Shin-Soo Choo Signs With SK Wyverns
Longtime major league outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is joining the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization, Tae Woo Kim of SPOTV reports (h/t: Sung Min Kim, on Twitter). He’ll earn $2.4MM in 2021, Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net tweets.
This is a homecoming for the 38-year-old Choo, a South Korea native who played in the majors with the Mariners, Reds, Indians and Rangers from 2005-20. His greatest long-term success came in Cleveland, where the on-base machine batted .292/.383/.463 with 83 home runs and 85 stolen bases in 2,932 plate appearances. But Choo was also an above-average performer in Cincinnati and Texas, evidenced in part by the one-time All-Star’s lifetime .275/.377/.447 line with 218 HRs, 157 steals and 35.4 fWAR over 7,157 trips to the plate.
The 2020 campaign was the last season of the seven-year, $130MM guarantee Choo signed with the Rangers before 2014, and it was his worst offensive effort for the club. Choo hit .236/.323/.400 with five homers in 127 PA, dividing his time between the corner outfield and designated hitter.
Choo has had difficulty in the field throughout his career (minus-68 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-36.4 Ultimate Zone Rating), and with his age and fading offensive numbers also factored in, it appeared he would have trouble landing a guaranteed major league deal in free agency. He’s now heading back to his native country for the largest single-season payday in KBO history, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News.
Diamondbacks, Tyler Clippard Agree To Deal
The Diamondbacks have agreed to a deal with free-agent reliever Tyler Clippard, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. The right-hander, a client of Excel Sports Management, will earn a guaranteed $2.25MM. There’s a $3.5MM mutual option or a $500K buyout for 2022.
This will be the second stint in the desert for Clippard, who was a member of the Diamondbacks in 2016. The 36-year-old has also appeared in the majors with nine other organizations during what has been a successful career. Long a durable late-game option, Clippard has overcome a paltry 28.1 percent groundball rate to log a 3.13 ERA/3.47 SIERA with an above-average strikeout rate (27.1) across 842 innings since his 2007 debut.
Although he only averaged 89.2 mph on his fastball in Minnesota last year, Clippard continued to record impressive production. He put up a 2.77 ERA/3.52 SIERA in 26 frames, owing largely to terrific strikeout and walk numbers. He fanned hitters at a 26.5 percent rate and walked hitters just 4.1 percent of the time – a career-best figure. Clippard also fared better than most in a large number of Statcast categories.
The Diamondbacks have been mostly quiet since their disappointing 2020 season ended, but they have made a few notable additions to their roster this month. Before agreeing to terms with Clippard, they signed fellow veterans Joakim Soria and Asdrubal Cabrera. Clippard and Soria figure to be important parts of a bullpen that finished a subpar 18th in ERA (4.60) a year ago.
Giants To Sign Jake McGee
FEB. 22: It’s a two-year, $5MM guarantee for McGee, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. McGee will earn a $2MM salary this year and $2.5MM in 2022, when he could also make $2MM in performance bonuses. There’s a $4.5MM club option or a $500K buyout for 2023.
FEB. 9: The Giants are signing free-agent reliever Jake McGee, Robert Murray of Fansided reports. It’s a two-year deal worth $7MM for the Wasserman client, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
San Francisco will be the third National League West stop for the left-handed McGee, a 34-year-old who divided the previous five seasons between the Rockies and Dodgers. McGee was not particularly successful in Colorado, which acquired the ex-Ray before 2016 and then re-signed him to a three-year, $27MM guarantee in the ensuing offseason. As a result of his struggles as a Rockie, McGee had to settle for a low-paying deal with the Dodgers last summer.
The McGee signing worked out brilliantly for the Dodgers, who ran roughshod over the competition during the regular season and then earned a World Series title. While McGee was hardly the most instrumental part of the team’s run, he did give Los Angeles an excellent 2.66 ERA/1.81 SIERA over 20 1/3 innings.
The Dodgers’ version of McGee went to an almost all-fastball approach and averaged 95 mph on his heater – his best since 2014 – while posting eye-popping strikeout and walk percentages of 41.8 and 3.8, respectively. His K-BB percentage (38.0) ranked second among relievers behind Brewers Rookie of the Year winner Devin Williams. McGee also finished toward the top of the majors in such Statcast categories as expected batting average against, expected weighted on-base average against and expected ERA. On the other hand, he was near the bottom in exit velocity and hard-hit rate.
