Braves Agree To Minors Deal With Former NFL Cornerback Sanders Commings
FEB. 24: Commings received the same $100K signing bonus that Tebow did upon signing his minor league pact with the Mets, tweets Rosenthal.
FEB. 23: The Braves have agreed to sign former NFL defensive back Sanders Commings to a minor league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Rosenthal wrote earlier this month that the former Kansas City Chiefs and University of Georgia corner had interest in pursuing a baseball career as an outfielder.
Commings, who will turn 27 in early March, was a fifth-round pick by the Chiefs back in 2013, though he appeared in just two games with Kansas City in his brief NFL career. He’s no stranger to baseball, having played high school ball in Augusta, Ga., as Rosenthal noted. The Diamondbacks actually drafted Commings in the 37th round back in 2008, but he opted instead to attend Georgia and ultimately pursued a career in football.
Commings is being represented by agent Charles Hairston, the cousin of former Major Leaguers Jerry Hairston Jr. and Scott Hairston. Jerry Hairston lauded Commings’ athleticism and natural baseball acumen when speaking to Rosenthal, telling him that he believes Commings would already be in the Majors had he stuck with baseball for his whole career. Certainly, that’s a bold statement and one that should be taken with a grain of salt from someone who clearly has a vested interest in selling the abilities of the player in question — the Starling Marte comp used by Hairston seems particularly egregious — but it’s also unlikely that Hairston would’ve taken the time to work with a talent that he did not believe had a potential future in the game.
Jerry Hairston and Commings have been working out together five times per week, Rosenthal noted in his column, and Hairston enlisted Class-A Rangers right-hander Collin Wiles to throw to him this winter. Wiles, the former No. 53 pick in the draft (2012), said that he’s been impressed by Commings’ work at the plate as well.
It’s not yet clear exactly where Commings will begin his minor league career. While the odds are certainly stacked against him, and he’ll inevitably draw comparisons to former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, who is pursuing a baseball career with the Mets, there’s little harm in the big picture for the Braves to roll the dice on Commings’ athleticism.
Nationals Sign Matt Wieters
Matt Wieters‘ lengthy stay on the free-agent market has formally come to a close, as the Nationals announced on Friday that they’ve signed the four-time American League All-Star. Wieters, a client of the Boras Corporation, receives a two-year guarantee that allows him to opt out of the contract after the first season. He’ll reportedly be guaranteed a total of $21MM, with $10.5MM coming in each year of the deal (though $5MM of that sum is reportedly deferred to 2021). To make room for Wieters on the 40-man roster, the Nationals placed minor league first baseman Jose Marmolejos on the 60-day disabled list with a left forearm strain.
Wieters is the top remaining player on MLBTR’s pre-offseason top fifty list; he checked in at 16th. Though the Nats are already well-stocked with catching options, the switch-hitting Wieters now stands to receive the bulk of the duties behind the dish. He joins Derek Norris — acquired earlier in the offseason — along with holdovers Jose Lobaton and Pedro Severino as catching options in a suddenly crowded mix.
It’s unclear exactly how things could play out for the Nats, but adding Wieters would hold out the promise of upgrading the catching situation while also opening some room for further transactions. Norris and Lobaton are both playing on non-guaranteed arbitration contracts, with the former set to earn $4.2MM in his second-to-last season of control and the latter entering his walk year with a $1.575MM salary. Conceivably, either of those catchers could be moved now that Wieters is on board, though multiple reports have indicated that Norris is the one the Nationals are looking to trade.
[RELATED: Updated Nationals Depth Chart]
The Nats could also consider dealing the younger Severino to address its needs at the back of the bullpen, though it’s far from clear how long Wieters will remain in place and the organization still faces long-term questions at the position. That said, the Nationals do have several other possibilities in the pipeline, including 40-man members Spencer Kieboom and Raudy Read as well as two other top-thirty organizational prospects in Tres Barrera and Jakson Reetz.
The White Sox are clearly willing to trade reliever David Robertson, of course, and could well be interested in a controllable backstop; per ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark, via Twitter, the Chicago organization has been waiting to see if the Nats would land Wieters to “rekindle” talks on Robertson. In addition to Severino, it’s also possible that the White Sox could have interest in Norris, though presumably they’d also be looking for young talent in such a scenario.
ESPN.com’s Jim Bowden tweeted not long before word of the deal broke that Wieters’s agent, Scott Boras, was “meeting with both GMs and owners” and making progress on a deal. The veteran agent has long had a strong connection with the Nats’ ownership and front office group, with the sides working out significant contracts over recent years for players including Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Jayson Werth. Young stars Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon are also repped by Boras, as are lefty Gio Gonzalez as well as recent signees Oliver Perez and Stephen Drew.
Soon to turn 31, Wieters finally returned to regular duties last year with the Orioles after two consecutive injury-plagued seasons highlighted by Tommy John surgery. But after receiving and accepting a qualifying offer last winter, Wieters was allowed to hit the open market following a disappointing season. Over 464 plate appearances, he slashed just .243/.302/.409, though he did swat 17 home runs. Though he has posted stronger offensive campaigns in the past, the veteran owns a league-average lifetime batting mark and has never quite developed into the top-level performer he once promised to be.
There are also some questions on the defensive side of the spectrum. While Boras has sought to push back against Wieters’s poor ratings in the eyes of pitch-framing metrics, his explanation isn’t entirely compelling on its face. That said, Wieters was able to cut down 35% of the runners that tried to swipe bags against him last year, helping to ease concerns over his elbow. And Baseball Prospectus credited him as a strong pitch blocker (subscription link), as it has in years past.
Of course, a fair bit of a catcher’s value lies in the nebulous world of handling a staff and calling pitches, and Wieters has drawn his share of praise in that department. (See, e.g., here.) He does face long-term questions with his sizable frame, though those risks are lessened on a short-term deal such as this. And whether he can return to being at least an average hitter remains to be seen.
All said, then, there’s some risk here, but also the promise of a steady veteran in a key position. None of the Nats’ in-house options, certainly, hold out quite as much hope. Norris has profiled alternatively as a quality hitter who isn’t polished behind the plate, and (more recently) as a power threat that can’t get on base but frames well. Lobaton, clearly, is best suited to reserve duties. And while Severino impressed in brief MLB action last year, and comes with a highly regarded defensive profile, he has yet to reach the .700 OPS barrier in a professional season.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports first reported that the two sides were nearing a deal (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links) and Heyman (via Twitter) added that Wieters would receive a two-year guarantee with a player option/opt-out clause. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the guaranteed money (via Twitter). Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post first reported the agreement and the deferred money (Twitter links). Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM added the annual breakdown (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Carlos Villanueva Signs With KBO’s Hanwha Eagles
The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization announced on Friday that they’ve signed veteran Major League right-hander Carlos Villanueva to a one-year contract (h/t: Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency). The ISE Baseball client will earn $1.5MM in his first venture into pro ball overseas. He’ll join former big leaguers Alexi Ogando and Wilin Rosario on the Eagles’ roster for the 2017 campaign.
Villanueva, who turned 33 this offseason, spent the 2016 campaign with the Padres and struggled to a 5.96 ERA in in 74 innings of relief. The veteran swingman did display some more encouraging peripherals, including a 7.4 K/9 rate, 1.7 BB/9 and an 11 percent swinging-strike rate, but interest in the soft-tossing righty (88.1 mph average fastball in ’16) never picked up much steam this winter. In fact, today’s signing marks the first time that Villanueva’s name has been tagged here at MLBTR since inking his one-year deal with San Diego in Jan. 2016.
Prior to his ugly 2016 season, Villanueva enjoyed a terrific year with the Cardinals, during which he logged 61 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 42.4 percent ground-ball rate. That year served as an exclamation point on a nice five-year run that saw Villanueva toss 499 2/3 innings of 4.03 ERA ball while pitching for the Blue Jays, Cubs and Cards. Next year’s crop of free-agent pitchers is superior to the group that hit the open market this year, but a rebound campaign in the hitters’ paradise that is the KBO could either create renewed Major League interest in Villanueva or earn him a more substantial payday overseas in 2018 and beyond.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/23/17
We’ll track the day’s minor moves here:
- The Rangers announced that they’ve signed first baseman/outfielder Kevin Keyes to a minor league deal. The 27-year-old Texas native won’t be invited to Major League camp, however. A former 26th-round pick of the Nationals that has spent the entirety of his career in the Nats organization, Keyes reached Triple-A in both 2015 and in 2016, though last year represented the worst of his pro career. In 375 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A, Keyes slashed just .204/.304/.367. He’s a career .233/.309/.411 hitter in parts of seven minor league campaigns.
Earlier Updates
- The Mets have announced the signing of righty Wilfredo Boscan to a minor-league deal that does not include an invite to MLB camp. Boscan, 27, appeared in the majors for the first time last year — he had previously been on an active roster without being handed the ball — though he struggled in limited action. He did, however, managed 169 1/3 innings of 3.14 ERA ball at the Triple-A level, with 5.8 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9. Boscan’s broader track record in the upper minors suggests those results may have been something of an outlier, however; he has allowed more than four earned runs per nine innings over his 467 2/3 lifetime frames at Double-A and Triple-A. In any event, he’ll represent another depth arm for New York to call upon should a need arise this year.
White Sox To Retire Mark Buehrle’s Number
The White Sox are set to retire Mark Buehrle‘s #56 jersey this summer, the team announced. As Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago notes on Twitter, that would appear to suggest the the lefty himself is also hanging up his spikes for good — though there’s been no official word to that effect as of yet.
Last we heard, around this time last spring, Buehrle was still pondering his future. But he decided against pitching in 2016, and we’ve heard no indication since that he was planning a return. Today’s news seemingly confirms that the famously fast-working and incredibly durable southpaw is finished after 16 highly productive seasons in the majors.
Though he ended his career elsewhere, Buehrle spent his first dozen seasons in Chicago. He was a model of consistency there, providing 2,476 2/3 innings of 3.83 ERA ball while averaging 5.1 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. Despite being taken only in the 38th round of the 1998 draft, Buehrle cracked the majors in 2000, his age-21 season, after just a season and a half in the minors.
Arguably his best season came in 2005 — the club’s World Championship campaign — when he came in fifth in the American League Cy Young voting upon compiling a 3.12 ERA over 236 2/3 frames. That represented the second-straight season in which he led the league in innings and the fourth in a row in which he retired the side at least 230 times. Buehrle had many fine moments in Chicago, among them a no-hitter in 2007 and one of just 23 perfect games ever pitched (on July 23, 2009, against the Rays).
Buehrle departed the White Sox after the 2011 season, joining the Marlins along with a crop of other free agents. After one solid year in Miami, he was dealt to the Blue Jays as part of the blockbuster trade that also shipped veterans Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes (among others) to Toronto. Buehrle was productive til the end, providing the Jays with 604 1/3 innings of 3.78 ERA ball in his final three campaigns.
Even in his age-36 season, which appears now to be his last, Buehrle managed 198 2/3 innings and led qualifying AL pitchers with a 1.5 BB/9 walk rate. That broke a string of 14 consecutive seasons in which the exceedingly durable hurler racked up at least 200 frames.
In the end, Buehrle racked up 51.9 fWAR and 59.2 rWAR over his career. By Fangraphs’ measure, only four other pitchers — Roy Halladay, CC Sabathia, Randy Johnson, and Roy Oswalt — were as productive over Buehrle’s active seasons, over which he paced all of baseball in total innings. In that span, he received five All-Star nods and picked up four Gold Gloves, while never failing to make at least thirty starts in each of his full MLB seasons.
Assuming this is in fact the end, MLBTR congratulates Buehrle on his excellent career and extends its best wishes to him in his future endeavors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Orioles Re-Sign Michael Bourn
FEB. 22: Bourn’s deal also comes with up to $3.5MM worth of incentives based on plate appearances, reports Crasnick (Twitter link). In total, the contract can max out at $5.5MM with enough playing time.
