Giants To Sign Joc Pederson
The Giants are in agreement on a contract with outfielder Joc Pederson, reports MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. Pederson will receive $6MM on a one-year deal, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Pederson is represented by Excel Sports Management.
Pederson, 30 in April, posted a 94 wRC+ in 481 plate appearances for the Cubs and Braves last year, joining Atlanta in one of Chicago’s many July trades. Pederson has picked up World Series rings in each of the last two seasons for the Dodgers and Braves. He was particularly effective in the NLDS against the Brewers last year, bashing a pair of home runs and inspiring Braves fans to sport pearl necklaces. Pederson will spend his 2022 season less than an hour away from where he played attended high school in Palo Alto, California.
A left-handed hitter, Pederson has long struggled against southpaws, and signed a one-year, $7MM deal with the Cubs in January 2021 in part because he sought to avoid a platoon situation. Oddly enough, since 2020 Pederson has a 99 wRC+ in 122 plate appearances against lefties, but just a 91 mark against righties. From 2015-19 as a Dodger, Pederson torched righties to the tune of a 132 wRC+, a mark which ranked 21st in the game during that time. Assuming Pederson can regain some of that success, he’d pair well with the right-handed-hitting Austin Slater.
Though Pederson has played a significant amount of center field in his career, at this stage he fits better in a corner spot. The Giants have LaMonte Wade Jr., Steven Duggar, Mike Yastrzemski, Darin Ruf, and Slater as outfield incumbents, but they’ve also got a regular DH job for the first time in their history.
Two members of the club’s 2021 outfield found new homes today, with Alex Dickerson signing a one-year deal with Atlanta and Kris Bryant signing a seven-year, $182MM deal with the division-rival Rockies. The Giants’ interest in retaining Bryant seemed minimal. Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has avoided large free agent contracts in his four-year tenure, with his recent two-year, $44MM contract for Carlos Rodon marking his largest expenditure. The Giants also let Kevin Gausman leave for greener pastures this winter, instead electing to spread the wealth among veteran free agents on shorter-term deals. Zaidi served as Dodgers GM prior to joining the Giants, so he became quite familiar with Pederson while both were employed by Los Angeles.
Pederson’s signing comes as part of a wave of free agent outfielder deals today, as the Phillies signed Kyle Schwarber, the Braves brought Eddie Rosario back, and the Rockies inked Bryant to a megadeal. Several quality bats remain free agents, including Nick Castellanos, Michael Conforto, Tommy Pham, and Jorge Soler.
Angels Sign Matt Duffy, Place Griffin Canning On 60-Day IL
The Angels have announced that they’ve signed infielder Matt Duffy to a one-year deal. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register relays that he’ll make a salary of $1.5MM and that Griffin Canning is going on the 60-day IL to open up a roster spot.
The 31-year-old Duffy has had a real up-and-down career thus far. After making his MLB debut and getting a cup of coffee with the Giants in 2014, he broke out in 2015 to the tune of a .295/.334/.428 slash line over 149 games, producing a 113 wRC+. That offensive output, combined with this excellent defense, produced 4.4 fWAR. 2016 was a step in the wrong direction, however, as his bat slipped below league average and the Giants sent him to the Rays as part of the Matt Moore trade.
2017, his pendulum swung back in the other direction, as he hit .294/.361/.366, for a wRC+ of 107 and 2.5 fWAR. In 2019, injuries sapped him of his playing time and production, as he only played 46 games and wasn’t very good when he was on the field. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he signed a couple of minor league deals but couldn’t crack the big leagues. In 2021, he parlayed a minor league deal with the Cubs into yet another bounceback effort, playing 97 games and hitting .287/.357/.381, for a wRC+ of 102 and 1.5 fWAR.
Defensively, Duffy spent most of his time at third base last year but also saw significant action at second, as well as cameos at shortstop, left field and first base. For the Angels, the hot corner is spoken for as long as Anthony Rendon is healthy. He was limited to just 58 games last year due to injuries but seems to be fully recovered for this season. For the middle infield reps, manager Joe Maddon recently said that Andrew Velazquez was the favorite to get the majority of playing time at shortstop, with Tyler Wade, Luis Rengifo and David Fletcher also in the mix. One of that group will also have to cover second base, with Duffy now competing against them all as well.