Now that he’s heading to the division-rival Giants, McGee will be the most established southpaw in their bullpen. The team does have other options, however, including Jarlin Garcia (who, like McGee, kept runs off the board at a great clip in 2020) and Sam Selman.
Red Sox Claim Joel Payamps, Place Franchy Cordero On COVID Injured List
The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Joel Payamps off waivers from the Blue Jays, according to Boston’s Twitter feed. To create roster space, outfielder Franchy Cordero has been placed on the COVID-19 injured list, as the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham reported earlier today.
Payamps returns to the Sox less than two weeks after Toronto acquired him in another waiver claim, after the Red Sox designated Payamps for assignment to make roster room for the newly-signed Garrett Richards. The Sox themselves first landed Payamps on a waiver claim back in November when the right-hander was DFA’ed by the Diamondbacks.
A veteran of eight minor league seasons in the Rockies and Diamondbacks organizations, Payamps has received brief looks at the MLB level in each of the last two seasons, appearing in two games for Arizona in both 2019 and 2020 (with a 3.86 ERA over his seven career innings in the Show). Over 665 2/3 innings in the minors, Payamps has a 4.15 ERA with a modest 20.34 strikeout rate, starting 119 of 145 games but seeing increasing work as a reliever in both the affiliated minors and in the Dominican Winter League.
Cordero was acquired from the Royals as part of the three-team trade with the Mets that saw Andrew Benintendi head from Boston to Kansas City. Cordero has shown some glimpses of potential but has been plagued by injuries, appearing in only 95 Major League games over his four seasons as a big leaguer. It isn’t known if Cordero’s placement on the COVID list is because of his own positive test for the virus, or if he was placed on the list as a precautionary measure due to possible exposure.
Brewers Re-Sign Brett Anderson
TODAY: The Brewers officially announced Anderson’s deal.
FEB. 16, 4:38pm: The two sides have a one-year, $2.5MM deal in place, pending a physical, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. Anderson could earn an additional $1MM in incentives.
4:36pm: The Brewers and free-agent left-hander Brett Anderson are “in serious discussions” on a contract, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Anderson spent last year with the Brewers.
Now 33 years old, the ever-promising Anderson overcame a spate of injuries earlier in his career to emerge as a solid back-end option over the past couple of seasons. Anderson tossed a career-high 176 innings of 3.89 ERA ball with the Athletics in 2019, and he parlayed that effort into a $5MM guarantee with the Brewers last offseason.
During his first season in Milwaukee, the soft-tossing Anderson turned in 47 innings in 10 starts and logged passable numbers for a No. 4/5 rotation option. He ended the year with a 4.21 ERA/4.40 SIERA and an exemplary 57.7 percent groundball rate. Although Anderson didn’t strike out many hitters (15.8 percent), he somewhat offset that by walking just 5.0 percent of the batters he faced. Anderson’s strikeout and walk numbers essentially lined up with the figures he has put up during a career that began in 2009 and has spanned 1,044 1/3 innings.
If he stays in Milwaukee, Anderson will vie for starts in a rotation set to include Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes at the top. Josh Lindblom, Adrian Houser and Eric Lauer will also compete for jobs, and the Brewers just added another candidate in veteran Jordan Zimmermann on a minor league contract.
Braves Claim Phillip Ervin Off Waivers From Cubs
The Braves announced that outfielder Phillip Ervin has been claimed off waivers from the Cubs. Ervin was designated for assignment by Chicago yesterday.
Ervin joins his fourth organization in less than six months, after being designated for assignment by the Reds in August and then picked up on successive waiver claims by the Mariners and Cubs. Ervin had previously spent his entire career with Cincinnati after the Reds selected him with the 27th overall pick of the 2013 draft.
