White Sox To Sign James McCann
1:05pm: McCann will receive $2.5MM on a one-year deal, per Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).
12:51pm: The White Sox have agreed to terms with free-agent catcher James McCann, pending a physical, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). The 28-year-old, who was non-tendered by the Tigers earlier this month, will remain in the AL Central after spending the entirety of his career in the Detroit organization to this point. He’s represented by the Ballengee Group.
As recently as the 2017 season, McCann served as the Tigers’ primary catcher and hit .253/.318/.415 with a career-high 13 home runs. However, his offense cratered in 2018 (.220/.267/.314, eight home runs in 457 plate appearances), and his once-excellent numbers against left-handed pitching were particularly concerning. In 109 PAs against southpaws last year, McCann hit just .176/.229/.284.
On the defensive side of the coin, McCann has continually been sensational in terms of controlling the running game. He’s registered at least a 30 percent caught-stealing rate in each of his four full big league seasons, including a 36 percent mark in 2018 and an overall rate of 37 percent. He’s been well below-average in terms of pitch framing across the past two seasons, though, and has struggled similarly in terms of blocking balls in the dirt.
Presumably, he’ll give the White Sox an option to step into the void created by the trade of Omar Narvaez to the Mariners (in exchange for Alex Colome). Veteran Welington Castillo is still atop Chicago’s depth chart behind the plate, making McCann the favorite to serve as his backup. Certainly, further offseason maneuvering can change that fact, and it’s of course worth noting that it’s not yet clear whether McCann received a guaranteed one-year deal or is headed to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/14/18
Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Yankees announced today that they’ve acquired outfielder Tyler Hill from the Tigers in exchange for cash. Detroit had selected Hill out of the Red Sox organization in the Triple-A phase of yesterday’s Rule 5 Draft. Set to turn 23 in March, Hill spent last season with Boston’s Class-A Advanced affiliate in Salem, where he hit .254/.348/.312 through 498 plate appearances. Hill has just 14 homers in 351 professional games, but he’s swiped 93 bases in that time — highlighted by a 42-steal campaign in 2017.
- In another trade involving the minor league phase of yesterday’s Rule 5 Draft, the Pirates acquired righty Cristofer Melendez from the Padres, who had selected him out of the White Sox organization. The 21-year-old Melendez spun a terrific 1.54 ERA through 70 1/3 innings last season, though he did so as a 20-year-old pitching against vastly younger and less-experienced competition in the Dominican Summer League. He averaged 11.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 to go along with a 50.3 percent grounder rate.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/13/18
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around baseball:
- The Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball have signed righty Albert Suarez to an undisclosed deal, the Japan Times reports. The 29-year-old Suarez saw big league action with the Giants from 2016-17, a 115 2/3-inning span in which he pitched to a 4.51 ERA with 6.85 K/9, 2.88 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent groundball rate across 40 appearances (12 starts). The Diamondbacks then took Suarez 14th in last year’s Rule 5 draft, only to outright him in late March. Because Suarez had been outrighted in the past, the Diamondbacks didn’t have to offer him back to the Giants. Suarez ended up spending the year with the D-backs’ Triple-A affiliate and struggling to a 4.97 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9 over 63 1/3 innings.
Earlier updates:
- The Padres have re-signed outfielder Alex Dickerson to a minor league contract, the team announced. The 28-year-old Dickerson accrued 293 plate appearances with the Padres from 2015-16 and hit a solid .257/.331/.448 with 10 home runs and five stolen bases, but injuries have derailed his career since then. He missed all of the 2017 season while dealing with back issues and then sat out last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his left (throwing) elbow in March. A third-round pick of the Pirates in 2011, the Padres originally acquired Dickerson for Miles Mikolas and Jaff Decker in November 2011.
