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Matt Joyce

AL Notes: Joyce, Rangers, Otani, Tribe, Twins

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Major League Baseball announced Saturday that it has suspended Athletics outfielder Matt Joyce two games without pay for directing an anti-gay slur at a heckling fan during the team’s game in Anaheim on Friday. In response, the A’s stated they’re “very disappointed” by Joyce’s “unacceptable” comments, but they “appreciate that Matt is contrite about his conduct and know he will learn from this incident.”

Joyce was apologetic Saturday, saying: “I am beyond sorry for the inappropriate language that I used and understand and agree that those words should NEVER come out of someone’s mouth no matter the situation.  Anyone who knows me will tell you that it is not reflective of me as a person, how I treat others, how I live my life and that those hurtful words are not my views.  I fully support and hope to help the LGBTQ community with their efforts in being treated fairly.  I intend to let my actions speak louder than anything more that can be said about this truly regrettable moment.”

Joyce’s forfeited salary amounts to upward of $54K, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, and the A’s will donate it to PFLAG – an organization that provides support to the LGBTQ community.

More from the American League:

  • The Rangers tipped their hand for the upcoming offseason when they traded minor league infielder Brallan Perez to the Orioles for $500K in international spending rights on Saturday, opines Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. To Grant, the move signals that the Rangers are retooling – not rebuilding – and will attempt to use their international money to sign two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Otani over the winter. The Rangers have coveted Otani for a while, which is part of the reason they didn’t make an effort to extend fellow Japan native Yu Darvish before they traded him to the Dodgers this past Monday, writes Grant. Big-money deals for over-30 pitchers are risky, Grant points out, and Darvish will turn 31 on Aug. 16.
  • With Andrew Miller on the disabled list and Boone Logan’s season likely over, the Indians are “open” to adding another left-hander to their bullpen this month, says FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link). There’s not a lot of optimism it will happen, though, as an Indians official told Rosenthal that it’s “extremely difficult” to get a lefty reliever through the waiver process.
  • The Twins’ first-year hierarchy of chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine is in the midst of reshaping the organization, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune in a pair of pieces. The club fired director of baseball research Jack Goin, a holdover from the team’s previous regime, on Friday. The Twins then axed four area scouts – Marty Esposito, Alan Sandberg, Ted Williams and Mark Wilson – on Saturday. More changes are on the way, but Falvey informed Neal that assistant GM Rob Antony and head of player personnel Mike Radcliff will continue to have roles with the Twins. Any alterations to the Twins’ major or minor league coaching staffs or their player development won’t come until the offseason, per Falvey.

Athletics Sign Matt Joyce

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The Athletics announced on Wednesday that they’ve signed free agent outfielder Matt Joyce to a two-year contract, which will reportedly guarantee him $11MM in total. Joyce will earn $5MM in 2017 and $6MM in 2018.

Matt Joyce

The 32-year-old Joyce spent the 2016 campaign with the Pirates and rebounded nicely from a terrible 2015 season with the Angels. In 293 plate appearances with Pittsburgh, the ACES client batted .242/.403/.463 with 13 homers, 10 doubles and a triple. Joyce has long struggled against left-handed pitching and was shielded from southpaws accordingly with Pittsburgh.

[Related: Updated Oakland Athletics Depth Chart]

Oakland, a team that is known as one of the game’s most aggressive users of platoons, figures to deploy Joyce in a similar fashion. Joyce is a career .185/.265/.310 hitter against southpaws but has hit righties at a solid .252/.353/.449 clip. Though he’s never been a standout defender, his career ratings in both left field and right field (per Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating) hover right around average.

