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Garrett Cooper

Orioles, Garrett Cooper Agree To Minor League Deal

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June 25: The Orioles have now announced the signing.

June 24: The Orioles are bringing in first baseman Garrett Cooper on a minor league contract, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). The Ballengee Group client presumably head to Triple-A Norfolk as he awaits his next MLB opportunity.

Cooper is on his third organization of the 2024 season. The righty-hitting first baseman signed a minor league deal with the Cubs and broke camp. While he turned in an impressive .270/.341/.432 batting line with Chicago, the front office was alarmed by his 13 strikeouts in 41 plate appearances. The Cubs designated Cooper for assignment and dealt him to the Red Sox in a cash trade.

The regression that the Cubs anticipated indeed came to pass in Boston. Cooper hit only .171/.227/.229 in 75 trips to the plate. Boston DFA him and released him a couple weeks ago. The former All-Star has lingered on the free agent market since then. The Yankees reportedly showed some interest after losing Anthony Rizzo to injury. New York opted for a different righty-hitting corner infielder/designated hitter, acquiring J.D. Davis from the A’s yesterday.

Baltimore doesn’t present the cleanest path back to the big leagues for Cooper. The O’s have arguably the deepest lineup in the majors. Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle respectively have first base and designated hitter secured. Baltimore has Anthony Santander and Colton Cowser as their main corner outfield tandem, while Austin Hays and Heston Kjerstad are also in the mix. It might take an injury for Cooper to get a look at Camden Yards.

At the very least, the minor league deal gives him an opportunity to try to find his rhythm against Triple-A pitching. Cooper has struggled offensively over the past year and a half, largely because of an uptick in his strikeouts. He’s a .242/.297/.395 hitter since the start of the 2023 campaign. Between 2019-22, Cooper was an effective middle-of-the-lineup presence for the Marlins. He hit .274/.350/.444 over that stretch.

Yankees Interested In Garrett Cooper

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The Yankees are showing interest in free agent Garrett Cooper, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. He hit the open market a week ago after being released by the Red Sox.

Cooper is looking for his third team of the 2024 campaign. He cracked the Cubs’ season-opening roster after signing a minor league contract. Cooper had a solid .270/.341/.432 showing across 12 games for Chicago, yet the Cubs designated him for assignment in April. The front office was evidently alarmed that he had struck out 13 times over his first 41 plate appearances. That skepticism seems to have been warranted, as Cooper struggled upon being dealt to the Red Sox in a cash trade.

Over 24 games with Boston, the righty-hitting first baseman slumped to a .171/.227/.229 batting line. He fanned 22 times while drawing only three walks in 75 trips to the plate. Boston elected to stick with Dominic Smith over Cooper once they welcomed Masataka Yoshida back from the injured list.

Whiffs have been an escalating problem for Cooper, who has struck out in 29.1% of his plate appearances since the start of last season. He owns a .242/.297/.395 line in 573 plate appearances across four teams over that stretch. Cooper had been a productive middle-of-the-order bat for the Marlins before that. Between 2019-22, he hit .274/.350/.444 and earned a nod to the ’22 All-Star Game.

Cooper is a former Yankee. New York acquired him from the Brewers back in 2017 when he was still in Triple-A. The Yankees called him up for 13 games late in the year before trading him the following offseason. They sent Cooper and Caleb Smith to the Fish for then-prospect Michael King — a move that worked out fairly well for both teams but eventually turned more clearly in New York’s favor.

The Yanks lost Anthony Rizzo for at least two months when he broke his arm in a collision at first base over the weekend. They called up Ben Rice in the wake of Rizzo’s injury. The 25-year-old has played in his first three big league contests, collecting two singles and a pair of walks in 11 plate appearances. Cooper could theoretically pair with the lefty-swinging Rice in a platoon, though the Yankees already have DJ LeMahieu as a potential right-handed complement.

GM Brian Cashman and the front office could explore the trade market for help at either corner infield spot over the next five weeks. It’s not easy to land a significant upgrade this far from the deadline, though, particularly with all but five teams still harboring some level of playoff aspirations. Cooper and José Abreu are options for teams looking for a stopgap at first base, though it’s not clear whether either player will command a big league contract offer. J.D. Davis is currently in DFA limbo with the A’s and will be traded or placed on waivers this weekend.

