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Byung-Ho Park Returns To KBO’s Nexen Heroes

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TODAY: Park says he does not “have any regrets” despite heading home with some “disappointment” after two years in affiliated ball, according to a report from Lee Hyeong-Seok and Kim Hyo-Kyung of Korea JoongAng Daily (h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net). The article seemingly suggests that Park will walk away from the remainder of his guaranteed money from the Twins, preferring to give up some earnings in order to make it back to the KBO, though it’s also still possible that the interested parties are hammering out the financial details.

YESTERDAY, 10:28pm: The details of Park’s return (such as his walking away from the remainder of his MLB contract) haven’t yet been finalized between the Heroes, the KBO and the Twins, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.  “It will be a while before it is all worked out,” a source with knowledge of the situation tells Berardino, though the Twins are expected to ultimately release Park.

10:02pm: Park will forfeit the remaining $6.5MM on his Twins contract in order to facilitate the move to KBO, as per a Naver Sports report (hat tip to Sung Min Kim of the River Ave Blues blog).

8:57pm: The Nexen Heroes of the KBO League have signed first baseman Byung-Ho Park to a one-year deal, Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News reports (Twitter links).  Park will earn $1.4MM (or 1.5 billion South Korean won) in the contract.

According to Yoo, the Twins accommodated Park’s request to release him from the remaining two years on his original four-year, $12MM contract with the club in order for Park to return to his home country.  Unless some type of arrangement was worked out between the Twins and the Heroes, Minnesota is on the hook for all of the remaining $6.5MM on Park’s MLB contract — $3MM in each of the 2018 and 2019 seasons, plus a $500K buyout of a $6.5MM club option for 2020.

The transaction officially ends a disappointing tenure for Park in Major League Baseball.  The Twins paid $12.85MM to win negotiating rights with Park in December 2015 and then guaranteed him another $12MM with that four-year deal.  The result was a .191/.275/.409 slash line with 12 homers over 244 plate appearances in 2016, as Park had trouble making contact (80 strikeouts) and also battled a wrist injury that eventually required surgery.  Minnesota outrighted him off their 40-man roster last February and Park never again reached the bigs, hitting .253/.308/.415 over 455 PA at the Triple-A level last season.

Park was reportedly still in the Twins’ plans for 2018, as he was even preparing to spend much of the offseason training at the team’s facilities.  Still, Park was signed before the Derek Falvey/Thad Levine regime took over in Minnesota, so it could be that the new front office just wanted to part ways with a player that no longer seemed to fit on the 25-man roster.  Joe Mauer is still entrenched at first base, and while the DH slot is currently slated to be filled by the uninspiring duo of Robbie Grossman and Kennys Vargas, the Twins are interested in Shohei Ohtani and are surely open to using the two-way star as a designated hitter when he isn’t on the mound.  Even if Ohtani can’t be signed, Miguel Sano may also be a candidate for more DH time as the slugger recovers from leg surgery.

Park now returns to the KBO League, where he posted superstar numbers over parts of nine seasons from 2005-15 (including four-plus years with Nexen Heroes).  Park hit .281/.387/.564 with 210 homers over 3271 PA in South Korea, an impressive enough showing to catch the eye of the Twins and other teams in the 2015-16 offseason when Park expressed interest in coming to North America.

Pirates Release Angel Sanchez To Sign With KBO’s SK Wyverns

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8:57pm: Sanchez has signed with Korea’s SK Wyverns, per a team announcement (h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, on Twitter). He’ll play for $1.1MM in 2018.

6:29pm: The Pirates have released right-hander Angel Sanchez, as reflected on the team’s transactions page (h/t MLB.com’s Adam Berry) and as first noted by Pirates Prospects. That leaves the team with two free 40-man spots after adding lefty Sam Moll via waiver claim earlier today.

Sanchez, who turns 28 tomorrow, made his MLB debut in 2017 with the Bucs, allowing a dozen earned runs on five home runs over 12 1/3 innings. On the other hand, he did record ten strikeouts against just one walk while exhibiting some swing-and-miss ability and a 96 mph heater. Through 55 1/3 frames at Triple-A, Sanchez worked to a 3.74 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.

Braves Make Further Front Office Changes

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DECEMBER 1: In a surprising turn of events, the Braves have announced that Tinnish has withdrawn from the organization. In statements, both he and Anthopoulos attributed the decision to family considerations. Tinnish will instead remain with the Blue Jays organization.

