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Archives for April 2014

Giants Sign Travis Ishikawa

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The Giants have signed first baseman Travis Ishikawa to a minor league contract, MLBTR’s Zach Links reports (Twitter links).  Ishikawa will report to Triple-A Fresno after taking his physical today, and the contract contains an out clause if Ishikawa doesn’t make the club’s 25-man roster.  Ishikawa is represented by Jim McDowell.

Ishikawa chose to become a free agent on Wednesday after he was outrighted off the Pirates’ roster and the 30-year-old now returns to the team that originally drafted him in the 21st round of the 2002 amateur draft.  Ishikawa made 665 PA for San Francisco between 2006-10, earning a World Series ring as part of the Giants’ championship team in 2010.  He has bounced around since then, spending time with the Brewers, Orioles, Yankees and Pirates over the last two seasons.

The left-handed hitting Ishikawa has a .259/.326/.407 career line against right-handed pitching and just a .603 OPS against southpaws, which is why Pittsburgh used him as a platoon partner for Gaby Sanchez at first base.  The Giants, of course, already have a notable lefty-swinging first baseman in Brandon Belt, though since Belt has virtually equal career numbers against left- and right-handed pitching, there’s room for Ishikawa to potentially win a job as a defensive-minded (career +13 UZR/150) backup to occasionally spell Belt at first base when a righty is on the mound.

Yankees Sign Bruce Billings To Major League Deal

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The Yankees have signed right-hander Bruce Billings to a Major League contract and selected him to their 25-man roster.  The club announced the signing prior to yesterday’s game against Boston.  Billings is represented by John Boggs & Associates.

Billings’ spot on the 25-man roster was created when Ivan Nova was shifted to the 60-day disabled list, as he will miss the rest of the 2014 season after choosing to undergo Tommy John surgery.  In other corresponding moves, the Yankees also called up righty Shane Greene while infielder Dean Anna and right-hander Preston Claiborne were optioned to Triple-A.

Billings was part of the trade package Colorado sent to Oakland for Mark Ellis in July 2011, and the 28-year-old made all four of his career Major League appearances in that same season (three with the A’s and one with the Rockies).  Since that cup of coffee in the bigs, Billings spent 2012-13 working primarily as a starter for the Athletics’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates and he signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in January.  He has a 2.74 ERA, 2.57 K/BB rate and 18 strikeouts over 23 innings (four starts) at the Triple-A level this season.

Cubs Notes: Selig, Ownership, Edwards

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Here’s the latest from Wrigleyville…

  • Within the last year, at least one major Cubs creditor has suggested that the Ricketts family should sell all or part of the team due to ongoing financial concerns, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.  The Ricketts family may be hamstrung by the debts taken on in their initial purchase of the team, Wittenmyer explains, and the ongoing legal battle with local rooftop owners over proposed upgrades to Wrigley Field could be a “red herring” in regards to the Cubs’ revenue issues, sources say.
  • Commissioner Bud Selig told reporters (including Wittenmyer) that he isn’t worried about the Cubs’ lack of spending in recent years.  “The fact of the matter is this [ownership] group is more than capable economically. I have no concerns about their economic viability,” Selig said.
  • Right-hander C.J. Edwards, the Cubs’ top pitching prospect, will undergo an MRI on Friday to investigate the source of tightness in his right shoulder (Wittenmyer has the details).  Edwards has posted a 1.81 ERA, 11.5 K/9 and 3.51 K/BB rate over 204 career minor league innings and was one of the key pieces of the trade package the Cubs received from the Rangers in exchange for Matt Garza last summer.  The 22-year-old was cited as one of the game’s top prospects in preseason rankings from Baseball America (which rated Edwards 28th overall), MLB.com (40th) and ESPN’s Keith Law (67th).

Daily Fantasy Baseball Contest: Win Share Of $100K Payout

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One-day leagues are one of the most exciting ways to play fantasy baseball.  For any given day of the MLB schedule, you can create a fantasy team and win huge cash prizes.  If you have $22 and love Major League Baseball, draft a one-day fantasy baseball team at DraftStreet.com for the games this Friday.  You could win a share of $100,000 with a massive first place prize of $20,000.

750 players will win cash on Friday and you can be one of them.  Simply pick one player from each of eight tiers.  Score the most fantasy points and find out if you win after the end of Friday’s final game.

How to enter this $100K DraftStreet Pick’em contest:

  1. Sign up at DraftStreet.com.
  2. Enter the MLB Pick’em Big Score for $22.
  3. Save your MLB team by 6:55pm eastern time, Friday, April 25th.