Red Sox Release Garrett Cooper

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The Red Sox have released first baseman Garrett Cooper, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive on X. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He’s now free to sign with any club.

Cooper, now 33, has had some strong results in the past but this hasn’t been his year. He came into the campaign with a career batting line of .268/.337/.435, production that translates to a wRC+ of 110. But he slumped a bit in 2023, as his .251/.304/.419 slash was a bit below his previous work and led to a subpar 96 wRC+.

It was an unfortunate time for a dip, as he was entering free agency for the first time and had to settle for a minor league deal with the Cubs. He cracked that club’s Opening Day roster and hit a solid .270/.341/.432, but with a .391 batting average on balls in play. Since he was striking out 31.7% of the time, it seems the Cubs figured his batted ball luck wouldn’t continue and they decided to quit while they were ahead, designating him for assignment.

The Red Sox were playing without first baseman Triston Casas and decided to take a chance on Cooper, sending cash to the Cubs to bring him aboard. Then designated hitter Masataka Yoshida also got hurt, prompting the Sox to add Dominic Smith as well.

But Cooper’s luck faded after joining Boston, as he had a .250 BABIP and a line of .171/.227/.229. Smith hasn’t been amazing but his .222/.333/.324 line is obviously far less bleak than what Cooper managed to produce. Cooper has played the outfield corners a little bit in his career but is mostly a first baseman. He’s considered a decent glove at first but obviously needs to hit more than that.

Cooper has now been set free by the Sox and can look for his next opportunity. The results have clearly been poor this year but he’s sure to be able to find a minor league deal somewhere based on his previous track record. It’s been a rough day for struggling first base/designated hitter types. In addition to Cooper, the Astros released José Abreu, the Rays released Harold Ramírez and the Blue Jays designated Daniel Vogelbach for assignment.

Red Sox Designate Garrett Cooper For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced that outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida has been reinstated from the injured list, with first baseman Garrett Cooper designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Chris Cotillo of MassLive was among those to relay the moves on X.

The Sox have been scrambling to fill their first base and designated hitter mix since late April, as both Yoshida and Triston Casas landed on the injured list around the same time. They acquired Cooper from the Cubs in a cash deal and also signed Dominic Smith.

Neither Smith nor Cooper have played especially well, but Cooper’s results were far worse. Smith has two home runs and has drawn a walk in 11.7% of his plate appearances, leading to a .221/.325/.327 batting line and 88 wRC+.

Cooper, meanwhile, was hitting .270/.341/.432 for the Cubs before the deal but produced a bleak line of .171/.227/.229 since coming to Boston. Now that Yoshida is back, Smith gets to stay while Cooper has understandably been nudged off the roster by that poor performance.

The Sox will now have a week to trade Cooper or pass him through waivers. Given his poor results, the interest is likely to be tepid. He’s played a bit of corner outfield but is primarily a first baseman, where the offensive expectations are generally higher than up-the-middle spots.

Cooper at least has some decent results in his past that could help him generate interest. He hit .274/.350/.444 for the Marlins over the 2019 to 2022 seasons, with that performance translating to a 117 wRC+. Staying in the lineup was an issue, as various injuries limited him to 331 games over that span of three full seasons and the shortened 2020 campaign.

He then slumped a bit in 2023, despite a career high 17 home runs, as he struck out in 28.9% of his plate appearances and slashed .251/.304/.419 for a 96 wRC+. He had to settle for a minor league deal with the Cubs and got onto their major league roster. As mentioned, he performed pretty well, but in a small sample of 12 games. Though his decent batting line with the Cubs was buoyed by a .391 batting average on balls in play and also masked a 31.7% strikeout rate. The Cubs decided to move on in a move that was somewhat surprising at the time but seems wise in retrospect, given how far Cooper’s results have fallen in the interim.

Dominic Smith Opts Out Of Rays Deal, Will Sign With Red Sox

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11:54am: Smith is indeed set to join the Red Sox’ big league roster, per the Globe’s Julian McWilliams. The Sox will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to make his signing official.

