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Tyler Lyons

Pirates Designate Tyler Lyons For Assignment

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The Pirates announced that they’ve designated left-hander Tyler Lyons for assignment. His roster spot will go to right-handed reliever Montana DuRapau, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A is now official. The Bucs have also recalled righty Clay Holmes, who’ll step into the vacancy created by the placement of Keone Kela on the 10-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation).

Lyons, 31, appeared in just three games for the Pirates, during which time he surrendered five runs on six hits and three walks with five punchouts in four innings of relief. His results dating back to the 2018 campaign are ugly, though they only span a total of 20 2/3 frames.

Prior to that stretch, Lyons enjoyed a three-year stint as a quality bullpen piece with the Cardinals, pitching to a combined 3.33 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 1.3 HR/9 over the life of 162 innings of bullpen duty. Lyons’ 2017 season was particularly impressive, featuring a career-best 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched as well as a 2.83 ERA and 2.86 FIP to match. The Pirates had hoped he’d be able to round back into that form but apparently didn’t see enough promise in Lyons’ stuff to look past the ugly, small-sample results.

As noted yesterday at the time DuRapau’s promotion was reported, the 27-year-old righty is a former 32nd-round pick who has been lights out in Triple-A to open the season. Through his first 14 1/3 innings, he’s allowed one run on five hits and five walks with 18 strikeouts and a 46.2 percent ground-ball rate that marks a dramatic improvement over his previous ground-ball tendencies.

Pirates Place Jameson Taillon On 10-Day IL, Select Tyler Lyons

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3:03 pm: Per Nubyjas Wilborn of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Taillon will not throw for “at least” four weeks, with the injury apparently far more severe than originally believed. Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets that Taillon’s MRI showed no UCL damage, though the righty will seek a second opinion next week to confirm.

1:55pm: Per a team release, the Pirates have placed righty Jameson Taillon on the 10-Day IL with a flexor strain in his right elbow and selected the contract of lefty Tyler Lyons from AAA-Indianapolis, among other roster moves.

It’s a concerning injury for Taillon, 27, who joins rotation mate Chris Archer on the injured list for a rotation-thin Pirate club.  A 2014 Tommy John knocked the former 2nd overall pick out of action for two full seasons, though he’s been mostly healthy since.  The 6’5 righty was off to his usual strong start this year, posting a a solid 88 FIP-/91 xFIP- (numbers right in line with his career figures and season projection) in seven starts for Pittsburgh.

It’s unclear who’ll step in to the vacant slots in the Pittsburgh rotation, though righty Nick Kingham and lefty Steven Brault appear to have the inside tracks. Top prospect Mitch Keller, who’d struggled early with command but has been dominant in his previous two Triple-A outings, is also a candidate.

Lyons, 31, spent six years with St. Louis before inking a minor league deal with Pittsburgh this offseason. His strikeout rate has jumped to over ten per nine in the last two seasons since a full-time move to the bullpen, but the lefty was hit hard in ’18 despite predominant left-on-left usage.

Pirates Sign Tyler Lyons

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The Pirates have signed left-handed reliever Tyler Lyons to a minor league pact, John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com reports.

Pittsburgh’s plenty familiar with Lyons, who had been with NL Central rival St. Louis since it selected him in the 2010 draft. Lyons, a former starter, debuted with the Cardinals in 2013 and later emerged as an effective piece out of their bullpen. Over 97 appearances (89 in relief) and 162 innings from 2015-17, Lyons posted a 3.33 ERA. He was particularly excellent in 2017, a 54-frame showing in which he logged a 2.83 ERA with 11.33 K/9, 3.33 BB/9 and a 41.9 percent groundball rate.