- The Tigers have signed right-handers Chris Smith and Eduardo Paredes to minor league deals, according to Robert Murray of The Athletic and Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. The 30-year-old Smith has only picked up five big league innings – with the Blue Jays in 2017. He spent last season with the Nationals’ Triple-A club and notched a 3.93 ERA/3.88 FIP with 10.64 K/9 and 3.44 BB/9 in 55 frames. The Angels outrighted the 23-year-old Paredes last month, ending a run with the organization that began in 2012. Paredes saw some major league action with the Halos from 2017-18 and posted a 5.53 ERA/5.08 FIP with 7.08 K/9 and 2.88 BB/9 over 40 2/3 innings. He was more successful the past two years at Triple-A, where he put up a 3.86 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9 in 79 1/3 frames.
- The Cubs have acquired left-hander Conor Lillis-White from the Angels to complete the teams’ Tommy La Stella trade, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. Lillis-White, 26, was a a 32nd-round pick of the Angels in 2015 who divided last season between the Double-A and Triple-A levels, combining for a 3.50 ERA with 12.3 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 in 72 innings.
Mariners, Indians, Rays Strike 3-Team Swap Involving Edwin Encarnacion, Carlos Santana
The close of the Winter Meetings brought with it a interesting three-team trade — authored by none other than Seattle dealmaker Jerry Dipoto, who was apparently operating from a hospital bed. The Mariners have added slugger Edwin Encarnacion while sending recently acquired first baseman Carlos Santana (Encarnacion’s former teammate) to the Indians in the deal. The Rays, too, involved in this swap. They’ll pick up corner infielder Yandy Diaz and righty Cole Sulser from the Indians and send first baseman/corner outfielder Jake Bauers to the Indians
Beyond the players involved in the trade, a reported $5MM will go to the Mariners from the Rays. Seattle, meanwhile, will send a reported $6MM on to the Indians and will also acquire the Cleveland org’s competitive balance pick in next year’s draft. It’s a Round B choice that currently sits at No. 77 — though the exact order of next year’s draft will be altered slightly by the compensation and draft penalization for teams signing players who have rejected qualifying offers. Regardless, the Mariners have likely added a top 80 selection to their slate of picks next summer.
Needless to say, there are some varying considerations at play here. Cash is king with regard to the notable veteran sluggers, who are certainly the most recognizable players in this deal. Encarnacion is owed $24MM through the 2019 campaign (including a buyout on a club option), while Santana’s deal promises him $35MM through 2020 (also with an option buyout).
It’s far from clear that Encarnacion will remain in Seattle when all is said and done. To the contrary, in fact, he may well go to Tampa Bay in a separate swap, per Scott Miller of Bleacher Report (via Twitter), though Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times emphasizes there’s nothing “in place or lined up” in that regard (Twitter link). With the M’s looking to shed payroll and boost their talent reserves, they’ll surely be willing to spin off Encarnacion — to the Rays or another rival — if there’s a favorable offer. After all, the organization already acquired and dumped Santana this winter.
Both Encarnacion and Santana will be looking to recover from relative down seasons. The former, 35, slashed .246/.336/.474 with 32 home runs last year, still a productive campaign but not to his usual standards. He’s seen mostly as a DH at this stage of his career, but can still line up at first base on at least a part-time basis. The 32-year-old Santana, meanwhile, turned in a .229/.352/.414 batting line and swatted 24 long balls in 679 plate appearances with the Phillies, who signed him after out-bidding the Indians but soured on the fit this winter. He’s regarded as a solid performer at first and still draws walks at an impressive clip; in 2018, in fact, he took 110 free passes while going down 93 times on strikes.
Working out the math for Seattle, the team will end up sending out $1MM while paring $11MM in obligations, resulting in a net savings of $10MM. They’ll only have one year of Encarnacion to deal along elsewhere, but they’ll also pick up the draft selection for their trouble.
The Indians, meanwhile, will open some additional 2018 payroll space by shedding the big hit on Encarnacion. Santana will cost more ($29MM) in the aggregate, but it’s spread over multiple years. The money from the M’s is split into $2MM and $4MM payments, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer tweets. Plus, there’s the post-2020 buyout. All said, there’s now added cash hung on the 2020 and 2021 ledgers. Presumably, the club is also pleased to bring back a long-time franchise stalwart. Of course, now that Bauers is on hand along with Santana, there are now new trade possibilities here as well. First baseman Yonder Alonso, who’s owed $8MM in 2019 along with a $1MM buyout on a 2020 option, could end up on the move, though Bauers could also factor in the outfield mix and the team could utilize Alonso and Santana as a first base/DH pairing.
