Phillies Sign Justin Williams, Four Others To Minor League Deals
The Phillies have signed former Cardinals outfielder Justin Williams to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The Roc Nation Sports client has been invited to big league camp, whenever Spring Training gets underway. He was eligible to sign during the lockout by virtue of going unclaimed on outright waivers and electing minor league free agency at the end of the 2021 season.
Also joining the organization are right-hander James Marvel, infielder Drew Maggi, catcher Karl Ellison and first baseman Joe Genord. There are no Major League Spring Training invites listed for that quartet, though Marvel, who has some limited MLB experience, and minor league veteran Maggi could still end up there down the line.
Williams, 26, is the most notable name of the bunch. The former second-round pick (D-backs, 2013) has been involved in a pair of notable trades in the past — first going from Arizona to Tampa Bay in exchange for Jeremy Hellickson and second going from Tampa to St. Louis as one of the headliners in the Tommy Pham deal. Williams was a well-regarded prospect at all three stops and has had plenty of minor league success, but he’s yet to put things together in the big leagues.
With the Rays, Williams received only one lone plate appearance in 2018, and it wasn’t until this past season in 2021, when he received any kind of real look in St. Louis. The Cards gave him 137 plate appearances over the course of 51 games in ’21, but Williams batted just .160/.270/.261 while fanning in a third of his plate appearances. Williams walked in 12.4% of those plate appearances, however, and when he did make contact, it was quite loud. His 92.1 mph average exit velocity is excellent, and 52.1% of his batted balls had at least a 95 mph exit velocity.
Williams hits the ball on the ground too often, but his penchant for hard contact has been interesting to scouts throughout his minor league tenure. The grounder-heavy output at the plate has limited him to a career-high 14 home runs, but he’s a career .294/.340/.438 hitter in the minors — including a .272/.330/.442 slash in parts of three Triple-A seasons. Defensively, he’s limited to the outfield corners and posted roughly average marks in 294 innings last year (+1 DRS, -0.5 UZR, -1 OAA).
Turning to the 28-year-old Marvel, he’s spent his entire pro career to date with the Pirates organization, who called him up to the big leagues and gave him four starts during the 2019 season. That brief cup of coffee didn’t go well, as Marvel was tagged for 16 runs in 17 1/3 innings while posting just a 9-to-6 K/BB ratio.
Marvel had a terrific minor league season in 2019, pitching to a combined 2.94 ERA in 162 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A, but he was nevertheless passed through waivers at the end of the season. He didn’t make the Pirates’ 60-man player pool in 2020, and he struggled in his return effort in Triple-A in 2021, logging a 5.26 ERA in 131 2/3 frames. Even with that rough ’21 campaign, Marvel has a career 4.45 ERA in Triple-A and a career 3.82 mark through the minors as a whole. He doesn’t throw particularly hard or miss many bats, but Marvel typically registers grounder rates around 50% with low walk rates.
The 32-year-old Maggi nearly made his MLB debut with the Twins last season. However, after selecting Maggi’s contract late in September, Minnesota surprisingly did not give the 11-year minor league veteran the opportunity to get into a game and make that long-awaited debut. It was an unfortunate footnote in a generally dismal Twins season. Maggi, who has ample experience at shortstop, third base and second base, is a career .263/.362/.401 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons and will hope to finally step into a big league game at some point with the Phils this season.
Genord, 25, was the Mets’ ninth-round pick as recently as 2019 but was released last August after hitting .203/.264/.353 in 227 plate appearances at the High-A level, where he was already older than the average competition he was facing. Ellison, 26, went undrafted out of college and has spent two seasons with the independent Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League. He hit .256/.303/.422 there last season.
Kwang-Hyun Kim Signs Four-Year Deal With KBO’s SSG Landers
Kwang-Hyun Kim is returning to South Korea. The former Cardinals southpaw has a four-year deal with the SSG Landers, his former team in the Korea Baseball Organization (relayed by Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap). He receives a guarantee of approximately $12.3MM.
Daniel Kim reported this morning the Landers had tendered a status check on the southpaw. That indicated they were interested in bringing the Seoul native back to South Korea, and he and the team wrapped up a deal fairly quickly thereafter. Kim starred for the Landers (then known as the SK Wyverns) for the entirety of his career before making the jump to MLB over the 2019-20 offseason.
