Mariners catcher Jesus Sucre suffered a fractured fibula this weekend playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, the Mariners confirmed to Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. (Venezuelan journalist Marcos Grunfeld first reported the injury.) The 27-year-old Sucre received a career-high 142 plate appearances last season, serving as a backup catcher in Seattle. The offseason additions of Chris Iannetta and Steve Clevenger make it unlikely that Sucre would’ve broken camp with the Mariners, but the fact that he may miss the beginning of Spring Training, per Dutton, clouds his role with the club even further. Sucre is a lifetime .178/.206/.229 hitter in 235 plate appearances at the Major League level. While his bat is light, Sucre has caught 40 percent of potential base-stealers in his big league career and rated as a well above-average pitch framer in 2015.
Mariners Rumors
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/16/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.
- The Mariners’ deal with Travis Ishikawa appears to have fallen apart, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News-Tribune tweets. The Mariners had agreed to a minor-league deal with first baseman and corner outfielder Travis Ishikawa, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo wrote (Twitter links). The deal would pay Ishikawa $900K if he were in the Majors. Ishikawa, a surprising 2014 postseason hero, played sparingly with the Pirates and Giants in 2015, missing time due to back issues and hitting .267/.337/.420 in 169 plate appearances in the minor leagues. The 32-year-old has a career .852 OPS at the Triple-A level, but he’s collected more than 174 big-league plate appearances in only one season in his career.
- The Cubs have signed utilityman Kristopher Negron and catcher Tim Federowicz to minor-league deals, tweets Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. After a promising 2014 season in Cincinnati, the 29-year-old Negron flopped in 2015, batting .140/.238/.161 in 107 plate appearances. He did, however, play every position but pitcher and catcher, potentially making him an interesting bench piece if he can recover his hitting stroke. The 28-year-old Federowicz missed most of the 2015 season with a knee injury. He had previously hit .194/.247/.300 in parts of four seasons as a reserve with the Dodgers.
- The Yankees have signed righty Anthony Swarzak to a minor-league deal, Eddy tweets. Swarzak, a longtime swingman in the Twins organization, pitched reasonably well in 13 1/3 innings with Cleveland last year before the Indians sold his contract to the Doosan Bears in Korea. Swarzak served as a starter there and posted a 5.26 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 — not terribly impressive numbers, but also not as bad as they look given how tough the KBO is on pitchers. His ability to start and relieve could make him a useful depth piece for the Yankees.
- The Giants have signed lefty Mike Kickham and righty Vin Mazzaro and re-signed center fielder Darren Ford, Eddy tweets. Kickham, who briefly appeared for the Giants in 2013 and 2014, struggled at Triple-A stops in the Mariners and Rangers organizations in 2015, walking 35 batters in 27 innings. Mazzaro held his own in 12 innings of relief with the Marlins last season but spent most of the year at the Triple-A level, where he posted a 2.70 ERA, 7.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Ford, now 30, spent 2015 at Triple-A Sacramento, hitting .261/.333/.403 and stealing 33 bases.
- The Padres have signed 2B/CF/SS Jemile Weeks to a minor-league deal, Eddy tweets. Weeks, formerly a regular with the A’s, has played mostly at Triple-A the last several seasons. Last year, he batted a mere .204/.297/.281 for Pawtucket in the Red Sox organization, although, as Eddy notes, he has a strong track record at Triple-A, with a .371 career OBP there.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Friday
The deadline for teams to exchange arbitration figures with eligible players is 1pm ET today. Dozens of arb agreements figure to flow in over the next few hours, and we’ll keep track of the smaller arb agreements in this post. All projections referenced are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz and can be viewed on the full list of 156 players that filed for arbitration this year. Remember also that you can keep track of everyone that has avoided arbitration by checking out MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker.
Onto the agreements…
- Shortstop Zack Cozart is in agreement with the Reds for an undisclosed sum, per a team announcement. He projected at $2.9MM in his second year of eligibility after a promising start to the 2015 season was cut short by a serious knee injury.
- The Diamondbacks announced that they have avoided arbitration with righty Rubby De La Rosa for an undisclosed sum. He was projected at $3.2MM but, per Jack Magruder of Fanragsports.com (on Twitter), will earn only $2.35MM.
- Reliever Fernando Rodriguez settled with the Athletics for $1.05MM — beneath his projected $1.3MM — per the Associated Press.
- Dodgers infielder Justin Turner will earn $5.1MM next season, Jon Heyman reports on Twitter. That’s just a shade under his $5.3MM projection.
