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Blue Jays To Sign Yusei Kikuchi

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The Blue Jays are signing left-handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. It’s a three-year, $36MM contract. (Twitter links) The deal is frontloaded, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, with Kikuchi earning a salary of $16MM in 2022, followed by $10MM in each of 2023 and 2024.

Starting pitching has been a hot commodity this offseason, with most of the top names signing before the lockout. Now that the transactions freeze has thawed, the market has picked up right where it left off. The top two free agent hurlers that lingered on the market through the lockout, Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Rodon, signed on the first full day after the lockout ended. That left Kikuchi and Zack Greinke as the only healthy starters remaining from MLBTR’s list of Top 50 Free Agents. With the Jays scooping up Kikuchi, that leaves Greinke as the last man standing.

Kikuchi has been one of the more difficult pitchers to evaluate since coming over from Japan prior to the 2019 season. In his first MLB season, he made 32 starts for the Mariners, throwing 161 2/3 innings with an ERA of 5.46 and a strikeout rate of just 16.1%. In the shortened 2020 campaign, he made nine starts and still had a high ERA of 5.11, but made huge strides in the strikeout department, bumping his rate up to 24.2%.

2021 was a tale of two seasons for Kikuchi, as the first half his campaign was excellent. At the start of July, MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote about Kikuchi’s season around the midway point, when Kikuchi had made 15 starts and was sitting on an ERA of 3.18, strikeout rate of 25.4%, walk rate of 8.5% and ground-ball rate of 53.8%. But things went completely in the opposite direction in the second half of the season, as Kikuchi threw 63 2/3 innings from that point on, with a 6.22 ERA, 23.3% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 41.7% ground-ball rate.

As part of the unusual structure of Kikuchi’s contract, at the end of the season, the Mariners then had to decide whether or not to execute a series of four one-year options valued at $16.5MM each, effectively a four-year, $66MM extension that would cover the 2022-25 seasons. After they declined, then Kikuchi could have selected a one-year, $13MM player option for the 2022. Though it seemed there was a chance he would accept that deal after his poor performance down the stretch, he ultimately declined and tested the free agent market. That has now proven to be a wise decision on his part, as he has earned himself a new contract at that exact rate but three times as long.

The Blue Jays were evidently encouraged enough by Kikuchi’s strengths to overlook his weaknesses, much like they were with Robbie Ray and Steven Matz. Although those two pitchers had serious flaws on their respective resumes, they both went on to have excellent campaigns with the Jays in 2021, with Ray earning the American League Cy Young award. Although Ray and Matz will both be wearing new uniforms this year, Kikuchi is still going to be joining a strong rotation. The club also added Kevin Gausman prior to the lockout, joining Jose Berrios, Hyun Jin Ryu and Alek Manoah. That is likely to be the club’s front five, but they also have Ross Stripling on hand, who could function either as a starter or long-man out of the bullpen. Nate Pearson could potentially join the rotation at some point, though he has durability concerns after throwing just 18 innings in 2020 and just 45 2/3 in 2021.

After the lockout, the 2022 season is going to feature a condensed Spring Training and a regular season with added double-headers to make up for the delayed start to the campaign. Those factors, combined with the dwindling options in the free agent market, led the Jays to take a risk by bolstering their depth with a pitcher who has had flashes of excellence but also definite concerns.

As for the structure of the deal, it’s worth pointing out that the Blue Jays also front-loaded their contract with George Springer. This seems to be a way of taking advantage of the fact that most of the club’s core players are still working their way through arbitration and will only get increasingly expensive in the coming years. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is arbitration eligible for the first time this year as a Super Two player. Teoscar Hernandez will be playing his second of three arbitration seasons in 2022. Bo Bichette and Jordan Romano won’t be arbitration eligible until next year. By paying Springer and Kikuchi more now, the club will have a little bit extra wiggle room to weather the increasing salaries of those players in the coming seasons.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Twins Acquire Isiah Kiner-Falefa For Mitch Garver

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The Twins and Rangers are in agreement on a deal that will send infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa to Minnesota, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Kiner-Falefa and a prospect will head to Minnesota in exchange for catcher Mitch Garver, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Pitcher Ronny Henriquez is the prospect heading to Minnesota in the deal, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.

