Padres, Pierce Johnson Agree To Two-Year Deal
The Padres have agreed to a two-year contract with right-hander Pierce Johnson, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). The former Cubs top prospect will be guaranteed $5MM over the life of the deal, and the contract contains a team option for a third season. Johnson is represented by JBA Sports.
Johnson, 29 in May, spent the 2019 season pitching for the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he posted otherworldly numbers. In 58 2/3 innings of relief, he posted a 1.38 ERA with a 91-to-13 K/BB ratio (14.0 K/9, 2.0 BB/9). Unlike many big leaguers who enjoy overseas breakouts and return to find MLB deals, Johnson needed only one season of success to convince a Major League club that he was worthy of a multi-year deal.
Despite being selected by the Cubs with the No. 43 overall pick in 2012 and at one point ranking among the game’s top 100 prospects, Johnson pitched only a single MLB inning with the organization in 2017. He was booted from the 40-man roster in December and landed with the Giants on a waiver claim. He’d go on to pitch 43 2/3 innings with San Francisco the following year in 2018, although the results weren’t pretty. Johnson logged a 5.56 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 1.03 HR/9 and a 37.8 percent ground-ball rate out of the Giants’ bullpen in his lone season with the organization.
That limited sample represents the entirety of Johnson’s body of work in the big leagues, but he’ll become the latest in an increasing number of players to find success in either Japan or Korea and parlay that overseas breakout into a big league contract. This offseason, we’ve seen Johnson, Josh Lindblom and Joely Rodriguez cash in on multi-year contracts, just as Merrill Kelly, Miles Mikolas, Eric Thames and (several years prior) Colby Lewis did.
It’s a low-risk investment for any big league team to make, and the growing frequency of deals like looks like the beginning of a trend. Teams aren’t shy about mimicking successful strategies from other organizations, after all, and to this point there’s been a fair bit of success with this approach to talent acquisition.
From the player side of the equation, it’s a no-brainer, as most players jumping to play in NPB and the KBO — Adam Jones notwithstanding — are fringe 40-man roster candidates at best and will make significantly more playing in Asia than they would in a season of Triple-A ball (even with some occasional MLB promotions mixed in). And, upon returning, they’re able to sign seven-figure contracts, some of which even offer the opportunity to become a free agent at the completion of the deal rather than slotting back into the arbitration system.
Mike Clevinger Drawing Trade Interest
TODAY: The Dodgers continue to be “very aggressive in pursuit of” Clevinger and Lindor, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.
DEC. 19: Indians righty Mike Clevinger is drawing trade interest, per Robert Murray (Twitter link), although the team is said to have put a “crazy high” asking price on the soon-to-be 29-year-old. The Padres and Dodgers are among the clubs to have at least inquired on Clevinger, although there are quite likely others, given the sizable demand for starting pitching, the dwindling supply in free agency and Cleveland’s recent trade of Corey Kluber.
Interest in Clevinger isn’t much of a surprise. He enters his age-29 season with three years of club control remaining and a sterling 2.96 ERA with 10.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and a 40.6 percent ground-ball rate over the past three seasons (477 2/3 innings in total). Clevinger missed about two months with a teres major strain last year but otherwise hasn’t had a notable injury since undergoing Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer back in 2012.
The Indians’ front office is widely believed to be working with a slimmer budget this season than in recent years, as ownership has opted to scale back spending after reaching record payroll levels in 2017-18. That payroll preference was perhaps the primary reason that Kluber was moved — as opposed to holding onto him in hopes of receiving a better offer this summer — and it’s part of the reason that the club will at least listen to proposals on players like Clevinger and superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor. But president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have repeatedly stated that they expect Lindor to be their Opening Day shortstop; Antonetti reiterated as much in an appearance on MLB Network this week (video link). And while there’s been no declaration on Clevinger’s status, he’s likely viewed as a similarly vital piece of the team’s core.
