Diamondbacks Exercise Club Option Over Daniel Descalso
The Diamondbacks have picked up their club option over utilityman Daniel Descalso, per a club announcement. He’ll earn $2MM for the 2018 season.
Arizona could have parted ways with the veteran while paying a $150K buyout. But the 31-year-old established himself as a steady member of the NL Wild Card-winning club and will again represent an affordable and versatile roster asset.
Descalso was asked to do more than likely was anticipated when he joined the Snakes last winter, moving over from the division-rival Rockies. He ended up seeing action in 131 games, posting a .233/.332/.395 slash with ten home runs over 398 plate appearances.
For the past two seasons, Descalso has drawn walks in about a dozen out of every hundred plate appearances, though he has never ended a MLB season with even an average level of offensive production. Most of all, though, Descalso is valued for his ability to line up all over the diamond, including
Angels Decline Options Over Huston Street, Ricky Nolasco
The Angels have declined their club options over righties Huston Street and Ricky Nolasco, per a club announcement. Fellow right-hander Deolis Guerra was outrighted off of the 40-man roster, the team also announced.
While the news hardly comes as a surprise, it nevertheless sends some notable names onto the open market.
Street, 34, will receive a $1MM buyout in lieu of what would’ve been a $10MM salary for the coming season. Thus ends the extension he signed in May of 2015 — a two-year, $18MM pact (plus the option) that kept him from hitting free agency at the end of that year.
Owing to injury, Street has thrown only 26 1/3 frames over the life of that contract. Never a hard thrower, Street has dropped to the 88 mph range more recently. While he managed four scoreless appearances in 2017, and could yet engineer a return, it seemed clear that there wasn’t enough promise for the Halos to pick up the option.
Nolasco is also now 34 years of age and past his prime. His four-year, $49MM contract — signed with the Twins and sent to Los Angeles last summer — included a $13MM club option for 2018, but he’ll settle instead for a $1MM buyout.
Clubs will no doubt value the fact that Nolasco has managed to take 65 starts over the past two years, tallying 378 2/3 frames. But a palatable 2016 effort — he pitched to a 4.42 ERA with metrics suggesting he had been a bit unlucky — gave way to a rough showing in the most recent season. While averaging a fairly typical 7.1 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9, with his velocity and whiff rates largely holding steady, Nolasco surrendered 1.74 homers per nine and ended with a 4.92 ERA in his 181 innings.
As for Guerra, 28, he failed to follow up a solid showing in 2016, in which he rode a stingy 1.2 BB/9 walk rate to a 3.21 ERA. This year, he managed only a 4.68 ERA over 25 frames while coughing up 4.3 free passes per nine — though he was much better (1.98 ERA, 9.0 K/9 vs. 1.8 BB/9) in 41 Triple-A frames. Since he has previously been outrighted, Guerra will have the right to elect free agency.
Nationals Decline Mutual Option Over Adam Lind
The Nationals have announced that the mutual option between the team and first baseman Adam Lind has been declined. It was the team’s election to send Lind back to the open market after a single season in D.C., per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (via Twitter).
Entering the winter, team and player had to decide whether to continue their relationship at a $5MM rate for 2018. Because Washington chose to go in another direction, Lind will take home a $500K buyout on his way out the door.
Washington got everything it could have hoped for out of Lind, who earned only a $1MM salary in 2017 (plus $800K in achieved incentives). The 34-year-old mashed to the tune of a .303/.362/.513 batting line with 14 home runs over 301 plate appearances — the vast majority of them coming against right-handed pitching.
It seemed reasonable to think that Lind could be welcomed back in D.C. Though Ryan Zimmerman had a bounceback season of his own, Lind holds plenty of appeal as a reserve first baseman, bench bat, and occasional fill-in in the corner outfield. Still, the Nats already have a lot of payroll committed, leaving questions as to just how much room the team has to spend. And there are quite a few marginal defenders with power bats once again slated to hit the open market, so perhaps the club feels it can find better value elsewhere (or, perhaps, even in a new deal with Lind).
