Some minor league moves from around the sport…
Latest Moves
- The Cardinals have signed outfielder Matt Szczur to a minor league deal that contains an invite to their big league Spring Training camp, NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury reports (via Twitter). Szczur hit .231/.312/.355 over 667 plate appearances with the Cubs and Padres from 2014-18 but he hasn’t since returned to the majors. The 31-year-old signed minor league contracts with the Diamondbacks prior to the 2019 season and the Phillies prior to 2020, with Philadelphia releasing Szczur back in June.
Earlier Today
- The White Sox signed infielder Marco Hernandez to a minor league contract back in January, as originally noted by the transactions page for Triple-A East (formerly the International League). Hernandez was released by the Red Sox in August, ending a six-year stint in the Boston organization that saw Hernandez hit .265/.300/.342 over 271 plate appearances in parts of three MLB seasons. He was part of Boston’s 60-man player pool but didn’t see any big league action in 2020. Hernandez played mostly second base with the Red Sox but he also has experience at third base and shortstop, so he will be competing for a utility infield job in Chicago’s camp.
- The Angels announced that left-hander Dillon Peters was outrighted Triple-A at clearing waivers. Peters will be invited to the team’s Spring Training camp after being designated for assignment last week. The southpaw pitched in just one MLB game in 2020, getting hit for four runs (three earned) over 1 2/3 innings for the Angels. A groundball specialist while coming up in the Marlins’ farm system, Peters has a 5.83 ERA and only a 16.7K% over 132 2/3 career Major League innings with Miami and Anaheim.
- Diamondbacks left-hander Taylor Guilbeau has been outrighted to Triple-A, the team announced. Guilbeau cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week, and he will also be invited to Arizona’s big league Spring Training camp. Guilbeau posted a 2.70 ERA over 20 MLB innings with the Mariners from 2019-20, with the D’Backs acquiring the grounder specialist on a waiver claim in October.
- The Twins announced that southpaw Brandon Waddell has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A after being designated for assignment last Thursday. Waddell has been invited to the Twins’ Major League Spring Training camp. A fifth-round pick for the Pirates in the 2015 draft, Waddell made his MLB debut in 2020, tossing 3 1/3 innings over two games with Pittsburgh. Minnesota claimed Waddell off waivers from the Pirates in October.
Guilbeau seems like he might be a good pickup for Arizona.
Ah ! So this is where u go to see the moves Arizona’s been making
I was hoping he went unclaimed and we are not a high payroll team but i don’t know if you missed the soria and cabreras signings
Guilbeau- yes, if you ignore the fact that he’s been dismissed by a team that had the 2nd worst BP in the league. Seattle is gasping for decent RP’s- their number 1 goal this offseason is to improve their pen.
Ask yourself- why would Dipoto drop Guilbeau when they’re desperate? That doesn’t alarm you? You also have to wonder why TG had to accept a minor league deal? Steady on…..
to be fair, not all decisions made by MLB teams are good ones.
Good. I’m glad the Angels didn’t lose Dillion Peters. Not for who the Angels got this off season.
I thought you overreacted to the Claudio signing, but as it turns out they haven’t made a significant bullpen acquisition since then, which is a big disappointment. But Claudio and Slegers are both better than Dillon Peters.
Slegers has five years of control and an option. So yes.
For one year, I’d rather have Claudio. But I wouldn’t trade Peters for Clauido. Not with a three batter minimum rule.
It didn’t make sense signing Claudio so early if the Angels planned on making significant additions to the pen. He’s the position you fill last after you know how your BP shapes up.
If the Angels signed Rosenthal in December, then signed Clauidio in February, that would have made all the sense in the world.
Halo11, Your hatred for Claudio clearly fogs your vision. Peters is terrible, he’d cut off his left testicle to be as successful as Claudio. Open your eyes, Peters ceiling is Claudio right now… Wow! This is so easy to see.
And your unwillingness to not see the obvious fogs your vision. I said it two months ago and you still don’t see it. You’re the person who has vision problems.
And you’re the worst arm-chair G.M. I’ve seen, for reasons we all know, and need not to list. Also, really not feeling good about writing a small novel on errors and negativity. 😉
Always liked Hernandez. hope he does well with the Chisox. Decent hitter and can play 2b,ss,3b fairly well.
Hernandez was always a good player when healthy. Thought he was much better than any utility guy the Red Sox rolled out last season.
Szczur needs to buy a vowel.
I have a polish friend and trying to spell her name gives me a mini szczur
Him and Mark Rzepcynski should play Scrabble together
what is the point of Szczur? There must be a trade brewing for the Cards with all these strange signings lately.
its the cardinals though. They sign random guys for no reason, and most of the time to large contracts, *coughdexterfowlercough coughbretcecilcough*
No. It appears they are planning on a bench of Sosa, Carpenter, Dean, Williams, Knizner/Sanchez. For AAA that leave Thomas and Capel, maybe Yepez in LF but he’s more of a 1B. I wouldn’t be surprised if they sign another OF to a minor league deal.
If he’s cheap, why not. He might have a good year and make the team. Outside of the starting infield they don’t have a sure fire bat.
Dean is not making the team over Thomas. He’s not as good and he has options.. probably be the first man out of the outfield. Yepez is far from making the team.
Further, Sosa might not make the team as he had a poor winter league showing. and seems to be stalling out..
Thomas is better, but has options too. They will send him to AAA to get regular AB’s, same as I expect them to do with Knizner. Dean has options and they can swap him with Thomas back and forth, but the 26th man isn’t getting a ton of AB and I expect them to use Dean in the role they anticipated Ravelo playing in 2020.
And I said AAA OF was Thomas and Capel and nobody else. So the minor league signing made sense and that Yepez could possibly be in the AAA OF mix
Sosa and Williams are out of options. Who do they have that’s going to force Sosa out? My opinion Edman is the backup SS anyway and they’ll use Carpenter at 2B then, but maybe not.
Never hurts to have an experienced vet in AAA. Not likely to make the club out of camp unless they have some injuries.
Memphis
Probably having someone who has an extremely high character to help mentor younger players.
Szczur, in college, was a very highly regarded prospect in baseball and football before he put both on the back burner to give bone marrow… Giving bone marrow effectively ended Szczur’s football career and put him out of action in baseball for over a year crashing his draft stock.
Why would the Cardinals invite a player to their Spring Training Camp who has been released by 3 different teams over the past 3 years?????