Minor MLB Transactions: 3/2/19
We’ll use this post to track the minor moves of the day…
- The Pirates are bringing fleet-footed infielder Alfredo Reyes to big league camp as a non-roster invitee, per the Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel (via Twitter). Reyes, 25, spent a majority of last season split between High-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona, earning a six-game stint with the Pirates Triple-A club in Indianapolis. All told, Reyes hit .286/.386/.356 across the three levels, though most of that damage was done during the 61-game stint in High-A where he slashed .310/.424/.386. The speedy utility player managed to steal 35 bases in 39 attempts, an 89.7% success rate. Defensively, Reyes appeared at every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher.
- Per Matt Eddy of Baseball America, the Padres have signed lefty reliever Paco Rodriguez to a minor-league deal. Rodriguez, 27, jumped almost directly to the bigs after being selected in the 2nd round of the 2012 amateur draft by the Dodgers. In four seasons with LA, Rodriguez performed admirably – albeit in limited, LOOGY-exclusive role – twirling 85 1/3 innings of 9.6 K/9, 2.53 ERA-ball. Paco was shipped at the 2015 trade deadline to Atlanta, where rehab from a variety of injuries eventually culminated in a late-season Tommy John. He spent much of last season with Minnesota’s AA affiliate, notching a 4.26 ERA in 25 IP.
Giants Claim Merandy Gonzalez
Per a team release, the Giants have claimed righty Merandy Gonzalez off outright waivers from Miami.
Gonzalez, 23, flashed electric stuff as a fast-rising arm in the Mets system before being shipped to Miami in a 2017 deadline deal for A.J. Ramos. The righty has worked primarily as a starter in a six-year minor-league career, but moved to the bullpen upon promotion to the big club last summer. In 22 IP for the Fish last season, Gonzalez posted a 7.77 K/9 against 3.27 BB/9 in a number of long-relief stints. His early-season work for AAA-New Orleans in the PCL was mostly uninspiring: the hurler struggled to miss bats, perpetuating a troubling trend from the previous season, and exhibited mostly-shaky command throughout.
FanGraphs, which rated Gonzalez 26th in its latest update of the Marlins system, lauds Gonzalez’s fastball/curveball mix, which both feature “nasty” natural movement, but note that his command lags well behind his control; the righty, it seems, isn’t very effective when facing a lineup for the second or third time.
If he sticks on the San Fran 40-man, Gonzalez could compete for the last spot in a deep Giant bullpen, especially if the club decides to dangle lefties Will Smith and Tony Watson as late-spring bait. Travis Bergen, Steven Okert, Fernando Abad, Pat Venditte, Trevor Gott, and Sam Coonrod comprise the bulk of the remaining hurlers in the mix, so perhaps Gonzalez’s status as a swingman could tilt in the odds in his favor.
Mets Sign Carlos Gomez
Saturday, 1:25 PM: The deal is now official, per Mike Puma of the New York Post.
Friday, 11:48 AM:The Mets have reportedly struck a deal with free agent outfielder Carlos Gomez. The @BigDaveRants account first tweeted the news, which has been confirmed since by several reports. It’s said to be a minor-league pact, pending a physical.
Memorably, Gomez nearly became a member of the Mets in the summer of 2015. At the time, he was a star center fielder and the New York club was readying for a stretch run at the postseason. The deal was all but done before things fell apart.
The undoing of that swap created huge ripples still being felt. Gomez ended up being swapped instead to the Astros in a deal that worked out terribly for Houston but didn’t prevent the club from finding its own successes. That trade helped spur the Brewers’ recent resurgence.
Meanwhile, the Mets hung on to Zack Wheeler, who’ll now be a key member of the rotation after his own 2018 renaissance. The other piece of that trade-that-wasn’t, Wilmer Flores, provided one of the trade deadline’s indelible moments when he shed some tears on the field following the reporting of the deal. (He was non-tendered this fall and landed with the Diamondbacks.)
Looking to the present, the deal makes for a somewhat interesting match. Gomez will obviously need to earn his way onto the roster after a forgettable 2018 season for the Rays, but he had a productive stop with the Rangers before that and only just turned 33 years old.
The Mets already have a host of left-handed-hitting outfielders, but are less certain from the right side. Gomez could push Juan Lagares and Keon Broxton in camp. While those younger options have much better gloves, Gomez is the most accomplished hitter of the bunch — though Broxton has been a similarly productive offensive performer (despite worrying strikeout numbers) over the past three seasons. It could be that Gomez will end up serving mostly as a depth piece while auditioning for other teams, but there’s about a month left in camp and circumstances can always change.
