Orioles Notes: McFarland, Rule 5, Flaherty, Britton
The Orioles released left-hander T.J. McFarland over the weekend, but MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes that Baltimore is hopeful that it will be able to re-sign the southpaw to a minor league deal. The O’s wanted more flexibility with their bullpen options, according to Kubatko, which is why they acquired Vidal Nuno and Richard Bleier in separate transactions. Both lefties have minor league options remaining, whereas McFarland couldn’t be sent down without first being exposed to waivers. By my count, the O’s will be on the hook for just over $112K of the $685K salary to which McFarland had agreed, even if he’s not re-signed. (Arbitration salaries aren’t fully guaranteed.) The 27-year-old McFarland turned in a strong 2.78 ERA in 58 2/3 innings back in 2014, but he’s limped to a 5.68 earned run average in 65 big league frames since. More troubling, his walk and strikeout rates have gone in the wrong direction; last season, he punched out just seven hitters in 24 innings of work.
A couple more notes out of Baltimore as the Orioles face off with the Yankees in Grapefruit League play…
- The recent signings of Michael Bourn and Craig Gentry have created an even more difficult path for Rule 5 outfielders Aneury Tavarez and Anthony Santander to make the Orioles’ roster, writes Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. The 24-year-old Tavarez has impressed early, and manager Buck Showalter called him a “potential leadoff guy,” noting that the team is still trying to evaluate him from a defensive standpoint. As Encina notes, Tavarez would give the Orioles some sorely needed speed on the basepaths — something the Orioles have sought for much of the winter. Last season, the former Red Sox farmhand hit .330/.374/.495 in 441 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. Santander had shoulder surgery this winter and hasn’t been cleared to play the outfield just yet, though Showalter thinks he’ll get that clearance soon, per Encina.
- Ryan Flaherty is dealing with an undisclosed arm injury, Encina writes in a second piece. While it’s not believed to be serious at this time, the injury still creates the potential for further depth issues with the O’s. J.J. Hardy has already been dealing with back spasms this spring, and Flaherty can serve as a backup not only at shortstop but at all four infield spots. Baltimore did ink Paul Janish to a minors deal last week, giving them a familiar face and an additional depth option in the infield. In more positive news, Rich Dubroff writes for MLB.com that the oblique issue that has been plaguing Zach Britton looks to have subsided. Showalter said he’s not exactly sure when Britton will get into a spring game, but it should be in the early portion of March.
Orioles Release T.J. McFarland
TODAY: The Orioles have officially released McFarland, as per a team announcement. The southpaw cleared release waivers and can now be signed by any club.
FEBRUARY 19: The Orioles have designated left-hander T.J. McFarland for assignment, as per a club press release. The move creates a 40-man roster spot for the newly-acquired Vidal Nuno.
McFarland, 27, posted a 6.93 ERA over 24 2/3 relief innings for the Orioles last season, despite recording a 60.2% grounder rate. Always an extreme groundball pitcher who didn’t miss many bats (a 60.7% career GBR, 5.67 career K/9), McFarland recorded just seven strikeouts in 2016, and issued more walks (10) than strikeouts.
McFarland avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $685K deal with the O’s for the coming season, and he still has two remaining years of arb-eligibility. The lefty is also out of options, and CSNBaltimore.com’s Rich Dubroff speculates that McFarland is likely to pass through waivers and potentially stay with the Orioles, if no longer on the 40-man roster. Though any number of teams are looking to add left-handed relief options, McFarland has only solid numbers (.280/.326/.395) against left-handed hitters over his career, so clubs may look for southpaws with more extreme splits.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/25/17
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.
- The Orioles have re-signed shortstop Paul Janish to a minor-league deal with a Spring Training invite, Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com tweets. Incumbent O’s shortstop J.J. Hardy has had back issues lately, but Buck Showalter told reporters, including MASN’s Roch Kubatko (via Twitter), that Janish’s re-signing is not related to Hardy’s status. The 34-year-old Janish appeared in 14 games with the Orioles in each of the past two seasons, but has spent most of the last two years with Triple-A Norfolk, where he batted .248/.333/.280 in 2016.
