Nationals To Sign Nelson Cruz
The Nationals have reached an agreement to sign designated hitter Nelson Cruz to a one-year deal worth $15MM, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He notes that the contract includes a mutual option for 2023.
Cruz has been one of the best pure bats in baseball for over a decade, as he has posted a wRC+ of at least 106 each season since 2008, and a wRC+ of at least 122 in each season since 2013. Despite that, his market has increasingly been limited to American League teams due to his defensive limitations. The last time he played more than five games in the field was 2016, and the last time he played the outfield at all was 2018, though he did play one game at first base in 2021. With the new CBA expanding the designated hitter to the National League, that doubled the slugger’s market, perhaps making him the primary beneficiary of the rule change.
This incredible production has all occurred despite Cruz being one of the oldest players in the league, as he’ll turn 42 in July. The slugger had a mixed season last year, as he had a line of .294/.370/.537 and a wRC+ of 141 with the Twins, but after being traded to the Rays, slashed .226/.283/.442, wRC+ of 96. Despite that limited production down the stretch, the overall line on the season was still strong: .265/.334/.497, wRC+ of 122.
In their first full season with a full-time designated hitter, the Nationals have chosen to eschew the common plan of rotating various players through the spot for rest. They’ll instead turn to Cruz as a 30+ home run bat in the middle of their lineup. A heart of the order featuring Juan Soto, Josh Bell, and Cruz could be fearsome indeed.
Once the lockout ended, rumors started flying about Cruz’s potential destination, with the Dodgers, Padres, Brewers, and Braves considered finalists earlier today. Cruz wound up choosing a dark horse suitor in the Nationals, returning to a National League club 17 years after his brief debut with Milwaukee. Cruz’s $15MM salary is a $2MM increase from the amount he received from the Twins about a year ago.
Last year, after signing Kyle Schwarber to a one-year, $10MM deal and seeing him make the All-Star team, the Nats shipped him to the Red Sox for righty Aldo Ramirez, who is now the team’s 12th-ranked prospect according to Baseball America. If the Nationals aren’t in contention as the 2022 trade deadline approaches, Cruz could allow for a similar gambit.
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo oversaw something of a reboot last summer, as the club shipped off Schwarber, Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Brad Hand, Jon Lester, and Daniel Hudson at the trade deadline. Even with Cruz in tow, the club’s competitive balance tax payroll sits around $150MM, which would mark the team’s lowest since 2013. Though the Nationals’ primary offseason need was thought to be pitching, thus far Rizzo has only made minor additions in Steve Cishek, Anibal Sanchez, Erasmo Ramirez, and Aaron Sanchez.
Nationals Sign Aaron Sanchez To Minor League Deal
March 15: In a subsequent tweet, Dougherty clarifies that Sanchez will make a base salary of $2MM, with a chance make a total of $3MM through performance bonuses.
March 13: The Nationals have signed righty Aaron Sanchez to a minor league deal, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman and Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Sanchez is represented by the Boras Corporation. Dougherty notes that if Sanchez makes the Majors, he has a $2MM base salary and another potential $4MM in incentives.
Sanchez, 29, was a first-round draft pick of the Blue Jays back in 2010. He hit a high point in 2016 at the age of 23, when he made the All-Star team and finished seventh in the AL Cy Young voting. Sanchez would be limited to just eight starts in 2017 due to a blister/split fingernail that required four separate IL stints. Further finger issues held him to 20 starts in 2018, culminating in season-ending surgery. Sanchez battled through similar issues in 2019, making 27 starts on the season but averaging fewer than five innings per turn. Sanchez was not able to replicate his previous success, posting a 5.45 ERA, lackluster 18.6 K%, and unfortunate 11.7 BB% across 2018-19.
By the 2019 trade deadline, the Blue Jays had seen enough, trading Sanchez to the Astros. While it was thought that the Astros might work magic with Sanchez’s curveball, the righty quickly went down for shoulder surgery and was non-tendered after the 2019 season.
