Tigers To Acquire Grant Witherspoon From Rays
2:51pm: The Tigers sent cash to the Rays in exchange for Witherspoon, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Detroit will still need to open a 40-man roster spot before tomorrow to accommodate the additions of Shreve and Wingenter.
2:06pm: The Tigers have acquired minor league outfielder Grant Witherspoon in a trade with the Rays, reports Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). Tampa Bay’s end of the deal remains unclear as of yet, though it’s worth noting that the Tigers need to open a 40-man roster spot to accommodate the expected addition of relievers Chasen Shreve and Trey Wingenter. They already opened one spot by outrighting Rony Garcia to Triple-A Toledo not long ago. That doesn’t ensure that the Tigers are sending a player from the 40-man roster, though it’s certainly possible.
Witherspoon, 26, was the Rays’ fourth-round pick back in 2018. He split the 2022 season between Double-A and Triple-A, slashing a combined .266/.343/.467 with 17 home runs and 15 stolen bases. The bulk of that production came against right-handed pitching, as the lefty-swinging Witherspoon mustered a rather tepid .237/.313/.404 slash against fellow lefties. The Rays split Witherspoon’s time in the outfield rather evenly between all three spots last year, though he’s primarily been a center fielder to this point in his professional career.
He’s not on the 40-man roster but was in big league camp with Tampa Bay. He struggled to a .154/.291/.231 output there, but that came in a tiny sample of 31 trips to the plate. With the Rays, Witherspoon was behind Randy Arozarena, Manuel Margot, Jose Siri, Josh Lowe and Luke Raley on the depth chart, at the very least, as all are on the 40-man roster. Tampa Bay has also played infield prospects Vidal Brujan and Greg Jones in the outfield of late.
With the Tigers, there’ll be a less crowded path to playing time. Detroit is lacking in established big league outfielders, and while they’re hopeful of an Austin Meadows rebound and steps forward from players like Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Matt Vierling, there’s more room for a productive upper-level minor leaguer like Witherspoon to force his way into the mix with the Tigers than with the Rays.
Tigers Outright Rony García
The Tigers announced that right-hander Rony García has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Toledo. It was reported earlier today that the club plans to add lefty Chasen Shreve and righty Trey Wingenter to its roster prior to tomorrow’s season opener, which will require them to open two spots. This move creates one opening but another move will still be required.
García, 25, spent the early parts of his career as a starter in the Yankees’ system. In 2019, he reached Double-A but then was left unprotected prior to that year’s Rule 5 draft. The Tigers had the first overall pick in that draft and used it to scoop up the right-hander.
He’s been with the Tigers for the past three seasons, though without much success. He lasted on the roster through the shortened 2020 season despite posting an 8.14 ERA over 21 innings, allowing the rebuilding club to secure his rights permanently. He’s spent the past two years bouncing between the injured list, Triple-A and the majors. He made 16 major league appearances last year, eight of those being starts, tossing 51 innings with a 4.41 ERA. He struck out 23.3% of batters faced, walked 6.3% and got grounders at a 31.2% clip.
García is still young and has a couple of options remaining, but most clubs are making tough roster decisions at this time of year and it seems none of them were willing to exacerbate their crunches by bringing him aboard. Players with more than three years of service time or a previous outright can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, but García doesn’t qualify in either case and will stay in the Tigers’ system. He’ll give them some non-roster pitching depth and look to work his way back into their plans.
Tigers To Select Chasen Shreve, Trey Wingenter
Left-hander Chasen Shreve and right-hander Trey Wingenter have made the Tigers’ Opening Day roster, Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports (Twitter link). Both were in camp as non-roster invitees, so the Tigers will need to make a pair of corresponding 40-man roster moves.
Shreve, 32, is the more experienced of the pair, having accrued almost six years of service time across parts of nine seasons at the MLB level. He punched his ticket to the Opening Day club when he held opponents to a pair of runs on five hits and three walks with ten punchouts through eight innings this spring.
The Tigers will be Shreve’s sixth club, as he’s previously logged time with the Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Pirates and Braves. Overall, he has a 3.87 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate, 41% ground-ball rate and 1.56 HR/9 mark in 311 1/3 big league innings. Shreve spent the 2022 season with the Mets — his second stint there — but was tagged for a 6.49 ERA in 26 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate remained consistent with career levels and he actually improved on his walk rate, but ’22 was one of the most homer-prone seasons of Shreve’s career (2.05 HR/9).
