Indians To Sign Cesar Hernandez
The Indians have reached a one-year agreement with free-agent second baseman Cesar Hernandez, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets. The Octagon client will earn a $6.25MM salary for the 2020 season.
Hernandez, 30 in May, was non-tendered earlier this month after a run of five solid seasons as the Phillies’ primary second baseman. From 2015-19, Hernandez racked up 3026 plate appearances in Philadelphia and turned in a .278/.355/.388 batting line with 45 home runs, 106 doubles, 27 triples and 79 stolen bases. His home run totals ticked up in 2018-19 as well, when the switch-hitter logged a combined 29 round-trippers.
However, Hernandez was eligible for arbitration for the final time this winter and due a raise on last season’s $7.75MM salary. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected an $11.8MM salary for his final trip through that process. The Phillies — and, clearly, other teams — deemed Hernandez’s likely arbitration price to be too steep and opted to non-tender him, sending him out into the open market for the first time in his career.
Several factors surely contributed to the decision to cut Hernandez loose. The free-agent market is arguably deeper at second base than any other position, thus hampering the Indians’ ability to drum up trade interest in Hernandez even in spite of his steady rate of play over the past half decade. The Phillies also had a versatile pair of infielders in Jean Segura and particularly Scott Kingery, allowing them to target virtually any infield option they saw fit upon moving on from Hernandez. (Eventually, the club zeroed in on Didi Gregorius.)
With the Indians, Hernandez will now slot in as their primary second baseman, replacing mainstay Jason Kipnis, whose 2020 club option was bought at the onset of the offseason. He’ll bring a generally solid defensive reputation to the table in Cleveland, though Hernandez isn’t likely to be bringing home any Gold Glove Awards in the near future. Metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved are a bit split on his total body of work, but Hernandez has only had one truly poor season per either of those measures. And, in 2019, he posted +6 DRS and a 0.7 UZR, suggesting he’s still more than capable of handling the position.
Installing Hernandez at second base means that two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Jose Ramirez will be locked in as Cleveland’s primary third baseman in 2020. Ramirez is capable of playing either second or third, which gave the Indians’ front office some flexibility when eyeing potential infield targets in free agency.
Of course, that flexibility only extends so far, as Cleveland ownership has rather clearly given the front office some notable payroll constraints. The Indians have already sent Corey Kluber to the Rangers in a trade that more closely resembled a salary dump than anything else. The fact that they nonetheless took what was widely regarded as a light return now — as opposed to keeping Kluber and hoping he built up some value early in the year — suggests that clearing the entirety of next year’s $17.5MM salary was a critical element of the swap.
Whether the Indians make any additional shakeups on the roster is currently one of the more interesting hot stove storylines in the game. Teams have been trying to pry superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor away from Cleveland to no avail, and burgeoning frontline starter Mike Clevinger is reported to be drawing interest as well. There’s no firm indication that the Indians plan to move either player, though, and even with Hernandez now on board, Cleveland’s payroll checks in at roughly $97MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. That’s a drop of $38MM from 2018’s Opening Day mark and $22MM from 2019’s Opening Day total.
Marlins Sign Francisco Cervelli
10:07am: The Marlins and Cervelli are in agreement on a one-year deal worth $2MM, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The contract is pending a physical.
9:40am: The Marlins are “making progress” on a one-year contract with free-agent catcher Francisco Cervelli, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reports (via Twitter). Frisaro first linked to the two parties earlier this month, pointing out that early in his career, Cervelli was a teammate of Marlins CEO Derek Jeter with the Yankees. Cervelli is represented by Wasserman.
Miami will again deploy 26-year-old Jorge Alfaro as its primary backstop in 2020, but Cervelli would bring a veteran backup to help guide the still-developing Alfaro. Although injuries — primarily concussions — have ravaged Cervelli’s career over the past several seasons, he’s still a 12-year veteran who, at his peak, was one of the top defensive catchers in all of baseball.
This past season, the 33-year-old Cervelli was limited to 48 games and 160 plate appearances between the Pirates and the Braves, during which time he hit just .213/.302/.348. But he’s only one season removed from a much stronger .259/.378/.431 batting line and a career-high 12 home runs in 404 plate appearances. Drawing walks (career 10.3 percent) and avoiding strikeouts (19.2 percent) have always been a part of Cervelli’s game, so if he’s healthy he should be a solid source of on-base percentage who regularly puts the ball in play.
Defensively, Cervelli might not be the standout he once was, but he nonetheless enjoyed a solid season in some regards. Cervelli thwarted eight of the 25 stolen-base attempts against him (32 percent) and logged roughly average framing numbers per Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs and Statcast. Cervelli did struggle a bit in terms of blocking pitches and yielding passed balls, though one can also imagine that with better health, there’d be improvement — particularly considering his much stronger track record in that area.