Clevinger is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.5MM in his first trip through the arbitration process this winter, so he’s nowhere near as pricey as Kluber ($17.5MM) or Lindor ($16.7MM projected salary). And, because he’s controlled for three more years and his salary isn’t yet prohibitive (relative to Paul Dolan’s apparent spending preferences), one can imagine that it would indeed take a staggering offer to pry Clevinger from the organization’s grasp.
Elite prospects like Gavin Lux and Dustin May have been frequently mentioned in trade rumblings surrounding the Dodgers and Lindor, and it stands to reason that the Indians would have a similarly high ask to consider parting ways with Clevinger. While he may not match Lindor in pure 2020 value, he’s about 25 percent as expensive and can be controlled a year longer than Lindor. Essentially, fans hoping to see their club secure a talent the caliber of Clevinger or Lindor should make a list of the young, controllable players with whom they’d be most reluctant to part … and then expect that at least one and more likely two of said group would be at center of such a deal (in addition to some lesser prospects).
Latest On Hyun-Jin Ryu’s Market
There has been widespread interest in left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has become even more of a prized commodity since he is now the only starting pitcher remaining within the top 38 players on MLBTR’s list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents. The current field of suitors appears to consist of seven teams, as listed by MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link), give or take one unconfirmed team and, of course, the ever-popular “mystery team.”
Heyman’s list includes several teams who have been already linked to Ryu at earlier points this winter — the Dodgers, Angels, Blue Jays, and Twins. The “mystery team” could be the Braves (who are known to some level of interest in Ryu, though perhaps only peripherally), Heyman guessed, though he doesn’t mention the Cardinals, who were said to be considering Ryu two weeks ago. Since that report, however, St. Louis added another pitcher in Korean southpaw Kwang-Hyun Kim, who came at a much lower price tag than Ryu (though, obviously, without the MLB track record). With Kim in the fold, it could be that the Cards feel their rotation mix is set, and Ryu is no longer a target.
The other teams mentioned in Ryu’s market are two new faces, as Heyman writes that the Padres and “possibly [the] Phillies” could have interest. While the two clubs have yet to be connected to Ryu this offseason, it isn’t surprising that either San Diego or Philadelphia would be looking in, given how both teams have been looking to upgrade their respective rotations.
The Phils already made one big splash in signing Zack Wheeler to a five-year, $118MM contract. However, Wheeler is only one addition to a pitching staff that generated 7.6 total fWAR (23rd in the majors) in 2019. Wheeler and Aaron Nola are a good top-of-the-rotation pairing, though the remaining options of Jake Arrieta and two of the Zach Eflin/Vince Velasquez/Nick Pivetta trio aren’t terribly inspiring, given how these arms all struggled last season. Ryu would be a nice addition to any staff, but he would especially help the Phillies keep pace with the other loaded rotations in the NL East.
Since the Phillies already have a projected payroll (just under $205.4MM, as per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource) that sits just barely under the $208MM Competitive Balance Tax threshold, however, it remains to be seen if the club is willing to surpass the threshold for another star player like Ryu. Philadelphia was reportedly looking to be more “opportunistic” with their future signings to avoid the tax, though the team could take the one-year hit while staying in the first level of tax penalties, which is a CBT number of less than $228MM. Arrieta, Didi Gregorius, and David Robertson all come off the books after the 2020 season, so the Phillies could duck back under the tax threshold after just one year.
The CBT isn’t a concern for the Padres, though payroll itself is an issue, as the club has reportedly been trying to deal Wil Myers‘ contract for weeks. Despite having some level of financial limitation in place, San Diego has been looking for frontline pitching for over a year, mostly on the trade front given how the Padres have so many strong minor leaguers to offer as trade chips. The Padres have also explored free agent signings, and Ryu is clearly a known quantity after facing him for so many years in a Dodgers uniform. Adding an experienced veteran like Ryu to the young staff could make the Padres more open to move other younger arms (if not the trio of Chris Paddack, MacKenzie Gore, or Luis Patino) as part of future trades to bring salary relief, perhaps attached to Myers as sweeteners in a deal.
