Players Avoiding Arbitration: 11/17/23
Tonight marks the deadline for teams to tender contracts to players who are eligible for arbitration. This evening should also see a handful of arb-eligible players agree to terms with their clubs to avoid a hearing.
These so-called “pre-tender deals” usually, although not always, involve players who were borderline non-tender candidates. Rather than run the risk of being cut loose, they can look to sign in the lead-up to the deadline. Those salaries often come in a little below projections, since these players tend to have less leverage because of the uncertainty about whether they’ll be offered a contract at all.
Under the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, players who sign to avoid an arbitration hearing are guaranteed full termination pay. That’s a change from prior CBAs, when teams could release an arb-eligible player before the season began and would only owe a prorated portion of the contract. This was done to incentivize teams and players to get deals done without going to a hearing.
All salary projections referenced are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. This post will be updated throughout the night as deals are reported.
Latest Moves
- The Orioles agreed to deals with outfielders Sam Hilliard and Ryan McKenna, reliever Keegan Akin and shortstop Jorge Mateo, as announced by the team. Mateo will make $2.7MM, as first reported by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link). Jon Heyman of the New York Post has terms (on X) for Akin and Hilliard: $825K for the former, $800K for the latter.
- Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski has a deal for $7.9MM, Heyman reports. That’s a little above his $7.3MM projection. Yastrzemski has one additional arbitration year remaining.
- Reliever Yency Almonte and the Dodgers have agreed to a $1.9MM salary, per Heyman. That matches his projection.
- Lefty reliever Ryan Borucki agreed to a contract with the Pirates, the team announced. Feinsand reports it as a $1.6MM deal. He was projected at $1.3MM.
- The Rockies have a deal with lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, Heyman reports. He’ll make $1.675MM. Recently claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay, Beeks was projected at $1.8MM.
- The Cubs announced a deal with third baseman Patrick Wisdom. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reports that the power-hitting infielder will make $2.725MM. That’s narrowly above a $2.6MM projection.
- Outfielder DJ Stewart agreed to a deal with the Mets, per a club announcement. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports it’ll be for $1.38MM. Stewart had been projected at $1.5MM as an early qualifier via Super Two.
- The Phillies announced deals with right-hander Dylan Covey, catcher Garrett Stubbs and outfielder Jake Cave. Terms were not disclosed.
- The White Sox announced agreement with reliever Matt Foster on a deal for $750K, narrowly above the league minimum. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in April.
Earlier Tonight
- The Royals announced agreement with lefty reliever Josh Taylor. He’ll make $1.1MM, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Acquired from the Red Sox last winter, Taylor allowed an 8.15 ERA over 17 2/3 innings before undergoing season-ending back surgery. He was projected for a $1.3MM salary.
- The Athletics announced today that they have agreed to one-year deals with infielders Miguel Andujar and Abraham Toro. The club claimed Andujar off waivers from Pittsburgh earlier this month and swung a deal to acquire Toro from the Brewers earlier this week. Andujar hit .250/.300/.476 in 90 trips to the plate in the majors this year while Toro appeared in just nine games at the big league level but slashed .444/.524/.778 in that extremely limited action. Andujar will make $1.7MM (Heyman link); Toro is set for a $1.275MM salary.
- The Giants have a deal with outfielder Austin Slater for $4MM, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). That’s a little north of his $3.6MM projected salary. Slater has over five years of service time and will be a free agent next offseason. The right-handed hitter is coming off a .270/.348/.400 showing over 89 games. He’s a career .285/.374/.463 batter against left-handed pitching but owns a .227/.314/.333 mark versus righties.
Pirates Place Jose Hernandez On 15-Day IL, Select Ryan Borucki
The Pirates placed left-hander Jose Hernandez on the 15-day injured list due to a right calf strain. Taking Hernandez’s place in the bullpen is veteran Ryan Borucki, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis. No further transaction was necessary to create room for Borucki, since the Pirates already had only 39 players on their 40-man roster.
