Reds Sign Braden Shipley To Minor League Deal
The Reds have signed right-hander Braden Shipley to a minor league contract that contains an invitation to Major League Spring Training, per a team announcement.
Shipley, 29 later this month, was the No. 15 overall pick by the Diamondbacks in 2013 and was considered to be among the game’s more promising pitching prospects in the years after that draft. Things obviously haven’t panned out that way, however.
Shipley had some success in the low minors, but his strikeout rates plummeted in Double-A and have yet to really recover. His fastball velocity upon reaching the Majors in 2016 was south of its peak levels from his top prospect days, and Shipley wasn’t able to fool opponents over parts of three seasons on the D-backs’ staff. From 2016-18, he totaled an even 100 innings of work but was clobbered for a 5.49 ERA and a 5.31 SIERA to match. Shipley was punching out nearly a quarter of the hitters he faced in the low minors, but in the Majors he’s managed a dismal 14.3 percent strikeout rate against a 10 percent walk rate — the latter of which is considerably higher than his minor league rates.
Shipley hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2018, and in addition to his struggles at the game’s top level, he’s been hammered for a 5.17 ERA in Triple-A — albeit in a very hitter-friendly setting (and with a juiced ball in 2019). He’s whiffed just 16.7 percent of opponents in Reno and hasn’t offset that lack of strikeouts with plus control or a heavy ground-ball rate.
Still, Shipley is a former high-end prospect who’ll pitch all of next season at 29. There’s little risk in bringing him in to see if the Reds’ pitching factory can unlock something, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that the Reds haven’t really brought in any outside pitching help aside from their recent agreement with Sean Doolittle.
Braves Sign Nate Jones To Minors Deal
The Braves have signed free-agent reliever Nate Jones to a minor league contract, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Jones will be in major league camp.
Now 35 years old, the right-handed Jones thrived out of the White Sox’s bullpen earlier in his career, but injuries knocked him off course a few seasons ago. Jones combined for just 52 innings from 2017-19 because of multiple arm problems. The White Sox traded Jones to the Rangers in late 2019, but he never pitched for Texas.
Jones landed on his feet with the Reds last offseason on a minor league contract, and while he did make their roster and total 18 2/3 innings, his run prevention numbers mostly fell well shy of his past output. After he recorded a woeful 6.27 ERA, the Reds released him in late September.
To Jones’ credit, he did post a much more encouraging 3.56 SIERA in Cincinnati, average 96 mph on his fastball and log impressive strikeout and walk percentages of 26.7 and 7.0, respectively. It didn’t help Jones’ cause that hitters victimized him for a .400 batting average on balls in play, but if he gets back to the majors and that figure returns closer to his career mark (.302), he could be a useful pickup for the Braves.
Astros Sign Steve Cishek To Minor League Deal
The Astros have signed veteran reliever Steve Cishek to a minor league contract, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The right-hander’s deal includes an invitation to major league camp. He’ll earn a $2.25MM salary with incentives if he makes the Astros’ roster, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The incentives could reach $1.5MM, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Cishek, 34, has taken a big league mound for six teams and generally been quite successful since he began with the Marlins in 2010. Although he has only averaged about 91 mph on his fastball, the former closer has 132 saves to his name and has registered a stingy 2.78 ERA/3.36 SIERA with an above-average 25.2 percent strikeout rate across 576 innings. Cishek has also been a durable late-game option, having piled up 54 or more innings on eight occasions.
While Cishek was effective as recently as 2019 with the Cubs, his production dropped off with the crosstown rival White Sox a season ago, which is why he didn’t get a guaranteed contract this winter. Cishek, whom the White Sox signed to a $6MM deal, mustered a disappointing 5.40 ERA/4.47 SIERA in 20 frames with the club. And though Cishek has usually induced grounders at a solid rate (48.9 percent), he posted a career-worst 32.2 in that department and also put up slightly below-average strikeout and walk percentages of 22.6 and 9.7, respectively.
Marlins To Sign Adam Duvall
3:15pm: Duvall will earn $2MM in 2021, while there’s a mutual option for $7MM or a $3MM buyout in 2022, per Mish.
