Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for January 2022

Melky Cabrera Announces Retirement

By | at

Longtime major league outfielder Melky Cabrera announced his retirement this morning (h/t to Héctor Gómez of z 101). Cabrera last appeared in the majors in 2019 but had played winter ball in each of the past two years.

The announcement officially closes the book on Cabrera’s successful big league playing career. He broke into the majors with the Yankees halfway through the 2005 season, getting to the majors a bit before his 21st birthday. The switch-hitter emerged as a regular in the Bronx the following year, playing with the Yankees through their World Series-winning 2009 campaign.

The following offseason, New York traded Cabrera to the Braves. The Dominican Republic native struggled in Atlanta and was released after one year, but he bounced back after hooking on with the Royals the following season. After a solid year in Kansas City, he was traded to the Giants before the 2012 campaign. He’d only spend one year in the Bay Area as well, but that season proved to be the most productive of Cabrera’s career. He hit .346/.390/.516 across 501 plate appearances, earning his only All-Star nod in the process.

Down the stretch, however, Cabrera was suspended after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That ban carried over into 2013, where he landed with the Blue Jays after signing a two-year deal over the winter. Cabrera struggled in the first season of that deal but bounced back with a very productive 2014 campaign. He proved a capable, high-contact bat for a good chunk of 30s, suiting up with the White Sox, Royals (for a second time), Indians and Pirates.

Cabrera’s run of productivity came to a close in 2019. Despite hitting .280 that year, his overall offensive output was 16 percentage points below the league average (by measure of wRC+) due to a lack of power and a minuscule 4.3% walk rate. Cabrera briefly caught on with the Mets in 2020 Summer Camp but was cut loose before the start of the season.

Altogether, Cabrera had a lengthy, impressive showing in the big leagues. He appeared in fifteen consecutive MLB seasons from 2005-19, donning the uniforms of eight different clubs. Over a bit more than 7,500 plate appearances, Cabrera hit .285/.334/.417, an overall slash line a hair above average by both wRC+ and OPS+. He hit 144 home runs, 383 doubles, drove in 854 runs and stole 101 bases. FanGraphs valued his career around 16 wins above replacement, while Baseball Reference pegged him around 21 wins. Cabrera tallied a bit more than $72MM in earnings, according to B-Ref. MLBTR congratulates the 37-year-old on a very fine run and wishes him the best in retirement.

Athletics Finalize Coaching Staff

By | at

A few weeks after naming Mark Kotsay manager, the A’s announced their 2022 coaching staff this afternoon. As previously reported, former Tigers and Angels skipper Brad Ausmus steps in as Kotsay’s bench coach. Meanwhile, last season’s hitting coach — Darren Bush — transitions to third base/run prevention coach. Third base coach had belonged to Kotsay before he was promoted to succeed Bob Melvin in the manager’s office.

Replacing Bush as the top hitting instructor is Tommy Everidge, who’s been promoted from the same role at Triple-A Las Vegas. It’ll be the first big league coaching job for the 38-year-old, who briefly appeared in the big leagues with the A’s back in 2009. He spent the bulk of the last decade coaching his way up the Oakland system.

Pairing with Everidge is Chris Cron, who’ll join the staff as assistant hitting coach. The father of Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron, Chris Cron logged some big league time in the early 1990’s and joins the A’s after a long run working with prospects in the Diamondbacks system. Previous assistant hitting coach Eric Martins will slide over to first base coach, with Mike Aldrete vacating that post to serve as quality control coach.

The pitching instruction tandem will remain in place. Pitching coach Scott Emerson is back for his fifth full season in the role. Marcus Jensen, who (along with Bush) drew some consideration in the A’s managerial search this winter, returns to last season’s position as bullpen coach.

Padres Re-Sign Jose Castillo, Webster Rivas

By | at

The Padres have re-signed reliever José Castillo and catcher Webster Rivas to minor league contracts, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Both players were cut from San Diego’s 40-man roster at the end of the season.

Castillo tossed 38 1/3 innings across 37 relief appearances for the Friars in 2018. He averaged 94.9 MPH on his fastball that year and posted excellent numbers, looking to be a high-leverage reliever in the making. Castillo worked to a 3.29 ERA with a huge 34.7% strikeout rate and a fine 8% walk percentage in his age-22 campaign.

Unfortunately, Castillo has barely pitched since then on account of a brutal run of injuries. The southpaw missed the first four months of the 2019 season due to a flexor tendon strain. He returned to make one MLB appearance, then suffered a season-ending hand ligament tear. Castillo missed the entire 2020 season dealing with a teres major strain, and ran into perhaps his greatest setback of all last March. Early in Spring Training, the Venezuela native went down with a forearm issue that necessitated Tommy John surgery.

