Angels, Evan Marshall Agree To Minor League Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Evan Marshall, tweets James Fegan of The Athletic. Marshall himself suggested on Twitter last night that he’d signed with the Halos. He’s represented by ISE Baseball.
Marshall, 33 next month, missed the 2022 season recovering from 2021 Tommy John surgery. He enjoyed an excellent run with the White Sox from 2019-20, logging a combined 2.45 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 52.3% ground-ball rate in 73 1/3 frames out of the Chicago bullpen. His numbers took a sharp downturn in 2021, however, as Marshall was tagged for a 5.60 ERA in 27 1/3 frames before landing on the injured list and ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Marshall’s Tommy John procedure came in November 2021, so he should be largely recovered from the procedure. He’ll still need to build up to game readiness after remaining unsigned through the bulk of spring training. An assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake would make sense, speculatively speaking.
In the short-term, there’s not a lot of immediate opportunity in the Anaheim bullpen. The Halos are slated to carry a trio of out-of-options bullpen arms — Jaime Barria, Jose Quijada, Tucker Davidson — and the bulk of their other options are veterans on guaranteed deals who cannot be optioned (Carlos Estevez, Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup, Matt Moore). Right-handers Jimmy Herget and Andrew Wantz are the only Angels relievers who can be optioned to the minors without first passing through waivers, but they’re both also coming off strong 2022 seasons at the big league level.
Of course, injuries and rough starts to the season are inevitable for any group of pitchers. Either could create an opportunity for Marshall or another veteran who’s with the Angels on a minor league contract. That’s a group that currently includes names like Chris Devenski, Jonathan Holder, Cesar Valdez and Jacob Webb, among others. If Marshall can successfully get back to his pre-Tommy John 2019-20 form, he’d presumably be among the first names up when an opportunity presents itself.
Royals Sign Jake Brentz To Two-Year Deal
The Royals announced Thursday evening they’ve signed lefty reliever Jake Brentz to a two-year contract. It’s a big league deal that reportedly guarantees $1.9MM with an additional $700K in attainable incentives. Brentz, a client of the Bledsoe Agency, will make $850K for the upcoming season and $1.05MM in 2024.
Kansas City created a 40-man roster spot yesterday by placing southpaw Ángel Zerpa on the 60-day injured list. They’ll likely soon do the same with Brentz. The 28-year-old underwent surgery to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow last July. He’ll miss most or all of this season but the Royals are clearly intrigued by the potential he brings for the 2024 campaign.
There’s no injured list over the offseason, so the Royals had to reinstate Brentz at the end of the ’22 season. Rather than carry him on the 40-man roster all winter, they designated him for assignment and opted not to tender him a contract. He lingered on the open market all winter but now returns to Kansas City. With Spring Training underway, the Royals can transfer him back to the 60-day IL whenever the need for a roster spot arises.
Initially an 11th-round draftee of the Blue Jays, Brentz was traded twice as a prospect. It wasn’t until following a 2019 release by the Pirates and subsequent signing with Kansas City that he got a big league opportunity, however. Brentz cracked the roster in 2021 and showed some promise as a rookie. He tossed 64 innings over 72 appearances, working to a 3.66 ERA while striking out an above-average 27.3% of opposing hitters. His 13.3% walk percentage was an obvious concern but the Missouri native averaged 96.9 MPH on his fastball and held left-handed batters to a woeful .116/.292/.203 line in 91 plate appearances.
Brentz entered 2022 as a fairly high-upside member of the K.C. relief corps. The season proved disastrous, though. He coughed up 15 runs and walked 10 in only 5 1/3 innings in April. His fastball velocity was down a tick. At the end of the month, Kansas City placed him on the injured list with a flexor injury in his forearm. A few months later, the club announced he’d go under the knife.
Kansas City’s front office is obviously willing to chalk up that disastrous first month to injury. They’ll roll the dice for little more than the league minimum to see if Brentz can return to his 2021 form after the surgery rehab. It’s equally easy to see the appeal of this deal from the player’s perspective. He’ll secure a guaranteed salary and a 40-man roster spot while collecting major league service for time spent on the injured list. He’ll get to rehab for an organization with which he’s familiar and try to again secure a bullpen job down the line.
