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Archives for August 2018

Brewers Acquire Xavier Cedeno

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The Brewers and White Sox have announced to a trade that will send left-handed reliever Xavier Cedeno from Chicago to Milwaukee, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). A pair of minor-leaguers — outfielder Bryan Connell and righty Johan Dominguez — will head to the White Sox in the swap.

Cedeno, who celebrated his 32nd birthday earlier this week, signed a minor league deal with the ChiSox this offseason after being non-tendered by the Rays. He worked his way onto the big league roster and has had a solid season on the South Side, working to a 2.84 ERA with 28 strikeouts against 13 walks along with a 55.4% groundball rate in 25 1/3 innings.

Notably, Cedeno has allowed just one homer this season despite the hitter-friendly nature of Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field, thanks in part to a robust 55.4 percent ground-ball rate. Interestingly, too, he has not just been effective against opposing lefties — who are hitting just .209/.277/.326 against him — but also against righties, who have managed only a .200/.322/.300 line.

That’s a rather impressive showing for a pitcher who sat out almost all of the 2017 season due to arm issues. He had been rather effective in the prior two seasons as well, though he had also been utilized mostly in a specialist capacity (throwing only 87 1/3 total innings in 120 appearances).

Just how sustainable Cedeno’s 2018 output is can certainly be debated, particularly as regards right-handed hitters. But while he’s only averaging 86.6 mph on his heavily-used cutter, the offering has shown greater horizontal movement and has allowed him to generate a 13.0% swinging-strike rate. And Statcast figures support the idea that Cedeno has been legitimately hard to square up (.273 wOBA; .282 xwOBA).

If things go well the rest of the way, Milwaukee will have the added bonus of retaining Cedeno beyond the 2018 season. He entered the season with four-plus of big league service and will finish with just enough service time to reach five full years. That’ll leave him with one offseason of arbitration eligibility remaining. He’s playing out the year on a $1.05MM base salary, so his 2019 salary would be modest even after a potential arbitration raise.

In exchanging for parting with Cedeno, the White Sox come away with a pair of youngsters. Connell, 19, had an impressive showing in his third attempt at the Dominican Summer League but hasn’t hit as much since being promoted to the Rookie-level Pioneer League. The 22-year-old Dominguez, meanwhile, has been a teammate of Connell quite a bit over the past three seasons. His longest stint at a single spot this year, though, came at another Rookie level, the Arizona League. He threw 19 1/3 scoreless innings there, allowing only five hits while recording 21 strikeouts against seven walks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Orioles Designate Craig Gentry, Outright Jhan Marinez

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The Orioles have designated outfielder Craig Gentry, per MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli (via Twitter). He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow outfielder Joey Rickard.

Meanwhile, the club also outrighted right-hander Jhan Marinez after activating him from the 10-day DL. He has been assigned to Triple-A after clearing waivers.

Gentry, 34, has seen a decent amount of action in a reserve role for the Baltimore organization over the past two seasons. All told, he carries a .265/.326/.362 batting line in 286 plate appearances with the O’s.

That output falls right in line with Gentry’s career numbers at the plate. In parts of ten seasons in the majors, he’s an 85 wRC+ hitter. That’s not really enough bat to warrant the playing time he has received (602 games). But Gentry has long graded as a high-quality defender and baserunner.

As for Marinez, 30, he has bounced around quite a bit in recent seasons. He struggled mightily in eight MLB appearances this year, but was better when pitching at the club’s top affiliate. In 47 2/3 innings for Norfolk, he owns a 3.21 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Athletics Acquire Cory Gearrin From Rangers

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The Rangers announced that they’ve traded right-hander Cory Gearrin to the Athletics in exchange for minor league right-handers Abdiel Mendoza and Teodoro Ortega. Oakland also announced the move, adding that righty Paul Blackburn will go from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL to clear 40-man roster space.

Gearrin, 32, had spent the past several seasons in the bay area with the cross-town Giants. But he landed with the Rangers after being included in a mid-season move in which the San Francisco organization shed some salary obligations, including the remainder of Gearrin’s $1.675MM salary.