White Sox Decline Option On Geovany Soto
The White Sox announced that they’ve declined a club option over veteran catcher Geovany Soto. Details of Soto’s option weren’t previously known, but Dan Hayes of NBC Sports Chicago tweets that it was a $3.5MM club option with a $250K buyout. The decision to opt for the buyout is hardly surprising; the 34-year-old Soto received just 48 plate appearances in 2017 and missed the bulk of the season due to elbow surgery.
Soto will turn 35 in January and hasn’t received more than 210 plate appearances in any single season since 2012. The former NL Rookie of the Year (2008, Cubs) is a lifetime .245/.330/.435 hitter with 108 homers in 2876 plate appearances. between the Cubs, White Sox, Rangers, A’s and Angels. He’s had two stints with the White Sox now, and given their organizational needs, it seems plausible that the two sides could yet agree to a new minor league contract for the 2018 campaign. If not, he’ll likely command interest on a minor league deal and could look to latch on somewhere as a depth option or in a competition for a backup role next season.
Rays Exercise Club Option Over Nathan Eovaldi
The Rays have exercised their 2018 club option over righty Nathan Eovaldi, the team announced (h/t Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, on Twitter). He’ll earn $2MM for the coming season.
Eovaldi signed on with Tampa Bay in a contract that promised him $2MM last year just to rehab. The Rays, of course, hoped he’d show enough in working back from Tommy John and flexor tendon surgery that he could be retained for a cheap price for the season to come, and that’s just what is now going to take place.
All indications are that Eovaldi has shown signs of rounding back into form while building back arm strength this year. Indeed, there was even some suggestion he might try to return to action late in the 2017 season, though that did not come to pass.
Tampa Bay seems inclined to give Eovaldi a shot at earning a rotation spot. He has had success at times in that role previously, though never as much as his raw talent might suggest. Most recently, Eovaldi provided the Yankees with 124 2/3 innings of 4.76 ERA pitching in 2016. While homers were a big problem, he did manage career highs in fastball velocity (97 mph), swinging-strike rate (9.3%), and groundball rate (49.6%).
Mariners Claim Andrew Romine From Tigers
The Mariners announced that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Andrew Romine off waivers from the Tigers. He would’ve had the opportunity to elect free agency had he not been claimed. Seattle’s 40-man roster is now at 35 players after also declining options on Hisashi Iwakuma and Yovani Gallardo.
Romine, 32 in December, has been one of the Tigers’ most versatile players in recent years. He’s played all over the diamond for Detroit since coming over from the Angels, including a game at the end of the 2017 season in which he played all nine spots on the field. Despite that Swiss-army-knife-esque profile, though, Romine hasn’t drawn strong reviews from defensive metrics for his infield work, though he has been viewed more favorably in a smallish sample of work in the outfield.
The benefit the Tigers see in his defensive flexibility clearly was outweighed by his lack of offensive production and projected arbitration price point, however. Romine batted just .233/.289/.336 through 348 plate appearances this season and has hit .236/.293/.313 (66 OPS+) overall in parts of four years with the Tigers. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him to earn $1.9MM via arbitration.
It remains to be seen if the Mariners will keep Romine on the 40-man roster all winter, but he’s presently a candidate to compete with Taylor Motter for a utility role next spring.
Athletics Exercise Jed Lowrie’s Option, Add Mark Kotsay To Coaching Staff
The A’s announced this afternoon that they’ve exercised their $6MM club option over second baseman Jed Lowrie and also added former Athletics outfielder Mark Kotsay to their staff as a quality control coach. Kotsay was also a part of Oakland’s coaching staff in 2016 when he served as a bench coach.
The option decision on Lowrie was an easy call after the 33-year-old hit .277/.360/.448 with 14 home runs and a career-high 49 doubles for the A’s this past season. While Lowrie has long stood out as a logical on-paper trade candidate, A’s execs Billy Beane and David Forst have stated that they envision Lowrie as the team’s Opening Day second baseman next year. Lowrie, then, would likely be leaned upon to stabilize the position until top prospect Franklin Barreto forced his way into a regular role on the Major League roster. As it stands, Barreto is almost certain to open the 2018 season in Triple-A, despite the fact that he did make his MLB debut earlier this season.