He’ll now return to the Incheon-based club, with whom he made his professional debut as an 18-year-old back in 2007. By his second season, he’d developed into a high-end starting pitcher. He posted a 2.39 ERA across 162 innings during his sophomore campaign, kicking off a stretch of three consecutive years with an ERA below 3.00. Kim didn’t quite sustain that kind of run prevention long-term, but he’d log 130+ frames with a sub-4.00 mark in five of his next eight seasons. That included a 2.51 ERA in a personal-best 190 1/3 innings in 2019, a strong showing that set the stage for him to come to North America the following winter.
The Wyverns made Kim available to MLB teams via the posting process, and he landed with the Cardinals on a two-year, $8MM deal. 2020 proved an anomalous year, as the season was delayed, shortened and played without fan attendance. Teams also had to deal with tight COVID-19 protocols, and the Cardinals’ season was put on hold for a couple weeks by a virus outbreak that necessitated a spate of late-season doubleheaders.
That was no doubt an especially stressful time for a player acclimating to a new environment and league, but Kim performed well in his first MLB season. He worked to a 1.62 ERA over 39 innings, compensating for a mediocre 15.6% strikeout rate by throwing a solid amount of strikes (7.8% walk percentage) and inducing ground-balls on over half the balls in play against him. Kim certainly benefited from the Cardinals’ stellar infield defense and an inflated 86.6% strand rate, but he also showed the makings of a capable rotation piece.
He backed that up over a greater body of work last year. Kim tallied 106 2/3 frames with a 3.46 ERA, again succeeding despite a lack of missed bats and a fastball that typically checked in around 90 MPH. His 47.4% grounder rate remained above-average, and he found success both in an early-season rotation role and in a bullpen stint after some elbow inflammation sent him to the injured list in mid-August.
Between his two seasons, Kim tallied 145 2/3 frames of 2.97 ERA ball. Fielding independent metrics (4.22 FIP and 4.89 SIERA) indicate he was probably fortunate to keep runs off the board at that clip. Yet even had his ERA been more aligned with peripherals that suggested he was a back-of-the-rotation arm, he’d have still easily outperformed the cost of the Cards’ modest investment.
In all likelihood, those will prove Kim’s career numbers at the big league level. He’s 33 years old (34 in July), so the four-year term will keep him with the Landers through his age-36 season. While it’s possible he could try to explore another jump to MLB at that point, it’s more probable he’ll play out the remainder of his career in his home country.
Kim’s return to Korea may also be the first instance of the ongoing lockout definitively leading a player to leave the majors. As recently as mid-February, it appeared as though Kim had intended to wait out the work stoppage and continue his MLB career. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explored at the time, he appeared to have a shot at a multi-year deal. Kim’s ground-ball tendencies, control and excellent numbers when facing batters the first time in an outing made him an intriguing option for clubs seeking both rotation and left-handed relief help. With teams barred from communicating with major league free agents for more than three months (and counting), he’ll bypass that uncertainty and return to a familiar setting with the Landers on a long-term deal.
That’s not to say Kim “settled” for a return to Korea. His deal is worth 15.1 billion won, not coincidentally topping 15 billion won deals for Sung-bum Na and Dae-ho Lee that had previously been the largest guarantees in KBO history. Setting that record is presumably a point of pride for Kim, and he’d not have garnered a four-year guarantee had he remained in MLB. However, big league teams may have been willing to offer more than the roughly $3.075MM in average annual salary he’ll make on this deal had it been a typical offseason. A few other players have made the jump from MLB to foreign pro leagues this winter, but Kim would probably have garnered the most interest of that group had teams been able to keep in contact with his reps over the past few months.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Dodgers Sign Ty Kelly To Minor League Deal
Utilityman Ty Kelly has agreed to a deal with the Dodgers, he announced on Twitter. With the lockout barring MLB transactions, it’s obviously a minor league contract for the 33-year-old.
Kelly has appeared in parts of three big league seasons, suiting up with the Mets and Phillies between 2016-18. He bookended that run with the Mets but actually tallied more playing time during his intervening stint in Philadelphia, where he suited up in 69 of his 116 games. Overall, the right-handed hitter has tallied 188 MLB plate appearances and owns a .203/.288/.323 line with a trio of home runs.
