Cubs Claim Phillip Ervin
The Cubs claimed outfielder Phillip Ervin off waivers from the Mariners, as announced by both teams. Seattle designated Ervin for assignment last week.
Ervin will return to the NL Central after spending four-plus seasons with the Reds, though his final act in Cincinnati wasn’t a pleasant one. After a solid .262/.326/.438 slash line over 571 PA as a part-timer for the Reds from 2017-19, Ervin had only a .324 OPS over 42 PA for the Reds in 2020. This led to a DFA in late August and a claim by the Mariners, as Ervin hit only somewhat better (.205/.340/.282) in 47 plate appearances for Seattle.
Ervin has experience at all three outfield positions, so he could be a useful bench piece for the Cubs as they figure out their new post-Kyle Schwarber outfield. The right-handed hitting Ervin has good numbers against left-handed pitching over his career, so he could spell Jason Heyward or Ian Happ when a southpaw is on the mound. Ervin could have an advantage in the battle for backup role since he is out of minor league options, so the Cubs would have to risk losing him on waivers if they wanted to send him down to Triple-A.
Indians Avoid Arbitration With Nick Wittgren
The Indians and right-hander Nick Wittgren have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2MM salary for the 2021 season, The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reports (Twitter link).
The 29-year-old Wittgren was making his second of three trips through the arbitration process this winter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Wittgren to earn between $1.4MM-$2.2MM after the righty earned $1.125MM last offseason in another arb-avoiding deal.
Acquired in something of a steal of a trade from the Marlins in February 2019, Wittgren built off the promise he showed in Miami to become a key part of the Cleveland bullpen. Over 80 games and 81 1/3 innings with the Tribe, Wittgren has a 2.99 ERA, 4.19 K/BB rate, and 9.7 K/9. ERA predictors haven’t been quite as impressed (4.24 FIP, 4.02 xFIP, 3.56 SIERA) since Wittgren has gotten some good luck in the form of an 84% strand rate and a .254 BABIP, and Statcast also doesn’t love many of his peripheral numbers. Wittgren is also a bit homer-prone, though he does do a good job of limiting walks.
The Tribe has been comfortable using Wittgren as a setup man, and it seems likely that he’ll continue in that role in 2021, albeit in front of a new closer now that Brad Hand was cut loose. James Karinchak or Emmanuel Clase could be tabbed as the top ninth-inning options, and it’s possible Wittgren might also pick up the stray save opportunity.
Mets Avoid Arbitration With Noah Syndergaard
The Mets and right-hander Noah Syndergaard have agreed to a contract for the 2021 season and will avoid going to salary arbitration, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (via Twitter). Syndergaard will earn $9.7MM, which was also what he earned in 2020 when missing the entire season due to Tommy John surgery.
Since Syndergaard went under the knife last March, he isn’t likely to be back in action until May or June. It isn’t yet clear how much game time Syndergaard will actually miss given the rumors about a possible delay to the start of the 2021 season, though regardless, the righty will have a somewhat limited amount of time to establish that he is both healthy and still somewhat close to his old ace-level self in advance of free agency in the 2021-22 offseason. A Syndergaard who can check both of those boxes should still put himself in line for a substantial multi-year contract next winter, though his price ceiling will surely be impacted by his recent injury history.
Syndergaard’s status will also heavily impact the Mets’ plans for both this winter and the coming season, as an in-form Syndergaard will provide an enormous boost to the team’s starting rotation. While the Mets have been linked to Trevor Bauer and other free agent hurlers this offseason, it’s possible the team could wait until the trade deadline in order to see what they have in Sydergaard before making any truly big-ticket pitching additions, which means the Mets could pursue lower-tier arms than Bauer this winter.
Even with Syndergaard’s deal now done, the Mets still have ten other arbitration-eligible players remaining. Here are those projected salaries, as per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
White Sox To Sign Yoelki Cespedes
The White Sox have agreed to a $2MM bonus with outfielder Yoelki Cespedes, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports. The deal will be official on January 15 when the 2020-21 international signing window (delayed from last July 2 due to the pandemic) opens.
