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Angels Acquire Akeel Morris, Designate Troy Scribner

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The Angels announced on Tuesday that they’ve acquired righty Akeel Morris from the Braves in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Atlanta designated Morris for assignment over the weekend. In order to clear a spot for Morris on the 40-man roster, the Angels designated right-hander Troy Scribner for assignment.

[Related: Updated Los Angeles Angels depth chart]

Initially a 10th-round pick of the Mets back in the 2010 draft, the now-25-year-old Morris overpowered hitters in the lower levels of the minors, posting gaudy strikeout totals that helped to overshadow some glaring control issues. He quickly shot up the Mets’ prospect rankings, ranking 19th and 22nd among Mets farmhands in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 offseasons, respectively. The Braves picked him up in the 2016 trade that sent Kelly Johnson to New York in what looked to be a surprisingly solid return for Johnson at the time.

Morris has continued to post solid numbers in the upper levels of the minors, as evidenced by last season’s 3.09 ERA, 10.2 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and 32 percent ground-ball rate in 46 innings of Triple-A ball. The St. Thomas native also tossed 7 1/3 innings with the Braves’ big league club in 2017, allowing just a run on six hits and four walks with nine punchouts while averaging 93.1 mph on his heater. Morris is in his final option year, so the Angels will be able to shuffle him back and forth between Triple-A Salt Lake and Anaheim as they see fit this season.

As for Scribner, the 26-year-old made his own big league debut last season, pitching to a 4.18 ERA with an 18-to-10 K/BB ratio in 23 innings for the Halos. Unlike Morris, Scribner has worked primarily as a starter in the minors, spending the bulk of the 2017 season in Salt Lake, where he notched a 4.35 ERA with 9.0 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 with a 36.6 percent grounder rate in 103 1/3 innings of work. The former Astros farmhand, whom the Angels acquired in March 2017 in exchange for cash, still has multiple minor league options remaining, which should enhance his appeal to clubs that are thin on rotation depth in the upper minors.

Yankees Claim Trayce Thompson

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The Yankees announced that they’ve claimed outfielder Trayce Thompson off waivers from the Dodgers. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, New York transferred righty Ben Heller from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day DL. The Dodgers had designated Thompson for assignment last week.

Thompson, 27, gives the Yankees some outfield depth with each of Aaron Hicks, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clint Frazier and Billy McKinney currently on the disabled list. The brother of NBA star Klay Thompson, Trayce has spent the past two seasons with the Dodgers organization after being acquired from the White Sox in the three-team trade that sent Todd Frazier from Cincinnati to Chicago.

[Related: Updated New York Yankees depth chart]

While Thompson logged a respectable .249/.322/.469 slash through his first 397 plate appearances between the Sox and Dodgers, he struggled to a .122/.218/.265 line in a tiny sample of 55 PAs last year in the Majors. His struggles weren’t confined to the big leagues, either; in 369 plate appearances in the hitter-friendly Triple-A Pacific Coast League, he hit just .212/.269/.363.

Thompson will give the Yankees a player who can handle all three outfield spots and has had some success both in the Majors and at Triple-A, even in light of his 2017 struggles. It remains to be seen if he can stick with the Yankees in the long term, however. He’s out of minor league options, so when some combination of Hicks, Ellsbury, Frazier and McKinney comes off the DL, it’s possible that Thompson could again find himself exposed to waivers.

Mets Place Anthony Swarzak On 10-Day DL

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3:27pm: Swarzak tells reporters that he’s been diagnosed with a “mild to moderate” oblique strain (Twitter link, with video, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo). Doctors have informed him that a best-case scenario would be a return in “a few weeks.”

8:21am: The Mets have placed righty Anthony Swarzak on the 10-day DL, according to the MLB.com transactions page (h/t James Wagner of the New York Times, on Twitter). The official cause of the placement is a “sore left oblique.”

[Related: Updated New York Mets depth chart]

While oblique injuries can be tricky, it’s notable that this one has — to this point — only been identified as soreness, rather than a strain. The Mets will no doubt exercise care in bringing Swarzak along, but perhaps his recent MRI gave cause for optimism despite the DL placement. Of course, that’s all guesswork at this point; presumably the club will provide further information later today.

Swarzak joined the Mets on a two-year, $14MM contract over the winter, following a breakout 2017 season in which he tossed 77 1/3 innings of 2.33 ERA ball. The plan was to plug him into a high-leverage role along with fellow righties Jeurys Familia and A.J. Ramos.

For now, though, Swarzak will rest up while the Mets turn to a familiar face in Hansel Robles, who was recalled to take the open roster spot. Robles was a key part of the relief corps over the past three seasons, but stumbled in 2017. He had opened the current season on optional assignment.

Giants To Sign Jordan Schafer

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The Giants have agreed to a minor-league pact with lefty Jordan Schafer, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (Twitter link). Particulars of the agreement are not yet known.

Schafer, a former MLB outfielder, has been trying to carve out a new niche as a reliever that can, perhaps, also provide some function in the field and on the bases. He turned in a reasonably promising showing in the upper minors with the Dodgers organization in 2016, working to a 3.83 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 49 1/3 innings.

Heading into the 2017 campaign, Schafer joined the Cardinals organization in hopes of competing for a MLB job. But he ultimately required a primary repair procedure to address damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, costing him the entire season.

Schafer returned to the Cards for camp this spring, but never got much of a chance on the majors side. He was tagged for seven earned runs and recorded just two outs in his two Grapefruit League appearances.

Vance Worley Opts Out Of Reds Contract

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Righty Vance Worley has exercised the opt-out clause in his contract with the Reds, per Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (Twitter link). He had inked a minors deal with the Cincinnati organization in January that would have paid him $1.5MM in the majors.

