Nationals Agree To Minor League Deal With Alejandro De Aza
The Nationals have re-signed veteran outfielder Alejandro De Aza to a minor league pact, Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post tweets. De Aza did not receive an invite to Major League camp, though he’ll be with the club for today’s game at least, Castillo adds. De Aza is a client of Magnus Sports.
The 33-year-old De Aza spent the entire 2017 season in the Nationals organization and finished out the year with the big league club. He made just 70 plate appearances and batted .194/.224/.323 in his brief big league stint with the Nats, but he posted a much stronger .280/.368/.403 slash in 212 Triple-A plate appearances.
Last year’s 28 Major League games were the fewest De Aza had logged in a season since appearing in just 19 contests with the White Sox back in 2010. De Aza averaged 134 games and 484 PAs per season from 2012-16 between the ChiSox, Orioles, Red Sox, Giants and Mets, hitting a combined .258/.326/.395 along the way. He has experience at all three outfield positions and seems likely to head to Triple-A as a depth option to open the season.
Cubs Sign Danny Hultzen
The Cubs have agreed to a minors pact with one-time top prospect Danny Hultzen, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune recently reported. His contract provides for a $600K salary in the majors with up to $150K in available incentives, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
Of course, any thought of cracking a major-league roster is secondary to regaining health for Hultzen, who originally inked a $8.5MM guaranteed deal with the Mariners in August of 2011. Seattle removed him from its MLB roster after the 2015 season and he has not appeared in a professional contest since 2016.
Drafted as a polished left-handed starter out of the University of Virginia, Hultzen — who’s now 28 years of age — mostly dominated the opposition inthe upper minors. Over 169 2/3 innings of professional ball, he carries a 2.86 ERA.
Unfortunately, major shoulder injuries — including procedures in 2013 and 2016 — have totally derailed Hultzen’s career. He decided to finish off his college degree and prepare for one more attempt at a return, as he discussed his ordeal last fall in an interesting chat with Dillon Mullan of the Washington Post.
Needless to say, the Cubs won’t be counting on anything from the hard-luck southpaw. Indeed, a Mariners doctor is said to have advised Hultzen not to attempt pitching anymore as he went in for his 2016 surgery. But the talent is obviously there and it’s easy to root for a player who once seemed a sure thing to reach and a good bet to thrive in the majors.
Pirates Sign Kevin Siegrist To Minor-League Deal
March 1: Siegrist’s contract comes with a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the big league roster, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Siegrist can earn an additional $500K worth of incentives and has a pair of opt-out dates in the deal if he has not been added to the 25-man roster.
Feb. 24: The Pirates have inked left-hander Kevin Siegrist to a minor-league contract, the team announced today in a press release. He’s received an invitation to spring training camp as well.
Siegrist had recently pitched before a crowd of about 20 scouts in Florida, making an attempt to show teams he’s healthy and can bounce back after an injury-marred 2017 campaign with the Cardinals and Phillies. Apparently none of those teams were willing to offer Siegrist a major-league contract, but he’ll have a good chance to make a Pirates roster that features George Kontos and Michael Feliz as the top setup options behind newly-extended closer Felipe Rivero. If he does, the Bucs will have the option to control him through the 2019 season via the arbitration process.
Prior to 2017, Siegrist had enjoyed a largely successful career with the Cardinals. Across 206 1/3 frames with the club from 2013-2016, the southpaw pitched to a 2.70 ERA while racking up 243 strikeouts. He had a bit of a walk problem (4.10 BB/9), and ERA estimators suggested he outperformed his peripherals a bit (3.87 xFIP), but nonetheless he was solid for the Redbirds, racking up 72 holds and 9 saves during that span.
Things took a turn for the worst for Siegrist last year, as a forearm strain and spinal sprain forced two separate stints on the DL. When on the field, his velocity and strikeout rate were both down, while his walk rate ballooned to a problematic 5.24 per nine. His 4.98 ERA became an eyesore, and by the end of August, the Cardinals had seen enough; they activated him from the DL only to designate him for assignment immediately.
