Hector Gomez Elects Free Agency
SATURDAY: Gomez has elected free agency, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy tweets.
FRIDAY: The Brewers have outrighted infielder Hector Gomez, according to a club announcement. Milwaukee brought up Jason Rogers to take his place on the roster.
Gomez, 27, owns a .181/.212/.323 batting line over 134 plate appearances on the season. He’s seen action in two prior campaigns, but this was his most extensive time on a big league roster. Gomez was productive last year at Triple-A, putting up a .768 OPS with 17 home runs.
Rogers is also 27 and plays the corner infield. He’s destroyed pitching at the Triple-A level after posting strong numbers in the upper minors over the past two seasons. In 95 big league plate appearances earlier this year, he slashed .236/.284/.360 with two home runs.
Pirates Outright Vance Worley
AUGUST 8: The Pirates have outrighted Worley to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the MLB.com transactions page. The money remaining on Worley’s $2.45MM contract — modest, but still well above the league minimum — might have prevented other teams from making a claim. Either way, Worley has been relatively effective in his two years with the Pirates, and he’ll likely rejoin them in September, if not before.
JULY 30: The Pirates have designated righty Vance Worley for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot was needed after the club acquired Joe Blanton late yesterday.
Phillies teammates for three years, Worley and Blanton won’t have a chance to pitch together for a second Pennsylvania club. Both have experienced modest career resurgences, and now it’s Worley’s turn to see if he can find a new opportunity.
The 27-year-old Worley had a great year for Pittsburgh last year, with a 2.85 ERA over 110 2/3 innings earning him a $2.45MM arbitration payday. He’s been solid again in 2015 — he carries a 3.78 ERA over 69 innings, with 6.1 /9 against 2.5 BB/9 — but lost his rotation spot along the way. He could draw some interest from teams looking to add innings, though his salary may complicate things.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/7/15
Let’s check in on the day’s minor moves …
- The Astros have placed righty Roberto Hernandez on release waivers, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The veteran intends to seek an opportunity with another big league club, Drellich adds. Hernandez signed a one-year, $2.65MM deal to join Houston over the offseason and contributed 84 2/3 innings of 4.36 ERA pitching before his release.
- Cubs catcher Taylor Teagarden has accepted an outright assignment with the club, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweets. The 30-year-old has seen action in each of the last eight big league seasons, though he’s racked up just 563 plate appearances in that span (with a .202/.260/.376 cumulative slash). He put up a strong .826 OPS in his 148 plate appearances at Triple-A earlier this year.
East Notes: Braves, Albies, Craig, Jennings, Garcia
Earlier today, the Braves shipped third baseman Chris Johnson to the Indians for Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher. Atlanta had long been said to be shopping Johnson, who expressed relief to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (Twitter link) that his status was finally resolved. Meanwhile, Swisher indicated that he, too, is excited to get started “right away” with a new organization, as Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer tweets.
- Top Braves prospect Ozhaino Albies will miss the rest of the season after breaking his thumb, Bowman tweets. The 18-year-old shortstop has been solid this year at the Class A level, slashing .310/.368/.404 with 29 steals. While he’ll lose a bit of development time, the injury doesn’t seem to be much cause for concern given his young age.
- After dealing Mike Napoli to the Rangers, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said today that he “expects there will be another opportunity” for Allen Craig at the big league level this year, as Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald tweets. It’s not yet clear when that will occur, but Craig isn’t exactly knocking on the door. He’s slashed .274/.379/.341 over 298 plate appearances at Triple-A since his demotion, continuing a notable power outage that dates back to the start of 2014.
- Marlins sources say that GM-turned-skipper Dan Jennings is expected to return to the club’s front office after the year, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports. If and when the club enters the managerial market, says Jackson, it could consider names like Mike Lowell, Bud Black, Dusty Baker, Terry Kennedy, and Doug Mientkiewicz.
- While Mychal Givens was strong in his first few outings with the Orioles, the club is demoting him to provide another shot to Rule 5 pick Jason Garcia, as Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com writes. Garcia, 22, is back from an extended DL stint after allowing nine earned runs (and eight strikeouts against 11 walks) in his first 13 2/3 innings with Baltimore. In spite of those difficulties, the club seems fairly committed to locking up Garcia’s future rights by keeping him on the active roster the rest of the way.
