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Cubs, Richard Lovelady Agree To Deal

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Free agent reliever Richard Lovelady is signing with the Cubs, as announced by Driveline Baseball (on X). Lovelady confirmed the news on his own X account. It’s presumably a minor league contract with a Spring Training invitation. Chicago also agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Sam McWilliams this afternoon, reports Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (X link).

Lovelady, a 28-year-old southpaw, has pitched in parts of four MLB campaigns. A former 10th-round pick of the Royals, he debuted with Kansas City in 2019. Lovelady struggled in 26 appearances between 2019-20 before an impressive small-sample showing in ’21. He worked to a 3.48 ERA over 20 2/3 innings that year. Lovelady punched out an above-average 27.2% of opponents while running an excellent 56.6% grounder percentage.

Unfortunately, his time in K.C. was cut short by injury. A UCL sprain in his throwing elbow was a precursor to Tommy John surgery. He spent the following season rehabbing and was traded to the Braves in Spring Training last year. Lovelady never made an MLB appearance with Atlanta, who tried to sneak him through waivers in mid-April. The A’s stepped in to make a claim.

Oakland manager Mark Kotsay called on Lovelady 27 times. The Kennesaw State product allowed 4.63 earned runs per nine. He punched out a quarter of opponents with a 47.5% ground-ball rate. Those are reasonable peripherals but down from the numbers he showed in 2021. His average fastball speed was down to roughly 91 MPH after sitting in the 93 MPH range before the surgery. There wasn’t as dramatic a dip in his slider velocity, which was only marginally down from 86.6 to 85.9 MPH.

Injuries again ended Lovelady’s season and, ultimately, his tenure with the organization. He was shut down around the All-Star Break after being diagnosed with a pronator strain in his forearm. Lovelady finished the year on the injured list. Oakland waived him at season’s end and he became a minor league free agent.

Driveline included video of Lovelady throwing a recent bullpen session at their training facility. That’s a positive indicator for his arm health and seems to suggest he’ll be ready for game action this spring. Chicago is very light on left-handed bullpen options. Drew Smyly is likely pushed into relief after struggling as a starter. Luke Little and Bailey Horn, neither of whom have much MLB experience, are the only other lefty relievers on the 40-man roster.

McWilliams, 28, has spent time on the 40-man rosters of the Mets and Padres in his career. He has yet to make his major league debut. Sky-high walk rates in the upper minors kept him from getting a look in the majors. The 6’7″ hurler sat out last season before a return in the Mexican winter league this year. Over 25 1/3 frames there, he owns a 3.55 ERA with a 28.4% strikeout rate but a 13.7% walk percentage.

Blue Jays Outright Brian Serven

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The Blue Jays announced this evening that catcher Brian Serven was outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo. Toronto hadn’t previously indicated that Serven had landed on waivers. They apparently quietly took him off the roster last week. That technically drops their 40-man count to 39, although Toronto has still yet to finalize the Yariel Rodríguez signing, which will put that back at capacity.

Toronto just grabbed Serven off waivers two weeks ago. He has bounced between a few teams this winter. A former fifth-round pick of the Rockies, he was designated for assignment by Colorado in early January. The Cubs placed a claim but DFA him within a week. Toronto pursued a similar strategy and will retain Serven after successfully slipping him through unclaimed.

The Arizona State product has played in 73 MLB games over the last two seasons. Working mostly as a backup catcher to Elías Díaz in Denver, he hit .195/.248/.314 over 228 plate appearances. Serven has logged 534 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He owns a .238/.305/.450 slash there, including a .199/.241/.331 mark in 38 games a year ago.

Serven posted above-average pitch framing numbers in his MLB work. He’ll stick with the Jays as a non-roster depth catcher who’ll very likely get an invitation to big league Spring Training. The Jays are down to Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk as their only catchers on the 40-man roster. Barring further acquisitions this offseason, Serven would have a good chance of being reselected to the MLB club if either Jansen or Kirk require any time on the injured list.

Falvey: Twins Plan To Reallocate Money Saved In Polanco Trade

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The Twins pulled off a significant trade this evening, sending second baseman Jorge Polanco to the Mariners for a four-player return. While Minnesota brought back a pair of MLB players — Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani — in the deal, that’s coming at a fairly modest financial cost.

