Nationals Outright Derek Hill To Triple-A
TODAY: The Nationals announced that Hill cleared waivers, and decided to accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester.
JULY 5: The Nationals announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Derek Hill for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow outfielder Alex Call, who’s been recalled from Triple-A Rochester.
Hill, 27, appeared in 13 games with the Nats and tallied 50 plate appearances. He slashed just .170/.220/.191 in that time, however, striking out in 22% of his plate appearances against a 6% walk rate. That marked the fourth straight season with at least some big league work for the former Tigers first-rounder (No. 23, 2014). He carries a tepid .229/.279/.314 batting line in 304 MLB plate appearances.
So far in 2023, Hill’s work in Triple-A has been outstanding. He’s batted .324/.381/.533 in 204 plate appearances, boosting his career rates at the top minor league level to .283/.344/.470 in an even 600 trips to the plate.
Hill is a plus runner with good defensive tools but mixed defensive ratings in limited MLB action in the outfield. He’s a natural center fielder and has experience at all three slots in the outfield.
Hill is out of minor league options, meaning any team that wants to place a waiver claim or acquire him in a small trade would need to commit to carrying him on its own 40-man roster (or else immediately attempt to pass him through waivers themselves). The Nats will have a week to pass him through waivers, trade him or release him.
Nationals, Luis Cessa Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals have signed Luis Cessa to a minor league contract and sent him to Triple-A Rochester, tweets Talk Nats. The right-hander had been released from a non-roster deal with the Rockies last week.
Cessa joins his third organization of the season. He opened the season in the Reds’ rotation, his third year in Cincinnati. The 31-year-old had a terrible first few outings, allowing an even 9.00 ERA across 26 innings. He walked 12 and struck out just 11 of 132 batters faced. Cincinnati pulled the plug in early May, turning the rotation spot over to journeyman Ben Lively.
After signing with Colorado, the Mexico-born hurler made six starts for their Triple-A team in Albuquerque. He was tagged for an 8.44 ERA in that extremely hitter-friendly environment. The Rox have been hit with a number of rotation injuries, but Cessa didn’t show enough in his six weeks in the Colorado organization to get a big league look.
While it’s hard to find many positives in Cessa’s 2023 work, he’s been a productive MLB pitcher in prior years. He was a good long reliever for a few seasons, highlighted by a 2.51 ERA showing in 64 2/3 frames between the Yankees and Reds in 2021. He owns a 3.81 ERA in 264 2/3 career innings out of the bullpen. His more recent work since moving to the rotation late last summer hasn’t been good, but he’s at least expanded his versatility as a multi-inning arm for a pitching staff.
Washington can keep him as rotation depth in Triple-A or push him back into the relief role where he’s had more success. If Cessa cracks the MLB roster at any point, Washington would only pay him at the prorated $720K league minimum rate. The Reds remain on the hook for the balance of his $2.65MM salary. Cessa will return to free agency at season’s end.
Nationals, Jacob Nottingham Agree To Minor League Contract
The Nationals are in agreement with catcher Jacob Nottingham on a minor league deal, tweets the Talk Nats blog. It’s the second minor league deal in as many days for Washington. They also signed right-hander Daniel Mengden last night.
Nottingham just hit the open market last week. He was released from a non-roster pact with the Giants. The right-handed hitter had posted a .232/.329/.432 line over 34 contests for San Francisco’s Triple-A club. That’s right in line with the .229/.333/.425 slash he’d put up through 89 minor league games last season, which he spent in the Orioles’ organization.
A former sixth-round draftee, Nottingham was once a fairly well-regarded prospect and has appeared in parts of four big league seasons. He got to the highest level each year from 2018-21, splitting his time between the Brewers and Mariners. Working primarily in a depth capacity, he appeared in 53 games and hit .184/.277/.421. He connected on eight home runs in only 130 trips to the plate but struck out over 34% of the time.
Prospect evaluators generally credited Nottingham with above-average to plus raw power but raised concerns about his strikeout tallies and receiving skills. He’ll head to Triple-A Rochester as a non-roster depth option with some power potential.
