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Twins, Parker Bugg Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed reliever Parker Bugg to a minor league contract, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. He’d reached minor league free agency at the end of last season following seven years in the Marlins’ system.

Bugg, an LSU product, entered the professional ranks as a 27th-round draftee in 2016. Despite that modest draft profile, he worked his way up to Triple-A by the 2019 campaign. Bugg spent a few seasons at the top minor league levels and earned his first big league call from Miami last August. He had split the season between Double-A Pensacola and Triple-A Jacksonville, working to a 2.39 ERA across 37 2/3 combined innings at the time of his promotion. Bugg stayed on the active roster for a couple days but didn’t make it into a game before being designated for assignment and outrighted off the roster.

Upon clearing waivers, he finished the season with the Jumbo Shrimp. Bugg wrapped up his year with a solid 3.18 ERA through 39 2/3 frames of relief in Triple-A. He struck out a solid 25.9% of batters faced but walked hitters at an elevated 12% clip. All told, he owns a 4.18 ERA with a 27.4% strikeout percentage and 10.3% walk rate through 306 professional innings.

Bugg figures to open the 2023 campaign with Triple-A St. Paul. He’ll be on hand as a depth option for a Minnesota bullpen that was in the league’s middle third in both ERA and strikeout rate last season. Danny Coulombe, Oliver Ortega, Patrick Murphy and Locke St. John are among the other non-roster bullpen options who’ll be at the upper levels of the minors for the Twins’ front office.

Mets Claim Sam Coonrod, Designate Khalil Lee

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The Mets announced that they have claimed right-hander Sam Coonrod off waivers from the Phillies. The righty had been designated for assignment by the Phils last week to create room on their roster for infielder Josh Harrison. To create space on the roster for Coonrod, outfielder Khalil Lee has been designated for assignment.

Coonrod, 30, posted a 5.74 ERA with the Giants in 2019 and 2020 but had a nice breakout in 2021 after getting traded to the Phillies. He threw 42 1/3 innings that year with a 4.04 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 57.1% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep the momentum of that season going into 2022, getting shut down in Spring Training with a shoulder strain. He eventually returned but posted a 7.82 ERA over 12 appearances down the stretch.

For the Mets, they will be taking a shot on a bounceback from the righty, with reasons to believe that’s possible. There was surely some ill fortune at play in his rough results last year, as his 48.5% strand rate was well below the 72.6% league average. ERA estimators like FIP and SIERA had his work graded much lower, coming in at 4.61 and 4.41, respectively. His fastball velocity could also tick up now that he’s further removed from his injury, since it was at 97 mph last year after being between 98 and 99 in the previous two years.

Coonrod has an option and won’t even need to be guaranteed an active roster spot, allowing him to serve as depth in the minors until needed on the big league club. The club’s bullpen chart is topped by Edwin Díaz, Adam Ottavino, David Robertson and Brooks Raley, while Coonrod will be trying to earn a spot further down against guys like Drew Smith, John Curtiss, Stephen Nogosek and others.

Lee, 25 in June, has served as an optionable depth outfielder for the club recently, getting into 13 MLB games in the past two seasons. He spent most of last year at Triple-A, hitting .211/.326/.366 for a wRC+ of 89 in 100 games. Last week, it was reported that he’s under investigation by Major League Baseball under the league’s domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. His ex-girlfriend filed a federal lawsuit that alleges that Lee assaulted her physically and verbally in May of last year.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reported the transactions prior to the official announcements.

Nationals, Victor Robles Avoid Arbitration

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5:20pm: The Associated Press reports that Robles will make $2.325MM this year with next year’s club option valued at $3.3MM. There’s no buyout on the option.

1:30pm: The Nationals announced that they have avoided arbitration with Victor Robles by agreeing to a one-year contract for 2023 plus a club option for 2024. The financial terms were not disclosed, but this will give the club cost certainty for the second of his three arbitration years and an option for his third. This deal won’t alter the club’s length of control over his services. Even if they were to turn down the option for 2024, they could still retain Robles by going through the arbitration process again next offseason.

