Orioles Sign Eddie Gamboa To Major League Deal
The Orioles have inked righty Eddie Gamboa to a major league contract, the club announced on Twitter. Gamboa, a 29-year-old knuckler, has spent his entire career in the Baltimore organization.
Gamboa became a minor league free agent after the year, but apparently drew enough interest that the O’s felt compelled to give him a 40-man spot. Last year, he threw 108 2/3 innings of 3.81 ERA ball over 17 starts and two relief appearances in the upper minors. Gamboa managed 8.6 K/9 while issuing 3.8 free passes per nine in the process.
Gamboa was suspended for 50 games last year due to medication for a thyroid condition. He explained to Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com that he was merely taking prescription medication for a thyroid issue, though he acknowledged he had not received a therapeutic use exemption. It would appear that Baltimore believes in Gamboa’s insistence that he was not relying on any substances to prop up his performance.
Braves Sign Jim Johnson
12:35pm: Johnson’s base salary will be $1.6MM, and he can earn up to $900K worth of incentives, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo.
12:07pm: The Braves announced that they have signed former Orioles closer Jim Johnson to a one-year, Major League contract (Twitter link). The right-hander is a client of Moye Sports Associates.
Johnson, 31, is just a season removed from back-to-back campaigns of 50-plus saves — each of which led the American League. His 101 saves from 2012-13 bloated his arbitration payday to $10MM last year, however, which was enough for the Orioles to trade him to the A’s in what was more or less a salary dump, despite the fact that he had continued to post solid numbers.
To say that Johnson’s Oakland tenure didn’t go as planned would be an understatement. The 2012 All-Star lost his closing gig to Sean Doolittle early in the 2014 season and never appeared comfortable in green and gold. He posted a 7.14 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 5.1 BB/9 and a typically strong ground-ball rate of 56.8 percent. After being designated for assignment and ultimately released, Johnson latched on with the Tigers but didn’t fare much better, allowing 10 runs in 13 innings with a 14-to-12 K/BB ratio.
It’s fair to say that Johnson was never the elite reliever that one might expect by glancing solely at his saves totals. Even in his peak seasons from 2011-13, he posted a 2.70 ERA but with a sub-par 6.1 K/9 rate. However, that’s certainly not to say that Johnson isn’t a quality relief arm. If last year’s control problems are corrected, Johnson figures to be an excellent rebound candidate to replace Jordan Walden (traded to the Cardinals along with Jason Heyward) in a setup role for Craig Kimbrel. Johnson’s never posted a ground-ball rate lower than 51 percent, and that mark has been 58 percent or better in each of the past four seasons. Johnson’s sinker continued to induce grounders last season and there was no drop-off in its velocity (average 93.6 mph), so the Braves presumably have a nice buy-low candidate to add to a bullpen that features Kimbrel, Shae Simmons, James Russell and David Carpenter, among others.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Twins Sign Torii Hunter
12:04pm: Hunter’s contract contains a full no-trade clause, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (on Twitter).
11:45am: Though he reportedly drew interest from a wide number of clubs, Torii Hunter‘s career has officially come full circle, as the Twins today announced the signing of their former star center fielder to a one-year, $10.5MM deal. Hunter is a client of Reynolds Sports Management.
Hunter’s contract falls well shy of the two-year, $22MM pact that I predicted for him recently. But as I noted then, it would not be surprising to see him take a lesser deal for a preferred destination. It appears that is precisely what occurred here, as Hunter took the opportunity to return to the place where he became a star. Indeed, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweeted last night that Hunter had similar one-year offers from other clubs and also had some two-year opportunities but “wanted to come home.” He’ll serve as Minnesota’s right fielder in 2015, per Wolfson, with Oswaldo Arcia presumably shifting to left field.
While Hunter is no longer the all-around force he was in his prime, he remains quite a valuable and consistent producer as he enters his age-39 season. Last year marked the ninth in a row in which Hunter outperformed the league average offensive line by at least 10%, a rather remarkable achievement.
For Minnesota, Hunter’s value goes well beyond on-field production. His veteran presence will no doubt be welcome, especially with respect to young center field prospect Byron Buxton. Drafted 20th overall by Minnesota in 1993, Hunter spent 11 years in the Twins organization, eventually emerging as the team’s star center fielder and one of the game’s better all-around players. He ultimately ran up nine straight gold gloves after taking the reins up the middle for Minnesota, though the final two came with the Angels after he left via free agency.
