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Archives for January 2016

Astros, Wandy Rodriguez Agree To Minor League Deal

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JAN. 22: Rodriguez’s deal comes with a $1MM base salary upon making the Major League roster and up to $3MM worth of additional incentives, tweets Jon Heyman.

JAN. 21: The Astros and left-hander Wandy Rodriguez are in agreement on a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, reports Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes (Twitter link). Rodriguez is a client of the Wasserman Media Group.

Rodriguez, 37, will return to the organization that originally signed him as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic back in 1999. Rodriguez made his big league debut with the Astros in 2005 and pitched with the team through the summer of 2012, when he was flipped to the Pirates for a package of Robbie Grossman, Rudy Owens and Colton Cain.

Last season, Rodriguez went to Spring Training with the Braves but wound up losing a battle for Atlanta’s fifth rotation spot with Eric Stults. The Rangers picked Rodriguez up and inserted him into their injury-riddled rotation — a move that yielded strong results for most of the season. Rodriguez posted a 3.20 ERA with a 50-to-23 K/BB ratio in 64 2/3 innings for the Rangers through his first 11 starts. However, the wheels came off in a hurry, as he’d go on to yield 24 runs in 22 1/3 innings over his final six appearances with Texas before being designated for assignment.

Rodriguez can serve as rotation depth for the Astros or compete for a spot as a long man or middle reliever in the bullpen this spring. Tony Sipp is currently projected to be the only lefty in the ’pen, so there’s certainly room to add another southpaw to the mix, although Rodriguez did struggle against same-handed batters quite a bit in 2015.

MLBTR Podcast: Landing Spots For The Top Remaining Outfielders

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Jeff covers the league’s latest moves in the weekly Quick Hits rundown, then welcomes MLBTR’s Steve Adams to the show to discuss the Nationals’ reported pursuit of Yoenis Cespedes. Jeff and Steve also run through other possible landing spots for Cespedes, Dexter Fowler and Austin Jackson and examine the moves that several teams would have to make in order to accommodate a free-agent addition.

Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please leave a review! The podcast is also available via Stitcher at this link.

The MLB Trade Rumors Podcast runs weekly on Thursday afternoons.

Marlins Still Interested In Veteran Starter

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JAN. 21: In addition to the names mentioned yesterday, right-hander Kyle Lohse is also a consideration for the Marlins, Heyman tweets. The 37-year-old Lohse’s name has scarcely been mentioned this winter, as the veteran struggled through one of the worst seasons of his career in 2015, posting a 5.85 ERA in 152 1/3 innings. Lohse displayed solid (albeit somewhat diminished) control and didn’t see any sort of dip in velocity, but he was plagued by a decreased strand rate and spikes in his homer-to-flyball rate and BABIP.

JAN. 20: The Marlins still have interest in adding a veteran starter, as Jon Heyman notes on Twitter and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported this morning. Doug Fister and Alfredo Simon are possible names under consideration, as are rehabbing hurlers Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum.

Certainly, those pitchers represent two of the most accomplished veteran bounceback candidates who remain on the market. Fister and Mat Latos have long been considered the class of the rebound hopefuls, but it seems safe to say the latter won’t be coming back to Miami after his brief run there in 2015.

We haven’t heard much on Simon this winter, but Fister is said to be seeking a two-year deal in the $22MM range. Drawing either pitcher will likely require not only some guaranteed money, but also an appealing opportunity.

It’s not clear how far the Fish will extend themselves to bring in another option, and Jackson suggests that the ballclub is looking for a low-cost investment. If that doesn’t happen, he says, then the organization is prepared to move on with what it has.

That makes sense, as Miami has already added a veteran pitcher in Edwin Jackson who’s had success in the past but needed an opportunity in the present. Obviously, the signing of Wei-Yin Chen went a long way toward shoring up the top of the staff. And the team still has a solid inventory of internal depth options.

Diamondbacks Trying To Trade Second Baseman

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9:37am: FOX’s Ken Rosenthal hears that the D-backs remain reluctant to part with what be the No. 39 pick in this year’s draft (Twitter link).

