/.246/.211 line with two home runs in 69 plate appearances so far.

Drury himself was a deadline pickup by the Jays in 2018, when they sent lefty J.A. Happ to the Yankees. Drury had struggled mightily since being acquired to fill a versatile infield role (likely similar to the one ultimately taken up by DJ LeMahieu). At the time of his trade to Toronto, he was only a half season removed from a two-year stretch that saw him hit .275/.323/.453 with 29 homers, 68 doubles and three triples while logging time at second base, third base, first base and both outfield corners. His 2018 scuffles aside, Drury looked like a solid acquisition.

Obviously, things haven’t played out that way. Drury has now spent parts of three seasons with the Jays and racked up a bit less than a full year’s worth of playing time without any offensive production to show for it. He’s appeared in 149 games and tallied 525 plate appearances with just a .208/.253/.353 slash to show for it. He’s arbitration-eligible this winter and was a surefire non-tender given his lack of production, so it’s not a surprise to see him cut from the roster early. Another club could technically claim Drury, but to do so they’d need to assume the remaining $298K on this year’s prorated salary. For a player who is hitting .152/.184/.174 through 49 plate appearances — that seems highly improbable.

The likeliest outcome, then, is that the Jays will either run Drury through outright waivers or simply opt to release him. If he does pass through outright waivers, he can be outrighted to the club’s alternate training site and remain on hand as a depth piece. He’d have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, but because he does not yet have five years of MLB service, doing so would mean forfeiting that $298K he is still owed. Again — that seems quite unlikely.

Turning to Gaviglio, he’s been up and down with the Jays dating back to the 2018 season himself, showing some flashes of quality production at times but ultimately posting lackluster numbers. In 222 1/3 frames with the Blue Jays, Gaviglio carries a 5.06 ERA and 4.70 FIP with 7.9 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 1.58 HR/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate.

Blue Jays Acquire Daniel Vogelbach

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The Blue Jays have acquired first baseman Daniel Vogelbach from the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations, both teams announced.  Vogelbach was designated for assignment earlier this week following an .094/.250/.225 slash line over his first 64 plate appearances of the 2020 season.

It was a little over a year ago that Vogelbach was enjoying a selection to the All-Star Game and seemingly cementing his claim as the Mariners’ first baseman/DH of the future.  A red-hot start to the 2019 season was followed by a steep decline, however, as Vogelbach hit only .162/.297/.344 over his final 310 plate appearances.

A second-round pick for the Cubs in the 2011 draft, Vogelbach was a blocked prospect behind Anthony Rizzo in Chicago, and he was sent to the M’s as part of the July 2016 trade that brought Mike Montgomery to the Cubs.  Seattle had hopes that Vogelbach would build on his impressive minor league numbers and become a power bat at the MLB level, though that breakout just hasn’t come, as he has a .196/.326/.397 career slash line over 768 PA and has particularly struggled (career .547 OPS) against left-handed pitching.

It’s probably safe to assume that Toronto didn’t surrender much cash in the trade, making this a pretty low-risk acquisition for the Jays.  Still, Vogelbach’s addition gives the club a third player (beyond Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez) who can play only first base or DH, plus Vogelbach and Tellez are both left-handed bats.  It doesn’t make for much of an obvious fit, unless the Blue Jays simply want to have some extra depth for the bench or even down at their alternate training site.

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