The Redbirds were likely expecting more of the same from Lyons in 2018, but the 30-year-old’s season went awry as he battled back and elbow injuries. While Lyons continued to strike out hitters at a solid clip (10.26 per nine), his walks increased (4.32 BB/9), his grounder rate dropped to alarming degrees (28.3 percent) and his home run rate went from .5 per nine the previous season to 1.62. He also surrendered a ridiculously high .412 batting average on balls in play and only recorded a 60.4 percent strand rate. All of that led to an 8.64 ERA across 16 2/3 innings for Lyons, whom the Cardinals designated for assignment in late July. Lyons spent the rest of the season at Triple-A, where he offered far better production (2.49 ERA, 8.72 K/9, 2.49 BB/9 in 21 2/3 innings), and then elected free agency in October.

Considering Lyons’ past success and the makeup of the Pirates’ bullpen, he could earn a major league shot in Pittsburgh in 2019. Aside from closer Felipe Vazquez, the only lefty reliever on the Bucs’ 40-man roster is Steven Brault, who has struggled in the bigs since debuting in 2016.

Players Electing Free Agency

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Quite a few players will hit the open market this fall, and they’ll do so by way of varying mechanisms. The end of the regular season triggered a recent wave of free agents, consisting of a certain subset of players — namely, those who were outrighted from 40-man rosters during the season and accepted minor-league assignments at that time despite having the right to elect free agency. Players in that situation are entitled instead to hit the open market at season’s end, if they were not added back to the 40-man roster in the meantime.

As conveyed by Matt Eddy of Baseball America, who also covers quite a few other minor moves, these players have now elected free agency:

Athletics: RHP Raul Alcantara, LHP Danny Coulombe

Blue Jays: RHP Mike Hauschild, INF/OF Darnell Sweeney

Braves: LHP Rex Brothers, RHP Miguel Socolovich

Cardinals: LHP Tyler Lyons

Indians: RHP Evan Marshall, RHP Alexi Ogando

Mariners: RHP Christian Bergman, LHP Ross Detwiler, RHP Mike Morin, INF Zach Vincej

Marlins: OF JB Shuck

Mets: RHP Chris Beck, OF Bryce Brentz, RHP Scott Copeland, OF Matt den Dekker, INF Ty Kelly

Nationals: LHP Tommy Milone, OF Moises Sierra, RHP Carlos Torres

Orioles: RHP Jhan Marinez, INF Luis Sardinas

Padres: OF Matt Szczur

Phillies: INF Trevor Plouffe

Pirates: LHP Buddy Boshers, RHP Casey Sadler, RHP A.J. Schugel

Rangers: C Juan Centeno, LHP Anthony Gose, RHP Drew Hutchison, INF Tommy Joseph, RHP Chris Rowley

Rays: INF Brandon Snyder, RHP Ryan Weber

Reds: C Tim Federowicz, RHP Kevin Quackenbush

Tigers: INF Dixon Machado, RHP Jacob Turner

White Sox: RHP Tyler Danish

Cardinals Outright Tyler Lyons, Release Greg Holland

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The Cardinals announced today that two recently-designated relief pitchers have cleared waivers. Lefty Tyler Lyons was outrighted to Triple-A, while right-hander Greg Holland was given his release.

Both of these hurlers were trimmed from the St. Louis roster during a pre-trade deadline bullpen purge. Clearly, neither performed to expectations this year.

Lyons, 30, was one of the club’s most reliable relievers over the past few campaigns. But he dealt with injuries and struggled through 16 2/3 innings on the current season, allowing 16 earned runs on 24 hits.

Though he looks similar in many respects over that short sample — velocity, swinging-strike and strikeout rate — Lyons has given up quite a bit of hard contact. That’s reflected in the .412 BABIP he surrendered, which could reflect some poor fortune and/or degradation in the quality of his work.

As for Holland, he was off to a miserable start before hitting the DL for a hip impingement. Things were generally better upon his return: outside of one particularly awful outing, he allowed three earned runs and recorded 11 strikeouts in 11 frames.

Still, it’s hard to fault the Cards for deciding they’d seen enough, especially after Holland turned in another poor outing in his last appearance with the team. He ended up with a 7.92 ERA in his 25 frames for the St. Louis organization, which is not at all what the team bargained for when it made a late strike that promised the veteran hurler $14MM this season. The remainder of that promise will stay on the Cardinals’ books, less any pro-rated portion of the league minimum he makes with another organization.