Kotsay took a leave of absence from the A’s back in June but will return to the staff in a new role, though the specifics of his responsibilities are rather nebulous. Per Oakland’s press release, Kotsay will assist manager Bob Melvin and the coaching staff “in all areas and will also consult with the front office in other facets of the organization. “
Mariners Decline Options On Iwakuma, Gallardo
The Mariners announced on Thursday that they’ve declined their club options over right-handers Hisashi Iwakuma ($10MM) and Yovani Gallardo ($13MM). Their 40-man spots have gone to right-hander David Phelps and left-hander Drew Smyly, who have been reinstated from the 60-day disabled list.
Iwakuma, 37 in April, has spent his entire six-year MLB career with the Mariners. Two years ago, he was on the verge of a free agent contract with the Dodgers before they backed out, resulting in Iwakuma returning to Seattle on a one-year deal with a vesting option. The option for 2017 did vest, but the righty made only six starts this year before succumbing to a shoulder injury. While the injury was not initially thought to be a season-ender, Iwakuma never made it back to a big league mound and wound up having arthroscopic shoulder surgery in September. The procedure has at least a five-month recovery time and it appears he does plan to continue pitching.
Gallardo, a longtime Brewer, was traded by the Orioles to the Mariners in January for Seth Smith. Gallardo failed to rebound from his ugly 2016 season, posting even worse numbers this year and earning a temporary bullpen banishment in June. The 31-year-old righty managed only five quality starts in 22 tries. Both Iwakuma and Gallardo may be relegated to minor league deals this winter.
According to Bob Dutton of The News Tribune in an October article, “The Mariners’ rotation next year, at this point, projects as James Paxton, Felix Hernandez, Mike Leake and two from a collection that includes Erasmo Ramirez, Ariel Miranda, Marco Gonzales and Andrew Moore.” Dutton noted that the Mariners will be one of the many teams pursuing Shohei Otani, should he come over, but otherwise the team may not necessarily pursue a rotation upgrade.
Angels Sign Justin Upton To Five-Year Contract
After spending the past several weeks weighing an opt-out clause that would’ve allowed him to forgo the remaining four years and $88.5MM on his contract, Justin Upton has reached a compromise with the Angels. The Halos announced on Thursday that they’ve signed Upton to a new five-year contract that runs through the 2022 campaign, in essence extending his current deal by one year in exchange for tearing up the opt-out provision. Upton, a client of Reynolds Sports Management, will reportedly earn $106MM on the five-year deal, which contains a full no-trade clause.
Upton’s deal can technically be viewed as a one-year, $17.5MM extension of his current contract, then, which brings the total value of the deal to $150.5MM over seven years. He’ll now reportedly earn $16MM in 2018, $18MM in 2019, $21MM in 2020, $23MM in 2021 and $28MM in 2022 on a contract that carries through his age-34 season.
[Related: Updated Los Angeles Angels payroll outlook and depth chart]
Los Angeles acquired Upton from the Tigers on Aug. 31 in exchange for pitching prospect Grayson Long and a player to be named later, hoping that Upton’s bat would help fuel a run at an American League Wild Card berth. While the Angels ultimately fell short of that goal, it was through no fault of Upton; in 115 plate appearances with the Angels, Upton nearly matched his OBP and slugging numbers with the Tigers, hitting .245/.357/.531 with seven homers in the season’s final month. Overall, he finished out the year with a .273/.361/.540 batting line, a career-high 35 homers and 14 steals.
Upton’s first year with the Tigers got off to a poor start, prompting many to question the initial six-year, $132MM contract before Upton righted the ship in Detroit about halfway through that 2016 campaign. Dating back to July 1 of last season, Upton has batted .270/.352/.548 with 58 home runs in 946 trips to the plate — good for a park- and league-adjusted wRC+ of 137. (In other words, his bat has bee about 37 percent better than that of a league-average hitter.)
Beyond his excellence at the plate, Upton turned in yet another solid year on the defensive end of the equation. Defensive Runs Saved pegged him at +8, while Ultimate Zone Rating had him at 2.1 runs above average. Statcast’s new Outs Above Average metric was a bit less bullish, grading him at -1 outs. Despite the variance in those respective metrics, the Angels can reasonably expect at least average defensive contributions from Upton next year in addition to strong offense and above-average baserunning.
