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Royals Notes: Moore, Rebuilding, Shields

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Here’s the latest on the Royals…

  • The Royals’ inability to develop their minor league talent is the cause of the team’s problems, Rany Jazayerli writes for The Kansas City Star.  Despite several blue chip prospects and GM Dayton Moore’s reputation as a player development expert from his time in the Braves’ front office, the vast majority of young would-be Royals stars have struggled at the Major League level, particularly the hitters.  If K.C. continues to lose, Jazayerli feels a management change is needed given that Moore has had eight years on the job.
  • Jazayerli adds a few more notes to his piece on his personal blog.  While the Royals still have time to turn things around given the parity in the American League, they face a tough upcoming schedule and can’t count on any quality reinforcements from the minors.
  • Part of the Royals’ problem could be that they relied on too much young talent all at once, as Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com writes in an examination of how important veteran players can be in helping mentor and acclimate youngsters to the big leagues.
  • James Shields headlines a list of notable starters that Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan feels could be traded.  Getting a good batch of young talent back for Shields might be the last move Moore could make to improve his team for 2015 and beyond, Passan opines, though Passan also notes that Moore has been known to wait too long to move his own players, such as Joakim Soria and possibly current Royal Billy Butler.

AL East Notes: Price, Blue Jays, Yankees

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Count FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal among those puzzled by David Price’s revived feud with David Ortiz, as Rosenthal notes that the two seemed to have buried the hatchet after last year’s controversy in the ALDS.  While Price has been no stranger to high-profile situations over his career and is widely considered to be a level-headed person, Rosenthal wonders how the Rays ace would deal with increased scrutiny if he is dealt to a more pressurized market than Tampa Bay.  Here’s some more from around the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays don’t have the prospect depth to pursue Price or Jeff Samardzija on the trade market this summer, ESPN’s Buster Olney writes (Insider subscription required).  Both aces are only under contract through 2015 and seem unlikely to sign extensions to stay in Toronto, so the Jays aren’t willing to pay the high price of several top prospects for such short-term acquisitions.
  • The Jays could look to add less-costly pitching help before the deadline, Olney writes, as well as an upgrade at second base, though the Brett Lawrie/Steve Tolleson/Juan Francisco rotation between 2B and 3B is working well.  Toronto could also add another bullpen arm (if Sergio Santos isn’t healthy or effective) either before the deadline or into the August waiver period.
  • “There’s no magic number for attendance” that will impact whether the Blue Jays make deadline deals or not, team president Paul Beeston tells Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.  “If there’s a deal it’s not going to be money that determines if it’s going to be done, it’s going to be wins. If we’re winning we’ll do it. I hope we have that opportunity,” Beeston said.
  • The big free agent deals signed by Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury last winter have yet to translate into an improved offense for the Yankees, Bill Madden of the New York Daily News writes.   Beltran has been injured, McCann has struggled and Ellsbury has been miscast as a No. 3 hitter, a lineup spot Ellsbury has often been forced to fill due to injuries.  Madden wonders why the Yankees didn’t pursue a first base backup for Mark Teixeira (again battling wrist problems) over the offseason and believes the team needs to sign Kendrys Morales to help the lineup.
  • Ken Davidoff of the New York Post also looked at the Yankees’ hitting woes and argues that the club could be better served by trading for starting pitching rather than offensive help.  If the Yankees’ veteran hitters are healthy, they’re at least known commodities, while New York has several unproven young arms in its injury-riddled rotation.

40-Man Roster Moves: Fernandez, Beckham

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Here’s the recap of some notable players who saw their roster status changed over the weekend…

  • The Marlins moved Jose Fernandez to the 60-day disabled list, opening up roster space for newly-acquired reliever Bryan Morris.  Fernandez, of course, will be sidelined for roughly the next year as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.
  • The Rays moved infielder Tim Beckham to the 60-day DL and filled his 40-man roster spot by purchasing the contract of outfielder Jerry Sands from Triple-A.  Sands will help fill in for Wil Myers, who went on the 15-day DL yesterday.  Beckham, the first overall pick of the 2008 draft, tore his right ACL during the offseason.
  • The Diamondbacks moved left-hander Matt Reynolds to the 60-day DL in order to create a 40-man roster spot for outfielder David Peralta, who had his contract purchased from Double-A.  (A.J. Pollock was placed on the 15-day DL in a corresponding move.)  Reynolds posted an impressive 1.98 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 4.60 K/BB rate in 27 1/3 IP out of the Arizona bullpen last season before undergoing Tommy John surgery in September.