As for Canning, his 2021 season was cut short in August due to back issues that seem to still be lingering. Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reported earlier today that Canning had a setback and wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day.
Brewers Sign Andrew McCutchen
MARCH 16: It’s a one-year, $8.5MM pact, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
MARCH 14: Outfielder Andrew McCutchen is in agreement on a deal with the Brewers, reports Daniel Álvarez Montes of El ExtraBase (on Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic had reported this afternoon the sides were in discussions.
McCutchen, 35, has 13 MLB seasons under his belt at this point, having broken into the league as a Pirate in 2009. From that season to 2019, he posted a wRC+ of at least 120 in each season except for a slight dip to 105 in 2016. In 2013, he hit 21 home runs, stole 27 bases and put up an incredible line of .317/404/.508, wRC+ of 156. Combined with his excellent center field defense, he was worth an incredible 8.1 fWAR on the year, winning National League MVP and helping the Pirates make the postseason for the first time since 1992.
In 2018, he had one year remaining on the extension he signed with the Pirates back in 2012. The Bucs sent him to the Giants in exchange for Bryan Reynolds, Kyle Crick and international bonus money. The Giants, in turn, sent McCutchen to the Yankees at the August waiver deadline. Reaching free agency for the first time, he signed a three-year, $50MM deal with the Phillies prior to the 2019 season.
His production has naturally declined somewhat over the years, with his elite center field defense gradually becoming subpar left field defense. He hasn’t reached double-digit steals since 2018. However, he’s still plenty useful with the bat, particularly against left-handed pitching. Over the past two seasons, he’s hit 37 home runs and slashed .232/.331/.441, wRC+ of 106. But when he has the platoon advantage, his line jumps up to .290/.402/.603, wRC+ of 164.
For the Brewers, they went 95-67 last year and won the NL Central, despite a fairly tepid offense. The batting line for the entire team was .233/.317/.396, adding up to a wRC+ of just 91, ranking them 23rd out of the 30 teams in the league. Their moves this offseason have largely been about trying to complement their superb pitching with some increased firepower in the lineup. To that end, they traded for Hunter Renfroe and Mike Brosseau before the lockout, and have now added McCutchen into the mix as well.
McCutchen will join Renfroe in an outfield group that also includes Christian Yelich, Lorenzo Cain and Tyrone Taylor. That’s a bit of a crowded mix, but with the recent implementation of the designated hitter in the National League, they should be able to spread at-bats around to whichever part of this group needs a day off their feet. McCutchen and Cain are both 35 years old, with Cain turning 36 in less than a month, making them particularly good fits for some time in the DH slot, in order to keep them healthy and in the lineup throughout the season.
However manager Craig Counsell decides to construct the lineup, it seems like it will be capable of more firepower than last year’s version, as they attempt to defend their division title and make the postseason for a fifth consecutive season.
Braves Sign Tyler Thornburg, Place Kirby Yates On 60-Day IL
The Braves have announced that they’ve signed Tyler Thornburg to a non-guaranteed, one-year deal worth $900K. To open up a spot on the 40-man roster, they placed Kirby Yates on the 60-day IL.
Thornburg’s career has been a rollercoaster to this point, with the highs of excellent performance constantly giving way to lows brought about by injuries. In 2013, he threw 66 2/3 innings for the Brewers, logging a 2.03 ERA. However, elbow issues limited him to around 30 frames in each of the next two campaigns. 2016, he got back on track, logging 67 innings with a 2.15 ERA, excellent 34.2% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate.
It was after that tremendous campaign that the Brewers sent Thornburg to the Red Sox for Travis Shaw, Mauricio Dubon and Josh Pennington. Unfortunately, Thornburg required surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, missing the entirety of the 2017 season. When he came back, he was much less effective, throwing 42 2/3 innings over 2018 and 2019 for the Red Sox, putting up an ERA of 6.54, strikeout rate of 22.3% and walk rate of 10.4%. In 2020, he logged seven innings for the Reds before hitting the IL, eventually undergoing Tommy John Surgery in September.
Now that about 18 months has passed since that surgery, Thornburg is presumably healthy again and ready for another kick at the can. For the Braves, this is a low-risk flier on a player who could be a bargain if he can stay healthy and resume his previous form. His $900K salary is just barely above the league minimum, which is $700K in the new CBA. Also, since the deal isn’t guaranteed, the club could even avoid that modest sum if Thornburg’s injury past catches up with him in spring.
