NPB’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Sign Maikel Franco
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of third baseman Maikel Franco for the 2023 season (link via Japan Times). It’ll be the first stint in Japan for Franco, who has appeared in the majors in each of the past nine campaigns.
A top prospect during his days as a minor leaguer, Franco looked like a franchise building block for the Phillies after a .280/.343/.497 showing during his age-22 season in 2015. He never took the expected step forward after that initial MLB success, however, and that year remains the best of his career. Franco posted below-average numbers in each of the next two seasons. He bounced back with an average year in 2018 but was cut loose after another disappointing season in 2019.
After being let go by Philadelphia, Franco bounced around the majors in journeyman fashion. He signed with the Royals for the abbreviated 2020 campaign. He posted decent offensive numbers but was nevertheless non-tendered at the end of the season. Franco played for the Orioles and Nationals over the past couple seasons, logging a bit more than 100 games in each year. He combined for just a .219/.254/.319 line from 2021-22, and he was released in August during both seasons.
Franco owns a .244/.293/.414 line in over 3500 big league plate appearances. He’s connected on 130 home runs and surpassed 20 longballs in three straight seasons with the Phils from 2016-18. He’s occasionally shown the power potential that once made him such an exciting young player, but a very aggressive offensive approach has prevented him from topping a .321 on-base percentage in any season since his rookie year. Franco has rated as a below-average defensive third baseman throughout his career.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Franco has a decent .268/.314/.439 line over parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’ll look to more consistently tap into his power production against NPB pitching. He only recently turned 30 years old and could again be an option for MLB teams in future offseasons if he performs well in Japan.
Rays To Sign Zach Eflin To Three-Year Deal
The Rays are dipping into the free agent pitching market, agreeing to terms with right-hander Zach Eflin on a three-year deal. It’s reportedly a $40MM guarantee for the O’Connell Sports Management client. Eflin will make $11MM in each of the next two seasons, followed by an $18MM salary in 2025. The deal is pending a physical.
Eflin had spent his entire big league career with the Phillies. Originally drafted by the Padres, the Orlando native was dealt to the Dodgers and Phils during his time as a minor leaguer. He reached the majors by the middle of the 2016 campaign, bouncing on and off the MLB roster for the first couple seasons. Eflin struggled during his early big league looks, but he’d settled in as a capable mid-rotation arm by 2018.
That season, he made 24 starts and worked to a 4.36 ERA across 128 innings. That kicked off a remarkably consistent stretch of results. In each of the five seasons between 2018-22, Eflin posted an ERA between 3.97 and 4.36. Aside from a spike in strikeouts during the abbreviated 2020 season, he achieved those 3rd/4th starter results in a similar manner every year. He’s proven an excellent strike-thrower who misses bats at a slightly below-average level but keeps the ball on the ground at a solid clip.
Between 2019-21, Eflin worked to a 4.12 ERA with a slightly below-average 21.4% strikeout rate but a stellar 5.7% walk percentage. He’d been on a similar path to begin this season, posting a 4.37 ERA with a 19.6% strikeout percentage and a 5.3% walk rate through his first 13 starts. At the end of June, he landed on the injured list with a right knee contusion. That cost him over two months. By the time he was ready for reinstatement in early September, the Phils had limited time to build him back to a starter’s workload before year’s end. They expedited his return to the majors by plugging him in short relief. Eflin made seven appearances out of the bullpen during the regular season, then tossed 10 2/3 frames over 10 outings as a high-leverage arm during the Phils’ run to a National League pennant.
While Eflin doesn’t miss many bats, his blend of stellar control and a solid five-pitch mix allowed him to find a fair amount of success in Philadelphia’s hitter-friendly home environment. Against right-handed hitters, he leans primarily on a sinker in the 92-93 MPH range, but he turned to a four-seam fastball more often against lefties. Eflin mixes in a cutter and curveball as his usual secondary offerings, occasionally deploying a slider against righties as well. He rarely turns to a changeup, however, and he’s had his share of issues with left-handed batters. Southpaws have hit Eflin at a .274/.335/.492 clip since the start of 2018, but he’s stifled same-handed hitters to a .255/.291/.398 mark.
