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Kennys Vargas

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/27/20

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • First baseman Kennys Vargas has agreed to a minor league contract with the Tigers, Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets. The deal does not include an invitation to major league spring training. The hulking Vargas will now join his second AL Central organization, having appeared in the majors with the Twins from 2014-17. He played for Ron Gardenhire, then the Twins’ manager and now the Tigers’ skipper, as a rookie. Vargas posted respectable offensive production at times in Minnesota, including in his first and third seasons, but owns a mediocre overall line of .252/.311/.437 with 35 home runs in 859 lifetime MLB plate appearances. The 29-year-old also hasn’t been great at the Triple-A level, where he has hit .244/.352/.436 and totaled 51 HRs over 1,297 PA, and he’s now coming off a rough 2019 campaign spent in Japan. As a member of the Chiba Lotte Marines, Vargas stumbled to a .179/.324/.274/ mark and managed just one homer in 102 trips to the plate.

Former Big Leaguers Playing Abroad: NPB Hitters Roundup

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It’s always fun to keep an eye on familiar players who’ve taken their talents across the pond. Now that the 2019 season is in the books, it seemed an opportune time to check in. Numerous former big leaguers and others of note are playing abroad, many of them thriving in Asia’s top leagues.

We’ve seen foreign stints help spur big league revivals from quite a few players. Eric Thames, Miles Mikolas, and Chris Martin are among those that played significant roles in the 2019 MLB campaign. Whether any of the players covered below will do so remains to be seen, but there’s certainly a path.

We started by looking at position players and pitchers in the KBO, the top league in South Korea. Now we’re headed to Japan to examine Nippon Professional Baseball, generally considered the highest-grade league outside of North America. Remember, teams in these leagues face limits on the number of non-native players they can carry on a roster. That creates a lot of pressure to secure big production from those roster spots, which often spurs mid-season change.

