Here’s a wrap-up of some recent minor league moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post.
- Right-hander Al Alburquerque cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent, the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd tweets. The Royals designated Alburquerque for assignment last week and requested release waivers on him two days ago; Alburquerque was previously DFA’ed earlier this season, though that time he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A. The righty signed a minors deal with Kansas City last winter and has a 3.60 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 over 10 innings out of the Royals bullpen.
- Infielder Nick Franklin cleared waivers and was outrighted to the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate, the team announced on Twitter. Franklin was designated for assignment two days ago, and it was his third DFA of 2017 — he was designated by the Rays in April and then claimed by the Brewers, then designated by the Brewers and traded to the Angels in late June. After posting above-average production in a part-time role with Tampa Bay last season, Franklin has been unable to get things going this year, with a combined .179/.269/.283 slash line over 119 PA with the Angels and Brewers.
- The Diamondbacks released catcher Hank Conger, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports. Conger signed a minor league deal with the Snakes last winter and has a .239/.316/.394 slash line over 206 PA at Triple-A Reno.
- Also from Eddy, the Rockies released outfielder Domonic Brown. Colorado signed Brown to a minors contract in the offseason. Once considered one of baseball’s top prospects when coming up in the Phillies system, Brown was an All-Star in what looked like a breakout season in 2013, though badly struggled in his next two seasons and hasn’t since returned to the big leagues. Brown did hit a decent .304/.327/.449 over 171 PA at the Triple-A level this season, though in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
- Earlier this week, the Marlins announced that first baseman Chris Parmelee had been signed to a minor league deal. Best known for his stint as a part-timer with the Twins from 2011-14, Parmelee appeared in just eight MLB games last season (with the Yankees) and has yet to reach the Show this season after being released from a minors contract with the A’s in June.
- Catcher Eric Fryer elected to become a free agent last week, the Cardinals announced. Fryer was designated for assignment on July 21 and had been outrighted to Triple-A before opting to hit the open market. The light-hitting catcher has played in parts of seven seasons in the bigs, most recently serving as Yadier Molina’s backup in St. Louis.
- The Rangers released veteran southpaw Wesley Wright earlier this month. Wright posted a 4.16 ERA in 307 innings over eight big league seasons from 2008-15, though he hasn’t been back to the majors since, plus he’s struggled at the Triple-A level in the Texas and Boston organizations over the last two seasons.
- Earlier this month, the Dodgers signed left-hander Tommy Layne to a minor league deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Layne posted good numbers out of the Red Sox and Yankees bullpens in 2015-16, though his career-long struggles with control plagued him this year, as Layne posted a 7.62 ERA over 13 IP for New York, with eight walks against just nine strikeouts.
Big Al and his once vaunting slider has sure fallen. was a time he had probably the best one in the game and now he bounce around organizations.. real shame.
I haven’t seen him pitch recently: has his slider really regressed a lot, or has his overall control gotten a lot worse? He still apparently throws hard judging by the strikeout numbers. Velocity alone will sometimes keep a guy employed, will it for Al Al? I always liked watching him pitch, if only because you knew something was going to happen, good or bad.
Busy day for minor transactions
Ahhh, Dom Brown. Another “cant miss blue chipper”
I think he needs to try the KBL for a year or two and reinvent himself. An ideal candidate.
I want to say the Phillies really dropped the ball during his development but its really all on him, he just never bounced back
Al Albuquerque is a sweet name
If you look back at top prospect lists from 2011, 2012, or 2013, it looks like we overvalue prospects nowadays as most of the top 10 guys haven’t even made an impact at all let alone the other top prospects.
Dominic Brown only walked 8 times and only struck out 23 times in 171 plate appearances…I don’t know which of those is crazier
*Domonic…that was bugging me hahaha
So what does that mean? He has crazy plate discipline but really bad luck or he only knows how to pop up? That IS weird. Maybe he has a very predictable strike zone? Pitch him up and in and he pops it to shallow left?
Tommy Layne, BREAKING NEWS!
AA, the walk off balk man.
Wow I remember when Dominic brown was tearing it up he had something like 27 homeruns at the all star break. How the mighty have fallen.
I don’t know if I would call him “mighty.” He was basically Chris Shelton for an extra couple of months, albeit with a better pedigree which got him a much longer leash to prove he wasn’t a fluke. Unfortunately for him, he pretty much did prove he was just a fluke.
It’s an entire post devoted to guys who were extra players in your Strat-O-Matic card sets.