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Archives for January 2018

Cubs Sign Mike Freeman, Kyle Ryan To Minor League Deals

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The Cubs announced 19 non-roster invitations to Major League Spring Training today (Twitter link), with infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman and left-hander Kyle Ryan standing out as new additions on minor league contracts. Freeman is repped by BASH Baseball, and Ryan is a client of Frontline.

[Related: Updated Chicago Cubs depth chart]

The 30-year-old Freeman saw time with the Cubs, Mariners and Dodgers in 2017, appearing at all four infield positions but mustering just a .100/.182/.183 slash in 66 trips to the plate. Freeman’s jack-of-all-trades status on the defensive end of the spectrum and quality on-base numbers in Triple-A have made him a desirable commodity to round out 40-man rosters over the past couple of seasons, though. He played every position other than catcher at the Major League level in 2016-17 and has a career .312/.377/.420 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons.

As for Ryan, the 26-year-old southpaw has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past four seasons with the Tigers, totaling 128 innings of 3.87 ERA ball. Ryan, though, has averaged just 4.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in that time, and his average fastball checks in just south of 89 mph. To his credit, he’s logged a 54 percent ground-ball rate in the Majors and averaged just 0.77 HR/9 in the Majors. Ryan doesn’t come with a discernible platoon split, as lefties have hit him at a .272/.322/.406 clip while righties have batted .256/.335/.390. He’s worked as both a starter and reliever in the past, so he could provide some depth in either category for the Cubs.

Latest On Eric Hosmer

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There was a fair bit of buzz around Eric Hosmer and the Padres this morning after a photo of Hosmer popped up on the Padres’ Instagram account and the team’s Twitter account tweeted “Stay tuned” and tagged Hosmer. The social media posts were all quickly deleted, but speculation took off in fairly rapid fashion (as one would expect). However, the Padres have issued a statement on the matter, revealing that their social media accounts were “inappropriately accessed.” Moreover, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that there’s nothing imminent between the two sides.

“The Padres social media accounts were inappropriately accessed last night, and messages that were inaccurate and unauthorized were posted,” the Padres said in their statement. “MLB Cybersecurity is now investigating the matter, and we apologize for any confusion.” (Notably, Lin pointed out in an earlier tweet that while MLB clubs operate their own individual social media profiles, the accounts are technically “assets controlled by MLB Advanced Media.”)

San Diego and Kansas City have both reportedly made offers of seven years in length to Hosmer, though the precise dollar amount of each deal remains unclear. Lin does note in his report that the Padres did make a nine-figure offer, though, and Padres chairman Ron Fowler has candidly acknowledged that he and his front office have met with Hosmer and made him an offer. Fowler did not explicitly state that the length of the offer was for seven years, though he did reference a seven-year commitment in his comments on Mighty 1090 AM radio in San Diego.

Beyond this morning’s bit of drama, the Hosmer chatter has been minimal since Fowler’s comments and the reports of a pair of seven-year offers. San Diego and Kansas City still appear to be the two most serious pursuers of the 28-year-old, and there’s been nothing to indicate that the asking price of Hosmer and agent Scott Boras has dropped significantly despite a lack of obvious suitors.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/25/18

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

  • The Blue Jays announced that they’ve signed righty Rhiner Cruz to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training. The 31-year-old Cruz was the top overall selection in the Rule 5 Draft by the Astros back in 2011 and spent much of the two subsequent seasons in Houston’s bullpen. Cruz averaged better than 95 mph on his fastball but was unable to harnes his velocity in the Majors, working to a combined 5.31 ERA with 6.6 K/9, 4.7 BB/9, 1.18 HR/9 and a 37.1 percent ground-ball rate in 76 1/3 innings. Cruz scarcely pitched from 2015-16 but returned with an intriguing 2.84 ERA, 11.2 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 0.53 HR/9 and a 40.3 percent grounder rate in 50 2/3 innings for Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate last season. Toronto also announced its previously reported minor league deal with veteran righty Al Alburquerque this morning.

