Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes To Minor League Deal
The Braves have added infielder Joshua Fuentes on a minor league deal, according to the MLB.com transactions log.
Fuentes, 30 in February, was signed by the Rockies as an amateur free agent back in 2014. He had a slow rise through the minor leagues, but showed a fair bit of promise in Triple-A, slashing .327/.354/.517 with 14 home runs. He was rewarded with a first big league call up the following year, hitting .218/.232/.400 across 56 plate appearances in 2019.
Over the next few seasons Fuentes would get a fair bit of exposure in the big leagues, putting together a combined .243/.269/.377 line with 12 home runs over 443 plate appearances between 2019-21. Fuentes would log most of his time at first and third base, but did see a little bit of time in the corner outfield spots as well. In a combined 472 1/3 innings at third he was worth 10 Defensive Runs Saved, while in 417 1/3 innings at first he was worth 9 DRS.
Fuentes elected free agency after the Rockies outrighted him at the end of the 2021 season. He latched on with the Blue Jays on a minor league deal for 2022, but after hitting just .165/.205/.200 in 112 plate appearances at Triple-A he was released. He signed on to play with Yucatan in Mexico for the rest of the year, and hit .299/.364/.576 with ten home runs in 162 plate appearances.
Fuentes will provide the Braves with a bit of corner infield depth in 2023. He has one minor league option remaining.
Diamondbacks To Sign Evan Longoria To One-Year Deal
The Diamondbacks and third baseman Evan Longoria are in agreement on a one-year deal that will guaranteed him $4MM with another $1MM available in incentives. Longoria is a client of TWC Sports.
Longoria, 37, will be joining just the third organization of his long career, having only previously suited up for the Rays and Giants. He broke in with Tampa in 2008 and had his best seasons from there through 2013. In that six-year stretch, he hit 162 home runs and produced a batting line of .275/.357/.512. That production was 35% better than league average, as evidenced by his 135 wRC+, one of the 25 best such marks across the majors for that period. When combined with his quality defensive work, he tallied 34.2 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, the fourth-best mark among all position players with only Miguel Cabrera, Brian McCann and Yadier Molina ahead of him.
It was within that time that the Rays twice gave him a lengthy contract extension. The first came in his 2008 rookie season, a $17.5MM guarantee over six years, plus three club options. After the 2012 season, the second extension triggered the three club options and added another six years and $100MM. That deal ran through the 2022 season with a club option for 2023.
Longoria’s offensive production declined over the 2014-2016 period but was still above average. He hit .265/.322/.454 in that stretch for a wRC+ of 112, 12% better than par but a noticeable drop-off from his previous heights. He took an even bigger dip in 2017, hitting .261/.313/.424 for a wRC+ of 97. At the end of that season, Longoria had accrued nine years and 170 days of service time, just two days shy of the 10-year mark. That was a significant gap since getting to ten years would have given him 10-and-5 rights, as all players with 10 years of service time and who have been with their current team for at least five years earn the right to veto any trade. The ever budget-conscious Rays decided they had to move Longoria before he gained those rights and flipped him to the Giants going into 2018.
Since moving to California, it’s been a rocky time for Longoria. In his first three seasons as a Giant, he hit .250/.302/.425 for a wRC+ of 93. He bounced back to being an above-average hitter over the last two seasons but injuries limited his overall contributions. He slashed .253/.333/.466 over 2021 and 2022 for a wRC+ of 118, but in just 170 games. A left shoulder sprain and right hand contusion sent him to the injured list in 2021. Finger surgery put him on the shelf for the beginning of the 2022 season and he was later sidelined by a left oblique strain, a right hamstring strain and a thumb fracture.
The Giants had an $8MM decision to make on Longoria, choosing between a $13MM option or a $5MM buyout. Picking up that option and adding the $8MM onto their ledger would have been a defensible decision based on his resurgence at the plate, but there were also reasons for concern. Beyond the injuries, Longoria’s previously excellent defensive grades have slipped, a fairly expected development for a player moving into his late 30s. Also, his metrics like exit velocity and hard hit rate have been trending downward, not shocking for a player his age but something that had to be taken into consideration. In the end, the Giants decided to move on and went for the buyout, sending Longoria into free agency for the first time in his career.