On the Rays’ end of the swap, Bauers was long considered a top prospect but clearly wasn’t seen as a key piece for the club. Diaz will enter an ever-changing infield mix in Tampa Bay after a strong 2018 showing in which he posted .797 OPS figures at both the Triple-A (426 plate appearances) and MLB (120 plate appearances) levels. In addition to possessing some of the game’s most impressive biceps and the ability to line up at third base as well as the corner outfield, Diaz will come with six seasons of future control. Rays exec Chaim Bloom says the club likes the versatility and the upside that comes with the 27-year-old (video link on Twitter from Topkin). Sulser, 28, has yet to reach the bigs, but will presumably factor into a deep Rays relief corps after throwing 105 innings of 3.51 ERA ball with 12.3 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 at Triple-A over the past three seasons.
Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter links), Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (all Twitter links) and Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links) were all at the forefront of the reporting on this news.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Brewers Acquire Alex Claudio
The Brewers have officially struck a deal with the Rangers to acquire lefty Alex Claudio, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links). Texas will receive Milwaukee’s competitive balance pick in the deal, which will deliver the club a draft choice in the range of the 40th overall selection (with the final order yet to be fixed).
Claudio, 26, has made the most of his arsenal with impeccable command and an uncanny ability to generate groundballs and limit dingers. Over his five seasons of MLB action, the southpaw has averaged 6.2 K/9 against just 1.9 BB/9 with a hefty 62.5% groundball rate.
While he never seemed likely to hang onto the closer’s role he briefly occupied in 2017, Claudio has mostly been an effective relief arm. His lifetime 3.20 ERA, though, reflects a string of productive seasons that was followed by a 4.48 mark in 2018.
The Brewers will hope that most recent set of results was unduly influenced by a .366 batting average on balls in play. Claudio did allow more hard contact than usual (36.0%), but Statcast also felt he was unfortunate to carry a .352 wOBA, with the system crediting him with a .315 xwOBA. Though he doesn’t get many strikeouts, Claudio managed an 11.4% swinging-strike rate in 2018.
Though the Milwaukee relief corps already features one of the game’s most exciting lefties in Josh Hader, he’s utilized as a high-leverage asset. Claudio will presumably serve in more of a specialist role. He has held opposing lefties to a .191/.220/.278 slash over his career.
The Brewers will take over Claudio’s anticipated arbitration salary, which MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz project at an affordable $1.3MM. He’ll remain controllable for two more campaigns in the future as well.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Phillies Sign Andrew McCutchen
THURSDAY: McCutchen will earn $10MM in 2019, $17MM in 2020, and $20MM in 2021, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Phillies, then, were obviously willing to tie up more of their future payroll space on this signing, though it’s hard to gauge just what that portends for the remainder of their offseason.
WEDNESDAY: The Phillies have announced the agreement.
TUESDAY, 6:20pm: McCutchen’s option for 2022 is worth $15MM and comes with a $3MM buyout, Heyman tweets.
1:46pm: The Phillies have a deal in place with free agent outfielder Andrew McCutchen, according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic (Twitter link). The agreement is still pending a physical.
McCutchen will reportedly receive a three-year, $50MM contract that includes an option for a fourth season. Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philly (via Twitter), who first broke the news that the sides were in serious talks, reported the years, with Jon Heyman of Fancred reporting the guarantee and option year (Twitter links).
This contract lands above MLBTR’s predicted value for McCutchen, but falls right in line with our expectations of a three-year, $45MM pact. We had ranked Cutch just behind fellow open-market vets A.J. Pollock and Michael Brantley, each of whom remains unsigned at this stage.
For the Phillies, this is a stage-setting move that fills one need and creates quite a few new opportunities. The organization previously dealt for Jean Segura, meaning GM Matt Klentak has now slotted in new corner outfield and shortstop pieces — without moving on top free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. That’s not to say that pursuit of one of those players is out of the question at this point, but the Phils are certainly also now positioned to look elsewhere if they so desire. Certainly, there’s also an argument to be made that these splashes only make it more reasonable for the club to go big on another free agent.