The Nats have used Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams as the catching duo this year. Nottingham won’t jump either player on the depth chart, but the only other catcher on the 40-man roster (Israel Pineda) in on the injured list. Luis Torrens had been in Rochester but opted out of his contract with the Nats over the weekend; Nottingham will step into that role.
Nationals To Sign Daniel Mengden To Minors Contract
The Nationals are signing right-hander Daniel Mengden to a minor league deal, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (via Twitter). Mengden had been pitching in the Royals’ farm system on another minors contract signed at the start of the season, but Kansas City released him from that deal earlier this week.
Mengden now moves onto the fifth different organization (four in MLB, one in the KBO League) of a pro career that began as a fourth-round draft pick for the Astros in 2014. The righty is best known for his five years with the Athletics from 2016-20, as Mengden posted a 4.64 ERA over 302 2/3 innings during his Oakland tenure, mostly working as a starting pitcher. An injury-plagued 2020 campaign led the A’s to outright Mengden following the 2020 season, and he then went overseas to South Korea to pitch for the Kia Tigers.
Returning to MLB in 2022, Mengden signed a minors deal with the Royals and appeared in five games (seven IP) at the big league level. That represents his last stint in the Show, as he hasn’t pitched well or even often with Triple-A Omaha this season. Starting three of his six games for Omaha, Mengden has a 7.36 ERA over 14 2/3 innings, with a lackluster 20% strikeout rate and 11.4% strikeout rate.
Washington might view the 30-year-old Mengden purely as rotation depth or as a bullpen candidate who can be called upon to soak up innings as a long reliever. At the cost of a minors league deal, there’s no risk for the Nationals in seeing what Mengden can provide, whether at the Triple-A level or for spot duty in the majors.
Luis Torrens Opts Out Of Minors Deal With Nationals
Catcher Luis Torrens is back on the open market, as Talk Nats indicates the 27 year old has exercised a clause in the minor league deal he signed with the Nationals back in May that allows him to return to free agency if not added to the roster by July 1.
The decision leaves Torrens poised to search for what would be his fourth organization of the 2023 campaign. After signing a minors deal with the Cubs back in January, Torrens made the Opening Day roster in Chicago but appeared in just 13 games before being designated for assignment and swapped to the Orioles at the beginning of May. The Orioles then designated Torrens for assignment the following week, leading the catcher to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A.
From there, Torrens signed on with Washington on a minor league deal, and posted a decent .258/.311/.470 slash line in 74 plate appearances with the club’s Triple-A affiliate. Still, with Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams entrenched as the club’s catching tandem at the big league level and Drew Millas acting as serviceable depth in the upper minors, there wasn’t a clear path to the big leagues for Torrens with the Nationals, prompting him to return to the open market.
Considering Torrens’s relative youth and unique developmental track as a former Rule 5 draft pick, he figures to receive interest from clubs on a minor league deal, particularly considering the importance of having ample catching depth available. That importance has been showcased at various points through this season by the woes of teams such as the Padres, Mets, Giants, and Angels behind the plate. Torrens isn’t the only intriguing depth option who could be available behind the plate, however, as Jorge Alfaro, who the Rockies designated for assignment yesterday evening, could also return to free agency in the coming days should he clear waivers and reject an outright assignment.
Nationals Promote Jose A. Ferrer For Major League Debut
June 30: The Nationals have made this official, announcing the recall of Ferrer. Lefty Patrick Corbin was placed on the bereavement list in a corresponding move.
June 29: The Nationals are going to promote left-handed pitcher Jose A. Ferrer, reports Héctor Gómez of Z101 Digital. Ferrer, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game, is already on the 40-man roster but will require a corresponding move to get on the active roster. That move may not come until tomorrow because the Nats are off today.
Ferrer, 23, was signed by the Nats out of the Dominican Republic for $100K back in 2017. The reliever got some professional experience in Rookie ball in the next couple of years, though the minor leagues were then canceled by the pandemic in 2020. In 2021, he tossed 35 2/3 innings in the Complex League with a 2.78 ERA.