NOVEMBER 27: The shakeup in the Atlanta front office is continuing, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Braves have “parted ways” with assistant GM Adam Fisher and hired Andrew Tinnish away from the Blue Jays as their new vice president of amateur/international scouting (Twitter links). With Fisher’s departure, Perry Minasian will become Atlanta’s new assistant GM and vice president of baseball operations.

Fisher’s departure from the organization comes less than three months after he was hired away from the division-rival Mets by since-departed GM John Coppolella. It seems the primary motivation here was simply to allow Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos a chance to shape his staff. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets, Anthopoulos sought to surround himself with familiar faces.

Rather than being pushed into a less substantial role, Fisher will now be allowed to find a new opportunity elsewhere. Clearly, given the timing of his hiring by the Braves, Fisher couldn’t have played a role in the rampant violations that led to Coppolella’s lifetime ban from baseball or Hart’s seemingly forced resignation from the team. According to Rosenthal, the Braves are still the hook for another two years of Fisher’s contract, though that’ll be somewhat offset if he eventually latches on with a new club.

Minasian was himself hired at the same time as Fisher, taking a position as director of player personnel. But he was once an Anthopoulos lieutenant in Toronto, the same organization he left when he came to Atlanta. Minasian will end up with a promotion in rank while continuing the contract he agreed to just a few months back.

In hiring Tinnish, the Braves add will yet another executive with roots in Toronto that date back to Anthopoulos’s time at the helm of that front office. As Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca notes on Twitter, Tinnish had played a key role in the Jays’ international amateur efforts. Before that, his responsibilities were on the domestic side of the amateur market.

Orioles To Sign Josh Edgin

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The Orioles have struck a deal with southpaw Josh Edgin, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). It’s a minor-league contract, per the report.

Edgin, who’ll soon turn 31, had spent five seasons working out of the Mets’ bullpen. But he lost his 40-man roster spot late in the 2017 season and also underwent knee surgery at season’s end, so he’ll certainly come into camp with something to prove.

Though he produced 37 innings of 3.65 ERA pitching for New York, there was a reason Edgin was designated by a struggling Mets team. He had managed only 27 strikeouts against 18 walks, had allowed a .280/.374/.400 slash to opposing lefties, and was operating with about 1.5 mph less on his average fastball than he had before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2015.

Still, Edgin has had a fair bit of success in the past, particularly in a strong 2014 campaign in which he allowed just 1.32 earned runs per nine, carried 9.2 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9, and sported a 50.7% groundball rate through 27 1/3 innings over 47 appearances. And there’s some real opportunity in the Orioles’ pen. Baltimore’s top two southpaws at present are Richard Bleier and Donnie Hart. The club also recently added Ryan O’Rourke on a minors pact to join the competition in Spring Training.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/27/17

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Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Padres have signed right-hander Jonathan Aro to a minor league contract, per Aro’s agent, Gene Mato (Twitter link). The 27-year-old Aro, who was traded from the Red Sox to the Mariners as part of the Wade Miley/Carson Smith deal, has recorded excellent numbers at the Triple-A level but has yet to receive an extended look in the Majors. That Aro received a 50-game suspension earlier this season for a violation of MLB’s joint drug agreement didn’t help his case in that regard. Still, Aro owns a lifetime 2.96 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 130 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He’s a pronounced fly-ball pitcher, though that’s less of an issue at San Diego’s Petco Park than it would be in some settings.
  • Outfielder Brandon Barnes is joining the Indians on a minor league contract, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. The PSI Sports Management client hit .276/.331/.420 with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate last season but didn’t appear in the Majors — his first season without big league action since splitting the 2011 season between Double-A and Triple-A. The 31-year-old Barnes has drawn considerably above-average reviews for his work in the outfield, per Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating, but he’s a career .242/.289/.356 hitter. Barnes can play all three outfield spots and could conceivably fill a role similar to the one Austin Jackson held in Cleveland last year, but although he’s a right-handed bat, he lacks Jackson’s track record against left-handed pitching.
  • The Giants announced that infielder/outfielder Orlando Calixte has been outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento after clearing waivers. The 25-year-old batted .143/.185/.163 in 55 MLB plate appearances in San Francisco and hit .243/.283/.421 in 401 Triple-A plate appearances last season. Calixte has seen brief action with the Giants and Royals over the past two seasons and is a career .247/.300/.382 hitter in parts of eight minor league seasons. He was designated for assignment last week when San Francisco was setting its roster prior to the Rule 5 Draft.

