Diamondbacks Designate Will Locante
The Diamondbacks have designated lefty Will Locante for assignment, per a team announcement. His 40-man spot will go to reliever Tyler Clippard.
Locante, 26, scuffled to a 5.79 ERA in 42 innings at the Double-A level last year. While he’s shown big strikeout ability in the low minors, he’s also struggled with his command, and that was never more true than in 2015. Locante ended the season with 8.1 K/9 against 7.3 BB/9.
D-Backs Sign Tyler Clippard
The D-backs have officially signed right-hander Tyler Clippard to a two-year, $12.25MM contract, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). Clippard is represented by Excel Sports Management. Rosenthal further tweets that the deal is official (though the team has not announced the move just yet) and will give Clippard a $4MM signing bonus plus salaries of $4.1MM and $4.15MM in the next two seasons, respectively. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported earlier today that the two sides had made progress on a deal, and ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick later added that an agreement was close.
Clippard, 31 on Sunday, will join Brad Ziegler, Daniel Hudson, Andrew Chafin, Randall Delgado and Josh Collmenter at the back of the Arizona bullpen, leaving the team with one unsettled spot. With Chafin representing the only lefty in that mix, it’s possible that Matt Reynolds or non-roster invitee Wesley Wright would have the inside track on that final spot, though GM Dave Stewart has mentioned several other relievers by name recently. Among those listed by Stewart were Silvino Bracho, Enrique Burgos, Jake Barrett, Cody Hall, Sam LeCure, Dominic Leone and Evan Marshall — each of whom is right-handed.
Ziegler, who admirably stepped into the closer’s role last offseason when Addison Reed lost his handle on the ninth inning, will remain the D-backs’ closer, according to the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro (on Twitter). Clippard, then, will join Hudson (who has shown excellent velocity as a setup option since returning from his second Tommy John surgery) as a setup man at the back of the ‘pen. Clippard does have 53 career saves and spent the early portion of the 2015 campaign as Oakland’s closer before being traded to the Mets, and it seems reasonable to expect that he’d be the first line of defense should Ziegler falter.
The addition of Clippard, in some ways, mirrors the D-backs’ previous acquisition of Reed in that both are notorious fly-ball pitchers. The Diamondbacks wound up trading Reed to the Mets in what amounted to a salary dump after Reed posted a 6.36 ERA at the homer-friendly Chase Field over the course of his 18 months with the club, making the decision to replace him with an even more extreme fly-ball pitcher puzzling. Clippard is coming off the second-highest fly-ball rate of his career and will be pitching in what is the most hitter-friendly environment he’s called home (with the exception of his brief call-up at Yankee Stadium in 2007). Last season, Clippard’s 60.6 percent fly-ball rate was easily the highest in baseball, and he also saw his strikeout and walk rates also trend backwards (8.1 K/9, 3.9 BB/9) while his velocity dipped for a third consecutive year.
All that said, Clippard again delivered outstanding bottom-line results between the Athletics and the Mets in 2015, totaling a 2.92 ERA in 71 innings. He also rattled off his sixth consecutive season with at least 70 innings pitched and continued his remarkable track record of durability in the bullpen. Dating back to the 2009 season, Clippard’s 464 1/3 innings are the most by any reliever in baseball by more than 50 innings, meaning he’s essentially thrown an extra season’s worth of innings than anyone else in that time. While there’s undoubtedly some concern that the workload has taken a toll on his arm and the effects began to manifest last season, his consistency and durability is virtually unparalleled by any of his peers in the league.
Stewart said just last Thursday that the team had “nothing going on” in terms of trade talk and free-agent pursuits just last Thursday, though he changed course less than 24 hours later and expressed an interest in reaching out to Clippard’s representatives. The Diamondbacks saved about $4MM in the trade that sent Aaron Hill, Chase Anderson and Isan Diaz to the Brewers in exchange for Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner, and that sum was essentially reallocated to function as Clippard’s signing bonus (or, if you prefer, his 2016 salary). By my calculation, the Clippard signing should put the D-backs around $95MM in terms of Opening Day payroll (including players at or near the league minimum), which is shy of their record $112MM Opening Day mark from 2014 but higher than the $86MM and $83MM marks from 2015 and 2013, respectively.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Indians Sign Craig Stammen To Minor League Deal
2:36pm: Stammen’s contract comes with a $1MM base salary and also includes an additional $2MM worth of incentives, according to Rosenthal (Twitter link). Stammen’s deal also allows him to opt out and become a free agent if he hasn’t been added to the Major League roster by March 25.