2022 proved to be a big breakout year for him, as he finally made it to full-season ball. He began the year in Single-A and eventually moved up to High-A and Double-A. He threw 65 1/3 innings between those three levels with a combined 2.48 ERA. He struck out 30.5% of opponents while walking just 4.3%. He was selected to appear in the Futures Game along the way.
The Nationals added him to their 40-man roster in November to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A thus far, logging 40 innings over 34 appearances. He has a 3.83 ERA but his peripherals have dipped since last year. He’s struck out just 18.4% of opponents while walking 11.2%, though he’s continued to get grounders on roughly half of the balls in play he’s allowed. Ferrer was recently ranked the club’s #18 prospect at Baseball America, #28 at FanGraphs and got the #20 spot from Keith Law of The Athletic coming into the year.
The Nats haven’t had much left-handed relief to speak of this season. The only southpaws to pitch out of the club’s bullpen this year have been Anthony Banda and Joe La Sorsa. Banda posted a 6.43 ERA over seven innings before getting outrighted off the roster. La Sorsa was just claimed off waivers from the Rays three weeks back and was in the minors on optional assignment until a week ago. That should give Ferrer an opening to establish himself in the club’s bullpen mix going forward.
Nationals’ Buy-Low Addition Should Pay Off At Trade Deadline
Every offseason, rebuilding clubs take one-year fliers on formerly productive veterans coming off bad seasons. They’re generally minimal financial commitments that afford the player a fresh start with a path to regular playing time. In most instances, the team is hoping the player puts together a strong first half that turns them into a reasonably valuable trade candidate come deadline season.
The hit rate on deals of this nature isn’t particularly high. Most players don’t rebound as hoped. Wil Myers was designated for assignment by the Reds. Pierce Johnson hasn’t panned out for the Rockies. Ditto for Trevor May in Oakland and Corey Dickerson and Dominic Smith in Washington. The Nationals will happily live with a couple misses in exchange for one notable hit, and they found it in third baseman Jeimer Candelario.
Candelario looked like a potential building block for the Tigers a few seasons ago. He led MLB in doubles two seasons back and combined to hit .278/.356/.458 in over 800 plate appearances between 2020-21. Even with generally middling defensive marks, he was a productive regular based on his well-rounded profile at the plate.
Things cratered for him last season. Candelario managed only a .217/.273/.361 slash over 467 trips to the dish. His walks fell to a career-worst level as he chased more pitches outside the strike zone. The contact quality similarly regressed sharply. It was essentially a replacement-level season overall. The entire Tigers lineup was a disaster, leading to a front office change in August. New baseball operations leader Scott Harris and his staff moved on from Candelario, declining to tender him an arbitration contract projected in the $7MM range.
That sent him to free agency for the first time. Washington stepped in with a one-year, $5MM guarantee that contained $1MM in additional incentives ($200K for reaching 200 plate appearances and $100K thereafter for each 100 trips to the plate, maxing out at 600). Carter Kieboom opening the season on the injured list ensured Candelario would get regular run at the hot corner in the early going.
He has seized the opportunity with a performance essentially in line with his 2020-21 production. Candelario has a .263/.338/.471 line with 10 home runs over 325 plate appearances. He’s tied for second in MLB with 26 doubles. Candelario has dialed the approach back in, cut down slightly on the swing-and-miss, and pushed his exit velocities back up a couple ticks.
Candelario has paired that with better than expected defensive grades. Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast have pegged him between three and five runs better than average over 662 1/3 innings of third base work. It’s the first time since 2020 in which he has rated as an above-average defender. Single-season defensive metrics can be variable, but Candelario looks to be a capable gloveman at the hot corner, even if he’s unlikely to win a Gold Glove.
Nothing in his offensive production is dramatically out of line with his best years in Detroit. In a broad sense, he just seems to have put last year’s awful season behind him. There is one notable change from Candelario’s early-career production, though: the platoon splits.
For his career, he’d generally been better from the right side of the dish. Candelario entered this season with an overall .270/.329/.438 batting line against southpaws compared to a .230/.320/.388 showing versus right-handed pitching. The script has flipped this year. Candelario has a .279/.350/.537 line against righties and is hitting only .227/.313/.318 off left-handers.
