Minor MLB Transactions: 1/9/20
The latest minor league moves from around baseball….
- The Reds signed southpaw Brooks Raley to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (via Twitter). After posting a 7.04 ERA over 38 1/3 innings for the Cubs in 2012-13 and then spending 2014 back in the minors, Raley headed for the Lotte Giants of the KBO League. Raley posted a 4.13 ERA, 2.79 K/BB rate, and 7.5 K/9 over 910 2/3 innings in Korea, starting all but one of his 152 outings. If the 31-year-old Raley can carry over some measure of that form from the KBO League, he’ll provide the Reds with some veteran rotation depth at the Triple-A level, putting him in line for another crack at the majors in the event of an injury to Cincinnati’s starting five.
- The Orioles have outrighted right-hander Marcos Diplan to Triple-A Norfolk, the team announced. Diplan cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week to create roster space for the newly-signed Kohl Stewart. Diplan has a 3.88 ERA, 9.1 K/9, and 1.85 K/BB rate over 540 2/3 career minor league innings, working mostly as a reliever (starting seven of 38 total appearances) in 2019, pitching for the Double-A affiliates of the Twins and Brewers. It has been a busy transactional stretch for Diplan, who was claimed off Minnesota’s waiver wire by the Tigers in September, and then claimed again by the Orioles in December.
Nationals To Sign Tyler Eppler To Minors Contract
The Nationals have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Tyler Eppler, MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams reports (Twitter link). Eppler is returning to North American baseball after pitching for NPB’s Orix Buffaloes last season.
The trip to Japan saw Eppler pitch for both Orix’s minor league affiliate and with the Buffaloes themselves, including a 4.02 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and 2.78 K/BB rate over 31 1/3 relief innings with the big club. Eppler worked almost exclusively as a starting pitcher over his previous 592 innings in the Pirates’ farm system from 2014-18, starting 100 of his 111 career games.
Originally a sixth-round pick for the Pirates in the 2014 draft, Eppler had some decent but unspectacular numbers in his minor league career. He had a 3.82 ERA and 3.14 K/BB, though didn’t generate many grounders or miss many bats (6.4 K/9), which could be why Pittsburgh didn’t protect Eppler from the Rule 5 Draft in either 2017 or 2018. Still, the bottom-line results are pretty solid, and there’s little risk for the Nationals in bringing the 27-year-old Eppler to Spring Training to see that he could contribute to the club’s shaky bullpen.
Marlins Designate Austin Dean For Assignment
The Marlins have designated outfielder Austin Dean for assignment, as per FNTSY Sports Radio’s Craig Mish (Twitter link). The move will create a 40-man roster spot for Francisco Cervelli, whose signing has now been officially announced by the team.
Dean has seen part-time action for Miami in each of the last two seasons, accumulating a .223/.268/.388 slash line and 10 homers over his 311 career Major League plate appearances. A fourth-round pick for the Marlins in 2012, Dean has posted some big minor league numbers over the last two years, with a .944 OPS and 27 home runs over 640 Triple-A plate appearances (with the twin caveats of last season’s overall hitting explosion across the Triple-A level, and Dean playing in the particularly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League). Dean has spent much of his career as a left fielder, though he has also seen some time in right field and first base, both in the minors and with the Marlins.
Sam Travis Clears Waivers
January 9: Travis cleared outright waivers and will remain in the organization, Cotillo tweets. He’ll presumably be assigned to Triple-A Pawtucket and be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
January 2: The Red Sox have designated first baseman Sam Travis for assignment, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The move opens up roster space for newly added catcher Kevin Plawecki.
This could put an end to what has been a disappointing Red Sox tenure for Travis. Now 26 years old, Travis was a second-round pick of the Red Sox in 2014 who quickly became one of their best prospects. Travis was an extremely productive low-minors hitter in the organization the first couple years after Boston drafted him, but his Triple-A and major league numbers have been less than stellar so far.
Travis debuted in Triple-A back in 2016, and since then, he has batted .267/.339/.392 with 27 home runs in 1,198 plate appearances. He appeared in the majors in each of the previous three seasons, combining for a .230/.288/.371 line and seven home runs over the life of 278 trips to the plate.
Yankees To Sign Chris Iannetta
12:16pm: The Yankees and Iannetta are in agreement on a minor league deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
11:50am: The Yankees and veteran catcher Chris Iannetta are close to finalizing a minor league contract WFAN’s Sweeny Murti reports (via Twitter). The 14-year MLB veteran would presumably be in Major League camp this spring to compete for a backup role. He’s represented by Octagon.
Iannetta, 36, spent the 2019 season with the Rockies organization but was cut loose in August after hitting .222/.311/.417 with six home runs through 164 plate appearances. Those numbers don’t look too bad for a backup catcher, but when accounting for Iannetta’s home park and the league-wide offensive explosion in 2019, Iannetta’s output wilts substantially (70 wRC+, 75 OPS+).
