Cubs Sign Manny Parra To Minor League Deal
6:36pm: Parra will receive $520K plus a potential $1.28M in bonuses if he makes the Majors, Jon Heyman tweets.
9:08am: The Cubs announced that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Manny Parra to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training (Twitter link via the Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales). Parra is represented by CAA.
Last year, the 33-year-old Parra logged a 3.90 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 1.7 BB/9 and a 45.9 percent ground-ball rate in 32 1/3 innings for the division-rival Reds. That marked his third straight season with Cincinnati after five years with the Brewers, so by signing with the Cubs, he’ll continue on in the only division he’s known (at least for the next few weeks).
Milwaukee tried Parra out as a starting pitcher for much of his time in the organization, but he’s struggled to a 5.44 ERA out of the rotation in his career (74 starts) as compared to a 4.01 ERA coming out of the bullpen. Right-handed batters have given Parra plenty of trouble in his big league career, hitting him at a .290/.370/.440 clip, whereas lefties have posted a .254/.330/.391 batting line. Those career marks against lefties are somewhat misleading, however, as Parra has excelled against southpaws since being removed from the rotation. Over the course of his three years in Cincinnati, Parra faced 249 left-handed batters and held them to a paltry .222/.285/.333 slash.
The Cubs already have a number of left-handed relief options in camp, including Clayton Richard, Travis Wood and Rex Brothers — all of whom are on the 40-man roster. Beyond that trio, lefties Jack Leathersich and Edgar Olmos are in camp as non-roster invitees. Suffice it to say, Parra faces significant competition and perhaps an uphill battle as he seeks to make the roster.
Brewers Claim Sean Nolin
12:58pm: Via Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, general manager David Stearns said that although Nolin has been developed as a starter to this point in his career, the Brewers will look at using him out of the bullpen, perhaps in a multi-inning role (links to Twitter).
12:44pm: The Brewers announced today that they have claimed left-hander Sean Nolin off waivers from the Athletics. Nolin had been designated for assignment by Oakland last week when the club acquired Khris Davis from the Brewers, so, while he isn’t a part of the trade, he’s technically an additional piece of compensation picked up by the Brewers as a result of the trade. (Nolin, after all, would not have been available in this manner were it not for the Davis trade.)
The 26-year-old Nolin was one of four players traded by the Blue Jays to the Athletics in the 2014 Josh Donaldson blockbuster. Long considered one of Toronto’s better prospects, Nolin ranked No. 8 on Baseball America’s list of top prospects just last offseason. BA has profiled him as a potential fourth starter in the past, praising his above-average command and mix of four average or better offerings. Nolin had sports hernia surgery last offseason though, and that may have contributed to an early groin injury that led to more than a month on the disabled list in 2015. When he was healthy enough to take the mound, Nolin made 14 appearances (12 starts) at the Triple-A level, logging an excellent 2.66 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 37.7 percent ground-ball rate. (BA did note that his high arm slot made him likely to end up as an extreme fly-ball pitcher).
In the Majors, Nolin struggled quite a bit more, making six starts and totaling a 5.28 ERA in 29 innings of work. Nolin managed just 14 strikeouts against 12 walks in that time, and his fastball sat at just 86.9 mph — a considerable drop from the low 90s heat he showed when healthy and rising through the Blue Jays’ farm system.
Milwaukee will hope for better health out of Nolin than the A’s received in 2015. If he is indeed back to form, he’ll give the Brewers another option in what would otherwise project to be an all-right-handed rotation. Nolin is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to crack the roster out of Spring Training or again be exposed to waivers and clear before the Brewers would be able to option him to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
White Sox Sign Jimmy Rollins To Minors Deal
12:53pm: Rollins would earn a $2MM salary upon making the Major League roster, Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago tweets. MLB.com’s Scott Merkin adds that there are no additional incentives in the deal (Twitter link). Hayes also tweets that Saladino still has a good chance to be the club’s everyday shortstop, though Rollins is an option there, and the veteran shortstop can fill a utility role if Saladino does indeed get the everyday nod.
11:09am: The White Sox announced on Monday that they’ve added shortstop and former Phillies cornerstone Jimmy Rollins on a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Rollins is a client of MVP Sports.
