Padres Acquire Shawn Kelley
The Yankees announced on Monday that they have sent right-hander Shawn Kelley to the Padres in exchange for minor league righty Johnny Barbato.
The 30-year-old Kelley posted a 4.53 ERA in 51 2/3 innings for the Yankees last season, though metrics such as FIP (3.02), xFIP (3.10) and SIERA (2.60) all feel that his whopping 11.6 K/9 rate will result in a lower ERA in the future. Kelley averaged 3.5 walks per nine innings last season — a mark that is more or less commensurate with his career mark of 3.2 — and notched a fairly typical 33.6 percent ground-ball rate. His fly-ball nature is undoubtedly a better fit for San Diego’s Petco Park than Yankee Stadium, though homers weren’t a significant detriment to Kelley in 2014. Rather, an unusually low 67.8 percent strand rate was Kelley’s biggest downfall this past season.
Kelley will be eligible for arbitration for the third time this offseason after earning $1.76MM in 2014. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $2.5MM salary for the Frye McCann Sports client in 2015 in his last season before hitting the open market. He’ll join a 2015 Padres bullpen that features Joaquin Benoit in the closer’s role, supported by sophomore Kevin Quackenbush, veteran Dale Thayer, southpaw Alex Torres and righty Nick Vincent — a quintet that combined to pitch exceptionally well in 2014.
Barbato, the first piece of the deal to be reported, was enjoying an excellent season at Double-A as a 21-year-old before an elbow injury that may require Tommy John surgery (per the YES Network’s Jack Curry) shut him down in June. The Legacy Agency client posted a 2.87 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 31 1/3 innings as his club’s closer. Baseball America ranked him 30th among San Diego prospects in each of the past two offseasons, noting that while he has the potential for three plus pitches, his delivery and questionable command might make him better suited for the bullpen, where he could eventually become a big league setup man.
Robert Murray first caught wind of the swap, hearing that Barbato was headed to New York and then that Kelley was headed to the Friars (Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Padres, Josh Johnson Still Working Toward Deal
DEC. 29: The Padres are preparing to announce their deal with Johnson and could do so as soon as today, Passan tweets.
DEC. 22, 2:22pm: Sosnick tells ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick that an agreement isn’t in place, and Johnson has not taken a physical (Twitter links). If and when a contract gets done, Sosnick tells Crasnick, it will take a few more days.
1:54pm: The Padres and right-hander Josh Johnson are now in agreement on a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $1MM that can reach $7.25MM total via incentives, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Johnson, a client of Sosnick/Cobbe Sports, was said to be on the verge of an agreement late last week.
Johnson will receive $500K for making his fifth start, $1MM for his 10th start, $500K for his 15th start and $1MM for his 20th. He will then earn $250K per start for starts 21-33, according to Passan.
The 30-year-old Johnson (31 next month) signed a one-year, $8MM deal with the Padres last offseason coming off a down season with Toronto. However, Johnson underwent Tommy John surgery in April and never made a start wearing a Padres uniform. His contract contained a conditional $4MM club option that triggered in the event he made fewer than seven starts, but the Friars declined that option and chose to re-sign him to an even lower guarantee. Though Johnson had the ability to test the open market, it was widely expected that he’d return to San Diego, as agent Matt Sosnick said more than once that Johnson felt he has “unfinished business” in San Diego.
It’s been two full years since Johnson was fully healthy, but there’s little denying what an impactful arm he can be when healthy. Johnson led the National League with a 2.30 ERA/2.41 FIP over the course of 183 2/3 innings with the Marlins in 2010 and has a career 3.40 ERA in 998 innings at the Major League level. Staying healthy has never come easy to Johnson, however, who has topped 180 innings just three times since debuting in 2005.
Johnson is the second injury-prone, high-upside arm that the Padres have added this offseason. GM A.J. Preller also inked Brandon Morrow to a one-year, $2.5MM contract that is heavily incentive-laden as well. Those two will give the Padres some rotation depth beyond a front trio of Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross and Ian Kennedy. Right-hander Jesse Hahn, who pitched well out of the Friars’ rotation in 2014, was dealt to the A’s in the Derek Norris trade, and fellow righty Joe Wieland went to Los Angeles in the Matt Kemp deal. Johnson and Morrow will compete with Robbie Erlin and Cory Luebke (who is recovering from his second Tommy John operation) for spots in manager Bud Black’s rotation. Johnson, however isn’t likely to be ready to pitch on Opening Day, as his operation came on April 24 last season.