Earlier in his career, Iannetta was a starter with the Rockies and Angels, enjoying a lengthy run as a low-average, high-OBP backstop who drew plenty of walks and hit for power. As recently as 2017, he slashed .254/.354/.511 with 17 big flies in 89 games with the D-backs, but that’s been his only above-average offensive campaign of the past half decade.
Iannetta has improved his framing in recent years and has drawn overall positive marks with his glove in three of the past five seasons, but the 2019 campaign saw those framing numbers dip as he also struggled to control the running game (17 percent caught-stealing rate). Currently, Kyle Higashioka is the favorite to back up Gary Sanchez behind the plate in 2020, but Iannetta and fellow veteran Erik Kratz will be in Spring Training as non-roster invitees hoping to land a big league gig in the Bronx.
Diamondbacks Sign Hector Rondon
January 9: The Diamondbacks have announced the signing.
January 8, 3:10pm: Rondon’s option is valued at $4MM and can increase to $5MM based on games finished, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).
2:20pm: The D-backs have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Hector Rondon on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2021 season, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. Rondon, an Octagon client, will receive a $3MM guarantee that comes in the form of a $2.5MM salary and $500K buyout on the club option. The deal is pending a physical.
Rondon, 32 next month, spent the past two seasons with the Astros and has previously served as the closer for the Cubs. His two-year stint in Houston produced 119 2/3 innings of 3.46 ERA ball, and he averaged 8.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 with a 48 percent ground-ball rate.
A larger payday for Rondon might’ve been in order had he not taken some notable steps back in 2019. The righty’s 7.1 K/9, 18.7 percent strikeout rate and 9.8 percent swinging-strike rate were the lowest marks of his seven-year big league career. And, after demonstrating pristine control with the Cubs in 2015-16, Rondon has continued to issue walks at roughly the league average rate dating back to the 2017 campaign.
That said, Rondon still averaged nearly 97 mph on his heater this past season and maintained a respectable 3.71 ERA. He’ll give the D-backs another experienced late-inning arm to pair with the likes of Archie Bradley and Andrew Chafin. Rondon is the second veteran arm added by general manager Mike Hazen and his staff this winter, as the team also signed former Brewers righty Junior Guerra to join the late-inning mix. There’s certainly still room for improvement and outside additions, but the bullpen has added a bit more stability without taking on a substantial financial risk.
With Rondon on board, Arizona current projects to have an Opening Day payroll of roughly $117MM, though additional roster machinations will almost certainly impact the final tabulation. It’s still possible that left-hander Robbie Ray could be marketed to other clubs as he enters his final season of team control, and the Diamondbacks could also continue to explore further bench and bullpen upgrades.
Diamondbacks Designate Jimmie Sherfy For Assignment
The D-backs announced Thursday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever Jimmie Sherfy for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to fellow righty Hector Rondon, whose previously reported one-year deal with Arizona is now official.
Sherfy, 28, logged a flat 1.00 ERA with a 26-to-12 K/BB ratio through his first 27 MLB innings from 2017-18. However, he scuffled to a 5.89 ERA last season and has seen his longstanding control issues worsen in recent years. Sherfy walked 21 batters and plunked another pair in 35 innings at the Triple-A level this season, although he also punched out 49 hitters in that time as well.
The 92 mph that Sherfy averaged on his fastball in 2019 was far and away the lowest mark of his career — he’d averaged 94 mph in ’17 and 93.4 mph in ’18 — and he missed a month of action in Triple-A with what was nebulously termed an “upper body” injury. Sherfy did return to health for the final six weeks of the season, but a September showing in which he was hammered for 11 runs on 12 hits (four homers) in 8 2/3 innings surely didn’t leave a good impression to end the year.
Arizona will have a week to trade Sherfy, release him or place him on outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll have to break camp with any club that acquires him or else be designated for assignment once again.
White Sox Announce Edwin Encarnacion Signing, Designate Kodi Medeiros
The White Sox have formally announced their previously reported one-year contract with slugger Edwin Encarnacion, designating left-hander Kodi Medeiros for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Encarnacion will be guaranteed $12MM for the upcoming season, the team announced, and there’s a $12MM option for the 2021 season as well. That option comes with a $2MM buyout, meaning Encarnacion’s base salary for 2020 will land at $10MM. If the ChiSox pick up the option, he’d earn a total of $22MM over two seasons. Chicago agreed to terms with Encarnacion back on Dec. 24, but it seems that the holiday season delayed the finalization of the pact.
The 37-year-old Encarnacion becomes the latest official addition in an action-packed offseason that has seen the South Siders spend more than $200MM in free agency. Yasmani Grandal, Dallas Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez and Steve Cishek all join Encarnacion as open-market acquisitions. The organization has also extended Jose Abreu (three years, $50MM) and acquired Nomar Mazara in a trade with the Rangers, emphatically announcing their intent to emerge from a multi-year rebuilding effort.