- The Braves settled with reliever Arodys Vizcaino for $897,500, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets. He had a $1.1MM projection entering the fall.
- Both Zach Putnam will earn a $975K salary next year after agreeing with the White Sox, per a club announcement. That’s $175K over the projected arb value of the Super Two.
- The Cardinals settled with first baseman Matt Adams for $1.65MM, Heyman tweets. That’s a small bump over his $1.5MM projections. The team is also in agreement with right-hander Seth Maness, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Super Two reliever projected at $1.2MM but will receive $1.4MM, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (via Twitter).
- Righty Tom Koehler receives a $3.5MM payday from the Marlins, per Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The team gets a break on the $3.9MM that had been projected. The team also has an agreement with righties David Phelps and Carter Capps, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. Heyman adds (via Twitter) that Phelps will earn exactly his projected amount of $2.5MM. Capps was predicted to earn $800K, but his salary is yet to be reported.
- The Diamondbacks agreed to a $4.35MM rate with first-year-eligible starter Shelby Miller, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter. He had projected at $4.9MM. Notably, Miller comes in just ahead of fellow 3+ service-class pitcher Harvey (who is covered below). Fellow Arizona hurler Patrick Corbin will earn $2.525MM next year, Passan also tweets.
- The Nationals have agreed with infielder Danny Espinosa for $2.875MM, Jon Heyman tweets. He gets a slight bump over his $2.7MM projection in his second season of arb eligibility.
- Nolan Arenado will receive a $5MM salary from the Rockies in his first season of eligibility, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. That’s exactly what fellow star young third baseman Manny Machado settled for as well, though Arenado was a Super Two. As Swartz explained recently, those two players’ cases may well have been tied together despite some important distinctions. He also explained why Arenado might not reach his sky-high $6.6MM projection in actuality.
- The Orioles have agreed with starter Miguel Gonzalez for $5.1MM, Eduardo Rodriguez of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. Gonzalez projected for $4.9MM.
- Outfielder Chris Coghlan agreed at $4.8MM with the Cubs, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat tweets. That’s quite a nice increase over his projected $3.9MM. Also agreeing with Chicago was reliever Pedro Strop, who gets $4.4MM, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). He had been projected at $4.7MM.
- Both righty Michael Pineda (for $4.3MM) and infielder/outfielder Dustin Ackley ($3.2MM), according to Passan (via Twitter) and Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Those numbers largely track the projected amounts of $4.6MM and $3.1MM, respectively.
- Danny Duffy will play at $4.225MM next year after reaching terms with the Royals, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports (Twitter links). Catcher Drew Butera, meanwhile, will get $1,162,500 from Kansas City. Both represented small bumps over their projected values of $4MM and $1.1MM.
- Marlins closer A.J. Ramos will get $3.4MM in 2016, Heyman reports (Twitter links). Teammate Adeiny Hechavarria, meanwhile, will take down $2.625MM. Both first-year-eligible players went over their projections ($2.8MM and $2.3MM, respectively).
- The Mets will pay $4.325MM to Matt Harvey and $3MM to shortstop Ruben Tejada for 2016, ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports (Twitter links). Harvey approaches, but doesn’t quite reach, his $4.7MM projection. Though he’s still recovering from an unfortunate leg injury suffered during the post-season, Tejada will take home a cool half-million more than had been projected.
- Righty Joe Kelly has agreed with the Red Sox at $2.6MM, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. He falls a fair sight shy of the $3.2MM that MLBTR projected. Though he reached ten wins on the year, Kelly scuffled to a 4.82 ERA over his 134 1/3 innings.
- Righty Drew Hutchison agreed with the Blue Jays for $2.2MM, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter. He falls short of a $2.6MM projection after a tough 2015 campaign.
- The Tigers have reached terms with shortstop Jose Iglesias for $2.1MM, per another Heyman tweet. The deal also includes some incentives, per the report. That’s a healthy jump up over the $1.5MM projection for the slick-fielding infielder, who did have a strong 2015 season.
- The Mariners announced that they reached agreement with lefty Charlie Furbush and righty Evan Scribner. Furbush will receive $1.7MM, while Scribner will get $807.5K, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports.
- Both shortstop Jean Segura and righty Wily Peralta are under contract with the Brewers, per a team announcement. Segura gets $2.6MM after being projected at $3.2MM, per Heyman (Twitter link). Matt Swartz’s system pegged Peralta at $2.8MM, and that’s exactly what he’ll earn, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via Twitter).
