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Rafael Montero

Mariners, Astros Swap Kendall Graveman For Abraham Toro In Four-Player Trade

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In a rare and rather stunning swap between a pair of division rivals who are both in contention, the Mariners have traded closer Kendall Graveman and recently designated-for-assignment righty Rafael Montero to the Astros in exchange for young infielder Abraham Toro and veteran righty Joe Smith, according to both clubs. The trade is even more eye-opening when considering that the two clubs are gearing up to play each other in the second game of a three-game set tonight.

Trading Graveman at all registers as a moderate surprise, given the Mariners’ recent climb in the standings and stated desire to improve the 2021 roster. To see him traded to the division-leading Astros while the two squads are playing one another is downright jarring. That said, Graveman is a free agent at season’s end, and in Toro, the Mariners are acquiring five seasons of control over an infielder who has been considered one of Houston’s more promising young prospects for the past few years.

In speaking to the media about the trade, Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto plainly acknowledged that as a standalone transaction, it’s a head-scratching move. But Dipoto also emphasized some patience, suggesting this move is but one of a sequence of trades designed to improve the Mariners’ chances both in 2021 and over the long-term down the road (Twitter thread via MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). Dipoto suggested a subsequent trade or trades could come together as soon as tonight or in the coming days, but it seems as though this is but one of a series of moves for which the Mariners are angling; time will tell just how the moves look when judged in their totality.

Toro, 24, hasn’t yet pieced things together in limited big league action, but he’s decimated Triple-A pitching (.392/.497/.600 in 33 games) and posted strong numbers in pitcher-friendly Double-A settings (.282/.369/.468 in 148 games). The switch-hitting Toro provides the Mariners with a possible long-term option at third base, but he’s also logged considerable time at second base — another area where the Mariners have been known to be seeking help. That long-term fit isn’t likely to matter much to the clubhouse, however, and Divish rather unsurprisingly tweets that the decision to trade Graveman to their top division rival was not well-received among Seattle players.

That’s understandable on Seattle’s end, given just how dominant Graveman has become since transitioning to the bullpen late in the 2020 season. The former Athletics starter has bounced back from an injury-lost 2019 season to emerge as one of the American League’s more effective relievers. In 33 innings this season, Graveman has pitched to a 0.82 ERA with a 28.1 percent strikeout rate, a 6.6 walk rate and a 53.9 percent ground-ball rate. Dating back to his shift to the bullpen in 2020, he’s compiled 43 innings of 1.47 ERA ball.

Graveman is likely all the more appealing to the luxury-conscious Astros because of his affordable salary. He’s playing on a one-year, $1.25MM contract. Incentives have already boosted that base salary by $400K, and the contract overall contains a total of $3MM in reachable incentives. That said, $1.5MM of those are tied up in games finished, and manager Dusty Baker has already indicated that Ryan Pressly is likely to continue as his closer. Graveman could still collect six more stray games finished to reach his first of three would-be $500K bonuses tied to games finished, but it’s unlikely he reaches the 30 and 40 games finished needed to unlock the next pair of $500K bonuses. In all, the contract will likely top out paying him somewhere in the range of $2.65MM based on incentives tied to days on the roster, games finished and total innings pitched.

Montero’s inclusion in the trade is likely a pure accounting measure. The combined salaries of Montero and Graveman ought to clock in somewhere in the same ballpark as Smith’s $4MM salary and luxury-tax hit, though depending on the status of Graveman’s incentives, the Astros could come out either a bit ahead or a bit behind where they were previously projected.

Montero opened the season as the closer in Seattle but struggled early and has been mired in a catastrophic slump of late, yielding 16 runs in his past 11 innings. The ’Stros may have their own ideas on how to help a reliever who was quite good with the Rangers in 2019-20 right the ship, but Montero’s inclusion doesn’t appear to be a key part of the swap. At best he’s a roll of the dice, and at worst he’s a financial counterweight who could be cut loose quickly if his struggles persist.