As for Yates, the IL placement is merely a formality. The club signed him in November to a two-year deal, knowing that he would miss the first half of 2022.
For the defending World Series champion Braves, their bullpen took a hit at the end of the season, as Richard Rodriguez, Josh Tomlin, Jesse Chavez and Chris Martin hit free agency, with Chavez and Martin both signing with the Cubs in recent days. They’ve seemingly tried to compensate for those losses by taking fliers on talented hurlers who are relatively affordable because of their injury histories, such as Yates, Thornburg and Collin McHugh, whom they signed yesterday.
Phillies Outright Scott Moss
MARCH 16: Moss has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, the team announced. He doesn’t have the requisite service time to refuse an outright assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization.
MARCH 15: The Phillies announced Tuesday that they’ve designated lefty Scott Moss for assignment. That’s one of two corresponding moves to make room for the signings of lefty Brad Hand and righty Jeurys Familia — both of whom signed one-year, $6MM contracts to join the Philadelphia bullpen. Both contracts have now been formally announced. The Phils also placed lefty JoJo Romero on the 60-day IL.
Moss, 27, is still searching for his MLB debut. The former fourth-round pick posted solid numbers with both Cincinnati and Cleveland early in his professional career, with his 2019 season in particular standing out. That season saw Moss make 26 starts between Double-A and Triple-A while working to a 2.96 ERA with an impressive 28.9% strikeout rate (against a much less-inspiring 12.7% walk rate).
Moss was in Cleveland’s 60-man player pool during the shortened 2020 season but never got a look in the big leagues. This past year in Triple-A, injuries limited him to just nine games and 20 1/3 innings, during which time he posted a 7.08 ERA. The Phillies claimed him off waivers from the Guardians back in November, but he’ll now either be traded within the week or again made available to all 29 other teams via outright waivers.
Reds Sign Donovan Solano, Buck Farmer
5:13pm: Cincinnati has officially announced both deals. As expected, Farmer is in camp on a minor league contract as a non-roster invitee.
2:45pm: The Reds have signed infielder Donovan Solano to a contract worth $4.5MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. It was previously reported by various reporters, including C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, that Solano had a locker in the Reds’ spring clubhouse, along with right-hander Buck Farmer.
Solano, 34, spent many years as a classic journeyman, bouncing from the Cardinals to the Marlins, Yankees and Dodgers, playing 370 MLB games from 2012 to 2018. Prior to the 2019 season, he signed a minor league deal with the Giants and has quietly had an excellent showing for San Fran over the past three campaigns. In that time, he’s gotten 775 plate appearances and hit .308/.354/.435, for a wRC+ of 114. He mostly slotted in at second base but also saw some time at third base and shortstop for the Giants.
The Reds don’t really need help at the keystone as they have Jonathan India, last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, slotted in there. Third base is a bit more open, however, in the wake of this week’s trade of Eugenio Suarez. The club could use Mike Moustakas as their everyday third baseman but he dealt with multiple injuries last year and only got into 62 games. Now that National League teams are able to use the designated hitter, Moustakas could be a good candidate for slotting into the DH role. There’s also the possibility of a platoon, as Moustakas hits from the left and Solano from the right. Solano’s career spits aren’t drastic, but he did put up a wRC+ of 121 against lefties last year, compared to just 96 against righties.
As for Farmer, the 31-year-old has spent his entire big league career up until now with the Tigers, who drafted him in 2013. Over the past seven seasons, he has appeared in 241 games, mostly as a reliever, throwing 320 2/3 innings with a 5.33 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate.
The club released him in August, at which point Farmer signed a minor league deal with the Rangers but never cracked their big league roster. Presumably, his deal with the Reds is a minor league deal as well.
Royals Sign Zack Greinke
5:44pm: To make room for Greinke on the 40-man roster, the club has placed Tyler Zuber on the 60-day IL, per various reports, including Anne Rogers of MLB.com. Zuber has right shoulder impingement syndrome and will miss the start of the season.
4:42pm: The Royals have formally announced the signing.
