Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Elias Diaz

Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters

By | at

The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.

Without further ado…

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Guardians

Marlins

Mariners

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

Rockies Designate Jordan Sheffield For Assignment

By | at

The Rockies announced they’ve designated reliever Jordan Sheffield for assignment. The move frees a spot on the 40-man roster for outfielder Wynton Bernard, whose previously-reported contract selection has been made official. Colorado placed center fielder Yonathan Daza (separated left shoulder) and catcher Elias Díaz (left wrist sprain) on the 10-day injured list, recalling Dom Nuñez to take Díaz’s spot behind the dish.

Sheffield, a former supplemental first-round pick of the Dodgers, landed in Colorado over the 2020-21 offseason via the Rule 5 draft. He spent all of last season in the majors, as required for a team to retain a Rule 5 pick’s rights. Sheffield worked as a low-leverage arm for skipper Bud Black, pitching to a 3.38 ERA across 29 1/3 innings. His strikeout and walk rates (17.2% and 11.2%, respectively) didn’t align with that quality run prevention. Nevertheless, Sheffield averaged 96.4 MPH with top-of-the-scale raw spin on his four-seam fastball, making him an interesting long-term relief option for the Rox.

Things have fallen apart during the Vanderbilt product’s second year in the organization. He’s made only two big league appearances, with his fastball velocity sitting at a diminished 93.7 MPH. He’s been blasted over 21 appearances with Triple-A Albuquerque, posting an 11.21 ERA with just a 16.3% strikeout rate and a huge 19.6% walk percentage. He’s also surrendered eight home runs in only 17 2/3 innings.

The Rockies will place Sheffield on waivers over the next few days. He’s never previously been outrighted, meaning the organization could keep him around without requiring a 40-man roster spot if he goes unclaimed. That seems likely, given the extent of his struggles in Triple-A this season.

Rockies Sign Elias Diaz To Three-Year Extension

By | at

The Rockies are keeping their catcher around beyond next season, announcing a three-year extension with Elias Díaz. The deal buys out his final year of arbitration-eligibility and first two years of free agency. Díaz will reportedly be guaranteed $14.5MM over its entirety, with the specific salary breakdown yet to be reported.

It’s a nice birthday present for the MAS+ Agency client, who turned 31 yesterday. Díaz has spent the past two seasons in Denver, starting the majority of the team’s games behind the dish in 2021. He’s coming off a nice season, hitting .246/.310/.464 with 18 home runs across 371 plate appearances. Those bottom line results are inflated somewhat by playing his home games at Coors Field, but it’s decent production even after factoring in that favorable environment. By measure of wRC+ — which includes a park adjustment — Díaz’s hitting was about three percentage points better than that of the league average catcher.

That’s one of the better showings of his career. The right-handed hitting backstop entered the 2021 campaign with just a .248/.300/.355 mark across 888 plate appearances between the Pirates and Colorado. He made similar strides on the other side of the ball, rating as an above-average pitch framer (per Statcast) this past season for the first time in his five-year tenure. While he’s drawn mixed reviews as a receiver over the course of his career, he’s consistently done a strong job shutting down the running game. Díaz has cut down 30.4% of attempted base-stealers as a big leaguer, a mark that’s a few percentage points north of the league average in that time.

The Rockies clearly believe Díaz’s numbers this past season better reflect his true talent, and they’ll place a fairly modest bet he can continue to be a capable #1 catcher over the coming years. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Díaz to land a 2022 salary in the $2.6MM range if he’d proceeded through arbitration. Essentially, the Rockies are tacking on around $12MM in additional money to buy themselves two more years of team control. That’s a bit below the $16MM the Braves guaranteed Travis d’Arnaud on a two-year extension in August (although d’Arnaud’s deal also contained a 2024 club option).

The Rox shouldn’t have much difficulty fitting Díaz’s deal on the books. Colorado entered today with a projected payroll in the $104MM range, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s right in line with their 2021 season-opening tally, but they only have around $56MM in guaranteed 2023 commitments at the moment, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. With the Rockies planning to increase payroll over the coming two seasons, this extension shouldn’t serve as much of an impediment to future additions.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the Rockies and Díaz had agreed on a three-year extension. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported the $14.5MM guarantee.