Padres, Pierce Johnson Agree To Two-Year Deal
The Padres have agreed to a two-year contract with right-hander Pierce Johnson, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). The former Cubs top prospect will be guaranteed $5MM over the life of the deal, and the contract contains a team option for a third season. Johnson is represented by JBA Sports.
Johnson, 29 in May, spent the 2019 season pitching for the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he posted otherworldly numbers. In 58 2/3 innings of relief, he posted a 1.38 ERA with a 91-to-13 K/BB ratio (14.0 K/9, 2.0 BB/9). Unlike many big leaguers who enjoy overseas breakouts and return to find MLB deals, Johnson needed only one season of success to convince a Major League club that he was worthy of a multi-year deal.
Despite being selected by the Cubs with the No. 43 overall pick in 2012 and at one point ranking among the game’s top 100 prospects, Johnson pitched only a single MLB inning with the organization in 2017. He was booted from the 40-man roster in December and landed with the Giants on a waiver claim. He’d go on to pitch 43 2/3 innings with San Francisco the following year in 2018, although the results weren’t pretty. Johnson logged a 5.56 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 1.03 HR/9 and a 37.8 percent ground-ball rate out of the Giants’ bullpen in his lone season with the organization.
That limited sample represents the entirety of Johnson’s body of work in the big leagues, but he’ll become the latest in an increasing number of players to find success in either Japan or Korea and parlay that overseas breakout into a big league contract. This offseason, we’ve seen Johnson, Josh Lindblom and Joely Rodriguez cash in on multi-year contracts, just as Merrill Kelly, Miles Mikolas, Eric Thames and (several years prior) Colby Lewis did.
It’s a low-risk investment for any big league team to make, and the growing frequency of deals like looks like the beginning of a trend. Teams aren’t shy about mimicking successful strategies from other organizations, after all, and to this point there’s been a fair bit of success with this approach to talent acquisition.
From the player side of the equation, it’s a no-brainer, as most players jumping to play in NPB and the KBO — Adam Jones notwithstanding — are fringe 40-man roster candidates at best and will make significantly more playing in Asia than they would in a season of Triple-A ball (even with some occasional MLB promotions mixed in). And, upon returning, they’re able to sign seven-figure contracts, some of which even offer the opportunity to become a free agent at the completion of the deal rather than slotting back into the arbitration system.
Indians Outright Mike Freeman
Dec. 23: Freeman accepted his assignment and will be a non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training in 2020, the Indians announced Monday morning.
Dec. 20: The Indians have outrighted utility player Mike Freeman to Triple-A Columbus, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com reports. The club previously designated Freeman for assignment last weekend when it traded right-hander Corey Kluber to Texas for reliever Emmanuel Clase and outfielder Delino DeShields.
Because the 32-year-old Freeman has been outrighted in the past, he has the right to reject the Indians’ assignment to Columbus in favor of free agency. They’ll know his fate by Sunday, Hoynes notes.
Although the Indians booted Freeman from their 40-man roster, he’s actually coming off a respectable season. Freeman amassed a personal-high 213 plate appearances in 2019 and slashed a playable .277/.362/.390 (good for a nearly league-average 99 wRC+), though he did benefit from an unsustainable .388 batting average on balls in play. Defensively, Freeman saw action at three infield positions – second, third and short – as well as left field. Freeman even pitched two innings for the team.
Considering his decent 2019 showing, it’s possible Freeman will return to the open market a little over a year after the Indians signed him to a minor league contract. Before joining the Cleveland organization, Freeman received big league at-bats with the Diamondbacks (who chose him in the 11th round of the 2010 draft), Mariners, Cubs and Dodgers. He’s a lifetime .232/.316/.332 hitter across 304 PA in the majors and a .305/.372/.418 batter in 2,030 attempts in Triple-A ball.
Giants, Tony Watson Reach New Deal
December 22: As it turns out, Watson actually didn’t exercise his player option; rather, he and the Giants negotiated a new deal that will pay him $3MM in 2020, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network. He’ll still have the chance to earn $4MM worth of incentives, bringing his potential 2020 earnings to a total of $7MM.
November 2: Giants reliever Tony Watson has exercised his player option for 2020 with San Francisco, according to Kerry Crowley of Bay Area News Group (link).
Watson arrived in San Fran in 2018 via a modest two-year, heavily incentivized deal that promised him a combined $6.5MM over the first two years of the deal, with a 2020 option attached. Watson’s option for 2020 is guaranteed at $2.5MM, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today relays that Watson will have the opportunity to earn $7.5MM total in 2020 via incentives (link); At the time of the deal’s signing, it was reported that Watson had the ability to earn $14MM over two years or $21MM for three years, depending on escalators and performance bonuses.