Cardinals Designate Tyler Lyons For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced that they’ve designated left-handed reliever Tyler Lyons for assignment. St. Louis also formally announced the previously-reported DFA of right-hander Greg Holland and placed Brett Cecil on the 10-day DL with right foot inflammation. Combined with an out-of-the-blue trade of Sam Tuivailala to the Mariners, the series of moves marks a dramatic shuffling of the St. Louis pitching staff.

In a series of corresponding moves, the Cardinals promoted top prospect Dakota Hudson (as had been previously reported) and recalled lefty Tyler Webb and righties Daniel Poncedeleon and Luke Weaver from Triple-A Memphis.

Just a few short months ago, a DFA of Lyons would’ve been unfathomable. The 30-year-old Lyons steadily elevated his status with the Cards from 2015-17, improving his ERA and strikeout rates each season along the way, culminating with a 2017 campaign that saw him pitch 54 innings of 2.83 ERA ball with 11.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent grounder rate. Lyons’ swinging-strike rate (10.3 percent) and chase rate (27.4 percent) weren’t as impressive as his K/9 mark might’ve led some to believe, but he nonetheless looked like a legitimate left-handed weapon out of the St. Louis ’pen.

This season, though, he’s missed time on the disabled list with back and elbow injuries, pitching to a dismal 8.64 ERA through 16 2/3 innings when healthy enough to take the mound. That said, Lyons’ average fastball velocity has hardly plummeted (90 mph in 2017, 89.2 mph in 2018), and he’s still punched out 19 hitters in those 16 2/3 frames — all while maintaining similar swinging-strike and chase rates.

Today’s decision to designate Lyons for assignment, then, registers as a fairly notable surprise. Given that he’ll finish the season with four-plus years of MLB service time and can thus be controlled through the 2020 season before reaching free agency, it’d be even more stunning if Lyons weren’t ultimately traded to another club — or at the very least claimed off outright waivers. He’s earning just $1.2MM this season and, given his recent success in the Majors, should draw interest from both contending clubs and non-contending teams alike.

Cardinals Activate Tyler Lyons, Carson Kelly; Place Greg Holland On DL

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The Cardinals have made several injury-related moves, activating lefty reliever Tyler Lyons and catcher Carson Kelly while simultaneously moving righty reliever Greg Holland to the 10-day DL. The club also optioned catcher Steven Baron to Triple-A Memphis in a related move.

There’s no word yet as to the nature of Holland’s injury, though he’s certainly dealing with some swelling in his ERA and walk rate. On the season, those figures stand at 9.45 and 10.15, respectively. While he’s been unfortunate in the BABIP department (.388), there’s no arguing that Holland’s pitching has been astonishingly poor; the Cardinals are surely disappointed in the early returns on his one-year, $14MM contract. On the bright side, perhaps an extended rehab stint in the minors will allow Holland to get back on track.

The swap of Holland for Lyons, then, can probably be considered somewhat of a boost to the Cards’ bullpen. Though Lyons’ surface results don’t look much better (6.17 ERA), his strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.40) looks much less disastrous than that of his right-handed counterpart. Lyons emerged as a dominant left-hander for St. Louis last season, striking out 11.33 batters per nine innings en route to a 2.83 ERA.

Kelly’s return is welcome news for a Cardinals ballclub that’s been missing both he and feature backstop Yadier Molina all week. Formerly a highly-regarded catching prospect, Kelly hasn’t yet lived up to his billing. He’s hit just .160/.222/.200 across 108 plate appearances in the major leagues. He’ll likely see plenty of playing time as long as Molina remains out, though, so perhaps this is his chance to turn his offensive reputation around.

