Feb. 6: The Reds and free-agent righty Jeff Manship are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). He’ll be in camp as a non-roster invitee and compete for a roster spot.
Manship, 33, spent the 2017 season in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he posted a 3.67 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 112 2/3 innings for the NC Dinos. Manship worked as a starter in the KBO, taking the mound on 21 occasions, but his most recent MLB work (and the only real MLB success he’s ever experienced) has come out of the bullpen.
Through his first six MLB campaigns, Manship totaled a 6.46 ERA through 139 1/3 innings with the Twins, Rockies and Phillies. However, his career looked to hit a turning point in 2016 when he landed with the Indians and pitched to a scintillating 0.92 ERA in 39 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. He followed that up with a 3.12 mark through 43 1/3 innings the following season, though after a downturn in control that season (4.6 BB/9), metrics like xFIP (4.81) and SIERA (4.53) weren’t nearly as optimistic. Cleveland non-tendered him that December.
In all likelihood, Manship will vie for a spot in the Cincinnati bullpen. The team’s rotation already consists of Anthony DeSclafani, Luis Castillo, Homer Bailey and Brandon Finnegan, and the Reds have plenty of candidates for the fifth and final spot. Tyler Mahle, Sal Romano, Cody Reed, Amir Garrett and Robert Stephenson are among the candidates to round out the starting five. The bullpen offers more opportunity, though the signings of veteran righties David Hernandez and Jared Hughes have already filled two potential vacancies.
]]>“From what I had heard, a couple of the teams were only interested in minor league deals with spring training invites, and then a couple others were interested on a major league deal, it’s just nothing had happened yet,” said Manship, whom the Indians non-tendered last month.
Manship will make more in Korea than he did from 2009-16 in the majors, Lindbergh writes in a fascinating, highly recommended piece. As Lindbergh points out, Manship’s unappealing advanced statistics overshadowed the superb run prevention he displayed over the past couple seasons, thus leading to tepid MLB interest. In 2016, for instance, his FIP (5.11) was nearly two full runs worse than his ERA (3.12).
“I understand how they calculate [FIP], but sometimes I think at the end of the season … where people are still saying ‘Oh, well his ERA should have been this,’ but it wasn’t that, it was this …there are certain things that I kind of disagree with,” said Manship. “But at the same time, I do realize a lot of those advanced stats actually are great indicators.”
It also didn’t help Manship’s cause this offseason that he doesn’t throw particularly hard, but the Dinos are happy to welcome him. Team analyst Seonnam Lim and scout Steve Park had been eyeing Manship, 32, since his time as a Triple-A starter.
“When we first saw Jeff, we were not at a position where we could even discuss nor dream about scouting him, but Asian teams nowadays tend to pay much bigger money to foreign players, especially during this winter,” commented Lim.
Now for the latest on a couple of Manship’s former major league colleagues:
SATURDAY: NC Dinos of the KBO League have signed right-hander Jeff Manship, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net reported earlier this week that the two sides were in the process of working out a deal. Terms of the contract weren’t announced. Manship is represented by the Boras Corporation.
Manship posted a 3.12 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 51.1% grounder rate and 1.64 K/BB rate over 43 1/3 innings out of the Indians bullpen last year, plus 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the Tribe during their postseason run. This came on the heels of an eye-popping 2015 season in Cleveland when Manship posted a minuscule 0.92 ERA over 39 1/3 relief innings.
Despite his impressive work in an Indians uniform, the Tribe non-tendered Manship before his first stint through the arbitration process. (MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected Manship to earn $1.2MM.) Manship’s numbers over his first six seasons prior to his arrival in Cleveland were unimpressive, and advanced metrics indicated that he may have been fortunate to deliver the results that he did last year. ERA indicators — 5.11 FIP, 4.81 xFIP, 4.53 SIERA — were much higher than Manship’s actual 3.12 ERA, and his .266 BABIP and 80.5% strand rate counteracted quite a bit of hard contact allowed by the right-hander; only 22.1% of contact allowed by Manship last season was of the soft variety, as per Fangraphs.
You’d still imagine that a 2.07 ERA and 50.6% grounder rate over the last two seasons would catch the attention of at least one MLB team, though Manship will instead head to the notoriously hitter-friendly KBO. It’s quite possible that the crowded bullpen market led to Manship’s decision. MLBTR’s Free Agent Tracker lists over three dozen relievers and starter-turned-reliever arms still on the open market.
]]>Onto the agreements…
There are plenty more after the jump:
]]>Click here to read more about how the Super Two concept works. Note that, as the link shows, the originally projected service time cutoff moved down as things played out over the course of the season. That brought some notable names into early arbitration qualification — namely, Calhoun and Rendon — which could have a big impact on their earning power in potential extension scenarios.
It’s also important to bear in mind that several of the players listed above have already agreed to long-term extensions: Gyorko, Lagares, and Archer. Notably, the size of the guarantee provided by Archer’s contract is dependent upon his Super Two status. By reaching it (as had been expected), he keeps a $25.5MM overall guarantee. That total would have been reduced to $20MM otherwise.
That contract structure reflects the importance of reaching Super Two status. Doing so not only bumps a player’s salary a year early, but sets a higher floor for future paydays.
]]>This is the second time that Marcum has been put into DFA limbo by Cleveland this year. He accepted an outright assignment the last time around. A veteran of nine MLB seasons, Marcum had not thrown at the big league level since 2013.
The 33-year-old has worked to a 5.40 ERA this year with 7.7 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 over 35 innings. He’s been hurt by the long ball, permitting 2.3 long balls per nine on a 20% homer-to-flyball rate. But at least some indicators show promise: Marcum does carry a 4.22 xFIP and 3.97 SIERA.
]]>Manship signed a minor league deal with the Phillies last winter and earned a spot on their Opening Day roster. He went on to post a 6.65 ERA, 16 strikeouts and 14 walks over 23 innings out of the Philadelphia bullpen before being designated for assignment and then outrighted off their roster in July.
Over 139 1/3 career innings with the Phillies, Rockies and Twins, Manship has 6.46 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 1.55 K/BB rate. He is something of a reverse-splits pitcher, as right-handed batters have performed much better (.953 OPS) against Manship than left-handed batters (.753 OPS).
]]>Manship, 29, posted a 6.65 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 5.5 BB/9 and a 43.1 percent ground-ball rate in 23 innings for the Phillies this season. The former Twins and Rockies hurler has struggled throughout his big league career but owns a much more palatable 4.22 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 358 innings at the Triple-A level.
]]>Aaron Steen contributed to this post.
]]>Earlier Notes
Manship, 29 in January, was drafted by the Twins in the 14th round in 2006 out of Notre Dame, signing an over-slot deal as a Tommy John survivor. He tallied 85 2/3 innings with the Twins from 2009-12, posting a 6.20 ERA mostly as a reliever. Several years ago, Baseball America suggested Manship's "average stuff and fringy command" would limit him to middle relief.
For the Rockies in 2013, Manship posted a 7.04 ERA, 5.3 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 1.76 HR/9, and 45.4% groundball rate in 30 2/3 innings. He tallied another 104 frames in Triple-A.
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