The O's acquire a right fielder, the Red Sox add a pitcher, the White Sox say adios to a Cuban import, and the Nationals add a bullpen arm.
Travis Snider to Baltimore
Since losing Nick Markakis to the Braves via free agency, the Orioles' depth chart has been woefully thin in the corner outfield spots. Snider was acquired from the Pirates on Tuesday night for Stephen Tarpley and a player to be named later.
Coming off of a career best season with the Bucs that included a .264/.338/.438 line, 13 home runs and 38 RBI over 359 plate appearances, Snider gets a big upgrade in terms of his home park with the shift out of PNC Park and into Camden Yards. Further, he'll turn 27 in February, and it's fair to wonder just how much injuries have limited his development to this point. Snider debuted at the MLB level with the Blue Jays in 2008 as a 20-year-old, but he's only collected 1,706 plate appearances over seven big league seasons.
Oddly enough, he's been volatile in limited chances against lefties (1.054 OPS in 2014, .291 OPS in 2013), while showing marked improvement last season in the larger platoon split against right-handed pitching (.734 OPS). Most impressively, Snider cut his strikeout rate from 26.3% (career 25.0%) to 18.7% in 2014.
In 15-team mixed leagues, he might be a viable fifth outfielder given the lack of viable alternatives to push him for playing time in right field.
Without having to look over his shoulder at top prospect Gregory Polanco, Snider's projected playing time should receive a significant bump upward.
I'm more bullish on him than his current .247/.318/.400 projection.
Upgrading Polanco
After losing time to Snider in August and September, Polanco now has a clear path to 500 at-bats as the everyday right fielder in Pittsburgh. Even while his slash line fell short of Year 1 expectations (.235/.307/.343), Polanco added 14 stolen bases over 89 games for the Pirates as a rookie and finished 30-for-40 in 158 combined games between Triple-A and the big leagues.
Now 23 years old, Polanco should push double-digit home runs with 25-30 steals, numbers similar to teammate Starling Marte, although Polanco's on-base skills are more refined at this point since Marte's OBP is aided by a heavy supply of HBPs (41 since the start of the 2013 seasons). It would hardly be surprising to see a Christian Yelich type leap from Polanco in 2015. Look for a steady rise from his current NFBC ADP (132.86) between today and late March.
Red Sox-Rangers Trade
Lefty Robbie Ross will head to Boston while right-hander Anthony Ranaudo is going to Texas.
Ross appears to be a very useful left-handed bullpen arm (3.27 career ERA as a reliever), but barring further development, it's unlikely that he'll get another prolonged look as a starter (5.70 career ERA).
Ranaudo has much less competition to earn a spot in the back of the rotation in Texas, but his debut with the Red Sox last season left plenty to be desired. Over seven starts with Boston, Ranaudo carried a 15:16 K:BB over 39.1 innings (4.80 ERA, 1.40 WHIP). He turned 25 in September, and may be a finished product at this point, but the appeal here is that he should be able to shoulder a 200-inning workload if needed in 2015 after tossing 177.1 innings between Pawtucket and Boston last season.
At Pawtucket, Ranaudo posted a 2.61 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over 24 starts (138 innings), while his numbers at Double-A and Triple-A in 2013 were serviceable. Most likely, he projects as a back-end starter, but he could be a good late-inning reliever if the Rangers shift him into a bullpen role.
Viciedo DFA'd
The White Sox re-signed Gordon Beckham on a one-year, $2 million deal, while electing to designate Dayan Viciedo for assignment Wednesday.
Viciedo, 26 in March, has a career .254/.298/.424 line with 66 home runs in 1,798 plate appearances with the White Sox since the start of the 2010 season. The inability to draw walks frequently paired with bad defense made him expendable.
In many ways, he's the Cuban Delmon Young, and a .291/.331/.507 career line against left-handed pitching supports that notion. He'll almost certainly end up with another American League club, where it's unlikely that he'll be used more than occasionally as a left fielder. Viciedo's raw power is legitimate, and he's actually posted better numbers on the road (.255/.301/.435) than at U.S. Cellular Field (.253/.295/.412) during his career.
First base was never an option for Viciedo in Chicago (thanks to Paul Konerko, Adam Dunn, and Jose Abreu), but he played 59 games at the position with Triple-A Charlotte in 2010.
Texas and Seattle appear to be the best fits with Young's recent return to Baltimore and holdover Steve Pearce already in tow.
Nationals add Janssen
Casey Janssen agreed to a one-year deal with the Nationals on Wednesday, providing a much-needed boost to the bullpen following the departure of Rafael Soriano. With diminished velocity last season (avg. fastball - 89.3 mph), Janssen's strikeout rate crashed through the floor from 8.5 K/9 in 2013 to 5.5 K/9 last season. He still showed good control, walking batters at the lowest rate of his career (1.4 BB/9), but he'll need to prove that he's healthy this spring to solidify his late-inning role. Presumably, Drew Storen will still enter the season as the Nationals' closer, but there is considerably less leash for him if Janssen can return to form.
Prior to the slide in 2014, Janssen posted three straight seasons with an ERA of 2.56 or less, while his home/road splits suggest that getting out of Rogers Centre will go a long way toward helping him rebound.
With the addition of Janssen, Storen may fall just outside of the top-10 closers in most drafts.
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