Tampa Bay surely has designs on plugging him back into the rotation after a healthy offseason. He’ll step in behind Shane McClanahan and Tyler Glasnow in the pecking order, joining Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs in what looks to be the season-opening starting five. The Rays have one of the sport’s top pitching prospects, Taj Bradley, waiting in the wings after a great season in the upper minors. Shane Baz was expected to seize a rotation job himself, but he’s likely to miss all of next season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September. Luis Patiño, Yonny Chirinos and Josh Fleming are on hand as rotation or multi-inning relief options for what should again be a strong Tampa Bay pitching staff.
If healthy, Eflin fits nicely into the middle of that group. At the same time, the Rays are placing a bet on a pitcher with a concerning injury history. The knee contusion that cost Eflin a couple months this year was the latest in a line of joint issues that have plagued him since before he began his career. He underwent a pair of surgeries to repair the patellar tendons in both his knees in the summer of 2016. At the time, Eflin acknowledged he’d battled chronic knee pain dating back to adolescence (link via Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). He avoided any worrisome injuries for the next few seasons, but he went back under the knife in September 2021 to again repair the patellar tendon in his right knee. That cut his year short, meaning he’s lost chunks of three of the past six seasons to knee issues. There’s real risk in investing in a pitcher who has only once topped 130 MLB innings in a season.
The Rays were willing to look past that to add a pitcher who’s typically effective when healthy. Eflin’s also one of the younger arms available in free agency. He won’t turn 29 until next April, and a pitcher with his age and statistical track record may well have found four years on the open market if not for injury concerns. Tampa Bay wasn’t the only team that valued Eflin in this range, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets the Red Sox had made him the same offer. Eflin elected to join the Rays instead, signing closer to home and avoiding state income tax.
With an $11MM salary for next season, Eflin becomes the highest-paid player on the Tampa Bay roster. He’ll lose that title in 2024, when Glasnow’s salary spikes to $25MM, but he’ll count for a significant portion of a Rays payroll that typically ranks among the league’s lowest. The Rays are now up to around $78MM in projected commitments for 2023, not far off their franchise-record $83MM mark from this past season. The overall $40MM guarantee represents the largest free agent investment in Rays history.
It also easily tops MLBTR’s pre-offseason projection of two years and $22MM for Eflin. The deal narrowly beats the three-year, $39MM guarantee Tyler Anderson received from the Angels last month. Anderson had rejected a qualifying offer and cost the Halos a draft choice. The Phils elected not to qualify Eflin. Philadelphia won’t receive any compensation for his departure, while the Rays won’t lose any picks to add him. To find Eflin’s replacement, Philadelphia can dip into a free agent rotation market that offers a number of options beyond the top trio of Jacob deGrom, Carlos Rodón and Justin Verlander. Players like Chris Bassitt, Kodai Senga, Jameson Taillon, Nathan Eovaldi, Noah Syndergaard, Andrew Heaney, Taijuan Walker and Sean Manaea all remain on the market as strong candidates for multi-year deals.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to report the Rays and Eflin had agreed to a three-year deal. Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported the guarantee at $40MM. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the specific financial breakdown.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Nationals Sign Franklin Barreto To Minors Deal
The Nationals have signed infielder Franklin Barreto to a minor league deal, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post.
Barreto, 27 in February, was an international amateur signing of the Blue Jays but was traded to Oakland as part of the 2014 Josh Donaldson trade. A highly-touted prospect, Barreto was featured on Baseball America’s list of the top 100 youngsters in the game for four straight seasons beginning in 2015.
