Rule 5 Pick Justin Haley Traded To Twins
The Angels have agreed to trade Rule 5 Draft pick and right-handed pitcher Justin Haley for cash, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. His ultimate destination will be the Twins, as Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press and others tweeted. When the Angels announced the deal, however, they announced that they had traded Haley to the Padres. The Padres also acquired first overall Rule 5 pick Miguel Diaz from the Twins, so it seems that Haley was part of that deal as well.
Haley was the eighth pick in the draft from the Red Sox system, and the Twins had already selected a player, Miguel Diaz, by that point. (Diaz is also a candidate to be traded at some point today.) The 25-year-old Haley pitched 146 2/3 innings between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket and posted a solid 3.01 ERA, 7.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. He was a sixth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2012.
Braves Release Williams Perez
The Braves have announced that they’ve released starting pitcher Williams Perez. The move clears a spot on their 40-man roster for the Rule 5 Draft, which is about to start.
The 25-year-old Perez has made 31 starts for the Braves over the past two seasons but has mostly struggled, with a 5.18 ERA, 5.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 170 1/3 innings. Last season, he pitched 53 2/3 innings in the big leagues and posted a 6.04 ERA, also fighting through shoulder and elbow troubles. The Braves now have ample starting pitching depth of the type Perez provides and therefore could afford to lose him.
Minor MLB Transactions: 12/8/16
The latest minor moves from around baseball:
- The Yankees have re-signed left-hander Joe Mantiply to a minor league contract, tweets Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. New York released the 25-year-old Nov. 28, just under three weeks after claiming him off waivers from the Tigers, but he’ll now return to the Yankees organization. A 27th-round pick in 2013, Mantiply made his major league debut with Detroit last season and yielded five runs, seven hits and walks in just 2 2/3 innings. He was far more successful in the minors, where he registered a 2.73 ERA with 10.9 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 in a combined 59 1/3 frames between the Double-A and Triple-A levels.
- Right-hander Parker Markel‘s previously reported contract in Asia is with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization, according to Zach Links of Pro Football Rumors and MLBTR (Twitter link). The former Rays farmhand will receive a $525K base salary and could land up to $135K in incentives.
Mariners Designate Richie Shaffer For Assignment
The Mariners have announced that they’ve designated infielder/outfielder Richie Shaffer for assignment. The move clears roster space for incoming starting pitcher Chris Heston, who was acquired in a trade with the Giants that is now official.
The Mariners acquired Shaffer (along with Taylor Motter) in a small deal with the Rays last month. The 25-year-old Shaffer was the 25th overall pick in the draft in 2012. He’s spent parts of the past two seasons in the big leagues, batting .213/.310/.410 in 142 plate appearances. He was unimpressive in a larger sample this year at Triple-A Durham, batting .227/.329/.367 in 496 trips to the plate. He had a strong year on the farm in 2015, swatting 26 homers, and he’s capable of playing first base, third base or right field, so it’s not impossible a team could take a chance on him as a waiver claim.
Wilin Rosario Re-Signs With Hanwha Eagles In Korea
Former Rockies catcher and first baseman Wilin Rosario has agreed to a deal to stay with the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Rosario is a client of Team One Management.
The 27-year-old Rosario was a bit of a square peg in parts of five seasons with the Rockies, batting .273/.306/.473 but with questionable defense behind the dish. He played with the Eagles in 2016 and had success there, however, batting .321/.367/.593 with 33 homers (although it should be noted that the KBO, like Coors Field, tends to be very kind to hitters — other recent KBO sluggers to make the leap to the big leagues, including Jung Ho Kang, Byung Ho Park and Eric Thames, posted KBO OPS figures a couple hundred points higher than Rosario’s). Rosario reportedly was considering returning to the Majors following his fine season in Korea, but it appears he’ll stay there for at least another year.
Giants Trade Chris Heston To Mariners
The Giants have traded righty Chris Heston to the Mariners, FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi tweets. The Giants will receive a player to be named in return, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Morosi had previously tweeted that the two teams were discussing a deal involving Heston.
The Giants were hoping to trade Heston by tonight, Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News wrote (Twitter links). They had planned to designate Heston for assignment to open a roster spot for incoming closer Mark Melancon when Melancon’s deal became official later today. By trading Heston, they will at least receive a prospect in return. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweeted earlier today that the Giants were shopping Heston.
The 28-year-old Heston had an effective season in the Giants rotation in 2015, posting a 3.95 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a robust 53.0 GB% over 177 2/3 innings. He began the 2016 season in the bullpen, however, and was eventually optioned to Triple-A Sacramento, where he posted a somewhat disappointing 4.54 ERA, 5.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 81 1/3 innings while also dealing with an oblique injury. He has less than two years of service time and has an option remaining, so he figures to provide the Mariners with a controllable starter.
