Blue Jays Sign Domonic Brown To Minors Deal
The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league deal with former Phillies top prospect Domonic Brown, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca. The Scott Boras client will receive an invitation to Spring Training.
Brown, 28, was an All Star in 2013 when he hit 12 home runs during the month of May as part of a .272/.324/.494 campaign with 27 home runs. Aside from that one fantastic month, Brown has generally offered below average offensive production. Injuries limited him to a .228/.284/.349 line in just 204 plate appearances last season. The outfielder has also graded poorly defensively.
The Blue Jays have a strong reputation for getting the most out of their hitters. Their biggest successes include Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, although they’ve also received value from lesser players like Danny Valencia and Justin Smoak. Brown is a potential platoon option with Chris Colabello if Michael Saunders fails to stay healthy and Dalton Pompey is deemed unready. He may also serve as minor league inventory with the likes of Junior Lake, Darrell Ceciliani, and others.
AL East Links: Teixeira, Orioles, Bautista
Though Mark Teixeira has been plagued by injuries in recent years, the first baseman told reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that he’s hoping to play for five more seasons. “My body feels so good, why not play until I’m 40? Being the kind of hitter I am, I can be a DH the last few years of my career, which could really prolong it. I would love to play that long,” Teixeira said, also noting that he wants to remain with the Yankees after his contract expires this winter. That could be somewhat of a tricky prospect given that New York has Greg Bird as its first baseman of the future and Alex Rodriguez in the DH role through the 2017 season. Still, Teixeira hit .255/.357/.548 with 31 homers in a fine bounce-back campaign last year, so he can shown that he can still produce if he can remain healthy. Here’s some more from around the AL East…
- The holdup in Yovani Gallardo‘s agreement has delivered a fresh round of criticism towards the Orioles and their high (perhaps overly high) standards in player physicals. As MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko observes, however, avoiding some of these contracts has often been to the club’s benefit. Many of the players the O’s opted not to sign due to health reasons proceeded to decline, either due to injury or simply subpar performance.
- An Orioles staff member also defended the team’s stance on physicals to Peter Gammons, noting that after the O’s backed out of an agreement with Grant Balfour two years ago, Balfour has since badly struggled. Despite the criticism, the Orioles “were right. Dan [Duquette] didn’t deserve the grief he took,” the staff member said. “And if this is what the doctor thinks, why would we pay Gallardo half the amount? If he’s hurt, Peter [Angelos] and Dan don’t owe him anything.” Gammons also hears from two Orioles pitchers that Gallardo’s issue is “really unfortunate” and “apparently pretty serious.”
- By setting a high and seemingly inflexible price on a contract extension, Jose Bautista has made it easy for the Blue Jays to part ways with the slugger after the season, Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star opines.
- Dave Dombrowski has shown a willingness to cut ties with underperforming players regardless of contract status, as the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier recalls the Tigers’ 2003 release of Damion Easley when Dombrowski was Detroit’s general manager. Now that Dombrowski is in charge of the Red Sox, his presence could put added pressure on 2015 struggles such as Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Rick Porcello and Rusney Castillo to improve. (Though with the obvious caveat that eating any of those contracts would cost Boston much more than it cost Detroit to part ways with Easley.)
Jose Bautista Reportedly Seeking More Than Five Years/$150MM
Yesterday, Jose Bautista denied a report from TSN’s Rick Westhead that his apparently non-negotiable asking price was an extension of five years and $150MM. What that figure raised eyebrows around the baseball world, it may actually have been too modest, as both the Toronto Star’s Richard Griffin and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman have reported that Bautista’s contract demand was actually higher. Griffin suggested that the number could be higher if Bautista’s $14MM salary for the coming season was included as well, though Heyman says that Bautista is looking for both more years and more money. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal puts the dollar figure at less than $180MM, however, as the average annual value of a six-year deal wouldn’t have cracked the $30MM threshold.
