Yankees Sign Sal Romano To Minors Contract
The Yankees have signed righty Sal Romano to a minor league contract. Conor Foley of The Scranton Times-Tribune (Twitter link) was the first to report that Romano was working out today with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.
Romano is back with the Yankees less than three weeks after being designated for assignment by New York and then claimed off waivers by the Brewers. Romano pitched in just one game for Milwaukee before being designated again, and he chose to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Brewers’ Triple-A club.
This makes it four uniform changes in less than three months for Romano, who began the season with the Reds before declining another outright assignment to catch on with the Yankees on his previous minor league deal. Romano is out of minor league options, so he could face yet another round of DFA limbo should New York recall him to the big leagues and then again cut ties to make roster space for another player.
Amidst all the movement, Romano has a 5.63 ERA over 24 total innings in 2021 (one with the Brewers, 2 1/3 IP with the Yankees, and 20 2/3 with the Reds). A veteran of five Major League seasons, Romano has a 5.18 ERA over 274 1/3 career innings, all with Cincinnati prior to 2021.
Marlins Designate Shawn Morimando, Place Zach Pop On 10-Day Injured List
The Marlins have designated left-hander Shawn Morimando for assignment and placed righty Zach Pop on the 10-day injured list. Right-hander Jorge Guzman and left-hander Sean Guenther were called up from Triple-A to take the two spots on the active roster. (MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola was among those to report the moves.)
Pop has been sidelined with soreness in the middle finger of his throwing hand, interrupting a very respectable rookie season for the 24-year-old. Over his first 43 1/3 innings in the majors, Pop has a 4.36 ERA/4.05 SIERA, plus a 58.1% grounder rate that has continued his reputation from the minors as a groundball specialist. The Marlins landed Pop via the Rule 5 Draft (acquiring the right-hander from the Diamondbacks after Arizona drafted him out of the Orioles’ organization), and Pop has certainly pitched well enough to remain on the MLB roster for the entire season, so Miami will retain his rights going forward.
This is the second time the Marlins have DFA’ed Morimando this season, with the first designation resulting in an outright assignment to Triple-A for the southpaw. After making his big league debut with Cleveland in 2016, Morimando didn’t receive another MLB opportunity until this season, when he posted a 9.58 ERA over 10 1/3 innings for the Marlins.
Cubs Place Adbert Alzolay On 10-Day Injured List
The Cubs have placed right-hander Adbert Alzolay on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain. Righty Trevor Megill was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
Alzolay left his start last night in the second inning due to the injury, adding to a disastrous inning for the Cubs that saw the Marlins score 11 runs en route to a 14-10 victory. Alzolay was charged with six of those runs over his 1 1/3 innings of work, his worst performance in what has been an inconsistent season for the 26-year-old. Alzolay has a 5.16 ERA over 106 1/3 frames in 2021, as above-average walk and strikeouts rates haven’t been enough to counter a lot of hard contact from opposing batters against Alzolay’s offerings.
After posting a 2.95 ERA over a small sample size of 21 1/3 innings last season, Alzolay was seen as a candidate to step forward and establish himself as a regular member of Chicago’s rotation. Given how the Cubs have dealt much of their veteran pitching beyond Kyle Hendricks, Alzolay is still a candidate for the 2022 staff almost by default. Once he returns from the IL, Alzolay will get the rest of this season to make his case heading into Spring Training and ahead of whatever pitching additions the Cubs could make this winter.
Nationals Claim Patrick Murphy Off Waivers From Blue Jays, Release Rene Rivera
The Nationals have claimed Patrick Murphy off waivers from the Blue Jays, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Murphy was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays earlier in the week. Additionally, the club has released Rene Rivera, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com.
Murphy worked as a starter in the minors through the 2019 season. At Double-A that year, he logged 84 innings with an ERA of 4.71. In 2020, with the minor league season wiped out, he was only able to get actual game action in the big leagues, pitching six innings out of Toronto’s bullpen, allowing one earned run on six hits and two walks.
A consistent issue with Murphy has been injuries, which continued this year. He was placed on the 60-day IL back in February and began a rehab assignment in late May. Since that time, he bounced between the majors and minors, being optioned three times. He’s dominated Triple-A hitters in 14 2/3 scoreless innings, with a strikeout rate of 29.3%. Though that also came with a concerning walk rate of 13.8%. At the big league level, he has a 4.82 ERA, but in a small sample size of just 9 1/3 innings. The 26-year-old is in his last option year, meaning Washington can keep him in the minors for the remainder of the season. But once the 2022 season begins, they would have to either keep him in the majors or designate him for assignment again.