Hernandez was the third pick in last December’s Rule 5 draft, with Pittsburgh selecting the southpaw out of the Dodgers’ farm system. The 25-year-old hadn’t yet pitched in Triple-A before jumping right to the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, but Hernandez has looked very sharp in his rookie season. Over 27 1/3 innings out of the Bucs’ bullpen, Hernandez has a 2.63 ERA, an above-average 25.7% strikeout rate, and a borderline elite 5.5% walk rate. Batters haven’t made much hard contact against Hernandez, and his slider has quickly become a devastating weapon.
R5 draft picks must remain on a team’s big league roster for the entire season or else be offered back to their original club, and while a Rule 5 player can be on the IL, they have to clock at least 90 days on the active roster. Hernandez isn’t quite at 90 days yet, but he’ll easily clear that threshold assuming his calf injury isn’t serious. Beyond Hernandez’s R5 status is the bigger issue of how his absence will further impact an injury-riddled Pirates bullpen — Hernandez, Colin Holderman, and Rob Zastryzny on the 15-day IL, while Jarlin Garcia (who has yet to pitch at all this season) and Wil Crowe are on the 60-day IL.
Borucki signed a minor league deal with the Pirates in May, after he elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate. Chicago inked the lefty to a minor league deal during the offseason, and designated him for assignment just a few days after selecting his contract to the 26-man roster (without Borucki ever appearing in a game).
Borucki now looks primed to make his first official appearance of the 2023 campaign, which will make it six MLB seasons for the left-hander. Borucki has a 4.45 ERA over 170 career innings with the Blue Jays and Mariners, working exclusively as a reliever since 2020. There has been a lot of inconsistency in Borucki’s work over the years, as he has very prone to allowing home runs and has occasionally struggled with control.
Pirates, Ryan Borucki Agree To Minor League Deal
The Pirates and left-hander Ryan Borucki have agreed to a minor league deal, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Borucki elected free agency earlier in the week after the Cubs passed him through waivers unclaimed.
Borucki, 29, has logged big league time in each of the past five seasons — the vast majority coming as a member of the Blue Jays. He posted a 3.87 ERA in 17 starts as a rookie back in 2018 but has pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen since, due in large part to elbow surgery that wiped out most of his 2019 season. Since returning, the left-hander has posted a 4.66 ERA in 65 2/3 big league innings, fanning 22.3% of his opponents against a 12% walk rate.
Borucki opened the 2023 season with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Iowa, where he was roughed up for a dozen runs on 13 hits and six walks with 11 strikeouts in nine innings. In need of a fresh arm for the bullpen, the Cubs selected Borucki’s contract in late April, but he was designated for assignment before even getting into a game.
It’s been a tough few years for Borucki, but even when struggling to a 5.68 ERA in 25 1/3 innings between Toronto and Seattle in 2022, the southpaw averaged 95.1 mph on his sinker and posted a strong 12% swinging-strike rate. He’s moved away from his changeup and begun to rely primarily on his sinker and slider over the past two seasons, which has helped him up his ground-ball rate to a hefty 54.3% in that time.
The Bucs currently have lefty relievers Jarlin Garcia and Rob Zastryzny on the injured list. Garcia, notably, is on the 60-day and does not have a timetable for his return. Rule 5 pick Jose Hernandez has been the only left-handed option in manager Derek Shelton’s bullpen for the past couple weeks. Borucki won’t immediately be added to the mix, but he gives the Pirates an experienced option to take a look at in Triple-A.
Ryan Borucki Elects Free Agency
TODAY: The Cubs announced that Borucki has opted for free agency rather than accept the outright assignment.
MAY 5: Cubs reliever Ryan Borucki has gone unclaimed on waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa, tweets Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Borucki has the right to decline the assignment in favor of minor league free agency based on a previous career outright and having over three years of major league service. According to Bastian, the left-hander is still deciding whether to accept the assignment.
Borucki signed a minor league deal with Chicago over the offseason. The Cubs selected his contract at the end of April. He was on the MLB roster for two days and didn’t get into a game before being designated for assignment. While he’s yet to pitch in the majors this season, the Illinois native reached the highest level every year between 2018-22.
