Royals Sign Franmil Reyes To Minor League Deal
The Royals have signed outfielder/designated hitter Franmil Reyes to a minor league deal, per a report from Anne Rogers and Juan Toribio of MLB.com. He has been invited to major league Spring Training.
One year ago, the idea of Reyes settling for a minors deal would have been quite surprising, as he had seemingly established himself as a reliable middle-of-the-order threat. From his 2018 debut through the end of the 2021 season, he had launched 92 home runs in 529 games. His 29.5% strikeout rate was certainly on the high side, but he paired that with a solid 9% walk rate. His 119 wRC+ in that stretch indicates that he was 19% better than the league average hitter.
Unfortunately, 2022 was easily the worst season of his career. His walk rate dropped to 6.3% while his strikeout problem got worse, as he was punched out in 33.2% of his trips to the plate. The Guardians designated him for assignment in August and he was claimed by the Cubs, but the latter team cut him from their roster at season’s end. He finished the campaign with 14 home runs and a batting line of .221/.273/.365, wRC+ of 80.
That drop was quite disastrous for a player like Reyes who doesn’t really bring anything else to the table. He’s not a burner on the basepaths and he’s not a strong defender either. He was given poor grades for his glovework at the start of his career and has been mostly a designated hitter of late. He played more than 500 innings in the outfield in each of 2018 and 2019 but hasn’t reached even 100 innings in any of the past three.
With that kind of profile, Reyes really needs to get back on track at the plate in order to have any value. There are reasons to think that his power is still in there, as he still made loud contact last year when he did connect. Statcast placed him in the 92nd percentile in terms of average exit velocity last year, in the 85th percentile in terms of maximum exit velocity, 79th in hard hit rate and 80th in terms of barrel rate.
The Royals are an interesting team to have brought Reyes aboard, since they seemingly already have a number of candidates for corner outfield work and the designated hitter slot. The trade of Michael A. Taylor opened up center field for someone like Drew Waters, but they still have Kyle Isbel and Edward Olivares as candidates for the corners. There are also players who could get bumped to the outfield from other areas, including MJ Melendez. With Salvador Perez taking the bulk of the work behind the plate, Melendez will end up in the outfield or serving in the DH often. Corner infielders like Hunter Dozier, Nick Pratto and Nate Eaton could also see some time on the grass, with Vinnie Pasquantino likely taking first base and Nicky Lopez perhaps getting some time at third since Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Massey could be the primary middle infield combo.
It will be a challenge for Reyes to force his way into that mix, but most of those other players are young and can be optioned to the minors. If he can make 2022 seem like a fluke and get back to being the 30-homer per year kind of guy that he was prior to that, the club would likely find a way to make it work. If Reyes can get his way back onto the roster, he still has a couple of option years and could also be retained for 2024 via arbitration since he has between four and five years of service time.
Tigers To Sign Matt Wisler To Minor League Deal
Feb. 15: Petzold reports that Wisler will make $1.5MM if he makes the team, with $750K in incentives available.
Feb. 13: The Tigers and right-hander Matt Wisler are in agreement on a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press.
Wisler, 30, is coming off a strong season of results with the Rays, posting a 2.25 ERA over 44 innings. Despite keeping earned runs off the board like that, he was designated for assignment in September and cleared waivers.
Despite that low ERA, there were some concerning elements that led to Wisler losing his roster spot. He struck out a huge 32.1% of batters faced in 2020 and 2021, but that number dropped to just 19.9% last year. That coincided with a drop of his velocity, as his fastball averaged 89.7 mph last year, a dip from 91.5 mph in 2021 and 94 mph back in 2015. Perhaps more important than the fastball is his slider, since Wisler has been increasing its usage throughout his career, throwing it 91.5% of the time last year. His velocity on that pitch was 79.8 mph last year, after being at 81.5 mph the year prior and 83.5 mph in 2019. With that diminished stuff and fewer punchouts, it’s likely his .198 batting average on balls in play last year was helping him seem more effective than he actually was.
It appears that the teams around the league recognized those facts, which led to Wisler going unclaimed on waivers last year and now settling for a minor league deal here with Spring Training getting started. For the Tigers, they’re taking a no-risk look at Wisler by bringing him aboard on the minor league deal, given them a chance to see if he can recapture his strong form in 2020-2021 or perhaps continue finding success without the strikeouts.