The same is largely true of Smith, who opted out of the 2020 season after signing a two-year deal in Houston and has been clobbered for a 7.48 ERA in 21 2/3 innings this year. Some of that has been attributable to a sky-high .413 batting average on balls in play, but Smith is sporting a career-low strikeout rate, a grounder rate that’s well off his peak levels and has also been quite homer-prone. As with Houston and Montero, perhaps the Mariners have an idea or two about how to get the veteran righty back on track, but the trade is much more about Graveman and Toro than about the struggling relievers accompanying those two players.

Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times first tweeted that Toro and a reliever were going to the Mariners in exchange for two players. MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart provided the full context on the trade.

Mariners Designate Rafael Montero For Assignment

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The Mariners announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Rafael Montero for assignment. His spot on the active and 40-man rosters will go to righty Casey Sadler, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Acquired from the Rangers in an offseason trade that sent a pair of 18-year-old prospects — righty Jose Corniell and infielder Andres Mesa — to the Rangers, Montero opened the season as the closer in Seattle. He struggled early in the year and eventually relinquished that ninth-inning job to breakout righty Kendall Graveman.

Montero never found much consistency, even in a setup capacity, but his results dating back to the end of June have just become too much for the club to overlook. Montero has not only been scored upon in seven of his past eight appearances — he’s given up multiple runs in each of those seven outings. Since June 25, he’s pitched to a whopping 13.09 ERA in 11 innings — surrendering 16 runs on 25 hits and four walks with 11 punchouts in that time. That brutal stretch has ballooned his season ERA all the way to 7.27.

As rough as the 2021 season has been for Montero, the former Mets farmhand was quite good in his two seasons with Texas. He signed with the Rangers while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and eventually made his debut partway through the 2019 season, slowly earning the team’s trust in higher-leverage spots. By the 2020 season he was the primary closer in Arlington, leading the club with eight saves. Montero’s two years in Texas produced a 3.09 ERA with a strong 28.6 percent strikeout rate against just a 5.9 percent walk rate.

Things clearly didn’t work out in Seattle, and the Mariners will now have a week to trade Montero, place him on outright waivers or simply release him. He’s on a $2.25MM salary, making it highly unlikely that a team would either trade for him or claim him on waivers if placed there. And, even if Montero goes unclaimed, he reached five years of Major League service time in 2021, giving him the right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency — without forfeiting the remaining guarantee on his deal.

As such, it seems quite likely that today will spell the end of Montero’s time with the organization. If he does either receive his release or reject an outright assignment, he’ll hit the open market in search of a change of scenery and fresh opportunity. Given how well Montero pitched in 2019-20, other clubs would surely have interest on what would essentially be a free look.

As for the 31-year-old Sadler, he’ll return to the Mariners and look to build on what was a strong start to his time with the club. Seattle plucked him off waivers out of the Cubs organization in 2020, and he’s proceeded to give them 21 innings of 3.00 ERA relief work dating back to the time of that claim. Sadler has fanned exactly a quarter of the 88 batters he’s faced as a Mariner and kept the ball on the ground at a roughly 44 percent clip as well.

Rangers, Mariners Complete Rafael Montero Deal

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The Rangers have acquired minor league shortstop Andres Mesa from the Mariners as the player to be named later from last December’s Rafael Montero trade. The two parties had until tomorrow to agree on the player involved, as PTBNLs must be determined within six months of a trade’s completion. Mesa has been assigned to the Rangers’ affiliate in the Dominican Summer League.

Mesa, 18, was signed as an international prospect in the summer of 2019, landing a $500K bonus from the Mariners. He’s yet to play in an official game with the Mariners yet thanks to lack of any minor league competition in 2020. At the time of his signing, Baseball America’s Ben Badler called Mesa a plus runner with a “huge” arm and the athleticism to handle an up-the-middle position, be it shortstop, second base or center field.

