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Twins Re-Sign Nelson Cruz

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Feb. 10: Cruz has passed his physical, and the Twins have formally announced his one-year deal for the 2021 season.

Feb. 2: The Twins have agreed to re-sign designated hitter Nelson Cruz to a one-year contract, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. He’ll earn $13MM on the deal, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Nelson Cruz | Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Cruz, long one of the majors’ top hitters, has been a member of the Brewers, Rangers, Orioles, Mariners and Twins since he started his big league career in 2005. Amazingly, despite the fact that he’s now 40 years old, Cruz’s first two seasons with the Twins from 2019-20 rank among his best. He slashed a tremendous .308/.394/.626 (163 wRC+) and amassed 57 home runs in 735 plate appearances during that span.

It’s no surprise the Twins are bringing back Cruz, though questions centering on whether a universal DH would stick around in 2021 surely delayed the re-signing. The MLBPA rejected the league’s 154-game proposal for 2021 on Monday, which could limit the DH to the American League this year, and that may have impacted Cruz’s decision.

Cruz reportedly wanted a two-year deal earlier in the offseason, but despite his excellence, that never seemed all that likely for someone his age and need for a dedicated DH spot in the lineup. MLBTR predicted he would receive a one-year, $16MM guarantee at the start of the winter, and while that proved a bit bullish, Cruz’s $13MM salary for 2021 will fall right back in line with the annual rate of his previous two seasons in Minnesota.

Cruz is the latest addition for a Twins club that was quiet for much of the offseason but has recently become more active. The Twins inked Andrelton Simmons to a one-year, $10.5MM contract and have also added lefty J.A. Happ on a one-year deal worth $8MM. The club has gravitated toward one-year arrangements this winter, which should help to preserve financial flexibility next winter when a much deeper free-agent class will present the Twins with various trajectories to retain their status as one of the top teams in their division.

Phillies Re-Sign Didi Gregorius

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Feb. 10: The Phillies have formally announced their new two-year deal with Gregorius.

Jan. 30: The Phillies are in agreement on a two-year deal with shortstop Didi Gregorius, reports Jayson Stark of the Athletic (Twitter link). It’s a $28MM guarantee, adds the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The deal contains deferrals, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).

Didi Gregorius | Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports

Gregorius returns to Philadelphia after originally joining the Phils on a one-year contract last winter. That marked a prove-it deal of sorts after Gregorius struggled in 2019, and the veteran shortstop made good on the opportunity. He started 56 of the team’s 60 games at shortstop and hit a strong .284/.339/.488 with ten home runs over 237 plate appearances.

Given how well he performed in 2020, it makes sense the Phillies were happy to keep Gregorius in the fold. His return allows the club to leave Jean Segura at second base, where he played last season. That also keeps the Phils from having to pencil Scott Kingery into an everyday role after he struggled through a brutal 2020. Corner infielders Rhys Hoskins and Alec Bohm can now flank the Gregorius-Segura pairing on the dirt on most days.

Gregorius was often grouped with Marcus Semien and Andrelton Simmons at the top of this winter’s free agent market for established big league shortstops. All three agreed to terms this week, with Gregorius finding the most lucrative guarantee. Semien and Simmons each signed one-year deals (although Semien’s $18MM beats Gregorius’ $14MM average annual value), while Gregorius received a multi-year arrangement. However, his $28MM total figure comes in south of the MLBTR staff’s projection of $39MM over three years entering the offseason.

That could reflect teams’ trepidation over Gregorius’ batted ball metrics. His 83.8MPH average exit velocity last season ranked in the second percentile league-wide. He was near the bottom of the league in hard contact rate and barrel rate as well. Gregorius has never been one to hit the ball particularly hard, although his average exit velocity was closer to league average over his final two seasons with the Yankees.

Of course, Gregorius has found plenty of success despite those underwhelming contact quality metrics. He has been an above-average hitter in three of the past four seasons, with 2019, in which he made a midseason return from Tommy John surgery, standing as his lone down year. Gregorius puts the ball in play at an elite rate, leading to decent batting averages. He’s also established a knack for hitting the ball in the air to right field, enabling him to hit for a solid amount of power in games despite lacking huge raw strength and physicality.

On the other side of the ball, Gregorius has gotten mixed reviews from defensive metrics. Ultimate Zone Rating has long rated him as a roughly average shortstop, while Defensive Runs Saved has soured a bit on him recently. Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, meanwhile, has pegged Gregorius as a below-average defender every year since being introduced in 2017. Over a two-year term, the 30-year-old (31 in February) shouldn’t have any problem sticking at the position, even if he’s no longer the defender he was earlier in his career.