Rangers Acquire Mike Napoli
8:21pm: Texas will pay $1.5MM of Napoli’s salary, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets, with Boston keeping the rest.
7:06pm: The deal is for Napoli and cash in exchange for a player to be named later (or cash considerations), the clubs have announced.
6:14pm: The Rangers have agreed to acquire first baseman Mike Napoli from the Red Sox, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports on Twitter. Boston pulled Napoli from its lineup at the last minute, leading to speculation of a deal that appears to have come to fruition.
Texas continues to be a fascinating to team to watch. The team added Cole Hamels at the deadline, seemingly more for his future value, while shopping (but not dealing) veteran Yovani Gallardo. Now, after a solid run coming out of the deadline, Texas is just five-and-a-half back in the division and 2.5 games out of Wild Card contention.
Napoli represents a right-handed power bat to plug into a heavily left-handed lineup. The club has utilized Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland at first base and DH for much of the season, but can now deploy Napoli at both positions as well. Unsurprisingly, Napoli has been much better against southpaws this year than same-handed pitching.
As he rejoins his former club, Napoli will look to carry forward a strong start to the second half. Having scuffled badly early in the year, over his last 69 turns at bat, Napoli owns a .267/.362/.533 batting line.
It remains to be seen what the return is, but in all likelihood Boston’s primary benefit here will be salary relief (along with freeing a roster spot). Napoli is earning $16MM on the season before hitting the open market this winter.
Napoli played mostly at catcher when he last suited up for the Rangers, but in spite of the team’s needs in that regard, it would be rather surprising at this point if he got back behind the dish. Bradford notes on Twitter that Napoli’s limited no-trade clause gives him veto power over a move to Texas, but obviously he’s decided to waive that.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Orioles Designate Travis Snider
The Orioles have designated outfielder Travis Snider for assignment, the club announced. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by the just-acquired Junior Lake.
It had seemed that Snider was on his way out with the acquisition of Gerardo Parra, but the club ultimately decided instead to part with Chris Parmelee. Snider did not hang on for much longer, though, ultimately ceding his spot on the ballclub to Lake, who was acquired in return for Tommy Hunter.
Snider came over from the Pirates this winter as Baltimore sought to mix and match pieces to fill in for the departed Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis. There was never much hope of fully replicating their collective production, but the O’s have nevertheless largely been disappointed by their Opening Day corner outfield platoon, leading the team to add Parra.
For Snider, still just 27, the 2014 season looked like something of a breakout, as he slashed .264/.338/.438 with 13 home runs, seemingly making good on his former top-prospect ratings. But he was not able to carry that forward in Baltimore, as his current .659 OPS attests.
Quick Hits: QO, Yankees, Athletics, Cubs
The qualifying offer continues to be an interesting topic of conversation and study around the game. It’s clear that it impacts free agent situations, but precisely how and how much remains somewhat difficult to nail down in practice. Next year’s QO will rise to approximately $15.7MM to $16MM, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets, providing another, increasingly-high-stakes opportunity to observe how teams approach the rule.
Here are a few stray notes to finish out the evening:
- The Yankees have already made use of a significant number of relief arms, often by shuttling players with options, and figure to do even more of that when rosters expand next month, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. That strategy may explain in part why the team ultimately chose not to add a starter at the deadline, preferring instead to rely on its depth to reduce the burden and reliance on its starters.
- The Athletics front office is geared up for the future, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle writes. While GM Billy Beane says he is “always trying to get better in the short term,” he acknowledged that the club’s trade deadline strategy focused on cashing in expiring veteran contracts for “younger players with more of an upside .. as more of a long-term approach.” Having adopted that approach, Beane says that the team likely will not “use prospects for acquisitions” this winter.
- Notably, the Athletics’ key non-playing figures all seem likely not only to stay on, but to advance their careers. Per Slusser, manager Bob Melvin is likely to receive a multi-year extension at season’s end, while she labels it a “strong bet” that Beane will move up to a president position while handing over the GM title to David Forst.
- The presence of multiple teams still in contention could slow the August trade market, Cubs GM Jed Hoyer tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. “There’ll definitely be deals,” he said. “Whether those will be big deals or not, I would probably say no, simply because I do think people are pretty active on the waiver wire and there’ll be quite a bit of blocking.” Hoyer added that Chicago had already been awarded several waiver claims, though obviously it has not actually acquired any of those players.