For the A’s, Joyce fills a much-needed spot on the team’s outfield depth chart. The A’s entered the offseason with Khris Davis as their primary left fielder (though he could profile better as a designated hitter), but little else in the way of certainty on the outfield grass. Brett Eibner, Jake Smolinski and Matt Olson were among Oakland’s primary outfield options prior to the agreement with Joyce, who now figures to receive a fairly sizable chunk of playing time between the two corner spots. He could potentially form a platoon with the right-handed hitting Smolinski in one of the corners, but it stands to reason that Joyce is merely the first of what will be multiple outfield additions for president of baseball operations Billy Beane and general manager David Forst this winter.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported the agreement and the terms (via Twitter). FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted the annual breakdown.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Ivan Nova, Pirates’ Offseason

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The Pirates acquired Ivan Nova from the Yankees without much fanfare at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, but the right-hander has since turned into Pittsburgh’s latest successful reclamation project. Nova had a rough showing against the Reds on Sunday, but he entered the contest with a 2.41 ERA to pair with an even more impressive 0.52 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings with the Pirates. As an impending free agent, Nova’s breakout might go down as a bittersweet development for the Bucs, who could lose him after the season.

“He has obviously changed the direction of his winter in the last six weeks,” manager Clint Hurdle admitted to Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Nova, 29, was back-of-the-rotation fodder in New York over the past couple seasons, but he’s likely to cash in soon as an appealing arm in a free agent market that will be largely devoid of them. It will also help Nova’s cause that the Pirates won’t be able to tender him a qualifying offer, which would force another team to give up a first-round pick to sign him. J.A. Happ, who was dominant with the Pirates after they acquired him from Seattle a year ago, also didn’t have a qualifying offer weighing him down when he hit free agency last winter. That, combined with his down-the-stretch performance in Pittsburgh, earned him a three-year, $36MM deal with the Blue Jays.

While many are quick to credit highly regarded pitching coach Ray Searage when an unheralded pickup fares well with the Pirates, Hurdle told Nesbitt that the team hasn’t had Nova make any significant changes since it landed him.

“There’s been no major overhaul,” Hurdle said. “For Nova, the downhill angle has been there, the strike-throwing efficiency has been there. It’s just been a couple things he has tightened up.”

In addition to Nova, the Pirates will have offseason decisions to make on other free agents, including reliever Neftali Feliz and a pair of position players – outfielder Matt Joyce and utilityman Sean Rodriguez – writes Nesbitt. All three signed inexpensive one-year deals with the Bucs last offseason, and Joyce and Rodriguez have been especially effective in 2016. As a result, they’re in line for raises. Joyce, who’s on a $1MM salary, has batted a stellar .248/.408/.481 with 12 home runs in 262 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from the .174/.272/.291 line and five homers he put up in 284 PAs with the Angels last year. Rodriguez, a $2.5MM player, has slashed a career-best .266/.349/.516 with 16 homers in 293 trips to the plate. Along the way, the 31-year-old has spent time at every position but pitcher and catcher.

Elsewhere on the roster, arbitration-eligible pitchers Juan Nicasio, Jared Hughes, Jeff Locke and Wade LeBlanc are potential non-tender candidates, per Nesbitt. Nicasio and Hughes have been superior to Locke and LeBlanc, both of whom seem likely to go. Locke will be due a raise over his $3.025MM salary despite having posted ugly numbers (5.49 ERA, 1.64 K/BB ratio) in 126 1/3 innings this year. LeBlanc, meanwhile, joined the Pirates on Tuesday after they picked him up in a trade with Seattle. The Mariners previously designated him for assignment in late August.

Pirates Notes: Bullpen, Joyce, Cervelli

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Here’s the latest from PNC Park…