DeSclafani is due $12MM for the upcoming season. The Giants agreed to pay $6MM in the trade that initially sent the veteran righty to Seattle. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports that the M’s are sending that $6MM plus an unspecified portion of the $6MM they’d owed to DeSclafani themselves. Dan Hayes and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic report that Seattle is sending an additional $2MM, bringing the cash considerations to $8MM in total.

Polanco is set to receive $10.5MM, while Topa is making $1.25MM. There’s a $9.25MM gap between those two salaries, and the Twins are taking on $4MM owed to DeSclafani. The deal saves Minnesota $5.25MM in payroll room.

Falvey told reporters Minnesota expects to reallocate those savings into the roster (relayed by Dan Hayes of the Athletic). He suggested the team was likely to look for help on the position player side after acquiring a reliever and a rotation option in the Polanco trade (via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com).

The front office leader didn’t specify any players or positions of interest. At the beginning of the offseason, Falvey suggested the club would evaluate the first base market. They haven’t made any additions there thus far and are presently set to count on Alex Kirilloff, who has had wrist and shoulder surgeries in his career.

Speculatively speaking, a right-handed hitting outfielder would also make sense. Minnesota has a corner outfield group consisting of left-handed bats like Max Kepler, Matt Wallner and Nick Gordon. Gold Glover Byron Buxton is optimistic about his chance of moving back to center field after knee injuries limited him to DH in 2023. The Twins could still look for a center field option to back up Buxton given his injury history. Last year’s primary center fielder, Michael A. Taylor, remains unsigned.

In November, Hayes reported that Minnesota expected to open the season with a player payroll in the $125-140MM range. Roster Resource projected their spending around $124MM before tonight’s trade. Moving Polanco reduces those commitments to roughly $119MM.

Note: This post initially indicated that Seattle was covering $6MM of DeSclafani’s salary in addition to the $6MM included by San Francisco. The specific amount being covered by the Mariners beyond the initial $6MM from the Giants is $2MM. MLBTR apologizes for the error.

Orioles, Danny Coulombe Avoid Arbitration

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6:25pm: Coulombe receives a $2.3MM salary, The Associated Press reports. That’s the midpoint of the respective filing figures. The 2025 option is valued at $4MM and comes without a buyout. Coulombe could push the option value as high as $4.925MM via escalators. The price would increase by $100K if he reaches 50 appearances this year, $50K apiece for his next five games, $55K each for his 56th-60th appearances, and $60K per game between 61 and 65 outings.

9:31am: The Orioles and left-hander Danny Coulombe have reached an agreement on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2025 season, the team announced. In doing so, the two sides avoided an arbitration hearing. Coulombe, a client of Elite Sports Group, had filed for a $2.4MM salary while the team countered at $2.2MM. He’d have been a free agent at season’s end, so the O’s are gaining an extra year of control over the southpaw with today’s agreement.

Coulombe, 34, proved to be an excellent low-cost pickup for Baltimore last winter. Acquired from the Twins in exchange for cash just days before the season began, he delivered 51 1/3 innings of 2.81 ERA ball in his first season with the O’s, striking out a strong 27.6% of his opponents against an outstanding 5.7% walk rate.

That marked the continuation of a late-career breakout that’s now seen the journeyman southpaw work to a collective 2.86 ERA over the past four seasons. It also represents a bounceback from an injury-marred 2022 campaign in which he posted a 1.46 ERA in a small sample of 12 innings with Minnesota but also walked an uncharacteristic 17% of his opponents. Coulombe missed the bulk of that season with a hip impingement but showed little to no ill effects in 2023.

Coulombe figures to slot back in as a setup man for manager Brandon Hyde, though he’ll be bridging the gap to a new closer in 2024. After star right-hander Felix Bautista underwent Tommy John surgery in October, the Orioles responded by signing free agent Craig Kimbrel to a one-year, $13MM deal. Kimbrel figures to close games for the O’s this season, with Coulombe, Yennier Cano and a healthier Dillon Tate among the current favorites for leverage spots in the seventh and eighth innings.

