Here are the day’s minor moves, courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy:
- The Marlins added infielder Steve Lombardozzi on a minors deal. He’ll serve as infield depth but doesn’t figure to have much of a shot at cracking the Opening Day roster. Lombardozzi, 28, last appeared in the majors in 2015. He split last year between the independent leagues and the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate.
- Another former MLB infielder, 27-year-old Nick Noonan, is headed to the Brewers on a minors pact. He has a fair bit less major league time than does Lombardozzi, but was able to reach the bigs last year with the Padres. Noonan spent most of the season at Triple-A, slashing .301/.338/.427 over 374 plate appearances.
- The Padres have inked righty Justin De Fratus to a minor-league arrangement. He’s looking to make it back to the majors after spending a portion of 2016 in the upper minors in the Nationals organization. De Fratus, 29, worked to a 5.23 ERA with 7.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over 20 2/3 innings.
- Righty Caleb Cotham has agreed to a minor-leaguedeal with the Mariners. He scuffled to a 7.15 ERA in 34 MLB innings over the past two seasons, but has shown more in the past in the upper minors. In 2015, he worked to a 2.21 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 over 57 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A.
- The Orioles have struck a minors deal with former farmhand Chris Jones. Now 28, Jones spent the 2016 season with the Angels organization, working to an unsightly 6.92 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9. He had performed better with the O’s, though he has yet to earn his way to the game’s highest level.
Justin DeFratus, Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and BJ Rosenberg were supposed to develop into a super pen. Rip
Don’t remind me ._.
Diekman still very reliable arm!
Yeah but not for Philly
Lombardozi wasn’t all that bad. Kind of surprised never found a job. Read story other day.. Might have been here that Michael martinez(!) was the favorite to once again win the super utility job in Cleveland. can’t see how Lombo is as bad as Martinez
Agreed. I think that the problem teams have with him is that he isn’t really good enough defensively for the middle infield and doesn’t have enough pop for the corners. When he was with the Pirates I wanted them to look at him as the last guy off the bench but he never really got a shot. He gets on base a lot, runs the bases OK, switch hits and is at least adequate defensively at a few positions, so I’m kind of surprised he’s never stuck anywhere.
The only reason Michael Martinez has played in so many games for the Indians is Terry Francona. Lombardozzi doesn’t have that advantage despite being an overall better player than Martinez.
Michael Martinez might be the worst player in the mlb
He’s my favorite Indian. Not only is he terrible, but he made the last out.
I don’t know, Alexi Amarista would give him a run for his money.
Maybe true… The ugliest looking player considering form, batting stance and overall weirdness has to be Adam Rosales though. I think it’s a joke when people give him props for sprinting around the bases. I think it’s stupid, but others think he is playing the game hard and right because he does it. He is to baseball what Mark Madsen was to the 2000’s Lakers teams.