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Archives for January 2020

Brewers Re-Sign Tuffy Gosewisch To Minors Contract

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The Brewers have re-signed catcher Tuffy Gosewisch, the team announced via Twitter.  Gosewisch will return on a minor league contract that contains an invitation to Milwaukee’s Major League Spring Training camp.

Gosewisch joined the organization on a minors deal last winter and hit .205/.299/.308 over 134 plate appearances for Triple-A San Antonio.  In all likelihood, Gosewisch will continue to serve in a similar veteran depth role this year, providing backup behind Omar Narvaez and Manny Pina on the big league roster.

The 36-year-old Gosewisch last played in the majors in 2017, appearing in 11 games with Seattle.  Over 447 PA with the Diamondbacks and Mariners from 2013-17, Gosewisch has a .190/.228/.271 career slash line.  After being released by the M’s after the 2017 campaign, Gosewisch spent the 2018 season with the Nationals’ Triple-A club.

Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Miguel Castro

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The Orioles have avoided arbitration with right-hander Miguel Castro, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter).  The two sides agreed to a one-year, $1.05MM deal with the right-hander, which falls just below the $1.2MM salary projected by MLBTR’s Matt Swartz.

A first-time arbitration-eligible player, Castro is coming off a season that saw him post a 4.66 ERA, 8.7 K/9, and 1.73 K/BB rate over 73 1/3 IP out of Baltimore’s pen.  The hard-throwing righty enjoyed a big boost in strikeouts over the 5.6 K/9 he posted over the 2017-18 seasons, though control continued to be an issue for Castro, as he hit the 5.0 BB/9 plateau for the second consecutive year.  On the plus side, Statcast’s xwOBA metric indicated that Castro did a much better job of limiting hard contact in 2019 (.294 xwOBA) than he did in 2018 (.353), even though Castro’s ERA jumped from 3.96 in 2018 to his 4.66 figure last year.

With contracts for Castro and Richard Bleier now settled, the Orioles have three arbitration-eligible players remaining, as per MLBTR’s Arb Tracker — Trey Mancini ($5.7MM projected salary), Mychal Givens ($3.2MM), and Hanser Alberto ($1.9MM).  Teams have until 11am CT tomorrow to exchange figures with their arb-eligible players.

Brewers Sign Logan Morrison

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The Brewers have signed veteran outfielder/first baseman Logan Morrison to a minor league contract, as per reporter Robert Murray (Twitter links).  The team has officially announced the move.

Morrison only appeared in 29 games last season, the fewest of his ten-year Major League career.  He didn’t sign on with a team until April since he was recovering from hip surgery, eventually landing with the Yankees on a minors contract.  Morrison requested his release in July when it became apparent that New York didn’t have any immediate plans for him at the MLB level, and Morrison then signed on with the Phillies, hitting only .200/.263/.400 over 38 plate appearances.

While neither the 2018 campaign nor last year went well for Morrison at the MLB level, he did mash in Triple-A ball in 2019. The 32-year-old posted a .308/.369/.640 line with 18 homers across 233 PA at the minors’ top level. He’s also not that far removed from a career-best showing in 2017, during which he batted .246/.353/.516 with 38 HRs in 601 trips to the plate as a member of the Rays.

In an ideal world for the Brewers, Morrison will revisit his Tampa Bay form. That seems unlikely, but as a member of an organization whose leading first base options either weren’t that impressive in 2019 (Justin Smoak, Ryon Healy) or don’t carry much experience at the position (Ryan Braun), perhaps Morrison will have a real chance to earn a spot.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/9/20

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The latest minor league moves from around baseball….

