Happy New Year from The Baseball Kid

 

White Sox sign Adam Engel to one-year deal, avoiding arbitration

Adam Engel

One minor announcement for the White Sox today: The team signed outfielder Adam Engel to a one-year, $1.35 million contract, avoiding arbitration.

Engel had a career-best season in a part-time role in 2020. He batted .295/.333/.477 in 36 games. He totaled five doubles, three home runs, one triple, 12 RBIs and 11 runs scored in 93 plate appearances. Engel, a plus defender, played all three outfield positions and started 23 games last season.

Over the past two seasons, the right-handed-hitting Engel has carved a niche as a platoon player. Since the beginning of 2019, he has batted .310/.355/.466 against left-handed pitching. He homered off Oakland left-hander Jesus Luzardo in Game 1 of the 2020 playoffs.

In 2021, Engel is expected to platoon in right field with left-handed-hitting Adam Eaton, who was signed to a one-year contract earlier this offseason.

Following up: San Diego Padres acquiring Yu Darvish from the Cubs

Yu Darvish

One day after we talked about the San Diego Padres acquiring former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays, we've learned sources say the Padres also are acquiring Yu Darvish from the Cubs.

According to the report, it's a seven-player blockbuster. Darvish, who finished second in the National League Cy Young voting in 2020, is headed to the Padres along with his personal catcher, Victor Caratini. 

In return, the Cubs receive right-handed pitcher Zach Davies and four kids -- outfielders Owen Caissie and Ismael Mena and shortstops Reggie Preciado and Yeison Santana.

Santana is the grizzled veteran among that quartet of prospects. ... He's 20 years old. Caissie and Mena are 18 years old. Preciado is 17. The latter two don't even have a Baseball Reference page yet.

It's hard not to like this deal for the Padres. Darvish has three years and $59 million remaining on his contract, and that's not cheap. But hey, didn't we just watch Darvish pitch like an ace on the North Side of Chicago in 2020? He was 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts. 

The Cubs don't win the NL Central without him, and you could make a good case that he deserved the Cy Young. With that production, he was earning his big contract.

San Diego's projected starting rotation is as follows:

1. Darvish
2. Snell
3. Dinelson Lamet
4. Chris Paddack
5. MacKenzie Gore

Those top three are formidable. The back of the rotation is young with plenty of upside. You can see a scenario now in which the Padres challenge the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West this year, and that's the whole point of the deal.

What's the point of this for the Cubs? Well, they just cleared a bunch of salary. That's it. They just traded their best starter -- perhaps their best trade piece, given that their entire offensive core had a down year in 2020 -- for a league-average right-hander (Davies) and a package of prospects who have never played about Rookie Ball.

None of these guys ranked any higher than No. 10 on the list of San Diego prospects. I suppose one or more of them could be good in 2024 or 2025, but I'm surprised the Cubs couldn't do better for Darvish.

Sources: San Diego Padres acquire Blake Snell from Tampa Bay Rays

Blake Snell

For all the talk about the San Diego Padres being the hip team in the National League -- if not all of baseball -- they are still looking up at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

The Padres need to swing big if they are to catch up, and they did so Sunday by acquiring left-handed starting pitcher Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Snell, the 2018 Cy Young Award winner in the American League, played five seasons with Tampa Bay, going 42-30 with a 3.24 ERA in 108 starts. He's an established top-of-the-rotation pitcher, and he has three years and $40 million remaining on his contract.

With those years of team control, Tampa Bay needed to get a good package of players in return, and the Rays did secure four players: pitchers Luis Patino and Cole Wilcox, and catchers Francisco Mejia and Blake Hunt.

More on those guys in a minute, but for the Padres, they needed a solution for their starting rotation with Mike Clevinger injured and out for 2021. Dinelson Lamet was injured at the end of the 2020 season, too, and missed the playoffs. Beyond that, San Diego has Chris Paddack -- who was excellent as a rookie in 2019, but struggled this year -- and veteran righty Zach Davies. 

So, even with Snell, and assuming good health for Lamet, the Padres have only four starting pitchers in place. MacKenzie Gore, a high-end left-handed pitching prospect, also is a candidate for the San Diego rotation. But the Padres have a lineup that is ready to win now. They are coming off a 37-23 season, and they needed to get a little more predictability in their starting rotation -- the injuries to their pitching staff caused them to get run over by the Dodgers in the playoffs.

Snell is a great fit for that need, and San Diego may not be done yet. The Padres are rumored to be in talks to acquire Cubs ace Yu Darvish. Stay tuned on that.