Unfortunately, Barreto has struggled as he’s reached higher levels of competition, particularly in terms of strikeouts. From 2017 to 2020, he got into 101 big league games but struck out in 42.2% of his plate appearances. For reference, this year’s league average was 22.4%, barely half of Barreto’s rate. Overall, he’s hit just .175/.207/.342.
Oakland moved on from him in 2020, trading him to the Angels for Tommy La Stella. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2021 and was outrighted at the end of the year. The Astros signed him to a minor league deal for 2022, but he hit just .162/.259/.274 in 73 Triple-A games while striking out 37.2% of the time.
It’s been a pretty rough stretch for Barreto, to say the least. That being said, there’s little harm in the Nats taking a look at him in Spring Training. They were the worst team in baseball in 2022 and aren’t likely to suddenly emerge as contenders in 2023, meaning they’re among the teams best suited to take fliers on faded prospect stars. Barreto is still young enough that he could take a step forward in his age-27 season and make good on his previous pedigree. If he does, the Nats can keep him around fairly cheaply for a few more years via arbitration since he has just over three years of MLB service time.
Nationals Outright Yasel Antuna, Josh Palacios
The Nationals announced they have outrighted outfielders Yasel Antuna and Josh Palacios. Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post reported Antuna’s outright prior to the official announcement. There had been no public indication that the players had been designated for assignment, but the club evidently passed them through waivers in recent days. Their 40-man roster count is now 38.
Antuna, 23, was selected to the club’s 40-man roster two years ago, in order to protect him from being selected in the 2020 Rule 5 draft. Unfortunately, his development has slowed in recent years. Last year, he played 106 games at High-A and hit just .227/.307/.385, wRC+ of 88. This year, splitting his time between High-A and Double-A, he walked in an incredible 17% of his plate appearances but still produced a tepid batting line of .215/.352/.338, 97 wRC+. He did steal 27 bases on the year but also got caught eight times. Previously a shortstop, he transitioned to a corner outfield role this year, which increases the pressure on him to provide value with the bat. He’ll stick in the organization as depth but without taking up a spot on the 40-man roster.
Palacios, 27, was a Blue Jays draftee who made his MLB debut with them last year but came to the Nats on a waiver claim at the start of 2022. Between the two clubs, he’s gotten into 42 big league games with a meager .207/.267/.232 batting line so far. In 82 Triple-A games in 2022, he fared much better with a batting line of .294/.379/.439, 121 wRC+.
As noted by Dougherty, the Nationals have the first pick in next week’s Rule 5 draft, due to having the worst record in baseball in 2022. They had recently filled up their 40-man roster by signing Jeimer Candelario and Stone Garrett. It seems that they feel they can find better players than Antuna and Palacios in the draft, since they took the risk of placing them on waivers in order to free up some roster spots.
Brewers, Mike Brosseau Avoid Arbitration
12:15 pm: Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that Brosseau will make $1.4MM.
12:10 pm: The Brewers announced that they have signed utility player Mike Brosseau to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. His salary is not yet publicly known.
Brosseau, 29 in March, made his MLB debut with the Rays in 2019. Over that year and the shortened 2020 campaign, he got into 88 contests and seemed to cement himself as a valuable player. He hit 11 home runs and produced a batting line of .284/343/.500, leading to a wRC+ of 130. He also provided defensive versatility, playing the three non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners. Unfortunately, he struggled in 2021 and wound up splitting his time between the majors and the minors. In 57 MLB games, he hit .187/.266/.347 for a wRC+ of 73.
The Rays traded Brosseau to the Brewers a year ago and he seemed to get back on track after the switch. Milwaukee primarily used him in platoon fashion, as 105 of his 160 plate appearances came against lefties. For his career, Brosseau has a 127 wRC+ against southpaws but just an 84 the rest of the time. That was largely true in 2022 as well, though he strangely walked much more against righties in his small sample. That led his wRC+ totals to come out pretty even at 117 and 119, despite a .274 batting average against lefties and a .217 against righties. On the whole, he finished the season with a .255/.344/.418 batting line and a 118 wRC+.