Robles, 26 in May, was once one of the top prospects in the league, with Baseball America ranking him as high as #5 in 2018. He got his first extended stretch of major league playing time in 2019, hitting 17 home runs on the way to a .255/.326/.419 batting line. Since that was the “juiced ball” season where offense was up all around the league, that production actually led to a wRC+ of just 92, indicating he was 8% below league average at the plate. Nonetheless, he stole 28 bases and was given strong grades for his glovework, leading to a tally of 3.5 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs.

That was just his age-22 season and it seemed fair to expect even better days ahead. Unfortunately, his offense has taken a big step backward since that time. In the past three seasons, Robles has hit just .216/.291/.306 for a wRC+ of 66. He has still been graded well in the field and swiped 27 bags in that time, but the lack of offense has subtracted any value created in other areas, with FanGraphs ranking his work in that stretch as exactly replacement level.

Robles qualified for arbitration for the first time a year ago and earned a salary of $1.65MM in 2022. For his second trip through the process, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Robles for a raise to $2.5MM. He and the club didn’t agree to a 2023 salary prior to the filing deadline in January, with Robles submitting a $2.6MM figure and the club at $2.3MM. Instead of going to a hearing for that small gap, they have now agreed to a deal, though the details still haven’t emerged.

The Nats have leaned hard into a rebuild over the past couple of seasons, trading away just about every established player of value, including Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Juan Soto and more. Robles has stuck around, likely because his extended run of poor performance has burned up any trade value he once had. But for the Nats, there’s little harm in continuing to run him out there and hoping for a bounceback.

Robles could potentially be the club’s everyday center fielder this year, though it remains to be seen how much leeway he’ll get if his offense doesn’t improve. Lane Thomas will likely be next to him in a corner role but has the potential to play up the middle. Other options for the outfield spots include Corey Dickerson, Joey Meneses, Alex Call and Stone Garrett. This deal now closes the book on the club’s arbitration class, as Robles was the last one without a deal worked out for this season.

Marlins Sign Johan Quezada To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins have signed reliever Johan Quezada to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The right-hander will presumably receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.

Quezada, 28, began his professional career in the Twins organization in 2013 after signing as an international amateur. By the end of 2019, he had yet to reach Double-A or rack up significant innings, thanks largely to injuries. He reached minor league free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Marlins going into 2020. The Fish selected him to the big league roster in September and let him toss three innings over three appearances, allowing three earned runs in that time.

He then went to the Phillies on a waiver claim in the offseason but was traded to the Cardinals before the 2021 season kicked off. Injuries limited him to just 24 minor league innings that year and a 6.38 ERA. In March of 2022, he was designated for assignment to create room on the roster for Albert Pujols but cleared waivers and stayed in the organization. He tossed 59 2/3 innings in the minors last year with a 4.83 ERA, 26.6% strikeout rate and 13.9% walk rate. His .386 batting average on balls in play and 65.1% strand rate were both on the unfortunate side of average, perhaps indicating he deserved better, with his FIP coming in at 3.88 on the year.

This deal will return Quezada to the only club that he’s pitched for at the major league level. His continued health issues have seemingly hampered his progress at times, but there are intriguing elements to his profile. He’s listed at 6’9″ and 255 lbs, bringing an unusual arm plane for hitters to deal with. It also comes with some power behind it, as Quezada averaged 97 mph on his fastball during his brief MLB showing back in 2020.

The Miami bullpen will likely consist of Dylan Floro, Matt Barnes, Tanner Scott, Steven Okert, JT Chargois, Tommy Nance, Andrew Nardi, Huascar Brazobán and Rule 5 draftee Nic Enright. There are various depth options on the 40-man roster such as Sean Reynolds, Eli Villalobos, Josh Simpson and George Soriano, though they were all just added prior to the most recent Rule 5 and have no major league experience yet.

If Quezada can crack Miami’s roster at any point, he still has a couple of option years remaining and just a few weeks of MLB service time. That means he could potentially serve as an affordable and optionable depth arm for the foreseeable future.