Brentz has exactly two years of major league service time. He’ll still be eligible for arbitration twice more once this contract runs out, meaning Kansas City again controls his rights through the end of the 2026 campaign. If he can get back on track, he could again profile as an affordable bullpen piece for multiple seasons.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the $1.9MM guarantee and incentives. Anne Rogers of MLB.com was first with the financial breakdown.
Sergio Romo Signs Non-Roster Deal With Giants For Likely Final Appearance
Veteran reliever Sergio Romo has signed with the Giants on a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training, according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. According to Baggarly, the plan is for Romo to pitch in the team’s Bay Bridge exhibition against the A’s at Oracle Park towards the end of Spring Training as a farewell tour for Romo, who pitched in nine seasons for the Giants and won the World Series with the club in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Though he didn’t specifically use the word “retire,” the right-hander spoke very much like someone who expects this to be a ceremonial final stop.
“I’m not coming here to make a team,” Romo tells Baggarly. “I can’t make this team right now. Mainly I’m not trying to. I like where I am in life, seeing my kids as often as I can.”
Romo’s career began in San Francisco in 2008, his age-25 season. He impressed in his debut campaign, posting a 2.12 ERA in 34 innings of work. After a difficult 2009 season where Romo’s ERA was nearly two runs higher than his FIP, he returned to form in a 2010 season that would kick off a four-year stretch of utter dominance. During that time, he posted a sterling 2.03 ERA (178 ERA+) in 225 2/3 innings while striking out 261. That four-year stretch saw Romo collect two World Series rings (one of which he earned by striking out Miguel Cabrera to end the 2012 World Series) and his sole career All-Star appearance.
The 2014 season was something of a step back for Romo, however, even as his club won its third World Series in five years. Romo posted his first below average season of his career by ERA+. His 3.72 ERA was 7% worse than league average by that metric, and unlike his difficult 2009 season, his FIP wasn’t up to his previous standards either, standing at 3.94. Fortunately, Romo would return to form as an above-average reliever for his last two seasons in a Giants uniform, posting a 2.87 ERA (137 ERA+) in 88 innings of work, with an even stronger 2.57 FIP.
Ultimately, Romo was a phenomenal reliever during his tenure with San Francisco, pitching to a 2.58 ERA (146 ERA+) in 515 games while striking out 498 and collecting 87 saves. He also pitched well in the postseason, posting a 3.06 ERA in his 23 1/3 innings of work for the Giants in the postseason, including six scoreless appearances in World Series games.
In the six years following his departure from the Giants organization, Romo would pitch for seven different organizations: the Dodgers, Rays, Marlins, Twins, A’s, and Blue Jays. Despite those years accounting for his mid-to-late thirties, Romo was still a league average reliever during that time, with his 4.20 ERA over those 283 innings translating to an ERA+ of exactly 100.
In the event that this marks the end of his career, Romo, who celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this month, will have appeared in 821 regular season games while finishing 301 over his decade and a half tenure in the major leagues, with a 3.21 career ERA. He also racked up 137 saves and 204 holds along the way.
Rays Acquire Victor Castaneda As PTBNL From Javy Guerra Trade
The Rays have acquired right-hander Victor Castaneda from the Brewers as the player to be named later from the November trade that sent fellow righty Javy Guerra to the Brewers, per Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Castaneda, 24, was an international amateur signed by the Brewers out of Mexico in 2017. He’s worked his way up the minor league ladder since then, serving primarily as a starter. Last year, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 120 2/3 innings with a 4.10 ERA. He struck out 22.5% of batters faced in that time while walking 9.9%. Based on his strong work in the minors, Castaneda was considered one of the top 30 prospects in the Brewers’ system in the past two years by both Baseball America and FanGraphs.
