D-Backs Announce Three-Year Deal With Eduardo Escobar
The Diamondbacks have announced a new contract with infielder Eduardo Escobar, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic first reported (Twitter links). It’s said to be a three-year, $21MM pact. Escobar is a client of DJ Rengifo Y Associates LLC.
This news represents a fascinating turn of events just before the official onset of free agency. The 29-year-old, who was picked up in a mid-season swap with the Twins, had been slated to reach the open market for the first time.
Opting to wait for free agency would surely have given Escobar a shot at a somewhat bigger payday. After all, the switch-hitter just wrapped up a career year in which he slashed .272/.334/.489 with 23 home runs while thriving defensively at third base. MLBTR has yet to release its free agent predictions, but had initially contemplated a contract of three years and $30MM.
That said, things don’t always work out as hoped on the open market. There are several strong competitors in the third base market, and teams that like Escobar’s versatility will also be intrigued by Marwin Gonzalez.
For Escobar, his broader history is rather less enticing than his 2018 output standing alone. Over the past five seasons, he carries a .261/.312/.433 slash — good for an exactly league-average 100 OPS+. And though he has played all over the diamond, including at shortstop, he hasn’t always graded as a stellar defender up the middle and so may not be seen as much of an option there as he ages.
Doing this deal now, then, avoids some risks for both parties. Clearly, both sides liked the fit after only a few months together. And it’s not hard to see how the contract can suit team and player moving forward.
Really, the most interesting element of this decision is what it means for the Arizona organization. With the offseason approaching, it had seemed quite likely that the club would embark upon a rebuilding effort. While it’s certainly still possible that he Snakes will look to shift some assets with the future in mind, promising Escobar three years certainly isn’t something that a team would do before a full-blown teardown.
With Escobar on hand, it’s also fair to wonder just what the D-Backs plan to do with some other infielders. Jake Lamb will be looking to bounce back from a miserable and injury-riddled campaign, but keeping him will mean ponying up a projected $4.7MM. It remains to be seen what the club will do with Lamb, as well as fellow infielders Nick Ahmed ($3.1MM projection) and Chris Owings ($3.6MM). Ketel Marte is already under contract on a five-year, $24MM extension.
Today’s move leaves the Diamondbacks with plenty of options, particularly given Escobar’s versatility, so it’s hardly a fully committing decision. It also means that the organization has over $130MM in estimated payroll on the books, including its robust slate of arb-eligible players. This year, the Snakes opened with a club-record $131.5MM tab.
If the signing hints that the D-Backs will not blow things up entirely, it remains hard to imagine that the club will fully press down on the gas pedal. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently explored, the organization could attempt to shave some salary obligations, hold onto its pre-MLB talent base, and try to remain as competitive as possible by overseeing a value-oriented winter. Getting Escobar at an appealing rate certainly seems to fit that mold, though the club’s precise course from this point forward remains to be seen.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Zach Davies Replaces Gio Gonzalez On Brewers’ NLCS Roster
The Brewers announced this morning that they’ve replaced left-hander Gio Gonzalez on their NLCS roster following yesterday’s ankle injury; righty Zach Davis will take his place. The move renders Gonzalez, a pending free agent, ineligible to pitch in the World Series should Milwaukee advance, as players removed from the roster mid-series are automatically ruled ineligible for the following round of postseason play.
Gonzalez suffered a high ankle sprain in the second inning of last night’s game against the Dodgers when fielding an infield single off the bat of Yasiel Puig (video link via MLB.com). His short start forced skipper Craig Counsell to go to his bullpen early, which proved to be all the more significant in a game that would go 12 innings and deplete the bullpen for each team. Adding Davies to the mix, then, will give the Brewers a fresh arm while simultaneously ending Gonzalez’s season.
Davies, 25, missed a good chunk of the 2018 season due to a rotator cuff issue in his right shoulder, but he returned to the Brewers in September and posted a 3.91 ERA and an 18-to-4 K/BB ratio in 23 innings down the stretch. His overall numbers in ’18 aren’t much to look at, but Davies entered the year with a career 3.91 ERA in 388 2/3 innings with 6.6 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 after being acquired from the Orioles in a 2015 trade that sent Gerardo Parra to Baltimore as a deadline rental.
