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Archives for July 2014

AL West Notes: Dipoto, A’s, Mariners

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Here’s the latest from around the AL West…

  • Angels GM Jerry Dipoto is pleased with his starting pitching and doesn’t intend to pursue rotation upgrades, though the bullpen is still “not a finished product,” he tells MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez and Matthew DeFranks.  Sources in the industry tell Gonzalez/DeFranks that the Halos are looking for a situational lefty and another possible closer candidate to bolster current stopper Joe Smith and the newly-acquired Jason Grilli.
  • The Athletics are talking to teams about acquiring a starting pitcher or second baseman, ESPN’s Jim Bowden tweets, and they’re willing to discuss trading any top prospect besides Addison Russell.  Many of Oakland’s other notable farm products are in the low minors, however, and Russell is the only Oakland minor leaguer ranked in preseason top 100 prospects from Baseball America, MLB.com or ESPN’s Keith Law.
  • Several unheralded players are helping the Mariners win, John McGrath of the Tacoma News Tribune writes, from seemingly stalled prospects like James Jones and Roenis Elias to veteran reclamation projects like Chris Young and Joe Beimel.
  • The Mariners seem intent on making an upgrade or two before the deadline, and Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune discusses a few options as part of a reader mailbag.

Rangers Release Joe Saunders

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The Rangers have put Joe Saunders on release waivers with the intent of giving the left-hander his unconditional release, the team announced.  Saunders was designated for assignment on Tuesday.  In corresponding moves, righty Ben Rowen was optioned to Triple-A and Neftali Feliz was promoted from Triple-A as the former Rangers closer returns to the majors after missing much of the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Saunders signed a Major League deal with Texas in March that ended up netting him a guaranteed $1.5MM since he made the Rangers’ 25-man roster.  The veteran southpaw ended up making eight starts for the Rangers and struggled to the tune of a 6.13 ERA and nearly as many walks (20) as strikeouts (22) over 39 2/3 innings of work.

Orioles Put Nolan Reimold On Waivers

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FRIDAY, 1:55pm: The Orioles have put Reimold on waivers, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweets.  Reimold will be outrighted to Triple-A if he clears waivers.

THURSDAY, 2:20pm: The O’s are still attempting to work out a trade with Reimold, a source tells Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter).  As of today, he has not been put on waivers.

TUESDAY: The Orioles have announced that Reimold has been activated and designated. If Reimold hits the waiver wire, a claiming team would be responsible for about $500K in salary for the rest of the year, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun notes on Twitter.

YESTERDAY, 6:00pm: Reimold has yet to be designated, tweets MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli. Executive VP Dan Duquette said that the club hopes to keep him in the organization without using that mechanism.

Reimold had been told earlier today that he would be designated, according to Kubatko (links to Twitter). Though he has completed his rehab assignment, Reimold is still on the DL, and the club does not have to make a move until Tuesday. A DFA could be in the works, says Kubatko, because the Orioles are not willing to clear a roster spot for Reimold.

2:46pm: The Orioles are set to designate Nolan Reimold for assignment, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (on Twitter).

Today was decision day for the Orioles to either place Reimold on the major league roster or designate him for assignment.  Baltimore was thought to be looking at trade options for the outfielder but it appears that they have yet to find any.  Reimold has been hampered by multiple neck surgeries over the last few seasons but has posted a .902 OPS over 17 games on a Double-A rehab assignment.

The 30-year-old was once considered a top 100 prospect but has never been able to realize his potential due to health problems.  In parts of five big league campaigns, Reimold owns a .252/.327/.439 slash line.

Baltimore would like to keep Reimold in the organization, Kubatko tweets, but it will be tough to get him through waivers.  To keep up with the dizzying number of DFAs we’ve seen this afternoon, check out MLBTR’s DFA Tracker.

