RECENT TRADES
Phillies Receive: Vince Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer, Derek Fisher and Thomas Eshelman
Astros Receive: RHP Ken Giles
The Astros are going for broke. Kudos to them for that.
Giles was added to be the closer for the Astros allowing them to slot Luke Gregerson back into the 8th inning where he’s had most of his career success. As for Giles, he might now be a top-10 closer when it comes to 2016 given the team that will be scoring runs for him. Giles saved 15 games in 17 chances last season after taking over for Jonathan Papelbon and looked dominant as he posted a 1.80 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with a ton of strikeouts. In fact, over the course of 113 big league outings and 115.2 innings the dude has been the balls with a 1.56 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and an 11.75 K/9 rate. Not many dominate better than that, but I was still surprised by the deal (can read more about it here). His move leaves the Phillies with Luis Garcia, Jeanmar Gomez and David Hernandez to work the 9th inning.
Velasquez was ranked as the 69th best prospect in baseball in the midseason rankings at MLB.com last season. He worked 55.2 innings, including making seven starts, and the early returns were pretty solid: 4.37 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 9.38 K/9 and a 2.76 K/BB ratio. His average heater was 94.6 mph, his stuff is impressive, but he needs to cut his 47 percent fly ball rate. He’s got a big arm and should slot in as an impressive starter in time. In 2016 innings are a concerns, he only threw 88.2 last season, but he could be a heck of a league specific arm.
Oberholtzer is a 26 year old lefty who profiles like a 5th starter at the big league level. Through 42 starts and 243.2 innings, Brett has a 3.94 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 5.89 K/9 and 2.06 BB/9. He’s just a guy, but a lefty that can eat innings can have a long career, even if not an impressive one in the fantasy game.
Fisher was a first rounder in 2014 and becomes a top-10 best prospect in the Astros pipeline. He should be an everyday left fielder with time and he hit 22 homers with 87 runs batted in and an .847 OPS over 123 games at Single and Double-A last season.
Eshelman walked 0.4 batters in his college career. That’s the best mark in NCAA Division I history. He profiles as a 4/5 starter when he develops.
Mets Receive: 2B Neil Walker
Pirates Receive: LHP Jon Niese
I wrote about Walker in an article a couple weeks ago. He’s extremely solid. He was added, as was Asdrubal Cabrera (2-years, $16.5 million), to give the team a new 2B/SS duo. That leaves Wilmer Flores as a super sub for 2016. Walker’s outlook doesn’t change with the Mets.
Niese is as a solid lefty who is more than likely to be a mixed league streaming option than 30 game starter. His ERA, under 3.75 for 3-straight years, rose to 4.13 last season. He also posted a 1.40 WHIP, the second time in three seasons that he’s hit that mark. He also lost a batter off his K/9 rate last season as it fell to 5.76. The Pirates hope their pitching coach, Ray Searage, can work his magic with Niese.
Angels Receive: INF Yunel Escobar
Nationals Receive: RHP Trevor Gott and RHP Michael Brady
Escobar appeared in 134 games at the hot corner last season, and it’s the only position he will qualify at in 2016. That doesn’t mean he won’t see time at shortstop or second base though. He is likely to play third base unless the Angels brings back David Freese or makes another move. Escobar hit .314, a career best, last season. Folks, he’s not that guy. His career mark is .281 and note that from 2012-14 he failed to hit even .260 one time. He did post a .375 OBP last season, a six year high, but it was tied directly to his batting average spike (hello .347 BABIP). He also posted a league average type of slugging percentage, .415, that was .030 points better than his career mark. He hasn’t hit 10 homers in four seasons. He hasn’t had 60 RBIs since 2009. He hasn’t scored 62 runs in three of four seasons. He has seven steals the last three years. A 33 year old infielder formerly of the Nationals, I believe this is the 7th time that he has been dealt during his career. #BeCareful
Gott had a 3.02 ERA over 48 relief appearances with the Angels in 2015. As a rookie the 23 year old threw an average heater of 96.2 mph but, inexplicably, was only able to generate 5.10 strikeouts per nine. Love the 57 percent ground ball rate though. Brandon League anyone?
Brady is a 28 year old who has appeared in just 25.2 innings of work above Double-A. He is 20-21 with a 3.08 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 401 strikeouts over 385.1 innings. The numbers certainly impress.
Brewers Receive: RHP Daniel Missaki, RHP Carlos Herrera and RHP Freddy Peralta.
