- Before landing Adam Eaton, the Nationals approached the Rangers about a deal to acquire infielder Jurickson Profar, Rosenthal reports (Twitter links). Washington was reputedly interested in utilizing Profar at shortstop, which would have meant keeping Trea Turner in center field, but moved on when Texas requested righty Joe Ross in return. It’s certainly not clear whether the Nats would have preferred to work something out on Profar rather than acquiring Eaton, but it’s nevertheless interesting to learn of the discussions. If nothing else, it represents one of the first suggestions we’ve heard of a team approaching the Rangers about the 23-year-old, a former top prospect who is now one of the more hard-to-peg potential trade chips in baseball. He has been thrust into a utility role after dealing with significant shoulder issues, and hit just .239/.321/.338 in 307 plate appearances last year. Further, despite his relatively scant MLB experience (184 total games), Profar has already racked up over three years of service time. But the prospect pedigree is second to none, and he has shown flashes of his talent in the upper minors and (in stretches) in the majors.
Rangers Rumors
Rangers Still Interested In Colby Lewis
- The Rangers continue to have interest in a reunion with Colby Lewis, though there doesn’t appear much has changed between the two sides, GM Jon Daniels tells MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. “There is always going to be interest in Colby. There is no doubt about the man. No question there. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said. It’s more dollars and what the opportunity there is,” Daniels said.
AL Notes: Chapman, Yankees, Encarnacion, Astros, Tigers
The Yankees believe that the Marlins’ unexpected pursuit of Aroldis Chapman — Miami reportedly offered Chapman a five-year deal worth $87MM — forced New York to spend about $10-15MM more than they would otherwise have had to offer in order to finalize the deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Sherman also adds that the Yankees are still hoping to add a starting pitcher and multiple relievers (one of the left-handed variety), though the Cashman said earlier this week that he doesn’t anticipate adding a free-agent starter due to the high asking prices around the league (via Sherman’s colleague George A. King III).
More from around the American League…
- In an interesting read for Yankees fans (or for any fan, really), Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues examines the decision to re-sign Chapman from a variety of angles. Axisa questions whether the Yankees, who currently look to be a ways behind Boston in terms of expected 2017 performance, did the right thing in “paying a lot of money now to buy Chapman for the future” and notes the possibility that Chapman will be opting out of his deal just as the bulk of New York’s vaunted young talent is solidifying itself at the big league level. The move also flies somewhat in the face of the desire to get below the luxury tax threshold, Axisa observes, and there are of course ongoing public relations considerations due to last October’s domestic violence allegations.
- Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets that many in the industry still consider the Rangers to be the most logical landing spot for free agent Edwin Encarnacion. Texas reportedly feels that it doesn’t have the financial means to fit Encarnacion into the budget, but GM Jon Daniels and his staff have certainly made some creative value plays for free agents whose markets have crumbled a bit in the past.
- The Astros prefer not to move upper-level prospects in their search for rotation upgrades, GM Jeff Luhnow tells MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Houston has been asked about top prospect Francis Martes on numerous occasions, McTaggart writes, though Luhnow downplayed the possibility of dealing the right-hander. “The players we’re staying away from are the players that are probably going to start the year on the big league club and are key parts of the 2017 plan,” said the Houston GM. “Martes is a very valuable player, and very valuable players that are close to the big leagues get asked about a lot. That’s no different with him. It would take something significant for us to move him.” McTaggart also notes that outfield prospect Kyle Tucker is “generally considered untouchable.”
- The Tigers aren’t pursuing an Andrew McCutchen trade tweets MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. They’ve also yet to get involved with the recently non-tendered Ben Revere, tweets MLB.com’s Jason Beck. Detroit has a clear question mark in center field at the moment, but the team is also well-known to be striving to shed payroll and get younger. With that in mind, a pursuit of McCutchen never would’ve made much sense for GM Al Avila’s club, though Revere could be a low-cost option that would have plenty of surplus value in the event of a rebound from last year’s disastrous season.
Rangers Acquire Tyrell Jenkins, Brady Feigl From Braves For Luke Jackson
6:59pm: Texas has announced the deal.
6:11pm: The Rangers and Braves have agreed to a trade that will send lefty Brady Feigl and righty Tyrell Jenkins to the Rangers, according to reports from Tommy Stokke of Fan Rag (via Twitter) and Keith Law of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Righty Luke Jackson is heading to Atlanta, Law adds on Twitter.