Needless to say, this is high demand for any player and a stunning one coming from a player entering his age-35 season. When I looked at Bautista as an extension candidate last November, I reasoned that he would certainly land at least a $20MM average annual value in a new contract, perhaps even something in the range of a four-year/$100MM deal for his age 36-39 seasons (2017-2020). Only seven players in history have ever received an AAV north of $25MM per season, and six of those contracts began when the players were much younger than 36 years old. (The exception was Roger Clemens‘ one-year, $28MM deal with the Yankees when he was 44, an altogether unique situation.)
Given the size and unprecedented nature of this contract, it’s hard to see the Blue Jays meeting Bautista’s demand. The Jays already have expensive commitments to Troy Tulowitzki and Russell Martin on the books, Edwin Encarnacion is also a free agent this winter and the club will certainly at least explore extending Josh Donaldson before he hits free agency after the 2018 season. Bautista pointedly mentioned on Monday that Rogers Communications, the Jays’ parent company, has derived huge financial boosts from the team’s recent success, so he doesn’t seem willing to accept an argument that ownership couldn’t put more resources into re-signing him or into the club in general.
Payroll commitments aside, it could be argued that it would be unwise to sign any 36-year-old to such a massive deal. While Bautista is universally considered to be an excellent athlete who keeps himself in prime shape, he’s also had some injury issues in his career and his defensive metrics in right field took a sharp decline in 2015. If Bautista is already becoming the type of player who only provides value with his bat, then he’d have to keep his elite hitting numbers through his age-41 season to live up to the value of such a big contract.
Would Bautista land such a deal on the open market as a free agent? At first glance it would seem unlikely that any team would make such a huge commitment to a 36-year-old, and yet the 2016-17 free agent class is notably thin. Bautista’s performance in 2016 will obviously play a major factor in his next deal, and another superstar-level season would help boost his case. Bautista told reporters on Monday that he wasn’t going to budge from his asking price, though it’s possible that this was a negotiating tactic and that he’d be willing to go lower if the Blue Jays or another suitor countered with something at least in the ballpark of the initial demand.
Reds Notes: Bruce, Trades, Rebuilding
We published one set of Reds Notes last night, and now here’s some more news out of Cincinnati…
- The Reds would like to trade Jay Bruce within the next week, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports (Twitter link). If a deal can’t be completed within that timeframe, the “odds increase that he’ll start [the] season in Cincinnati.”
- The proposed and apparently abandoned three-team trade from Monday that would’ve sent Bruce to the Blue Jays and Michael Saunders to the Angels reportedly fell apart due to a medical issue with a prospect Toronto had ticketed to the Reds. The prospect’s health, however, was just one of many issues that caused the trade to be scuttled, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. In his subscriber-only column today, Olney also noted that the prospects involved in the trade weren’t top-tier names and not major components in the deal, so injury concerns alone wouldn’t have been a big problem.
- Also from Olney in his column from yesterday, the Reds are having some concerns that they won’t be able to trade Bruce at all. The club has been shopping the outfielder for months, coming close on the Toronto trade and in a deadline deal that would’ve sent Bruce to the Mets, so there’s at least some interest in Bruce’s services. Still, it has to be something of a tough sell given Bruce’s struggles over the last two seasons and the minimum $13.5MM ($12.5MM salary, $1MM buyout of his 2017 option) owed to him for 2016.
- As Reds fans prepare for what could be a long year, Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown looks at how the team could approach its rebuild.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/23/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball…
- The Padres signed right-hander Greg Reynolds to a minor league deal earlier this week, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports (Twitter link). Reynolds was chosen by the Rockies with the second overall pick of the 2006 draft but he didn’t latch on the majors, posting a 7.01 ERA over 123 1/3 career innings with Colorado and Cincinnati. Since his last MLB appearances (with the Reds in 2013), Reynolds has pitched in Japan in 2014 and didn’t pitch at all in 2015.
