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Minor Moves: Kameron Loe, Chance Ruffin

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Here are Saturday’s minor moves from around MLB:

  • The Diamondbacks announced the signing of right-hander Kameron Loe to a minor league deal, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Loe, who will report to Triple-A Reno, was released by the Braves last Monday and will now be joining his fourth organization this year after stints with the Giants and Royals. The 32-year-old has posted a 6.99 ERA, 6.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and 11.8 H/9 in 28 1/3 innings (19 games) for the Triple-A affiliates of the Royals and Braves.
  • Mariners right-hander Chance Ruffin has voluntarily retired and returned home to be with his wife and newborn baby, writes Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto for the Olympian. Ruffin, the 48th overall selection in the 2010 draft, was acquired from the Tigers in the 2010 Doug Fister trade and made 22 relief appearances for the Mariners to the tune of a 5.70 ERA, 11.4 K/9, and 5.3 BB/9 in 23 2/3 innings. The 25-year-old, who was not on the Mariners’ 40-man roster, pitched to a 5.31 ERA, 7.4 K/9, and 3.7 BB/9 in 61 innings (22 games including seven starts) for Triple-A Tacoma this year.
  • Per MLBTR’s DFA Tracker, there are seven players in DFA limbo: Kenny Wilson (Blue Jays), Nick Buss (A’s), Jeff Francis (A’s), Nolan Reimold (Orioles), Justin Maxwell (Royals), Pedro Ciriaco (Royals), and Jerome Williams (Astros).

Pirates Claim Dean Anna From Yankees

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The Pirates have claimed infielder Dean Anna off waivers from the Yankees and he will report to Triple-A Indianapolis, reports Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Anna was designated for assignment by the Yankees Thursday.

Anna made the Yankees’ Opening Day roster and appeared in a dozen games slashing .136/.200/.318 in 25 plate appearances. The 27-year-old has posted similar numbers in Triple-A hitting .192/.283/.292 in 152 plate appearances (36 games).  Anna, however, is only a year removed from being a Pacific Coast League All-Star and leading the PCL in batting average while producing a .331/.410/.482 line in 132 games for the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate.

The Pirates’ 40-man roster is now at capacity.

Jays Claim Cole Gillespie, Designate Kenny Wilson

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The Blue Jays have announced they have claimed outfielder Cole Gillespie off waivers from the Mariners. To clear room on the 40-man roster, Toronto designated outfielder Kenny Wilson for assignment. The Blue Jays still need to make a 25-man roster move and the team says it will do so once Gillespie reports to the club.

Gillespie was designated for assignment by the Mariners yesterday after posting a line of .254/.312./.324 in 78 plate appearances (56 of those against left-handed pitching). Gillespie signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in January.

For someone who has never seen MLB action, Wilson’s name has graced the pages of MLBTR quite a bit over the past ten weeks. This is the third time the 24-year-old has been designated for assignment and the second by the Blue Jays, who also has claimed him off waivers after the Twins designated him in May. Wilson opened the year as Baseball America’s 22nd-ranked prospect in the Blue Jay organization and is said to have starter upside, if he can translate his tools into production, but he has produced pedestrian numbers this season slashing .234/.312/.333 in 324 plate appearances between the Toronto (Double-A/Triple-A) and Minnesota (Double-A) organizations.

Billy Beane On Acquiring Samardzija, Hammel

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Earlier today, Cubs President Theo Epstein held a conference call to discuss last night’s blockbuster trade of Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the A’s for Addison Russell, Billy McKinney, Dan Straily, and a player to be named later or cash. Afterwards, A’s GM Billy Beane held court with the Bay Area media. Here are the highlights courtesy of John Shea and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (all links go to Twitter):

  • Beane indicated the A’s are not done dealing. “We’re not just going to stop and shut everything down. We’ve got 3-plus weeks until the trade deadline.“
  • Beane explained why he was willing to part with the A’s top two prospects. “We have a team that can win right now. Just collecting young players is not something in our market place we can do.” Beane added, “We have to take the opportunity and grasp it.“
  • Beane wanted to do the deal early and was not “interested in taking this pursuit down to the deadline.“
  • Beane said he has been engaged in trade talks involving starting pitching for over a month.
  • Beane acknowledged the extra year of team control over Samardzija was crucial. “We placed a lot of value on him being here next year. There’s no doubt about that.” 
  • As per his policy, Beane refused to comment on trades not made when asked about David Price.
  • “I think the narrative that this is a move for the postseason is a bit arrogant. We need to make sure we get there first,” said Beane (as tweeted by Jane Lee of MLB.com) in response to Justin Verlander’s reaction to the trade (“When I saw that trade, I thought that they made that trade for us. No doubt about it in my mind.” – per MLB.com’s Jason Beck on Twitter).

A’s Designate Nick Buss For Assignment

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The A’s have announced (on Twitter) they have designated outfielder Nick Buss for assignment. The move clears roster space in the wake of the Jeff Samardzija/Jason Hammel trade.

The A’s claimed Buss off waivers from the Dodgers in May. The 27-year-old has a combined Triple-A slash of .270/.330/.391 in 354 plate appearances between the A’s and Dodgers affiliates.