Medeiros, 23, was a first-round pick by the Brewers back in 2014 (No. 12 overall) but made his way to the ChiSox in the 2018 trade that sent Joakim Soria from Chicago to Milwaukee. The Hawaiian-born southpaw repeated the Double-A level in 2019 but struggled through an ugly season in what was a very pitcher-friendly league. Through 83 innings of work, Medeiros logged a 5.10 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 5.5 BB/9 and a 36.1 percent grounder rate that marked a 14 percent drop from the previous season. Not only did Medeiros walk 51 hitters in his 83 innings (only one being intentional), he also plunked 11 batters and uncorked eight wild pitches.
All in all, it was a largely miserable season for the left-handed Medeiros, whom the White Sox now have a week to trade, release or place on outright waivers. He does have a pair of minor league options remaining, so perhaps another club will take a speculative flier in hopes of sorting out the former first-rounder’s control issues. But Medeiros’ 2019 struggles in his second trip through what should be a pitcher-friendly setting should give the Sox at least a chance of passing him through waivers and keeping him in the organization.
Mets Release Sam Haggerty
The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve released infielder Sam Haggerty, who’d been designated for assignment last month to open roster space for right-hander Dellin Betances. Clubs typically must resolve a player’s DFA status within seven days, but as was the case with the Tigers and Brandon Dixon earlier today, it seems that the holidays delayed the resolution of this particular DFA.
As MetsMerized’s Jacob Resnick points out (Twitter link), because Haggerty was selected to the 40-man roster after Aug. 15 and would’ve been Rule 5-eligible, he wasn’t able to be outrighted off the Mets’ roster. He’ll now have the opportunity to talk with other clubs as a result of that technicality, but it’s certainly plausible that he’ll return to the Mets on a new minor league pact.
The 25-year-old Haggerty saw his first MLB action this past season but appeared in only 11 games and tallied only four plate appearances. A 24th-round pick by the Indians back in 2015, he came to the Mets alongside Walker Lockett last winter in the trade that sent catcher Kevin Plawecki to the Indians.
Haggerty has played primarily second base in the minors but has experience all over the infield and outfield as well. He’s a .250/.371/.378 hitter in 155 games of Double-A ball and has batted .271/.358/.424 in a much smaller sample of 19 games in Triple-A.
Nationals Sign Eric Thames
In a continuation of a recent signing bonanza, the Nationals announced a one-year contract with first baseman/outfielder Eric Thames. The Apex Baseball client’s contract contains a mutual option as well. Thames is reportedly guaranteed $4MM, which comes in the form of a $3MM salary and a $1MM buyout on the option.
The Nats have now added five veteran infielders on short-term deals in the past several weeks. In addition to bringing back catcher Yan Gomes and utilitymen Howie Kendrick and Asdrubal Cabrera, the club has picked up Starlin Castro and now Thames.
It’s rumored the D.C. org still intends to work something out with long-time franchise stalwart Ryan Zimmerman, leaving open the question whether a major addition at third base is still plausible. Whether there’s space for Josh Donaldson or some top-end trade target, even with a 26th active roster spot to work with, may depend upon the Nats’ willingness to utilize Kendrick and/or Thames as part of the outfield mix. Both have spent time there in the recent past but are probably best limited to duties at first base to the extent possible.
Fans of the Nats won’t be especially surprise to hear of today’s signing. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo has made a practice of keeping a left-handed-hitting corner piece around. The role was filled most recently by Matt Adams but has also been occupied by Adam Lind, Clint Robinson, and Chad Tracy. It’s a clearer need now than ever given the otherwise mostly right-handed-hitting infield mix. (Cabrera is a switch-hitter.)
Thames, 33, was trusted to take only fifty trips to the plate against southpaws last year and didn’t fare well. But he is a weapon against right-handed pitching. He strikes out quite a bit, but also walks at an above-average rate. And he devastated opposing righties to the tune of a .254/.348/.529 slash with 23 home runs in 346 plate appearances.
It was much the same split in effectiveness in Thames’s first two seasons with the Brewers, so the Nats will anticipate much the same and pick their spots with their new slugger. He landed in Milwaukee after reviving his career in Korea, where he once even managed a 40/40 campaign. Though he hasn’t attempted many steals in the majors, Thames does grade well on the basepaths. Metrics have graded him as a roughly average performer at first base and even in the corner outfield of late.
The Brewers could’ve kept Thames at a $7.5MM price tag, but opted instead to pay him a $1MM buyout. Justin Smoak ended up inking in Milwaukee to take up the slack.
Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic first reported the agreement (via Twitter). MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter) and ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan (Twitter link) added financial details.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.