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Shun Yamaguchi

Giants Option LaMonte Wade Jr., Reassign Scott Kazmir, Shun Yamaguchi

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The Giants settled on a trio of roster moves today, optioning outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr. and reassigning pitchers Scott Kazmir and Shun Yamaguchi to minor league camp, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle and others (via Twitter). Shea notes that the Giants roster is now down to 31. Wade is the only one of the three currently on the 40-man roster.

The Giants acquired Wade, 27, this winter from the Twins exchange for right-hander Shaun Anderson. While there was some thought that he could break camp as an extra outfielder, he hit just .195/.320/.341 over his first 50 spring plate appearances. As he is already on the 40-man roster, there’s a decent chance that Wade finds his way to the Majors at some point during the season.

For now, this likely means Darin Ruf will make the opening day roster, in part because of the enhanced degree of flexibility he affords manager Gabe Kapler, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). Ruf and Austin Slater look like the backup outfielders on the roster, though both can play first base as well, which will be important early in the season as Brandon Belt hurries to get himself back up to speed after missing part of camp. Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group notes that these moves suggest Belt will be able to get himself ready in time for the opener, however.

Kazmir, 37, was certainly a long shot to make the roster. He last pitched in the Majors for the Dodgers in 2016. He threw 15 innings in independent ball last season with a 4.20 ERA. He followed up that effort with two starts and two relief appearances this spring for the Giants, allowing nine earned runs in 8 2/3 innings.

Yamaguchi, 33, joined the Giants after being released by the Blue Jays. He struggled in his 17 appearances last season, finishing with a 8.06 ERA/5.09 SIERA. He recovered with a nice spring: six innings with a .150 ERA. The Giants will likely attempt to keep him in the organization for depth.

NL Notes: Nationals, Giants, Rockies, Marlins

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Teams contacted the Nationals about third baseman Carter Kieboom this offseason, manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Todd Dybas of NBC Sports Washington). Kieboom hasn’t found any success at the MLB level to date, but it’s no surprise rival clubs would have interest in the 23-year-old. Washington held onto the former top prospect, who looks like the favorite to open the season as the starter at the hot corner.

More from Washington and other Senior Circuit cities:

  • Stephen Strasburg had a normal offseason, he told reporters today (via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). The Nationals star right-hander was limited to five innings last season by carpal tunnel syndrome in his throwing hand. Fortunately, the procedure he underwent last summer addressed the issue. The former World Series MVP will be a key piece in the Nats’ hopes of contending in a difficult NL East.
  • Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi discussed the team’s newest addition to the pitching staff this afternoon (via Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic). Right-hander Shun Yamaguchi, who worked exclusively out of the bullpen last season for the Blue Jays, will come to camp as a starting pitcher. The 33-year-old can opt out of his minor-league deal at the end of spring training if he doesn’t make the team, Zaidi said. That’s a rather typical feature for non-roster arrangements.
  • When Rockies outfielder Ian Desmond opted out of the 2020 season, Colorado signed Matt Kemp the following day. With Desmond announcing his intent to sit out in 2021 as well, some speculation had arisen the Rockies could again turn to Kemp, who is back in free agency. Colorado manager Bud Black cast doubt on the idea, though, telling reporters (including Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post) the organization hasn’t recently discussed signing Kemp, even though Desmond had notified the team he was considering opting out a few weeks ago.
  • The Marlins signed Ross Detwiler to a one-year contract in January. Detwiler has started 95 games across his 12-year MLB career (including 12 starts for the 2019 White Sox). However, Miami views the veteran southpaw as strictly a bullpen option in 2021, manager Don Mattingly told reporters (including Craig Mish of SportsGrid). Detwiler worked solely in relief for Chicago in 2020, tossing 19.2 innings of 3.20 ERA/3.90 SIERA ball.

Giants Sign Shun Yamaguchi

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8:13PM: The Giants officially announced Yamaguchi’s signing.

10:44AM: The Giants and right-hander Shun Yamaguchi are in agreement on a contract, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The deal is likely to be a split Major League/minor league contract, notes Slusser.

Yamaguchi figures to come with minimal financial risk for the Giants, as the Blue Jays are on the hook to pay him $3.175MM for the 2021 season. The Blue Jays recently released the Japanese right-hander to clear room on their 40-man roster for waiver pickup Joel Payamps.

The 33-year-old pitched for 14 seasons in Japan where he owns a 3.35 ERA over 427 games, which included 50 starts and 191 games finished. He signed a two-year, $6.35MM deal to join Toronto ahead of the 2020 season. The transition did not go as planned, however, as Yamaguchi pitched to a 8.06 ERA/6.43 FIP over 25 2/3 innings out of the bullpen with substandard strikeout (21.7 percent) and walk rates (14.2 percent).