Central Notes: Abreu, Twins, Cardinals, Tigers, Royals

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Even though the White Sox own the majors’ worst record (9-26), first baseman Jose Abreu tells Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he supports Chicago’s rebuilding effort and would like to remain with the team for the rest of his career. “Of course, there is not any doubt about it,” the 31-year-old said through an interpreter. “My mom and dad, they taught me to always be grateful, and I’m really grateful for this organization because of all the things they have done for me and the opportunities they gave me.” The White Sox are the only major league franchise Abreu has known since emigrating from Cuba in 2013 for a six-year, $68MM guarantee. Since then, not only has Abreu delivered positive on-field results for the Sox, but he has emerged as a key leader for the young team, according to vice president Ken Williams. “He’s like having an extra coach on hand,” said Williams. “I cannot overstate the quality person that he is. I hope he really hears and understands how we feel about him.” If the White Sox continue to elect against trading Abreu, they’ll soon have a decision to make on whether to extend him. Although Abreu only has one more year of arbitration eligibility left after the current season, Merkin suggests there haven’t been contract talks between him and the club.

More from the game’s Central divisions…

  • Twins right-hander Ervin Santana seems to be progressing toward his 2018 debut. Santana, out since undergoing finger surgery in February, is slated to make his first rehab start May 26, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. It’ll be a four-inning, 60-pitch appearance for Santana. Before that, he’ll throw live batting practice Monday and then make an extended spring training start May 21. Meanwhile, catcher Jason Castro will head to Colorado for a second opinion on his injured right knee, Berardino adds. Castro went on the disabled list last weekend with a torn meniscus.
  • The Cardinals have activated left-handed reliever Brett Cecil from the disabled list and placed fellow southpaw Tyler Lyons on the DL with a mild back strain, per Joe Trezza of MLB.com. Cecil only made one appearance this year, on Opening Day (March 29), before landing on the shelf with shoulder soreness. Cecil, who’s in the second season of the four-year, $30.5MM deal he signed with the Cards in November 2016, logged a 3.88 ERA with 8.82 K/9 against 2.14 BB/9 across 67 1/3 innings in 2017. Lyons was also an effective piece of the Redbirds’ bullpen last year, though he began this season with an ugly ERA (6.17) in 11 2/3 frames prior to his DL placement.
  • Veteran reliever Louis Coleman is back in the majors after the Tigers selected his contract Saturday, though he may not be in this position if not for his college coach, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com relays. A “frustrated” Coleman was unable to find a job in the offseason until he spoke with Paul Mainieri, whom he played under at LSU, a couple weeks before spring training began. Mainieri then called his friend, Tigers general manager Al Avila, who signed Coleman to a minors pact Feb. 23. “I guess they had an opening (in spring training), I don’t know. But if it wasn’t for coach and Al, I don’t know if we’d be standing here,” said the 32-year-old Coleman, who recorded a 2.40 ERA in 15 Triple-A innings before his promotion.
  • Royals minor league outfielder Bubba Starling could miss upward of a month with an oblique strain, Rustin Dodd of The Athletic tweets. As Dodd notes, oblique strains have been a consistent problem for Starling, a former top prospect who still hasn’t gotten to the majors since the Royals chose him fifth overall in the 2011 draft. The 25-year-old struggled to produce at Triple-A this season before his injury, evidenced by a .257/.350/.314 line and no home runs in 41 plate appearances, though he did draw five walks against just six strikeouts.

Injury Notes: Sale, Pomeranz, Rodriguez, Gregerson, Lincecum, Hughes

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Red Sox starter Chris Sale left today’s start after being struck by a comebacker off the bat of J.D. Davis. Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald was first to tweet that the club called it a hip contusion. Thankfully for fans in Boston, the X-rays on his hip came back negative (according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). For his part, Sale himself has said that he feels fine and that it “looked a lot worse than it actually is.” The lack of serious injury to their prized left-hander brings a sigh of relief to the Red Sox, as they need him now more than ever; Alex Cora announced today that both Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz will begin the season on the DL (h/t Sean McAdams of the Boston Sports Journal). With Steven Wright set to face a 15-game suspension, that leaves Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez at the back end of the club’s rotation. With David Price no sure bet to stay healthy, any questions surrounding Sale would have been wildly unsettling for a club hoping to compete with a tough Yankees ballclub for the AL East crown.

