The team has been putting in extra hours trying to keep up with all the hot stove news this week, so we haven’t been able to run our regularly scheduled chats. So, I hosted one today! Click here to read the transcript. If you enjoy our chats and would like to increase your chances of getting a question answered tenfold, check out our subscription service for as little as $2.99. Anthony Franco holds subscriber-only chats every Friday afternoon and answers between 60-90% of the questions asked.
Royals Interested In Frankie Montas
March 17: Even after signing Zack Greinke yesterday, the Royals are still discussing Montas trade scenarios with the A’s, tweets Alec Lewis of The Athletic.
March 16: The Royals, who just trimmed more than $7MM in payroll in their surprising Mike Minor trade, are among the teams pursuing Athletics right-hander Frankie Montas, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. If Montas goes elsewhere, Rosenthal adds that the Royals still hope to add a veteran right-handed starter with some of their newfound payroll space.
Montas is among the most popular players remaining on the trade market, having been linked in recent days to the Twins, White Sox, Yankees and now the Royals. Other clubs are surely working diligently to pry the soon-to-be 29-year-old righty away from Oakland.
That’s hardly a surprise, given the Athletics’ clear willingness to trade veterans and the strong year Montas put together in 2021. Last year, the hard-throwing righty tossed 187 innings of 3.37 ERA ball while notching a strong 26.6% strikeout rate against a 7.3% walk rate. Projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $5.2MM this coming season, Montas is controlled via arbitration through the 2023 campaign.
The Royals, as currently constructed, would be heavily reliant on a collection of talented but largely unproven young starters in a season where they hope to return to competitive status within a relatively weak AL Central division. Brad Keller is the team’s most veteran starter now that Minor has been moved, but he’s in need of a rebound after a career-worst performance in 2021. Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Carlos Hernandez, Kris Bubic, Jackson Kowar and Jonathan Heasley will all be in the mix for rotation opportunities, but of that group, only Singer has had much in the way of sustained MLB success — and even he is looking to rebound after something of a sophomore slump.
Kansas City, heartened by the looming debuts of ballyhooed prospects like Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Pratto, MJ Melendez and others, hope that the strength of their young core can help lift them in the standings. Acquiring Montas would substantially boost their chances of doing so, although the mere fact that they’re in pursuit of him serves as further indication that in spite of a mostly quiet offseason, the organization believes the window to compete is opening.
Mets Sign Travis Jankowski To Minor League Deal
The Mets have signed outfielder Travis Jankowski to a minor league contract, per a club announcement. Jankowski would earn $1.25MM upon making the big league roster, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The team also formally announced its previously reported minor league deal with lefty Chasen Shreve.
Jankowski, 30, appeared in 76 games with the division-rival Phillies last season and posted a solid .252/.364/.351 batting line through 157 plate appearances. Jankowski seldom played in a full game last year but was regularly used as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner and as a late-game defensive upgrade for the Phils. It’s easy enough to see why, as he can play any of the three outfield slots and carries a career +15 Defensive Runs Saved and +8.5 Ultimate Zone Rating through 2356 innings of defensive work at the MLB level. Statcast pegged Jankowski’s average sprint speed in the 88th percentile of MLB players.
Originally a supplemental first-round pick of the Padres back in 2012 (No. 44 overall), Jankowski has seen Major League time in parts of seven big league seasons — five with the Padres, plus a brief 2020 look in Cincinnati and last year’s showing in Philadelphia. He’s a .239/.322/.318 hitter in 1151 plate appearances at the big league level and a .321/.411/.385 hitter in 619 Triple-A plate appearances.
Barring injuries and/or trades of current players, Jankowski won’t have an immediate path to a big league roster spot with the Mets. New York currently has Mark Canha, Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo penciled in as the starting trio, and bench players like J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith have ample experience in the outfield (as does second baseman Jeff McNeil). Younger players like Khalil Lee and Nick Plummer are ticketed for Triple-A and are already on the minor league roster.
That said, it’s widely expected that the Mets will be open to moving either Davis or Smith in the coming days and weeks, which could lead to an opportunity for a speed- and defense-oriented role player to make the roster. Even if Jankowski winds up heading to Triple-A to begin the season, he’s a nice depth option to have on hand, as virtually no team in the league will get through the season without some injuries in the outfield.