Worley, 30, had fought for a role on the Reds staff this spring but did not crack the active roster. The eight-year MLB veteran surrendered eight earned runs on 17 hits in his 11 2/3 Cactus League innings.

Once a starter with the Phillies, Twins, and Pirates, Worley has functioned mostly as a long man and fill-in starter over the past three seasons. While he doesn’t get many swings and misses, he typically draws a solid number of groundballs and has been effective at times, as his career 4.09 ERA over 667 innings attests.

Of course, Worley is coming off of a less-than-effective campaign with the Marlins in which he coughed up 6.91 earned per nine. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest poor fortune — including a 64.5% strand rate, .378 BABIP, and significant spread in batted ball outcomes (.363 xwOBA vs. .396 wOBA) — but perhaps also not much reason to expect Worley to be more than a useful depth asset to have on hand.

Rangers Sign Cameron Rupp

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The Rangers have inked catcher Cameron Rupp to a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. He’ll head to Triple-A for now but can earn at a $1MM annual rate in the majors, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. Rupp is already receiving just over half a million dollars from the Phillies after he was released from his arbitration deal late this spring.

It’s not surprising to see this match, which made sense on paper and was previously suggested to be of actual interest to the Texas organization. If anything, it had seemed possible that Rupp might command a major-league roster spot upon signing, but he’ll instead settle for a minor-league placement that seems to leave him a good shot at making his way back to the majors before long.

Rupp, 29, has been a heavily used and plenty useful MLB backstop for the past three seasons. He’s not much of an on-base threat with the bat, but has good power and has carried an 86 wRC+ and swatted 39 home runs through 1,127 plate appearances at the game’s highest level.

Of course, offense isn’t everything, particularly for a catcher. Rupp had received roughly average framing grades before he turned southward in 2017. He has been solid in controlling the running game and handling balls in the dirt.

Rupp will be hoping to displace Juan Centeno as the second receiver in Texas. Centeno has a thinner track record in the big leagues, though he does offer some added platoon possibilities as a left-handed hitter. It certainly would not be surprising to see Rupp join starter Robinson Chirinos on the Rangers roster in relatively short order.

Padres To Select Contract Of Tyson Ross

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The Padres will select the contract of veteran righty Tyson Ross in time for him to start today’s contest, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell reports on Twitter. He joined the team on a minors deal over the winter.

Ross had been reassigned to open the season, but was expected to join the MLB roster in short order once he was needed to make a start. He’ll earn a $1.75MM base salary and can also achieve up to $4.25MM in incentive pay that accrues with every fifth start.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether Ross can rediscover the form that made him such an effective hurler for the Padres in his original run with the organization. Injuries have intervened, of course, and Ross was markedly ineffective (7.71 ERA, 36 K, 37 BB) in his 49 MLB innings last year while maintaining career-low velocity readings on his four- and two-seam fastballs.

That said, Ross had quite a strong track record before his shoulder problems began. And reports were fairly promising this spring. Ross allowed five earned on ten hits in his 15 Cactus League innings, with an 11:6 K/BB ratio.

Stephen Drew To Retire

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Veteran infielder Stephen Drew is hanging up his spikes, he tells Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter links). The fifteenth overall pick of the 2004 draft, Drew ended up playing a dozen seasons in the majors.

Drew was in the Nationals’ locker room this evening to visit his former teammates. He ultimately finished out his career with two years in D.C. — a strong, bounceback effort in 2016 followed by an injury-plagued final go last season.

From the time he was chosen out of Florida State University by the Diamondbacks, Drew was on a fast track to the majors. He spent nearly half of the 2006 season in the bigs, turning in a productive debut effort that preceded several years of duty as the D-Backs’ regular shortstop. Drew’s output waned at the tail end of his time in Arizona, but he finished his stint there with over three thousand plate appearances of .266/.328/.436 hitting.

Dealt to the A’s in August of 2012, after a rough start to a season in which he was returning from a major ankle injury, Drew turned in a solid effort down the stretch. That led to a one-year free-agent deal with the Red Sox. After turning in 501 plate appearances of .253/.333/.443 hitting in Boston, Drew received and declined a qualifying offer.

The ensuing winter was one of note for the still-nascent qualifying offer system. Drew and Kendrys Morales each languished on the market after rejecting their offers, with organizations balking at the cost not only of salary but also of a top draft selection. With Drew prepared to wait until the June draft, at which time he’d have been freed of the compensation rules, he went back to the Sox on another one-year contract that promised him a pro-rated portion of the QO price (then $14.1MM).

Unfortunately, Drew’s second go with the Red Sox did not go as well as the first. He ended up finishing the 2014 season with the Yankees, moving to second base and then reprising that same role for the ensuing campaign.

When Drew hit the open market in the 2015-16 winter, he was coming off of a two-year stretch in which he slashed just .185/.257/.347 in his two stops. But he picked up a reserve utility role with the Nationals — whose GM, Mike Rizzo, had been the D-Backs’ director of scouting when Drew was taken — and rewarded the club with a .266/.339/.524 batting line and eight home runs in his 165 plate appearances.

Drew says his non-playing days will begin with a gig coaching his kids. MLBTR wishes him the best of luck in that and any future endeavors.

MLB Daily Roster Roundup: Colon, Musgrove, Richards, Wieters

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ROSTER MOVES BY TEAM
(April 2nd)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

AMERICAN LEAGUE

  • NEW YORK YANKEES | Depth Chart
    • Placed on 10-Day DL: RP Ben Heller (bone spur in elbow)
      • Heller was optioned to Triple-A prior to the season, but that transaction has been rescinded due to the injury.
  • SEATTLE MARINERS | Depth Chart  
    • Outrighted: OF Cam Perkins
      • The Mariners’ 40-man roster in now at 38.

FUTURE EXPECTED MOVES

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