Minor Moves: Loe, Dolis, Rodriguez, Williams

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Here are today’s minor transactions, with the newest moves at the top of the post…

  • The Braves have signed pitcher Kameron Loe to a minor-league deal, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The Royals released Loe late last week. He had pitched 11 innings for Triple-A Omaha, whiffing four batters and walking seven. The former Rangers, Brewers, Mariners, Cubs and Braves pitcher threw 76 2/3 innings for the Braves’ Triple-A team in Gwinnett in 2013, posting a 3.07 ERA with 4.4 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.
  • The Giants released right-hander Rafael Dolis, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reports.  Dolis was a non-roster invitee to San Francisco’s Spring Training camp and he badly struggled (8 ER in 4 1/3 IP) in a brief stint with Triple-A Fresno.  The 26-year-old righty posted a 5.48 ERA and recorded more walks (26) than strikeouts (25) over 44 1/3 relief innings with the Cubs from 2011-13.
  • Veteran catcher Eddy Rodriguez signed a coaching contract in the Red Sox organization, Rodriguez announced himself earlier this week via Twitter.  The University of Miami product spent nine years in pro baseball with the Reds, Padres and Rays, slashing .235/.286/.386 in 2271 minor league PA.  He appeared in two Major League games with San Diego in 2012 and his only big league hit (in seven PA) was a solo home run.  Rodriguez was released by the Rays earlier this month.
  • The Phillies acquired outfielder Everett Williams from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations earlier this week, Eddy reports.  Williams was picked by San Diego in the second round of the 2009 draft and has a .249/.314/.356 line over 1322 minor league PA, none higher than the Double-A level.
  • The Rays signed righty Casey Weathers to a minor league contract, Eddy reports.  The eighth overall pick of the 2007 draft, Weathers was once considered to be a strong prospect in the Rockies’ system before he missed the entire 2009 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.  He has struggled to regain his form since, and didn’t pitch at any level in 2013.  Weathers signed a minors deal with the Giants last December but was released in March.

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Draft Notes: Astros, Huntington, Rodon

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We’re under two weeks away from the first round of the 2014 amateur draft, which kicks off on June 5.  Here’s a collection of draft-related info…

  • “No one knows what the Astros are going to do with the first pick,” an executive from a team with a top-six draft pick tells Peter Gammons.  Another rival executive feels Houston may not take Carlos Rodon first since “many of the Astros people believe that picking a pitcher at the top is a gamble because of the historical predictability of pitchers.” (Though of course, the ’Stros took Mark Appel last year).  The exec feels the Astros are “looking…closely” at high school outfielder Alex Jackson, and if Houston passes on Jackson, the Marlins also like him a lot as the potential second overall pick.  Miami is favored to draft a hitter due to the number of pitching prospects in their system but “they love [Tyler] Kolek and it would be hard to pass on Rodon,” Gammons writes.
  • Also from Gammons’ wide-ranging column, he polls executives about which teams had the best drafts of the last decade, and also muses about there would be much more casual fan interest in the draft if picks could be traded.
  • Pirates GM Neal Huntington feels that a deep selection of talent is available, write Charlie Wilmoth and David Manel of Bucs Dugout. Huntington also addresses the pressure to select local players and how the Bucs are adjusting to picking near the end of the first round rather than with an early selection.
  • If Rodon does go first overall, it doesn’t seem like the Astros would give him a record bonus simply because of how the draft’s rules have changed, Baseball America’s John Manuel writes.  Scott Boras (Rodon’s adviser) argues that MLB should alter the draft format since the current rules hurt teams at the Major League level; the agent suggests such changes as not subjecting first-round contracts to the salary allotment cap or not taking away a team’s first round pick for signing free agents.