Giants Sign Sean Newcomb To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced their invitees to Major League Spring Training on Monday, revealing within that they’ve inked left-hander Sean Newcomb to a minor league pact.

It’ll be the third organization in the past calendar year for Newcomb, a former top prospect who was the centerpiece of the Braves’ return for Andrelton Simmons back in Nov. 2015. Newcomb spent the 2016-22 seasons in the Braves organization, getting several looks at the MLB level but never replicating the promise he showed early in his career, when he logged a 3.87 ERA through his first 332 1/3 big league innings (2017-19). Command was an issue even then, and the Braves moved Newcomb to the bullpen in 2019, but it was nonetheless a promising start to Newcomb’s time in the Majors.

The following three seasons proved difficult, to say the least. Newcomb pitched to a 6.71 ERA across 51 innings with the Braves from 2020-22, walking 37 of the 246 batters he faced in that time (15%) and plunking another five. With Newcomb unable to be sent to Triple-A due to his lack of remaining minor league options, the Braves designated him for assignment and flipped him to the Cubs in exchange for veteran Jesse Chavez. Chicago surely hoped to be able to unlock something in Newcomb, who’s controllable through the end of the 2024 campaign, but the trade didn’t work out at all as they’d hoped.

To the contrary, Newcomb was tagged for 23 earned runs in 22 2/3 innings with the Cubs. He walked 13.8% of his opponents there as well, an ugly rate that was compounded by a sudden susceptibility to home runs at a previously unseen rate. Newcomb yielded a jarring seven home runs with the Cubs despite facing just 108 hitters; his 2.78 HR/9 mark with the Cubs ranked among the highest of any pitcher to throw at least 20 innings in 2022. Chavez, meanwhile, was highly effective in a reunion tour with the Braves, pitching to a 2.72 ERA with plus strikeout and walk rates in 53 frames.

For all Newcomb’s struggles, he still carries a career 3.12 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate in the minors, including a 2.72 ERA and 31% strikeout rate in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Walks have always been an issue, but Newcomb is still 29 years old, misses bats in bunches and has plenty of success in the upper minors. The Giants have developed a reputation for rehabilitating pitchers and revitalizing their careers, and Newcomb will hope to add his name to a growing list of San Francisco success stories.

Royals Re-Sign Zack Greinke

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FEBRUARY 6: Heyman today provided more specifics of the incentives on Twitter. Greinke will get that $8.5MM guarantee, then $450K for getting to 90 innings pitched and every five innings thereafter up until 135. At 140 innings pitched, he gets a further $300K and keeps adding that amount at each five-inning interval until 185.

FEBRUARY 3: The Royals officially announced Greinke’s new deal.  According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link), Greinke will earn $8.5MM in guaranteed money, with up to $7.5MM more available in incentives.

JANUARY 30: The Royals have reached agreement on a one-year contract to bring back veteran starter Zack Greinke, according to Bob Fescoe of 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand hears that the deal will be worth $8-10MM in base salary, plus performance-based bonuses. Greinke is a client of Excel Sports Management.

Greinke began his professional career with the Royals way back in 2002 as the No. 6 overall pick in that year’s MLB Draft. He made his big league debut in KC in 2004 and spent his first seven seasons there, highlighted by an AL Cy Young Award win in 2009. Following successful stints with the Brewers, Angels, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Astros between 2011-2021, the eccentric right-hander returned to his old stomping grounds in 2022 and worked to a 3.68 ERA in 26 starts covering 137 innings.

His paltry 4.8 K/9 last year was a career-low and ranked as the worst K/9 of all 90 major league pitchers who logged at least 130 innings over the course of the 2022 regular season. But the 39-year-old showed terrific control (1.8 BB/9) and was generally able to induce more soft contact than hard contact to help pave over his diminished swing-and-miss stuff. Among the 585 total batters he faced during the 2022 campaign, Greinke surrendered only 14 home runs. That worked out to a 0.92 HR/9, putting him right around rising studs like Nestor Cortes, Logan Gilbert, Ranger Suarez and George Kirby.