Cliff Pennington, Diamondbacks Avoid Arbitration
The Diamondbacks have avoided arbitration with infielder Cliff Pennington by signing him to a one-year deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Pennington will receive $3.275MM in his last year before free agency eligibility, almost identical to MLBTR’s projection of $3.3MM. Pennington is a client of Sosnick Cobbe.
Pennington, 30, just completed a two-year, $5MM deal that bought out his first two years of arbitration eligibility. He hit .254/.340/.350 in 201 plate appearances in 2014 and played good defense at second base, third base and shortstop, moving around the diamond while Aaron Hill, Martin Prado, Didi Gregorius and Chris Owings did most of the starting. Pennington missed most of June and all of July with a thumb injury.
You can keep track of all arbitration eligible players in MLBTR’s tracker.
Phillies Sign Wandy Rodriguez To Minor League Deal
The Phillies have signed left-handed pitcher Wandy Rodriguez to a minor league deal, reports CSNPhilly.com. Dominican sport commentator Santana Martinez was the first to report the signing (via Twitter). The move is pending a physical. CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman confirms (Twitter link) that the deal is not yet finalized. Presumably, Rodriguez will be invited to spring training to compete for a rotation spot, although that detail is not specifically mentioned in the report.
Rodriguez, 36 in January, has struggled with injuries in recent seasons. He lost much of 2013 to a forearm strain. The Pirates designated him for assignment last May after he was sidelined with knee inflammation. Over the past two seasons, he managed just 18 starts including 6.75 ERA over six starts in 2014.
His career numbers are substantially better. In 1,471 career innings, the southpaw has a 4.06 ERA, 7.40 K/9, and 3.05 BB/9. He’s also re-established his health while pitching in the Dominican Winter League. His best seasons came with the Astros, although his injury shortened 2013 campaign included a 3.59 ERA in 12 starts.
Once the signing is finalized, Rodriguez will likely compete for one of three open rotation jobs with the Phillies. Presently, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels front the rotation, although Lee is recovering from an elbow injury and Hamels is frequently linked to trade rumors. After the top duo, Jerome Williams, David Buchanan, Kevin Slowey, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Sean O’Sullivan, and Jonathan Pettibone are part of a wide open field for the remaining jobs. Presumably, Williams and Buchanan are penciled in to the third and fourth spots.
Nationals, Heath Bell Agree To Minor League Deal
SATURDAY: Assuming he makes the team, Bell will receive a $1M base salary with a possible $1M in incentives, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets.
MONDAY: The Nationals have reached a minor league contract with right-hander Heath Bell, the pitcher himself wrote in an exclusive guest column for The Players’ Tribune. The contract includes an invitation to big league Spring Training. Bell is a client of the Ballengee Group.
Bell, 37, was an All-Star closer with the Padres from 2009-11, pitching to a combined 2.36 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and 132 saves in 202 1/3 innings of work. That excellent performance netted him a three-year, $27MM contract with the Marlins in their offseason spending spree prior to the opening of the new Marlins Park, but that deal proved to be an ill-fated move. Bell struggled to a 4.91 ERA over the past three seasons with three different teams — Miami, Arizona and Tampa Bay — changing hands often in salary dump trades.
Though Bell has struggled tremendously over the past three years, he does come with some upside and carries minimal risk on a minor league pact. The Nationals already possess a pair of strong closing options in Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard. Presumably, Bell will battle to make the club and serve in a setup capacity to Storen.
Giants To Re-Sign Juan Gutierrez
The Giants have re-signed right-handed reliever Juan Gutierrez to a minor league deal, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy recently reported. Gutierrez was designated by San Francisco back in November, in advance of the non-tender deadline.
The 31-year-old tossed 63 2/3 frames of 3.96 ERA ball last year for the eventual World Champions, with 6.2 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9. Though he has mostly performed at roughly replacement level for his career, Gutierrez has suffered from his share of bad luck: all major ERA estimators value his work at a significantly better rate than his lifetime ERA. And his career 3.79 SIERA suggests that he can be a serviceable piece from the bullpen.
Hiroki Kuroda Signs With Hiroshima Carp
Veteran righty Hiroki Kuroda is returning to the place where he made his name: the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.
