Kendall Graveman

Cubs To Decline Options On Phelps, Morrow, Graveman, Barnette

By Steve Adams | November 4, 2019 at 12:31pm CDT

The Cubs will decline their 2020 club options on right-handers David Phelps ($5MM), Brandon Morrow ($12MM), Kendall Graveman ($3MM) and Tony Barnette ($3MM), per ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers.

As we explained back in September, Phelps’ club option rose from $1MM to $5MM after he hit several escalators. Graveman, meanwhile, will become a free agent with today’s move despite the fact that he doesn’t yet have six years of Major League service time. MLBTR reported last month that the right-hander’s contract contained a clause stipulating that he be released should his 2020 option not be picked up. Phelps’ option didn’t come with a buyout, and it doesn’t appear that the $3MM options for Barnette or Graveman did either. Morrow will be paid a $3MM buyout.

Phelps, 33, posted a solid 3.18 ERA in 17 innings with the Cubs and a similarly sharp 3.41 earned run average in 34 1/3 innings on the season as a whole (between Toronto and Chicago). However, while Phelps punched out 36 hitters in those 34 1/3 frames, he also issued 17 walks — including 10 in his 17 frames as a Cub. He also posted just a 7.8 percent swinging-strike rate on the season (9.9 percent as a Cub) and 26.8 percent opponents’ chase rate (29.7 percent as a Cub) — all of which check in south of the league average and suggest that Phelps may have had a tough time replicating those strikeout numbers. On the plus side for the veteran righty, he proved himself healthy after missing 2018 due to Tommy John surgery, so he could be in line for another big league deal this winter.

Morrow, on the other hand, didn’t prove himself to be healthy at all. The right-hander was the “buzz” free agent of the 2017-18 offseason on the heels of a dominant rebound in the Dodgers’ bullpen, but he ultimately threw just 30 2/3 innings after signing a two-year, $21MM contract that winter. Back, biceps and elbow injuries all contributed to the truncated nature of Morrow’s time on the mound as the Cubs’ closer.

Like Morrow, Graveman didn’t pitch for the Cubs in 2020. He, in fact, never stepped foot on the mound as a Cub. The right-hander inked a one-year, $575K pact after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2018 and being non-tendered by the Athletics. Chicago picked him up and helped him to rehab in 2019, with an eye toward utilizing him as an affordable starter or swingman in 2020. Whether the organization didn’t feel Graveman had progressed enough or simply didn’t wish to allocate $3MM to such a wild card isn’t clear, but he’ll head to the open market in better health than he exhibited last time around — and he’ll do so with four-plus total years of service time. In other words, any new teams that signs Graveman to a one-year deal could control him not only for 2020 but also 2021.

Barnette, meanwhile, tossed just 1 1/3 innings as a Cub after signing a $750K contract in Spring Training. He spent some time pitching with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate as well but was eventually placed on the restricted list for personal reasons as he sought to “reevaluate” his situation with his family while taking some time away from the game.

Cubs Face Decision On Kendall Graveman

By Jeff Todd | October 9, 2019 at 11:40am CDT

It was easy to forget since he did not pitch in 2019, but the Cubs inked righty Kendall Graveman to a fairly unique contract last winter. Now, the team will soon face a decision on his future with the organization.

Graveman’s deal promised him $575K for 2019 and included a $3MM club option (sans buyout) for the season to come. The team will soon have to decide whether to exercise that option. While he’s still within the limits of arbitration eligibility, Graveman can’t be kept by that method. MLBTR has learned that his contract includes a provision requiring the club to release him if it does not pick up the option.

The whole reasoning behind the Cubs’ signing of Graveman was to open this possibility. Indications are that his work this year was relatively promising. The 28-year-old former Jays and A’s hurler was never expected to make it back to the majors this year while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. But he was able to ramp up to the point that he made two minor-league rehab starts, totaling six innings of action. And he performed all of his efforts under the watchful gaze of the Cubs organization, giving them a close look at the progress and (nearly) end results.

In weighing the decision, the Cubs will no doubt be closely considering how best to construct a cost-efficient 2020 rotation. There are several other soon-to-be free-agent candidates for buy-low/bounceback contracts. But those might end up being more expensive. And the players in question haven’t been under a Cubs microscope all year long.

There are some other factors to consider here as well. Graveman’s 2020 contract would include a $2.5MM incentive package. The Cubs would likely gladly pay that if he’s healthy and effective enough to earn it. Plus, the team would still be able to control him via arbitration for the 2021 campaign if all goes well, effectively creating another option year.