2:44pm: The Marlins are “extremely close” to wrapping up a deal with free-agent outfielder Adam Duvall, SportsGrid’s Craig Mish reports (via Twitter). MLB Network’s Jon Heyman initially connected the two sides, noting that the Fish might need to “stretch” an already light $60MM payroll in order to accommodate what should be a modestly priced deal for the CAA client.
The 32-year-old Duvall was one of the majors’ most prolific home run hitters a season ago in Atlanta, where he slashed .237/.301/.532 with 16 homers in 209 plate appearances. It was the latest high-powered campaign for Duvall, a former Giant and Red who has twice smacked 30-plus HRs in a season.
As a Brave from 2019-20, Duvall hit a well-above-average .248/.307/.545 (117 wRC+) and totaled 26 homers in 339 trips to the plate. Duvall has also been a significant plus in the outfield, where he has combined for 42 Defensive Runs Saved and a 14.8 Ultimate Zone Rating across 4,000-plus innings in the majors. Nevertheless, the Braves still moved on from Duvall earlier in the offseason, choosing to non-tender him instead of giving him a projected $4MM in arbitration.
The Marlins, meanwhile, earned a surprise playoff berth in 2020, but they haven’t done much to upgrade their offense so far this winter. The right-handed Duvall may be able to help their cause in left field, where he could share time with the lefty-swinging Corey Dickerson. Starling Marte, Garrett Cooper, Magneuris Sierra, Lewis Brinson, Harold Ramirez and Monte Harrison are among the other outfielders on the Marlins’ 40-man roster.
Mariners Sign Taylor Guerrieri, JT Chargois To Minor League Deals
The Mariners have signed right-handers Taylor Guerrieri and JT Chargois to minor league contracts with invitations to Major League Spring Training, per a paid of club announcements.
Now 28 years old, Guerreri once ranked as one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects. The Rays selected him with the No. 24 overall pick back in 2011, and he was considered to be among the game’s 100 best prospects for the next three years.
As is the case so often with promising young hurlers, however, Guerrieri’s development was halted by Tommy John surgery. Guerrieri underwent that operation midway through the 2013 season and missed all of 2014 as a result. He’s battled other arm troubles since that time and, to this point in his career, has only topped 100 innings in a season on one occasion. He was healthy for the 2019 season, splitting the year between the Majors and Triple-A in a relief role with the Rangers.
Guerrieri tossed 28 1/3 innings with Texas that year and another 9 2/3 with the Blue Jays a year prior, but his results at the MLB level haven’t been impressive so far. In 36 frames, he’s been tagged for a 5.50 ERA with nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (27). However, Guerrieri was quite good with the Rangers’ Nashville affiliate in 2019, and he’s displayed elite spin on his curveball in limited big league action.
Chargois, 30, was a second-round pick by the Twins back in 2012 and at one point looked like he could be a future closer in Minnesota. He posted dominant minor league numbers with sizable strikeout rates and an upper-90s heater, but Chargois hasn’t yet found his footing in the big leagues. The Rice University product has just a 4.58 ERA in 76 2/3 MLB frames, though his 3.40 SIERA, 26.3 percent strikeout rate and 9.9 percent walk rate are a bit more encouraging. Chargois pitched with Japan’s Rakuten Eagles last year and struggled to a 5.81 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work in that tiny sample, but he has a lengthy minor league track record of success — including a 1.90 ERA in 85 1/3 Triple-A frames.
Angels To Sign Phil Gosselin
The Angels have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Phil Gosselin and invited him to Major League Spring Training, per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya (Twitter link).
Gosselin, 32, spent the 2019-20 seasons with the Phillies and batted .255/.312/.363 with three homers and eight doubles in 170 trips to the plate. The well-traveled utilityman has seen MLB time with the Braves, D-backs, Rangers, Reds and Pirates in addition to his work in Philadelphia. Defensively, Gosselin has spent the bulk of his MLB time at second base, although he has experience at all four infield spots and has seen time in the outfield corners as well.
