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Minor MLB Transactions: 8/8/15

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

  • Blue Jays outfielder Ezequiel Carrera has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation. The 28-year-old was designated for assignment after Toronto acquired Ben Revere at the trade deadline. Carrera has managed a solid .279/.327/.374 line with three home runs and two steals in 164 plate appearances.
  • Lefty Aaron Laffey has accepted the Rockies’ outright assignment and will head to Triple-A Albuquerque, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Colorado designated Laffey for assignment last week. He has pitched 7 1/3 innings for them this season.
  • The Phillies have released veteran righty Juan Gutierrez, MLBTR’s Steve Adams tweets. Gutierrez’s camp is negotiating with at least two teams, including one with whom it’s deep in talks. The 32-year-old Gutierrez has posted a 3.66 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 51 2/3 innings this season at two Triple-A affiliates. He spent last season in the Giants bullpen.
  • The Orioles have outrighted OF/1B Chris Parmelee, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweets. The O’s designated Parmelee for assignment when they acquired Gerardo Parra at the trade deadline. He hit .216/.255/.433 in 102 plate appearances with Baltimore.
  • The Mets have outrighted lefty Alex Torres to Triple-A Las Vegas, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin tweets. The Mets designated him for assignment when they acquired Eric O’Flaherty last week. Torres has posted a 3.15 ERA and 9.2 K/9 in 34 1/3 innings with the Mets this year, but with 6.8 BB/9.
  • Catcher Eric Fryer has accepted the Twins’ outright assignment and will report to Triple-A Rochester, the Pioneer Press’ Mike Berardino tweets. The Twins designated Fryer for assignment on Thursday. He’s played very sparingly in parts of five seasons with Pittsburgh and Minnesota, batting .235/.316/.324 in 152 plate appearances in his big-league career.
  • The Diamondbacks plan to select the contract of righty-hitting infielder/outfielder Jamie Romak, agent David Sloane tells MLBTR. The 29-year-old Romak hit .289/.373/.554 with 22 home runs in 458 plate appearances for Triple-A Reno after the D-backs signed him to a minor-league deal last offseason. He played briefly for the Dodgers in 2014 but has spent most of the past several years in the high minors. In parts of 13 seasons, Romak has also played in the Braves, Pirates, Royals and Cardinals organizations, and he has a career .255/.344/.463 line in the minors. He has played outfield, first base and third base throughout most of his career, but this year he has also appeared in 24 games at second base.

Notes On The Bourn/Swisher Trade

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Here are a few notes on the Indians’ recent trade of Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher and cash to the Braves for Chris Johnson.

  • From the Braves’ perspective, one key to the deal was the financial flexibility they’ll add as they open their new stadium in 2017, GM John Hart tells David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think for us, a part of it was the flexibility we’re going to have going into ’17. That’s going to be extra dollars that we’re going to be able to have then,” says Hart. “And I think for Cleveland, even though they’re paying a significant piece to fill the large gap (in salaries), I think this gives them a little more flexibility to do some things in ’16.” Bourn and Swisher are both likely to become free agents after 2016 (both have options that are unlikely to vest), whereas Johnson doesn’t become a free agent until after the 2017 season.
  • The trade provides the Indians with “roster flexibility,” Bud Shaw writes for the Northeast Ohio Media Group. The Indians won’t have roster spots locked down for two players to whom they feel obligated to give chances. The Indians saved a bit of money in the deal too, Shaw notes, but not so much that it’s likely to make them big players in the free agent market this winter.
  • In a Q+A addressing a variety of questions about the Indians’ recent moves, the Northeast Ohio Media Group’s Paul Hoynes writes that the Indians’ trades are unlikely to make their attendance much worse. Hoynes notes that the Indians’ attendance to this point has been better than only that of the Rays, so it isn’t as if they can fall much further. It might also be worth noting that while the trades of Brandon Moss and David Murphy might hurt the Indians a bit in the short term, the departures of Bourn, Swisher and Marc Rzepczynski should have little negative on-field impact on the team. The Indians have retained most of their core players, like Corey Kluber, Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Francisco Lindor and Cody Allen.