- Orioles lefty T.J. McFarland has cleared outright waivers and been placed on release waivers, Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun tweets. The Orioles designated McFarland for assignment when they officially acquired Vidal Nuno from the Dodgers. The Orioles remain interested in McFarland but would like to re-sign him for less than the $685K they would have had to pay him after settling with him for that sum in January, Kubatko tweets. McFarland has just over three years of service time and would have been eligible for arbitration had he and the Orioles not settled. The reliever is coming off a disappointing season in which he posted a 6.93 ERA with ten walks and just seven strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings in the big leagues.
Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Ryan Flaherty, T.J. McFarland
7:41pm: Righty T.J. McFarland has also agreed to terms, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. He’ll earn $685K in 2017, just shy of his $700K projection.
6:35pm: The Orioles have avoided arbitration with infielder Ryan Flaherty, according to Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com (via Twitter). He’ll earn $1.8MM and become the first arb-eligible Oriole to settle this year.
Flaherty will take home just a shade more than the $1.7MM that MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz projected. The 30-year-old made just 176 MLB plate appearances in 2016 and managed only three home runs, limiting his earning power in his final run through arbitration.
Of course, Baltimore values Flaherty primarily as a versatile bench piece. He’s capable of playing all over the infield, including shortstop when necessary. And though he has never produced much at the plate, Flaherty has typically rated well as a baserunner.
AL East Notes: Encarnacion, Eveland, Rays, Orioles
In his latest column, FanRag’s Jon Heyman writes that while the Blue Jays offered Edwin Encarnacion only a two-year deal with a pair of options back in Spring Training (as has been previously reported), his huge season is expected to push the Jays to up their offer. Toronto “might consider” four years, per Heyman, though their preference would be to retain Encarnacion on a three-year pact. A three-year deal strikes me as a non-starter, as Encarnacion should be considered a lock for at least a four-year deal after seeing other defensively limited, mid-30s sluggers like Nelson Cruz ($57MM) and Victor Martinez ($68MM) pull in four-year pacts in recent offseasons. (For what it’s worth, I expect Encarnacion to top the total value of both of those contracts with ease.) The Blue Jays will make qualifying offers to both Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, per Heyman, though that’s long been the expectation for the pair of veteran sluggers.
More from the AL East…
- The Rays outrighted left-hander Dana Eveland last week, and the veteran reliever recently elected free agency, but he’s expected to re-sign with the team, per MLB.com’s Bill Chastain. “That’s the plan,” Eveland told Chastain when asked about a return. Eveland said he expects to be back in the fold in the near future, presumably on a minor league deal. Though the 33-year-old allowed 23 runs in 23 big league innings this season, he was lights out at Triple-A Durham, where he posted a 0.30 ERA (one earned run) with a 21-to-6 K/BB ratio in 29 2/3 innings. Eveland has bounced all over the league since debuting as a 21-year-old with the Brewers in 2005, and while he’s had difficulty sticking in one place, he’s been appealing enough to MLB clubs to have appeared in the Majors in all but one season since that 2005 debut. (He spent the 2013 season pitching in Korea.) Eveland has a 5.46 ERA in 446 1/3 big league innings split between 10 teams.
- Chastain also reports that the Rays informed longtime strength and conditioning coach Kevin Barr that they’re going in another direction next season. Barr offered praise for the organization and had kind words to say about his time there, but he joins former hitting coach Derek Shelton as members of the 2016 staff to be dismissed.
- MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko examined the Orioles‘ arbitration-eligible players following the release of MLBTR’s arbitration projections earlier this week. While Kubatko notes that the likes of Chris Tillman, Zach Britton, Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop and Kevin Gausman will obviously be tendered contracts, things are less certain for utilityman Ryan Flaherty, left-hander T.J. McFarland and right-hander Vance Worley — each of whom could be deemed to expensive and could be a non-tender candidate. Caleb Joseph figures to be the backup catcher next season based on his modest $1MM projection, even though he struggled tremendously in 2016. (Joseph did not hit a home run all season and, somewhat amazingly, did not collect a single RBI.) Of course, it remains to be seen exactly who will be the primary backstop for the Orioles in 2017.
Orioles Option T.J. McFarland, Designate Julio Borbon For Assignment
AUG. 29: The Orioles announced today that McFarland has been optioned to Triple-A, meaning he’s been placed on the 40-man roster once again. It’s a fairly rare procedure, but McFarland had to technically be designated for assignment in order to clear optional waivers. Players that have options remaining but made their big league debut more than three years ago must first clear optional waivers before going to a minor league affiliate.
MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko wrote this morning that McFarland would likely be placed on optional waivers, but Borbon’s DFA is a traditional one. The team is hoping he’ll clear waivers and accept an outright assignment.
AUG. 28: The Orioles have designated left-hander T.J. McFarland and outfielder Julio Borbon for assignment, per a club announcement. They’ve also confirmed the signing of right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter and recalled fellow righty Oliver Drake from Triple-A Norfolk.
McFarland still has minor league options remaining, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets, but that didn’t stop the Orioles from designating him. The 27-year-old has endured a season to forget, having logged a 6.93 ERA, 2.55 K/9 and 3.65 BB/9 in 24 2/3 innings despite a 60.2 percent ground-ball rate. From 2013-15, McFarland amassed 105 appearances and compiled a 3.89 ERA, 6.12 K/9, 3.06 BB/9 and 60.8 percent grounder rate across 173 2/3 frames.
Borbon, 30, has spent most of the year with Double-A Bowie and has racked up just 15 major league plate appearances as a result. Those were the first trips to the plate in the majors since 2013 for Borbon, who has mostly been at the Triple-A level over the past couple years. Borbon has hit .273/.318/.347 with eight home runs and 47 steals in 878 major league PAs.
AL Notes: Davis, Aoki, Jones, Ondrusek, Angels, A’s
Wade Davis is making progress on his way back to the Royals, as he’s set for an inning of action at Triple-A, as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. Kansas City has thrived without their 30-year-old closer, but that doesn’t mean his return doesn’t come with anticipation. The defending World Series champs have clawed their way back into the postseason picture — no surprise for this group — but still sits four games out of Wild Card position and need every advantage that can be found.
Here’s more from the American League:
- The Mariners optioned outfielder Nori Aoki to Triple-A tonight as part of a series of roster moves, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times was among those to tweet. While he has struggled for much of the year, Aoki has actually been quite useful at the plate in August with a .338/.392/.426 batting line for the month. But Seattle needed fresh arms, and so took advantage of the ability to remove the veteran from the active roster for the time being. He’ll surely be back shortly with rosters expanding in a few days.
- Orioles outfielder Adam Jones left tonight’s action with what the team is calling a hamstring strain. That could be a big problem for the O’s, who not only need Jones’s bat in the lineup but don’t have any ready replacements on their depth chart. But skipper Buck Showalter says that he doesn’t believe Jones will require a DL stint, as Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com tweets.
- Earlier today, the Orioles designated righty Logan Ondrusek off of their active roster. Unlike a typical DFA, the move simply puts the player on ice while he is passed through optional assignment waives. The procedural step was taken to enable the team to reinstate lefty T.J. McFarland from the DL.
- The Angels have hired a new amateur scouting, adding former Cardinals cross-checker Matt Swanson, as ESPN.com’s Keith Law reported on Twitter. Los Angeles has continued to experience change in the upper levels of its player intake and development departments, which is no surprise given that GM Billy Eppler only took the helm last October.