  • The Reds signed southpaw Brooks Raley to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports (via Twitter).  After posting a 7.04 ERA over 38 1/3 innings for the Cubs in 2012-13 and then spending 2014 back in the minors, Raley headed for the Lotte Giants of the KBO League.  Raley posted a 4.13 ERA, 2.79 K/BB rate, and 7.5 K/9 over 910 2/3 innings in Korea, starting all but one of his 152 outings.  If the 31-year-old Raley can carry over some measure of that form from the KBO League, he’ll provide the Reds with some veteran rotation depth at the Triple-A level, putting him in line for another crack at the majors in the event of an injury to Cincinnati’s starting five.
  • The Orioles have outrighted right-hander Marcos Diplan to Triple-A Norfolk, the team announced.  Diplan cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week to create roster space for the newly-signed Kohl Stewart.  Diplan has a 3.88 ERA, 9.1 K/9, and 1.85 K/BB rate over 540 2/3 career minor league innings, working mostly as a reliever (starting seven of 38 total appearances) in 2019, pitching for the Double-A affiliates of the Twins and Brewers.  It has been a busy transactional stretch for Diplan, who was claimed off Minnesota’s waiver wire by the Tigers in September, and then claimed again by the Orioles in December.

Nationals To Sign Tyler Eppler To Minors Contract

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The Nationals have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Tyler Eppler, MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams reports (Twitter link).  Eppler is returning to North American baseball after pitching for NPB’s Orix Buffaloes last season.

The trip to Japan saw Eppler pitch for both Orix’s minor league affiliate and with the Buffaloes themselves, including a 4.02 ERA, 7.2 K/9, and 2.78 K/BB rate over 31 1/3 relief innings with the big club.  Eppler worked almost exclusively as a starting pitcher over his previous 592 innings in the Pirates’ farm system from 2014-18, starting 100 of his 111 career games.

Originally a sixth-round pick for the Pirates in the 2014 draft, Eppler had some decent but unspectacular numbers in his minor league career.  He had a 3.82 ERA and 3.14 K/BB, though didn’t generate many grounders or miss many bats (6.4 K/9), which could be why Pittsburgh didn’t protect Eppler from the Rule 5 Draft in either 2017 or 2018.  Still, the bottom-line results are pretty solid, and there’s little risk for the Nationals in bringing the 27-year-old Eppler to Spring Training to see that he could contribute to the club’s shaky bullpen.

Marlins Designate Austin Dean For Assignment

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The Marlins have designated outfielder Austin Dean for assignment, as per FNTSY Sports Radio’s Craig Mish (Twitter link).  The move will create a 40-man roster spot for Francisco Cervelli, whose signing has now been officially announced by the team.

Dean has seen part-time action for Miami in each of the last two seasons, accumulating a .223/.268/.388 slash line and 10 homers over his 311 career Major League plate appearances.  A fourth-round pick for the Marlins in 2012, Dean has posted some big minor league numbers over the last two years, with a .944 OPS and 27 home runs over 640 Triple-A plate appearances (with the twin caveats of last season’s overall hitting explosion across the Triple-A level, and Dean playing in the particularly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League).  Dean has spent much of his career as a left fielder, though he has also seen some time in right field and first base, both in the minors and with the Marlins.

Sam Travis Clears Waivers

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January 9: Travis cleared outright waivers and will remain in the organization, Cotillo tweets. He’ll presumably be assigned to Triple-A Pawtucket and be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.

January 2: The Red Sox have designated first baseman Sam Travis for assignment, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The move opens up roster space for newly added catcher Kevin Plawecki.

This could put an end to what has been a disappointing Red Sox tenure for Travis. Now 26 years old, Travis was a second-round pick of the Red Sox in 2014 who quickly became one of their best prospects. Travis was an extremely productive low-minors hitter in the organization the first couple years after Boston drafted him, but his Triple-A and major league numbers have been less than stellar so far.

Travis debuted in Triple-A back in 2016, and since then, he has batted .267/.339/.392 with 27 home runs in 1,198 plate appearances. He appeared in the majors in each of the previous three seasons, combining for a .230/.288/.371 line and seven home runs over the life of 278 trips to the plate.

Yankees To Sign Chris Iannetta

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12:16pm: The Yankees and Iannetta are in agreement on a minor league deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

11:50am: The Yankees and veteran catcher Chris Iannetta are close to finalizing a minor league contract WFAN’s Sweeny Murti reports (via Twitter). The 14-year MLB veteran would presumably be in Major League camp this spring to compete for a backup role. He’s represented by Octagon.