The option year being tacked on is significant for the Orioles. It’s relatively commonplace for teams to work out one-year deals with options of some kind even after figures are exchanged, but not necessarily with players who have five-plus years of service. Five-plus players tend to either prefer straight one-year deals or perhaps agree to a mutual option, which is largely a formality as mutual options are almost never exercised by both parties. It’s a compromise that effectively ensures the player he can reach the open market as was previously scheduled while also allowing the team to bend on a straight one-year deal that can then be used a data point in future arbitration cases. (The inclusion of an option of any kind disqualifies those agreements from being used in future negotiation of straight one-year arbitration deals.)

Coulombe, however, is older than the standard five-plus player and was perhaps more willing to surrender a free agent year as a result. He’ll lock in a salary that nearly doubles his modest career earnings of $2.89MM, and while next year’s option will surely be reasonably priced, it’ll give him the opportunity to remain in a setting where he clearly felt comfortable and where he’ll clearly have a good chance at being part of a competitive roster.

The Orioles exchanged arbitration figures with an MLB-high five players this year, but both Coulombe and fellow lefty reliever Cionel Perez have since agreed to one-year deals with options. Outfielder Austin Hays ($6.35MM vs. $5.85MM), first baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn ($3.8MM vs. $3.2MM) and righty Jacob Webb ($1MM vs. $925K) are all still unresolved, but presumably the team will continue looking into similar arrangements  with that group in order to avoid a potentially contentious hearing.

Jarlín García Drawing Interest

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Left-hander Jarlín García recently resumed throwing, reports MLBTR’s Steve Adams, but won’t be ready for the start of spring. He is expected to be game ready around May 1 and around six teams have shown some interest.

García, now 31, is coming off an entirely lost season. He signed a one-year deal with the Pirates, with a $2.5MM salary for 2023 and a $3.25MM club option for 2024, but he left a Spring Training game in early March due to some left arm tightness. He was shut down and later diagnosed with a nerve injury in the biceps area. He was placed on the 60-day injured list when the season began and wasn’t able to return at any point.

The Bucs naturally turned down that club option after the injury-marred campaign, but it’s understandable that clubs will be interested based on García’s previous work. From 2019 to 2022, with the Marlins and Giants, he made 188 appearances with good results. He tossed 202 2/3 innings in that time, allowing just 2.89 earned runs per nine. His 21.6% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 42.1% ground ball rate were all fairly close to league average.

Left-handed relief tends to always be in demand, so it’s understandable that those kinds of results would intrigue clubs. The 2023 season was obviously a frustrating one and it seems he’ll miss at least part of 2024 as well, but the fact that he has now resumed throwing is an encouraging sign of progress.

The relief market has picked up a bit of steam in recent weeks, with lefties like Josh Hader, Aroldis Chapman and Matt Moore having come off the board since mid-January. Southpaws like Wandy Peralta and Brad Hand are some of the more enticing options still on the open market, but García could be an interesting buy-low flier for a club if he’s able to put his injury behind him.

Franmil Reyes Signs With NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

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Jan. 29: The Fighters announced that they’ve signed Reyes.

Jan. 7: Franmil Reyes is on the verge of officially signing with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to multiple reports out of the Dominican Republic.

Reyes hit .260/.325/.503 with 92 home runs with San Diego and Cleveland over 1540 plate appearances during the 2018-21 seasons.  Despite a lot of strikeouts in that span, Reyes looked like one of baseball’s up-and-coming sluggers before his performance took a sudden downturn.  Reyes has hit only .217/.268/.356 with 16 homers in 538 PA since the start of the 2022 season, while striking out over a third of the time.

Though the Guardians were in sore need of power during the 2022 season, Reyes’ struggles were so pronounced that Cleveland designated him for assignment that August, and he was quickly claimed by the Cubs off waivers but didn’t experience much of a bounce-back on his new team.  Reyes has subsequently signed minor league contracts with the Royals and Nationals within the last year, but his contribution to the 2023 Major League season consisted of just 19 games with Kansas City.  His last minor league came on July 8 with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, and Washington released Reyes in August.

Rather than deal with the uncertainty of another minor league contract, Reyes will instead head to Japan on a guaranteed contract and in search of a fresh start to his career.  Reyes is still only 28, so there’s lots of time to potentially seek out a return to MLB if he gets on track with the Fighters, whether next winter or perhaps multiple years down the line.

