Nationals Release Heath Bell
The Nationals have released reliever Heath Bell, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The Nats signed Bell to a minor-league deal in December. He struck out six batters and walked five while allowing five runs, four earned, in 5 1/3 innings in Spring Training.
The 37-year-old Bell established a strong track record as the Padres’ closer from 2009-2011, but began struggling after signing a three-year deal with the Marlins prior to the 2012 season. Bell headed to the Diamondbacks and then the Rays, for whom he allowed 16 runs in 17 1/3 innings last season while struggling with his velocity. After the Rays released him, he briefly signed on with the Orioles and then the Yankees, but struggled in Triple-A and did not appear in the big leagues with either team.
Minor Moves: Reds Release Jose Mijares
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game:
- The Reds have announced that they’ve released lefty reliever Jose Mijares. In addition, they optioned catcher Tucker Barnhart, infielder Eugenio Suarez and outfielder Donald Lutz to Triple Louisville and reassigned infielder Josh Satin and catcher Chad Wallach to minor-league camp. Mijares didn’t pitch last season after opting out of his minor-league deal with the Red Sox, but he’s been an effective specialist for much of his career, posting a 3.23 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over 259 innings in six seasons with the Twins, Royals and Giants. The Reds signed him to a minor-league deal in December.
White Sox Acquire Neftali Soto
The White Sox have acquired corner infielder Neftali Soto from the Reds in exchange for cash considerations, CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes reports (via Twitter).
Soto was a third-round pick for the Reds in the 2007 amateur draft and he’s posted a .274/.322/.447 slash line and 107 homers over 3315 career plate appearances in the minors. The 26-year-old made his Major League debut in 2013 and has only an .071 batting average (3-for-42) over 44 PA over the last two seasons.
Chicago is already pretty deep at the corner infield spots, what with Jose Abreu and Adam LaRoche holding down the first base/DH duties and Conor Gillaspie starting at third base. Beyond the starters, Gordon Beckham and Emilio Bonifacio are also on hand for backup purposes, so Soto will likely be used largely at the Triple-A level.
Dodgers To Sign Cuban Pitcher Pablo Millan Fernandez
The Dodgers have agreed to terms with Cuban righty Pablo Millan Fernandez on a minor-league deal with an $8MM bonus, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports. Fernandez still needs to take a physical for the deal to be complete. Fernandez had established residence in Haiti and was training with Julian Camillo, who scouted Hanley Ramirez when Ramirez was an amateur.
Badler writes that Fernandez previously had thrown in the 86-88 MPH range, but recently increased his velocity and now throws in the low 90s, a somewhat surprising development for a 25-year-old. He also throws a curve, slider and changeup. Badler notes, however, that Fernandez had not generated much excitement among scouts. Fernandez mostly pitched as a reliever in Cuba, posting a 3.59 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in parts of seven seasons there. The Dodgers will develop him as a starter, likely having him begin his U.S. career in the high minors.
Due to Fernandez’s age and experience in Serie Nacional, the signing will not count against the Dodgers’ international bonus pool. They will, however, have to pay 40% luxury tax on his bonus, which does not include any salary he might make in the big leagues.
The deal is the latest in a string of signings of Cuban players for the Dodgers, whose previous management signed outfielder Yasiel Puig to a $42MM deal that now looks like a bargain. They also infielders Alex Guerrero and Erisbel Arruebarrena to deals that have not worked out so far (although it might be somewhat premature to dismiss the Guerrero signing). More recently, the Dodgers have been connected with infielder Hector Olivera, who has yet to sign.
Rockies Release Jhoulys Chacin
The Rockies have granted right-hander Jhoulys Chacin his unconditional release, tweets MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. The Rockies and Chacin had agreed to a one-year, $5.5MM deal to avoid arbitration back in January. The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders tweets Colorado will save $4.14MM by releasing Chacin now.
“It’s obviously a difficult decision to make,” Rockies GM Jeff Bridich told Root Sports Rocky Mountain (transcript courtesy of MLB.com’s Thomas Harding). “With what has transpired here in camp, and the way things have gone just from a pitching standpoint, a competition standpoint, that looking at it, Jhoulys didn’t have a spot on our club.”