Mesa becomes the second member of the Mariners 2019-20 international class to join the Rangers as part of the deal. Seventeen-year-old righty Jose Corniell was announced to be part of the trade at the time of the swap, and he currently ranks as the Rangers’ No. 29 prospect at MLB.com. That both players acquired are so young and so far from MLB readiness is a reflection of the younger direction the Rangers have taken over the course of the past year.

The acquisition of Montero hasn’t gone as well as the Mariners would’ve hoped. The former Mets top prospect was quite good in a resurgent showing with Texas from 2019-20, pitching to a combined 3.09 ERA with a hefty 28.9 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 5.9 percent walk rate. He’s sitting on a 5.21 ERA through 28 2/3 frames as a Mariner, and while a pair of rough outings in particular skew that ERA, the overall results have taken a dive from Montero’s 2019-20 levels. He’s striking out far fewer batters and issuing more walks, which have combined to offset an overwhelming uptick in ground-ball rate.

Montero isn’t giving up much in the way of hard contact, and fielding-independent numbers are more bullish on him than that bottom-line ERA, so there’s still some hope of a turnaround. He’s also controlled into the 2022 season via arbitration, so if he is ultimately able to right the ship, he has some value to the Mariners beyond the current campaign.

Mariners Notes: Payroll, Flexen, Bullpen, Haniger

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The Mariners have just $51.5MM committed to 11 players for the upcoming season and are just shy of $14MM in guaranteed contracts on the books come 2022. (They also owe the D-backs $5MM this year as part of the Mike Leake trade.) Despite their wide-open payroll outlook, however, they haven’t been major players in free agency. That, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, is due in part to ownership placing unexpected limitations on the team’s spending this winter. Divish cites multiple sources in indicating that the current limitations are being put into place with an eye toward spending next winter, when the free-agent class is deeper and when the club has even fewer commitments on the books.

There’s still an argument to be made that the Mariners should still jump the market, given the remaining slate of appealing free agents and the seemingly limited market for some of the leading names. General manager Jerry Dipoto reiterated to reporters this week, after all, that competing for a playoff berth is something the club hopes to be possible. Adding even some mid-tier free agents could go a long way toward making that a reality, given the context of the AL West, but it doesn’t sound as though any major expenditures are in the offing at this time.

A few notes from Divish, 710 ESPN’s Shannon Drayer, and The Athletic’s Corey Brock after Dipoto’s media availability this week…

  • Newly signed right-hander Chris Flexen will be penciled into the Mariners’ rotation to begin the season, Dipoto revealed this week. Far from a household name, the 26-year-old Flexen was an up-and-down member of the Mets from 2017-19 before posting a dominant season with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears in 2020. The righty tossed 116 2/3 innings of 3.01 ERA ball, striking out 28 percent of his opponents against just a 6.4 percent walk rate. Flexen’s 21-start workload figures to be extra vital to the Mariners, given that most MLB pitchers were limited to around half that many starts. Seattle again plans to use a six-man rotation in 2021, per Dipoto. Drayer notes that the GM is “open” to adding another starter, with only four spots locked in right now (Flexen, Marco Gonzales, Justus Sheffield and Yusei Kikuchi).
  • Brock notes that right-hander Rafael Montero, acquired earlier this month in a trade with the Rangers, is the current favorite to open the season as the Mariners’ closer. Like Flexen, Montero is a former Mets prospect — a far more well-regarded one, having ranked among the game’s top 100 at one point — who didn’t find his footing in New York but has found success elsewhere. After missing a season due to Tommy John surgery, Montero landed in Texas on a minor league pact and returned to the big leagues to toss 46 2/3 innings of 3.09 ERA (3.34 SIERA) ball from 2019-20. Averaging a career-best 95.6 mph on his heater as a Ranger, Montero posted a 28.6 percent strikeout rate and a 5.9 percent walk rate. He’s controlled another two years and will give the Mariners a power option to lock things down.
  • “We continue to be connected to free agents we think can make us better, and specifically we would like to add a little bit more depth to that bullpen, if that’s possible,” Dipoto said (via Divish). There’s no clear indication of the number at which ownership has capped payroll, so the extent of the Mariners’ free-agent targets is a bit tough to gauge. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported earlier this week that the M’s are interested in veteran Joakim Soria, although he’s presumably just one of many potential targets.
  • In some good news on the injury front, the Mariners expect right fielder Mitch Haniger to be ready to take the field when camp opens. Dipoto noted that a healthy Haniger is the team’s “best player,” adding that he looks “terrific physically.” It’s been a brutal road of freak injuries for Haniger, whose health woes began in 2019 when he sustained a ruptured testicle due to a terribly placed foul ball. Haniger required surgery to address that injury, and while he began a rehab assignment two months later, he was quickly shut down due to back discomfort. As it turned out, Haniger tore an adductor muscle off the bone during that rehab stint, leading to subsequent core muscle and microdiscectomy surgeries. If he is indeed able to suit up to begin the year, it’ll mark a nearly two-year road back to the Mariners’ big league roster. The now-30-year-old Haniger appeared on the cusp of stardom for the Mariners as recently as 2018, when he made the All-Star team and slashed .285/.366/.493 with 26 home runs, 38 doubles, four triples, eight steals (in ten tries) and 10 Defensive Runs Saved in right field.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: 1/15/21