Red Sox Notes: Lester, Miller, Depth

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Here’s the latest from Fenway Park…

  • Jon Lester has told the Red Sox that he would like to hold off contract talks until the season is over, and it appears that both parties will wait until October to re-open negotiations, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports.  Lester has repeatedly said that he feels in-season talks are a distraction, though the Sox reportedly were open to increasing their last contract offer.
  • Both sides still have “a strong interest” in reaching an extension and continuing Lester’s tenure in Boston, though naturally many teams would be interested in Lester’s services.  Heyman notes that the Yankees would have particular interest in adding the veteran left-hander.
  • Andrew Miller wants to stay with the Sox beyond this season, but the pending free agent tells Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal that he isn’t thinking about either a new contract or the possibility of being traded before the deadline.  Miller said his representatives haven’t talked about an extension aside from some “very, very minor discussion in spring training that mostly stemmed from us not being able to agree on arbitration.”  After strong performances in 2012-13, Miller is having his best season yet in Boston, posting a 2.48 ERA, 5.5 K/BB rate and a superb 15.2 K/9 over 32 2/3 IP.
  • GM Ben Cherington made three offseason mistakes that hurt the Red Sox this year, Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald writes.  Not making an earlier extension offer to Lester was one, in Lauber’s opinion, and the Sox also erred in counting too much on the injury-prone Shane Victorino and the unproven Will Middlebrooks to be everyday players.

Cubs Sign Sixth-Rounder Dylan Cease

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The Cubs have signed sixth-round draft pick Dylan Cease to a contract with a $1.5MM bonus, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (via Twitter), which far exceeds the $269.5K slot price attached to the 169th overall pick.

Cease, a high school right-hander, had committed to attend Vanderbilt in the fall, yet the large bonus is still somewhat surprising given that he will undergo Tommy John surgery later this month.  The Cubs also went well above slot in handing out seven-figure bonuses to fourth-rounder Carson Sands and fifth-rounder Justin Steele, as the team had extra draft pool money available after going almost a combined $1.75MM under slot to sign first round pick Kyle Schwarber and second-rounder Jake Stinnett.

In pre-draft prospect rankings, Cease was rated 48th amongst all draftees by ESPN’s Keith Law, 76th by MLB.com and 77th by Baseball America.  The BA scouting report says Cease needs to improve on repeating his breaking pitches and he has something of a rushed delivery, but the young righty’s fastball has touched 98mph and his curveball has potential to be an above-average pitch if he can be consistent with it.

NL East Notes: Mets, Detwiler, Penny

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We heard earlier today about Bartolo Colon possibly being a trade candidate this summer, and now here’s some more items from around the NL East…

  • There isn’t any reason for the Mets to fire GM Sandy Alderson or manager Terry Collins since such moves would only prolong the club’s rebuilding process, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post opines.  While the Mets are on pace for another losing, the team is in good shape for the future with young talent on the rise and Chris Young’s contract seems to be the only true mistake on the current roster.
  • Nationals lefty Ross Detwiler could be a trade target for teams looking to add rotation help, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (Twitter link).  Detwiler “could start for most” teams, as Heyman notes, and the southpaw has had trouble finding a spot in Washington’s deep rotation despite some good career numbers.  Detwiler currently has a 4.00 ERA, 1.29 K/BB rate and 5.5 K/9 in 36 relief innings for the Nats, and he’s had control issues, as his 4.3 BB/9 is markedly up from his 2.6 BB/9 over the previous three seasons.
  • Brad Penny and Marlins GM Dan Jennings talk to Greg Stoda of the Palm Beach Post about Penny’s minor league comeback attempt and why Miami brought Penny back to his original franchise.
  • The impending trade of minor league right-hander Andrew Robinson from the Astros to the Braves is taking an unusually long time to complete for a move outside the 40-man roster, which makes MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo think Robinson could be part of a larger transaction between the two clubs.  Cotillo makes it clear that he is just speculating, however.

Mariners Designate Cole Gillespie For Assignment

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The Mariners have designated outfielder Cole Gillespie for assignment, the team announced.  Corey Hart has been activated from the DL in a corresponding move.

Gillespie hit .254/.312/.324 with one homer in 78 PA for Seattle this season, with 56 of those plate appearances coming against left-handed pitching.  Gillespie signed a minor league deal with the M’s during the offseason.

According to MLBTR’s DFA Tracker, Gillespie is now the eighth player currently in ’DFA limbo,’ joining Jeff Francis (A’s), Dean Anna (Yankees), Jerome Williams (Astros), Nolan Reimold (Orioles), Joe Saunders (Rangers) Pedro Ciriaco and Justin Maxwell (Royals)

Mets Could Shop Bartolo Colon

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The Mets will listen to offers for Bartolo Colon and could even start openly shopping the veteran right-hander, team sources tell Mike Puma of the New York Post.  There is no indication a deal would happen soon, however, as the team could wait until after the July 31st deadline since GM Sandy Alderson “has no pressure” to trade Colon.  (Puma points out that Alderson waited until late August 2013 to make the Marlon Byrd trade with the Pirates).

