Minor MLB Transactions: 3/22/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Rangers announced that right-hander Joe Gatto has been outrighted to Triple-A. The 25-year-old Gatto was a second-round pick for the Angels in the 2014 draft and he spent his entire career in the Halos organization before signing a Major League contract with Texas back in December. Gatto will receive $570.5K in guaranteed salary though he has yet to pitch in the big leagues, posting a 4.80 ERA and 18.3% strikeout rate over 448 1/3 career innings in the minors. The move opens up a 40-man roster spot that could be filled by one of many non-roster invitees (i.e. Ian Kennedy, Matt Bush, Charlie Culberson, Hunter Wood) in the Rangers’ camp, and the team may have more 40-man moves in the offing to accommodate several of these players.
Royals Sign Salvador Perez To Four-Year Extension
The Royals announced a contract extension with longtime catcher Salvador Pérez that could keep the backstop in Kansas City through the 2026 season. The contract’s four guaranteed years will pay Pérez $18MM in 2022, $20MM apiece in 2023 and 2024, and $22MM in 2025. There is also a club option for the 2026 season that is valued at $13.5MM with a $2MM buyout. In total, the deal guarantees Pérez at least $82MM with the potential to max out at $93.5MM over five years if the option is exercised. Pérez is a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council.
The 30-year-old (31 in May) is a face of the franchise, having spent his entire professional career in the Royals’ organization. A workhorse behind the plate and an instrumental piece of Kansas City’s back-to-back pennant winners and 2015 World Series team, Pérez was set for free agency after the season, but now looks to have a shot at spending his entire career in Royals blue. He is also set to surpass ten years of service this season, locking in full no-trade protection as a player with ten years in MLB and the last five with one team (not that a trade ever looked likely).
Were he to play his entire career in Kansas City, Pérez would follow Alex Gordon as career-long Royals. Gordon’s four-year, $72MM deal from January 2016 previously stood as the largest investment in franchise history, Pérez’s extension now takes the title.
The backstop’s standing with the organization no doubt played a role in this extension, but Pérez isn’t being paid off mere nostalgia. He’s coming off the best offensive season of his career on a rate basis, having slashed .333/.353/.633 with eleven home runs over 156 plate appearances last year. Pérez won’t sustain a .345 batting average on balls in play or a .300 isolated power (slugging minus batting average), but he needn’t hit at that level to remain productive. Despite taking on a heavy workload behind the plate, Pérez hit .251/.285/.466 between 2017-18. He has some rather notable on-base deficiencies as a result of minuscule walk rates, but Pérez offers plenty of pop and has outhit most at the position.
Tommy John surgery sidelined Pérez for the entire 2019 season, but he didn’t show any ill effects last year. An eye condition led to a three-week IL stint but was never expected to be a long-term concern. Indeed, Pérez’s quality production at the plate offers reason for Royals’ brass to believe he has put those issues behind him.
Defensively, Pérez has long rated as a below-average pitch framer (although he was around average in last year’s small sample). He has helped offset some of his receiving issues with a plus arm, though, and the Kansas City brass obviously believes strongly in his leadership and softer skills behind the plate, having now reached agreements on three separate extensions with the backstop over the course of his career.
With this deal set to begin in 2022, the Royals’ payroll outlook for this season is unchanged. Pérez will make $14.2MM in 2021 under the terms of his previous extension. Kansas City’s long-term books are fairly clear. Before the Pérez extension, the Royals had just $29.75MM in guaranteed commitments next season (including buyouts of 2023 options). Two years from now, only the recently-extended Hunter Dozier joins him on the books.
Pérez had been the top catcher option scheduled to hit free agency next winter. Excluding players with club options that seem likely to be exercised, Travis d’Arnuad and Yadier Molina are now set to headline the class behind the dish.
Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star was first to report the $20.5MM average annual value (Twitter link). Alec Lewis of the Athletic first reported the existence of the club option and the deal’s specific terms (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Angels Option Jo Adell To Minors
The Angels announced a series of Spring Training cuts tonight, as outfielder Jo Adell, infielder Matt Thaiss, southpaw Jose Suarez, and right-hander Kyle Keller were all optioned.
