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Archives for June 2014

Giants Designate David Huff For Assignment

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The Giants have designated lefty David Huff for assignment, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). The move was made to clear roster space for the return of Matt Cain from the DL.

Huff, 29, came to San Francisco from the Yankees after he lost his roster spot to Masahiro Tanaka. Through 20 innings this season, Huff has scuffled to a 6.30 ERA. He has posted 5.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 on the year, both of which are worse than the marks he put up in each of the last two seasons.

The former first-round pick came up as a starter with the Indians, but shifted primarily to the bullpen last year. He has been solid against same-handed hitters thus far in 2014, allowing just a .659 OPS, but righties have hit a blistering .354/.415/.479 against him.

Minor Moves: Worth, Simunic, Mazzaro

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

  • Though the Tigers announced earlier today that infielder Danny Worth has cleared outright waivers, though as Chris Iott of MLive.com reports, Worth has not yet decided whether or not to accept the assignment. Worth, 28, was designated for assignment earlier in the week when Detroit purchased the contract of shortstop prospect Eugenio Suarez.
  • Utility man Andy Simunic has inked a minor league deal with the Braves after being released by the Astros, reports Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (via Twitter). Simunic, a former 17th-round pick, is a career .261/.332/.304 hitter in four seasons at the Triple-A level. The 28-year-old’s entire career has been spent in the Houston organization to this point.
  • Pirates reliever Vin Mazzaro, who cleared outright waivers yesterday, has accepted his assignment to Triple-A, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Our own Zach Links initially reported that he was on outright waivers, with Biertempfel reporting last night that he’d cleared.

Indians To Sign Justus Sheffield

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3:15pm: Agent David Sloane of Taurus Sports tells MLBTR that Sheffield has agreed to terms at $1.6MM plus the value of a $250K scholarship with Vanderbilt. Sheffield’s deal is technically under slot, but the additional value of the scholarship money and the fact that the bonus is to be paid up front takes the value of the deal over the slot value while allowing Cleveland to allot roughly $133K to other picks later in the draft.

10:45am: Zach Birdsong of Sheffield’s hometown Tullahoma News tweeted late last night that a “source close to the deal” informed him that Sheffield has neither signed nor agreed to anything. Sheffield himself retweeted Birdsong shortly thereafter, suggesting that there likely isn’t an agreement in place just yet.

12:29am: The Indians and first-round pick Justus Sheffield have agreed to a $1.6MM bonus plus eight semesters worth of tuition to Vanderbilt, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (on Twitter). The No. 31 overall draft slot carried a value of $1.733MM, meaning Sheffield signed a bit under slot. Cleveland received the No. 31 overall selection as compensation for losing right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez to the Orioles via free agency. Including college tuition as a fallback isn’t uncommon among high school draft signings, though it isn’t always reported, either. That money does not count against the team’s bonus pool.

Sheffield, a high school left-hander out of Tennessee, ranked 21st among draft prospects according to ESPN’s Keith Law, 39th according to Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com and 49th according to Baseball America.

Callis and Mayo feel that Sheffield has the chance to develop three plus pitches. His heater already sits 89 to 92 mph and touches 94, and he also features a mid-70s curveball and changeup, both of which the MLB.com duo refers to as advanced for high school. Law feels that Sheffield’s fourth pitch, a slider in the 82-84 mph range, also has a chance to be plus and can already miss bats. BA called him a strike-thrower with a four-pitch mix and a chance for average or better command. All three scouting reports praised his athleticism.

Athletics Designate Kent Matthes For Assignment

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The Athletics have designated outfielder Kent Matthes for assignment, according to the team’s transactions page. Matthes’ DFA creates room on the 40-man roster for the recently acquired Justin Marks.

Matthes, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Rockies back in March. Injuries have slowed three seasons of an otherwise promising career prior to 2014. Matthes was a frequent member of Baseball America’s Top 30 prospect rankings and has a career .269/.326/.490 batting line in the minors. However, he’s struggled to a .217/.275/.370 triple-slash through his first 200 plate appearances between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Sacramento.

Athletics Acquire Justin Marks

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The Athletics announced (on Twitter) that they’ve acquired lefty Justin Marks from the Royals in exchange for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento. As the Bay Area News Group’s John Hickey tweets, Oakland’s 40-man roster is full, meaning they’ll have to make a move to accommodate Marks.

For Marks, this is a return to the organization that selected him out of Louisville in the third round of the 2009 draft. Oakland shipped him to Kansas City along with Vin Mazzaro (who accepted an outright with the Pirates earlier today) in exchange for David DeJesus back in 2009.

Marks was designated for assignment  earlier this week to clear a 40-man spot for right-hander Wilking Rodriguez. He was solid in his time at Class-A Advanced and Double-A in the minors, but he’s struggled to a 5.23 ERA in 161 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Marks averaged 8.6 strikeouts and 3.7 walks per nine innings in his minor league career and held opposing lefties to a .568 OPS in 2013.

Phillies Outright Tyson Gillies

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The Phillies announced that outfielder Tyson Gillies has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the 40-man roster. Gillies will remain with the club’s Triple-A affiliate.