FEB. 20: The Orioles have reached agreement on a contract with outfielder Michael Bourn, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com first reported (via Twitter). It’s a minor-league pact that comes with a camp invite, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. Bourn would earn $2MM if he cracks the MLB roster, per Heyman.
Bourn, who is a client of Lagardere Sports, will have a chance to opt out of his deal if he isn’t added to the 40-man late in camp, though there’s a bit of discord on the date. ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter) has it as March 25th, while Kubatko tweets that it’s actually the 27th. Regardless, the veteran will be able to seek greener pastures if the team decides not to commit to him.
At 34 years of age, Bourn is no longer the player he once was when starring in center field for the Braves. But he showed that there’s still some gas left in the tank during his stint late last year with the O’s, earning plaudits from the Baltimore front office and field staff.
Over 55 plate appearances in Baltimore, Bourn slashed .283/.358/.435 and drew six walks against nine strikeouts. Those numbers compared favorably to his best full seasons in the majors, when he was rarely much more than a league-average hitter but nonetheless added significant value with the glove and on the bases.
Of course, that’s rather a small sample, and the broader recent picture isn’t as favorable. Bourn’s offensive production has lagged since he signed on with the Indians in advance of the 2013 season, and he has struggled in particular over the last two seasons.
Even if it would be optimistic to expect Bourn’s late-2016 work at the plate to carry over, there’s reason to hope he can make a strong contribution. The veteran still rates well on the bases, and rates as at least a roughly average fielder. While the O’s already have two lefty platoon outfielders penciled into their roster, Seth Smith and Hyun Soo Kim, neither is capable of playing center. Bourn figures to compete with Joey Rickard and minor-league signees Craig Gentry and Logan Schafer for a bench spot in camp.
Rays, Tommy Hunter Agree To Minor League Deal
FEB. 22: Hunter’s deal comes with a $1.4MM base in the Majors and another $1.5MM worth of incentives available to him, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman.
FEB. 16, 9:41am: The two sides have an agreement in place, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).
9:28am: The Rays are closing in on a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). An agreement with the Moye Sports Associates client could be finalized today, he adds.
The 30-year-old Hunter, long a member of the division-rival Orioles’ bullpen, split last season between Cleveland and Baltimore, pitching to a combined 3.18 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 49.5 percent ground-ball rate. Hunter opened the 2016 season on the shelf due to offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia, and he also missed a stretch of time this past summer after suffering a non-displaced fracture in his back in a fall at his home during the 2016 All-Star break.
Over the past four seasons, Hunter has worked to a collective 3.24 ERA and averaged 6.8 strikeouts against 1.8 walks per nine innings across 241 1/3 frames with the Orioles, Indians and Cubs. He’d bring another experienced right-handed arm to a crowded Tampa Bay bullpen mix. Currently, the Rays are set to deploy Alex Colome, Brad Boxberger, Danny Farquhar, Shawn Tolleson and Erasmo Ramirez as right-handed options out of the ‘pen, with Xavier Cedeno lined up as the team’s primary left-handed option.
Orioles Acquire Richard Bleier, Designate Christian Walker
The Orioles have acquired lefty Richard Bleier from the Yankees, per a club announcement, with cash or a player to be named later heading back in return. Baltimore designated first baseman/outfielder Christian Walker for assignment to create roster space.
Bleier, 29, had been designated for assignment recently by New York. The soft-tossing southpaw managed a strong 1.96 ERA in his 23 MLB frames with the Yankees last year, but managed only 5.1 K/9 to go with strong walk (1.6 BB/9) and groundball (54.1%) rates.
While that’s obviously rather promising for a debut campaign, Bleier hasn’t compiled the minor-league record to suggest its entirely sustainable. He worked to a 3.72 ERA in his 58 Triple-A innings in 2016, notching just 25 punchouts along the way. And though he has recorded an over 3.29 earned run average in 147 frames at the highest level of the minors, exhibiting excellent command along the way, he has an anemic 3.7 K/9 in that span.
