Reds Sign Wil Myers To One-Year Deal
The Reds announced they have signed first baseman/outfielder Wil Myers to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2024. Myers will be guaranteed $7.5MM on the deal, which comes in the form of a $6MM salary in 2023 along with a $1.5MM buyout on the option. He can earn a further $1.5MM of incentives based on playing time and will receive an extra $500K if he’s traded, potentially earning $9.5MM by season’s end. Myers is represented by CAA Sports.
Myers, 32, was originally drafted by the Royals but was traded to the Rays before he made it to the majors. He was considered one of the best prospects in the league at that time, with Baseball America ranking him fourth overall going into the 2013 season. Myers would go on to make his MLB debut with Tampa that year, posting a batting line of .293/.354/.478. That production was 29% above average, by measure of wRC+. He was worth 2.3 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs and won the American League Rookie of the Year award.
Despite his prospect status and exciting debut, Myers has since settled in as more of a decent regular than a true star. He endured a sophomore slump in 2014, hitting just .222/.294/.320 for a wRC+ of 76. After that season, Myers was traded to the Padres and bounced back. Injuries limited him to just 60 games in 2015, but his 2016 was excellent. He hit 28 home runs and stole 28 bases, finishing the year with a batting line of .259/.336/.461 and a wRC+ of 114. That resulted in a 3.4 fWAR tally and encouraged the Padres to give Myers a six-year, $83MM extension.
Unfortunately for the Padres, that 2016 campaign now stands out as Myers’ best. He’s still been a valuable player, but hasn’t topped 2.0 fWAR in any subsequent season. Despite still being a decent contributor, his contract eventually came to be seen as an albatross due to its back-loaded nature. Myers got a $15MM signing bonus but then modest salaries of $2MM in 2017 and 2018, followed by $3MM in 2019, but then jumping to $20MM for each of the last three years of the deal. The club reportedly made many attempts to trade Myers in the latter half of the deal but never succeeded.
Over the six years of that contract, Myers hit 98 home runs and stole 61 bases. He struck out in 29.2% of his plate appearances but also walked at a healthy 9.8% rate. In the end, he produced a combined batting line of .252/.327/.451 for a wRC+ of 109, indicating he was 9% better than the league average hitter in that timeframe. He should be able to provide the Reds with a solid veteran bat that might also play up in their hitter-friendly ballpark.
Defensively, Myers played exclusively at first base in 2017 but has spent most of his time in the outfield in the five seasons since. Advanced metrics are split on his work, though he generally grades out as being about average as a corner outfielder and a bit subpar at first base. Myers’ flexibility in that regard is likely appealing to a Reds’ team that has uncertainty in those areas. Joey Votto has been the club’s first baseman for well over a decade now, but he’s now 39 years old, turning 40 in September. He also underwent season-ending rotator cuff surgery in August, which comes with an estimated six-month recovery time. That should allow him to return before Opening Day, but Myers gives them an experienced fallback plan if there’s any kind of setback or if the club wants to reduce Votto’s playing time.
In the outfield, they have a number of in-house options but no one really cemented in place. Nick Senzel, Nick Solak, Jake Fraley and TJ Friedl are some of the candidates who could be vying for outfield roles in 2023, but none of them have proven themselves enough that they should be guaranteed anything. Myers can step in wherever he fits best based on how those others are doing and can also take some time as the designated hitter if those others are all doing well. Mike Moustakas is also in line for some DH duty but he’s coming off two-straight disappointing and injury-marred campaigns. If Myers is performing well or the Reds simply want to make room for their younger players, Myers could become a trade candidate as the deadline approaches.
Financially, the rebuilding Reds haven’t thrown much money around this winter. This is just their second major league signing of the offseason alongside a modest deal for backup catcher Luke Maile. Roster Resource calculates this signing as bumping their payroll up to $78MM. That’s still well shy of their $114MM figure from Opening Day 2022, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. If they are willing to spend up to similar levels, they could still have some more cash for further moves, though they also might stay on the low side after aggressively trading away significant salaries in recent years.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the $7.5MM guarantee and the ability for Myers to reach $9.5MM. Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer first had the specifics of the $500K bonus for a trade plus $1.5MM in incentives. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com first broke down the $6MM salary in 2023 with the $1.5MM buyout on the option.