Longoria expressed a preference for either returning to one of his two previous clubs or signing with the Diamondbacks, since he has a home in Arizona. In the end, he will indeed join the team near his home, with the club making for a fairly sensible fit for him. A young up-and-coming team, the D-Backs could surely benefit from having a veteran presence like Longoria in the clubhouse and in the dugout.
In terms of the fit on the roster, third base wasn’t completely secured prior to this deal. Josh Rojas has been serving in a utility capacity over the past few years, spending some time in the outfield corners as well as the three infield positions to the left of first base. In 2022, he spent most of his time at third, getting into 89 games there. While he was above-average offensively, the advanced defensive metrics all considered his glovework to be below average. It’s possible that he could still take a step forward in that department since he didn’t play much third base in the minors and is surely still learning the position, but bringing Longoria’s experience aboard should only help there.
There will also be platoon possibilities since Rojas hits from the left side and Longoria the right. Rojas has fairly even splits for his career but was better against righties in 2022, posting a 114 wRC+ with the advantage and a 92 otherwise. Longoria, meanwhile, has a 132 wRC+ against southpaws in his career with a 113 against righties. That would seem to make them a good pairing, though injuries elsewhere on the roster could potentially require Rojas to move elsewhere on the diamond. The club also doesn’t really have an obvious designated hitter at the moment, which could allow both players to be pencilled into the lineup together with regularity, unless Arizona’s many young outfielders eventually push start crowding into the DH mix. But if Longoria were to act as the DH with some frequency, it could give him an edge in overcoming his recent injury track record.
This deal brings the club’s payroll up to $109MM, according to the calculations of Roster Resource. That’s a big jump from last year’s $91MM figure, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, but the club has been as high as $132MM in the past.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post. first reported the two sides were in agreement on a one-year deal. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic first reported the financial figures.
Image courtesy USA Today Sports.
Twins Sign Willi Castro To Minor League Deal
The Twins and utility player Willi Castro are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Darren Wolfson of SKOR Radio North. Castro will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Castro, 26 in April, first cracked the majors with the Tigers in 2019 and has been serving a utility role for them since. He’s shown some exciting raw tools but has generally struggled to fully break out with the bat. In 303 games thus far in his career, he’s hit 24 home runs but walked in just 4.7% of his trips to the plate and struck out in 24.1% of them. His batting line is currently .245/.292/.381 for wRC+ of 86, indicating he’s been 14% below league average. Inconsistency seems to be a factor in his work at the plate, as he’s only in the 10th percentile in terms of barrel rate and hard hit rate but 79th percentile in terms of maximum exit velocity. In other words, he can crush the ball but just hasn’t been doing it very often.
But he also has other attributes, besides that intermittent power. His sprint speed is in the 78th percentile in the league, which helped him steal nine bases in each of the past two seasons. He also has defensive versatility, having played all three outfield positions and the three infield positions to the left of first base. His arm strength is ranked in the 87th percentile and his outfielder jump in the 78th. As a switch-hitter, he brings versatility to the other side of his game as well.
Castro crossed the three-year service line in 2022 and was eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a raise to a $1.7MM salary in 2023. However, his struggles were enough that the Tigers decided to move on, as they non-tendered Castro at the deadline in November.
For the Twins, they dealt with a mountain of injuries in 2022, making it a logical move to add some depth for 2023. They are loaded with outfielders at the moment, meaning Castro’s best path to retaking a roster spot would likely be the infield. The most likely arrangement on the dirt right now would see Luis Arraez at first base, Jorge Polanco at second, Kyle Farmer at shortstop and Jose Miranda at third. Nick Gordon could be in the utility/bench infielder spot for now, but he’s also in the outfield mix. Royce Lewis could be a factor down the line but he’s recovering from surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for a second straight year and isn’t expected back until midseason.
If Castro can earn his way into Minnesota’s plans, he still has an option year remaining, which would allow the club to shuffle him between Triple-A and the majors throughout the year. If he impresses enough to work his way into their future plans, he could be retained at least through 2025 via arbitration.