11:32am: The Rays granted first baseman Dominic Smith his release after he triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. A big league opportunity with another club arose for Smith, per Topkin. Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe further reports that the Red Sox “look like the next destination” for Smith after he opted out of that deal with Tampa Bay. He’ll be the second addition to the big league roster for the Sox, who acquired infielder Zack Short from the Mets in exchange for cash less than one hour ago.

Boston recently lost first baseman Triston Casas to a rib fracture that’s expected to sideline him for a considerable period of time. The Sox acquired veteran Garrett Cooper in the aftermath of that injury, but he took a 95 mph fastball off his wrist/forearm last night and exited the game. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Cooper is thankfully only bruised and does not have any fractures following that incident. Smith will give Boston some additional depth and a potential platoon partner for the righty-swinging Cooper.

Through 29 games and 81 plate appearances with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham, Smith had posted a .263/.337/.375 batting line with a pair of homers and three doubles. He’s fanned in an uncharacteristic 29.2% of his plate appearances, but strikeouts typically haven’t been a glaring concern for the veteran, who’s fanned in 21.7% of his nearly 2000 MLB plate appearances.

Smith, 28, was a first-round pick, longtime top prospect and (more briefly) a quality run producer for the Mets prior to being non-tendered in the 2022-23 offseason. From 2019-20, Smith treated the Mets to a stellar .299/.366/.571 batting line in 396 trips to the plate. He swatted 21 homers and connected on 31 doubles in that time before stumbling to a .643 OPS over his next two seasons and being cut loose. He signed with the Nationals in the 2022-23 offseason but posted a middling .254/.326/.366 batting line with a dozen homers in his lone year in the nation’s capitol.

Red Sox Designate Pablo Reyes For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced Monday morning that they’ve designated infielder Pablo Reyes for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to newly acquired first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper, whom the Sox added in a cash deal with the Cubs over the weekend.

Reyes has been with the Sox dating back to last season but is out to a brutal start at the plate, hitting just .183/.234/.217 with a 29.7% strikeout rate in his first 64 plate appearances. It’s a far cry from the .287/.339/.377 slash he posted through 185 trips to the plate with the ’23 Sox, when he punched out in only 11.4% of his turns at the plate. Reyes’ 19 strikeouts on the season are already just two fewer than the 21 he posted in nearly three times as much action last year.

The 30-year-old Reyes has appeared in parts of six big league seasons but never topped last year’s 185 plate appearances. He’s a lifetime .248/.309/.349 hitter in 572 plate appearances between the Pirates, Brewers and Sox. He’s played every position on the diamond with the exception of catcher, including a four-inning cameo on the mound. Reyes has drawn solid ratings at third base, in particular, though his versatility has in a way prevented him from picking up a meaningful sample at any single position; his 289 career frames at the hot corner are the most he’s tallied at any one spot.

Reyes is out of minor league options, so the Sox didn’t have the ability to simply send him down to Triple-A Worcester without first exposing him to waivers. They’ll have a week to trade Reyes, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. He’s previously been outrighted in his career (twice, in fact), which gives him the right to reject a minor league assignment in the event that he does clear waivers.

Red Sox Acquire Garrett Cooper

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5:24pm: The deal is now official, as noted by Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. The Red Sox transferred Casas to the 60-day injured list to make room for Cooper on the 40-man roster.

2:39pm: The Red Sox have acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper, the Miami Herald’s Craig Mish writes (via X).  MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported (X link) earlier this afternoon that the Sox were “closing in on” a deal for Cooper’s services, and Cotillo and Sean McAdam report that the Cubs will receive cash considerations in return.

Chicago designated Cooper for assignment earlier this week, and today’s trade officially ends Cooper’s time in Wrigleyville after 12 games and 41 plate appearances.  Cooper signed a minor league deal with the Cubs during the offseason and made the Opening Day roster, then hit a respectable .270/.341/.432 with one home run over those 41 PA.

