Mariners Sign Wade LeBlanc
SUNDAY: Seattle has announced the signing. LeBlanc’s deal is worth $650K, and he’ll have a chance at an additional $50K in incentives, Crasnick tweets.
SATURDAY: The Mariners have agreed to a major league contract with left-hander Wade LeBlanc, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets. LeBlanc was released by the Yankees just yesterday. Terms of his new pact with Seattle are currently unknown.
It’s certainly a lucky break for LeBlanc, who settled for a minors deal with the Yankees in mid-January. Less than 24 hours after his release, he was able to secure a superior contract. As Crasnick notes, a season-ending injury likely created an opening for LeBlanc in Seattle, who actually comes with reverse platoon splits for his career. That makes him a viable matchup against right-handers in Phelps’ stead.
Across 68 innings with the Pirates last season, the southpaw posted a 4.50 ERA (though his xFIP places his true talent close that of a 4.00 ERA pitcher), with a respectable 3.18 K/BB ratio. He carried a 45.9% ground ball rate, which was a vast improvement upon his 36.7% lifetime mark.
This will be LeBlanc’s second bout with the Mariners, for whom he tossed 50 innings of 4.50 ERA ball back in 2016. He’s also pitched for the Padres, Angels, Astros, Marlins, Yankees and Pirates over the course of his ten year MLB career.
Reds Release Ben Revere
The Reds have released outfielder Ben Revere, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com was among those to report. Revere joined the Reds a month ago on a minor league contract. Meanwhile, offseason minor league signings Phil Gosselin and Kevin Quackenbush have made the club. Gosselin will be part of the Reds’ bench, while Quackenbush will work out of their bullpen.
Revere was vying for a backup role in Cincinnati, but given the presences of outfielders Billy Hamilton, Adam Duvall, Scott Schebler and Jesse Winker, he looked like a long shot to make an impact with the team. The 29-year-old was ineffective over the previous two seasons, one with the Nationals and the other with the Angels, as he accounted for minus-1.2 fWAR and a .243/.282/.320 batting line in 683 plate appearances.
Revere’s signature speed was on display in 2017 during a 21-steal showing, but he’s no longer the solid regular he was earlier in his career with the Twins, Phillies and Blue Jays. Between his first full season, 2011, and 2015, Revere racked up 9.2 fWAR and batted .296/.329/.350 in 2,630 PAs. He also amassed 176 steals, the second-highest total in the league during that span.
Phillies Designate Cameron Rupp
The Phillies have designated catcher Cameron Rupp for assignment, per a team announcement. The club selected right-hander Drew Hutchison‘s contract in a corresponding move.
The 29-year-old Rupp has been a member of the Phillies since they chose him in the third round of the 2010 draft, and he debuted in the majors in 2013. Rupp has racked up 1,127 major league plate appearances since then, including 331 last year, when he hit .217/.299/.417 with 14 home runs. Overall, he has posted a .234/.298/.407 line.
Defensively, Rupp has earned negative pitch-framing grades from Baseball Prospectus since 2015, when he began seeing significant playing time, and was especially poor in that department last season. On the other hand, he has thrown out 31 percent of would-be base stealers for his career, beating out the league-average mark (28 percent).
Rupp’s designation makes it clear the Phillies will turn to Andrew Knapp to back up starting catcher Jorge Alfaro at the outset of the season. They could also try to find a taker for Rupp, who will make $2.05MM this season – his first of three arbitration years. Rupp has a pair of options remaining, so he could still function as minor league depth.
Hutchison, who’s best known for his Blue Jays tenure from 2012-16, joined the Phillies on a minor league deal last month. That came after he spent all of 2017 with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate. Thanks in part to injuries to Jerad Eickhoff and Mark Leiter Jr., Hutchison may claim a spot in the Phillies’ season-opening rotation. The 27-year-old has made a strong case for one this spring, as he has allowed just six earned runs on 12 hits and eight walks, with 17 strikeouts, in 19 2/3 innings.
Blue Jays To Re-Sign Craig Breslow
The Blue Jays will bring back left-handed reliever Craig Breslow on a minor league contract, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Toronto released Breslow on Saturday, but that was merely a procedural move, per Nicholson-Smith.
The Blue Jays first added Breslow on a minors pact that included a March 22 opt-out date back in February. The 37-year-old then struggled during the exhibition season, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits and four walks, with six strikeous, in 7 1/3 innings. Breslow’s subpar spring performance wasn’t enough to deter the Jays from keeping him around as a depth option, though.
