Athletics To Sign Eric Thames To Minor League Deal
The A’s are signing first baseman Eric Thames to a minor league contract, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). It’s a homecoming of sorts for the 35-year-old, who is a San Jose native.
Thames has appeared in the big leagues in parts of six seasons. He debuted with the Blue Jays in 2011, then split the following campaign between Toronto and the Mariners. Thames didn’t make it back to the majors in 2013, instead spending the year in Triple-A with the M’s and Orioles. Over the 2013-14 offseason, the left-handed hitter made the jump to South Korea, signing with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization.
It was a masterful pick-up by the Dinos, for whom Thames blossomed into an instant superstar. He spent three seasons with the Changwon-based club, popping 37 or more home runs with an OPS north of 1.100 in each. The KBO was a hitter-friendly league, but Thames’ production was outrageous even after putting it into context. That was particularly true in 2015, when the Pepperdine University product hit .381/.497/.790 with 47 homers and 40 stolen bases. That output at the plate was an incredible 116 points above the KBO league average, by measure of wRC+, and he was awarded the MVP that year.
After dominating in the KBO, Thames set his sights on a return to the majors. He was a high-profile target during the 2016-17 offseason, eventually landing a three-year, $16MM guarantee with the Brewers. Milwaukee got a solid return on that investment, as Thames continued to produce at an above-average level (albeit nowhere near his otherworldly KBO numbers) with the Brew Crew.
He hit 31 homers and posted an overall .247/.359/.518 line over 551 plate appearances in his return season. That’d be his most productive year in Milwaukee, although his combined .236/.331/.495 line between 2018-19 still checked in 12 points above average (112 wRC+). Thames increasingly struggled with strikeouts, but he also drew plenty of walks and proved a consistent power threat.
After his contract with the Brewers expired, Thames inked a one-year guarantee with the Nationals that also included a 2021 club option. He stumbled to a .203/.300/.317 mark during the shortened season, and Washington bought him out. Thames made the jump back to Asia — this time to Japan — last winter, signing with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. Unfortunately, he ruptured an Achilles in his first game with the Giants and missed the rest of the season.
Thames now returns to affiliated ball, hoping to earn his way back into the majors. Presumably, he’ll get a chance to report to MLB Spring Training and compete for a spot on an A’s roster that could find itself in flux. Matt Olson is a potential trade candidate, as Oakland is reportedly looking to cut payroll after the lockout. Even if Olson sticks around, Thames could work his way into the designated hitter or corner outfield mix. Mitch Moreland and Jed Lowrie took the bulk of DH playing time last season, but they’re each free agents. Seth Brown and Chad Pinder could be in consideration for DH at-bats, but they look likely to platoon in left field to replace Mark Canha at the moment.
White Sox, Raudy Read Agree To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have agreed to a minor deal with catcher Raudy Read, as first reported by Antonio Puesan (Twitter link). He’s represented by Octagon.
Read, 28, spent five seasons ranked among the Nationals’ top 30 prospects over at Baseball America. He reached the Majors both in 2017 and 2019 but received very brief auditions, going 4-for-22 and only drawing three starts behind the dish. The 2017 Nats had Matt Wieters locked in as their primary catcher, with Jose Lobaton backing him up. Read served an 80-game PED suspension in 2018, and by 2019 the Nats had moved onto Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki as their veteran tandem behind the plate.
There’s no immediate path to playing time in Chicago, where Yasmani Grandal is installed as the starter behind the plate. The backup situation is a bit more fluid, with less-established names like Seby Zavala and Zack Collins currently in the mix. Yermin Mercedes caught 18 games for the ChiSox’ Triple-A affiliate last year as well, though he was used more frequently at first base and at designated hitter.
Read ought to get plenty of reps behind the dish in the upper minors with the South Siders. He’s spent parts of three seasons in Triple-A and owns a .275/.313/.523 batting line with 26 home runs, 24 doubles and three triples through 466 plate appearances at that level. He’s also halted 36% of stolen-base attempts in his pro career, and BA noted in its 2019 report that he’d made strides in terms of his footwork and receiving over the years.
Mariners, Asher Wojciechowski Agree To Minor League Deal
The Mariners have agreed to bring righty Asher Wojciechowski back to the organization on a minor league contract, per their official transactions log. The journeyman starter signed on with the M’s on a minor league deal back in July but didn’t get a call to the big leagues. He subsequently became a minor league free agent at season’s end, thus allowing him to sign a minor league deal this offseason.
