The final two top-tier free agents are finally off the board — it only took until June! — but most clubs have long since begun to reap the benefits of their offseason additions from the open market. That includes those who partook in the annual grab bag of minor league contracts.
Each year, there are dozens upon dozens of recognizable names who settle for non-guaranteed pacts — perhaps more in this past winter’s frigid free-agent climate — and while most fail to yield dividends, there’s always a handful of gems unearthed. The Rangers, Reds and Pirates did particularly well in terms of signing players on minor league contracts this offseason, but there have certainly been other deals of note. It’ll merit revisiting this bunch after the season is over to see who maintained their pace and who stepped up in the final two thirds of the 2019 campaign, but to this point in the year, here’s a look at the most productive minor league signees of the winter.
Rangers: Hunter Pence, Logan Forsythe, Danny Santana
Much was made of Hunter Pence’s efforts to revamp his swing while playing winter ball in the offseason. Frankly, it’s not uncommon to hear of veteran players perhaps in the twilight of their career making alterations in an effort to stick around a bit longer. What is uncommon is for the results to be this eye-opening.
Pence hasn’t simply bounced back from a pair of awful seasons to close out his Giants tenure — he’s given the Rangers one of the best offensive performances of his 13-year Major League career. The 36-year-old has posted a resplendent .288/.341/.583 batting line with a dozen home runs, 10 doubles and a triple through 179 plate appearances. His 47.6 percent hard contact rate lands in the 91st percentile of big league hitters, per Statcast, and his average exit velocity of 92.6 mph is in the 96th percentile. Defensive metrics are down on Pence, which isn’t a huge surprise for a 36-year-old corner outfielder, but he’s hitting at a star level without benefiting from a gaudy BABIP (.299). If he can maintain this pace, he’ll have no trouble landing not just a 40-man roster spot this winter — but a solid salary to go along with it.
Pence alone would make for a terrific minor league add, but the Rangers are also getting the best form of Logan Forsythe we’ve ever seen (.299/.404/.472 through 172 PAs) and a strong showing from Danny Santana (.291/.333/.465 in 139 PAs). Those performances are a bit more dubious, as the pair improbably sports matching .388 averages on balls in play. But, Forsythe is walking at a 14 percent clip that he’s never previously approached outside of a 2017 season in Los Angeles where he logged ample time hitting eighth in front of the pitcher (with a 21 percent walk rate in such plate appearances). Santana can’t boast that same plate discipline — to the contrary, his longstanding inability to draw a walk is as pronounced as ever — but he’s making hard contact more than ever before while also stealing bases with great efficiency (7-for-8). Both Forsythe and Santana can move all over the diamond as well.
Reds: Derek Dietrich, Jose Iglesias
Cincinnati has gotten even more production out of its minor league deals than Texas, although the two player the Reds landed on non-guaranteed contracts both came as a surprise. Even after Dietrich was effectively non-tendered by the Marlins, he was expected to get a big league deal. Iglesias enjoyed a solid season at the plate and has long been regarded as a stellar defender at shortstop. The Tigers jumped on a one-year deal with Jordy Mercer worth $5MM in early December, seemingly believing Iglesias would command more.
That neither player found his asking price met by the time mid-February rolled around has been nothing short of a godsend for the Reds, who scooped up both on minor league pacts. Cincinnati couldn’t have known that a spring injury to Scooter Gennett would create even more at-bats for this pair early in the season, but Dietrich and Iglesias have each been sensational in capitalizing on the opportunity for unexpected levels of playing time.
Dietrich has already pounded a career-high 17 home runs despite accruing only 157 plate appearances. Detractors will point to his new hitter-friendly home park, but Dietrich has a .377 on-base percentage, .541 slugging percentage and six home runs on the road this year. Besides, it’s not as if every member of the Reds has belted 17 home runs simply by virtue of playing games at Great American Ball Park. Dietrich has a career-best 9.4 percent walk rate and career-low 20.4 percent strikeout rate as well.