The 33-year-old Gonzalez will reach free agency for the first time in his career this offseason. He’ll head into the open market coming off 171 innings of 4.21 ERA ball in the regular season, during which he averaged 7.8 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 and 0.89 HR/9 to go along with a 45.3 percent ground-ball rate. It’s the second pedestrian ERA for Gonzalez in the past three seasons, though his 2017 season was terrific in that regard (2.96), and his 2016 ERA (4.57) was heavily skewed by an uncharacteristic dip in strand rate.
Gonzalez has a solid track record over the years and was a fixture in the Nationals’ rotation for seven years after coming over in a trade from the Athletics. He’s lost about a mile off his average fastball since 2016 and turned in the worst full-season walk rate of his career in 2018 — neither of which figure to do his free-agent stock any favors. But Gonzalez has generally been a durable and dependable rotation piece since 2010, averaging 31.4 starts per season along the way. He’s only fallen shy of 30 starts once in that time (27 starts in 2014) and has posted solid run-prevention numbers with a knack for missing bats and limiting home runs.
Gonzalez’s swinging-strike and chase rates both improved substantially with the Brewers, albeit in a small sample of 25 1/3 innings, which could give interested parties some optimism in free agency this winter. At worst, the veteran southpaw should be viewed as a dependable source of 30+ starts, and if a team feels his 2018 control issues can be corrected (and/or that his improvement with the Brewers is sustainable), he could be seen as a step above that in terms of value.
Rays To Sign Ryan Sherriff
The Rays have struck an agreement on a deal with southpaw Ryan Sherriff, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). It’s a minor-league pact, per the report.
Sherriff, 28, was cut loose by the Cardinals late in the 2018 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Given that the procedure occurred in early June, it’s certainly possible — but by no means assured — that he’ll be ready to go at some point in the coming campaign.
While the Rays no doubt will hope that Sherriff’s left elbow responds to his rehab efforts in a timely manner, this agreement is surely aimed primarily at the future. The former 28th-round draft pick will remain controllable beyond the present campaign at the league minimum salary.
Sherriff had turned in an intriguing debut showing in 2017, when he threw 14 1/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball. That was a short sample, to be sure, but he carried the hefty groundball numbers he had shown in the upper minors into the majors while getting some swings and misses (10.1% SwStr) and maintaining a strong 15:4 K/BB ratio.
Unfortunately, Sherriff hasn’t yet had the chance to test himself over a full campaign in the majors. He ended up struggling on the hill and only throwing ten total innings (split between the majors and Triple-A) in 2018, before ending his season on the operating table.
Marlins Acquire International Pool Money From Astros
12:49pm: The Marlins added $500K in spending capacity to their coffers in today’s swap, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).
11:04am: The Marlins and Astros have officially struck a deal that will send yet more international bonus pool availability to the Miami organization, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro first reported (via Twitter). Houston will receive a pair of prospects — outfielder Adonis Giron and lefty Brayan De Paula — in the swap.
It is not yet known how much spending capacity will flow to the Marlins in this deal. Per another Frisaro tweet, though, the Fish believe they’ve now got deeper pockets to work with than do the Orioles — the other primary competitor for the top international amateur talent left for bidding in the current signing period.
At last glance, the Marlins had moved past $6MM in pool space after yet another swap. The club needed to pick up over $2MM in funds to exceed the $6.7MM the Orioles were believed to be working with. Bonus pool availability — which sets a hard cap on spending — can only be dealt in $250K increments. Teams are limited to adding 75% of their starting allocation.
The remaining international market is widely said to offer three top prizes, all of whom evidently are objects of the Marlins’ and Orioles’ affections. Victor Victor Mesa is generally viewed as the best player available, with his younger brother Victor Mesa Jr. and righty Sandy Gaston also graded as intriguing young assets. Each member of this trio of Cubans is subject to international spending limitations.
Much like the other teams that have struck deals of late with the Marlins — the Nationals and Reds — the Astros weren’t able to put their existing international pool space to full use. By virtue of prior spending penalties, imposed under the prior rules regime, the Houston organization was barred from spending more than #400K on any given player.
The ‘Stros, then, decided instead to use that availability to pick up a pair of youthful players — recent international signees themselves. The 17-year-old Giron spent the year with the Marlins’ Dominican Summer League entrant, slashing .255/.331/.362 in 275 plate appearances. He previously inked for $350K, with a reputedly intriguing bat. De Paula, 19, also appeared on the DSL roster for a second consecutive year, spinning 44 1/3 innings of 2.23 ERA ball with 9.1 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9.
Athletics Outright Hatcher, Smolinski, Kiekhefer
5:29pm: Kiekhefer has indeed elected free agency, MLBTR has learned.
2:37pm: The A’s have now announced that both Smolinski and Kiekhefer were outrighted, and the organization further announced that right-hander Chris Hatcher has been outrighted off the 40-man after clearing waivers as well.
Hatcher, 34 in January, appeared in 34 games and pitched to a 4.95 ERA in 36 1/3 innings for Oakland this past season, averaging 7.4 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, 1.73 HR/9 and a 42 percent ground-ball rate along the way. Hatcher’s average fastball velocity (93.6 mph) and swinging-strike rate (7.9 percent) have plummeted from their 2015 peaks (96 mph, 12.6 percent, respectively). He’s struggled in each of the past three seasons and would’ve been arbitration-eligible, with a projected $2.4MM salary.
12:37pm: Outfielder Jake Smolinski and left-hander Dean Kiekhefer have both been outrighted off the Athletics’ 40-man roster after clearing waivers, per the MLB.com transactions page. Smolinski has already elected free agency, I’m told, and it seems likely that Kiekhefer will do so as well, as is commonplace in these scenarios.
Smolinski, 30 in February, has seen limited action with Oakland over the past two seasons after logging a career-high 319 plate appearances in 2016. The former second-rounder (Nationals, 2007) mashed at a .278/.372/.548 clip in Triple-A this season but hit just .128/.171/.205 in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. (His season was cut short by a blood clot in his left calf.) In parts of four seasons with the Oakland organization, Smolinski is a .227/.287/.357 with a dozen homers, 14 doubles and five triples in a combined 507 plate appearances.
That production isn’t particularly eye-catching, but the right-handed-hitting Smolinski has been a menace in platoon settings, hitting .282/.351/.473 against left-handers to this point in his career. Defensively, Smolinski has experience at all three outfield positions and has played anywhere from average to slightly above-average defense, per Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating. He’d been arbitration-eligible for the A’s, albeit with a modest projection of an $800K salary, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
As for Kiekhefer, the 29-year-old southpaw pitched just two innings for the A’s in 2018 but enjoyed a strong minor league campaign between the Reds and A’s organizations. In 58 1/3 minor league frames, Kiekhefer posted a 3.39 ERA with a terrific 51-to-8 K/BB ratio and above-average ground-ball tendencies. Left-handed opponents posted a .224/.263/.346 slash against him between the Majors and minors this season.
Kiekhefer’s big league experience is limited to 24 innings of 6.38 ERA ball between St. Louis (in 2016) and Oakland, but he’s turned in 204 innings of 3.03 ERA ball with 7.0 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 in parts of five seasons at the Triple-A level. Given that track record, he should have little difficulty finding interest as a minor league free agent this offseason.
Marlins Outright Six Players
The Marlins announced Friday that right-handers Tyler Cloyd, James Needy and Javy Guerra, left-hander Chris O’Grady, infielder Christopher Bostick and outfielder Rafael Ortega have all been outrighted off the 40-man roster after clearing waivers (O’Grady was first reinstated from the 60-day DL).
Cloyd, 31, allowed 17 runs in 17 2/3 innings for the Fish in his largest slate of big league work since the 2013 campaign with the Phillies. The 32-year-old Guerra (33 on Halloween) was unable to repeat the success he had with the 2017 Marlins, as he was clobbered for a 5.55 ERA in 35 2/3 innings (albeit with a more encouraging 30-to-12 K/BB ratio). O’Grady pitched just seven innings in his second season with the Fish and has a 4.73 ERA with 38 strikeouts against 22 walks in 40 Major League innings. Needy, meanwhile, did not pitch in 2018 after a solid 2017 campaign and also missed the 2016 season due to injury.
As for the position players, the 25-year-old Bostick was acquired from the Pirates for cash in August but saw just 16 plate appearances in the Majors. He’s a .256/.360/.326 hitter in a tiny sample of 50 plate appearances as a big leaguer and a .275/.337/.391 hitter in 1189 Triple-A plate appearances. Ortega, 27, logged 143 plate appearances with the Marlins this season and batted .233/.287/.271. Like Bostick, he has limited MLB experience but a solid track record in Triple-A (.299/.368/.423).
Twins Outright Gregorio Petit
The Twins have outrighted infielder Gregorio Petit off the 40-man roster, per the Triple-A International League transactions page. He’ll likely become a free agent and seek another minor league deal this winter.
Petit, 33, batted .246/.313/.279 with a pair of doubles and three steals in two stints with Minnesota this season, appearing in 26 games and tallying 67 trips to the plate. That marked his sixth season of big league experience, having previously appeared with the A’s, Angels, Astros and Yankees. In all, Petit is a career .249/.294/.343 hitter in 493 Major League plate appearances and a .267/.316/.366 hitter in an even 3700 Triple-A plate appearances. Most of his career has been spent as a shortstop, though he has over 2000 professional innings at second base and nearly 1500 innings at third base as well.
Padres Release Jose Torres
Oct. 10: The Padres released Torres after he unsurprisingly cleared waivers earlier this morning, MLBTR has learned.
Oct. 4: The Padres have designated left-hander Jose Torres for assignment, as per MLB.com’s official transactions listing. Torres’ roster status had to be addressed once his 100-game suspension under the MLB/MLBPA joint domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy was up at season’s end.
Torres didn’t pitch in 2018 after he was charged with multiple criminal offenses during the offseason, stemming from a domestic disturbance incident where Torres was accused of pointing a gun at a woman with whom he was involved in a domestic relationship. Torres’ charges included assault with a deadly weapon, intimidation, and criminal damage, as well as a charge for possession of marijuana. He reportedly plead guilty to those charges in March. The Padres placed Torres on their restricted list in February, and Major League Baseball issued Torres with the 100-game suspension in June.
Torres, 25, made his big league debut in 2016 and then posted a 4.21 ERA, 8.3 K/9, and 3.94 K/BB rate over 68 1/3 innings in 2017. With the Padres facing a 40-man roster crunch this winter as some of their best prospects become eligible for the Rule 5 draft, it isn’t surprising that Torres would be DFA’d rather than restored to the 40-man. Torres could be outrighted to the minors if isn’t claimed or acquired during his 10-day DFA period, or it’s possible the Padres could simply release him altogether given the severity of his off-the-field situation.
Reds Claim Juan Graterol
The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed catcher Juan Graterol off waivers from the Twins after he’d been placed on outright waivers. Cincinnati already had a pair of open 40-man roster spots, so not corresponding move is necessary.
Graterol, 29, only appeared in three games with the Twins after having his contract selected in late September. He’d previously appeared in 58 games at the Major League level with the Angels organization and is a lifetime .217/.227/.274 hitter in 111 plate appearances as a big leaguer. He’s notched a more respectable .289/.316/.346 slash in 572 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, but Graterol is known more as a defensive-minded backstop than a threat at the plate. He’s halted 38 percent of stolen-bases attempts against him in parts of 13 minor league seasons and thrown out 12 of 36 potential base thieves in the Majors (33 percent). He’s also routinely posted average or better framing numbers, per Baseball Prospectus.
Despite his shortcomings at the plate, Graterol’s defensive capabilities have made him a popular target on the waiver wire in the past. In the 2016-17 offseason, for instance, he went from the Angels, to the Reds, to the Diamondbacks, back to the Angels and then to the Blue Jays via waiver claim in a span of two months. After opening the season in the Jays organization, he was then flipped back to the Angels in a minor trade. Graterol still has a minor league option remaining beyond the 2018 season, so if he survives the winter on a 40-man roster (be it with the Reds or another organization), his team in Spring Training will be able to send him to the minors without first exposing him to waivers.
Diamondbacks Outright Patrick Kivlehan
The Diamondbacks announced today that they have outrighted outfielder Patrick Kivlehan to Triple-A. Presumably, then, he has already cleared waivers.
Kivlehan, 28, has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. He was previously outrighted from the Reds’ 40-man roster after the 2017 season.
Arizona added Kivlehan in a late-season swap with the Mets. He helped the Snakes fill out their roster down the stretch but only received 14 plate appearances in nine games.
All told, Kivlehan is a .208/.302/.401 hitter in his 242 career MLB plate appearances, most of which came in 2017 with Cincinnati. Over parts of three seasons at Triple-A, the former fourth-rounder carries a .269/.325/.471 slash with 54 home runs in 1,352 plate appearances.