The Angels have a full infield, with David Fletcher at second base, offseason trade acquisition Jose Iglesias at shortstop and Anthony Rendon at third base. Gosselin will compete with former top prospect Franklin Barreto, waiver claim Robel Garcia and 24-year-old Luis Rengifo for backup time around the infield. Barreto is out of minor league options, which likely helps his case, but it’s possible the Halos could carry more than one backup infielder.
Tigers, Greg Garcia Agree To Minor League Deal
The Tigers and infielder Greg Garcia are in agreement on a minor league pact, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The Meister Sports client will be invited to Major League Spring Training and compete for a roster spot.
Garcia, 31, has spent the bulk of his career as a utility player with the Cardinals, though he was with the Padres in 2020. That pairing didn’t pan out for either party, as Garcia stumbled with a .200/.279/.250 batting line in 71 plate appearances over the course of 35 games. A year prior, however, he logged a career-high 372 plate appearances and batted .248/.364/.354 with St. Louis.
The left-handed-hitting Garcia carries a career .245/.354/.339 batting line in 1303 plate appearances, and while his OBP has perhaps benefited at times from batting eighth in front of a pitcher in the National League, it’s worth noting that he boasts a strong walk rate at virtually every lineup position in which he’s been placed (including a 13.7 percent mark in 327 plate appearances as a leadoff man). Garcia has experience at second base, shortstop and third base, in addition to brief cameos at first and in left field.
The Tigers re-signed Jonathan Schoop to a one-year deal over the weekend, adding him to an infield mix that also includes Willi Castro, Niko Goodrum and Isaac Paredes. Garcia will compete for a backup spot in camp, but Goodrum’s versatility and the youthful pairing of Paredes and Castro could impede his chances.
Brewers Sign Jordan Zimmermann To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed veteran right-hander Jordan Zimmermann to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training, per a team announcement. It’s a homecoming for the Auburndale native and UW-Stevens Point product. He’s represented by ISE Baseball.
Zimmemann, 35 in May, had a much different free-agent experience this time around than his he did in his first foray into the open market, when he was one of the top names available in the 2015-16 offseason. He’d put together an excellent five-year run with the Nationals leading up to that free-agent venture, but the resulting five-year, $110MM investment from the Tigers proved to be a disaster for the Detroit organization.
Three of Zimmerman’s five seasons in Detroit ended with an ERA north of 6.00, including a 2020 season in which he was limited to just 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander’s best year with the Tigers came in 2018, when he tossed 131 1/3 roughly average innings — far from the No. 2/No. 3 type of starter the Tigers hoped to be getting in signing him to that nine-figure deal. On the whole, Zimmermann’s time with the Tigers produced 514 1/3 innings of 5.63 ERA ball with a similarly discouraging 4.80 SIERA and a lackluster 16.3 percent strikeout rate.
For the Brewers, however, there’s no risk in taking a speculative flier on a pitcher who, at least from 2011-15, was one of the game’s more underrated arms. A return to that form shouldn’t be expected — not when his average fastball has dipped about four miles per hour as he’s weathered forearm, back, shoulder and UCL injuries in the past half decade. But Zimmermann’s control remained excellent throughout his Tigers tenure, and he can still generate above-average spin on that depleted four-seamer. If he indeed makes the Brewers’ roster, it’s unlikely to be with the expectation of serving as anything more than a fifth starter or swingman.
Rays Sign Chris Archer
Feb. 9: Archer has passed his physical, and the deal is official, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. A formal announcement and a (re)introductory Zoom call will both come later today. The team won’t need to make an additional 40-man move to create roster space after trading Aaron Slegers to the Angels last night.
Feb. 2: Free-agent right-hander Chris Archer is returning to the Rays, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. It’s a one-year, $6.5MM contract, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. The deal is pending a physical. Archer is a client of VC Sports Group.
A 2006 fifth-round pick who opened his career with the Indians and Cubs organizations, Archer first joined the Rays in a significant trade with Chicago in January 2011. Archer was a highly regarded prospect at the time who wound up matching the hype in Tampa Bay, where he debuted in 2012 and was an eminently valuable member of its rotation for several years. Through 2018, the last year of his initial run with the franchise, Archer posted a 3.69 ERA/3.52 SIERA with a 25.8 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate in 1,063 innings and 177 starts.