Other injury-related news from around the league…

  • Luke Gregerson, who was projected to be the Cardinals’ closer on opening day, will instead begin the season on the DL. Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch outlines the news, which comes as a result of a hamstring strain. The usually-durable Gregerson had also dealt with an oblique injury earlier in the spring, and it’s unclear when he’ll be able to return to major-league action. According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the club has said that Dominic Leone or Tyler Lyons will receive closing opportunities. They do not appear close to any sort of deal with free agent closer Greg Holland at this time, Morosi adds.
  • Speaking of right-handers who’ll begin the season on the DL, Tim Lincecum’s blister issues will put him in that company as well. Lincecum joined the Rangers on a one-year deal with a $1MM base salary just weeks ago and didn’t pitch competitively in 2017; by his own words, he was unlikely to be ready for opening day anyway. Still, the blister issue will delay The Freak’s comeback bid, which will be an interesting story to watch as the season progresses considering how much he impressed scouts in a February showcase. Lincecum’s last MLB stint was with the Angels in 2016, when he posted a 9.16 ERA across 38 1/3 innings (nine starts).
  • Twins right-hander Phil Hughes has a mild oblique strain, according to a tweet from Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Berardino adds that a DL stint would give him more time to build up arm strength following surgery, though I’d add that Hughes might simply be utilized in a long relief role anyway. For the time being, the Twins will continue to evaluate Hughes.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: National League

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The deadline for MLB teams to exchange salary arbitration figures with their arbitration-eligible players is today at 1pm ET. As such, there will be a veritable flood of arb agreements piling up in the next few hours — especially in light of a more universal approach to the “file and trial” method for teams. (That is to say, those teams will no longer negotiate one-year deals after arb figures are exchanged and will instead head to a hearing with those players, barring an agreemenr on a multi-year deal.)

Note that you can keep an eye on all of today’s deals using MLBTR’s 2018 Arbitration Tracker, which can be filtered to show only the results of the team you follow and is also sortable by service time and dollar value of the agreement. All projections that are referenced come from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s annual compilation of projected arbitration salaries.

