Travis Jankowski

Players Avoiding Arbitration Prior To 2019 Non-Tender Deadline

By Steve Adams | December 2, 2019 at 4:41pm CDT

With tonight’s 8pm ET deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players looming, there’ll be several players who agree to one-year contracts for the 2020 season today. It’s common for the day of the non-tender deadline to be a big one for arbitration agreements, though it’s also worth noting that many of the players who agree to terms today will do so at a rate that’s lower than the salary figures projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

Broadly speaking, players who agree to terms on a salary this far in advance tend to be those who were at risk of being non-tendered, and their teams are able to use tonight’s deadline as leverage in bringing about a deal that saves them a bit of cash. A look at some of the early instances of players agreeing to terms reveals this to be true already; Mike Zunino ($4.5MM salary vs. $4.9MM projection), Wilmer Difo ($1MM salary vs. $1.2MM projection) and Scott Alexander ($875K salary vs. $1MM projection) have all agreed to lesser terms rather than risk being cast out into the free-agent market.

We’ll keep track of today’s players who avoid arbitration in this post and update throughout the day…

The Padres have a deal for $1.5MM with infielder Greg Garcia, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. That’s a shade under his $1.7MM projection for the 30-year-old.
Infielder Orlando Arcia has avoided arbitration with the Brewers, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Though he’s set to lose some playing time, it seems Arcia will be expected to retain a notable role. He’s considered a talented defender at short and was long expected to come around with the bat, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes is in agreement on a $1.1MM deal, per Robert Murray (Twitter link). It’s a guaranteed deal, which isn’t standard for arbitration pacts. Barnes had projected at $1.3MM on the heels of a disappointing season. It seems he’ll be asked to function as the club’s second backstop in 2020.

Earlier Moves

The Rangers have a deal in place with right-hander Nick Goody, the club announced. He’ll earn $915K, according to MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Goody projected to earn $1.1MM, so he’s taking a discount on that mark with his new club.
Just-acquired righty Jharel Cotton has agreed to a $640K deal with the Cubs, Rosenthal tweets. Cotton had projected at $800K but he’s surely focused first and foremost on getting a significant MLB opportunity. He didn’t quite make it back to the majors in 2019 after a long injury layoff but figures to represent a swingman option for the Chicago club in 2020.
Outfielder Alex Dickerson and lefty Wandy Peralta are in agreement with the Giants, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter links). Dickerson settled for $925K, which is well under his $1.2MM projected earning power. The 29-year-old has had trouble staying healthy but usually hits when he is on the field. He rewarded the San Francisco organization for taking a shot on him last year by turning in a .290/.351/.529 batting line in 171 plate appearances. As for Peralta, he lands right at his projected value with a $805K salary. The 28-year-old was claimed off waivers late in the 2019 season.
The White Sox and James McCann avoided arbitration with a one-year deal worth $5.4MM, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan. McCann’s deal checks in a half million dollars north of his $4.9MM projection. Chicago’s addition of Yasmani Grandal has likely relegated McCann to backup duties, so he’ll be a rather expensive second catcher for the South Siders. A free agent next winter, McCann hit .273/.328/.460 with a career-high 18 home runs, but his bat went dormant in the season’s final few months and his .359 BABIP seems particularly ripe for regression.
The Athletics avoided arbitration with left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $1.8MM, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. That salary effectively puts McFarland in line for the same salary he’d have received had he had his $1.85MM club option exercised by the Diamondbacks. Arizona, however, bought him out for $50K and then ran him through waivers, at which point the A’s claimed him. The 30-year-old posted a 4.82 ERA with a middling 5.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 56 2/3 innings this past season, but he’s a ground-ball behemoth (61.1 percent). He’ll be a free agent next winter and had been projected at $2.1MM.
Infielder Ehire Adrianza and the Twins agreed on a $1.6MM salary for the upcoming season, Nightengale tweets. The versatile utilityman hit .272/.349/.416 in 236 plate appearances while appearing at all four infield spots and both outfield corners. Adrianza, a free agent next winter, was projected at $1.9MM.
Outfielder Travis Jankowski agreed to a rare arbitration pay cut with the Reds, Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. After earning $1.165MM in 2019, he’ll be owed $1.05MM in 2020 if he makes the club. A fractured wrist cost him much of the season in 2019, and he was just 4-for-22 when healthy and in the Majors. Jankowski did have a nice season in Triple-A, though (.393 OBP in 39 games), and the Reds gave up some international funds to acquire him, which seemingly indicated that they planned to tender him a contract. He was projected to earn $1.2MM.