Twins To Re-Sign Danny Coulombe To Minor League Deal
The Twins are bringing back left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe on a minor league deal, according to Betsy Helfand of the St-Paul Pioneer Press. The deal comes with an invite to big league spring training. It’s the fourth straight off-season that Coulombe has inked a minor league deal with the Twins.
Originally drafted by the Dodgers in the 25th round of the 2012 draft, Coulombe made his big league debut in 2014. His time in LA would be short lived, as Coulombe would throw just 12 2/3 innings of 6.23 ERA ball before he was sent to Oakland the following year. Over the next few seasons, he’d establish himself as a regular in the A’s bullpen, pitching 130 2/3 innings of 4.06 ERA ball. The strikeout and walk rates would fluctuate a fair bit during this time, but Coulombe would generally strikeout batters at bit above the league-average rate, while giving up free passes a bit more frequently than league-average.
Coulombe, 33, was released by the A’s at the end of the 2018 season, and wouldn’t appear in the big league again until 2020. That year was the first of three (and now four) successive minor league pacts with the Twins where Coulombe would eventually work his way onto the big league roster. Over those three years in Minnesota, Coulombe has tossed 49 1/3 innings and worked to a 2.92 ERA. Advanced metrics have looked a little less favorably on his work, with his FIP over that time sitting at 3.81.
This past season started well enough for Coulombe, cracking the opening day roster. He worked to a 1.46 ERA across 12 1/3 innings of relief, before hitting the IL with a left hip impingement in early May. He was activated towards the end of the month, but a day after coming off the IL he wound up back there with the same left hip impingement. Coulombe would undergo surgery to repair the labrum, ending his season.
Coulombe throws a low-90s fastball, and mixes in a slider and curveball, as well as a changeup that he introduced this past season. Coulombe has been a quietly effective southpaw for the Twins over the past few seasons, and if he can show he’s fully recovered from surgery in spring training, it certainly stands to reason that he could find himself again contributing to the major league team in 2023.
Marwin Gonzalez To Sign With NPB’s Orix Buffaloes
Marwin Gonzalez is heading to Japan, having agreed a deal to join the Orix Buffaloes, according to Yahoo Japan. The MVP Sports Group client will take home a $1.5MM salary, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Gonzalez, 34 in March, spent the 2022 season as a utility option off the bench for the Yankees, slashing .185/.255/.321 with six home runs across 207 plate appearances. While the bat didn’t really show up, the veteran was generally a positive contributor on defense, appearing at every position bar catcher and center-field.
That’s generally been the case for Gonzalez over a 12-year big league career that saw him spend his first seven seasons in Houston, and then stints in Minnesota and Boston, before a return to Houston and a season in the Bronx this year. Outside of a .303/.377/.530 year in 2017, the switch-hitting Gonzalez has never been an elite hitter, and owns a career .252/.310/.399 line. He’s made up for that with his defensive strength and versatility though, and has compiled 11.1 fWAR over his career.
The production’s been in decline for a few years though, and since 2020 Gonzalez has hit just .198/.272/.313 with a steady increase in strikeouts. That’s been good for a wRC+ of just 63, or 37% below the league average. That period’s also seen Gonzalez bounce around the league a bit, suiting up for four different teams during that time. 2020 saw him play out the second year of a two-year, $21MM deal with the Twins, before he inked a one-year, $3MM pact with the Red Sox in 2021. Boston designated him for assignment late in the season, and he returned to Houston that year to serve as a bench piece down the stretch. The Yankees signed him to a minor league deal last winter, but were impressed enough in spring training to add him to the big league roster on opening day, and he held his spot all season.
The Buffaloes are the defending NPB champions, having won the Japan Series 4-2 over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows this year, their second straight season playing in the Japan Series.
Blue Jays, Julian Fernandez Agree To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays are signing reliever Julian Fernández to a minor league contract, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link). He’ll add some hard-throwing bullpen depth to the upper minors.
