Ben Zobrist Reportedly Not Planning To Play In 2020
Veteran utilityman Ben Zobrist is not planning to play in the current season, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). While nothing seems to have been set in stone, it now appears unlikely that the 38-year-old will resume his career.
This is hardly a surprising outcome given the course of the 2019 season. Zobrist took time away from the Cubs to deal with family matters, sacrificing some of his salary in the final season of his $64MM deal. When he was available, Zobrist generally struggled.
The switch-hitting, do-it-all performer didn’t lose his impeccable plate discipline last year, as he drew 23 walks against 24 strikeouts in 176 plate appearances. But his power all but disappeared, as he managed only six extra-base hits and a .313 slugging percentage to go with his .358 OBP.
If indeed this is the end of the line, Zobrist will finish with a .266/.357/.426 lifetime triple-slash — which works out to a 116 wRC+. He added big value with his multi-positional defensive acumen and quality baserunning, leaving him with a tally of 44.4 fWAR and 45.2 rWAR over his 14 campaigns in the majors.
Along the way, Zobrist played a pivotal role in redefining the way teams build their rosters. He was an everyday player in Tampa Bay, appearing in 153 games annually between 2009 and 2014 with the Rays, but he moved all over the field. That helped the creative organization find more ways to utilize platoons and achieve small advantages, a strategy that has since expanded, dovetailed with other trends, and turned into a rather normal occurrence around the game.
Of course, few if any super-utility types have anything approaching Zobrist’s ability with the bat and glove. In his best season, 2009, Zobrist ran up a monster 152 wRC+ and 8.7 fWAR. That sort of ability made his early-career extension one of the game’s most valuable contracts for a stretch. He was a hotly pursued trade commodity in advance of his final of team control, when he moved to the Athletics and then on to the Royals for the K.C. World Series run. And Zobrist drew interest from many clubs in the ensuing winter, ultimately landing with the Cubs on a four-year deal — a remarkable pact given that he was heading into his age-35 season.
It seems the Chicago stint will prove a finishing act for Zobrist. He struggled in 2017 and 2019, but was an All-Star for the third time in 2016. Zobrist not only helped the Cubbies reach the World Series, but took home the MVP award for his big role in helping the club end the curse. He was again a strong performer in 2018, easily justifying the club’s overall investment.
If this is it for Zobrist, then MLBTR offers a tip of the cap for an excellent career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Athletics To Sign Michael Ynoa
The Athletics have agreed to a deal with righty Michael Ynoa, according to the Roster Roundup Twitter page. It’ll be a minor-league deal for the 28-year-old.
This represents a reunion of sorts for Ynoa, who started his pro career in the Oakland org and ended up being shipped to the White Sox in the Jeff Samardzija swap. Ynoa missed all of 2018 due to injury and was dropped early in 2019 by the Royals after 17 Triple-A appearances.
Ynoa has long struggled to rein in the walks — an issue that arose again last year. Through 59 MLB innings, he carries a 4.42 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9. He has thrown 16 2/3 intriguing innings in Dominican winter all action of late, racking up 28 strikeouts while allowing five earned runs on just four hits … along with a dozen free passes.
Phillies To Sign Tommy Hunter
FEBRUARY 12: It’s a big-league pact, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki (via Twitter). It seems everything checked out in the medicals, as Hunter is said to be in uniform and ready to roll. The club has bumped David Robertson to the 60-day injured list to create roster space.
Hunter will be promised $850K in the deal, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. There’s also a $1.3MM incentives package.
FEBRUARY 8: The Phillies have reached an agreement to sign free-agent right-hander Tommy Hunter, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. There’s no indication yet whether it’s a Major League deal.
The 33-year-old Hunter is coming off a disappointing season in which he was limited to just 5 MLB appearances, thanks to a right forearm strain that forced him to make two stints on the 60-day injured list. In the 5 1/3 innings he was able to throw, he was effective and didn’t give up a run.
It would’ve been the second year of the two-year, $18MM deal Hunter earned prior to the 2018 season. In his only full season with the Phillies, he worked 64 innings and recorded a 3.80 ERA while striking out 51 batters. He took a step back from the impressive 2017 season that he rode into free agency, but was nonetheless a serviceable bullpen contributor.