Rollins, 37, would seem to have an excellent chance at breaking camp as the team’s everyday shortstop, on paper. Defensively gifted sophomore Tyler Saladino is presently projected to serve as Chicago’s everyday shortstop, but the 26-year-old has little big league experience and didn’t hit in a 254-plate-appearance debut with the Pale Hose last season. Were Rollins to make the club and serve as the team’s shortstop, Saladino could shift into a valuable utility role; he showed strong defensive chops at second base and third base in addition to shortstop last season.
Last season was a struggle for Rollins, who spent the year with the Dodgers after being picked up in an offseason trade with the Phillies, making the 2015 campaign the only season of Rollins’ illustrious career that hasn’t been spent with the Phillies. Rollins tallied 563 plate appearances with the Dodgers but batted just .224/.285/.358 in that time. While those rate stats are unsightly, Rollins did still swat 13 home runs and swipe 12 bases, showing that there’s still some combination of power and speed left in his tank.
Looking for further positives, Rollins’ 15.3 percent strikeout rate was still more than passable, and his 7.8 percent walk rate was in line with his career averages. Beyond that, Sox fans will perhaps take solace in noting that Rollins’ numbers from July through season’s end (.244/.310/.395) vastly outpaced his production from Opening Day through June 30 (.208/.262/.326). While those endpoints are admittedly arbitrary, the fact that Rollins produced at a roughly league-average clip over the final three months of the regular season gives some hope for a return to his previously more successful ways at the plate (although certainly not to his NL MVP levels).
The main source of Rollins’ struggles would appear to be a .246 average on balls in play — one of the worst marks of his career. While Rollins has never had the BABIP marks that one might expect for a player with his considerable speed, last season’s drop is indeed curious, as his line-drive rate and hard contact rates remained in line with his marks from a 2014 season that saw Rollins bat .243/.323/.394 with 17 home runs. If Rollins can return to those levels, he’d serve as a more-than-adequate stopgap to perceived shortstop of the future and top prospect Tim Anderson, who could make his debut in 2016.
While Rollins was unproductive last season, it still seems surprising that he ultimately commanded a minor league deal, as he was productive as recently as 2014. Then again, it’s possible that Rollins took a minors deal with a fairly substantial guaranteed base salary over some big league deals with lower salaries or a questionable role. The Sox do present a very clear path to everyday at-bats at the shortstop position, and it’s possible that the seasoned and well-respected veteran felt this route offered him the best opportunity to play everyday and reestablish his stock. The Sox do, after all, offer a hitter-friendly environment and a club with raised expectations after adding Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie to what was a highly unproductive infield unit last season. Indeed, FOX’s Ken Rosenthal now reports, shortly after the signing, that Rollins did have a pair of big league offers, though each was for a super-utility role (Twitter link). Rollins’ preference was to try to earn his way into an everyday role with the Sox.
Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago first reported the agreement (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yankees Sign Chris Parmelee To Minor League Deal
FEB. 22: GM Brian Cashman told reporters, including the YES Network’s Jack Curry, that Parmelee has been signed to a minor league deal (Twitter link). He’ll be in big league camp, tweets MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
FEB. 21: The Yankees have apparently reached an agreement with Chris Parmelee, as per his own Instagram page. As a left-handed hitting first baseman/outfielder, Parmelee will essentially fill the spot left on the Yankees’ depth chart once Greg Bird was lost for the season after shoulder surgery.
Parmelee, who turns 28 on Wednesday, opted to become a free agent following a season that saw him hit only .216/.255/.433 over 102 plate appearances with the Orioles but a much more impressive .314/.386/.444 slash line in 272 PA at Triple-A Norfolk. Parmelee has a modest .707 OPS over 1003 Major League PA with virtually the same splits against right-handed pitching as he does against lefties.
The rumor mill has been pretty quiet for Parmelee this winter, though he was mentioned as a speculative fill for New York in the wake of Bird’s injury. Parmelee has seen most of his MLB action at first and right field, so he’ll serve as a depth option behind Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran at those respective positions (possibly from Triple-A to begin the year). Parmelee has a good chance at playing time given how those two veterans, particularly Teixeira, have battled injuries in recent years, and he could also be in for a power boost given Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/21/16
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Marlins released left-hander Troy Patton, the team announced. Patton was a non-roster invite to Miami’s spring camp after signing a minor league deal with the club in December. Patton’s 2015 season was limited to 30 1/3 innings for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate, as he missed much of the year serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for amphetamines. The southpaw has a 3.25 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 3.14 K/BB rate over 169 career innings with the Astros, Orioles and Padres, though only 14 of those frames have come in the last two seasons.
