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Dario Agrazal

Diamondbacks, Dario Agrazal Agree To Minor League Deal

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The D-backs recently agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Dario Agrazal, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Arizona also added righty Josh Lucas, per the report. They’ll add some depth to a club that currently has Zac Gallen, Taylor Widener, Luke Weaver and J.B. Bukauskas on the injured list.

Agrazal, 26, started 14 games for the 2019 Pirates and pitched to a 4.91 ERA through 73 1/3 innings. That’s his only big league experience to date, although he’d have gotten an opportunity with the Tigers in 2020 were it not for injury. Detroit claimed Agrazal off waivers from Pittsburgh after the ’19 campaign and announced him as part of last summer’s Opening Day roster, but Agrazal was diagnosed with a forearm strain just days after the season began. That injury wound up shelving him for the entire season.

While he doesn’t miss many bats, Agrazal sports a 51 percent ground-ball rate in parts of seven minor league seasons and, more impressively, has walked just 88 of the 2513 hitters he’s faced in parts of seven minor league seasons (3.5 percent). He carries a 3.62 ERA in 608 2/3 innings spread across those seven campaigns and has worked almost exclusively out of the rotation.

Lucas was with the A’s, Cardinals and Orioles from 2017-19 but hasn’t found much success at the MLB level, posting a 5.54 ERA in 37 1/3 frames. He’s been primarily a bullpen arm who, like Agrazal, generates grounders at an above-average clip. In parts of 10 minor league seasons, he’s pitched to a 3.61 ERA. Lucas actually made his debut with Arizona’s top affiliate this week, tossing a scoreless frame in his first outing before being tagged for four runs yesterday.

Tigers Outright Three Players To Triple-A

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The Tigers have outrighted outfielder Jorge Bonifacio and right-handers Dario Agrazal and Dereck Rodriguez to Triple-A after the trio cleared waivers, the team announced (Twitter link).  Left-hander Nick Ramirez also cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent.

Bonifacio saw the most MLB action in 2020, making 94 plate appearances over 30 games with Detroit and hitting .221/.277/.326.  Signed to a minor league deal last winter, Bonifacio has played 217 games with the Tigers and Royals since the start of the 2017 season.  Once a noted prospect who received some top-100 attention prior to the 2014 season, Bonifacio has been trying to get on track since an 80-game PED suspension in 2018.

Ramirez has spent the last two years in the Detroit organization, making his big league debut in 2019 and immediately delivering some solid numbers (4.07 ERA, 2.11 K/BB rate, 8.4 K/9) in his first 79 2/3 innings as a big leaguer.  The southpaw didn’t see much action in 2020, however, tossing only 10 2/3 frames and posting a 5.91 ERA.  The 31-year-old Ramirez will now head into free agency offering both some durability as a multi-inning reliever and some quality career splits (.227/.306/.355) against left-handed batters.

Rodriguez appeared in two games with the Giants this season before being claimed off waivers by the Tigers at the end of August.  The righty emerged as a rotation candidate in San Francisco during his 2018 rookie season but he has a 5.94 ERA over his last 103 Major League innings, in large part due to a whopping 23 homers allowed in that small sample size.

This is the third consecutive offseason that Agrazal has found himself outrighted off a 40-man roster, having been cut by the Tigers last winter and the Pirates in the 2018-19 offseason.  The 25-year-old made Detroit’s Opening Day roster but didn’t pitch at all this season due to a forearm strain.  Agrazal has a 3.62 ERA, 4.48 K/BB rate, and 5.8 K/9 over 608 2/3 minor league innings (all in Pittsburgh’s farm system), starting 111 of his 114 career games.  His big league resume consists of 73 1/3 innings of 4.91 ERA ball with the Pirates in 2019, before the Tigers acquired him last November.