We’ll see how quickly he can rebound from the forearm injury and return to form, but if and when that happens, there could be a spot on the Philly active roster waiting for him. The Philadelphia bullpen ranked in the bottom third of baseball last year, and while there haven’t been any major additions, Seranthony Dominguez should once again be ready to contribute after missing the majority of the 2018 season. Hunter, meanwhile, should have a chance to supplant Ranger Suarez or Deolis Guerra for a spot to round out the ‘pen.
Braves Re-Sign Josh Tomlin
The Braves have re-signed righty Josh Tomlin, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was among those to cover on Twitter. It’s a minor-league deal.
Tomlin, 35, was a steadying presence for the Atlanta organization in 2019. Over 79 1/3 innings of action in 51 appearances, he worked to a 3.74 ERA. Though he managed only 51 strikeouts, Tomlin also posted a typically stingy tally of just seven free passes.
One of the game’s softer-throwing pitchers, Tomlin also generates an abundance of spin on both his fastball and curve. With his consistently exceptional control, it’s just enough for the veteran to avoid hard contact — but he’s always walking a fine line. In 2018, opposing hitters produced a .396 wOBA (.379 xwOBA) with a whopping 3.20 home runs per nine. Last year, Tomlin managed to limit them to a .308 wOBA (.312 xwOBA) and a palatable 1.59 HR/9.
Clearly, Tomlin will have to earn his way onto the active roster in camp. It’s hard to handicap the odds at this point, but unless injuries intervene, the Braves could be left to decide between Tomlin and one of their younger arms for a seventh pen slot.
No Deal Between Padres & Tim Beckham
9:17am: Halt the presses on this one: Heyman now tweets that he mixed up his Beckhams. The Friars were already known to have a deal with infielder Gordon Beckham.
8:32am: The Padres have signed shortstop Tim Beckham, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). It’s a minor-league arrangement.
Though Beckham can compete in camp for a spot in the pecking order in the San Diego system, he won’t be a candidate to head north on the active roster. He’ll first need to finish serving an 80-game PED suspension.
Beckham would first be eligible to appear with the Pads about a month into the season, but it stands to reason he’ll be ticketed for Triple-A to begin his time with the organization. There isn’t an immediate opening for a roster spot now anyway, though the situation could be quite a bit different come May.
If things go well, Beckham could give the Friars an alternative or complement to second baseman Jurickson Profar. The club also features utility options Ty France and Greg Garcia.
The 30-year-old Beckham has had quite the roller-coaster of a career. He’ll never reach the promise that some foresaw when he was selected with the first overall pick of the 2008 draft. Beckham has had his moments over the years, with stretches of useful and even high-quality play in the majors, but has not yet found consistency.
All told, Beckham owns a .249/.302/.431 lifetime slash line through 1,751 plate appearances — roughly league-average output. He’s probably not quite an average fielder at shortstop and doesn’t run the bases particularly well, but there’s ample reason to believe he’s good enough for a platoon or reserve infield job of some kind in the majors.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/11/20
Checking in on the latest minor moves from around the game…
- The Rangers announced the signing of right-hander Taylor Jungmann to a minor league contract on Tuesday. The agreement does not include an invitation to major league spring training. Now 30 years old, Jungmann was a first-round pick (No. 12) of the Brewers in 2011, though he only produced middling results with the club from 2015-17. During that 146 2/3-inning span, the Texas native posted a 4.54 ERA/4.32 FIP with 7.73 K/9, 3.99 BB/9 and a 46.1 percent groundball rate. Jungmann left the organization before the 2018 campaign to pursue a job in Japan, where he pitched for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball during the previous two seasons. Jungmann recorded a 4.86 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 70 1/3 frames as a member of the Giants.
Rockies Win Arbitration Hearing Against Tony Wolters
The Rockies have won their arbitration hearing against catcher Tony Wolters, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). He’d been seeking $2.475MM but will instead receive $1.9MM for the 2020 campaign (as reflected in MLBTR’s 2020 Arbitration Tracker).
It’s the second year of arbitration for the 27-year-old Wolters, who earned $960K in 2019 and will be eligible twice more as a Super Two player. The light-hitting backstop is known far more for his defensive abilities than his bat, although he improved over his 2018 production substantially this past season (.170/.292/.286 in 2018; .262/.337/.329 in 2019).