If the Rays continue to deploy Castaneda as a starter, he’ll provide some depth to a rotation that’s dealing with a few injuries. Shane Baz underwent Tommy John surgery late last year and might miss the entire season, while Tyler Glasnow has a strained oblique that will force him to miss the start of the campaign. The rotation is still in good shape overall with Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Zach Eflin and Jeffrey Springs taking four spots. They also have Luis Patiño, Yonny Chirinos, Josh Fleming and Taj Bradley on the 40-man roster as options to fill in. Castaneda isn’t currently on the 40-man and would need to earn a spot in order to make an impact.
Twins, Hernan Perez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Twins are in agreement with veteran utility player Hernán Pérez on a minor league contract, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El ExtraBase (Twitter link). The GSI client will join the organization after the World Baseball Classic wraps up, as he’s currently representing Venezuela at that event.
Pérez, 32 later this month, has played parts of ten seasons at the big league level. That included four consecutive years of 100+ games between 2015-18. Pérez never made a huge impact at the plate, but he stole 34 bases for the 2016 Brewers and twice has reached the double-digit home run mark. He’d struggled over his past three seasons at the highest level, however, ultimately bouncing to the Cubs and Nationals for brief looks.
Midway through the 2021 campaign, Pérez made the jump to South Korea. He played with the Hanwha Eagles for the stretch run before returning to the United States last year. Signed to a non-roster deal by the Braves in May, he’d spent the rest of the campaign with their top affiliate in Gwinnett. The right-handed hitter posted a .269/.318/.406 line with nine homers and 20 steals through 86 contests with the Stripers.
Pérez has a career .250/.280/.382 slash in over 1800 plate appearances against big league arms. Consistently low walk rates have tamped down his on-base percentage, though he generally puts the ball in play at an average rate and has a little bit of power. He’s swiped 69 bases in 85 career attempts (a quality 81.2% success rate). Pérez also brings plenty of defensive flexibility, having logged 100+ innings at each of second base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield spots. Public defensive metrics have graded him fairly well everywhere except shortstop and center field, with the keystone and hot corner his two most common positions.
The Twins have Jorge Polanco, Carlos Correa and José Miranda lined up at the non-first base infield positions. Polanco has been slowed a bit in Spring Training but is expected to be ready for Opening Day. Presumptive utility option Nick Gordon suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in the spring, and while the club hasn’t ruled him out for the start of the season, his ramp-up has been thrown off to some extent. Donovan Solano offers a right-handed hitting option throughout the infield off the bench, but the club was a little light on experienced infielders for the upper minors. Pérez will add some insurance in that regard and figures to start the year with Triple-A St. Paul.
Royals Place Ángel Zerpa On 60-Day IL With Shoulder Injury
The Royals announced that left-hander Ángel Zerpa has been placed on the 60-day injured list due to left shoulder tendinopathy. No corresponding move was announced so the club’s 40-man roster count is down to 39.
Zerpa, 23, was added to the club’s roster in November of 2020 to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. Since then, he has seen some brief major league action, appearing in four games over the past two seasons, posting a 1.13 ERA in 16 innings.
The southpaw spent most of his time in the minors last year, making 19 starts between Double-A and Triple-A. He tossed 71 2/3 innings between the two levels with a 4.02 ERA. He struck out 22.5% of batters faced while walking 8.2% of them and getting grounders on roughly half the balls in play he allowed. Based on his strong work in the minors of late, Baseball America ranked him the club’s #9 prospect going into this season.
The club hasn’t provided a timeline on how long they expect Zerpa to be out, but he won’t be an option for the first couple of months. The 60-day clock doesn’t start until Opening Day, meaning he won’t be eligible to be reinstated until late May. The lefty wasn’t likely to crack the club’s Opening Day rotation even if he were healthy, as it’s likely to feature Brady Singer, Zack Greinke, Jordan Lyles, Ryan Yarbrough and Brad Keller. But with Zerpa out of action for at least a couple of months, the club will have one less depth option on hand.
Now that the Royals have an open roster spot, it could potentially create an opportunity for someone not currently on the 40-man. Perhaps the club makes a waiver claim in the coming weeks or uses that spot on a player already in camp. Some of their notable non-roster invitees include Franmil Reyes, Matt Duffy, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Nick Wittgren.
