Braves To Sign Jhoulys Chacin To Minor League Deal
DECEMBER 18: Chacin will earn a $1.1MM salary if he’s in the majors, Heyman tweets.
DECEMBER 14: The Braves have reached agreement on a minor league pact with righty Jhoulys Chacin, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter.
Chacin was outrighted by the Diamondbacks in early November, as Arizona decided not to tender him a contract through arbitration. He had been projected to earn $1.8MM via arbitration.
Atlanta could end up utilizing Chacin in a swingman capacity, as he’s spent time as both a starter and reliever in recent seasons. Last year, he had a solid (albeit brief) showing in the majors and also compiled 137 2/3 innings of 3.27 ERA pitching at Triple-A.
Chacin has been effective as a full-time big league starter as recently as 2013. That year, he fell just shy of 200 innings and managed a 3.47 ERA despite pitching at altitude.
Brewers Sign Nick Hagadone
The Brewers have signed lefty Nick Hagadone to a minor-league deal, the club announced. He’ll receive an invitation to major league camp this spring.
Hagadone, who’ll soon turn 30, has compiled 118 1/3 total major league innings — all with the Indians — over the last five years. He owns a 4.72 ERA in that span, with a robust 9.3 K/9 against a less-healthy 4.6 BB/9.
Milwaukee will take a chance at harnessing the southpaw’s big arm. His average fastball velocity dropped below 94 mph for the first time last year, though he still sat at a sturdy 93.6 mph. Hagadone has been much more effective against same-handed hitters, but that could still leave him as a useful LOOGY candidate if he can reel in the walks.
As Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer notes, Hagadone is still working his way back from surgery for a fracture in his left elbow. The procedure was performed in July and was expected at the time to require a six-to-nine month absence.
Pirates Acquire Jason Rogers From Brewers
The Pirates announced that they have acquired corner infielder/outfielder Jason Rogers from the Brewers in exchange for outfielder Keon Broxton and right-hander Trey Supak.
Rogers, 27, is a right-handed bat that will give the Pirates further depth at first base, although the club admittedly already had a right-handed hitting option there in the form of Mike Morse. In 169 plate appearances will Milwaukee last season, Rogers batted .296/.367/.441 with four homers. That marked Rogers’ first extended taste of the Major Leagues, as he’d previously accumulated just 10 plate appearances — all in 2014. Lack of MLB experience notwithstanding, Rogers is a highly accomplished minor league hitter, having compiled a lifetime .290/.372/.476 slash in the minors, including a more impressive .326/.406/.582 line in 90 games at the Triple-A level. Over the past two seasons, between the Majors and minor, Rogers has handled right-handed pitching better than lefties, though his track record prior to that indicates a more traditional platoon split.
In exchange for Rogers, the Brewers will receive a fleet-footed center fielder (Broxton) and a right-hander that was Competitive Balance (Round B) draft pick as recently as 2014 (Supak). Broxton, 26 in May, made his big league debut in 2015, though he received just seven plate appearances. Most of his work came in the minors, where he batted .273/.357/.438 with 10 homers and 39 stolen bases between the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates for Pittsburgh. The Pirates originally acquired him from the D-backs early in 2014 in exchange for cash considerations. The former third-round pick (2009) long rated as one of Arizona’s more promising farmhands in the eyes of Baseball America, but he hasn’t appeared on a Top 30 list for either the D-backs or Buccos since 2012, when BA wrote that while he was a plus runner with a plus arm that played MLB-caliber defense in center field even at Class-A Advanced, he struggles to pick up breaking pitches and has a long way to go at the plate. Broxton’s drawn high praise for his athleticism, and it’s possible that even if he doesn’t hit much, he could seemingly be a defensive-minded reserve outfielder.