Obviously, Kelly’s offensive track record at the big league level is limited. He did log action at most positions around the diamond in that limited time, though, picking up some time everywhere other than shortstop or catcher. Kelly has some time at shortstop in the minors but has spent the bulk of his time on the farm at second and third base.
Kelly spent the 2019 season with the Angels’ top affiliate. He announced his retirement that August and sat out the 2020 campaign, but the UC-Davis product made a comeback effort last year. After starting with the independent Long Island Ducks, he caught on with the Mariners on a minor league deal. Kelly played only 24 games in the Seattle organization before being released, but he’ll now get another crack in the Dodgers’ system. He’s a .267/.367/.380 hitter over nine seasons at the minors’ top level, and he’ll add an experienced, versatile depth option to the organization.
Mets, Johneshwy Fargas Agree To Minors Deal
Outfielder Johneshwy Fargas has returned to the Mets, the player himself announced on Twitter. (First cryptically, then more directly.) It can be safely assumed that this is a minors deal, due to the fact that major league deals cannot be signed during the ongoing lockout. The 27-year-old was eligible to sign such a contract due to the fact that he was outrighted in October and then elected minor league free agency in November.
Fargas made his MLB debut after the Mets selected his contract in May of last year to help shore up the club’s outfield after a number of injuries. However, after just seven games, Fargas landed on the IL himself, with a left AC joint sprain. After returning to health in July, he was optioned and then designated for assignment, being claimed on waivers by the Cubs. He bounced on and off the Cubs’ roster down the stretch, ultimately getting 15 more MLB games under his belt. Between the two organizations, he finished the season with 54 plate appearances in 22 games, hitting .250/.264/.385 in that small sample.
His best tool, however, is his speed, as evidenced by his 47 steals in High-A in 2018 and 50 in Double-A in 2019. Despite injuries limiting his playing time, he still racked up 18 steals in 2021, between Double-A, Triple-A and the majors.
The path to playing time in the Mets’ outfield might be steep, as they made significant upgrades before the lockout, adding Starling Marte and Mark Canha. Those two and Brandon Nimmo are likely to get the bulk of the outfield playing time, with Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis around to step in from time to time. Although that latter trio have been mentioned as possible trade targets, the club also has Khalil Lee, Nick Plummer, Mark Vientos and Travis Blankenhorn on the 40-man roster as depth options. However, if they were to suffer a rash of injuries like last year, Fargas could potentially rejoin the MLB club as a speedy option off the bench.
Red Sox Sign Silvino Bracho, Darin Gillies To Minor League Deals
The Red Sox announced that right-handers Silvino Bracho and Darin Gillies have been signed to minor league deals and received invitations to the team’s big league Spring Training camp (when it opens). Boston also officially announced the signing of Tyler Danish — MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reported two weeks ago that Danish had inked a minors contract with the Sox. All three players were minor league free agents, and thus eligible to be signed despite the lockout.
Bracho is a veteran of five Major League seasons, all with the Diamondbacks from 2015-20. However, he has tossed only a single inning in The Show since the start of the 2019 season, as Bracho underwent a Tommy John surgery and then had a setback in his recovery. As well, Bracho missed a good chunk of the 2020 campaign while covering from a case of COVID-19.
The 29-year-old righty signed a minors deal with the Giants last winter and reset himself to some extent with Triple-A Sacramento, posting a 4.14 ERA over 50 relief innings. Bracho ran into some home run problems and he had the misfortune of a .383 BABIP, though his 29% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate were promising. Missing bats has never been an issue for Bracho at the minor league level, though he has a more modest 24.1% strikeout rate over his 89 2/3 career innings in the bigs. Bracho posted a 4.82 ERA during his time in Arizona, allowing 17 homers in that relatively small sample size.
Gillies was a 10th-round pick for the Mariners in the 2015 draft, and apart from a cameo in independent ball in 2020 when the minor league season was canceled, Gillies has spent his entire career in Seattle’s farm system. The right-hander has a 3.96 ERA and 24.63% strikeout rate over 338 1/3 frames in the minors, working as a reliever in all but eight of his 215 career games. After struggling at the Triple-A level in both 2018 and 2019, Gillies had a more solid showing in Tacoma this past season, with a 3.74 ERA over his 21 2/3 innings for the Mariners’ top affiliate.