As for Walker, the move rates as a disappointment after indications earlier in the offseason that he could contend for a roster spot. That hope largely came to an end when the O’s brought back Mark Trumbo, though it seemed there was at least some possibility with a big spring — until now. The 25-year-old, a fourth-round pick in the 2012 draft, has received only minimal time in the big leagues with Baltimore. Over three seasons of work at Triple-A, he slashed .260/.324/.429. Though he split his time last year between first base and the outfield, that represented his first look on the grass.
Yankees To Sign Jon Niese
7:55pm: Niese can earn a $1.25MM base salary if he cracks the roster, per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (Twitter links). The deal also includes $750K in potential incentives, with separate packages that would allow him to earn to that amount whether he’s functioning as a starter or reliever. Manager Joe Girardi says that Niese will enter camp battling for a pen role, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch notes on Twitter.
5:26pm: The Yankees are poised to sign left-hander Jon Niese to a minor league contract, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link). The deal will become official when Niese passes a physical. Niese is represented by O’Connell Sports Management.
A fixture in the Mets rotation from 2010-15, Niese is coming off a rough, injury-plagued 2016 campaign. The Mets dealt Niese to the Pirates in a swap for Neil Walker last winter and the southpaw didn’t see much success in the black-and-gold, posting a 4.91 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 1.87 K/BB rate over 110 innings as a Pirate. Niese was then dealt back to the Mets in August in exchange for Antonio Bastardo and pitched only 11 innings in his second stint with the Amazins before undergoing season-ending arthroscopic surgery on a torn left meniscus. The Mets declined Niese’s $10MM option for 2017, instead paying him a $500K buyout.
[Updated Yankees roster at Roster Resource]
Thirteen teams attended a workout Niese held earlier this month to demonstrate his health in the wake of his knee injury, and the Marlins also expressed some interest in Niese earlier this winter. Given his track record as a fairly steady and durable starter (3.86 ERA and 171 innings per year from 2010-15), it isn’t surprising that Niese drew a lot of looks as a potential bounce-back candidate.
Sherman reports that the Yankees see Niese as a candidate to both start or come out of the bullpen, and the 30-year-old could fill a need for New York in either department. Luis Severino, Chad Green, Luis Cessa, Bryan Mitchell and Adam Warren will be in competition for the fourth and fifth spots in the Yankees’ rotation this season, and Niese adds a more experienced element to that battle.
If used as a reliever, Niese would join Tommy Layne as the top left-handed options out of the pen, with closer Aroldis Chapman obviously being saved for end-game scenarios. The Yankees were linked to such notable lefty relievers as Boone Logan and Jerry Blevins earlier this offseason, though Niese comes at a lower price tag — both Logan and Blevins will earn $6.5MM in guaranteed money in 2017, with the potential for more if the Indians and Mets respectively exercise club options on each southpaw.
While Niese has never been much of a strikeout pitcher over his career, he does own an impressive 50.1% ground ball rate, which would serve him well pitching at Yankee Stadium. Of course, Niese’s problems in 2016 were largely caused by the long ball, as he saw his home run rate spike to a whopping 22.1% last season. While such a giant increase could’ve been an aberration, Niese’s home run rates have been on the rise in each of the last four seasons.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/20/17
Here are today’s minor transactions throughout the game:
- The Tigers have announced that they’ve signed infielder Danny Muno and corner outfielder Matt Murton to minor-league contracts. The 28-year-old Muno appeared in the high minors with three organizations in 2016, posting a line of .223/.328/.307 while mostly playing second and third. He does, however, have a career .385 minor-league OBP and a bit of big-league experience, having collected 32 plate appearances with the 2015 Mets. Murton’s name will surely be a blast from the past for some readers — the 35-year-old was once a regular with the Cubs but hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2009. He played with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan from 2009 through 2015 (so he has plenty of experience in a Tigers uniform, just not a Detroit Tigers uniform), and he batted .314/.349/.398 in 255 plate appearances with the Cubs’ Triple-A team in Iowa last year.