8:45am: The Diamondbacks are in “active trade talks” and trying to move a second baseman, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). Moving one of their current options at the position would allow them to add Howie Kendrick to the fold, Nightengale adds.

Arizona has a number of options at second base,  including Aaron Hill, Chris Owings and prospect Brandon Drury. Of the bunch, Hill is clearly the most appealing candidate to move, from Arizona’s perspective. The 33-year-old (34 in March) is set to earn $12MM in 2016 — the final season of a three-year, $35MM extension that was signed a few years back. The first season of that contract, while injury-shortened, was a productive one for Hill, but his bat has gone dormant over the past two seasons, yielding just a .238/.290/.359 slash line since Opening Day 2014.

The D-backs would need to eat the bulk of Hill’s remaining salary or take on a similarly undesirable contract in order to move Hill. Earlier this offseason, there was talk of Arizona sending Hill to Cincinnati in exchange for Brandon Phillips, although those talks reportedly fell through because the Diamondbacks felt they were being asked to take on too much of Phillips’ remaining $27MM in salary. The best bet to move Hill, in my view, would be to do so by taking on a similarly priced veteran to use as the club’s fourth outfielder or bullpen piece. Arizona, after all, has plenty of options around the infield and more rotation candidates than rotation spots following the additions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller.

The 32-year-old Kendrick would cost the D-backs their second draft pick of the offseason, as they’ve already forfeited their first-round selection (No. 13 overall) in order to sign Greinke. Surrendering that pick is something that GM Dave Stewart has firmly said the team would not do, though it’s always possible that their thinking or Kendrick’s asking price has changed since Stewart made those comments. Kendrick would be an unequivocal upgrade over the team’s collective .220/.266/.340 output from its second basemen last season. While Arizona could hope for better health and production out of Owings — and Stewart has said the team expects as much — adding some degree of certainty by signing Kendrick certainly has merit, especially when considering the lengths to which Arizona has already gone in an effort to build a contender this offseason.

I’ve mentioned since that time that this would be an odd time for the D-backs to draw a line in the proverbial sand and staunchly refuse to surrender further draft pick value. The team has already committed more than $34MM annually to Greinke over a six-year term and parted with an enormous amount of value to add Miller, so there’s little reason to suddenly hit the brakes from where I stand. Kendrick, of course, comes with some question marks — namely a decline in the eyes of defensive metrics — but he’s nonetheless been a steady, productive bat that would function as yet another upgrade to an improved Diamondbacks roster.

NL Central Notes: Bastardo, Pirates, Rosenthal, Lucroy, Peraza

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The Pirates made an effort to re-sign left-hander Antonio Bastardo, tweets Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray. Pittsburgh was willing to offer the lefty a two-year, $8MM contract to return to the bullpen, but he eclipsed that mark fairly handily in landing a total of $12MM over the life of his two-year deal with the Mets. Bastardo reportedly drew varying levels of interest from the Dodgers, Orioles, Blue Jays and Twins in addition to Pittsburgh and New York. From my vantage point, given the willingness to go to two years on Bastardo and the lack of internal options on the 40-man roster beyond excellent setup man Tony Watson and DFA reclamation Kyle Lobstein, the Pirates make sense as a landing spot for a veteran lefty on a one-year deal.