For the Angels, left field was a clear need whether a deal with Upton was worked out or not. The Halos are lacking in upper-level bats that can be relied upon to contribute to a big league lineup, but Upton will now join Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun in the Angels’ outfield and in the heart of their order. Aging slugger Albert Pujols, of course, remains a fixture in the lineup as well, though the soon-to-be 38-year-old struggled through the worst season of his Hall of Fame career in 2017.
The Pujols commitment remains an onerous financial obligation, but the Angels now have Josh Hamilton‘s massive contract off the books, which will effectively be replaced by the Upton deal. Upton’s contract , though, will come with a lesser luxury tax obligation — $21.2MM annually if the contract is viewed as a five-year, $106MM deal or $21.46MM if it’s viewed as seven years and $150.25MM. The Angels will also see both Ricky Nolasco and Huston Street come off the books this winter once their options are declined, further creating some payroll flexibility, both as it pertains to the luxury tax and the 2018 roster.
The backloaded nature of Upton’s new contract structure should allow the Angels to be a bit more aggressive in filling out their 2018 roster this winter. Between Upton, Trout, Pujols, Calhoun, Andrelton Simmons and Luis Valbuena, the Angels have about $105MM in guaranteed 2018 salary on the books. That figure will rise into the $128MM range after Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Tyler Skaggs, Andrew Heaney, Martin Maldonado, Blake Parker, Jose Alvarez, Cam Bedrosian and J.C.Ramirez are tendered contracts (and potentially more if C.J. Cron and Blake Wood are also tendered). That should leave the Angels with some spending money to address needs at second base and at an infield corner (whichever Valbuena does not play) in addition to stabilizing their injury-plagued pitching staff.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the total guarantee of the contract (Twitter link). ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted the annual breakdown of the deal, and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi added that Upton received a no-trade clause.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Red Sox Exercise Options On Chris Sale, Craig Kimbrel
The Red Sox announced this morning that they’ve formally exercised their 2018 club options over ace Chris Sale and closer Craig Kimbrel. Sale will earn $12.5MM in 2018, while Kimbrel will be paid $13MM.
Additionally, the Sox announced that they’ve outrighted left-hander Robbie Ross Jr. and infielder Josh Rutledge, each of who has elected free agency. Boston has also selected the contracts of outfielder Bryce Brentz and left-hander Williams Jerez from Triple-A Pawtucket.
The option decisions on Sale and Kimbrel were among the easiest in all of baseball. The pair finished out the season as two of the most valuable players on the Red Sox and two of the best in all of baseball in their respective roles. Sale led the American League with 214 1/3 innings and a remarkable 308 strikeouts (12.9 K/9), pitching to a stellar 2.90 earned run average along the way. Kimbrel, meanwhile, posted a 1.43 ERA with 35 saves in 69 innings and struck out a staggering 49.6 percent of the batters he faced (16.4 K/9). Sale’s contract includes a $13MM option for the 2019 season as well, while Kimbrel will be a free agent for the first time next winter.
Ross, 28, was limited to just 15 innings between the Majors and Triple-A this season due to a back injury that ultimately required surgical repair. Prior to that, however, he was a quality setup man in Boston, pitching to a 3.57 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 49.4 percent ground-ball rate in 116 innings in 2015-16. Lefties hit just .200/.302/.297 against Ross in that time, while righties hit him at a .260/.333/.388 clip. Ross would’ve been eligible for arbitration this offseason after earning $1.825MM in 2017. He’s expected to be healthy for Spring Training and could make for an affordable and experienced option for a team seeking left-handed bullpen help.
Rutledge, also 28, logged 118 plate appearances in 2017 — his third year with Boston. He’s seen very limited action with the Sox dating back to 2015, though, hitting just .252/.319/.313 in 259 plate appearances across those three seasons. The versatile Rutledge can handle second base, third base and shortstop, and he even saw 13 innings at first base for the Sox in 2017. He’ll likely land a minor league pact somewhere this offseason and compete for a bench role in Spring Training.