The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- First baseman Kennys Vargas has agreed to a minor league contract with the Tigers, Jason Beck of MLB.com tweets. The deal does not include an invitation to major league spring training. The hulking Vargas will now join his second AL Central organization, having appeared in the majors with the Twins from 2014-17. He played for Ron Gardenhire, then the Twins’ manager and now the Tigers’ skipper, as a rookie. Vargas posted respectable offensive production at times in Minnesota, including in his first and third seasons, but owns a mediocre overall line of .252/.311/.437 with 35 home runs in 859 lifetime MLB plate appearances. The 29-year-old also hasn’t been great at the Triple-A level, where he has hit .244/.352/.436 and totaled 51 HRs over 1,297 PA, and he’s now coming off a rough 2019 campaign spent in Japan. As a member of the Chiba Lotte Marines, Vargas stumbled to a .179/.324/.274/ mark and managed just one homer in 102 trips to the plate.
Also, Rob Whalen was signed to a minor league deal by the Mets
Retired last February. Must’ve desperately needed $10K
Y’all aren’t lying when you say minor MLB transactions.
I see Kenny powers.. sorta.
I await with bated breath the announcement that the Tigers’ Gardy era was an elaborate troll executed by Falvey and Levine.
Vargas was said to be the next David Ortiz when he was with the Twins. Not likely
I, ALSO, intend to play this year.
Mickey Jannis also signed with the Orioles.
I think Carlos Gonzalez would be worth a signing.
He hit some absolute bombs
As a Twins fan I had high hopes for this guy. When he did make contact the ball went a long long way
Watch him be this year’s Christian Walker. All he really needed was consistent at bats.
The only problem is he struggled mightily in Japan as well. If he had at least done well overseas I would have a little more hope, but this looks to be just some minor league depth with very little upside
Mariners working on a deal with Yoshihisa Hirano too. John Hicks to the Diamondbacks, Johnny Barbato to Somerset Patriots.
The Mud Hens post-game buffet budget just went through the roof.
Come on guys! He’s nothing more than a waste of Illitch money. If Avila keeps this up, he’s gonna be in the unemployment line with all the cheating managers and GM’s. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
They have to have some guys like this in the minors, or they wouldn’t have enough players to field a team. It’s not all prospects. And they probably don’t have to pay him much. If Avila gets fired, it probably won’t be over this signing.
If? More like when Avila gets fired
Actually, an organization DOESN’T need guys like this in the majors OR minors.
I didn’t say he’d get fired over this signing. It’s the combination of everything he has done over the past season. We’re looking for an upgrade in RF, where we actually had the “perfect” player right in our grasp in Castellanos. Only 27 years old…coming into his prime…Affordable…….Instead we’re gonna end up with some rum dum…And I’m sick and tired of hearing about his defense…HIS DEFENSE IS NOT THAT BAD!!!! In fact he looks like Willie Mays in the outfield compared to Christian Stewart. NOW there is a bad outfielder. In fact, Stewart might be the worse outfielder in the major league. Bad routes, and his arm???? OMG, if there is an outfielder in the major leagues with a weaker arm, I’d like to know who it is……Why didn’t the Tigers take a flier on Tuijan Walker? Why wasn’t Avila agressive in trading for Mazara?
With all the poor hitting prospects, they should have extended Castellanos when they had the chance, but having said that, he’s on record as having an extreme dislike for that park, so they may have not been able to work a favorable deal, especially with Boros.
Nick said over and over that he wanted to stay in Detroit and sign an extension. It wasn’t until he was rejected by Avila time and time again that he made public his dislike for the ballpark. It’s called sour grapes. I would have had them, and so would you.
The Tigers are rebuilding. Who would have been a better free agent sign than extending a 27 year old great hitter in Castellanos? The only reason he got as much as he did from the Reds is because of the way he ended last season red hot for the Cubs. Had the Tigers signed him to an extension, I’d bet they could have done it for almost half of what he got.,
Lets imagine the Tigers extended Nick, and traded for Mazara (which is exactly what Avila should have done) we now have a lineup that looks like this:
1.Goodrum SS
2.Mazara LF
3.Miggy DH
4.Castellanos RF
5.Cron 1B
6.Schoop 2B
7.Candelaria 3B
8.Romine C
9.Jones CF
Pretty darn good lineup!!!!!