Pirates Designate Vin Mazzaro For Assignment

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The Pirates have designated right-hander Vin Mazzaro for assignment, the team announced.  Righty Brandon Cumpton has been called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

This is the second time that Mazzaro has been designated for assignment this season, as the reliever was previously DFA’ed at the end of Spring Training.  He cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A rather than become a free agent in April.

All these transactions may have more to do with a roster crunch than a commentary on Mazzaro’s performance, as the righty was a big part of the Pittsburgh bullpen in 2013.  He posted a 2.81 ERA, 2.19 K/BB rate and 5.6 K/9 in 73 2/3 IP last season and was very effective against both right-handed and left-handed hitters.  Mazzaro had a 3.48 ERA in 10 1/3 innings for the Bucs this season, plus 10 2/3 scoreless innings at Triple-A Indianapolis.  As a first-time arbitration eligible player last winter, Mazzaro and the Pirates avoided a hearing by agreeing to a one-year, $950K deal for 2014.

Mazzaro joins two other Pirates (Wandy Rodriguez and Phil Irwin) in DFA Limbo according to the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker.  Padres right-handers Blaine Boyer and Billy Buckner are the only two other players currently in limbo.

Blue Jays Acquire P.J. Walters, Melky Mesa

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The Blue Jays have acquired right-hander P.J. Walters and outfielder Melky Mesa from the Royals in exchange for cash considerations, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports (Twitter link).  Both players had been playing with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate after signing minor league deals in the offseason, and Walters and Mesa will likely also serve as organization depth for Toronto.

Walters, 29, had a brief stint in the Jays organization in 2011 when he came to Toronto from the Cardinals as part of the Colby Rasmus trade package.  The righty pitched only one Major League inning as a Blue Jay before becoming a free agent that winter.  Walters posted a 5.79 ERA, 5.7 K/9 and a 1.6 K/BB rate over 22 starts (for a -1.2 bWAR) with the Twins in 2012-13 and he also struggled with Triple-A Omaha this year, only managing a 7.97 ERA in 40 2/3 innings.

Mesa, conversely, had been enjoying a nice year in Omaha, slashing .284/.346/.527 with five homers over 81 PA.  The 27-year-old has a career .754 OPS over 2892 minor league plate appearances since debuting in the Yankees’ farm system in 2006.  Mesa has 16 Major League PA to his name (with New York in 2012-13) and made the most of them, posting a .971 OPS in his brief time in the Show.

AL East Notes: Anthopoulos, Betances, Rosenthal

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The Blue Jays sit atop the AL East but most feel that the club will try to fortify its starting rotation before the trade deadline.  Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos hinted to Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com that if his team did make a move, the price might be too high for a big-name arm.  “We are pretty much maxed out in terms of payroll, but more important, we cannot keep trading our young [minor league] pitchers,” Anthopoulos said.  “We also have to be realistic about whom we can extend if we make a trade for him….We have been feeling out teams and doing background work.  I think we’d probably look at something where we have a pitcher for the rest of this season. That makes sense.”  Gammons wonders if this means the Jays wouldn’t pursue David Price or Jeff Samardzija since neither pitcher is likely to sign an extension with Toronto to becoming a free agent after 2015.  James Shields (a free agent this winter) would also cost a lot, while Gammons suggests names like Francisco Liriano, Jason Hammel or Justin Masterson as possible fits.