Rays Sign Jason Adam
The Rays announced Thursday that they’ve signed right-hander Jason Adam to a one-year, Major League contract. Tyler Glasnow, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, has been placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. Neil Solondz reports that Adam’s contract is a split Major League deal that will pay him at a $900K rate in the big leagues and a $300K rate in the minors. He can earn an additional $250K via incentives.
Adam, 30, was a quietly effective reliever with the Blue Jays and Cubs from 2019-20, pitching to a combined 3.06 ERA with a 26.2% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate in 35 1/3 innings between those two stops. He was particularly adept at missing bats with the Cubs in 2020, whiffing 21 of the 58 batters he faced (36.2%) while logging a sky-high 17.3% swinging-strike rate.
The 2021 season was nothing short of harrowing for Adam, however. After being optioned to Triple-A Iowa early in the season, Adam was shagging fly balls during warmups for a game when he suffered an open dislocation and fracture of his left ankle — a gruesome injury that also caused significant damage to multiple ligaments and tendons in his foot.
Adam told the Des Moines Register’s Tommy Birch last June that he had thoughts of NFL quarterback Alex Smith’s career-altering injury and the grueling sequence of surgeries and infection that followed. At one point, Adam feared he might lose his foot. He told Birch that he went into shock and that doctors had difficulty sedating him for surgery due to the excess of adrenaline his body produced in the wake of the injury. Birch’s story is well worth a full read for full context on the severity of Adam’s injury as well as quotes from Adam, teammates and coaches who were there at the time (note that there are some rather graphic details of the awful injury).
Incredibly, however, Adam not only made a full recovery but returned to the Majors with the Cubs late in the 2021 season after just a few months of rehab. Recalled to the Majors in late September, Adam made three appearances and tossed three shutout innings with six strikeouts, no walks and just one hit allowed down the stretch. His overall season ERA still checked in at 5.91 through a small sample of 10 1/3 innings, but the route he took to get there is nothing short of remarkable.
Now fully healthy, Adam will compete for a bullpen spot in the Tampa Bay bullpen alongside Andrew Kittredge, Pete Fairbanks, J.P. Feyereisen, JT Chargois, Matt Wisler and Brooks Raley, among others. Because he’s on a split contract and has a minor league option year remaining, he’s not assured that spot and could potentially be sent down to the minors. However, the Rays and other clubs that have used frequent options to maintain fresh arms in the bullpen will be a bit more limited in 2022; under the new collective bargaining agreement, an individual player can only be optioned to the minors five separate times during a given option year.
If Adam can remain healthy and solidify himself as a member of the Tampa Bay relief corps, he’ll hold plenty of value to the Rays not only in 2022 but well beyond. He currently has just a year and 129 days of Major League service time, meaning he could remain under club control all the way through the 2026 season.
Cubs To Sign Daniel Norris
The Cubs are set to sign left-handed pitcher Daniel Norris to a Major League contract reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
The 28-year-old is fresh off a season divided between the Detroit and Milwaukee organizations. His work out of the Tigers’ bullpen didn’t match the success he found there in 2020, but a fluky .354 batting average on balls in play and other ERA estimators figured his 5.89 ERA with Detroit last season was more bloated than it should have been. The Brewers figured as much as well, and acquired the left-hander in a deadline deal last July.
Unfortunately for the Brewers, Norris’s run prevention skills only worsened. In 20 plus innings Norris gave up 15 runs and walks apiece, along with five home runs, all of which contributed to a 6.64 ERA with his new team. Despite a .231 batting average on balls in play after the trade, his reduced groundball, strikeout, and home run suppression abilities all resulted in a cumulative 6.16 ERA on the year that easily stands as his worst.
Even though things seldom clicked all at once for Norris in his platform year, there are still green flags in his profile. Chief among those flags are Norris’s ability to stymie left-handed batters. In 2021 opposing lefties struck out at an unappealing 29.5% rate and posted a weak .635 OPS when facing the pitcher. Furthermore, a 4.32 SIERA and other ERA estimators largely paint Norris’s end-of-season numbers as unlucky, and point to improvement should he keep his same skillset intact next season.
