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Angels Designate Trey Cabbage For Assignment

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The Angels announced that first baseman/outfielder Trey Cabbage has been designated for assignment.  The transaction creates a 40-man roster spot for Matt Moore, whose one-year, $9MM deal is now official.

Cabbage was a fourth-round pick for the Twins in the 2015 draft, and he was a member of the Angels organization for the last two seasons after signing as a minor league free agent.  He didn’t show much at the plate over his first five pro seasons, but after sitting out 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, Cabbage’s bat suddenly caught fire.  A .283/.377/.574 slash line over 414 Double-A plate appearances was followed up by a .306/.379/.596 slash line in 474 PA at the Triple-A level, and it resulted in Cabbage getting a look on the Angels’ active roster this past season.

Despite only a .553 OPS over 56 PA in the Show, Cabbage at least finally made the big leagues, debuting slightly after his 26th birthday.  He might now find himself on the move to another team in the event of a waiver claim or if the Halos opt to simply release him after the DFA period, though one would imagine Los Angeles might just hang onto a player who has performed so well against minor league pitching.  Cabbage’s age could be a slight caveat to his numbers, though his performance can’t even be chalked up just to the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, given how Cabbage’s breakout started when he was still in Minnesota’s farm system.

After getting some time as a third baseman and shortstop earlier in his career, Cabbage has settled into a first base/corner outfield role.  His DFA could indicate that the Angels simply prefer other options at those positions — Nolan Schanuel is penciled in for regular first base duty and Brandon Drury can also play the position, while Miguel Sano and Hunter Dozier were recently signed to minors contracts.  The corner outfield picture is also pretty crowded, and could be even more crowded if Mike Trout is moved to left field in order to both help keep him healthy and to improve the defense with a more glove-focused center fielder.

Nationals Designate Israel Pineda

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The Nationals announced that catcher Israel Pineda has been designated for assignment.  The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for Joey Gallo, whose one-year, $5MM contract with D.C. is now official.

Pineda was a member of the Nationals’ 2016 international signing class, and he has spent his entire career in the organization.  Still only 23 years old, Pineda has hit .231/.291/.374 over 1529 plate appearances in the minor leagues, though he hit quite well at Double-A in 2022 and earned his first MLB call-up that September when Keibert Ruiz went on the injured list.

After appearing in his first four big league games, Pineda didn’t make it back to the Show in 2023 due in large part to injuries.  A fractured ring finger and an oblique strain limited Pineda to just 41 total games, and he had only a .496 OPS over 153 PA split over three minor league levels.  This rough year made Pineda expendable on Washington’s 40-man, though there might be a chance he simply clears waivers and remains in the minors as a depth option.

Ruiz and Riley Adams have the catching situation covered at the MLB level for the Nats, leaving Drew Millas (with 11 games) as the only other backstop in the organization with any Major League experience.  If Pineda isn’t brought back, the Nationals figure to be in the market for some veteran depth to bring into Spring Training on a minors deal.

Nationals Sign Joey Gallo

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TODAY: The signing has officially been announced.  The deal also contains a mutual option for the 2025 season.

JANUARY 23: The Nationals and first baseman/outfielder Joey Gallo have agreed to a one-year deal, reports Andrew Golden of The Washington Post (X links). The deal for the Boras Corporation client, which is pending a physical, is for $5MM with another $1MM available in performance bonuses.

Gallo, 30, has been the poster boy for the “three true outcomes” in a major league career that’s almost a decade old at this point. Having debuted with the Rangers in 2015, he has played in 863 games, with 198 home runs to his name in that time. He has struck out in 37.9% of his plate appearances, which is much higher than par. For reference, the league average in 2023 was 22.7%. But he’s also drawn walks in 14.8% of his career plate appearances, well beyond the 2023 league average of 8.6%.

It’s an unusual combination but one that still allows Gallo to be a productive offensive contributor when taken all together. Though his career batting line .197/.323/.466 has him below the Mendoza line, the walks and the homers still help him translate that into a wRC+ of 109. He signed a one-year, $11MM deal with the Twins for 2023 and batted .197/.323/.466 for a wRC+ of 104, hitting 21 home runs while striking out in 42.8% of his plate appearances.