1:04pm: The Indians announced, via Twitter, that they have indeed signed Stammen to a minor league contract that contains an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
9:07am: The Indians are trying to finalize a deal with right-hander Craig Stammen today, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that the contract would be a minor league deal, if finalized, although nothing is done just yet. HometownSportsHeroes.net first connected the two sides earlier today (Twitter link).
Stammen, 31, missed nearly the entire 2015 season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right flexor tendon back in April. Stammen was non-tendered by the Nationals in December, though he’s said to be fully recovered from his operation (as MLBTR’s Zach Links reported later that same month). Stammen has more than five years of Major League service time, so if he makes the team, he’ll qualify as a free agent following the 2016 campaign.
Assuming good health, Stammen would be a nice add for the Indians. Prior to his surgery, the former 12th-round pick logged a 2.85 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 50.8 percent ground-ball rate in 253 innings from 2011-14. While not the hardest-throwing of relievers, Stammen averaged 91.5 mph on his fastball in that time and managed to keep both left- and right-handed hitters in check (though lefties did, unsurprisingly, have a bit more success against him). He was often used in a multi-inning role with the Nats — as evidenced by the fact that those 253 innings came across a span of 170 games — and could give the Indians another option in that role should he make the club.
Stammen will be entering a somewhat crowded bullpen mix heading into Spring Training. Cody Allen is locked in as Cleveland’s closer, of course, and righties Bryan Shaw, Zach McAllister and Jeff Manship all enjoyed strong seasons in 2015 as well. Right-handers Shawn Armstrong, Austin Adams and Dan Otero represent options that are currently on the 40-man roster, with Giovanni Soto and Kyle Crockett serving as left-handed options on the 40-man. Additionally, there will be a number of veterans in camp on non-roster invites, including right-handera Joba Chamberlain and Felipe Paulino as well as lefties Ross Detwiler (Stammen’s former teammate in Washington), Tom Gorzelanny and Joe Thatcher.
Freddy Garcia To Retire
Veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia will call it a career after today’s Caribbean Series final, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports. Garcia will start for Venezuela’s Tigres de Aragua against Mexico’s Venados de Mazatlan in the deciding game of the annual competition that pits championship teams from the top Venezuelan, Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican leagues against each other in a round-robin tournament.
Garcia, who turned 39 in October, is retiring after a 21-year professional career that included 15 years in Major League Baseball. He signed an amateur contract with the Astros in 1993 as a 17-year-old but was part of a very notable trade before making it to Houston — Garcia, Carlos Guillen and John Halama were sent to the Mariners in July 1998 in the deal that brought Randy Johnson to the Astros.
The righty made his MLB debut the next season and quickly found success, finishing second in AL Rookie of the Year voting and ninth in Cy Young Award voting for a season that saw him post a 4.07 ERA over 201 1/3 innings. It was the first of seven seasons of 200+ innings that Garcia would post in his career, establishing a reputation for durability until injuries contributed to his shift into more of a swingman and long relief role later in his career.
Garcia was a two-time All-Star in Seattle, though he may best be remembered for his stint with the White Sox that included a big role in their 2005 World Series title. He threw seven shutout innings in Game Four to help Chicago complete its sweep of the Astros and clinch the franchise’s first championship since 1917. Garcia had a 3.26 ERA over 11 career postseason starts, including a quality outing for the Braves in what ended up being their elimination game in a 2013 NLDS matchup against the Dodgers. That start was Garcia’s last appearance in a Major League uniform.
Over 2264 innings, Garcia posted a career 4.15 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and 2.24 K/BB rate. He pitched for seven teams (Mariners, White Sox, Yankees, Phillies, Braves, Tigers and Orioles) at the big league level and also with the Mets and Dodgers in the minors, as well as stints in Venezuela, Mexico and Taiwan.
According to Baseball Reference, Garcia made $53.5MM over his career. We at MLB Trade Rumors tip our caps to Garcia on a fine career and we wish him all the best in his post-playing career.
Blue Jays Sign Gavin Floyd
SATURDAY, 12:17PM: The move is official, as per a Blue Jays press release.