For the Rangers, this is yet another headline-grabbing move in what has been a very busy offseason for the club. Prior to the lockout, they threw around big money to add various players, with the two biggest names being shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Marcus Semien. The addition of those two infielders, along with the impending arrival of prospect Josh Jung, led to immediate speculation that Kiner-Falefa could be a trade candidate. But when Jung underwent shoulder surgery last month, that seemed to swing the pendulum towards Texas keeping Kiner-Falefa as their everyday third baseman. However, that has now proven not to be the case, as he is headed for Minnesota.

The Twins had Andrelton Simmons as their primary shortstop last year. Despite showing the defensive skills he has long been known for, Simmons had a dismal year at the plate, hitting .223/.283/.274, wRC+ of 56. Yesterday, he signed with the Cubs for a modest $4MM salary, showing that the Twins weren’t terribly motivated to bring him back into the fold. With Kiner-Falefa, they’ve brought in a player with a similar profile to Simmons, but more reasons to be optimistic about his future performance. Like Simmons, Kiner-Falefa is a glove-first player, winning a Gold Glove in 2020 and finishing third among MLB shortstops in the Fielding Bible’s voting this past season. His bat has been below average thus far in his career, having never put up a wRC+ higher than 94. However, he’s still relatively young, turning 27 later this month, compared to the 32-year-old Simmons. He also hit .271/.312/.357 last year for a wRC+ of 85, not great numbers but certainly better than what Simmons provided. He’s also projected for an arbitration salary of $4.9MM, per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and comes with an extra year of control beyond that.

But in order to make that solid addition to their infield, the Twins have had to send a valuable player the other way. Garver had a tremendous breakout season in 2019, hitting .273/.365/.630, wRC+ of 155. That would be exceptional production for any player but was especially impressive for a catcher. Injuries limited him to just 23 games of anemic production in the shortened 2020 season, but he bounced back well last year. Despite still dealing with injuries and only playing 68 games, his 2021 line was .256/.358/.517, wRC+ of 137. Last year, the Rangers split the catching duties almost evenly between Jose Trevino and Jonah Heim, who put up wRC+ tallies of 60 and 64, respectively. Garver is capable of producing at a much higher rate, but comes with concerns given the injuries of the past few years, making him a high-risk, high-reward option for Texas. He won’t be a huge risk from a financial standpoint, however, as he’s projected for an arbitration salary of $3.1MM this year, with another year of control remaining after that.

The reason the Twins could afford to part with such a talented catcher as Garver was the emergence of Ryan Jeffers. Making his MLB debut in 2020, he played 26 games and hit .273/.355/.436, wRC+ of 120. In 2021, he got off to a rough start, hitting .147/.216/.176 before getting demoted at the end of April. After showing signs of improvement in Triple-A, he was recalled in June and hit .206/.277/.433 the rest of the way, good enough for a wRC+ of 92. Although that’s clearly a drop-off from Garver’s numbers, Jeffers is turning 25 years old in June and comes with five remaining years of control. The Twins clearly felt that it was worth taking the chance on the younger player as their regular catcher in order to upgrade their infield.

Of course, that’s not all the Twins added, as they also brought Ronny Henriquez over in the deal. The 21-year-old right-hander split last season between High-A and Double-A, making 16 starts in 21 total games. In 93 2/3 innings, his 4.71 ERA wasn’t especially impressive, but the Twins were surely intrigued by his 27.1% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate, both of those being better than average. The club certainly needs arms after losing Jose Berrios to trade, Kenta Maeda to injury and Michael Pineda to free agency. Henriquez likely won’t provide immediate help in that regard, given that he’s never pitched above Double-A, but he could potentially be a factor later in the season.

Circling back to the Rangers, with Kiner-Falefa out of the picture and Jung on the shelf for around six months, they will have to decide what do about third base for this season. In-house options include Andy Ibanez, Nick Solak, Yonny Hernandez and Sherten Apostel. They could also turn their attention towards outside addition, although a tweet from Jeff Wilson casts doubt about a pursuit of Kris Bryant.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Nationals To Sign Steve Cishek

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The Nationals have agreed to a one-year contract with Steve Cishek, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The contract comes with a $1.75MM guarantee, along with $500K in performance bonuses, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Signing a veteran like Cishek, who will turn 36 in June, is a fairly logical move for a club that underwent a massive fire sale at last year’s deadline. While the headliners of that selloff were Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, the bullpen also took a hit with the deals of Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand. That left the club with a reliever corps that largely consisted of unproven players with limited big league experience, with the exception of Will Harris. However, Harris turns 38 in August and only threw six innings last year before surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome ended his season, making him a question mark in his own right.