Elsewhere in the NL Central…

  • The upcoming wave of collective bargaining negotiations will be a critical one for small-market teams like the Pirates, writes USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who spoke to Pirates owner Bob Nutting for the column. Nutting spoke about how he’d “love to see [Andrew McCutchen] stay with us forever,” though as Nightengale notes, that’s a difficult proposition considering Pittsburgh’s payroll constraints and the robust free agent prices (specifically, Nightengale references Jason Heyward’s deal, though comparing a 26-year-old to McCutchen, who will be entering his age-32 season when hitting the open market after 2018, is somewhat of an imperfect analogy). Revenue sharing and possible alterations to the luxury tax in an attempt to level the playing field, to some extent, will both be topics of discussion, Nightengale notes, though as he points out, it’s unlikely that the Pirates, Brewers, Indians and other small-market clubs will ever be able to spend at the level of the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox. Nutting feels this CBA will be “critically” important to small-market clubs and hopes steps are taken to give such teams greater access to talent acquisition.
  • Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal tells Ben Frederickson and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that there have been no talks of a long-term deal with the team at this point. “As far as contractual, multi-year type things, I guess we haven’t had any talks,” said Rosenthal. “I don’t know what they’re thinking, what we’re thinking. I don’t know how any of that looks because I haven’t gone through it. Going through the arbitration process was pretty good. Smooth. I’m happy with how it ended up.” That’s a perhaps unsurprising revelation, as Rosenthal is represented by Scott Boras, whose clients rarely take contract extensions prior to hitting the open market. Beyond that, Rosenthal is already earning significant money in arbitration, having agreed to a $5.6MM salary for the 2016 season last week.
  • Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who candidly expressed his frustration with the team’s rebuilding process yesterday, tells Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he’s working to avoid further concussions after suffering a serious one late in the 2015 season. Specifically, Lucroy explained that doctors and team trainers have preached neck strengthening exercises, as studies have shown that neck strength can help to limit the impact of a concussion.
  • Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan examines the decline in Lucroy’s pitch-framing marks over the past four years and whether or not the Brewers (or an acquiring team) should expect him to bounce back in that regard. Sullivan’s research finds that catchers that see their pitch-framing numbers decline rarely experience a rebound in that particular metric, and perhaps more troubling, finds that Lucroy’s decline has been the most rapid of virtually any catcher in the league. As Sullivan notes, quantifiable pitch-framing metrics are relatively new, so there are some uncertainties with the information and there could be elements not being considered. Nonetheless, the initial returns on his examination don’t paint a particularly bright picture.
  • Because Brandon Phillips elected not to waive his no-trade rights earlier this offseason, Reds fans could see newly acquired prospect Jose Peraza at a number of positions in 2016, writes MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. “I think it’s important to remember that Peraza has played a lot at shortstop,” GM Dick Williams tells Sheldon. “He has played center field. There’s a chance we could see him in different spots. I don’t think getting playing time for him will be an issue. We’d gladly take an approach where we get him some time at different areas and see where he can be of assistance to the team.” Sheldon notes that one means of enticing Phillips to approve a trade would be to reduce his playing time somewhat in favor of Peraza, though that could result in some clubhouse problems by making a still-productive veteran feel slighted by the organization.

Cubs, Munenori Kawasaki Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs and infielder Munenori Kawasaki have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Kawasaki, a client of Relativity Sports, will receive an invitation to Major League Spring Training, writes Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.

The entirety of the the 34-year-old Kawasaki’s Major League career has come with the Mariners and Blue Jays over the past four seasons, during which time he’s batted a combined .234/.314/.284 while seeing time at second base, third base and shortstop. Kawasaki brings a light bat, to be sure, but his exuberance in interviews and over-the-top sense of humor made him a favorite of both fans and teammates alike over the course of his time with the Blue Jays.

The Cubs, of course, have plenty of talent around the infield, so Kawasaki is simply a depth addition for them. Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Ben Zobrist will man third base, shortstop and second base, respectively, for the Cubs in 2016, and the team also has Javier Baez, Tommy La Stella and Arismendy Alcantara as additional infield options.

Nationals Pursuing Yoenis Cespedes

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The Nationals made an effort to sign Justin Upton but came up short to the Tigers, writes Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, adding that with Upton now in Detroit, the Nationals are in pursuit of fellow free agent Yoenis Cespedes. While exact parameters aren’t known at this time, Rosenthal hears that the Nationals have indeed made an offer to Cespedes. The proposed contract is not as lucrative as the one that Upton landed in Detroit, writes Rosenthal, although the mere fact that they have an offer on the table does speak to the sincerity of their interest.

