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Blue Jays Designate Breyvic Valera For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have designated infielder Breyvic Valera for assignment, as per a team announcement.  The move creates a roster spot for right-hander Rafael Dolis, whose one-year deal (with a club option) with the Jays became official yesterday.

Valera appeared in five games for Toronto in late September, after the Jays plucked him off the Yankees’ roster via a waiver claim.  With such veterans as Joe Panik and Ruben Tejada already lined up as utility infield options in Spring Training camp, Valera was likely deemed expendable.  Should another team claim Valera during his latest trip through the DFA process, it will mark the sixth time in less than two years that Valera has switched uniforms.

Over 54 career Major League games since the start of the 2017 season, Valera has already played for five different teams — the Blue Jays, Yankees, Orioles, Dodgers, and Cardinals, who originally signed him back in 2010.  (Valera also had a brief stint in the Giants’ farm system last season.)  The best-known of those transactions, by far, is Valera’s inclusion as part of the trade package sent from the Dodgers to Baltimore for Manny Machado in July 2018, though Valera was something of a throw-in rather than a key factor in the deal.

The 28-year-old Valera has only a .592 OPS over 138 plate appearances in the big leagues, but he has performed reasonably well at the minor league level, hitting .299/.360/.397 over 4099 PA.  Valera has mostly worked as a second baseman, though since his best path to the Show is as a utility player, he also has quite a bit of experience around the diamond at every position besides catcher and pitcher.

Padres Acquire Emilio Pagan From Rays For Manuel Margot And Prospect Logan Driscoll

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The San Diego Padres have acquired reliever Emilio Pagan from the Tampa Bay Rays. In exchange, they’re sending centerfielder Manuel Margot and prospect Logan Driscoll to Tampa Bay, per The Athletic’s Josh Tolentino (via Twitter). The deal is official, per MLB.com’s Juan Toribio.

Both teams add strength to strength here. The Rays get an elite defensive centerfielder to back up one one of the league’s best in that department, while the Padres give their already-strong bullpen another weapon to lock down the ends of ballgames. Both teams, interestingly, are addressing an area with this trade to which they’ve already devoted resources this winter.

Turning to the players, Pagan departs one strong bullpen to join another in San Diego, where he’ll team up with incumbent closer Kirby Yates and 21-year-old flamethrower Andres Munoz. The Padres will be his fourth team in as many seasons after year-long stints with the Mariners, A’s, and Rays. Last season was his most successful to date, however, as he notched a 12.3 K/9 versus 1.7 BB/9 in his 70 innings as a Ray. San Diego seems to value his ability to retire both right and left-handed hitters, citing Pagan’s matching  .179 BAA in their press release.

The Friars have dedicated quite a bit of resources to a bullpen that now looks like a genuine asset. They earlier re-signed Craig Stammen to a two-year, $9MM deal and convinced Drew Pomeranz to give San Diego a second go-round with a surprising four-year, $34MM commitment. The Padres also brought in former San Francisco Giant Pierce Johnson after a successful stint overseas.

Pagan’s one season in Tampa Bay came after being acquired from Oakland in the three-way deal that landed Jurickson Profar in Oakland and sent Brock Burke, Yoel Espinal, Kyle Bird, Eli White, and international draft pool money to the Rangers. The Rays also received a draft pick in that deal. Pagan served as the Rays de facto closer last season, notching 20 saves in 66 games with a 2.31 ERA/3.30 FIP.

For their part, Tampa adds an elite defensive centerfielder in Margot who may yet have another offensive gear in him as he nears his age-25 season. Margot hit an underwhelming .234/.304/.387 last year, in line with his career mark of .248/.301/.394 – but by just about any measure, Margot ranks among the game’s very best at traversing the centerfield grass. Last season, he scored 6 DRS, 5.8 UZR, and 11 Outs Above Average. Margot provides the Rays with defensive certainty up the middle should Kevin Kiermaier again struggle to stay healthy.

The Rays have made of a winter of adding outfielders by way of relatively surprising multi-player deals. Margot joins Hunter Renfroe as San Diego expats now based in Tampa. The Rays also dealt top pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore to St. Louis for Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena, who now figures to start the year in Triple-A. Austin Meadows, of course, remains on hand as an everyday player in the outfield.

For the Rays in particular, the move represents another somewhat disorienting instance of doubling down on a particular area. Their earlier trade for Martinez, who figures to spend much of his time at designated hitter, came shortly after the signing of Yoshi Tsutsugo, another prospective candidate to spend time at designated hitter.