At his best, Shreve misses bats at an above-average level and lacks the platoon splits one might typically expect of a lefty reliever. Opponents have nearly identical career batting lines against him, regardless of handedness. Righties have slashed .226/.317/.423 to left-handed batters’ .231/.320/.420.
Turning to the 28-year-old Wingenter, this will be the towering 6’7″ right-hander’s first MLB work since 2019. The former Padres reliever missed the 2020-21 seasons following Tommy John surgery in July of 2020. He was non-tendered by San Diego and signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati, but he was out for all of the 2022 season due to continued elbow troubles.
This offseason, Wingenter pitched 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball with the Dominican Winter League’s Leones del Escogido and showed enough to pique the Tigers’ interest there. He was sensational during spring training, tossing seven shutout innings and holding opponents to four hits with an 11-to-1 K/BB ratio. Wingenter averaged just shy of 97 mph on his heater prior to surgery and has punched out 33.1% of his opponents at the MLB level. Walks have been an issue (13.3%), and his overall 5.14 ERA in 70 innings with San Diego doesn’t stand out much, but there’s plenty to like between his huge frame, impressive velocity and ability to miss bats.
Wingenter has spent enough time on the Major League injured list that he’s accrued three years of MLB service time. If he’s able to stick on the Tigers’ roster and remain healthy, he’d be controllable through the 2025 season via arbitration.
Rangers Re-Sign Dominic Leone To Minor League Deal
The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve re-signed veteran reliever Dominic Leone to a minor league deal after his recent release. Texas also announced the signing of righty Robert Dugger to a minor league deal and optioned lefty John King to Triple-A Round Rock. Both Leone and Dugger have been assigned to Round Rock as well.
Leone, 31, is a veteran who has pitched in the past nine major league seasons. He has a career 3.69 ERA in 353 big league games. The past few years have been remarkably inconsistent, as he posted a bloated 8.38 ERA in the shortened 2020 season, but dropped that all the way to 1.51 in 2021. Last year, it evened out at a more reasonably 4.01 mark in 49 1/3 innings with the Giants. He struck out 23.4% of batters faced last year but also walked 10.8%.
That control has long been an issue for Leone, as he hasn’t posted a walk rate below 10% since 2018. Here in spring this year, he posted a 2.16 ERA over his eight appearances, but walked eight hitters and only struck out five. He wasn’t able to get himself a roster spot and the Rangers released him a few days ago, though they’ve evidently worked out a new pact to keep him around to get some work in Triple-A and serve as depth.
As for Dugger, 27, he has appeared in each of the past four seasons, suiting up for the Marlins, Mariners, Rays and Reds. He has a 7.17 ERA in his career over 27 games and 86 2/3 innings. Though his 6.19 ERA last year is roughly in line with his previous work, he did get an encouraging bump in the strikeout department. He had only punched out 14.4% of opponents in his first three seasons but got that up to 26.4% in 16 innings last year. Then again, he only struck out 18.4% of hitters in the minors, so that bump might be small sample noise.
It’s unclear whether the Rangers view Dugger as a starter or a reliever, but he’s done his share of both over the past few years. He can perhaps give the club a bit of depth in both areas of their roster. The starting rotation is already proceeding without Jake Odorizzi and Glenn Otto, as both are dealing with injuries, while the bullpen will be without Brett Martin for much of the season due to shoulder surgery.
Blue Jays Re-Sign Jay Jackson
March 29: The Blue Jays announced the signing of Jackson to a one-year, Major League contract. He will indeed head to Triple-A Buffalo for now. Righty Chad Green, who’s still on the mend from Tommy John surgery, was moved to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
March 28: The Blue Jays and righty Jay Jackson have agreed to a new split contract following the reliever’s release a few days ago, reports Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet (Twitter thread). Jackson, a client of Nello Gamberdino, will earn a $1.5MM salary at the MLB level.
The 35-year-old Jackson originally inked a minor league deal with the Jays over the winter. He enjoyed a strong spring, yielding only a pair of unearned runs on seven hits and two walks while punching out 13 hitters over the course of 9 1/3 frames.