- Former Major League infielder Donnie Murphy and former big league right-hander Juan Rincon have formally retired and have each signed on as minor league coaches with the Blue Jays, according to a press release from the team. Murphy, a career .212/.279/.395 hitter in 931 plate appearances between the Marlins, Royals, A’s, Rangers and Cubs, will be the new hitting coach at Class-A Lansing. Rincon, one of the Twins’ most consistent setup men from 2003-06, totaled 507 Major League innings between Minnesota, Colorado, Cleveland and Detroit, pitching to a combined 4.03 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. He’ll serve as the pitching coach for the Blue Jays’ Gulf Coast League affiliate. Best of luck to each in their transition to the coaching side of the game.
Reds Notes: Bruce Trade, Votto, Phillips, Peraza
Jay Bruce‘s name dominated headlines last night as the longtime Reds outfielder was reportedly on the verge of being dealt to the Blue Jays in a three-team trade (also involving the Angels) before the medical reviews of another player involved derailed the would-be deal. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted today that an official involved in the deal told him it’s “doubtful” that a new iteration of the trade will be drawn up, suggesting that the Reds will have to explore other opportunities if they’re still seeking to trade Bruce. Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM tweets that the Reds sought to shed all of the money that is owed to Bruce, adding that the asking price on Bruce is lower than some might expect it to be.
A few additional notes on the Bruce situation (including comments from Bruce himself) and on the Reds…
- Bruce openly addressed the trade talk with reporters this morning, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and the Cincinnati Enquirer’s C. Trent Rosecrans write. Bruce said that his main focus is, to the best of his ability, to prevent the trade rumors surrounding his name from becoming a distraction to his teammates over the course of Spring Training. “I don’t want to have to come in every single day and talk to guys and honestly, answer the same questions,” Bruce explained. “It’s nothing against y’all. Y’all are just trying to do a job, I understand that. We’re in a special situation as it is here with this organization with the team. We have to be focused on the field. We have to focus on the task at hand. I don’t want this to become something every single day.” Bruce added the he would “completely understand” if something ultimately did happen, expressing a recognition of the game’s business component, but repeated that from his point of view, “I’m a Red until I’m not.” Both the Enquirer (link) and MLB.com (link) have video of some of Bruce’s comments.
- Even with the Reds rebuilding, Joey Votto hopes to remain with the team for the long haul, writes Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We rode out some (stuff) last year,” Votto explained to reporters. “If I can ride that out and have a good time and be optimistic, I can handle just about anything. As long as we continue to head in the right direction, I’m very excited and proud to be a Red. I’m motivated by being a part of the future.” ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick was also on hand and notes that Votto expressed that it was difficult to see so many of his teammates and friends traded over the past year but also looks forward to getting to know new teammates and forming new bonds as his Reds career continues. Votto is owed $199MM over the next eight seasons and has a full no-trade clause included in his 10-year, $225MM contract, so even if the Reds wanted to move him, he’d have plenty of say in the matter.
- Brandon Phillips deflected questions when asked about his decision to invoke his own no-trade rights rather than approve a trade to the Nationals, Sheldon writes. “I don’t know nothing about that stuff,” Phillips said. “I’m just here to play this game that I love. I’m just happy to still be wearing this Reds jersey.” Phillips added that he didn’t hear much about talk of prospect Jose Peraza, acquired in the Todd Frazier trade, challenging for playing time. Peraza would’ve been in line to be the team’s everyday second baseman had Phillips been traded, but he’ll see some time at shortstop and in center field this spring in addition to some reps at second base, manager Bryan Price told Rosecrans and other reporters earlier this week.
AL East Notes: Machado, Desmond, Rays, Atkins, Bautista
Here’s the latest from around the AL East…
- Manny Machado talked to reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) about several topics in a media session today, including his happiness that Chris Davis, Matt Wieters and Darren O’Day are all still Orioles. The team’s willingness to spend this offseason “brings out hope” that Machado will also be able to sign a new contract to remain in Baltimore, as he desires. “They’re trying to keep everybody here. That’s good for me. I hope they keep me here for [the] long term,” Machado said. “But the case is, you can’t really sign everybody. You can’t bring everybody back. But it’s just part of the business, people you can bring back, people who you can’t, people who won’t be. But I think we’re making an effort of bringing everybody back, keeping the same clubhouse, the same core.”