  • The Pirates are looking for bullpen help, GM Neal Huntington told reporters (including MLB.com’s Adam Berry and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski), though Huntington noted that the pickings have been slim for buyers.  The Bucs will “scour the Minor Leagues to see if there’s another Jason Grilli-type situation out there,” Huntington said, as in a possible buy-low veteran who’s recovering from injuries or a drop in form.  The GM didn’t totally rule out the idea of calling up top pitching prospects Tyler Glasnow or Jameson Taillon as relievers, though “on a case-by-case basis, there are some things we are still accomplishing with our young minor-league starters…before we start trying to shove them in the bullpen,” Huntington said.  With the Pirates’ rotation also lacking in depth, Glasnow and/or Taillon are much more likely to start when they’re called up, as noted earlier today.
  • Matt Joyce may be the latest veteran to enjoy a career revival after joining the Pirates, Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, something manager Clint Hurdle attributes to the franchise’s ability to scout and identify players who have the right attitude about overcoming their struggles.  In Joyce’s case, his winter stint in the Dominican Republic impressed the Bucs.  “To go play 50 or 60 games in a different country and do some things on and off the field that, in a crazy kind of way, might help you find your way back?  I thought it was outstanding.  It polarized the whole story of [Joyce] for me.  I know that level of commitment,” Hurdle said.
  • Francisco Cervelli’s three-year extension not only keeps a key player behind the plate for the Pirates, it also serves as another sign of the franchise’s growth, the Post-Gazette’s Bill Brink writes.  While the Bucs have inked several young players to extensions, Cervelli signed his multi-year deal with free agency beckoning this winter, as opposed to other veterans who have left Pittsburgh for richer deals after rebuilding their value with the club.

Article XX(B) Free Agents Update: Tuesday

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Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement contains a provision that allows certain free agents who are signed to minor league contracts to receive a $100K retention bonus if they are not on the team’s 25-man roster or the Major League disabled list five days prior to the season.

Free agents who qualify for this distinction are those who have at least six years of Major League service time and had a Major League contract expire at the end of the previous season, but signed a minor league deal ten or more days prior to Opening Day.

The deadline for teams to decide on these players is today at 11am central time. By the deadline, teams with these players in camp need to decide whether to:

  • Add the player to their 25-man roster or Major League disabled list (or agree to do so in writing).
  • Grant the player his outright release from the minor league contract so that he may pursue opportunities with other teams.
  • Pay the player a $100K retention bonus to keep him in the organization beyond the deadline and send him to the minors.

Here’s the latest news from around the league on Article XX(B) signees and their roster statuses with their respective teams (newest updates on top):

  • Matt Thornton has been told that he’ll break camp with the Padres, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (via Twitter). The veteran southpaw signed fairly late in camp after failing to find a big league deal, ultimately reaching a minor league pact that will pay him $1.6MM at the MLB level. He can also take home up to $1.9MM in incentives depending upon how many appearances he makes.

Earlier Updates

  • Outfielder Ryan Raburn will be added to the Rockies’ 40-man roster, Nick Groke of the Denver Post clarifies (Twitter links). He figures to play an important part-time role on the club, which features three left-handed outfielders in its regular lineup.
  • The Braves have announced that outfielder Jeff Francoeur has made the Opening Day roster, with the team purchasing his contract. He’ll play a reserve role in his return to Atlanta, where he once featured as one of the most exciting young players in baseball.
  • The Padres appear set to pay Brandon Morrow the $100K retention bonus to remain with the organization, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Morrow, 31, still needs to stretch out after getting a late start this spring.
  • The Nationals have officially added righty Matt Belisle to the club’s 40-man roster and will be active on Opening Day, the team announced. He represents a somewhat surprising victor in the pen battle, and his addition seemingly leaves the organization with just one open job to give to minor league free agent lefty Sean Burnett or optionable righties Trevor Gott and Blake Treinen.
  • Veteran outfielder Matt Joyce has made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster and will be added to the 40-man, GM Neal Huntington told reporters including Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter). He had a forgettable 2015, but put up strong numbers in camp.
  • Likewise, the Indians announced yesterday that southpaw Tom Gorzelanny will remain in the organization in the minor league system. He’ll be due a $100K bonus for the privilege.

This post originally incorrectly listed Alex Torres as an Article XX(B) free agent.