Blue Jays Acquire Cliff Pennington

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The Blue Jays have announced that they’ve acquired Diamondbacks infielder Cliff Pennington and cash for minor league shortstop Dawel Lugo. The Diamondbacks have also announced that they’ve selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Jamie Romak, as we reported earlier today.

USATSI_8690329_154513410_lowresThe switch-hitting Pennington batted a meager .237/.318/.281 in 157 plate appearances in Arizona, although he can play both middle infield positions and has a strong defensive track record at shortstop. He has four homers total in the last three seasons and doesn’t usually hit for high averages, although he does draw his share of walks. The Blue Jays currently have another light-hitting infielder, Munenori Kawasaki, backing up Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop, although Kawasaki can be optioned and probably isn’t quite as good as Pennington defensively. The Blue Jays are also missing second baseman Devon Travis, who’s dealing with a shoulder injury. Ryan Goins is their current starter at second.

Before the trade deadline, Pennington had been connected to the Pirates and Nationals. That the Blue Jays are acquiring him now means that, at the very least, all of the NL and most of the AL passed on him on the waiver wire, but perhaps that’s not surprising given his $3.275MM salary. He is eligible for free agency this winter. The 31-year-old has a career .248/.315/.346 line in parts of eight seasons in Oakland and Arizona.

The 20-year-old Lugo has hit just .257/.287/.343 in 408 plate appearances split between Class A Lansing and Class A+ Dunedin this season, although he’s been a bit young for both levels. MLB.com ranked him the Blue Jays’ 12th-best prospect, writing that he was one of the best hitters available on the international market in 2011 (when the Jays signed him for $1.3MM out of the Dominican Republic) but that he already had below-average speed and might end up at third base in the long term.

SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo first to tweet that the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks had made a deal involving Pennington. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweeted that the Blue Jays would receive cash in the deal and the that the Diamondbacks would receive a minor leaguer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Padres Claim Caleb Thielbar

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The Padres have claimed lefty Caleb Thielbar from the Twins, Darren Wolfson of 1500ESPN tweets. The Twins designated Thielbar for assignment when they acquired Kevin Jepsen at last month’s trade deadline.

Thielbar, 28, had allowed three runs in five innings with the Twins this year, spending most of the season at Triple-A Rochester. He had a 2.81 ERA in 32 innings there, but with 19 strikeouts and 18 walks. Before the 2015 season, though, he had two good seasons in the Twins bullpen, and he still has a 2.74 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in his big-league career.

Thielbar’s immediate role with the Padres isn’t yet known. He can be optioned to the minors, although the Padres also don’t currently have much lefty pitching in their bullpen, with the newly acquired Marc Rzepczynski as the only southpaw.

Adam Loewen Returns To Majors With Phillies

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The Phillies have selected the contract of lefty Adam Loewen, a noteworthy story since Loewen’s first appearance with the Phillies will mark the third time in nine years that he’s debuted with a new big-league team, and his last opportunity came as a hitter, not as a pitcher.

The Orioles made Loewen the fourth overall pick in the 2002 draft as a pitcher, ahead of future stars like Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels and Prince Fielder. He quickly climbed through the minors despite control problems, joining the Orioles’ rotation in 2006, when he was 22.

Two years later, though, elbow injuries necessitated a career change, and Loewen announced that he would instead become an outfielder and first baseman instead. “That was a crazy decision,” says Loewen, via Baseball America’s Alexis Brudnicki. “I don’t know where I came up with the (guts) to do that.”

The Orioles allowed Loewen to depart via free agency after the 2008 season, and the Canadian-born player signed on with the Blue Jays. He had several modestly productive offensive seasons in the Jays and Mets systems and currently boasts a .262/.355/.429 minor league line, and he returned to the big leagues as a hitter in 2011, but only briefly.

After becoming a free agent following the 2013 season, Loewen played in the Venezuelan Winter League. There, he discovered that his arm no longer hurt when he tried to pitch, as CSNPhilly.com’s John Finger wrote last year. “I had five years to rest my arm from the injury that ended my pitching career at the time,” Loewen explained.