Here’s a 2019 wrap on some interesting NPB hitters …

  • Infielder Brandon Laird was never able to carve out a steady MLB job, but has found a home in NPB. This year, he slashed a healthy .248/.333/.483 with 32 dingers in 553 plate appearances for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He was joined mid-season by Leonys Martin, who found some NPB success of his own after being cut loose by Indians. Over 228 plate appearances, Martin slashed .232/.342/.495 with 14 home runs. The good vibes were not there for former Twins slugger Kennys Vargas, who turned in an oddball .179/.324/.274 slash line with one home run and 16 walks through 102 plate appearances at NPB’s top level.
  • Appearing for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, former Padres and Angels outfielder Jabari Blash finally turned his talent into production at a top level of play. In 527 trips to the plate, he slashed .261/.397/.540 with 33 homers. The 30-year-old could at some point be a candidate to attempt a MLB return. Teammate Zelous Wheeler, briefly of the Yankees, batted .243/.320/.418 with 19 home runs. That’s a fair bit shy of Wheeler’s first four seasons with the Golden Eagles, during which time he delivered a collective OPS north of .800.
  • Believe it or not, another short-lived Yankee whose name begins with Z also contributed to a NPB club. Zoilo Almonte only received 174 plate appearances at the top league level for the Chunichi Dragons, but slashed a robust .329/.362/.506 in that time. The Dragons also get nice output from Dayan Viciedo, the 30-year-old former White Sox outfielder, who went for a .315/.374/.496 slash in 594 plate appearances. Viciedo has uncovered previously absent on-base ability in Japan and could perhaps be of interest to big league clubs once his current deal expires in 2021, though he’ll be 32 at that point.
  • Former Mariners outfielder Stefen Romero appeared again with the ORIX Buffaloes. He bounced back from a down 2018 to post 331 plate appearances of .305/.363/.539 hitting and slugged 18 homers. Romero never showed much of a spark in brief MLB action but was a productive hitter coming up through the minor-league ranks. He’ll soon turn 31 years of age. Otherwise, Chris Marrero couldn’t capitalize on his chances with the Buffaloes, managing only a .211/.256/.317 output over 133 plate appearances. Former Tigers outfielder Steven Moya wasn’t much better after an early-season trade to ORIX from the Chunichi Dragons, with a .244/.278/.397 slash in 255 trips to the dish.
  • Wladimir Balentien made his annual assault on NPB hurlers, launching 33 home runs in 468 plate appearances and turning in a hefty .280/.363/.554 overall output. The Curacaoan slugger seems content with the Yakult Swallows, having been with them for nine years. Despite his perennial dominance — Balentien is a career .273/.378/.558 hitter with 288 home runs in Japan — he’s now 35 years of age, so it seems unlikely he’ll seek a move back stateside. Likewise, Nori Aoki is likely settled back in his native land after wrapping up a generally successful big league tenure. But it’s worth noting that he’s still a capable performer at 37 years of age, having just slashed .297/.385/.442 in 565 plate appearances for the Swallows.
  • Kosuke Fukudome had a similar career arc to that of Aoki, but his production slipped to .256/.347/.397 this season — his age-42 campaign and seventh with the Hanshin Tigers since returning to Japan. The Tigers received better results out of Jefry Marte, formerly of the Tigers and Angels. Marte put up a nice .284/.381/.444 batting line in 412 plate appearances. Other notable names had less of an impact: Yangervis Solarte had a forgettable 20-game stint, while Efren Navarro struggled through 15 games with the organization’s main club.
  • After wrapping up a combustible MLB tenure, former Dodgers infielder Alex Guerrero has settled in with the Yomiuri Giants. He hit .237/.337/.526 with 21 dingers in 333 plate appearances this year and just hit a big postseason home run. Fellow former NL West infielder Christian Villanueva struggled with Japan’s Giants, managing only a .223/.325/.386 slash over 235 plate appearances.
  • It has been quite a while since we’ve seen Jose Lopez stateside (2012), but he is still going in Japan. The Yokohama DeNA BayStars slugger launched 31 long balls and slashed .241/.295/.461 this year, a step back from his recent output.
  • Lopez’s teammate, Neftali Soto, was once a prospect in the Reds organization but has found a home with the BayStars. In his second season with them, the infielder slashed .269/.348/.554 with 43 long balls — his second straight 40-homer campaign. One-time Cubs farmhand Xavier Batista has emerged with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. In the just-completed season, he turned in 423 plate appearances with 26 home runs, slashing a sturdy .269/.350/.513 on the season. Former Braves prospect Ernesto Mejia has carved out a career in Japan, but he followed a tepid 2018 showing with a subpar .211/.286/.422 effort in 147 plate appearances with the Saitama Seibu Lions.
  • From the what might’ve been department, a pair of Cuban sluggers that never played in affiliated ball have been monsters for the Fukuoka SoftBank Haws. Alfredo Despaigne knocked 36 dingers and slashed .259/.355/.520 over 519 plate appearances, while Yurisbel Gracial turned in an eye-opening performance with 410 plate appearances of .319/.365/.595 hitting and 28 homers.
  • While he received at least some MLB consideration when posted by his Taiwanese club, and landed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for a reasonably significant commitment, outfielder Wang Po-Jung had a forgettable first season in Japan. The 26-year-old slashed just .255/.321/.327 in 355 plate appearances.

Kennys Vargas Signs With Chiba Lotte Marines

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Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines announced that they have agreed to a one-year deal with first baseman Kennys Vargas (h/t YakyuDB.com). The burly switch-hitter is said to be earning approximately $1.5MM in the pact. Vargas is a client of Rep 1 Baseball.

Still just 28 years of age, Vargas failed to crack the big leagues in 2018 after seeing at least some action in each of the prior four campaigns. He bounced around the waiver wire at the outset of the season but spent most of the year off of the 40-man roster, playing at Triple-A Rochester. The Twins organization which had employed him since 2009, recently released Vargas, who’d have qualified for minor-league free agency unless he was added back to the MLB roster.

Vargas did not turn in his most useful campaign in the upper minors in 2018. In the past, though, he has at times put up intriguing numbers. At his best, Vargas blends an excellent eye at the plate with good power, though his raw strength has never really shone through with eye-popping slugging numbers. In 859 MLB plate appearances, he owns a .252/.311/.437 slash with 35 long balls.

