The Texas Rangers have agreed to sign shortstop Ian Desmond, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported Sunday.
Desmond's deal is a one-year, $8 million pact, and it is pending a physical. Despite playing shortstop his entire Major League career, Desmond will become the Rangers' primary left fielder. Many around the game had noted that Desmond would likely have to change positions in order to find a new home. The need for a left fielder arose when Josh Hamilton reported to Spring Training with a sore knee. He was reportedly seen on crutches just days ago, and he will begin the season on the disabled list. Desmond has practically zero professional experience in the outfield. He has a combined 15 innings of work there over the course of his Major and Minor League career. His last time playing in the outfield came in 2010, appearing in right field for a single out. Position aside, it has been quite a downfall for Desmond over the last few years. The Washington Post reported that the Washington Nationals offered Desmond was a seven-year, $107 million contract extension during the 2013-2014 offseason. He turned it down, setting for a two-year, $17.5 million pact to buyout his final two arbitration seasons. Desmond was then offered a qualifying offer at the beginning of this offseason, which would have been a one-year, $15.8 million signing to stay with Washington. That was turned down as well. He was then tied to draft pick compensation, limiting his value and lengthening his stay in free agency to trickle into the New Year. Now, at the end of February, Desmond was forced to take a 27 percent pay cut from his 2015 salary of $11 million. Poor performance also played a role in Desmond's inability to find a new club. The 30-year-old hit .233/.290/.384 with 19 home runs and 62 RBIs in 641 plate appearances in 2015. His 80 OPS+ was the lowest since 2011. FanGraphs pegged him at just 1.7 Wins Above Replacement, also the lowest since that season. Desmond now heads to Texas for a season, where he hopes to rebuild value playing outside his normal position. He'll hit the market again next fall, but again will be eligible for a qualifying offer, if his play warrants one. But with a rebound season, Desmond may be able to recoup some of the money he lost during his time with the Nationals. Considering his age and ability to stay healthy, it's definitely possible he could rebound, and this may all work out for him. --Devan Fink
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The free agent outfield market, outside of Jason Heyward, has been slow moving.
Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon, and Justin Upton are all out there for teams to sign, but the three have yet to really develop their markets. Barring a major shakeup, they will probably all be free agents going into the new year. According to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez, Cespedes' market, in particular, has begun to take shape. He reports that the Orioles and White Sox are emerging as leaders for Cespedes "for now." The Giants and Angels are also reportedly in the mix and the Rangers are monitoring the situation. Both Baltimore and Chicago have shown the need for an outfielder. The Orioles are missing depth in the corner outfield. They already agreed to sign Hyun-soo Kim out of Korea to fill one of the two sports, but as of now, L.J. Hoes is the starter in the other. In general, the Orioles' lineup will take a step back with the expected loss of Chris Davis from the heart of the order. As for Chicago, they are in a similar situation. The team showed their willingness to contend already this offseason, acquiring Todd Frazier from the Reds. Any outfielder they sign would likely be an upgrade over Avisail Garcia in right field. He hit for just a .675 OPS and 89 OPS+ in 601 plate appearances. The Giants and Angels have already been connected to free agent outfielders this offseason. The Rangers could always make a splash. Last season, the 30-year-old Cespedes hit .291/.328/.542 with 35 home runs and 105 RBIs in 676 plate appearances with the Tigers and Mets. According to FanGraphs, he was worth a whopping 6.7 Wins Above Replacement. --Devan Fink
The Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners announced the completion a five-player trade on Monday night. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports first reported news of the deal.
The Mariners acquired outfielder Leonys Martin and right-hander Anthony Bass from the Rangers in exchange for right-hander Tom Wilhelmsen, outfielder James Jones, and a player to be named. Seattle has been extremely busy this offseason, new GM Jerry Dipoto's first at the helm. The team has acquired the likes of Joaquin Benoit and Nathan Karns already this offseason. They also re-signed Franklin Gutierrez to a Major League deal. The Mariners have wanted an athletic center fielder for quite some time now but have not found one until now. They deployed Austin Jackson there in 2015, but he is a free agent this offseason. The Rangers found Martin to be expendable after the emergence of Delino DeShields this season and the soon arrival of Lewis Brinson from Triple-A. The 27-year-old Martin hit just .219/.264/.313 with five home runs and 26 RBIs in 310 plate appearances last season. Martin had never been an above-average bat, but his 50 wRC+ was by far the lowest mark of his career. In 2015, he made just 71 defensive starts, which could have attributed to the lack of offense. Texas was able to net themselves a solid return for the outfielder. They added a hard-throwing relief pitcher in Tom Wilhelmsen, a piece that nicely goes along with Sam Dyson, Jake Diekman, Tanner Scheppers, Kelone Kela, and Shawn Tolleson out of the bullpen. All of them are hard-throwing relief pitchers. Wilhemsen's fastball averaged about 95 mph last season, according to Pitch F/X data. His maximum velocity on the heater was 98. Other than throwing hard, Wilhelmsen was a solid relief pitcher last season statistically as well. He went 2-2 with a 3.19 ERA in 53 games (62 innings) last season. He posted a 60 to 22 strikeout-to-walk ratio and allowed just three home runs. Wilhelmsen registered a 3.33 FIP, 4.22 xFIP, and 0.8 FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement in 2015. --Devan Fink Major League Baseball organizations had until today at 5 PM eastern to offer their impending free agents qualifying offers.
A qualifying offer is a one-year, $15.8 million deal, which is the average of the top 125 one-year salaries in the game. Any impending free agent can be offered a qualifying offer, however, that player must have spent the entire season with the organization that is offering them the deal (i.e. traded players like Johnny Cueto cannot be offered a qualifying offer). If the player accepts the qualifying offer, they are basically re-signing with their former club to a one-year, $15.8 million deal. If the player rejects the qualifying offer, they become a free agent as scheduled. However, if they sign with a different team, then their original team (the team they are coming from) will receive an extra first round draft pick at the end of the first round. The team that signs the player loses their first round pick, as long as they are not within the top 10 in the draft order (which in that case, they would lose their second round pick). In the three-year history of the qualifying offer, no player has accepted the deal. An MLB-record 20 players were offered a qualifying offer today. They have one week to make a decision whether they want to accept or decline the deal:
--Devan Fink
The Texas Rangers announced the acquisition of outfielder Will Venable from the San Diego Padres.
Minor league catcher and outfielder Marcus Greene and a player to be named later will be headed back to the Padres in the deal, it was announced. According to Corey Brock of MLB.com, Padres general manager A.J. Preller considers the PTBNL a “key” piece of the deal. Brock reports that the player is closer to the Major Leagues. The 32-year-old Venable will provide outfield depth to the Rangers, who have been working with injuries to Josh Hamilton. Only Ryan Strausborger is listed on their bench as an outfielder, so they obviously felt Venable would be a worthy addition to their club, especially as they try to get a playoff spot down the stretch. Venable reportedly cleared waivers. He will be a free agent at the end of this season, as he completes a two-year, $8.5 million extension signed with the Padres. On the season, Venable is hitting .258/.318/.378/.696 (98 OPS+) in 308 plate appearances. On defense, Venable serves as a just-below-average option; he’s been worth -6 defensive runs saved in the outfield this year. He can play all three outfield spots. The Rangers did not make a huge move in any respect, but definitely got an upgrade in the outfield, adding Venable to be a solid fourth outfield option. It isn’t flashy, but trades like this one can play a big role in a team’s success down the stretch. —Devan Fink |
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