Iglesias, meanwhile, has batted .294/.335/.421 with four homers and a characteristically low strikeout rate (13.5 percent) in 2019 plate appearances. He’s already tallied seven Defensive Runs Saved with a +3.3 Ultimate Zone Rating in 477 innings at shortstop, making Detroit’s decision to move on from look all the more egregious, considering they went out and signed a different veteran to man the position anyhow. He’s not running like he did in 2018, but Iglesias has been a flat-out steal.
Pirates: Melky Cabrera, Francisco Liriano
Cabrera has been forced into minor league deals in each of the past two offseasons and will turn 35 later this summer, but the Melk Man just keeps on hitting. Injuries to Corey Dickerson, Gregory Polanco and Lonnie Chisenhall created an opening for Cabrera, and he’s responded with a .335/.376/.467 line through 179 plate appearances. It’s true that he’s benefited from a .366 average on balls in play, but Cabrera’s 11.7 percent strikeout rate is excellent and represents a continuation of the elite bat-to-ball skills he’s demonstrated throughout his career. The defense isn’t pretty — it never really has been — but Cabrera’s bat has been a huge plus for the Bucs.
The Astros tried Liriano in the bullpen down the stretch in 2017 and weren’t able to get the results they’d hoped. Liriano returned to a starting role with the Tigers in 2018 and found middling results, but he’s been reborn in the Pittsburgh bullpen in his second go-around at PNC Park. In 29 1/3 innings, Liriano has a 1.21 ERA with 32 punchouts, 12 walks and a 47.3 percent grounder rate. He won’t maintain a 96 percent strand rate or a .233 BABIP, but Liriano’s 14.7 percent swinging-strike rate is the best of his career. Even if he takes what seems like an inevitable step back, FIP pegs him at 3.08 while SIERA checks in at 3.82. While the game’s highest-paid free-agent relievers have largely flopped, Liriano looks every bit the part of a viable bullpen option.
Others of Note
There have been successful minor league signings outside of Arlington, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, of course. Eric Sogard, he of the former #FaceOfMLB and #NerdPower hashtag fame, has been a superlative pickup for the Blue Jays, hitting at a .290/.365/.481 pace with a career-high five homers in just 151 plate appearances. With several injuries and poor performances around the Toronto infield, his presence has been a boon to an otherwise disappointing lineup.
Sogard’s former teammate and fellow Oakland cult hero, Stephen Vogt, thought his career could be over at this time a year ago. Instead, he’s back in the Majors and enjoying a solid showing at the plate with the Giants. In 66 plate appearances, Vogt has hit .250/.318/.417, and Buster Posey’s recent placement on the injured list will only create more opportunity for playing time. The Giants cycled through an all-you-can-sign buffet of veteran catchers earlier this spring, and Vogt is the last man standing.
As far as other catchers go, Matt Wieters landed the role of baseball’s most seldom-used backup: the Cardinals’ second option to iron man Yadier Molina. Wieters has just 50 plate appearances on the year through June 6, but he’s going to see an uptick in playing time with Molina on the injured list for a bit. In his 50 trips to the dish, Wieters has connected with three long balls and slashed a very solid .277/.300/.511. His 15 strikeouts against just one walk could very well be a portent for struggles to come, but some more frequent playing time could also help the veteran find his rhythm.
Speaking of players who’ve succeeded in minimal playing time, right-hander Mike Morin has given the Twins 10 1/3 innings of terrific relief since having his contract selected in early May. He’s punched out seven hitters, hasn’t allowed a walk, is sitting on a career-high 56.7 percent ground-ball rate and has limited opponents to just one run (a solo home run). He’ll need to miss more bats, as he’s not going to maintain a .172 BABIP and will eventually walk a batter, but Morin’s newfound knack for keeping the ball on the ground is encouraging. (For those wondering where Ryne Harper is, he was technically signed in the 2017-18 offseason and is in his second year with the organization.)
