Rangers Return Rule 5 Pick Jordan Romano To Blue Jays
The Rangers have returned Rule 5 selection Jordan Romano to the Blue Jays after the right-hander cleared waivers, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Having been placed on waivers Thursday, the 25-year-old Romano was offered to his previous club today and will rejoin the Blue Jays after failing to make the Rangers’ Opening Day roster.
Despite a respectable 3.86 spring training ERA, Romano has posted an unimpressive 6:5 K:BB ratio in 9 1/3 spring innings with the Rangers. Romano had been selected in December’s Rule 5 Draft after a solid 2018 season at the Double-A level, in which he posted a 4.13 ERA while striking out 125 batters in 137 1/3 innings. Upon returning to the Blue Jays, Romano will not be required to be placed on the 40-man roster.
Giants Return Rule 5 Pick Drew Ferguson To Astros
The Giants have returned Rule 5 pick Drew Ferguson to the Astros after the outfielder cleared waivers, Maria Guardado of MLB.com tweets. Ferguson was designated for assignment yesterday when the Giants acquired another pick in this past year’s Rule 5 Draft, Connor Joe, from the Reds.
Ferguson, 26, struggled in big league camp with San Francisco this spring, hitting just .111/.294/.111 over the life of 34 plate appearances. He enjoyed a strong, albeit somewhat shortened season in Triple-A this past year prior to being taken in the Rule 5, hitting .305/.436/.429 with 46 walks against just 61 strikeouts in 292 plate appearances. He’ll return to the Astros now and won’t be required to be placed on the 40-man roster.
Giants Acquire Connor Joe, Designate Drew Ferguson
The Giants have acquired utilityman Connor Joe from the Reds, per a club announcement. Righty Jordan Johnson and cash considerations are headed to Cincinnati in return. To open a 40-man roster spot, the Giants designated outfielder Drew Ferguson for assignment.
Both Joe and Ferguson were selected in last December’s Rule 5 draft. The former went to the Reds from the Dodgers, while the latter came from the Astros organization. Ferguson would be offered back to Houston if he clears waivers, but every other team in baseball will have a chance to step into his Rule 5 rights.
With a deal coming together at this late stage of camp, it seems likely that Joe has the inside track on a job in San Francisco — perhaps bumping out veteran Pablo Sandoval. New president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi is amply familiar with the former Dodger farmhand, having just come over from the L.A. organization. If Joe can make and stay on the MLB roster all year, his rights would move permanently.
Joe, 26, is a former first-round pick who had largely struggled until a breakout 2018 season. In 435 plate appearances in the upper minors, he turned in a robust .299/.408/.527 slash with a career-high 17 home runs and sixty walks to go with 88 strikeouts.
Ferguson is also 26 years of age. The former 19th-rounder put himself on the map with some strong offensive showings, including a .305/.436/.429 run in 292 Triple-A plate appearances last year. But he has struggled since in short stints in the Arizona Fall League, Puerto Rican Winter League, and Cactus League.
On the Cincinnati end of this swap, Johnson will give the organization another upper-minors arm to work with. He earned a call-up to the highest level of the minors after 15 solid starts at Double-A last year, but struggled thereafter. In 58 frames over 11 outings at Triple-A, Johnson managed only a 4.66 ERA with 37 strikeouts against 33 walks.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/14/18
Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Yankees announced today that they’ve acquired outfielder Tyler Hill from the Tigers in exchange for cash. Detroit had selected Hill out of the Red Sox organization in the Triple-A phase of yesterday’s Rule 5 Draft. Set to turn 23 in March, Hill spent last season with Boston’s Class-A Advanced affiliate in Salem, where he hit .254/.348/.312 through 498 plate appearances. Hill has just 14 homers in 351 professional games, but he’s swiped 93 bases in that time — highlighted by a 42-steal campaign in 2017.