As for the Rays, I'm guessing they look at Patino as the main piece of the trade. The 21-year-old made it to the majors in 2020, appearing in 11 games. The right-hander throws 97 mph and has three pitches, and he was the No. 2 pitching prospect in the San Diego organization, behind only Gore. He sounds like the kind of pitcher the Rays make into someone good.

Wilcox is a bit of a lotto ticket. He was the Padres' third-round draft pick in 2020, but he was given first-round money. He's a right-hander with a big fastball. He's 6-foot-5, 232 pounds and has the SEC pedigree, having played his college ball at the University of Georgia.

Mejia is a familiar name. He was once a big prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization. He was traded to San Diego as part of the Brad Hand deal. He fills a need for Tampa Bay, but he's yet to prove he can hit in the big leagues -- as shown by his .225 career batting average and .668 career OPS. To be fair, Mejia has accumulated only 362 career plate appearances, but he's also 25 years old now. If the breakout is coming, it needs to happen soon.

Hunt is a 22-year-old catcher who played in High-A in 2019. He was the No. 14 prospect in the Padres' organization, and he is said to have a good throwing arm behind the plate. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, there is hope he can develop power as a hitter, but he only homered five times in 89 games in 2019.

This is a decent haul for the Rays, especially if Patino develops quickly. But if you're the Padres, this is a move you have to make if you want to catch the Dodgers. I applaud them for making it.

Merry Christmas from The Baseball Kid

 

White Sox expected to add Cuban outfielder Yoelqui Cespedes

Some international signing news: The White Sox are expected to add Cuban outfielder Yoelqui Cespedes, according to multiple reports.

The 23-year-old outfielder is the half-brother of veteran MLB outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Yoelqui Cespedes is ranked No. 1 on MLB.com's list of international prospects. 

Of note, Cespedes is only ranked No. 12 on Baseball America's list of international prospects, which is proof that opinions vary greatly on these guys who we haven't seen play pro ball in the United States.

It's also true that Baseball America tends to favor younger prospects, and Cespedes might be penalized in those rankings because he's a little bit older than the other guys on the list.

In any case, here's what we know: Cespedes will likely sign his deal on Jan. 15, the first day of the international signing period. The agreement is reportedly worth $2 million, which isn't a lot in baseball terms, and that makes Cespedes worth the gamble.

The right-handed hitting outfielder is 5-foot-9, 205 pounds, and like a lot of Cuban players who come to the U.S., he's described as having ample power, with plenty of swing-and-miss in his game. Cespedes has the athleticism to play center field, and the throwing arm to play right field.

If it were to work out for the Sox, Cespedes would probably end up in right field. It's reasonable to believe that Luis Robert is the center fielder for years to come.

Cespedes scores 50 or better in all five tools on MLB Pipeline's 20-80 scale. Do with that information what you will. This is a raw but talented player who needs some time in the minor leagues. For the Sox's sake, let's hope he can get that playing time in a place like Triple-A Charlotte in 2021.

Players coming off mediocre or bad seasons are signing contracts

Michael Wacha

With Christmas only a week away, the Major League Baseball offseason continues to be slow on news. There are plenty of quality free agents still on the market, and, in fact, most of the players who have recently signed contracts are coming off mediocre or bad seasons.

A few examples:

• Pitcher Michael Wacha signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Wacha was 1-4 with a 6.62 ERA in eight starts and 34 innings with the New York Mets last season.
• Pitcher Jonathan Holder signed a nonguaranteed contract with the Cubs. If he makes the club out of spring training, he'll earn $750,000 in 2021. Holder was 3-0 with a 4.98 ERA in 18 relief appearances with the New York Yankees last season.
• Pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is headed to the San Francisco Giants on a one-year, $6 million deal. He pitched nine games (seven starts) for the Cincinnati Reds in 2020, going 1-2 with a 7.22 ERA.
• Catcher Mike Zunino is staying with Tampa Bay on a one-year, $2 million contract that includes an option for 2022. Zunino batted .147/.238/.360 with four homers and 10 RBIs in 28 games for the 2020 American League champions.
• Pitcher Alex Claudio is headed to the Los Angeles Angels on a one-year, $1.25 million deal. The lefty worked 19 relief innings with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2020, posting no decisions and a 4.26 ERA.

It's pretty incredible that guys who are not talked about much are the ones getting contracts, while all the notable names are still unsigned. Just another example of how up is down and down is up in 2020.