Collecting the day's minor league signings…
- Outfielder Wladimir Balentien is joining the Yakult Swallows in Japan, according to this report passed along on Twitter by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman. The 26-year-old hit .282/.337/.536 with 25 home runs in 452 Triple-A plate appearances for the Reds' affiliate.
- The Twins signed 32-year-old outfielder/first baseman Jeff Bailey, reports Seth Stohs. Bailey hit .289/.387/.462 with 12 home runs in 564 Triple-A plate appearances for the Diamondbacks' affiliate.
- The Twins also signed infielder Chase Lambin, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy. The 31-year-old hit .252/.327/.414 with 15 homers in 548 plate appearances for the National's Triple-A affiliate in 2011. He has never played in the the big league, but did spend 2009 in Japan.
- MLB.com's Carrie Muskat reports that Micah Hoffpauir has signed a one-year deal with the Nippon Ham fighters. The 30-year-old hit .251/.312/.421 in 394 plate appearances with the Cubs over the last three seasons.
- The Mariners have signed right-hander Justin Miller according to Eddy (via Twitter). In 24.1 innings with the Dodgers last year, the 33-year-old pitched to a 4.44 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. The Mariners are his ninth organization.
- Seattle also signed shortstop Sean Kazmar, tweets Eddy. He hit .275/.326/.381 for San Diego's Triple-A affiliate this year, and saw some big league action with them back in 2008.
- The Rays signed righty reliever Cory Wade, says Eddy (via Twitter). The 27-year-old had a 2.27 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 71.1 innings for the Dodgers in 2008, but he missed most of 2009 and all of 2010 after having shoulder surgery.
- Eddy tweets that the Athletics have signed outfielder Jai Miller. They lost him on a waiver claim to Kansas City back in April. The 25-year-old hit .252/.326/.490 in Triple-A last year, then .236/.300/.345 in 60 plate appearances with the Royals.
- The White Sox signed third baseman Dallas McPherson, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy. The 30-year-old hit .267/.339/.541 with 22 home runs in 354 plate appearances for Oakland's Triple-A affiliate this year. He hasn't spent significant time in the bigs since '06.
- The Phillies signed lefty reliever Dan Meyer, reports Bill Evans of the Gloucester County Times (hat tip to Matt Gelb). The 29-year-old signed with his hometown team after drawing interest from the Giants, Astros, Pirates, Padres, and Twins. Meyer, a big part of the Tim Hudson trade six years ago, had a strong '09 but was designated for assignment by the Marlins twice this year. He posted a 3.38 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 40 Triple-A innings in 2010.
Not a bad low risk signing.
My Kenny Williams sense is tingling. He’s going to be making a big move soon.
Ah Dallas, one of the great “can’t-miss” prospect busts.
Nice low-risk signing for the Phils, they’re certainly stacking Lehigh Valley with a bunch of backup should the big-league bullpen stumble.
And Dan Meyer is actually pretty good. Doesn’t have horrible ’09 numbers.
Poor Dallas. If he could trade about a third of those strikeouts for a dozen singles and a bunch of groundouts, he’d be a highly paid All-Star instead of AAA depth. It must stink to have 90% of the skills you need to be good, but to still have one career-killing flaw.
Dallas would have been a good depth signing for the Dodgers. Hopefully Ned can now concentrate on bigger health risks… someone like Eric Chavez.
It must suck to hope that your GM can concentrate on Eric Chavez.
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Cheer up, buddy! You’ve still got Clayton Kerhsaw!
I’m so depressed, I think I am going to eat a cake…
BONUS! Ned’s still got Jason Schmidt’s deferment and a piece of his right labrum as keepsakes…
Sean Kazmar? Sounds like bizarro Scott Kazmir.
If one of them has a goatee, we could be in trouble.
WOW, didn’t even know Cory Wade was a FA… Hopefully this Joe Torre refugee can bounce back…
The Rays are usually good at picking up under the radar guys like this, I smell a comeback.
I wish Corey Wade the best of luck the guy had a good future in the pen. If he bounces back which I hope he and gets back to his old form we cant blame this on Colleti. Although we have already seen signs lets hope Joe Torre Syndrome doesnt take its full effect on Troncoso
Ah, yes. Minor league deals may not be mean much right now but they always come back and mean a lot when it matters most.
Thank you, Micah Hoffpauir. Now we don’t have to hear ridiculous ideas about how young he is and how he should be given a chance. I wish hi the best of luck. Hopefully he has a Matt Murton-esque experience.