- Just like their AL West rivals, the Athletics are engaged in a complicated ballpark situation, though their’s may be trending away from their current digs at the O.Co Coliseum. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier & Ross recently provided a look at the latest on the search for a new site, with quiet majority owner John Fisher said to be looking closely at a spot in Oakland’s Howard Terminal that is the preferred spot of mayor Libby Schaaf.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Dickerson, Loney, Orioles
The Yankees have done all of their offseason shopping on the trade market, and John Harper of the New York Daily News spoke to GM Brian Cashman, getting insight into each deal. Cashman said Aaron Hicks was identified early as a target due to age, athleticism and abilities versus left-handed pitching. The trade would’ve been difficult were it not for a “monster” year from Gary Sanchez. “We valued [John Ryan] Murphy highly but we knew it would take a lot to get Hicks,” said Cashman. “If Sanchez hadn’t had the year he had, we might not have been as willing to make that trade.” Cashman said that the Cubs initially asked about Brett Gardner when discussing Starlin Castro, but those overtures were rebuffed. He was also reluctant to give up right-hander Adam Warren, and the Cubs requested him for a month before Cashman caved. On the Aroldis Chapman front, Cashman said the Yankees never got close to acquiring him in July but circled back later this winter. The situation was difficult, considering Chapman’s domestic violence allegations, which Cashman said he discussed multiple times with ownership. He refutes the belief that he didn’t part with much to get Chapman, offering praise for Rookie Davis and stating that knee surgery is the only reason Eric Jagielo isn’t ranked among their top 10 prospects. Cashman also discussed the team’s stance on Andrew Miller earlier in the offseason and offered more quotes than we’ll get to in this brief recap. The entire piece is well worth a full read.
Here’s more from the AL East…
- Dave Cameron of Fangraphs believes that the Yankees are perhaps the most underrated team in Major League Baseball right now due to the extensive focus on their lack of free-agent expenditures. While New York isn’t likely to repeat its offensive success, Cameron notes that the strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates from the team’s pitching staff yielded an xFIP mark that dramatically outperformed the club’s ERA, and historically speaking, there’s reason to believe that the ERA will catch up with the peripherals next season, to some extent. Starlin Castro represents an upgrade at second base, and the Yankees have the game’s best bullpen, Cameron adds, so even with some offensive regression and questions in the rotation, there’s reason to believe they can match or exceed last season’s 87 wins.
- Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times spoke to Rays manager Kevin Cash as well as third baseman Evan Longoria about the addition of Corey Dickerson to the club’s lineup, and both had positive things to say. Cash spoke about how Dickerson will help to lengthen their lineup, and as Topkin notes, Dickerson is one of several offseason additions that will give Cash a better slate from which to choose when playing matchups. (The Rays have also added Brad Miller, Steve Pearce and Logan Morrison.) Notably, Topkin points out that the addition of Dickerson only further underscores the need to move James Loney and his $8MM salary, which would free first base for Pearce and Morrison and create more DH at-bats for Dickerson.
- The much-expected addition of Yovani Gallardo to the Orioles‘ rotation, if completed, would cause a crunch in the bullpen, observes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The Orioles have Zach Britton, Darren O’Day, Brian Matusz, Brad Brach, Mychal Givens and Dylan Bundy as “locks” to break camp in the ‘pen, he writes, but adding Gallardo to the starting five would mean that both Vance Worley and T.J. McFarland would be competing for a spot in the bullpen. Without one spot remaining, one of the two would indeed seem to be left on the outside looking in, barring an injury of course.
- Regarding Gallardo, MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli tweets that the ball is in the Orioles‘ court at this point, adding that both parties seem to be optimistic about a deal being completed. Gallardo is reportedly said to be discussing a three-year deal, possibly one that includes an opt-out clause, with the Orioles.
