Padres To Sign Carlos Villanueva
The Padres have reached agreement on a one-year, $1.5MM deal with righty Carlos Villanueva, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports on Twitter. Villanueva is represented by Relativity Sports.
The 32-year-old Villanueva spent the 2015 campaign with St. Louis, where he worked in a multi-inning relief role, logging 61 innings across 35 appearances. With the Cardinals, he worked to a very strong 2.95 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 42.4 percent ground-ball rate. Villanueva stranded an inordinate amount of baserunners, prompting sabermetric ERA estimators like FIP, xFIP and SIERA to peg him more for an ERA in the mid- to upper-3.00 range, so a repeat of that sub-3.00 ERA might not be something Padres fans should count on. He’ll also most likely be moving to an inferior defensive club, although on the flip side, he’ll be moving to a more pitcher-friendly home park.
Villanueva could compete for a rotation spot or a reprise his bullpen role with the Padres, as he has experience in both capacities. However, if he’s to assume the role of long reliever/swingman, that would seem to make Odrisamer Despaigne a somewhat redundant piece. Despaigne soaked up 125 1/3 innings for the Padres in that capacity last season, although he also posted a sky-high 5.80 ERA and saw his strikeout rate drop considerably in his second season of Major League action.
Rangers Sign Pedro Ciriaco
The Rangers have signed infielder Pedro Ciriaco, according to an announcement from VP of communications John Blake. Texas will extend a spring invite with the minor league pact.
Ciriaco, 30, is a defensive wizard who doesn’t offer much with the bat. Last year, he slashed .261/.275/.352 over 151 plate appearances for the Braves. Ciricaco has taken 649 total turns at bat in parts of six seasons in the majors.
Nationals Avoid Arbitration With Wilson Ramos
The Nationals have avoided arbitration with backstop Wilson Ramos, according to a team announcement. He’ll earn $5.35MM in 2016, according to a tweet from Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com.
Entering the offseason, MLBTR projected the veteran receiver to earn $5.3MM through arbitration, just shy of the amount agreed upon. He played last season at a $3.55MM salary.
Set to reach free agency after the season, Ramos will look to improve upon a disappointing 2015 campaign. While he stayed healthy, which had been a significant issue in recent years, Ramos slashed just .229/.258/.358 over 504 plate appearances. Though he swatted 15 home runs, that overall line was down significantly from the .269/.317/.432 career batting line he carried going into the season.
Ramos is generally regarded as a solid-but-unspectacular defensive catcher. He rated as a slightly-below-average framer last year, though he’s had positive numbers in past seasons. And Ramos did throw out 24 baserunners while permitting thirty stolen bases in 2015, marking his best rate as a big leaguer.
Marlins Designate Tommy Medica, Andre Rienzo
The Marlins have designated infielder Tommy Medica and righty Andre Rienzo for assignment, according to a club announcement. The moves were made to clear 40-man space for the signings of Chris Johnson and Edwin Jackson, both of which were made official.
Medica, 27, was claimed late last season. He might have had a chance to compete for playing time as a right-handed-hitting bench bat, but Miami seems set to give that role to Johnson. Medica struggled at the Triple-A level last year. He owns a .246/.308/.417 batting line over 338 major league plate appearances.
Likewise, the 27-year-old Rienzo was displaced by the addition of Jackson. Both players profile as swingmen, and Miami obviously decided to give Jackson the first crack at that role. Rienzo has thrown 140 1/3 MLB frames, working to a 5.90 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9.
Yankees Acquire Tyler Olson, Ronald Torreyes From Dodgers
The Yankees announced that they have acquired left-hander Tyler Olson and infielder Ronald Torreyes from the Dodgers in exchange for minor league infielder Rob Segedin and either a player to be named later or cash considerations. Both Olson and Torreyes had recently been designated for assignment by Los Angeles. With the two new acquisitions, New York’s 40-man roster is full.
Olson, 26, made his big league debut with the Mariners last season, pitching 13 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. The results weren’t particularly encouraging, as he surrendered eight runs on 18 hits and 10 walks, although in one of the more bizarre stats you’ll come across, seven of those 10 walks were intentional in nature. In 54 1/3 Triple-A innings, Olson managed a more palatable 4.47 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9. However, after holding lefties to a .206/.280/.279 batting line in 2014, the Gonzaga product yielded a .253/.340/.448 slash to lefties between the Majors and minors in 2015. While the Yankees aren’t hurting for bullpen help, Olson will function as a depth piece behind the likes of Andrew Miller, Jacob Lindgren, Chasen Shreve and James Pazos.