Supak is 19 years old and rated as the Pirates’ No. 15 prospect, per MLB.com. Supak received a healthy $1MM signing bonus out of the ’14 draft but hasn’t lived up to that investment just yet, as he struggled to a dismal 6.67 ERA with a 23-to-5 K/BB ratio in 28 1/3 innings with the Pirates’ Rookie-level Appalachian League affiliate. MLB.com notes that his fastball sits in the low 90s and could grow as his 6’5″ frame develops. However, their scouting reports note that his curveball and changeup are a ways behind his fastball, and even his heater could use some work, as it presently lacks downhill plane.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Padres To Re-Sign Brandon Morrow On Minor League Deal
The Padres and right-hander Brandon Morrow are in agreement on a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training, reports MLB.com’s Corey Brock (via Twitter). The Wasserman Media Group client spent the 2015 campaign in San Diego but, as Brock notes, was limited to just five starts due to a right shoulder impingement that ultimately required surgical repair. The August operation was said to come with a recovery time of three to four months, so Morrow should be nearly back to health at this stage.
Morrow, 31, has proven to be an exceptional talent when healthy, but has unfortunately been too injury prone throughout his career to demonstrate that talent for sustained periods. In 2012, he worked to a 2.96 ERA with a 108-to-41 K/BB ratio in 124 2/3 innings, but that marked the last time that Morrow was able to reach even 55 innings in a single season. In 120 2/3 frames since that time, he has an ERA of 4.85, though he was excellent in his five appearances with San Diego last year, recording a 2.73 ERA with a 23-to-7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings.
Formerly the No. 5 overall pick in the 2006 draft, Morrow has seen time both as a high-leverage reliever and as a starting pitcher in parts of nine seasons at the Major League level. Morrow could conceivably help the Padres in either capacity, as the team could use depth in both areas, though his specific role, if healthy, remains undetermined. It’s possible that no decision will be made on that front until the club sees how his surgically repaired shoulder looks in Spring Training this year.
Cubs Designate Yoervis Medina For Assignment
The Cubs announced on Thursday that they have designated right-hander Yoervis Medina for assignment. Medina’s roster spot will go to infielder Brendan Ryan, who has now officially been acquired as the player to be named later in last week’s Starlin Castro/Adam Warren trade.
Chicago acquired the now 27-year-old Medina from the Mariners in a May trade that sent Welington Castillo to Seattle. Medina had enjoyed strong results in Seattle from 2013-14, pitching to a combined 2.81 ERA with 9.4 K/9, 4.9 BB/9 and a 53.5 percent ground-ball rate before taking a significant step backwards in 2015. This season, Medina logged a 4.71 ERA with an unsightly 16-to-11 K/BB ratio in 21 innings for the Mariners and Cubs. Notably, his fastball velocity, which had averaged 94.8 mph in 2014, sat a full two miles per hour lower at 92.8 in 2015, and his ground-ball rate dipped to 36.8 percent.
Medina’s struggles weren’t confined to the Major Leagues, either. He also recorded 40 innings of Triple-A work between the two teams but limped to a 5.62 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 5.0 BB/9. Those numbers, clearly, represent a significant departure from his best work at the upper levels of the minors and in the Majors. If there’s no health issue at play — though his diminished velocity certainly stands out as cause for concern — another club may look at him as a low-risk option with four years of club control remaining and hope that he can rediscover the form he displayed in 2013-14. ERA estimators like FIP, xFIP and SIERA were never sold on Medina as a sub-3.00 ERA arm, but all felt that he could hold down a mark somewhere in the mid-3.00 range given his blend of missed bats and grounders.
Phillies Sign Andrew Bailey, Edward Mujica
4:30pm: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that Mujica’s contract comes with a Major League base salary of $2.5MM, though he of course needs to make the club to earn that sum (Twitter link).
11:02am: The Phillies announced that they have signed free agent right-handed pitchers Andrew Bailey and Edward Mujica to minor league contracts. The deals include invitations to attend major league camp as non-roster invitees.
Bailey, 31-year-old, tossed 8 2/3 innings for the Yankees this season but allowed eight runs in that time. He’s spent the past two years in the Yankees’ minor league system, battling back from shoulder injuries that have halted the former Rookie of the Year and American League All Star’s career. Bailey notched a tidy 2.57 ERA with 10.8 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 35 innings across four minor league levels this season as he worked his way back to the Majors.
Mujica, meanwhile, is coming off of a rough year in which he posted a 4.75 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 across 49 appearances. In May, the reliever was traded from the Red Sox with cash to the Athletics for a PTBNL/cash. Unfortunately for Oakland, they did not get the Mujica of old.