2:48pm: Zack Greinke is going back to his roots. The free-agent righty has agreed to a one-year deal with the Royals, pending the completion of a physical, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Greinke, a client of Excel Sports Management, will be guaranteed $13MM and can earn another $2MM via innings-based incentives, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
The 38-year-old Greinke isn’t the fireballing ace that he was toward the end of his first run with the Royals, but he remains an effective innings eater. He’ll return to his old stomping ground as the elder statesman on what figures to be an extremely young staff who’ll no doubt want to soak up as much pitching knowledge as possible from the 18-yeasr big league veteran.
Greinke spent the past two-plus seasons with the Astros after being traded from Arizona to Houston in a buzzer-beating deal at the 2019 trade deadline. Greinke’s once blazing fastball averaged just 89 mph in 2021 and his strikeout rate dipped, but he’s maintained pristine command of the strike zone (5.2% walk rate). Since 2020, Greinke has a 4.12 ERA in 238 innings for Houston, although his 2021 season would’ve looked considerably better were it not for a late September swoon.
Through his first 26 starts in 2021, Greinke pitched to a strong 3.41 ERA. Fielding-independent metrics were still a bit down on him because of the lack of punchouts (17.5% in that stretch), but Greinke yielded a paltry 87.7 mph average exit velocity in that time and had a 33% opponents’ hard-hit rate. Greinke tested positive for Covid-19 at the end of August and went back on the IL in late September due to neck soreness. It’s not clear that either had a direct impact on his results, although it’s certainly possible that he wasn’t pitching at 100% down the stretch. The results seem to suggest as much, as Greinke was tattooed for 21 runs in his final 15 1/3 innings of work.
Even if Greinke should be projected for more of a low-4.00s ERA than the mid-3.00 range he sat for much of the 2021 season, he’ll still be a valuable and reliable source of innings for the Royals. He’s made at least 28 appearances in 11 of the past 14 seasons, with the exceptions being the shortened 2020 season (when he made all 12 of his starts) and the 2016 season (when he missed a month with an oblique injury but still started 26 games).
For a Royals club that expects to give the bulk of its innings to young and/or unproven starters — Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic, Carlos Hernandez, Jonathan Heasley — the ability to confidently pencil Greinke in for around 30 starts and 170-plus frames is especially important. Brad Keller is currently the only starter on the staff with more than two years of Major League service time, but he’s in search of a rebound from a career-worst performance this past season.
The deal for Greinke ostensibly came together in fairly quick fashion. Kansas City traded Mike Minor to the Royals just this afternoon, and reports immediately following the deal suggested that they were in the hunt for rotation upgrades. Although they’re said to have checked in with the A’s about a potential Frankie Montas deal, it’ll be Greinke who joins the staff to help stabilize the group and, ideally, help guide the Royals back to a winning record
Subtracting Minor and adding Greinke’s larger salary brings the Royals up to a projected payroll of a bit more than $93MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s nowhere near the franchise record $143MM from 2017, but that payroll was buoyed by a pair of consecutive World Series appearances achieved by the Royals’ former core. The fact that they felt compelled to move Minor and save some money on his salary before adding Greinke suggests that new owner John Sherman, who purchased the team in 2019, isn’t comfortable pushing payroll back to those 2017 levels at this time.
It’s possible that further additions will follow for the Royals. They’ve reportedly sought ways to trade Carlos Santana, both as a means of clearing playing time for top prospect Nick Pratto and also in order to shed the veteran’s $10.5MM salary. If president of baseball operations Dayton Moore manages to find a Santana deal similar to this afternoon’s Minor trade, additional veteran reinforcements could be on the way to help supplement a young Royals team that’ll see the debuts of Pratto and top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. early in the 2022 season.
Nationals Place Joe Ross On 60-Day Injured List
The Nationals placed right-hander Joe Ross on the 60-day injured list today, in order to create roster space for their now-official signing of Sean Doolittle. Ross underwent surgery last week to have a bone spur removed from his throwing elbow, and Nats GM Mike Rizzo told reporters (including NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich) that Ross was expected to miss 6-8 weeks of action.
It represents another unfortunate setback for Ross, who has missed significant time over the last five seasons due to injuries. A Tommy John surgery in 2017 was the biggest issue, and Ross’ 2021 campaign was cut short in August when a partial UCL tear was discovered in his throwing elbow. The tear wasn’t quite serious enough to merit another TJ procedure, yet there was plenty of uncertainty about Ross’ status even before this latest bone spur issue emerged.