Wojciechowski, 33, has seen action in parts of five big league seasons, including in each of the past three. He appeared in just one game with the 2021 Yankees, allowing a pair of runs over four innings in a spot start, but was a fairly consistent presence with the Orioles in 2019-20. Baltimore originally acquired Wojciechowski from Cleveland in a cash deal back in 2019, and it looked as though he might simply make a spot start or two at the time of the swap.
Instead, Wojciechowski pitched well enough to quickly grab a spot in a patchwork O’s rotation. He worked to a 3.60 ERA in his first 30 innings, providing the Orioles plenty of reason to give him some leash from there on. Overall, while Wojciechowski didn’t exactly dominate, he gave an Orioles roster that was desperate for pitching a total of 82 1/3 innings of 4.92 ERA ball from July 2 through season’s end.
That proved enough for the O’s to keep Wojciechowski on the 40-man roster all winter, and he headed into the shortened 2020 season with a rotation spot. He continued to hold his own through the first four starts of the 2020 season, but after a swift decline — 19 runs over his next 18 1/3 frames — Wojciechowski was designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers.
Overall, Wojciechowski has 202 innings at the big league level, albeit with an unsightly 5.93 ERA to show for it. He’s fanned a respectable 21.9% of his opponents and posted a better-than-average 7.9% walk rate, but Wojciechowski is also an extreme fly-ball pitcher who’s shown a proclivity for surrendering the long ball. Most of his big time in the Majors has been spent in homer-friendly home parks — Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, the Bronx — so if he makes it to Seattle, perhaps T-Mobile Park could help to slightly reduce that problem. Still, with an average of 2.0 homers per nine innings pitched, Wojciechowski’s struggles go beyond the dimensions of his home parks.
As things stand, Wojciechowski is a pure depth option for the M’s. Seattle inked reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to lead its staff in 2022 and beyond. He’ll be followed by stalwart southpaw Marco Gonzales, promising sophomore Logan Gilbert and righty Chris Flexen — a KBO reclamation project that has turned into a resound success for the M’s. Former top prospects Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn could factor into the mix as well, but the general expectation is that the Mariners will add another veteran to round out the rotation in the days and weeks coming out of the lockout.
Wojciechowski isn’t likely to emerge as an option unless the Mariners incur several injuries, but as far as depth options go, a well-traveled veteran with a 4.33 ERA in 664 2/3 Triple-A innings is a solid one to have on hand.
Nationals, Taylor Gushue Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have signed catcher Taylor Gushue to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The 28-year-old elected minor league free agency after being outrighted off the Cubs 40-man roster at the end of last season.
It’s something of a homecoming for Gushue, who has spent the majority of his career in the Washington organization. Originally selected by the Pirates in the 2014 draft, he was traded to the Nats late during the 2016 campaign for Christopher Bostick. Gushue spent the next few seasons as an upper-level depth piece in the Washington organization. He reached Triple-A late in 2018, then spent the entire 2019 campaign at the minors’ top level. With no minor league season in 2020, Gushue spent the year at the alternate training site before electing minor league free agency.
Last offseason, the switch-hitting backstop inked a minors pact with the Cubs. He spent most of the season with their top affiliate in Iowa but got his first big league call in June. He went hitless in four plate appearances and was placed on waivers not long after, spending the remainder of the season with Iowa after passing through unclaimed. Gushue only has that cup of coffee at the MLB level, but he’s a .269/.326/.449 hitter over parts of three Triple-A campaigns.
The Nationals also inked right-hander Ronald Herrera to a minors pact, according to the transactions tracker. Now 26 years old, Herrera made a pair of MLB appearances with the Yankees in 2017 but hasn’t returned to the highest level since. He spent part of last season in the independent Frontier League and has struggled mightily in a limited look at Triple-A. The Venezuela native has decent numbers as a starter up through Double-A, where he’s worked to a 3.87 ERA with a below-average 19.8% strikeout rate but a stingy 5.9% walk percentage over parts of four seasons.
Giants, Cody Carroll Agree To Minor League Deal
The Giants have signed reliever Cody Carroll to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The right-hander elected minor league free agency at the end of last season after an August minors deal with the Marlins didn’t result in a big league look.
Carroll didn’t pitch in the majors last season. He did log some action at the game’s highest level in both 2018 and 2020, though, combining for 19 innings of relief across 18 appearances with the Orioles. He’s yet to find MLB success, posting a 13.24 ERA while opposing hitters have put up a .353/.467/.624 line against him.
Yet Carroll has performed well on his way up the ladder, with a 3.71 ERA over parts of two Triple-A seasons his highest mark at any minor league level. The Southern Mississippi product has also punched out an impressive 29.2% of batters faced across 70 1/3 Triple-A innings, albeit with an elevated 11.4% walk rate.