The 28-year-old hit .262/.326/.438 over 571 plate appearances from 2017-19, with most of the damage coming against left-handed pitching. Ervin’s production badly fell off last season, as hit hit only .149/.292/.189 over 89 PA with the Reds and Mariners. This led Seattle to expose him to the DFA wire to create roster space for Keynan Middleton, and after Chicago made a claim, the Cubs DFA’ed Ervin themselves when Jake Marisnick was signed.
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna will play every day in the Atlanta outfield, with Acuna’s ability to play either center or right field opening the door for a number of possibilities for the third slot. Highly-touted youngster Cristian Pache might have the first crack at the center field job, while Ervin joins Ender Inciarte as a backup option who can play all three outfield positions. Abraham Almonte and utilityman Johan Camargo are also in the mix for outfield at-bats. Ervin is out of minor league options, so he may be facing another trip to DFA waivers if he doesn’t land a job on the Braves’ active roster.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/22/21
The latest minor league moves from around baseball…
- The Red Sox announced that Jett Bandy has been re-signed to a minor league deal and invited to big league Spring Training camp. (Alex Speier of the Boston Globe was among those to report the news.) Bandy is back for his second season with the Sox, after inking a minors pact last winter and spending the 2020 season at Boston’s alternate training site. Bandy has hit .218/.282/.365 over 492 career plate appearances in the majors, all with the Angels and Brewers from 2015-18. His last official game action came with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2019.
Athletics Designate Dustin Fowler For Assignment
The A’s have designated outfielder Dustin Fowler for assignment. This was the corresponding move to create roster space for Trevor Rosenthal, whose deal with Oakland has now been officially announced.
Perhaps best known for his inclusion as part of the trade package sent by the Yankees to the A’s in the July 2017 Sonny Gray trade, Fowler hit .224/256/.354 with six home runs over 203 plate appearances with Oakland in 2018. His only other MLB experience was a single game with the Yankees in 2017, as Fowler’s big league debut was ruined after he ruptured his right patellar tendon after running into an electrical box while chasing a fly ball at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field.
It was a particularly damaging injury for a player known for his speed while coming up through the minor leagues, though Fowler still managed some respectable (25-for-31) stolen base totals with the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018 and 2019. Ramon Laureano‘s emergence turned Fowler into a somewhat expendable part of Oakland’s future plans, though Fowler is still 26, and he has posted some strong post-injury hitting numbers at the Triple-A level.
Athletics Sign Trevor Rosenthal
TODAY: The A’s have officially announced the signing.
FEB. 18, 8:37pm: While it’s only a one-year pact, the Athletics will pay Trevor Rosenthal for three seasons, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. He’ll earn $3MM in both 2021 and ’22 and another $5MM in ’23.
8:59am: In a surprising move, the A’s have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent righty Trevor Rosenthal, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The Boras Corporation client will earn $11MM in 2021 and presumably slot in as Oakland’s primary closer before returning to the open market next winter.
It’s a rather stunning development to see the Athletics of all clubs strike this pact. Oakland has spent the offseason in a veritable state of dormancy, only jumping into the free-agent market after first shedding a notable chunk of cash in the deal that shipped Khris Davis and his $16.75MM salary to Texas. Even then, the additions made by the club have been small-scale in nature: one-year deals with Yusmeiro Petit ($2.55MM), Sergio Romo ($2.25MM) and Mitch Moreland ($2.25MM).
The only indication to date that the A’s have been willing to spend near this level on a single player has been their $12.5MM offer to shortstop Marcus Semien, although The Athletic reported that offer came with as much as $10MM deferred over the course of an entire decade. The extent of deferrals in the Rosenthal deal isn’t yet known, but ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets that a portion of that $11MM is indeed deferred beyond the 2021 season. Passan adds that Rosenthal and agent Scott Boras initially set out seeking a four-year pact, but when the multi-year interest they received didn’t meet those lofty expectations, Rosenthal eventually opted for a higher-value one-year deal.
Rosenthal, 30, was among the game’s most dominant relievers in 2020 — a remarkable rebound from a 2018-19 downturn that had brought his very future in the game into question. From 2012-17, Rosenthal was one of the National League’s best relievers, tossing 325 innings of 2.99 ERA ball and punching out 31.2 percent of his opponents while closing down games in St. Louis. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017, however, causing him to miss the entire 2018 season.
