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Giants Outright Chase Johnson

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As part of their roster maneuvering today, the Giants announced that righty Chase Johnson was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. With the move, the club still has four openings on its 40-man roster.

Johnson is a 26-year-old hurler who has dealt with some health issues in the recent past. He was able to turn in 18 starts at the Double-A level in 2018 after recovering from Tommy John surgery, though he was sidelined for a stretch with a concussion.

While he has shown an intriguing power arsenal in the past, Johnson’s most recent effort obviously did not impress the organization. Over 58 1/3 innings, he worked to a 3.86 ERA but accumulated only 37 strikeouts to go with 21 walks. He’ll still have a chance to get back into the MLB mix if he can bounce back after resting up over the winter.

Cubs Outright Johnny Field, Jerry Vasto

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The Cubs announced today that they have outrighted outfielder Johnny Field and lefty Jerry Vasto. Those moves helped free space for the team’s other minor transactions today.

Field, 26, never saw MLB action in Chicago but did receive his first 233 plate appearances in the bigs in 2018. Splitting time between the Rays and Twins, he slashed .222/.254/.403 with nine home runs while lining up at all three outfield positions.

It was a similar story for Vasto, who also debuted at 26 — but not with the Cubs. He threw a few frames for the Rockies and Royals, with most of his time coming at Triple-A. Over 38 innings at the highest level of the minors, he worked to a 3.08 ERA with 10.7 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9.

Both players were claimed after the minor-league season ended by the Cubs. It seems the organization was hoping for a chance eventually to stash them in the minors and off of the 40-man roster, which will now be the case given that both cleared waivers.

Twins Sell Contract Rights Of Alan Busenitz To Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles

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The Twins have worked out an arrangement to part ways with righty Alan Busenitz so that he can join Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles. Dan Hayes of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter) that Busenitz was slated to be shipped abroad.

Financial details are not available, but as usual this sort of deal likely includes some cash for the MLB organization and a nice salary bump for the player. A pre-arb, optionable hurler such as Busenitz faces quite a bit of earnings uncertainty at this stage of his career. But he’ll earn a steady paycheck and get to play at the highest level in Japan.

Busenitz had shown well in his 2017 debut, but everything went sideways last year. In 25 1/3 innings he was knocked around for 22 earned runs and eight long balls while allowing 14 walks to go with his 26 strikeouts. That said, he did continue to work in the mid-nineties while boosting his swinging-strike rate to 11.2%. And Busenitz dominated in forty frames at Triple-A.

Marlins Acquire Nick Anderson, Designate Derek Dietrich

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The Marlins announced tonight that they have acquired righty Nick Anderson from the Twins in exchange for infielder Brian Schales. To create roster space, the Marlins designated Derek Dietrich for assignment.

Bumping Dietrich from the roster will mean avoiding a significant salary for the rebuilding Marlins. MLBTR had projected a $4.8MM salary in his second-to-last season of arbitration eligibility. It’s still possible a trade will be worked out or that he’ll be claimed over the week to come.

The 29-year-old Dietrich has never comfortably found a defensive fit, though he has appeared at second, third, and the corner outfield and thereby offers at least hypothetical versatility. He’s valued mostly for his steady left-handed bat, which has produced solidly above-average numbers for each of the past four seasons. Most recently, he slashed .265/.330/.421 with 16 home runs in 551 plate appearances.

While he largely maintained his prior level of performance with the bat in 2018, it wasn’t Dietrich’s finest effort. His strikeout rate spiked to a career-high 25.4% while his walk rate dropped to 5.3%. That said, Dietrich was also exposed to left-handed pitching a bit more than he had been, with the resulting 34:1 K/BB mix in 106 plate appearances hardly helping the stat sheet.

Teams considering Dietrich will likely consider him as an option to plug in the lineup in various places against right-handed pitching. He could make particular sense for an American League club that intends to chop up some of its playing time at DH or even first base.

Anderson, 28, was due for Rule 5 protection and will get it from the Miami organization. He was slow to reach and progress through the professional ranks but has impressed upon reaching the upper minors. Last year, working at Triple-A, he turned in sixty frames of 3.30 ERA ball with 13.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9.