The Nationals announced that they’ve agreed to one-year deals with infielder Wilmer Difo and right-hander Hunter Strickland. (Difo’s deal was reported yesterday.) Acquired from the Mariners in a deadline swap, the 31-year-old Strickland was hit hard with the Nats, yielding a dozen runs on 20 hits (five homers) and eight walks with 15 strikeouts in 21 innings. The resulting 5.14 ERA wasn’t pretty, nor was his work in the NLDS (four runs in two innings). But with a $1.6MM salary projection, a quality track record and a clear bullpen need, he was appealing enough for the Nats to keep around on a non-guaranteed arbitration deal.
Left-hander Mike Montgomery and the Royals are in agreement on a one-year, $3.1MM contract, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports (Twitter link). Acquired in the trade that sent Martin Maldonado to the Cubs, Montgomery made 13 starts with Kansas City and turned in a 4.64 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 1.69 HR/9 and a 51.5 percent ground-ball rate. Those are hardly world-beating results, but Montgomery has never really struggled with home runs before, so perhaps the belief is that a correction to this past season’s juiced ball will lead to better numbers. He’d been projected to earn $2.9MM, so he actually came out a bit in front despite agreeing to an early deal. Not only that, but unlike most arbitration agreements, Montgomery’s contract is fully guaranteed, MLBTR has learned. The Royals can control Montgomery through 2021.
The Phillies and Andrew Knapp agreed to a $710K salary for the upcoming season, thus avoiding arbitration, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). The 28-year-old Knapp has yet to deliver on his prospect status with the Phils, slashing .223/.327/.336 through 579 plate appearances in the Majors (including .213/.318/.324 in 160 plate appearances this past season). With J.T. Realmuto entrenched as the backstop in 2020 (and perhaps beyond), Knapp profiles as the top backup option in Philadelphia for now. He’d been projected to earn $800K and is controllable through the 2022 season.
The Orioles announced that they’ve agreed to terms on a 2020 contract with left-hander Richard Bleier. The southpaw had a rough go of things in his return from 2018 surgery to repair a Grade 3 lat strain — 5.37 ERA in 55 1/3 innings — but he finished the season strong. Bleier also continued to display superlative control (1.3 BB/9) and elite ground-ball skills (59.9 percent), both of which have helped to offset his paltry strikeout rates to this point in his career (4.3 K/9, 11.6 K%). He was projected to earn $1.1MM, but MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that Bleier has agreed to a $915K salary for the upcoming season.

Reds Acquire Travis Jankowski

By Mark Polishuk | October 31, 2019 at 3:38pm CDT

The Reds have acquired outfielder Travis Jankowski from the Padres, as announced on San Diego’s official team Twitter feed. International bonus money will head back to San Diego in return.

2019 was essentially a lost year for Jankowski, who suffered a broken wrist in Spring Training and didn’t start playing until July, turning him into something of an afterthought in a crowded Padres outfield mix. Jankowski ended up appearing in only 25 games and receiving just 24 plate appearances. Given that abbreviated campaign, Jankowski wasn’t expected to receive much of an arbitration raise, as MLBTR’s Matt Swartz projected the outfielder to receive only $1.2MM in his second of four arb years as a Super Two player. (Jankowski earned $1.165MM in 2019.)

It’s a minor enough sum that, despite Jankowski’s struggles last year, he was still an interesting option for a Cincinnati club that is looking to add outfield depth. Jankowski has displayed some solid glovework at all three outfield positions, making him a decent candidate for bench duty or perhaps as the left-handed hitting side of a platoon.

Between the Jankowski trade and other recent transactions, the Padres have now cleared four spots off their 40-man roster. San Diego faces something of a 40-man roster crunch given the number of prospects that have to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, so we could perhaps see even more minor housecleaning moves from the team in the coming days.

Padres Select Eric Yardley’s Contract, Option Travis Jankowski

By Mark Polishuk | August 21, 2019 at 9:41am CDT

The Padres announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Eric Yardley. Outfielder Travis Jankowski has been optioned to Triple-A to create 25-man roster space.

The call-up represents a belated, and undoubtedly very welcome, belated birthday gift for Yardley, who turned 29 on Sunday. As noted by Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser, Yardley was an undrafted player who began his pro career in the independent Pecos League in 2013 before catching on with the Padres.