Giants Sign Johnny Cueto
DEC. 17: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that Cueto doesn’t receive a no-trade clause but will pick up a $500K bonus if he’s moved to another team (links to Twitter). Baggarly adds that the seventh-year option is for $22MM and comes with a $5MM buyout. Additionally, he notes, Cueto still gets the $5MM buyout if he opts out of the deal after the 2017 season.
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports has the contract’s entire breakdown (Twitter link). Cueto receives a $5MM signing bonus and a $15MM salary in 2016. He’ll then be paid $21MM annually from 2017-21. Heyman also notes that the option buyout will be given to Cueto in the form of a bonus, should he opt out of his deal, thereby giving him a guarantee of $46MM over the first two years of the deal and, effectively, a four-year, $84MM player option.
DEC. 16: The Giants have officially announced the deal.
DEC. 14:, 3:37pm: The Giants have made their second significant rotation splash of the offseason, announcing on Monday that they’ve agreed to a six-year contract with right-hander Johnny Cueto, pending a physical. The Bryce Dixon client will reportedly receive a $130MM guarantee and an opt-out clause after two seasons. The contract is said to pay Cueto $46MM prior to the opt-out and also contains a club option for a seventh season, should Cueto elect not to opt out.
With this new contract, Cueto will have the ability to hit the free-agent market again in advance of his age-32 season. As we saw with Zack Greinke this winter, that timing can be highly beneficial to a pitcher. Cueto would have to forfeit a guaranteed $84MM over a four-year term in order to exercise that out clause. While that’s a notable sum, it’s certainly not difficult to see him having a case for more if he pitches up to his previous standards across the first two seasons of the deal.
Cueto, who turns 30 in February, split the 2015 season between the Reds (with whom he had spent his entire career) and Royals, working to a 3.44 ERA with 7.5 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 42.5 percent ground-ball rate. Those numbers are down, by his standards — the result of some late struggles with the Royals that saw Cueto log a 6.49 ERA over his final 51 1/3 regular-season innings in Kansas City. While health wasn’t said to be an issue for Cueto, he did miss a start with a minor elbow issue earlier in the summer, though the Royals still felt comfortable trading three prospects — left-handers Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb and Cody Reed — for him, and Cueto was brilliant for his first three starts in Royal Blue.
It’s not certain what the cause for Cueto’s troubles in Kansas City were, though some issues with the placement of catcher Salvador Perez‘s target and the adjustment to the American League were oft-cited suggestions for his diminished results. Cueto was inconsistent in the playoffs but hurled a pair of utterly dominant gems (in addition to a pair of shakier outings), capping off his 2015 season and his brief Royals career with a one-run, complete-game masterpiece against the Mets in Game Two of the World Series. The pair of excellent postseason outings likely quelled some of the concerns over Cueto’s health, and this contract, plus his reported $120MM offer from Arizona, indicate that some clubs haven’t been overly scared by his elbow.
Cueto will join fellow offseason signee Jeff Samardzija in slotting behind ace Madison Bumgarner atop a new-look Giants rotation. They’ll be joined by right-handers Jake Peavy and Matt Cain, with 2015 rookie Chris Heston presumably serving as a valuable swingman — taking over the role formerly held by the non-tendered Yusmeiro Petit.
The $130MM guarantee and $21.7MM annual value are a steep price, to be sure, but a healthy Cueto has proven to be worthy of that type of commitment when at his best. From 2011-15, Cueto worked to a 2.71 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 despite pitching his home games at one of MLB’s most hitter-friendly environments: Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park. In that time, the lone pitcher to throw at least 800 MLB innings and post a better ERA than Cueto’s mark of 2.71 was Dodgers ace and new division rival Clayton Kershaw. One can imagine, then, that moving from GABP to the extremely pitcher-friendly AT&T Park in San Francisco, would stand to benefit Cueto’s already impressive numbers. (Of course, one could’ve made the same argument about the spacious Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, although Cueto moved to a new league in that scenario.)