Torreyes, who turned 23 in September, got a brief cup of coffee with L.A. in 2015 — his Major League debut — collecting a pair of hits in six at-bats/eight plate appearances. Torreyes has seen most of his professional defensive work come at second base, though he does have significant experience at shortstop (144 games) and third base (65 games) as well. He’s also seen a bit of time in the corner outfield. This past season, Torreyes batted .261/.308/.347 between Double-A and Triple-A across three organizations: the Astros, Blue Jays and Dodgers. While he’s never shown much pop, Torreyes has hit for average pretty consistently in the minors while displaying the aforementioned defensive versatility. He’s a lifetime .287/.330/.358 hitter at Triple-A and an overall .298/.353/.409 hitter in the minor leagues, making him a reasonable depth pickup for the Yankees.
As for the 27-year-old Segedin, he split this past season between Double-A and Triple-A, batting a combined .287/.360/426 with seven home runs in 284 plate appearances. Segedin saw the bulk of his time at the infield corners, although he has some experience in the outfield corners as well. Segedin wasn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man roster and thus will not need to be placed on L.A.’s 40-man roster. This marks the second minor swap made by the Dodgers today, who earlier traded righty Joe Wieland to the Mariners for another non-40-man minor league infielder (Erick Mejia).
Mariners Acquire Joe Wieland, Designate A.J. Schugel For Assignment
The Mariners and Dodgers announced a relatively minor trade on Thursday that will send right-hander Joe Wieland to Seattle in exchange for minor league infielder Erick Mejia. In order to clear room for Wieland on their 40-man roster, the Mariners have designated fellow righty A.J. Schugel for assignment. From L.A.’s perspective, the departure of Wieland in exchange for a non-40-man player clears way for right-hander Yaisel Sierra, who reportedly agreed to a six-year deal with the Dodgers earlier today.
Wieland, who turns 26 next week, will provide the Mariners with some inexpensive rotation depth. The right-hander has already avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $590K salary with the Dodgers, who opted to give him that marginal raise despite the fact that injuries have limited Wieland to just 47 2/3 innings over his three-plus years of Major League service time. Most notably Wieland underwent Tommy John surgery in 2012 and missed the entire 2013 season.
To this point in his brief and injury-marred Major League career, Wieland has logged just a 5.85 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 39.4 percent ground-ball rate. He’s fared somewhat better at the Triple-A level, compiling a career 4.34 ERA while pitching exclusively in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Throughout his minor league tenure, Wieland has displayed the ability to miss bats at a reasonable level (8.2 K/9) as well as a knack for keeping the ball in the strike zone (1.9 BB/9). While there doesn’t appear to be an immediate place for him in the Mariner rotation — Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Wade Miley, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton and Nate Karns are all ahead of him on the depth chart — Wieland can function as Triple-A depth or perhaps compete for a slot in the Seattle bullpen.
Mejia, 21, saw action at four levels last year in his age-20 season, batting a combined .282/.346/.339 with 20 stolen bases. He’s shown virtually no power to this point in his pro career, homering just once in 528 plate appearances, though he’s also displayed a solid knowledge of the strike zone, walking at a 10.8 percent clip against a strikeout rate of just 14.8 percent. Mejia didn’t rank among the Mariners’ top 30 prospects according to either MLB.com, but Baseball America did rank him 21st among Seattle farmhands last offseason. In that same offseason, Fangraphs mentioned Mejia as a “player of note” even though he didn’t rank among Seattle’s best prospects, with former FG scribe Kiley McDaniel writing that Mejia was an average runner with “enough glove to stick at short and enough bat that it matters.”
Schugel, 26, posted a 4.84 ERA with 6.2 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 115 1/3 innings of work for the D-backs’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno this past season. While it’s a notoriously hitter-friendly environment, those results were nonetheless discouraging after a solid 2014 season at the Double-A level. He’d come to the Mariners by way of waiver claim after having been designated for assignment by the D-backs in order to clear a roster spot for Zack Greinke.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported that Wieland had been traded to Seattle (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rockies Sign Gerardo Parra
The Rockies have officially announced a three-year, $27.5MM deal with outfielder Gerardo Parra. The contract includes a club option for a fourth year at $12MM, which comes with a $1.5MM buyout.
Parra, a client of Octagon, will earn $26MM over the first three years of the deal. He gets $8MM for the coming season, $8MM again in 2017, and then $10MM in the final season.
In Parra, who’ll turn 29 early in the season, the Rox will pick up a young, athletic player whose performance has been somewhat difficult to judge. As I explained in late August of last year, a huge first-half performance (combined with his age) made a four-year guarantee and/or ten-plus-million AAV seem plausible at one point.
