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TUESDAY
Carlos Gomez returns to Rangers on one-year deal
The temporary marriage between the Texas Rangers and Carlos Gomez at the end of last season turned out well enough that Gomez will reportedly be back in Arlington next season. He agreed to a one-year deal with the Rangers that will pay $11.5 million. Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan was first to report a deal was close. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports said it was agreed upon.
BLS Take: We already know this is a good fit, as Gomez turned around his season in 2016 after he signed with the Rangers in August, two days after being released by the Houston Astros. Gomez hit .284 with eight homers in 33 games for the Rangers after hitting .210 with five homers in 85 games for the Astros. Rangers skipper Jeff Banister is said to be a big fan of Beltran, so that helps too. The Rangers have been looking to improve their outfield, but GM Jon Daniels has gone on record recently saying they wouldn’t make any splashy moves. If that’s the case, then getting Gomez (who had an 8.5 WAR season just three years ago) for $11.5 million is a worthwhile risk. — Mike Oz
Get ready to catch some invisible arrows, Arizona. The D-backs have reportedly signed relief pitcher Fernando Rodney to a one-year deal worth $2.75 million plus incentives. That’s per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, who also says the D-backs plan to use Rodney as their closer.
Rodney agreement with dbacks is for $2.75M plus many, many inventives. Plan is for him to close.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 7, 2016
BLS Take: The three big closers on the free-agent market are going to get paid more than $200 million this offseason. That includes Mark Melancon, who got $62 million over four seasons from the Giants this week. In that context, the D-backs giving Rodney $2.75 million is a prudent and potentially smart deal. If it works out and they get a decent closer, great. If not, hey, it’s $2.75 million, which isn’t anything in baseball money. Rodney is 39, so he’s on the decline, but he still saved 25 games last season and has notched 89 saves over the past three seasons.— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 7, 2016
The Tampa Bay Rays have been one of the quieter teams so far this winter. That changed on Tuesday, however, as the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports they’ve reached a two-year agreement with free agent catcher Wilson Ramos, pending a physical. According to FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman, Ramos will get $12.5M, though playing time incentives could take the deal to $18.25M.
BLS Take: The results of Ramos’ physical will actually be worth monitoring, as he’s currently recovering from October surgery to repair damage to the anterior cruciate ligament, medial meniscus and lateral meniscus in his right knee. Ramos suffered the injury on Sept. 27, right before the Washington Nationals postseason run, and is expected to require six-to-eight months of recovery. As such, the*injury could make a return to full health in 2017 difficult.
The injury was an unfortunate turn of events for Ramos, who figured to score big in free agency beforehand. He was enjoying a career year, batting*.307/.354/.496 with 22 home runs and 80 RBIs in 523 plate appearances. Those numbers would have played very well in this market. As it stands, the Rays could have a relative bargain and an attractive trade chip down the road should Ramos prove healthy. Also helping matters is the fact he can DH while working his way back. — Mark Townsend
The Boston Red Sox busy Tuesday continues. After acquiring pitchers Chris Sale from the Chicago White Sox and Tyler Thornburg from the Milwaukee Brewers, they’ve reached a one-year agreement with free agent first baseman/designated hitter Mitch Moreland, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. FanRag Sports Jon Heyman adds the deal is worth a little over $5M.
BLS Take: Dave Dombrowski isn’t messing around on Tuesday. Before taking the stage on MLB Network to discuss his blockbuster acquisition of Chris Sale, the Red Sox president could be seen working the phones. Apparently that was in effort to finish the Moreland deal, which was reported just moments later.
The Red Sox were originally believed to be in the mix for Edwin Encarnacion, but those talks had died down at the Winter Meetings. When they stepped up to make the Sale deal, it became apparent they would move down a tier in searching for a bat. That’s where they found Moreland, who will help the void left by trading Travis Shaw earlier in the day more so than the void of David Ortiz. The 31-year-old Moreland had a down year in 2016, hitting .233/.298/.422 22 homers and 60 RBIs. — Mark Townsend
The biggest move of the Winter Meetings? It’ll be hard to top this. The Chicago White Sox traded ace Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox, getting back uber prospect Yoan Moncada and fireball pitcher Michael Kopech (who were the Red Sox’s No. 1 and No. 2 prospects) plus low-level minor leaguers Victor Diaz and Luis Basabe.
BLS Take: No shortage of takes on this one. See this and this and even David Ortiz’s take.
The Milwaukee Brewers are sending late-innings reliever Tyler Thornburg to the Boston Red Sox for third baseman Travis Shaw and two minor leaguers: infielder Mauricio Dubon, and pitcher Josh Pennington.
BLS Take: The Red Sox are shoring up their bullpen, as*Thornburg was excellent for the Brewers last season. In 67 innings, he had a 2.15 ERA with 90 strikeouts. He took over as closer when Jeremy Jeffress was traded to the Rangers along with Jonathan Lucroy on August 1, and he flourished. Thornburg notched 11 saves from that point on (for 13 total on the season), and a 1.85 ERA. He won’t close for the Red Sox, as they’ve got Craig Kimbrel, but most likely will setup games for him.
