Drew Anderson Signs With Hiroshima Carp After Rangers Release
10:18PM: Anderson will join the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to a report from Yahoo Japan (Japanese language link). Anderson receives a $300K signing bonus and a $700K salary for the 2022 season.
NOVEMBER 3, 5:45PM: The Rangers have officially announced the move, with team executive VP of communications John Blake (Twitter link) adding that Anderson will be signing with a team in Asia.
OCTOBER 30: The Rangers have released right-hander Drew Anderson, according to the transactions page at MLB.com. Signed to a minor league deal in the winter, he had his contract selected at the end of July to provide an extra arm for the team’s staff after they traded Joely Rodriguez, Ian Kennedy and Kyle Gibson at the trade deadline.
The 27-year-old has seen limited MLB action in five straight seasons now. Coming into this year, he had 22 1/3 big league innings over 2017-2020, and then added 22 further innings in 2021. Despite a miniscule strikeout rate of just 9.9%, he still managed to keep his ERA down to 3.27 over those 22 innings this season. In Triple-A this year, he logged 70 2/3 innings with an ERA of 3.06, strikeout rate of 29.9% and walk rate of 10.1%.
In the offseason, there is no longer any injured list and players on the 60-day IL have to take up a roster spot once again. With the release of Anderson, as well as players heading into free agency and those coming off the IL, the Rangers will have 42 players on their 40-man roster, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That means the Rangers will surely have to do more roster scrubbing in the coming days.
Diamondbacks To Exercise Option On Merrill Kelly, Decline Option On Kole Calhoun
Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen provided details on two of the team’s three option decisions, as Hazen told The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro that the D’Backs will exercise their $5.25MM club option on righty Merrill Kelly and decline their $9MM club option on outfielder Kole Calhoun. The fate of Tyler Clippard‘s $3.5MM mutual option (with a $500K buyout) is still undecided, Hazen said.
There wasn’t much suspense in either decision, as Kelly had a pretty solid year in his return from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. Kelly posted a 4.44 ERA over 158 innings, delivering his usual quality walk rate to help offset a lot of hard contact and a below-average strikeout rate. The Diamondbacks are hoping Kelly can match or better this performance in 2022 as the team looks for more stability in the rotation.
Next season will be the final year of Arizona’s control over Kelly, as per the two-year, $5.5MM contract with two club options that he signed back in December 2018. With this final option year now exercised, the deal will work out to a four-year, $14.5MM pact.
Calhoun signed a two-year, $16MM free agent to join his hometown D’Backs during the 2019-20 offseason, and hit .226/.338/.526 with 16 home runs over 228 plate appearances in the shortened 2020 season. That solid performance was followed up by an injury-plagued 2021, as Calhoun underwent a knee surgery in Spring Training and then a left hamstring surgery less than two months later. His rehab from that second procedure was extended by a setback, and Calhoun also spent another month on the IL with a strain in that same left hamstring late in the year.
All told, Calhoun appeared in only 51 games and hit .235/.297/.373 over 182 PA. Calhoun might have been a trade chip had he been healthy, either back in July at the trade deadline or perhaps this winter, if he’d hit well enough for the Diamondbacks to exercise that club option. Instead, the D’Backs will buy out that $9MM option for $2MM and Calhoun will hit the market in advance of his age-34 season.
A return to Arizona could be unlikely, as while Hazen praised Calhoun for being “awesome for us in and out of the clubhouse,” the D’Backs already have quite a few left-handed outfield options. Calhoun hit both left-handed and right-handed pitching pretty evenly for a lot of his career, but over the last three seasons has developed more traditional splits. It seems likely that Calhoun will catch on with another team in need of some veteran pop from the left side of the plate, and Calhoun’s right field glovework has remained pretty good, even amidst all his leg injuries in 2021.
Pirates Claim Eric Hanhold From Orioles
The Pirates claimed right-hander Eric Hanhold off waivers from the Orioles, both teams announced. Hanhold has been a member of the Baltimore organization since September 2019, when he was acquired in another waiver claim off the Mets’ roster.