Draft Signings: Kam Uter, Chris Ellis

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Here are Sunday’s notable mid- to late-round draft signings, with all slot courtesy of Baseball America:

  • The Dodgers have signed 12th-round pick Kam Uter for $200K, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. The Georgia high school pitcher had a commitment to play wide receiver for Wake Forest. Picks from after the 10th round can earn bonuses of up to $100K before they count against the signing team’s pool, so Uter’s signing will cost the Dodgers $100K against their bonus pool.
  • The Angels have signed their third-round selection Ole Miss right-hander Chris Ellis, reports MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez (Twitter links). Callis tweets that Ellis will receive $575K, slightly less than the bonus pool allotment of $612.8K. First-rounder Sean Newcomb (15th overall) is the only Angels’ draft choice from the first ten rounds who remains unsigned. In a separate tweet, Gonzalez notes no progress has been made with Newcomb, but he expects the University of Hartford left-hander to come to terms before the July 18 deadline.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

MLBTR Originals

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A look back at the original reporting and analysis found on MLBTR the last seven days:

West Notes: Walker, McCarthy, Chavez, Rockies

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Top Mariners prospect Taijuan Walker will make his 2014 big-league debut on Monday, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports. (The Mariners optioned outfielder Stefen Romero to Triple-A Tacoma after today’s game, so it appears they’ll have space for Walker on their active roster.) Walker figured to be a key part of Seattle’s rotation this season, but he had shoulder troubles in spring training. Walker has made eight starts this season across three minor league levels, posting a 3.38 ERA with 10.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9. Elsewhere in MLB’s West divisions:

  • Diamondbacks right-hander Brandon McCarthy will receive a $1MM assignment bonus if he is traded, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. The Diamondbacks will likely have to eat that sum in any deal, Olney adds.
  • Eric Chavez says retirement is a “possibility” after being transferred to the 60-day disabled list by the Diamondbacks, writes MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. “I’m just so close to the end, you know, where I’ve got to worry about feeling good for the rest of my life,” said Chavez, who is dealing with an injured left knee. “So surgery would be the worst-case scenario for me to kind of be going down that line.” 
  • The slumping Rockies have been hit hard by injuries with nine players currently on the disabled list, but are not yet ready to become sellers at the Trade Deadline, according to Nick Groke of the Denver Post. “We’ll get to see our club whole, or closer to the point we know it should be,” Assistant GM Bill Geivett said. “At that point we’ll sit down and discuss where we’re at.“

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Diamondbacks Acquire Ronny Cedeno

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The Phillies tweeted they have traded infielder Ronny Cedeno to the Diamondbacks for catcher Raywilly Gomez. Cedeno will report to Triple-A Reno, tweets MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. He’ll add depth after the injury to Chris Owings and the recall of Nick Ahmed. Philadelphia had outrighted Cedeno yesterday.

Cedeno saw limited action with the Phillies after being added to their roster in June. The 31-year-old appeared in seven games and was hitless in nine plate appearances. Cedeno has slashed .245/.289/.353 in parts of ten seasons with the Cubs, Mariners, Pirates, Mets, Astros, Padres and Phillies.

Gomez has spent the season at Double-A Mobile hitting .273/.355/.360 in 173 plate appearances and throwing out 28% of the runners attempting to steal. The 24-year-old has spent his entire seven-year minor league career in the Diamondbacks’ organization.

Brewers Notes: First Base, Weeks, Bullpen

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The Brewers enter play today with the most wins in baseball and a 6.5 game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central. With Milwaukee’s success to date and the Trade Deadline looming, will GM Doug Melvin pull off a major acquisition like he did the last two times the Brewers made the playoffs (CC Sabathia in 2008 and Francisco Rodriguez in 2011)? Melvin told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he’s “always open for anything,” but there isn’t a lot of holes needing to be filled. “You have to ask, where are you going to play a guy?” said Melvin. “We have a pretty good lineup. I’m not going to trade for a catcher or a second baseman or shortstop or left fielder or center fielder or right fielder.”

In other Brewers’ news and notes from Haudricourt:

  • One position Melvin did not mention was first base with the platoon of Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay producing a .683 OPS, which ranks 26th in the majors. Melvin says the duo has “done a nice job for us,” and “there’s not a big offensive first baseman available anyway.“
  • The Brewers could be in the market for relievers with Jim Henderson and Tyler Thornburg still on the disabled list. “We’ve talked about bullpen help,” Melvin said. “Over the course of the year, your bullpen gets worn down pretty good. A lot of teams are going to be looking for bullpen help.“
  • Melvin, however, will not sacrifice the future for short-term gain in any trade. “We’re not going to deal the young impact player to help our big club now. It’s going to be tough to do that. I think we do have a lot of players in our system that will play in the big leagues.“
  • Melvin acknowledged other teams have called about second baseman Rickie Weeks, but no specific proposals have been made. Weeks is earning $11MM this season with a $11.5MM vesting option for 2015. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently noted the option isn’t likely to be triggered.

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