1:59pm: Minor will receive a $1MM signing bonus with salaries of $8MM (2018) and $9.5MM (2019 & 2020), per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Twitter).
11:10am: The Rangers have announced the signing of lefty Mike Minor to a three-year pact. The Jet Sports Management client will receive a $28MM guarantee and also picks up ten-team no-trade rights, per reports. He’s expected to pitch out of the rotation in Texas.
MLBTR had predicted Minor would land $28MM on the open market, but over a four-year term. This contract becomes the biggest agreed to thus far in what has been a remarkably slow-to-develop offseason. As the first significant player to sign, perhaps it’s not surprising that Minor ended up beating expectations.
Minor, who’ll soon turn 30, once thrived out of the Braves’ rotation before shoulder problems got in the way. Surgery ensued after a messy 2014 season and he did not appear in the majors for the next two campaigns.
After being non-tendered by the Braves, Minor hooked on with the Royals, who promised him $7.25MM over two years in hopes he’d bounce back. Minor was not able to recover in time to reach the bigs in 2016, but finally re-emerged in the 2017 campaign — this time, as a reliever.
Over his 77 2/3 innings in the just-finished season, Minor ran a 2.55 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. He averaged nearly 95 mph on his fastball, over three ticks better than he had ever sustained for a season as a starter. Minor relied on his slider quite a bit more than usual, but otherwise largely sustained the same multi-pitch mix that allowed him to succeed as a southpaw starter. It’s worth noting, too, that twenty of his relief appearances went past a single inning.
It’s not hard to see why Minor was among the most hotly pursued pitchers out of the gates. He’s capable of functioning as a lockdown late-inning southpaw, giving multiple innings out of the pen, or — most enticingly — returning to the rotation. Minor’s health history makes that last possibility feel a bit risky, though it’s entirely arguable that the upside merits a chance.
Indeed, given that he chose to sign with a team that intends to use him as a starter, Minor obviously is on board with that move. If that is the direction both he and the team desire, then Minor will certainly bring plenty of potential to a staff that badly needs it.
[RELATED: Updated Rangers Depth Chart]
While the Rangers already added Doug Fister to their rotation, and still hopes to bring Shohei Ohtani aboard, the team certainly can afford to continue adding. Indeed, it seems there’s even some thought of the possibility of moving to a six-man rotation, as Grant suggests. And it is plenty arguable that this team is wise to take a shot on Minor as a starter — even with his health history — rather than settling for another back-end arm. The fact that Minor could also slide back to the bullpen, which also is in need of high-quality pitchers, only adds to the flexibility the team can achieve with this move.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the deal (Twitter link) as well as its guarantee (via Twitter). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News suggested Minor would work as a starter and reported the contract length (Twitter links). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports had the no-trade clause (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yay
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You ok?
o ok cool thx jeff!!!!!
I think they’ll try to stretch him out as a starter in Spring Training. They need rotation depth badly
Starting is what destroyed him in the first place. Don’t fix whats not broken
You mean the Rangers rotation?
So anyone who is ever hurt as a starter should never start agasin?
I’m of the belief that if a pitcher is lights out in the bullpen, you don’t mess with it and try to get greedy by making him a starter again (unless it’s a David Price-type scenario where he comes out of the bullpen as a rookie to gain experience). The Diamondbacks need to leave Archie Bradley in the bullpen, the Rangers should have kept Neftali Feliz in the bullpen, etc…if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.
Multiple TJs- no they should start
It totally depends on the pitcher. Bradley should stay in the pen because he only throws 2 pitches. Minor throws 4 so he has a much better chance to be good again as a starter. Plus a lot of starters nowadays only go 4-5 innings. Makes plenty of sense.
A lot of poor starters only go 4 or 5 innings. I don’t think that’s what they will be paying him for.
It’s not that Minor isn’t good enough to succeed in the rotation, but he’s shown the ability to be a lights out reliever and he has an injury history. It may depend on the pitcher, but in situations like this I’d rather be cautious.
Exhibit A: John Smoltz.
Not TJ. His issues were shoulder.
I’d like to see Bradley closing
Daniel Bard too.
John Smoltz did
have TJ before
returning as a
closer.
Smoltz was a better pitcher than Minor could ever hope to be and had a proven track record of excellence in the rotation. Minor has none of that and with the velocity uptick and his rates trending in the right direction. I wouldn’t mess with it. Minor may have 4 pitches but he still can’t get through a lineup more than once consistently. I get it the Braves either scouted poorly or miss-handled him like many other recent pitchers. Medlan, Jurrjens, wood, Minor, and Beachy for starters.
Maybe use him as a spot starter?
I’d say maybe at the most. I really see them using him as a late inning arm more than anything. I’m sure they could use him in a multi-inning role as well, if they need him to.
Minor could easily become a key piece to the super-bullpen model that MLB is going towards. Andrew Miller is a great example where he can come in, go multiple innings late in the game and possibly close depending on the situation. It puts less reliance on a closer (i.e. Cody Allen for CLE).
Premise.
Have 16 MLB-good relievers, some that are still on minor league deals.
Rangers are doing their best post 2005 Astros impression. Blow it up before you open the new stadium with terrible teams.
What?
Astros got a new stadium post 05?
I guess Rangers’ fans sometimes confuse history.
Nothing alike. You lose the internet.
This is why you don’t chew the gum in the 1987 Topps baseball card packs.
