A’s, Hoy Park Agree To Minor League Deal
The A’s have agreed to a minor league contract with utility player Hoy Park, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He’d reached minor league free agency at season’s end.
Park spent the entire 2023 campaign with the Braves’ Triple-A team in Gwinnett. Atlanta had run him through outright waivers last offseason. The 27-year-old had a decent season, hitting .262/.385/.379 through 389 plate appearances. Park drew walks in a huge 15.4% of his trips against an average 22.1% strikeout rate. He stole 16 bases in 18 attempts while hitting six home runs.
The lefty-hitting Park has a solid minor league track record. He has ridden a patient plate approach to a .258/.385/.402 batting line in just over 1000 Triple-A plate appearances. Park hasn’t carried that over against big league pitching, hitting .201/.291/.346 in 68 games between 2021-22. Virtually all of that playing time came with the Pirates, but Park has also spent time in the Yankees, Red Sox and Braves organizations.
Park has played mostly second or third base during his limited big league action. He has experience at shortstop and spent the bulk of his time in Gwinnett in right field. While Park doesn’t have a ton of power, his plate discipline and defensive versatility give him a shot to compete for a bench role in Spring Training.
Tigers Sign Ryan Vilade To Minor League Deal
The Tigers have signed infielder/outfielder Ryan Vilade to a minor league contract, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training, per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
Vilade, 25 in February, spent 2023 with the Pirates mostly in a non-roster capacity. He was claimed off waivers from the Rockies in the offseason but was designated for assignment on Opening Day, passing through waivers and sticking with the Bucs at Triple-A. He played 122 games at that level, striking out in 24.9% of his plate appearances but also walking at a 12.5% clip. He only hit six home runs on the year, leading to a batting line of .270/.370/.382 and wRC+ of 96.
He brings plenty of defensive versatility to the table, as he spent some time at first base, third base and all three outfield positions this year. He’s played some shortstop in the past, though not since 2019. He was limited to seven stolen bases in 2023, but he was in double digits in each previous year in which minor league games were played going back to 2018. He has three games of MLB experience, which came with the Rockies in 2021.
The Tigers already have plenty of outfielders, with Parker Meadows, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Mark Canha and Akil Baddoo looking to split the playing time on the grass and perhaps in the designated hitter spot. Spencer Torkelson seems entrenched at first base but the hot corner is a bit more open. Matt Vierling is likely the favorite at that spot for now, though he hasn’t really done anything to lock the job down as he was around league average offensively and defensively in 2023. Andy Ibañez, Tyler Nevin, Nick Maton and Andre Lipcius are also on the roster and in the mix. Prospect Colt Keith could be the third baseman of the future but he’s also been getting some second base work lately. Justyn-Henry Malloy is also an attractive third base prospect, though he plays the outfield corners as well.
Vilade will give the club a bit more depth at that spot in a non-roster capacity, with the ability to pivot to other spots if injuries open up holes elsewhere. He is still quite young, has a couple of options and less than a year of service time, meaning he could be a long-term depth option for the club if he earns his way onto the roster.
Diamondbacks Sign José Castillo To Minor League Deal
The Diamondbacks have signed left-hander José Castillo to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training, reports Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors. The lefty is repped by the OL Baseball Group.
Castillo, 28 in January, has spent most of his career with the Padres. He had an encouraging debut season for that club back in 2018, making 37 relief appearances as a 22-year-old with a 3.29 earned run average. He struck out 34.7% of batters he faced while giving out walks at just an 8% clip.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build off that, having been injured for most of the past five years. He was limited to just one big league appearance in 2019 due to a torn ligament in his hand. He missed the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign due to a lat strain and then Tommy John surgery kept him out of action for all of 2021 and most of 2022.
He started 2023 on the IL due to a shoulder strain and eventually spent most of the season in the minors, making just one big league appearance. He was struggling badly in Triple-A as well, with an ERA of 9.82 in 22 appearances at that level when he was designated for assignment in July. He was then flipped to the Marlins for cash and made 14 more Triple-A appearances with a 5.59 ERA. He was passed through waivers in August and didn’t get his roster spot back by season’s end, leading to him hitting the open market.
