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Reds Sign Pedro Payano To Minors Contract

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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

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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.

Giants Sign Raynel Espinal To Minors Contract

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The Giants signed right-hander Raynel Espinal to a minor league contract earlier this week, according to the team’s official transactions page.  Formerly a member of the Red Sox organization, Espinal elected minor league free agency back in November, as was his option as a non-40-man player with at least seven years on a minor league roster.

Espinal made his Major League debut in August and appeared in exactly one game with the Red Sox before he was removed from the 40-man and sent back to Triple-A.  While a brief stay in the Show, Espinal can at least say he got a cup of coffee in the big leagues after seven pro seasons, and the 30-year-old now heads to San Francisco looking to build off an overall solid 2021 Triple-A campaign.

Over 117 2/3 innings and 23 games (21 of them starts) for the Worcester Red Sox, Espinal posted a 3.44 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, and 8.8% walk rate.  It was enough for Espinal to be named the Worecester pitcher of the year, and a nice comeback for a pitcher who see any official game action in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season.

The Yankees originally acquired Espinal as an international signing back in 2012, and he spent six seasons in New York’s farm system before Boston selected him in the minor league phase of the 2019 Rule 5 draft.  Over 465 total innings in the minors, Espinal has a 3.35 ERA, 27.18% strikeout rate, and 7.34% walk rate.

While he has started only 51 of his 162 minor league appearances, 33 of those starts have come over Espinal’s last two seasons.  The Giants could therefore see him as a potential depth starter in the minors, or perhaps a multi-inning reliever or swingman.  It’s easy to see why the Giants (or any team) would be intrigued by Espinal’s interesting track record, and given San Francisco’s recent success at finding hidden gems, we shouldn’t be surprised if Espinal were to emerge as a contributor to the club’s 2022 roster.

Tigers Sign Carlos Sanabria, Chris Rabago To Minors Contracts

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The Tigers have signed right-hander Carlos Sanabria and catcher Chris Rabago to minor league deals, The Detroit Free Press’ Evan Petzold reports.  Presumably, both players will be invited to the Tigers’ big league Spring Training camp whenever the lockout ends and camp opens for Major League players.

Sanabria pitched in the Royals’ farm system in 2021, after spending his first seven pro seasons in the Astros organization.  It’s fair to speculate that Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had a hand in recruiting Sanabria to Detroit, as Hinch was undoubtedly familiar with the righty when Hinch was managing the Astros from 2015-19.  Sanabria didn’t make his big league debut until Hinch had left Houston, however, as Sanabria’s MLB resume consists of two games and two innings with the Astros in 2020.

Still only 25 years old, Sanabria has a 3.82 ERA and 23% strikeout rate over 412 1/3 career innings in the minor leagues, working only as a reliever over the last four seasons.  Much of Sanabria’s success has come at the lower levels, as he has a 5.27 ERA at Triple-A, albeit over just 27 1/3 innings of work.  A greater concern may be a lack of control that has more or less been an issue for Sanabria over his career, and has particularly manifested itself over the last few years; Sanabria has a 14.75% walk rate over 113 1/3 combined innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

Rabago was a 13th-round pick for the Rockies in the 2014 draft, and he has played almost all of his career in Colorado’s farm system apart from a seven-game stint with the Yankees’ Double-A squad in 2018.  Rabago has hit .248/.327/.348 over 1727 plate appearances in the minors, including a very similar .240/.325/.346 slash in 235 PA at the Triple-A level.

Rabago will provide the Tigers with further depth at a catching position that is headlined by new arrival Tucker Barnhart.  The versatile Eric Haase is the primary backup on the big league roster and can also be used in the outfield, while Dustin Garneau is at Triple-A providing more experience.  Jake Rogers will miss a good chunk of the 2022 season recovering from a Tommy John surgery from last September.

Diamondbacks Sign Dan Straily To Minor League Contract

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The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Dan Straily to a minor league deal, as officially announced by the Triple-A Reno Aces.  Straily’s deal includes an invitation to Arizona’s big league spring camp.

A veteran of eight MLB seasons, Straily last pitched in the Show in 2019, when he allowed 22 home runs over 47 2/3 innings with the Orioles en route to an ungainly 9.82 ERA.  Straily opted for a notable change of scenery and joined the Korean Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants for both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, with an impressive 3.22 ERA and 24.75% strikeout rate over 360 1/3 innings.