In contrast to that lack of reliability, Cishek has been remarkably consistent in his career. In each season since 2011, he has thrown at least 44 innings, with the exception of the shortened 2020 season, where he still logged 20 frames. Since his debut in 2010, he’s appeared in a total of 668 games, notching 644 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.85, strikeout rate of 24.7%, walk rate of 9.6% and groundball rate of 49%. With the exception of 2020, he’s never had an ERA higher than 3.58 in a season.

Last year, Cishek signed a one-year deal with the Angels late in March for a salary of $1MM. He ended up making 74 appearances for the Halos, logging 68 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.42, strikeout rate of 20.8% and walk rate of 13.3%. That walk rate was the worst of his career, and the strikeout rate just a hair above his previous career lows. That could perhaps be cause for some concern, but the Nationals still game him a modest raise on last year’s salary.

For a team that wiped millions from its books at the trade deadline last year, it’s still an incredible modest sum with little downside. If Cishek has yet another season like he’s had for the majority of his career, he could act as a stabilizing force on a pitching staff with high variance and perhaps be dealt to a contender at the deadline, as the team looks to bolster its farm and reload for their next competitive window.

CBA Notes: Arbitration, Waivers, Schedule, PED Testing, Minor League Salary

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MLB and the MLBPA finally reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday, ending a contentious lockout that spanned over three months. The major elements of the deal, such as the CBT levels and the bonus pool for arbitration-eligible players, were reported on as the negotiations transpired, but some of the minor details are still trickling out. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com revealed one such detail on Twitter, writing that, “Beginning after 2022, salary arbitration eligible players who settle with their teams on a salary for the subsequent season without going to a hearing will be eligible to receive full season termination pay, even if released prior to the start of the season.”

This is a small change that could potentially have significant ramifications. Under the previous CBA, arbitration contracts were not fully guaranteed until Opening Day, with players cut during Spring Training only earning a portion of the agreed-upon salary. If a team released a player more than 15 days prior to Opening Day, they only had to pay the player 30 days’ salary as termination pay. If the player was released less than 15 days before Opening Day, they would get 45 days’ pay.

This makes for an interesting tradeoff. On the one hand, this could be viewed as a gain for the players, as they now have access to greater security, knowing that the salary they accept will be locked in once they agree to it. But this also gives them incentive to accept terms without the hearing, perhaps leading to them accepting lower terms than they otherwise would have earned, thus benefiting the teams. It is well established that teams put a high priority on stifling salaries as much as possible. In 2019, it was revealed that MLB holds an annual symposium where the team that best succeeds at opposing the players in arbitration is awarded a wrestling-style championship belt, something that surely didn’t help with the animosity that’s lingered between the players and the league since the signing of the last CBA. This wrinkle in the new CBA could help the teams further those goals, but at least could give some borderline non-tender candidates the silver lining of greater financial security.

Elsewhere in the CBA, Jayson Stark of The Athletic provides an interesting nugget on Twitter. “If a team has already claimed a player once on waivers that season, it can’t claim him again until every other team has passed.” Stark aptly refers to this as the “Jacob Nottingham Rule,” in reference to the fact that Nottingham was the centerpiece of a game of hot potato between the Brewers and Mariners last year. Beginning the season with the Brewers, the catcher was put on waivers in April, claimed by the Mariners, who put him back on waivers on May. The Brewers brought him back on a waiver claim, only to send him back onto the waiver wire two weeks later. On May 2oth, Seattle claimed him again, before putting him back on the wire in early June, when he finally cleared. Waiver claim priority generally goes in reverse order of the current standings. (For the first 31 days of the season, the standings of the previous season are used.) In the case of Nottingham, there would have been some teams that never even had the ability to make a claim on him for most of that sequence last year, as he would have been scooped up before their turn. Going forward, they will have a greater chance to interrupt such a unique back-and-forth as occurred with Nottingham last year.

In a detailed column about the CBA, Stark adds some details about the schedule changes that will begin in 2023. While it had been previously reported that teams would play all 29 of the other squads in the league each year, with the number of divisional games being reduced, the details were not known at the time. Stark lays out the format that will begin next year, with each team playing its divisional rivals 14 times per season, down from 19, for a total of 56. Teams in the same league but not the same division will be played six times each, a total of 60. When it comes to interleague play, each team has a “rival” that they will play four times, with three games against the other 14 teams in the opposite league. That amounts to 46 total interleague games. All of those categories are evenly split between road and home, except for the final one. In the case of the 14 non-rival teams that are in the opposite league, the home team for the three-game series will alternate from year to year.

Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com has a couple of other details in his rundown of the CBA. In terms of PEDs, he says, “There will be an increase in the number of in-season urine tests for performance-enhancing substances and drugs of abuse, as well as adjustments to the scheduling of these tests to make them less predictable.” He then adds that, “the program will now utilize dried-blood spot-testing rather than venous blood draws for hGH testing, making Major League Baseball the first professional sport drug testing program to adopt this new technology.”

Finally, while the increase in the minimum salary for MLB players was reported throughout the negotiations, there is also a bump for some players in the minors. From Kubatko: “The minor league minimum salary for players signing a second major league contract or with prior big league service will increase from $93,000 in 2021 to $114,100 in 2022, $117,400 in 2023, $120,600 in 2024, $123,900 in 2025 and $127,100 in 2026.”

Cardinals Notes: Hicks, Reyes, Designated Hitter, Shortstop, DeJong,

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The Cardinals have made one relatively minor move since the lockout was lifted, signing reliever Drew VerHagen to a two-year deal. He steps into a bullpen that also features Giovanny Gallegos, Ryan Helsley and T.J. McFarland and seems as if it’ll include flamethrowing righties Alex Reyes and Jordan Hicks.

St. Louis brass has floated the idea of each of Reyes and Hicks lengthening out into rotation roles over the offseason. Yet president of baseball operations John Mozeliak cast some doubt on that possibility when speaking with reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat) yesterday.

“I do think getting Alex and Jordan stretched is going to be much more challenging than in a normal time,” Mozeliak said in reference to the ban on staff members from communicating with players on their 40-man rosters between December 2 and March 10. While he didn’t specifically rule a rotation conversion out, that prospect always seemed a bit of a reach — particularly with regards to Hicks. Hicks pitched only ten innings in 2021, as he went on the injured list in early May with elbow inflammation that proved season-ending. That came on the heels of a June 2019 Tommy John surgery that had wiped out his prior season and a half, so building him towards a starter’s workload would’ve been a challenge even had there not been a work stoppage.

Reyes logged a full season in 2021, tossing 72 1/3 frames over 69 appearances. That marks almost exactly the same amount of work Reyes took on at the major league level from 2016-20 combined, as he also required a Tommy John procedure (in February 2017, in his case). He struggled quite a bit in the second half, and his 16.4% walk rate was higher than that of any starting pitcher last year. Between those innings and strike-throwing concerns, Reyes might also have had trouble cracking a starting rotation that currently projects to include Adam Wainwright, Jack Flaherty, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas.

Mozeliak also addressed the position player mix, suggesting the club might look externally for help in handling the designated hitter spot now available for National League teams (Jones link). He suggested that internal options like Lars Nootbaar or Juan Yepez could be considered for that role but noted there may be “short term solutions” available on the market. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported during the lockout that former Pirates infielder Colin Moran was of interest to the Cards, presumably as an option for such a role.

One position at which it doesn’t seem the Cardinals will consider outside help is shortstop. Speaking with Dani Wexelman of MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this afternoon (Twitter link), Mozeliak downplayed the possibility of upgrading there. “I don’t think so,” he replied when asked if they’d acquire another shortstop. “We met with Paul (DeJong) prior to the lockout. We told him we thought he could be our shortstop. … Obviously, there’s going to be some competition in this camp with somebody like Edmundo Sosa, but in terms of going outside of that, I don’t think that makes a whole lot of sense for us.”

That’s not a surprise, as reports have increasingly suggested the Cardinals seem confident in DeJong’s ability to bounce back from a second straight down year at the plate. He rates highly in the eyes of public defensive metrics, and last year’s career-best barrel rate suggests he can continue to at least bring some power to the table offensively. St. Louis was mentioned earlier in the offseason as a speculative fit for star free agents like Carlos Correa or Trevor Story, but Mozeliak’s comments seem to close the book on the chances they make a run at either player.

Adam Conley To Retire

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Former Marlins and Rays pitcher Adam Conley is retiring, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (Twitter link). The left-hander steps away from the game after an 11-year professional career that included parts of six big league seasons.

The then-Florida Marlins selected Conley out of Washington State University in the second round of the 2011 draft. Over the next few years, he was regarded as one of the better arms in the Marlins system, and he debuted in the majors in 2015. Conley immediately offered capable mid-rotation production, pitching to a 3.82 ERA and holding opponents to a .253/.335/.398 slash line in 200 1/3 combined innings over his first two seasons.