For the Diamondbacks, there’s no harm in taking a flier on Castillo to see if he can finally get healthy and in a good groove. Despite their World Series run, pitching was a relative weakness for them in 2023, with a collective 4.48 ERA for the staff. Castillo is now out of options but he has just over four years of service time, meaning he could be retained beyond 2024 via arbitration if he is able to get back to that 2018 form.
Marlins Claim Ryan Jensen
The Marlins have claimed righty Ryan Jensen off waivers from the Mariners, the team announced. Seattle designated him for assignment last week after acquiring Seby Zavala and Carlos Vargas from the D-backs in the trade sending Eugenio Suarez to Arizona. Miami’s 40-man roster now has 38 players.
Jensen, 26, was the No. 27 overall pick by the Cubs back in 2019 but hasn’t made his big league debut. Command issues have plagued him throughout his minor league tenure, and the Cubs placed him on waivers shortly after the trade deadline, surely hopeful of sneaking him through in order to retain him without committing a 40-man roster spot. That didn’t happen, as Seattle scooped him up for what will go down as a brief tenure.
This past season, Jensen split the year between Double-A and Triple-A, working to a combined 5.32 earned run average in 64 1/3 innings of work. He operated primarily out of the bullpen, his first season doing so after spending the first few years of his career as a starting pitcher.
In parts of four minor league seasons, Jensen has a 4.42 ERA with a solid 26% strikeout rate but an untenable 14.5% walk rate. His strike-throwing struggles have only mounted as he’s climbed the minor league ladder. Like many prospects, Jensen was surely impacted adversely by the canceled 2020 minor league season, but his command troubles were present even before that lost season; Jensen walked more than 10% of his college opponents and issued 14 free passes in 12 innings of Low-A ball in 2019 following that draft selection.
Jensen has a mid-90s heater, plus ground-ball rates, above-average strikeout rates and a pair of minor league options remaining, so it’s not a surprise to see clubs continue to take a flier on him. He’s a former first-round pick who’s drawn plenty of praise for his athleticism, but he’s a clear project for the Marlins rather than someone on whom they’ll be relying to fill a key role next season. Miami has space on the roster for now, but once they fill the 40-man, Jensen is the type of fringe 40-man name who could again find himself in DFA jeopardy if the Fish feel they need to free up some more space.
Dodgers To Re-Sign Jason Heyward
11:14am: It’s a one-year, $9MM deal for Heyward, McDaniel now adds. Terms have been agreed upon, but the arrangement is still pending the completion of a physical.
11:03am: The Dodgers are nearing a deal to re-sign free agent outfielder Jason Heyward, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. It’ll be a one-year for the Excel Sports client if and when it’s finalized.
After a largely underwhelming seven-year run with the Cubs, Heyward signed with the Dodgers and had a bounceback season at the plate, turning in a strong .269/.340/.473 batting line with 15 home runs and 23 doubles in 377 trips to the plate. Last years’ 17% strikeout rate was his lowest since 2018, while his 9% walk rate was his best mark since the shortened 2020 campaign. Some of those improvements stemmed from being shielded almost entirely from left-handed pitching — just 7.4% of his plate appearances came against lefties — but Heyward also showed dramatic improvement against right-handed pitching as well.
Beyond his strong year at the plate, Heyward continued to rate as an above-average defender in the outfield. Los Angeles gave him the vast majority of his work in right field, but Heyward also logged 120 innings in center field and the first 25 innings of his career in left field. On the whole, Defensive Runs Saved (+3) and Outs Above Average (+6) felt he was a strong defensive presence in his 769 frames of work.
That steady glovework from Heyward also freed the Dodgers to get creative with perennial MVP candidate Mookie Betts, who not only logged time at second base but also spent considerable time at the shortstop position for the first time in his career. Lack of experience notwithstanding, Betts proved an apt defender at both positions, giving manager Dave Roberts significant flexibility in filling out the lineup card without needing to sacrifice substantially on the defensive side of things.
