Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Giants, Cody Carroll Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Giants have signed reliever Cody Carroll to a minor league contract, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. The right-hander elected minor league free agency at the end of last season after an August minors deal with the Marlins didn’t result in a big league look.

Carroll didn’t pitch in the majors last season. He did log some action at the game’s highest level in both 2018 and 2020, though, combining for 19 innings of relief across 18 appearances with the Orioles. He’s yet to find MLB success, posting a 13.24 ERA while opposing hitters have put up a .353/.467/.624 line against him.

Yet Carroll has performed well on his way up the ladder, with a 3.71 ERA over parts of two Triple-A seasons his highest mark at any minor league level. The Southern Mississippi product has also punched out an impressive 29.2% of batters faced across 70 1/3 Triple-A innings, albeit with an elevated 11.4% walk rate.

The Giants will take a no-risk flier on Carroll, who’d been regarded as a fairly promising relief prospect during his time in the Yankees farm system. His fastball has sat in the 95-96 MPH range during his brief big league time, and Baseball America credited him with a plus slider entering the 2018 season. Baltimore was intrigued enough by his arsenal and strong minor league numbers to include him in that year’s Zack Britton trade, but his stock dipped quickly due to his poor big league production and a back surgery that wiped out almost all of his 2019 season.

Rays, Dusten Knight Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Rays have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent righty Dusten Knight, per the team’s official transactions log.

Knight, 31, made his big league debut with the Orioles this past season after spending parts of eight seasons in the minors. A former 28th-round pick by the Giants (2013), Knight parlayed a strong Triple-A showing — 1.30 ERA, 27-to-12 K/BB ratio in 27 2/3 frames at the time of his promotion — into his first call to the big leagues. Things didn’t go as smoothly in Baltimore, however, as Knight yielded a pair of runs in one inning during his debut effort. He appeared in a total of seven games and was ultimately tagged for 10 runs (nine earned) on 11 hits and five walks with 11 strikeouts through 8 2/3 frames.

Rocky showing in his debut season notwithstanding, Knight has a solid track record in Triple-A, where he’s posted a 3.11 ERA with a 23% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate in parts of three seasons — a total of 104 1/3 innings. On the whole, in Knight’s eight minor league seasons, he’s surrendered just 32 home runs in 397 innings of work while whiffing more than 27% of his opponents against an 8.5% walk rate.

Red Sox Sign Yolmer Sanchez To Minors Contract

By | at

The Red Sox announced that infielder Yolmer Sanchez has been signed to a minor league deal.  The former Gold Glover will receive an invitation to Boston’s big league Spring Training camp.

Sanchez spent 2021 with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate, hitting .216/.309/.352 over 355 plate appearances.  Atlanta signed Sanchez as a depth option in April of last year, but with Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, and Dansby Swanson staying healthy and delivering strong production for the World Series champions, Sanchez never got a call to the Show.  It marked the first time since 2013 that Sanchez hadn’t seen action in a Major League season.

While the Red Sox are the fifth different organization Sanchez has joined in his pro career, the 29-year-old has suited up only with the White Sox at the MLB level.  Sanchez played with Chicago from 2013-20, seeing regular work as a starting second baseman and third baseman during the team’s rebuilding years and acting as a useful utility infield piece in general.  Always a solid defender, Sanchez’s work was recognized when he won the AL Gold Glove as a second baseman in 2019.

However, the White Sox still opted to non-tender Sanchez in the wake of that Gold Glove-winning season, as Sanchez was projected to earn a $6MM arbitration salary in 2020.  Sanchez’s defense didn’t make up for his lack of offense, as he has hit only .245/.300/.360 in 2459 career PA.  The Giants signed Sanchez to a minor league deal heading into the 2020 season but released him, resulting in Sanchez returning to the White Sox for 11 games that year and making an appearance on the team’s postseason roster (perhaps a nice full-circle moment considering Sanchez’s contributions during the team’s lean years).

After landing with the Orioles and Braves on minors deals, Sanchez will now try to gain a foothold in Boston.  Sanchez’s versatility will only go far considering that he’ll be competing with several other multi-position infield types (i.e. Christian Arroyo, Jonathan Arauz, and fellow minor league signing Rob Refsnyder) in the battle to be Boston’s chief utility infielder.  As well, Enrique Hernandez is capable of playing pretty much anywhere around the diamond, and the Red Sox could move Hernandez back into that super-utility role if they obtained another starting option at second base.