- It’s “still quite unlikely” that Ian Desmond will sign with the Rays, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Desmond’s list of possible suitors got even thinner yesterday when the White Sox signed Jimmy Rollins to address the shortstop position. The Rays have had some talks with Desmond, but the sticking point is the Rays’ unwillingness to surrender its first round draft pick (the 13th overall selection) to make the signing, as Desmond is a qualifying offer free agent.
- In a session with reporters (including Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi) this morning, Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins gave no comment on either Jose Bautista‘s contract ultimatum or the reportedly off-the-table trade involving Jay Bruce and Michael Saunders. In regards to Bautista, Atkins said any extension talks between the team and the slugger won’t be made public, as “in relation to the negotiation, out of respect for him, out of respect for the Blue Jays organization, we just can’t get into the specifics of it.”
- In another piece from Davidi, he characterized the Blue Jays‘ decision on Bautista as a bellwether of how the club plans to operate in the near future beyond the 2016 season, in regards to both spending and fielding a contender.
Three-Team Jay Bruce Deal With Reds, Angels, Blue Jays “Dead”
TUESDAY: The medical concerns were in regard to a Blue Jays minor leaguer involved in the deal who was presumably going to the Reds, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link). With this trade at least temporarily off, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan wonders if other teams could approach the Reds with offers for Bruce since they seem open to dealing him for a fairly low price.
11:15pm: Talks are “dead” for the time being, Olney tweets.
11:06pm: The reason for the holdup is that one of the teams found an issue with one of the players’ medicals, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets, clarifying that the player in question was not Bruce. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick, meanwhile, tweets that someone close to the talks believes the problem is Saunders’ knee, an injury to which caused him to miss most of last season.
10:47pm: Some of the parties discussing the deal now doubt it will come to fruition, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets. The reasons for the hitch are currently unclear.
8:44pm: The three teams are reviewing medical records of the players involved, tweets Rosenthal.
8:20pm: The deal is nearing completion, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets.
6:36pm: The current deal has Bruce going to Toronto, Saunders heading to Anaheim and prospects going to the Reds, Heyman tweets. That suggests the Angels, who have a very weak farm system, will be providing the prospects.
6:13pm: Bruce does not currently have the Jays on his no-trade list, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets.
6:03pm: Heyman tweets that the proposed deal between the Jays and Reds actually also involves the Angels, with Saunders heading from Toronto to Anaheim in the deal. The Jays and Reds also discussed a three-team deal with the Athletics, but that trade is no longer on the table, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets.
5:44pm: Reds outfielder Jay Bruce remains on the trade market, and they could be in the process of trading him to the Blue Jays, Jon Heyman tweets. If the Jays were to acquire Bruce, he would likely play mostly left field, with Jose Bautista in right. Toronto’s top left field options currently include Michael Saunders, who missed most of last season due to injury, and 23-year-old Dalton Pompey.
For the Reds, Bruce would be the latest in a long string of veteran departures that has also included Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Marlon Byrd, Todd Frazier and Aroldis Chapman. Bruce would be unlikely to command a large return, since he’s hit just .222/.288/.406 in the last two seasons. He might, however, be in line for somewhat of a resurgence in 2016 if his batting average on balls in play (which was just .251 last season) improves a bit. When he does make contact, he has largely retained his ability to hit for power, hitting 26 home runs last season.
Still, Bruce will make $12.5MM in 2016, plus a $1MM buyout or a $13MM option in 2017, and while those figures aren’t exorbitant, he’s far from a bargain at that price. The Orioles have also recently been connected to Bruce, although at last check, their interest wasn’t particularly strong.
