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Archives for May 2014

White Sox Designate Maikel Cleto For Assignment

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The White Sox have announced that they’ve designated pitcher Maikel Cleto for assignment. They’ve also purchased the contract of fellow pitcher Frank Francisco.

The White Sox claimed Cleto from the Royals near the beginning of spring training, and Cleto quickly received a bit of buzz for his high-90s fastball. Things didn’t work out for him in Chicago, however, as he walked 15 batters in 14 innings of relief. Cleto pitched in the Cardinals and Royals systems in 2013, posting a 5.52 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 7.3 BB/9 in 91 1/3 innings.

Francisco signed with the White Sox in mid-April after pitching just 6 1/3 big-league innings (with the Mets) in 2013. The veteran was dominant for Triple-A Charlotte, striking out 12 batters and walking just one in eight innings there. Francisco has a 3.93 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in parts of nine seasons with the Rangers, Blue Jays and Mets.

AL Notes: Drew, Saunders, Leyland

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Teams won’t be able to sign Stephen Drew or Kendrys Morales before the draft without forfeiting a draft pick, but that doesn’t mean teams shouldn’t consider signing them before then, FOX Sports’ Rob Neyer writes. The problem isn’t just the draft pick, but rather the draft pick plus the cost of the signing, so the right teams should be willing to sign Drew or Morales if the price is low enough. Teams negotiating with those players now would have the advantage of a limited market, since the draft pick will scare other teams away. Finding the right team for Morales is difficult at this point, but Drew would make a good deal of sense for the Yankees, Neyer argues. The Yankees would only lose the No. 56 pick in the draft as a result of signing Drew. Here are more notes from the American League.

  • Joe Saunders wants to make it back to the Rangers as a starter, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. Saunders has been out for a month with a stress fracture in his ankle, and the Rangers wanted to activate him in order to have him pitch as a long reliever. Saunders still believes he is a starter, however, and has asked the team to allow him to make two additional rehab starts in the minors. “Once you go to the bullpen, it’s hard to get back to starting,” says Saunders. “They paid me to start, and I think I can most help this club by starting.”
  • Former Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who was honored at Comerica Park Saturday morning, has no regrets about stepping aside, George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press reports. “It was a great run,” says Leyland. “The missing piece was the World Series trophy, so we’ll be forever held against us, but it was such a wonderful run for everybody.” Leyland now serves as a special assistant to GM Dave Dombrowski. He’s done some scouting work and says he has watched almost every game the Tigers have played this year.

Erick Fedde To Have Tommy John Surgery

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UNLV pitcher Erick Fedde needs Tommy John surgery, Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt reports. Fedde had an MRI on Friday after missing a start.

Fedde profiled as a potential top-ten pick in next month’s draft. BA’s John Manuel had Fedde going to the Rockies at No. 8 in his recent mock draft. He is the second potential early-first-round pick to require Tommy John surgery in less than a week, with news breaking on Wednesday that East Carolina pitcher Jeff Hoffman would also require the procedure.

Given the relatively good prognosis for pitchers needing Tommy John surgery, Fedde’s injury might not keep him out of the first round. As BA’s Clint Longenecker recently pointed out in an article about Hoffman, the Nationals’ selection of Lucas Giolito in the first round in 2012 and the Royals’ selection of Sean Manaea the following year show that teams are willing to take risks on talented pitchers with injury issues.

It is, however, now unlikely that Fedde will go in the top ten. The Twins, for example,are not considering either Hoffman or Fedde with the No. 5 overall pick, 1500ESPN.com’s Darren Wolfson tweets.

NL Notes: Giles, Phillies, Cardinals, Bourjos

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The Phillies have promoted relief prospect Ken Giles to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Matt Gelb of the Inquirer reports. Giles struck out an incredible 29 batters in 15 innings at Double-A Reading, walking five while posting a 1.20 ERA while throwing a fastball in the high 90s. The Phillies’ bullpen has struggled this season, and they recently outrighted Shawn Camp and promoted Luis Garcia. They aren’t promoting Giles all the way to the big leagues right now, but he might be capable of helping soon. Here are more notes from the National League.

  • Teams are beginning to speculate that the Cardinals could trade Matt Adams or Allen Craig once they promote top prospect Oscar Taveras, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman writes, echoing a report from ESPN’s Buster Olney earlier in the week. “I’m not going to get into who we might trade, but we can’t rule out anything as the trade deadline approaches,” Cards GM John Mozeliak tells Heyman. Taveras can also play center field in addition to right, and Heyman suggests that the only current Cardinals outfielder who isn’t a trade candidate is left fielder Matt Holliday. Taveras is currently hitting .288/.341/.488 for Triple-A Memphis.
  • The promotion of Joey Butler and demotion of Randal Grichuk indicate that Peter Bourjos has played his way back into the Cardinals’ lineup, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Butler profiles as a bench outfielder, whereas Grichuk had primarily been playing center field at Memphis. “You’re going to see Peter out there on a pretty consistent basis if he keeps putting together consistent at-bats and keeps doing things the right way,” says manager Mike Matheny. “It would be hard for Randal to get the kind of time that would make it make sense for him to be here with Peter playing the way he is.” Bourjos was a key part of the Cardinals’ offseason, as they acquired him (along with Grichuk) in an attempt to upgrade their outfield defense. He got off to a very slow start, but has tripled and homered in his last two games.