It seems fair to characterize this as something of a change-of-scenery swap involving two similarly situated young righties. The 25-year-old Jackson and 24-year-old Jenkins each drew a fair amount of attention as prospects and reached the majors only recently. In both cases, limited exposure to the big leagues has led to questions as to whether (and in what role) they can stick.
Taken with the 45th overall selection in the 2010 draft, Jackson brings a big arm to the table but hasn’t yet found his bearings at the game’s highest level. Over 18 MLB innings in the last two years, he has allowed 17 earned runs on 27 hits and ten walks, while retiring just nine batters via strikeout.
Though he has shown swing-and-miss stuff at all levels of the minors, and delivers a mid-to-upper-nineties fastball, Jackson has also long struggled with control. He has walked 4.6 batters per nine in his minor-league career, and a full-time shift to the pen hasn’t really helped much. In his 46 1/3 innings at Double-A and Triple-A last year, Jackson issued 32 free passes, though he also racked up 59 strikeouts.
For Jenkins, who joined the Atlanta organization as a part of the Jason Heyward-Shelby Miller swap, the results have been good in the upper minors over the last two years. But that has come in spite of a lack of strikeouts and uninspiring peripherals. Last year, for instance, he struck out 5.9 and walked 3.8 batters per nine over 83 2/3 Triple-A innings. He did end with a 2.47 ERA, though, in large part because he limited opposing hitters to just three home runs.
The dinger suppression did not continue when Jenkins hit the majors. He was touched for 11 long balls in his first 52 MLB frames. Over eight starts and six relief appearances in 2016, Jenkins worked to a 5.88 ERA while allowing 33 walks and striking out only 26 hitters.
There’s another piece being chipped in by the Braves, in the form of the 25-year-old Feigl. An undrafted product of Mount Saint Mary’s University, Feigl has been limited to 72 1/3 professional innings — mostly in the lower minors — as he fought through Tommy John surgery. He has shown well when healthy, though, posting a 2.74 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rangers To Sign Cesar Puello
- The Rangers have signed outfielder Cesar Puello to a minors deal, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. The deal includes an invitation to major league Spring Training. Still just 25, and once a well-regarded prospect with the Mets, Puello spent last year at Triple-A with the Yankees. He didn’t flash much power, but reached base at a prodigious .413 clip in his 289 plate appearances.
Padres Interested In Jose Iglesias, Hanser Alberto
The Padres have asked a variety of teams about potential shortstop options, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets. One player who’s on their list is Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias, who Detroit GM Al Avila said yesterday was drawing interest.
Iglesias, 26, would give the Padres a defense-first option at shortstop, likely leaving the Tigers to entrust the position to Dixon Machado. Iglesias has two years of control remaining, and is projected to make $3.2MM this year through the arbitration process. He batted a modest .255/.306/.336 in 513 plate appearances last year, but, as usual, he produced good value with his glove, with an 11.6 UZR and +3 Defensive Runs Saved.
Cassavell adds that the Padres are still have interest in Hanser Alberto of the Rangers, who has lately been mentioned as a possible trade fit for San Diego for outfielder Travis Jankowski. Like Iglesias, Alberto profiles as a defense-first shortstop. He’s inexperienced, however, and hasn’t hit at all in his brief big-league opportunities, batting .194/.204/.226 in 162 plate appearances in the Majors. He is, however, likely quite familiar to Padres GM A.J. Preller, who was in the Rangers organization when Alberto signed in 2009.
Rangers, Pirates Interested In Tyson Ross
The Padres non-tendered Tyson Ross last week in lieu of paying the injured right-hander an estimated $9.6MM via arbitration in 2017. Now a free agent, Ross is looking for similar money – $9MM to $11MM – on a one-year deal, and that likely doesn’t include incentives, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
Having already added ex-Padre Andrew Cashner to their rotation this offseason, the Rangers have “done significant homework” on Ross, sources told Grant (via Twitter). A healthy Ross would fill out Texas’ rotation on paper, giving the reigning American League West champions a group consisting of him, Cashner, Martin Perez, Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels.