Twins Outright Kennys Vargas

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The Twins have announced that first base/DH Kennys Vargas was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. He did not have the choice of refusing the assignment.

Vargas was re-claimed recently from the Reds. The Cincinnati organization had snagged the power hitter off waivers and attempted to stash him on the farm and off the 40-man roster.

In the end, the result is as if Vargas had simply cleared waivers the first time around. He’ll head to Triple-A Rochester to open the season. The switch-hitter really does not have anything left to prove in the upper minors, but he’ll need to await a new MLB opportunity.

Over four seasons in the majors, Vargas carries a .252/.311/.437 slash with 35 long balls in 859 plate appearances. In his 764 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors, he’s a .248/.370/.444 hitter with thirty bombs and 123 walks against 181 strikeouts — quite a different plate discipline mix than the 29.2% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate Vargas has in the majors.

Twins Claim Kennys Vargas

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The Twins have claimed Kennys Vargas off waivers from the Reds, says Dan Hayes of The Athletic. The Reds had claimed the first base/DH type off waivers from the Twins just two days ago, but it’s possible that they designated him in order to make room for infielder Cliff Pennington, who was added to the roster just earlier today, and possibly reliever Kevin Quackenbush.

The intriguing transaction puts Vargas right back with the organization with whom he’d spent his entire career up until Thursday. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd noted at that time, it was difficult to see how Vargas would make Cincinnati’s roster, since he’s out of options and can only play first base (where Joey Votto will be firmly entrenched on a daily basis). Though he’d have made an interesting pinch-hitting option, it seemed as though the Reds might be able to use the roster spot more efficiently.

Still, it seems as though many around the league believe there to be some upside for the 27-year-old Vargas, who hit .253/.314/.444 last season. He has some reasonable power upside; Vargas homered 10 times and made hard contact at a 41.7% clip in 177 plate appearances during the 2016 campaign. He also owns a walk rate over 15% in his career at the Triple-A level, though the Twins are still waiting for that to translate to the MLB level at which he owns a .311 career OBP.

Reds Claim Kennys Vargas

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The Reds have claimed first baseman/DH Kennys Vargas off waivers from the Twins, per an announcement from the Minnesota organization. He had been designated for assignment recently.

It’s a bit difficult to see how Vargas will fit into the Cincinnati organization’s plans at first glance. He’s out of options and limited on a National League roster to pinch-hitting or playing first base, where Joey Votto is an everyday presence.

Unless there’s some unknown issue that would warrant the move, it could be that the Reds are simply utilizing their waiver position to grab a player they like but won’t carry on their active roster. Vargas could be traded to a team further down the priority line — just four teams are higher than the Reds at present — or put back on waivers in hopes that he’ll clear and can be stashed at Triple-A.

All indications have been that the Twins anticipated another organization claiming Vargas, despite the fact that a trade could not be sorted out. It seems there’s some optimism around the league for the 27-year-old switch-hitter.

Though Vargas has not yet shown that he can be a consistent on-base threat at the game’s highest level, with a .311 OBP in 859 career plate appearances, though he has drawn tons of walks in the upper minors. Vargas isn’t exactly a prodigious home run hitter but has shown good power output both at Triple-A and in the majors (.185 ISO) and perhaps has some more in the tank if he can tap into his raw strength.

*The initial version of this post incorrectly suggested that American League teams all passed on a chance to claim Vargas. Outright waiver priority is determined by winning percentage, lowest first, without reference to league except to break a tie in recor.

