Alexi Ogando Opts Out Of Diamondbacks Contract
Right-hander Alexi Ogando has opted out of his minor league contract with the Diamondbacks, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (via Twitter). The 32-year-old is once again a free agent.
Ogando began the year in the Braves’ bullpen and posted a respectable 3.94 ERA in 32 innings with Atlanta, but walks were an issue for him all season long and he coughed up nine runs (seven earned) on seven hits and nine walks in his final seven innings with the Braves before being designated for assignment. On the year, Ogando averaged 8.2 K/9 but 6.5 BB/9 as well, and his results didn’t improve in Triple-A Reno with the D-backs organization. In 5 1/3 innings with Reno, Ogando served up eight earned runs on 10 hits and seven walks with just a pair of strikeouts to his credit.
While the 2016 campaign has been one to forget for Ogando, it’s notable that he does come with a lengthy track record of success in the Majors. The longtime Ranger entered the 2016 season with a lifetime 3.44 ERA in 471 1/3 innings at the Major League level and has pitched well both as a starter and as a setup man in the past. He’ll look to latch on with another organization and end the year on a high note.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/1/16
We’ve had a number of big moves as we approached the trade deadline today, but here are a few smaller ones.
- The Blue Jays have designated righty Ben Rowen to clear space on their roster for the newly acquired Mike Bolsinger, Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star tweets. The 27-year-old Rowen has pitched well this season in the bullpen at Triple-A Buffalo, posting a 2.47 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 47 1/3 innings, and he’s continued his trend of getting tons of ground-ball outs in the minors, with a ratio of 3.25 outs on the ground for every one in the air.
- In an intriguing minor deal, the Dodgers have announced that they’ve acquired righty Josh Fields from the Astros for first baseman Yordan Alvarez. The 30-year-old Fields thrived in the Astros’ bullpen last season, with a 3.55 ERA, 3.4 BB/9 and an exceptional 11.9 K/9, but failed to get good results despite maintaining strong peripherals this season and has spent much of the year with Triple-A Fresno. The Dodgers signed the 19-year-old Alvarez for $2MM earlier this season. He played in Cuba’s Serie Nacional in 2013 and 2014 and has not yet appeared in a minor league game.
- In the wake of their trade for Jonathan Lucroy, the Rangers have announced that they’ve designated fellow catchers Bryan Holaday and Bobby Wilson for assignment. Both have played sparingly for Texas this year. Holaday, acquired in late March after many years in the Tigers organization, batted .238/.290/.405 in 94 plate appearances with the Rangers. Wilson, an eight-year MLB veteran, hit .250/.277/.352.
- The Mariners have announced that they’ve claimed infielder Mike Freeman off waivers from the Diamondbacks. To clear space on their 40-man roster, they’ve designated infielder Patrick Kivlehan for assignment. Freeman, soon to be 29, briefly played in the Majors this season but has spent most of the year with Triple-A Reno, where he’s batted .317/.387/.411 while playing second, first and all three outfield positions. The 26-year-old Kivlehan has hit a disappointing .242/.291/.399 with Seattle and Texas’ Triple-A affiliates.
- The Cubs have announced that they designated lefty Brian Matusz for assignment. The move clears space on their active roster for righty Spencer Patton, who was promoted from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs signed Matusz to a minor league deal in June after he was traded from the Orioles to the Braves and then designated for assignment. He had previously been a longtime and productive member of the Baltimore bullpen, but he’s struggled in nine big-league innings this season, allowing 14 runs.
Diamondbacks GM: “Not Moving” Shelby Miller
Asked by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports about Shelby Miller, Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart responded, “We’re not moving him.” The righty was reportedly available as of last week. A few days ago, Stewart told Nick Piecoro of AZCentral.com, “We’ve had a ton of (interest). My story to them is the same: We haven’t given up on the young man.”
Miller, 25, was a key offseason addition for Arizona. The D’Backs acquired him from the Braves in December for a robust package of Dansby Swanson, Aaron Blair, and Ender Inciarte. Miller endured a finger strain in April and an accompanying May DL stint, and never got on track this season. He was optioned to Triple-A in mid-July, after posting a disastrous 7.14 ERA, 6.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 1.69 HR/9, and 42.8% groundball rate in 69 1/3 big league innings. Miller is under team control through at least 2018 as an arbitration eligible player.