Tigers Select Casey Mize, Jorge Bonifacio

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The Tigers announced a series of roster moves Wednesday, formally selecting the contract of right-hander Casey Mize (as had been previously announced) and also selecting the contract of outfielder Jorge Bonifacio. They’ll both join the big league roster. Righty Dario Agrazal and first baseman C.J. Cron have also been transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 45-day injured list to open space on the 40-man roster. Meanwhile, utilityman Harold Castro is headed to the 10-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring.

Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick, will make his MLB debut against another debuting first-rounder: White Sox righty Dane Dunning. Mize is regarded as one of the game’s premier pitching prospects and a potential foundational piece of a rebuilding Tigers squad — one whom the club hopes can pitch atop its rotation through the 2026 season at least. He dominated opponents at Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2019, working to a combined 2.55 ERA with a terrific 106-to-23 K/BB ratio in 109 1/3 frames.

Bonifacio is no stranger to the AL Central, having spent several years with the Royals as a right fielder and designated hitter. He’s a career .247/.319/.408 hitter in 713 Major League plate appearances and is looking for a rebound opportunity after a PED suspension more or less ended his tenure in Kansas City. Bonifacio did tally 21 plate appearances after being reinstated from that suspension, but he’d since been surpassed on the depth chart and was ultimately cut loose last November.

The injury to the 26-year-old Castro deprives the Tigers of some versatility off the bench. He’d appeared at shortstop, second base, third base and all three outfield positions in 2020 already — all while posting a respectable .276/.364/.379 slash through 33 plate appearances.

Tigers Place Dario Agrazal On Injured List

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The Tigers have placed righty Dario Agrazal on the injured list, per a club announcement. He’s said to be dealing with a forearm strain.

Taking his place on the active roster will be fellow righty Anthony Castro. The team will have to account for Agrazal’s scheduled start tomorrow, likely with a parade of relievers.

It’s quite the unfortunate development for Agrazal, who had just been called up. The 25-year-old struggled to a 4.91 ERA in his first 73 1/3 MLB innings in 2019.

Tigers Select Dario Agrazal, Jordy Mercer

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The Tigers have announced that righty Dario Agrazal and infielder Jordy Mercer have made the Opening Day roster. Their contracts were selected to the 40-man roster. Former top picks Kyle Funkhouser and Beau Burrows both made the roster as well.

Agrazal, 25, was acquired from the Pirates back in November and later outrighted off the 40-man roster. The righty pitched 73 1/3 innings with the Pirates in 2019 but struggled to a 4.91 ERA with 5.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.84 HR/9 and a 39.9 percent grounder rate. Agrazal doesn’t miss many bats, even in the minors, but he’s averaged well under two walks per nine innings pitched in parts of seven minors league seasons and typically registers a ground-ball rate north of 50 percent. He’s only totaled 64 innings in Triple-A, but he owns a career 3.62 ERA with 5.8 K/9 against 1.3 BB/9 in 608 2/3 total minor league frames.

The veteran Mercer, meanwhile, will return for a second season in Detroit. He spent the ’19 season with the Tigers after signing a one-year deal but was plagued by quadriceps injuries for much of the season, spending multiple stints on the injured list. The signing looked regrettable at the season’s halfway point, but Mercer returned in early July and closed out the year with a sharp .292/.323/.479 slash line to salvage what was looking to be a lost year. The 33-year-old — 34 next month — is a career .257/.316/.388 hitter in parts of eight MLB seasons.

Both Funkhouser and Burrows were at one point first-round picks. Detroit selected Burrows with the No. 22 selection back in 2015, and Funkhouser was a supplemental first-round pick by the Dodgers just 13 spots later in that same draft. Funkhouser, however, didn’t sign and slid to the Tigers in the fourth round a year later. Both showed promise in 2017-18 before ugly 2019 seasons dropped their stock, but they’ll both get their first look in the big leagues to begin the 2020 campaign.

Filling Out The Tigers’ Starting Rotation

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UPDATE: Zimmermann has been placed on the 45-day injured list, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck and others (Twitter links). The Tigers aren’t ruling him out for the season yet.