After missing the shortened 2020 season recovering from surgery, Sanchez re-emerged to sign a $4MM deal with the Giants in February 2021. He hit the IL in May with right biceps tendinitis, getting further derailed with a blister. Upon his return in late July, Sanchez was used out of the bullpen. After three appearances, he was designated for assignment and then released. At this point, Sanchez has tallied only 35 1/3 innings in the last two years.
If he’s healthy now, Sanchez could hardly find a better opportunity than at the back end of the Nationals’ rotation. They’ve got Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Josiah Gray, and Paolo Espino slated for the top four spots, with Sanchez likely to battle with another of today’s non-roster additions, Anibal Sanchez, for the fifth starter job, among others. Strasburg is said to be healthy after undergoing thoracic outlet surgery last July. News on Joe Ross was less encouraging, as the righty will be out six to eight weeks due to elbow surgery.
Nationals Sign Erasmo Ramirez To Minors Deal
The Nationals have signed right-hander Erasmo Ramirez to a minor league contract, MLBTR has learned. Ramirez’s deal contains an invitation to the Nats’ big league Spring Training camp.
The 31-year-old has appeared in each of the last 10 MLB seasons, with the first seven of those years as a member of the Mariners and Rays before bouncing to the Red Sox, Mets, and Tigers from 2019-2021 on minor league deals. Ramirez’s 26 2/3 innings with Detroit last season represented his most Major League action of the last three years, though he struggled to a 5.74 ERA in a Tigers uniform.
Working as a starter and swingman for much of his career, Ramirez has worked only as a reliever at the MLB level since 2019, but can still add length to a bullpen — he threw beyond one inning in 10 of his 17 appearances last year. While it has been some time since Ramirez has posted consistent numbers at the Major League level, his ability to cover innings could be of use to a Washington bullpen that has seemingly been in constant flux for several years. The Nationals also signed another seasoned arm in Steve Cishek yesterday, so both Cishek and Ramirez can provide some veteran knowledge to a bullpen that is overall short of big league experience.
Nationals Sign Gerardo Parra To Minors Deal
The Nationals have signed outfielder Gerardo Parra to a minor league deal, reports Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. Parra is in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.
Parra, who turns 35 in May, is a veteran of 12 MLB seasons and 1519 games played. His best stretch of play was from 2010 to 2015. He was never elite at the plate, but had enough speed and defense to still be valuable in that time. Over those six seasons, he hit .274/.326/.404 for a wRC+ of 94 and 10.8 fWAR.
In 2019, he started the season with the Giants but was designated for assignment in early May. After clearing waivers, he signed on with the Nats and became a fan favorite when he chose “Baby Shark” as his walk-up music. This eventually became an unofficial team anthem as the club went on their incredible run to become that year’s World Series champions. Parra played in Japan in 2020 but came back to the Nats last year on a minor league deal. He ultimately had his contract selected and got into 53 games, hitting .237/.292/.351.
For the Nationals, there’s no harm in adding some veteran depth, especially in the wake of a deadline selloff last year that has left plenty of question marks going forward. Juan Soto obviously has one outfield spot spoken for. Lane Thomas had a nice showing after coming over in the Jon Lester trade and will probably be pencilled in. Victor Robles is still around, though he’s now had two consecutive rough seasons at the plate. Then there’s a handful of other guys who could see some time on the grass but aren’t necessarily guaranteed a long stretch, such as Ehire Adrianza, Andrew Stevenson, Lucius Fox and Yadiel Hernandez. Bringing on a veteran like Parra is a no-risk way of improving the depth behind this group.
Nationals Sign Anibal Sanchez To Minors Deal
The Nationals have signed veteran right-hander Anibal Sanchez, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network. It’s a minor league deal, reports Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post. If selected, he’ll be paid $2MM, with $1.5MM in performance bonuses available, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
A veteran who made his MLB debut back in 2006, Sanchez had his best years from 2010 to 2014, making 145 starts in that time, covering 895 innings with an ERA of 3.43. Unfortunately, things went south from there, with his ERA growing to 4.99, 5.87 and 6.41 over the next three seasons.