Texas active early
4 years sounds like an unnecessary risk here
Lunhow too cheap to go after the most important free agent piece. Unless he lives in the Metroplex.
Owners, not Lunhow. Not cheap either. Big expenses chiming in the next couple years. Minor is good but big arm issues are worrisome with long contracts.
Let’s see what the terms are first. Big relief contracts hardly ever work out
Child please. Jake McGee is the top lefty. If something does happen, I suspect it’s a Britton deal. But the O’s lost a lot of leverage.
Brad Hand is another option. Only 1 year of control.
Would rather have Shohei Ohtani
I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive hahaha
No s***, who wouldn’t?!
Im sure its not four years… god I hope not. I could see him taking two years with a guarantee he starts.
I’m guessing 2yr/25m
15mil*
If he signed this early, I’m guessing he got 3 years minimum.
I think as a reliever, but I wonder how many people were willing to let him start again. If the Rangers guaranteed him a rotation spot I think he jumps at fewer years in hopes of re-establishing his value as a starter
At least we’re finally starting to see some minor transactions trickle through.
Was that pun intentional? If so, good one.
Eh, it was Mediocre with a capital M…or maybe a capital M is all it needed to be good? Sorry y’all, I’ve been drinkin’
Lmao
It’s a smart crowd on this board. I figured it was better to be subtle.
Ha, touché
This Minor man is a Major deal…
Not a bad idea. Pair him with Claudio, Bush and Kela at the back end of the pen then focus on the rotation. Minor could be a multi inning left handed threat and an invaluable asset IF he can stay healthy.
Maybe a spot starter or for stretches when they might yet try that 6 man rotation.
Maybe Bannister is planning on going full on 6 man rotation and also not letting any starter go three times through. Seems like a reallly good way to get the most outta the cheaper players on the market. Sign 6 guys for the same a big free agent costs and hope two/three stick.
Great signing. I don’t understand trying to stretch him out again. Before the injury, he was a mediocre starter, a back of the rotation guy with a 90-91 mph FB, 4.10 ERA and 7.8 K/9. He was an outstanding reliever last season with a 94-95 mph FB, a 2.55 ERA and 10.8 K/9. Most people thought he could end up as a closer this season.
I agree, his 4th will drop down again, and his era will be 5+ as a starter. But as a high leverage setup or closer, he’s an asset.
o
Rangers have a history of turning good relievers into bad starting pitchers. I’ll never understand why they ruined Feliz the way they did.
Because CJ Wilson worked out once, now they are gamblers
I agree for the most part on them screwing up good relievers. With that said I believe game 6 of the 2011 WS ruined Feliz. He was never the same after that.
Most of the team wasn’t the same after that. But that was the last time he was their closer. In 2012, they moved him into the rotation and it’s my completely unprofessional, no medical degree, baseball watching opinion that the move is what led to his UCL injury.
I know they brought in Nathan, a great closer, but at the very least Feliz should have stayed as the setup man.
Now they are doing this with not only Minor, who I will go on record predicting him hitting the DL with elbow problems by June, but also Matt Bush. A pitcher with 114 innings, all out of the pen.
As an Astros fan, living in Ranger country, I laugh and am extremely pessimistic about either succeeding. I don’t wish ill on any player but I see elbow problems for both pitchers this year.
If Texas was smart, they’d have the 8th and 9th innings set with these two.
MLBTR with the spot on contract prediction
they said 4 years though, he got way more avv
So they get a great reliever, and want to turn him into a starter? He’ll probably lose velocity and his ERA will increase. Makes no sense
Great move signing Minor. Now if the Rangers will leave him in the pen where he belongs. And use him as spot starter they will have done something really cool. And let them take there time in stretching him back out for a starter. No need to rush him, he has like 2 to 4 years on his contract.
Does anyone know what his 2017 left / right splits were or where to find them?
baseball reference or look at player page on yahoo
baseball reference, yahoo do not provide splits for players in Japan.
Depending on what the Rangers true plans are this contract is either complete insanity or extremely lucky. With multiple surgeries behind him and a history of trouble as a starter, paying Minor over $9m a year doesn’t point towards a wise investment. If they want him in rotation Minor must be reasonably successful as a starter for the deal to be worthwhile and it could work. On the other hand, if the rotation talk is a smokescreen or the team just ends up putting him there because he works best out of the pen, then it’s a bigger overpay. Minor’s had a nice run in the pen for KC but paying him more than Andrew Miller is too much. I can see $6-7m as an average for a multi-inning shutdown type coming out of the pen, but $9m plus on an AAV is crazy.
WOW….. MLBTR way off again! They would have had to predict $36m over four years. Ouch.
To be fair, the rangers signing him as a starter changes things greatly for money and years. This was clearly his only offer to start, which he apparently thinks he can do.
I see what your doing there…very clever mister!
Would have liked to see the stros sign Minor as a lefty in the bullpen, but given he’s only had 1 year pitching out of the last 3 years, I had pegged him at $6-7M/year for 3 years. Obviously Minor and the Rangers feel he can be a starter – if it works out and he is quality, the $9M/year might be a bargain. If it doesn’t it’s an overpay. I think upside is there, but a risky move. stros made a similar move with Morton last year but got him for $7M/year on a 2-year deal. Of course Minor is younger….so the additional year makes sense but the dollars are steep.