Onto today’s landslide of deals…

National League West

  • The Rockies have agreed to a $2MM salary with righty Chad Bettis, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). That’s a fair sight more than his $1.5MM projection. Bettis surely would have had an opportunity to set a bigger platform for himself, but had to battle through testicular cancer before returning to the hill in 2017. Meanwhile, second baseman DJ LeMahieu has settled for a $8.5MM payday in his final year of arbitration, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. That’s just a hair short of the $8.8MM he was pegged for in MLBTR’s projections.
  • Giants second baseman Joe Panik is slated to earn $3.45MM in his first season of arb eligibility, Devan Fink of SB Nation was first to tweet. That’s just a hair shy of the $3.5MM that MLBTR projected. Lefty Will Smith has settled at $2.5MM, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). The club has also announced deals with its remaining arb-eligible players, right-handed relievers Sam Dyson ($4.6MM projection), Hunter Strickland ($1.7MM projection), and Cory Gearrin ($1.6MM projection). (H/t John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Twitter). Strickland earns $1.55MM, Nightengale tweets.
  • The Padres and Freddy Galvis agreed to a $6.825MM deal for his lone season of team control in San Diego, tweets Robert Murray of FanRag Sports. Galvis, who spent the first several seasons of his career in Philadelphia before being traded this winter, had been projected to make $7.4MM. Infielder Cory Spangenberg settled at $1.7MM, Heyman tweets, falling below a $2.0MM projection. San Diego has also reached agreements with righty Kirby Yates and outfielder Matt Szczur, the team announced. Yates will earn $1,062,500, Heyman tweets, which is just shy of his $1.1MM projection. Szczur, meanwhile, will get $950K, a healthy boost over his $800K projection, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link).
  • The Diamondbacks agreed to a $7.75MM deal with center fielder A.J. Pollock, Murray tweets. Pollock was projected to earn $8.4MM in his final year of eligibility before free agency. Murray also notes that Brad Boxberger is set to earn $1.85MM next year (Twitter link). Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds that lefty Andrew Chafin ($1.2MM projection) and the D-backs have a $1.195MM deal in place. Third baseman Jake Lamb, meanwhile, agreed to a $4.275MM deal with the Diamondbacks, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (Twitter link). Lamb, eligible for arbitration for the first time, was projected to earn $4.7MM. He’s controllable through 2020. And ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Chris Herrmann ($1.4MM projection) landed a $1.3MM deal. Righty Taijuan Walker has settled for $4.825MM, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), which is within range but shy of the $5.0MM he projected for. Lefty Robbie Ray has settled at $3.95MM, per Nightengale (Twitter link), which falls short of his $4.2MM projection. Infielder Nick Ahmed will $1.275MM, per Heyman (via Twitter), which tops the projected figure of $1.1MM. Arizona has also announced that Chris Owings and David Peralta have agreed to terms.
  • The Dodgers are in agreement on a $6MM deal with lefty Alex Wood, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He had projected at $6.4MM. Meanwhile, righty Josh Fields agreed to a $2.2MM deal, tweets Murray. Heyman tweets that Enrique Hernandez will earn $1.6MM. Fields’ projection of $2.2MM was on the money, whereas Hernandez topped his mark by $300K. Fields is controlled through 2019, while Hernandez is controllable through 2020. Southpaw Tony Cingrani gets $2.3MM, Murray tweets, which is just a shade over his $2.2MM projection. Outfielder Joc Pederson has also settled, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter), with Beth Harris of the Associated Press reporting a $2.6MM salary that rather handily tops the $2.0MM that MLBTR projected.

National League Central

  • All three remaining Cardinals arb-eligibles have agreed to deals, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. Marcell Ozuna will earn $9MM after drawin a much larger $10.9MM projection, Heyman tweets. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had explained that Ozuna likely wouldn’t quite reach the amount the algorithm suggested, though the actual salary still comes in a bit shy of expectations. Lefty Tyler Lyons ($1.3MM projection) receives $1.2MM, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter). The Cards have also reached agreement with Michael Wacha for $5.3MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter); he was projected to earn $5.9MM.
  • The Reds agreed to a $860K salary with Anthony DeSclafani, tweets Murray. DeSclafani missed the 2017 season due to arm troubles and had been projected to earn $1.1MM. He’ll remain under Reds control through 2020. Billy Hamilton and the Reds have settled on a one-year deal worth $4.6MM, tweets Murray. A popular trade candidate this offseason, Hamilton was projected to earn $5MM and comes with another two seasons of team control. Murray also conveys that Michael Lorenzen agreed to a $1.3125MM deal, which lines up fairly well with his $1.4MM projection.
  • The Cubs have struck a deal with lefty Justin Wilson, agreeing to a one-year, $4.25MM pact, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). Wilson, who had been projected at $4.3MM, will be a free agent next winter. The Cubs alsoagreed to a $950K salary with infielder Tommy La Stella, tweets MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat. La Stella was projected to make $1MM in his first offseason of arbitration eligiblity and can be controlled through 2020. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks and the Cubs have agreed to a $4.175MM salary, per Nightengale (on Twitter). That sum comes in a fair bit shy of his projected $4.9MM projection as a first-time eligible player. The Cubs control Hendricks through the 2020 season. Chicago also agreed with Addison Russell, per Wittenmyer (Twitter link). The shortstop will receive $3.2MM for the coming season.
  • Nightengale reports (on Twitter) that the Brewers and breakout closer Corey Knebel settled at $3.65MM. As a Super Two player, Knebel can be controlled through the 2021 season and will be arb-eligible thrice more. He was projected at $4.1MM. MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets that the Brewers and right-hander Jimmy Nelson settled at $3.7MM, which falls $1MM shy of his $4.7MM projection (though some of that discrepancy may be due to Nelson’s shoulder injury). Milwaukee also announced a deal for infielders Jonathan Villar (projected at $3MM) and Hernan Perez (projected at $2.2MM). McCalvy reports that Villar will earn $2.55MM, while terms of Perez’s deal are not yet available.
  • The Pirates have avoided arbitration with shortstop Jordy Mercer by settling on a $6.75MM salary for 2018, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Mercer, who’d been projected to earn $6.5MM, is entering his final year of team control and will be a free agent next winter. Biertempfel also reports that Gerrit Cole will earn that same $6.75MM salary in 2018 — a $3MM raise over last year (Twitter link). He has two years of control remaining and had been projected to earn $7.4MM. Righty George Kontos has also agreed to terms, per Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (via Twitter). He had projected for $2.7MM and will receive a smidge more, at $2,725,000, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link).