Hanhold has pitched in parts of two MLB seasons, tossing 2 1/3 innings for the Mets in 2018 and then returning to The Show this season to throw 10 1/3 innings for the Orioles. The righty has a 7.11 ERA over his brief big league career and hasn’t fared well either at Triple-A, with a 5.28 ERA over 93 2/3 frames at the top minor league level. Not a big strikeout pitcher, Hanhold has relied on some hefty grounder rates in the minors, though he has only a modest 37% groundball rate as a Major Leaguer.
The Pirates can now take a look at the 28-year-old reliever, though it might not be surprising if Hanhold ends up designated for assignment or claimed by another team in the wake of future Pittsburgh roster moves. Assuming he stays with the Bucs through the winter, Hanhold will get a chance to win a job in Spring Training as the Pirates sort their way through a wide assortment of bullpen options.
From the Orioles’ perspective, Hanhold may have been an expendable piece as the O’s continue to create some room on their 40-man roster. Baltimore has several young players in need of protection from the Rule 5 Draft, so roster space will be required for the team to protect as many of these prospects as possible.
Phillies Decline Club Options On Andrew McCutchen, Odubel Herrera
The Phillies have announced that they have declined their club options on outfielders Andrew McCutchen and Odubel Herrera for the 2022 season. McCutchen will receive a $3MM buyout rather than a $15MM salary next year, and Herrera has been bought out for $2.5MM rather than a $11.5MM salary.
Today’s decision closes the book on the three-year, $50MM free agent contract McCutchen signed with the Phils in December 2018, a deal that ended up as something of a mixed bag. Both sides might wonder what have been had McCutchen not suffered a torn ACL in June 2019, as the veteran had gotten off to a very strong start in his first 59 games in a Phillies uniform.
Since returning from injury rehab, McCutchen has provided above-average (106 wRC+, 107 OPS+) offense and hit .232/.331/.441 with 37 home runs over 815 PA in 2020-21. It isn’t bad production by any stretch, though McCutchen’s .222 batting average in 2021 was a career low, and defensive metrics didn’t like his glovework as the Phillies’ regular left fielder.
Between these diminished numbers and the fact that McCutchen turned 35 in October, he might have to settle for a one-year deal this offseason. That said, McCutchen will surely catch on somewhere, quite probably with a contender that will value having one of the game’s most respected players in the clubhouse to provide some veteran leadership. A return to Philadelphia might not be out of the question, even if the Phillies would certainly rather pay “Cutch” a great deal less than $15MM.
Herrera is still under team control via one final year of salary arbitration, but since he is projected to earn $11.6MM, the Phillies are likely to non-tender Herrera and end their seven-year association with the outfielder. Selected away from the Rangers in the 2014 Rule 5 draft, Herrera earned an All-Star nod in 2016, which led the Phils to sign him to a five-year, $30.5MM extension in December 2016.
However, Herrera was arrested on assault charges related to domestic violence in May 2019, and while the charges were dropped, the league suspended Herrera under the purview of the MLB/MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. Herrera missed the rest of the 2019 season due to the 85-game suspension, and also didn’t play in 2020 when the Phillies outrighted him off their 40-man roster. It seemed as if the Phillies were ready to part ways with Herrera, though he re-emerged in 2021 to play 124 games for the team, hitting .260/.310/.416 over 492 plate appearances.
If neither McCutchen or Herrera are brought back, the Phillies are in drastic need of outfielders to line up alongside Bryce Harper. Existing in-house options (Mickey Moniak, Adam Haseley, Travis Jankowski, Roman Quinn, Matt Vierling) don’t hold a lot of appeal as regular big league options, so outfield figures to be a key target for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski this offseason.
Trevor Bauer To Decline Opt-Out For 2022 Season
Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer will remain in his contract for the 2022 season, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Bauer had the option of exercising an opt-out clause in order to test free agency again this winter, but he will instead remain on the Dodgers’ books for a $32MM salary next season. Bauer can also opt out following next season, and if so, would take a $15MM buyout rather than a $32MM salary for 2023.