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Nationals Claim Jeter Downs, Designate Reed Garrett
The Nationals announced they have claimed infielder Jeter Downs off waivers from the Red Sox. Downs had been recently designated for assignment by Boston. To create space on the 40-man roster, the Nats designated reliever Reed Garrett for assignment. Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. reported the claim of Downs prior to the official announcement.
Downs, 24, is perhaps best known as one of the key pieces of the trade that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers in February of 2020. Downs went to the Red Sox alongside Alex Verdugo and Connor Wong. At the time, Downs was a highly-touted prospect, featuring on the back end of Baseball America’s top 100 list in both 2020 and 2021.
Unfortunately, his stock has completely nosedived in the past two years. After the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in 2020, Downs spent 2021 in Triple-A, getting into 99 games on the year. His power and speed were still evident, as he hit 14 home runs and stole 18 bases. However, he struck out in 32.3% of his plate appearances and finished with a batting line of .190/.272/.333 for a wRC+ of 62.
2022 was an improvement but only slightly. His strikeout rate dropped but was still quite high at 29.6%. He added another 16 homers and swiped 18 more bags, but his batting line of .197/.316/.412 added up to a 95 wRC+. He also got into 14 MLB games but hit just .154/.171/.256 in that small sample, striking out in 51.2% of his trips to the plate.
The Sox gave up on him by designating him for assignment last week but the rebuilding Nats will give him a shot. He’s still only 24, was a top prospect less than two years ago and has two option years remaining. He also brings defensive versatility, having primarily played shortstop but also some second and third base.
The Nats will have a young middle infield consisting of CJ Abrams at shortstop and Luis Garcia at second. Third base figures to be manned by Jeimer Candelario, though he’s only on a one-year deal and could be dealt at midseason if he’s performing well. Carter Kieboom is also in the mix for work at the hot corner though he’s struggled in the big leagues so far and missed the 2022 season entirely due to Tommy John surgery. Veteran Ildemaro Vargas is also on hand as a utility option, though there are avenues there for Downs to work his way into the picture if he can get things back on track.
Garrett, 30 in January, he has limited MLB experience, getting into 13 games with the 2019 Tigers and another seven with the 2022 Nationals with a stint in Japan in between. He posted a 6.75 ERA in the big leagues this year but was much better in the minors. He logged 47 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.04 ERA, 27% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 47.4% ground ball rate. The Nats will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He still has a couple of option years remaining and had solid minor league numbers this year, which could lead to some interest from other clubs.
White Sox Acquire Gregory Santos
The White Sox are acquiring reliever Gregory Santos from the Giants, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Santos was recently designated for assignment by the Giants. The White Sox have since announced the deal, with minor league right-hander Kade McClure going the other way.
Santos, 23, began his career in the Red Sox organization but came to the Giants in the 2017 deadline deal that sent Eduardo Núñez to Boston. The Giants were impressed enough with his development to give him a 40-man roster spot ahead of the 2020 Rule 5 draft. In 2021, Santos made a brief MLB debut but was handed an 80-game suspension in June after testing positive for Stanozolol, a banned performance-enhancing drug.
In 2022, Santos served as optional depth, throwing just 3 2/3 innings in the big leagues. In 33 Triple-A innings, he posted a 4.91 ERA with strong strikeout rate and ground ball rates of 23% and 51.7%, respectively. However, control was an issue with Santos walking 13.5% of batters faced, something that has been a persistent problem in recent years. He has a 16.7% walk rate in his brief MLB tenure as well.
Despite those control issues, the White Sox are likely interested in the power of his arm, as his fastball averaged at 98.8 mph in his brief showing this year. He’s also still quite young and has one option year remaining, allowing him to serve as depth in the minor leagues.
McClure, 27 in February, was a sixth round selection of the White Sox in 2017. He worked his way up the minors as a starting pitcher, posting decent enough results for Baseball America to deem him the #20 White Sox prospect going into 2021. Unfortunately, he reached Triple-A that year and struggled by posting a 6.81 ERA. In 2022, the Sox shifted him to the bullpen, as he made just five starts and 39 relief appearances. His 4.97 ERA in Triple-A this year still isn’t great, but he did have solid peripherals with a 24.8% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 39% ground ball rate.
Mets Sign Omar Narvaez
December 22: The Mets have officially announced the deal.