The remainder of that money will now be paid by the A’s, who have added several bullpen pieces over the course of the summer as they have flown up the standings. The Oakland ballclub currently sits 2.5 games back of the division-leading Astros, but still has time to make up that ground and also enjoys a healthy 4.5 game pad over the Mariners for the final Wild Card spot.

Gearrin will not only help the A’s by bolstering their middle-relief mix, but will perhaps also help reduce the load on several of the team’s other bullpen arms down the stretch. He has never really functioned as a late-inning arm, but that’s not really something the Oakland organization is much in need of at the moment.

[Related: Oakland Athletics depth chart]

Since landing with the Rangers, Gearrin has turned in 21 1/3 effective innings. He carries a 2.53 ERA in that span, leaving him with a 3.51 mark on the season, and has been more effective at limiting the long balls that plagued him earlier in the year in San Francisco. At times in the past, Gearrin has produced quite a few groundballs, but he’s getting them on less than forty percent of the balls put in play against him in 2018.

While this move is no doubt mostly intended to boost the team’s immediate outlook the A’s will also gain some potential future considerations in the swap. Gearrin can be controlled for one final season via arbitration.

On the other side of the bargain, the Rangers will lose the chance to hang onto Gearrin at a fairly cheap rate for 2019. Instead, they’ll pick up a pair of lower-level arms. Mendoza, who’ll soon turn 20, owns a 3.32 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 57 innings at the low-A level. Ortega is just 18 and is in his first professional season in the Dominican Summer League. He impressed there, however, with a 2.11 ERA and 10.1 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 over his 42 2/3 frames, which have come over six starts and eight relief appearances.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Giants Promote Chris Shaw

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2:42pm: The Giants have formally announced Shaw’s promotion to the Majors.

1:24pm: The Giants are set to select the contract of outfielder Chris Shaw, reports Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter). The 2015 first-round pick ranks as the Giants’ No. 4 prospect on MLB.com’s midseason rankings and fifth on Baseball America’s midseason update.

Shaw, 24, has played both first base and left field in the minors but has played the outfield exclusively in 2018. He’s displayed strong power marks to this point in his career but also demonstrated some concerning trends in terms of plate discipline. Thus far in 2018, he’s hit .259/.308/.505 with 24 homers and 21 doubles in 422 plate appearances, but he’s also drawn walks at just a five percent clip while striking out in 34.1 percent of his trips to the plate.

Scouting reports on Shaw generally indicate that he has significant raw power but limited speed that makes him a questionable fit in left field. But, with Brandon Belt entrenched at first base (Shaw’s best defensive position), the Giants will continue to work on the slugger’s outfield defense.

[Related: San Francisco Giants depth chart]

Shaw’s promotion comes on the heels of San Francisco’s trade of Andrew McCutchen to the Yankees earlier this morning. Between that and the season-ending injury to young center fielder Steven Duggar, there should be sufficient playing time available for Shaw in left field. The Giants will get their first look at how Shaw handles big league pitching while they also evaluate young corner outfield options in the form of Austin Slater and Mac Williamson.

Looking ahead, it’s possible that an arrangement of Shaw, Duggar, Slater and Williamson could see the bulk of the outfield work at AT&T Park down the line, though the uncertainty that comes with that mix makes the Giants a logical fit to explore the market for outfield additions this winter.

Trade Chatter: Gio, Brewers, Granderson, Mets, O’s

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Major League teams have until midnight ET tonight to acquire players who can still be eligible for their postseason roster. While this deadline isn’t likely to be as significant as the July 31 non-waiver deadline, major swaps can still take place. Andrew McCutchen has already gone from the Bay Area to the Bronx, and it was one year ago today that the Astros pulled off a trade for Justin Verlander that played an absolutely pivotal role in their eventual World Series victory. While there is understandably a large focus on Josh Donaldson, who seems likely to be traded today, here are some other rumblings from around the game…

