White Sox Release Willy Garcia
The White Sox announced their second series of roster cuts this spring today, which included the release of outfielder Willy Garcia. The move opens up a second 40-man roster spot for the ChiSox, who previously had 39 players on the 40-man.
Chicago acquired Garcia, 25, off waivers from the Pirates last January, and he went on to make his MLB debut with the team in 2017 (at times appearing in an all-Garcia outfield which also consisted of Avisail Garcia and Leury Garcia). In 119 plate appearances with the Sox, Garcia hit .238/.305/.400 with three homers. His work in Triple-A was strong, as evidenced by a .286/.396/.473 slash — a notable step forward from a fairly dismal Triple-A campaign with the Buccos in 2016.
Garcia’s 2017 season was cut short by a broken jaw suffered in a collision with Yoan Moncada in late July, though he returned to appear in four games in late September. With Adam Engel, Nicky Delmonico, Ryan Cordell, Charlie Tilson and Daniel Palka all on the big league roster or in the upper minors (plus Avisail and Leury both still locks for the 25-man roster), Garcia faced a difficult path to resurfacing in the Majors this season.
Garcia had yet to take an at-bat this spring, as he’d been limited by a wrist injury, according to Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Tigers Agree To Minor League Deal With Jarrod Saltalamacchia
The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, MLBTR has confirmed. MLB.com’s Jason Beck first tweeted that Saltalamacchia showed up at the Tigers’ Spring Training facility. Saltalamacchia is represented by ACES.
This will mark the second go-around with the Tigers for Saltalamacchia, as the switch-hitting veteran also spent the 2016 campaign in Detroit. Salty got off to a fast start in ’16, carrying an OPS north of .900 through the month of April and managing to keep that mark at a solid .776 through the end of June. However, his offensive output cratered from that point forth, as he hit just .128/.237/.231 in his final 139 plate appearances of the season.
Last year, Saltalamacchia spent time in the Blue Jays organization, appearing in 10 big league games and 33 games in Triple-A while struggling mightily at each level (.515 OPS in Triple-A). Those struggles continued into a stint in the Mexican Winter League. He’d been working out at the free-agent Spring Training camp at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., prior to landing back with the Tigers.
Detroit has plenty of catching depth on hand at present, with James McCann slated to start and John Hicks in line to be his primary backup. Derek Norris has also been competing for that job on a non-roster deal in Spring Training and has performed quite well at the plate in limited action thus far. Fellow veteran Brayan Pena is also in Tigers camp, giving them yet another option (and another former Tiger) who could serve as depth in Triple-A.
It’s possible that one or both of Norris or Pena will ultimately land with another organization if he cannot crack the big league roster out of camp. In that instance, Saltalamacchia could occupy a spot in Triple-A Toledo to open the season. He could also simply use this opportunity with the Tigers as a means of giving other clubs a look at him for the next few weeks, at which point he, too, could land elsewhere.
Rough as the 2016-17 seasons were for Saltalamacchia, the 32-year-old is not that far removed from a relatively productive five-year run during which he slashed .237/.309/.434 with 75 homers in 1966 plate appearances. While those numbers are hardly eye-catching, they did translate to a 101 OPS+, or roughly average production when factoring in league and home park. Relative to other catchers, in particular, Saltalamacchia was a more than viable offensive option during that stretch.
Koji Uehara Signs With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants
After a terrific nine-year run in Major League Baseball, veteran reliever Koji Uehara has returned to the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced (link via the Japan Times). Carlos Yamakazi of the Tokyo Sports Press had previously tweeted that Uehara would sign there and that the deal would be announced today.
Now entering his age-43 season, Uehara began his professional career with the Yomiuri organization nearly two decades ago. Uehara spent 10 seasons with the Giants, making 205 starts and another 71 relief appearances as he worked to a 3.01 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 1.2 BB/9, 112 wins, nine shutouts and 33 saves before making the jump to Major League Baseball after the 2008 season.
