Minor Moves: Cabrera, Skipworth, Blackley
Here are the notable minor moves of the day:
- The Reds released a list of nineteen non-roster invites to big league camp this spring, including several minor league free agent signings (via MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon). Among those not previously reported are catchers Ramon Cabrera, who was released by the Pirates earlier in the offseason, and Kyle Skipworth, who had spent his entire career in the Marlins organization. Neither player has seen significant MLB action, though Skipworth did get a cup of coffee in 2013. Cabrera has flashed some solid numbers with the bat in the minors, though both backstops put up sub-.700 OPS campaigns last year.
- Former big league lefty Travis Blackley says that he has signed a deal with the Giants (via Instagram). The 32-year-old Aussie saw action in parts of four MLB seasons, working to a 5.23 ERA over 192 2/3 frames (including 26 starts) with 6.2 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. He threw only 13 innings last year with Rakuten of Japan’s NPB.
Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Tommy Hunter
The Orioles have avoided arbitration with Tommy Hunter, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. The righty will earn $4.65MM next year, just a quarter million over the projection of MLBTR/Matt Swartz.
Hunter, 28, presented something of an odd arb case in his final year of eligibility. After entering the year as Baltimore’s closer, with a $3MM salary, Hunter notched 11 saves but failed to keep the job. Nevertheless, he ended the season with 60 2/3 innings of 2.97 ERA pitching, with 6.7 K/9 against just 1.8 BB/9. And he racked up 12 holds to add to the counting stat tally.
After opening his career in a starting role with the Rangers, thus bolstering his earlier arb cases with wins and innings, Hunter transitioned to the bullpen. He has remained purely a reliever over the last two campaigns with the O’s, and certainly figures to continue in that capacity in his upcoming age-28 season.
White Sox Avoid Arbitration With Dayan Viciedo
The White Sox have avoided arbitration with Dayan Viciedo by agreeing to a one-year, $4.4MM pact, MLB.com’s Scott Merkin tweets. That represents an exact match to the projection of MLBTR and Matt Swartz, with Viciedo’s sturdy home run tallies serving to boost his arb value.
Viciedo, 25, has seen regular playing time for Chicago over the last three years. Last season represented his low-water mark in terms of offensive production, as he dropped from an approximately league-average overall output to a .231/.281/.405 slash that left him with a 92 OPS+. Of course, Viciedo delivered a familiar blend of power, strikeouts, and on-base struggles, and should at least return to being a generally average bat if his BABIP (.261) rebounds.
That being said, Viciedo’s overall value has been held down significantly by rough defensive work. Playing mostly in the corner outfield, Viciedo has consistently registered negative scores in the view of UZR (-7.9 UZR/150 for his career) as well as DRS (-19 lifetime runs saved). And as with the offensive side of the equation, last year saw a notable downturn.
In the aggregate, then, Viciedo landed well below replacement level last year. On the positive side, he is just 25 and possesses undeniable power that plays at the MLB level. It remains to be seen what role Viciedo will play on a rebuilt White Sox roster, and he could still be traded, but it is apparent that Chicago is loath to give up on him.
Phillies Sign Jeanmar Gomez To Minor League Deal
The Phillies announced that they’ve signed right-hander Jeanmar Gomez to a minor league contract with an invite to big league Spring Training. Gomez is a client of Praver/Shapiro.
The 26-year-old Gomez has spent the past two seasons with the Pirates serving primarily as a long reliever, although he did start eight games in 2013 as well. Gomez worked a total of 142 2/3 innings for the Pirates in those two seasons, registering a very nice 3.28 ERA. However, he also missed few bats (5.7 K/9) with respectable but not elite control (3.2 BB/9) and likely benefited, to an extent, from Pittsburgh’s excellent defense and aggressive implementation of defensive shifts.