Greinke can hopefully again serve as an innings-eater and clubhouse mentor for a Royals rotation that has undergone a few offseason changes but will still be relying on a lot of youth pushing forward. Brady Singer, 26, stands out as somebody who made significant gains in 2022, perhaps thanks in part to Greinke’s tutelage. Brad Keller, 27, and Daniel Lynch, 27, could use a similar type of molding.

Greinke figures to be named the Opening Day starter for the Royals in 2023, as he was last year. Singer and Keller project to fall in somewhere behind him, along with newcomers Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough. Kansas City finished 27th among all 30 teams in combined starter ERA (4.76) in 2022, despite Greinke’s contributions and Singer’s mini-breakout. KC’s combined starter K/9 of 6.9 ranked 28th.

Giants, Stephen Piscotty Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Giants are in agreement on a minor league contract with free-agent outfielder Stephen Piscotty, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The CAA client will be in big league camp this spring and would earn a $1MM base salary upon making the roster.

It’s a return to the Bay Area for the Pleasanton native, who’s spent the past five seasons in an A’s uniform. Piscotty’s first season in Oakland resulted in a terrific .267/.331/.491 batting line and 27 home runs, but he’s batted just .229/.287/.378 in four seasons since that time, tallying 891 plate appearances along the way.

Originally selected by the Cardinals with the No. 36 pick in the 2012 draft, Piscotty debuted with a flourish, hitting .282/.348/.468 with 29 long balls across 216 games in his first two big league seasons. The Cardinals signed him to a six-year, $33.5MM extension in April 2017, but the majority of the deal was played out in Oakland. Following the 2017 campaign, the A’s and Cardinals worked out a trade sending Yairo Munoz and Max Schrock to St. Louis and sending Piscotty to Oakland. The trade was largely driven by a desire to allow Piscotty to play closer to home, where he could be with his ailing mother as she battled ALS before sadly passing away in 2018.

Now back in the Bay Area, Piscotty will look to get back to his 2015-18 form and reestablish himself as a quality big league outfielder. The Giants signed both Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto this winter, though both have had their recent careers beset by injuries. San Francisco also has Joc Pederson back after accepting his qualifying offer and will see Mike Yastrzemski reprise his role in center field. Other outfield options on the 40-man roster include Austin Slater, Luis Gonzalez and prospect Heliot Ramos.

Twins Sign Locke St. John To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed left-hander Locke St. John to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll presumably receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.

St. John, 30, has eight major league games on his track record thus far, with seven of those coming with the 2019 Rangers. He posted a 5.40 for Texas that year in a small sample size, getting outrighted off the roster in September. In 2021, he signed a minor league deal with the Tigers and had a strong season, though never got called up to the big leagues. He tossed 59 1/3 innings for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens with a 2.58 ERA, striking out 29.2% of opponents and walking 9.7%.

2022 was a less of a success for St. John, however. He began the year on a minor league deal with the Cubs, eventually getting selected to the big league roster. He made one appearance for the Cubs but allowed three earned runs in two innings of work. He was claimed off waivers by the Mets but they kept him in the minors and later outrighted him. Between the two organizations, he threw 49 Triple-A innings with a 5.88 ERA, striking out just 18.7% of hitters while giving free passes at a 12.6% clip.

Despite that down season, the Twins will give him a shot to see if he can get back to the solid form he showed in 2021. The Twins have a couple of lefties likely to be in their bullpen in Caleb Thielbar and Jovani Moran but the only other southpaw on the 40-man is starter Brent Headrick. St. John will give the club another non-roster option in that department, alongside Danny Coulombe and various other depth arms. If St. John can earn his way onto the roster, he still has a couple of option seasons and less than a year of MLB service time.

Yankees Sign Ian Hamilton To Minor League Deal

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The Yankees have signed right-hander Ian Hamilton to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Hamilton will presumably be invited to participate in major league Spring Training.