Uehara initially landed with the Orioles on a two-year deal prior to the 2009 season and turned in a solid but injury-shortened season as a starter. He moved to the bullpen full-time the following season and never looked back, establishing himself as one of the more effective relievers in all of baseball for much of the next decade.
From 2010-15, Uehara was something of a perennially underappreciated star. The righty twice posted a sub-2.00 ERA in that six-year stretch and averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings each season along the way. Overall, Uehara logged a stellar 2.08 ERA between the Orioles, Rangers and Red Sox in that time, and his K/BB numbers were particularly astonishing over that dominant stretch: 11.4 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9.
Perhaps his crowning individual achievement, though, was being named the 2013 ALCS MVP with the eventual World Champion Red Sox. Uehara’s postseason career featured 18 innings of 3.00 ERA ball with a 21-to-2 K/BB ratio, and he was utterly dominant in that 2013 League Championship Series, tossing six shutout innings with just four hits allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts against the Tigers.
Uehara was still effective in 2016-17 and still posted quality K/BB numbers, but he became more homer-prone in the two most recent seasons, averaging 1.5 homers per nine innings pitched between the Red Sox and his lone season with the Cubs (2017). The righty had been holding out hope for a big league opportunity and at one point said he was weighing retirement if such an offer did not materialize. However, Uehara recently indicated that he still had the passion and competitive drive pulling him toward the playing field and reconsidered interest from several Japanese clubs.
“There is only one thing for me to do, and that is to play my heart out,” said Uehara upon signing with the Giants (via the aforementioned Japan Times report). “Other Japanese clubs showed interest, but the Giants were the team whose approach was enthusiastic, and I am grateful.”
It seems likely that this reunion could spell the end of Uehara’s time in Major League Baseball, and if that’s he case he can look back with pride at what was an outstanding career in North America. In 480 2/3 innings, Uehara delivered a 2.66 ERA with 10.7 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 1.12 HR/9, 22 wins and 95 saves. Baseball-Reference pegged him at 13.8 WAR in his career, while Fangraphs’ RA9-WAR largely concurred at 13.7. In all, he earned just north of $50MM in his MLB playing career.
Astros Renew Carlos Correa’s Contract At $1MM
The Astros have renewed the contract of star shortstop Carlos Correa at $1MM, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). That comes in just shy of the record for a pre-arbitration player, set by Kris Bryant last offseason when the Cubs agreed to a $1.05MM salary. Correa’s $1MM mark ties the previous record holder, Mike Trout, who earned $1MM in 2014 as a pre-arb player before agreeing to his $144MM contract extension the following offseason.
It’s worth noting, though, that the Astros renewed Correa’s contract. That indicates that, in spite of the near-record-setting nature of Correa’s pre-arbitration salary, the two sides did not see eye to eye on his 2018 earnings. Teams can negotiate with their pre-arb players, and the two sides will often agree to terms on a salary — typically within the vicinity of the league minimum for most players but sometimes a few hundred thousand or so greater for higher-profile players that have not yet reached salary arbitration.
However, if the two sides cannot agree to a negotiated salary, then the team can renew the player’s contract at any amount at or above the league minimum. In this instance, the fact that Correa’s contract was renewed could mean that he and his representatives at the Legacy Agency were hoping to set a new record and simply elected to let the team renew the contract.
Certainly, though, it’s nothing new for this player and team. A renewal also occurred in each of the past two seasons. Most notably, the ‘Stros gave Correa only the league-minimum salary for the 2017 campaign. Of course, there’s still no real indication whether the failure to agree could hint at underlying discord that might impact future contractual matters.