There are innumerable possibilities, still, for the Phils. The team could conceivably deal just about any of its preexisting outfielders. Odubel Herrera, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr, Dylan Cozens, and Roman Quinn would all hold some degree of appeal elsewhere. Surely some of those players will remain, but the Philadelphia organization will likely seek to rearrange some other pieces to make further moves possible. In addition to several still-youthful position players, top pitching prospect Sixto Sanchez has evidently been talked about in trade chatter, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link).
What’s clear, though, is that McCutchen will step into the Philadelphia lineup on most days in 2019. He certainly represents a quality addition, even if he’s no longer the superstar that he was when he was playing with the cross-state Pirates.
Since wrapping up a forgettable 2016 campaign, McCutchen has turned in consecutive solid seasons with the bat. In 1,332 plate appearances over the past two season, he’s slashing a combined .267/.366/.455 with 48 long balls. McCutchen did lag in the power department in 2018, with a year-over-year isolated slugging drop from .207 to .169, but made up for it with a 13.9% walk rate that’s just shy of his career peak.
McCutchen won’t be an option in center for the Phils, though his long experience there could come in handy at times. After a solid debut season in right field last year, he’ll be an upgrade defensively for a club that received atrocious glovework in the outfield last year from Rhys Hoskins, who is moving back to first base. If there’s one area that McCutchen slid most notably, though, it was in the baserunning department. Once a standout, he graded at a putrid -5.0 BsR in 2018. Of course, he also still swiped 14 bags, so perhaps that broader performance is more a blip than an indicator of a significant loss of athleticism.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/13/18
The latest minor moves from around the baseball world…
- The Red Sox re-signed infielder Tony Renda to a new minor league deal, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. After playing in 32 games for the Reds as a rookie in 2016, Renda didn’t make it back to the majors until this season, when he appeared in a single game for Boston. The lone appearance was a notable one, as Renda entered the game as a pinch-runner in the 10th inning and scored the winning run in a 5-4 win over the Yankees on August 5. (Renda even received a World Series ring for his modest contribution to Boston’s championship season.) After hitting a combined .318/.373/.453 over 292 PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2018, Renda will return to the organization after being outrighted after the season.
- The Lotte Giants of the KBO League have announced new contracts for left-hander Brooks Raley and right-hander Jake Thompson for the 2019 season. (Hat tip to MyKBO.net’s Dan Kurtz for passing on the news.) Raley will receive $1.17MM for his fifth season in South Korea, where he has been a solid rotation piece for the Giants. A former Cubs draft pick, Raley tossed 38 1/3 innings for Chicago in 2012-13 and hasn’t since been back in the big leagues. Thompson will head to the KBO after being designated for assignment off the Brewers roster last summer and ultimately let go into free agency. Formerly a well-regarded prospect for the Phillies, Thompson never found much consistency at the MLB level, posting a 4.87 ERA over 116 1/3 frames for Philadelphia from 2016-18. Thompson will receive $760K in guaranteed salary, with another $140K available in incentive bonuses.
Reds Acquire Tanner Roark
The Reds have announced the acquisition of veteran righty Tanner Roark from the Nationals. Reliever Tanner Rainey goes to Washington in the swap.
There have been indications over recent months that the Nats were inclined to move on from Roark, who projects to earn $9.8MM in his final trip through arbitration. It seems reasonable to anticipate that the D.C. organization has its eyes on another upgrade to its staff, with an obvious need for one or two additional rotation pieces.
Meanwhile, Roark will help to shore up a Cincinnati starting unit that the club has long targeted for improvement. The 32-year-old has thrown at least 180 frames in each of the past three seasons, even if the results haven’t always been there. Adding him to the staff likely won’t take the Reds out of the market for starters, though the club surely values the lack of a long-term commitment given the price for open-market pitching we’re seeing so far this winter.
