Giants Designate Clayton Tanner For Assignment
The Giants designated Clayton Tanner for assignment, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for Eric Surkamp, who started against Houston tonight.
Tanner, a 23-year-old left-hander, has yet to appear in the Major Leagues. The 2006 third rounder has a 3.66 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 686 1/4 minor league innings. He has spent the 2011 season starting for the Giants' Double-A Richmond affiliate.
Quick Hits: Red Sox, Indians
A couple notes regarding the Red Sox and Indians, who both won on Saturday night (in Boston's case, twice) …
- The Red Sox wanted to trade for both Erik Bedard and Rich Harden once their attempt to acquire Hiroki Kuroda from the Dodgers fell through, tweets Peter Gammons. Bedard, of course, ended up in Boston, while the acquisition of Harden was nixed by Red Sox medical staff.
- It's unclear whether the Indians were the team that placed a waiver claim on the Rays' B.J. Upton, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, but it'd make sense for the Tribe to do so. Outfielders Michael Brantley and Shin-Soo Choo are banged up, and the Indians were one of the teams interested in Upton prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, according to Hoynes.
- Lost in the shuffle of Jim Thome's first homer since rejoining the Indians was the Major League debut of reliever Nick Hagadone, writes Hoynes. Hagadone, a lefty, was acquired along with Justin Masterson in the deal that sent Victor Martinez to Boston in 2009. That doesn't look like such a bad swap in retrospect, especially if Hagadone turns out to be a solid member of the Tribe's bullpen.
A Look At Notable Moves Of August 2010
August transactions don't boast the same excitement as their July counterparts, but they can still have ramifications for contenders and non-contenders alike. Teams readying for the postseason will often fine-tune their rosters by adding a specialty piece — a LOOGY or power bat off the bench, for example — and ones looking ahead to next year will look to shed payroll.
There's still a few days left before September arrives, and prominent players such as the Rays' B.J. Upton was claimed as recently as Friday. But in the meanwhile, here's a look back at some of the bigger names who were on the move — whether by trade or waiver claim — in August 2010, and the subsequent fallout (for the complete list, check out MLBTR's Transaction Tracker):
- Mike Sweeney, acquired by the Phillies from the Mariners on Aug. 4: Seattle sent the right-handed-hitting veteran and what remained of his $650K salary to Philly, where he hit .231/.310/.385 down the regular season's stretch and went 1-for-1 in his lone postseason at-bat. The M's later received cash from the Phils for Sweeney, who signed a one-day contract with the Royals in March and retired.
- Jim Edmonds, acquired by the Reds from the Brewers on Aug. 9: Cincinnati added Edmonds for its postseason push, sending Chris Dickerson back to Milwaukee in exchange. Edmonds didn't do much, hitting .207/.281/.586 in the regular season before being left off the Reds' postseason roster due to an Achilles injury. He retired this spring after signing a minor league deal with the Cards, while Dickerson was traded in March to the Yankees for Sergio Mitre.
- Mike Fontenot, acquired by the Giants from the Cubs on Aug. 11: The Lads scooped up Fontenot for infield depth during their run to the World Series in exchange for minor league outfielder Evan Crawford. Fontenot remains in San Francisco is under team control for through 2013, though he could be a non-tender candidate this offseason, as he was last.
- Derrek Lee, acquired by the Braves from the Cubs on Aug. 18: Lee joined Atlanta after his long tenure in Chicago, the Cubs acquiring three prospects in return. Lee was one of the better acquisitions of this period, posting a fine .287/.384/.465 line for the Braves to help them reach the postseason, though he went just 2-for-16 in their NLDS loss to the Giants. He signed with the Orioles before this season.
- Pedro Feliz, acquired by the Cardinals from the Astros on Aug. 19: St. Louis sent David Carpenter and cash to Houston in exchange for Feliz, who was added to help out at the hot corner when David Freese was injured. Feliz's already declining bat didn't improve for the Redbirds, who missed the postseason. Feliz signed a minor league deal with the Padres this month, while Carpenter is currently in the Astros' bullpen.
- Cody Ross, acquired by the Giants from the Marlins on waiver claim on Aug. 22: The Giants added an eventual World Series hero in acquiring Ross from the Marlins, who had little interest in retaining Ross, as he was becoming expensive with his final year of arbitration-eligibility looming.
- Brian Fuentes, acquired by the Twins from the Angels on Aug. 27: Minnesota added Fuentes to bolster its bullpen, and the lefty threw 9 2/3 shutout innings in the regular season and 2 2/3 shutout innings in the postseason before signing with the Athletics this offseason. The Angels acquired Loek Van Mil from the Twins as a player to be named.
- Manny Ramirez, acquired by the White Sox on a waiver claim from the Dodgers on Aug. 29: This was arguably the most notable move of the August post-deadline period, but it didn't amount to much for either teams or the player. The White Sox missed the postseason, the cash-strapped Dodgers got some salary relief, and Manny hit a quiet .261/.420/.319 before signing with the Rays this offseason (and eventually retiring).
- Manny Delcarmen, acquired by the Rockies from the Red Sox on Aug. 31: The Rox, still in contention for the wild card, needed bullpen depth, so they sent Chris Balcom-Miller to Boston for Delcarmen. The righty didn't pan out in Colorado, posting a 6.48 ERA in 8 1/3 innings for a team that missed the playoffs before being non-tendered this offseason. He's kicked around since then.
- Jeff Francoeur, acquired by the Rangers from the Mets on Aug. 31: Texas sent Joaquin Arias to the Mets for Frenchy, who played well in his brief time in Texas, hitting .340/.357/.491 down the stretch and seeing playing time during the postseason. Arias was waived by the Mets, while Francoeur signed the Royals this offseason and recently inked a two-year extension.
NL Central Notes: Lopez, Brewers, Snyder
A few items of note out of the NL Central, where the first-place Brewers owned a 9.5-game lead entering Saturday's action:
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin said he's giving infielder Felipe Lopez time to look for a job with another team before he must accept an assignment to Triple-A, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Lopez was recently designated for assignment, cleared waivers, and outrighted to Nashville.
- Melvin also mentioned that the Brewers were awarded two waivers claims but were unable to reach agreement on trades to acquire the claimed players, Haudricourt reports (Twitter link). It sounds like the claimed players were lefty relievers, according to Haudricourt.
- Pirates catcher Chris Snyder, on the DL since June, is hoping to return to action before the season's out, writes Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. The Bucs hold a $6.75MM option ($750K buyout) on Snyder for 2012, and Langosch speculates that while the Pirates may not find the option attractive, they might be interested in buying it out and re-signing Snyder at a lower cost.
A’s Designate Jerry Blevins For Assignment
The Athletics have designated lefty Jerry Blevins for assignment, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
As with Blevins' previous three DFAs this season, he is removed from Oakland's 25-man roster but remains on its 40-man, so the move is procedural and does not expose him to other teams. Blevins was removed from the active roster to make room for Graham Godfrey, who was slated to start Game 2 of the Athletics' doubleheader in Boston.
Blevins has shuttled between Oakland and the minors for parts of five seasons, posting a 4.00 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 8.5 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9.
Rosenthal On Kubel, Carroll, Ramirez, Fielder, Pujols
Let's take a look at the latest edition of Full Count from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports..
- The free agent market for outfielders is rather thin and after Carlos Beltran, Jason Kubel might be the next most attractive option. Rosenthal floats the idea of Kubel going to a more hitter-friendly park, such as Fenway where he can replace a departing J.D. Drew. The Twins want to re-sign Kubel, but he intends to test the market.
- Veteran Jamey Carroll is on waivers and almost certain to be claimed. The Dodgers might be more open to dealing Carroll than they were before the July 31st deadline. Justin Sellers has played well, Dee Gordon should be back soon, and Ivan DeJesus is a candidate for promotion. The Brewers had interest in him before the trade deadline but they've since acquired Jerry Hairston Jr. and Rickie Weeks will return to action soon.
- Aramis Ramirez has cleared waivers but he'll remain with the Cubs this month. His agent, Paul Kinzer, told Rosenthal in July that his client might be open to waiving his no-trade clause in August, but he's since turned red hot and will play it out in Chicago. He'll be a very interesting decision for the Cubs' next GM and maybe an interesting free agent.
- Rosenthal says that the choice between Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder is no longer obvious. Fielder has had the better season and he's nearly four-and-a-half years younger than Pujols. Still, Pujols has 31 homers and a slugging percentage that's just ten points lower. The big question for both men is how will they look three years and five years from now.
Quick Hits: Kubel, Bell, Marlins, Upton
Hurricane Irene has resulted in the cancellation of five Saturday games, but we still have plenty of news for your to pore over..
- The Indians and Twins did exchange names on a potential Jason Kubel deal but Minnesota wanted more than the Tribe was willing to give for a short-term rental, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
- More from Rosenthal (via Twitter) as he says that the talks between the Padres and Giants on Heath Bell never got very far. The claim was more than just a block, but the Giants didn't want to give up real value for the closer.
- The Marlins preference is to hire a manager who they believe will hold that job for years to come rather than keep Jack McKeon, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. McKeon will celebrate his 81st birthday this fall.
- No surprise here but Olney tweets that it's unlikely that we'll see B.J. Upton traded following the waiver claim. The Rays would probably be benefit from listening to multiple teams this winter.
Upton Feels He Won’t Be Back With Rays Next Season
Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton told reporters that he doesn't expect to be back with the club in 2012, according to Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune.
“I hope not, but I don’t see why I wouldn’t be with all the talks at the deadline, and with this [waiver claim], I don’t see why there wouldn’t be that possibility,” the 27-year-old said. “I don’t want to go anywhere, but if that’s what they want to do it’s out of my hands.”
This morning it was reported that Upton was claimed off of trade waivers by an unknown team. Upon hearing the news, Upton said that he wasn't concerned about it and appropriately termed the move "business as usual". Rays Executive Vice President Andrew Friedman would neither confirm nor deny the report.
D’Backs Designate Ransom For Assignment
SATURDAY: Ransom has accepted his assignment to Triple-A Reno, according to Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com (via Twitter).
WEDNESDAY: The D'Backs announced that they designated infielder Cody Ransom to create 25-man roster space for Aaron Hill and John McDonald. The first roster spot opened up yesterday, when Arizona sent Kelly Johnson to Toronto in the deal that brought Hill and McDonald to the National League. The D'Backs now have full 25 and 40-man rosters.
Ransom, 35, appeared in 12 games for Arizona this year, hitting .152/.243/.303 in his 37 trips to the plate. He played short and third in 2011 and also has big league experience at first, second and left field. A nine-year veteran, Ransom has a .220/.304/.383 line in 383 career plate appearances.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Jeff Marquez
Let's keep track of Saturday's outright assignments right here…
- The Yankees have outrighted Jeff Marquez to Triple-A according to the International League transactions page. The 27-year-old right-hander was claimed off waivers from the White Sox back in June, though he's currently on the disabled list and rehabbing a shoulder problem. Marquez has allowed three runs in five career big league innings, four coming with New York this season.