It’s perhaps worth highlighting that the tenability of this oddly-shaped performance has declined over the years. Gallo had his best run with the Rangers from 2017 to 2019, slashing .217/.336/.533 in that time for a wRC+ of 120. He hit a rough patch in 2020 but then bounced back with a strong showing early in 2021, enough for him to be traded to the Yankees alongside Joely Rodríguez. But Gallo’s production fell off again after the deal and didn’t rebound in 2022, with the Yanks flipping him to the Dodgers midseason. He finished that season with a line of .160/.280/.357 and wRC+ of 86 before putting together a decent campaign with the Twins last year.

Despite the huge pop in his bat, the up-and-down nature of his past few seasons would make him a risky bet for a contending club. But for the Nationals, it’s a sensible fit for a number of reasons. Last month, it was reported that the club was looking to add some left-handed power to its lineup. That was a logical target with their outfield mix consisting of Lane Thomas, Stone Garrett, Joey Meneses, Victor Robles, Jacob Young and Alex Call, all of whom hit from the right side.

Beyond that, the club isn’t likely to be in contention this year, having been aggressively rebuilding in recent seasons. Last offseason, they gave modest one-year deals to bounceback candidates like Corey Dickerson, Dominic Smith and Jeimer Candelario. The first two of those didn’t work out but Candelario played well enough to be flipped to the Cubs for a couple of prospects.

The Nats can insert Gallo into the middle of their lineup and hope that he is producing enough to follow a similar trajectory to Candelario last year. If he is having another rough campaign like he did in 2022, he can simply be released like Dickerson was.

The fit also makes sense with the prospects in the system. Outfielders James Wood and Dylan Crews are two of the most highly-rated prospects in the league, and each could plausibly be nearing a major league debut. Wood spent most of last year in Double-A and will likely begin the upcoming season in Triple-A. Crews was just drafted last summer but managed to join Wood in Double-A by the end of the year. Robert Hassell isn’t as highly rated as those two but is another notable outfield prospect who finished last year at Double-A.

With those prospects potentially pushing for major league at-bats by the summer, Gallo can be seen as a placeholder. If he is mashing, he can be traded for prospects. If not, he can be released. In either case, he would yield second half playing time to someone in that group. If each of the prospects are struggling and aren’t justifying a promotion, perhaps Gallo could stay in Washington through the end of the year, as Smith did in 2023.

Gallo is also considered a solid defender, which is a plus. His outfield glovework has led to career tallies of 42 Defensive Runs Saved, four Outs Above Average and a grade of 15.0 from Ultimate Zone Rating. His work at first base isn’t graded as strongly, but he’s passable there as well, with over 1,000 career innings at that spot. Meneses is currently slated to get the bulk of the playing time at first base but the club doesn’t have a strict designated hitter, giving them some ability to rotate players around based on health and matchups.

Rockies Re-Sign Josh Rogers

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The Rockies have signed Josh Rogers to a new minor league deal, according to Rogers’ MLB.com profile page.  The left-hander has now signed minors contracts with the Rox in each of the last two offseasons.

Even though Colorado was beset by pitching injuries in 2023, Rogers didn’t get any big league action during his first year in the organization.  Rogers had his own struggles to worry about, as he posted an 8.02 ERA over 104 1/3 innings (starting 13 of 30 games) for Triple-A Albuquerque.  The southpaw had only a 13.1% strikeout rate, and opposing batters had a whopping 22.8% homer-to-fly ball rate.

Even accounting for the hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League, Rogers’ 31 home runs allowed is an eye-popping number, and it continues the extreme homer problems that have plagued Rogers for the better part of five years.  Rogers underwent a Tommy John surgery in 2019 that sidelined him for most of that season and all of the 2020 season, and he simply hasn’t been able to keep the ball in the park since his return.

