Rangers Designate John Andreoli For Assignment
The Rangers announced that they’ve designated outfielder John Andreoli for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Shawn Kelley, whose one-year deal with the team is now official. Texas had claimed the 28-year-old Andreoli off waivers just two weeks ago.
Andreoli split the 2018 season between the Orioles and the Mariners, posting a combined .230/.284/.262 slash in a tiny sample of 67 plate appearances. He has a strong track record of getting on base in the upper minors, as evidenced by his .264/.371/.408 batting line in nearly 2000 Triple-A plate appearances, and he’s knocked 34 homers, 83 doubles and 26 triples in that time while also collecting 121 steals.
This past season in Triple-A was one of his best, as Andreoli got on base at a robust .397 clip in 388 PAs with the Seattle organization. He has experience playing all three outfield positions and has minor league options remaining, although this is also the fourth time he’s lost a 40-man roster spot since mid-August.
Rangers Sign Shawn Kelley
Jan. 29: The Rangers have formally announced the signing. Heyman tweets that Kelley will earn an extra $62,500 for reaching his 50th, 55th, 60th and 65th appearance in both seasons of the contract. It’s worth pointing out that Kelley has only appeared in 60 games once in his career, so the top end of those incentives could be difficult to achieve.
Jan. 28, 5:55pm: The two sides are in agreement on a one-year contract with a club option for a second season, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter links). MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that Kelley will earn $2.5MM in 2019, and his 2020 option is also for $2.5MM with a $250K buyout. As such, his total guarantee will be $2.75MM. There are incentives packages in each season that can boost his annual salary to $3MM, and Kelley has already passed his physical, Feinsand adds.
5:49pm: The Rangers are closing in on a contract with free-agent right-hander Shawn Kelley, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Kelley was said late last week to be choosing among three potential suitors as he neared a decision. The veteran reliever is represented by Frye McCann Sports.
Kelley, 35 in April, just wrapped up a three-year, $15MM deal originally signed with the Nationals (though he finished it out in Oakland). In the final season of that pact, Kelley posted a 2.94 ERA with 9.2 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 1.29 HR/9 and a 30.2 percent grounder rate in 49 innings — his third sub-3.00 ERA in the past four seasons. The interim season was an ugly one, as Kelley limped to a 7.27 ERA in 26 innings as part of a season in which he was hampered by a lower back strain, a trapezius strain and eventually bone chips in his right elbow — each of which sent him to the disabled list.
Texas hasn’t made much in the way of large-scale splashes this offseason, with Lance Lynn‘s three-year, $30MM contract and the trade of Jurickson Profar to Oakland standing out as the largest moves to date for president of baseball operations Jon Daniels. However, the Rangers have steadily added a bevy of affordable veteran arms on short-term commitments, with Kelley joining a list that also includes Shelby Miller (one year, $2MM), Drew Smyly (acquired in a trade with the Cubs), Jesse Chavez (two years, $8MM) and Zach McAllister (one year, $1MM). Texas also picked up veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera on a one-year pact to help offset the departure of Profar. It’s unlikely that all of those moves will pan out, but the bulk nature of value additions should yield some smaller-scale trade assets for Daniels & Co. this summer.
Kelley will now join Chavez and McAllister as somewhat new additions — Chavez was with the Rangers on a one-year deal last season before being traded to the Cubs, so he’s not all that new to the organization — who will hope to comprise a setup core for electric young reliever Jose Leclerc. Durability will be the chief concern for Kelley, who has never reached 60 innings in a Major League season, but he’s generally been a quality bullpen piece when healthy enough to take the hill.
Dillon Gee Announces Retirement
Right-hander Dillon Gee took to Instagram on Monday evening to announce that after a professional career that spanned more than a decade and included parts of eight MLB seasons and a season in Japan, he is retiring from the game.
Gee, who’ll turn 33 in April, spent the 2018 season with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but, prior to that, appeared in eight consecutive MLB seasons with the Mets, Royals, Rangers and Twins.
Gee’s most prominent role came with the Mets, his original organization, from the 2011-14 seasons, during which he was largely a fixture in the team’s rotation. Gee appeared in 101 games, 98 of them starts, across that four-year stretch and gave the Mets a fairly steady stream of reliable innings. While he was oft overshadowed by a series of vaunted arms who were emerging on the scene around that same time (e.g. Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler), Gee turned in 606 2/3 innings of 4.01 ERA ball in that four-year period.
Unfortunately, as is the case with so many pitchers, injuries took their toll on Gee following that run. Gee dealt with a blood clot that required surgery in 2012 and perhaps even more detrimentally underwent the dreaded thoracic outlet surgery following the 2016 season. He’d go on to return with better results than many TOS patients, pitching to a 3.47 ERA through 49 1/3 innings between the Rangers and Twins in 2017, though that also proved to be his last MLB action.