Poll: Who Will Sign Lorenzo Cain?

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The market for at least a couple of the top remaining free agents looks to be picking up steam, with Yu Darvish reportedly likely to sign in the coming days and Lorenzo Cain said to be eliminating teams from the field as he weighs multiple four-year offers. The Cubs came out on top of MLBTR’s recent poll of which team will sign Darvish, and with Cain’s market seemingly gaining momentum, it’s prediction time once again.

To date, the Rangers, Blue Jays, Giants and Brewers have been most prominently linked to Cain, while the Cubs have been somewhat loosely connected to him. Much earlier this offseason, the Mets were said to have interest as well.

Lorenzo Cain | Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Texas makes good sense for Cain on paper. Nomar Mazara and Delino DeShields will be mainstays (with DeShields manning center on a daily basis), while Shin-Soo Choo and Willie Calhoun figure to split time between a corner spot and designated hitter. Cain, clearly, would be a defensive boost, though his arrival could push Calhoun back to the minor leagues until an injury on the big league roster created some space. Texas has reportedly been aiming to drop its payroll by as much as $10MM from 2017’s Opening Day mark of $165MM. They’re currently projected at $144MM for Opening Day, so there could be room for Cain, especially if he signs a backloaded deal. GM Jon Daniels did recently imply that Cain may not be a fit, stating that the team wants DeShields to play center field every day and adding that any additional “big expenditure” would likely to be on the pitching side of the equation, if there is one at all.

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, recently picked up Randal Grichuk in a three-player trade with the Cardinals. Grichuk revealed after the fact that he’s received indication that he’ll get everyday at-bats with the Jays. Toronto also has defensive standout Kevin Pillar in center as well as Curtis Granderson, Steve Pearce, Ezequiel Carrera, Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Alford in the mix for MLB at-bats early in the year. Kevin Pillar has been at times been speculated upon as a trade candidate by Jays fans, though moving his affordable $3.25MM salary to pay Cain upwards of four to five times that amount on an annual basis wouldn’t make sense unless Toronto were receiving some immediate help for its pitching staff.

The Giants have long been linked to Cain given the team’s need for a defensive upgrade in center field. San Francisco is roughly $2.1MM shy of the $197MM luxury tax line at present, so signing Cain is wholly impossible unless they can somehow find a taker for an expensive veteran (e.g. Hunter Pence) or they abandon their quest to dip south of that threshold. If the Jays would consider moving Pillar — and there’s no indication of that at present, to be clear — then the Giants could potentially move a lesser salary to squeeze him into the mix. That’s a lot moving parts, though, and the entire scenario seems rather unlikely.

Milwaukee has Ryan Braun (and his full no-trade protection) in left field with Keon Broxton in center and Domingo Santana in right field. Brett Phillips is on hand as a fourth outfield option for now, and the Brewers are hopeful that ballyhooed prospect Lewis Brinson will soon cement himself as a fixture in the outfield at Miller Park as well. But, despite that quality stock of outfielders, they’re reportedly exploring the idea of dealing an outfielder in an effort to bolster the rotation (or, perhaps, condensing that surplus into a high-profile talent like Christian Yelich). If the Brewers were to sign Cain — in whom they’ve been rumored to have interest — there’d be at least one corresponding trade to make way, it seems.

The Cubs, meanwhile, have a host of outfield options, even if several have their warts. Jason Heyward’s contract makes him essentially untradeable, so he’ll hold down a spot in right field. Kyle Schwarber comes with plenty of questions after his rough 2017 season, but he remains in the mix as well. Albert Almora looks ready for a larger role in center field, and the Cubs also have Ben Zobrist and Ian Happ both in the mix for outfield time. They could perhaps fit Cain into that mix, but they’re reportedly looking closely at the free-agent market for top starters like Darvish, Jake Arrieta and Alex Cobb.