Enderson Franco Signs With Mexican League’s Generales De Durango
The Generales de Durango of the Mexican League announced this week they’ve signed right-hander Enderson Franco for the 2022 season. It’ll be the first stint in Mexico for the 29-year-old.
Franco has a bit of big league experience, having suited up in five games with the Giants in 2019. The Venezuela native tallied 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball while averaging just under 96 MPH on his fastball, but he hasn’t logged any other MLB time. He’s spent a decade in the affiliated ranks, though, performing fairly well up through Double-A but struggling at the minors’ highest level. In parts of three Triple-A campaigns, Franco owns a 5.43 ERA with a below-average 19.5% strikeout percentage but a solid 7.4% walk rate.
While Franco has never missed many bats, his combination of arm strength and track record of throwing strikes caught the attention of the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants last winter. He signed with the Busan-based club and spent the 2021 season in South Korea. Franco tallied 150 innings in the KBO and posted a 5.40 ERA with an 18.3% strikeout rate while uncharacteristically walking 11.1% of opponents. Lotte brought in former big leaguers Charlie Barnes and Glenn Sparkman as their two allotted foreign-born pitchers this offseason, replacing the outgoing Franco and Dan Straily (who signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks).
As the Generales noted in their announcement of Franco’s signing, he has experience in both rotation and relief roles. He has started 163 of his 183 minor league appearances, but he came out of the bullpen in all five of his big league outings and worked in both capacities (27 starts, 10 relief appearances) with Lotte last season. Franco pitched in seven games — all in relief — during Venezuelan Winter League action this offseason.
A’s, Parker Markel Agree To Minor League Deal
The A’s have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Parker Markel, MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports (on Twitter). The 31-year-old has 22 big league innings under his belt, having made 20 appearances split between the Mariners and Pirates in 2019.
Markel’s big league time was a struggle, as he allowed a 7.22 ERA. During that time, he walked an untenable 15.5% of opposing hitters and served up six home runs. The 6’5″ righty did average 95.6 MPH on his fastball in that limited look, however. And his slider, which he threw around half the time, generated whiffs at a slightly above-average rate.
While Markel hasn’t gotten results at the major league level to this point, he has a fine Triple-A track record. Over parts of four seasons there, he’s combined for a 3.23 ERA. Markel has punched out an impressive 29.4% of Triple-A hitters, although the control inconsistency he showed in his big league time has also been present in the minors. He’s issued walks to 14.3% of batters faced in his Triple-A career, including a 17.8% walk percentage with the Padres’ top affiliate last season.
Strike-throwing woes notwithstanding, there’s no risk for the A’s in taking a look at Markel in Spring Training. He’ll add a live arm with a track record of missing bats to the organizational depth chart, and there aren’t many locks to be in Oakland’s season-opening bullpen. Deolis Guerra and Lou Trivino are the only relievers who threw 20+ innings in green and gold last year and remain on the roster. Trivino, in particular, looks like he could be a trade target for bullpen-needy clubs whenever the lockout comes to a close.
Blue Jays Sign Eric Stamets To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays have signed shortstop Eric Stamets to a minor league contract, per an announcement from his agents at MSM Sports (Twitter link). Stamets spent last season in the Rockies’ minor league system and became a minor league free agent at season’s end, which made him eligible to sign even during the ongoing lockout.
Stamets, 30, has 15 games of big league experience, all coming with Cleveland back in 2019, when he was their Opening Day shortstop. (Francisco Lindor was on the injured list due to a calf strain.) Stamets struggled through a prolonged 2-for-41 slump to begin the season, however, and was back in Triple-A Columbus by mid-April. Stamets hit .244/.312/.379 in Columbus over the remainder of that season and was eventually removed from the 40-man roster after the trade deadline had passed.
Stamets reached minor league free agency in the 2019-20 offseason and signed a minor league deal with the Rockies, who brought him back for a second season in 2021. He hit .168/.283/.319 in 139 plate appearances in Colorado’s system last year and is a career .223/.295/.371 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons overall.