Diamondbacks Receiving Lots Of Interest In Miller, Corbin
While Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart emphasizes that his organization has in no way given up on struggling righty Shelby Miller, he also tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that he has received “a ton” of trade interest in the 25-year-old. Arizona isn’t shopping Miller, Piecoro writes, and the D-backs aren’t willing to part with him for pennies on the dollar just months after acquiring him in exchange for the sky-high price of Ender Inciarte, Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair. Similarly, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that many clubs have called expressing interest in left-hander Patrick Corbin, but the D-backs aren’t inclined to move him, either.
If the Diamondbacks do ultimately move Miller, the key player coming back in the package would have to be Major League ready, according to Stewart, who recognizes that it’d be “difficult” to find the value they’d hope to receive in light of Miller’s 2016 troubles. “We know what he is,” said Stewart. “We know what we have. We believe he is the guy that we traded for. I don’t know that we’re going to be better off trying to go out there and find a guy to do what we think he’s already capable of doing.” Piecoro reports that the Marlins have had talks with the D-backs about Miller, and right-handed pitching prospect Luis Castillo‘s name was a part of those talks. However, the Class-A flamethrower was included in Friday morning’s Andrew Cashner trade, so the two sides would have to find another piece to replace him if talks were to be revisited.
At just 25 years of age and just a season removed from a 3.02 ERA with the Braves, it’s natural that Miller is drawing interest as a buy-low candidate. Selling low an asset whom they acquired when his stock was at an all-time high seems like an unlikely route for the D-backs, though. While detractors will point to the fact that Miller has looked entirely ordinary (or worse) after a superhuman run in April and May of last season (4.90 ERA dating back to June 1 of last year), Miller has long been a coveted arm and has had success in both St. Louis and Atlanta prior to his Arizona implosion.
A similar line of of thinking could be applied to Corbin. While they’re not in identical situations, Corbin has endured his own struggles this season. The 27-year-old looked like an emerging force in the Diamondbacks’ rotation in 2013 but missed the 2014 season and a portion of the 2015 campaign due to Tommy John surgery. Corbin was sharp in his return to the bigs last season but has allowed the most earned runs in the National League this year en route to a 5.31 ERA. With two years of control remaining beyond the 2016 season, it’s tough to see the D-backs moving Corbin with his value at its lowest point since his operation.
In other D-backs news, Sherman also reports that Daniel Hudson, whom the D-backs were reportedly on the brink of trading on Friday before the deal fell through, isn’t likely to simply be given away (Twitter link). The Diamondbacks still view Hudson, who carried a minuscule 1.55 ERA as recently as June 21 but has been torched since (23 earned runs on 28 hits in eight innings), as a talented reliever who has gone through a bad stretch. Hudson has been plagued by a .610 BABIP over that incredibly poor run, so there’s some element of poor luck in play. He’s also yielded a stunning 48 percent line-drive rate over that slump, though, suggesting that he’s offering opposing batters far too many pitches to square up.
Yankees Acquire Tyler Clippard
10:50am: The Diamondbacks have announced the trade — a one-for-one swap of Clippard and Campos.
10:19am: The D-backs are receiving right-hander Vicente Campos from the Yankees in the trade, reports MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (via Twitter).
9:29am: The Yankees have reached a deal to acquire right-hander Tyler Clippard from the D-backs, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The Clippard acquisition signals that in spite of this morning’s stunning trade of Andrew Miller to Cleveland, the Yankees aren’t waving a white flag on the 2016 season just yet. Joel Sherman of the New York Post was first to report that the Yankees were looking for veteran bullpen help even after moving Miller (Twitter link).
[Related: Updated Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees Depth Charts]
Clippard, 31, is in his first season with the D-backs after signing a two-year, $12.25MM contract, so the Yankees will control him for this season and next. He’s pitched to a 4.30 ERA this season, averaging 11.0 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in 37 2/3 innings with Arizona. Clippard is an extreme fly-ball pitcher (though he did reduce his fly-ball rate to a career-low 45.9 percent in 2016), which unsurprisingly didn’t mesh well with Arizona’s homer-happy stadium. The seven homers already allowed by Clippard in 2016 are just four shy of his career-high 11, and and his 1.7 HR/9 and 17.1 percent homer-to-flyball ratio are both the highest of his career. In that sense, shifting to Yankee Stadium and its short right-field porch might continue to cause problems for Clippard.
However, Clippard has a long track record of success, having pitched to a 2.68 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 524 1/3 innings from 2009-15. There were some red flags in his 2015 campaign — namely his K/BB ratios going in the wrong direction and his velocity dipping — but Clippard’s track record made him appealing to a number of clubs this winter and likely to the Yankees in this instance. It presumably helped that the Yankee front office is already familiar with Clippard, having originally drafted him back in 2003 before trading him to the Nationals several years later.