As for the Mets, they’ve signed Jay Bruce since they were linked to Cain and now have him, Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Lagares, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo in the picture. New York apparently has a bit of money left to spend, but they still need a second or third baseman — Asdrubal Cabrera will play the other — as well as some depth on the pitching staff. A Cain signing seems decidedly unlikely.

Cain’s all-around game should appeal to a wide number of teams, so it stands to reason that there could, of course, be dark horse clubs (or, yes, “mystery teams,” if you prefer the term) at play for his services. He’ll cost any team that signs him some value in the 2018 draft (here’s a refresher on which picks each team would lose by signing him), but that won’t be a make-or-break proposition for every club.

With all of that said, let’s open this up to the field (poll link for Trade Rumors mobile app users)…

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Lorenzo Cain Reportedly Has Multiple Four-Year Offers

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As the market for top starter Yu Darvish begins to pick up some steam, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports that the market for one of the free agency’s top position players may be escalating as well (Twitter links). Lorenzo Cain and his reps at All Bases Covered Sports Management have begun informing some teams that they’re out of the running, per Heyman. It’s not immediately clear whether that means a decision is on the horizon, but Heyman adds that Cain is weighing “a variety of offers” and is even “believed to have received several” offers of four years in length.

[Related: Free Agent Profile — Lorenzo Cain]

The 31-year-old Cain (32 in April) has been linked to several teams this winter, though San Francisco’s acquisition of Andrew McCutchen and the Blue Jays’ acquisition of Randal Grichuk may have eliminated a pair of potential destinations. The Giants have only about $2MM remaining to stay underneath the luxury tax line and are reportedly set on doing so, while the Jays now have an outfield mix consisting of Grichuk, Kevin Pillar, offseason signee Curtis Granderson, Ezequiel Carrera, Steve Pearce and prospects Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Alford. Fitting Cain into that mix would seem to be a tall order, barring the trade of an outfielder (or multiple outfielders) to add some rotation help.

The Rangers and Brewers have both been prominently linked to Cain over the past month. While Milwaukee is a curious fit at first glance given the Brewers’ own surplus of outfielders, GM David Stearns and his staff are reportedly exploring the potential return for some of the team’s incumbent outfielders. The Brewers reportedly have multiple lines in the water as they’ve been tied to pitchers like Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta and a potential trade for Christian Yelich in addition to their reported interest in Cain. As for the Rangers, it’s worth noting that GM Jon Daniels downplayed the possibility and voiced confidence in Delino DeShields as recently as this past weekend.

Beyond that group, there hasn’t been much in the way of teams that’ve been publicly linked to Cain in recent weeks. The Cubs were loosely tied to him a few weeks ago but have a deep mix of outfielders, and the Mets were said to have interest earlier in the offseason (before the signing of Jay Bruce). Certainly, given Cain’s above-average contributions in center field, at the plate and on the basepaths, there are probably other clubs that have interest in making room to add him to the roster, though the extent to which those clubs are willing to pay full market value for a player that would in many ways more luxury than necessity remains to be seen.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/24/18

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Here are Wednesday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Twins are in agreement with right-hander Matt Magill on a minor league contract, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. The 28-year-old Magill has appeared in a pair of Major League seasons, totaling 32 innings between the Dodgers and Reds but struggling to a 6.47 ERA with more walks (33) than innings pitched and strikeouts (27). Control has been an issue for Magill throughout his professional career, as evidenced by the fact that he’s averaged five walks per nine innings in 322 Triple-A innings. However, he’s managed to work around those free passes to turn in a respectable 4.39 ERA with 8.4 K/9 at that level. He’ll give Minnesota some rotation depth for their Triple-A affiliate in Rochester.
  • Infielder Dean Anna announced yesterday that he’s joining the White Sox organization (Twitter link). Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets that Anna’s minor league deal doesn’t contain an invite to MLB camp. The 31-year-old Anna, an Illinois native, will join the club he grew up watching and hope for an eventual opportunity to return to the big leagues. The former 26th-rounder (Padres, 2008) appeared in a dozen games for the 2014 Yankees and one lone game for the 2015 Cardinals, hitting .130/.192/.304 in 26 plate appearances. Anna is a career .283/.373/.386 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons and has experience at second base, shortstop, third base and in the outfield corners.

Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman Elected To Hall Of Fame

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The Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday elected Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome and Trevor Hoffman to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Jones (who appeared on 97.2 percent of ballots) and Thome (89.8 percent) will go into Cooperstown as first-ballot Hall of Famers. Guerrero (92.9 percent) will be enshrined in his second year of eligibility. Hoffman (79.9 percent) was on the ballot for the third time.

Edgar Martinez fell shy of the 75 percent mark needed for enshrinement, receiving a votes on 70.4 percent of ballots Others coming within 20 percent of induction include Mike Mussina (63.5 percent), Roger Clemens (57.4 percent) and Barry Bonds (56.4 percent). Full voting is available at the BBWAA’s website.

There was never much doubt that Jones, 45, would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The former No. 1 overall draft pick and 1999 National League MVP was an eight-time All-Star, a two-time Silver Slugger and won a World Series title with the 1995 Braves. One of the best switch-hitters in the history of the sport, Jones hit .303/.401/.529 with 468 home runs, 150 stolen bases, 1619 runs scored and 1623 runs batter in over the life of a brilliant career that spanned nearly two decades.

Remarkably, Jones batted better than .300 and posted on OBP north of .390 from both sides of the plate over the course of his illustrious career. In addition to the extraordinary work he did in the regular season, Jones was an accomplished postseason bat as well, hitting a combined .287/.409/.456 with 13 homers in 417 trips to the plate in the postseason. Both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs peg Jones’ amazing career at more than 85 wins above replacement.

Thome, 47, heads into Cooperstown as one of the most accomplished sluggers in Major League history. The longtime Indians star retired with 612 homers — then the seventh-most home runs in big league history (though he’s since been passed by another Cooperstown-bound slugger, Albert Pujols, in that regard). Thome never won a league MVP but did make five All-Star teams and take home a Silver Slugger.

An on-base machine, Thome hit .276/.402/.554 and scored 1583 runs against 1699 runs batted in over the course of a career that spanned parts of 22 Major League seasons. He belted another 17 homers and knocked in 37 runs over the course of 267 postseason plate appearances. His career 147 OPS+ ties him with Hall of Famers Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt and the aforementioned Edgar Martinez for the 47th-best mark in MLB history. B-Ref pegged Thome’s career at 72.9 WAR, while Fangraphs credited him with a similarly excellent 69 WAR.

Guerrero, 43 next month, spent parts of 16 seasons in the Majors and batted .318/.379/.553 with 449 home runs, 1328 runs scored, 1496 runs batted in and 181 stolen bases. Guerrero earned American League MVP honors in a 2004 campaign that saw him bat .337/.391/.598 with 39 homers in 680 plate appearances, and he finished third on the AL MVP ballot on two other occasions. Guerrero was named to nine All-Star teams and took home eight Silver Slugger Awards in his career.

Guerrero was uncannily consistent, hitting .300 or better in 13 of his 15 full seasons in the Majors (and batting .290 and .295 in the two in which he came up short). Both OPS+ and wRC+ feel that the only full season he had in the Majors in which his bat was below the league average was his final season in 2011, when he batted .290/.317/.416 as a 36-year-old. He joins Juan Marichal and Pedro Martinez as the third Dominican-born player to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Hoffman’s appointment to Cooperstown will be the most polarizing among today’s honorees. The 50-year-old is, of course, one of just two players in Major League history to record more than 600 career saves, joining future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera in that regard. Hoffman’s career came to a close with a 2.87 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 as well as 601 saves and a 61-75 record through 1089 1/3 innings.

