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Cardinals Sign Dakota Hudson

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The Cardinals have announced that they’ve signed righty Dakota Hudson, the 34th overall pick in the draft. According to MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter), Hudson will receive $2MM, a bit more than the pool value of the 34th pick, which is $1.878MM. That figure still leaves the Cardinals with surplus pool space with which to sign remaining picks, since another Cards first-rounder, outfielder Dylan Carlson, signed for about $560K less than his pool value.

Hudson, a 6’5 junior from Mississippi State, was ranked the No. 15 prospect in the draft by MLB.com, which notes that he sits 93-95 MPH with his fastball (although he can touch 97) and throws a terrific slider/cutter. He also has a curveball and changeup, giving him a four-pitch mix. This season, he posted a 2.55 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 113 innings. He also excelled last summer in the wood-bat Cape Cod League.

The Cardinals received the 34th overall pick as compensation for the departure of Jason Heyward. Hudson was the team’s third 2016 draft pick, after shortstop Delvin Perez (No. 23 overall) and Carlson (No. 33). All three have now agreed to terms.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/18/16

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

  • The Red Sox announced that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Ryan LaMarre. They also recalled infielder Deven Marrero and optioned outfielder Rusney Castillo and lefty Roenis Elias to Triple-A Pawtucket. The 27-year-old LaMarre was hitting a solid .313/.383/.475 for Pawtucket. He also stole 11 bases and played mostly center field, so a number of facets of his game could prove useful to the Sox. He made his big-league debut with the Reds last season, then headed to the Red Sox last winter on a minor league deal.
  • The Mariners have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Adrian Sampson and optioned lefty David Rollins to Triple-A Tacoma. Sampson will make his big-league debut this afternoon against the Red Sox, starting in place of the injured Wade Miley. The Mariners acquired Sampson last July in the trade that sent J.A. Happ to the Pirates. The 24-year-old Sampson has exhibited characteristically strong control this season at Tacoma, posting a 3.25 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9 in 80 1/3 innings.

Rangers To Consider Trading For Relief Help

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Rangers GM Jon Daniels says the team could consider making a trade to improve its bullpen, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes. “The bullpen is the area we’ll look at,” he says. “Other areas, it would have to be a pretty unique situation, because we feel good about our ballclub. You always look to do better, but realistically, what’s going to be out there and whether or not it fits, I don’t know.”

The Rangers’ 4.95 bullpen ERA this season ranks ahead of that of only the Reds, although the team’s current relief corps contains a number of pitchers in the midst of successful seasons, including Jake Diekman, Matt Bush, Tony Barnette and closer Sam Dyson. Daniels indicates he’s happy with that group. He also thinks Shawn Tolleson (whose awful start has been a key to the struggles of the bullpen as a whole) will pitch better than he has so far, and he looks forward to activating Keone Kela (elbow) and Tanner Scheppers (knee) from the disabled list at some point next month. As Sullivan points out, Justin De Fratus, Kyle Lohse, Luke Jackson and Jose Leclerc, all of them currently at Triple-A Round Rock, could also be candidates to help in the future. Daniels notes, though, that the team has relied heavily on its core group of relievers, and could use an extra arm to share the load.

It’s probably too early to speculate about who the Rangers might add. Daniels says that, as is typical at this early point in the year, only a few teams have determined that they’re clear sellers. Still, the Rangers’ potential pursuit of bullpen help will be worth watching as June turns into July.

Week In Review: 6/11/16 – 6/17/16

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Here’s a look back at the past week at MLBTR.

Key Moves

  • Teams signed their draft picks at a furious pace this week, with highlights including the Reds signing second overall pick Nick Senzel, the Rockies signing fourth overall selection Riley Pint, the Padres signing eighth overall pick Cal Quantrill, the Rays signing 13th overall selection Josh Lowe, and the Indians inking 14th overall pick Will Benson. To track other top draft signings, click here.