Since his fastball barely cracks the 90mph threshold, Rogers doesn’t have much margin for error with his pitches, leaving him susceptible to heavy damage if a batter guesses correctly.  The introduction of the three-batter rule may have also cursed Rogers’ career — left-handed batters have a .411 OPS over 121 plate appearances against Rogers in the majors, while right-handed hitters have an absurd 1.048 OPS against Rogers in 268 PA.

An 11th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2015 draft, Rogers was dealt to the Orioles as part of the Zack Britton trade in July 2018, and Rogers ended up making his MLB debut with Baltimore about a month later.  Rogers has a 5.42 ERA over 88 career innings with the Orioles and Nationals at the big league level, with 22 homers surrendered in that pretty brief sample size.  His last MLB appearance came on June 2, 2022 with Washington, and after being released by the Nats, Rogers didn’t get a call-up during a brief stint in the Marlins’ minor league system.

The PCL isn’t exactly the best place for a homer-prone pitcher to find his form, but Rogers will return for another season as a depth option for Colorado.  Rogers has started 12 of his 30 career Major League games and 117 of his 142 minor league games, though his extreme splits suggest that a relief role might be best so Rogers’ team can shield him as best they can from right-handed batters.

Guardians Sign Tyler Beede To Minors Contract

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12:07PM: The Astros, Marlins, Padres, Pirates, Twins, and Yankees all had some interest in Beede, according to KPRC 2’s Ari Alexander (links to X).  Beede has shown some improved velocity, with a fastball that now sits at 97mph after averaging 94.6mph during his previous MLB tenure.  There are incentive bonuses within the contract tied to both starting and bullpen appearances, and Beede can opt out of his deal if he doesn’t make the Guardians’ Opening Day roster,

11:11AM: The Guardians announced that right-hander Tyler Beede has been signed to a minor league deal containing an invitation to big league Spring Training.  Beede is making his return to North American baseball after pitching with NPB’s Yomiuri Giants in 2023.

Drafted 14th overall by the (San Francisco) Giants in 2014, Beede drew some top-100 attention heading into the 2017 minor league season, yet he struggled in his first taste of Triple-A action.  The struggles continued into 2018 through Beede made his big league debut with two appearances for San Francisco, but some quality Triple-A work in 2019 didn’t translate to success in a longer look at a MLB level.  Beede then underwent a Tommy John surgery in 2020 that cost him the entirety of that season and a big chunk of 2021, and returning to good health didn’t help his results, as Beede had a 5.14 ERA over 61 1/3 innings for the Giants and Pirates in 2022.

With a 5.34 ERA to show for his 187 career innings in the majors, Beede headed to Japan for a fresh start, and posted a 3.99 ERA over 49 2/3 innings for the Tokyo-based Giants.  Working mostly as a reliever, Beede had a modest 16.36% strikeout rate over his 30 total appearances.

It was enough to get Cleveland’s attention for a minors deal, and the 30-year-old Beede will now get a chance to win a roster spot at the Guards’ spring camp.  There’s no risk to such a deal from the Guardians’ perspective, and the team’s longstanding track record of pitching development could perhaps unlock something to help Beede finally get on track as a consistent Major League pitcher.  Beede also has a personal connection with Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt, as the two were teammates in San Francisco in 2019.

If all goes well, Beede could provide depth for either the bullpen or rotation.  In the latter category, the Guardians have parted ways with both Cal Quantrill and Zach Plesac this winter, so some type of additional starting pitching would help Cleveland withstand injuries or any downturns from their young rotation core.

Giants Sign Tommy Romero To Minor League Deal

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The Giants have signed right-hander Tommy Romero to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client has been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento but could perhaps receive an invite to big league Spring Training.

Romero, 26, is not too far removed from being a notable prospect in the Rays system. In 2021, he tossed 110 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, with a combined 2.61 earned run average that year. He paired a 33.3% strikeout rate with a 7.1% walk rate. The Rays added him to their 40-man roster that November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft and Baseball America ranked him the #21 prospect in the organization going into 2022.