As for the 22-year-old Schales, he was a fourth-round pick in 2014 who topped out at the Double-A level last year. He turned in his best offensive season as a professional, slashing .258/.354/.403 with ten home runs in 490 plate appearances.

Dodgers Designate Erik Goeddel, Release Tom Koehler

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The Dodgers announced today that they have designated three players: righty Erik Goeddel, lefty Zac Rosscup, and infielder/outfielder Tim Locastro. Meanwhile, the club released right-hander Tom Koehler, who signed with the club as a free agent last winter but was arbitration-eligible.

Those moves helped create space for new additions to the 40-man roster. Notable prospects Keibert Ruiz and Yadier Alvarez were selected, along with infielders Matt Beaty and Edwin Rios as well as right-hander Josh Sborz.

Goeddel, who’s a month from his 30th birthday, was rather effective last year after several tough campaign. He worked to a 2.95 ERA in 36 2/3 innings with the Mariners and (mostly) Dodgers. Goeddel racked up 44 strikeouts but also issued twenty walks.

Those productive innings were expected to come from Koehler, who signed a $2MM deal last winter but ended up being sidelined all year due to injury. His season ended with shoulder surgery, so he’ll be looking for a place to rebuild value in 2019.

Rosscup has bounced around in recent years and has never yet entrenched himself in the majors. He did record twenty strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings for the Dodgers in 2018, but also coughed up three homers and six earned runs. As for Locastro, he has posted strong numbers at the plate in the minors over the past two years but has received scant MLB opportunity. He could appeal to teams that are looking for versatility, as he has plenty of experience playing up the middle on both the infield dirt and the outfield grass.

Rays Designate C.J. Cron, Announce Other Roster Moves

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The Rays will designate first baseman C.J. Cron for assignment, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. He had been projected by MLBTR to earn $5.2MM in arbitration.

That’s just one of a flurry of late-breaking 40-man moves for the Rays. Relievers Oliver Drake and Hoby Milner were also designated, while right-hander Jose Mujica was outrighted.

All those precious roster spaces were needed to allow the team to add a host of new talent — and thereby protect it from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Lefties Kyle Bird and Brock Burke, righty Ian Gibaut, and outfielders Joe McCarthy and Jesus Sanchez are all now on the 40-man.

It’ll certainly come as a surprise to some that Cron is on his way out of Tampa Bay. After all, the club was rewarded for nabbing him from the Angels last year. Cron drove the ball over the fence thirty times and produced a strong 122 wRC+ with his .253/.323/.493 slash.

Of course, the Rays rarely rest on their laurels — or indulge in excessive spending. While Cron isn’t slated to command an immense salary, and the Rays actually have ample payroll space with which to work, the earning power of players of his kind has been gutted in recent years. That’s not to say that another organization won’t see the value. It doesn’t hurt that Cron is still controllable for another campaign.

Padres To Sell Contract Rights To Christian Villanueva To Yomiuri Giants

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6:57pm: Villanueva could earn something in the neighborhood of $3MM if he reaches the incentives in his deal, Lin tweets.

5:26pm: The Padres will sell the contract rights to third baseman Christian Villanueva to Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, per Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter links).* Villanueva would need to agree to sign a contract with his new team; whether he has yet done so is not immediately clear.

Villanueva earned his first full shot at the majors in 2018 and certainly held his own. He finished with an overall batting line that sat just over league-average and hit twenty long balls in 384 plate appearances. Villanueva also graded as an average defender at the hot corner (DRS gave him positive marks; UZR did not).

Clearly, though, the Friars and other MLB outfits were not optimistic about his future. That’s a bit surprising at first glance. Villanueva has generally produced strong numbers in the minors. And though his 27.1% strikeout rate was a bit hefty, that’s hardly an astronomical rate in this league environment. He wasn’t reliant on BABIP (.276) to post the numbers he did. And Villanueva is also still only 27 years of age.

On the other hand, Villanueva was not able to reach the .300 mark in on-base percentage. And he failed to produce much at all with the bat after sprinting out of the gates in the first month of the season. Plus, Villanueva struggled badly against right-handed pitching all year long. (That does indicate that he was correspondingly excellent against southpaws, against whom he maintained a rather robust .336/.392/.726 batting line in 125 plate appearances.)

