Royals Designate Anthony Misiewicz For Assignment
The Royals announced that left-hander Anthony Misiewicz has been designated for assignment. The move creates roster space for Zack Greinke, whose one-year deal with Kansas City was officially announced today.
A veteran of three MLB seasons, Misiewicz was acquired from the Mariners in a pre-deadline trade last August, after Seattle had also DFA’ed the southpaw. Misiewicz posted a 4.61 ERA and only a 14% strikeout rate over 13 2/3 frames with the Mariners last year, but at least got on track on the strikeout front by delivering a 4.11 ERA and 29.7 K% in his first 15 1/3 innings in Kansas City.
It was a promising return to form for Misiewicz, who had a 4.05 ERA and 30.1% strikeout rate over 20 innings in his 2020 rookie season with the Mariners, but both his ERA (4.61) and his ability to miss bats both declined during 54 2/3 frames of work in 2021. Misiewicz posted respectable but not eye-opening strikeout totals during his minor league career, though naturally some uptick in K’s was to be expected after he moved to relief pitching. The left-hander was almost exclusively a starter from 2015-19, but shifted into a full-time bullpen role upon making his debut in the big leagues.
Misiewicz isn’t a particularly hard thrower for a relief pitcher, though he does have some good spin on his pitches, particularly his curveball. Between this skillset, his decent numbers at the MLB level, and the general need for left-handed pitching around the sport, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see another club pluck Misiewicz off the DFA wire. Misiewicz is also controllable through the 2026 season, providing another benefit for any interested teams. The Royals have Amir Garrett and new acquisitions Aroldis Chapman and Josh Taylor all lined up as the top left-handed options in their bullpen, so while Misiewicz became expendable from the team’s perspective, K.C. would probably prefer that he sneaks through the waiver wire so he can be retained as minor league depth.
Jharel Cotton Signs With NPB’s Orix Buffaloes
The Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced last week they’ve signed right-hander Jharel Cotton for the 2023 season. The team also announced the previously-reported acquisition of former Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel. Reports out of Japan first emerged in December the Buffaloes were in discussions with Cotton.
It’ll be the first overseas stint for the 31-year-old hurler. The East Carolina product has spent a decade in the affiliated ranks, initially entering pro ball as a Dodger draftee in 2012. Cotton debuted with the A’s in 2016, shortly after being acquired as part of the Rich Hill deadline deal between L.A. and Oakland. He made 29 starts over the next two seasons in green and gold but didn’t reappear in the big leagues until 2021 as a member of the Rangers.
Cotton spent the bulk of last year with the Twins. Shuttled on and off the 40-man roster as a depth reliever, he made 25 MLB appearances with Minnesota. Cotton posted a strong 2.83 ERA that was built largely on the strength of an unsustainable .183 average on balls in play against him. He posted much better peripherals through 22 games with their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul, striking out a massive 37.1% of opponents en route to a 2.88 ERA over 25 innings of relief for the Saints.
Towards the end of the year, the Giants snagged Cotton off waivers from Minnesota. He pitched five times for San Francisco, working eight innings of seven-run ball. At season’s end, the Giants ran him through outright waivers to take him off the 40-man roster. Cotton elected minor league free agency at that point.
He’ll now make the jump to Japan’s top level. Cotton has worked solely as a reliever the past two seasons but was a starting pitcher throughout his early minor league and MLB tenure. It’s possible the Buffaloes give him a shot to stretch back out into rotation work in NPB. Regardless of whether he works as a starter or out of the bullpen, Cotton has a chance to resurface on the MLB radar a year or two down the line if he performs well against NPB hitters. Veteran reliever Scott McGough, for instance, secured a two-year deal from the Diamondbacks this offseason after a four-year stint in Japan.
Mets Sign DJ Stewart To Minor League Contract
The Mets announced a number of non-roster Spring Training invitations this evening. Among those included was corner outfielder DJ Stewart, indicating he’s signed a minor league contract with the club.
