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Red Sox, Tyler Olson Agree To Minor League Deal

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Left-handed reliever Tyler Olson has agreed to a deal with the Red Sox, his representatives at Ball Players Agency announced on Twitter this morning. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that it’s a minor league deal and Olson will head to extended Spring Training in Fort Myers, rather than the team’s alternate site in Worcester, to begin the year.

Olson, 31, signed with the Cubs last offseason but didn’t pitch in the big leagues in 2020. He was an oft-used member of the Indians’ bullpen from 2017-19, working to a combined 3.46 ERA with a 25.7 percent strikeout rate and a 10.1 percent walk rate through 78 frames.

Some fans may recall Olson’s brilliant 2017 campaign, during which he held opponents scoreless for 20 innings upon being called up from Triple-A for his team debut. Things obviously didn’t go as well for Olson in 2018-19, but he was still serviceable, logging a combined 4.66 ERA over those two seasons while actually increasing his strikeout rate.

Boston is likely to open the season with southpaws Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor in the bullpen, but there’s little in the way of left-handed relief depth in the organization behind that pair. The vast majority of bullpen candidates in the upper minors with the Sox are right-handed. Stephen Gonsalves, Kyle Hart and Matt Hall are the most experienced lefties likely to open the year at the Red Sox’ alternate site, and each has worked primarily as a starter in the minors.

Angels To Sign Steve Cishek, Tony Watson

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The Angels continue adding to their bullpen: The team announced Monday that it has agreed to deals with right-hander Steve Cishek and left-hander Tony Watson. Both Cishek and Watson will get one-year, $1MM contracts, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports. The Halos placed injured RHP Luke Bard on the 60-day IL to help make room for these pickups.

Cishek and Watson are among four notable bullpen additions since Sunday for the Angels. They previously brought back old friend Noe Ramirez and then acquired James Hoyt in trade with the Marlins. It’s clearly a late-spring attempt by first-year general manager Perry Minasian to add as much depth as possible to a bullpen which has other newcomers in Raisel Iglesias, Alex Claudio, Junior Guerra and Aaron Slegers.

Cishek and Watson certainly boast the best track records of the quartet of relievers the Angels have brought in over the past couple days. The 34-year-old Cishek had a rough go with the White Sox in 2020, and he didn’t make the Astros’ roster this spring, but he proved himself as a durable option who could keep runs off the board before then. Since his career began in 2010, the former closer has logged a 2.78 ERA, registered an above-average strikeout rate of 25.2 percent and recorded a 48.9 percent groundball rate in 576 innings.

Watson, 35, failed to crack the Phillies’ roster in spring training, but he has also established himself as an effective big league reliever. He owns a 2.80 ERA with a decent strikeout-walk percentage (15.4) across 591 frames. Watson spent last year as a member of the Giants and continued to hold hitters at bay (2.50 ERA), all while limiting hard contact (84.8 mph exit velocity against) and walks (4.1 percent), and inducing grounders at a 50 percent clip in 18 frames.

Braves Select Pablo Sandoval, Release Jake Lamb, Re-Sign Jason Kipnis

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MARCH 29: The Braves have brought Kipnis back on a different minors pact, O’Brien tweets.

MARCH 27, 1:25 pm: Lamb has been released, per a team announcement. While he signed a major league contract in February, it was non-guaranteed. Therefore, the Braves will only be on the hook for a portion of his $1MM salary. The move drops Atlanta’s 40-man roster count to 39. Lamb will again become a free agent.

Atlanta will also option Camargo and catcher William Contreras to the alternate training site to open the year, per David O’Brien of the Athletic (Twitter link). In addition to Sandoval and Adrianza, backup catcher Alex Jackson and fourth outfielder Ender Inciarte will fill out the season-opening bench.

10:48 am: The Braves announced this morning they’ve selected the contract of corner infielder Pablo Sandoval. Outfielder Phil Ervin has been designated for assignment to clear 40-man roster space. Additionally, the Braves released non-roster utilityman Jason Kipnis.

Sandoval made Atlanta’s roster late last season and picked up four postseason plate appearances. The Braves brought him back on a minor-league deal in January, and he’ll now earn a season-opening spot on the active roster. Sandoval will join a crowded but still uncertain third base mix in Atlanta, where Austin Riley, Johan Camargo, Jake Lamb and the newly-added Ehire Adrianza could all get playing time. Sandoval, 34, only hit .214/.287/.262 over 94 plate appearances last season, but he was an above-average hitter as recently as 2019 with the Giants.

Ervin has bounced around via waivers from the Reds to the Mariners to the Cubs and to Atlanta since last summer. The 28-year-old hit fairly well over his first couple seasons in Cincinnati but stumbled to a .149/.292/.189 mark last season. Teams remained intrigued by Ervin’s combination of otherwise decent offense and ability to play all three outfield positions, but the out-of-options outfielder has had trouble sticking on an active roster. Atlanta has a week to trade Ervin or place him on outright waivers.