The 25-year-old Gillies was one of the pieces that Philadelphia received from the Mariners in exchange for left-hander Cliff Lee back in 2009 (Philadelphia also received Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez). However, he’s never hit much since being acquired from the Mariners and owns just a .219/.284/.310 batting line in 100 career games at Triple-A. The Vancouver native was Seattle’s No. 8 prospect (per Baseball America) at the time of the trade and ranked among Philadelphia’s Top 30 in 2011 and 2012 before falling off the list prior to the 2013 season.

Phillies Designate Cesar Jimenez For Assignment

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The Phillies announced that they have selected the contract of veteran shortstop Ronny Cedeno and designated left-hander Cesar Jimenez for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

The 29-year-old Jimenez appeared in two games for the 2014 Phils, firing a pair of shutout innings on a hit and a walk with one strikeout. He appeared in 19 games for the Phillies last season en route to a 3.71 ERA, and he has a career 4.81 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a 36.9 percent ground-ball rate in 67 1/3 innings. Jimenez has held opposing left-handers in check, though he hasn’t necessarily dominated them– yielding a .245/.311/.355 batting line in his career.

Cedeno, 31, hit reasonably well with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, posting a .286/.327/.367 triple-slash in 160 plate appearances. He split last season between the Astros and Padres, posting a combined .617 OPS in 288 PA. In parts of nine big league seasons with the Cubs, Pirates, Mets, Mariners, Padres and Astros, Cedeno is a .246/.289/.354 hitter.

Blue Jays To Sign Luis Ayala

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8:39am: Zach adds that Ayala’s contract with the Jays does not contain an opt-out clause, as his previous Orioles contract did (Twitter link).

8:26am: The Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Luis Ayala, MLBTR’s Zach Links reports (on Twitter).

Ayala, who is represented by Paragon Sports International, signed with the Nationals in Spring Training but was granted his release after it became clear that there wouldn’t be a spot for him in the Washington ’pen. He then inked a minor league deal with Baltimore and pitched 5 1/3 innings for their Double-A affiliate in Bowie before opting out of that deal as well.

The 36-year-old Ayala has been a solid bullpen piece for the past three seasons after it looked like his career was beginning to fade. He’s pitched for the Yankees, Orioles and Braves from 2011-13, posting a strong 2.58 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate north of 50 percent. He’s a logical fit with the Blue Jays, who, despite their first-place standing in the AL East, have posted the second-worst bullpen ERA in the Majors at 4.62. Given the carousel of arms they’ve cycled through — Toronto has already used 16 different relievers this season — it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ayala pitch for the big league club at some point this summer.

Post-Draft Links: Aiken, Schwarber, Davidson, Verdugo

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The first day of the 2014 draft is complete, and as many expected, the Astros selected high school left-hander Brady Aiken with the No. 1 overall pick. The team is in no hurry to sign Aiken, however, the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich reports (Twitter links). Still,the Astros are understandably excited about the player they drafted. “This is the most advanced high school pitcher I’ve ever seen in my entire career,” says GM Jeff Luhnow. “He has command like I’ve never seen before.”

Here’s more from the draft’s first day…

  • The Cubs turned some heads by selecting Indiana catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber with the fourth overall pick, but scouting director Jason McLeod told reporters that Schwarber was No. 2 on the team’s draft board all along. ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers quotes McLeod (on Twitter) as saying that Schwarber trailed only Aiken on their board, though as the Chicago Sun Times’ Gordon Wittenmyer tweets, McLeod did acknowledge that the pick will save them some money. The Cubs are expecting him to sign quickly.
  • Braves top pick Braxton Davidson says he will sign rather than attending UNC, tweets David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Davidson’s slot — No. 32 overall — carries a $1.7054MM value, per Baseball America. I spoke with Davidson as part of MLBTR’s Draft Prospect Q&A series.
  • Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish hears that the Dodgers and No. 62 overall pick Alex Verdugo already have an agreement in place, and the ASU commit will not be attending college (Twitter link). VP of amateur scouting Logan White tells MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick that Verdugo, a two-way prospect, will start as a center fielder and convert to pitching if he doesn’t hit well (Twitter link).
  • MLB.com’s Corey Brock spoke with Padres scouting director Billy Gasparino and got the impression that the team will shift its focus on jump on some arms tomorrow (Twitter link). San Diego drafted a pair of bats today in UNC shortstop Trea Turner and prep outfielder Michael Gettys.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

2014 Competitive Balance Round A Results

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Here’s where we’ll post the results of Competitive Balance Round A. Here’s where you can track the results of the first round.

35. Colorado Rockies — 2B Forrest Wall, Orangewood Christian (FL HS)
36. Miami Marlins — C Blake Anderson, West Collinsville (Miss. HS)
37. Houston Astros — OF Derek Fisher, Virgina
38. Cleveland Indians — OF Mike Papi, Virginia
39. Pittsburgh Pirates — OF Connor Joe, San Diego
40. Kansas City Royals — C Chase Vallot, St. Thomas More (LA HS)
41. Milwaukee Brewers — SS Jacob Gatewood, Clovis (CA HS)

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