As the half-brother of former All-Star Yoenis Cespedes, the 23-year-old Yoelki carries some notable family ties and a lot of potential. MLB Pipeline ranks Cespedes first in its list of 2020-21 int’l prospects, noting that he has put on “at least 15 pounds of muscle” for “more power and explosive bat speed.” Cespedes has recently overhauled his swing to closely resemble his brother at the plate. Pipeline’s scouting grades (on the 20-80 scale) indicate five-tool potential for Cespedes, with a 50 grade for his hitting being the lowest score — his fielding and power earned 55s, while his running and throwing arm earned 60s.
Not all scouts are quite this optimistic about Cespedes (as we observed back in March when Cespedes was declared a free agent), though naturally more recent evaluations on Cespedes aren’t really available given how the pandemic curtailed scouting activity for months. Obviously the White Sox felt comfortable enough in Cespedes’ ceiling to give him $2MM, one of the higher bonuses given to any player in the 2020-21 international class.
As Badler notes, with Cespedes’ deal now taking up much of the available space in Chicago’s international signing pool, the White Sox could be out of the running for Oscar Colas after previously being rumored to have interest in the outfielder. Colas’ availability was tied up in a dispute with Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks for months, and while that dispute was recently settled, there hasn’t yet been any word on whether or not MLB has officially made Colas a free agent. It could be that the Sox simply decided to allot their int’l funds towards a player they already knew was available rather than continue to wait on Colas.
Over four seasons in the Serie Nacional, Cespedes hit .287/.352/.416 with 12 homers over 803 PA, beginning in Cuba’s top league as a 17-year-old. He also played for Cuba during the 2017 World Baseball Classic, as the youngest member of the team’s roster.
Roberto Ramos Re-Signs With KBO’s LG Twins
First baseman Roberto Ramos is returning to the LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization for a second season, reports Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. After earning $500K in 2020, he’ll earn $800K of guarantees in 2021, with another $200K worth of incentives. The team has announced the deal.
Those unfamiliar with Ramos may want to take note of his name, as it’s quite possible it could come up in future offseasons. Despite a very productive age-24 season with the Rockies’ Triple-A club in 2019 (.309/.400/.580, 30 homers, 27 doubles), Colorado let Ramos go to pursue his initial KBO opportunity last winter. Ramos had a rookie season for the ages in the KBO, hitting .278/.362/.592 with a franchise-record 38 home runs, 17 doubles and two triples.
Ramos will turn 26 years old next week, so he’s firmly in the midst of his prime years. With a repeat performance in the KBO in 2021 — particularly if he can cut down on his 27.5 percent strikeout rate — it’s possible that he could draw interest from MLB clubs on a guaranteed deal.
This path has been of increasing popularity for minor league players in recent years, as MLB clubs have shown a willingness to offer guaranteed deals — often multi-year pacts — in order to bring breakout players back over from the KBO or Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Such deals can be of extra incentive to the player if they contain clauses which allow them to become free agents at contract’s end despite being shy of six years of service, as we’ve seen on multiple occasions. Even if Ramos takes a step back in 2021, he’ll have pocketed about $1.5MM for a two-year span in which he’d have been earning at a fraction of that rate in Triple-A.
Walker Lockett Agrees To Deal With KBO’s Doosan Bears
Dec. 22: Lockett and the Bears are in agreement on a one-year contract, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports. The agreement is still pending completion of a physical.
Dec. 20: Right-hander Walker Lockett is close to signing a deal with the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization, according to multiple Korean media outlets (hat tip to Daniel Kim of ESPN and DKTV). The Blue Jays hold Lockett’s MLB rights, as Kim notes, so there will likely be some money changing hands between the Bears and Jays to complete the transaction. Lockett is represented by O’Connell Sports Management.
The move to Seoul will send Lockett to his fourth different organization in as many months, as the Mariners claimed the righty away from the Mets in September, and Toronto claimed him from Seattle two weeks ago. Lockett is coming off a season that saw him post a 4.96 ERA, 2.75 K/BB, and 6.1 K/9 over 16 1/3 combined innings with the Mets and Mariners.
Modest as those numbers are, they represented a big improvement over the 8.84 ERA Lockett delivered in his first 37 2/3 innings in the Show (with the Padres and Mets in 2018-19). After allowing home runs at a 2.4 HR/9 pace in those first two seasons, Lockett had a somewhat more palatable 1.1 HR/9 in 2020, and he also allowed much less hard contact than in 2018-19. Lockett made the cutter into a much more prominent part of his arsenal in 2020, throwing the pitch over 20 percent of the time.