At that point, it was fair to wonder if his career was over, but he made an incredible comeback in 2018. After signing a minor league deal with the Braves, Sanchez threw 136 2/3 innings for Atlanta with a 2.83 ERA, parlaying that into a two-year, $19MM contract with the Nats. In 2019, he kept the comeback going with 166 innings of 3.85 ERA ball, and then 18 more innings in the postseason with an ERA of 2.50, helping the team on their remarkable World Series run.
The comeback ran out of steam in 2020, however, as Sanchez logged 53 innings in the shortened campaign with an ERA of 6.62. In 2021, he continually held showcases for interested clubs but ultimately never found a deal to his liking and missed the entire season. Yesterday, he held yet another showcase that was apparently impressive enough for him to land an offer just ten minutes later, per Heyman. Now Sanchez is back where he was four years ago, signed to a minor league deal and hoping to show he’s still got something left in the tank.
The Nationals would surely love for him to succeed, as they have lots of uncertainty in their rotation. Stephen Strasburg will be at the front of it if healthy, but that’s a big “if” after only throwing 26 2/3 innings over the past two years. Patrick Corbin will have another slot, but he had an ERA of 5.82 last year. Erick Fedde‘s ERA was 5.47 in 2021. Joe Ross just had a bone spur removed from his throwing elbow and will be set back six to eight weeks, per Dougherty. Beyond that, the rotation options are unproven youngsters like Josiah Gray, Paolo Espino, Joan Adon, Seth Romero, Josh Rogers and Gerardo Carrillo. As the club endures a rebuild after last year’s selloff, they will surely want to have opportunities for those youngsters to show what they’re capable of. But they will likely also have the need for a veteran like Sanchez to take some starts and log some innings as well.
Nationals Sign Ehire Adrianza
The Nationals and utility man Ehire Adrianza are in agreement on a one-year, $1.5MM deal, pending a physical, per Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extra Base (via Twitter). Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post confirms the deal (via Twitter), adding that there will be incentives tied to the contract to potentially increase the sum total.
Adrianza joins an increasingly robust collection of journeyman utility players in Washington. The 32-year-old switch hitter and Cesar Hernandez are the two vets who have secured guaranteed money, along with Alcides Escobar, the incumbent starter at shortstop. Adrianza’s contract doesn’t make him a starter in Washington, but it does presume he will be on the roster on Opening Day. And for what it’s worth, Escobar signed for less money and he’s looking like a multi-year starter for manager Davey Martinez’s club.
What’s more, though the Nationals haven’t exactly set the world on fire with their free-agent signings, but when it comes to veteran infielders, they’ve gone the quantity-over-quality route. Beyond the trio mentioned above, speeders Dee Strange-Gordon and Lucius Fox are also in-house with an opportunity to make the team. Richard Urena, Maikel Franco, Adrian Sanchez, Jake Noll, and Andrew Young are among the other veteran darts that they’ve thrown at the roster board this winter.
The question for Washington is how many roster spots exactly are available for the taking? More specifically, how secure are the active roster spots currently held by Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia? Most of the veteran build-up can be attributed to the Nationals’ lack of minor league depth, but at a certain point, one has to wonder about the confidence level leadership has for their young infield duo.
Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post suggests that the Nats may want to see Garcia spend time at shortstop, moving Escobar to the bench. That certainly makes sense if he’s going to stay on the Major League roster. It’s hard to imagine how either player or team benefits from Garcia coming off the bench.
Presumably, that’s where Adrianza steps in. The versatile defender can play anywhere on the field, giving the Nationals some flexibility with their roster construction. Martinez tends to ride his starters offensively, but having Adrianza on the bench might even allow Washington to ride with a short bench at times. With just a $1.5MM commitment, it’s also not impossible that Washington moves on from Adrianza if he’s not performing as expected. The payroll isn’t yet close to where it’s been in years past, so this might just be an example of Washington throwing some money at a problem to make up for the lack of some organizational depth at the top.