It’s arguable that the Cubs would be in decent shape in the rotation if they hang onto Graveman, even without further action beyond some depth moves. A resurgent Yu Darvish would front the staff along with Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana, with veteran lefty Jon Lester trying to finish out his contract with a bang. Graveman would be looking to get his career back on an upward trajectory. He had been a sturdy rotation piece for the A’s from 2015-17, turning in 407 frames of 4.11 ERA ball, before running into elbow troubles. There are also some younger options in the Cubs system, not that any appear to be sure things at this point.

Of course, that isn’t exactly an imposing staff to carry into a season in which your team is trying to break a two-year string of disappointment. The Cubbies might well prefer to chase a different arm. Even then, picking up Graveman’s option might be worthwhile. The club could still utilize him as a swingman or even put together a trade to another team that would love to take a shot at him for that rate.

NL Central Notes: Goldschmidt, Graveman, Reds, Santana

By Steve Adams | December 27, 2018 at 11:50am CDT

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cardinals believe they have a sense of what it would take to extend recently acquired first baseman Paul Goldschmidt as well as the ability to make a “strong, market-right offer” to the slugger. A five-year extension offer from the team “would look something like five-years, $150 million,” per Goold, who suggests that it’s possible that the Cards could tweak an offer to technically be for six years and subsequently include a bump in Goldschmidt’s 2019 salary. All of that, of course, depends on how comfortable Goldschmidt is in betting on himself, how strongly he wants to test free agency and how he takes to his new environs in St. Louis. And, it should also be emphasized, it does not appear that any formal offer has been made at this point. The suggested terms would align closely with the $151MM extension signed by Jose Altuve in Houston last offseason, although Altuve’s new contract begins in his age-30 season, while any deal extending St. Louis’ control of the already 31-year-old Goldschmidt would begin in his age-32 campaign.

Cubs Sign Kendall Graveman

By TC Zencka | December 23, 2018 at 3:40pm CDT

TUESDAY: Per Heyman, Graveman will earn an additional $100K for each of the following performance milestones: 15 games started, 18 GS, 21 GS, 23 GS, and 25 GS. The incentives package means that Graveman can earn up to $2.5MM in 2019.

SUNDAY: Chicago has announced the signing.

SATURDAY: The Cubs have agreed to a deal with free agent pitcher Kendall Graveman, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers (via Twitter).

Graveman gets a major league contract worth $575K for 2019 with a $3MM club option for 2020. That option year does not include a buyout. Even one day on the 2019 roster, however, will trigger an escalator clause to bring Graveman’s salary to $2MM, and he can earn an additional $500k in performance bonuses.

Graveman, 28, had been relatively productive the last four seasons for the Oakland A’s when not dogged by injury. His high water mark came in 2016, working to a 10-11 record in 186 innings over 31 starts with a 4.11 ERA (4.39 FIP). For his career, Graveman carries a 23-29 record and 4.38 ERA across 78 career starts.

The A’s say goodbye to another piece from the Josh Donaldson trade of 2014. Infielder Franklin Barreto is now the only player remaining from the trade that sent Oakland’s star third baseman to Toronto the year before he would win the MVP award with the Blue Jays. Graveman spent four seasons in Oakland, the last of which was mostly lost to injury. He made only seven starts in 2018 with a 7.60 ERA before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

For the Cubs, they get to closely monitor the recovery of a potential rotation arm in 2020 at a very low cost. From their presumed 2019 rotation, only Hamels will be a free agent after next season, but Kyle Hendricks will be entering his final year of arbitration, and Jose Quintana will be facing the first of consecutive club options. There’s almost no downside for the Cubs here, while Graveman gets to benefit from the medical resources of the a large market team as he rehabs from Tommy John.

The timetable for his 2019 return is as of yet unclear, but it’s not expected he will play much of a role, if any, on the Cubs next year, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times (via Twitter).The Cubs signed Drew Smyly in a similar situation before last season, only to flip him to the Rangers to help cover the cost of Cole Hamels’ club option this year. Garrett Richards, in a similar situation, signed for two years and $15.5MM guaranteed with the Padres, though he carries a longer track record of success than Graveman.