The righty has a 2.87 ERA, 7.0 K/9, and 3.46 K/BB rate over 413 1/3 career minor league innings, all in San Diego’s farm system. Yardley is an extreme groundball pitcher, easily topping the 60% grounder rate threshold in each of his professional seasons. This includes a 63.7% rate at Triple-A El Paso this year, so between keeping the ball out of the air and some pinpoint control (1.9 BB/9), it isn’t a surprise that Yardley has been able to hold his own in the extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League this season — he has a 2.63 ERA, 7.4 K/9, and 3.92 K/BB rate over 61 2/3 relief innings in 2019.

After being sidelined for much of the season due to a broken wrist, Jankowski appeared in just four games for the Padres before returning to the minors. Jankowski has displayed some impressive speed and defense over 313 games with San Diego since the start of the 2015 campaign, though in the wake of his lost season, he could now be a non-tender candidate this winter. Jankowski wouldn’t be in line for much of a raise on his $1.165MM salary and (as a Super Two player) he has three arbitration years remaining, but the Padres could prefer to just move on, given their depth of outfield options.

Padres To Place Tatis, Kinsler On Injured List

By Steve Adams | August 16, 2019 at 12:28pm CDT

The Padres will place infielders Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ian Kinsler on the injured list, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. It was already known that a back issue — now reported to be a strain — would likely send Tatis to the IL for the second time this season. A herniated disk in Kinsler’s neck will send him there alongside Tatis. Infielder Ty France and outfielder Travis Jankowski are coming up from Triple-A to fill the two roster spots.

Tatis is still undergoing tests, though Acee writes that the Padres hope he’s able to return in a couple of weeks. A timeline for Kinsler is less clear. With the Padres eight games below .500 and out of the playoff racing barring a stunning resurgence, the loss of Tatis doesn’t impact the postseason picture. However, a second stint on the IL throws a wrench into the 20-year-old Tatis’ Rookie of the Year candidacy. The young phenom is hitting .317/.379/.590 with 22 homers and 16 stolen bases in just 84 games this season. Kinsler, meanwhile, has seen his role dramatically reduced amid a career-worst season at the plate and was hitting just .217/.278/.368 through 281 plate appearances in the first season of a two-year, $8MM contract.

This’ll mark the season debut for Jankowski, 28, who began the season on the 60-day injured list due to a broken wrist. He’s batted .299/.387/.343 in 155 plate appearances with Triple-A El Paso since his wrist healed up to the point where he could return to the field. Jankowski, who’ll be arbitration-eligible this winter, is a lifetime .242/.319/.321 hitter in 953 plate appearances. Depending on how he performs, Jankowski could represent either a trade candidate or a non-tender candidate this winter.

France will return to the big leagues after posting a lackluster .235/.290/.357 batting line in 107 plate appearances earlier this season. However, France has posted an absurd .399/.477/.770 batting line with 27 home runs and 27 doubles apiece in just 76 games (348 plate appearances). The 25-year-old will have a tough path to regular MLB playing time with Manny Machado, Tatis and Eric Hosmer locked into three of the four infield positions and Luis Urias the likely second baseman of the future. France, though, could serve as a utility player who can play multiple positions for the Friars in the future, and his terrific numbers in Triple-A should put him in position for a long-term opportunity to do so. He’s controllable through at least the 2025 season.

Padres Designate Jose Pirela, Reinstate & Option Travis Jankowski

By Jeff Todd | July 22, 2019 at 4:34pm CDT

The Padres have designated utilityman Jose Pirela for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed for outfielder Travis Jankowski, who was activated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A.

Pirela, 29, has not seen much MLB action this season despite the fact that he has posted loud offensive numbers. Through 242 plate appearances, he’s slashing a robust .353/.401/.674 with 18 long balls.

It seems the Friars had already seen enough to know how they felt about Pirela. He had received a long look in 2018 after a strong 2017 showing, but proved unable to capitalize on the opportunity. Through nearly a thousand total trips to the plate at the game’s highest level, Pirela is a .258/.307/.390 hitter (88 wRC+).

The story isn’t altogether different for Jankowski, who has run through 953 plate appearances in the majors with marginal results (.242/.319/.321; 79 wRC+). He is a year-and-a-half younger than Pirela and arguably offers a slightly higher floor with highly-graded glovework and baserunning. Jankowski hasn’t been overly impressive with the bat during his rehab assignment — his plate discipline hasn’t quite made up for a total power outage (.254/.371/.271) — but will get another chance to show he deserves a big-league job in San Diego.