He was able to make his MLB debut in 2022, logging 8 1/3 innings over four appearances. He allowed 10 earned runs in that time, walking nine while striking out seven. He was claimed off waivers by the Nationals in August and one of those four appearances was with the Nats. He spent the rest of the year in Triple-A, between those two orgs, with a 3.24 ERA in 86 innings. His peripherals backed up a bit, with his strikeout rate falling to 20.2% and his walk rate ticking up to 9.6%.

The Nats non-tendered Romero at the end of 2022 and re-signed him to a minor league deal for 2023. He tossed 87 2/3 innings over 10 starts and 26 relief appearances last year with a 5.44 ERA. His 20.4% strikeout rate was somewhat similar to the year before but he gave out free passes at a huge 15.2% clip.

It obviously wasn’t his strongest season but he is still fairly young and was a well-regarded prospect in the recent past. For the Giants, there’s no risk in signing him to a minor league deal to get an up-close look at him. He has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career and the Giants have shown a strong willingness to abandon the distinction between those two jobs. Logan Webb, Alex Cobb and Kyle Harrison were the only hurlers on the club to be used exclusively in the rotation last year, as guys like Sean Manaea, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, Jakob Junis and others were moved back and forth between starting and relieving.

Manaea and DeSclafani are now on different clubs while Wood and Junis are free agents and Cobb is set to begin the year on the injured list due to hip surgery. Robbie Ray was recently acquired from the Mariners but is still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery and will also start the season on the IL. There’s little certainty in the Opening Day rotation beyond Webb. Stripling is still there but coming off a poor season. Harrison is still lacking in experience, as are guys like Tristan Beck and Keaton Winn. The club is going to give reliever Jordan Hicks a chance to start but it’s unclear if that will yield positive results. The bullpen has a solid foursome with Camilo Doval, Luke Jackson and the Rogers brothers but no one else with even one year of major league service time.

The club could still bolster that mix between now and Opening Day but there could be a path to logging some innings for depth guys. If Romero makes it onto the roster at any point this season, he has a couple of option years, allowing him to potentially provide the club with some roster flexibility.

Padres Sign Matt Festa To Minor League Deal

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The Padres announced their list of non-roster Spring Training invitees this evening. Among the acquisitions not previously covered at MLBTR: reliever Matt Festa and utility player Tyler Wade. San Diego also brought back catcher Chandler Seagle on a new minor league pact after he’d elected free agency.

According to Wade’s transaction log at MLB.com, he inked his deal back in November. The transaction eluded MLBTR at the time. The Marietta native sticks in California after spending the prior two seasons with the Angels and A’s. Wade tallied a career-high 163 plate appearances with the Halos two years ago but only got into 26 contests for Oakland.

Previously a utility player with the Yankees, Wade has appeared in seven MLB seasons. The speedy left-handed hitter owns a .217/.293/.300 batting line in just over 700 plate appearances. He’s coming off a solid .291/.384/.409 showing through 91 games with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate. Wade stole 42 bases in 51 attempts in the minors a year ago. He’s a versatile depth option who can cover either middle infield position or play anywhere in the outfield.

Festa signed with San Diego today, according to the transaction tracker. The 30-year-old righty (31 next month) had lingered in free agency since he was released by the Mariners last August. Festa was on the minor league injured list with an undisclosed malady at the time, explaining why he didn’t catch on with another team for the stretch run.

Injuries have been an issue for Festa, who lost a good portion of the 2020-21 seasons to Tommy John surgery. The former seventh-round draftee returned to the mound in Triple-A at the tail end of the ’21 campaign. He made Seattle’s roster the following year and logged a personal-high 54 innings. Festa worked to a 4.17 ERA behind a very strong 29.2% strikeout percentage, although he allowed an alarming 1.67 homers per nine innings.