Here again, the addition of Margot could be seen as an over-saturation of Tampa’s centerfield pool, where they’ve already added Arozarena. The Rays have reportedly been after Margot for some time, however, and though Kiermaier remains the unequivocal starter in center, they view Margot as an “impact defender,” per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Driscoll was the 73rd overall pick of the Padres in the 2019 draft. His ability to play both catcher and outfield certainly marks him as a prospect of some intrigue. In 39 games at Low-A in 2019, Driscoll hit .268/.340/.458.

Red Sox, Andrew Benintendi Avoid Arbitration With Two-Year, $10MM Deal

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The Boston Red Sox have agreed to a two-year, $10MM deal with outfielder Andrew Benintendi, avoiding arbitration, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). The deal is set to pay out $3.4MM this season and $6.6MM in 2021, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. He will count against the luxury tax at $5MM per season.

The news comes at a good time for the Red Sox, who are mired in negotiations to deal away fellow outfielder Mookie Betts. As for Benintendi, he was eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, and he’ll have one more season of eligibility after this new extension expires prior to 2022. He is due to hit free agency after the 2022 season.

Prior to reaching the agreement, team and player had been set to face off in arbitration. The Red Sox offered $3.4MM. Benintendi requested $4.150MM. It’s certainly noteworthy that Benintendi ultimately agreed on the sum put forth by the team (with the second year addendum). Benintendi is represented by Excel Sports Management.

Benintendi, 25, wasted no time in making his ascent to the majors after the Red Sox made him a first round pick out of the University of Arkansas in the 2015 draft. He has been a steady contributor in left since making his debut as a 21-year-old at the tail end of 2016. Benintendi’s best year came in 2018 when he put together a stellar campaign at the dish worth 3.9 bWAR/4.4 fWAR, more than playing his part in helping the Red Sox to a now-under-review 2018 World Series title.

Outside of that 2018 season, Benintendi has been closer to average at the plate, sandwiching a 122 wRC+ season in 2018 between marks of 102 wRC+ and 100 wRC+ in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He’s a solid baserunner, and though anecdotal evidence might say otherwise, defensive metrics have not looked kindly on Benintendi’s overall body of work, especially in 2019 (-10 OAA, -3 DRS, 1.4 UZR). Still, at only 25-years-old, there’s plenty of upside remaining in Benintendi’s overall profile, and for the next two seasons, the Red Sox will have him under contract at reasonable rates.

White Sox Reach Agreement With Norge Carlos Vera

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The Chicago White Sox are in agreement with international free agent Norge Carlos Vera, per ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. The deal won’t become official until the opening of the new international signing period on July 2. Vera will collect a $1.5MM signing bonus. The deal would leave the White Sox with just under $3.9MM to spend on international free agents, per Baseball America.

Vera is a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher out of Cuba who threw for scouts in late September, hitting as high as 97 mph on the radar gun, per Fangraphs’ Josh Herzenberg. He’s a slim, easy-action righty whom evaluators peg as equivalent to a second round talent. There aren’t a ton of statistics available for the young righty, but a reel of side sessions can be viewed here.

For the White Sox, this represents just their latest foray into the Cuban market. Recent history on the Southside is cluttered with successful Cuban imports, from current mainstays Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada, to Alexei Ramirez, to Jose Contreras, the winning pitcher in game one of the 2005 World Series. Contreras went 3-1 that postseason for the World Champion White Sox, including a complete game (one of four consecutive for the ChiSox) to punch Chicago’s World Series ticket.

Rays Sign Sean Gilmartin To Minors Deal

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The Rays have signed left-hander Sean Gilmartin to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  Gilmartin’s deal contains an invitation to the Rays’ big league spring camp.

Gilmartin only pitched 2 1/3 MLB innings last season, completing his two-season tenure in Baltimore with a 4.30 ERA, 4.9 K/9, and 4.0 BB/9 over 29 1/3 total frames.  After an impressive rookie season with the Mets in 2015, Gilmartin has only tossed 50 1/3 total innings at the Major League level, pitching for New York and Baltimore while also having a brief stint in the Cardinals’ farm system.

