Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Pirates Sign JT Riddle

By | at

5:12pm: Riddle’s deal with the Pirates will pay him $850K, MLBTR has learned.

3:25pm: The Pirates announced Friday that they’ve signed infielder JT Riddle to a Major League contract. The addition of Riddle, a Meister Sports client, fills Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster.

JT Riddle | Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Riddle, 28, was once considered to be among the more promising farmhands in the Marlins organization but was unable to establish himself in parts of three MLB seasons in Miami. Through 718 plate appearances, Riddle managed just a .229/.269/.368 batting line, which proved tepid enough that the Marlins eventually cut ties with him earlier this offseason.

Although he’s been unable to produce much at the MLB level, Riddle does carry a heartier .284/.321/.457 slash in 85 Triple-A contests. The former 13th-rounder and University of Kentucky product rose through Miami’s system primarily as a shortstop, but the Marlins began trying him out in center field in recent seasons as well. Riddle has played far more shortstop than any other position, but he does come to the Pirates with experience at second base, third base and in all three outfield slots.

Miami surely felt comfortable trying Riddle out at new defensive positions due to Miguel Rojas’ presence at shortstop, but the decision to pull Riddle away from short was still somewhat curious given how well he’s graded out at the position. In 1323 Major League innings at shortstop, Riddle notched 13 Defensive Runs Saved, 10 Outs Above Average and a 3.1 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Twenty-six-year-old Kevin Newman currently projects to be the Pirates’ everyday option at short, but Riddle can give the club some depth there while also presenting them an option to play in center field following the departure of the recently traded Starling Marte. In the days since that trade, general manager Ben Cherington has been open about his desire to add some more options in center field, and while Riddle would seemingly qualify, it’s also of some note that the team’s press release announcing the move refers to Riddle solely as an infielder.

Riddle is out of minor league options, so today’s signing is a clear indicator that the Pirates will carry him on the big league roster to open the season. He has two years, 118 days of Major League service time, meaning he’s controllable not just for the 2020 season but all the way through the 2022 campaign. Riddle will be arbitration-eligible next winter.

Rockies Agree To Two-Year Contract With Trevor Story

By | at

January 31: The Rockies have now formally announced Story’s two-year deal. Feinsand tweets that Story will be paid a $2MM signing bonus, an $8MM salary in 2020 and a $17.5MM salary in 2021.

January 24, 8:39pm: It is indeed an arbitration-only contract, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan tweets. Story will receive $27.5MM over the two-year term. The Rockies will not gain control over any prospective open-market seasons but will gain some cost certainty as part of the deal.

8:36pm: The Rockies are closing in on a “multi-year deal” with star shortstop Trevor Story, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand and Jon Morosi (Twitter link). It is not yet clear whether the contract would cover any potential free agent seasons or merely settle multiple arbitration campaigns at one time.

Needless to say, a long-term extension would be a fascinating development given all the recent chatter regarding fellow star Nolan Arenado. If it’s merely an arb work-out, it’d be a notable but hardly headlining development.

Story has filed for a $11.5MM salary, with the Rockies countering at a $10.75MM offer. He’s in his second season of arbitration eligibility after earning $5MM in 2019. Story is slated to reach free agency at the end of the 2021 campaign.

Regardless of the contract specifics, the 27-year-old Story figures to be a monster again on the field in 2020. He’s coming off of a second-straight 30+ homer, 5+ fWAR effort. Story strikes out more than you’d like and only draws walks at league-average levels, but is still an exceptionally well-rounded performer. He hits for average with loads of power, contributes value on the bases, and is an outstanding defender at short.

Brewers Sign Andres Blanco To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Brewers announced that they’ve signed veteran infielder Andres Blanco to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. He’s represented by GSE Worldwide.

Blanco will turn 36 in April and hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2017, but he’s had a pair of productive Triple-A campaigns in 2018 and 2019 — the former actually coming with the Brewers organization. Blanco hit .271/.362/.435 (111 wRC+) in 357 plate appearances with Triple-A Colorado Springs that season. Last year, with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, he put together a nearly identical .262/.364/.443 slash (109 wRC+) in a larger sample of 530 plate appearances.

