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Aaron Brooks Signs With KBO’s KIA Tigers

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NOV. 13: The KIA Tigers have officially signed Brooks, per Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net. His deal comes with a $479K salary and a $200K signing bonus.

NOV. 12: It appears that Orioles righty Aaron Brooks is headed to the KBO, according to reports from Dan Connolly of The Athletic (links to Twitter) and Naver Sports (Korean language link). If all the paperwork is completed, as expected, he’ll agree to a new deal with the KIA Tigers and be set free from the Baltimore 40-man roster.

This sort of arrangement is now commonplace for hurlers such as Brooks. The 29-year-old has shown enough to bounce around the waiver wire and receive MLB opportunities, but hasn’t fully established himself on an active roster.

Brooks did get a lengthy big-league look this year after a strong Triple-A campaign in 2018. He ultimately threw 110 frames on the year, spanning 18 starts and eleven relief appearances in stints with the A’s and O’s. The results weren’t as hoped, as Brooks stumbled to a 5.65 cumulative ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.

Though the Orioles again need to fill innings, Brooks was at risk of being kicked from the MLB roster at some point this winter. His lack of options helped keep him in the bigs in 2019 but also reduced his appeal to affiliated clubs. By allowing Brooks to leave, the Orioles will pick up some financial compensation. He’ll get a chance to compete at a high level and earn a salary that wouldn’t be available to him in North America.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/13/19

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The latest minor transactions from around baseball…

  • Utilityman Kristopher Negron has retired, as he announced on Twitter on Tuesday. A seventh-round pick of the Red Sox in 2006, the 33-year-old Negron walked away from the game after appearing in the majors in parts of six seasons from 2012-19 with the Reds, Diamondbacks, Mariners and Dodgers. He divided his final season between the Seattle and Los Angeles organizations. Overall, Negron batted .221/.291/.336 with nine home runs across a 416-plate appearance span in the majors. He was more successful at the Triple-A level, where he collected 3,291 PA and hit .256/.323/.403 with 76 homers.
  • The Padres have signed Mexican left-hander/outfielder Zayed Salinas for $800K, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs tweets. The 16-year-old Salinas offers a three-pitch mix – an 87 to 90 mph fastball, a curveball and a changeup – and ranks as FanGraphs’ top prospect from Mexico in 2019, Longenhagen notes. Salinas could turn into a “contact-oriented” center fielder if he doesn’t pan out as a pitcher, per FanGraphs’ scouting report.

Cardinals Re-Sign Adam Wainwright

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Nov. 13: Wainwright will receive $1.5MM upon making his 20th and 25th starts, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). He’ll unlock an additional $2MM for making his 28th start.

Interestingly, the contract also contains incentives based on relief appearances. Wainwright would earn $500K upon making his 35th relief outing and another $500K for every fifth appearance moving forward — up through 60 total appearances. He’ll also receive $500K for finishing 25 and 30 games, plus an additional $600K for 35, 40, 45, 50 and 55 games finished.

Nov. 12: 3:05pm: Wainwright’s new contract guarantees him $5MM and includes an additional $5MM in possible incentives, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.

10:08am: The Cardinals have agreed to re-sign righty Adam Wainwright, per a club announcement. It’s a one-year deal of unknown value for the Aegis Sports Management client.

This is the second consecutive year the veteran hurler has re-upped with the Cards after a brief free agency. But the conversation was rather different this time than it was when Wainwright took an incentive-laden pact nearly one year ago to the day.

Wainwright ended up maxing out his bonuses, turning a $2MM guarantee into $10MM of earnings. The venerable rotation stalwart earned every penny, spinning 171 2/3 frames of 4.19 ERA ball with 8.0 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9.

This was surely the most predictable of this year’s free agent outcomes, with the team stating frankly just days ago that talks were already well underway. Wainwright obviously isn’t capable of dominating as he once did, but the Cardinals would gladly take a repeat of his 2019 effort. And it goes without saying that both sides enjoy a relationship that will enter its 15th MLB campaign.

Originally drafted by the Braves way back in 2000, the now-38-year-old Wainwright landed in St. Louis via trade in the 2003-04 offseason. He hasn’t left the organization since. There were a few lost years — all of 2011, most of 2015 and 2018 — but on balance it has been quite a success.

Wainwright passed two thousand career innings during the 2019 campaign. He has a lifetime 3.39 ERA along with three All-Star appearances and a trio of top-three Cy Young finishes. Wainwright has also topped the century mark in postseason frames and excelled all the more on the biggest stage. He owns a lifetime 2.81 ERA in the playoffs, with 9.8 K/9 against 1.5 BB/9, including three exceptional appearances just weeks ago.

