Rangers Sign Nate Schierholtz To Minor League Deal
The Rangers have signed outfielder Nate Schierholtz to a minor league deal with a spring invite, executive VP of communications John Blake announced on Twitter. He will earn a $1.75MM salary if he makes the club, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
Entering his age-31 season, Schierholtz is coming off of a rough 2014 in which he slashed .195/.243/.309 over 383 plate appearances with the Cubs and Nationals. He has generally produced at a much better clip, and averaged a .261/.314/.442 line in part-time action over the three previous seasons. A .231 BABIP likely contributed to he severity of the drop-off.
The left-handed hitter has traditionally been far more productive against right-handed pitching. He joins a lengthy list of candidates for a Texas outfield and bench bat role.
Cubs Sign Jonathan Herrera
The Cubs announced their list of non-roster invitees to big league Spring Training today, and among the list of previously reported minor league deals was the signing of infielder Jonathan Herrera.
The 30-year-old Herrera spent last season with the Red Sox — his only career season not spent in a Rockies uniform. In 104 plate appearances with Boston, Herrera batted .233/.307/.289, though he entered the 2014 campaign as a .265/.325/.332 hitter in 1109 plate appearances. While some may assume he posted stronger numbers at Coors Field than on the road, his production at and away from Coors was largely the same; he’s a career .266/.331/.340 hitter in Denver.
Herrera will provide the Cubs with some versatile infield depth, as he’s logged significant Major League innings at each of second base, third base and shortstop. Following the departure of Luis Valbuena in the Dexter Fowler trade, Herrera should provide the Cubs with an option at three infield positions and give competition to Arismendy Alcantara. He also gives Chicago an alternative to Mike Olt if they wish to open the season with top prospect Kris Bryant in the minors for a three weeks or so in order to delay his free agency by a year.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Friday
Earlier today, Danny Valencia became the first player of the offseason to win an arbitration hearing. While some players are already heading to trial, others are working with their respective teams to avoid a hearing. We’ll keep track of today’s minor arbitration settlements here, with all projection references pointing to those of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz…
- The Royals and left-hander Danny Duffy have settled on a one-year, $2.425MM contract, reports Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (on Twitter). Duffy, who had filed at $3MM versus the team’s $1.75MM offer, settled $50K above the midpoint of those two figures (as depicted in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker). That figure comes in $175K south of his $2.6MM projection. The 26-year-old Duffy thrived in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, totaling a 2.53 ERA with a 113-to-53 K/BB ratio in 149 1/3 innings. He’ll be eligible twice more before hitting free agency after the 2016 season as he enters his age-28 season. The Royals still need to resolve cases with Greg Holland, Eric Hosmer and Kelvin Herrera.
Danny Valencia Wins Arbitration Hearing Against Blue Jays
The Blue Jays and Danny Valencia had an arbitration hearing yesterday, according to the Associated Press, and the team announced this morning that the arbitrator ruled in favor of Valencia. The 30-year-old Valencia had filed for a salary of $1.675MM, while the team countered at $1.2MM, as can be seen in MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker. The MVP Sports client will now earn that $1.675MM figure in 2015.
As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet notes, on Twitter, this marks the first time since 1997 that the Blue Jays have gone to an arbitration hearing rather than settling a case in advance (Toronto last went to trial with right-handed pitcher Bill Risley). They’ll likely have a second trial in the near future with offseason acquisition Josh Donaldson as well, given Toronto’s stance as a “file and trial” team in recent years. (That is, a team that does not negotiate arbitration contracts beyond the date that figures are to be exchanged.)
Valencia batted .258/.296/.371 with four home runs last season in 86 games/284 plate appearances between the Royals and Blue Jays. While he’s never replicated his outstanding .311/.351/.448 rookie season with the Twins (he finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in that 2010 season), he’s carved out a niche as a weapon against left-handed pitching. Valencia hit .321/.371/.464 against southpaws last season and is a lifetime .327/.368/.502 hitter when holding the platoon advantage.