Yankees Designate Diego Castillo For Assignment

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The Yankees announced that they have claimed left-hander Matt Gage off waivers, a move which was reported on earlier today. Infielder/outfielder Diego Castillo was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Castillo, 26, has had his name on many transactions over the past few years. An amateur signing of the Yankees, he was traded to the Pirates as part of the 2021 Clay Holmes deal. He was traded to the Diamondbacks after the 2022 season and spent the 2023 campaign with that club. But he was designated for assignment last month, going to the Mets and then Yankees on waiver claims. Now he’s been designated for assignment for the third time in just over a month.

He doesn’t have a ton of power but generally fares well at the plate apart from that. Last year, he took 556 trips to the plate at Triple-A, hitting just three home runs. But he drew walks in 17.4% of those plate appearances while striking out at just a 14.2% clip. His .313/.431/.410 batting line translated to a 117 wRC+, indicating he was 17% better than league average overall. His work in the majors hasn’t been as impressive, with Castillo hitting .205/.250/.380 in his 284 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 71.

Defensively, Castillo is capable of moving around quite a bit. He’s spent time at all four infield positions, the outfield corners and has even made a couple of mop-up appearances on the mound. He also has a bit of speed, having stolen 13 bases in Triple-A last year, the third time he’s reached double digits in the minors.

This winter, it seems he has fallen into a bucket of being just good enough to intrigue clubs but not quite good enough to hold a roster spot for very long. The Yanks will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He still has one option remaining. Between that, his plate discipline and defensive versatility, he may find himself on the move yet again in the coming days. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Yankees as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of MLB service time or a previous career outright, meaning he wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency.

Jimy Williams Passes Away

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Former player, manager and coach Jimy Williams has passed away, according to announcement from his previous clubs. He was 80 years old.

Williams was born in Santa Maria, California in 1943 and started his professional career by signing with the Red Sox. He was selected by the Cardinals in the 1965 Rule 5 draft and made his major league debut with that club. His playing career was quite modest, as he got into just 14 big league games with the Cards, 13 in 1966 and one more the following year. He made 14 plate appearances, walking once and striking out six times. His three singles in 13 at-bats gave him a batting average of .231.

He was traded to the Reds after the 1967 season and selected by the Expos in the 1968 expansion draft, but he never made it back to the big leagues. Though his playing career was limited, he managed to have brushes with greatness. His first appearance was against Sandy Koufax and his first hit came off Juan Marichal, both of whom eventually became Hall of Famers.

He transitioned to coaching and managing in the ’70s, starting in the Angels’ farm system. He got to the big leagues as the third base coach of the Blue Jays in 1980. He was promoted to the manager’s chair in 1986, with Bobby Cox vacating the role and heading to Atlanta. The Jays posted a winning record the next three seasons though didn’t make the postseason. Toronto fans of a certain vintage will remember that the 1987 club had a 3.5-game lead over the Tigers before losing their final seven contests for a heartbreaking second-place finish despite winning 96 games on the year. In 1989, the Jays got out to a slow start and Williams was fired in May, replaced by Cito Gaston.

Williams’ next gig was with Atlanta, reuniting him with Cox. Williams served as the third base coach in Atlanta from 1991 to 1996. The 1994 season wasn’t finished because of that year’s strike, but Atlanta won the National League East in every other season during that stretch, winning the World Series in 1995.

He got another managerial gig in 1997, getting hired by the Red Sox. They finished in fourth in the American League East in the first of his seasons in Boston but then got up to second place and earned the American League Wild Card spot in both 1998 and 1999. Williams won American League Manager of the Year honors in the latter of those two seasons, but the Sox didn’t make it back to the postseason in 2000 and then Williams was fired in August of 2001.

A few months later, Williams was hired to manage the Astros. They finished with winning records but shy of the postseason in 2002 and 2003, before Williams was fired midway through the 2004 campaign. That would be his last managerial gig, but he was hired to be the Phillies’ bench coach going into the 2007 season. The Phils won the National League East that year but lost to the Rockies in the NLDS. The next year, they won the division again and eventually won the 2008 World Series, a second ring for Williams as a coach. He decided not to return to the club the following year, finishing his career on a high note.

Over his career, Williams managed parts of 12 seasons with a combined record of 910-790, a .535 winning percentage. His two sons, Brady Williams and Shawn Williams, went on to become professional baseball players and minor league managers/coaches. We at MLB Trade Rumors join the rest of the baseball world in sending our condolences to the Williams family as well as Jimy’s many friends, acquaintances and fans throughout the game.