- The Angels have hired Brendan Harris and Ben Francisco as pro scouts, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times reports (via Twitter). The hirings would suggest that Harris and Francisco are retiring after lengthy professional careers that saw both men play for six different franchises and play their last big league games in 2013. Harris spent eight seasons in the majors, with 390 of his 529 career games coming as a regular with the Rays and Twins from 2007-09. The versatile Harris saw lots of time at shortstop, third base and second base over his career and he hit .256/.314/.381 over 1876 plate appearances with six different franchises. Francisco saw regular action in the outfield with Cleveland and Philadelphia from 2007-2011 before bouncing around to four other clubs in his final two seasons. Francisco hit .253/.323/.418 with 50 homers over 1771 Major League PA, though he may be best remembered in Philadelphia for his three-run homer that helped the Phillies win Game 3 of the 2011 NLDS against the Cardinals. MLBTR congratulates Harris and Francisco on their fine careers and wishes them the best as they move into the scouting world.
Nationals To Sign Juan Gutierrez
The Nationals will sign right-hander Juan Gutierrez to a minor league deal, according to MLBTR’s Steve Adams (on Twitter). The deal does not include an invite to Washington’s big league camp.
Gutierrez appeared in 114 games for the Royals, Angels and Giants over the 2013-14 seasons, posting a 4.08 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 2.47 K/BB rate over 119 relief innings. The 32-year-old was non-tendered by San Francisco following the 2014 season and re-signed with the team on a minor league deal, though he exercised a June 1 opt-out clause in his contract since he wasn’t on the Giants’ Major League roster. Gutierrez signed on with the Phillies and Nationals on minor league deals as well in 2015 but never cracked the bigs, ending up with a 3.98 ERA over 61 innings at the Triple-A level.
Dodgers Sign Yaisel Sierra
FEBRUARY 21: The Dodgers announced the completion of the deal. Sierra will earn a $6MM signing bonus and then salaries of $1MM, $2.5MM, $3.5MM, $4MM, $5.5MM, and $7.5MM, per another Heyman tweet. He will have the ability to opt into salary arbitration if he becomes eligible.
FEBRUARY 20: Sierra and the Dodgers are expected to complete their deal soon, Jon Heyman tweets. It will be in the $30MM-$31MM range.
JANUARY 12: The Dodgers have reportedly agreed on a six-year deal with Cuban righty Yaisel Sierra. Jon Heyman tweeted that a deal was in place after Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported this morning that agreement was close (Twitter link).
Per Passan, Sierra is expected to receive a guarantee of around $30MM. The Dodgers “pulled ahead” with an offer of between $30MM and $35MM over six years, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter links). The other teams that have at least made a “strong push” for Sierra are the Marlins and Cubs, he adds. (Miami’s pursuit was recently reported.)
Needless to say, Los Angeles has been remarkably active on the international market, and the addition of Sierra only continues that trend. The club already added Japanese hurler Kenta Maeda in the new year, signed and traded Hector Olivera last spring, landed a number of high-priced July 2 prospects (led by Cuban hurler Yadier Alvarez) over the summer, and then continued to pay 100% overages on large bonuses to Cuban prospects Yusniel Diaz and Omar Estevez.
Sierra, like Maeda and Olivera, is more or less MLB ready, though he’s probably more likely to see big league action out of a pen in the near term. The Dodgers’ rotation is already arguably somewhat overloaded, though, so Sierra could factor as a 2016 relief piece while looking to tap into his starting upside down the line.
The 24-year-old seems to come with a fairly intriguing ceiling. While he didn’t post good results in his most recent action in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, he is said to have a mid-90s fastball with a good slider. The ready comp is Reds’ righty Raisel Iglesias, with Ben Badler of Baseball America explaining (subscription required) that Sierra has more physical tools but less polished command than did Iglesias when he signed.
Sierra boosted his stock with a showcase in late October that drew a throng of scouts. And recent scouting reports have suggested that the righty has shown improvement in cleaning up both his delivery and command. As Badler noted today on Twitter, Sierra looks like a potential mid-rotation starter at his best.
It’s easy to see the rationale here from the Dodgers’ perspective. Even as the team increasingly eschews large commitments to veterans, it is putting its admirable financial position to work by doling out huge bonuses on the international market. While Sierra won’t require the team to pay a 100% tax, as he wasn’t subject to international signing limitations, the investment still represents a significant up-front cost that probably won’t yield a commensurate return on the field in the immediate future (if it ever does).