The Phillies have managed to keep both of their top potential free agent departures, signing Gregorius a week after bringing back catcher J.T. Realmuto on a five-year deal. The Phils’ payroll now sits at an estimated $187MM, per Roster Resource, right in line with last season’s $185MM mark prior to proration (although the yet-undisclosed deferrals on Gregorius’ deal could drive that present figure down somewhat). The organization’s estimated $195.3MM in luxury obligations leaves a little less than $15MM for further additions if ownership is willing to spend up to the first tax threshold. Even after signing Matt Moore, Philadelphia could stand to add to the pitching staff if they hope to keep pace in a talented NL East.

From a broader market perspective, the Gregorius signing removes the last obvious everyday caliber shortstop from free agency. Teams without a clear option there, the Reds and Athletics among them, may now be left turning to the trade market to solidify the position.

Tigers Sign Renato Nunez

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The Tigers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder/designated hitter Renato Nunez to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training. They also confirmed their previously reported minors pact with infielder Greg Garcia. The Atheltic’s Cody Stavenhagen first reported talks between the Tigers and Nunez, who is represented by Octagon.

Nunez, 26, was designated for assignment by the Orioles back in late November and run through outright waivers. Baltimore would’ve owed him a raise in arbitration and clearly wasn’t keen on paying that out to a player with a rather one-dimensional skill set, and the league largely agreed based both on Nunez clearing waivers and on him settling for a non-guaranteed deal in mid-February.

It’s true that Nunez has been a generally above-average hitter over the past couple seasons, batting at a .247/.314/.469 batting line that translates to a 106 wRC+ and OPS+. Put more simply: he’s been about six percent better than a league-average hitter when adjusting for his league and his home park.

Nunez has some clear pop in his bat, with 43 home runs from 2019-20, but he rarely walks and also has a penchant for both strikeouts (25.4 percent) and infield flies (42). Since Opening Day 2019, 30.6 percent of Nunez’s plate appearances have resulted in a punchout or a pop-up. Add in a below-average 7.5 percent walk rate and questionable defense at both infield corners, and it becomes less surprising that clubs were wary about offering him a guaranteed pact.

All that said, it’s hard to fault Detroit for bringing in an above-average bat to compete for a roster spot this spring. With the Tigers, Nunez will vie for playing time at first base with Jeimer Candelario. He could also make the club as a bench bat, but with Miguel Cabrera still on the books all the way through the 2023 season at $30MM+ per year, there won’t be any DH at-bats available for Nunez anytime soon, barring another lengthy injury absence for Cabrera. And if Nunez does take a step forward, either in terms of his on-base skills or with the glove, Detroit could control him through the 2024 campaign via arbitration.

Phillies To Sign Brandon Kintzler

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The Phillies have agreed to a minor league pact with free-agent righty Brandon Kintzler, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter links). The veteran reliever had a big league offer to return to the Marlins, Rogers adds, but he opted for a non-guaranteed deal with the Phillies that offers more earning potential if he makes the club: a $3MM base salary plus additional incentives. Kintzler is represented by agent Kevin Kohler.

Based on his track record and the general state of disrepair in which the Phillies’ bullpen resided over the past couple seasons, Kintzler would seem to have a good chance at cracking the roster and securing that $3MM base. The 36-year-old sinker specialist has pitched to a 2.55 ERA over the past two seasons between the Cubs and Marlins, and he’s notched a 3.15 mark or lower in four of the past five years. In that half-decade span, Kintzler has a 3.26 ERA and 3.67 SIERA with a sub-par 16.2 percent strikeout rate but an excellent 6.3 percent walk rate and similarly strong 55.4 percent grounder rate.

Kintzler will add to a late-inning relief mix that has been quickly overhauled since Dave Dombrowski was named president of baseball operations in Philadelphia. Righty Hector Neris, the team’s most frequent closer in recent years, is back for the 2021 season, but Dombrowski has added hard-throwing lefty Jose Alvarado from the Rays, signed Archie Bradley and now inked Kintzler.

If Kintzler does indeed make the club, he’ll push the Phillies north of $201MM in luxury-tax obligations. That doesn’t leave too much room for additional spending — assuming owner John Middleton aims to keep his club south of that mark — but it could leave the door open for some additional low-cost signings and/or non-roster invitees between now and Opening Day. Dombrowski has mentioned multiple times that he hopes to stockpile as much pitching depth as possible after last year’s truncated 2020 season shortened every MLB pitcher’s workload.