National League East

  • The Braves reached a $3.4MM deal with righty Arodys Vizcaino, per Jon Heyman of FanRag (Twitter link). He’d been projected at $3.7MM. The Braves and righty Dan Winkler agreed to a $610K salary for the upcoming season, tweets Mark Bowman of MLB.com. Winkler tossed just 14 1/3 innings in the Majors this year as he made his way back from elbow surgery. He’d projected at $800K.
  • The Marlins and Miguel Rojas agreed to a $1.18MM deal for 2018, Heyman tweets, placing him north of his $1.1MM projection. Rojas should see additional playing time following the Marlins’ wave of trades this offseason. He’s controlled through 2020. Miami also has a deal in place with infielder Derek Dietrich for $2.9MM, Heyman tweets, after projecting at $3.2MM.
  • The Mets were able to settle perhaps their most notable arb case, agreeing to a $7.4MM deal with righty Jacob deGrom, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). That’s well shy of his $9.2MM projection, though MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had explained the formula likely overestimated deGrom’s earning power by quite a wide margin. Fellow top righty Noah Syndergaard gets $2.975MM, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), which goes a fair sight past the $1.9MM projection for the outstanding young starter, whose 2017 season was limited by injury. And reliever AJ Ramos will take home $9.225MM, according to Wagner (via Twitter). That’s just barely past the $9.2MM projection.  Wilmer Flores has also avoided arbitration with the Mets, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports (on Twitter). He’ll receive a $3.4MM salary, which falls within $300K of his projected rate. The Mets control Flores through the 2019 campaign. The Mets and right-hander Matt Harvey agreed to a one-year deal worth $5.625MM, tweets Nightengale. Harvey, who is a free agent next winter, had been projected to earn $5.9MM. Meanwhile, Marc Carig of Newsday tweets that Jeurys Familia will earn $7.925MM for the upcoming year, while Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports that catcher Travis d’Arnaud will earn $3.475MM in 2018 (Twitter link). Familia, a free agent next winter, was projected at $7.4MM. The Mets control d’Arnaud through 2019, and his projection was $3.4MM. Righty Hansel Robles gets $900K, Heyman tweets.
  • Also via Nightengale (Twitter link), the Nationals agreed to a $6.475MM salary for 2018 with right-hander Tanner Roark. That falls about $1MM shy of his $7.5MM projection but still represents a noted raise of $4.315MM for Roark, whom the Nats control through 2019. Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post adds that Michael Taylor will earn $2.525MM next year. Taylor is controlled through 2020 and was projected at $2.3MM.
  • The Phillies and Maikel Franco settled on a $2.95MM salary for the 2018 season, reports Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter link). Franco, a Super Two player who’d been projected at $3.6MM, remains under club control with the Phils through the 2021 season. Second bagger Cesar Hernandez will earn at a $5.1MM rate in 2018, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki (via Twitter). That beats his $4.7MM projection and wraps up this year’s arb business for the Phillies.
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