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The deadline to exchange arbitration figures is today at 1pm ET. As of this morning, there were 125 arbitration-eligible players who’d yet to agree to terms on their contract for the upcoming 2021 season. Arbitration is muddier than ever before thanks to the shortened 2020 schedule, which most believe will lead to record number of arb hearings this winter. Be that as it may, it’s still reasonable to expect dozens of contractual agreements to filter in over the next couple of hours.

We’ll highlight some of the more high-profile cases in separate posts with more in-depth breakdowns, but the majority of today’s dealings will be smaller-scale increases that don’t radically alter a team’s payroll or a player’s trade candidacy. As such, we’ll just run through most of today’s agreements in this post.

I’ve embedded MLBTR’s 2021 Arbitration Tracker in the post (those in the mobile app or viewing on mobile web will want to turn their phones sideways). Our tracker can be sorted by team, by service time and/or by Super Two status, allowing users to check the status on whichever groups of players they like. You can also check out Matt Swartz’s projected arbitration salaries for this year’s class, and we’ll do a quick sentence on each player’s agreement at the bottom of this post as well, with the most recent agreements sitting atop the list.

Today’s Agreements (chronologically, newest to oldest)

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Mariners To Acquire Rafael Montero

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The Mariners and Rangers have agreed to a trade that will sent right-hander Rafael Montero to Seattle, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link).  Texas will receive right-handed pitching prospect Jose Corniell in return, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports (Twitter links), with Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram adding that the Rangers will also get a second prospect.  That other minor leaguer is a player to be named later, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Relief pitching was a major offseason target for the Mariners, and GM Jerry Dipoto will now add a talented reliever from within the AL West.  Montero posted a 4.08 ERA, 3.17 K/BB rate, and 9.7 K/9 over 17 2/3 innings last season, with ERA predictors painting a pretty solid view of his work (3.70 FIP, 4.85 xFIP, 4.00 SIERA), as his very low 49.4% strand rate was at least somewhat balanced out by a .227 BABIP.

2020 marked Montero’s first full (or as full as could be, given the shortened schedule) season back after he missed all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Montero returned to toss 29 innings out of the Texas bullpen in 2019, looking very impressive in posting a 2.48 ERA.

Once a highly-touted prospect during his time in the Mets farm system, Montero never really clicked while pitching in parts of four (2014-17) seasons in New York.  Shoulder injuries, frequent shuttles up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues, and moving between both starting and relieving all contributed to Montero posting a 5.38 ERA over 192 1/3 innings in a Mets uniform.

