Padres To Sign Garrett Richards
DECEMBER 7: The signing is now official. Richards will earn $7MM in the first year of the deal and $8.5MM in the second, Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets. The contract includes $250K bonuses for every start he makes from his 21st through his 30th.
NOVEMBER 29, 7:14pm: Heyman tweets that Richards will be guaranteed $15.5MM and can earn another $2.5MM worth of incentives on the deal.
3:59pm: It’s a straight two-year deal for Richards, Passan further tweets. With incentives, the contract can max out at a total of $18MM.
3:49pm: Richards’ two-year agreement comes with a hefty guarantee of roughly $15MM, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). That’s a new precedent for a player coming off Tommy John surgery, though the timing of Richards’ surgery also makes it at least plausible that he could return to the mound before the end of the 2019 season.
3:45pm: The Padres have reached an agreement with free-agent right-hander Garrett Richards, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. The ISE Baseball client was reported earlier today to be a target of both the Padres and the division-rival Dodgers.
Richards may not pitch in 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in mid July, but other free-agent starters in his situation have recently landed two-year guaranteed deals with an eye toward contributing in the second season of that pact. Namely, both Michael Pineda and Drew Smyly signed two-year, $10MM contracts last winter (with the Twins and Cubs, respectively), while Nathan Eovaldi inked a two-year, $4MM pact with the Rays an offseason prior. All three of those hurlers had undergone Tommy John surgery and were known to be out for the vast majority of the first season of those two-year deals.
A former top 50 overall draft pick (No. 42 in 2009), Richards established himself on the Angels’ pitching staff in 2013 and looked to be one of the more promising young arms in the American League by the end of the 2015 campaign. In 2014-15, the righty pitched to a combined 3.18 ERA through 376 innings (58 starts) and averaged 8.1 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 along the way.
Injuries, however, have limited the now-30-year-old Richards to just 138 2/3 innings in the three seasons since that time. He’s been quite good when healthy enough to take the mound — 3.05 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 3.59 FIP — but by the lengthy slate of arm injuries that has slowed his career now make him an upside play in free agency rather than the potential frontline starter many expected he’d become after that strong 2013-15 showing.
The most recent ulnar collateral ligament injury for Richards was actually the second of his career; he also suffered a UCL tear back in 2016 but opted to undergo stem cell treatment to avoid surgery. While that did stave off Tommy John surgery for awhile, Richards was ultimately forced to undergo the procedure this past summer when he was diagnosed with another tear.
For the Padres, the addition of Richards dovetails nicely with the organization’s projected timeline to contend. The Friars have begun to mix in some win-now moves with their longstanding efforts to rebuild the organization and were said this offseason to be eyeing pitchers who can help them contend in 2020, when much of the upcoming wave of young talent has surfaced at the MLB level. The Friars have little in the way of rotation certainty at the moment, so it’s still possible that they could add another arm on a multi-year deal — likely one who’d still be in his prime into 2020 and beyond. They’ve been tied to younger free-agent starters like Nathan Eovaldi and Yusei Kikuchi this offseason, and they’ve also been rumored to have interest in Mets righty Noah Syndergaard.
Mariners Grant Casey Lawrence His Release To Pursue Opportunity In Japan
The Mariners announced that they’ve released right-hander Casey Lawrence so he can pursue an opportunity in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
Obviously, it’s not the move that Mariners fans (or Mets fans) are anxiously anticipating, though it does deplete the Mariners’ pitching depth a bit and likely afford Seattle with a bit of financial compensation from the team with which Lawrence will ultimately sign. Which club that is, at this point, remains unclear.
Lawrence, 31, has spent most of the past two seasons in the Mariners organization, struggling to a 6.20 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 65 1/3 innings at the Major League level. He’s been solid in the minors, however, compiling a 3.73 earned run average while averaging seven strikeouts and 1.7 walks per nine innings pitched over the life of 262 2/3 frames — mostly as a starter. The new arrangement will surely provide Lawrence with a greater financial guarantee than he’d have earned with another season of bouncing between the Majors and Triple-A.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Thursday
With the non-tender deadline looming tomorrow, there figure to be several players agreeing to pre-tender deals to avoid arbitration today. Many players who agree to terms prior to the deadline will be fringe non-tender candidates and, as such, are likelier to sign for less than they’d been projected in order to avoid a non-tender. We’ll keep track of today’s players who are avoiding arbitration in this post (with all referenced projections coming courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…
- The Royals announced that they’ve agreed to one-year deals with both Cheslor Cuthbert and Jesse Hahn. Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports (via Twitter) that Cuthbert will earn $850K, while Hahn’s deal contains an $800K base salary. Both were definitive non-tender candidates, as Cuthbert batted just .194/.282/.301 in 117 plate appearances this past season. Hahn, meanwhile, didn’t pitch in 2018 due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament that ultimately required “primary repair” surgery — a similar, but less invasive alternative to Tommy John surgery that is perhaps familiar to Royals fans after Seth Maness previously underwent the procedure.