December 15: The Mets have dipped into free agency yet again, agreeing to terms with backstop Omar Narváez. It’s reportedly a two-year, $15MM guarantee that allows him to opt out at the end of next season. Narváez, a client of ISE Baseball, will make $8MM in 2023, leaving him to decide on a $7MM option for the following season.
Narváez, who turns 31 in February, heads to Queens after three seasons in Milwaukee. The Brewers acquired the lefty-hitting backstop from the Mariners during the 2019-20 offseason. Narváez had developed a reputation as a bat-first catcher in the Pacific Northwest. He’d hit .278/.353/.460 during his lone season with Seattle. That’s excellent production for a catcher, but his pitch framing metrics were well below-average.
The Brewers landed the #1 catcher they’d been seeking in that deal, although they likely didn’t foresee the scope of his production changing the way it did. Narváez seemed to make a concerted effort to improving his pitch framing numbers. He posted strong marks in that regard in all three seasons in Wisconsin, with Statcast cumulatively crediting him as 21 runs above average over the three-year stretch. That defensive uptick coincided with a drop in production at the plate, though, as he hasn’t managed to repeat his early-career offensive numbers.
Over his time as a Brewer, Narváez hit .233/.318/.350. He was average or worse in each season, including a lackluster .206/.292/.305 mark in 296 plate appearances during his platform year. The Venezuela native had a pair of injured list stints this year, missing time with COVID-19 and then a left hamstring strain. Even when healthy, Milwaukee deployed a more even split in playing time with Víctor Caratini, who marginally outperformed Narváez at the plate.
Narváez has solid contact skills, but a 22-homer season of 2019 now looks like the product of the very lively ball used that season. He’s only topped 10 homers in another year once, hitting 11 in Milwaukee’s hitter-friendly home environment in 2021. While he rarely hits the ball hard, he’s worked walks at a strong clip in each season of his career and strikes out less often than the average batter (aside from an anomalous spike in the abbreviated 2020 campaign).
It’s a bit surprising to see Narváez secure a $15MM commitment, particularly one that affords him a chance to retest the market a year from now. With Willson Contreras and Christian Vázquez off the board, he was the top remaining free agent backstop. Narváez has showed glimpses of offensive and defensive potential, although he’s never quite put the two together over a full season.
New York has been incredibly aggressive this winter, but they’d sat out the catching market. The Mets could’ve rolled things back with veteran James McCann as the starter, particularly since they have the glove-first Tomás Nido as a depth option and top prospect Francisco Álvarez in the wings. McCann has only a .220/.282/.328 line in 603 plate appearances since signing a four-year free agent deal over the 2020-21 offseason. Nido has never hit enough to be a regular, and the 21-year-old Álvarez still faces questions about his ability to handle the rigors of the position. The presence of Narváez doesn’t figure to stand in Álvarez’s way once the organization deems the youngster ready for a full look, though it’ll afford them some extra veteran security if he needs more time to hone his receiving and game-calling skills.
The Mets would presumably be happy to find a trade partner for McCann. With $24MM still due over the final two years of his contract, the Mets would surely have to pay down some of the money to offload the veteran backstop. They could keep the righty-hitting McCann to partner with Nárvaez in a loose platoon arrangement. Doing so might require parting with Nido, however, since he’s out of minor league option years. All three backstops would have to stay on the MLB roster or be cut loose, and that’s before considering the possibility of an Álvarez promotion. At some point next year, one of McCann or Nido seems likely to have changed uniforms.
Tacking on another $8MM brings the Mets projected 2023 payroll north of $343MM, per Roster Resource. The deal counts for $7.5MM against the luxury tax, since the player option is treated as guaranteed money when calculating its average annual value.
New York has already shattered the fourth and final tier of CBT penalization, subjecting them to a 90% tax on every additional dollar spent. The Narváez deal will cost them an extra $6.75MM in taxes, meaning the Mets are committing $14.75MM to secure his services for next year alone (in addition to the 2024 option). That’s likely a far higher price than any other club would’ve paid, but it’s the latest example owner Steve Cohen is unconcerned about spending when the front office presents him an opportunity to improve the roster.
Robert Murray of FanSided was first to report Narváez and the Mets were nearing agreement on a contract. Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported it was a two-year guarantee with an opt-out after 2023. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was first to report the $15MM guarantee and financial breakdown.