Signings

Trades

Top Prospect Promotions

Claims

Designated For Assignment

Outrighted

Released

Key Minor League Signings

Rockies Place Jake McGee On 15-Day DL

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8:00pm: An MRI revealed that McGee has a sprained MCL, tweets Ben Weinrib of MLB.com. It remains unclear how much time he’ll miss, though sprained MCLs have led to month-plus absences in the past. For now, the Rockies will go forward with Estevez as their closer, manager Walt Weiss said Saturday (via Weinrib). Estevez relieved Motte to pick up his first career save in a 5-3 win over the Padres earlier today.

2:59pm: The Rockies have placed closer Jake McGee on the 15-day DL with knee inflammation, Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes. They’ve promoted lefty Tyler Anderson to take McGee’s place on the active roster. Jason Motte will likely take over at closer, although Carlos Estevez could get looks there as well.

McGee tweaked the knee while pitching yesterday and had an MRI today. It’s unknown how long he’ll be unavailable. After arriving from Tampa Bay in a January deal involving Corey Dickerson, the 29-year-old McGee has a 4.98 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 21 innings in his first season with Colorado.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Tulowitzki, Groome

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With Chris Parmelee now on the DL with a hamstring injury, the Yankees have no first basemen, Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal writes. Parmelee joins Mark Teixeira, Dustin Ackley and Greg Bird as first basemen who’ve gotten injured, and the team now has infielder Rob Refsnyder and catcher Austin Romine manning the position. Refsnyder had never appeared at first in a professional game before last week. Veteran Nick Swisher remains at Triple-A, but he’s batting just .238/.266/.339, and the Yankees don’t appear to have any plans to promote him. Here’s more from the AL East.

  • Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki suffered a setback in his return from his quadriceps injury, writes Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Tulowitzki left an instra-squad game on Friday with discomfort. “It’s not like he re-injured it, but just seems a little hesitant or something,” manager John Gibbons explained. Tulowitzki had been scheduled to rejoin the Blue Jays Monday, but that now appears unlikely. He’s been out since May 27. The five-time All-Star is batting .204/.289/.383 in his first full season in Toronto.
  • The Red Sox got an unusual talent with the 12th overall pick in the draft in New Jersey high school hurler Jason Groome, but he comes with question marks, the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato writes. Groome’s draft stock fell due to questions about his makeup, although their nature mostly remains in the shadows. Mastrodonato writes that Vanderbilt University, to which Groome had previously been committed, lost interest in Groome for reasons that did not have to do with his baseball ability. Nonetheless, the Red Sox were enthused about his upside and unfazed by makeup questions. “We’re very comfortable we know who Jason Groome is,” Red Sox scouting director Mike Rikard says. Prior to the draft, MLB.com rated Groome the top talent available, noting his 6-foot-6 size, good velocity and potential to throw three quality pitches.

Dodgers To Sign Third-Round Pick Dustin May

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The Dodgers have agreed to terms with third-round draft pick Dustin May, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. May will receive $1M, significantly above the pool allotment for the No. 101 pick, which is $591K.

May, a 6-foot-6 Texas high school righty, was committed to Texas Tech. Baseball America ranked him the No. 117 prospect in the draft. MLB.com ranked him No. 166, writing that he throws 90-93 MPH, has touched 95, and still has projection remaining. He also throws a slider and curve. He doesn’t yet have much of a changeup and could reportedly stand to work on his mechanics, but that’s not surprising for a high school draftee.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/11/16