That excellent spring effort in many ways marked a continuation of a strong run that Jackson enjoyed with the Braves organization in 2022. He tossed just 1 1/3 scoreless innings with the big league club in Atlanta, though his lack of opportunity was largely due to a stacked MLB bullpen. Jackson posted a 2.29 ERA with a 31.3% strikeout rate and 5% walk rate in 19 Triple-A appearances as well.
Jackson spent the 2021 season with the Giants organization, pitching to a 3.74 ERA with a 31.1% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate in 21 2/3 big league innings. He’s also spent parts of four seasons in Japan, split between the Hiroshima Carp and Chiba Lotte Marines, with a combined 2.16 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 9.5% walk rate in 183 innings there. It’s far from a typical career arc, but Jackson has had plenty of success from his late 20s into his mid-30s, and he could get a chance to continue that trend with the Blue Jays before long.
Yankees, Franchy Cordero Agree To Major League Deal
The Yankees have signed outfielder Franchy Cordero to a Major League contract, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter thread). It’s a split deal that’ll pay Cordero $1MM in the big leagues and at a $180K rate in the minors. Yeimel Mendez first reported late last night that Cordero was nearing a deal with the Yankees.
Cordero spent spring training with the Orioles and fared quite well, turning in a .413/.426/.674 slash with a pair of homers, four doubles, a triple and a stolen base. He also fanned 11 times in 47 plate appearances and didn’t draw a walk. The Orioles apparently determined that he wouldn’t make the Opening Day roster, however, and cut him loose earlier this week.
The 28-year-old Cordero has spent parts of six seasons in the Majors, tantalizing the Padres, Royals and Red Sox with off-the-charts tools but a lackluster approach and sub-par feel for making contact. He has immense raw power and speed alike but doesn’t get to that power enough in games due to his lack of selectivity and penchant for putting himself in disadvantageous counts. Cordero has connected on some of the most majestic home runs of the Statcast era, but he’s a career .221/.290/.386 hitter thanks in no small part to a career 34.8% strikeout rate. To his credit, Cordero slightly dropped his strikeout rate with Boston last season (33.5%, down from 35.7% previously) and upped his walk rate (10.2%, up from 8%).
Barring further additions, it now seems likely that Cordero will crack the Yankees’ Opening Day club, perhaps pushing out-of-options Estevan Florial off the roster in the process. The Yankees confirmed this morning that they granted outfielder Rafael Ortega his release — as MLBTR reported yesterday — which left Florial in line for the final outfield spot. The addition of Cordero, however, calls Florial’s role on the club into question.
On the defensive end of things, Cordero has experience at all three outfield spots, and the Red Sox gave him 427 innings at first base over the past two seasons as well. He doesn’t grade out as a strong outfielder by measure of Defensive Runs Saved (-8), Ultimate Zone Rating (-6.3) or Outs Above Average (-1), but he has 1100 innings of big league experience split across all three spots. At least in the early going, he can back up the trio of Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton while providing some lefty thump off the bench.
While Cordero’s contract is a split deal, that’s not likely to come into play right away. Cordero is out of minor league options, so the only way the Yankees could send him to the minors would be by first passing him through waivers. They could opt to do so when Harrison Bader returns from the injured list, but at least for now, the big league agreement seems to signal intent to include him on tomorrow’s 26-mnan roster. He’ll earn the prorated version of that $1MM salary for any time spent on the Major League roster and the prorated $180K for any time spent in the minors.
Daniel Murphy Signs With Long Island Ducks
Three-time All-Star Daniel Murphy, who announced his retirement in 2021, has launched a comeback bid and signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, the team announced this morning. He’ll be reunited with former Mets teammate Ruben Tejada, who signed with the Ducks last month.
“This game is part of my soul, and my passion for playing grew as great as ever when I discovered certain things that I believe will enable me to be productive on the field again,” Murphy said in a statement thanking the organization for the opportunity.
Murphy, who’ll turn 38 this weekend, last saw the big leagues with the Rockies in 2020, when he batted .236/.275/.333 in 132 trips to the plate. That marked the second season of a two-year, $24MM deal he’d inked with Colorado, during which he posted a combined .269/.316/.426 batting line that fell shy of his prior standards with the Mets, Nationals and Cubs.