Kipnis signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta after spending last season with the Cubs. The former Indians second baseman hit .237/.341/.404 with Chicago in 2020. He’ll now return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.

Diamondbacks Select Chris Devenski, Place Tyler Clippard On 60-Day IL

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The Diamondbacks have selected right-handed reliever Chris Devenski’s contract, the team announced. In a corresponding move, the club placed righty Tyler Clippard on the 60-day injured list. Clippard’s dealing with a capsule strain in his throwing shoulder – an injury that will cost the free-agent pickup at least the first couple months of the season.

Devenski was another offseason addition for the Diamondbacks, though he had to settle for a minor league contract after an injury-wrecked 2020 with the Astros. He threw just 3 2/3 innings before undergoing elbow surgery last September.

At his best, Devenski was a multi-inning weapon in Houston from 2016-17, during which he combined for a stingy 2.38 ERA and posted a 21.8 K-BB percentage in 189 innings. But Devenski hasn’t been the same since. Between that excellent two-season run and last year, he managed a 4.56 ERA with a K-BB percentage of 18.0 over 116 1/3 frames from 2018-19. However, he did throw seven scoreless, four-hit innings with seven strikeouts against three walks this spring.

Angels Acquire James Hoyt From Marlins

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The Angels have acquired right-handed reliever James Hoyt from the Marlins for cash considerations, the two teams announced.

The Angels will be the fifth major league organization for the 34-year-old Hoyt, who spent last season in Miami after it acquired him from Cleveland. Hoyt ended up performing quite well over 14 2/3 innings in the Marlins’ bullpen with a 1.23 ERA and a 32.3 percent strikeout rate. On the other hand, Hoyt’s 3.71 SIERA and 12.9 percent walk rate were much less impressive, and he also saw his average fastball velocity fall from the 93-94 mph range to slightly below 89.

Overall, Hoyt has pitched to a 3.71 ERA/3.05 SIERA in 94 2/3 big league frames with strikeout and walk percentages of 31.1 and 8.5, respectively. That type of production would be useful out of any team’s bullpen, and with another minor league option left, he’ll at least give the Angels more depth.

Blue Jays Release Francisco Liriano

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The Blue Jays have granted left-hander Francisco Liriano his release, tweets Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, who notes that the veteran had an opt-out over the weekend.

This news means Liriano is unlikely to have a second tenure in the majors as a member of the Blue Jays, with whom he pitched from 2016-17. Liriano worked almost exclusively as a start then, but he spent this spring vying for a role in Toronto’s bullpen. The 37-year-old was highly effective, as he tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings of four-hit, three-walk ball with six strikeouts, but that wasn’t enough to earn a role in the Blue Jays’ season-opening relief corps. It appears they’ll go into the season with Tim Mayza and Ryan Borucki as the primary lefties in their bullpen.

Liriano, who signed a minors deal in the offseason, will head back to the free-agent market with a solid resume. While Liriano hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2019, he does own a lifetime 4.15 ERA in a combined 1,813 2/3 innings with several teams.

Royals Select Hanser Alberto

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The Royals have added infielder Hanser Alberto to their 40-man roster, Alec Lewis of The Athletic was among those to report. Their 40-man is now full.

Alberto, previously with the Rangers and Orioles, signed a minor league contract with the Royals over the winter. He’ll now earn a $1.65MM salary, potentially with another $350K in bonuses, off the Royals’ bench. As someone with quite a bit of experience at both second and third base, the 28-year-old will provide Kansas City some insurance behind Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier. He’ll also give the team a stopgap until it’s ready to promote top infield prospect Bobby Witt Jr., whom it reassigned to the minors earlier this month.

Alberto had rough seasons in Texas from 2015-18 (he didn’t appear in the bigs in ’17), but he did hit for good averages in Baltimore in the past two seasons. He ended his Orioles tenure as a .299/.322/.413 batter with a meager 10.2 percent strikeout rate (albeit with a minuscule walk percentage of 2.7) over 781 plate appearances. Most of the 28-year-old right-hander’s damage came against lefty pitchers, whom he victimized for a .394/.411/.532 line in 280 trips to the plate as an Oriole.

Padres To Select Nabil Crismatt

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The Padres informed right-hander Nabil Crismatt that he will make their Opening Day roster, Dennis Lin of The Athletic tweets. Because Crismatt isn’t on the Padres’ 40-man roster, which is full, they will need to make a corresponding move to clear space for him.

The Padres made a series of high-profile acquisitions during the offseason, but Crismatt flew under the radar as a minor league signing. Now 26 years old, Crismatt divided 2012-20 among the Mets, Mariners and Cardinals organizations, combining for a 3.82 ERA with better than a strikeout per inning and fewer than three walks per nine over 641 2/3 innings in the minors.