The Cubs intended to use Cooper as a veteran complement to Michael Busch at first base, but Busch has hit so well that the Cubs simply couldn’t take him out of the lineup, limiting Cooper’s playing time to mostly DH and pinch-hitting work.  Cooper was also DFA’ed so Chicago could add Matt Mervis to the active roster, as Mervis was on such a heater at Triple-A that the Cubs wanted to give him more of a look in their lineup, leaving Cooper as even more of an odd man out.

While Cooper’s avenues to playing time were closed off in Chicago, the Red Sox had an unwelcome vacancy created at first base when Triston Casas went on the 15-day IL.  Casas’ recovery timeline is still very fluid, as Casas stated that estimates have ranged from anywhere from 3-9 weeks.  Boston had interest in Cooper back in January when he was still a free agent, and the Sox have now finally landed their man perhaps a few months later than expected.

Over eight MLB seasons, Cooper has hit .268/.337/.435 over 1854 career plate appearances, with 57 home runs.  Translating to a 111 wRC+, Cooper tended to fly under the radar as a member of a rebuilding Marlins team for much of his career, and his playing time was further limited by injuries.  He even made the All-Star team in 2022, though Cooper’s production dipped to a modest .251/.304/.419 over 457 combined PA with Miami and San Diego in 2023.

Cooper made a pair of appearances in left field for the Cubs this season, marking his first bit of outfield work since 2021.  While not exactly a versatile player, Cooper can at least chip in as an outfielder in a pinch, extending his value to the Red Sox even after Casas eventually returns.  With Cooper now on the roster, Bobby Dalbec (acting as the interim first baseman) is probably getting sent back to Triple-A, as Dalbec has struggled badly at the the plate this season.

Cubs Place Kyle Hendricks, Drew Smyly On Injured List

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The Cubs announced a series of roster moves, with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic among those to relay the full slate. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks and left-hander Drew Smyly have each been placed on the 15-day injured list, Hendricks due to a lower back issue and Smyly due to a hip impingement. Right-hander Hayden Wesneski and left-hander Luke Little were recalled in corresponding moves. The club also designated Garrett Cooper for assignment and recalled Matt Mervis, as swap that was reported on earlier.

Hendricks, 34, has been out to an awful start this year. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a look at the righty’s struggles, before Hendricks made his most recent start. As of right now, Hendricks has logged 21 innings this year over five starts. He has allowed 28 earned runs in that time, leading to an eye-popping earned run average of 12.00.

He’s never been a huge strikeout guy but his 15.1% rate this year is lower than any season since his 2014 debut. It’s possible there’s some bad luck at play, with Hendricks having allowed a .392 batting average on balls in play. He’s also stranding only 50.3% of runners while a third of his fly balls have gone over the fence. His 7.75 FIP and 4.44 SIERA each suggest that he has deserved better, though to very different degrees. That’s due to FIP counting home runs as the pitcher’s fault whereas SIERA gives more weight to batted ball data as opposed to actual results.

Hendricks is likely due for at least some normalization of his extreme results to this point in the season, but there will have to be a waiting period of at least a few weeks before the details of that correction are revealed. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Hendricks felt his back bothering him before his start on Sunday and continued to feel it during the outing. The severity of the issue isn’t clear but he’ll have to miss at least a couple of weeks.

The Cubs will now have to figure out who joins the rotation alongside Shota Imanaga, Jordan Wicks, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad. Tonight marks the start of a stretch where they play 16 games in a row before their next off-day. Smyly has plenty of starting experience and could have been a candidate for such a job, but he’s now on the IL himself.

Wesneski has been working in a swing role for the club in recent years and could perhaps make a few starts. Ben Brown has been pitching multi-inning stints this year and would be another option. Veteran Julio Teheran was signed to a minor league deal last week and gives them a non-roster option. Due to Cooper being designated for assignment, there’s now an opening on the 40-man roster.

Report: Cubs To Designate Garrett Cooper For Assignment

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The Cubs are going to designate first baseman Garrett Cooper for assignment, per Robert Murray of FanSided. It appears he will be the corresponding move for Matt Mervis, as Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reports that Mervis is being called up.

The transaction comes as a surprise, since Cooper has generally been playing well. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason and made the Opening Day roster. Since then, he’s hit .270/.341/.432 for a wRC+ of 118.

