Here are the day’s minor moves from around the game:
- Catcher Brett Nicholas announced today that he’s hanging up his spikes. He had been with the White Sox organization on a minors deal. The 30-year-old Nicholas was selected by the Rangers in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft. He remained with the Texas organization through the 2017 campaign. Nicholas appeared briefly in the bigs with the Rangers in parts of two seasons. In 110 total plate appearances, he posted a .252/.300/.456 slash. Nicholas was typically a sturdy offensive producer in the minors, but never inspired quite enough confidence with the glove to earn a lengthy showing at the game’s highest level.
- The Rockies have added a pair of 29-year-old hurlers from the indy ball ranks, per announcements from their former teams. Righty Tim Melville comes to the Colorado organization from the Long Island Ducks, while southpaw Pat Dean had been with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Melville has briefly reached the big leagues. He spent all of 2018 at the Triple-A level with the Orioles, working to a 5.33 ERA in 104 2/3 innings in a swingman capacity. Dean received a 67 1/3-inning opportunity with the Twins in 2016 but scuffled to a 6.28 ERA. He spent camp this year with the Minnesota organization after a two-year KBO stint.
shame Nicholas never got a shot. could have been Gattis 2.0
Where is Gattis these days? Has he gone unsigned?
Somehow unsigned. Although I really can’t name too many contending teams that could use him at DH
The Indians could definitely use some right-handed thump, although he shouldn’t really play defense much and that obviously works against him
Well, the Indians aren’t scared of inefficient defensive players. They did have Giambi on their team for a few seasons towards the twilight of his career. He did have some incredible moments though.
Gattis was actually average to just below defensively as a catcher. That combined with his bat was definitely enough to keep him as a number 2 catcher or at worst an emergency catcher who could fake it enough at first base and provide pop off the bench.
Poor Brett. The WhiteSox showed him no confidence and dumped him at AA. He is at least better than that. He is, as referred to by others, an Evan Gattis stats-alike player. Split his time between 1st and C. Decent OBP and OPS for a backup, and had his moments throwing out runners ( though he had some really poor years too). Devin Mesoraco had his shot; Brett should have had his.
And i believe that a pitching staff that can’t hold runners close could make Johnny Bench look bad.
White Sox have three Gattis types between AAA and AA (Collins, Seby Z., and Mercedes).