Stewart joins the second organization of his career. A first-round selection of the Orioles in 2015, he hit well in the minors and reached the big leagues roughly three years after being drafted. Stewart appeared in parts of five seasons with the O’s, working mostly as a role playing left-handed bat in the outfield rotation. He played in 100 games and tallied 318 plate appearances in 2021 but otherwise didn’t top 44 MLB contests in any season.
Altogether, Stewart has taken 622 trips to the dish at the big league level. In a bit more than one season’s worth of playing time, he’s hit 26 home runs and walked at an excellent 13.2% clip. That’s been largely offset by a higher than average 26.8% strikeout percentage and a modest .256 batting average on balls in play. Overall, he owns a .213/.327/.400 line against MLB pitching. He has rated as a below-average defender in both left and right field.
Baltimore outrighted the 29-year-old off their 40-man roster last April after he’d tallied just three big league plate appearances on the season. He was on and off the minor league injured list throughout the remainder of the year, only getting into 29 games for Triple-A Norfolk. He hit .256/.390/.488 in limited action for the Tides, bringing his career Triple-A mark up to .255/.358/.449 in a little under 900 plate appearances.
Stewart brings a patient plate approach and some power upside to the Mets’ organization. He joins Tim Locastro, Abraham Almonte and former Reds’ farmhand Lorenzo Cedrola among non-roster outfielders who’ll be in big league camp. If Stewart gets to the 40-man roster at any point, the Mets could bounce him between Flushing and Triple-A Syracuse for the rest of the season by virtue of his remaining minor league option year.
Orioles Outright Darwinzon Hernandez
The Orioles announced on Thursday that reliever Darwinzon Hernandez has cleared waivers. He’s been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk and will stick in the organization without occupying a 40-man roster spot. The O’s have extended him a non-roster invitation to big league Spring Training.
Hernandez, 26, changed organizations for the first time last month after being designated for assignment by the Red Sox. The southpaw had spent his entire career with Boston since signing out of Venezuela a decade ago. The O’s swung a minor trade with their division rivals, bringing in Hernandez for cash considerations. His stay on their 40-man lasted just a couple weeks, as Baltimore DFA him a week ago upon acquiring Cole Irvin from Oakland.
The pair of transactions allow the O’s to stash a hard-throwing lefty reliever as a non-roster player in the upper minors. Hernandez has pitched in each of the last four MLB seasons, flashing tantalizing stuff but too often struggling to throw strikes. He posted a 3.38 ERA through 40 innings as recently as 2021 but was lit up for 17 runs in just 6 2/3 frames last season.
Overall, Hernandez now carries a 5.06 ERA across 85 1/3 MLB innings. He has an excellent 32.3% strikeout rate and has gotten swinging strikes on a quality 12.5% of his overall offerings. His combination of a mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s breaking pitch that garnered plus or better grades from prospect evaluators is clearly capable of missing bats at the highest level. Yet no other pitcher with 50+ innings over the past four seasons has walked batters more often than Hernandez, who has dished out free passes at a 17.7% clip.
Assuming he doesn’t reestablish himself on the MLB roster during Spring Training, Hernandez will head to Norfolk to start the year. He owns 5.29 ERA with a 30.8% strikeout percentage but an 18.8% walk rate in parts of three seasons at the top minor league level. He still has one option year remaining, so the O’s could bounce him between Baltimore and Norfolk if he reclaims a 40-man spot at any point. Hernandez would reach minor league free agency at the end of the season if he’s not a part of the 40-man roster.
The Orioles have Keegan Akin and Cionel Pérez as their top left-handed relievers. Nick Vespi is also on the 40-man roster, although his specific timeline is unclear after recent sports hernia surgery. Hard-throwing pitching prospect DL Hall might be best suited for a bullpen role given his own strike-throwing concerns, while Drew Rom and Bruce Zimmermann are candidates for depth roles in either the rotation or long relief.
Cubs Sign Mark Leiter Jr. To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have signed right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. to a minor league deal, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Leiter will be in major league camp competing for a spot on the roster.