  • The Nationals are discussing a trade of left-hander Gio Gonzalez, tweets Jon Morosi of MLB.com, though it’s not clear if multiple clubs are showing interest in the veteran southpaw with tonight’s deadline looming. Gonzalez has been rocked in three of his past five starts, causing his ERA to balloon from 3.78 on July 28 to its present mark of 4.57. He’s still averaging 7.8 K/9 with quality home-run and ground-ball rates, but he’s walking batters at a higher clip than he has since 2009 (4.6 BB/9). Gonzalez has a lengthy track record as a solid mid-rotation arm, though, and he’s one of very few starers reported to have cleared waivers. He’s still owed about $2MM of this season’s $12MM salary.
  • The Brewers are still looking into multiple upgrade possibilities, and though their fans are clamoring for rotation help, they’re also looking at adding a left-handed bench bat, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Curtis Granderson is one possibility to land in Milwaukee, he notes. Granderson has already cleared trade waivers, meaning the Blue Jays can shop him around to any team in the league. He’s owed the remainder of this year’s $5MM salary (about $829K) and is hitting well against right-handed pitching (.250/.345/.443). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Granderson is expected to be traded at some point before midnight.
  • Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that the Mets don’t expect to trade either Jerry Blevins or Devin Mesoraco today. Both are free agents at season’s end, and Blevins was already reported to have cleared waivers (while Mesoraco was also a virtual lock to do so). If that indeed proves to be the case, the May trade in which the Mets and Reds swapped Mesoraco and Matt Harvey won’t have garnered either team any value beyond the current season (unless either player’s time in his new organization leads him to re-sign there).
  • The Post’s Joel Sherman tweets that the Orioles have actually made a surprising number of waiver claims recently, though obviously none have led to a trade just yet. The O’s clearly aren’t going anywhere in 2018, so it’s likely they’ve been attempting to acquire pieces that are controlled into 2019 (and likely beyond). Such players are difficult to acquire in the first place, and doing so in the allotted 48-hour window is all the more difficult.

Dodgers Designate Adam Liberatore For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced Friday that they’ve designated left-hander Adam Liberatore for assignment. His roster spot will go to the newly acquired Ryan Madson, whose trade to the Dodgers is now official.

Liberatore, 31, enjoyed a terrific season with the 2016 Dodgers, working to a 3.38 ERA with 9.9 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 0.42 HR/9 and a 38.9 percent ground-ball rate. Lefties hit just .169/.250/.244 against him that season. However, Liberatore missed the bulk of the 2017 season with a forearm strain and has been injured in Triple-A this season as well. The southpaw does have a 2.77 ERA in 13 big league innings this year, but he’s issued eight walks and a hit a batter in that small sample and has yielded 16 runs (10 earned) and a whopping 29 hits in 17 Triple-A frames.

Though he hasn’t had a great season and was injured for most of 2017, Liberatore could yet appeal to other clubs. He’s held opposing left-handed hitters to a .204/.294/.311 slash in his Major League career and even held righties to a fairly tame .242/.318/.388 slash. Teams will have to weigh those results against the fact that his fastball is down nearly three miles per hour from his 2015 debut, though, as well as the fact that he’ll be out of minor league options in 2019.

Dodgers Acquire Ryan Madson

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1:50pm: The Dodgers have announced the trade.

1:06pm: The Dodgers are sending minor league right-hander Andrew Istler to the Nationals in return, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (via Twitter).

12:54pm: The Dodgers and Nationals have agreed to a trade that’ll send right-hander Ryan Madson from D.C. to L.A., reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). Madson was placed on revocable waivers earlier this week, per the Washington Post’s Jorge Castillo. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com had previously reported that the Dodgers placed a claim on the veteran setup man.

Ryan Madson | Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Though the Nats could have simply let Madson go to the Dodgers and shed the remainder of his $7.5MM salary, Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets the Dodgers will indeed send a prospect to Washington in return for the right-hander. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale adds that the Dodgers are taking on all of the $1.24MM remaining on the 38-year-old Madson’s contract. He’s a free agent at season’s end, so Madson will be a rental piece for the Dodgers as they strive for a postseason berth in the competitive NL West.