Gomez has a career ground-ball rate of 50.1 percent, which should help his cause in the hitter-friendly Citizen’s Bank Park if he makes the Phillies’ roster, but metrics like FIP (4.37), xFIP (4.25) and SIERA (4.16) were more down on his work in 2014 than his ERA. He saw his strikeout rate dip a bit from 2013 to 2014, while his walk rate trended upward and his ground-ball rate dropped from 55.4 percent to a closer-to-average 46.8 percent.
While Gomez was very hittable last season — 10.2 H/9 and a .292/.356/.454 opponent batting line — he’s enjoyed good bottom-line results over the past two seasons. He will give a thin Phillies pitching staff some relative youth and a candidate to provide innings, be they out of the rotation or bullpen. Gomez also comes with just over three years of big league service time, meaning that if he performs well, the Phillies can retain him through the 2017 season via arbitration if they wish.
Athletics, Jesse Chavez Avoid Arbitration
The A’s and right-hander Jesse Chavez have avoided arbitration for the 2015 season by agreeing to a one-year, $2.15MM contract, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Chavez is a client of Sosnick/Cobbe Sports.
The 31-year-old Chavez enjoyed an excellent breakout season that came as a surprise to many, given his previous struggles out of the bullpen. Injuries to Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin forced Chavez into the rotation early in the season despite the fact that he had just two MLB starts prior to the 2014 campaign. However, he responded by pitching to a 3.45 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 42 percent ground-ball rate in 146 innings. Chavez appeared in 32 games — 21 of them starts; he ultimately shifted back to the ‘pen following the acquisition of Jeff Samardzija, Jason Hammel and Jon Lester. With that group now out of the picture, Chavez could again find himself making some starts to open the 2015 campaign.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Chavez to earn $2.5MM via arbitration in his second time through the process. Chavez currently has four years, 108 days of Major League service time, meaning that he’ll be arbitration eligible for the third and final time next offseason before hitting the open market after the 2016 campaign.
Minor Moves: Hoffman, Colvin, Valaika, Wilson
The latest notable minor league signings, courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy except where noted.
- The Red Sox have signed lefty Matt Hoffman, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish tweets. Hoffman, 26, pitched in the high minors in the Phillies and Twins organizations in 2014, posting a 3.75 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 48 innings of relief. He’d spent the previous six years in the Tigers organization, working his way up to Triple-A Toledo.
- The Marlins signed 29-year-old outfielder Tyler Colvin. In 2014, he posted a .223/.268/.381 slash line with two homers over 149 PA for the Giants. Colvin elected free agency in October, allowing him to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Over parts of six seasons at the big league level with the Cubs, Rockies, and Giants, Colvin has a career line of .239/.287/.446.
- The Cubs re-signed second baseman Chris Valaika. The 29-year-old slashed .231/.282/.339 across 131 plate appearances for the Cubs last season, which is more or less consistent with his career .238/.282/.351 slash line over parts of four seasons. At Triple-A Iowa, Valaika hit .278/.344/.423 in 397 PAs.
- The Tigers signed Josh Wilson to a minor league pact. The 33-year-old infielder hit .239/.271/.299 in 72 PAs for the Rangers in 2014, though he spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A Round Rock.
- The Orioles signed left-hander Cesar Cabral. The 25-year-old pitched in four games for the Yankees last year allowing three runs, four hits, three hit batsmen, and a pair of walks in only one inning of work. Cabral spent the rest of the season splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A posting a 6.28 ERA, 10.2 K/9, and 7.9 BB/9 in 32 relief appearances totalling 38 2/3 innings.
Rays Sign Juan Francisco
The Rays have signed corner infielder Juan Francisco to a minor league deal, tweets Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. Francisco was non-tendered by the Red Sox earlier in the offseason.
Francisco, 28 next season, spent 2014 with the Blue Jays, where he hit .220/.291/.456 with 16 home runs in 320 plate appearances. While the power was a positive, shaky defense and a 36.3% strikeout rate are two very big holes in his game. He is best used as a left-handed platoon bat. Last season against right-handers, he compiled a useful .238/.306/.504 line. Southpaws held him to a dreadful .116/.204/.186 performance. His career splits are nearly as extreme, which highlights his obvious role.