In all, Gee will retire with a career 51-48 record, a 4.09 ERA, 6.5 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9 over the life of 853 2/3 Major League innings. Though he’ll retire at a relatively young age, Gee still did quite well for himself in baseball, taking home north of $13MM in player salaries — a sum that most 21st-round selections can scarcely fathom.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/28/19
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Cubs have re-signed righty Allen Webster to a minor league contract, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. Webster resurfaced in the big leagues late in the 2018 season with Chicago — his first MLB action since the 2015 season. Webster tossed just three big league innings and managed only 17 minor league frames in an injury-shortened season. Webster posted a 2.64 ERA and 24-to-3 K/BB ratio in those 17 innings, and while most of them came all the way down at Rookie ball as he worked his way back, Cubs internal evaluators were clearly encouraged by what they saw based on bringing Webster to the Majors and now bringing him back to the organization for a second look.
- Left-hander Chris Nunn announced on Twitter that he’s agreed to a minor league pact with the Rangers. Originally a Padres prospect, the 28-year-old split last season between the Astros organization and the St. Paul Saint of the independent American Association. Nunn turned in a 1.80 ERA and a 23-to-8 K/BB ratio in 20 innings with Houston’s Double-A club last season, and he posted solid numbers on the indy circuit as well. Nunn garnered some attention when Rob Friedman tweeted out some recent bullpen sessions in which the lefty was hitting 97 to 99 mph. The Athletic’s Robert Murray tweets that the Rangers’ plan for Nunn is for him to open the season in Triple-A.
Orioles Claim Jack Reinheimer, Designate Austin Brice
The Orioles announced today that they have claimed infielder Jack Reinheimer off waivers from the Rangers. To create a 40-man roster opening, the O’s designated righty Austin Brice for assignment.
This move makes for a textbook example of 40-man musical chairs. Reinheimer was designated by the Texas club after previously pinging from the Mets to the Cubs and then on to the Rangers. Likewise, Brice was a recent waiver addition for the Baltimore organization.
Reinheimer, 26, has minimal experience at the game’s highest level. He has shown very little power in the minors but does have enough contact ability and plate discipline to carry a lifetime .344 on-base percentage. He has experience across the infield but has spent most of his time at shortstop.
As for Brice, who’s also 26, there’s a bit more of a major-league track record to go on. Unfortunately, he carries only a 5.68 ERA through 84 innings. He does, however, have a mid-nineties heater and 10.1% swinging-strike rate in the big leagues.
AL Notes: Tigers, Castellanos, Twins, Rangers
Given that Tigers slugger and trade chip Nicholas Castellanos has drawn little interest this offseason, they’re unlikely to move him until the deadline approaches in the summer, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press suggests. While the Dodgers have been prominently connected to Castellanos this winter, they’ve never seriously pursued the outfielder, according to Fenech, and now appear completely out on him after signing A.J. Pollock this week. Signs are pointing to Castellanos staying in Detroit into the 2019 campaign, then, and general manager Al Avila will need to be convinced the return for him in an in-season trade outweighs the draft compensation the team would receive by keeping the soon-to-be 27-year-old and issuing him a qualifying offer next winter. With that said, Fenech wonders if the Tigers would even risk offering a pricey QO to Castellanos, who may well accept it because his well-documented defensive troubles figure to tamp down his value on the open market.
More from the American League…
- Having signed Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop, Blake Parker and Martin Perez this offseason, the Twins may not make any more notable strikes in free agency. Regardless, the Twins are hopeful they’ll be able to lock up some of their in-house talent for the foreseeable future, GM Thad Levine revealed Sunday (via Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press). “Without getting into names, we’re actively having some of those conversations behind the scenes and we as a club would like nothing more than to be able to announce one, two, three of those types of extensions at some point here in spring training,” Levine said. Speculatively speaking, some of the Twins’ extension candidates may include Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios, Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi. Minnesota did try to lock up Buxton, Rosario, Kepler and Berrios a year ago, though the former went on to endure a nightmarish season that ended in contentious fashion.
- Arm injuries kept Drew Smyly and Edinson Volquez from pitching at all in 2018 and limited Shelby Miller to just 16 innings. That trio’s now primed to occupy 60 percent of the Rangers’ rotation in 2019, though, and GM Jon Daniels issued encouraging updates on all three Sunday, TR Sullivan of MLB.com reports. “All have clean bills of health individually,” said Daniels, who did admit there’s risk in each case and Texas will need depth behind them in the event things go haywire. Smyly, a 2017 Tommy John surgery recipient whom the Rangers acquired from the Cubs this past November, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016; Volquez’s most recent big league outing came July 5, 2017, owing to TJ surgery; and Miller, who also underwent the procedure in 2017, dealt with further elbow problems last season. Additionally, none of those three have been world-beaters when they have been healthy enough to take the mound in recent years.