Finish in the top 750 and you’ll double your money.  First place wins $20,000!  If this is your first time depositing at DraftStreet you will receive a 100% deposit bonus, up to $200 free.  Here are my picks:

draftstreet

Friday April 25th MLB Eligible Schedule:

Royals @ Orioles – 7:05pm ET
Angels @ Yankees – 7:05pm ET
Padres @ Nationals – 7:05pm ET
Red Sox @ Blue Jays – 7:07pm ET
Marlins @ Mets – 7:10pm ET
Reds @ Braves – 7:35pm ET
Rays @ White Sox – 8:10pm ET
Cubs @ Brewers – 8:10pm ET
Tigers @ Twins – 8:10pm ET
Athletics @ Astros – 8:10pm ET
Pirates @ Cardinals – 8:15pm ET
Phillies @ Diamondbacks – 9:40pm ET
Rangers @ Mariners – 10:10pm ET
Rockies @ Dodgers – 10:10pm ET
Indians @ Giants – 10:15pm ET

Draft your team now!

Quick Hits: Hardy, D’Backs, Gregg, Hawkins, Payrolls

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Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy told reporters today (including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun) that he won’t comment any further on his contract situation because there haven’t been any new developments. “There’s nothing to discuss,” said Hardy before adding that there haven’t been any recent negotiations between the two sides. Encina writes that Hardy and the O’s haven’t had extension talks since Spring Training. A few more late night links from around the league…

  • Asked about the performance of rookie starter Mike Bolsinger following a strong start on Thursday, Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero launched into an unprompted defense of GM Kevin Towers, manager Kirk Gibson and the Arizona coaching staff, writes MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. “The bottom line is, it’s our responsibility to go out there and take care of business,” said Montero. “I just wanted to say that, because the blame should be on us.” Montero said he would be “disappointed” if anything were to happen to Towers, Gibson or any of the coaches. 
  • Right-hander Kevin Gregg tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago-Sun Times that he’s in shape and waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. Gregg isn’t sure why he wasn’t able to land a guaranteed big league deal after a solid 2013 campaign with the Cubs but feels he can still get outs in the Majors and would welcome the opportunity to pitch in 2014. Gregg has been working out and pitching to college hitters at his home in Oregon to stay in shape as he waits for a deal. He spoke with a number of teams this offseason, writes Wittenmyer, but the Cubs weren’t one of them.
  • LaTroy Hawkins was surprised when the Rockies’ offer to him this offseason included an opportunity to close games, writes Tracy Ringolsby for MLB.com. Hawkins says, however, that it was made clear that he was merely keeping the seat warm for Rex Brothers. Hawkins explains to Ringolsby the wisdom he’s trying to impart on Brothers as the young left-hander prepares himself to be the long-term answer for Colorado in the ninth inning.
  • The Cardinals, Rays and Giants top a list of baseball’s smartest spenders over the past five that was devised by Ira Boudner, Evan Applegate and Ritchie S. King of Bloomberg Businessweek. The three have created a weighted system for all four major American sports based on the price paid per win compared to the league average and also created an interactive graphic for users to customize the list. In contrast, the White Sox, Mets and Cubs are the bottom three on the list.

Minor Moves: Trent Oeltjen, Clay Schrader

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Outfielder Trent Oeltjen, who had been loaned to los Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League, has been returned to the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno, according to the Pacific Coast League transactions page. Oeltjen, 31, hit just .139/.273/.250 with a homer in his time with Tijuana, is a career .295/.359/.481 hitter in 735 Triple-A games. He’s seen big league time with the D’Backs and Dodgers but hasn’t been in the Majors since 2011.
  • The Braves have signed righty Clay Schrader to a minor league deal, per their official transactions page. The 23-year-old was Baltimore’s 10th-round pick in the 2010 draft and has a 2.62 ERA with 11.5 K/9 and 6.5 BB/9 in 172 innings of relief in the minors. Schrader, who will turn 24 in four days, reached Double-A in 2012 as a 22-year-old and has 79 innings at that level — the furthest he’s ascended in his minor league career to date.

AL West Notes: Griffin, Figueroa, Mariners, Doolittle

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Athletics right-hander A.J. Griffin’s elbow hasn’t responded well after being shut down for a month, and the 26-year-old will seek a second opinion from Dr. Thomas Mehlhoff, who performed Tommy John surgery on Oakland’s Fernando Rodriguez, writes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Griffin has been out with flexor tendinitis, which is often a precursor to Tommy John, Slusser points out. She goes on to write that the loss of both Griffin and Jarrod Parker for the season would likely lead the A’s to actively seeking starting pitching on this summer’s trade market, even if they were merely looking for a back-of-the-rotation innings eater to provide some stability.