The club has subtracted from its bullpen mix this offseason, trading away established arms like Joe Jiménez to Atlanta and Gregory Soto to the Phillies. That has left a relief corps that’s fairly open, as many of the remaining arms are young and have limited experience. Wisler will be looking to have a strong spring and earn himself a job in that mix, alongside other non-roster invitees such as Chasen Shreve and Trey Wingenter.
Diamondbacks Sign Andrew Chafin
Feb. 15, 2:40pm: Jon Heyman of the New York Post provides details on the bonuses. Chafin will receive $250K by appearing in 55, 60, 65 and 70 games. There’s also a one-time $250K bonus for getting traded.
Feb. 15, 11:40am: Chafin has passed his physical, and the Diamondbacks have formally announced his signing.
Feb. 11: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a reunion with Andrew Chafin, as the veteran left-hander will rejoin his original team on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2024 season. Chafin will earn a $5.5MM salary in 2023, and Arizona’s club option is worth $7.25MM (with a $750K buyout). Up to $1MM in bonus money is also available for Chafin if he makes at least 55 appearances in 2023. Chafin is represented by Meister Sports Management.
Chafin was drafted 43rd overall by the D’Backs in 2011 and he spent his first seven MLB seasons in an Arizona uniform before being dealt to Chicago in a 2020 deadline swap. That initial stint with the Diamondbacks led to mostly positive numbers, as Chafin logged a 3.68 ERA over 271 2/3 innings in his first go-around with Arizona, though he was struggling (albeit in the small sample size of the abbreviated 2020 season) at the time of his trade to the Cubs.
In the two full seasons since that trade, Chafin has taken things to another level while pitching for the Cubs, A’s and Tigers. Over 126 innings since the start of the 2021 campaign, Chafin has a 2.29 ERA, 47.9% grounder rate, 7.5% walk rate, and 25.7% strikeout rate. That above-average K% is further bolstered by very strong chase rates in the last two seasons and an 87th-percentile 31.4% whiff rate in 2022. Chafin has also done a very good job of inducing soft contact.
On the basis of a good platform year with the Tigers in 2022, Chafin declined a $6.5MM player option for 2023 in order to seek out a longer-term contract in free agency. Even though Chafin was one of the better relievers on the marker this winter, he couldn’t find a multi-year pact, and will now end up receiving slightly less (in guaranteed money) than the amount he rejected on his player option. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently wrote that Matt Strahm‘s two-year, $15MM deal with the Phillies seemed to throw off the market for left-handed relievers, to the extent that Chafin, Matt Moore, and Zack Britton were all still looking for new deals despite quite a bit of interest from multiple clubs.
It puts some added pressure on Chafin to continue his good form as he enters his age-33 season, yet he’ll get to pitch in a comfortable and familiar environment in Arizona. The deal becomes a two-year, $12.75MM pact if the Diamondbacks do exercise their club option, which still unexpectedly puts Chafin behind Strahm in total value.
From the Diamondbacks’ perspective, landing Chafin at a relative discount price is a very nice outcome for a team in sore need of bullpen help. After the relief corps was a weak link in 2022, the D’Backs have responded by signing Miguel Castro and Scott McGough to MLB contracts, and brought in a wide array of experienced arms (including Jeurys Familia, Austin Brice, Zach McAlister, Jandel Gustave, Sam Clay, and several others) to camp on minor league deals.
Arizona heads into Spring Training with plenty of competition for bullpen jobs, so Chafin will be one of relatively few Diamondback pitchers that are assured of spots on the Opening Day roster. With an unsettled closer’s position also up for grabs, Chafin could even be a candidate to make some saves, even though he has mostly worked as a setup man throughout his career.
MLBTR ranked Chafin 39th on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and projected the left-hander for a two-year, $18MM deal. Jurickson Profar and Michael Wacha are the final two players still unsigned from that 50-player list.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link) was the first to report the signing, and the general financial parameters. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter links) had the specific financial breakdown, and reported that the D’Backs held a club option.
Dodgers Re-Sign Jimmy Nelson To Major League Deal
The Dodgers and right-hander Jimmy Nelson are in agreement on a major league deal, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Nelson’s deal contains a $1.2MM base salary and contains various incentives.
Ardaya breaks down the bonus structure (on Twitter). Nelson receives a “point” for every outing in which he either starts or records 10+ outs from the bullpen. He would lock in $250K each at 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 points, followed by $500K apiece for 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 points. Any shorter relief appearances counts as a “non-point” appearance. Nelson would receive $300K each at 35, 40, 45 and 50 such appearances, followed by $400K for hitting the 55 and 60 game marks.