The Amazins cut him loose following the 2018 season and Montero then inked a minor league deal with Texas, where he has gotten his career back on track.  The move to full-time relief work has unlocked some extra velocity for Montero even post-TJ surgery.  He has averaged 95.7mph on his fastball in 2019-20, after never topping the 93.7mph mark in his first four seasons.

Montero completed all eight of his save chances for Texas in 2020, and now looks to be the favorite to work as the closer in a Mariners bullpen that is lacking in ninth-inning answers.  Montero turned 30 in October, though while he isn’t all that young, he is still controllable for two more seasons, projected to earn between $1.4MM and $2.5MM in his second trip through the arbitration process.

The trade marks another step in the Rangers’ plan to get younger this winter, as the team embarks on a mini-rebuild.  (Moving Montero also clears a 40-man roster spot for the newly-signed David Dahl.)  Given the low cost involved in acquiring Montero, trading him for a couple of young prospects isn’t a bad return for Texas, especially considering the relative difficulty in offering bullpen help in trade talks given the large number of other relievers available in free agency.

Corniell is only 17 years old, and was brought aboard by the M’s when the 2019-20 international signing window opened.  He has yet to begin his pro career thanks to the minor league shutdown in 2020, but MLB.com ranks Corniell as the 24th-best prospect in Seattle’s farm system, touting a solid three-pitch arsenal of a changeup, a “power curve,” and a fastball that can hit the mid-90’s.

West Notes: Hosmer, Rangers, Rockies, Giants

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There’s a “very good chance” the Padres will activate first baseman Eric Hosmer from the injured list Saturday, manager Jayce Tingler told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com and other reporters. Hosmer has been out since July 28 with gastritis, which cut off an encouraging start to the season in which he was hitting more fly balls than ever and getting tremendous results. The Padres have mostly turned to Jake Cronenworth at first in Hosmer’s absence, and the rookie has been excellent in the early going.

  • The Rangers announced that they’ve activated righty Rafael Montero and placed lefty Joe Palumbo on the IL with an ulcerative colitis flareup. Montero hasn’t pitched this season, but as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in April, he has been a real find for the club. The former standout Mets prospect amassed 29 innings of 2.48 ERA pitching with 10.55 K/9 against 1.55 BB/9 in his first year with the Rangers last season.
  • The Rockies placed RHP Chi Chi Gonzalez on the IL on Friday with right biceps tendinitis and recalled fellow righty Ryan Castellani, per a team announcement. Gonzalez has made one start for the club this year, but he yielded three earned runs during that three-inning performance. Castellani, meanwhile, ranks as Colorado’s 18th overall prospect at MLB.com. He’s finally in line to make his Rockies debut six years after the team selected him in the second round of the 2014 draft. Castellani struggled to an 8.31 ERA with 9.76 K/9 and 6.23 BB/9 in 43 1/3 innings in his first Triple-A action last year.
  • Righty Reyes Moronta and outfielder Hunter Bishop have reported to the Giants’ alternate site, the club announced. Moronta’s continuing to work back from right shoulder surgery, while Bishop has been down since late June because of a positive coronavirus test. Bishop is now a part of the Giants’ 60-man player pool. There’s a chance Moronta will get into the Giants’ bullpen this season, manager Gabe Kapler said (via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle). Moronta has been highly effective since he debuted in 2017, having recorded a 2.66 ERA/3.38 FIP with 11.22 K/9 and 5.12 BB/9 across 128 1/3 innings.

Rangers Select Gibaut, Refsnyder, Volquez

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The Rangers have settled on their roster mix to begin the season. Righties Ian Gibaut and Edinson Volquez have made the team along with outfielder Rob Refsnyder. All will be selected to the 40-man roster.

A roster spot was opened when the team outrighted lefty Yohander Mendez. The club also announced that hurlers Rafael Montero and Joely Rodriguez will begin the season on the injured list.