When he returned in 2019 with the Nationals, Rosenthal walked 15 of the 43 batters he faced and plunked another three while mixing in five wild pitches. He went to the Tigers and walked more than a quarter of his opponents there, too, before landing with the Yankees’ Triple-A club. Rosenthal faced five batters with the Yankees’ Scranton affiliate, walking three of them and hitting another.
The sudden case of the yips had many questioning whether he’d ever make it back from Tommy John surgery, but Rosenthal parlayed a minor league deal with the the Royals into the aforementioned dominant 2020 campaign that brought about this sizable one-year arrangement. Armed with a triple-digit heater and a rediscovered control of the strike zone, Rosenthal tossed 13 2/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball as Kansas City’s closer before being traded to the Padres, where he closed out the year with 10 shutout innings of relief. Overall, the flamethrowing righty posted a 1.90 ERA and 2.31 SIERA with a powerhouse 41.8 percent strikeout rate and a strong 8.8 percent walk rate.
If Rosenthal can replicate that success in 2021, he could hit the market as a 31-year-old on the heels of a similar resurgence to that of the man he’ll effectively replace in Oakland: Liam Hendriks. The Aussie buzzsaw went from clearing outright waivers in 2018 to breaking out as one of MLB’s most dominant relievers in 2019-20. Hendriks cashed in on a $54MM guarantee this winter, and it stands to reason that another dominant year will position Rosenthal for that type of commitment and the lengthy multi-year deal he coveted as well.
It’s been a remarkable week for the Oakland bullpen, which not long ago looked to be a collection of question marks anchored by veteran lefty Jake Diekman. In the past seven days, however, they’ve acquired ground-ball machine Adam Kolarek from the Dodgers, re-signed iron man Yusmeiro Petit and inked slider specialist Sergio Romo as well. The A’s bullpen now looks like a deep, formidable group with the highly underrated J.B. Wendelken and the talented-but-still-inconsistent Lou Trivino now sliding down the ladder into lower-leverage spots.
The Athletics’ payroll, meanwhile, will rise to nearly $85MM — a fraction of what many clubs will spend in 2021 but at least within striking distance of their 2019-20 levels of spending. It’s hard to praise ownership too much when this recent spending spree was preceded by a salary dump and an insulting offer to their longtime clubhouse leader, but it’s better late than never to act like the contenders they should be.
Oakland won the American League West in 2020 and captured Wild Card berths in both 2018 and 2019. However, they’ve yet to ride this talented core — anchored by Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Ramon Laureano and Semien — beyond the divisional round of postseason play. The core group is morphing a bit, with Semien now in Toronto and Jesus Luzardo perhaps emerging to lead the Oakland rotation, but the A’s still have control of Chapman, Olson and Laureano for multiple years. Adding Rosenthal, Petit, Romo, Moreland and Kolarek in a week’s time only supplements that core and gives the club a shot at its first full-season division crown since 2013.
Nationals To Sign Jeremy Jeffress To Minors Deal
The Nationals have reached an agreement with right-hander Jeremy Jeffress on a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (Twitter links). Jeffress will earn $1.25MM if he reaches the Nats’ big league roster, plus he can earn up to $1.25MM more in bonuses.
Jeffress has been an effective reliever for most of his 11 seasons in the majors, and was an All-Star as recently as the 2018 season when pitching for the Brewers. He struggled in 2019, however, posting a 5.02 ERA with a 48.4% grounder rate that marked the only time the groundball specialist had fallen under the 50% threshold over a full season.
Jeffress had a rebound with the Cubs last season, delivering a 1.54 ERA and 54.4% grounder rate over 23 1/3 innings and allowing only a single home run. However, Jeffress benefited from a tiny .161 BABIP against some otherwise unimpressive Statcast numbers, and his .496 SIERA painted a much uglier picture of Jeffress’ performance. His 19.3K% and 13.6BB% were also well below average.
At the cost of just a Spring Training invitation, there isn’t any risk to the Nationals in taking a look to see if Jeffress can still contribute as he enters his age-33 season. Jeffress joins Luis Avilan, Javy Guerra, Aaron Barrett, and T.J. McFarland as veteran relievers on minor league deals in Washington’s camp.