More out of the AL West…

  • While Griffin is another potential victim of the Tommy John epidemic, Rangers left-hander Pedro Figueroa can definitively add his name to that list. The team told reporters today, including FOX Sports Southwest’s Anthony Andro, that Figueroa has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and damage to his flexor tendon, and he will likely undergo Tommy John within the next week (Twitter link).
  • Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune conducted a Q&A in which he answered many of his Twitter followers’ questions, and within the article noted that the Mariners are still looking to add a bat to improve their lineup. The team has “never stopped looking” for a bat, he writes, before cautioning that they don’t appear to have much interest in Kendrys Morales. Dutton also touches on the team’s payroll, Hisashi Iwakuma’s health status and Abraham Almonte’s role with the club.
  • The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea compares Sean Doolittle’s recent five-year contract extension to previous deals of five-plus years for relievers, noting that Doolittle’s contract has little precedent. Shea concludes that the deal works for both sides and doesn’t carry as much risk as other contracts for a pitcher would, as Doolittle is a converted first baseman that has only been pitching for about three years.

Darren Oliver Joins Rangers’ Front Office

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The Rangers announced today, via press release, that retired left-hander Darren Oliver has joined the front office as a special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels. In his new role, Oliver will work with Daniels and his staff “in a variety of areas with an emphasis on pitching,” according to the release. Daniels issued the following statement:

“We are very happy to welcome Darren Oliver into an official capacity with the Rangers. Darren will focus on pitching on both the major and minor league levels, and he will have a presence in Arlington and with our minor league affiliates. I also expect that he will be a valuable sounding board to our baseball operations group on all fronts. Darren has been working with us on an informal basis over the last several months and was a great asset on our trip to the Dominican Republic in January and during his several weeks at spring training camp. I am glad that we have been able to formalize that relationship.”

The 43-year-old Oliver was a third-round pick of the Rangers back in 1988. He spent 20 seasons in the Major Leagues, pitching to a 4.51 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, a 118-98 win-loss record, 11 complete games, four shutouts and seven saves. Oliver’s career looked to be winding down after the 2005 season, as he’d posted a 5.83 ERA in 573 innings from 2000-04. However, he converted to the bullpen on a full-time basis from that point forth and proceeded to pitch for another eight seasons. In that final stretch, the durable Oliver was a workhorse out of the ’pen and enjoyed a 2.95 ERA (149 ERA+) with 7.5 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in his final 508 2/3 innings.

Oliver spoke with Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith back in February about his post-retirement plans and his final season, noting that he was proud to end his career with a productive 3.86 ERA in 49 innings for the Blue Jays: “I’d rather go out like that than hang on and get beat up on the mound and have the fans boo you. No one likes to go out like that.”

Ivan Nova To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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THURSDAY: Nova has chosen to have the TJ procedure, tweets Feinsand.

TUESDAY: The Yankees announced that Nova’s second exam confirmed that he has a partially torn UCL, and that Ahmad has recommended surgery.

MONDAY: The Tommy John epidemic that is sweeping Major League Baseball looks to have another victim, as Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova learned after an MRI this weekend that he has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, writes Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. Feinsand says that Nova will be re-examined today by team physician Chris Ahmad, but the very likely outcome is that Nova will be the 15th pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery this season.

Nova was roughed up by the Rays in his start on Saturday, but he didn’t feel any discomfort in his elbow until the final pitch he threw, writes Feinsand. Nova said he felt a pop on that pitch and was in denial as he was being removed from the game, not believing himself to be seriously injured and wanting to continue pitching to spare his bullpen.

With Nova likely on the shelf through next spring, the Yankees will test their internal depth. Vidal Nuno could be the favorite to take over in the team’s rotation, though other options such as David Phelps and Adam Warren are present. New York could also look to the waiver wire and continue to get by with a patchwork solution until clubs begin making more reliable arms available on the trade market this summer.

Needless to say, the resurgence of Michael Pineda is now even more impactful for the Yankees. Were it not for Pineda’s health, the club would be fielding a rotation of Masahiro Tanaka, Hiroki Kuroda, a declining CC Sabathia and a pair of the aforementioned internal options. Now, manager Joe Girardi tells Feinsand that he will meet with GM Brian Cashman, presumably on today’s off-day, to determine which of Nuno, Phelps or Warren will step into Nova’s spot.

Twins Claim Kenny Wilson From Blue Jays

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The Twins have claimed outfielder Kenny Wilson off waivers from the Blue Jays, the club announced. Wilson, 24, has yet to see MLB action.

Interestingly enough, Wilson hit the waiver wire after being designated for assignment by the Jays in order to make room for the claim of fellow outfielder Darin Mastroianni from Minnesota. In effect, then, the clubs swapped the two players.

In Wilson, Minnesota is adding a toolsy player with upside who seemingly still needs some time to develop. The 22nd ranked prospect in the Jays system entering the year, according to Baseball America, Wilson has not yet mastered Double-A. He started there this year after a solid (if unspectacular) run in his first go at that level at age 23. According to the Twins’ announcement, Wilson will begin his time with the Twins at that level as well.

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