The bulk of that experience came with the Blue Jays, who initially drafted Borucki in the 15th round back in 2012. Borucki had some success early in his career but has struggled in the last few years. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, he carries a 5.33 ERA with a 20.1% strikeout rate and lofty 10.5% walk percentage in 49 innings.
Borucki has been off to a rough start to the year in Iowa. Prior to his call-up, he was tagged for 13 runs (12 earned) in nine innings. He punched out 11 and induced ground-balls at a quality 51.7% clip but walked six of 49 batters faced.
Cubs Designate Ryan Borucki For Assignment
The Cubs have made a couple of roster moves today, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. They have recalled catcher Miguel Amaya and designated left-hander Ryan Borucki for assignment.
This series of moves was prompted by an injury to Yan Gomes, who was hit in the head by a backswing yesterday and removed in the second inning. That left Tucker Barnhart as the only healthy backstop on the roster, which led the Cubs to call on Amaya.
The 24-year-old has had a long journey to get here, having been signed as an international amateur out of Panama back in 2015. He’s been considered one of the club’s more notable prospects for quite some time, with Baseball America ranking him #2 in the system in 2019. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster at the end of that year in order to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
The minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020 and then Amaya only played 23 games in 2021, eventually requiring Tommy John surgery that wiped out a lot of his 2022 as well. Due to those factors, he’s only played 76 minor league games since the end of 2019, missing out on a big chunk of development time.
He’s off to a great start here this year, having hit .273/.411/.659 in 13 Double-A games. The injury to Gomes will give him a chance to skip Triple-A, at least for the moment, and make his major league debut as soon as he’s put into a game. Gomes is still under evaluation, per Montemurro, and the extent of his injury will likely impact how long Amaya is up in the majors.
As for Borucki, he was just selected to the club’s roster on the weekend and now gets designated for assignment without even getting into a game. A former starter with the Blue Jays, he’s converted to relief in recent years with mixed results. He had a 2.70 ERA in 2020 but that jumped to 4.94 and 5.68 in recent years as his strikeout rate dipped in kind, going from 28.8% to 21.4% and 18.9%.
The Cubs will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers though the interest might be muted given his struggles in recent years. He’s also posted an ERA of 12.00 in Triple-A so far this year. In the event he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency, both on account of having a previous career outright and having more than three years of major league service time.
Cubs Select Ryan Borucki
The Cubs have selected the contract of left-hander Ryan Borucki, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro. In a corresponding move, right-hander Caleb Kilian has been optioned to Triple-A. The club had an open spot on the 40-man roster following their decision to designate catcher Luis Torrens for assignment, so no 40-man roster move was needed to add Borucki.
Borucki, 29, made his major league debut as a starter with the Blue Jays back in 2018. He pitched to a solid 3.87 ERA in 97 2/3 innings of work across 18 starts. Unfortunately, injuries limited Borucki to just 6 2/3 innings in 2019, leaving him to convert to relief ahead of the 2020 season. Since his move to the bullpen, Borucki has struggled, posting a 4.66 ERA and 5.30 FIP over 65 2/3 innings across the past three seasons. He joined the Cubs on a minor league deal this past offseason, and gives the club a left-handed option out of the bullpen while Brandon Hughes is on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation.
Kilian, 26 in June, heads back to Triple-A after a brutal spot start yesterday where he surrendered seven runs on 10 hits, two walks and two hit batsmen in just 3 1/3 innings against the Marlins. Acquired from the Giants alongside Alexander Canario in the deal that sent Kris Bryant to San Francisco, Kilian was considered one of Chicago’s top prospects headed into last season. Things started to unravel for Kilian when he made his big league debut last summer. The right-hander posted a 10.32 ERA across three starts in the majors before heading back to the Triple-A, where he posted a 6.54 ERA in 63 1/3 innings for the remainder of the 2022 campaign.
Things haven’t gone much better for Kilian in 2023, as he had posted a 7.15 ERA in three starts at Triple-A prior to yesterday’s disastrous call up. Kilian was needed yesterday as both Jameson Taillon and Kyle Hendricks are on the shelf, though Taillon threw a bullpen yesterday per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times and Hendricks is currently rehabbing at Triple-A, leaving room to return Kilian to Triple-A in hopes he can return to his 2021 form.