In a similarly small sample of work — four games, 20 1/3 innings — left-hander Tommy Milone has given the Mariners some competitive starts to help out in their beleaguered rotation. Milone is sitting on a 3.10 ERA and 3.84 FIP, and while he’s never been one to miss bats in the past, he’s punched out 20 hitters against only five walks. His velocity hasn’t changed, but Milone is throwing more sliders at the expense of his four-seamer and changeup.
Over in Atlanta, the Braves have enjoyed their own bullpen find, as Josh Tomlin has pitched a team-high 32 innings of relief. Tomlin’s 3.94 ERA doesn’t exactly stand out, and fielding-independent metrics all suggest a mid-4.00s mark is more realistic, but he’s been a relief workhorse for a team whose rotation and bullpen have struggled mightily for much of the year. The 32 innings Tomlin has already soaked up have been vital for the Braves.
Elsewhere in the NL East, former Pirates and Blue Jays prospect Harold Ramirez is doing his best to continue earning playing time with the Marlins. He’s hit .329/.368/.427 through 87 plate appearances, and while that line has been buoyed by a .394 average on balls in play, Ramirez is making solid contact and isn’t striking out much. He batted .320/.365/.471 in 120 games with Toronto’s Double-A affiliate last season and .355/.408/.591 in 31 Triple-A games with the Marlins in 2019, so he’s earned a look at the game’s top level.
No one mentioned Jim “Jimbo” Adduci? He was terrific for the Cubs this season.
What? He played 2 games for them
And now somebody has. It doesn’t need to happen again.
I know it was a minor league free agent “re”-signing but the Yankees keeping Gio Urshela in the organization last winter was huge! He is one of the primary reasons the Yankees are currently the AL East Leaders.
From what I can tell, he never actually left the organization. He was traded there after the Blue Jays outrighted him to Triple-A, and remained with the organization throughout the winter.
Had he hit the open market, he’d have been included on here, but that never happened as far as I could tell in researching the players.
At any rate, he has been otherworldly good — yes.
From your own post here:
mlbtraderumors.com/2018/11/yankees-resign-gio-ursh…
I think the word “re-signed” indicates he was fair game to all teams. Amazing what he’s doing.
Ah! At that point, players were eligible to re-sign with their current organizations but hadn’t been exposed to the open market. It was more or less akin to a big league free agent re-signing during the exclusive negotiating window between the World Series and Qualifying Offer day.
If you look at all of the transactions in that post (and in the Matt Eddy article linked to it), they’re all “re-signed” transactions along those lines with the exception of Evan Marshall. He was exempted because he was outrighted off the 40-man roster by the Indians at season’s end on Oct. 2 and elected free agency as a player who’d been outrighted on multiple occasions.
I imagine that in the end, you just want to see Urshela’s success highlighted. I’m sure we’ll do that in another manner at some point. His season has been remarkable.
Pence, Forsythe and Santana are trying to play themselves out of town. Any reason why the Rangers would keep them when all 3 have upped their trade value?
Pence grew up in Arlington and even worked at the ballpark as a teenager, he is living his childhood dream having this kind of season for his home team. I have a feeling (pure speculation, not facts or inside knowledge) that he might like to end his career here and be part of closing this stadium and opening the new one nest year. Again—–pure speculation.
And the Rangers would keep them if they stay in this hunt for a WC spot. I don’t see them adding players but I don’t see them subtracting as being in any type of a playoff race is great for a new manager to experience as well as for the players.
I’d think an even better story would be Pence traded to Houston at the deadline.
Strike four……. you seem pretty knowledgeable of baseball and Texas.
I have seen quite a few of your post and we have commented on each other’s,Hopefully a fan of our boys at some time or another.
Yes the 3 are playing great at the moment and I have no idea which way Daniels will run with this,but I do find it surprising and cool that we are getting articles and television time again because we were suppose to tank, we have an offense that’s stayed in every category in the top 5-10 on all aspects of offense, we’ve led the league in runs scored per game all year, and that’s with a cold odor and Mazara.