Mariners Receive: 1B Adam Lind
This piece is taking longer than I thought to write. I got a 2016 MLB Draft Guide to write. For the minor leaguers you can read this solid MLB.com report.
Lind is a good hitter and he will be looked at to continue being the type of hitter he has been with the Mariners next season. Lind hit 20 homers with 87 RBIs last night, he had 23/67 back in 2013, a year before he was injured and limited to 290 at-bats in 2014. Lind cannot hit lefties, never has, and he really shouldn’t even be on the field when there is one on the bump (.213/.259/.327 for his career). When a righty is on the hill though the guy mashes like a rock star (.293/.354/.509). Hard to trust him in mixed leagues if you can’t swap players out on a daily basis but he should once again be productive. Oh, and don’t think Lind wants to DH. He does not.
White Sox Receive: INF Brett Lawrie
Athletics Receive: RHP J.B. Wendelken and LHP Zack Erwin
Lawrie has about 47 tats. He plays hard. He’s a nice talent. His production has never lived up to expectations after he burst onto the scene in 2011. Still, he’s not even 26 years old, can play second or third, and for the first time last season with the Athletics stayed healthy enough to appear in 149 games. He hit a career best 16 homers, stole five bases, drove in 60 and scored 64 times. There is no reason, with health, that he couldn’t replicate or even improve on those numbers with the Sox. However, his OBP the last two seasons has been .300, and his career SLG is .420, so it’s more likely than not that he will hit in the bottom third of the Sox order and that will certainly limit his upside. A strong AL-only target but a moderate mixed league option.
For the young Athletics see this report.
Mariners Receive: RHP Evan Scribner
Athletics Receive: RHP Trey Cochran-Gill
Scribner has 64 strikeouts over 60 innings and he walked just four batters last season. He also was bombed for 14 homers. Love the 4.96 K/BB for his career, but that 1.46 HR/9 rate is scary.
TCG is a middle relief prospect who in his second big league season looked lost with a 5.26 ERA and horrible1.38 K/BB ratio.
RECENT SIGNINGS
Angels signed OF Craig Gentry to a 1-year, $1 million contract. Nothing to see here.
Astros re-signed LHP Tony Sipp to a 3-year, $18 million deal. Last year he had a 1.99 ERA and over the last 105 innings his WHIP is 0.96. Also owns a K/9 rate above 10 the last three years.
Cardinals signed RHP Jonathan Broxton to a 2-year, $7.5 million deal. He did post a 2.66 ERA over 23.2 innings with the Cardinals last year, and he did strike out 63 batters over 60.1 innings as his groundball rate was once against over 50 percent (52.8 in 2015).
Nationals signed RHP Shawn Kelley to a three-year, $15 million deal. Kelly posted a 2.45 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and had 65 punchouts in 51.1 innings. His signing continues the ascension of the middle reliever in front office thinking.
Nationals signed RHP Yusmeiro Petit to a 1-year, $2.5 million deal. He is one of the best swingmen in the game. He can work an inning, two or start in a punch. The last two seasons he’s worked 193 innings with an ERA of 3.68 and a 1.06 WHIP.
Pirates signed RHP Juan Nicasio to a 1-year deal. He posted a 3.86 ERA last season over 58.1 innings and throws 95 mph. Also walks about five batters per nine too.
Rockies signed 1B/3B Mark Reynolds to a 1-year, $2.6 million deal. We all know that Reynolds is a slugger who cannot make contact. He was that guy yet again, well basically, in 2015 for the Cardinals and will likely be again in 2016 for the Rockies. Don’t get too carried away about the ballpark, but it’s certainly likely that after hitting just 13 homers in 382 at-bats in 2015 that he will return to the level of 21 homers in 2016, a number he reached each year from 2008-14. A career .230 hitter, he’s reached that level just once in six seasons.
For all the signings click on - 2016 MLB Free Agent Tracker
RULE 5 DRAFT
“In the Rule 5 draft, teams pay $50,000 to pick a player. That player must either remain on the big league roster throughout 2016 or be offered back to the original club for $25,000.”
If you’re interested in the sixteen players that were selected, click on the link above.
WINTER MEETINGS
Finally, in case you missed it, I wrote a running commentary while attending the Winter Meetings in Nashville. You can read the story for the breakdowns of the movement, for my crazy cool photos, or so you can better understand what a day in the life of the Oracle is like. Yes, it is magical.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Thursday at 8 PM EDT and Friday at 10 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).