Image courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 12/1/20

By | at

With the non-tender deadline on the horizon tomorrow, 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

  • Athletics second baseman Tony Kemp will get $1.05MM over one year, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle relays.
  • The Rockies announced that they have re-signed righty Jairo Diaz to a one-year pact. It’s worth $1.1MM, Feinsand tweets.
  • The Phillies and righty reliever Seranthony Dominguez have a one-year, $727,500 deal, according to Feinsand. Dominguez underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of June, so he might not pitch at all in 2021.
  • The Athletics and utility player Chad Pinder reached a one-year, $2.275MM deal, per Nightengale. Pinder has two seasons of team control left.
  • The Orioles and catcher Pedro Severino agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.825MM, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter link).  There was some speculation that Severino could be a non-tender candidate, though he has posted pretty decent numbers over two seasons as Baltimore’s primary catcher.  Severino is controllable through the 2023 season.
  • The Nationals and right-hander Joe Ross agreed to a one-year, $1.5MM contract, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  This is a match of the salary Ross and the Nats had agreed on for the 2020 season, but Ross decided to opt out back in June.  This was Ross’ third year of arbitration eligibility, and is now expected to return and compete for a job in Washington’s rotation in 2021.
  • The Royals agreed to one-year deals with righties Jesse Hahn and Jakob Junis and outfielder Franchy Cordero, according to Feinsand and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter links).  Hahn signed for $1.75MM in guaranteed money with another $350K available in incentives.  Junis will rake in $1.7MM. Cordero will earn $800K in his first arbitration-eligible year.

Earlier Agreements

  • The Athletics and righty Burch Smith agreed to a one-year deal worth $705K, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  The 30-year-old Smith allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 frames with the A’s in 2020. That was a solid showing for Smith to carry into his first trip through the arb process, though he carried a career 6.57 ERA in 135 1/3 frames into the 2020 season. The A’s can control Smith through 2023.
  • The Rockies agreed to a one-year, $1.2MM deal with catcher Elias Diaz, per Nightengale (Twitter link). The contract contains another $300K in available incentives.  The 30-year-old looked like a clear non-tender candidate after posting an ugly .235/.288/.353 slash with lackluster framing marks and just a 1-for-8 effort in throwing out base thieves, but the Rockies must remain hopeful he can return to his 2018 level of performance. Diaz is controllable through the 2022 season via arbitration.
  • Right-hander Jacob Barnes and the Mets agreed to a one-year deal worth $750K, Nightengale tweets. Barnes, claimed off waivers back in October, was a quality reliever in Milwaukee from 2016-18 but has seen his results crater over the past two seasons. From 2019-20, he’s posted a 6.75 ERA over 50 2/3 innings. Barnes has averaged 10 strikeouts per nine frames in that time but also averaged 4.6 walks and 1.42 homers as well. Barnes is controllable through 2022.

Rockies’ Elias Diaz Placed On Restricted List After Violating Protocol

By | at

Rockies catcher Elias Diaz was sent home to Denver by the club after violating Covid-19 protocols “around the team hotel in Houston,” Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports. Diaz was placed on the restricted list for unspecified reasons Monday, with manager Bud Black only publicly divulging that Diaz “violated some team protocols, some guidelines.” Specifics surrounding Diaz’s violations aren’t known, but the Rox have been able to continue playing. Saunders adds that the club has continued its standard testing regiment and has not incurred an issue.

Diaz, 29, inked a minor league contract with the Rockies over the winter and made the club’s Opening Day roster as a backup to Tony Wolters. He’s appeared in just three games thus far, going 3-for-12 with a double. Unlike the situation in Cleveland, where the players who violated Covid-19 protocols are key contributors (Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac), Diaz is a role player whom the team can more easily replace. Veteran Drew Butera is backing up Wolters, and 25-year-old Dom Nunez is at the team’s alternate training site and on the 40-man roster, making him a readily available alternative as well.

The Rockies haven’t given any sort of indication as to when — or if — Diaz will rejoin the team.