The move comes one day after Chacin allowed four runs on seven hits during three innings of work against the Dodgers. “I’m surprised,” Chacin told Nick Groke of The Denver Post. “I didn’t expect it at this time, but now I have a chance to find something else. But my heart will always be with the Rockies.”
Chacin, who was battling for a spot in the Rockies rotation, saw his 2014 campaign cut short after only 11 starts and 63 1/3 innings (5.40 ERA, 6.0 K/9, and 4.0 BB/9) because of right shoulder inflammation. It was just two seasons ago the 27-year-old put together a mark of 3.47 ERA, 5.7 K.9, and 2.8 BB/9 while throwing 197 1/3 innings (31 starts) for the Rockies. With teams like the Rays looking for starting pitching reinforcements, it would not be surprising for someone to take a flyer on Chacin even though, as noted in a second Saunders tweet, he is struggling to regain his velocity. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets the Rangers will discuss Chacin, but are unlikely to sign him.
David Hale, Jon Gray, Eddie Butler and Christian Bergman are the leading in-house contenders to replace Chacin in the Rockies’ starting rotation.
Rangers To Sign Tyler Pastornicky
The Rangers have agreed to sign infielder Tyler Pastornicky to a minor league deal, Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports on Twitter. Pastornicky, 25, was recently released by the Braves.
Pastornicky opened the 2012 season as the Braves’ starting shortstop, but struggled to a .243/.287/.345 line while posting poor defensive numbers. He ultimately gave way to another now-25-year-old infielder, Andrelton Simmons, and has only seen brief big league action since.
Over parts of four campaigns at the Triple-A level, Pastornicky owns a .297/.348/.386 slash. He will head to minor league camp with Texas and, presumably, open the season in the upper minors to provide a depth option.
Marlins Agree To Extension With Christian Yelich
The Marlins have announced a long-term extension with outfielder Christian Yelich that will reportedly guarantee him $49.57MM over seven seasons. Yelich, a client of Paragon Sports International, can be controlled for an eighth season (2022) through a club option.
The deal breaks down as follows: after earning $570K this year, Yelich will received $1MM in 2016, $3.5MM in 2017, $7MM in 2018, $9.75MM in 2019, $12.5MM in 2020, and $14MM in 2021. The club option is valued at $15MM and comes with a $1.25MM buyout.
Miami reportedly made a run at Yelich earlier in the offseason, along with several other younger players. At the time, the Marlins were said to be proposing a similar structure — but lesser guarantee — than the six-year, $31.5MM Starling Marte deal (which came with two option years at the end). Yelich has just over one year of service time to his credit, meaning he was on track to reach arbitration eligibility in 2017 and free agency in 2020. That puts him in a functionally identical situation to Marte; despite having slightly different skillsets, the two are rather comparable on the whole and have been similarly valuable to the same points in their career.
In spite of that rather recent comp, the 23-year-old Yelich comes in a substantial margin ahead of Marte in the final analysis. His new contract is the second-largest ever for a player in the one-to-two year service class, ranking ahead of Ryan Braun‘s 2008 deal while falling shy of the $58MM pact agreed upon last year by Andrelton Simmons and the Braves. (Notably, Simmons also managed to avoid giving up an option.) As compared to Marte, Yelich not only can look forward to a larger total payday, due in part to a higher option value in the final year of control, but also picks up an additional guaranteed year.
It is not difficult to see why Yelich was deemed worthy of such a level of commitment. He followed a promising rookie effort, playing about a third of a big league season, with a stellar full-year campaign in 2014. Yelich maintains a combined .285/.365/.400 slash over his 933 total big league plate appearances. Batting near the top of the Marlins lineup last year, Yelich racked up 21 steals and nine home runs.
As impressive as Yelich is on the offensive side, he figures to deliver plenty of defensive value moving forward as well. He was awarded the National League’s Gold Glove for left field last year, and defensive metrics back that up: when playing in the corner, Yelich was worth 12.8 runs above average per UZR and racked up 13 Defensive Runs Saved.
Yelich’s net contribution last year was in the range of 3.5 to 4.5 wins above replacement. That obviously makes him quite a valuable contributor, especially when one considers that it came in his age-22 season and that he has a strong track record of hitting in the minors to back up the success.
