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Tony Barnette

Injury Notes: Kahnle, Drury, Shoemaker, Goodwin, Rendon, Burnette

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As expected, Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo was activated from the DL after a minimal time away from the team. But plenty of other players are still hurting, so we’ll take a spin around the league to catch up on the latest injury news of note:

  • Yankees righty Tommy Kahnle is heading to the DL with shoulder tendinitis, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports. While the hope is there isn’t any kind of long-term problem at play, Kahnle has stumbled out of the gates in 2018. The 28-year-old, who turned in a breakout 2017 campaign, has not only been wild — a worrying turn for a pitcher with a history of control problems — but has lost about two-and-a-half ticks from his average fastball. Kahnle is still inducing plenty of whiffs, though, so perhaps a respite will allow him to get back to form.
  • In other Yankees-related injury news, third bagger Brandon Drury discussed the headache and vision problems he has been battling with reporters including ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey. The recent trade acquisition says he’s looking forward to finally figuring out what is causing the long-standing problem. While awaiting further information, Drury is beginning to perform some baseball activities. It still isn’t clear just when he can be expected to return. Meanwhile, outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has yet another injury issue to deal with, as Lindsey Adler of The Athletic recently tweeted.
  • Things are looking up for Angels righty Matt Shoemaker, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times tweets. He’s hoping to begin throwing in relatively short order after experiencing “drastic improvement” in the nerve issue that has planted him on the DL. The Halos will certainly hope that Shoemaker can make steady progress once his rest period is over. Presumably, though, he’ll be given a long ramp given his injury history and the fact that he’ll have been down for some time.
  • The Nationals have made another DL placement as the organization continues to deal with a barrage of position-player injuries. As Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com reports, Brian Goodwin’s sore wrist has forced him onto the shelf. The expectation, though, is that it’ll be a short stint. Andrew Stevenson will replace him for the time being. In more hopeful news, skipper Dave Martinez says that third baseman Anthony Rendon is making steady progress from a toe injury suffered on a foul tip. That’s certainly good news for the Nats, who are currently going without several of their best players.
  • Rangers reliever Tony Barnette has been placed on the 10-day DL with what the team is calling right shoulder inflammation. His open roster spot will go to outfielder Ryan Rua, who was just optioned down but can come back before the usual ten-day minimum stay since he’s replacing an injured player. Barnette has endured a few minor maladies early in the year and has only appeared in two games thus far.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Miranda, Sipp, Bedrosian

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The Rangers announced tonight that second baseman Rougned Odor (left hamstring strain) and right-hander Doug Fister (right hip strain) have both been placed on the 10-day disabled list. In their place, the team has activated reliever Tony Barnette from the DL and recalled catcher/infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa from Triple-A Round Rock. There’s no indication that either injury is considered to be long-term, with both Odor and Fister eligible to return from the DL on April 20. Kiner-Falefa will be making his big league debut the first time he gets into a game; the former fourth-round pick hit .288/.350/.390 through 569 trips to the plate in Double-A last season.

Some more AL West news…

  • Lefty Ariel Miranda will remain the Mariners’ fifth starter for the time being, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. He’ll take the ball on April 17 when the fifth spot in the rotation next comes up, Divish notes, rather than right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, who is working his way back from a lat strain. However, the team doesn’t want to rush Ramirez back and will keep him on a slower progression while entrusting Miranda with a larger role. The 29-year-old Miranda is no stranger to the Seattle rotation, having made 39 starts for the M’s over the past two seasons after being acquired in a one-for-one swap that sent Wade Miley to Baltimore.
  • The Astros announced today that they placed left-hander Tony Sipp on the 10-day DL and recalled righty James Hoyt from Triple-A in his place. (MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart first reported that Sipp would hit the DL.) With Sipp on the shelf, the Astros are going with an all-right-handed bullpen for the foreseeable future, though the ’Stros do have options in that regard if they decide to change course. Lefties Buddy Boshers and Reymin Guadan are both on the 40-man roster and both pitching for Triple-A Fresno.
  • The Angels are keeping an eye on Cam Bedrosian’s velocity, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The struggling setup man, however, insists that he’s not injured, though he acknowledges that the drop from an average of 96 mph to 93 mph on his fastball is an issue. Bedrosian feels that he developed some bad mechanical tendencies upon returning from a groin strain last season and is trying to get back to his old delivery. Pitching coach Charles Nagy noted that the dip in velocity is a “concern,” though Bedrosian also attributes his early results to simply not locating his pitches effectively.

Rangers Re-Sign Tony Barnette

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The Rangers have agreed to re-sign righty Tony Barnette to a one-year deal, according a team announcement. He’ll receive a $1.5MM guarantee, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter).

Texas had previously declined a $4MM option on Barnette, paying him a $250K buyout and putting him back onto the open market. He had played for the prior two seasons with the Rangers after signing with the club following a lengthy stint in Japan.