Orioles Notes: Joyce, Tucker, Gausman

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Here’s the latest from Baltimore…

  • The Orioles are interested in Pirates non-roster outfielder Matt Joyce, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (Twitter link).  As an Article XX(B) player, Joyce must be informed by tomorrow if he’s making the Bucs’ 25-man roster or else the Pirates will need to pay him $100K to retain his rights on a minor league assignment.  With Hyun Soo Kim’s status in question, Baltimore is clearly looking other left-handed hitting outfield options that could be available.  Aside from Joyce, the O’s have also shown interest in David Murphy.
  • The Orioles talked to the Astros about outfielder Preston Tucker this offseason, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports.  Talks didn’t go anywhere, however, since Houston asked for Kevin Gausman in return.  Gausman was a popular figure in trade demands over the winter, and as you might expect, the O’s had no interest in dealing the former top prospect.  Tucker didn’t have quite the same prospect pedigree (Gausman was selected fourth overall in 2012 while Tucker was a seventh-rounder in that same draft) but the outfielder posted a very strong .867 OPS over 1530 plate appearances in the minors and hit .243/.297/.437 with 13 homers over 323 PA in the bigs last year as a rookie.  Tucker will serve in a backup role with Houston this season, as his path to more playing time may have been blocked when Colby Rasmus accepted a qualifying offer last fall.
  • Speaking of Gausman, the Orioles officially announced to media (including MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli) that the young righty will be placed on the DL to begin the season.  Gausman has been bothered by tendinitis in his throwing shoulder but the injury isn’t thought to be too serious.  Buck Showalter said Gausman could be activated in time for a start on April 10 against Minnesota.

NL Notes: Cabrera, Herrera, Cardinals, Joyce

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Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera suffered a knee injury while tagging up from first to second base in yesterday’s Grapefruit League game, and while he initially told reporters (including MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) that the injury was not serious, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that Cabrera is traveling to New York City to undergo a second MRI. While the extent of his injury is unknown (the Mets have yet to disclose the results of yesterday’s MRI), it seems that there was at least some cause for concern on his initial test. Cabrera did note yesterday that he was walking without pain, so it seems unlikely that there’s any sort of ligament tear. The Mets are well covered in the event that Cabrera would need to miss some time, as both Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada represent viable backups. Cabrera is gearing up for the first season of a two-year, $18.5MM deal with the Mets.

A few more notes from the division…

  • Puma also spoke with prospect Dilson Herrera and assistant GM John Ricco about the Mets’ decision to acquire Neil Walker this offseason despite the fact that some view Herrera as MLB-ready after hitting .327/.382/.511 in 81 Triple-A games last season. Herrera didn’t express any frustration, stating that he’s simply waiting for an opportunity. Ricco noted that Herrera might not be quite as big-league ready as his numbers indicate. “He’s not a guy we said, ’He’s finished with Triple-A. He’s wasting his time down there,'” said Ricco of Herrera. “I don’t think you see that yet. With each of our top prospects the last few years, whether it be [Zack] Wheeler or [Matt] Harvey or [Noah] Syndergaard or [Steven] Matz, the deal was we want them to come up here and succeed, not just come up and here and have trial by fire.” Infield coach Tim Teufel explained to Puma that Herrera still doesn’t excel at turning double plays and “tends to throw without using his legs.”
  • Cardinals GM John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’s not necessarily in a rush to add a shortstop in the wake of Jhonny Peralta’s injury. “Everybody is sort of pounding on this — what are we going to do?” says Mozeliak. “I think I’d like to see what we have first and then determine what’s next. Our goal is to be competitive this year and if we feel we need to go outside the organization to improve on those odds then we will.” The top internal candidates to fill in for Peralta are Jedd Gyorko, Aledmys Diaz and Greg Garcia, though each comes with some questions. Should the Cardinals ultimately decide to look for outside help, the Cabrera injury mentioned above could potentially impact the trade market, as any notable absence for the Mets’ starter would likely make the club less willing to part with a shortstop (e.g. Ruben Tejada).
  • Matt Joyce is in camp with the Pirates trying to win a bench spot on the club, but he told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times yesterday that he believed at one point this offseason that he was going to sign with the Padres (Twitter link). That match never came to fruition, for whatever reason, so Joyce will now look to reestablish himself in Pittsburgh instead. After batting a solid .251/.344/.434 from 2011-14 with the Rays, Joyce slumped to a dismal .174/.272/.291 batting line with the Angels last season.

