Braves To Sign Jeff Mathis To Minor League Deal
The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Jeff Mathis, David O’Brien of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Mathis was released by the Phillies from a previous minors deal earlier this week.
It’s an early birthday present for Mathis, who turns 38 years old tomorrow. Should Mathis hit the field with the Braves this season, it will mark his 17th MLB campaign. Mathis has played for five different organizations during his long career, including a year with the Blue Jays in 2012 when current Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos was running the Toronto front office.
O’Brien notes that Mathis is “looking to transition into coaching” as he winds down his playing career, and surely he’ll find some interest after his long and respected career behind the plate. Before he hangs up the cleats, however, Mathis will provide some depth behind Travis d’Arnaud and Alex Jackson, and perhaps provide some mentorship to young backstop William Contreras, one of the Braves’ top prospects.
Never known for his hitting, Mathis has carved out a niche for himself as one of the sport’s best defensive catchers. He is perhaps best known for the seven-year stint with the Angels that began his MLB career, and Mathis most recently played in 110 games with the Rangers over the last two seasons.
Orioles Acquire Adam Plutko, Release Yolmer Sanchez
TODAY: Sanchez has cleared waivers and been granted a release, the Orioles announced.
MARCH 27: The Orioles have acquired right-hander Adam Plutko in a trade with the Indians, The Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli reports (Twitter link). The O’s have officially announced the deal, noting that Plutko was acquired for cash considerations. Infielder Yolmer Sanchez has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move to open a spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster.
Plutko is out of minor league options, so the trade allows Cleveland to receive at least a modest return for a player who wasn’t likely to make their Opening Day roster, rather than lose Plutko for nothing on the waiver wire. Plutko’s 40-man roster space can now be filled by Bryan Shaw, who was in camp on a minor league contract and had already been told that he will make the team.
Originally an 11th-round pick for the Tribe in the 2013 draft, Plutko has a 5.05 ERA/5.71 SIERA over 217 1/3 big league innings, starting 36 of his 50 career games. Plutko doesn’t miss many bats (only a 16.9% career strikeout rate) and he’s had a lot of trouble keeping the ball in the park, with a 2.03 HR/9 over his four MLB seasons. On the plus side, he doesn’t issue many walks, and he has displayed some elite spin on his curveball.
Plutko is already 29 years old but still controllable through the 2024 season, which is undoubtedly of interest to the Orioles. Plutko wasn’t consistent enough to lock down a regular starting job with the pitching-rich Indians, but he’ll immediately become a candidate for the fifth spot in a Baltimore rotation that includes John Means, Matt Harvey, Dean Kremer, and Wade LeBlanc. Alternatively, Plutko could also be deployed out of the bullpen as a long reliever or swingman.
The Plutko trade is a logical pickup for the Orioles, but the follow-up transaction is unusual, as Sanchez was projected to be the team’s starting second baseman. The O’s claimed Sanchez off waivers from the White Sox in October, and while Baltimore could simply be taking a calculated risk that another team won’t claim the former Gold Glover, the DFA would seem to indicate that Sanchez isn’t seen as a big factor in the Orioles’ plans.
Sanchez avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1MM deal for the 2021 season, but since arb contracts are only guaranteed once the player makes the Opening Day roster, the Orioles will only owe Sanchez 45 days of termination pay (roughly $250K) for being cut in the last half of Spring Training. While not a huge savings, the financial aspect of the Sanchez DFA can’t be overlooked as a notable factor, considering how the Orioles have been looking to save money whenever possible this offseason.
If Sanchez ends up elsewhere, Pat Valaika, Ramon Urias, Jahmai Jones, and non-roster invite Stevie Wilkerson are on hand as second base options. The Orioles could juggle playing time between multiple members of this group rather than stick with a true everyday second baseman.
Pirates Re-Sign Todd Frazier
TODAY: Frazier has re-signed with the Pirates on a new minor league deal, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (via Twitter). The veteran will report to the team’s alternate training site.
MARCH 26: Corner infielder Todd Frazier has opted out of his minor league contract with the Pirates in favor of free agency, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
This is unlikely to be the end for the 35-year-old Frazier, who plans to continue his career, Heyman writes. Frazier has enjoyed plenty of success in the majors, having earned two All-Star nods and batted .242/.319/.448 with 218 home runs (including five seasons with between 21 and 40 HRs) and 24.2 fWAR across 4,909 plate appearances since he debuted with the Reds in 2011.His production has faded over the past couple of years, though, and he batted a subpar .236/.302/.382 with four long balls and a career-low .146 ISO over 172 PA between the Rangers and Mets in 2020.