Cubs To Sign Ryan Borucki To Minor League Deal
The Cubs and left-hander Ryan Borucki are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The southpaw will presumably receive an invitation to major league Spring Training, though no formal announcement has been made.
Borucki, 29 in March, was drafted by the Blue Jays and had an encouraging rookie season with them in 2018. Working as a starter at that time, Borucki posted a 3.87 ERA over 17 starts. Unfortunately, elbow injuries limited him to just a pair of starts in 2019 and the Jays converted him to a reliever after that.
Since moving to the bullpen, the results have been mixed. He posted an ERA of 2.70 in 2020 but that jumped up to 4.94 and 5.68 in the following two seasons. As those ERAs have climbed, he’s struck out fewer hitters, though his command has improved. His strikeout rate went from 28.8 percent in 2020, down to 21.4 and 18.9 percent after that, while his walk rate went from 16.4 to 11.2 to 9.9 percent. Home runs have also suddenly become an issue, as he had allowed 10 long balls in 121 career innings by the end of 2020 but has allowed 11 homers in just 49 innings over the past two years.
Borucki is out of options and can no longer be sent to the minors. In 2022, the Jays designated him for assignment and flipped him to the Mariners, who outrighted him at season’s end. Despite the rough season, there are things to like about Borucki. He’s held lefties to a meager .204/.286/.289 batting line in his career and a .184/.286/.245 line last year. The Cubs don’t have a ton of lefties lined up to be in their bullpen, with Brandon Hughes and Anthony Kay the only options on the 40-man who don’t project to be in the rotation. If Borucki can make it onto the club’s roster, he won’t be able to reach six years of MLB service time this year and could be retained for 2024 via arbitration, if the Cubs so choose.
Mariners Claim Gabe Speier From Royals; Outright Casey Sadler, Ryan Borucki
The Mariners announced they have claimed left-hander Gabe Speier off waivers from the Royals. Additionally, they have outrighted lefty Ryan Borucki and right-hander Casey Sadler.
Speier has appeared in each of the last four seasons with the Royals. He hasn’t gotten an extended look over any part of that stretch. This year’s 17 appearances and 19 1/3 innings were career highs, and he’s worked a cumulative 40 innings. Speier has a 3.83 ERA, and his 20.2% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk percentage are right around average.
A former Red Sox draftee, Speier averages around 94 MPH on his sinker but leaned more heavily on his slider. He’s only managed a 6.67 ERA across 112 innings at the Triple-A level, thanks largely to a dismal 14.51 mark over 26 2/3 innings with Omaha this year. Speier was battered for 51 hits and 11 home runs in that stretch, but the M’s will take a shot on a change of scenery. The 27-year-old still has an option year remaining, so the M’s can move him between Seattle and Triple-A Tacoma next year if he holds his spot on the 40-man roster.
Borucki is squeezed off the depth chart in his place. The M’s acquired the southpaw from the Blue Jays this year. The 28-year-old combined for a 5.68 ERA over 25 1/3 innings with the two clubs, only striking out 18.9% of batters faced while struggling to keep the ball in the yard. He was projected for a $1.1MM salary if tendered an arbitration contract, but the M’s evidently determined they weren’t prepared to pay that sum.
Parting with Sadler is a bit more surprising, as the righty was excellent during his last healthy season. He posted a microscopic 0.67 ERA over 40 1/3 innings for the M’s in 2021. He punched out an above-average 25.5% of batters faced and racked up grounders on over three-fifths of batted balls against him. Sadler looked like a high-leverage weapon, but he didn’t pitch in 2022 after undergoing shoulder surgery in Spring Training.
Seattle could’ve retained the 32-year-old by tendering him an arbitration contract, which was projected in the $1.025MM range. They evidently determined not to carry him on the 40-man roster all winter given the injury, and no other club placed a waiver claim despite the chance to retain him at that modest rate.