Fernández has over two years of major league service, but virtually all of that was spent on the injured list. The Giants took the righty out of the Rockies organization in the 2017 Rule 5 draft. He suffered an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery before he could throw a pitch for San Francisco and spent the entire following season on the MLB injured list. The Marlins claimed him off waivers the next offseason but he spent the entire 2019 campaign on the IL as well thanks to continued elbow issues.
Over the 2019-20 offseason, Miami relinquished his Rule 5 rights. That sent him back to his original organization, the Rockies, without requiring a 40-man roster spot. Fernández had racked up two years of MLB service without appearing in a game, but he finally got his first real opportunity late in the 2021 season. Colorado selected him onto their 40-man roster as a September call-up. He allowed eight runs in 6 2/3 innings over six outings, struggling with his control but averaging a blistering 99 MPH on a fastball that maxed out just shy of 101.
Fernández held his roster spot with Colorado last winter but spent the first few months of the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque. He struggled and was designated for assignment in mid-June. He cleared outright waivers and stuck with the Isotopes for the entire season, tallying 57 innings across 58 appearances. The Dominican-born hurler allowed a 6.63 ERA in that extremely hitter-friendly league, serving up a staggering 2.37 home runs per nine innings. He struck out 24.9% of opponents on an impressive 13.6% swinging strike percentage, but the longball and a 12.3% walk rate proved too problematic for him to get back to the majors.
After qualifying for minor league free agency at season’s end, Fernández finds a new opportunity in Toronto. His arm strength is surely intriguing for the Jays pitching development staff even as his minor league performance track record has been inconsistent. The 27-year-old still has two minor league option years remaining, so if he cracks Toronto’s 40-man at any point, he can bounce between Rogers Centre and Triple-A Buffalo freely for the next couple seasons.
Yankees, Tyler Danish Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees are in agreement with reliever Tyler Danish on a minor league contract, reports Sweeny Murti of WFAN (on Twitter). He’ll be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Danish has appeared in parts of four major league seasons, with the bulk of his work coming this year. He made brief MLB appearances as a member of the White Sox each year from 2016-18 before a few seasons kicking around the upper minors. Danish latched on with the Red Sox on a minor league deal last winter and cracked the 40-man roster out of Spring Training. He’d spend most of the season in the majors, with 32 of his 42 outings coming at the highest level.
The 28-year-old posted a 5.13 ERA through 40 1/3 innings over that stretch. Danish induced grounders at a solid 47.2% clip and limited walks to a meager 6.9% rate but he didn’t miss many bats. He averaged just under 91 MPH on his sinker, relying more frequently on a low-80s curveball than any other offering. The Florida native picked up swinging strikes on a below-average 7.4% of his pitches, resulting in a fairly modest 18.5% strikeout percentage.
At the end of the season, the Red Sox ran Danish through outright waivers. He cleared and elected minor league free agency, where he’s now landed with their top rivals. He’ll try to crack a Yankee bullpen that is already fairly deep in right-handed options. Clay Holmes, Jonathan Loáisiga, Ron Marinaccio, Tommy Kahnle, Lou Trivino and Michael King should be on the roster if healthy (as would southpaw Wandy Peralta). Domingo Germán and Albert Abreu — both of whom are out of minor league option years — look to have the inside track on jobs as well. Jimmy Cordero, Greg Weissert, Matt Krook and Clarke Schmidt are all also on the 40-man roster but can still be sent to the minors.
Given that depth, Danish looks likely to open the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He’d add some experienced depth to the upper levels of the system. He’s out of minor league options himself, so if he cracks the 40-man roster at any point, he’ll have to remain in the majors or be designated for assignment and made available to other clubs.
Dodgers Designate Jake Reed For Assignment
The Dodgers have designated reliever Jake Reed for assignment. The move clears a spot on the 40-man roster for designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who has officially signed his one-year, $10MM contract.
It’s another trip to DFA limbo for Reed, something with which he’s become unfortunately familiar. The right-hander has bounced around the league quite a bit in recent months, continuing to attract interest from various clubs at the back of the 40-man roster. Since July, Reed has gone from the Mets to the Dodgers to the Orioles to the Red Sox and back to L.A. via waivers. It’s possible he now changes uniforms again, as he’ll be traded or waived within the next week.