Heyward’s return could once again free Betts to log significant time in the infield — particularly against right-handed pitching. Against southpaws, Betts can return to his more customary right field. Other names in L.A.’s outfield mix include center fielder James Outman, utilityman/left fielder Chris Taylor and top prospect Andy Pages, who might’ve debuted in 2023 had shoulder surgery not cut his season short. Pages is expected to be ready for spring training, the Dodgers announced at the time of his June surgery, but Heyward’s return takes some pressure off him as he ramps back up from that procedure. And, if Pages ultimately pushes his way onto the big league roster, his right-handed bat will give Roberts a natural complement to lefties like Heyward and Outman.
It’s possible the Dodgers will bring in additional outfield help — they’ve been tied to Teoscar Hernandez, most notably — but starting pitching has been the primary focus for president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, GM Brandon Gomes and the rest of the front office thus far. In addition to their widely expected pursuit of Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers have been connected to free agents like Blake Snell and the now off-the-market Aaron Nola, in addition to trade candidate Dylan Cease.
From a payroll perspective, Heyward’s straight $9MM deal brings the Dodgers up to about $150MM in projected spending, per Roster Resource. They’re well shy of the $237MM luxury tax threshold at this point, sitting between $167-168MM (using MLBTR’s projected 2024 arbitration salaries). That could leave them with as much around $70MM before they reach luxury tax status — though paying the CBT has not historically been a concern for the deep-pocketed Dodgers.
With Heyward on a one-year commitment and other veterans such as Blake Treinen, Miguel Rojas and Austin Barnes potentially coming off the books at the end of the 2024 season, the Dodgers have under $100MM of luxury-tax obligations on the books beyond the 2024 campaign. Bringing back Heyward on this contract maintains much of that enormous long-term flexibility in an offseason where the market features several candidates for weighty long-term deals (Ohtani, Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto among them).
Phillies, Jose Ruiz Agree To Minor League Deal
The Phillies and right-handed reliever Jose Ruiz have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors. He’ll be invited to major league spring training this year and compete for a spot on the roster. Ruiz is repped by the OL Baseball Group.
Ruiz, 29, split the 2023 season between the White Sox — for whom he pitched from 2018-23 — and the D-backs, who acquired him for cash in April after Chicago designated the hard-throwing righty for assignment. He was rocked during the season’s first week in Chicago, yielding nine runs in just 3 2/3 innings, but Ruiz pitched decently with Arizona for much of the season.
In 40 2/3 frames with the eventual NL champions, Ruiz logged a 4.43 ERA with a 19.8% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 42.4% ground-ball rate. He averaged 96.6 mph on his heater along the way and notched a healthy 12.5% swinging-strike rate against a roughly average 31.5% chase rate on pitches off the plate. He also managed hard contact fairly well in Arizona, with better-than-average marks in exit velocity (88.5 mph) and hard-hit rate (34.4%).
Command was an issue for Ruiz throughout the year, as it has been more often than not in his career. While the 9.3% walk rate he posted with the Snakes was better than his ugly 10.9% career mark, it’s also still higher than the league-wide 8.6%. Beyond that, Ruiz’s command within the zone was lacking, which contributed to the hefty 1.55 home runs he allowed for every nine innings pitched this season.
The D-backs could’ve retained Ruiz through arbitration by adding him back to the 40-man roster, but they instead opted to let him become a free agent, which led the Phillies to pick him up on what amounts to a no-risk commitment. If he’s able to round back into form, he could be controlled for as many as three more seasons. Ruiz’s 2022-23 campaigns don’t stand out, but as recently as 2021 he racked up 65 innings of 3.05 ERA ball over 59 appearances with the ChiSox, striking out 23.2% of his opponents against a more palatable 9.2% walk rate.
Ruiz is out of minor league options, so if the Phillies do add him to the roster at some point, they won’t be able to send him down without first passing him through outright waivers.