Hoffman’s supporters point to that vaunted save total, his seven All-Star nods and exceptional consistency. Hoffman posted a sub-3.00 ERA in 12 of 14 seasons from 1994-2007, averaging 37 saves per year along the way. His detractors note that he logged nearly 200 fewer innings than Rivera, the man to whom he is most often compared (based on their incredible saves totals) and also pitched 128 fewer postseason innings than Rivera.

There is, of course, no denying that Hoffman had a remarkable career; he averaged better than a strikeout per inning and finished with an ERA+ of 147, turning in an ERA worse than the league average just once in his career — in his 18th and final MLB season. Whether that places him among the all-time greats can be debated ad nauseam, but those whose voices matter most in that discussion (the BBWAA) clearly are of the mind that Hoffman is indeed worthy of being placed in such rarefied air.

Royals Sign Ryan Goins To Minor League Deal

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3:44pm: ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick tweets that Goins’ contract has a $1MM base salary if he makes the big league roster. The infielder can also earn an additional $825K of incentives.

3:18pm: The Royals announced that they’ve signed infielder Ryan Goins to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training. Goins is a client of Octagon.

Goins, 29, has spent the past half decade as a reserve infielder for the Blue Jays, appearing in 449 contests and coming to the plate a total of 1397 times at the big league level. He’s never been much of an asset at the plate, however, batting a combined .228/.275/.335 with 20 homers and six steals in that time. To Goins’ credit, he did hit a career-best nine homers last year, though that small spike in a power came during a historically high home-run environment for Major League Baseball.

While Goins isn’t a big threat at the plate, he’s been an asset in the field over his first five big league campaigns. Defensive Runs Saved credits him as an above-average shortstop and a superlative defender at second base (+6 in 1362 innings and +24 in 1870 innings, respectively). Ultimate Zone Rating, meanwhile, feels he’s been roughly average at shortstop and nine runs above average at second base. Goins also has limited big league experience at third base, first base and in both outfield corners, though he’s totaled fewer than 50 innings at each of those positions.

Toronto non-tendered Goins earlier this winter in his first offseason of arbitration eligibility. If he makes the Royals’ roster and the team likes what it sees, he can be retained for at least the 2019 and 2020 campaigns via arbitration.

Latest On Yu Darvish

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It has been easy to notice the increased chatter surrounding top free agent pitcher Yu Darvish, but his timeline for signing has largely remained uncertain — as has the likely landing spot. The latest updates seem both to narrow and expand the possibilities:

  • The Phillies are “checking in” on Darvish, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter), though he also notes that the club is doing the same with other top free agents. Philadelphia appears to be positioning itself as a potential landing spot for players whose markets haven’t developed as hoped. With loads of money to spend, the team could certainly function as an opportunistic buyer, particularly in its greatest area of evident need — the rotation. Unsurprisingly, Rosenthal says, the team would mostly be interested in relatively shorter-term arrangements. That seems to be consistent with the Phils’ approach already this offseason, which has featured relatively hefty salaries on two or three-year arrangements.
  • It seems that momentum could now be building toward a decision, as MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets that Darvish is “increasingly likely” to reach a deal this week. With just three weeks remaining until Spring Training gets underway, it seems reasonable to expect a break in the long-building free-agent tension. For other starters — and perhaps even some other position players — a deal for Darvish could not only set an important market marker but also free certain organizations to pursue other priorities.
  • Otherwise, the Twins remain actively engaged in Darvish, Morosi notes, though that has been known for some time now. We last checked in on Minnesota’s interest yesterday, with indications being that the team wasn’t willing to make a market-topping offer. Of course, numerous other teams — in addition to any mystery entrants — are still also reported to be in pursuit. We’ve heard chatter recently of an offer from the Brewers, significant engagement from the Cubs, and ongoing interest from the Rangers and Dodgers. In sum, there’s still little in the way of clarity in terms of how things will play out. But today’s report suggests that organizations could be readying their final push for Darvish, whose representatives at Wasserman are no doubt working to secure the biggest offers possible and sorting through all the other factors that will weigh into the decision.

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