Central Notes: Finnegan, Indians, Frieri, Pirates
Newly-signed Royals first round draft pick Brandon Finnegan will start his pro career at Class A+ Wilmington, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star writes. The Royals project Finnegan will only pitch about 45 or 50 pro innings after pitching for TCU this season, but the start at Class A+ could indicate that the Royals hope Finnegan will be in the big leagues in a relatively short period of time. “I just have confidence in myself,” says Finnegan. “Now, I’m not 6-4. I’m only 5-11. But I feel like I’ve got the stuff that’s good enough to pitch in the pros right now.” Here are more notes from the Central divisions.
- The Indians need to add a good starting pitcher more than they need a good hitter, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer writes. Corey Kluber has excelled, but the rest of Cleveland’s rotation hasn’t been nearly so helpful — three pitchers who started the year in the rotation are now either in the bullpen or Triple-A.
- New Pirates pitcher Ernesto Frieri looks forward to playing in a new league and division, Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. “Maybe this is going to be good for me because it was a little bit of a struggle for me in the American League West,” Frieri said. “When you’re in one league for a while, hitters get to know you, and they make adjustments. I’m pretty confident everything is going to change over here.” The Pirates acquired Frieri on Friday for another struggling reliever, Jason Grilli.
- Bucs GM Neal Huntington tells SiriusXM’s Jim Bowden (via Twitter) that the Pirates don’t have “glaring holes” but will still try to upgrade where possible. The Pirates’ offense has been about average and just added Gregory Polanco to fix its hole in right field. The Bucs’ pitching is perhaps questionable, but the Pirates have had a recent series of strong performances from starters like Jeff Locke and Vance Worley to aid what had been a weak rotation.
Minor Moves: Rosales, Ahmed, Bianchi
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here.
- The Rangers have announced that they will purchase the contract of infielder Adam Rosales and optioned fellow infielder Luis Sardinas to the minors, where he’ll presumably have more regular playing time. The Rangers will need to make a 40-man roster move to make space for Rosales, who was hitting .276/.349/.434 in 307 plate appearances for Triple-A Round Rock.
- The Diamondbacks announce that they have selected the contract of infielder Nick Ahmed. Fellow infielder Chris Owings will head to the 15-day DL with a shoulder strain, and the Diamondbacks will clear 40-man roster space for Ahmed by moving Eric Chavez to the 60-day DL. Ahmed, 24, was hitting .324/.390/.431 for Triple-A Reno, where he played shortstop and second base. He was originally drafted by the Braves, who traded him to Arizona in the Justin Upton / Chris Johnson / Martin Prado deal.
- The Brewers have announced that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Jeff Bianchi from Triple-A Nashville, adding him to their 40-man and 25-man rosters. To clear space for him on the 25-man, they’ve optioned pitcher Alfredo Figaro to Nashville. Shortstop Jean Segura left yesterday’s game with leg cramps, which might be why the Brewers are adding another infielder. The Brewers outrighted Bianchi last month. He has a career .214/.249/.281 line in parts of three seasons, all with Milwaukee.
Phillies Designate Sean O’Sullivan For Assignment
The Phillies have announced that they’ve designated pitcher Sean O’Sullivan for assignment. The move clears space for infielder Andres Blanco, whose contract the Phillies purchased from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
The Phillies added O’Sullivan to their roster yesterday so that he could start the second game of a doubleheader yesterday against the Braves. He allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking none. The Phillies made space for him yesterday by outrighting infielder Ronny Cedeno, so it makes sense that they would replace O’Sullivan on their active roster with an infielder. The veteran Blanco has appeared in parts of six seasons with the Royals, Cubs and Rangers, hitting .255/.301/.333. He last appeared in the big leagues in 2011.
Cafardo On Price, Hammel, Pirates, Tigers
Here’s the latest from the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo:
- With David Price of the Rays on the trading block, Cafardo asks Brewers GM Doug Melvin about the process of trading, or trading for, a top starting pitching. Melvin has been on both sides of that process, having traded Zack Greinke and having acquired Greinke and C.C. Sabathia. Melvin says he would have been willing to trade Greinke within the NL Central, but for an extra charge. “I had teams within the division asking for him, and my approach to that is this: I had no problem doing it, but I had to get a little extra if I was going to do it. And that’s what I told them,” he says. Even assuming that’s the Rays’ policy too, though, it isn’t clear there’s a great matchup between them and any other AL East team. The Blue Jays are one possibility, but Cafardo writes that they seem to be more interested on a lower-tier starter like Jason Hammel of the Cubs.