He surpassed three years of MLB service time this year, qualifying for arbitration for the first time. Though it’s not yet known what salary he agreed to, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected $1.2MM. Whatever the number, Brosseau has locked that money in. Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, teams could cut arbitration players in Spring Training and only pay a portion of the salary. However, the new CBA dictates that players will receive full termination pay so long as they don’t go to a hearing.
The Brewers currently have a number of lefties who project to get at least somewhat regular playing time, including Christian Yelich, Rowdy Tellez, Kolten Wong, Jon Singleton and Garrett Mitchell. Given Brosseau’s defensive versatility and penchant for hitting lefties, he should be able to plug himself into semi-regular platoon duty, as well as occasionally pinch-hitting and serving as a defensive replacement.
Guardians, Anthony Gose In Agreement On Two-Year Minor League Deal
The Guardians and left-hander Anthony Gose have agreed on a two-year minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Gose will make $1MM per season if in the big leagues.
The reason for the two-year deal is that Gose is unlikely to pitch at all in 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September. At the end of the year, he was non-tendered by the club but will stick around without taking up a spot on the 40-man roster. He will presumably make a lesser salary while rehabbing this year and hope to get back onto a big league mound in 2024 with a salary a bit above the league minimum.
Prior to that surgery setback, Gose was on one of the more unique baseball journeys. He had spent much of his career as an outfielder, playing for the Blue Jays and Tigers from 2012 to 2016. However, he hit at a below-average rate, producing a career slash line of .240/.309/.348.
A two-way star in high school, Gose then tried a return to the mound. He often struggled with command, but still showed impressive stuff overall, including a triple-digit fastball. He made it back to the big leagues with Cleveland last year and has thrown 27 2/3 innings so far. The control is still not ideal, as his 13.8% walk rate is definitely on the high side. But he’s also struck out 31.9% of batters faced and posted a 3.90 ERA.
Gose got over three years service time this year and would have been arbitration eligible. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a salary of $800K, just above next year’s minimum salary of $720K. Given that he’s likely to miss the entire season, the Guardians non-tendered him, but they clearly still like his chances of being useful for them in time. Gose is currently 32 years old, turning 33 in August. If he returns to health in 2024, the Guardians could retain him via arbitration for future seasons as well.
Mariners Sign Trevor Gott
November 30: Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that Gott’s salary will be $1.2MM. The Mariners announced the deal shortly thereafter.
November 28: The Mariners are in agreement with reliever Trevor Gott on a one-year contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (on Twitter). Financial terms have not yet been reported. Gott is a Sports One Athlete Management client. Seattle’s 40-man roster count will jump to 38 once the deal is finalized.
Gott signed a somewhat surprising big league contract with the Brewers last offseason. He’d spent the entire 2021 campaign in Triple-A in the Giants organization, impressing the Milwaukee front office with a 31% strikeout rate at the top minor league level. Milwaukee jumped early in the offseason to add him, and he played a fairly significant role in their middle innings mix this past season.
The right-hander tallied 45 2/3 innings across 45 outings. The results were mixed, as he managed just a 4.14 ERA while surrendering eight home runs (1.58 per nine innings). He paired that with quality strikeout and walk marks, though, fanning a slightly above-average 23.7% of opponents against a 6.5% walk rate. He averaged around 95 MPH on his fastball and just north of 91 MPH on a cutter that served as his top secondary offering. Gott’s 10.5% swinging strike percentage and 43.7% grounder rate were right around the respective league marks, and he held right-handed hitters to a meager .200/.243/.333 line in 111 plate appearances.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Gott for a $1.4MM arbitration salary this winter, and the Brewers instead opted to non-tender him. His roughly average peripherals in 2022 were enough to land a 40-man spot with Seattle, and he figures to have an inside track at an Opening Day bullpen job. Gott has exhausted his minor league option years, so the M’s will either have to carry him on the big league roster or make him available via waivers.