SATURDAY, 11:59AM: Floyd’s deal with the Jays is a Major League contract, Gideon Turk of Blue Jays Plus was first to report (via Twitter). Floyd will earn a $1MM base salary and can get up to $1MM in incentives based on how many days he spends in the 25-man roster. He’ll also receive $500K for 90 days on the roster, $250K for 120 days and another $250K for 140 days, per Jon Heyman (Twitter links).
THURSDAY: Right-hander Gavin Floyd “appears headed for [a] deal with [the] Blue Jays,” Jon Heyman reports (on Twitter). SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets that the Moye Sports client is indeed in agreement with the Jays, pending a physical.
Floyd, who turned 33 just last week, would serve as a back-of-the-rotation option for the Blue Jays, though it’s tough to imagine he’d be promised a spot in the starting five after throwing just 92 Major League innings across the past three seasons. The longtime White Sox righty underwent Tommy John surgery early in the 2013 season and returned with a flourish with the Braves in 2014 (2.65 ERA in 54 1/3 innings) before missing the remainder of the season due to a fractured olecranon bone in his right elbow. Somewhat astoundingly, Floyd suffered the exact same injury in Spring Training with the Indians last year. He was thought to be lost for the season, although he did return to toss 13 1/3 effective innings of relief late in the year. Given the lengthy list of recent injuries, Floyd seemed like a candidate for a minor league deal, though details on his agreement with Toronto remain unclear.
At his best, Floyd has proven to be a highly capable mid-rotation arm, although it’s obviously been quite some time since he was healthy enough to display that over the course of a full season. Nevertheless, from 2008-12, Floyd averaged 190 innings of 4.12 ERA ball with 7.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 45.1 percent ground-ball rate. When adjusting for Floyd’s hitter-friendly home park and the heightened offensive output league-wide during that period, Floyd was about eight percent better than the league-average pitcher in terms of both ERA and FIP.
Clearly, president of baseball operations Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins, both former executives with the Indians, think highly of Floyd, as this is the second time he’s signed with a team under that duo’s leadership. Floyd had reportedly drawn interest from the division-rival Orioles on a minor league pact earlier this offseason and had also been speculatively mentioned as a fit for the Rangers, among other clubs.
Floyd will look to crack a rotation that currently has Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada and J.A. Happ locked in place. Toronto has no shortage of candidates for the fifth spot, with Drew Hutchison, Jesse Chavez and Aaron Sanchez representing rotation options on the 40-man roster (to say nothing of non-roster invitees like Scott Diamond, Roberto Hernandez, Wade LeBlanc and Brad Penny as potential depth pieces to stash at Triple-A).
Blue Jays Designate Chad Jenkins For Assignment
The Blue Jays have designated righty Chad Jenkins for assignment, as per a team press release. The move creates roster space for Gavin Floyd, whose deal with the club was officially announced.
Jenkins was Toronto’s first round pick (20th overall) in the 2009 draft, though his big league career to date has consisted of 100 2/3 innings pitched, with 40 of his 46 MLB appearances coming out of the bullpen. Jenkins has a 3.31 ERA, 1.96 K/BB rate and 4.6 K/9 over parts of four Major League seasons with the Jays, and he appeared in just two games last year.
As per the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker, Jenkins joins four other players in awaiting their next assignment.
Jesse Chavez Wins Arbitration Hearing With Blue Jays
Right-hander Jesse Chavez will earn $4MM in 2016 after winning his arbitration hearing with the Blue Jays. The news was reported in a tweet from Chavez’s representatives at the Sosnick Cobbe Karon agency.
There was a fairly modest gap between the two sides, as the Jays had countered with a $3.6MM offer. As a “file-and-trial” team, the Jays’ policy is to go to a hearing with any player that doesn’t reach agreement on a new contract before the arbitration filing deadline. (The exception would be if the team and player are discussing a multi-year extension, such as is the case with Toronto and Josh Donaldson before the AL MVP’s hearing on February 15.)
Matt Swartz predicted Chavez to land an even bigger salary of $4.7MM in his arbitration projections for MLBTR, though the $4MM number still represents a nice bump for Chavez over his $2.15MM salary he earned in 2015. This was Chavez’s third and final year of arbitration eligibility and he’s slated to hit free agency next winter.