We now have a rotation that can compete to some extent and is only getting better. So do we trade off our pieces or play it out for another month.
I enjoy reading these articles and all the post from fans and all the speculation of this or that.
My question to you is, do you think we should sell or stand pat for another month, Keeping in mind the new stadium opens next year and if we trade our pitching where do you go next.
Stand pat. If we trade minor or Lynn we will be hoping to find another Minor and Lynn for next year. The track record shows that finding guys like this is very hard. I want these two guys in the rotation next year.
I was saying that the Cubs should have got on Iglesias as soon as it became apparent that he was going to have to settle for an MiLB deal. Great defense and a decent bat. He made perfect sense with Addison Russell set to miss part of the season and would be a major question mark once active.
Remember, it takes 2 sides to agree to a trade. Iglesias may well have been approached by the Cubs and did not want to be just a fill in and be the odd man out when Russell came back. In Cincinnati, he had more of a chance to play everyday as no big name or hot prospect in his way. Players and their agents are looking beyond just this season for where they sign FA contracts. Every talking head in Pittsburgh always utters the same sentence like just because Pittsburgh offered a contract the player would sign it. The player has to want to play for a particular team that has space for them to play every day or at least give them the best chance to play as much as possible as they are playing for the next contract too.
oops—Meant to say it takes 2 sides to agree to a contract….not a trade…. These guys were all free agents.
Actually, Jose and Derek were both set to be the utility men. Scooter’s injury and Peraza having a downturn from last season opened up plenty of playing time for them both.
Yes, but it’s not as though either of them was going to be sitting behind an All Star. Those guys figured – and were right – there was a shot to play there way into the lineup.
The Reds doesn’t do a lot of things right, but they DO seem to hit on more than their fair share of scrap heap signings.
So far… as the saying goes…. We have been very impressed with the trio we signed for this season, if they keep this up and the Ranger keep up this pace we definitely need to look into an some extension.
Would pence be willing to another bench contract, probably not. If he keeps up this pace.
Not sure what G.M. Daniels is thinking with the trade deadline rolling around in a couple months. Hopefully he’s tracking down a pitcher to lockup for 4-5 years.
And hopefully that pitcher is Minor
What about Ryne Harper w/ MN?
He was a minor league signing in the 2017-18 offseason and remained with the organization. Probably worth calling out in the post to clarify, though. Thanks!
Spelled Gregory Polanco wrong, Steve
It sure seems that way! Thanks.
I’ve been very impressed with Sogards ability to put up competitive at bats as well. He’s the one of the few on the team who can do that.
I recall seeing “Under Pants'”evanescent appearance at the Arizona Fall League, (Hunter was sent home, after a DUI arrest.)
Followed him as a Gnt. But, what always bothered me was his bouncy stance,.
Giants look the same with or without Posey. No reason to be paying 20 million for a catcher when you are rebuilding. Time to have a sit down with old Buster and see if the Giants can swing a trade.to a contender.
It is obvious that Bumgarner doesn’t want to pitch in the AL East. Every time the Yankees show up to scout, Bum drops the lead and gives up the long ball. Today Madbum has an ERA over 4 pitching in the best pitcher’s park in baseball. If he went to the Yankees his ERa would be closer to 6.
Might be time to stick a fork in this meatballs career.
Pence is on a tear. Has to be the coffee.. Is the MLB drug testing his coffee shop?
In Columbia and Peru the coffee growers plant coca under their coffee plants. The workers chew the leaves all day and most of the night. Hunter ain’t no dummy. He was a madman before he opened his coffee shop, I got to see him now.
Is Hunter still riding his mo-ped to the stadium. More than likely he is now carrying it to the stadium.
Breaking news, “David Ortiz shot and wounded at an amusement park in the Dominic Republic” according to his father.