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

  • The Dodgers have released outfielder Jose Tabata, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. Tabata was hitting .240/.340/.333 for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Acquired last year for Michael Morse in an exchange of bad contracts, Tabata never played in the big leagues for the Dodgers. The former top Yankees and Pirates prospect is still owed the remainder of his $4.5MM 2016 salary from the long-term deal he signed with the Pirates in 2011, plus a $250K buyout on his 2017 option.
  • The Rangers have acquired righty reliever Justin De Fratus from the Mariners, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets. The deal completes last month’s Patrick Kivlehan trade, tweets MLB.com’s Greg Johns. The 28-year-old De Fratus was pitching for Triple-A Tacoma, where he’d posted a 3.21 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 28 innings. He has a 4.08 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in five big-league seasons, all of them spent with the Phillies.
  • Veteran outfielder Will Venable is now a free agent after opting out of his minor league deal with the Phillies, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. Venable has had a disappointing season thus far for Triple-A Lehigh Valley, batting .205/.304/.307 in 149 plate appearances. He hit .244/.320/.350 with the Padres and Rangers in 2015, then was released by the Indians near the end of Spring Training before being picked up by Philadelphia.
  • The Athletics have announced that they’ve selected the contract of righty Daniel Mengden, who will start today against the Reds. Mengden, an Astros draftee who headed to Oakland in the Scott Kazmir trade last July, had compiled a 1.19 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings this season split between Double-A and Triple-A. MLB.com rates Mengden as the Athletics’ 14th-best prospect, noting his “old-timey delivery and exaggerated windup,” which creates deception but also could ultimately result in a move to the bullpen. To clear space for Mengden on the 40-man roster, the Athletics transferred Mark Canha (hip) to the 60-day DL.

Pirates Place Francisco Cervelli On DL, Acquire Erik Kratz From Angels

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The Pirates have announced that they’ve placed catcher Francisco Cervelli on the 15-day DL with a broken hamate bone in his left hand. To take his place on the active roster, they’ve acquired fellow backstop Erik Kratz from the Angels for cash considerations. To make room for Kratz on the 40-man roster, they’ve designated reliever Trey Haley for assignment.

Cervelli had surgery today to remove a fractured hook of the hamate bone, the Pirates also announced. He is expected to return to baseball activities in four to six weeks. He left yesterday’s game against the Cardinals with hand pain after taking a swing. Cervelli was hitting .257/.373/.293 this season, posting his usual high on-base percentage but with little of the modest power he demonstrated during his breakout 2015 season. It’s possible his hand injury could further hamper his power once he returns.

Kratz will likely share the Pirates’ catching duties with Chris Stewart in the meantime. His acquisition was necessary in part because of an injury to Bucs catching prospect Elias Diaz, who ordinarily likely would have started in Cervelli’s place. Kratz (who, incidentally, made his big-league debut with the Bucs in 2010) has a career .210/.261/.381 line in parts of seven big-league seasons, although he rates as a good defender and solid framer, qualities the Pirates value highly in catchers. The Angels signed Kratz to a minor league deal two weeks ago after he was released by the Astros.

The Pirates signed Haley to a big-league deal last offseason despite a lack of previous big-league experience, then sent him to Triple-A Indianapolis. He throws very hard, routinely hitting the high 90s, but continues a longstanding pattern of struggling badly to throw strikes, with a 6.66 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 7.4 BB/9 in 24 1/3 Triple-A innings this year.

Padres Place Andrew Cashner On 15-Day DL

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The Padres have placed starter Andrew Cashner on the 15-day disabled list with a strained neck, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweets. Replacing him on the Padres’ active roster will be newcomer Erik Johnson, who will start tonight.

As Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune explains, Cashner experienced a loss of velocity in his start yesterday against the Rockies before the Padres removed him. Via Brooks Baseball, none of Cashner’s pitches yesterday topped 89 MPH. His fastball typically sits in the mid-90s.

“His velo was down from the first batter,” says Padres manager Andy Green. “He experienced it kind of late in the bullpen warming up and after watching him throw he didn’t look like himself. After a batter, I thought it was best to get him out of there.”

Cashner has had a disappointing season thus far, with a 4.75 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 53 innings while also missing time last month due to a hamstring strain. There would surely be plenty of trade whispers about him if he were healthy and pitching as he had in 2014 or perhaps even as he did in an underwhelming 2015 season, given that he’s eligible for free agency in the fall. His current injury surely won’t help the Padres if they hope to acquire young talent for him later this summer.

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