Some minor moves from around baseball to kick off the week…
- KBO’s Lotte Giants have re-signed left-hander Brooks Raley and signed second baseman/third baseman Andy Burns out of the Blue Jays organization, per Jee-ho Yoo of Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. Raley will receive $850K to return for his third season, while Burns will be venturing overseas for the first time in his career. Raley, 28, pitched 38 1/3 innings with the Cubs from 2012-13 and spent time in the Twins and Angels organizations after being claimed off waivers following that stint. Raley has turned in a 4.06 ERA while averaging 175 innings, 7.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in the past two seasons with Lotte. As for Burns, the 26-year-old made his MLB debut last season but tallied just seven plate appearances in Toronto. He’s a career .263/.320/.363 hitter in 237 contests at the Triple-A level.
- The Pirates announced a list of non-roster invites this morning, which includes former Rockies catcher Jackson Williams. The 30-year-old saw brief action with the Rox from 2014-15 (30 plate appearances) and has batted .232/.303/.356 in just over 1200 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s halted 36 percent of stolen base attempts against him in his minor league career and draws average to slightly below-average marks in terms of pitch framing, per Baseball Prospectus.
- Former Cardinals/White Sox right-hander Maikel Cleto has signed a minors pact with the Cubs, as his representatives at Jackson Management Group noted, on Twitter. The hard-throwing 27-year-old’s last MLB work came with the ChiSox in 2014 and resulted in a 4.60 ERA with 9.8 K/9 against an unsightly 7.1 BB/9. Cleto averaged 97.1 mph on his fastball that year and doesn’t have difficulty missing bats (10.1 K/9 in his Triple-A career), but walks have been a persistent issue for him in the Majors and in the minors. He split the 2016 season between the Mexican League and the Braves organization. In 21 innings with Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate, he posted a 2.14 ERA with 31 strikeouts against 13 walks.
staypuft
These pop up ads on the mobile app are driving me nuts. They pop up multiple times while on the same page.
timyanks
never had that problem. adblock plus is free
layventsky
It only works in a desktop browser, not the app.
gobraves46
I’ve Never had pop up adds on the app
dgane34
I always get pop up ads. It’s annoying
thebare
Yes it is
GareBear
I get the too
Steve Adams
We are very, very actively trying to remedy the situation. We don’t want them in our app, nor do we make money off them. They’re a pain for us. Tim wrote about it in a recent post and asked for those experiencing the issues to email him some further details to help root out the problem. If you have the time to do so, here’s the post, and any help you’re able to provide is of course greatly appreciated:
mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/the-ad-experience-on-ml…
Apologies on the troubles. We’re definitely working on it and appreciate the patience from our users.
TheBoatmen
For Apple users. Go into settings and then Safari. Enable
Block pop ups. You will see the ads but it will no longer take you away from the app and launch the browser. Can Tim have the App modified so that if doesn’t close the app when content is updated? Really annoying during the chat sessions.
layventsky
Does that setting affect the app? Or only the mobile site when viewed via Safari?
TheBoatmen
For me it blocks them from opening safari from the app.
staypuft
Thanks Steve
Mo Vaughn
Same here
37santobanks
Same here. It kept redirecting me after clicking on an article headline from the main page. Pretty darn annoying.
krillin
Do you guys have android? I haven’t had that problem on iOS. I’m not promoting anything. They are both great in their own ways. I’m just curious
Kayrall
I have Android and have NEVER had one of these problems.
AddisonStreet
Same. The mobile site is garbage, but the app works fine.
djtommyaces
I have IOS and get it too
wiggysf
Weird. I don’t.
TheBoatmen
Go into Settings and then Safari and turn in “Block pop ups”. If you use a different browser do the same thing for your browser.
TheBoatmen
What I hate more is the app closes whenever content is updated.
lesterdnightfly
Anybody want to discuss the actual article? These complaints can be made in emails to Tim and staff.
mcdusty31
Cleto has a live arm…other than that the nuisance of pop ups are just as, if not more interesting than the other players heading overseas or getting signed on minor league deals
lesterdnightfly
So you say that Cleto’s live arm causes batters to hit a lot of popups?
Now I understand…
chive
None of these guys have rave reviews for their defense against ads.
layventsky
Haha!
EKocur57
Yup, Pirate Logic 101. You gave away McGuire to Toronto with another Top 10 prospect, Ramirez. We had heard for a couple years that the guy was a can’t miss prospect, only to get revisionism after the trade that stated he was ‘weak hitting’
It never fails
Now, we add a .232 hitter
Makes complete sense
bollo
Cubs are on the down slide if they signed Cleto
mcdusty31
It may even set their franchise back two decades…I sure hope they enjoyed their short stay on top
tim815
Can’t tell if sarcastic.
It’s a minor league deal. If he’s worse than what they have in Des Moiines at Triple-A, they release him.
bsteady powers
Dude consistently throws very hard. Dude is also very wild. If Bos and co. can somehow harness the control, which is unlikely, he’ll be a back-end of the pen guy very soon. He hasn’t been able to do it at 27 yet, so it’s very unlikely. But he’ll be given a shot for the next 4/5 years on a minors deal, as long as he throw that hard.