Siegrist was quickly claimed by the Phillies, for whom he pitched just five innings during the month of September. He allowed two earned runs and struck out seven. However, his showing apparently wasn’t enough to convince Philadelphia to pay him a minimal arbitration raise on his $1.6MM 2017 salary. The club opted to outright Siegrist off their 40-man roster, and he elected free agency shortly thereafter.
The towering 6′-5″ Siegrist is just 28 years old. He was drafted and developed by the Cardinals organization, who plucked him out of Palm Beach Community College in the 41st round of the 2008 draft. Though he was a starter in the lower minors, a shift to the bullpen late in his 2012 season at the Double-A level spurred a quick rise to the majors. Siegrist pitched just 7 2/3 innings with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate before he was deemed ready to make his major-league debut on June 6th, 2013, a day on which he struck out four of the six hitters he faced while allowing no earned runs.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/1/18
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Padres have added veteran outfielder Cole Gillespie on a minor league contract, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. San Diego already has a fairly notable outfield crunch, though Gillespie is surely viewed as little more than a minor league depth option at this juncture. The 33-year-old didn’t play in affiliated ball last season, splitting the year between the Mexican League and the independent Atlantic League and batting a combined .283/.353/.384. Gillespie logged 212 plate appearances for the 2015-16 Marlins and hit .276/.318/.413 in that time — his most recent MLB action. He’s spent parts of six seasons in the Majors, where he’s batted .251/.305/.367, and he’s a career .289/.381/.459 hitter in parts of eight Triple-A campaigns.
Twins Sign Logan Morrison
FEBRUARY 28: Morrison’s signing is now official.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets some further detail on the operation of the contract. Morrison can earn $500K apiece in bonus pay this year upon reaching 450, 500, and then 550 plate appearances. The number of times he strides to the plate could also impact the vesting/club option: if he tops 500 plate appearances it will move to $8.5MM; at 550 plate appearances it becomes $9MM; and at 600 plate appearances the option vests at a $9.5MM price tag.
FEBRUARY 25, 3:45pm: Morrison’s option will automatically vest if he amasses 600 PAs this year, LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). The deal also includes $1MM in reachable incentives each season, and Morrison’s 2019 salary could increase to $9MM, per Phil Miller of the Star Tribune.
1:33pm: Morrison will earn $5.5MM in 2018, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. The vesting option is worth $8MM and comes with a $1MM buyout.
12:54pm: The Twins and free agent first baseman Logan Morrison have agreed to a deal, pending a physical, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports on Twitter. It’s a one-year, $6.5MM guarantee with escalators and a vesting option that could make it a two-year, $16.5MM pact, Morosi adds. Morrison is a client of ISE Baseball.
Morrison will go down among the most notable victims of this year’s slow-moving free agent market, one he surely entered with hopes of securing a richer pact after a career campaign with the Rays in 2017. Instead, between hitting free agency in November and finally agreeing to join the Twins, Morrison didn’t draw much reported interest on the market. As a result, he’ll fall well shy of the three-year, $36MM guarantee MLBTR predicted he’d receive at the outset of the winter.
While this has been a disappointing past few months for Morrison, adding him for a relatively affordable cost could be a significant coup for a Twins team that’s coming off its first playoff season since 2010. The Twins’ offense was a key reason for its success in 2017, as the unit finished tied for fifth in the majors in wRC+ (102) and seventh in runs (815). That was without high-end DH production from the duo of Robbie Grossman and Kennys Vargas. Now, Morrison seems likely to see the bulk of the action at DH for Minnesota, which already has Joe Mauer at first base.
[RELATED: Updated Twins Depth Chart]
The 30-year-old, left-handed-hitting Morrison was one of the majors’ most formidable offensive players last season, when he slashed .246/.353/.516 (130 wRC+) across 601 plate appearances. Morrison also notched 38 home runs and a .270 ISO, placing him among the league’s best power hitters. It was an unexpected outburst from Morrison, who was essentially a league-average hitter during stints with the Marlins and Mariners from 2010-16. He found another gear thanks to a newfound emphasis on putting the ball in the air, evidenced by a 46.2 percent fly rate (up from a lifetime 37.5), and increased patience. Morrison walked in 13.5 percent of PAs, a good bit higher than his career figure (10.5).