While this move comes as expected, it does make for a key part of the Cardinals offseason. With Wainwright now slotted in along with Jack Flaherty, Miles Mikolas, and Dakota Hudson, the Cards can probably rest easy in the rotation. Carlos Martinez and Alex Reyes are high-ceiling possibilities for the fifth starter’s job, with Austin Gomber and Genesis Cabrera among the other possibilities. With limited available space under the team’s preferred payroll levels, it may be that the remaining funds will be allocated to other areas of need.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Giants’ Mike Gerber Elects Free Agency; Ricardo Pinto To Sign With KBO Club

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7:52pm: Pinto’s deal comes with a $550K base salary, a $100K signing bonus and another $250K of incentives, MLBTR has learned.

5:12pm: The Giants announced today that outfielder Mike Gerber rejected an outright assignment and instead elected free agency. Additionally, per the club, right-hander Ricardo Pinto was released to pursue an opportunity with the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization. Both players had recently been designated for assignment.

Gerber, 27, went 1-for-24 in his brief time with the Giants at the MLB level, though he did author an impressive .308/.368/.569 batting line with 26 homers in Triple-A. The former Tigers prospect had never hit much in Triple-A before that — he batted .213/.277/.411 in 316 plate appearances with Triple-A Toledo in 2018 — and he’ll turn 28 next summer.

Pinto, meanwhile, was a September waiver claim out of the Rays organization who never pitched in a game for San Francisco. He allowed four runs in 2 1/3 innings with Tampa Bay this season in addition to 123 1/3 innings of 4.23 ERA ball at the Triple-A level. The L.A. Sports Management client has appeared in parts of three Triple-A campaigns overall, working more as a reliever than a starter and pitching to a combined 4.47 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 219 2/3 frames.

Rockies Sign Eric Stamets

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The Rockies have announced a minor-league deal with infielder Eric Stamets. He’ll receive an invitation to MLB Spring Training.

Stamets, 28, was pressed into duty early in 2019 by the Indians but struggled mightily in brief MLB action. He went down on strikes in half of his 48 plate appearances and managed just a pair of hits. Stamets was ultimately dropped from the 40-man and allowed to depart at the end of the season.

The Rockies can’t expect much offense. Through over one thousand Triple-A plate appearances, Stamets carries a .230/.299/.379 slash line. But he’s obviously valued for his glovework at shortstop and ought to function as depth or perhaps challenge for a utility role in camp.

Padres Outright Jacob Nix

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The Padres have outrighted hurler Jacob Nix to Triple-A El Paso, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. The right-handed Nix had been in limbo since the Padres designated him for assignment Nov. 4.

It’s been a difficult several months for Nix, a promising prospect whom injuries and legal issues weighed down this season. While Nix did debut in the majors in 2018, throwing 42 1/3 innings of 7.02 ERA/5.83 FIP ball, he couldn’t improve on that uninspiring production this year because of elbow problems. The 23-year-old ended up combining for 24 1/3 frames among three minor league levels.

When Nix was healthy enough to take the mound in 2019, he was extremely effective, evidenced by his microscopic 1.85 ERA with 10.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. However, an October arrest on criminal trespassing charges represented the latest setback in the former third-round pick’s career. As of now, though, Nix will stay in the San Diego organization and continue trying to work his way back to the majors.

Odrisamer Despaigne Signs With KBO’s KT Wiz

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Former MLB hurler Odrisamer Despaigne has inked a contract to pitch with the KT Wiz of the KBO, relays Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net (link). The Cuban native will receive a $750K guarantee with up to $150K in incentives.

Despaigne’s name last surfaced here when he was outrighted off of the roster of the White Sox in mid-June after a rough sampling of three starts with Chicago. After his outright, the 32-year-old enjoyed a nice showing with Triple-A Charlotte, recording a 3.47 ERA and 9.0 K/9 in 124.1 innings at the highest level of the minors.

As it stands, his 2014 rookie season with the Padres stands as the highlight of a six-season major league career spent with five separate major league teams. That incipient season saw the 6’0 Despaigne log a 3.36 ERA and 3.74 FIP across 96.1 big league innings, although ensuing years exposed the hurler’s general lack of strikeout stuff as something of a liability (career 5.55 K/9 mark). Still, Despaigne will be fondly remembered by some fans for being a true everything-and-the-kitchen-sink pitcher, with Statcast recording as many as seven pitches in his toolbox (including an all-too-rare eephus offering).

The former Padre, Oriole, Marlin, Angel, and White Sox will head to his next adventure with a career 5.11 ERA through 353 innings and 50 starts at the MLB level. MLBTR wishes him all the best in his international endeavor.