Seattle only gave Festa eight MLB appearances last season. Before going on the IL, he’d pitched 28 times for the M’s top affiliate in Tacoma. His ERA there could hardly have been better. He allowed only two earned runs in 34 frames (0.53 per nine) for the Rainiers. Despite the nearly immaculate run prevention, his strikeout and walk profile was middling. Festa only fanned 21.9% of opponents while issuing free passes at an alarming 12.5% clip. An unsustainably low .114 batting average on balls in play against him was a big reason for the ERA being as impressive as it was.

Seagle, a 27-year-old depth catcher, has spent his entire career in the San Diego system. A 30th round pick in 2017, he’s a .204/.277/.287 hitter in more than 1000 minor league plate appearances. While he clearly isn’t going to provide much at the plate, the Padres seem happy enough with his defensive ability to keep him in the minors. San Diego called Seagle up for the final weekend of 2023 after losing Luis Campusano to injury. He got into a game and received one at-bat. The Padres placed him on waivers at the start of the offseason but brought him back last week in a non-roster capacity.

Dodgers Sign T.J. McFarland, Kevin Padlo To Minor League Contracts

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The Dodgers announced 20 non-roster invitations to big league Spring Training. While the majority of those players were either already in the L.A. organization or had been previously reported as minor league signees, a few of the invitees are new acquisitions. Reliever T.J. McFarland and infielder Kevin Padlo will be in camp, as will right-handers Kevin Gowdy and Michael Petersen.

McFarland, 34, has the most extended MLB track record. He has pitched in 353 big league contests going back to 2013. The soft-tossing lefty reached the majors for the 11th straight year last summer with a brief stint for the Mets. He was on New York’s roster for around two weeks in the middle of the summer. He pitched three times, logging 1 2/3 innings of two-run ball.

The veteran spent the rest of the year at the Triple-A level. McFarland had a very productive season between the top affiliates of the Mets and Orioles. He combined to log a 2.30 ERA across 62 2/3 innings. He fanned a quarter of batters faced and induced ground-balls on over 60% of batted balls at both stops. McFarland’s cumulative 10.5% walk percentage was a bit high, but the rest of his Triple-A numbers were quite strong.

He hasn’t had the same success against MLB hitters lately. While he managed a 2.56 ERA in 38 appearances for the Cardinals in 2021, he carries a 4.57 mark over the last five seasons. McFarland has posted a grounder rate nearing 60% over that stretch but has struck out fewer than 13% of his opponents.

Padlo, 27, is a right-handed hitting corner infielder. The former fifth-round draftee has seen scattered playing time at the MLB level, logging 26 games over the past three seasons. He has rather remarkably spread those appearances over five different times. Padlo has played for the Rays, Mariners, Giants, Pirates and Angels but didn’t get to 10 games with any of those clubs. He’ll look to don a sixth MLB uniform with the Dodgers.

Teams have been intrigued enough by Padlo’s solid Triple-A résumé to give him brief looks at the back of the roster. He hit .261/.384/.450 with 13 homers across 406 plate appearances for the Halos top farm team a year ago. That brings him to a .251/.348/.461 slash over parts of four Triple-A campaigns. Padlo has drawn walks at a lofty 12.3% clip in that time, although he’s also gone down on strikes at a 26.6% rate.

Neither Gowdy nor Petersen have big league experience. Gowdy, 26, is a former second-round pick of the Phillies. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers last winter and spent the year in relief at Double-A Tulsa. He worked to a 4.93 ERA over 38 1/3 innings, striking out 24.4% of opponents with an 11.9% walk rate. The Dodgers were intrigued enough with his arsenal to bring him back on a new minor league deal.

Petersen, who turns 30 in May, spent last year in the Colorado organization. The 6’7″ hurler split the year between the Rox’s top two affiliates. Working exclusively in relief, he pitched to a 3.46 ERA over 41 2/3 frames. Petersen struck out 26.3% of opponents but ran a concerning 13.4% walk rate. Petersen, who was born in the UK and suited up for the Great Britain national team, flashed a triple-digit fastball in last spring’s World Baseball Classic.