With between four and five years of major league service time, Gott would again be eligible for arbitration next offseason if he holds his roster spot all year. He could be a multi-year bullpen pickup for president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and his staff if he performs well. Gott has also suited up for the Angels, Nationals and Giants in parts of seven seasons at the big league level.
The Mariners have an excellent bullpen that ranked sixth in the majors this past season in ERA at 3.33. Seattle relievers placed fifth with a 26.6% strikeout rate, and only the Orioles blew fewer leads in the late innings. That was a key part of the M’s winning 90 games for a second consecutive season and securing a Wild Card berth. Seattle subtracted from that with the deal that sent Erik Swanson to Toronto to bring in Teoscar Hernández, but they’ll bring back Andrés Muñoz, Diego Castillo, Matt Brash, Paul Sewald and Penn Murfee. Gott figures to work in lower-leverage spots, at least initially, to deepen the group available to manager Scott Servais.
Pirates Designate Lewin Diaz For Assignment
The Pirates announced Wednesday that they’ve designated first baseman Lewin Diaz for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to recently signed first baseman Carlos Santana, who joined the Bucs on a one-year deal earlier this week. Pittsburgh had claimed Diaz off waivers from the Marlins earlier in the month.
Diaz, 26, originally signed with the Twins for a $1.4MM bonus back in 2013 and has at times been considered a reasonably high-profile prospect — both in the Twins’ system and with the Marlins, who acquired him in the 2019 trade that sent Sergio Romo to Minnesota.
Diaz had a particularly strong run with the Marlins in the upper minors, but he received auditions in three separate Major League seasons without establishing himself as a credible offensive presence. In 343 trips to the plate at the MLB level, Diaz is just a .181/.227/.340 hitter with a 28.9% strikeout rate against a tepid 5.5% walk rate. He drew grades for plus raw power potential as a prospect but hasn’t been able to consistently make hard contact in spite of his 6’4″ frame.
For all of his struggles at the plate, however, Diaz excels defensively. His glove received 70 grades on the 20-80 scale as a prospect, and he’s demonstrated exactly why during his limited MLB action. Diaz has just 753 innings at first base but nonetheless has tallied a whopping 16 Defensive Runs Saved and 9 Outs Above Average.
Diaz is out of minor league options, so any team that acquires him will need to either carry him on its Opening Day roster next season or attempt to pass him through waivers before sending him to the minors. He’s a .250/.325/.504 hitter in two Triple-A seasons and has been particularly effective against right-handed pitching when at his best. As such, it’s possible another team will view him as a viable platoon option at first base — one with some untapped potential.
The Pirates will have a week to trade Diaz or attempt to pass him through waivers themselves. Pittsburgh had the third priority on the waiver wire, based on last year’s reverse standings (which, contrary to popular belief, are not league-specific). That means both the Nats and A’s passed on him last time around, so it’s unlikely (though certainly not impossible) they’d claim him this time around.
Shaun Anderson Signs With KBO’s Kia Tigers
NOVEMBER 29: The Tigers have finalized an agreement with Anderson on a one-year deal that guarantees him $700K (h/t to Ji-heon Bae). He’ll receive a $100K signing bonus on top of a $600K salary, and the deal contains $300K in potential incentives. Anderson is represented by Wasserman.
NOVEMBER 26: The Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization are in talks with free agent right-hander Shaun Anderson, according to Ji-heon Bae of Sports Chunchu (hat tip to MyKBO.net’s Dan Kurtz).
The 28-year-old Anderson has pitched in the last four Major League seasons, though his participation in the 2022 campaign was limited to a single inning of work with the Blue Jays. The remainder of Anderson’s year was spent at Triple-A Buffalo, where he posted a 3.58 ERA, 20.6% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate over 88 innings. Anderson started 15 of 36 appearances, though some of those “starts” were as an opener.