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Padres Sign Seth Lugo
Dec. 22: The Padres have officially announced Lugo’s signing.
Dec. 19, 1:33pm: Lugo will be guaranteed a bit more than $15MM on the contract and can opt out of the deal following the 2023 season, tweets Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. Heyman adds that the deal pays Lugo $7.5MM in 2023 before he’ll decide on a $7.5MM player option for 2024.
1:13pm: The Padres are finalizing a contract with free-agent righty Seth Lugo, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets the two sides have agreed to a deal. The Post’s Joel Sherman adds that the Padres plan for Lugo to join the starting rotation. San Diego and the division-rival Dodgers were reportedly the two likeliest landing spots for the Ballengee Group client.
Lugo, 33, has been a reliable member of the Mets’ bullpen for the past two seasons but has ample starting experience in his career and had been hoping to land with a team that would give him an opportunity to start. The Padres can likely offer just such an opportunity, as the fifth spot in their rotation behind Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Nick Martinez is currently unsettled. Left-hander and former top prospect Adrian Morejon had previously been seen as a front-runner for that spot, but he’ll now act as a depth option alongside minor league hurlers Ryan Weathers, Jay Groome, Pedro Avila and Reiss Knehr.
Over the past two seasons in the Mets’ bullpen, Lugo has turned in a 3.56 ERA with a 26.6% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate and a 44.4% ground-ball rate. His average four-seamer has clocked in at 94.4 mph in that time, and while it’s possible that velocity will dip a bit when working in longer stints, Lugo has far more secondary offerings than the standard reliever. In addition to that four-seamer, he’ll also throw a plus curveball, a sinker, an occasional slider and a more seldom-used changeup.
That repertoire of four, if not five pitches, surely emboldened some teams to consider him as a potential addition to the rotation. Lugo has made 38 starts in his career — all of which has been spent with the Mets to this point — and once looked as though he might have a chance to solidify himself on the starting staff in Queens. However, a “slight” tear of his right elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament back in 2017 derailed his season.
The tear was minimal enough that surgery was not recommended, however. Lugo received a platelet-rich plasma injection, opted for a rest-and-rehab approach, and returned to the mound as a reliever in 2018. By the time required surgery to remove a bone spur from the elbow in 2021, his surgeon remarked that he was “impressed with how [the UCL] wound up” (link via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo).
With a clean bill of health and some quality recent results out of the ‘pen, Lugo becomes an interesting upside candidate in the fifth spot of the Padres’ rotation. Moving him to the bullpen will always be there as a safety net, but Lugo has a 4.35 ERA in 194 career innings as a starter, and those numbers are skewed by a disastrous showing in the shortened 2020 season. From 2016-18, Lugo tossed 168 1/3 innings as a starter and recorded a more palatable 4.06 ERA. He hasn’t seen an enormous spike in opponents’ productivity when facing them a second or third time in a game; in fact, his opponents’ numbers have actually worsened when facing him a second/third time — though it’s unlikely that trend will continue.
Lugo’s $7.5MM annual salary will push the Padres’ 2023 payroll north of $240MM, while the team’s projected luxury-tax ledger will jump just north of $262MM, per Roster Resource. The Padres are currently lined up to exceed the tax threshold for a third consecutive season. As such, they’re paying a 50% penalty on the first $20MM by which they exceed the $233MM first-tier barrier, and a 62% overage on the next $20MM. The Friars were already more than $20MM over the tax line, so they’ll pay a 62% overage on Lugo’s $7.5MM AAV — a sum of $4.65MM.
Such penalties are seemingly of little consequence to an ultra-aggressive Padres club that has succeeded in high-profile pursuits of Juan Soto, Josh Hader and Xander Bogaerts in the past six months alone. Owner Peter Seidler appears steadfastly committed to his “championship at all costs” mindset, even if that means spending a total of $12.15MM (salary and luxury hit combined) on a fifth starter while including the downside (for the team) of a 2024 player option.
It’s a nice deal for Lugo, who’ll command the same type of guarantee many setup men of his caliber receive in free agency — but with the opportunity to opt back into free agency a year from now if the rotation experiment works out. Even if Lugo is ultimately moved to the ‘pen for one reason or another, so long as he continues at his prior pace with the Mets, he could even opt out and land a larger commitment as a pure reliever next winter. And, of course, if he ends up injured or sees his performance completely crater, he’ll have the security of a substantial salary already locked in for the 2024 season.