The financials of the deal were first reported by 670thescore.com’s Bruce Levine, while Fancred’s Jon Heyman noted earlier than Graveman received a major league deal (Twitter links). Heyman added the information about the escalator clause and performance bonus (via Twitter). Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Morosi’s Latest: Bumgarner, Realmuto, Padres, Yankees, Gray, Fiers, Graveman, Jays, Happ

By Mark Polishuk | December 9, 2018 at 9:17pm CDT

Madison Bumgarner has been an oft-mentioned trade candidate this offseason, and the Giants are reportedly open to at least discussing their longtime ace. As the Winter Meetings begin, however, MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi tweets that San Francisco isn’t close to a Bumgarner trade. It remains to be seen if the Giants will actually go ahead with dealing the southpaw, as the team seems to still be weighing its rebuild-or-reload options under new GM Farhan Zaidi. Morosi has previously mentioned the Phillies, Braves, and Brewers as three teams interested in Bumgarner if a trade were to develop, though his latest tweet adds the Yankees to that list as well. Bumgarner is only under contract through the 2019 season, and even though his numbers have been solid but less than ace-like over the last two years, he would still provide a notable boost to any rotation.

Here’s more from Morosi’s Twitter feed…

The Padres have a “genuine interest” in acquiring J.T. Realmuto, while the Yankees aren’t in serious talks with the Marlins about the All-Star catcher. Yankees GM Brian Cashman was quick to deny rumors about his team’s interest in Realmuto last week, and New York already has Gary Sanchez behind the plate for the foreseeable future (though some rumors indicated that Sanchez would’ve gone back to Miami as part of a Realmuto swap). San Diego, meanwhile, has its own established catcher in defensive whiz Austin Hedges, plus one of the game’s top prospects in Francisco Mejia behind the plate. It’s fair to speculate if Mejia could potentially head back to the Marlins as part of a package for Realmuto, and the Padres certainly have the overall prospect depth that Miami is demanding for Realmuto’s services. Since Realmuto is controlled only through the 2020 season, his acquisition would indicate that the Padres and GM A.J. Preller are perhaps ready to end their rebuilding process and begin to compete by at least 2020, if not even next season.
Speaking of the Padres and Yankees, the two teams continue to discuss a potential Sonny Gray trade. Morosi noted on the continued talks between the two sides earlier this week, and rumors of the Padres’ interest in Gray date back to last month. Pitcher-friendly Petco Park would seemingly be an ideal place for Gray to rebound from his rough stint in the Bronx, especially since Gray’s drastic home/road splits from 2018 already indicated that his struggles were particularly contained to Yankee Stadium.
Mike Fiers and Kendall Graveman are two names on the Blue Jays’ list of pitching targets. With an inexperienced starting five projected for 2019, the Jays were known to be looking at rotation help this winter — particularly if, as Morosi notes, the team decides to trade Aaron Sanchez or Marcus Stroman as part of its rebuilding efforts. Fiers and Graveman were both recently non-tendered by the A’s, and fit Toronto’s need for short-term additions are a relatively low cost. Fiers was in this same position last winter, as he signed a one-year deal with the Tigers and turned in solid numbers both before and after a midseason trade to Oakland. Graveman would likely be pursued for a two-year deal with a low salary in the first year, as the right-hander is likely miss all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Graveman was originally drafted by the Jays in 2013 (when Alex Anthopoulos was GM) and traded to the A’s in November 2014 as part of the four-player package that brought Josh Donaldson to Toronto.
With Patrick Corbin and Nathan Eovaldi off the board, “J.A. Happ is viewed as the next key domino in the pitching marketplace,” Morosi writes. Happ has received interest from as many as 10 teams, as his age (36) would seemingly make him more amendable to a short-term contract, thus widening his market beyond that of a younger pitcher like Dallas Keuchel, whose desire for a longer-term and more expensive contract limits his list of suitors. It stands to reason that many of the same teams interested in both Happ and Keuchel, to say nothing of other free agent arms like Yusei Kikuchi or Charlie Morton, so it stands to reason that we could see something of a run on starting pitching if Happ or any of those names were to sign in the near future.

Athletics Non-Tender Mike Fiers, Kendall Graveman, Cory Gearrin

By Jeff Todd | November 30, 2018 at 7:06pm CDT

The Athletics have non-tendered a trio of right-handed pitchers, as MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweets. Starters Mike Fiers and Kendall Graveman will be sent to free agency along with reliever Cory Gearrin.

It had been widely expected that Fiers would return to Oakland. After all, the A’s certainly need arms and he was quite successful in 2018 on both sides of the trade that sent him out west from the Tigers. He ended the season with a 3.56 ERA in 172 innings.

Still, Fiers projected to earn a hefty $9.7MM salary. And the results came in spite of some rough underlying stats. Fiers checked in with 7.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9, but coughed up 32 home runs — the same tally he allowed in the prior campaign. All of the major ERA estimators value him as a 4+ performer over each of the past four campaigns.