Straily took part in a chat with MLBTR’s readers back on December 14, and noted that a return to the majors was on his mind: “I have said since day one that I want to finish my career in the MLB where my son can watch me pitch.”  Since Straily is only 33 years old, there’s plenty of time left for a second act in his Major League history, provided that Straily can build on his success in the KBO League.

Beyond just the change in competition in South Korea, Straily also said that he and the Giants’ coaching staff used pitching technology to work on his pitches and upgrade both his changeup and fastball, in particular.  These changes have apparently caught the eye of the D’Backs, and for the no-risk cost of a minors deal and camp invite, Arizona can get a closer look at Straily (whenever Spring Training actually opens) to see if he can contribute to the active roster.

While the rotation was one of many things that went south for the 110-loss Diamondbacks in 2021, the club can at least go into next season with a provisional starting four in place — Zac Gallen, Madison Bumgarner, Merrill Kelly, Luke Weaver figure to be Arizona’s top choices at the moment.  Pitchers like Tyler Gilbert, Taylor Widener, Humberto Mejia, Humberto Castellanos and Caleb Smith could all be competing for that fifth spot or for bullpen roles, with Straily now adding some veteran depth to what is overall a pretty young and inexperienced group (except for Smith).  Injuries or trades could open up further opportunities in the rotation, as Kelly in particular could be a trade chip as he enters the final year of his contract.

Straily has a solid track record in his recent big league past, posting a 4.03 ERA over 495 1/3 innings with the Reds and Marlins from 2016-18.  Prior to that nightmare of a season in Baltimore, Straily had seemingly established himself as at least a solid innings-eater, if a pitcher prone to allowing home runs.  While Chase Field has a reputation for being a homer-friendly ballpark, that reputation may be a bit outdated, considering that fewer homers have been hit at the ballpark since the D’Backs began storing baseballs in a humidor prior to the 2018 season.  Over the last three years, Chase Field has actually allowed a below-average number of home runs, as per Statcast.

Giants Agree To Minor League Deals With Luis Ortiz, Wei-Chieh Huang

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The Giants have agreed to minor league contracts with free-agent right-handers Luis Ortiz and Wei-Chieh Huang, as indicated on the team’s official transactions log at MLB.com.

Both righties have a bit of big league experience, with Ortiz’s 2019 showing in Baltimore standing as the most recent. He’s tallied just 5 2/3 innings in the big leagues, all with the Orioles, and yielded eight runs on 11 hits and eight walks in that time. It’s not an especially impressive showing, but it’s a tiny sample of work for Ortiz, who notably ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects from 2016-17 in the estimation of Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com. He’s the second former top prospect added by the Giants in recent weeks, joining righty Jorge Guzman in that regard.

A former Rangers farmhand, Ortiz has been involved in a pair of notable trades — going from Texas to Milwaukee in the Jonathan Lucroy/Jeremy Jeffress deal before being flipped from Milwaukee to Baltimore as part of the return for Jonathan Schoop. At his prospect peak, Ortiz was praised for a mid-90s fastball, a plus slider and strong command, all of which gave him the upside of a mid-rotation starter.

Ortiz dealt with elbow and forearm troubles early in his pro career, however, and he’s only reached 100 innings in a single season (when he threw 102 between Double-A, Triple-A and Baltimore). He returned to the Rangers on a minor league deal for the 2021 season and worked primarily out of the bullpen in Triple-A Round Rock, where he posted a 4.60 ERA, a 23.4% strikeout rate and a 9.0% walk rate in 43 innings. Ortiz is still just 26 and has had solid results up through the Double-A level, but it’s been a rough go of it for him both in Triple-A and in the Majors.

Huang, 28, reached the bigs with Texas back in 2018 — albeit only for a brief 5 2/3-inning look. He held opponents to a pair of earned runs but also surrendered eight hits and five walks during that short-lived stint. Wang wasn’t with a Major League player pool in 2020, when there was no minor league season, and he didn’t pitch in affiliated ball last year either. However, he’s rattled off three perfect innings in the Dominican Winter League this year, fanning five hitters along the way. He’ll join the Giants org with a career 3.37 minor league ERA in addition to a strong 28.2% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate.