In Campos, the D-backs will receive a 24-year-old righty that reached Triple-A for the first time this season and is in the midst of a strong overall year. Campos, originally acquired by the Yankees in the Michael Pineda/Jesus Montero swap, has a 3.20 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 121 innings across three levels this season. MLB.com ranked him 14th among Yankees farmhands on their midseason update of the team’s farm system, noting that he has three potentially above-average offerings but also serious concerns about his durability. The 121 innings Campos has thrown already represent a career-high, and it’s possible that he could head to the bullpen eventually if he cannot prove capable of handling a full workload in the rotation. He has mid-rotation upside but could end up as a power arm in the bullpen when all is said and done.
D-Backs’ Daniel Hudson Trade Falls Through
July 30: General manager Dave Stewart tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (Twitter link) that he’s had a deal which he believed to be close to completion before “the tide changed.” MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert tweets that Stewart was referencing the Hudson trade.
July 28: 2:33pm: The D-backs don’t expect to finalize a Hudson swap today but are getting heavy interest from three teams, Nightengale further tweets.
2:28pm: Despite the fact that the Mets have been linked to Hudson on occasion this summer, they’re not the team nearing a deal for him, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that three teams have been “aggressively” pursuing Hudson, though he doesn’t specify which teams.
2:13pm: The Diamondbacks are nearing a trade of right-hander Daniel Hudson, reports MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (on Twitter). The team with which Arizona is negotiating remains unreported.
Hudson, 29, was a key piece to the D-backs’ bullpen in 2015 — his first season back from his second career Tommy John surgery — posting a 3.86 ERA in 67 2/3 innings with 9.4 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate and a heater that averaged a strong 96.1 mph. However, this season has been a struggle, as he’s logged a 6.08 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in his 37 innings. His ground-ball rate is largely the same, and his heater is down just about a half mile from last year, but Hudson has struggled enormously with men on base, stranding just 52.5 percent of the baserunners he’s allowed/inherited.
All that said, Hudson is still reasonably young with a hard fastball and fairly promising peripherals to go along with a modest $2.7MM salary. He has about $974K of that sum remaining through season’s end, making him an affordable roll of the dice for a club in need of some upside at the back of its bullpen.
Diamondbacks Designate Josh Collmenter, Mike Freeman For Assignment
The D-backs announced that they’ve designated right-hander Josh Collmenter and utilityman Mike Freeman for assignment. The moves clear room for lefties Steve Hathaway and Adam Loewen on the 40-man and 25-man rosters. Arizona also optioned Zac Curtis to Triple-A Reno.
The DFA of Collmenter, who was Arizona’s Opening Day starter in 2015, is at least somewhat surprising. While the right-hander has had mixed results after assuming a bullpen role this season, he’s pitched to a 4.84 ERA with 17 strikeouts against 11 walks to go along with a 47.7 percent ground-ball rate this season. Collmenter has made 15 appearances and, as the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro points out (via Twitter), delivered a scoreless outing in 12 of those games. However, he’s been torched in his other three appearances, allowing four runs in each of them, resulting in his lackluster earned run average.
Collmenter is earning just $1.85MM this season, and his track record — 3.49 ERA in 637 MLB innings prior to this season — makes that a reasonable enough price to expect that the D-backs could get some trade interest in him. At the very least, Collmenter’s salary is reasonable enough that a contending club in need of arms could place a claim if he’s placed on waivers.
Freeman, 28, made his big league debut in Arizona this season and went hitless in 11 plate appearances. He’s a career .315/.376/.421 hitter in Triple-A and has significant experience at second base and all three outfield positions.
Injury Notes: Valbuena, Bourjos, Morrison, Boxberger, Cain, Pollock
Injuries always play a major role in shaping the trade deadline; indeed, waiting to see how health issues shake out is one of the biggest reasons that clubs wait until they are under the gun to make their moves. We already have covered some notable recent developments — Rich Hill isn’t yet ready for a start for the Athletics; Mets center fielder Juan Lagares just went down to thumb surgery; the Rangers lost Prince Fielder for the season; and Royals reliever Luke Hochevar is likely headed for his own season-ending surgery.