Leiter, 32 in March, is coming off a strong campaign where he served as an optional depth arm for the Cubs. He made four starts and 31 relief appearances, tallying 67 2/3 innings with a 3.99 ERA. He struck out 25.9% of batters faced while walking 8.9% and getting grounders at a 48.9% clip. He also made six Triple-A starts, posting a 5.32 ERA despite a 34% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. His batting average on balls in play was .333 in the minors versus .251 in the majors and his strand rate was also higher in the show.
That was a generally solid showing but Leiter got nudged off the roster in January when the club added Eric Hosmer. Leiter went unclaimed on waivers and was eligible to elect free agency by virtue of having had a previous career outright. After just over a week on the open market, Leiter is now a Cub again, though without a spot on the roster.
He’ll head to spring and try to earn his way back onto the 40-man, though he’ll have less roster flexibility if he succeeds. He’s now out of options, preventing the club from freely shuffling him to the farm and back, which they did four times last year.
The Cubs’ bullpen chart will likely be topped by Brandon Hughes and Brad Boxberger, followed by names like Adbert Alzolay, Rowan Wick, Julian Merryweather and Michael Rucker. Leiter will be competing with other non-roster invitees like Vinny Nittoli, Tyler Duffey and Eric Stout for a job in that mix. If he succeeds in getting back on the team, he can be cheaply retained for further seasons as he has just over two years of service time and has yet to qualify for arbitration.
Pirates Sign Chris Owings To Minor League Deal
The Pirates announced a series of non-roster invitations to spring training today, revealing within that they’ve signed veteran utilityman Chris Owings to a minor league pact. The ACES client will be in camp and vie for a bench job.
Owings is still just 31 but has appeared in each of the past 10 big league seasons, suiting up for the D-backs, Royals, Red Sox. Rockies and Orioles along the way. He spent the 2022 season with the Yankees and Orioles organizations, getting into 27 big league games with Baltimore but posting just a .104/.254/.143 batting line in 68 trips to the plate. That’s the opposite end of the small-sample spectrum from a similarly brief 2021 run with the Rockies, for whom he slashed a ludicrous .326/.420/.628 in 21 games/50 trips to the plate.
Overall, Owings is a career .239/.287/.366 hitter with 37 big flies and 79 steals through 712 big league games (2464 plate appearances). He’s played every position on the field, including 2 2/3 innings on the mound, although the bulk of his time in the big leagues has been spent at shortstop. Defensive metrics have never loved him at that spot, but Owings has average or better ratings at second base, at third base and in the outfield.
The left side of the Pirates’ infield is set with youngsters Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz at third base and shortstop, respectively. Rodolfo Castro, Ji Hwan Bae and prospect Nick Gonzalez (who’ll be in camp as a non-roster player) are in the mix for the second base slot. One of Castro or Bae could land a utility job on the bench, too, though it’s likely Gonzalez head to Triple-A for everyday reps, barring an upset win of the everyday job at second. The versatile Owings will join that competition for a utility spot off the bench. Owings is a lifetime .308/.347/.480 hitter in Triple-A, so he’ll likely give the Bucs some production in the upper minors if he can’t break the roster this spring.
Mariners, Dylan Moore Agree to Three-Year Extension
The Mariners and infielder/outfielder Dylan Moore are in agreement on a three-year extension to avoid arbitration, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Moore will earn $8.875MM over the course of the pact, with escalators that could push his earnings beyond $9MM. There are no options in the deal. This deal buys out his two remaining arbitration seasons and one free agent year.
Moore, 30, has been a fixture of the Mariners for the past four seasons in a sort of Swiss army knife capacity, providing the club with a little bit of everything. He’s appeared in 381 games in that time, playing every position on the diamond except catcher, even including one inning on the mound in 2019. He’s probably stretched as a shortstop, since all three of Defensive Runs Saved, Outs Above Average and Ultimate Zone Rating all give him negative grades there, but they all like his work in the outfield and at second base, with his marks at other positions coming in around average.