Rangers, Joe McCarthy Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have signed corner outfielder Joe McCarthy to a minor league contract, reports Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune (on Twitter). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News adds that he’ll receive an invitation to big league Spring Training. As a minor league free agent, McCarthy was eligible to sign a non-roster pact during the ongoing lockout.

McCarthy, the older brother of D-Backs outfielder Jake McCarthy, has the briefest of MLB experience. He appeared in four big league games with the Giants during the shortened 2020 season, going hitless in ten at-bats. The left-handed hitter has otherwise spent the entirety of his seven-year professional career in the minors.

Originally selected by the Rays in the fifth round out of the University of Virginia in 2015, McCarthy was flipped to San Francisco as part of a rare prospect-for-prospect swap at the 2019 trade deadline. The Giants were no doubt intrigued by his huge minor league walk rates, including a massive 16.2% mark at Double-A in 2017 and a 15.9% figure during the first half of the 2019 season in Triple-A.

McCarthy struggled with the Giants’ top affiliate down the stretch in 2019, though. Due to the cancelation of the 2020 minor league season, he couldn’t log any action on the farm and wound up being outrighted off San Francisco’s 40-man roster following his big league cup of coffee. He rebounded to put up an impressive .305/.384/.542 line with 15 homers, a 10.2% walk percentage and a lower than average 19.4% strikeout rate in 315 plate appearances with Triple-A Sacramento last season. That still wasn’t enough to earn another big league call to a 107-win team, and the Pennsylvania native elected free agency at the end of the year.

While McCarthy has essentially no big league track record, there’s no harm for the Rangers in giving him a look in Spring Training. He’s a .255/.355/.464 hitter in parts of three Triple-A campaigns, and Baseball America slotted him among the top 30 prospects in a perennially strong Tampa Bay farm system every year between 2017 and 2019. With a solid showing in Spring Training, he might be able to work his way into a corner outfield mix that includes Kole Calhoun, Nick Solak, Zach Reks and Eli White.

Cardinals Sign Aaron Brooks To Minor League Deal

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The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve signed righty Aaron Brooks to a minor league deal. The Paragon Sports International client received a non-roster invitation to Major League Spring Training. He was eligible to sign a minor league during the lockout by virtue of the fact that he was a minor league free agent returning from a stint overseas.

Brooks, 31, is a veteran of four big league seasons but has spent the 2020-21 seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he’s notched a tidy 2.79 ERA in 229 1/3 innings for the Kia Tigers. While Brooks hasn’t missed many bats pitching overseas — he posted a rather pedestrian 20.1% strikeout rate — he’s demonstrated excellent command and posted practically inhuman ground-ball rates. Brooks has walked just 4.4% of his opponents in the KBO, and it’s hard to think of a much better team to take advantage of his outrageous 78.4% ground-ball rate than the defensively stout Cardinals.

This past season, St. Louis had a staggering five Gold Glove winners, including three in the infield: first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, second baseman Tommy Edman and third baseman Nolan Arenado. Shortstop Paul DeJong had a rough season offensively that cost him some reps in the infield as the Cards looked to get more offense into the lineup, but DeJong is regarded as a standout defender himself — evidenced by last year’s plus-6 Defensive Runs Saved and a career plus-36 mark in 4366 innings at the position.

Royals, A’s and Orioles fans may remember Brooks for his big league work across those three franchises. A ninth-round pick by Kansas City back in 2011, he made his MLB debut with K.C. in 2014-15 but was traded to the A’s alongside Sean Manaea in the swap that brought Ben Zobrist to the 2015 World Series champion Royals.

The A’s wound up trading Brooks to the Cubs in exchange for Chris Coghlan back in 2016, setting off a sequence of scenery changes for Brooks over the next several years. He went from Chicago to Milwaukee via waivers, and the Brewers traded him back to Oakland in exchange for cash. Brooks’ second stint with the A’s lasted about a half season, as the Orioles claimed him on waivers the following summer and, after the 2019 campaign, released him to allow him to pursue his KBO opportunity.