Yankees Claim Matt Gage

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The Yankees have claimed left-handed reliever Matt Gage off waivers from the Astros, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He was designated for assignment last week. The team has not formally announced the move or a corresponding transaction, which will be required since New York currently has a full 40-man roster.

Gage, who’ll be 31 in a couple weeks, has spent time in the majors in each of the past two seasons, logging a combined 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 innings between the Blue Jays and Astros. He’s punched out a strong 26% of his opponents but also demonstrated some shaky command, evidenced by 20 walks (11.7%) and one hit batter in just 77 faced as a big leaguer.

While Gage has an overall 5.17 ERA in parts of five Triple-A seasons, he’s been better there in the past two years (2.34 ERA in 42 1/3 innings in 2022, 4.58 ERA in 37 1/3 innings in 2023). A good portion of his Triple-A struggles came several years ago when he was working as a starter in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League while pitching in the Giants’ and Mets’ systems.

A move to the bullpen seems to have been agreeable to Gage, however, and like so many other Yankee bullpen targets, Gage will bring a track record of inducing ground-balls at a strong clip to his new club. He’s posted a 48.9% grounder rate in his limited MLB time and typically sits in the mid-40s at the Triple-A level as well. Overall, he has a 45.4% ground-ball rate in his time at the Triple-A level. He also has a minor league option remaining, so he can be sent to Scranton without first needing to pass through waivers.

The Yankees are generally light on established left-handed bullpen candidates. Gage certainly isn’t an established option himself, but he’ll join Victor Gonzalez, Matt Krook and Nick Ramirez as 40-man possibilities for the Yankees to evaluate this spring. The Yanks have reportedly been on the hunt for bullpen help in free agency but are also already into the fourth and highest tier of luxury penalization, meaning they’ll pay a 110% tax on any additional salaries added to the books. A reunion with Wandy Peralta is said to be of interest, but it’s not yet clear whether the Yankees will effectively spend double whatever the market bears (including tax penalties) in order to retain him. For now, they’ll stock up on some affordable depth as they continue surveying the market.

Cardinals Claim Alfonso Rivas, Designate Moises Gomez For Assignment

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The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve claimed first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas off waivers from the Angels. In a corresponding move, outfielder Moises Gomez was designated for assignment.

Rivas has seen MLB time in each of the past three seasons, splitting those years between the Cubs, Padres and Pirates. The 27-year-old hit well in a tiny sample of 49 plate appearances during his 2021 MLB debut with the Cubs but carries a more tepid .233/.316/.342 slash in 410 trips to the plate over the two previous seasons.

That said, Rivas has a minor league option remaining and an excellent track record at the game’s top minor league level. He’s a career .313/.424/.492 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons and has drawn a walk in a massive 15.1% of his plate appearances there. He’s more of a gap hitter than true power bat, evidenced by his 40 doubles and 15 long balls in 637 career plate appearances in Triple-A. He’s primarily been a first baseman in his career, but Rivas does have 342 innings in left field and 75 innings in right field between his time in the big leagues and minors combined. He’ll compete for a job as a left-handed bat off manager Oli Marmol’s bench this spring.

As for the 25-year-old Gomez, he looked to be on the cusp of slugging his way to the big leagues a couple years back but has been dogged by consistent contact issues and saw his numbers decline in Triple-A this year. In 2022, Gomez split the season between Double-A and Triple-A, belting 39 home runs while posting a massive .294/.371/.624 slash line. That power output was accompanied by a staggering 34.7% strikeout rate, however, and things only got worse in his second go-around at the Triple-A level. He still mashed 30 homers this past season but did so with a diminished .232/.293/.457 line and an only slightly improved 31.7% strikeout rate.

The right-handed-hitting Gomez still has two minor league options remaining and is clearly bursting with raw power, but scouting reports have long been down on his glove, speed and particularly his hit tool. FanGraphs and Baseball America both credited Gomez with 70-grade raw power (on the 20-80 scale) as recently as last offseason, but BA put a 40 on his hit tool while FanGraphs was even more bearish and pegged him at a 30.

A club looking for some right-handed pop to stash in the upper minors could well take a flier on the power, but Gomez will need to significantly scale back the strikeouts and/or improve defensively if he’s to carve out a big league role. The Cardinals have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

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