Quick Hits: McFarland, Hamels, Olivera
Many players grow up as fans of the game, but once they sign with a pro team, the nature of their fandom changes, FanGraphs’ David Laurila writes. “Once you sign a contract, you have a team of your own,” says Orioles reliever T.J. McFarland, who grew up a fan of the White Sox. “My family still roots for the White Sox, but I went from being a fan to an employee – an actual worker – within the profession.” Of course, the associations they had with veteran players they rooted for as kids don’t just disappear. McFarland says he took pride in playing opposite Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko, and says he found it “surreal” when he faced Derek Jeter. Here’s more from throughout the league.
- Earlier today, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported that the Yankees had come closer than any other team to acquiring Phillies star Cole Hamels. If that’s true, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman writes, that might mean the Phillies haven’t come close to dealing Hamels to any team, because the two sides have not had discussions recently and never were near a deal. The Phillies are fans of Yankees prospects Luis Severino and Aaron Judge, but the Yankees likely don’t want to trade Severino in a Hamels deal. The Red Sox, meanwhile, have refused to deal Mookie Betts or Blake Swihart for Hamels. The Rangers are another possibility, but they too appear disinclined to trade their top prospects, including Joey Gallo and Jorge Alfaro.
- Cliff Lee‘s recent bout of elbow soreness demonstrates the risk the Phillies are taking with Hamels, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com writes. Each time Hamels pitches, he could get injured, causing his trade value to decrease or simply vanish.
- It’s wise to be skeptical of reports suggesting Cuban infielder Hector Olivera will get $70MM or more, FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel writes. That says more about Olivera’s representative Rudy Santin’s use of the media than about Olivera’s actual market. Finding comparables for a Cuban player with no MLB experience is difficult, so it’s hard for the U.S. media to be appropriately skeptical of reported offers for a player like Olivera, McDaniel argues. McDaniel says he would be surprised if Olivera topped $50MM.
Orioles Notes: Rodriguez, Feldman, McFarland
We learned earlier this morning that two recent Orioles players — Taylor Teagarden and Jairo Asencio — will hit the open market and could be playing elsewhere in 2014. Of course, neither of those players figured prominently in the club's plans. Here are a few notes of somewhat greater importance to the Baltimore franchise:
- Trade deadline acquisition Francisco Rodriguez never really fit in with the club, writes Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com. Dubroff says the O's will not bring back Roriguez, who was the last to show up and first to leave the clubhouse and never found a prominent role in manager Buck Showalter's pen. The O's largely got what they hoped for with Rodriguez: he posted 11.5 K/9 against just 2.0 BB/9 in 22 innings, though his ERA ended up at a middling 4.50. But he was used in just seven games that the team ultimately won, making the price (prospect Nick Delmonico) seem tough to swallow in retrospect.
- One of the Orioles' other big mid-year adds was starter Scott Feldman, who could be re-signed as a free agent. To do so, says MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko, the club may need to be willing to offer a three-year deal. (MLBTR's Steve Adams pegged three years and $25MM as Feldman's ceiling, but opined that he is likelier to end up in the neighborhood of two years and $17MM.) Whether or not Feldman is pitching in Camden Yards next year, Kubatko says that the trade by which he was acquired was a good one. Though Pedro Strop and Jake Arrieta have both enhanced their value since going to the Cubs in that deal, says Kubatko, the former couldn't be trusted in the late innings and lacked options, while the latter clearly needed a change of scenery to get his career back on track.
- Another candidate for the 2014 Baltimore rotation could be the under-the-radar T.J. McFarland, says MASNsports.com's Steve Melewski. The O's have now established control over the Rule 5 pick after carrying him on their active roster for all of 2013. McFarland, a 24-year-old lefty, ended the year with a 4.22 ERA in 74 2/3 innings, the vast majority of which came in relief. But the former Indians farmhand spent his entire minor league career in the rotation, and will throw in Venezuela over the winter to add innings in the hopes of competing for a starting gig with Baltimore next season.