Originally a third-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2016 draft, Anderson has bounced around quite a bit during his pro career, and he has already pitched for five different teams over his four MLB seasons. After spending the 2019-20 seasons with the Giants, Anderson took the mound for the Twins, Orioles, and Padres in 2021, before his one-game cup of coffee with Toronto last year. The right-hander was also briefly part of the Rangers organization for some of the 2021 campaign.
Anderson hasn’t had much success at the MLB level, posting a 5.84 ERA over 135 2/3 career innings. He has a more solid track record in the minors (3.72 ERA in 416 2/3 frames) but he has never been a big strikeout pitcher, and Anderson’s grounder rates have also tailed off after topping the 50% threshold earlier in his career.
Multi-inning relief work might have been Anderson’s best way of finding a niche to stay on a big league roster, but he’ll now head to South Korea to try and revive his fortunes as a starting pitcher. Former Major Leaguers Thomas Pannone and Sean Nolin pitched with the Kia Tigers in 2022, but Bae writes that the Tigers might not retain either hurler as they look to overhaul their rotation.
Nationals Sign Stone Garrett To Major League Deal
The Nationals announced they’ve signed outfielder Stone Garrett to a big league contract. In conjunction with the signing of corner infielder Jeimer Candelario to a one-year deal, Washington’s 40-man roster is now full.
Garrett, who recently turned 27, is a former eighth-round draftee of the Marlins. He played in the Miami farm system for six-plus years but didn’t crack the big league roster. After reaching minor league free agency heading into the 2021 season, Garrett latched on with the D-Backs via minor league contract. He spent most of that season in Double-A, then moved to Triple-A for the bulk of the 2022 campaign.
Over 103 games and 440 plate appearances there, Garrett popped 28 home runs and posted a .275/.332/.568 line. The extreme hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League (and the D-Backs’ affiliate in Reno, in particular) surely helped, but it was an impressive enough showing to lead the front office to give Garrett a big league look late in the season. They selected his contract in mid-August, and he went on to suit up 27 times at the MLB level.
Garrett carried over some of his power production against big league arms. He connected on four longballs and eight doubles in just 84 trips to the dish. That resulted in an excellent .539 slugging output. However, he also struck out 27 times while drawing just a trio of walks. The righty-hitting Garrett was also leveraged heavily for favorable platoon match-ups, with 51 of his plate appearances coming against left-handed pitching. Arizona clearly wasn’t confident in his ability to sustain above-average offensive production over a larger sample, and they took him off the 40-man roster at the end of the year.
While that strong first month wasn’t enough to earn a longer look in the desert, it apparently caught the attention of the Washington front office. They’ll promise Garrett an immediate 40-man roster spot. If he holds that all winter, he’ll get an opportunity to compete for an MLB job in Spring Training.
While Garrett played some center field early in his career, he’s been limited to the corners or designated hitter for the past few seasons. He’s capable of playing either corner outfield spot and could presumably be an option at first base, but he played exclusively left field in his limited MLB time with Arizona. Lane Thomas looks to have the inside track on one outfield spot in Washington, but he’s a potential center fielder. The rest of Washington’s upper level outfielders — Víctor Robles, Alex Call and Josh Palacios — are unproven and/or better suited for depth roles. That’s also true of Garrett, although he adds a right-handed bat with some power to the mix.
Signing Garrett to a major league contract doesn’t mean the Nationals are obligated to carry him on the MLB roster. He still has a full slate of minor league option years, so the Nats can keep him in Triple-A Rochester for the foreseeable future as upper level depth. Rather, the MLB deal and immediate 40-man spot presumably served to differentiate the Nats from other teams that were willing to offer him a minor league deal with an invitation to big league Spring Training. Garrett is still nowhere near even the one-year service threshold, so he’d be controllable through at least the 2028 season if he establishes a lasting role in D.C.
Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post reported the Nationals and Garrett had agreed to a contract shortly before the team announcement.