Phillies Trade Johan Quezada To Cardinals

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The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve traded right-hander Johan Quezada to the Cardinals in exchange for cash. The move opens up a 40-man spot for a Phillies club that still needs to make Didi Gregorius’ new two-year deal official. The Cardinals’ 40-man roster is now up to 38 players.

Quezada, 26, is a longtime Twins farmhand who inked a minor league deal with the Marlins last winter and went on to make his MLB debut late in the 2020 season. The righty tossed just three big league innings last year, showing a fastball that sat at 97 mph and has long been considered his best offering. He spent the bulk of the 2020 season at Miami’s alternate training site and landed with the Phillies on a waiver claim in late October.

Due to the lack of a minor league season in 2020, there’s little point of reference for Quezada’s work in 2020. He spent the 2019 campaign with the Twins’ Class-A Advanced affiliate, pitching to a 3.44 ERA and 3.59 FIP in 52 1/3 innings of relief with a below-average 21 percent strikeout rate and a 12 percent walk rate he’ll need to pare down to be effective at more advanced levels. Quezada did register a hearty 53.3 percent ground-ball rate in that 2019 season, however. If he can improve the location of his power repertoire while maintaining those ground-ball tendencies, there’s some clear upside — but he’s something of a project for the time being.

Reds Sign Braden Shipley To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed right-hander Braden Shipley to a minor league contract that contains an invitation to Major League Spring Training, per a team announcement.

Shipley, 29 later this month, was the No. 15 overall pick by the Diamondbacks in 2013 and was considered to be among the game’s more promising pitching prospects in the years after that draft.  Things obviously haven’t panned out that way, however.

Shipley had some success in the low minors, but his strikeout rates plummeted in Double-A and have yet to really recover. His fastball velocity upon reaching the Majors in 2016 was south of its peak levels from his top prospect days, and Shipley wasn’t able to fool opponents over parts of three seasons on the D-backs’ staff. From 2016-18, he totaled an even 100 innings of work but was clobbered for a 5.49 ERA and a 5.31 SIERA to match. Shipley was punching out nearly a quarter of the hitters he faced in the low minors, but in the Majors he’s managed a dismal 14.3 percent strikeout rate against a 10 percent walk rate — the latter of which is considerably higher than his minor league rates.

Shipley hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2018, and in addition to his struggles at the game’s top level, he’s been hammered for a 5.17 ERA in Triple-A — albeit in a very hitter-friendly setting (and with a juiced ball in 2019). He’s whiffed just 16.7 percent of opponents in Reno and hasn’t offset that lack of strikeouts with plus control or a heavy ground-ball rate.

Still, Shipley is a former high-end prospect who’ll pitch all of next season at 29. There’s little risk in bringing him in to see if the Reds’ pitching factory can unlock something, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that the Reds haven’t really brought in any outside pitching help aside from their recent agreement with Sean Doolittle.

Braves Sign Nate Jones To Minors Deal

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The Braves have signed free-agent reliever Nate Jones to a minor league contract, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Jones will be in major league camp.

Now 35 years old, the right-handed Jones thrived out of the White Sox’s bullpen earlier in his career, but injuries knocked him off course a few seasons ago. Jones combined for just 52 innings from 2017-19 because of multiple arm problems. The White Sox traded Jones to the Rangers in late 2019, but he never pitched for Texas.

Jones landed on his feet with the Reds last offseason on a minor league contract, and while he did make their roster and total 18 2/3 innings, his run prevention numbers mostly fell well shy of his past output. After he recorded a woeful 6.27 ERA, the Reds released him in late September.

To Jones’ credit, he did post a much more encouraging 3.56 SIERA in Cincinnati, average 96 mph on his fastball and log impressive strikeout and walk percentages of 26.7 and 7.0, respectively. It didn’t help Jones’ cause that hitters victimized him for a .400 batting average on balls in play, but if he gets back to the majors and that figure returns closer to his career mark (.302), he could be a useful pickup for the Braves.