The Phillies heard that Loewen was working out as a pitcher, and they signed him after a tryout in Arizona. Loewen spent most of last season in the rotation at Double-A Reading, where he battled control problems (4.6 BB/9) but was effective overall. Then he took a big step forward in the high minors in 2015, still walking plenty of batters but increasing his strikeout rate to a robust 11.3 K/9 and posting a 2.01 ERA in 58 1/3 innings.

That’s earned him a spot on the big-league roster with the rebuilding Phillies, and he’s hoping to make the most of it, as CSNPhilly.com’s Jim Salisbury writes. “I’ve been really blessed to have a third opportunity,” Loewen says. “I feel lucky to be here.”

Loewen is 31, but he only has two-plus years of service time under his belt, so the Phillies could conceivably control him for several more years if the experiment goes well. If the Phillies do retain him, he’ll likely be eligible for arbitration after the season.

Week In Review: 8/1/15 – 8/7/15

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Here’s a look back at this week at MLBTR.

Key Move

Trades

Signings

Top Prospect Promotions

Claims

Designated For Assignment

Outrights

Released

Key Minor League Signings

How August Trades Work

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Now that the July 31 trade deadline has passed, teams can still make trades, only with more restrictions than before. Updating Jeff Todd’s post last year on the topic, here’s a look at how August trades work. This information has, of course, been shared elsewhere, most notably in an article by ESPN’s Jayson Stark from all the way back in 2004, and in greater detail at Cub Reporter. Since the rules surrounding August deals are confusing, though, they’re worth reviewing here.

  • In August, a big-league player must pass through revocable waivers before his team can trade him without restriction. These waivers last 47 hours. If no one claims him in that period, his team can trade him anywhere.
  • If a player is claimed, his team can do one of three things. It can trade the player to the claiming team, revoke the waiver request (in which case the player will remain with his original team), or simply allow the claiming team to take the player and his salary (although a player with no-trade rights can block this from happening).
  • A recent example of an August trade that developed from a waiver claim was the Brewers’ acquisition of Jonathan Broxton from the Reds last year. The Brewers claimed Broxton and ultimately got him from the Reds for two players to be named later, who turned out to be Kevin Shackelford and Barrett Astin. An example of a claim that didn’t result in a trade occurred last year, when the Cubs claimed Cole Hamels. The two sides couldn’t strike a deal, the Phillies revoked their waiver request, and Hamels remained in Philadelphia. Examples of teams simply letting players go via revocable waivers are more rare, but in 2009, the White Sox claimed Alex Rios from the Blue Jays, who simply let him go to Chicago without a trade. The White Sox were thus responsible for all of the approximately $62MM remaining on Rios’ contract.
  • A team has 48.5 hours to trade a claimed player, and can only negotiate with the team awarded the claim on him.
  • It’s common for teams to place players on revocable waivers, and their having done so does not necessarily mean they have serious plans to trade them. As Stark points out, teams commonly use waivers of certain players purely as smokescreens to disguise which players they really are interested in trading. In fact, sometimes teams place their entire rosters on waivers.
  • If more than one team claims a player, priority is determined by worst record to best record in the league of the waiving team, followed by worst record to best record in the other league. For example, if an NL team places a player on revocable waivers, the team with the NL’s worst record will get first priority on claims, followed by every other team in the NL from worst to best, followed by AL teams from worst to best.
  • If a team pulls a player back from waivers once, it cannot do so again in August. So if a team places a player on waivers for a second time, those waivers will be non-revocable.
  • Players not on 40-man rosters are eligible to be traded at any time without passing through waivers.
  • A player on the disabled list can only pass through waivers if his minimum period of inactivity has passed and he is healthy and able to play at his accustomed level.
  • Teams can still make trades in September, but players acquired after August 31 can’t play in the postseason.

