Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Astros added infielder Reid Brignac on a minor-league deal, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports on Twitter. His contract includes a spring invite. Brignac, 30, has bounced around quite a bit since his days as a frequent contributor to the Rays earlier in his career, appearing most recently with the Braves. The former top prospect has appeared in each of the last nine major league seasons, but hasn’t cracked 100 plate appearances in a single year since 2011. All told, Brignac owns a .219/.264/.309 batting line over 951 trips to the plate in the majors.
Earlier Moves
- Southpaw Sean Burnett will head to camp with the Phillies, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). If he can crack the roster, Burnett will receive a $1.25MM salary if and when he pitches in the majors, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links). The deal also includes $1.75MM in available incentives along with a March 26 opt-out date, per Nicholson-Smith. Burnett, 34, returned to the majors in 2016 with the Nationals after missing time due to injury. He posted a 3.18 ERA with three strikeouts and a walk over 5 2/3 innings across ten appearances in his return to D.C., and figures to have a shot at earning a lefty specialist role in Philadelphia.
- The Braves have a minor-league deal in place to bring back infielder Emilio Bonifacio, Cotillo tweets. Now 31, Bonifacio has played in the majors in ten consecutive seasons. But his opportunities have dwindled of late, and he spent most of 2016 at Triple-A. In his 471 plate appearances at Gwinnett, Bonifacio slashed a solid .298/.356/.369. He could conceivably challenge for a utility role next spring.
- Outfielder Junior Lake will join the Red Sox on a minor-league pact, per Cotillo (via Twitter). The 26-year-old, a right-handed hitter, cracked the majors briefly this past season with the Blue Jays and has appeared in each of the past four MLB campaigns. But Lake has seen only 51 games of action since playing an active reserve role for the Cubs in 2013-14. He hit .231/.314/.352 over 318 plate appearances last year at Triple-A.
- Righty Logan Bawcom is headed to the Padres on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Bawcom has yet to crack the big leagues, but showed well in the upper minors last year in the Dodgers organization. Spending most of his time at Triple-A, the 28-year-old posted 98 innings of 1.93 ERA ball over a dozen starts and 24 relief appearances, with 7.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.
- The Mariners outrighted lefty Dean Kiekhefer, the club announced. He had recently been designated for assignment. A 22-inning MLB debut in 2016 didn’t go very well, as Kiekhefer pitched to a 5.32 ERA for the Cardinals, but he has posted sub-3.00 earned run averages in each of the past three seasons in the upper minors.
- Catcher Johnny Monell is heading to Korea, but it’s the KT Wiz and not the NC Dinos who’ll sign him. Cotillo had reported a connection to the Changwon-based Dinos yesterday, but says that the destination changed after that arrangement fell through. (Twitter link.)
I wonder why Logan Bawcom hasn’t received a chance in the big leagues with numbers like that
Low K/9 and average velo are the only things I can think of.
His stuff isn’t very impressive. Fastball barely touches 90. He has stuff that fools minor leaguers but is probably just a middle reliever in the majors. Think of, like, a Burke Badenhop type. Those guys are a dime a dozen.
The Yomiuri Giants are now close to signing Mariners pitcher Arquimedes Caminero on a one-year deal (via: sanspo.com/baseball/news/20161210/gia1612100505000…), as it is now on the final stages. Contract details will soon be known in a few days.
dude, they should hire you for Japanese/Korean signings holy cow
That’s too bad because caminero was untouchable for a while as a Mariner until he was used too much and lost all control, thanks for reporting that.
I’ve been attending major league games since 1969 and Emilio Bonafacio is the worst player I have ever seen. He obviously has incriminating Bud Selig photos because his hanging around for 10 years is beyond belief.
I’m a fan. He helped the Cubs add Victor Caratini from Atlanta.
Who hasn’t done anything for the Cubs
We could have used Bonafacio in pinstripes
“If he can crack the roster, Burnett will receive a $1.25MM salary if and when he pitches in the majors, ”
If I read this, I will get a headache if I read this.
The Astros have had plenty of sub .200 batters recently. After nine years… no thank you. If you want some veteran leadership in the minor league clubhouse then offer him a coaching job.
He’s probably Marwin insurance, and he’ll probably get released.