That probably won’t change front offices’ opinions on him too much. This year’s platoon splits are very small samples; he has only 99 plate appearances against southpaws. He’s probably not going to keep teeing off on right-handers at quite this level and he’ll presumably see his production against lefties pick back up. He’s not the cleanest fit for a team seeking a strict platoon bat, but he’s shown enough from both sides of the plate throughout his career he’d be a fine plug-and-play regular at the hot corner.
It seems very likely he’ll be donning a new uniform five weeks from now. He surpasses the six-year service threshold this season and is headed back to the open market next winter. Candelario has played well enough the Nats could at least consider a qualifying offer if they held onto him. There’d be a strong chance he accepts, though, which would keep him in Washington for another season at a salary around four times greater than this year’s figure.
It’s hard to envision Candelario having more trade value for Washington than he does right now. Not only is he affordable and productive, this year’s market for offense could be very thin. The upcoming free agent class is extremely light on position players, reducing the number of productive rental bats available. That’s especially true on the infield. The Blue Jays almost certainly won’t trade Matt Chapman, positioning Candelario as the top impending free agent infielder who’s likely to be on the trade market.
Teams like the Marlins, Phillies, Cubs (where Candelario began his career) and Diamondbacks haven’t gotten much production out of third base. The Astros have Alex Bregman at the hot corner but are looking for another bat, preferably one who can hit from the left side. Candelario could factor in at first base or designated hitter in that scenario. The Brewers have some uncertainty at both corner infield spots.
If Candelario finishes the season strong, he should be able to leverage that infield scarcity into a solid multi-year free agent deal. A trade would kill any possibility of him being saddled with draft pick compensation — players moved midseason cannot receive a qualifying offer — and he’ll hit the market at age 30. A three or maybe even four-year deal with annual salaries north of $10MM doesn’t seem out of the question.
Candelario’s stint in Washington will probably be brief, but it’s shaping up exactly as intended for both parties. The Nats look positioned to add a couple mid-level prospects to their farm system, while Candelario is parlaying his opportunity into a much more lucrative free agency trip.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Nationals Select Amos Willingham
5:05pm: The Nationals have now made this official, selecting Willingham and optioning right-hander Paolo Espino to Triple-A as the corresponding move.
1:20pm: The Nationals are planning to call up right-hander Amos Willingham, reports Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. The club has an open spot on their 40-man roster but will need a corresponding move to get Willingham onto the active roster.
Willingham, 24, has spent his entire professional career with the Nationals, who selected him in the 17th round of the 2019 draft. He made a brief professional debut in Low-A that year before the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. Since then, he has been climbing up the minor league ladder, working exclusively as a reliever and seemingly getting better at almost every stop.
He split 2021 between Single-A and High-A, tossing 60 1/3 innings with a 4.92 ERA, 21% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. He spent all of last year in High-A with a 3.41 ERA over 34 1/3 innings, striking out 27.6% of opponents while walking just 4.8%. He began this year at Double-A and carved up hitters at that level, throwing 10 2/3 scoreless innings with a 35% strikeout rate and 2.5% walk rate. That excellent showing got him bumped to Triple-A, where he finally slowed down a bit, posting a 3.46 ERA through 13 innings with a 20% strikeout rate and 14.5% walk rate.
Despite the relatively tepid Triple-A performance, Willingham has clearly impressed the Washington brass with his ascent in recent years. He’s started getting noticed outside the organization as well, with Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranking him the club’s #25 prospect earlier this month. Longenhagen writes that Willingham’s fastball is “now sitting 94-95 mph with big ride at the top of the zone” and that he can take a step forward if he improves his slider command.
The Nats will give Willingham a shot to see how his stuff plays against big league hitters while giving manager Dave Martinez a fresh arm for the bullpen. When the club starts tonight’s game in Seattle, it will be their 14th day in a row taking the field with two more scheduled against the Mariners before an off-day on Thursday.
Nationals Place Chad Kuhl On Release Waivers
The Nationals announced that they have requested unconditional release waivers on right-hander Chad Kuhl. The righty was designated for assignment over the weekend and will now become a free agent upon clearing.