Did The Rangers Find A Bullpen Gem In The Bargain Bin?

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Remember when Rafael Montero was thought of more highly than Jacob deGrom? That sounds like a ridiculous question in 2020, of course, but such a time did indeed exist. In the 2013-14 offseason, Montero ranked among the game’s 100 best prospects according to Baseball America and MLB.com, whereas deGrom ranked 10th in the Mets organization, per BA, and landed outside their top 20 at MLB.com.

Rafael Montero | Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

That’s not an indictment on any prospect rankings — the general industry consensus seemed to be that Montero was the higher-end farmhand — and it’s hardly unique to deGrom. For two years, Montero ranked ahead of deGrom, Steven Matz, Michael Fulmer, Jeurys Familia and several notable bats in the Mets system (e.g. Brandon Nimmo, Wilmer Flores).

That feels like ancient history. Some may be wondering why we’re talking about Montero in the first place. The minor league deal he signed with the Rangers in November 2018 didn’t draw much attention, and not everyone took notice when a .500 Rangers club selected Montero’s contract last July. Even those who did take note of the move may not have paid attention the 29 innings from Montero that followed, but at least for a handful of games, the now 29-year-old righty reminded everyone why scouts were at one point so bullish on his arm.

Before delving into Montero’s 2019 season, it’s worth taking an abbreviated run through his Mets career. The righty signed as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic but did so much later than most July 2 prospects, inking his first pro contract at 20 years old. Three years and four months later, Montero was in the big leagues. He punched out 10 hitters and held the D-backs to one run over six innings in his third big league start, and his rookie campaign ended with a solid 4.06 ERA in 44 1/3 innings.

Montero’s 44-inning debut was overshadowed by deGrom’s out-of-the-blue Rookie of the Year season, but he still broke camp with the Mets in 2015 as a member of the bullpen. Unfortunately for Montero, he went down with a shoulder injury in late April after making his first start of the year. That injury helped pave the way for uber-prospect Noah Syndergaard to emphatically seize a rotation spot of his own. Syndergaard and deGrom joined Matt Harvey, Jon Niese and “Big Sexy” Bartolo Colon in a strong Mets rotation that eventually landed in the World Series.

Niese’s offseason departure opened another rotation spot … but it was ultimately claimed by Matz, who’d impressed in his own 2015 debut. Montero spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons struggling between Triple-A and the Majors before undergoing Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2018 season. That November, Montero went unclaimed on waivers and opted for free agency — ending his Mets tenure.

Jump back to this past July, and Montero was summoned back to the big leagues in a new organization as Shawn Kelley hit the injured list. He’d tossed 18 1/3 innings with the Rangers’ minor league affiliates as he rehabbed, posting a sensational 31-to-2 K/BB ratio along the way.

Montero would go on to appear in 22 games for the Rangers, working more than an inning in eight of those contests and only allowing runs in five of them. He tallied 29 innings with Texas, logged a sterling 2.48 ERA, punched out 34 hitters and issued just five walks.

Montero averaged 5.2 walks per nine frames in his time with the Mets, but his Rangers work in both Triple-A and the Majors was a reminder that as a prospect, he was touted for his plus command. He spent much of that Mets tenure working as a starter and/or pitching at less than 100 percent health and still averaged 93.0 mph on his heater — but that number soared to 95.8 mph in 2019. Working in shorter stints and at full health added some newfound life to his four-seamer.

The bigger change for Montero, though, came in his pitch selection. Montero severely ramped up the usage of his changeup — at the expense of his sinker/two-seamer and slider — and did so to great benefit. He’d thrown a changeup in his Mets days but never at a particularly high rate; in 192 1/3 innings as a Met, Montero threw 643 changeups (17.7 percent). Last year, in just 29 frames, he rattled off 181 changeups (39.4 percent). Opponents batted .152/.220/.174 against Montero’s changeup, which registered a strong 18.2 percent swinging-strike rate. Opposing lefties had fits against Montero thanks to that offspeed offering — as evidenced by their putrid .111/.143/.222 slash in 56 PAs against Montero.