Giants Re-Sign Cole Waites To Minor League Contract
The Giants have brought back Cole Waites on a minor league contract, according to the team’s official transactions page. Waites was non-tendered last week, and the new minor league pact means that the Giants won’t need to use a 40-man roster spot on the 25-year-old righty.
Waites had Tommy John surgery in mid-September, making it all but certain he’ll miss the 2024 season unless he can complete rehab in time for an inning or two right at the end of the regular-season schedule. The transactions page didn’t indicate that Waites’ deal is anything more than a standard one-year minors contract, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it was a two-year deal or if the Giants signed him to another type of extension at some point in 2024 once they get a better read on how his rehab is progressing.
An 18th-round pick for the Giants in the 2019 draft, Waites has appeared in the big leagues in each of the last two seasons, totaling eight innings over 10 games and a 6.75 ERA with six walks and strikeouts apiece. Waites fits the clasic profile of the hard-throwing but wild reliever, with a 15.32% walk rate over his 103 career minor league innings but also a fastball that routinely hits the upper-90s (and can reach 100mph). When Waites has been able to find the plate, he has been deadly — he has a 37.61% strikeout rate against minor league hitters.
The potential is obvious if Waites can pair that heater with even average control, though his injury history now adds another obstacle to his future. Waites also missed a big chunk of the 2021 season due to knee surgery, and between his injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, he has played in only 102 games (and thrown 103 innings) as a professional.
Angels Sign Adam Kolarek
The Angels announced (via their X feed) that they have signed left-hander Adam Kolarek to a one-year contract worth $900K. Kolarek elected to become a free agent after finishing the season in the Braves’ minor league system.
While $900K isn’t much by MLB standards, it is somewhat surprising that Kolarek landed a guaranteed deal at all given his shaky results and even a lack of overall big league playing time over the last three seasons. That said, the Angels were thin on left-handed relief pitching, so locking in Kolarek provides one initial step over what might be a wider-scale revamp of a bullpen that struggled badly last season.
Since Opening Day 2021, Kolarek (who turns 35 in January) has thrown 32 2/3 innings over 32 appearances with the A’s, Dodgers, and Mets, with a 4.58 ERA. Most of those struggles were contained to his 2021-22 seasons in Oakland, but even when posting better results in 2023, Kolarek still found himself as a sudden journeyman.
Kolarek signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers last winter and was designated for assignment after just a lone MLB appearance with the team in June. He chose to remain with the organization after being outrighted off the 40-man roster, and was then dealt to the Mets at the deadline and tossed 4 2/3 innings in a New York uniform. Another DFA soon followed, and this time Kolarek did elect free agency rather than accepting another outright assignment, and he then landed with the Braves on a minors deal without seeing any time on the Major League roster in September.
As noted, Kolarek did show flickers of a turnaround in 2023. He didn’t allow any runs (and only two hits and walk) over his six total MLB innings last year, and he had a 3.80 ERA in 42 2/3 frames at the Triple-A level. That minor league ERA comes with the significant red flag of a 16.13% walk rate, as the control problems that hampered Kolarek in 2021-22 continued to be a problem.
The walks have crept up on Kolarek at earlier stages of his career, yet he got things under control during his prime years of 2018-20. The lefty posted a 3.07 ERA in 108 1/3 innings for the Rays and Dodgers during those years, highlighted a World Series ring with Los Angeles in 2020.
While his results have been inconsistent, the one constant throughout Kolarek’s career has been his ability to induce ground balls. Since the start of the 2017 season, only five pitchers with more than 140 innings pitched have a higher grounder rate than Kolarek’s elite 63.9% total.
Reds Sign Reiver Sanmartin, Alex Blandino To Minor League Deals
The Reds signed left-hander Reiver Sanmartin and infielder Alex Blandino to minor league deals within the last week, according to Cincinnati’s official transactions page. Sanmartin was assigned to Triple-A Louisville, while Blandino was assigned to Double-A Chattanooga.