Rockies To Select Elias Diaz, Drew Butera

By | at

10:34pm: The Rockies will also select Butera, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets.

7:55pm: The Rockies are planning to select the contract of catcher Elias Diaz and carry him on their Opening Day roster, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Manager Bud Black has since confirmed as much, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding tweets. It’s possible still that the Rox will select Drew Butera as well and carry three backstops to begin the season, though it sounds like no final decision has been made on that front just yet.

Diaz, 29, was a rather well-regarded catching prospect when rising through the Pirates’ system and has had some success in Pittsburgh, most notably in 2018 when he appeared to break out with a .286/.339/.452 slash and 10 homers in 277 plate appearances. That set the stage for a more prominent role in 2019, but Diaz was unable to capitalize on his increased playing time. In 332 plate appearances, he mustered only a .241/.296/.307 line.

Problems at the plate weren’t the only issue for Diaz, however, as he also struggled defensively. While his career 28 percent caught-stealing rate is solid, Diaz ranked as baseball’s second-worst pitch framer last year, per Statcast. FanGraphs agreed with those framing woes, and in all he checked in at a staggering -21 Defensive Runs Saved in just 706 innings.

Diaz had never struggled to such extremes on either side of the ball and actually graded out only slightly below average with the glove in that strong 2018 showing. It’s worth noting that he missed all of Spring Training and the first month of last year’s regular season due to a bacterial infection in his stomach, which surely didn’t do him any favors when he returned in late April.

Whether Diaz was actually ready to return when he did, the results spoke for themselves, however. They also convinced the Bucs to non-tender him rather than pay a projected $1.4MM salary in arbitration (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz). He’ll now have a chance to prove that last year’s showing was an aberration and that he’s far better than was on display in his illness-shortened 2019 campaign. He’ll likely begin as a backup to Wolters, but given Wolters’ dismal offensive track record, it’s possible that Diaz could play his way into a bigger role.

Rockies To Sign Elias Diaz

By | at

The Rockies have a minor-league deal in place with backstop Elias Diaz, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Further details aren’t known.

Diaz, 29, received quite a few opportunities with the Pirates over the past several seasons but was cut loose after a rough 2019 season. He’ll do battle with Tony Wolters and Drew Butera in camp as the Colorado org looks to improve its catching situation in a cost-efficient manner.

The arrow was pointed up for Diaz in 2018, when he turned in a .286/.339/.452 batting line over 277 plate appearances. But he slumped back to his uninspiring 2017 levels in the just-completed campaign, providing the Bucs with just a .241/.296/.307 slash in 332 trips to the dish with bat in hand.

Teams will on occasion look past some brutal offensive numbers for defensively proficient backstops. But Diaz’s struggles extended to his efforts behind the dish. Indeed, he came in at the very bottom of the board compiled by Baseball Prospectus, which took a particularly dim view of Diaz’s framing efforts.

Pirates Non-Tender Elias Diaz

By | at

The Pirates have non-tendered catcher Elias Diaz, Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets. He’s the only player they non-tendered.

Pittsburgh has been the sole organization so far for the 29-year-old Diaz, who has never demonstrated much offensive prowess at the major league level. Since debuting in 2015, Diaz has batted a meager .250/.301/.355 with 13 home runs in 815 plate appearances. He has accounted for an ugly minus-1.0 fWAR in that span, and is coming off a defensive season in which he ranked dead last in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric.

All things considered, it’s no surprise the Pirates and new general manager Ben Cherington are moving on from Diaz. They’d have owed him a projected $1.4MM in 2020. However, now that Diaz is out of the mix, the catcher-deficient Pirates are that much thinner behind the plate. Jacob Stallings is the lone catcher on their 40-man roster.

Pirates Place Lonnie Chisenhall On Injured List, Select Contract Of Melky Cabrera

By | at

2:33pm: Bucs trainer Todd Tomczyk told reporters, including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (Twitter link), that it’s “inaccurate right now” to suggest Chisenhall will miss four-to-six weeks. The issue appears to be in his finger; for the time being, he’ll be shut down for ten days before being reevaluated.