Barnette, 34, excelled in his first MLB campaign in 2016. (He had never touched the majors before going to Japan in 2010.) Over 60 1/3 innings, he worked to a 2.09 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9.

Things turned south, however, in 2017. He boosted his K rate to 8.9 per nine, along with his swinging-strike rate (from 11.5% to 13.0%). But Barnette also allowed 3.5 free passes per regulation game and saw his ERA skyrocket to 5.49.

In the end, the relationship will continue. The 34-year-old Barnette will help boost the depth of the Texas bullpen, much as recent signee Doug Fister will for the rotation. While that has been a priority, the Rangers likely still have interest in some higher-end additions for both sides of the pitching staff.

Rangers Exercise Option On Perez, Decline Options On Barnette, Napoli

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The Rangers announced that they’ve exercised their $6MM club option on left-hander Martin Perez. The 2018 options of Tony Barnette ($4MM) and Mike Napoli ($11MM) have been declined. Barnette will receive a $250K buyout, while Napoli receives a $2.5MM buyout.

Beyond the option decisions, the Rangers announced that catcher A.J. Jimenez and right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx have cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Round Rock.

In coaching staff news for the Rangers, Texas also announced that it has hired former Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen as its new assistant pitching coach and hired former big league right-hander Colby Lewis as a special assistant to GM Jon Daniels.

The 26-year-old Perez hasn’t exactly made good on his once lofty prospect status, but he’s developed into a dependable back-of-the-rotation starter. Given the affordable nature of his option and the steep $2.35MM buyout that was associated with that option, it’d have been nothing short of shocking to see his option declined.

The 2017 season saw Perez log a team-high 185 innings with a 4.82 ERA, 5.6 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent ground-ball rate. Obviously, his run-prevention numbers weren’t anywhere near where Perez or the team would’ve hoped, but he’s made 65 starts across the past two seasons for a Rangers team that is in desperate need of innings. Andrew Cashner and Miguel Gonzalez are free agents, leaving Perez and Cole Hamels as the only true locks for the Texas rotation. Other options include Nick Martinez, A.J. Griffin and Yohander Mendez, but the Rangers very clearly need to add multiple arms to the rotation for the coming season.

Barnette, 34 later this week. made his Major League debut with the Rangers in 2016. A former Diamondbacks farmhand, Barnette never cracked the Majors early in his career and instead went overseas to find enormous success pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He earned a two-year Major League contract with the Rangers as a result of efforts in Japan and was every bit worth that investment in his first year with the club.

In 2016, Barnette pitched to a 2.09 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 with a 46.3 percent ground-ball rate in 60 1/3 innings out of manager Jeff Bannister’s bullpen. However, his strand rate plummeted in 2017 as his BABIP rose, causing his ERA to spike to 5.49. Barnette’s strikeout rate actually improved in ’17, and metrics like FIP and xFIP didn’t feel he was all that much worse than he was in 2016. However, the disappointing bottom-line results and a need for more bullpen stability caused the Rangers to move on. Barnette’s strong 2016 season and promising uptick in punchouts could generate him some interest on big league deals with a low base salary this winter, but many teams will likely hope to bring him into camp on a minor league contract.

The 36-year-old Napoli swatted 29 homers in his return to Arlington this season but saw his batting average check in south of the Mendoza Line and his OBP land in the upper .200s. Overall, the benefit of his considerable power (.235 ISO) was counteracted by a .193/.285/.428 batting line and below-average baserunning. Both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference pegged him slightly worse than replacement level. Napoli struck out at a career-worst 33.6 percent clip and also popped up at a career-high 15.6 percent pace. A troublesome 38.1 percent of his trips to the plate resulted in a punchout or an infield fly. He’d already been informed that his option would be declined (as previously detailed on MLBTR), and he’ll now return to the open market in search of a new team for the 2018 campaign.

Rangers Notes: Beltre, Gomez, Napoli, Barnette

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Here’s the latest out of Globe Life Park…