While no longer the high-end starter prospect who headlined the trade that sent David Price to Toronto back in 2015, the Cubs figure to have plenty of use for the modern day reliever version of Norris. Currently the only left-handed relievers projected by Jason Martinez of RosterResource to be in Chicago’s bullpen are Brad Wieck and Justin Steele. While Wieck had a 0.00 ERA through 17 innings on the year, and Steele debuted to a respectable 4.26 ERA in 57 innings (2.03 ERA in 13+ innings as a reliever), neither has a long enough track record to bank on repeated bullpen dominance.
With yet another Major League addition today it’s become increasingly clear that the Cubs are eyeing a spot in the recently expanded postseason field.
A’s Sign Billy McKinney To Minor League Deal
The Athletics announced their signing of outfielder Billy McKinney to a minor league pact. The deal includes an invitation to Major League Spring Training. It’s the third type of signing for Oakland today, after a waiver claim of Sheldon Neuse and a blockbuster trade with the Blue Jays.
Now 27-years-old, McKinney had a dizzying 2021 season in which he suited up for three different teams. Between the Brewers, Mets, and the Dodgers, the left-handed hitter slashed .192/.280/.358. Only his 39-game stint with the Mets yielded positive offensive results (110 OPS+), but McKinney still provided plus defensive value at both outfield corners and first base for his 2021 employers.
McKinney netted one more employer in 2021, as an offseason deal between LA and Texas saw the Dodgers deal McKinney and fellow outfielder Zach Reks for cash. The Rangers held onto Reks but non-tendered McKinney a week later, pushing the latter into free agency and teeing him up for today’s reunion with the team that selected him 24th overall in the 2013 amateur draft.
Now that Oakland is in full fire sale mode, McKinney stands a reasonable chance at claiming a spot on the team’s bench, with a chance for more given the in-flux state of the roster. While he’s yet to find much consistency at the major league level, McKinney’s age, pedigree, and Triple-A success suggest there’s still upside to be had for both player and club.
Adley Rutschman Shut Down 2-3 Weeks Due To Triceps Strain
Orioles catching prospect Adley Rutschman recently suffered a right triceps strain, the team informed reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). The club is shutting him down from activity for the next two to three weeks.
With the MLB season set to begin in 22 days, it seems as if the injury will keep Rutschman from being ready for Opening Day. He presumably won’t jump right back into game action once he’s again cleared to begin baseball activities. Getting him back up to game speed could take some time, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him open the year on the injured list.
Rutschman is the sport’s most promising farmhand in the estimation of each of Baseball America, FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline and The Athletic. There’s no indication the injury poses a long-term concern, but the O’s will surely be cautious with a player they envision as a central piece of the future.
That’s all the more true because the injury could give the team a justification for keeping Rutschman in the minor leagues for the first few weeks. The 24-year-old is not yet on the 40-man roster, meaning he’d go on the minor league injured list if an IL stint is ultimately required. Rutschman wouldn’t accrue major league pay or service time for any time spent on the MiLB IL. The front office is obviously keenly aware that keeping him in the minor leagues for an extra couple of weeks could delay his path to free agency until the 2028-29 offseason.
Given those service time considerations, it seemed unlikely the rebuilding Orioles would break camp with Rutschman even were he healthy. Yet the injury could provide them some cover against backlash that may have arisen from the fanbase for holding him down to start the year, akin to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Spring Training injury back in 2019. It’s hard to argue Rutschman isn’t ready for the big leagues on merit after he combined for a .285/.397/.502 line between Double-A and Triple-A last season.
The new collective bargaining agreement made some efforts to deter service time manipulation. Teams are eligible to receive extra draft choices for carrying players who later go to win major awards on their Opening Day rosters. The top two finishers in Rookie of the Year voting in each league will “earn” a full year of service time no matter how many days they spend on the active roster, so Rutschman could still play his way into a full season of service even if he doesn’t break camp. At present, Robinson Chirinos looks likely to open the year behind the plate for manager Brandon Hyde.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/16/22
Some minor league signings from what’s shaped up to be a very busy Wednesday…
- The Yankees announced their minor league signing of outfielder Ryan LaMarre, who has received an invitation to Spring Training. The 33-year-old LaMarre is no stranger to the Bronx, having spent last season in the Yankees organization. A strong 60-game showing (.826 OPS) in Triple-A led to a few big league call-ups, in which LaMarre hit two home runs and stole a base across just nine games. The speedy outfielder can cover all three outfield spots in a pinch and should serve as some nice depth behind New York’s top center field options in Aaron Hicks and the recently re-signed Tim Locastro.