The Brewers can hopefully figure out how to maximize Travis Shaw’s value. He played the outfield and first base, which is helpful, but his stats against left-handed pitchers were not helpful. He hit just .187/.235/.364 against them last season, dragging his overall triple slash down to .242/.306/.421. He did hit 16 home runs though, which is definitely valuable. Infielder Mauricio Dubon has made it to Double-A and he’s looking pretty competent with the bat, and he’s also No. 12 on MLBPipeline.com’s list of Red Sox prospects. Josh Pennington is 22 on the same list, and he’s made it to Low-A ball. Three players is an impressive haul for just one reliever, but that’s what the market demands these days. — Liz Roscher
Phillies add Joaquin Benoit to their bullpen
Journeyman reliever Joaquin Benoit has a deal in place with the Philadelphia Phillies, according to multiple reports. Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly was first. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports Benoit is getting $7.5 million for one year.
Joaquin Benoit’s one-year deal with the Phillies will pay him $7.5 million, according to a source. That is what he made in 2016, too.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) December 5, 2016
BLS Take: Benoit’s 2016 was essentially a Tale of Two Seasons. He started out with the Seattle Mariners and did pretty terribly in 26 games. He pitched 24.1 innings and racked up a 5.18 ERA with 28 strikeouts and 15 walks. Woof. In late July, the Mariners traded Benoit to the Blue Jays, and that’s when things turned around. He pitched 23.2 innings for Toronto, almost exactly what he pitched for Seattle, but the result could not have been more different. His ERA was 0.38, with nine walks and 24 strikeouts. His time in Seattle was almost surely an anomaly: before the 2016 season started, his ERA since 2010 was 2.35.— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) December 5, 2016
The Phillies desperately needed to upgrade their bullpen, especially since it kept vomiting all over itself in the 2016 home stretch. In the final month of the season, the Phillies had an MLB-worst 7.88 bullpen ERA, more than two runs worse than the second-to-last team. Over the whole season, the Phillies had the third-worst bullpen ERA in baseball (5.05). Benoit can’t fix it all on his own, but he’s a definite upgrade. — Liz Roscher
The Los Angeles Dodgers liked what they saw from Rich Hill in the second half of the season. The team agreed to bring back the 36-year-old lefty for three more years, signing him to a deal worth $48 million, according to Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown.
BLS Take: Three years and $48 million seems like a significant amount of money for a guy who was pitching in an independent league just a few years ago, but there’s no reason to doubt Hill’s resurgence on the mound the past few seasons. When healthy, he’s one of the best pitchers in the game.
Health is a major issue, though. Hill was limited by blisters last year, tossing just 110 1/3 innings. While his path to stardom has been unique, it was only the second time in his career that he’s thrown over 100 innings in a single season. On top of that, there’s some concern about his age. Few pitchers remain effective well into their late 30s. Hill might continue to be great next year, but there are legitimate reasons to worry about how his skill set will hold up a year or two from now.
With that said, he’s a good fit for Los Angeles. He clearly enjoyed his time there, and the team has the luxury of being able to make it if Hill needs to miss a month with an injury. It’s tough to call the Dodgers’ rotation dependable considering all the injury-prone players on the roster, but they do have depth at the position. — Chris Cwik
The San Francisco Giants finally have some relief help. After blowing an incredible 30 saves last year, the Giants signed closer Mark Melancon to a four-year, $62 million deal to shore up the bullpen.
BLS Take: Melancon’s deal is a record-breaker for a relief pitcher, and considering his 1.80 ERA over the past four years, it makes sense. With that said, giving long-term deals to relievers, even the best ones in the game, rarely work out. Melancon is great, and fills a huge need in San Francisco, but it’s tough to expect him to live up to that deal three or four years from now. Next season, though, he should be great, and will prevent Giants’ fans from having heart palpitations as often in the ninth inning.
While the cost is crazy, everyone knew the relief market was going to be nuts this year. Both Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman remain available, and should receive more than Melancon. If you want an elite closer, you have to pay. That doesn’t mean it’s a smart way for teams to spend their money, it’s just the way things are heading this offseason.*— Chris Cwik
Super-utilityman Pearce, who had been on the Baltimore Orioles three separate times (most recently in 2016 with stints with the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Rays in between), has a new home with the Blue Jays.
Sources: The Jays and Steve Pearce agree to a two-year, $12.5 million deal.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 5, 2016
BLS Take:*Pearce plays first base, second base, outfield, and he has some power, so he could have found a home nearly anywhere. He hit ten homers in 60 games with the Rays in 2016, and his triple slash was an impressive .309/.388/.520. When the Rays traded him to Baltimore on August 1, his stats took a massive nosedive, and he hit just .217/.329/.400 in 25 games with the Orioles. He would have played more, but he went on the DL with a whole host of right arm issues and ended up having surgery to repair the tendons in his forearm.— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 5, 2016
Even though he spent a decent chunk of the season nursing right elbow/forearm issues, he’s not a reclamation project by any stretch of the imagination. Despite his injures (and he’s racked up more than a few in the past several years) he’s versatile, and in a park like Rogers Centre, his bat is likely to play well. Even when he’s not hitting great, he can still pop it out of the park. In 2015, he hit .218/.289/.422, but he had 15 home runs. — Liz Roscher
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher