Athletics Sign Adam Rosales, Designate Dillon Overton
2:10pm: Rosales’ contract will guarantee him $1.25MM, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter).
12:06pm: The Athletics announced on Wednesday that they’ve signed veteran infielder Adam Rosales to a one-year, Major League deal. MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets that left-handed pitcher Dillon Overton has been designated for assignment to clear a spot on the roster.
[Related: Updated Oakland Athletics Depth Chart]
Rosales, 34 in May, is certainly no stranger to the Athletics, having spent parts of four previous seasons in Oakland. The Hilliard Sports Management client was notoriously involved in a rapid waiver cycle with the A’s and Rangers back in 2013, during which he went from Oakland to Texas, back to Oakland and back to Texas in a span of 10 days.
Most recently, however, Rosales had a late breakout with the Padres in 2016. Long known for his defensive versatility, Rosales was an unexpected source of power for the Friars last season, batting .229/.319/.495 with 13 homers and 12 doubles in just 248 plate appearances. In particular, Rosales was a weapon against left-handers, as he slashed .237/.348/.495 with six homers in 115 PAs while holding the platoon advantage.
The bulk of Rosales’ defensive work with San Diego came at second base and third base, though he also saw some time at shortstop, in left field and a singular inning at first base. Throughout his career, Rosales has logged more than 1000 innings at second base, more than 900 innings at third base, more than 600 innings at shortstop and more than 500 innings at first base. He’ll give A’s manager Bob Melvin a versatile defensive option to match up with left-handers over the course of the 2017 season.
The 25-year-old Overton was Oakland’s second-round pick back in 2013 and made his MLB debut last season, struggling to an ERA of 11.47 in 24 1/3 innings. The Oklahoma product did have a solid campaign in Triple-A Nashville, where he tossed 125 1/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball and averaged 7.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 to go along with a 34.9 percent ground-ball rate.
Overton ranked as Oakland’s No. 8 prospect as recently as the 2015-16 offseason, per Baseball America, whose scouting report on the southpaw noted that his success would ultimately be determined by how much velocity he could regain following 2013 Tommy John surgery. Overton worked in the mid-90s in college but was in the upper 80s following his operation. The velocity seemingly never returned, as he averaged just 88.3 mph on his heater last year. BA’s report on him did note that he could potentially become a “finesse, back-of-the-rotation lefty,” so perhaps a team with uncertainty in the fourth and fifth spot of its rotation will take a flier on him. He’s performed well at every minor league stop he’s had in spite of the velocity decrease.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Red Sox Claim Steve Selsky From Reds
The Red Sox announced on Wednesday that they’ve claimed first baseman/outfielder Steve Selsky off waivers from the Reds. Cincinnati had designated the 27-year-old Selsky for assignment last week. The waiver claim fills Boston’s 40-man roster.
The 2016 season marked the big league debut of Selsky, who picked up 54 plate appearances and batted a very solid .314/.340/.471 with a pair of home runs in his limited showing. Selsky’s pop has been a bit more limited in a larger sample of work at Triple-A, however, as the former 33rd-rounder has compiled a .283/.369/.425 batting line in 191 games with Cincinnati’s affiliate in Louisville.
Though he’s never ranked as one of the Reds’ best prospects, Selsky has a track record of production in the minors (.295/.379/.459 in his career) and will give the Sox a right-handed option to serve as a bench bat or a depth piece in Triple-A Pawtucket. Selsky does have minor league options remaining, so he can be stashed in Triple-A without needing to be re-exposed to waivers. Boston does, however, have one of the lowest waiver priority rankings in the league, meaning that most of the league passed on the chance to claim Selsky. Knowing that, the Sox could potentially feel confident that they can sneak Selsky back through waivers in the near future and re-open that slot on the 40-man roster (while retaining Selsky as a non-roster player).
Dodgers Designate Carlos Frias For Assignment
The Dodgers announced on Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Carlos Frias for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for newly acquired outfielder Brett Eibner. That trade has been formally announced by the Dodgers as well.
Frias, 27, was a significant part of the Dodgers’ bullpen in 2015, logging 77 2/3 innings with a 4.06 ERA and a strong 55.1 percent ground-ball rate. However, Frias’ strikeout and walks numbers (5.0 K/9, 3.0 BB/9) were both considerably less impressive, and he ultimately received just four innings with the Dodgers in 2016. The bulk of Frias’ 2016 innings came with Triple-A Oklahoma City and Double-A Tulsa, where he pitched to a 3.95ERA in 43 1/3 innings.
Dodgers Acquire Brett Eibner From Athletics
12:08pm: The Dodgers have announced the deal. Minor league infielder Jordan Tarsovich is headed to the Athletics in the swap. The 25-year-old spent the 2016 season with the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa, batting .219/.325/.343. He’s spent time at shortstop, second base and third base since being selected in the 22nd round of the 2015 draft.
10:41am: The Athletics have agreed to a trade that will send outfielder Brett Eibner to the Dodgers in exchange for a minor leaguer, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Eibner was designated for assignment by Oakland last week.
The 28-year-old Eibner will add another right-handed bat to the Dodgers’ outfield mix. While he struggled at the plate in his big league debut this past season, hitting just .191/.266/.353 in 208 plate appearances. Eibner has a much stronger Triple-A track record and is considered an above-average defender that is capable of playing all three outfield positions. In parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level (979 plate appearances), Eibner is a .280/.356/.474 hitter. As a bonus, he has two minor league options remaining, so the Dodgers can stash Eibner in the minors as a depth piece if he doesn’t break camp with the Major League club.
From 2010-15, Baseball America rated Eibner among the Royals’ top 30 prospects, calling him a plus defensive outfielder with above-average speed and potential 15-homer pop as recently as the 2015-16 offseason. BA also noted, though, that he’s a streaky hitter that is prone to lengthy slumps, making him a tricky player to deploy in a bench capacity. Kansas City traded Eibner to Oakland last summer in a straight-up swap for fellow outfielder Billy Burns.
The Dodgers, of course, already have a plethora of outfield options — Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, Andrew Toles, Trayce Thompson, Andre Ethier, Scott Van Slyke and Enrique Hernandez are all on the 40-man roster — but the team clearly still saw value in Eibner despite a glut of outfielders. As a potential plus defender with minor league options and a history of hitting left-handed pitching (an area where the Dodgers flailed after injuries to Thompson, Van Slyke and Hernandez last season), it’s not difficult to see why he’d hold appeal — especially at a modest cost of acquisition.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/24/17
Here are the day’s notable minor moves, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted:
- The Angels announced today that right-hander Blake Parker has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster. Parker had been designated for assignment on Jan. 19 when the Halos claimed Juan Graterol off waivers. (Graterol has since already been lost on waivers to the Blue Jays.) Like Graterol, Parker has bounced around the league quite a bit this winter, moving from the Yankees, to the Angels, to the Brewers and back to the Angels. After losing his 40-man spot on four different occasions, Parker has cleared waivers. He’ll have the option to elect free agency but would also presumably be invited to big league camp with the Angels this spring. Last season, Parker tossed 17 1/3 innings with the Mariners and Yankees, logging a 4.67 ERA with a 15-to-9 K/BB ratio. The former Cubs righty has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors and owns a 3.87 ERA in 90 2/3 innings.
- The Orioles announced a list of non-roster invitations today, and while they’ve mostly been previously reported and noted here on MLBTR, their minor league pact with infielder/outfielder Alex Castellanos was a new announcement. Castellanos, 30, saw brief bits of action with the Dodgers in 2012-13 but hasn’t appeared in the Major since. While he’s struggled to a .171/.186/.390 batting line in his 43 big league PAs, Castellanos owns a career .292/.373/.517 line in parts of five Triple-A seasons. He has more than 2700 pro innings in right field plus another 1661 innings as a third baseman. He’s also logged 900+ innings at second base, 500+ innings in center and left as well as 155 innings at first base.
Earlier Updates
- Former big league righty Barry Enright is heading back to a MLB organization, taking a minors deal with the Padres, as Chris Jackson of MiLB.com reported on Twitter. Enright had been pitching for the Mexican League’s Tijuana Toros (and also spent time with the Hermosillo organization in 2015). He joined MLBTR’s podcast at the outset of that stint, and went on to turn in two productive seasons as a starter in Mexico. In 2016, Enright pitched to a 3.19 ERA with 5.2 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9 over 127 frames. Also signing on with San Diego, per Jackson, is outfielder Nick Buss. The 30-year-old appeared in 36 MLB games last year for the Angels, but hit just .198/.247/.346. He did have a productive year at Triple-A, however, slashing .290/.345/.462 in his 372 plate appearances.
- Right-hander Yohan Pino, who pitched most recently in Korea, will join the Twins on a minors deal. Pino, 33, didn’t perform well for the KT Wiz, coughing up 31 earned runs on 62 hits over his 39 innings. He has had greater success stateside, however. Pino spent time in the majors in 2014 and 2015 with the Twins and Royals, posting a 4.63 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in his 79 2/3 innings.
- The Diamondbacks have agreed to re-sign third baseman Carlos Rivero to a minor-league deal. Rivero, 28, spent all of 2016 at Arizona’s top affiliate, hitting .277/.316/.484 with 19 home runs over 446 plate appearances. Rivero represents a depth option at the hot corner. He has appeared in just four MLB games in his career; those came in 2014 with the Red Sox.