TODAY: Jordan Zimmermann is dealing with the same sort of forearm soreness that sapped him of much of the 2019 season, per Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. If he can stay healthy – a big if – Zimmermann would look to make the most of a short season by proving his arm still plays at the major league level. This will be the final year of the five-year, $110MM pact he signed with the Tigers before the 2016 season.

It’s been a tough couple of years for Zimmermann, who will end his contract without ever making 30 starts in a season after doing so in each of his final four seasons with the Nationals. Despite the precipitous drop in performance, the Tigers were nonetheless turning to Zimmermann as a veteran stopgap in a rotation that will soon be overrun by high-upside prospects like Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Franklin Perez, Casey Mize, and Joey Wentz. The rotation is already without Daniel Norris, who has yet to pitch in camp after testing positive for coronavirus.

In the meantime, the Tigers are scrambling to fill out the rotation behind ace Matthew Boyd. Veteran Ivan Nova was brought in to soak up innings (34 starts, 187 innings in 2019), and Spencer Turnbull figures to slot in somewhere in the middle of the rotation after a mostly-strong showing in 2019. Turnbull went 3-17 last season with a 4.61 ERA/3.99 FIP. He’s done a nice job of limiting long balls throughout his two seasons in the majors, and if he can improve upon some control issues that led to an AL-high 16 hit batters and 3.6 BB/9, the Tigers hope Turnbull can level off his 4.76 career ERA and land closer to his 3.88 career FIP mark.

Beyond those three, the Tigers are working on extending the innings of Dario Agrazal, Shao-Ching Chiang, Hector Santiago, and Tyler Alexander to potentially fill out the rotation. Former Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer also has a chance to get some rotation innings, writes McCosky. Fulmer missed all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Of the youngsters in camp, Mize probably has the best shot of cracking the rotation. Under normal circumstances, Mize would be ticketed for Triple-A after 22 starts with a 2.55 ERA in Double-A last year, but without minor league games to further his development, count Mize among the many young stars with a slightly better chance of breaking into the big leagues sometime during the shortened 2020 season. Seven days on the taxi squad will be enough for the Tigers to secure an extra year of service time, notes McCosky, but manager Ron Gardenhire doesn’t plan on making any official decisions until knowing more about the health of Zimmermann and Norris.

Tigers Outright Dario Agrazal

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The Tigers announced over the weekend that right-hander Dario Agrazal cleared waivers following after being designated for assignment late last week. He’ll remain in the organization after being outrighted to Triple-A Toledo.

Agrazal, 24, logged 73 1/3 innings with the Pirates in 2019 but struggled to a 4.91 ERA with 5.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.84 HR/9 and a 39.9 percent grounder rate. Agrazal doesn’t miss many bats, even in the minors, but he’s averaged well under two walks per nine innings pitched in parts of seven minors league seasons and typically registers a ground-ball rate north of 50 percent. He’s only totaled 64 innings in Triple-A, but he owns a career 3.62 ERA with 5.8 K/9 against 1.3 BB/9 in 608 2/3 total minor league frames.

He’ll need to earn his way back onto the 40-man roster, but a solid showing in Toledo could get Agrazal a look in what’s currently a thin Detroit rotation. The Tigers have a number of notable pitching prospects on the way — Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Beau Burrows and Tarik Skubal among them — but Agrazal will give them some more depth on which to draw should they wish to proceed cautiously with their most highly regarded farmhands.

Tigers Acquire Eric Haase, Designate Dario Agrazal

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The Tigers announced today that they have acquired catcher Eric Haase from the Indians for cash considerations. To create roster space, they designated righty Dario Agrazal for assignment.

Haase was recently designated by the Cleveland organization, so it’s not surprising to see him change hands. The 27-year-old has seen brief MLB action in each of the past two seasons. He turned in a power-heavy .226/.315/.517 batting line with 28 home runs in 401 Triple-A plate appearances in 2019.