AL West Notes: Astros, Rangers, Athletics
Astros owner Jim Crane said Friday that the team’s still interested in re-signing free agents Dallas Keuchel and Marwin Gonzalez, and president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow addressed that Saturday. The Astros “would, of course, love” to have those two back, Luhnow admitted, though he declined further comment on their futures. Luhnow did, however, reveal “there is a decent likelihood” the Astros will make another move, perhaps to pick up starting pitching, relief or position player help, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to trade top prospects to improve the Astros’ rotation. “I did it twice already. And I’m prepared to do it again,” said Luhnow, who swung blockbuster trades for right-handers Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole from 2017-18 and whose club has lost fellow starters Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers Jr. since last season ended. The Astros haven’t made any significant trades yet this offseason, though it hasn’t been for lack of effort. They’ve finished second or third in multiple deals, according to Luhnow, who noted, “We’ve tried and we’ll continue to try” (Twitter links via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com and Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).
The latest on a couple of Houston’s division rivals…
- The Rangers have spent big in the past, and 26-year-old superstars Bryce Harper and Manny Machado remain free agents as February approaches, potentially making either a fit for the club. However, Texas is not in position to make a splash on the open market this winter, general manager Jon Daniels told TR Sullivan of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. “We are probably a year away from adding cornerstone-type pieces,” Daniels said. “Our plan all along has been to get the staff in place, get this young group in place, develop them, put in our new systems and as we move into the new ballpark, kind of change the focus.” The “young group” Daniels referenced includes Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, Rougned Odor and Jose Leclerc, among others, Sullivan reports. While any of those players could be trade chips, it seems the current plan is to keep them around as the Rangers gear up for their move to Globe Life Field in 2020.
- Even after signing Mike Fiers and Marco Estrada in free agency, the Athletics may land another starter before spring training, according to general manager David Forst (via Melissa Lockard of The Athletic; subscription required). The A’s were quite reliant on utilizing the opener strategy in 2018, though Forst suggested both Fiers and Estrada will continue as traditional starters. As of now, those two are projected to join any of Daniel Mengden, Paul Blackburn, Chris Bassitt, Aaron Brooks, Frankie Montas or even high-end prospect Jesus Luzardo in the A’s season-opening rotation, per Forst. Oakland also has several rehabbing hurlers – including the trio of Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton and A.J. Puk – and they’re all making progress, as Lockard details. When healthy, some of those pitchers might factor into the A’s bullpen, a group that could pick up another left-hander, Forst revealed. The only southpaw reliever on their 40-man roster is Ryan Buchter, who excelled in 2018. Securing further catching depth is on the team’s radar, too, executive vice president Billy Beane stated (via Chris Haft of MLB.com). While the A’s do have a quality catcher prospect in Sean Murphy, who could debut in 2019, their behind-the-plate situation at the major league level is uninspiring. Their only 40-man catchers are Josh Phegley and free-agent signing Chris Herrmann, and those two haven’t done much in the majors.
- Meanwhile, although Athletics outfield prospect and ex-Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray declared for the 2019 NFL Draft earlier this month, the A’s expect him to report to camp. “There’s been nothing from their side that suggests otherwise,” Beane said Saturday (via Haft). Murray, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, may end up as a first-round pick in the NFL, which would seem to make it a long shot that he’d ever suit up for the A’s.
Rangers Designate Jack Reinheimer For Assignment
The Rangers have designated infielder Jack Reinheimer for assignment, as per a team press release. The move creates roster space for Asdrubal Cabrera, whose one-year deal with Texas is now official.
It has already been a busy offseason for Reinheimer, who began November with the Mets but since went to both the Cubs and Rangers on waiver claims. Originally a fifth-round pick for the Mariners in the 2013 draft, Reinheimer has appeared in 23 Major League games, racking up 40 total plate appearances for the Mets and Diamondbacks in the last two seasons. The 26-year-old owns a .275/.343/.361 slash line over 2805 career PA in the minors, and has mostly lined up as a shortstop while also seeing quite a bit of time at second base and third base. This versatility could make him a claim target once more, though if he remains in the Texas organization, Reinheimer provides the Rangers with some infield depth in the minors.
Rangers Sign Asdrubal Cabrera
TODAY: The Rangers have officially announced the signing.
TUESDAY: The Rangers have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, pending a physical, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal promises the Octagon client $3.5MM, per ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter).
Initial indications are that Cabrera will primarily line up at third base in Texas. With the team’s middle-infield duo already settled, that certainly makes sense. No doubt, the chance for regular duty was a large part of the draw for the long-time big leaguer.