Guardians Sign Caleb Baragar, Caleb Simpson To Minor League Deals
The Guardians announced that they have signed a couple of Calebs to minor league deals. Left-hander Caleb Baragar and right-hander Caleb Simpson will join the organization and receive invitations to major league Spring Training.
Baragar, 29 in April, has seen some major league time with the Giants, making 49 appearances for them over the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In that time, he posted a 2.78 ERA despite middling rate states. His 18.8% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 21.7% ground ball rate are all worse than league average.
Things didn’t go as smoothly in the minors, as he posted an 8.46 ERA in 22 1/3 Triple-A innings in 2021, surely pushed northwards by a huge 17.6% walk rate. The Giants designated him for assignment in March of 2022 and he landed with the Diamondbacks on a waiver claim, who subsequently outrighted him in April. He posted a 5.51 ERA for the Triple-A Reno Aces in 2022, who play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Baragar struck out a healthy 23.8% of batters faced but still gave free passes at a high rate of 13.8%.
Simpson, 31, has yet to crack the major leagues, though he was included in Boston’s 60-man player pool during the 2020 season. He’s generally posted solid numbers up the minor league ladder but has struggled at Triple-A so far. In 2022, he posted a 2.92 ERA at Double-A but then a 9.11 ERA at the level above. His rate stats all took a hit as well, as he struck out 27.5% of Double-A hitters but just 21.3% in Triple-A. His walk rate went from 9.8% to 13.2% and his ground ball rate from 51.7% to 42.5%.
For the Guardians, there’s little harm in bringing in the two Calebs for some extra non-roster depth. Both players still have options and limited service time, meaning they could be cheap and versatile arms for the club if they show enough to crack the roster.
Orioles Acquire James McCann From Mets
The Mets and Orioles swung a trade late Wednesday night, with Baltimore acquiring James McCann and cash considerations for a player to be named later. New York is reportedly covering $19MM of the $24MM still remaining on McCann’s contract over the next two years. To create a spot on the 40-man roster, Baltimore designated infielder Tyler Nevin for assignment.
It looked like only a matter of time before McCann changed teams. New York agreed to terms with Omar Narváez on a two-year contract last Thursday. As soon as news of that agreement broke, it became clear the Mets were going to deal one of their incumbent backstops, with McCann the likeliest candidate. Neither McCann nor Tomás Nido could be sent to the minor leagues, and carrying three catchers on the 26-man roster would’ve been challenging. That’s before considering top prospect Francisco Álvarez, who figures to get an extended MLB look at some point soon after debuting late in the 2022 season.
McCann will secure his roster spot in Baltimore. The O’s entered the day with just one catcher on their 40-man roster, making it an inevitability they’d bring in some help from outside the organization. Of course, that backstop is AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman. McCann will have to move into a backup role with the O’s.
The past couple seasons have been rough for McCann, who first joined the Mets over the 2020-21 offseason. New York placed a sizable bet on the veteran backstop’s previous couple seasons with the White Sox. The University of Arkansas product had hit .276/.334/.474 through 587 plate appearances for Chicago between 2019-20. That handily dwarfed the .240/.288/.366 mark he’d posted over the preceding four-plus seasons with the Tigers, and the Mets clearly felt he’d turned a corner offensively. They inked him to a four-year, $40.6MM free agent contract that beat most expectations.
New York gave McCann extended run in his first season, starting him at catcher for 97 of their 162 games in 2021. His production more closely resembled that of his Detroit days, however. He hit .232/.294/.349 over 412 plate appearances, connecting on just 10 home runs after hitting 18 longballs in his only full season with the White Sox. Nevertheless, McCann was back in the Opening Day lineup for the second season of the deal as the Mets hoped for a bounceback campaign.
That wasn’t to be, as he struggled with both underperformance and injury this year. The veteran fractured the hamate bone in his left hand/wrist in mid-May. He required surgery and lost six weeks to rehab. A few weeks after his return, he suffered a strain in his left oblique and went back on the injured list for a little less than a month. In between the health setbacks, he managed just a .195/.257/.282 line in 61 games. By the time the postseason rolled around, Nido was starting behind the dish. McCann was relegated to a depth role, while Álvarez was with the big league club in a catcher/DH hybrid capacity.