Despite only making one big league appearance over the past three years, Castillo accrued enough service time while on the injured list to qualify for arbitration this offseason. The Friars non-tendered him rather than carry him on the 40-man roster all winter, but they apparently quickly worked to bring him back on a minor league deal. Given that he’s only ten months removed from the Tommy John procedure, the 26-year-old is probably targeting a midseason return to the mound.

Rivas, a 12-year minor league veteran, was rewarded for his persistence with a long-awaited MLB debut last May. The right-handed hitter got into 24 games, tallying 77 plate appearances in a reserve capacity behind the dish. Rivas spent more time with the Padres’ top affiliate in El Paso, where he hit .252/.339/.393 with five home runs across 186 plate appearances.

San Diego outrighted Rivas off the 40-man roster at the end of the year. Presumably, he’ll get a chance to partake in big league Spring Training, although it seems likely he’ll open the season with El Paso. The Padres already have quite a bit of catching depth on the 40-man roster. Austin Nola looks like the #1 option if healthy, with Víctor Caratini, the recently-acquired Jorge Alfaro and top prospect Luis Campusano all competing for playing time.

Twins Sign Curtis Terry To Minors Deal

By | at

The Twins recently signed first baseman Curtis Terry to a minor league contract, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. He’d elected minor league free agency after being outrighted off the Rangers’ 40-man roster at the end of the season.

Terry had spent his entire career in the Texas organization, joining the club as a 13th-round draft pick in 2015. The big first baseman spent his first four-plus seasons in the low minors, flashing solid power potential but posting unimpressive strikeout and walk numbers.

After a slow progression up the minor league ladder, Terry broke through in 2021. Pushed directly from High-A to Triple-A Round Rock, the 25-year-old posted strong offensive production to earn a big league look. After hitting .294/.375/.583 through his first 269 plate appearances with the Express, Terry was selected onto the big league roster in July. He only appeared in 13 MLB games, struggling over 48 trips to the dish. And Terry couldn’t quite keep up his early-season pace even after being optioned back to Round Rock, where he finished the year a .275/.349/.533 hitter.

Terry has played exclusively first base or designated hitter in his professional career. That lack of defensive value obviously places immense pressure on him to hit, but Terry’s coming off a decent Triple-A debut and adds some right-handed power to the top levels of the Minnesota system.

Yankees Sign Ryan Weber, Manny Banuelos

By | at

The Yankees recently signed righty Ryan Weber and southpaw Manny Bañuelos to minor league contracts, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Both pitchers were minor league free agents, allowing them to sign non-roster deals during the ongoing transactions freeze.

Weber has pitched in the big leagues in each of the past seven years. The sinkerballer has worked in a swing capacity, starting 16 of his 63 appearances and tallying 167 cumulative innings. While he’s only punched out 14.9% of batters faced at the MLB level, Weber has demonstrated excellent control (5.4% walk rate) and racked up grounders on over half the balls in play against him.

The 31-year-old only made four MLB appearances last season, although they came with three different teams. He made one outing each with the Red Sox and Brewers and pitched in a pair of games for the Mariners. Weber spent the bulk of the year with those teams’ respective Triple-A affiliates, combining for 103 1/3 frames of 4.18 ERA ball with a minuscule 3.1% walk percentage in generally hitter-friendly settings.

While Weber has the more recent MLB run of the Yankees’ two new pitching additions, Bañuelos is probably the more familiar name to much of the fanbase. Added by the Yanks as an amateur out of Mexico during the 2008-09 signing period, Bañuelos fairly quickly developed into one of the sport’s top pitching prospects. Baseball America ranked the southpaw among the game’s top 50 overall farmhands entering both the 2011 and 2012 campaigns.

Unfortunately, Bañuelos’ progress was beset by injuries as he hit the high minors. He missed the entire 2013 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and wasn’t as effective upon returning. New York traded him to the Braves in advance of the 2015 season. Bañuelos debuted with seven appearances for Atlanta that year, then didn’t pitch in the majors again until 2019 with the White Sox.

Those two seasons mark his only big league experience to date. Across 77 innings, Bañuelos owns a 6.31 ERA with subpar strikeout and walk rates (17.7% and 12.6%, respectively). He’s spent the past two seasons pitching professionally in foreign leagues, appearing in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League and in the Mexican League. He’ll return to affiliated ball with his original organization in an attempt to get back to the majors for the first time in three years.

Giants Sign Corey Oswalt, Luis Gonzalez, Joe Palumbo To Minor League Contracts

By | at

The Giants have recently signed right-hander Corey Oswalt, left-hander Joe Palumbo, right-hander Sam Delaplane and outfielder Luis Gonzalez to minor league contracts, as reported by Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle.  All four players were minor league free agents, and thus eligible to be signed during the lockout.