Between 2005 (his big league debut) and 2012, Breslow enjoyed several quality seasons with a host of teams. He hasn’t been a reliable option since that stretch, however, and is coming off a 2017 season in which he logged a 5.09 ERA/4.46 FIP with 5.86 K/9, 3.57 BB/9 and a 39.8 percent groundball rate over 35 1/3 frames between the Indians and Twins. To his credit, Breslow stymied left-handed hitters, who batted just .196/.294/.286 against him.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/24/18
The latest minor moves from across baseball…
- The Reds have acquired right-hander Robinson Leyer from the White Sox, per Jon Heyman of FanRag. It’s not yet known what the ChiSox will receive for the 25-year-old Leyer, who debuted with their organization in 2012. Leyer spent a large portion of the previous two seasons at the Double-A level, including all of 2017, when he posted a 3.55 ERA with 9.57 K/9, 5.09 BB/9 and a 37.3 percent groundball rate in 58 1/3 innings.
Earlier updates:
- The Red Sox have acquired catcher Mike Ohlman from the Rangers for cash considerations, TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. A 2009 draft pick of the Orioles (11th round), Ohlman made his major league debut with the Blue Jays last year, though he only collected 13 plate appearances, before signing a minors pact with the Rangers in the offseason. The 27-year-old has done most of his recent work at the Triple-A level, where he has batted .240/.334/.424 in 518 PAs. It seems unlikely he’ll be a factor in Boston, whose catcher contingent features just-extended starter Christian Vazquez and backups Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart.
- The Pirates have placed outfielder Bryce Brentz on outright waivers, Liz Bloom of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette reports. Pittsburgh acquired the 29-year-old Brentz from Boston back in February, but the out-of-options slugger was then unable to earn a spot with his new organization during the spring. Brentz raked in the minors last year, where he tortured Triple-A pitchers with a .271/.334/.529 line (138 wRC+) and 31 home runs in 494 PAs. However, Brentz hasn’t been nearly that successful in the majors since the BoSox used a first-round pick on him in 2010, having hit .287/.311/.379 with just one HR in 90 trips to the plate.
Nationals Release Reid Brignac, Alejandro De Aza
Along with the previously reported Ryan Raburn, the Nationals have released infielder Reid Brignac and outfielder Alejandro De Aza, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. Both Brignac and De Aza signed minor league contracts with the organization during the offseason.
The 32-year-old Brignac hasn’t even cracked the 100-plate appearance plateau at the game’s highest level since 2011, when he was a member of the Rays. He has since seen limited action with the Yankees, Rockies, Phillies, Marlins and Braves. Brignac has batted a paltry .219/.264/.309 in 951 major league PAs, thus offsetting his ability to line up at second, third and shortstop. He perhaps could have been an early season factor in Washington, which will open the year without injured second baseman David Murphy, but the team will instead roll with Howie Kendrick and Wilmer Difo.
De Aza, 33, is a more accomplished major leaguer than Brignac, though he hit a meager .194/.223/.222 in 70 PAs with the Nationals last year. While De Aza fared well with their Triple-A affiliate (.280/.368/.403 in 212 PAs), he faced long odds of landing a spot with the Nats to begin the 2018 season. They’re loaded in the outfield, after all, with starters Bryce Harper, Adam Eaton and Michael A. Taylor, not to mention reserves Brian Goodwin and Matt Adams.
Braves To Release Scott Kazmir
The Braves have elected to release Scott Kazmir, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.
The move is somewhat curious on the surface. After pitching a scoreless inning today in a Grapefruit League game, Kazmir left the mound with what was described at the time as arm fatigue. The left-hander was slated to be the team’s fifth starter, which the Braves will need for at least the first month of the season as Luiz Gohara deals with a left ankle injury. It’s now unclear whom they’ll use in that role behind Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, Brandon McCarthy and Sean Newcomb. One option is the recently-signed Anibal Sanchez, who’s in camp on a minor league deal. Sanchez is indeed likely to fill the last spot in the Braves’ rotation, per O’Brien.
The 34-year-old Kazmir didn’t last long in Atlanta, which acquired him in an unusual, luxury tax-geared trade with the Dodgers in mid-December. Kazmir’s due $16MM in 2018, the last season of a three-year, $48MM deal he signed with the Dodgers entering 2016. The journeyman has disappointed since signing that deal, as he logged a 4.56 ERA/4.48 FIP in 136 1/3 innings in the first year of the contract before missing all of last season with a hip injury. A lack of durability has long been a problem for Kazmir, a 2002 first-round pick of the Mets who has endured an inconsistent career with several clubs since debuting with Tampa Bay in 2004.
Mariners Return Rule 5 Pick Mike Ford to Yankees
The Yankees have announced that the Mariners returned first baseman Mike Ford to them. Ford was the 11th pick in this offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.
Ford was part of a vulnerable Yankees system when the Rule 5 Draft came around. Indeed, Bombers’ farm system was raided for three of its young players they weren’t able to fit onto the 40-man roster by the November deadline.