While Stamets obviously doesn’t have a strong offensive track record, Baseball America twice rated him the fastest runner and the best defensive infielder in the Angels’ system early in his pro career. He’s been successful in 85.2% of his professional stolen base attempts and is generally regarded as an excellent defensive shortstop who can also handle second base and third base.
The Jays’ infield currently has Bo Bichette at shortstop, and Cavan Biggio is ticketed for regular reps at either second or third base (more likely the former). Santiago Espinal is the current favorite to see time at third base, while infielders Kevin Smith and Otto Lopez could both vie for bench jobs whenever the season gets underway.
Toronto is generally expected to look into additional help in the infield, as evidenced by their reported pursuit of Corey Seager (before he signed in Texas) and their rumored interest in A’s third baseman Matt Chapman (among other trade possibilities). Stamets is likely seen as some upper-level infield depth, but he’d give them plenty of speed and defense off the bench if he earns a bench spot at some point. Any further infield additions would likely push Espinal into a bench role.
Atlantic League’s Kentucky Wild Health Genomes Sign Moises Sierra, Brandon Leibrandt
The Kentucky Wild Health Genomes of the independent Atlantic League recently signed outfielder Moisés Sierra and left-hander Brandon Leibrandt, according to the league transactions log. Both players have some big league experience, with the former having appeared in parts of four MLB seasons.
The bulk of Sierra’s big league work came in the first half of the last decade. A fairly well-regarded prospect during his days in the Blue Jays farm system, he debuted with Toronto in 2012 and would spend parts of the next three seasons north of the border. Sierra had some success during a 35-game stint in 2013, when he hit .290/.369/.458. He didn’t produce much at the plate in any other season, however, and he hit .243/.296/.383 in 449 plate appearances overall from 2012-14.
Sierra returned to the big leagues for 27-game run with the Nationals in 2018, but he’s otherwise bounced between various Triple-A affiliates and foreign pro leagues. The righty-hitting outfielder owns a .277/.342/.421 line in parts of six Triple-A seasons. He spent some time in 2020 with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and played with the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos last year. He hit .300/.385/.462 over 226 plate appearances there and will now try to work his way back into the affiliated ranks with the Genomes.
Leibrandt doesn’t have the same level of experience in the majors, but his MLB time was more recent than that of Sierra. The Florida State product made five outings and tallied nine innings of relief for the 2020 Marlins. Leibrandt spent last season in the upper ranks of the Miami system, combining for a 5.68 ERA over 88 2/3 innings between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville. The 29-year-old has had more success in past stints at the minors’ top level, where he owns a 3.61 ERA in parts of three seasons.
Orioles Sign Three Players To Minor League Contracts
The Orioles announced a trio of minor league signings, as left-hander Buddy Baumann, right-hander Wes Robertson, and catcher Andres Angulo have all been added to the roster. All three were minor league free agents, and thus eligible to be signed during the lockout.
Baumann is the only one of the group with MLB experience, as the southpaw posted a 5.58 ERA over 30 2/3 innings with the Padres and Mets from 2016-18. Baumann gave up five homers and 18 walks in that small sample size, with a 25.2% strikeout rate.
This stint in the majors seemed to be the peak of Baumann’s 11 pro seasons, which began after he was a seventh-round pick for the Royals in the 2009 draft. After pitching in independent baseball in 2019, Baumann actually retired from the sport, and worked as the pitching coach for the Angels’ rookie ball affiliate last season. However, it seems like Baumann will make a comeback attempt at age 34 and see if he can land one more ticket to The Show.
Angulo has spent his entire career in the Giants farm system, after signing as an international prospect out of his native Colombia in 2015. The catcher has a career .235/.308/.333 slash line over 848 plate appearances, making it as high as San Francisco’s Double-A affiliate last season.
Double-A also represents Robertson’s highest step on the minor league ladder, as he tossed 2 2/3 innings with the Reds’ Chattanooga affiliate in 2021. Unfortunately, it was part of a rough year overall for Robertson, who compiled an 11.51 ERA over 22 2/3 combined frames in rookie ball, A-ball, and Double-A. It was Robertson’s first season in the Reds organization after the undrafted righty spent his first three pro seasons (2017-19) pitching in the Rangers farm system.