Cabrera, 33, has spent most of his career in the middle infield, with the lion’s share of that time coming at shortstop. He has lined up at third in recent seasons, but still only has accumulated 471 2/3 frames at the hot corner — representing less than four percent of his total action in the field at the game’s highest level.
While Cabrera has at times actually drawn improved grades on his glove at short in recent years, particularly in the eyes of UZR, his range has long represented a major demerit. Since he’s otherwise a surehanded fielder, and clearly has the arm to work on the left side of the infield, suggests that third base represents a sensible position.
Of course, the calling card for Cabrera remains his bat. He has actually turned things up over the past three years, posting a cumulative .274/.334/.456 slash in that span that’s reflective of his best earlier-career campaigns. The switch-hitter hits for a high average, delivers a fair bit of pop (23 home runs in 2018), and has long succeeded against both right- and left-handed pitching (career .752 OPS vs. .759 OPS, respectively).
In many regards, this seems to be a bit of a bargain rate for a solid veteran who has delivered so much offense in recent seasons. Though he fell just off of MLBTR’s list of the top fifty free agents, receiving honorable mention consideration, Cabrera is younger than Jed Lowrie (who signed for two years and $20MM) and easily outperformed Brian Dozier (one year, $9MM) at the plate last year.
Trouble was, this year’s market (including free agents and trade candidates) was loaded with players who could handle second and/or third base. Among them, Marwin Gonzalez, Mike Moustakas, Josh Harrison, Derek Dietrich, Neil Walker, Logan Forsythe, and others remain available on the open market (in addition, of course, to superstar Manny Machado). As it turns out, Cabrera will land just shy of Ian Kinsler in total guarantee, though he’ll avoid handing over control of another season via club option.
With the move, the Rangers will fill the void created when they traded Jurickson Profar earlier in the offseason. Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor will remain entrenched at shortstop and second base, respectively, though it surely doesn’t hurt that Cabrera could step in at either position if a need arises. Slugger Joey Gallo will presumably range the outfield, though he’s also an option at third base if there’s a need.
In conjunction with some other veteran additions — veteran backstop Jeff Mathis, three starters (Lance Lynn, Drew Smyly, Shelby Miller), and reliever Jesse Chavez — the Rangers have certainly shored up their roster. Among those acquisitions, only Mathis and Lynn required multiple years, and none of the salaries represents a major outlay for an organization that has a history of significant payrolls and is readying for a new stadium boost.
All in all, there’s greater upside on hand than you might have expected, particularly if a few key young players can make strides. Still, it’s tough to see this group making a strong run in a top-heavy American League. Maintaining a reasonably competitive product won’t allow the Rangers to pocket cost-savings and draft picks to the extent they might have otherwise, but it should help boost revenue and fan interest in the near-term. It’ll be interesting to see how the roster reloading effort shakes out in Texas.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cuban Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez Cleared To Sign With MLB Teams
Shortstop Yolbert Sanchez has left Cuba and has been cleared by Major League Baseball to sign with teams beginning on Feb. 5, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs report. The 21-year-old (22 in March) will be subject to MLB’s international bonus pool system.
Sanchez’s stats in his limited professional experience won’t wow anyone — he’s a .297/.338/.345 hitter in 435 plate appearances — but McDaniel and Longenhagen nonetheless paint him as a likely seven-figure bonus recipient due to his raw speed, glovework at shortstop and arm strength — each of which are considered by scouts to be anywhere from above average to plus. Their report notes that scouts view him as the type of prospect who’ll typically command a bonus between $2-4MM.
Certainly, that bodes well for the Orioles, who still have upwards of $6MM in their international bonus pool after whiffing on prospects Victor Victor Mesa, Victor Mesa Jr. and Sandy Gaston when the trio signed early in the 2018-19 offseason (the Mesa brothers with the Marlins; Gaston with the Rays).
Of course, the mere fact that the Orioles presently have the most money at their disposal doesn’t by any means make Baltimore a lock to sign Sanchez. The O’s, after all, had the ability to make larger offers to the Mesa brothers and Gaston but did not ultimately ink any of the trio. It’s also possible that they don’t view Sanchez as a prospect who should command such an investment — or at least that they don’t like him to the same extent as another organization with millions remaining in its bonus pool. Beyond that, Sanchez could technically opt to wait until July 2 to sign, at which point bonus pools would reset and present him with a vastly larger list of suitors.
While Baltimore is the runaway leader in remaining pool space, McDaniel and Longenhagen write that the Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies are among the teams with the most resources remaining. MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez adds the Cardinals to the mix, noting that St. Louis has an estimated $1.85MM remaining in its pool. Sanchez pegs the Dodgers at about $1.4MM, the Phillies at roughly $1MM and the Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox in the $750-800K range. Sanchez will hold workouts for teams later this week in the Dominican Republic, per Fangraphs’ report.