Minor Moves: Salcedo, Trepagnier, Constanza, Figueroa
Before diving into the latest minor league transactions, check out Steve Adams’ piece about how much work can go into negotiating these seemingly “minor” contracts. Here are today’s moves, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Braves traded infielder Edward Salcedo to the Pirates in exchange for right-hander Bryton Trepagnier, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link). Atlanta signed Salcedo to a $1.6MM bonus in 2010 and he entered the season as the 12th-ranked prospect in the Braves’ system according to Baseball America. He has yet to find much success at the plate, hitting .230/.297/.375 over 2447 minor league PA and posting only a .651 OPS over 413 PA at the Triple-A level last season. Trepagnier, a 41st-round pick in the 2010 draft, has pitched mostly as a reliever in his five-year pro career, posting a 4.19 ERA, 1.59 K/BB rate and 7.1 K/9 over 204 innings, none above the high-A ball level.
- The Braves outrighted outfielder Jose Constanza to Triple-A Gwinnett, according to the International League’s transactions page. Atlanta designated Constanza for assignment last week. The 31-year-old has spent the last four seasons in the Braves organization, including 240 plate appearances at the Major League level.
- The Yankees have signed Cole Figueroa to a minor league contract with an invitation to their Spring Training camp. The team announced the move as part of its full list of spring invitees. Figueroa owns a .288/.377/.388 slash line over 2944 career plate appearances in the minors, and he made his Major League debut last season, posting a .611 OPS over 49 PA for the Rays. Figueroa was released by Tampa Bay in November.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: Thursday
There are still nearly 30 players whose arbitration cases need to be settled, and as our Arbitration Tracker shows, the Royals (four remaining cases) and Pirates (three) have the most work ahead of them. We’ll run down today’s minor arbitration settlements here, with all projections coming courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz…
- The Cubs and right-hander Pedro Strop avoided a hearing by agreeing to a one-year, $2.525MM deal, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). The agreement falls slightly above both Swartz’s $2.4MM projection and the midpoint between the Cubs’ $2MM offer and Strop’s $3MM counter. Strop was the last of the Cubs’ eight arbitration-eligible players to agree to a contract for 2015. This is the second of four arb years for Strop as a Super Two player. The Legacy Agency client has pitched very well since coming to Chicago in July 2013, and Strop posted a 2.21 ERA, 10.5 K/9 and 2.84 K/BB rate over 61 relief innings last season.
Red Sox Sign Wade Miley To Three-Year Deal
The Red Sox and left-hander Wade Miley will never have to worry about arbitration, as his agents at O’Connell Sports Management have announced a three-year, $19.25MM contract extension that buys out all of his arbitration years (Twitter link). The Red Sox have announced the deal as well, which reportedly contains a club option for a fourth season.
The 28-year-old Miley, acquired from the Diamondbacks at the Winter Meetings in exchange for right-handers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, had been projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.3MM in his first trip through arbitration this winter. He will reportedly receive a $500K signing bonus before earning $3.5MM in 2015, $6MM in 2016 and $8.75MM in 2017. His option is valued at $12MM and comes with a $500K buyout. Additionally, his deal contains $2MM worth of incentives that can boost the option’s value to $14MM. All told, Miley can earn up to $31MM over the next four years, if he reaches his incentives and the Red Sox exercise the option.
Formerly the No. 43 overall pick in the draft out of Southeastern Louisiana University, Miley first established himself as a rotation mainstay in the 2012 season, when he finished second to Bryce Harper in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Since claiming a place in the D-Backs’ rotation, Miley has pitched to a 3.74 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 48.6 percent ground-ball rate. He’s also been exceptionally durable in that time, averaging an even 200 innings over the past three seasons.
By agreeing to the deal, Miley’s agents have secured him his first fortune in baseball without drastically delaying his free agency, whereas the Red Sox have received cost certainty that keeps Miley’s price tag reasonable even in the event of a breakout season. Miley will be eligible to hit free agency entering either his age-31 (if the option is declined) or age-32 season (if it exercised), which should present him with the opportunity to earn at least one more significant payday on top of this sum.
The structure of Miley’s deal is rare, though certainly not unheard of among players in his service class, as can be seen in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker. As the linked list shows, the most recent examples of such a structure include Chris Iannetta and Nick Hundley, but to find a pitcher who signed a three-year deal with a club option in his first year of arbitration eligibility, we have to go back to 2009, when Paul Maholm did so with the Pirates.
Miley will be counted on, along with newcomer Rick Porcello and the returning Justin Masterson, to help reshape a Red Sox rotation that will also feature Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly. That quintet, backed by a remade offense that includes the likes of Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and Rusney Castillo, will be tasked with reversing the fortunes of a 2014 club that followed up a World Series victory with a last-place finish in the AL East.