The veteran Blanco has played in parts of 10 MLB seasons, logging time at each infield position and batting a combined .256/.310/.378 in 1321 trips to the plate. His signing comes just days after the Brewers found out projected shortstop Luis Urias will need six to eight weeks to recover from surgery to repair a broken hamate bone — an injury he sustained while playing in the Mexican Pacific Winter League. Blanco will head to Spring Training and vie to join a currently fluid infield mix that includes Eric Sogard, Jedd Gyorko, Orlando Arcia, Ryon Healy and Justin Smoak, among others.

Rockies Sign Zac Rosscup

By | at

The Rockies have brought left-handed reliever Zac Rosscup back to the organization on a minor league contract, tweets Thomas Harding of MLB.com. He won’t be in big league camp, so he’s presumably ticketed straight for Triple-A Albuquerque.

Rosscup, 31, tossed 18 Major League innings between the Mariners, Blue Jays and Dodgers in 2019, allowing 10 earned run (5.00 ERA) on 22 hits and 19 walks with 26 strikeouts. That type of production has been fairly typical for Rosscup, as he’s traditionally been able to rack up strikeouts in bunches but has also frequently struggled with his control. In 83 2/3 innings at the big league level, Rosscup has punched out 113 hitters (12.2 K/9) but also issued 55 walks (5.9 BB/9), with the result being a lackluster 5.16 earned run average. Rosscup does have a career 2.74 ERA in 115 Triple-A frames, where he’s also managed an impressive 12.7 K/9 mark.

Orioles Claim Travis Lakins, Designate Stevie Wilkerson

By | at

The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve claimed righty Travis Lakins off waivers from the Cubs. Infielder/outfielder Stevie Wilkerson was designated for assignment in a corresponding roster move.

Lakins, 25, was designated for assignment by the Red Sox earlier this winter and subsequently traded to Chicago for cash. Although he’d consistently ranked in the No. 15-25 range of a thin Boston farm system, the Ohio State product has yet to put together a particularly strong showing in the Majors or in the upper minors. Lakins made his big league debut this past season, yielding a 3.86 ERA with a lackluster 18-to-10 K/BB ratio in 23 2/3 innings for Boston. His work in Triple-A has been rather similar, as he’s compiled a 3.82 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and slightly below-average grounder rates in parts of two seasons there. Lakins worked as a starter earlier in his career but has pitched primarily out of the bullpen the past couple of seasons.

Wilkerson, 28, is a career .219/.279/.365 hitter in 410 plate appearances — most of which came this past season in Baltimore. He’s spent time at all three outfield positions with the O’s in addition to second base and third base, although he’s most likely remembered by many for his absurd home run robbery against Jackie Bradley Jr. at Fenway Park this past season (video link). He also holds the distinction of being the first position player to earn a save, which he did when pitching the 16th inning of a marathon win over the Angels on July 25 of this past season.

The switch-hitting Wilkerson hasn’t spent much time in Triple-A but has had some success there, hitting .294/.340/.478 through 153 trips to the plate. Wilkerson has generally been a versatile defender with respectable batting average/on-base percentage marks but limited power in the minors; since being drafted out of Clemson in the eighth round back in 2014, he’s hit .268/.342/.371 in six minor league seasons.

Cubs, Corban Joseph Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder Corban Joseph, tweets Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The PSI Sports Management client will be in Major League camp this spring.

Joseph, 31, has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past two seasons — albeit on a very limited basis. He’s played in just 44 MLB games, tallying 94 plate appearances and posting a tepid .170/.213/.261 batting line with a homer and five doubles.

That said, Joseph is a fairly accomplished Triple-A hitter with some defensive versatility. In parts of six Triple-A seasons, he’s a .294/.362/.457 hitter, and he has experience at second base, third base and first base over the course of a 12-year professional career.

Phillies Claim Reggie McClain

By | at

The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Reggie McClain off waivers from the Mariners and designated fellow righty Trevor Kelley for assignment in order to open space on the 40-man roster.