Mets Sign Dilson Herrera To Minor League Deal
The Mets announced that they’ve signed infielder Dilson Herrera to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training.
Herrera, 25 in March, was long considered one of the best prospects in the Mets organization after being acquired from the Pirates in a 2013 trade. He made his MLB debut with the organization at the age of 20 back in 2014 and saw MLB action with the Mets in 2015 as well, but a series of shoulder issues slowed his development. The Mets ultimately flipped Herrera to the Reds, alongside young lefty Max Wotell, in the trade that sent Jay Bruce to New York. Herrera spent two-plus seasons in the Cincinnati organization but appeared in just 53 games late in the 2018 campaign, posting a dismal .184/.268/.414 slash in 97 plate appearances.
Though he was a seldom-used bench piece for the Reds after his call to the big leagues, Herrera did enjoy a solid season with their Triple-A affiliate in 2018. Through 50 games and 208 plate appearances, Herrera hit .297/.367/.467 with seven homers and 10 doubles.
Angels Acquire Tommy La Stella, Release Jabari Blash
The Angels announced today that they’ve acquired infielder Tommy La Stella from the Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. To clear a spot for La Stella on the 40-man roster, the Halos requested unconditional release waivers on outfielder Jabari Blash.
The trade of La Stella to the Angels comes one day after the Cubs acquired infielder Ronald Torreyes in a trade with the Yankees. The pair of moves seems to indicate that Chicago is content to move forward with Torreyes as their primary backup infielder headed into the 2019 season. The swap will also likely save the Cubs a slight bit of money; La Stella is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $1.2MM next season, while Torreyes was projected at $900K. The latter is more of a true utility option anyhow, given his ability to play shortstop — a position that La Stella has never played in the Major Leagues.
From the Angels’ perspective, adding La Stella is a sensible move. His composite .274/.360/.396 batting line through 512 plate appearances over the past three seasons fits general manager Billy Eppler’s preferred mold of an OBP-driven offensive profile, and La Stella provides the Angels with a much-needed left-handed bat. La Stella, 30 in January, can give the Angels some cover at both second base and at third base next season, and the Angels have enough right-handed bats to comfortably platoon him if they desire. Then again, while La Stella was always shielded from left-handed pitching in Chicago, he does have a solid .278/.366/.383 batting line against lefties in his career — albeit in a tiny sample of 133 plate appearances.
Blash, also 29, has displayed light-tower power in the minor leagues but managed just a .186/.306/.307 slash in 324 plate appearances between the Padres and Angels to this point in his MLB career. He’s a lifetime .274/.394/.606 hitter in nearly 1300 Triple-A plate appearances, however, so he could draw interest elsewhere on a minor league contract or, speculatively speaking, from a club overseas.
Reds Claim Jordan Patterson
The Reds have claimed outfielder/first baseman Jordan Patterson from the Mets, per a club announcement. He was only recently claimed by the New York organization from the Rockies.
Clearly, the Mets had hoped to stash Patterson off of their 40-man roster. Instead, he’ll hang on to a MLB placement — for the time being, at least. He does not appear to be particularly clean fit on a Reds roster that already has plenty of options at his positions to face right-handed pitching, but it’s still possible he’ll enter camp with a shot at earning a job.
Regardless, it seems reasonable to expect that the Patterson will get a shot at some point in his age-27 season. He has little left to prove at the plate in the upper minors, after all, having slashed .282/.363/.516 over three campaigns at Triple-A — an impressive track record even though he was hitting at altitude.
Orioles Sign Josh Lucas To Minor League Deal
The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve signed right-hander Josh Lucas to a minor league contract. The 28-year-old spent the 2018 season with the Athletics organization.