Regardless of the particularities of his salary structure, this offseason would have likely marked an inopportune time for the 34-year-old Watson to hit the open market. 2019 marked the lefty’s first season pitching to an ERA in excess of 4.00, and he also logged some of the lowest strikeout totals (6.83 K/9) of his career in the process. Worse yet, a broken wrist ended his season prematurely in early September.
Of course, between 2013 and 2018 Watson was one of the game’s most reliable southpaw bullpen arms, recording a 2.46 ERA in 424.2 innings with the Pirates and the Dodgers. Now, the Boras client can suit up for San Francisco for one more go-around in 2020 in hopes of recapturing that old form and reentering the market again in advance of the 2021 season.
Phillies Sign T.J. Rivera To Minor-League Deal
The Phillies agreed to a minor-league deal last week with T.J. Rivera, as first reported by Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). No other terms are known, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the former Mets’ infielder secured an invite to MLB spring training.
Rivera, now 31, hasn’t seen MLB action since a September 2017 Tommy John Surgery. Before that injury, he had done fairly well as a role player in Queens, slashing .304/.335/.445 (109 wRC+), while logging time at first, second, third and in left field. He’s never been one to draw many walks or hit for much power, but he perennially put the ball in play in the minors and ran a minuscule 14.2% strikeout rate over his 344 MLB plate appearances.
Rivera latched on with the Nationals on a minor-league deal last August, but an undisclosed injury limited him to fifteen games in AA. He’ll try to earn a spot as a right-handed utility option off Joe Girardi’s bench, much like Phil Gosselin, whom the Phillies also recently signed to a minor-league deal.
Angels Sign Julio Teheran
DECEMBER 21, 4:35PM: Teheran’s deal with the Angels is now official, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.
DECEMBER 19: The Angels and right-hander Julio Teheran have agreed to a one-year contract, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link). Teheran will earn $9MM in the deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter) reports. Teheran is represented by the Wasserman agency.
After spending his first nine seasons in Atlanta, Teheran will now head west to join what the Angels hope will be a greatly improved pitching staff. Los Angeles has been linked to numerous top free agent starters, though their pitching acquisitions have thus far been more modest, between signing Teheran and trading four minor league pitchers to the Orioles for Dylan Bundy. While putting Teheran and Bundy behind Shohei Ohtani still represents an upgrade for the Halos, one suspects the Angels will still look to add a topline arm rather than count on Ohtani to be an ace in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
Given the amount of pitching injuries the Angels have faced in recent years, Teheran’s durability is a big plus. The righty has averaged 191 innings per season from 2013-19, with only two minimal injured list stints (for a thumb contusion and a lat strain) in that span. While Teheran has two All-Star appearances to his name and looked for a time like he could become the ace of the Braves’ staff, his last three seasons have been more modest.
From 2017-19, Teheran has 3.3 total fWAR, a 4.09 ERA, 7.9 K/9, and 1.99 K/BB rate over 538 2/3 frames. While he posted a 3.81 ERA in 2019, ERA predictors like FIP (4.66), xFIP (5.26), and SIERA (5.11) painted a much more dire picture of Teheran’s 2019 performance. He also posted a career-high 39.1% hard-hit ball rate, and he finished in the bottom tenth percentile of all qualified pitchers in fastball velocity, with only a 89.7mph average on his heater. (In more positive Statcast news, Teheran had above-average fastball spin and finished in the 84th percentile in terms of curveball spin.)
Given these less-than-impressive advanced metrics, it wasn’t entirely surprising that the Braves chose to buy out the final year of Teheran’s contract for $1MM rather than pay him a $12MM salary for 2020. (Teheran was playing on a six-year, $32.4MM extension signed prior to the 2014 season.) The one-year guarantee from L.A. was also less than the two-year, $18MM MLBTR projected for him at the outset of the offseason. The Teheran signing looks somewhat akin to the short-term signings of Matt Harvey and Trevor Cahill that Angels GM Billy Eppler orchestrated last winter, though obviously Eppler will be hoping for much more than the near-minimal return Harvey and Cahill brought to the 2019 Angels.
With Teheran now in the fold, the Angels have a projected luxury tax payroll of just over $185.5MM, as per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. There’s still plenty of daylight between the Angels (who have never paid a tax penalty) and the $208MM luxury tax threshold, so Los Angeles has room to still make more additions to the pitching staff or the roster as a whole.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Rangers Acquire Adolis Garcia
The Rangers have acquired outfielder Adolis García from the Cardinals, per an official team release. Texas will send cash considerations back the other way in the deal. Right-hander Jimmy Herget was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the Rangers’ 40-man roster.