Twins Designate Eric Fryer For Assignment
The Twins have designated catcher Eric Fryer for assignment, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on Twitter. Minnesota made a series of roster moves, including the recall of backstop Chris Herrmann from Triple-A.
Fryer, 29, has performed fill-in duties at the major league level in each of the past five seasons, never receiving more than 28 games of action (reaching that in 2014) in a single campaign. All told, he’s slashed .235/.316/.324 in just 152 turns at the plate. That line is more or less equivalent to the .654 OPS that Fryer has produced offensively over parts of five seasons at Triple-A.
NL Notes: Utley, Reds, Finnegan, Olivera
Longtime star second baseman Chase Utley will rejoin the Phillies tomorrow, the club announced. It’s almost certainly too late for him to reach sufficient plate appearances to trigger his vesting option for next season, making it a straight team decision whether to pick him up at $15MM or instead pay a $2MM buyout. But that doesn’t mean his return won’t be interesting, as Utley remains a very plausible August trade candidate. Indeed, the Phillies veteran is drawing interest around the league, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports. The Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankees are among the teams expected to have some interest in adding Utley down the stretch. Of course, his appeal will depend heavily upon the form he shows upon his return.
Here’s more from the National League:
- Reds GM Walt Jocketty provided some interesting thoughts on his team’s trade deadline moves, especially the Johnny Cueto deal, in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (links to Twitter). “We had the Cueto deal done, then another team came in,” said Jocketty, “and I was actually able to get a little more out of the Royals.”
- One key piece of that deal, of course, was lefty Brandon Finnegan, who Jocketty says will be expected to work as a starter at Triple-A before joining the big league club in September. After entering the year with 28 days of service and tacking on about 37 more thus far in 2015, Finnegan still has six years of team control remaining and won’t line up as a Super Two candidate even if he spends next month (and all of next year) on the Cincinnati staff.
- Jocketty also discussed the Reds‘ timeline to return to contention (Twitter link), saying that “our plan at this point is that we realistically have a real good shot in 2017.” While he praised the team’s “nucleus,” Jocketty’s statement seems to suggest that next season will be something of a regrouping year. The club has worked to fill its system with young arms after parting with Cueto and Mike Leake, but it remains to be seen how and when they will develop into productive big leaguers. With several big contracts limiting flexibility, and players like Aroldis Chapman and Jay Bruce entering their final years of control, it will be interesting to see whether Cinci pursues further trades over the winter.
- Braves GM John Hart also discussed his team’s role in the three-team, thirteen-player deadline deal with the Dodgers and Marlins with MLB Network Radio (Twitter links). He confirmed that the club was motivated primarily by the chance to add the bat of infielder Hector Olivera for a relatively minor commitment (five-years and roughly $30MM after 2015). Atlanta was weighing its options for bolstering its lineup, he indicated, and felt that it would cost too much to compete for the top-level bats set to hit the coming free agent market.
Nationals Move Doug Fister To Bullpen
The Nationals have shifted veteran righty Doug Fister to the bullpen, manager Matt Williams told reporters after today’s game, Dan Kolko of MASNsports.com among them (on Twitter). Impressive rookie Joe Ross will take his regular spot in the rotation.
The move is surprising to see, in some respects, but makes sense as the evidence on both pitchers has continued to accumulate. Fister has dealt with injuries, lost velocity, and a continued decline in his ability to generate strikeouts.
All told, he owns a 4.60 ERA over 86 innings, with 5.0 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 with an uncharacteristically low 42.0% groundball rate. Those are his worst results as a big leaguer, and ERA estimators suggest that his earned run average reflects his performance this season.
On the other side of the ledger, Ross — who came over with Trea Turner in the deal that sent Steven Souza to the Rays and Wil Myers to the Padres — has been excellent since making the jump to the big leagues. After today’s strong outing, he sits at a 2.80 earned run mark over 45 frames, with an outstanding 47:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Ross now seems to have the inside track on a rotation spot for next year’s club.
Beyond the impact on the postseason race, Fister’s demotion carries important implications for his upcoming free agent case. For one thing, the 31-year-old no longer seems at all likely to receive a qualifying offer from the Nationals. Not unlike Justin Masterson last year, Fister entered the season primed to be an important second-tier arm on next year’s market, but now looks like a candidate for a short-term deal with a club that is willing to take a gamble on a return to form.