Lucas tossed 14 1/3 innings for the A’s but allowed 10 runs on 16 hits and nine walks with 14 strikeouts in that time. It was his second straight season with some degree of MLB experience, as he threw 7 1/3 frames for the 2017 Cardinals as well. In all, Lucas has a 5.40 ERA in 21 2/3 big league innings.
While he’s yet to find success at the MLB level, Lucas has posted continually strong numbers in the upper minors. The former 21st-round pick has a career 2.93 ERA and a 66-to-14 K/BB ratio in 58 2/3 innings of Double-A ball and a 3.39 ERA with 8.9 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 106 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. The right-hander has also routinely posted strong ground-ball rates both in the upper minors and in his limited time in the Majors.
Mariners Acquire Ricardo Sanchez
The Mariners have acquired left-hander Ricardo Sanchez from the Braves, tweets Greg Johns of MLB.com. They’ll send cash to Atlanta in exchange for the 21-year-old southpaw, who was designated for assignment two days ago.
Sanchez ascended to the Double-A level for the first time in 2018, though he managed just a 4.06 ERA a 44-to-24 K/BB ratio in 57 1/3 innings in his first action at that level. In parts of five minor league seasons, Sanchez has a 4.48 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. Sanchez rated 26th among Braves farmhands, per Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis and Mike Rosenbaum of MLB.com. Their free report on Sanchez praised the lefty’s fastball, curveball and changeup — all of which have a chance to be average or better offerings. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen has previously called him a potential No. 4 starter but noted that his command needs to take a notable step forward to realize that upside.
Cubs Sign Kyle Ryan To Major League Deal
3:53pm: The Cubs have announced the signing.
3:31pm: The Cubs have agreed to a Major League contract with free-agent left-hander Kyle Ryan, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (on Twitter). The 27-year-old southpaw, who is represented by Frontline, spent the 2014-17 seasons with the Tigers and was with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018.
Ryan amassed 128 innings of Major League experience in his four-year run with the Tigers, working to a 3.87 ERA with 4.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 0.77 HR/9 and a strong 54 percent ground-ball rate. Ryan didn’t excel against either lefties or righties but was similarly effective against both (.725 OPS against righties, .728 for lefties). He’s averaged just 88.9 mph on his fastball in the Majors and managed only a 7.9 percent swinging-strike rate, however.
This past season with the Cubs’ affiliate in Iowa, Ryan thrived in a bullpen role. Through 66 innings, he put together a 2.86 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 1.23 HR/9 and a whopping 61 percent ground-ball rate. The Chicago organization presently has Mike Montgomery, Brian Duensing and Randy Rosario as lefty relief options, but Ryan will add to that mix in affordable fashion. Though Ryan has seen action in parts of four big league seasons, the up-and-down nature of his time with the Tigers led him to accrue just under two years of MLB service time. As such, he could be controlled for another five seasons, though he’d be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two player next winter if he finishes out the season on the 40-man roster.
Dodgers Acquire Adam McCreery, Designate Pat Venditte
The Dodgers announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired left-hander Adam McCreery from the Braves in exchange for cash. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, switch-pitcher Pat Venditte was designated for assignment.
McCreery, who’ll turn 26 on New Year’s Eve, made his big league debut in 2018, though he appeared in just one game and tossed just one inning. He spent the bulk of the season with the Braves’ Double-A affiliate but also pitched in eight games for their Triple-A club. In all, his minor league work resulted in a 3.62 ERA with 11.7 K/9 but a troubling 6.1 BB/9 mark. McCreery has regularly topped 60 percent with his ground-ball rate and has long racked up strikeouts at an impressive level, but the control issues he battled in 2018 were nothing new for him; McCreery has averaged 5.7 walks per nine innings pitched in his career. Atlanta designated him for assignment earlier this week to open a roster spot for Brian McCann.
Venditte, 33, pitched well in 14 innings with the Dodgers in 2018, compiling a 2.57 ERA with nine strikeouts against three walks in that small sample of work. As the game’s lone ambidextrous pitcher, Venditte is somewhat of an anomaly, but he’s also been extraordinarily effective in his career against fellow lefties; same-handed opponents have posted an abysmal .186/.230/.354 slash against Venditte in a total of 122 MLB plate appearances.