The past two seasons certainly aren’t what the Mets had envisioned when they signed McCann. As a result, they’re left to pay down a notable chunk of the remaining money on his contract. His deal was backloaded, with a $600K signing bonus followed by successive $8MM salaries in the first two seasons. He’s due $12MM in each of the next two years, the bulk of which will remain on the Mets’ ledger.
While New York only sheds $5MM in actual salary, the savings from the trade are a bit more than that for owner Steve Cohen and his front office. New York is going to shatter all four thresholds of the competitive balance tax, meaning they’re paying a 90% tax for every additional dollar they spend next season.
Tim Healey of Newsday tweets that New York’s CBT hit on McCann will recalculate to encompass the two years and $19MM they’re still paying — a $9.5MM average annual value. His contract had previously counted for $10.6MM against the team’s tax ledger (reflecting the AAV of his four-year deal), so they’ll shave roughly $1.1MM off their CBT number. That translates to $990K in tax savings this year. If they surpass all four CBT thresholds again next year, they’d be taxed at 110% on every dollar spent beyond the fourth threshold. Shaving $1.1MM off their CBT mark would pick up around $1.21MM in tax savings that season.
Paying down the deal makes it a reasonable proposition for the Orioles. A $5MM commitment spread over two years is minimal for a veteran catcher. Players like Mike Zunino and Austin Hedges have signed one-year deals in the $5-6MM range recently as free agents. Those players will take on a larger role in their new destinations than McCann will with the Orioles, but he’d have fit in that group were he available on the open market. The O’s are nowhere near the luxury tax threshold, so the money New York saves in that regard is of little consequence to the O’s.
There’s no question it’s Rutschman’s job, but McCann offers a respected and experienced voice behind him on the depth chart. After a few seasons of subpar pitch framing numbers, he has rated as a slightly above-average framer in two of the past three years. McCann doesn’t have a great arm, but he’ll bring competent receiving when called upon in Rutschman’s stead. A situational role could allow manager Brandon Hyde to work him in against left-handed pitching, against which he has a career .258/.325/.458 mark. They’ll presumably look to shield him from righties, who have limited him to a meager .237/.284/.351 line.
It’s a minimal financial hit for Baltimore, and the acquisition cost will be minor. It’s not likely the player to be named later will be a prospect of much renown, with the Mets not negotiating from a position of strength. For the most part, the swap is about the Mets clearing the roster spot and some money. Baltimore will plug the #2 catcher spot they’d been seeking to address.
Doing so means they risk losing Nevin, who was bumped from the 40-man roster. The son of Angels skipper Phil Nevin, Tyler briefly debuted in the majors in 2021, but the bulk of his MLB experience came this past season. He hit just .197/.299/.261 with a pair of home runs across his first 184 trips to the plate. Nevin appeared at all four corner positions but rated poorly in the eyes of public metrics for his work at third base.
Prospect evaluators have long considered Nevin more of a bat-first player, so his defensive struggles at the hot corner aren’t too surprising. Baltimore has stockpiled plenty of upper level talent in the infield that had surpassed or was likely to soon leapfrog Nevin on the depth chart. They’ll now have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.
While Nevin doesn’t have much MLB experience, he’s only 25 and has a more respectable Triple-A track record. The righty is a .246/.328/.417 hitter through 644 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun tweets the O’s were granted a fourth minor league option year, meaning any team that acquired Nevin could bounce him between the majors and Triple-A for another season.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Orioles were acquiring McCann. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the Mets were receiving a player to be named later and that the O’s were covering $5MM in salary.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Mets To Sign Danny Mendick
The Mets are signing infielder Danny Mendick to a one-year, $1MM contract, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). Mendick had hit free agency after being non-tendered by the White Sox at the end of the season. He’s an Icon Sports Management client.
New York will be the second career organization for Mendick, who entered the professional ranks as 22nd-round selection of the White Sox back in 2015. A UMASS – Lowell product, he played four-plus seasons in the minors before breaking into the majors late in the 2019 campaign. Mendick played a part-time role as a light-hitting utility infielder for the next couple seasons, posting a .239/.298/.342 line in 340 plate appearances through the 2021 season.