Graveman, meanwhile, is still recovering from Tommy John surgery and will likely miss most or all of the 2019 campaign. But he’s an interesting pitcher who should draw plenty of looks on the market. Gearrin, too, seems like a prime target as a steady veteran reliever. The A’s simply preferred not to pay their salaries, which were projected at $2.5MM and $2.4MM, respectively.

A’s Designate Bruce Maxwell, Outright Josh Lucas/Boog Powell

By Kyle Downing | September 1, 2018 at 2:51pm CDT

The Athletics announced an avalanche of September 1st roster moves. The club has designated catcher Bruce Maxwell for assignment. Meanwhile, righty Josh Lucas and outfielder Boog Powell have cleared waivers and have been outrighted to Triple-A. Kendall Graveman was also recalled in order to be placed on the 60-day disabled list. Those four moves made room for the four contracts the A’s selected today; left-hander Dean Keikhefer, right-handers Chris Hatcher and Liam Hendriks, and catcher Beau Taylor, who will be making his first appearance in the major leagues.

Maxwell is probably the most notable player on this list, though certainly more for his non-baseball publicity than any actual merit in his gameplay. The backstop was the first baseball player to join the police brutality protests during the national anthem, a movement that had then been mainly held to NFL circles. More recently, Maxwell was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and disorderly conduct. On the field, he owns a .240/.314/.347 batting line with five homers and a 24.3% strikeout rate.

Lucas, meanwhile, has had a wretched showing with the Athletics at the MLB level. The 27-year-old righty owns a 6.28 ERA across 14 1/3 innings with Oakland, thanks in part to a troublesome 5.65 BB/9. Even in the minors, he’s pitched to a 2.63 ERA but a much less attractive 4.17 FIP while exhibiting the same sort of walk issues. Prior to this season, Lucas had spent the entirety of his career in the Cardinals organization; he was traded to the A’s in exchange for fellow minor-league hurler Casey Meisner.

The 25-year-old Powell hasn’t given the A’s much to be excited about this year, either. He had an excellent showing across 92 plate appearances with Oakland in 2017, when he batted .321/.380/.494 with a trio of homers and average center field defense, but this year has been an entirely different story. Powell’s wRC+ on the year sits at just 28, and his wOBA is an equally poor .211. That’s the result of just four hits (two for extra bases) across 25 MLB plate appearances. Overall, Fangraphs rates his 2018 performance at 0.3 wins below replacement level.

Kendall Graveman To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Steve Adams | July 24, 2018 at 5:21pm CDT

Athletics right-hander Kendall Graveman will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair ligament damage in his right elbow, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Graveman tells Slusser that he’s been rehabbing in the minors for six weeks after an MRI revealed some damage, but he hasn’t healed sufficiently enough to avoid surgical repair. He’ll be out for the remainder of the 2018 season and will likely miss the majority of (or possibly all of) the 2019 campaign as well.

Graveman, 27, emerged as a solid mid-rotation option for the A’s from 2015-17 after coming over as part of the widely panned Josh Donaldson blockbuster with the Blue Jays. While he was hardly a household name outside of Oakland, Graveman worked to a 4.11 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9 and well above-average ground-ball tendencies through 407 innings across that three-year span. That proved enough to land him an Opening Day start in 2018, but the season wound up being a forgettable one for the righty.

Graveman was tagged for five runs in five innings to kick off the Athletics’ season, and he ultimately made only six starts in the Majors (allowing three or more runs in each) before being surprisingly optioned to Triple-A Nashville. He’d return for one start in mid-May before being sent back to Nashville, and he’s been on the minor league disabled list since early June.

Because Graveman’s injury appears to have occurred in the minors, he’ll spend the remainder of the season on the minor league disabled list (barring an additional move to the MLB 60-day DL). As such, he’s not likely to accrue the Major League service time needed to reach four full years of service. Put another way, the circumstances of his season-ending injury seem likely to delay his path to free agency by a year. Graveman will finish out the season with between three and four years of service, meaning he’ll arbitration-eligible this offseason and once again in each of the two subsequent offseasons. While he’d previously been on track to hit the open market after the 2020 season, it now seems he’s lined up to reach free agency after the 2021 season.

Of course, that assumes that the A’s retain Graveman. He’s earning $2.375MM this season after avoiding arbitration for the first time last winter, and he’d likely be in line for the same salary — or at best, a very minimal raise — in 2019. There’s certainly reason to think the A’s would keep him around anyhow, as they’d effectively be paying him in 2019 for the right to control him cheaply in 2020-21, but the injury at the very least creates some uncertainty surrounding his future with the organization.