10:21am: The Pittsburgh org has now announced the rest of its roster moves, as MLB.com’s Adam Berry covers (Twitter links). Jordan Lyles will also open the season with an IL stint owing to discomfort in his right side. He’ll be joined there by fellow reliever Dovydas Neverauskas, catcher Elias Diaz, corner infielder/outfielder Jose Osuna, and Polanco.

The club will indeed add Shuck, Cabrera, and lefty Francisco Liriano to the 40-man. To create roster space, righty Edgar Santana was placed on the 60-day IL while recovering from Tommy John surgery and the team designated relievers Jake Barrett and Aaron Slegers for assignment.

10:09am: Pirates outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall has been diagnosed with a broken hand, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’s expected to miss four to six weeks of action to open the season. The team has also announced it’s Opening Day roster, which as expected includes veteran outfielder Melky Cabrera.

It’s a tough-luck development for the 30-year-old, who was hit by a pitch late in camp. This is hardly the way he hoped to begin an effort at a bounceback season after an injury-marred pair of seasons.

Chisenhall inked a one-year, $2.75MM deal with the Bucs over the winter. The hope was that he’d serve as the primary option in right field while Gregory Polanco is working back to full health. Instead, he’ll have to do the same before he can contribute.

To open the year, at least, Cabrera will get a run instead in the corner outfield. It seems he’ll be joined in the mix by JB Shuck, another minor-league signee who spent camp with the Pittsburgh organization, though that has yet to be announced.

NL Central Notes: Martinez, Hamels, Diaz

By | at

Carlos Martinez’s right shoulder is a major source of uncertainty for the Cardinals right now, as the righty was in camp with his arm in a sling yesterday following a platelet-rich plasma injection. Martinez was already halfway through a two-week shutdown when he received the injection, and the Cardinals indicated yesterday that said injection could push his timeline for throwing back another week. There’s been ample talk of Martinez pitching in a relief capacity this season, but Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quotes Martinez as plainly and confidently stating, “I’m going to start, man.” Because Martinez won’t resume throwing until mid-March, it seems virtually impossible for him to build up to a starter’s workload by the team’s season opener on March 28. As such, if there is indeed a plan for Martinez to work in the rotation, he’d need to start the season on the injured list. As Hummel writes, that’d open the door for one of Dakota Hudson or Austin Gomber to step into the starting five to begin the season. Manager Mike Shildt praised both Hudson and Gomber when discussing potential rotation options with Hummel.

Elsewhere in the NL Central…

  • Asked about his future in the game Wednesday, Cubs lefty Cole Hamels told a flock of reporters that he has zero intention of retiring anytime soon (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand). There’s been little reason to think that Hamels, who just turned 35 in December, would give serious consideration to retirement, but his answer was nonetheless entertaining and telling of his goals. Hamels gave a blunt “Hell no!” when asked if he’s considered retirement and voiced a desire to play until he’s 45 years old, noting that he was a teammate of ageless wonder Jamie Moyer early in his career. Hamels had a rocky start to the season with the Rangers in 2018 but was revitalized by a trade to Chicago, as he pitched to a brilliant 2.36 ERA with 8.7 K.9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.7 HR/9 and a 47.7 percent grounder rate in 76 1/3 innings with the Cubs (12 starts).
  • Pirates catcher Elias Diaz is battling a viral illness, and it’s questionable whether he’ll be ready for Opening Day, as Nubyjas Wilborn of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said that Diaz will be shut down from baseball activity for “a couple of weeks.” The 28-year-old Diaz quietly enjoyed somewhat of a breakout season in 2018, hitting .286/.339/.452 with 10 homers and a dozen doubles in just 277 plate appearances. He’s still firmly behind Francisco Cervelli on the team’s depth chart, but with Cervelli entering the final season of his current contract, the 2019 campaign could be a proving grounds for Diaz as he eyes the starter’s job in 2019. Presumably, 29-year-old Jacob Stallings would serve as Cervelli’s backup early in the year if Diaz isn’t ready to go, as he’s the only other catcher on Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster. The Bucs have minor league veteran Steven Baron in camp on a minor league deal as well.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top