Tigers, Jack Lopez Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent infielder Jack Lopez, as first reported by former big league infielder Carlos Baerga (on Instagram). Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press tweets that Lopez has signed a deal and will head to the Tigers’ spring facility in Lakeland, Fla. for minicamp.

The 29-year-old Lopez won a Silver Medal as part of Team USA during last summer’s Olympics. He made his Major League debut with the Red Sox not long after returning, going 2-for-13 with a pair of doubles in a tiny sample of seven games. He split the rest of his season between Double-A (five games) and Triple-A (68 games), batting a combined .285/.355/.413 with four homers, 17 doubles, a triple and 15 steals (in 17 tries) over the life of 273 plate appearances.

Lopez, a 16th-round pick by the Royals back in 2011, has appeared in parts of nine minor league seasons and logged a collective .241/.295/.331 batting line in that time. The vast majority of his professional experience has come at the two middle infield slots, with more time at shortstop than at second base. Lopez also has more than 1200 professional innings at the hot corner, in addition to some more sparse work in the outfield.

Baseball America at one point ranked Lopez among the middle tiers of the Royals’ farm system, noting that his range, soft hands and solid arm gave him a chance to handle shortstop at the big league level. That was seven years ago, and the the bat obviously hasn’t panned out as hoped, but Lopez will give the Tigers some defensive value and versatility to stash in the upper minors.

Pablo Sandoval Signs With Mexican League’s Acereros De Monclova

By | at

Pablo Sandoval is headed to the Mexican League for the 2022 season. The Acereros de Monclova announced this evening (Spanish-language link) that they’ve signed the two-time MLB All-Star.

Sandoval, a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council, has appeared in parts of fourteen MLB seasons. He made his big league debut with the Giants in 2008, and he’d established himself as an everyday player by the following season. The switch-hitting Sandoval hit a remarkable .330/.387/.556 across 633 plate appearances during his age-22 campaign, finishing seventh in NL MVP balloting that year. That showing cemented him as a key member of a burgeoning core that would go on to win three of the following five World Series titles.

There’s no doubt Sandoval was a huge part of that success. He appeared in at least 108 regular season games each season between 2010-14, posting above-average offensive numbers (by measure of wRC+) in every season other than 2010. The Kung Fu Panda again earned some down ballot MVP support in 2011, and he was downright excellent during the Giants’ 2012 and 2014 postseason runs. He claimed World Series MVP honors in the former season, thanks to an 8-16 showing in a sweep over the Tigers. And while he didn’t receive any postseason awards in 2014, his 12-28 performance in that year’s World Series helped San Francisco narrowly defeat the Royals in a tightly-contested seven-game battle.

Following the 2014 season, Sandoval signed a five-year, $95MM contract with the Red Sox. That proved a sizable misstep for then Boston-GM Ben Cherington, as Sandoval’s production tanked fairly quickly thereafter. He hit only .245/.292/.366 in his first season with the Sox. That proved to be his final year as an everyday player, as he hasn’t topped 300 plate appearances in any season since. The Venezuela native missed almost all of 2016 recovering from a labrum injury, then got off to a terrible start to the 2017 campaign. Boston released him midway through that season, and he returned to the Giants in free agency.

By 2018, Sandoval reinvented himself as a capable bench bat and part-time corner infielder. He played with San Francisco until 2020, then hooked on with the Braves late in that season and made their playoff roster. He re-signed with Atlanta on a minor league pact last winter and broke camp with the club. While he got off to a nice start as a designated pinch-hitter, Sandoval saw his production turn downward by May. He was traded to the Indians at last year’s deadline, with his contract included in the deal that sent Eddie Rosario to Atlanta to offset some of Rosario’s salary. Cleveland released Sandoval immediately and he sat out the remainder of the season, although he did collect a World Series ring when the Braves went on to win the championship.

Sandoval returned to the diamond this winter. After putting up impressive numbers in the Venezuelan Winter League, he’ll head to Mexico for the upcoming season. It remains to be seen whether the 35-year-old will make a return to affiliated ball in the United States at some point down the road.

Red Sox, Roberto Ramos Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Red Sox have signed first baseman Roberto Ramos to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league Spring Training, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). It’s a stateside return for the 27-year-old, who has spent the past two seasons in South Korea.