Despite the success Archer enjoyed as a Ray, the club decided to move on from him when his team control was dwindling before the 2018 trade deadline. That proved to be another brilliant trade by the Rays, who received two righties – Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz – as well as outfielder Austin Meadows from the Pirates in exchange for Archer. Glasnow and Meadows have since turned into major league building blocks for the Rays, while FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Baz as their seventh-best prospect in a deep farm system last month.
The Archer trade was a disaster for Pittsburgh, meanwhile, as it lost three quality pieces for a player who disappointed in its uniform. The Pirates encouraged Archer to lean on his sinker, which did not work, as Steve Adams of MLBTR noted last offseason. Archer’s production dipped in the wake of the trade and got fell even more in 2019, when he registered career worsts in ERA (5.19), SIERA (4.38) and home run-to-fly ball percentage (20.2) in 119 2/3 innings. The hope was that Archer would bounce back last year, but he instead missed the season after undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in June. The Pirates then declined his $11MM club option for 2021 in favor of a $250K buyout.
Considering Archer’s recent performance and the severity of his procedure, the Rays are taking a big risk that he will return to being a viable starter. But it does look like a coup for the reigning American League champions that they’ve now reunited with the player they received such a massive return for just a couple of years ago. If healthy, the 32-year-old Archer may be able to help replace Blake Snell and Charlie Morton, whom the Rays’ rotation has lost since last season ended. He’s the second reclamation project the Rays’ starting staff has taken on in free agency, joining $3MM signing Michael Wacha.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mets To Sign Albert Almora
Feb. 9: Almora’s deal comes with a $1.25MM base salary that can be increased via incentives, tweets Heyman.
Feb. 7: The Mets are in agreement on a contract with free agent outfielder Albert Almora Jr., pending a physical, report Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough of the Athletic (Twitter link). It is expected to be a major league, incentive-laden deal for the Magnus Sports client, hears Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).
Selected sixth overall in the 2012 draft by the Cubs out of a Florida high school, Almora had previously spent his entire career in the Chicago organization. Well-regarded as a prospect for his defensive acumen in center field, Almora broke into the majors midway through the Cubs’ World Series winning 2016 season. Over his first year-plus as a big leaguer, he looked to be establishing himself as another long-term core piece for Chicago. Between 2016-17, Almora was roughly a league average hitter. Combined with his glove in center, he at least seemed to be establishing himself as a solid regular.
Unfortunately, Almora’s offense has fallen since then. In 2018, he hit .286/.323/.378 with just five home runs over 479 plate appearances. While he made plenty of contact and hit for a high batting average, Almora’s overall offensive value was rather limited to his lack of power and meager 5.0% walk rate. Unfortunately, that drop-off at the plate continued, as he stumbled to a .236/.271/.381 line over 363 plate appearances in 2019. Almora spent most of last season at the Cubs’ alternate training site, starting just six regular-season games and being left off the roster for their playoff series against the Marlins. Chicago unsurprisingly non-tendered him after the season.
Even coming off a few poor years, it’s easy to see why the Mets were interested in bringing Almora in on what’s surely a low-cost deal. Advanced defensive metrics are divided on the extent of Almora’s impact with the glove, but they all agree he’s at least a solid center fielder. Over 2,612.1 career innings at the position, Almora has rated as six runs better than average, in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast’s range-based metric is more bullish, crediting Almora with fourteen plays above average. Ultimate Zone Rating, meanwhile, has rated him as closer to a break-even defender.
The Mets’ projected primary outfield of Dominic Smith, Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto is one of the better offensive groupings in the game but comes with obvious question marks in the field. Almora figures to serve as an oft-used defensive replacement at the end of games, perhaps bumping Nimmo to a corner and moving Smith off the grass when New York is protecting a late lead. A right-handed hitter, Almora also offers an obvious complement to the left-handed bats of Smith, Nimmo and Conforto. Guillermo Heredia is already on hand as a right-handed hitting fourth outfielder, but Almora offers a bit more upside in that role.
If Almora regains his footing at the plate, his stay in Queens could extend beyond next season. As a player with four-plus years of MLB service, Almora remains controllable via arbitration through the end of 2022.