Thus far, players who have gone to hearings this offseason are a perfect 3-for-3, as Chavez joins the Reds’ J.J. Hoover and the Rays’ Drew Smyly as players ruled worthy of their higher salaries. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have lost two of three arbitration hearings over the last two winters, losing to Chavez and Danny Valencia while winning last year’s hearing with Donaldson.
Chavez, 32, is entering his second stint as a Blue Jay after being acquired from the A’s in a deal for Liam Hendriks in November. Chavez will compete for the fifth spot in the Jays’ rotation, though he could essentially fill Hendriks’ old job as the long man in Toronto’s bullpen. In three-plus years in Oakland, Chavez posted a 3.98 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.80 K/BB rate in 363 2/3 innings (split between 47 starts and 54 relief appearances).
Cubs Avoid Arbitration With Jake Arrieta
The Cubs have agreed to a $10.7MM deal with righty Jake Arrieta to avoid arbitration, Jay Cohen of the Associated Press (Twitter link). There was plenty of incentive for both sides to get something done, as Arrieta filed at $13MM and the team countered at $7.5MM, setting the stage for what would have been quite a high-stakes hearing.
Instead, Arrieta will land $450K above the midpoint. As MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz has explained in detail, Arrieta’s case provided a test for assessing arbitration raises. While the MLBTR arb model projected a $10.9MM salary after Arrieta’s monster 2015 season, Swartz revised that downward to $10.4MM as a limitation on the predicted record raise for a second-year-eligible player. Obviously, Arrieta landed right between those figures.
Arrieta, who is nearing 30, somehow managed to improve upon his stellar 2014 campaign with the Cubs, taking home a Cy Young award in the face of stiff competition. Chicago successfully reclaimed him after a 2013 deadline trade with the Orioles that also landed Pedro Strop in exchange for a few months of Scott Feldman.
Over his 229 innings in 2015, Arrieta worked to a 1.77 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9. He also improved upon his groundball induction numbers, posting an excellent 56.2% grounder rate on balls in place. With the righty showing career-best average fastball velocity, a true five-pitch arsenal, and non-existent platoon issues, there weren’t many pitchers this side of Los Angeles that could even come close to Arrieta’s work last season.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether there is any realistic hope of a longer-term pact. Arrieta is eligible for arbitration one final time next winter, and then stands to reach free agency. He won’t exactly be a youthful entrant onto the market, but as Zack Greinke just proved, it’s possible to take home over $200MM at an even later point in one’s career. Certainly, Chicago will have a tough decision as to how high it would be willing to go to keep Arrieta around.
Minor MLB Transactions: 2/5/16
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Yankees added outfielder Jared Mitchell on a minor league pact, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Mitchell has been playing in the upper minors for quite some time after moving quickly upon being taken as the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 draft, but he’s yet to crack the majors. He spent most of last year with the Angels after breaking in with the White Sox, and owns a .213/.329/.338 batting line with 12 home runs and 10 stolen bases over 695 total plate appearances in parts of four seasons at Triple-A.
- Meanwhile, the division-rival Rays are evidently working on a new pitching angle after adding converted catcher Jeff Howell on a minor league deal, as Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets (with an assist from Mick Reinhard of PennLive, on Twitter). He joins fellow knuckleballer Eddie Gamboa in the Tampa Bay organization, which has also recently added former big league knuckler Charlie Haeger to its instructional staff. Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see how this apparent experiment pans out.
- The Rays also picked up righty Adam Reifer on a minors deal, per Eddy. The 29-year-old reliever owns a 4.35 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 over 176 total minor league frames.
Giants To Sign Conor Gillaspie To Minors Deal
The Giants have agreed to terms with third baseman Conor Gillaspie on a minor league pact, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports on Twitter. He’ll presumably join the competition for an infield bench role in San Francisco.
Gillaspie, 28, first appeared as a professional and a major leaguer in the Giants organization. He was shipped off to the White Sox before the 2013 season, and has spent most of his MLB time in Chicago.
Things were looking up for the left-handed hitter after a strong 2014 in which he put up a .282/.336/.416 slash line. That was enough to make him a useful player despite a questionable glove. (Defensive metrics have largely panned his work at the hot corner.)
But Gillaspie never got going at the plate last year. He ultimately found himself designated for assignment twice — first by the White Sox and later by the Angels, who had acquired him.