Jason Bartlett To Retire
Infielder Jason Bartlett has told the Twins he will retire, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter links). Though the club has asked him to reconsider, says Berardino, the expectation is that he will file his papers.
Bartlett had been working on a rehab assignment with Minnesota after making the club's Opening Day roster. Though he only saw four plate appearances this year, he did manage to appear in the outfield for the first time in his career.
Over parts of ten MLB seasons, spent almost entirely at shortstop, Bartlett put up a .270/.336/.366 line with 31 home runs and 123 stolen bases. He spent time as a regular up the middle with the Twins, Rays, and Padres organizations. His best season at the plate came in 2009 with Tampa, when Bartlett knocked 14 long balls and swiped 30 bags while registering a surprising .320/.389/.490 triple-slash. With his usually strong defense, that campaign was worth 6.2 rWAR. (He also had a 4.6 rWAR season in 2007 with Minnesota.) Bartlett delivered good value for his employers in the aggregate, as he put up 18.4 lifetime rWAR and had career earnings of $16.6MM.
Mets And Pirates Working On Ike Davis Trade
Diamondbacks Designate Ryan Rowland-Smith
The Diamondbacks have designated lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith for assignment, the club announced via press release. In a corresponding move, the team reinstated outfielder Cody Ross from the 15-day DL.
Rowland-Smith, a 31-year-old Aussie, has tossed 370 MLB innings over parts of five seasons. He sports a 4.57 lifetime ERA, with a cumulative 5.6 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9. He has seen time as both a starter and reliever, and as expected has generally been more effective working from the pen. Rowland-Smith has logged a 3.77 ERA and allowed a .735 OPS while throwing in relief, while working to a total 4.87 ERA and yielding opposing hitters a .806 OPS from a starting role.
Brewers Sign Jeremy Jeffress
The Brewers have signed reliever Jeremy Jeffress to a minor league deal, the club announced (per a tweet from MLB.com's Adam McCalvy). Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported earlier (on Twitter) that it appeared a deal was in the works.
Jeffress was originally drafted in the first round by Milwaukee before he was dealt in the Zack Greinke deal. Fast-tracked to the bigs after converting to relief, Jeffress showed promise in his first MLB stint with the Brewers in 2010 at age 22. Since then, however, he has never managed to get over his statistically-obvious control problems (career 6.7 BB/9). His once-and-future club will hope to return him to the form he showed in brief action last year, when he struck out 12 and walked five in 10 1/3 big league frames after putting up a 1.39 ERA in 32 1/3 minor league innings.
Rangers Designate Andy Parrino For Assignment
The Rangers have designated infielder Andy Parrino for assignment, the club announced. The move clears a 40-man spot for Aaron Poreda.
Parrino, 28, has spent time at second, short, third, and both corner outfield spots. He has only seen limited MLB action in parts of three seasons, and has a .186/.295/.242 triple-slash in 229 plate appearances. Texas claimed Parrino off waivers from the division-rival Athletics in early March.
Red Sox Designate Ryan Roberts For Assignment
Not long after signing him, the Red Sox have designated infielder Ryan Roberts for assignment, tweets Alex Speier of WEEI.com. Brock Holt was brought up to take the active roster spot.
Signed 11 days ago, Roberts struggled in his limited time in Boston, hitting safely only twice in 22 plate appearances and drawing three walks against seven strikeouts. Roberts' a one-year, MLB deal was not guaranteed, tweets Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, so the club will only be on the hook for the approximately $61K he has already earned. As the 33-year-old looks for a new job, he will hang his hat on his defensive versatility and solid lifetime stats against lefties (.261/.337/.435).
Freddy Garcia Close To Signing With Team In Asia
Righty Freddy Garcia is nearing a deal with a club in Asia, Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com reports, though some details still need to be worked out. Reports out of Taiwan indicate that the EDA Rhinos — the former home of Manny Ramirez — is likely the team involved, Cotillo tweets.
Garcia seemed set to begin the season in a depleted Braves rotation, but Atlanta cut him loose in favor of fellow veteran Aaron Harang. Since that time, Garcia has reportedly been throwing to Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales while holding out for a major league offer. Last year, Garcia put up a 4.37 ERA (with 5.2 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9) in 80 1/3 innings.
The 37-year-old apparently drew plenty of interest from teams looking to stash him in Triple-A, which is not surprising given the number of injuries that have cropped up in recent months. Garcia could well be the best available rotation arm on the open market.