McClain, 27, was designated for assignment by Seattle last week when the club claimed lefty Nick Margevicius from the Padres. McClain made his big league debut in 2019 but struggled to a 6.00 ERA in 21 innings with the Mariners. McClain had a big season in the minors last year, however, skyrocketing across three levels and notching a combined 2.23 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 0.5 HR/9 in 72 2/3 innings.

McClain averages just under 94 mph on a heavy sinker that led to a huge 64.8 percent ground-ball rate in his 21 MLB innings, and his grounder rate in the minors checked in at nearly 60 percent as well. McClain still has all three minor league option years remaining, so if he sticks with the Phillies, they’ll be able to shuttle him back and forth between Philadelphia and Triple-A Lehigh Valley as often as they see fit.

The 26-year-old Kelley was also a waiver claim by the Phillies, coming over from the Red Sox organization in early December. Like McClain, he struggled in his MLB debut this past season (eight runs in 8 1/3 innings) but posted impressive minor league numbers in 2019 (1.79 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 in 65 2/3 innings).

Mets Sign Matt Adams

By | at

The Mets have inked first baseman Matt Adams to a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. He’ll receive an invitation to participate on the MLB side of Spring Training.

Adams, 31, just wrapped up a stint with the division-rival Nationals. While he had a strong showing for the team in 2018, he stumbled to a .226/.276/.465 batting line last year. There’s obviously still loads of power in Adams’s bat, and he has been a quality overall hitter in the not-so-distant past. However, the Nats elected to move on and signed fellow lefty slugger Eric Thames.

There isn’t really an opening to make the Mets’ roster for the veteran first baseman, but that could change if the team ends up trading (or optioning) fellow left-handed-hitting first baseman Dominic Smith. There hasn’t been much chatter to that effect, but the former top prospect is in an awkward spot with Pete Alonso slated to handle almost all of the action at first base. Adams could conceivably fit as a bench bat if Smith isn’t on the roster, but he otherwise looks like upper-minors depth or perhaps a player who’ll use his spring stint with the Mets as an audition for other clubs, as is common for veterans on minor league pacts that time of year.

Giants To Sign Nick Vincent

By | at

The Giants have agreed to terms with veteran reliever Nick Vincent, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). It’s a minors deal with a spring invite.

Vincent opened the 2019 season in San Francisco but struggled before being cut loose. He ended up turning in 14 good innings down the stretch with the Phillies, though, running up a 17:4 K/BB ratio and allowing just three earned runs.

Now an eight-year MLB veteran, the 33-year-old has compiled quite an impressive track record. Through 376 2/3 career innings, the soft-tossing Vincent carries a 3.32 ERA. While teams haven’t been willing to stake much on a continuation of that performance level, he’s certainly a nice player to have on hand for this level of commitment.

Pirates Sign Derek Holland

By | at

The Pirates have a minor-league deal with southpaw Derek Holland, per Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic (via Twitter). Holland had hinted at the signing on social media.

Financial details aren’t known. But Holland will compete in camp for a spot on the MLB roster and gets a chance to opt out if he isn’t added for the start of the season.

The division-rival Cubs had declined an option over Holland at season’s end. It was a rough overall campaign — whether working from the rotation or in relief, and both before and after the Giants traded him to Chicago. Holland ended the year with 84 1/3 innings of 6.08 ERA ball. That’s now the second time in three campaigns that Holland has allowed more than six earned per nine.

For both Holland and the Bucs, the idea will be to help him rediscover the form he showed in a successful 2018 season. He worked to a 3.87 ERA in 171 1/3 frames that year, carrying 8.9 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.

It remains to be seen what sort of role Holland will occupy. Even if he’s given a chance to compete for a rotation spot in camp, he may end up being tasked with entering from the pen. Notably, Holland posted extreme platoon splits last year (.997 OPS for right-handed hitters vs. .528 OPS for left-handed hitters).

First and foremost, Holland will need to nail down an approach. He continued the ramped-up slider usage he utilized in 2018, then made a drastic mid-season fastball swap (from his four-seamer to his sinker). That did coincide with improved results for most of Holland’s time with the Cubs, but his numbers were irreparably marred when he coughed up seven earned in just two frames in his last appearance of the season.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top