The deal isn’t a straight MLB contract, it’s also worth noting, per a tweet from Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). Houston elected instead to make it a split deal, providing a $267,500 rate of pay in the exceedingly unlikely event that Correa is optioned down. Clearly, as with Correa’s own decision not to agree to the offered amount, the sides have elected to stand on their rights — even if there’s no reasonably anticipated practical difference.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/8/18
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around baseball…
- The Mariners announced that righty Shawn Armstrong has been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. Armstrong, 27, is out of options and obviously was not seen as likely to win a pen job out of camp. Still, he could be a useful depth piece for the M’s. In 43 1/3 MLB frames over three seasons, Armstrong owns a 3.53 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 as well as an 11.3% swinging-strike rate. Armstrong has posted interesting numbers at Triple-A, where he carries a 2.44 ERA with 13.0 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 133 total innings.
- Lefty Hunter Cervenka has been released by the Marlins, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Cervenka, who recently turned 28, was outrighted off of the 40-man roster over the winter. He has 48 MLB innings under his belt but has not yet shown an ability to stay in the zone, with 6.8 BB/9 in that span. Cervenka spent the bulk of 2017 at Triple-A, where he worked to a 4.58 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 over 39 1/3 innings.
Earlier Transactions
- In a minor signing that flew a bit below our radar earlier this winter, the D-backs‘ Triple-A affiliate announced that they signed former Mets righty Tyler Pill to a minor league pact. Pill, 28 in May, made his MLB debut with the Mets last year and totaled 22 innings of work across seven innings, including three starts. He struggled to a 5.32 ERA with a 16-to-10 K/BB ratio in that time, but Pill posted more encouraging numbers in a very hitter-friendly Triple-A Las Vegas setting. In 80 1/3 frames in the Pacific Coast League, he logged a 3.47 ERA, albeit with a modest 5.6 K/9 mark against 2.5 BB/9. Pill was assigned to Reno, per the announcement, and hasn’t logged an inning with the D-backs this spring, so it seems he was not invited to Major League camp. He’ll presumably be on hand as a depth option in Triple-A this season.
- Jumping further back into Mets history, right-hander Vic Black has signed on with the independent New Jersey Jackals of the Canadian-American Association (h/t: Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, on Twitter). Now 29 years of age, the Mets hoped at one point that Black could be a long-term piece in their bullpen. He turned in a 2.96 ERA in 51 2/3 MLB innings from 2013-14 between the Pirates and Mets, but shoulder issues slowed his career before New York eventually cut him loose. Black struggled between A-ball and Double-A with the Giants organization in 2017 and will hope to use the indy circuit as a platform to get his career back on track.
- Sticking with former big leaguers joining the independent leagues, the Long Island Ducks announced yesterday that they’ve signed former Braves All-Star Jair Jurrjens. Back in 2008, a 22-year-old Jurrjens finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting with the Braves and went on to earn All-Star honors as a 25-year-old in 2011. However, a series of knee injuries torpedoed his promising career, and he hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since totaling 16 2/3 innings for the Orioles and Rockies from 2013-14. Jurrjens did toss 54 1/3 innings with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2017, and he turned 32 years of age just five weeks ago, so he could still work his way back into affiliated ball with a strong showing in the Atlantic League.
Tigers Release Travis Wood
The Tigers announced this morning that they’ve given lefty Travis Wood his unconditional release. Wood, 31, had been in camp on a minor league contract trying to make the big league pitching staff, but those hopes were dashed when he suffered a torn ACL while executing a rundown in his first start of the spring.
Wood signed a two-year, $12MM deal with the Royals last offseason but struggled mightily in Kansas City and was traded to the Padres alongside Matt Strahm in the summer trade that netted the Royals Trevor Cahill, Brandon Maurer and Ryan Buchter. His fortunes didn’t turn in San Diego, though, and the Padres wound up releasing him this offseason despite the fact that the Royals are on the hook for the entirety of his 2018 salary. In all, Wood logged a disastrous 6.80 ERA and allowed 19 home runs in just 94 innings between the two teams in 2017.
Grisly as those numbers were, the veteran lefty logged a tidy 2.95 ERA in 61 frames in 2016, and he was a generally useful arm in a five-year stint split between the Cubs’ rotation and bullpen, working to a cumulative 3.94 ERA through 691 1/3 innings from 2012-16 — including a 200-inning campaign for the Cubs in 2013.