As for Rivera, this brings a very short Nationals tenure to an end. The 38-year-old journeyman catcher was released by Cleveland just over a month ago and signed on with Washington in mid-July. He was able to appear in just four games with the Nats. Between the two clubs, his slash line for the season is .232/.293/.362. He will now be free to sign with other clubs. However, Washington had placed him on the IL just last week with an elbow contusion. The severity of that injury could determine the level of interest from other teams.
Brewers Place Travis Shaw On Outright Waivers
The Brewers have placed infielder Travis Shaw on outright waivers, according to Peter Gammons and Will Sammon, both of The Athletic.
Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, Shaw had his contract selected by the Brewers in March. That contract came with a guarantee of $1.5MM. He appeared in 56 games, splitting his time between first and third base, before going on the IL with a dislocated shoulder, producing a disappointing line of .191/.279/.337, a wRC+ of 68. Since that time, the club has shored up its corner infield with the acquisitions of Rowdy Tellez and Eduardo Escobar, both of whom have been excellent since joining the Brew Crew. It seems that this has left Shaw, who began a rehab assignment July 27th, the odd man out.
This marks yet another downturn in Shaw’s seesaw career. After coming to Milwaukee in a trade with the Red Sox, Shaw was incredible for his first two years with the Brewers, hitting over 30 home runs in both 2017 and 2018, producing a combined line of .258/.347/.497 with a wRC+ of 120. However, 2019 went completely in the opposite direction, a miserable .157/.281/.270 campaign, wRC+ of 48, that caused the team to opt for not tendering him a contract for 2020. The Blue Jays picked him up and saw Shaw rebound slightly to a line of .239/.306/.411 and a wRC+ of 92. Unfortunately, the return to Milwaukee resulted in his production turning downwards yet again.
Shaw will now almost certainly clear waivers and become a free agent. He is still owed about $400K of the $1.5MM on his contract. Any team that signs Shaw would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with the Brewers on the hook for the rest.
Giants Sign Brandon Crawford To Two-Year, $32MM Extension
The Giants announced they’ve agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with shortstop Brandon Crawford. It’s a $32MM deal, with Crawford slated to receive matching $16MM salaries between 2022-23. The three-time All-Star had been slated to reach free agency at the end of the season. Crawford is represented by Wasserman.
The deal will tack on another two seasons for Crawford, who turns 35 years old in January, in orange and black. The Giants selected the Bay Area native in the fourth round of the 2008 draft after a standout career at UCLA. He made his big league debut three years later and has been an organizational fixture ever since. Crawford has been San Francisco’s starting shortstop for the past decade, contributing to the franchise’s 2012 and 2014 World Series titles.
While Crawford broke in as a light-hitting defensive specialist, he put together three consecutive solid seasons with the bat from 2014-16, earning the NL’s Silver Slugger award for shortstops in the second of those years. Beginning in 2017, he started to fall off at the plate and eventually bottomed out with a .228/.304/.350 line in 2019. Crawford looked destined to end his career as a bottom-of-the-order type, but he’s posted a remarkable turnaround over the past two seasons.
The left-handed hitter bounced back to put up a quality .256/.326/.465 line in 2020. It might’ve been easy to waive that away as a small sample in the shortened season, but he’s been an absolute force at the plate this year. Crawford enters play Friday carrying a .296/.364/.540 mark with nineteen home runs over 371 plate appearances.
That’s far and away the best offensive showing of his career, and it’s among the best production of any player in baseball. Crawford’s 139 wRC+ suggests he’s been 39 percentage points more productive than the league average hitter after accounting for Oracle Park’s pitcher-friendly nature. That’s the #27 mark among the 282 hitters with 200+ plate appearances. At shortstop, only Fernando Tatís Jr. has been better at the plate.
Crawford’s not making much more contact or drawing many more walks than he has over the prior few seasons. He’s simply hitting the ball harder more consistently. Crawford’s 44.7% hard contact rate is his best mark since 2015, up nearly ten percentage points over his run of poor offense from 2017-19. His barrel rate (essentially how often Crawford hits the ball hard at a launch angle conducive to power) is up to 14.4% — easily his highest clip since Statcast became public in 2015 and a 90th percentile mark leaguewide. He’s hitting more fly balls generally, and it’s no coincidence he’ll certainly surpass his previous career best in homers (21).