Lockett started eight of his 20 career MLB games and was a regular starter in the minors (97 of 114 games), so it seems probable that the Bears will give him another look out of their rotation. A fourth-round pick for the Padres back in the 2012 draft, Lockett is still only 26, and has posted decent numbers over nine minor league seasons, relying on lots of grounders rather than big strikeout totals.
Mets Sign Wilfredo Tovar, Tom Windle To Minors Deals
The Mets announced that they have signed infielder Wilfredo Tovar and left-hander Tom Windle to minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training. The club also made the previously reported minor league signings of reliever Jerry Blevins and starter Jerad Eickhoff official.
This will be the second Mets go-around for the 29-year-old Tovar, who was previously part of the organization from 2008-15. Tovar saw scant major league experience during that time, totaling 22 plate appearances, but amassed 88 PA with the Angels in 2019. Overall, Tovar has batted .188/.241/.238 with no home runs in 110 major league PA and .268/.342/.352 with 30 homers and 179 steals over 2,011 minor league trips to the plate.
Windle was a second-round pick of the Dodgers in 2013, but he still hasn’t cracked the majors. Along with righty Zach Eflin, Windle was part of the Dodgers-Phillies trade that sent shortstop Jimmy Rollins to Los Angeles in December 2014. Windle, 28, spent time in Triple-A ball with the Phillies in 2018-19 and notched a 4.21 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9 across 104 2/3 innings.
Reds Sign Josh Osich, Matt Ball To Minor League Deals
The Reds have signed left-hander Josh Osich and righty Matt Ball to minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer relays.
The 32-year-old Osich divided last season between the Red Sox and Cubs, the latter of whom acquired him at the Aug. 31 trade deadline. Osich combined for 18 1/3 innings of 6.38 ERA/5.97 FIP pitching between the teams, and the 92.4 mph average he posted on his fastball fell well short of his lifetime mean of 95. On the bright side, Osich did log 11.78 K/9 against 2.45 BB/9 and record a 54.5 percent groundball rate. The Cubs designated Osich for assignment after their season ended.
Ball, 25, hasn’t reached the majors since the White Sox used an 11th-round pick on him in 2013. Also a former member of the Rangers and Angels organizations, Ball has registered a 5.24 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 391 2/3 minor league innings.
Nationals Re-Sign Javy Guerra To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have signed right-handed reliever Javy Guerra to a minor league contract, according to Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. The deal comes with an invitation to spring training.
Guerra could now spend a third straight season with the Nationals, who first acquired him via waivers from the Blue Jays in May 2019. He has since thrown 69 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. Guerra picked up 15 2/3 innings with the Nats last season and recorded a 4.02 ERA/4.53 FIP with 7.47 K/9 and 4.02 BB/9. Washington outrighted him after that, but he’s now back with the organization.
Guerra, who turned 35 in October, has spent time with a few teams since his major league career began in 2011 with the Dodgers. He owns a respectable 3.73 ERA/3.99 FIP with 7.31 K/9 against 3.58 BB/9 over 296 2/3 frames.
Cubs Sign Matt Duffy To Minors Deal
The Cubs have signed infielder Matt Duffy to a minors deal, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. The pact comes with a $1MM major league salary and up to $500K in incentives.
The 29-year-old Duffy is best known for his time in the majors with the Giants and Rays from 2014-19. Duffy picked up 1,771 plate appearances during that stretch and hit a solid .282/.338/.380 with 22 home runs and 32 stolen bases. At his best, Duffy was a 4.4-fWAR player as part of the Giants in 2015, when he slashed .295/.334/.428 with career highs in homers (12) and steals (12) in 612 trips to the plate.
Duffy was a good producer as recently as 2018, though he struggled the next season during an injury-shortened year and hasn’t played in the majors since. He spent time with the Giants and Yankees on minor league contracts last season, but he wasn’t able to get back to the majors with either club. Primarily a third baseman, Duffy is now a member of a Cubs team with a clear starter there in Kris Bryant, though he has been the subject of trade rumors for a while and could move before next season begins.