Phillies Sign Bryce Harper
TODAY: The deal is official, as per a simple tweet from the Phillies’ Twitter feed stating “We got him.”
THURSDAY, 7:23pm: Harper will receive a $10MM salary and a $20MM signing bonus for the upcoming season, tweets Heyman. He’ll then be paid $26MM annually from 2020-28 and $22MM annually from 2029-31.
1:51pm: The Phillies and star outfielder Bryce Harper have made quite the commitment to one another, according to reports. The sides have agreed in principle to a 13-year, $330MM deal that puts Harper in Philadelphia through his age-38 season.
Unlike virtually all recent mega-contracts, this one comes without caveats. Harper gets full no-trade rights and does not possess any opt-out opportunities. The contract won’t come with deferrals, though it is said to have a front-loaded structure.
The end to Harper’s drawn-out free agency seemed to come suddenly. It may be that the Phillies finally met his asking price after late-breaking interest from the Dodgers and Giants.
When the dust settled, Harper had landed the biggest contract in MLB history. He just tops the $325MM guarantee the Marlins gave Giancarlo Stanton over a 13-year term, though it’s important to note that deal came in an extension scenario.
In taking the largest overall contract, Harper did make a clear sacrifice on average annual value. He’ll earn just over $25MM per season annually, well under the $30MM average commanded recently by Manny Machado in his deal with the Padres and $33.4MM promised in the seven new seasons covered by Nolan Arenado‘s extension with the Rockies.
That reduced annual value won’t likely mean much in the way of sacrificed earning power, as it covers only three late-career seasons. It does help the Phillies to reduce the annual competitive balance tax hit from the signing, which could assist the organization as it looks to maintain competitiveness over a long marriage with its new star.
Beyond the market impact, this move sets the stage for a fascinating season (and beyond) in the National League East. The Phillies, Nationals, and Mets have all made win-now moves in hopes of dethroning a Braves team that is still full of young talent.
Harper’s move up the interstate from D.C. brings an end to a productive tenure with the Nats, reversing the career arc of recently retired former teammate Jayson Werth on a much grander scale. Harper’s exciting debut campaign was punctuated by a memorable run-in with the Phillies and then-ace Cole Hamels, the club that the Nationals were then seeking to eclipse as the premier outfit in the division.
The Washington organization did make a run at keeping Harper, but wasn’t able to work things out. Some might say that he’d have been better off taking the ten-year, $300MM offer that was reportedly put on the table. Reports have made clear that a roughly a third of that money would have been deferred, greatly driving down its true value.
Rather than take a deferred contract, Harper searched for and found the type of fully guaranteed, non-deferred deal he sought with the Philadelphia organization. The move punctuates an offseason that lived up to expectations for the Phillies’ faithful. The club already added the game’s best catcher in J.T. Realmuto, acquired a strong shortstop in Jean Segura, and added veterans including Andrew McCutchen and David Robertson. It’s imaginable that there’s more still to come, though perhaps the initial focus will be on making a roster-clearing move to accommodate the newest addition.
Investing in Harper gives the Phillies the game’s most recognizable player. He’s also quite a good one, even if he hasn’t shown that he can consistently produce at the otherworldly levels he did in a magical 2015 season. Harper’s ups and downs have come with a very lofty mean, of course — he’s a .279/.388/.512 career hitter with 184 home runs in nearly four thousand career plate appearances — though the aggregate remains every so slightly disappointing given his nearly unmatched talent level. Defensive questions arose last year, as Harper graded quite poorly. That was cause for concern in some quarters, though there’s also reason to believe that he can turn things around.
We at MLBTR would be remiss not to acknowledge that the out-on-a-limb estimation we put forth on Harper early in the offseason — a 14-year pact worth $420MM — ultimately proved to be a dramatic overreach. At the time of our initial top 50 rankings, we were of the belief that because Harper and Machado were non-traditional free agents (i.e. legitimate superstars who’d not yet played their age-26 seasons), traditional contractual structures wouldn’t apply to them. With so much talk in the preceding offseason about the teams who bend over backward to dip below the luxury tax in advance of this offseason’s crop of free agents, our team fully anticipated a widespread level of interest that simply never came to fruition.