In a brief look during the 2022 campaign, Mendick flashed some more interesting offensive production. He was off to a .289/.343/.443 start through 31 games. That production was built on the back of a probably unsustainable .352 average on balls in play, but he’d done enough to warrant an increasingly larger role in the middle infield. Mendick briefly looked as if he might seize the primary second base from Josh Harrison, whose tenure with the Sox started slowly. Unfortunately, his season was cut short when he tore the ACL in his left knee in June.
That proved to be the end of his White Sox tenure, as Chicago cut him loose before he could get a chance to return from the injury. Whether he’ll be healthy enough to crack the Opening Day roster isn’t clear, though the Mets like him enough to guarantee him an offseason 40-man roster spot in any event. New York certainly isn’t hurting for infield depth after agreeing to terms with Carlos Correa. Mendick still has a pair of minor league option years and can be sent to Triple-A Syracuse freely for a couple seasons.
The $1MM guarantee is barely north of the league minimum. The Mets will pay a 90% tax on that figure thanks to their luxury tax status, making the actual payment for them $1.9MM. Mendick has between two and three years of MLB service, so he’ll be eligible for arbitration for at least three seasons after next if he shows enough to hold a spot on the New York roster.
Willians Astudillo Signs With NPB’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Infielder Willians Astudillo has signed with the Fukuoka SoftBanks Hawks of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Astudillo, a client of the MAS Agency, will be guaranteed $1.35MM on the deal.
Astudillo has generated plenty of fanfare in recent years. A utility option for the Twins and Marlins, he has one of the rarest profiles in the sport. Astudillo is the antithesis of the three-true-outcomes hitter that has gained so much prevalence in the modern game. He virtually never walks, rarely strikes out and has modest power. Astudillo has appeared in the majors in each of the past five seasons, tallying 588 cumulative plate appearances. He’s a .267/.291/.396 hitter over that stretch, striking out just 4.8% of the time with a 1.9% walk rate.
After four seasons in the Twin Cities, the Venezuela native was non-tendered last winter. He landed with the Marlins on a minor league contract last offseason. Astudillo would appear in 21 big league contests but spent most of the season at Triple-A Jacksonville. The right-handed hitter had an excellent season as a Jumbo Shrimp, putting up a .307/.371/.541 line with 16 longballs in only 315 trips to the plate. Astudillo had one more walk than strikeouts (17 to 16).
A catching prospect earlier in his career, Astudillo has mostly moved to the infield in recent years. He still occasionally goes behind the plate, starting four games there in Jacksonville in 2022. More of his experience has come at third and second base, though he also can play first base and the corner outfield. Astudillo isn’t a great defender anywhere; moving him around the diamond has more served to get his high-contact bat in the lineup.
This will be the first stint in an Asian professional league for the 31-year-old. His salary with the Hawks is well above what he’d have been guaranteed if he signed another minor league contract with an MLB team this offseason.
Rangers, Joe McCarthy Agree To Minor League Deal
Outfielder Joe McCarthy is signing a minor league deal with the Rangers, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). He’ll receive an invitation to big league Spring Training.
It’s the second consecutive offseason in which McCarthy and the Rangers lined up on a minor league pact. Texas granted him his release a couple weeks into this past season, paving the way for the University of Virginia product to sign with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. The lefty-hitting outfielder appeared in 59 games with the Buffaloes, hitting .225/.344/.343 with four home runs through 212 trips to the dish. Strikeouts proved problematic, as he punched out in 27.4% of his plate appearances.
While it wasn’t a great NPB stint, McCarthy is an accomplished Triple-A hitter. He posted a quality .306/.384/.542 mark in 74 games with the Giants top affiliate in Sacramento in 2021. That brought his career line at the top minor league level to .255/.355/.464. McCarthy has a robust 12.1% walk rate at the level, striking out 24.2% of the time in the process.
McCarthy, the older brother of Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy, has just four games of MLB experience. Those came with the Giants during the abbreviated 2020 season. He’ll look to carve out a longer big league look in his age-29 campaign. McCarthy is primarily a corner outfielder whose best position is left field, an area in which the Rangers are searching for upgrades. Texas surely won’t cease a pursuit of targets like Michael Conforto because they’ve added McCarthy, but the signing adds some extra depth at a questionable position while giving him an opportunity to compete for a roster spot next spring.