None of the cuts were unexpected, though it is noteworthy that Adell put in a very strong showing at the plate, posting an 1.072 OPS over 25 Cactus League plate appearances. It would’ve likely taken an even bigger spring to convince the Angels to include Adell (who turns 22 in April) on the Opening Day roster, given how he missed an entire year of minor league development in 2020.
Adell didn’t hit well (.264/.321/.355) over 131 Triple-A plate appearances in 2019, his only taste of action at the highest minor league level. In a normal 2020, Adell would have gotten some more Triple-A experience under his belt and then received a promotion to the big league club, though the cancellation of the minor league season meant that Adell’s development was shifted to the Angels’ alternate training site. Adell did end up making his MLB debut, but with lackluster results — he hit just .161/.212/.266 with a whopping 55 strikeouts in 132 PA, and also didn’t look good in the outfield.
While some contractual considerations were undoubtedly at play considering Adell already had 153 days of Major League service time, an argument can certainly be made that Adell needs a bit more seasoning before his next appearance in an Angels uniform. Los Angeles has a pair of veterans (Justin Upton and Dexter Fowler) looking for bounce-back years in the corner outfield, with Taylor Ward, Jared Walsh, and minor league signings Jon Jay, Scott Schebler, and Juan Lagares all providing further depth and platoon opportunities on the grass. Adell and fellow top prospect Brandon Marsh are both expected to be called up at some point in 2021.
White Sox Claim Nik Turley
The White Sox claimed southpaw Nik Turley off waivers from the A’s, Scott Merkin of MLB.com was among those to note (Twitter link). Right-hander Jimmy Cordero has been placed on the 60-day injured list to create 40-man roster space.
Turley, 31, tossed 21.2 relief innings of 4.98 ERA/4.82 SIERA ball with the Pirates in 2020. The A’s acquired him from Pittsburgh for cash considerations in January. Oakland evidently didn’t plan on carrying the out-of-options Turley on the active roster to begin the season, so they placed him on waivers. Turley will have to break camp with the Sox or else again be offered to other clubs.
Cordero underwent Tommy John surgery this week. He’ll miss the entire 2021 season.
Pirates Sign Steven Wright
The Pirates announced the signing of right-hander Steven Wright to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. The deal reunites the former Red Sox hurler with Pittsburgh general manager Ben Cherington, who led the Boston front office from 2011-15.
Wright worked mostly as a swingman for the Red Sox from 2013-19. He peaked in 2016, tossing 156.2 innings of 3.33 ERA ball en route to an All-Star selection. A knuckleballer, Wright unsurprisingly has never gotten many strikeouts but has induced plenty of weak contact throughout his major career.
The 36-year-old hasn’t pitched much over the past few years. Various injuries and a pair of suspensions (fifteen games for domestic violence in 2018, then eighty games for performance-enhancing drugs in 2019) have kept him to 84 MLB innings since the start of the 2017 season. Wright hasn’t pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2019.
Rockies Select Contracts Of C.J. Cron, Chris Owings
The Rockies officially selected the contracts of first baseman C.J. Cron and utilityman Chris Owings, the team announced. Colorado already had one open spot on the 40-man roster, and another was created when righty Peter Lambert was placed on the 60-day injured list. Lambert underwent Tommy John surgery last July and is likely to miss the entire 2021 season.
Both Cron and Owings signed minor league deals with the team within the last two months. For Owings, he is returning for his second season with the Rox, after inking another minors contract last winter and then hitting .268/.318/.439 over 44 plate appearances in 2020.
Owings’ versatility already made him a pretty decent bet to break camp with the Rockies, but the decision was probably clinched after yesterday’s news that Brendan Rodgers will miss at least a month recovering from a strained hamstring. Rodgers’ injury shuffled the team’s infield plans and made Owings’ ability to play second, third, and shortstop (not to mention the outfield) all the more valuable.
Cron was also making a strong bid to win a roster spot, as his demolition of Cactus League pitching this spring has the 31-year-old in line to serve as Colorado’s starting first baseman. Playing for his fifth different team in as many seasons, Cron is surely looking to re-establish himself in one place, as his above-average offense didn’t stop the Rays and Twins from non-tendering him due to an escalating arbitration price tag.