Equally as important, Crawford has shown no signs of decline on defense. He’s always been among the game’s most sure-handed defenders, and that hasn’t changed despite his age. Statcast has credited the three-time Gold Glove award winner with 10 outs above average this season, a mark that trails only Nick Ahmed, Francisco Lindor, Matt Chapman, Nicky Lopez and Andrelton Simmons among infielders. Crawford’s reputation and advanced metrics suggest he’s still among the game’s premier defenders.
Crawford’s production on both sides of the ball is a huge reason the Giants have surprisingly posted the league’s best record. Between his stellar production, longstanding importance to the organization, and previous ties to the Bay Area, it’s little surprise both sides were motivated to get a deal done.
Even after signing Crawford, the Giants have an abundance of future payroll space. Evan Longoria ($19.667MM), Tommy La Stella ($5.25MM) and Jake McGee ($2.5MM) are the only other players with guaranteed contracts on the books next season. For a franchise that has previously pushed payroll up near $200MM, there’s plenty of breathing room for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and the rest of the front office.
That abundance of financial flexibility reflects the huge crop of potential free agents in San Francisco, though. Like Crawford, catcher Buster Posey and first baseman Brandon Belt are franchise cornerstones having great seasons. Posey’s contract comes with a $22MM club option for 2022 ($3MM buyout), while Belt is scheduled to reach free agency at the end of the year. So is staff ace Kevin Gausman, as well as rotation mates Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto. (Cueto has a $22MM club option that looks likely to be bought out). Deadline acquisition Kris Bryant will be one of the top position players on the market.
There’s obviously quite a bit on the offseason to-do list for Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris. They’ve started their winter work early by ensuring that Crawford returns at shortstop. There’s a good chance this extension solidifies Crawford as a one-franchise player. Last month, he told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle he could consider retirement a couple years from now.
“As a competitor, I don’t ever want there to be a year like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the end for him,’” Crawford told Shea. “I want to still be a good player the last year of my career. That’s why I’d say, ‘Yeah, at least a couple of more years would be nice.’ I don’t want to be 39 or 40 and feel I can’t move around anymore at short. I still want to be a good shortstop when I decide to hang it up.”
Crawford’s previous extension, signed in November 2015, contained a full no-trade clause. This deal does not, but that’s presumably because such a provision was unnecessary. Crawford reached ten years of major league service in June. With it, he locked in full no-trade rights as a 10-and-5 player (one with ten years of MLB service, the last five of which have come with the same team).
The signing removes one of the best-performing impending free agents from next winter’s market. There’s been a huge amount of attention on the star-studded shortstop class, which will include Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien and Javier Báez. Crawford has been as or more productive than all of them this year. His age was always going to keep him from landing any sort of mega-deal, but Crawford could’ve been a target for immediate contenders needing a shortstop. Instead, he’ll forego the open market to stick with the only organization he’s ever known.
Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was first to report the deal’s specific terms. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Kevan Smith Elects Free Agency
Catcher Kevan Smith has elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. The Braves designated Smith for assignment on Wednesday.
Smith signed a minor league deal with the Rays over the offseason. He was selected to Tampa Bay’s big league roster in early May and traded to the Braves less than two weeks later. The right-handed hitting Smith logged fairly decent playing time in Atlanta with Travis d’Arnaud on the injured list, but he hit just .165/.248/.198 over 101 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from Smith’s generally decent work at the dish, as the 33-year-old carried a career .272/.321/.384 line into the 2021 campaign.
That track record seems likely to garner Smith some minor league opportunities from clubs looking to bolster their catching depth. Should he latch on elsewhere before August 31, Smith would be eligible to be added to his signing team’s postseason roster.
Marlins Sign Dustin Fowler
The Marlins have signed outfielder Dustin Fowler to a minor league contract, according to an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville. The 26-year-old made his first appearance as a Jumbo Shrimp this evening.
Fowler began his career in the Yankees system, emerging as one of the better outfield prospects in the league within a few years. He reached the big leagues as a 22-year-old midway through the 2017 season. Unfortunately, Fowler ruptured his right patellar tendon in a bizarre collision with an exposed electrical box at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field during his MLB debut. That ended his season, and he was traded to the A’s as part of the return for Sonny Gray not long thereafter.