- The Angels have signed infielder Kean Wong to a minor league deal with an invite to MLB Spring Training camp. Primarily a second baseman, Wong has also demonstrated the ability to handle third base and both outfield corners. Despite the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season, the 26-year-old showed no signs of rust in Triple-A last year. In 46 games the left-handed hitter slashed .339/.384/.476 with 10 steals (13 attempts). He didn’t show as much firepower in 66 big league at-bats last season with just a .427 OPS, but there may be time to build on those numbers with a Halos club that has recently found health and production elusive at second and third base.
Steinbrenner: Yankees Will Soon Open Extension Talks With Aaron Judge
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner spoke to various members of the media today and gave some updates regarding the team. Perhaps most notably, he said that the club plans to engage Aaron Judge and his representatives to talk about a contract extension soon. (Links from Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and Erik Boland of Newsday.) He says that he instructed general manager Brian Cashman to focus on immediate needs first due to the lockout creating a time crunch for roster building, but that the talks would begin before Opening Day on April 7th.
The slugging right fielder is entering his final year of team control. Since the 2021 season ended, Judge has frequently said that he is open to an extension that would keep him in the Bronx beyond this year. However, the star outfielder indicated yesterday he’s not interested in carrying on negotiations beyond Opening Day.
“If we’re able to talk and get something done in spring training before the season starts, that would be ideal, especially since this is an important year,” Judge told reporters (including Andy Martino of SNY). “We’ve got a lot of things to focus on during the course of the year, winning a division and winning a championship here in New York. I don’t want contract talks or extensions and all that talk to be a distraction throughout the year. So, if we’re able to agree to something here in the spring before we head up to New York, that’s wonderful and it would be an honor. If not, we’ll talk after the season.”
Needless to say, an extension for Judge won’t be cheap. In 572 games to this point in his career, he’s hit 158 home runs and has a slash line of .276/.386/.544, producing a wRC+ of 151 and 24.3 fWAR. The three-time All-Star is coming off one of the best showings of his career. Judge tallied 633 plate appearances last season and hit .287/.373/.544 with 39 home runs. As he has throughout his time in the big leagues, he posted top-of-the-scale exit velocities and rated as a capable defender in right field.
Judge certainly won’t feel any financial pressure to take a below-market deal. Not only is he six months from free agency, he has already banked upwards of $13MM in arbitration earnings. More importantly, he’s in line to more than double that this upcoming season. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Judge for a hefty $17.1MM salary during his final trip through the arbitration process. He’s slated to hit the market next winter in advance of his age-31 campaign, where he could be one of the top players available if he doesn’t sign an extension in the coming weeks.
Orioles Re-Sign Chris Ellis To Minor League Deal
The Orioles announced that they have re-signed right-handed pitcher Chris Ellis to a minor league pact. It’s the team’s second minor league pitcher signing in three days, after signing right-handed pitcher Conner Greene to a deal on Monday.
The 29-year-old pitched part of last season with the Orioles after a mid-season claim out of the Rays’ DFA purgatory. Ellis started six games down the stretch for a rebuilding Baltimore team, posting a cool 2.49 ERA in 25 plus innings.
As the minor league deal indicates, there was trepidation around the league that Ellis was a pitcher who could be counted on to repeat last season’s performance with the Orioles. After all, the right-hander pitched to a 6.32 ERA at the Triple-A level with the Rays in 2021, a mark that’s only slightly higher than his career 6.09 ERA through 314 plus innings at the level.
A starter with consistently below average strikeout and groundball rates is unlikely to offer much upside moving forward, but if nothing else Ellis can serve as a source of bulk innings for a team with a shaky pitching core. A fastball with above average spin, plus a track record that includes looks from six different organizations suggests though that there may be more talent for Baltimore to tap into yet.