Pirates Notes: Joyce, Benedict, Cole

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It appears outfielder Matt Joyce, who recently signed to a minor-league deal, might have a good shot at making the Pirates out of camp. Joyce’s locker is in the same room as players already on the 40-man roster, despite the fact that he himself is a non-roster invitee, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets. Joyce himself, meanwhile, says that Pirates manager Clint Hurdle says the Bucs “see me as kind of like the fourth outfielder,” as MLB.com’s Adam Berry notes (via Twitter). Joyce does note that he’ll have to prove himself in camp. The Bucs’ three starting outfield spots are set with Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco, but there isn’t much depth behind them, with Jason Rogers, Jake Goebbert and Sean Rodriguez previously looking like they had the clearest shots at any spare playing time in the outfield. Rogers and Goebbert can both be optioned, however, and Rodriguez can play other positions. Here’s more on the Bucs.

  • Former Pirates pitching guru Jim Benedict could be the Marlins’ most important offseason acquisition, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. The Pirates had already lost another executive, Marc DelPiano, to the Marlins when the Fish came calling for Benedict, so the two teams worked out a related deal in which Miami sent pitching prospect Trevor Williams to Pittsburgh as compensation. “The challenge becomes when that same organization continues to come back for people,” says Bucs GM Neal Huntington. “It becomes harder to lose somebody that has insight on your organization and who the talented people are in your organization. We do need to protect ourselves from being raided by a single organization or exploited by a single organization.” Huntington adds that while the organization will miss Benedict, the team retains “parts of what allowed him to be successful” — including, presumably, well-regarded big-league pitching coach Ray Searage.
  • Bucs starter Gerrit Cole is behind schedule in Spring Training due to a right rib inflammation, Biertempfel writes. The injury took place in mid-January. Obviously, the absence of their ace from an already dubious rotation would be a significant blow to the Pirates. The condition does not appear serious, however, as Cole is already throwing from flat ground and is expected to soon begin throwing from a mound. “It’s just a modified throwing program at this point,” he says. “I’m not too far behind everybody else, but I feel good.”

Pirates Sign Matt Joyce To Minor League Deal

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SATURDAY: The Bucs have officially announced the deal.

THURSDAY: The Pirates have agreed to a minor league contract with outfielder Matt Joyce, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The 31-year-old ACES client will presumably compete for a bench spot in Spring Training, as the Pittsburgh outfield mix of Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco is among the best in the game.

The 2015 campaign was far and away the worst of Joyce’s career, as he batted just .174/.272/.291 with five homers in 284 plate appearances as an Angel after being swapped for right-hander Kevin Jepsen in an offseason trade with the Rays. While those numbers, clearly, are unappealing, Joyce’s track record prior to that dismal season was very solid. From 2010-14 with the Rays, Joyce posted a collective .251/.344/.434 batting line with 73 homers in 2219 plate appearances.

In the event that Joyce makes the Pirates’ roster, he’d very much be a platoon or matchup option for manager Clint Hurdle, as even in that quality stretch with Tampa Bay, he batted a paltry .185/.246/.313 in 326 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. Conversely, his numbers against right-handed pitching look rather impressive: .263/.360/.456 with a 12.8 percent walk rate and 18.7 strikeout rate.

Currently, the Pirates’ options for backup outfielders include Mike Morse, Jake Goebbert and Sean Rodriguez. Morse is most likely viewed as a first base option as opposed to a candidate for significant time in the outfield, leaving the latter two (and perhaps fellow non-roster invitee Antoan Richardson) as Joyce’s primary competition.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Matt Joyce

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We’ll keep tabs on the day’s arbitration settlements here:

  • The Angels have avoided arbitration with outfielder Matt Joyce, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez reports on Twitter. He will earn $4.75MM in his final arb-eligible season. The 30-year-old, left-handed-swinging Joyce lands just shy of his $4.9MM projection, via MLBTR/Matt Swartz, and just above the midpoint between the sides’ filing figures ($5.2MM vs. $4.2MM). After dealing for him earlier in the offseason, Los Angeles figures to rely on Joyce quite a bit — especially with Josh Hamilton out to start the season. Joyce has been a steadily above-average offensive producer over recent years, though his power dropped last year and he has not returned to the All-Star level numbers he put up in 2010-11.
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