- A source tells Cafardo, “You could argue that Hammel is the most sought-after player, positional or pitcher, in the trade market right now.”
- This season, the Pirates are likely to pursue a starting pitcher and a reliever, but not an offensive player.
- Victor Martinez wants to stay with the Tigers. One potential hitch as he heads toward free agency, though, is that the Tigers will have to figure out how long Miguel Cabrera will be able to play defense until Detroit needs to move him to DH.
Yankees Notes: McCann, Beltran, Trades, Prado
The Yankees‘ run differential (currently -29) and tendency to get blown out suggest they’re a mediocre team, but they remain in the AL East race because no other team has pulled away, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Part of the Yankees’ struggles have to do with the fact that they have five players with at least 200 plate appearances and OPSes of .660 or lower. They acquired three of those (Brian Roberts, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran) this offseason. Of course, McCann and Beltran, at least, have recent track records of hitting well, so they could get more offense from them in the second half. Here are more notes out of New York.
- Top rotation options like David Price and Jeff Samardzija are probably out of the question for the Yankees, but NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty suggests some lower-tier options New York could pursue. Among them are Jason Hammel of the Cubs, Brandon McCarthy of the Diamondbacks, and Jorge De La Rosa of the Rockies.
- The Yankees are focused on acquiring pitching, but they should also consider the Diamondbacks’ Martin Prado at third base, Bill Madden of New York Daily News writes. Prado, 30, has hit just .271/.318/.368 this year for Arizona, although he still plays strong defense at the hot corner.
Draft Signings: Kevin Steen, Branden Cogswell, Auston Bousfield
Here’s a roundup of today’s draft signings:
- The Red Sox have reportedly signed ninth-rounder Kevin Steen tweets Alex Speier of WEEI.com. According to Speier, the high-school pitcher is just one of two Boston draftees from the top ten rounds to receive an above slot bonus. The exact amount of the deal is unknown, and slot value for the pick is $152,700. He features a low 90’s fastball.
- The Athletics have signed seventh-rounder Branden Cogswell for $200K, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. The pick had a bonus pool allotment of $164,200. MLB.com notes that that the junior UVA infielder makes up for his limited power and “modest tools” with good “feel for the game.” He may end up at second base as a professional.
- The Padres have signed fifth-rounder (No. 147 overall) Auston Bousfield for $200K, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. The pick had a bonus pool allotment of $333,100. Bousfield, a junior outfielder from Ole Miss, ranked No. 329 in Baseball America’s list of the top 500 draft prospects. BA praises his ability to hit for average and notes that he should be able to play center field at the professional level, but suggests he won’t hit for much more than gap power.
Brad Johnson contributed to this post.
Phillies Outright Ronny Cedeno
The Phillies announce that they have outrighted shortstop Ronny Cedeno and selected the contract of pitcher Sean O’Sullivan. The Phillies added Cedeno to their roster in June, and he has played very sparingly since then, only collecting seven plate appearances in three weeks. The 31-year-old veteran has hit .245/.289/.353 in parts of ten seasons with the Cubs, Mariners, Pirates, Mets, Astros, Padres and Phillies.
O’Sullivan, 26, had posted a 4.31 ERA with 4.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 87 2/3 innings with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He will start the second game of the Phillies’ doubleheader against the Braves today.
Quick Hits: Price, Rays, Taveras, McCarthy
Dealing David Price is the Rays‘ “only chance for success,” executive Andrew Friedman tells the New York Times. He doesn’t seem to be saying that the Rays are duty-bound to trade Price, only that dealing valuable players is a crucial way for the Rays to add talent. “The trades that we’ve made, looking back, the only reason we got good players in return is because we traded really good players,” says Friedman. Nonetheless, Friedman is frustrated with the trade market — he needs to acquire young players for the Rays to succeed, and yet the market isn’t favorable to teams acquiring prospects. “The attrition rate and the hit rate isn’t factored in nearly enough or appreciated enough,” he says. “But it’s really our only chance for success.” Here are more notes from around baseball.