Things went off the rails in 2017, though. Conley’s average fastball velocity dropped around two MPH (from 91.9 to 90) and his strikeout rate ticked down. He allowed a 6.14 ERA in 22 outings before hitting the injured list with finger tendinitis that August. The following season, the Fish moved Conley to the bullpen.

He rather remarkably added more than five ticks to his heater in relief, averaging north of 95 MPH in 2018. Conley pitched to a decent 4.09 ERA in 50 2/3 innings out of the ’pen that season, but he struggled in 2019. He didn’t pitch at all in 2020, as he spent a month on the COVID-19 injured list before Miami designated him for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster. Conley signed with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball last winter but returned stateside in May after Japan’s pandemic protocols prevented his family from joining him in Sendai.

The 31-year-old signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay last season and was selected onto the big league club in August. He worked 19 2/3 innings of 2.29 ERA ball down the stretch. The Rays nevertheless designated him for assignment after the season and he became a minor league free agent upon clearing waivers.

There’s little doubt Conley could’ve at least gotten another minors deal with an invitation to big league camp this spring had he wanted to keep pitching. He’s apparently decided to step away from the game instead, leaving with a 4.71 ERA over 434 MLB innings. Conley started 56 of his 191 appearances at the highest level. He struck out 374 batters and picked up 25 wins, five saves and 22 holds. MLBTR congratulates Conley on a fine career and wishes him all the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Latest On Seiya Suzuki’s Market

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Star NPB outfielder Seiya Suzuki waited out the lockout in search of a deal with an MLB team this offseason. The league and Players Association agreed to freeze his posting window during the work stoppage. The official lifting of the lockout restarted the clock, giving teams twenty days to finalize an agreement.

Suzuki has reportedly drawn interest from upwards of a dozen teams this winter, and Jon Heyman of the MLB Network lists five (via Twitter) that have been prominent players: the Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox. That’s not necessarily a group of finalists, to be clear, but it seems those teams are among Suzuki’s top suitors.

Four of those clubs — Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston — have been known entrants in the bidding for some time. A report from Japan’s Nikkan Sports in January named the four clubs as among those likely to remain factors until he chooses a destination. The Dodgers, though, hadn’t been strongly linked to Suzuki until this point.

Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily have a need in the outfield. Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock make for a strong starting trio, and Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux could see some action on the grass as well. The Dodgers haven’t been shy about acquiring talent even in the absence of an obvious weakness on the roster, however. And Los Angeles is clearly open to further bolstering an already strong offense, as they’re reportedly making a run at Freddie Freeman. Manager Dave Roberts isn’t afraid to move even his best players around the diamond, and the implementation of the universal designated hitter could allow NL teams to cast a wider net in search of talent.

With a little under three weeks before Suzuki has to make a decision, there still seems to be a decent array of possible landing spots. Only 27 years old, Suzuki should appeal both to win-now clubs like the Dodgers and teams (the Cubs perhaps among them) that are eyeing 2023 and beyond as more realistic windows of contention. He’s coming off a monstrous .317/.433/.639 showing with the Hiroshima Carp, for whom he’s been a strong middle-of-the-order bat in recent years. Evaluators with whom MLBTR spoke earlier in the offseason generally suggested Suzuki could immediately be a solid everyday right fielder in MLB.

Whoever signs Suzuki will owe the Carp a posting fee on top of the guarantee that goes to the player himself. The fee is calculated as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter.

Dodgers Reportedly “Making Strong Push” For Freddie Freeman

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8:08pm: Jon Heyman of the MLB Network tweets that the Dodgers and Braves are Freeman’s most likely landing spots. He hears that Atlanta’s offers have been in the five-year, $140MM range.

7:32pm: Morosi adds that Freeman is expected to make his decision within the next 24 hours and could do so as soon as this evening.

7:04pm: The Dodgers are “making a strong push” for star first baseman Freddie Freeman, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). Los Angeles has put a formal offer on the table, Morosi adds.

Freeman is among the top free agents on the market, and it’s generally been expected he’d sign quickly in the wake of the end of the lockout. The Dodgers are among the teams who have been linked to the 2020 NL MVP, as are the incumbent Braves, Yankees, Blue Jays and — most surprisingly — Rays.

Many have long expected that Freeman, a career-long Brave, will re-sign with Atlanta on a long-term deal. Calls for the Braves to keep him around particularly mounted after the club wrapped up a World Series title in November. Freeman, of course, played no small part in Atlanta’s first championship in 26 years; after hitting .300/.393/.503 during the regular season, he posted an OPS above .990 in all three playoff rounds.