Gonzalez and Palumbo are both back for what is technically their second stint with the Giants, as San Francisco claimed both off waivers in 2021 (Gonzalez from the White Sox in August, Palumbo from the Rangers in November) before releasing the duo back at the November 30 non-tender deadline.  There was speculation at the time that the Giants would look to re-sign both to fresh contracts post-deadline, and now both Gonzalez and Palumbo are back and clear of the 40-man roster.

Oswalt is the new face, joining the Giants after being outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man in October and opting for free agency.  A seventh-round pick for the Mets in the 2012 draft, Oswalt has spent his entire pro career with New York, including 94 2/3 innings over parts of the last four seasons.  The majority (64 2/3 frames) of that work came in Oswalt’s 2018 rookie season, and he has since been back and forth between New York and Triple-A Syracuse on multiple occasions.

The righty has a 5.89 ERA and a 17.2% strikeout rate during his MLB career.  Oswalt has worked mostly as a starter in the minor leagues, but the Mets experimented with him as something of a swingman or a multi-inning reliever.  Given the Giants’ success at unlocking potential in seemingly unheralded pitchers in recent years, Oswalt’s flexible usage could provide the team with an interesting weapon if the coaching staff can get him on track.

Gonzalez underwent a season-ending shoulder surgery in August, which also triggered his release from the White Sox due to some 40-man roster machinations.  San Francisco jumped in to claim Gonzalez off release waivers, giving the Giants some extra outfield depth heading into 2022.  The 26-year-old Gonzalez was a third-round pick for the White Sox in 2017, and he has hit .266/.345/.414 with 32 home runs over 1539 minor league plate appearances.  Gonzalez has appeared in each of the last two Major League seasons, playing in nine total games in a White Sox uniform.

Palumbo is another longtime member of another organization, having been a member of the Rangers since being selected in the 30th round of the 2013 draft.  Splitting time between starting and relief duties, Palumbo has a strong 2.92 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate in 363 2/3 career innings in the Texas farm system, though he was limited to only 6 2/3 frames in 2021 due to injury.  Palumbo tossed 19 innings over nine games at the Major League level in 2019-20 without much success, with a 9.47 ERA to show for that brief time in The Show.

Marlins Signed Erik Gonzalez To Minor League Contract

By | at

In a move that flew under MLBTR’s radar during the pre-lockout transactions frenzy, the Marlins signed utilityman Erik Gonzalez to a minor league deal in late November.  Because the Pirates outrighted him off their 40-man roster during the season, Gonzalez (with over three years of MLB service time) had the option of electing free agency this winter, and will now look for a new opportunity in South Beach.

Incumbent utilityman Jon Berti and newcomer Joey Wendle each already provide Miami with a lot of versatility, though positional flexibility is also Gonzalez’s calling card, as he has made at least one big league start at every position on the diamond except catcher and pitcher.  Much of Gonzalez’s experience has come as an infielder, as he has played mostly shortstop and third base over his six seasons with Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Between his versatility and his particularly solid glovework at the hot corner, Gonzalez has struck around big league rosters despite a lack of offensive production.  Gonzalez has only a .245/.276/.345 slash line to show for 853 plate appearances in the majors, and he also hit a modest .269/.311/.392 over his minor league career (3287 PA).  Injury problems haven’t helped, as Gonzalez was sidelined for much of the 2019 campaign due to a fractured clavicle, and he also missed a big chunk of time this past season with an oblique strain.

Latest On Brewers’ Coaching Staff

By | at

Steve Karsay is stepping down as the Brewers’ bullpen coach, Tom Haudricourt of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.  Karsay is leaving the position due to family considerations.  There isn’t yet any word on a possible replacement as bullpen coach, though Haudricourt suggests that Triple-A pitching coach Jim Henderson might be a logical internal candidate.

Best known for his 11 seasons as a big league hurler from 1993-2006, Karsay transitioned into coaching and spent seven seasons in Cleveland’s organization as a pitching coach at four different minor league affiliates.  Karsay took over as Milwaukee’s bullpen coach prior to the 2019 season, and Haudricourt put it, Karsay was “serving in essence as co-pitching coach” alongside formal pitching coach Chris Hook and associate pitching/catching/strategy coach Walker McKinven.

In Karsay’s three seasons with the Brewers, Milwaukee relievers have led all bullpens in strikeout rate (27.9%) and rank second in SIERA (3.78).  Such arms as Josh Hader, Brent Suter and Devin Williams have been the cornerstones of the pen, but the Brew Crew has also been successful in turning unheralded arms into valuable relievers or in mining bounce-back seasons from more experienced pitchers looking for a change of scenery.