The Boston Glober’s Alex Speier first reported that the contract included a club option (Twitter link). Bob Nightengale of USA Today provided the financial breakdown (on Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins Win Arbitration Hearing Against Mat Latos
The Marlins have won their arbitration hearing against newly-acquired righty Mat Latos, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick was first to report (Twitter link). Latos had filed at $10.4MM but will instead receive the $9.4MM that Miami submitted.
Though he will not achieve his full asking price, Latos nevertheless receives a nice bump up over last year’s $7.25MM salary, which constituted the second-year of an extension signed with the Reds. He also lands a healthy margin above the MLBTR/Matt Swartz projection of $8.4MM.
All said, though the panel chose to go with the lower figure, Latos was obviously well-rewarded for a half-season of work last year. The 27-year-old missed time early and only made 16 starts, though he logged a healthy 102 1/3 frames in the process. That matched the pace he had set in the prior two seasons, when he notched better than 200 frames in over thirty outings.
Latos has produced uniformly excellent results. Over the last three seasons, he has not strayed from the 3.16 to 3.48 ERA range over a full season. While his strikeout totals dipped last year to 6.5 K/9, he held the free passes down to a career-low 2.3 per nine.
Minor Moves: Herrera, Dominguez, Vasquez, Feliciano
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Brewers announced earlier this week that utility player Elian Herrera has been outrighted to Triple-A and will be in Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invite. Herrera was designated for assignment after the Brewers added Neal Cotts on a one-year deal. The 30-year-old batted .274/.288/.341 in 140 plate appearances with the Brew Crew in 2014.
- The Giants released the recently designated Chris Dominguez, according to the team’s transactions page. Designated to clear a roster spot for Ryan Vogelsong, the 28-year-old Dominguez made his big league debut in 2014, collecting one hit in 17 at-bats, although the one hit was memorable — a two-run homer. Dominguez hit .274/.307/.460 with 21 homers in Triple-A last season.
- The Phillies signed lefty Anthony Vasquez, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. Vasquez is still trying to work his way back to the big leagues after remarkably surviving a ruptured blood vessel in his brain that required emergency surgery. He spent last year in the upper minors with the Orioles, working to a 4.95 ERA over 123 2/3 frames (including 19 starts) with 6.7 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9.
- Southpaw reliever Pedro Feliciano is nearing a minor league deal with the Cubs that would include a spring invite and a $700K salary if he makes the big league team, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. Heyman adds on Twitter that the deal is done, noting that it includes some incentives. The 38-year-old led the league in appearances for three straight years with the Mets (2008-10), but rotator cuff issues ensued and Feliciano has only tossed 11 1/3 big league frames since. He struggled with preventing runs last year at Triple-A with the Cardinals organization, though he still was able to generate better than eight strikeouts per nine innings.
An earlier version of this post incorrectly cited Heyman as reporting that Vasquez had received a big league camp invite.
Brewers Sign Chris Perez To Minor League Deal
6:48pm: Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports (via Twitter) that Perez can top out at $3MM if he hits all of the incentives in his contract. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that $1.5MM of that will be his base salary upon making the club, and the deal has another $1.5MM worth of incentives based on games finished.
6:16pm: The Brewers announced that they have signed right-hander Chris Perez to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league Spring Training. Perez, formerly the closer for the Indians, will compete for a spot in the Milwaukee bullpen.
The 29-year-old Perez spent the 2014 season with the Dodgers, where he worked to a 4.27 ERA in 46 1/3 innings. However, despite moving back to the National League — he originally came up with the Cardinals — Perez posted the second-worst K/9 rate of his career (7.6) as well as his worst BB/9 rate to date (4.9).
Perez has struggled to a 4.31 ERA over the past two seasons — a span of 100 1/3 innings — but he was generally more effective during his 2010-12 peak with Cleveland. In that time, Perez totaled a 2.84 ERA and made a pair of All-Star teams while saving 98 games. As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes (on Twitter), the Brewers have been looking for a reliever with closer experience, and Perez certainly fits that bill with a low cost of acquisition.
Presumably, the signing of Perez doesn’t preclude the Brewers’ search to add to their 40-man roster, however. Milwaukee has been linked on and off to Jonathan Papelbon over the past two weeks, and they’re also said to be interested in a reunion with Francisco Rodriguez, who has been with Milwaukee for parts of the past four seasons.