NL West Notes: Giants, Altherr, Anderson, Cordero, Jankowski

By Mark Polishuk | May 12, 2019 at 6:04pm CDT

Yesterday’s news that Derek Holland was being moved to the Giants bullpen came with some eyebrow-raising comments from the left-hander, who was critical of the front office’s decision and claimed that his April 29 injured list placement due to a bruised index finger was a “fake injury.” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Saturday that Holland’s injury was legitimate, and further discussed the matter today with reporters (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). “I think every organization would like to create an environment where guys feel comfortable talking about their concerns in-house,” Zaidi said. “To the extent guys don’t feel comfortable, that’s on me. Maybe I haven’t been around as much as I should be.” The entire situation, Zaidi intimated, could be due to the shared displeasure between the front office and the players over the Giants’ lackluster start to the season: “If we’re 23-16, I don’t think we’d be sitting in this room right now. I understand it. I’m as frustrated as anybody. But again, I want us to have a culture of accountability where people are looking in the mirror and asking what they can do better.”

Padres Claim Socrates Brito

By Jeff Todd | March 27, 2019 at 5:02pm CDT

5:02pm: San Diego has now announced the waiver claim. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, they’ve transferred Jankowski to the 60-day injured list.

12:42pm: The Padres have claimed outfielder Socrates Brito off waivers from the Diamondbacks, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link). Brito will join an already crowed outfield mix with the San Diego organization.

It’s possible that the Friars see Brito as a fill-in for Travis Jankowski, who’s sidelined for an extended stretch to open the year. Brito is a left-handed hitter who’s capable of playing center and runs the bases well, not unlike Jankowski. But other options abound in the San Diego outfield. The club may even open the year with six outfielders on its active roster, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets, though that would assuredly not last long into the season.

Instead, as Piecoro notes, the San Diego club may have other intentions. The Padres may simply put the out-of-options 26-year-old back on waivers in hopes he’ll clear in the midst of the pre-season roster turmoil, or they could flip him on to another organization with a lower waiver priority. Any number of other roster machinations could conceivably be related, though claiming Brito hardly shows the club’s hand.

Travis Jankowski Diagnosed With Broken Wrist

By Jeff Todd | March 5, 2019 at 10:48am CDT

TODAY: Jankowski is expected to require surgery and miss approximately three months of action, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets.

YESTERDAY: Padres outfielder Travis Jankowski has been diagnosed with a broken wrist, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. It’s not yet known how long he’ll be sidelined, but it is anticipated that he “will miss significant time.”

The 27-year-old Jankowski suffered the injury laying out for a catch. Particulars aren’t yet known this time around, but he has once previously suffered a generally similar injury. Back in 2014, Jankowski fractured his wrist in a collision with an outfield wall.

Jankowski is earning $1.165MM this year as a Super Two player. While he has not yet shown much with the bat at the MLB level, he is coming off of a personal-best offensive season. Over 387 plate appearances in 2018, Jankowski slashed .259/.332/.346 with 24 stolen bases. He’s a quality outfield defender who can play up the middle, significantly boosting his utility.

The Friars have the depth to deal with an absence from Jankowski, with Manuel Margot and Franchy Cordero representing a potential righty/lefty mix up the middle. But they’ll lose a roster element they had hoped to carry entering the season. The Pads have a few lefty-hitting outfielders on the depth chart in Boog Powell and Alex Dickerson, though both were recently sent to minors camp.

With Jankowski down to open the year, then, the San Diego organization could consider a wide variety of alternative means of utilizing the 25-man roster opening. It could open the door to intriguing outfielder Franmil Reyes. Utilitymen Jose Pirela and Javy Guerra are also candidates who already have 40-man roster spots. The same goes for corner infielder Ty France, though it’s less clear how he’d function on a roster that now features high-priced regulars at his accustomed positions.

Padres Notes: Free Agents, Myers, Diaz

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | February 19, 2019 at 10:32am CDT

One year after he went through free agency, Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer discussed his experience and the team’s intriguing pursuit of some new big-ticket items, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Public reports can capture elements of what’s going on behind the scenes, he says, “but at the end of the day you really just don’t know” until the ink dries. While he wasn’t able to help with an understanding of where the Friars stand in their pursuit of Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, Hosmer did call it “exciting” and “motivating” to hear of the club’s efforts. “It just shows where this organization is at,” he said. “Where we’re at in the process right now, we’re trying to win baseball games.”