Blue Jays Release Shun Yamaguchi

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FEB 13: Having gone unclaimed, the Blue Jays released Yamaguchi, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter). They will nevertheless remain on the hook for the $3.175MM owed to Yamaguchi this season.

FEB 11: The Blue Jays have designated right-hander Shun Yamaguchi for assignment, tweets Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae. The team hasn’t formally announced the move, though it’s listed on their transactions log at MLB.com. It seems that’ll create roster space for last night’s reported waiver pickup of righty Joel Payamps.

Toronto signed Yamaguchi, 33, to a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $6.35MM last offseason. The former Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama BayStars righty had a 14-year run of success in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, working both as an effective closer and a high-quality rotation piece at various points of his career there. Through 1080 1/3 NPB frames, Yamaguchi notched a tidy 3.35 ERA (3.22 if you exclude his ugly NPB debut as a teenager) with 112 saves, a 23.1 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate.

The Blue Jays used Yamaguchi out of the bullpen exclusively in 2020, and the results simply never came through as the team hoped. The right-hander appeared in 17 games and yielded at least one run in 10 of those outings. His overall 8.06 ERA is skewed to some extent by a seven-run implosion at Yankee Stadium, but even setting that aside Yamaguchi’s ERA still would’ve clocked in north of 5.00. His 21.7 percent strikeout rate, meanwhile, was a bit below par, while his 14.2 percent walk rate was well north of the league average.

Yamaguchi is still owed $3.175MM in 2021, and the Jays will have to eat that salary. They have a week to trade him, run him throughout outright waivers or simply release him, though it’s difficult to imagine any club taking on Yamaguchi’s salary — particularly at a time when most teams have been overwhelmingly stingy about their budgets.

Blue Jays Notes: Extension Talks, Pre-Arb Salaries, Yamaguchi

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Let’s check in on the latest regarding the Blue Jays, all coming via Sportsnet …

  • President Mark Shapiro covered a variety of matters in a recent chat with the Writers Bloc show (audio link). Of particular interest was his discussion of the team’s potential young extension targets. Shapiro obviously wasn’t willing to address specifics, but did indicate that the team is inclined to reach deals where possible. On the possibility of extensions, he said fans can “assume we’ve explored it or are exploring it with every one of our young players that we have a strong belief are going to be good players and here for a long time.” Actually getting a deal done is obviously a different story; there, Shapiro spoke of negotiations as “sharing risk” for the future.
  • Most of the team’s top potential extension targets have little MLB service time, so they’re in the class of players that have no effective control over their salaries. As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports, the Jays were able to get agreement on 2020 earnings with all of their pre-arbitration players, rather than being forced to renew certain players who weren’t pleased with what was offered. (Contract renewals are a symbolic gesture but can impact a team’s relationship with a player. We discussed this in a recent MLBTR YouTube video.) While there has been some grumbling around the game, the Jays seem to have earned plaudits for enunciating and sharing a complete list of their salary offers with an explanation for the formula utilized in reaching them. You can find all of the specific Jays salaries in the above link. Budding stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio each landed in the $570K to $580k range. The MLB minimum for the coming season is $563,500.
  • Newly inked righty Shun Yamaguchi isn’t making things easy on his new club — in a good way. As Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes, the former Japanese star has worked through some difficulties to turn in a strong recent outing. As we explored recently, he’s one of many conceivable candidates for the fifth starter job. Nicholson-Smith writes that Trent Thornton remains the front-runner, but the Jays will surely be glad to maintain some competition and feel good about the status of their depth. Yamaguchi, 32, will slide into the pen if he doesn’t crack the rotation.

Al Notes: Thornton, Jays, Romero, Calhoun

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Some news and notes from American League spring training camps:

  • Trent Thornton is the favorite to claim the final spot in the Blue Jays’ season-opening rotation, reports Scott Mitchell of TSN. The 26-year-old actually led the Jays in innings (154.1) last season, but the results weren’t in line with what one would want from a staff ace. He posted a 4.84 ERA with slightly worse than average strikeout (22.0%) and walk (9.0%) rates. This offseason, the front office went to work on bolstering that pitching staff. They signed Hyun-Jin Ryu and Tanner Roark to multi-year deals, brought back Matt Shoemaker, and acquired Chase Anderson in a trade with Milwaukee. Another offseason addition, Shun Yamaguchi, figures to be Thornton’s biggest competition for the #5 rotation spot. Because of his experience in relief in NPB, however, Yamaguchi seems more likely to open the season in the bullpen, Mitchell reports.
  • Seeing that new-look staff in action will be a bit more difficult for some Blue Jays’ fans. Beginning this season, live Jays’ games will be blacked out on MLB.tv throughout Canada, reports Andrew Stoeten of the Athletic. Instead, Canadian viewers will have to subscribe to Sportsnet NOW to stream games. A subscription to that platform also offers non-baseball programming but doesn’t come with the MLB.tv advantage of offering live access to every MLB game in real time. It’s surely frustrating news for a certain segment of the Canadian fan base.
  • Twins’ reliever Fernando Romero won’t report to the team “for the foreseeable future,” manager Rocco Baldelli tells Jeff Wheeler of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. A visa issue resulted in Romero being denied entrance to the United States. He’ll now need to resubmit several documents to gain customs’ approval, Wheeler reports, a process that could take several weeks. It’s possible Romero misses all of spring training, he adds. A lengthy delay would be a blow to the 25-year-old’s hopes of earning a big league bullpen job out of camp. Long one of the organization’s top prospects, Romero struggled in 15 MLB relief appearances in 2019.
  • Willie Calhoun has a firm hold on the Rangers’ left field job, notes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. More importantly, it seems Calhoun’s found a better peace of mind as he enters spring training than he’d carried into previous seasons, as Grant explores. After some tumult following his early-season demotion in 2019, the 25-year-old has forged stronger relationships with many in the organization. Grant’s profile is worth a full perusal for those interested in Calhoun’s growth as a person and player.

AL Notes: Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rangers, Mathis

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Thanks to scandal-besieged Alex Cora’s firing on Tuesday, the Red Sox are in the unfortunate position of having to find a new manager as spring training nears. Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spoke about the situation Wednesday, telling Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and other reporters that the Red Sox don’t yet have an idea where they’ll turn for Cora’s replacement. Unsurprisingly, the Red Sox seem prepared to consider in-house and external candidates for the position. Bloom praised Boston’s current assistant coaches, calling them “an impressive group” and adding, “No reason to think that a number of them wouldn’t deserve consideration for this.” Meanwhile, the Red Sox haven’t yet asked other teams for permission to speak with their assistants. Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro – whom Bloom knows from Tampa Bay – has come up in speculation since Cora’s ouster. However, it’s “unlikely” he’ll be a candidate because the division-rival Rays may not permit Bloom to pilfer other members of their staff, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.

More on a couple other AL teams…

  • This has been a busy winter for the Blue Jays, who have made several notable acquisitions as they try to climb back to respectability in 2020. General manager Ross Atkins’ heavy lifting could be done, but the executive stated Wednesday that the team’s still open to another pickup that would make a “significant impact,” per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Atkins revealed such a move would more likely come via trade than free agency, but he cautioned, “Executing trades of significant impact is very difficult to do.” Center field is one area that could still use some help, Atkins suggested, while Nicholson-Smith points to a reliever and a utility player as possible late-winter additions.
  • To this point, the Blue Jays’ biggest offseason add-ons have been starting pitchers. On paper, they’ve greatly upgraded their rotation with the acquisitions of Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark and Chase Anderson. Those three and Matt Shoemaker seem like locks to make up four-fifths of the Blue Jays’ season-opening rotation. Shun Yamaguchi, yet another member of the Jays’ offseason haul, will get an opportunity to win a starting job, according to Atkins (Twitter links via Nicholson-Smith). So will Sean Reid-Foley, who divided his nine major league appearances between Toronto’s rotation and bullpen last season.
  • It doesn’t appear the Rangers’ signing of catcher Robinson Chirinos will put fellow veteran backstop Jeff Mathis’ roster spot in jeopardy. GM Jon Daniels said Wednesday that his expectation is that Chirinos and Mathis will open the season as the Rangers’ catchers, TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. If that proves to be the case, Jose Trevino will begin the year at the Triple-A level. But it’s possible Mathis, who’s due a $3MM salary in 2020, may first have to justify his place on the team in spring training. The soon-to-be 37-year-old has been a light-hitting defensive maven throughout his career, but his first season in Texas went poorly on both fronts. Mathis batted .158/.209/.224 en route to an almost unfathomable 2 wRC+ over 244 plate appearances, earned negative defensive marks from Baseball Prospectus and ranked last among position players in fWAR (minus-2.1).

Blue Jays Sign Shun Yamaguchi

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TODAY: The Blue Jays’ deal with Yamaguchi is official.  They’ve signed the right-hander to a two-year, $6.35MM deal, per Scott Mitchell of TSN Sports (via Twitter).

3:35pm: There’s a deal in place, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter).

2:59pm: The Blue Jays appear to be pressing hard to add Japanese hurler Shun Yamaguchi. According to Sanspo.com (Japanese language link), the sides are closing in on a two-year deal that would pay him around $3MM annually if it’s finalized.