  • Adrian Beltre has been shut down for the remainder of the season, manager Jeff Banister told Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter links) and other media.  The star third baseman will finish the year with a superb .311/.382/.533 slash line and 17 homers, though calf and hamstring injuries limited Beltre to just 387 plate appearances and 93 games, his least amount of action since his 1998 rookie season.  Beltre turns 39 in April and is owed $18MM next season, though he still seems as dangerous as ever, provided these injuries don’t hint at future problems as Beltre continues to deft Father Time.
  • With the Rangers officially out of contention, veteran stars Carlos Gomez and Mike Napoli are also unlikely to play again in 2017 as both are also nursing injuries.  Napoli’s $11MM club option for 2018 is very likely to be bought out (for $2.5MM) following a year that saw him hit 29 homers but deliver sub-replacement performance overall thanks to a .193/.285/.428 slash line.  Gomez was limited to 105 games due to injuries but still looks primed to land a multi-year contract in free agency on the strength of a solid campaign in Texas.
  • The Rangers hold a $4MM club option on Tony Barnette for 2018 and face a tough decision, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan wrote yesterday.  Barnette struggled quite a bit early in the year before a DL stint and the correction of some mechanical flaws.  Entering play today, Barnette carried a 2.97 ERA and a 33-to-12 K/BB rate over his past 33 1/3 innings.  Of course, he also didn’t help his cause at all on Wednesday, serving up five earned runs, including a grand slam, in just one-third of an inning. Barnette’s contract contains a $250K buyout, so the Rangers have a one-year, $3.75MM choice on their hands when debating whether to retain him for the 2018 campaign.  Even after Wednesday’s meltdown, Barnette has a 4.01 FIP, though his season ERA ballooned from 4.74 to a dismal 5.49 following the five earned runs.

Rangers Sign Tony Barnette

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DEC. 15: Barnette’s contract guarantees him $3.5MM over the next two years, reports Wilson (links to Twitter). Barnette will earn $1.5MM in 2016 and $1.75MM in 2017. His club option is valued at $4MM and comes with a $250K buyout, but the option’s value could escalate based on games finished, per Wilson. The Rangers also formally announced the signing today.

DEC. 10, 10:30am: Barnette’s deal also contains a club option for 2018, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

9:17am: The Rangers and right-handed reliever Tony Barnette are in agreement on a two-year contract, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Barnette, 32, is a former D-backs farmhand that never broke into the Majors before heading over to Japan and establishing himself as a dominant closer. He is represented by the Wasserman Media Group.

The Rangers will owe a $500K posting fee to Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows as compensation for losing Barnette, which will be in addition to the value of the contract actually issued by Texas. Barnette has a career 3.58 ERA with the Swallows in Japan but is coming off a season in which he posted a pristine 1.29 ERA with 8.0 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 62 2/3 innings of work.

Rangers Re-Sign Bobby Wilson

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The Rangers have announced the re-signing of catcher Bobby Wilson to a minor league deal. Texas also announced a previously-reported two-year pact with reliever Tony Barnette.

Wilson, 32, slashed just .189/.255/.250 over 147 plate appearances last season, splitting his time between the Rangers and Rays. Though he’s seen action in parts of seven MLB campaigns, he has not quite reached 600 plate appearances in the majors. Wilson’s calling card is his glove; he continued to draw strong framing ratings last year.

Rangers Notes: RH Bat, Barnette, Moreland, Catchers, Nathan

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The Rangers are “making progress” in talks with a yet-unknown right-handed hitter, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. That hitter isn’t Mike Napoli, Grant hears, and while he initially noted that the Rangers have some interest in Steve Pearce, he’s since tweeted that it’s not Pearce, either. Ideally, the Rangers want a player that can handle first base and also spell Josh Hamilton in left field against left-handed starters, Grant notes. There aren’t many right-handed first base/outfield types on the market at present, though I wonder if Ryan Raburn could be of interest in such a role, provided he can prove capable at first.

A few more Rangers notes…

  • General manager Jon Daniels “hasn’t been motivated” by any of the trade talks he’s had regarding Mitch Moreland, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (links to Twitter). Wilson adds that if the Rangers are to make any trades, they’ll likely trade away prospects or Major League relievers rather than dealing from their core of position players or starting pitchers.
  • Wilson also reports that the Rangers are among the teams with interest in right-hander Tony Barnette — a former D-backs farmhand that broke out as a dominant closer with Japan’s Yakult Swallows in recent seasons. Yakult set a $500K posting fee on Barnette, and MLBTR reported recently that five teams were in the mix for his services. Daniels confirmed the interest to Wilson tonight when speaking to the media.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the Rangers checked in with the Orioles on Matt Wieters after Wieters accepted the one-year, $15.8MM qualifying offer. Wieters, of course, would’ve had to approve any trade proposal that may have arisen (as is stipulated by the CBA for players who accept QOs), but talks went nowhere anyhow, according to Rosenthal.
  • The Rangers like Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy but consider the cost to acquire him to be prohibitive, Rosenthal further tweets. That shouldn’t come as a surprise in light of a tweet from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt, who says the asking price for Lucroy begins with highly touted minor league slugger Joey Gallo.
  • The Rangers were one of eight clubs to visit with right-hander Joe Nathan in Nashville, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The Giants and Tigers also met with the former All-Star at the Winter Meetings as he seeks a new team while recovering from 2015 Tommy John surgery.

