Minor MLB Transactions: 2/11/18
The latest minor moves from around baseball:
- Right-hander Josh Roenicke is joining the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions in Taiwan, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. This will be the second straight season abroad for the 35-year-old Roenicke, who pitched in the Mexican League in 2017. Roenicke last appeared in the majors in 2013 as a member of the Twins, with whom he tossed 62 innings of 4.35 ERA ball. Prior to his Minnesota stint, Roenicke saw big league action with the Reds, Blue Jays and Rockies. Across 220 1/3 major league frames, he has logged a 4.17 ERA with 6.86 K/9, 4.78 BB/9 and a 46.7 percent groundball rate.
Braves Defeat Mike Foltynewicz In Arbitration
Right-hander Mike Foltynewicz has lost his arbitration case against the Braves, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. He’ll take home $2.2MM in 2018, his first of four potential arbitration years, falling just short of the $2.3MM he requested. The salary comes in $500K shy of the $2.7MM figure projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz.
The defeat for the 26-year-old Foltynewicz comes on the heels of his third season with the Braves, who acquired him in 2015 as part of a deal with the Astros that centered on Evan Gattis. A former promising prospect in Houston, the hard-throwing Foltynewicz has emerged as a competent rotation piece with the Braves over the past couple years. Dating back to 2016, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder has made 51 appearances (50 starts) and pitched to a 4.58 ERA/4.29 FIP over 277 1/3 innings. He tossed a career-high 154 frames in 2017 and recorded a 4.79 ERA/4.33 FIP, 8.36 K/9 and 3.45 BB/9.
Now that Folty’s case is settled, the Braves’ work on the arbitration front is done for the offseason, as MLBTR’s Arb Tracker shows.
Rays To Sign Dustin McGowan
The Rays have struck a minor-league deal with righty Dustin McGowan, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He’ll receive an invitation to MLB camp and would earn a $1.5MM salary in the majors, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
Soon to turn 36, the former first-round pick has spent the past two campaigns with the Marlins. He posted a notable bounceback effort in 2016 but stumbled in last year.
To be fair, McGowan did still managed to handle 77 2/3 frames over 63 appearances, so he’s still capable of bearing a substantial load. But he had a tough season in the results department, posting a 4.75 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.
Despite carrying a typically solid 50.9% groundball rate last year, McGowan coughed up 13 home runs. He also lost some velocity after showing career-best rates in 2016, but still averaged over 94 with both his four and two-seam fastballs.
In the aggregate, it seems McGowan will have his work cut out to earn a shot on the Opening Day roster. At a minimum, he’ll have a chance to establish position on the overall reliever depth chart. It’s worth remembering that there could yet be some added opportunities in Tampa Bay depending upon how the rest of the offseason unfolds.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/9/18
We’ll keep track of some today’s minor moves around the league here…
- The White Sox announced yesterday that they’ve inked infielder/outfielder Jake Elmore to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training. The versatile 30-year-old didn’t appear in the Majors in 2017, instead spending the year with the Triple-A affiliates for the Blue Jays and Marlins, where he struggled to a .236/.324/.281 in 416 plate appearances. Those unsightly rate stats aside, Elmore is a lifetime .289/.388/.369 hitter in nearly 2000 Triple-A plate appearances and comes with 197 games of MLB experience as well. In parts of five seasons with the D-backs, Astros, Reds, Brewers and Rays, Elmore is a .215/.297/.280 hitter that has appeared at every position on the field (including two innings of relief work).
Blue Jays Sign John Axford To Minor League Deal
Feb. 9: The Blue Jays have announced the signing.
Feb. 8, 8:54pm: Axford has indeed agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
7:46pm: The Blue Jays and free-agent right-hander John Axford are in agreement on a contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Canadian-born Axford is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council. Details of the arrangement aren’t yet clear, though given his rough 2017 season, it’s possible that Axford agreed to a minor league pact with a Spring Training invite.
Axford, 34, struggled with the A’s last season in the second year of a two-year, $10MM contract, pitching to a 6.43 ERA with a 21-to-17 K/BB ratio in 21 innings out of the Oakland ‘pen before being designated for assignment and released. However, he’s a year removed from a solid 3.97 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and 0.82 HR/9 with a 54.2 percent ground-ball rate through 65 2/3 innings in 2016.
Those numbers are largely in line with the overall production that Axford posted from 2013-16 in 241 innings with the Brewers, Cardinals, Indians, Pirates, Rockies and A’s. Axford has long shown the ability to miss bats (career 10.2 K/9) but has also had some longstanding issues in finding the strike zone with regularity (4.6 BB/9). His penchant for racking up strikeouts has led to multiple stints as a closer, as he’s saved 144 games in the Majors, including a 2011 campaign in which he led the National League with 46 saves for Milwaukee.
[Related: Toronto Blue Jays depth chart]
If he ultimately joins the Toronto relief corps, Axford would add an experienced arm to a group that largely lacks a track record. Roberto Osuna, of course, has emerged as one of the game’s top young relievers, and southpaw Aaron Loup has more than five years of big league service time under his belt. But, right-hander Ryan Tepera is the only other reliever on the roster with more than two full years of big league service time.
Joe Biagini, Carlos Ramirez, Danny Barnes, Matt Dermody and Tim Mayza are all 40-man options, but Biagini is the most experienced of the bunch and has not yet established himself in the Majors after a rocky 2017 campaign (mostly spent in the rotation). The Jays do have some veteran options that’ll be in camp as non-roster invitees this spring, including Al Alburquerque and and Jake Petricka (who reportedly agreed to a minor league deal earlier today).
Giants Sign Derek Holland To Minor League Deal
12:27pm: Giants GM Bobby Evans confirmed the deal to reporters, adding that Holland has already passed his physical (Twitter link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Holland will be given a chance to earn a spot in the rotation or in the bullpen.
The deal includes a $1.5MM potential base salary with as much as $2.5MM in possible incentives, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter).
11:47am: The Giants are in agreement with left-hander Derek Holland on a minor league contract, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). Presumably, he’ll compete for a roster spot in big league camp this spring.
Holland, 31, spent the bulk of the 2017 season with the White Sox, getting off to a hot start but fading as the season wore on before ultimately being released. The longtime Rangers lefty 2.37 ERA with a 52-to-24 K/BB ratio in 60 2/3 innings through the first two months of the 2017 season, looking the part of a bargain for the ChiSox at the time.
ERA alternatives like xFIP (4.95) and SIERA (4.77) never fully bought into that success, though, and Holland’s production cratered in the months to come as his control worsened. Over his final 74 1/3 innings, he allowed 77 runs on 105 hits and 51 walks, causing his season ERA to balloon from 2.37 to 6.20.
Holland at one point looked like a promising young building block in Texas, pitching to a 3.83 ERA and a 3.89 FIP over 623 1/3 innings from 2011-14. Knee surgery cut short his 2014 season, though, and his 2015 and 2016 seasons were marred by shoulder injuries. The 93-94 miles per hour that Holland averaged on his fastball during those peak young seasons was replaced in 2017 by a more pedestrian average of 91.1 mph.
It’s not entirely clear how the Giants plan to use Holland, though their rotation has no shortage of uncertainty. Beyond Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija (each of whom will be looking to rebound in 2018, to varying degrees), the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation are currently set to be filled by lefty Ty Blach and righty Chris Stratton. Blach had baseball’s lowest K/9 and K% marks in 2017, and his 6.2 percent swinging-strike rate was the game’s second-lowest. Stratton, meanwhile, is entering his age-27 season and has just 68 2/3 innings to his credit in the Majors, during which time he’s averaged 7.5 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 with below-average ground-ball tendencies.
San Francisco could also look at utilizing Holland in a bullpen role, even though he has never spent much time as a reliever. Lefties have batted just .246/.310/.349 against him in his career, and while those splits are hardly dominating, he could yet find some improvement if his velocity ticks up when pitching in shorter stints.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/8/18
We’ll keep tabs on the latest minor moves in this post …
- Outfielder Collin Cowgill has signed on with the Phillies on a minor league pact, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The 31-year-old Cowgill would earn an $800K base salary if he cracked the big league roster, per Nightengale, though he’ll have an uphill battle ahead of him in that regard. Philadelphia will have Rhys Hoskins, Odubel Herrera, Aaron Altherr, Nick Williams and Roman Quinn in the outfield mix as it is. Cowgill didn’t play in the Majors in 2017 and only logged nine games in 2016. He’s a career .234/.297/.329 hitter in parts of six Major League seasons and a career .283/.356/.431 hitter in seven Triple-A seasons.