Minor MLB Transactions: 3/21/18

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We’ll track the day’s minor moves in this post:

  • The Twins have placed first baseman/DH Kennys Vargas on waivers, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. The Minnesota organization had been trying to find a trade for the burly switch-hitter, but will instead see whether he can clear waivers and be outrighted. Vargas will learn his fate by the middle of the day on Thursday, says Berardino. The 27-year-old owns a .252/.311/.437 slash with 35 home runs in his 859 total MLB plate appearances over the past four seasons.
  • Former MLB righties Manny Delcarmen and Zach Stewart have signed with the Atlantic League’s New Britain Bees, per a club announcement. Neither hurler has touched the majors in quite some time, but both are still plying their trade professional. Delcarmen spent parts of six seasons in the Red Sox bullpen (along with a brief stop with the Rockies) between 2005 and 2010, throwing a combined 292 2/3 innings of 3.97 ERA ball. He spent last year with the Bridgeport Bluefish, compiling a 4.40 ERA in 57 1/3 innings. Stewart, a former third-round draft pick, was knocked around in the 103 frames he threw in the majors in 2011-12. He briefly appeared with the Orioles’ top affiliate last year after a stint in 2016 with Korea’s NC Dinos, where he ran up 150 innings with a 4.56 ERA.

Twins Acquire Jake Cave, Designate Kennys Vargas

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The Twins have acquired outfielder Jake Cave from the Yankees, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (via Twitter). Righty Luis Gil goes to the Yankees in return. In a corresponding move, Minnesota has designated slugger Kennys Vargas for assignment.

The 25-year-old Cave just didn’t have a place in the Yankees’ plans with the organization already sporting a variety of quality outfielders at the MLB level. Meanwhile, Minnesota was likely not going to carry the out-of-options Vargas after signing Logan Morrison.

It’s not immediately clear how the 25-year-old Cave will fit on the Twins roster, given that the club already has left-handed-hitting outfielders in Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler, and Robbie Grossman (who is a switch-hitter). But the organization may just have decided it was worth taking a chance on Cave’s upside while letting him develop at Triple-A to start the year.

Last season, Cave turned in a robust .305/.351/.542 slash with 20 homers in 437 plate appearances in the upper minors. He’s considered a quality all-around player who can play any of the three outfield positions. Of course, Cave has yet to have a chance to show whether he can carry his promise into the majors.

The switch-hitting Vargas is a defensively-limited slugger who has shown some pop, but also some swing and miss, in reserve duty over the past four MLB campaigns. He carries a .252/.311/.437 overall slash with 35 home runs in 859 trips to the plate.

As for Gil, he’ll represent something of a far-off lottery ticket for the Yanks. The righty has not yet advanced past the Dominican Summer League, but did put up a solid stat line there last year. In 41 2/3 innings, he worked to a 2.59 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9.

AL Notes: Alford, Bard, Vargas, Fiers

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Blue Jays outfield prospect Anthony Alford will miss the next three to six weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Obviously, that takes the highly touted 23-year-old out of consideration for a spot on the Opening Day roster, though he was likely facing an uphill battle in that regard anyhow, given the crowded outfield mix in Toronto and a presumptive desire for Alford to get everyday at-bats. A third-round pick in 2012, Alford has been lauded as one of the game’s top 100 prospects by virtually every major outlet in the past three seasons. He’s viewed as a key piece of the Blue Jays’ future, although despite making his MLB debut last season, he still has just three Triple-A games and 68 Double-A games on his minor league resume. The injury could cost him as much as a month of the season, but it still seems quite plausible that he could return to the big leagues late in the 2018 season with more minor league seasoning.

A bit more from around the American League:

  • Right-hander Luke Bard is turning some heads in Angels camp as he vies for a spot in the big league bullpen, writes Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. The younger brother of former Red Sox setup man Daniel Bard, Luke was selected by the Angels out of the Twins organization in the Rule 5 Draft back in December. The 27-year-old was a supplemental first-rounder back in 2012 but has had his development slowed by shoulder and hip surgeries. Finally healthy in 2017, Bard turned in a 2.76 ERA with 13.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 32 percent ground-ball rate in 65 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Bard’s spring ERA is skewed by one outing where he was rocked for five runs in just a third of an inning, but he’s impressed manager Mike Scioscia in the remainder of his outings and expressed a willingness to work multi-inning stints out of the ’pen. “His stuff is good, he spins the ball well, and hopefully he’s going to be a multi-inning guy,” Scioscia tells DiGiovanna. “With the makeup of our club, multi-inning [relievers] are really important.”
  • The signing of Logan Morrison made switch-hitting Kennys Vargas somewhat of an odd man out with the Twins, writes MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. According to Bollinger, Vargas is expected to be placed on outright waivers at the end of camp, and the Twins are hopeful that he can clear and stick with the organization. The switch-hitting 27-year-old is listed at a towering 6’5″, 275 pounds in this year’s media guide, and while he’s shown some power in the bigs (.185 ISO, 35 homers in 859 PAs), he’s also whiffed at a 29.2 percent clip and posted a meager .311 OBP. Given the manner in which clubs have begun to devalue OBP-challenged sluggers with limited defensive capabilities — Vargas is strictly a first baseman/DH — there’s perhaps a possibility that he could make it through waivers and remain with the club.
  • Right-hander Mike Fiers’ struggles this spring haven’t yet put his rotation spot in jeopardy, though Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire suggested that the 32-year-old offseason signee would be well-served to show some positive signs in the final weeks of camp (via Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press). “We’re planning on this guy being in,” Gardenhire said of Fiers, who has been torched for 12 runs (including four homers) in 11 1/3 frames this spring. “…But at the end of the day, when we get down to the end here, we have to make some decisions and we’re going to go with the guys that are getting it done and right now, he’s just gotta fight through it because he’s a veteran.” Gardenhire later added that Fiers’ veteran status will buy him a bit more leeway than the team’s younger arms. As Fenech notes, Fiers has been unequivocally outpitched by lefty Daniel Norris, but Norris has a minor league option remaining and could head to Triple-A to open the season.

AL Central Notes: Wood, Twins, White Sox

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The Tigers announced that lefty Travis Wood, who is in camp as a non-roster invitee, left his debut with a sprained left knee today. Wood suffered the injury in a rundown and, per MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery, was “writhing on the ground” before eventually managing to limp off the field (Twitter link). Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweets that Wood was on crutches in the clubhouse following the injury. Wood, who was released by the Padres this offseason, was in competition either for a rotation or bullpen spot, though today’s injury certainly doesn’t bode well for his chances of doing so. More information on his status figures to be available after the game.

More from the Central…

  • Following Minnesota’s signing of Logan Morrison, manager Paul Molitor sat down with first baseman/DH Kennys Vargas, outfielder/DH Robbie Grossman and utility infielder Eduardo Escobar to discuss how the trio’s status could be impacted, writes Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Grossman and Vargas will be the most directly impacted with LoMo set to be the Twins’ primary DH, and both are out of minor league options. Grossman, who agreed to a $2MM salary in arbitration this offseason (albeit a non-guaranteed one, as is standard with arb deals), had a “very professional response” per Molitor. The switch-hitter acknowledged that he needs to demonstrate improved defensive skills in order to play a significant role on the team. While the Twins don’t technically need their fourth outfielder to be center-field capable due to the ability of corner outfielders Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler to man center, the lack of DH at-bats is problematic for Grossman, who made 61 appearances in that slot last season. It’s even tougher to see how Vargas fits into the equation, as he’s strictly limited to first and DH and is now behind both Morrison and Joe Mauer on the depth chart.
  • Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune chats with White Sox skipper Rick Renteria, GM Rick Hahn and several of the team’s non-roster relievers about the battle for bullpen spots on the South Side of Chicago. The Pale Hose are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle as they did in 2017 with Anthony Swarzak (and Gregory Infante), Kuc notes, having brought in a host of veterans on minor league deals, including Jeanmar Gomez, Xavier Cedeno, Rob Scahill, Chris Volstad and Bruce Rondon. It’s obviously too early to anoint any sort of favorite to make the club — though Kuc does note that Gomez has whiffed five of the six hitters he’s faced — and Hahn spoke about various goals for each of those relievers in camp. “You take a guy like Xavier Cedeno, who battled injuries all last year — the first box he has to check is: be healthy,” says Hahn. “A guy like Bruce Rondon (has) to find the strike zone more, (so) his goals this spring might be a little different than for Cedeno.” The Sox should have at least two spots in the ’pen up for grabs. Joakim Soria, Infante, Juan Minaya and Luis Avilan are likely penciled in, and Danny Farquhar figures to have a spot too, given his lack of options.
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