Obviously, a sample of 29 innings is far from conclusive. We don’t know when or if the season will resume, but when it does, few would be surprised to see Montero’s effectiveness fade away. But the 2019 version of Montero looks nothing like the pitcher who struggled through four years with the Mets. He’s throwing harder, inducing more whiffs and most importantly, demonstrating control the likes of which he never has at any point in the past.

If he can stay healthy moving forward — and that’s a big if for a pitcher who missed nearly a full year due to rotator cuff troubles and another due to Tommy John surgery — Montero could yet deliver on some of the promise he showed as a prospect in a ridiculously pitching-rich Mets system. He’s still controlled through the 2022 season, too, so the Rangers might have found a fairly long-term piece in the offseason bargain bin.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: American League

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Entering the day, there were more than 150 players on the clock to exchange arbitration figures with their respective teams prior to a noon ET deadline. As one would expect, there’ll be an utter landslide of arbitration agreements in advance of that deadline. We already ran through some key facts and reminders on the arbitration process earlier this morning for those who are unfamiliar or simply need a refresher on one of MLB’s most complex idiosyncrasies, which will hopefully clear up many questions readers might have.

We’ll track the majority of the American League’s settlements in this post and split off a separate one for NL settlements as well. Note that all projections referenced come courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz:

  • Newly acquired Angels righty Dylan Bundy receives a $5MM salary, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links). He had projected at a $5.7MM price tag. Teammate Hansel Robles gets $3.85MM, per Heyman, just shy of his $4MM projection.
  • The Yankees have worked out deals with all of their eligible players. The team has a hefty $8.5MM pact with Aaron Judge, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). Backstop Gary Sanchez settled for $5MM, per Feinsand (via Twitter). The New York org will pay righty Luis Cessa $895K and Jonathan Holder $750K, Murray reports (Twitter links). Fellow reliever Tommy Kahnle will earn $2.65MM, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). And star lefty James Paxton has settled at $12.5MM, Heyman adds via Twitter. Chad Green and Jordan Montgomery have also agreed to terms, the former at $1.275MM and the latter at $805K, per Heyman (Twitter links).
  • The Twins announced that they struck deals with Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton. Jon Heyman of MLB Network followed up with salary terms (all links to Twitter). May earns $2,205,000; Rogers takes home $4.45MM; Rosario lands at $7.75MM; and Buxton receives $3.075MM. While the first and last of those land rather close to the projected amount, Rogers got $550K more and Rosario got $1.15MM less than the calculators predicted.
  • Shortstop Carlos Correa settled with the Astros for $8MM, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (via Twitter). Righty Brad Peacock lands at a $3.9MM salary, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The former went for more than his $7.4MM projection, while the latter ended up shy of the $4.6MM mark produced by the computers. The ’Stros also have agreed with closer Roberto Osuna as well, per an announcement. It’s a $10MM deal, slotting in just $200K shy of his projection, per Rome (via Twitter).
  • The Orioles have a deal with outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. It’s for $4.75MM, per Dan Connolly of The Athletic (via Twitter), well south of the $5.7MM projection.
  • Outfielder Jorge Soler has agreed to a $7.3MM deal with the Royals, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. That’s well off of the $11.2MM that MLBTR’s model projected, though it is likely that the cause of the gulf lies in the interpretation of the correct baseline to start from in building Soler’s salary. He’s in the 4+ service class but had been playing on the original deal he signed out of Cuba.
  • The Tigers have a deal in place with southpaw Matthew Boyd, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter). It’ll pay him $5.3MM, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (Twitter link). That falls comfortably below the $6.4MM, suggesting that Boyd’s camp was concerned with the way his suboptimal ERA would play in the arb process. Fellow lefty starter Daniel Norris will earn $2.96MM, McCosky tweets.

Earlier Settlements

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