Earlier Moves
- The Yankees have agreed to a minor-league deal with outfielder Shane Robinson, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). He could earn at a $950K rate in the majors and will receive an invitation to MLB camp this spring. The 33-year-old Robinson has long been a reserve/depth piece, seeing action in eight MLB campaigns but compiling only 795 total plate appearances at the game’s highest level. He spent most of 2017 with the Angels’ top affiliate, slashing a sturdy .319/.370/.425 in his 385 trips to the plate.
- Righty Stephen Fife is heading back stateside after signing on with the Indians, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). The 31-year-old, a third-round pick in 2008, hasn’t seen the majors since 2014 but does own a 3.66 ERA in 91 career frames. Fife made five starts last year for Japan’s Seibu Lions, but struggled to a 6.86 ERA with 11 strikeouts and 13 walks in just 21 frames. He’ll be looking to get back on track with the Cleveland organization, though he’ll certainly face very long odds to crack the roster out of camp.
Cubs Defeat Justin Grimm In Arbitration
The Cubs have won their arbitration hearing against righty Justin Grimm, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter link). Grimm will play for $2.2MM in the coming season after filing for a $2.475MM salary.
Grimm, who earned $1.825MM in 2017, struggled to a 5.53 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 1.93 HR/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate in 55 1/3 innings for the Cubs last year. The 2017-18 offseason marks his third winter of arbitration eligibility, though due to his status as a Super Two player, he’ll be eligible once more next offseason before reaching free agency upon the completion of the 2019 campaign.
Grimm represented the last unresolved arbitration case for the Cubs, who had previously cut deals to avoid a hearing with Kris Bryant, Tommy La Stella, Kyle Hendricks, Addison Russell and Justin Wilson.
Zack Wheeler Defeats Mets In Arbitration
Mets righty Zack Wheeler has won his arbitration case against the team, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Wheeler, a client of Jet Sports Management, will earn the $1.9MM he requested rather than the $1.5MM figure the team sought.
Obviously, the arbitration panel’s decision won’t have a drastic impact on the New York balance sheet for the coming season. And it won’t mean much for the future, either, as Wheeler only has one additional season of arbitration eligibility remaining.
Still, this is a relatively substantial victory — certainly, from Wheeler’s perspective but also for a union that’s currently engaged in a larger rhetorical battle as the free agent market limps along. As MLBTR’s 2018 MLB Arbitration Tracker shows, the players have thus far taken seven of ten arbitration cases, with thirteen still left to be decided.
Wheeler, 27, returned from a long Tommy John layoff to make 17 MLB starts last year. He still has a ways to go, though, to regain his former trajectory, as he ended the year with a 5.21 ERA and 8.4 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 over 86 1/3 frames.
Blue Jays To Sign Jake Petricka
The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor-league deal with righty Jake Petricka, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (via Twitter). He’ll have the opportunity to earn a $1.3MM base salary with $500K in incentives if he can crack the MLB roster.
Petricka, 29, is a former second-rounder who has delivered good results at times in the majors. Between 2013 and 2015, he posted a 3.24 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 over 144 1/3 innings. Despite the middling strikeout and walk figures, Petricka allowed only five home runs in that span. With a mid-nineties sinker, he has traditionally delivered big groundball rates (61.5% career).
Unfortunately, injuries and performance lapses arose more recently. A hip procedure cost Petrickamost of 2016. And he managed only 25 2/3 innings last year, allowing twenty earned runs but also posting a 26:6 K/BB ratio. He ultimately underwent a nerve transposition and flexor tendon debridement procedure in October of 2017.
At the time of that surgery, it was estimated Petricka would need to lay off for at least three or four months. The White Sox ended up non-tendering him rather than working out an arbitration salary. (He projected to earn $1.1MM.) With just over four years of MLB service on his clock, Petricka could still be tendered a contract in the future.
Petricka’s current status isn’t fully clear, but in all likelihood he’ll be handled with some care as he works back to full health. Whether or not he’ll have a real shot at earning a MLB pen job in camp, Petricka could well represent an interesting option for the Jays at some point in the coming season.