Bautista “Not Willing To Negotiate” After Naming Asking Price
Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista met with multiple reporters at the Jays’ Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Fla. today, and a potential extension was among the topics discussed. However, as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm and Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi write, Joey Bats isn’t interested in giving the Blue Jays any form of hometown discount. Bautista, who is eligible for free agency next offseason, said that he met with the Blue Jays two weeks ago and named his asking price. Toronto president of baseball operations Mark Shapiro and GM Ross Atkins sought to negotiate, but that isn’t in Bautista’s plans.
“I’m not willing to negotiate,” Bautista candidly explained. “I don’t think there should be any negotiation. I think I’ve proven myself.”
It’s hard to argue with the notion that Bautista has done anything short of that since signing his five-year, $65MM contract with the Blue Jays prior to the 2011 season. Since that time, Bautista has posted a .270/.393/.540 batting line with 173 home runs. Even when factoring in his hitter-friendly home park, Bautista’s bat has been 55 percent better than the league-average hitter, according to OPS+, and 54 percent better than average, per wRC+. Both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs agree that he’s been worth between 26 and 27 wins above replacement in that time frame.
That production, relative to his cost, makes it relatively easy to see why Bautista would say, “In my eyes, I’ve given this organization a five-year hometown discount already.” Of course, Bautista knew the risk he was taking in signing that deal; the possibility always existed that he’d continue the torrid pace from his 2010 breakout and turn the contract into a massive bargain, just as the Blue Jays knew there was a possibility that he’d decline and leave them holding one of Major League Baseball’s least desirable contracts.
Bautista tells reporters that he met with Shapiro and Atkins for about 15 minutes. “I didn’t want to waste any time,” Bautista explained. “If this is going to happen, I think it should be natural, organic, quick and easy, it shouldn’t be a pull and tug about a few dollars here or there. I didn’t want to waste any time, I didn’t want to waste their time or their effort, so they can start planning ahead, and if it’s not going to happen they have plenty of time to do so.”
It’s unclear what Bautista specified in terms of years or dollars, although a five-year deal certainly seems like a possibility. Chisholm, in fact, tweets that Bautista was asked whether he thinks he can play for another five years, and the slugger was “emphatic” in responding in the affirmative. Earlier this offseason, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk examined Bautista’s extension candidacy, noting that Bautista seems very likely to be able to secure at least a four-year deal at a premium rate — well north of $20MM — as a free agent next winter, assuming a typical Bautista season. I’d agree that a healthy four-year deal is a safe expectation, with a five-year deal certainly on the table should he approach last year’s production.
Blue Jays Sign Tony Sanchez To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays announced that they have signed former Pirates catcher Tony Sanchez to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Sanchez, who is represented by ACES, will compete for a backup role to Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin — a former Pirate himself. The 27-year-old Sanchez was selected fourth overall in the 2009 draft and saw time in parts of three big league seasons with the Bucs, batting a combined .259/.303/.378 with four homers in 155 plate appearances. Rated as one of baseball’s Top 100 prospects by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus in 2010-11, Sanchez’s bat stalled in the upper minors after he excelled at Class-A and Class-A Advanced. With parts of four seasons at Triple-A under his belt, the Boston College product has a .248/.342/.415 batting line at that level. He’s caught 22 percent of opposing base-stealers throughout his minor league tenure and 17 percent in the Majors. Baseball Prospectus, which keeps track of minor league framing numbers as well as Major League numbers, feels that Sanchez has been a generally above-average pitch-framer throughout his time at the Triple-A level.
Josh Thole currently projects to be Toronto’s backup catcher, and his familiarity with R.A. Dickey‘s knuckleball perhaps gives him a leg up in any competition that could form in Spring Training. Sanchez will add to a relatively thin depth chart behind the plate for the Blue Jays, however, who currently have A.J. Jimenez and veteran Humberto Quintero in camp as big league alternatives or options at Triple-A Buffalo.