Morrison was also somewhat of a Statcast darling in 2017, as he upped his launch angle from 12.1 degrees in 2016 to 17.4 (h/t: Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com) and ranked among the majors’ top 32 hitters in both barrels per PA and balls hit at least 95 mph. Consequently, he finished with one of the league’s top expected weighted-on base averages (.365), just beating out his real wOBA (.363).
The addition of Morrison is the latest big move by the Twins in their efforts to overtake the Indians in the AL Central. Minnesota hasn’t lost any key contributors from the 85-win team it fielded a year ago, though third baseman Miguel Sano (potential suspension) and starter Ervin Santana (finger surgery) could each miss the start of the season. Regardless, along with Morrison, the Twins have picked up pitchers Jake Odorizzi, Fernando Rodney, Addison Reed and Zach Duke since last season ended. Odorizzi knows Morrison from Tampa Bay, and he helped recruit him to Minnesota, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press.
“I’ve had conversations with (Morrison) about here,” Odorizzi said prior to the agreement. “We’ll see what comes out of it.”
Odorizzi has also talked with free agent Alex Cobb, another ex-Ray, about joining the Twins. The club continues to seek a front-line starter, according to Berardino, so it seems possible Cobb will join Odorizzi and Morrison in Minnesota. That would further drive up a payroll which, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of MLBTR and Roster Resource, is currently slated to check in at a franchise-record $124.8MM.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Royals Designate Billy Burns, Announce Signing Of Lucas Duda
The Royals have designated outfielder Billy Burns, per a club announcement. His roster spot will go to first baseman Lucas Duda, whose signing is now official.
Burns, 28, has received only limited MLB opportunities since landing in Kansas City in a 2016 trade from the A’s. He had turned in a highly productive 2015 season, with a .294/.334/.392 slash and 26 steals to go with quality glovework in center, but fell off badly in the ensuing campaign.
Last year, Burns primarily suited up for Triple-A Omaha. Despite an ongoing lack of power, the switch-hitter got on base at a .369 clip by drawing 44 walks against just sixty strikeouts over 413 plate appearances. On the bases, though, Burns was cut down in 11 of his 35 steal attempts.
Rangers Acquire International Bonus Money From Royals
The Rangers have acquired international bonus pool money in a swap with the Royals, per an announcement from the Texas organization. Righty Domingo Pena is heading to Kansas City in return.
While the precise value of the spending capacity being exchanged isn’t clear from the announcement, it seems likely to be $250K. That’s how much the Rangers could still add after last week’s similar trade, and is also the baseline increment that funds can be dealt in.
All indications are that these funds are ticketed for Cuban prospect Julio Pablo Martinez, who is said to be working on a deal with the Rangers that will be finalized once he’s formally eligible to sign. There’s nothing new on that front, though Baseball America’s Ben Badler did recently report that Martinez faces an unusual $100K fine for providing incorrect information to MLB.
Pena, 19, has played in the Rangers’ system for the past three years. He first came stateside last year and has yet to pitch beyond the Rookie level. In thirty total frames in 2017, Pena pitched to a 2.70 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.
Royals Sign Lucas Duda
The Royals have officially struck a deal with free agent first baseman Lucas Duda, as Robert Murray of Fan Rag first reported (via Twitter). The deal promises the Beverly Hill Sports Council client $3.5MM, per Fan Rag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links).
Rather achievable incentives can also boost that salary. Per MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan, Duda will receive $100K upon reaching 300 plate appearances and can take down another $100K with every twenty-five trips to the dish thereafter, topping out at 600 plate appearances and a total potential $1.3MM in additional earnings.
It seems, then, that the veteran Duda will function as the replacement for the departing Eric Hosmer. The 32-year-old Duda is significantly older, and wasn’t as productive as Hosmer in 2017, but has actually been a better offensive performer over the two players’ respective careers.
