Orioles Claim Andrew Velazquez, Designate Richard Urena
The Orioles have claimed utilityman Andrew Velazquez off waivers from the Indians, per a club announcement. To create roster space, the team designated fellow infielder Richard Urena.
Velazquez, a 25-year-old switch-hitter, has only minimal MLB experience. In 648 total plate appearances at the Triple-A level, he owns a .260/.316/.415 batting line with 16 home runs.
If Urena clears waivers, he’ll likely end up competing for a job with Velazquez … among others. Both of these players have similar backgrounds — including that they primarily came up as shortstops. Velazquez has greater experience at other spots, particularly the outfield.
The field is rather broad. Urena had himself been claimed off waivers recently. With that move, the O’s dropped Pat Valaika, who’s also still in camp — as is fellow recent addition Ramon Urias. Other utility candidates with MLB experience include Stevie Wilkerson, Jose Rondon, Dilson Herrera, and Jesmuel Valentin. Those and perhaps still other players will be looking to win spots in the bench mix, as the O’s appear set to go with a double-play combo of Jose Iglesias and Hanser Alberto.
Angels To Sign JC Ramirez
The Angels have a deal in place with righty JC Ramirez, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register was among those to report on Twitter. It’s a minor-league arrangement.
Ramirez has gone through some ups and downs with the Halos already. The typically hard-throwing righty finally found a stable job as a reliever back in 2016, turned in a lot of solid starts in 2017, and then went down to Tommy John surgery in April of 2018.
Though he was tendered a contract and worked back to health in 2019, Ramirez has yet to recover his heater. He sat at 91 mph after working in the mid-to-upper nineties for much of his career.
Ramirez was ultimately outrighted by the Angels after five subpar MLB outings. He also struggled during his time at Triple-A. But Ramirez has perhaps shown a bit of a spark in Mexican winter ball, where he carries a 3.48 ERA with 29 strikeouts and eight walks over 41 1/3 innings.
Brewers Announce Brock Holt Signing, Designate Taylor Williams
The Brewers have announced the previously reported signing of utilityman Brock Holt to a one-year deal. It includes a club option.
To create roster space, righty Taylor Williams was designated for assignment. He has been with the Milwaukee organization since he was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
Williams received a long look in 2018, throwing 53 innings of 4.25 ERA ball with 9.7 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9. He didn’t get many chances last year. In 14 2/3 innings, he allowed a ghastly 16 earned runs — though half of those came in one forgettable appearance and Williams carried much the same peripherals as the season prior.
There’s actually some reason to think that Williams is a more interesting pitcher now than he was this time in 2019. He worked to a 2.83 ERA in 54 frames in the hitter-friendly PCL. And he produced a sudden surge in worm burners, drawing grounders on over half of the balls put in play against him at both the Triple-A and MLB levels without sacrificing strikeouts. Williams sports a ~96 mph heater and 12.8% swinging-strike rate in the majors, so the groundball capabilities add to an already interesting skillset.
Twins Sign Cory Gearrin, Lane Adams
The Twins have signed right-hander Cory Gearrin and outfielder Lane Adams to minor league contracts, per an announcement from Triple-A Rochester director of communications Nate Rowan.
Gearrin has been invited to Major League camp in Spring Training. He could earn a $1MM salary in the majors, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. It seems as though Adams will head directly to minor league camp.
Gearrin, 33, split the 2019 season between the Mariners and Yankees, pitching to a combined 4.07 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 0.81 HR/9 and a 44.8 percent ground-ball rate. That’s generally in line with the year-to-year results he’s posted across the past four seasons, although Gearrin’s 2017 campaign with the Giants is a notable outlier; that year saw him rack up 68 innings of 1.99 ERA ball — albeit with less encouraging secondary stats (8.5 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 88 percent strand rate, 3.89 FIP, 4.65 xFIP).
Generally speaking, though, Gearrin has been a durable and serviceable middle relief option. He’s jumped from the Giants to the Rangers, A’s, Mariners and Yankees in that time but posted a cumulative 3.42 ERA (3.96 FIP) with 209 punchouts against 95 walks in 229 innings of work. He doesn’t throw hard, averaging about 92 mph on his sinker, but he’s typically done a good job keeping the ball in the yard since returning from 2014 Tommy John surgery.