Despite his declining numbers, Frazier looked as if he had a chance to at least be a backup for rebuilding Pittsburgh, which has a budding star at third base in Ke’Bryan Hayes and left-handed-hitting first baseman Colin Moran. Frazier, a righty, could have platooned with Moran, and he made his case for a roster spot this spring with a .250/.353/.643 line and three dingers in 28 at-bats. Instead, Frazier – who has appeared in the majors with five teams – will try to catch on with another club. Frazier’s exit suggests infielder Phillip Evans will make the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets.
White Sox Sign Jake Lamb
TODAY: The Sox officially announced the deal, confirming that Lamb’s deal is a Major League pact. In a corresponding move, left-hander Nik Turley was designated for assignment. Turley was claimed off waivers from the Athletics last week.
MARCH 29: The White Sox have an agreement to sign free agent third baseman Jake Lamb, pending a physical, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). Lamb spent the spring with the Atlanta Braves, who ultimately stuck with Pablo Sandoval as their backup at the hot corner. He will need to clear waivers before this deal is official.
Lamb should have a certain degree of comfort with White Sox manager Tony La Russa. La Russa was the Chief Baseball Officer of the Diamondbacks during Lamb’s heyday from 2014 to 2017. Lamb hit .250/.336/.462 with 69 home runs in 1,752 plate appearances over that span. Injuries hit Lamb hard since then, however.
He did have a small-sample resurgence with the A’s last year, posting a 141 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances with Oakland. Combined with 50 plate appearances in Arizona where he posted just a 14 wRC+, however, and the numbers balance to 77 wRC+, almost exactly matching his mark from the previous two seasons.
The White Sox are a little light on depth, but it’s not exactly clear where Lamb might fit. The logical jump is that Lamb’s signing is a reaction to losing Eloy Jimenez, but there’s not a natural way to shift the roster to make that line of thinking track. Yoan Moncada plays Lambs’ natural position at third, though he has offered to play the outfield in the past, including last offseason when Chicago was entertaining making a run at free agent Anthony Rendon. That would seem to be a lot to ask of Moncada coming off the difficult season he endured in 2020.
More than likely, he’s simply slated for organizational depth. If he’s added to the Major League roster, he could see time at designated hitter in the event that Andrew Vaughn either doesn’t make the roster or does make the roster and spends time in left field, where he’s started two of the past three spring games.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/30/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- Shortly after the Mariners released righty reliever Matt Magill, the team brought him back on a two-year minors pact, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Magill has appeared in the majors in parts of five seasons (including with the Mariners in 2020), and put up a 4.63 ERA in 149 2/3 innings with strikeout, walk and groundball rates that have rated below average. His season came to a premature end last September when he underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery.
- Nationals first baseman Jake Noll and right-hander Dakota Bacus went unclaimed on the waiver wire and have been reassigned to minor league camp, as per a team announcement. The duo were both recently designated for assignment. The 27-year-old Noll has received 30 MLB plate appearances with Washington and batted .276/.300/.345 in that tiny sample, while also hitting .285/.327/.410 over 489 PA at the Triple-A level. Bacus, meanwhile, yielded 10 runs through 11 1/3 innings in his MLB debut last year. The 2012 ninth-rounder has had a respectable ERA and strong ground-ball rate at virtually every minor league stop but has never missed bats at a high rate or limited walks all that effectively. Both players will stick with the Nats as depth options.
- Right-hander Kevin McCarthy will remain in the Red Sox organization, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The former Royal’s minor league contract with the Sox included an upward mobility clause that would have enabled him to leave the organization had he not earned a 40-man roster spot, but McCarthy will now report to Triple-A. McCarthy appeared in only five games in 2020 but the groundball specialist was a steady member of the Royals pen from 2017-19, posting a 3.65 ERA and 59.5% grounder rate over 177 1/3 innings (154 games) in that three-season stretch.