The Giants will take a no-risk flier on Carroll, who’d been regarded as a fairly promising relief prospect during his time in the Yankees farm system. His fastball has sat in the 95-96 MPH range during his brief big league time, and Baseball America credited him with a plus slider entering the 2018 season. Baltimore was intrigued enough by his arsenal and strong minor league numbers to include him in that year’s Zack Britton trade, but his stock dipped quickly due to his poor big league production and a back surgery that wiped out almost all of his 2019 season.
Rays, Dusten Knight Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rays have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent righty Dusten Knight, per the team’s official transactions log.
Knight, 31, made his big league debut with the Orioles this past season after spending parts of eight seasons in the minors. A former 28th-round pick by the Giants (2013), Knight parlayed a strong Triple-A showing — 1.30 ERA, 27-to-12 K/BB ratio in 27 2/3 frames at the time of his promotion — into his first call to the big leagues. Things didn’t go as smoothly in Baltimore, however, as Knight yielded a pair of runs in one inning during his debut effort. He appeared in a total of seven games and was ultimately tagged for 10 runs (nine earned) on 11 hits and five walks with 11 strikeouts through 8 2/3 frames.
Rocky showing in his debut season notwithstanding, Knight has a solid track record in Triple-A, where he’s posted a 3.11 ERA with a 23% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate in parts of three seasons — a total of 104 1/3 innings. On the whole, in Knight’s eight minor league seasons, he’s surrendered just 32 home runs in 397 innings of work while whiffing more than 27% of his opponents against an 8.5% walk rate.
Red Sox Sign Yolmer Sanchez To Minors Contract
The Red Sox announced that infielder Yolmer Sanchez has been signed to a minor league deal. The former Gold Glover will receive an invitation to Boston’s big league Spring Training camp.
Sanchez spent 2021 with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, hitting .216/.309/.352 over 355 plate appearances. Atlanta signed Sanchez as a depth option in April of last year, but with Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, and Dansby Swanson staying healthy and delivering strong production for the World Series champions, Sanchez never got a call to the Show. It marked the first time since 2013 that Sanchez hadn’t seen action in a Major League season.
While the Red Sox are the fifth different organization Sanchez has joined in his pro career, the 29-year-old has suited up only with the White Sox at the MLB level. Sanchez played with Chicago from 2013-20, seeing regular work as a starting second baseman and third baseman during the team’s rebuilding years and acting as a useful utility infield piece in general. Always a solid defender, Sanchez’s work was recognized when he won the AL Gold Glove as a second baseman in 2019.
However, the White Sox still opted to non-tender Sanchez in the wake of that Gold Glove-winning season, as Sanchez was projected to earn a $6MM arbitration salary in 2020. Sanchez’s defense didn’t make up for his lack of offense, as he has hit only .245/.300/.360 in 2459 career PA. The Giants signed Sanchez to a minor league deal heading into the 2020 season but released him, resulting in Sanchez returning to the White Sox for 11 games that year and making an appearance on the team’s postseason roster (perhaps a nice full-circle moment considering Sanchez’s contributions during the team’s lean years).
After landing with the Orioles and Braves on minors deals, Sanchez will now try to gain a foothold in Boston. Sanchez’s versatility will only go far considering that he’ll be competing with several other multi-position infield types (i.e. Christian Arroyo, Jonathan Arauz, and fellow minor league signing Rob Refsnyder) in the battle to be Boston’s chief utility infielder. As well, Enrique Hernandez is capable of playing pretty much anywhere around the diamond, and the Red Sox could move Hernandez back into that super-utility role if they obtained another starting option at second base.
Tigers, Jack Lopez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent infielder Jack Lopez, as first reported by former big league infielder Carlos Baerga (on Instagram). Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press tweets that Lopez has signed a deal and will head to the Tigers’ spring facility in Lakeland, Fla. for minicamp.
The 29-year-old Lopez won a Silver Medal as part of Team USA during last summer’s Olympics. He made his Major League debut with the Red Sox not long after returning, going 2-for-13 with a pair of doubles in a tiny sample of seven games. He split the rest of his season between Double-A (five games) and Triple-A (68 games), batting a combined .285/.355/.413 with four homers, 17 doubles, a triple and 15 steals (in 17 tries) over the life of 273 plate appearances.
Lopez, a 16th-round pick by the Royals back in 2011, has appeared in parts of nine minor league seasons and logged a collective .241/.295/.331 batting line in that time. The vast majority of his professional experience has come at the two middle infield slots, with more time at shortstop than at second base. Lopez also has more than 1200 professional innings at the hot corner, in addition to some more sparse work in the outfield.