It’s a fairly expected outcome for Kuhl to find himself on release waivers, given his performance and contract. He settled for a minor league deal with the Nats this winter and cracked the club’s Opening Day rotation when Cade Cavalli required Tommy John surgery. Kuhl posted a 9.41 ERA through five starts before landing on the injured list due to a sprained big toe on his right foot. He returned a few weeks later and was bumped to the bullpen but then had a 7.16 ERA in his next 11 appearances before getting knocked off the roster this weekend.
As a veteran with over five years of major league service time, Kuhl would have had the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining all of his remaining salary. It was reported yesterday by the Associated Press that Kuhl is making a $2MM salary this year. No team was going to take that on money via waiver claim or trade, so the Nats have skipped the formalities of the outright process and just opted to release Kuhl.
Once he’s officially on the open market, he’ll be free to sign with any of the 29 other clubs, with the Nats remaining on hook for what’s left of his contract. The signing club would only be responsible for paying him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, which would be subtracted from what the Nats pay.
His struggles this season will obviously temper the interest, but he has been an effective big league pitcher in the past. With the Pirates from 2016 to 2021, he had a 4.44 ERA over 439 2/3 innings, striking out 20.8% of opponents while walking 10.3% and getting grounders on 41.7% of balls in play. A stint with the Rockies last year saw his ERA bump up to 5.72 prior to joining the Nats this year. Given the number of pitching injuries around the league, some club could be tempted to add Kuhl for no financial risk and see if he can bounce back.
Nationals Designate Chad Kuhl For Assignment
The Nationals announced this evening that the club has designated right-hander Chad Kuhl for assignment. In a corresponding move, Washington has recalled right-hander Paolo Espino.
The move likely brings Kuhl’s tenure with Washington to an end. The 30-year-old veteran joined the Nationals on a minor league deal back in February, and Kuhl managed to crack the club’s Opening Day rotation after youngster Cade Cavalli was sidelined for the 2023 campaign by Tommy John surgery. Unfortunately, Kuhl struggled massively across five starts with the Nationals, posting an 9.41 ERA in 22 innings of work with a FIP of 6.91.
Kuhl was placed on the 15-day IL at the beginning of May after a difficult April with a sprained big toe in his right foot, and returned to the Nationals at the end of May in a multi-inning relief role. The results improved from there, but only slightly, as Kuhl allowed 15 runs (13 earned) in 16 1/3 innings of work out of the bullpen across 11 appearances. While those numbers are slightly inflated by two implosions against the Diamondbacks and Padres during which Kuhl allowed a combined eight runs in just 3 1/3 innings, it’s still easy to see why the Nationals pulled the plug on the veteran hurler.
Prior to his time in DC, Kuhl pitched for the Pirates in five seasons, swinging in and out of the rotation. He was a perfectly serviceable back-of-the-rotation arm during that time, with a 4.44 ERA (95 ERA+) in 439 2/3 innings of work during his time in Pittsburgh. Following his departure from the Pirates, Kuhl signed on with the Rockies on a one-year, $3MM deal that offered him a permanent spot in the Colorado rotation. Kuhl failed to impress with the opportunity, however, delivering a 5.72 ERA and 5.26 FIP across 27 starts with the Rockies.
Going forward, Kuhl seems likely to clear waivers and have the opportunity to choose between accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A with the Nationals or looking to catch on with another club on a minor league deal, though it’s at least theoretically possible that the Nationals could work out a trade with another club interested in Kuhl’s services.
As for Espino, the 36-year-old right-hander has been with the Nationals since 2020, pitching to a 4.56 ERA (88 ERA+) in 229 innings of work with the club split between the rotation and the bullpen. He’s posted similar numbers in Triple-A for the club this season, with an identical 4.56 ERA in 11 starts at the level this season. Espino figures to move back to the bullpen now that he’s with the big league club, as the Nationals stick with a starting five of Josiah Gray, Patrick Corbin, Trevor Williams, MacKenzie Gore, and Jake Irvin.