Of course, Hunter’s performance in the field is precisely the area of concern at this late stage of his career. While he rated as an above average defender (and overall 5+ win player) just two years ago, Hunter has faded badly in the past two seasons in right. A return to average defending — whether or not extra rest is needed to make that possible — could make this signing return solid value to Minnesota in terms of production.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the agreement on Twitter. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted the terms of the contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pirates Sign Clayton Richard To Minor League Deal
The Pirates announced that they’ve signed left-hander Clayton Richard to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
Richard hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2013, but the Relativity Sports client was a mainstay in the Padres’ rotation from 2010-13 after being acquired in the Jake Peavy trade with the White Sox. A shoulder impingement cut his 2013 season short, and he went on to have surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome in the offseason. He did get back on a mound to throw 21 1/3 minor league innings with the Diamondbacks last year. The Pirates will hope that Richard is another in the long line of pitchers they’ve revitalized, although the minor league deal is a more minimal investment than their previous reclamation projects.
Now 31 years of age, Richard posted a 3.88 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 520 innings for the Padres in 2010-12, twice topping the 200-inning mark. He boasts a career ground-ball rate of 50 percent — an attribute to which the Pirates have been attracted in other pitchers over the past few years. Pittsburgh is known to be incredibly aggressive with its infield shifts, and that trait should help maximize Richard’s ground-ball tendencies if he ultimately makes the club.
Dodgers Avoid Arbitration With Darwin Barney
The Dodgers have reached agreement on a one-year deal with utility infielder Darwin Barney to avoid arbitration, the team announced. Los Angeles also tendered contracts to its remaining arb-eligible players, per the release.
Barney will receive a $2.525MM salary next year, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The 29-year-old had only minimal time with the Dodgers last year but apparently made quite an impression. He will pair with Justin Turner to contribute a lot of versatility to the bench, although both swing from the right side and neither really looks to be the everyday answer at short.
Blue Jays Non-Tender Mayberry, Smoak, Dirks
The Blue Jays have non-tendered a trio of recently-acquired position players in John Mayberry Jr., Justin Smoak, and Andy Dirks, the club announced.
Each player had been obtained within the last three months or so at minimum cost to Toronto. It would appear that the club was keeping them on hand to create some options, but that it has decided to go in another direction.
As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca explains, the move certainly sets the table for more action out of Toronto, which now has only three outfielders on its 40-man roster. And that is before addressing the team’s needs in the pen and at second.
The trio will deliver some cost savings back to the Jays, of course. Mayberry ($1.9MM), Smoak ($3MM), and Dirks ($1.6MM) combined for a projected tab of about $6.5MM. That should be enough space for one or two good to very good relief arms, and moving Dioner Navarro‘s salary might create yet more breathing room.
2014-15 American League Non-Tenders
Major League clubs have until 11pm CT tonight to tender contracts to players for the 2015 season. We’ll run down the list of American League non-tenders here, and update it as reports come in. Remember that you can track all of the action using MLBTR’s Non-Tender tracker, and we offer a full list of non-tender candidates (in the estimation of MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes). Also important for reference is the set of arbitration salary projections from MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz. Click here for an explanation of the process, and be sure to check out this piece featuring some interesting observations from Tim regarding non-tender considerations.
- Slade Heathcott, Jose Campos, and David Huff have all been non-tendered by the Yankees, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter.
- The Twins have tendered contracts to all arb-eligible players, per MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter link).
- Third baseman Carlos Rivero is the only non-tender for the Mariners, the club announced. Rivero was not yet arbitration eligible.
- The Astros have tendered contracts to all arb-eligible players, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports on Twitter.
- The Royals have non-tendered lefty Francisley Bueno, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports on Twitter. He was not yet eligible for arbitration.
- As expected, the Tigers have offered arbitration to all eligible players, Anthony Fench of the Detroit Free Press tweets.
- The Athletics have declined to offer arbitration to Kyle Blanks and Andrew Brown, the team announced. Both had previously been designated for assignment. Oakland will retain control over the remainder of its eligible players, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- As with several other clubs, the Rays will proceed without any non-tenders, the club announced (per a tweet from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).
- Likewise, the Orioles have tendered contracts to each of their eleven arb-eligible players, the team announced.