Nelson, 34 in June, has had a stop-and-start career over the past decade. He debuted with the Brewers in 2013 and made 104 starts by the end of 2017. That last season seemed to be a tremendous breakout for him, as he posted a 3.49 ERA over 29 starts. Already a ground ball pitcher, he added strikeouts to his repertoire that season, punching out 27.3% of batters faced, a big jump from the 17.3% rate he had the year prior.
Unfortunately, that season was cut short when he suffered a torn labrum and a partially torn rotator cuff while sliding into second base in an early September game. He missed the rest of that season and also the entirety of the 2018 campaign. He returned to the mound in 2019 but struggled to a 6.95 ERA in 22 innings. The Dodgers signed him for 2020 but back surgery wiped out all of that campaign.
In 2021, he seemed to get back on track in a big way, pitching essentially as a full-time reliever. He made a single start though it was an “opener” situation where he went less than two innings, while the rest of his 27 appearances were out of the bullpen. He posted a miniscule 1.86 ERA in 29 innings of work, striking out an incredible 37.9% of batters faced. His 11.2% walk rate and 37% ground ball rate were a bit worse than average, but that didn’t stop him from posting excellent results.
But another setback came when he required Tommy John surgery in August of that year, putting an end to his stellar season. Though he was likely going to miss all of 2022 as well, the Dodgers re-signed him to a one-year deal plus a $1.1MM option for 2023 with performance bonuses. The Dodgers declined that option back in November but have worked out a new deal with a slightly higher guarantee. The details of the bonuses aren’t known.
Nelson will now be a huge wild card in Spring Training for the Dodgers. Over the past five years, he’s been mostly injured but was excellent for that brief period in 2021 when he was healthy. The club has shown that it’s not afraid to bank on injured players, with mixed results. Both Blake Treinen and Max Muncy were extended while dealing with injuries last year, with Muncy finishing the season strong while Treinen seems likely to miss all of the upcoming season.
The Dodgers will need to create room on their 40-man roster for Nelson whenever this deal is made official, and the same is true of their recent deals with David Peralta and Alex Reyes. However, that could be somewhat easy this week, as players are eligible to be moved to 60-day injured list once pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. This year is a little murky because some players have arrived early due to the World Baseball Classic, but the Dodgers’ official report date for pitchers and catchers is tomorrow. Treinen, Reyes, Walker Buehler and J.P. Feyereisen are all candidates to move to the 60-day IL and could do so this week, helping out with that roster crunch.
If Nelson is healthy and is anywhere close to his 2021 form, he’ll give the club a potent weapon for its bullpen, alongside arms like Daniel Hudson, Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol and others.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Tigers Sign Jace Fry To Minor League Deal
The Tigers announced they have signed left-hander Jace Fry to a minor league deal, as well as announcing the previously-reported deal with righty Matt Wisler. Both pitchers have received invitations to major league Spring Training.
Fry, 29, was a mainstay of the White Sox’ bullpen from 2018 to 2020. In those three seasons, he made 145 appearances with a 4.43 ERA, with control being a notable Achilles’ heel. He struck out 29.6% of batters faced in that time and got grounders at a 51.2% rate, but his 13.7% walk rate was well above average.
Going into 2021, he underwent a microdiscectomy procedure on his back and didn’t make his season debut in the big leagues until July. He struggled in his return and was frequently optioned for the rest of the year, eventually posting a 10.80 in six appearances and getting outrighted at season’s end.
Last year, he signed a minor league deal with the Nats and posted a 3.77 ERA over 15 Triple-A appearances but then opted out when he didn’t get a roster spot and signed another minor league deal with the Phillies. Unfortunately, things soured from there, as he made 18 more Triple-A appearances with a 6.75 ERA after switching organizations. The profile was still fairly similar to his previous work, as he struck out 30.1% of batters on the year between those two stints, but walked 11.3% of them.
For the Tigers, there’s little harm in bringing Fry into camp to see how he looks. Their bullpen should look quite different from a year ago, with Michael Fulmer, Gregory Soto and Joe Jiménez having been traded and Andrew Chafin departing via free agency. That could potentially open up some opportunities for others this season.
Right now, the only lefties on the club’s 40-man roster are Matthew Boyd, Eduardo Rodriguez, Tarik Skubal, Joey Wentz and Tyler Alexander. Boyd and Rodriguez will be in the rotation, with Skubal joining them whenever he recovers from flexor tendon surgery. Wentz figures to be starting in the minors, leaving Alexander as the only southpaw likely to be in the big league bullpen. Fry will be competing with other non-roster invitees in camp such as Chasen Shreve and Miguel Del Pozo. If he can make his way onto the roster, he still has one option remaining and can be shuttled between the majors and minors. He could also be retained for future seasons via arbitration as he’s currently between three and four years of MLB service time.