Crismatt made his big league debut last year in St. Louis, and though he only averaged 89.5 mph on his fastball, he gave up just three earned runs on six hits, walked one batter and struck out eight in 8 1/3 innings. He then pitched to a near-spotless 0.87 ERA in 10 1/3 innings this spring, and will try to carry the success he has enjoyed since 2020 into this regular season.

Rangers To Designate Rougned Odor For Assignment, Select Charlie Culberson

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The Rangers have informed infielder Rougned Odor that he will not make the team’s Opening Day roster, as NBC 5’s Pat Doney first reported (Twitter link). Odor will be designated for assignment, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. Texas still owes him $27MM over the next two seasons, and because he has five-plus years of MLB service, he can still collect that salary even if he clears waivers and is released. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that the Rangers will select the contract of veteran infielder Charlie Culberson, who has made the roster.

Odor’s DFA further emphasizes the Rangers’ youth movement and closes the book on one of the more regrettable financial commitments in the franchise’s history. Nearly four years ago to the day, Odor inked a six-year, $49.5MM contract extension buying out his arbitration seasons and a handful of free-agent years. At the time, he was coming off a two-year run that saw him bat .267/.305/.487 with 49 home runs — including a 33-homer campaign in 2016.

Questionable on-base skills gave some reason for concern, but Odor was a former Top 50 overall prospect who looked the part of a slugging second baseman. Few could’ve reasonably forecast such a stark decline in such rapid fashion, however. Odor struck out at just a 19.4 percent clip from 2015-16 with the Rangers, but his whiff rate jumped to 25 percent in 2017 and has now climbed as high as 30.9 percent from 2019-20. Odor maintained much of his power, but his suddenly sky-high strikeout rates made it difficult to keep his average north of .200. His OBP, meanwhile has routinely been south of .300.

In all, since signing the extension, Odor has turned in an awful .215/.279/.418 batting line and fanned in about 27 percent of his plate appearances. His defensive ratings have tumbled in recent seasons as well, further shining a spotlight on his struggles.

With Odor now out of the picture and Elvis Andrus traded to Oakland, it looks to be a new era for the Rangers infield. They’ll task Isiah Kiner-Falefa with manning shortstop on the regular, and Odor’s departure should pave the way for Nick Solak to get everyday at-bats at second base. While Solak’s glovework draws questionable reviews itself, he’s a well-regarded offensive prospect — even if he struggled during last year’s shortened schedule.

The Rangers will have a week to trade Odor, place him on outright waivers or release him. That timeline is something of a moot point, however, as no team is going to agree to acquire the remainder of the contract either via trade or waivers. It’s perhaps possible that the Rangers will find some kind of bad contract swap, but the likeliest outcome is that Odor will simply be released and free to seek opportunities with other clubs. Should he sign elsewhere, his new club would only be required to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. That sum would be subtracted from the $27MM the Rangers still owe him.

Chacin Granted Release By Yankees; Dietrich, Chirinos Agree To New Contracts

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The Yankees have granted veteran right-hander Jhoulys Chacin so that he may explore options with other teams, general manager Brian Cashman announced to reporters Monday (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Fellow veterans Derek Dietrich and Robinson Chirinos have agreed to new deals that will keep them with the Yankees, per the GM. They’ll head to the team’s alternate site to begin the season.

Chacin, 33, pitched just five big league innings with the Braves in 2020 and struggled considerably between Milwaukee and Boston through 103 1/3 frames in 2019. As recently as 2018, he was a solid member of the Brewers’ rotation, though, pitching to a 3.50 ERA through 192 2/3 innings. He’s spent parts of a dozen seasons in the Majors and carries a career 4.04 ERA in 1324 innings — despite many of those innings coming at the hitter-friendly Coors Field in Colorado. Chacin has been solid in camp with the Yankees, allowing four runs on eight hits and four walks with nine strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings.

The 31-year-old Dietrich drew five walks in just 33 plate appearances, showing the type of discipline that he’s developed in recent years. However, he was just 4-for-24 with a homer overall and didn’t do enough to beat out fellow veteran Jay Bruce for a roster spot, even though Dietrich has more defensive versatility.

Dietrich, a lefty-hitting utility man, has ample experience at second base and all four corner spots, so he could be called upon in the event of a variety of injury scenarios at the MLB level. He’s morphed into a three-true-outcomes slugger over the past couple years, hitting .189/.332/.462 with 24 homers in just 381 plate appearances dating back to 2019.

The 36-year-old Chirinos, meanwhile, appeared in just five games and recorded seven plate appearances before suffering a fractured wrist that sidelined him for much of camp. The veteran catcher will continue his rehab with the Yankees at their alternate site and could eventually emerge as an option at the big league level depending on health and performance of top catchers Gary Sanchez and Kyle Higashioka. Chirinos posted poor numbers in a small sample of 82 plate appearances between the Rangers and Mets in 2020, but he batted .238/.347/.443 with 17 homers in 114 games as recently as 2019.

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