Cubs, Carl Edwards Jr. Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are bringing back free agent reliever Carl Edwards Jr. on a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). He’ll be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

Edwards returns to the organization with which he made his MLB debut in 2015. The former Rangers draftee was dealt to Chicago as a prospect in the 2013 deadline swap sending Matt Garza to Arlington. Edwards moved to the bullpen by the time he got to the big leagues.

The lanky right-hander opened his MLB career with a few solid seasons on the North Side. While he only made five appearances in 2015, he pitched to a 3.75 ERA over 36 outings the following year. Edwards collected a World Series ring as part of the curse-breaking championship club. He continued pitching well over the next couple seasons, posting a sub-3.00 ERA in consecutive years from 2017-18.

Edwards struggled early in the 2019 campaign. That kicked off a nomadic stretch of his career. Chicago dealt him to the Padres at the deadline. He landed with the Mariners briefly in 2020 and made cameos with the Braves and Blue Jays the next season. A minor league deal with the Nationals during the lockout set the stage for Edwards’ best work in a few years.

He made the MLB roster by the middle of May. He pitched well enough to hold that spot all season, eventually logging 62 innings with a 2.76 ERA. The Nats tendered him a $2.25MM contract for his last year of arbitration. He was reasonably effective when healthy but limited to 32 appearances. Edwards had worked to a 3.67 ERA across 31 2/3 frames despite a subpar 16.9% strikeout rate and an alarming 12% walk percentage. Those peripherals likely would’ve muted trade interest at the deadline regardless, but a late June diagnosis of shoulder inflammation took a trade firmly off the table.

Edwards would spend the rest of the season on the injured list. He attempted to rehab in August but was diagnosed with a stress fracture after feeling continued shoulder soreness. He surpassed six years of MLB service and hit free agency at season’s end.

With the injury cutting short his ’23 campaign, he’ll now have to work his way back to an MLB roster. His fastball velocity was down slightly last season. The heater sat at 93.5 MPH on average, a little below his typical 94-95 MPH range. It’s possible he regains an extra tick or two if he’s able to put the shoulder pain behind him.

The Cubs had a league average relief group in 2023. Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr. are locked into season-opening roles, while lefty Drew Smyly seems ticketed for long relief after struggling as a starter last year.

Chicago recently acquired the out-of-options Yency Almonte from the Dodgers, suggesting he’ll secure an Opening Day spot. Pending further acquisitions, that leaves two or three jobs up for grabs among the likes of José Cuas, Daniel Palencia, Keegan Thompson and swing types like Hayden Wesneski and Javier Assad. Edwards joins Colten Brewer as non-roster veterans in camp.

Rangers Designate Daniel Duarte For Assignment

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The Rangers announced they’ve designated righty Daniel Duarte for assignment. That move and this morning’s trade of J.P Martínez to the Braves clear the necessary 40-man roster spots for reliever David Robertson and outfielder Travis Jankowski, each of whom have officially signed one-year deals.

Texas acquired Duarte last week, sending cash to the Reds after Cincinnati had DFA him. His stay on the Rangers’ 40-man only lasted 10 days. Signing Robertson strengthened the relief corps, nudging Duarte off the roster bubble. As was the case when he was designated by the Reds, he’ll be traded or placed on waivers within a week.

Duarte, a 27-year-old righty, has pitched for Cincinnati in each of the past two seasons. He only made three appearances during his debut campaign but got into 31 contests last year. The 6’0″ hurler turned in a solid 3.69 ERA in 31 2/3 innings, but mediocre strikeout and walk numbers explain why he has found himself in DFA limbo twice. Duarte issued a free pass to nearly 15% of opposing batters while striking hitters out at a below-average 16.9% rate.

While he didn’t miss many bats, Duarte kept the ball on the ground on half the batted balls he allowed. He averaged a little above 94 MPH on his sinker and nearly 96 MPH when throwing a four-seam fastball. The grounder rate and decent velocity could again lead to a minor trade or waiver claim. Duarte has one option year remaining, so any team that acquires him would be able to keep him in Triple-A for another season.

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