Former NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady, who had been trying his hand as a pitcher with the independent Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters, announced his retirement from baseball today, writes Brett Dolan of CBS Houston. T-Mac totaled just 6 2/3 innings with Sugar Land, and his lone strikeout came against the final hitter he faced. “That is definitely going in the trophy case,” McGrady said after his announcement. He called the opportunity to get to know and learn from his teammates “an honor.”
Here are the rest of the day’s minor moves:
- Dontrelle Willis was briefly considering a career in coaching, but the former Rookie of the Year and Cy Young runner-up will instead pitch for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link). The D-Train is familiar with the Atlantic League, as he made 14 starts for the Long Island Ducks (producing a 2.57 ERA) in 2013. His debut will come on Friday.
- Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers have signed former first-rounder Chad James to a minor league deal and assigned him to Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach. The Marlins selected James 18th overall in 2009, but he never made it past High-A. Now 23 years old, James had been pitching for the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League. He has a career 4.71 ERA between the minor leagues and indy ball.
- The Portland Sea Dogs (the Red Sox’ Double-A affiliate) announced on Twitter that they have released right-hander Michael Olmsted. The longtime Mets farmhand returned for a second stint in Boston’s farm system when he inked a minor league deal this spring. Olmsted posted a 4.45 ERA with a 37-to-24 K/BB ratio in 32 1/3 innings.
- The White Sox have made a series of transactions at the minor league level, according to a tweet from its Triple-A affiliate Charlotte Knights (h/t to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin). The team has added righty Chien-Ming Wang on a minor league deal. Wang, who has thrown at least 27 MLB innings over each of the last three seasons, was recently let go by the Reds after opting out of his deal.
- Meanwhile, the Reds have acquired righty Dylan Axelrod from the White Sox for an as-yet unknown return. The 28-year-old threw 128 1/3 innings last year for Chicago, including 20 starts, but managed only a 5.68 ERA with 5.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. He currently sports a 4.50 ERA through 88 frames at Triple-A on the year, logging 7.8 K/9 versus 3.7 BB/9.
- The White Sox also released Deunte Heath, a 28-year-old righty who has tossed 9 2/3 MLB innings over the past two seasons. Heath will evidently be signing with a Japanese club after posting generally excellent numbers at the Triple-A level over the past several seasons.
How Noesi still has a job with the white so is beyond me
Who else is going to start? The pitching depth is bad. This from a Sox fan.
Well you got Chris beck in the minors. I mean he can’t do much worse than Noesi.
and almost every team has at least one pitcher hurt…having one healthy body is better than 0.
As a 5h starter, Noesi has actually been fine. He has delivered .3 WAR. Really nothing to complain about.
If Chien-Ming Wang shows anything at Charlotte, he will probably replace Carroll who will go to the bullpen to replace Rienzo. Noesi eventually will be let go and replaced by Rodon by September. This team should look a lot different in 2-6 weeks.
Rodon isn’t going to start in MLB games this season. Bullpen at best.
No way rodon sees time this year. There’s no need to start his service time clock so early.
For no reason in particular, I always find myself rooting for Chien-Ming Wang. I hope he makes it back to the bigs and succeeds.
Amazing that Dontrelle is still only 32. Would be awesome if he succeeded.
I love it when athletes from other sports try a sport they’re not accustomed to playing. Too bad McGrady couldn’t make one MLB appearance…
baseball-reference.com does acknowledge Tracy McGrady’s 6 2/3 innings, but not the strikeout. Hmm.
Am not buying any Dontrelle Willis stock.