Bauer hasn’t pitched since June 28, and it remains to be seen if he will ever play Major League Baseball again in the wake of assault allegations and a temporary ex parte restraining order filed against Bauer by a woman in California in July. This led to the revelation of another protection order that a court granted a woman in Ohio against Bauer in 2020, from an alleged incident that took place in 2017. In regards to the California incident, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is still reviewing the police evidence against Bauer to determine whether or not criminal charges will be filed.
MLB placed Bauer on paid administrative leave in early July, and the league and the MLB Players Association subsequently agreed to several extensions on that leave through the end of the World Series. As a result, Bauer has already been paid the $38MM owed to him ($28MM salary, $10MM signing bonus) through the first year of his three-year, $102MM free agent deal signed with the Dodgers last February. $20MM of that 2021 salary would’ve been paid out in deferrals had Bauer elected to opt out.
Needless to say, there was no chance Bauer was going to walk away from that $64MM, though he might yet lose at least part of that salary via suspension. As per the MLB/MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy, the league has the ability to suspend Bauer regardless of any criminal charges that may or may not be brought against him. “The expectation around the sport is that the league would pursue a suspension of at least one year,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote in August, and it seems very possible that Bauer would appeal any suspension issued, unlike other players suspended under the joint policy.
Jackie Bradley Jr. To Exercise 2022 Player Option To Remain With Brewers
Brewers outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. will be exercising his $9.5MM player option to remain in Milwaukee for the 2022 season, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Bradley would have received a $6.5MM buyout had he chosen to decline the option and re-enter the free agent market. Bradley and the Brewers share a $12MM mutual option for the 2023 season that contains an $8MM buyout.
It was expected that Bradley would pick up his option in the wake of the worst hitting season of his nine-year MLB career. While Bradley’s numbers at the plate have always been somewhat inconsistent, his production utterly plummeted in 2021, with only a .163/.236/.261 slash line and six home runs over 428 plate appearances. Due to his late signing, Bradley missed the first month of Spring Training, yet that lack of preparation time hardly accounts for a career-worst walk rate (6.5%) and strikeout rate (30.8%).
The offensive numbers were poor enough that Bradley was still a negative-fWAR player (-0.8) even despite his still-excellent glovework. Bradley is a finalist for the NL center field Gold Glove, and looking to earn the award for the second time, after capturing AL honors with the Red Sox in 2018. For a medium-market team like the Brewers, $9.5MM is a hefty price for a defense-only player, even a stellar fielder like Bradley. It doesn’t help that the Brew Crew are also paying $18MM to Lorenzo Cain next season, another excellent defender whose bat has fallen off (though not to the extent of Bradley’s struggles).
If Milwaukee looked to carve out payroll space by trading one of the two, Bradley is probably the easier sell, if a team is willing to roll the dice on a rebound at the plate and is intrigued by the extra year of control if Bradley’s hitting does rebound. A significant chunk of Bradley’s contract is deferred, so in terms of pure dollars, the Brewers have only paid Bradley $3MM thus far, though the future deferrals could complicate any trade possibilities.
Jurickson Profar Exercises Player Option, Will Remain With Padres
Padres utilityman Jurickson Profar won’t opt out of his contract with the team, instead choosing to exercise his $6.5MM player option for the 2022 season, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link).
Profar’s free agent deal with the Padres last winter contains three guaranteed years, though Profar had opt-out clauses after both this season and the 2022 season. Opting out would have allowed Profar to pocket a $1MM buyout and then test the open market, though he will now receive a $6.5MM salary from the Padres in 2022, plus $1.5MM in remaining signing bonus money. Profar is set to earn $7.5MM in 2023 if he doesn’t opt out of that year, with another $1MM buyout attached. The two sides also have a $10MM mutual option on Profar’s services for the 2024 season ($1MM buyout).