As Rosenthal points out, Cespedes is far from a perfect fit for the Nationals’ roster. Jayson Werth is owed $42MM over the next two seasons, has a full no-trade clause on his contract and struggled with health and on-field production in 2015. Suffice it to say, all of that makes a trade difficult to envision. Bryce Harper, of course, is a fixture in the outfield on the heels of his first National League MVP Award, and the team recently traded for Ben Revere to pair with Michael A. Taylor in center field. Speaking purely speculatively, the Nats could look to trade Revere themselves or move Taylor, considering Cespedes a large enough upgrade to make an unexpected play in that regard. While both Cespedes and Harper are best suited for corner outfield work, Cespedes played quite a bit of center field last season (albeit, with some difficulties), and many scouts believe that Harper is young enough and athletic enough to capably handle center field for a few years.

However, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes, the lack of a clear fit doesn’t necessarily preclude the Nationals from making a splash. The Nats didn’t look like an on-paper fit for Max Scherzer one year ago but still sprung to sign him, pushing Tanner Roark out of the rotation just months after he had turned in a seemingly breakout campaign. GM Mike Rizzo has long prioritized a deep roster, Janes notes, and the team could mix and match with Revere in center and Cespedes in left on days when Werth is out of the lineup (I’ll also point out that Werth has quite a lengthy injury history and is by no means a lock to stay healthy in 2016). Janes also points out that the Nats had interest in Cespedes back in 2012 when he was an international free agent, adding that the team’s current payroll projects to be about $30MM lighter than it was at the end of the 2015 season.

Earlier this week, reports indicated the market for Cespedes was intensifying. To this point, the Orioles have been linked to Cespedes most prominently — at least in terms of their willingness to spend on him — but it’s unclear if they remain in the mix after re-signing Chris Davis. The Mets are said to open to a short-term deal with Cespedes, and the same is said to be true of the White Sox, who just tonight were reported to be maintaining their limit of a three-year term in their pursuit. Late last night, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Dennis Lin threw the Padres into the Cespedes market to some extent as well, reporting that the team is “monitoring” the late development of his market.

Wagner’s piece reports that Washington’s offer to Upton was for less than the six years he received in Detroit, and Rosenthal hears the same. Furthermore, the team also reportedly offered Jason Heyward $200MM earlier this offseason. Clearly, the Nationals are open to, if not actively seeking outfield improvements, and Rosenthal adds that Nationals ownership is “intrigued” by Cespedes. Whether that culminates in an agreement remains to be seen, but the Nationals could take the approach of hoarding as much talent as they possibly can this offseason, then worry about how to maximize said talent in terms of on-field production when the season rolls around.

AL Central Notes: Upton, Tigers, Cespedes, Buxton, Abad

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Lynn Henning of the Detroit News breaks down the series of events that led to the Tigers’ signing of Justin Upton to a six-year, $132.75MM contract today. As Henning notes, owner Mike Ilitch went into the club’s annual offseason holiday break with some reservations about the concept of a Cameron Maybin/Tyler Collins platoon in left field. By the time Tigers’ brass returned to their offices, Ilitch was committed to signing one of Upton, Yoenis Cespedes or Alex Gordon to upgrade in left field. Tigers scouts and analysts went to work on making as informed a decision as possible, and GM Al Avila consulted with assistant Alan Trammel and Tigers broadcaster Kirk Gibson about their personal experiences with Upton from the trio’s days together in Arizona. Henning notes that Detroit also considered Chris Davis, as Jon Heyman reported, but ultimately concerns over his ability to handle left field at Comerica Park eliminated him from the fold. Upton’s age and superior on-base percentage appear to have been focal points in the decision, though Henning notes that Cespedes was under serious consideration until last week. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweeted the same yesterday, noting that Detroit negotiated with both Upton and Cespedes simultaneously before deciding on Upton.