Week In Review: 5/4/14 – 5/10/14

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Here’s a look back at this week at MLBTR.

Top Prospect Promotions

Trades

Claimed

Designated For Assignment

Outrighted

Released

Elected Free Agency

Key Minor-League Signings

West Notes: Belt, Giants, Quentin, Napoli

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The Giants received some tough news tonight, as young first baseman Brandon Belt suffered a broken thumb on a hit-by-pitch, CSNBayArea.com’s Andrew Baggarly tweets. San Francisco does have internal options, Baggarly writes, with recent signee Travis Ishikawa and career minor leaguer Adam Duvall on the team’s Triple-A roster. Among currently active players, outfielder Michael Morse has spent significant time at first. The best bet in the immediate term, Baggarly says, is for Buster Posey to shift from behind the plate.

Here’s more from San Francisco and some other western division clubs …

  • Even before Belt’s injury, the Giants were already looking forward to some roster moves with righty Matt Cain and lefty David Huff nearing returns from the DL. As Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, the club will probably not try to sneak one of their so-far-outstanding relievers through waivers. Instead, outfielder Juan Perez and pen arm George Kontos will likely lose their spots since they can be optioned down.
  • Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin is nearing a return, which could come on the team’s upcoming road swing, reports Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Quentin signed a three-year extension in the middle of the 2012 season that guarantees him $27MM through 2015 and includes a $10MM option ($3MM buyout) for 2016. While Quentin has done nothing but hit when healthy — he had a 145 OPS+ last year in a half-season of work — injuries have limited his time on the field. Sporting a league-worst 67 wRC+, San Diego will no doubt hope that Quentin can begin to make good on his contract. But with the club buried well back in the NL West, a healthy and productive return from Quentin could hypothetically make him a trade target this year or next.
  • Former Rangers backstop Mike Napoli said today that he thought about returning to Texas before re-signing with the Red Sox, Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald reports. “If there was any other place I’d be happy playing,” said Napoli, who has since converted to first, “it’d be Texas.” Though the Rangers showed interest in Napoli last November, he told his agent that he preferred to stay in Boston. “I don’t think it ever got to where push came to shove,” Napoli said of talks with his previous team.

AL Notes: Ramirez, Baker, Twins, Hoffman

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MLB is nearing agreement on a plan to send an All-Star squad off to Japan this November for a series against the Japanese national team, tweets Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. Of course, the league has a rich history of sending its best on tour to one of the world’s great ballplaying nations.

Here are some notes from around the American League:

  • Manny Ramirez is still looking for another opportunity, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. While recent contact with the Orioles failed to materialize into an offer, a scout who has seen Ramirez work out recently said that the 42-year-old slugger looks fit and was impressive with the bat. Agent Alex Esteban tells Heyman that most of the interest has come from American League teams, though several NL clubs have checked in as well. MLBTR’s Zach Links reported back in February that Ramirez had elected to join Miami Sports Management.
  • The Rangers regretted the need to designate Scott Baker for assignment after a brief call-up, reports MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. With Baker needing several days of rest after throwing 5 1/3 innings of relief in his only appearance, and the bullpen looking overworked, GM Jon Daniels said the move was an unfortunate necessity. “He did everything we asked,” said Daniels. “Unfortunately we are at a spot where the bullpen is taxed because our starters are not getting deep into games.” (Of course, the most recent Rangers starter — ace Yu Darvish — did manage to go deep in tonight’s game.) As for Baker’s fate, Daniels says that the club will “see if there is trade interest” but otherwise will place him on outright waivers.
  • With the fifth overall slot in the upcoming amateur draft, the Twins could be eyeing either high school shortstop Nick Gordon or college righty Aaron Nola, ESPN.com’s Keith Law wrote in a chat yesterday. Law also notes that the Blue Jays could be a player for injured righty Jeff Hoffman, who could also intrigue several other AL clubs (Law lists the Astros, Royals, and Red Sox, while also citing the Nationals as a possibility).