- Joining the Braves on a minors pact is outfielder Xavier Avery. The 27-year-old played with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016, slashing .248/.332/.363 over 347 plate appearances. He briefly cracked the majors back in 2012 with Baltimore, but hasn’t made his way back since.
Angels, Eric Young Jr. Agree To Minors Deal
The Angels and fleet-footed outfielder Eric Young Jr. have agreed to a minor league contract and an invite to Major League Spring Training, reports Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). Young is a client of MVP Sports Group.
The 31-year-old Young spent most of the 2016 season with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate, where he batted .263/.338/.339 and swiped 23 bags in 29 attempts over the course of 116 games (329 plate appearances). Young hooked on with the Yankees in September and served as a pinch-runner down the stretch, appearing in six games and scoring two runs despite logging just one plate appearance in the Majors.
Last season was the first since Young’s 2009 debut in which he didn’t appear in at least 30 Major League games. He’s been a regular only once in his career (in 2013 with the Rockies and Mets when he led the National League with 46 steals) but has consistently found work as a bench piece due to his excellent speed. Overall, he’s a .246/.314/.327 hitter in 1684 Major League plate appearances.
Young will bring a depth option to the Angels this spring and, quite likely, early in the year in Triple-A. He’s spent most of his Major League career playing left field but does have about 400 innings in center field as well. He also spent more than 250 innings in right field last season at Triple-A. Young has some experience at second base, too, but it’s been six seasons since he put in significant work there. The Halos likely view him as an outfielder, but with Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun, Cameron Maybin, Ben Revere and Jefry Marte all on the 40-man roster, Young seems likely to be bound for Triple-A if he sticks with the organization.
Blue Jays Agree To Minor League Deal With Jarrod Saltalamacchia
4:18pm: The Jays and Saltalamacchia are in agreement on a minor league contract, pending a physical, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). He’d earn a $1.25MM base salary upon making the club and could also earn up to $250K via incentives.
4:08pm: The Blue Jays and free-agent catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia are closing in on an agreement, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. If completed, Saltalamacchia would presumably become the favorite to serve as a backup to starting catcher Russell Martin. The 31-year-old Saltalamacchia is represented by ACES. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported yesterday that Toronto had expressed interest in the veteran switch-hitter.
Saltalamacchia spent the 2016 season with the Tigers (although it was technically the final season of a three-year, $21MM deal he’d signed with the Marlins prior to the 2014 campaign). Though he showed some pop early in the season (.874 OPS, seven homers through his first 86 plate appearances), Saltalamacchia struggled to a .171/.281/.346 batting line in 292 PAs when over the course of the season as a whole. He is, however, a year removed from a .251/.332/.474 showing in nearly 200 PAs with the D-backs, and his .237/.309/.434 batting line from 2011-15 was solid, if unspectacular.
As Davidi points out, Saltalamacchia is a known commodity to Blue Jays vice president of baseball operations Ben Cherington, who served as the general manager in Boston for much of Saltalamacchia’s tenure with the team.
Saltalamacchia isn’t regarded as a strong defensive option, as he’s stopped a below-average 22 percent of stolen-base attempts against him in his career and also seen his pitch-framing numbers deteriorate over the years. Salatlamacchia is a switch-hitter, though, so he can help to balance out a lineup that is heavily right-handed if he ultimately does make the team.
Among internal candidates, recent waiver claim Juan Graterol and longtime Jays prospect A.J. Jimenez represent the most significant competition that will face Saltalamacchia in Spring Training. Graterol has a limited offensive track record but is more well-regarded from a defensive standpoint. Jimenez, meanwhile, was once regarded as one of the Jays’ best prospects but has seen his stock slide in recent years. He’ll turn 27 early in the 2017 season and is coming off a season in which he batted .241/.290/.377 in Triple-A.
Angels Sign Luis Valbuena
The Angels bolstered their infield depth and added a left-handed bat to the lineup on Tuesday, announcing a two-year deal with free-agent Luis Valbuena. The Elite Sports Group client will reportedly be guaranteed $15MM under the pact, which comes with a mutual option for the 2019 season.
Valbuena will be paid $6.5MM in 2017, $8MM in 2018 and has a $500K buyout on the $8.5MM option for the 2019 season. The option can increase in value up to $10MM based upon Valbuena’s plate appearances in the next two years. If Valbuena is traded, he’ll pick up a one-time, $500K bonus.