Injury Notes: Murphy, Archer, T. Frazier, Graveman

By Connor Byrne | June 3, 2018 at 11:53am CDT

Unfortunately for the Nationals, second baseman Daniel Murphy doesn’t seem close to making his 2018 debut. Manager Dave Martinez told Jamal Collier of MLB.com and other reporters Sunday that Murphy remains “a ways” away from coming off the disabled list. What’s more, Murphy – who underwent microfracture surgery in his right knee last October – has not looked healthy during his Double-A rehab assignment, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post hears. A scout informed Janes that Murphy has been “gimpy,” “struggling to move laterally” and lacking “straight-ahead speed” during action this weekend. Not only is that bad news for the Nats, with whom Murphy starred from 2016-17, but also for the impending free agent. While Murphy did all he could to set himself up for another nice payday over the previous couple seasons, the 33-year-old is now amid a less-than-ideal platform campaign.

Rays right-hander Chris Archer dealt with groin tightness during his start Saturday, helping lead to his exit after five innings of two-run ball, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. It doesn’t seem to be a major concern, but “he’ll probably get checked out here in the next day or two and see how it is,” manager Kevin Cash said. Thanks in part to Saturday’s performance, Archer has seen his ERA plummet from a season-worst 7.84 on April 14 to 4.24 over his past nine starts. That should help the hard-throwing 29-year-old’s stock if the Rays make him available in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, as some expect them to do.
Mets third baseman Todd Frazier is primed to come off the DL in time for the team’s series against Baltimore, which begins Tuesday, Matt Ehalt of The Record suggests. Indeed, Frazier tweeted Sunday that he’s on his way back to New York, thus wrapping up a Triple-A rehab assignment. His return will be a rare positive development for the free-falling Mets, who placed Frazier on the DL with a hamstring strain on May 8. Prior to suffering the injury, the offseason free-agent signing opened 2018 with a helpful .237/.357/.412 line and five home runs in 140 plate appearances.
The Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville has placed righty Kendall Graveman on the DL with a forearm strain, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Fortunately, Graveman doesn’t have any structural damage and should only miss 10 days, Slusser reports. Nevertheless, the injury continues a difficult year for Graveman, who entered 2018 off three straight respectable campaigns but has spent a large portion of the season in the minors. The 27-year-old worked to a 7.60 ERA in 34 1/3 innings prior to his demotion and also hasn’t been great in Nashville, where he has posted a 4.50 ERA in 24 frames.

AL West Notes: Athletics, Heaney, Moore

By Steve Adams | May 15, 2018 at 9:33pm CDT

Trevor Cahill is set to return from the disabled list tomorrow after missing one start, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Athletics will have him displace Kendall Graveman in the rotation, she adds in a separate column. Graveman pitched reasonably well in his one start after a demotion to Triple-A, but the A’s still would like him to continue to round back into form in Nashville following a surprisingly ugly start to the season. As Slusser notes, Oakland could’ve dropped Brett Anderson from the rotation, but doing so would mean designating the lefty for assignment.

Graveman was optioned out to make room on the roster for the return of Stephen Piscotty — who homered in his first at-bat back with the team tonight — from the bereavement list. The Athletics will need to make another roster move to accommodate Cahill’s activation tomorrow, which could mean optioning Jake Smolinski to Nashville as well, per Slusser.

Here’s more from the division…

Angels lefty Andrew Heaney dominated the division-rival Astros last night, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes, in what the pitcher calls “probably the best game I pitched in my career.” Heaney now carries a 3.93 ERA over 34 1/3 innings through six starts. But fielding-independent pitching numbers suggest he has been even better; he’s carrying an appealing combination of 10.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. As Fletcher notes, the results have been particularly promising over the last four outings, reflecting a decision by Heaney to abandon an experiment with pitching on the third-base side of the rubber. All said, his performance to date has been enormously encouraging, though the big question remains whether he can stay healthy.
Despite a terrible start to the season, left-hander Matt Moore will remain in the Rangers’ rotation for now, writes MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. The former Rays/Giants southpaw will lug a 7.82 ERA into Saturday’s start against the White Sox, having averaged 6.6 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 with 1.42 HR/9 and a 38.6 percent ground-ball rate. Moore has no doubt had some poor fortune, with a .388 BABIP and 62.3 percent strand rate, but even fielding-independent metrics peg him well north of 5.00. Sullivan does note that Moore’s spot, however, is in some jeopardy. Manager Jeff Banister stressed that Moore has “got to show some progress” before adding that he’s not considering a switch in the rotation just yet. Right-hander Jesse Chavez has showed well in a long relief role, though Banister suggested that the organization is happy with Chavez in his current role at present.

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