From 2011-18, Murphy was a consistently above-average to elite hitter, batting a combined .303/.346/.462 while striking out in just 11.6% of his plate appearances. His bat-to-ball skills were among the best in the game and were on full display during a career-best 2016 season in Washington that saw him slash .347/.390/.595 (154 wRC+) with career-highs in home runs (25), doubles (47) and triples (5) while fanning at just a 9.1% clip. Murphy finished second in National League MVP voting that season.
Certainly, a return to that level of play can’t be expected at his age and with two full seasons having elapsed since he last took the field. That said, Murphy is a supremely talented natural hitter, and it’s plenty common to see players remain productive at the plate into their late 30s. The odds are generally stacked against any player in this type of comeback bid, but Murphy’s production with the Ducks will be worth monitoring.
Leg injuries, most notably knee surgery in 2018, dogged Murphy throughout the latter stages of his MLB career. It’s conceivable that the time away from the field has led to better health in that regard. If he looks to have captured some semblance of his old form, it’s easy enough to envision a team in need of a left-handed bat at first base giving him a look at some point during the 2023 season. If not, signing with the Ducks will give him one last opportunity to bid farewell to New York fans who cheered him on for seven memorable seasons with the Mets.
Brewers Sign Luke Voit To One-Year Deal
MARCH 28: Voit signed a split deal that comes with a $2MM base salary for time spent in the majors, the Associated Press reports. Voit should reach five years of major league service a few days into the season, which would afford him the right to refuse an optional assignment to the minors at that point. The Excel Sports Management client would receive $500K apiece for reaching 250, 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500 plate appearances — potentially maxing the deal out at $5MM. The ’24 club option is valued at $12MM and doesn’t come with a buyout. He’d remain arbitration-eligible if Milwaukee declines the option.
MARCH 27: The Brewers announced to reporters, including Adam McCalvy of MLB.com, that they have signed first baseman Luke Voit to a one-year deal with a club option for 2024. The financial terms aren’t publicly known at this time. In a corresponding move, infielder Keston Hiura was designated for assignment. Additionally, infielder Abraham Toro was optioned to the minors and outfielder Sal Frelick was reassigned to minor league camp. The Brewers also announced that infielder Brice Turang has made the Opening Day roster.
Voit, 32, has previously been in camp with the Brewers on a minor league deal, though it afforded him the ability to opt-out and pursue opportunities elsewhere. Though he initially agreed to kick that decision down the road, he eventually triggered his opt-out and returned to the open market. However, the Brewers didn’t want him to get away and have now brought him back aboard with a major league deal and an option for 2024. Even if they turn that option down, they could still retain Voit via arbitration since he will still be shy of six years’ service time at the end of the season.
The slugger has previously been one of the most potent bats in the league but is coming off a couple of years that weren’t quite as strong. He actually led the majors in home runs in the shortened 2020 season, going over the fence 22 times. His .277/.338/.610 batting line that year amounted to a wRC+ of 153, indicating he was 53% better than the league average hitter. But in 2021, he dealt with knee injuries for much of the year and struggled when he wasn’t on the IL. The Yanks eventually supplanted him at first by acquiring Anthony Rizzo, trading Voit to the Padres going into 2022.
Voit stayed healthy enough to get into 135 game last year, eventually hitting 22 home runs, but with lesser results overall. He struck out in 31.5% of his plate appearances and hit .226/.308/.402 for a wRC+ of 102. That included a midseason trade to the Nationals in the Juan Soto deal, after Eric Hosmer used his limited no-trade clause to take himself out of it. The Nats could have kept him around via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting an $8.2MM salary, though they non-tendered him instead.
The Brewers have a left-handed hitter at first base in Rowdy Tellez and their outfield/designated hitter mix contains further lefties in Christian Yelich, Jesse Winker and Garrett Mitchell. Voit’s right-handed bat would seem at first glance to make a good fit for that group in a platoon role, though he actually has modest reverse splits in his career. He’s hit .262/.347/.491 against righties in his career for a 129 wRC+. Against southpaws, he’s hit .236/.329/.439, for a 110 wRC+, still above average but less than his work against righties. However he’s deployed, he’ll look to get back on track with his new club after a couple of trying seasons.