Here are a few more less-impactful, but still notable injury updates from recent days:
- The Astros added infielder Luis Valbuena to the DL yesterday with a hamstring injury, as Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Though it still seems like a relatively minor injury, it could shake things up for Houston. For one thing, it likely means extended exposure at the hot corner for top prospect Alex Bregman. For another, it could increase the need to get just-signed Cuban infielder Yulieski Gurriel into minor league action and then up to the majors. The really interesting question, though, is whether the injury opens some added daylight for the ‘Stros to go after a big bat on the trade market. And it goes without saying that the injury snuffs out whatever meager chance there was that Valbuena would be moved as part of Houston’s deadline machinations. [Updated Astros Depth Chart]
- This one is from two days back, but the Phillies‘ placement of outfielder Peter Bourjos on the DL certainly seems to change things a bit on the center field market. He’d have represented a useful plug-in for teams in need of a swift-footed defender down the stretch. And even if his hot streak was destined to fizzle out, Bourjos has shown that he can still bring something to the table with the bat. As things stand, though, his shoulder is enough of a question mark that he’d be a tough player to add on speculation; given his cheap salary, moreover, Philadelphia will likely be forced to take a meager return should Bourjos be moved in the August waiver-wire period. [Updated Phillies Depth Chart]
- Rays first baseman Logan Morrison has hit the shelf with a forearm strain, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported via Twitter. Given his struggles, Morrison’s departure from the first base market isn’t a major change. Still, though, Tampa Bay might have hoped to offload some of the remainder of Morrison’s $4.2MM salary this year, particularly given that he’ll be a free agent this fall. Though his overall .228/.304/.371 batting line on the year leaves quite a bit to be desired, LoMo has traditionally put up solid results (.754 OPS) against right-handed pitching. [Updated Rays Depth Chart]
- Meanwhile, the Rays activated right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger from the DL. He still hasn’t made an appearance since returning from an oblique strain, and has only seen action in a single game this year. While that leaves him as an unlikely trade target, there’s an outside chance that a club seeking shelter from the high price tags on top pen arms could look for a buy-low opportunity. The Rays will surely hope he can rebuild some value over the next several months, but with Boxberger set to reach arbitration after the season, there’s likely to be added motivation to move him. Over his 178 MLB frames, Boxberger owns a 3.03 ERA with 11.9 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 — with even better results in 2014 — so there’s obviously some upside there.
- To be sure, the odds of the Royals dealing Lorenzo Cain were always slight — even if the team is open to listening on him. But a hamstring injury and month-long layoff seemed to all but eliminate the already-feeble chances of a trade. Now Cain is back from the DL, and ready to get back to work at making this season’s batting line (.288/.338/.413) look more like that from 2015 (.307/.361/.477). It still seems that an offseason deal — if any — is more likely, but there’s no question that contenders would have serious interest in a player who has established himself as one of the game’s better all-around players in recent years. [Updated Royals Depth Chart]
- Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock, who has missed the entire season after fracturing his elbow late this spring, faced live pitching for the first time yesterday, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. Pollock’s status won’t directly factor into the deadline; he’s not going anywhere and the D-Backs aren’t shopping for a replacement. Still, though, the fact that he seems to be making progress toward a return in 2016 may fortify Arizona’s resolve to maintain its course as a modest seller over the coming days.
Rotation Rumors: Sale, Urias, Marlins, Nova, Miley, Shelby
The Dodgers would be willing to include top prospect Julio Urias in a trade for White Sox ace Chris Sale, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. That’s a major concession, as Urias is arguably the very best pitching prospect in baseball. Los Angeles has declined to make him available in the past, and now that he has reached the majors, he would certainly represent a legitimate centerpiece in a deal for the even-more-valuable Sale. Depth isn’t a major concern for Los Angeles, Sherman explains; instead, they are trying to see if they can strike a deal for a major talent like Sale, teammate Jose Quintana, or Chris Archer of the Rays.
- Rival executives say that the Marlins have been extremely aggressive in trying to add a starter, says Sherman, but they also don’t see anything intriguing in the club’s farm system. Trading from the big league roster would obviously be difficult to do for Miami, but Sherman offers the intriguing (but, as he says, totally speculative) idea that the club could dangle injured reliever Carter Capps.
- The Marlins have shown some interest in Yankees righties Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova, among many other names with whom they have been connected, also per Sherman. And that would seem to align with New York’s own approach, as the club is moving its focus to finding a taker for Nova, according to a report from Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. The Yanks are dangling him at a relatively high asking price, per the report — at least for the time being.
- Mariners lefty Wade Miley is another pitcher the Marlins are at least considering, per Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Miley is controllable through 2018, but his results have been so poor this year that he shouldn’t command a significant price. Given that the Fish have previously had interest in the southpaw, per Spencer, perhaps they could look to buy low and get a sturdy arm without giving up what little young talent they have on offer.