Minor Moves: Perez, Loewen, Neil
Here are the day's minor transactions:
- The Rangers have released minor league southpaw Rafael Perez, tweets Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest. The 31-year-old was a valuable member of the Indians' bullpen from 2007-12 (with the exception of a disappointing '09 campaign) but hasn't pitched in the bigs since that time due to shoulder surgery. Perez put up solid numbers with the Twins' and Red Sox' minor league affiliates last season and had yielded three runs with four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings at Triple-A this year.
- The Phillies have signed outfielder Adam Loewen to a minor league deal, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Loewen, 30, was once rated as high as the 13th overall prospect in the game by Baseball America — as a pitcher. He transitioned to the field since having his career derailed by elbow issues, and last year posted a .267/.359/.435 line in 496 plate appearances, most of them coming at the Double-A level. But Loewen will return to the hill with Philadelphia, according to a tweet from Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com.
- Righty Matt Neil has agreed to a minor league contract with the Rays, also via the MLB transactions page. The 27-year-old had spent his first three years in the Marlins organization. Last year, splitting time between starting and relieving at both upper-minor levels, Neil threw to a 3.70 ERA in 109 1/3 frames.
- As MLBTR's DFA Tracker shows, White Sox reliever Donnie Veal has just joined Lucas Harrell (Astros) and Sam Fuld (Athletics) in DFA limbo.
California Notes: Ramirez, Billingsley, Puig, Athletics
Here's the latest MLB news from the west coast:
- The Dodgers averted a potentially devastating injury last night when x-rays revealed that star shortstop Hanley Ramirez did not suffer a break in his hand on a hit-by-pitch, Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet LA reported on Twitter. The club's middle infield decisionmaking — in particular, declining Mark Ellis's reasonable option — drew some questions in the offseason, though Dee Gordon has been a revelation thus far and Alex Guerrero is off to a fast start in Triple-A. The Dodgers also got good news recently on rehabbing starter Chad Billingsley, who underwent an MRI that showed no damage to his elbow after experiencing discomfort in a throwing session, as MLB.com's Ken Gurnick reports.
- As we noted a few days ago, the emerging story of Yasiel Puig's defection from Cuba has led to increased focus to the travails of players seeking to reach the bigs from the neighboring island. In another piece on the incredible tale, ESPN The Magazine's Scott Eden describes the underground system that brought Puig (and others) to the majors.
- The Athletics have compiled what Fangraphs' Tony Blengino calls a "low-risk, reasonably high-reward" staff. Oakland's rotation — in particular, Dan Straily, Scott Kazmir, and the surprising Jesse Chavez — has both generated a promising batted-ball mix (low line-drive, high ground-ball, and high pop-up rates) and logged strong K:BB ratios early on in 2014. When you add youngster Sonny Gray to that mix, and consider the reasonable pay rates of all the arms, Blengino says that the A's have done an excellent job of constructing their rotation. Indeed, despite injuries to Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin, Oakland's starters lead the league in fWAR and are second in ERA.
- Of course, much of the offseason focus on Oakland revolved around the team's surprising buying spree of expensive relievers, as MLBTR's Steve Adams recently documented. Though the pen has had some hiccups at the back end to start the year, it still ranks 6th in ERA as a unit. With Jim Johnson already having been removed from the classic closer role, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wonders whether the team could stick with a closer-by-committee approach — more out of opportunity than need.
AL Notes: Nunez, Vizquel, Cousins, A’s
We touched on some American League notes late last night, but here are a few more for the morning:
- After a solid start to his tenure with the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, recently-acquired infielder Eduardo Nunez has earned a (brief) call-up to the bigs, writes Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (passing on a report from the Rochester Chronicle and Democrat). Nunez will get the chance to be the team's 26th player for the second game of today's doubleheader before going back to the minors on Friday, though it seems quite possible he'll get a real shot with the MLB club at some point given Pedro Florimon's struggles.
- The Tigers' search for a replacement at shortstop led them to ask 46-year-old Omar Vizquel if he was interested in making a comeback, reports Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. "They asked me if I'd like to come and take some grounders," said Vizquel. "I said, 'No, I've been retired for two years.'"
- Scott Cousins will not exactly be continuing his career as a baseball outfielder when he joins the Rangers, reports Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News. The 29-year-old will head to extended spring training, where he will try to convert into a left-handed pitcher.
- The latest in the Athletics' ballpark situation has focused on the possibility of a ten-year lease extension at the O.co Coliseum. As Joe Stiglich of CSNBayArea.com reports, A's co-owner Lew Wolff says the club would be willing to make over $10MM in stadium improvements if such a deal were struck. (Of course, for those who follow ballpark funding issues, that outlay will seem a relative drop in the bucket.)