Despite that strong surface-level production, there are also some concerning elements under the hood. Cooper has struck out at a 31.7% clip so far this year, a few ticks above his career rate, which was already a bit above average. He also has an unsustainable .391 batting average on balls in play, well above the .290 league average.

Beyond Cooper’s performance, it seems that Mervis may have just forced the club into making a move. He had huge amounts of helium in 2022, despite landing with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent. The pandemic led to the 2020 draft being shortened to just five rounds and Mervis wasn’t selected, leading to him signing with the Cubs afterwards.

Despite being somewhat overlooked at that time, he shot onto everyone’s radar in 2022, going from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .309/.379/.605 that year. That led to his first taste of the majors last season, though he hit just .167/.242/.289 in his first 99 big league plate appearances. He still hit well in Triple-A last year and is off to a strong start here in 2024. He has five home runs in 82 plate appearances this year and is drawing walks at a 14.6% clip, leading to a line of .288/.402/.606 and a 151 wRC+.

Perhaps the club couldn’t ignore that performance any longer, but handedness may have also played a role. The Cubs as a team are hitting .284/.361/.506 against lefties for a 140 wRC+, second only to the Guardians. But against righties, their collective batting line is .236/.317/.381, which leads to a 97 wRC+ that’s 17th in the league.

Cooper hits from the right side and has been better against lefties in his career, but only modestly. He’s hit .285/.337/.475 against southpaws and .263/.337/.420 otherwise, leading to respective wRC+ counts of 119 and 108. Swapping in Mervis could perhaps give them a bump against right-handed pitchers since he hits from the left side.

The Cubs could have perhaps bumped someone else off the roster in favor of Mervis, such as Patrick Wisdom or Nick Madrigal, but those two offer a bit more defensively. Cooper is only really viable at first base, since his brief time in the outfield corners has yielded poor results. Madrigal and Wisdom can each play third while the latter has some outfield ability as well.

There will now be a week for the Cubs to line up a trade for Cooper or pass him through waivers. It seems fair to expect that there will be interest, based both on his performance so far this year and his track record. He hit .274/.350/.444 for the Marlins from 2019 to 2022, leading to a wRC+ of 117 in that stretch. He struggled to stay healthy in that time and then slumped last year, but he seems to be in good form so far this season.

The Red Sox are going to be without their primary first baseman for a while, as Triston Casas has been diagnosed with a fractured rib. The Astros are getting dismal production from José Abreu thus far. The same goes for the White Sox and Andrew Vaughn, the Twins and Carlos Santana and others. Given all of those different situations, the Cubs will likely be fielding calls about Cooper in the coming days.

Cubs To Select Garrett Cooper

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First baseman Garrett Cooper has made the Opening Day roster with the Cubs, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (X link). He’s not on the 40-man roster, so Chicago will need to select his contract in the next few days.

Cooper somewhat surprisingly settled for a minor league deal after camp had begun. He was among 31 players who had the automatic ability to opt out of that contract today. Article XX(B) free agents — typically those with over six years of major league service who finish the previous season on an MLB roster — who sign a minor league deal over the offseason have the ability to opt out five days before Opening Day.

Whether Cooper did so or the Cubs expected he would is immaterial. In either case, he’ll get back to the majors as a righty-hitting complement to Michael Busch at first base and designated hitter. Cooper had a limited ramp-up period in Spring Training. He only appeared in 10 games but hit a pair of homers and a double over 30 trips to the plate. The 33-year-old has a .231/.333/.500 batting line in exhibition play.

Cooper spent the majority of his career with the Marlins. He was a quietly effective hitter when healthy, running a .269/.338/.436 slash for the Fish. That production dipped last season, as he was sitting on a .256/.296/.426 line in 82 games before Miami traded him to the Padres. Cooper’s finish in San Diego (.239/.323/.402) wasn’t much better and he hit the open market coming off his worst offensive season since he established himself as a major leaguer in 2019.

Calling Cooper up makes it seem unlikely that Chicago will have room for Dominic Smith. The lefty-swinging Smith opted out of his own minor league pact this afternoon. The Cubs have until Sunday to decide whether to add him to the MLB roster, but it’d be a surprise if they carried both players.

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