Both Borucki and Sadler are eligible for minor league free agency, and it’s a virtual lock they’ll each hit the open market in the next few days. Both will serve as experienced depth options for clubs seeking bullpen help, although Sadler may have to demonstrate his health for suitors.
Mariners Sign Anthony Banda To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have signed left-hander Anthony Banda to a minor league deal, per Mike Curto, broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers, Seattle’s Triple-A team.
Banda, 28, joins his third organization of the year, as he began the season with the Pirates but was designated for assignment and traded to the Blue Jays in July. He lasted a month with the Jays before being a roster casualty on deadline day, getting bumped out of the picture when the Jays made several additions to the club. After clearing waivers, he was eligible to reject an outright assignment and return to the open market by virtue of having been previously outrighted in his career.
Between the Pirates and Blue Jays, Banda has thrown 26 innings on the year with a 5.88 ERA, though much more impressive peripherals. He has a 23.2% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 33.3% ground ball rate. A .446 batting average on balls in play seems to be pushing that ERA up, leading to all advanced metrics valuing Banda as deserving better. He has a 4.34 xERA, 3.92 FIP, 3.92 xFIP and 3.45 SIERA this year.
For the Mariners, adding another lefty to their system is fairly sensible, given their dearth of options in that department. Ryan Borucki was placed on the 15-day injured list earlier today due to a flexor strain, with Brennan Bernardino being recalled to take his place as the only southpaw in the big league bullpen. The only other lefty on the 40-man roster that’s not in the big league starting rotation is Justus Sheffield, who was been working as a starter in the minors. Banda will add to the club’s thin crop of left-handed relief depth.
Injury Notes: Hendricks, Borucki, Jung
Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks underwent an MRI yesterday that will determine whether the veteran starter will be able to return this season, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer announced to reporters (Twitter link via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune). It’s been more than a month since a shoulder strain sent Hendricks to the injured list, and the last update from the team (prior to this MRI revelation) came back on July 13, when Hendricks was shut down from throwing for three weeks. Presumably, the Cubs will get multiple opinions on the MRI results before making a determination and ultimately making an announcement regarding the 32-year-old righty.
Hendricks, a former MLB leader in ERA and third-place finisher in Cy Young voting (both in 2016), is in the third guaranteed season of a four-year, $55.5MM contract that also contains a club option for the 2024 campaign. He’s made 16 starts for the Cubs this season and logged a 4.80 ERA — a near-mirror image of last year’s 4.77 mark across 32 outings. The Cubs owe him $14MM in 2023, and there’s a $1.5MM buyout on a $16MM team option for the 2024 season.
Some more injury scenarios that merit attention…
- Left-hander Ryan Borucki, the lone southpaw in the Mariners‘ bullpen, will undergo an MRI after exiting last night’s game with a forearm strain, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Divish notes that Mariners skipper Scott Servais “would prefer to have a lefty out of the bullpen if possible.” The only other lefty option on the 40-man roster is rookie Brennan Bernardino, who has all of 2 1/3 Major League innings under his belt. The M’s do have Roenis Elias, Fernando Abad and Nick Ramirez as non-40-man options in Triple-A Tacoma, and each has posted anywhere from passable to strong numbers with the Rainiers thus far. Borucki, 28, has pitched 19 1/3 innings of 4.26 ERA ball for Seattle since being acquired from the Jays back in June.
- Rangers top prospect Josh Jung will come off the minor league injured list and make his season debut with Triple-A Round Rock tonight, tweets Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. The 24-year-old Jung, whom Texas tabbed with the No. 8 overall pick back in 2019, entered the season as one of the sport’s top overall prospects but required surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder in late February. At the time, it was believed that Jung would need about six months to be ready just to serve as a designated hitter in a game setting, but he’s beaten that timeline considerably, as Landry notes that he’s slated to play third base tonight and has already played in eight rehab games with the organization’s Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League. Jung hit .326/.398/.592 in 342 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A last season and, prior to the injury, was seen as a candidate to make his big league debut this year. Now that he’s back in action at Triple-A with two months of season left, it’s again feasible he could reach the Majors in 2022.