As for Adams, the 30-year-old has appeared in parts of three MLB seasons (2016-18) and tallied a combined .263/.333/.467 slash in 154 plate appearances. However, Adams has struck out in 31 percent of his MLB plate appearances and 30 percent of his trips to the plate in Triple-A, where he carries a much more tepid .233/.306/.390 slash through 234 games. Still, Adams can handle any of the three outfield positions and offers some power and speed as a depth option in the upper minors.
Astros Sign Jared Hughes
FEBRUARY 18: Hughes would earn $1.5MM in the majors and has a March 18th opt-out opportunity, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
FEBRUARY 17: The Astros have signed right-handed reliever Jared Hughes to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (Twitter link). He’s repped by ISE Baseball.
Hughes, 34, pitched to a 4.04 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 1.64 HR/9 and a hefty 59.2 percent ground-ball rate in 71 1/3 innings between the Reds and Phillies in 2019. That ERA was his highest since way back in 2013, as Hughes has quietly racked up sharp bottom-line results for the Pirates, Brewers and Reds for much of the past decade.
From 2014-18, Hughes worked to a combined 2.41 ERA between those three NL Central foes. He totaled 329 innings in that time, but his lack of missed bats (5.8 K/9, 15.9 percent strikeout rate) seemingly limited his appeal. The Pirates released Hughes at the end of Spring Training in 2017, and after quickly signing with the Brewers, Hughes was non-tendered the following offseason. He posted nearly identical ERAs of 3.02 and 3.03 in each of the two seasons prior to being cut loose.
Hughes has never thrown particularly hard in the first place, but the 91.4 mph average on his sinker in 2019 was still a career-low. The spin on that sinker has been lower than virtually any other heater in the game (first percentile in ’18, second percentile in ’19), which is a good thing for sinkers (as opposed to with four-seamers, where a high spin rate is optimal). As such, it’s no surprise to see that Hughes has been a ground-ball machine throughout his career (61.5 percent). That should bode well for a team that boasts a quality group of defensive infielders in Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel. He’ll need to earn a spot in the bullpen first, of course, but there are enough inexperienced arms in the ‘pen mix to think that Hughes will have a solid shot at making the club with a good spring effort.
Mariners Sign Cody Anderson
FEBRUARY 17, 5:42pm: Cowgill’s signing has also been announced, along with the previously reported deal with Carlos Gonzalez.
11:13am: Seattle has announced its deal with Anderson. Cowgill’s deal has yet to be finalized, it seems.
FEBRUARY 15: The Mariners are nearing agreements with right-hander Cody Anderson and outfielder Collin Cowgill, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). Once finalized, both players will get invitations to MLB spring training on minor-league pacts, Divish adds.
Anderson, 29, had spent his entire career in the Indians’ organization. He had an impressive run in Cleveland in 2015, working to a 3.05 ERA in 91.1 innings across 15 starts. His 12.1% strikeout rate that season suggested that level of run prevention was a mirage, but he limited walks and airborne contact and looked to have a shot at sticking in the back of Cleveland’s rotation. That never came to fruition, as Anderson was bombed in limited action the following year and was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery in March 2017. That procedure largely wiped out his next two seasons.
While Anderson returned to the mound in 2019, he was mostly limited to minor-league duty in the season’s first half. Another elbow surgery- this time to repair his flexor tendon- last July marked the end of his tenure in Cleveland. Anderson is taking his physical with the Seattle organization today, Divish reports. Assuming all goes well, he may take a shot at cracking a Mariners’ rotation that could also feature injury returnees Kendall Graveman and Taijuan Walker. Alternatively, he could be an option for a Seattle bullpen lacking much certainty.
As for Cowgill, the 34-year-old is hoping to crack the majors for the first time since 2016. He’s largely made the rounds at Triple-A the past half-decade with middling results. Last season, he took 280 plate appearances for the Nationals’ top affiliate and hit .228/.330/.440. In 759 MLB plate appearances over parts of six seasons, Cowgill has compiled a .234/.297/.329 line (79 wRC+).
Francis Martes Suspended Full Season For PED
Astros righty Francis Martes has been suspended for 162 games after testing positive for the banned performance enhancing drug baldenone. It was his second such test; he had previously served an 80-game suspension during the 2019 season.
Martes was once considered a high-grade prospect and still owns a 40-man roster spot. He was working back from Tommy John surgery, which would’ve cost him all of last year even were it not for the suspension.