It would stand to reason that the Padres would have preferred to recoup talent via trade had that been an option. That it wasn’t suggests that there wasn’t much interest. From the player’s perspective, this move is a potential win, even if it is disappointing not to stay in the majors. Villanueva will likely have a shot to earn quite a bit more than the league-minimum salary, to say nothing of what he’d make in the minors. And there’s always still the possibility of staging a return.

*The original version of this post stated the Villanueva was headed to the Hanshin Tigers. Per Rosenthal’s correction of his initial report, the Japanese team involved is the Yomiuri Giants.

Angels Designate Jose Miguel Fernandez, Parker Bridwell

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The Angels have designated infielder Jose Fernandez and righty Parker Bridwell for assignment, per a club announcement. Those moves helped to open roster space so the team could select the contracts of lefty Jose Suarez, infielder Luis Rengifo, and righty Luis Madero.

Fernandez, 30, has had an unusual career path. His attempted transition to the majors from Cuba took years, then he finally landed with the Dodgers in 2017. Fernandez has done nothing but hit in the upper minors, with an enticing blend of power (.202 ISO at Triple-A in 2018) and plate discipline (8.6% strikeout rate with 8.4% walk rate).

Still, Fernandez was dumped by the Dodgers. Then, in a lost season for the Halos, Fernandez received only limited opportunity. To be fair, he was not able to bring the power with him to the game’s highest level. But Fernandez posted a respectable 94 wRC+. He was deployed only sparingly at second and third base in the big leagues, but spent plenty of time there at Triple-A.

It’ll also be interesting to see how much interest Bridwell draws. It was only a year back, after all, that he was coming off of a 121-inning, 3.64 ERA campaign. Of course, there were flashing red signs suggesting that was unlikely to be sustained. And Bridwell has since endured an injury-plagued campaign in which he was knocked around when on the mound.

Padres Designate Colin Rea, Cory Spangenberg, Allen Cordoba

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The Padres have designated righty Colin Rea for assignment along with infielders Cory Spangenberg and Allen Cordoba, the club announced. San Diego also designated Christian Villanueva, whose contract rights will be sold to a Japanese club.

Meanwhile, the Friars completed a busy day of 40-man roster maneuvering by adding a host of players. Catcher Austin Allen, infielder Ty France, outfielder Edward Olivares, and righties Pedro Avila, Anderson Espinoza, Chris Paddack, and Gerardo Reyes will all be protected from the Rule 5 draft.

It’s a rather notable group of players to be pared from the roster for the Padres. Rea was once considered a future rotation piece but will perhaps be best known in San Diego for being forcibly re-acquired after health issues arose following his trade to the Marlins.

Spangenberg, meanwhile, was taken tenth overall in the 2011 draft. He just hasn’t turned the corner in the majors. In 2018, Spangenberg slashed .235/.298/.362 with seven home runs in 329 plate appearances. He projected to earn $2.3MM in arbitration; instead, he’ll likely be a popular target for teams looking for versatility and/or hoping he still has some upside in the tank at 27 years of age.

Finally, Cordoba was one of the more hyped Rule 5 picks in recent memory. Many felt the Pads had made quite the crafty move in snatching him from the Cardinals. The San Diego organization carried him for all of 2017 to secure his rights, even as the unpolished youngster struggled. After an injury-plagued 2018 season in which he hit even worse at the High-A level than he had in the majors, Cordoba was punted from the roster.

Players Added To The 40-Man Roster

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Tonight marks the deadline for players to be added to their respective organizations’ 40-man rosters. Over the nine hours, there’ll be a flurry of moves, ranging from minor trades (like the one the Indians and Rays made yesterday), waiver claims and players being designated for assignment or outrighted. Each will be made to clear room for players who need protection from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. As a reminder, players who signed at 18 years of age or younger and have five professional seasons are eligible, as are players who signed at 19 or older and have four professional seasons under their belts.

Here’s a rundown of players who’ve been added to their respective 40-man rosters (which will be updated throughout the day)…

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