He’s hit 35 home runs in his 1,073 plate appearances and also stolen 65 bases. His 30% strikeout rate is certainly on the high side, but he’s also drawn walks at a strong 10% rate and has a career batting line of .208/.317/.384. That production has amounted to a wRC+ of 100, indicating he’s been exactly league average at the plate for his career. That performance at the plate has been fairly inconsistent, with Moore hitting very well in 2020 but following it up with a rough showing the year after. His .255/.358/.496 batting line in the shortened season led to a 140 wRC+ but he hit just .181/.276/.334 in 2021 for a wRC+ of 74. It’s possible that a lot of bad luck was hounding him that year, as he had just a .229 batting average on balls in play, almost 100 points shy of the year prior. He put that misfortune behind him with a strong .224/.368/.385 line last year for a 126 wRC+.
Moore first qualified for arbitration a year ago and earned a salary of $1.35MM. For the upcoming season, he was projected to get a bump to $2MM by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz but he and the club couldn’t come to an agreement prior to the filing deadline a few weeks ago. He submitted a figure of $2.25MM with the club filing at $1.9MM, though they’ve now agreed to a longer commitment instead of going to a hearing over that difference. Since he was a late bloomer, he didn’t make it to the big leagues until he was 26 and wasn’t slated to reach the open market until after his 32nd birthday, but he’s carved a role for himself in Seattle and found a way to lock in some sizeable earnings.
Moore underwent surgery in the offseason to address a core injury that he sustained at the end of last season. That procedure came with a 6-8 week recovery estimate, indicating Moore should be good to go for the upcoming season. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently revealed that Moore might be slightly behind his teammates when Spring Training begins, but it doesn’t seem as though the club has any significant concerns about Moore’s health, given their investment in him.
He might not have a direct path to regular playing time at the moment, but given his ability to play just about anywhere, he will surely find a way in there as injuries and underperformance will inevitably crop up somewhere. The regular infield alignment for the M’s will likely have Ty France at first, Kolten Wong at second, J.P. Crawford at shortstop and Eugenio Suarez at third. The outfield mix includes Julio Rodríguez in center, with Teoscar Hernández, AJ Pollock, Jarred Kelenic and Taylor Trammell candidates for time in the corners or as the designated hitter. Tommy La Stella, Sam Haggerty and Moore should all be on the roster as well, filling in at various spots as needed.
Mariners Win Arbitration Case Against Diego Castillo
The Mariners have won their arbitration case with reliever Diego Castillo, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’ll be paid at the team’s filing rate of $2.95MM rather than his camp’s requested $3.225MM figure.
Castillo has played a season and a half in the Pacific Northwest. Acquired from the Rays at the 2021 trade deadline, he’s provided the M’s with 76 1/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball. That includes a 3.64 mark over 54 1/3 frames last season, with the big righty striking out a solid 23.9% of opponents against a slightly elevated 9.9% walk percentage. That’s not quite the level he’d managed during his best seasons in Tampa Bay but has still made him a solid high-leverage option for manager Scott Servais.
He’ll again take on some key innings as part of what should be another strong Seattle relief unit. Andrés Muñoz, Paul Sewald, Penn Murfee and Matt Brash are among the other righties who could log key work. The M’s don’t have an established left-hander in the group — offseason waiver claims Tayler Saucedo and Gabe Speier are the only two lefty relievers on the 40-man roster — but the unit was nevertheless among the league’s top ten in both ERA and strikeout percentage last season.
Castillo has between four and five years of MLB service time. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again next winter before qualifying for free agency over the 2024-25 offseason, at which point he’ll be entering his age-31 season. Seattle still has pending arbitration hearings with Teoscar Hernández and Dylan Moore.
Mariners, Kyle Tyler Agree To Minor League Contract
The Mariners are signing reliever Kyle Tyler to a minor league deal, MLBTR has learned. The Nello Gamberdino client hit free agency last summer after being released by the Giants.
Tyler’s name frequented the MLBTR pages last offseason. The right-hander bounced around to a number of teams in rapid succession, essentially serving as the 41st man on a handful of clubs’ rosters. A career-long member of the Angels through the lockout, he lost his 40-man spot with Anaheim during Spring Training. Within a few weeks, he’d go to the Red Sox, Padres, back to the Angels and then back to the Padres via waivers.