Soon to turn 40 years of age, Kuroda remains every bit as sturdy and effective as ever. Since coming to the big leagues from NPB back in 2008 — his age-33 season — Kuroda has never ended a season with an ERA over 3.76. In seven MLB campaigns, he owns a 3.45 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.
Of course, Kuroda had entire separate career in Japan before he came stateside. He broke in at age 22 and threw 11 seasons, all with Hiroshima. His numbers there looked quite similar to his big league marks: 3.69 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9.
Kuroda will no doubt take a significant pay cut to return to the Carp, but he has the luxury to choose his destination at this point in his career. He ultimately earned a total of $88.3MM over his time in the big leagues, mostly through short-term deals as he continually chose to keep his options open rather than committing to a lengthy pact.
Though Kuroda was of course free to sign with any team, it had long been thought that he would be choosing between the Yankees, NPB, and retirement. In that respect, today’s move resonates most in New York, as the Yanks are left with a rotation full of durability questions.
For the rest of the starting pitching market, the news should have relatively little effect. Most of the quality mid-level starters have already found new homes, and Kuroda likely had a narrow range of suitors.
Jim Allen of Kyodo News tweeted that the Carp had announced the signing; Japanese media outlets Nippon and Chugoku Shimbun first reported that Kuroda was set to return to NPB.
Minor Moves: Mitch Lively, Rick VandenHurk
Here are Friday’s minor moves from around baseball…
- The Nationals have inked righty Mitch Lively to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, the club announced on Twitter. Washington also made several other previously-reported signings official. Lively, 29, had pitched exclusively in relief as a professional before converting to the rotation in 2013. He joined the Nationals in the middle of last year after opting out of his deal with the Giants.
- Former Marlins right-hander Rick VandenHurk has signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced (Japanese link). Though VandenHurk’s big league career never took off, the Dutch hurler has a solid Triple-A track record and even more impressive numbers from a recent stint in the hitter-friendly Korea Baseball Organization. The 29-year-old VandenHurk has pitched to a 3.55 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 296 1/3 innings with KBO’s Samsung Lions over the past two seasons. He led the KBO with a 3.18 ERA in 2014, averaging 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Astros Outright Darin Downs
The Astros announced that they’ve outrighted left-hander Darin Downs to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. Additionally, Gregorio Petit, who was outrighted earlier this week, has accepted his assignment to Triple-A rather than electing free agency. Both will be invited to big league Spring Training. Houston’s 40-man roster is currently at 39 players.
Downs, who turns 30 today, worked to a 5.45 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9 in 34 2/3 innings for Houston this past season. Downs is typically excellent against fellow left-handers, and while he held them to a .203 average in 2014, he also yielded a .337 OBP and .333 slugging percentage against them. However, his overall career numbers versus left-handed hitters remain impressive: a .202/.291/.310 batting line in 189 plate appearances.
Nationals Sign Dan Uggla To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have signed Dan Uggla to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, the team announced (on Twitter). Uggla is a client of Turn 2 Sports Management.
The Nationals are plenty familiar with Uggla, who turns 35 in March, for a couple of reasons. He’s spent the bulk of his big league career in their division as a member of the Marlins and Braves, and additionally, GM Mike Rizzo drafted Uggla when he was the Diamondbacks’ scouting director back in 2001.
Clearly, Uggla’s five-year, $62MM contract extension with Atlanta didn’t pan out as the Braves had hoped. In fact, they’ll pay him $13MM this coming season after releasing him in the fourth year of his contract. Uggla’s bat significantly declined in 2013 and fell off even further in 2014. In total, he batted a mere .171/.291/.326 in 694 plate appearances over the life of those two seasons. While strikeouts have always been a problem for Uggla, his K-rate jumped to 31 percent in 2013-14, and his power vanished entirely in 2014 (two homers in 157 PA, .064 ISO).
The Nationals have some uncertainty at second base, as they’ll shift Anthony Rendon to third base full-time in 2015, with Ryan Zimmerman jumping to first base. That leaves Danny Espinosa, who has had offensive struggles of his own, and utility infielder Kevin Frandsen as the primary internal options at the keystone. And while Uggla’s name often invokes cynicism from fans, it’s tough to fault the Nats for taking a low-risk flier on a player that hit 30 or more homers each year from 2007-11 and has been roughly a league-average bat as recently as 2012.