Nationals Acquire Adam Eaton
The White Sox have announced that they’ve traded outfielder Adam Eaton to the Nationals in a deal centered on right-hander Lucas Giolito, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman previously reported. Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago reported that right-handers Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning are also in the deal.
The price to acquire Eaton, 28, proved extremely costly for the Nationals, who will send two of the game’s top 10 right-handed pitching prospects, Giolito and Lopez, to Chicago in order to acquire him (rankings via MLB.com). Beyond that, Dunning was Washington’s first-round pick (No. 29 overall) this past summer.
The exceptionally steep cost to acquire Eaton is understandable, though, as he’s fresh off a season in which he batted .284/.362/.428 with 14 homers, 14 steals and perhaps the best right-field defense of anyone in baseball. Of course, the Nationals figure to put Eaton back in center field, where his glove isn’t as strong, but doing so will allow the team to put Trea Turner back at shortstop. And, with Jayson Werth hitting the open market next winter, the Nats could put Eaton back in a corner spot as soon as 2018 if GM Mike Rizzo adds a more premium defender next winter.
Not only was Eaton worth six wins above replacement in the estimation of both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference last season, he’s also on a wildly affordable contract that guarantees him just $19.9MM over the next three seasons and comes with two affordable club options. All told, his earnings can top out at $38.4MM if both options are picked up. For five eminently affordable years of a player of that ilk, it’s not surprising that multiple top 50 overall prospects and a 2016 first-round pick were required to pry Eaton away from the White Sox, who very clearly appear to be in the midst of an aggressive rebuilding process.
The Nationals had previously been in talks with the Pirates for Andrew McCutchen, with Lopez among the names connected to those talks. Their acquisition of Eaton would appear to shut the door on those negotiations. In Eaton, they’ve acquired a player who doesn’t have McCutchen’s power but who has superior secondary skills and is controllable for a longer period of time.
As for Chicago GM Rick Hahn, he’s bolstered his farm system by a staggering amount in a span of roughly 26 hours, as he added Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz in yesterday’s Chris Sale blockbuster with the Red Sox. Remarkably, the Nationals were reported to have offered both Giolito and Lopez in their offer for Sale, and despite making the decision to rebuff that offer, he acquired both ballyhooed righties just one day later.
Giolito ranks as the third-best prospect in baseball, via MLB.com, which rates Giolito’s mid- to upper-90s fastball an 80 on the 20-to-80 scouting scale and regards his curveball almost as highly. Giolito raced from Double-A Harrisburg to the Majors in 2016, posting a 2.97 ERA, 9.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 115 1/3 minor league innings and tacking on 21 1/3 more in the Majors. The White Sox’ plans for the towering 6’6″ righty aren’t yet clear, but he could easily become a regular big-league rotation option in 2017. Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets that the Nationals were “down” on Giolito, and some in the industry believe the Nats would have been willing to trade him in a one-for-one deal for Andrew Miller last summer, as Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweeted. Still, Giolito retains enormous upside.
Lopez is lesser known than Giolito, but brings a big arms of his own and rates 38th in MLB.com’s list. Like Giolito, he pitched in Harrisburg, Triple-A Syracuse and Washington in 2016, and he fared well in the minors before struggling a bit in the big leagues — he posted a 3.21 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 109 1/3 minor league innings. He’s smaller than Giolito, at 6’0″, but like Giolito and Kopech, he’s got an electric arm — he can dial his fastball into the mid-90s and touch higher. He figures to pitch in the big leagues for at least a good portion of the 2017 season.
Dunning was the 29th overall pick in the June draft, and the 21-year-old rated as the Nats’ sixth-best prospect. Hayes tweets that the White Sox liked Dunning very much when they were scouting for the draft (when he was otherwise somewhat overlooked on a loaded Florida Gators team). MLB.com praises his fastball, which sits in the low- to mid-90s with good movement, and strong changeup. He made seven starts for the Nats’ short-season team in Auburn, posting a 2.14 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9. He seems likely to begin the 2017 season at the Class A or A+ level, and he’s likely to be at least a year or two from contributing in the big leagues.
Morosi first said the two sides had talked earlier today, and MLB.com’s Scott Merkin said a trade was in the works. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the deal was close to being finalized.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins To Sign A.J. Ellis
The Marlins have agreed to a one-year, $2.5MM deal with veteran backstop A.J. Ellis, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (on Twitter). Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald had just reported that the Marlins appeared to have a “good shot” at landing Ellis to be the new backup catcher in Miami, where he’ll be reunited with former manager Don Mattingly and former teammate Dee Gordon. Ellis is represented by ACES.