- Rival executives think the Rays won’t trade Price until close to the July 31 non-waiver deadline, writes CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. The Rays’ front office likes to be deliberative in its decisions. There is consensus, though, that the Rays will trade Price this summer, since the Rays’ season has gone poorly, Price has lots of value now, and he’ll have a hefty salary in 2015.
- The Cardinals are unlikely to trade, and should not trade, Oscar Taveras, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. With pitchers dominant in today’s game, offense is at a premium, and Taveras’ bat is too good not to keep, particularly for a veteran who might only be around for one or two seasons.
- Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon McCarthy is bracing for a possible trade, FOX Sports Arizona’s Jack Magruder writes. “It certainly seems likely, but if I am still here at the end of September, then great,” says McCarthy. “Right now as a Diamondback, sometimes your best value is your future value and what they can get for you. I totally understand that side of the game.”
Minor Moves: Rowland-Smith, Dunning, Romak
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here.
- The Reds have signed pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith to a minor-league deal, Robert Murray of SportsRumorAlert.com tweets. Rowland-Smith saw his first MLB action since 2010 when he pitched 7 1/3 innings for the Diamondbacks earlier this season. He also pitched 14 innings for the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo before being released earlier this month. MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Rowland-Smith has an August 1 opt-out date.
- The Giants have outrighted pitcher Jake Dunning to Triple-A Fresno, Murray tweets. The 25-year-old has appeared in one game with the Giants this season after pitching 25 2/3 innings for him in 2013. Dunning has posted a 5.88 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 33 2/3 innings for Fresno this season.
- 1B/OF Jamie Romak has cleared waivers, and the Dodgers have outrighted him to Triple-A Albuquerque, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. The Dodgers designated Romak for assignment on Wednesday. The 28-year-old Romak made his big-league debut earlier this season and collected one hit in 23 plate appearances with the Dodgers. He hit .272/.354/.578 in 206 plate appearances for Albuquerque earlier this season. Romak has a July 1 opt-out date, so he could reappear in this space again soon.
Reactions To The Jason Grilli / Ernesto Frieri Trade
Here’s a collection of reactions to and fallout from the Pirates and Angels’ swap of struggling relievers Jason Grilli and Ernesto Frieri.
- Angels GM Jerry Dipoto would like Grilli to establish himself as the Angels’ closer, but that will depend on Grilli’s performance, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. “Whether Jason Grilli returns to the ninth inning will have to be determined by Jason Grilli,” says Dipoto.
- Pirates GM Neal Huntington says that Frieri will provide the Pirates with a “high leverage option that may pitch in the middle innings,” reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Travis Sawchik. “Ernesto is a guy we have pursued for a couple of years and haven’t been able to get him,” says Huntington. “He’s been going through a rough stretch but there’s a lot of things our scouts like, that our analysts like. We feel like we’ve had some success with guys like this in the past.”
- While many outside analysts were unimpressed with the deal for both sides, Sawchik notes that the Grilli trade has similarities to the Pirates’ December 2012 trade of closer Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt for Mark Melancon, Stolmy Pimentel and two other players. Like Melancon, who was coming off an ugly 6.20 ERA season in Boston, Frieri’s peripherals (11.0 K/9, 2.6 BB/9) are significantly better than his ERA. The Pirates have had great success with Melancon in the late innings.
- Catcher Russell Martin, who along with Grilli was a key part of the Pirates’ excellent 2013 season, says he’ll fondly remember Grilli’s tenure with the Bucs, reports Bucs Dugout’s David Manel. “To look back on it can motivate you, it can give you confidence, it can make you believe that what we have here is good,” Martin says. He adds, however, that Grilli struggled after being demoted from the closer’s role. “[J]ust like any athlete, when you’re not doing well and the team’s heading into a different direction, it can leave some sourness,” says Martin “I think Grilli still wanted to be the closer. To have that taken away can be a little frustrating.”