Ford has an elite track record of getting on base in the minors. He owns an 18.4% walk rate at the Double-A level, and a 15.7% walk rate even at Triple-A. Last season, he slashed .266/.383/.543 for the Rail Riders, despite a .247 BABIP. During spring training with the Mariners, the 25-year-old mashed the baseball to the tune of a .885 OPS.
All this considered, it seems a bit surprising on the surface that he wasn’t able to crack the big league roster. But considering the scorching spring performance of Dan Vogelbach (who crushed six homers and posted an OPS of 1.385) and the return to health of Ryon Healy, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious spot for Ford on the roster.
Article XX(B) Free Agents Update: Saturday
Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement contains a provision that allows certain free agents who are signed to minor league contracts to receive a $100K retention bonus if they are not on the team’s 25-man roster or the Major League disabled list five days prior to the season.
Free agents who qualify for this distinction are those who have at least six years of Major League service time and had a Major League contract expire at the end of the previous season, but signed a minor league deal ten or more days prior to Opening Day.
The deadline for teams to decide on these players is today at 11am central time. By the deadline, teams with these players in camp need to decide whether to:
- Add the player to their 25-man roster or Major League disabled list (or agree to do so in writing).
- Pay the player a $100K retention bonus to keep him in the organization beyond the deadline and send him to the minors.
- Grant the player his outright release from the minor league contract so that he may pursue opportunities with other teams.
We’ll use this post to keep track of the Article XX(B) free agents whose respective teams have elected option one or two; in other words, players who won’t be released for the time being. The most recent updates are on top.
- Miguel Montero has been informed that he’ll make the Nationals as the club’s backup catcher, according to Jamal Collier of MLB.com. He’ll earn a $1.3MM base salary, as outlined in the details of the pact he signed with the club on February 1st. Montero beat out young backstop Pedro Severino in a camp battle for the role.
Earlier…
- Right-handed reliever Fernando Salas will make the Diamondbacks’ opening day roster, Zach Buchanan of The Athletic reports. He’ll join a relief crew that seems somewhat thin behind Archie Bradley, Brad Boxberger and Yoshihisa Hirano. The 32-year-old pitched to a 5.22 ERA across 58 2/3 relief innings last season between the Mets and the Angels. In a related move, the team has designated Rule 5 pick Albert Suarez.
- Indians manager Terry Francona announced today that reliever Matt Belisle will be the seventh member of the club’s opening day bullpen (hat tip to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com). Belisle had been competing with Carlos Torres for the final relief job; he pitched to a 4.03 ERA while saving 9 games for the Twins last season.
- Danny Valencia has been added to the Orioles’ roster, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweets. Valencia stated a while back that he had no plans to go to the minors if he didn’t make the big league club, so adding the corner infield to their roster was Baltimore’s only path to retaining him. He’ll prove a right-handed-hitting complement to first baseman Chris Davis.
- The Reds have informed middle infielder Cliff Pennington that he’ll make the major league club, John Fayman of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports via Twitter. He’ll serve as a bench player for a rebuilding Cincinnati club while top prospect Nick Senzel gets more seasoning at the Triple-A level. Pennington hit .253/.306/.330 for the Angels last year.
Blue Jays Release Craig Breslow, Outright Matt Dermody
Left-hander Craig Breslow has been granted his unconditional release by the Blue Jays, per a club announcement. The club has also outrighted fellow southpaw Matt Dermody to Triple-A Buffalo.
During Breslow’s best years, he was an incredibly effective lefty reliever. He never had a fantastic strikeout ability, but he had a penchant for limiting hard contact; a skill which seemed to help him outperform his peripherals virtually every year. That includes a 2013 season during which he managed to post a 1.81 ERA across 59 2/3 innings out of the Red Sox bullpen despite striking out just 4.98 batters per nine innings.
Recent years haven’t been as kind to Breslow, though. After playing below replacement level in 2014 and 2015, he only earned a spot on the mound 15 times during the 2016 campaign. He posted an ERA north of 5.00 and a WHIP north of 1.50 in 35 1/3 innings last season between the Twins and Indians, and spent time on the DL with what was described as rib cage soreness. He allowed five runs in 7 1/3 spring innings, and will cede a chance at a roster spot to the other non-roster invites still in camp.
Dermody, 27, was a late-round pick of the Jays back in 2013. He’s made 28 appearances out of Toronto’s bullpen between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, tossing 25 1/3 innings of 5.33 ERA baseball. While he’s not particularly good at striking batters out (7.11 career K/9), he’s generally proved effective at limiting walks (1.78 career BB/9), and should be able to help the Jays at some point this season.