Ellis, 35, will serve as the primary backup to young J.T. Realmuto, who looks to be emerging as one of the better young catchers in the league. Miami has been in the market for a new reserve backstop since veteran Jeff Mathis, who has served as the backup in Miami for the past four seasons, inked a deal with the Diamondbacks last week.
Ellis posted a .216/.301/.298 line in 196 plate appearances split between the Dodgers and Phillies last season, although, of course, his calling card has always been his handling of pitchers, not his hitting. Clayton Kershaw famously loved working with Ellis, who caught Kershaw for 829 innings over the course of Ellis’ tenure with the Dodgers, which spanned parts of nine seasons. The hope in Miami, perhaps, is that Ellis can have a positive influence on Realmuto and the Marlins’ young staff.
Blue Jays, Brett Oberholtzer Agree To Minors Deal
The Blue Jays have agreed to a deal with southpaw Brett Oberholtzer, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi tweets that it’s a minor league contract.
The 27-year-old Oberholtzer struggled mightily in 2016, though, pitching to a career-worst 5.89 ERA with 6.9 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 and a 42.3 percent ground-ball rate in 70 innings between the Philies and Angels. The former Astros southpaw found himself traded to the Phillies last winter as part of the Ken Giles blockbuster, but he struggled with both teams for which he pitched in 2016 and elected free agency after being outrighted earlier this offseason.
Oberholtzer has a 4.36 ERA to go along with 6.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and a 39.3 percent ground-ball rate in 324 big league innings. He doesn’t dominate lefties like so many other left-handed pitchers, so if he ends up making the club at some point in 2017, Oberholtzer is more of a swingman option than a candidate for situational work against lefties late in games.
Yankees Sign Matt Holliday
The Yankees have announced the signing of Matt Holliday to a one-year deal. The Scott Boras client will reportedly receive a guarantee of $13MM for the 2017 season.
While Holliday has been a left fielder for 1698 of his 1773 career games, he isn’t likely to get much time at that position in New York (at least not unless Brett Gardner is traded). Holliday will instead serve as the Yankees’ primary designated hitter and possibly also get some time at first base; he appeared in 10 games at first for the Cardinals last year.
The signing will bring some veteran stability to an intriguing but rather inexperienced first base/DH mix in New York. Youngsters Greg Bird and Tyler Austin are expected to get the bulk of time at first, with Aaron Judge on hand as both a DH and right fielder. (Austin can also play right.) Holliday, Austin and Judge are all right-handed hitters, with Bird hitting from the left side and the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks traditionally performing much better against southpaws over his career.
Holliday hit .246/.322/.461 with 20 homers over 426 PA for St. Louis in 2016 in a season shortened by a thumb fracture. Between that injury and a pair of quad strains in 2015, Holliday has only appeared in 183 of 324 games over the last two years, though a move to DH should help the 36-year-old (who turns 37 in January) stay healthy. Defensive metrics like UZR/150 and Defensive Runs Saved have been down on Holliday’s left field glovework for the last five years, so a move out of left is also likely to help Holliday’s overall value.
Holliday’s below-par 2016 season led the Cardinals to decline their $17MM club option on the longtime St. Louis staple. Over 13 seasons and 7489 career PA with the Cards, A’s and Rockies, Holliday has a very impressive .303/.382/.515 slash line, 295 home runs and 49.9 fWAR. Though his walk rate, line drive rate and overall hitting numbers declined in 2016, Holliday hit with much more power last year than in 2015 and his overall hard-hit ball rate was above his career norms. A .253 BABIP may have also been partially responsible for Holliday’s somewhat disappointing (by his standards) 2016 campaign.
Holliday ranked 40th on MLBTR’s list of the top 50 free agents of the 2016-17 offseason, with Tim Dierkes predicting Holliday to land a one-year, $10MM deal.
The Yankees had been linked to several veteran bats this winter, ranging from top-of-the-market names like Yoenis Cespedes and Edwin Encarnacion to players like Holliday who would be available on shorter-term deals. In signing Holliday to an affordable one-year commitment, GM Brian Cashman could now use any affordable payroll room on the bullpen (the Yankees have been widely tabbed for a reunion with Aroldis Chapman) or perhaps the starting rotation, via free agency or the trade market. Gardner and Chase Headley have been rumored to be available in trade talks, so more moves could also be forthcoming to the Yankees’ lineup.
WFAN’s Sweeny Murti was the first to report (Twitter link) that the two sides were close to a deal, and FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that Holliday will earn $13MM for the one-year contract.