He has also appeared with the Brewers, Braves, and Reds. Francisco seems likely to serve as depth behind fellow left-handed hitter John Jaso.
Minor Moves: Butler, Pridie, Anderson, Solis
Here are the latest minor league moves.
- The Rays signed former Cardinal Joey Butler, tweets Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. The outfielder, 29 next season, appeared briefly for St. Louis last year (six plate appearances) but finished the season in Japan with the Orix Buffalo.
- The A’s signed 31-year-old outfielder Jason Pridie, per Eddy (also Twitter). His last substantial action came in 2011 when he hit .231/.309/.370 in 236 plate appearances with the Mets. Pridie has appeared in the majors in each of the last three seasons, but he’s compiled only 24 plate appearances in the process. He was thought to have signed with the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization, but the deal fell through. The A’s also signed minor league reliever Jonathan Joseph.
- The Dodgers reached agreement with nine minor leaguers, including Lars Anderson, Ali Solis, and Ryan Buchter, tweets Eddy. Anderson, 27, was once a highly regarded first base prospect with the Red Sox, but his failure to develop power has left him without a big league role. Solis has appeared twice in the majors with the Padres and Rays. In a tiny 11 plate appearance sample, he has six strikeouts and a 30% swinging strike rate. Buchter, 27, made his major league debut with the Braves last season. He tossed one scoreless inning. In the minors, he’s shown a strong strikeout rate and a disconcertingly high walk rate.
Padres Sign Jose Valverde To Minor League Deal
The Padres have signed former closer Jose Valverde to a minor league deal, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy tweets. San Diego has also signed lefty Scott Elbert and righty Marcos Mateo.
Valverde made the Mets’ Opening Day roster last season, but after a combustive two months in their bullpen, the Mets released him in late May. He has struggled in each of the past two seasons, posting ERAs over five in both and giving up ten home runs in 40 total innings. Valverde’s last full season came in 2012, when he posted a 3.78 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 for the Tigers. The 36-year-old has 288 career saves with the Diamondbacks and Astros in addition to the Tigers and Mets.
The 29-year-old Elbert was a first-round pick of the Dodgers all the way back in 2004. He had two effective seasons of relief for them in 2011 and 2012, but had Tommy John surgery in 2013 and missed most of the next two years. The Dodgers outrighted him in early November, and he became a free agent.
The 30-year-old Mateo pitched for Triple-A Iowa in 2014, posting a 3.86 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 37 1/3 innings of relief. He last appeared in the big leagues with the Cubs in 2011.
Athletics Acquire Ben Zobrist, Yunel Escobar
The Rays have announced that they’ve traded Ben Zobrist and shortstop Yunel Escobar to the Athletics for catcher/DH John Jaso, shortstop prospect Daniel Robertson, and outfield prospect Boog Powell. The Rays also announced that they would receive cash considerations, which Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets is $1.5MM.
“It’s an emotional and meaningful day as we bid farewell to Ben Zobrist and thank him for everything he’s meant to the Rays organization,” says Rays executive Matt Silverman. “Any description of his value, talent and character would understate how we feel about Ben, and we consider ourselves fortunate for all our great moments together.”
The Athletics entered the offseason with needs at both middle infield positions. They addressed one of those when they acquired Marcus Semien from the White Sox in the Jeff Samardzija trade, though Semien isn’t an established big-leaguer, and the versatile Zobrist can be moved around the field if Semien emerges. Or perhaps it’s Semien who will move around — he played third base in the big leagues and left field in the minors in 2014, and Slusser suggests that Semien could now be used “like a young Zobrist.” So acquiring Zobrist and Escobar certainly makes sense from a positional perspective.
The A’s pulling off a blockbuster trade for Zobrist and Escobar is surprising, however, given the trajectory of their offseason. They signed DH Billy Butler early in the winter but have spent much of the rest of it trading veterans, not acquiring them, sending Samardzija to Chicago, Josh Donaldson to Toronto, Brandon Moss to Cleveland, and Derek Norris to San Diego. The A’s also lost Jon Lester, Luke Gregerson and Jed Lowrie to free agency.