 

Red Sox Re-Sign Six Players To Minors Deals

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The Red Sox have re-signed a host of minor-league free agents, with the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reporting that left-hander Dan McGrath; right-handers Austin Maddox, Domingo Tapia, and Andrew Schwaab; catcher Jhon Nunez; and infielder Jantzen Witte have all agreed to minor-league contracts to remain with the Boston organization.

Maddox is the only one of that group who has seen Major League action, making a brief but impressive debut in 2017. He tossed 17 1/3 innings in his only career Major League stint, surrendering just one run while striking out 14 batters and walking two.

McGrath, 25, reached Triple-A in 2019 after a solid performance at Double-A, where he struck out 113 batters in 112 1/3 innings. 2019 was Tapia’s first year in the Boston organization after he spent the first nine seasons of his professional career in the Mets’ and Reds’ minor league systems. Schwaab, 26, has five years of professional experience under his belt and has reached as high as Double-A. For his minor league career, he’s put up solid per-nine averages: 0.1 HR/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 9.7 K/9.

Nunez, a 24-year-old switch-hitting catcher, also reached Double-A in 2019 and posted a nice .280/.333/.412 batting line. Witte was a 24th-round draft choice in 2013, and he’s spent parts of the last four seasons in Triple-A but has yet to break through to the Majors. In 1227 Triple-A plate appearances, Witte is batting .261/.333/.370 with 15 home runs.

All of the above will be back in the Red Sox system in 2020, searching for a long-awaited trial at the big league level.

Ryan Tepera Elects Free Agency

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Right-handed reliever Ryan Tepera has elected free agency, according to MLB.com’s transactions page. The Blue Jays designated Tepera on Monday, but because he has more than three years of service time, he was able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Tepera enjoyed a long run as a member of the Blue Jays, who chose him in the 19th round of the 2009 draft. He debuted in 2015 and was especially productive from 2016-17, a 142 1/3-inning stretch in which he logged a 3.60 ERA with 9.42 K/9 and 3.48 BB/9, before falling off this season.

Elbow troubles (including late-May surgery) limited Tepera to just 21 2/3 innings in 2019, during which he posted a 4.98 ERA/6.03 FIP with a paltry 5.82 K/9 against 3.32 BB/9. The 32-year-old saw his average fastball velocity drop from the 95 mph range to 93.7 in the process, while his swinging-strike rate fell from 14 percent in 2018 to 12.6 this season. Needless to say, this isn’t an ideal time to reach free agency for Tepera, who had been projected to earn $1.6MM in arbitration before Toronto cut him loose.

Braves Re-Sign Darren O’Day

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The Braves have re-signed veteran reliever Darren O’Day, per a club announcement. He’ll receive a guarantee of $2.25MM in the contract, which covers the 2020 campaign and includes a $3.5MM club option for another season.

As other clubs plot roster turnover for the winter, the Braves have acted quickly to retain several pieces at the outset of the market. Backstop Tyler Flowers and Nick Markakis were already signed to new deals to remain in Atlanta for one more season, and they’ll now be joined by O’Day for a total outlay of just over $10MM in 2020 payroll.

O’Day, who recently celebrated his 37th birthday, was acquired at the 2018 trade deadline but didn’t appear with the Braves until September of 2019. He dealt with hamstring and forearm issues after coming over from the Orioles.

Though the Braves received only a brief look at the veteran reliever late in the season, he obviously impressed. O’Day was included on the postseason roster and appeared in four of the team’s NLDS contests. All told, he allowed just one earned run in 7 1/3 innings while compiling eight strikeouts against one free pass and four base hits.

O’Day averaged less than 87 mph with his fastball upon his return, though that’s actually only a tick lower than his career average. The sidearming hurler didn’t have any trouble getting swings and misses in that short sample, with an 18.0% swinging-strike rate in his 5 1/3 regular season frames. His full-season career-high in that metric is 14.8%, back in 2015.

It’s a fairly low-cost bet for the Braves, who’ll add O’Day to a high-leverage mix that already features Mark Melancon — another veteran hurler with exceptional command who has had stretches of dominance followed by some recent rough patches. It’d be too much to hope for these experienced righties to return to the levels of dominance they posted a few years back, but there’s good reason to believe there’s gas left in both tanks.

While fans may pine for a dominant closer, it may be that the Braves now consider their bullpen fully accounted for. The organization can tender Shane Greene and hope for a bounceback, while crossing its fingers that Luke Jackson can make the results match his newly eye-popping peripherals. Grant Dayton reemerged late to join Sean Newcomb as options from the left side. And there’s a laundry list of less-established hurlers that have seen recent MLB action and/or impressed of late in the upper minors.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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