NL Notes: Polanco, Nady, Montero, Cubs

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We learned recently that the Pirates had offered a seven-year contract extension to outfield prospect Gregory Polanco, who has of course yet to take the major league field. The extension tender was particularly interesting because of the contrast between Polanco’s situation and that of players like the Astros’ George Springer, whose similar extension offer came from a non-contender (and who has since been promoted), and Oscar Taveras of the Cardinals, who does not have an obvious spot at the MLB level. Those looking for more thoughts on this situation have a few pieces to check out. In a piece for Grantland, Ben Lindbergh breaks down the overall promotion picture, explaining that several organizations employ quite a different philosophy than strict service time controllers like the Bucs and Rays — and noting that there are very real risks to holding down talent. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says that the Pirates are now in a tough spot, given their desire to save money but equally obvious team need for Polanco. Meanwhile, over at Fangraphs, Dave Cameron writes that the discount demanded by the team on Polanco’s reasonably anticipated earnings was just too great, and opines that Pittsburgh should be willing to up its guarantee by $10MM to $15MM.

Here’s more from the National League:

  • It is virtually certain that outrighted veteran Xavier Nady will decline his assignment and become a free agent, reports MLB.com’s Corey Brock (via Twitter). The 35-year-old veteran stands at a .135/.238/.405 triple-slash in 42 plate appearances on the season. He did put up a quality .296/.360/.456 line in 495 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level last year.
  • The Mets have a detailed plan in the works regarding highly-rated pitching prospect Rafael Montero, reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. With an innings limit in play, New York hopes to work Montero as a reliever (first at Triple-A, then in the bigs) before sending him back to the minors to stretch back out and join the MLB rotation later on in the season.
  • The first three picks of the amateur draft appear fairly set (at least at this point), which could make the Cubs (who hold the fourth overall choice) the first true wild card. With Tommy John victim Jeff Hoffman now likely out of play, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune says that possibilities include prep arm Kyle Freeland, TCU lefty Brandon Finnegan, or high school catcher/outfielder Alex Jackson.

Minor Moves: Tateyama, Phipps, Komatsu, Johnson

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

  • Japanese sidearmer Yoshinori Tateyama has been released by the Yankees, according to the International League transactions page. The 38-year-old, a 12-year Nippon league veteran, came stateside in 2011 with the Rangers. In two seasons, he threw 61 innings of 5.75 ERA ball while striking out 9.0 batters per nine against 2.5 BB/9. Working out of the Yanks’ Triple-A pen this year, Tateyama carried a 6.08 ERA in 13 1/3 innings, though he did have an impressive 11.5 K/9 against just 2.0 BB/9.
  • The White Sox have released 28-year-old outfielder Denis Phipps, according to the International League transactions page. Phipps was struggling at Triple-A for Chicago in 2014 with a .159/.250/.270 line in 72 plate appearances. This year was the first that Phipps spent away from the Reds, with whom he had a cup of coffee in 2012. Of course, if the Dominican never finds his way back to the bigs, he can still talk up his lifetime 1.064 OPS, even if it covers just 11 plate appearances.
  • MLB.com’s Bill Ladson reports (via Twitter) that the Nationals have released outfielder Erik Komatsu. The 26-year-old was selected by the Cardinals in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft and then claimed off waivers by the Twins when St. Louis cut him loose. Komatsu made 58 total plate appearances that season, hitting .216/.293/.216 before being returned to the Nats. The former eighth-round pick, who was once traded from Milwaukee to Washington in exchange for Jerry Hairston, batted .188/.365/.271 at Triple-A this season and owns a career .232/.344/.328 batting line at that level.
  • The Indians have outrighted utility man Elliot Johnson to Triple-A Columbus, according to the club’s transactions page. Johnson signed a minor league deal with Cleveland this offseason but collected just two hits with seven strikeouts and no walks in 20 plate appearances in his time with the club before being designated for assignment last week. The 30-year-old Johnson had the option to reject his assignment and pursue free agency, but the team announced that he has accepted and will report to Triple-A Columbus (Twitter link).

Reds Sign Shelley Duncan, Lou Marson

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The Reds have signed first baseman/outfielder Shelley Duncan and catcher Lou Marson to minor league deals, tweets Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. As Eddy points out, each was released by other organizations in Spring Training (Marson by the Phillies, Duncan by the D’Backs).

Duncan, 34, appeared in 20 games for the Rays in 2014, totaling 64 plate appearances and a .182/.297/.309 batting line with a pair of homers. The brother of former Cardinals slugger Chris Duncan and son of renowned pitching coach Dave Duncan, Shelley has seen action in parts of seven big league seasons with the Yankees, Indians and Rays. He was a very useful bench bat for the Tribe in 2010-11 and hit exactly 11 Major League homers in three consecutive seasons from 2010-12.

Marson, 27, was Cleveland’s backup catcher for much of the time that Duncan was filling a reserve role there. He’s a career .219/.309/.299 hitter that has been excellent at throwing out base-stealers in his career (31 percent) but struggled in terms of pitch framing. The former fourth-round pick was once one of the Phillies’ top prospects and one of the Top 100 in the game, per Baseball America — a standing which Philadelphia leveraged when it included Marson as one of four players sent to Cleveland in the 2009 Cliff Lee trade.

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