Miami stands to achieve both control and cost certainty over two-thirds of its outfield, having already inked Giancarlo Stanton to a record-setting pact earlier in the offseason. That unit, which includes 24-year-old center fielder Marcell Ozuna, is one of the youngest outfields in the game but is shaping up to be one of its best.
All said, today’s signing puts another exclamation point on a busy offseason for the Fish. The team brought in several new names around the diamond, headlined by second baseman Dee Gordon, starter Mat Latos, and first baseman Michael Morse, and has now locked up two franchise-type players to sizable commitments. Given prior reports that the team was pursuing deals not only with that pair but also Ozuna, injured young ace Jose Fernandez, and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, it is plausible to think that president of baseball operations Michael Hill and GM Dan Jennings may not yet be done. Righties Steve Cishek and Henderson Alvarez, each of whom have two years of arbitration control remaining beyond 2015, also appear to be reasonable targets should Miami choose to engage them in multi-year talks.
MLB Network’s Mike Lowell gave the first word that a deal was coming to fruition. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reported that the pact was for seven years, while Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reported that the deal included an option and that the value was approximately $50MM. Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports honed in on the final number, with Passan reporting the option year details. (All links to Twitter.) Frisaro tweeted the annual breakdown.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor Moves: Blanke, Santos, Kussmaul
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.
- The White Sox have traded catcher/pitcher Mike Blanke to the Diamondbacks for cash, Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune tweets. The 26-year-old Blanke hit .226/.302/.340 for Double-A Birmingham in 2013, but in 2014 he made the switch to pitching, striking out ten batters and walking 12 in 13 1/3 innings for Great Falls in the Pioneer League. He evidently throws 95-98 MPH, perhaps suggesting the pitching experiment is one worth continuing. Nonetheless, he’ll be back at catcher this season, Jack Magruder of FOX Sports Arizona tweets. It appears likely he will be minor-league depth, not a solution to the Diamondbacks’ catching uncertainties at the big-league level.
- The Giants have released Adalberto Santos, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. Santos, who plays second, third and the outfield, has an impressive .303/.388/.428 line for his minor-league career, but he’s never received an extended opportunity at Triple-A. The 27-year-old began 2014 in the Pirates organization before heading to the Giants in a minor trade in June.
- The White Sox have released righty Ryan Kussmaul, according to the International League transactions page. Kussmaul, 28, posted a 4.08 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings split between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte in 2014. He’s never received a shot in the Majors despite a career 10.4 K/9 in the minors.
Minor Moves: Harris, Robertson, LaTorre
Here are the day’s minor moves, all courtesy of Matt Eddy of Baseball America (Twitter links):
- Third baseman Brendan Harris is headed to the Tigers on a minor league contract. The 34-year-old has seen action in parts of eight big league seasons, including a run as a regular over 2007-09, but since the close of 2010 has only 117 MLB plate appearances on his ledger. He did put up an interesting .288/.397/.396 slash last year at Triple-A Albuquerque, walking 75 times against just 43 strikeouts.
- The Marlins have inked lefty Tyler Robertson to a minor league pact. Robertson is a 27-year-old lefty who saw 26 innings of big league action over 2012-13 with the Twins. He threw 17 1/3 frames of 4.15 ERA ball last year at Triple-A with the Nationals organization, striking out 7.3 and walking 2.1 per nine.
- The Brewers added catcher Tyler LaTorre on a minor league deal. The 31-year-old had spent his entire nine-year professional career with the Giants, much of it at the Double-A level. After putting up solid numbers over 2011-12 in the upper minors, LaTorre has took a big step backward in 2013 and last year slased .268/.343/.332 in 216 total minor league plate appearances.
Minor Moves: Buddy Boshers
Here are today’s minor transactions, with the latest moves at the top of the post…
- The Rockies have released left-hander Buddy Boshers, according to their official website’s transactions page. Boshers, signed to a minor league deal in December, threw one perfect inning of relief while in the Rockies’ Spring Training camp. The southpaw’s Major League resume consists of a 4.70 ERA over 15 1/3 innings for the Angels in 2013.