- In another trade involving the minor league phase of yesterday’s Rule 5 Draft, the Pirates acquired righty Cristofer Melendez from the Padres, who had selected him out of the White Sox organization. The 21-year-old Melendez spun a terrific 1.54 ERA through 70 1/3 innings last season, though he did so as a 20-year-old pitching against vastly younger and less-experienced competition in the Dominican Summer League. He averaged 11.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 to go along with a 50.3 percent grounder rate.
2018 Rule 5 Draft Results
The Rule 5 draft begins at 12 p.m ET as this year’s Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, Nevada draw to a close. Those unfamiliar with how the draft works can check out MLBTR’s full primer on the event here, but the short version is that teams with open 40-man roster spots can select players with four to five years of pro experience from other organizations if said player hasn’t been protected on the 40-man roster. Players who signed at 18 years of age or younger but have five years of experience can be selected, as can players signed at 19 or older who have four years of experience. Each selection costs $100K, but it’s not mandatory for teams to make picks. Clubs must carry chosen players on their active rosters (or the major league disabled list) throughout the entire 2016 season. Doing otherwise would expose them to waivers, and they’d then be offered back to their original club. Teams can also work out trades with the original organization to keep the selected player in the organization but send him to the minors.
The Rule 5 order is based on the reverse order of last season’s standings. You can find Baseball America’s preview of the festivities right here. Here are this year’s results:
First Round
1. Orioles — Richie Martin, INF (Athletics)
2. Royals — Sam McWilliams, RHP (Rays)
3. White Sox — Jordan Romano, RHP (Blue Jays); acquired by Rangers
4. Marlins — Riley Ferrell, RHP (Astros)
5. Tigers — Reed Garrett, RHP (Rangers)
6. Padres — full 40-man
7. Reds — Connor Joe, INF/OF (Dodgers)
8. Rangers — Chris Ellis, RHP (Cardinals); acquired by Royals
9. Giants — Travis Bergen, LHP (Blue Jays)
10. Blue Jays — Elvis Luciano, RHP (Royals)
11. Mets — Kyle Dowdy, RHP (Indians)
12. Twins — full 40-man
13. Phillies — Drew Jackson, INF (Dodgers); acquired by Orioles for international draft bonus capacity
14. Angels — pass
15. Diamondbacks — Nick Green, RHP (Yankees)
16. Nationals — pass
17. Pirates — pass
18. Cardinals — full 40-man
19. Mariners — Brandon Brennan, RHP (Rockies)
20. Braves — pass
21. Rays — full 40-man
22. Rockies — pass
23. Indians — pass
24. Dodgers — full 40-man
25. Cubs — pass
26. Brewers — pass
27. Athletics — pass
28. Yankees — full 40-man
29. Astros — pass
30. Red Sox — pass
Quick Hits: Padres, Rule 5, Twins
The San Diego Padres were busy this week in shaping their 40-man roster ahead of December’s Rule 5 draft. The release of former prospect Cory Spangenberg and Christian Villanueva’s transpacific journey to the Yomiuiri Giants prefaced further roster reshaping via a pair of minor-league swaps. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen reviews the prospects in those deals and others involved in swaps from this past week: Walker Lockett, Ignacio Feliz, Colten Brewer, Esteban Quiroz, Rowan Wick, Jason Vosler, Jordan Foley, Jefry Valdez and Tanner Anderson. While these moves appear minor, many of these players will have the opportunity to make an impact for pennant contenders next fall if they can impress their new gatekeepers in Cleveland, Colorado, New York, Boston and Chicago, respectively. Further Rule 5 news and more from around the league…
- MLB.com picks intriguing candidates that could be selected from each team in December’s Rule 5 draft. Though it requires patience and a roster spot, the Rule 5 draft has been a viable resource in team building, especially for worst to first hopefuls who are closer to the former than the latter. Notably, the Cubs and Astros, two recent exemplars of roster renovation, each took advantage of the process by snatching players (Hector Rondon and Marwin Gonzalez, respectively) who made significant contributions to their title campaigns.
- By the middle of last season, Twins’ chief baseball officer Derek Falvey was already preparing for the possibility that Joe Mauer might retire, per the Athletic’s Dan Hayes (subscription link). The Twins continue to explore every option at first base, including moving struggling slugger Miguel Sano from third to first. One path they are unlikely to traverse is trading for a one-year rental like Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt. The focus of the 2019 season in Minnesota will be as much about monitoring the rebound efforts of Sano and center fielder Byron Buxton as making a push for the playoffs, and with such uncertainty around their two high-ceiling stars, Falvey and company aren’t ready for an all-in move like trading for Arizona’s All-Star first baseman. Still, seeking a multi-year option at first base does not equate to youth, necessarily, as they are open to players like Carlos Santana or recently-DFAed C.J. Cron, each of whom would have two years of team control if acquired.
- Elsewhere around the infield, the Twins are open to engaging Jorge Polanco‘s positional flexibility as well. Polanco and Sano are currently penciled in at shortstop and third base, but that could change depending on their offseason acquisitions. For now, they are in the market for an offensive-minded second baseman, in which case Polanco would stay at short. There are more than a few viable short-term options on the free agent market to keep second base warm for prospect Nick Gordon, who was recently added to the 40-man roster. You can check out MLBTR’s full Offseason Outlook for the Twins here.
- In the dugout, Bill Evers rounds out Rocco Baldelli‘s staff as the major league catching coach. Evers, 64, is a 30-year coaching veteran with experience as a bench coach, manager, and minor-league field coordinator. He managed Baldelli when he was a player in Triple-A back in 2002, a relationship redolent of Alex Cora‘s hiring of Ron Roenicke as his bench coach. Roenicke, too, managed his future helmsman when Cora was a prospect coming up in the Dodgers system.
Deadline To Set 40-Man Rosters Before Rule 5 Draft Is Tonight
The deadline for Major League teams to set their 40-man rosters in advance of next month’s Rule 5 Draft is tonight at 8pm ET. As such, baseball fans should expect to see a flurry of activity over the next 11 hours. There will be likely be players designated for assignment, outrighted and claimed off waivers in addition to multiple smaller-scale trades as teams make room on their own 40-man rosters and also pick up fringe 40-man candidates out of other organizations.
The Rule 5 Draft will take place on the final day of next month’s Winter Meetings (Dec. 13) and allow clubs with open space on the 40-man roster to select certain players not on the 40-man roster out of other organizations. Rule 5 eligibility is dependent on the age at which a player signed and that player’s experience.
A player that signed at 18 years of age or younger and has five seasons of pro ball with is Rule 5 eligible if he is not added to the 40-man roster today. Players that signed at 19 or older and have four seasons of professional experience are also eligible to be selected if they’re not added to the 40-man roster today. (In other words, college draftees out of the 2015 class, high school draftees out of the 2014 class and most international amateurs signed in the 2014-15 international period are eligible this year if not protected.)
MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo has a rundown of the players in each team’s top 30 prospect rankings who need to be protected today or else be exposed to potential Rule 5 selection. Of particular note, eight prospects who find themselves on MLB.com’s top 100 prospect rankings need protection, though there’s virtually no chance that any from that bunch are left off their respective rosters. Readers will also want to check out an exhaustive team-by-team look at some candidates to be added to each team’s 40-man roster, courtesy of Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource, as well as a team-by-team look at each club’s decisions from the staff over at Baseball America.
Here’s a quick rundown of the number of open 40-man spaces each team presently has to work with as of this morning:
American League West
- Astros: 5 open spots (depth chart)
- Angels: 2 open spots (depth chart)
- Mariners: 6 open spots (depth chart)
- Rangers: 6 open spots (depth chart)
- Athletics: 6 open spots (depth chart)
American League Central
- Indians: 4 open spots (depth chart)
- Twins: 2 open spots (depth chart)
- Royals: 3 open spots (depth chart)
- White Sox: 5 open spots (depth chart)
- Tigers: 1 open spot (depth chart)
American League East
- Red Sox: 5 open spots (depth chart)
- Yankees: 2 open spots (depth chart)
- Rays: 1 open spots (depth chart)
- Orioles: Full roster (depth chart)
- Blue Jays: 5 open spots (depth chart)
National League West
- Dodgers: 2 open spots (depth chart)
- D-backs: 5 open spots (depth chart)
- Rockies: 3 open spots (depth chart)
- Padres: Full roster (depth chart)
- Giants: 6 open spots (depth chart)
National League Central
- Cubs: 1 open spot (depth chart)
- Brewers: 3 open spots (depth chart)
- Cardinals: 2 open spots (depth chart)
- Pirates: 3 open spots (depth chart)
- Reds: 2 open spots (depth chart)
National League East
- Nationals: 3 open spots (depth chart)
- Mets: 2 open spots (depth chart)
- Braves: 4 open spots (depth chart)
- Marlins: 5 open spots (depth chart)
- Phillies: 6 open spots (depth chart)
Quick Hits: Stroman, Goldschmidt, Orioles, Mariners
The Toronto Blue Jays have not had any serious trade discussions regarding staff ace Marcus Stroman, per the MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). That does not mean, however, that teams haven’t asked. The Reds, in particular, are one team with noted interest in the Jays’ right-hander. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as the Reds have a well-documented mandate to add pitching this winter. For the Jays, to move Stroman now would definitely be selling low. Coming off back-to-back 200-inning efforts in 2016 and 2017, Stroman labored through only 102 1/3 innings in 2018, with 6.8 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 5.54 ERA in nineteen starts. He twice went on the disabled list, including a six-week stint for shoulder fatigue in May. As the winter action continues to wind up, keep warm with some quick hits from around the league…
- Yesterday’s report that the Diamondbacks were “aggressively shopping” ace Zack Greinke speaks to the current challenge facing Arizona GM Mike Hazen. The greater existential hurdle that Hazen needs to clear this winter is the question of whether to trade star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan portends Hazen’s future through the eyes of two men who have been there before: Pirates GM Neal Huntington and Royals GM Dayton Moore, each of whom faced a similar crisis point for their respective franchises. What makes the Diamondbacks situation unique, of course, is both the quality of their star and the quality of their competition. With current juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers firmly atop the division, and the best farm system in baseball lurking in San Diego, the Diamondbacks have a tough row to hoe no matter which route they take. The consensus “smart baseball move” is to trade him, but there’s more than just baseball to consider in trading a club icon as locally popular as Goldschmidt. No doubt Hazen is staring down the decision that will define his tenure in Arizona.
- This Tuesday, November 20th is the deadline for teams to set their 40-man rosters ahead of the Rule 5 draft in December. That doesn’t give new Orioles GM Mike Elias a ton of time to acclimate himself to the Orioles’ farm system. While other teams are finalizing the decisions they’ve had months to ponder, Elias will have to hit the ground running with deadline decisions to clean up his 40-man roster. It’s likely the Orioles will make at least one selection in December’s upcoming draft – which requires opening up a spot on the currently-full 40-man roster. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com takes a look at some of the players that could be on the chopping block. Veteran backstop Caleb Joseph is one DFA candidate, as is injury-prone catcher Andrew Susac. It should be noted, Elias has until November 30th to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players, giving Elias some extra time to decide on a player like shortstop Tim Beckham. The urgency before Tuesday is in protecting anyone likely to be poached by another organization, such as right-hander Dillon Tate, catcher Martin Cervenka or left-handed pitcher Luis Gonzalez. Tate is the likeliest of the bunch to be protected, as the Orioles probably won’t want to risk losing the 24-year-old just a few months after acquiring him from the Yankees in the Zach Britton trade.
- Seattle team chairman and CEO John Stanton sent an email to Mariners’ employees on Friday regarding the recent allegations brought against the team by former employee Dr. Lorena Martin, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. In the letter, Stanton calls the allegations “disturbing” and “totally unexpected,” while also claiming progress “in reshaping our organization’s culture.” Nevertheless, an internal investigation conducted by the team’s human resources and legal departments determined Martin’s allegations to be unfounded. The MLB is conducting their own investigation into the matter, which is still pending.
AL Notes: Verlander, McCullers Jr., Orioles
Justin Verlander doesn’t plan on shutting it down any time soon, it seems. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle quotes Verlander in a tweet: “I’m going to play until the wheels fall off.” In 2018, Verlander surpassed 200 innings and 200 strikeouts for the third straight season while accumulating 6.8 fWAR and achieving a career-best 3.03 xFIP. In other words, the wheels are secure. Verlander’s current deal runs one more season in Houston at $28MM, after which he will become a free agent in advance of his age-37 season.
More from around the American League…
- In another quote posted by Rome (via Twitter), starter Lance McCullers Jr. suggests that he and the Astros will be examining the state of his current health in the next couple of weeks. With rumblings about his arm health, McCullers addressed a potential injury by admitting that he’s “been pitching through some stuff.” The 25-year-old McCullers has never started more than 22 games in a season, but nevertheless he’s been a valuable swingman for Houston’s recent playoff runs, starting three postseason games while pitching in relief seven times over the past two Octobers. McCullers is arbitration eligible for the second time this offseason, though as a Super Two player, he is not due to be a free agent until after the 2021 season.
- It’s not the sexiest of front office work, but the Orioles face a significant challenge in shaping their 40-man roster in advance of the Nov. 30 non-tender deadline. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com notes (via Twitter) that the 40-man roster, currently full, will require some finagling to open a minimum of four spots for pitchers Dillon Tate, Luis Gonzalez, Branden Kline, and catcher Martin Cervenka. Additionally, there are five other players currently on the O’s 60-day DL who will need to be added back to the 40-man if Baltimore wants to keep them. Those players – Richard Bleier, Pedro Araujo, Gabriel Ynoa, Mark Trumbo, and Austin Hays – figure to make the roster, with Ynoa being the most likely of the group to be let go. One spot should open when Adam Jones files for free agency, but that still leaves eight players Baltimore will need to non-tender, trade, or waive prior to December’s Rule 5 draft.
Each Team’s Offseason 40-Man Roster Status, Free Agents
The 2018 playoffs are underway! For some baseball fans, that means cheering on your favorite team or just watching some exciting baseball games. For others, including myself, the offseason can’t get here soon enough because we have no rooting interest and/or just really love free agency and trade rumors.
Once the offseason begins, things will move quickly. A five-day window following the conclusion of the World Series allows for teams to have exclusive negotiating rights with their own pending free agents. By the time that window closes, teams will have reinstated players from the 60-day disabled list or restricted list, and all contract options will have been exercised or declined. Players with an opt-out clause will also have made their decision on whether to stay or become a free agent.
Since several teams will be above the 40-man roster limit once players are reinstated, there will be a flurry of transactions — mostly minor trades and players being designated for assignment or outrighted — prior to the start of the free agency period. These first rounds of cuts are usually not difficult. Typically, teams have at least a few relievers or bench players who are expendable because they are buried on the depth chart and not expected to play an integral role on the MLB roster in the foreseeable future.
Freeing up spots to prepare for December’s Rule 5 draft, however, will be much more challenging. For example, the Padres, who will need to clear two spots initially, could have as many as six or seven prospects that they’ll want to add to the 40-man roster. The front office might need to get creative in order to clear several more spots by the deadline to set the 40-man roster (usually around November 20th). I’ll be discussing this more in a few weeks.
Each team’s roster total (after reinstatements and the departure of free agents) is listed below to show how many spots will need to be cleared or how much space the team will have at the start of the free agency period. The Angels lead with 45, meaning they will have to remove five players from their 40-man roster. The Diamondbacks currently have the most space with 32, although they have one obvious club option to be exercised.
*These numbers will continue to be updated through the first week of November.