There wasn’t much suspense behind Profar’s decision, as leaving $15.5MM on the table wouldn’t have been advisable considering Profar’s lackluster 2021 numbers. Profar hit .227/.329/.320 with four home runs over 412 plate appearances, and was a sub-replacement level player in the eyes of Fangraphs’ WAR metric (-0.7). While Profar had strong walk and strikeout rates, he simply didn’t make much hard contact, finishing in only the seventh percentile in hard-hit ball rate and barrel rate. Profar was further hampered by a pair of stints on the COVID-related injury list, which cost him around three weeks of action.
It seemed as if Profar was turning on the corner after a solid 2020 season, yet his struggles this year only added to his history of inconsistency at the big league level. Once considered the game’s top prospect during his time in the Rangers farm system, Profar hasn’t been able to put everything together, and his progress hasn’t been helped by a number of injuries along the way. After playing in parts of eight MLB seasons, Profar has only 4.6 fWAR and a .236/.320/.384 slash line to show for 2444 plate appearances.
This track record notwithstanding, Profar’s good 2020 season and his top-prospect reputation garnered him quite a bit of interest on the open market last year, and the Padres were willing to go to three years to retain him. That investment doesn’t look great one season into the deal, as while Profar was intended for something of a super-utility role in the first place, he doesn’t have a clear path to regular at-bats on next year’s Padres roster. There is still hope for a late breakout at age-29, and while Profar’s salary isn’t exorbitant by itself, San Diego is already pushing the luxury tax threshold even before making any offseason roster adds.
Yusei Kikuchi To Decline Player Option, Test Free Agency
Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi has told the team that he is declining his $13MM player option for the 2022 season, according to The Athletic’s Corey Brock (Twitter link). The southpaw will now enter the free agent market after three seasons in Seattle.
As per the unusual structure of Kikuchi’s contract, the Mariners had until Friday to decide whether or not to exercise four years’ worth of $16.5MM club options for the lefty covering the 2022-25 seasons — effectively, a four-year/$66MM extension. If the Mariners declined to pick up those options, Kikuchi could then opt into the 2022 season via his $13MM player option.
Today’s news indicates that the M’s have indeed passed on those four option years, which isn’t a shock considering the inconsistent nature of Kikuchi’s 2021 season. However, earlier reports suggested that Kikuchi would exercise his player option, making his decision to hit the open market something of a surprise.
2021 was the best of Kikuchi’s three MLB campaigns, as he posted a 4.41 ERA, 48.4% grounder rate, and an above-average 24.5% strikeout rate over 157 innings for Seattle. The underlying Statcast metrics weren’t nearly as solid, as Kikuchi’s hard contact numbers were among the worst of any pitcher in the league, and this issue eventually caught up to Kikuchi as the season went on. After posting a 3.48 ERA over 98 1/3 IP in the first half and earning a spot on the AL All-Star team, Kikuchi’s ERA blew up to 5.98 over 58 2/3 frames in the second half.
While not the best platform season for a free agent, Kikuchi and his representatives at The Boras Corporation must think that the 30-year-old can land a solid multi-year deal on the open market. It isn’t a far-out argument, considering that teams are always in need of starting pitching. All it takes is one suitor to see some untapped potential in Kikuchi, or perhaps he could be seen as a change-of-scenery candidate. The left-hander has a 4.97 ERA over his 365 2/3 innings in Major League Baseball, yet with some flashes of better performance (i.e. the first half of 2021, and how Kikuchi’s peripherals in 2020 generally outperformed his real-world numbers).
Other factors could also be at play, beyond just Kikuchi’s desire to land a larger contract. Speculatively, a return to Japan might not be out of the question, if Kikuchi wished to once again pitch in Nippon Professional Baseball. Kikuchi was one of NPB’s top pitchers before making the jump to North America, and he would likely find no shortage of interest from the Seibu Lions (his old team) or another Japanese team if he returned to his home country.