Diamondbacks Designate Tyler Holton For Assignment
The D-backs announced Wednesday that they’ve designated lefty Tyler Holton for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for fellow southpaw Andrew Chafin, whose one-year deal to return to Arizona has now become official.
Holton, 26, made his big league debut with the Snakes in 2022, yielding three runs on eight hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts in nine innings of work. The 2018 ninth-rounder spent the remainder of the season in Triple-A Reno, where he worked to a 4.43 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate against a 9.3% walk rate in 44 2/3 innings (22 relief appearances, two starts).
The 2022 season as a whole represented a sizable turnaround for Holton, who split the 2021 campaign between Double-A and Triple-A, combining for a 6.72 ERA in that time. There was some promise under the hood even amid those ugly bottom-line results, however, as Holton fanned 26.5% of his opponents against a solid 6.5% walk rate.
Holton has regularly posted strong strikeout and walk rates and a solid 45.2% ground-ball rate in parts of three minor league seasons. He’s also generally avoided the long ball, even when pitching in hitter-friendly settings like Reno. Since he was just selected to the MLB roster last year, he has a pair of minor league options remaining. All of that could hold appeal to other clubs either on waivers or via a small trade, but Holton has never been considered among the D-backs’ very best prospects and doesn’t have the type of power arsenal teams so frequently covet, averaging just 90.5 mph on his heater in this past season’s brief MLB debut.
The D-backs will have a week to trade Holton, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.
Reds Sign Daniel Norris To Minor League Deal
The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve signed left-handed reliever Daniel Norris to a minor league contract and invited him to big league camp. The Excel Sports client will vie for a job in the Cincinnati bullpen this spring.
Norris, 29, split the 2021-22 seasons between the Tigers, Brewers and Cubs, struggling to a combined 5.68 ERA through 115 2/3 innings across the three clubs. It’s a far cry from his excellent showing with the Tigers during the shortened 2020 campaign, when he pitched to a 3.25 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate against a 6% walk rate through 27 2/3 frames.
Once regarded as one of the top prospects in all of baseball, Norris was the headline piece in the 2015 trade that also sent Matthew Boyd and Jairo Labourt from the Blue Jays to the Tigers in return for then-ace David Price. Norris showed promise at varying points with Detroit — 3.55 ERA in 129 1/3 innings from 2015-16 — but was also slowed by health troubles, most notably including a frightening bout with thyroid cancer.
All told, Norris carries a 4.71 ERA in 569 2/3 innings at the MLB level. He’s punched out 21.6% of his opponents overall but has piled up strikeouts at an above-average 24.8% clip over the past three seasons. Conversely, he has a solid 8.6% walk rate in his career but has seen that mark creep up to 10.7% over the past three years.
The Cincinnati bullpen recently lost one of its most talented relievers, Tejay Antone, for as much as half the season following a flexor strain that required a platelet-rich plasma injection. Alexis Diaz is locked in as the closer, while Lucas Sims and Buck Farmer are virtual locks in the setup corps. At the moment, Reiver Sanmartin is the lone lefty reliever on the 40-man roster, but he’s coming off 57 innings with a 6.32 ERA, a poor 18.4% strikeout rate and a bloated 11.3% walk rate. Sanmartin was solid against lefties but walked nearly as many righties (12.1%) as he struck out (12.9%) while yielding a jarring .324/.404/.529 slash against them.
Norris will join Alex Young as one of two veteran non-roster lefties vying for a spot in manager David Bell‘s bullpen, so he ought to have a decent chance at winning a job if he pitches well this spring.
A’s Sign Drew Steckenrider To Minor League Deal
Right-handed reliever Drew Steckenrider is in camp with the Athletics as a non-roster invitee to spring training, tweets Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle. Athletics Farm first tweeted the news a couple days ago.
Steckenrider, 32, has spent the past two seasons with the Mariners, thriving as a key member of the bullpen in 2021 but struggling in 2022 to the extent that he was outrighted from the team’s 40-man roster. The 2021 campaign saw Steckenrider pitch to a pristine 2.00 ERA, albeit with below-average strikeout, swinging-strike and ground-ball rates of 21.7%, 8.6% and 37.4%, respectively. He offset some of those flaws with a sharp 6.4% walk rate, but Steckenrider also benefited from a .257 average on balls in play and a tiny 6.6% homer-to-flyball rate — both well south of his career marks. Add in an alarming opponents’ average exit velocity of 90.7 mph, and some regression looked inevitable.