Quick Hits: Lyles, Rangers, Dodgers, Bassitt, Blue Jays, Anibal, Erasmo, Teheran
After a few months in limbo, Jordan Lyles‘ one-year contract with the Orioles finally became official today. The righty reached an agreement with the O’s just hours before the lockout halted all offseason business, and thus Lyles wasn’t able to get a physical and fully finalize his new contract. Lyles will receive $7MM in guaranteed money, which breaks down as a $500K signing bonus and a $5.5MM salary for 2022, as per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link). This would also mean that there is a $1MM buyout of Baltimore’s club option on Lyles for 2023, and Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports that the Orioles’ option is worth $11MM.
More from around baseball….
- Top Rangers prospect Josh Jung could miss the entire season due to shoulder surgery, and the Rangers traded Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Twins earlier today. Despite these two losses, Rangers president of operations Jon Daniels told reporters (including Jeff Wilson) that the club wasn’t intending to make a big investment at third base going forward. This would mean that Texas is going to roll with internal options like Yonny Hernandez, Andy Ibanez, Nick Solak or possibly some minor league infielders that could make their MLB debuts at some point in the season. Or, given how aggressive the Rangers have been in revamping their roster this winter, it could be that Daniels was just engaging in some gamesmanship, and is on the lookout for some more established third base help.
- The Dodgers had interest in Chris Bassitt before the lockout, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. It isn’t known whether Los Angeles got in touch with the A’s about Bassitt again once the transactions freeze was lifted, but it’s now a moot point, as the A’s dealt Bassitt to the Mets earlier today. With Bassitt off the table, starting pitching continues to be a target for the Dodgers, even after re-signing Clayton Kershaw on Friday and adding Andrew Heaney back in November.
- Pitching has also been the Blue Jays‘ primary offseason focus to date, with the Jays signing Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi, and also locking up Jose Berrios to a contract extension. However, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes that Toronto will likely still explore infielders in trades and signings. It has been assume that the Jays will target a second or third baseman this winter, with some combination of Cavan Biggio and Santiago Espinal handling whichever infield spot isn’t covered by a new arrival.
- Free agent hurlers Anibal Sanchez, Julio Teheran, and Erasmo Ramirez all threw during a showcase for scouts today in Miami, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter links). One unknown team was impressed enough by Sanchez’s performance that they made a contract offer to the veteran right-hander almost immediately after he left the mound. The Nationals (as per Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post) and Tigers (as per MLB.com’s Jason Beck) were among the teams who had evaluators at the showcase, though it isn’t known if this was just due diligence or because of a specific interest in any of the three pitchers. Sanchez is both a former National and a former Tiger, while both Teheran and Ramirez pitched for Detroit just last season.
Nationals To Sign Steve Cishek
The Nationals have agreed to a one-year contract with Steve Cishek, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The contract comes with a $1.75MM guarantee, along with $500K in performance bonuses, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Signing a veteran like Cishek, who will turn 36 in June, is a fairly logical move for a club that underwent a massive fire sale at last year’s deadline. While the headliners of that selloff were Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, the bullpen also took a hit with the deals of Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand. That left the club with a reliever corps that largely consisted of unproven players with limited big league experience, with the exception of Will Harris. However, Harris turns 38 in August and only threw six innings last year before surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome ended his season, making him a question mark in his own right.
In contrast to that lack of reliability, Cishek has been remarkably consistent in his career. In each season since 2011, he has thrown at least 44 innings, with the exception of the shortened 2020 season, where he still logged 20 frames. Since his debut in 2010, he’s appeared in a total of 668 games, notching 644 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.85, strikeout rate of 24.7%, walk rate of 9.6% and groundball rate of 49%. With the exception of 2020, he’s never had an ERA higher than 3.58 in a season.
Last year, Cishek signed a one-year deal with the Angels late in March for a salary of $1MM. He ended up making 74 appearances for the Halos, logging 68 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.42, strikeout rate of 20.8% and walk rate of 13.3%. That walk rate was the worst of his career, and the strikeout rate just a hair above his previous career lows. That could perhaps be cause for some concern, but the Nationals still game him a modest raise on last year’s salary.
For a team that wiped millions from its books at the trade deadline last year, it’s still an incredible modest sum with little downside. If Cishek has yet another season like he’s had for the majority of his career, he could act as a stabilizing force on a pitching staff with high variance and perhaps be dealt to a contender at the deadline, as the team looks to bolster its farm and reload for their next competitive window.