Hamilton, 28 in June, has 15 scattered major league appearances, with 10 of those coming in 2018, four in 2020 and one last year. He has a 4.91 ERA over 14 2/3 innings in that time, striking out 14.1% of hitters while walking 12.5% of them and posting a 39.1% ground ball rate.

Last year, he was in the Twins’ system but not on the 40-man roster. He was briefly added to the big league club as a COVID substitute, making a single appearance of 2 2/3 innings. He made 23 appearances for the Triple-A St. Paul Saints, posting a 1.88 ERA with a 32.1% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate. He was then traded to the Guardians for catcher Sandy León, but the switch seemed to throw him off his rhythm. He posted a 6.27 ERA in 15 appearances after the deal with his walk rate jumping up to 13.1%, though he still got strikeouts at a 28.6% rate and kept 50% of balls in play on the ground.

Between the two organizations, Hamilton posted a 3.61 ERA in 47 1/3 Triple-A innings while striking out 30.6% of batters faced and getting grounders on more than half of balls in play. His 9.7% combined walk rate was a bit high, but it was still a solid showing and the Yankees are intrigued enough to give him a closer look. The club has lost some bullpen pieces this winter, with Chad Green, Aroldis Chapman and Miguel Castro having signed elsewhere, while Zack Britton is still a free agent. The most significant addition to the Yankee bullpen so far has been the signing of Tommy Kahnle, but Hamilton will provide some non-roster depth and try to earn his way into the club’s plans. If he can succeed in that regard, he still has an option season remaining and comes with plenty of club control since he’s yet to cross the one-year service time mark.

Reds Sign Nick Plummer, Nick Martini To Minors Contracts

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The Reds have signed Nick Plummer and Nick Martini to minor league deals, according to the team’s MLB.com transactions page.  Neither player was on the Reds’ initial list of non-roster players at Spring Training, though it is possible either player has received an invite to Cincinnati’s big league spring camp.

Plummer got his first taste of the majors last season, as he hit .138/.194/.379 over 31 plate appearances in 14 games with the Mets.  Despite the lack of MLB experience, the Mets signed Plummer to a Major League deal last winter after he became a minor league free agent, leaving the Cardinals for a new opportunity in New York.  While the move paid off for Plummer in the form of his debut in the Show, the Mets designated him for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster in August, and the 26-year-old Plummer again entered the open market once the offseason began.

St. Louis chose Plummer with the 23rd overall pick of the 2015 draft, but he produced only sporadic results in the minor leagues.  It seemed like Plummer had broken out with a .280/.415/.479 slash line over 477 combined PA for the Cardinals’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2021, but that wasn’t enough to get him a look on the Cards’ big league roster.  The outfielder couldn’t keep up the production with the Mets’ Triple-A team this year, batting a more modest .238/.330/.379 in 270 PA.

Martini, 32, also began his pro career as a Cardinals draft pick, selected in the seventh round back in 2011.  He broke into the majors with the Athletics in 2018, and hit .270/.369/.369 over 333 PA and 112 games with the A’s, Padres, and Cubs from 2018-21.  This is actually the second time Martini has been part of Cincinnati’s organization, as the Reds took Martini off waivers from the Padres in November 2019, only to lose him to the Phillies on another waiver claim less than two months later.

In 2022, Martini headed to the Korea Baseball Organization, and hit an impressive .296/.365/.461 with 16 homers over 576 PA with the NC Dinos.  This production comes pretty close to Martini’s .298/.399/.437 slash line in 1769 career PA at the Triple-A level, and while will tell if Martini is ultimately a “Quad-A” type of player, his knack for getting on base has carried over to all levels during his career.

Martini has been a corner outfielder and first baseman over the last few seasons, while Plummer has experience at all three outfield spots.  They’ll combine to give the Reds more options to consider within a crowded but unsettled outfield mix.  Nick Senzel, Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, Wil Myers, Nick Solak, Stuart Fairchild, minor league signing Chad Pinder and more could all be line for outfield time, though some of those players (i.e. Myers, Pinder, Solak) also have flexibility at other positions.

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