Depending upon how one slices the numbers, it’s possible to paint a more pessimistic or optimistic picture of Duda’s track record and near-future outlook. He struggled through an injury-filled 2016 season and fell off down the stretch last year after a mid-season trade. On the other hand, he hit quite well at the outset of the 2017 campaign and slashed a robust .249/.350/.483 over the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Despite a less-than-exciting finish to the season after a mid-2017 deal from the Mets to the Rays, Duda still ended with a well-above-average .217/.322/.496 overall output with thirty home runs. That came in spite of posting only a .238 batting average on balls in play.
Of course, Duda also reverted to struggling badly against left-handed pitching after having improved in that area in 2015. For his career, Duda carries an 84 wRC+ when hitting without the platoon advantage. Clearly, then, it’d be preferable for K.C. to give him a rest against southpaws.
Despite the caveats, it’s a bargain rate for a player who has been quite productive at the plate while receiving approximately average grades for his glovework at first. Duda may not be an adequate replacement for Hosmer in the leadership or baserunning departments, but it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him out-hit the man he’ll replace.
Mets Sign A.J. Griffin To Minor League Deal
Feb. 27: Griffin would earn $750K in the Majors and have the opportunity to earn another $500K via incentives, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman. His contract also comes with opt-out dates in the event that he’s unlikely to make the big league roster.
Feb. 26: The Mets are in agreement with free-agent right-hander A.J. Griffin on a minor league deal, tweets James Wagner of the New York Times. He’ll report to Major League camp with the team shortly. Griffin is represented by the Legacy Agency.
Grffin, 30, has spent the past two seasons in the Rangers organization, where he’s soaked up 196 1/3 innings over the course of 41 games (38 starts) for an oft-injured Texas staff. While he’s turned in passable K/BB numbers in that time (7.7 K/9, 3.4 BB/9), however, Griffin has been baseball’s most homer-prone pitcher over the past two seasons, averaging 2.2 long balls per nine innings pitched. Griffin has posted just a 29 percent ground-ball rate in that time, and his extreme penchant for fly-balls is magnified by the fact that 15.6 percent of flies against him have cleared the fence for homers.
At one point, Griffin looked to be emerging as a solid long-term piece for the A’s. He debuted in Oakland as a 24-year-old back in 2012 and went on to post a 3.60 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 across 282 1/3 innings from 2012-13. However, he underwent Tommy John surgery the following spring and was away from a big league mound for two full seasons as a result.
Griffin doesn’t seem especially likely to crack the Mets’ Opening Day rotation, but he could remain on hand as a valuable depth option early in the season. Jacob deGrom had a terrific season atop the Mets’ rotation in 2017, but Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler and Seth Lugo all missed significant time on the disabled list last season.
Indians Agree To Terms With Mike Napoli
3:30pm: Napoli’s contract comes with a $1.75MM salary in the Majors plus another $3.25MM available to him via incentives, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman.
9:08am: The Indians have a minor-league deal in place with veteran slugger Mike Napoli, according to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (Twitter link). If he passes a physical, Napoli will join the organization’s major-league camp. He’s represented by Paragon Sports.
This move reunites the first baseman/DH with the organization he helped lead to a World Series berth in 2016. With Edwin Encarnacion ensconced in the designated hitter role, it seems likely that Napoli — if he earns a roster spot — would most likely serve as a platoon mate for first baseman Yonder Alonso.
Between Napoli’s quality season in Cleveland and his deal to re-join the organization today, the 36-year-old limped to a .193/.285/.428 slash in 485 plate appearances with the Rangers. While he still managed to launch 29 long balls, and was likely unfortunate to carry a .225 BABIP, Napoli’s walk (10.1%) and strikeout (33.6%) rates suffered in comparison to his levels in prior campaigns. He also dealt with a torn ligament in his right hand.
Needless to say, it’s possible to put a positive or negative spin on the undeniably less-than-ideal results from 2017. In a limited role, though, there’s good reason to think that Napoli can still produce at the plate — especially against lefties, against whom he owns a lifetime .892 OPS. And while he’s a poor baserunner who is limited in the field, he has graded out as an average performer at first base over the past three seasons.