Odalis Perez Passes Away
Former big league lefty Odalis Perez has tragically passed away, reports Hector Gomez of Z101 Digital. (On Twitter) Gomez relays that the former member of the Braves, Dodgers, Royals and Nationals “suffered a blow to the head after falling from a ladder.” He was 44 years old.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Perez began his MLB career with the Braves in September of 1998, just a few months after his 21st birthday. He appeared in ten games out of the bullpen, throwing 10 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.22. He followed that up with a 1999 season that saw him make 18 appearances, 17 of those being starts, throwing 93 innings with an even 6.00 ERA. After missing the entirety of the 2000 campaign due to injury, he bounced back in 2001 and logged 95 1/3 innings with an ERA of 4.91.
Prior to the 2002 campaign, Perez and two other Braves were part of a huge trade, going to the Dodgers in the deal that sent Gary Sheffield to Atlanta. That year, Perez had the best season of his career, throwing 222 1/3 innings over 32 starts with an ERA of 3.00. He racked up 155 strikeouts and finished the season with a record of 15-10. He was selected to the National League All-Star team that year.
Perez went on to be a mainstay of the Dodgers’ rotation for another three and a half seasons before being dealt to the Royals in July of 2006. He and two other Dodgers were traded to Kansas City for Elmer Dessens. He pitched out of the Royals’ rotation for the remainder of that season as well as the 2007 campaign.
In 2008, he signed a minor league deal with the Nationals, eventually having his contract selected and making the Opening Day start for the club. He allowed a fourth-inning home run to Chipper Jones, which was the first long ball in the history of Nationals Park. That season would ultimately prove to be his last MLB action. All told, he finished his career having played in 252 games, making 221 starts, throwing 1,335 innings with an ERA of 4.46. He racked up 920 strikeouts, four complete games and two shutouts.
We at MLB Trade Rumors offer condolences to the Perez family, as well as his many friends, fans and loved ones.
Read The Transcript Of Our Live Chat With Former MLB Outfielder Jonny Gomes
Drafted in the 18th round by the Devil Rays out of Santa Rosa Junior College back in 2001, Jonny Gomes established himself as a Major Leaguer four years later with a third-place Rookie of the Year finish. In his 13-year career, Gomes played for the Rays, Reds, Nationals, Athletics, Red Sox, Braves, and Royals. He also played for Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Gomes was perhaps best known for his hard-nosed style of play. As Gary Shelton of the Tampa Bay Times put it, “There is nothing laid-back, nothing calm about Gomes. He lives his life as if there are two outs in the ninth and the bases are loaded and the bars are closing and the fuse is burning and the air is running out.” From 2005-15, Gomes was hit by a pitch roughly once every 49 plate appearances, the 12th most-often in MLB.
Serving primarily as a left fielder and designated hitter, Gomes hit 162 home runs in his career. He hit at least 17 home runs in a season six different times, usually in fewer than 120 games. A right-handed hitter, Gomes terrorized southpaws throughout his time in the Majors. The list of pitchers he’s taken deep includes CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner, Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Chris Sale, and Randy Johnson.
The biggest home run of Gomes’ career came in Game 4 of the 2013 World Series for the Red Sox against Seth Maness and the Cardinals in St. Louis. Despite not being in the original starting lineup that day, Gomes crushed a three-run shot that led to Boston’s win. The Red Sox won it in six games, and Gomes’ patriotism was on full display at the White House. Gomes would go on to pick up the second ring of his career in 2015 with the Royals before retiring in 2016.
Earlier this month, Gomes joined BaseballCloud as its Director of Strategic Partnerships. Part of his role involves the expansion of the company’s optical tracking system, Yakkertech. You can follow Gomes on Instagram here and connect with him on Cameo here.
Today, we were proud to host Jonny for a live chat with MLBTR readers. Click here to read the transcript of today’s chat!
If you’re a current or former MLB player, come do a chat with us! It only takes one hour, and you get to choose which questions you publish and answer. Click here to contact us.