Players traded last August included Broxton, Adam Dunn, Alejandro De Aza, Kelly Johnson, Geovany Soto, Gordon Beckham, Josh Willingham, Kevin Correia and Jacob Turner. There weren’t any blockbusters last year, although it’s not impossible for major deals to happen in August. The Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett in a gigantic trade in 2012, for example.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/1/15

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

  • The Mets have signed pitcher Tim Stauffer to a minor league contract, according to the MLB transactions page. Stauffer was released by the Twins earlier this summer and signed with the independent Sugar Land Skeeters in mid-July. He posted a 6.60 ERA in 15 innings with the Twins. Over a 590 inning major league career, he has a 3.94 ERA with 6.73 K/9 and 3.05 BB/9. In his heyday, he worked between 90 and 92 mph. He averaged just 88 mph with his fastball during his stint with Minnesota.
  • The Giants have released pitcher Erik Cordier, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. MLBTR has learned that Cordier’s deal included opt out clauses on July 1, August 1, and September 7. The 29-year-old righty performed well in the minors. In 34 Triple-A innings, he posted a 1.04 ERA and 11.16 K/9. However, his command and control left something to be desired with 6.49 BB/9.
  • The White Sox have signed outfielder Dayan Viciedo and assigned him to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, the Knights have announced. Viciedo was, of course, a longtime staple of the White Sox outfield, but they released him in February, avoiding paying most of what would have been a $4.4MM arbitration salary. He played briefly this year for Triple-A Nashville in the Athletics system, hitting .221/.282/.336.
  • The Red Sox have outrighted infielder Jemile Weeks and assigned him to Triple-A Pawtucket, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweets. The Red Sox designated Weeks for assignment on Wednesday when they added Josh Rutledge to their roster. Weeks has hit .207/.307/.310 in 199 plate appearances for Pawtucket this year.
  • Former Yankees reliever Esmil Rogers is headed to Korea, where he’ll get $1MM to play for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets. In the midst of yesterday’s trade deadline madness, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweeted that the Yankees had released Rogers. The 29-year-old Rogers posted a 6.27 ERA, 8.5 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 33 innings with New York this season.

Athletics Designate Eric O’Flaherty

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The Athletics have announced that they’ve designated lefty reliever Eric O’Flaherty for assignment. The move clears space on the Athletics’ active roster for righty and recent trade acquisition Aaron Brooks, who has been promoted from Nashville to start tonight.

The 30-year-old O’Flaherty has struggled this season, posting a 5.91 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 5.9 BB/9 in 21 1/3 innings while dealing with shoulder trouble. He’s also dealt with elbow and back issues in recent years. The A’s signed O’Flaherty to a two-year, $7MM contract before the 2014 season, and his rather expensive $5.5MM 2015 salary and uneven performance likely ensure he won’t be claimed.

East Notes: Valencia, Red Sox, Fulmer

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The Blue Jays’ somewhat surprising decision this morning to designate Danny Valencia for assignment confused many fans. Valencia has, after all, had a very strong season at the plate, batting .296/.331/.506, and he’s capable of playing several positions and raking against lefties. As Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith explains, manager John Gibbons told GM Alex Anthopoulos that he wanted new acquisition Ben Revere to play every day rather than platooning, leaving one of Valencia or Chris Colabello without much of a role. The Blue Jays ultimately decided to keep Colabello, and Anthopoulos thinks Valencia will be claimed on Monday. The GM suggests the Jays aren’t done tweaking their roster, so they could make a minor move or two to improve it, perhaps adding an outfielder.

  • The Red Sox were relatively quiet at the deadline, but they expect to look quite different by April, Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston writes. “I think it’s incumbent upon us to make real improvement between now and Opening Day,” says GM Ben Cherington. “We didn’t feel like it had to be this week. And so we went into it with the mindset, we’re going to pursue things we think fall in line with ways we need to improve between now and Opening Day.” Cherington notes that it’s still possible the Red Sox could make deals in August. Potential trade candidates include Mike Napoli and Alejandro De Aza.
  • The Mets repeatedly refused to trade pitching prospect Michael Fulmer, and were able to acquire Yoenis Cespedes from the Tigers only when they finally relented, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. To Tigers exec Dave Dombrowski, Fulmer was the key to the deal (which also included another solid pitching prospect, Luis Cessa). “We consider Fulmer a premium-type guy,” Dombrowski says.

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