Marlins Select Garrett Hampson
The Marlins announced to reporters, including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald, that they have selected infielder/outfielder Garrett Hampson to the roster. In a corresponding move, right-hander Anthony Bender was placed on the 60-day injured list. Hampson had an opt-out in his deal, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald.
Hampson, 28, spent his entire career with the Rockies until recently. That club selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft and he was in the big leagues just two years later. After getting a 24-game debut in 2018, he appeared on some top 100 prospect lists going into 2019, but he has struggled at the plate since then. Over the past four seasons, he’s hit just .233/.292/.369 despite playing his home games at Coors Field. That amounts to a wRC+ of just 63, indicating he’s been 37% worse than league average.
Hampson has just over four years of MLB service time and could have been retained for two further seasons by the Rockies via arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a salary of $2.1MM for 2023, but the Rox decided to walk away, non-tendering Hampson and making him a free agent. The Marlins then signed him to a minor league deal in December.
Despite those struggles at the plate, there are things Hampson brings to the table. He’s stolen 52 bases in 65 tries in his career thus far, a part of his game that could perhaps become more important with this year’s rule changes to encourage more base stealing. He also provides a lot of defensive versatility, having played the three infield positions to the left of first base, as well as in the outfield.
The Marlins will have multiple questions marks on their team when it comes to defense. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is moving from second base to center field, a position he’s never played before. Luis Arraez is taking over at the keystone, a position where he has been graded poorly. Jean Segura is set to take over third base, where he has very limited experience. Utility man Joey Wendle could be stepping into a regular shortstop role, unless José Iglesias makes the team and takes over there.
Since Hampson can move around the diamond, he can give the club a bit of extra depth at those positions. If any of those experiments fail or someone gets injured, he’ll be an option to fill in. He also still has an option year remaining and doesn’t need to be on the active roster if there’s no room for him.
Today was the first day that non-roster invitees are eligible to have their contracts selected and the Marlins wasted little time in doing so with Hampson. There’s still over two weeks to Opening Day but Hampson had that opt-out in his contract. It’s unknown exactly when he could trigger that, but the Fish won’t give him a chance to return to the open market, instead giving him a spot.
As for Bender, his placement on the 60-day IL is a mere formality. He underwent Tommy John surgery in August of last year and could miss most or perhaps all of the upcoming campaign.
Rays Select Trevor Kelley, Place Andrew Kittredge On 60-Day IL
The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Trevor Kelley, who signed a minor league deal over the winter and has been in camp as a non-roster invitee. A spot on the 40-man roster has been opened by placing fellow right-hander Andrew Kittredge on the 60-day injured list.
Tampa Bay originally made this move earlier in camp, but the league stepped in and voided the deal, as non-roster invitees are technically not eligible to be selected to the 40-man roster until March 15. Now that the transaction is permissible under that technicality, it can be processed as originally planned.
The 30-year-old Kelley has seen big league time in parts of three seasons with the Red Sox, Phillies and Brewers dating back to 2019. Most of that time in the big leagues has been a struggle, including the 2022 season, when he logged a career-high 23 2/3 innings for the Brewers but also served up a 6.08 ERA. Kelley posted a below-average 21.5% strikeout rate and a solid 8.4% walk rate with Milwaukee, but home runs were an issue last year. That’s been a recurring theme for Kelley, who has averaged a whopping 2.8 long balls per nine innings pitched (11 homers in 35 1/3 big league frames).
While Kelley’s big league numbers aren’t much to look at, that’s a relatively small sample and he’s thrived at the Triple-A level. In 164 1/3 innings there, he sports a 1.81 ERA with a 25.7% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate. He has a minor league option remaining as well, so the Rays don’t need to expose him to waivers if they wish to send him down at any point. That’ll give their bullpen some flexibility this season, and Kelley’s sidearm delivery can give opponents an additional look out of the bullpen.
Kelley surely felt some pressure after the original transaction was voided, as a spring injury or poor performance over the first few weeks of camp might have changed the team’s thinking. He’s given the Rays no reason to doubt their faith in him, however, pitching 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball with just three hits and two walks against six punchouts thus far.