There are plenty more after the jump:
Mariners Avoid Arbitration With Leonys Martin
- Mariners center fielder Leonys Martin has avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $4.15MM, tweets Heyman. Swartz’s model pegged him to repeat his $3.75MM salary on the heels of a poor 2015 campaign, though Martin’s playing time netted him a slight bump with his new team.
Mariners Acquire Joe Wieland, Designate A.J. Schugel For Assignment
The Mariners and Dodgers announced a relatively minor trade on Thursday that will send right-hander Joe Wieland to Seattle in exchange for minor league infielder Erick Mejia. In order to clear room for Wieland on their 40-man roster, the Mariners have designated fellow righty A.J. Schugel for assignment. From L.A.’s perspective, the departure of Wieland in exchange for a non-40-man player clears way for right-hander Yaisel Sierra, who reportedly agreed to a six-year deal with the Dodgers earlier today.
Wieland, who turns 26 next week, will provide the Mariners with some inexpensive rotation depth. The right-hander has already avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $590K salary with the Dodgers, who opted to give him that marginal raise despite the fact that injuries have limited Wieland to just 47 2/3 innings over his three-plus years of Major League service time. Most notably Wieland underwent Tommy John surgery in 2012 and missed the entire 2013 season.
To this point in his brief and injury-marred Major League career, Wieland has logged just a 5.85 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 39.4 percent ground-ball rate. He’s fared somewhat better at the Triple-A level, compiling a career 4.34 ERA while pitching exclusively in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Throughout his minor league tenure, Wieland has displayed the ability to miss bats at a reasonable level (8.2 K/9) as well as a knack for keeping the ball in the strike zone (1.9 BB/9). While there doesn’t appear to be an immediate place for him in the Mariner rotation — Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Wade Miley, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton and Nate Karns are all ahead of him on the depth chart — Wieland can function as Triple-A depth or perhaps compete for a slot in the Seattle bullpen.
Mejia, 21, saw action at four levels last year in his age-20 season, batting a combined .282/.346/.339 with 20 stolen bases. He’s shown virtually no power to this point in his pro career, homering just once in 528 plate appearances, though he’s also displayed a solid knowledge of the strike zone, walking at a 10.8 percent clip against a strikeout rate of just 14.8 percent. Mejia didn’t rank among the Mariners’ top 30 prospects according to either MLB.com, but Baseball America did rank him 21st among Seattle farmhands last offseason. In that same offseason, Fangraphs mentioned Mejia as a “player of note” even though he didn’t rank among Seattle’s best prospects, with former FG scribe Kiley McDaniel writing that Mejia was an average runner with “enough glove to stick at short and enough bat that it matters.”
Schugel, 26, posted a 4.84 ERA with 6.2 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 115 1/3 innings of work for the D-backs’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno this past season. While it’s a notoriously hitter-friendly environment, those results were nonetheless discouraging after a solid 2014 season at the Double-A level. He’d come to the Mariners by way of waiver claim after having been designated for assignment by the D-backs in order to clear a roster spot for Zack Greinke.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported that Wieland had been traded to Seattle (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Free Agent Notes: Rodney, Fowler, Davis
Here are the latest free agent rumors:
- The Diamondbacks have not been in contact with free agent reliever Fernando Rodney, writes Jack Magruder of Fanragsports.com. A previous report had tied Rodney to the DBacks, Padres, Blue Jays, and Cubs. Since then, we’ve also learned the Padres are out. Presumably, Toronto’s interest ceased when they acquired Drew Storen from the Nationals. After a late-season renaissance with the Cubs, Rodney should still garner plenty of interest as teams nail down the final components of their bullpen. Meanwhile, Arizona may opt to rely on their wealth of internal options headlined by Brad Ziegler and Daniel Hudson.
- Dexter Fowler’s market has been slow to develop, writes Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago. The center fielder is coming off his best season to date, although his OBP declined below his career average. Among contenders, Levine figures that only the Rangers, Mariners, Indians, White Sox, and Cubs are a fit (he also lists the Nationals, but the Ben Revere trade likely nullifies that pick). Both Chicago clubs could benefit from installing Fowler in center field. A reunion with the Cubs would require a trade of right fielder Jorge Soler – probably for high quality pitching – and it would allow Jason Heyward to return to his natural position of right field. Levine also figures that White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton is better suited for a corner outfield role.