Ian Kinsler Announces Retirement
Padres second baseman Ian Kinsler has announced his retirement, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter; full article via subscription link). He’ll move into the San Diego front office as an adviser.
Precisely what will happen to the $4.25MM Kinsler is owed under the contract he inked last winter remains to be seen. That will be subject to negotiations between the team and its now-former player.
Kinsler, 37, says he simply decided it was “time to move on.” He wraps up a 14-year career with borderline Hall-of-Fame credentials. He tallied a hefty 57.2 rWAR in his career, tied for 140th among all MLB players, and logged overall statistics that put him ahead of some Hall-worthy second baggers. Now begins a five-year waiting period to see whether Kinsler will gain traction among voters.
Though it seems unlikely he’ll command a plaque in Cooperstown, Kinsler turned in an undeniably outstanding career — all the more impressive considering he was a 17th-round draft pick. He was a perennially above-average hitter who excelled in the field and on the basepaths. Kinsler finishes things up just one hit shy of the 2k barrier. Over 8,299 trips to the plate in the majors, he slashed .269/.337/.440 with 257 home runs and 243 stolen bases.
Kinsler will be remembered most for his eight-year run with the Rangers. While that tenure ended with some acrimony when Kinsler was dealt to the Tigers, he thanked the organization in his comments to Rosenthal. Kinsler ended up having a productive, four-year stint in Detroit before rounding out his career with brief stops with the Angels, Red Sox, and Friars. Kinsler picked up a ring with the 2018 Red Sox.
Of more immediate concern is the impact on the Padres roster. Kinsler wasn’t clogging up a ton of payroll space but would’ve occupied an active roster spot and commanded a decent amount of playing time. Now, the path is cleared all the more for recently acquired second baseman Jurickson Profar, who’ll presumably be supplemented by Greg Garcia at second. The Friars have an additional slot and some added financial flexibility to work with in structuring their preferred alignment.
Kinsler hadn’t been in the form he or the team hoped when he signed on this time last year. He managed only a .217/.278/.368 batting line in 281 plate appearances before his season was cut short owing to a herniated cervical disk. Kinsler says that malady also influenced his decision to call it quits. Though he wasn’t able to play to his typical standard or log his 2,000th hit in 2019, Kinsler did make his first and only appearance on the MLB mound, turning in a scoreless frame.
It seems that Kinsler is already preparing for the next chapter in his personal and professional life. MLBTR congratulates him on an outstanding career and extends its best wishes for the future.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Padres Sign Chih-Wei Hu
The Padres have signed right-hander Chih-Wei Hu to a minor league contract, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
Now 26, Hu fared respectably in the majors with the Rays over a small 23-inning sample size from 2017-18, during which he posted a 3.52 ERA/4.51 FIP with 8.22 K/9, 2.79 BB/9 and a mere 29 percent groundball rate. But Hu didn’t make it back to the majors last season, which he divided between the Cubs and Indians, and it wasn’t surprising when considering the trouble he had with the clubs’ high-minors affiliates.
Hu amassed 74 2/3 inning between Double-A and Triple-A ball in 2019, when he managed a woeful 6.87 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. Nevertheless, the Padres are taking a low-risk flier on Hu heading into next season.
Padres Sign Jimmy Yacabonis To Minors Deal
The Padres have signed right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis to a minor league contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).
Over his three MLB seasons, Yacabonis has seen action as both a starter and a reliever for the Orioles, though he hasn’t found much success in either role. The 27-year-old has a 5.75 ERA over 101 2/3 career innings (starting 11 of 55 games), with a 6.6 K/9 and only a 1.32 K/BB rate. Yacabonis has also been plagued by the long ball over the last two seasons in particular, with a 1.9 HR/9 over his last 81 frames of work.