In parts of four MLB seasons, all with the Rockies, Wolters has managed just a .239/.327/.324 output in 1123 trips to the plate. Offensive production from the catcher position — or a lack thereof — has been a problem for the Rockies for the past several years, but they appear content to proceed with Wolters and one of Dom Nunez, Elias Diaz or Drew Butera serving as the primary options behind the plate after a quiet offseason.
The Rockies’ win over Wolters further tips the 2020 scales in favor of teams, who have gone a perfect 4-for-4 in hearings against players. In addition to Wolters/Rockies case, the Braves have topped Shane Greene, the Dodgers have won over Joc Pederson and the Twins have bested Jose Berrios.
Reds Outright Sal Romano
February 11: Romano cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville, per the Reds.
February 5: The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Sal Romano for assignment. His removal from the 40-man roster opens a spot for righty Pedro Strop, whose previously reported one-year deal in Cincinnati is now official.
Romano, 26, has shown some promise with the Reds in the upper minors and turned in a solid, albeit unspectacular debut effort back in 2017 when he tossed 87 innings of 4.45 ERA ball (4.24 FIP). Romano averaged 7.6 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and 0.93 HR/9 to go along with a strong 50.4 percent ground-ball rate in that rookie showing and looked like a potential back-end starter for what was then a still-rebuilding Reds club.
In the two years since that time, however, Romano’s results in the big leagues have cratered. He started 25 games in 2018 and made another 14 relief appearances but saw his ERA balloon to 5.31 as his strikeout rate (6.5 K/9), home-run rate (1.42 HR/9) and grounder rate (45.4 percent) went in the wrong direction. Romano did have some success in his 14 1/3 innings as a reliever that season, so the Reds tried him out as a full-time bullpen piece in 2019, but that experiment didn’t yield better results; Romano pitched to a 4.28 ERA in Triple-A and allowed 14 runs on 22 hits and eight walks in 16 1/3 big league innings (7.71 ERA).
The Reds will now have a week to trade Romano, release him or place him on outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that acquires him will either need to carry him on the Opening Day roster or else designate him for assignment once again during Spring Training.
Giants To Sign Trevor Cahill
The Giants are in agreement on a minor league contract with free-agent right-hander Trevor Cahill, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). The JBA Sports client will be in Major League camp during Spring Training in hopes of landing a roster spot. He can earn $2MM in the majors and double that through incentives, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
Cahill, who’ll turn 32 on March 1, scuffled through a brutal year with the Angels in 2019, pitching to a career-worst 5.98 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a whopping 2.2 HR/9. The juiced ball that resulted in the league-wide home run boom surely didn’t do him any favors, but homer troubles that extreme can’t be solely placed on the abnormalities within the composition of the baseball.
A year prior, though, Cahill enjoyed a strong reunion tour with the Athletics, spinning 110 innings of 3.76 ERA ball with 8.2 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.65 HR/9 and a 53.4 percent ground-ball rate as a member of the Oakland rotation. He’s been in an on-year, off-year cycle for the past four seasons that in some way mirrors the Giants’ own even-year dynasty from 2010-14, so perhaps he’s due for yet another bounceback effort. He’ll surely be comfortable with the coaching staff in San Francisco, which features first-year pitching coach Andrew Bailey — a former teammate of Cahill’s dating back to his first A’s run and his bullpen coach in Anaheim a season ago.
Cahill has extensive experience both as a starting pitcher and as a reliever, so while four of the Giants’ five rotation spots are spoken for — Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly — Cahill can both compete for the fifth slot or for a spot in the San Francisco bullpen.
Mariners Sign Manny Banuelos To Minor League Deal
The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve signed left-hander Manny Banuelos to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League camp in Spring Training.
Banuelos, 29 next month, once ranked as one of baseball’s premier pitching prospects but has been persistently hampered by injuries. The southpaw has undergone Tommy John surgery, another operation to remove bone spurs from his elbow and more recently been plagued by shoulder troubles. Banuelos did log 50 2/3 innings with the White Sox in 2019, but he was knocked around to the tune of a 6.93 ERA with an ugly 44-to-33 K/BB ratio and 12 home runs allowed.
That was only the second season in which the once-vaunted lefty has pitched in the big leagues. Despite a lack of success at baseball’s top level, though, Banuelos has notched a career 3.98 ERA in 376 innings of Triple-A work, averaging 8.4 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 along the way. Seattle still isn’t certain how it’ll round out the back of the rotation, so Banuelos will compete for a spot either in the fifth rotation slot or in the bullpen this sprin