Here are Friday’s minor moves from around baseball…
- Catcher Ryan Lavarnway has elected free agency rather than taking an outright assignment from the Orioles, the club announced. The 27-year-old received just 32 plate appearances with Baltimore, registering only three hits. He has yet to make good on his former promise, but should have no trouble finding another club interested in giving him a slot at Triple-A to get back on track.
- The White Sox released Jairo Asencio, according to a tweet from its Triple-A affiliate. Asencio, 31, has tossed 55 2/3 big league innings in parts of four years, but has not appeared in the majors since 2013. He worked to a 5.03 ERA in 19 2/3 innings at Triple-A, but did rack up an impressive 28 strikeouts against just six walks.
- Both outfielder Engel Beltre and utilityman Jeff Kobernus have signed minor league deals with the Giants, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports on Twitter. Both have a smattering of big league experience, though neither has hit much in limited action. Beltre was a long-time Rangers farmhand, while Kobernus has only previously appeared professionally in the Nationals organization (though he did spend a spring with the Tigers as a Rule 5 pick before being returned).
- The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Todd Redmond has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Buffalo. Redmond was designated for assignment a week ago and will have the option to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. He pitched well in more than 70 innings for the Jays in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons, but he’s struggled in 2015, yielding 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings of work thus far.
- The Astros and Cuban right-hander Yoanis Quiala have agreed to terms on a minor league contract, reports Scout.com’s Max Wildstein. Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros view Quiala as a starting pitcher, though he did work mostly in relief in his lone pro season in Cuba. The 22-year-old Quiala made 16 appearances (nine in relief, seven from the rotation) in the 2012-13 season in Cuba, totaling 52 2/3 innings with a 2.22 ERA, 5.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald reported (Spanish link) back in November that Quiala had been granted free agency by Major League Baseball, adding that he can run his fastball up into the mid-90s. Given his age and limited experience, Quiala would be subject to international signing limitations. Because the Astros have already spent the vast majority of their 2014-15 budget, it seems unlikely that Quiala received a significant bonus; even $1MM would put Houston well over their allotted pool. Ben Badler of Baseball America ran down all of Houston’s significant expenditures in his April review of their international signings.
- The KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed first baseman Dan Black, who had been playing with the Triple-A affiliate for the White Sox, Han Lee of Global Sporting Integration reports (on Twitter). Black, 27, is a former 14th-round pick of the White Sox (2009) that was hitting an impressive .324/.457/.568 with six homers in 34 games for Triple-A Charlotte this season. He’ll be paid $300K, according to the Yonhap News Agency, and will be replacing former big league right-hander Andy Sisco on the Wiz’s roster. Sisco, who was recently released by the Wiz (according to the Yonhap), posted a 6.23 ERA with 42 strikeouts but 25 walks in 39 innings of work with the Wiz in what was his only KBO action to this point of his career.
Todd Redmond pitched for the Blue Jays in 2013 and 2014, not the Brewers…
I was just going to say that.
Not a clue how my brain turned “Blue Jays” into “Brewers” there. Thanks.
Dude is hitting .324/.457/.568 and we couldn’t find an excuse to give him a shot at the bigs? Well then..
Who sits while he gets his shot? Certainly not Abreu and LaRoche is too expensive for the bench. He is also not versatile enough for a bench spot since he is really only a 1B-DH. Black’s only shot with the Sox would have been an injury to one of the two I mentioned.
So they couldn’t move this guy for said bench player? Got some power, doing well in AAA, with decent stats, only 27.. Theres so much awful on our roster right now they could have found another AAA player that ‘fits’ better someplace instead of just letting the guy walk.
They still can find that guy. AAA players don’t really cost a whole lot. 2-3 get DFA’d per day.
AAA is full of guys like this. 1B/DH-only types who hit for good AAA power but are rarely successful in the majors. Brad Eldred, Dan Johnson, Kila Kai’ahue etc. They’re quad-A guys, not good enough for the majors but can rake in AAA. AT 27 that’s not really prospect age either.
The league also has a reasonable enough amount of these guys who find very good success at 27-29 when given regular at bats. Bautista,Encarnacion, Jimmy Paredes
It’s a shame about Lavarnway. Wasn’t he supposed to be one of the next big catchers?
He looked awful with the Os, so much so that him electing free agency was no big deal at all which says a lot for a position where depth is more important than any other spot