Ramos has yet to appear in a big league game. A 16th-round pick of the Rockies in 2014, he worked his way up the minor league ranks, reaching Triple-A by 2019. Ramos spent that season with Colorado’s top affiliate in Albuquerque, popping 30 home runs in 505 plate appearances. After that season, the left-handed hitter made the jump to the Korea Baseball Organization, signing on with the LG Twins.

Signing Ramos paid immediate dividends for the Seoul-based team. He blasted 38 homers across 494 plate appearances during his debut campaign. Ramos’ overall .278/.362/.592 line checked in 41 percentage points above the KBO league average, by measure of wRC+. Ramos struck out in a hefty 27.5% of his plate appearances that year, but he also drew walks at a robust 11.1% clip and showcased power that garnered plus or better grades during his time as a prospect.

Ramos re-signed with the Twins last offseason, but his follow-up campaign wasn’t as impressive. He hit a league average .243/.317/.422 with eight homers in 205 trips to the plate before suffering a back injury. Former MLB first baseman Justin Bour replaced him on the roster in late June, setting the stage for Ramos’ return to the United States. He’ll attempt to work his way to the bigs for the first time with the Red Sox, who are slated to open the year with the right-handed hitting Bobby Dalbec at first base and J.D. Martinez at designated hitter. Top prospect Triston Casas worked his way to Triple-A Worcester late last season and should get a look in the majors at some point in 2022.

Cubs, John Hicks Agree To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher/first baseman John Hicks, as first indicated on the team’s official transactions log. Hicks, a client of Full Circle Sports Management, figures to be in big league camp whenever the lockout ends. The Cubs haven’t formally announced the move or a non-roster invite, but a player with Hicks’ track record and experience generally warrants such an offer.

Hicks, 32, has spent parts of six seasons in the Majors, mostly coming with the Tigers. He’s also had brief appearances with the Mariners, for whom he made his MLB debut in 2015, and with the Rangers, for whom he played in 10 games this past season.

While Hicks doesn’t have a sterling offensive track record in the big leagues, he’s been more productive than the average backup catcher. He slugged four homers and a double in just 31 plate appearances with the Rangers this past season and, for the better part of the 2017-18, was a semi-regular in Detroit while hitting a combined .263/.317/.417 with 15 round-trippers and 24 doubles in 502 plate appearances.

Those numbers don’t include a dismal 2019 season, however, wherein Hicks logged a career-high 333 plate appearances but posted a career-worst .210/.240/.379 slash with a sky-high 32.7% strikeout rate. On the whole, he’s a lifetime .236/.279/.401 hitter in 902 plate appearances at the MLB level, and he’ll also carry a .275/.314/.438 career batting line in parts of five Triple-A seasons into his fourth organization.

Defensively, Hicks has split his time in nearly even fashion between catcher (928 innings) and first base (924 innings) in the Majors. He’s thwarted a hefty 32% of stolen-base attempts against him in the big leagues, but Hicks also has generally poor framing numbers behind the dish and negative overall marks in Defensive Runs Saved (-5 at both catcher and first base).

As things currently stand, Hicks is a ways down the depth chart in Chicago. Two-time All-Star Willson Contreras is slated to reprise his role as the team’s starter, and Chicago also brought Yan Gomes into the mix on a two-year, $13MM deal earlier this winter. The size of the commitment to Gomes and the fact that Contreras is slated to become a free agent at season’s end only further fueled longstanding trade speculation regarding Contreras. If a deal were to ultimately come together, Hicks and P.J. Higgins would vie for a backup job behind Gomes, but for now, Hicks is likely ticketed for Triple-A Iowa.

Twins Sign Daniel Robertson To Minor League Contract

By | at

The Twins signed infielder Daniel Robertson to a minor league deal, The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller reports.  Robertson was outrighted off the Brewers’ 40-man roster this past summer and elected free agency after the season, thus making him eligible to sign during the lockout as a minor league free agent.

A veteran of five MLB seasons with the Rays, Giants, and Brewers, Robertson has yet to truly follow up on his impressive numbers in the second of those seasons, a .797 OPS campaign with Tampa Bay in 2018.  Robertson hit .262/.382/.415 over 340 PA in what seemed like a breakout year, but after a thumb injury brought an early end to his 2018 season, he has since hit only .209/.317/.292 in 351 PA over the 2019-21 seasons.