Baseball America at one point ranked Lopez among the middle tiers of the Royals’ farm system, noting that his range, soft hands and solid arm gave him a chance to handle shortstop at the big league level. That was seven years ago, and the the bat obviously hasn’t panned out as hoped, but Lopez will give the Tigers some defensive value and versatility to stash in the upper minors.
Pablo Sandoval Signs With Mexican League’s Acereros De Monclova
Pablo Sandoval is headed to the Mexican League for the 2022 season. The Acereros de Monclova announced this evening (Spanish-language link) that they’ve signed the two-time MLB All-Star.
Sandoval, a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council, has appeared in parts of fourteen MLB seasons. He made his big league debut with the Giants in 2008, and he’d established himself as an everyday player by the following season. The switch-hitting Sandoval hit a remarkable .330/.387/.556 across 633 plate appearances during his age-22 campaign, finishing seventh in NL MVP balloting that year. That showing cemented him as a key member of a burgeoning core that would go on to win three of the following five World Series titles.
There’s no doubt Sandoval was a huge part of that success. He appeared in at least 108 regular season games each season between 2010-14, posting above-average offensive numbers (by measure of wRC+) in every season other than 2010. The Kung Fu Panda again earned some down ballot MVP support in 2011, and he was downright excellent during the Giants’ 2012 and 2014 postseason runs. He claimed World Series MVP honors in the former season, thanks to an 8-16 showing in a sweep over the Tigers. And while he didn’t receive any postseason awards in 2014, his 12-28 performance in that year’s World Series helped San Francisco narrowly defeat the Royals in a tightly-contested seven-game battle.
Following the 2014 season, Sandoval signed a five-year, $95MM contract with the Red Sox. That proved a sizable misstep for then Boston-GM Ben Cherington, as Sandoval’s production tanked fairly quickly thereafter. He hit only .245/.292/.366 in his first season with the Sox. That proved to be his final year as an everyday player, as he hasn’t topped 300 plate appearances in any season since. The Venezuela native missed almost all of 2016 recovering from a labrum injury, then got off to a terrible start to the 2017 campaign. Boston released him midway through that season, and he returned to the Giants in free agency.
By 2018, Sandoval reinvented himself as a capable bench bat and part-time corner infielder. He played with San Francisco until 2020, then hooked on with the Braves late in that season and made their playoff roster. He re-signed with Atlanta on a minor league pact last winter and broke camp with the club. While he got off to a nice start as a designated pinch-hitter, Sandoval saw his production turn downward by May. He was traded to the Indians at last year’s deadline, with his contract included in the deal that sent Eddie Rosario to Atlanta to offset some of Rosario’s salary. Cleveland released Sandoval immediately and he sat out the remainder of the season, although he did collect a World Series ring when the Braves went on to win the championship.
Sandoval returned to the diamond this winter. After putting up impressive numbers in the Venezuelan Winter League, he’ll head to Mexico for the upcoming season. It remains to be seen whether the 35-year-old will make a return to affiliated ball in the United States at some point down the road.
Red Sox, Roberto Ramos Agree To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox have signed first baseman Roberto Ramos to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league Spring Training, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). It’s a stateside return for the 27-year-old, who has spent the past two seasons in South Korea.
Ramos has yet to appear in a big league game. A 16th-round pick of the Rockies in 2014, he worked his way up the minor league ranks, reaching Triple-A by 2019. Ramos spent that season with Colorado’s top affiliate in Albuquerque, popping 30 home runs in 505 plate appearances. After that season, the left-handed hitter made the jump to the Korea Baseball Organization, signing on with the LG Twins.
Signing Ramos paid immediate dividends for the Seoul-based team. He blasted 38 homers across 494 plate appearances during his debut campaign. Ramos’ overall .278/.362/.592 line checked in 41 percentage points above the KBO league average, by measure of wRC+. Ramos struck out in a hefty 27.5% of his plate appearances that year, but he also drew walks at a robust 11.1% clip and showcased power that garnered plus or better grades during his time as a prospect.
Ramos re-signed with the Twins last offseason, but his follow-up campaign wasn’t as impressive. He hit a league average .243/.317/.422 with eight homers in 205 trips to the plate before suffering a back injury. Former MLB first baseman Justin Bour replaced him on the roster in late June, setting the stage for Ramos’ return to the United States. He’ll attempt to work his way to the bigs for the first time with the Red Sox, who are slated to open the year with the right-handed hitting Bobby Dalbec at first base and J.D. Martinez at designated hitter. Top prospect Triston Casas worked his way to Triple-A Worcester late last season and should get a look in the majors at some point in 2022.