But Parra tailed off down the stretch, ending the year with a .291/.328/.452 slash. That’s still good, of course, but is hardly the breakout that had seemed in the offing as of late summer. And he’s been more of an average to slightly-below-average offensive producer for most of his career. It’s worth noting, too, that the left-handed-hitting Parra has also tended to carry significant platoon splits.
It’s at least as hard to peg Parra from a defensive perspective. He became something of a sabermetric darling back in 2013, when he turned in a monster year with the glove (29.5 UZR, 41 DRS). That had followed several years of above-average metrics, seeming to suggest that Parra was one of the game’s best corner outfielders (if not also a good center fielder as well). But both of those major defensive rating systems have identified a significant drop-off in each of the last two seasons, with Parra rating as a well-below-average performer last season.
Ultimately, the contract comes in just shy of the three-year, $27MM prediction made by MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes before the hot stove kicked into gear this winter. While Parra always seemed to occupy a nice niche in this market, drawing wide appeal with his sturdy reputation and lower price tag, it is still notable that he was able to meet expectations despite the fact that the position-player market has been slow to develop.
Obviously, it’s an interesting strategy for Colorado to pursue, as the team could certainly have relied on its in-house options for the coming season. Parra will join a depth chart that already features left-handed-hitting outfielders Carlos Gonzalez, Charlie Blackmon, and Corey Dickerson, possibly suggesting that one of those players could end up on the move. Certainly, it’s not a minor signing for this organization, which hadn’t given out a deal of this magnitude since the pre-2012 Michael Cuddyer contract.
Signing a replacement for one of the team’s incumbent bats, in concert with a trade to acquire pitching, has long seemed an intriguing possibility, and it could be that GM Jeff Bridich is employing just such an approach here. He addressed that general concept in a recent interview on the MLBTR Podcast (at about the 13-minute mark), saying that it could be “part of a strategy” but noting that it’s still “incumbent upon us to know when a good baseball trade is a good baseball trade” — regardless of which direction the pitchers and position players were headed.
Wilmer Reina of Diario la Verdad (Twitter links) and Jon Heyman (via Twitter) first reported the signing and its essential terms. Ken Rosenthal added the annual breakdown on Twitter.
Marlins To Sign Chris Johnson
The Marlins have agreed to sign corner infielder Chris Johnson, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports on Twitter. He was recently cut loose by the Indians after spending the last few months of 2015 in Cleveland following a trade from the Braves.
Johnson could provide a complement to left-handed-hitting first baseman Justin Bour, Jackson suggests. He’s spent most of his career at third base, of course, and would boost the team’s depth there as well, though starter Martin Prado and utility option Derek Dietrich are already in place.
The 31-year-old Johnson owns a .280/.316/.411 slash in his seven big league seasons. He’s a good line-drive hitter who makes plenty of contact, but the lack of power and mediocre fielding reviews have held down his value.
While it hasn’t yet been reported whether Johnson will receive a major league deal, most of Johnson’s salary ($7.5MM this year, and $9MM next) will be covered by Cleveland regardless. Much like Edwin Jackson, who also agreed with the Fish recently, Miami will get a more or less free roll opportunity on a veteran looking for a chance to re-establish himself as a viable Major League contributor.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/12/16
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Padres added lefty Ryan Buchter to the 40-man roster yesterday, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Buchter, a minor league signee, had drawn interest from an international club, which precipitated the move. As Lin notes, it appears that San Diego is committed to bringing a variety of unproven arms to camp to compete for bullpen jobs, with Buchter representing one such option.
- The Orioles have reached agreement on a minor league deal with infielder/outfielder Alex Liddi, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports on Twitter. Liddi, 27, has taken 188 plate appearances in the big leagues, but none since 2013. He played last year at the Double-A level for the Royals, slashing .287/.324/.474 over 514 plate appearances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 1/11/16
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Brewers announced today that the minor league contract of southpaw Nick Hagadone has been voided. The live-armed lefty is trying to return from an elbow fracture, which was obviously known beforehand. But “significant issues” arose when his physical was conducted, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, and that scuttled the deal.
- The Phillies have brought back lefty Anthony Vasquez on a minor league pact, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. Vasquez, 29, hasn’t seen the majors since a seven-start debut back in 2011. He threw 134 innings last year in the Philadelphia organization, including twenty starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and ended the year with a 4.10 ERA with 5.1 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9.
- Outfielder/first baseman Matt McBride has joined the Athletics on a minor league deal, Matt Eddy of Baseball America notes in his rundown of recent minor moves. McBride has 158 big league plate appearances on his ledger, though he hasn’t done much in his limited opportunities. The right-handed hitter did put up a healthy (albeit park-inflated) .328/.380/.549 slash last year in 337 Triple-A plate appearances.