While making the rounds on the trade/waiver circuit, Brooks appeared in 47 big league games and tallied 170 2/3 frames with an uninspiring 6.49 ERA. He was never much of a ground-ball pitcher during his prior stints in the big leagues, so it seems he’s done some work to reinvent his approach on the mound while pitching in South Korea. If he’s able to replicate that KBO success in Triple-A, it’s likely the Cardinals will find a way to get him onto the big league roster in 2022.

The Cards already have a full rotation, but adding some depth along these lines was a clear need. Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas and offseason signee Steven Matz are set to occupy the top five spots in the St. Louis rotation, but a lack of starting depth nearly sunk the 2021 Cards when they saw their entire rotation outside of Wainwright hit the IL by June. Brooks joins in-house options like Jake Woodford, Johan Oviedo, T.J. Zeuch and Angel Rondon on the depth chart, and the Cards are surely also hopeful that prospects Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson can reach the Majors in 2022.

Giants Sign Jorge Guzman To Minor League Deal

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The Giants have agreed to a two-year minor league contract with free-agent righty Jorge Guzman, his agents at PNY Sports announced earlier this month on Instagram.

It’s rare to see two-year minor league pacts, which are typically agreed upon when it’s known that a player will miss a portion of the upcoming season. Guzman missed nearly all of the 2021 campaign with the Marlins due to elbow issues, which landed him on the 60-day IL in August. I’m told he ultimately required elbow surgery in September, from which he’s still rehabbing. An exact timetable for his return to the mound hasn’t been established, but because Guzman isn’t on the 40-man roster, he’s able to head to the team’s spring complex and work out with the training and medical staff even during the lockout.

Once viewed among the game’s Top 100 prospects over at Baseball America, Guzman was the headline prospect in the trade that sent Giancarlo Stanton from Miami to the Bronx. Prior to that deal, he was involved in another swap of note, going from Houston to New York in exchange for Brian McCann. At the time of the Stanton deal, Guzman was coming off a 2.30 ERA and an 88-to-18 K/BB ratio through 66 innings with the Yankees’ short-season Class-A affiliate. He went on to have a pair of solid seasons in the middle levels of the Miami system, including a career-high 138 2/3 innings of 3.50 ERA ball in 2019.

Unfortunately, owing to elbow troubles and the canceled 2020 minor league season, Guzman has pitched just 18 total innings since that time. Those injuries eventually led to Guzman being jettisoned from the Marlins’ 40-man roster, and he elected minor league free agency after clearing outright waivers.

Health issues notwithstanding, it’s easy to see why any club would want to take what’s more or less a zero-risk flier on this type of arm. Guzman has averaged better than 96 mph in his limited big league action and can reach 101-102 mph with his heater. His slider has received above-average or better grades on scouting reports, and he only just turned 26 over the weekend. He still has just 18 total innings above the Double-A level, so beyond any necessary rehab work, the Giants may prefer to get him a look at the Triple-A level once healthy.

Dodgers, Sam Gaviglio Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Sam Gaviglio, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams (on Twitter). The Oregon State product had been a minor league free agent after finishing the 2021 campaign as a member of the Korea Baseball Organization’s SSG Landers.

Gaviglio didn’t appear in the majors last year, his first since 2016 with no MLB action. Between 2017-20, he appeared as a member of Mariners, Royals and Blue Jays. Working in a swing capacity, Gaviglio tossed 296 2/3 cumulative innings in 98 outings (including 37 starts). He didn’t miss many bats, striking out only 19.1% of batters faced on a 9.1% swinging strike percentage.

To his credit, the former fifth-rounder has demonstrated strong control (7.2% walk rate) and induced a decent number of worm-burners (48% grounder rate). He owns a career 4.88 ERA/4.37 SIERA, struggling at times to keep the ball in the yard in spite of his capable ground-ball numbers. Gaviglio hasn’t had the same homer troubles in Triple-A, though, where he owns a 4.19 ERA over parts of five seasons.

Last year, Gaviglio began the season in the Rangers organization, having signed a minors pact in January. He made just five starts with Triple-A Round Rock before being granted his release to pursue the aforementioned opportunity in South Korea. Gaviglio started all 15 of his outings with the Landers, working to a 5.86 ERA with a 19.9% strikeout rate and an 8.5% walk percentage.

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