Sanmartin was cut loose by the Reds just prior to the non-tender deadline, and he’ll now return to the team while no longer part of the 40-man roster. It doesn’t seem like he’ll be available for most or even all of the 2024 season after undergoing UCL surgery back in July, if that surgery was indeed a standard Tommy John procedure. However, Sanmartin’s prognosis improves if he underwent an internal brace procedure, which carries a more fluid but perhaps significantly shorter recovery timeline depending of the nature of the injury. Should Sanmartin fall within that 6-9 month range for a brace surgery, he might be ready to go for the start of Spring Training.
There wasn’t any mention whether or not Sanmartin’s minor league deal was for one or two years, as the longer deal would’ve hinted at a longer recovery. Such two-year pacts at either the minor league or Major League levels aren’t uncommon for pitchers recovering from major arm surgeries, as teams get to lock up a player with the acknowledgement that they’ll miss most or all of that first year. Just earlier today, the Red Sox inked a two-year minor league pact with Wyatt Mills, who had TJ surgery last July.
Sanmartin came to the Reds from the Yankees as part of the Sonny Gray trade in January 2019. Making his MLB debut in 2021 and then appearing for Cincinnati in each of the last three seasons, Sanmartin has a 5.77 ERA over 82 2/3 innings in the Show, working primarily as a reliever. With underwhelming walk and strikeout rates, Sanmartin’s 53.5% groundball rate is a highlight, though batters have been fortunate with a .339 BABIP against Sanmartin’s grounder-heavy approach. The 27-year-old southpaw has had better strikeout and control numbers down on the farm, en route to a 3.39 ERA over 446 career minor league innings.
Blandino is another former Red, as he was selected 29th overall by the team in the 2014 draft and then played all three of his MLB seasons (2018-21) in Cincinnati. However, a torn ACL and other injuries hampered his time in the big leagues, as Blandino had a penchant for drawing walks but not much else over the course of a .226/.339/.291 slash line in 279 plate appearances. After the Reds outrighted Blandino following the 2021 season, he spent some time in the minors with the Giants and Mariners, and his only pro experience in 2023 was playing with Team Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic.
The 31-year-old Blandino has a lot of experience at both middle infield positions and at third base, plus a handful of appearances as a first baseman, corner outfielder, and even four mop-up pitching appearances in blowouts during the 2021 campaign. This versatility makes him a useful depth option to have on hand in the minors, especially since the Reds’ influx of young star prospects coming to the majors has thinned out the position-player ranks in their farm system.
Tigers Re-Sign Garrett Hill
The Tigers and right-hander Garrett Hill have reunited, as Hill’s MLB.com profile page indicates that he signed a new minor league deal earlier this week. It’s a quick reunion for the two sides, as the Tigers just non-tendered Hill last week to open up some space on their 40-man roster.
A 26th-round pick for Detroit in the 2018 draft, Hill made his MLB debut in 2022 on the fourth of July and started his first eight Major League games before moving into the bullpen. The result was a respectable 4.03 ERA over 60 1/3 innings, even if a .247 BABIP helped cover up for some uninspiring secondary numbers. Hill’s fortune turned last season, as he was tagged for a 9.19 ERA over 15 2/3 relief innings in the majors and even a 6.02 ERA in 46 1/3 frames for Triple-A Toledo. While Hill’s control had only been decent earlier in his career, walks became an increasingly big problem in 2023, with a 14.3% walk rate over his time in Toledo.
Hill also spent little over a month on the Triple-A injured list, so it was a tough year all around for the righty. He’ll look for a fresh start in his age-28 season, and it makes sense why the Tigers would want to keep Hill in the fold. Beyond his swingman potential, Hill has consistently missed a lot of bats over his minor league career — even amidst his struggles, Hill still posted a 28.7% strikeout rate at Triple-A in 2023. That strikeout potential has yet to translate at the big league level, but there’s no risk for Detroit in bringing him back for another look on a minors contract.