A low-slot righty, Reed has pitched in the majors in each of the last two years. He’s split that time with the Dodgers, Mets and Orioles, working to a cumulative 5.74 ERA through 26 2/3 innings. He has a below-average 19.2% strikeout percentage and 39.8% grounder rate with a roughly average 8.3% walk percentage in that time.
The University of Oregon product has had a better go in the minor leagues. He’s logged time at the Triple-A level in six different years, putting up a 3.84 ERA through 215 2/3 frames with a solid 25.6% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. It was a similar story this past season, with Reed posting a 3.09 ERA and a 26:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 20 Triple-A appearances between three organizations.
That capable track record at the upper levels has continued to catch the attention of clubs with room at the back of the roster. The 30-year-old still has a minor league option year remaining, so any team that keeps him on the 40-man could bounce him between the majors and Triple-A for another season.
Cubs Designate P.J. Higgins For Assignment
The Cubs announced they’ve designated P.J. Higgins for assignment. The move opens a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow catcher Tucker Barnhart, who has officially signed a two-year free agent deal.
Higgins, 29, has appeared in the majors in each of the last two seasons. A 12th-round pick back in 2015, he reached the majors in 2021 after six seasons climbing Chicago’s minor league ranks. That first stint proved brief, as Higgins played in just nine games before tearing the UCL in his throwing arm. He required Tommy John surgery and missed the rest of the season. At the end of the year, Chicago ran him through outright waivers rather than reinstate him from the injured list.
The Old Dominion product quickly returned to the only organization he’s known, inking a minor league contract a few weeks later. He spent the first six weeks of the 2022 campaign with Triple-A Iowa before being re-selected onto the MLB roster. The season saw Higgins log his first extensive major league action, as he appeared in 74 games and picked up 229 plate appearances.
It was a fairly successful look, as Higgins posted a .229/.310/.383 line with six home runs and 11 doubles. That was a bit better than the .228/.295/.368 mark compiled by catchers around the league. The right-hander showed decent contact skills and plate discipline, albeit with very modest hard contact numbers. He’s shown a similar high-OBP profile throughout his time in the minors, compiling a .279/.365/.378 line through 2100 career MiLB plate appearances.
While he hit fairly well for the position, Higgins didn’t rate highly in the eyes of public defensive marks. Statcast rated him a couple runs below average as a pitch framer through 236 innings behind the dish. His arm strength similarly rated below par, with his average pop time (time to throw to second on a steal attempt) checking in 60th among 73 backstops with 10+ throws. He successfully threw out only three of 16 basestealers. Higgins was also behind the plate for three passed balls and 13 wild pitches in 24 starts as a catcher, with Defensive Runs Saved estimating him as six runs below average overall.
Despite those defensive numbers, Higgins could find some interest from another club on the waiver wire. Catching depth is always in demand, and Higgins has flashed better offensive capabilities than most reserve catchers. Adding to the appeal, Higgins has a full slate of minor league option years remaining. Any team willing to carry him on the 40-man roster could keep him in Triple-A for the foreseeable future. If Higgins were to go unclaimed on waivers, he’d have the right to elect minor league free agency as a player who has previously been outrighted in his career.
Marlins Sign Jean Segura
December 29: Segura’s deal has a third year team option, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. It’s not clear what kind of option that is, but Mish provides the specific financial breakdown. Segura will make $6.5MM in 2023 and $8.5MM in 2024, then there’s a $10MM option for 2025 with a $2MM buyout.
December 28: The Marlins are in agreement on a deal with Jean Segura, as first reported by Héctor Gómez of Z101 (Twitter link). Once finalized, it’ll be a two-year, $17MM contract for the CAA client.
Segura has spent the last four years in the NL East. The Phillies acquired the right-handed hitting infielder over the 2018-19 offseason in a deal that sent J.P. Crawford and offloaded the final season of Carlos Santana’s contract to the Mariners. He spent four seasons as an everyday middle infielder in Philadelphia. He hit free agency at the start of this offseason when the team bought him out for $1MM in lieu of a $17MM option.