As for Hiura, 26, he made a big splash with his debut in 2019, hitting 19 home runs in just 84 games. He’s continued to hit for power in the seasons since but with mounting strikeout issues that have diminished his overall production. Last year, he hit 14 homers in just 80 games but was also punched out at a 41.7% rate. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a detailed look of the Hiura situation, which put the club in an awkward spot because he no longer has options. A few days ago, Hiura was informed that he would not be making the roster.
The Brewers will now have a week to either trade Hiura or try to pass him through waivers. Despite his struggles, it seems possible that another team would be willing to give him a shot based on his huge power output. That could perhaps be a team that isn’t expecting to be competitive this year, though it’s also possible that injuries could create opportunities elsewhere. In the event that Hiura clears waivers, he would be able to reject an outright assignment, though it’s possible he accepts. Players with between three and five years of service time can reject outright assignments but they have to forfeit their salary. Hiura qualified for arbitration for the first time this offseason and agreed to a $2.2MM salary, meaning he’d have to leave that on the table to become a free agent.
As for Turang, 23, he’s one of the club’s top prospects. Selected in the first round of the 2018 draft, he spent last year in Triple-A. He hit 13 home runs and stole 34 bases, hitting .286/.360/.412 for a wRC+ of 108. Though he’s mostly been a shortstop in his time in the minors, he figures to take over the second base job in Milwaukee next to Willy Adames. Turang is already on the 40-man roster so a corresponding move won’t be necessary.
Rockies Sign Grayson Greiner To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have informed reporters, including Thomas Harding of MLB.com, that they have signed catcher Grayson Greiner to a minor league deal. He had been in camp with the Twins on a minor league deal but was recently released. Harding adds that Rockies’ minor league catcher Willie MacIver will be out for the next six to eight weeks due to a shoulder issue.
Greiner, 30, has appeared in each of the past five MLB seasons as a backup/depth catcher, getting into 139 total games in those five campaigns with the Tigers and Diamondbacks. He’s drawn walks at a decent 9.1% clip but struck out in 32.2% of his trips to the plate. His .201/.275/.307 batting line amounts to a 58 wRC+. He has -8 Defensive Runs Saved in his career with a negative grade from FanGraphs’ framing metric.
The Rockies have just a pair of backstops on their roster at the moment in Elias Díaz and Brian Serven. MacIver was set to be the club’s regular catcher in Triple-A but it looks like he’ll now miss the next couple of months with that shoulder issue. Greiner will presumably take over that responsibility and could be first in line for a call-up to the majors should another injury arise. One of the club’s top prospects, Drew Romo, is a catcher, though he just reached Class-A Advanced last year and will likely head to Double-A to start this season.
Rockies Trade T.J. Zeuch To Phillies
The Rockies have traded T.J. Zeuch to the Phillies, according to the right-hander’s transaction log at MLB.com. He was not on Colorado’s 40-man roster, so he’ll add some non-roster depth to the upper minors with Philadelphia.
Zeuch signed a minor league deal with Colorado over the offseason. The 6’7″ hurler pitched four times this spring, allowing eight runs in as many innings with seven strikeouts and five walks. Even with the Rox having a decent amount of uncertainty at the back end of the rotation, that predictably wasn’t enough to land him a roster spot. Colorado trades away a depth starter for the second time today after sending righty Tony Locey to Tampa Bay this morning.
The Phillies have been hit with a number of pitching injuries over the past few weeks. Ranger Suárez has been bothered by elbow soreness this spring and might start the year on the injured list. Top pitching prospect Andrew Painter, who entered camp battling for the fifth starter job, went down with a UCL sprain. Depth arms Cristopher Sánchez and Nick Nelson have battled injuries of their own. That pushes expected reliever Matt Strahm into the season-opening rotation and has a trickle-down effect on the minor league depth.
Zeuch will open the season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. A former first-round draftee of the Blue Jays, he’s pitched in parts of four big league campaigns. The Pitt product has a 6.49 ERA across 59 2/3 major league innings, posting a quality grounder rate but dismal strikeout and walk numbers. He has a 4.71 ERA over 216 innings at the Triple-A level.