It has now been quite some time since Martes enjoyed success on the field. He reached the majors in 2017 but didn’t stick after throwing 54 1/3 innings of 5.80 ERA ball with 11.4 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9. Martes has only made it through 25 minor-league frames over the past two campaigns.
Martes’s future is now very much in doubt. At the same time, he only reached his 24th birthday in November. He’ll obviously need both to reevaluate his decisionmaking process and rediscovery his form on the mound if he’s to carve out a big league career.
Dodgers Outright Tyler White
The Dodgers outrighted first baseman Tyler White, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reports on Twitter. He cleared waivers after recently being designated for assignment.
White is slated to participate in MLB camp as a non-roster player. He’ll still have a shot at an Opening Day job, but that’ll likely only come to fruition if there’s an injury or unforeseen development involving a player ahead of him on the depth chart.
The Dodgers obviously still think there’s some potential in the bat of the 29-year-old, as they carried him for a long stretch on the 40-man. But he’s far from a sure thing after a rough 2019 showing.
White, who is out of options, had a mammoth 2018 season at both the MLB (143 wRC+) and Triple-A (166 wRC+) levels. But he limped to a .208/.308/.304 batting line in 279 plate appearances last year.
White Sox Sign Gorkys Hernandez To Minor League Deal
The White Sox have signed outfielder Gorkys Hernandez to a minor league contract, Hernandez himself tells Daniel Parra of SportsVenezuela.com. He’ll head straight to minor league camp it seems.
Hernandez, 32, spent the 2019 season in the Red Sox organization but in a tiny sample of 57 Major League plate appearances (.143/.218/.243) and in a larger body of work for Triple-A Pawtucket. In 504 trips to the plate with Boston’s top minor league affiliate, Hernandez hit just .219/.319/.377.
Hernandez is only a season removed from hitting 15 home runs in a part-time role with the Giants, though. His overall .234/.285/.391 slash from that season aligns closely with his career stats in 1091 MLB plate appearances. Hernandez has had much better luck in Triple-A — even with last year’s numbers dragging him down — where he’s compiled a career .266/.342/.380 slash. He has experience playing all three outfield positions, and while his marks in center aren’t as sharp as those in the corners, he’s a capable glove at all three. Over the past four years, Hernandez has a cumulative 3.0 Ultimate Zone Rating, 11 Outs Above Average and -1 Defensive Runs Saved.
Chicago’s offseason extension of Luis Robert all but ensured that the ballyhooed 22-year-old will open the season as the Major League center fielder. With Robert ticketed for the big leagues, the White Sox’ outfield mix in Triple-A will likely feature prospects Luis Alexander Basabe, Luis Gonzalez and some combination of offseason minor league signees Daniel Palka, Nicky Delmonico and Jaycob Brugman. Hernandez adds a righty bat to an otherwise heavily left-handed mix and can capably give the White Sox’ Charlotte affiliate reps anywhere in the outfield.
Dodgers Sign Terrance Gore To Minor League Deal
The Dodgers announced Monday that they’ve signed outfielder Terrance Gore to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League camp this spring.
Gore, a client of the L. Warner Companies, seems to land on a postseason contender late every season one way or another. His blistering speed made him an ideal pinch-running specialist under the previous roster expansion rules, which allowed clubs to bring anyone on their 40-man roster to the Majors after Aug. 31. That’ll change in 2020, as September rosters will only grow to 28 players. However, the standard roster size will grow from 25 to 26 as well.
The 28-year-old Gore is out of minor league options, so the Dodgers — who utilize every edge possible in creating roster flexibility — seem unlikely to carry him in the Majors for the bulk of the season. He could be a 27th or 28th man in September, however, and could even be a postseason option if they deem such a move necessary.
Gore split the 2019 season between the Royals and Yankees organizations after Kansas City signed him to a surprising Major League contract last winter. Gore appeared in 37 games with the Royals but only came to the plate on 58 occasions. His lack of at-bats in the Majors is a testament to his typical role as a baserunning specialist; Gore has appeared in 100 regular-season games and another nine postseason contests but only come to the plate a combined 79 times. As a frequent pinch-runner, however, he’s swiped 45 bases (in 54 tries).
While Gore’s speed is tantalizing, his lack of Triple-A production is glaring; in 181 games there, he’s managed only a .213/.307/.261 slash line.