Astros Sign Steve Cishek To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have signed veteran reliever Steve Cishek to a minor league contract, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The right-hander’s deal includes an invitation to major league camp. He’ll earn a $2.25MM salary with incentives if he makes the Astros’ roster, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The incentives could reach $1.5MM, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Cishek, 34, has taken a big league mound for six teams and generally been quite successful since he began with the Marlins in 2010. Although he has only averaged about 91 mph on his fastball, the former closer has 132 saves to his name and has registered a stingy 2.78 ERA/3.36 SIERA with an above-average 25.2 percent strikeout rate across 576 innings. Cishek has also been a durable late-game option, having piled up 54 or more innings on eight occasions.

While Cishek was effective as recently as 2019 with the Cubs, his production dropped off with the crosstown rival White Sox a season ago, which is why he didn’t get a guaranteed contract this winter. Cishek, whom the White Sox signed to a $6MM deal, mustered a disappointing 5.40 ERA/4.47 SIERA in 20 frames with the club. And though Cishek has usually induced grounders at a solid rate (48.9 percent), he posted a career-worst 32.2 in that department and also put up slightly below-average strikeout and walk percentages of 22.6 and 9.7, respectively.

Marlins To Sign Adam Duvall

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3:15pm: Duvall will earn $2MM in 2021, while there’s a mutual option for $7MM or a $3MM buyout in 2022, per Mish.

2:44pm: The Marlins are “extremely close” to wrapping up a deal with free-agent outfielder Adam Duvall, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports (via Twitter). MLB Network’s Jon Heyman initially connected the two sides, noting that the Fish might need to “stretch” an already light $60MM payroll in order to accommodate what should be a modestly priced deal for the CAA client.

The 32-year-old Duvall was one of the majors’ most prolific home run hitters a season ago in Atlanta, where he slashed .237/.301/.532 with 16 homers in 209 plate appearances. It was the latest high-powered campaign for Duvall, a former Giant and Red who has twice smacked 30-plus HRs in a season.

As a Brave from 2019-20, Duvall hit a well-above-average .248/.307/.545 (117 wRC+) and totaled 26 homers in 339 trips to the plate. Duvall has also been a significant plus in the outfield, where he has combined for 42 Defensive Runs Saved and a 14.8 Ultimate Zone Rating across 4,000-plus innings in the majors. Nevertheless, the Braves still moved on from Duvall earlier in the offseason, choosing to non-tender him instead of giving him a projected $4MM in arbitration.

The Marlins, meanwhile, earned a surprise playoff berth in 2020, but they haven’t done much to upgrade their offense so far this winter. The right-handed Duvall may be able to help their cause in left field, where he could share time with the lefty-swinging Corey Dickerson. Starling Marte, Garrett Cooper, Magneuris Sierra, Lewis Brinson, Harold Ramirez and Monte Harrison are among the other outfielders on the Marlins’ 40-man roster.

Mariners Sign Taylor Guerrieri, JT Chargois To Minor League Deals

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The Mariners have signed right-handers Taylor Guerrieri and JT Chargois to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training, per a paid of club announcements.

Now 28 years old, Guerreri once ranked as one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects. The Rays selected him with the No. 24 overall pick back in 2011, and he was considered to be among the game’s 100 best prospects for the next three years.

As is the case so often with promising young hurlers, however, Guerrieri’s development was halted by Tommy John surgery. Guerrieri underwent that operation midway through the 2013 season and missed all of 2014 as a result. He’s battled other arm troubles since that time and, to this point in his career, has only topped 100 innings in a season on one occasion. He was healthy for the 2019 season, splitting the year between the Majors and Triple-A in a relief role with the Rangers.

Guerrieri tossed 28 1/3 innings with Texas that year and another 9 2/3 with the Blue Jays a year prior, but his results at the MLB level haven’t been impressive so far. In 36 frames, he’s been tagged for a 5.50 ERA with nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (27). However, Guerrieri was quite good with the Rangers’ Nashville affiliate in 2019, and he’s displayed elite spin on his curveball in limited big league action.

Chargois, 30, was a second-round pick by the Twins back in 2012 and at one point looked like he could be a future closer in Minnesota. He posted dominant minor league numbers with sizable strikeout rates and an upper-90s heater, but Chargois hasn’t yet found his footing in the big leagues. The Rice University product has just a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 MLB frames, though his 3.40 SIERA, 26.3 percent strikeout rate and 9.9 percent walk rate are a bit more encouraging. Chargois pitched with Japan’s Rakuten Eagles last year and struggled to a 5.81 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work in that tiny sample, but he has a lengthy minor league track record of success — including a 1.90 ERA in 85 1/3 Triple-A frames.

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