Giancarlo Stanton Trade Rumors: Monday

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The Giancarlo Stanton trade saga has been one of the top storylines of the offseason, and there’s no end in sight at the time being. To date, the Cardinals and Giants have reportedly submitted formal offers, while the Dodgers and Red Sox have also been linked to the slugger.

We’ll track today’s developments on the Stanton front right here:

  • ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that other clubs have gotten the sense that there’ll be resolution on the Stanton talks one way or another by the time the Winter Meetings kick off on Dec. 10 (all Twitter links). That is to say, the Marlins will either have traded him by that point or interested parties will have exhausted their patience and begun to explore other possibilities on the trade and free-agent markets. Crasnick also notes that while the Cardinals and Giants are the most-cited suitors, there are other clubs that are in active pursuit of Stanton.

Earlier Updates

  • Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports that Stanton has given the Marlins a list of teams to which he’d accept a trade, and the Dodgers are among those teams (all links to Twitter). Per Morosi, the Dodgers and Marlins have discussed some Stanton trade scenarios, but the Giants and Cardinals have shown more focused interest in Stanton. Some teams interested in Stanton feel the Dodgers are his top choice, which could slow negotiations as Stanton could veto any deal until knowing for certain that the Dodgers don’t plan on making a move for him. At this point, however, Stanton has not rejected any trades, according to Morosi.

Rays Claim Micah Johnson From Giants

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The Rays announced on Monday that they’ve claimed infielder Micah Johnson off outright waivers from the Giants. San Francisco had designated Johnson for assignment last week prior to setting the 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.

Once considered the second baseman of the future for the White Sox, Johnson went from Chicago to the Dodgers by way of the three-team trade that sent Todd Frazier to the Reds to the ChiSox. Johnson spent the 2016 season in the Dodgers’ organization but was flipped to Atlanta last January. He enjoyed a solid run with Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate, hitting .289/.377/.400 in a small sample of 155 plate appearances but also missed a significant portion of the year due to a fractured left wrist.

Thus far in the offseason alone, Johnson has gone from the Braves, to the Reds, to the Giants, to the Rays — all via claims off of outright waivers.

Rangers Claim Juan Centeno From Astros

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The Rangers announced that they’ve claimed catcher Juan Centeno off waivers from the Astros. Centeno was placed on outright waivers last week.

The 28-year-old Centeno spent some time as a backup catcher with Houston this past season and logged more significant time with the Twins a year prior. Overall, he’s batted .254/.306/.382 with five homers, 12 doubles and a triple in his past 249 big league plate appearances. Centeno has struggled to throw out runners in his career (just 13 percent in the Majors) and has graded out as a poor pitch-framer, per Baseball Prospectus.

That said, the Rangers have a thin catching corps at the moment, with Robinson Chirinos and Brett Nicholas representing the only two catchers on the 40-man roster with big league experience. Well-regarded youngster Jose Trevino was added to the 40-man roster last week as well. Centeno is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to either break camp with the club as the primary backup to Chirinos or once again be exposed to waivers if the Rangers hope to keep him in the organization.

Brewers Claim Dylan Baker From Indians

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The Brewers announced that they’ve claimed righty Dylan Baker off waivers from the Indians. Baker was designated for assignment last week as part of Cleveland’s slew of moves in advance of the deadline to set 40-man rosters in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.

The 25-year-old Baker hasn’t pitched much since the 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery and other injuries. The 2012 fifth-rounder has tossed just 21 1/3 innings across three levels in the past three minor league seasons combined, though he’s posted a 3.58 ERA in 241 2/3 innings in his minor league career when healthy. With Baker’s addition, the Brewers now have a full 40-man roster.

Reds Claim Kyle Crockett From Indians

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The Reds announced on Monday that they’ve claimed left-handed reliever Kyle Crockett off waivers from the Indians. Crockett, 25, was designated for assignment in Cleveland last week as the team set its 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.

Crockett was a fourth-round pick back in 2013 and was the first player from that draft class to reach the Majors, debuting in 2014. While he turned in a promising 1.80 ERA with 8.4 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 30 innings that season, he’s struggled to a 4.84 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 35 1/3 big league innings since then. To his credit, Crockett has allowed just a minuscule three homers in 65 1/3 MLB innings and has held lefties to a .614 OPS in 167 plate appearances. Righties have knocked him around at a .280/.373/.452 clip, though.

The addition of Crockett fills Cincinnati’s 40-man roster.

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