Beyond Karsay’s departure, another change to Craig Counsell’s staff could be in the offing.  Single-A manager Matt Erickson is under consideration for a promotion to the Brewers’ coaching ranks in an unspecified role (though not bullpen coach). Milwaukee is known to be looking for a third hitting coach, or Erickson could possibly be added in a more general coaching capacity.  The Brewers currently have 10 members of their coaching staff, with an 11th to be filled once Karsay’s replacement is found.

Erickson is a longtime member of the organization whose only MLB playing experience came in a four-game cup of coffee with the Brewers in 2004.  Since retiring, Erickson has both coached and (since 2011) managed his hometown team, as the A-level Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are located near Erickson’s birthplace of Appleton, Wisconsin.

Mets Sign Alex Claudio, Stephen Nogosek To Minor League Contracts

By | at

The Mets recently signed left-hander Alex Claudio and right-hander Stephen Nogosek to minor league deals, Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America reports.  The signings are allowed during the lockout since both players are minor league free agents.

Claudio was released by the Red Sox in late September after inking a minors deal with Boston in August.  That deal with the Sox came on the heels of a 5.51 ERA over 32 2/3 innings with the Angels, as Claudio had some uncharacteristic struggles against left-handed batters and with his control (10.1% walk rate).

Known for his durability and his knack for inducing grounders, Claudio enjoyed some solid success with the Rangers and Brewers from 2014-20, even if his lack of a traditional high velo/high strikeout bullpen resume twice led Milwaukee to non-tender him.  Claudio’s early-career numbers (a 2.66 ERA over 162 1/3 innings from 2014-17) were better than his more recent work (4.28 ERA in 149 1/3 IP in 2018-20), and he has also had trouble keeping the ball in the park in two of his last three seasons.  In 2021, Claudio posted a 26.1% homer rate, allowing six home runs over his 32 2/3 frames with the Halos.

Only just entering his age-30 season, Claudio could be an interesting candidate for something of a rebound year, particularly since the defensively-challenged Angels weren’t a great fit for a groundball pitcher.  The Mets can take a closer look at Claudio in spring camp, and he would seemingly have a good shot at winning a job in a New York bullpen thin on southpaws.  David Peterson represents the only healthy left-handed pitcher on the Mets’ entire 40-man roster.

For Nogosek, it marks a quick return to the organization after the Mets cut him loose at the November 30 non-tender deadline.  Nogosek (who just turned 27 earlier this week) first came to the Mets from the Red Sox in July 2017 as part of the trade package for Addison Reed, and the righty has eight career MLB games on his resume.  Between 6 2/3 innings over seven appearances in 2019 and a single three-inning appearance this past season, Nogosek has a 9.31 ERA in his brief big league career.

As a minor leaguer, Nogosek has a 3.55 ERA over 238 innings, working as a reliever for all but three of his 170 games.  Nogosek can miss some bats (27.01% strikeout rate) but control has been an issue, with an above-average 11.91% walk rate in his time on the farm.  He struggled to a 5.14 ERA over 35 innings with Triple-A Syracuse in 2021, and also spent about six weeks on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation.

Rays Bullpen Catcher Jean Ramirez Passes Away

By | at

TODAY: Ramirez’s death was due to suicide, as disclosed today by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office (Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times had the information).  Though the Rays, Ramirez’s family released a statement:

“The loss of our son has been the most excruciating experience we have lived.  Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t see the signs.  Struggling in silence is not OK.  It is our commitment to honor our son’s life by helping other families.  No parent should have to endure the loss of their child.  We are very grateful to the Tampa Bay Rays organization, whom we consider our family, for their love and support.  Our son felt loved by all of you.  Thank you to our family, friends and everyone else far and near for the outpouring of love and support.  God bless you!  Rays Up in Heaven.”

JANUARY 11: The Rays announced that bullpen catcher Jean Ramirez has passed away at age 28.  We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Ramirez’s family and loved ones.

A 28th-round pick out of Illinois State in the 2016 draft, Ramirez played three seasons in Tampa Bay’s farm system before being released following the 2018 season.  Soon afterwards, however, the club rehired Ramirez for a new role as the bullpen catcher on the big league club, opening a door towards the coaching career Ramirez looked to establish in his future, as he told The Athletic’s Josh Tolentino in April 2019.

Ramirez quickly established himself as a key member of the Rays’ staff.  In a statement today, Rays manager Kevin Cash described Ramirez as “an incredible teammate and friend,” adding that “Jean will be deeply missed” throughout the organization.

“He brought so much passion and energy each day to our clubhouse and bullpen, and his love for the Rays and baseball was evident to all who interacted with him.  He had the biggest heart and the most infectious smile,” Cash said.

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrows FOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top