Madson was only recently activated from the disabled list after missing time with a nerve issue in his back. He has a strong big league track record and has generally been a reliable late-inning arm in recent seasons since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2015, but he’s struggled with the Nats so far this season. Through 44 1/3 innings this year, Madson has posted an unsightly 5.28 ERA, though he’s averaged a healthy 95.8 mph on his heater and is still missing bats (8.3 K/9, 12.4 percent swinging-strike rate).

The Dodgers’ bullpen has been struggling to near unthinkable levels in the month of August, as manager Dave Roberts tried to use virtually every arm at his disposal in late-inning situations with star closer Kenley Jansen on the disabled list. The Dodger ’pen blew leads in seven straight games at one point, and when the team welcomed Jansen back from the DL, he too struggled to uncharacteristic levels. Jansen has allowed runs in each of his four appearances since returning from a DL stint due to an irregular heartbeat. With the bullpen reeling, Madson and this weekend’s slate of September call-ups will give Roberts some additional options to mix and match as he tries to keep his club in the race.

As for Istler, he wasn’t considered to be among the Dodgers’ top prospects but has enjoyed a solid season across three minor league levels. A 23rd-round pick in 2015, Istler opened the 2018 season at Class-A Advanced but has steadily risen through the ranks to Triple-A. He’s pitched to a combined 2.37 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a roughly 43 percent ground-ball rate through 79 2/3 innings. Istler, who has allowed just two homers on the season, could conceivably give the Nats a bullpen option as soon as next season given his 2018 ascension.

Rockies Acquire Drew Butera

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The Rockies announced Friday that they’ve acquired veteran catcher Drew Butera and cash from the Royals in exchange for minor league left-hander Jerry Vasto.

Butera, 35, has been the primary backup to Kansas City mainstay Salvador Perez for the past three seasons and will bring nine years of MLB experience to the Rockies’ roster. He’s hitting .188/.259/.289 through 166 plate appearances this season and is a lifetime .201/.258/.298 batter between the Royals, Angels, Dodgers and Twins.

While he’s clearly never been much of a threat with the bat, Butera has a strong defensive reputation, even if his performance in 2018 has been more questionable in that regard. He’s prevented 30 percent of stolen-base attempts against him in his career but has seen that number plummet to 13 percent in 2018. He’s been a quality pitch-framer in the past as well, but Baseball Prospectus grades his efforts in that regard to be below average this season.

Butera inked a two-year, $3.8MM contract with the Royals prior to the 2017 season and will be a free agent following the current campaign. He’s earning $2.3MM this year and is still owed about $381K of that sum through the end of the year. He becomes the latest backup catcher to swap hands in the past 48 hours, as each of Rene Rivera, Chris Stewart, Bobby Wilson and Chris Gimenez have also changed hands with teams looking to add veteran catching help in advance of expanded September rosters.

Vasto, 26, made his MLB debut with the Rockies earlier this year but appeared in just one game and tossed only two-thirds of an inning. He was hit hard in his first season of Triple-A duty in 2017 but has turned in considerably more promising results in 2018: a 3.16 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.73 HR/9 and a 43.5 percent ground-ball rate in 37 innings. He’ll give the Royals a controllable left-handed option for their bullpen. Because his contract was only selected this season, he comes with the added bonus of having multiple minor league options remaining beyond the 2018 campaign.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/31/18

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Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Blue Jays announced that they’ve sent right-hander Luis Santos outright to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. The 27-year-old logged 20 innings out of the Toronto bullpen in 2018 but struggled to a 7.20 ERA with four homers allowed. Santos did rack up 24 strikeouts in that time, but he also issued 10 walks and hit a batter. Santos was primarily a starter in the Blue Jays’ system in 2016-17 but shifted to the ’pen for the most part in 2018 and enjoyed solid results in Triple-A. The Jays already outrighted Santos off the roster once this season, so he’ll have the option to elect free agency if he wishes to look for an opportunity with another organization.

Yankees Acquire Andrew McCutchen

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The Yankees and Giants have struck a trade that will send veteran outfielder Andrew McCutchen to New York, the teams announced on Friday. Minor league infielder Abiatal Avelino and minor league right-hander Juan De Paula are heading to the Giants in exchange.