- Amidst reports that the Diamondbacks have made struggling righty Shelby Miller available in trades, GM Dave Stewart tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter link) that he won’t be given away for nothing. “We have been asked about Miller,” he said. “Teams think we’ve given up on him, we haven’t.” It remains to be seen what kind of interest Arizona will field in Miller, but there’s no particular reason for him to be moved at the trade deadline. His value, after all, lies in the hope that he can return to being the solid starter he once was, rather than in his potential contributions for the rest of the 2016 season.
Passan’s Latest: Davis, Miller, Sale, Quintana, Miley, Upton
Yahoo’s Jeff Passan has another edition of his 10 Degrees column posted, which focuses heavily on a number of potentially available names. A few highlights from within, though the entire column is worth a look…
- When determining what they should ask in return for Wade Davis, should they make him available, the Royals internally discussed Nationals righty Lucas Giolito, per Passan. That would be a fairly staggering price to pay, as Giolito is, by many accounts, the top pitching prospect in all of baseball. Davis is earning $8MM this season (about $3.06MM of that remains) and has a $10MM option for the 2017 season on his contract as well, so there’s certainly value, but that price would almost certainly strike the Nats as exorbitant. However, as Passan notes, the Yankees plucked Gleyber Torres and three other pieces from the Cubs for a rental of Aroldis Chapman, so the Royals’ lofty asking price is understandable.
- The D-backs are prepared to offer struggling right-hander Shelby Miller to other clubs in trades and are largely open for business overall, though a complete tear-down won’t happen. The D-backs are holding onto Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, A.J. Pollock, Zack Greinke, Patrick Corbin and Robbie Ray — a nice core, as Passan notes — but are willing to listen virtually anywhere else. Miller’s acquisition has been one of the most talked-about stories in the game since he was acquired for Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair this offseason, and his 7.14 ERA through 69 1/3 innings and subsequent demotion to Triple-A Reno have only intensified the scrutiny.
- Chris Sale‘s trade value hasn’t been hurt by his suspension for inappropriate conduct in this weekend’s bizarre jersey-cutting controversy. Any club wishing to acquire him would need to part with an MLB-ready, elite prospect, writes Passan, who lists Andrew Benintendi or Yoan Moncada of the Red Sox, Nomar Mazara of the Rangers, Alex Bregman of the Astros and Julio Urias of the Dodgers as hypothetical starting points — the White Sox would require another three to four valuable pieces beyond those names — if any of those teams want to make a legitimate run at Sale. I think the White Sox would be well within reason to start by asking for both Benintendi and Moncada from the Red Sox or Nomar Mazara and Joey Gallo from the Rangers before moving onto the secondary pieces in each deal. Sale is owed $3.5MM through the end of the current season and can be controlled through 2019, his age-30 season, for a total of $41.5MM. The surplus value there is astonishing, and the dearth of pitching talent on the trade market/upcoming free agent market only adds to Sale’s allure.
- The White Sox are valuing lefty Jose Quintana quite similarly, Passan adds, noting that one executive tells him Chicago is valuing Quintana like a true No. 1 starter. That’s not quite an accurate representation of Quintana’s abilities, but he’s pitched closely enough to that level that it makes sense to ask. Quintana has a 3.32 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and a 43.9 percent ground-ball rate in 737 innings dating back to 2013. Like Sale, he’s a flat-out bargain for the South Siders, as he’s owed just $39.92MM through the 2020 season.
- Wade Miley has been quietly shopped by the Mariners in recent weeks, per Passan. While Seattle isn’t necessarily selling despite their trade of Mike Montgomery and their shopping of Miley, it appears that they’re open to dealing from the big league roster in the right scenario. The Montgomery trade brought an MLB-ready talent back to the Mariners in Dan Vogelbach, and Seattle probably has the pitching depth to move Miley without subtracting much in the way of big league value from the current iteration of the club. Miley has just a 5.23 ERA in 105 innings for Seattle this season, though his strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates are all respectable (6.3 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 45.9 percent). He’s guaranteed about $11.55MM through the end of the 2017 season, though $500K of that is in the form of a buyout on a $12MM club option for the 2018 season, so he could be controlled longer if he rebounds.
- The “safe money” is on Melvin Upton Jr. going to the Orioles to play as a corner outfielder/insurance policy for Adam Jones in center field, Passan writes. The O’s and Padres have reportedly discussed a swap of Upton and Ubaldo Jimenez, though the Orioles would need to send some prospect value back to San Diego in that trade. The contracts of Upton ($22.36MM through 2017) and Jimenez ($18.47MM) are similar, and Upton, unlike Jimenez, is providing present-day value. It’s still tough for me to envision the Padres getting much in the way of a prospect back — especially if they do indeed absorb Jimenez’s contract — and the Orioles don’t exactly have a deep farm from which to deal.