Iannetta, 36, spent the 2019 season with the Rockies organization but was cut loose in August after hitting .222/.311/.417 with six home runs through 164 plate appearances. Those numbers don’t look too bad for a backup catcher, but when accounting for Iannetta’s home park and the league-wide offensive explosion in 2019, Iannetta’s output wilts substantially (70 wRC+, 75 OPS+).

Earlier in his career, Iannetta was a starter with the Rockies and Angels, enjoying a lengthy run as a low-average, high-OBP backstop who drew plenty of walks and hit for power. As recently as 2017, he slashed .254/.354/.511 with 17 big flies in 89 games with the D-backs, but that’s been his only above-average offensive campaign of the past half decade.

Iannetta has improved his framing in recent years and has drawn overall positive marks with his glove in three of the past five seasons, but the 2019 campaign saw those framing numbers dip as he also struggled to control the running game (17 percent caught-stealing rate). Currently, Kyle Higashioka is the favorite to back up Gary Sanchez behind the plate in 2020, but Iannetta and fellow veteran Erik Kratz will be in Spring Training as non-roster invitees hoping to land a big league gig in the Bronx.

Diamondbacks Sign Hector Rondon

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January 9: The Diamondbacks have announced the signing.

January 8, 3:10pm: Rondon’s option is valued at $4MM and can increase to $5MM based on games finished, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).

2:20pm: The D-backs have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Hector Rondon on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2021 season, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports. Rondon, an Octagon client, will receive a $3MM guarantee that comes in the form of a $2.5MM salary and $500K buyout on the club option. The deal is pending a physical.

Hector Rondon | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Rondon, 32 next month, spent the past two seasons with the Astros and has previously served as the closer for the Cubs. His two-year stint in Houston produced 119 2/3 innings of 3.46 ERA ball, and he averaged 8.6 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 with a 48 percent ground-ball rate.

A larger payday for Rondon might’ve been in order had he not taken some notable steps back in 2019. The righty’s 7.1 K/9, 18.7 percent strikeout rate and 9.8 percent swinging-strike rate were the lowest marks of his seven-year big league career. And, after demonstrating pristine control with the Cubs in 2015-16, Rondon has continued to issue walks at roughly the league average rate dating back to the 2017 campaign.

That said, Rondon still averaged nearly 97 mph on his heater this past season and maintained a respectable 3.71 ERA. He’ll give the D-backs another experienced late-inning arm to pair with the likes of Archie Bradley and Andrew Chafin. Rondon is the second veteran arm added by general manager Mike Hazen and his staff this winter, as the team also signed former Brewers righty Junior Guerra to join the late-inning mix. There’s certainly still room for improvement and outside additions, but the bullpen has added a bit more stability without taking on a substantial financial risk.

With Rondon on board, Arizona current projects to have an Opening Day payroll of roughly $117MM, though additional roster machinations will almost certainly impact the final tabulation. It’s still possible that left-hander Robbie Ray could be marketed to other clubs as he enters his final season of team control, and the Diamondbacks could also continue to explore further bench and bullpen upgrades.

Diamondbacks Designate Jimmie Sherfy For Assignment

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The D-backs announced Thursday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever Jimmie Sherfy for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to fellow righty Hector Rondon, whose previously reported one-year deal with Arizona is now official.

Sherfy, 28, logged a flat 1.00 ERA with a 26-to-12 K/BB ratio through his first 27 MLB innings from 2017-18. However, he scuffled to a 5.89 ERA last season and has seen his longstanding control issues worsen in recent years. Sherfy walked 21 batters and plunked another pair in 35 innings at the Triple-A level this season, although he also punched out 49 hitters in that time as well.

The 92 mph that Sherfy averaged on his fastball in 2019 was far and away the lowest mark of his career — he’d averaged 94 mph in ’17 and 93.4 mph in ’18 — and he missed a month of action in Triple-A with what was nebulously termed an “upper body” injury. Sherfy did return to health for the final six weeks of the season, but a September showing in which he was hammered for 11 runs on 12 hits (four homers) in 8 2/3 innings surely didn’t leave a good impression to end the year.

Arizona will have a week to trade Sherfy, release him or place him on outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll have to break camp with any club that acquires him or else be designated for assignment once again.

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