Red Sox Designate John Schreiber For Assignment, Option Michael Chavis
The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves Tuesday as they get closer to solidifying their Opening Day squad. Boston reinstated outfielder Franchy Cordero from the Covid-19 injured list and designated right-hander John Schreiber for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The Sox also optioned infielder Michael Chavis and right-hander Colten Brewer to their alternate training site in Worcester.
Schreiber, 27, was claimed off waivers out of the Tigers organization back in February. He didn’t get a long look this spring, allowing a pair of runs on five hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings through two appearances before being optioned two weeks ago. He’s spent time with the Tigers over the past two seasons as well, logging a 6.28 ERA in 28 2/3 frames at the big league level.
Obviously, those results aren’t much to look at, but Schreiber has a career 1.99 ERA in the minors — including a 2.28 mark in 59 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A. The sidearmer punched out 25.6 percent of opponents in the Majors against a tidy 6.2 percent walk rate, and right-handed batters managed only a lowly .192/.270/.311 output against him during the 2019 season. The Sox surely hope he’ll clear waivers and give them a depth candidate.
The 25-year-old Chavis is a former first-round pick who opened some eyes early in his debut campaign with the Sox but has struggled since. He hit .212/.259/.377 in 158 trips to the plate last year, and while he did belt six long balls this spring, his overall offensive game wasn’t without red flags. Chavis batted .250/.292/.600 in 65 plate appearances, striking out 20 times (30.7 percent) against just two walks (3.1 percent). High strikeout and marginal walk rates have persisted throughout Chavis’ career to date, so the Sox will send him down to continue to work on his approach.
With Chavis being sent down to begin the season, that likely means fellow infielder Christian Arroyo will make the club. The former top prospect is out of minor league options, which may have given him a leg up in the race, but he’s turned in a respectable .269/.309/.462 batting line with a trio of homers himself in 55 plate appearances.
The 28-year-old Brewer, meanwhile, has tallied 80 1/3 innings of relief for the Sox over the past two seasons, but he struggled in 2020 and saw his troubles continue in Spring Training. Brewer notched a respectable 4.12 ERA in 54 1/3 innings back in 2019, but he was tagged for 16 earned runs in 25 2/3 frames last year (5.61 ERA) and served up seven runs in 6 1/3 innings this spring.
The Sox also received some concerning news on righty Ryan Braiser, who is headed for an MRI after straining his left calf while working in a “B” game yesterday (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com). Brasier has been slowed in camp by a fractured pinkie but looked to be trending toward a return early in the season. The MRI will tell how substantial a setback this will be, but Brasier was on crutches this morning, and manager Alex Cora told reporters that the situation “doesn’t look too promising.”
Red Sox, Tyler Olson Agree To Minor League Deal
Left-handed reliever Tyler Olson has agreed to a deal with the Red Sox, his representatives at Ball Players Agency announced on Twitter this morning. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that it’s a minor league deal and Olson will head to extended Spring Training in Fort Myers, rather than the team’s alternate site in Worcester, to begin the year.
Olson, 31, signed with the Cubs last offseason but didn’t pitch in the big leagues in 2020. He was an oft-used member of the Indians’ bullpen from 2017-19, working to a combined 3.46 ERA with a 25.7 percent strikeout rate and a 10.1 percent walk rate through 78 frames.
Some fans may recall Olson’s brilliant 2017 campaign, during which he held opponents scoreless for 20 innings upon being called up from Triple-A for his team debut. Things obviously didn’t go as well for Olson in 2018-19, but he was still serviceable, logging a combined 4.66 ERA over those two seasons while actually increasing his strikeout rate.
Boston is likely to open the season with southpaws Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor in the bullpen, but there’s little in the way of left-handed relief depth in the organization behind that pair. The vast majority of bullpen candidates in the upper minors with the Sox are right-handed. Stephen Gonsalves, Kyle Hart and Matt Hall are the most experienced lefties likely to open the year at the Red Sox’ alternate site, and each has worked primarily as a starter in the minors.
Angels To Sign Steve Cishek, Tony Watson
The Angels continue adding to their bullpen: The team announced Monday that it has agreed to deals with right-hander Steve Cishek and left-hander Tony Watson. Both Cishek and Watson will get one-year, $1MM contracts, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports. The Halos placed injured RHP Luke Bard on the 60-day IL to help make room for these pickups.
