We’ll keep track of the latest minor transactions from around the league here…
- Catcher Raffy Lopez cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett by the Braves, per the league’s transactions log at MLB.com. Lopez, 31, was designated for assignment when Atlanta selected Matt Joyce and Josh Tomlin to their Opening Day roster. The journeyman catcher hit .176/.265/.284 in 117 plate appearances with the Padres last season and has never produced much in limited time at the MLB level. He is, however, a career .266/.340/.401 hitter in 1078 Triple-A plate appearances. The Braves acquired him from San Diego in exchange for cash back in early November, but he didn’t have a place on the active roster behind Tyler Flowers and Brian McCann.
- Blue Jays catching prospect Max Pentecost has opted to retire, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports (via Twitter). Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported late in camp that Pentecost was considering retirement as an option. The 26-year-old was the No. 11 pick of the 2014 draft but has undergone three different surgeries on his right shoulder since being selected. He missed the entire 2015 season as a result of those shoulder woes and has played in a total of just 260 minor league games (plus 11 more in the Arizona Fall League) since being drafted nearly five years ago. A healthy Pentecost showed a good bit of promise, particularly in 2016 when he hit .302/.361/.486 across two Class-A levels.
- Tigers right-hander Grayson Long announced on Twitter that, due to “continuous injury,” he’s hanging up the spikes and returning to college to finish his degree at Texas A&M. Detroit acquired Long, now 24 years old, in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Upton to the Angels. The 2015 third-round pick didn’t pitch in 2018 as he recovered from thoracic outlet surgery — a procedure that has become increasingly common among professional pitchers in recent years but comes with a middling success rate, at best. Long showed plenty of potential in his last healthy season, tossing 137 2/3 innings of 3.01 ERA ball with averages of 8.4 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 0.6 HR/9 in 137 2/3 innings of Double-A ball.
Gotta feel for Pentecost, he really did have the potential to make a go at a big league career. It must be a very hard pill to swallow retiring before getting that shot. Hopefully he finds success with whatever he opts to do next.
I agree.
So your saying Pentecost got Passover-ed
take yer upvote!
Thats really too bad about Long. Still young and had potential, and never even saw a game in the majors but good luck to him in college.
Steve, this is a fairly decent post, but can you link Raffy Lopez’s name and save me a few clicks and having to type it out like this comment? Thanks pal! I’ll check back later.
RAF has a great glove. He is a very smooth operator behind the plate but doesn’t hit.
Pentecost and Long are so young to retire. Hopefully they banked most of their signing bonuses (Pentecost got $2,888,300, Long got $548,600).
I’m also assuming that their respective clubs paid for the medical work it took to move them back towards health. May they become fully healthy again and find better fortune in their next careers.
Really looks like there’s a few teams who should be kicking themselves about the 2014 draft in hindsight, but man the Jays would be in a different situation had they hit on just one of their two top 11 picks.
At least Romano and SRF werent a waste
Padres number one pick they traded. Who was it? Trey turner. Number two was michale Getty’s. Almost all that were drafted prior to this current gm reign was traded away. So, past is past.
Plus, if the jays did draft better, chances of them being traded during the run are higher.
That’s true. And they did sell high on Jeff Hoffman, the ninth overall pick. The problem was that they traded him for an awful contract.
Getting rid of Reyes was worth it. Reaching the postseason two years in a row was worth it. All was worth it. Besides, you’re anti-owner and pro-player. Be happy Tulo’s getting paid a ton.
The red flags were there for Pentecost when he was drafted. Talented with some injury issues. That’s on Toronto and upper management, not Pentecost. I had heard Max worked hard and was a good teammate. All the best to him.
Max Pentacost won’t be retired for long, unless he is very injured beyond recovery[which is not what I hear]. His fundamentals are too good and he loves the game.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he “unretires” in 6 months or so and comes back healthy and strong.