Bullpen Notes: Chapman, Gott, Albers, Blevins

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It’s been a huge day for reliever signings, as Joakim Soria, Ryan Madson, Mark Lowe and (probably) Darren O’Day all reaching agreements on new contracts.  If that wasn’t enough, the Dodgers and Reds are also discussing an Aroldis Chapman trade, so the biggest bullpen trade chip of them all could also soon be off the table.  Here’s some news on the relievers who have left the market, some who remain, and yet others who could be on the trading block…

  • The Nationals continue to have interest in trading for Chapman but are wary about the prospect cost, MLB.com’s Bill Ladson writes.  There’s also the difficulty involved in trading current closer Jonathan Papelbon, and Papelbon’s grievance against the Nats is just the latest in several obstacles that will make it hard for Washington to find a taker for the controversial righty.
  • The Angels are getting interest in right-hander Trevor Gott, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  The Halos want a player of similar value in return.  Gott made his MLB debut in 2015 and posted a 3.02 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 1.69 K/BB rate over 47 2/3 innings.  Owner of a 96.2mph fastball, Gott posted much higher strikeout totals over his three minor league seasons and is controlled through the 2021 season.
  • Righty Matt Albers has received interest from multiple teams, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports (Twitter link).  Albers missed most of 2014 due to shoulder problems and signed a minor league deal with the White Sox last winter, only to miss quite a bit of time after fracturing his pinkie during a bench-clearing brawl with the Royals in April.  Still, Albers ended up posting a very impressive 1.21 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 3.11 K/BB rate over 37 1/3 innings with Chicago last year.
  • Yakult Swallows right-hander Tony Barnette didn’t reach a deal with any of the five teams who met his $500K posting fee, according to a story from the Sanspo news outlet (hat tip to NPBTracker’s Patrick Newman for his translating tweets).  Barnette is set to return to Yakult, though there’s a chance the Japanese team could allow him to pursue a deal with a Major League team anyway.
  • The Mets will meet with lefty Jerry Blevins’ agent during the Winter Meetings, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin reports.  Assistant GM John Ricco confirmed the club’s interest in re-signing Blevins and expects it will take a Major League contract to get the veteran southpaw back in the fold.  Blevins pitched only five innings for the Mets in 2015 as a result of two forearm fractures — one from a line drive, and another suffered while slipping off a curb.
  • In another piece from Rubin, he hears from Ricco that the Mets weren’t in on O’Day or Madson due to their high price tags.  “We didn’t see ourselves playing in that top end where O’Day was,” Ricco said. “But I think that next tier, we’re going to be keeping an eye on….We’re going to meet with a lot of the representatives for the relievers here over the next couple of days.”
  • Part of the reason the Athletics agreed to a deal with Madson was because they can’t afford to land any of the top free agent hitters and thus have to “spend money where they can,” according to Rosenthal on Twitter.  The A’s are also still looking at more starting pitching as well, as evidenced by earlier reports of their interest in Scott Kazmir.
  • Before signing Lowe, the Tigers made one more try for Soria but talks went nowhere, MLB.com’s Jason Beck tweets.  The Pirates, another of Soria’s former teams, didn’t have any interest in re-signing him since the club prefers to build low-cost bullpens, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets.  The Blue Jays looked into Soria in the name of “checking options,” a source tells Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, but Toronto wasn’t seriously interested.

Five Teams Pursuing NPB Reliever Tony Barnette

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There are five major league clubs in pursuit of Yakult Swallows reliever Tony Barnette, MLBTR has learned. The 32-year-old righty was posted with a $500K release fee, as the club previously announced, with the 30-day negotiation window set to expire on December 6th. (Evan Petzold previously tweeted that Barnette was drawing interest. Click here for the applicable posting rules.)

Barnette went to Japan after spending his early career in the Diamondbacks organization. He reached the Triple-A level in his final season in North America, back in 2009, throwing 164 2/3 innings of 5.79 ERA ball with 6.6 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9.

He began his Yakult career in the rotation, but failed to produce in that role. A move to the bullpen in 2011, though, proved fruitful. Outside of a tough 2013 campaign, Barnette has been a quality — and, at times, dominant — relief arm for the Swallows. Last year, he worked to a 1.29 ERA and locked up 41 saves in 62 2/3 frames. In addition to striking out 8.0 and walking 2.7 batters per nine, Barnette permitted just 37 hits and one home run on the year.

As Barnette explained at the time of his posting to John E. Gibson of One World Sports, he is looking to “get my shot at pitching in the MLB.” He called the posting “a win-win situation,” explaining that he’d have a chance to reach the big leagues while making sure his former club gets some compensation for its investment in him over the years.

It’s certainly not a stretch to imagine a team deciding to take a chance on the NPB veteran with a major league contract. There’s precedent, after all. These days, major league deals for minor league free agents are increasingly common. Last winter, for instance, the Pirates gave Radhames Liz a $1MM guarantee after he had rebuilt his career in the KBO — though Liz did have to play for a year in the minors before he landed that contract.

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