The ACL tear means that Wood will require surgical repair and miss the upcoming 2018 campaign, though he can likely find his way into big league camp with a club next spring once he’s recovered from the injury. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted recently that if and when Wood was released, Detroit could potentially re-sign him to a new minor league pact.
Royals Sign Ricky Nolasco To Minor League Deal
7:55pm: The Royals announced the signing.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provides a more in-depth breakdown of Nolasco’s incentive structure (Twitter link). The veteran righty would unlock a $25K bonus for making his 10th start of the season, and he’d earn an additional $25K for each start up through his 19th of the year. For a pitcher with Nolasco’s recent durability, that’s a highly attainable set of bonuses, though he’s obviously far from a lock to even make the big league roster.
5:15pm: The Royals and Nolasco are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links). He’ll earn a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the Major League roster and has another $250K of incentives available to him. Nolasco’s deal also has a March 24th out clause.
3:54pm: The two sides are discussing a minor league contract, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (via Twitter), though he cautions that the deal is not yet complete.
3:32pm: The Royals are closing in on an agreement with free-agent right-hander Ricky Nolasco, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). Nolasco, a client of Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon, will provide some depth for a thin group of rotation candidates with the Royals, who recently lost righty Jesse Hahn to the 60-day DL due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament.
Last season, the 35-year-old Nolasco wrapped up a four-year, $49MM deal initially signed with the Twins, though he played out the final season of that contract with the Angels after being flipped to them at the 2016 non-waiver trade deadline. Signed to serve as a durable innings eater in the middle of the Twins’ rotation, Nolasco lost much of his first two years of that deal to injury.
He bounced back to make 65 starts from 2016-17, though the results in that time weren’t what either the Twins or Halos would’ve hoped; over the past two seasons, Nolasco has soaked up 378 2/3 innings between the two clubs but struggled to a 4.66 ERA and averaged 1.4 homers per nine innings pitched.
To his credit, Nolasco has managed to keep his velocity steady, sitting in the 90-91 mph range into his mid-30s, and he posted a career-best 10.9 percent swinging-strike rate with the Angels in 2017. That said, he was still far too hittable — 205 hits in 181 innings — and yielded a 37.6 percent hard-contact rate that ranked as the fourth-highest among all qualified starters.
With the Royals, Nolasco will vie for a spot in a rotation that will include Danny Duffy, Ian Kennedy and Jason Hammel. Jake Junis and Nate Karns are both candidates for the final two spots, with Junis turning in a solid rookie effort in 2017 and Karns looking for a comeback following surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome. Wily Peralta, Eric Skoglund, Sam Gaviglio and Trevor Oaks are among the other rotation candidates on the 40-man roster.
Rays Release Dustin McGowan
Veteran right-hander Dustin McGowan, who has been in camp with the Rays on a minor league contract, was informed by the team that he would not make the Opening Day roster and has been released, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin noted (on Twitter) that out of respect to McGowan, the organization offered him the chance to remain in camp and keep working out as he searched for a new opportunity with another organization, though he appears to have declined that offer.
McGowan, 36 later this month, spent the 2016-17 seasons with the Marlins, totaling 144 2/3 innings of 3.86 ERA ball and averaging 7.9 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9 with a 53 percent ground-ball rate along the way. A starter early in his career with the Blue Jays, McGowan has worked almost entirely out of the bullpen since 2013 — often tossing more than one inning per appearance — and logged a 4.08 ERA in 275 2/3 frames in that time. He’ll presumably look to latch on elsewhere, hoping another club will provide him a stronger opportunity to earn a roster spot.
[Related: Updated Tampa Bay Rays depth chart]
As for the Rays, they’re still trying to sort out who will fill the final few spots in their bullpen behind Alex Colome, Sergio Romo, Daniel Hudson and lefties Dan Jennings and Jose Alvarado. The 40-man roster presents numerous options, including Andrew Kittredge, Chaz Roe, Austin Pruitt, Ryne Stanek, Jaime Schultz and Diego Castillo. The Rays also have several left-handers with big league experience in camp as non-roster invitees: Jonny Venters, Vidal Nuno, Adam Kolarek and Dan Runzler.