If the sides wrap things up, the Toronto organization will owe the Yomiuri Giants twenty percent of the total guarantee as a transfer fee. Japan’s marquee organization formally posted Yamaguchi on December 3rd.

Yamaguchi, a 32-year-old forkballer, has had plenty of success in Japan’s top league as both a starter and reliever. Once a star closer for the Yokohama BayStars, Yamaguchi has more recently taken the ball to open games for Yomiuri. Last year, working from the rotation, he delivered 170 frames of 2.91 ERA ball with 10.0 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.

It stands to reason that the starter-needy Blue Jays will at least give Yamaguchi a shot at winning a rotation job out of camp. But the club could also certainly be in the market for relief help, so its intentions aren’t yet clear. Odds are the Jays are drawn in no small part to Yamaguchi’s versatility. He has plenty of experience locking up saves in NPB so could even ultimately be called upon in a high-leverage role if the circumstances warrant.

 

Blue Jays Notes: Ryu, Boras, Shapiro

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The Blue Jays have remade their pitching staff this winter with the additions of Hyun-Jin Ryu, Tanner Roark, Chase Anderson and Shun Yamaguchi. Along with the return on Matt Shoemaker and the development of Anthony Kay, Trent Thornton, Ryan Borucki and Nate Pearson, the Blue Jays have plenty of options for their 2020 rotation. It doesn’t come together, however, without Ryu at the top. With that in mind, let’s check in on some of the factors that brought the Korean southpaw to Toronto…

  • To remember the last time one of Scott Boras’ clients signed with the Blue Jays, he had to go all the way back to the mid-eighties. Bill Caudill signed a two-year, $2.37MM deal to play the 1985 and 1986 seasons in Toronto. Caudill is now one of a couple ex-clients to work for Boras. But until Hyun-Jin Ryu’s four-year, $80MM deal, the Blue Jays were one of Boras’ favorite teams to pick on, per the Athletic’s John Lott. It wasn’t personal, of course, Boras simply believes Toronto’s market should make them a top-10 team capable of signing top free agents while retaining their own homegrown stars – a trend he’s starting to see with the current Toronto regime. And of course, it behooves Boras to push potential large market teams to open their wallets.
  • As for Ryu’s choice to join the Blue Jays, the decision largely came down to where he wanted to raise his young family. That said, Toronto’s early and persistent interest also helped bring Ryu north of the border, per the Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath. Long-term security wasn’t necessarily a driving factor for Ryu, though securing a four-year deal for the 32-year-old certainly counts as a win for Boras. Team President Mark Shapiro spoke on Ryu’s importance to the community, saying: “It was more recognizing what an incredibly international city Toronto is, very aware of the Korean population here, both in students and business and what a tightknit community it is. And so feeling like it would be a great place for Ryu and his family to be and feeling like it would be a great synergy with Toronto and Canada, in general. That was a consideration — not a driving factor, but certainly something that we thought would make for a great alignment in the relationship moving forward.”

Mark Shapiro On Blue Jays’ Offseason

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Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro joined Sportsnet’s Tim and Sid (link to YouTube) to discuss the state of the team’s offseason efforts. He emphasized that “there’s still a good amount of offseason left” and suggested further additions are yet to come.

Shapiro acknowledged that the market has driven salaries higher than anticipated. In response, the club has “adjusted our threshold on players and gone … a certain percentage higher than we thought we would go.”

That still hasn’t resulted in any major additions, with Shapiro explaining that a variety of circumstances have kept the Jays from locking up certain targets. One particular challenge, he suggested, lies in convincing players of the team’s readiness to win games. That seems to present a bit of a chicken/egg dilemma, though obviously the organization hopes that its on-field output will improve from within as well as benefiting from new additions.

So what of the hoped for “significant additions”? Shapiro says the club has “already added” — a nod to the still-unofficial Tanner Roark and Shun Yamaguchi additions — and is “not done this winter.” (Shapiro suggests the club values Yamaguchi for his ability to provide rotation depth and “upside out of the pen.” ) But Shapiro acknowledged it’s less likely now than it once was that the club will install one major player, though he made clear he’s still holding out hope.

Shapiro asks that the organization be judged at the end of the winter and based upon the entirety of the roster movement that occurs. He believes there’ll be “significant” improvement by that standard when camp opens in the spring.

But Shapiro also left some unmistakable warnings not to expect too much. He cited the need to maintain “future flexibility” for a hoped-for “window of opportunity,” explaining that the organization must “grudgingly approach giving up that flexibility.” And when asked about potentially adding to the position-player mix, Shapiro used the opportunity to explain why the organization is hesitant to “give up” on certain players, proffering Teoscar Hernandez and Derek Fisher as examples.

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