Because he has a minor league option left, Kelley isn’t a lock to break camp in the big league bullpen, but even if he heads to Triple-A Durham to begin the season, his presence on the 40-man roster will make him one of the team’s top options should they need to dip into the minors. If he does establish himself in their bullpen, he’ll be a long-term option. Kelley is four days shy of a full year of MLB service time, meaning he’s still controllable for a full six seasons.
As for Kittredge, he was one of the Rays’ top relievers, pitching to a 2.17 ERA in 99 2/3 innings dating back to 2020. However, the 32-year-old was limited to just 20 innings this past season, as a June IL placement due to discomfort in his right elbow ultimately proved a precursor to Tommy John surgery. It’s possible he’ll make it back to the big leagues at some point in the season’s second half, but there’s no way Kittredge was going to be ready within the season’s first couple months, so moving him to the 60-day IL amounts to little more than a formality. If the Rays need another 40-man roster spot, they can do the same with right-hander Shane Baz, who’s also on the mend from Tommy John surgery.
Angels Release Jose Godoy
The Angels have released catcher Jose Godoy, per the team. Godoy, 28, was signed to a minor league deal by the Angels earlier this offseason after being outrighted by the Pirates in October.
To this point in his career, Godoy has struggled during his limited time in the majors, as he has slashed just .123/.194/.140 in 26 career games in the majors. He’s spent time as a member of the Cardinals, Mariners, Twins, and Pirates organizations prior to his time in Anaheim, and carries a slash line of .272/.351/.366 over ten seasons as a minor leaguer. Given teams’ constant need for upper-level catching depth in the minor leagues, Godoy should certainly find another organization interested in his services on a new minor league deal.
As for the Angels, this move not only indicates belief in their primary catching options of Max Stassi, Logan O’Hoppe, and Matt Thaiss, who expect to combine for the majority of playing time at the position for the major league club this year, but also non-roster invitees Chad Wallach and Anthony Mulrine, who seem poised to be the depth options for the Halos in the event of an injury. If the club had each of those players ahead of Godoy on the organizational depth chart, today’s move may have been the best outcome for Godoy, who could look to sign on with a team thinner at catcher in order to have a clearer shot at big league playing time this season.
Tigers Claim Freddy Pacheco, Place Tarik Skubal On 60-Day IL
The Tigers announced that they have claimed right-hander Freddy Pacheco off waivers from the Cardinals. To make room for him on their roster, left-hander Tarik Skubal has been placed on the 60-day injured list.
Pacheco, 25 next month, is a relief pitcher who was added to the Cards’ roster in November of 2021 to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He earned that spot based on a strong campaign that saw him rise through three levels, going from Class-A Advanced to Double-A and Triple-A. He posted a 3.67 ERA that year in 54 innings, striking out an incredible 44% of batters faced but walking a concerning 13.4%. Last year, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 62 innings with a 3.05 ERA. His strikeout rate fell to 33.6% but he also got his walks down to 11.2%.
Those are fairly strong results but Pacheco’s near-term status is up in the air at the moment. A couple of weeks ago, the team informed reports that Pacheco had some tightness around his elbow, with Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat among those to relay the update. The club did some imaging but didn’t find anything concerning, deciding to simply shut him down for a few weeks and then try to ramp him back up again.
There had not been any previous indication that Pacheco had been placed on waivers but the Cardinals evidently tried to pass him through recently, though the Tigers have swooped in to grab him. The latter club has seen a lot of bullpen turnover in the past year, as they traded away Michael Fulmer at last year’s deadline and then Gregory Soto and Joe Jiménez this offseason. Pacheco still has a couple of option years, meaning they can shuttle him between the majors and minors as a depth arm, as long as he’s healthy.
They were able to give Pacheco a roster spot due to Skubal’s health status. He had flexor tendon surgery in August and is still working his way back to health. The timeline on his return still isn’t clear but this IL placement means he can’t return until late May at the earliest, since the 60-day clock doesn’t start until Opening Day.
For the Cards, they now have an open roster spot that they could potentially use to add a non-roster invitee to their club. There’s a lot of hype around prospect Jordan Walker making the Opening Day roster, though nothing official has been announced. There’s now just over two weeks to the March 30 season opener.