Oakland gave Fowler a bit of run in 2018, but he hit just .224/.256/.354 over 203 plate appearances. He didn’t appear in the majors in either of the next two seasons, instead spending both years on optional assignment — 2019 in Triple-A, 2020 at the alternate training site. Oakland traded him to the Pirates for cash in February.
Fowler opened the year on Pittsburgh’s big league roster but was designated for assignment after a rough eighteen games. The lefty-hitting outfielder cleared outright waivers and only appeared in thirteen Triple-A games before being released last weekend.
Obviously, Fowler hasn’t yet found any success at the big league level. He’s still relatively young and not too far removed from his days as a high-end prospect, though, and there’s no real harm for the Marlins in bringing him aboard as high minors depth. Fowler is a career .294/.342/.508 hitter over parts of four seasons at Triple-A.
Giants Release Aaron Sanchez
The Giants announced this evening that they’ve placed right-hander Aaron Sanchez on unconditional release waivers. That was the expected outcome after the club designated him for assignment last weekend.
San Francisco added Sanchez on a one-year, $4MM guarantee over the offseason. It was a low-risk shot on a reclamation candidate. Sanchez showed plenty of promise early in his career with the Blue Jays but he’d been beset by injuries over the past few years and missed all of last season recovering from September 2019 shoulder surgery.
While the addition didn’t pan out as hoped, it wasn’t a complete bust. Sanchez worked to a 3.06 ERA over 35 1/3 innings across nine appearances (seven starts). His 16.7% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk percentage weren’t especially impressive, but he induced grounders at a strong 52.3% clip. That’s not quite the elite groundball numbers Sanchez boasted at his peak, but it was his best season in that regard since 2016.
Unfortunately, Sanchez’s troubles staying healthy reappeared in early May. The 29-year-old landed on the injured list with right biceps tightness. Between that and blister issues that cropped up on his minor league rehab assignment, Sanchez missed nearly three months. He returned to make two appearances before being let go.
Sanchez is entitled to the entirety of his $4MM salary, about $1.1MM of which remains to be paid out. Any team that claims Sanchez off waivers would assume the remainder of that salary, but it seems more likely he’ll pass through unclaimed and reach free agency. At that point, rival clubs could sign Sanchez for the prorated portion of the league minimum salary, with the rest of the tab falling on the Giants.
Red Sox Designate Marwin Gonzalez For Assignment, Activate Kyle Schwarber
The Red Sox are reinstating trade deadline acquisition Kyle Schwarber from the injured list, manager Alex Cora announced to reporters Friday (Twitter link via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo). In order to clear roster space for Schwarber, who’s making his team debut tonight, Boston has designated infielder/outfielder Marwin Gonzalez for assignment.
Gonzalez, 32, found a rather frigid market for his services in free agency this past offseason, lingering on the market until inking a one-year, $3MM deal in Boston on the heels of a poor 2020 showing in Minnesota. The versatile switch-hitter posted just a .211/.286/.320 slash in 199 plate appearances with the Twins last year and hasn’t been able to improve upon that in 2021, batting just .201/.282/.285 in a larger sample of 271 trips to the plate.
Gonzalez has, at times, been an average or better offensive contributor, but his lone standout season at the plate came during the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017. Gonzalez posted a massive .303/.377/.530 batting line with a career-high 23 home runs in 515 plate appearances. He’s hit just .240/.310/.376 in nearly 1500 plate appearances since that season.
Defensively, Gonzalez has played solidly around the diamond in Boston, where he’s logged time at all four infield positions and both corner outfield slots. Gonzalez has more than 1000 career innings played at all four infield positions and in left field (plus another 402 in right field).
Given that he’s still owed about $839K of this year’s $3MM base salary and has produced a lowly .206/.284/.300 batting line in his past 470 MLB plate appearances, Gonzalez is a lock to go unclaimed on waivers. He’ll become a free agent at that point and be able to sign with any team for the prorated league minimum. Any pay he receives from another club would be deducted from the remainder of the salary still owed to him by the Red Sox.
Schwarber is now in line to make his team debut. The slugger rode an absurd month of June to a .253/.340/.570 line over 303 plate appearances with the Nationals. He suffered a significant hamstring strain in early July and landed on the injured list. Washington fell out of contention not long thereafter and traded away a huge swath of players before the deadline — including Schwarber, who’s an impending free agent. Now that he has returned to health, Schwarber figures to get plenty of run at first base, a position he’s never played in the major leagues, with Boston.