Ross had been only tentatively penciled into the Nationals rotation given his UCL concern, and now the club knows the righty will be unavailable until at least the back end of April. The Nats recently signed Anibal Sanchez, Aaron Sanchez, and swingman Erasmo Ramirez to minor league contracts, so any of those veterans could now have a clearer path to winning some starts in Washington’s rotation.
Cubs Sign David Robertson
The Cubs announced the signing of veteran reliever David Robertson to a one-year, Major League contract. Codi Heuer (who recently underwent Tommy John surgery) was placed on Chicago’s 60-day injured list to open up roster space. Robertson will earn $3.5MM in guaranteed money, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets, and the right-hander can earn up to $1.5MM more in incentives. 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine reported earlier today that Robertson and the Cubs were in talks about a possible deal.
Robertson comes to Chicago after tossing 12 innings with the Rays last season, plus four more frames of work in the playoffs. It marked the right-hander’s first big league action since he threw 6 2/3 innings with the Phillies in 2019 before being sidelined by Tommy John surgery.
Prior to that surgery, Robertson had been essentially the picture of durability over his 11 previous seasons as a workhorse in the Yankees and White Sox bullpens. Robertson combined that reliability with great results, as he posted a 2.93 ERA and 32.4% strikeout rate in 657 innings over those 11 seasons, acting as both a quality closer and a set-up man.
This track record led to a two-year, $23MM free agent deal with the Phillies, though Robertson barely pitched for the team due to his TJ surgery and recovery. Robertson held multiple showcases for teams last winter but didn’t land a new contract, and instead pitched for the silver medal-winning Team USA at this past summer’s Olympics Games in Tokyo. Robertson finally caught on with the Rays, and has now earned another guaranteed contract with the Cubs.
After essentially three lost seasons, it is hard to know what to expect from Robertson as he enters his age-37 campaign. A return to his pre-2019 form is perhaps optimistic, and yet there is also plenty of opportunity for Robertson to once again work as a closer for a Chicago-based team. Robertson certainly has the most closing experience of anyone in the Cubs bullpen, and is one of only a few veterans overall (besides the recently-signed Chris Martin and minor league addition Jesse Chavez) amidst a young relief corps.
Some more signings could certainly be in the offing for a Cubs team that has been aggressive this winter, though Seiya Suzuki‘s five-year deal represents the club’s only true long-term commitment (Marcus Stroman can opt out of his three-year contract after the 2023 season). The seeming aversion to longer-term contracts may mean that the Cubs won’t splurge on any big deal for a relief pitcher, thus enhancing Robertson’s chances of winning the closer job during Spring Training.
Rangers Re-Sign Charlie Culberson To Minor League Deal
Charlie Culberson is returning to the Rangers on a minor league deal, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Culberson signed a minor league deal with the Rangers prior to last year’s season as well, eventually having his contract selected and playing 91 games.
Culberson spent his first five seasons getting limited playing time with the Giants, Rockies and Dodgers. With the Braves in 2018, Culberson burst forth for the best season of his career. In 113 games, he hit .270/.326/.466, wRC+ of 107. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep up that pace the following year, with his line dropping to .259/.294/.437, wRC+ of 84. He was non-tendered at the end of that season and re-signed with Atlanta, getting into 10 more games as a Brave in 2020 before being outrighted at the end of that campaign.
Joining the Rangers last year, Culberson served a super-utility role for the club, spending time at every position on the diamond except center field, even logging two innings on the mound. His overall line wasn’t especially impressive, coming in at .243/.296/.381, earning a wRC+ of 85 in his 271 plate appearances. However, as Grant mentioned, Culberson was much better with the platoon advantage. In 144 plate appearances against lefties, he hit .346/.376/.556 for a wRC+ of 152. (His line against righties was a putrid .123/.206/.175, wRC+ of 10.)
The club has had a busy offseason, upgrading their position player mix with Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Mitch Garver and Kole Calhoun. They also added another multi-position guy yesterday when they signed Brad Miller. Given that Miller hits from the left, he and Culberson could make for a nice platoon pairing, perhaps at third base or in the outfield corners, depending on how some of the other players on the roster perform.