Yacabonis does have a live arm and a 94mph fastball, so there’s little risk for the Padres in taking to him to Spring Training and seeing if they can unlock some potential in the New Jersey native. Yacabonis will see some familiar faces from Baltimore, as former Orioles coaches Wayne Kirby and Bobby Dickerson and former O’s utilityman Ryan Flaherty are all on San Diego’s coaching staff, and of course former O’s star Manny Machado is now holding down third base for the Padres.
Trade Rumblings: Lindor, Padres, Dodgers, Betts, Yanks, Schwarber
The Padres have at least kicked around the idea of attempting to swing a deal for Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription link). However, Rosenthal cautions that the superstar probably won’t end up in San Diego, which already has an enviable left side of the infield between shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado. In the unlikely event the Padres do wind up with Lindor, it seems they’d try to turn Tatis into a multi-position player (primarily a center fielder), though Rosenthal notes doing so could displease the 20-year-old and would likely receive pushback from his representatives. That’s important considering San Diego’s desire to extend the phenom.
On the plus side, in addition to picking up an elite player in Lindor, the Padres would keep him away from the division-rival Dodgers, who have been connected to him this winter. But the Lindor-related talks between LA and Cleveland have only been “preliminary” to this point, per Buster Olney of ESPN (subscription). The Indians, for their part, aren’t necessarily under pressure to trade Lindor right now – he still has two years’ control left and remains the best player on a team that has been a consistent playoff contender in recent seasons. That said, the Indians don’t appear to have much of a chance to extend Lindor, so perhaps they’ll be open to parting with him this winter.
Let’s check in on a couple more of baseball’s highest-profile trade candidates…
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported earlier this week that the Red Sox and Dodgers have had “exploratory trade talks” in regards to Boston outfielder Mookie Betts. The Dodgers have even included shortstop Corey Seager in discussions centering on Lindor and Betts, Nightengale relays. However, even though Betts only has a year of control left (in which he should make almost $30MM via arbitration), and even though the Red Sox are working to get under the $208MM luxury tax, it doesn’t look as if there’s any hurry to part with the former AL MVP. Instead, it seems the Red Sox’s preference is to trade from their starting staff, tweets the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who hears that they and the Dodgers “had virtually no engagement” in regards to Betts at last week’s Winter Meetings.
- More from Rosenthal, who writes that the Yankees’ years-long interest in Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber has continued. Nevertheless, there’s no momentum toward a deal as of now, Rosenthal adds. Schwarber has been a favorite of the Cubs’ front office, though trading him could be part of an offseason shakeup for a club that fell apart late in 2019. The 26-year-old slugger still has two seasons of arbitration eligibility remaining, and he’s coming off a pair of above-average campaigns, so he’d likely be difficult for the Yankees or anyone else to acquire.
Padres To Sign Kyle Barraclough
The Padres have agreed to a minors deal with righty Kyle Barraclough, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). It includes an invitation to participate in the MLB side of spring camp.
Barraclough has at times tantalized with his talent as a late-inning reliever, including a run of success to open his career with the Marlins, but he has been wholly inconsistent. He spent much of 2019 with the Nationals, who jettisoned him after 25 2/3 innings of 6.66 ERA ball.
After landing with the Giants, Barraclough allowed only a pair of runs in eight innings. But he also issued nine walks to go with ten strikeouts, continuing a career-long battle with free passes and convincing the team to allow him to reach the open market at season’s end. Now, the division-rival Friars will take a low-risk shot at getting Barraclough back to being an effective hurler.
Dinelson Lamet Hires MVP Sports Group
Padres right-hander Dinelson Lamet has changed agencies and hired MVP Sports Group as representation, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Lamet, who earned Super Two status and has four years of arbitration eligibility as a result, is slated to go through the process for the first time this winter. He’s projected to make $1.7MM in 2020.
