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Archives for September 2013

Orioles Designate Eric Thames For Assignment

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The Orioles have designated outfielder Eric Thames for assignment, the team announced via press release. In a corresponding move, the team added pitcher Eric Beaulac to the 40-man roster and put him on the DL, which creates an extra potential post-season roster spot.

Thames was acquired from the Mariners by trade in late June, but hasn't notched an MLB at-bat this season. He has seen his big league playing time dwindle consistently since a nice rookie campaign with Toronto in 2011, when he slashed .262/.313/.456 and hit twelve long balls in 394 plate appearances. In the Seattle and Baltimore minor league systems this year, Thames has a collective .283/.367/.432 line across 420 plate appearances.

Top Prospect Promotions: Choice, Castellanos

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As we learn of top prospect promotions over September, we'll try to keep tabs on them in a daily basis. Here are Sunday's promotions:

  • The Athletics are set to bring up outfielder Michael Choice, the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser first reported last night. Choice entered the season as the A's second overall prospect as rated by Baseball America, which praised his strength and bat speed. He currently sits as the 92nd overall prospect in the game on Mayo's list. The 23-year-old has delivered a .302/.390/.445 line and fourteen homers in 600 plate appearances over his first season at Triple-A. 
  • The Tigers have officially called up the team's top prospect, with the team announcing on Twitter that it has purchased the contract of outfielder Nick Castellanos. The former third baseman entered the year as a consensus top-50 prospect in all of baseball, and moved up to 11th overall in the mid-season ranking of MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo. As Mayo explained, the 21-year-old hits the ball to all fields and has solid pop.

 

Orioles Designate Taylor Teagarden For Assignment

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The Orioles have designated catcher Taylor Teagarden for assignment, reports Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun (via Twitter). The move was needed to open a 40-man spot for fellow backstop Chris Snyder, who had an opt-out clause in his deal (according to an earlier Encina tweet).

Teagarden has hit .167/.180.300 in 62 plate appearances for the O's this year. The 29-year-old has been a well-below-average hitter over his big league career  The club hopes to be able to keep Teagarden in the organization, MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko notes on Twitter. Alternatively, Baltimore may look to find a trade partner for Teagarden, who can refuse an assignment if he clears waivers, MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli reports (via Twitter). 

Cubs Designate Eduardo Sanchez For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated right-handed reliever Eduardo Sanchez for assignment, tweets Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald. With the move, the team cleared a 40-man roster spot for Ryan Sweeney's activation from the 60-day DL.

Sanchez, now 24, registered a 1.80 ERA (and notched five saves) in 30 innings for the Cardinals back in 2011. Yet with durability already one of his biggest concerns, a series of injury issues and a poor 2012-13 performance record left Sanchez to be claimed off of waivers by the Cubs earlier this year. Since switching organizations, Sanchez has struggled to a 5.68 ERA in 6 1/3 big league innings while walking as many as he has struck out. Across 40 Triple-A innings this season with Chicago and St. Louis, Sanchez has a 3.38 ERA, but has done so with a troubling strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.9 K/9 versus 5.2 BB/9).

Mariners Release Aaron Harang

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SUNDAY, 9:20am: The MLB transactions page reflects that Harang has been released.

MONDAY, 5:18pm: The Mariners announced that they have designated Aaron Harang for assignment.  In a related move, outfielder Franklin Gutierrez has been activated from the 15-day disabled list.

Harang, 35, had a 5.76 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 22 starts this season.  The veteran had solid numbers with the Padres and Rockies in the previous two seasons (3.62 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9) but has been unable to replicate that with the M's.  He could be on his way to joining a fourth team in 2013 – the Dodgers traded Harang to the Rockies for Ramon Hernandez in April and Colorado flipped him to the M's just days later.  Harang's stay with in Colorado was brief, however, and he never got to pitch for the Rockies. 

For the status of all players in DFA Limbo, be sure to check out MLBTR's DFA Tracker.

Indians Designate Tim Fedroff, Juan Diaz

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The Indians have designated outfielder Tim Fedroff and shortstop Juan Diaz for assignment, the team announced on Twitter. The move creates 40-man roster space for the team's September call-up plans.

Fedroff is a 2008 7th-round pick who has spent the last four years at Double-A or Triple-A without a big league appearance. Now 26, the outfielder has struggled to a .242/.334/.306 line this season at Triple-A Columbus. Last year, he had impressed with a .316/.394/.485 triple slash across 543 plate appearances in the upper minors.

Diaz, meanwhile, is a 24-year-old shortstop who has seen only seventeen big league plate appearances. In his first full season at Triple-A this year, Diaz has hit .242/.317/.348 to go with eight long balls. He is not much of a threat to steal, and has struck out at or above a 20% clip.

Red Sox Designate Daniel Bard For Assignment

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The Red Sox have designated reliever Daniel Bard for assignment, reports Alex Speier of WEEI.com. The move creates a 40-man roster spot for the call-up of recent acquisition Quintin Berry.

The former top-100 prospect established himself as a dominating late-inning reliever in 2010, but melted down when the team attempted to convert him back into a starter last season. This season, his control issues have reached (and exceeded) Rick Ankiel levels. In an injury-shortened campaign, Bard is allowing 15.8 BB/9 in 15 1/3 minor league innings.

Bard's 2013 salary is $1.8625, and he remains arbitration-eligible for 2014-15. As Speier notes, Bard does still have an option remaining, making it plausible that a team would roll the dice on him with a 40-man roster spot. For a further read on Bard's struggles, check out this excellent piece from Matthew Kory of Sports on Earth. 

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