Colon turned 41 years old in May and his late-career renaissance is still going strong.  The veteran has posted a 3.88 ERA and a 5.27 K/BB over 106 2/3 IP as a Met, with 79 strikeouts and a league-low 1.3 walks per nine innings.  Those numbers do carry some heavy ballpark splits, as Colon has a 2.11 ERA in six Citi Field starts and a 5.06 ERA in 10 road starts.

Despite Colon’s age, the two-year, $20MM contract he signed with New York last winter is considered to be “relatively friendly,” an AL executive tells Puma.  Colon is owed roughly $4.4MM for the remainder of this season and is owed $11MM for 2015.

Moving Colon would line the Mets up for a full-scale pitching youth movement in 2015.  Jon Niese and Dillon Gee would be the most experienced members of a projected rotation that would also include a returning Matt Harvey and the likes of Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, while prospects Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard could also be candidates to win jobs.  In this situation you could also expect the Mets to sign at least one veteran arm for depth purposes during the offseason, a la their addition of Daisuke Matsuzaka last winter.

Also from Puma’s piece, he notes that the Mets are “reluctant” to trade Niese, which fits with Alderson’s recent statements about Niese’s availability (or lack thereof).  Niese, for his part, tells Puma that he wants to remain with the Mets.

Mariners, Giants Interested In Dayan Viciedo

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The Mariners and Giants are among the teams who have talked to the White Sox about acquiring outfielder Dayan Viciedo, ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes reports.  The Mariners have considered sending righty Brandon Maurer and another player to Chicago in exchange for Viciedo, while the extent of the Giants’ interest in the Cuban slugger isn’t known.

Viciedo has struggled to a .242/.294/.404 slash line over 326 PA this season, hitting nine homers and producing only an 89 wRC+.  He has roughly $1.4MM remaining on his contract for this season, and he is controlled through 2017 as a Super Two player.  Viciedo is still just 25 years old and posted some big power numbers in the minors, so a change of scenery could help, though moving from hitter-friendly US Cellular Field to pitcher-friendly parks in Seattle and San Francisco doesn’t seem ideal for a batter looking to realize his potential.

This isn’t the first time Seattle has been linked to Viciedo, as the M’s and Sox explored a swap during Spring Training.  The Mariners are still looking for some outfield power, as while Michael Saunders (RF) and James Jones (CF) have mostly locked down everyday roles, former top prospect Dustin Ackley has contributed only a .640 OPS while getting the bulk of playing time in left field.  Since all three of these players are left-handed batters, Viciedo would add some balance from the right side.

Maurer, who just turned 24 yesterday, has a 6.51 ERA in 37 1/3 IP (seven starts and three relief outings) for Seattle this season.  A 23rd-round draft pick in 2008, Maurer has recorded a 3.79 ERA, 8.4 K/9 and 2.7 K/BB rate over 389 minor league innings.

Brandon Belt returns from the DL today, leaving the Giants with an ideal regular lineup of Belt at first base, Michael Morse in left and Hunter Pence in right.  If Viciedo were to go to San Francisco, then, it would be as a bench bat and DH option for interleague games in AL stadiums.  Viciedo has graded out as a below-average outfielder over his career, so it’s hard to see him getting much playing time in the spacious AT&T Park outfield.

Rockies To Sign Chris Capuano

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The Rockies and left-hander Chris Capuano have agreed on a minor league contract, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).  The deal will cost the Rockies only the minimum, as the Red Sox still owe Capuano the approximately $1.18MM remaining on his previous contract after he was released earlier this week.  Capuano is represented by Moye Sports Associates.

Capuano will be stretched out as a starting pitcher at Triple-A, Heyman notes, after pitching exclusively out of the bullpen in Boston.  The veteran southpaw posted a 4.55 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 1.93 K/BB rate in 31 2/3 IP this season, and that ERA was largely inflated by a five-run outing on June 23 in what ended up as his final appearance with the Red Sox.

The signing marks both a return to starting and a return to the NL for Capuano, as he spent the first nine years of his career in the senior circuit before signing with Boston last winter.  Given the Rockies’ need for starting pitching, it’s basically a no-lose signing on their part to see if Capuano can adapt to the thin Colorado air and eventually provide some innings to the Major League rotation.

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