However, the magnitude of that regression nevertheless was still rather surprising. Steckenrider was rocked for nine runs on 21 hits and five walks in just 14 1/3 innings at the big league level. The resulting 5.65 ERA led the Mariners to option Steckenrider in late May and, perhaps more surprisingly, designate him for assignment the following month when the team needed a 40-man roster spot. Steckenrider’s $3.1MM salary understandably passed through waivers unclaimed, but the Mariners never game him another look down the stretch, thanks in part to a deep and talented relief corps that posted a combined 3.16 ERA in the season’s second half.
Had Steckenrider returned to form in Triple-A, perhaps he might’ve still garnered another look back in the big leagues. However, the veteran righty yielded a tepid 4.62 ERA in 25 1/3 frames. Even if one wanted to chalk some of that up to the excessively hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League, Steckenrider posted an uncharacteristic 13.8% walk rate in his time at Tacoma, which couldn’t have inspired much confidence that he’d rebound with a return to the big leagues.
Rocky as last season was, Steckenrider comes to the A’s as a 32-year-old with a career 3.27 ERA in 195 2/3 innings at the big league level. His strikeout rate has consistently declined from his early days with the Marlins — he punched out a gaudy 35.8% of opponents in 34 2/3 innings as a rookie — but his command has also steadily improved.
Oakland’s bullpen is teeming with uncertainty, giving Steckenrider ample opportunity to seize a spot. Trevor May, signed to a one-year $7MM contract, is a lock for late-inning work, and the out-of-options Domingo Acevedo is all but assured a spot as well. Beyond that pairing, there’s any number of ways the A’s could proceed. Each of Zach Jackson, Dany Jimenez and Sam Moll could have an inside track based on their 2022 ERAs, but each also posted a bloated walk rate that points to regression — and all three have minor league options remaining, as well.
Reds Outright Alejo López
The Reds have outrighted infielder Alejo López after he cleared waivers, reports Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer, with López staying in camp as a non-roster invitee. He was designated for assignment last week when the club acquired outfielder Will Benson from the Guardians.
López, 27 in May, has appeared in each of the past two major league seasons but with little to show for it thus far. In 75 games, he’s hit .262/.307/.321 for a wRC+ of 70, indicating he’s been 30% below league average at the plate. He has at least provided some defensive versatility, spending time at second base, third base and all three outfield positions.
One of his best attributes is that he’s very difficult to strike out. He’s only gone down on strikes in 14.5% of his major league plate appearances thus far and usually at even lower rates in the minors. However, he also doesn’t walk much and provides little power, with only one big league home run in his career and never topping six in the minors.
Since he has never been outrighted before and has less than three years of service time, he doesn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment and will therefore stick with the Reds. He’ll try to earn his way back onto the roster at some point, with the club’s infield mix a little uncertain at the moment. Jonathan India should be at second base with Kevin Newman at short and Spencer Steer at third, with Jose Barrero perhaps in the mix for some playing time as well. López will be jockeying with other non-roster invitees like Richie Martin, Jason Vosler and Matt Reynolds, trying to earn a spot as a bench infielder or utility option.
Astros Claim Matt Gage From Blue Jays
The Astros announced that they have claimed reliever Matt Gage off waivers from the Blue Jays. The lefty was designated for assignment recently when the Jays signed Chad Green. Houston’s 40-man roster is now full.
Gage, 30, is coming off a strong season, one in which he made his major league debut. Signed by the Blue Jays to a minor league deal, he was selected to the club’s roster in June and spent the rest of the year as an up-and-down reliever who was frequently optioned and recalled. He posted a 1.38 ERA in 13 MLB innings, striking out 24% of batters faced and getting grounders at a 50% clip. His 12% walk rate was certainly concerning, but it was a solid debut nonetheless. He also tossed 42 1/3 innings in Triple-A with a 2.34 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 47% ground ball rate.
Though he got squeezed off Toronto’s roster, he’ll now join the World Series champions, where left-handed relief is one of the few weak spots on the roster. Leaving aside Framber Valdez, who will be in the rotation, the only other southpaws on the roster are Blake Taylor and Parker Mushinski. All three of those players have options, making it possible that they will take turns swapping in and out of the active roster as the season goes along.