The 28th overall pick of the 2011 amateur draft, Gilmartin has yet to make much of an impact in the Show, though he has held left-handed batters to a .251/.312/.339 slash line over the small sample size of 200 plate appearances.  The Rays can use Spring Training a chance to evaluate the 29-year-old and see if he might yet be a candidate for their bullpen, or at least be for Triple-A depth given how the Rays like to shuffle relievers up and down from the minors.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/7/20

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Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • The Tigers have signed right-hander Chris Smith to a minor league contract, Robert Murray tweets. Smith was with the Tigers for a brief period last year, but he suffered an elbow injury in spring training and wound up needing Tommy John surgery. Detroit released him as a result, but he’s now back with the organization, and Murray notes that he should be ready to return by March or April. Now 31 years old, Smith has only thrown five major league innings (all with Toronto in 2017). The last time Smith pitched competitively, he threw 55 innings of 3.93 ERA/3.88 FIP ball with 10.64 K/9 and 3.44 BB/9 as a member of the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018.
  • The Blue Jays have picked up lefty Brian Moran on a minors pact with an invitation to MLB spring training, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The soft-tossing Moran, 31, made his major league debut last season with the Marlins, throwing 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball with 10 strikeouts and two walks. The majority of his work came at the Triple-A level, where he posted a 3.15 ERA/4.18 FIP with 11.55 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 47.1 percent groundball rate. The Marlins designated him for assignment on Jan. 15.

Giants Announce Hunter Pence Signing, Outright Luis Madero

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The Giants have announced the earlier-reported signing of outfielder Hunter Pence. Righty Luis Madero was outrighted to create roster space.

Pence will earn $3MM, according to Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). There’s another $2.5MM available through incentives, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (Twitter link). That includes $1MM in roster bonuses and another $1.5MM based upon plate appearances (beginning with his 450th), Crowley adds via Twitter.

Madero, you won’t be surprised to learn, was recently claimed off waivers by the roster-churning San Francisco organization. No doubt the team will be glad to have the 22-year-old on hand in camp as a non-roster player. He has shown interesting talent at times but was knocked around at the Double-A level last year, where he threw 89 2/3 innings of 5.72 ERA ball.

Rangers Sign Cody Allen

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The Rangers have announced a minor-league deal with righty Cody Allen. He’ll receive an invitation to participate in MLB Spring Training.

Southpaw Brandon Mann is also joining the Texas organization. His own minors deal won’t come with a spring invite.

Allen is a classic bounceback candidate. The 31-year-old was a high-quality reliever for years until he ran into a tough 2018 season and then collapsed in the following season.

Last year, Allen’s entire approach was shaken as he lost velocity and suffered a dive in his swinging-strike rate. His walk rate shot up while opposing hitters ran up a 54.5% hard contact rate and 94.3 mph average exit velocity.

Allen does still possess elite fastball spin, so there’s something to build off of. Perhaps a lengthy respite and some tweaking will help him get back on track.

As for Mann, 35, he made a stunning (but brief) late-career MLB debut with the Rangers in 2018. He worked for Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines last year, turning in 59 1/3 innings of 4.70 ERA pitching with 10.3 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9.

Giants Sign Billy Hamilton

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The Giants announced today that they have signed veteran center fielder Billy Hamilton. He’ll receive a minor-league deal with an invitation to MLB Spring Training.

It seems the speedy Hamilton will represent a 26th-man option as an occasional fill-in and late-inning speed-and-defense contributor. But he could also challenge Steven Duggar in camp to be the left-handed side of the team’s center field mix.

Hamilton, a seven-year MLB vet, is still just 29 years of age. He isn’t quite the unreal threat on the bases he once was, but Hamilton remains a top-line performer when not gripping a bat.

Unfortunately, the offensive numbers remain ugly for Hamilton. He has now taken over three thousand trips to the plate at the game’s highest level, with a .242/.297/.326 slash to show for it. Last year was rougher still (.218/.289/.275).

Dodgers Reach Two-Year Arbitration Deal With Chris Taylor

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The Dodgers have avoided arbitration with utilityman Chris Taylor, per a team announcement. He’ll ink a two-year deal that resolves his arb salaries for both 2020 and 2021, providing respective payouts of $5.6MM and $7.8MM, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).

Taylor had been headed for an arbitration hearing. He was seeking a $5.8MM salary, with the Dodgers offering $5.25MM in return. Instead, the sides saw eye to eye on an agreement that provides Taylor some security and gives the club cost certainty.

The 29-year-old Taylor hasn’t quite performed to the level of his breakout 2017 season, but has remained a highly valuable contributor for the Dodgers in the ensuing two seasons. All told, he carries a cumulative .268/.340/.468 batting line since the start of the 2017 season.

Taylor adds value on the bases and in the field, where he’s especially useful given his ability to handle every non-battery position. Obviously the Dodgers foresee another productive campaign from the former fifth-round pick.

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