The Athletics aren’t interested in complete rebuilds, however, and acquiring Zobrist and Escobar (who the Athletics claimed on revocable waivers last August) should help, at least for 2015, in making up for the talent they lost previously in the offseason. The 33-year-old Zobrist has been one of baseball’s best players over the past several seasons, with four straight seasons of an fWAR of above 5.0. While his offense the past two years has been down from his 2008-2012 pace (slipping somewhat to .272/.354/.395 in 2014), his defensive talents and ability to play second base, shortstop and outfield make him tremendously valuable. He will be eligible for free agency after making $7.5MM in the last option season on the team-friendly extension he signed with Tampa in 2010. The Athletics can also extend Zobrist a qualifying offer after the season, potentially netting themselves a draft pick if he signs elsewhere.
Zobrist had also been connected to the Nationals and Giants this offseason. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams pointed out in December, however, Zobrist would have made sense for any number of teams.
Escobar, 32, hit .258/.324/.340 in 529 plate appearances with the Rays in 2014. In the past, much of his value has come from his above-average glove, although UZR liked his defense considerably less in 2014 than it did in the past. He signed a two-year deal last April that carries him through 2016 at a total of $12MM, and he also has a $1MM buyout on a $7MM option for 2017.
From the Rays’ perspective, a trade of Zobrist or Escobar seemed likely after the team reached agreement on a one-year deal with Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera will make $7.5MM in 2015, exactly the same as Zobrist, so trading him doesn’t seem to be primarily about shedding salary, but about getting something for a top player who’s eligible for free agency before the next time the Rays are likely to contend. The Rays could now use a combination of Cabrera, Nick Franklin and Logan Forsythe in the middle infield.
The Rays’ haul is considerable, as one would expect given Zobrist’s considerable talents. Jaso, 31, appeared in 54 games at catcher and 32 at DH last season, hitting .264/.337/.430. Given his solid hitting from the left side, Jaso is valuable at either position. He tells John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group (on Twitter) that the Rays have told him they want him to mostly DH while occasionally filling in at catcher. That would leave Rene Rivera as the Rays’ primary backstop.
Jaso was a semi-regular player for the Rays in 2010 and 2011 before they traded him to Seattle. He’s projected to make $3.3MM in 2015, his last season before he’s eligible for free agency. Jaso missed the end of the season last year with concussion issues but is expected to be healthy heading into the 2015 season.
The real jewel here, though, is Robertson, who MLB.com and Baseball America rank as the Athletics’ top prospect MLB.com also ranks him the No. 85 prospect in baseball overall. The 20-year-old also, obviously, would have qualified as Oakland’s top young shortstop after the A’s traded Addison Russell last year. Robertson, who the A’s drafted in the first round in 2012, hit .310/.402/.471 in 642 plate appearances with Class A+ Stockton in 2014, winning praise for his line-drive stroke on offense and his sure-handedness on defense. The loss of Robertson is another hit to the Athletics’ farm system that lost plenty of talent in the Samardzija deal with the Cubs last summer, although the addition of Franklin Barreto in the Donaldson trade should help with the middle infield depth they’re losing.
Fellow 2012 draftee Powell, meanwhile, ranks No. 11 on MLB.com’s list. Powell (who isn’t related to the fellow lefty-hitting outfielder and former Orioles great of the same name) hit a terrific .343/.451/.435 in 381 plate appearances with Class A Beloit and with Stockton in 2014. He was, however, suspended for 50 games in July for testing positive for an amphetamine. He doesn’t have an outstanding arm, but has good speed (though he hasn’t translated that speed into good basestealing ability yet) and could stick in center field.
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report that a deal sending Zobrist and Escobar to Oakland was imminent. Joel Sherman of the New York Post was the first to tweet that the Rays would get Jaso and two prospects in the deal. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted that Robertson was involved in the deal, while ESPN’s Keith Law tweeted that Powell was in the trade.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.