Here’s the latest from around the AL East…

  • Dellin Betances no longer frets about trade rumors like he did in his younger days, the Yankees reliever tells Brendan Kuty of NJ.com.  “I try not to pay too much attention,” Betances said. “Actually, I haven’t heard anything. But this has happened so many times that — you always hear rumors that are coming up.”  CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman recently explored Betances as a possible trade chip the Yankees could use in a package for Samardzija, though with Betances pitching so well, Heyman noted New York would be hesitant to move the right-hander.
  • In an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Christopher Crawford breaks down what each of the five AL East teams could look for in the upcoming amateur draft.
  • The struggling Red Sox may not look to help their lineup by trading for a notable hitter, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal said in a recent radio appearance on WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan Show (WEEI.com’s Nick Canelas has a partial transcript).  “To expend what you’€™d have to expend to get that player, I’€™m not sure the Red Sox want to do that because right now they’re in a situation where they are protective of what they have,” Rosenthal said.  “They have depth in young talent all over the place, we know that; left side of the infield, catching, pitching to some extent. But their idea is to keep this going, and I’€™m not sure you keep it going by trading for a big-money hitter and expending prospects to do it with one or two years left on the guy’€™s contract.”
  • From that same interview, Rosenthal also touched on Orioles slugger Nelson Cruz, who “looks like a player that a lot of people underestimated” coming off his PED suspension in 2013.  “The price was not to the liking of a lot of teams early on, and he’€™s not that offensive-defensive mixture that most teams seek now….He’s a guy that clearly has shown that whatever was going on with him, assuming that nothing is going on now, he is back to the player that we thought he should be.”  Cruz is currently slashing .295/.361/.612 with a Major League-leading 16 homers.
  • Rosenthal notes that the Red Sox didn’t pursue Cruz last winter.  Cruz’s success notwithstanding, I’d say it’s hard to fault Boston for that non-move since the club was seemingly set in the corner outfield spots and David Ortiz is the everyday DH.

Minor Moves: Spence, Oeltjen, Germano, Billings

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Here are today’s minor transactions, with the newest moves at the top of the post…

  • The Marlins announced (on Twitter) that left-hander Josh Spence has been released from their Triple-A New Orleans affiliate. Spence, a 26-year-old from Australia, pitched reasonably well for the Zephyrs, posting a 3.97 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings. However, he also walked seven hitters in that time and hit a batter. Command hasn’t been an issue for Spence in previous minor league seasons, but he walked 24 batters in 40 innings for the Padres in 2011-12 despite a strong 3.15 ERA and 9.2 K/9 rate.
  • The Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate, the Reno Aces, announced today that outfielder Trent Oeltjen has been released (Twitter link). The Australian 31-year-old batted just .219/.286/.313 in 35 plate appearances for the Aces, but he has a strong .294/.358/.479 batting line in his career at that level. His last Major League action came with the 2011 Dodgers.
  • Right-hander Justin Germano has accepted his outright assignment to the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo reports (via Twitter).  Germano had the option of becoming a free agent after he was outrighted off the Rangers’ 40-man roster, following being designated for assignment earlier this week.  The veteran righty has been hit hard in his two appearances with Texas this season, posting an 11.81 ERA over 5 1/3 IP.
  • The Yankees have outrighted right-hander Bruce Billings to Triple-A, according to MLB.com’s transactions page.  Billings was designated for assignment on Thursday.  The righty allowed four runs in four innings of work for New York this season, though he recorded seven strikeouts in that brief stretch.
  • With Billings’ situation resolved, MLBTR’s DFA Tracker tells us that three players remain in DFA limbo: Royals outfielder Justin Maxwell, White Sox infielder Jeff Keppinger and Marlins reliever Carlos Marmol.

Steve Adams contributed to this post.

 

Marlins Release Carlos Marmol

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The Marlins have released veteran right-hander Carlos Marmol, the team announced via Twitter.  Miami designated Marmol for assignment last week.

Marmol, 31, pitched 13 1/3 innings for the Fish this season, posting an 8.10 ERA and continuing his career pattern of posting high strikeout numbers (9.5 K/9) along with a lack of control (6.8 BB/9).  The righty was able to miss enough bats to deliver a few impressive seasons out of the Cubs bullpen but eventually became too unreliable for the closer’s job.  Chicago dealt him to the Dodgers last July and Marmol then signed a minor league deal with the Marlins during the offseason.

Justin Maxwell (Royals) and Jeff Keppinger (White Sox) are the only players still in DFA limbo, according to the MLBTR DFA Tracker.

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