The Cardinals designated García for assignment on Wednesday to make room for Kwang-Hyun Kim. His Cardinals stint ends after making just 17 plate appearance with the Major League club. The 26-year-old outfielder signed a free agent prior to 2017, having played professionally in Cuba and Japan since 2011.
García spent the entire 2019 season at Triple-A, posting a .253/.301/.517 batting line with 32 home runs. Skeptics would advise to take those numbers with a grain of salt, given the hitter-friendly environment in the Pacific Coast League (not to mention the “juiced” ball that was introduced to the Triple-A ranks in 2019). He’s been strikeout-prone throughout his professional career, but his impactful power, above-average speed and strong throwing arm mean that he could have a chance to get big-league playing time as a reserve outfielder. And with Delino Deshields Jr. out of the mix, García has a path to the Majors with Texas, though future additions may impede that path.
Herget, meanwhile, lasted just about three weeks on the Rangers’ 40-man, having been claimed on December 2 this winter. The 26-year-old righty made his Major League debut last year with the Reds after posting solid numbers in Triple-A, where he struck out 68 batters and posted a 2.91 ERA in 58 2/3 innings. The Rangers will have a week to make a decision on Herget, who can be traded, released, or outrighted to the minors.
Tigers To Sign C.J. Cron
The Detroit Tigers have completed their coup of the Twins’ right side, agreeing to a one-year deal with first baseman C.J. Cron, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. This deal matches the one made with Schoop, coming in at $6.1MM, per Fenech and MLB Insider Jeff Passan. The Tigers have announced the deal with Cron, represented by Moye Sports Associates.
Cron joins his third club in as many seasons after being non-tendered in back-to-back winters by the Rays and Twins, respectively. The Twins claimed Cron from Tampa and paid him $4.8MM last season, but balked at the $7.7MM salary he was projected to earn through arbitration. Cron ends up getting a raise from the Tigers, though still coming in under his projected arbitration mark.
The trepidation over paying Cron stems from the fairly limited skillset offered by the slugging first baseman. The power is legit, as Cron has put together back-to-back seasons with an ISO north of .200 – but as with his once-and-future teammate Jonathan Schoop, the power comes with below-average walk rates and a batting average consistently in the neighborhood of .250 (he’s a .258 BA career hitter).
Cron did post an above-average barrel rate rate in 2019, but he also suffered some bad luck with a .277 BABIP that fell well below his average rate of .293. In his one year in Minnesota, Cron hit .253/.311/.469 with 25 home runs and 78 RBIs while helping the Twins to the AL Central crown.
Along with Schoop, Cron brings much-needed pop to the right side of the Tigers infield and gives them some potential trade chips come July. To make room for the Cron and Schoop signings, Brandon Dixon has been designated for assignment, the team announced. Coincidentally, Dixon led the Tigers with 15 home runs last season, a mark that both Schoop and Cron topped with the Twins. The Tigers 40-man roster is currently full.
Tigers To Sign Jonathan Schoop
The Detroit Tigers are “in agreement” with free agent second baseman Jonathan Schoop, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. It’s a one-year deal worth $6.1MM plus performance bonuses for Schoop, a client of VC Sports Group. Rosenthal notes that the Tigers plan on utilizing Schoop in the middle of the order as their everyday second baseman. The Tigers have announced the deal.
Schoop stays in the American League where he has spent his entire career save the couple months in Milwaukee following the 2018 trade deadline. He enjoyed a bit of a return to form with the Twins last season, though come playoff time, the Twins turned to rookie Luis Arraez to man the keystone.
On the one hand, the Twins are probably satisfied with the return they got from Schoop on a one year, $7.5MM base deal. He put forth a .256/.304/.473 line with 23 home runs in 464 plate appearances, amassing 1.8 bWAR/1.3 fWAR. The 28-year-old graded out as an average or slightly below-average defender at second base by UZR and DRS.
On the other hand, a slight pay cut likely signals that teams aren’t seeing the upside that once accompanied Schoop, whose 5.2 bWAR season in 2017 with the Orioles suggested superstar potential. That season seems more and more anomalous the further it moves in the rearview.
Still, a 100 wRC+ pegs him right around league-average as an offensive contributor. Schoop will likely join with Niko Goodrum to form the everyday double play duo in Detroit next season, per MLB.com’s Jason Beck. The pair certainly offers a higher-upside play than the veteran duo of Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison that started up the middle on Opening Day of 2018.
The move also buys development time for Willi Castro and Sergio Alcantara. Castro struggled mightily in his first taste of the big leagues, hitting just .230/.284/.340 in a 30-game sample. He’ll be in the infield mix this season, but Schoop gives the Tigers the flexibility to be patient with a young group of position players prospects.