Here’s more from the AL Central…

  • Upton’s agent, Larry Reynolds, said at today’s press conference that they offered the Tigers a pair of scenario’s: a longer-term deal without an opt-out clause and the six-year deal with a two-year opt-out that Upton ultimately signed (links to Twitter via MLB.com’s Jason Beck). Reynolds adds that Upton didn’t sign with Detroit to be a Tiger for only two years, stating, “Justin’s been on enough teams.” Of course, if Upton enjoys two healthy and productive seasons in Detroit in 2016-17, it’d be a surprise if he didn’t again test the open market in advance of his age-30 season.
  • The Tigers might not yet be done adding pieces, Beck tweets. At today’s press conference, Avila told reporters, “I’d still like to have more depth in pitching. We’re adequate right now.” An addition to the rotation seems unlikely, at least on a Major League deal, though the team could reasonably pursue some depth on a minor league deal or look to add one more piece to the bullpen mix.
  • The White Sox remain interested in Yoenis Cespedes, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link), but their stance has not changed since their initially reported interest. Per Nightengale, the ChiSox are still unwilling to exceed a three-year term in their pursuit of Cespedes. A short-term deal for Cespedes still strikes me as an unlikely scenario.
  • The Twins’ trade of Aaron Hicks this winter caught Byron Buxton off guard, the top prospect tells MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. The trade was somewhat bittersweet for Buxton, Bollinger writes, as he lost one of his best friends on the team but also received a clear-cut message that the center field job was his for the taking. Buxton says he made some adjustments late in the season, and the numbers bear that out, as Bollinger notes, pointing out his .273/.314/.515 batting line in his final 20 games. Manager Paul Molitor tells Bollinger that the organization’s hope is that Buxton is ready to take the reins in center field and run with it, though as Bollinger writes, Eddie Rosario, Max Kepler and Danny Santana all have some experience in center field should Buxton struggle.
  • La Velle E. Neal of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets that Twins scouts believe left-hander Fernando Abad was tipping his pitches last season, which resulted in the veteran’s struggles. The Twins believe they can correct the issue, per Neal, which would give Abad a shot to break camp with the club. Minnesota signed the 30-year-old to a minor league deal earlier this offseason. Abad posted a 4.15 ERA with Oakland last season but had recorded a 2.27 ERA across 95 innings in the two seasons prior.

Red Sox, Junichi Tazawa Avoid Arbitration

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While the majority of the 156 players that filed for salary arbitration last week have agreed to terms with their teams, either on a one-year deal for 2016 or on an extension, the cases of 30 players remain unresolved. You can track the status of each case using MLBTR’s 2016 Arbitration Tracker, and we’ll keep track of all of today’s smaller deals to avoid arbitration in this post (all referenced projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)…

  • The Red Sox and right-hander Junichi Tazawa have avoided arbitration by coming to terms on a one-year, $3.375MM contract, tweets Jon Heyman. Tazawa, whose salary lines up nearly perfectly with Swartz’s $3.3MM projection, had filed for  a$4.15MM salary, while the team countered at $2.7MM. His eventual salary falls just $25K shy of the midpoint between those two sums. Tazawa, who will be a free agent next winter, will join right-handers Carson Smith and Koji Uehara in setting up for newly acquired closer Craig Kimbrel. The Japanese righty struggled a bit in 2015 due to an abnormally low strand rate, but he’s been largely excellent since signing with the Red Sox back in 2008. Since establishing himself as a key piece of the Boston ’pen back in 2012, Tazawa has a 3.00 ERA with 9.1 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 in 234 innings of relief.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1-20-16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Rangers and outfielder Jordan Danks agreed to a minor league contract yesterday, reports Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The younger brother of White Sox left-hander John Danks, Jordan spent the 2015 season in the Phillies organization, where he received four big league plate appearances but was otherwise a fixture in the club’s Triple-A lineup, batting .257/.318/.368 with six homers and five steals in 448 plate appearances. Danks has a considerable amount of time in the Majors under his belt, having accumulated 390 big league plate appearances over the years — with 386 of them coming as a teammate of his brother with the ChiSox. He’s a career .224/.300/.322 hitter in the Majors and is capable of playing all three outfield positions.

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