- The Indians have tendered contracts to all five eligible players, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). Cleveland had a fairly straightforward group. Indeed, Dierkes did not list any players as reasonable NT candidates.
- Scott Snodgress and Scott Carroll have been non-tendered by the White Sox, Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com tweets. Both players were pre-arbitration eligible, meaning that Chicago could have renewed them at the MLB minimum.
- The Red Sox have non-tendered third baseman Juan Francisco but will otherwise tender contracts to all eligible players, the club announced (h/t to Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com, via Twitter). Francisco had already been designated for assignment, making this one of the day’s least surprising moves.
2014-15 National League Non-Tenders
Major League clubs have until 11pm CT tonight to tender contracts to players for the 2015 season. We’ll run down the list of National League non-tenders here, and update it as reports come in. Remember that you can track all of the action using MLBTR’s Non-Tender tracker, and we offer a full list of non-tender candidates (in the estimation of MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes). Also important for reference is the set of arbitration salary projections from MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz. Click here for an explanation of the process, and be sure to check out this piece featuring some interesting observations from Tim regarding non-tender considerations.
- The Rockies have non-tendered lefty Kraig Sitton, the team announced.
- The Pirates have non-tendered Gaby Sanchez and Chaz Roe, the club announced. Sanchez was in DFA limbo.
- The Cardinals will non-tender Daniel Descalso, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. That move seemed rather likely, as MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reported last night.
- Lefty Wesley Wright and catcher John Baker have been non-tendered by the Cubs, the team announced. Wright certainly qualifies as a surprise, as the 29-year-old was solid for the Cubs and was projected to earn just $2MM.
- The Reds have non-tendered righties Logan Ondrusek and Curtis Partch, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports.
- Meanwhile, the Giants have tendered all arb-eligible players contracts, Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News reports on Twitter.
- The Mets have announced that Eric Young Jr. has been non-tendered, ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin tweets.
- The Braves have dropped the biggest non-tender news of the day thus far, releasing Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy to the open market. Otherwise, the only teams announcing to this point have decided to tender all of their players.
- There will are no non-tenders to report for the Diamondbacks, who have announced that they have tendered contracts to all eligible players (via MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, on Twitter).
- The same holds true for the Marlins, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro (Twitter link).
- The Nationals have announced that they have tendered contracts to all ten eligible players, per Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com (via Twitter). Washington had previously agreed to avoid arbitration with one other player from the packed class (Kevin Frandsen).
Rangers Non-Tender Alexi Ogando, Michael Kirkman, Adam Rosales
The Rangers have non-tendered three players, headlined by righty Alexi Ogando, the club announced. Also being set loose are lefty Michael Kirkman and utilityman Adam Rosales.
Ogando, 31, has tantalized with his ability but failed to failed to maintain his health. And 2014 was a rough year even before he was shut down with elbow issues, as he threw to a 6.84 ERA (albeit with a 3.81 FIP) on the back of 7.9 K/9 against 5.4 BB/9. Ogando’s decision not to play winter ball may also have had an impact on the team’s decision, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News explains.
Ogando was projected by MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz to earn $2.6MM through arbitration. Paying that price tag would be easy if Texas felt it was getting the All-Star starter it had in 2011, or even the effective reliever it enjoyed in 2012. But that no longer seemed a safe bet.
Kirkman, 28, has been a sort of backup relief option for the Rangers for the last five years, seeing time in every campaign but never throwing more than 35 1/3 innings. He is not yet arbitration eligible. Rosales, meanwhile, has been one of the better-traveled names in the game over the past few seasons. His projected $1MM hit landed above his value as a utility piece.
Padres Non-Tender Everth Cabrera
The Padres have non-tendered shortstop Everth Cabrera, the team announced. He was the only roster casualty of the evening, per the team’s release.
Cabrera was projected by MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz to earn $2.9MM through arbitration. The 28-year-old took home $2.45MM last year, when he was named to the All-Star team before seeing his season unravel with a Biogenesis suspension and, later, DUI arrest.
Cabrera remains an intriguing talent in spite of his issues off and on the field (.572 OPS through 391 plate appearances last year). In 2013, by far his best season as a pro, Cabrera slashed .283/.355/.381 while swiping 37 bases and delivering solid defensive play.
While San Diego’s position is certainly understandable, it is certainly a disappointing result for a player who looked like a potential franchise building block not long ago. Certainly, there should be several teams interested in taking a shot on his upside.