While Tyler held a 40-man spot in San Diego into early June, he was again designated for assignment at that point. He finally cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. The Padres re-selected him onto the roster within a few days, then waived him again a couple weeks thereafter. Tyler cleared and became a minor league free agent (as was his right after a second career outright assignment) and signed a non-roster deal with the Giants. He made only four Triple-A appearances in the San Francisco organization before being released.
It was a circuitous route, one Tyler acknowledged at the time wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience. The 26-year-old got into just two MLB games last year, both with San Diego. He spent the majority of the season with the Friars’ top affiliate in El Paso, posting a 4.98 ERA through 21 2/3 innings of relief. He struck out 29% of batters faced with an excellent 58.7% grounder percentage for the Chihuahuas, though he also walked over 20% of opponents.
The free passes were uncharacteristic, as Tyler had never previously walked more than 8.6% of batters faced at a minor league stop. Prospect evaluators had pointed to his above-average control in pegging him as a potential depth starter, though he’s settled into a relief role for the past couple seasons.
Tyler joins Taylor Williams, Casey Sadler, Riley O’Brien and José Rodríguez as righty relievers with MLB experience who’ll serve as non-roster depth options for the Mariners. The M’s have a very deep bullpen that isn’t likely to afford many early opportunities to that group. Tyler will likely start the year at Triple-A Tacoma and try to vie for a midseason job. He still has two option years remaining, so the M’s could shuttle him between Seattle and Tacoma if he secures a 40-man roster spot.
Reds Sign Jason Vosler To Minor League Deal
The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve signed corner infielder Jason Vosler to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. He’s a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management. The deal with Vosler comes not long after the infielder looked to have signed a similar pact with the Mariners, only to be released a few days later. Cincinnati also confirmed its previously reported minor league deal with utilityman Chad Pinder.
The 29-year-old Vosler has spent parts of the past two seasons in the big leagues with the Giants, batting a combined .228/.306/.421 with seven homers in 193 trips to the plate. That includes a robust .265/.342/.469 showing in 111 plate appearances in 2022. Vosler, however, posted inferior numbers down in Triple-A, with a .242/.311/.433 output in a much larger sample of 398 plate appearances.
Solid showing in the big leagues notwithstanding, San Francisco designated Vosler for assignment when setting their roster in advance of this year’s Rule 5 Draft and non-tendered him shortly thereafter. He became an immediate free agent and will now hope to work his way into a generally unsettled infield mix in Cincinnati. Vosler has played all four infield positions and both outfield corners in his career, although the four innings the Giants gave him at shortstop marked his first appearance there since 2015. He’s been predominantly a corner infielder dating back to 2019.
Cincinnati is a hitter-friendly spot for Vosler to land, and one with a fair bit of opportunity. The Reds have 2021 Rookie of the Year Jonathan India locked in at second base, but first baseman Joey Votto‘s return date from last summer’s season-ending shoulder surgery isn’t yet clear. It’s possible he’ll be behind schedule in camp, as Votto himself said early last month that he wasn’t sure whether he’d be ready for Opening Day.
Third base, meanwhile, will likely be up for grabs, with prospect Spencer Steer the current front-runner. The Reds picked up Steer from the Twins in the trade that sent Tyler Mahle to Minnesota, and while he hit just .211/.306/.326 in 108 plate appearances down the stretch in ’22, he also turned in a stout .274/.364/.515 showing between Double-A and Triple-A. Looking elsewhere on the 40-man roster, both Alejo Lopez and Nick Solak have experience at third base, though it hasn’t been either’s primary position. Lopez and Solak both have more experience at second base, and Solak has played more outfield than infield in recent years.
Both Vosler and Pinder stand as potential non-roster competition for that group at the hot corner, and the added versatility each brings to the table could further their cause when it comes to securing a spot on the roster. Vosler, in particular, could hold some appeal as a left-handed bat on an otherwise largely right-handed-hitting roster.