As he has for much of his career, Segura provided consistently effective work on both sides of the ball. He hit between 10 and 14 home runs in all three full seasons while stealing between nine and 13 bases in each year. In each of the past three seasons, he’s put up slightly above-average numbers at the plate. Since the start of the 2019 campaign, the two-time All-Star owns a .281/.337/.418 line through just under 1800 trips to the dish.
Segura has typically been a durable and reliable presence in the lineup, topping 125 games in all eight full seasons from 2013-21 and playing in 57 of 60 games during the abbreviated 2020 campaign. That wasn’t the case in 2022, as he fractured his right index finger on a bunt attempt at the end of May. That required surgery and sidelined him through early August, but Segura’s rate production this year was in line with that of prior seasons.
The 32-year-old (33 in March) hit .277/.336/.387 over 387 plate appearances. He’s not one to draw many walks or hit for huge power, but he makes plenty of contact. Segura only struck out in 15% of his trips to the plate and has posted a lower than average strikeout percentage in every season of his career. He put the bat on the ball on 83.2% of his swings this past season, a rate that’s nearly six percentage points higher than the league average. Those contact skills are certainly appealing to a Marlins club that entered the offseason seeking hitters with low strikeout rates.
It’s the first notable roster move of the winter for Miami general manager Kim Ng and her staff. They’ve sought to upgrade a lineup that ranked 28th in MLB in run scoring but hadn’t made any moves to bolster the offense thus far. Segura adds a potential top-of-the-lineup threat for first-year manager Skip Schumaker.
While he’s a solid addition to the batting order, it’s not as ideal a fit positionally. Segura played shortstop for the early part of his career but posted below-average defensive marks there in 2019. After that season, Philadelphia signed Didi Gregorius and kicked Segura to the other side of the bag. He’s played almost exclusively second base for three years, with just 21 starts at third base and two starts at shortstop (all in 2020) over that stretch. Segura has manned shortstop for only two innings in the past two seasons.
Since moving to the keystone, the Dominican Republic native has rated highly with the glove. Defensive Runs Saved has credited him a cumulative six runs above average for the past three years, while Statcast has pegged him 13 runs above par. Second base is his best position at this stage of his career, meaning it appears young star Jazz Chisholm Jr. will kick over to shortstop. While Chisholm came up as a shortstop prospect, he’s played mostly second base in MLB. Like Segura, he didn’t log a single inning outside of second base in 2022. In a fairly small sample of 329 2/3 innings at shortstop from 2020-21, Chisholm rated as a below-average defender by both DRS and Statcast.
Moving Chisholm to shortstop could signal a reduction in playing time for Miguel Rojas. Regarded as Miami’s unofficial team captain, Rojas has been the primary shortstop in South Florida for five straight seasons. He’s a quality defender but hit only .236/.283/.323 across 507 plate appearances in 2022. That lackluster offensive showing could be partially explained by injury, as the 33-year-old underwent surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right wrist at season’s end. Rojas is under contract for $5MM next season and reportedly drew some trade interest from the Red Sox earlier this winter. Miami could certainly keep Rojas around as infield depth — particularly if they deal third baseman Joey Wendle instead — but the Segura signing could make them more willing to entertain trade offers on their incumbent shortstop.
Segura was one of four players and two position players (the other being Jurickson Profar) from MLBTR’s pre-offseason top 50 free agents who hadn’t yet agreed to terms. The reported contract is a near-match for the two years and $18MM which MLBTR had projected. The deal’s specific financial breakdown remains unreported, but evenly distributing $8.5MM salaries would bring Miami’s estimated 2023 payroll to $103MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. That’d be a fair bit north of this past season’s $79MM Opening Day mark.
How much money Ng and her staff still have to play with isn’t clear, though the club could continue to look for ways to address the offense. Center field is an obvious area of need, while Miami may add behind the plate or at the corner infield. The Marlins’ stable of quality young pitching gives them the chance to turn to the trade market for offensive help, which now figures to be the course of action after tonight’s dip into free agency.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.