Cishek and Watson are among four notable bullpen additions since Sunday for the Angels. They previously brought back old friend Noe Ramirez and then acquired James Hoyt in trade with the Marlins. It’s clearly a late-spring attempt by first-year general manager Perry Minasian to add as much depth as possible to a bullpen which has other newcomers in Raisel Iglesias, Alex Claudio, Junior Guerra and Aaron Slegers.
Cishek and Watson certainly boast the best track records of the quartet of relievers the Angels have brought in over the past couple days. The 34-year-old Cishek had a rough go with the White Sox in 2020, and he didn’t make the Astros’ roster this spring, but he proved himself as a durable option who could keep runs off the board before then. Since his career began in 2010, the former closer has logged a 2.78 ERA, registered an above-average strikeout rate of 25.2 percent and recorded a 48.9 percent groundball rate in 576 innings.
Watson, 35, failed to crack the Phillies’ roster in spring training, but he has also established himself as an effective big league reliever. He owns a 2.80 ERA with a decent strikeout-walk percentage (15.4) across 591 frames. Watson spent last year as a member of the Giants and continued to hold hitters at bay (2.50 ERA), all while limiting hard contact (84.8 mph exit velocity against) and walks (4.1 percent), and inducing grounders at a 50 percent clip in 18 frames.
Braves Select Pablo Sandoval, Release Jake Lamb, Re-Sign Jason Kipnis
MARCH 29: The Braves have brought Kipnis back on a different minors pact, O’Brien tweets.
MARCH 27, 1:25 pm: Lamb has been released, per a team announcement. While he signed a major league contract in February, it was non-guaranteed. Therefore, the Braves will only be on the hook for a portion of his $1MM salary. The move drops Atlanta’s 40-man roster count to 39. Lamb will again become a free agent.
Atlanta will also option Camargo and catcher William Contreras to the alternate training site to open the year, per David O’Brien of the Athletic (Twitter link). In addition to Sandoval and Adrianza, backup catcher Alex Jackson and fourth outfielder Ender Inciarte will fill out the season-opening bench.
10:48 am: The Braves announced this morning they’ve selected the contract of corner infielder Pablo Sandoval. Outfielder Phil Ervin has been designated for assignment to clear 40-man roster space. Additionally, the Braves released non-roster utilityman Jason Kipnis.
Sandoval made Atlanta’s roster late last season and picked up four postseason plate appearances. The Braves brought him back on a minor-league deal in January, and he’ll now earn a season-opening spot on the active roster. Sandoval will join a crowded but still uncertain third base mix in Atlanta, where Austin Riley, Johan Camargo, Jake Lamb and the newly-added Ehire Adrianza could all get playing time. Sandoval, 34, only hit .214/.287/.262 over 94 plate appearances last season, but he was an above-average hitter as recently as 2019 with the Giants.
Ervin has bounced around via waivers from the Reds to the Mariners to the Cubs and to Atlanta since last summer. The 28-year-old hit fairly well over his first couple seasons in Cincinnati but stumbled to a .149/.292/.189 mark last season. Teams remained intrigued by Ervin’s combination of otherwise decent offense and ability to play all three outfield positions, but the out-of-options outfielder has had trouble sticking on an active roster. Atlanta has a week to trade Ervin or place him on outright waivers.
Kipnis signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta after spending last season with the Cubs. The former Indians second baseman hit .237/.341/.404 with Chicago in 2020. He’ll now return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.
Diamondbacks Select Chris Devenski, Place Tyler Clippard On 60-Day IL
The Diamondbacks have selected right-handed reliever Chris Devenski‘s contract, the team announced. In a corresponding move, the club placed righty Tyler Clippard on the 60-day injured list. Clippard’s dealing with a capsule strain in his throwing shoulder – an injury that will cost the free-agent pickup at least the first couple months of the season.
Devenski was another offseason addition for the Diamondbacks, though he had to settle for a minor league contract after an injury-wrecked 2020 with the Astros. He threw just 3 2/3 innings before undergoing elbow surgery last September.
At his best, Devenski was a multi-inning weapon in Houston from 2016-17, during which he combined for a stingy 2.38 ERA and posted a 21.8 K-BB percentage in 189 innings. But Devenski hasn’t been the same since. Between that excellent two-season run and last year, he managed a 4.56 ERA with a K-BB percentage of 18.0 over 116 1/3 frames from 2018-19. However, he did throw seven scoreless, four-hit innings with seven strikeouts against three walks this spring.