McCutchen has reportedly cleared revocable waivers, which freed the Giants to shop him around the league without restriction. We had recently looked at some plausible landing spots for the veteran, with MLBTR readers pegging the Yanks as one of the likeliest suitors. McCutchen also topped MLBTR’s most recent ranking of the top August trade candidates.

While the Yanks still are counting on top slugger Aaron Judge to return in time for the postseason, it’s increasingly worrisome that he remains sidelined by a chip fracture in his wrist. And though the Yanks are all but certain to end up in a Wild Card play-in, the club still needs to prepare both to maximize its chances of winning that game and to be ready for a full postseason series of it does so.

Presently, the Yankees are utilizing long-time infielder Neil Walker in the outfield while also giving a roster spot to the light-hitting Shane Robinson. While Clint Frazier would be an appealing option, he’s just launching a rehab assignment after a lengthy DL stint of his own. Under the circumstances, it’s not hard to see why the Yankees held interest in McCutchen, who has produced solid offensive numbers this year despite failing to play to his once-great levels.

True, McCutchen’s batting line — .255/.357/.415 — doesn’t look all that appealing at first glance for a corner outfielder, though it’s roughly 15 percent better than that of a league-average bat when adjusting for his cavernous home park (by measure of wRC+). McCutchen is drawing walks at a strong 12.9% clip and has perhaps been unfortunate only to carry a .160 isolated power that’s lower than any full-season mark in his career. There’s a statistical argument to be made that his overall numbers are worse than should be expected of someone who makes the quality of contact McCutchen has made so far in 2018; Statcast credits him with a .364 xwOBA that lands well over his actual .339 wOBA output.

Nonetheless, as he closes in on his 32nd birthday, McCutchen simply isn’t the player that he once was. But he’s still a solid performer who is still capable of playing on a near-regular basis. McCutchen has hit more against lefties and isn’t grading well on the bases despite 13 steals, however, so once the Yankees’ roster is at full strength, he could potentially be deployed more selectively. He has generated average or better grades for his glovework in right, a welcome change after some rough seasons in center field.

For the Yankees, the optimal roster situation does not include McCutchen as an everyday presence. But, once Judge is back, he could potentially be quite a useful player by entering the mix with Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner.

For the Giants, there isn’t much reason to hold onto McCutchen at this point. The club isn’t going to make the postseason regardless, barring a miracle. And the veteran likely won’t be worth a qualifying offer. If the Giants want him back, they can still pursue him on the open market.

Meanwhile, the Giants will pick up some new assets. Avelino, 23, raked at Double-A to open the year but has fallen back to earth upon ascending to the highest level of the minors. He’s struggling to reach base and hasn’t sustained the power burst he showed earlier in the year, though it’s still notable that he has hit 15 home runs in 501 plate appearances after never previously even reaching double digits in a full season.

Avelino also runs well and has mostly played shortstop as a professional, though he also has seen significant time at second and third. He rated 23rd among Yankees prospects on MLB.com’s midseason ranking of the Yankees’ best prospects, so the scouting community has recognized his intriguing recent developments. While Avelino will need to be added to the 40-man roster to be protected from Rule 5 draft consideration, the Giants likely won’t find that too onerous and may consider allowing him to compete for a job in camp next spring.

In De Paula, the Yanks will add a hard-throwing 20-year-old who has spent the summer playing with the Yankees’ short-season Class-A affiliate in Staten Island. In 47 1/3 innings (nine starts, one relief appearance), he’s worked to a 1.71 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent ground-ball rate. De Paula ranked 26th among Yankees prospect, per MLB.com, drawing praise for a curveball and changeup that give him a chance for three above-average pitches.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported that a deal was close and that Avelino would head to the Giants (Twitter links). ESPN’s Buster Olney reported an agreement had been reached (Twitter link). Ken Rosenthal and Jim Bowden of The Athletic added financial details and that De Paula would be the second prospect in the deal (Twitter links).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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