However, the Braves have reportedly been unwilling to offer a sixth guaranteed year to the 32-year-old first baseman. Freeman didn’t agree to terms with anyone before the lockout, and rumors swirled throughout the work stoppage that he and the club may go in different directions. There’s been no shortage of interest in Freeman’s services, and the Braves have at least looked into the possibility of trading for A’s star Matt Olson or signing Anthony Rizzo as contingency plans.

Of course, it’s far from a lock that Freeman will wind up departing. That the Dodgers are making a serious run at the five-time All-Star is no surprise. Atlanta could yet look to make another push themselves, and there’s no indication an agreement between Freeman and Los Angeles is imminent.

The first base market figures to see quite a bit of action in the coming days and weeks. Freeman and Rizzo have yet to sign. It’s widely believed the A’s will move Olson before the start of the season as they reportedly embark on a payroll-cutting effort. The Yankees have been tied to first base upgrades this offseason, which might make 2020 home run champ Luke Voit a realistic trade candidate as well.

Blue Jays To Sign Andrew Vasquez To Major League Deal

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The Blue Jays are signing reliever Andrew Vasquez to a major league contract, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (on Twitter). The southpaw has made twelve big league appearances spread across three seasons, including two outings with the Dodgers late last year.

It’s a bit of a surprise to see Vasquez land a guaranteed 40-man roster spot given his limited MLB track record. He’s tossed just 6 2/3 career innings at the highest level, five of them coming with the 2018 Twins. Yet the 28-year-old impressed a couple teams with a huge showing in Triple-A last season. Vasquez spent the bulk of the season with the Twins’ top affiliate in St. Paul, working to a 3.61 ERA over 42 2/3 innings. More importantly, he struck out an elite 37.4% of batters faced at that level.

The Dodgers were impressed enough with Vasquez’s form to acquire him late on the night of August 31. (Vasquez, who hadn’t been on the Twins’ 40-man roster all season, was eligible to be moved after the MLB trade deadline). That was just before the deadline for teams to add players to their organization in order for them to be eligible for the postseason roster, and L.A. quickly selected the UC Santa Barbara product onto their 40-man roster. They didn’t wind up activating him for any playoff contests, though, and Los Angeles non-tendered him last November.

In his two-game MLB cameo last season, Vasquez threw almost exclusively low-80s curveballs (26 curves, one sinker). He probably won’t continue with an approach quite so extreme over a larger body of work, but it seems the Jays’ front office is intrigued by that bread-and-butter offering. Tim Mayza, Ryan Borucki, Kirby Snead and Tayler Saucedo are among the left-handed bullpen options already on the Toronto 40-man roster. Vasquez still has a minor league option year remaining, though, so the Jays can shuttle him between Toronto and Triple-A Buffalo next season if he sticks on their 40-man all year.

Rangers, Brandon Workman Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers are signing reliever Brandon Workman to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Presumably, the 33-year-old will get a look in big league camp.

Workman, a UT-Austin product, has seven years of big league experience to his name. He worked in a swing capacity with the Red Sox from 2013-14, but he lost most of the following two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Upon returning from that procedure in 2017, Workman moved full-time into relief and found a fair amount of success.

The right-hander worked at least 39 innings with an ERA below 3.30 in every season from 2017-19. He was an utterly dominant late-game option in 2019, when he pitched to a 1.88 ERA in 71 2/3 frames and saved 16 games. Few pitchers could match the combination of strikeouts (36.4%) and grounders (51.1%) Workman put up that season, although he did walk a fine line with his control (15.7% walk percentage).

Workman had been a capable strike-thrower for his career until 2019. But he’s continued to dole out plenty of free passes in recent seasons even as his strikeout and ground-ball numbers have fallen back to ordinary levels. Over the past two seasons, he’s suited up with three clubs (the Red Sox, Phillies and Cubs) and combined for 47 2/3 innings of 5.66 ERA ball. He’s been hit at a .330/.426/.522 clip, with a dramatically reduced 20.3% strikeout rate and an elevated 14.3% walk percentage.

Those past two years of struggles dictate that Workman will have to pitch his way back into the big leagues as a non-roster player. Still, it’s sensible for the Rangers to take a look at a reliever who’s not too far removed from finding major league success. Texas’ bullpen mix is almost entirely wide open, with Joe Barlow and Spencer Patton perhaps the only right-handed locks for season-opening spots.

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