Like Darvish and Hamels, Ross has front-line ability, having logged a 3.03 ERA, 9.35 K/9, 3.58 BB/9 and 59.2 percent ground-ball rate in 391 2/3 innings from 2014-15. However, the soon-to-be 30-year-old spun only 5 1/3 frames last season – all of which came on opening day – because of shoulder issues. Ross underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in October, and the expectation is that he’ll recover sometime between February and April.
Along with the Rangers, the Pirates have shown interest in Ross, reports Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). While Ross would give the Pirates and ballyhooed pitching coach Ray Searage an interesting reclamation project, his health troubles could make his asking price problematic for the low-payroll franchise. Nevertheless, with Ivan Nova perhaps set to leave Pittsburgh as a free agent and 2016 innings leader Jeff Locke now a Marlin after the Pirates non-tendered him, the club has obvious holes in its rotation. Clearly cognizant of that, the Pirates have checked in on a few other starters – including Doug Fister, Jorge De La Rosa, Derek Holland and the Rays’ Jake Odorizzi – at this week’s winter meetings.
Rangers Could Add Another Center Fielder
- Manager Andy Green confirms that other teams have contacted the Padres about outfielder Travis Jankowski, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America tweets. We noted yesterday that the Rangers had asked about Jankowski, with some writers speculating about a deal involving Jankowski and infielder Hanser Alberto. Since then, the Rangers have re-signed Carlos Gomez, which makes their need for outfield help less acute. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson tweeted today, though, that while the Rangers anticipated Gomez would play center field for them, they were still looking for center field help. So perhaps Jankowski could still be a fit in Texas, albeit a somewhat more speculative one. The Rays could also be a fit for Jankowski, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.
Edwin Encarnacion Rumors: Wednesday
Edwin Encarnacion has seen a number of potential suitors sign alternatives in the past week, as the Astros (Carlos Beltran), Yankees (Matt Holliday), Blue Jays (Steve Pearce) and Rockies (Ian Desmond) have all signed players that project to see time at first base/DH with their new clubs. He’s the clear top bat in free agency, but his market is murky for the time being. Here’s the latest on the former Jays slugger…
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels says the team is unlikely to sign a top free agent like Encarnacion, MLB.com’s TR Sullivan tweets. “I don’t know how else to say it,” Daniels says.
- The Blue Jays don’t think it’s likely they can land Encarnacion, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm tweets. “If there’s a way, I don’t see it. I don’t think Paul (Kinzer) sees it either but we haven’t stopped trying,” GM Ross Atkins says.
- Encarnacion is currently in “wait and see” mode, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). At present, offers aren’t even in the three-year, $60MM range, according to Passan, although he quotes one GM that suggested that Encarnacion is too talented to see his market dip much more: “Teams shouldn’t overplay their hands with him, either. He’s too good for the price to go much lower.”
- The Indians and Rangers are both still talking with Encarnacion’s camp, according to ESPN’s Marly Rivera (Twitter link). Both teams have an obvious spot to put a highly productive first base/DH bat, though the price tag will be a significant factor, of course. Cleveland routinely deals with payroll constraints, and while they received a World Series windfall, it’s still difficult to envision them outbidding all other interested parties. And as for the Rangers, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the Rangers don’t currently have the available funds to land Encarnacion.
Ian Desmond Focused On One Team, Working To Finalize Deal Today
9:27am: FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Desmond won’t be returning to the Rangers, either.
9:17am: Free agent outfielder/infielder Ian Desmond has narrowed his focus to one team, and his representatives are “in the process of finalizing his deal today,” reports ESPN’s Jim Bowden. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch hears the same (Twitter link), adding that the Cardinals have been been discussing Desmond. However, Goold isn’t sure if St. Louis is the team on which Desmond is focused. Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post also tweets that Desmond is likely to sign today, but he won’t be returning to the Nationals.
[Related: Ian Desmond’s Free Agent Profile]
Desmond, 30, has been connected to the Rangers, Cardinals, Orioles and Nationals over the course of his second trip through free agency, though many teams are likely to be interested in him after he proved a capable outfielder and hit .285/.335/.446 with 22 homers and 21 steals in a rebound campaign with the Rangers.
That production at the plate has led to a notable shift in the demand for Desmond when compared to his market an offseason ago, when he remained available into February and signed a one-year deal with the Rangers. Speculatively speaking, in addition to the above-listed teams, Desmond would be a strong fit for the Blue Jays, Giants, Mariners, Indians and Phillies.