- The Orioles have not made any progress in talks with free agent Chris Davis, writes Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore made a seven-year, $150MM offer earlier in the offseason and has seen no reason to submit a higher bid. While agent Scott Boras is selling Davis as an outfield option, Encina views him purely as a first baseman. To this point, no other serious suitors have emerged for Davis. Encina also cites reports that the Orioles are in on pitcher Yovani Gallardo, but those talks may depend on Davis.
Mariners Sign Ryan Cook
The Mariners have announced the signing of right-hander Ryan Cook, as Jon Heyman first reported (Twitter links). It’s a split contract that will pay Cook a $1.1MM base salary in the majors and $300K in the minors, according to Heyman.
Cook, 28, was a promising setup man for the A’s from 2012-13 but saw his control and ERA begin to trend in the wrong direction in 2014. Shoulder troubles crept up and delayed his start to the 2015 season, though, and the entire season would up being a more or less lost year for him. Cook logged just 8 2/3 innings between the A’s and Red Sox, allowing an astounding 18 earned runs (19 total runs) on 20 hits — four of them homers — and seven walks. Cook fared better in the minors, where he recorded a 3.16 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 in 42 innings of relief. He was traded from Oakland to Boston on July 31 this season, then claimed off waivers by the Cubs in November, though he was ultimately non-tendered.
Cook will come to camp with the Mariners, presumably, and compete for a job in a new-look Seattle bullpen that saw a spot open up today when righty Anthony Bass was released to pursue an opportunity in Japan. If he can rediscover the form he showed with the A’s from 2012-14, Cook will be controllable through the 2018 season as an arbitration-eligible player.
Mariners Release Anthony Bass To Pursue Opportunity In Japan
The Mariners announced on Thursday that they have released right-hander Anthony Bass so that he may pursue an opportunity with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The specific team with which Bass will sign in Japan has not yet been reported.
The move comes as somewhat of a surprise, as Seattle had only just acquired Bass this offseason in a trade that sent Tom Wilhelmsen, James Jones and Patrick Kivlehan to the Rangers. (Seattle received center fielder Leonys Martin in the deal as well.) While Bass wouldn’t necessarily have been guaranteed a roster spot with the Mariners, he seemingly was in a good spot to land a bullpen spot behind new closer Steve Cishek and new setup man Joaquin Benoit. The 28-year-old was eligible for arbitration and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to take home a $1.1MM salary in 2016, so Bass and his representatives at the Beverly Hills Sports Council probably received a fairly notable offer from the yet-unnamed overseas club. Typically, in these situations, the foreign team will also pay the MLB club some kind of cash considerations as compensation for releasing the player.
Bass spent the bulk of the 2015 season in the Rangers’ bullpen, working to a 4.50 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent ground-ball rate in 64 innings of relief. He’s totaled at least 27 innings at the Major League level in each of the past five seasons, with the 2012 campaign representing his largest body of work (97 innings, including 15 starts for the Padres). In 278 1/3 innings, Bass has a 4.40 ERA and has averaged 6.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 to go along with a 47.8 percent ground-ball rate and a 92.6 mph fastball.
West Notes: Henderson, M’s, Black, Dodgers
The baseball world is mourning the loss of former All-Star outfielder Dave Henderson, who passed away this morning at age 57. “Hendu” played for five teams over his 14-year career, including six years each with the Mariners and Athletics. He was the first draft pick in Mariners franchise history and spent a decade as an M’s color commentator on TV and radio after his retirement. The slugger was a member of the Oakland teams that won three straight AL pennants from 1988-90 and captured the 1989 World Series, and Henderson played a big role in that championship with a 1.129 OPS over 39 postseason plate appearances. Of course, Henderson’s most famous playoff moment came in Game Five of the 1986 ALCS as a member of the Red Sox, when he hit a dramatic two-run homer (with two outs and two strikes on him) in the ninth inning to temporarily put Boston ahead, and Henderson then drove in the game’s winning run in the 11th on a sac fly. That victory saved the Red Sox from elimination and sparked an unlikely comeback, as they then beat the Angels in Games Six and Seven to win the pennant.
“Hendu played just two seasons in Boston, but we always regarded him as one of us, and are grateful for the time we were able to enjoy his talent and infectious personality,” Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said in an official statement from the club. “Everywhere he went, Henderson made friends. He was a great ambassador for our game, and we have lost him far too soon.”