Over 2586 big league plate appearances, Cron has hit .257/.312/.464 with 118 home runs, highlighted by a 30-homer campaign with Tampa Bay in 2018. A knee surgery cut Cron’s 2020 season short after only 52 PA with the Tigers.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/20/21
The latest minor moves from around the sport…
- The Giants signed left-hander Phil Pfeifer to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to the team’s big league camp. (Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to report the news.) The Braves released Pfeifer earlier this week, more than two weeks after outrighting him to Triple-A. The southpaw has a 3.58 ERA and 27.26K% over 297 career innings in the minors, mostly working as a reliever and mostly pitching in the Braves organization. The Dodgers originally selected Pfeifer in the third round of the 2015 draft, back when current Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was working as the Dodgers’ GM.
Rays Sign Andrew Kittredge To New Minors Contract
The Rays have re-signed right-hander Andrew Kittredge to a new minor league deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link). Kittredge originally signed a minors contract with the Rays back in December, but chose to enact a March 15th opt-out clause contained in that prior deal. Topkin writes that this latest contract has another opt-out date “at end of camp” if Kittredge hasn’t been added to Tampa’s MLB roster.
Such procedural moves are pretty common this time of year, and we could see several such re-signings in the lead-up to Opening Day as various players reach their opt-out dates. Given that Kittredge’s opt-out wasn’t even made public back on March 15, it seems likely that there was never much chance of him actually leaving the organization, and that the two sides wanted to give each other more time.
A veteran of four big league seasons (all with Tampa Bay), Kittredge has a 3.90 ERA/3.48 SIERA, 50.6% ground-ball rate, and an above-average 25.3K% over 57 2/3 innings since the start of the 2019 season. The 31-year-old has mostly worked as a reliever, but also made a few “starts” as an opener with the Rays. A UCL sprain limited Kittredge to only eight innings in 2020, and he elected to become a free agent after the Rays put him on waivers after the season.
Brewers Sign Zack Godley To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed right-hander Zack Godley to a minor league contract, Steve Adams of MLBTR reports. The non-roster invitee’s deal comes with an $800K base salary in the bigs, $800K more in incentives and a mid-May opt-out date.
Godley, who will turn 31 next month, was an effective starter at times for the Diamondbacks from 2015-18. At his best, he combined for 333 1/3 innings of 4.10 ERA pitching with a 51.6 percent groundball rate and a 24.7 percent strikeout rate during the final two of those four seasons. Unfortunately, Godley’s career has taken a major turn for the worse since then. In 120 2/3 frames since 2019, Godley has recorded a 6.49 ERA – last among 139 pitchers who have thrown 120-plus frames dating back to then – with below-average strikeout and walk percentages of 17.8 and 10.2, respectively.
After Godley opened 2019 with a rough few months, the Diamondbacks designated him for assignment. While Godley then found a new team in the Blue Jays, they let him go after the season. Godley landed with the Red Sox last year, but a flexor issue limited him to 28 2/3 innings of 8.16 ERA ball. Godley dealt with a velocity drop then, as his fastball went from the low 90s to the high 80s, but he threw for about 12 teams a couple weeks ago and his velo returned to normal.
Giants Claim Ashton Goudeau; Dedniel Nunez To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
MARCH 19: Nunez will undergo Tommy John surgery, manager Gabe Kapler told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and other reporters. He’ll miss this season as a result. Becausee of his Rule 5 Status, Nunez will have to either stick on the Giants’ active roster when he comes off the IL or be offered back to the Mets.
MARCH 18: The Giants have claimed right-hander Ashton Goudeau off waivers from the Orioles, per announcements from both teams. San Francisco placed righty Dedniel Nunez on the 60-day injured list with an elbow sprain in a corresponding move.
The 28-year-old Goudeau spent only a few months with the Orioles, who claimed him from the Pirates in December – less than a month after Pittsburgh claimed him from Colorado. Goudeau made his major league debut in Colorado last year and allowed eight earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. However, he logged a much better 2.07 ERA with fantastic strikeout and walk percentages (30.1 and 4.0, respectively) over 78 1/3 frames with the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate in 2019.
Nunez, 24, joined the Giants as a Rule 5 pick from the Mets last December. He had been competing for a spot in the Giants’ bullpen, but his injury means Tommy John surgery may be a possibility.