While that’s a large group of candidates, the Rays look to be slowly narrowing the field. In addition to allowing McGowan to explore other opportunities, the Rays released veteran righty Evan Scribner earlier this afternoon. Like McGowan, Scribner had been in camp on a minor league deal.
Mariners Designate Shawn Armstrong For Assignment
The Mariners have designated right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Ichiro Suzuki, whose return to the organization is now official (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Greg Johns).
Seattle acquired Armstrong, 27, in a minor December swap that sent $500K of international bonus allotments to the Indians. Armstrong spent his entire career in the Indians organization prior to that trade, debuting with the big league club in 2015 and going on to pitch 43 1/3 innings out of the Major League bullpen from 2015-17. In that time, he worked to a solid 3.53 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.45 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate.
Armstrong, however, was out of minor league options and was not a lock to make a bullpen that figures to be anchored by closer Edwin Diaz and righties Juan Nicasio, David Phelps and Nick Vincent in addition to lefties James Pazos and Marc Rzepczynski. That left just two spots for Armstrong, Mike Morin, Dan Altavilla, Tony Zych, Chasen Bradford and Nick Rumbelow — each of whom is on the 40-man roster and has minor league options remaining.
The Mariners will have a week to trade Armstrong or place him on outright waivers with the hopes of keeping him in the organization. He’s had a solid spring to date, allowing a run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Rangers Sign Tim Lincecum
MARCH 7: Lincecum can take home an additional $500K in incentives tied to appearances, anther $500K in roster bonuses, $2MM based upon games finished, and $1.5MM for games started, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links). There’s also a $500K payout if he’s able to earn the nod as the comeback player of the year.
MARCH 6, 10:10pm: Lincecum passed his physical, Heyman tweets. The right-hander has already been at camp in Rangers gear giving interviews, so it seems his deal will likely be announced tomorrow.
12:02pm: The club has confirmed the agreement but says it is not quite finalized and won’t be announced today, as TR Sullivan of MLB.com was among those to tweet.
FEBRUARY 27, 7:21pm: Lincecum’s deal comes with a $1MM base salary and incentives to drive the salary up from that point, Grant tweets.
3:23pm: Lincecum has indeed agreed to a Major League contract, pending a physical, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Rangers plan to utilize Lincecum out of the bullpen, where he could compete for a presently vacant closer’s role. Passan suggested earlier on Twitter that Lincecum could be a relief option in Texas.
2:53pm: The Rangers have struck a deal with righty Tim Lincecum, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Presumably, the contract is of the MLB variety and pending a physical, though details remain unknown at this time. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter) reported the sides were nearing a deal.
Texas has steadily added arms all winter long, rebuilding a pitching staff that entered the offseason with little in the way of certainty. Lincecum, like some of the other newly acquired players, certainly comes with ample uncertainty of his own, but the overall picture of the staff is at the very least much more interesting than it was four months ago.
Lincecum represents a wild card for the Rangers’ staff. He was drubbed for 68 hits and 39 runs in 38 1/3 innings in 2016, did not even pitch in 2017, and has not posted a sub-4.00 ERA since 2011. But Lincecum also had a four-year run (2008 to 2011) as arguably the game’s best pitcher. More importantly, he reportedly impressed scouts with his form and fitness in a recent showcase.
Of equal intrigue to just how the two-time Cy Young winner will look is how the Rangers will use him. The 33-year-old has functioned almost exclusively as a starter throughout his career. But the Rangers’ strategy this winter has been to add flexible hurlers that can contribute multiple innings in any role. There are also some suggestions that Texas could consider utilizing Lincecum in a late-inning capacity, though perhaps the overall impression at this point is that the organization intends to mix and match as circumstances dictate rather than committing to traditional roles.