We at MLBTR send our condolences to Henderson’s family and countless friends around the game. Here are some news items from around the West divisions…
- It’s a lot easier to win when your team has a high payroll (and/or a wealth of controllable young talent), and as Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times writes, the Mariners are in something of a difficult spot since they’re a consistent mid-range payroll team that has a big chunk of their spending tied up in a handful of star contracts. If the M’s aren’t willing to spend more, Baker notes, then GM Jerry Dipoto will be doubly challenged to find affordable young pieces to fit around those core stars. Given Dipoto’s very busy offseason, it’s hard to say he hasn’t been trying to fulfill that exact goal.
- Giants right-handed pitching prospect Ray Black turned a lot of heads in the Arizona Fall League, Andy Baggarly writes in a subscription-only piece for Baseball America. Black’s fastball topped out at a whopping 104mph in AFL play and he also possesses (perhaps anecdotally) a 98mph changeup. Black, 25, was a seventh-rounder for the Giants in the 2011 draft who has battled a variety of injuries and didn’t being his pro career until 2014. Black has a 3.28 ERA over 60 1/3 minor league innings, exhibiting both some shaky control (6.1 BB/9) and overwhelming strikeout power (18.2 K/9).
- The Dodgers have been linked to both Wei-Yin Chen and Kenta Maeda in free agency rumors, and Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. Times looks at the pros and cons for the club of signing either pitcher. Whatever choice the team makes (if it goes with either starter), Dilbeck thinks the Dodgers need to address their rotation after falling short on a number of offseason pitching targets.
Quick Hits: Cespedes, Iwakuma, Payrolls, Gordon, Orioles
We at MLB Trade Rumors tip our caps to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, who announced today that he is leaving the newspaper after a decade of fine work covering the Orioles. Connolly’s name is a familiar one to MLBTR readers, as he has been a long-time source for Orioles information — just last week, in fact, Connolly broke the news that the O’s had agreed to sign Hyun-soo Kim. We wish Dan all the best in his post-Sun endeavors and selfishly hope he keeps writing about baseball in some capacity in the future.
Onto some stocking-stuffer news items as we head into the birthday of Hall-of-Famers Rickey Henderson, Nellie Fox and Pud Galvin, a.k.a. Christmas Day…
- Yoenis Cespedes’ market has been somewhat slow to develop, though “the Tigers appear to be sitting back waiting for” the free agent outfielder, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. Cespedes’ asking price may also be dropping as the offseason rolls along. Detroit, Cespedes’ former team, has been linked to the slugger on the rumor mill but Tigers GM Al Avila said during the Winter Meetings that his team was out on both Cespedes and Alex Gordon. That stance could change, of course, if Cespedes could be had at a lower price, though that feeling undoubtedly applies to more teams than just the Tigers. The Angels, Orioles, Royals and Giants have also been rumored to have some level of interest in Cespedes this offseason. Tim Dierkes predicted Cespedes for a six-year, $140MM contract while ranking him sixth on MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents list.
- The Mariners’ somewhat unique re-signing of Hisashi Iwakuma and his first contact with the M’s is chronicled by Fangraphs’ Tony Blengino, who was working as a special assistant to the GM in Seattle when Iwakuma was first signed by the club. Injury concerns have plagued Iwakuma throughout his career — in Japan, possibly scuttling an agreement to join the A’s in 2011, during his stint as a Mariner and a red-flag physical that caused the Dodgers to back away from a three-year agreement. Blengino also provides some interesting background into how teams approach physicals, as “there’s a fine line between being ’hurt’ and ’injured,’ and an MRI can find damage in just about any shoulder or elbow….It all comes down to the injury risk, in conjunction with the anticipated player production and dollar investment.”
- A club’s payroll figures consists of far more than just the salaries of the 25-man roster, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times illustrates using the Mariners as an example.
- Alex Gordon checks the boxes of everything the Royals would want in a franchise player, yet as Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star writes, the financial realities of a mid-market franchise make it unrealistic or even unwise for the Royals to splurge and re-sign the outfielder. As was reported yesterday, there may be “no chance” of a reunion between the two sides if the Royals’ best offer is only four years and between $48MM-$52MM, a dollar figure Gordon may end up doubling on the open market.
- Hyun-soo Kim had a “follow up” to his first physical with the Orioles that caused a delay in the club’s official announcement of their contract with the Korean outfielder, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports. Despite the delay, “Kim never was in real danger of failing his physical,” so it appears the O’s were just being cautious.
- In a separate item from Kubatko, he provides “non-update updates” on several bits of Orioles offseason business, noting that there haven’t been any new developments in the team’s talks with free agents like Chris Davis, Wei-Yin Chen, Yovani Gallardo or Scott Kazmir.