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Thursday

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | January 10, 2019 at 8:51pm CDT

The deadline for teams and players to exchange arbitration figures is tomorrow afternoon at 1pm ET. With the vast majority of teams now adopting a “file-and-trial” approach to arbitration — that is, halting negotiations on one-year contracts once figures have been exchanged and simply going to a hearing at that point — there will be a deluge of arbitration agreements in the next 24 hours. It’s a minor deadline day in terms of newsworthiness — outside of the largest cases, at least — as few arbitration cases will have a significant impact on their team’s overall payroll picture. From a broader perspective, though, the exchange of arb figures is perhaps more notable. With most or all of their arbitration cases out of the way, teams can focus more heavily on the trade and free-agent markets.

As always, it’s interesting to refer back to MLBTR’s annual arbitration projections. Here are the day’s deals:

The Tigers will pay Shane Greene $4MM for the coming campaign, Murray tweets. Entering his second year of eligibility, the 30-year-old had projected at $4.8MM, owing largely to his strong tally of 32 saves. Despite appealing K/BB numbers, though, Greene finished the season with an unsightly 5.12 ERA.
Righty Nick Tropeano settled with the Angels at $1.075MM. (That’s also via Murray, on Twitter.) That falls well shy of his $1.6MM projection. The first-year arb-eligible hurler was not terribly effective in his 14 starts last year and has just over two hundred career frames in the big leagues, due in no small part to a long rehab owing to Tommy John surgery.

Earlier Updates

Newly acquired outfielder Domingo Santana will earn $1.95MM in his first season with the Mariners, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports on Twitter. That’s just a touch below the $2.0MM that MLBTR & Matt Swartz had projected. The 26-year-old Santana swatted thirty long balls and had a productive overall 2017 season, but only received 235 plate appearances in the ensuing campaign — over which he hit five home runs and carried a .265/.328/.412 slash — before being dealt to Seattle.
The Angels are on the hook for $1,901,000 to rehabbing righty J.C. Ramirez, Robert Murray of The Athletic tweets. Ramirez will receive a nominal raise on his 2018 salary after requiring Tommy John surgery after just two starts.
Phillies righty Hector Neris has settled at $1.8MM, according to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter links). He had projected at $2.0MM but will settle for a bit less in his first season of arb eligibility. Right-handed starter Jerad Eickhoff, meanwhile, is slated to receive $975K. His projected first-year salary was much higher, at $1.7MM, but Eickhoff presented a tough case since he missed virtually all of his platform season with arm troubles.
Southpaw Ryan Buchter has agreed with the Athletics on a $1.4MM deal, Nightengale of reports on Twitter. That lands just a smidge over his $1.3MM projection. Soon to turn 32, Buchter worked to a sub-3.00 for the third-straight season in 2018, but only threw 39 1/3 innings while working as a lefty specialist.
Red Sox reliever Heath Hembree will receive a $1,312,500 salary next year, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link). Starter Steven Wright checks in just a shade higher, at $1.375MM, per Nightengale (via Twitter). Both players had projected in this range, with Swartz pegging $1.2MM for the former and $1.4MM for the latter. It’s Hembree’s first time through the process and Wright’s second.
First-time arb-eligible righty Scott Oberg settled with the Rockies for $1.3MM, according to Nightengale (via Twitter). It’s $100K over the projected rate for the 28-year-old hurler, who turned in far and away his most productive MLB season in 2018.
The Yankees have a $1.2MM deal in place with first baseman Greg Bird, Nightengale was first to tweet. Though he had projected a bit higher, at $1.5MM, Bird’s relatively robust number of home runs (31 total in 659 career plate appearances) were threatened to be overshadowed in a hypothetical hearing by his rough overall stats over the past two seasons. He’ll need to earn his way back into a larger share of playing time in 2019.
Infielder Travis Jankowski will earn $1.165MM with the Padres, per Murray (via Twitter). He projected at a heftier $1.4MM, but the Super Two qualifier will still earn a nice raise after his best season in the big leagues. Jankowski will be looking to crack 400 plate appearances for the first time in the season to come.
The Nationals have agreed to a $1MM contract with righty Joe Ross, Murray also tweets. Though Ross projected at $1.5MM for his first season of eligibility, that was based largely upon the innings he accumulated over the prior three seasons. Ross made it back from Tommy John surgery in time for only three outings in 2018.
A pair of backstops have also put pen to paper on new salaries. Curt Casali will earn $950K with the Reds, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link). John Ryan Murphy has a $900K agreement with the Diamondbacks, the elder Nightengale tweets. Casali, a Super Two, had projected for a $1.3MM salary, while Murphy projected at $1.1MM in his first arb year.

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