Roark has, to be sure, turned in some eye-popping earned run averages over full seasons, but it’s tough to see him as much of an upside play. He has only once topped a ten percent swinging-strike rate, during his otherwise poor 2017 season, and has consistently graded out as a low-4 ERA type hurler in the eyes of ERA estimators.
That’s not to say that there isn’t value in Roark’s profile — there is. But it seems likelier that the Reds should anticipate a quality, durable rotation piece than the front-line starter Roark produced like in the 2014 and 2016 seasons, in which he spun 2.85 and 2.83 ERAs, respectively, in ~200-frame samples. The varying highs and lows over the years have seemingly correlated more with variations in opponents’ batting averages on balls in play than with significant differences in the underlying quality of Roark’s work on the mound.
If there’s an area of concern, it could be in the cozy confines of Great American Ball Park. Roark has never had particularly pressing issues with the long ball, but he has coughed up quite a few more in his lesser seasons (2015, 2017, 2018) than in his good ones. And after turning in approximately 48% groundball rates over the prior three years, Roark dropped to 40.7% in 2018 even as his flyball rate rose to 37.6% after sitting at or below 32% in that same three-year span.
As for the other Tanner R. in this swap, the 25-year-old Rainey is perhaps a more intriguing asset than his forgettable MLB debut effort would suggest. He scuffled badly in an eight-appearance showing last year, but did show a blazing fastball that touched 100 and averaged out at a healthy 98.3 mph.
Promising, Rainey also produced 52 innings of 2.60 ERA ball at the Triple-A level in 2018. Of course, that comes with a massive caveat: he also surrendered more than six free passes per nine innings, continuing his longstanding control difficulties. The Nats have taken some other notable risks on high-octane, command-challenged hurlers this winter. It seems likely that Rainey will open his time with the organization at Triple-A, unless he shows a major spark or a clear need arises during camp.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Brewers Avoid Arbitration With Jimmy Nelson
The Brewers have avoided arbitration with right-hander Jimmy Nelson by agreeing to a one-year contract for 2019, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link). Nelson will earn $3.7MM in the deal, The Athletic’s Robert Murray tweets, which was Nelson’s salary from 2018 and the number that Haudricourt figured the righty would receive, given that Nelson missed all of last season recovering from shoulder surgery. MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected the same $3.7MM figure for Nelson.
Before going under the knife in September 2017, Nelson was enjoying a breakout season, posting a 3.49 ERA, 10.2 K/9, and 4.15 K/BB rate over 175 1/3 innings for the Brew Crew. It was originally believed that Nelson would return at some point in 2018, though delays in his rehab kept him off the mound and he missed out on contributing to Milwaukee’s run to the NLCS.
Nelson’s expected return in 2019 is a “true wild card” for the Brewers and their rotation, as Haudricourt notes. The club has been checking in on available pitchers in free agency and trade talks, though a healthy and in-form Nelson would certainly be a major internal boost.
The Brewers now reached deals with four of their 10 arbitration-eligible players. The club has now avoided hearings with Nelson, Hernan Perez, Tyler Saladino, and Erik Kratz.
Red Sox, Gorkys Hernandez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. Hernandez would earn $1MM in the majors, Speier adds.
The 31-year-old Hernandez spent the past three seasons in San Francisco, where he amassed a particularly high number of plate appearances from 2017-18. After going without a home run in 348 trips to the plate two years ago, the right-handed Hernandez exploded for 15 in 451 PAs last season. However, Hernandez still offered below-average overall production, batting .234/.295/.357 (83 wRC+). In all, he’s just a .234/.295/.357 hitter (77 wRC+) in 1,034 major league PAs, though he has stolen 20 bases – including eight in 2018.
While Hernandez doesn’t pose much of a threat at the plate, he is capable of lining up at all three outfield positions. Most of Hernandez’s work has come in center field, where he has totaled minus-10 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-0.6 Ultimate Zone Rating in 1,389 innings. Despite his versatility, Hernandez is facing an uphill climb to crack his new club’s roster, given the presences of outfielders Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and J.D. Martinez. Bradley’s name has come up in trade rumors, however, and if he’s dealt, it could increase Hernandez’s chances of making the team.