Robertson (who turns 28 in March) will now look for a fresh start in Minnesota.  Tim Beckham also recently signed a minors deal with the Twins, so the club will have two experienced options in Beckham and Robertson battling alongside Nick Gordon and Jose Miranda for a utility infield role.  Gordon is the only left-handed hitter of that quartet, so the others could be competing to be the right-handed side of the bench equation.

The versatile Robertson has plenty of experience as a shortstop, third baseman, and second baseman, plus he has expanded his utility range by also playing a handful of games as a corner outfielder and first baseman.  Since the Twins have left-handed bats lined up at second base (Luis Arraez) and in the outfield (Max Kepler, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff), there is perhaps opportunity for Robertson to work his way into a platoon should any of this group struggle against left-handed pitching.  Of note, Robertson and Beckham were both teammates on the 2017 Rays, when Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was a member of Tampa Bay’s coaching staff.

Reds Sign Pedro Payano To Minors Contract

By | at

The Reds have signed right-handed pitcher Pedro Payano to a minor league contract, according to the team’s official transactions page. Payano was a minor league free agent, thus making him eligible to sign a contract during the lockout.

Originally signed by the Rangers, Payano made his affiliated debut in rookie ball as a 17-year-old in 2012. Working primarily as a starter, he climbed up the ladder of the Rangers’ system, getting to Double-A in 2017 at the age of 22. In 2019, he was able to make his major league debut at the age of 24, pitching in six games for the Rangers, four of them starts. He threw 22 total innings in those games, with an ERA of 5.73, strikeout rate of 16.5% and walk rate of 14.6%.

After being designated for assignment by the Rangers, Payano signed a minor league deal with the Mets for 2020. He didn’t get called to the big leagues and the pandemic wiped out the minors that year. The Tigers gave him a minor league deal for 2021 and and gave him some innings at both Double-A and Triple-A. The Double-A results were excellent, though in a small sample of just six starts and 29 innings. He had an ERA of 3.10, strikeout rate of 31.9% and walk rate of 12.4%. In 95 Triple-A innings, however, he put up an ERA of 5.12 with strikeout and walk rates of 19.1% and 12.7%.

Payano has struggled with the free passes ever since reaching the upper levels of the minors. His 9.1% walk rate at Double-A in 2018 was his only campaign below 10% in recent years. However, he’s still just 27 years old, meaning there’s still time for him to refine his approach and take his game to another level. The Reds have plenty of interesting rotation options, but adding depth is always good. The club has also been rumored to be considering trading Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo or Tyler Mahle as a way to trim payroll, which could make the presence of depth options even more important. Payano has just 26 days of MLB service time, meaning that the Reds could retain his services for years to come, should he find another gear in his performance and earn himself a roster spot.

Rockies Sign Carlos Perez To Minors Contract

By | at

The Rockies have signed catcher Carlos Perez to a minor league contract, according to the team’s official transactions page. The 31-year-old was a minor league free agent, making him eligible to sign despite the ongoing lockout.

Originally signed by the Blue Jays, Perez was one of ten players involved in a trade between the Jays and the Astros in July of 2012 that was headlined by J.A. Happ. He was then part of a second notable deal, heading to the Angels alongside Nick Tropeano in exchange for Hank Conger after the 2014 season.

Perez appeared in the big leagues in four straight seasons, from 2015 to 2018. With the Angels in 2015, he got into 86 games and hit .250/.299/.346 for a wRC+ of 81. That marks his best season at the MLB level to date, as his offensive production slipped over the next few years, putting a dent in his playing time. In 212 total games with the Angels, Braves and Rangers, his slash line is .215/.257/.319, wRC+ of 56.

Although he didn’t get to the majors over the past few seasons, he had a promising campaign in the minors last year. After signing a minor league deal with the A’s, he played 97 Triple-A games and hit 31 home runs, slashing .269/.337/.572 for a wRC+ of 116.

The Rockies currently have just two catchers on their 40-man roster, Elias Diaz and Dom Nunez. Bringing Perez into the fold will allow them to have a veteran safety net on hand in the event of an injury. Nunez also has options and a career strikeout rate of 35.3% in his 97 MLB games thus far. If the Rockies decide to send him down to the minors, there could be room for a veteran like Perez to step up and fill a backup role in the big leagues.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows scroll to top