Rather, with only three to four serious bidders for most of the winter, Harper and Boras had to claw to reach a point at which we expected the bidding to begin. The end result — a significantly lengthier term with the intent of tamping down the average annual value/luxury tax hit — was, as noted at the time, a highly plausible outcome, though securing a record-setting guarantee required lowering the AAV further than our forecast.
Predictions aside, Harper’s deal sets a new high-water mark on which premier players of the future will set their sights when seeking open-market contracts or, at least, extensions on the cusp of free agency. One can imagine, to varying extents, the Harper guarantee at least serving as a talking point when Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, both controlled through the 2020 season, begin to take an earnest look at their next contracts. Of course, they’d reach free agency at three and two years older than Harper was this winter, respectively, so it’s far from a direct comparison. But, as the Stanton contract did in this instance, the Harper contract will now serve as a barometer that agents and superstar players alike will aim to topple — even if by only a narrow measure.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link) first reported the deal. Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (Twitter links) and Jim Bowden of The Athletic (Twitter link) had the key terms, with Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post (Twitter link) and MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter) adding details.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blue Jays To Sign Bud Norris
TODAY: The deal is now official, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. The contract contains an opt-out clause for Norris on March 21.
THURSDAY, 5:45pm: Norris would earn $3MM upon making the roster and can pick up another $1.25MM via incentives, per Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link).
4:35pm: It’s a minor league deal for Norris, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (Twitter link).
4:22pm: The Blue Jays have agreed to terms on a contract with free-agent right-hander Bud Norris, reports Craig Mish of SiriusXM (via Twitter). Norris is represented by the Ballengee Group.
Norris, who’ll turn 34 over the weekend, turned in a solid season with the Cardinals in 2018, working primarily as the closer in St. Louis. Over the life of 57 2/3 innings, the righty turned in a 3.59 ERA with 10.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.25 HR/9 and a 42.6 percent ground-ball rate. Fielding-independent metrics like FIP (3.99), xFIP (3.65) and SIERA (3.30) all felt that he was a generally solid bullpen piece with an ERA that was largely reflective of his overall performance.
Norris enjoyed a second consecutive season with a swinging-strike rate of 12 percent or better — the first two such campaigns of his career — and he induced swings at pitches outside the strike zone at a career-best 35.9 percent clip, as well. That mark tied him for 18th among 151 qualified relievers, while Norris registered a career-high 94.6 mph average fastball.
Looking back to Norris’ 2017 campaign, his results in terms of fielding-independent metrics, strikeout rate, ground-ball rate and swinging-strike rate were nearly identical to the marks he posted in 2018. Over those two seasons, he’s combined for 47 saves between the Angels and Cardinals. However, despite the resurgence he’s enjoyed as a reliever, the veteran nonetheless had to settle for a non-guaranteed pact. He’s far from the only veteran who’s had to do so this offseason on the heels of a solid campaign, but it still looks to be a quality low-risk pickup for a Blue Jays club that has ample room to add a veteran arm to its relief corps.
General manager Ross Atkins said early in February that his club’s focus from that point forth would be on pitching acquisitions, and Norris stands out as one of the clear best arms remaining on the relief market. He’ll slot into a late-inning mix that features Ken Giles and Ryan Tepera, with other relief options like David Paulino, Joe Biagini, fellow non-roster invitee John Axford and Rule 5 pick Elvis Luciano all vying for jobs in rookie manager Charlie Montoyo’s bulllpen.
Padres Sign Adam Warren
The Padres have inked reliever Adam Warren, per a club announcement. It’s a one-year deal with a club option. Warren, a client of Full Circle Sports Management, is promised $2.5MM on the contract, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). That includes a $2MM salary for 2019 and a $500K buyout on a $2.5MM option.
Southpaw Jose Castillo was placed on the 60-day injured list to create roster space. He is dealing with a flexor strain that is obviously considered a fairly significant malady.
Outside of a forgettable 2016 run with the Cubs, Warren has steadily produced good results at the MLB level. All said, he has thrown 463 2/3 innings of 3.42 ERA pitching. Warren carries only 7.8 K/9 in the aggregate, but he had boosted his strikeout numbers over the past two years — at least, that is, until he was dealt to the Mariners in the middle of the 2018 season. Warren racked up 11.1 strikeouts per nine in his first thirty frames of the year but dropped back to 6.2 K/9 down the stretch in Seattle.