Agrazal is himself back in DFA limbo after the Pirates designated and traded him to Detroit back in November. The 24-year-old received a long look in 2019 but managed only a 4.91 ERA with 5.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in his 73 1/3 frames.

Tigers Acquire Dario Agrazal

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The Tigers have acquired right-hander Dario Agrazal from the Pirates in exchange for cash, the team announced. (Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reported the move, via Twitter, minutes before it was formally announced.) Agrazal was designated for assignment last week when Pittsburgh set its 40-man roster in advance of next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Detroit’s 40-man roster is now full.

Agrazal, 24, logged 73 1/3 innings with the Pirates in 2019 but struggled to a 4.91 ERA with 5.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.84 HR/9 and a 39.9 percent grounder rate. He’s typically demonstrated strong control and posted better ground-ball rates in the minors. Agrazal also has a minor league option remaining, so the Tigers will be able to shuttle him between Toledo and Detroit as rotation depth next season — so long as he survives the winter on the team’s 40-man roster.

The Tigers’ rotation is perilously thin at the moment, with Matthew Boyd, Jordan Zimmermann, Spencer Turnbull and Daniel Norris representing the likeliest options. Righty Michael Fulmer will be returning from Tommy John surgery as well, but he didn’t go under the knife until the end of March in 2019, meaning there’s no guarantee he’ll be back for Opening Day.

That said, the Tigers have a number of high-end pitching prospects looming on the horizon, led by 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick Casey Mize. Detroit also has Matt Manning, Alex Faedo, Beau Burrows, Tarik Skubal and Franklin Perez working through the upper minors, and it’d be both surprising and disappointing if that collection of arms didn’t produce a couple of MLB-caliber rotation pieces. The acquisition of Agrazal lessens any need to rush that group to the big leagues, though, and provides some additional depth in the event of injuries to the starters on which the Tigers currently expect to rely.

Further additions remain possible, of course; the Tigers added Tyson Ross and Matt Moore on perfectly reasonable, low-risk one-year pacts last offseason. Although neither move panned out, the logic behind each was apparent, and a similar pickup or two this winter wouldn’t be particularly surprising.

Pirates Designate Four Players For Assignment, Set 40-Man Roster

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The Pirates set their roster in advance of the 2019 Rule 5 Draft tonight, selecting the contracts of right-handers Blake Cederlind and Cody Ponce as well as infielders Ke’Bryan Hayes, Will Craig and Oneil Cruz. In a corresponding series of moves, the Pirates have designated lefty Williams Jerez and right-handers Dario Agrazal, Montana DuRapau and Luis Escobar for assignment.

Of the four players designated for assignment, Agrazal had the largest workload with the Pirates in 2019, pitching 73 1/3 innings but struggling to a 4.91 ERA, 5.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 39.9 percent grounder rate. Each of the other three posted an ERA north of 7.00, though Escobar and Jerez each threw fewer than six innings. The 27-year-old DuRapau, meanwhile, enjoyed an outstanding season in Triple-A but allowed 18 runs in 17 1/3 innings at the MLB level.

Hayes, 23 in January, is fresh off a .265/.336/.415 season and against much older competition in Triple-A. Regarded as one of baseball’s premier defensive prospects, Hayes is considered to be among the top farmhands not just in the Pirates’ system but in the entire game.

Cruz, too, has generated some top 100 fanfare and just put the finishing touches on a huge but shortened season, hitting a combined .298/.356/.475 in 73 games. The towering 6’7″ Cruz, acquired in the 2017 trade that sent Tony Watson to the Dodgers, received 80 grades in arm strength and raw power from Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs on their midseason rankings, where he checked in at No. 34 in MLB.

Ponce, acquired from the Brewers in this summer’s Jordan Lyles swap, averaged nearly 10 strikeouts per inning out of the bullpen. Cederlind, also 23, had a solid year out of the ’pen and reached the Triple-A level for the first time. Craig had a down season in Triple-A but has long been considered to be among the top 15 prospects in the Pittsburgh farm and will give them some near-term corner infield depth.

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