From a payroll perspective, the Giants already have about $130MM committed to 12 players, plus a sizable raise coming for first baseman Brandon Belt, who MLBTR projects to earn $6.2MM next season. As such, Cueto’s new deal will push the club’s payroll commitment to around $153MM before factoring in Belt’s new contract. That’s a sizable sum and is within striking distance of last year’s $173MM Opening Day mark. However, San Francisco will see Peavy, Angel Pagan, Gregor Blanco, Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez all come off the books following the 2016 campaign, so there’s plenty of long-term flexibility to accommodate a sizable yearly salary for Cueto.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that the Giants were making a big push for Cueto. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that the two sides had reached an agreement (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported the term (Twitter link). ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported the guarantee (Twitter link). Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the club had confirmed the deal, adding details on the opt-out and club option (links to Twitter). Heyman tweeted that Cueto would get $46MM prior to the opt-out.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blue Jays To Sign Wade LeBlanc
The Blue Jays and left-hander Wade LeBlanc have reached agreement on a minor league pact, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deal includes an invite to major league spring training. LeBlanc, 31, spent the 2015 season pitching in Japan for the Seibu Lions. Back in November, the hurler joined Jeff Todd on the MLB Trade Rumors podcast to talk about his experience in Asia and his desire to return to Major League Baseball. The former Padres/Angels/Marlins/Yankees/Astros lefty has a lifetime 4.47 ERA with 6.1 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 in 446 2/3 big league innings — most of which came as a starter. However, LeBlanc has worked primarily as a reliever since 2012 and probably has an easier path to the Toronto roster in the bullpen.
Here’s a look at some more minor moves of note:
- The Athletics confirmed that they have released first baseman Nate Freiman, as was first reported by Athetics Farm (h/t: CSN Bay Area’s Joe Stiglich, on Twitter). The 2012 Rule 5 pick spent the 2013 season with Oakland, batting a respectable .274/.327/.389 while working largely in a platoon capacity. His average and OBP dipped in 2014, and he spent the entire 2015 campaign in the minors where he struggled greatly in Triple-A. The 28-year-old batted just .220/.279/.321 this season at Nashville, prompting Oakland to designate him for assignment and outright him off the 40-man roster this summer. He’ll look to latch on with a new club and, considering the fact that he was a highly productive Triple-A bat as recently as 2014, should be able to do so.
Angels Claim A.J. Achter From Phillies
The Angels have claimed reliever A.J. Achter off waivers from the Phillies, as Jeff Fletcher of the OC Register tweets. The right-hander still has options remaining, Fletcher notes.
This marks the second time this offseason that Achter has been claimed off waivers. In late November, the Phillies claimed Achter off waivers from the Twins when teams were doing some Rule 5-related roster jostling. Achter, 27, has a career 5.18 ERA in the Majors but a stronger track record in Triple-A, where he most recently logged an impressive 2.63 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 48 innings. Achter’s ERA in Triple-A is well south of 3.00, and he’s displayed good control throughout his career, but he lacks velocity as well, having averaged just 90 mph on his fastball in the Majors.
As the MLBTR DFA Tracker shows, there are now only four players remaining in DFA limbo: Dan Otero (Phillies), Rey Navarro (Orioles), Tyler Olson (Mariners), and Chris Johnson (Indians).
Rangers Sign Justin Ruggiano
1:01pm: The Rangers confirmed the signing via press release.
1:00pm: It’s a one-year, $1.65MM deal (plus incentives) for Ruggiano, according to Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram (on Twitter).
11:13am: The Rangers are hoping to announce a deal with outfielder Justin Ruggiano today, according to Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram (on Twitter). On Wednesday, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) noted that the Rangers were working on a one-year major league deal with Ruggiano. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News recently reported on the Rangers’ interest in Ruggiano as a right-handed depth piece.
Ruggiano is a very tough out for opposing southpaws, creating a solid fit with the heavily left-handed Texas lineup. The 33-year-old turned things on after he was demoted early on by the Mariners, raking at Triple-A and even slashing a cool .291/.350/.618 in his sixty plate appearances with the Dodgers. For his career, Ruggiano owns a .256/.321/.436 slash line across seven seasons with the Rays, Marlins, Cubs, Mariners, and Dodgers. His lifetime line against lefties, of course, is a lot sharper: .272/.336/.520.
Interestingly, Wilson hears that Ruggiano will try out the first base position during spring training. The Austin, Texas native has never played first base in his big league career.