Of course, that’s precisely the gamble that all teams take when they dedicate resources to amateur talent. But Los Angeles is uniquely well-situated right now to utilize cash to accumulate young, controllable assets. With the strict limitations applicable to the draft, and the organization’s coming two-year ban on international signings of over $300K, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if we see yet more outlays over the next several months.
Rangers Sign Jeremy Guthrie
The Rangers have signed free agent pitcher Jeremy Guthrie to a minor league contract, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com was the first to report the two sides were close to an agreement while T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reported it was a minor pact. The deal is pending a physical.
Guthrie, soon to be 37, is coming off the worst season of his career. Pitching for the Royals, he posted a 5.95 ERA (5.62 FIP), 5.10 K/9, and 2.67 BB/9 in 148 innings. A career high line drive rate led to an above normal .315 BABIP (career .284 BABIP). He also had an elevated 14.1% HR/FB ratio although that has been a common problem for him in recent seasons.
Given that Kauffman Stadium is one of the most home run suppressant parks in baseball, a move to Texas’ Globe Life Park is not promising. Guthrie will compete with Chi Chi Gonzalez, Nick Martinez, and others for the fifth starter’s role. Colby Lewis, penciled in as the fourth starter, is recovery from a knee injury. Yu Darvish will also eventually rejoin the rotation mid-season.
In addition to competing for a rotation job, Guthrie provides a very necessary safety in the case of injury to Derek Holland or Martin Perez. Both pitchers have missed most of the last two seasons with various injuries.
Padres Sign Casey Janssen To Minor League Deal
10:09am: The Padres have officially announced that they’ve signed Janssen to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.
9:36am: It appears possible the Padres have agreed to terms with veteran righty Casey Janssen, perhaps on a minor league deal. Janssen currently has a locker at the Padres’ Spring Training facility, MLB.com’s Corey Brock tweets. Janssen is an ACES client.
The 34-year-old Janssen spent 2015 in the Nationals bullpen, pitching 40 innings while posting a 4.95 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. The Nats declined their option on him after the season. Janssen, who collected 20-plus saves with the Blue Jays in each season from 2012 through 2014, has maintained his walk-limiting abilities in recent years but has suffered a steep decline in his strikeout rate, likely due in part to a dip in average fastball velocity from about 92 MPH in 2011 and 2012 to below 89 MPH last year. He’s also become a fly ball pitcher, with his ground ball rate dropping from 47.9% in 2013 to 29.4% last season and his home-run rate doubling during that time.
Those factors would appear to make Janssen quite vulnerable going forward, but given his solid control and his history as a closer, it’s not surprising he found a landing spot. After trading Craig Kimbrel to the Red Sox, the Padres currently have Fernando Rodney (who, like Janssen, is a veteran with a dicey recent history), penciled in at closer. It seems possible that they could turn to Janssen in the role if he makes the team and Rodney falters.
Pirates Sign Matt Joyce To Minor League Deal
SATURDAY: The Bucs have officially announced the deal.
THURSDAY: The Pirates have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Matt Joyce, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The 31-year-old ACES client will presumably compete for a bench spot in Spring Training, as the Pittsburgh outfield mix of Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco is among the best in the game.
The 2015 campaign was far and away the worst of Joyce’s career, as he batted just .174/.272/.291 with five homers in 284 plate appearances as an Angel after being swapped for right-hander Kevin Jepsen in an offseason trade with the Rays. While those numbers, clearly, are unappealing, Joyce’s track record prior to that dismal season was very solid. From 2010-14 with the Rays, Joyce posted a collective .251/.344/.434 batting line with 73 homers in 2219 plate appearances.
In the event that Joyce makes the Pirates’ roster, he’d very much be a platoon or matchup option for manager Clint Hurdle, as even in that quality stretch with Tampa Bay, he batted a paltry .185/.246/.313 in 326 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. Conversely, his numbers against right-handed pitching look rather impressive: .263/.360/.456 with a 12.8 percent walk rate and 18.7 strikeout rate.
Currently, the Pirates’ options for backup outfielders include Mike Morse, Jake Goebbert and Sean Rodriguez. Morse is most likely viewed as a first base option as opposed to a candidate for significant time in the outfield, leaving the latter two (and perhaps fellow non-roster invitee Antoan Richardson) as Joyce’s primary competition.