Judging by the 27-year-old Lamet’s big league performance to date, he should be a bargain for the Padres next season. Lamet debuted in San Diego in 2017 and proceeded to toss 114 1/3 innings of 4.57 ERA/4.35 FIP ball with 10.94 K/9 against 4.25 BB/9. He wasn’t able to build on that promising showing the next year, though, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2018.
Lamet’s operation kept him off a big league mound until last July 4, but he flashed even greater potential upon his return. Across 14 post-surgery starts and 73 frames with the Padres in 2019, Lamet pitched to a 4.07 ERA/3.91 FIP with a fantastic 12.95 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9. Compared to his first year in the majors, Lamet saw his average four-seam fastball velocity (95.1 mph in 2017, 96.1 mph last season) and his swinging-strike rate (11.8 percent in 2017, 14.0 percent last season) markedly improve. Now, the hope for the Padres is that they’ll get a full season of work from Lamet in 2020, at which point the club will try to snap a 13-year playoff drought or at least finish .500 or better for the first time since 2010.
The change in representation for Lamet has been updated in MLBTR’s Agency Database, which contains agency info on more than 2,500 players in both the big leagues and the minors. If you see any errors or omissions, please let us know via email: mlbtrdatabase@gmail.com.
NL Notes: Giants, Bumgarner, Bauer, Manfred, Padres, Yates
The Giants “remain engaged” on franchise legend Madison Bumgarner, according to the last check of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman (link). Obviously, the word “engaged” can be taken to mean any number of things–ranging from casual contact to protracted negotiation. It is notable, though, that Bumgarner’s longtime team apparently hasn’t been scared off by the increasing amount of competition for his services.
Since November, we’ve heard the Twins, Padres, Dodgers, Reds, White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals all linked to the lefthander to varying degrees. It became clear that MadBum’s reps were seeking something in excess of $100MM after they apparently passed on a reported $70MM-plus offer from Arizona earlier this offseason. Recent ceiling-raising deals for Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole have likely only helped position such a nine-figure contract as a probable outcome.
More Saturday notes from around the NL…
- Add Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer to those critical of proposed changes from Rob Manfred and the league office. Well, perhaps “critical” doesn’t exactly do Bauer’s Saturday comments justice–perhaps “scorched earth” would be a better descriptor? “At least Rob Manfred is trying to ruin baseball at all levels and isn’t discriminating,” Bauer said on Twitter today. “Something to be said for consistency, I guess.” Bauer then asked followers what their “most hated Rob Manfred idea” was, before following up with a second tweet that characterized Manfred’s proposed changes as a “money grab”. While players should be entitled to their own opinions, it rates as newsworthy to see a public-facing employee criticize a central administrative office so, well, publicly. Whether other players share Bauer’s enmity toward proposed changes–which center around minor league contraction–is an open question.
- Although it still remains to be seen if his club will make a front-end addition to its pitching staff, Padres GM AJ Preller certainly feels like their Drew Pomeranz addition will help make its bullpen one of MLB’s best. “I think the way Drew pitched at the end of last season, what Kirby’s done the last three years and especially last year, we feel really good about the back part of our bullpen,” Preller said of pairing Pomeranz with closer Kirby Yates, as quoted in an article from Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. Interestingly, Preller also made some comments that, if we’re inclined to close reading, could be seen as something of a statement on Yates’ future with the club. “If that ends up being something that plays out for us over the course of Drew’s four years, and we have lights out back of the bullpen, that would be ideal, honestly,” Preller said. Yates only has one year of control remaining, and extension talks have seemed rather touch-and-go to this point. Preller didn’t mention the Hawaiian by name in the last part of that quote, and his use of the word “ideal” should also be noted; still, it does give some indication of how the team’s top baseball operations mind envisions the club’s pen in future seasons. Jeff Sanders of the Union-Tribune relayed that the club plans to resume contract talks with Yates after, in Preller’s words, the club gets “a better sense of where we’re at payroll wise, where we’re at roster wise” over the next few weeks.