Warren projects as another solid arm within a Padres bullpen that was already one of the team’s strengths in 2018. Led by Kirby Yates and Craig Stammen, San Diego’s relief corps has added a pair of notable veterans in the last two weeks, between Aaron Loup and now the Warren signing. Warren has pitched as a multi-inning reliever in the past, and perhaps could even be deployed as an “opener” should San Diego choose to adopt that strategy.
Pirates Claim Jake Barrett
The Pirates have claimed right-handed reliever Jake Barrett, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic tweets. Barrett had recently been designated for assignment by the Giants. Chad Kuhl was moved to the Pirates’ 60-day injured list in a corresponding move; Kuhl will likely miss the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last September.
Barrett finds himself with his third different organization in under a month. After the Giants acquired him from the Diamondbacks in early February, Barrett then entered DFA limbo once again after San Francisco claimed Hanser Alberto.
The 27-year-old righty will now vie for a job in Pittsburgh’s bullpen this spring, following a season that saw him toss just seven MLB innings for Arizona. Barrett posted solid numbers (3.49 ERA, 2.00 K/BB rate, 8.5 K/9 over 59 1/3 innings) in his 2016 season, but has been less effective ever since, appearing in just 35 total games for the D’Backs in 2017-18 and posting a 5.03 ERA over 34 frames.
Orioles Claim Hanser Alberto, Designate Donnie Hart
The Orioles have claimed infielder Hanser Alberto off waivers from the Giants, per a club announcement. Southpaw Donnie Hart was designated for assignment to clear roster space.
If you’re keeping score at home, this is now the fourth time Alberto has been designated and claimed this winter — and the second time by the O’s. The Baltimore org had recently dropped him from the 40-man in order to claim lefty Josh Osich from the Giants, who in turn claimed (and have now waived and lost) Alberto.
In retrospect, perhaps it’d have all been easier had the O’s dropped Hart in the first place. Perhaps the team’s evaluation of the 28-year-old — and/or its non-Alberto infield assets — has changed in the meantime.
Hart has appeared in each of the past three MLB campaigns, working to a 3.43 ERA in 81 1/3 innings with 6.0 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 along with a 52.6% groundball rate. He was knocked around in his twenty appearances in the majors last year, though he did manage 41 frames of 2.41 ERA ball at Triple-A.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/28/19
We’ll use this post to track the day’s minor moves …
- The Padres have a deal in place with righty Chris Rowley, according to Robert Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Other terms of the pact aren’t known. Rowley, 28, has throw 19 1/3 MLB innings over the past two seasons, coughing up 17 earned runs with both 11 walks and strikeouts. He has been more effective in the upper minors, though. Last year at Triple-A, the West Point product worked to a 3.34 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 142 2/3 innings. Rowley has to this point spent most of his career with the Blue Jays, though he was claimed and later outrighted last year by the Rangers.
Cardinals Sign Matt Wieters
FEB. 28: Wieters would earn $1.5MM in the majors and can opt out on March 22nd, per Mark Saxon of The Athletic (via Twitter).
FEB. 27: The signing has been announced. It includes an invitation to MLB camp.
FEB. 26: The Cardinals have agreed to a minor-league deal with veteran catcher Matt Wieters, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). Salary terms are not yet known.
While he held out in hopes of securing a MLB commitment, the 32-year-old Wieters will settle instead for a chance to serve as a backup to Yadier Molina. The competition is fairly limited. Francisco Pena seemingly held the edge at the outset of camp after re-joining the organization on a minors pact. Joe Hudson is the only other backstop in camp with MLB experience.
Wieters can still put the ball over the fence, and posted career-best plate discipline marks in 2018, but he has not been very productive with the bat of late. Since the start of the 2016 season, he’s producing at only a .235/.303/.376 rate through 1,200 trips to the plate. That’s a far cry from the .254/.317/.436 output that Wieters managed over the prior half-decade.
Wieters isn’t generally regarded as a high-quality overall defender at this stage of his career, and fares poorly in particular in pitch-framing metrics, but does still block, throw, and manage a staff well. It’s possible there’s still some hope that he’ll restore some of his lost luster with the bat, making this a nice low-risk move for the St. Louis organization.
For the Cards, the addition deepens the catching unit as Molina closes in on his 37th birthday and works to recover from an offseason knee procedure. The switch-hitting Wieters has historically performed better against right-handed pitching, as has Molina, but neither carries significant career platoon splits. If Wieters can beat out Pena for the job, he seems like a potentially solid mate for Molina.