Mariners To Sign Justin DeFratus
The Mariners have reached agreement on a major league deal with reliever Justin De Fratus that will pay him $750K, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (Twitter links). Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reported yesterday on Twitter that the team had interest in the free agent.
De Fratus, 28, was outrighted by the Phillies at the end of the year after putting up a disappointing 5.51 ERA over 80 frames. But De Fratus logged a 2.39 ERA in a 52 2/3-inning 2014 campaign, with 8.4 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9, and Seattle obviously feels he has the capacity to return to that kind of form.
De Fratus, Parmelee, Marcum Elect Free Agency
Several players with significant big league service time have elected free agency since the conclusion of the regular season. Per baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, players with more than three years of Major League service time that have been outrighted off a 40-man roster have the right to elect free agency at season’s end.
This list — not to be confused with our full list of 2015-16 free agents (which has been updated to include these names) — represents some of the players that would’ve been arbitration eligible following the season and were regular or fairly regular contributors recently but now find themselves on the open market after being outrighted…
- First baseman and outfielder Chris Parmelee has elected free agency, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. Parmelee spent the 2015 season in the Orioles organization and made 102 plate appearances with the big league club. He hit a modest .216/.255/.433, but he was much better at Triple-A. The 27-year-old is a career .245/.311/.396 hitter in 1,003 plate appearances. He spent his entire career with the Twins prior to joining Baltimore this year.
- Veteran pitcher Shaun Marcum is also a free agent, per the same tweet from Cotillo. Marcum, 33, is a well-traveled veteran of eight seasons (he didn’t pitch in the majors in 2009 or 2014). He’s tossed 1,030 innings with 167 starts, 28 relief appearances, and a 3.93 ERA. More recently, he struggled at the major league level. He has a 5.34 ERA since 2013 in 113 innings. This season with the Indians, Marcum continued to post a decent strikeout (7.71 K/9) and walk (2.83 BB/9) rate, but he allowed nine home runs in just 33 innings. The fly ball pitcher throws just 85 mph.
- Justin De Fratus has elected to become a free agent, the right-hander announced via his Instagram page (hat tip to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer). De Fratus praised the Phillies organization and thanked it for giving him his start as a professional ballplayer “but it’s time for me to start a new chapter in my life and career.” The Phillies outrighted De Fratus off their 40-man roster on Wednesday. The righty was originally drafted by the Phils in the 11th round of the 2007 draft and he’d posted solid career numbers out of Philadelphia’s bullpen (3.08 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 2.27 K/BB rate over 114 IP) prior to this season. Over 80 innings in 2015, De Fratus posted a 5.51 ERA, 7.7 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. Indicators such as xFIP and SIERA suggest that De Fratus was a bit unlucky to post that 5.51 ERA as he was hurt by a .335 BABIP and 66.2% strand rate. De Fratus, who turns 28 later this month, is entering his first year of arbitration eligibility and MLBTR projects him to earn a $700K salary in 2016.
Outrighted: De Fratus, Pettibone, Kratz, Green
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Phillies announced that they’ve outrighted seven players from the 40-man roster. Right-hander Justin De Fratus, catcher Erik Kratz, infielder Chase d’Arnaud, outfielder Jordan Danks and lefties Adam Loewen and Ken Roberts were all outrighted off the roster. Additionally, right-hander Jonathan Pettibone was activated from the 60-day DL and outrighted. The 27-year-old De Fratus has been a regular member of the Philadelphia bullpen for the past three seasons but struggled to a 5.51 ERA in 80 innings this season. Pettibone, 25, tossed 100 1/3 solid innings for the Phils in 2013 but has struggled to recover from shoulder surgery. He threw just three innings last year and didn’t pitch in the Majors in 2015.
- The Angels announced today that infielder Grant Green has cleared outright waivers and will be assigned to Triple-A. Green, 28, was designated for assignment just before the end of the regular season. He was once a prized young player, and continues to perform in the upper minors, but has slashed just .249/.283/.335 over an even 300 career plate appearances. Notably, the move does not necessarily mean that Los Angeles will be able to stash Green in the minors. Now that he’s off of the 40-man, he’ll be eligible for minor league free agency.