From the Mariners’ perspective, they now have a hole in the rotation to fill, though Kikuchi projected as a third starter at best considering how his 2021 season ended. The M’s were already expected to be targeting starting pitching this winter, and they now have an extra $13MM to work with in their offseason pursuits. Seattle has less than $57MM committed to their 2022 payroll, and GM Jerry Dipoto has said that ownership has okayed the front office to increase spending following the team’s 90-win season.
Marlins Outright Magneuris Sierra
The Marlins have outrighted outfielder Magneuris Sierra, relays Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). That suggests he’s already cleared waivers. As a player who has spent parts of seven seasons in the minor leagues, the 25-year-old Sierra will have the right to elect minor league free agency in the coming days.
The move could bring an end to Sierra’s four-season tenure in the organization. Originally a Cardinals’ prospect, he was traded to Miami alongside Sandy Alcantara, Zac Gallen and Daniel Castano as part of the December 2017 Marcell Ozuna deal. Sierra, who had briefly debuted with St. Louis the season before, was viewed as a potential everyday center fielder based on the strength of his speed, defense and bat-to-ball skills.
The left-handed hitting Sierra appeared in the majors in each of the past four seasons with Miami but never hit enough to live up to that everyday billing. He has yet to hit a home run in 540 MLB plate appearances, posting a .240/.287/.278 mark altogether. Sierra’s baserunning and defense have been strong as expected, but that lack of productivity at the plate eventually squeezed him out of a crowded if unsettled outfield mix. Miami still has Lewis Brinson, Brian Miller, Bryan De La Cruz and Monte Harrison as center field-capable players on the 40-man roster.
Brewers Sign Trevor Gott To Major League Deal
2:35 pm: The Brewers have announced the deal.
12:58 pm: Gott’s deal is a split contract, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’ll receive a 40-man roster spot but earn different salaries depending upon if he’s pitching at the major league or minor league levels.
11:47 am: The Brewers are signing free agent reliever Trevor Gott to a one-year, major league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link). Gott is represented by Sports One Athlete Management.
It’s a bit surprising to see the right-hander land a big league deal right out of the gate. Gott was designated for assignment by the Giants last offseason and passed through outright waivers. Briefly re-selected to the 40-man roster in April, he was quickly DFA’d and again cleared the waiver wire. Gott spent the rest of the season with San Francisco’s top affiliate in Sacramento before electing minor league free agency last month. Because he qualified for minor league free agency in early October, Gott was eligible to sign elsewhere before the end of the current five-day window of exclusivity for teams to negotiate with their own free agents.
Gott had a nice run with the River Cats in 2021, tossing 41 2/3 innings of 4.10 ERA ball over 43 appearances. Opponents’ .340 batting average on balls in play inflated his Triple-A run prevention numbers, but Gott punched out a very strong 31% of minor league hitters on the back of a solid 14.9% swinging strike rate.
Between 2015-20, Gott posted inconsistent results but intermittently flashed solid ability. He worked to a 3.02 ERA with the Angels in his rookie season, overcoming mediocre strikeout and walk numbers that year thanks to a massive 57.2% ground-ball rate. After three years with the Nationals riddled by injuries and underperformance, Gott seemed to break out with the 2019 Giants. While he posted an ordinary 4.44 ERA over 52 2/3 frames, his strikeout (26.6%), walk (7.9%) and swinging strike (10.8%) numbers were all solid or better.
Unfortunately for Gott, he couldn’t build off that success in 2020. He was tagged for thirteen runs, including a staggering seven homers, in just 11 2/3 innings. That remains his most recent body of work at the major league level, but the Milwaukee front office will take a low-risk roll of the dice that the 29-year-old can yet regain some of his best form.
Once made official, the Gott signing will bring Milwaukee’s 40-man roster tally up to 38. It’s not out of the question the Brewers could bump Gott from the 40-man at some point this winter should the need for another spot arise, but the front office is clearly intrigued by his potential to assume a role in next year’s bullpen. Gott is out of minor league option years, so he’ll either need to break camp with the big league team next season or be made available to the rest of the league. Should he right the ship and cement himself in the Brewers’ relief group, Gott could be controlled through the end of the 2024 campaign via arbitration.