Valbuena, 31, will join an infield and DH grouping that now features multiple options. Los Angeles had previously dealt for second baseman Danny Espinosa, who’ll join Andrelton Simmons in the middle-infield mix, and already employs Yunel Escobar at third. Cliff Pennington remains available as a utility option. Meanwhile, Albert Pujols and C.J. Cron had figured to handle first base and DH, though the former will be working back from foot surgery to start the year.
While it’s a bit of an odd match at first glance, it’s easier to see the rationale upon taking a closer look. All of the players just listed hit from the right side, with the exception of Espinosa and Pennington, both of whom are switch-hitters. Though Pennington has performed better against right-handed pitching historically, the opposite is true of Espinosa.
Even if Pennington offers one option to slot in the lineup against tough righties, he’s a light-hitting, part-time player. Certainly, Valbuena might be expected to do quite a bit more damage. It’s particularly interesting to note the situation with Pujols, who may not be available by Opening Day and could be a greater concern given his age and prior history of foot difficulties. At the very least, this signing represents an insurance policy there.
Plus, while Valbuena has spent most of his time at third, he’s also capable of playing second base, having logged 209 games there over his nine seasons in the majors. It’s worth bearing in mind, too, that both Espinosa and Escobar are slated to hit free agency after the 2017 season, so Valbuena will not only deepen the roster in 2017 but will also provide a ready replacement — presumably, at the hot corner. It’s also possible that the club could deal Cron, as Jon Heyman of Fan Rag notes on Twitter, though it’s far from clear just how much demand there would be for his services.
[RELATED: Updated Angels Depth Chart]
Los Angeles will undoubtedly be adding a talented hitter in Valbuena, who posted an excellent .260/.357/.459 batting line in his first 342 plate appearances of 2016 before going down to a season-ending hamstring injury. That was his third-straight season of above-average offensive production. There are some limitations, too. Valbuena has also fared much better when hitting with the platoon advantage. And though he used to grade quite well with the glove at the hot corner, he has slipped to average or slightly below-average metrics in recent years.
Despite his solid platform, the injury no doubt harmed Valbuena’s earning power. Of greater importance, perhaps, was the lack of clear demand around the league. Teams such as the Giants and Braves could have pursued upgrades, but neither has to this point. That same general market situation has kept Todd Frazier with the White Sox, despite the fact that he’s an obvious trade candidate as he enters his final year of control on a rebuilding team. Plus, the abundant stock of less defensively flexible sluggers has likely reduced the demand for Valbuena purely for his bat.
Taking the opportunity to add Valbuena does make sense for the Halos, as explained above. But the team still seems to have some needs that remain unaddressed. The catching situation is far from optimal, the bullpen could stand to add an arm or two, and the rotation depth could certainly stand to be bolstered. Certainly, there’s still time left for more moves, though springing for Valbuena will take some of the available resources, particularly assuming that the organization continues to fly beneath the luxury tax threshold.
Venezuelan journalist Efrain Zavarce first reported the agreement (via Twitter). Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweeted that it was a two-year deal with an option and later reported the terms of the deal in a full column; he went on to add the detail regarding the mutual option escalator on Twitter, while Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeted the trade bonus.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins Acquire Severino Gonzalez
The Marlins have acquired righty Severino Gonzalez from the Phillies, per a team announcement. Philadelphia will receive a player to be named later or cash considerations in the deal.
Gonzalez had been designated for assignment recently to clear roster space for the signing of Michael Saunders. Now, he’ll head to the Phils’ N.L. East rivals in Miami, who have already accumulated quite a few other pitchers over the winter. Gonzalez is still optionable, which increases his appeal.
The 24-year-old Gonzalez has shown intriguing K/BB numbers in his 66 MLB frames (8.5 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9), but he owns an ugly 6.68 ERA. He has always shown excellent control in the minors, and did boast 35 strikeouts and a 3.13 ERA over his 36 innings last year at Triple-A after shifting to a full-time relief role.
Giants Designate Ehire Adrianza
The Giants have designated infielder Ehire Adrianza for assignment, the team announced (h/t Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area, via Twitter). His roster spot will go to just-signed catcher Nick Hundley.
With San Francisco also reaching agreement recently with another infield option, Jae-gyun Hwang, there was a less pressing need for the 27-year-old Adrianza. Of course, it’s certainly possible that he’ll be retained if he clears waivers. He had agreed to a $600K deal to avoid arbitration after qualifying as a Super Two, though the deal came with a split affording him half as much for time spent in the minors.
Adrianza has played an occasional utility role in each of the last four years. He has accumulated 331 total plate appearances, with a .220/.292/.313 batting line to go with three home runs and four steals. The switch hitter has spent most of his MLB time in the middle infield, functioning as a reserve behind stalwarts Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik.