Rangers Sign Joe Beimel
2:19pm: Beimel would earn $1.5MM if he breaks camp with the club and can earn more via incentives, per Grant.
1:03pm: Beimel’s deal is an MLB contract but is not guaranteed, tweets Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
12:41pm: The Rangers have signed left-handed reliever Joe Beimel to a one-year, Major League contract, executive vice president of Rangers communications John Blake announced today (on Twitter). Beimel is a client of agent Joe Sroba.
Beimel, who turns 38 next month, spent the 2014 season with the division-rival Mariners, working to an excellent 2.20 ERA in 45 innings of relief. He worked primarily as a lefty specialist, as evidenced by the fact that his 45 innings came over the life of 56 appearances. In 85 plate appearances against Beimel last year, left-handed hitters mustered a putrid .188/.217/.288 batting line. Right-handed bats had a much easier time against Beimel, batting .282/.367/.424.
Beimel’s peripheral stats don’t look as exciting as his ERA, as the lefty struck out just 5.0 hitters per nine and walked 2.8 per nine. His .250 batting average on balls in play and 86.8 percent strand rate were both significant outliers, relative to his career marks, suggesting that some regression is possible. Metrics such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA all pegged Beimel in the 4.09 to 4.18 range.
The Rangers have been known to be on the lookout for left-handed help in the bullpen, as they were reportedly connected to Phil Coke prior to his minor league deal with the Cubs. Texas also briefly claimed left-hander Edgar Olmos off waivers from the Mariners but had the claim reversed after learning of injury problems with Olmos. With Beimel in the fold, he’ll likely join Alex Claudio as a left-handed option in manager Jeff Banister’s bullpen.
Royals Sign Casey Kotchman To Minor League Deal
The Royals have added first baseman Casey Kotchman on a minor league deal, tweets Baseball America’s Matt Eddy.
The 32-year-old Kotchman didn’t play last season but appeared in the Majors every year from 2004-13, with most of his time coming as a member of the Angels. The Halos flipped Kotchman to the Braves as part of a deal to acquire Mark Teixeira in 2008, but Kotchman wasn’t able to recreate the offensive success he’d had a year prior to the trade. He’s had a pair of relatively strong seasons at the dish in his career (119 OPS+ in 2007, 127 OPS+ in 2011), but overall he’s been a below-average hitter at a position that’s expected to produce above-average offense. In parts of 10 seasons, Kotchman is a .260/.326/.385 hitter. Presumably, he’ll serve as minor league depth for the Royals, who have Eric Hosmer entrenched at first base with Kendrys Morales serving as a possible backup.
Mariners Designate Ji-Man Choi For Assignment
The Mariners have designated first baseman Ji-Man Choi for assignment, the team announced. The move creates a 40-man roster spot for left-hander Edgar Olmos, who was returned to the M’s from the Rangers after Texas’ waiver claim on the southpaw was reversed.
Choi’s roster situation will likely be resolved by a trip to the 60-day disabled list, as he broke his right fibula during a Spring Training game on Wednesday. He underwent surgery today and is expected to be out for four to six months.
Since joining Seattle’s farm system in 2010, Choi has a .304/.407/.492 slash line and 42 homers over 1470 minor league plate appearances. Baseball America ranked Choi as the 25th-best prospect in the Mariners’ system prior to the 2014 season, but in April he was issued a 50-game suspension after testing positive for methandienone.
White Sox Release Tony Campana
Here are today’s minor transactions from around baseball, with the newest moves at the top of the post…
- The White Sox have released outfielder Tony Campana, according to the International League’s official transactions page. Campana signed a minor league contract with Chicago in November, but suffered a torn ACL during training session last month and is expected to miss the entire 2015 season.
Orioles Release Suk-min Yoon
6:07pm: The Orioles will save roughly $4.3MM in salary and expenses by releasing Yoon, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports (Twitter link). Yoon’s camp first sought a release last month and gave up his remaining MLB salary to obtain it, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports (Twitter links).
5:22pm: The Orioles have released right-hander Suk-min Yoon, according to the team’s public relations department (via Twitter). The move allows Yoon to sign a contract with the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization. Yoon will earn $8.2MM over four years with the Tigers according to a Yonhap News report, which is the largest contract even given to a free agent by a KBO team.
News broke earlier today that Yoon and the Orioles were working towards ending their relationship after Yoon didn’t report to the team’s minor league Spring Training camp over the weekend. Yoon was reportedly disappointed over not receiving an invitation to the Major League camp, which may have been the final straw between the two sides.
Yoon signed a three-year, $5.575MM deal with the Orioles in February 2014 that could’ve been worth as much as $13.075 if he’d reached all of his contract incentives. Instead, Yoon spent the entire 2014 season at Triple-A Norfolk, posting a 5.74 ERA, 2.58 K/BB rate and 6.3 K/9 over 95 2/3 innings (18 of Yoon’s 23 appearances were starts). He was outrighted off Baltimore’s 40-man roster last August.
Financial details of the transactions weren’t released, but the Orioles still owe Yoon $4.15MM through the end of the 2016 season. It’s possible Yoon and agent Scott Boras could’ve waived the remaining salary to facilitate a release, or the Kia Tigers could’ve sent Baltimore some money, though this is just speculation on my part.
Yoon spent his first nine professional seasons with the Kia Tigers, posting a few outstanding seasons as a starter but also seeing significant time in the bullpen. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes profiled Yoon in October 2013, noting that there was some question about whether or not the righty would fit into North American baseball as a starter or a reliever.
Cubs To Sign Phil Coke
2:15pm: Coke’s deal will pay him $2.25MM if he makes the Major League club with the opportunity to earn up to $900K more via incentives, reports MLive.com’s Chris Iott (Twitter links). The incentives kick in beginning with his 35th appearance of the season, Iott adds.
9:08am: The Cubs have agreed to sign left-handed reliever Phil Coke to a minor league deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). Coke turned down at least one MLB offer, per the report.
Coke, 32, will give Chicago another southpaw option to pair with Felix Doubront in the pen. Chicago somewhat surprisingly decided to non-tender Wesley Wright earlier in the offseason, leaving some uncertainty in the depth chart. There are other internal options as well, such as Zac Rosscup and Drake Britton.
In Coke, the Cubs have added a still-live arm with a history of underperforming his peripherals. With the Tigers last year, he worked to a 3.88 ERA with 6.4 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 over 58 frames. Unsurprisingly, Coke was much more effective when he enjoyed the platoon advantage (.691 OPS) than when pitching to right-handed hitters (.871).
Rays, Jim Miller Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rays and right-hander Jim Miller have agreed to a minor league contact with an invitation to Spring Training, MLBTR has learned (Twitter links). Miller’s deal is pending a physical.
The 32-year-old Miller, a former eighth-round pick of the Rockies (2004), has appeared in the Majors in each of the past four seasons. Most of that work came in a 48 2/3 inning stint with the 2012 A’s, when he worked to a 2.59 ERA with 44 strikeouts against 27 walks. In parts of five seasons at the big league level, Miller has a 3.48 ERA with 7.9 K/9, 5.2 BB/9 and a 33.5 percent ground-ball rate. He’s averaged just under 93 mph on his fastball in his 67 1/3 Major League innings and has a solid 3.78 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 429 Triple-A innings. Miller is a client of agent Joshua Kusnick, as can be seen in MLBTR’s Agency Database.
Minor Moves: Brandon Snyder
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Former first-round pick Brandon Snyder has inked a deal with the Atlantic League’s Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, the team announced. The 28-year-old has spent parts of four years in the big leagues, never taking more than 69 plate appearances in a season and compiling a .243/.287/.399 slash over 158 lifetime turns at bat. At Triple-A last year with the Red Sox, Snyder put up a .206/.284/.444 line with eight home runs in 141 plate appearances. He spent most of his professional time at first base, though he also appeared at third base in the big leagues.
Rangers To Return Edgar Olmos To Mariners
The Rangers are reversing the team’s waiver claim on lefty Edgar Olmos in order to return him to the Mariners, Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest reports on Twitter. Olmos was claimed about ten days ago after Seattle designated him for assignment.
Olmos had been shut down upon reporting to camp with a shoulder impingement. That injury situation would appear to be the basis for Texas’s attempt to use this rare procedural mechanism.
The 24-year-old southpaw came to Seattle via a waiver claim from the Marlins. He has minimal big league experience, but had frequently been rated among the top thirty organizational prospects in Miami and dominated left-handed batters last year in the upper minors. In total, over 77 2/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A last year, Olmos registered a 4.06 EAR with 7.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.
Minor Moves: Pedro Beato
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Orioles have agreed to a minor league deal with righty Pedro Beato, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com reports (Twitter links). Beato will not receive an invitation to big league camp. The 28-year-old looks to be another depth piece for a Baltimore organization that is fond of drawing from its entire system at the major league level. Originally a first-round pick of the O’s back in 2006, Beato has thrown 93 1/3 MLB innings over four seasons, working to a 4.34 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. He saw only scant MLB action last year wit the Braves, but did throw 48 1/3 Triple-A frames of 4.10 ERA ball.